"This is so cool," Lesley heard Lolita whisper.

Lesley couldn't argue. Her field of vision had shifted from the room where Ruby was to an entire new location.

She lifted her hands. It was there, but with her uniform on. Her sniper was in her hand, glowing with a pink aura.

"Woah." Lesley tried shooting and the sniper reloaded itself.

A golden base with a purple crystal afloat stood before them, majestic and radiating with power. The area's floor was etched with ancient carvings little people knew. Though, it means Go this way!!

"This is so cool!" Lolita shrieked, jumping up and down like a fangirl.

Lesley would have jumped if it wasn't for her calm nature. Her selected team was with her, all marvelling the amazing craftsmanship.

Lesley turned her head in real life. She turned in the game as well. It was exactly like virtual reality, but there were more stats.

Gold. Levels. EXP. Items. Maps. Attacks. Mana. Health. Regeneration. Recalls.

"I thought there were spells." Lesley frowned.

Ruby appeared in front of them, her being drawn out by white streaks of light.

"Spells are for advanced!" she chirped. "As I can see, only one of you chose Physical Combat. It's perfectly fine, it's your choice, after all! Here I'm teaching you to fight!"

"An arrow to the head," Irithel suggested.

"Burning them to crisps," Valir offered.

"Flattening them with my hammer!" Lolita mused.

"No!" Ruby said. "There are no so-called 'one-hit-kills' in this world. You all have different health and attack damage and speed and other stuff. You all also have your own unique passive!"

Lesley struggled mentally. Knowing her instructor, this is going to turn into a three-hour lecture.

* * *

After explaining everything thrice and demanding any odd situations that could possibly happen - there were bugs, of course, this thing isn't perfect - Ruby finally let them explore on their own.

The first thing Lesley did was mastering her skillset. Her camouflage, grenade and ultimate were still with her. She could die in peace!

She also figured out that the EXP granted from eliminating enemy heroes or monsters or minions, and eventually level up to Level 15. She unlocked her most-needed camouflage and headed out, leaving her teammates behind.

The further she ventured, the more she could see on her map. The yellow dots represented monsters she could kill, and the purple dots signified walking damage-bonuses she could also kill.

Making her way to the river which separated the two teams' territory, her eyes widened at the little lifeforms who were battling each other.

There were no wounds, no blood, no carnage. Just them stabbing at each other with numbers -assuming it's the damage dealt - until the other falls.

She tried to shoot one of them. Its health bar was reduced a little, but not entirely. It was either annoying or amusing.

"Yo!"

Lesley looked up. She saw Gusion and Saber calling to her from their turret, red health bars over their heads.

She grinned. "I thought you two were using gaming systems!"

"We are!" Gusion called. "It's this big screen and we have loudspeakers and microphones and everything! Got to say, you look better in real life."

A minion stabbed him in the foot.

Gusion looked down. "Are you serious?"

Saber shrugged. "Apparently so."

"Where are the others?" Lesley asked.

"In other matches," Gusion guessed. "Probably. My team is so retarded and Zilong is flirting with them."

Lesley chuckled dryly. Her teammates didn't even notice she was gone. Neither did Gusion and Saber's teammates. They're the shadows of the sun that nobody notices.

"Dang," she said. "Wonder if this is our daily routine."

"Let's hope not. I wouldn't get the chance to kill anyone," Gusion snarked, fumbling with his dagger as if turning a simple pencil. He remained the position over and over again. "I can't control its movements. There's only so much I can do - it's more like a passive stance."

Lesley rolled her eyes. "I can see that."

Saber walked towards the dead minions, which exploded in a small fountain of gold.

"Everything is virtual here," Saber noted. "There are no actual lifeforms."

EXECUTED!

Lesley covered her ears in instinct. The loud spoker who notifies everyone on deaths and kills, and in this case, Moskov had ran into an their turret and it killed him.

Gusion sounded like he winced. "That's nice."

"Hey! You!" a boy's voice sounded from the bushes in between. "That gay freak!"

Lesley arched an eyebrow as magical playing cards shot from the bush at Gusion. It did nothing but laughter from Saber.

Gusion entered the bush and plucked Harley out. "Are you done?"

Harley growled at him. "Stay away from my sister."

"Unfortunately for us, we're on the same team!" Gusion snapped. "I would have killed you the first chance I get!"

"Boys!" Lesley bellowed. "Stop fighting!"

The two obeyed.

Saber looked amused. "Looks like you have quite the impact on them."

They were still glaring at each other and making not-so subtle hand gestures.

Lesley sighed.

"I'd say they're just little kids." Lesley frowned. "How old are you?"

Harley opened his mouth to answer.

"No," Lesley said. "I already know yours."

Harley looked like he'd been slapped.

