Poll World [LitRPG][Reader Polls]

(Paid subscriber poll this chapter)

The wait for the UFO was agonizingly long. It was speedy, but being trapped in the flamingo body made the seconds drag on.

Her current body made very little sense from a conventional physics standpoint. She couldn't move much, but she could move some parts.

Her eyes could spin around like googly eyes and she could make her body vibrate slightly. She wasn't sure if the limited movement was worse or better than not being able to move at all.

Her sense of touch was weird and hollow like she was touching things from far away and could barely feel them. She was grateful for that at least as even with the greatly diminished sensation the crack on her torso throbbed with a dull ache.

She suspected it wouldn't heal naturally as she wasn't technically alive, but maybe with tape or glue? How did one even go about repairing lawn decorations?

Her one saving grace was that the event was just an hour from finishing for the day and she'd get a respite from experiencing locked in syndrome.

Cataloging the survivors of the battle she found that there were 21 gremlins left. Jasper still had the gloves so making more was technically possible, but he'd have to dodge attacks which was much more difficult now that they'd lost access to super speed.

Jasper was busy at the moment texting away on her phone. He'd set her down leaning against a postal box so she couldn't see most of what he was messaging, but from what she glimpsed he was berating Chuck for calling him evil in the first scenario.

Rolling her googly eyes she mentally directed the gremlins to return the bazookas to her. Just as she feared they had been shooting the rockets immediately as they finished recharging ammunition.

She'd hoped they would get it out of their system eventually, but after demolitioning a dozen buildings and leaving numerous craters in the earth they seemed just as jubilant as ever to spread wanton destruction.

The gremlin's chaos had given one nice surprise however. One of the buildings they'd blown open revealed a large pile of neatly stacked dead antagonists. Nearby in a comfy recliner was other Gen's lifeless body.

It was nice to have their opponent's identity confirmed, but it was macabre seeing her body like that with no visual injuries. Other Gen wasn't exactly a friend yet, but she had helped Gen out of a crisis.

Not that other Gen had hesitated to try and kill her in the slightest… she knew that LEO required people to play on their assigned team regardless of outside connections, but it was still difficult for Gen to accept the nature of events and how it technically wasn't real.

Gen had two gremlins carry her as she inspected the various bodies in the area. Other Gen had been busy and G2n had been right about how dangerous the place was.

In a corner she found fifteen broken flamingos and when she squinted she saw that they registered as dead antagonists. Other Gen's plan clicked together. Somehow other Gen would body swap into a flamingo then swap with antagonists when they arrived. Effectively disabling her enemy she then just had to break the flamingo for an easy kill.

In the case of multiple enemies, she could systematically jump between them until all were eliminated.

The only reason Gen had survived was Jasper's ability to recognize who was an antagonist vs a protagonist. If not for that she would've died as a flamingo in the first few seconds of the fight and they would've had no way to know which gremlin was the possessed one.

Now that he was a human, he could finally explain how he could differentiate who was on his team, but annoyingly, she couldn't ask the question…

Mentally sighing she had the gremlins circle around the dead bodies and try and loot them, but they all came up empty. Presumably other Gen had already looted them.

Other Gen's body didn't register as a dead protagonist, and she realized that they had to go find the gremlin that had been the final possession.

Circling around for several minutes Gen finally found the spot the gremlin had exploded. It had left no body, but thankfully the soot mark on the ground registered as a level 4 protagonist and she could loot it.

Amongst the dead, there had been two level 4 antagonists and one level 5, as well as twenty or so lower-level actors. Other Gen's loot did not disappoint as a result, and she was initially overwhelmed as she tried to sort through the hundreds of new event items that flooded her inventory.

Most were useless, but many of them were not bad, but even if not immediately useful. There were machine guns, pistols, body armor, explosives, food, rings, antidotes, vaccines, syringes, and more.

As a flamingo, none of them looked equipable unfortunately, but she tried to pick out the ones that would help her gremlins or Jasper.

Shortly thereafter her gremlins had been upgraded with a hodgepodge of different weapons, they had laser rifles, flamethrowers, and even a plasma cannon that required four of the small creatures to effectively operate.

She also looted Barney and recovered the feathered cap that gave him seeking shots as well as her original blowpipe.

Surprisingly, Jasper's body allowed her to loot the speed demon saddle.

Having the gremlins bring her over to Jasper who was still texting away with a derisive expression she started dumping out the items she'd selected for him.

They consisted of rocket boots, a plasma sword, and most impressive of all, a full combat suit named the immortal's garb.

