Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue: Our First Encounter

<TIME: 22:57 GTM>

<Online Game: ATTACK TACTICA 6 – TRIO BATTLE ROYALE MATCH>

<Location: WORLD’S END – Zone 3>

<Players remaining: 22>

Sounds of gunshots echoed across the deserted streets.

Our options of escape were endless with all of the dense rusted buildings surrounding them. But getting attacked by a third party after an intense match with a separate team wasn’t the ideal situation for us to be in. There was no time to rest.

But thanks to my smokescreen grenade, we made a swift escape. However, we have ended up hiding behind boxes in an tight alleyway.

An alleyway with no other exit.

“Handler01, out of the all the alleyways, you picked this one?” Player NvGiveUP complained.

“I’m so sorry. With all the smoke, it was hard to see which one to run into.” I replied.

“F**k, getting third partied after a fight is so damn annoying.”

 “Yes, it’s quite frustrating. But while we’re hiding, let’s decide what to do next as a team.”

“Sure. As a team huh?” NvGiveUp muttered in a sarcastic tone of voice.

Our team wasn’t in any good condition. Out of the three players, Both me and NvGiveUP had no batteries left to charge our depleted evo shield armour. And with a few bullets and med kits in our inventories, it would be game over if the two of us decides to fight once more.

“You two have any shotgun bullets? Any amount will do.”

As if unaware of the team’s situation (or mood), our third player, Undertaker_01 finally spoke. It was worth noting that he’s the only player in our team who’s health is still full along with a maxed out evo shield armour.

“I only have one stack of shotgun bullets to give you, is that enough?” I asked as I dropped a stack of eight shotgun bullets in front of him. 

“Thanks Handler_01.”

I smiled just a bit. After all, it’s THE Undertaker who thanked me.

“Let’s just hide here and wait,” NvGiveUP suggested. “Soon they’ll give up. Other teams will eventually target them if they stay out there any longer.”

“That’s not going to work.” Undertaker_01 replied as he reloads his shotgun.

“Huh? Then what the hell do you suggest this time?” NvGiveUP asked in an aggressive tone.   

Since the start of this match, the two of them haven’t been getting along nor have been on the same page. And top of it, the sense of irritation that came out of NvGiveUP’s voice had gradually gotten worst over the duration of the match.  

“Umm, guys?”

It was my poor attempt to break the tension.

[The Storm Is Now Closing]

And without any warning, time was up. If we stay here for too long, the storm will kill us.

CLICK!

I moved my left joystick to see Undertaker_01, who had just finished reloading his shotgun.

“Here,”

He casually dropped two stacks of batteries & med kits in front of me and NvGiveUP.

“The storm will start to close further inland until it reaches here in around 30 seconds,” Undertaker_01 continues. “Both of you aren’t in any condition to fight a full battle against the team out there now. Your best option now is to take this and go ahead towards the next safe zone while I take out the team out in the streets. On the way, make sure you guys get enough supplies for you to fight again.”

“Wait, you’re going in alone again? But there’s too many of them this time!,” I protested.

“Don’t worry about me, I can manage a 1v3.”

Admittedly, I do like his confidence.

Sure, with only one way to enter and leave this alleyway, acting as the decoy was the probably the best way to get us out of here. And Undertaker was the most suitable for that role since he had the most health and technical skill to fight the enemy team long enough for us to escape.

But he had just given us his own supplies. Surely, he must be low himself. After all, Undertaker had already fought a bunch of teams without us in the 20 minutes we spent “together” as a team. So fighting a full team with little supplies is reckless, regardless of skill. After watching countless videos of his playing, I’m almost certain that he’ll be eliminated from this match.

It was too risky. Even for him.

But Undertaker never dies.

“So that’s your plan. To be the 'decoy' again? And what if we get targeted by another team?” NvGiveUP asked.

“…”

Undertaker stood in silence for a moment.

“Aren’t you a gold rank player, NvGiveUP?” Undertaker responded.

“….Yeah? What’s that got to do with-“

“Then this should not be problem for you. You can defend for yourself.”

And without giving a second for NvGiveUP to even respond, Undertaker rushed out of the alleyway. A storm of bullets echoed through the streets once more.

The two of us remained hidden behind the boxes in silence. I nervously twiddled the joystick controller with my fingers.

It was a familiar scenario you would probably experience at least once in your life. When your friends or family members gets into a heated argument and all you can do is just stand there and watch it all fall apart. Still wondering on what to say or do without making the situation any worst.

There was nothing I can do or say to make the two of them get along. The best I could do is try to follow what’s best for the team and win this battle royale match. Which raised the question.

Do we leave him to fight them? Or ignore what Undertaker said and fight with him?

“Tsk.”

A sharp sound from NvGiveUP’s microphone.

“Handler_01. Let’s just go,” He muttered as he picks up the supplies Undertaker left us with.

“Just let the bastard get himself killed.”

He sprinted out the alleyway.

A strange and unexpected sound of defeat from NvGiveUP. I was about to say something encouraging but stopped myself.  It was clear enough for me to picture his irritation towards Undertaker. Perhaps his emotions are also aimed a bit towards me as well. So instead, I silently took my share of the supplies from the ground.

“…Alright, lead the way.”

***

<TIME: 23:00 GTM>

<Online Game: ATTACK TATICA 6 – TRIO BATTLE ROYALE MATCH>

<Location: WORLD’S END – Zone 2>

<Players remaining: 22>

Thanks to Undertaker being the decoy (again), we were lucky to leave the area without drawing attention from the enemy team. His plan seemed to have worked.

The sound of battle slowly faded away as we both moved into the open desert outside the dense rusted town. Only the sounds of our feet sinking into the sand and the rustling of our equipment echoed through the empty space.

Honestly, the scenery of this game was a real work of art. 

[UNDERTAKER_01 ELIMINATED RO] -눈≡==✴

[UNDERTAKER_01 ELIMINATED Hanede] -눈≡==✴

<Players remaining: 20>

Two enemy players were eliminated by Undertaker.

I took a quick glance at the armour shield and health levels of Undertaker on the bottom left corner.

Depleted evo armour shield and 1 HP was all that was left.

The storm must have reached the town at this point. The enemy team that third partied us had three players. Can he really defeat the last player and outrun the storm with just one health point on him? 

If this were one of his match videos online, I would have felt a great sense of excitement and perhaps some adrenaline. But unable to witness his playing, only a sense suspension was present. In time, we’ll see the outcome of his plan.

“HANDLER01! WATCH OUT!”

The loud shout from NvGiveUP’s voice. I instantly turned to face him.

But it was too late.

A red dot of light “touched” me.

And in an instant, a sound of a single bullet roared through the empty desert.

Chapter Text

Chapter One: Undertaker

<DATE: 16^th November 2023>

<TIME: 11:56 GTM>

<Location: Lecture Hall A - Blancneige Building, The University of San Magnolia>

Most of the old buildings in the University of San Magnolia were constructed in the French architecture style. Some would claim that the campus design took inspiration from the Champs-Élysées since its layout is similar to the avenue in Paris. White pristine buildings with blue rooftops. One of the main factors that undergraduate students choose when applying to the university is because of the beautiful historic scenery of the main campus.

The Blancneige building in particular is magnificent. It was known to belong to the royal family centuries ago before it was handled over to the university during its founding. It was fitting that the building was now home of the university’s department of history and arts.

It was towards the end of the two hour lecture on the French revolution for the 2^nd year history students. Around the middle of the rows of seats, a silver-haired student sat with her head down as if writing notes on her lecture.

The student was dressed in a pure white turtleneck jumper and a dark navy blue blazer that reached to the bottom of her black skirt. Coupled with a pair of black short boots and tights that reaches her mid-thighs with a garter belt. In addition, a streak of her hair is dyed in a crimson red colour.

[Fighting 1v3 In Trios with 1HP – Breaking Yet Another AT6 Kill Record]

[Uploaded by Undertaker_01]

[130k views – 26 minutes ago]

Lena stared at her phone screen. Her phone was on mute to avoid getting caught from other students and especially her lecturer. Normally, she would be paying attention to the lecture. But today, Lena couldn’t wait to see this one particular online match from Undertaker.

Lena watched on as Undertaker swiftly destroyed the enemy team one by one as he slowly took damage. Finally, the climactic moment had arrived.

The storm barrier was closing in. Undertaker only had a few rounds left in his shogun. But he continued to fight the final enemy player with only one health point.

Just a single bullet would end his game.

“So this is how he fought that team back then…” She muttered while placing her right finger over her mouth. “Incredible.”

Undertaker’s playing skills was something people would see in those action movies. His elaborate yet reckless movements along with his precise shooting accuracy made people believe if Undertaker was even real. But Lena knows with certainty that he’s the real deal.

The new video gained a lot of attention online. Already trending in the gaming genre on U-Tube. Lena scrolled and skimmed through the comments below.

That fight was sick!

Only undertaker can fight a player with 1HP and gets to live to tell the tale!

Another kill record? He keeps getting better!

Where’s his teammates?

That 1HP fight was amazing!

I see from his screen that his teammates are Handler01 & NvGiveUP.

Why did he leave them behind? To show off his playing again?

Talk about a trashy teammate.

I feel bad for this teammates

Why does he bother playing in Duos or Trios if he just goes solo? It’s annoying.

If you look towards the end of the match you only see him and-

Lena closed the app and turned off her phone firmly.

“…”

She slowly placed her phone down and picked up her pen.

“Alright, back to listening to the lecture”. She thought.

BRRINNNGGGGGGGG

The bell rang. It was the end of the lecture.

“Eh? Already?”  Lena was caught in surprise.

“Alright guys, Please remember what I just told you. The assignment will be due in a few days but it won’t take long,” said the lecturer. “I’ll see you guys next week. You may leave now.”

“EH?!”

Lena stood up in an instant.

“Yes, Vladilena? What seems to be the problem?” The lecturer asked. Everyone’s eyes were pointing towards the awkward sliver haired student who stood in the middle of the room.

“Ummm….R-right,” Lena stuttered. She couldn’t think of anything to say. She needs to say something. And quick.

“H-HAVE A LOVELY DAY!” She shouted as she saluted towards the lecturer.

Silence filled the lecture room.

“A salute? What an honour,” The lecturer replied. “But flattery won’t get you more marks. At ease, Major Vladilena.”  

Sounds of a few giggles popped around the lecture room as Lena’s face was filled with a bright red colour of a tomato. And slowly, she sat back down on her seat.

***

<TIME: 12:37 GTM>

<Location: The San Magnolia Student (SMS) Cafe - The University of San Magnolia>

The San Magnolia Student Café is a bustling place filled with student and teachers from all over the campus. The space was recently renovated due to ageing of the whole structure. In the end, the whole café space inside the building was expanded with vast and open area across the two floors. The interior had light and neutral coloured furniture with exposed brick walls. The smell of coffee and chattering of student’s gossips makes it quite the comfortable space to be in.

Other additions from the renovation includes a new rooftop space for events and seating areas outside the café which was filled with local greenery. The exterior of the café had also been renovated. The University had requested to keep the French style architecture that’s consistent with the campus’ designs. As a result, the exterior was cleaned up with repaired pipes and wall sections along with a fresh coat of white paint.

[Last night, I played a match with Undertaker-]

“Undertaker_01 or just Undertaker?”

That is the question that Lena pondered all day (10 minutes) as she stared at her tweeter post draft while she took a sip of her earl grey tea at her usual spot at the Magnolia café. She carefully placed the teacup down.

“What do you think, Annette?”

Both Lena and Annette were sitting indoors on the second floor. The large window next to their table gives a beautiful view of the main street that cuts across the San Magnolia University. The vivid warm autumn leaves from the against the cool blue rooftops and white walls makes a striking contrast. While it was November, the occasional sun that peeks through the grey clouds warmed up the two students.

Lena also noticed that Annette’s outfit was pretty stylish than usual. Consisting of a beige high waisted trousers along with a blue textured jumper that covers a white shirt that’s rolled up to her forearms and a nice pair of black loafers. She also brought along with her large white winter coat.

“What I think is that you’re obsessed with this guy if you’re wondering all day on how to tweet his god-damn username.” Annette replied almost instantly as if she had repeated these words before on multiple occasions.

“B-b-but this needs to be prefect!” Lena stuttered as she leaned forward towards Annette over the table. Her long silver hair decided to take a dip into her tea.

“Ah!”

Annette stared while sipping her black coffee at the clumsy friend pulled her hair out and somehow knocked over her half-drunk tea on the table at the same time.

“Ahhh!”

“Well, It’s not like that’s his real name, Lena. Or are you afraid that his death cult followers on tweeter are going to kill you for the ‘grave’ sin of typing his username incorrectly. Or something like that?” Annette moved her legs slightly to the right, avoiding the spilled hot tea from falling on to her trousers.

“Oh, here you go.” Annette passed a napkin over to the clumsy friend.

“Thank you Annette,”

Lena smiled with her eyes closed as she took the napkin. It was clear that she was slightly embarrassed how often her friend guessed her concerns to an unnatural degree of accuracy. But nonetheless, she tries to not let Annette know about this. Hence only responding by showing the eerie smile of an innocent maiden who’s grateful for her friend’s act of kindness.

“And for your information, while I am a big fan of Undertaker, There’s no way I’m a part of the so-called death cult. I have a very normal and healthy parasocial relationship with him.” Lena felt proud at that response while wiping her tea-soaked hair with the café’s white napkins. 

Annette takes her final sip of her coffee.

“The contents of your social media says otherwise.”

“Umm…What do you mean by that?”

“Last night, I saw you giggling like a gremlin at edits of Undertaker’s profile pic placed over freaking model’s bod-“

“A-ANNETTE! Y-YYOU SAW THAT?!“ Lena immediately stood up from her seat.

The entire 2^nd floor of the café fell silent. Eyes of disapproval and disgust all pointed at the maiden. She felt a strange sense of Déjà vu. Quietly, Lena slowly sat back down. Her trembling hands picked up the teacup and took a sip.

There was nothing in the teacup.

“…”

Lena sat down in silent while her face was filled in the colour of a tomato once again. Annette spared her a few moments before she continued to speak.

“I was traumatised, Lena. Like it felt like I didn’t know you at all,” said Annette as she took her final sip of coffee.

“Just at the start of the semester, you found out about this game through a video of some guy called Undertaker. And before I knew, you were obsessed with playing that game. 86 or something ?”

“It’s not Eighty-Six, it’s A.T.6.” Lena briefly interrupted. 

Attack Táctica 6 or AT6 in short. The sixth instalment of Attack Táctica series. Each game of this series focused a different kind of tactical strategy game. But the recent instalment was interesting as it was a battle royale game. It was debated online about whether this counts as a tactical strategy game. And while it was clear that the developers took a risk, it became quite popular for the past five years.

“Either way, not only you became obsessed about the game, you’re infatuated with some anonymous top player online and I quote, ‘his deep smooth voice’, end quote”. Said Annette as she mimicked Lena’s voice.

“I don’t want to heard about being infatuated with someone from you of all people. Especially considering the amount of failed first dates you had. Tell me how your recent first date went with the guy you met online huh?”

“Lena, for the love of - HE LIED ABOUT HIS AGE!”

“He was like 40 years old! How did you NOT noticed it!?”

“IT’S NOT EVERYDAY I GET TO TALK ABOUT THE TOPICS OF ROBOTIC WITH SOMEONE ONLINE OKAY?!”

A brief moment of silence. They both took a sip.

“….”

Both their cups were empty.

Embarrassed but it typical of them. Lena giggled. Annette smiled. Everyone else stared at the two in slight disgust.

“Okay, okay, I guess we both went a bit far. Sorry,” Said Annette. “Anyway, did you really bring me here to talk about this Undertaker guy?”

“Well….You could say that’s true.” Lena took a small peak at Annette.

“Nevermind, I take back my apology. I’m leaving now.”

“Wait, wait, wait!” The desperate Lena grabbed Annette’s arm. “I genuinely have a good reason for this! Please listen to me…”

Annette stared at Lena’s face. While it’s clear that Lena is an attractive woman among the general public, her clumsiness and naïve manners sort of made her attractiveness in vain.

However, this was Annette’s perspective on the matter. Another perspective would be how those very same characteristics would make her cute and endearing. In this case, Lena looked at her with eyes shining like one’s beloved pet puppy.

And Annette does loves dogs. A lot.

Annette let out a heavy sigh as she sat back down on her chair.

“I guess I’ll hear you out. But you got 20 minutes. Otherwise, I’ll be late for my robotics lab.”

“That’s more than enough time my friend.”

Lena held her hand out and gestured Annette to lean towards her.

“Do you have to whisper it out? Annette spoke in confusion.

“I need to be careful so that no one can hear us” Lena whispered.

With little choice and energy to refuse her request, Annette leaned forward as Lena placed her hands over the side of her face. 

“Last night, I played a match with Undertaker,” She whispered again. “And before you say anything, I have proof.”

With a smug expression, Lena pulled out her phone and presented Annette the evidence. A draft post for tweeter. In the post, a photo showing the victory trio team after a game of battle royale in AT6 on her TV screen. Annette’s eyes immediately spotted the name on the left.

Undertaker_01

The username belonging to the very same person who’s the current number one player at AT6. It’s a name that most people online who plays FPS games can recognise. Known as the death reaper of AT6, he earned himself the reputation of being the most skilled player with the highest kill count in the game for almost 3 years with a total death count of zero.

“Oh woww, you really did play with the man himself.” Annette said as she leaned back.

“Out of thousands of players that play this game, it’s rare to even get a chance to play with any top ranked players of this game yet alone THE best player. And on top of that, he rarely speaks so hearing him speak this many times has been quite the experience. His stoic voice sounds even more better in game than watching.” Lena expressed her excitement. 

“Yeah, he does sound quite handsome. And rich.”

“Also, he thanked me for helping me sometimes. THE Undertaker thanking me? I can’t believe it!”

Annette couldn’t help but to slightly smile at Lena’s enthusiasm about her experience playing with Undertaker.

“I heard many rumours about him. Both good and bad. But I guess you had a great time playing with him.” Said Annette.

Lena stopped for a moment.

“Well…”

***

<Last Night>

<TIME: 23:02 GTM>

<Online Game: ATTACK TACTICA 6 – TRIO BATTLE ROYALE MATCH>

<Location: WORLD’S END – Zone 2>

<Players remaining: 15>

[UNDERTAKER_01 ELIMINATED Haru_Flower_Vase] -눈≡==✴

[VI ELIMINATED NvGiveUP] -눈≡==✴

[Handler01 ELIMINATED VI] -눈≡==✴

It happened so suddenly. A surprise attack from a single player on me and NvGiveUP. We fought as hard to stay alive. I was lucky enough to kill the enemy player, but it was too late. NvGiveUP was eliminated.

I stood in the open desert with two player bodies. And just after the attack had ended, Undertaker arrived at the scene.

It was as if he came here as a grim reaper, ready to take away the souls of the fallen.

“NvGiveUP, let me respawn you. Just give us a sec get your banner to respawn you okay?”

I checked the map. There was no respawn towers nearby. There were also none in the safe zone. I turned to Undertaker.

“Undertaker, do you have mobile respawn tower on you-“

“You know what?,” NvGiveUP interrupted. “I quit”

“But we’re in the middle of a match! We can still get you respawned.” I pleaded without a second thought. But it was too late for me to convince him any further. The limit of his tolerance for Undertaker had been crossed.

“Nah, I had enough of your bullshit Undertaker. Ever since the start, all you’ve done is just leave us fighting teams while you go around fighting all by yourself. If you wanted to go solo then why bother doing trios matches in the first place? Quit wasting our time and go do solo matches elsewhere!”

Undertaker stood in silence again.

“You blame me but, this is a skill issue on your end. After all, you’re the one who’s dead.”

A cold response. One that felt like it was rehearsed. It was as if he had been expecting this sort of reaction.

“Tsk. You’re just what everyone thinks, Undertaker. Just a f**king piece of shit who’s popular just for his gaming skills. You think you’re so much better than everyone huh?! Good luck surviving the real world mate!” NvGiveUP shouted.

[NvGiveUP LEFT THE GAME]

<Players remaining: 14>

NvGiveUP’s player body turned grey.

“…”

I stood in silent. I don’t know these people and yet, hearing the confrontations still made me feel uncomfortable.

“He gave up huh?” said Undertaker as he walked over to his banner. “So much for his name…”

Without any hesitation, Undertaker walked over to NvGiveUP’s body and took the ammunition & healing items he has in his inventory. Undertaker turned over to face me.

“You not taking anything Handler01?” He asked nonchalantly.

“Oh, I’m good.”

I was low on supplies after that surprise attack but after seeing Undertaker’s calm and unfazed manner about the whole confrontation, I felt like it was wrong to take anything from NvGiveUP.

“Okay, Let’s get going then”.

The two of us continued moving towards the safe zone as we entered the last phase of the match.

***

“As much as I’m a fan of Undertaker, other people don’t see him with same admiration as me. A good example would be the other player that me and Undertaker played with.” Lena continued as she ran her pointer finger along the rim of her cup.

“I see. So the rumours about him have some truth to them,” Said Annette. “From what I was forced to watch, he mostly plays solo matches majority of the time. He doesn’t talk much and some of the players who did ended up being in his team just say that he’s a terrible teammate who abandons anyone who can’t keep up with the aggressive playing style he displays.”

“And I can’t totally blame that player last night if I’m going to be honest.”

“So you think Undertaker is a bad person?”

“I don’t know Annette. I’ll probably never get to play with Undertaker again yet alone know about him personally.”

“Behind that screen, just who is Undertaker? What kind of person is he?”

Lena asked herself those questions. As much as Lena admired Undertaker, she couldn’t help but feel some doubt about his attitude and actions when it came to interacting with other players in the game. She knew that it wasn’t that ‘deep’. After all, this is just an online game and Undertaker didn’t commit any crimes against humanity. Yet the young maiden couldn’t help but overthink about the situation.

“Either way, I need to go now,” Annette stood up and grabbed her large tote bag. The same tote bags that universities would give on open days for future undergraduate students.

“And next time, please watch those thirst edits of Undertaker in private. Not in the living room.”

“They’re not thirst edits Annette!” Lena objected.

“Whatever you say Lena. I’ll see you later at home.”

With a sense of satisfaction across her face, Annette swiftly abandoned Lena who now sat alone at the table filled with the faint scent of earl grey tea. Lena took a glance out the window. Annette was crossing the road ahead of the café.

Undertaker_01 or just Undertaker.

Lena had forgotten to get the answer out from Annette.

“Oh wait, she said Undertaker, not Undertaker_01...”

Later that day, Lena sent out her tweet about her first online interaction with Undertaker_01.

It received just a few likes. Annette’s ecstatic reply didn’t help to gain more traction.

The algorithm is a cruel thing to exist. Regardless, Lena was thankful of her friend’s support. No matter how artificial it was. 

***

<TIME: 18:03 GTM>

<Location: Lena & Annette’s Apartment – Outskirts of The University of San Magnolia>

Later that day, Lena arrived back at her home. A shared spacious flat where she lives with Annette. A large living room connecting the kitchen along with a single toilet, a room for storage and laundry. Both Lena and Annette have their own sperate bedroom with an ensuite. Its location is conveniently near their university campus and city centre. In addition, it’s refurbished with no mould, pests or any leaky ceilings in sight. The colour scheme is similar to the university campus building that being a white cream colour scheme with a touch of blue and black. A faint flowery fragrance filled the space the moment Lena entered through the front door.

<TIME: 18:24 GTM>

After grabbing a quick snack and changing into her pyjamas, Lena placed her VR headset over her eyes. A birthday gift from Annette.

Lena thought that she could play a bit before Annette arrives home at around 7pm.

[Iris eye recognition in process…]

[Iris eye recognition confirmed. Welcome Vladilena Milizé]

Lena selected Attack Táctica 6. Just as she was about to play a match, a direct message popped up in her profile page. Curious, Lena opened it in the message page.

[New message]

Good evening Handler01,

I have a request for you. I would be great to talk to you on VC if possible.

I’ll be waiting for you at the AT6 Training Grounds at 17^th of November at 19:00 GMT.

Here’s the code to enter the private server.

Code: 2lDfu935VbsX

I hope to see you there

[End of message]

“Well this is rather creepy.”

That was the first thought that popped into Lena’s mind.

