A/N Please recheck the Glossary before you start reading (Military ranks)
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Kai's head jolted back and his eyebrows raised in surprise. He stood there with his mouth agape as the colour drained from his face, 'What happened to us Kings in waiting have to stick close together?'
Seeing Kai's reaction, Leon the lemon haired lanky leader laughed livelily, "Of course you wouldn't know someone from such a lowly clan," He grabbed Quinton by the shoulder and walked back up to the aircraft. On his way, he said practically screaming, "Now that you are with the fire clan. All the impurities in your life have been burnt away. You are one of us now!"
Still stunned, Kai turned around and stared into the distant waves. He watched how they were formed and how they crashed. It was much like his friendship with Quinton, it was formed and then it crashed, 'I don't get it. If being friends with me was such a problem, he could have just told me about it. Then even if I saw him, I wouldn't have bothered him as not to make him look bad in front of his clan... Did he abandon me completely? Probably because Carmen hasn't heard from him in a while and she is from the water clan. That is the clan directly under the fire clan so if he did it to her, he did it to me. Not to mention, he used to or does have a crush on Carmen... But maybe I'm overthinking it and there is a reason. I won't know until I get a proper answer from him... Shoh, what a way to start the first day...' Kai shook it off and then went back to Lexi.
While he was looking up she saw his face and could see that he wasn't in a good mood. She wondered why considering he left her in high spirits. He stood next to her and kept quiet. So Lexi initiated the conversation, "Something happen?"
Kai stayed silent for ten seconds then he spoke, "You know Quinton, the guy who was at our wedding. Well, he is here and when I greeted him, he practically denied knowing me. He was with people from his clan, the fire clan. I wanted to ask him why he was doing this but with them around the result would be the same. So to get an answer, I'll have to get him alone so that he can tell me what's up. Whether that's today or a week later. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, I don't know how it is on his side. I'd hope someone would do the same for me. But for now, I'm going to tuck that away neatly and keep myself level headed as today is our first time out in the field."
During the first part of Kai's rant, Lexi's face shifted between different expressions of anger. This made him feel good. She was the one outwardly expressing anger when he was the one that went through it. Kai spoke and she listened. She never offered advice because she knew Kai didn't want it; he just needed an ear which she was more than willing to lend. They had been living together but most of their conversations were superficial and consisted of subjective banter, innuendos and puns. And even that in itself was a mask to cover up their feelings for one another. Now that the facade was falling away and their feelings were surfacing, she wanted to know Kai deeper than the eye could see.
As he spoke, she made mental notes of things, 'He has a good heart. Instead of making assumptions, he sees the best in his friend and hopes there is a reason for it. It's kinda cute... I wondered if he meant it when he said he would never leave me or if it was just in the moment? But now that I am seeing how he treats those he holds dear, I can actually see the truth in his words and it's making my heart race... But for now, I'm going to compartmentalise my feelings and focus on what's important. Like mother used to say, everything at its own time.'
After Kai had finished speaking, she looked at him and smiled. Kai smiled in return and then he pushed her on the shoulder with his right hand. Lexi's body swayed to the right and then came back to the centre. Then they laughed changing the mood of their conversation. Opening up and willingly showing that he was hurt was hard for him. Especially when she was the one he wanted to show his strength to. However, he knew he had to in order for them to draw closer to one another.
After they had finished laughing, the Second lieutenant's walked out of the aircraft. They had a final briefing on how this event was to be run. Now they planned on relaying it to all surpassers present.
The Second lieutenant's of each clan stood in front of everybody. Then the Second lieutenant of the fire clan spoke, "As the winners of last years expedition, we got to choose how today would be set up. So let me explain. This is a joint expedition specifically designed to ween our new surpassers. Therefore the only ones fighting will be those that are Beginner Rank 2 and below. There are Sergeants on standby to prevent death, as long as the Zolma aren't bipedal they can easily be destroyed. Minors injuries are fine as each clan has been provided with regen shots to heal up.
We have arranged a fixed terrain with a radius of two kilometres (1.2 miles). Each clan has been given a piece of land and that is your territory and also where your base is. This was decided by the system. Caddies you return all your meat to your base and once it is returned it will be uploaded as points. So with that being said the Lightning clan, you are located on the west side. Fire you are on the south side. Water is east, Earth north and Wind is in the centre. The locations will be sent to your genome map.
