My eyes shot open, and I found myself drowning in a cold, wet abyss. Mind still rattled by the pain, I floundered desperately through it, until my hands touched something solid.

I latched onto it instinctively, tightening my grip, before pulling myself out of the all-encompassing cold, landing gracelessly on even colder ground.

I wasn't of the mind to celebrate, as my body convulsed, tightening as I felt an unimaginable amount of pain pierce through my chest.

My chest tightened even further, and I broke out in wet, rattling coughs. Wheezing, I struggled to breathe through it all, as I forcefully expelled some clear fluid from my lungs.

Through that painful, dizzying haze, I barely registered the sound of a door slamming open, and soon footsteps rushing inward.

Two arms grabbed my sides before carefully propping me back on my feet. I could only grasp a few words from their conversation.

"H… tate….. unstable."

"We… sedation."

Something dry and warm was wrapped over my shivering body, then a hand gently patted me on the back. While this happened, another lifted my arm. Through all the pain, I hardly felt the prick of a needle piercing it.

After that, my vision swam even further away from me. But more importantly, the pain in my chest grew distant.

I was once again consumed by the painless abyss of unconsciousness.

For that I was thankful.

---

I shot up with a start, drenched in sweat, as my hands desperately reached out for my chest. Only relaxing when I found it whole.

Even then, I could still feel a dull ache emanating from it, reminding me of when I was pierced. I broke out in shivers at the memory.

"You're safe now."

A voice beside me spoke, its tone carrying an almost calming weight. I found my hyperventilating breath easing at its words.

It was then my mind finally caught up with reality, and I noticed the softness of a mattress below me, the cool silk of a blanket above me, and a patient's gown clinging to my sweat-soaked body.

The realization hit me at once.

'I'm in a hospital… I'm safe.'

The thought acted as a lever, making me take deep breaths as I wrestled back control of my body. Eventually, I was able to pry my hands from my chest, even as the region ached from phantom pain.

The voice spoke again.

"Feeling better now?"

I turned my head to face it. Finding a doll-like figure, decked in her characteristic witch's gown, with a large wizard hat tilting slightly off her head.

Alice sat beside me, hands folded neatly on her lap, as her silver eyes watched me inquisitively.

I slowly nodded before opening my mouth to speak. My voice came out hoarse; I could feel my throat burning.

"I-"

She interrupted me with a raised finger.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions, cadet Victor, as do I. But this isn't the time for that. You need proper rest. I'll only take a few of yours for now; we can continue this at a later date."

I paused, chewing over my words. Before asking the one thing on my mind.

"What happened to me?"

"It's nothing too serious. We usually get a few of these every year, a typical reaction to an unsightly death in the dream engine. You'll be back to normal in a few hours."

"Why?

She tilted her head a bit in mild confusion.

"Why will you feel better in a few hours? Victor, are you su-"

"No!"

I raised my voice, cutting her off halfway through. It was only after doing so that my muddled brain remembered that I was speaking to a Paragon.

Still, I pressed on, quieter this time.

"Why did I die?"

Luckily, she didn't take offense to my outburst. Instead, she spoke with a wry smile.

"Why did you die? You died because you were killed, of course, by three predators to be exact. Why else would you die?"

"But we hunted the predator. We killed it. How could there be more? How is anyone supposed to survive that?"

She rubbed her chin, almost as though she was considering my words.

"There is that, isn't there? You hunted that beast using the 'Prophecy' from Cadet Song, no?"

Her silver eyes burned holes into me, and I suddenly had the urge to bury myself inside an infinitely deep hole.

'Curse my stupid mouth.'

Of course, Alice would be able to see through that bullshit prophecy I made up. She was Evanka's right hand after all. The simulation was monitored entirely by her.

The Paragon likely knew every cadet's ability. Even if she didn't, it was only a matter of time until she'd figure it out.

So naturally, I'd prepared a plan to deal with her. What I hadn't prepared for, however, was the possibility of her ambushing me right after the simulation.

