The event was scheduled to last thirty minutes. DESIGNATED AREA CONTESTED continued to flash up on her retinal monitor. Outside it sounded as though people were celebrating the Emperor’s birthday as weapons barked and cracked. She even thought she heard the zwhip of shuriken guns, and the pulsing shriek of energy weapons.

I can’t imagine the amount of BIO-MASS being used! Over a hundred kill markers and notifications had popped up in the first minute alone. If she’d thought the build up to the event was bad she couldn’t have been more wrong.

An explosion, close enough to make dust drift down from the ceiling, added four Cull notifications in one go. Coughing as the dry dust caught in her throat, she rolled over to a new position behind the wall.

Lying down on the floor would mean that she was protected even further from attempts to shoot through the door and would mean she’d have an excellent chance of popping a head shot off before her attackers even spotted her.

That was if anyone attacked. After a minute had passed, she’d earned five seconds of DOMINATION time and was in the top forty per cent of Cullers in the event.

All I can hope is that the psychos kill each other, I get more time, and me and the other sneaky buggers can all live to Cull another day.

‘Quick … there!’ the voices were muffled but she jumped, nonetheless. They’d come from the left hand side of the building and sounded as though they were approaching the steps. There was another way into the building but that was through a complicated set of maintenance ducts and hatches and would most likely be far too difficult for most to want to try. That was her escape route. Out of this room, into the corridor, up the ladder at the end into a pump control room and then up another ladder, through a hatch and onto the top of the building.

That was the risky part of her plan. From there she had to run five paces to the next ladder, exposed to all and sundry, then climb ten paces into the ducts. From there she would be concealed but doubted that the ducts would be able to hold up to any weapons heavier than an SMG.

Multiple feet made the metal steps leading to the door ring as the owners charged up them. Unlike her, they were going to find that the wedges at the base of the door were far sturdier than the somewhat shoddy lock she’d destroyed.

THUD! The door barely moved. Pained yelps followed the heavy impact, as did a short-lived scream. Mai smirked as she imagined the look of stunned surprise on the faces of the would-be attackers.

“Get out the fucking way!” A voice roared. She couldn’t tell whether it was male or female, but whoever gave the order assumed the form of a giant in her mind. A very pissed off giant.

Taking aim, she laid her reticle on the door, shifting her body slightly into a more comfortable position.

“No point dying uncomfortable,” she chuckled to herself, gallows humour the only way she felt she could control her fear at the approaching fight.

Door shuddering under repeated impacts, Mai licked her lips. After three attempts the hinges gave way before the wedges, the door falling flat into the foyer leaving the giant nicely framed by the light outside.

It was huge. Truly a giant, it had to bend down to look through the door, hands the size of her chest reaching through the door frame to grasp hold of the edges as it ducked its equally massive head down.

Buddha’s right tit, that’s a Sharkan! Sharkans were legendary. Genetically bred by the Emperor to be used as shock troopers, they were a mix of human and shark. Hence the incredibly unoriginal name. Every ounce of aggression a blood-thirsty shark possessed was married with every ounce of psychopathic behaviour found in humans.

Pipes, one red, one blue, curled out over its shoulders to plunge into the skin of its back somewhere out of sight. They were used to enhance both its strength and rage. Usually Sharkans were found in units, controlled by trusted servants of the Empire but it was clear this one was running free.

Does that mean it chose to be in the Culling? How does such a thing happen? It didn’t matter, just yet another mystery of life she’d probably never resolve. Just another question which would niggle at the back of her mind.

Its skin - although she couldn’t see it due to the light, she knew what it would be like due to having watched so many holomyths – would be thick and leathery, like that of a shark. Even though it was backlit, she could see the skin was heavily scarred where the light fell on it.

Sharkans were taught to fight from the moment they emerged from their breeding tanks, gaining their first scars even as they drew their first breath. Death and killing were intrinsic to their very being, and they wore their scars as badges of power and honour. The more hideous the injury, the more honour and strength it denoted. The will to survive was stronger in them than anything created by nature alone.

Muscles, far too large for one heart to cope with, bulged beneath that skin, powered not only by three hearts but also by cybernetic pumps installed in its chest cavity.

Four lungs four times the size as hers would pump nano-rich blood around the creature. Pain inhibitors would keep the creature fighting when a normal human would have given up.

Its four eyes, set at angles in its repugnant shark-human face, were able to see in low-light conditions and across a number of visual spectrums.

To say that Sharkans were killing machines was an understatement. They were what killing machines wanted to be when they grew up. Just the mention of a unit of Sharkans being deployed could cause the enemies of the Emperor to retreat, surrender, or commit mass suicide. At least, that’s what the holomyths said.

And Mai could truly believe it as her blood turned to ice in her veins. Her mouth dried instantly, tongue cleaving to the roof of her mouth. Her heart stuttered before kicking into overdrive. Her limbs shook, and the INTIMIDATED glyph popped into existence above her head. Helpfully, her retinal monitor also informed her.

