Visible Players: 74
Actual Players: 148 (Hidden from Players)
Rest Zone – Twelve Hours After "Eye Contact"
The silence after a game was worse than the game itself.
Room 109 was gone. So were the screams. The bloodless deaths. The click of guns that had no bullets.
The survivors were led to Rest zone — a larger, echoing dormitory with polished chrome walls and clean hydration ports. Everything looked pure. Sterile. Like death had never touched it.
But the air was heavy.
Lyra sat near her bunk, peeling off the compression gloves they gave them after every game. Her fingers trembled — not from recoil, but from choice. She had pulled the trigger. The gun hadn't fired. But the girl had still vanished.
Across the hall, Kyro knelt beside his cot, adjusting his boot straps. He hadn't spoken a word since. Just one clean shot, one empty sound — and then nothing. His opponent had been dragged away too.
Ezra (171) kept pacing the walls, muttering to himself.
"It was fake. Has to be. There was no kickback. No blood."
Rhea (021) replied coolly from her bed, arms folded:
"But we believed it was real. That's what matters."
No one responded to that.
Because it was true.
System Announcement: Game 7 Initiated
"GAME 7: REVERSE ARENA"
Location: Arena Core 7
Match Type: Team Versus Team
Time Limit: 3 Minutes Per Match
GAME RULES:
1. Players are divided into teams of 5.
2. Each match pits two teams against each other.
3. Goal: Knock the opposing team off the platform.
4. Platform is motion-sensitive and destabilizes under heavy force.
5. Use of energy poles permitted.
6. Overpowering your enemy may collapse your own section.
7. If both teams fall, both are eliminated.
8. Survivors advance. Losers vanish.
Arena Core 7 – The Arena Revealed
The door opened into a cathedral-sized combat dome, black steel walls circling a central circular platform. A pit surrounded it, pulsing with faint red light — not fire, not water, just emptiness.
The platform hovered on gimbal arms, which rotated with every strong motion.
Floor lights blinked. Teams formed.
Lyra looked up as her name blinked across the screen:
"Team 109: Lyra, Ezra, Zara, Nico, and Cassian."
Rhea was already walking toward the observation deck, her match not yet called. Kyro was on a different team entirely.
Ezra raised an eyebrow.
"I hope they have insurance. I fight dirty."
"Match 1: Team 109 vs Team 172"
The siren screamed.
The platform jerked.
Each player was equipped with a retractable energy pole — light but powerful. The magnetic boots clicked on.
The moment their team landed, the arena beneath them responded — too much movement and their own floor panels started to glow red.
Cassian lunged first, swinging wildly.
"Fall, you bastards!"
CRACK—
A red fault line pulsed beneath his feet. Lyra yanked him back.
"Stop swinging like an idiot. You'll kill us."
Ezra dropped low, using the momentum to sweep an opponent's legs.
Zara vaulted over the line and knocked another player back with her full body weight — both teetered, but she recovered.
Nico glitched — literally. His pole phased out for a moment, his eyes flashing blue.
"I'm not stable. Someone cover me!"
Lyra made the call:
"Let them come to us. We counter. Light hits only!"
They obeyed. And when Team 172 overextended, the floor beneath their section collapsed.
One by one, the opposing team fell, screaming into the void.
"Match Over. Team 109: Victory."
"Match 2: Kyro's Team"
He faced a squad of older players — stronger, faster.
But Kyro wasn't interested in winning with brute force.
He baited the biggest guy into charging — then sidestepped, letting the man fall through a weakened platform. The rest followed.
He didn't even swing his pole once.
"Match Over. Team 304: Victory."
Aftermath – Arena Exit
54 visible players walked out.
Sweating.
Bruised.
Changed.
No one spoke.
Because what could you say, after shoving strangers into a pit to survive?
Inside the dark walls of the facility, none of them knew the truth.
The 74 "eliminated" players — those lost during Eye Contact — were alive. Watching.
Ghost Rank: Activated.
Player 312: Milo turned from the surveillance screen, smiling faintly.
"The more they survive…
the more they become what the system needs."
Behind him, Zara Myles (088) crossed her arms.
"And what's that?"
Milo's eyes flashed.
"Killers."
System Log (Hidden)
Players Remaining: 128
Visible Players: 54
Ghost Rank: 74
Status: System Testing Phase III – Active Combat & Loyalty Simulation
Glitch Detected: Player 388 Nico "Switch"
Watching: Player 109, Player 304