Another scream came from behind her.
The grip around Luna's wrists suddenly weakened, allowing her to tear herself free.
She put some distance between herself and the men before daring to turn around.
The large bodyguard who had been holding her was already lying in a pool of blood.
Luna stood frozen, uncertain what to do.
Should she run?
But Fal and El were still there.
She had no chance of fighting all these men by herself.
More importantly, who had saved her?
Everything had happened too quickly for her to understand.
"So this room was designed to keep sound from escaping. That way, no one outside can hear you tormenting the girls."
A calm voice reached her ears.
"That also makes things more convenient for me."
Luna found the voice vaguely familiar.
It did not belong to anyone she knew well, but she had heard it recently.
A figure appeared in her sight.
One moment, there had been no one there. The next, Noah was standing inside the room.
His sudden appearance made Buck and the others pale.
Buck immediately shouted, "Where the hell did you come from?"
Noah casually pointed toward the entrance.
"That's impossible," Buck said through clenched teeth. "The men outside would never have let you through. Did you defeat them?"
One of the bodyguards stepped forward.
"No way. There are more than twenty men outside, and we didn't hear any fighting!"
"Stop talking and take him down!" Buck roared.
More than a dozen bodyguards moved toward Noah.
He did not bother looking directly at them. Instead, his attention settled on the men restraining Fal and El.
He swept one hand toward the bodyguard behind Fal.
An invisible blade cut through most of the man's neck.
Noah then turned toward the one holding El and snapped his fingers. The bodyguard instantly lost consciousness and collapsed.
El did not even think about covering herself. She hurried over with Luna to help Fal, who could not move because of her broken legs.
"Wait there for a moment," Noah told the three girls. "You're safe now."
They recognized him as the man they had briefly encountered on the street.
'He came to save us...'
Hope returned to their eyes.
"Now then, the first one was the legs, wasn't it?"
Noah muttered to himself.
A gentle breeze moved through the room and passed beneath the remaining bodyguards.
In the next instant, all of their legs were severed.
They collapsed almost simultaneously, screaming like animals being slaughtered.
Watching his guards become helpless in the blink of an eye, Buck shot up from the sofa.
"Wh-what just happened?"
The three powerful guests behind him also sensed the danger and retreated several steps.
"Who are you?" Buck demanded. "Did you deliberately bump into me on the street?"
Noah had no intention of answering.
"I am your trial," he said instead. "Your final trial."
"A trial?"
What was this madman talking about?
"The next thing was the eyes."
Noah raised his hand, drawing everyone's attention toward it.
A sharp pain immediately tore through their eyes.
Buck, his three guests, and the surviving bodyguards covered their bleeding faces and fell to their knees.
"It hurts! My eyes! I can't see!"
"Wait!" Buck shouted while clutching his face. "Why are you doing this? Is it money? We have plenty of money!"
"Or did you come for those country girls?"
"You can have them! I'll give you all three!"
"If that isn't enough, I can buy more!"
Noah looked coldly at the man begging on the floor.
"Don't cheapen our meeting, Buck. Fate brought me here and decided that this would happen to you."
"Fate? Our meeting?"
Buck could not understand how such romantic words had anything to do with his current situation.
"This is a trial, just like the ones you imposed on those girls. I'm the trial you cannot escape."
"Are you insane? Do you think you're some kind of god?"
"No. I'm merely imitating you."
Noah's voice remained calm.
"You decided other people's lives and futures for your own amusement. In that regard, we're exactly alike."
"Wait! I understand now. I really understand!" Buck began speaking frantically. "I'll never do anything like this again, so please let me go! I wasn't always this way. It was my childhood that made me—"
His voice suddenly disappeared.
Buck grabbed his throat and tried again, but no sound came out.
"There's no point delaying. Let's begin the first trial."
Noah held up one hand.
"While blind and missing your lower legs, stand up and tell me what number I'm showing."
"..."
"What kind of joke is this?" Dog's owner shouted. "You destroyed our legs and blinded us! How are we supposed to stand, let alone see the number on your hand?"
"These rules aren't fair!"
"There's no way any of us can win!"
Noah waited indifferently for them to finish protesting.
"The time limit is one minute. You have thirty-two seconds remaining."
The room fell silent.
Only thirty seconds?
What happened if they failed?
Would they die?
No one wanted to find out.
Their lower legs were gone, but their thighs remained. Standing might still be possible if they endured the pain.
The real problem was the number.
If Noah was using the fingers of one hand, randomly choosing gave them roughly a one-in-five chance.
Buck pressed the severed ends of his legs against the floor and forced himself upright.
His entire body shook from the pain.
"Three! The number is three!"
The others quickly copied him.
Some chose three as well, while others shouted different numbers. Several could not endure the agony long enough to remain standing.
Time ran out.
Noah observed the suffering men.
"Congratulations. Four of you passed the first trial."
The moment he finished speaking, the others seemed to burst apart.
Hot blood sprayed across the four survivors.
They could not see what had happened, but since they were still capable of thinking, they knew they had not been killed.
They had passed.
Relief briefly filled Buck and the three guests.
What they did not know was that none of them had guessed the number correctly.
Noah had chosen to spare Buck and the three main offenders for the next round.
Every remaining henchman had been killed by manipulating the blood and pressure inside their bodies.
"Now for the second trial."
"What?"
"Wasn't it already over?"
"You never said there would be another one!"
Noah looked down on their panicked reactions with open contempt.
"Did I forget to mention it? Then I'll tell you now. If you pass all twelve trials, you'll be allowed to live."
"Do your best."
Eleven more?
They had to survive eleven more trials like this?
This man had never intended to let them leave alive!