XXVIII. Endless Wall

Next day at noon..

The weather today has been very pleasant for the students, because of the enormous clouds that hovered over the sky, the sun was being covered by it throughout the entire first training session, and from the looks of it, it seems like the clouds didn't really harbor much water in it since it has a white color, thankfully that giant clouds wasn't located directly beneath the students in the training field, that way they can eliminate the risk of being soaked again if rain decided to come.

SWOOSH!

"Keukk!!.." Calea grunted, her voice sounded sore as if her throat were dry.

'Agh! Damnit! I didn't manage to scoop out much of the soup this morning! Now my throat is screaming at me for water!' She said to herself, recalling that meal time a few hours ago.

Today's training was different from yesterday, there was no one in the surrounding except Scythe, his subordinates were not being called today, because what he had in mind for today's persistence training won't be involving them.

Scythe told the students to swing their scythe repeatedly, at first it seems like a light training, when everyone heard about it the first time, most of their faces were smiling in relief, thinking that they might be able to train without risking their lives just for today. Unfortunately for them though, Scythe had a twist that is coming for them.

CLANK

CLANK!

There was a sound of chain rustling echoed throughout the whole forest, it was loud, but it was not the main problem, as it turns out, everyone was indeed told to swing their scythe, however what they didn't know at the time was that they have to wear a weight bracelet in both of their hands and legs.

The bracelets was made out of rusty iron and had chains strapped onto it that swings around when someone moved their hands.

If everyone usually have to carry a 5kg wooden scythe on their hands, now combined with the extra weight on the bracelets, the weight became almost 35kg.

***

A while ago..

Everyone was standing straight in a line while Scythe stood right infront of them, he was about to explain today's persistence training.

"That's what you're gonna do today." Scythe said nonchalantly, his voice is cold as usual. "The rules is simple, keep going no matter how tired you are, and no using aura for those who have awakened."

"Huh?.." Calea felt a bit startled to hear the rules, because usually Scythe would encourage her to use aura since her training would be the only one that has an extra difficulty added to it.

"Step forward and grab four of these bracelets." Said Scythe, his finger gestured to order everyone to come forward.

***

Back to the present...

SWOOSH!

It has been approximately 75 minutes into the persistence training, there's still 45 minutes left on the countdown, yet the students were already reaching their limits, after all swinging a 35kg of weight is not something that can be easily done repeatedly for 2 hours straight.

"URRGGGHHHAAA!!!" Hughen screamed while gathering all of his strength to swing the wooden scythe, he was supposed to be a cheerful guy who finds joy in everything, even if its just a little bit, however for the past 2 weeks or so, he had been experiencing some changes.

There are times when Hughen let go of his smile and instead frowned, a few times he felt sad, a few times he despaired, what once was a guy filled with dreams and innocence now slowly forced to face the ruthless situation.

And right now, that smile of his was gone from his face, in this training, Hughen was like a different person entirely.

"Huff.. Huff....." On the other hand, Orbeth was sweating bricks from all over his body, his skin looks pale and its as if he would fall over any second now, his injuries were still not recovered yet, and for him to participate in the training like nothing happened is just brutal.

Because of his lack of stamina, Orbeth had been frequently punished by Scythe, his body was on the verge of breaking, and his eyes looked Dead.

'HAhh.. hahh..' Orbeth took a deep breath, he's trying to calm himself down, he wants to stop swinging, but he can't, if he stop now he will be killed.

'Haahh.. haah.. S- shit.. What's the difference, i'll die if i continue.. And i'll also die if i stop..' He thought, feeling lost and empty, just like his future.

Orbeth momentarily entered his subconsciousness world, and in that world, he was alone, in a dark void full of nothingness.

'Is this?– What—'

RUMBLE

RUMBLE!!

Suddenly, his body in that world shakes violently, it feels like an earthquake, Orbeth looked forward to see what's happening and what he caught on his vision then genuinely stunned him to the point of speechless.

A glowing scythe was laying on the invisible ground, it came from nowhere and Orbeth saw it unexpectedly.

He thought it was his chance, his freedom that awaits him, that's why Orbeth began running after the Scythe, he wants to take it, to hold it and to lift it as high as possible.

BOOM!

But just like a shattered dreams, he was instead met with his ultimate demise, a giant brick walls pierced from the ground, as if it came from nothing, the brick walls then kept on growing taller and taller, it brought the glowing scythe along with it, taking it further from Orbeth's grasp.

"WAIT— NO.. NO- NO! NO!!!" He shouted, tears dropped down from his eyes as he kept running closer to the wall. "STOP!!"

No matter how much he pleaded, the walls didn't stop, it was intending to take every bit of Orbeth's last hope, pushing him deeper into the pit of death as the sparkle and light from his eyes disappeared along with his soul. That's when the walls stopped growing , it ended perfectly timed with Orbeth's final moments.

***

THUD!

The moments his soul gave up, Orbeth's body in the real world falls over, hitting the ground hard and injuring him again.

"Huh!?"

"What?.."

"Wha– What happened to him? Huff.."

Everyone turned their head towards Orbeth and watches him as his limp body faces the dirt with no visible movement.

Realizing that something might've happened, Scythe then stepped up and stood from his seat on the wooden log. He approached Orbeth slowly, and when he arrived, there was no check up or confirmation as to whether he's alive or not, Scythe just picked him up and carried him to the edge of the training field.

"He's dead, it seems like Orbeth wasn't able to defeat his own death, it's unfortunate, he didn't have enough desire for a second chance." Said Scythe as he walked back to his observation place with Orbeth on his shoulder.