Baptism by Fire

Chapter 26: Baptism by Fire

The cold of morning had almost been eradicated under the intense artificial sunlight of the practice grounds. Ranks of freshmen stood rigid, staring at the instructor in front of them. His mere presence instilled a shockwave of power that had even the toughest students shaking in their boots.

Caden rolled his shoulders, a grin near enough to restrain. He already knew this was gonna be fun.

"Pay attention," the teacher continued, his voice carrying across the field. "I am Instructor Hale. Lesson one begins today. You will listen to my orders, you will push yourselves to the breaking point, and you will get better or fall behind. This academy does not tolerate the weak."

The ground beneath them jerked violently.

Abruptly, the entire training area groaned apart, metal plates screaming against each other as buildings came up from beneath the earth. Obstacles, climbing walls, trenches, and mock battlefield wreckage burst forth, transforming the level terrain into a chaotic war zone.

"This is your Baptism by Fire," Hale announced, hands clasped behind his back. "A fighting situation test to determine your potential and adaptability. You'll be assigned in teams and inserted into the conflict. Your orders? Survive and eliminate opposition squads. Make a mistake, and you pay the penalty."

Whispers circled among the students. Some looked elated. Others were nervous.

Ryan's eyes narrowed. "So they're throwing us straight into team combat. No warm-ups, no explanations." 

Caden smirked. "I like it." 

Selena sighed. "Of course you do. You are a psycho" 

"Pairing assignments will be displayed on your watches." 

A chime echoed through the field as their wrist devices buzzed, flashing their team rosters. 

Caden glanced down. 

Team 7 

- Caden Arden

- Mira Holts

- Darius Kane

- Ava Sinclair 

His smile grew. "Well, well. Looks like we've got a good lineup."

Darius pumped his fists. "Hell yeah! Team unstoppable."

Mira scanned the names and hummed. "We'll see about that."

Ava shrugged, stretching her arms. "Guess we better not lose, then."

Ryan's name appeared on yet another roster. Team 3. With Kieran.

"Oh boy," Ryan muttered, rubbing his temples.

"All teams, report to your designated zones!" Instructor Hale bellowed.

A countdown flashed on their watches: 5 minutes until deployment.

Caden cracked his knuckles. "I guess it's time to show this academy wrong about us."

 War Zone Initiated

The moment the timer hit zero, pandemonium erupted.

Drones flew overhead, sweeping motions, running the combat simulation on overhead monitors for teachers to evaluate. The landscape had fully changed into an urban warfare simulation abandoned buildings, destroyed roads, and cramped alleys that would be a death trap or a tactical maneuver.

Caden's squad had descended behind the ruins of a demolished military base, the corroded steel walls providing cover.

Mira crouched low, scanning the horizon. "We're exposed out here. We need to get moving."

"Agreed," Ava said, cinching her gloves. "We don't know where the enemy squads are yet, but staying stationary gets us killed fast."

Darius grinned. "Or we can simply wait for them to come to us and destroy them."

Caden laughed. "You sound like an idiot. But a point-scoring idiot. If we can control this outpost, we can control engagements on our terms."

Mira sighed. "Fine. But if this goes down in flames, I'm blaming you."

"That's the spirit and beside you always blame me either way" Caden smiled.

BOOM!

A boom rattled the air, and screams from another quadrant. The battle had begun.

Mira's eyes flashed. "We're not alone."

From the shadows of a broken street, another team emerged. Four of them. Their leader, a stocky boy with a plasma gauntlet, sneered.

"Look what we have here. Caden Arden, the best freshman. Must be our lucky day."

Caden's grin sharpened. "You say that like it's a good thing." 

The enemy team rushed forward. 

And just like that— 

The game was on.

The first strike was quick.

The small leader lunged forward, his plasma gauntlet crackling to life as he tossed a devastating haymaker at Caden's face.

Caden moved his reflexes faster than ever. The heat of the gauntlet burned against his cheek as he spun around the attack, stepped in, and crushed a brutal elbow into the boy's ribs. The blow caused the boy to stumble back, gasping.

