The world cracked like glass.
Every horizon shimmered as the Compression Field folded in on itself again, closing the map to a fraction of what it had been a day ago. Rivers of light bled through the fractures in the sky.
[Compression Phase Eight: Active]
[Safe Zone Radius: 3 Kilometers]
[Remaining Participants: 94]
Leice stood on a ridge overlooking what used to be the Frost Verge. The entire region now floated in shards of terrain—fragments of ice suspended mid-air, each one rotating slowly under artificial gravity.
He could feel the hum beneath his boots — the Grid fighting to stay whole.
[System Status: Instability Detected]
[Error Count: 47 → Increasing]
He dismissed the alerts. Let it break. The weaker the system's logic, the easier it would be to rewrite.
Behind him, Aria and Zack climbed the slope. Their silhouettes cut against the violet glow; exhaustion painted their faces, but neither complained.
"It's smaller again," Zack said, staring at the warped sky. "Like we're running out of world."
"We are," Leice replied. "That's how it forces confrontation. Fewer places to hide."
Aria frowned. "So every remaining player will be drawn here soon."
Leice nodded. "Exactly. And when that happens, alliances will matter more than skill."
A faint ping echoed through the mist — a proximity alert.
[Unidentified Player Signatures Detected]
[Count: 6]
[Distance: 180 Meters]
Leice drew Breakam One, its edge flickering silver.
"We've got company."
Zack tensed, hand on his sword. Aria's expression shifted from calm to focus.
Shapes emerged through the fog — six figures in mixed armor, insignias from different cities.
One raised a hand in greeting.
"We come in peace, Grape team!"
Leice raised an eyebrow. "You say that while aiming crossbows?"
The man hesitated, lowering his weapon slowly. "Force of habit. Everyone's jumpy."
Their leader — a woman with crimson hair and a mechanical eyepiece — stepped forward.
"Name's Serin Vale. We're forming a temporary pact. Mutual protection until the next compression. You interested?"
Leice studied her quietly.
[System Scan: Player Serin Vale]
[Level 42 | Affiliation: Solaris Remnants | Morality: Neutral-Ambitious]
Ambitious. That was another word for dangerous.
"Temporary pact," he said slowly. "Meaning you'll turn when it benefits you."
Serin smiled. "Meaning we survive longer first."
Aria leaned closer to Leice. "She's not wrong. Alone, we'll be surrounded when the field tightens again."
He considered it.
An alliance could buy time—and information. And if it failed, it would only take one command to erase them.
"Fine," he said. "Temporary."
Serin extended a hand. "Then welcome to the Remnant Pact."
Leice didn't take it. "Let's just survive the hour."
They moved as a group through the fractured landscape. The world was quiet, too quiet — no bird simulations, no wind audio loops. Even the usual background hum of data streams had fallen silent.
[Warning: Environmental Scripts Disabled]
[Reason: System Instability > 70%]
Aria glanced around. "Is it supposed to be this quiet?"
"No," Leice murmured. "The game's losing sound."
Serin shot him a look. "What does that even mean?"
He didn't answer. Some truths would only confuse them.
Zack jogged beside him, whispering. "You trust them?"
"Trust is a waste," Leice said. "They're variables. We use variables until the equation's solved."
Then they was ambushed.
The first attack came ten minutes later.
A flash of blue tore across the fog — then another.
[Incoming Projectiles Detected]
[Source: Northwest Quadrant]
"Down!" Leice shouted.
The blast hit, scattering shards of rock. Serin's team scrambled for cover; Aria shielded Zack with her cloak as fragments exploded around them.
From the mist emerged armored figures—eight of them, glowing with the insignia of Obsidian Wastes.
"Raiders," Serin hissed. "They've been hunting pacts like ours!"
"How poetic," Leice said flatly.
Breakam One split into three forms instantly—sword, shield, and chain. Each hovered, waiting for command.
[Skill Activated: Adaptive Sync – Mode Δ]
[DP Spent: 500]
The air distorted. The first raider charged—and vanished mid-swing, consumed by a silver vortex.
Zack gaped. "What did you—"
"Shortened his respawn code," Leice said. "He'll come back next century."
The others hesitated, then roared and rushed together.
Aria raised her staff, light flaring around her. "Barrier!"
A dome of blue wrapped around them just as the next volley hit. Sparks cascaded like rain.
Serin's team returned fire, but the raiders kept coming—too many, too fast.
Leice's mind ran calculations faster than sight.
Nine hostiles. Four allies functional. Zack unstable. Aria low mana.
He tapped his HUD.
[Skill Activated: Break Sequence Ω]
[DP Spent: 900]
Breakam One expanded, shifting into a storm of blades that circled the dome. When they struck, the air itself screamed.
In seconds, the raiders dissolved into pixels.
Silence fell again.
Serin exhaled, lowering her weapon.
"You—what even are you?"
Leice ignored the question, scanning the battlefield.
[Remaining Participants: 84]
"Too many eyes," he muttered. "They'll trace the energy surge."
He turned to Aria. "We move. Now."
She nodded, expression serious but gaze lingering on him.
"You keep saving us," she said quietly. "Even when you pretend not to care."
"Pretending's part of the plan."
For a heartbeat, her smile almost broke through the gloom.
They vanished into the mist, leaving Serin's group behind.
The fog closed over the battlefield, swallowing the corpses and the light alike.
Far above, in the fractured sky, the system struggled to stabilize itself.
[Critical Error: Event Timeline Divergence > 90%]
[Primary Protagonist ID – Unverified]
[Initiating Correction Protocols...]
Leice's interface flickered. For an instant, his own name blurred.
[Player Tag: L–––ch Code]
He grinned faintly.
"Try and fix that, system."
And somewhere beyond the haze, another presence was already moving—
watching, calculating, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.