Arya's POV
Mark exhaled heavily, his grip on Ellie tightening. Jake lowered his head, releasing the breath he had been holding. Clark took a step forward, looking as though he was ready to collapse in relief.
Ellie was starting to move. She looked at her hands, touched her face and looked at her reflection in the table.
"Oh my god, I'm back," she said. So, the transfer was complete and they were back in their original bodies.
I checked the system once more. The reversal had completed, but there was something wrong. The machine hummed beneath my fingertips, and I caught a final message before my ability faded away.
[Consciousness Anomaly Detected. Survivor Anna—Error.]
My blood ran cold, my face turned pale.
Nicole's body—no, Nicole stirred, her wounds vanishing in an instant. Her head slammed forward onto the table before she jerked up, gasping for air. Meanwhile, Anna was still unconscious.
All of us our waiting if this is going to be Nicole or is it still Anna. I held my breath, staring at her, bracing myself for whatever came next.
Nicole blinked rapidly, her breathing uneven. Then, her gaze landed on Clark. Recognition flashed in her eyes.
"Clark?"she whispered. For the first time, I've seen some emotions in Nicole's face. She looks relieved.
Relief flooded through us. "It's you," Clark slowly exhaled, while holding —almost gripping Nicole's hands as if fearing he would lose someone so valuable in his life.
"Ouch, that hurts," Anna chuckled while releasing her hands from Clark's.
"I—uhm—ah—I'm sorry," Clark laugh awkwardly, he rubbed the back of his neck, "I just can't bear the thought of losing you."
Nicole's expression softened. For a moment, the chaos, the trials, the ever-present fear—all of it faded into the background. They just stared at each other, as if grounding themselves in something real amidst the madness.
Then, the air shifted.
A low hum crawled up my spine, setting every nerve on edge. The room seemed to tighten, the very walls pressing in.
And then…
A deafening noise erupted through the room. The ground trembled beneath us, a deep mechanical rumble shaking the air. My stomach twisted as I turned towards the source—Anna's body.
Her limbs twitched violently. Her eyes fluttered, her lips moving without a sound. Then, I heard the system's voice.
[Fatal System Error. Unauthorized Consciousness Retention Detected.]
My breath hitched. Nobody could hear it besides me.
A shrill, unnatural screech filled the air. Anna's body convulsed, back arching as though something inside her was being ripped apart. The system had detected her plan, her attempt to hijack Nicole's body, to erase her consciousness entirely.
The system was responding.
Then—
Nicole's scream shattered the stillness, raw and unrestrained. Clark's face drained of color, his lips parted as if he wanted to say something—anything—but no words came. Mark staggered back, nearly tripping over himself, while Ellie clamped a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide with horror.
Before anyone of us could react, her body…exploded.
The forced knocked me back, a wave of heat and energy slamming into my chest. The others screamed, the bright flash of detonation searing into my visiob. Blood splattered against the walls, the acrid scent of burning flesh filling my nostrils.
Then, silence…
I gasped, pushing myself up on shaking arms. My ears were ringing. And where Anna had once been…there was nothing left.
No body, No trace. Just a scorched mark on the floor and the blood on the wall, the only evidence that she had ever existed at all.
A cold shudder ran through me. The system had not just rejected her. It had erased her entirely. There was no saving her now. No coming back.
Ellie clamped a hand over her mouth, her face pale. Mark stood frozen, unable to look away from the spot where Anna had been. Jake's hand curled into fists, his jaw clenched so tight it looked like he migh shatter his own teeth. Zack ran towards Nicole to see if she was fine and Ambrose is in the corner of the room, staring at the blood on the wall. There's no trace of shock in his face, just emptiness, like staring into the abyss.
Clark took a shaky step back. "She…She's gone."
Nicole shuddered, her hands shaking. "The system killed her."
Killed her? More like executed her.
I swallowed hard. The rules of this trial weren't just about survival. They were about control. And the moment Anna tried to break them, the system had made an example out of her.
The timer in the hologram started to beep. Only 1 minute remaining.
"Let's go sit down around the table! We only have 1 minute left to be back in our original bodies. Come on!" Zack yelled.
Panic crashed over us like a tidal wave.
