A certain tenseness lingered in the air above the students. Most of them had gathered before the grand simulation chamber. Murmurs left their mouths. Not a single one knew what this test was. A few were seen with shaky pairs of hands. Others were in a cold sweat just thinking about it.

  The overall feeling of dread was broken by Avryn. He loudly greeted them all like it was another day at work.

  “Hey, folks! How are we today?” He had an extra pep in his step.

  A lot of them turned their heads towards him. Some were confused at his behavior.

  “How are you so calm at a time like this?” A fellow student questioned him.

  Avryn shrugged his shoulders. He boldly teetered between the lines of confidence and arrogance,

  “Way I see it,” He leaned on the wall. “There’s no use in trying to guess. All we can control is ourselves. Whatever this test is, we just have to give our full effort.”

  His words swayed a good chunk of them. They nodded at that.

  “Me, I just know if I stumble, my squad’s got my back,” He gestured his teammates.

  “I’ll drink to that,” Harver entered next.

  Leifren’s squad arrived to greet the others. Bodies started to almost pack this grand chamber. The atmosphere swung to a more cheerful state. Anxiety slowly transformed to excitement. Discussions remained in speculation to this test. Some say the headmaster himself will oversee it.

  Harver and Avryn were both warming up. Their squad mates were sharing strategy. Rinna and Kiria talked for a while, with the latter trying to hold her excitement for the former. The doors swung open, Aldric had arrived. They all stood at attention and saluted him as he made his way to the center.

  “I’m sure you all were wondering all these months on what this test is,” He addressed them.

  It was a simple test, he explained. Each squad will undergo an endurance test as he called it. They must defend their outpost against waves of invading Corpses for six minutes to pass, ten minutes to get a perfect score.

  “Well, I think that’s it,” He concluded.

  A simple premise on paper, but it was difficult to do. The students amped themselves up. Instructor Fergus and Kelinald entered the room, the latter holding a piece of paper containing a list of the squads. They served to help organize this exam.

  “Oh, and it starts right now,” Aldric nodded to Kelinald.

  Avryn saw this and called up a squad huddle.

  “I’ve been in a couple long fights, we should pace ourselves,” He strategized.

  “Agreed,” Rinna nodded.

  “We’re aiming for the ten minutes, then?” Valoche asked.

  “Hell yeah, we are,” Avryn smirked.

  Leifren chimed in,

  “We’ll be doing the same,” He looked to his squad mates.

  Avryn looked at his own hands, and clenched them both into a fist. The prospect had him excited.

  “Thinking of using Lerosa then?” Harver shared the same feelings.

  “Where’s the fun in that? I’m gonna use the whole gang here,” He proudly displayed his other weapons.

  The two started to go into some light sparring. Nothing too hard nor disruptive to the other students. A little more than thirty minutes had passed, and the results were looking grim. The longest time so far was four minutes. A few of the squads who finished were winded.

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  “Next up, Squad Leifren,” Kelinald announced.

  His squad was on pace to be the top squads in their batch. A lot of the students had their eyes on them. If one squad was able to pass this day, it should be them. Leifren called on his teammates. Harver turned to Avryn before he went,

  “Catch you on the passer’s side,” He gave a quick salute.

  The waiting game proved to be just as hard for the others who haven’t gone yet. Only way to tell was to count the time each team took. Fergus’s voice broke the silence,

  “Well would you look at that,” His attention was on the display clock.

  Some of the students looked there as well. It was just about ten minutes since Leifren’s squad entered. They came out of the simulation room right on cue to the sound of applause. Harver was the first to lie down in a sweat.

  “Man, that was too close,” He panted.

  Kiria pulled him up,

  “At least we pulled through, but come on, make way for the other people,” She dragged him to the side.

  Leifren let out a huge sigh of relief. He placed his rifle on a table, rested on a chair, and wiped the sweat off his brow. Jenilah sat beside him, checking up on her shotgun. Some of their classmates went to check up on them and asked for some tips.

  “Avryn’s squad, get your butts in there, you’re next,” Fergus hollered.

  “Good luck, you guys!” Jenilah cheered them on despite her fatigue.

  Avryn needed only to share one look with his squad mates. Weeks of training had led up to this moment. They were as ready as they could be. The door opened before them. They were transported to the outpost.

  Tvira quickly got up and scouted the perimeter. Avryn was fixated on a mounted ballista on top of the battlement. He traced his fingers across it.

  “You know how to operate it?” Rinna asked.

  “It works as a giant crossbow with a little extra legwork,” Memories came flooding back to him as he said that.

  Valoche pointed there was another one on the other end. Tvira found a cache of ammunitions nearby. That was marked down.

  “Thirty seconds left in the preparation phase,” A robotic, monotone, female voice announced.

  Avryn instructed Valoche and Rinna to man the other ballista. He and Rinna will operate this one. The waves will try to enter the two gates. They must prevent the outpost from being overwhelmed. The countdown reached the final five seconds. Four. Three. Two. One. Zero.

