My vision continued to deteriorate as I fell to the ground.
Tucking my head, I rolled. Landing with a dull thud, I continued to think. "What about that soul gem?"
Grabbing one out of my pocket, I was prompted with a message to use the soul gem.
Quickly agreeing, the gem dissolved away in my hand, leaving my status menu open.
[ MANA 30/100 ]
"Alright… it seems like I'll be needing more of these if I want to stay on top of things."
Calling for the menu to open fully, I stood on the roads of western Japan. The skyscrapers near the Scramble Crossing had been destroyed and replaced with towers of fire. "This is definitely Shibuya… Everything is pretty fucked up though."
The panel reappeared in my vision as I walked.
[ Contestant Identified ]
[ Warning: — ]
"Awfully ballsy of some punk ass kid to be roaming the streets free like this with the apocalypse in full effect," a voice from behind me said, loud and vicious. "I think someone needs to teach you some respect!"
The man launched a spike attached to a chain at my head. Calling for the sword, I ducked out of the way, grabbing it from the cut in space where the hilt appeared a second later. "Shit… so one of them was already this close," I whispered as I tried to find some answers as to why he would attack me without reason.
"Do you know anything about what's going on?" I asked from the far side of the crosswalk. "Don't fuck with me today… Lots of crazy shit has happened, and I'm not in the mood to waste time on some lowlife like you."
Whipping his chains around himself almost tight enough to hide behind them, he shouted, "You don't get it!"
The man began to glow as he yelled. Fire-red particles gathered around him, and his weapon began taking the substance in. "Get him, Zahkarem. Help me show this loser who the boss is."
His whip flared in answer, the head growing in size and sharpness. At its tip sat a magical point that flared in response to the substance it was still actively devouring. It began to vibrate before he commanded it to target me.
Some of the fighting techniques I'd been forced to learn replayed in my head.
Instinctively, I raised the Sword of the Arbiter to meet the attack. With a loud clank, sparks shot off in every direction as I was thrown off balance and sent heading back toward the concrete towers.
"Shit…" I said as I tumbled backward, slamming against Shibuya Station's entrance, the force of the blow knocking every ounce of air from my lungs. Vomit and blood followed as I slumped over from the impact. "I… just… ah, fuck!"
In bright red letters all over, almost crowding my vision, were warning signs. Over and over, each panel had some form of run, escape, or die on it. Not wanting to die a second time today, I ran west toward the southwest.
Daikanyama was there. Maybe someone else with more information would be too.
"Running? What a bitch!"
The sound of metal tearing through the air grew as he sent another volley of chains at me. I dodged too slowly as one of the points gouged out a chunk of skin from my shoulder. I continued to try and flee, only to be met with more attacks.
Forcing the alerts out of my vision, I lifted myself up again, grabbing another soul gem from my pocket. The panel didn't appear. I tried to force the soul gem into dissolving and adding more to my mana pool, but it refused.
"God damnit, why isn't this working?" I said as I tried to call on its magic several more times in a panic. A panel popped up after the last attempt.
[ Soul Gem ]
[ Can be used when mana is fully depleted. ]
[ Use is only advised in dire situations. ]
"They don't work like that, dumbass!" the man said as he readied his final attack. "Those demons that are patrolling drop some pretty useful things… If you weren't so damn stupid, you'd know they only work when your mana bar hits zero."
Thinking about what he was saying, I noticed something. "You said they're patrolling?" Piercing the ground and using my sword as a prop to help me stand, another thought came to mind. "If you say they're patrolling… what are they patrolling for?"
"Us… dipshit." His voice sounding even more arrogant, he continued on. "Did you not read the fine print before accepting the system's terms?"
"Terms?" I shot back as I scrolled mentally through my status page. He had me down to almost no health, and my mana was already teetering on empty from the last fight. "Please, can we just talk about this?"
The words seemed to make him even more mad. He hunched over and began pulling in even more magical power. This time the whole chain grew in size, each link thicker than steel beams for reinforcing concrete. They still gravitated in place like they weighed nothing.
In the middle of his power-up, I ducked out, running as fast as I could and looking for some place to hide until I could wrap my head around what was happening.
As I ran, the man launched more attacks, each unable to hit its target. The man proved to be just as much of a novice as I was.
"I'll come back for you," I said as I veered off into the maintenance access below the station district, running clear to the lowest floor and locking myself behind a steel door. My breathing was heavy as blood ran from the open wound on my shoulder.
"That guy was a dick…" I said as I let myself fall onto the floor, the adrenaline still pumping against my will. "He was strong, though… and he clearly knew something I didn't. How was he able to pull mana from the air like that?"
I lay there for the night thinking of how I had almost died today, a second time.
Beginning to drift into sleep, I was met with a video game ding noise and the most daunting systems panel yet.
[ PLAYERS ALIVE AT THE END OF DAY ONE ]
[ 53/60 ]