DMs from online games aren’t unusual. But most of the time, people have been scammed or hacked. Hence there’s an air of caution about DMs with codes or links. The content of this message was an arranged meeting with someone. Lena wondered who she interacted with that would lead to receiving such a message in the first place.

“It better not be NvGiveUP.” She muttered. Lena doesn't know why she thought of NvGiveUP. She perhaps recognised the voice from someone she met. But his attitude didn't gave her the best of impressions to meet with him again.

Lena looked at the username who sent the message.

Undertaker_01

“Wait…”

She doubled check the name. Lena immediately lifted her VR headset.

“WHAT?!”

TO BE CONTINUED…

Chapter Text

Chapter Two: First-class Delusions & Second Encounter

<DATE: 16^th November 2023>

<TIME: 18:24 GTM>

<Location: Lena & Annette’s Apartment – Outskirts of The University of San Magnolia>

Annette had just arrived at the apartment. After a few seconds of various muffled sounds of items clashing into each other, she pulled out the key from her coat. The caffeine-deprived student entered through the door, struggling to put one leg in front of the other.

A recognizable high pitched noise echoed through their small hallway.

Steam? Our Kettle? Lena? Tea? Coffee? COFFEE? COFFEEEE??? Annette’s mind was now occupied with the brown beverage that she loves so much.

“Lena? Are you making tea? Or coffee? I don’t care, just make me a cup!” Annette’s energy perked up a bit as she waddled into the living room. The thought of her friend making her a nice cup coffee (or tea) after a long day at university warmed her heart just a tiny bit.

“And you would never guess what happened today during my lab sess….ion.“

But to her surprise, the kitchen was empty.

Annette’s smile faded away as she looked around. The high pitched sound still echoed throughout the apartment. Annette turned to face to the true source of the sound.

Lena’s bedroom.

Sounds of someone’s footsteps scurrying across the marbled floor started to settle in Annette’s ears. The thought of her friend making her a nice cup coffee after a long day at university quickly shattered and a sense of disappointment started to fill her empty stomach.

What Annette heard wasn’t the sound of a kettle but the sound of a fangirl’s excitement.

***

<TIME: 18:29 GTM>

Lena stood by the door in her room. She nervously held her pillow close to her chest. The chill from the wooden floor reached her sole through her thin cotton socks. She watched Annette who sat down in front of her screen looking at the DM she had just received.

“I don’t think it’s a fake account,” Annette finally broke the silence. “This IS the actual Undertaker messaging you”

“So I’m not dreaming? THE UNDERTAKER MESSAGED ME?”

Annette didn’t want to answer the question. Her ears were just starting to recover from the inhuman kettle-like screech that exited out from her best friend’s mouth. She didn’t want to torture herself any longer yet she knew Lena will explode regardless if she answers the question or not. After a moment of consideration, Annette opened her mouth and braced for impact.

 “….Yes, he did.”

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!”

Lena hugged the pillow tighter as she jumped happily on the spot. She was beyond ecstatic as she started to dance.

“So where’s my cup of coffee?” Annette interrupted. Lena immediately stopped her happy waltz with her pillow.

“Oh. I forgot.”

“What!? It’s been like 5 minutes since I asked!”

“I’m sorryyyy!”

“Girl, you better make me one now or I’ll block the guy. NOW GET ME MY COFFEE!”

“YES MA’AM!” Lena bolted out her room to fetch Annette the brown beverage. But her feet slipped and smashed her face into floor of the hallway. New cotton socks and a wooden floor were a deadly combination.

***

<TIME: 18:56 GTM>

Lena and Annette sat down in their pyjamas in their living room watching the weekly TV show, Eighty-Six. Lena leaned forward slowly to sip her tea without making the ice pack on her head fall off. Drips of ice-cold water trickled down her face. The fragrance from Lena’s earl grey tea was slowly getting overpowered by the potent bitter scent of Annette’s black abyss coffee.

Lena gave a slight side eye towards Annette after being unable to smell her own tea.

“So Lena. Why would Undertaker message you personally?” Annette asked as Lena swiftly glanced back to the TV screen.

“Well-” Lena fiddled with the rim of her cup as she raised her head steady. “I’m not actually sure. You think he might be interested in m-”

“Don’t be delusional,” Annette cut in as she turned to face her. “It’s actually suspicious from someone who have a large following to even contact you. Even if he doesn’t know that you’re a fan. But even so, it has to do with that match you played with him last night right? You didn’t happen to do anything wrong?”

“No, no, no. I just played normally. Why? Do you think I would do something stupid?”

“Of course. We're talking about you.”

“Oh shut up please.”

“Hmmm. Then, I have no other ideas. Will you meet him online tomorrow?”

“Of course I’ll meet him. It’s Undertaker we’re talking about. Why ask such a ridiculous question Annette?” Lena asked calmly.

“Okay, why are you so calm? You’re actually scaring me.”

“Calm? I might look like that, but I’m actually screaming inside.” Lena answered immediately in a relaxed yet almost robotic tone as her hands violently trembled, shaking up the half-drunk tea in her white porcelain teacup. Lena doesn’t know what to do with this magnitude of excitement inside. Her body seems to be ready to explode in a magnificent show of fireworks (or blood).

However, as she had already annoyed Annette far too many times today, Lena decided to dance away with Teppy once she goes into her room after watching their show.

“I see...Good for you,” Annette took a sip of her coffee. “And for me.”  

They both continued to watched the show.  

“Geez, her friend is crazy for blaming her friend for killing the spearhead squadron by keeping them alive…”.

“Not going to lie, but that sounds like what you say to me if you were in her shoes Annette.”

“Me? I can’t imagine taking on the work that caused my father to kill himself. That’s too unethical and inhumane…”

The two continued to watch the young silver-haired girl walking out of her friend’s house in the rain on their TV screen.

***

<TIME: 23:08 GTM>

Lena nervously held her pillow close to her chest as she rested upon her soft white bed. The large duvet covered her body yet her feet felt cold so she pulled her knees towards her chest with the pillow in-between. The room was filled with a deep indigo blue colour. The white opaque curtain were thick enough to hide the interior of her bedroom yet thin enough to let the pale moonlight seep through. Lena faced towards the window as the moonlight illuminated a section of her white bed but not far enough to reach her face.  She let out a small breath and observed her breath vapour spiralling around in the chill November air that occupied her bedroom.

The past 26-ish hours was filled with nothing but surprises and excitement for Lena.

Tomorrow, she’s going to meet the Undertaker. Lena never thought of meeting him once yet alone twice. It was something that would come out from a fan’s delusional dreams.

“I wonder what Undertaker will say to me…”

Lena pondered over the question for the past hour she’s been on her bed. She doesn’t know what she did that would allow this seemly fictional scenario to even happen. With that in mind, Lena had the urge to prepare something for the special occasion.

For a second encounter, she needs to be ready for anything.

Thus, Lena pondered over her plans for yet another hour. Then, she stuffed her face into her pillow smiling as she kicks her legs under the sheets in excitement before finally going to sleep.

***

<DATE: 17^th November 2023>

<TIME: 18:46 GTM>

<Location: Lena & Annette’s Apartment – Outskirts of The University of San Magnolia>

Curious.

Annette was curious.

It was nothing entirely new nor rare for her to feel such an emotion. But this time, it’s different.  

It was the next day after Lena received that DM from Undertaker. And soon, Lena will be meeting him for the 2^nd time but privately on a server.

As previously expressed for the past few months, Annette simply didn’t give a single thought about the man behind the name, Undertaker, or the popular fps game, Attack Táctica 6. But now that her best friend is meeting someone that many others considered as one of the best gamers in the world, it’s hard to not be curious.

Thus, to satisfy her curiosity, Annette arrived at the door to Lena’s bedroom. Yesterday, it was the source of her ear’s suffering and the disillusion of ready-made coffee. Today, it’ll be a place worth entering.

Annette, did however, have another reason to come to Lena’s bedroom. She didn’t see Lena all day. Not since after she went to bed last night. She wondered how her friend is handling the whole situation considering her reaction to receiving such a message and request to begin with.

And unlike yesterday, it was eerily silent. Not a single loud, kettle-sounding noise was coming out of Lena’s bedroom.

“What if she collapsed of shock from of all of this?”

A stupid thought from her but a very likely scenario for Lena. Annette gulp her saliva and held up her fist to the door.

KNOCK KNOCK

A brief moment of silence as she held her breath in anticipation.

“Y-yes?”

Annette let out a sigh of relief. Lena is alive and well. Something about the fact that Lena isn’t that crazy about all of this gave Annette a bit of hope.

After taking a deep breath, Annette opened the door.

To her surprise, Lena didn’t stood at her usual spot when she plays her game. Strangely, the VR headset is placed on her well-made white bed with Teppy who was taking a peaceful nap on a soft duvet that you would have at a 5-star hotel.

Annette’s eyes were then drawn immediately to the black & white attire that Lena is currently wearing. To be more precise, it was a suit. Lena was standing in front of her long mirror on the far side of the room from the door as she struck a few “professional” poses while smiling. In a short span of a few seconds, Annette had many questions that she doesn’t know where to begin.

Why are you wearing a suit as if you’re in a job interview??

For an online meeting with no cameras?

Is this Undertaker guy so amazing that you HAD to wear formal attire?

Why do you look so excited?

Why? Why? WHY?!!!!!

WHY ARE YOU WEARING YOUR GARTER BELT ALONG WITH THE SUIT?

Annette doesn’t know why she felt so much confusion. The overload of questions that popped up in her mind had somehow caused her to simply stand there with her jaw dropped ever so slightly.

For the first time in years, Annette was lost for words.

“What are you wearing?” Annette finally spoke.

Lena turned around as she was adjusting her red reading glasses.

“A suit, what do you think?”

"…"

“Hmm, yeah. You look...good.” Annette replied with a smile so fake that she hoped that Lena would notice and realised the absurdity of the situation.

“Really? I think it’s a bit too professional. But I would like to make a good first, no wait, second impression you know?”

“I see. Good luck Lena.”

Annette left the room, accepting defeat. She regretted entering the room out of her own curiosity. She placed her hands on her forehead, seemly in pain, as if she lost a number of her braincells trying to understand Lena’s thought process. To Annette, Lena became a completely different entity since Undertaker decided to appear into their lives.

At that moment, Annette arrived at a revelation.

Undertaker was the bane of her existence.

She slowly treaded across the apartment towards the single thing that keeps her sane and alive.

Her £549.99 coffee machine.

<TIME: 18:59 GTM>

17th of November at 19:00.

It’s finally time for Lena to meet the one and only Undertaker, the best player of Attack Táctica 6.

The VR set was finally set up.

Lena placed the head gear on her head. As a deep grey colour filled her vision, Lena ran her index finger along the right-side edge of the headset.

There was no button to be found.

Lena tried the other side.

Upon finding the on-button on the left side, she firmly pressed it.

A vivid icon screen of a black cat with white socks overtaken the empty eigengrau space. The name “Teppy” was written on the circular copper piece. Lena smiled at the sight of the cat. However, that expression quickly faded as she had no idea where Teppy is at the moment. Lena swiftly lifted the headset and scaned the floor of her bright room. Legs of white furniture and a black & white tilted floor was all she saw.

No sight of a black cat.

A faint cat’s cry reached her ears. She immediately turned around to find the cat sat on the soft bed. A sigh of relief came out of Lena. World peace was achieved knowing that Teppy was safe.

Lena moved the headset over her eyes.

[Iris eye recognition in process…]

[Iris eye recognition confirmed. Welcome Vladilena Milizé]

With the two joy sticks, she selected a game that slightly deviated from her usual tactical RPG strategy games.

[Select Attack Táctica 6?]

Lena took a deep breath in. She firmly pressed the confirm button.

Once the game was loaded to the main screen, she then entered the code she received from Undertaker’s DM to log into the private server.

<Online Game: Attack Táctica 6>

<Location: Training Grounds>

<Players Online: 2>

Lena stood as her player avatar dressed in a blue miliary uniform of a fake nation. The training ground servers is a special area in Attack Táctica 6 where people can practise their skills with a line-up of all the weapons and items prepared in front of a number of dummy dolls with full evo-shield armours. Players can create private servers and allow other to practise alongside them with a selection of tutorials and mock short battles.

Lena looked ahead to see a lone player in a desert camouflage suit with shades of dirt and sand wearing a thick black helmet with an orange visor that hides their eyes. It’s one of the avatar skins you can get at the very start of the game. The only accessory the player had was a short plain white scarf that wraps their neck.

Lena took a glance at her own skin. She vividly remembered how much she spent on buying this skin from that limited edition cosmetic collection last year. 

She continued to watched the player practised their shots on dummies that were far from where they were standing. Dummy dolls so tiny like pixelated ants. Lena glanced at the bottom left corner of her screen. She finally noticed that her microphone is turned on.

“Um…Hello? Undertaker?”

There was a period of silent that felt a bit too long for Lena to handle.

“U-Undertaker? Can you heard me?”

The sweat quickly dampened her nape as she re-adjusts VR headset. Slightly hesitant to speak once again, a quiet and deep toned voice finally spoken up. 

“Handler01? Is that you?”

“Umm. Ah. Ummm. Ye-y”

Lena found herself stuttering. This is was indeed the voice of Undertaker. However, words are slipping from her tongue as she tried her upmost best to keep herself calm and collected. There was no time to be flustered. Lena gripped her joysticks with her sweaty hands to properly answer his question.

“Um, are you ok-“

“YES, I’M HANDLER01! UNDERTAKER I-I’M A HUGE FAN OF YOURS! IT’S AN HONOR TO MEET YOU.”

“…”

“F*ck.”

She went ahead and interrupted Undertaker. Lena’s excitement on seeing Undertaker had unfortunately gotten the better of her. The countless hours of her verbally shouting words of encouragement and support (along with insults towards haters) while watching his streams is a habit that’s hard to stop. Especially when the person you’re saying all of that to is standing right in front of you.

“Sorry! I’m just a bit too excited. SHIT NO! Not excited in THAT way but excited to see you since I’m a big...fan...of yours…”

“…”

Once again, there was a long pause of silence. Lena thought that this was it for her. While she had done a few embarrassing things as a fan of undertaker, her hyper-enthusiastic response and over-explaining apology had most likely creeped the hell of him now.

“Well, I’m…delighted to hear that. Thanks…for your support.”

“Oh no, he’s creeped out for sure…”

“Please to meet you, Handler01. This is Undertaker speaking,”

Lena find herself feeling ecstatic to hear Undertaker talking directing to her. She slowly moved her avatar closer to his to take a few screenshots for safekeeping purposes.

“And thank you for coming over in such a short notice,” Undertaker continued as he moved his avatar further back as Lena moved closer.

“No worries! I don’t why you contacted me but I’m happy to be here!” Lena moved closer.

Undertaker moved back.

“…”

Lena moved closer, Undertaker moved back.

Lena moved closer, Undertaker moved back.

Undertaker moved further back.

“Is there a reason why you’re moving closer to me?” Undertaker asked in curiosity with a slight sense of caution.

“Oh, um…I just wanted…to get a screenshot,” Lena replied. “If you don’t mind?”

Undertaker found himself doubting whether if she was even going to stop if he had said no.

“I…don’t mind.”

“Thank you so much!” Lena replied excitedly. Undertaker picked up sounds of an aggressive series of button mashing coming from Lena’s mic.

“I’ll get to the point. I have a request for you.”

The sounds of buttons being mashed stopped.

“Huh? A request?” Lena replied in sudden surprise. “From THE Undertaker? FOR ME?”

Lena once again moved closer to Undertaker. But this time, Undertaker had given up on moving further back. Lena was even more confused yet curious. Just what could someone as popular and skilled like Undertaker have to ask someone he met only once in an online match?

“Yes. But first, do you know about the upcoming 6^th anniversary event for AT6?”

“The one that’s happening next month right?”

“Correct. To commemorate that achievement, a special trio battle royale event will be streamed online globally with the current top 30 players being invited to play. The winning trio team get to win $10,000 each along with a bunch of merchandise. The top 30 players can team up with a fellow top 30 player or enlist anyone else.”

“Okay, but exactly why are you asking about this? What does it have to do with your request?”

Undertaker took a few moments before continuing.

“For the upcoming anniversary event, will you be willing to join my team?”

There was a substantial amount of silent from Lena’s mic.

“ME?!” Once again, Lena replied in sudden surprise. “But wait, why me? Didn’t you say that there were other top players involved? You could have teamed up with them first right?”

“That’s the problem. There’s a twist to the rules. A bounty is placed on me as the top player.”

“A bounty? How strange,” Lena responded curiously. “Like a grand?”

“$15,000.”

“HUH?! $15,000?! W-why would they do that?”

“They haven’t made an official announcement but apparently, the game directors and event organisers wanted to see me finally getting eliminated during a match. So they placed a bounty to further increase the chances of that happening as well as motivating other players to fight me. Since the rest of the top players in this event have a higher chance to win the event and kill me rather than teaming up with me, I left to find others options to find teammates.”

“I guess you really can’t ignore that kind of money when given the opportunity.” Lena thought to herself. If she was in the shoes of the other top players, she would have chosen to fight Undertaker for the extra money.

“Wait, Is that why you were suddenly playing ranked Trios matches?”

“...Unfortunately, yes.”

There are various ranks at a player can have in Attack Táctica 6. Starting from Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Crystal and finally Masters. Ranked matches would put together similar ranked players together in solo, duo and trio matches. Although, there are many cases when the sorting algorithm weren’t entirely accurate. Just like last night, Lena, a diamond ranked player, played with NvGiveUP and Undertaker were in gold and master rank respectively. 

“You were my last option to ask. Otherwise, I would have to play the event solo.”

“Do you have any personal or other online friends to play with? Why did you ask me personally?” Lena asked.

“Well…I do but I couldn’t ask them for various reasons. And our match last night after the other teammate left went pretty well so I figured I took my chance asking you instead.”

Lena took a few moment to think. Undertaker is asking her to join his team for the upcoming 6^th Anniversary game event for Attack Táctica 6. Yet, she had a feeling that he was telling the truth but leaving out something else.

“Lying by Omission...”

While the thought itself was a bit extreme, it’s still suspicious as there were so many other skilled players that far our-ranked her that he could have asked first instead.

“So what is your answer? Will you take up the offer to team up with me?” Undertaker repeated his request once more after noticing the long pause coming from Lena.

Needless to say, it’s another chance to play alongside Undertaker for Lena. A chance that she couldn’t give up regardless of Undertaker’s true motives behind it all. Lena finally made her decision.

“Sure thing! It would be an honour to fight by your side.” Lena accepted his offer.

She figured that she can find out more about why she’s the one that he reached out first in the coming month towards the day of the event.

“Thank you so much. I look forward to working with you, handler01”

“Likewise, Undertaker.”

As there weren’t any way to shake hands to officiate the deal, their avatars simply punched each other as a replacement. Amused as their smiles were hidden behind the pixel screen.  

For someone who plays such an aggressive playing style, Undertaker is surprisingly nicer than his online self he usually puts out in his videos and streams Lena thought to herself.

“Stoic” might now no longer be what she would describe him now.

“By the way, how will we find our third player? I assume that you might have to play more random matches to find someone else right?" Lena asked again.

“Ideally, I was hoping that you would find a third teammate to join us.”

Lena unfortunately doesn’t have anyone she know that played Attack Táctica 6. She only started playing this game a few months ago during the summer holidays.

Then, an idea popped into her mind.

“Actually, I DO have someone in mind. Someone who I’ve been meaning to get them to play AT6 for months now”

“Really? Who?”

Lena grinned from ear to ear like the gremlin she is.

A sudden chill rushed through Annette’s body. She turned around immediately only to find that nothing was behind her but a door with her winter coat hanged on a peg. Annette squinted despite wearing her glasses.

“Hm….Maybe I had too much caffeine.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: Team Fido

<DATE: 23rd November 2023>

<TIME: 13:20 GTM>

<Location: San Magnolia Main Library  – 8^th section, floor 6 >

Annette find herself sat down on a dusty foot stool in a random section of the library.

A week had passed since Lena met undertaker for the 2^nd time. As much as Annette wanted to forget seeing her best friend dressed up in a suit to meet some gamer boy online, she couldn’t help but think:

“Just how much worst can this get?”

But unfortunately, this is the day where Annette’s life changed dramatically.

And it’s all thanks to a fangirl’s stubbornness. 

***

<15 minutes ago…>

<TIME: 13:05 GTM>

<Location: San Magnolia Main Library Entrance – The University of San Magnolia >

The San Magnolia main library was formally a military headquarters a few centuries ago. Spanning across a length of a few small Victorian terrace streets with its intricate asymmetrical layout of corridors and stairways, first year students often get lost within this six floors of a white-marbled prison. 

Annette vividly remembered a time when Lena ended up getting lost for over an hour trying to prove that she is competent enough to navigate the building for the first time despite the warnings and statistical surveys saying otherwise. In the end, She twisted her ankle as she went down one of the narrow stairways and had to be dragged out by security guards in the middle of the day with students looking. All the while as Annette watched through Lena’s phone via a video call.

Amidst the warm coloured autumn leaves falling through the cold November air, footsteps of a caffeine-deprived student echoed through the campus streets. With a cup of black coffee  taking the appearance of the abyss (once again) in her hand while holding her tote bag, Annette was on a mission.

There wasn’t time to admire the beautiful autumn scenery as Annette swiftly took out her student ID card to enter the large building. Her eyes immediately scanned around the entrance space while flicking off the orange wet maple leaves off her white coat.

No one she knows is around.

Annette looked behind. No one she knows is around.

She was safe to proceed towards to that location. Annette started to walk with a map of the library downloaded on her phone as a safety of precaution (and a reminder of the tale of Lost Lena).

North-east on the 3^rd floor of the main building, there’s a small corridor that led to a stairway that only goes directly back down to the ground floor. She arrived at the isolated archive section of the library. A long narrow corridor filled with shelves of old historical books and articles.

While a scent of stagnant air might raise one’s concern on the air quality, student and lecturers had quickly grown accustomed to the smell as they were too preoccupied with dealing the high level of stress that comes with university. And Annette is no exception to this as smart as she is.

After headed towards the end of the narrow corridor, Annette found a small number of old wooden desks in between the tall bookshelves on either side. In addition, a lovely window in front showcasing the sad parade of university students heading to their jail cells. 

For the past week of searching, Annette had finally found the place that she was looking for. While not proud of the amount of effort she took to reach this particular spot within the academia prison, this was the safest place for her to study peacefully without the presence of a certain fangirl around.

Needless to say, Annette considered her mission of running away from Vladilena Milizé, a total success.

Tap Tap Tap

“…F**K.”

Like clockwork, Annette knew she had to escape immediately. She didn’t even bothered to look in front to know who was desperate enough to knock on the window. A silver-haired student with a red streak of hair covered in warm-coloured maple leaves as if hiding in the leaves, knowing that her prey had finally come into view. 

“Ah! I’ve finally found you Annette.”

The sound of Lena’s enthusiastic voice was muffled through the single glazed window. With not even a moment of thought on how Lena managed to find her, Annette immediately packed her things and ran away from the desk with zero hesitation.

“Wait! Where are you going?” Lena shouted through the single glazed window as she watched Annette running back to the desk to grab her coffee before leaving once again.

***

<TIME: 13:20 GTM>

<Location: San Magnolia Main Library  – 8^th section, floor 6 >

Annette find herself sat down on a dusty foot stool at a random section of the library as she managed to escape from the obsessive gamer fangirl. While taking a moment to breathe in, she finally took a sip of her sad cold coffee.

A week had passed since Lena met undertaker for the 2nd time. As much as Annette wanted to forget seeing her best friend dressed in a suit to meet some gamer boy online. And since then, the fangirl kept asking Annette to join her to play a huge battle royale match with the Undertaker.

Every morning, evening, and night. Lena asked Annette to join. 

Every new message during her robotics lectures and labs, Lena asked Annette to join.

Every time the two encounter at campus, Lena asked Annette to join.

Every time Annette tried to go somewhere to avoid Lena, She somehow always finds her within the hour.

Tired, Annette spent all night yesterday trying to find a spot at the library to exist peacefully without the presence of a fangirl. But all of her efforts were fruitless. Annette underestimated the fangirl-ism power that Lena possessed.

“Just how much worst can this get?” Annette couldn’t help but think.

“JOIN ME TO PLAY AT6 WITH UNDERTAKER” Lena muttered calmly through the gaps of the books from the other side of the shelves.

