The bar waiter had black hair, wheaten skin, and a medium height. His hand held a cloth, moving it right and left over a cup held by his other hand. In front of him was a wide table where cups and ice were placed, and there was a group of backless chairs occupied by some people in front of the table. In the same room, there were arranged round tables surrounded by ordinary wooden chairs, most of them empty, with a few people sitting at some tables.
Within minutes, the seventh hour arrived. The waiter moved his hands, placed the cup and cloth on the table, turned his body, and looked at the door behind him. He moved his hand quickly, grabbed the door, and opened it. Before him appeared a room full of workers' lockers. He entered the room, closed the door, took off his uniform, and put on blue trousers and a white shirt. There was a side door in the room he walked toward, and before he could touch it, he felt as if he were in a void.
We heard the sounds of a collision, and the protagonist found himself sitting on the ground, his hands behind him supporting his body, unable to see anything. Then we heard the voice of a laughing demon saying:
"Welcome, humans, to the Dungeon of Horror. Usually, humans come to the dungeon once in a lifetime because they do not live after it."
Then fires began to ignite, fire after fire, and the place appeared like a corridor in an ancient castle but without windows or doors. It was a room full of humans with only candles that barely lit the place. In front of it was a long corridor with the same kind of old wooden candles. We saw a creature before us walking on air, resembling a black cat but with two tails, not much different from regular cats.
The cat continued its speech while licking its hand: "I see knights among you; this will be a truly fun dungeon. Out of respect for you knights, I will say my name is Baki."
One of the attendees shouted: "You damn cat, what..!"
The body of the person who shouted fell without a head. The cat's mouth was covered in blood, and a drop of blood rolled from its mouth. The only sound in the room was the sound of the blood drop falling to the ground. After that, some girls screamed and froze in their places, and a group of people tried to flee. But the group that entered the corridor—as soon as they passed—arrows pierced some of them, another group was crushed like dough due to the ceiling collapsing, and a group fell into giant spikes because the ground suddenly opened beneath them. Fire appeared and burned them until they became like charred meat, and screams of agony were heard all this time. Soon the corridor turned red, the smell of blood filled the place, and only one person succeeded in reaching the end, but he lost consciousness.
Here the cat spoke: "This is your goal: reaching the end of the corridor. Everyone who reaches it gets a reward from me."
The smell of blood stung the noses, and the cat's terrifying voice echoed in the room. The waiter thought: "What did I do for this to happen to me? Calm down, sadness won't help you now."
The waiter looked into the corridor and found wires and tiles different from the rest and whispered: "So the matter is all about traps like in the movies. Often the first stage is easy, but for elimination, more than half of the people here will die..."
The cat told them, smiling: "I forgot to tell you, there were 200 people, 120 of them died. True, you have an hour before you to cross the corridor, and everyone who hasn't crossed the line when the hour ends will die."
Here the protagonist's features changed. He put his hand on his forehead: "This is bad, I was thinking of waiting and watching." He walked over to a girl with red hair and a slightly short stature, and a huge young man with a build like a heavy weightlifter, his hair and eyes were brown and his skin was dark, and said to them: "Hello, my name is Lloyd. I think I know how we get out of this stage." He thought to himself: "If I'm going to die, I won't die alone, and if we live, I will be the one they owe a favor to." The girl smiled for a moment, noticed by no one, and replied: "My name is Celine, what is the method?" The young man said: "My name is Walid."
Celine stared into Lloyd's eyes and opened her mouth to say: "How do we cross?"
Lloyd replied while raising his hand and extending three fingers: "There are three types of traps." He stopped and took a breath, then spoke while raising his index finger and lowering the others: "The first is the wire; when you step on it, a saw appears from two sides cutting your body."
He continued while raising his middle finger to have two fingers up: "The second is a wall; when you put your hand on the wall, arrows come out and leave you like Swiss cheese."
He raised his ring finger and continued: "The third is the tile; there are tiles higher than the others, when you step on one of them, fire comes out of the wall and you become like roasted chicken."
He lowered his hand, fell silent for a bit, then continued: "Does anyone of you know what 'Knights' means, the ones the cat is talking about? He said his name out of respect for them."
Celine looked at Walid; they smiled slightly, but Lloyd didn't see them. Walid said while shrugging his shoulders: "We don't know."
Lloyd moved toward the corridor with sweat pouring from him profusely and the smell of blood stinging his nose, but he didn't run. Instead, he walked slowly; he bypassed the first tile trap, then a wire, and evaded five trapped tiles. He walked on his tiptoes trying to calm himself. Then, in ten minutes, he reached the finish line. When he reached the room at the end of the corridor, he fell to the ground from exhaustion and began breathing rapidly.
Baki looked at him, smiling, and said: "Congratulations to you, one wish. Choose what you want carefully."
After Celine and Walid saw Lloyd reach the finish line, they followed in his footsteps but much faster. Both became by his side, and Baki looked at them and said: "You know the rules, one wish for each of you."
