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Darkness surrounded me in the small corridor. Old tacky hotel wallpaper covered the walls. Peeling in spots due to age. The lights were dim and flickered often making the light dance dangerously throughout the hall.

"Horror hallway... Check." I said with a grin.

The sound of splintering wood filled the air as a pair of hands broke through the floor. A flailing hologram attempting to grab my legs. It was slower than I expected and had hardly any gripping power whatsoever. I quickly stepped out of it and smacked its arms in a barbaric fashion as it dissipated into data bits.

"Come on! This will not help me in close quarters if this keeps up." I groaned as many more arms began tearing the wood floor apart. This time they crawled out of the holes and stood before me. Hallway doors opened to reveal many more holograms waiting with weapons.

"Me and my dumb mouth." I grumbled as I prepared my best stance waiting for the hordes first move.

Outside the Holo-chamber

The numbers on the side of the room began to glitch slightly. The numbers turning from blue to a deep red. The difficulty began to buzz on the screen as it suddenly switched to Nightmare mode. A symbol displaying next to it. A single Dragons Head. A snake eating its own tail held in its jaws.

On the floor above Lily's head suddenly reared up from her usual flower caring composure. A feeling had gone through her. Like someone had been there that shouldn't be.

She quickly touched the window sill and data filled lines appeared. Her eyes widened at what she saw. She withdrew her hand and ran down the stairs toward the holo-room. The others looked at the window curious as to what she had seen and gained a very serious expression on their mouths. Some data lines were blue as they should be. But one had gone deep red. And that was never a good sign.

The others bolted from where they were to follow Lily downstairs. Finding her in front of the holo-room trying to pry the door open. She stepped back breathing heavy.

"Faction Master Command: Holo-room Open!" She shouted.

/Access Denied. Credentials not high enough./ The systems deep robotic voice responded.

"I said OPEN!" She screamed, slamming a chair into the door.

/Access Denied. Credentials not high enough./ It responded once more.

The others seemingly paled at the rooms response. But the most worrisome was that they didn't see Sil anywhere.

Beth's right hand grasped the rail of the stairs.

"Where's Sil?"

Lily turned and pointed at the Holo-room.

"He's locked in. And until he reaches wave 50 it won't let him out."

Henry shrugged. " I don't see the problem then. If it's on hard mode it should be fine. Right?"

Lily looked at them all and they could tell from how her mouth was quivering that this was serious.

"It's not on hard mode Henry. It's on nightmare mode. It's not like the other modes that stop once your close to death. If he dies in there he may very well die permanently." Lily said bringing the deadliest silence to the room.

"Why does the room have a nightmare mode if it can kill us!?" Hoy asked very alarmed.

"Nightmare isn't unlockable by normal means. It's normally like the system giving someone the death sentence for a horrible crime. But Sil hasn't done anything. And I made sure this thing didn't have nightmare mode on it. It's only supposed to go up to heroic!" Lily clenched her hands tightly as she slammed them against the Holo-room screen.

Beth looked at the display screen which was somehow working still. "Is there anything we can do?" She whispered.

Lily shook her head as she watched the screen. Her plain face scrunched in anxiety and anger.

"Pray. Pray and hope he makes it."

Inside the Holo-room

I could tell something was wrong. Mobs were spawning more than they should. Hit harder than they should. And most importantly I noticed a skull next to my health bar. This wasn't the hard mode I put it on.

"Lily! Stop playing your games! I want out of here! Lily! Lily!" I shouted as I ducked a blow from behind while deflecting another from my left with my crook.

There wasn't any response which made me even more concerned. The lights were turning red as the holograms began to morph slightly. Getting bigger as the hallway distorted. The smaller ones grew blades on their forearms and seemed to turn more virus like.

Many actually grew crimson eyes and more nightmarish appearances.

They began to charge at me in droves without any formation and pattern.

I ducked, dived, hooked, bludgeoned, etc. My desperation growing every passing second. The data I was seeing was supposed to flow back into the room was now flowing toward me in droves. And I could obviously see my points increasing.

It was then that I realized. This wasn't a game anymore. It was real combat. Something had screwed with the system. And now I was in serious trouble. This wasn't just a virus. This was an intentional death sentence coming for my head.

I don't know of anything that could do this besides an admin. Lily had shown me all the system settings before I could use the room unsupervised. So I knew the Holo-room didn't have a virus spawning function. That wasn't in its program.

A couple minutes later my health was getting low so I chomped down on a passing virus and used it as a weapon flailing it around with my other weapons till it died. And I did that process over and over again. A leg broke? Chomp. Drill Teeth. Too many enemies. Eclipse. I went hours in this process. Beaten, nearly dying a few times to a blade, claw, or club.

My instincts were hitting overdrive as I was forced to be constantly alert. Time began to seem endless and I lost track of how many enemies I killed. I eventually hit my max for point accumulation. But then I found a block of solid data being condensed close to me afterward. Like the system had formed a point bank for me to use.

As the last enemy fell I felt exhausted. Not in pain. Just... beat.

The block beside me had grown to the size of a large duffel bag. Dense, blue, and held an enormous amount of points from what I could tell.

I sat as the holo-room seemed to change again. The hallway widened massively. Its previous 6 foot width had expanded to 20, 40, 60 feet wide. It had grown in height and length as well. Creating a massive coliseum like dome.

