CHAPTER 87: TRIAL OF CONVERGENCE! (8)

The coordinated assault struck with devastating precision.

Four enemy teams had timed their convergence perfectly, launching simultaneous attacks from multiple angles while Elena’s team was still reeling from their strategic collapse.

Spells crackled through the air in coordinated volleys designed to overwhelm defensive capabilities through sheer volume.

Elena’s response was immediate but betrayed the first signs of genuine panic.

"Everyone get in defensive positions! Guards, put up your shields! Runners, start dodging!"

But the orders that had once been executed with telepathic precision now met with hesitation and confusion.

Without predictive positioning, the team’s coordination advantage was evaporating under pressure.

Vera fought magnificently, her Guardian enhancements allowing her to engage multiple attackers simultaneously while maintaining protective coverage for her teammates.

But even her enhanced capabilities couldn’t compensate for tactical positioning that had been optimized around now-invalid assumptions.

The first casualties came within ninety seconds.

Two supporting team members were caught in a coordinated spell barrage while attempting to reach defensive positions that no longer provided adequate cover.

They weren’t eliminated from the trial, but their injuries were severe enough to require magical healing that would keep them out of combat for crucial minutes.

Not to mention the fragments with them were stolen as well.

"Our defenses aren’t working!" Vera called out, her voice strained from maintaining barriers against sustained magical assault. "The arena is helping our enemies!"

She was right. The arena’s modifications were subtle but devastatingly effective.

Bridge approaches that had previously favored defenders now provided clear attack vectors for enemies.

Water currents that had once complicated enemy movement were now flowing in patterns that supported coordinated assaults!

It was too unfair!

Lyra attempted to coordinate tactical responses using her Oracle abilities, but her enhanced perception was being actively disrupted by the arena’s countermeasures.

The same environmental modifications that were supporting enemy attacks were degrading her ability to process tactical information effectively.

"My Oracle powers aren’t working right," she reported with growing desperation. "I can only see the future correctly 37% of the time. My future sight is almost gone."

The admission sent shockwaves through the remaining team members. Lyra’s Oracle abilities had been their tactical anchor throughout the trial.

Without her enhanced perception, they were fighting blind against enemies who somehow seemed to have perfect tactical awareness.

This was what one got when trying to steal control from the arena: an absolute suppression.

Elena was struggling to maintain command authority while watching her fundamental strategic assumptions collapse in real-time.

"Emergency backup plans!" she shouted over the chaos of combat. "Go back to basic teamwork! Stay in formation!"

But there were no emergency protocols for systematic strategic invalidation.

The Constellation Web had been designed around mathematical precision that was no longer available. Without that foundation, their entire approach was crumbling.

The members had stretched themselves out under the assumption that their paths would overlap with the guardians during the retrieval of the fragments.

But with the interference from the arena, everyone found themselves alone!

Alone and stranded!

The second wave of enemy attacks was even more devastating than the first.

The northern team’s military precision had adapted perfectly to the new tactical environment.

Their formations were designed for reactive combat rather than predictive positioning, making them immune to the arena’s countermeasures that were crippling Elena’s team.

The eastern team’s chaotic energy was actually being enhanced by the environmental modifications. Their flexible approach thrived in unstable conditions, while Elena’s team’s rigid coordination was becoming a liability.

Even the reformed southern team had managed to exploit the situation. Their previous leadership problems had forced them to develop redundant command structures that were now proving superior to Elena’s hierarchical approach.

"We’re losing fragments fast," one of the remaining Runners reported grimly. "We’re only collecting 18% of what we used to. The other teams are catching up quickly."

The mathematical precision that had once been Elena’s greatest strength was now providing devastating clarity about their deteriorating position.

They were losing fragments faster than they could collect new ones, while their enemies were gaining ground with every passing minute.

But the worst blow came when Lyra made a discovery that shattered the last vestiges of their strategic confidence.

"I figured out what’s happening," she announced with hollow despair. "The arena wasn’t just stopping our strategy—it was using it against us."

Elena turned toward her sister with desperate hope that this might be the breakthrough they needed to regain their advantages.

"The arena learned how our prediction system works," Lyra continued, her voice barely audible over the continuing combat.

"Now it’s using our own system to predict what we’ll do and help our enemies position themselves."

The implications were catastrophic. Their greatest strategic advantage had been turned into their enemies’ most powerful weapon.

Every aspect of their coordination that relied on mathematical precision was now working against them.

