The air was thick with awkwardness — so heavy that even a mechanical like B8017913 was short-circuiting from secondhand embarrassment.
Thankfully, a familiar system prompt broke the silence and saved it from further emotional damage.
[Bumper Car Game Rules]
Every bumper car has a unique core musical note.
Colliding with different cars triggers different tones.
Goal: Light up all 10 magic notes on your steering wheel by landing 3 rear-end collisions per note before the 30-minute game ends.
If not all notes are lit by game end, each passenger loses a percentage of their Blocks equivalent to the number of unlit notes. These will be evenly distributed to players who briefly lit but failed to fully light those same notes.
Each kill increases the car's top speed by 1% and grants the killer one Block from the eliminated player.
Bumper cars are immune to all skills.
You cannot leave your bumper car for more than 3 seconds, or it will go into sleep mode for 5 seconds.
If a player dies, their body respawns at the game's entrance. Their teammate has 10 seconds to pick them up.
Failing to do so adds 3 seconds of malfunction time per second delayed for the car.
If all players in a car are dead, a ticket vendor will escort them back to the car — this takes 12 seconds.
A countdown mist appeared in the arena.
Nivalis stomped the pedal. Their bumper car shot forward.
Rita immediately activated [Yes, I'm Fish Belly, what about it?] — the Arcane version, which extended its duration from 10 minutes to 15.
She then force-activated [Spring Scenery & Flowers], despite it still being on cooldown, and followed up with [Fourfold Spring], which had just refreshed.
Finally, she burned even more Arcane Points to trigger [Midnight Exile], a stacking buff that consumed 3 Arcane Points per minute, but the return was massive.
The Arcane version of [Midnight Exile] could stack up to 4 times, allowing Rita's normal attacks to one-shot players once the buff maxed out.
Nivalis focused on maneuvering the car and collecting hits to light the steering wheel notes. Rita and B8017913 handled the player eliminations.
Rita: "If you get hit, does it drain your battery or something?"
B8017913: "Not really. Unless someone crushes my core with overwhelming force, I just fall apart. As long as my energy's intact, you can put me back together and I'll fight."
Rita paused, calculating. The game didn't really suit B8017913's fighting style. No need to burn its battery.
"Then keep a record of the cars Nivalis bumps into. If we accidentally light a note once and forget which, it'll help. Jump in if you see a good chance, otherwise conserve power."
As they spoke, Rita fired her first shot — [Grand Opening Special].
The first arrow of the match, empowered with 10x damage.
When [Midnight Exile] stacked to 125 times, she followed it with [Family Bucket].
A hundred cloud-like arrows scattered like stars across the arena, each seeking a target.
In that moment, the entire bumper car arena lit up like it was wrapped in mist and twilight.
Blocks fell to the ground like rain. Over two-thirds of the cars were instantly emptied of passengers.
Nivalis whipped the steering wheel and sped toward the glowing Block shadows.
Rita leaned out of the car, brushing each shimmering trace with her fingers — once touched, the illusionary Block became real. A flick of her hand, and it was tossed into the car.
Nivalis let out a gleeful dragon-yelp. She could feel it — the car's speed had surged, probably increased by at least 70%.
She floored the accelerator, crashing into now-empty bumper cars to push them aside, exposing more dropped Blocks for Rita to grab.
The only downside? Just like in the pirate ship game, Blocks only lasted 5 seconds after hitting the ground.
Even with Nivalis coordinating perfectly and B8017913 using its makeshift spear to hook Blocks from the left side, they only managed to collect 27 before the rest vanished.
Rita began pressing them to her body one by one. The small number of Blocks made her uneasy.
But not as uneasy as the surviving players, whose cars now stayed far, far away from her.
Rita was tempted to test a game mechanic:
"Players cannot leave their bumper car for more than 3 seconds."
It didn't say anything about leaving someone else's car.
That meant melee players could theoretically leap onto enemy cars to brawl.
But she glanced at the queue of respawned players waiting near the entrance for escort from the little gingerbread ticket agents and decided: not worth it.
Even if it worked, all it would do is give others the idea. Better to stay on defense and prevent enemies from jumping onto her car.
Driverless bumper cars rolled back to the entrance one after another, automatically picking up fallen players. Each one stopped at a set point to wait for the full 12 seconds before rejoining the match.
As she stuck Blocks to her frame, Rita could hear murmurs from spectators outside the arena.
"Who is that? What kind of skill is that strong?"
"No, but I recognize the flaming wings and the dragon pet."
"Isn't there someone else in the car with her?"
"Is she the one who completed the rare Divine achievement — 'Gods, Remember My Name'?"
"Yup. The one who one-shotted Lania Kaia·Pine Bloom. Absolute beast."
"I heard after Pine Bloom got insta-killed, she went drinking in the food court and picked a fight with Lania Kaia·Maple Syrup."
"Why Maple Syrup though?"
"Uh… parent pays the debt?"
Rita pretended not to hear that last part. She adjusted the Block pieces styled like hair on her head and turned to her companions:
"Don't be shy. You're with me now — better get used to this."
Then B8017913 piped up:
"Earlier, L3217 asked me if you remembered L12767777. I told them yes."
Rita: "Of course I remember! That one's always in my heart. Then what?"
B8017913: "...Then they said their junior was actually L4327777. I haven't replied yet. I seriously don't know what to say."
Honestly? Neither did she.
Nivalis: "BS-Rita: Love 'em and leave 'em."
Rita: "Eyes on the road! No talking while driving!!"