Key softly closed the door behind him and silently hurried to the back of a black stall. No sound was made in the rapid steps. His armor was embedded in fabric, not a plate clanged with another.
He was on the first floor, outside the sphere of different stalls of cosmetics. All the floors above were ring-like, circular corridors with the exterior side aligned with the facade of restaurants, shops, boutiques, etc. The inner side, however, was empty, just like holes in rings. Anyone who stood close to the glass balustrade could look downward at the first floor.
In reverse, everyone on the first floor could see the edge of every other floor. It was just much harder to track. Granted, it was not the case for Key Rayth. His augmented vision could lock onto Kiznaq the moment he came in sight.
Holding the grenade launcher in his right hand, Key clicked on the control panel at the side of his "U." Then, he stuck his upper body out and aimed at a random stall.
A red ball was shot from one of the "U"'s two legs. The ball hit the stall and ricocheted to the roof of another stall in the center of the first floor.
The lower half of the ball transformed into four identical prongs and pierced into the roof, affixing the ball there. The top of the ball opened and revealed a dome camera. It monitored everything from the roofs of stalls to the pendent light on the mall's ceiling. The graphics were projected onto Key's sunglasses.
He patiently waited, knowing he would catch Kiznaq first. His hips sat motionlessly on the ground, and his eyes focused on the corner of the sunglasses that showed him the center of the mall.
The first sniper to lose focus would be the first sniper to die.
Well, unless the sniper could bend lightning.
A horizontal lightning bolt penetrated the mall from the third floor, breaking into the monitor's sight. Immediately following was another perpendicular strike coming from the second floor. Then, another went through the third floor again.
'Ow is this 'appening? Isn't lightning vertical? Damn. It must be Kiznaq. 'E must 'ave learned 'ow to bend lightning. Damn, but it is not too bad.
Key saw a tiny piece of concrete debris falling beside him.
'Is lightning can crash concrete? I 'ave to find Kiznaq before 'e bring the entire building down. If I get out of the mall, I could wait until Kiznaq exhausted 'imself. But, then, I would need to fight Kiznaq without a roof.
Key aimed his "U" at the second floor and clicked another button on the control panel.
A grappling hook was launched from the barrel between the "U"'s two legs. The spike in the center of the hook pricked into the side of the corridor, and the three prongs around it followed.
Beneath the horizontal lightning barrage, Key pulled himself up to the second floor. Bursting concrete fell beside him and around him. He rushed from shop to shop, scanning each one as he ran past their facades. Despite his sprinting, rounding the floor was still triggering Key's impatience.
Then, a strand of lightning struck centimeters before Key, startling him into halting and tripping.
"Damn," Key sighed weakly and got up from the ground to continue to the fourth floor. He skipped the third floor, which was under the heaviest attack. A part of him thought Kiznaq might be hiding there. Yet that part of himself was not enough for Key to take the risk. Thus, he searched the fourth and fifth floors just to realize that Kiznaq might not even be in the mall.
Why have I not thought of it?
Key bashed his own head.
The simulation contained the mall and some space outside it. Of course, Kiznaq did not enter the mall. He just has to stand on the edge of the simulation and wait for me to show up. He does not even need to find me. Why have I never thought of it?
Key crouched down with his eyes shut and both hands on his head.
My brain tricked me. It made me believe in what is convenient for me. Mr. Dowii had been reminding me of this a million times already, and I did not improve a bit. Damn!
Clenching his empty hand, Key opened his eyes and stood up. Now was not the time for an emotional period, and he knew it. Now, he had to focus on defeating Kiznaq. After that, he would mock Kiznaq in front of everybody. Everyone would realize how strong Key was. All the restless training would pay off. Key would crawl for this victory.
I have to put Kiznaq under pressure like he did to me. How can I do that?
Key spotted a boutique with its glass outer wall exploded by lightning. With only a few exceptions, most other shops' outer walls were made of concrete or steel, so the lightning could only prick tiny holes in them. This fully destroyed glass wall was Key's perfect spot to initiate his attack.
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He shot a red ball at the boutique's counter and held up his grenade launcher as the ball bounced out of the broken wall. Simultaneously, the lower half of the ball disassembled, revealing the dome camera.
Key betted the right spot. The monitor ball instantly caught the Kiznaq standing before the building. The image was sent before Key's eyes. A green reference line emerged in Key's vision. He aligned his launcher with the green line and fired. Supposedly, the grenade would ricochet on the simulator's invisible wall and plummet on Kiznaq.
Yet, the execution did not go as planned.
A strand of lightning halted before the shattered glass and turned ninety degrees. It struck on the grenade when it was only halfway before exiting the mall.
