The Degree
Chaos Curtain

“Everything quickly goes to the park!”

“Park is safer than being in a building that could have been destroyed!”

“Please do not panic and evacuate in an orderly manner!”

At Arthur's wishes, Mona and Chelsea help evacuate the people from the mysterious explosion. Right now Arthur was thinking about the contradiction in his head.

‘Is it possible that woman named Indri is the mastermind? However, it is impossible that I mistakenly thought Ray was the perpetrator,’ thought Arthur.

His stance on Arthur is a suspect of all these things but on the one hand he also realizes that his assumption could have been wrong. His degree is not the absolute truth in this world.

‘Am I overconfident? To the extent that my Degree can be mis-targeted?’

His degree could allow him to get a bad feeling that would not miss. Arthur initially did not believe that his Degree was something like this, quite unreasonable but after so far he was no longer surprised.

“Uargh!”

“Please save me!”

“Everything stay away!”

“Kuhahaha! Die, die burning earthworm base!”

“It's fun! Ahahaha!”

Arthur heard a loud and painful scream from a distance. Followed by loud laughter and sentences that are swear but delivered with happiness.

“A-what-what ..” Chelsea looked into the middle of the park and fell to her knees before spewing out her entrails.

Mona was quick at him and looked after him, he then looked at what Chelsea saw and was surprised.

“Arthur ...,” call Mona with pale face. “See it ...”

Arthur turned his head in curiosity, he then furiously wrinkled because of what he saw.

A group of people with flame throwers were randomly burning humans. They don't seem forced to do it. On the contrary, they are happy.

“SADISTIC SNACKS!” Arthur shouted loudly and ran towards the crazy group.

He was trying to make people no one approached the group but there were still strong-ass stupid people trying to deal with him.

“Do you not have the heart of a bastard!”

“This place doesn't need a heart! Just feel this sweet fire!”

“Kuagh!”

Arthur watched as a young man caught fire, starting to run for a few seconds before burning to death. The most horrible way to die.

“STOP THIS!”

The group with the flame thrower turned towards Arthur.

Arthur just put on an angry face and his hands clenched firmly. He began to wonder if there really was a bastard who loved slaughtering humans.

“Geh! Look at that, the hero is coming!” said a middle-aged man who killed the young man before.

“Ha ha ha! So this is the bastard who always troubles the boss. It seems that we will get a big reward if we manage to kill him!”

“Oy! As much as possible leave his head intact unburned as proof!”

Arthur took a deep breath to calm himself down, he began to assess his current situation calmly and tried to remain level-headed.

‘There are twenty more people carrying fire throwers. Four were in front of me, some watching and the rest chasing people.’

Although there were many who brought fire throwers but not all of them burned people randomly like the one in front of Arthur. Most of them only burned people who dared to fight back.

“This is weird,” muttered Arthur. “They seem to empty this park for something.”

Those people moved as if making a large enough empty space. Arthur was currently right in the middle of the garden that was being emptied.

“Bos! There seems to be some troublemakers!” One of the members of the group gave information.

Arthur looks elsewhere and finds a strange man demonstrating pantomime protecting people with his Degree.

‘What the fuck! He acted like there was a wall and made a useless flame thrower even though there was no wall there!’ Arthur was surprised because this was the first time he had seen her.

Arthur was surprised if it turned out that the pantomime could be that great if it was made a Degree. He did not know where the man was from but his existence was quite helpful.

Staring around, Arthur finds that Terumi also helped him. Terumi was seen trying to paralyze some people or even throw a fire.

From a distance Arthur finds Ray helping.

‘The person, since when did he look for wet boards and fabrics?’

There Ray protected some people from the flames using a thick, wet cloth and tied to a board to form a shield.

Arthur wasn't sure it would be effective but it was at least better than dry cloth.

‘It looks like I just had a misunderstanding with him. I'll apologize properly after this,’ Arthur is a little embarrassed for wrongly suspecting people.

