[Basic Ricochet] [Tier: 0 Utility Skill] [Effect: Allows a fired projectile to

bounce off a solid surface once with a 50% damage reduction.]

It was a parlor trick. A skill used by low level players to shoot around

corners, usually resulting in them accidentally shooting themselves in the foot.

Sebastian crushed the concept in his mind. And then, he forcefully rammed

his 10,000x Nexus Glitch into the pathetic string of code.

[Action Registered: Compile Basic Ricochet.] [Nexus Glitch Activated:

Proficiency x10,000.]

The beautiful cascade of green and blue holographic windows flooded his internal

HUD. The server desperately tried to process ten thousand lifetimes of geometric

mastery being forcefully injected into a single user.

[Basic Ricochet leveled up to 10/10! Max Level Reached!]

[Evolution Requirement Met. Evolves to Tier 1: Perfect Rebound!]

[Proficiency Overflow Detected!Perfect Rebound leveled up to 10/10!]

[Evolution Requirement Met. Evolves to Tier 3: Geometric Slaughter!]

[Proficiency Overflow Detected! Geometric

Slaughter leveled up to 10/10!]

[WARNING: Concept Threshold Breached. KineticTrajectory Law Unlocked.]

[Geometric Slaughter evolves to Conceptual Law: Vector Overwrite.]

A wave of clarity washed over Sebastian’s highly optimized brain. He did not

just know how to bounce a bullet anymore. He understood the fundamental

mathematics of spatial trajectory.

He saw the world not as physical objects, but as a massive web of intersecting

angles, velocities, and kinetic transfers.

"Fire!" the squad leader roared, pulling the trigger of his machine gun.

BRRRRRRRT!

A hail of heavy kinetic slugs tore through the air.

Sebastian did not dodge. He simply took a half step to the right and tilted his

head exactly two inches. The barrage of bullets sailed harmlessly past him and

chewed up the concrete wall behind him in a shower of dust and sparks.

The squad stopped firing. Their eyes widened in sheer disbelief. He had not even

looked like he was trying to dodge. He had just casually sidestepped a wall of

lead.

"My turn," Sebastian whispered.

He raised his standard issue kinetic rifle. He did not aim down the sights. He

did not even point the barrel at the five men.

He pointed the gun at a thick slanted steel support pillar located ten feet to

his left.

"What is he aiming at?" one of the grunts muttered.

Sebastian pulled the trigger.

BANG!

A single standard tungsten slug erupted from the barrel.

To the naked eye, it was just a gunshot. But to Sebastian, it was a perfectly

calculated mathematical equation.

The bullet hit the steel pillar.

CLINK!

It did not shatter. It did not lose momentum. The Vector Overwrite law engaged.

The bullet absorbed the kinetic energy of the impact, doubled its velocity, and

perfectly redirected its trajectory at an impossible seventy two degree angle.

It shot across the alleyway like a streak of invisible lightning.

SQUELCH!

The bullet punched cleanly through the left eye of the knife wielding grunt. His

head snapped back, and his health bar instantly deleted as the slug pulverized

his digital brain.

But the bullet did not stop.

It exited the back of his skull and struck the heavy iron breastplate of the man

standing right behind him.

CRACK!

The bullet ricocheted off the dense metal and angled sharply downward. It struck

the concrete floor, bounced back up, and completely shattered the jaw of the

third soldier.

"AGH!" the man gargled, dropping his weapon as the bullet tore through his vocal

cords and exited his neck.

The slug was moving so fast now it was literally humming.

ZIP! THWACK!

It bounced off a rusted shipping container, banked sharply to the left, and

cleanly severed the spinal cord of the fourth soldier. It dropped him to the

floor like a puppet with cut strings.

The squad leader with the heavy machine gun stood entirely frozen. He had just

watched his four teammates drop dead in the span of one point two seconds. He

had not even processed the sound of the ricochets yet.

He slowly looked down.

The bullet had bounced off the fourth man’s collarbone and buried itself

directly into the exact center of the leader’s forehead.

A tiny perfect hole sat between his eyes.

The squad leader’s eyes rolled into the back of his head. His massive machine

gun clattered to the floor, followed immediately by his heavy lifeless body.

THUD.

