Chapter 5: Choice

    Leo advanced with the slow, shuffling line of contestants, his boots gliding silently over the cracked concrete as he moved without making a single sound.

    It was not something Leo did consciously, but rather a reflexive grace that was born from instinct and years of training rather than thought.

    The abandoned prison facility stretched out before him, sprawling and oppressive in its decaying grandeur.

    If Leo had any doubts about being in a prison-like facility at first, they vanished the moment he got a clearer look at the test grounds—as the towering fences, rusted barbed wire, and imposing watchtowers left no room for uncertainty.

    The courtyard he stood in was vast and rectangular, surrounded on all sides by high concrete walls. Rust stains ran like old blood down the cracks in the walls, and faint scorch marks suggested fires long extinguished.

    Above, watchtowers loomed at regular intervals, their steel frames skeletal and weatherworn. Dark figures shifted behind tinted glass windows, their silhouettes barely visible. Sniper barrels occasionally caught the light, a chilling reminder of unseen eyes watching their every move.

    The place felt like a graveyard of authority, stripped of life but heavy with echoes of its brutal past.

    Leo''s sharp eyes flicked over each detail, mapping out the terrain, the choke points, the exits. Instinct drove him to look for high ground, blind spots, and places someone might set an ambush.

    But before he could gather his thoughts, the sharp blare of a horn shattered the stillness.

    BLARE!

    Following the sound, every head turned toward the large raised platform dominating the center of the courtyard.

    Above it, a massive digital countdown clock hung suspended by thick steel cables, its bright red numbers frozen at 20:00, glowing like a silent warning.

    Soon after the horn sounded, a tall man in a crisp military coat stepped forward onto the platform. His dark uniform bore silver insignias, and across his chest, stitched in precise letters, was his title:

    Commander Rourke – Lead Instructor of Covert Tactics and Stealth Operations.

    His gray eyes scanned the crowd below with a cold, calculating sharpness, and when he spoke, his voice carried across the courtyard, steady and commanding.@@@@

    "Elite Assassin Seedlings. That''s what you are now—nothing more, nothing less."

    The crowd stood frozen, breaths held, as Rourke''s piercing gaze swept over them.

    "You stand here today at the edge of something far greater than yourselves. Beyond this entrance test lies the opportunity to enroll into the Rodova Military Academy—a place reserved only for the finest warriors of the universe. Those of you who survive this test today will join the ranks of history''s finest assassins, while the rest... will be forgotten."

    19:58

    And as a result the entire courtyard erupted into motion.

    *********

    Contestants scattered like insects, lunging toward each other, calling out, bargaining, and threatening.

    Some grabbed the nearest person they could find. Others stalked the crowd, eyes scanning for someone who looked strong, capable, or—at the very least—useful.

    Fights broke out in isolated pockets as contestants shoved others away from potential partners.

    Leo remained still, his sharp eyes darting across the crowd, as his instincts screamed at him to choose wisely.

    A few seconds into the selections, a hulking brute shoved his way past smaller contestants, smirking towards him with bloodshot eyes, however Leo ignored him outright.

    His gaze was fixed instead on a slender girl with knives strapped across her chest, but as she made eye contact with Leo, she immediately shirked away, clearly rejecting him tacitly.

    Leo''s thoughts raced. Who could he trust? Who wouldn''t turn on him the moment it became convenient?

    His hand clenched around the Counter in one palm and the Teleportation Orb in the other.

    19:05

    19:04

    19:03

    The seconds were bleeding away, and each tick of the clock felt like a hammer striking against his skull.

    Leo gritted his teeth and took a step forward.

    He had 20 minutes to make a choice that could mean life or death.

    But as he was about to start choosing somewhere deep in his chest, the same instinct stirred again—sharp, cold, and familiar.

    Survive. Trust no one.