"It seems you were victorious in your battle with that woman, Miss Arius..." She said stoically, standing over the injured Lillian.
Lillian's eyes gazed over Marionette's body and saw how heavily injured she was.
In terms of injuries, Marionette was definitely worse.
In place of Marionette's right arm and left leg were an ethereal dark replica.
Lillian couldn't find anywhere on her body that might highlight bruises, scratches, or cuts.
'She definitely has health potions...' She then watched Marionette suddenly swiped her hand.
The dark javelin stuck through Lillian's liver dissipated and melded with the surrounding darkness.
Without it plugging her wound, she felt her blood leak out of her at a concerning rate.
She clutched it with a pained expression and smiled wryly at Marionette. (2)
'I can't die now... I have to stall it out!'
"Oh, you know... you can't possibly have a weak guide now, do you?"
"Still thinking about that? Hm?" She inquired—her eyes widening briefly.
"Of course! The best for beauties like you, y'know?" The corners of her lips twitched slightly. Millis's flirty nature had already rubbed off on her a bit.
"... I see..."
Marionette then stretched her arm out to the side. The familiar bladed polearm appeared in her hand.
"Eh...? You know about the inventory now?"
"I learnt it off the Second Prince amidst our duel." She informed while raising her guandao over Lillian's head.
Lillian pushed herself up into a seated position before crawling back away from Marionette.
"H-hey! How about... we just wait out the time? There isn't much time left, and I'm sure you wouldn't like to stick here bored out of your mind all alone, right?"
Sweat coldly dripped down her face.
"I'm fine being alone for a while. And like you said... I doubt I need to wait long."
She followed after Lillian—her steps slow and elegant.
The cool wind brushed against Lillian's neck. It was like the chilling blade of a guillotine.
Her hands gripped the grass beneath her with bleakness in her heart.
Just as Marionette was about to strike her down, Lillian pushed out her hand towards her and exclaimed:
"H-hold on! If you eliminate me now, I may not be able to return back to reality!"
Marionette paused, gazing at her with a confused look in her eyes.
"What do you mean by this...?"
"When I arrived here, I felt a strange static feeling in this virtual body of mine..."
She, of course, didn't feel something like this. But she had to make up something.
"I believe my pod must've been tampered with..."
"Is that so... we could stay in this world together then..." She said, storing away her weapon.
Lillian breathed a sigh of relief before noticing Marionette creating a large cleaver with darkness. (2)
She was getting a bad feeling about this...
"W-what's that for...?"
"I'd rather not risk having someone around that may further the amount of injuries on my body..."
"W-wait! Are you suggesting that you're going to cut off my limbs to prevent the possibility I would attack you!?"
"... How'd you know?" Marionette asked, tilting her head.
Lillian clenched her jaw. She stretched her hand out to the side and manifested a vile sack in her hand—chucking it at Marionette. (2)
The small air-borne pouch flew through the air before being skewered by a black spear that erupted from the ground.
Marionette stared curiously at it—particularly at the liquid and chunky contents that slowly oozed down her dark construct.
She sniffed the air.
"Is this..."
"Assuming that you killed all those bees... that leaves one more monster to be attracted to the smell of honey fused with Monster Bait..."
Marionette shifted her attention away from the Monster Bait to Lillian, who stared at her with an abnormal amount of confidence.
As the smell permeated and fused with the surroundings, the ground began to tremble and shake.
***
[In the Control Room]
"Oh deary~ is that thing really going to come, Vicky?" Mirage turned towards his trusty assistant with closed eyes and a smile.
His assistant stared at her clipboard, pursing her lips.
"If what contestant Lillian Ker Arius said was true, then it should come."
"I see, I see..." Mirage then turned his gaze towards the ceiling. His eyes opened, with a thoughtful look in them.
"Every kind of community needs something, someone, or some group in charge of maintaining order within as well as providing protection..."
Mirage then gave a short pause, rubbing his chin before continuing.
"In exchange, the one maintaining order would receive something in return from the protectee... be it material wealth, food, weapons, respect, loyalty..."
His smile then broadened, "Now, what would happen if the one maintaining order had suddenly found out the ones it had been protecting were slaughtered? The ones providing it with payments had suddenly disappeared? I'd say..."
Mirage gazed at the screen of a humongous beast at a height of about 9 metres.
Its black and rugged fur was interwoven with jagged metal spikes that erupted from its back, limbs, and shoulders.
The metallic protrusions were sharp and irregular in shape.
Its claws were long and savage, and it had a menacing metallic sheen over it.
Its eyes were a deep black, and his maw was large—capable of swallowing many adult-sized humans whole.
The humongous beast raised its eyes towards a destroyed bee hive. It then pushed out its tongue to drink the small line of honey flowing out of the hive.
Frustrated with the little result, it then gave a terrifying growl that seemed to shake the entire forest.
The beast then tore down the tree the hive was stuck to in one fell swoop of its claw...
Mirage saw this and whistled, tilting his head to the side and tapping his head with his index finger.
"I'd say... if I were in that bear's place, I'd be pretty pissed..."
"... You ranted on again, sir."
"Oh! It seemed I have!" He looked towards his assistant and apologised. He then turned back towards the bear and saw it slowly begin to move towards the last remaining contestants.
"You wanna know something about me, Marionette?"
All eyes inside the control room faced the screen displaying the two women.
Their muscles tensing, their fingers jittering and fidgeting.
One was heavily injured with prosthetic limbs made from darkness. While the other was on the ground with a hole through her liver.
Despite the fact the white-haired girl bled profusely, she grinned cunningly. (10)
"I'm the luckiest person you would ever meet."
After saying that, the gigantic beast burst through the trees—tearing them down and charging at them with intense hostility.