Death Rule: Killing System Prologue

His vision was blanketed in white.
But even though he couldn't see, he knew where he was.
The sound of a bustling crowd and the smell of the sea...he remembered this place.
“...Do you promise to behave for your uncle Abe while your dad and I are away?”
Yes, this was the last time his family had been together. Truly together.
“Yes! I'll be nice to unca' Abe.”
“That's my boy.”
His father's large hand patted his head, the man beaming with a smile that, from then on, would forever be marred with the shadows of grief.
The S.S. Augustus sounded its horn, signaling its passengers that it was preparing to depart.
“Oh, Richard, that's our cue.”
His mother lifted him up off the ground and kissed both his cheeks before handing him off to his uncle,
“Take care you two, we'll be back within a week.”
“Goodbye son,”
As uncle and nephew waved the couple off, the boy's memory began to fade away. Slowly, the scent of sea salt was replaced with incense. When his vision returned, the boy was standing behind his father, the man a sobbing mess atop a coffin.
“Why? Why did you save me Sarah?!”
This was the aftermath of that cruise, and was the moment his family changed for the worse. In a way, his mother was the soul of the family, and by losing her it was akin to killing them all.
While his father had become a broken mess following the aftermath, no one was more affected than his uncle.
“Sarah, I promise you this,”
That was another thing he clearly recalled, his uncle looking towards his mother's coffin with bared teeth, his eyes betraying a bloodlust that scared him even to this day.
“I'll make sure everyone knows the people who did this to you. I'll make them pay with their lives...”
The vision changed once more, this time the temple was replaced with a cold and damp grave.
He once heard that to curse someone is to dig two graves, one for the person being cursed and one for the person cursing.
In the end, his uncle succeeded in revealing to the world the people responsible for his mother's death and destroyed them in the process. But the price he payed?

Here Lies Abraham Archer
B. March 20, 1985  D. June 1, 2012
Uncle, Friend, Mentor, and Brother

The price was the very grave that stood before him.
Again, the blinding whiteness took over. When his sight returned, he could only make out silhouettes struggling before him.
“No, let me go! Stop!”
“Get your hands off her you jackasses!”
That second voice was his voice, the voice he had now. But for some reason, it felt as if it were a memory from long ago.
He remembered struggling with men twice his size, the brutes easily restraining him and his friend. As they dragged her away, the youth thrashed and gnawed every which way he could to escape them and save her. But the last thing he recalled was the feeling of a needle pressing against his neck before everything, even his memory, turned to black.

The life you knew is now gone. As the curtain rises on this tragedy of despair, I can't help but wonder...
What kind of man will you become?

“Uuugh...”
The youth slowly roused from his slumber, his body aching as if he had been motionless for ages. Using his arms as support, he sat up on the hard bed.
Almost immediately, a painful headache threatened to knock him out again. After the moment passed, he rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Where the hell is this place?”
Looking to his right side, he recognized the room as that of a hospital. Next to his bed was an EKG machine that beeped at a constant pace. He imagined it was his vials the machine was measuring.
Immediately, he reached to his chest to check if anything had been attached to him.
To his surprise, something had been attached. But it wasn't on his chest.
“The fuck?”
Clamped around his right wrist was something akin to one of those smartwatches. However, unlike those watches, the back of the band was sealed. Along the sides of the front, two buttons could be felt.
Curious as to what they did, the youth pressed both down at once.
Immediately, a screen materialized in front of the watch face.
“Holy crap, this must be one of those brand new AR watches.”
The projection before him displayed three options: Player, Map, and Rules.
All three menu options called to him, but he figured it would be better to start from the top. His finger tapped on the Player option. A small ripple emanated from where he touched the screen before the menu was replaced with a small block of text.

Player Data—
Full Name: Devon Kyle Worth
Date of Birth: May 24, 2004
Birthplace: Ferris Sound, Torht Republic
Blood Type: AB+

