The door slid open with a hydraulic hiss
and Elric leaned forward immediately, eyes sharpening just a little.
The room on the other side was wider than he expected. Industrial. Low ceiling. Pipes running along the walls, sweating condensation that caught the neon bleed from outside and turned it into something grimy and alive.
Three enemies.
One sitting on a crate.
Two standing.
None of them had noticed him yet.
Elric didn't move.
"…Yeah," he murmured. "This is bait."
His thumb hovered over the stick.
"They want me to sneak."
One of the enemies shifted, adjusting their weapon. Another scratched their arm in a looped, slightly off-timing animation.
Elric's eyes flicked between them.
Distances.
Angles.
Cover points.
"Normal player?" he continued under his breath. "Crouch. Tag enemies. Slow clear."
A beat.
He exhaled.
"Boring."
He stepped forward.
Not into cover.
Not quietly.
Just walked in.
One step.
Two...
A can rolled under his character's foot with a loud metallic clink.
All three enemies snapped toward him.
"There it is," Elric said instantly. "Aggro confirmed."
Gunfire exploded through the room.
He didn't retreat.
Didn't sprint.
Didn't even take proper aim.
He just… kept walking.
"Alright," he said, voice steady, like he was explaining something obvious to an invisible audience. "Here's the thing about luck builds."
A bullet grazed past his character's shoulder.
Another hit, health dropped.
He ignored it.
"You don't stack luck. That's fake. That's placebo."
He fired once.
Missed.
"Real luck"
Another shot came at him
His character stumbled slightly as it connected
but the stumble shifted his position just enough that the next burst of bullets missed completely.
Elric's eyes flickered.
"is momentum."
He fired again.
This time...
Hit.
Critical.
The enemy by the crate dropped instantly.
Elric didn't celebrate.
Didn't react.
Just kept talking.
"You make bad decisions," he said, moving forward again as the remaining two enemies opened fire. "Consistently. Aggressively."
His health dipped into a warning state.
Red edges flickering on the screen.
"Statistically, you should lose."
He reloaded, out in the open.
No cover.
No hesitation.
One of the enemies rushed him.
Too fast.
Too close
Elric fired.
Miss.
"…Yeah, that tracks."
The enemy swung
And tripped.
Not dramatically.
Not even intentionally.
Their foot clipped the edge of a loose panel on the ground.
Just enough.
Their swing went wide.
Elric blinked once.
Then adjusted aim slightly
Fired.
Critical.
Down.
A beat.
"…Okay," he said slowly. "That one was… generous."
The last enemy hesitated.
Just for a fraction of a second.
Long enough.
Elric raised the gun
Pulled the trigger
Click.
Empty.
He stared at the screen.
The enemy raised their weapon.
Aimed directly at his head.
Elric didn't move.
"…Reload animation's too long," he muttered. "Not making that."
The enemy fired
and the lights flickered.
Just once.
The shot went wide.
Elric's eyes narrowed.
"…Huh."
His character automatically completed the reload
He fired.
Critical.
Silence.
The room settled.
Gun smoke.
Faint electrical buzzing.
Dripping pipes.
Elric leaned back again, slower this time.
"…See?" he said after a second. "Momentum."
He rubbed the back of his neck, eyes still on the screen.
"Game wants to stabilize outcomes," he continued. "But if you keep feeding it bad inputs, eventually it"
He stopped.
The screen… flickered.
Not like before.
Not lighting.
Not environment.
The HUD.
For just a frame
Something overlapped it.
Not part of the game.
Not clean.
Not aligned.
A second health bar?
No.
Not exactly.
It was… mispositioned.
Like it belonged somewhere else.
Then it was gone.
Elric didn't move.
"…Okay."
He leaned forward again.
"Now that"
He tapped the side of the controller lightly.
"that's new."
The room in-game remained still.
Too still.
Even for a cleared encounter.
No ambient chatter.
No background NPC noise bleeding in.
Just
A faint hum.
Not from the speakers.
From the game itself.
Elric's grip tightened slightly.
"…Alright," he said under his breath. "That's… a little weird."
A beat.
Then, with a small shrug
"…probably nothing."
He pushed the stick forward.