Anise sat, quietly observing her squad as they walked around, spying fear and hesitation in their eyes. She wanted to assure them pacify them, yet she was equally, if not more fearful and hesitant. Yet she had to lock it down, keeping up appearances, lest their squad collapses into a pit of chaos and fear.

No matter how strong she was, what she went through, it didn’t matter. That was a war, a pit of death and destruction. A place where only innocents go to die while darkness sits, watching them fight like children. It was not something she could just accept and go into. She felt her sweat drip across her face, thinking about what she had heard. They were attacked by an opponent they couldn’t defeat, not without many, many preparations, and that enemy was fighting a single battalion of their army, the one where Jorish was at. She fell into contemplation as she tried to think of something to say, she glanced at her squad as they looked at her, waiting for her to speak.

Yet she remained silent, unable to reassure them. She wanted to help, she wanted to assist Jorish and to save their men, yet inside she prayed and hoped that they wouldn’t have to fight. It was a vain, naive hope, she knew, yet those childish thoughts went through her brain all the same. Suddenly, a messenger rushed from the side as he approached her capral, Elroy. He whispered into his ear before turning back and running. A moment later, Elroy turned to Anise as he told her.

“It seems that second battalion’s second squad officer, Dyce, has began an independent assault on the enemy squad.”

Anise felt her fists clutch in conflict, her thoughts in chaos. She felt pain in his palms, her grip getting tigher. She wanted to help, yet she felt her doubt weighing her down, leaving her unable to make a decision. She gritted her teeth, staying silent for longer as she waited, self-doubt and hatred consuming her.

A few minutes later, the same messenger came again as he announced.

“Leadership decided to speed up the process, we are to sortie within the next few minutes to assist our squads.”

Anise hated herself as emotions flooded her, Why am I feeling annoyed and frustrated? I should be glad to be able to help them, yet I… Anise’s thoughts fell into chaos as they thought about the reality, So we have to fight and kill in this war. She closed her eyes as she accepted the reality, turning serious as she removed all shards of doubt from her eyes before she turned to her squad.

“Let’s move out!”

A few minutes later, the squad started moving around alongside other squads, their squad was not the vanguard, yet they were still close to the front, slowly closing on the the enemy troops. Getting closer, Anise noticed the enemy forces waiting for them, she grunted as she started transforming, turning draconic as she shouted.

“Charge!”

Chaos reigned as the forces collided, Anise jumped in the middle of the enemy forces, swiping her claws, taking one life after another, each movement kill parts of her more and more. What did they do to deserve this? Nothing. Her heart ached, barely able to contain the agony of all the killing.

A moment later, she turned her head as she saw Yanna, a member of her squad. She looked at Anise as she tried to speak, but only blood came out. Anise froze, looking at the sword poking out of her chest. She roared in anger as she rushed in to assist her. Her claw swiped at the swordsman who attacked Yanna, taking his life.

Yanna looked at Anise, tears in her eyes as her lips shook, trying to speak, before falling silently, eternally. Anise felt anger coarse through her veins as she rage into the battlefield, yet it almost didn’t matter, for every few minutes, she would find another one, dead.

Rage turned into fear, fear turned into insanity. I killed them, my weakness and hesitation did this.

I tried to make them more calm, I tried to help them.

Yet here they lay, soulless.

As she swam in her self deprecation, her claws and tail mindless chopping at her opponents. her eyes froze for a moment as she saw Dyce and Jorish fighting, she almost lost her sanity as she saw a blade as it moved, cutting through Dyce’s face as blood and flesh burst, flying into the dusty air.

- - - - -

Tyran stood, blood leading from his body, not a single spot uninjured. He stared at the source of his suffering as Essil stood opposite to him, lightly injured yet smiling as he looked at Tyran, gravely wounded. Tyran kept his focus on Essil as he moved his blade around, laughing lightly.

“Tyran, oh Tyran. You truly do not understand. Becoming a candidate isn’t just simply about becoming stronger. It is much, much more than that. You had no hope the moment I became a candidate. That is just a fact.”

Tyran grunted in frustration, he couldn’t deny what Essil said, Tyran was one of the strongest practitioners, yet he has been suffering, just to keep up and keep Essil busy. Suddenly, a man run towards Essil, whispering something in his ear before running back into the battlefield. Tyran saw as Essil’s eyes turned cold as he looked at Tyran.

“Forgive me, old Tyran. But it seems time to play around is over.”

Tyran braced himself, realizing that this meant reinforcements were on their way. He didn’t understand reinforcements were coming so early, not all battalions would be around, and definitely no other captain would be close enough to assist them, but he knew he didn’t have the luxury to question or reject it. He gathered the last of his energy as Essil rushed towards him, intending to finish him off. Tyran saw the blade as it drifted towards his neck, Tyran used all his energy, moving his arm forward as all friction between himself and the blade disappeared, causing it to slip away to the side. At that moment Tyran reversed the friction again, causing the air to ignite as his punch cracked the air as it burst towards Essil.

Unexpectedly, Essil didn’t try to dodge, Tyran saw as a massive burst of energy appeared as Essil received the strike, getting pushed back a step without taking any damage.

“You…” Tyran muttered, hatred in his eyes. Indeed, a candidate is just too strong. Damn it.

Now, out of energy and very heavily injured, Tyran saw Essil's blade heading towards his neck again. He knew he didn’t have the energy to redirect his strike again. As he lost all hope, he heard a loud crash as a shadow materialized in front of him, blocking the strike before speaking.

