1 Arena Zero
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Would you believe if an extraterrestrial civilization came up to you and asked you to join an intergalactic battle royale for the sake of the survival of your world?
No.
No one would. Humanity didn't, either.
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Netherlands, France and Germany were wiped out. The moment they refused, their countries turned into barren lands, the cities and the people in them vanished overnight. Thunderstorms engulfed the territories of these former countries, making them uninhabitable for humanity.
We had no choice but to accept the unreasonable demands from the unknown civilization.
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The aliens... Or, The Neura, as they called themselves, gave us the virtual reality machines, Stigmas. Using that, we were supposed to engage in wars against various other civilizations from outer space.
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The "game" itself was quite simple. The virtual world of the Stigma was separated into two parts, "Tarra" and "Omega". Humanity would take the former as their base, while the opponent would take the latter.
The virtual world was almost identical to the real world. The sense of touch, smell, sound, sight, pain- everything was the same. Though, these emotions would often be amplified or reduced by the mental fortitude of the subject.
The general setting of Tarra was a post-apocalyptic city, covered with crushed and broken buildings, skyscrapers rising here and there. Not much was known about Omega... at the least, the general populace didn't know much about the enemy. The only thing that could be seen on the screens was the dark storm clouds flying over that side.
The two sides were separated by a vast desert, where the "arena" would be generated during the actual "game".
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Each side was divided into countless hexagonal regions, known as Sectors. These sectors represented areas in the real world, though at first, humanity didn't know which sector was connected to which part of Earth.
Humanity and the civilizations on the other side would fight for these sectors. Whenever a sector from Tarra would get claimed by the opponent, someplace on Earth would get destroyed.
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The "destruction" itself was bizarre. If there was any human in the destroyed sector, they would disappear. Any city or town inside that area would turn into wreckage overnight. Thunderstorms would engulf the area, with acidic rain slowly eroding the soil.
For unknown causes, anyone who stepped inside these lands would die within three days.
However, "reclaiming" these lands wasn't impossible. All the sectors would be used as a bet in a cycle, which meant that there was a chance to take back the lands.
Of course, reclaiming them wouldn't bring back the disappeared humans, nor it would restore the cities.
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The battles would be fought using enormous humanoid machines, dubbed "Regalia" by the Neura.
Teenage boys and girls, from the age of fifteen to twenty, would pilot these Regalia. These pilots would bet their minds to fight the opposing civilization.
Any physical damage taken by a person on Stigma would be temporary, and would recover in a few days in most of the cases.
But in case of arena battles, the pain would be converted to permanent mental damage, slowly eating away the minds of these pilots.
If they won a battle, then all damage suffered by the pilots would be decreased by a huge percentage. Even so, a portion of the damage would remain. It would slowly recover, but the recovery rate was really low compared to the rate they had to fight.
Which is why, all pilots would become incapable and enter a comatose state after few consecutive loses.
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[.....]
While almost everyone could enter the virtual world, not everyone could participate in the preparation and battles in the arena.
And even among them, only a handful could actually pilot the Regalia.
The ratio of people being able to participate in the battles, compared to the number of total people who were able to enter the world of Stigma, was a hundred to a million.
And pilots? They were even more scarce, with only one pilot per a million.
These pilots were called Elliots, people who would fight bravely on the frontline.
They were the swords and the shields of us pathetic humans.
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"Stop! You don't have to do this, Helian!"
The boy called out to the girl, who just smiled and turned away.
"Fight for me, Alfred! Create that empire of yours, the one you promised me! You definitely can't go down like me, okay!"
"Why?! Why are you sacrificing yourself for these bastards who treated you unjustly?!"
Alfred screamed in rage, shaking his whole body. The chains binding him to his cockpit shook and rattled, but didn't let him go.
"Because... It's something only people like us can."
"Then... Let me help! Please!"
"No, I can't bear you dying."
The young girl looked over her shoulders and waved her hands.
"Let us meet again on the other side! Come, Noronin!"
The land shook as the gigantic humanoid machine kneeled in front of the girl. With one jump, she got on the cockpit on its chest.
The glass panel in front of her closed down. The run-down, low-quality machine stood up to meet the opponents behind it with a loud rumbling.
"Elliot Number 13555, going out!"
The Regalia dashed towards thunderstorm-engulfed lands, leaving behind large footprints on the sand.
[This is the command centre. Meeting with the enemy confirmed.]
A voice spoke up from the white collar around Alfred's neck. His eyes widened as he understood what was going on.
"Stop! No! She can still live! Don't do this!!"
He yelled, but no one listened.
[Activating self-destruction sequence. Confirmation from the pilot?]
The voice ignored Alfred's pleas. Then, he heard the voice of the girl he loved. For the final time.
[This is Number 13555. I'm ready.]
[Good. Starting countdown in 3... 2... 1...]
"Noooo!!!!"
Alfred screamed in agony, but his cries were drowned by the sound of the explosion rattling the ground.
[The match has ended in a tie. Logging out the remaining Elliots.]
The area around Alfred turned grey, and his vision blackened out.
[Logout completed.]
He heard the mechanical voice of the Stigma, but he couldn't respond anymore.
[Playback ended.]
