Uruvi quickly took a stock of the situation. The monster was massive, way too big for the cramped space. Its head was already touching the bottom of the metro line above; if it began swinging its arms, it would definitely bring the whole thing down. Even if she were to ignore it as collateral, it would be a problem for her to fight in the rubble.

  ‘I need to get that thing out of here…’ Her eyes strayed to the right, where she saw a nice big opening. A wide street joined the highway, creating a nice and large T-intersection.

  She lunged forward and swung her axe into the belly of the monster. The blade cut through its thick skin, letting her slice open its guts as she dashed away.

  The Pisacha let out a loud roar as it fell onto all fours. There was no blood or any kind of organs; the cut simply healed itself, and the monster was back on its feet. She saw it turn towards her before taking its sweet time to walk up to her.

  The intersection was wide and empty, flooded with bright sunlight. It gave her plenty of room to play around with. She spun her axe around, feeling the weight and swing of it as she patiently waited for the monster to show up.

  The Pisacha appeared much calmer than the one from before. It came to a stop before her and looked down at her. Despite having no eyes, she always felt their cold gaze on her. Its health bar was down by 5 percent.

  It lifted its hand into the air and slammed it onto the ground, crushing the asphalt beneath. A shockwave erupted from the impact, slamming into her. The force of it was strong enough to throw her back. The Pisacha continued to slam its fists onto the ground, sending a sequence of shockwaves.

  “Barricade!” she shouted, forming a shield before her. It trembled every time it was struck by a shockwave, losing its integrity with each hit.

  The Pisacha concluded its performance by lifting both its fists into the air and slamming them onto the ground. The shockwave from it was powerful enough to throw any lightweight vehicles around them into the air and shatter all the windows in a fifty-foot radius.

  Her shield finally gave, but she had already braced for impact by getting down on one knee and hunching down.

  Once it finished thumping the ground, the monster lunged towards her. It raised its hand once again, this time with the intent to smash her. She held her nerves and waited for the fist to reach her. Just as it was above her, she leapt onto it and sprinted up the monster’s arm. It reacted quickly by trying to swat her away, but by then she had jumped over its head.

  A golden hue surrounded her as she brought the axe down onto its face. The blade cut through the face of the monster, splitting it open. The axe wedged into its jaw, letting her swing freely. She used the momentum of the swing to launch herself up again. ‘Time for you to get a taste of your own medicine!’

  “Thunderclap!” she said. A ball of energy erupted from her body, striking the Pisacha right in the open wound.

  She landed on her feet beside the monster’s body and quickly turned around to face it. Its health bar had plunged to sixty percent, but the scar on its face began to heal.

  ‘Must not give it a chance to retaliate!’

  A red aura formed around her as she dashed forward, weaving her way between its legs as she slashed them with her axe. The cuts weren’t deep, but enough to make it fall on its knees.

  She spun around and leapt onto its back, striking its nape with a charged hit. It lost another 15 percent of its health. It recovered some momentum by slamming its fist into the ground.

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  Massive holes appeared on the back of its shoulder, shooting out black tendrils from it.

  “What the!” said Uruvi, who was completely caught off guard by them. She dodged three out of the four tendrils, but one cut its way through the side of her arm.

  She gritted her teeth, fighting her way through the pain as she plunged onto the Pisacha once again. A white substance appeared atop the monster’s nape before hardening. She was able to smash through the shield but barely scratched the flesh underneath.

  She spotted more tendrils headed towards her, which forced her to dismount from the monster’s back.

  Its health bar had dropped down to forty percent, and it appeared to have become sluggish. More black tendrils shot out of its back, appearing to pierce the sky before coming down onto Uruvi.

  “Barricade!” she said before charging towards the Pisacha.

  She effortlessly dodged all the tendrils, cutting them down as they struck the asphalt. With each cut, the monster’s health took a hit, and it became even more sluggish.

  She leapt into the air, flying right into the Pisacha’s face. It opened its massive maw wide, appearing to swallow her whole. Just as its teeth appeared to clamp down on her, she said out loud, “Thunderclap!”

  The shockwave ripped open the monster’s face, causing it to fall forward. As she hung in midair, she spun around and delivered a charged uppercut right into the monster’s upper jaw, sending its health bar to zero.

  “New Level attained. 10 Attribute points, 2 skill points, 2 spell points gained,” said Arya.

  She watched the body of the monster slowly turn to dust with a giant smile on her face. “Oh yeah! Who is the best? And I did it wearing a t-shirt and shorts!” she began to sing.

  The last of the invading Pisacha turned to dust, leaving behind a massive hole of twisted wire.

  Aman pointed his palm at the tear, and the robot that hovered above him shot out a red laser at the opening. The metal wires began uncoiling, straightening themselves before weaving to reform the fence.

  “There… done!” he said.

  Uruvi appeared from behind the fence, walking calmly and composed. She spotted the cute robot, which was a spherical metal ball with a large circular eye at its center. It had two antennas on top and four circular pads at the bottom. “Whoa! Did you get that as an anchor?”

  “Yup. And sorry for closing the fence before you came in,” said Aman.

  “No problem.” She leapt over the fence and landed before her fellow contestants, who looked at her with a mix of awe and fear. She threw a serious look at them and said, “you guys didn’t even last three days. So much for all the coordination.”

  They looked at each other’s faces, before one of them said, “easy for you to say. The last one on the board dies. It could be any one of us!”

  “What does killing another person accomplish? There will be one less contestant, but that doesn’t mean the last one doesn’t die.”

  The crowd remained silent.

  “You are playing to the beat of… whoever is behind these games,” she said, shaking her head.

  One of the contestants finally spoke up. “The leaderboard… it is up.”

  All of them immediately turned to their respective screens, and so did Uruvi.

  ‘Arya, what position am I in?’ She asked.

  “Local leaderboard – position 48 out of 1256. Global leaderboard – Position 6078 out of 12340. Total points accumulated - 2346.”

  She had a relieved smile on her face. ‘Wow. I am really high up, huh?’

  She looked at Position 1 of her local leaderboard and found that it was someone who went by the name Sashwat.

  “What the fuck…?” someone said out loud. “Look at the position 1 of the global board.”

  She turned her attention towards the Global Board. Position 1 – Shaurya. Total points accumulated – 15 Million. The number sent a shock through her brain, forgetting the world around her for a brief second. ’15 Million… 15 Million! What the actual fuck!’ While she was panicking on the inside, she managed to maintain her composure on the outside.

  “15 Million… How? It has not even been thirty minutes since the announcement,” Aman exclaimed.

  She began to bite the nail of her thumb to quell her anxiety. ‘Something about this is wrong. Very wrong…’ She suddenly shook her head and turned her attention back towards the crowd, “I am guessing none of you are at the bottom?”

  “Yeah… But I ain’t waiting around,” said one of the contestants as he took a hard right and disappeared into the alleyway. The others followed his cue and quickly dispersed.

  “I think you should be taking this a little more seriously. 48th position sounds safe at the moment. But you have no idea how long that lead will last,” said Aman.

  She felt her chest turn cold and the hair on her skin jitter. “You are right. I have been facing constant danger; the weight of death has not settled in yet.” She turned towards him and asked, “you are not on the list, right?”

  He shook his head and said, “no. And I hopefully stay off it.”