[Erick Sander]

I sliced through a low hanging branch as we sprinted through the trees, with a single goal in mind. We had to catch up to the team from China. I scanned the forest with my eyes, hoping to catch a glimpse of white-tipped black hair.

We had been on the move for six hours, tripping over roots and ducking under branches. We ran around the trunks of trees, many of which stretched fifty meters into the air. Why couldn’t they have gone to find the stronghold that was in the middle of that field? I thought as I jumped yet another fallen log.

As we ran, I swept my EM sense around like a radar, scanning for any human movement. The soft mossy ground broke under my feet as I grabbed the back of Jacks bag and skidded us both to a halt. Drawing a second sword I braced myself as a person, then ten more, slipped past tree trunks to our right, moving in quickly but silently.

I lowered my blades as a team from South East Asia came into view. One of them, a young man with thickly muscled forearms nodded to Jack, then the rest of us. “This way,” He whispered before turning his back on us and running off through the bush.

He was our guide and the key to this whole plan. Having been one of the first to leave the compound, he had hidden and waited for the Chinese team to be released. Then he had tracked them, using his newly acquired sword to leave deep cuts in the trunks as he passed. Marking the way for us, and his teammates. “Where are the rest of the guys from Asia.” James hissed, as we ran. We were still missing a large chunk of our team who had yet to be released, as well as a group from Japan and Korea who were meant to have been with us by now.

I left like James concern was warranted. I had to admit that I was also worried about their absence, what if they told the team from China what we were planning? I kept thinking. I wasn’t given more time to dwell on the thought as we followed two of the Southeast Asians as they veered off to the left. The rest of the large pack staying on course. We sprinted hard, knowing that our target would only be a few hundred meters ahead, and moving slower as they tried to locate the stronghold. The fringe of my EM sense picked up movement deeper into the bush.

A group was milling, still heading west, but in a disordered pattern. We sprinted in a swooping motion, moving further west then cutting back towards the group. Jack slowed to a walk on command and we crept through the not thick undergrowth until we saw hints of movement.

There in the centre of a crop of tall trees was the group from china. They knew we were here; they knew they were quickly becoming surrounded as the teams moved into position. The Chinese fighters were pressed back to back, scanning the deep green for any movement. Many held their swords tightly in white-knuckled grips, but my focus was on the officer with the white-tipped hair, his metal arms exposed to the air, his sword held in a light but experienced grip. A small smirk was stretched across his face, a violent contrast to the worried expressions of his team. We outnumbered them, even without the extras from Japan and Korea, there were still eighteen of us. All hell-bent on making sure that the Chinese did not make it through this trial. It wasn't anything personal, except maybe between myself and the white haired officer, but we couldn't allow them to gain any strong allies, so while cities around the Pacific continued to wage war, we would have our own battle here.

Since my time in the sands of the Carlton house I had to admit I was impulsive and quick to violence, but it was not me that reacted first. As I crouched there, my legs itching to spring into action, a spear rocketed over my shoulder. It flashed through the air, and a Chinese fighter dove out of its path. But it was still an effective attack, as one man moved out of harm's way, he left his companion in danger. The spear plunged into the back of one of the men and he staggered forward, his face lost into the moss and grass as he dropped to the ground.

The forest erupted into a violent circle of motion. Men and woman sprang from between trees and behind bushes, rushing at the team from china who could only shuffle their feet and ready themselves to fight for their lives, already one man down. I took off after Mia and Samantha, who had drawn a combat knife to replace her thrown spear. Samantha split from the group, weaving in and out of the attackers to loop around the defending pack.

Two fighters from Vietnam slid to the ground as Ice formed under their feet, one of them sliding into a wide slash from a Chinese fighter. Thing spouts of fire cut through the air, searing the black of a man's head and spreading the stench of burnt hair through the trees.

We collided with the Chinese fighters in a vicious eruption of blood and metal. Swords, axes, knives and spears clashing together. I ducked a thrust from one of the defenders, dipping low and slicing into his leg with a sword. I knocked him back with my shoulder before slicing down at the arm of another man who lashed out at Jack. Jack blocked the attack with his shield before the man dropped his sword as I cut deep into his forearm.

I had been in plenty of fights, but nothing like this. During the fights in the arena, we had worked in a cohesive unit, knowing everyone’s moves. Dividing and taking apart the enemy as we had trained. But these fighters were not used to a close quarter’s melee, I had to dodge two overreached attacks from my own side as thick axes and swords were swung in wide attacks. With their lack of training, they were more of a danger to themselves than their opponent.

I flicked a Chinese sword aside and sliced through the man’s chest, before kicking him back into his comrades. I used the momentum to push myself back out of the centre of the fight. I scanned the group. Samantha had retaken her spear and was in the middle of skewering another young man.

The rest of our side was clearly overwhelming the Chinese. The sheer numbers meant that there was little they could do, except for two men. Off to the side of the small clearing, the Chinese officer with the white hair flicked his swords around himself, a wide grin was plastered on his face as he fought off seven attackers together. Seven against one and he was clearly winning. Two men from Thailand fell, while the others scrambled together, doing everything they could to keep death at bay.

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I launched myself past Mia as she kicked a man onto Kegs waiting sword. Her eyes followed me as I slipped through the fight. I stretched out, blocking a sword an inch from a Thai fighter’s neck, slamming into the Chinese officer at full sprint. Dropping my shoulder, to ram him. He skidded across the dirt, the grin never leaving his face.

