03 Final exams

Krypton's exams is far from earth-like. Mainly when dealing with young people in the Faora category.

Their training is deadly, brutal and there is no room for desertion. His marksmanship drills are perfect, his melee skills are even more. She had to fight with swords and gloves as hard as stones.

At just 17 years old, she already has to take the exams to see if she is ready to become a soldier, on the contrary, only next year will she have the chance to retake the exams.

The first task is teamwork.

All are placed in a simulation field. Killing and neutralizing weapons are given. Slaughter weapons would actually be the most lethal weapons, but their power was reduced so they could take the test without dying in the process. They are weapons that fire lasers, with their power diminished, they only break bones when they hit their targets, instead of killing them. While neutralizing weapons are made to cause great pain around the affected region.

It goes without saying that Faora is avoiding being hit as much as possible.

The one who defeats all the members of the other team wins, the losers must be arrested and turned over at the end of the field.

All of them were placed in the forest to fight each other. Her team has her and Zod as squad leaders.

She is quick and agile, and uses it to her advantage on the battlefield. Her Kryptonian martial art skills are quite useful against her opponents when she has to fight melee. She used a lot of these skills, but also took full advantage of her weapons.

She had to hit Don, as he is part of the enemy group. He didn't take it personally, he understood why she did what she did, even though he didn't like it. Faora shivered every time she remembered what she did, when she shot at their legs and one of their arms. Her bones were instantly broken. She wished she could have chosen another alternative, but there was no way she could get to him and fight hand to hand to immobilize him. She had to fight everything she could, use every advantage. Her father ordered her to keep her personal feelings away from the battlefield, she must not hold back from such things as friendship.

On the battlefield there are no friends. There are opponents. And if she wants to protect her people, if she wants to help Krypton, she can't lose. She has to win.

Zod and she were primarily responsible for making their team win. Both are the most skillful on the battlefield, both have to fulfill their duties as soldiers, as heirs to their homes. They cannot fail at all.

She and Zod got hurt too, she broke her elbow and one of her ribs, it was extremely painful and she had to bite her lip to keep the tears from coming out. The pain persists even after battle, even after they have been healed. But they won, that's what mattered.

Her parents were proud.

She doesn't know whether or not she is happy about it. She had to attack friends, people she admired and liked. She doesn't like her father, that's obvious. But she respects him because she knows that what he wants is the same thing she wants.

Being the best warrior on Krypton is what she aims to achieve.

And she will be, no matter what she has to do.

Her second test was about endurance. She and everyone else were set apart to be in a small room where each would have to withstand the intense heat and cold for as long as they could. The limit is 1 hour, but many have already managed to pass that time. She managed 2 hours in intense cold and 1 and 30 minutes in heat. Her father looked pleased and congratulated her again "You did well daughter," he said. That was the second time he didn't seem to make fun of her.

She simply nodded, holding a sheet over her shoulders as she shivered to the bone. Each of them was taken to the infirmary afterwards.

The last test is the most difficult.

Each of them fights someone in an arena, assisted by several veteran soldiers, students from other categories, commanders and one of the advisors. regardless of weight or gender, each must fight until his opponent gives up or can no longer stand up. The choice is random and they have to fight 4 times in the arena with different opponents of all types and sizes.

Her father said this is because if they are going to be part of the Krypton army, they have to be prepared to fight in unfair situations where you can be the weakest or the strongest. It's brutal, and you have to win at least one fight out of 4 chances to be part of the army. Depending on how many fights you win, you can rank at some high rank even if you are just a rookie. There are four ranks, the first and lowest is Corporal, the second is Sergeant, the third is Deputy Commander, second only to General, but there is one higher than all these, who is Commander General and part of the Council, making important decisions in Krypton along with the other advisors.

You can't reach the ranks above Sergeant by just passing the final exams. Other ranks can only be achieved after years of service and if you manage to succeed in the missions given to you.

She won all four fights. Only one of these three opponents was a challenge and that was Nam-ek, a six-foot-tall teenager at just 18 years old who is the result of an illegal genetic mutation in the Gene Chamber. The counselors chose not to kill him, but his father paid the price for doing such experiments on his unborn child. Nam-ek doesn't speak, he can't. His vocal chords don't work, but in return he's twice the size of any Kryptonian she's ever seen, stronger than anyone else and lethal on every blow.

