Something impossible was happening.
Their prey's speed had increased.
In this world, every player's strength was chained to their stats. Twenty points in speed meant you moved with the limits of twenty points—no more, no less. Growth required blue points. One blue point for one stat point. A simple, rigid rule that governed every fighter.
And yet—
Jamie had just moved faster.
"Did I see that right? His speed… it just increased!" one of the underlings whispered, his voice trembling as he struggled to pull himself up from the ground. His knees wobbled violently beneath him as he forced himself upright, fear draining the color from his face as his eyes locked onto Jamie.
He stared at Jamie like he was the embodiment of death.
The young man lay flat against the ground, chest rising and falling heavily. Every breath dragged loudly through the charged air, rough and uneven, his lungs working desperately as if every inhale scraped against broken glass. Whether it was pain or calculation, he looked utterly exhausted.
The commander stood tall above him, steam-like confidence radiating from his body. His silhouette looked unshaken, unbothered, the posture of someone who believed the battlefield belonged entirely to him. The fight was still tense—and he intended to keep it that way.
Without warning, he lunged, his massive body moving with surprising speed as his weapon tore through the air toward Jamie like a falling guillotine.
Jamie rolled aside just as the strike came down, the weapon smashing into the ground where his head had been a fraction of a second earlier, and in that instant the fight exploded back to life.
The clash of movement sent a storm of memories crashing into Jamie's mind.
His gym trainer.
A broad, muscular man who always wore old training shorts. His face was carved with scars from his years in the army, deep lines crossing his cheeks like battle maps, and his voice was permanently hoarse from shouting commands at stubborn recruits who refused to push past their limits.
"You can never improve if you don't face larger obstacles!"
He had shouted that phrase so many times that it had become background noise, another loud instruction lost among the hundreds Jamie had heard during brutal training sessions.
A meaningless chant.
But now—
In the middle of a life-and-death fight—
Jamie finally understood it.
The words sharpened in his mind like a blade being drawn slowly from its sheath, gleaming with sudden clarity.
"To train my strength, I have to put myself in a situation that challenges me," Jamie thought, adrenaline sparking through his veins like fire as realization burned through the haze of battle.
The commander's hammer crashed down toward him again, descending with the unstoppable weight of a collapsing wall.
Jamie dropped low.
The strike fell with the force of a storm.
Jamie raised his kali sticks and met it head-on.
Slash!!!
Wood slammed violently against metal, the crack of the impact exploding through the battlefield like thunder.
The collision sent a brutal shock racing through Jamie's arms. His muscles clenched violently as the crushing force traveled through the sticks and into his bones, threatening to drive him straight into the dirt. Veins bulged along his forearms as he fought to hold his ground.
To the commander, it probably felt like trying to crush a mountain.
To Jamie—
It was opportunity.
A battle of strength, a chance to force his body beyond its limits and drag out growth through sheer pressure.
They pushed harder.
Strike after strike thundered between them, the air filling with the sharp ringing of metal and the dull crack of wood colliding with iron.
Every blow forced Jamie to endure more.
Every parry taught him something new.
Every movement carved experience deeper into his muscles, each second of combat engraving lessons his body would never forget.
Eventually he stepped back a few steps to create room between them, boots scraping across the dirt as he forced distance into the fight.
He bent forward, hands resting on his knees as sweat poured down his face in heavy streams, dripping from his jaw and striking the ground beneath him.
He dragged in breath after breath, his lungs burning as they pulled in air.
Slowly—
The burning pain began to fade as his heartbeat steadied and the chaos inside his body settled into a controlled rhythm.
And his system screen flickered into existence before his eyes.
[Strength 30 + 20 points]
A quiet wave of accomplishment spread across Jamie's face as he stared at the numbers.
It was working.
The realization settled deep in his chest.
If pressure could increase one stat—
Then it could increase them all.
Courage wrapped around his mind like armor.
"Why does your system screen always show up like that?" the commander barked suddenly, irritation cutting sharply through his voice as his patience finally began to crack.
Jamie lifted his head slowly.
For a moment, his thoughts drifted to the Glitch—the strange anomaly buried deep inside the system that made this impossible behavior possible.
This wasn't how things were supposed to work.
But it was happening.
Jamie forced a small smile.
"None of your business."
The commander's expression darkened.
He had the highest stats here,and yet this boy kept pushing him.
The humiliation burned like acid in his chest.
With a furious snarl he charged again, gripping his weapon so tightly his knuckles whitened around the handle as he drove forward with killing intent.
Jamie understood the thought behind his eyes.
End it in one strike.
Jamie parried again.
Then again.
