LOKI'S POV

It took a few minutes before our vision was returned to us. The center of the room was now nothing but a large glass box. I seemed to be the first to walk up to it and tap my claw against it, quickly realizing it was extremely durable.

The inside was nothing but darkness somehow, even though the room we were in was now fully lit.

Everyone in the room seemed to question if it would even start...until....

"Aubra the Absol has been found guilty! Time for her punishment!" Sam's voice cheered through the intercom.

The second her message ended was the moment we could finally see inside the glass box. Aubra was standing still in the center, her eyes carefully analyzing her surroundings. I assumed that she couldn't see through the glass—just like the last time.

Although, she clearly looked like she knew people were watching her.

My attention was brought to the roof of the glass, which was lined with numerous loudspeakers. These ones were a lot larger than the ones in the mansion, and probably a lot louder too.

I had no idea how this was going to turn out, but all we could do was wait.

Aubra tried to say something as loud as she could, but it went completely unheard. This glass was very sound isolated.

Then suddenly, I heard something rumble inside the glass. The Absol inside was visibly startled by the noise...what could have happened?

"The speakers are playing something really loud..." Grace shuddered next to me. "We just can't hear anything other than a vibration..."

She was right, Aubra seemed to be holding her ears in an attempt to stop the sound.

How effective is this glass for us to only hear a slight vibration?

The sound had been playing for about a minute now, and it was only getting louder. It didn't take too long for us to be able to hear what was playing. I couldn't exactly tell what it was, but it sounded aggressive...like a group of voices were yelling at her.

"I-I..." I heard Luster stammer. "I'm pretty sure those are our voices."

After listening closely, he was right. I could hear our voices yelling profanities at the Absol. They were insulting her.

"Are we yelling at her?" I murmured in confusion.

"Yeah." Vanta nodded and deeply exhaled.

Aubra was still holding her ears, clearly writhing in agony. If we could hear the voices by now, that would mean it would be playing at an incredible volume.

By this point, I was able to hear exactly what the voices were saying.

"Monster." One of them would say.

"Disgrace!" A different voice would join in.

And soon, things would grow unbearably loud for us outside of the glass box. A few of us also began to shut our ears in distress as the speakers threatened to even shatter the plexiglass.

Aubra couldn't even stand up anymore with the sheer pressure the sound was producing.

The voices had distorted into a loud mess, almost like an endless cacophony of insults and words was being orchestrated inside the box.

After regaining my composure, I finally took a look back inside while the voices continued to grow louder. Aubra was writhing on the ground with blood gushing out her ears. It was an awful sight, but I assume that by now her eardrums had ruptured...and that she was already dead. The Absol's mouth was foaming as she continued to spaz against the ground where her blood had pooled.

Finally, everything came to a silent halt. All the sounds had stopped playing, leaving us with a peaceful silence.

For a second it felt like I had entered space, the atmosphere around us was so quiet compared to what we were experiencing beforehand.

It was now that it just settled in; Aubra was executed, and she had taken the life of Inu with her.

"F-Fuck, man." I heard Zantai groan in pain as he let go of his ears. "That hurt."

"That glass is incredibly thick." Leon noted with a small frown. "If we thought that was loud...imagine how loud it was in there."

"That's because it was playing at the loudest audible decibel count possible!" Sam cheered as she skipped in through the darkness of the room. "Did you know that sounds above one-hundred ninety-four decibels are actually physically dangerous?"

"We get it..." Grace whimpered and shook her head. "Just let us go, please."

"Alright, alright..! I know you all are just so sleepy~!" The Braixen giggled and motioned us toward the elevator. "You may leave..."

THIRD PERSON

It didn't take the group very long to recover from Aubra's death, however, what did take a while was Inu's death. Most people were actually relieved that someone like Aubra was no longer with them...but Inu? They had just lost a completely innocent life—and to most, they had just lost someone who was trying to improve.

"Hey...Rayne." Laker said softly as he approached the Manectric in the center of the living room. "I still have your...first motive."

"Keep it. It is of no use to me now." Rayne frowned and sat on her haunches to groom the back of her paw.

"I see." The Weavile huffed, his head shaking in disbelief. "This trial was dangerous. We could have easily thought it was you the entire time."

"I don't think Aubra was just any person, though." The Manectric was quick to reply. "Even if a serial killer and assassin are different, they have one thing in common; experience."

"So you know you're an assassin, huh." Laker mentioned as he dropped Rayne's motive card back in his bag.

"Your tone makes it sound like you're jealous." Rayne narrowed her eyes at the weasel.

"Ah, not exactly. See, I really don't want to remember who I used to be." Laker sighed deeply, a pained smile now tainting his features. "My motive card is enough to tell of that."

"So why do you collect others?" She asked flatly.