She had a broken arm, her shoulder was dislocated, and her jaw was nearly broken, it was just barely but her nose was broken. She had three broken ribs from Nam-ek's stomping and kicking, but no matter how hard he was, he lacked speed and movement, something Faora had plenty of. Her blows were precise, hitting certain areas of his body over and over again and even managed the feat of knocking him to the ground. He was like a stone, muscular and an almost unstoppable strength. She has no idea how she managed to beat him. He is a giant compared to her.

But that's what she trained for. Face bigger and better opponents than her. Endurance, speed and skill, that's what made her manage to put him down. It wasn't easy, she struggled for an hour and didn't give up. She fell and rose several times, but she didn't give up. In the end, there was the body of a giant on the ground, the body and face bruised. Nam-ek was left breathing hard and bleeding from his lip and nose. One of Nam-ek's legs was broken and she heard one of her blows break something in his torso. She was even worse, several bruises had formed on her face, cuts and broken bones, but she remained standing over Nam-ek's body. Who ended up passing out after a hard blow from her on the head. It was a lucky shot, right behind the back of the head, at the risk of killing him, but she did it, she really did it.

She remembers falling to her knees in the arena after being proclaimed the winner of the battle. She let out a big sigh of relief at that moment. Sweaty, sore and exhausted. That's how she was.

She passed. She won. And she got her deserved rest, taking a month off before she could rejoin the army. So were the others.

Years later and despite what happened, there was no feud between her and Nam-ek. In fact, the young man considered her a rather worthy opponent and, amazingly, he wasn't as grumpy as she thought he was. They became friends, and sometimes competed to see who could defeat the most opponents in the missions or who would complete them the fastest.

She became Deputy Commander at age 25.

The Tayrise of Krypton, they say. Tayrise is almost the same thing as a tigress, this type of creature is much larger and faster, lethal and accurate. Faora is proud of the feat, also her father.

They carried out diplomatic, exploration and extermination missions. Killing... Something she got used to, although sometimes she felt guilty about it. She had already spared some of these opponents, most of them children or the elderly, people Zod allowed to survive, at her request, of course.

But over the years, in the heat of battles and victories, she ended up forgetting her main objective. That silly, idiotic oblivion was what brought her back to Krypton along with Zod and his squad. Jor-el, now married to Lara and one of the most brilliant scientists on Krypton, sent a message talking about the situation on the planet and the foolishness of the Council extracting too many resources from the planet without most of the noble houses of Krypton knowing.

This infuriated Zod. This made him gather as many Soldiers as possible and attempt a coup. While she… She felt guilty, she felt useless. She knew they would fail, she knew she was no use anymore. That's why she tried to make sure there were more survivors from her squad. She ordered 9 of them, who obeyed and left the planet and stayed hundreds of distance from the planet and wait for her. Zod wouldn't let them stay away anymore, even though she insisted, he wouldn't let anyone else stay away from the battle because they needed every soldier they could have.

She went to her father, asking him to help with this. He refused, he… He pointed a gun at her and called her a traitor.

But the worst thing was that before doing that, he had killed 15 of her soldiers. From His friends... from His people...

It was the last straw for her.

Faora remembers that she didn't think twice before dodging the shot and thrusting her sword through his heart. After everything he'd put her through, after she'd tried so hard to be the person he wanted. He dared to raise the weapon for her, for her soldiers, and kill them in front of her. He dared to call her a traitor even though what she wanted most was to protect her people.

She got tired of him.

Zod arrived soon after and saw the scene. Soldiers dead on the ground, her father with a sword hole in his chest. Zod placed a hand on her shoulder, "You did what you had to do," he said, standing beside her for a few minutes as she lay there, numb with the pain of loss, the pain of what she had to do. Her moral limits were broken.

She was tired of it all.

Afterwards, they both went to the Council room along with a squad of 20 soldiers. She saw Jor-el, trying in vain to convince the advisers to order the evacuation of the planet. She remembers his face, his horrified expression as she shot most of the advisers, only three remaining alive by General Zod's direct order. She turned and walked past him not looking at his face, just listening to his plea, "There's still time! We have to evacuate please! Zod!" Zod didn't even look at him as the soldiers led him away. He was supposed to be taken to Krypton Prison.

She ordered the soldiers to take Jor-el home instead and keep watch. Zod didn't look too pleased that she'd changed his order, but he said nothing. She didn't care about that.

But she heard what Jor-el said well. She ordered, without Zod noticing, a squad to leave the planet and wait at a safe distance. What she told them was for them to stay there, so that in case the plan went wrong, they would do the rescue. Only one ship with 5 of them came out alive. The rest of the ships were destroyed in the middle of the battle.

