'Cold…'
A white room.
'…'
A hospital bed.
'I want to go outside.'
And an empty feeling.
The loneliness was unbearable.
He felt like he was being swallowed in dark waters.
Then there was happiness.
Laughs and joy.
'This… isn't bad…'
Calmness.
Peace.
A family.
Friends.
A happy and fulfilling life.
One that was never present before.
He felt happiness for the first time in his life.
And then, fire.
Screams.
Mangled bodies on the ground and hanging from the windows.
Blood splattered on the playgrounds.
Burnt family portraits.
And the sky split apart.
An open giant red eye looking straight at him.
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'Where am I?' – As his consciousness gradually returned, Akihiko's senses returned and he noticed he was in a room he didn't recognize.
'…' – He remained lying on the bed he was in as he thought about the dream he just had – 'This is why I don't like sleeping.'
His cat ears perked up when the door creaked open and the sound of familiar footsteps echoed through the room.
"I see you're awake." – Evelyn calmly stated while looking at the young man in the bed.
He had bandages wrapped on almost all exposed parts of his body, including his face, which made him look like a mummy.
"…" – Akihiko tried to move but a bolt of pain crossed his body and made him give up on the idea for now.
"Avoid moving for now. The healing spell is going to take some time to finish healing your injuries." – She commented and pulled a chair before sitting down – "I know you just woke up but could I ask some questions? It will be quick." – Her gaze traveled to his left arm.
Akihiko slightly nodded.
"First of all, what's up with your arm? The healing spell has no effect on it. Besides giving basic medical treatment, the healers said nothing else worked." – Her eyes narrowed slightly, she was both curious and apprehensive about it.
Akihiko moved his right arm but noticed that even this caused him pain. This time, he ignored it and made some hand signals.
"…" – Evelyn didn't hurry him and patiently interpreted the signs. When he finished, she raised her eyebrows – "A sacrificial skill?" – Her tone, even though calm, now contained perceptible surprise in it.
He nodded.
"I didn't think there would be someone in the young generation who used such archaic methods." – She commented before looking at his left arm again – "No wonder healing magic doesn't work." – She purposely avoided asking about what his skill does since it was rude, especially for sacrificial ones.
Akihiko also showed no intention of commenting on it, so she let it be – "The last thing I wanted to ask you can wait until you've recovered." – She got up and put a ring on the desk on the side of the bed – "Your equipment is inside this spatial ring, the ones we could find at least." – She made a strange face but quicky shrugged it off – "I will send a message to your bio-system later for you and the others to gather. For now, enjoy your rest."
He nodded.
When Evelyn opened the door and was about to leave, she stopped, as if remembering something – "Oh, and by the way, you got a nice face." – She then walked out.
Akihiko heard the door closing and returned to just lie down on the bed. Evelyn's words didn't invoke any reaction from him and he stabilized his breath before using a technique to sleep without really doing so.
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Walking down an empty hallway, Akihiko, now dressed in his usual attire, made his way toward the training room, where Evelyn asked the team to gather.
Once again, he noticed how he couldn't sense anyone nearby no matter how far he searched. As far as he knew, the place was deserted except for the group and the instructors.
Arriving at the training room's doors, he waited as they opened before entering.
"Looks like the last one arrived." – Evelyn commented as soon as he entered the room.
Beside her, the others were also present there.
However, their auras and expressions were vastly different than before.
Lathz had a gloomy look and was visibly down.
Darlan frequently and seemingly unconsciously glanced at his own arms, as if wanting to make sure they were still there. He also pinched himself from time to time.
Eric looked normal but Akihiko noticed his breathing was off, he was having some difficulty breathing and corrected himself, just for it to repeat itself a few seconds later.
Melissa looked normal but the hatred and disdain she had toward monsters was now visible in her eyes and it had become even stronger than before.
Beatrix was the most visibly down out of everyone, she remained looking at the ground and didn't raise her head. A dark cloud seemed to linger around her from how gloomy she looked.
Roxanne and Diana also looked uncomfortable, scratching their arms, face, and legs from time to time.
Nyza checked her tentacles from time to time but she seemed to be better than the others.
Olivia also looked rather uncomfortable, scratching her arms but she looked good overall.
"Now that everyone is here, I will start with some explanations." – Evelyn's words prompted everyone to look at her.
Most of the gazes were tinged with anxiety or anger.
