"This is a test of your dauntlessness, and the preys are the weaklings."
"What was that?"
"I don't know either," I answered First. We heard a scream that seemed to be from another room.
First immediately ran outside of the music room and I followed him. We saw Ninezen with Seventh.
"What's up?" First asked the two of them.
"The sneaky hologram is in the living!" Ninezen reported with a tense.
I can see the ground floor's living area from the 2nd to the 5th floor because it has an opening and railings like a mezzanine.
"We're about to go to the music room, but the living area suddenly, the hologram came out," Seventh added.
"Come on," First called us and went down the stairs together. "Let's tell everyone."
We also called the others who were asleep. Within five days, it was only now that Author showed up again. All of us were assembled in the living area, yet Author hasn't shown up.
"What kind of trip is this, huh?" Ninth questioned irritably. He has silver-gray hair with curly side hair. He is quite arrogant and an upfront person.
"What the?" the girl with short dark hair with bangs, named Twelf, who came last in the assembly area.
"Greetings, battle 22, we meet again." My attention was caught by the hologram with a big white letter A appearing in the middle of the living area. "How's life?" a naughty question to us by Author.
"How's life? It's awfully awesome, now get the heck out of here!" Thirtwen replied sarcastically. He is the friend of Eleventh and Thirzen, who had passed away because of the monster, Neinuko. The way he responded to Author, he must be holding a grudge against Author because it insulted his two friends.
"Really? Now, that's good news. Glad that you enjoyed your luxurious life here."
"Why are you here?" serious question from Fifth, the twin brother of Fourth.
"Well, well, well. You seem to enjoy the life that you forgot that you are only in stage 1." Ah, yes. We might really forget that we only cleared the initial stage, but I was fully aware that at any moment, another challenge might appear.
"So, to get you to the next level, stage 2 starts…now!"
A what?!
I felt the slowing of time. We were placed to create a big circle, and Author was in the middle. The floor we were stepping on glowed neon red. The letter A in the middle of the hologram disappeared, and it turned into a big arrow hologram. We looked like a giant round clock, but with 22 people surrounding each other forming a circle and with one long, big white arrow at the center.
"And now, I will spin the arrow. The arrow will choose the most fortunate one." We can still hear Author's voice, but we don't know where it is because its letter A image disappeared.
The arrow spins while we are just standing. I struggled, but surprisingly, I could not move my body. It was as if I was tied with an invisible rope. I tried to speak, and so did the others, but no voice came out. I could do nothing but keep quiet because I would only be exhausted if I tried to get out of here. Gradually, the arrow slows down. It looks like we're a human roulette wheel, but instead of us, it is the arrow that spins.
What does Author mean by 'the most fortunate one'? What good will someone get if he/she has been chosen by the arrow? The arrow stopped and it landed on...
"Fortwen is the one!" Author announced.
In an instant, the neon red light that surrounded us disappeared. The arrow in the middle has also disappeared and the iconic hologram of Author is back. Fortwen was immediately out of her place from where she previously stood and was in the middle next to Author.
"W-What are you going to do to me?" she stuttered. All of us don't have a single idea of what's going to happen
Fortwen's feet seemed to be glued together, so no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get away from her current position.
"The game is simple."
We were shocked at the next thing we saw. Fortwen became…
two… five… nine… t-twelve? She turned twelve!
"Fortwen became twelve because of the clones. After a minute of the process, the mind of the genuine Fortwen will become obsolete and turn into a brain of a monster." Author explained.
My eyes are stuck on the real Fortwen standing in the front row. They all look the same, wearing the same uniform, and have the same blue-green braided hair. Her eyes are closed as if she's sleeping while standing. Her 11 clones also did the same.
"Search the original Fortwen among the twelve. Remove the necklace attached to her neck. If you catch and seized the wrong necklace which is from the clone of Fortwen, another clone will be added. To reduce the number of clones, kill them or you will be killed."
We were all stupefied at Author's explanation. I saw that there were necklaces hanging around the neck of Fortwen and her clones. It is a silver necklace with a maroon diamond-shaped, 4 inches length pendant. They look all identical and what's disturbing is that the original Fortwen will also have a monster brain, meaning she has the intent of killing us!
"What if the real Fortwen is the one we killed?" Third asked with a stoic voice. We can now speak but still can't move freely.
Author answered his question. "Then... there's nothing can be done about it."
"What do you mean nothing? Is she going to live or die?" Sixzen asked. I can sense her deep concern about Fortwen.
"You'll only know the answer if you try."
I hate that there are times Author answers like this. It doesn't give us direct answers, but will stir the curiosity and anxiety out of us. Fortwen must not die. We can't let this happen again after two of our members were already dead. They died unreasonably. We might be excused because that was our first time encountering such a life-or-death game, but this time, we must help each other survive. There is still a way... there must be.
While the twelve were processing and standing asleep, I noted Fortwen's position and followed her with my gaze so that we could immediately grab the necklace around her neck.
"Once you get the necklace on the real Fortwen, the game will be cleared. The only chance for you is fight if you want to live."
"How can we fight when we don't have weapons?"
"This is insane!"
"We can't do this!"