“WHAT THE F-” Annette screamed as she stood up scared. The rapid motion made her dropped the cup of coffee which then went on staining the left side of her white pristine coat.

“…”

Annette considered murdering Lena on the stop as she stared down the cold sad puddle on the ground that was formally her 5^th cup of coffee.

 ***

<TIME: 13:32 GTM>

<Location: San Magnolia Main Library  – Female Toilet, floor 6 >

“No.”

“Annette please.”

“No.”

“Please, please, pleaseeeeeee”

“For the 86th time Lena, NO”. Annette said firmly as she attempted to wash off the coffee stain off her coat with her bare hands inside the female toilets.

“But I really have no one else to ask other than you,” Lena pleaded once again as she stood next to Annette. “Undertaker needs my help.”

“Well is that so? THE Undertaker struggling to find a third teammate?,” Annette stared down at the beige stain on her white coat. “Sounds like music to my ears.”

Lena stood in silence as Annette turned off the tap.

“And before you go all puppy eyes on me, we have end of semester exams before Christmas which is less than a month away. Even if there’s an ounce of a possibility that I wanted to do this, I have to exams to study for. I don’t have the time to play a game and enter a tournament days before the exams,” Said Annette as she turned to face Lena showing the faded stain on her coat. “Well? What you think?”

“...So there’s no chance you’ll join?” Lena responded as she gestured her hands, slightly approving Annette’s valiant effort of getting rid of the difficult stain.

“No. And if that’s all you came here for, I’ll be going back to study now,” Annette answered as she walked past Lena with her stained white coat in her arms. “I’ll see you at home Lena.”

As Annette exited the toilet, she took a quick glance at Lena who was standing on the spot. She couldn’t help but think that something’s wrong with Lena’s reaction to her rejection. Normally, Lena would show her frustration physically by puffing her cheeks like a hamster, stuffing their faces with seeds, as she walked away with every rejection so far. Annette wondered if this might be last time Lena might ask about joining to play Attack Táctica 6.

Meanwhile, Lena remained standing in the middle of the toilet with a look of defeat.

“Undertaker is relying on me…I need Annette to join…”

Part of Lena is convinced that Annette would love to play with her and undertaker if given proper chance. Annette’s firm words and her seemingly apathetic demeanour would normally draw the line with anyone else. But for Lena, she felt the urge to cross the line to get what she wants.

And she wants Annette to join with Undertaker as her teammate.

“There must be something I can use to convince her to join…”

Lena turned on her phone and opened her chat messages from Annette. After a minute of scrolling, her thumbs paused over a certain image that Annette sent to her many years ago. A tiny smirk appeared on her face.

“If plan A didn’t work…I have to go for plan B. yes…yes…plan B…,” Lena muttered, scaring the other female students in the toilet.

“No matter what happens next, it’s all for Undertaker.”

***

<TIME: 19:08 GTM>

<Location: Lena & Annette’s Apartment – Outskirts of The University of San Magnolia>

KNOCK KNOCK

“Come in Lena.” Annette shouted from her bed while doom-scrolling through her Enstagram.

 However, there was no reply. The door didn’t open either.

“Lena?” Annette repeated her name as she placed her phone down.

The silence of the room was quietly filled with the sounds of slight rain coming from her room and the continued playing of a five-minutes craft video from her phone on her messy bed. There was still no reply.

Regardless, Annette walked over and opened her bedroom door to find Lena standing in front with her while avoiding eye contact. Her eyes rolled over after a quick glimpse on Lena’s determined expression on her face. 

“If this is about joining you to play AT6 with Undertaker, the answer is still no,”

This time, Annette was about to draw the line firmly for the final time.

“Oh, I know that Henrietta von Penrose,” Lena coldly responded.

The irritated Annette was thrown into confusion. It was extremely unusual for Lena to call her by her full name. Lena continued to speak.

“But your answer doesn’t matter. You’ll join me and Undertaker regardless.”

“What do you mean?” Annette asked in confusion.

“Your stories of your exes. Does the people from the robotics society know?”

Annette’s expression grew cold.

“Lena. You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh, I would,” A part of Lena wanted to see the calculated cold expression she’s making in front of Annette. “And I will if you won’t join to play AT6”

“Lena, I spent so much effort keeping my dating life a secret, especially from the robotics society. You know how much they’ll eat up those stories.”

“I’m well aware of that fact Annette. These stories will keep them fed until the ends of time if they were hear about this.”

“…”

Annette took a deep breath. She suddenly found herself pleading to Lena. She thought she had the high ground with this situation but this was an unprecedented turn of events. One that would destroy her normal life at the university if she’s not careful.

“W-Well. Even if you were to tell them, they’ll be nothing more than simple rumour made about me,” Annette decided to stand her ground. She won’t cower to Lena’s blackmailing. “So my answer is still no.”

Despite Annette’s firm words, Lena’s face didn’t react. Her cold expression still remained on her face. After a few seconds, Lena smirked.

“You poor sweet child. You’re right. It would be just rumours,” Lena responded as she lifted up her phone.

“But you thought I wouldn’t have concrete evidence?”

Annette’s eyes focused on the photos on Lena’s phone. A picture of a cute couple in a study session at school that was send to Lena years ago. She quickly turned off her phone but the image was already burned into Annette’s retinas.

“LENA, YOU CAN’T DO THIS. THIS IS CRAZY,” Annette shrieked, grabbing Lena’s shoulders. “You know you can’t blackmail me into joining you?”

“But there won’t be any blackmail if you had accepted my request to begin with.” Lena responded with a tone with such confident that Annette genuinely wished that she wasn’t serious.

“Lena, I’m being actually serious. I don’t want to be involved with all of this.”

Lena shrugged off Annette’s hands on her shoulders as she moved backwards. Lena then clasped over Annette’s hands with hers and held them to her face as she leaned forward. Close enough that Annette could feel the warmth of Lena’s breath.

“You say no but I don’t understand why?,” Lena asked curiously before continuing.

“You join the team with the best player in the world. We win. We get the money to spend on whatever you want. Enough money for coffee machines. Coffees every day for the rest of your time at university and an increased budget for your robotics society. All I see is benefits. Not. One. Down. Side. Is your disinterest towards Attack Táctica 6 that much stronger than those benefits, Henrietta von Penrose?”

Annette undoubtedly underestimated the fangirl-ism power. Lena was deep in the rabbit hole. There was no salvation. The innocent model student that she once considered as a friend is no more.

“I’ll ask you one last time. Will you join me and Undertaker to participate in the upcoming AT6 6^th anniversary event? If you accept, you get the money and no one will ever know about your miserable dating life. If you don’t accept, you’ll have no money and no social life.”

Annette fell down to her knees. Her hands still in the clutches of the fanatic fangirl that towers over her.

“…Are you that down bad for that gamer boy Lena?”

“Undertaker is in trouble and he’s relying on me for find a teammate. I’ll do anything at this point my dearest sweet summer child.”

Annette remained on the floor, still-shocked from what was just said to her for the past few minutes. She look up to Lena’s face. Cold, cruel, and detached from all morals.

“You’re…a devil.”

“…So what’s your final answer?” Lena Asked for the final time, purposely ignoring Annette’s comment.

“I’ll…join you…”

“OH MY GOODNESS! REALLY? THANK YOU ANNETTE, MY BESTIE!!,” Lena screamed as she hugged her best friend tightly. “Well, we have to get started right away! First step being to make your AT6 account!”

“H-Hooray…” The devastated Annette responded with excitement.

***

<DATE: 7^th December 2023>

<TIME: 23:12 GTM>

<Online Game: ATTACK TATICA 6 – DUO BATTLE ROYALE MATCH>

<Location: WORLD’S END – Zone 2>

<Players remaining: 4>

With the deep trenches of an abandoned battlefield encircled by vast volumes of dissipating smokescreen, two players hid behind the wooden crates as they try to not get hit by the onslaught of metal bullets. Hoping that their health points and evo shield armour won’t deplete down any further.

“What’s the plan now?,” Lena asked through her microphone that’s built in her VR headset. Her avatar stood beside the player to her right. “We have enough bullets to fight them but they’re playing really aggressively.”

“Well, you tell me, Handler01. What should we do?” said Undertaker in a more sarcastic tone. Lena took a few seconds to think while screaming internally by his deep voice.

“Since we’re closer to the centre of the storm, we’ll stay until they’re forced to move out of their spot. And in that moment, we’ll hit them with everything we got?” The uncertain tone of voice from Lena as she braced herself for yet another brutal feedback from the one and only Undertaker.

“Hm. I guess that’s a pretty good idea.” A surprising approval from the best player.

“WAIT, REALLY?” Lena’s voice cheerfully perked up through the microphone as if she had just won the lottery.

“But you missed one extra step. We throw all of our grenades just before they move to reduce their health points and break any shields. That way, they won’t have time to recover as the storm closes in.” Undertaker explained as he gave Lena some of his grenades.

[The Storm Is Now Closing]

“Oh! Right!” Lena quickly picked the grenades up from the ground and started to throw them across the trenches in quick, accurate succession.

BOOM!

Sounds of explosions and shattered evo shield armours echoes through the trenches as the storm finally overtaken the opponent’s hiding spot.

“Good. Now on the count of three Handler01,” said Undertaker as he reloaded his shotgun while Lena is on standby.

“One, two, three! GO!” Undertaker shouted as the two ran out the crates of boxes. Bullets were fired.

***

<TIME: 23:28 GTM>

<Online Game: Attack Táctica 6>

<Location: Training Grounds>

<Players Online: 2>

“I think that was our best attempt yet right?” Lena asked as she stood a few meters away from Undertaker.

“Yes, I believe so. You died a lot less than usual.” Undertaker replied as he stood facing away from Lena.

“I mean…it’s all thanks to you Undertaker” Said Lena as she attempted to get out any sort of compliment  from Undertaker.

“Well I can’t have you to be deadweight all the time so I had no choice but to give some tips here and there.” His harsh words echoed through Lena’s ears.

“Deadweight for you is as valuable as gold,” A strange thought from Lena.

“What an honour to be Undertaker’s deadweight”

“You do know you said that out loud right?”

“HAH?! I-I meant, I-It’s an honour to be Undertaker’s…STUDENT! YES! That’s what I meant. HAHAHAHAHAHA…haha.”

A poor horrible attempt to cover her mistakes.

“Right. Whatever you say Handler01,” Undertaker played along with her corrected statement. He knew that Handler01 had a strange habit of blurting out random comments for the short period he spent playing with her.

While he initially had doubts about having Handler01 as his chosen teammate for such a huge event, he couldn’t help but feel slightly entertained by the awkward player who happened to be his fan.

“WOOF WOOF!”

Lena picked up sounds of a barking from Undertaker’s microphone.

“Is that a dog?” She asked.

“Yes, it’s my dog Fido. He’s just trying to sit on me. I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, no! I don’t mind at all! What breed of dog is he?”

“A golden retriever. He’s quite big too.”

“Oh. My. Days. Undertaker has a dog? And it’s sitting on him? SO CUTEEE” Lena thought to herself. She couldn’t help but imagine a large golden retriever just sitting on the thighs of the best gamer in the world.

“Oh to be Fido…”

“COUGH, COUGH!” Undertaker choked on his own saliva.

“Oh my! Are you okay?” Lena immediately responded with great concern.

“I’m…Okay.”

Undertaker tried to collect himself.

“She…wants to be a dog?” He was slightly scared to know whether she meant it in a certain way but didn’t have the resolve to bring it up as Lena somehow wasn’t even aware that she spoken those words out loud.

“I’ll…pretend I didn’t hear that. Yes…Ignorance is bliss.” Undertaker took those words to heart.

After taking a moment to calm himself, Undertaker took a look at the distance between their avatars before rematching their showdown battles.

These battles are a type of game within the training grounds. Like cowboys in the past, players will walk to a certain distance from each other and will fire when the countdown is done. Another feature to this game mode is that their health is reduce to a single health point.

<Player vs Player mode: On>

“How’s the progress with that friend of yours?” Undertaker asked as he held his pistol gun to his face as he faced away from Handler01.

“It’s going well,” Lena replied back, mirroring Undertaker.

<Showdown in three…two…one…Begin!>

The two immediately turned around, meters away from each other. Their fingers already pressing the trigger as they aimed their guns at each other’s avatars.

BANG!

[UNDERTAKER_01 ELIMINATED Handler01] -눈≡==✴

“Noooo! I was soo close.” A cry of defeat from Lena.

“So…How is it really going?,” Undertaker asked again as he reloaded his gun.

“Well…” Lena responded as her player avatar was about to be respawned.  She didn’t want to admit to any sort of failures towards the one person who excepts nothing less than competent players. But if Lena were to summarise her experience playing AT6 with Annette…

 ***

<Last night…>

<Online Game: ATTACK TATICA 6 – DUO BATTLE ROYALE MATCH>

<Location: WORLD’S END – Zone 2>

<Players remaining: 36>

Bullets spray across the battlefield amidst the chaotic clashes of several teams. Among them, a unfortunate new player was barely surviving the battle.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!,” Annette screamed in frustration as she gripped her hair which was already in a messy state. “WHY IS THIS GAME SO HARD?”

“Hold on, Where are you?” Lena tried to run towards Annette while trying to stay alive herself in the storm of enemy bullets.

“HURRY UP! THEY’RE KILLING MEEEE!”

“Wait, I’m almost there!”

“Hurry!”

“Annette, just fight the damn players!”

<A few minutes Later>

[Handler01 ELIMINATED Sweet&Savoury] -눈≡==✴

[Handler01 ELIMINATED Savoury&Sweet] -눈≡==✴

<Players remaining: 32>

“Okay…I managed to kill them for you. You alright?” said Lena as she was going through the opponent’s player boxes.

“Yeah…” Annette responded sounding slightly hoarse after all the shouting she had done in the past few minutes.

Suddenly, a stray bullet hit Lena. She turned to spot two players in the distance approaching, firing their guns towards their direction. Lena immediately readied herself for another battle despite being slightly low on health points.

“Annette, it’s an ambush! more enemies coming!” Shouted Lena as turned to face Annette. But to her surprise, Annette was already running away from her, carrying all of the supplies from the eliminated opponents.

“Annette?”

“You’re on your own now Lena!”

“ANNETTE!!!! YOU TRAITOR! COME BACK HERE-”

[Q.W.E.R.T.Y ELIMINATED Handler01] -눈≡==✴

***

Part of Lena regretted choosing Annette as her teammate. This might have been the natural consequence of blackmailing your best friend to play an game for Undertaker (and money).

“She managed to survive up to the end of the second round after getting thrown into the hotspot and had achieved bronze rank I, as you requested,” Lena truthfully answered undertaker’s question. “But right now, she’s pretty good at escaping death. And betrayal.”

“Hm. I guess that’s better than I expected for a newbie.”

Lena found herself jealous of Undertaker’s approval of Annette’s playing.

“By the way, I’m going to need her username. Since I do need to submit the team’s list by tomorrow.”

As Undertaker was the team leader, he’s required to send a list to the game organisers so that they can confirm the players involved in the event and send out the full list of details. With a week to go until the 6^th anniversary event, Undertaker planned to delay sending the list until the final day.

But ever since Lena convinced Annette to join and make an account, Undertaker had Lena train up Annette by forcing her to play in hotspots where a large percentage of players would land in the battlefield to obtain high-graded gear and guns fast. It was a quick way for Annette to learn the fast pace of the game itself while also allow her to gain the skill of surviving with such weak evo armour and no weapons.

He requested that Annette should reach bronze rank II. Within each rank, there are three sub-ranks: III, II and I. The minimum rank that players need to participate the game’s event is bronze II. While progress have been going well with Annette, Undertaker had yet to play a game with her till this day. Lena vividly remember that Undertaker didn’t want to play with a completely new player so soon as he was slightly worried that Annette will leave out of frustration due to his aggressive playing style. Just like what happened with NvGiveUP.

Regardless of his reasons, it made Lena realised that Undertaker did actually care about players to a certain extent in contrast to what other people thought of him. She was happy to see this side of Undertaker exclusively.

“So? What’s her Username?”

“Right. Um…It’s PENSR0E in all capital letters but replace the ‘o’ with a zero.”

“Pen...rose?”

Undertaker’s voice seemed hesitant from his usual tone.

“Yes, Penrose,” Lena repeated the username once more. “You want me to spell that for you?”

“N-No. That’s not necessary,” Undertaker stammered and sounds of a keyboard were made from his microphone. “Thank you Handler01.”

“No worries.” Lena replied while wondering about his unusual reaction just moments ago.

“I think that’s enough matches for today.”

His tone of voice was back to normal.

Today marks the second week since Lena has been playing with Undertaker. For Lena, It’s also been 2^nd week anniversary since they became friends in AT6 as Undertaker had given her a friend request. The crumpled A4 sized photo showing a screenshot of Undertaker’s friend request message was placed on the fridge’s door for the 14^th time this week. Lena wondered if Annette will take it down this time.

“So, the event is next week right? You think you’re ready?”

“I’m always ready. But are you truly ready, Handler01?”

“Huh?”  Lena replied in surprise.

“I’ll admit. You’re a pretty good player. But unlike these matches we’ve played together, the players we’re going against next week are the best players in the world. They’re all as skilled as me you know. So I’ll ask you again. Are you ready to fight with me?”

Lena had fun playing with Undertaker for the past two weeks that she almost forgotten that she’ll have to go against players that can eliminate her within seconds. Such thoughts made her doubtful if she’ll be able to be someone who Undertaker can depend on.

Perhaps deadweight is all her and Annette might be for Undertaker.

“I don’t think…I’ll be truly ready. But,”

However, it was Undertaker who asked her to join. If there’s the slightest possibility that he believed that Lena could be of some use to him, she’ll do anything to help him.

“If I can’t fight against players just as skilled as you, I’ll simply be your shield. I would die for you.”

Lena found herself embarrassed by her sudden declaration. It felt too extreme considering that the two will be simply participating in an online game event.

“Right. That’s…reassuring.”

Lena couldn’t help but feel more embarrassed by Undertaker’s detached reaction.

“I need to log off now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Wait, let’s play showdown one more time!,” Lena protested as she wanted to stay online with undertaker a bit longer. “I almost killed yo-“

BANG!

[UNDERTAKER_01 ELIMINATED Handler01] -눈≡==✴

“There. The match is over.”

“HEY! I wasn’t ready!”

“That sounds like a ‘you’ problem. But sorry, my housemate is waiting for me to watch the newest episode of Eighty-Six.”

<Undertaker_01 Logged Off>

<Players Online: 1>

“…So he also watches Eighty-six huh. That’s something to write down in my diary”.

***

<TIME: 23:40 GTM>

Exiting her bedroom, Lena slowly placed her leg in front of the other as she was tired from standing as it had been over three hours that the two played Attack Táctica 6.

A faint scent of coffee caught her attention. She turned to the kitchen in front to see Annette standing in front of the fridge, looking at the crumpled printed screenshot of Undertaker’s friend request to Lena. Annette look back to see Lena gradually walking towards the kicthen as if she knew that Lena was coming. A faint smirk appeared on her face.

“What’s so funny?” Lena asked.

“If I can’t fight against players just as skilled as you, I’ll simply be your shield. I would die for you.,” Annette replied mimicking Lena’s voice. “Damn girl, how far are you willing to go for the gamer boy?”

“...”

Lena blushed as she couldn’t find the words to respond as Annette once again took down the printed screenshot from the fridge.

***

<DATE: 14^th December 2023>

<TIME: 15:58 GTM>

<Online Game: Attack Táctica 6>

<Location: Special Lobby – Room 1>

<Handler01 & Undertaker_01 Logged On>

<Players Online: 2>

Lena logged on the special server for the battle royale match that the game organiser set up. Once again, her avatar player dressed in a blue miliary uniform as it stood in a white room. The features were hard to make out for a few seconds as the furniture of the room is also painted white. What stood out for Lena is the wide window. Upon looking out, lies a total of 39 podiums surrounding a large miniature model of a battlefield. Supposedly, the map that they’ll battle in.

“Handler01?”

Lena looked beside her. A desert camouflage suit with shades of dirt and sand wearing a thick black helmet with an orange visor that hides his eyes and white scarf around his neck. It’s the avatar player skin she recognise from anywhere.

“Undertaker! You’re here!” Lena expressed her excitement in her tone of voice.

“Of course I’m here. Where’s your friend?” Undertaker spoke in a softer tone. Perhaps in respond to Lena’s excitement of seeing him.

“Oh, She should be joining soon!” Lena explained.

<PENR0SE Logged On>

<Players Online: 3>

“Oh! An-Penrose, we’re he-”

Lena took a glance at Annette’s avatar. Large black round glasses equipped with a long black lab coat and a machine attached to her back with several mechanical arms.

“That’s…Dr. Octavius right?” Lena asked despite the avatar skin clearly showing that indeed, it is Dr. Octavius.

“Yeah, I figure it would look good on me.” Annette replied.

“So…How much did it cost?”

“Too much. Why all the good skin cost so much?”

“I can…see that.”

The three stood in a long silence before Lena realised that she needed to break the silence.

“Oh! Penrose, this is Undertaker! Undertaker, this is my friend Penrose!” Lena introduced the two to each other. Her seeing the two people who brings her the most joy finally meet warmed her heart.

“Hello, Penrose, please to meet you.” Undertaker spoke in his usual quiet and deep toned voice.

“Likewise, Undertaker. It’s truly an honour to meet you. Oh! How many people would be so jealous to meet some gamer boy online, am I right?”

“Oh…,” A unexpected pause from Undertaker. “is that how you want to play huh…”

“huh? Guys?”

Lena found herself suddenly confused. But Annette continued her assault of words.

“And before we start, just letting you know that your fangirl here forced me join so I hope that you’re grateful.”

“Heyyy, don’t tell him that. ~ you’re making me blush.” Lena bashfully interjected.  

“Yeah sure, I’m very grateful for the deadweight I’ve just received in front of me.”

“Deadweight huh…good one. I’ll give you that. Top player.”

“Um…Guys?”

Lena couldn’t help but be reminded by the mood when she first player with Undertaker and NvGiveUP. But this time, their first impressions of each other had somehow started off in the trenches so fast, even before the online match had begun.

“Well, this will be a wonderful experience. I look forward to playing with you, Mister Undertaker.”

“Likewise, Miss Penrose.”

<TIME: 16:00 GTM>

<Location: Gran Mur Arena>

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to the 6^th anniversary event for Attack Táctica 6,”

A loud voice echoed through the arena filled with 10,000 people eagerly waiting for this day to come. A sudden video stream popped up in the wide white screen in front of the crowd. In the video, two people sat next to each other. A woman with short blonde hair and purple eyes and a middle aged man with jet-black hair and eyes. Part of his hair clearly showing signs of old age. Both were wearing a black and red t-shirt with the Attack Táctica 6 title logo.

“I’m your host and event organiser, Grethe Wenzel,” The woman spoke with loud confidence. “Thank you for joining us for this special anniversary event. Joining us here live at the Gran Mur arena is our wonderful head game director of the Attack Táctica series from Giad Games, Ernst Zimmerman!”

“Thank you Grethe for hosting this event and inviting me! I look forward to today’s event.” Ernst responded as he adjusted his silver glasses.

“You’re welcome! It’s what I’m hired for!”

A few awkward sounds of laughter echoed through the arena.

“Now then! Allow me and Ernst to explain this special team battle royale game. Just like any trio battle royale match, we have 13 teams consisting of the top 30 best players. These players can team up with a fellow top 30 player or enlist anyone else. Here, they’ll play on our newest update on AT6’s most popular map, the 86^th sector! The winning team will receive a total of $10,000 and a vast collection of our merchandise.”

“But that’s not all folks!” Ernst interrupted.

“Yes, we have a special twist to the game. We placed a bounty on the top ranked player of our game, Undertaker_01! If any member outside his team eliminate him, they’ll receive a total of $15,000!,” Grethe explained. “You may not win the war but you may walk home with a prize bigger than the winning team!”

“So we will see our talented Undertaker perish for the first time, live on screen? We’ll find out the answer soon enough!” Ernst commented, trying to add some tension and excitement in the crowd.

However, the response from the crowd in the Gran Mur arena was…subpar.

“Now, let’s introduce the teams participating in the new battlefield!” Grethe shouted. The crowd went wild. Ernst couldn’t help but feel the huge difference between the crowd’s response.  

