BATTLE ROYALE (6)

The bonus Items provided in the Battle Royale had unique features. All 3 of them had specific uses. The main reason for introducing these items was to make the exam more interesting and again challenging at the same time.

Important Notification - a prompt just sounded throughout the map.

Hidden Scroll activated. The user Ton has been given the privilege to act as a temporary Game Master and change one game setting. Game Setting change is now taking place…

Game Setting changed.

Temporary Game Master privilege has been revoked.

"What the hell? What just happened?" The T-party members aiming at Noah and others screamed. "What is this joke?"

Seeing them angry and in a state of confusion, Noah reacted. He could not waste this opportunity. He looked at Melv and signaled him with his eyes. In a split second, Noah used a smoke grenade near their feet and jumped back. The attackers took a second to process but immediately after figuring out what happened, they started to fire at the smoke.

But all the bullets were bouncing out as if they were hitting something. Melv had opened the Transform Shield he had in his inventory. This saved them from the gunfire.

"That idiot. He tried to attack me? I will kill you with my own hands." Kaisha was enraged.

"Calm down. For them, we are just the ladder to reach their goal." Noah replied.

"You are no less a target than us. So what do you say? Work with us once more?" smiled Melv.

Kaisha was a tough nut, but considering the situation, she agreed to form an unlikely alliance.

"How many stun grenades do you have?" asked Noah.

"One each..." replied Kaisha and Melv.

"Throw them exactly at an interval of 20 seconds. I have a plan."

"Wait for them to reload their weapons. With the constant firing, they are bound to be out of ammo. That is our moment."

As the smoke cleared, the T-party members found the Transform Shield. "Throw a molotov at it. We will burn them to death." One of them hurled a molotov at the shield. But nothing happened.

The 3 of them had already retreated and taken the cover of a nearby shack.

"Find them. Damn, where did they go? My precious points." Yelled the T-party member while reloading his gun.

"Now!" Shouted Noah from a distance.

Kaisha hurled the first stun grenade at the feet of the attackers. A Stun grenade messes with all the senses of the players whoever gets caught in its range for 3 seconds. It was enough time for Noah to launch an attack. He used Melv's AKZ-47 to land a headshot on one of the attackers. He immediately withdrew and took shelter in one of the houses.

Now only 2 T-Party members were left including their main attacker. They had almost regained their senses and seeing Noah fall back, started to spray bullets at him. Noah had calculated everything in advance. So he was unscathed from all the firing.

"Boss, I am out of ammo", said the other one.

"Pick up something from the crate. Dammit." yelled the main attacker as he started to reload.

"18, 19, 20….Good!" Noah was waiting for the next stun grenade which landed on the crate.

The one who was looting from the crate was feeling the full effect of the stun grenade.

Noah appeared from his blindspot and finished him with a spray of bullets. The main attacker, however, was waiting for Noah to appear. He could somewhat guess their plan. He sprayed at Noah and this time Noah was hit. Noah lost a lot of HP.

The gunner approached him with a twisted smile on his face. "Finally!" He aimed at Noah to finish him. An explosive sound was heard.

Jericho 941 CB. A single bullet to the head left a crate.

"Told ya. I will be the one to finish you." Kaisha smiled as she fired at the T-party member.

She came out of the hiding and took this opportunity to finish him. Now she turned to Noah pointing the gun. There was a grim look on her face. Noah also looked into her eyes which showed no discontent in pulling the trigger.

Melv came running as he found Kaisha aiming at Noah. Noah immediately signaled Melv not to approach them. Kaisha walked up to Noah pointing the gun. There was a tense situation in the air. She looked at the sky and took a deep breath. "Ahhhh…!!!" Kaisha lowered her gun and pulled Noah up. "You live to see another zone."

"Are you sure about it? What you did will put you into crosshairs with Ton..." replied Noah.

"Well, I can't take it back now. What's done is done. And I had to kill that sumBich."

Melv was clueless about what Noah and Kaisha were discussing. It took him some time to understand the situation. The T-Party members were in a party and being in a party, one can not hurt or kill a party member. So to finish the final guy, Kaisha had left the T-party.

This would also mean, she had betrayed Ton. This was a big decision for someone like Kaisha.

All this while, they did not react to the Notification that was prompted. Now, as they could take a breather, Noah looked at the map and was shocked. Seeing a dazed Noah, Melv asked, "What is it? What happened?"

"Take a look at the map", replied Noah. As all of them opened the map, they could see that the safe zone that was placed over Dubrovnik had been shifted to the middle of the map.

"So he used the Hidden Scroll to change the safe zone. We need to hurry. The Void Zone is almost here. Heal up and let's leave." Kaisha uttered.

They gathered all the supplies they could from the crates and healed up as much as possible.

"Come on Melv. We need to hurry. Stop looting." cried Noah.

"Wait, bro. Look at this."

"Wait! Isn't it a Bonus Item Card? Sky Tower Activation Card."

"He must have hidden it from Ton. We should use it bro, to reach the zone."

Last 30 minutes left in the exam. So only 2 zones left. This one will take away a lot of HP if hit.

Noah didn't hesitate and used the Sky Tower Activation Card as the zone reached them.

Bonus Item - Sky Tower Activation card used.

The zone will be halted for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes the zone will proceed faster than usual and cover its designated area.

Kaisha arrived with her armored UAZ. "Get in. We must hurry."

The 3 of them hurried towards the middle of the map. That's where Ton and the rest of the T-Party members were. The final zone and the final battle to take place.

"Bro. Take this. I can't solve it. So it's no use to me. I got it from an event." Melv handed Noah the Rubik's Cube Z. Melv got it from the event for crossing the sea. Noah looked at the cube and started solving it. Within a few seconds, he solved it. It gave him an item card.