Whichever antagonist had been body swapped while wearing it must have been extremely mad, as it was an extremely impressive piece of equipment that had clearly been upgraded with multiple poll rewards.

It registered as overpowered on the rarity scale and she could see why. It provided an extreme level of defense against all forms of damage, would self-repair, allowed the user to turn incorporeal for limited periods, and would gradually bring the wearer's body to superhuman levels of fitness the longer it was worn.

The rocket boots and sword were self-explanatory and basic in comparison, but still extremely useful.

Jasper finally stopped texting and looked down at the items she'd laid out. He squinted at them for several seconds before nodding.

"You've done well Gen, your offerings are acceptable. However, bring food next time, your body is weak and malnourished."

She rolled her eyes, she knew her fitness sucked, but hopefully the suit would fix it before the event finished.

Searching her inventory, she deposited a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the ground in front of him.

He squatted in front of it before picking it up with one hand. He took a long whiff of it before running his tongue along the top slice of bread.

He then tore into the sandwich, giving a very accurate Cookie Monster impression. She watched in horror as he smeared peanut butter and jelly all over his cheeks before looking at her eagerly.

"This pleases The Jasper provide me more."

Thankfully she was saved from considering how to handle his eating habits as a whirring sound was heard from overhead and she spotted the arrival of the UFO.

Somehow or another, they'd repaired the tractor beam as the area around Jasper was enveloped in light and started drawing them all up into the sky. Gen quickly ordered the gremlins to gather around so they wouldn't be left behind.

She mentally ordered them to be on their best behavior in the ship and not start ripping it to pieces. With how possessive Solomon was of the ship, she didn't want to set him off, especially as the gremlins were her only meaningful way to interact with the outside world, and he could easily destroy them.

Once inside the ship Jasper was standing casually with Gen slung across his shoulder like an umbrella. Hon looked confused and Solomon had an angry expression as he stared down Jasper with his arms crossed.

In a corner, Trank was leashed to a wall and looked to be hibernating.

The gremlins were spreading around the interior with evil expressions and Gen was barraging them with mental commands to not break anything.

Hon spoke first, "Why do you have the flamingo, and is that jelly on your face or blood…?"

Jasper's tongue swirled around his lips, "Jelly. Peanut butter as well."

Hon's expression only became more confused.

Solomon spoke next in an annoyed tone, "What was that before threatening me, huh? I don't see your giant mechanical lizard anywhere unless it's that pile of melted scrap metal down there!"

Jasper seemed to consider Solomon for a moment before leaning over and beginning to equip the new armor that had been abducted along with him.

The metal plates clicked together over the top of his clothes and gradually made him look more intimidating.

Solomon became progressively redder in the face as Jasper continued to ignore him.

Jasper finished the process by putting on his rocket boots and clicking the plasma sword onto his waist.

Solomon scoffed, "Are you done? Am I supposed to be intimidated by your new armor? I know what it is. The guy who died wearing it was bragging all over socials before he flamingoed himself. I'll remind you I'm level 5 and it's going to take more than a tin suit to intimidate me! I didn't come here because I was scared of your zombie. I came here to remind you that you don't get to order me around! I saved your ass from those protagonists even after you got my buddies killed and stole my UFO! Don't think getting the UFO back to me makes us even!" He glanced at Hon, "The pilot is a good kid, though, so getting him to me is worth half the favor you owe me for saving you!"

Hon looked shocked at the unexpected compliment.

Jasper's face was visible through the transparent faceplate of his helmet. He looked annoyed as he stared at Solomon.

"What are you talking about?"

Solomon looked bug-eyed, and a vein throbbed on his forehead. "You said your lizard would obliterate me and called me a coward!"

Jasper nodded, "And?"

Solomon looked at Hon for help, but Hon only shrugged helplessly.

Rubbing his forehead in visible pain Solomon gestured in front of him. "AND! I came here to tell you that I'm not scared of you!" He waved at the gremlins, "I'm not scared of your little monsters either, my UFO got upgraded with self-repair from my poll so this baby is making it all the way to the finish line! The only way I'm getting eliminated is if I get myself killed doing something stupid like going to where Susan is!"

Jasper nodded, "Which is why I called you a coward. I can tell you desire to assist me, but your fear overrides who you wish to be, and you have become trapped in a prison of your own mind, limiting your potential."

Solomon took a step back like he'd been slapped.

Jasper continued as he took a step forward, "Before, when you were requested to help with the flamingo, your heart screamed to join us, but you denied it. Even now, I can feel your joy at my survival and your sorrow at your own weakness."