"Sit down!" someone yelled again, but my legs refused to move. The timer ticked down mercilessly.
Everyone, except for Ellie and Nicole, rushed towards the table and placed the helmet and electrodes on their heads.
[00:50…00:49…00:48…]
Nicole still looked shaken, her hands trembling as she wiped the blood off of her arm. Ellie, hesitated, her eyes darting between the others and the timer.
Ellie and Nicole exchanged glances but didn't move to grab helmet. They didn't need to. They were back in their original bodies.
Jake grabbed Mark, hauling him toward a seat. "MOVE!" he roared.
[00:35…00:34…00:33…]
The machine whirred back to life, scanning for final confirmations. My stomach twisted. We had all seen what happened when the system found an anomaly. There was no room for hesitation. No room for mistakes.
Ambrose yanked me forward, his grip firm. "Don't think, just sit."
[00:25…00:24…00:23…]
A mechanical click echoed through the chamber. The system was locking in the final process.
I took a deep breath for whatever to come next.
The machine whirred louder, but something was wrong. The progress bar on the hologram froze, flickering in and out of existence. The countdown was still running, but the system wasn't finalizing the swap.
Then, a warning flashed across the screen:
[Error: Seat Misalignment detected. Transmigration Process Incomplete.]
My chest tightened. Seat misalignment?
My gaze snapped to the others, they weren't sitting where they had originally been before the swap. Some had moved after the chaos of Anna's death.
That's why the transfer wasn't working.
Panic surged through me. If the countdown hit zero while we were still out of place, the swap might fail and we would be stuck in these bodies permanently.
"Everyone! Get back to your original seats!" I shouted.
The others looked at me in confusion, but I was already moving. "Now!Hurry! The system won't finalize the swap unless we sit exactly where we were before!"
Jake cursed, shoving himself out of Mark's seat. Clark scrambled back to his spot, knocking over a chair in the process. Zack hesitated for a second before dragging his seat back.
[00:10…00:09…00:08…]
Nicole gripped the edge of the table, Ellie sat in her place, without the helmet on.
[00:05…00:04…00:03…]
I barely sat down before the machine roared back to life.
[Alignment Confirmed. Initiating Transfer.]
A surge of static filled the air. My vision blurred.
Then, everything went dark.
—
A sharp inhale. A pounding in my skull.
I gasped, my body jerking as sensation rushed back—my body. My fingers twitched and I can hear my heartbeat thudding in my ears.
I blinked rapildy, my vision adjusting to the blinding light. Then, I heard the system's voice.
[Transfer complete.]
A heavy exhale filled the room.
Makr stumbled forward, gripping the edge of the table. Jake pressed his fingers to his temples, as if grounding himself. Clark let out a shaky laugh, dragging a hand through his hair.
"We're back," Zack muttered.
I checked the hologram in front of us. No errors. No warnings. Then, it disappered.
The body swap was over.
I exhaled in relief, but just as my fingers brushed against the table, something buzzed beneath my skin.
A sensation. My screen flashed in front of me.
A single message appeared.
[Participant: Arya Smith]
[Congratulations. Machine Whisperer has leveled up —Level 2.]
[New System Privileges Unlocked—Can now sense when an environment is artificial.]
[Activation: Touch a surface or object in the environment. Then, when fingertips tingle or heat up, the environment is confirmed to be artificial.]
[+2000 points]
Then, my screen disappered.
I glanced around at the others. They were recovering. None of them saw what I just did.
None of them knew, but I saw Ambrose staring at me. Does he know?
I hesitated, my gaze shifting back to my hands. I had been touching the table when the message appeared. Slowly, almost cautiously, I pressed my palm flat against the smooth surface, willing myself to feel whatever this upgrade was.
For a moment, nothing.
Then…a shift.
The faintest flicker in my vision, like a heatwave distorting the air. My fingers prickled with warmth, the table beneath my hand almost…wrong. Not solid. Not real.
My breath hitched.
This place. The room. The table.
Something about it wasn't real.
I snatched my hand away, heart racing. The sensation faded instantly.
Holy shit.
A slow smile crept onto my lips.
For the first time since the trials began, I felt like I had an advantage.