"Nice toy," Caden scoffed. "Bet you don't even know how to use it right."

The other team didn't hesitate. A girl with twin energy blades rushed forward, spinning with terrifying speed. She slashed at Mira, who had to leap backward. Ava barely dodged a shot from another member of the other team with a pulse rifle, the bolt scorching the ground where she'd been.

Darius roared with excitement, charging ahead with reckless abandon. He took a plasma bolt in the shoulder but barely flinched before tackling the shooter, who slammed into a shattered concrete barrier.

"That's how you hit somebody!" Darius laughed.

Mira didn't hesitate. The moment her opponent overextended in a slash, she shifted her gravity, pulling the girl off balance. A flick of her wrist sent her flying sideways, slamming into a wrecked car.

Ava was already in motion. She dashed towards the enemy rifleman before he could recover, striking his wrist with precision force. The gun fell to the ground, and before he could react, she landed a spinning kick in his chest, knocking him out cold.

Caden turned to confront the robust leader, who had regained his footing, his eyes furious. He reactivated his gauntlet, the plasma with renewed intensity. 

"You talk too much," the young man snarled. "Let's see how haughty you are after this!"

He drove his fist into the ground, and a shockwave of plasma energy exploded outwards.

Caden's reflexes screamed at him to move, but he didn't bother knowing his body could withstand it. The energy wave hit him in the chest and knocked him into a pile of rubble. His body absorbed all the energy of the blow and his grin grew wider.

"Okay," he growled, wiping the grime from his face. "Now we're having fun."

The commander struck, attempting to finish the mission. But Caden was ready.

He focused, drawing upon the radiation surrounding him, feeling the raw energy flow through his body. His muscles tensed, and when the plasma fist came down, Caden grasped it barehanded.

The boy's eyes widened in shock. "Wha—"

Caden scoffed. "Not so tough when someone else can take the heat, huh?"

With a swift twist, he pulled the enemy's arm off and delivered a nasty knee to his gut. The chubby boy coughed harshly, all breath knocked out of his lungs. Caden finished with a swift uppercut, and he fell to the ground.

"One down," Caden snarled.

Throughout the battlefield, the rest of his squad had already won their fights. The girl with the energy blades was unconscious, her weapons crackling next to her. The rifleman was knocked out, and the fourth opponent groaned from where Darius had almost implanted him in a wall.

Mira tightened her gloves. "Well, that was easier than expected."

"Don't jinx it," Ava said, dusting herself off. "There's no way this is over yet." 

As if on cue, a new alert flashed on their watches. 

Hostile teams approaching. Two squads converging on your location. 

Caden's grin widened. "Now that's what I'm talking about." 

Darius cracked his knuckles. "Round two?" 

Mira sighed, but there was a spark in her eyes. "Round two."

Ava breathed deeply. "Let's not die." 

A series of distant explosions and screams echoed across the field of combat. Other plumes of battle smoke curled into the sky, causing the zone to become even more chaotic.

Caden's team crouched behind the old, rusted frame of a war outpost, keeping watch on the approaching foes. The coming squads showed on their watches—two squads, eight warriors, directly for them.

"Okay," Caden said, his eyes glinting. "We need to come up with a plan."

Mira snorted. "Now you need a plan?"

"Listen, I like fighting, but even I know we can't simply fight our way through two groups simultaneously, especially since the academy has plans for us" he snapped back.

Ava paused to look around their position. "We're in a defensive position. We can work with that. If we drive them into a bottleneck, we can control how they attack us."

Darius grinned. "Or we just fight them head-on."

Ava exhaled heavily. "Not all issues are a matter of raw power."

"Uh, guys?" Mira's voice turned imperative. "They're here."

Two squads of enemies advanced along the ruined streets. One was well-organized, their commander a tall female with a cybernetic limb directing them with measured hand gestures. The other squad was a disorganized bunch, their brawler-type members desperate to rush forward blindly.

