"I will now begin the explanation of the first phase." Asante nodded to his left, cueing a soldier to run and hand him a gun, similar to a rifle. After thanking him, Asante spoke once more. "The first phase will be a mock battle, in which you will be using these." He held the gun high for everyone present to see. "These rifles are not real, and thus will not cause any fatalities. You will group into squads of four and face against another four of random choosing. For your squad to secure a victory in the mock battle, all you'd need to do is eliminate or cause the surrenders of each member in the opposing squad."

Asante pointed to the candidate he had previously fired at and requested that he stand next to him. After a slight hesitation, the applicant stepped forward and stood to Asante's right, facing him the whole time.

"To eliminate the opposition, you must fire your rifle at a target. Inside each of the rifles are pellets with a dyed powder that will show upon your clothing, so don't even try to think about 'cheating death'. Should you hit your target in a fatal area," Asante paused and pointed the rifle towards the outspoken aspirant's head. "In other words, the head, the chest, and so on, the target will be eliminated. Now, your target will be injured if you hit your target in a non-fatal area, the arms, the legs, and so on. Two injuries will equal an elimination. I would advise against randomly firing in all directions, as eliminating members of your team is entirely possible and is guaranteed to happen to one of you. I should note that elimination does not equate to elimination from military selection. What will, however, is not abiding by the rules of the game. If you continue to fight or attempt to eliminate an opponent after you've been eliminated, you will be exempt from entering the military for good."

Asante set the rifle on the ground. "Everything you may use to your advantage is allowed. Strategy, sacrifices, anything. As long as you don't completely kill off your opponents, everything is allowed. Broken bones, fractures, and anything of the sort will simply show that the person is not fit for this prestigious military. Tripping, bruising, and injuries like those will be allowed. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yessir!"

"Good. Then I trust you to create your squads. Come to anyone in uniform within the hour, or you will be disqualified from examinations."

Asante picked the rifle from the ground and walked towards the ticket booth. Floods of uniformed men came onto the field with clipboards in hand, and the once orderly group of candidates began separating themselves frantically.

"All right," Kastor said, stretching his long arms into the air. "All we need to do is find two more."

Stanley put his hand to his chin. "I'm thinking we should get that Leonard Rietveld from the fight earlier."

Kastor laughed. "Really? You want a republic traitor on our squad? What's the reason behind that?!"

"Think about it for a second. Commander Asante said that the matches were randomly chosen, but I can't imagine the groups would be completely random. That Henry Kistler fellow clearly had some history with Leonard, and that would make his group easier to fight."

Kastor looked up to the sky, deep in thought. "Why's that?"

"From what I could tell from Henry's behavior, he isn't exactly the smartest guy around. Because of that, we can use his obsession with getting Leonard eliminated to our advantage."

Hmmm... Kastor scanned the crowd for Leonard and found him laying off to the side, no one bothering to come near him. "Didn't you see how he fought, though? The guy can barely put up a fight; all he can do is dodge! It'd be a guaranteed death on our part."

"That's just it, Kastor." Stanley pulled him aside to a part of the field without any grass and began drawing in the dirt. "Leonard's dodging ability will allow us to work with him as a team. Mock battles are all about testing how well a team can work together, and Henry's confidence in being able to eliminate Leonard will cause his team to fall apart completely. As long as we can work around that very detail, we'd be able to pull ahead, no matter who our fourth person is."

Kastor drew a deep sigh. "Stan, I don't know if this plan of yours is extremely smart or extremely stupid, but I'll go along with it 'cause I can't think of any better. Let's go recruit Rietveld."

The two of them walked up towards the sprawling Leonard. His eyes were shut as bruises covered his skin. He now wore a lime-colored wool shirt over his tank top, his pants showing a dirtied maroon scheme.

Stanley bent down to get closer to the beaten man. "Leonard Rietveld?"

Leonard rubbed his eyes for a moment before looking at Stanley. The distance between the two shocked him as he quickly jumped up and backed away from them.

