The 25 leaders of the cities were selected. Maybe it was coincidence, or perhaps something was maintaining balance, but the division of leaders seemed to favor people who were neither too old nor too young.
Cities weren't numbered at first; however, the selection of leaders gave priority to those who fulfilled the criteria, which ranked the cities and granted perks according to their ranking.
Out of the 25 leaders, only the one who slaughtered his city had 100% support, making his city City 01. The leader, Slade, had a stubble beard, blond hair grown to his shoulders covering his eyes—making him seem mystical and dark. His body was covered in oversized clothes that hid his build; he slouched a bit, stumbling like he might fall over at any moment.
Being the leader of City 01 came with privileges like moving between cities, collecting taxes in the form of resources and points from lower-ranked cities (City 02 to City 25), which could be used in the Apocalypse Roulette and Apocalypse Store.
The following cities followed a similar hierarchy: leaders collected a certain amount of points from citizens as tax and passed them up to higher-ranked cities.
Although City 01 collected points, its leader couldn't set the amount—leaving breathing room for others—but it couldn't be below 20% of the total points collected.
All 25 leaders could communicate with each other and travel among the cities. They had the perk to allow citizens to shift between the 25 cities, though they had to consider the points a person might take with them.
One dangerous perk was banning a person from the city into the wild. Apart from this, they could allow citizens to leave the city for clearing surroundings and expanding territory.
Ranks would be evaluated monthly after various assessments, one being city expansion. There would also be leader reselection every month; however, if a city ranked the same or moved up, the leader would stay unless 50% or more voted to overthrow them.
Citizens were the bottom rung for now. They formed the working class to keep the city running. Apart from giving points as tax—acquired through tasks, clearing surroundings, and hunting—they had to maintain order and follow policies coined by leaders that passed a 50% population review.
Many other perks came into play according to situations, with restrictions that allowed citizens on the brink to fight back.
The message hit each leader's mind, cutting short their reading of perks. Focusing on the "Meeting" option pulled them directly into a meeting room somewhere in City 01.
When all the leaders finally arrived, they started sizing each other up before turning toward the man with blond hair dropping over his eyes—Slade—who sat with his eyes closed like he was sleeping.
Once everyone settled and focused on Slade, a screen popped up from the center of the round table.
At the top, in red letters: Apocalypse Survival: Selection of the Strongest for New Haven.
The words "New Haven" grabbed everyone's attention.
A gender-neutral robotic voice began: "Welcome, all leaders. You are the heroes and demons selected to bring your race out of the apocalypse to New Haven. You should know about the monthly evaluations; however, there is a catch we don't want citizens to know before they happen.
After every monthly evaluation, the two bottom-ranked cities will lose their safety, and the population will be teleported and divided among every city above."
As the voice said the last part, everyone glanced at each other, thoughts racing.
The voice continued: "The city that makes it to the final month after one year will be strong enough to take on the apocalypse of your world" ("which is what we believe," being the unsaid part) "and finally qualify for New Haven." This motivated the leaders to improve.
"However, if there is even a single existence left on the planet that can threaten the city, you will be terminated—of course, only if such an existence remains after the one year of warding and another year after the warding is removed."
Suddenly, everyone felt someone breathing down their necks, sending chills up their spines and goosebumps across their arms.
The voice pressed on, oblivious to their thoughts like a pre-recorded message: "The first month is for adaptation; the following months begin the survival competitions.
We hope you use our gift well to rise against the apocalypse. Also, if anyone wants to return to their empty city after losing monthly evaluations, you are welcome to do so. We will exempt that city from evaluations, rankings, and the person who reaches it first will become leader—with a chance to enter New Haven even if unable to clear the qualifications."
"One more thing: Leaders of the bottom two cities will be left in their cities to fend for themselves, stripped of leader perks. You'll only have the Apocalypse Roulette and Apocalypse Store after the evaluations."