Shocked by the outcome, Akio peered down to see both Mia and Ard's horrid looks on their faces.

"This can't be." Mia said as tears rolled down her cheek.

More soldiers marched through the main entrance of the hall. The soldiers stopped and then like robots, targeted an individual standing up and proceeded to approach them.

Akio observed in shock as the standing Cadets were firmly grabbed and escorted out of the hall.

"Come with me, cadet." A soldier said in a commanding voice as he grabbed Akio by the arm.

"Get off me!" Akio aggressively responded as he attempted to free his arm from the soldier's grasp.

"Any potential officers that wish to volunteer to be part of an infantry squad please stand up now." The commander's voice boomed out through the hall.

"Ard no!" Mia's shaken voice screamed out.

Akio turned around to see Ard getting up from the floor.

"What are you doing Ard?" Akio shouted as he was forcefully escorted by the soldier.

"I never wanted to be an officer and volunteers get to choose the squads they join." Ard responded as he followed Akio out of the hall.

Akio turned around as the doors to the hall closed and noticed Mia's anguished face.

"You should have just stayed with Mia." Akio said to Ard.

"Mia will be fine. She will be in a command center somewhere, not the front line." Ard responded as Akio was pushed towards a camouflaged military convoy vehicle.

"Hey, let go of him. You push him again and I break your arm." Ard barked at the soldier as he stood over him.

Ard was around 6 foot 4 inches in height and approximately 135 kilograms of muscle. He had always been intimidating even when he was younger. Akio had seen Ard even make visiting officers tremble when they attempted to give him orders.

The officer looked up at Ard and quickly let go of Akio.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"Both of you, get in the truck." The soldier sneered.

Akio and Ard climbed into the back of the truck to see another six cadets sitting down. He could see the horrified looks on their faces.

"I was told it is close to thirty percent of first time infantry soldiers are killed in their first week on the front line." Ard casually said.

"Damn Ard, read the room." Akio snapped as he looked at the soldiers who stared at Ard with even more horrified faces.

"Oops, sorry!" Ard said as he bowed his head frantically at the cadets to apologize.

The convoy of personnel trucks filled with the cadets exited the military base and separated into different directions. Each truck was destined for different front lines of the war.

The truck Akio and Ard was in had been moving for what seemed like hours until he began to hear the distant sounds of explosions.

"We are getting close." Ard stated as the ground became bumpy. No one responded to him and the drive continued to be silent.

The explosions became louder as the truck had come to a complete stop.

Akio could hear the back of the truck being unlocked. The doors opened to three soldiers in dirty and slightly torn infantry attire ushering the newly promoted infantry out of the truck.

"Go, go, go!" One of the soldiers said in a panicked voice.

Akio and the cadets exited the truck with the assistance of the soldiers. He looked around to see an open and desolate field with various craters in the earth from what appeared to be some type of artillery fire. There was also barbed wire fencing and anti tank hedgehogs further down the field.

Suddenly a bright purple orb whizzed past Akio and struck one of the soldiers in the chest who had just been helping him and Ard. The soldier briefly screamed and then vaporized into purple light.

“Get down into that trench now soldiers!” A soldier yelled as he pointed to an opening in the ground.

The group of former cadets along with the other soldiers ran towards the trench entrance. More purple orbs zipped past Akio and Ard this time striking one of the former cadets who vanished into nothing. Akio looked up to see a fireball the size of a human falling like a meteor towards them.

“Watch out!” Akio screamed as he stopped in his tracks.

Ard along with some of the soldiers and cadets heeded Akio’s warning and stopped. Two of the cadets and a single soldier continued on. The fireball landed at their feet and exploded into a ball of flames. The soldiers screamed as their bodies had been completely engulfed in flames. The group watched on helplessly. The screams stopped. Only the charred remains of the soldiers were left laying on the ground.

“Move now!” A soldier barked.

The group continued their advance towards the trench entrance. More purple orbs flicked past. The orbs were slow enough for Akio to see them but quick enough that prevented him from dodging them.

Akio reached the entrance of the trench which was approximately three meters wide and two meters deep. He let out a sigh of relief and turned around to see Ard right behind him.

“Wow, that was intense.” Ard said as he put his hands around his hips and tried to catch his breath.

“How are you so okay with this?” Akio questioned Ard.

“I have to be. I have been training for this since I was a kid just like you. We have no choice.” Ard replied.

Explosions and the sound of gunfire continued to ring out in the distance. Akio and the group of former cadets moved deeper into the trenches. The trenches were filled with mud. Every now and then the group would pass by soldiers who he knew were on guard duty. He noticed the soldiers were tired, and their clothes were ripped and dirty. The morale was clearly low here.

The width of the trench widened and Akio could see a marquee with a table, map and various soldiers with green patches on their shoulders around it. Officers.

One of the officers, a girl with a blue streak of dye in her hair, looked up at the group. Her bright blue eyes gleaming from the lit lantern that sat on the table.

“Welcome to the Kyoto Squad and the front line soldiers. My name is Rin” She said with a warm smile.

“Excuse me.” A quiet voice said from behind.

Akio turned around to see a man in a hoodie, pure white wings protruding from his back and what he knew was glowing red elemental armor appearing every now and then from his trench coat as the man moved past him. He could feel a strong pressure, like an aura resonating from this man.

“You’re… you’re a guardian!” Akio said in excitement.