"The arena is helping our enemies attack us using our own strategy," Lyra concluded with devastating finality. "We’re not just fighting other teams—we’re fighting ourselves."

Elena’s composure finally cracked under the weight of complete strategic failure.

"That’s impossible," she said, but her voice lacked conviction. "The arena can’t help enemy teams. That’s against the rules."

But the evidence was undeniable. Enemy attacks were arriving with timing and coordination that exceeded their individual capabilities.

Their positioning was too perfect, their tactical awareness too comprehensive.

Something was providing them with intelligence and coordination support that transcended their natural abilities.

The arena had become an active opponent that was using Elena’s team’s own intellectual superiority against them!

Ren watched the collapse from his defensive position with a mixture of admiration and concern.

The sisters’ analytical capabilities were genuinely exceptional, but their rigid adherence to mathematical frameworks had made them vulnerable to systematic exploitation.

The arena’s learning algorithms had done exactly what he had feared; they had decoded the Constellation Web’s underlying principles and then weaponized that knowledge against its creators.

But more immediately, his team was facing complete defeat within the next few minutes unless something changed dramatically.

"Can I try a different strategy?" he called out during a brief lull in the enemy assault.

Elena’s response revealed the depth of her desperation. "Try anything that might work."

But before Ren could begin explaining his alternative approach, the situation deteriorated beyond immediate tactical solutions.

The second Starfall was announced with perfect timing to maximize the chaos.

"Attention all teams," the witch’s voice echoed with obvious amusement. "The second Starfall approaches the convergence zone. Twenty points await those bold enough to claim them. I do hope the recent excitement hasn’t tired you out."

The announcement triggered immediate enemy repositioning as all four attacking teams began calculating whether they could eliminate Elena’s team and still reach the Starfall location in time to compete for the additional points.

Elena’s team now faced an impossible choice: continue defending against the sustained assault and miss the Starfall entirely, or attempt to reach the convergence zone while under fire from multiple enemies.

Either choice would likely result in elimination from the trial.

"What are our options?" Elena asked, her authority diminished but her determination intact.

Lyra’s analysis was brutally honest. "If we keep defending, we’ll slowly lose. If we try for the Starfall, we’ll be sitting ducks. Either way, we have less than a 15% chance of surviving."

Vera was still fighting magnificently, but even her Guardian capabilities were being overwhelmed by the sustained multi-team assault.

"Our defenses are about to fail. We need to retreat within the next two minutes."

The supporting team members were looking toward Elena with expressions that mixed loyalty with growing doubt.

They had followed her leadership without question throughout the trial, but the complete strategic collapse was undermining their confidence in her ability to find solutions.

For the first time since taking command, Elena seemed genuinely uncertain about how to proceed.

"Any other strategies?" she asked, her voice carrying a note of desperation that would have been unthinkable an hour earlier.

But the question was answered by external events rather than internal strategy.

The arena’s environmental modifications reached a new level of aggressive intervention.

Bridge sections began shifting position during combat, creating tactical advantages for attacking teams while simultaneously disrupting Elena’s defensive formations.

Water levels changed rapidly, forcing repositioning that exposed team members to concentrated fire. Magical field fluctuations began affecting spell effectiveness in ways that favored offensive magic over defensive barriers.

The arena wasn’t just supporting enemy coordination—it was actively reshaping the battlefield to ensure Elena’s team’s defeat.

"The arena is changing everything to help our enemies," Ren reported grimly. "It’s gone beyond subtle interference to actively helping them win."

Elena stared at the chaos surrounding her team with the expression of someone watching years of training and preparation crumble into irrelevance.

The Constellation Web lay in ruins. Their coordination advantages were neutralized. Their analytical superiority had been turned against them. Even the environment itself was working to ensure their defeat.

"What do you recommend?" she asked quietly, her authority almost completely eroded by the magnitude of their strategic failure.

Ren looked at the Starfall cloud beginning to form overhead, then at the enemy teams preparing for final assault, then at his own teammates struggling to maintain defensive positions against impossible odds.

"Throw out our entire strategy," he said with calm certainty. "The Constellation Web framework must be abandoned completely. To win, we need a fundamentally different approach to how this trial works."

Elena’s eyes met his with a mixture of desperation and reluctant recognition.

For the first time since role assignments, she was ready to cede tactical authority to someone whose strategic approach might actually work in their current circumstances.

The question was whether that recognition had come too late to matter.