"Just great…the dark…" Kilik Rung shook his head and held his weapons, Pot of Thunder and Pot of Fire who were whimpering in his arms. "Everything okay?" Kim walks towards Kilik, with Jackie in her lantern form. He nods and looks at his weapons. "I'm fine. But they're not looking too hot."

Ox quickly steps forward, shaking. "Oh man I am glad we have you Jackie! What would we do without you! You're probably the only light source here all night!"

Harvar gives a displeased look and crosses his arms. "Light attracts though. Who knows who or what may see our light. We're vulnerable." Realizing that Harvar has a point, Kim hesitates. "But without Jackie, we can't see." Harvar crosses his arms. "I'd rather not be able to see than rather risk the chance of us being attacked. Especially since we got separated from the others."

Nodding, Kim looks at Jackie and mutters. "Change back…"

"You sure?" Jackie asks nervously. Kim nods and whispers, "Yeah." Pot of Fire crawls into Kilik's lap, scared and nervous while Pot of Thunder tugs on Kilik's arm, trying to get him to do something. "This is going to be a long night…"

"Where the hell is she!?" Medusa snaps as she staggers around in the dark, clinging to a tree. Eruka goes over to help Medusa stand and gives a shrug. "We don't know…but chances are she can't see very well in the dark either. We'll have to wait for morning to hear from Mizune." Medusa pulls away from Eruka and snarls. "We don't have that long. I need to know everything about this place. Now! Mizune is the only one who can do that for us, you stupid frog girl!"

Looking down and biting her lip, Eruka shuts up. Free puts his hand on the shoulder of the frog witch. "Don't worry about it Eruka. Just keep your distance from Lady Medusa for now. It seems she isn't in a good mood."

Farther out in the forest were Noah and his group, struggling to see in the near pitch black dark. The greedy collector squinted as he saw a figure up ahead. "That better be Justin back from taking his daily piss…"

"It is, mister Noah." The blonde priest smiled but he doubted that Noah could see. Noah nodded slowly as he recognized the voice and he relaxed. Was I actually scared for a second? No, it couldn't be…The sorcerer shakes off the thought and keeps walking. Justin narrowed his eyes and let out a slight sigh in relief. It seemed Noah didn't see the blood on his clothes. Not yet, at least. He'd have to change soon. Otherwise the blood would start to smell. We can't have my bloody clothes attracting attention now can we…No that would be very bad.

Still at the beach but now in the dark, Maka and the others huddled together in a group. "Everybody here? Are we all here?" Kid asks, trying to get a closer look at the group. Maka shakes her head and squints, trying to look more clearly. "I can't find Ox or Kilik. I don't think Kim is here either."

Kid sighs and sits down, holding his knees. "This sucks. I'll bet the Kishin did this. Mark my words…I'll rip that damned freak in half!" The young shinigami glares at the ground angrily and clenches his fist. Liz puts her hand on Kid's shoulder and the young male looks up and is surprised that even in the dark he could see her worried expression. "Kid…right now isn't the time to be making threats…okay?"

He looks down and nods, relaxing himself. "Yeah…you're right. Sorry about that. I'm just mad…about Sid…He risked his life for us…"

Maka found herself still hurting as Kid mentioned Sid. They hadn't exactly been close but he was still someone she had known. It was difficult to comprehend that he was gone now. She glances over at Soul and her stomach tightens. What if no one had volunteered? Would it have been Soul? Maka shivers at the thought and holds herself.