Each impact slammed into his body like a hammer striking an anvil, the vibrations traveling through his bones.
But every collision forged him stronger.
Endurance climbed with every heavy blow.
Agility sharpened with every desperate dodge.
Strength thickened in his muscles with every block.
Beep.
The system chimed again, its cold mechanical tone echoing in his mind.
Speed +10 points
Strength +20 points
Endurance +40 points
Agility +20 points
Combat Experience +30 points
Jamie exhaled slowly, letting the air leave his lungs in a long controlled breath.
"That's better."
He straightened and stepped forward.
The ground seemed to tremble beneath his steps, small vibrations rippling through the dirt as his newly grown strength settled into his body.
The air crackled around him with raw pressure, the atmosphere itself tightening as if reacting to the power gathering around him.
Then the words appeared again—burning across the sky like a divine banner.
[Yellow Sun]
Jamie's body transformed.
His eyes ignited with blazing yellow light that cut through the dim battlefield like twin suns.
His hair lifted slightly as electricity surged through it, strands trembling under the violent energy coursing through his body.
Lightning crawled across his limbs, thin arcs racing across his skin.
But this time it was no longer wild.
No longer unstable.
The energy had become focused and controlled.
The trembling chaos that once shook his body settled into something stable.
Something mastered.
The commander felt it instantly.
"Yellow Sun again!" he spat, fury and fear twisting together in his voice.
Jamie stepped forward.
Each step left a deep imprint in the dirt beneath his feet, the ground cracking softly under the weight of his power.
"I have brought justice for inhuman acts," he said calmly, thunder vibrating through every word.
Then—
Jamie moved.
The sound cracked through the battlefield like lightning tearing open the sky.
The commander barely saw it.
One instant Jamie stood in front of him.
The next—
Pain exploded through his chest.
A hole had opened there.
His ribs spread apart violently as warm blood burst outward like a crimson waterfall.
Lightning flooded through the wound, burning through flesh and bone alike.
And behind him—
Jamie's silhouette appeared.
Hands gripping the gun that had just been torn from his body.
Cough.
Cough.
The commander spat blood onto the ground, dark droplets splattering across the dirt.
His eyes reddened as veins bulged along his neck, his body trembling violently as life began slipping away.
His lips moved weakly, trying to form words that never came.
His hammer slipped from his fingers.
It struck the ground—
Then dissolved into blue pixels that scattered into the air like fading dust.
Jamie stepped forward slowly.
The Scary Vice remained unconscious nearby, blood pooling around his arm in a spreading dark stain.
Jamie ignored him.
His eyes stayed fixed on the commander.
Lightning flickered around his hand as he reached forward, fingers sliding into the torn cavity in the man's chest.
The man's heart thudded weakly in his palm.
Electricity crawled across it.
Then—
Jamie pulled.
"You said you don't kill…" the commander croaked weakly, his voice thin and fading like the last breath of a dying flame.
"What a joke."
Jamie stared at him.
For a moment, his face was empty.
Then a quiet laugh escaped him.
There was no humor in it.
Blood stained his lips.
"I still don't kill."
The words sounded hollow in the silence.
The man before him could never come back.
Debating principles now meant nothing.
"What's the use of debating principles with a dead man?"
Jamie let the body fall.
It hit the ground with a dull, final thud.
The underlings stood frozen.
Sweat rolled down their temples.
Hands trembled uncontrollably.
Eyes filled with terror as they watched the man who had just ripped a heart from a chest with his bare hand.
Jamie walked slowly toward them, lightning still dancing across his skin.
To them, he no longer looked human.
He looked like a storm walking on two legs.
Should we beg?
Could we run?
Neither option promised salvation.
Beep.
The system screen opened again.
[Collected 200 points]
Jamie approached them slowly, the still-beating heart resting in his hand as faint electricity flickered across it.
Every breath they took sounded like a death sentence echoing inside their heads.
"I sentence you to death for inhuman acts," he declared, his voice calm and absolute.
His left arm rose slowly.
Thunder rolled across his skin as lightning gathered in violent coils around his forearm.
Even the air seemed to tighten around them.
Their faces collapsed in terror.
The underlings dropped to their knees.
Some pressed their foreheads to the ground.
Others whispered broken prayers through trembling lips.
Jamie lifted his arm higher.
Lightning gathered.
He was about to strike when
"Jamie!!"
The shout tore through the gate like a blade.
Bray stood there.
His voice raw.
His chest rising and falling violently from the sprint that had carried him here.
His eyes locked onto Jamie.
Jamie turned.
Yellow lightning still crawled across his body.
And in his hand—
The commander's heart still beating.