Sin didn’t know where the others were, or how they were doing, but there was at least one thing that she knew for sure.

My sisters are BATSHIT INSANE! Who the fuck puts fucking Academy students against this SHIT!?

Sin stared down the pack of direwolves that had somehow tracked her down in the forest biome. She’d managed to escape them for a while, and even killed 2 of them via her mirror clones stabbing them. But now, they’d pursued her to the edge of a fast-flowing river.

Sin knew that if she was pushed into the river, she’d probably get her head smashed by a boulder as the water moved so unnaturally fast and powerfully.

The better option was to try and fight these wolves... but Sin still wasn’t used to killing.

But I have no choice. I have to survive, and it’s clear that I’m not gonna get any help!

Sin counted the direwolves. Seven of them. They’re surrounding me completely, so I’ll have to either find a way out, or kill them all.

She had options. Either go invisible, and hope that the wolves simply left, or use her domain to kill them all instantly.

Sin wanted to avoid killing them unnecessarily, so she decided to try the former.

Invisibility.

She disappeared.

The direwolves howled and growled. They were suspicious at first, since there was no feasible way for Sin to have escaped given their cornering of her. And their senses had never deceived them. All logic was telling the direwolves that Sin was no longer there. Their hunt must be over.

However...

Instinctively, most of the direwolves felt like something was off. They edged forward, towards where Sin stood invisible.

Shit. Shit! Why!...

She didn’t want to do it, but she had no choice now. Sin released her invisibility as she held her hand out. Her wrist tattoos began glowing pitch black as they transformed from vines to runes.

The direwolves stopped in their tracks.

Queen’s Domain.

Sin closed her fist.

The direwolves all collapsed on the spot. Some whimpered as they fell, but most of them died silently.

Sin used gravity to crush all of their internal organs.

She stood motionless as the direwolf carcasses simply laid there. Unmoving.

Sin gagged. She fell to her knees and puked where she fell. The feeling that she had with the Queen’s Domain was still raw in her mind. It was almost like she’d personally grabbed all of the wolves’ organs and crushed them barehanded.

It was horrible.

She puked even more. Whatever she’d had for breakfast was long gone now.

Sin spent a few minutes hurling up thin-air once all of the bile in her stomach had escaped her.

She punched the ground with the bottom of her fist. Her body trembled.

“FUCK!!” Sin screamed.

...

Why...

Why can’t I kill a creature trying to kill me?!

Am I that weak?!...

... Rai definitely can!

Sin took a deep breath as she crawled over to the river.

She pulled out some of the water with her mana and used it to wash her face, then clean her mouth.

I’ll... get better at it. I’ll get better at killing! I have to if we’re going to survive together...

Sin was resolute in her new goal. More than anything, she didn’t want to be weak. Being useless in a life or death situation would be more of a dagger to her pride than anything else. It would also mean that she was moving away from her final goal.

To stand atop the peak of skill.

Sin simply wanted to be strong, so that her dad would never have to worry about her. To make her mother happy that Sin was making life easier for her dad.

A short while after cleaning herself up and gagging after taking a final look at the dead direwolves, Sin decided to push forward. She wiped the situation with the direwolves out of her mind and tried to look at the bigger picture.

The goal of the island is to figure out who should be our leader, which means that they have to be both strong and able to lead... I’m already falling behind if I find it hard to kill these things... I have to get used to it fast!

What Sin didn’t fully understand, however, was how dropping all of them onto a deadly island in the middle of nowhere in the Underworld was supposed to actually help figure out who should lead the group.

Maybe Naam and Lilly want us to learn to fight alongside each other against strong creatures? But... with the people in the group that’s almost impossible! There’s so many huge egos and prideful people all over the group, so I really don’t think it’s possible unless someone takes charge through overwhelming power... Or through the others losing their egos somehow. But I don’t see how that could happen.

Sin contemplated as she carefully tread through the forest.

It was quiet enough for her to think about the purpose of the tournament without any danger. But then another problem arose.

My domain is so... weird right now too. I can’t extend its range like normal. Maybe Naam and Lilly set up some kind of interference to stop me from reaching out and finding everyone quickly. Yeah, that’s gotta be it. They know my strengths and made it so I couldn’t just win the game so easily.

Her own ego was clearly through the roof. However, the irony was lost on her.

Sin figured that she could use her domain to sense where everyone was on the island after they’d teleported. But that wasn’t possible right now. Instead, she would try to move around as much as possible to get an idea of the landscape, then figure out where ev-

“SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!” A panicked voice echoed from the direction that Sin was walking towards.

Sin recognised that voice.

It was Maya.

