In the last chapters, Seric (AKA Serreno), Karia (AKA Kaitlyn), Metallic (AKA Matteo, in a human "body"), Amandeath (AKA Amelia), Elio (AKA Emilis), and Quilline (AKA Queta) snuck past the security of Fixed Reality Casino. They then used their anonymously purchased tickets to enter into the Ticket to Dalkan event at the casino, with completely new appearances thanks to one of Quilline's contacts.

To boost their odds of winning the ticket to Dalkan, they studied the games of the event that they'd need to win in advance thanks to Elio's research. Furthermore, Elio used his blessing "I'm the Controller" to help the other five members of the crew cheat through the first game, which was a modified version of Blackjack that most of the crew did very well at thanks to Elio.

Now, the crew is preparing for the second game- which they don't have as many cheats lined up for since it's just a virtual, but fully immersive, gun-game where the players souls are "uploaded" into the game's map. However, with most of the crew having experience with guns- they still have high-hopes for winning their respective rounds. Karia in particular seemed fairly hopeful at least thanks to her past training in the Hopian Army, as she picked a lazer rifle as her weapon of choice for the game.

Now with Karia's round of the game having started, she puts her training to the test in the odd virtual world for the game: an old, but fancy, hotel lobby.

Karia's P.O.V.

With a deep but hushed breath I start walking through the long hallway ahead of me. As quick as I can I raise my rifle and peak into the first two open doorways that lead to rooms on both sides of this hall.

And huh... they're weirdly small actually... kinda like closets instead of rooms.

"Least I don't need to walk through them to clear them out. Wonder what the hell they're even meant for, doubt anyone could hide in them very well..." I think to myself as I keep on walking through the hall and clearing out the closets ahead of me, while trying not to get distracted by the weird paintings on the wall of people in super old-school looking dress shirts.

After a few more seconds I reach the end of the hall, which leads to a single path on the left which I can't see past yet...

And so I glance behind me to make sure I didn't get followed, raise my gun, put my finger on the trigger, and lean forward so that I can peak down the hall-

"AH-"

I shoot the guy who was walking down the path I peaked into before he can even finish screaming, with a lazer shot from my rifle ripping through his chest. It makes him stumble back, but doesn't kill him though, so I take another shot. It seems to do the job as he and his weapon explode like a firework- and without any of his blood spraying everywhere which is nice.

"Smooth. Lucky his gun wasn't raised and that he wasn't prepared in general though, seemed like he had a shotgun..." I think to myself as I take a quiet but shaky breath.

"Come on, that wasn't scary... fuck ok- maybe a little. Anyways." I try to be 'humble' since Sariel wouldn't want me to be cocky, besides I don't have access to my cybernetics or blessing here. So being caught off guard makes sense, yeah...

Ugh. After shaking my head I lean forward again but towards the hall to my right this time, and it's clear. Even better, this new path leads to a dead end. And so I turn back around and start speed walking through the left hall I just got my first kill in, since it leads to a huge granite staircase that I can hopefully get some more kills in.

Before that though I walk and scout out the hall around me- thankfully I don't notice any hidden rooms that people could be hiding in along the walls. I do notice the boring vintage paintings that are covering the walls again though, along with some paper awards that are framed on the wall...? Don't have the time to care about what they're for though.

"Fuck!" I hear a scream come from the top of the staircase I'm about to reach, which I DO have to care about. With that in mind I scuttle towards a wall that's next to the bottom of the staircase, and take cover behind it.

"If it's just two people fighting they're probably distracted with each other, I can go up there and take them-" I hear a few gunshots which interrupts my train of thought, and a whole ass machine gun firing a second after that.

Then just silence...

"OK. Only one of them left now. I'll be careful, probably not as good with a rifle as I used to be after all. Only natural." I think to myself with a quiet breath as I peak out from the wall I'm hiding behind, just to make sure no one's already at the top of the stairs.

Clear.

With that, I start to walk up the stairs as sneakily as possible with my rifle raised. The chandeliers hanging above the staircase catch my eye- huh. Maybe I could shoot them down to make sure the person-

"Oh come on!" I hear some clanging coming from the top of the staircase, they're coming to me after all I guess- great! I awkwardly crouch where I am across two seperate steps, and lean forward to use the stairs in front of me as a sketchy 'support' for my rifle as I aim it at the top of the staircase.

"Should be far down enough to get a shot on them from this angle." I think to myself as I take a breath, hold it in, and make sure I'm looking straight through my rifle's sights. Just to be safe I also lean forward a bit more so that I'm almost lying up the stairs.