The screen started to show each team one by one. Players were teleported from the multiple small rooms to the podiums at the centre room as Grethe introduced the team name and the players.

Team 13 – Lore
Players: Zenry, Rebel, Glockner

Team 12 – Weeping Mist
Players: Haru, Misty, Yakult

Team 11 – Mercosul Gang
Players: Hanede, Lulu, Sei

Team 10 – Pengu ThicCatso
Players: Pablo, Taila, Penguin_Pope

Team 9 – HIT Gang
 Players: Hit, Rei, Ghost

Team 8 – D.A.D
Players: David, Abz, Duck

Team 7 – Chaos Sisters
Players: Ro, Skyla, CSakura

“For the following five teams, these are the ones who are most likely to win according to yesterday’s online surveys!”

Team 6 – Vika Moo Moo
Players: VikaMoo, Lerche, Bobchi

Team 5 – Morpho
Players: Morpho, G.Empress, No-Face

Team 4 – Deadmen
Players: BurntTayl, Sirius, Kirschblüte

Team 3 –BlackSnow
Players: Snowitch, Blackdog, Falke

Team 2 – Spearhead
Players: Whrewolf, LaughingFox, Gunslinger

“And our final team lead by the man himself, Undertaker_01!!!”

Team 1 – Fido
Players: Undertaker_01, Handler01, PENR0SE

“Fido? Why did you call us Fido?” Annette asked.

“Fido is Undertaker’s dog.” Lena eagerly answered.

“You named our team after a dog? Every other team have amazing sounding names and we’re named after a freaking dog?” Annette asked once again. Her clearly annoyed voice shown through the lifeless expression of her avatar player.

“Well, I just typed what came into mind.” Undertaker replied truthfully.

“I-I think it’s a wonderful name Undertaker!” Said Lena, trying to cheer up Undertaker.

“Well Handler01, I would agree with you but then we would both be wrong.” Annette commented harshly.

Suddenly, their conversation were interrupted by Grethe.

“Before we start, to make sure that undertaker’s team will stand out more to increase that chance of him being eliminated, we made them a special head gear for the event! Team 1 please have a look at your inventory!”

The three players of team Fido instantly received the large orange robotic head with a single red eye, titled the “scavenger drone”

“What the hell is the design? How chose this?” Annette questioned with condemnation.  

“The design of this head gear was requested by none other than Undertaker himself!” Grethe explained.

“Geez, who would have known…” Annette responded.  Her clear disapproval of wearing such a garment was clearly expressed through her voice. She turned to face Lena, hoping that she would also at least find it distasteful.

“Undertaker, doesn’t it look so cute? Thank you for making this for us!”

“It certainly does look cute, Handler01.”

“PENROSE LOOK, HE CALLED ME CUTE!”

Both Undertaker and Lena were already wearing the head gear with zero hesitation. Annette felt stupid for even trying to disapprove with two in front of her.

“At least someone here have good taste in robots.” Said Undertaker.

“Ha? Excuse me?”

Annette picked up that emphasise in robots and knew that Undertaker was smirking behind that screen. She finally realised why she feels so much irritation towards him. But unlike NvGiveUP, her reason is entirely different. It’s a feeling that she never forgotten after all these years. And Annette knows that Undertaker feels the same way too.

“Now! Let’s countdown!” Grethe shouted as the screen turned black before switching to show all players suddenly teleported to the drop-off aerial craft. The three players in team Fido were sitting right next to each other with Undertaker at the centre.

“You guys know what our strategy is for the first round?” Undertaker asked.

“Yes, Sir!” Lena shouted with such force, it made both Undertaker and Annette quite the shock.

“I can explain it to you again if you’d like Penrose, but I can’t understand for you” said undertaker in a tone that people would use to tease and annoy their younger siblings.

Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six!

“Oh shut up. Can’t believe I’m doing this with you…” Annette responded softly so that Lena didn’t hear what she said.

“Same here...Penrose.”

Five! Four! Three! Two! One!

< TRIO BATTLE ROYALE MATCH – START >

All of the player were dropped midair in the vast sky to the familiar yet unknown battlefield.

To be continued!

Chapter Text

Interlude
The Night Before the Games I

<DATE: 13^th December 2023>

<TIME: 18:08 GTM>

<Location: Lena & Annette’s Apartment – Outskirts of The University of San Magnolia>

"Lena?"

No reply.

Annette was surprisingly the first one back home at the apartment. Most of Annette’s Lab sessions tend to end around early evening between the times of 6 and 7pm.
By the time she arrived back home, Lena would be in her lounge wear and would be in the middle of her new ritual of watching AT6 streams in her bedroom with the doors shut. 

However, once in the blue moon, Lena would stay late at the university library to complete her coursework in political history. And today is one of those days.
The lack of light and fangirl sounds were a clear indication as Annette thought as she entered the apartment. 

She went ahead in the dark apartment, avoiding to turn on the lights immediately. Annette’s eyes were already strained from the white, fluorescent light that shines inside the lab. Her eyes steadily adjusted to small hues of blues, indigos & orange that slowly filled the darkness of the hallways and kitchen. 

Turning on the small lights under the kitchen cabinets was enough illumination Annette needed to light up the kitchen cabinet.
Indeed, it was time for her to brew yet another cup of black abyss coffee from her £549.99 coffee machine. The bittersweet, earthy aroma lingered around the kitchen. A familiar and nostalgic smell that Annette was very fond to. 

"Meow"

A faint cry popped out of nowhere. It was Tippy, Lena's cat.
The feline was given to her by their apartment building manager who couldn't take care of him. Annette turned to the direction of the sound. Despite wearing her strong prescribed glasses, it was too dark to see where Tippy might be hiding. 

After all, he's a bit wary of Annette after seeing the amount of times Lena ran to the bathroom with explosive diarrhoea from her batches of baked goods. The thought of even having food served from Annette’s hands warrants caution, regardless of whether she cooked it or not. And perhaps, Tippy might have gotten the message as part of his animal instincts.  

"At this time, Lena would have fed him…"
Annette thought as she took her first sip of her 9th coffee of the day. After gulping the black abyss beverage, she finally turned on the lights and searched for the black feline with a bowl of cat food in her hand. 

"The cry came from her bedroom…"

Over the past few weeks, Annette felt like entering Lena's bedroom was bad news. The fangirl shriek & the black suit were enough for her. The thought of even entering the room for the third time gave her goosebumps. However, this time, it's for Tippy. And Annette shall feed the cat no matter where he's hiding from her. 

She slowly opened the door and turned on the bedroom lights. Annette poked her head inside and scanned the room. 
Black & white marble tiles, a well-made bed, and white furniture that screams high class royalty. 

But no signs of the feline.
Annette begun her search. She looked in the gaps behind the wardrobe and spotless desk.

The organisation of the desk annoyed Annette so she proceeded to tip over the pencil holder, covering the desk with various stationeries. Annette had planned to blame the cat later as payback from hiding from her.

Luckily, Lena's bedroom was spacious and had very few furniture which makes it hard for Tippy to hide. The final spot to check was the space behind the bed and wall. Annette tilted her head sideways to look inside and to her surprise, Tippy was there sitting down. The feline stared intensely back at Annette’s slight bloodshot eyes. The caffeine must have settled in by now.

"I guess he doesn't want to come out huh..."Annette muttered to herself while scratching her head. 

She raised her head back up and placed the bowl down on the marbled floor, in front of the gap between the bed and wall. 
And within a few seconds, Tippy emerged from the dusty depths and sat in front of the bowl. His head slowly lowered towards the food as he opened his mouth. There was a moment of hesitation before Tippy begun eating the food. 

"At least, you're more quicker to eat than Lena when I serve food," Annette sighed. "Hm?"

Her eyes focused to the gap in-between the headwall of Lena's bed and her mattress. A small notebook with a burgundy leather cover, a small turquoise blue fountain pen attached to the side and a small black cat print on the bottom right corner of leather cover. 

Annette reached out and pull it from the small gap. "What's...this?"
She opened the turned to the first page.

23/05/2023

Dear dairy diary…

Annette immediately closed the notebook.
Without a doubt, Annette was holding Lena’s diary.

“Was she in a hurry? Why else would it be sticking out. Wait…is this a trap?!”

Annette looked around, hugging the notebook tightly against her chest. Shoulders and arms tensed. The room was quiet with the faint sound of Tippy eating his food and her own heartbeat. After taking a sigh of relief, Annette’s shoulders relaxed and looked down at the notebook at her hand.

“Lena’s…diary.”

Annette was curious.

Again.
But she remembered the pervious times she acted from her curiosity. Annette went through the unfortunate experience of seeing her all dressed up to see a gamer boy on a voice chat.

Considering the contents of the diary, it may contain some things that Annette wish not to know. Just the thought of looking into the inner workings of a gamer fangirl makes her shudder from fear. However, an idea popped into Annette’s mind.

“Wait…I could use this,” Annette still wanted some sort of revenge over Lena blackmailing her to join her with Undertaker to play AT6’s 6^th anniversary event. “Yes, with this book, I can force her to do my bidding.” Annette smirked as she held up the notebook in the air.

“But I do have to…read it.”

Annette paced around Lena’s bedroom, pondering to read the diary or not.

“I could read it later. I do need to mentally prepare myself for this. Reading a diary from Lena could ruin my view on Lena as a friend. No, as a human being! But this is an opportunity as she’s not here now. No wait. She could hide this somewhere else after this. And I don’t want to enter this room again…In that case…I have to read it right now!”

With sudden resolve, Annette opened the diary. Hoping to find something worth blackmailing Lena.

23/05/2023

Dear dairy diary…

Today marks the end of the first year of university.

It was truly an wonderful and challenging experience that I was fortunate to have given the opportunity to attend this establishment. I’m truly grateful for my parents for their continued support despite our differences in opinions.

I had just finished my last exam and I’m thinking about what to do this summer.
I wonder if the chess society have any other plans over the break.
I did promise Shiden that I would participate the national university summer chess tournament.

This might be a good opportunity for me to watch some videos and shows I’ve been meaning to watch!
***

15/06/2023
Dear Diary,
Today, I met up with Shiden at the park to play chess! I won all 5 matches! She doesn’t seem to be satisfied with the results and kept asking for rematches. Before we knew it, we were almost locked inside the park!
***

“This seems pretty normal so far.” Annette thought as she flicked through the pages until her eyes caught a title name of a certain game.

***
28/07/2023
Dear diary,
I was pretty bored today with nothing. I spent all day watching videos from my bed.
It’s a humbling experience when you realise you’re unintentionally wasting your summer holidays as student.

Either way, I found an interesting video that was suggested to me on my FYP. It’s a edited stream video of someone playing a game called Attack Táctica 6.  I vaguely remembered my classmates being huge fans of the game when it came out years ago back in high school. However, it wasn't the games that they were really into. it was who they were watching playing the game.

His name is Undertaker_01.
It’s the same name under the video I was suggested today. His U-Tube channel is around 10M subscribers, which for someone our age, is quite impressive.

I do like my strategy games and since this game has some sort of tactics in the form of warfare combat, I figured it won't hurt to see what exactly my old classmates enjoyed watching his streams so much.
***

29/07/2023
Dear diary,
I had just finished watching some of Undertaker’s edited stream videos on his U-tube channel. I have to say, it was quite amazing. His gameplay doesn’t feel realistic and takes full advantage of game’s mechanics, watching it feel likes an action movie.

I did spent all evening watching so I might as take advantage of my own summer holidays to binge his videos and streams!
***

12/08/2023
Dear Diary,
Shiden tried to talk to me today but I still refused.
***

15/08/2023
Dear Diary,
I’m a changed woman.
His amazing gameplay.
His stoic attitude
His words. Cold and articulated yet honest.
He doesn’t get along with other players at times but honest who doesn’t?

But yeah… Undertaker. I can see why people like his videos!
I’m a huge fan of his channel now! I should tell Annette all about this!
***

"Hm, I do remember Lena telling me all about Undertaker around the middle of the summer holidays. She literally forced me to watch some of them…But this isn’t enough. Where is the juicy blackmail material?” Annette continued reading.

21/08/2023
Dear Diary,
Undertaker uploaded a new video! Hooray!

The final round was so incredible! I wonder how it feels to play against him? He must be like the grim reaper whenever you see him in a match. Instant death.
***

22/08/2023
Dear Diary,
Undertaker. That’s all I’m thinking about!
***

25/08/2023
Dear Diary,
Shiden tried to talk to me once again but I still refused her request.
I hope she understand.
I’m sorry.

28/08/2023
Dear Diary,
I think it’s about time to say that Undertaker’s voice is quite deep and pretty erotic but I refuse to say that out loud (hehehe).

It's like one of those asmr videos but with gameplay.
Undertaker should definitely do an ASMR video. I bet he’ll make a ton of money.
Maybe I should type that idea in the comments of his next video!
***

To be fair...his voice is nice...and strangely familiar," Annette thought to herself before shortly realising what she had just thought of. "No, no, no. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. He has nice voice. THAT'S ALL."

There was a certain gut-feeling about this particular diary entry that Annette felt. One could say that this would be the starting point of Lena’s fangirlism taking off.
But nevertheless, she continued reading for the juicy blackmail material.

01/09/2023
Dear Diary,
I wrote that comment suggesting that Undertaker should do ASMR on his new video today.
It had gotten 3k dislikes within four hours…(and counting…)
I guess people couldn’t see the vision. How unfortunate.
Anyways! I found a ASMR video that someone did with some of the sound clips from Undertaker’s streams & videos…

I’m tempted to watch it…
***

07/09/2023
Dear Diary,
I wonder how Undertaker looks like? There was a picture of his hands he shown during his stream. His big, strong hands. The veins, the small amount of hair. It must be pretty smooth to touch I imagine.

To be touched by him…
***

Annette shivered in disgust. "Girl, this is..."

13/09/2023
Dear Diary,
Tippy is a cute as ever today!
Also I found some accounts doing Undertaker edits on enstgram!
I’m glad that the Shovel community is growing!

My favourite account was the one posting the edits with his profile picture on top of a mod-
***

Annette skipped over  the entry. She didn’t want to be reminded of that scene again.
The memory came into her mind regardless but it was vague and blurry enough for her to not invoke emotions within.

15/09/2023
Dear Diary,
Inspired by those tasteful undertaker edits, I decided to make my own account!
I should call it: “Undertaker_Fangirl”
I’ll be posting some of my own thirst edits of Undertaker (hehehe)
***

“Oh. That’s something new,” Annette discovered. “I’ll check it out later.”

Annette continued and skipped though the various entries that showcased the full extent of Lena’s obsession with the gamer boy. From thirst edits to pictures of his hands, Annette’s view of her bestie has taken quite the hit.

15/11/2023
OH. MY. GOODNESS. ME.
I PLAYED AT6 WITH UNDERTAKER
THE UNDERTAKER!
HIS VOICE SOUNDED SO GOOOOD. IT’S SOO MUCH CLEARER WHEN YOU PLAY WITH HIM

THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!!! ASJfdugfiesguifw
I MUST TELL ANNETTE TOMORROW
***

"I actually would have preferred if you didn't, Lena."

16/11/2023
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
HE MESSAGED ME!
UNDERTAKER MESSAGED MEEEEEEE!
EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

HE WANT TO CHAT WITH ME!
AND HE SENT A FRIEND REQUEST TOO!

(Here's a printed screenshot!)
IM DEFFO MEETING HIM TMR
I CAN’T BEILEVE THIS IS HAPPENING!
***

17/11/2023
Dear Diary,
I just came back from talking to Undertaker
I MESSED UP MY INTRODUCTION!

But hearing him say my username makes me feel some things (hehehe)

But that’s not the best thing yet!
He wants me to join his team to play the 6th anniversary event!
A classic trio battle royale game but there's some prizes for winning & Undertaker has a bounty!

We could win $10,000 but it'll be challenge with everyone fighting him
And since he’s having trouble finding teammates (Which is quite suspicious)
I suggested my bestie Annette!
***

22/11/2023
Dear Diary,
Annette won’t join me to play the AT6 event.
I chased her all week and nothing seems to convince her.
She keeps on running away to different places each day but I still managed to find her
The secret is to look for buildings with Cafes nearby
She depends on caffeine as her lifeline :)
***

23/11/2023
Dear Diary,
I finally blackmailed convinced Annette to join me and Undertaker to join!
***

“At least she’s aware that she’s blackmailing me,” Annette mumbled. “But I’ll get my revenge with these entries.”

***
This is so exciting!!!!!
Playing with Undertaker still feels so unreal!
You reckon I’ll appear on his videos soon??
Or better yet! A collab!
Oh the possibilities are endless
And maybe one day, I get to see him irl!
(maybe he’ll be interested in me!)
***

06/12/2023
Dear Diary,
Annette is quite the traitor when you play AT6 with her
And playing with Undertaker on AT6 privately feels like we’re on a date~
I still managed to embarrassed myself again whenever I’m with him
He just so hot that it’s hard to keep composed!

07/12/2023
Dear Diary,
Today marks the 2^nd week anniversary playing with Undertaker!
I have the printed screenshot of his friend request on the fridge but Annette keeps taking it down…

Also, he has a golden retriever!
And watches Eighty-six! I love that show too! I hope I can talk to him about episode 9…
***

10/11/2023
Dear Diary,
Today marks five months since I left the university’s chess society.
While I haven’t thought about much since playing my first match with Undertaker last month, it’s hard to get over what happened that day.

I haven’t heard from Shiden for quite some time too…
Perhaps she finally given up on convincing me.
I hope she’s doing fine over there…
***

“What’s this…” Annette said in confusion. “Lena never said anything about this to me.”

Annette had a sneaking suspicion on Lena’s attendance for the chess society since they entered their 2^nd year of university but never really had the opportunity to ask her about it.
Part of Annette felt slightly betrayed finding out about Lena this way.

Even though reading diary entries of a friend is quite the red line to cross but necessary red line to cross.
To Annette, it’s all for blackmail revenge.

“Five months ago…right! I skipped those entries just moments ago!” Annette remembered as she begun to flick back to see the July entries.

 "Annette?"

"HUH?" A loud yelp came out of Annette’s mouth and she turned around immediately. 

A wild fangirl appeared.
Lena had returned from the library earlier than Annette expected.

"Annette..."
"Lena! this is...I found it while I was feeding Tippy here! Hahaha…"

Annette tried to hide the diary behind her back. But it was too late. Lena’s face was filled with a red that it was somehow more vivid then her usual ones. Expect, this wasn't purely out of embarrassment but also a good amount of rage towards the trembling student holding her best friend's diary. 

"ANNETTE, YOU DID NOT READ MY DIARY!?!" Lena ran towards Annette, lunging her entire body towards her like a predator hunting it’s prey.

"ARRGHHHHH!!!"

“LENA WAIT!!”
“HISSSSSSS!!!”

“TIPPY! WAIT”

CRASH!!

It was unclear what happened after that moment. However, the two eventually gotten into trouble by the apartment manager after their neighbours made noise complaints for the second time this past month. 
Once again, Annette slightly regretted coming inside of Lena's bedroom for the third time this past month in particular. But at the very least, she had learnt some things about Lena that she can use against her in the future.
Even if it’s something that Annette wished to have never known them.  

Chapter Text

Chapter 4
No Plan Survives First Contact With the Enemy

Ernst: Hello our dear viewers! Me and Grethe will be providing commentary across the battlefield!
Grethe: And as said once in a battle royale match: May the odds be ever in your favour!

< TRIO BATTLE ROYALE MATCH – ROUND 1 START >

< Location: 86^th Sector >

< Players remaining: 39 >

All of the players were dropped mid-air in the vast sky to the familiar yet unknown battlefield. Twelve teams skydived towards the isolated island from the drop-off aircraft with a single goal.

To win the event along with Undertaker’s bounty.
For the one single team, their goal is to survive and win.

Lena couldn’t feel the force of air pushed against her as they cut through the air. But she can hear the sounds of her avatar player’s clothing rustled mid-air as she looked down towards the distant ground.

The new updated isolated island of the 86^th sector dyed in twilight. Hints of the reddish sunset light glowed eerily into the landscape against the deep azure sky, like blood dripping. Lena wondered if the game developers had chosen this particular art direction on purpose to evoke the slight feeling of unease when viewing it high up in the sky. Online leaks mentioned some sort of enemy entities other than players roaming around in this new update.

Rumours aside, Lena’s hands sweated as she gripped her joy-stick controllers. It took her a while to realise once more how extremely hard this battle royale will be. Just like what he said, she along with Annette will be against 36 other players who are at least on Undertaker’s level of playing.

Grethe: Oh! It seems a few teams are tailing Team Fido! Undertaker is already being pursued from the very beginning!

“Undertaker, they’re following us.” Lena reported as she glanced at a number of teams following their tracks. “It feels like we’re being hunted for sport...”

“Hm. Not as many as I expected but we can’t back out now. Handler01, on my command.”

The current situation is as expected from Undertaker. As the team leader, he leads the skydive. Hence their initial location on the island.

Enrst: Team Fido, Deadmen, Morpho, Weeping Mist and Pengu ThiCatso are all currently heading towards Zone 1 of the map, the abandoned city!

“Handler01, do it now!” Undertaker yelled.
“R-Right!” Lena responded at full volume.

Several meters above the highest of the buildings, Lena turned around and launched her smokescreen mid-air, concealing themselves with the thick white smoke as they continued their descent.

Player can choose one of four distinct classes when playing matches:
Attacker, Defender, Observer or Supporter.

What they provide to the players are certain items they can used from the very start of the matches. For attackers, some bullets with a handgun. Defenders will get three external shields that protects them from all angles for a set period of time or when its damage limit is exceeded. Observers get a special item that helps detect nearby players around them and their teammates. It can also find out the next safe zone for the next round. Finally, Supporters get a range of grenades, smokescreens and small med kits and evo shield batteries.

Lena and Annette had chosen the supporter and Observer classes respectively. Undertaker choose the defender class, different from his usual choice of the attacker class.

Confused, the teams in pursuit continued to follow team Fido and dived into the smoke. However, beyond it…

Grethe: Team Fido had triggered their smokescreen mid-air! And team fido is…nowhere to be found?!

As soon as the smokescreen was active, the three members of team Fido split up in opposite directions. All of them had dived into different locations. While each of them weren’t far apart, it was enough to cause some confusion for the teams following close behind.
The abandoned city has many derelict buildings, some are in complete ruins. Shards of glass, rusted metalworks and concrete rubble are littered around the streets as the overgrown plants thrive within the crevices of the buildings.

Ernst: Using a smokescreen to spilt up is quite an idea to confuse the pursuing teams. It’ll buy team Fido some time to gather their gear. However, that only does so much when everyone is clearly following a single player.

Grethe: As expected, All teams are dispersed yet most of them are still pursuing Undertaker!

Unfortunately, while all three players of team Fido were wearing the scavenger drone headgear, some players were still quick to identify Undertaker from his username, bathed in blood.

“Tch. Everyone is that desperate for that bounty huh?,” Undertaker mumbled. “You guys can remove the headgear now. Sadly, I still have to wear it.”

“Aww, but you’re the one who designed it in the first place,” Annette commented in a mocking tone while throwing away the headgear. “But it’s a shame. you look sooo good wearing it.”

“Rrrright! He looks so cute!” Lena interjected.

“….Can we just start our plans?” Undertaker grumbled, unable to refute either of their comments in time as bullets started to fire around the area.

“Oh right! Good Luck Undertaker! GIVE THEM HELL!” Lena shouted as she ran into a building to grab a snipe rifle, throwing the rest of her smokescreen and the orange headgear out of her inventory.

“Right. Team Fido, Begin your operations!” Undertaker responded with his usual calm demeanour as he picked up his favourite weapon, the shotgun.
“Let’s go…” Annette spoken unenthusiastically as she ran into a building, separate from Lena and Undertaker.

***

< Location: 86th Sector – Zone 3 & 4 >

< Players remaining: 39 >

Ernst: Looking at other teams, Spearhead, Blacksnow, HIT Gang , D.A.D & Lore are all spread across the northern side of the map, far away from where team Fido and the others are. And it seems that Team Vika Moo Moo and Chaos sister are alone battling!

[ Vika Moo [Vika Moo Moo] ELIMINATED Ro [Chaos Sisters] ] - 눈≡== ✴
<Players remaining: 38>

Grethe: Meanwhile, team Mercosul are alone at a volcano in Zone 4?

