First Selection

Commander Esther said to everyone, "Now we will be testing you skills with guns. You must kill all the bots, they will be skinny to test your accuracy and overall aim. The record holder for the best time is Captain Miriam, with 4 seconds, killing all 15 robots. The bots heads are accepted to shoot, but their heads will be skinny as well. A zombies weak spot is his head, it's head is a link to its entire body. Whatever you do to the head, most likely will happen to the body, like setting it on fire. It's very similar to human mana, the power from the energy of the soul, from energy that flows through all creation, interlinked with the soul itself. With it, we are able to manipulate it to make something stronger, and faster."

Tae heard that, and started to think about his fight with Esther, thinking, 'So that's why…'

In the arena, very skinny robots would rise from a shaft in the ground, and recruits would each take turns using the guns they choose from the rack, implant their mana into it, and start shooting the robots.

Each recruit was trying their best, running and sliding around fast, shooting rifles, shotguns, and pistols. Some of them were impressed with each other, talking highly of each other's skills, clapping every once I a whole.

The times so far :

40 seconds

13 seconds

33 seconds

25 seconds

Some of the recruits had almost perfect aim, and some couldn't hit a single bot.

"Dammit!"

"These bots are too skinny!"

"I got one!"

Next up, was Shiyu.

Recruits were already saying:

"Wonder what weapon shes gonna choose."

She walked towards the weapons rack, and she picked up a sniper, and she closed her eyes, meditating. Seconds later, glowing white lines formed on the black sniper, and she cocked it back with a bullet shell flying out of it.

'This is good.'

Everyone was curious of her picking up a sniper.

Tae watched, thinking, 'That's never a good sign. She picked up a gun that no one else here picked up yet. That means, she's about to go crazy. This reminds me of when I was being recruited as a soldier, during our own exams..I was so badass!'

(FLASHBACK)

Tae was outside in the sun, wearing a black tight T-shirt, with camo pants and black boots, and there were other cadets with him. They were performing multiple tests, and Tae was the best in all of them, like racing on a running track, hopping over and under obstacles, lifting weights, and even wrestling. Tae won them all, with all the other cadets saying:

"He's only 18, right?"

"Yeah…he is."

"He performs better than most."

"He's laughing. He seems excited."

Then in the shooting range, while everyone was laying down or propped up on a wooden crate, they all shot different targets, knocking them down.

But Tae was getting bullseye for each one, one shot hit the middle of the target, knocking them down faster than ever.

Tae laughed, "HAHA! This is too damn easy!"

On the side, the higher ranked officers watched, saying to each other:

"He's definitely something, isn't he?"

"Definitely lacks sophistication and mature stature. He won't last long."

"You say that about everyone. This kid might have a chance."

"Didn't he just get into a fight with a few cadets before this and almost sent them to the infirmary?"

"He's a loose cannon, but his parents both were with us before they passed. They would've wanted him to come here anyway."

"So you're saving him from consequences of brutal actions?"

"…His parents were great friends of mine. It wouldn't do their souls justice if I don't help them even when they're not here. That boys been through a lot. Growing up without them, getting into fights at school, almost killing his own bullies, he's had it rough. I do pity the kid, I watched out for him a lot, and even was there with him from time to time."

"Why didn't you adopt him?"

"I never had the chance, I was always here. But I did what I could to help him. Even setting up for him to live by himself, with me paying for it. If push comes to shove, I'll get him in line here if he keeps getting out of hand."

"Yeah? We'll see how long that lasts."

(FLASHBACK END)

(Present Day)

(Arena)

In the arena, Shiyu stood there waiting for the test to start, and she took a deep breath, holding it without breathing. A buzzer went off, and Shiyu dashed forward, she slid on the ground, and she made the sniper twist on her arms and on her back as she spun at the same time, and she shot the gun without looking, hitting two bots in the head at once, blowing their heads up.

Tae exclaimed, "WHAT?! THATS SHOWING OFF, DAMMIT!"

The other recruits said:

"Woah!"

"She's awesome!"

"She moves like Captain Miriam!"

Tae was pulling his hair out, getting angrier, saying, "Tch! Just you wait…I'm gonna go allllll out when it's my turn!"

Shiyu dashed to the left, and she spun on the floor again, spinning the sniper around her back, and performed another no look shot, and blasted another robots skinny head off, and the force from the blast knocked wind everywhere. Then, Shiyu jumped and did a 360 flip, shooting her sniper again, killing the robot.

She landed on her knee, and sat up, and the buzzer went off.

Her time : 8 seconds.

Shiyu thought, '8 seconds. Not bad. By the reactions and gestures of the other recruits, I've done well in their eyes.'

