Time: April 23, 2032. 00:00.
Location: "Neutron" Base. -3rd Floor (Former Isolation Chamber).
Kenji gathered his "Magnificent Five" (Sato, Kaito, Grom, Laylo, and a backup mage girl—Rina) in the basement.
The room was empty. Only a concrete floor and a single dim light bulb hanging from the ceiling.
"Well, 'Sleeping Beauties,'" Kenji said, rubbing his hands together. "We have 1 week until the Tournament. By simple math, you won't achieve anything in 1 week. Going up against the government's 7 guilds with your current strength—that's an expensive way to commit suicide."
Sato (IronBarrel) cracked his knuckles.
"Kenji, I'm a tank with 20 years of experience. Grom is an S-rank berserker. We're not weak. You just need to teach us tactics."
Kenji laughed. This laugh was cold and mocking.
"Are you strong?" Kenji snapped his fingers.
The light in the room went out.
In the darkness, Kenji's eyes glowed red.
"You're strong in peacetime. You haven't seen death. You don't know what Real Fear is."
"I don't want to 'train' you. I want to break you. And rebuild you."
Kenji pulled out a small copy of the Core stolen (more precisely, subjugated) from the 4th Tower—a **"Memory Crystal"**—from his pocket.
"This thing distorts time and consciousness. 1 hour here equals 1 day of torment in your brain."
"We'll sit here for 168 hours (1 week). But in your consciousness... 4 years will pass."
Laylo got scared.
"4 years?! Big brother, won't we go insane?"
"Possibly," Kenji said, shrugging as if talking about the weather. "But going insane is better than dying. Are you ready?"
No one had time to answer.
Kenji struck the Crystal on the floor.
VZZZZ!
Purple fog covered the world. Concrete walls melted away.
For Sato: "Infinite Shield"
When Sato opened his eyes, he found himself in the middle of an endless desert. The sky was blood-red. The air was hot and smelled of sulfur.
In his hand was that old "Titan Shield."
Before him stood... not Kenji, but one of the most terrible "Raid Bosses" from Kenji's memory—the "Thousand-Armed Giant."
The Giant struck with a thousand swords simultaneously.
Sato screamed and raised his shield.
BOOM!
On the first strike, Sato's bones broke. He died.
...And opened his eyes again. Again that desert. Again that Giant.
Kenji's voice echoed from the sky (like a commentator):
"Wrong, Barrel. You're waiting for the strike. A real Tank doesn't wait for the strike, he 'Controls' it. Get up! Die again! You'll learn after dying 1000 times!"
Sato gritted his teeth and stood up.
"Damn you, Shadow! I thought we were friends!"
For Kaito: "Shadow Within Shadows"
Kaito (Black Dagger) was in a pitch-black forest. There was no light here.
His task: Kill the **"Invisible Ghost"** in the forest.
The Ghost had no body. It consisted only of sound and fear.
Every time Kaito stabbed with his dagger, he hit air. The Ghost would come from behind and slit his throat.
Death.
Rebirth.
Kenji's voice:
"Kaito, you trust your eyes. Eyes are deception. An assassin sees not with eyes but with 'Intent.' Hear the Ghost's breath. Feel its fear. If you can't do this, they'll just trample over you at the Tournament."
For Grom: "Taming Rage"
Grom (Berserk) was by a calm, quiet lake.
His task was the hardest: Don't move.
Around him, thousands of small goblins ran around, biting, pinching, spitting on him.
Grom's rage boiled. He wanted to kill them.
But the moment he moved—lightning struck from the sky and turned him to ash.
Kenji's voice (with a slightly chewing sound, apparently he was eating pizza in the real world):
"Rage is gasoline, Grom. If you just pour it on the ground, you'll burn yourself. Pour it into the engine. Keep the explosion inside. When I say 'Forward,' then explode. Until then—be stone."
For Laylo: "Mausoleum of Whispers"
Laylo was in a different place.
This place wasn't dark. It was—an endless, white foggy realm.
Around her, thousands of transparent silhouettes—spirits—wandered. They cried, moaned, begged for help.
Laylo, frightened, covered her ears.
"Go away! Leave! Don't touch me!"
But the spirits entered inside her. They sucked her life force. Laylo weakened and fell.
At that moment, Kenji appeared from the fog. But this wasn't "Teacher Kenji," this was "Big Brother Kenji." He sat beside Laylo.
"Laylo," he said in a soft voice. "You're not a warrior. You don't have to lift a sword."
"Your power is—Empathy."
"These spirits aren't attacking you. They're asking you for salvation. Don't push them away. Listen to them. Take their pain into yourself and... Turn it into Power."
Laylo burst into tears.
"It's too heavy, big brother. Their pain is too heavy."
"I know," Kenji stroked her head. "That's exactly why only you can do this. You're stronger than me. I only know how to kill. But you—know how to Understand."
Laylo wiped her eyes. She stopped being afraid and extended her hand to the nearest crying girl spirit.
"Come... I'll listen to you."
When the spirit touched Laylo's hand, it transformed from a terrifying creature into a luminous angel and stood behind Laylo, giving her power.
Laylo understood. She wasn't alone. She was a Legion.
Outside the Simulation (Real World). Day 7.
Kenji sat in a chair in the corner of the basement, finishing his 10th box of pizza. His eyes had turned red (he hadn't slept for 7 days, constantly expending mana to maintain the simulation), but there was satisfaction on his face.
"Time to wake up," he said and snapped his fingers.
The purple fog dispersed.
Five bodies fell "thud-thud" onto the concrete floor.
Sato, Kaito, Grom, and Rina... they looked like veterans returned from a 10-year war. Terror and exhaustion had frozen in their eyes. They touched their bodies. Are we alive?
Only Laylo... she didn't fall.
She stood upright. Her eyes were open, but their color had changed—in place of her pupils, whitish fog swirled.
Behind her, a barely visible transparent silhouette—a Guardian Spirit—stood.
Sato barely lifted his head.
"Kenji... you... you're a sadist. I died 4 thousand times. 4 thousand!"
Kenji swallowed the last pizza crust and stood up.
"But you survived 4,001 times, right?"
He handed Sato water.
"Congratulations. Now your skin is tougher than a 'Mutant Bear's.'"
Kenji looked at his team.
There was a change in their aura. They were no longer "Players." They were "Killers."
"Wash up. Shave. Change your clothes."
"Tomorrow is the 'National Arena.'"
"We're not just going to fight. We're going there to put on a show and reclaim the money for my pizzas."
Kaito (having overcome the Nightmare) stood up. His dagger was now hidden not in his hand but in his shadow.
"Captain," he said with a smile (but this smile was very dangerous for enemies). "Can I ask something? At the Tournament... can we kill?"
Kenji walked toward the door.
"Officially? No."
"Unofficially?" Kenji turned around and winked. "'Unfortunate accidents' happen all the time, don't they?"