“Hello and welcome!” The Academy’s president began.

“Welcome to our leaders, faculty and faculty emeriti, Path representatives, staff, family, and members of the Rivivera community! We gather today to honor the members of the Academy of Martial Training Class of-”

So this is it. Jaire thought as he looked around. The seats of the stadium were filled to the brim. Somewhere up there his entire family had gathered. His aunts and uncles were probably seated in the same area as well, boasting how their own children were rising stars and the such. But none of them were in his age group, thus this was his time to shine. To prove to his parents (and himself) that he made the right choice all those years ago, and after this last hurdle, he would become a full fledged adult who was worthy of respect and praise.

No pressure. He gulped.

Trying to take his mind off of it, Jaire turned his attention towards the stage, where the president stood, flanked by four high ranking officials of the Paths. Each was a well known hero, and they wore their signature armor that left Jaire agape.

On the far left stood the Slayer Treva, “The Ravager”, who was fully encased in crimson red plating that doubled as bladed edges. Though she had many victories under her belt, the event that shot her to stardom was the time she slayed two Apex Zvyrs at once. As the story went, the pair of Zvyrs were massive creatures had ten whip-like appendages, each capable of attacking hundreds of times in the blink of an eye. The Hunters were greatly outmatched and on the brink of defeat, but when all hope was lost, Treva brazenly charged both on her own. She took each attack head on, using it as an opportunity to counter attack their limbs directly. With each hit they made, she hacked and chipped off their hardened shells until their fleshy insides were exposed. From there, she went into a frenzy and clawed her way into the appendage, up to the main body, and shredded it from the inside. By the end of it all, she successfully reduced both Apex’s to mush, and stood tall amongst their corpses, glistening in her blood soaked armor.

Beside her stood Champion Gavet, “The Mountain”. Gavet was a tall and bulky man, who wore thick, golden plates, that made him look like a statue more than a man. While his rise to glory was not as messy as Treva’s, it was still as impressive, if not more so. Some time ago, a single eight-legged Apex Zvyr with nigh impenetrable armor appeared at the southern border of Rivivera. Having been spotted days in advance, the Hunters desperately tried to break through its tough scales and equally thick skin. When that failed, they attempted to thwart its advancement or guide it away from the town, but to no avail. As the Zvyr began to charge towards the wall, everyone feared for the worse, until Gavet stood in its path. The Zvyr crashed against him with such force that a powerful shockwave shook the ground, but Gavet held it at bay. For two days he was locked in a stalemate with the Zvyr, until at long last it surrendered and turned away.

The next was the Aspirant-

He quickly turned his eyes to the floor as his heart thumped within his chest. Oh my god, Jeneva looked right at me!! Ohmygodohmygodohmy-

His face morphed into an awkward grin as he tried to calm his geeked out nerves. Ten deep breaths later he finally regained the nerve to look up. Unsure if he could handle more direct eye contact, he turned his eyes away from the stage and towards the field proper. From one end to the other, various obstacles filled the arena. Each was marked by a numbered signpost, while above four large banners split them into four quadrants. Time to focus. Let’s see now, I’m number 23 of group C, so I’ll start in quadrant 3, section 2. Hm, the agility quadrant.

The Ceremony consisted of two parts: A gauntlet run and a melee brawl. For the gauntlet, Path recruiters would observe and score the students attempts. These results were withheld until the end of the Ceremony, where they would then be tallied and split into four final scores, one for strength, dexterity, agility, and fortitude. There was a minimum score required in each category to successfully graduate, but the true goal was to excel in the attributes that recruiters searched for. Although the exact requirements were not made public, as a basic guideline Bulwarks prioritized high fortitude, Hunters wanted strength, Seekers measured agility, and Delvers sought dexterity.

To discourage a single-attribute approach however, students had to both complete all 120 trials and receive a passing score in every attribute. Failure to do so resulted in disqualification.

So basically I have to pick and choose when to try my hardest, and when to do just the bare minimum to pass. Honestly, this would be fine, if I knew what I wanted…

Jaire gulped as his three choices ran through his mind. Hunters, Bulwarks, Seekers. It was impossible to fulfill the requirements for all three, he didn’t have the stamina for it. And he didn’t want to think of the consequences of failing. Failure meant-

“STUDENTS!” The MC shouted, interrupting Jaire’s thoughts. “ARE YOU READY?!”

