Dan’s HUD directed him and his team to a waiting area where he and his teammates simply waited for the remaining timer to run down and for whoever was left outside to make their way into the facility. Dan sat on the floor and leaned back against a wall. Li stood standing with his arms folded while Angie rested her head on Dan’s shoulder.

Even though he had already received the notification, Dan brought it up again in front of his eyes.

Congratulations. You have survived the battle royale round of the Combat Games and your team will progress to the last round.

Constriction reward: Deathdealer grenade launcher + 7000 credits for each team member.

Bonus experience rewarded for completing round.

Dan heard footsteps from the hallway his team had entered and numerous other contestants entered the waiting area. Among the first was Rachel and her team of Prime Swords. Dan wasn’t surprised to see the trio. Behind her was a mix of numerous agents from the other subsidiary shards, all varying in number.

Miles and his team were the last to enter the room. The blond agent glanced at Dan and gave him a respectful nod.

Including his own team, Dan counted five teams and sixteen agents that had passed the fourth round of the Combat Games. Their numbers had significantly thinned out since the start of the of the tournament.

As the teams spread out to find their own corners to rest, the announcer’s voice blared through the PA system.

“Welcome to the final round of the Combat Games,” the voice said. “You have a few minutes to catch your breath before we get started immediately.”

The entire room didn’t react too well to the news.

“That fucking sucks, brah,” Miles said.

It was understandable that all of them had just survived walking through the desolate forest and covered vast ground while fighting off other teams and hostile wildlife. Even Dan had to admit that having to start the fifth round almost immediately was harsh.

He remembered the conversation he had with Miles in the forest about the nature of the Combat Games in its current iteration. They were being worked to the bone.

Dan was thankful he had purchased the alpha cell injection before the start of the Combat Games. He didn’t feel as fatigued as he should be, most likely due to the slower build up of lactic acids in his muscles.

“The fifth round of the Combat Games will be the most simple and straightforward of all the rounds. The fifth round will be the sudden death game. All agents will be pitted in one on one battles with each other in close combat. No weapons allowed. This will be pure hand to hand combat in an enclosed space.”

“Well this should be fun,” Li said. “Like a good old fashioned fight club.” The stealth specialist glanced over at Miles’ team. In turn, Miles stared back at Li with a grin. Li’s gaze then rested on Rachel’s team, the same team who had given them a hard time during the cash grab round.

The AI announcer continued. “In the sudden death games, a compititor loses if they are killed, considered too injured to continue, forfeit, or smuggling of weapons. There will be no time limit. All competitors must defeat their opponents to complete the round.”

“Hmm… seems a bit basic, don’t you think?” Dan said.

Angie lifted her head off his shoulder. “What do you mean?”

“The final round of the Combat Games is just one on one fights with fists? After all the crazy shit we’ve been through? I was expecting something a lot more bombastic than just a fighting tournament,” Dan said.

Constrictions in place.

No general contractions in place.

Your constriction: Stat debuff: a 30% nerf to all category stats via mandatory serum injection. Applies to all competitors.

Constriction reward: A 20% discount voucher for your next armor set.

Dan stared blankly at the text in his vision. A stat debuff that applied to him and his teammates felt like rubbing salt into a wound. Everyone here had to be exhausted from the previous round. Now, Dan and his team were put into a further disadvantage.

“Geez, talk about a handicap,” Dan muttered.

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“I guess we’re going to have a challenge on our hands,” Li remarked.

Angie rolled her eyes. “Just kill me at this point.”

Dan wondered what constrictions were in place for the other teams. He looked around and tried to gauge the reactions of the other agents. Miles and his team’s expressions were grim, which made Dan assume that their constriction wasn’t any better than his own. The three other teams hadn’t taken their helmets off and were still slumped in their respective corners from general exhaustion.

Unsurprisingly, Dan couldn’t gather anything from Rachel’s team. He wondered if it was merely confidence that they would smash through the last round of the Combat Games.

“All agents, please follow your HUD markers to the combat arena. A few of you will take detours to apply your respective constrictions. Good luck,” the AI voice said.

Dan got up from the wall and walked around Angie, though he was stopped by something grabbing his fingers and tugging at him. He looked down and saw the strawberry blond looking up at him. Angie was the one tugging his fingers. Dan picked up on the non verbal cue and grabbed her hand, pulling her up.

