Hydra's chainsword screamed as he raised it above his head. This was it. The final moment. I was out of shotgun ammo. My leg was on fire with pain. I was backed against a cold, hard wall of glass. There was no escape. Death was a roaring, saw-toothed blade, ready to fall.
My mind raced, searching for any option, any escape. There was none. A direct fight was impossible. Dodging was impossible. I was trapped.
So I did the only thing I could think of. The most insane, desperate gamble yet.
Instead of trying to dodge the blow, I did the opposite. I stopped trying to get away from the glass vat behind me. I pushed myself hard against it, my back pressed flat against the cool, smooth surface. I made myself part of the wall.
Hydra, his mind clouded by rage and the promise of victory, was confused for a fraction of a second. He had expected me to cower or try a futile dodge. My strange, passive move threw him off. But it was only for a moment. He was committed to his attack. With a final, triumphant roar, he swung the chainsword down.
The roaring blade did not hit me.
It hit the massive glass vat I was pressed against.
The sound was a horrific screech of metal grinding against glass, followed by a deafening CRACK. The entire vat shattered. The huge volume of thick, green bio-agent goo inside did not leak out. It exploded outwards in a massive, suffocating wave.
The green tsunami engulfed Hydra completely. He was drenched in the sticky, viscous liquid from head to toe. He sputtered and choked, blinded by the goo. A string of new notifications appeared on my HUD, tracking his status.
[HYDRA SUFFERING FROM BIO-AGENT SATURATION.]
[ARMOR SYSTEMS CRITICAL FAILURE. SHORTING OUT.]
[MOVEMENT HEAVILY IMPAIRED.]
The conductive bio-agent seeped into the delicate joints of his advanced, heavy armor. Sparks flew from his chest and shoulders as his systems shorted out. But most importantly, the thick goo poured into the spinning mechanism of his chainsword.
The weapon's roar turned into a sputtering cough. It sparked violently, then seized up with a horrible, final grinding sound. The teeth stopped moving. His greatest weapon was now just a heavy, useless piece of metal.
This was my chance. My only chance.
I scrambled away from the broken vat, my hands reaching for the pistol on my hip. The P-19. The weak, forgotten starting weapon I hadn't used since my very first fight. It felt tiny and insignificant in my hand. But it was all I had left.
The bio-agent had caused Hydra's helmet systems to flicker. The armor plate at the back of his neck sparked and retracted for a second, exposing a cluster of wires and a small patch of unprotected skin. A weak spot.
I did not hesitate. I raised the pistol, my hands surprisingly steady. I unloaded the entire magazine.
Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.
The sound of the small-caliber pistol was pathetic in the huge lab, but the bullets were true. Each one hit the small, exposed weak spot.
Hydra's massive body went rigid. He did not even cry out. He simply dropped his useless chainsword with a loud clang. He stood there for a moment, swaying. Then he fell to his knees, and finally pitched forward, face-first into the pool of green goo.
He did not move again.
A final, beautiful notification appeared. [ENEMY VIP ELIMINATED].
The match was over. Instantly. [BLUE TEAM WINS]. The last remaining Red Team soldier, who was still fighting Anya across the lab, simply faded away into particles of blue light. The game was finished.
Silence descended on the bio-lab. The only sounds were my own heavy breathing and the slow, steady drip of goo from the broken vats. I stood over Hydra's body, my empty pistol smoking in my hand. I had done it. I had survived.
Anya ran over, her face pale. She looked at Hydra's massive form, then at the sputtering, dead chainsword, then at the tiny pistol in my hand. She looked completely bewildered.
"I... I don't know how you do it, Leo," she said, shaking her head. "I really don't."
The world around us began to dissolve. The familiar blue light of teleportation washed over the lab, and we were pulled back to the Safe Zone.
We arrived in the clean white room. A loot crate materialized between us. It was not a personal crate. It was a [TEAM VICTORY CRATE]. It belonged to both of us. The system would let us divide the spoils.
The crate opened. Inside were two items, both taken from Hydra's inventory.
The first was his weapon. [Hydra's Chainsword (Legendary Melee Weapon)]. It was a monster, a terrifying weapon of pure power. In the right hands, it would be unstoppable.
The second item was more mysterious. It was a small, black metallic card, with the Ouroboros symbol etched on it in silver. [Ouroboros Faction Keycard]. Its purpose was a complete unknown, but its "Legendary" rarity suggested it was incredibly important.
Anya looked at the two items, then at me. Her expression was neutral, but I could see the question in her eyes. "You were the VIP," she said, her voice quiet. "You got the final kill. It's your call, Leo. How do we split it?"
This was a test. A much more important test than the fight we had just won. My reputation, my future relationships in this world, it all came down to this choice. I could take the powerful, flashy weapon for myself. It would cement my status as a lone wolf powerhouse, a player to be feared. Or I could make a different choice.
I thought about the past two matches. I thought about Anya saving me, giving me advice, fighting by my side. I would be dead ten times over without her.
I made my choice.
"You take the sword," I said. My voice was firm. In the loot menu, I pushed the icon for the chainsword over to her side of the screen. "You saved my life back there. More than once. We're a team."
I chose to take the mysterious, unknown Keycard for myself. I was choosing knowledge over raw power. I was choosing teamwork over personal glory.
Anya stared at me, her mouth slightly open. She was completely shocked. I could see the conflict in her eyes. In this brutal world, no one shared legendary loot. No one. It was a rule as fundamental as "kill or be killed." And I had just broken it.
She hesitated, then slowly reached out and accepted the chainsword. A powerful new weapon materialized in her hands. She looked at it, then back at me, a new, deep respect in her eyes.
As she did, the Ouroboros Faction Keycard in my inventory began to glow with a faint, pulsing red light. A new message appeared on my HUD, visible only to me. It was not a blue system notification. The text was a deep, blood-red. It seemed to emanate from the keycard itself.
[FACTION SAFE HOUSE DETECTED. DO YOU WISH TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT CADEN?]