Ceres Chaos [Exosuit Progression]

[Well, it was a pity that the second stage ended so early, and the third stage had to be postponed till today! It’s only been about 20 hours since the end of the second stage, so let's give due credit to the examination council for drafting up a new format so quickly!]

[The original third stage was meant to be an all-out battle with a main slovesa invasion force, but due to the destruction of the spawners the third stage couldn’t happen without major remodelling of the VR world!]

[The third stage was supposed to build on what was done in the second stage, making each of the ten thousand participants’ actions have consequences in the third stage! To this effect, each of the participants who were not eliminated will retain whatever equipment and resources they gathered in the second stage! The new third stage will be a short king of the hill in the same city, except that there are ten control flags!]

[Points will be the main method in determining how to advance! Controlling a flag will net the entire team points over time, and its equal amounts to each participant regardless of team size!]

[Special flags like the one in the centre of the entire map gives double points! The points earned by the team are also multiplied by how many control flags you seize! There are no limits on team size, but if too many participants have the same number of points by the end of the third stage, a random roll will eliminate the extras!]

[Achievement points will be allocated to all current surviving participants, and it will be based on what you have done in the previous stage! Destroying a spawner certainly helps, but kills and takedowns work too!]

[You can earn points too by killing other players and taking their points, and can trade points too! We may see a lot of interesting tactics, especially from exosuit repairers who may sell their skills!]

[This is the main format over the next five days that will be accelerated time as well! Each participant starts with points based on their performance in the second stage! Will Chad Athen remain the king, or will Ceres and Gwen stage a rebellion soon? Or maybe one of the ten thousand participants will suddenly rise out of nowhere? Stay tuned, as we are starting right now!]

“Well, it was something close to a team battle royale.” Braton shrugged as the 16 members of Team Zone 17 sat together in the factory. They have all been informed of the format, and Ceres had been formulating plans for such a stage since he ‘massacred’ a legion of dumplings at the dumpling store last night.

Ceres was confident in the plan that he discussed earlier with his team, his exosuit repaired and his body automatically restored to fighting condition by the reset of the stage. He retrofitted additional thrusters to the exosuit to make himself as mobile as possible. The only type of exosuit that could beat his top speed would be an aerial exosuit.

The wounds he suffered in the VR world were magically erased thanks to the reset, allowing him and the team to get a fresh start.

Following the plan, the team slowly moved off, heading towards the closest known flag.

Nine control flags were placed in a circular pattern with equal spacing around the centre of the map, with a single flag in the middle that gave double points.

Not even after an hour or so after leaving their starting point did they run into their first group battle.

Every participant started with an initial number of points based on their achievements in the second stage, making Ceres’ group who took down a spawner to be a very juicy target.

They were ambushed by 30 or more inner students, but Ceres’ team was one of the rare teams that were fully kitted in exosuits, while the attackers only had five or so badly damaged exosuits.

“Wow Ceres, you’re like a point farming machine, we can just stay here and farm the idiots coming to challenge us!” Braton smiled as he performed a legitimate salvage on the poor fallen bodies of the attackers, taking away every slightly valuable resource in their pockets.

Trissa couldn’t stop smiling as she jumped around the attackers, dancing with her knife in mid-air amongst the attackers.

Ceres shook his head. “No, it only works for the first day, we still got five whole days to go and the small fry won’t be enough to keep all 16 of us at the top to enter the competition! We need to aim for bigger fishes!”

***

Lisa cursed as she saw more and more people attacking Ceres’ team. She was watching in the restaurant with her eyes glued to the monitor while her parents were preparing the kitchen to open again for dinnertime.

As she was about to smash the seemingly invulnerable table with her fist for the umpteenth time, the door chimed as two ladies, one strict and the other elegant and a lanky gentleman walked into the restaurant.

Their outfits were too pristine, and they had anti-grav clothing on by the look of their fancy shoes and pants, a far cry from the generic dressing of the local customers. They were all wearing blazers with antique sunglasses and a hat, looking straight out of a secret police holo-drama.

“Such a quaint place, I’m becoming more excited to meet the boy than ever.” The lanky gentleman commented as he scanned the place.

“No one invited you along, Imp… Zach, I’m only here to try the dumplings, I have no intention to meet anyone with you here.” The elegant lady replied as she gracefully sat down around a table, beckoning for Lisa to come over.

Lisa wasn’t particularly intimidated by inners and their outfits, but she knew the start of a gangster/police holo-drama when she saw one.

Restraining her usual anger-filled tone, she politely asked them for their order in such a docile tone that would have left Ceres in a loop. She would die before she showed that side to anyone in school ever.

As she took their order and went to the back of the kitchen, she eavesdropped on the conversation between the three weirdos, wondering if they could even see through their sunglasses.

