"Do not let him escape!" Matthew shouts as he plunges at Alex with his sword. Alex blocks his attack using his own, while the spirits turn into a shiny sword for the counter attack.

Matthew immediately dodges to avoid the slash.

"System call... Teleport!" And with that, Alex starts to dissappear. "Meet you later players" he says, as he vanishes in thin air. I gaze into the empty space for a minute where the traitor once stood.

Meanwhile, The others surround Jake's, now dissappearing body as Vivien caries him in her arms, crying out loud. It was rather shocking to see her former prideful nature to fall into this state. Rumours say that she was in love with Jake even before the game had begun. And now, None could say a thing to her, because even a single misplaced word could shatter her fragile heart.

Few minutes past by, and then Vivien gets up, wiping away her tears. Sarah gives a small pat on her back and hugs her. Matthew nods as he walks towards the elevator. By his gesture, it was understandable that it's time to move on. But we totally forgot about one thing. We have to reframe our team due to the elevator's six person limit.

Matthew, keeps walking back and froth thinking about the team and he finally comes up with a decision. He then calls out Sarah, Zack, Audrey, Anderson and Jovi. "Whoever I've called out shall come with me while the rest, search for the last bomb"

"Hey! Why haven't you taken me in?" Shu argues.

"That's because you completely look worn out right now" I comment. Afterall, the last shot from the demolisher had sucked out all the energy he had. Also this is the most balanced and strongest team Matthew could decide. The crowd lessens as the six chosen members get into the elevator.

Few minutes of silence, and we decide to move on. But I realize Ashlee's missing?! Where could she have gone? I grab hold of Lucas' arm and drag him along with me as I run.

"Ashlee's missing! Lucas, Search as far as you can" I command.

"What?! But why would she do that?" Lucas asks, confused. With no further questions, he calls out sonic and we search the whole parameter. We stop infront of a building with just a floor remaining.

"She's on the other side in a narrow alley.." and then he starts to panick. "She isn't alone! Ashlee's been surrounded by a group of bots!"

Without any further ado, I activate my spell, "Galwaf arnat i roi grym y camau arnofio i mi - i call upon thee to give the power of floating steps" as I climb over the bulding. There she is! I equip my dagger and pounce at the bot closest to her. But I can't beat so many alone! I look back at her to see her sullen face now staring at me. And then, she cries out "Why are you here?"

"What else could be the reason? I've come to help you" I shout back.

"But, I don't need help! Wherever I go, I bring trouble along with me. I rather die than being saved all the time"

"It isn't just you who feels that way! It isn't because of you that trouble exists, it's just the way the world is..." A bot shoots my leg, throwing me down. Oh come on! if I can't save her at this point, we both are doomed.

She grits her teeth and clenches her fists as she screams, "Then is there any other way to escape this despicable fate?!"

I stand up and hug her gently. "Let me show you the way" I whisper in her ear. She hugs me back tightly, with her face buried in my chest as tears roll down from her snow white eyes.

And then, I get back to my senses realizing that we were acting all cuddly in the middle of a fight! More bots join in as they corner us completely. Okay, now why does this sound like a double suicide?

Suddenly all the bots crash, upon being sliced by a red blade. Isn't that a scythe? And the one wielding it... It's Amber! With the slender sunlight giving her scythe a shiny red appearance she appears.

"Hey guys! I've heard gunshots here so I came to check it out. And..." She smirks while folding her arms, "Nuke, long are you planning on holding her?" Ashlee immediately steps back, flushed.

Amber stamps on my foot as she speaks, "Anyways, the brawlers have located the last bomb. But they say that the defence is impenetrable!"

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"There's a tank stationed right in front of the bomb and blows up anything in its range." She adds.

"A tank?" That's something I wished to never face in this quest. We cannot beat it at a far range, so we need to find away to block it's attack and at the same time get past it... That's it, the answer's air! "I think we can beat the tank using my ability!"

"How's that possible? And you can't go in there alone! You would be shot by the bots" Amber yells.

I stamp her feet with two times the power as I say, "Firstly, I'm not the only one to gonna go in there. If we equip Shu's void glove with anyone who's fast, it would he nearly impossible to take them down by a tank! And then we can land on the tank and destroy it from the inside using a grenade. And once it's over, the others charge in and take over the bomb."

Well that's a risky mission but to my calculations, that's the only way to get in.

And with that, she immediately withdraws her foot and guides to a street at close proximity to the tank. And from there, we could see it crystal clear. A bomb in the centre of the road guarded by a tank, five heavily armed bots and three drones.

The others gather around us as well, as I let out my plan. But who's going to go along with me?

"I'll do it" I hear Ashlee say gloomily yet with a tiny spark in her eyes. Is she going to be okay?

"It's decided then!" Ashley affirms. She pats me and Ashlee as she whispers, "Make sure you both come back safe"

Vivien taps her staff on the ground as purple rings surround me and Ashlee.
"And with this there would be an energy equilibrium between Nuke and Ashlee. And I hope you brats understand what it implies"

Energy equilibrium? Does that mean Ashlee and I are sharing all the energy we have left in us? That's cool!
The rings shrink as each one of them wind up around our right wrists . Then they sink into our skin and make a purple mark.

And that was our call! "Galwaf arnat i roi grym y camau arnofio i mi - i call upon thee to give the power of floating steps" I enchant. I step into air as I look down at Ashlee. Shu lends his void glove to her as she equips it. And now our tag team's ready.

