Joan's index finger hovered over the 'Play' button. It was mere centimeters away when a ding alerted her.
At the corner of the screen on her hood was an alert.
'One Shot One Kill has sent you a friend request.'
Joan accepted his request.
"Rem, are you going to start the game?" Pablo asked. He was the only one of the three that refrained from calling her Master.
"Yeah." But just as Joan was about to start the game, another notification alerted her.
'One Shot One Kill has challenged you to a 1v1.'
"One Shot One Kill sent me a challenge," Joan announced.
"What? Accept! Accept!" Turner cheered happily.
"Hey, you said you'd play with us," Viktor frowned.
Joan gazed at the alert inquisitively. Should she accept it? She wasn't particularly fond of the guy after he killed her in the last game. But maybe this was a chance for her to gain revenge.
She pondered for a moment, listening to the Grimm Bros argue with each other about what she was to do.
An impulse possessed her body, and Joan found her hand instinctively moving to press accept.
'Challenge accepted.'
"I accepted the challenge."
"Master, we'll spectate the game," Turner chirped.
The world around Joan began to shift. A desolate ghost town surrounded her. Grass climbed out of the gravel road, and the paint on the buildings peeled off sadly. Signs hung on their last hinges with their last breath of life.
In her inventory was a civilian AR, a long-range sniper rifle, and a 26-inch shotgun. Interesting. Joan coddled the AR in her arms and scanned her surroundings.
One Shot One Kill was nowhere in sight. She took shelter in one of the abandoned shops before opening the map at the bottom of her screen.
The town was a neat square with vertical roads and one horizontal road in the center of the map. Shops lined the streets, shoulder-to-shoulder like sardines in a can.
Joan exited the map. What should she do now? Wait for her opponent to show up or make the first move.
Considering that he was a sniper, it wouldn't be beneficial to wander aimlessly. She'd be a sitting duck in his eyes. Joan needed him to make the first move.
But how?
She went to the second floor of the abandoned bakery, kicking aside discarded measuring cups and spoons. She approached a window or, more accurately, a hole in the wall. The wood sill decayed, showing its rough insides, which looked like torn paper.
A gloomy aura weighed on Joan's shoulder and sent chills down her spine. Although this was a mere game, the realistic world-building was intricate enough to drown yourself in.
As Joan peered outside the window, she spotted a water tower in the distance, near the edge of the town.
A water tower.
A sniper.
Of course. It was too obvious. How had she not noticed this sooner?
High ground was a sniper's predilection. The highest spot here was the sole water tower.
If he was already there, Joan would be at a disadvantage.
***
Isaac settled himself at the top of the water tower. He looked through the scope of his sniper rifle as he pressed himself flat against the cold water tower.
Now that he had reached the water tower, there was no way he'd lose. He never did.
Even if his opponent knew he was here, there was no one skilled enough to shoot him down. When he laid down, Isaac's character became hard to see at a lower angle.
Not to mention, his hitbox would be minuscule. Only an extraordinarily skilled sniper could shoot him down from the ground. And Isaac wasn't even sure he was capable of doing such a thing, either. So if he wasn't able to do it, no one else could.
"Chat, now we wait," he announced.
Sooner or later, Joan would make a move. Isaac patiently waited in his spot overseeing the small ghost town. At his angle, all the roads were visible. If Joan made a move, he'd immediately be able to catch on.
But she never did. The ghost town was eerily still as if there really was no one there. Isaac frowned.
Five minutes had passed. If another ten passed without any sort of movement, the match would end in a draw.
Suddenly, a vibration jerked his module.
"What the hell?"
'Headshot!'
'Joan has slain One Shot One Kill.'
Isaac's mouth hung agape. She had landed a one shot?! Just who was this girl? How good was she?
"You're kidding. This bitch is using an aimbot[1]," Isaac cursed as his forehead creased.
And to make things worse, he'd been one shot on stream.
"When the sniper gets sniped."
"Gg. Better sniper won."
"Lol, traaaash."
The humiliating comments further infuriated Isaac. "Nah, we ain't losing the next round."
***
"Yeah! Master, you're a god at this!" Turner cheered.
"Beginner's luck," Viktor mumbled.
'Round 2'
A 1v1 match was made of three rounds. Whoever won more rounds won, and if a stalemate occurred, the players would complete in more consecutive rounds until one finally won.
The scenery around Joan began to shift once more. And instead of a desolate ghost town, grassy plains surrounded her.
The long blades danced along her legs and climbed until they reached her waist. After spotting One Shot One Kill in the distance, she immediately ducked down into the thick grass, while keeping her eye on him.
He, too, ducked into the grass, and there was a good chance he had already spotted her.
In her hands, Joan coddled a 26-inch shotgun. This map was in her favor since there was no way a sniper could work their magic in this environment.
Things would get confrontational here. A rush of excitement pumped through her as she envisioned holding the barrel of her gun to his forehead and pulling the trigger. She shuddered in pleasure, imagining how his character would slump to the ground and how 'Headshot!' would be plastered over his head.
This was her revenge against him. Stealthily, she slinked through the towering grass, sweeping her eyes left and right while keeping her hand readily gripped on the trigger.
She would be ready to shoot at any moment now.
Joan and One Shot One Kill met in the middle. The suspicious rustling of grass alerted her, and she immediately shot in its direction, but there was no 'Headshot!' nor a 'Joan critically wounded One Shot One Kill.'
The sound of a gun firing startled her, and she immediately ran through the grass, escaping the barrage of bullets.
But they followed the trail of noise she left as she ran through the grass.
Suddenly, she ran into something, or rather, someone. Before her was One Shot One Kill, mindlessly firing into the grass, equally as startled as her by their sudden encounter.
As he turned to point the barrel of his shotgun at her, Joan used the barrel of her shotgun to knock the gun from his hands. The shotgun flew into the air, spinning, and dancing before landing who knows where in the swaying grass.
One Shot One Kill automatically switched to a sniper rifle. But before he had the chance to use it, Joan pressed the barrel of her gun against his forehead. Satisfaction and giddiness crashed into her body, nearly knocking the wind out of her.
Bang!
'Headshot!'
'Joan has slain One Shot One Kill.'
'Joan won!'
"So, is this still beginner's luck, Viktor?" Joan smirked.
At last, Joan had reaped her revenge,
***
A foreign object ran into Isaac, and his module rocked in response. What had happened?
Looking to his right, he saw Joan equally startled. His prey had come to him. She was dead now.
Smirking, he turned his gun to point at her. "Oh, she's dead now, boys."
But when he pressed the trigger, nothing but air tickled his hands. She had knocked the gun from his hands before he could even register what was happening.
Isaac automatically switched to a sniper rifle, but before he could even move, the heated barrel of Joan's shotgun pressed against his head. She hadn't even pressed the trigger, but Isaac felt his brain burn.
Bang!
'Headshot!'
'Joan had slain One Shot One Kill.'
'Joan won!'
Isaac swore, his vocal cords strained to the maximum. His obnoxious voice echoed throughout the arcade, attracting concerned gazes.
But Isaac couldn't care less. He seethed, his anger nearly foaming at his mouth. His head buzzed as if he could feel the bullet she shot, passing through his frontal lobe and out the back of his skull.
On the contrary, his audience ate the entertainment up. An Apex player had just been defeated by an unranked player who came out of nowhere twice.
"Omg lol, he really lost to a noob."
Isaac continued his barrage of curses when he read his comment. Subsequently, the person who had commented was permanently banned from Isaac's stream.