[Welco to the 345th Battle Royale—Participation Round 5!]
Participants: 100/100
Location: Collapsed
Start the MAYHEM!!
A translucent blue holographic screen materialized in front of , buzzing with static and gleaming like it had a vendetta against subtlety.
"Collapsed," huh?
As if on cue, the world around us flickered to life—or rather, death. The environnt looked like soone had dragged a modern tropolitan city through an apocalyptic paper shredder.
Skyscrapers were reduced to heaps of twisted steel and crumbling concrete. Flas danced lazily from half-buried hos, while broken glass glittered in every direction like angry stars. The air was thick with smoke and the lingering scent of ozone.
And we were dropped right into the middle of it.
It was imrsive—disturbingly so. But then again, we weren’t here physically.
Our real bodies were safely strapped inside high-end VR pods, reclined in comfort while our minds were slingshotted into this virtual hellscape. At least, "comfort" was subjective.
Because here’s the thing about these pods: they were designed to make you feel everything. Every stab, every burn, every fracture. Sure, it wasn’t permanent damage. But when soone in here died? The pain was no less real than the scream that ca with it.
From my side, a familiar voice groaned.
"Collapsed? Seriously?" Kaelira’s tone was half-whine, half-grumble. "I hate this stage. I saw a few previews of it online—right before that pixelated freak scared the hell out of ."
She shuddered, visibly, even in our digital forms.
And yeah, she wasn’t exaggerating. That "freak" she ntioned? A purple-haired girl with crimson eyes and a glitchy, jerky movent pattern. She’d flashed across her screen while she was reading forums, staring straight into the cara with innocence which was creepy.
Unsettling didn’t even begin to cover it.
She looked eerily similar to the character who was appearing in regular intervals in the turn based rpg I had played the other day.
After that initial jumpscare, Kaelira had slamd the console shut and refused to interact with anything until this round loaded. She’d spent the entire wait ti muttering curses under her breath, like so kind of anti-pixel incantation.
But the more I thought about it, the more sothing began to click.
There was a thread.
I rembered seeing a forum post—a thread talking about sightings of an unusual ga character and that people wanted a refund because of the eerie character. According to them the character wanted "Help."
But the one ti I had encountered her in the ga the little freak it didn’t say anything.
I hadn’t given it much thought at the ti. Probably just another glitch or easter egg character or just the devs acting like jerks. But now? With what we saw?
Sothing wasn’t right...
I rubbed my temples and blinked the screen again. ’System stats.’
The interface slid open in front of like a translucent neon panel written in numbers:
— Stats —
Health: 200,000 / 200,000
Strength: 1401
Stamina: 1260
Speed: 1440
Endurance: 1330
Dexterity: 1250
Luck: 62
Stat Points Available: 5,000
A decent stat spread—if I was trying to stay balanced. Which, up until now, had been the plan. Pour points evenly. Keep my options open. Don’t overcommit.
But.
Balance doesn’t win wars. Specialization does.
I glanced over at Kaelira. She wasn’t just so tagalong player—she was sharp. Smarter than most, and blessed with a sixth sense for ga chanics. And she’d told sothing a while back—sothing that stuck.
"If you want to control mana well, get your dex up. It’s not just for speed or aim. It’s for concentration. Control. Precision. It’s what lets you control mana without breaking your brain."
She had about 600 in dex at the ti. Said it helped her use her abilities and skill much faster than the average person of the sa rank.
And now that I thought about it, it made perfect sense. Coordination, focus, subtle movent—all of it fell under Dexterity.
"Alright," I muttered to myself, opening the distribution nu. "Let’s see what happens."
No hesitation.
5,000 to Dexterity.
The points surged through like lightning, and suddenly my whole body felt lighter. My vision sharpened.
With a deep breath, I activated the skill I’d been focusing on.
’[Mana Control]’
——[Mana Control]——
Rank: ★★★★
Description: The ability to manipulate ambient mana with precision and efficiency.
Effects: Mana efficiency increased by 90%.
Bonus: Dexterity over 1000 → Additional 10×5% mana efficiency.
——[Close]——
It was... pretty damn cool, honestly.
The mont I dumped those points into Dexterity, everything just clicked. My movents sharpened, my reaction ti dropped to zero, and even my perception of mana felt eerily crisp—like soone cleaned the foggy lens I’d been seeing the world through.
Every step was smoother. Every breath more efficient. Even standing still felt calculated.
I exhaled slowly.
’What kind of good-for-nothing gar am I?’ I sighed internally, dragging a hand down my face. ’Can’t even figure out the basics of stat synergy without soone spoon-feeding it to . Sha on .’
I wanted to curse myself more—really go full monologue about my past sins as an oblivious, surface-level casual—but unfortunately, my inner narcissist had sothing to say about that. So I stopped.
