A Training Ground That's a Bit Too Real
Nova Academy had a massive underground simulation area, shaped to resemble a ruined city after a Metavore invasion. Half-collapsed buildings, cracked roads, charred vehicles that never really moved — all controlled by a Core illusion system that adjusted difficulty based on each cadet's performance.
Unfortunately, nothing adjusted to Deren's level of laziness.
"Welcome to Tactical Zone Level 3," Sarka's voice echoed through their helmet comms. "You will be tested as a team. Objective: survive for 20 minutes while rescuing virtual civilian targets inside the red zone."
Deren, Kael, and Ryn stood among the rubble. Kael was already equipping his auto-launch gloves.
"This is just like a premium VR game!" Kael said excitedly. "I've always wanted to be the main character on the battlefield."
"I'd rather be the NPC who sells bread and makes it home alive," Deren replied, turning on a scanning device that looked suspiciously like a broken AC remote.
Ryn eyed the tool. "That's… not standard issue."
"Prototype. Unofficial. But decent enough to detect movements that shouldn't be there."
A rumble echoed from the east. The simulation walls shook slightly.
"That's part of the scenario, right?" Kael asked.
Ryn checked the tactical screen on his wrist. "It shouldn't be. Heavy-types aren't scheduled to spawn yet."
Deren lifted his scanner. A red light blinked.
"And of course… something's off-script."
A few minutes later, they located the "civilian target" — a holographic child trapped under a collapsed building.
As Kael tried to clear the path, a shadow flickered at the end of the alley. A scraping sound echoed, like claws dragging across concrete — slow, but piercing.
A six-legged creature, dark-bodied, and moving far too fast for a normal sim.
"Ryn, that's part of the simulation, right?!"
"…I'm not sure. The system doesn't recognize it. No digital ID. No input parameters from the control center."
Deren stared at the creature and slowly pulled a short knife from his side pouch. It was supposed to be a dummy — but he knew Clarice sometimes forgot which ones were replicas and which were real prototypes.
"If it attacks first, we run left. If it stays still… we play dead."
The creature turned.
Then charged.
Kael fired his glove launcher, creating a small explosion to divert it. Ryn instantly deployed a portable energy shield.
Deren didn't move. He counted in his head.
"One… two… three… now."
With a swift, oddly precise motion, Deren hurled the knife at the creature — hitting its front joint dead-on. The creature screeched, toppled, but immediately got back up.
"That's not a regular Core Tier!" Ryn shouted.
"I thought this was just training?!" Kael pressed against a wall, laughing nervously. "Why does this feel like a real mission?!"
Meanwhile, in the academy's control room, Sarka and Reiner stood in front of the monitoring screen. One of the technicians froze.
"Lieutenant, something's off in the simulation program. Wild Core energy detected… and it's not coming from our system."
Sarka clenched her fist. "Shut down the system. Now. Pull all cadets out."
"The source is... centered around Deren's team," the technician said quietly.
Reiner frowned. "If this really is wild Core… we need to know who brought it in."
The screen zoomed in on Deren — running in a zigzag and yelling,
"I'M NOT THE MAIN TARGET! I'M JUST AN INTERN!"
Reiner stared.
"That's him, huh? The one Sarka called… 'the anomaly disguised as laziness'?"
Sarka gave a small nod. "And he hasn't even gotten serious yet."
Elsewhere, far from the academy, one of Clarice's hidden sensors picked up the same Core fluctuation. She typed quickly on her terminal:
"We have a problem. New entity. Not human-made. Frequency… ancient."
And the signal began spreading westward.The first step of something that was never meant to awaken.