"Loop Team, do you read? There’s an unidentified enemy force on the roof! Get down from there now!"

"It’s already too late. We lost contact over five minutes ago."

"What kind of disaster is this?"

Six minutes into the operation, things were already starting to go wrong.

Inside the command vehicle set up near the prison, everyone was frantically working the various equipment, each of them thinking the same thing. A body had fallen just before the main entry assault, and the rooftop infiltration team had gone silent since the operation began. While the main entry team seemed to be progressing well, the initial blunder weighed heavily on everyone.

"Alpha Team, what’s the status?"

"The defenses are tougher than expected. We might take longer than planned to reach the target."

"Engage carefully to minimize personnel loss."

Through the comms or the first-person cams attached to the team members, they could see the intense combat situation inside. The defenders were using chain guns and turrets to hold back the wave of attackers, effectively turning the place into a hellscape for the assault team.

Moreover, in the chaos of urban warfare, the command vehicle could only provide general guidance, leaving the combatants to handle things themselves.

Then came a brief lull.

"At least the death count for the main entry team isn’t rising too quickly."

"Chain guns and turrets have firepower limits… It doesn’t seem like there are too many defenders inside. With our numbers, we should have the advantage. We’ll keep grinding them down and break through at the first weak spot."

The tension began to ease.

With no need for constant orders, they could relax a little. The only concern was the unknown enemy on the roof, but the death count indicated that at least some of the rooftop team was still alive.

Their focus turned to identifying the enemy who attacked the rooftop team, but answers were scarce. Whoever had wiped out the reserve rooftop team had vanished.

Naturally, theories began to form.

"Maybe this Incursion event took inspiration from the Survival mode, and a Hunter appeared."

"…That makes sense. Hunters emit EMPs when they show up, so one could’ve appeared while the first team was entering."

"Maybe four or five of them? The rooftop team wouldn’t stand a chance."

"If we secure the sanctuary, they won’t need to escape, right?"

"Do you think Harmony and Dice are easy targets?"

Pointless bickering.

But at least the conclusion wasn’t completely unreasonable. There was a possibility that Hunters had appeared and wiped out the reserve team, so the command vehicle focused on resolving the situation.

Their main concern was how to deal with Harmony and Dice. Those two alone accounted for about 50% of the sanctuary’s strength. With Harmony ranked as the top streamer and Dice as the Final Championship’s fourth, they were formidable opponents.

The proposed strategies were crude but effective—like herding them into open terrain and attacking with twenty people at once. Other suggestions were similarly straightforward.

"Feels like we’ve messed with the wrong people…."

Someone muttered.

They could still take it if they tried. After all, even top-ranked streamers were just players in this ruthless PvP world, and Harmony and Dice knew that if they couldn’t defend, they’d lose the sanctuary.

But combat was a different matter entirely.

The wheels were already in motion, and they returned to their roles, focusing entirely on the task.

But then—

-[Alert: Localized EMP detected.]

-[Alert: Exceeding allowable limit of electronic interference. Initiating network and command vehicle reboot.]

"What? You’ve got to be kidding me."

"This doesn’t feel right…."

The ceiling lights and equipment inside the vehicle went dark.

With communications down, they lost contact with the escort vehicle and the five standby guards. But they could still talk among themselves.

Bang, bang, bang!

"Are you in there?"

"The command vehicle is intact. Is the escort team all right?"

"No issues. The engine shut off, but we’re holding position. An EMP… think it could be a Hunter?"

"We were already suspecting Hunters. Stay alert."

"Roger that. Finally, some action."

Footsteps crunched in the snow outside. The command vehicle had started rebooting, and everyone inside was back to assessing the situation.

Then, suddenly, the EMP activated again with a faint buzz. But unlike before, this time it seemed continuous, leaving all comms and devices dead and the command vehicle engulfed in eerie silence.

Everyone fell silent, focusing on the sounds outside. All they could hear was the crunch of snow.

But then—

Pop, pop, pop!

"Ahhh!"

Suddenly, shots rang out at near point-blank range. Muffled by a silencer, the sound was nearly lost in the snowstorm, but there was another, sharper noise—like sticks snapping or boards breaking.

They hoped it wasn’t from the guards waiting outside, but fate often has other plans.

The faint sound of breathing through the snowstorm was captured by the barely functioning mic.

And then a voice spoke.

"…It’s an EMP generator I received as a hardcore perk. It’ll fry the circuits completely, so they won’t be coming back online."

"…Who are you?"

