{ Jungle – Transition to Middle Zone }
**⏳ Time Elapsed: 00:58:47**
---
{ Ryu Jin-Seok – The Art of Silent Violence }
Jin-Seok crouched in the undergrowth, watching twelve climbers arrange themselves in what they probably thought was a clever ambush formation. Three groups of four, positioned to funnel any passing victim into a killing box.
*Smart formation.*
He tilted his head, studying their positioning with the detached interest of a chess master.
*Wrong place.*
The lead group had their backs to the steepest slope. Classic mistake. When chaos erupted, they'd have nowhere to retreat but down a forty-foot drop. The second group clustered too tightly around a fallen log—one good impact would scatter them like bowling pins.
Jin-Seok smiled. It wasn't a pleasant expression.
He moved.
The first climber never saw him coming. Jin-Seok's hand found his throat mid-shout, turning his battle cry into a strangled wheeze. A precise strike to the carotid artery, and the man crumpled like a puppet with cut strings.
A girl from the second group spun toward the commotion, opening her mouth to scream. Jin-Seok's heel caught her square in the chest, launching her backward into a tree trunk with a satisfying *thunk*. She slid down the bark and stayed down.
*Two down. Ten to go.*
The remaining climbers finally realized they were the ones being hunted. They scrambled for formation, weapons drawn, panic bleeding into their movements.
Jin-Seok flowed between them like water through cracks. An elbow to a solar plexus here. A leg sweep there. A perfectly timed throw that sent one climber careening into two others, taking all three out of the fight.
Within thirty seconds, eleven bodies littered the jungle floor.
The last survivor—a scrawny kid who couldn't be more than nineteen—scrambled backward through the dirt, leaving a trail of desperation in his wake.
"Please!" he gasped. "I'll give you everything! All my tokens, just—"
Jin-Seok stepped on his outstretched hand. Not hard enough to break bones. Just hard enough to make a point.
"Good," he said, voice calm as still water. "Then stop moving."
The boy's eyes rolled back as Jin-Seok's fingers found the nerve cluster at the base of his neck. He went limp, joining his companions in unconsciousness.
Jin-Seok methodically collected their tokens, his movements efficient and emotionless. Forty-three tokens in total. Not bad for a minute's work.
As he melted back into the jungle shadows, one thought echoed in his mind:
*No mercy. No pity. This time.*
---
{ Rokhan Zokhul – The Weight of Leadership }
Rokhan stood at the center of his small group, four younger climbers who'd attached themselves to him after he'd pulled them from an earlier ambush. They looked at him with the kind of hero worship that made his skin crawl—but also filled him with an unexpected sense of responsibility.
Six older solo climbers emerged from the treeline, moving with the predatory confidence of experienced hunters. Their leader, a scarred woman with dead eyes, smiled without warmth.
"Smart kids would abandon their hero now," she called out. "We'll split the tokens fair. Nobody has to die."
One of Rokhan's recruits—a girl barely out of her teens—stepped forward, chin raised in defiance.
"He saved us," she said. "You just want our tokens."
The others nodded, forming a loose circle around Rokhan. One boy, probably seventeen, hefted his weapon with shaking hands.
"We'll fight. We stand with him."
The scarred woman laughed, a sound like breaking glass. "Then die with your hero—"
*CRACK.*
Her words cut off as she crumpled to the ground, Rokhan's fist still extended where her jaw had been. He hadn't even seemed to move.
"They're not your problem," he told his wide-eyed followers, voice steady as granite. "Stay back."
The remaining five enemies hesitated for exactly one heartbeat. Then they attacked.
Rokhan became a storm of controlled violence. His iron-reinforced forearms deflected weapons with metallic rings. An explosive charge from his gauntlet sent two climbers flying into trees. Raw, brutal efficiency that spoke of years honing his craft in the worst corners of the world.
Thirty seconds later, six bodies lay motionless on the jungle floor.
His group stared in awe, finally understanding what they'd been following. This wasn't just some older climber who'd gotten lucky. This was something else entirely.
*He didn't need our help,* the girl realized, eyes wide. *He's just letting us follow.*
Rokhan looked at their stunned faces and felt something twist in his chest. When had anyone ever looked at him like that? Like he was someone worth following instead of someone to fear?
"Come on," he said gruffly. "Zone's about to collapse. We need to move."
---
{ Zephyr Karshem – Cold genius }
Fifteen climbers formed a wide circle around Zephyr, their formation almost perfect. Almost.
He didn't speak. Didn't blink. Just stood in the center of their trap like a statue carved from winter itself.
They were still congratulating themselves on their clever positioning when two of them hit the ground.
The remaining thirteen barely had time to process what happened before Zephyr was moving again. One tried to flee—Zephyr redirected his momentum into a tree trunk with surgical precision.
Another dropped to his knees, hands raised in surrender. Zephyr knocked him unconscious with the same emotional investment he'd show swatting a fly.