Noah's current Items -

Bonus Item - Eden's Apple

Item card - EM RailGun

Item card - Fireborne

Item card - ?

Kaisha circled around the Mong Kok apartments and stopped at the Central District buildings.

"Ton has set up his base at the Shibuya station. A lot of folks are taking sniping positions from the Mong Kok Apartments. So this place will be rather safe and this is where our journey together ends. I can't help you anymore. I need to talk to Ton now. Next time we meet, we won't be allies." Kaisha drove towards Shibuya station.

"Well, good luck!" replied Noah.

10 minutes of zone halt was over. The zone approached faster towards the center of the map.

Noah and Melv took up positions in the Central District building adjacent to windows, following Kaisha's trail. A rocket flew towards Kaisha's vehicle. She somehow jumped out of the car injuring herself. Kaisha held herself up by the broken vehicle.

"Ton, what's the meaning of this? Why are your guys attacking me?" shouted Kaisha.

"Traitors should die..." shouted Ton from a distance.

"What traitor? All I did was survive."

"You should have died rather than colluding with that trash."

"Now tell me where he is hiding as your last act." Ton did not come out but 10 members of the T-Party squad had gathered around Kaisha.

"You are always so predictable, Ton." smiled Kaisha. She had caught the hint that Ton would likely have received a message from the T-Party members that died, about the events of Dubrovnik and figured how Ton would react. Being with Ton for so long, she could understand the machinations of Ton's mind. So she shared a plan with Noah ahead of schedule.

Kaisha looked at the Central District Buildings and uttered, "Go to Hell!"

An ear-splitting, piercing sound echoed as the EM RailGun was fired by Noah. A railgun fires high-velocity bullets using electromagnetic force. The projectile is usually devoid of explosives, depending instead on its rapid speed, mass, and kinetic energy to cause damage. In a matter of seconds, 11 crates were left in its wake. In the meantime, Melv also fired some rockets at the Mong Kok Apartments. It took down 3 of the snipers.

Total students alive - 15

Void Zone approaching. Notification prompted the next zone shift.

A lot of students came out of the capsule at the same time. The doctors and nurses were busy tending to them. One such capsule opened and a voice was heard, "My debt is paid now." Kaisha opened her eyes and left the capsule. She looked at the screen and saw her stats being displayed. "10 kills huh. That dumb Melv killed more than me. Huh!! What an irony!" she smiled.

Ton was stunned to see what just happened. He lost 10 of his party members in a split second.

"Arghhhh...Find him. Find him now. Or I will kill you all. Noahhhh..." screamed Ton.

The members left in the Mong Kok Apartments also gathered around Shibuya Station. Everyone started searching for Noah and Melv.

The next zone shifted towards Shibuya station. It was everyone's guess that the final zone will definitely fall in Shibuya Station. Esrtwhile Noah and Melv had gathered all necessary items from the Central District buildings. They started moving towards the Shibuya Station. But a lot of the party members were patrolling. Only 10 minutes left in the exam.

"Time to use the item you gave me Melv." Noah used the card he got from the Rubik's cube Z. It was Camouflage, which is concealing one's presence for 2 minutes. It was the perfect weapon for Noah. Noah and Melv made a plan. Noah unequipped all weapons except the knife. It will be swifter to move that way without extra weightage.

The Camouflage helped Noah single out an enemy and take him down with a knife blow. Once he took down one party member, he would fall back to the shadows and proceed to the other. It was a well-calculated strategy for him. He was following the trait of an assassin. As Noah was eliminating his opponents, he was also making a path for Melv to reach the Shibuya station safely. Melv followed him and reached the Shibuya Station parking lot.

Total students alive - 8

Void Zone approaching. Notification prompted the next zone shift.

"The next one will be the final zone. We are safely inside. Right bro?" asked Melv.

"Let's hold here for a moment. There are only 5 of them and Ton. They must be inside."

Noah and Melv were hiding behind a car as they waited for the next zone announcement.

Ton and the other five students were also taking positions in the station. Ton signaled 5 of them to circle round the parking lot and catch them off-guard. They found out the position of Noah and Melv some time back. But they were carefully taking their steps.

As they circled around, Noah noticed two of them. He took a weapon from Melv to fire at them. He took one down with a headshot. The other 4 attackers started to fire at Noah from the cover of a wall. They used smoke to approach the vehicles.

Melv fired at them in the smoke, eliminated one of them but was soon out of ammo. They were carrying limited ammo as their inventory was stuffed with equipment items, in light of the last zone. He felt helpless in such a situation. He couldn't be of any assistance to Noah. It was then that his eyes fell on Ton, who was hurling something at them. Melv's eyes widened as he realized something bad was about to happen. He immediately pushed Noah away from the area with all his strength.

Noah, who was still fighting with the other 3, was unaware of Melv's predicament. He was shocked when Melv pushed him. As he tried to stand up, he saw that the other 3 had almost reached an unarmed Melv. Also, a bomb came in from nowhere. It was no ordinary bomb, rather a Void Zone Bomb. This bomb will engulf an area for 10 seconds and suck away all HP within that time.

"Hee….Seeya on the other side buddy." Melv smiled at Noah as he threw a sticky bomb at his feet. The other 3 assailants tried to run out of the Void Zone but with HP chipping away and the sticky bomb combined, Melv took all of them to their crates.

Noah was shocked to see such a selfless act from Melv. His eyes moistened as he could not save his friend. But he picked himself up as the notification prompted.

Total students alive - 2

The Final Zone will start shrinking in 2 minutes.

Last 3 minutes left in the match. It was a true battle of survival.

Will you fight or will you heal and wait for the other one to die?

...