"Someone has to." The Weavile shrugged and cleared his throat. "The time will come when I have to reveal mine, and that's okay. For now, the more we know of each other the safer we are."

"I see." Rayne hummed.

"You don't talk a lot..." Laker mentioned.

"Is that meant to aggravate me?" She questioned.

"Not at all, I just..." He chuckled. "Ironically enough, it's nice talking to someone with no bias. It makes you seem more real."

Those words seemed to stick with the Manectric for a while before she spoke again.

"Thank you." Rayne nodded.

The rest of the day was primarily used for resting. No one seemed to converse with each other, even in their own bedrooms. It was as if a mutual agreement of silence was met within the mansion.

It wasn't long before the night had passed, leading everyone to approach the very next morning in despair.

Whenever the group left their doors they would be greeted by Sam, who was now dressed in a tropical shirt. She stayed completely silent until absolutely everyone had made it to the living room, her paw tightly gripped on a bag.

"Well, well, well!" Sam giggled as she raised her arms. "You all have some very good news!"

"Are you leaving?" Zantai sarcastically called.

"Yes!" The Braixen nodded, causing the Blaziken's breath to hitch in surprise.

"What?" Galant scoffed.

LOKI'S POV

"Isn't it amazing? My dear sister Sammy loves this game so much, she decided to risk her position to participate in it!" Sam grinned and waved her bag around. "The tradeoff was that I would leave for a week! Just so you all have the place to yourself!"

"Sammy...did what?" I muttered to myself.

"Well, I wouldn't want to overstay my welcome. Keep in mind that Hydra is now in charge of this place!" The Braixen backed up toward the front door, a devilish grin now apparent on her face. "And that Sammy is now a participant, just like you all! So feel free to kill her!"

Sammy is...part of the killing game? How could that be possible?

Before I could even ask questions, Sam had already run through the door to be escorted by her team of Gengars.

Only now had we realized that Sammy was standing on the other side of the room. She flashed us a very weak smile before beginning to walk toward us.

"I...I have a lot of reasons for what I did." Sammy sighed as she struggled to keep her composure. "I didn't want to continue being her assistant, especially seeing how far she's gone."

"Was she...always this bad?" Grace asked with a hint of worry in her tone.

"N-No, she...had a different reason for all of this. She used to not have this game for pleasure." The smaller Braixen sniffled. "B-But even after dozens of killing games...you guys are the most undeserving of such a fate."

"There were multiple?" I quickly questioned.

Sammy could only nod at my statement. She was about to say something else in response but immediately dropped to her knees. Both Leon and Luster rushed over to keep her stable as she began to sob.

It was painful to see someone so monotone burst into tears in front of me. At first, it felt like she had no emotions...but in reality, it was because it was torn from her completely. Monitoring a place like this for a while can definitely tear your sanity apart.

"I-I'm sorry..." Sammy wept as she held onto Leon for support. "I should've done this sooner."

"You are not at fault." Leon reassured with a frown. "Please do not blame yourself."

After a few minutes, Sammy would finally calm herself down enough to speak, even wiping the fresh tears from her cheek.

"A week is enough, right?" The Braixen cleared her throat, a weak—yet hopeful—smile on her face.

"A week is more than enough." Vanta paced up to face the vixen, even placing his paw on her shoulder. "Thank you..."

For the first time, I saw Vanta brightly smile.

"You are brave for that." He reassured.

...

About an hour had passed since we last accepted Sammy into the group. Everyone had gathered in the living room to liven up the mood with a fresh meal that Luster had cooked up.

I, however, had many more questions that needed to be answered.

Making my way through the second floor, I came to a halt in front of a very familiar door.

Gaining the courage to enter, I turned the knob and confidently walked inside.

"Hello." The jackal of the hour greeted me from his own office.

"Hi...just checking in." I flashed him a small wave before settling down on the bed next to the door. "You're aware that Sam is...gone, right?"

"Yes, she's encharged me with the mansion." Hydra answered with a small nod, his eyes focused on the papers in front of him. "And...the whole Sammy situation."

"So you know how she feels about that?" I found myself asking.

"I don't feel good about it either." The canine frowned and finally made eye contact with me. "Rest assured that I'll make sure no murders happen. I won't enforce any rules other than that."

"I see." I sighed in response. "You don't think like Sam, do you?"

"I have my own reasons to be here." He shrugged back—even slightly grinning at me. "I'm not gonna hurt'cha."

"Hah, alright." I playfully laughed and leaped off the bed to step back into the doorway. "You still do therapy, right?"

Hydra humored my question with a playful eye roll. "I'm qualified."

"Just making sure!" I chirped before taking my leave.

Today was the first day of the week, meaning we have a lot of time to think of an escape.

But what do we start with first?