How the Hells of Uranus did something like that get into the Culling? She hadn’t realised that such things were allowed to have free will on account of their willingness to kill anyone and anything at the drop of a hat. I suppose it falls under ‘military’.

Mai offered a quick prayer of thanks to the Jack of Diamonds – a gambler’s patron – for giving her the luck to not be in the same selection cadre as the Titan. She doubted many had survived the experience.

She tried licking her lips but succeeded only in making them feel drier than they were before. Palms suddenly sweating, she tried to dry it on her clothing, but as soon as she returned it to the barrel of the weapon it was wet again.

The Titan’s six nostrils flared, each one separately to the other.

“There’s a human hiding in here. I can smell their fear,” it said in a deep bass rumble.

“Fucking go kill them then!” shouted someone from behind the behemoth. Mai didn’t know if they were brave or just incredibly stupid to speak to such a creature as that. She couldn’t begin to think of ever having enough authority to order such a creature about and not expect to be ripped limb from limb for having the temerity to do so.

It grunted in reply, then twisted its shoulder down and through the opening, ducking its arrow-like head through first. There was a pause as it tried to fit through that way. Grunting and snuffling, it tried to force its way through.

Stuck, it twisted more, rough skin grinding against the frame. Mai watched open mouthed at the sheer power it exuded. Her mind raced as she tried to work out just how many shots it would take to kill such a thing.

Too late she wished she’d not only chosen a rocket launcher as her weapon, but also that she hadn’t picked a room so small that the back blast of any missile she fired would immediately incinerate her or blast her flesh from her bones.

Bending its knees, it finally managed to enter the room. Stretching, it sniffed again as one of its arms turned into a cleaver looking suspiciously as though it was meant to be made from bone The other hand turned into a large bore shotgun, barrel at least one hand’s length in width.

Now it was in the room, it was able to stand at its full three men tall height. As tall as a small mecha it continued stretching as it walked forward, clearing the door for those behind it to follow.

Two paces was all it took before the first mine went off. Mai screamed in surprise, the sight of the Titan having driven all memory of her preparations from her mind. Shrapnel punched into its upper body as the blast wave caught it mid-stretch and – more importantly – mid-stride. Off balance, already screaming in pain from having half of its face torn to bloody shreds, the Titan was thrown in the direction of the second mine.

INSTAKILL!

CULLER 294483 ELIMINATED!

What was left of the giant slopped to the floor. If there was any sound, Mai couldn’t tell, the explosion leaving her ears ringing like a temple ball. It had all happened so quickly she hadn’t even had time to correctly parse the first detonation before the second mine followed.

Shouts of anger, but mostly surprise, came from the Cullers outside of the building, quickly followed by what sounded like a shouted argument as they tried to decide who was going to go through the door next.

All she could do was scrub at the tears of relief streaming down her cheeks, try to control her shaking limbs and prepare herself for the battle to come.

Judging from the voices outside, none of the Cullers who had come with the Titan wanted to be the first through the door. Ears still ringing from the mine blasts, Mai was only able to pick out the odd word, but the tone of them was a mix of fear, accusation, and anger.

Content to let them argue, Mai used the relative quiet to gather her wits. Whether they came for her or not didn’t matter. As long as she was in the designated area for the event, she was scoring points.

Admittedly at the moment those points were far and few between due to the high number of Cullers also in the area. That number was diminishing however. From her quick count, over fifty Cullers had already been killed, and more were dying by the second.

A five per cent bonus to all skills was something no-one serious about surviving could truly pass up and she wondered about just how many other similar events were being held all over the city at that very moment.

And that gave her pause to think. All this time she had been concentrating on what was happening to her, in her area. In her mind the Culling had shrunk down to the size of the area she was in, and she had given no thought to the Culling as a whole.

The city spanned most of the world as far as she knew. It was over ten miles high. All the killing and fighting she’d taken part in had really only been a tiny fraction of what was happening across the planet as Cullers fought and killed each other.

And that gave her slightly more hope that she might Ascend. One hundred Cullers were able to Ascend. But as the Culling was spread across the planet, that meant as the number of Cullers lessened, the potential distance between them increased. Which in turn meant that it would be increasingly more difficult for Cullers to just stumble across each other as they were currently.

She relished the idea of possibly being able to avoid having to Cull, but then realised that in order for the one hundred to actually be the one hundred, Cullers would have to try to hunt each other down.

That, or the Celestial Court will somehow push us together. After all, I can't have the audience getting bored.

Just like that her good mood soured. There was no way around it. If she wanted to Ascend and get back to Li, she was going to have to keep fighting and killing. Not only that, at some point she was going to have to hunt down her opponents.

And that …

She didn’t get to finish her thoughts as two objects sailed through the door to land with metallic clunks. Rolling to one side, away from the firing slit, she absorbed her weapon, cupped her hands over her ears and opened her mouth.

The grenades detonated, shrapnel shrieking through the air, dust rising in all directions. As soon as they had detonated she reformed the light machine gun and slid back into her firing position.