"W-What do you want?" He asked.

Stanley stood up and stepped towards Rietveld. "We were told to get in squads of four. You want to team up with us?"

Rietveld held a face of disbelief. He glanced back and forth between Stanley and the exceptionally tall Kastor before looking around him. "This isn't some sick joke, is it?"

Kastor snapped his fingers in Leonard's direction. "Does it sound like a joke? We're asking you to join us, and it's not like you've got any other options, does it?"

Leonard raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I'll join you guys. Why pick me though? Wouldn't my name cause you harm?"

"We'll discuss that later," Stanley remarked. "For now, we need to focus on getting a fourth man.

"I hear you require of a fourth?" A voice came from behind Stanley and Kastor. They turned around to see a man slightly taller than Stanley with a symmetrical, handsome face. His chiseled chin provided depth to his perfectly sized neck, and his muscles defined themselves through his black long-sleeved shirt. He wore gray pants and a black belt to complete the outfit of a minimalist and wore his hair in a classy, fashionable way.

"The name's Erick, Erick Newborn. I hope I'm not overstepping my boundaries too much, but I couldn't help overhearing the need for a fourth member? I'm fairly confident in my sniping abilities, so I should be able to help. If you'll allow me, of course."

Kastor turned towards Stanley. "I don't know about you, but this guy could compensate up for Leonard's... lacking abilities." He whispered.

"As I said, it doesn't matter who the fourth is, as long as they cooperate," Stanley mumbled. "Why, of course, we have room for you!" Stanley clapped his hands together and stepped towards Erick. "This should be enough for our team to succeed; good to be working with you, Leonard, Erick."

"S-Sure," Leonard replied.

Erick shook Stanley's hand confidently. "You can count on me!"

Kastor reported the four of their names to one of the uniformed men while Stanley explained his strategy to Erick and Leonard. The two seemed to understand what he was aiming for and agreed wholeheartedly to the plan.

After an hour passed, and Asante called forward all the participants. He requested they stand to the side of the field as it began to shake the ground. A moment later, mechanical doors powered by steam swung open to show a staircase that led beneath the ground. The stairs showed severe age as rust covered almost every possible inch of them.

"Follow me." Asante led the large group down the stairs, and soon it became clear why he did. Beneath the ground was a sprawling forest topped by trees brushing the ceiling everyone was on previously. The roof had large lights that illuminated the enormous underground room fully. After a long walk down the stairs, Asante guided the group to a waiting area carved out of the wall.

"This will be the grounds on which you will partake under the first phase. As you can see, it is simulated to both look and feel like a forest, and in a moment, I will shut off the ceiling lights to make it as dark as night. Both teams will be asked to stand opposite one another and begin their advancement simultaneously. Use it to your advantage. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yessir!"

With a nod, Asante looked up and swung his finger around, slowly dimming the lights to a near pitch-black level. There was some illumination, likely to simulate the moon at night. Turning back to the crowd, he whipped a clipboard from his inside coat pocket and called teams up to begin their mock battle.

* * *

"Freeman, Gregor, Rietveld, and Newborn, please come see me. Freeman, Gregor, Rietveld, and Newborn."

The four quickly stood up and responded to Asante's request. Once they reached him, he ushered them to his left, where another squad could be seen, preparing themselves for battle.

"It is uncustomary, but there's been a request that I'm letting fall on your ears," Asante began. "Simply put, Kistler requested you four be his opponent. You'll have a choice to go against them as he had requested or take the random bout. Either choice you make, you will be the next in the forest."

Without hesitation, Stanley accepted to take Kistler's request. He looked back at Kastor and gave him a thumbs up.

The four of them walked up to Kistler's squad and introduced themselves. Henry had picked up three people appearing to have more brawn than brains. Two identical men who appeared to be clones of the outspoken man from earlier stood by a somewhat average-looking individual.

