The simulated wind howled through the skeletal remains of the urban warzone, carrying the scent of scorched earth and spent mana. In the center of the clearing, the silence was heavy, a physical weight that pressed down on the four remaining cadets.
Jake, Maya, and Kiko stood in a loose, predatory triangle. Their Exo-suits hummed with the steady, high-pitched whine of top-tier mana outputs. They didn't even bother to raise their weapons yet; their confidence was a suffocating aura. Opposite them, Xavier stood alone, his battered suit scarred and covered in the dust of the nine cadets he had just dismantled.
Xavier was the only one with his rifle leveled.
Jake broke the silence, his voice smooth and cold over the external speakers. "So, you're the one responsible for all this commotion. The 'Zero' who turned the graveyard of Team 1 into his personal playground."
Xavier let out a short, jagged laugh that rattled in his chest. "Yeah. What if I am?"
Jake tilted his head, his long black hair shadowed by his visor. "I don't know why you're laughing. There are three of us. There is one of you. The math doesn't favor the bottom of the barrel, Xavier."
"Numbers have never been on my side," Xavier whispered.
Suddenly, Xavier moved. He didn't charge—he retreated. He turned and bolted toward a massive jagged boulder anchored near the edge of the arena's simulated lake. Behind the rock was a dense cluster of synth-pines, and beyond that, nothing but the deep, dark water of the perimeter.
"He's cornering himself," Kiko muttered, adjusting the scope on her long-range sniper rifle. "Does he think we can't see through trees?"
Jake didn't look alarmed. He didn't even speed up his pace. He led Maya and Kiko forward with the slow, deliberate gait of a firing squad. "I don't know what you're up to, but if trapping yourself was your goal, then good work. You've saved us the hunt."
They fanned out, extending their weapons. Kiko took a knee, her sniper rifle glowing with a concentrated violet light. Maya leveled her assault rifle, her 26% output stabilizing the recoil dampeners. Jake took the center, his 34% output causing the air to ripple with heat.
"You know something, Xavier?" Jake called out, his finger tightening on the trigger. "The higher the output, the higher the kinetic damage of the mana-bolts. A bolt from me isn't just a signal—it's a physical hammer. You wouldn't know that, Zero... isn't that what they call you?"
Jake's eyes hardened. "Hiding behind trees and stone is pointless against us."
"Open fire," Jake commanded.
The arena erupted.
It wasn't a skirmish; it was an execution. A fury of high-output mana-bolts shredded the air. Kiko's sniper rounds acted like anti-tank shells, punching through the trunks of the synth-pines, shattering them into splinters that rained down like deadly confetti. Maya and Jake unleashed a relentless stream of fire, the sheer volume of energy vaporizing the foliage in seconds.
The trees were wiped from the map as if they had never existed.
Then, the focus shifted to the boulder. The sound was deafening—a rhythmic, metallic clack-clack-clack of bolts hitting stone. A dance of sparks and grey dust erupted from the rock. Chunks of granite the size of helmets were chipped away, flying into the air as the three prodigies poured their combined mana into the destruction of Xavier's only cover.
Smoke and pulverized stone choked the air, creating a grey shroud around the boulder.
"Cease fire," Jake ordered.
The silence that followed was ringing. The boulder had been reduced to a jagged stump, half its original size. Maya stepped forward, her rifle raised, moving toward the side of the rock to confirm the elimination.
She rounded the corner of the stump, expecting to see a locked-up Exo-suit slumped in the dirt.
The space was empty.
"He's gone!" Maya shouted.
Before the words could fully leave her comms, the surface of the lake behind her exploded.
Xavier burst from the water like a predatory ghost. He had used the smoke and the thunderous noise of their own gunfire to slip into the lake, breathing through a suit intake. He moved with a burst of speed that defied his 2% rating—a raw, physical explosion fueled by his Level 70 Strength.
He slammed into Maya's back before she could spin her rifle. He didn't strike her; he wrapped a mechanical arm around her throat, hauling her back into a hostage position. He used her 26% frame as a meat-shield against Jake and Kiko.
Maya struggled, her hydraulics hissing, but Xavier's grip was like iron. He leaned close to her helmet, his voice a low growl.
"You're too confident."
Bam!
Without a hint of hesitation, Xavier pressed his pistol to the side of Maya's helmet and fired. Point-blank. Merciless.
MAYA: ELIMINATED.
The crowd gasped as Maya's suit locked up, the red light bathing Xavier's face. He shoved her limp frame toward Jake, using the distraction to charge forward.
Kiko leapt back into the remaining tree line, trying to find a line of sight. She centered her crosshairs on Xavier's head as he sprinted across the open ground toward Jake. Her finger hesitated—she knew Jake. She saw the way Jake was standing, his feet planted, his rifle lowered. He wanted this.
Jake didn't raise his gun. He watched Xavier approach with the cold detachedness of a scientist watching a lab rat.
"All of you, bare witness," Jake's voice boomed, directed not at Xavier, but at the cameras, the crowd, and the Commanders in their high thrones. "If any of you were thinking of touching me... watch how a real Chaser handles a Zero."
Xavier reached him, swinging a desperate, wide fist fueled by every ounce of his 60 points in Agility. Jake didn't even use his suit's thrusters. He leaned back, the fist whistling inches from his visor, and caught Xavier's wrist in mid-air.
The strength difference was staggering. Jake's 34% output surged through his suit's actuators. He twisted Xavier's arm with a sickening metallic groan, spinning him around and slamming him face-first into the dirt.
Xavier gasped as the wind was knocked out of him. He looked up, his Level 15 vision seeing the barrel of Jake's rifle descending toward his eyes.
"I'll kill your dreams here, Zero," Jake said.
Flash.
The red bolt hit Xavier squarely in the visor.
XAVIER REYES: ELIMINATED.
The HUD in Xavier's helmet turned a flat, dull red. His suit hissed, the joints locking up as the "non-lethal" pulse neutralized his systems.
The buzzer rang out across the arena, a long, mournful tone that signaled the end of Stage 1.
"STAGE 1 COMPLETE!" the announcer roared. "TEAM 5 TAKES THE WIN! TEAM 10 SECURES SECOND PLACE!"
The simulation dissolved. The ruined buildings, the lake, and the scorched trees shimmered and vanished, leaving only the flat, dirt floor of the arena.
Asher Williams stood at the edge of the field, his face a mask of purple rage, his fists shaking. He had been humiliated by a boy he considered a shadow. Maya sat on the floor where Xavier had dropped her, staring at her hands in shock, her pride shattered by a 2% "hostage" play.
In the center of the field, Jake stood over Xavier. He didn't offer a hand. He didn't even look down. He just turned and walked away toward Kiko, both of them wearing expressions of hollow boredom. To them, the victory was a mathematical certainty.
Xavier lay in the dirt, his suit frozen. But behind his visor, he wasn't crying. He wasn't upset.
A thrill he had never felt before was coursing through his veins. He had stood on a world stage. He had looked the elite in the eye and made them bleed. He had finished second out of fifty of the world's best prospects.
Ping.
[QUEST COMPLETE: WIN STAGE 1 (PARTIAL SUCCESS - 2ND PLACE)]
[REWARD: 50 STAT POINTS / 20 SHOP POINTS]
The crowd began to cheer—not for Jake's clinical victory, but for the boy who had turned the arena into a warzone. The Commanders on their thrones were talking now, their eyes fixed on the cadet from Team 10 who was just now being released from his locked suit.
Xavier stood up, dusting off his knees. He looked up at the sky, a wide, crazy smile splitting his face.
"One stage down," he whispered.