Unsurprisingly, she and Zod and a squad of 11 soldiers were arrested. The rest of those allied with them were killed and they were only spared because the troop of Council soldiers managed to arrest him.

That's how they sent the ghost zone. That's how after exactly 29 years trapped there, they were teleported back to Krypton, as the system that kept them trapped there could only maintain itself for so long.

And she remembers how much she cried when she saw what was left of her home. Pieces amid the cruel and lonely darkness of space. Pieces…

It had to happen, she knew it had to happen… that didn't make things any easier…

They wandered around in space for what felt like a year, going from planet to planet to see if there was anyone else. She was still hoping that there would be more survivors, that there was someone else left besides them and Kal-el. But there wasn't.

They went to earth afterwards, because They are close already. Faora saw the blue planet and asked Zod to take a look there. Even knowing it was risky, it could cost everyone on earth their lives. They had to go there.

They found that this was the planet that Kal-el resided in, that this was a perfect planet for them. But that there were defenders. They discovered the existence of an already formed justice league with powerful members. Among them Kal-el, Batman, Wonder Woman, Mr. Fate, Flash, Green Lantern and Aquaman. It was just them in the league for now. Faora said not to underestimate them because she knew exactly what each was capable of. Wonder Woman, Superman and Mr. Fate were the most powerful opponents who could go head-to-head in a melee fight, even more so because two of those had magic in their favor.

Flash could have broken legs. The Green Lantern could have its hand cut off or its ring removed. Aquaman could be defeated even more easily if they withdraw the trident. And Batman… Batman was smart and daring. Faora would not underestimate him in combat. There's a detail she doesn't know that she needs to know.

Do any of them have kryptonite or do they know of anyone who does?

That would be a problem. If, They fight each other, of course.

They also found where the codex of the gene chamber was. As she suspected, it was in Kal's cells. Scientist Jax-lor discovered this through Kryptonian technology on the ship. How was it possible that he found this out without even needing Kal's blood? She has no idea but he found out.

They haven't made contact with the land and its heroes, not yet. But Zod was getting impatient.

She tried another way to work things out to prevent mass genocide. "We don't need Codex for Kryptonian children to be born, Zod."

He turned abruptly to her. His expression is unrestrained fury.

"Don't talk about these heresies! Jor-el betrayed Krypton, not once! But three times! The first by having an unclassified child! The second to take the codex and send it to earth with his heir, and the third… " He he let out a growl of rage. "he abandoned us! Faora! He betrayed us, he broke our laws, he refused to help us, he refused to save Krypton!" He yelled, coming in front of her.

Faora did not let herself falter in the face of such fury, her stony expression.

"There was no longer any salvation for Krypton, Zod."

"Stop saying that!" He clenched his jaw.

"We lost Krypton, but this time, not this time… We're going to remake Krypton! Rebuild, and whoever opposes it will die." He finished in a deadly whisper, his gaze drifting to the glass of the ship where he could see land. "Not even Kal-el will be able to stop us, not us."

She suggested a more peaceful way to resolve this, to live on the land, to take some unoccupied area to make your base. Zod refused, he didn't want to live with 'Earth Worms'. He said it wasn't worth it, and that he wouldn't mix with humans. She tried and tried, it created a certain tension between them and also among the soldiers around her.

Most were loyal to Zod and her ideals, others were undoubtedly loyal to Faora, even if they didn't entirely agree with her. Faora literally felt the presence of Don and Nam-ek beside her, reassurance that they were willing to fight their general if she asked. But she knew it was risky, they might be skilled but they were a little outnumbered. Eleven of hers against fourteen of his. She was well aware of the movement on their side. Any sudden movement would cause a battle among the rest of Krypton's survivors. She couldn't risk it.

She tried rationality, she asked for a chance, a single chance to do things peacefully, just this once.

Zod was a hardhead but they were both friends, they both knew each other since they were children, they fought together, they survived together. In the end, he agreed, as long as they could reactivate the Gene Chamber and create new pure Kryptonians on earth. She knew it was the most she could get from him and accepted it.

But it had a price. Kal-el would have to die.

The process of removing the codex would be lethal, there was no chance of survival. In return, Zod would not exterminate the people of the land. She didn't know if she'd managed to make a deal with Kal-el or the league, but it's better than risking a terrible battle between Earth's heroes and the surviving Kryptonians.

She will try.

And if it fails, all the land will pay.

She cannot fail.

But there is a risky price to pay, a price she is willing to try.

But she did not know the evil plans of a certain green-eyed man. Plans, that would make her feel the greatest hatred she'd ever felt in her life. Plans that would make her become a person as well as vindictive.