The floor changed.
No one said anything. No announcements. No glowing lights. Just... a shift.
One moment, Lucien and the remaining survivors walked the shattered halls of B100. The next, they were standing in a circular stone room — stark, empty, and silent — with no walls and no ceiling, just black space stretching outward like a void.
Then the voice returned.
[Welcome to Floor B99 – The Trial of the Crimson Hourglass.]Each participant has been assigned a Death Timer: 06:00:00Kill another player to reset your timer.Failure to kill before time runs out will result in termination.Kills grant additional time.Survive. Or perish.
A faint ticking sound began, echoing inside everyone's head like a heartbeat.
Lucien's system chimed immediately.
[Special Trait Detected: Deceiver Class]You have unlocked Hidden Path: The Strategist of Blood.
[Skill Gained: Kill Credit (Lv.1) – When a player kills under your manipulation or command, you gain 50% of the EXP and timer reward.]
Lucien's smile didn't reach his eyes.
He looked around. There were nine others in the circle — a mix of scared teens, aggressive survivalists, and a woman in white armor whose eyes scanned everyone like a hawk.
And Naia and Calen. The two who had followed him this far.
Calen leaned close, whispering. "Six hours… I don't want to kill anyone."
"You won't have to," Lucien said smoothly. "We'll find a way to survive. Together."
It wasn't a lie.Calen wouldn't kill anyone. Lucien would.
Just not with his own hands.
1 Hour Later
The group had split into factions quickly.
Lucien wasted no time.
He approached three others — two bruisers and a sly-eyed girl with a crossbow — and pulled them aside.
"Listen. The rules are clear," he said calmly. "But we don't have to descend into chaos. If we coordinate the kills, everyone survives. We rotate who kills. Share the time."
One of the bruisers scowled. "And how do we know you won't screw us over when it's your turn?"
Lucien raised his hands. "That's why I'm not in the first group. Prove you're trustworthy. You three handle the first elimination. I'll wait."
The girl hesitated. "Who do we kill?"
Lucien turned, eyes landing on a scrawny kid huddled near the wall, eyes wide with fear.
He leaned in, voice soft like poison in honey."Him. He won't last anyway. Better he buys the rest of us time."
The bruisers agreed without hesitation.
Fifteen minutes later, the kid lay dead, throat sliced.
Lucien didn't lift a finger. But his system rang with reward.
[Kill Credit Activated – +3 hours to timer, +40 EXP]
He gave the girl a look of grim approval. "See? Now we're organized."
3 Hours Left
The killings had started to spiral.
Someone panicked and stabbed their own teammate mid-argument. A woman tried to form her own group — she got burned alive by a pyro user whose timer had run low.
Lucien stayed untouched.
He walked between groups, soothing tempers, directing rage, whispering strategies that sounded reasonable… and all led to someone else dying.
Calen and Naia stuck close. Too close.
Naia confronted him at last. "We need to get away from this. It's madness. We can hide—"
"No," Lucien said gently. "Hiding gets us killed. We need a plan. And we need allies."
She narrowed her eyes. "Allies? Or pawns?"
Lucien met her gaze with quiet sincerity — rehearsed and precise. "I'm not proud of what I've done. But I've saved more lives than I've taken."
A pause.
"Can you say the same?"
Naia flinched. She didn't speak again.
59 Minutes Left
Only six remained.
Timers ticking. Eyes hollow.
Lucien addressed them all.
"Enough. We form a final pact. Each of us takes turns killing one person, but we do it cleanly. One death every two hours. Everyone else survives."
Silence.
Then the woman in armor — Cassandra — stepped forward.
"I've watched you. You're too calm. Too clean. You haven't killed anyone yourself."
Lucien didn't blink. "You think I'm a coward?"
"I think you're dangerous."
Before anyone could react, she lunged.
Lucien fell back, barely dodging a sword slash aimed for his neck. The others scattered.
Naia screamed. Calen ran to help.
Lucien rolled to his feet, heart racing — not with fear, but cold calculation.
I can't fight her. But someone else can.
"Calen!" he shouted. "She'll kill Naia! Stop her!"
Calen, confused, scared, still loyal — charged.
Cassandra spun — too late.
His dagger sank into her side.
She screamed in rage, slamming Calen into the wall, but Lucien was already moving — picking up her dropped blade.
One clean stab to the back of her neck.
She fell.
Dead.
[Direct Kill: +5 hours][EXP Gained: +60][Level Up: Lucien Vale – Level 4 → Level 5][New Skill Available – Choose 1:]
Blood PactPledge with another to share EXP. But only you gain rewards.
Commanding VoiceYour spoken orders gain a subtle compulsion effect.
Final WhisperYour last words to a dying target implant a delayed suggestion.
Lucien smiled.
He picked Commanding Voice.
Then turned to the survivors — four left now.
"We survived," he said quietly. "Because we were willing to do what others weren't."
They nodded, broken. Hollow.
His voice had weight now. Invisible strings attached to every word.
[Deceiver Trait Ascended: Voice of the Lie – Level 1]
Lucien looked around the room — now soaked in blood, bodies cooling under red light.
He didn't kill eight people. Not directly.
But they were all dead because of him.
And the Tower approved.
[You have survived the Crimson Hourglass.]Ascend to Floor B98.