Waiting through the snow was a cold, miserable affair. The layer of white masked dips in the ground, and a moment of distraction could twist an ankle or send you tumbling face first into the snow.

Without proper gear, it was even worse. Your pant legs got soaked as your boots filled with freezing slush. That happened, and hypothermia and frostbite would quickly follow.

Frostbite grabbed hold of fingers, toes, even your nose. Leaving them blackened and dead. And hypothermia killed you outright.

Tracking through deep snow was dangerous.

However, tracking through the snow when a giant malamute was plowing a path for you was much easier.

It still wasn’t easy-going, But Buford toned it down from grueling to merely inconvenient.

They had found another cash, a small red box Buford had to bite to open. That put Margie at four points.

She’d given Micheal one point, hoping that if she were eliminated, the System would round down and only take one point from her. Steven had followed suit, giving Micheal a point and bringing all of them to three.

Steven had asked the System if it rounded up or down and got called a numbers jockeying nerd for his trouble.

Now Noodle was leading them on another march. Though they were heading further away from the trail than they’d gone before.

Steven took a deep breath. Micheal’s buff was making this easier on him, but his shoulder still burned with pain, and his chin had developed a real shiner of a bruise, and to top it off, he was pretty sure he’d bruised a rib. Preferable to getting tossed into the flame trial, but it still smarted.

He pulled up a prompt.

25 minutes remaining

There wasn’t much time left until the end of the first round. Which, on the one hand, was nice. They were all exhausted, and Steven was in a considerable amount of pain. But on the other hand, they didn’t have enough points!

They needed three more for all of them to get at least one Augment each.

But that would be a bitter pill to swallow. The prizes were right there, but if they didn’t pick up their pace, they would have to settle for a partial victory.

For all they knew, they would never get a chance to choose Augments like this again.

If they didn’t get any more points, then Margie would transfer her points to Micheal and Steven. The benefits Compass Push and a group heal could give them outweighed the benefits of making Buford even stronger.

Buford stopped, and Steven almost ran over Micheal. He was about to ask what was wrong when he heard it. Voices.

Shit!

Steven scanned their surroundings and, with a start, realized he knew where they were. They were less than a dozen feet from the beach.

“Push ahead or backtrack?“ Margie asked.

Steven opened his mouth to say backtrack when Micheal spoke up. “We should keep going.”

Steven arched a brow.

Micheal nodded, his face deadly serious. “We don’t have that much time left,“ he kept his voice low and soft. “Walking along the beach is going to be faster than going through the forest. If the group on the beach wants to start a fight, we have a chance to win some points. If they don’t wanna fight great, we leave and find points elsewhere. And if they want to fight and we can’t take them, our group is well-suited to running away. Buford can plow us a path while Steven takes potshots.“

His logic was sound, but Steven immediately wanted to argue. What if the group was more mobile and running wasn’t an option? What if-

He took a deep breath.

That was his caution speaking, and if this were a life or death situation, his caution would be right.

But this wasn’t life or death. This was a competition. And the better they did, the better their chances of survival outside this stupid contest.

Steven hadn’t dwelt on it much over the last week. But their new reality had made something clear to him on that first night.

If you didn’t have power, you would be helpless against those who had it.

First, the moose had almost killed him, then Reina. Even at level 1, he had the tools to fight her when an ordinary person would’ve had none.

And that gap only grew as he leveled and gained more Skills and Augments. How big was that gap going to be at level 10? At level 20?

When, not if, someone came to hurt them, they needed to be strong enough to protect themselves.

They needed to be strong enough.

Steven slowly nodded. “I vote we go forward.“

Margie paused, gray eyes calculating before she gave her own nod.

Buford and Noodle were quiet, their eyes moving between the group with far more understanding than dogs should have.

They carefully crept towards the beach, the voices growing louder with every step. Steven could pick out at least three separate voices, two women and one man.

Good, with Buford, they had a numbers advantage.

This didn’t have to become a fight, though. That was likely some cope on Steven's part.

But even with his wishful thinking, he was still ready for the group to attack them the second they stepped out.

They paused at the beach's edge, and Steven got a good look at the other group.

The woman in the center drew his eye first. She was around average height, with pale skin, long black hair, sunken cheeks, and wide, dark eyes that glared at everyone around her.

She stood with the kind of absurd confidence that you couldn’t help but take note of and wore thick jeans and an absurdly puffy fur-lined coat. The thing looked like something Cruella de Vil would wear in the winter.

She gestured to the large pile of rocks her group was gathered around, and the man to her left threw up his hands.

He was tall with shoulder-length black hair, and his face and build were rail thin. The man was so pale he practically glowed, even set against the snow.

He was dressed more normally than the first woman, with a light blue winter coat and snow pants.

The last member of the group was a stocky, tanned woman with light brown hair cut in a bob.

