The panel shifted slightly, lowering the number of alive players down to fifty-two.
"I somehow escaped… but I'm seriously banged up," I said as I raised my shirt to inspect the wound, only to find it was gone completely. Not even a scar was left in its place. I looked at the system screen for some kind of answer but found none. "There's no way I heal by simply taking a nap… that'd be really stupid." Scratching my chin and thinking about it rationally, I came up with a theory.
"Either way, I won't find anything hiding down here." Beginning my hike back up the stairs, I passed by several giant holes that appeared to have been blown out by brute force. "I wonder if some of the others fought here before I showed up…"
I pulled the panel up on command, checking over my skills list and scrolling in hopes I'd unlocked some kind of running skill. Most were mundane things that helped with odd tasks.
Then Pilgrim's Pace passed through my vision. Clicking on the skill mentally, a new window opened.
[ PILGRIM'S PACE ]
[ Activating this unique skill gives the user +10 to their agility stat. ]
[ Skill points needed to unlock skill: 2 ]
[ AVAILABLE SKILL POINTS: */*
"Skill points… I didn't read anything about that."
Accepting and unlocking the skill, the words disappeared from the choice panel and reappeared on the panel with my running skill list on it. My available skill points counter glitched as I spent the unknown amount of points.
[ SKILLS ]
[ DOMAIN OF ABSOLUTION ]
[ The user can pull anybody within a twenty-five meter range into a pocket domain for a short time | Cost: high mana overtime ]
[ SWORD OF THE ARBITER ]
[ The user summons the Sword of the Arbiter | Cost: high mana overtime, every minute that passes the cost is doubled ]
[ PILGRIM'S PACE ]
[ The user's agility is enhanced | Cost: low mana overtime ]
In an attempt to activate my new skill, I focused on my feet and my mana pool dropped by eight points. With the feeling of power anchoring itself in my feet, I began sprinting toward the next district over, on the hunt for some kind of solace.
Roughly fifteen minutes later, I found myself in Daikanyama, with the damage lessening the closer I got. No people could be found, but there were no demons or hostile 'players' around either. "I wish I'd visited this place before this all kicked off…" Walking past some broken-down food carts, I stopped to grab a fresh loaf of bread. "People were here not long ago… where did everyone go?"
"Hey…" a small voice cried out. "M-mmister."
The voice broke through the silence with ease, sending my mind into a frenzy. "Who's there… walk out into the open," I yelled, twisting in circles to find where the voice had come from.
"Mister… help…"
The second call sounded close. I ran toward where it had come from, just past the bus meant for transporting dozens around the area. As I neared the corner, it called out again, the voice sounding like gravel being scratched against glass.
"HELP MEEEE!"
Lying just out of view was another person. A jet-black, demon-looking dog was eating his legs. Half of the right one was missing already. Blood covered the road as it continued to feast. The man continued screaming until his body gave out.
The demon-dog's attention turned toward me as its current meal began to cool, clearly unhappy with anything dead. Its jaw snapped continuously as blood and drool dripped out. A loud snarl continued as its eyes stayed locked on mine. The first one to move would likely decide how the following scene would play out.
"Whoa now… be a good doggy." It almost shrieked as I called out to it, looking for an exit route or anything I could climb to get out of its reach. "Come on now… don't eat me, please…" The tension rose as the only logical direction was straight ahead, taking the beast head-on.
"Come to me, Arbiter," I called out, reaching to grab the sword. "That seems like a lot…"
As the hilt of the sword cut through the pocket I had opened, clouds of dark corrupted mana spilled out alongside it. The hole closed the second the weapon was pulled free, cutting off the leak as the leftover substance dissolved into nothing.
"You uh… saw that, right?" I asked the demon-dog as I dodged a bite from its massive maw. It turned its head after the near miss, slicing my abdomen with its twisted horn. "Shit! I didn't think far enough, come on you gross beast!"
Raising my sword, I attempted to imitate the power of the other 'player.' More of the violet-red mana pooled around me.
"Damnit, it would be helpful if those lessons came with tutorials too," I shouted at the sky like it would respond to my complaints, taking my eyes off the demon-dog long enough for its presence to fade into the distance. It hadn't retreated but was surely reassessing before coming back.
"Don't run off now… what? Human pulls out a big sword and now you're afraid to fight?" Mockingly laughing to try and taunt the beast out, I continued. "Did you jump out and kill this guy before he had a chance to fight back!? COWARD!"
The world went silent as my breathing lowered in heft, nothing was around, not even insects. I found myself unable to sense the demon-dogs' presence. "Huh, I guess I really did scare it off," Lowering my guard, I continued to search for somewhere safe enough to spend the night.
I walked around the district, moving from the east side to the tip of the west side finding nothing. Feeling it was safe enough to lodge for the night I chose a small house in Nakameguro.
Once inside I checked for the essentials, food first followed by any kind of medicine. After checking through the cabinets and pantry grabbing anything I could use in the future I sat at the table, a twinkie sat just within its plastic wrap.
"I really can't believe the only thing I can eat is this…" I complained to the room, wishing I had found some canned beef or some uncooked rice. "But no… a fucking twinkie,"
As I went to unwrap the sweet snack the systems panel split my vision, followed by the world twisting.