The crowd erupted in cheers as the students let out a fierce battle cry.

“BEGIN!!”

Trumpets blasted and Jaire dashed towards the third quadrant. It’s okay, there are plenty of trials, I can take it easy for these first few one and then try harder by the middle. Nodding to himself, he approached section 2.

There, five teachers stood waiting. Behind each of them, a one-lane runway stretched for almost 100 meters. At the far end of it, a lone flag hung upon a pole.

“Welcome,” The teacher spoke as Jaire approached. They pointed to a cross on the floor and spoke once more. “Drop.”

Jaire nodded and fell into a runner’s stance. After years of her vague requests and short sentences, he had come to understand what she wanted.

“Collect the flag and return. Do not step out of bounds. Do not get hit. Ready.”

Alright then, simp-wait, get hit? “Um, what-”

“Set.”

“Wait no I-”

“GO!”

Jaire took off alongside the other four students, however he was noticeably slower than his competitors. Damn what did she mean!! Don’t get hit, don’t get hit, don’t get it. His eyes darted to the flat ground, to the sides, and finally to the sk-

SHIT!! He slammed his feet down and lurched backwards just in time for an arrow zoomed down where he had stood. It splattered green paint across the dirt and was soon followed by a dozen more. Close one…

Looking over, he saw that the other students had taken the arrows head on, and were now covered in different shades of paint. Whew, lucky. Guess that’s the problem of going first. The element of su-

*SPLAT*

A black blob burst on his shoulder as an arrow shaft bounced harmlessly against his armor.

Crap. Focus damn it. Starting back up again, Jaire kept his eyes to the sky as he picked up speed.

*SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT*

Volleys continued to rain down as Jaire tried his best to navigate through their trajectories while continuously pushing forward. He dodged, weaved, and even backtracked a little, until he finally crossed the finish line. Though his fellow students had long since finished, he was pleased with himself. Overall, he only took three hits, and each of them were from the same black ink.

Man, whoever that kid is, they are incredibly good. Well whatever, I’d call this a success regardless. Alright then, next.

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His arms began to burn as he continuously punched at the speed bag. 6,7,5,9,40,1,2-

With each strike the bag would slap against button which in turn caused a bell to ding. 8,9,60,1,2,3-

Within a small corner of his mind, he began to wonder if perhaps screaming a phrase repeatedly would improve his speed, as depicted by one of the graphic novels Lin had lent him a few years ago. Ah! Focus!...90? Oh crap!

He hesitated, unsure if he should stop or continue on. Well, I mean better to go over than under right? So just hit it a few more times and…

“300!” He exclaimed as he caught his breath.

“Congrats.” Came the bored reply of the volunteer sitting besides the bag. They barely managed to stifle a yawn as they continued, “Head over to your right for the next trial”

Jeez, it’s only been an hour…”Yeah okay, thanks.” Jaire responded and sauntered off.

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Whew, finally.

Jaire paused to stretch as he stood in front of his next trial. He had finally finished off the trials within the agility quadrant, and was now faced with the first of the many strength ones. Even so, he felt pretty pleased with himself. He had managed to pass all of the prior obstacles without burning himself out and, by his calculations at least, had received passable marks on them all.

Alright, let's do this. In front of him sat a row of Atlas stones. They were aligned from smallest to largest; the first weighing only 25kg while the largest reached 200kg. For this trial, students had to lift as many stones as they could onto a pedal about chest level high. If they managed to lift them all, they were allowed to attempt the special final stone, the monstrous “Big Bertha”.

In the Gauntlet, there were four special events that were heavily broadcasted by an MC, who kept the audience entertained with his shoutcasts. Completing a special event was not mandatory, but doing do so all but guaranteed a spot within the Paths. One of these events was the lifting of Big Bertha. Weighing in at a whopping 300kg, Big Bertha was far beyond the caliber of any typical student, though not completely impossible.