Solomon took another step back, hitting the UFO's wall, and Jasper continued to close in on him.

"I told you to assist me because it is what you truly desire to do. As you continue to deny yourself, I have no choice but to obliterate the you that stands in your path and lead you to self-actualization."

Jasper placed his free hand on Solomon's shoulder as the older man collapsed with tears on his face.

This was already the second time Gen had seen him cry in a short amount of time, and she had no idea what was happening.

Solomon's voice was wracked with emotion as he clung onto Jasper's hand. "I can't do it! I've worked so hard for so long! I'm so close! How can I risk what I've struggled for!?"

Jasper's expression hardened as he pulled Solomon to his feet, "There is no choice, you dream of glory and victory that will only be obtained through trials. Avoidance will only be a slow death instead of a brilliant one. Follow my command, and we will blaze this path together through any adversity!"

Solomon's shaking stopped, and he stared at Jasper like he had been enlightened.

Hon took a step back, "What is happening…? Gen, did you start a cult?"

Jasper shot him a look, "I have slain the leader of your so-called club her mantle is now mine and I shall see our assets preserved. Fly with haste to defend, my brethren are in peril." His eyes became distant, "You will not get away with this Violet…"

Hon was bewildered, "What?"

Solomon stood at Jasper's side and shot Hon a look, "Fly, you fool!"

Hon froze for a second before scrambling for the pilot's chair, and the UFO whirred into motion, shooting through the sky.

Gen herself had no idea what to think either. Was Jasper some sort of genius? If they hadn't been body swapped, there was absolutely no way she would've been able to convince Solomon to cooperate.

She hadn't thought Jasper was stupid exactly, but she had formed an impression of him being a bit of a gluttonous, self-centered sociopath. His new therapist cult-leader persona was seriously throwing her for a loop, and it was a bit hard to take seriously when he still had food all over his face.

Trapped in her plastic body, though her options for analyzing the situation were limited, and it was almost comforting being able to check out.

Entertaining herself with her inventory, she started dropping out loot for Solomon and Hon.

The first item was the saddle. She considered saving it until the iguanas finished incubating, but if they didn't stop Susan asap, there wouldn't be any zombie iguanas left to ride.

Jasper understood her intent, and he passed the demonic cross to Solomon, who took it reverently and hurried over to Trank to install it on the platform.

Gen watched as he installed it right side up and mentally blanched when it installed successfully. Was she riding around with it inverted for no reason before? Had it really just been user error that it was installed upside down?

Pulling herself together, she forced herself to conclude that this was just LEO messing with her on purpose. It definitely wouldn't have worked right side up for her… probably…

For Hon, she dropped three map augments and had the gremlins deliver them. One was the NPC radar she'd bought. Without Jasper's super speed, it was hard to use now, and it would be more useful for the fast-moving UFO. The other two were ones she had looted from other Gen. One was a zombie radar that worked basically the same as the NPC radar, but in reverse. The other was a threat radar that showed the location of the strongest actor within one mile.

The last one she considered leaving for Jasper, but the only thing he used the phone for was texting, and he hadn't opened the map a single time.

Ding~!

ERROR NO FEET PRESENT

ERROR PLASTIC BODY

ERROR VESSEL IS NOT ALIVE

ERROR ERROR ERROR

RESOLVING…

Gen felt a bizarre sensation that could only be described as her plastic flamingo feet turning into fleshy human feet that were the exact same as her old ones, because that was exactly what was happening.

Wiggling her toes, she found that she could move again, or at least she could move her feet, and she even had ankles! The rest of her was sadly still immobile plastic.

Flexing her feet wildly, she eventually got Jasper's attention, who looked at her in disgust before setting her down on the ground.

Ignoring him, she balanced on her new feet as she flexed and tried to hop forward, only to fall over immediately. The crack on her torso spread another millimeter, and her googly eyes spun in pain.

Jasper looked down at her, still flexing her feet uselessly. She was stuck on her side like a flipped turtle.

His voice full of pity, he said, "I could return these boots to you, but with your level of coordination, I am confident you will destroy yourself."

Gen stopped wiggling her feet. He was right, most likely, but technically, if she could use the boots properly, she could move under her own power once again.

How to aim herself though…

With a flash of brilliance, it came to her. Retrieving Barney's hat from her inventory, she had a gremlin put it on her and tighten the drawstrings as much as possible to securely attach it to her plastic head.

Jasper shook his head, but removed his rocket shoes and allowed the gremlins to attach them to her feet.