"Harley? Come on, we're just on enemy teams," Lesley comforted him. "Lunch at the village? Extra chocolate mousse."

Harley beamed.

Gusion groaned. "Is this how you to communicate?"

"Normally." Lesley patted Harley's head. "How old are you."

"Seventeen."

"Hm."

Lesley's vision began to sizzle out like a TV that lost its connection.

"Hey, I can't-" Static. "-there's something wrong-" Static. "What's going on?"

"Are you okay?" Gusion asked. "Where's Saber! He's the tech expert!"

"He left just now!" Harley shrieked. "Are you dying? You still owe me lunch!"

"It's just a game!" Lesley called. "I'll see what's (static) going on!"

Her vision darkened.

Slowly, she removed her goggles but still clamped her eyes shut. Her eyes stung from the bright colors.

She heard Fanny complaining. "Eh? I was cut off. What happened?"

"Session ended?" Hayabusa suggested.

Lesley opened her eyes. (Or eye, with that eyepatch.)

"Oh no," she breathed.

"WHAT? WHAT DID YOU SAY? IS EVERYTHING OKAY?" Karina panicked.

"When Lesley says that, something's very wrong!" Fanny agreed. She tore her goggles out and punched the glass.

Ruby was knocked out cold, blood trickling down her forehead and propped against the wall. It wasn't easy to spot the blood, but Lesley was a trained assassin. She could tell the blood apart from Ruby's scarlet dress.

The computers and control panels were destroyed, all sharing the same route of destruction - a line that slashed across each screen, the mark of blades.

Which also meant they were trapped. They looked at each other worriedly and began to fight against the glass tubes they were in.

Hayabusa's expression was scrunched up in effort, no doubt trying to teleport out with his shadows, but no avail.

Reaching a hand up to her braid, she pulled out a pocket knife she would always carry with her and began hacking at the glass. Also futile.

Her friends, too, had secret weapons. Fanny was banging against her glass wall with the butt of a gun, shooting it too, but it was useless. Karina and Selena both had some sort of magical spells, but no luck.

"Argh!" Hayabusa gave up. "There's no way! Who did this?"

"There's no one here," Lesley deduced. "So it must have happened when we're in the game. But why us?"

"Because you're the perfect puppets I need."

Lesley froze. A robotical voice boomed from everywhere in the room, its voice echoing from every corner.

"Who's there?" Selena demanded. "How dare you imprison a demon? Release us at once!"

Karina grimaced. It was clear that her sister didn't play the demon-card often and she was yet to grown used to it.

If that stupid android would let them go, Lesley would thank Selena later. But metal parts and bolts weren't threatened by dark magic of a demon.

"You cannot use your powers. The seal forbids you to," said the voice. "Now you will become my puppets."

All of them was about to yell I DON'T WANNA! in a more logical sense, but Lesley felt a force compelling her limbs to obey.

The wristbands. They're technology, she realized way too late. The bands were under - whoever that was -'s control.

The restrains forced their positions into a X, the best position for torture or slaughter.

Lesley could tell from Hayabusa's face that this wasn't going to end well.

"What do you want from us?" Lesley demanded. "What is your goal?"

"The LOL's?" Fanny snapped.

Fanny was a good friend, but Lesley wished she could shut up. "Come out, you coward! Show yourself!"

"I have no need."

A metallic mist descended from the top of their glass tubes.

"What the hell is this!" Hayabusa flared. It was rare to see the ninja so aggravated, for he was that emo kid in class. Lesley wanted to scream, but she bit her lip. There was no use screaming her lungs out if the frequency didn't kill that machine. In fact, where was Gusion when they needed some dramatic soprano?

Wait, could high frequencies break these glass?

There's no use on that. They had no clue what this was. Poison? It had to be.

But why did that robot say puppets? Unless it plans to turn their corpses into puppets...

Ew. Let's not think about that.

Lesley held her breath. For how long, nobody knows. Selena wasn't so fortunate. She gasped at Ruby's out-of-commision stated and got a mouthful.

Their restraints were the only thing that kept her from crumpling. Karina trashed, but it didn't budge. She was wise enough not to cry out.

"There's no need to hold back. The result will come soon enough," the voice taunted. "What will I have you do? Kill your friends, maybe?"

Lesley was too busy trying not to breathe to answer.

"Pity," said the voice. He sounded as if he was thoroughly concerned and disappointed.

Minutes passed, nobody there to save them. Did they even care? That the assassins were here?

Would Harley be okay? Would Gusion be fine?

Lesley blacked out and subconsciously inhaled the noxious air.

***

Okay, that was a little too dark. Maybe. Maybe not.

Starting from next chapter, it will be from Gusion's point of view! (Unless said so.)

Ahaha. 

Gusion will (probably) die.