Instead, I scratched the back of my head and turned to Kaelira, who was currently sulking like soone had stolen her candy and dignity in one sweep. She looked dead inside. Or at the very least, bored enough to want to be.
She was practically scouting for a quiet little grave in this hellscape to lie down in and nap.
"What happened to you?" I asked, strolling over. "So scared you’re sleepy now? Don’t worry—if you crash, the purple freak will definitely visit your dreams and scare the shit out of you. That’s free real estate."
I said it with the brightest, most joyous grin I could muster. Pure serotonin. Weaponized positivity.
Kaelira responded as expected—by glaring at like I’d just pissed in her coffee.
"Can you not talk like a lunatic for one fucking minute? My head hurts, you dumbfuck!" she snapped, massaging her temples like she was fighting off an aneurysm. "I’m not even joking. I’m so tired all of a sudden. Must be so VR pod feedback loop. Or maybe this crap-ass system’s just allergic to sleep."
I tilted my head. "Yeah, yeah. Bla the tech. Go on. Tell the evil VR pod it’s at fault. It’s obviously the reason you’re trash at this ga. Not you. Nope."
Kaelira narrowed her eyes and practically snarled. "It isn’t an excuse, you shithead! I’m genuinely—ugh—hurting. And for the record, I already told you—I suck at PvP. Doesn’t an I’m bad at combat. This is more like a real fight than those twitchy FPS shooters. I’m better here. You probably wouldn’t know—those gas actually require brains."
Ouch. That was below the belt. Which ant she was losing the argunt.
I smirked and opened my mouth to toss back sothing even pettier, but—
Crunch.
Footsteps.
I snapped my mouth shut and imdiately raised a hand, finger pressed firmly against my lips.
Kaelira went quiet.
"Soone’s coming," I whispered, voice barely audible.
She didn’t argue. I grabbed her wrist and dragged her lazy-ass away from the exposed street corner, moving through the rubble toward a collapsed building that used to be, maybe, a pizza shop. Now it was half-dissolved concrete and lted tal.
We ducked beside a broken staircase, half-subrged in debris. Just enough to hide.
Kaelira whispered near my ear. "Did you see how many?"
I shook my head. "No. Just heard the steps. They were synchronized—definitely a squad. But I couldn’t pin the count."
She gave a subtle nod and went quiet again.
Silence followed. Long. Tense. The kind of silence that feels like the world’s holding its breath.
Then—
Footsteps again.
A figure appeared at the edge of the staircase. A man—tall, broad-shouldered, wielding a longsword like he was cosplaying a knight.
He wasn’t cautious. Just wandered in, half-paying attention, scanning the room with lazy eyes.
Rookie mistake.
His back was to . And in this ga? That’s practically suicide.
I didn’t hesitate.
I moved like I’d rehearsed it a thousand tis in so darker, bloodier lifeti. Slipped behind him, grabbed his jaw, twisted with sharp force—
CRACK.
His neck snapped like brittle wood.
1 Kill
A silent blue hologram pinged into my view. No sound. But the faint glow and shimring light of his deletion? Yeah, his teammates would definitely notice that.
And as expected—more footsteps.
This ti, not synchronized.
Panicked. Erratic. Angry.
I crouched again and counted the pulses. One. Two. Three.
Three more. A full four-man squad.
A halberd user, bristling with armor. A brawler with gauntlets so big he looked like he boxed tanks for breakfast. And a bow-wielding girl, scanning rooftops with a narrowed gaze.
They ca into view, just on the other side of a broken wall. The brawler spotted first.
Our eyes t.
He lunged—
—and then froze.
No, not froze.
Fell.
All three of them did.
Heads sliced clean from shoulders. Clean. Precise. Like guillotines made of shadow.
Their bodies collapsed into light, pixelated particles rising into the digital sky. Gone.
I blinked.
Standing behind their corpses was Kaelira.
Twin daggers in her hands.
Both dripping red.
She gave a casual flick of her wrist and the blood sprayed off like it didn’t even belong. No hesitation. No flair. Just business.
Her eyes t mine.
No words.
Just the silent agreent: don’t ss with us.
I stood there, mildly stunned.
’COOL.’
It was all I could think. Not in a sarcastic way. Not even as a joke. Just a raw, sincere thought rising up in my mind.
She looked cool.
Kaelira twirled one of her daggers around her finger and finally spoke.
"That’s three. Plus your one."
I raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you get good?"
She rolled her eyes. "I told you. PvP isn’t my thing. But in real-ti combat like this? I don’t freeze. You do."
"Excuse ?" I narrowed my eyes.
"Don’t worry, you’ll catch up eventually," she smirked, already moving past , scanning the battlefield ahead like she was shopping for her next kill.
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