*CRASH*

The sound of glass shattering on the marble floor.
A furious gesture. Mine, throwing the empty vial to the ground.
It's not like me, but I couldn't contain the burst of anger.

I stand struggling to hold back the rage as I watch Bicrista dead in the levitating globe in front of me.

In all situations I've found myself in, I've always tried to maintain control.
I've always sought to place myself in a situation of absolute advantage, to trap enemies in my schemes.
In this game, though, everything is precarious. I face opponents I don't know, without being able to use all my abilities.
I'm playing a dangerous game where I've bet everything I have, against an opponent far more experienced and powerful than me.
Queen Azherie.

The vial contained one of the potions I've continued to take to keep my hit points at a good level, then transfer them to Bicrista to keep her alive, but eventually, her HP reached zero.

But what angers me the most is not that she died, but that the three gems are left unguarded.
I've lost two players and Azherie has lost two. Although Rero is in critical condition, I still have a numerical advantage.
Gallo was expendable, Bicrista a bit less so, but I still have my strong pieces available.

But why does she appear so calm?

Azherie's tranquility, my adversary in this deadly game, deeply disturbs me.
Seated, in front of her a globe levitates while showing the game arena.
The queen seems amused, as if the spectacle of death were a source of entertainment for her.

Throughout the entire time, she observed the conflict, calm with a half-smile. As if she didn't care about losing Fierro or Jakobus.
Perhaps for her, they are just expendable pawns in this game.
It is true that for both of us, losses will only be definitive in the case of a final defeat in the Demonic Game of Death.
Indeed, I still feel the weight of the contract with Bicrista. It has not yet been broken.
However, if I were to lose, she would be dead forever.
Yet losing players means having fewer chances of winning in the end because of the rules.

One thing that troubles me, and I've thought about it all the time, is how is it possible that two of the servants know two of mine?

"What are the chances of encountering Rero's brother and Bicrista's nemesis in this game?" I deliberately think out loud, so she can hear me too.

Her response, a disdainful laugh, only increases my displeasure.
She laughs, as if my question were foolish.

"Do you really think it's a coincidence, Strauss Wagner?" she looks at me and then clicks her tongue. "No, it isn't."

"What do you mean?" I urge her to continue. I will not accept half-answers or vague statements.

"I see you're nervous." she takes pleasure in seeing me agitated.
She enjoys feeling in control of the game, while for the first time, I am out of my comfort zone.
I, a spider, am caught in a web larger than my own.

"Explain what you mean, Azherie." despite everything, I insist.
I must know. I must understand.

"Everything happens for a reason, it has already happened and will continue to happen. Who knows how many times we have clashed in this infinite cycle." Her response is absurd, so absurd that it is practically not an answer.

She speaks of infinite cycles, of clashes repeated beyond time, suggesting a knowledge that goes beyond mere participation in this game.

I clench my fists, annoyed.

The queen remains cryptic while maintaining her amused smile. Her words can imply many things.
Perhaps she is simply mocking me. But Azherie is not the type to give misleading information.
She is very confident and thinks she has already won, although she could well do so, I don't believe she would deceive me to gain an advantage. It's not in her personality.
She loves to win with overwhelming force.
Her plan is to have me trapped in a web she has carefully spun, namely the Demonic Game of Death.
More than lying, she omits.

Could her words be referring to my transmigration? Does she know that I lived another life before?
It was Raqahela who gave me the opportunity to choose this particular class before reincarnating as Strauss Wagner.
Was it the same for Azherie Loree’nahil? Or was it Barthomefolus who told her?

Should I ask her directly? But how can I pose such a question?
For now, it's better to keep silent about it. I have never revealed it to anyone and would prefer to keep it a secret.
I try another approach.

"So, did you deliberately choose them for this confrontation?" I insist, trying to get more information.

"Don't be foolish! I collect special individuals. I've had many in my life."

She even has a Lich and a dwarf among her Servants.
Special beings that I never thought I would encounter.

But was Fierro Sansanti that special? Certainly, a prodigy with the sword, but who knows how many she has encountered before in her life. Or Jakobus Aufreiber, a diabolical serial killer, but still not on the same level as a Lich.

She says she's had many.
The queen talks about collecting special individuals, as if the life of her Servants was part of a collection to be displayed and then discarded. Does it mean she continues to change them? Why not have as many as possible then? She only has seven at her disposal.
Perhaps the weight of the contracts would be too burdensome for her? So many questions to which I do not have answers.
I can only make assumptions.

Her beautiful face saddens, and her eyes turn snow white.
"Unfortunately, they have an expiration date."

"Expiration date?" Servants have an expiration date?
This is a concept that is new to me and disturbs me.

"You don't even know this?" she is visibly surprised by my ignorance.

I would like to retort but suddenly the levitating sphere shows a scene that catches my attention.
All my thoughts are interrupted, and the questions I had are put on hold.

The sphere shows the place I was observing until just a moment ago.
In the temple where the fight between the Schreken twins and Jakobus Aufreiber took place, a portal opens.

From it emerges Sylthrenn, the Elfrider whom the queen wanted to add to her team although she doesn't have a contract with him.

As expected, the spider-elf is exploiting his space-time spells to move instantaneously from one point of the Arena to another.

His goal is clear to me. To collect the gems and bring them to the queen's spider statue.
That's why I wanted Deedee's team to eliminate him quickly.
But things didn't go as planned.

Sylthrenn walks up to Jakobus's coat.
He rummages through the pockets and takes the purple gems of Gallo and Bicrista.

Then he reaches the corpse of the serial killer.
With his poleaxe, he forcibly moves Bicrista's body, further mutilating it.
He locates Jakobus's gem and picks it up.

*TWACK*

An arrow violently implants itself in the Elfrider's left chest, catching him off guard and making him scream in pain.

*HRIEEEEEKK!*
The scream comes out like an eerie spider's roar.

"Stop right fucking there, you son of a bitch!"

I smile.

That's my Deedee.