The light from the extraction beam faded, and the world around Xavier cracked apart like someone pulling down a stage set. The skyline dissolved first — skyscrapers melting into glowing wireframes — then the Titan beneath him flickered out, leaving only blue grid-lines around his feet.

A deep announcement filled his ears.

PHASE 2 INITIATING — RELOCATION IN PROGRESS.

PLEASE REMAIN STILL.

Then everything snapped.

Xavier stood on a raised platform in the heart of the Black Spire Citadel, the Evil faction's fortress for this mode. The structure was carved into a mountain of black obsidian, fused with cybernetic wiring and crimson lights pulsing through its veins. The sky above churned like a vortex of fire and ash, lightning veins tearing across the red clouds.

The devs had gone crazy with this one.

The Evil base — Black Spire Citadel.

A hellish, fortified monster of steel and glowing veins of magma running below it.

Three defensive rings.

Massive laser towers.

Teleport jammers.

And the only exit — a gigantic blast door big enough to fit a Titan through.

Around him, the surviving Evil faction players — almost three hundred thousand — formed a tight perimeter. Their weapons glowed, their armor hissed with power cores, and the whole faction buzzed with adrenaline after their Phase 1 win.

And the moment Phase 2 loaded completely, the sky tore open with a blinding column of white light.

The Heroic faction arrived.

Thousands of them.

Tens of thousands.

Pouring in from dropships, grappling lines, launch pads, jetpacks — a damn flood of armored warriors screaming like beasts released from cages.

The announcer's voice thundered across the map:

"PHASE 2 — RESCUE ASSAULT.

Heroic: infiltrate Black Spire and extract the VIP.

Evil: hold the fortress until timer expires.

Xavier: You're welcome.

GOOD LUCK."

Then the barriers fell.

The Evil squad leader — the same excited fanboy from Phase 1 — snapped into full soldier mode, voice cracking with both nerves and devotion.

"All units — brace! They're coming!"

Xavier glanced toward the horizon. It was a full-on galactic invasion.

Sirens roared across the base.

Gates locked.

Turrets rotated.

The citadel's walls glowed with powering shields.

A timer appeared on Xavier's HUD: 1:13:54.

The first shot of the war came from the Heroic side — a plasma barrage that streaked across the sky and smashed into the outer wall, lighting the entire fortress in blue energy.

The Evil faction thundered with rage.

"HOLD THE LINE!"

"USE THE ANTI-AIR!"

"DON'T LET THEM STEP INTO THE CITADEL GROUNDS!"

"MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!!"

The platform trembled beneath them as hundreds of turret lines activated along the outer ring, firing in synchronized volleys. Blue and red lasers painted the air, cutting down dozens of Heroic players before they touched the ground.

But the Heroic faction had numbers — waves crashing into the base like a living ocean.

Xavier watched silently as the battlefield spread across the canyon in front of him. Explosions rolled across the terrain. Jetpack troopers dived from the skies. Armored hover-bikes tore across the valley floor. Giant energy shields shimmered as squads advanced under cover.

The Evil formation around him tightened.

The fanboy guard pointed at the incoming forces. "Don't worry, Xavier, sir. No one's getting near you. We'll die before they take you."

Xavier raised a brow. "Try to avoid that."

"No promises!"

"No, seriously. You are the bad guys here. They are supposed to rescue me."

The guard looked at the distance and muttered before rushing off. "Good and bad doesn't matter when it comes to one's life. What matters is whose life is more important."

The words repeated themselves in Xavier's mind. And then, he let out a soft chuckle.

The first breach hit the left flank — Heroic demolition teams charging forward with shield generators, planting charges, and blasting holes through the outer wall. The earth shook as the stone and steel collapsed.

The Evil faction surged into the breach.

Combat erupted instantly — blades clashing, pulse rifles firing, grenades rolling, drones swarming in tight orbits around squads. Xavier's HUD flickered with kill feeds exploding faster than he could read them.

HEROIC PLAYER KILLED (x48)

EVIL PLAYER KILLED (x31)

HEROIC PLAYER KILLED (x103)

Bodies vanished into pixels, dropping their loot behind in a crate.

Xavier leaned against the railing, watching.

This wasn't just a game anymore.

The devs had turned Phase 2 into a cinematic war movie.

And then the Juggernauts arrived.

A distant thumping noise began to echo across the canyon, like the heartbeat of something huge. As it grew louder, Heroic players parted, forming a path for five towering figures covered in thick power armor, glowing with bright blue energy cores.

Juggernaut-class exoskeletons.

Each one easily five meters tall.

They marched forward, cannons humming.

The Evil faction visibly panicked.

"OH HELL NO—"

"WHO THE— HOW DID THEY GET JUGGERNAUTS—"

"THE DEVS ARE EVIL—"

"THEY ARE HELPING THEM THIS TIME!"

"BLOW THEM UP BEFORE THEY REACH THE WALL—"

Xavier watched as the Juggernauts fired their first volley — a synchronized cannon blast that obliterated an entire line of Evil defenders and cracked the inner ring's shield barrier.

The fanboy guard yelled, "WE NEED TO FALL BACK! GET THE VIP TO INNER HALL—"

He grabbed Xavier's arm and rushed him off the platform as the walls shook again, debris raining around them. They sprinted through the fortified corridors while the war outside intensified — the sound of weapons echoing through the metal walls, the muffled screams of players battling nonstop.

The hallway lights flickered red.

"Heroic forces are breaching the second wall!"

"The left flank is collapsing!"

"Regroup at Gate Two!"

Evil players scattered to fill the defenses.

Xavier's guard pulled him along as they moved deeper into the citadel, past command rooms and armories where more Evil players were loading weapons and shouting orders. The base was alive — a living machine trying to hold itself together.

But just as they reached a security checkpoint, something unusual flashed across Xavier's peripheral vision.

A figure sprinted past the doorway above — silent, humanoid, wearing pitch-black armor with no faction colors. It glided across the catwalk like a ghost.

Xavier slowed.

Another appeared behind it. Then a third.

'The fuck is going on?'