“What's your goal of doing all this?” arthur asked, looking at the four lunatics in front of him. “I don't see any advantage you can get from this.”

“Hah? We do it because we want it. Boss said we could do anything so we did this.”

“Ya!” A person with white hair nodded in agreement with a crazy face. “Very nice to see a human being on fire!”

“You are right,” the person with the wound in his right eye agrees. “If hell exists, I want to stay there.”

Arthur initially intends to dig into the goals of these people but he regrets knowing it. They're just a bunch of crazy people who want murder.

“It's futile to talk to you guys. Just die!” Arthur pulled out his gun and knife, he was unlucky to attack but stopped.

“Chairman! Look what I found! Beautiful woman, loh!”

Their companion came carrying a girl whose clothes were tattered from being stripped. The man carried the girl by pulling her hair and dragging her.

Arthur became increasingly enraged by the actions of these people who lost their minds.

“Stop your depraved deeds!” Arthur was about to pull the trigger, but the men used the woman he was carrying as a shield.

“Just shoot, kill us with this woman!” The person with injured eyes said cheerfully.

The woman was visibly suffering, with tears breaking she looked at Arthur full of supplication, “T-please me ...”

“A-I don't want to die!” he added.

Arthur fell into a dilemma. He could ignore the girl but his heart was against making sacrifices unnecessary.

‘I have to find a loophole to overcome them and save the girl. With my Degree should not be impossible,’ thought Arthur, he tried to make a route to rescue the girl.

“You've been the one who troubled the boss all this time. That means you are dangerous to the point that the higher-ups cannot get rid of you. If so ...,” the middle-aged man who seemed to be the leader of the crazy group pulled the girl and stuffed the flame-throwing muzzle into his mouth.

The woman let out a voice like a choking person but the middle-aged man ignored her.

“The body is attractive and seductive but it is not worth my curiosity. What will happen if humans swallow fire.”

“Stop that!” Arthur shouted furiously. If it were like this, he wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

Arthur doesn't want to have to do it, he doesn't have much choice. He threw the gun and knife forward then raised his hand.

“Smart kid, hahaha!”

“You are indeed vile, boss! Well, what if we use this woman? I can't stand her body!”

“I want to let it go but can't. Here there are many enemies.”

The man said that they could let this woman stay alive until it was all over. Of course, Arthur knew they wouldn't let the girl live.

Arthur's gaze turned elsewhere, where he found Eric sneaking around to save the girl.

‘Quick, Eric!’ thought Arthur.

“You know? Virgo boss would be happy if we could kill this bastard. He will be able to give us so many wonderful women that this girl is nothing. Therefore, let's kill this hero!”

Their gazes were fixed on Arthur with incredible killing intent. On the other hand, Arthur was wide-eyed because of one thing.

“You Virgo people? That means the remains of Rebellion?”

Arthur initially thought that the Rebellion should have disappeared since the destruction of the Open World. Although he knew Virgo and the other higher-ups survived, it was unexpected that the members also survived.

“Yes! We're from Rebellion. Thanks to you and your friends, many of our colleagues are missing!”

“Because it's revenge!”

Arthur snorted dejectedly, “That's ridiculous considering you guys are looking for trouble yourself.”

From the beginning Rebellion was a mess maker in Open World. From the destruction of the Redwest to the declaration of war. Since the troubled beginnings were their own, it was strange that Rebellion said it wanted revenge.

“We won't make trouble if you guys obey, right?” ask the white hair to his colleagues.

They simultaneously nodded, one of them approached the woman who was being made into sandra. The man began to touch the woman's body parts. From the chest to the bottom.

“Hey, you look like a lustful pig. Stop it!” snapped at the middle-aged man.

“Alright, alright! Don't get mad—” the guy was wide-eyed when he saw Eric had already stretched out his knife to the middle-aged man, who was the chairman. “NECKED!”

The middle-aged man was surprised at the scream. He turned around and saw Eric had already pointed the knife down his throat.

“MATI!”

