The dazzling light gradually faded until I was finally able to open my eyes again.
I was standing at the center of an immense valley, so vast that the mist prevented me from seeing its edges. Beneath an enormous twilight sky that still adorned the scenery, everything felt disturbingly calm.
—Wow… this is… huge.
With fear gnawing at me, I took a few cautious steps. The grass beneath my feet crunched with each trembling motion, until my advance was interrupted by two figures materializing from shimmering particles.
Neither looked like a warrior.
One wore a flannel shirt and denim, while the other seemed ripped straight out of a museum dedicated to the Hundred Years' War: blue and silver garments, a pointed helmet, and the bearing of a noble.
"Looks like today's my lucky day." At least one of my companions seemed competent.
The knight carried a bastard sword, while the flannel-clad man wielded an old-looking but perfectly functional musket.
"I have to admit, it's a bit embarrassing to show up empty-handed to the party," I thought as I approached them.
—Kid —the man in flannel said, raising his musket— rank and color.
—Rank? Color?
—Answer, or I'll blow your brains out.
He wasn't joking. The musket was already aimed, his finger close to the trigger, when an invisible screen appeared beside me. Written on it, in an embarrassingly blunt display, were the words:
[Mr. Nobody / Metal Rank / Black Team]
—Metal and black! Metal and black! —my voice trembled, but the man slowly lowered his weapon.
—Great… a rookie. And you, little prince.
—Bronze, black —the knight answered without hesitation—. You?
The man in flannel merely nodded, saying nothing, before walking toward the center of the valley, tapping the musket's barrel against his shoulder.
—Do you hear that? —the knight asked.
I hadn't noticed anything, so I closed my eyes and sharpened my hearing.
In the distance, strange pounding echoed through the ground, as loud as pneumatic hammers drilling into the earth.
"Don't tell me there's another damn goat."
—Ready to fight? —the man in flannel asked, a sadistic grin spreading across his face.
—Uh… yeah… I think —I stammered.
My stomach twisted at the thought of another giant beast roaming freely across the field. But, well, that's the least of your worries when the ground beneath your feet begins to shake. The valley thundered with the gallop of something approaching fast, knocking us off balance—everyone except the bronze warrior.
From within the mist, a gigantic bull of intense electric blue burst forth, charging across the black grasslands, sending clumps of earth flying with each step. Muscular. Ferocious.
My survival instincts kicked in instantly, and I ran as far away from the beast as I could. Incredibly, a man rode atop its back—a red-bearded mountain man whose beard nearly covered his entire face.
—Prepare to be crushed! —the man roared, his voice booming like thunder.
As I ran for my life, I caught a glimpse of the flannel-clad man firing wildly at the bull, easily five meters tall. It did nothing.
The beast slammed into him, hurling his body several meters through the air until he vanished from sight.
The knight tried to shout something, but his words were swallowed by the sickening sound of a body bursting against the ground.
The knot in my stomach nearly made me vomit as I stumbled through the grass. When I looked up at my other companion, I saw the gigantic bull crush him beneath its hooves.
The contrast of blood-red against the creature's electric-blue fur burned itself into my memory.
—You've got to be kidding me! They're already dead! This is ridiculous! —I screamed at the top of my lungs.
Slowly, the bull turned its gaze toward me.
My heart pounded like never before, but my legs refused to move. Adrenaline is a lie—it doesn't let you perform miracles when, in the blink of an eye, your entire team has been annihilated.
I wanted to run, but I knew it was useless.
—Damn it! —I shouted, forcing myself into one last desperate sprint across the valley—. This makes no sense…!
An Apache…
That was all I saw.
A dark-skinned man dressed like a classic North American Apache, a feather adorning his head.
He stabbed me… where?
I wondered as pain exploded from my neck downward. My body screamed, and my throat filled with a thick, viscous liquid…
"Blood."
Within seconds, my vision turned red.
All the pain vanished.
"No… no… this… I don't want… to die."
The words echoed in my mind as lights and ashes once again formed the outline of an immeasurable abyss.
—Ten seconds —Axio said.
—Ten seconds to decide: pay 10k CN and return to the Nexus, or face the Bullet Train.
—What? —I muttered, trembling—. I can… come back to life?
—Yes or no, human! —Axio shouted impatiently.
I tried to organize my thoughts, to argue, to negotiate—but nothing came out except clumsy babbling.
—Wait! That's—!
—ZERO NEGOTIATION! —Axio interrupted.
"Damn it, like I even have a choice!"
I pressed the large, pulsating button floating before me, the one marked 10K…
A massive tunnel of light dragged me in, and when I opened my eyes again, there was no battlefield—no endless ash-filled void.
Somehow, I was inside a cheap hotel room, one with nothing but a single bed in the center.
The moment I felt solid ground beneath my feet, I collapsed, struggling to calm myself.
—Welcome —Axio said, floating nearby with a mocking expression—. This is the Metal Complex. Ugly, right?
—Axio… you… —I muttered from the floor.
—Don't look at me like that. Anyone who wants to become a constellation must clear the twelve trials without dying. If they die, they can pay to reset… or accept death.
—And I assume going back means dying —I replied, watching the little creature close its eyes with a malicious smile.
—In your case… the Bullet Train. Since it's your first time, I only charged you 10k —Axio explained—. Consider it a "welcome discount." Next time, we add a zero. That's 100k, then 1000k… and so on.
A deadly chill ran down my spine as I glanced at the HUD overlaying my vision.
I only had 10k CN left.
Half the points I'd earned for clearing a single round.
—If I die again… that's the end.
—Hehehe… welcome to the real life of the Nexus, Tristan.