Codename: [Augustus]
Initial Number: Not Set
Current Rule: Not Set

Devon's blood ran cold over how detailed the information was. The fact that his birthplace was listed as “Ferris Sound” and not “Evansville” the city which was officially listed on his birth certificate, told him that the person responsible had intimate knowledge of him. They also happened to know how to get under his skin, as he abhorred the name Augustus since he was a child and, sure enough, that name was used as his codename.
His mood soured, Devon turned off the screen and slumped back down onto the bed.
“Man, what a way to wake up.”
He shut his eyes again, vainly hoping that the next time he opened them he would be back in his room.
While his wish wasn't answered, that moment of silence from both body and mind made Devon realize something:
Someone else was in the room with him.
He rolled over on the bed towards his left, having forgotten to look the other way when inspecting the room.
“Oh damn.”
Laying in the bed opposite of his was a rugged man with russet hair, red flannel shirt and a gun holster hooked around his leg. From the opening in his half-buttoned shirt, he could make out a serpent like tattoo adorning his chest.
Slowly, he got off his own bed and approached the man's side.
A part of him wanted to reach out and touch the sleeping figure. But the more reasonable parts of him told him to back away. After all, whose to say this man wasn't the one responsible for placing him here?
That internal squabble didn't last long, for shortly afterward the man's eyes fluttered open. Devon froze in place as the man locked eyes with him.
“...Abe?”
Just as he reached out to touch him, Devon backed off slightly.
“Sorry man, you've got the wrong guy.”
Once the man rubbed the sleep from his eyes and got a good look at him, his face went red.
“O-Oh, my bad! I was just—”
He shot up in his bed, but almost fell back from the dizziness had Devon not jumped in to support him. The man seemed to mutter to himself,
“At least I'm in a bed this time...”
After recovering from his dizzy spell, the man turned himself to face Devon better.
“Ah, thanks for that. What's your name kid?”
“I'm not a kid.”
The man chuckled at Devon's reaction, his voice holding a hint of nostalgia,
“Heh, where have I heard that before?”
He waved the thought away before getting stern,
“Listen, you cooperate with me and I'll tell you all I know about what's going on? That alright with you?”
“Y-Yeah, that sounds like a plan.”
“Alrighty then, so let's start from the beginning: What's your name?”
Devon hesitated to answer. But considering he had no other options opened to him, he relented.
“Devon. Devon Worth.”
The man smiled, patting the youth's head gently.
“Cute name. Mine's Dwight Hatcher.”
“K-Knock it off!”
Devon swatted Dwight's hand away indignantly.
“I told ya, I'm not a kid so don’t treat me like one!”
“Sorry kid, it’s just hard to resist. Not every day I’m the older one in a group.”
Devon could only let out a frustrated groan.
“Can we continue? Or are ya just gonna keep teasing me?”
“Depends. Are you going to play nice with me or are you going to keep reacting to everything I do to you?”
The youth opened his mouth to protest, but realized that doing so would simply prove the man's point. Devon sighed in frustration.
“Fine. Where are we?”
“I don't know.”
“Whaddya mean you mean ya don''t know?!”
“I don't know. I was knocked unconscious before being brought here. All I can assume is that we're in some kind of hospital.”
“I could’ave told ya that...”
“Good to know. Now answer me this: do you remember what happened before you woke up here?”
Devon opened his mouth to answer, but his mind drew a blank. Solemnly, he answered,
“....no. I don't.”
“That makes two of us then. Just wanted to be sure I wasn't being an idiot.”
The man scratched his chin,
“So, whatever they did to us seems to have made us forget how we got captured.”
“Whadda ya think they did?”
“Honestly? They probably drugged us.”
Devon grimaced,
“Ya think they did anything to us while we were out?”
“Probably. That's what happened last time.”
“Last time?”
Dwight sighed solemnly.
“I've....been through something similar before.”

When I was a 14 year old boy, I woke up in a dark forest. Around my wrist was a brace similar to the one we're wearing now and an old PDA containing rules about a death game in my pockets. One of the things that the device told us about is that we had a bomb implanted in us.  We never bothered to check at the time because of all the other things happening, but after getting rescued it was pointed out to us that we had surgical scars on our chests.

Devon clutched at his chest, panic settling deep within it.
“Only one way to find out if the kidnappers put the same thing in us. But I guess I should ask: you want to check my body, or you want me to check yours?”
“Check me. I haven’t been through what you’ve been through, so any scars will stand out.”
Dwight nodded,
“Alright, lose the shirt then.”
With shaking hands, Devon undid his school uniform, then the baseball jersey underneath.
While he was no stranger to stripping in front of other men, there was something that just made him feel unsettled. Perhaps it was the fear of finding out that a bomb had been planted within him.
“Come here.”
Timidly, he approached the man, who began to run his fingers along Devon’s exposed abdomen.
The youth held his breath as Dwight inspected him, his muscles tense each time his touch seemed to linger in one spot.
“You do a lot of sports?”
“Y-Yeah. I play baseball.”
“Figures. You’ve got a pretty good build, kid. Makes checking for scars far easier.”
Devon couldn’t help but blush.
“T-Thanks.”
“Hey, you didn’t deny it this time.”
Devon sighed,
“’s not worth arguing with you about it anymore.”
After inspecting him fully, Dwight patted Devon on the shoulder.
“Good news is that it doesn’t look like we’ll be going boom.”
The youth sighed in relief, letting himself fall back onto the bed.
“Thank God. I don’t think I could handle havin’ a bomb inside me.”
“Don’t relax just yet. I imagine the person responsible has some other way to make us comply with whatever they’re cooking up.”
As Devon got dressed again Dwight stood up from the bed and explored the room fully.
The main room was mostly barren, saved for the two beds the two woke up on.
The small bathroom attached to the room had some extra rolls of toilet paper as well as a working shower and toilet, but other than that, it was empty as well.
The door leading to the main hall caught their interest. Attached to the doorway was a strange device.
 By the size of it, they assumed that the device kept the door locked. To be sure of this observation, Devon tried opening the door.