“Man, Tyran. Had a rough night, have you?”

Tyran laughed as he replied.

“Isar, you damn buffer, finally showing up!”

In front of Tyran stood Captain Isar, however he didn’t have the same look he has normally. His body was morphed as plates of steel appeared all across his body, standing half a meter taller than usual as the power of his bloodline emitted around him. He looked at Essil as the latter frowned, speaking.

“Isar, was it. I have heard of you. But don’t think even a top tier bloodline like yours means that you could beat a candidate.”

Essil jumped forward, swiping his blade over and over, Isar stepped forward, blocking Essil’s strikes as he tried to push forward. A few moments later, he jumped back as countless small cuts appeared across his arms.

“I told you, you had no hope. If you were both at full strength from the beginning this could’ve gone differently, but alas for you.”

Suddenly, Essil’s face turned pale, quickly jumping to the side, he turned his head as he stared at the ground as a thin line appeared where he once stood. He looked followed that line until his sight reached Brandon, his coat fluttering as he held a cutlass in his left hand, while the coat occasionally moved enough to show his missing right army and shoulder.

“You… You!” Essil raged, as he touched his neck, noticing the blood, yet Tyran sighed, knowing that the cut was not deep enough to do any real damage.

“You have no hope, Essil. Fall back, or we will deal with you” spoke Brandon.

Essil looked in bitterness before he laughed manically, a group of practitioners approaching them from the side.

“You fools, you think you are the only one who has reinforcements?”

Essil’s smile didn’t last as a crevasse broke through the ground, creating a barrier his practitioner didn’t dare to cross, Tyran looked at Alek, holding his sword with his cold look, looking as if he was about to face the entire world.

Tyran stood up, taking a deep breath as he prepared to continue fighting against Essil.

- - - - -

Dyce stood in the midst of smoke and ashes, holding his spear as he glanced at Jorish, speaking.

“Man… You look absolutely horrible.”

Jorish smiled, replying.

“Likewise.”

As the dust cleared up, Dyce turned ahead, paying attention to their attackers, he saw five practitioners looking at them as they started to recover. They must’ve moved the majority of their practitioners here to break through. Too bad for them Jorish just refuses to damn die. Dyce glanced back, looking at his companions. He saw Jorish’s capral on the floor, unconscious. He saw another practitioner holding a weirdly large gun, looking fine. As for Jorish… he had a few more holes in his body than he probably should. So it is me and her against all 5, huh.

Dyce took a deep breath, noticing the opponents regaining their confidence as they determined he was the only reinforcement. As they prepared to rush in, Dyce’s foot smash against the ground as he pushed himself forward, landing between the practitioners. The practitioners panicked, preparing to turn and strike at him, yet at that exact moment Dyce sent a pulse of energy catching them off-guard. He made use of that opening as he picked a target and stabbed towards him. The practitioner reacted, barely bringing his sword to block Dyce’s spear. Yet, as the weapons collided, Dyce enhanced his weapon, sending pulses of energy through it towards the practitioner, causing him to fall, twitching on the floor as he was unable to move.

The other practitioners recovered, swinging their weapons at Dyce, Dyce pushed forward, dodging some of the blows while tanking others as they grazed his skin as he broke through their encampment. He saw as one of them tried to ambush him at that moment, before having to turn to block the shot by the gunner on his side. At that moment, another of the practitioners broke off, rushing towards the gunner to take her out.

Dyce didn’t bother looking at him, because he knew that no matter what, that man wasn’t easy to go through, even if he had a single breath in him. A moment later, he heard a crash as his expectations came true, as the man was sent flying, his arm missing.

Dyce stepped forward, wanting to re-engage the remaining practitioners, yet at that moment a wave of flames approached him, Dyce dodged it to the side, before grunting as he fell to his knees, the heat having irritated his cuts causing him to lose his focus. At that moment, he saw as the enemy sword came for his neck, he slammed his leg in front of him, throwing himself backwards.

Dyce grunted as the sword missed his neck, cutting across his face as it cut through his right eye. He wanted to shout but he couldn’t lose focus as the rest of practitioners regrouped to take him out, he saw the practitioner he sent down get up. At that moment, a black sphere rotating in mid air as it slammed to the practitioner who tried attacking him. The sphere spun in the air for a moment before it floated back to its owner.

Dyce saw as a short man with many black sphere hanging from his uniform stepped forward, with a frail youth walking behind him, his eyes shining gray. Both practitioners? Noted Dyce as he heard Jorish speak.

“Jacob!”

The short man smiled as he nodded. “Jorish, doing wonderful I see.”

Jorish smiled as Jacob as his companion stood next to them, a moment later a shadow flew over to them before it landed.

“Dyce! Jorish! Are you guys ok?”

Dyce saw as Anise landed, anger and worry in his eyes as she stared at Dyce’s bleeding eye. Dyce smiled as he replied.

“Yea, just another Monday.”

As the group prepared to face the practitioners, a loud bang sounded in the air, the practitioners looked up, looking at the bright flashes that appeared in the air, they immediately began to fall back. The group looked all around them, looking at the men falling back. Everyone stood in silence as Anise sighed, pain in her voice.

“It’s finally over.”

Silence reigned, as everyone looked down, gazing upon the scenes of death and destruction. Dyce’s grip hardened as he felt frustration. Its that atmosphere again. That hopelessness, that inability… Until he was suddenly interrupted by a voice.

“No.” Jorish spoke, his eyes carrying determination and resolve

“It has only began.”