[Lulu [Mercosul Gang] ELIMINATED] -눈≡==✴
<Players remaining: 37>

Grethe: It would seem that Lulu from team Mercosul Gang was…punched into the volcano by her own teammates?
Ernst: “All for the Koddess” is what we’re hearing the other two player? Is this…a sacrifice we’re witnessing?

***

< Location: 86th Sector – Zone 1 – Abandoned City>

[ G.Empress [Morpho] ELIMINATED Misty [Weeping Mist] ] - 눈≡== ✴

< Players remaining: 36 >

“So who’s around us, Newbie?” Undertaker asked as he continued to run away from a number of players, desperate for the bounty on his head.

A series of bullets and shells were shot towards Annette as she ran across the streets. Jumping from building to building, gathering as much supplies as her inventory allowed as instructed in their plans. As their observer, Annette uses her device to scan the local area surrounding herself and her teammates. While it detects the number of enemy players and a brief reveal of their location within 30m, it also signals the same enemy players that such a device was used.

“AAAAAAAGH! THERE’S THREE TEAMS NEAR YOU! THE REST…ARE FOLLOWING ME! AND ITS PENROSE!!”
“I see that Penrose is doing better than usual,” Lena giggled as she looks over from the top of a high-rise building at Annette who was being chased by members of team Morpho and Weeping Mist.

“I see that she’s more enthusiastic than when we started.” Undertaker commented with a slight chuckle.

“Shut up! WAIT! NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!” Annette screamed as familiar sounds of gunshots resonated through the streets once more.

Grethe: It seems quite a number of players are targeting PER0SE. As the lowest ranked player, she should be the easiest target. However, she’s dodging and evading most attacks. Almost as good as Undertaker!

Undertaker’s eyebrows twitched in annoyance after hearing Grethe’s comment.

Players from teams Pengu ThicCatso and Weeping Mist continued their hunt towards Undertaker, all holding their sub-machine guns. Ready to shoot.

BANG! BANG!

Two shots were fired. The two players from Weeping Mist stopped in their tracks and ran towards shelter, looking around for the sniper while team Pengu ThicCatso ran ahead, chasing Undertaker.

“Almost a headshot…” Lena muttered she reloaded her gun. She aimed her sniper rifle at the players far ahead from one of the highest buildings in the abandoned city. The location is isolated from other nearby buildings and gives a clear view of the main central street a few hundred meters ahead of her.

“Killing players for Undertaker…is a great honour!” Lena giggled as she pulled the trigger.

BANG!

***

Around the same vicinity from Undertaker and the players chasing him, a team of three stood inside a half-destroyed building, watching through a damaged window.

“Hmmm…It seems that someone on team Fido is snipe assisting up far up on eastern side of the city…”

“Undertaker sure cooked up some neat plan eh? Someone should head up there and eliminate the sniper. The rest of us should wait until Undertaker is finished with those players. After all, we don’t need to chase him.”

“I can deal with the sniper. I’m curious to see what kind of person our dearest Undertaker has chosen. ”

***

[ Undertaker_01 [Fido] ELIMINATED Haru [Weeping Mist] ] -눈≡==✴
[ Undertaker_01 [Fido] ELIMINATED Yakult [Weeping Mist] ] -눈≡==✴
[ Undertaker_01 [Fido] ELIMINATED Pablo [Pengu ThicCatso] ] -눈≡==✴
[ Undertaker_01 [Fido] ELIMINATED Penguin_Pope [Pengu ThicCatso] ] -눈≡==✴
[ Undertaker_01 [Fido] ELIMINATED Talia [Pengu ThicCatso] ] -눈≡==✴

<Players remaining: 31>

“That’s the last of them…,” Lena tried to reload her sniper rifle. The barrel made an click that sounded almost echoey. She checked her inventory. “Oh…only one bullet left…” she muttered.

Lena switched to a small handgun with a few of its bullets in hand. But it wasn’t enough to engage a full fight with a top-ranked player. And certainly not enough to eliminate them from the match.

“The coast is clear Undertaker! You’re good to go!”
“Thanks, Handler01. You know what to do next right?”
“Leave it to me!”

The first stage of the plan assigned to Lena is completed. No other players seemed to be targeting Undertaker.

“Okay, the next steps are…”

“HANDLER01! THERE’S A PLAYER BEHIND YOU! ” Annette shouted.

CLICK! BANG!

A sniper bullet was shot. And it wasn’t from Lena.
She had no time to move her player avatar out of the way.
It came out of nowhere.
Her evo armour shield was shattered in an instant.

“So this is Undertaker’s teammate huh...,” A cheerful and feminine voice coming from the direction behind Lena’s back. “Please to meet you, Handler01!”.

Lena turned around to face the player that clearly shot her. A avatar player wearing the default skin with the same orange visors that Undertaker wears. Her black hair in a ponytail style along with a Sakura flower pin on her hair. In her arms, she quickly switched her sniper rifle gun to a shotgun.

Ernst: Oh! It seems like Kirschblüte [Rank: 9] of team Deadmen has found Handler01!

Kirschblüte aimed her loaded shotgun at her. “Sorry, but as much as I want to chat, I’ll have to eliminate you now. That juicy bounty will be ours!”

Lena immediately jumped off the building, dodging the second rounds of the shotgun shells.
However, Kirschblüte quickly pursued her, jumping off while reloading the shells once more.

Meanwhile, Undertaker stood alone in an open street. Below his feet were the players boxes from team Pengu ThicCatso and Weeping Mist.

“Handler01, run towards my location.” Said Undertaker as he finished up collecting the last of the items from the player boxes. Undertaker took a look around. A eerie ambiance filled the wrecked streets. His ears continue to ring as while still picking up sounds of distant gunshots.

“From what Penrose said, there should be three teams following me. Yet, I only fought two teams here….”

BANG!
A bullet struck the damaged asphalt.

“We can’t have you help your teammate just yet,” Another joyful voice appeared.

Grethe: Oh! Along with Kirschblüte, Sirius [Rank: 10] and BurntTayl [Rank 11] of team Deadmen have just appeared in front of Undertaker!

“Just let us eliminate you and we’ll be on our way.” Said Sirius as he pointed his assault rifle towards Undertaker’s head.
“After that, your teammates will follow you soon.” BurntTayl shortly followed, also pointing her marksman gun in the same direction.

“…Change of plans Handler01. You’re on your own for a bit.” Undertaker said as he finished reloading his shotgun and aimed it towards to two members of Deadmen.

 “This is to be expected…After all, no plans survives the first contact of the enemy.”

Grethe: While Undertaker is the top ranked player in AT6, it’ll be a difficult challenge to face two top ranked players at the same time. Will his game end early in this match-up?

***

BANG! BANG! BANG!
91%. 89%. 85%.

There was nowhere to hide.

BANG! BANG! BANG!
82%. 78%. 77%.

Lena ran and ran yet Kirschblüte remain close by, shaving off Lena’s health points with her shotgun shells. Bit by bit.

With every twist and turn across the building’s floors and stairway, a shell hits and Lena finds herself a step closer to being eliminated.

Lena took a quick glance at her health points. The first bullet at the start ended up being a shot to her avatar player’s head.

The amount of damage a player can take depends on where you’re hit. In other words, where the hitboxes of your avatar player are located. Getting shot in the legs and arms does the least amount of damage, followed by your torso. But in this case, a clear shot to your head takes a significant amount of damage. And depending on the type of gun you use, you can kill a player in just two shots.

The first snipe shot immediately depleted Lena’s evo armour shield. There was no time to even charge it back up. Another fatal shot to Lena’s head could end her match right here.

Her match with Undertaker. His important match.
Lena’s mind quickly went to the possibilities of being revived if she doesn’t survive.
But that’s when she came to a realisation.

After watching all of Undertaker’s videos of him playing, there wasn’t a single instance where he had respawned his teammate. He just continued to move forward. As if he believed that his fallen teammates will never come back. Or maybe he just believed that they weren’t good enough to waste his time and effort to bring them back into the game.

In other words…they were just dead weight to him.

Part of Lena wished that Undertaker wouldn’t do the same to her. After all, he had always revived her during their matches for the past few weeks,

“But…those were only practise matches. In an important event like this…I don’t know…”

[ Whrewolf [Spearhead] ELIMINATED Rei [HIT Gang] ] -눈≡==✴
[ Blackdog [Blacksnow] ELIMINATED Abz [D.A.D] ] -눈≡==✴
[ Snowitch [Blacksnow] ELIMINATED Glockner [Lore] ] -눈≡==✴

<Players remaining: 28>

Lena continued to run away as she descended down each floor, watching the game’s announcement of eliminated players popping up in the top right corner of the screen.
Hoping that she’s not next on the list.  

BANG! BANG! BANG!
75%. 74%. 70%.

“My, aren’t you a slippery one?,” Kirschblüte said in a teasing voice. “But let’s see how far you can run!”

Lena knew that she couldn’t run for long. Her health points are reduced each time Kirschblüte aimed her shotgun at her. Her thumbs started to go sore, her movements slowly turned sluggish.

BANG!
50%

A critical hit.
“Damn it!,” Lena gripped her joy-controllers tightly with her sweaty palms. “At this rate, she’ll beat me. But how can I kill her? she’s still in full-health. She won’t stop attacking. There’s no time to heal or recharge. In conclusion, a battle of attrition won’t work.”

Lena reached the ground floor and immediately ran out the doors. Kirschblüte took her shot once more.

BANG!
The bullet struck the door, leaving craters of shells holes.

“Aw, I missed.” Kirschblüte faked a disappointed groan.

Lena was currently exposed even more in the streets, hoping that she won’t encounter yet another top-ranked player. Kirschblüte is further behind, still carrying her shotgun.

“I’m further away from the shotgun’s range. But that’s only assuming that she has just a single weapon. Chances that she might have a mid-range weapon is high…Damn it, is there anything I can do to beat her?”

Lena’s movements started to becoming even more stiff.

Grethe: Kirschblüte is closing on Handler01! Will she take her shot and finish her?

“I can’t…beat her…”

Lean reached a cross-road. Her eyes suddenly caught a certain building far ahead to her right.

“That building…”

***

<A week ago>

<Online Game: ATTACK TACTICA 6 – DUO BATTLE ROYALE MATCH>

<Location: 86^th Sector – Zone 1>

<Players remaining: 33>

“Undertaker…I can’t do this…,” Lena sighed. “how many times are you going to make me do this?”

“Until you make this successful jump to that floor at least five consecutive times.” Undertaker responded in such a strict tone.

Lena started yet again ran across the half-destroyed rooftop and attempted to jump and climb up the wall to the 10^th floor of a different building adjacent to them.

“Hup!,”
The attempt failed. Lena find herself back on the ground. Undertaker looked down from the rooftop to check up on her.

“And are you sure we can keep doing this during a match? What if someone tries to shoot us?,” Lena pleaded. “And what about the incoming ring?”
“Too many questions. And you’re talking to the best player in this game here,” Undertaker spoken proudly. “No one will be interrupting us. But you’re probably right about the ring…we still have a two minutes! That’s three more attempt!”

“UGHHHH…”Lena ran up the building once more to the rooftop to meet with Undertaker.

“You need to learn how to traverse the terrain better than the usual player if you want a decent chance at beating a top-ranked player,” Undertaker explained. “Sometimes, even I can’t do this jump.”

“Eh? No way! But you can do anything here!”
“That’s quite…flattering but it’s true.”

Lena found herself feeling motivated and intrigued. “So if I can do this perfectly every time, does that mean I’m better than you at this manoeuvre?” Lena asked smugly.

“Perhaps. But if you can do it as you say, then I’m sure it’ll be helpful when you’re in trouble.” Undertaker replied with a slight smile. “Now, we have one minute left until the ring closes in! Get jumping!”

“Y-Yes! Here I go! HUP!”

Lena jumped. Lena fell once more.

***

< Location: 86th Sector – Zone 1 – Abandoned City>

<Players remaining: 28>

Lena’s eyes suddenly caught a certain building far ahead to her right.

“That building…The terrain! Yes, I can use the terrain against her!”

BANG!
30%

Another critical shot to Lena’s torso.
But this time, she started to run towards the building far ahead with Kirschblüte shortening the distant between them. Lena knew what she had to do now. Survive.

The road leading to the building has more obstacles than she expected. the concrete rubble, the rusted cars, the broken wooden crates littered around. However, Lena’s movement had unexpectedly slowed down.

“What’s this…Mud? Since when did they add these?”

Grethe: Handler01 is still running and Kirschblüte is closing the gap. But she still can’t get that finishing blow!

BANG!
The shotgun shells hit the car that Lena swiftly passed by.
Yet another missed shot.

“Ah! So close to another headshot!,” Kirschblüte shouted as she chased Lena, reloading her shotgun. “Why can’t you just stay still!?”

Lena finally the reached the building she was looking for. Without any hesitation, she took shortest route to the stairway at the very back of the ground floor and started her ascent to the roof top.

“Going back inside Handler01? You know that I have a shotgun?” Kirschblüte asked as aimed to take another shot.

BANG!
20%. WARNING: LOW HEALTH

“Aren’t you tired of chasing me?” Lena responded.
“No, I have all the time in the world to deal with you. And once I’m done with you, I’ll be joining the rest of my team to finally eliminate Undertaker.”

BANG!
15%. WARNING: LOW HEALTH

“I’m sure Undertaker will be fine regardless if you guys are top-ranked players. I just need to do my mission.” Lena asserted her faith in Undertaker’s skill.

“Mission? Talk about serious girl! I see why Undertaker chosen you as his teammate.”

BANG!
10%. WARNING: LOW HEALTH

Lena recalled her curiosity over Undertaker’s situation from their second encounter.
“By the way, do you happen to know why Undertaker had trouble finding teammates?”

Kirschblüte was confused. “huh? You’re seriously asking that question now?”
“Well…yeah?”

The two were still running up the stairs, close to reaching the rooftop.

“Well isn’t it obvious when you’re playing with him?,” Kirschblüte tried to explained. “He’s…quite a socially awkward fellow.”

“WAIT…Oh yeahhhh.” Lena just had another realisation.
“Girl, you did not just realised that now. How long have you gone playing with him to notice that now?”
“I guess…I always thought that he was shy and all. But I just ignored that since he’s cute?”
“…I see that you’re just as clueless than him. Anyways…”

Kirschblüte took aim once more.

BANG!
10%. WARNING: LOW HEALTH

“CRAP!” Lena shouted.

Grethe: Handler01 and Kirschblüte are inside yet another building. Just how long will this chase last? Handler01 is barely surviving. It’s amazing to see a gold-ranked player to survive this long against the 9^th best player of AT6!
Ernst: Meanwhile, Undertaker is still going strong fighting the two members of team Deadmen. Looks like it just might be a battle of attrition. If Kirschblüte wins and joins in the battle, Undertaker might be in serious trouble!

With potentially a single shot left to end her game, Lena had finally reached the roof top. Immediately ahead was a missing wall showing the interior of the 10^th floor. Below that, the terrifying wall of the 9^th floor. Lena could hear the footsteps of Kirschblüte slowly getting louder and louder.

“If I miss this jump… it’s game over for me. I promised that I would be helpful to Undertaker!!!!”

Lena begun her dash across the rooftop in full speed.
Kirschblüte just exited the door, only to see that the player in front of her had just leapt out from the rooftop’s ledge.

“HUP!”

Without a second thought, Kirschblüte followed her. “She’s gonna take that jump? Even I have trouble making that jump! Either way, it doesn’t matter. She’s just once shot away from being eliminated. I’m taking way too long for Kujou and Lin.”

Grethe: Both Handle01 and Kirschblüte are taking such a risky manoeuvre! If Handler01 messes up, it might be game over for her. How will this play out?

Lena flew across the gap between the two buildings, Kirschblüte was just shortly behind her. For a second, the whole game felt like it was played in slow-motion.

The avatar player made contact with the wall.
The jump button was mashed repeatedly, hoping to see the climbing animation.  

Grethe: Handler01 successfully completed the manoeuvre!

Lena did it. A flood of satisfaction filled her body as she turned to face the enemy who’s still scaling up the wall.

Grethe: Kirschblüte has also successfully completed the manoeuvre! But!

Kirschblüte was about to get up from climbing the wall. However, as soon as she looked ahead to see where Lena had ran off to, she find herself staring inside a barrel hole of a sniper rifle.

“Huh?”

BANG!
WARNING: EVO-SHEILD ARMOUR SHATTERED

Grethe: I don’t believe it! Handler01 just dealt a huge amount of damage to Kirschblüte!

Ernst: And down Kirschblüte goes! Handler01 forced her to fall down to the ground! She managed to escape the 9^th ranked player of AT6!

Kirschblüte found herself on the ground in a narrow alleyway with a single exit, far below the floor that Lena had jumped to.

“Damn it, she’ll have time to heal up. I must hurry before she gets away-”

However, Kirschblüte couldn’t move as far as she expected. Her movements felt almost sluggish.

“Huh? What’s this?,” Kirschblüte questioned in bewilderment. She finds herself struck in a deep brown sludgy substance that seemed to slow her movements by a considerable amount.

“M-Mud?”

Grethe: it would seem that Kirschblüte has found one of the newest updates of the 86^th sector!

Ernst: That’s right! It’s Mud! And it would seem that she’s about to experience another element of the update soon!

Kirschblüte moved slowly to exit the alleyway. “Damn it, it covers the whole run of the alleyway. Huh?”

She looked above. The deep azure sky began to grow darker in colour. Upon a closer look, small metallic mechanical drones in the shape of butterflies began to cover the sky. Sounds of metallic thumps began to appear all over the area.

“W-What’s this?” Lena stuttered in shocked as she looked down from the 10^th floor at the entities that were slowly wandering the streets, approaching their way.

Kirschblüte turned to face the single exit of the alleyway as the metallic sounds grew louder. A large metallic robot, shaped like insects entered her view.

“Ah…”

Its piercing blue eye noticed the struggling player in the mud at the far end of the alleyway and begun to make its way towards her.

“N-no…,” Kirschblüte found herself pleading. Confused and shell-shocked, she knew that this was end for her. The robot aimed its gun barrel towards her.

“…I don’t want to die.”

BANG! BANG! BANG!

[ LEGION ELIMINATED Kirschblüte [Deadmen] -눈≡==✴

<Players remaining: 27>

Lena found herself looking at the player box far below her as the robot turned and exited the alleyway, as if nothing had happened.

Grethe: As everyone can see, we had include a new element exclusive to the 86^th sector! The strong and powerful Legion! These robots roams across the landscape and will target players within a certain range!

Ernst: And the indication of their approach is their flying comrades, the Eintagsfliege! These robotic butterflies fly above the ground legion in large swamps. They are often seen far away but they can still appear when you least expect it to so watch out!

“Umm…I guess I’ve escaped?” Lena asked herself in confusion after just witnessing an unexpected event.

Grethe: And with that explained, Kirschblüte of team Deadmen was the unfortunate player to have been eliminated by these robots for the first time in AT6 history! Handler01 miraculously escaped from one of the top ten AT6 players!

“Handler01, you’re good?”

An familiar voice that relaxed Lena down.

“Yes Undertaker, I’m fine. Kirschblüte is down.” Lena responded calmly as she reached for her med-kit in her inventory.

“Good work, I’m almost done here so hurry up to my location.”

“Okay!,” Lena shouted as she reloaded her sniper rifle. She healed up her health and recharged her evo-shield armour. “Also, he complimented me! EEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Time to head over to my beloved Undertaker!”

Lena left the area, leaving the contents of Kirschblüte’s items in the grey player box. Surrounded by mud and the legion roaming around, Lena ran away from the swarm of the Eintagsfliege.

***

It was expected from the start that many players would target Undertaker from the very start. While it was smart to target him early in-game while his weapons and resources are weak, even the top ranked players seemed to have forgotten or perhaps knowingly under-estimated an important fact.

“Sirius!”
“BURNTTAYL NO!”
BANG!

[ Undertaker_01 [Fido] ELIMINATED Sirius [Deadmen] -눈≡==✴

“DAMN IT! ARRGHHH!”
BANG!

[ Undertaker_01 [Fido] ELIMINATED BurntTayl [Deadmen] ] -눈≡==✴

<Players remaining: 25>

Undertaker shined the most in close-combat, especially at hotspot locations.

Grethe: After a intense battle, Undertaker remained the last one standing!
Ernst: Truly, what an amazing match! Team Morpho had left the area early which leaves team Fido the only ones who stood on top in zone 1!

“Undertaker!” Lena shouted as she found him searching through the many player boxes on the ground.

“Handler01, Good work.”
“likewise! I wished I could have seen you fight!”
“Well…I guess we could watch the game footage after this battle royale had ended.”

“IS THAT A DATE HE SUGGESTED???” A wild thought from Lena.

“No, it’s not a date…You just watch it in your own time when it’s available.” Undertaker felt the urge to explain his words properly.

“Oh…right.” Lena’s somewhat disappointed response validated Undertaker’s gut feeling.

“By the way…were you and Kirschblüte talking about me while I was battling?” Undertaker curiously asked.

“N-no! I mean. Yes but she was just adamant about getting the bounty…” Lena explained in a flustered manner, hoping to convinced Undertaker.

“Hm…And nothing else?”
“Nothing else.”
“So I’m not socially awkward and cute?”
“You’re totally awkward and super cute!”
“…”
“OH.”

Lena was caught red-handed. There was long pause of silent between the two. Neither were willing to break the silence.

“So sorry to interrupt your flirting, but can you guys hurry up?” Annette boldly interrupted.

“Oh right! Penrose!” Lena remembered.
“So you’re still alive Miss Penrose? I totally forgotten about you.” Undertaker spoken in a mocking tone.

“Well as you can see Mister Undertaker, I’m alive and hiding in the next safe zone location. This game is much easier than I expected. Maybe it is that easy to become the top-ranked player,” Annette responded, returning the energy. “Now hurry up! A team could find me here!!”

< The Storm Is Now Closing >

“I guess it’s time for us to move out. You’re good with your gear?” Undertaker asked.
“Yes, I’m ready.” Lena replied cheerfully.

The two players ahead out of the abandoned city alone as its sole survivors.

***

[Meanwhile…]

< Location: 86th Sector – Zone 3 & 4 >

Grethe: Looking at the other teams, it seems that most teams are still standing!

[ Wherwolf [Spearhead] ELIMINATED Hanede [Mercosul Gang] ] -눈≡==✴
[ Bobchi [Vika Moo Moo] ELIMINATED HIT [HIT Gang] ] -눈≡==✴
[ Bobchi [Vika Moo Moo] ELIMINATED Rebel [Lore] ] -눈≡==✴

<Players remaining: 22>

Ernst: But yet another unfortunate victim has fallen to the Legion.

[ LEGION ELIMINATED David [D.A.D] -눈≡==✴

<Players remaining: 21>

A team of three stood on top of a high cliffside which overlooks the next safe zone ahead of them. The sun has set and the scarlet sunlight finally faded, allowing the azure sky to colour the trio of players in a deep blue.

“Tch. It seems a member of Mercosul had taken the player banner from us. Another missed opportunity to kill.” Wherwolf sighed as he looked towards a player in the distance who was running for their life towards the next safe zone.

“It wasn’t my fault. Blame Gunslinger here. She was meant to kill that player. Sei was it?” Laughing Fox explained, deflecting blame to his fellow teammate.

“Hey! It wasn’t my fault those stupid robots came out of no-where and attacked me!,” Gunslinger defended herself. “I would have totally sniped her off the map! You did nothing the whole time!”

“Huh??” Laughing fox was annoyed.

“Now, now, lets not start fighting,” Wherwolf interrupted. “We need to get going now. The ring is closing in. We’ll have more opportunities to get some kills and hopefully…finally beat Undertaker.”

 [TO BE CONTINUED…]

Chapter Text

Interlude
The Night Before the Games II

<DATE: 13^th December 2023>

<TIME: 23:51 GTM>

<Location:  86^th Báleygr Lane – Outskirts of The University of San Magnolia>

Comments [24k]:

That fight was sick!
All of this time just to be good at games? Does the guy even have a life?

Hating a gamer who’s skilled at the games he plays? YOU guys get a life!
…

Only undertaker can fight a player with 1HP and gets to live to tell the tale!

Another kill record? He keeps getting better!

