A heartfelt thank you to all the readers for your incredible support. Special thanks to Zack_Morrow, Lylat, greychimp, Phoenix4318, and IBEY for the Golden Tickets, it truly means a lot. Your support keeps the story alive and motivates me to keep going!

On another side, things were even worse.

"BOOOOOOM!!!" The Armored Colossus slammed its arm down again.

Imran blocked, but this time, "CRACK—!"

His shield split further. Nearly half of it was gone. His arms trembled violently as the impact ran through his entire body. His legs shook, but he still didn’t fall.

"Not... moving..."

He pushed forward again, trying to hold it in place. But the Colossus didn’t slow down. It stepped closer, grabbed the broken shield, and crushed part of it.

"CRRRRACK—!"

Fragments fell to the ground.

Imran’s eyes widened. He released the shield just in time and jumped back, breathing heavily. His forearms felt numb, and his whole body ached.

"...I can’t block many more... If help doesn’t come..." He tightened his fist. "...I’m done for."

---

Imran needed help, but there was no one who could help him, the person who always stays behind him to help, Raghav, was barely holding on.

"ROOOOOOAAARRR!!!"

The Hulking charged again. Raghav raised his arms to block. The punch landed, and this time he couldn’t stop it completely. His body was pushed back violently, his boots digging into the ground and leaving deep cracks behind him.

Before he could recover, another punch came, faster than before. He tried to dodge, but it was too late.

The hit slammed into his shoulder, twisting his entire body from the impact.

"UGHH—!" He staggered, barely managing to stay on his feet. The Hulking didn’t stop. It stepped forward, grabbed him, and lifted him as if he weighed nothing.

Then it slammed him into the ground. The earth shattered beneath him as dust rose into the air. Raghav coughed, blood appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"...Damn monster..." He forced himself up, but the Hulking was already in front of him. Another swing came, and he barely rolled away.

"BOOOOM!!!" The ground exploded beside him. If that hit had landed, he knew it would have been over.

---

While Imran, Raghav, Neha, and Vikrant were barely holding on, Pooja’s battle looked completely different.

"HAHAHAHA!!"

Her laughter echoed across the battlefield as flames surrounded her, wild and unstable, yet fully under her control.

The Plague Bringer released another wave of toxic gas.

But Pooja didn’t retreat, she stepped forward.

Her flames expanded outward, burning through the mist, overpowering it, dominating it completely.

"Trying the same trick again?" She raised her hand. "Flame Surge!"

A massive wave of fire slammed into the Plague Bringer, forcing its body backward. Its sacs began forming again, rapidly, trying to counter.

But Pooja was faster now. "Burst Burn!"

She destroyed multiple sacs one after another. Every time one formed, it was blown apart instantly.

"No regeneration for you." She dashed forward, closing the distance in an instant.

The Plague Bringer tried to release a close-range toxic burst, but she was already inside its range, too close. Her hand slammed into its chest.

"Inner Blaze." Flames erupted inside its body again.

The creature convulsed violently as its toxic mist destabilized, flickering and breaking apart.

"SKRRRRAAAHHH!!!" It tried to retreat, but Pooja didn’t allow it. She grabbed its decaying flesh and pulled it closer.

"Where do you think you’re going?" Her flames intensified, hotter, brighter, and violent.

"Inferno Collapse." A massive explosion of fire engulfed the Plague Bringer completely, leaving no space for it to regenerate. Its body burned continuously, without pause, without recovery.

It was being overwhelmed, destroyed faster than it could heal. While others were struggling, bleeding, and barely holding on, Pooja was doing the opposite. She was dominating.

Burning everything in front of her. And her laughter only grew louder. "HAHAHAHA—!!"

---

Isha was standing facing the Wall Breaker, the Wall Breaker weapon arm flared and fired a rocket straight at her.

The explosion tore into the ground as Isha vanished and reappeared mid-air. But before she could stabilize, another shot came, faster and closer.

She crossed her arms and blocked with her aura. Even so, the impact pushed her back through the air.

"Tch—!" She landed hard and slid several meters across the ground. In the next instant, she dashed forward again. The clawed gauntlets on her hands gleamed as she struck.

"SHHHHK!!!"

This time, she didn’t aim for the launcher. She targeted its other arm.

The Wall Breaker tried to react, but she was faster. Her blades struck again and again, each hit landing on the same point.

"SHHHK!! SHHHK!! SHHHK!!"

Cracks spread across the thick armor. Then it broke. She twisted her body, gathering her strength into this strike.

"SHHHHHK!!!" The arm was severed. The massive limb crashed to the ground and the Wall Breaker staggered.

Isha landed lightly, her breathing steady, her focus unshaken. "...Got you."

But only for a moment. The creature didn’t panic. Its body pulsed, dark energy gathered at the severed shoulder. Flesh twisted, grew, and reformed right before her eyes.

Within seconds, a new arm began to take shape.

Her gaze hardened. "...Regeneration."

The Wall Breaker tilted its head slightly, and that same broken, animal-like laugh echoed again.

"Khrr... khh... HA... HA...!!"

---

Meanwhile, on James and Arjun’s side, the battlefield around them had grown almost quiet.

Their competition had been smooth, almost effortless. James finished the last bite of his second apple.

Crunch. He adjusted the Anaconda-X and locked onto two targets.

