The Last Man Standing

Chapter 11

“There are four colors. There are twenty remaining players. This is the second round. Come on, young bloods! Place your bets!” The woman behind the speaker chuckled, definitely enjoying the building tension. “Choose the color of your fate! To live or to die?”

The loud EDM music played and the lights started blinking again, switching from green, blue, red and gold.

“Let’s stick together,” the bald man immediately said, getting the attention of the rest of the players.

“Stick together? How can we trust you?” Reneger challenged, noticing how the man was trying to get the leadership of the group.

The bald man crossed his arms, smirking. “Let’s try to end this game with no one dying.”

Sheol chuckled. “No one will die? That’s completely absurd. Evolution is only searching for the last man standing. There’s no way we will all stay alive. Get your facts straight.”

The tension becomes heavier as two men try to get the alpha position. Reneger rolled her eyes with the drama unfolding in front of her. Mercy, on the other hand, was unexpectedly quiet, but there’s a playful glint in her eyes as she watched how Sheol, the best manipulator she met in her life, was being challenged by an unknown man.

“Three…”

“Come to think of it, my dear sisters and brothers. Just like what this guy,” the bald man looked at Sheol with a challenging look, “said, Evolution needs a survivor. No matter what happens, there should be one survivor— the last man standing. Therefore, in this game, we can extend each other’s lives by sticking together. Do you think the system will choose the color that no one else chooses? For what? Kill us all? Oh come on, this is just the first game. They still need to have someone to watch over the next four games.”

Alice and Mercy looked at each other with knowing gazes. “I’ll go with this kid,” Alice proclaimed, getting the attention of Clio.

“He’s not even part of our team. Should we trust him?” Clio asked, making Sheol grins for having someone to believe in him.

“And should we trust Sheol? His words are his greatest weapon, Knave. You don't know how dangerous he is and how I hated the fact that I woke up in the same dungeon with him,” Artemis said in deep contempt, giving Sheol the deadliest glare.

“He should be killed as early as now or we will regret it.” Apollo held his twin sister’s hand.

Clio looked at Sheol. Why do seem everyone hate him?

“Players… time is ticking. Place your bet.”

“There are always a hundred and eleven players in Evolution. We are only thirty-seven here in total. Therefore, there are seventy-four other players to play even if we all get killed here. There’s no way that the system will regret killing us all. If we stick together, just like this crazy man suggests—then all of us may be killed and no one will survive.” Sheol shook his head, taking his steps towards the blue marker tape. “I’m not dumb enough to agree with your planned group suicide. I will fight until the end.”

“Two…”

Sheol smirked when Irgo followed his choice. His smirk turned to a wide grin when four more people followed him, including Eli.

Clio was stunned, looking at Eli walking towards the blue marker tape.

“At least I know, someone will surely survive in our batch,” the bald man said, getting back the attention to him. Sheol’s grin was stunned, waiting for the man’s next words. “We have a confirmed child of a Godsend here, right?” he turned at Clio with a knowing gaze. “The Compact will not kill Knave this early. There’s no way they will do that because of the power that her parents hold and how her presence can pique the interests of the many VIPs of the Compact’s watchers of Evolution. If you don’t agree with sticking together— then, I’ll stick with Knave’s choice to save myself. You can do the same thing, though.”

Reneger looked at Clio intently. Her gaze went to her cut short hair. “They allowed you to join even if you cut your hair short,” Reneger stated, amused and disgusted at the same time. She remembered how Clio was also the one who picked the color in the first round. “I bet your parents are really powerful and this crazy man here,” she looked at the bald man who was grinning knowingly, “can be actually right. Knave is our shield to stay alive in this first round.”

“One! Pick your fate, players!”

Sheol clenched his jaw when Irgo tapped his shoulder. “Now is not the time to stand firm, Sheol. You know he has the point.” He pulled Sheol to the color that Clio picked— the green color. Like them, Eli and the rest who picked the blue color changed their bets to the green color.

In the end the bald man’s plan happened— they stuck together by picking the color that Knave chose.

“Who are you?” Reneger asked the bald man who suggested the plan.

He smirked. “Midnight.” He had the same height as Reneger so he did not need to look up to meet her gaze. “You see, I am the only one left in my group. They were all killed for not listening to me.”

Reneger looked at Clio. “How do you know Knave is a daughter of Godsend?”

Midnight smirked. “It’s easy. Her hair.” His gaze averted to Sheol who was giving him an annoyed expression. “If it’s another girl who cut her hair short and then joined Evolution, she should be dead by now.”

Reneger nodded, looking at Clio with growing envy.

Mercy, on the other hand, went to Sheol. She looked at him in disbelief. “I’m so wrong for believing you. Alice and I were almost killed, do you know that? Artemis is really right for hating you.” Mercy averted her gaze to Irgo. “You have to re-evaluate your alliance. That dude,” he gave Sheol a quick glance, “will create enemies and he will use you as his shield.”

“Get lost, Mercy,” Sheol snorted, “Your opinion is never important. I still pity you.”

“How dare you—”

“Enough, Mercy. Don’t do something that can affect your survival,” Alice was quick to grab Mercy away from Sheol.

Sheol, on the other hand, looked at Midnight. His pride was hurt and the leadership he was aiming for was ruined. “I’ll get back to him, Irgo.”

“As you should.” Irgo averted his gaze to Clio. Ever since he woke up, he was trying to figure out why the short-haired girl caught his attention when he was the kind of guy who never cared for anyone aside from himself and Sheol, who always saved him. Now, he knew. “That Knave… we need her, Sheol.”

“It’s your duty to have her by our side, Irgo. Between the two of us, you know it’s you who can easily get her trust,” Sheol said, tapping his friend’s shoulder. “She’s just like the other women you played with. You can easily have her.”

“All twenty players chose green? What an interesting teamwork that I am seeing here. Is green the fate’s color then?”

The lights stopped blinking and loud cheers were heard all over the place. The green color filled the white room and no gunshot was heard.

No one was killed.

Things went according to Midnight’s plan and Sheol could not accept it.

That’s when the tension reached the highest point. The battle between the two alpha male compromised the whole group’s survival in the third round of Within the Line.

“This is the last round, players. Pick the color of fate and live!”