The electrified explosion pushed Key out of the boutique, off the fifth floor. The launcher fell to the first floor. Key only merely grabbed the edge of the corridor. His body loosely hung on the edge, slightly swaying in the air. He blankly watched another strike of lightning flying over him. His connection with the ball he just shot was already gone.
Panting, Key recovered from the mental shock and reevaluated the situation.
I'm not hurt, but my launcher is gone. I know where Kiznaq is now, but he must have changed position. Uh, damn! Nothing is working in my favor.
As he thought, another flash of lightning went by above his knuckles, a few centimeters away from tearing them off. Key released his grip and dropped to the fourth floor. He lay down, one leg swinging by the edge of the corridor.
I still have two more monitor balls and two shots of electric nets. My "U" can still flash, and my grappling hook can still function. I have to come up with something. I have to!
"This is horrible," Glacia commented, staring at her desperate teammate on the screen.
Meanwhile, a chubby white boy was jumping on the neighboring set of couches, shouting, "Kiznaq is the GOAT! He's the absolute GOAT!" His plump arms were held over his head. He wore a black T-shirt and casual blue shorts. His clean undercut was as common as it could be.
Hiroku rubbed his eyes in annoyance, and Glacia went on toying with his ponytail. Ramiron, on the other hand, seemed unbothered by the screaming 6th grader. She carefully inspected Key, which triggered Glacia's curiosity after a glimpse.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"I'm just thinking, what would I do if I were him?"
"I'd just surrender and end the simulation," Glacia said and pulled Hiroku's hair softly, waiting for his answer.
"Let me think," Hiroku answered without looking up.
Ramiron pointed at the screen. "Did he just give up?" Key had climbed back to the fifth floor after most lightning concentrated back to the third floor again. He sat beside a shattered glass wall and reclined against the broken counter next to it.
Hiroku, raising his head from his supporting palm, said, "If he stays on the first floor, he will be crushed by the entire wreckage. The match would be over at that point. He is trying to take the fight after the mall's collapse."
"This means Key had figured out a way to attack faster than lightning." Glacia made an optimistic assumption, and Ramiron went in the opposite direction.
"Or, he is too desperate to come up with an actual plan, so he just bet on his luck," Ramiron said, sipping her energy drink.
Glacia pouted her lips and countered, "Can't you have a bit more trust in your teammate?"
Before Glacia could unleash an entire complaint, Hiroku lightly touched her wrist, halting her surging words. Glacia focused back on fiddling with the ponytail. This time, she played a bit harder than before.
On the other side of the lounge, Dior, the chubby boy, had already stopped yelling and jumping long ago. Glacia did not notice when he stopped, but she could tell it was probably Mina who stopped him.
Eventually, the mall collapsed from the third floor. The side opposite Kiznaq was the first to break. It crumbled from the third floor. Everything above was devoured into the second and first floors. The upper half of the building was basically turned to a right angle and shoved into the lower half. Before the upper mall fully descended, a monitor ball was sent out from the fifth floor, piercing through the dusty smoke. Following, Key rushed out. He fired his electric net into the sky as Kiznaq's image entered the monitor's vision.
Kiznaq noticed the flying net while his thunderbolt plummeted on the monitor ball. He glared at the approaching net with sweat sliding down his forehead until the next strike of lightning was ready.
A smile of relief emerged on his face when his lightning hit the ground in front of him, scorching the electric net and throwing it off its trajectory. Simultaneously, Dior yelled, "Yes!" He was again jumping on the couch. On the other side of the lounge, all three of Key's teammates stared at the rightmost screen.
The lightning blocked Kiznaq's own sight. When the lightning vanished, he saw Key's grappling hook stuck before him and Key falling from the sky, being pulled forward by the hook.
The scene did not startle Kiznaq, for Key could not reach him before his next charge of lightning became available.
Key faced the "U"'s display panel at Kiznaq. "Flash," he said and clicked on the control panel.
A flare of pure white light burst and spewed from the display panel.
"Ahh!" Kiznaq screamed in pain as he shut his eyes and spontaneously turned away from Key. Panicking, he launched the lightning at random and received another electric net in return. Wrapped, he dropped to the ground, convulsing.
Key, suffering much worse, landed on the ground with his entire shanks, heels to knees, cracking into fragments. The only thing keeping the bone debris from exploding outward was his pair of armored trousers. Rolling on the ground, he held his screech, teeth clenching. When the rolling finally ceased, Key crawled up, sitting awkwardly in pain, and launched his last monitor ball into the sky.
Dior whined loudly in despair. Glacia slowly began clapping, and then everyone else, including Mina and Kirane from the other squad, followed. Hiroku smiled and let out puffs of short titters. Ramiron clapped the loudest and battled Dior's disappointed groan with her victorious laughter.
The ball plunged on Kiznaq's head, opening it and ending the match.
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