Her own strategy and thoughts could wait. Sin sped up. She ran forward towards the edge of the forest.

When she came out of the forest, Sin found herself facing a massive mountainous wall. As she looked up, Sin quickly realised that this was the bottom of a cliff’s edge. How the fuck did they prepare all of this so quickly?!

“FUUUUUUUUUCK! SOMEBODY HELP!”

Maya was to Sin’s right.

Sin ran along the wall until she saw Maya...

She was gripping the rock face like her life depended on it.

Which, in all fairness, it did.

A horde of four-legged creatures made of geode crystals gathered below where Maya had managed to climb.

Sin recognised them immediately from studying the basic bestiary.

Saxumites! Shit... this is more dangerous than I thought. They’re pack creatures, and their mother must be around here somewhere. They’re supposed to be quite docile... but Maya must’ve pissed them off somehow, and now she’s on the run from them! A saxumite on its own is tough, but when they’re all together like this you’re advised to run and hide silently...

Sin wanted to laugh at the irony, given that Maya was technically hiding, but not in a very silent way... no, not silent at all.

How do I save her from this?

An idea popped into Sin’s head.

Sin quietly tiptoed towards the edge of the nearby treeline, and hid in a bush. She used her Sinful Domain on Maya.

Maya slowly floated away from the wall. She flailed her arms towards the rock face as she lost her grip. Panic began to set in.

“Uh. UUHHH. HEEEEEEELLLLP!!!”

The saxumites ground their gem-like jaws together, causing a terrible screeching sound to come from their group. They were still fixated on Maya.

Shut up Maya! I’m helping but I can’t just give myself away!

Invisibility!

Gone.

It was as if Maya wasn’t there to begin with.

Sin stayed out of sight of the saxumites for as long as she could.

They chittered excitedly as they tried to communicate with one another about where their target could’ve possibly gone. Eventually, they all dispersed back to their caves.

They’re probably going to tell their mother about this... we’ll have to move fast.

Sin pulled Maya down to where she was hiding in the bush.

Release!

Maya appeared again.

“WHAT THE F-”

Sin quickly placed a hand on Maya’s mouth. She made a ‘shh’ gesture with her other hand.

Maya slowly nodded.

Sin let go.

“What the fuck was that?!” Maya whispered.

“I used my domain on you, making you invisible. They lost track of you, and because they’re simple-minded creatures, they left. Hopefully... they don’t come back...”

“Right. Remind me never to piss you off. Thank for the save Princess!”

“Yeah yeah don’t mention it. How’d you even get chased by them in the first place? They’re meant to be peaceful creatures...”

“Hm. I kicked a gem off the top of a rock formation because it looked funny, and then those things all started chasing me!”

“You... idiot! They’re protective of their own kind! Don’t kick random rocks just because they look funny!”

“Bahahaha! You should see your face right now!”

Sin facepalmed.

This? This is what I’m dealing with? Just how battle-hungry are these guys?!

“Hey, Princess...”

“... What?”

“Wanna fight?” Maya asked with a grin.

Sin facepalmed so hard that Maya thought she’d smacked her own face.

“The fuck was that for? You’re not supposed to beat yourself up for me! The fight wouldn’t be as much of a fight like that...”

“No you idiot. The duels are a trap! We’re not supposed to duel each other, we’re supposed to work together! That’s why... those two succubi emphasised the leadership quality stuff!”

“Oh. Well that’s boring.” Maya scoffed.

“Yeah but we have to survive together against shit like that!” Sin pointed at the massive mother saxumite that stomped the ground nearby.

“No fucking way... What the fuck is that?!”

Sin was amazed, just like Maya. She’d seen drawings depicting the mother saxumite, but this was beyond anything that she’d ever expected.

It was like a bunch of colourful crystals melded together to create a humungous monster with massive sharp crystal teeth and claws.

The mother saxumite screeched by grinding its gem teeth against one another. It was just like the smaller saxumites, but the noise the mother produced was far louder and ear piercing.

Birds flocked away from the forest, and Sin and Maya covered their ears against the creature’s sound.

Sin came to the conclusion that the only option for them was to run. Even her gravity magic wouldn’t so easily counter saxumites. Especially a mother saxumite that was that big. It would have required her to have much better developed mana channels that were used to outputting the Queen’s Domain at a more concentrated rate, which Sin was physically unable to do right now.

Maya looked at Sin expectantly.

Sin signalled that they needed to run.

She counted down with her fingers.

3.

2.

1.

The two of them dashed away from where the mother saxumite was.

The geode-like creature screamed.

Sin and Maya heard the screeches of the saxumites behind them.

They were on the run, when they suddenly heard a roar from above them.