Within the room, a bizarre spectacle spread out before him. The ceiling was extremely high and domed like a cathedral. Its center was decorated with a floral piece of stained glass. But the intricate, kaleidoscopic light it cast was marred by the barbed wire lining the ceiling. The unsettling effect was exacerbated by the murder of crows perched on the wire. The crows watched over Kaito and the others in silent vigil. What's the deal with all these crows? ...I've got a bad feeling about this. Disgust and anxiety welling up within him, Kaito looked at the ground. The marble floor was cracked and missing pieces. Soil peeked out from the holes, and from the soil, massive trees grew. Among other things, the room appeared to house a miniature forest. This, too, was an enigma. Suppressing his unease, Kaito directed his attention to the middle of the room. Atop a circular stage lay a rotund, snoring man dressed in a tailcoat. He awoke with a start, gradually rising to his feet as he scratched his plump behind. He looked at Kaito and the children. When he saw the man's face, Kaito was startled. Covering the man's face was a bone-like white crow mask. "Weeeeeeeeeeeelcome, boys and girls, to your very own Grand Guignol!" The man's grating voice cracked as he shouted with over-the-top enthusiasm. Kaito broke out in a cold sweat. The man was cheerful, eerie, and revolting. Every instinct in Kaito's body screamed in fear, calling to his attention one fact. This man was probably a demon. There was no way Kaito could deal with him alone. But unfortunately, Elisabeth wasn't here. "Whoa, hold up... You didn't tell me I'd get stuck with the real deal, Elisabeth." "You all are the audience, you all are the scriptwriters, and you all are the actors. So I imploooore you: Enjoy yourselves to your heart's content. You may try to escape this annex, if you so desire. But only the last one standing will be saved, you seeEEeeeEee. Until then, I don't even mind if you all thin out the numbers on your owwwWwwwWWwn." His voice cracked even more. Once he finished speaking, he fell back and collapsed. But before they'd had time to think about the meaning of his words, a single crow descended from the wire. Kaito's eyes widened. The crow spread its wings as it swooped down, revealing a wingspan about the length of an adult man. It flew down to meet them. The wind pressure created by its wings was considerable, and, unable to endure it, Kaito had to close his eyes. When he did, he heard a scream from close by. "No, no, nâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹!" The boy in front of Kaito had been snatched up. Clutching the boy in its talons, the crow carried him up toward the roof. It then approached the arches at the sides of the ceiling. Focusing on the arches, Kaito could see spears sticking out of the wall. But...why? As if to answer Kaito's question, the crow impaled the boy on a spike. Like a shrike skewering its prey, the bird gored the boy through the stomach and left him to hang from the ceiling. After letting out a gut-wrenching shriek, his body bent backward at a sharp angle and resembled a curled shrimp. He then started convulsing and coughing up a huge amount of foamy blood. All the while, his chest continued heaving. Kaito lost his voice in shock. He hadn't noticed them at first due to being distracted by the crows, but a number of children decorated the ceiling like lab specimens. They'd long since lost the will to scream. They simply writhed in agony, skewered alive in ceaseless torment. Kaito felt a bead of sweat travel across his forehead. My immortality means nothing here. If he got trapped up there, he was done for. A mass of crows took flight. The children froze in terror. Kaito screamed. "Everyone! Râ€‹uâ€‹uâ€‹uâ€‹uâ€‹uâ€‹uâ€‹uâ€‹uâ€‹uâ€‹uâ€‹uâ€‹uâ€‹uâ€‹uâ€‹uâ€‹uâ€‹uâ€‹uâ€‹nâ€‹!â€‹" As if his voice had broken a spell, the children all began moving at once. Kaito knew that, like it or not, the curtain had risen on a fresh hell. Some of the children were wrestling with the door to the underground passage. But it was locked firmly. "That's not going to work; just give it up and run!" Kaito called out to the boy who was pounding on the door and sobbing, then he took off running with the rest of the children. Someone pushed Melanie, and she fell over. Amid the chaos, Kaito grabbed her pale hand. "Melanie, this way!" "Sir Kaito!" "No, help! I want my mommy. I want my mâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹oâ€‹mâ€‹mâ€‹yâ€‹!" A crow had seized the demi-human girl in front of Kaito by the shoulder. Acting fast, Kaito grabbed her leg as it dangled in midair. Her body stretched, and she waved her arms helplessly as snot and tears streamed from her face. "Help, help, get it off me, it hurts, get it off me, don't let go, I want my mommy, I want my mommy!" "Just hang in there!" Kaito swung the girl's leg from side to side as hard as he could. The crow dug its talons in deep, and the girl let out a high-pitched scream. Then the crow collided with one of its neighbors, and just as Kaito had hoped, it released its hold on her. "Rghâ€”" Kaito barely managed to catch the falling demi-human girl, then he took off at a run alongside Melanie. His shoulder grew wet with the girl's tears. Around them, children were being snatched up one by one. Fluttering black feathers filled his vision, and heartrending wails assaulted his ears. Droplets of blood rained from the ceiling to add to the chaos. No matter how hard the children cried and screamed, nobody came to save them. They were left to