CHAPTER 42: SURVIVE THE NIGHT

"Survive the night." That was all Dante said as he looked at Nellie. She blinked, clearly confused by the phrase, her lips parting slightly as if to ask what he meant. But even Dante looked unsure of himself this time, as he read the available games on the spot. He then looked at Nellie and said. "Before you asked me anything else, give me a minute."

"Ah sure!?" She said, just waiting for Dante orders. With that he turned his gaze back to the glowing monitor before him, a frown slowly forming across his face. "Virgil... he said, typing his response rapidly into the chat group between him and his guide. "What the hell kind of games are these?"

The screen flickered the moment he pressed enter to send the message, an a moment after, an answer came almost instantly.

[Available Game: Survive the Night, Death Race, Free-For-All]

Dante squinted at the list, reading it over twice. The names of these new games alone gave him a bad feeling, it was less refined and family friendly, and more chaotic than before. As such he voice his opinion in his text messages. "These aren’t like Beatrice’s games." He said to Virgil, continuing his rants. "She got easy games, like rock-paper-scissors, and head or tail, those are really easy games, so what the hell are these abominable choice’s of games you picked for Nellie!?"

He typed again, irritation showing through his calm smile. "Virgil, care to explain why the options this time look like they came straight out of a horror show?" A moment later, a new line of text appeared, as Virgil try to explain itself.

[The games are randomized per player. Beatrice was simply lucky to draw easier ones]

"Randomized?" Dante echoed softly, his brows furrowing. "Um D, are you ok, you seem to be pissed about something." Nellie asked, a little scared by his sudden change in mood, Dante might not see it, but when he is angry, he makes a scary facial expression that could make the devil himself tremble at the mere sight. His eyes goes full purple staining the white of his scelera, glowing menacingly, and his teeth become jagged like a shark, and his aura spike to a scary degree.

"Tch... figures." He leaned back in his chair, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "So Beako gets puzzles and moral dilemmas, and this poor girl gets, whatever this is supposed to be." His gaze shifted to Nellie for a brief moment. She was still seated across from him, his eyes darting between him and his screen.

But just as his anger was about to get even higher, than it initially was, Virgil step in and says.

[These games, can give you Negativity base on the fear and madness level they experience]

"She is a big girl, I am sure she will manage." Dante type his response instantly after hearing the good news, his anger dissipated almost immediately as he had a content smile.

[...And you call me heartless]

"I am only a Negative Spirit after all, it’s is my nature for wanting more Negativity, you can’t blame me." He replied back, but soon change the topic so he doesn’t have to deal with Virgil cynical lectures. "That aside, what the hell is Survive the Night, exactly? I have never heard of a game like that before!?"

Naturally Virgil began to responded to Dante question about the layout of the first game, but the answer he got was not the answer he was expecting.

By the name alone he already figured it was probably going to be a hellish game, but the content behind it’s set up was far for more detailed than he originally imagine.

[Survive the Night takes place in a Limited Dream World. The Player assumes the role of a popular ghost-hunting streamer. Recently, the Player’s channel has been losing traction, and to revive their fame, the player plans one last big broadcast, exploring the infamous Santa Mortuum Asylum. The asylum was abandoned in the late 18th century after multiple reports of disappearances and mass suicides within its halls. While the Player assumes it is all just rumor and myth, they soon learns that the legends are true in the most horrific way possible. Strange creatures, roams the facility at night, each of them dangerous beyond measure. The objective is simple: survive one night, or eight hours, within the confines of Santa Mortuum]

Looking at the monitor, Dante rubbed his temples with a tired sigh. "So games like these exist too, huh?" He muttered under his breath. "Still, a deal is a deal. I upheld my end of the bargain by saving her from that Exorcist. If she loses... she becomes my Player Avatar it is as simple as that."

His voice was low in this moment, so much so, it could barely even be called a whisper, but even if Nellie couldn’t hear his words, something about his calm expression made her stomach twist. And it was only now that panic took over.

’Shit... shit, shit, shit!’ She screamed internally, her heart pounding. ’Why the hell did that Exorcist bitch have to chase me!? Fuck! What did I get myself into? This spirit... this thing isn’t normal. If this really is a dream, please, someone wake me the hell up!’

But, of course, her pleas reached no one. Dream or not, she was trapped. Whether she liked it or not, she had to play at least one game to fulfill the condition of her temporary contract with Dante.

Meanwhile, Dante leaned back in his chair, his expression unreadable in this moment. Then, without warning, he clapped his hands once, breaking the silence. "Well then, Nellie." He said with a smile, gesturing casually toward her. "Are you ready to hear what your first game is?"

GULP!!

The sound of her swallowing her own spit in fear, was evident, Dante could see her nervousness as clear as day. As her throat felt dry, her hands trembling in her lap. To her, this wasn’t just a game, it was like sentence itself. "Is this what they call Karma." She said to herself as she recalls all the fucked up things she has done in the past, like rubbing innocent people, or even hurting them due to her superior orders.

"Now listen carefully." Dante said, his tone taking on a smooth, almost teacher-like calm. "The game you’ll be playing is...

From there he began explaining the details of Survive the Night. The more he spoke, the more her eyes widened, until beads of sweat began to roll down her forehead. Every word out of his mouth only made it worse, as he explains more and more, the haunted asylum, the monsters, the eight-hour time limit.

When he finally finished, Nellie stood up so suddenly that her chair screeched against the stone of the floating astroid. "And where do you think you’re going?" Dante asked, his eyebrow raised, as he was suprise by her course of action, as she didn’t even give him a proper reply to the game he was explaining to her.

"Anywhere but here." Nellie shot back with a forced grin. "You can keep your horror show. The world of darkness I was in before this? Yeah, that is sounding like a five-star vacation compared to this. No way in hell I am playing your sick twisted games."

She turned to leave, but then Dante sighed. His voice lowered, deep and sharp enough to cut through the air. "Human!" He said commandingly. The single word hit her like a mental bus at full speed. A surge of black energy flared behind her, so heavy it made the air vibrate. Nellie froze where she stood. Then his voice came again, darker now, layered with something primal and ancient. "We had a deal." He said, and the stars around them seemed to blaze all at once reacting to his anger, this horrified Nellie to no end, but she was too scared to do anything, as she was force to hear Dante speak his mind. "Do you truly wish to break our contract?"

"W-What... what is this!?" she gasped, dropping to her knees as an invisible pressure bore down on her chest. Her heart hammered so hard it hurt. Then she felt his hand, cold, and weightless as it rest on her shoulder. His voice lowered to a whisper, close enough that she could feel the words against her ear.

"You either play." Dante said softly. "Or I take your existence and convert your life into Negativity. That is the punishment for breaking a contract with me. And trust me... I really don’t want to hurt you, human."

"I...I don’t want to die!" Nellie cried out as she continued her speech. "There is no way I can play a game like that!" Just like that, the pressure vanished. The aura faded, and Dante snapped his fingers. In an instant, Nellie found herself sitting back in the chair she had stood up from earlier, trembling and pale.

Dante sat opposite her, calm as ever, tapping his finger against the armrest. "Look, human." He said finally, his tone lighter again. "You’re not going to die if you lose. But losing does mean punishment. If you win, though... He leaned forward, eyes glinting faintly with amusement. "You’ll get something in return. And I assure you this something isn’t something you want just casually turn down."