...

Finally the person runs into my line of sight at the top of the stairs, and I shoot first which hits their right hip- which makes them stumble back out of sight and cry out in pain.

Before I can even react though a blinking FORCE GRENADE comes flying down the staircase from above me, why the fuck didn't Elio mention that they're a thing here?! Force grenades can kill someone just from the force of slamming people into walls alone due to their gravity manipulation bullshit, which is why I thought only the Hopian Army had access to them!

"Run- wait no it's coming right at me!" I think in a split-second, and realize my only chance is to throw the thing back. And so I step back and catch it mid-air, then throw it back up the staircase-

*BOOM!*

...

"Ow... least I didn't get killed there. Maybe the impact hit the guy too if he was about to come down the stairs. Hopefully." I think to myself as I slowly push myself up off of some... carpeted floor? Damn, guess I got launched all the way down the stairs.

Huh, getting up is easier than I thought it would be actually..."Oh. Right, the gamemaster or whatever said that injuries hurt a lot less here in the simulation. Still surprised that none of my limbs are broken though, maybe I took less damage than I thought and just hit my head on the floor or something? Or maybe my cybernetics really are still active in here somehow... not important now though."

I fully push myself off of the floor, and after my ears stop ringing- I can hear groaning from the top of the staircase.

"Sick! Guess I threw it far up enough that the impact still hit that punk who tried to bomb me after all. Or are they faking it? Whatever. Can't afford to not go up, I'll take the bait." I think to myself as I quickly bend down to pick up my rifle, which feels a tiny bit heavier now- so maybe my arms did get hurt just a little.

Not a big problem though as I sneak up the left side of the stairs just to spice things up, and I raise my rifle just as I'm about to peak my head over the last stair...

"Damn it! Argh come on, not like this- no way!" I wince as I realize the orange haired kid sure wasn't faking his groans of pain. From what I can tell- it looks like he got launched up into one of the chandeliers above the staircase, which ended up crashing down with him once he fell back down to the floor. And yeah, a big sharp piece of the thing ended up piercing through the side of his chest... which I also shot through. Ouch.

I feel bad for a second since Popshot's reason for competing here is actually kinda noble, with the kid trying to use his victory to get his Dad out of here after he gambled his soul away or whatever.

But I shake off the empathy after remembering how he treated me like crap back when me and Seric were on his ship.

So- I speed walk towards the kid after doing a quick check that he's got nothing hidden in his hands as a last resort, and also after making sure no one else is anywhere nearby.

With the coast clear, I smirk- and then point my rifle at his bloodied head while he just stares up at me... with tears in his eyes. Heh.

"Well... well played, I guess." He coughs out after closing his eyes and looking away from me. Probably trying to not look like a crybaby... he probably could have gotten himself free if he had a little more time actually and if I wasn't here to kill him. Maybe gotten a few more kills too, since injuries seem to hurt a lot less in this game. Tough luck...

.......

"Haaaah. Hate you for making me feel this way, Sariel. This is stupid. So if this comes back to bite me, I swear I'm going to watch the most disgusting things whenever I have the time to use a phone or tablet, just so you have to see and hear it too." I think to myself with a sigh, as I continue smirking- and think of the most cringe worthy thing to do that won't give what I'm actually doing away.

I shake my head and laugh in a deep tone, take a step forward, and clumsily aim my rifle down and behind me to shoot at the area near Popshot's head without looking. I take another step and then pull the trigger while still not looking, which I'm assuming missed.

I hope that'll just seem like I'm insanely cocky and trying to look cool, like a badass superhero not looking at an explosion they caused. Since yeah, if the game-runners found out I'm sparing Popshot on purpose, I'm pretty sure I could get disqualified for "teaming" or whatever nerdy name they call it.

And just to top off my bullshit charade, I swing my rifle back around to my front, point the barrel near my mouth, and pretend to blow the smoke away... even though this is a battery powered laser rifle. ...Welp, being stupid and cocky can tie together as much as I hate to admit it- so hopefully that still helps me look less suspicious about not confirming my kill.

Finally I scoff and start to run off, looking for more people to kill across this building. I'll trust that the orange haired brat won't come back the way that I'm going, since as much as I have a grudge against him he does seem to have some morals. Based on how he was Seric's friends at least.

A little while later...

