“What do you mean by no one?” asked Uruvi.

  “No one knows if the system doesn’t say anything about it. It is hidden away deep in the system,” said Ashwin.

  “Explain, please?” asked Uruvi.

  “Okay. For that, you need to understand my Talent. It basically allows me to see through the code and hack into systems. The kind of systems I can hack increases with my skill level. For the moment, I am basically a novice hacker, able to hack into human-made systems. Something I could do before, only now I can do it faster. Since the system governing the apocalypse is a… system, I could technically hack into it. However, my skill level isn’t high enough to actually hack the system, and honestly, I don’t think it ever will be. Even though I can’t hack and make modifications, I can still see data that might be invisible to others. This happens to be one of them.”

  Uruvi froze for a second, trying to decipher what he had just said. “Okay. I think I understood less than one percent of that. Let’s just stick to the important stuff, shall we? Like, what is the perk? And why is it hidden?”

  Ashwin nodded and said, “understandable. For your first question. It allows the Contestant to add a new rule to the system, as long as it doesn’t contradict existing rules. As to why it is hidden, I don’t know. It is basically inaccessible to the Contestants.”

  “Doesn’t that make it useless?” asked Rambha.

  “Not to him,” said Uruvi.

  “Well…” said Ashwin, squeezing her face.

  “Let me guess, your skill is not high enough,” said Rambha.

  “Kind of. The skill upgrade is locked away at level 15. And even then, I am not sure I can hack into the system to use it,” said Ashwin.

  “Well, that is disappointing,” said Uruvi, sinking back into her chair.

  “Could it be possible that the system will add it as an update?” asked Rambha.

  “It is possible. But… Let’s do it. Let’s try to see if we can hack the system and access it,” said Ashwin.

  “Wow. How daring,” said Rambha, sarcastically.

  “We have to be, right? If we are going to fight against the system, we need to do things that will break the system,” said Ashwin.

  Uruvi nodded. “Yeah. We need to do things off the books as well.”

  Rambha had a warm smile on her face, “look at my brave soldiers! So cute!”

  “Hmm… Darling. I think you drank a little too much,” said Uruvi.

  The smile on her face disappeared as realization kicked in. “Yeah. I think you are right.”

  Ashwin picked up his bottle and found it to be empty. “You drank mine too?”

  “Okay. Let’s get back to the topic at hand, shall we? What do we need now? We need you,” she said, pointing at Ashwin, “at level 15, and one of us needs to get to rank 1.”

  “I am at Level 13. So, it should not take me too long to climb upto 15,” said Ashwin.

  “That is one problem solved. Next will be getting to Rank 1. That might be a daunting task,” said Uruvi.

  “We could get in touch with the guy at Rank 1. Maybe we can hash out a deal, heck, he might even cooperate willingly,” said Rambha.

  “Yes. But how do we know where to find him?” asked Uruvi.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “We are able to see most of their details. Maybe we can see their location as well?” said Ashwin as he began tapping away on his screen.

  ‘Arya, can we?’

  “Affirmative. The location of the contestants is exposed to the other Contestants in the same area,” explained Arya.

  ‘Huh… I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.’

  “What, seriously?” exclaimed Rambha.

  “What? What happened?” asked Uruvi.

  “Everyone can see my location! It is a recipe for disaster!” said Rambha.

  “Oh, it is. But at least we can take advantage of it ourselves. Sashwat is in Sandhya Nagar,” said Ashwin.

  “Isn’t that part of the old city?” asked Uruvi.

  “It is. I hope he doesn’t get out of there before we get to him,” said Ashwin.

  “What new rule are we planning to add?” asked Rambha.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” said Uruvi. “A way to stop the last Contestant from dying.”

  ***

  Uruvi stood before the edge of the terrace, peering into the darkness before her. She scrolled down the leaderboard to the bottom. Sanjay and Arjit sat at the bottom with a small difference of 30 points. The third last, Naman was the name, had a significantly greater number of points compared to Sanjay. She began feeling restless, unable to contain her thoughts. ‘Arya. Show me the location of the last two players?’

