The next morning, Kael and the rest of Class 13-Z were assembled on the cracked training grounds of Zone Theta under a dull, overcast sky. Their breath came out in faint wisps, the air chilled and still.
No one spoke.
Not even Dane.
Instructor Breshk stood before them, arms crossed, a faint glow pulsing from the cybernetic veins running through his forearms.
"Today's lesson is simple," he said. "Don't die."
He turned to the side and jabbed a thumb at a storage bay door behind him. With a hiss of steam, the metal doors slid open.
A series of floating drones emerged, their mechanical limbs twitching. Mounted along their frames were stun turrets, kinetic pressure arms, and tracking sensors. On their chests blinked one word:
SIMULATION – LIVE COMBAT MODE ENABLED
Kael's muscles tensed.
"We're starting Orientation Trials a week early," Breshk said. "Why? Because I want to see which of you can think on your feet, who panics, and who's worth wasting resources on."
He barked a command.
"Form squads of four. You've got sixty seconds."
The field erupted in motion.
Most of the irregulars scattered quickly, forming cliques from the brief introductions they'd shared. Kael stood still, scanning.
Lira was already walking toward him, arms folded. "We might as well get this over with."
Dane jogged over behind her. "Called it. We're a trio now."
Kael raised a brow. "You just volunteering?"
"You kicked Garran Lux's ass," Dane replied. "I'm sticking with the outlier."
A fourth figure approached—quiet, short, with ghost-pale hair and deep eye sockets. Kael remembered seeing her in orientation, sitting apart from everyone else. Her name had flashed briefly on the screen: Renna Vale.
She looked at Kael. "You're the one they're watching."
He didn't respond.
"I'll join you," she said. "Don't get in my way."
Lira shrugged. "She's charming."
Kael nodded once. "Squad's full."
Breshk raised his hand. "Trials begin now. Survive fifteen minutes. Anyone knocked unconscious is eliminated. Last squad standing wins."
He snapped his fingers.
The drones descended.
The air exploded with movement as stun blasts shot across the field. One cadet from another squad was thrown backward, skidding across the dirt, twitching as his band flashed red: OUT.
Kael's squad moved instinctively, no words needed. Lira ducked behind cover, eyes already scanning for weak points in drone flight paths. Dane ignited both arms in flame, covering their flank. Renna blurred into motion, vanishing and reappearing behind a drone, driving a black dagger into its vent ports.
Kael, meanwhile, stayed perfectly still.
He let the chaos unfold.
Watch. Learn. Adapt.
A drone locked onto him, firing twin stun bolts. Kael rolled, sidestepped, and launched into a sprint. He hit the drone mid-body, knocking it off-course. As it re-stabilized, he climbed its frame and drove his fist into the central eye.
CRACK.The drone sparked and fell.
Weak point confirmed: central lens. Response delay after sudden vertical impact.
Kael dropped to the ground and was already moving to the next.
"Who trained you?" Lira muttered as they regrouped behind a deflector wall.
Kael kept his eyes on the field. "No one."
"You fight like an assassin. Think like a strategist."
Dane grinned. "He fights like he's got something to prove."
Kael didn't answer.
Another drone zipped overhead, spraying stun bursts. Renna shot it down with a flick of her shadow blade.
"We're being watched," she said.
Lira turned. "You sure?"
Renna pointed up. Hidden in the clouds above, a high-altitude surveillance bot hovered—one of the rare black-class observers, reserved for high-value scans.
Kael followed her gaze.
Even here, in the backwater of Regis, someone was tracking his movements.
He didn't mind.
Let them watch.
Minutes passed. One squad was down. Two more on the ropes.
Kael's group remained coordinated—an island of control in the middle of chaos.
With two minutes left, the simulation escalated. The drones synced into a cluster formation, their attacks becoming faster, more unpredictable.
A blast grazed Dane's shoulder. He grunted, but stayed upright. "These things just leveled up."
Kael's instincts screamed.
He moved fast—too fast.
Everything around him slowed. The way the drones shifted. The pulse patterns in their weapons. The heat trails in the air.
And for the first time, Kael felt it click.
The world didn't just slow down.
He was moving faster.
He launched into the air, twisted mid-motion, slammed both fists into the drone cluster. Sparks exploded as two drones crashed into each other and fell.
The third locked onto him—too late.
He landed behind it and delivered a spinning elbow to the core.
The field fell silent.
A buzzer sounded.
SIMULATION COMPLETE – SQUAD 13-Z VICTORY
Breshk stood watching them, unreadable. He didn't clap. Didn't praise. Just turned and walked away.
The other instructors, however, whispered among themselves.
Above them, in a hidden observation room, Commander Ryce stood with a narrow-eyed officer in a formal coat.
"He moved like a Rank A," the officer said. "But his vitals are unstable. Every scan shows rapid cellular shift—like he's rewriting himself."
Ryce's expression didn't change. "And the others?"
"Lira Kess has tactical potential. Dane's power-to-control ratio is strong. Renna Vale… she's not fully awakened yet."
"But Kael Vire," the officer said, "he's the anomaly."
Ryce's gaze narrowed.
"No," she said. "He's the variable."