Prisoners of VR

'How is this possible?' Through the Liger's eyes, Rahu stared at the 13 individuals equipped with uVR Earths that glowed jade, knowing that they were DOVA Agents, or at least somehow possessed the power of one. 'This case is no different from Mahesh's. Their brains aren't equipped enough to unleash Induced Reality. It's taking a severe toll on their bodies.'

The Liger approached a poacher and sniffed, catching a pungent stench akin to rotting organs. And as it continued to observe, a trail of murky blood, no different from gutter fluid oozed out of his orifices.

The Liger felt its throat being wrung dry from the smell as it instinctively leaped back a couple of metres. It then circled the large-trunked tree and observed the case being the same for the others too.

Its sharp senses picked up on the fact that the people were somehow losing body mass. But other than that, it couldn't figure out anything else.

'Man, I'll be in bed for a while after this.' Rahu inhaled a long breath as he focused on his uVR Earth. The jade glow on the left stabilised and grew stronger while the right side dimmed until the jade glow morphed into yellow.

He was actuating two modes simultaneously.

The Liger's body flickered unnaturally, as it wasn't realistically possible to maintain it using half an uVR Earth.

Induced Reality-True Lifeform Liger!

Rahu swapped his senses with the Liger and observed through its body while the right part of his uVR Earth shone yellow, entering the creator mode. In this mode, he could perceive all electromagnetic radiation, transferring the vision to the Liger body.

Standing before a poacher, the flickering Liger noticed faint brainwaves exit his uVR Earth and seep into the large-trunked tree. The principle seemed similar to magnetic induction.

After enough brainwaves condensed within the large-trunked tree and induced upon it, the tree began to act like a brain and released brainwaves too. And the released brainwave was one of Induced Reality.

The Emus were birthed out of this brainwave. 13 brainwaves emanated out of the large-trunked tree, accumulated from the thirteen people tied to it.

Each of these brainwaves spread out radially from the large-trunked tree and induced the trees along the path, turning them into conductors and emitters of the respective brainwave frequency too.

"They are being used to generate Induced Reality. The Emus are birthed out of them." Rahu transmitted the imagery captured through the Liger's eyes to everyone in his team, "We'll charge there. I can't keep this up for much longer. We need to hurry!"

The right side of his uVR Earth dulled before blinking jade once again. Rahu was gasping by now, feeling his eyes droop. His mind felt exhausted, especially thanks to the brainwave beam that he had unleashed. It consumed a chunk of his brainpower.

"Go! Go! Go!" Chandan Kumar announced as the team rushed forward, blasting holes in the sea of birds as they cleared a path.

"Chirp! Keeek! Aeee!" Various screeches resounded as the birds rushed the group, brandishing their claws, only to be shredded apart by the bullets.

Upon noticing that the group was rushing towards the monolith, 13 Emus appeared in the forest, flashing next to a tree each. The trees in the vicinity glowed, similar to an ionisation effect as the number of Emus doubled in a matter of seconds.

Followed by wild screeches, the Emus rushed towards the group, with at least two targeting each soldier.

"Sir Rahu! They're coming!" A soldier shrieked in a fluster. Just the bird feathers shot at him before hurt like a bullet wound. And now, large birds sprinted towards him, alarming him. He pointed his gun at the closest Emu and unleashed a flurry of bullets, screaming in fright as the bullets simply passed through its body, "Sir! Save me!"

"Focus only on the flying birds!" Rahu roared as he grunted from the headache, "I'll take care of the Emus!"

His uVR Earth glowed yellow as he sensed the brainwave signature that had induced the Emu in the soldier. He tracked it based on the data captured earlier, determining the target as he faced his palm toward the monolith.

Induced Reality-Synchronised Brainwave!

Induced Reality-Dark Room!

He tuned himself to the Emu's brainwave frequency and targeted the poacher from whose mind this brainwave was being emitted. The effects of Dark Room slammed into him and forced his brain into a state of stasis, cutting off the brainwave emission.

It was like an electric circuit getting jammed. The electromagnetic radiation in the forest turned jumpy, losing its flow.

"Screee!" The Emu paraded its wings like a peacock as the triangles on it snapped like a bowstring, shooting hundreds of feathers at the soldier the moment it entered attacking range.

"Argh!" The soldier shrieked and dropped his gun. He crouched low in doom, preparing for his death. He could feel a glow seep through his closed eyelids, trembling in doom. But as he braced for death, all he received was a kick from Sonic, prompting him awake.

The soldier opened his eyes, stunned to stare at almost a hundred feathers that stopped a metre before him, as if freeze-framed. The Emu that had shot the feathers resembled a video scene that had been paused. Its image flickered, turning grainy, filled with noise.

A few seconds later, the Emu vanished.