Like the man, she was dressed in a regular coat and snow pants, and she chewed on her knuckle as they stared at the rocks.

All three of them were arguing and gesturing towards the pile. The woman in the fur coat was obviously in charge and looked to be at least five years older than the other two, which placed her in her late 20s or early 30s.

They carefully stepped onto the beach, and Micheal cleared his throat.

The group froze before turning to them.

The woman in the fur coat stared at them like they’d all grown a second head. “Why the fuck didn’t you ambush us from the woods?“

Steven blinked.. “… it would have been wrong?”

It came out more as a question than a statement, and the woman’s look grew even more incredulous, somehow. “Jesus Christ, you’re morons!”

Margie quirked a brow. “You’re the one complaining that we didn’t just jump you,” she pointed out.

The woman shook her head. “Yeah, because I can’t believe we’re having this conversation right now. You had the perfect opportunity to jump us, and you didn’t take it!“

The woman to her right nodded. “Does seem like kind of a waste,“ she said, a faint drawl to her words.

She held up her hands. “I’m not saying you should be bloodthirsty monsters or anything, but this is a competition where we can’t die. Jumping us would’ve been the smarter choice.“

Micheal rubbed his eyes. “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation right now! If we jumped you and took you out immediately, we would weaken you. We don’t know what bullshit the System will throw at us next, so it’s better if we try and avoid weakening other people if we can prevent it!”

The first woman sighed. “That’s a very noble sentiment. However, you’re ignoring a few facts.“

She held up three fingers.

“The city government is currently paralyzed, and violence can irrupt at any moment either from other people or the System.” She lowered a finger.

“With that in mind, taking every advantage is crucial.” She lowered her second finger.

“And lastly,” her eyes narrowed and a note of pure scown entered her voice. “I don’t give a shit if it weakens somebody else. I’m grabbing that advantage.”

It was then that Steven realized he’d lost track of the man.

“Left!” Micheal shouted.

If it wasn’t for Oh Thank You, Hero boosting his reaction speed, Steven never would’ve made it in time.

He threw up a shield just in time to intercept a globe of water a little smaller than his head.

It slammed into the shield, but instead of splashing into a puddle, it recoiled like rubber, sailing off at a sharp angle.

The man hurled a second water orb, and Steven quickly blocked it.

The stout woman charged in, and Buford rushed to meet her.

Steven couldn’t spare the dog any attention as a third water ball was racing at his face. And one from the side?

He dismissed his shields and quickly deflected both projectiles. Where did that second one come from? He didn’t see the man move, so how – a blue circle the exact diameter of the orbs appeared over the man's shoulder.

One of the ricocheting orbs slammed into it and bounced back towards Steven, gaining speed as it rebounded.

It was going to miss by a wide margin when a second circle appeared.

The orb slammed into it at an angle before ricocheting directly at the side of Steven‘s head.

As he deflected the whistling orb, the man ran to the side, moving into the path of the second orb.

As it approached his chest, it glowed and changed course, spinning around him in a diagonal orbit.

That was cool!

Steven dodged another orb and was about to pull a shield into the man’s back when Micheal yelled for behind him. “Right shoulder!“

Steven immediately called a shield and felt a water orb impact it.

The man cursed, and it looked like his eye might be twitching.

He threw a shield in front of the man’s face and called another behind his right foot. He quickly pulled it towards his own feet, and as the man stumbled, Steven spared a glance for Buford and Margie.

The stocky woman was – she was a matching Buford!

She wasn’t taking his hits pound for pound, but she was dancing around the dog, and when she struck, he clearly felt it.

The fur coat lady wasn’t doing anything. She just stood by and watched.

Support Class? Or was she waiting for the right opportunity?

Steven's focus shifted back to the man as he recovered from his stumble and shot a withering glare at Steven. “What kind of broken bullshit is that!”

Steven blinked. “Huh?“

The man clenched his fist and shook it at Steven. “You can just pull a bullshit shield at me from behind? How is that fair!”

“Fucking broken Skill!”

Steven was about to point out the man had launched a water orb at him from behind but had to cut off as the man threw his hand forward.

The orbiting water launched at Steven. He called a shield in front of himself, and the man instantly redirected the orb, bouncing it to the right before immediately calling another platform and then another. Ping-ponging the sphere back and forth at blinding speeds.

He released it, and the orbs sailed at Steven faster than he could react.

Only it missed him.

He heard the thud and realized he wasn’t the target.

He glanced at Micheal, panic rising. The man had collapsed and was holding his chest as he wheezed.

Steven blocked the next orb and then charged the man, anger bubbling in his gut.

Another orb flew at him, but instead of trying to predict where it was going to strike, he waited for the man to redirect it, and as soon as it rebounded called a shield in front of it. The orb slammed into the shield and blasted it away, far too fast for the man to try and catch it.

He growled as another orb slowly began to materialize in front of him.