The man avoided it, he managed to avoid death but remained gravely injured. Eric's knife didn't hit his neck but stabbed him in the shoulder.

“Damn it!” The middle-aged man exasperatedly, he wanted to retaliate but in a short time Eric was already by his side and cut off the hair of the girl he was holding.

Before the others could get into action, Eric ducked down and lifted the man up and threw him at the others.

“What?! He can lift the chairman easily!”

“This is nothing!” eric shouted as he threw the man to his partner!

Eric then held the girl and intended to stay away.

“Quietly, you will be fine—”

DOR'S!

The sound of the gun being fired. It shouldn't be a problem considering this place is in a mess. It's just that the gun was fired right at Eric's feet and made him lose his balance before falling.

“Argh! Damnit!” Eric swore, he turned around and found the person who shot his foot.

Arthur also turned around and found masked men approaching him. Three people who are no strangers to Arthur.

“Virgo ..”

The thing that made Arthur furrow his brows was not the presence of the man, but what he brought with him.

“Do you? I designed all of this to eliminate you,” Virgo said in a cold voice, still using a tool to change his voice. “The biggest mistake of leaving this woman alone.”

“Arthur ..” Mona who was now a prisoner called out her name in a weak tone.

“It .... what will you do to my sister?!”

Not only Mona but Virgo also kept Chelsea with him. Between Mona and Chelsea, Chelsea's condition is very bad. His clothes were in tatters and his face was battered. Worse, Virgo drags him down just by holding his leg.

“This? He tried to fight me so I broke his arms and legs,” Virgo said indifferently.

“Let them go now!” Arthur took his gun and began to lose his composure.

“Sure I will let go. If you're going to trade lives for these two girls. Hows it? Fair offer in my opinion.”

“Go to hell!” Arthur swears and runs fast towards Virgo.

Virgo laughs and pulls Mona away from Alexis. He strangled her neck tightly and lifted Mona. Not only that, Virgo threw Chelsea and stomped on his neck.

“STOP ARTHUR!” Eric screams loudly, he knows what Virgo is trying to do right now.

Arthur regained his senses from his anger and stopped moving his legs. He knows that moving beyond this will leave Mona or Chelsea dead. No, maybe even both.

“Smart child. If you step a foot a little more, I will definitely break the neck of one of them.”

Arthur bluffs his teeth firmly, “Kergh! What do you want from this, Virgo?!”

“I told you, exchange your lives with these two girls.”

“It's unacceptable! There is no guarantee you will let both live!”

If Arthur obeys him and chooses to die, then he won't know if Mona and Chelsea will be allowed to stay alive or vice versa. Arthur is not a fool who would accept such a condition.

“Ha ha ha!” Virgo laughed out loud, “O hero-like man where destiny and luck side with you! Can you handle this situation properly?”

Arthur became silent, his eyes widened with Virgo's words.

‘This person ... since when did he investigate my Degree?’

Although the words are absurd but these things are very close to the Degree owned by Arthur. No one should be able to reach this conclusion unless there are several factors.

“I don't know what you mean but I will definitely save them!”

“Of course you will do it. But are you confident enough to do it? Moving one step alone will break the necks of these girls.”

“I've spread people so there are no bullies. Sakura Terumi, Ray Morgan and the other bastards won't come to help.”

Arthur observes the surroundings and discovers that Virgo has put some people to confront Ray and Terumi. Either where Leo is but he may also be stuck in Virgo's plan.

‘How could I not have realized such a grand plan? Is there something wrong with my degree?!’ Arthur swore in his mind.

Virgo takes down Mona who is already limp and has no power to escape. With each block, mall and surrounding plants on fire, Virgo stretches out both hands.

In front of him was an incredible scene where dozens of people were burning together with this place. For the first time in public, Virgo takes off his mask. He left his face covered with a mask open.

Short hair is black and eyes are full of joy.

“All this calamity, I prepared to get you cornered, Retsuji Arthur.”

The curtain of chaos has opened. The cruelty-filled play will begin.