After that the man disappeared from our sight, with the pressure he was giving finally gone.
"Haa haa," I pant. Well, for a second, I thought my lungs were no longer working at all.
"Are you okay?" I look at Riyu. Well, unlike me, it took her a while to recover; I can't blame her for that. She didn't experiment with loops like me.
Riyu dropped to her knees, one hand pressing against the ground as her body trembled, her breathing audible; she lowered her head and vomited.
Honestly, I don't know what to do. Should I hug her in order to give her comfort? Should I stay still and let her recover herself or motivate her by some words?
Things are serious. I didn't realize earlier, but this does not seem like the fiction at all that I used to read.
.
.
.
After a while.
As I was in my own thoughts, suddenly Riyu hugs me and starts crying. My shirt gets wet from her tears, and I also want to cry. But I want to look strong.
In our given state, I want to cry, and given my childhood dream of being a protagonist, I learn one thing: protagonists need to be strong.
Unnoticed by me, I see my legs are trembling. No, not only my legs, but my entire body is vibrating. I can't describe the intense pressure we just felt. At first that man seemed normal, but his presence was so strong that our bodies froze. We couldn't move; we were only able to answer as he allowed that time.
Brightness around us starts vanishing as I look at the sky.
Soon I noticed the sky was turning black. Erasing light presence as it feels like light never existed.
"Riyu," I look at Riyu's messed-up face, which is covered by tears.
"We must run." I grab her hands and look at her eyes.
"Please, we must pass." I brushed her tears away with my hands.
The sky is almost black now. Soon enough Riyu's abilities will be turned off. We don't have much time left; we must hide somewhere and think about what to do next.
Don't worry, Riyu, I will protect you.
With that, we start running, in order to survive, not knowing where to run, but it is still better than standing and waiting to die again.
The sky is almost dark.
I don't know what to do at all. Even though we get a hint to pass this trial, I am still confused about where we will find the demon. And according to that man, that demon is near.
.
.
.
Soon my legs start getting sore; well, compared to the pain we have suffered until now, it is nothing, but still, it surely increases difficulty.
The sky turned completely dark, swallowing all light.
We don't even know where we are running. I know it's stupid to run in a place where we could die or get heavily injured anytime.
Soon branches and other positive existences, which prior to this followed Riyu's orders, start attacking us. We are barely even dodging.
Suddenly the world around us froze, and I heard a noise in my head.
[------------ATTENTION PARTICIPANTS ------------]
["Sorry to say, due to some glitch, you all are limited to 1 life."]
----Disconnected
"..."
The world soon unfroze after this around us unfroze.
I and Riyu look at each other, making eye contact and freezing.
"WHAT THE HELL?! That airheaded goddess is thinking!?"
Firstly, give us some knowledge that is too large, so that my brain gets traumatized, and then send us to a trial that is not even related to the knowledge she has given.
I'm sure once we defeat the demon king, I will surely punch her.
Nothing seems consistent here. Firstly, Riyu was killed by some sharp branch on a tree, then in the second loop we got chased by a monster, then squeezed by some weird thing, then by that weird man. What the hell is wrong with this trial?!
Isn't a trial supposed to test how much potential is in you? or overcome some past trauma, at this rate this trial is just physical abuse to us. Only Riyu can use her powers since she is by default in stage 1, unlike me, who didn't even get to stage 1.
Life on earth was way better...
better?
We must survive this trial. I am sure once I defeat the demon king, I will free the burden for Riyu. I don't know what my classmates think at all, but ok, they must suffer too. Or I will myself kill them.
.....
We continue running; well, at least that dumb goddess should increase my physical abilities at least.
We continue running until we reach near a massive cave.
"Ren," I heard a voice from the sky.
Soon the sky starts cracking, and a huge red sun appears from the crack like a lily that blooms; it is not spreading any light at all.
My eyes widen in shock; I am left speechless. The scene is beautiful yet terrifying at the same time. Without blinking, we both are staring at the sky.
"Close your eyes!" Riyu screamed.
I continue staring at it; tears start coming out of my eyes, my eyes hurt, but somehow, I couldn't move.
"Ren," I heard the voice again, like the sky was calling me.
"Idiot, close your eyes." Riyu grabs my hand and runs towards the cave.
But my body didn't move at all.
"You dumbass moves!!" Riyu screamed again, trying to drag me.
I start feeling a burn in my eyes. Somehow, I can't scream at all.
"Ren," once again I heard a voice from the sky.
"Ren, run quick! Many weird creatures are coming towards us!!" Riyu screamed.
At this moment I can't move, can't speak at all, and my gaze is towards the sky.
I start feeling my eyes are burning, like they are on lava.
Soon I start feeling like my body didn't exist at all.
"REN!!!" Riyu screamed as a creature stabbed at Ren's back, but he didn't react at all.
Soon the sun, which was not spreading any light, started throwing light in Ren's direction.
The creature started stabbing again and again, but Ren didn't give any reaction at all.
"Ren," Riyu still tries to pull Ren, but nothing works at all.
"Burn the forest," a voice echoed inside my head many times until now. "If you want to pass, listen to me, burn the forest."
It became hard to resist, "Burn the forest to find that demon."