  The waves had begun. Several packs of mutts, Corpse dogs, made their advance. The ballistas made easy work of them all. Thirty seconds had passed. The rest of the waves were incrementally increasing in difficulty.

  Flyer Corpses started coming in at the five minute mark. Their dark presence in the air demanded their attention.

  “I’ll handle the ballista, you do what you do best,” Avryn turned to Tvira.

  She smiled at the command. Her fingers were itching to do something else. She drew her bow and went to work. Rinna dealt with the birds on her side. Corpse wolves started advancing to the two gates. Thirty seconds of respite followed.

  “Don’t look at the time, just focus on pacing,” Avryn reminded himself.

  Sweat had started to pour from his face. A few drops escaped onto the stones below him.

  “Don’t tell me you’re starting to get tired there,” Valoche shouted from the other side.

  Avryn smiled,

  “Just the warm up, mate,” He replied.

  The five minute mark had arrived. A mix of wolves and flyers arrived, with both alpha variants leading the way. They were met with heavy resistance, but some slipped through and started their assault on the gates. Avryn looked at their current ammo count. There were a handful of ballista arrows left. He rushed to grab several magazines for his guns.

  He jumped down from the battlements and into the thick of the Corpse packs. His flurry of attacks attracted the enemy’s attention. Valoche joined in to lift off some of Avryn’s load. Together, they made quick work of the hordes. Seven minutes had passed.

  Avryn heard Rinna’s voice calling to him. He turned to her.

  “We have five ballista arrows left,” She told him.

  “Save it for the big boys, and be conservative on the other ammo we have left,” He gave his orders. “Tvira, make your next shots count.”

  The ground beneath Avryn and Valoche shook with a thunderous force. Trees nearby were bent and trampled.

  “A Corpse Bear,” Valoche readied his axe.

  The silhouette grew even larger. Avryn licked his chops,

  “A Corpse Momma Bear,” He switched to his gunblade.

  Rinna came down to help. Tvira was left to be their eyes from up top. They realized the Corpse Bear easily towered even Valoche as it continued marching forward, its eyes fixed upon the outpost’s gates. It changed up its pace, and started to charge through. A collective howl was heard, more wolves were on their way.

  “Me and Valoche will dear with mother bear, you show those wolves what for,” Avryn instructed.

  Rinna nodded and prepared to deal with the wolves. The Corpse bear roared as it charged through Valoche and Avryn, beelining for the gate. An arrow whizzed past and landed square into one of the bear’s eyes. It was stunned for a moment.

  Valoche summoned his ancestral spirits to boost his strength. He grappled the bear by its jaws. Avryn uses the gunblade’s firepower to make clean cuts across the bear’s hind legs. It shrugged off Valoche’s punches to its fast and threw him off. Avryn caught on and quickly got in front of it. He stabbed it right by the sides of its jaw with his sabre.

  Rinna used her skill with the halberd to keep the Corpse wolves at bay. She danced around the battlefield and made sure none escaped her reach. Fatigue had set in deeper, she was breathing heavy.

  “Watch out!” Tvira warned.

  A direwolf took Rinna from behind and they struggled on the ground. She had the shaft of her halberd block direwolf’s jaws. The surviving wolves charged forward to the outpost. Avryn noticed what was happening. If he went now, it would still be too far to help Rinna. A ballista arrow whizzed past him and blew the dire wolf’s head off. He looked to Tvira.

  “That was the last arrow,” she told him.

  The wolves were battering the gates, paying no heed to the battle ensuing around them. Valoche rejoined the fray and skirmished with the bear. Rinna caught up and assisted him.

  “Go, we’ll take care of this!” she began her fight.

  “Tvira, rope!” Avryn ran to the wall.

  A rope was let down and he climbed over the wall. The gate was taking a heavy beating. Metals got dented and scratched by the wolves’ ravenous jaws and claws. He looked over, trying to think of something.

  A thud and loud crash and scream followed. The Corpse bear forced itself through the gate, with Valoche still on it. The crashing of metal on flesh forced Valoche off as he clutched his back.

  “I only have one arrow left,” Tvira anxiously had the shot ready.

  Avryn looked to her,

  “Save it for the bear, I’ll give you an opening,” He jumped down.

  He whispered something to the gunblade. Its cylinder glowed with the power of a magic crystal. Rinna was already ahead and round the wolves up around Avryn. He swung his blade around him, pulling the trigger at the same time. A magical circle dispersed and exploded from the motion.

  Pieces of the enemy were blown away to bits. The bear’s skull was cracked from such force. Avryn looked up and signaled to Tvira. Her arrow flew and pierced through its wound and annihilated its brain. The bear proved resilient and tried to keep fighting. It was silenced by the sudden thud of Valoche’s axe embedding itself into its skull.

  Finally, a moment of peace. They were all exhausted. Avryn looked up and saw the clock stopped at the ten minute mark. Relief formed as a smile on his face. He pointed it out to the others and they celebrated.

  “Congratulations for getting the perfect mark,” Aldric announced.