Once she was fully equipped, Jasper set her upright and took a step back. Hon was focused on flying, but Solomon was watching her carefully, even though he clearly had no idea what was happening.

Gen ignored her surroundings as she carefully meditated.

I am a projectile!

With that thought, she activated the boots and willed herself to be aimed just a few inches above her current position.

The boots flared flames, and she rose much too quickly, but immediately a stifling force enveloped her and held her in place exactly as she targeted.

Giddy, she began to fly around the interior, activating the boots again and again each time she lost momentum. It was a bizarre sensation as the boot's propulsion forced her forward and the hat's auto-aim held her on target, giving her basically full movement wherever she willed.

Ding!~

Being a lawn decoration sucked, but for the first time she was actually having a rare moment of enjoyment and started to try to figure out what the heck a gnome launcher was when everything suddenly froze.

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"LEO here! Time for today's break! And it truly is climatically timed in the most make-or-break moment! Two hours left before a horde of special zombies erupts! Protags went wild today and destroyed 68 headquarters! Antags are trying, though! A total of four zones have fallen to zombies, and there are still 85 incubating special zombies, however! Between the dragon nest that is forming and the mech factory poll that's about to resolve, it's going to be a doozy tomorrow!"

Gen experienced a full-body shiver as she was suddenly again flesh and blood and back in the hallway of Morna's club.

Disoriented briefly she took stock of her surroundings just in time for Morna to grab her shoulders and start shaking her.

"Where are you, Gen!? It's epic! You're missing everything!"

Before Morna could continue speaking, a hand appeared and grabbed her by her hair, pulling her off of Gen.

Looking up at her rescuer, she saw G2n had rejoined them.

"Morna, what have I told you about discussing the event in the middle of the hallway? Half the club is on the protagonist side, and we can't have them picking up intel."

Morna reeled back with a pained expression as she futilely tried to escape G2n's grip on her.

She squealed, "Why does a nerd like you have a super strength ability!?"

G2n ignored her question as he dragged her behind him and glanced at Gen, "We're having an emergency antagonist meeting in five minutes."

Gen nodded, "Let me get Jasper, he's still in my room."

Grateful for once again having limbs, she hurried to her room and opened it to see Jasper back in his iguana body, lazily chilling on their simple bed.

Hastily filling him in on the situation, he stood and stretched before allowing her to lift him up onto her shoulder.

She didn't know where the meeting room was, but it wasn't hard to find by just following other club members whom she recognized from the event.

Along the way, she saw other Gen trudging along with a sleepy expression. Other Gen was in polka dot pajamas along with a sleeping cap. She yawned when she saw Gen and gave a sleepy wave.

Gen didn't know how to react when she had so recently murdered her in the event, and instead froze momentarily. Other Gen didn't seem to notice as she went ahead into the meeting room.

Gen followed after and once again took note of how trashy the club headquarters was. The meeting room had stained carpet and thirty or so desk chair combos that looked like they had been pulled out of a middle school in the sixties, complete with peeling lead paint.

G2n was in front keeping a careful look on Morna who was massaging her scalp with a pained expression. His eyes widened when he saw other Gen enter and he hurried forward.

"Gen, this is an event meeting… I'm going to have to ask you to step outside."

Other Gen gave another sleepy yawn, "It's fine, just pretend I'm not here."

G2n's eyes narrowed, and he looked around and whispered, "Why is it fine exactly?"

Other Gen pointed back at Gen, "Ask her, I'm still waking up."

G2n's eyes locked onto hers with an intense expression, and she looked around awkwardly before saying, "Umm, yeah, it should be fine. I… I killed her in the event."

G2n's eyes flickered between the two of them, and he sighed, "We can talk about that later, but I suppose there's no harm in letting you sit in now."

Other Gen raised her hands up high and in a monotone voice said, "Yippee~"

Gen took a seat as G2n moved back to the front, and other Gen sat next to her.

Other Gen produced a bag of chips and started eating them. Gen did her best to ignore her not knowing what to say, but Jasper in his miniature form, was enticed by food as always and started climbing along her arm to get closer to the chip bag.

Other Gen noticed him and passed a cheesy chip, which he accepted without question and started tearing into.

Other Gen was watching G2n at the front and said, "It's nice being eliminated. All week I kept hearing that the club was doing well on the antagonist side, but I couldn't listen in. It was lonely."

Gen still didn't know what to say. Should she tell her that it really was no problem murdering her and she wouldn't mind doing it again in the future if needed?

