“About face,” the officer commanded.

  All the soldiers obeyed the order and gave the general their salute. The man raised his hands.

  “At ease.”

  General Frederick Ironside, in charge of leading the whole expedition effort in the Lost Lands. He had a gruff look about him. His presence demanded absolute respect. He explained his reason for arriving at the barracks with Veltaire Black.

  Avryn was in awe just by looking at him. He wondered how strong he was in battle. A person who was named general must have seen at least a thousand battles. A thousand possibilities ran through Avryn’s mind.

  Select squads were chosen to come to Vistella Corp, Leifren’s and Avryn’s included. The building was more impressive from the inside, and even busier. The very foundation of rapidly evolving technology in the world, and they were chosen to be in it. Oliviere gave them the tour of the different facilities inside the building.

  It was a wonder watching it all. Crystal synthesis and analysis, weapons and armor research and development, amongst other things. Avryn had never been in such an advanced place. He made sure to take it in with the rest of his squad mates.

  “Now, for the main event, as they say,” Veltaire said.

  He introduced the construction robots. They gave a demonstration and built a full fledged house in a matter of ten minutes. Enough for a family of four. He smiled as they finished up construction.

  “With this technology, we can ensure a more rapid expansion into the Lost Lands, as well as housing development across The Chain,” he explained.

  “Impressive indeed, Mr. Black,” the general praised. “Which brings me to this.”

  The general explained the purpose of showing them all this. The Chain had decided to built the fifth outpost. There will be a few weeks of time for the squads to show their worth and be chosen to do the task for erecting Outpost E. Perform well, and their chances to be chosen would be increased.

  Avryn was licking his chops for the chance to do just that, and so was Harver. Having their squads have the honor of doing that would be a good notch under their belts. The rest of the soldiers fed off their energy too.

  “Never thought I’d have a chance of doing that in my lifetime,” Leifren smiled.

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  “Outpost D was created ten years ago,” Rinna recalled.

  With the new technology, they could create even more outposts if the upcoming mission would be successful.

  They were all dismissed by the general with a salute. They returned to the barracks for lunch and reflected on the events.

  “Outpost E, huh?” Avryn’s wondered. “We’ll need to be at our best to be chosen.”

  Valoche and Tvira both nodded.

  Rinna explained her mother was present during the construction of Outpost D. It was a massive battle for that territory. It was a hard-fought victory, but it had its casualties. She hoped with the new technology it would be mitigated at the very least. Leifren and Jenilah chimed in that Auskar was present for it as well. It was a Herculean effort from the united army.

  Avryn realized something. If a task like that needed the strongest squads, perhaps he would meet Leandros and Carolus that way. Leifren spoke up,

  “While we’re here, we aught to upgrade our gear. Take advantage of our stay here.”

  It was agreed upon by all. They made their way to the quartermaster and saw to their weapons upgraded. Avryn went his own way for a bit. He brought out a whetstone to sharpen Lerosa. It had been a while and now was a good time. He was left with his thoughts. If he could help lead his squad to be one of the few chosen, it would help elevate each other. A gathering of soldiers piqued his interest. He overheard the soldiers talking about a battle royale and apparently the commander was organizing it. A grin formed across his face. If there’s a grand battle to be had, he had to be part of it.

  He finished up sharpening Lerosa; she looked good as new. The rest of his squad, finished with their upgrades, came by and awaited the next orders from their leader.

  “I want us to join the battle royale they’re having,” he gestured with his head.

  Harver and the rest of his squad arrived.

  “A battle royale? Count us in,”

  Avryn stood up and offered his hand.

  “May the best man win.”

  They shook each other’s hands. Their grip was firm. The others eyed each other, some with smiles on their faces. That afternoon, they went to the barracks. The barracks commander paced back and forth.

  “Alright, maggots. You know the rules: free for all battle royale. Last man standing wins and gets a month’s worth of leave.” he explained.

  “Sir, yes, sir!” they collectively yelled.

  The entire barracks square was filled with at least eighty soldiers including Avryn and Leifren’s squad. Tensions were running high. They all prepared their weapons. The commander gave the go signal.

  The square was then filled with war cries as the sound of clashing steel filled the air. Avryn was in the middle of a threeway against two other soldiers. He danced around them both and took them out with a powerful shot from Lerosa. Looking for his next target, he found Harver alone against a squad of four soldiers. He decided to give him a hand and ran towards him. Shots from Lerosa distracted two of the squad enough that it turned the tide of the fight. Harver and Avryn took out the squad with ease.

  “Now with that out of the way,” Avryn said.

  He took a swipe at Harver, who dodged out of the way. A few shreds of his hair was cut as a result of that attack. He laughed and smirked at Avryn. The real fight was about to begin. A well place bullet grazed the both of them. They looked to where it was from and saw Leifren, with his gun’s barrel smoking.

  “Free for all rules,” Leifren recounted.

  A great whirlwind knocked a great deal of the other soldiers. Valoche entered the scene. Harver and Avryn covered each other’s backs. They would have to deal with their own teammates first.

  Avryn charged at Valoche and met him with a shoulder tackle. Valoche was a brick wall. Lerosa grinded against Valoche’s axe.

  “Show me the results of your training,” Valoche said.

  “May the best man wind,” Avryn disengaged briefly and took several shots at him.

  The bullets rang off from Valoche’s axe, while his ancestral winds displaced the others. Valoche charged and slashed at Avryn. The slash served as a feint as he switched midway to his own shoulder tackle. Avryn was sent flying to the other side of the square. His back met with the concrete. The wind was truly knocked out of him.

  “Damn, that hurts,” he clutched at his back.

  A whirling axe caught his attention. He ducked just in time. It embedded itself onto the wall. He grabbed it and ran back up to Valoche. They circled around each other again. A shot to the back took Valoche out of the fight. Avryn looked to where the source of the shot was. It was from Jenilah, and now her gun was aimed at him.

  “You remember Bernadetta right, Avryn?” she smiled.

  He was looking down the barrel of her shotgun.

  “That I do.”

  He aimed his gunblade right at her. A standoff.