laying there on my knees amongst the innumerable corpses, my body lets me know exactly how far past my limit I pushed myself.

I can barely breathe my lungs are so sore, every breath I take is a torturous affair where I feel that I would probably stop breathing altogether if I were to pass out. This is a real possibility, as It feels like I haven't slept in weeks. My heart is pumping hydrofluoric acid directly into my vain, and tremors rock my body incessantly causing my horribly overtaxed muscles and bones to shriek in agony even more than they already are. As adrenaline begins to leave my system I become aware of a whole host of injuries I had sustained in the battle. Multiple ribs fractured, 3 of my fingers are broken, I have a very nasty gash running horizontally down my left flank. One of my eyes has swollen over from a blow I don't remember taking, and my arms look like I just put them in a tank filled with piranha. coherent thought is also starting to become a problem and I find myself constantly struggling to remember where I am.

And If all that wasn't enough, it feels like someone stabbed me with a white-hot knife in 3 very distinct locations on my body.

suddenly a very familiar ding echoes throughout the expanse of mutilated corpses as a large screen fills the sky once more. It takes me several attempts to read and understand the letters displayed on its surface.

0/10,000 Greshins remaining...

548/10,000 initiates remaining...

Total Time Elapsed...

17:54:09

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL SURVIVING INITIATES FOR PASSING THE TRIAL OF CULLING!

548/100,000 initiates remaining.

My eyes hang on those numbers, struggling to comprehend their meaning.

Out of a group of over ten thousand, less the 1% survived. that is absolutely fucking insane!?

And had it really been 18 hours since the battle began? I can't remember, it's all a haze of blood and steel. But I remember that it definitely had been noon when the Greshins (as they were apparently called) teleported in, and I distinctly remember it never getting dark over the course of that nightmare! And how the hell did I manage to fight for 18 hours straight with no break!? Even though I have been keeping up with my daily exercise routine beaten into me during my years of basketball, I sure as hell don't have the kind of monstrous stamina required for such a ludicrous feat. God, people have to train all their lives just to run for 18 hours for fucks sake!?

Still, despite my best efforts to solve even a single one of the many hundreds of questions I have. my mind still drifts back to the number of survivors.

548.

If I didn't regret my monstrous decision to use those weaker than me as live bait before, I sure as hell don't now! Seeing that number I now know that if I didn't do what I had done, I would have most assuredly have died in the first hour.

I don't regret my decisions. Well, most of my decisions.

Suddenly remembering Kate's screams and the sight of the greshins tearing into her with brutal ferocity. I start throwing up what little was left in my stomach at the recollection than dry-heaving when what meagre little that was in it finds itself in a puddle between my legs. As screwed up as it is to admit it I don't regret letting her go, for the alternative would have been my own death. And I have become painfully aware that I will go to any lengths to ensure my own survival.

And god what a disgusting revelation that is!

I like to think that my dad did a pretty good job of raising me. He may not have been a particularly pious man, but he did believe in a lot of Christian values. Values that he taught me and that I thought I would uphold my whole life. I hope it doesn't come off as narcissistic to say that I thought I was a pretty decent guy. for all of my screw-ups throughout my life I made it a point to help others. Soup kitchens, volunteer work, hell I even went out of my way to throw spiders out the window instead of killing them!

But the moment things got tough, and it came time to really put my ideals to the test. I broke them over my knee like a flimsy piece of wood, and then let an innocent girl get eaten alive before making a ladder out of the corpses of even more innocents.

and I can't even bring myself to feel remorse. God, I am such a fucking sociopath.

But even though I don't feel remorse for surviving, there is one thing I do regret.

I had told Kate that I would protect her, that if we stick together we would survive. And even though I had made that promise on the spur of the moment, and hadn't really understood what I had been promising. I had made a promise, and I had still let go. And that I truly regret.

I am not sure what that says about me though.

With another ding that wakes me from my introspection and self-loathing, the screen in the sky disappears once again a smaller screen appears.

FOR COMPLETING A TRIAL IN THE BLACK LISTED CATAGORY

ALL PARTICIPANTS WILL BE REWARDED HANDSOMELY!

THE WORTHLESS HAVE BEEN CULLED, NOW ONLY THE STRONG REMAIN.

rewards will be handed out upon returning to reality.

now beginning full categorization and classification of initiate species (humans).......

That's a fucked up way to view the slaughter that had just occurred, even for someone as screwed up as I am.

As disgust and revulsion wash over me upon reading through the message, I contemplate the implications of its contents.

First, there is enough variation in the trials that they can be categorized. Which is potentially good news for the rest of humanity. I dread to think of how bad things could have gotten if those survival rates were universal.

Secondly, that black-listed trials are beyond impossibly hard and are likely only used when not enough people meet certain criteria. That likely being a benchmark average that we are all secretly scored against as soon as we enter this space. It could also be the reverse. Meaning a select few individuals show such overwhelming potential that the entire group is sacrificed to feed their talent.

Of course, I am just making assumptions, and I can be completely wrong. But let's go along assuming I am right.

And lastly being that black-listed trials ( and possibly others) hand out rewards upon completion. And given the absolute horseshit level of difficulty the black list trials entail, it is safe to assume that the rewards will be proportional to the difficulty.

Before I could guess out any more hidden information from the frankly sparse message a second ding ring heralds the arrival of a new message.

CATEGORIZATION AND CLASSIFICATION AND INITIATE SPECIES (human)

COMPLETE!

OVERALL SPECIES COMPATIBILITY WITH the gift of the heavens

30%

OVERALL DIFFICULTY OF TRIAL

LIGHT GREY

OVERALL TURN OVER

49%

OVERALL GRADE OF SPECIES

K+

And unfortunately, I can't make heads or tails of the slew of information this latest screen has given me.

Although from what I can gleam. Humanity's situation is bad but better than I thought it would be. Starting with the first row it seems that whatever this gift is, we humans don't like it very much. But because that Dülisthoth thing made it sound like everyone in our group was compatible with whatever that stuff is. It is safe to say that 70% of the human populace was either killed outright or by this system.

The next row is far more promising as it shows that the overall trials were on average a lot easier than the one I found me in. The next row also supports this theory, as being just shy of 50% is a far cry from a black-listed trial. Although that still isn't good as it could be considering our populace was once again halved.

As for the last row.

I have no clue what to make of it. I mean it obviously represents humanity's grade against the average of the rest of the multiverse. But without a frame of reference, that grade can range anywhere from incredible, to downright pathetic.

I will have to keep that one in mind when I have more information.

while I am still reading through the last one multiple dings ring out, helpfully informing me of yet more information I will have no way to make use of. Deciding it's better to finish parsing through my thoughts first I ignore the new messages for a few moments to internalize my finding before finally moving on to the latest message.

detecting and categorizing species' traits

MULTIPLE TRAITS DETECTED!

categorizing.....

SPECIES' TRAITS (human) ruthless cunning (common) unrelenting endurance (rare) twinned destinies (ancient)

ALERT!

a trait shared with separate species detected

ALERT!

ancient rarity trait detected

OVERALL SPECIES GRADE UPDATED

NEW GRADE: J-

GIVE ME A BREAK ALREADY!!!