Luckily, G2n started his speech and she focused on him, but it was difficult as other Gen kept passing more chips to Jasper and he was noisily eating them right on her shoulder.

"As most of you are aware, our primary headquarters is under attack. Most notably, Susan is among the attackers, but there are two other threats along with her."

An old-school laminate projector flickered to life, and she saw the Gundam from before as well as the cannon-barn. Both looked different from the original images G2n had sent her. The Gundam now had a giant sniper rifle, and the barn looked even more massive with proportionally more cannons.

"I purchased the focal point upgrade for our headquarters, which makes it so that for the next four hours, all headquarters within zone 98 are incorporeal except for our primary one. The incubation timers have two hours left until the special zombies finish, so if we can just hold out that long, the momentum of the fight will shift."

He stepped in front of a whiteboard and said, "As our headquarters is the lynchpin, if it falls, all the other headquarters will again materialize. They are not upgraded and would quickly be overrun. So our objective is…"

He wrote the number 1 on the board and the word delay after it.

"It's simple, we delay the enemy long enough and we will win. We have three high-priority enemies and almost a thousand mechs attacking. Susan was hit with our level 5 downsizer, so she only has two abilities available, but she is still not to be underestimated, as each ability has multiple augments!"

He wrote Susan's name on the board with two words below it meteor and danger sense.

"These are the two abilities Susan has retained. The meteor ability gives her colossal firepower, and the danger sense gives her exceptional defensive ability. Do not attempt to block a meteor under any circumstances, and do not delude yourself into thinking a sneak attack will work." He shot a look at Morna, and she avoided his gaze.

He wrote number 3, and next to it, he wrote mobile cannon fortress. "The fortress is the least mobile of our opponents despite its codename. It is painfully slow, but has impressive self-repairing defenses as well as incredibly potent mid-range weapons." He pointed at item 1 again, "Delay! It is slow, and I want it slower, oil slicks, environmental obstacles, anything to slow it down. When the special zombies finish incubating, I want it still only halfway to our headquarters!"

He wrote number 4 along with large mech.

Hon stood up and said, "Umm, Twen, that's actually a Gundam, specifically it's a--"

G2n held up a hand, "Hon, I don't care what anime it looks like it's from, it's a poll reward from LEO, and regardless of how much you think you know about it, it's ultimately up to LEO's discretion what it does."

Hon shrugged and sat back down.

G2n pointed at the giant long long-barreled gun in the mech's hands, "This oversized sniper rifle is the mech's primary weapon. It fires slowly, but each shot has a three-mile range and can level a building. Without the attack negater upgrade on our headquarters, which can negate an attack once per minute, the mech would have already taken us out already. As it stands, the mech is a quick-moving moving high-damage threat. Likely its defenses are comparatively weak, but we don't have the resources to hunt it down, so---" he aggressively tapped item 1 again, "Delay! We don't need to destroy the mech, we only need to defend against its attacks long enough to let the incubation complete. Anyone with an ability or equipment that could potentially block its attacks, speak with me after the meeting. Otherwise, just keep in mind it could target you at any point you're outside the headquarters."

Next, he wrote 6 and standard mechs next to it.

"The standard mechs are the protagonists' main force and the primary threat. While Susan and the other two are intimidating singular opponents, they do not have the raw capability to overwhelm our iguana production rate. The mech army, however, is specialized in extermination and has the numbers to steadily push through the iguana tide while sustaining only minimal losses. We will need to find some way to reduce their numbers if we are going to last for two more hours."

Next, he wrote 7 and flamingo/dragon rider next to it.

"Finally, we have two potential threats which I have warned you about. Judging by LEO's message, the dragon is making some kind of nest and will likely be a major future problem, but unlikely to affect this battle. The flamingo, on the other hand, could appear at any time, and we have no insight into it other than it having eliminated multiple high-level antagonists instantaneously."

Gen raised her hand and said, "Umm, the flamingo won't be an issue. I kind of defeated it."

G2n narrowed his eyes, "Kind of defeated it?"

Gen looked at other Gen and said, "Well, it was Gen and umm… I'm the flamingo now."

Hon stood up again, "The flamingo is you!? Then who was talking to us…"

Gen pointed at Jasper on her shoulder, "After the body swapping, Jasper ended up in my body, and I'm in the flamingo now."

Hon stared at Jasper wide-eyed.

G2n coughed from the front, "That explains at least all the messages ordering me to upgrade the headquarters with a cafeteria that you started spamming me with mid-battle."

Jasper yawned, not looking the least apologetic.

G2n looked concerned. "What happened to Jasper's special zombie form?"