I grab her hand and pull her onto me. "Are you ready?" I whisper in her ear. She nods and squeezes my hand making sure I don't fall back. And then she sprints towards the tank dragging me along with her. I equip the 'deathly hand' hand gun as I shoot at the drones close to us. Ashlee equips a kunai and strikes another. With the wind gushing past me, we dance in the air taking down all the bots and drones in our range. And finally, we reach the tank.

The tank turns towards us as it fires. Just like we had anticipated, it's attack missed. We jump down at the tank as we dodge all the bots' crossfire. Ashlee breaks open the entrance of the tank as I slide the grenade Preston had given me. We immediately jump away as the tank explodes, with its chains and metal crashing onto the enemy bots. And with the blast Ashley, Shu and the others sprint towards us taking down all the bots in their way. They meet up with us as we finally set foot to disarm the bomb.

But suddenly, we hear sounds. Huge metal foot steps.. and then we could see it. Equipped with missiles and machine guns, a huge crusher appears as it stands in our way. Everybody back away, panick strucken. This isn't going to be easy. Hmm... Is it really necessary to defeat the bots.. and then an idea strikes my mind.

"Vivien how long can you hold down the crusher?" I ask.

"Not more than twenty seconds if it's that big" she grumbles.

"Then, do it now!" I command as I grab hold of Ashlees arm and hop in the air. I whisper the spell quickly and land in the air with one foot. And with that, Ashlee understood what I had intended to do. She kicks the air as we sprint towards the crusher. The whole ground turns darkers and the crusher trips and falls. And now, we have twenty seconds before Vivien's overcontrol spell gets worn out.

"I can't hold it for more than ten seconds" I hear Vivien shout, breathlessly. Ten seconds?! How are we gonna make it in ten seconds?

"We can make it" Ashlee whispers as she makes sure she doesn't run out of breath. And then before I realize, she grabs my jacket using the hand equipped with the void glove and throws me at the bomb with full force. Once I get past the crusher, I could see it getting back up again. I crash on the ground just a few metres away from the bomb. I roll, dodging the crusher's bullets. It has to be taken down before it shoots!

Suddenly, the bot falls once again, as sonic pops out from it's leg with a bundle of wires in its mouth. Now's my chance! I dash forward with all the strength I have left. I stretch my arm. And then, I see a bot standing towards my right, aiming at me with a mini gun. Oh no! It'll be too late by the time I reach for my gun. And then it falls down as I see a laser passing though it. What was that?!

Without any further delay, I press the button on the bomb, disarming it. All the bots surrounding us dissappear, as a huge banner appears on the top, "Quest cleared! Location- Krupus city unlocked. Three gold coins, ten silver coins, ten thousand exp awarded." Whoa! That's nearly double of the quest we had clear last time. But... Who was that? I turn back towards the fallen bot to see Matthew and his crew catching up. Could it be....

"Nuke look what I have found!" Audrey jumps on me. "What?" I shove her away. She pulls out a red coloured sniper gun. It had to be that!

"A magma rifle?! Isn't that an Easter egg in the sniper's dimension tournament?"

"Yup it is! I found this at the roof of the tower. And then I came to a realization that this is a part of the sniper's dimension tournament map!"

Whoa! All this time I hadn't realized I was in the map I had played the tournament. So this is the place where it had all started...

Suddenly the whole ground starts to shake as all the wrecked and damaged buildings start get reconstructed on it's own

I turn back towards Audrey as I question her, "How did you know the Brazen Eagle's leader was Alex Stoian? Just who are you?"

"You must have already guessed that. Don't you recognize my voice?"she whispers.

"Wait... You're the girl who got me back to the real world thay night?"

"Yup! Nice guess"

"So then.. you must be Dr. Stoian's daughter!" I shout in excitement.

"Keep it down will ya? And yes it is me. I've been assigned to help you unviel the secret organisation. Also, Ashlee and you had a body swap few hours ago right?"

"How did you know?" I ask her, baffled.

"I had a doubt because you were acting all coy and girly back then when I came to get you guys. Ashlee's really a bad actress I shall say." She laughs.

"Yeah you're right about that. But do you know what happened back then?" I ask her once again.

"I don't know either. There must be some kind of bug in the servers. And I don't think it would ever be fixed"

"So these incidents can keep happening?" I groan.

"Yup" she says.

And then Audrey walks back to her team. I traipse towards Ashlee who was now staring at the sky. At that one point I thought.. after what had happened today, I cannot let go of her in the state she is in..

I stand beside her as I wrap my arm around her waist. If she is the other test subject, then...

"Did you know about my condition in the real world" she asks in a rather morose tone.

I nod, unable to utter any words. The one who is going to suffer the most in here is her. I know that she's going to die soon but I cannot let die in this miserable place. And for that..

"I will save you. If you are going die, then it has to be in a place where your existence will never fade away. I promise I will get you out of this cruel world and try to find a cure to heal you. This is not the end.."

"Enough... Please don't say another word..." She leans on me, tears flowing out of her eyes. This isn't the end but just the beginning. Alex is going to pay for what he has done. And I will make sure the organisation is destroyed by my own hands. If it's a hero the world wants, then a hero I shall be! And that's the commitment I have made... A vow that will make the world a better place.

(I just wanted a nice ending for this chapter because there would be a rather abrupt and different start in the next one. Just listen to this ending song before you move on to the next)

{ The Greatest Showman Cast - This Is Me (Official ...: https://youtu.be/wEJd2RyGm8Q }