“Is the boy going to defeat Chad?” The slightly strict-looking lady asked, leading to a series of frowns from the elegant lady and a light-hearted chuckle from the gentleman. “We will need him to defeat Chad eventually, and it would be good if Chad is eliminated at this stage.”

“Sen, you can’t possibly hope that that monster Chad, who can one hit a low-class slovesa, would fall at this stage! He could most likely singlehandedly control three points with his team members that are slightly less strong but still equally scary!” The gentleman laughed harder as the ridiculous scenario of Chad falling from the top place continued to play in his mind.

“Will the both of you shut up and just wait nicely, especially you… Zach. If you want to remain here stay silent and humble.” The elegant lady sat firmly, rapt at the monitor showing the various participants.

The restaurant’s various tables each had a monitor that was already streaming the focused stream on Ceres, as per Lisa’s setup.

The weird group also had their multis which were streaming Gwen’s and Chad’s focused streams too, seemingly anticipating a massive showdown between the three leading candidates.

As time went past, Lisa didn’t hear them talk anymore about the match, sitting silently as they hardly touched the dumplings in front of them, except for the gentleman who was eating the dumplings at a leisurely pace.

The only sound heard was the main announcer who was providing commentary on the same three participants.

[Ceres’ team has yet to nail down a single flag so far despite being one of the potential top three participants of the qualifiers! They however are still in the lead due to the sheer amount of students who think they are the easier of the top three, painting a red mark on Ceres’ back but yet donating so many points away!]

[The last three ambushes were already seen in advance by Ceres, just how good is his planning ability? His rate of movement seems to be extremely fast and he’s broken off, running away from the team!]

The stream showed Ceres fighting off various groups over the course of the first VR day, being hampered and slowed down before reaching a flag the next day. A series of major announcements came in over the course of the second day in the VR world.

[Gwen is the first participant of the exosuit repair category to capture a flag! Her team of 25 members now earns points regularly every hour as long as they control the flag!]

[Chad and his team of three now control three flags! They have placed one member at each flag! The absolute arrogance of it, but it is well-earned! Who other than Gwen and Ceres can potentially attack and claim the flag for themselves!]

[Oh my goodness, the massive showdown is here, barely the second day of the third stage and Ceres is about to come into contact with Chad Athen himself! Who will win? Bettings by 999 Casino Athen are now open, place your bets now on who will win or survive the confrontation!]

***

Chad Athen absolutely hated the qualifiers. It was in every sense of the phrase: “a walk in the park”, even for him who specialized in exosuit repairs.

A boring VR world that had no challenges or anything interesting, he sat near a control flag, with the bodies of various other teams who tried to gang up on him laying outside the building.

The control flag was in the centre of a garden plaza, in the middle of a dried-out water fountain, where he sat quietly, conserving his strength.

He saw a few mildly interesting people, namely Gwen and Ceres, and he calculated that the best possibility of him meeting them was to control three flags and immediately dash as fast as he could to the other flags if anyone encountered them. As for now, he sat cross-legged on the floor, waiting.

He was every bit like the news described - confident, strong and cool. Most of his current training and resources were due to the obscene amount of focus the grandfather, Oliver Athen, had placed on him. Chad was the designated representative meant to win this competition after all.

So far, Chad had faced zero opposition, and he was beginning to doubt whether even Gwen nor Ceres could contest him. "Such is the fate of one who stands at the top."

Mentored from young by his prominent grandfather, Chad had inherited the focused mindset and ruthlessness that got the Athen Family to the top. As much as he would want to run rampant in the qualifiers and beat everybody, it was meaningless to him. He instead decided to meditate, breathing slowly and deeply.

Chad knew he didn't have to move. Eventually those with ambition will come to challenge him, while they would be beaten down time and time again. Just like it has been for the last five years of his life.

He did not resent this role - he used to be the one failing as well. Every duel with his instructors from the Athen Family ended in injuries and close death, grinding him down into the patient man he is today. The pride, however, only grew larger, placed in the overall prestige of his grandfather.

Naturally, Chad would not tolerate any shaming of his family or grandfather in any way shape or form. The last person to call his grandfather a 'sham' to his face was still currently hospitalized, and Chad didn't intend to change his ways. "The reputation of the Athen Family shall not be tarnished by foul mouths!" he recited under his breath, a saying taught to him by his grandfather.

As predicted, a single lone individual was walking towards him, entering the garden plaza. It was Ceres, who still had his spearman exosuit on with a vibra-spear in his hand, the spearhead pointing downwards trailing behind him. A silent tense atmosphere took over the area, different from the peaceful one before.