Gen shook her head. "It got destroyed in the fight."

Hon spoke up again, "Gen, I mean Jasper, I guess… got Solomon to help us though! We're on our way in the UFO!"

G2n nodded while looking through notes, "I'm not sure it makes up for losing the special zombie, but at least on paper, Solomon should be a powerful asset even though he hasn't made much of a name for himself in previous events."

G2n crossed out flamingo on the board and said, "With all that said, our headquarters has an extensive amount of upgrades that we were only able to afford due to them being cheaper on perimeter zones, so we should be able to hold our own for at least forty-five minutes more. I've requested help from the fortune wardens through Todd and Francine, but it may not arrive in time. For the next hour, I would like us to brainstorm options for delaying the major threats and taking out as many mechs as possible."

Gen sat back and listened to the discussion. She wasn't inside the quarantine zone and so the amount of assistance she could give was limited until they found a way in.

Entering the zone was going to be a battle in itself. Most of the defenses were pointed inward, so attacking from outside was easier, but it was still overwhelming odds with just three people, a lawn decoration, and some sociopathic gremlins.

Morna frequently suggested simply smashing the enemies with her boots, which G2n eventually started just ignoring her instead of arguing about it.

Other people had some good ideas, leveraging their unique abilities and event equipment, a plan started to take shape.

Gen mentally noted all the details, but her mind was focused on her own side of things. She'd solved movement with the rocket boots, but until her next poll resolved, she didn't have any means of offense beyond the gremlins.

When the meeting wrapped up, she went to talk with Hon. He gave Jasper a look, seeming unsure, but eventually refocused on Gen as she outlined her plan.

Switching perspective for your viewing pleasure.

Violet looked nervously over the wall, feeling uncomfortable with the eerie silence. The zombie iguanas had been endless for days, and she had grown used to the sound of gunfire and explosions. That had changed ever since the mech army had entered the zone and pushed back the iguanas, leaving nothing but silence.

About half the defenders on the wall had left as well. Harper had told her that the primary objective was to destroy the iguana hatchery and the six incubating boss zombies in zone 98, but they couldn't afford to devote everyone there with so many other special zombies incubating at once.

Still seeing nothing happening inside the zone, she rolled her wheelchair over to the opposite side of the wall and peeked again. She shivered in trepidation as she remembered the soulless glare that creature had given her.

The raw intelligence that had no place in a zombie terrified her and had haunted her dreams each night after the attack. Her two abilities were levitate and psychic instinct.

Levitate was self-explanatory, but psychic instinct was more finicky. This time, what it was telling her was painfully apparent. Ever since the fight, she hadn't been worried about the zombies breaking out of the zone, she had been stressed about it breaking back in.

Her ability was telling her this wasn't some lingering trauma, but a real threat, and that her life was in danger. When given the option to leave the wall, she had elected to stay. Supposedly, nowhere else was safer and more defended.

She'd followed all the chats discussing the armored zombie and had prayed for its defeat, but it was too fast and had taken out or evaded dozens of hit squads.

Two whole zones had fallen because of it and the trail of fusioncrack zombies it left behind. However, suddenly the updates stopped yesterday. No attacks. No sightings. The colossal monstrosity had simply vanished.

She knew it wasn't dead, though. It was out there watching.

She heard someone yell, and her heart stopped as she saw the UFO zooming toward the wall from the horizon. She looked around wildly. If it was here, the monster couldn't be far behind.

She couldn't see it, but she could feel its presence thanks to her ability.

Unable to locate it, she saw something strange. The UFO had dozens of holes in it like it was already heavily damaged, through the holes rockets, lasers, and even a plasma cannon were fired toward the wall.

She flinched, but none of the attacks even came close. The wall's forcefield was at full power, and it easily blocked the projectiles. It had withstood thousands of spitter iguanas, one ship wasn't going to make a difference.

The UFO flew parallel to the wall, continuing its futile attack. Defenders were forming up now, and hundreds of attacks were launched in retaliation. Unfortunately, they all missed. The UFO was fast, and it was staying at a cautious distance, just strafing back and forth like it was teasing them rather than actually attacking.

The protagonist's weapons regenerated ammo, however, so there was no reason not to shoot, and thousands of attacks missed one after another.

Violet's ability was screaming at her that something was wrong, but as always, it was too vague of a feeling for her to understand what.

Scanning the ground beneath the wall, she desperately tried to understand what was happening. Was the UFO a distraction?

Nothing looked amiss, and the UFO continued its dance of dodging retaliatory fire for several minutes before she started to notice something suspicious.

