Flag Game Chapter 9

The ninth chapter of the Darwin's Game ~Flag Game~ novel.

## Summary

Upon hearing the gunshot, Shuka recognized it as Rein's M24 rifle, and immediately used her transceiver to try to contact her fellow Sunset Ravens members. Noticing that she wasn't getting a response, she looked at her phone and saw that she was out of range. Although players were unable to escape from the Darwin's Game even if they turned off their phones or uninstalled the app, the app wouldn't work when out of range, causing some clans to install signal jamming in buildings they owned. Shuka quickly decided that she'd attack Black Lotus from behind rather than regrouping with her clan.

Outside, Rein's head was hurting from repeated use of Laplace, though she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Despite having the top half of his head blown off, "Kaji" was still alive, complaining to them about shooting someone they were going to have an alliance and a weapon deal with, adding that they should've started a game first since they could earn points. He continued by saying that the Darwin's Game was good and easy to understand because one received points simply by killing others. Surprised by the fact that he was still alive, Rein forgot to reload and just stood there dumbfounded. Even though the Darwin's Game gave players supernatural abilities, having your brains blown out and still being able to talk was beyond that, and would make one question if "Kaji" was a living being.

The first to recover from the surprise was Kaname, who used Hinokagutsuchi to create a Beretta 92, and ordered the others to begin fighting. He fired two shots at "Kaji", however they didn't seem to have any effect, as "Kaji" only staggered and coughed up blood, noting that he felt like he'd been shot with a handgun. "Kaji" then ran back to the warehouse, narrowly dodging Ryuuji's machine gun fire in the process. Worrying that "Kaji" would attempt to use one of the weapons that were possibly in the warehouse, Rein was about to suggest an immediate retreat when she saw Queen of Thorn knock "Kaji" back out, the ends of the chains impaling his arms and legs. Shuka appeared, jumped into the air using her sigil, lifted "Kaji's" body up 10 meters, and smashed him onto the ground. To finish, she shot all of her rewindable wire anchors from the two tools she was holding into his body.

Even though "Kaji" was pinned to the ground and wasn't moving anymore, the Ravens weren't sure if he was dead since he had already survived having his brain blown out and two shots to the heart. In addition, Shuka's wire anchors had pierced his vitals, including his carotid arteries. Rein asked Shuka to keep "Kaji" pinned to the ground, Shuka wondered if he was human, and Sui mentioned that she'd seen a mantis move without its head before. Just as the members began to relax, they heard the sound of something soft slide off, and "Kaji's" body suddenly disappeared. Kaname ordered the group to be cautious, causing the members to immediately look around for the source of the noise. Enduring the headache from overusing Laplace, Rein once again used Laplace in order to find the source of the noise, informing the others that it was in the grass. As Shuka cut the grass using her sigil, "something" jumped out of the grass, dodged Kaname and Ryuuji's gunfire, and fell through the bars covering a drainage ditch. That "something" was most definitely "Kaji", however Rein had never seen or heard of a sigil that could completely transform a person's body like that, describing it as a large snake with a human face and skin colored scales.

The Ravens were wary of a possible attack, nevertheless Sui informed them that the map search indicated that "Kaji" was moving away from their position as fast as possible. Rein told Sui that she was surprised that Sui had the composure to operate the Darwin's Game app under their previous circumstances, prompting Sui to mention that she had agreed with what "Kaji" had said earlier about starting a Darwin's Game, and had started an encount battle with him. However, Sui also noted that "Kaji's" name still appeared as Kaji in the battle log. Rein praised Sui for getting them information that could potentially lead to the identity of their true enemy and passed out from her headache.

## Characters

* Karino Shuka
* Kashiwagi Rein
* "Kaji"
* Sudou Kaname
* Maesaka Ryuuji
* Sui

## Sigils

* Queen of Thorn
* Hinokagutsuchi
* Laplace
* "Kaji's" sigil