In the airship, they said:

"She's flexible.."

Captain Miriam said in sign language, "Those were my moves she's copying. But she's doing them perfectly."

Vivienne said, "Ooooh….looks like she might be going to your Division…"

Captain Miriam didn't say anything.

Yura thought, 'That Shiyu girl…such a pick me and a show off. She's probably doing this to seduce Tae, to get close to him for the scientist Doctor Mura Carmine. Her skills are too…honed. Like she's used to handling technology like this.'

In the other room, Big Mertha said, "Damn! Shiyu could be my next rival besides Tae!"

Cupid smirked, "Hehe…I wanna dissect her too…"

Aria was recording everything, saying, "She's perfect for my new exam post! I'm getting all the best shots!"

Cupid said to Aria, "Ariaaaaa."

"Hm?"

Big Mertha said, "Ya sure we should be recording, remember last year?"

Aria responded, "It's just a ten thousand dollar fine, I can cover it! This is important!"

Cupid and Big Mertha gave each other a side-eye, whispering to each other, "Just..ten thousand." Then they both looked back at Aria.

Aria continued with a smile, "I want to document all of this for the history books! Who knows?!! Maybe in the future, they'll want to know what we went through and stuff! I'll be famous for leaving footage back for them! Cool right?!"

Cupid responds, "..I'll sennnnd them body parts of zombiessss I've slaughtered so they'll knowww me for my hobbyyyy and artttt."

Aria answered, "Ehhh, that's sickening and frightening! Absolutely not!"

Big Mertha exclaimed, "Ha! Since we're on this topic, I wanna-."

Cupid, Aria, and some of the other female soldiers in the Sword and Blade Division interrupted her, saying, "You wanna freeze yourself in a giant ice cube and when the future comes you'll be unfrozen and you'll try and find a new worthy opponentttt?"

Big Mertha laughed, "HAHA! You guys know me too well!"

One female soldier watched the three of them, thinking, 'Mertha, Cupid, and Aria. All three of them used to hate each other. They always fought over the Vice Captain position, every day in the division house, there was always a loud bang in the morning, it was them fighting. Since the zombie hybrid boy showed up, they've been seeming like they've been drawing closer to each other. It's strange, why is that?'

Down in the arena, it was Tae's turn. He and Shiyu walked past each other, giving each other a glance. In the blink of an eye, Captain Yura was down there again, saying to Tae, "Oi, you're falling for her trap."

Tae got scared, exclaiming, "AGH! Damn Yura! What are you doing, fool?!"

"Shut up! Goodbye!"

"What?!"

Yura vanished in speed again, and Shiyu said, "She is suspicious of me."

Tae replied, "Everything's gotta be about you, huhhh?"

"Are you perhaps jealous..?"

"JEALOUS?! OF YOU?! WATCH THIS!"

Tae walked up to the bots, and he waited for the buzzer to go off.

Tae said, "Everyone's gonna go crazy after I do this!"

Tae thinks, 'I actually hope this works. Give me a rocket launcher give me a rocket launcher give me a rocket launcher!'

The buzzer went off, and a rocket launched formed in Tae's hands, and he started to laugh, "HAHAHA! EAT MY SHIT, BOTS!"

Tae blasted a rocket forward, and it destroyed all the bots in a few seconds, and the impact from the destruction made the ground crack a little, and winds blasted everywhere. Everyone was covering themselves, trying to block the wind from bombarding their faces.

"That power!"

"He can spawn rocket launchers into existence!"

"What can't he do?!"

There was a piece of robot rolling on the ground, and Tae dashed up to it, grabbed it, spun around, and launched it into the sky with a grin, while holding the rocket launcher in his other arm.

"Kaboom!"

When Tae launched the robot piece into the sky, the arena cracked a few time, the ground rumbled a lot, and most of the recruits fell to the ground, the impact was so strong, it shook the airship as well.

"That was uncalled for!"

Captain Yayan was laughing, saying, "Haha! Put him in my division already, Commander! I love this kid! With the ability to create weapons and artillery from thin air…that's definitely a must for me!"

Kharma said, "D-Did Tae HAVE to-to do that at the end?!!"

Vivienne says, "Whoa..whoa…my head's spinning..!"

Yura said, "Why is Shiyu staring at him like that?"

The robot piece was all the way in space, and it crashed through multiple asteroids, destroying them easily, and then getting lost in space.

Tae turned around to everyone, grinned with a thumbs up, saying, "Ya like that?"

Some of the recruits fawned over him even more, hugging up on him, feeling his muscles and abs.

Tae laughed, "Ladies! Ladies! Come on, I'm pretty shy!"

Shiyu brushed herself off, and said to herself, "Okay then."