"Maka are you alright?" Soul looks over at her with concern. Maka shakes her head. She couldn't lie in a situation like this. She wasn't alright. She wanted to go home. He gives her a look of sadness and then looks away. What am I supposed to tell her…"hey it's okay we'll be fine"? As if…

Despite the darkness, Crona found it easy to move around. The only problem was, he was alone. Completely alone. He was probably the only one who wasn't in a group. T-They're all going to kill me…all of them…I-I don't want to die…

Dwelling on his thoughts, Crona lets out a cry as his foot hits a stump of a tree and he falls face down on the ground. Whimpering in pain and slowly sitting up, Crona wipes his nose that begins to bleed. The young pink haired boy soon finds himself in tears and crying. His thoughts were soon filled with images of his first friend, Maka. Why didn't I trust her…why did I run away…Maka…

"Hey! Quit your crying and get moving you lousy little punk!" The voice was none other than Ragnarok who emerged from Crona's back in that instant. Crona whimpers in pain as Ragnarok puts him in a headlock and punches his head. "I said quit crying you little runt!" Crona struggles to get away from his grasp and cries out. "S-Stop it, Ragnarok…! D-Don't!"

Ragnarok scoffs and ignores him. "Or else what, huh? What will lame old Crona do?"

"I said STOP!" Crona's sudden anger makes Ragnarok come to an abrupt stop. "Whoa! Calm down there, Crona! You sure get scary when you're angry! But you should move now. Someone might have heard you." With that, Ragnarok returns inside Crona's body and the shy child ventures on, continuing to run. After a moment, Crona stops. He was stepping on something new. Something different. It was like a liquid but a bit thicker. The pink haired boy sniffs and then covers his mouth. W-What is that smell…?

As he looks down, his eyes widen. He was standing over a puddle of blood and a body was directly in front of it. Crona shrieks and staggers back, falling to the ground as he stares in horror at the body. It had been completely annihilated. The corpse had been nearly ripped apart. The only thing that made the body recognizable was the hat. It was Mizune's. Someone had killed the mouse witch. She was the first true victim of this game. Someone who wasn't Asura had killed her. Whimpering and getting to his feet, Crona walks around the body and runs forward, nearly crying.

The Kishin seemed to be having fun. Laughing madly as he looked at the camera where Crona had been, Asura was indeed having a good time. "This is perfect. It seems we already have a killer on our hands. And I'll admit I'm a bit surprised about our little culprit…" He grins and chuckles, staring at the rest of the cameras. "Daylight will come soon, but when it does, what will you poor souls do?"

Glancing over at a microphone, Asura gave a wicked smile. "Soon I'll be announcing the death of our little witch. Let's see what kind of drama that stirs…"

"Whoa…" Gopher's mouth nearly drops as he sees snow up ahead. Noah and his group had made it past the forest and what lay ahead of them surprised even Noah. "Whoa indeed…This is….well…just whoa…" Giriko whistles and claps his hands together at the sight. "Damn, this is fucking legit, huh boss?"

The only one who seemed to have a lack of interest was the Executioner, Justin Law. He stayed a few paces behind the rest of the group, a small smile on his face. The priest had finally changed out of his clothes and at the right time too. Light seemed to be approaching as the darkness began to fade.

On the beach, Kid and the others were staring at the sky as light soon filled the area, finally allowing them to see clearly. Soul crosses his arms. "Huh. Neat trick, Asura. Neat trick."

Maka bites her lip and looks towards the group. "What now?"

"We find the others and think of a way out of here." With that, the group ascends into the forest.

Asura grins, licking his lips as he prepared to speak into the microphone. The time would come for him to announce the first murder of the battle royale. His finger goes to the red button that would amplify his voice over the island. He could barely contain himself. He really wanted to see the look on their faces when he announced it.

As his finger finally clicked the red button, the Kishin cleared his throat and opened his mouth. "Hey there fellow contestants. Time for an update. So guess what? Our little mouse friend, Mizune is dead. She's out. Eliminated. That's all for now. Bye then. Happy hunting."

Turning away from the microphone, Asura chuckles and goes over to a blackboard. On the board was a single picture of each participant. Sid's picture had already been crossed out with a red X on it. Asura takes the red marker by the blackboard and quickly draws the X on Mizune's picture. "That's two dead. Twenty one more to go."

END OF CHAPTER 3
DEATH COUNT: 2
R.I.P. Mizune