"Good question. I should probably take it as a compliment that no one recognizes me by voice."

A faint chuckle echoed inside the command vehicle.

And then another voice.

"A guardian of the sanctuary, I presume."

"I was just about to ask why they named it that."

Crackle!

The vehicle’s exit ramp began to glow faintly red.

The sanctuary’s guardian, Uroboros—Eugene—had welded the door shut with thermite, trapping everyone inside. The targeted EMP had disabled all control and communication systems, leaving them helpless.

"Quite the setup on that escort vehicle. An M134 minigun with 4,000 rounds. I’ll make good use of it."

"…Fine. I’ll give up and go watch the stream. Are you streaming right now?"

"Head to the lobby; you’ll find out."

The sound of metal clanking followed.

Eugene detached the massive clip from the vehicle’s roof and transformed into a moving turret, loaded with hundreds of kilograms of ammunition.

With a steady, grinding sound, Eugene disappeared, leaving the six inside to let out helpless laughs.

What a strange world.

"HQ, do you copy? HQ! HQ!"

"This is insane. What’s even happening?"

"Where should we go? Does anyone have contact with the main entry team?"

"By now, they’re probably split into squads. That’s how the team operates. Not much help."

When you sever a limb, the head screams, but when you sever the head, the body is paralyzed—this applies to both people and organizations. For those assaulting Sacramento State Prison, it was no different.

The loss of central command threw them into chaos. Without guidance, they were little more than scattered forces.

Contingency plans existed, but they lacked the experience to execute them smoothly.

But, as always, time waited for no one.

"I’ll check it ou—ugh!"

Thud!

One player, trying to assess HQ with two others, was thrown back as a door swung open, slamming into him. A cold gust blew in, scattering snow, but that wasn’t the problem.

They gaped, stunned. Standing before them was something beyond comprehension—a figure bearing a massive ammo box barely small enough to fit through the doorway.

And in their hand was a cylindrical weapon with six barrels, a classic sight in military films.

For a moment, everyone froze, unable to process if she was friend or foe.

But they wasted a precious 1.5 seconds.

Unlike them, Eugene knew exactly what to do.

"…Huh?"

That single word was all most of them managed to say.

The trigger was pulled, the motor spun, and electricity surged through the Icarus Gear, powering the minigun to life in less than a second.

A storm of bullets erupted.

Brrrrrr!

The 7.62mm NATO rounds poured out at 80 rounds per second, turning the floor brass-colored.

The minigun’s destructive power was beyond containment, and two Icarus Operators in Eugene’s path were shredded within a second, ejected to the lobby.

But it didn’t end there.

Those who hid too late were left barely alive, and those slower were reduced to shreds. Even those who hid weren’t safe, as hundreds of bullets obliterated cover like soaked cotton candy.

Eugene fired over ten thousand rounds from one spot. Weighing 216kg with hundreds of kilos of ammunition, Eugene stood unmoving, absorbing the recoil with raw strength.

"Unbelievable, this is insane—!"

"I surrender! I surre—gah!"

But the gunfire erased everything.

Even their surrender pleas.

After clearing out the lobby, all that remained was the glowing barrel, its gas slowly dissipating. The ammo counter read 3,136 rounds. It was enough to clear out the remaining intruders.

Taking a deep breath, Eugene stepped forward. Though he might have looked like a waddling duck, no one would dare say that to someone with such firepower.

Death moved forward, slow but inevitable.

And when it caught up to the remaining enemies, turrets, and chain guns, everything disappeared in 15 seconds.

The minigun, a brutal eraser. And for the invaders, the worst part was that Eugene moved faster as his ammo dwindled. There was no escaping.

This process repeated five times, and even some of Harmony and Dice’s defenders were caught in the storm, but no one could object.

Stopping a hurricane was impossible.

In one unexpected twist—

Boom!

Grenades exploded in the hallway battles, bullets and grenades breaking pipes and disabling Harmony’s traps. It wasn’t intentional, but the result was the same.

The ammo count fell from 2,000 to 1,000… until the ammo box was finally empty. By then, Eugene had reached a section marked “Hall of Fame—Eugene.”

And at the end of the hall—

"…I see you two know what you did wrong, judging by the way you’re kneeling."

"Yes, sir."

"Y-yes…."

At the end of the intimidating display of Eugene’s achievements, Harmony and Dice knelt obediently, waiting.

Of course, both soon found themselves bound and displayed as “living exhibits” in Eugene’s gallery.

A fitting end.