"I'm the captain of the squad, Henry Kistler. I have no need for the three who don't matter. I'll be taking out Rietveld." Henry didn't bother sticking his hand out to shake, instead scoffing and continuing to warm up.

The next man to step up appeared normal apart from his face. He was much shorter than Stanley and wore a tight outfit, designed specially to move around in. He had jet black hair, and his skin was a lighter color than Stanley was used to. Unlike Kistler, he shook Stanley's, Kastor's, and Erick's hands but didn't bother with Leonard. His face wore a goofy grin that spread from ear to ear as he shook each person's hand. "I'm Hagen Miura. Best of luck to you all. You're gonna need it." With those brief words and a chuckle, Hagen stepped back to join Henry in warming up.

The two identical men stood forward next, one of whom, Stanley guessed, was the outspoken individual from earlier. They took a bow instead of shaking hands. "We're the Leicester brothers," they said in unison. One of the brothers grew a beard while the other was cleanshaven, marking the only noticeable difference between the two down to their clothing.

The bearded twin looked up from his bow. "I'm Ryan," he stated. "The older of the two. This is my brother Liam. We wish you the best of luck." With a confident smile, the two joined their squad leader and began a discussion out of ear's range.

Not a moment after their introductions ended, Asante called the teams to their sides. They were told to follow the walls around until they met with a uniformed member of the examination team.

"You guys go ahead," Stanley began, "I have something I have to ask Asante."

Kastor and the others exchanged glances of confusion before agreeing and beginning their hike.

Once they were out of view, Stanley walked up to Asante, who had been reading his clipboard that had the list of all of the applicants.

"Sir?"

Looking up from his notes, Asante looked Stanley up and down before speaking. "Freeman. What is it? Keep it brief."

"Yes, sir. You see, I'm curious to why we're doing a mock battle first, before any testing of strength or endurance. Isn't it customary that those types of tests come first?"

Asante continued to look into Stanley's eyes before looking off into the forest and putting the clipboard by his side. "Freeman, what's your application number?"

"I believe it was 301, sir."

"Indeed it was. Now, take a look around you. Do you see three hundred people?"

Stanley shook his head.

"Exactly. Now, to make things simple and clear. There is a phase before this that does exactly what you describe. However, everyone present here had already passed that phase by the time they'd arrived here. As for how and why I won't tell you. I'm sure you'd be able to come to a decent conclusion, though."

Stanley nodded before thanking Asante. He had begun to run towards his side before being stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"You're perceptive, Freeman," Asante began in a low, deep voice. "Don't let that get to your head. You might bite off more than you can chew."

Asante lifted his hand and shooed Stanley away. He followed the same path his team took and saw the man in uniform, as he was told. He wore the same as Asante, but unlike Asante, he had a cap and goggles, likely to see clearly in the dark.

"You will wait here until you hear the signal." The uniformed man looked up and waved towards the ceiling. Afterward, he handed the four of them their rifles and guided them through the machine's operations.

While waiting for the signal, Stanley pulled the other three aside. "We'll enter together. Should something go awry, you'll follow my orders. Okay?"

"You can count on us!" Erick exclaimed, putting his hand on Stanley's shoulder and issuing him a thumbs up.

"Well, what about Henry?" Leonard questioned. "He won't exactly be an easy target to take care of."

"I've got that taken care of," Stanley responded. "Just follow my orders, and we'll win this thing."

"Sounds like a plan," Kastor replied, smacking Stanley's back. "Let's go kick some ass!"

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

A sound rang through the underground forest, somewhat like a bell. Stanley recognized it as the signal, and the four rushed into the trees without notice.

The uneven terrain and vines hanging from the trees above caused the four of them to move slower than they were capable of, but Stanley had grown accustomed to the rough ground from his years in the Red-Light District. Kastor followed behind Stanley, glancing left and right, looking for any of the four. Erick and Leonard were far behind Kastor but not entirely out of view, running side by side to check each other's blind spots.

