Memory Shard 1.10

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**Memory Shard 1.10 Blackout** contains the fifth piece of lore on Prisma Dimensions, Neo Arcadia and the Hyper Scape.

## Story

“Let’s end this,” Ace’s helmet muffled his voice a touch, and Javi couldn’t help thinking it gave him a hero vibe.

She grinned and raised her fully-fusioned Salvo EPL in salute. The black chrome glinted wickedly; she’d used it to get four kills already this match. Winner’s streak! she thought.

A two-story projection of Ultimate Grace beamed from a holo-projector. “Fantastic game, contenders! The viewers are crackling with excitement to see who is going to take the Crown and set the bar for Crown Rush! Only –” a burst of static cut through Grace’s mellifluous voice, “—players left!”

Ace shot Javi a questioning look, and the slight Mexican girl shrugged. Then Javi tensed, spotting a casulink caught by Ultimate Grace’s glow. Javi signaled Ace to flank the heavily-armed woman, but Ace shook his head and motioned for her to wait.

The casulink – Cruze – seemed to realize she was in the open. She broke into a sprint—

BOOM!

– a thunderous crack from a Protocol V eliminated Cruze mid-stride.

Ace pointed to the top of a gravity tower that loomed over the district. They loped towards it, sticking close to the walls lining the street.

They reached the base of the gravity tower – where massive bumpers could flip them to the top faster than any shooters could react. But as Ace leapt onto it, a red warning icon flashed. The bumper deactivated, drained of power.

Another Ultimate Grace holo looked right at him. “I’m sorry, contender. A number of game features may not provide the expected user experience today. Don’t worry. We expect a hot fix to be delivered soon.”
“Kuso!” Ace swore, flatfooted.

Javi frantically gestured him back.

BOOM! The rifle blast ripped through Ace’s avatar, causing him to roar.

Javi fired blind. One-two-three! Her shots exploded near the top of the tower with a series of dull bangs, aiming to drive the sniper back. She grabbed Ace’s hand. “Tonto,” she muttered under her breath, and yanked him into a side street, hoping it would give them cover. A second passed, and another, and still nothing. They were safe. For the moment, at least.

“You still with me?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said with a tremble. “Just need a moment to heal up.”

Javi’s gaze swept up and down the street.

Ultimate Grace’s voice washed over the area. “Contenders, this sector is about to collapse. Better get moving!”

“We all better get moving,” Ace echoed.

“You good?” Javi asked.

“Good enough,” Ace said with a laugh.

But Javi wasn’t laughing. “Look!” Her gesture took in the whole district. The normal slow pixelation of the environment was transpiring at record speed – the digital decay bloomed across the sector, draining buildings of color and substance, reducing them to base polygons and damaging anything that remained behind. They saw the gravity tower disintegrate, the sniper fall towards the ground… and his avatar die before he hit.

“MOVE!” Javi yelled. They ran.
They went full tilt across two sectors before they reached a safe zone beyond the digital decay. But there was something else. The sky was full of noise – a blazing whirlwind of sound and light, roughly in the shape of a man.

“What… is that?” Ace was stunned.

Javi realized there was another contender in the square with them, gaping at the storm. He had a big neon mohawk and a bigger Hexfire gatling gun, which he turned towards them.

“Nope!” Javi shouted, pulling the trigger of her Salvo. The energy grenade blew him to smithereens.

Ultimate Grace’s voice came from multiple sources, at top volume, all saying different things at once:

“Apologies contender!”

“I’m sorry contender!”

“The Crown is about to spawn, contenders, the showdown will commence shortly!”

“We’re down to our final four, contenders. Let’s have some fun!”

“Control has launched security drones!”

Ace looked at Javi. “What is going on with the game? What do we do?”

She shrugged. “What else? Go for the Crown.”

The pair crossed a park as a wave of military-grade drones blazed overhead. As Javi and Ace entered the luxurious Red Tiger restaurant, the drones discharged energy weapons at the data vortex. But their efforts were futile. Crackling tendrils of lightning lanced out and ripped the drones to polygonal fragments.

Javi dragged her gaze away from the light show. Ace tapped her on the shoulder. “Crown,” he whispered. There, on the other side of the sprawling dining room, the Crown scintillated, shedding droplets of pixels.
Each knew their parts. They slid along opposite sides of the room, wary of an ambush.

Outside, the data storm grew fiercer, a dull roar causing the environment to throb.

A muscular figure in dark blue armor plate burst from cover and fired a hand cannon at Ace. But before he could eliminate Javi’s teammate, she launched several energy grenades at him. He ducked, but from another direction a sniper bullet whipped by Javi. Did he have a partner?

Ace went full auto at their opponents, laying down a thick screen of cover fire. Javi inched forward, closer and closer to the prize.

Outside, the storm reached a fever pitch. Cutting through it, Ultimate Grace’s voice echoed and reverberated, as if from a thousand speakers. “Crisis shutdown sequence initiated!”

Ace yelled, “Go! Grab it!” as he kept up the fire screen.

Javi reached out… but a near miss from the hand cannon made her flinch back.

Grace’s voice was distorted thunder, “Shutdown in 3…”

Ace risked exposure and nailed the armored enemy, but took a big hit in response, crippling him.

“2…”

Javi lunged—

“1...”

Her fingers touched the Crown!

“INITIATING SHUTDOWN!” Ultimate Grace’s voice cracked like a thunderbolt. There was a flash of incredible pain.

And then…

…nothing but black.