At the military headquarters

All the officials who were sitting around the giant round table, monitoring over the various parts of the island were all standing at this moment as they all faced the chair that belonged to main commander.

At that moment, the main commander was sitting on his chair with a very serious expression as he was in deep thought. He had his arms placed on the table and was using them to support his head that was resting on top of his overlocked fingers.

The main commander had an important decision to make, one that would decide the fate of all the cadets still fighting on the island, trying to survive.

In front of the main commander were fifty individual holographic frames, each frame displaying the image of a single cadet. There were a few familiar faces amongst the clutter of images which included Mako, Iris, Leon, Bill, Erin, as well as some other people they had encountered like Haruto, Natasha, and even the group leader who had ambushed Bill and Iris on their walk back up the mountain.

“Sir, the fourth wave will begin soon, you have to make a decision.” The sergeant said in an emotional and quavering voice as if he was just about to start crying.

“Most of the cadets still remaining on the island were smart and avoided the areas that were highlighted to be hit by the waves tonight but some of the groups remained inside the highlighted zones.” The sergeant picked up some courage as he went to finish the report.

“Out of the groups that remained inside the highlighted zones, almost all of them were wiped out by the third beast wave, the group of Puffclaws that could merge together to form a beast right on the cusp of being identified as an advanced tier beast.” The sergeant continued.

“However, after 30 years, from the groups that had remained inside the highlighted zones, not only one but three have managed to defeat the Puffclaw abomination and clear the third wave.” The sergeant announced as he finished his report.

“What!?…”

“Unbelievable! I don’t believe it!”

“Who are these kids!?”

The officials said as they recovered from the shocking words that came out of the sergeants mouth.

All of them had grown accustom to ending the recruitment test during the beast wave attack phase as no one had been able to survive the the third beast wave. If they survived the night by running away to another area, that area would become the highlighted area the next night, and the waves would repeat again wiping them out.

It had been the same for the last 30 years as the last person ever recorded to ever clear that phase was person greatly respected even among the ranks of the officials and was one who was exceptional from the moment she was born.

“It’s true.” The main commander announced, quieting all the gossip amongst the officials on the round table.

Three holographic frames extended and became large enough so that everyone could see what was being played on them. The three frames were replaying video footage of the three groups who had successfully defeated the third wave beast.

The first frame displayed the footage of Bill and Iris fighting the beast with both of their eyes glowing showing that they had activated their mutant genes to then Mako swooping in and finishing the beast by burning it in a large furnace of red flames, a variant of the original fire ability.

The second frame displayed the footage of Natasha and Haruto, but in this one, they didn’t have to do anything as the Puffclaw killed itself by yanking its own head of it’s body. The camera refocused on Natasha’s face who had a face of pure pleasure and happiness as she laughed maniacally while dancing in the blue blood that raining down on the ground from the severed head of the Puffclaw.

The third frame displayed the footage of a single person who was completely covered in blue blood and was breathing heavily as he stood amongst the guts of the Puffclaw that he had just killed by tearing a whole right through it’d body and destroying the gem that it had attached to it’s abdomen.

The officer were left in shock and awe as they watched the repay of the three groups defeating the giant Puffclaw, each in their own unique manner.

“What is this decision that you have trouble committing to, main commander?” One of the female officials spoke up after the replay of the three footages was over.

The main commander didn’t reply as he continued to stare at the fifty frames of the cadet pictures floating in front of him while continuing to rest his head on his fingertips.

“Well, the main commander has to make the choice, whether to continue on with the test and let these three cadet groups face the 4th wave or end the whole test right here and now like every year and declare the survivors as those who have successfully passed the test.” The sergeant spoke up on behalf of the main commander who remained quiet.

This sparked another round of debate and gossip amongst the officials but overall they were all against the idea of letting the cadets continue as this was proof enough that they were capable and talented warriors. .𝙘𝒐𝒎

Their main argument being that even if nobody had been able to defeat the third wave in the last thirty years, the military training had trained many talented people who later on become geniuses and ascended the ranks faster than anyone. There was no reason to put these cadets through the agony of facing another wave when they were sure to lose as they were all tired and out of energy.

However, one again all discussions came to a stop as the main commander slammed his hand on the table, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“It doesn’t matter to me what you all think. In the end, the decision has to be made by me according to how I perceive the situation. There are still things that even you all don’t know. Why we are still conducting these test when we are in desperate need of manpower? Why we are still following the order that was left behind by the 10 mighty warriors? I get to decide what’s best for these cadets!” The main commander shouted as he addressed all the people actively discussing while he was trying to think.

Everyone was left dumbfounded and shocked after witnessing this side of their main commander. They always perceived him as a calm, collected, and calculated person. Never had they ever seen him behave in this way which goes to show the amount of stress he was bearing as he thought of the best possible course of action.

Everyone shut their mouths after that as they let the main commander think for the remaining time that he had.

************

There were only 5 minutes left until the 4th wave would commence and time was up for the main commander to make a decision.

With absolute confidence and seriousness, the main commander finally opened his eyes as he turned to towards the sergeant to give his command.

“Execute the 4th wave as normal; however, send a message to every information tablet that the 5th wave has been postponed and will commence the following night. That way, they will have the opportunity to flee if they think they aren’t capable of facing the last and final wave.” The main commander ordered.

“Yes, sir!” The sergeant said as he understood the commands immediately and saluted the main commander before quickly running down to the command deck to make sure the main commander’s order was executed in time.

‘He has completely lost it! We were worried about the cadets not surviving the 4th wave and here, he is worried about the 5th wave. What on earth is he thinking?’ This was the thought that was running through most of the officials minds but no one dared to cross the main commander or else they would only become subject to his wrath.

**************

Back at the top of the west mountain

“That damn coward!” Erin shouted as she impaled the combat knife that she had taken back from Mako deep into a tree.

She took the blade back out of the tree and proceeded to stab the tree again and again while she kept shouting bad things about Leon.

“To think, I believed him to be a lot like Andrew when I first met him. I believed him to be a strong willed person too who just seemed broken from the outside just like Andrew, but it looks like he didn’t have a spine at all! That bastard!” Erin shouted as she continued to carve up the tree.

“Everyone one of us had used everything we had to defend the previous waves! You merely used your flashy ability to kill those weak wolves and then get exhausted straight away, leaving all the difficult beasts for us to handle on our own. Now that’s it’s your turn to pull some weight, you decide to become the coward and actually suggest that we leave our friends behind!?” Erin yelled as she tried to stab the tree again.

However, this time, her emotions got the better of her and eyes glowed white as she tried stab the tree. Her strength was greatly increased by the mutant gene and with her using full force and the tree already weakened, the combat stabbed all the way through the tree, cutting it down in an instant.

Erin was shocked to see just how much strength she was produce just by her emotions alone.

“It’s okay! Who needs that brat anyway! I am more than enough to kill those damn beasts, whatever they are!” Erin declared as she prepared herself to face the 4th beast wave all on her own.