The Last Stand (16)

Minutes stretched into hours, and the battlefield slowly transformed from chaos to grim silence.

The battlefield was strewn with the remains of the fallen—players and NPCs alike. Barricades lay smashed and scattered across the ground, their original purpose reduced to nothing but debris in the wake of the chaos.

Gunfire, once a constant roar, had faded to sporadic bursts, each crack echoing faintly through the ruins, a far cry from the relentless cacophony that had filled the air just hours before.

What had started as a massive free-for-all had now dwindled into isolated skirmishes, the combatants reduced to those desperate or skilled enough to survive.

Aurielle crouched behind a cluster of rusted machinery, her pistols resting lightly in her hands.

The faintest smirk curled her lips as her violet eyes scanned the battlefield. "Numbers are thinning. Won't be long now."