Why does he bother playing in Duos or Trios if he just goes solo? It’s annoying.
…
Undertaker is one of the best gamers in the 21^st century!

He’s just a stinky guy who gets off people praising his “gaming” skills. Just get a real job
Give it a few years for him to get exposed as a weirdo…
There’s nothing special about him.
…
You guys are just jealous of him, so what he’s that good at games? Just don’t watch his videos.

Undertaker’s gameplay is second to none!
He doesn’t interact with any other players, his videos are just boring
I hope one day, I’ll be able to play him!
…

He’s just so narcissistic just because no one kills him
The guy is just a bot at this point. Nothing is exciting watching him play
…

A constant whistle sound woke Undertaker up. He found himself resting on his arms in front of his wide computer screen, now turned off. After shaking the PC mouse, the screen lit up showing a AT6 gameplay video in an editing software.

He took a glance at the right corner of the screen, it’s 9 minutes till midnight. Undertaker had clearly overslept his nap. He gotten up from his gaming chair and stretched his sore arms while trying to crack his back in the process.

With heavy eyelids, he placed his thin black reading glasses and took a good look at his desk. Several empty mugs stained with cold coffee, an half-opened book with a tattered red bookmark, crumpled post-it notes littered around along with his favourite black fountain pen.

The faint smell of coffee had his eyes focused on the many mugs on his desk.

“…I guess I should take them to the kitchen before he scolds me…”

***

<TIME: 23:53 GTM>

Sounds of aggressive typing on a cheap plastic keyboard and the hum of a running laptop fan resounded through the ground floor of the house. A single lit light over the kitchen island with a warm yellow orange colour. A silver, short-haired student was sitting alone with his left leg constantly tapping the hard wooden floor. He scratched the back of his head as he repeatedly tapped the delete button on his laptop.

“You’re still awake Eugene?” Undertaker asked as he stood behind him.

“AARGH!,” Eugene shrieked as he twisted his head to face Undertaker. “When will you stop doing that, Shin?”

Shin tiled his head, holding several mugs in his hand. “Stop doing what?”

“You can’t just appear out of nowhere,” Eugene replied as he went back typing. “I didn’t even hear you go down the stairs or even the wooden floor creaking.”

“Well maybe you’re too focused typing away,” Shin countered as he placed the mugs in the kitchen sink. “Another assignment due soon?”

“Yes, in seven minutes. I’m almost done."
“You should really stop doing stuff last minute.”
“Shut up, you’re one to talk. Isn’t that literature essay due like right now?”
“I got an extension till tomorrow so I’ll write it all then.

A heavy sigh came out of Eugene’s mouth. “Of course you do…”

Shin look over at Eugene’s laptop screen. 2304 words and counting. From what he remembered, Eugene was on 28 words just a few hours ago. His eyes were drawn to the pink coffee mug, that Eugene’s sister made, placed next to his laptop.  

“…Should I make you coffee?” Shin asked with a slight hesitant tone as he walked over to their dusty coffee machine.
“YES. PLEASE.” An eager request from Eugene and he continued to type his last minute assignment which was due in six minutes.

<TIME: 00:00 GTM>

Yet another heavy sigh came out of Eugene as he took a sip of his warm coffee that Shin had made for him. His laptop is closed shut and was placed to the far side of the kitchen island counter.

Eugene placed his mug down as rested his head on the cold marbled counter. “I made it…”

“Good work. Shame that you didn’t let me check your work for mistakes.” Shin commented, taking a sip of his coffee as he sat next to Eugene.

“Please spare me, Mr grammar police. So how’s the editing the new gameplay video?” Eugene asked as he turned his rested head, only to see Shin’s hands wrapping the ceramic mug.

”It’s okay, It’s just taking longer than usual.” Shin replied.
“You want to take over?”
“No, I knew you’re busy with your assignments this week. I feel guilty that I had to ask you in the first place.”

Eugene lifted his head to face Shin. “Don’t worry about that! I’m just happy to help you with your channel! Plus, it’s fun editing videos of your gameplay.”

Shin let out a smirk as he took another sip of his coffee. "Thanks."

“So tomorrow is a big day for you right?,” Eugene asked. “You think you’ll win with that team of yours?”
“…I always win.” Shin was hesitant to answer the question.

Eugene stared at Shin. “I mean, they’re random players you met online after all. It’s not like you to trust others easily for something important like this.”

Shin looked at the swirling coffee in his mug. “With everyone else wanting that extra money from the bounty, I had no other choice.”

“I guess you’re right. And how’s that one player in your team? You know, the fangirl.”
“Oh, Handler one? She’s…”

Within the realm of the internet, Undertaker has quite a following. But with great power comes great responsibility. Or in his case, great caution. After all, behind Undertaker is a simple university student. Dealing with many fans and critics, he would normally never interact with anyone online expect a few who knew about his online identity outside the internet.

With people who criticise and spew hateful comments, he simply ignore.
With people who hold admiration and express their words of support, he simply ignore.

But now, he pondered over his interactions with the fangirl that he encountered last month and eventually, invited her join his team. Since then, Shin had played several matches with Handler01. She’s a good player. Not bad, but far from the level of playing that Shin wanted for a teammate.

“She’s…quite extreme. I was a bit sceptical to interact with her initially.” Shin answered.

To this day, Shin didn’t know why he decided to send that DM to Handler01. He knew would have gone solo to the event. He doesn’t get along with teammates yet alone other people in his real life.

“Well, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but whenever you play with Handler01, you seem to have more fun than usual.”

“Fun?” Shin was slightly curious.

“Yeah, you laugh more often when playing with her. I was worried since she’s quite the hardcore fan but you’re being more of yourself around her.”

“…”

Shin looked down on his coffee again, his red eyes reflected in his mug. He recalled the many moments of respawning Handler01 after her many attempts to fight high ranked players. Her surprised reactions with instant deaths along with her weird and occasional thirsty comments that made him choke with his own saliva.

Handler01 was clearly a hardcore fan. The type of fan that might be considered creepy. But at the same time, he could help but feel slightly curious from her awkwardness. Perhaps he sees himself in handler01 in that regard.  

Shin looked at his mug again, noticing his face expressing a tiny smile reflected in small amount of his coffee.  

“…I guess she’s fun to interact with sometimes when I look at her as a teammate than a fangirl.” Shin spoken as he took his final sip of coffee.

Eugene took noticed of his soft expression. “…Talking about fangirls, when will you stop watching that one girl from the library?”

Shin’s face grew slightly cold.

Eugene continued. “One day, she’ll notice you staring at her and call you a cree-“

Shin jabbed Eugene’s ribcage with his elbow.

“Ouch! What did you do that for?”
Shin stared intensely at Eugene. “…Do what?”

Eugene retaliated by jabbing back at Shin with less force.

The two continue to jab each other while sitting on the tall stools, wobbling from their movements. It wasn’t long until Eugene spilled his coffee on his lap.

“Oh SH*T!” the two shouted. They stared at the stain on Eugene’s pyjamas before looking at each other’s shocked faces.

“…Is your d**k okay?” Shin asked.
“Shin! Get me a towel!”
“R-Right!”

[TO BE CONTINUED…]

Chapter Text

Interlude
The Night Before the Games III

<DATE: 13^th December 2023>

<TIME: 17:03 GTM>

<Location: San Magnolia Main Library  – 1^st section, floor 1 >

As Maximilien Robespierre once said:

“The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.”

To truly learn the weight those words, we must understand the context behind it.

“Understand…”

"Under…stand…"

"Under…taker…"

"Undertaker…"

Lena found herself staring at the word “Understand”.

Again.

Whether it’s fact that the 6^th anniversary event for AT6 is tomorrow or that she has a deadline for her 10 page (minimum) essay the night after, Lena’s mind was occupied by thoughts of the French revolution and, at the same time, Undertaker.

Raising her strained silver eyes from the laptop screen, her gaze meet the clock on the far side of the library where its modern shape stood above the stale-looking wooden bookshelves. It was just slightly passed 5pm.

If there’s one thing Lena regrets about being a fan of Undertaker, it would be that her mind is now filled with endless thoughts about him. As devastated to finally face the consequences of her own obsession, she wished that she can concentrate long enough before she’ll be under yet another barrage of thoughts about him.

"Under…"

"Under…"

"Undertaker…"

"Oh for goodness sake."

Lena covered her face with her hand, firmly pressing her features in frustration. She peeked through her slim finger to see the word count that’s currently on her essay.

232 words.

Lena turned to face the clock again, her palms remained glued to her face.

5:08 PM.

She had started writing her essay at 3pm on the dot. Over two hours in and all she had to show was a few sentences filling just over a quarter of a page. She told herself to work until 6:30pm before heading home. But at her current pace, Lena feared that she might not even complete a single page, yet alone something that can be considered as progress.

Lena tilted her head to face the bleak white ceiling, her palms still remained glued to her face. 

“I guess it’s about time to take a break outside. It’ll clear my mind…hopefully.”

Lena stood up from her seat for the first time in over two hours. Her arse slightly sore, she turned to face the window to her left.

It was pitch black outside. The light amber glow of the lamps illuminated the surrounding trees and brick-walled buildings adjacent to the sector of the library Lena is currently in. Lena squinted her eyes and noticed the precipitation, lit-up in amber lights, flying across the shadows of the buildings and trees.  

“Ugh,”

Lena had forgotten the luxury of spending a quick break outside a building had been revoked by the unfortunate weather of San Magnolia at this time of the year. The dark, cold and depressing scene that she had just witnessed stripped the last small amounts of excitement within her.

“Indoors it is. Now where should I go? No. I just need to be anywhere but here.”

Lena started to waddle out the long rows of desk that she was sitting in the middle of, squeezing past the various bags that hang behind the other student’s chairs. After a constant muttering of apologies and “excuse me”, Lena finally made it out to the open walking space of the floor. She looked around to see which entrance was closest to exit from where she was standing.

“Look, it’s him!”
“He’s so cool”

Words of compliments from other students reached Lena’s ears, her gaze shifted towards the person on the other side of the open-spaced floor.

A jet-black haired student with crimson eyes that pierce through his black-framed glasses. He was someone that Lena was familiar with despite knowing nothing about him, apart from his name.  

Shinei Nouzen, the student librarian. 
A name that’s only well-known to students who frequented the library regularly. 

Lena had always seen him walking around the library doing odd jobs in silence. Returning books to the shelves, helping other with directions to certain books, keeping the study spaces clean, etc.

Never once she heard him talk to someone. Just the occasional nods to the librarians he assists. Although, there were a few times where a silver-haired guy is chatting away with him. But even so, he remained in silence. 

It was around this time of day where he sits behind the reception desk reading various books.

Rumours said he works part-time for the university, while others suspected connections he had to get paid a ton of money just to idle around most of the time. Lena found the whole talk regarding Shinei pretty dull.

Just the usual rumours and gossip about someone who unintentionally caught the attention of many students from the university, both good and bad. While the online conversations about Undertaker as an infamous anonymous player online comes into mind, she herself knew how it felt to have people whisper about her, in front and behind her back.

It wasn’t nice. It wasn’t admirable. It wasn’t right.

“He’s so cute.”
“I wonder if he’s single…”
“Guys, guys. He’s looking at us!”

The student’s whisper continued to follow around Lena’s ears as she walked passed them.

“Talking about some stranger like that…”

Lena stopped herself.
She knew that she was no better, if not worst, than them with the statement she was about to finish. So instead, she supressed the thought immediately.  

Just before leaving the open study space, her gaze lingered towards his face.

“He does look handsomely cute. But not as cool as Undertaker.”

***

<TIME: 17:12 GTM>

<Location: San Magnolia Main Library  – 1st sector, floor 2 >

Lena found a dusty footstool in the middle of a long aisle. The classic literature section are always empty around this time so it was perfect for Lena as she looked around for a final check.

A quiet hum of the air conditioning, the faint sound of rain and occasional sounds of doors opening and footstep. The whole section was dimly lit. It was one of those lights that would lit up whenever it senses someone walking or standing around. The light near Lena had just recently turned off as she remained still.
No one was in close proximity to Lena. She was safe.

She sat down on the footstool, plugged in her old white earphones and opened her phone to access her enstagram account she made a few months ago.

Undertaker_Fangirl

It was over a month since Lena had uploaded anything. The last post she made was before being paired with Undertaker for the first time in AT6.

After that, the rest was history.

Lena opened to view her recent post. It was a short edit of Undertaker sniping multiple enemy player in beat with an audio that was mostly used for thirst traps edits of hot celebrities or anime characters. The comments and likes she received were still coming through, a testament to the shovel community’s prosperity. Also, during the two months of posting on her new account, Lena gained another useful skill.

EDITING

Through sheer fangirl power, she had gained the skill to create the most thirstiest of edits that her imagination could come up with.
Yes. For Lena, truly the limit is the sky.

Lena found herself giggling as she started to scroll through the various Undertaker posts and edits. However, there was a constant thought behind her mind while her fingers continued to swipe up to the next post.

“These head cannons on Undertaker…He’s more…”

After having spent a whole month playing and chatting with Undertaker, Lena had started to learn some things about him.

The way he puts a slight serious face when playing the game.
The way he ticks his tongue whenever he missed a shot more than twice in a row.
The way he’s enthusiastic about other forms of media despite never bringing it up himself.
The way he’s energetic when giving classical literature recommendations.  
The way his laugh sounds as if he’s covering his mouth, hiding his smile.
His favourite drink being black coffee.
His favourite location spots in AT6 maps.
His hesitant tone of voice whenever Lena mutters something weird unknowingly (she had refused to admit that he understood what she said to save herself from the embarrassment).

Despite not knowing what he looks like, all of the observations and conversations she had with Undertaker painted a different picture from the Undertaker that Lena had thought of prior to her first encounter with him.

“Now that I gotten to know him just a bit…these posts…my own posts…they’re just what we…No…they’re just what I like to think of him...”

Her eyes were lasered to the doom-scrolling posts on her phone. While her eyes could process the information, her mind was elsewhere.

“Um…Excuse me?”

Among the loud audio from her flimsy earphones, a faint deep-tone voiced reached her ears. Lena turned to her left and tilted her head up in surprise.

Her eyes made contact with his pair of red crimson eyes. Her faint reflection was shown through the lens of his thick black glasses. He stood beside her. his tall figure blocked the light, casting a dark shadow on her. He stood just close enough for Lena to smell a faint scent of jasmine and sandalwood.

It was Shinei, the student librarian, carrying a small pile of books.

“Huh? When did he come here? I didn’t notice him at all…”

Lena quickly assumed that he was simply here to return the books to their places on the shelves. Although, it was strange for Lena to hear him speak. She didn’t register what sort of voice when he spoken to her just moments ago.

“Um...Yes?” Lena responded as she took off one of her earphone buds.

“…”

Shinei made no response. He just stared back at her.

Lena was confused. She stood up from the dusty footstool, keeping one of earphone buds in, assuming that he might needed space to place the remaining books away.

But Shinei remained silent.

“What’s…wrong?” She asked again.

“…”

Shinei remained silent.

It was only second later that Lena finally begun to register something else within the awkward, silent situation she was currently in.

It was an audio that she was very familiar with.
An audio belonging to the same thirst edits she looked at just moments ago. She can hear it from the one earphone bud that remained in her left ear. But it wasn’t the only source of sound.

Lena lifted her phone up to her face. Her eyes fixated on the loose earphone jack that was barely connected to it. The thirst edit audio was blasting through the phone's speaker.  

“Wait…Does that mean…”

Lena’s face turned a bright crimson red quickly upon the realisation. The whole time she was sitting, her earphone wasn’t connected properly. And on top of that, the guy who’s currently standing beside her most likely heard everything from her phone.

“AAAHH!” Lena yelped as she quickly turned off her phone. Shinei tensed up in response to the unexpected sound.

She quickly turned away from him and started to walk down the aisle to avoid any further embarrassment. Unfortunately, in her usual flustered self, she tripped over a different footstool further down the aisle. Shinei was about to walk over to help her but Lena had already gotten up as quickly as she fell down and ran out of his sight.

“Aaaand she’s gone…”

Confused, Shinei turned back to face the bookshelves and continued to place the remaining books in his arms back on the shelves. A soft giggle came out of his mouth.

***

<TIME: 17:31 GTM>

<Location: San Magnolia Main Library  – 1^st section, floor 1 >

After another set of “excuse me” and apologies, Lena finally returned to her seat. Her face turned back to its original complexion. She took a look at her desk. Thankfully, nothing was stolen.

It was a strange but unspoken rule for university students to leave behind their life possession and no one will steal it. Perhaps it was a mutual understanding from everyone that losing your laptop during exam season is horrific and stealing one’s possessions is an act of pure evil.

“Okay,” A firm resolve from Lena as she sat down, placing her hands over the keyboard of her silver chrome laptop. “Let us forgot what had just happened upstairs. Let’s get this essay under control…”

“Under control…”

“Under…taker…”

“AUUUUURRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!”

Lena’s loud groan of exhaustion caught the attention from the surrounding student and staff. Eyes of disapproval and judgement had finally forced Lena to take a permanent break.

In other words, it was time to go home.

Lena: 0
Undertaker brain-rot: 1

[To be continued]

Next chapter - Trenches, Traps & Thrid-party Attacks 

Chapter Text

Chapter 5
Trenches, Traps & Third-party Attacks I

Ernst: What an exciting first round! Despite many players trying to claim the wonderful bounty on Undertaker, Team Fido remain standing strong!

Grethe: 21 players are left in the game with undertaker having the highest kill count of seven players, making him the kill leader. With the Legion now deployed in the 86th sector, how will the remaining teams handle these new threats while fighting other players?

< Location: 86 th Sector – Zone 1 – The Abandoned City>

< Players remaining: 21 >

< THE STORM IS CLOSING >

Lena and Undertaker continued running, away from the abandoned city. They entered the outskirts of Zone 1 which consisted of an uneven grassed terrain and surrounded by high rocky cliffs which limited them to following certain paths leading out of the other zones. Lena looked behind to see the abandoned city in its full glory of destruction. Behind the city skyline, a vast red-orange tempest began to swallow the outer buildings of the city. It wasn’t long before the majority of Zone 1 was consumed by the storm.

< THE STORM HAS STOPPED >

< TRIO BATTLE ROYALE MATCH – ROUND 2 START >

< TIME REMAINING: [05:00] >

A typical battle royale match game of AT6 – in solo, duos and trios format – has a total of five rounds, each lasting five minutes. After the time is up, the area of the map – also known as the safe zone –  decreases in size. Which forces players to continue fighting until one team or player remains. The entity that operates this is known as the storm. The storm will initially slowly take away 5% of your total health points every three seconds before increasing its damage per subsequent round by an extra 5% at the same rate.

At the start of each round, the map will indicate where the safe zone will be. The storm takes a single minute to shrink the total area of the map after the end of each round, giving ample time for players to move into the safe zone.

As Lena and Undertaker continued moving forward, they were suddenly met with a loud scream from their fellow teammate.

“GUYS, COULD YOU GUYS HURRY UP?”

“W-what’s wrong Ane-  Penrose?” Lena jolted upon hearing Annette’s plea.

“Are you being attacked by an enemy player, Miss Penrose?” Undertaker asked in a monotone voice, unsurprised by the sudden yell.

Lena looked at her map. She noticed a player blip, marking Annette’s username, ahead from their current location.

“Looking at our map, Penrose should be close-“

“HELPPP!”

Another sudden scream echoed through the area. Lena looked around to find its source but no one was around.

“Handler01, Look up.” Said Undertaker, pointing his gun high up. Lena squinted her eyes, spotting a player in the distance far…above ground? 

Annette attached herself to the top of the satellite tower. Below her, a small Legion force targets her from the base of the tower, firing their silver ammo and missiles at the defenceless and low-ranked player.

Eventually, a bullet hit Annette.

[Critical Hit! Health remaining: 52%]

“ARGHHH! HEELPP ME! WHAT ARE THESE THINGS?! I’VE NEVER SEEN THEM BEFORE!,” Annette shouted, heavily regretting using a VR headset for a game such as AT6.

“GUYS? I CAN SEE YOU! SAVE ME DAMN IT. HURRY!”

Lena could slightly hear Annette’s scream from the walls of her bedroom, already accepting the eventual complaints from the neighbours the next day.

Moving her joy-cons sticks, she made her way towards the Legion force.

“Okay Undertaker, let’s just destroy those shiny robots. I'll go this w -”
“Wait.” Undertaker interrupted.
“W-what’s wrong?”

Undertaker took a moment before continuing.

“I want to watch this a bit longer.”
“Undertaker?!”
“UNDERTAKER F**K YOU. I KNOW YOU’RE ENJOYING THIS!”
“Penrose! L-language!”

Among the loud foul language, Lena heard a small giggle coming from Undertaker. It wasn’t long until Lena found herself laughing.

“I HATE YOU GUYS!,” Annette shouted as another bullet hit her. “ARGGH!”

< Location: 86 th Sector – Zone 2 – Lava Laboratory >

< Players remaining: 21 >

The terrain of Zone 2 was similar to the terrain of Zone 1’s outskirts, only with more range of elevation that slowly leads to the mountainous snowy terrain of zone 3 in the far distance. Rivers of red hot lava run through the zone with a few bridges to cross over. Within zone 2 lies a large laboratory facility along with several geothermal power stations. Most of the zone is natural so players must use its natural terrain as cover unlike the urban developments in Zone 1.

Reunited, team Fido found themselves hiding in one of the geothermal power stations as they were sorting out their inventories. Lena stood in-between Undertaker and Annette yet her attention is fully focused on the boy beside her, occasionally taking screenshots of his player avatar with her joy-con sticks.

“It’s not everyday you can get a close up shot of Undertaker” She thought as re-adjusted herself to take another screenshot, ignoring the pile of supplies that Annette had shared.

“ ‘This game is much easier than I expected huh?’   Funny how you said that, only to find you up there screaming,”   Undertaker giggled surprisingly. “Maybe it was a good idea to have you here Miss Penrose. Being entertainment is much better than being deadweight, don't you agree?”

“Oh shut up,” Annette swiftly responded as she continued looking through her inventory, shutting down the blatant slander from Undertaker. “Handler01, I have some spare med-kits, you need some?”
“Oh, y-yes! Thank you. I ran out after that fight with Kirschblüte.” Lena smiled as she received the med-kit. 
“May I have one Miss Penrose?”
“…No,” Annette replied coldly. “You can live with 1HP for all I care.”

Annette was still angry towards her teammates, especially towards Undertaker, for laughing when the legion forces were targeting her.

“Well someone is in a bad mood.”
“Oh really? Geez, I wonder why?,” Annette answered sarcastically. “Also, stop calling me Miss Penrose .”

“Oh apologies, I was being polite. I thought someone as high and mighty as you would like to be respected.”
“Not when you of all people say it. It’s actually annoying.” Annette mumbled, throwing the extra med-kit from undertaker. It wasn’t long before Annette found an interesting item in her inventory.

“Oh, Handler01. Look what I found.” Said Annette, dropping an item in front of Lena.
“This is…” Lena looked at the item, puzzled before she picked it up.
“It’s a hea-”
“It’s a heat sensor,” Undertaker explained, interrupting Annette. “With it, you can tell where players are within a smokescreen so having one would be very useful. Especially since you use them a lot.”

“Oh right, I never had the opportunity to use one, Thank you.”
“On Penrose’s behalf, you’re welcome.” Undertaker responded while remaining still as Annette’s player avatar was punching his avatar in frustration.

“So what’s our next plan again?” Annette asked.

The team remained inside the northernmost geothermal power station with their supplies fully stocked up. They were ready to continue fighting – If they wanted to.

“As we all agreed, we hope to continue our strategy like before,” Lena continued. “Splitting up and using Undertaker as bait to lure more players for his bounty. I’ll be supporting him from behind. Meanwhile you continue restocking our inventory with supplies. However…”

“This plan worked well in a complex urban terrain like the abandoned city in Zone 1. However, there’s the issue with Handler01 getting attacked by an enemy player,” Undertaker explained. “It was quite the strategy and luck you pulled there to eliminate Kirschblüte.”

Lena turned to Annette. “You hear that??,” She whispered. “HE’S COMPLIMENTED ME AGAIN! THE UNDERTAKER. SINGING PRAISE TOWARDS ME. MEE”

Annette rolled her eyes over. “Please, spare me the fangirling. This isn’t the time for that.” She could somehow feel Lena pouting through her VR headset.   