The final survivor managed three crawling steps before Zephyr's boot appeared in his peripheral vision.
"Why didn't you let me run?" the man gasped.
Zephyr looked down at him with pale, expressionless eyes.
"Because you underestimated me."
He crouched, bringing his face level with the trembling climber's.
"Next time... bring fifty more." His lips curved in something that might have been a smile. "Though I still wouldn't bet on it."
The man's world went dark.
---
{ Dante Dragunov – Beautiful Destruction }
Deep in the jungle, trees exploded.
Dante didn't dodge obstacles—he removed them. His path through the wilderness was marked by shattered trunks, scattered stones, and the occasional unconscious climber who'd had the misfortune to be in his way.
He barreled through a cluster of broad-leafed trees, their ancient trunks splintering like toothpicks. Somewhere behind him, he could hear shouting—probably more climbers trying to ambush him.
*Should I stop and deal with them?*
He glanced at his token display and blinked in surprise. The number kept climbing even though he wasn't actively fighting anyone.
*Weird. My token count's going up. Am I doing something?*
He shrugged and punched through a fallen log that blocked his path, sending chunks of rotting wood flying in all directions. One piece struck something that yelped—probably one of those shouting climbers.
---
{ Zone Collapse – 1:00:00 }
The jungle shuddered.
It started as a tremor in the ground, subtle enough that most climbers dismissed it as the movement of some massive creature. Then the trees began to sway without wind, their leaves rustling with an otherworldly harmony.
The barrier surge hit like a wall of light and sound.
Climbers screamed as the collapse wave swept through the outer zone. Those caught in its path vanished in flashes of golden light—teleported to safety but eliminated from the trial. Trees bent impossible angles. The ground split in geometric patterns. Reality itself seemed to pulse with each wave.
**📢 "ALERT! OUTER ZONE COLLAPSING! 60 SECONDS TO ENTER THE MIDDLE ZONE!"**
The VOX announcement boomed across the jungle, cutting through the chaos like a blade.
**📢 "We've dropped to just under 350 remaining! That's over 150 eliminations in one hour!"**
Panic spread faster than the collapse itself. Climbers abandoned stealth, abandoning strategy, abandoning everything but the desperate need to reach safety. The careful chess game of the first hour devolved into a mad stampede toward the middle zone.
---
{ Leaderboard Update – 1:00:00 }
**🏆 TOP 10 RANKINGS 🏆**
| Rank | Name | Tokens | Status |
|------|------|--------|--------|
| 1 | Zephyr Karshem | 420+ | Inner Zone |
| 2 | Lady Evara Umbrea | 370+ | Inner Zone |
| 3 | Kaleon Vass | 350+ | Inner Zone |
| 4 | Noah Varnok | 340+ | Inner Zone |
| 5 | Dante Dragunov | 340+ | Inner Zone |
| 6 | Joshua (Dark Horse) | 330+ | Inner Zone |
| 7 | Zayna Malik | 320+ | Inner Zone |
| 8 | Rokhan Zokhul | 310+ | Inner Zone |
| 9 | Elina Vel | 300+ | Inner Zone |
| 10 | Ryu Jin-Seok | 290+ | Inner Zone |
| ... | ... | ... | ... |
| ??? | Lucien Arkwright | 50+ | Middle Zone |
---
{ VOX Commentary – The Lucien Chronicles }
**"BOOM! Zephyr is absolutely dominating with 420 tokens! How is that even mathematically possible in just one hour?!"**
The commentator's voice crackled with barely contained excitement.
**"Lady Evara trails behind with a still-impressive 370—cold, calculated, and absolutely ruthless in her efficiency!"**
**"But wait—Dante Dragunov at fifth place with 340 tokens, and sources say he's not even trying! What kind of beautiful monster bulldozes his way to the top five?!"**
**"Joshua continues his dark horse run, claiming sixth place out of nowhere! Who is this mystery climber?!"**
**"Jin-Seok maintains his surgical precision at tenth, every token earned through lethal efficiency!"**
A pause. Then the commentator's voice shifted to barely contained glee.
**"BUT WAIT! BREAKING NEWS! LUCIEN ARKWRIGHT... HAS SURVIVED!!"**
**"With fifty tokens! Yes, ladies and gentlemen—five-zero! You could count them on your fingers if you were missing half a hand!"**
**"Unconfirmed reports suggest he earned twenty of those tokens by accidentally tripping into an enemy ambush and somehow knocking out their leader with his flailing limbs!"**
**"At this rate, he's either the world's most unlucky tactical genius... or just too ridiculously pretty for anyone to aim properly!"**
**"Stay tuned, folks! If Lucien Arkwright can survive another hour,
we might be witnessing the greatest underdog story in Tower Trial history!"**
The broadcast cut to static as the zone collapse reached its crescendo, swallowing the outer jungle in waves of golden light.