"THOOM." The final pair of Armored Zombies burst from within. Their heavy armor shattered, flesh torn apart as they collapsed.

At the same time, Arjun took the last bite of his banana. He exhaled lightly, then moved. His blade flashed once, then again, flowing through multiple strikes in a single motion.

When he stopped, the last Rot Spreader Zombies were already cut apart. Heads rolled, cores severed.

Both of them lifted their heads and looked at each other. A faint smirk. The competition wasn’t over.

But before either of them could say anything, voices cut in sharply from the wall.

"If you’re both done playing, then finish the Screamers and go help the Captain and the others!"

Kavya and Sana shouted at them in a serious tone.

James and Arjun paused. Then their eyes shifted toward the battlefield. And what they saw changed everything.

Raghav was being thrown around by the Hulking. Imran was barely standing, his shield almost destroyed.

Neha and Vikrant were bleeding, struggling just to keep the Shadow Lurker visible.

Even Isha was locked in a dangerous fight against the Wall Breaker.

"Sorry," James muttered.

"Give me a minute," Arjun added.

Then both of them moved. The remaining Screamer Zombies were scattered across the battlefield, some already preparing to open their mouths.

James dropped into position instantly. His scope activated, locking onto two Screamers.

A clean shot. A second later, "BOOM! BOOM!"

Both heads exploded before a single sound could escape. He shifted immediately. Another pair locked.

At the same time, Arjun moved, and he cut through a group of zombies and reached a Screamer hiding behind them. In one motion, his blade flashed.

Its head flew off. Before the body hit the ground, he was already moving again. Another one to the left.

Another climbing over corpses, he jumped and struck mid-air. Within seconds, half of the Screamers were already dead. The rest barely had time to react.

James took a breath and locked onto the final targets. Two more were destroyed. Arjun finished the last one, cutting it down before it could even open its mouth.

---

On the wall, Ayesha let out a short breath as she fired another shot at a normal zombie. "Tch... they really need someone to scold them."

Deepak nodded while continuing to fire, his expression tense. "What can we do? They’re capable of playing even in a situation like this..." His eyes shifted toward the battlefield, toward Imran, toward Raghav, and finally toward Isha. "...But now is not the time."

---

The battle around Neha and Vikrant changes from physical to mentally. Neha’s eyes narrowed. "...Something’s wrong."

Vikrant clenched his fists, electricity crackling around his gloves. "What now?!"

But then they saw, the Shadow Lurker’s shadows began to distort around them, stretching and twisting unnaturally. Figures started to appear, one, two, five, ten.

"...Which one is real?" Vikrant muttered.

Each one moved, breathed, and looked completely real. Neha’s gaze moved rapidly between them, but even her enhanced perception was struggling.

"...It’s messing with our senses." Suddenly, one of the shadows lunged.

"Left—!"

Vikrant released a shockwave, electricity spreading outward, but it hit nothing. A fake.

At the same moment, "SHHHHK!!!"

A real strike came from behind. Neha’s body jerked forward as blood spilled from her back.

She almost dropped to one knee but forced herself up. "Don’t trust your eyes!"

The shadows multiplied further. Then Vikrant saw something worse.

"...Neha?" In front of him, Neha appeared, bleeding, collapsed, reaching toward him. "Help..."

His eyes widened. "...Neha—?!"

At the same time, the real Neha shouted from behind, "DON’T MOVE!!"

But it was too late, a deep slash tore across Vikrant’s chest. "UGH—!!" He staggered back as the illusion vanished. For a split second, the real Shadow Lurker appeared, then disappeared again.

---

While Neha and Vikrant were trapped in illusions, bleeding and struggling just to survive, the battle on the other side reached its climax.

"HAHAHAHA—!!"

Pooja’s laughter echoed across the battlefield, no longer playful but fierce and dominating. Her flames had completely taken over the area.

The ground beneath the Plague Bringer had turned black, cracked, and burning. Every time it tried to release toxic mist, it was burned away instantly before it could spread.

The Plague Bringer tried to adapt as its body swelled and multiple sacs formed at once, larger and more unstable than before, preparing a final release.

"...Not happening."

Pooja raised bert both hands, and the flames around her compressed, condensing from wild fire into something denser and far more dangerous.

"Crimson Core." A small but violently unstable sphere of fire formed between her hands. The temperature around it spiked instantly, and even the air began to warp.

The Plague Bringer reacted, its entire body expanding as it tried to release everything at once. "SKRRRRRAAAAAHHHH—!!!"

Toxic gas and pressure built rapidly, on the verge of exploding.

"Too slow." Pooja vanished and appeared directly in front of it, slamming the sphere into its chest.

"Collapse." For a second, nothing happened, creating absolute silence before a massive explosion erupted inward.

The flames crushed inward, burning everything from the inside. The Plague Bringer’s body swelled, cracked, and collapsed completely. Its entire form turned into burning ash and disappeared.

Pooja stood there, breathing slightly heavier as her flames slowly calmed but still flickered around her. "...Done."

She looked around, and her expression changed. Raghav was barely surviving, Imran was on the verge of collapse, and Neha and Vikrant were bleeding while struggling against something they couldn’t properly see.

In the distance, Isha was locked in a dangerous battle with the Wall Breaker.

Pooja cracked her neck as flames rose around her again. "...Now this is getting serious."

Without wasting a second, she turned, ready to move, and support her teammates.