Death... and me

"Can't you just say yes?" Rean felt helpless. "Anyways, we should stay together. At the very least, we can trust each other, which would be difficult to do with other teams, don't you think?"

Regio, Milina, and Roan nodded in agreement. Eventually, Samanta gave in as well. "Fine! I still do owe you two, so I'll use this chance to pay for that."

The groups quickly took form. The majority had five people. However, a few had four, and some even just three. The reasons were various. Some simply didn't find enough members, while others thought they worked better than way. In any case, Cassia wouldn't complain about their decisions.

"Alright, let's proceed." Cassia started to explain, "This is a very simple game. It's called...capture the flag!"

Rean's mouth twitched as soon as he heard that name. 'What? Are we back at Earth and I just didn't realize it all this time?' He obviously remembered the games that had those modes. Although he didn't play due to his emotional issue, he did hear about it quite a few times during school.

"Your objective is to capture the enemy's flag and bring it back to your base. However, you must have your flag at your base as well once you bring the enemy's flag. Once that is done, you would have won the match."

"The second winning factor is to simply get rid of all your opponents. However, pay attention when you decide to go for this approach. Otherwise, you might have your flag get caught and lose the match before you could deal with the opponents."

"Last but not least, you will all carry a protection device with you. The ones who made this far are the cream of the crop of our Huring Continent. Unlike the previous tests, we can't afford to have such talents dying here as they are the future of their countries and our continents. That's true even if they don't join our Sacred Land."

"With that being said, this device will deploy a protective barrier the moment it assesses you're about to die or are about to get crippled. This is also a way to make sure that you won't hold back against groups that happen to be from the same country as yours. Simply put, go for the kill every time even if you can't achieve that."

Hedoi and a few other people couldn't help but become disappointed when they heard that. 'So boring...' Of course, they didn't say that to Cassia.

"The battlefield will be different each time. It might be a forest, an ocean, a desert, or some other environment. Some of you might think you're at a disadvantage in a specific terrain and that it isn't fair to your team. Well, too bad! The Realm of Gods isn't fair to start with. Deal with it!"

After that, Cassia asked the participants, "Are there any questions?"

Someone immediately raised his hand, asking in response, "Can we move our own flag so that it can't be captured?"

"No!" Cassia replied. "Only your enemy team can move it. However, you can defeat the person that has taken your flag. As long as that person drops the flag, it will immediately teleport back to your base. The same is valid for the opposing side."

"What if someone hides the flag?"

Cassia shook her head after hearing that. "That won't work. You can't see your opponent's positions, but you can always see the flag's location. The mechanic will be similar to the map you could see in your mind in the Dream City. The flags, both your flag and the opponents' flag, will appear there."

"What if neither side takes action?"

Cassia continued to answer. "Each match lasts for 15 minutes. If no flag is captured until the end, the winning factor will be on who lost the highest number of members of their own group. However, if both sides have the same number of members at the end, the match will end in a draw."

"Can we watch other people's battles?"

"No!" Cassia immediately cut off that idea. "Everyone will be brought to a waiting field, where their groups will be called for the matches. The ones who are not in combat will not be able to watch those who are in combat. In the real world, you usually wouldn't know what your opponent is capable of, and I intend to keep the same conditions here. I hope you paid a lot of attention to the other competitors during the Yin Death Zone test. That might make the difference here."

"Out of the 2341 competitors, how many will be accepted into the Sacred Land?"

"Three hundred or maybe a little more." Cassia then explained, "That has something to do with the scoring system of this test. Each team will battle nine times. Since it's impossible to die or become crippled, it won't take long for everyone to recover after a battle. We also have a few of our Sacred Land elders ready to help you with it."

"Each victory gives you 3 points. A draw provides each team with 1 point and a loss, obviously, 0 points. That means at least 60 teams will be accepted into the Sacred Land, depending on their numbers. If more teams have identical scores at the bottom of the scoring board, extra matches will be carried between those bottom groups. That's all."

Cassia then looked at the people once more after this. "Any more questions?"

Surprisingly, Roan raised his voice. "Is this really the end of the tests? The way you arranged your words a while ago got me thinking. You said, 'This is the last test that will decide who will join the Sacred Land.' right? Does that mean we have some other tests after this? It's just that it won't change the fact that we will be part of the Sacred Land at that point."

Cassia couldn't help but laugh after that. "Hahaha! Smart! Indeed, you will join the Sacred Land through this test. However, it won't really be the last one. After all..." Cassia smiled as she continued, "We need to decide how important you will be to the Sacred Land once you join us. That will determine your future in here."