[ 1 week later ]
It was early morning when the sun had just barely breached the horizon. A whistle screamed loudly across the dorm halls.
"Get the fuck up everyone!!! You have T-minus eight hours before Invidan's estimated time of attack!" Get up and get ready!" General Michael roared his command from where every single one of us in our dorms could hear.
"Sir, yes sir!" I heard a response from the room across from mine, the Sixth's. He sounded extremely energetic, while I myself could barely speak a croak. But yet, I was probably just as excited on the inside. It was, after all, the day that I could finally prove myself to the General, and to Melysia. I quickly hopped out of bed and put on my uniform, ready to bring the sweat of battle along with it. I exited my cabin and made my way to the cafeteria, coming across only the Sixth who was there.
"Fifth!" He called out to me. For us in the Tenfold, we only ever referred to each other by our rankings in the Tenfold. It was symbolized as a sort of sign of respect.
"Hey, Sixth. Where're the others? Only you here?"
"Yeah... Seems like you and I are the most eager out of the rest of them. Get your food and come sit with me!"
I nodded and went to go pick out my sustenance. Four slices of white bread, and four different spreads to accompany them. Then, a side of seasoned scrambled eggs and some bacon and ham—the basics. I came back to the table and noticed now the Tenth was seated across the Sixth.
"Hi, Fifth," he said to me as I sat down.
"Hey, Tenth. You early too, huh?"
"Yeah… Well in honesty, I couldn't get much sleep last night, so I was kind of already awake when the General made his call-out."
The Sixth responded with immediate shock. "Man, what? No sleep before the day of a battle!? Our first battle? Why?"
Tenth laughed nervously. "I spent some extra time in the simulation practicing my formations last night. Even 'till now I'm not 100% confident with my abilities. But maybe that's just me comparing myself to the rest of y'all."
I gave him a look of concern. "Hey, don't look at us that way. As much as the General emphasizes it, don't let your number define you. You are, after all, in the Tenfold, right? That means you're in the top ten of Melysia, and that alone is nothing to underestimate. Don't be so tough on yourself."
"Easy for you to say," another man grumbled as he sat down next to Tenth. It was Ninth.
"You're the highest ranked among all of us. Don't even get started with perspectives on our numbers. If you sugarcoat your words to Tenth like that you'll only make him do worse. Today's battle is a make-or-break opportunity. This is the one chance Michael's giving us to prove ourselves, so there's no room to go easy like you're putting it out to be. Tenth SHOULD BE going tough on himself."
"Hey now…" Sixth tried to mediate things. "I get what you're saying Ninth, but Fifth was just trying to be nice—"
—Slam—!!!
Ninth nearly flung his tray of food into the air. "Shut UP you ecstatic vibrating egg of energy. All you ever do is talk, talk, talk. You're so goddamn annoying. I pity your Angels for listening to you ramble whatever formations you have planned for them." He stood up and sat at another table, further across the cafeteria, and ate alone.
"Jeez…" Seventh sat at the table beside ours, eating. She witnessed the entire thing. "He seems a little moody today, doesn't he…"
I cringed a little, thinking about the whole show. "Yeah… I hope he brings that anger to the battle later. It'd prove useful."
Seventh giggled. "Stop… He's gonna hear you from here." She munched her bread.
"Why do you have four different slices of bread?!" Eighth had suddenly peaked his head between mine and Sixth's, ogling at my food.
"Uh, it's just four different types of spread. It's all still the same bread."
"You know what I mean," he gave me a smack in the back, nearly making me cough out my scrambled eggs. "Why the four, particular flavors?"
My passion suddenly ignited. "Strawberry jam, for an initial, tart sweetness to start the morning. It wakes me up. Cream cheese, an indulgent, heavy creaminess to fill me up and keep me sustained. Sunflower butter; with its hint of bitterness, keeps my tongue craving a countermeasure. And last but not least, hazelnut chocolate spread, a mellow, yet lasting sweetness that will keep me energized for the rest of my morning."
Everyone looked at me strangely.
"Is it… that weird…?"
Eighth gave me a look of confusion. "So your sunflower butter toast is just a filler toast?"
I rolled my eyes.
After breakfast we were all led to the cooperative simulation room. There, for the hours that led to the dawn of Invidan's attack, we practiced incorporating our Angel Units' formations with one another. As we planned our defenses and offenses, our real Angel Units were being transported to the northwest border where they were being deployed directly on-site by cargo planes. Once all six of our Angel Unit Infantries were deployed to the border, we were informed of our next objective—
"Lower six of the Tenfold, to your infantry control chambers!"
—to connect to our respective hive minds, and command the Angels to get into their defensive positions for Invidan's attack.
"It's actually happening…" Today was going to be the first day that I, and a matter of fact, all of us, would connect to our infantry hive minds. It would be the first ever time we could communicate our thoughts directly to the soldiers themselves. It would be our first ever time meeting the units we command.
"You've done it millions of times in your simulations. This is nothing new. Everyone, enter your respective rooms and connect to your hive minds. I'll continue my communication once you're all in."
I watched as everyone began entering their control chambers. My heart beat uncontrollably. I was so nervous, yet so excited at the same time.
"See you all on the battlefield!" Sixth called out as the door closed behind him. Those were the words that encouraged me to enter my chamber.
"The battlefield…" I craved it so badly. And now, it was right before me. I entered the Fifth's control chamber and laid my eyes on the beauty of my hive mind. It was a neurocybernetic helmet that was suspended at my head-height, hung by at least a hundred different wires, each one representing a connection to one of my Angel Units. I reached for it, stepped into position, and placed it onto my head, allowing the helmet to link to my mind in an instant. A high-pitched sound resonated, reverberating around my brain. The next time I opened my eyes, I could see everything. The perspectives of countless Angels, and an overlord bird's-eye view of the battlefield, produced by a satellite in our orbit. I felt omniscient, like the writer to numerous stories, or the narrator to dozens of characters. I'd never felt so high and mighty, or so powerful in my life ever before. Even without a Fractal, I felt like I truly had power in this very moment.
"T-minus two hours before Invidan's attack. Lower six of the Tenfold, I command to you all that you get your Angels into their defensive formations. Now is the time for you six to prove yourselves worthy to Melysia. Are you all ready!?"
General Michael's words surged strength through our minds. "Sir, yes sir!!!"
"You are all independent enough to carry this mission through on your own, therefore I will disconnect from communications until the raid is finished. Take this as my token of trust in you six. Just remember one thing though: you are all able to communicate to the Angels, but they have no means of communicating back. 100 units of communication per channel would be overstimulating for your brains. So you'll all have to fully depend on your sight to see what's going on in the battlefield. I'll see you all after you've proven yourselves. Good luck, lower six."
Bzzt—! General Michael had disconnected from the frequency. And just like that, us six, along with our infantries of Angels, were now all on our own to defend the country. The sun by now had settled directly above us in the sky, as if the universe shone its spotlight on this moment. The stage was set for us to perform, and whether our rehearsals were enough to impress the crowd was up to us to determine once this performance of a war was over.
"Let's do this, guys." I spoke aloud my commands. "Angels, minimize the middle population and maximize the far sides!" My Angels began to move according to my formation. It sent shivers throughout my body. I was shaken with adrenaline. The time to live out my dream was finally here, and I was not planning on wasting a single moment of this opportunity.
"Invidan won't have shit on us."