Gradient sat there for a moment, staring at 541 with still a trace of a smile on his face. He looked down at his arm, which no longer lay at his side, replaced by a bloody, messy stump of a shoulder.

His eye twitched. A small laugh escaped his throat, gradually crescendoing into crazed, maniacal hilarity as he dug his fingers into his hair, pulling at the white and black strands.

Spade was sure everyone shared the exact same thought: the serial killer had officially lost his mind completely.

"You... you..." Gradient seemed at a loss for words, still laughing with instability. "You... my... ate..."

The laughter continued.

Akik and Spade exchanged glances. 541 decided to ignore him and helped Dusk to his feet. Dusk was shaky, but more so because he'd almost been murdered. Even 541 didn't seem to hold any remorse about eating his arm. But of course, who would? He deserved it, really.

Spade decided to ignore him as well, and instead turned to 541. "...why the hell did you do that?"

541 shrugged. "Can't help myself sometimes. Plus, I haven't eaten anything since I died here, I don't think. You're lucky I didn't just eat him alive right then and there."

He laughed lightheartedly. Spade was more mortified than anything, and Akik looked like he'd just seen a ghost.

"Hey, it's one less arm for him to stab you with," 541 pointed out with a shrug. "Besides, he deserved it, I'm sure you can agree."

He had a point there. Still no excuse for eating someone's limb in front of them, but it's not like he had much sympathy for Gradient. Maybe his mental stability, but it was clear that'd plunged into the deep a long time ago and wasn't planning on resurfacing anytime soon.

Deciding to ignore the crazed maniac, Spade, shaking the racing of his mind to calmness, turned back to 541 as a thought struck his mind.

"You said that everyone dead goes back to... whatever world you two are from?" Spade mentioned.

"Yup," 541 confirmed.

"Then... where's Addie and Cinder?"

"Cinder didn't wanna come back here," 541 said. "And they're... well, they can't really go anywhere without the other, due to Cinder possessing Addie in their world, so they both remained there."

"Oh," Spade nodded, deciding to just pretend he understood that. "Alright."

Akik looked around, on edge now because of recent events. He stared at Gradient, still losing both his mind and blood on the ground. "Uh... should we help him?"

"I'd rather not, but I feel like if he dies Monokumadi will force us into a trial," Spade sighed. "And we all know those never end well."

Akik exhaled. "You're probably right. Better safe than sorry."

Spade glanced at 541. "I guess you're right about one thing, there's not much violence he can commit with only one arm to his aid."

541 grinned. "See? What'd I tell ya?"

Spade hesitantly approached Gradient. Gradient didn't seem to notice him until she was about five feet away. His eyes snapped back to reality and found Spade standing there, to which his response was immediately screaming at him and scrambling backwards. It was somewhere between distraught and furious screaming, with a hint of agony present.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME! GET BACK, GET BACK!" His eye twitched a little. His voice was furious, but he still smiled. It seemed, however, very forced, like it was mere instinct to smile against his will even when he was in pain.

"Gradient, I hate to say it, but that's not gonna stop bleeding unless I bandage it up," Spade sighed, a hint of annoyance sparking in his mind.

"Then let me bleed," Gradient seethed through gritted teeth, "Let me bleed and fall to Hell where I know I am welcome!"

That doesn't sound like much trouble for us, go ahead. "Please, just let me bandage the wound at least? It'll get infected if you don't bleed out first."

He still wasn't listening. He started rambling about Hell and something about Satan dragging him down to where he belongs - Spade eventually just turned around and gave up. He didn't quite care about a class trial anymore, if Gradient wanted to die from blood loss, he was completely fine with it.

"On second thought, we can leave him here," Spade said to Akik. Gradient was still ranting to now empty air, even though Spade had left the spot more than thirty seconds ago.

"That sounds great," Akik glared at Gradient as he said it.

"Hey!"

Both students jumped nearly out of their skin as none other than Monokumadi quite literally teleported in front of them. The small canine was visibly annoyed at what she'd just found.

"What're you guys doing here?!" She pointed at 541 and Dusk accusingly. "You guys are dead! Dammit, the portal rift must be faulty! I thought Dragoness fixed it!"

"Who?"

"And you!" She pointed at Spade and Akik. "You two have a storyline to finish!"

Spade processed this. "...we have what?"

Monokumadi flicked her tail. "You guys have one more class trial to commence!"

Spade braced for her to say it was for the death of Gradient (even though, physically, he still seemed to be thriving, even if not mentally), but it wasn't.

"Time for you guys to figure out the real mastermind behind all of this!"

Spade and Akik glanced at each other.

"Come on!" Monokumadi said. "Don't keep me waiting!"

She disappeared.

Spade and Akik, hesitantly, began to leave. 541 and Dusk started to follow, but Monokumadi suddenly appeared in front of them again.

"Ah-ah-ah!" She wagged a finger at them. "You two aren't to participate. You're dead, remember?"

541 looked like he was about to argue, but Dusk put a hand on his arm, shaking his head. 541 sighed, and simply crossed his arms.

"What about Gradient?" Akik asked, pointing to Gradient. He was still talking to himself.

"He's not mentally well enough to be of any use, anyway, I'm shocked they let him attend the school," Monokumadi seemed to roll her eyes. "He'll be in there, just probably not as an active part of the trial. That'll just leave you two, at least!"

She disappeared again.

Spade and Akik said their farewells to 541 and Dusk, and, hoping for luck to be on their side, made their way to the trial room.

-

1064 words

Short chapter :(

Anyway... who do you think is the mastermind?