"Welcome to the fifth stage venue. This stage is called infection.
Rule: Every round that lasts for five minutes, one person is chosen as the infected. They are to press the button at the back of a player to infect them. It is game over for the person that is infected when the timer runs out. This goes on until there are 3 players remaining." The robotic voice announced the fifth stage. Shigure muttered, "Hope Yamamoto doesn't mind me using her game as inspiration."
You walked towards the table full of vests. There was a button at the back of it. You inserted your arms into the arm slots. The big screen showed the player who was going to be the first infected one. It was Kuro! His vest turned completely red color, whilst the other players' vests turned blue.
"Game start!"
You reacted quickly and jumped on top of three pipes, before climbing up a tank. You continued swinging yourself upwards before landing on top of a platform. You leaned your hands against the bar at the side of it and looked at what was happening.
Obviously, Kuro targeted Haruno, since she was already injured on her back. Haruno fell to the ground, suffering from a slight electric shock. "Oh, I forgot to tell you that infecting someone gives them a little shock!" Shigure' s voice echoed through the room. There was 4 minutes left on the clock, and Haruno was having trouble with finding another player to infect.
She tried climbing up a tank by grabbing onto the pipes, only to be kicked down by Watanabe. He curled his hair back, his bangs revealing his other eye. You previously thought that he was blind in his other eye, but it turned out otherwise.
Her eyes widened in fear as the timer ticked down, and her time was clearly running out. She felt an acute pain strike her on her back. Blood spilled out from her injury. Although the pain was slowly killing her, she pressed on by aimlessly running towards Wattanabe, who defended himself by slamming her down against the cold, metal floor.
She began sobbing on the ground, before she suddenly lost her sense of anything, and she charged towards him one last time, until the time ran out. A red laser shot from the ceiling and through her head, ending her relatively short life. She had come so far, but you guessed that it was the end of her life.
"Stage 5 round 2 start."
There were nine of you left, and the infected randomized again. This time, it was Banda. He looked up at the screen and smirked. "Just what is that psycho going to do? I better get away before he pulls something on me," you climbed up a few more pipes before resting at the top of one, watching the commotion from above others.
Banda looked around the area, looking at every player. He then turned his head upwards to stare at you. He waved his hand up, making you tilt your head in confusion. How could he be so calm during these situations? Not to mention, he's wasting the time on the clock. Banda rolled up his sleeves and found his target.
He looked down at Yaba. Was he insane? Yaba was probably the last person you would want to target in that room. Not only was he strong, but he was hella smart. He had both brains and brawn. You guessed that it was his way of making things more interesting, unless he had plans.
Banda simply jumped down on Yaba, aiming for the button at his back. Yaba turned around quickly, not giving him a chance. Yaba kicked him backwards, making him land next to Ikkei. He then punched Ikkei, making him fall down head-first. Banda pressed the button on his back, giving him an electric shock before he ran back up the ramps.
Ikkei slowly stood up from his position, strategizing how he would infect another person. He looked toward Yaba, who gave him a death glare that said, "Come here and you'll be out cold for the rest of the round. I dare you." He then decided to target Katashi, who seemed to have his guard down as he was facing away from him.
"Katashi, behind you!" You shouted, but it was only a second too late for your newly acquainted friend.
He pressed the button on Katashi's back, causing him to fall down from the shock transmitted throughout his body. Ikkei proceeded to hide behind some rods near a ramp he could use as an escape route if Katashi tried to chase him. There was only 5 seconds left on the clock, and before Katashi could pounce on Ikkei, the timer had run out and the laser killed him.
"Kayami, I—" he echoed throughout the room, before his words were cut short by the laser ending his life.
Your eyes widened in shock, but you gulped down the rising bile in your throat, accepting his defeat. He had come such a long way, but victory was no place for everybody.
It seemed like in spades games, specifically face card games, a muscular physique was not all that was required in order to succeed in the games.
The screen randomized your names, before landing on yours. You stood up from your position and got into a sprinting position. You watched as your vest turned red. All the players looked up at you, feeling scared for their lives. They all tensed up, beginning to get into panic mode and was trying to run as far as possible away from you in the area.
Yaba and Banda also seemed to have tensed up a little when they saw that the new tagger was you. They inquisitively watched your every movement, trying to read your next action.
"Let's get started, shall we?" You knelt down on your left knee, your right knee making a 90-degree angle. Your hands were in their running positions.
"Stage 5 round 3 start."
You got off, running along the pipes, your arms swinging back and forth. You jumped down with your feet pointed downwards, your hands grabbing on a pipe, before you swung towards Watanabe. That emo kid did not seem one to be able to fight, he probably just made it out of pure luck, like Haruno!
Much to your bewilderment, Watanabe slid out of the way, grabbing on your ankle and shoving it on the ground, making you fall with a hard "clang!", the metal sound ricocheting off the platform, the sound reverberating in the room. The other players watched the commotion, the ones who were close to you backing away while the others felt relieved that they were not your target.