“Please authenticate your bracelet by tapping it against the RFID reader. The door will open when all Players in this room have authenticated their bracelet on this device.”

“Guess we know what the box is now, huh kid?”
Dwight wasted no time in tapping his own bracelet against the reader. After a moment, the voice responded.

“Bracelet for Codename Orion has been authenticated. Please authenticate the remaining Player’s bracelet to unlock the door.”

After being cleared, Dwight looked back and grabbed the youth’s right arm.
“H-Hey!”
Before Devon could put up much of a struggle, Dwight forced the other’s bracelet against the scanner before letting him go.

“Bracelet for Codename Augustus has been authenticated. Please stand clear of the door, it will swing towards you.”

The door gave a click before swinging open. With a small bow, Dwight motioned towards the hallway.
“After you kid.”
The youth could only curse under his breath as he walked out of the room.
“Asshole.”


LOCATION: Main Entrance

As they entered the central atrium, Devon couldn’t help but stare. The beautiful glass chandeliers reflected the light coming in from the windows above, illuminating the area in such a way that one wouldn’t be faulted in believing they were outside. In the center of the atrium was a small garden with a statue of a woman cradling a baby standing over the flower hedges.
“Wow, this place is gorgeous.”
As the two headed towards the garden, they began to hear the familiar chatter of people.
“Sounds like we’re the last ones to the party, kid.”
“Yeah, it does.”

In the center of the garden, a small crowd of people had gathered there. With him and Dwight, Devon counted 16 people present. And on all of their wrists, he could see that same familiar metal bracelet.
“So these people were kidnapped too...”
As he surveyed the crowd, Devon’s heart skipped a beat as he heard a familiar pair of voices.
“H-Hey kid, where are you going?”
Slipping through the groups, Devon soon found a familiar pair chatting away in a corner. Unable to contain his glee, he called out,
“Sean! Yuu!”
The two looked over and broke into smiles upon seeing Devon. In a moment, the youth soon found himself squished between the two as they rushed up to hug him.
““Devon!””
“What are you guys doing here?”
The two looked at one another before Sean spoke up.
“That’s what we were talking about.”
“Y-Yeah, we can’t remember.”
Yuuki motioned to the others behind them.
“None of us can.”
“Yet you three seem familiar with one another.”
A man with a bright red scarf was the one to speak up.
“How do you know each other.”
“W-We’re friends, ‘s all.”
The man seemed unconvinced. That doubt quickly spread to the others, who looked at the trio with suspicion.
“That is quite the coincidence, no?”
The next person to speak up was a woman with dark flowing hair,
“None of us have ever met before, yet here you are with two of your friends.”
“I’m afraid you’re wrong there.”
A woman with a purple turtleneck stepped forward and placed herself between Devon’s friends and the mob.
“I know that man over there.”
She pointed to Dwight, who pushed a couple of people aside to join her.
“A-And how do you know him?”
A small boy was the next person to prod them,
“You can say we’re…acquaintances.”
Dwight seemed to take offense to the statement, but snapped back into attention as the mob’s mood soured.

Among them, Devon could hear them say,
“They might know why we’re here.”
“Maybe they’re the ones that brought us here.”
“This was more than a coincidence.”

“Oh boy, what a way to start, huh Ari? Not even 15 minutes and we’re already suspected of being the masterminds.”
“This was to be expected. I mean, how often do people who recognize each other meet in these games?”
“Well, there was Gabe and Hec in our game, remember?” Dwight said, “So perhaps a similar coincidence happened with those three.”
The way Dwight had said that made Devon think that him meeting with that woman was not out of chance. Without realizing it, Devon himself began to cast doubts on the duo.

[All players have been gathered. Activating Game Master Unit 1KS—Call Sign: SAYA]

The groups backed up against the hedges as a large glowing ball suddenly appeared in the center of the argument.
With a flash, the ball ruptured and, in its place was a young girl dressed in white. Her red and green hair fluttered about as she descended.  The fin that made up her lower body lazily flapped about as she stopped shy of touching the ground.

All of them stared at her, shocked by the girl’s strange appearance. Her large eyes felt lifeless, especially her left eye, which was a blood red and was the only notable feature that could be made out of the black stain that covered the left side of her face.

She looked at them all with a childlike curiosity…
...before the most wicked smile crossed her lips.

“You’re all going to die down here.”
[END PROLOGUE]