“WOOOOOOOOOOOW! This is amazing, folks! In just a matter of ten minutes, over half of the participants have been eliminated! And by one subject no less!”

  As he was yelling, a subject charged me with a glaive.

  “AAAAAAAAGH!”

  He held it out in front with the tip facing toward my chest, but right when it reached me, I spun out of the way, letting the shaft of the glaive pass behind my back.

  “Wugh?!”

  He stumbled due to the unexpected lack of force stopping him. The boy tripped over himself, allowing me to grab his glaive before bringing the knife down on his forehead, killing him instantly.

  “His? Her? They? It doesn’t matter what gender they are; all I know is that their knife shows no mercy! The Grim Reaper with a kill count of 38! SUBJECT NO.963!!!!!!!”

  ““WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!””

  I’m a boy though….

  “Take this!” A voice yelled from far behind me.

  A girl had a large shuriken in her hand as she threw it in my direction. Her aim was spot-on; if I didn’t move, it would have taken my head off completely.

  I quickly ducked under the spinning deathblade and nocked an arrow in my bow before letting it fly loose. It hit her square between the eyes, and she collapsed on the floor.

  There were no rules against taking weapons from the deceased. Once I killed the first two subjects, I immediately targeted a child who chose a bow and arrow as their weapon. If I had realized this loophole sooner, I would have told them to pick more valuable weapons. As of now, I have my dagger, a bow with 6 more arrows left, and nunchucks.

  I contemplated taking her weapon for a brief moment, but decided against it. Just having more weapons doesn’t make you stronger.

  “Oh?! Another stage hazard request has been made. Quadrant B’s hazard, ‘THE FLOOR IS LAVA!’ has been activated!”

  Quadrant B was the quadrant I was currently in. Some of the sponsors were actively trying to get rid of me because of my grandiose showing in the beginning.

  “Cocky brat! You’re just entertainment, don’t get ahead of yourself!” One man from the crowd yelled.

  He must be the one who paid to activate that hazard.

  “What are you doing?! I bet all of my money on that kid! If he dies, my company won’t do trades with any of you in the future!”

  However, an equal number were actively supporting me because they were confident I would win.

  On another note, this circular arena was divided into 4 quadrants starting at A and going clockwise from there. Each marble tile on the floor could be influenced by the announcer or the audience. “Floor is Lava” likely superheats these tiles to emulate lava.

  The tiles under me glowed red, signaling that a hazard was about to appear. I ran in the direction of Quadrant C, as that was the closest one, but the warning signal means it is less than 3 seconds away from appearing. I wouldn’t have enough time to make it.

  There were about 6 other kids running ahead and behind me to escape Quadrant B, with only one of them being close enough to actually escape the hazard.

  *BEEEP*

  As the signal for the hazard rang out, I brandished the glaive I commandeered from the boy from earlier, and used it as a pole vault to launch myself a couple of feet forward. If I landed now, I would still be in the hazard area. That’s when I saw the boy who was about to escape a couple of feet ahead.

  At this distance, as long as he stops, I can…..

  “Yes, I’m almost there!” The boy screamed as the tiles began to burn.

  Before he reached the distance threshold, I took my dagger out from one of the compartments in my uniform and threw it at the boy.

  “Aagh?!”

  It hit his left calf, and he stumbled and collapsed on the ground. With him being unable to move, I was effectively able to land on top of his back as he struggled to get up, using him as a foothold to get to the next quadrant.

  As I landed on his back, the hazard was now active at full force. The tiles began melting the front side of his body to cinders.

  “AAAAAAAAGH! HELLP! IT BURNSSSS! PLEASE! PLE—!”

  I bent my knees and jumped off of him with full force to land safely in Quadrant C, thus avoiding the hazard entirely.

  “Damn it!” The masked man in the crowd yelled.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  “Haha! My parlay’s gonna be hitting good soon!”

  “Find out the identity of the guy who paid for that hazard, blacklist his company from any trades with us!”

  “The small tycoon has escaped the lava hazard and is now in Quadrant C! It seems like other fights have sparked all around the arena as well! The contestant list has now decreased to a small 15! Our little reaper might get a run for his money soon, as Subject no.485 has racked up an impressive kill count of 13 in Quadrant A!”

  I walked a few steps into the quadrant only to be surrounded by a group of three.

  It was two boys who looked like brothers, both with short spiky hair. One was holding a spiked shield, while the other was holding a hand axe. The final one surrounding me was a blond-haired girl who had no notable weapons or accessories, except for the strange leather gloves she was wearing.

  “OOOOOOOH! What’s this?! It seems that no.963 has gotten surrounded by some of their competitors. How will they get out of this situation?!”

  “Power in numbers is a strong tactic. If more than one person could survive this, I would’ve employed that method instead.” I said, opening my palm as a gesture of respect.

  “We don’t need you to tell us what we’re doing is smart! Once we get rid of you, each of us has a chance to win!” The boy with the spiked shield yelled.

  I looked around, and the other two nodded profusely at this statement. “Well then….what are you waiting for?”