[Target Eliminated x5.] [Players Remaining: 65] [ADMIN SUSPICION: 1%]

Sebastian lowered his rifle. He watched the red bar in his vision tick up by a

single percent, then slowly drop back down to zero. The server’s anti cheat

engine was incredibly confused. It had registered five fatal headshots from a

single bullet, but because the bullet had physically made contact with the

environment for every bounce, the physics engine officially categorized it as a

highly improbable ricochet event.

"See?" Sebastian muttered, blowing a tiny wisp of smoke from the barrel of his

gun. "Geometry is fun."

High above the arena, in the luxurious floating VIP boxes, Commander Sterling

sat perfectly still. He held a crystal glass of blue wine halfway to his mouth.

His pale blue eyes were locked onto the massive holographic screens displaying

the fight.

The aristocratic Vanguard officer had seen a lot of things in his time. He had

seen Mages burn entire city blocks. He had seen Berserkers cleave tanks in half.

But he had never seen a Level 42 grunt casually lobotomize a five man squad with

a single bullet by shooting at a steel pole.

Sterling slowly lowered his glass. A massive smile spread across his pristine

face.

"Incredible," Sterling whispered. His voice trembled with greed. "He did not

even look at them. He just did the math."

Down in the dirt, Sebastian stepped over the dissolving corpses of the five men.

He did not bother looting them. Their gear was trash.

He casually ejected the magazine from his rifle, checked the remaining rounds,

and slapped it back in with a sharp CLACK.

He had ninety nine bullets left. And there were exactly sixty five players left

in the arena.

"Alright," Sebastian sighed. He rolled his shoulders and walked out of the

alleyway. He headed directly toward the sounds of the heaviest gunfire in the

center of the map. "Let us hurry this up. I want to be home before the spiders

start acting up again."

He melted into the shadows of the industrial maze, a walking phantom of absolute

violence. The Crucible was supposed to be a test of survival. But for Sebastian,

it was just a very loud and annoying math test. And he was about to score a

perfect hundred.

——

The Vanguard Arena had gone completely quiet.

Forty five minutes ago, the concrete maze had been a roaring noise of automatic

gunfire, explosive magic, and the screaming pleas of ninety nine players trying

to survive the battle.

Now, the only sound echoing through the blood stained shipping containers was

the heavy rhythmic thud of Sebastian’s combat boots.

Step. Step. Step.

He walked down the center of the main thoroughfare. He did not crouch. He did

not check his corners. He held his standard issue kinetic rifle resting lazily

on his shoulder. His black featureless helmet gave away absolutely no emotion,

but beneath the visor, Sebastian was completely bored.

He checked his UI.

[Players Remaining: 2] [ADMIN SUSPICION: 0%]

He had spent the last half hour systematically dismantling the competition. He

had not used a single spell. He had not thrown a single Solar Flare. He had just

used his thirty percent physical synchronization and his glitched Vector

Overwrite to turn the arena into his personal shooting gallery.

He had bounced bullets down ventilation shafts to perfectly execute hiding

rogues. He had kicked heavy metal crates with enough force to crush fully buffed

Guardians into paste. To the cameras, he looked like the most highly skilled

human soldier to ever walk the server.

"LADIES AND CORPORATE SPONSORS!" the announcer’s voice suddenly boomed through

the stadium speakers, breaking the silence. "WE ARE DOWN TO THE FINAL TWO! IT IS

AN ABSOLUTE MASSACRE!"

The crowd up in the stands, safely behind the magical barriers, went absolutely

feral. The cheering was a metallic roar.

"IN THE RED CORNER, THE UNKNOWN GRUNT WHO HAS TAKEN THIS ARENA BY STORM! THE MAN

WITH THE IMPOSSIBLE AIM... TRENT!"

Sebastian rolled his eyes behind his mask. ’Trent. God, I need a better alias.’

"AND IN THE BLUE CORNER! THE UNDISPUTED KING OF THE HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION! THE

WALKING SLAUGHTERHOUSE... DRAX!"

A massive set of heavy iron doors at the far end of the thoroughfare suddenly

blew outward.

BOOM!

The doors did not just open. They were violently ripped from their hinges and

thrown fifty feet through the air, crashing heavily into a concrete bunker.

From the billowing cloud of dust and smoke, a nightmare stepped out into the

harsh stadium lighting.

Drax was not just a player. He was a monument to industrial violence.