Steven slammed his fist through the forming orb and straight into the man’s chest.

He coughed and staggered back. Steven didn’t let up, calling a shield behind the man’s back to stop him from retreating. He bumped against it, and then Steven’s fist caught him in the cheek. He staggered and tried to throw a punch back.

Steven blocked it effortlessly.

He wasn’t that much faster than the man. Micheal’s buff didn’t give him super speed, but it did make him faster. And it boosted his reaction time even more.

That, matched with the man’s evident inexperience with hand-to-hand fighting, let Steven take him apart.

He blocked another punch, swept a kick into the man's side, then shield pulled his left shoulder.

As the man staggered and Steven was about to drive a punch into his chin, Micheal wheezed from behind them.

Before Steven could react, a water orb slammed into his side.

It felt like getting hit by a slightly rubbery bowling ball and sent Steven clear off his feet and tumbling over the cold beach.

Where did that orb come from? Steven looked up in time to see the woman in the fur coat lower her arm. Could she shoot water orbs too?

Steven glanced over to Buford in time to see the woman he was fighting pull out a granola bar mid-dodge. She went to eat it, but Margie stepped forward and slapped it out of her hands before catching her with a punch to the jaw.

The woman barely moved from Margie‘s punch, but Buford pivoted in the sand and leaped, crashing into her side.

She went down.

Coat lady tried to do something, raising a finger that glowed with blue light. Steven didn’t know what that was about or care. He pushed past the throbbing pain in his side and called a shield in front of her face, another in front of her finger, and then the third behind her knee and pulled it towards him.

She predicted the shield pull, quickly jumping to the right, but Steven had delayed her long enough.

Buford bit down on the downed woman’s neck, and she vanished with a thump of green and blue light.

The man snarled, and a water orb coalesced between his hands. He threw it, not at Steven but at the fur coat lady.

Instead of crashing into the woman as Steven expected, her hand glowed blue, and the orb spun around her in an arc before launching back at Steven.

The orb had gained speed as it flew, and the woman’s throw added even more.

Steven barely had enough time to throw up a shield as the orb raced towards him. It was so distracting that he didn’t realize the man had created a second orb behind his back at some point.

It flew out, racing right past Steven.

His heart froze.

Micheal Vane has sent you three points.

He barely registered the prompt before there was a sickening thud, and a new prompt appeared in the corner of his vision.

Party member eliminated.

Steven knew that Micheal wasn’t dead. He knew that he had just returned to the chalet.

He knew that.

But something deep inside him caught at the words, something that had been broken a little over a year ago.

Ignoring the throbbing pain in his side, Steven flung himself to his feet and charged back into the fight.

His Skills throbbed along with the pain in his body. It was almost like they were crying out, like they knew they had failed.

Steven dodged a water orb that whistled at his back and then threw a shield up to the woman’s right and pulled it towards his left hand.

She stumbled, then almost caught Buford’s charge in her side, just barely managing to slip around the massive dog.

Steven closed in on the man and swung with all his strength.

The water orb Steven had dodged returned to the man, but it hadn’t completed its orbit around him. It was out of position.

Steven’s fist race down, blue light trailing off him in a haze.

The man threw up one of the circles he used to redirect the orbs, and Steven's fist met it.

Whatever the man’s Class was, he wasn’t a defender. The circles redirected his orbs. They helped him attack.

Their Purpose wasn’t to protect.

Steven’s fist shattered the circle and slammed into the man’s jaw with a crack!

He collapsed, but before he hit the ground, his remaining water orb finished its orbit and launched at Steven.

Steven was a hair too slow with his block and caught the orb on his foot.

His leg was jerked out from under him, and he went down.

Steven looked up in time to see Buford leap at the woman’s chest.

She stuck her hand out, and a distant part of Steven‘s mind noticed that it was not the hand she used to catch the water orb.

Her fingers rippled with gray light as she tried to sidestep the dog. He was moving too fast. She wouldn’t get out of the way in time.

Buford hit her hand first, and as soon as he touched the grey light, his course changed.

Instead of slamming into her chest, the dog curved around her. Only slightly, but combined with her dodge, it was enough.

Buford hit the ground and spun, but the woman was already racing for Margie, her fist pulled back with several times the amount of gray energy crackling around it.

Steven desperately called a shield as Margie, momentarily shocked, started her dodge too late.

She wasn’t even facing Steven, but a prompt still lit the corner of his vision.

Margie Vern sent you three points.

No!

The woman’s fist shattered the Hand-Shield and buried itself into Margie‘s side.

Margie, Buford, and Noodle disappeared into green and blue light.

Party member eliminated.

Steven’s breath caught in his throat.

His vision swam as the backlash from his broken shield hit him, but the pain was nothing compared to the feeling in his chest.

He failed.

Before his vision cleared, he felt a blow crash down on his head, and then his world was covered with a flash of green and blue.