Remaining Players: 51
Hunt Objective: 72 Hours Remaining
The ruins of Sector B2 gave way to the "Graveyard Grid"—a long corridor of collapsed data towers that pulsed with fractured holograms. Ghost-like figures flickered along the walls: recordings of past players screaming, crying… dying.
Lila clung to Amara's arm. "Why are they showing this?"
"It's psychological warfare," Amara said. "The game wants us paranoid. It wants to break us."
Aiden couldn't stop thinking about the man he just helped eliminate—Gunter. The arrow to his chest. The silence in his final breath. What kind of man had he been outside the game?
"You alright?" Takumi asked, walking beside him, still favoring his leg.
"No," Aiden answered honestly. "But I don't think we get to be alright anymore."
Suddenly, the group's devices buzzed.
System Interruption: UNKNOWN SIGNAL BREACH
Data Corruption Detected. Safe Zones Temporarily Disabled.
Warning: Phantom Players Active.
"Phantom players?" Lila asked. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Before anyone could answer, a strange echo filled the air—metal on stone, static in the sky, and a voice:
"Players… not all of you are real. Some are shadows. Copies. Fragments."
Then everything glitched.
The trees shimmered. The floor flickered. Rena's face became pixelated, then snapped back.
Takumi stumbled. "Is this a bug?"
"No," Rena said. "It's intentional. They're changing the rules again."
Suddenly, from the fog—a copy of Aiden stepped out. Identical face. Same clothes. Same scar.
"What the hell—" Aiden stepped back.
The copy lunged.
Rena and Amara reacted fast, but the phantom fought like a blur—slashing, dodging, mimicking Aiden's moves exactly.
"It's not just visual," Takumi shouted. "It knows your style!"
Aiden ducked a punch, then kicked the copy backward. It hit a wall, flickered—and shattered like glass.
Phantom Terminated
Warning: Fragment Memory Extracted
System Learning from Player #013
The device on Aiden's wrist beeped.
"Combat Data Uploaded. AI Adaptation Increasing."
"They're using us to build smarter enemies," Amara growled. "We're not just contestants anymore—we're training data."
"Someone's watching," Rena said. "Not for entertainment. For evolution."
Lila looked terrified. "Then what are we really fighting for?"
Aiden stared up at the flickering sky.
If their moves were being recorded, their strategies copied, their emotions used as tests…
Then maybe the game wasn't about winning at all.
Maybe it was about breaking the code—before the code broke them.
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