It wasn’t a moment too soon. Feet pounded up the metal steps outside of the office, with the owners screaming out war cries as they did.

With the dust from the mines and the grenades still settling, she couldn’t see the outside as well as she hoped and paused for a second too long when trying to recognise the shape appearing at the opening.

She snatched a shot off, cursing as the bullets zipped past her target literally a hair’s breadth away from their head.

Yelping, the first attacker threw themselves to the floor, exposing one of their comrades as they did so.

Mai was now torn. Did she shoot the first attacker and stop them from firing at her, or did she engage the second attacker and hope she could get back to the first attacker before they were able to spot and kill her?

She went with the former, firing a long burst that started with the first attacker and then rose to deal with the second.

HIT! 23% DAMAGE

[email protected]% PER SECOND

SUPPRESSED!

HIT! 31% DAMAGE

[email protected]% PER SECOND

The second attacker tumbled back out of view as her bullets punched into their chest. Out of the line of sight, they wouldn’t be SUPPRESSED, but she hoped that they’d be too busy trying to heal themselves to get back into the fight any time soon.

She didn’t have time to take another breath however, as the first attacker started screaming out her location, whilst another two attackers appeared at the top of the stairs, weapons already firing.

Bullets smacked into the wall she was hidden behind, the force of the impacts blowing plasticrete in all directions. Fortunately, all of them were too high, the attackers aiming for the firing slits she’d knocked out higher up.

Can’t let them get inside, she thought as she placed the iron sights firmly in the chest of what looked like a ganger. Muzzle flashing, she raked her fire across first the ganger, then their accomplice.

And this was why she liked the light machine gun so much as she did in this instance. It was perfect for just spraying and praying. Did it matter that most of the bullets she was sending their way hit them? Not at all. All that mattered was that some of the rounds hit them. And so they did.

HIT! 15% DAMAGE

[email protected]% PER SECOND

CRIPPLED!

UNCONSCIOUS!

HIT! 22% DAMAGE

[email protected]% PER SECOND

CRIPPLED!

INTIMIDATED!

Both of the attackers screamed as her bullets shattered the arm of one, and the thigh of the other. The action of the bullet breaking in human, or animal, flesh was horrific. It blew exit holes far bigger than normal bullets, with fragments going in all directions. And from the look of what it did to bones, she never wanted to be on the receiving end.

No way would I have been able to sort myself out before I bled to death, she thought as the first attacker slammed into the hard floor face first. There wasn’t a chance in the Nine Heavens of Pleasure that they would wake up in time to HEAL themselves.

Attacker number slumped into the doorway, clutching at their wound and screaming. Whether they had enough BIOMASS to HEAL themselves wasn’t a risk she thought worth taking.

HEADSHOT!

INSTAKILL!

CULLER 784839 ELIMINATED!

It was far easier, physically, to kill someone when their attention was solely rooted in their own misery. Mentally, she could have done without seeing what FRANGIBLE WOUNDS did to someone’s head.

UNCONSCIOUS!

For a moment she was confused, then remembered the very first attacker. They too had slipped into insensibility as their blood loss became too great.

Not enough BIOMASS and no BOOST to regain it. What the Hells were they thinking?

Either the group outside was desperate, or someone was calling the shots and had sent the weakest members of the group in first.

And I don’t even know how many more there are outside.

Checking her magazine counter, she saw that she’d used twenty seven rounds, meaning that she had another seventy seven left before she needed to reload – which would take valuable time – or switch to a different weapon which would still take time to form, but less. And right now it seemed as though she needed every advantage she could get.

Do I stay here, or bug out now, leave a couple of presents as I do? Or do I take the fight to them?

Mai’s internal monologue immediately told not to be so fucking stupid with regard to the last idea. A heroic charge would not see her getting back home to Li, but rather see her being torn to shreds by the amassed weapons of her attackers. Of whom, she was assuming there were plenty.

Making a stand would be easier. Whilst the walls certainly weren’t bullet proof, she was well hidden, and the bodies in the doorway would make follow-up attacks trickier. As would the blood covering the floor. Although there was a lot of dust from the explosions and the shredded wall, it wasn’t enough to make the floor any less slippery.

It was then that Mai glanced down at the map on her retinal monitor. And realised that there was a cluster of Culls directly on her location.

Shit! Like bees to honey, or flies to shit, Cullers would be drawn by the Culls. Granted, they would have to kill those enemies waiting outside first, but then they’d been coming for her. That was if they didn’t use explosives or rockets to just flatten the area. She couldn’t gamble that there weren’t BOOST rich Cullers nearby.

Run away to live another day, she decided. Fast selecting from her menu she created three mines for fifteen per cent BIOMASS. Activating and bowling one from her firing slit, she placed the second on the door to her shelter, and kept the third in hard.

Dropping back into position, she fired a couple of short bursts through the open doorway, raising the rounds fired to thirty, before reabsorbing the light machine gun and bullets. Surging to her feet, activated the second mine as she left her shelter and headed for the ladder.

Both hands free, she started climbing.