Undertaker continued explaining after he composed himself from hearing the loud whisper of Lena’s fangirling.  “B-But it won’t work twice. That’s why I suggest we stick around here until this round ends. At least by then, the number of players will be reduced so there's a smaller chance the two of you will get targeted. Although we’re already at a disadvantage just by being here…”

“What do you mean?,” Annette asked, puzzled. “We’re at a safe place here right?”

“…Since you’re not familiar with playing AT6, I guess we can explain it to you. You got the location of the next safe zone from that satellite you were stuck up from, correct?”
“Y-yes?” Annette felt like Undertaker mixed in an insult but decided to ignore it. 

Annette’s player class was the Observer. This allows them to hold a special item that helps detect nearby players around them and their teammates. Its other feature is the ability to show the safe zone beyond the one they’re currently shown on the map when attached to a satellite. This information is shown to the rest of the team once the Observer claims the data.

“After you use that satellite during round two, you should see the next safe zone for round 3 shown in white and the next one for round 4 shown in green.”

Annette took a look at her map carefully. “Ah…”

“The safe zone for round 4 is pulling towards Zone 5,” Lena interjected. “And most likely where the final round will happen.”

The 86th sector map has a total of seven zones – six zones arranged alongside each other going clockwise with a seventh zone laying in the centre.

Undertaker continued. “We’re currently at zone 2. Zone 5 is on the opposite side of the map. To reach zone 5, we have to get through the central zone 0. Also known as the battlefront trenches. And with little time left from round two, we need to get to Zone 5 before round 4 starts.”

And as if it was listening in on their conversation, it made its move.

< ROUND 2 IS OVER >
< THE STORM IS NOW CLOSING >
< TIME REMAINING: [01:00] >

Ernst: It seems that team Fido still remains in Zone 2. Luckily for them, no other teams are in the area. 
Grethe: With Round two is coming to close, let’s see how the other teams are doing.

< Location: 86 th Sector – Zone 3 – The Observatory >

< Players remaining: 21 >

Zone 3’s terrain is filled with mountains and valleys that go far below the ground level. Its snowy weather makes it harder to see players beyond a few metres. On top of this, the uneven and steep terrain makes it difficult for players to constantly engage in battle. Despite the difficult environment, players continue to traverse this zone for two main reasons. The first being the countless tunnels and mineshafts filled with high-tier supplies locked behind vaults – Its keys located across the entire zone. The second reason…

“ARGH, IT'S AN AMBUSH!” Bobchi screamed as she fired her marksman rifle at the enemy player. But despite her efforts, the enemy team is still standing. Showering them in light and heavy metallic bullets.

“HANG IN THERE GUYS,” Vika moo shouted as a bullet hit his head, dealing a critical damage to his HP. “ARGHH! I’M ALMOST DONE WITH THE SCAN! ARGH– ”

“We can’t hold this place any longer, we need to leave! NOW!” Bobchi yelled as she reloaded her marksman rifle, only to get hit again by the enemy’s bullet.  

“Master Vika Moo, I believe at this rate we will be eliminated. We do not have the sufficient ammo and supplies to defeat this team,” Lerche explained in a monotone voice, as if unfazed by the dire situation they’re in. She continued to fire from her energy gun. “I suggest abandoning this mission and retreat to Zone 0 or Zone 4.”

Ernst: And over at Zone 3, we have Team Vika Moo Moo being ambushed by Team Blacksnow at the Observatory! Team Vika Moo Moo is holding down the main control room, defending it from team Blacksnow who are trying to break in.

Grethe: It would seem that Vika Moo, the team leader, is attempting to complete a map-wide scan to track all players' locations!

The only structure on top of the high mountains of zone 3 is the observatory. Like the satellites scattered across the map, it can reveal the future safe zones. However, it can also provide the location of all of the current players across the map. Making use of this information helps the team to further refine their strategies, whether the team is on the offense or evading other enemy teams.

“Guys, there’s 15 secs left until the scan is complete!”
“Vika, that’s not enough time! We need to leave. NOW” Bobchi demanded. “I can’t stay here defending any longer!”

Lerche remained silent as she continued firing and reloading, thinking of the best possible situation that would ensure the completion of the scan and the team’s survivability. 

Team Blacksnow has trapped them inside the control room. With its doors destroyed, both Bobchi and Lerche kept them at bay by continuing to fire bullets at them. But this only prolongs the inevitable. Even if Vika Moo gets the scan data, they would still be trapped inside. And as soon as team Vika Moo Moo fires its last bullet, it’s game over. 

Lerche then took a big sigh, switching from her energy gun to her shotgun. She knew what to do.

“Bobchi. Master Vika Moo. I’ll buy you some time to complete the scan and leave the place.”
“Lerche? What are you– ” Bobchi shouted as she charged up her evo armour amidst the onslaught of bullets.

“Lerche?” Vika Moo turned to face Lerche and Bobchi. But all he saw was the back of Lerche’s player avatar, holding her shotgun.

“I’ll leave this to your capable hands. Make sure you win this battle"

"Y-you can't leave me here moo! Not with Bobchi moo!" 

"HEY, what's wrong with me?" Bobchi asked yet her question was ignored. 

Depsite Vika's plead, Lerche gave a smile. A smile so artificial, fitting for an player avatar skin. 

"Forgive me Master Vika...my shame knows no bounds."

And without a single moment of hesitation, Lerche ran out of the control room and towards the enemy team.

“LERCHE NOOOO, MOOOOO!” Vika moo shouted.

 BANG!

[ Snowitch [Blacksnow] ELIMINATED Lerche [Vika Moo Moo] ] - 눈 ≡ ==✴
<Players remaining: 20>

< FULL-AREA SCAN INITIATION COMPLETE >  

< Location: 86 th Sector – Zone 4 – Geyser Springs >

< Players remaining: 20 >

Sounds of bullets were muffled through the constant roar of water spouting violently out of the many geysers that surrounded them. For team Morpho, they thought that they were safe. Escaping the chaos of Zone 1 and arriving in Zone 4 by travelling through the central zone,  the battlefield trenches. However, their luck ran out dry as quickly as bullets were suddenly fired from behind.

“EMPRESS NOOOOOOOO!” Morpho shouted, running towards the G.Empress. 

BANG! BANG!

[ LaughingFox [Spearhead] ELIMINATED G.Empress [Morpho] ] - 눈 ≡ ==✴
[ Gunslinger [Spearhead] ELIMINATED No-Face [Morpho] ] - 눈 ≡ ==✴

<Players remaining: 18>

“EMPRESS!”

An swift ambush from behind, eliminating two players from team Morpho immediately. Despite most of the players in this particular battle royale match being in the top 30, there’s a clear difference in skill within the top five players. And team Spearhead consists of three out of five of those players. Morpho is the sole player within his team that’s just ranked outside of the top five at sixth place. But even he struggles fighting multiple top-ranked players by himself. The only one who’s capable of such a feat would be none other than Undertaker.  

“Damn it! I'm not stupid to fight this team alone.” Morpho complained, throwing a smokescreen to escape. Bullets fired through the geysers from team Spearhead but none of them managed to hit Morpho within the dense smokescreen.

“Tsk, almost a full team swipe,” Laughing Fox grimaced, as he turned and walked over to the player boxes of team Morpho. “Still, we're lucky to find a team running their way towards us. Practically giving us free kills.”

“You sure look proud after beating a child player. Are you sure you deserve being the 4th ranked player?” Gunslinger asked, smirking as she looked through one of the player boxes.

“What did you say??!”

“Enough fighting!,” Whrewolf shouted, silencing the two. “We don’t have time to be slandering each other. We still need to make our way to Zone 5. If you want to settle this rivalry, then how about killing the rest of the players?”

The two turned and stared at Whrewolf.

“Well, someone’s serious.” LaughingFox muttered.
“It’s just a game Whrewolf. Like take a chill pill.” Gunslinger following LaughingFox’s response.

“WELL YEAH, MONEY IS ON THE LINE HERE! YOU TWO ARE AS BROKE AS ME SO STOP SLANDERING ME AND KILL MORE PLAYERS!”

“ARGHH!” The two screamed in response.

< Location: 86 th Sector – Zone 2 – Lava Laboratory >

< Players remaining: 18 >

< THE STORM IS CLOSING >
< TIME REMAINING: [00:31] >

The storm consumed most of zone 2, leaving behind its reddish orange tempest. At the very end of the shrinking safe zone’s boundary, team Fido continued making their way towards the central zone.

Both Undertaker and Lena knew that they were at a disadvantage here. Travelling across a whole zone with a single round’s runtime puts them at risk of being targeted. And that risk is much higher with the new addition of the Legion forces which can spawn at any time. Being far away from the next safe zone meant that teams who are nearer have more time to properly prepare their supplies and determine a suitable location as their defensive position for the endgame. With teams who are further away entering the safe zone, they would simply be targeted by enemy players awaiting for them. 

Like a predator waiting for its prey. The roles are simply determined purely based on where teams first land in.  Such predicaments are common in most AT6’s matches and tournaments

“That storm is gaining on us quicker than I expected…did they changed the speed of it?” Undertaker muttered to himself as he glared at his map. He had chosen the quickest route to reach Zone 0 and is currently ahead of the other two who are following behind. He kept noticing his own teammates slowly falling behind.

“The storm isn’t going to reach us so stop looking behind and pay attention. We might get targeted. ”    

“R-Right!” Lena responded, also speaking for Annette who was running besides her.

Both Lena and Annette noticed the slight irritated tone coming from Undertaker’s voice. In terms of ranks, they knew that they were lowest. Far below the rest of the players. It was already crazy to assist the top ranked player for a tournament. But for a tournament with such a large prize pool and his head at stake, they survived the first round despite all odds. But even so, the reality of who they will be fighting still hasn’t settled down in their minds.

And Undertaker is fully aware of the situation himself the most. But what Undertaker didn’t expect while playing this specific tournament was the feeling he had inside of him. 

The feeling of concern. But concern for what? 

For his teammate’s survival? But he hadn't acted like a teammate towards Handler01 or Penr0se. Was it because of his interactions between both players prior to this match? After all, he never cared to commit to small talk with his teammates online with the exception of certain players within the top 30. 

Or perhaps concern for his own survival? His own skills? Is it because of the bounty on his head? 

But that would mean that a player needs to eliminate him.

Impossible. 

Individually, he can beat them all with absolute certainty. Even against a full team, he can still win. He knew he shines the best. No one can match him. Undertaker is the best player in AT6 history. Not having a single death across thousands of matches, regardless of format. 

“But…If I were eliminated today…”

If Undertaker were to be eliminated, then what would happen to his title, his reputation as the top ranked player? A single death wouldn’t change his ranking. Would people’s perception of him change? For the better or worst, Undertaker knew he couldn't pay attention to everyone’s opinion on him.  

Then that just leaves….

< WARNING: A FULL-AREA SCAN WAS COMPLETED BY TEAM VIKA MOO MOO >  

“A full team scan? What’s that?” Annette questioned. The warning snapped Undertaker’s attention back to the game.

“It means that a team now knows the location of all players for a certain amount of time.” He answered. 

“Guys, look!” Lena shouted. Undertaker and Annette looked ahead. 

Before team Fido lies a wide, open landscape surrounded by high cliffs and valleys leading to other zones. The land is covered in red spider lilies, its vivid colour glows brightly under the azure sky. Within the field of flowers lies the battlefield trenches. The murky coloured earth sticks out like deep old scars across one’s skin. What appears in front of team fido is the gentle slope into the trenches, almost enticing them to enter. 

This is the central zone 0. The battlefield trenches.

< Location: 86 th Sector – Zone 0 – Battlefield Trenches >

< Players remaining: 18 >

< THE STORM HAS STOPPED >

< TRIO BATTLE ROYALE MATCH – ROUND 3 START >

< TIME REMAINING: [05:00] >

The storm stopped a hundred meters behind them. Zone 2 has now been fully engulfed in a reddish orange tempest. The team has two options to traverse the battlefield. The first option is to go around the edges of the zone or staying on top of the flat flower field, avoiding travelling within the trenches entirely. However, this option risks getting easily sniped by other players. 

“We’ll be going through the trenches,” Undertaker commanded, “I know the shortest route to get to zone 5 so follow me closely. Quick, we don’t have much time to waste.”

“Yes sir!,” Lena thought to herself. “The way he just commands us is hot…” 
“I think your thoughts and speech are mixed up  Handler01…” Undertaker spoken, fully aware of what’s going to happen.
“EH?! N-NO NO I JUST THOUGHT IT WAS–” Lena’s player avatar shook from left to right as if flustered. 

Annette remained still, her avatar lifeless from the scene she’s currently witnessing. “You…sure have it rough buddy. Even I wouldn’t wished it on my worst enemy.” She teased Undertaker, smirking behind the screen.
“...Let’s just go.” Undertaker responded, refusing to answer Annette’s comment.  

Lena and Annette then quickly followed Undertaker –both in silence– into the trenches. 

Team Fido has five minutes to traverse the trenches is the time limit. Past that, the storm will slowly consume the trenches, trapping any players within and eliminating them slowly. 

One by one.

Ernst: And Team Fido are travelling through the battlefield trenches in zone 0. With undertaker leading them through, can they make it out of the trenches in time before the storm hits them?

The trenches were dug deep from the ground, Its depth roughly the same height as the players. It was possible to climb out of the trenches but doing so would put players at risk of being targeted from the ground level. 

The view of the trenches ahead seemed to go on forever. The way the stacks of three wooden crates were placed in consistent intervals. The red spider lilies sticking out of the  top edges of the trenches. The greyed horizontal wooden boards that retain the murky earth behind. The continuous sounds of mud and puddles as they ran. The Azure sky remained unchanged.

The scenery repeated every time they took a turn into a new trench corridor. Almost like a never-ending nightmare, pulling them closer and closer to a destination unknown to them. Roughly a minute has passed since they entered yet they felt like they were running for much longer. The only thing that changes on their screen was the list of players eliminated popping up one after another.  

[ Sei [Mercosul Gang] RESPAWNED Hanede [Mercosul Gang] ] -눈≡==✴

< Players remaining: 19 >

[ Gunslinger [Spearhead] ELIMINATED Duck [D.A.D] ] -눈≡==✴
[ LaughingFox [Spearhead] ELIMINATED Zenry [Lore] ] -눈≡==✴
[ Wherwolf [Spearhead] ELIMINATED Hanede [Mercosul Gang] ] -눈≡==✴

< Players remaining: 16 >

As team fido continued to advance through the never-ending trenches, Undertaker took a look at his map. 

“Guys, we’re halfway through now. We have plenty of time to reach Zone 5. Beyond there…the remaining teams will be waiting for us.”

Annette let out an audible gulp while Lena remained in silence, still recovering from her embarrassing moment prior to entering the zone. 

The team was already wary of the many landmines that are scattered across the trenches and above ground. With Undertaker’s guidance, they have yet to set one off. But despite the quiet trek through the trenches, Undertaker couldn’t help but doubt the current situation. 

“We’re halfway through...And we still haven’t encountered any players since the first round…” He thought to himself and he took another left turn. “Perhaps they are wary of us–”

As if to shut down on Undertaker’s emerging optimism, Annette noticed a strange change in the scenery. 

“Guys…is it me or is the sky getting darker?” Annette asked. Her question stopped the team in their tracks. 

Both Lena and Undertaker looked up.
The deep azure sky began to grow darker in colour. 

They immediately knew what was going on but it was too late.
The small metallic mechanical drones in the shape of butterflies already covered the sky. 

“...Eintagsfliege.” Lena muttered, breaking her silence. 

Within seconds, sounds of metallic thumps began to rumble, shaking the trenches. Dirt from the ground above began to fall in. Undertaker looked behind Annette and Lena. In the far distance of the trenches, multiple glittering objects approached them. Like an ocean of stars flowing into the dark trenches. 

“Of course…the legion,” undertaker grimaced. He then scaled up the walls of the trenches to see the scenery on the ground level, only to see the same ocean of stars engulfing the field of red spider lilies in an instant. “Damn it, they’re also on the field.”

He jumped back down and looked at his map. 

“Guys, we need to get going or we'll get eliminated by the Legion. Go, Go, Go!” Undertaker shouted. Lena and Annette immediately followed without a moment of hesitation.  

Grethe: The legion has spawned again and this time, it’s chasing team Fido!
Ernst: Team Fido is running away and making good progress, as expected from Undertaker who memorised the trenches layout.

Grethe: Less than four minutes to go until the end of round 3 and the storm will close off most of the central storm. Most players are making their way to Zone 5 for the endgame but it would seem that–

Amidst the loud rumbling of the legion forces, team Fido were met with the sounds of gunshots in the distance, far ahead of where they were running towards. 

“Oh no…” Lena spoke in worry. “ Undertaker, you don’t think that-” 

Just as Lena was about to finish her sentence, two enemy players jumped down from the field, blocking their way forward. 

One enemy player’s game skin was an outdated version of the blue military uniform that Lena’s avatar player is currently wearing. The other one’s game skin stood out even more. Their black white cow patterned attire sticks out like sore thumb, foreign to the trenches' scenery. 

Ernst: Team Fido encounters another enemy, team Vika Moo Moo! An unexpected third-party attack in the trenches!

Both enemy players’ attention turned to team Fido.

“AH! IT’S HIM! UNDERTAKER MOOO!,” Vika Moo shouted as he quickly aimed his energy gun towards team Fido’s direction mid-air. “SHOOT HIM BOBCHI MOOO!”

“HANDLER01 QUICK! THROW A SMOKESCREEN NOW!” Undertaker shouted.

< WARNING: A FULL-AREA SCAN WAS COMPLETED BY TEAM BLACKSNOW > 

[TO BE CONTINUED…]

Chapter Text

Chapter 6
Trenches, Traps & Third-party Attacks II

Smokescreen filled the screen of her VR headset, concealing almost everything in sight. Annette stared ahead while running through the dark trenches, trying to follow the two faint shadows of her teammates. After a sudden third-party attack from an enemy team, Lena threw a smokescreen immediately upon Undertaker’s quick command. And right now, they were running further away from the predetermined route that undertaker was guiding them through. 

But beyond the current situation Annette found herself in, she couldn’t help but think about her place in this tournament. 

…Exactly why am I doing this? 

The thought repeated for weeks ever since Lena forced her to play and learn a game so unfamiliar to her. All to help a gamer boy that she has been a fan of for months. The same gamer boy that inconvenienced her life. The same gamer boy that turned her best friend into a fangirl who’s on their way to becoming a stalker. Perhaps she already became one. 

Annette knew deep down that she regretted accepting Lena’s selfish request. Playing an Esports tournament a night before the start of their exams was already absurd. But it was even more absurd for her to accept it. She could have said no. Weeks had past and Annette no longer cared if Lena leaked the stories of her nine exes. 

No…That was a lie. 

She caught herself deceiving her own true feelings. While it’s true that they were all just stories with little to no excitement, Annette just didn’t want people to see her as someone who had nine exes. She would rather be judged for her knowledge and character rather than someone sad with silly relationship stories. 

The fact that Lena tried to use that as leverage was low but she knew that Lena really had no one else to turn to for help. She did plan on scolding her after this tournament ended. But If there was one thing that Annette was glad… 

At least she doesn’t know about my first relationship…That’s something I’ll take to the grave. No matter what.

She glanced ahead to see that Undertaker was nowhere to be found. And neither was Lena. 

“W-what? Where’s everyone?”

< Location: 86th Sector – Zone 0 – Battlefield Trenches >

< Players remaining: 16 >

The murky earth retained by dark wooden planks remained visible despite the thick smokescreen. Upon Undertaker’s command, it would seem that Lena has thrown multiple smokescreens as soon as team Vika Moo Moo started their attack. Undertaker noticed the lack of bullet sounds firing and stopped to take a look around. 

“Guys, I think we’re oka-,” Undertaker paused, his relief was short-lived. Behind him, neither Annette or Lena was there. “Wait, where are you guys?”

“Wait, what?,” Lena responded in confusion, looking at the vague faint shadow in front of her. “If it’s not my wonderful Undertaker, then who am I following? 

Lena wondered, trying to move closer. The dense smokescreen slowly dissipated and revealed the player who was supposed to be her beloved Undertaker.

“Moo? Bobchi?”
“AAHH! VIKA MOO????”
“AH! IT’S NOT BOBCHI! IT’S AN ENEMY MOO!”

It wasn’t her beloved Undertaker but the infamous mad cow player, Vika Moo. Taking advantage of the confusion, Lena was the first to respond. Her training with Undertaker proven useful. She switched to her handgun and aimed at Vika Moo’s head before pulling the trigger.

BANG!

The shot missed, brushing past his shoulders. 

Pointing his energy gun at Lena as if anticipating her missed shot, Vika Moo stood still and calm as he pulled his trigger. 

“Moo.”

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
65% HP remaining. 

A shower of energy bullets pierced Lena’s torso. She turned around and slid into a separate trench, escaping Vika Moo’s continuous attack. His gun barrel heated up as the bullets stopped firing. Unlike the standard guns, energy guns fire continuously. But these guns can heat up to the point it’ll stop firing and require a short period of cooldown.  

“She got away moo…” Vika Moo sighed as he stood alone in the trenches. 

Lena found herself running down the trenches once more. The way the stacks of three wooden crates were placed in consistent intervals. The red spider lilies sticking out of the  top edges of the trenches. The greyed horizontal wooden boards that retain the murky earth behind. The continuous sounds of mud and puddles as they ran. Everything was the same except for the azure sky which is now covered by a blanket of dark silver of the Eintagsfliege. 

Lena turned to enter the next trench, only to be met by silver bullets. The distant ocean of stars has finally arrived at her shores. Hoards of Legion ant-like units crawled their way towards her, ready to prey on their next unfortunate victim. Lena turned to enter a different trenches, clicking her tongue in slight annoyance. She looked at her map, hoping to find a different route towards her teammates. But instead, her mind recalled a certain warning.

Wait a minute…there was a second full-area scan warning…

Undertaker continued dashing down the repeating trenches once more. This time, making his way back to where they were attacked by team Vika Moo Moo in hopes to find his missing teammates.  He took a look at his map. 

I’m currently on the eastern side of the trenches. Penr0se is on the western side and Handler01 ran back towards where we came from but she’s making her way towards Penr0se…Damn it, it was a careless mistake to not coordinate our escape as soon as they jumped in. It all happened too quickly. Damn it, Damn it.  I must regroup with them before they’re taken out. 

The same, unfamiliar feeling of concern creeped back up to Undertaker’s throat. 

I can’t afford to make any more mistakes…Was this team a mistake? Did I actually mess up? 

Undertaker slowly found himself regretting his decisions. At this point, he was on the verge of giving up his team. There wasn’t much time before the third round is over and the strom will consume the trenches. Undertaker was struggling trying to decide whether Handler01 or Penr0se were worth saving. He can make it across the trenches without a problem. That much he was confident in. But abandoning his teammates? The act itself was something almost second nature for Undertaker as a player. He wasn’t a team player. He almost always played solo. He didn’t care, so long as it allowed him to win in the end. 

That’s right…I can just win. That’s what matters the most…

He can leave them at any time. But the same unfamiliar feeling of “concern” still lingered, as if telling him to wait a bit longer. Just after his train of thought stalled, he heard a silver bell voice. One that felt so familiar yet…

“Undertaker! Undertaker!”
“Handler01? Are you okay?” Undertaker asked, his voice slightly shaky.
“I’m alright, I was following Vika the whole time. Are you fighting the other Vika Moo Moo player, Bobchi?” Lena responded. Oh my goodness, he was concerned about me!?

“No, I’m all alone. What about Miss Penr0se?”

As if responding to Undertaker’s question, sounds of gunshot echoed through Annette’s mic.
“GUYS HELP MEEE!!”
“Ah. I guess she is stuck with Bobchi. I’m coming over Miss Penr0se!”

“Undertaker, Wait!” Lena shouted. Undertaker stopped moving.
“What’s the matter?” He asked curiously.

“You need to make it to the exit of the trenches as fast as possible.” The request almost made Undertaker speechless.
“HEY, WHY CAN’T HE SAVE ME??” Annette shouted, demanding for an answer. 

“What? Why? I can’t risk you guys to be elminated.” Once again, Undertaker found himself feeling conflicted over his own thoughts and spoken words. To abandon his team and move forward solo or help his team get through the match?