In the next test, there were scarecrow-like dummies standing all over the arena, and there was medical gauze and alcohol sitting on top of each other beside the scarecrows.

The final test for the first selection, the first section of the exams, was about to begin.

This time, Captain Vivienne of the Medic Division was talking to everyone on the large speaker from the airship to the arena, saying, "The..last test….for the first selection of the exams..will definitely..determine if you stay…or not. When dealing..with civilians who are bitten…by zombies…if not treated in time..they will turn into the same level zombie that bit them in less than 10 seconds. Our job…is to cut off the body part of the..bitten area where…the zombie chomped…and then…pour alcohol on it…and wrap it in gauze."

Tae raised his hand, and exclaimed, "I gotta big big question! What happens if they get bit in the face or neck?"

Everyone looked at him, not saying anything.

Vivienne replied, "Then..there's nothing we can do. If they…are bitten in vital..fatal spots…then we cannot help them. But…when humans panic..they tend to put up an arm first…thinking it will protect them from danger…that's mostly the case when…they are approached by zombies. And the chances of humans…getting bit in the arm due to them panicking…is 58%."

"Ahh. Gotcha."

Tae thought, 'Damn, just like that? Giving up on them? No, I guess it's not giving up. It's just..nothing else they can do. So like if someone gets bit in the balls, then they cut their-.'

Vivienne says, "Your jobs…are to cut off different non fatal sections of the dummy…pour alcohol on it…and wrap it up in gauze….the non fatal spot will be glowing red and orange. I hold the record for the most dummies fixed….80 completed in 5 minutes.."

The recruits said:

"80 in five minutes?!"

"Expected of the Medic Division Captain!"

Tae thought, 'Haha, I remember during the cadet exams in the force, we did something like this. We were being trained by the medical team, just in case things happened, we were able to patch each other or ..I for one…wasn't good at it. I was fast, yeah, but my precision and accuracy didn't align with my speed, which fucked people and their wounds up. So over time, the more I practiced it, the more I was more accurate, the more I practiced, the more my speed was aligned with my accuracy and precision. It became consistent, and I became highly good at it. So this should be a walk in the park.'

Vivienne said lastly, "This…will be timed. Get as many as you can…in under 5 minutes. Grab a medical blade from the rack..and and begin."

The medial blades were blades that cut smoothly on skin, and they were assigned to everyone who was in the Medical Division.

The buzzer went off, and everyone dashed forward, grabbing a blade from the weapons rack, and started the exam.

Tae grabbed a medical blade, and dashed toward a dummy. He cut its arm clean off, stabbed his blade into the ground, and started pouring gauze on the wound, and then started wrapping gauze around it, thinking, 'Faster…faster!'

He started getting flashbacks of himself back in the war, patching up his comrades in an abandoned building with a rain of bullet hellfire all around them, going as fast as he could, with bullet holes in his back, and blood rushing down his face.

Tae remembered that day, and he remembered on that same day, during that same moment, he exclaimed with a grin, "I gotcha, stop being pussies and get up! It'll all be fine!"

While Tae was wrapping up the dummies arms, he chuckled, saying to himsel, "That day was definitely crazy, not gonna lie."

Shiyu was doing the same, dashing around with sweat falling from her head, and patching up the dummies.

'Faster..faster!'

The other recruits were running around, some kept messing up, some kept missing the spots to cut, cutting the wrong areas, and they got frustrated.

But most of them were doing a good job, easily doing the test.

(5 minutes later)

Almost everyone was out of breathe, some laid on the ground in sweat, some of the recruits were leaning up against each other.

"I'm so…exhausted…"

"Me too.."

"I think I'm done…"

"I hope there's a break in between selections."

Tae and Shiyu were just standing there, they were sweating, but they weren't tired, nor were they breathing heavily.

Commander Salan from the airship, saying, "Of course those two wouldn't be fazed by now. Should we add like, ten more tests before the final selection?"

Commander Esther replied, "No. This is good. Since we've all tallied up our decisions anyway, we're going to cut off the recruits who didn't get enough points to move to the final selection."

"Uhh, what's the final selection again? I'm a little hazed right now. I got thirsty and stuff."

"I never told any of you. The final selection…will be a real mission."

"Whaaa?"

Everyone else gasped.

Yura said, "A mission? A live mission? They're only recurits!"

Yayan added, "Gotta prepare them for the crazy shit that'll happen. They need to get used to it anyway."

Vivienne says, "…Ohh.."

Kharma panicked, stuttering, "B-But s-some of them might not be ready for a real m-mission!"

Commander Esther said, "….Not ready for a real mission, means not ready for protecting the world from zombies. Let's cut those who failed, and begin the final selection."