[Phase Nine Timer: 01:10:00]
[Objective: Survive 02:00:00]
[Safe Zone Radius: 700 Meters]
[Remaining Participants: 30]
The world was breaking again.
The edges of the Grid shimmered with static, pieces of terrain flickering in and out of existence. The Pact of Six moved through the chaos like a single organism — breath, step, and heartbeat synchronized under one name.
Leice's interface glowed quietly in his vision.
[Shop Access: System Internal Store]
[DP Available: ∞]
[Item Purchased: Energy Booster x 2]
[Item Purchased: Neural Sync Patch x 1]
[DP Spent: 0]
He materialized the items one by one, their light dimming as he concealed them within his coat. Zack and Aria were ahead, watching the ridgeline; Yvonne and Kesha traded silent glares as they scouted opposite sides; Gina kept walking without a word, eyes scanning the horizon like she could hear the data hum.
Leice handed out the capsules casually.
"Loot drop," he said. "Found them in the wreckage."
Zack brightened instantly. "Seriously? You're a walking miracle, man."
Aria gave a faint smile, taking hers carefully.
"You always find what we need, Leice."
"I know where to look," he said.
Gina's eyes flicked toward him, sharp. "Or what to ask for."
He didn't reply.
The Enemy Returns
[Hostile Signatures Detected: 22]
[Distance: 400 Meters]
[Direction: Multiple – Surrounding Perimeter]
Yvonne cracked her whip, sparks lighting the haze. "They're circling us again."
"Formation Delta," Leice ordered.
Kesha smirked. "So soon? You're spoiling me."
The air shimmered as Breakam One deployed in full sync form — half rifle, half scythe, edges flickering between shapes.
[Skill Activated: Observation Mode – γ]
[Effect: Tactical AI Feed Active]
"Gina," Leice said, "you lead this round."
Every head turned, even Gina's. "Me?"
"Consider it an experiment," Leice said. "The world rewards improvisation."
She nodded once. "Understood."
Gina raised a hand, tracing a sequence of glowing glyphs in the air.
[Skill: Light Script — Subroutine Rewrite]
[Effect: Terrain Stabilization + Illusion Node Projection]
The forest floor fractured, spawning six mirrored zones. The enemy teams rushed in blindly, splitting themselves without realizing it.
Yvonne's whips carved through the front ranks; Kesha's blade spun in arcs of crimson flame.
Zack followed Aria's command signals, learning to strike when her light barriers pulsed open for half a second.
Above them, Breakam One hovered, its modules tracking independently, releasing silent bursts that shredded anything beyond sight.
The battle ended in less than three minutes.
[System Log Update: Player Eliminations +15]
[Remaining Participants: 15]
[Warning: Balance Threshold Exceeded]
[Monitoring Level: MAX]
The system's voice echoed, faintly distorted, almost hesitant.
Leice looked up. "You still keeping up with me?" he murmured.
No reply — just static.
——— x——— x——— x——— x———
Observation Deck
The academy was chaos again.
Screens overloaded with kill feeds and red-coded warnings.
"Fifteen left!"
"That's impossible—they just wiped fifteen combatants in one skirmish!"
Alicia leaned against the railing, silent, eyes half-lidded.
The Billex patriarch shouted from across the gallery, "He's breaking your world!"
"No," she whispered. "He's proving it's real."
Lord Millera spoke next, voice calm but grim.
"If this continues, Phase Ten might not initialize correctly."
"Then it will be written," Alicia said softly. "By him."
——— x——— x——— x——— x———
Arena – Silence After the Storm
The wind fell quiet again. Ash and broken code drifted like snow.
Zack slumped to one knee, exhausted. "We actually did it…"
"You did fine," Leice said.
He turned to Aria. "Patch him."
She nodded, pressing a small seal of light against Zack's arm. "Done."
[Skill Activated: Recovery Light]
[Mana Consumption: 25%]
Kesha wiped her blade clean, smirking. "If this keeps up, we'll run out of targets."
"That's the idea," Yvonne said.
Gina turned toward Leice, eyes thoughtful. "You're still not fighting seriously, are you?"
He gave a half-shrug. "Why would I? The test isn't about strength anymore. It's about endurance."
"And control?" she asked.
Leice smiled faintly. "Always control."
When the others turned to regroup, Leice opened his menu again, invisible to anyone else.
[Shop Access: Internal Store]
[DP Available: ∞]
[Item Purchased: Adaptive Stim Patch x 6]
[DP Spent: 0]
Six capsules materialized. He pocketed them, glancing at the timer.
[Timer: 00:47:00]
[Safe Zone Radius: 600 Meters]
[Remaining Participants: 15]
The next compression would hit soon.
He looked at his allies — the strange constellation that now moved in his orbit.
Aria, Yvonne, Kesha, Gina, Zack. Each powerful, each dangerous, each unknowingly tethered to him.
"Let's finish this hour," he said.
The wind shifted again.
Somewhere in the dark beyond the compression line, the sound of new enemies echoed — desperate, disorganized, already doomed.
Leice raised his hand.
Breakam One shimmered into readiness, responding like it shared his pulse.
[Skill Activated: Sync Cascade – Prime]
[Effect: Formation Boost +300% | Duration: 10:00]
Light erupted from the center of the field.
The Pact of Six moved together once more — a single storm in a dying world.