Graves sprinted blindly toward the coordinates, a volatile mixture of deep-seated hatred and crippling fear written all over his face.
"I'm going to kill them... every single one of them!" he snarled to himself, his knuckles turning white around the grip of his weapon.
When he finally burst into the clearing, his eyes stretched wide in terror and confirmation. The scene before him was exactly what he had anticipated. Towering over the gory remnants of the two fallen cadets were the very same horrific monsters that had torn his mother apart.
Meanwhile, back at the academy's central command station, the atmosphere was thick with tension. A massive wall of glowing monitor screens illuminated an expansive hall filled with dozens of tactical operators. Standing right in the center of the room was a imposing figure in a crisp military uniform, the silver insignia on his shoulders identifying him as a high-ranking Colonel.
"Colonel wraysford, sir, you need to come and see this immediately," a lieutenant called out, quickly stepping over to the Colonel, who was currently reviewing a stack of student evaluation files.
"What is it?" Wraysford asked, his deep voice calm, not yet looking up from his paperwork.
"We have an anomaly in Sector East. A single cadet has broken formation and is running solo directly into a cluster of high-threat devils, leaving his squad completely behind," the lieutenant explained, a tone of urgency creeping into his voice. "His overall kill ratio throughout the exam has been remarkably low despite numerous team encounters. From a statistical standpoint, there is no way he can handle these creatures alone. Especially not five of them."
Colonel wraysford let out a heavy sigh, finally closing the folders and setting them down on the metal table. "What classification of devil are we dealing with?"
"They're Spider Devils, sir," the lieutenant answered, worry visibly etched into the lines of his face.
The Colonel's brow furrowed tightly. Though all the entities cleared for the graduation exam were strictly locked at D-Class threat levels, certain breeds possessed biological traits that made them vastly more lethal than their peers. The Spider Devil was the prime example. Their multi-jointed agility allowed them to move in ways that practically defied the laws of physics, and they possessed a terrifying pack mentality. But what veteran soldiers feared most was their six erratic, slashing arms—making it completely impossible to predict which angle their next strike would come from. While they were physically fragile, their offense was entirely overwhelming for an unawakened cadet.
"Put the live drone feed onto my primary monitor this instant," Colonel wraysford commanded. The lieutenant saluted sharply and rushed back to his console.
Back in the ruins, Graves gritted his teeth, raising his core-powered rifle and taking aim from the shadow of a collapsed pillar. Fortunately, the monsters hadn't alerted to his presence yet; they were still pacing the blood-soaked courtyard after finishing their grim feast.
Steadying his erratic breathing, Graves channeled every ounce of his outskirt hunting experience. He lined up his iron sights perfectly with the skull of the nearest beast, squeezed the trigger, and held his breath.
BANG!
The core-powered round tore through the air, covering the distance in a fraction of a second. It slammed directly into the Spider Devil's skull, exiting the other side with a sickening crunch. The immense kinetic energy completely shattered the creature's head, leaving nothing but a headless, bloody carcass that crumbled limply onto the concrete.
The remaining four devils reacted instantly to the gunshot, snapping their gazes toward the pillar and charging forward in a terrifying, multi-armed frenzy.
"He just dropped one!" Winter's voice echoed sharply through the squad's main comms. She had witnessed the entire sequence through her scope, her finger tensing on her own trigger. She had been prepared to fire first, but Graves's sudden accuracy had beaten her to it.
But as the remaining beasts accelerated, her panic returned twofold. "Shit! They're all swarming him at once!" she screamed into the microphone.
Hearing her cry, Gamby, Julius, and Apollo grimaced, pushing their enhanced bodies into a absolute, lung-bursting sprint. "Winter, lay down suppressing fire! Give him everything you've got!" Apollo barked.
Winter didn't need to be told twice. Locking her breath, she tracked the leading devil closest to Graves. She squeezed the trigger, and a massive anti-materiel round violently detonated the creature's head, spraying thick brain matter and dark blood directly onto Graves and the surrounding rubble. Without missing a beat, she smoothly racked the bolt, chambering another heavy round.
Graves was screaming at the top of his lungs, bracing for impact, when the lead monster suddenly exploded into a shower of gore right in front of him.
Realizing they were dealing with a hidden sniper, the remaining three Spider Devils instantly altered their movement patterns, scattering in jagged, unpredictable zig-zags across the courtyard to throw off Winter's targeting.
"Damn it! These things are moving too fast!" Winter hissed, trying to track their erratic physics-defying leaps through her crosshairs. "I'll just have to pick one and commit!"
She aligned her sights on the leftmost creature, but before her finger could squeeze the trigger, she caught a devastating sight on the edge of her lens. One of the scattered devils had managed to close the distance, using its immense speed to blindside Graves.
In an instant, Graves's world turned into a blur of agonizing, white-hot pain. The sheer force of the collision sent his vision spinning violently.
He barely registered the sensation of being hoisted into the air by a cluster of powerful, clawed arms. A sickening crack echoed through his torso as his ribs shattered under the pressure. The breath was completely stolen from his lungs, rendering him incapable of even screaming. A second later, his body sailed through the air, slamming brutally into a reinforced concrete wall before slumping into the dirt.
He lay there completely paralyzed, coughing up thick, metallic blood as dark, crimson bubbles began to form at the corners of his mouth.
"GRAVES!!!!!!!!!!" Winter's voice shattered the comms, a raw, heartbreaking scream tearing through the earpieces of the entire squad. "GRAVES!"