The ground changed from cracked and weathered hardwood to gravel. The walls shifting to a more stone like appearance. The ceiling opening to reveal a sun filled sky. Whispy clouds seemed to dance though the blue as I looked up.

I heard a sound that made my canine ears shift. I couldn't help but turn to look at what made the sound.

"Well....$#!+." I said bluntly as I saw what was waiting for me.

A large purple serpent laid on the ground of the colloseum. It's gigantic scaled body circled into the classic cone. It's head reared somewhat as a piece of rock shifted under my weight. The grating sound making it obvious it had company.

It's face was a cluster of eyes on a snakes snout. Its fangs dripping with venom as it's scarlet tongue whisked in and out of its jaws. I focused on it. Eyeing it up for when it might strike. I saw its head blur and an explosion happened to my left. Rocks flew in all directions as A large crater was made.

I stumbled away from the struck area. The shifting gravel made it difficult to walk or run. I couldn't help but try to focus on the snake as I moved. Every instinct told me to run. But there was no exit. No ladder or hole. No. Way. Out.

The snake maintained a solid view of me. Shifting with my every move so that it might strike on target I suppose.

(It's speed and power is higher than mine but it must have something that says when it'll strike right?) I thought to myself as I focused even harder. I saw muscles building and bulging slightly as they tensed. I immediately dodged only to find pressure hitting my legs.

I was sent flying into the wall with half my health missing. "Damn It!!! I'll turn you into a F*©€!ng Belt and wear your @$$ when I get out of here!" I roared. I rolled from where I was and tested my legs. Surprisingly they weren't broken by the strike.

The snake eyed me greedily as a creepy grin seemed to come across its face. Like it was expecting something.

It didn't strike for a while. But it's smile faded after a couple minutes. It was only when it's smile faded and it looked confused that I looked down and saw a fair sized hole in my calf from where it's fang sunk in.

"Ah.... I guess you were hoping poison or venom would kill me... well. Bad news for you. I'm immune you dumb Bastard." I said flipping it the bird.

Immediately that snake went off. A tail was sent crashing toward my midsection. I splayed myself on the ground allowing it to sail over me. A sudden splash of something hit my face by didn't get in my eyes.

It was purple gunk. (More Venom.) I thought as it did nothing to my health. (All I need to do was watch for its... Strike!)

I recoiled as a scaled head shot past me missing me by an inch. The wind pressure from its strike was enough to make me shield my eyes momentarily. (I need to slow this thing down...) I thought for only a moment as time seemed to slow. I looked over only to see the things head was coiled back again.

($#!+.) I thought as it released another strike.

Oddly enough everything seemed to go in slow motion after that. The snakes mouth widened in a monstrously large fashion. As though it wished to swallow me whole. It's fangs bared. The attached muscles tilting them forward to release their vicious bite. Small drops of venom blew away from the wind resistance.

I felt for only a moment a sense of urgency. (I will not die. I need a way out. Anything. A dive or duck.) I thought and as the snakes mouth drew closer I felt my mind give way to something else within me. An instinct I had tried to suppress for a while. Rage. Barbarically Cold, Focused, unrelenting, Rage.

The things mouth closed over me. And it reared back with a satisfied look. It looked around for only a moment before an odd expression filled its face. Confusion. Sweat began to pour down the poor things body as it began to wriggle around as though in pain.

A part of its serpentine body suddenly bulged with something else seemingly poking it from the inside. The one thing it hadn't known was I had a card I hadn't the opportunity to use yet.

My Sarcophagus.

After I had been swallowed I summoned the "Coffin" to free up space as I swung my crook around with its sharp edge outward. The feeling of cutting met my hand as a sadistic smile came across my face.

The flesh separated to reveal data and hexagon cell walls. But I paid no real mind to that. I just wanted this thing dead. If I wasn't dying today it should have that privilege.

The snake wriggled still. Squirming horribly across the ground while letting out an annoyed hiss. Though I will say it was founded. As I was being a literal (cutting) thorn in its side right now.

Eventually I saw moving light which only made my smile broader and my cuts faster. Even when the beast slammed itself into a wall to dislodge me from my place in it's body. But it only made me cut even faster and tear into its body with my drill teeth to help the process.

After what felt like forever the things body stopped moving and I opened a hole large enough to be freed. The coffin shrank down to its bracelet size once more before I exited the corpse which was turning into databits.

I felt something sliding down my fur and looked to see I was coated in it's gross saliva and venom.

I felt myself gag a little as I shook myself off sending droplets of liquid everywhere. My jackal fur sticking out in many directions from the slick wet condition I was in.

Looking back I found the beast already gone.

Meanwhile Elsewhere

"Noooooo!" A croans howling wail echoed through the dark chamber.

"You will pay for this! I will make you pay for this! Edgar G. Blackwood!" She roared in rage with her crimson eyes seeming to blaze in the darkness.

Outside the Holo-room

"He beat it..." Beth said. Every jaw in the room was slack and if eyes were present they would be incredibly wide.

"He... Survived." Lily said. Her lip trembled and she felt as though she could cry as her legs gave out. Henry and Hoy seemed to slowly grow massive grins on their faces as the holo-room door slowly opened.