Chapter 37 — Street War
The first rifle shot cracked through the artificial city block.
Concrete exploded beside John's shoulder.
Then the entire street erupted.
Hunter Squad Alpha opened fire from every direction.
Balconies. Windows. Rooftops. Alley entrances.
Disciplined volleys, not chaos.
These weren't mercenaries. These were trained hunters.
"COVER!" Jack shouted.
The Knights scattered instantly.
Bishop rolled behind an overturned delivery van while firing controlled bursts toward the second-floor balcony across the street. Nyra sprinted into a narrow alley and disappeared from sight. Hawk vaulted onto a broken storefront awning and climbed toward rooftop level.
John didn't retreat far.
He moved straight toward the center of the street and slid behind the wreckage of the first armored pickup.
Bullets hammered the metal shell.
Crow crouched beside him, tablet already scanning the battlefield layout.
"Forty-seven targets confirmed," Crow muttered.
Sam ducked beside a concrete pillar. "Make that forty-five."
Two precise shots rang out.
Two rooftop hunters dropped.
Hawk had found his angle.
Coordinated Assault
Hunter Squad Alpha reacted immediately.
Four shooters shifted focus toward Hawk's rooftop position.
Suppressive fire slammed into the brick wall around him.
He rolled away before the bullets reached his last position.
"Snipers adjusting," he reported calmly.
Meanwhile, the squad leader stepped forward into the street again, completely exposed but perfectly confident in his team's cover fire.
His voice carried across the gunfight.
"Knights," he said, almost conversationally.
"You've fought machines until now."
He raised his rifle and fired three controlled shots toward Jack's position.
"Let's see how you handle professionals."
Jack ducked as bullets struck the van.
"Yeah," he muttered.
"We're gonna enjoy this."
Nyra's Route
While the street battle raged, Nyra moved through the alley shadows.
She climbed a fire escape ladder without a sound and reached the second floor of one of the artificial buildings.
Inside the window was a hunter team controlling a balcony machine gun.
They were focused on the street.
They never saw her enter.
Nyra crossed the room in three silent steps.
Her blade flashed.
The first man dropped before making a sound.
The second turned too late.
She caught his rifle barrel, twisted it away, and drove the blade beneath his armor plate.
The machine gun fell silent.
She grabbed the mounted weapon and swung it toward the opposite building.
Three hunters on that rooftop turned just in time to see the muzzle flash.
The heavy gun roared.
Two bodies fell immediately.
The third dove behind cover.
Jack's Counterattack
On the street below, Jack had waited long enough.
He kicked open the van door beside him and grabbed the machine gun mounted on the destroyed truck.
"Crow!" he shouted.
"Cover!"
Crow fired bursts from his rifle to force the nearest hunters to duck.
Jack lifted the heavy weapon and stepped into the street.
The gun thundered.
A stream of rounds tore through the balcony positions.
Concrete shattered.
Glass exploded.
Hunter Squad Alpha lost three men in seconds.
The squad leader finally moved for cover.
"Split positions!" he ordered his team.
Hunters began spreading through the buildings.
They were adjusting.
This was turning into a real urban war.
John Enters the Fight
Until now, John had stayed mostly in cover.
Watching.
Reading.
Counting.
He had already mapped most of the battlefield.
Forty-five hunters had become thirty-eight.
But the remaining ones were good.
Very good.
The squad leader peeked from behind a concrete column and spotted John's position.
Their eyes met across the street.
The leader raised his rifle.
John moved first.
He sprinted across the open road.
Bullets chased him immediately.
One round clipped his vest.
Another struck the pavement beside his foot.
He didn't slow.
The squad leader fired again—
John dove through a storefront window.
Glass shattered.
Inside the building, two hunters turned in surprise.
John was already moving.
His mechanical saber snapped out from his sleeve.
The first hunter tried to raise his rifle.
Too slow.
The blade struck the rifle barrel aside and slashed across the man's chest armor seam.
He dropped instantly.
The second hunter fired.
The shot grazed John's arm.
John stepped inside the rifle line and drove his elbow into the man's jaw before finishing him with a short blade strike.
Two down.
He grabbed one of their rifles and moved toward the back stairwell.
Above him—
Bootsteps.
More hunters.
John climbed.
Rooftop Clash
Hawk had just finished repositioning when a hunter tackled him from the side.
Both men rolled across the rooftop gravel.
The hunter swung a combat knife.
Hawk blocked with his rifle and slammed the stock into the man's face.
The hunter kept fighting.
These men were relentless.
Hawk grabbed his wrist and twisted hard.
The knife dropped.
One punch ended it.
He looked up—
Three more hunters were climbing the opposite stairwell.
"Little busy up here," Hawk muttered into the comms.
Nyra's voice answered calmly.
"On my way."
Leader vs John
Inside the building stairwell, John reached the top floor door.
He kicked it open.
The squad leader stood there waiting.
Rifle raised.
Two shots fired instantly.
John moved sideways and slammed the door into the wall, breaking the leader's aim.
The leader switched to a combat knife and rushed forward.
They collided hard.
No machines.
No distance weapons.
Just two trained fighters.
The leader was fast.
Very fast.
He struck with precise knife attacks aimed for weak points in John's armor.
John blocked one strike and countered with a knee to the ribs.
The leader absorbed it and slashed toward John's neck.
John caught his wrist mid-motion.
Both men locked for a moment.
The leader smiled slightly.
"You're better than Scar said."
John twisted his wrist sharply.
Bone cracked.
The knife fell.
The leader tried to recover—
But John drove the mechanical saber into his chest armor seam.
The blade pierced through.
The leader's eyes widened slightly.
Then he collapsed.
The Battle Ends
Without their leader, Hunter Squad Alpha lost coordination.
The remaining fighters tried to retreat into the buildings.
But the Knights were already hunting.
Nyra cleared the rooftop team.
Jack and Bishop pushed through the street.
Hawk finished the last sniper.
Within minutes—
The artificial city block fell silent.
Bodies lay scattered across the battlefield.
Crow checked his scanner again.
"Zero hostile signatures."
Level Five was quiet again.
John stepped out onto the rooftop and looked across the artificial city.
High above, cameras were still watching.
Scar had seen everything.
Still no voice.
Still no face.
Just another test completed.
Behind John, the steel door at the far end of the street slowly began to open.
The entrance to Level Six.
Nyra walked up beside him.
"Think he's impressed yet?"
John looked at the open doorway.
"No."
He started walking toward it.
"He's just getting started."