It is possible to enter another clans territory and kill the Zolma there. However, if you do kill them and then your caddie brings them back. Your cargo can be contested without the use of a contest as long as you're within that clan's territory. Each clan can contest a carriage from another clan three times. Not three to each clan rather just three times in general. To activate the contest you have to touch one of the caddies in the group then yell contest.
When in contest weapons are not allowed nor will the contest be combat. To win the contest, you have to take the badge of the other person. Only one person will be doing the contest. A team decides on a champion to accomplish the task. The champion has to be from their clan and within ten meters of where the contest was called. After a winner has been decided the team of caddies that won will have immunity until they unload their cargo. The immunity is only to the clan that contested them on the journey back to base they may be contested by another clan. After that, any score they claim is fair game.
Today will be streamed live to paying customers all over the world. Streaming plays a vital part in being able to afford transport, equipment, etc. Streaming is also paying for the prizes that the top three will receive. Although the goal is to eliminate the Zolma this is also a competition. The winner will be decided via points. You gain points by killing Zolma of different sizes. The bigger the Zolma the more points you get. However, not all the Zolma here can be killed at your level so it's the job of the scouts to navigate the Attack force past the potential dangers. At your level, you can only take on the four-meter Zolma's if you see a bigger one we advise you to retreat. Should you choose to take it on and you end up needing help from an officer points will be deducted from you.
The point system is as follows. Killing the small mutated beasts will net you ten points. Killing a two-meter Zolma will give you one hundred points. A three-meter Zolma one hundred and fifty points and a four-meter Zolma nets you two-hundred and seventy-five points each. We do not recommend it but if your clan happens to beat a five-meter Zolma you will receive one-thousand points. Note that should your clan attempt to kill a five-meter Zolma and instead have to be rescued your clan will lose one-thousand five hundred points. We award strength but we punish stupidity. The penalty applies to all other Zolma however, you lose the exact points you would have gained. So if a clan fails to kill a three-meter Zolma and requests help they will lose one-hundred and fifty points from what they currently have. The same with a meter two-meter Zolma, you will lose one-hundred points.
There will be a lacrima in the sky that will be visible to everyone. It will display the leaderboard. Whether it be the top killer, most points in a single haul, top contested steal, clan rankings and more." Then he looked at the officers next to him and they nodded their heads, "You have three hours to strategise and set up your base then we begin. That will be all."
After he spoke all the clans took their equipment and dispersed in the direction of their respective bases. The lightning clan's territory was located on the east side. It would take 10 minutes to get there on foot. They weren't concerned with saving energy so they were running at a pace. They had three hours to strategise so the energy they expended by running would have returned by then. While running they saw how beaten up Athra looked. The infrastructures were smashed and leaning on each other. They were dilapidated and had several species of mould growing all over, painting them verdant. The grass was knee-high and in the distance, several herbivores species were feeding on them. Lastly, there were a few pockets of space that were folded into each other causing time-space to be distorted. It looked like a 100cm unreflective broken glass. Everything inside was jumbled up so it would look like the grass is in the sky even though it was not.
While they were walking the saw two young deer running and playing around in the grass. It looked like they were playing tag as they chased one another. The mother and father weren't present. They ran and ran until the smaller accidentally ran through the distorted space and disappeared. The bigger halted in front of the distorted space and then sniffed with its nose hoping to catch its scent. However, it was gone even the remnants of the scent had completely disappeared leaving only the memory behind. The deer let out a prolonged loud wail and then walked away with its head hanging low.
Seeing this everyone sucked in a cold breath. They couldn't understand what the deer was saying but the language of pain was universal. This heart-wrenching scene reminded them why they were doing this. The Zolma were responsible for billions of deaths just like this. Today it was their job to put their bodies on the line for their world. Seeing this everyone who thought this was just some competition had a harsh reality check. That deer had disappeared, it was forever lost. Scientists had no idea where the distorted spaces led. They had sent things in but whatever was sent in broke apart. Rumours and unconfirmed theories said that it sent you somewhere in the future or the past. There had been reports that people had looked through one of the cracks of the distorted space and saw the death of a fellow surpasser. Then the next day or even a year later the surpasser died in that same way. However, this had not been confirmed and remained as a conjecture or baseless drivel. The only thing they knew was to avoid it. Scouts were told to mark distorted spaces on the map so the surpassers of their clan knew where they were.