Chad Athen slowly got up, his body builds being a lot larger than the 1.78-meter young boy in front of him. He was 2.1 meters, with a sharply chiselled face and blonde hair, a military standard buzzcut not unlike that of Ceres and a brawler exosuit that had been retrofitted for extreme punches.

The two stared each other down, their eyes perceiving each other’s details, committing them to memory. Chad respected Ceres for his tenacity in the competition, but he still believes Ceres was leagues below him, but he was willing to entertain him for a proper fight. Such was the generosity of the Athen Family. Chad internally held faith that everyone was beneath him!

As the staring match continued, Ceres held his vibra-spear tight with both hands, taking a launching position with his crouched legs. Chad held his hands up in a boxing fashion, the excitement starting to slightly build up in him as he implicitly agreed to the one-on-one duel. "How honourable, perhaps there might be some fight in him!"

Ceres breathed deeply, trying to get himself into the mood. He closed his eyes for five seconds, while Chad became confused. What exactly was Ceres preparing for?

All of a sudden, Ceres's eyes flew wide open, but Chad was completely stunned. He could see Ceres’s mouth moving in an exaggerated fashion but he couldn’t comprehend the words said to him. His whole life, he was taught dutifully by his grandfather Oliver Athen and only had the best supportive instructors around along with respectful friends.

He considered himself the pinnacle of the young generation in Athen, with his pride and ego being at a similar height.

Hence it wasn’t until a few seconds later when Ceres had finally begun running away first, that his brain heard and registered the words completely.

“You think you’re some bigshot, but you’re such a dogshit scum of a human that sucks on his grandfather’s dick and wants everybody else to suck your dick. Your family is absolute trash with or without you, you think I can’t beat you? Hah! Anyone on this shitty planet can beat you! Don’t even bother trying to fight me, inner dog. I’m way better than you!”

***

“We captured the flag!” Felicia celebrated with her team as they kicked aside the bodies of the previous owners of the control flag. It wasn't an easy fight, but through friendship and sheer dedication, they managed to defeat the previous team that was hogging the flag.

She wasn’t from a particularly prestigious school, but she felt a wave of delight and adrenaline from her team’s recent success. Hugs and cheers were going all around until a message with a video came back from the scout.

“Ceres spotted running towards us at high speed!” The team immediately gasped. Everyone was well aware of who Ceres was at this point - he had already been labelled as the up-and-coming dark horse!

"What? Why us? How the hell are we going to beat him?" One of the team members panicked. "We need to leave now!"

This shocked Felicia for a while, but she watched the video again and grinned instead. “Don't worry! He's just another high-value donator who has decided to show up. Look, he doesn’t have his team with him currently and no way his team will be able to catch up with him considering his speed! Prepare to ambush and destroy him. We have the information advantage!”

The team discussed with each other, taking less than five seconds to agree before they started to prepare, knowing Ceres was about to arrive in three minutes. Quick battlefield decisions were key to the competition - every second matters in the planning, especially when trying to ambush someone.

The scout continued to tail Ceres as Ceres dashed through the streets and buildings, mainly using the big cloud of dust that tagged behind Ceres while he continued sharing the information. He checked the nearby areas, not being able to spot any other participant from Ceres's team in the vicinity.

“Wow, he must be running at an insane speed to be able to kick up that much dust. He really does seem to be operating alone...” the scout thought to himself. The scout was also fast, and managed to reach the control flag through a few known shortcuts, while Ceres was seemingly running haphazardly.

“Felicia, we’re sure it’s not a distraction! He’s alone and there’s no one else near us for the next 500 meters!”

Felicia smiled even more after hearing the report. As the timer tick down to Ceres’s arrival and he entered their line of sight, Felicia noticed an even larger cloud of dust being created behind Ceres. The running pattern of Ceres seemed to be erratic as well, like as though he was already dodging something from the get-go."But I haven't even started firing yet?"

As she squinted closely, she couldn't really see what was causing the large cloud of dust behind. Was he dragging something along?

Stuck between letting Ceres capture the flag or continuing the ambush, Felicia chose the latter, not willing to even let Ceres anywhere near the flag.

But as she announced the attack and her members leapt out of their hiding corners to attack, Ceres suddenly boosted his speed by activating all the thrusters in a short burst that took them all by surprise, leaping upwards over all of them on the street as he flew past the flag and dropped a few small bombs hidden in his exosuit.

A few team members fired shots, but all of them merely grazed Ceres, none finding purchasing on his main body.

The bombs spread out near them and on the flag itself! Despite having thrown the bombs to clear the flag, Ceres kept running, leaving the team members extremely confused in the short three seconds while the larger cloud of dust approached them! “Huh? What’s that following behind?!”

However, Felicia couldn’t tell her members to avoid the bombs when they exploded as a large fist from a very angry Chad Athen killed her on the spot.

"GET BACK HERE YOU CUNT!"