The Bond That Even Gods Cannot Break

There was no transition or pause. In one moment, both had a massive steel beam crushing their hearts, and in the next, they were somewhere else.

"A-Aaargh!"

"Aaaaah!?"

The girls, who were on top of each other, rolled on the stone floor while screaming. Their brains had finally processed part of what had happened. The sensation of plummeting five meters and almost having all their internal organs pierced was terrifying.

Melissa knelt on the ground and began to release the contents of her stomach.

Sophia, on the other hand, was not well either. The cold embrace of death was still so vivid on her skin that she couldn't bear it. She was crouched and continued screaming continuously, her wide-eyed gaze fixed on the ground hidden between her legs.

After vomiting everything she had, Melissa started breathing heavily. Her amber eyes were finally focusing, and she began to scream.

"We died, we are dead! Damn, we are dead!!"

It took a few seconds for her breathing to adjust, and her brain began to take in the surroundings. Ignoring the entire environment, her vision was solely focused on the silver-haired girl screaming beside her.

"S-Snow curls…?" She spoke softly; she didn't even believe the vision she swore was a delusion.

When she noticed that Sophia was still screaming, Melissa pulled her face up using her left hand and began shaking her whole body.

"Snap out of it, snow curls!"

When she realized that Sophia still wasn't reacting, Melissa continued applying more force until finally, the blue eyes of the girl turned to her.

"M-Ms. Cosmos...?"

"Yes, damn it! Wake up! How long do you plan to keep screaming?"

Sophia's mind was still frightened, but Melissa's warm hand against her cheek somehow calmed her.

"W-Where are we?" She swallowed saliva while asking Melissa, her throat showing signs of protest from the continuous screaming.

"I don't know either," Melissa said, averting her gaze from the other girl, both starting to look around.

In the moment after the last breath, what both imagined to be the "afterlife" turned out to be a rocky room of five square meters illuminated by torches. The walls, which seemed like a mix of brown and gray, gave off a chilly sensation. At one end of the circular room, a large steel and wooden door seemed to be the only way out.

"We're dead, right? Are we in purgatory or something?" Melissa murmured, and Sophia protested immediately.

"Please, don't mention purgatory in this situation, Ms. Cosmos!"

Hearing Sophia's protest, Melissa couldn't help but laugh, which left Sophia even more dissatisfied.

"Alright, why did I forget that? Let me see if I have signal."

Putting her hand into the pocket of her uniform, Sophia began to search for her cellphone. After a few seconds, she started to break into a cold sweat.

"My phone is gone!" She shouted, her usual calm voice completely distant. "Ms. Cosmos, do you have yours?"

"I never had one of those in the first place, Miss Rich Girl."

With an eye roll, she responded to Sophia's desperate voice. Sophia found it strange that a girl who was already in the last year of high school didn't have a cellphone but decided not to insist on the matter. After a few moments, Melissa concluded that the only solution was to check the door, so she tried to get up. At that moment, she heard a protest from Sophia.

"Stop pulling me for a moment, Ms. Cosmos!" Sophia's pained voice came quickly.

"What are you talking about? I'm not pulling you."

With the strangeness of the question and the even stranger response, the eyes of both girls descended to their arms, more specifically, their hands. Both noticed that they had been holding hands all this time.

A strange and embarrassed groan escaped from Sophia's lips, while a faint blush appeared on Melissa's face. Quickly, both separated, pulling their arms back, or at least, attempting to.

"What?!"

"What the hell?!"

The expressions of both were consistent with their looks of shock. Sophia's left hand and Melissa's right hand were together, fingers crossed, but no matter how much force they used, the two hands would not separate.

"Cut it out and let go of my hand, snow curls."

"You're the one squeezing, Ms. Cosmos!"

After numerous attempts, they realized that their hands wouldn't come apart. There seemed to be no glue or anything else holding them together.

With each passing moment in this cavern, things were getting stranger. Just when they thought there would be no more surprises, suddenly, in front of their eyes, a holographic panel appeared.

[A challenger has entered the dungeon]

As they observed the thin holographic panel floating in the air like magic, both gave a small jump of surprise.

"What is this?" Sophia asked.

"And how am I supposed to know?" Melissa replied, her eyes studying the panel.

After a few moments, the panel changed, and another notification appeared.

[The challenger's disconnection from the World System has been detected. Class assignment will now be made. Do you wish to proceed?]

Below the panel, two others appeared, one containing the word [Yes] and the other [No].

Finally getting up, Sophia walked slowly toward the panel.

"By class, he doesn't mean grade, right? And it said dungeon before," she studied the panel, her mind spinning as she tried to understand what was written.

"It looks like a video game," Melissa murmured.

"Have you seen something like this before?" Sophia's eyes widened as she looked at the other girl.

"Wait, you've never played any games before?!"

Seeing how her question was quickly answered with a shake of the head, Melissa sighed before continuing.

"So, what do you want to do, snow curls? I don't think we'll get out of here by choosing [No]."

Sophia thought for a moment before agreeing. Her free hand slowly moved towards the yes option.

When the option was selected, both girls screamed in unison with a sharp pang of pain in their minds. It was as if something was forcefully written inside them, directly into their minds. In addition to this, a shock ran through their bodies. Unable to stand any longer, they both fell to the ground, breathing heavily.

"This has to be a joke, right?"

"What does this mean?"

Melissa and Sophia's respective questions were not due to the pain, but the new window-like panel that appeared in front of them.