12: The Weight of Points
The gunshot still echoed in my skull — not as sound, but as silence.
I didn't kill Miss Lira for pleasure.
I killed her because the system said:
> ✅ **Mission Complete – Floor 1 Cleared**
> 🏆 **Reward: 250 Dominance Points**
> 🔐 Unlock Level 2 Access (Pending)
She was part of the equation. A variable in the algorithm. Her death wasn't personal — it was *protocol*.
Power hummed beneath my skin like a live current rewriting nerve endings. My body changed. Not visibly — no muscles bulged or eyes glowed brighter — but internally? Something evolved.
I could feel it in the air now.
Second floor called to me like a whisper through blood-soaked vents above.
But before I moved…
Above me, gunfire roared again—sharp bursts, screams slicing through concrete walls from higher ground. The second floor battle had just exploded into full chaos.
Heroine POV – Lira Vele
We were on ground zero when it hit—the assault from above spilling down stairwells like red rain made of flesh and fear.
Terrorists breached our safe zone with rifles blazing masks black voices distorted mechanical *"Eliminate all witnesses."*
But we weren't weaklings anymore
We were survivors who'd seen hell smile
Me—I grabbed an AK-47 off a dead guard's back and fired blind at first then steady later screaming until throat burned blood-salty on lips teeth clenched hard enough to crack molars
One girl beside me—a hero type named Neya—dove under crossfire with knife drawn slit two throats before they could blink
Two side characters fought back-to-back using fire extinguisher and broken chair leg
And us students?
We didn't cry
We *attacked*
For four hours straight we battled nonstop corridors hallways classrooms bathrooms where some tried hiding only to be dragged out screaming
Every trigger pull chipped away at soul
Every life I ended carved deeper hollow inside chest where heart used to beat warm now only cold wind spins round empty chamber echo…echo…echo…
At end?
Only thirty remained alive:
- Me (Lira Vele)
- Hero Girl Neya (face cut arm broken but still standing)
- Two side fighters barely breathing armor torn boots soaked red
- Twenty-six students—including boys who once skipped class girls who posted selfies laughing over coffee now hollow-eyed silent walking wounded wrapped in trauma thicker than bulletproof vests
After final enemy fell—we collapsed
I dropped gun hands shaking so bad couldn't hold cup water offered by someone
Then stomach twisted hard sudden wave nausea hit—
***BLAM!***
Vomit burst out hot bitter acid burning throat tears streaming not from pain—from guilt real realization sinking deep:
>I killed twenty-three people today
>
>Men women doesn't matter they screamed begged children names whispered last breaths I STILL PULLED TRIGGER
>
>I am not heroine
>
>I am monster wearing one's face
And somewhere far beyond this building…
A livestream ticked upward:
🎥 **YouTube Feed Active – Global Viewers: 318M** 💬 *(Comments flooding)*
💬 *"Bro these students turned into soldiers??? Real-life Call of Duty!"* 🔫😱 #CampusWarZone #LevelUpOrDie
💬 *"Lira just threw up after killing?? That's the most human thing ever… she's still good!!"* ❤️🩹 #SoulNotLost #FightForLight
💬 *"Yassu got points for killing her???? This man is playing god mode DARK SOULS style…"* 🕹️💀🔥 #GamerLogicAppliesIRL?
💬 *"Wait... are we watching evolution happen LIVE? Human → Demon → God?"* 👁️🌌 #AscensionTheoryConfirmed
💭 *"...something ancient is awake."*
Silence follows each word spoken online—as if even internet itself fears what comes next...
Floor cleared?
Yes—but price paid echoes louder than gunshots ever did