Evelyn knew that after this disaster, the group wasn't too fond of her – "I will first start by saying that I'm not sorry." – Her words stunned the group – "What I did was show you what awaits for you on the battlefield. You'll face it on a daily basis and you'll probably die soon, maybe even in your first mission as it happened in the practical exercise." – She let her words sink in before continuing – "I'm not sorry because I will do it again. For the past decade, I have trained examinees just for them to die a worthless death in a hopeless war. You're the first examinees that I put through this strict training."
The group silently looked at her with mixed gazes.
"You just got the bad luck of being picked by me when I went crazy." – She rolled her eyes at her own phrasing – "I don't want your sympathy or understanding, I'm just saying this so you at least know why you're being thrown around." – She fixed her hair into a ponytail, giving everyone a stimulating vision of her generous chest – "With this out of the way, I will now give you an analyze of your performance in the exercise."
She created some chairs for them and motioned for them to sit down.
"First of all, let me tell you." – She started when they sat down – "You were terrible."
Her words once again stunned the group. They thought they did quite well considering their circumstances, so they wanted to contest her words.
Akihiko showed no reaction and waited for her explanation.
"Lathz." – At Evelyn's words, the dwarf straightened her back – "As a leader, you're good, better than most examinees I have seen. However, as a fighter, you were more of a deadweight than an actual help. If you were in my team, I would probably have abandoned you the moment you got caught by the spider's web."
Lathz's mood dropped further but she didn't speak back, she was aware this was true.
"Next, Darlan." – Evelyn's eyes narrowed at him and the latter shrunk under her gaze – "I don't think I need to explain why your decision was the worst possible ever, right?" – He shook his head – "But I will still say that you almost doomed your whole team to death with your reckless actions. Had it not been for their quick response, they would have lost two fighters for nothing."
Her gaze then switched to Olivia – "Olivia, you're a good combatant, however, you're the only vanguard of the group. The only one who can offer some sort of protection to them and you weren't able to, what led the frontlines to collapse." – The wolf-kin's tail dropped.
"Melissa, Eric, and Beatrix, you did well. However, when you defended the blades, at least one of you should try to use their brains more. Had you moved the platform away, you might have been able to escape from that death zone." – The three mentioned lowered their heads. It was indeed a simple solution that the adrenaline and urgency didn't let them think of.
"Nyza." – Her eyes switched to the purple-haired woman – "You also did well, but you lacked more initiative. There were so many opportunities you could've done more but you let them all pass by." – Nyza nodded, she was also depressed about her own performance. She barely did anything when looking at the overall situation.
"Roxanne and Diana, you two did well in the fight but your preparations were beyond disastrous." – Evelyn's gaze focused on the two women – "You had the firepower and accuracy befitting of true marksmen. However, who the hell relies solely on their mana as ammunition? Toward the end, you were about to leave the group without ranged support due to your own lack of common sense." – Her words heaved on them as being called out for such a stupid mistake was worse than they thought.
"And lastly, Akihiko." Her eyes then turned to the only one wearing a full suit and mask – "I would like to say I wanted you to work more with the others but you saved the whole group from being fully exterminated more than once and practically did a whole team's work, so I think I can let it pass." – He nodded at her words – "Overall, you also did well."
Finished with her assessment, she noticed they were still down but ignored it, sympathy wouldn't help them – "Today the training is going to be a little bit different." – She smiled and the group got a bad feeling – "There will be no group training today. You will all be trained in your own field, for the whole week."
The group was surprised but understood the reasoning behind the decision and they all nodded.
"Also, I was informed earlier that this year's Conference will happen in two weeks, so I will need to train you better until then." – She added while typing something on her phone.
"The Conference is going to happen in two weeks?" – Nyza asked.
Not only she but everyone else was surprised.
The Conference was the gathering between examinees and students from the Academy, as well as acolytes and servants from the Cathedral.
This was an event that happened only once per year and this was also why they were surprised. It had only been a little more than a week since they were assigned to a base and started their period as examinees.
"Yes, but now…" – Her smile widened a little – "I have sent your training schedule to your bio-systems. Now, no time to waste." – The chairs crumbled down.
They checked their bio-systems and one by one started to exit the training room and went toward where their schedules said.
Akihiko returned the spatial ring to Evelyn and also went his way.
He was going to try to finish his experimental technique before the Conference. If he could, he might have a chance of doing something during the disaster that is going to take place.
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