As my mind scrambled to execute a coherent comeback, Alice carried on.

"There's no need to panic. You know something, I know you do. But you are now an agent of Lady Evanka. If I do not trust you, at the very least I trust her. So I won't pry into your matters for now."

I let out a mental sigh of relief.

'Looks like it still worked.'

Playing as Evanka's agent would help cover a lot of my tracks, it would also help me cover Song's tracks as well. Especially with someone like Alice on our side.

The instructor continued.

"What I will do, however, is answer your question. Why were you killed? How were there so many predators? How could anyone survive that?"

"It's rather simple. You aren't meant to. That's the real world for you. This simulation was a test, but also an attempt to make cadets understand that. No matter who you are, how thorough you plan or what you think you've achieved, it can all be turned to ash in an instant."

Her gaze turned distant as though reminiscing something.

"Perhaps you'll see this as unfair, and it is. But the world doesn't exactly play fair, now does it? It's fine if you don't understand me now, you will in the future."

She focused back on me.

"That's all it is."

I couldn't say I didn't understand where she was coming from. But having my body torn into multiple pieces really fucking sucked.

I spoke rather disgruntledly.

"What about my points then?"

"You'll find out all about that in your interface. I'll just say you shouldn't worry about it too much. The academy also rewards the capable, you and your little band have proven yourselves to be quite so."

"Is that why you met me personally?"

For the first time since we met, she let out a genuine smile, however faint it was.

"You were the last to fall. Plus you are also under Lady Evanka. A little favoritism never hurt anyone."

'Well that's a relief.'

I released a breath I didn't even know I'd been holding. Resting my back on the bed frame, I considered what I could ask next. However, Alice beat me to it.

Her eyes flashed a bit before she spoke.

"I believe our time here is done. All classes tomorrow have been canceled, so you can rest up even more."

Her hand reached for her wide-brimmed hat, adjusting it a bit.

"Well then. Till we meet again."

"But I have-"

She was gone, disappearing right in front of me, leaving an empty chair behind.

'Of course.'

I rubbed my chest while sighing.

The ache was still there, though I tried my very best to ignore it. Even just thinking about it reminded me of the Predators.

'A few hours, huh?'

I certainly hoped so.

Naturally my attention was drawn to a blinking icon at the bottom corner of my sight.

'Might as well check it now.'

A flood of messages popped up.

[You have died.]

[All candidates participating in the simulation have been eliminated. Terminating dream sequence…]

[Applying penalties to all affected cadets…]

[Accounting for number of days survived…]

[Generating final ranks…]

[Process complete.]

[Freshman ranking]

[ 1 – Racheal Solaris]

[ 2 – Victor]

[ 3 – Song Beak]

[ 4 – Maki Sato]

[ 5 – Rowan Kade]

[ 6 – Ayo Oni]

[ 7 – Varic Aurealius]

[ 8 – Alexa Zelinski ]

[ 9 – Akira Kenji]

[ 10 – Shin Tae-young]

.

.

.

[ 20 – Lily]

.

.

.

[ 120 – Karl Menendez]

Even after all that had happened, I couldn't help but find myself grinning at the rankings.

'Second in one hundred and twenty-four.'

Mission accomplished.

' And I only had to get ripped into pieces to do it.'

The rest of our little coalition ranked pretty highly as well, with even Lily, who barely killed anything throughout the trial, shooting up to the twentieth position for just acting as bait during the hunt.

The Predator was that big of a deal.

'And those bastards had the gall to bring out four of those Beasts.'

I was still bloody pissed at that.

The rest of the list looked pretty much the same as it had been in the novel, just knocked down by two more positions. Well, apart from Shin, it seemed pairing up with Rowan had done his performance some good.

I also wasn't too shocked by Varic's surprisingly low position. In terms of combat power, the boy was second only to Racheal. Yet I was sure he'd tried to hunt the predator down, and failed miserably, just like in the novel.

Below the ranking list, I saw even more notifications.

[Calculating rewards…]

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