💨💨💨

"Ok... come on, this'll be over soon..." I whisper to myself while trying to catch my breath, as I'm "hiding" in a tiny closet-room along one of the many massive hallways. I've gotten up to 7 kills now, thankfully without running into Popshot (if he even got up again)- but I'm pretty fucking exhausted now. Plus I kinda forgot how many players are in this round with me so I'm not even sure how good I'm doing, can only guess based on what I saw outside of the simulation- which seemed around like 50ish. Maybe. Probably.

Hearing a shotgun firing from somewhere near my hideout snaps me back into reality. And so I start to reload the battery of my laser rifle with a new one that got hooked onto my hip when I spawned into the game. Takes me a second to figure out, but not too long since this rifle is still pretty similar to one I trained with back in the Hopian Army.

"Ok, let's go." I take a deep breath through my nose and push myself back up while hauling my rifle up with me, which feels even heavier than before. No time to complain though, so I just suck it up and stand still with my gun lowered so that it doesn't peak out of the tiny room I'm in.

Just have to wait until I hear any movements in the hallway outside of here...

I freeze as I see the barrel of some long-gun very slowly start to become visible from the entrance to my "hideout", with whatever fucking ninja who's holding it not making a sound as they're slowly passing by. "No way they don't check in here, wouldn't even need to to see me anyways if I tried to hide. Damn, not gonna have the space or time to fire at them from in here anyways- they're way too close and my gun is way too big. Disarm them then? No, cybernetics are off. Bayonette then, I can push her back and give myself the room to fire!" Finally I think of a risky last resort idea as I can start to get a better view of the taller woman as she starts to walk by my entrance...

And right when I can see enough of the side of her body- I start to raise my rifle up which awkwardly bumps into and gets stuck on her arm, then charge forward to push her back a bit, and finally get in a proper position to fire-

"Sneaky!" She laughs after grabbing the barrel of my rifle and pointing it away with one hand just before I pull the trigger, which makes the laser just barely graze her arm.

And better yet she might be stronger than my new body is here- considering she just pushed me back into the closet and against a wall inside of it with just one arm, as she holds her own rifle with her free hand. Fuck!

"Oof- this thing's heavy, it'll be game over when I lift it though!" The muscle-bitch laughs casually as she tries to raise her gun up with her free hand, which pisses me off. Not used to being pinned like this in the real world- especially by other girls with no cybernetics.

I grit my teeth and keep trying to pull my rifle out of her grip with both of my hands, while trying to remember any tips I got on how to deal with a criminal that's stronger than you, that's trying to take your weapon. First rule of thumb was to make sure they don't take it off of you by any means necessary and to wait for your squadmates to help out, but obviously that doesn't apply here.

Shit, what else?! Crap, I obviously relied on my cybernetics and my blessing too much to care about close combat like this-

"Wait- my legs." I think to myself, and launch a kick at the bitch's crotch a second later- which doesn't knock her down entirely, but it does make her lose her progress on lifting her shotgun back up at least. She's groaning in pain as well so- looks like it worked.

I feel some satisfaction as the cunt is finally gritting her teeth too now, and so I swing another kick at her- which she dodges by stepping back. BUT that loosens her grip on my rifle, and I finally get her to let go of it entirely after resorting to biting her fingers that are on my gun, hard.

"OW- what are you, a damn two year old?!" She laughs even harder as she jogs backwards and raises her shotgun to take a shot at me from the hall, which just fuels my anger even more as I charge at her. Risky, but she's gonna fire her gun before I can so I don't have much of a choic-

*BANG!*

She does manage to shoot me before I can grab her gun with the one hand I let go of my rifle with- which hurts. But the bullet only pierced through my ear thanks to me crouching while running, so screw it I'm not done yet! I grab and twist her gun with my free hand once so reach her, which makes her second shot miss. And before she can try to shake me off- I lean back, use all of my remaining strength to raise my lowered rifle with my other hand alone, and take a shot right when I barely have it raised enough to shoot her in the calf.

"Shit!" She cries out in pain and stumbles to the ground, and without hesitating I take a step back and barely manage to raise my rifle up to her head with both of my hands. I take in her wide eyes for a split second- then pull the trigger, firing a laser through her skull which makes her body explode like a firework.

"She could have won if she shot at my legs when I was pinned in the closet. Fuck. She had to have had some training before, physical training at the very least." I think to myself as I catch my breath-

Until I stop my panting after hearing a gun click from somewhere nearby across the hall.

"Sorry." No way, no damn way. I glance at where the voice is coming from, and see that IT IS POPSHOT!

"Wai-"

*BANG!*