CHAPTER 72: CHAPTER 71: COMPLETE DEFEAT

A wave of whispers erupted from the crowd. Naturally, most people there didn’t know him, but there were a few who did.

Technically, they knew the Aurelia, not him in particular. His family was famous after all. They all wanted to see what their heir looked like.

Before the crowd could forget where they were, Rhino continued on.

"He fought and defeated an Endless once. Who here can tell me why an Endless is called an Endless?"

"It’s because they can’t be killed," someone said from the crowd.

"Half correct," Rhino said, waving at the person to lower their hand. "It’s more like they can’t be kept dead. In other words, they can’t be executed, only restrained."

He continued, "They are one of the few anomalies we have encountered that have been granted two designations. One is the Endless, and the other is... Immortal. Unfortunately, Aurelia was unaware of that fact and fought it head-on, and paid the price for it."

Through his perception, Zaen noticed that the expressions of most of the surrounding new recruits had turned cold. Not because of what Rhino said, but because they realized his blindfold wasn’t a style choice.

Although they were there to train, only a handful of them had fought an anomaly and the number of people who had faced repeated threats and survived could be counted on one hand.

Naturally, they were scared upon realizing what they could lose in the next round of the games.

With that also came the realization of why they were being forced to follow such strict rules and punishments. It was to make them stronger.

"What’s with the long faces?" Rhino suddenly yelled. "You’re being trained so that none of you lose your lives. So don’t worry about it. As long as you’re keeping up with training, passing the exam will be a breeze."

"But for that, we first need to know what you’re capable of. Thankfully, I called in a few favors to show you just how deep you’re in shit."

As soon as he said that, the expressions of the recruits changed. Sure, they weren’t the strongest bunch out there, but they weren’t weak. They had abilities, and they had survived the introductory round on their own.

Upon hearing Rhino say they were mixed with shit obviously angered them. Yet, none of them dared to say what was on their minds, until... someone did.

"...in shit? Who does he think he is?"

"He’s insulting us, isn’t he?"

"Shush, the instructor will hear you."

It’s too late for that.

Zaen thought as Rhino was already standing by their side. Before the two could react, he grabbed them by the backs of their necks and tossed them onto the stage.

"Anyone else who believes they are above the rest?" he asked, scanning the crowd.

Hands shot into the air as if a chain reaction had occurred. Recruits who were too scared to look Rhino in the eyes moments ago were now glaring at him.

Naturally, Zaen didn’t raise his hand, but he noticed the aura around Rhino changing. On the outside, he looked angry, but on the inside, he was pleased with the candidates.

Just as he was observing the others, he felt someone poke his back.

"What is it, Piggy?"

"P-Piggy? I’m Ben—"

"My bad. You two look so much alike that I got confused."

Zaen couldn’t see the young master’s face, but he imagined the boy had a vein protruding from his forehead in that moment.

"Why don’t you raise your arm? " Ben asked, ignoring Zaen’s comment. "You’re an Aurelia. You should be the one leading them."

Zaen sighed, turning to face Ben before flicking his forehead.

"Do I look like a moron who would repeat the same mistake twice?"

"...twice? Have you challenged the instructor before?"

"Nope. But I have fought a few anomalies, and I know the instructor is correct. Well... I do disagree with one point of his. We’re not knee deep in shit called inexperience, we’re drowning in it."

"You’re talking like a philosopher. People wouldn’t appreciate your vocabulary, but get the point across. But... you’re awfully confident."

"I am," Zaen replied. "Because I know no more than ten out of these two hundred-plus recruits would survive the last anomaly I encountered. And how do I know that? Because people with far more experience than us didn’t."

"The endless? Of course they wouldn’t survive that—"

"None of us would survive that," Zaen cut him off. "I was talking about Broods."

"..."

Ben had no comebacks for that one. He didn’t think Zaen would have faced other anomalies besides the Endless. After all, almost all of them had only faced one anomaly, and that too during the introductory game.

Just then, Rhino’s voice snapped them out of their conversation. More than eighty percent of the class was now on the stage. They were the ones who believed they weren’t like ’shit’.

"Alright, since so many of you are not convinced, I’ll give you a chance. A chance to correct your perception," Rhino said, pointing at the far right of the field.

Seven masked people were sitting there since the start of the session, yet no one had noticed them. Not the ones standing in the field, or the ones who were running around the barrier. Their presence was completely sealed!

In an instant, the seven stood next to Rhino. It happened so fast that even the instructor was taken aback.

"These seven are your seniors. Their identities had been wiped clean by the organization, a procedure only followed for the top echelon of the organization. But just for the sake of teaching you, they had returned for a short while."

Rhino didn’t greet the masked individuals, instead, turning towards the recruits with a mocking smile.

"You want to prove your strength? Fine. As long as you bring me one of their masks, I’ll give a personal apology to all of you here and accept any punishment you give me. On top of that, all of you will graduate immediately."

Before the students even had a chance to smile, Rhino’s next words wiped the smug looks from their faces.

"However, if you fail to get it by lunchtime, I’ll make your lives here a living hell until the first round initiates."

***

The rules were simple. The nearly three hundred students would do anything possible to get a mask from the seniors, and they had five hours to do that.

But everyone already knew they’d lose.

Why?

Isn’t it obvious?

Before them were some of the best the organization had to offer. People who had flawlessly completed countless operations, killed anomalies that the recruits couldn’t even think about.

How were a bunch of newbies supposed to defeat them?

The answer was obvious. They couldn’t.

Rhino was merely showing them their places. After all, coming from the normal world, even the most useless ability would feel special. It’d make them feel unstoppable.

Hence, it was important to crush their ’egos’ before they took root, and the masked individuals before them were experts in doing just that.

"This is bullshit!" Someone exclaimed right before the event started. "They are experts! They had honed their abilities to the absolute limit. How are we supposed to fight them?"

He looked around for support, but the others were either sighing or snickering. No one cared about fairness there or anywhere else. The means didn’t matter, only the results did.

"You’re correct," Rhino nodded, approaching the recruit. "You’re absolutely correct. Everything in this world should be fair, right?"

For a moment, the boy thought Rhino was going to take his side. However, that wasn’t the case at all. In fact, the next words out of his mouth ensured the guy would be an outcast throughout his academic life.

"It is unfair for seven people to fight over three hundred. Won’t you agree?"

"No! That’s not what I meant—"

"Why? Seven against seven sounds fair to me. Or are you saying that only the things you decide are fair and the rest is just straight up bullshit?"

Just like that, the guy didn’t utter a single word for the rest of his time in the academy.

"Fine, restrict your skill levels to Foundation," Rhino sighed and instructed the masked team.

They didn’t express any frustrations and agreed with the decision. They were just that confident in their ability to squash the recruits, even with heavy restrictions on them.

However, it seemed that apart from Zaen and a handful of others, no one noticed it. They were busy celebrating as if they had already won.

From where they stood, it was purely a numbers advantage for them since the masked people were now on the ’same’ level as them. They stared intently at the seven figures on the stage, their eyes itching for a fight.

But there was one problem.

Most of them didn’t have any weapons to fight with. Since they were in a hurry to get to the training ground, only ten or so of them had even brought their academy-issued weapons.

In contrast, the masked figures were clad in strong-looking gear along with their weapon bags.

Rhino smiled as soon as the recruits realized it.

Will they fight or run back to get their weapons? Will the masked people even allow that? Even if they got their weapons, they’d lose precious time.

Every choice led to the same path.

Their complete defeat.