"Let me explain the rules!"
"First, we'll have a battle between the eleven Children! Each player will be issued a specially-made gun provided by yours truly. These guns are loaded with ten high-potency anesthetic rounds. If you're hit, it's instant lights out! You'll be tucked away in dreamland until tomorrow morning! What a pity for those poor souls who'll spend this entire offline meetup sleeping!"
"Any player put to sleep by these anesthetic rounds is out! The one who survives the gauntlet and is the last person standing will earn the right to challenge me in a final showdown! As for the rules of that final battle... I'll explain them when the time comes."
"This is a genuine title match for the crown of iTuber King. To the Child who manages to seize victory in the final battle, I shall hand over my Kingly privileges. I will transfer all shares of the iTuber management companies I own. And with that, I, Pomerni, will retire as an iTuber."
"...Hey, hey, what's with those reactions? Let me tell you, I have absolutely no intention of losing. Of course, a man's word is his bond. I promise to uphold the conditions I just stated. Let's just say this is a testament to my spirit and my absolute confidence! Don't think for a second that I'll be easy to take down."
"However, looking at the current rules, some of you Children might be feeling a bit uneasy. Essentially, this is a shootout—a physical battle—so naturally, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, I'll add a few more rules."
"To everyone who came to this meetup! Hey, the time has come to show off your solidarity! Believe it or not, this game is an all-audience participation event! Right now, gift boxes are being distributed throughout the spectator stands. Once you receive one, check the contents!"
"There are two items in the box! An 'Anesthetic Gun' and a 'Wristband'! The gun is the same as the one I described earlier. As for the wristband, once you put it on your arm, you can make the display show a specific color. You can choose only one out of eleven colors upon equipping it."
"Do you get it yet? These colors correspond to the eleven Children. By choosing and displaying the color of your favorite Child, you can join that player's 'Team'! The Children must use their charisma as iTubers to gather people to their team, and you guests must aim for victory by cooperating with the Child you support!"
"Every single member of the winning Child's team will receive a prize of one million Jenny! Oh? You're asking if you can join my team? Unfortunately, that's a no-go. However, if the final battle ends in my victory, I will give one hundred thousand Jenny to all two thousand guests without exception!"
"You cannot participate in the game without wearing your wristband, so be careful not to lose it. Don't worry if you're shot by an anesthetic gun and fall asleep! The wristband will detect the wearer's sleep and send a signal so the staff can safely deliver you to your room. To ensure it can read your vital signs, please fasten the wristband tightly against your bare skin on your wrist."
"The game starts exactly one hour from now! Once an hour has passed, the locks on the guns will be released, and they will be ready to fire. Until then, gather with your teams and form your strategies!"
"I wish you all the best of luck! Check it out!"
---
"This is way too suspicious."
We, who had been arbitrarily turned into players for this sudden game, were bewildered. Everyone was struggling to decipher Pomerni's true intentions. It was hard to believe this was just an event to liven up the meetup. He was certainly a man prone to eccentricities, but this was taking it way too far.
Staff members arrived on stage to deliver the luggage. Eleven anesthetic guns, as explained earlier, were distributed—one for each person. I had never touched a real gun before, but I could tell it was heavy and solidly built. I felt the weight of the reality that this was a weapon, not a toy.
I questioned the staff member who delivered the guns, but he had simply been ordered to make the delivery and seemingly knew nothing about the game. He claimed the management side hadn't been informed of anything. However, there had to be someone giving orders to the staff performing the facility work on-site. If an outsider were involved, it wouldn't go unnoticed. It was strange for management to know nothing.
The man acting as the master of ceremonies gripped his microphone, desperately trying to maintain order and urging the audience to wait until the situation was confirmed, but the excitement of the heated fans wouldn't subside. Meanwhile, the Official Children were calmly analyzing the current situation.
"My cell phone signal is dead."
I checked mine as well, and the reception on my smartphone was indeed out. It was the same for everyone else. The staff provided an explanation for this: apparently, the airship had accidentally come into contact with a cluster of clouds known as 'Electromagnetic Clouds,' causing a communication failure.
"Electromagnetic clouds...? What is that? I've never even heard of the term."
"Electromagnetic clouds are exactly what the name implies—special clouds that carry electromagnetic waves."
Blade Max, a Pro Hunter, provided the explanation. If an airship or similar craft approaches an airspace where these clouds are present, the influence of strong electromagnetic waves causes a communication failure that temporarily renders communication devices unusable.
Apparently, the effects persist for several hours even after leaving that airspace. While some communication devices can function within this interference, they are typically military-grade hardware not usually equipped on sightseeing airships.
In fact, one of the eleven people on stage, the virtual iTuber Magical☆Milky-chan, had disappeared. This was because the projector displaying her image had stopped functioning. This, too, was likely an effect of the electromagnetic interference.
"Even if that's true, the timing is too perfect. It's as if the communication with the outside world was cut off intentionally, making it impossible for anyone to leak what's about to happen."
To begin with, these electromagnetic clouds are generated over the sea by the influence of special mineral veins running through the seabed, and the conditions and locations of their occurrence are extremely limited. It was unthinkable for a pilot not to know where they were; unless they intentionally took a course to hit them, a collision was virtually impossible.
Furthermore, even if they tried to turn back and return to the airport, it would reportedly take a significant amount of time. This massive sightseeing airship, the Sky Island, was like a heavy, slow amusement park complex—complete with lodging facilities—floating in the sky.