Because the forest was underground, there was very little in the way of ambient sound, lending any artificial noise to appear louder than normal. What did exist, however, were noises from the ground above. While silenced, it caused enough of a stir that the underground facility wasn't entirely silent.

Stanley held his rifle in one hand as he used the other to vault over fallen trees and other objects lying in his way.

And then.

"Get down!" Stanley whispered behind him as he jumped to the ground. Kastor, Leonard, and Erick followed suit as the sound of guns firing rang in the jungle moments later.

By now, Stanley's eyes had adjusted to the darker atmosphere of the facility, and he began glancing his head all around, looking for something he could use to get his squad out of the pickle they found themselves in. He noticed that the sounds of the firing guns had not gotten any closer, so he anticipated a frontal attack by a second force soon.

He turned on his side and noticed a tree with branches that hung low. Turning back towards Kastor, he nodded his head towards the tree. Kastor took a moment to decipher what he had meant but understood within seconds. He nudged Erick, and the two began crawling towards that tree. Kastor used his hands as a stepstool as Erick climbed to the lowest branch, and soon the two were in the tree, climbing ever higher to the tallest trees.

Once they had reached their full height for the trees, Stanley nodded and turned his head towards Leonard. "I want you to stand up," Stanley ordered.

"What!?" Leonard crawled closer to Stanley. "Are you insane? That's suicide!"

"Trust me on this. You won't be shot at." Stanley turned towards the source of the gunfire, their shots never seizing. "I have no doubt in my mind that Kistler told whoever is shooting those bullets to stop shooting once they have sight of you."

"And you want me to take this gamble!?"

"Did you, or did you not agree to take my orders. I'm telling you right now that you will not be shot at."

Leonard clicked his tongue and looked at the ground. "Fine," he said with a sigh. He crawled a distance away from Stanley and stood up quickly so that the shooters would have time to react. As Stanley had predicted, the bullets that had rung continuously throughout the past few minutes stopped their attack.

Puzzled, Leonard turned to Stanley, still strewn about the ground. Just then, the sound of snapping branches from above had reached Stanley's ears. With a loud thump, a prominent figure pinned Leonard to the ground, causing him to lose his rifle.

"Got you now, bitch."

* * *

At the top of the trees, the branches were easy for Kastor and Erick to traverse. The bullets' firing allowed them to find the shooters' general area quickly. They were much farther than Kastor had initially thought, and jumping from branch to branch offered a significant decrease in speed. Erick wasn't far behind, glancing behind his back every so often to check the blind spots.

Without warning, the gunfire seized, causing the two to stop.

"Damn," Kastor whispered. "Stanley must've done something."

"We'll let him and Leonard take care of things on their end." Erick crouched down on his branch. "I trust Freeman has a plan of sorts, and should we fail to do our job, it could all fall apart."

"Right, but how are we going to find whoever was shooting?"

Erick thought for a moment. "They could see us from that far of a distance, right? I can't imagine they'd be blind to us from this close." He pointed towards the ground. "Let's say one of us jumps down, and the other goes after the target?"

Kastor processed what Erick had proposed before agreeing, offering to jump down as the bait. Erick jumped a few trees ahead of Kastor to get a head start. "On three," Kastor whispered. "One, two-"

Without warning, a rock pelted Kastor in the chest, causing him to lose his rifle. With his little reaction time, he quickly gripped onto the branch, hoping to pull himself back up, but it wasn't enough. He fell through the branches down the tall tree, slamming his back upon the ground.

Erick, noticing what had happened, looked for the source of the rock. Just below him was Ryan, the older of the twins, aiming his gun toward the falling Kastor. Erick quickly cocked his gun and pointed it at Ryan. Before he fired, however, he promptly changed his target from Ryan to Ryan's rifle, firing a split second after the adjustment. Erick's bullet shot through the air with precision, hitting the barrel of Ryan's rifle, causing it to be flung from his fingertips. Not a moment later, he began his descent from the trees.