After the lightning clan solidified their resolve they picked up the pace and ran to their territory. Their territory was deep in the forest. The grass was knee height as that was its maximum length of growth. However, the trees were tall, they ranged from 50 meters to 100 meters.
They continued to walk until they found a circular open space. This was were where they would set up base. They put all their equipment down and then began setting up shop. The tents were erected, there were single, double and multi-sized tents. This was where they would sleep. Then they set up the kitchen inside a double tent. The pots, pans and equipment were placed there too. As lightning wielders, they could run electricity through the equipment which would allow them to cook without the use of fire. Their supplies were stored in a single tent.
Once everything was sorted, they all assumed a rectangular formation and stood outside the Sergeant's tent.
"Who is going to tell him we are ready?"
"I don't know, how about you?"
"Are you mad!? Have you seen those eyes? He looks like he has girls like me for breakfast."
"Maybe we should serve you up as an offering to get him in a good mood."
"I won't go down easily!"
They all laughed afterwards and then someone said something that made everyone go quiet, "So who is going to call him?"
Inside the tent, Sergeant Lazarus D'Arco heard the commotion outside, 'Ah, they already done. Let me sleep!' Then he closed his eyes, he wasn't upset about what they were saying because he knew it to be true. He just had one of those scary faces. You get resting bitch face, well he had resting scare you to death face. His skin was deathly pale and he had abnormally long and sharp teeth. The Sergeant's eyebrows were hooked while his eyes were blood red and wide-set. He had black hair and pointy ears. He looked like a monster. His laziness and hate for the sun didn't help him either. It made people think that he was lethargic because he hadn't drunk blood in years.
Outside the students shuddered at the private's question. They didn't want to call him lest they got ravaged. Seeing this, Lexi sighed and then took a step forward. However, Kai gently touched her shoulder and nodded. She stepped back and let him do it. Kai walked through the crowd so that he could get to the tent. While on the way, the privates talked, "Wait is he going to call him?"
"No, he is just acting, you know as an elite and all."
Kai continued to walk without any hesitation in his steps and drew closer to the double tent.
"Wait is he going to do it?"
"He might do it!"
"He is brave."
"The brave ones always die first."
After sifting through the crowd, Kai reached and took a deep breath. He had to because even to him the guy was scary. However, it was deeper than his face it was him himself. His aura felt eerie. Kai shook it off, he didn't have the luxury of time-wasting. Then he called out, "Sergeant, we are ready." However, there was no reply. So Kai called out again but yet again there was no reply from the tent. Seeing this Kai looked back to the crowd to see if anyone had ideas.
"It seems we do need to offer you as a sacrifice."
"Don't you dare!"
When the girl said that a laugh was heard from behind them. Immediately everyone looked to see who it was. They didn't even notice her until now which was surprising considering how out standing and outstanding she looked. She wore a turtle neck dress which couldn't hide her hourglass figure and voluptuous breasts. Her silver hair reached her peachy backside and her eyes were a piercing shade of azure. She had perfectly shaped full lips with a beguiling cupid's bow. Her facial features were exquisite and wouldn't lose to the top beauties in the world.
Looking at her some of the pubescent boy's hearts pounded as they wished it was them instead. On the other hand, the girls looked at her with reverence. She was Astella Bianchi a Lieutenant and also the partner of Sergeant Lazarus D'Arco. They shuddered when they pictured the two together. Seeing the gazes of the privates Astella rolled her eyes. She wasn't one for fawning so she didn't feel proud when others looked at her.
Astella Bianchi walked to Kai, "He is not going to wake up like that." Then she walked to the entrance of the tent. She took out the rapier on her side and then she put it back, "Too harsh." Then she walked into the double tent. She saw him laying on his bed and called out to him. He never replied so she tried one last time. This time he opened his eyes looked at her and then closed his eyes again. The blood rushed to her face and in the next moment, three fiery slaps resounded through the forest, "Okay, I'll wake up. Sheesh!"
Sergeant Lazarus D'Arco walked out of the tent with his pale skin painted with two beautiful red hands. The students wanted to laugh so badly but they knew that was the same as committing suicide so they held back. Many stifling a chuckle here and there.
After Lazarus had come out then Astella came out of the tent. Her nose was still flared and her annoyance was clear. Kai looked at her, 'She's the real monster.' Then he fixed his clothes and stood upright, "We are ready and awaiting your instructions."
Lazarus D'Arco shook his head, "You're the leader."
"Me...? With all due respect Sergeant but you are."
