The simulation erupted into a cacophony of hissing hydraulics and mana-bolt discharges. The crowd in the arena roared, their voices muffled by the thick synth-glass, but their energy was palpable.
On the far side of the urban ruins, Team 1 hit the field like a meteor. Asher Williams didn't believe in stealth; he believed in the crushing weight of his 24% output. He moved like a bulldozer, his Exo-suit's servos whining under the strain of his raw aggression. He vaulted over a burnt-out car husk, his training rifle barking.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Team 3, a solid group of 19% prospects, barely had time to raise their weapons. Asher was a blur of silver and red. He didn't just shoot; he closed the distance in a terrifying sprint, punching one cadet squarely in the chest plate before spinning and tagging two more in the visor. Behind him, Noelle—the girl with the 23% output—struggled to keep up.
"Asher, wait! Stick to the formation!" she screamed, her rifle covering his flank. But Asher wasn't listening. He was hunting. In minutes, Team 3 was decimated, leaving only nine teams on the field.
Meanwhile, Team 5 was executing a masterclass in tactical slaughter. Jake, the 34% prodigy with the long black hair, moved with a grace that bordered on the supernatural. He and Maya didn't break a sweat as they systematically dismantled Teams 6 and 7. The crowd gasped as Maya provided suppressive fire, her movements fluid and calm, while Jake transitioned from long-range picks to brutal close-quarters combat.
The weak teams—4, 8, and 9—were being picked off like sheep in a pen.
"We need a plan!" the leader of Team 10 hissed, pressing his back against a crumbling brick wall. "Reyes, get down and—Reyes?"
He looked around. Xavier was gone. The "2% anchor" had slipped away into the shadows of a ruined alleyway the moment the timer hit zero.
"Coward," the leader muttered. "Fine. Leave him. He'd only get us shot anyway."
Xavier wasn't hiding out of fear. He was moving.
In the shadows, the violet HUD of his System flickered.
[NEW QUEST: WIN STAGE 1]
[REWARD: ???]
His Level 15 Vision turned the smoke-filled ruins into a clear tactical map. He could see the thermal signatures of the other teams through the thin synth-concrete walls. He climbed. His 70 Strength and 60 Agility meant he didn't need the Exo-suit's boosters to scale a nearby pine tree on a ridge overlooking the central valley of the arena.
Below him, Team 4 made a desperate gamble. They had managed to surround the remnants of Team 5. Their leader, a broad-shouldered kid with a 15% output, had Jake dead to rights. His rifle barrel was pressed firmly against Jake's chest plate.
"Got you, prodigy," the leader sneered
Jake looked him in the eyes, his expression disturbingly bored. "You think so?"
The leader pulled the trigger. Crack-crack-crack-crack! Four rounds of high-velocity mana-bolts hissed toward Jake's heart.
The crowd went silent. Then they screamed.
Jake hadn't moved his legs. With a localized burst of mana that made his Exo-suit glow white, he shifted his torso in a serpentine blur. The bolts whistled past his ribs, missing him by millimeters. Before the Team 4 leader could even blink, Jake's hand shot out like a viper. He slammed the rifle barrel upward, stepped into the man's guard, and executed a perfect judo throw.
The Team 4 leader hit the dirt with a bone-jarring thud. Jake didn't wait. He pointed his rifle down and fired a single bolt into the boy's chest.
Eliminated
Maya and Kiko, the 30% girl, finished the rest. Team 4 was wiped out in a matter of seconds.
On the other side of the ridge, Asher was finishing his rampage. He had rolled through Teams 8 and 9 like a hurricane. Now, his eyes locked onto the bottom of the hill. Team 10.
"There you are," Asher grinned, his voice amplified by his suit's external speakers.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Team 10 didn't stand a chance. Asher descended the hill like a god of war, his superior speed making him impossible to track. One by one, Xavier's teammates were tagged by red mana-bolts. The Team 10 leader fell last, cursing as his suit locked up.
One of Asher's teammates reached down and snatched Team 10's flag. "Too easy," the boy laughed.
Then, the shadows moved.
Xavier dropped from the pine tree.
He didn't use the suit's thrusters; he used his own raw Agility. He hit the steep, gravel-strewn hill and began a controlled slide, his boots kicking up a cloud of dust. He moved with a velocity that caught Team 1 off guard.
The Team 1 member holding the flag barely had time to turn before Xavier slammed into him like a freight train. The impact was deafening—metal on metal. Xavier used the momentum to grapple the boy, spinning him around and using him as a human shield.
