Evening Game
Chapter 39

The second he opened his eyes, he found himself looking at the green soccer field situated in the center of this large stadium. Fiona stood in the middle, her sword in her hand, a brown crate in front of her. He couldn’t feel his limbs, nor could he move his eyes, but what he could see was the fast movements of his ‘body’ darting, leaping, and running above the row of chairs.

This body brought a sniper rifle up to face level. The left hand held the space behind its bipod, holding the entire thing in place, while the right cocked the bolt handle. It quickly moved toward the trigger and pulled it without even the slightest hint of hesitation. The place it was aimed at wasn’t Fiona, not even near her, but instead toward the row of seats on Fiona’s left.

Ethan soon realized that he was inside Chione’s body. He was dead, thus all he could do now was speak to Chione while having his vision limited to what Chione was seeing, and that Chione was now firing frantically at that point in the stadium.

She didn’t say anything, her breathing harsh and rugged as she cocked the bolt and fired another bullet, and another. Despite the shaking, she was accurate enough to land a hit near Kennard, one hitting the seats and throwing its plastic shards toward him while the second managed to hit him in the face. Kennard stood up and tried to run, but a third shot finished him.

Fiona realized the threat and brought her hand down to her waist.

Weapon switch!

She pulled out an assault rifle that replaced her sword and fired at Chione. Chione purposely failed her next jump and let herself fall behind the chairs. Bullets tore through the chairs, sending shards flying all around her. She crawled away at breakneck speed, before stopping in her tracks and fully lying down. She covered her head from the sharp plastic falling on her, the armor she wore changing colors to blend her with the concrete below her.

“Chione…”

Since he was dead, his voice wouldn’t be audible to anyone but Chione, but if Chione wanted to speak to him, she would still need to spell out her words. Chione remained silent for a second, most likely unaware of this fact.

“Did you hear what I just said?”

Chione mumbled in a hushed tone. Fiona’s gun stopped, leaving the entire row in ruins.

“No.”

“I’ll avenge you.”

She said, reaching for her sniper rifle. The way she hit Kennard from such a distance was impressive, but Ethan couldn’t see her winning against Fiona that way, not from this distance. Fiona had the better agility, and she was probably in the process of getting running for Chione’s position. Chione glanced at the field, its green grass visible from underneath the seats, Fiona’s figure nowhere to be found.

“But-”

“Don’t worry.”

With that simple statement, she stood up high, exposing herself. Chione’s sights landed on Fiona who was already on the first row, her assault rifle in hand. They had a staredown, and while Chione’s attention was focused on Fiona and Fiona alone, Ethan paid attention to what he could see, trying to confirm whether they were truly among the last players or not. He could still use his map, and noticed that the zone had started moving again.

Chione was the one further away from the next zone, and she needed to go past Fiona to get there. Chione held her sniper in hands, the long, light gray colored weapon hanging freely.

“Yer Chione, right? No intention on changing yer name?”

Chione shook her head, Ethan’s vision shaking with her. What proceeded was an intense wait for either side to make the move. Ethan could feel his breath getting caught up in him, the air suffocating.

“Hey, Informant, do you mind if I end it right here, right now?”

She spoke, her voice cold as ice. Fiona smiled a mocking grin, the exact same one she showed Ethan earlier.

“I would like to see you try.”

Chione took a deep breath, closing her eyes. It made Ethan’s vision dark, causing him to panic, thinking her sister would use this opportunity to jump her. But when she opened her eyes again, he could still see Fiona waiting at the end of the stairs, in front of the first row of seats, not moving an inch from her original position.

He wanted to ask why she did it, why her sister let Chione get away with it. She could easily use her agility to move closer or shoot her, but she chose not to, as if wanting to see what Chione had in store for her.

Ethan was at a loss for what to do. This very moment was obviously an important one for Chione, so he didn’t want her to lose, but he really couldn’t see any possible way of winning this. Fiona was the better player, and since they stood in close proximity to each other, it rendered Chione’s advantage useless. If anything, she would probably fare better with her handgun, but swapping to it exposed her to Fiona’s attack.

Time felt like it stopped at a standstill, with Chione showing no signs of any movement.

The next thing he knew, she darted toward Fiona. She threw the front end of her sniper up and used her left hand to catch her sniper’s bipods, her palms squeezing in on the thin metal leg, her right hand on its trigger.

“Ahhh!”

She let out a battle scream and pulled the bipod closer to her body, the weapon being held diagonally in front of her chest.

What is she doing!?

It put the sniper in a position unable to aim, and she hadn’t cock her sniper in the first place. Even if it was aimed correctly, it couldn’t shoot. Her right hand then moved position, letting go of the trigger and grabbing the rear end of the scope.

“Chione!”

He yelled, but it was too late. Fiona, who seemed as equally baffled by Chione’s actions as him, brought her rifle’s muzzle toward her. She pulled the trigger, a line of bullets flew toward her.

But within a split second, he saw the high-level sniper rifle disappear right in front of his eyes, replaced with a medium-level energy longsword, its hilt held tightly in her right hand. It had the same shape as the one dropped by their previous victim in the parking lot. Fiona widened her eyes at the sight and jumped back. Chione leaped toward her, and with a wide diagonal cut, cut deep into Fiona’s body. Chione pushed forward, pulling her right hand to her upper right, throwing both of them over the rails and down into the soccer field.

Fiona’s body slammed to the ground, Chione landing straight above her. The brutal strike sucked Fiona of all her health points, her virtual body unmoving. She looked at Chione, and to an extent, Ethan inside of her. Before the game had the chance to register her as defeated, she smiled.

“I’m glad you found someone, brother.”

Her faint voice reached Chione’s ears, her words passed to Ethan inside her. Fiona’s body cracked and exploded into shards of white, floating into the heavens, replaced with a simple crate. Chione looked up at the shards until they disappeared. She felt all the strength drained out of her and fell limply to the ground.

But the game didn’t end.

Chione was aware of this and quickly forced her body up. She used the inventory to swap back into her sniper rifle. She searched the area for their enemy, the dark red circle that engulfed their surroundings already entered the building’s interior. It moved closer to the fields, eating the rows of chairs one by one. From the east door, behind the translucent dark red walls, she caught sight of a single figure running toward them, chasing down the zone.

“Oh.”

She cocked her gun and fired, ending the game right then and there.

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