Everyone froze for a split second.
"Team up!" Natalia barked.
The creature lunged, and chaos erupted.
"Go! I'll distract it!" Connor shouted, firing a barrage of plasma bolts from his gauntlets.
The shots hit the creature's armored hide, barely slowing it down.
Louis ducked under a swinging claw, rolling to his feet beside Natalia.
"Any ideas?" he yelled, glancing at her glowing fists.
"Get up to the bell chamber and search for the scrolls," she replied, her psychic energy swirling around her hands.
Connor unleashed a volley of micro-missiles. Explosions rocked the bell tower. The creature reeled back, letting out a bone-rattling screech.
Natalia struck next, hammering it with a wave of psychic force. The beast stumbled but didn't fall.
Weaponless, Louis desperately scanned the room.
His gaze landed on a rusted iron rod sticking out of a pile of rubble.
Without hesitation, he snatched it up and charged. Swinging with all his strength, he smashed the rod into the creature's knee joint.
The impact cracked the alien's armor and made it howl in pain, but the retaliation came quickly.
A claw lashed out, striking Louis and sending him flying into a crumbling wall.
"Louis!" Natalia shouted, but she couldn't move; she was locked in psychic combat, holding the beast at bay.
Connor darted in, gauntlets blazing."Move, move!" he shouted, launching a relentless barrage of plasma and kinetic blasts into the creature's flanks.
The Guardian roared, thrashing violently as the tower trembled around them.
Louis staggered up, coughing blood.
His HUD flickered:
[Core Energy: 61%]
[Combat Enhancements: Still Locked]
"Come on," he growled. "Give me something!"
Above, the staircase loomed, spiraling into dim red light.
The scroll chamber had to be near the top.
Then—a distant metallic sound.
CLANG!
Louis looked up. "Someone else is already climbing."
Natalia's eyes widened. "Another team's beating us to it."
Connor gritted his teeth. "We don't have time for this!"
The Guardian lunged again, giving Natalia a brutal blow.
She flew across the chamber, tumbling hard before landing, dazed and unable to stand. Her psychic aura flickered, then steadied.
"Natalia!" Louis rushed to her side.
"Louis…" she gasped. "Go... get the scroll."
"But—"
"GO!"
He didn't hesitate. Rod still in hand, Louis sprinted toward the staircase, dodging debris as the Guardian roared behind him.
As he climbed, the view of the bell chamber above became clearer—another team was already approaching it.
Oliver's team.
Louis pushed harder.
Behind him, another explosion rocked the tower.
Connor's voice crackled. "We'll keep it busy; just get the scroll!"
Louis rounded the final turn, lungs burning, heart pounding.
He burst into the bell chamber.
It was vast, the high dome pierced with slits of red twilight.
Eight scrolls floated above pedestals in a perfect ring, each glowing with faint blue energy.
Oliver and his team were already at one of them.
"Took you long enough," Oliver smirked.
Panting, Louis glared at him and pointed toward the stairs. "Did you really leave us down there to fight that thing alone?"
Oliver chuckled. "You think I'd risk my team for a dramatic rescue? This is survival, not storytime."
"Coward," Louis snapped, grabbing a scroll. Its energy surged through him— blinding light filled the chamber.
Below, the Guardian let out a final, deafening howl before dissolving into code. The simulation reset around them.
"Nice work, Louis," Oliver said as he snatched his scroll. A portal flickered into existence beside him.
"Catch you in the next phase, loser." He winked and disappeared with his team.
Just then, a glowing portal appeared behind Louis—an exit to the next challenge.
Natalia and Connor approached.
"We did it," Louis said with a grin.
"Let's keep going," Connor replied.
Together, the three of them stepped into the portal.
A flash of light engulfed them and the next moment, Louis was tumbling into a howling storm.
Ice lashed his face as he hit the frozen ground. The wind shrieked, and snow swirled so thickly that he could barely see.
Shivering, Louis struggled to his feet. Massive stone walls coated in ice loomed around him, groaning as they shifted—an ever-changing, living maze.
Connor groaned, pushing himself up, his visor glowing faintly."Where… are we?"
Natalia brushed snow off her shoulders, her breath visible in the freezing air. "The second phase. Obviously."
She gestured to the sky, where glowing text hovered, visible through the storm:
[Phase Two: Survive and Escape the Frozen Labyrinth – Time Limit: 3 Hours]
[Rules: There are five scrolls hidden deep within the maze. Only five teams may pass. Those without scrolls when the timer ends will be permanently trapped in this phase.]
Connor's visor flickered wildy. He tapped the side of it in frustration."Damn it. The cold's interfering with my systems. I'm losing thermal regulation and mapping functions."
Louis clutched the dimly glowing in his chest. The energy was too low. It wasn't heating him like it had in the trial.
"This place will kill us before we even see a scroll," he muttered through chattering teeth.
Natalia's sharp eyes scanned the shifting, frost-lined walls. "We need to move. Standing still will get us killed faster than the cold."
Without another word, they pushed forward cautiously, navigating the icy corridors in tight formation.
The maze groaned and twisted like it had a heartbeat of its own.
Walls slid sideways, floors rumbled, and narrow passages reshaped themselves with an eerie hiss.
Connor held out a hand, gesturing to a splitted corridor ahead. "Left passage leads to a dark tunnel. Could be a trap. Or it could be hiding something."
"Let's take it," Natalia said. "If it's hiding something, it might be a scroll."
They turned to the left corridor.
Then—
SLAM!
A thunderous crack split the air as a thick wall of ice dropped from above, slamming into the ground. Snow and dust burst outward, and a shockwave knocked Louis forward.
"Natalia! Connor!" he shouted, scrambling to his feet.
But the wall was solid. No crack to peek through, no sound from the other side.
Louis slammed his fist against the ice.
"Damn it!"