  “Charge him altogether! He can’t stop all of us! 53! Wait until you see an opening, and attack with me!” He yelled at the boy who looked like him. No.53 squatted down and inched closer as the subject with the spiked shield charged at me with full force.

  “Using my dagger would only damage it against your shield, so…”

  I sheathed my dagger and pulled out my nunchucks, swinging them outward in one motion. Before he could raise his shield higher, the nunchuck collided with his upper cheek, sending him stumbling. However, right as I was about to capitalize on his lowered defenses, I felt a sharp pain in my lower calf. I looked down and saw that a thin needle had pierced my skin. When I looked at where it came from, I saw the blonde girl with the gloves had her hand calmly outstretched in the distance.

  A ranged attacker….? I have to finish this quickly.

  “Hraaagh!” A boyish voice yelled to my right.

  No.53 swung his axe down, and in response, I grabbed my nunchucks and stretched them, using the chain to block the axe.

  “Grrrrgh!” 53 grunted as he continued to push against the chain. During this struggle, I felt the same sharp pain from before in my other calf. My legs buckled slightly, and footsteps rang across the arena as the boy with the shield charged at me once more.

  I took a step forward, then let the chain go loose for a moment and ducked. With the momentum No.53 had built, he stumbled, and I used the chance to counter with my nunchucks before focusing my attention on the shield boy. Just as I was thinking about how I was going to handle him, I saw the tiles below the area he was running in light up blue.

  “Hm….” I realized as I quickly took out an arrow. I sprinted toward him holding my nunchucks in one hand and my arrow in the other. I feinted swinging with my nunchucks upward, and he raised his shield in response. The second he did, I threw the arrow at his legs. Obviously, it didn’t fly straight due to my inexperience. But in terms of experience, it far outclassed my opponents. He instinctively stopped in his tracks and slammed the shield down to block the useless arrow. Once he did, I jumped over the spikes to the top of the shield and kicked off of it as the tiles glowed brighter. The force from me pushing off caused him to lose his balance, planting himself further on the ground. In the next second, the crackle of electricity was seen from the area under his feet.

  *BEEEEP*

  “Aaaa…….gyaaaaaaaaagh!”

  Both he and his metal shield were electrocuted, and before I even landed, he stood there motionless with lifeless eyes, his mouth foaming due to the amount of volts he received.

  “And the crowd with a timely assist! Can anything stop this subject’s tirade?!”

  “No.54!” The boy with the axe yelled in disbelief. “That was my brother, I’ll kill you!”

  Right when I landed, No.53 swung at my shoulder.

  I can’t dodge!

  Once again, I used the chain from the nunchucks to block the attack, and I could hear them creaking from the pressure.

  “Hrrrrrgh!”

  “Tch!”

  As I was beginning to gain some leeway in this tug-of-war, I felt something pierce my right forearm.

  “I got him!” The blonde yelled from my right.

  I looked to my right and saw the blonde holding out her hand. Upon closer inspection, there were little slits on the knuckles of the gloves, and I could see something gleaming from within.

  “HAAAAAGH!”

  My arm being pierced lowered my strength just enough for him to gain the upperhand in the tussle, and the chain broke due to my leverage being lost.

  His axe swung down and plunged into my right shoulder.

  “Gagh!”

  Mustering my strength, I took one half of the nunchuck that broke off and jammed it straight into his eye.

  “AAAAAAARGH! MY EYEEEE!”

  I strained for a moment, then took the hand axe out of my shoulder while he was reeling. In between gasps, I took a step forward and decapitated him with my good arm.

  “Damn…..I took too much damage.” I spat, holding my bloodied shoulder.

  Red stained my hands, and the sharp, throbbing pain forced me onto one knee. Using my dagger, I quickly cut off some of my jacket and tied it around the wound. I wanted to bandage it more thoroughly, but there was still one more opponent to deal with. I stood up and glared at the blonde, who jolted slightly when I looked at her. It seemed she was spending that time reloading her gloves with more needles.

  “S-Stay away!” She yelled, holding both of her hands out this time. Now that I knew where they were coming from, it was a simple matter to avoid them. Dealing with the pain, I sprinted forward and ducked low, brandishing the hand axe with my good arm. As I got closer, she swiped her fist out, with needles protruding like claws from her gloves. However, it was clear she had never entered close combat before. I parried her swipe with my axe and swung down on her neck with labored breath, ending this futile fight.

  “Haaa……haaaa…..” I gasped, pulling the needles out of my legs. While I did that, I heard the sound of something being dragged near me.

  A boy was attempting to crawl toward me, with blood leaking from his stomach. He had tears in his eyes and looked up at me with a pleading expression. “Waaaah! Help me, please! Wahhh….I want to go home! Mommy! Mommy–!”

  *SHINK*

  His cries were quickly cut short by a sword piercing his back. It was a boy with short, messy, black hair and one long green highlight on the right of his head, he looked rather beat-up but in much better shape than me.

  He smiled menacingly and got into a fighting stance, like he had been waiting for this moment.

  “After all this! There were only 2! The grim reaper of the ring, versus the shadow assassin of the subjects! The final battle is here! Subject 963 versus 485!”