Lloyd looked at them while sitting on the ground and hummed: "What do you think if one of you asks him about the Knights and those with supernatural powers like them? I wish for us to gain this power, and one of you wishes for a way to develop this power."
Celine and Walid looked at each other and chuckled quietly. Lloyd looked at them and thought: "They know something." Walid replied: "Agreed." Walid whispered to Baki in inaudible words, and Baki smiled, moving his tail more. The more Walid whispered, the wider Baki's smile grew, and he played with his tail more. He ended his speech with: "This is what I wish for."
Walid turned to them and raised his hands as if he had done something great and spoke: "I have found out who the Knights are."
Celine tried to stifle her laughter, thinking: "Your acting deserves an Oscar."
Walid continued: "The Knights are a group that undergoes 8 life-or-death challenges, which are dangerous sports, to break something called the 'Genetic Lock.' Once it breaks, you gain supernatural power after performing all the life-and-death challenges." He stopped for a bit to let Lloyd absorb the words, then continued moving his hands right and left to explain to Lloyd: "Therefore, the Knights invented 'Breaking Techniques.' When you perform a life-or-death challenge, part of the genetic lock breaks, and here you gain power after each challenge, right? And the life-and-death challenges must be done with a normal human body, and the breaking techniques give you special abilities, so be careful when you ask him to teach us."
Celine tried to restrain herself from applauding this brilliant actor.
Lloyd replied: "Alright, I understand." Lloyd took a deep breath, his hands lifted him from the ground, and he said: "Baki, my wish is for you to teach us one of the breaking techniques that we choose ourselves."
Baki smiled slightly and spoke lazily: "Fine, you are a little smart, but a promise is a promise, and you haven't broken the rules."
Then blue screens appeared in front of Lloyd, and Baki said to him: "Choose a technique, and the method of its execution will be transferred to you. In front of your friends are similar screens; for each of you, one choice."
Lloyd looked at the blue screens and thought: "Why does it look like games? Doesn't matter now."
Lloyd looked and read what was written on the first screen:
* **Controller:** Reading thoughts, controlling minds, creating illusions, turning imagination into reality, shaping reality mentally, manipulating feelings, and turning into a "thought" so he disappears from the place or passes through walls. He can create "Seeds of Consciousness" and plant them in people; if his real body dies, he is reborn in the body of a person planted with a seed.
* **Sleight of Hand:** Can transform into any shape, can redirect an attack back at its owner, can steal abilities temporarily or permanently, opening doors and spatial holes for moving or storage.
* **The Catastrophe:** Consuming and storing many toxins, he can hybridize toxins inside his body, and he can release a poisonous mist that kills everyone in it. He has immunity against all toxins, and his blood is a concentration of all the toxins he has drunk.
* **Demon King:** Creates 100 followers, and each follower is made using the corpses of humans or monsters. The stronger and more corpses used in making a follower, the stronger the follower will be. It also awakens a random power for the user like the "Awakened ones."
* **Angel?!? :** Treats and heals all diseases and even regenerates the body, makes contracts, and can strengthen others temporarily. Angel is perhaps weaker than the other techniques &$&^÷)#>×*^# &^@?<%@%@&^.
Lloyd, with his hand on his chin, muttered to himself: "I will choose either the first or the second. The last one is not guaranteed, maybe linked to a secret technique but it's not guaranteed, so should I take Controller or Sleight of Hand.... I've decided." Then his hand moved toward a screen, and with his finger, he tapped on **Controller**.
He felt energy coursing through his body in a different way and information entering his mind, and the number of survivors began to increase.
Walid and Celine spoke at a distance so Lloyd wouldn't hear them. Celine toyed with her nail then looked at Walid: "Did you wish for the Butterfly Eye?"
Walid replied, smiling: "Yes, but if I use it now, I'll get a headache; I have to get used to it."
She asked Walid: "How many times are left for you to get the True Butterfly Eye?"
Walid sighed and continued: "Twenty wishes remain for the eye to be complete... I wish we were in a stronger dungeon."
The voice of Baki interrupted everyone's thoughts, saying: "60 survivors, a good number. Fine, to the next stage." After he said his words, the floor expanded and became a giant Roman arena. Baki continued: "Now you will fight each other, and 10 of you will remain. These are the ones who will survive. Good luck in Soul Squad." Baki looked at them; some people wished for swords, shields, or even pistols, and they appeared in their hands. "I forgot to tell you; to make the battle as fair as possible, the Knights will not participate." Then about six people disappeared and appeared in the stands, including Walid and Celine.
Lloyd looked at the stands and at the competitors with him in the arena, saying: "Damn, damn, damn." Then he moved and evaded the axe coming from in front of him, then a random shot ended his life.
Celine said while looking at the arena: "My wish is for you to bring me his soul, preserved in something so it doesn't dissipate."
Baki smiled and pointed with his tail toward Lloyd's corpse and raised his tail. Here, a transparent form of Lloyd rose, the soul's shape shrunk, and a glass ball the size of a palm appeared around it with the soul sleeping inside. Then the ball flew to Celine's palm. She looked at the ball and smiled.