Kastor lay for a moment as he tried to catch his breath from the incredible fall. Opening his eyes, he noticed a figure lunge at him from the corner of his vision. Reacting almost instantaneously, he rolled to the side and hoisted himself to the ground, stumbling for a bit before catching his balance. Ryan stood some three meters from Kastor, fist dirtied from the ground he struck just moments before.

The two stood in silence as they both caught their breath. Kastor gripped his stomach as he held back whatever breakfast he had this morning while Ryan put his fists into the air in a battle-ready stance. After a deep breath, Kastor did the same and the two jumped toward each other.

Erick reached the ground and pointed his rifle towards the ensuing fistfight, but the two combatants were moving too quickly for him to get a good aim at Ryan. Just as the two ducked behind a tree, two bullets whizzed past his ear, causing him to dart to the ground quickly. Glancing toward the shots, he saw Hagen and Liam standing side to side as they bolted to cover behind a tree.

"So," Erick mumbled to himself. "This is how it's going to be, huh?"

Erick crawled to the nearest tree and repeated the actions Stanley ordered him to do, climb to the top of the branches. With relative ease, he reached the blind spot of Hagen and Liam, allowing him to rise through the branches quickly. Once he had reached a safe height to jump down from, he leaped through the branches to position himself behind the targets.

Below, he could see as they began firing towards his previous position. Just before he was to leap to the ground, Hagen made an advance forward for a reason Erick couldn't discern. Seeing this as a better opportunity than ever, he dropped from the low-hanging branch and, in a swift motion, bolted Liam in the back of the head.

As Liam stood up to head out of the forest, Erick advanced in Hagen's direction, ducking behind trees whenever possible. He made considerable distance before spotting him and aiming the rifle at his head, firing with confidence immediately after.

To Erick's surprise, Hagen dodged the bullet from his blind spot, rapidly turning around to make eye contact.

Hagen began to laugh hysterically. "So there is someone like me out there, huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Erick cocked his rifle once more and pointed it towards Hagen.

"I mean your confidence." Hagen sat down with his legs crossed. "Very rarely have I met a man with as much confidence to match my own. In all honesty, it's perfect."

Seeing an opening in Hagen's defense, Erick quickly pulled the trigger in his direction. With immense speed, Hagen leaped into the air as he dodged the bullet and proceeded to seat himself once more on a large rock.

"You know," Hagen said with a sly grin. "The more you shoot, the more you'll make a mockery of yourself. I'll just dodge it anyway. You, on the other hand..."

In less than a second, Hagen cocked his gun, aimed it at Erick, and fired his bullet, landing square on his shoulder. Erick didn't even have time to blink.

"Couldn't even dodge a moving wagon." Hagen stood on top of the rock and laughed to himself once more. "That confidence is being used disproportionately to your skill, but you intrigue me."

Erick scoffed at Hagen. "Are you making a mockery of me? Come down and fight!"

Hagen tried to hold back his laughter but was unsuccessful, breaking out in tears from how hilarious he found Erick's words. Once he gained his composure, he responded. "Short answer? Yeah, I'm mocking you. You clearly have no or very little training, but your confidence and sheer intuition have at least intrigued me. For that, I'll reward you."

Hagen opened the cartridge holder on his rifle, tossing his bullets off to the side, followed by his rifle. "I'll go into this fight with absolutely zero weapons," he said, showing his hands to Erick. "If you can hit me before I get bored of you, I'll let you finish me off. I won't fight back, but if I get bored of you, well, let's just say that you won't be in this mock battle for much longer. Sound fair?"

Hagen dropped from the rock and began jumping in place, readying himself for the ensuing battle.

Erick held his rifle steadily while never losing eyesight of Hagen, whose mocking grin never left. His tight suit rubbed against itself, creating the only sound between them. Erick peered around him through the corners of his eyes to formulate a plan when he noticed a large tree to his left. The tree looked identical to the others, but he caught it because of its position and angle.

Pointing his rifle directly at the tree, Erick shot a bullet without a moment's thought.

