Location: Global – Post-Audit Earth Time: 24 Hours After TerminationFor the first time in years, the world paused, No war, No headline about collapsing leagues, No scandal to flood the networks Instead, there was a strange quiet athmosphere, And then cheering, Dancing in the streets, A flood of joy that didn’t need to be televised to be real.Across continents, people emerged from their homes not just to celebrate, but to reclaim something they’d lost long before the Audit: The simple beauty of the game.But peace came with pressure, Within 24 hours, Robin Ashwood’s face was on every screen again “The Savior of Sport!”“Ashwood Ends the Audit!”“Is Robin a God or a Ghost?”He didn’t answer interviews, Didn’t show up for press conferences, Didn’t accept endorsements. Instead, he vanished. Layla, Ashar, and Sierra met him in a quiet rooftop garden in Kyoto, far from cameras.Ashar handed him a dossier. “Twenty-three corporate warlords lost billions because of the Audit collapse. There

Location: The Hidden Archive – Beneath the Baobab Grove, Ibadan Time: 3:14 A.M.The air inside the Archive dropped several degrees, Specter took one step into the vault. Silent. Controlled. Measured, Robin stood between the floating glass sphere, his mother’s final legacy, and the killer.Ashar leveled his weapon, Layla had her knife drawn. Specter’s eyes void of emotion, locked on Robin. “You’re not a player. You’re an infection, The world doesn’t need dreams anymore. It needs certainty.”Robin took a breath, And stepped forward. “No. What you mean is it needs control. You’re not the cure. You’re the cage.”Specter moved like lightning, In a blink, he was on Robin, throwing a brutal elbow, Robin ducked, rolled, and kicked upward, His foot connected with something hard not bone. Reinforced armor beneath synthetic skin.Specter stumbled back, then spun into a high kick, Layla intercepted mid-air, blocking with her forearm, The force sent her crashing into a stone pillar, Ashar opened f

Location: The Forge (Mirrorfield Simulation Layer) Time: 0:00 on the Clock – Game StartThe whistle echoed, not from lips, but from the Forge itself. No fans. No lights. No referees. Only the raw power of purpose… and memory.The pitch beneath their feet shifted with every breath. Each blade of simulated grass was a string of consciousness. And every pass would decide the future of human autonomy.On one side: Robin, Layla, Ashar, and Specter, Team Soul.On the other: The Board, nine shadows, each a walking embodiment of greed, fear, and control.They looked human, but they weren’t. They were constructs… woven from stolen minds, ancient AI schematics, and zero empathy.Robin didn’t flinch. “Let’s play.” The moment the ball rolled, the pitch fractured. Reality twisted.Layla sprinted across the field, the world melting into a memory of her childhood: a dusty courtyard in Marrakesh, a crowd screaming, and a broken ankle that ended her first career, She stumbled.Her shadow-self tried to

Location: Lagos, Nigeria – Temporary RefugeTime: 6:45 A.M. – One Hour After The ResetThe team sat in a dim concrete room at the edge of the city. Rain tapped on the tin roof like fingers drumming a warning. Robin leaned forward, sweat still drying on his brow.They had won. They had destroyed the Forge. And yet, The world hadn’t collapsed. It had rebooted.Every forgotten stadium on the globe, the ones decommissioned during the Audit, the ones bought and buried by the Board, lit up within minutes of Robin’s decision.Screens everywhere flickered to life. And now… the world was asking questions. Layla stood near the open window, staring out.“They’re not wasting time,” she muttered. “They’re coming.”Ashar turned from the holoscreen, expression sharp. “The stadiums are broadcasting a name.”Robin looked up. Ashar spun the display. The screen read: "ASHWOOD INVITATIONAL – GLOBAL OPENING MATCH IN 72 HOURS"And beneath it, in smaller text: “Players will be chosen.The signal will decide

Location: Oba Arena – Data Core HallThe narrow corridor of raw data vibrated with tension. Robin’s breath echoed around him, distorted by shimmering code-walls that blinked like stars in the dark.Ashwood.Zero’s footsteps rang out like thunder, cold and deliberate. He closed the distance with terrifying grace, the blade in his hand slicing through the virtual air with a whistle.Robin’s muscles tensed. He had no weapon. No backup. Only instinct. Ashwood.Zero lunged. Robin dropped to the ground, rolled sideways, and narrowly avoided a slash that cleaved a glowing strand of memory in two.The destroyed file sizzled, Robin caught a glimpse of it as it died: "Mum’s final prayer before the collapse, Deleted."He clenched his fists. “That wasn’t yours to touch.”Ashwood.Zero turned with surgical poise. “They were never yours either. You were a container. A case study. A starting point.”Robin rushed him, shoulder lowered. The clone parried with a twist and slashed again, grazing Robin’s ri