Katzu stepped closer to the curtain, where his comrades were already gathering. Their uniforms were gleaming white, clean, but with black accents and patterns on their shoulders that resembled claw marks.
Among them stood a young man with a nose piercing and dark bangs that covered his eyes.
On his chest, just below the emblem of a black horse and a white horn, there was a small neon crack from a previous battle, serving as a reminder that they were not just players, but veterans of digital warfare.
Katzu walked over and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.
—You did well...
He said with a slight smile that showed both pride and brotherly warmth.
—I was able to defeat Unic with my sister. It was something.
Elk chuckled, rubbing his nose where a ring piercing glinted.
—Nah, she did all the work. I just pretended to be in charge.
Katzu narrowed his eyes slightly.
—Now, my friend, your imaginary horns will help us here.
He said it with such confidence, as if he were about to bring a real hero onto the field, rather than a player with a nickname born out of a joke.
The rest of the team laughed. Someone slapped Moose on the back, someone adjusted the headphones. In their eyes there was excitement, but also a certain pride they are not just participants of the tournament, they are "Virgin Darkness" team about which memes and legends were already being made on the net.
This name was born as a joke, after a night when they were looking for a normal name until dawn and did not find. Then Moose said:
—Let it be 'Virgin Darkness'. It sounds pretentious, but no one will forget.
And he was right, the name stuck. Now it was shining on the scoreboard, illuminated in neon letters.
Katzu looked at his teammates. The white costumes glinted silver under the stage light, and the horse's emblem with a horn seemed alive.
—Listen, it doesn't matter who is opposite us. The main thing is not to let them erase our style. We are not just a team. We are a virus that will rewrite the rules.
The crowd backstage burst into applause as their names were called up to the stage.
Katzu turned to Elk, who grinned and held up two fingers, a symbol of their old joke: "two darknesses, one pure victory."
Katzu nodded briefly.
—Let's go make history.
The announcer's metallic voice boomed from somewhere above the stage, and the spotlights lit up, hundreds of blue-and-white beams cutting through the smoke that hung beneath the neon.
—And now, meet! Five-time champions of the Cyber Competition! Multiple times conquered the world ranking! Team - "Virgin Darkness"!!!
The curtains parted as if cut by a blade, and a stream of light poured out.
For a moment, the entire hall was blinded by a white glow, and then, with a roar from the audience, they emerged from the darkness, five players dressed in pristine white uniforms with the emblem of a black horse with a white horn.
The crowd erupted.
Applause, cheers, and camera flashes greeted the arrival of the Virgin Darkness like a march of heroes.
They were known in Seoul, their faces flashed on streams, in ads, and in memes, and now the crowd roared as if they were cheering not just players, but legends who were standing right in front of them.
Katzu walked in front, his eyes slightly narrowed from the light of the spotlights. His gaze was calm, but in this calmness one could read the confidence of a predator entering the arena.
Elk followed, waving his hand carelessly to the fans, someone even threw a poster in the air with the inscription "Our darkness – Our hope!"
The announcer continued to speak, but his voice was already drowned in the roar of the arena.
On the huge screens behind the players, footage of the team's past victories slowly appeared, along with slowed-down clips of their past matches and scenes where Katzu skillfully secured victory in the final seconds.
This year, the competition rules were different.
The developers decided to create anything but a classic cyber battle, which chose a genre for which every viewer did something different: VR-MMORPG " Red Paths".
It wasn't just a game, but a simulation of fear, where the boundaries between reality and virtuality were almost blurred.
Participants donned full-body neurohelmets, and their minds were transported into a world of nightmares, where they couldn't look away or they would "die" and lose everything.
This time, players had to play as supernatural creatures: vampires, demons, werewolves, and fallen angels, and hunt each other.
The winner was determined by their reaction speed, psychological resilience, and ability to outsmart their own fear.
The "Virgin Darkness" team didn't hesitate for long, and they chose the theme of vampires. But not the classic ones, but those who didn't feed on blood but on emotions.
There was something aristocratic, cold, and eerily attractive about their appearance: white cloaks, black vests, and artificially illuminated eyes.
***
At the moment, Katzu's team was winning against all the other teams, from newcomers to the title-winning veterans of the past.
Their avatars were already splashed across the VR news feeds, and viewers on the streams were discussing their every move.
Now, the final match was left, the match that would decide everything.
The final opponent was the American team Crimson Yew, a formidable name behind which stood the true monsters of the virtual arenas.
The scoreboard above the arena displayed the score: 4-1.
"Virgin Darkness" only needed to capture one player, and victory would be theirs once again. That player was Chris, the star of "Crimson Yew," known for his wild reactions and almost animalistic mechanical intuition.
In the VR MMORPG "Blood Bonds," he chose the form of a leopard shifter, fast, graceful, and deadly. His movements in the game were a blend of acrobatics and predatory hunting.
The muscles beneath the pixelated skin trembled with restrained power, and the claws reflected the arena's electric glare.
Katzu, on the other hand, looked like the epitome of vampire elegance: a white cloak, silver veins on his gloves, and his eyes illuminated by the ruby light of his interface.
His team watched him from the stands, holding their breath. They knew that everything would be decided in a single battle, as it always was.
— Are you ready, leopard?
He murmured into his microphone, and even his voice seemed to carry a hint of mockery.
— "Let's dance, bloodsucker!"
Chris responded, his avatar baring its fangs.
In the next second, the space exploded with movement.
Leopard rushed forward, leaving a trail of torn air behind him, and Kattsu deflected the attack with a flash of his Electroshock ability.
An impulse passed through his body, and the air shimmered with blue cracks of energy. Electricity ran along the floor and walls.
The VR world shuddered, the software code visualized the energy, turning it into a real storm of light.
Leopard leaped to the side, his fur sparking, part of the interface blinked a warning about overheating the system.
Katzu did not let go his movements were precise, almost mechanical. It was as if he himself had become the embodiment of an algorithm created to win.
Commentators broke into shouts:
— Katzu activated a shock wave! He's cornering Chris! God, what field control!
But the American was not going to give up. With a roar, he launched a chain of attacks, turning into a blur of movement.
Their blows merged into one continuous stream of vampire and leopard, darkness and lightning.
The audience froze, and for a moment it seemed that the very space itself held its breath.