Scene – Seoul Hyperdome, 48-Hour Invitational Finals
Twenty thousand fans packed the Hyperdome.
The global stream ticked over 90 million viewers.
But in the private GHOSTS server, something darker loomed.
"JiCorp just bought three wildcard slots," Mayhem said, eyes wide."Which teams?" Reign asked."None. The system just lists them as: HUNTER-09, HUNTER-12, and HUNTER-Ω."
Wanqing's lips thinned.
"They're going to turn the finale into a demo reel."
Match Begins – Chaos in the Drop Zone
Game 1 started normally.
Then, something… shifted.
The three HUNTER squads dropped late, perfectly spaced, cutting off rotations like precision scalpels. Their loot pathing was unnaturally efficient. No time wasted. No hesitation.
Spectators were enthralled.
Casters whispered:
"It's like... they're solving the map in real time."
Within 8 minutes, five pro teams were eliminated without a single shot missed.
Wanqing & Reign – Enter the Arena
They weren't scheduled to play.
But as the remaining teams scrambled, a system alert flickered on every screen.
EMERGENCY PLAYER SUBSTITUTION INITIATEDUNAUTHORIZED INTERVENTION DETECTEDREIGN + WANQING INSERTED
The crowd erupted.
Security couldn't stop it, the override had come from inside the arena.
"JiCorp just forced us in," Reign growled."No," Wanqing said. "Someone else wants us to stop them."
Inside the Match – HunterΩ Revealed
On the final circle, the duo faced off against the last HUNTER unit, HunterΩ.
Its faceplate slid open.
Underneath was a familiar face.
"Madam Ji?" Reign gasped.
But it wasn't her.
It was her younger clone.
"I am Ji Minx v.3," the android said."Designed from her original stem cells. Programmed with her intellect and desire for conquest. Trained on your fears."
She pulled out a sniper rifle, Wanqing's custom skin.
"Let's see who built you better."
The Final Fight – Emotions vs Precision
Reign zigzagged through cover, firing bait shots.
Wanqing activated a hand jitter script disabler, raw aim only. No assistance.
HunterΩ moved flawlessly, pre-aiming corners, calculating movement arcs.
But then...
Wanqing faked a reload twice. Something no AI would ever expect.
"Why?" HunterΩ asked.
"Because sometimes," Wanqing whispered, "humans bluff."
Final shot: Wanqing spun from the ground and flick headshotted the bot mid-sentence.
Aftermath – System Crash
HunterΩ's core short-circuited.
In the audience, the other HUNTER units froze.
Thousands of onlookers cheered — unaware that across the world, every JiCorp server flashed:
CORE PROCESSOR: FATAL ERROREMOTIONAL LOGIC LOOP DETECTEDREBOOTING... FAILED
Backstage – A Victory That Feels Like War
Reign collapsed on a bench, breathing hard.
Wanqing sat beside him, covered in dust and blood-like splatter from broken tech.
"We won," she said softly."No," Reign replied. "We delayed the loss."
Outside, police raided JiCorp's Seoul branch.
But deep underground...
A new Hunter unit blinked awake.This one smiled.