He seemed to be enjoying this fight, but I wasn’t here for fun. I gave him no time to recover as I followed him, slicing through a thin tree trunk as he dodged left, stepping aside as he stabbed out. I turned the dial in my mind, slowing my perception of time. I was stronger and faster than the last time we fought, but I knew I would need every advantage I could get.

We fought back and forth around the edge of the battle, trading blows. His strength continually knocking my sword aside and my speed putting me outside of his reach. He used his augmented arms to block and defect blows as though they were shields.

I knew my limits and knew that if I slowed time anymore, I would be able to slip past his well-trained guard, but at a cost. The more I used my augment, the more pain I caused myself, and I couldn’t just kill myself and respawn to remove the effects. I slipped a thrust to the chest, and my slash was blocked by his augmented left metallic arm, leaving a shallow cut in the metal.

I redoubled, slashing down and again he blocked with the arm. And the cut grew deeper. I dodged then brought both blades down on his arm, with as much strength as I could muster. The first bounced off the metal, but the second sank in deeper, slicing through the outer armoured layer and slicing through a collection of wires.

Black fluid grained from the wound and his hand went limp and the arm shuddered.

His eyes went wide in surprise, he thought the arm would hold up? I thought as I ducked horizontal swipe and sprang to his left, where his arm shuddered uselessly at his side as it leaked fluid. I stabbed out and he was too slow to bring his sword around to defend. My sword entered the base of the neck, stabbing down through his flesh.

I ripped it free, cutting through his spine and watched as he collapsed to the ground. Dead.

I twisted time back to normal and looked around the patch of thin forest. The Chinse soldiers lay dead or dying, blood splattered on leaves and grass. Among them lay eight of the fighters from south-east Asia. I was thankful that none of my team was among the dead, though James now held his hand over a deep cut across his chest while Olivia soaked blood into her shirt from a wound along her ribs. The other stood watching me, clearly having finished the last of the soldiers before I managed to kill the Chinese officer.

Mia watched me as I clipped Havars swords to my back, checked the Officers pockets, then took his sword and sheath from his belt. I slid the blade home and tossed it to her.

“Might be useful,” I said, “What now?” I asked, looking between Jack, and the leader of the Southeast Asian Section, who was not bleeding profusely from a series of cuts across his face.

“Now we part ways, We’re heading north,” The man said, speaking to Jack. Who reached out and shook his hand, “Rather not have to contend with that” He said, nodding to me. Jack smiled in understanding.

“Thanks, Lu, we appreciate that,” Jack said, “I’ll see you after. Here” Jack reached into Kegs thin backpack. Pulling out a bound length of thin rope, which he handed to Lu.

Lu nodded in thanks before leading his men north.

“Well thank fuck for you, just removed a threat before it even became one,” Jack said, “Good work on that one” He nodded to the dead body at my feet. I looked at the dead man, It, was a good job. I thought I had walked away from that fight without having my chest caved in. It might have been due to my increased rank, or maybe he lost rank with his last death. I nudged the body with my boot then looked back at Jack and the others.

“Let’s go find that stronghold,” I said, walking off towards the west.

It took us two hours to find the stronghold. We ran in wide circles, spread out throughout the forest, separated but still in communication through a single comms channel, used only when one of us found the stronghold or ran into trouble. If I was a betting man, I would have said I would be the one to find the stronghold, given that I could cover more ground with my EM sense. I was almost disappointed when Mia’s voice cracked over the comms channel, “Found it. Ten clicks out, south-west from the RV.”

There wave of positive responses before she spoke again, “I also found our friends from Asia.”

It turned out, the reason the rest of the section from Japan and South Korea were absent from our fight against the Chinese was because they had decided to use the distraction to find the stronghold. While we had been tracking and killing, they had slipped around us, found the stronghold and all sixteen of them were now strongly protected behind its walls. Those mother fuckers, I thought, scowling to my self as I ran towards the stronghold.

When I slipped silently through the trees behind Mia, I placed a hand lightly on her back and whispered, “Anyone else in there?” I didn’t look at her as she responded, too engrossed in studying the stronghold.

Fitting to the surrounding forest, the defensive walls and building of the stronghold were made from thick timber and logs. Walls twenty feet high stood in the centre of a clearing, looming above us as we knelt in the shrubs, less than twenty meters away.

“No, no one that I could see. They are doing loops of the walls, every four minutes” Mia whispered.

“Can we climb them?” I asked.

“Sam could, but even she would struggle. See the angle?” she continued to watch the top of the wall for any movement. I looked closer. The walls were made to angle outwards, in an attempt to stop climbers. “Cut through it?” I asked.

“I already tried. My spearhead bounced off it like it was stone. I suspect we could chip away at it, but it would take too long.” As she spoke in a light whisper, Jack and Keg moved silently up behind us, followed by Samantha, Olivia and James.

“I got the message to the rest of our section; they are on there way. Two hours out. What's happening” Jack said. Pulling tightly behind a bush, out of sight from the wall.

Mia explained to the others what she had just told me, and a contemplative silence fell on the group. We couldn’t climb the walls. Breaking through would take too long, as would digging under. Our only advantage was how close the trees were, we could sit and wait until one of them opened the gate to leave, but that was unlikely to happen. They only had to hold it for less than two days now, leaving would be idiotic.

“There has to be a way in, it wouldn’t be much of a trial if there wasn’t. There has to be a way” Jack hissed. He repeated the same thing under his breath, over and over as he gazed around. He looked at the walls as if taking in every inch. Then he scanned the ground, the rough grass between us and the stronghold. Then he looked at the trees that towered above us.

Jack reached into his backpack and pulled out a lighter before he spoke, “James, Bring me your axe. I have an idea.”