Thwip! Xavier fired his rifle over the boy's shoulder, tagging him point-blank before shoving the "dead" body toward the rest of Team 1.
Xavier didn't stop. He pushed off the falling body, catapulting himself into the air. While mid-flight, he leveled his rifle and fired.
Pop! The second Team 1 member took a bolt to the visor.
Xavier landed on the chest of a third member, the force of his landing staggering the heavier suit. Without missing a beat, he pressed his barrel to the cadet's helmet and pulled the trigger.
Three down.
"Kill him!" Asher roared, his face twisted in a mask of pure, unadulterated fury.
Noelle opened fire, a hailstream of mana-bolts chewing up the dirt around Xavier's feet. Xavier stayed low, his body twisting in ways a 2% output shouldn't allow. He continued his slide down the hill, reloading his rifle with a crisp, mechanical snap.
Noelle stepped into his path, her rifle aimed true. Xavier didn't dodge. He accelerated. At the last second, he dropped to his back, sliding between Noelle's legs. As he passed under her, he reached up, grabbed the cabling of her Exo-suit's knee joint, and yanked.
Noelle lost her balance, falling backward into the slide with him. They tumbled down the hill together, a mess of grinding metal. Xavier recovered first. He kicked off her chest plate, sending her spinning away, and fired a single shot into her head while she was still sliding
Four down.
Xavier reached the bottom of the hill and stood up, the dust settling around him. He was covered in grit, his suit scratched and dented, but he stood perfectly still.
Asher stood ten feet away, his rifle trembling in his hands. He was the only one left of Team 1.
"You… you cheating rat!" Asher screamed. He raised his gun, but Xavier was faster.
Xavier didn't aim for the chest. He didn't aim for the visor. He stepped into Asher's reach, shoved the barrel of his rifle directly under Asher's chin, and pulled the trigger.
Click-Boom.
The red light on Asher's suit flared to life. Eliminated.
The stadium was silent. Not a single person cheered. They were in total shock. The Five Commanders on their thrones leaned forward, their eyes narrowed. Simon Ross didn't even blink; he just watched the boy with the 2% output.
Xavier didn't look at the cameras. He reached down, grabbed Team 1's flag, and tucked his own flag under his arm. He walked over to a nearby jagged rock, sat down, and let his head hang, catching his breath.
Ping! His System warned him.
[THREAT DETECTED: BEHIND]
Without looking back, Xavier's hand whipped over his shoulder. A cadet from Team 2 had tried to creep up on him, rifle raised. Xavier didn't even turn his head. He shoved his rifle backward, the barrel entering the cadet's open mouth-grill of the helmet.
Zap.
The cadet collapsed, suit locked.
Two more members of Team 2 rushed him from the front. Xavier didn't stand up. He grabbed the rifle from the "dead" cadet behind him, and with a gun in each hand, he unleashed a cross-fire of bolts.
Double Elimination.
He stood up, dropping the empty rifles, and faced the final survivors of Team 2: The Twins. Finn and Kenji.
They moved in perfect unison, their 29% outputs allowing them to move with terrifying synchronization. They closed in on Xavier, and the fight turned into a blur of Gun-Fu.
Finn swung a kick at Xavier's head; Xavier ducked, the metal heel of the suit whistling over him. Kenji fired point-blank. Xavier slapped the barrel of the gun aside, the mana-bolt striking a nearby wall. Xavier retorted with a palm strike to Kenji's chest, using the recoil to spin and elbow Finn in the neck.
It was a dance of steel. They fired, they blocked, they struck. Xavier moved like he was reading their minds, his Level 15 Vision seeing every muscle twitch before the twins even made their move.
Crack! Xavier grabbed Finn's wrist, twisted it until the gun pointed at Kenji, and forced Finn to pull the trigger.
Kenji Eliminated
Finn gasped, but Xavier didn't give him a second. He swept Finn's legs and, as the twin fell, Xavier fired a bolt into his chest.
Xavier stood in the center of the ruins, the lone survivor of the slaughter.
On the other side of the warzone, three figures emerged from the smoke: Jake, Maya, and Kiko.
The 34%, the 26%, and the 30%.
The Dream Team stood against the Zero.
Xavier wiped a smear of grease from his cheek and raised his rifle. The crowd finally found their voices, a roar so loud it shook the very foundations of the arena.