The air tasted like burnt hair gel and existential dread. Carlo stood at the edge of Varicose Vein Stadium, its pitch pulsating like a diseased heart. The turf? Woven from Ronaldo's 2014 World Cup knee brace ligaments. The goal nets? Netsune – a hybrid of Neymar's hairplug DNA and World War II barbed wire.
TRIAL 07: HALFTIME ASSIMILATION
[WIN CONDITION: SURVIVE THE CITADEL'S PATRIOTISM DIGESTION]
"Welcome to the true beautiful game," croaked the VARicose Vein, a sentient thrombosis clinging to the stadium's aorta. Its voice was a mashup of Sepp Blatter's corruption trial transcripts and a vuvuzela's death rattle. "Halftime here lasts… forever."
The scoreboard flickered:
Carlo's Stake: Spinal fluid (contains Lina's pre-Citadel GPS coordinates)
Citadel's Wager: Pelé's original 1958 World Cup femur
Steve, now with Maradona's 1986 cocaine metabolites crystallizing in his tear ducts, kicked a loose tooth – probably Zinedine Zidane's – across the pitch. "Yo, Sizzle Vein! Let's rumble before I sneeze out the entire 1994 USA World Cup."
[VAR REVIEW: BIOLOGICAL CONTAMINANT DETECTED]
The VARicose Vein convulsed, extruding referee drones with faces molded from David Beckham's 1998 red card rage. Their whistles shrieked – the sound manifested as physical blades that shredded Carlo's jersey, revealing skin tattooed with Lina's last known coordinates glowing Citadel silver.
"First half: Assimilation," droned the VARicose Vein. "Second half: Indigestion."
The stadium crouched. Its ribcage-like bleachers unfolded into jaws lined with World Cup trophy replicas – each stamped Made from Dissolved Dissidents. From the dugouts emerged Patriotism Mascots: grotesque hybrids of World Cup mascots and extinct animals, their bellies translucent with half-digested fans chanting nationalist slogans.
FIRST HALF: THE ASSIMILATION
A mascot shaped like Zakumi 2010 (but with a rhino horn made from FIFA bribe money) charged. Carlo's Adaptive Combat Instinct triggered – his right leg morphed into a 2002 World Cup Brazil free-kick curvature algorithm. He side-stepped, but the mascot vomited a geyser of molten World Cup pins that hardened around his ankles.
"Resistance = indigestion!" screamed the mascot in Sepp Blatter's voice.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Steve leapt, his Maradona-hair follicles firing nanobot darts that hacked the mascot's digestive tract. It exploded, showering them with semi-digested propaganda pamphlets:
"Qatar 2022: Where Dreams Become Concrete!"
"Maradona's Hair: 10% Off During Military Coups!"
[ASSIMILATION PROGRESS: 23%]
The VARicose Vein laughed, its thrombosis body inflating with stolen blood. "Second mascot: Extra time!"
The next horror shuffled out – Striker Pup 1994, its body fused with a bald eagle, talons replaced by miniature Diego Maradona handballs. It screeched the 1998 French World Cup anthem off-key, the sound waves warping into physical hands that clawed at Carlo's tattooed coordinates.
SECOND HALF: INDIGESTION
Steve grabbed a vuvuzela from the debris. "Remember 2010?" He blew – the horn emitted a sonic boom of collective South African nostalgia. The mascot stumbled, its talons retracting.
"Now!" Steve yelled.
Carlo's mutations surged – his left arm transformed into a 1966 World Cup final goal-line controversy replay. He punched through the mascot's chest, retrieving a Citadel Data Core shaped like a golden boot.
[ASSIMILATION REVERSED: 41%]
[LINA'S COORDINATES CORRUPTION: 12%]
The VARicose Vein shrieked. The stadium's varicose veins bulged, spraying acidic blood that dissolved the pitch. Carlo and Steve fell through into the Halftime Locker Room of Damned Legends – walls lined with cryo-pods containing:
Roberto Baggio's 1994 penalty miss guilt complex (still weeping)
Andrés Escobar's 1994 autopsy report (autographed by Pablo Escobar)
A Zlatan Ibrahimovi? clone mid-sentence: "Legends don't—"
"Final test," gurgled the VARicose Vein, now oozing from the showers. "Choose: Trade Steve's Maradona DNA or let Lina's coordinates be eternally offside."
PENALTY SHOOTOUT: LEGENDS VS. TRAUMA
Steve clutched his head as Maradona's 1986 "Hand of God" memory overwrote his vision. "Dude, I'm… glitching." His left eye projected a hologram: young Maradona signing a Citadel contract in 1979.
Carlo stared at the coordinates on his chest – now fraying into static. "We don't trade lives."
"Wrong answer," hissed the VARicose Vein.
The locker room screens lit up with Halftime Entertainment: thousands of fans strapped to chairs, forced to watch AI-generated highlights of Citadel-altered World Cups. A Brazilian man screamed as his memories of the 2002 victory were replaced with Neymar crying over a sentient hairplug.
Carlo grabbed a syringe labeled Pelé's Euphoria – 1970 Formula. "Steve! The mascot's horn!"
Steve headbutted a cryo-pod, releasing Zlatan's clone mid-quip: "—need VAR!" The clone's arrogance distracted the VARicose Vein long enough for Carlo to stab the syringe into the stadium's main artery.
[HALFTIME REBELLION: INITIATED]
Pelé's euphoria spread through the VARicose Vein's bloodstream. The stadium convulsed, vomiting up:
2006 World Cup final Zidane headbutt footage (uncensored)
Neymar's sentient hairplugs singing "We Are the Champions"
Lina's face flickering in a Citadel training facility – her eyes pure void
"NO!" screamed the VARicose Vein as its blood crystallized into vintage World Cup tickets.
[VICTORY: TEMPORARY]
[CARLOS TRADED: 30% OF HIS 2014 WORLD CUP MEMORIES]
[STEVE'S MARADONA DNA CORRUPTION: 18%]
The stadium collapsed into a scar tissue husk. Carlo stumbled out clutching the Citadel Data Core, now whispering coordinates in Lina's voice: "Find the 1966 Jules Rimet Trophy… it's alive."
Steve spat out a VARicose Vein shard. "Bro, I just remembered…" His pupils flickered with Maradona's 1990 World Cup rage. "The Citadel's not erasing history. They're farming it."