He shook his head again, "Today is to w-w, today is to train you. Not allowed to help."
After hearing his stutter the place went dead quiet. Until someone couldn't hold back anymore and stifled a chuckle. That created a domino effect as multiple outbursts of laughter broke out at the lightning clan's base.
"Did you hear that stutter?"
"I know hey and to think I thought he was scary."
"They should have told us that he is a clown."
They continued to laugh as they talked. Kai looked around there were many that never laughed but there were more that laughed. Seeing this Kai, clenched his fists, 'How could they be so disrespectful!? The stutter is one thing but he is a Sergeant.'
The laughter continued ceaselessly. As this happened, Kai reached his tipping point. The blatant disrespect perplexed him. He would have spoken out much sooner but out of respect to the Sergeant, he kept quiet. Kai was sure that the Sergeant didn't require saving. However, now it wasn't a matter of who needed saving it was a matter of principle. Kai focused his attention on the instigator and then spoke out, "How-"
However, he was cut short. In the next moment, he felt a vile and oppressive aura behind him. Beads of sweat ran down his face as it became increasingly hard to stand and breath. Kai looked at all his fellow privates and they had the same reaction. Some of them were lying flat on the ground incapable of moving. Other passed out. Some had their backs hunched, they were barely holding on. Lastly, there were those like and Kai and Lexi who could stand properly even though the felt the pressure.
Lazarus D'Arco continued to emit his aura. Then he looked at Kai who was standing right in front of him yet he was still fine. He raised his eyebrows and then raised his aura. However, Kai was still standing. His teeth chattered but he stood his ground with an undaunted spirit. Seeing this, Lazarus De'Arco smiled, "Ground, trash. Middle, okay. Stand, good." Then he stretched his arms and went back into the tent.
"Good work." Astella Bianchi said. Then she looked at Kai with a profound expression, 'Lazarus recognised him. He must have potential.' "What Lazarus was saying is that we are not allowed to help you. You have to do that yourself whether it's battle tactics, how you plan to set up base, everything is up to you. However, he recognised you and gave you a gift. Those that are lying on the ground have little to no talent. Those with their backs hunched are okay. And anyone standing has talent. How you use them is all up to you. You are the leader."
"Thank you, Lieutenant," Kai said with a resolute expression.
Astella nodded her head, "You are a third generation?"
"I am, how did you know?" She never replied instead she smiled and then went into the tent leaving Kai in charge of everything.
Kai took a deep breath and then turned around to the sea of privates. They all wore different expressions.
'I accept him as the leader he is an elite.'
'He was standing so close to that aura and stood his ground, I accept.'
' I don't accept. I could have easily stood my ground if I was standing there.'
'Just because you have some talent or you can handle pressure doesn't mean you know how to lead!'
Kai looked at the expressions in front of him and he knew he had to get them on one page if wanted them to follow his orders. Then he heaved a sigh of relief, 'If I had spoken out and had tried to defend the sergeant's honour, I would have lost my opportunity to bond with them.' He internally thanked Lazarus.
Achoo! Inside the tent, Lazarus sneezed.
Kai closed his eyes for three seconds and made a mental image of how the aura affected the privates. Then he reopened them, "For how long has the lightning clan been ridiculed, spat on, looked at with contempt!? For how long do surpassers have to be disappointed when they awaken the lightning element! For how long are we going to let them trample on us!?" Kai clenched his fist as his face contorted in anger, "Since when has lightning been the weakest!? It never was. Lightning has always been attributed to the wrath and fury of a god. They suppress us because they fear us. They know what we can do if we believe in ourselves. And I think we need to do some believing. We are the next generation of surpassers. With this generation, we will bring change. Change to the world and change to ourselves. We are a warrior a race. We are surpassers, not suppressed. We will reveal ourselves at this expedition and shake the very foundation this world was created on. Who is with me!?" Then Kai roared a fiery battle cry of passion. He was like a lion as he stood in front of his pack with his lioness by his side.
Seeing Kai's Kingly aura they couldn't help but fall in line. His speech removed the seal on all their suppressed anger. In the next moment, someone couldn't hold it back and she roared in response to Kai's roar. Her roar infected the people next to her and then they roared. One for one they roared until everyone was roaring with passion. Kai and Lexi roared side by side swelling their emotions even further. Then they stopped.
When they did, Kai looked at the privates and there wasn't a single surpasser present that didn't accept him. His mouth curled up as he thought of what was going to happen next.