“Thanks,” Angie said.

“No problem. Now, let’s go and get that mandatory injection that will make us weaker,” Dan said.

Dan followed the gold chevrons on the floor leading them to the arena. A few seconds later, a set of green chevrons formed on the ground that led Dan and his team to a slight detour. He assumed this was where he and his team would be injected with the debuff serum.

The path of green along the floor led the trio into a room where an autonomous mechanical arm with a robotic hand and syringe laid on a table waiting for them.

The same announcer voice boomed through the mechanical arm. “Please await injection of the serum to apply your stat debuff constriction for this round. You will experience a 30% stat decrease across all category stats.”

Li stepped forward and the voice continued. “Please step into the circle on the floor and offer your arm.”

The stealth specialist followed instructions and lowered the right side of his coat to expose his armor. Dan looked at his teammate with a confused expression as Li plucked away at some patch on his upper arm. Then, the machine injected him with the syringe.

“What the hell?” Dan said.

Li glanced at him and said, “Once you upgrade to armor beyond your starting suit, you have specific areas in your armor that you can release to allow for direct injections, whether that be healing stims or for injections at a clinic while keeping your armor on.”

“So… we can’t just stick needles into anywhere anymore?” Dan asked. He braced himself just in case Li called him an idiot.

“The starting armor was softer and more malleable which allowed for such… crudeness. It has self-repairing weave to cover up the holes left by a healing stim. Unfortunately, that made the armor itself less durable and protective overall.”

“Huh, I see,” Dan said.

After Li’s injection was complete, the stealth specialist stepped away from the circle and didn’t say a word. Dan stepped up next and rolled down his long coat while the mechanical arm discarded the syringe and prepared a new one.

Just as Li said, he found a specific patch along his upper arm that allowed injections without needed to punch a hole through the material. He simply lifted the material which exposed a small patch of his upper arm.

The mechanical arm readied itself and then shoved the needle into Dan’s arm. After the injection was done, Dan immediately felt the difference. While the difference wasn’t enormous, Dan felt as if he had suddenly gained weight and his energy levels sharply decreased. He could feel his eyelids slowly closing shut and now he had to actively keep himself awake.

“Well, this feels like crap,” he said candidly.

“It feels like I’m having a hangover,” Li said. “I’m not surprised that such a constriction exists. Having to fight while being in the worst condition in your life seems like something the Alpha Corp would come up with.”

Angie just finished her injection and she joined the duo. “Shit, you’re right. This feels like total ass. How do they expect us to put on a good show with this bullshit?”

“Regardless, we still have to give it our all,” Li stated. “There’s no excuses on the battlefield.”

“Yeah yeah,” Angie waved dismissively.

The trio emerged out of the room and followed the gold chevrons on the ground to the arena. Once they made it to the set of double doors, they opened to a vast and empty room. The sharp lines of light formed a rectangle in the floor.

Dan and his teammates walked in and saw all the other teams have already gathered and stood just outside of the rectangle on the floor. The walls, floor and ceiling was a dull cobalt blue combined with the harsh floor lighting and the dim lights above. The team walked towards the closest side of the glowing border along the floor that made up the rectangle of white light.

A projection of garbled text popped up high above the center of the rectangular section of the floor.

Determining first match up…

Dan watched intently as the holographic text cycled through numerous names seemingly at random before the first match up stopped at two names.

1st match: Rachel Cutter (PS) vs Miles Venator (AC).

Combatants, please enter the arena.

“Oh shit,” Dan whispered.

“If I wasn’t nervous before, I am now,” Angie said. “That bitch annoys me, but she’s strong. Miles might be in big trouble.”

Li made no comment and simply crossed his arms.

Dan watched as each combatant walked past the white lines of light on either side. Rachel entered from the left while Miles entered from the right. A sudden hiss sound came from the floor and Dan watched as the ground beneath the two fighters slowly raised until the entire section of the fighting arena was around two-thirds of a meter raised above the rest of the floor.

“Wow, that’s fancy,” Dan said.

“A bit of a waste of the architect’s time if you ask me,” Li remarked.

The match will begin in 5…4…3…2…

Dan felt Angie grab his upper arm as she watched her former teammate face forward against one of the toughest opponents Dan had faced so far in the Combat Games.