"Get up and start shooting!" Deepika shouted as she helped the soldier up, "Trust sir's capability. He's ranked sixth in the country for a reason!"

Rahu followed the sonar imagery from Sonic as he leaped over a root protrusion and slid down, wiping the blood that leaked out of his nose as he focused. His uVR Earth glowed yellow as he captured the signature of the Emu targeting Ashok. Following that, his uVR Earth glowed jade.

Induced Reality-Synchronised Brainwave!

Induced Reality-Dark Room!

The target was one of the soldiers around the large-trunked tree. The moment his mind fell prey to the effects of Dark Room, another brainwave fluctuation in the forest became unstable. That instability caused the bodies of Emus created by the brainwave to vanish.

"Go left!" Rahu shouted and prompted the group to run through another path. He had just neutralised the brainwave active in the region. Therefore, they'll be able to avoid Emu attacks there.

But a few seconds later, the brainwaves changed frequencies, alarming Rahu, 'The frequencies can swap places?'

The trees nearby were originally emanating the brainwave of a poacher. But now, they were emanating the brainwave of the hooded individual. And immediately in response, two Emus appeared amidst the group.

One of them twirled and shot feathers.

Synchronised Brainwave! Liger!

A Liger appeared before everyone in the group and tanked the feathers, riddled by them. The Ligers collapsed to the ground in a pool of blood. Rahu had used the basic Liger 3D Model to tank the attack. And once they served their purpose, he retracted them and brought out his True Lifeform Liger that pounced upon the two Emus.

"Roar!" The Liger chomped upon an Emu neck and ripped it apart. When a second Emu targeted it with a hail of feathers, another Liger appeared to tank the blow.

The True Lifeform Liger leaped past the flurry of attacks and approached the second Emu, only to be faced with a kick to the head, getting its skull shattered. The injury healed in an instant as the Liger clobbered its neck too.

Thankfully, the recovery rate of the Emu models was very slow. Hence, once the two Emus were killed, their bodies dissipated. That made the region safe, only for a couple of seconds though.

Rahu engaged his creator mode and observed the glow from the trees change, signalling that they changed the frequency once again. Immediately in response, two more Emus appeared, promptly targeting them.

Rahu was almost running on fumes. Due to the distance between him and the monolith, the Induced Reality attacks he launched had to waddle through the dense electromagnetic radiation, losing most of its power. It was no different from shooting a bullet through a block of water.

For minimal effect, he was consuming a lot of brainpower. Moreover, based on the recovery rate, the two individuals among the thirteen-tied around the large-trunked tree-would regain their power in a minute or two.

It meant his Dark Room would be neutralised within two minutes. The currents flowing through the trees were only growing in strength. This implied that the effects of his attacks would further plummet, 'We don't have much time.'

"We're sprinting!" Rahu shouted, "If you get hurt, grit your teeth and endure. If we delay any longer, we'll be killed."

"Now, run!"

At his shout, the team sprinted, spewing out bullets like maniacs. Instead of defending against the Emus, their goal was to evade the attacks.

Deepika tucked her head between her raised arms, positioning them in such a way the feathers shot at her slammed into the bone of her arm. The pain was overwhelming, but thanks to the attacked region being the bone and not the nerves, she didn't lose control of her arms, able to rush forth without getting incapacitated.

Hiss!

A rat snake had camouflaged itself as a protruding tree root, ready in wait. And the moment Sonic came in range, it shot forth and coiled around the android's legs, causing it to lose balance and fall.

'Shit!' Rahu leaped in reflex when Sonic fell to the ground. As his body arched in the air over the android canine, his thoughts went into overdrive. If he were to stop here to orient it and get it moving, he would waste at least ten to twenty seconds. The Emus would easily catch up.

The soldiers were almost out of bullets too, not able to last after a few more seconds, considering their firing rate. If they stop now, they'll be drowned by the enemies, "Everyone...please endure!"

His uVR Earth's hue became black as all optic fibre connections were severed. Now free, Rahu relied upon his AI and used the last sonar imagery he received from Sonic to rush forth without tripping from the obstacles. He emitted brainwaves with the Induced Reality of True Lifeform Liger, oozing out its bloodlust as an apex predator, thwarting the approaching birds, "Aargh!"

Taking the opportunity when they hesitated, he sprinted the last stretch and leaped, reaching the monolith as he grunted, "It stops here!"

Induced Reality-Synchronised Brainwave!

Blood dripped out of his orifices like sweat as he synchronised his brain to all thirteen people at the same time, an almost suicidal action. He had no other choice, since he only had enough strength to unleash Induced Reality one more time.

"Argh!" He spat out blood in response and fainted, unleashing a flux of brainwaves that enveloped the thirteen people. And immediately in response, the forest became visible in the night vision goggles of the soldiers.

Induced Reality-Dark Room!