drown in their hopelessness. His stomach churned, and Kaito felt like he was going to vomit. He spat a single word from the bottom of his heart. *** With Melanie and the demi-human in tow, Kaito slipped into the forest's shade. Beneath the patchwork of trees, the branches afforded them temporary reprieve from the crows' line of sight. It seemed the demon had placed the trees there to prolong the game. Revolting as it was, Kaito was thankful for that particular gimmick. After inspecting the wound on the sobbing demi-human girl's shoulder, Kaito turned to Melanie, who was sitting beside him, and ripped the hem of her dress with as much force as he could muster. "I'm sorry, Melanie, but I'm going to need this!" "S-sir Kaito, what exactly are you doing?" "Bind her arm, would you? From here to here. I'm counting on you!" "Ah, Iâ€”I see. I understand. I can do it!" Clenching her fist, Melanie clumsily stopped the girl's bleeding. As she worked, Kaito peered among the gaps in the tree line to check on the crows. It seemed they hadn't noticed them yet. However, a group of crows grabbed another boy who was cutting through the middle of the room and carried him up to the spikes. "Dammit..." Averting his eyes from the horrifying spectacle, Kaito noticed something odd. Stuck in the trees were an ax and a sword, each with a cutesy ribbon tied around them. After a moment, he understood why they were there, and he felt the blood drain from his face. "Only the last one standing will be saved, you see. Until then, I don't even mind if you all thin out the numbers on your own," the demon had said. In other words, the demon wanted them to kill one another. "â€‹...â€‹...â€‹...â€‹...â€‹...â€‹...â€‹...â€‹...â€‹...â€‹...â€‹...â€‹...â€‹...â€‹...This is so fucked up." Kaito whispered to himself, his heart full of rage. At the same time, he felt as though a switch inside him had been flipped. What he felt now was the same as the peak anger, hatred, and fear he had felt at times in life, and they acted as a trigger to return him to a state of lucidity. He looked at the weapons again and realized there was no need to let things play out the way the organizer had intended. With these, he might even be able to turn this hopeless situation on its head. "Hey, Melanie, can I ask you something?" He called out to Melanie. When she turned to him, her eyes suddenly widened as her attention was captured by something behind him. A chill ran down Kaito's spine. Trusting his intuition, he dived forward. As he did, he heard something slice through the air behind him. "Hey, you'reâ€”" *** When Kaito turned around, he found himself staring at the red-haired boy his age, one of the other two who'd been at sword-point a bit earlier. The boy was trembling, and he was clutching a long sword in both hands. There was no telling what he'd do. Kaito raised his hands in a gesture of peace, then slowly began talking to the boy. "C'mon, settle down. Don't fall for the demon'sâ€”our enemy's plan that easily. Why would you believe what the bad guys tell you in a messed-up situation like this?" "...Sniff... Hic." "Is there any proof they'll actually rescue you if you're the last one left? Don't focus on killing the rest of usâ€”focus on figuring out how to escape and call for help." "Shut up! Nobody's coming to save us!" The boy suddenly cried out in anger. He waved the sharp sword. Kaito raised his hands again and tried to pacify the boy. "Settle down, okay? Settle down. Just take a deep breath. What makes you think that?" "O-of course nobody's going to save us! My mom told me I should just go die! She told me to die for the rest of the family's sake. She begged me to die. So why would anyone come to help me? Who the hell's going to save us?! And if that's the case... If that's the case, what other choice do I have?!" "I see... So that's what's been driving you." The boy was on the verge of tears as he spoke, and when Kaito heard his reasoning, he understood. When a person believed there was only one path to survival, they'd take it by any means necessary. Unfortunately, such a path was often paved with regret. After deciding not to think and simply going along with the dirty work thrust upon him, Kaito had ended up getting strangled to death. He didn't think the boy would listen if he tried explaining that now, though. Inching toward the weapons he'd seen earlier, Kaito forced himself to keep talking. "So you've made up your mind and decided to kill me. But do I really look like I'd go down without a fight?" "Shut up! With those fancy clothes you've got there, I bet you've been living on easy street up till now! Can't you just do me a favor and die? Consider it charity!" "What kind of idiot would die for someone out of sympathy?! And if I'd been living on easy street, why the hell would I end up here?" A little farther, and he'd be able to reach the weapon. But the boy had drawn near as well, and he brandished the sword with a warped look on his face. Just as the words Oh no passed through Kaito's mind, he heard the beating of wings. â€”Caw! A crow had seen them from the ceiling, and it swooped down. The boy let out a strange squeal and began waving his sword in a panic. Kaito slid past him, well aware of the danger, and grabbed the ax. Glancing between Kaito and the bird, the boy let out a scream of despair. The crow swooped toward the boy. Kaito raised his ax. And with a thunk, Kaito cleaved the crow's head in two. The crow fell to the ground. Kaito brought down the ax again and again. His foe was no normal crow. He had to make sure it was