  “Affirmative.”

  The map opened before her. Two dots appeared right next to each other. They were on a street not too far from where she was. ‘They are right next to each other…? Arya, can you draw me a safe path to their location?’

  “Affirmative.”

  A path appeared on the screen. Estimated time – 12 minutes. There were about 15 minutes till midnight. ‘What is my plan here?’ She began to wonder. ‘Can I even do anything?’ She shook her head and leapt off the building. She could hear Rambha’s voice calling out to her as she vanished into the darkness.

  ***

  By the time she had reached the aforementioned street, a large group had gathered around the place, watching the two men fight their way through a pack of Mrugam. ‘Looks like I am not the only one here to witness the tragedy about to unfold.’ Her eyes darted around the crowd, observing each one of their faces. Some looked anxious, some looked sad, while still others appeared to be relishing the entertainment before them.

  Suddenly, another question popped into her head. ‘Is the third place here as well? Arya. Where is the last but third Rank, right now?’ His name was Naman, and his dot appeared on the other corner of the area. With only four minutes to midnight, she didn’t have to worry about the third one showing up there.

  She watched the duo tear through the monsters, with the crowd cheering every time one of them killed a monster. ‘Is this what gladiator matches felt like?’ By the end, only one monster was left with two minutes to spare.

  She saw the board again. There was only 12 points difference between them. The two of them stared down at the monster, which appeared to be frightened by them. She was taken aback by the monster’s reaction, for it was the first time she saw genuine fear in these monsters.

  Arjit, who was still in last place, stared down the Mrugam, only to be knocked aside by Sanjay.

  “Fuck off, man!” said Sanjay.

  The monster used the opportunity to jump onto Sanjay, who managed to parry its attack. Arjit quickly got on his feet, and the three were entangled in a dance of death.

  ‘This is going to get bad!’ She leapt from the building, landing behind a small crowd. She pushed her way through and came before a line of men, who were standing much closer to the battle.

  One of them turned back and saw her walking towards them. “Oye! Where do you think you are going?” he asked.

  “Out of my way!” she said.

  “Don’t you dare get in the way,” he said, seething through his teeth. He stepped forward, almost ready to attack, when one of his friends held him back.

  “Bro. She is rank 15…,” said his friend.

  His angry expression instantly changed, filling his eyes with fear. He stepped back and made way for her. She rushed towards the fight, with no plan in her head.

  Suddenly, the monster seemingly gave up and dashed away. Arjit chased after it, followed by Sanjay. The monster was slow and sluggish, giving enough time for Arjit to catch up. However, Sanjay leapt over him, striking the monster down.

  One minute remaining.

  The crowd erupted into cheers, many chanting Sanjay’s name. But Sanjay was not enjoying any of this.

  Arjit had tears rolling down his cheeks. “What the fuck!”

  “I don’t want to die,” said Sanjay, panting.

  “You think I do?” Arjit said and leapt at him.

  Uruvi paused, watching them fight it out with their bare hands. The crowd continued chant their names, riling them up even more. She was clueless about how to save them.

  Sanjay gained the upper hand, pushing Arjit back onto the ground. Ten seconds remaining. Fury seemed to boil over as Arjit picked up a handful of sand and tossed it into Sanjay’s face. Sanjay immediately looked away. When he turned back to face Arjit, he found him standing right before his face, and a blade driven through his torso.

  Sanjay’s eyes turned dark as he fell to the floor, and the crowd erupted into a roar. Uruvi’s heart froze while her eyes turned towards the leaderboard. Sanjay’s name vanished, and Arjit’s name leapt over Naman’s name. The clock struck 12, and with that, Naman’s name too vanished.

  She saw Arjit look down at his hands that were covered in blood. He turned toward her, his eyes misty and full of guilt and fear. “I…” He wished to say something but couldn’t. Instead, he simply fled into the darkness of the night.