Fenix immediately ducked behind some crates that generated, keeping himself hidden while he surveyed the room.
Five armed guards were patrolling the area. He stayed still until one came near, then he dragged them down and strangled them until they stopped resisting.
There was a hush over the crowd as they watched him.
"Don't worry, he can't hear us during the simulation," Pierce informed, with his eyes locked on the arena. Even after he said that, no one said anything.
Fenix picked up the rifle his victim had been carrying and carefully maneuvered through the room. He hugged the wall and slipped from cover to cover until another patrolman wandered within striking distance. He quickly sprang up and hit them with the butt of his rifle.
When the patrolman collapsed, he dragged their body behind some boxes.
Then he hurried towards the stairwell, being sure to stay low. In his path stood one soldier, who seemed to be becoming a little frazzled.
"Number 21? Are you okay?" he asked into his walkie-talkie. Fenix froze the man's feet. As the guard crashed to the floor, he rushed forward, clamped a hand over his mouth, and snapped his neck before he could cry out.
The audience got chills. Aura gasped and covered her mouth.
Two patrolmen were chatting near the stairs,
"It's so boring working here. Nothing ever happens."
"Yeah-" the other agreed, while turning to his partner. At that exact second, Fenix took him out with a shot to the face. The other guard panicked for a split second before lifting his gun and aiming it in Fenix's direction, but he wasn't fast enough to avoid joining his teammate.
"Floor one cleared, next stage commencing." The robotic voice announced.
Fenix knelt, collecting ammo from the fallen enemies. Only after that did he make his way down the stairs. The imagery inside the arena updated instantly, revealing a new room and a fresh set of opponents.
The new floor resembled a warehouse. Two guards stood near the stairs, and eight more were scattered about the area, standing together in pairs.
Fenix stuck to the shadows as he slowly moved behind them.
He ducked behind a nearby crate without making a sound.
"Did you hear something?" one guard said. The one beside him shrugged.
The first guard lifted his handheld transceiver and said,
"Is everything alright up there?"
As they were talking, Fenix slowly crept over to a short wall. He sat against it, with his finger near the trigger of his rifle just in case, as he listened for his opening.
When those patrolmen got no response from the others, they immediately rushed up the stairs.
The remaining eight enemies were put on high alert, pacing the room with their guns ready.
Instead of engaging, Fenix waited until the coast was clear. He moved just out of the enemy's field of vision.
Sometimes he was so close that only a momentary glance in the wrong direction would have exposed him. He was practically dancing around them.
Once he was close enough, he rolled forward and hurried down the stairs.
"Floor two cleared, next stage commencing."
"So you don't have to fight everyone," Caster noted.
"That is correct," Pierce replied, "If you want, you can avoid fights and head to the exit, but the patrolmen from previous floors might appear later."
The arena shifted again.
There was an elevator on the third floor.
This room was the most heavily guarded, but there were multiple rooms, meaning more places to hide.
Fenix made his way through the door closest to him.
There was one man inside who started to shout, but Fenix struck him in the throat.
He wheezed, reaching towards his neck. Fenix swept his feet out from under him and, while he was falling, delivered one final blow to the man's chest.
The enemy stopped moving.
Fenix crouched beside the body and rummaged through the man's pockets until he found his walkie-talkie.
A voice called from it,
"We think there's an intruder in here. Everyone, stay vigilant."
Fenix first closed the door. After that, he responded, with his voice perfectly mimicking the guard's from the floor above.
"I've found something! I need backup on the roof!" He then tossed the receiver onto the corpse in front of him and waited, with an unreadable expression.
As expected, there were panicked footsteps in the hallway outside. They sped up the stairs, and Fenix waited until he could no longer hear their boots pounding on the tiles before he stepped out.
There were only two left, standing near the elevator.
A hot wind moved through the room, and they both began sweating profusely.
"What the heck? Why is it so hot all of a sudden?" one complained.