Aside from the stone, the three other events were “Hollow Run”, where students had to 100m in under 3 seconds, which Jaire had passed up on; the "Death's Kiss", where they had to ingest a deadly poison without croaking; and finally pulling off a Hat-Trick Robin Hood on the final target of the stationary archery range.

Hmmm, I don’t think I should try for it. I mean, yeah it will be great if I can succeed, but there’s no way I will be able to. Not unless I’m willing to risk everything on it. And even then...argr that’s enough, let’s just get this over with and move on. There’s still two more I can attempt if I feel desperate enough. Hm, yeah, that sounds good.

With a huff, he bent down and lifted the stone.

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Jaire was feeling pretty smug as he climbed the rope. There was weight strapped onto him which hindered his progress, but he was still keeping pace with the other students. Some of them were huffing and sweating profusely as they climb, but Jaire was calm and rested. This is why you guys shouldn’t exert yourself so much, how are you going to complete this now? No tactics. There was still more than half of the Gauntlet left, but at this rate, he would finish it with stamina to spare.

I can’t believe I ever doubted myself.

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Damn it. Not good enough. Jaire thought with a clenched jaw. He had misjudged the wind pressure, and his arrow had flown completely off course. Far below, beyond some of the other obstacles, the runners track that he had first begun with stretched out, with five runners desperately trying to make their way through. Come on, focus damn it.

His fellow archers each shot out plenty of arrows, seemingly choosing quantity over quality in a desperate attempt to land a single hit. They’re just as exhausted as you are, if you just focused you’ll hit. Eh, whatever, let them waste their arrows, I have to make each one count. Putting another arrow in place, he watched the movements of the runners and waited.

Wait for it….wait for it…Annnnnnd….damn. He’ll make it to the end before my arrow lands. Tch. That’s okay, I’ll just wait for the next one. I have plenty of time to spare.

He stood with his arm cocked, patiently awaiting his prey to step into his line of fire.

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With 3/4ths of the course completed, he was finally getting winded. Yet of all the trials, this was perhaps the hardest one. He stood upon a platform in front of a ramp, which held a large boulder at the top of it.

Okay. I can do this. I can do this. It’s just a massive rock being hurled at top speeds at me. No big deal.

“RELEASE!” The MC shouted out. The volunteers above the ramp removed the rope that held the boulder in place and it rolled down the ramp, picking up speed as it hurled towards him.

Here it comes. Oh shit oh shit oh shit OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHi-

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“THAT CONCLUDES THE FIRST HALF OF THE CEREMONY” The MC boomed and the crowd cheered. “WE WILL HAVE A QUICK INTERMISSION BEFORE WE BEGIN WITH THE SECOND HALF, THE HERO’S BRAWL!”

Oh thank god. Jaire thought as he lay on the floor. Despite his best efforts, he had used up more energy than he had hoped. All around him the others groaned in pain as they either slumped to the floor or sat upon benches.

Just a quick nap...wake me up when it’s time…

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His eyes shot open. A constant drip fell from the roof, landing upon the crimson pool that he laid upon. The room around him was covered with slabs of flesh once human. An unseen predator lurk about, its presence marked by its heavy steps and labored breath. While he silently prayed, a body dropped down in front of him with a loud splatter. The room went still, as his pounding heart echoed.

“Please...” The body softly sobbed, slowly turning its head to face him. Upon it was a face he knew well. It was one he had spent countless days admiring, innumerable hours staring into the joyful bliss within its eyes. Now, those same eyes looked to him with fear.

“Please.” She sobbed louder, extending her arm towards him. Crimson tears dripping while her body shivered, “I’m scared...please help me. Please save me!”

He wanted to reach out, to hold her until their final moments; yet his body did not respond. Desperately, he struggled for control, as a low growl echoed above him. He wanted to scream at it, to bring its attention towards himself, but his voice refused to come out, caught in his throat by fear.

Her shrieks echoed in his mind as the predator pounced and maul with reckless greed. He shut his eyes and silently cried until the wails died out and the sickening squelches ceased. Finally, he peered out, only to find a single shattered skull in a space of pure Nothing.

Surrender, and Be Free.