"What-" Hagen questioned his actions before bending over backward. The bullet had bounced off the tree and aimed right for his stomach. Bending forward to stand straight, he laughed as he jumped into the trees with supernatural strength.

Erick followed him up as he continued to fire with precision. Despite his inhuman aim, Hagen continued to dodge as he danced around him with egotistical flair. He jumped off the barks of trees as he appeared to fly through the trees; all the while, Erick couldn't get so much as an inch near his body.

Hagen took the bark off the trees and threw it back to Erick as he continued to chuckle to himself. Erick dodged his slow attacks, but the dodging took away from his incredible aim.

Then, Hagen stopped.

Erick was behind a few branches and aimed his rifle at his face but didn't fire.

"I'll stand still for three seconds," Hagen said as he outstretched his arms.

"Three."

Thinking it was a trick, Erick looked around him for any traps. He began shooting the vines that hung from above them.

"Two."

Still believing it to be a trap, Erick shot the bark of the trees around him. Compared to the bark on the ground, this was much thinner, allowing the bullets from the rifle to go straight through it. Shards of wood flew through the air as he shot every possible tree around them.

"One."

Erick aimed his rifle at Hagen and took a shot at the soonest possible moment. He watched as the bullet appeared to move in slow motion towards his opponent's face. Just before it did, however...

"Zero."

Hagen dropped from the trees to the ground below, just narrowly missing the bullet by mere inches. Erick reacted quickly as he jumped from the branches in suit, using the branch he was on to propel himself to meet Miura.

Landing, he found himself in point-blank range of Hagen. Quickly raising his gun to fire, Hagen swiped it aside. In reaction to his target's actions, Erick swung his opposite elbow, hoping to hit him in the face, but Hagen quickly ducked underneath his attack. He slid beneath Erick's legs and appeared on the other side. Erick swung his rifle around, but with one hand, Hagen stopped his action as he struggled to bring it to his face.

"You bitch," Erick grunted.

"Oh, you're great fun!" Hagen chuckled as he dropped his hand, allowing Erick to swing his gun around with too much strength that he fired on the other side of his head. Stopping in his tracks, Erick attempted to bring the rifle back to Hagen's head as Hagen planted his hands on Erick's shoulders, vaulting over him, laughing hysterically.

As Erick slowly brought his gun around to meet his opponent, Hagen leaped into the air and began jumping all around Erick, leaving behind the marks of wind on the bushes caused by his incredible speed. Erick attempted to follow him but was so consumed with getting an aim on Miura that he couldn't keep up. He then felt a sharp pain in his back, then his chest. Hagen began to leap towards him to chew away his stamina by attacking his vital points slowly.

"As strong as your confidence is," Hagen began. "Your weakness is just as apparent." Hagen's voice echoed through the forest as his extreme speed created a sound bubble encasing Erick. "You get too consumed with one idea, and until you complete that idea, success or not, you become engrossed with it. Tunnel-vision, if you will."

Erick was slowly losing speed and could barely keep up with Hagen's movements. The blows he received only made things worse for him, and he closed his eyes, hoping for an idea to come.

As he continued to receive blows, he thought about the words Hagen spoke to him and how he could use that to his advantage. As he thought, he noticed a pattern of the blows he received. He formulated a plan and opened his eyes.

Erick waited a moment to get his timing right, and when he anticipated Hagen to strike, he jumped in the air, gun in hand. Pointing it downwards, he saw Hagen miss his target attempting to slow himself to a halt. With one last burst of energy, he pulled the trigger of his gun, recoiling him backward in the air.

Once he landed on the ground, he picked himself up and aimed his gun in the direction Hagen was flying. He quickly broke out into a sprint, hoping to get Hagen while he's slowed. Suddenly, he tripped over something obscured by the bushes, his gun slipping out of his hands as he fell onto his stomach. He quickly turned to his back to see what he had tripped over and jumped to his feet.

Hagen was lying on the ground beside him.