The UFO was gradually increasing in size and more and more holes were appearing in its sides. Behind each hole, a blue electric figure could barely be seen.

Gremlins…

She'd seen all the reports. She knew the monster's rider was summoning the creatures likely due to an event item, theories had been crafted of the exact constraints, and the popular one was that the more danger they were in, the faster it would create more of the monsters.

With a sudden realization, it clicked. The UFO was farming them! The more danger they put it in, the more gremlins were being summoned!

Sure enough, she saw the forcefield flicker as the plasma cannon shot tore into it once again. At the start, there had only been twenty or so gremlins attacking, but now there had to be hundreds!

Wheeling her chair around to the command area, she rushed over. The guard at the front saluted in recognition, and she awkwardly returned the gesture. Prior to the boss attack, she had been a nobody, but when she managed to stop the armored monster, everyone had started treating her like a hero, even though it was Harper who actually had done everything.

"Harper!"

Harper was staring at screens and giving orders through a radio, and turned to look at her.

"They're farming us! We need to stop shooting at them!"

Harper nodded, "We know, figured it out just a few minutes ago. We're baiting them now. I don't care how many gremlins are in that tin can, because they'll all be dead once the Gundam gets into position and blows it out of the sky."

Violet breathed a sigh of relief just as she felt a surge of dread from her ability. Instinctually, she activated her wheelchair's ability angel's cradle. Golden light flared around her, forming a shield, and an energy sword was deflected just in time for her to avoid decapitation.

In shock, she stared at her attacker and saw a woman in a combat suit holding a plasma sword in one hand and a flamingo lawn decoration in the other.

She didn't even register that the flamingo had human feet, boots, and a feathered hat because through the suit's faceshield, she instantly recognized the Venetian woman with light blue skin and dark blue hair.

It was the same woman who had been riding the monster, but her eyes… They were verdant green and looked normal, but in their depths, she could sense the monster had taken root.

It was here for her!

Harper was at her side in an instant with her shield out and her spectral clone materializing.

Others nearby drew weapons and began shouting for backup.

The woman spoke, "I suspected it wouldn't end so easily. Enmity like ours can't be settled without a struggle." The demon looked at Harper, "It's fitting you're here as well, you both will face your reckoning together."

Harper wasn't intimidated and yelled, "Violet, restrain her!"

Violet nodded and activated her ability, forcing the woman to hover off the ground. It was a simple move, but it had gotten her through multiple scenarios and won her fights where she was otherwise hopelessly outmatched.

The demon smiled and flames flared from the flamingo's boots, dragging it forward just in time to dodge multiple bullets.

Guards opened fire wildly, and the command room erupted into chaos. Violet's wheelchair had been a poll reward for defeating the armored boss, and it didn't disappoint as the golden shield protected her from all ricochets and even another plasma sword swing.

Harper didn't hold still, rushing forward along with her clone them both swinging hammers and blocking sword swings.

Violet didn't know Harper's full abilities, but she knew she had one called fuck newton that could negate velocity and effectively made her defense impenetrable.

Still flying and whirling, the demon backed off from Harper and bisected a guard.

Harper yelled, "Cancel the levitation, it's just making her more mobile!"

Violet obeyed, deactivating her power. Her eyes widened as the flamingo flew out of the demon's hands and began to circle the ceiling chaotically.

From its butt a slot opened up and a garden gnome of all things shot out like a missile toward Harper. She evaded it, but the gnome changed trajectory in mid-flight, forcing her to block it with her shield. On impact, it exploded into a cloud of sparkly dust.

Harper barely reacted to the attack at first, but she looked concerned when her shield stopped glowing. Stepping back behind her clone, she inspected her shield and gasped, "It's plastic…"

Just then, one of the guards was hit by a garden gnome and bathed in the sparkly dust. His body clanked to the ground, having been turned into a lifeless life-size action figure.

The possessed woman laughed, "It looks like my minion is superior to yours, Violet."

Violet withdrew an assault rifle from her inventory and grit her teeth. She wouldn't let this demon's words shake her. If levitation didn't work she just had to do things directly! She aimed at the flamingo, the woman's armor had already deflected multiple bullets, but the flamingo was vulnerable.

The flamingo reacted immediately with almost-human intelligence as it flew down and took shelter behind the demon.

It fired another gnome, which flew at a bizarre trajectory, heat-seeking a second desperate guard before finding its target and transforming her into another immobile action figure. The demon followed up by attacking the final guard, its sword directly slicing through both gun and armor and leaving a corpse behind.

