[Pinnacle Academy, Dystopic Simulation - The Central Apartnt Field: Second Floor]
"I can't believe it!"
Lyra stomped the ground in frustration,
"We've found nothing..."
She and Alice had just finished scouring the second floor of the apartnt complex, their search for flags yielding no results.
Although they hadn't secured any objectives, they had managed to eliminate four mbers of Team A in the process, making their task slightly less daunting.
"Seven B Team mbers have been eliminated. Respawn ti: 5 minutes,"
The AI announcer's voice echoed through the simulated environnt.
Alice's brow furrowed with worry.
That was already a quarter of their team down.
"Should we check the upper floor now, Alice?"
Lyra asked, her smile attempting to dispel Alice's growing concern.
Alice nodded, her anxiety montarily eased by Lyra's presence.
But just as she was about to respond, a massive fla erupted in the distance, the shockwave shaking the building as flas exploded throughout the complex.
BOOOOOM!
Alice for a mont held her eyes tight as mories had awakened from long ago that she tried to hide away from...
[Alice Flashback...]
A younger Alice, no more than five years old, skipped through the grand halls of the palace, her hand clasped in her father's.
He was showing her the family treasury, a dazzling array of treasures that would one day be hers to inherit as queen.
Unlike the quiet, reserved Alice of the present.
This younger version was a chatterbox with a curiosity bubbling over as she peppered her father with questions.
"What's that, Daddy?"
She asked, pointing at a glass case containing a pulsating organ, frozen in ti.
"That, my dear," her father explained, his voice filled with pride, "is the heart of a mighty dragon, a gift from the Great Hero Garrick."
"Garrick?" Alice tilted her head, the na unfamiliar to her young ears.
"Yes, Garrick," her father replied, a fond smile on his face.
"He was a hero who saved this world many years ago, long before you were born."
Alice's eyes sparkled with admiration. "If Daddy thinks he's great, then he must be!"
But her innocent joy was short-lived.
A deafening roar echoed through the palace, followed by a wave of scorching heat.
The walls trembled, and the ceiling rained down debris as a massive explosion ripped through the heart of the castle.
Her father's protective embrace shielded Alice from the debris, but as the roar of the explosion faded, a chilling silence enveloped her.
She couldn't hear a thing and her ears ringed with a deafening emptiness.
As her father held Alice tight, Footsteps echoed in the distance, growing closer with each passing mont.
A figure erged from the smoke-filled doorway of the royal treasury, a man cloaked in a blue hood.
He stood about 30 tres away from Alice and her father as a nacing aura radiated from him.
With a flick of his wrist he removed his hood, revealing a face partially hidden behind a mask.
His hair, a vibrant shade of blue, frad his sharp, calculating eyes.
"Hello, brother," the masked man sneered, a cruel smile twisting his lips.
"Did you miss ?"
Alice's father t his gaze with a look of utter disgust.
His lips moved, forming words that Alice couldn't hear, the silence in her ears all-consuming.
" ⬛⬛⬛⬛, I thought... you were... ⬛⬛⬛⬛"
The masked man laughed in a cold hollow sound that echoed through the ravaged treasury.
"You seem mistaken," he said, his voice dripping with malice as he looked towards Alice.
"It wasn't yours to begin with."
He reached into his pocket, donning gloves, and then a massive gust of wind blasted towards them.
Alice flinched from the sudden eruption of energy.
"No matter, I won't make the sa mistake again."
KREEEK
Alice's father extended his arm, and a sword of ice ford in his hand.
He swiftly crouched, turning towards Alice and pressing a shimring crystal into her tiny hand.
"Crush it," he mouthed, his eyes filled with love and desperation.
"I love you, Alice."
"...!"
Before Alice could react, he gave her a gentle push backward, and a sudden pillar of rock fell, sealing the entrance and separating her from her father.
...
...
...
Lyra coughed, a cloud of dust erupting from her mouth as she slowly opened her eyes.
She was lying in a patch of tall grass, hidden from view in a secluded corner of the simulation.
"What just happened?" she thought, her head throbbing with a dull ache.
"Fifteen people have been eliminated. Respawn tir: 5 minutes,"
The AI announcer's voice echoed through the air, confirming that the chaos was far from over.
Lyra blinked, surprised to find herself still in the ga.
Had she sohow avoided the blast?
As she tried to move, a wave of soreness washed over her, the simulated injuries feeling all too real.
"This simulation really doesn't pull any punches,"
She muttered, wincing as she sat up and stretched her aching muscles.
As she regained her bearings, her eyes scanned the horizon.
In the distance, two figures caught her attention.
What she had seen made her jaw drop in surprise.
Of all people, it was Rel that was standing before Bazz.
"Another player has been eliminated. Respawn tir: 5 minutes,"
The AI announcer's voice bood through the simulated cityscape, confirming Bazz's disappearance in a shower of blue pixels leaving Rel standing alone and unscathed.
"No way...," she whispered, her eyes wide with disbelief. "Did... did Rel just take down Bazz?"
The initial shock was overwhelming.
She knew Bazz was arguably one of the strongest students in their grade, and for Rel to have defeated him held a different aning entirely.
The timid, unbothered smartass she knew had just defied all expectations.
Could it be that Rel had been hiding his true strength all along?
"A secret weapon," she murmured, a sly grin spreading across her face.
"I knew it, he was hiding sothing all along!"
Lyra's curiosity about Rel reached new heights as she pumped her fist in the air.
She had always sensed sothing was off about him from the mont he entered the academy.
A person so terrible at practicals that he could barely run, an archer who contributed little in team dungeon tasks, and soone who had barely made an impact during the France incident.
And yet, here he was, standing triumphant over Bazz who had disappeared.
"I have to see this for myself,"
___________
To Be Continued...
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