Kuro, the speedy legs, ran quickly away from you as he was on the same level as you and Wattanabe, not wanting to look back.
"What the fuck dude, you didn't tell me you could fight, emo bastard!" Your forehead was bleeding as you fell head-first on freaking steel. "Oh well, that makes things more fun. Let's fight!" You charged towards him before he could escape.
You jumped to the side of the wall on your left and attempted to kick him again on purpose. He grabbed your foot again, throwing you towards Keita. "Just kidding! Thanks, emo guy!" You shouted, snatching Keita's hair and slamming him onto the ground. You stomped your boot on him, causing him to vomit out blood. You then flipped him around and pressed the button on his back. You picked him up and threw him onto the ground at the bottom.
Even if you looked as if you had a generous heart that was ready to give, you could be just like a ruthless predator who would go out of its way to find prey to feed on.
Turns out, he had passed out. You made your way back up to your original spot, where you had a clear view of everything and everybody. You yawned in boredom, watching Keita slowly gain his consciousness, only to find out that he had less than 20 seconds left on the clock. He quickly ran up towards Kuro, trying to tag him, but he was too injured to make it that far.
The tagger randomized yet again, and it soon landed on Koshi.
"Stage 5 round 4 start."
That reminded you. Where was that weight-lifter with the gorilla strength? Soon, you saw him emerge from behind a tank he was hiding at. Using his crazy upper body strength, he swung himself from a bar towards Kuro. Though Kuro was fast, Koshi had the upper hand.
(Gosh it's so hard to keep track of who was dead and who was alive I had to keep going back to read the previous chapters to make sure that the character I was writing about was not dead.)
Koshi seized a metal rod at the side and threw it at Kuro, hitting him in the head and making him collapse onto the ground. Koshi stepped on the button on Kuro's back, infecting him. Kuro looked hopeless, until he reassured himself, "I'm not giving up just yet!"
He speeded towards Ikkei, climbing up a pipe and skipping the stairs up to him. Despite Ikkei's great attempt to jump down to the ground, Kuro beat him with his agility. He seized his collar, pressing the button at the back of his vest. After all, Ikkei did only pass the first four rounds with the help of his bigger friends.
Ikkei knelt down on the ground, mumbling, "Sorry for killing you in the last round, Yuta, Gokkei, Naku. I can finally join you in the heavens. May God forgive me for my sins." He lifted his arms up in the air, admitting defeat in the last few seconds. The laser shot through the ceiling and murdered him. He landed on the ground.
Again, the tagger randomized, until it landed on Yaba. It was time for the dangerous man in a fashionable tuxedo to go on his rampage.
"Stage 5 round 5 start."
(Wait who's alive? Oh my gosh now I have to go back and see who died and who's alive.)
Yaba took his blazer off, getting ready for his turn. He grabbed a metal rod and ran towards Koshi, who was the closest to him. Koshi punched him, but it was dodged. Koshi tackled him to the ground, using his enormous hands to strangle him. Yaba let out a battle cry, struggling under his huge body.
Yaba found the inner strength in his body and kicked Koshi off him. He picked the metal rod up and repeatedly hit him on his head. Blood splattered everywhere, covering Koshi's face. Yaba turned him around with one hand and pressed the button at the back of his vest.
Koshi tried to fight back, but Yaba had the advantage as he was spotless, having zero injury on him. Yaba went back up, getting wary of the players left. He shuffled away from Koshi, conserving his energy for the later rounds.
The tagger for the next round was Kuro. Sure, he had a good physique, but other than that, there was not really anything that you needed to be careful of.
"Stage 5 round 6 start."
"NOO! WHY ME AGAIN? FUCK!" He shouted, knowing that his chances of surviving that round were slim. He ran towards Banda, who jumped down onto the ground. Kuro followed him quickly, desperately trying to tag him and nearly tripping on a broken shard of metal on the ground.
Banda took that as his cue and ran up the ramp where Ikkei was previously hiding at in round 2. He knocked down the metal rods, making Kuro trip over them and fall onto the ground. However, Kuro was not giving up just yet. He continued to chase Banda like a police officer chasing a robber who was on the run.
However, Kuro could not put up with Banda's traps and tricks. He soon gave up, letting the laser kill him.
As for the last round, Watanabe was the tagger. "We better get ready for this emo kid because shit is about to get real," you thought to yourself. There were four people left, including the emo boy.
"Stage 5 final round start."
Watanabe looked up to you and began to sprint toward you at the speed of fucking light. You never knew that the emo kid had that much potential. "So you were hiding all that potential behind your bangs? Why target me? Yaba and Banda over there seem pretty open!" You hastily jumped down onto a pipe.
"Consider it payback for targeting me when you were the tagger just now!" He yelled, pouncing on you.
You quickly landed on a platform, evading him. However, he was nimble as hell. He landed on you and began to spar with you.
"You're not getting away this time!" He told you.