Caden's smile widened. "Two different styles. This just got interesting."

The cybernetic girl replied first, icily. "Surrender now, and we'll go easy on you."

Caden laughed. "That's cute. You think we'd surrender?"

The other team's leader, a broad-shouldered man wielding a war hammer, cracked his neck. "Didn't think so. Let's just beat them down."

Mira let out a quick breath. "Here we go again."

The battle erupted again.

Darius stood up to the hammer-swiping giant face to face, their fight shaking the ground. The sheer brute force of their collision sent tremors into the ravaged buildings. Darius received a hammer blow to the chest but barely flinched before returning with an enormous fist that launched his opponent into rubble.

Mira battled against gravity in battle, forcing enemy pilots into frantic trajectories. Waving her hand, she flung one attacker into a momentary suspension before crashing him onto the floor.

Ava shot through her attackers, dodging blows with impunity. When one attacker swung at her, she reversed their momentum on them, flipping them into the wreckage.

Caden, meanwhile, faced off against the cybernetic-armed leader. She was fast faster than most but he was faster. Every strike she threw, he dodged with ease, his smirk never fading. 

"You're good," she admitted, blocking one of his counters with her reinforced arm. 

"I know," Caden replied before grabbing her wrist, channeling a burst of radiation into her system. Her cybernetic limb sparked violently, shutting down.

Her eyes widened. "You—"

Caden completed the sentence with a sadistic uppercut, knocking her to the ground. "Yeah, I did that."

The rest of the hostiles stumbled back, realizing the tide was turning.

"Anyone else?" Caden queried, cracking his knuckles.

There was silence.

The battle was over.

Mira dusted herself off. "Next time, let's not have two teams at once, okay?"

Darius chuckled. "Next time, let's have three ."

Ava sighed. "You two are impossible."

Caden checked his watch. The test was still ongoing. Even more battles awaited.

"Come on," he said, pushing on ahead. "Let's give this academy something to remember."

And so Team 7 pushed deeper into the war zone, ready for whatever came next.

The battlefield was merciless.

Team 7 had barely caught their breath when their watches beeped with a fresh alert.

12 teams remaining.

41% survival rate.

Ava released a harsh breath. "They are not wasting any time."

Caden wiped some dirt from his cheek, his grin unbroken. "Good. Makes it more interesting."

Mira scowled at him. "You and I have different definitions of interesting."

Before they could regroup, a deafening **BOOM** disrupted the air. A massive cloud of dust exploded from the east, covering everyone in its path. The ground trembled under their feet.

Darius clenched his fists. "What in the devil was that?"

From the dust cloud, forms appeared students, battered and broken, staggering away from something. Their bodies were bruised, their armor smudged, and terror was written on their faces.

One of them, a boy clutching his ribs, saw Caden's group and shouted, "Run."

Ava furrowed her brow. "What?"

"Run!" the boy shouted and collapsed to the ground.

The low, machine rumble again boomed through the fog. And then, looming into view, was a figure that was gigantic.

It was not a student.

It was not human.

It was a machine. A behemoth fighting drone, nearly three meters tall, its metallic body reflecting the artificial light. Its red visor burning bright as it scanned the field, looking for fresh prey.

Caden's grin dropped slightly. "Well… that's new."

Mira stiffened. "I thought this was a simulation against other students!"

The drone's arms extended, revealing twin rotary cannons that began to spin.

Ava cursed. "Move!"

The moment she stopped talking, the drone fired.

Bullets ripped through the air, blowing through concrete and shrapnel flying everywhere. Team 7 dispersed, taking cover behind whatever was nearest as the machine advanced, each step causing the ground to tremble.

Darius slammed his fist into a crumbling wall. "This is crazy! How the hell are we supposed to fight that?"

Caden looked out from cover, observing the drone reload its guns. His smile came back.

"Oh, I can come up with a few ways."

He cracked his knuckles.

"Let's disassemble this thing."