"I can barely breathe," the other replied. A couple of minutes passed, and the first guard began swaying unsteadily.
"Something's wrong... this isn't normal," he sputtered.
The other couldn't reply because he started vomiting all over himself.
His partner was startled, and as he reached toward the sick guard, Fenix shot him. He didn't go down right away, but stumbled forward and fell on top of the other.
Once both soldiers were down, Fenix walked over. The one conscious guard glared up at him from beneath his ally. He tried to speak, but his voice was so hoarse that it was barely above a whisper, and he was pinned down, unable to move. So Fenix ignored him, not giving the guard a second glance as he pressed the elevator's button.
He immediately began descending to the ground floor.
"Floor three cleared. Because you entered the elevator and selected the ground floor, this may be the final stage. New stage commencing," the voice informed.
The simulation showed him standing in the elevator as the floor numbers slowly counted down from 17 to one, and Fenix used this time to reload his gun.
When the elevator door opened, over a dozen enemies were waiting for Fenix. They all had their weapons aimed at him, and one yelled,
"Put your hands up!"
Fenix scanned around the room, so the officer yelled again,
"I said, put your hands up!"
Fenix immediately rushed to the side.
Bullets trailed after him, nearly hitting him until he hooked his arm around one guard's neck.
He used that patrolman's body as a shield while he unloaded quick, precise headshots on five of the soldiers in the room.
"Get him!"
Fenix threw his meat shield toward the person who screamed, knocking over two people in the process, then he ducked behind a pillar as the others began shooting again.
Those watching from the audience watched as Fenix mouthed something to himself. Upon closer examination, he seemed to be counting.
The one who seemed to be in charge signaled for them to stop shooting and to move closer cautiously.
They were a few feet away when the ones in front slipped suddenly, accidentally unleashing multiple bullets toward the ceiling.
The rest paused. That's when they noticed the thick sheet of ice spreading beneath their boots.
At that moment, the elevator dinged, making it clear to everyone that the enemies from above were working their way down.
Only three guards remained standing. Three others struggled to regain their footing, only to crash back onto the frozen surface Fenix had created.
Fenix reloaded his gun, then leaned from behind the pillar and shot the ones who hadn't fallen.
The leader was the only one who managed to dodge in time and run for cover behind a pillar on the other side of the room.
As soon as that enemy was far away, Fenix turned his attention to the exit.
Ice was slowly creeping up and engulfing the officers who had slipped, and Fenix made his way past them, staying low to avoid possible gunfire.
He was only a few feet away when the last remaining person began shooting in his direction. Fenix jumped over a half wall. The bullets cracked into the cement.
"Come out! There's no point in hiding. I'm not letting you leave this room!" the guard leader declared. He began making his way to where Fenix was, being sure to keep his gun raised.
"Reinforcements are on the way. This is the end for you," he added cockily. That's when he noticed that walking was becoming more difficult, his body felt hot, and the room was spinning. He glanced down to see that the soles of his shoes were melting. A fire erupted from his shoes, quickly spreading up his pants leg.
He flailed and jumped out of his shoes frantically. At that moment, Fenix's bullet pierced his heart.
The man's body collapsed face-first onto the floor.
The elevator dinged then, announcing the arrival of more soldiers.
As the elevator doors creaked open, Fenix made his way outside.
The arena's scenery returned to normal, the gun in Fenix's hand dissolved, and the computerized voice chimed,
"Mission objective cleared successfully!"
Fenix exhaled heavily, with a look of relief.
Most of the onlookers were still dumbfounded by what they had just witnessed.
"Wow... he went easy on me," Shade muttered in disbelief, cutting through the awkward silence.
A second later, Veil laughed, and not long after that, Caster joined him.
Flow and Panther had witnessed Fenix on the field before, so they didn't show much of a reaction.
On the other hand, Aura sat frozen in complete shock. She felt numb as she stared at Fenix, who immediately turned to her with a bright smile.
At that moment, her mind went blank, unable to process anything.