“There’s a much larger risk at play here,” Lena responded to undertaker’s question with a calm, serious manner. It made him almost wonder if this was really the same fangirl player he initially interacted with. 

Undertaker took a turn, only to find a player running towards him. Aiming his loaded shotgun, he immediately fired. 

BANG!

But his shotgun shells dealt no damage. 

“Oh…Sorry. I thought you were Bobchi from the uniform. The uniforms look the same from a quick glance.”
“Undertaker…How amazing your reaction was! I had no chance to respond! Oh to be eliminated so swiftly by your hands! I’m soooo envious of everyone else…”

The calm, serious image of Handler01 quickly dropped from Undertaker’s mind. He almost laughed out loud from seeing the switch up of her behaviour.

“Now’s not the time for your fangirling,” He said in a cheerful tone before speaking more seriously. “What do you mean by larger risk?”

The question snapped Lena back into reality. Slightly embarrassed by her sudden fangirl outburst, she continued. 

“R-right! If what I think happens, then we will all be eliminated by the end of this round.”

< Location: 86th Sector – Zone 4 – Geyser Springs >

< Players remaining: 16 >

< WARNING: A FULL-AREA SCAN WAS COMPLETED BY TEAM BLACKSNOW > 

The warning interrupted their silent train journey. 

“Ehhhh, another one?” Gunslinger groaned. “And it's BlackSnow of all teams too...”

Team Spearhead were on one of two trains that runs through all the zones with the exception of central zone 0. While it moves slower than the storm’s current speed, it still gave the team a more controlled, safer way of travel, giving the enemy limited ways to ambush them due to the train’s narrow yet long space. 

“I guess they wanted to see where Undertaker’s team is. I doubt that they would target us right away,” Wherwolf explained as he looked at the map and player’s death list, trying to count the remaining teams. “Looking at the list, teams Vika Moo Moo and BlackSnow were fighting. We just fought Morpho and wiped out several other teams. Since team Fido didn’t kill any players the past two rounds, we’re still missing some teams.”

Three players in teams Wherwolf, Blacksnow and Fido. Two players in teams Vika Moo Moo. A single player in teams Morpho and Mercosul. 13 players out of 16 total. 

“The remaining players would be from teams Chaos Sister & HIT Gang.” LaughingFox added.
“Ah, we can’t forget team Mercosul of course. After all, you let Sei run away again, didn’t you?” Gunslinger teased.
“I DID NOT!” 

“Guys…we’re almost to Zone 5.,” Wherwolf Interrupted, sighing at their repeating bickering. “It’s a good thing we know where most players are. The ones we haven’t seen are most likely making their way to Dragon Fang tower. The storm is going to close at the centre of that tower. That much is certain.”

Wherwolf looked at the dark tower looming tall in the distance. The final destination of this tournament is within their view. “Let’s win this.” 

< Location: 86th Sector – Zone 0 – Battlefield Trenches >

< Players remaining: 16 >

Ernst: What a turn of events happening at zone 0. Teams Vika Moo Moo and Fido have been split! Penr0se managed to get away from Bobchi’s pursuit and is currently evading the hordes of Legion that entered the trenches! Vika Moo is all alone. And it seems that Handler01 and Undertaker finally regrouped! 

Grethe: The legion, the storm and two teams all trapped within the vast trenches, what will the outcome be?  

Lena and Undertaker stood at an intersection between two long murky trenches. Loose petals from the red spider lilies drifted in the breeze mixed with the faint trails of smoke from the distant battles.

“Well? What do you think?” Lena asked. 

Undertaker took a moment to think.“...It’s a risky move since you’re assuming their plans and the short time limit due to the storm,” Undertaker answered. He somehow sensed a slight feeling of disappointment from Lena’s mic. “But… it’s worth checking. If it all fails, I’ll head back to you.”

A rush of joy filled Lena’s body as she uncontrollably smiled.
“MY IDEA IS UNDERTAKER APPROVED! NO, IT’S SHOVEL APPROVED!”
“S-shovel??”  Undertaker was confused.

Before he could ask what Lena meant by shovel, a familiar but strained voice reached their eyes. 

“I’m soo sorry for…interupputing your meeting…but surely…you guys can help me??” Said Annette who finally reached them by following the location of her teammates in her map. Behind Annette, bullets from a marksman rifle whizzed past her. The same bullets flew past Lena and Undertaker.

Grethe: it would seem that Penr0se has found her teammates but the reunion is short-lived! Bobchi has found team Fido!

Lena and Undertaker raised their weapons and aimed at Bobchi as Annette hid behind them. Bobchi held her marksman rifle, aiming carefully at Undertaker’s head. 

“I must thank the noob player for leading me to your head, Undertaker.” Bobchi spoke with a tired yet fierce tone. 
“You’re welcome to try,” Undertaker responded. “We can still escape-”

“Ah! I finally found you Undertaker, Moo!”

The voice forced Lena to immediately turn around to find Vika Moo aiming his energy gun at team Fido. Undertaker held his aim at Bobchi. Annette stood in between, healing up her health. Suddenly, sounds of metallic thumps began to rumble, shaking the trenches once more. 

“This is…not ideal.” Undertaker spoke in a serious tone.

Ernst: Oh dear, team Fido is sandwiched in between team Vika Moo Moo and the Legion are closing in! 

“Undertaker, you can leave the matters of Penr0se, the legion and team Vika Moo Moo to me.” Lena proclaimed. “You go ahead and we’ll be there soon.”

“...”

I can just win. That’s what matters the most…

Was this team a mistake? Did I actually mess up? 

Undertaker’s previous thoughts bubbled up once more. But there was no time for him to think any further. At this moment, he needs to trust and go ahead with the plan that Lena mentioned. If he made his decision to go with this team, then all that's left for him to do is ensure that this team makes it through till the very end. 

“Handler01, I’ll leave this to you.”
“Yes Da- SIRRRRRRRRRRRRR”
“Handler01, did you just actually said Dad-”

Refusing to answer his question, Lena held up her smokescreen grenade. Meanwhile, Annette was choking on her own saliva upon hearing Lena’s slip of tongue. 

“UM COMMENCE OPERATION TRENCHES, TRAPS & THIRD PARTY ATTACKS!”

With a loud yell, Lena threw down the smokescreen, covering the intersection in a dense white cloud of smoke. Both Bobchi and Vika Moo immediately fired their run at the faint shadows in front of them, hoping to hit an enemy player. But a swift shadow jumped upwards, leaving the trenches. 

“Bobchi, forget about the one that went up to the field, don’t take your eyes off the rest of them! We’re going to follow their shadows Moo!” Vika Moo shouted, running to follow the two faint shadows.
“Y-Yes!” Bobchi hesitantly replied, following Vika Moo close by. 

With Undertaker jumping over the trenches as he dashed across the spider lilies, Lena and Annette continue to run within the trenches, further away from the exit they were originally heading. At the same time, ant-like robots of the Legion chase them close by. Some were close enough to start firing at Lena and Annette. As long as the two keep their distance from the Legion and team Vika Moo Moo, they can survive longer to hopefully reach a certain destination.  

“Handler01, how much closer are we at that place?” Annette asked.
“Not much longer. Just hang in there.”
“O-okay.” 

Lena started to notice Annette's tiredness from the playing while standing up. Perhaps making a noob player play a match via VR wasn’t the best idea. Lena gripped her joy-controllers tightly with her sweaty palms. Once again, she’s placed under pressure. Her close battle with Kirschblüte in round one slapped Lena in reality that she’s up against the top players of AT6. All of them have skills comparable with Undertaker. 

This plan must work. I need it to work. 

BANG!
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

[Penr0se] - 20%. WARNING: LOW HEALTH
[Handler01] - 65% HP remaining. 

“!!!!!”
“PENR0SE!” Lena shouted.

Ernst: Team Vika Moo Moo found Handler01 and Penr0se of Team Fido!
Grethe: Bobchi fired a bullet dealing a headshot to Penr0se leaving her in critical low heath! 

Lena and Annette both quickly slid across the muddy ground to hide behind the wooden crates. Further behind the long trenches, Both Bobchi and Vika Moo stood as they started to reload/cooldown their weapons. 

“Damn, the second bullet missed. I could have shot the noob twice. She’s a slippery player.” Bobchi said, clicking her tongue .
“Let’s keep moving, those pesky Legion are closing in on us, Moo” Vika Moo said as he ran ahead of Bobchi.

As Bobchi and Vika Moo ran further down to chase Lena and Annette, a cloud of smoke covered the area ahead of them. The two players stopped as they aimed their guns hesitantly at the dense smokescreen. 

“Another one? Just how many do they have?” Bobchi muttered.
“Let’s keep going. We’ll corner them soon enough Moo!”  Vika Moo shouted as he charged into the smokescreen.

Ernst: Despite Handler01’s constant smokescreen, team Vika Moo Moo continue their pursuit!
Grethe: At this rate, both teams are going straight to the hordes of Legion! Just what is Team Fido’s plan here?
Ernst: And while this wild chase is happening, Undertaker is making his way to the trenches’ exit and towards Zone 5. Just what is going on?

What lies before them is a wide, open landscape surrounded by high cliffs and valleys leading to other zones. The land is covered in red spider lilies, its vivid colour glows brightly under the azure sky. Within the field of flowers lies the battlefield trenches. The murky coloured earth sticks out like deep old scars across one’s skin. 

What appears in front of team Blacksnow is the gentle slope into the trenches, almost enticing them to enter. 

“Guys, we’ve made it!” Falke shouted, as he stood on top of the red spider lilies, its loose petals slowly falling to the murky dark earth. 

Behind him was Snowitch and Blackdog, both were in awe of the scenery in front of them. Despite playing on this battlefield map a number of times, it was still quite a sight to see. Snowitch was first of the two to speak. 

“Our full-area scan time limit did run out a while ago but we know that all players of team Vika Moo Moo and Fido are still in the trenches. And with around a minute left until round 3 ends, we have plenty to set our defences up.”

After noticing how multiple teams were wiped out by undertaker in round 1, they knew that being on the offensive wasn't going to work. The only other way to potentially defeat Undertaker and team Fido is through third party attacks. Snowitch of team Blacksnow saw a golden opportunity the moment they received the full-area scan. 

The legion came from Zone 2 along with Team Vika Moo Moo entering the trenches from Zone 3. With the storm consuming everything in Zone 0, that leaves just a single exit to zone 5 for both teams. And that exit is where we are now. Both teams will fight each other as well as the legion, exhausting their supplies. By the time they reach here, we will simply attack them as the storm and legion continue to push them towards us. What a truly perfect third-party attack. And with that, Undertaker’s bounty will be ours. 

Ernst: Team Blacksnow have arrived at zone 0 and are currently waiting at the exit to Zone 5. Could they be waiting for the teams to come to them?

Snowitch, Flake and Blackdog were all waiting beyond the trenches’ exit, their weapons fully loaded and ready for the upcoming attack. 

“Guys, we can’t afford to miss this opportunity of a lifetime,” Snowitch spoke clearly. “We will get Undertaker’s head!”

The moment Snowitch said that, the corner of her eyes caught a distant blurry figure hiding behind a large boulder just beside them. 

“Yes, my beloved!” Blackdog replied cheerfully.
“Let's go!” Falke shouted with optimism. 

“FLAKE! BLACKDOG! GET DOWN! 

As she shouted, it was already too late. Not her nor her teammates could move out of his line of fire on time. 

“HE’S ALREADY HERE! UNDERTAKER!”

He waited silently for the perfect moment to strike. Behind the screen, Undertaker smiled. 

It’s just as she predicted…Well done Handler01. 

Undertaker pulled the trigger of his sniper rifle.

BANG! BANG!

 [ Undertaker01 [Fido] ELIMINATED Falke [BlackSnow] ] -눈≡==✴

<Players remaining: 15>

The announcement on the elimination of Falke by Undertaker slightly confused Vika Moo and Bobchi as they continued their pursuit of Lena and Annette who were just in front of them. At the same time, Lena and Annette finally reach the location to finally start their plan. As the two reached an intersection of trenches, they ran off in opposite directions. And as planned, Vika Moo and Bobchi split up.

Grethe: Team Fido split up once more! And team Vika Moo have also split up to catch them! 

Lena remained silent as she turned into another stretch of trenches. Vika Moo followed shortly behind. Lena turned, Vika Moo followed. Lena turned, Vika Moo followed. It wasn't long until the Legion was behind Vika Moo. 

“I don’t know what you’re planning Handler01 but you can’t run forever moo,” Vika Moo stated as he was metres behind Lena. “You will have to fight me alone! And unlike Kirschblüte, I will get the job done!”

“Thank you for the concern but I think you should be worried about yourself!” Lena replied.

As his tolerance began reaching its limit, Lena continued wavering through the trenches. It wasn’t long until she saw the Legion ahead of her. Then..she threw a smokescreen in front of her?

“What, Moo?” Vika Moo spoke in confusion. He stopped as he watched Lena disappear into the dense white smoke, leaving him sandwiched between two hordes of Legion. 

Is she sacrificing herself while trying to get me killed by the Legion moo? This isn’t worth it anymore moo.

Just in front of the smokescreen ahead, Vika Moo spotted a junction leading to another trench.

I can just escape the Legion if I run this way moo!

The Legion emerged from the smokescreen where Handler01 came from as well as the one behind him had begun firing. But Vika Moo already escaped into another trench. Dashing down the murky trenches, Vika Moo looked at the time left of the round.

30 secs…I have to find Bobchi before the storm closes in-

BOOM! BOOM!!
[Vika Moo] - 30% HP remaining.

“!!!!!” 

A huge burst of flames, dark smoke and mud flew across his screen, stopping in his tracks.

Landmine? Come to think of it, there’s always some around. I better be care…ful.

Vika Moo looked ahead. 

No…it can’t be moo…She didn’t…

A long trail of landmines was planted throughout the trench ahead of Vika Moo. In some trenches within Zone 0, many traps like landmines are still intact from the unknown battles that took place as part of the game lore. AT6 players are aware of such a fact but occasionally during their intense battle, they can forget about them. Vika Moo was no exception. Usually, it’s not a problem to cross these booby-trapped trenches for players if they have sufficient healing items. But in Vika Moo’s case…

I used up all of my healing after fighting and running from Team BlackSnow… 

Vika Moo was trapped. The landmines ahead of him and the Legion were looming closer behind. And suddenly, an announcement popped up on his screen.

 [ Penr0se [Fido] ELIMINATED Bobchi [Vika Moo Moo] ] -눈≡==✴
<Players remaining: 14>

DAMN IT MOO! THEY GOT US….Okay I need to escape this zone now. But first, I need to fight off the legion before they reach here. Also, why hasn’t Handler01 been eliminated by the Legion yet?

Frustrated and confused by team Fido’s plan, he turned around. But instead of the sight of trenches leading to the legion close by, his eyes were met with a dense white smoke. 

“MOO??!”

Bullets emerged from the smokescreen. By the time Vika Moo even reacted, the bullets already hit his torso and head. 

BANG! BANG!

 [ Handler01 [Fido] ELIMINATED Vika Moo [Vika Moo Moo] ] -눈≡==✴
<Players remaining: 13>

Within the dense smokescreen, Lena stood with her handgun with the heat sensor attached. The ant-like Legion units stood still right next to Lena, unable to sense her as their blue sensor glowed faintly in the dissipating white smoke. 

Ernst: WHAT A MOMENT! TEAM FIDO’S PLANS TURNED THE TABLE AND TEAM VIKA MOO MOO HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED FROM THE GAME!

The elimination of team Vika Moo Moo on Undertaker’s screen made him smile. 

“BLACKDOG COVER ME!” Snowitch shouted as she reloaded her sniper rifle, hoping for Blackdog to keep Undertaker away from her. 

As Blackdog aimed and took his shot, Undertaker dodged. Leaving behind multiple bullets and shells in the earthy ground and none on himself. Undertaker keeps moving, sliding and jumping away from the enemies’ line of fire. 

“Damn it! He’s too quick!” Blackdog shouted, firing another round of his shotgun.

Blackdog continued to move away from undertaker, staying clear of Undertaker’s shotgun range. Undertaker was aware of Blackdog’s cautious moves. With Snowitch further behind, he couldn’t get any closer, only managing dodging Blackdog’s gunshots. He was waiting for a perfect opening between the two as their coordination was still too clean to break through. 

Then, time was up. 

< ROUND 3 IS OVER >
< THE STORM IS NOW CLOSING >
< TIME REMAINING: [01:00] >

Lena found herself running down the trenches once again. Taking a turn, she was meant with a player avatar dressed in a black lab coat and glasses with mechanical tentacles sprouting behind her back. 

“Penr0se! I’m glad you’re safe. Well done on your first kill!” Lena congratulated. “How does it feel to take down an opponent with your handgun?”
“I actually ran out of bullets…by the time Bobchi got trapped” Annette mumbled.

“Huh? Then…What did you use to beat her?”
“I…Punched her.”
“YOU WHAT NOW? YOU PUNCHED A TOP PLAYER AND WON???”
“Her HP was that low so I figured why not...Although I wished I could do the same to Undertaker…”
“What was that?” Lena’s voice deepened.
“N-NOTHING!”

Interrupting their conversation, the announcement came through as if warning them to get moving. 

< ROUND 3 IS OVER >
< THE STORM IS NOW CLOSING >
< TIME REMAINING: [01:00] >

“Oh! We need to get running. The storm will consume everything here. Go, go, go!” Lena shouted, running past Annette.
“Wait for me! I still don’t know the way out of here!”

The two rookies, trapped in a cage of pro players, ran down the trenches towards the first ranked player. 

Grethe: What a plan from Team Fido! Ernst, could you explain what just happened?

Ernst: Yes, They lured team Vika Moo Moo to the landmine-filled trenches while also trying to get the Legion to follow. Hence, trapping them. And it was clear that Handler01 found out a certain trick to evading the newly added Legion. 

Just like the players, they can’t see anything under the smokescreen. And not only she figured that out, she used that to her advantage to trick players into thinking she had died, forcing them to run down the landmines or die fighting the Legion. But instead, she used the heat sensor to deal the last blow! What an amazing plan!

Grethe: Just how did Undertaker find such an unknown player so skilled at such tactics?
Ernst: While Undertaker has the technical gaming skills, Handler01 seems to have the tactical skills to support him. If she improves her gameplay in the future, she might easily be part of the top ranked players behind Undertaker. 

Grethe: Talking about Undertaker…His continued assault on team BlackSnow is still going strong! Just how much longer can they hold out before the storm reaches them?

< THE STORM IS NOW CLOSING >
< TIME REMAINING: [00:40] >

BANG!

Blackdog dodged.

“You can’t kill us that easily!” He shouted as he moved away, revealing a line of fire from Snowitch’s sniper rifle. But Undertaker already anticipated and moved out the way.
“Just a bit longer Blackdog, we can hold him back until the end of this round!” Snowitch shouted.
“Yes Ma’am!”

Team BlackSnow couldn’t afford to waste any ammo. As the match reaches its endgame, supplies are harder to replenish. But if they can get Undertaker’s head, it’ll be worth it. 

BANG!

Undertaker fired his last shotgun shell. Blackdog dodged. 

BANG!

Blackdog fired his last shotgun shell. Undertaker dodged. 

“Snowitch! Cover me!” 

The moment he shouted those words, a shiver ran through Blackdog’s body. He felt a sinister smirk coming from Undertaker’s avatar. His eyes are covered by the orange visor yet he still felt the crimson cold gaze. 

Undertaker had found it. An opening.

He rushed forward towards Blackdog with his shotgun still unloaded, catching Blackdog in surprise. 

What? He’s coming too close to me! But Anju can cover me right?

Blacksnow was right. Snowitch covers while he reloads and continues fighting. That was their strategy to hold on against Undertaker. 

Ernst: Undertaker is rushing directly to Blackdog! Is he going for the kill? Snowitch is about to fire! 

Snowitch pressed the trigger, firing the sniper bullet directly at Undertaker's head. 

BANG!

But it didn’t hit Undertaker’s Head. Instead, it was…an external shield?! 

Snowitch let out an audible gasp. He switched to a defender class??? 

Undertaker threw one of his external shields, protecting him from Snowitch’s shot. But most importantly, he trapped himself inside with Blackdog. 

“Having a shield won’t do you any good if you also need to reload!” Blackdog shouted.
“I know.” Undertaker replied, pulling out several grenades.
“!!!!”

Blackdog eyes were glued to the grenades in his hand. 

“YOU’RE GOING TO BLOW BOTH OF US OUT?” Blackdog shouted, trying to move away. But he couldn’t. He was trapped. 

Undertaker smirked. 

“I believe I kept your health low enough. I’m still in full health so let's see how we survive several grenades exploding this close."

Unable to escape, Undertaker threw multiple grenades in the ground inside the shield. 

“BLACKDOG!” Snowitch screamed, leaving her sniper spot and running towards the external shield.
“Snowitch, I-”

KA-BOOM!

 [ Undertaker01 [Fido] ELIMINATED Blackdog [BlackSnow] ] -눈≡==✴

<Players remaining: 12>

Snowitch was too late. She froze while standing, watching the flames and black smoke contained within the hemi-spherical shield, trapping her beloved and enemy. 

Grethe: Undertaker trapped himself and Blackdog and blew everything up! Blackdog went down!
Ernst: But among the smoke! He’s still-

The external shield runtime ran out, its hexagonal panels that protected and trapped the reaper crumbled and fell to the ground from the top. The black smoke and flames escaped as if gasping for air. Within the smoke, a player box lies on the ground. And standing behind it was Undertaker, aiming his sniper rifle towards Snowitch. 

Snowitch immediately noticed and moved out of his line of fire. She threw a smokescreen as she jumped back, hiding within the white smoke.

Hearing the sounds of her footsteps becoming distant, Undertaker put down his weapon. 

“She ran away. Good,” Undertaker sighed. His evo-shield armour broke, leaving him vulnerable for a single good shot to the head. 

He turned to face the trenches. The vast field of red spider lilies and murky trenches were almost consumed by the storm. With no tall objects obstructing the view, the storm took over the sky, dying in a bright red-orange. Its constant electrical hum grew louder and louder. 

Undertaker needed to leave zone 0. 

“Undertaker! Undertaker!” the same, strangely familiar silver bell like voice finally reached his ear. Undertaker took another sigh of relief. 

Leaving the trenches exit was Lena and Annette. And behind them was...the LEGION???

“UNDERTAKER RUNNNN!” Lena shouted. 

Ernst: Snowitch escaped and Team Fido are finally reunited! But the storm is dangerously close behind along with the legion who are unaffected by the storm’s damage!

< THE STORM IS NOW CLOSING >
< TIME REMAINING: [00:10] >

Undertaker turned and ran ahead to zone 5 with Lena closely behind. Further back and closer to the legion was Annette. 

“Guys, wait for me!,” Annette shouted, trying to follow the faint shadow of Lena’s avatar player. “I can’t see through this smokescreen!

“Smokescreen?” Undertaker uttered immediately. 

It was then Undertaker realised. 

She didn’t escape, she hid!

“PENR0SE BEHIND YOU!” He shouted, hoping that Annette could react on time. 

“Penrose???” Lena turned confused.
“W-what?” Annette replied, confused. 

BANG!

“Ah.” 

Annette realised. She can’t move away in time. The bullet shattered her frail evo-shield armour, leaving her completely vulnerable to one-kill shot. 

…Exactly why am I doing this? 

The thought came back to her. Forced to play after her best friend blackmailed her. Meeting the gamer boy responsible for Lena’s fangirlism. Running from countless pro players and Legion as a bronze ranked player. Eliminating a top player by a mere punch. 

That was the story of Penr0se of AT6. 

Well…As much as I hated this…this round was…pretty fun. I still hate Undertaker’s…

No. I still hate Shin’s damn ass so much. As much as I want Lena to win, I do hope I see him die in this game. 

Annette looked to see Lena running towards her. She heard a finger being placed on a trigger of a sniper gun behind her.

“Handler01…You own me lunch for a month.”

BANG!

  [ Snowitch [BlackSnow]  ELIMINATED Penr0se [Fido] ] -눈≡==✴

<Players remaining: 11>

“PENR0SE!” Lena shouted. 

But what was in front of her was the player box with Penr0se's name on top.

[TO BE CONTINUED]

[NEXT CHAPTER: The final Bullet]