Only Violet and Harper were left alive in the room.

Harper laughed, "Your defense is tough, but can it handle this?"

Harper pulled a massive railgun from her inventory and fired it directly at the woman.

The woman grabbed the flamingo, and both went partially translucent just as the projectile arrived. Unexpectedly, it passed harmlessly through them and blew the command room's wall into pieces.

Harper tried to stop the demon, but it was incorporeal as it rushed straight through her and her clone and tried to enter the dome of Violet's golden shield. The demon crashed against the shield and rebounded, unable to walk through even when incorporeal.

Triumphant Violet shouted, "Give it up, demon! This holy shield is impenetrable against all attacks!"

Violet trembled as the demon's smile widened and it said, "Violet Violet Violet do you not recall our last encounter?"

Switching perspective.

Gen rolled her eyes as Jasper taunted the poor wheelchair bound woman. She didn't have an appreciation for his quest for vengeance, but she was going along with it because it was important to him.

Understanding Jasper's request, she materialized the minefield scepter, and he ended the incorporeal effect as he grabbed the scepter in his off-hand. Harper was quick on the response as she rushed forward and yelled, "You think I'll let you!?"

Jasper flicked his wrist, activating the scepter and smirked as Violet braced for an explosion inside her dome that never came. Instead, a landmine detonated beneath Harper, blowing her left foot off.

She screamed in pain, and her clone froze for a split second that Jasper capitalized on by decapitating it with his sword.

Violet unloaded her machine gun, peppering Jasper in the back, but he ignored the attack, the small caliber bullets completely incapable of denting his overpowered armor.

Harper steeled herself and took a combat stance, ignoring her profusely bleeding leg as she prepared herself for another round of attacks. Gen never gave her a chance, as she had flown behind the intimidating woman while she was distracted and launched a garden gnome at her back.

The gnome exploded with a poof of glittery dust, and another mannequin joined the others on the floor. Gen didn't know what disturbed her more the fact that LEO had made the gnomes shoot out of her butt or that she wasn't getting kill notifications for people she turned into mannequins. They were just getting body-locked inside their plastic prisons like she was.

Violet's gun clicked as it exhausted its ammo supply. She was breathing heavily and looked like she was on the verge of a panic attack as Jasper loomed just outside her golden shield. She tried to wheel her chair away from him, but the dome didn't move with her, and soon enough she'd backed against the interior edge, unable to retreat further.

Jasper held the minefield scepter contemplatively, "It seems our positions are reversed from our last encounter." His gaze hardened. "How does it feel to be unable to escape and forced to wait for your demise?"

Gen ignored his theatrics as she repeatedly unloaded heavy items from her inventory and dropped them on the mannequins throughout the room, shattering their heads. They were body-locked, but she was living proof that that didn't necessarily mean helpless.

Jasper was still monologuing when, abruptly, the golden dome disappeared and Violet collapsed lifeless. A notification flashed across Gen's vision.

Actor has voluntarily quit the event. You are determined to be the instigating factor awarding contribution points!

Immediately after, she heard LEO's voice. Wow, a lot to process… Did you just traumatize someone out of the event? Mental trauma is great for ratings, but there's a limit on what I can legally do per union contracts. What you all do to each other, however, isn't my fault! Anyway here's a reward for being an asshole!

Gen mentally frowned, clearly taunting Violet had been all Jasper, she was unjustly being considered guilty by association. Beyond all that had LEO been replaced by a middleschooler at some point that he was now resulting to poop jokes for his polls? She understood that it probably had something to do with the garden gnomes shooting out of her butt, but that honestly wasn't any better.

Jasper was staring at Violet's body in shock before turning to Gen and asking, "What happened? I was going to request to share contact information with her. She was a worthy nemesis."

Gen rolled her googly eyes, unable to respond. Was Jasper really somehow trying to make a friend and thought the best way to do that was monologuing like a psychopath?

Her thoughts were interrupted as a giant explosion triggered in the distance, and she rotated to see that half of the giant UFO had been blown into pieces and it was spewing smoke and fire as it plummeted into the top of the wall several hundred feet away. Shocked, she watched as it crashed into the quarantine defenses and triggered another giant explosion. From the wreckage, hundreds of gremlins began running out and massacring the defenders.

Leading the charge was Trank, leaping forward with super-speed and repeatedly crushing unfortunate protagonists one after another. Solomon was on his back, crucified onto the saddle while shooting lasers from his eyes with a rage-filled expression. Even from so far away, she could hear him demanding to know who blew up his UFO.