To put it bluntly, the design was a result of investing vast sums of money just to keep it afloat; flight capability was a distant second or third priority. Its cruising speed was extremely slow, and due to its sheer size, the places where it could land were limited. Just returning the way they came would likely take all night.
It was truly a desert island in the sky—a Sky Island. While there was no hindrance to navigation itself from the electromagnetic waves and they would proceed along the planned route, with so many unsettling factors piling up, no one was in the mood to lightheartedly enjoy a game.
In the descending silence, the sound of metal clicking could be heard. Tsukuteku, the DIY iTuber, was sitting on the floor, his hands moving busily. What he held was the issued anesthetic gun. Within that short span of time, it had been dismantled into pieces, with countless parts lined up on the floor.
"Hmm, hmm. So this goes here, and this part... I see. So that's how it is."
Having finished dismantling it down to the last fragment, Tsukuteku began to reassemble the neatly arranged parts. The gun took shape as if a video were being rewound at double speed. In no time at all, Tsukuteku leveled the restored gun and pulled the trigger.
With a gas sound like air escaping, a round was fired. Captain Trail, the gaming iTuber at whom the muzzle was pointed, was hit.
"Ah... how... eh...?"
He collapsed with a thud. Using that as a trigger, the tension in the room instantly swelled and exploded. Recognizing the start of combat, the switch in my brain flipped. It felt as though the flow of time had slowed down.
Tsukuteku pointed the muzzle at his next target. In his sights was the idol iTuber, Noah Heliodor. Noah was still staring blankly at the fallen Captain Trail, unaware that he was being targeted by Tsukuteku. The treacherous bullet flew in a straight line.
"Hmph!"
However, a massive body threw itself into the line of fire. Blade Max moved with blinding speed, putting his own body on the line to protect Noah. The anesthetic round struck Blade's body, but it was deflected and rolled across the floor.
"Well, I guess a thin anesthetic needle like this can't even pierce 'Ten.' The power is only about as much as an illegally modified airsoft gun; it's useless unless you shoot someone who's already weakened."
Tsukuteku remained nonchalant, as if he were merely contemplating the results of an experiment. He had only put someone to sleep with an anesthetic, not shot them dead with a bullet, but his attitude was far too detached.
If I recalled correctly, the guns were supposed to have a lock feature that prevented them from being fired until the game started in an hour. It was precisely because of that—knowing we were scheduled to fight as enemies later—that we had managed to maintain a certain level of tension while prioritizing a collective understanding of the situation over immediate conflict.
Now, it had become a hair-trigger situation. I checked my own gun again, but no round was fired. Why was Tsukuteku's gun able to fire? The most likely reason was that he had dismantled and reassembled it.
He might have manually disabled the lock feature. With his skills, it wasn't impossible. I shuddered at the technical ability of a man who could take a gun distributed only moments ago and modify it on the spot.
"It seems we have an idiot among us who doesn't possess a shred of common sense, but I'll hear your excuse, if you have one."
"What are you talking about? It's just a game, right? If anything, the rest of you are overreacting."
Blade was examining Captain Trail, who had been hit by the anesthetic round. Removing his mask, he checked his pulse, breathing, and the state of his pupils.
"He's just sleeping."
"See? He didn't die or anything. That means there's no problem."
Tsukuteku spoke with a carefree laugh.
"I fully intend to enjoy this game. I don't give a damn about the title of iTuber King, but I like the idea of knocking that big boss off his mountain. You guys feel the same way, don't you? Well? Stop playing innocent and show it to me—show me your 'Nen'."
Immediately after, a sinister aura of intimidation radiated from Tsukuteku's body. I was struck by a pressure so intense it made me instinctively cower. In proportion to that intimidation, the life force enveloping his body glowed and overflowed.
Then, to my surprise, almost everyone else present began to emit waves of powerful life force as if to counter Tsukuteku's intimidation. Was this some kind of technique? My own body was also evenly covered in life force, but I didn't feel the presence of such a strong power like theirs.
Noah Heliodor was the only one who couldn't create a film of life force. His power simply leaked away like smoke rising from the top of his head—a state identical to what one generally sees in people on the street. Whether it was because of that was unclear, but he alone was affected by the pressure Tsukuteku was emitting, turning pale and trembling. Blade stood in front of Noah like a shield, but he couldn't fully block the intimidation being showered from all directions.
"Oh, my. How extraordinary. To think that almost everyone here is a Nen user. I can't help but feel the guidance of destiny."
"It feels a bit too perfect, though. Could such a coincidence really happen?"
"No, it's no coincidence. Throughout history and in any field, those with outstanding talent naturally begin to show glimpses of Nen, to varying degrees. Every person gathered here possesses top-tier talent that catches the eye of thousands. To put it another way, one cannot serve as a top iTuber without being able to use at least some Nen."
It seemed they called this life force 'Nen.' I wanted to ask for details, but the atmosphere was not one where I could question something everyone else seemed to accept as common knowledge.
"Things are getting interesting. But even I want to avoid a massive brawl here without knowing the enemy's abilities. Let's start the fight as scheduled when the start time arrives."
"Rich words coming from the guy who took out Trail first."
"There's no use for a weakling who can't even use Nen, right? Well then, I'll be doing as I please."
Leaving those words behind, Tsukuteku leisurely left the stage. Following him, several other Children began to disperse.
"Oh, the lost sheep are waiting for my advice. I shall be with them. If you'll excuse me."
Grandfather of the Galaxy, the mentalist iTuber, seemed concerned for the fans. He led the fans who had gathered near the stage out of the stadium.
"..."