Erick jumped to his feet and riffled through the grass in search of his gun. He swiftly found it and pointed it at the fallen over Miura.

Before he could shoot, however, Miura stuck his hands in the air. "I surrender," he said, chuckling. "You win. I have lost."

* * *

"You think you could run from me, bitch?" Henry dug his foot deeper into Leonard's chest. "As if you'd be able to run from me, less so your past!" He slammed the butt of his gun into Leonard's face. "You know, Rietveld," He hit Leonard's face again. "Your allies were all rather smart, leaving you alone to face me." Again. "I knew that kid. What was his name? Foreman? Was a smart one." Again. "The rest? Maybe not so much, but that Foreman kid sure proved his worth."

Henry continued to slam his gun into Leonard's face, all the while Leonard looked in Stanley's direction for help.

Stanley wasn't there.

In the time Henry took to pin Leonard, Stanley had escaped from the scene like a dog with its tail through its legs.

Henry lifted his foot from Leonard's chest and hoisted him by his collar, pinning him against a nearby tree.

"I'll admit, though," Henry chuckled. "I wasn't expecting you to be tossed away this easily!" He dropped Leonard, who crumpled to the ground. "It looks like the Rietvelds, despite being oh so apologetic for their traitorous ways, still can't catch a break from us normal folk."

"You're wrong," Leonard mumbled under his breath.

"What?" Henry laughed at Leonard, slamming his heel into the blonde man's shoulder. "Have you forgotten what your family did to us? To Einrich? Without you, there would be no war! Your great-whatever the fuck-grandpa Meinir was a traitorous scum, and that blood runs deep through your veins." Henry slammed his foot several more times. "It's your blood, your family, that spawned that devil of a nation and caused millions of great Einrich men to die at the hands of demons. It is because of you that all of this is happening."

"Meinir may have been my ancestor," Leonard stated. "But that doesn't make me a traitor."

Henry lifted his foot. "You know," He began bitterly. "I'm starting to get sick and tired of that stuck-up, good-for-nothing attitude of yours." Henry stuck his rifle at Leonard's forehead. "I think a real bullet through your skull ought to be the right punishment for a traitor like you."

Henry cocked his gun and smiled devilishly.

"Goodbye-"

Before pulling the trigger, a figure swung in on a vine, smearing his foot across Henry's face and knocking him to the ground. As Henry attempted to collect himself and react, that same foot had planted itself firmly on his rifle.

Leonard's face lit up. "Stanley!!"

"Sorry for taking so long," Stanley replied. "Good thing these vines can hold my weight."

"Foreman!" Henry tried to stand up, but Stanley planted his second foot on Kistler's chest.

"Sorry, it's Freeman, and you should really pull the trigger while you have the chance. Talking for so long only leaves you more vulnerable."

Henry clicked his tongue and laid his head on the ground as he put his hands up in defeat, letting go of his rifle in the process. Stanley picked it up with his foot and tossed it aside. He turned back to Leonard and stepped off Henry's chest.

"Alright," Stanley said, walking towards Leonard. "Let's catch up with Kastor and Erick. Hopefully, they're still around."

Leonard did not respond. His relieved face quickly drew a worried look.

"What's wrong? We got Henry to-"

Without warning, Stanley felt his breath being squeezed out of him. Henry had jumped up and put him in a chokehold while he wasn't looking. Stanley fell to his knees as he tried to pull himself from the grasp. The more he struggled, however, the harder Henry tugged on his neck. Without anything else to do, he reached out to Leonard, coughing as he gasped for air.

Leonard couldn't move. He was stunned silent as he looked at Henry's devilish smile wipe the consciousness off Stanley. If he stood idly by, maybe Henry would let him surrender nicely. He took a step back. Henry looked Leonard in the eyes, and his smile grew more prominent. Stanley was slowing his movements and gasped for less and less air.

"Leonard-"

Leonard jumped as Stanley's one word reached his ears. His slipping consciousness was more visible than ever before. Henry wasn't letting up as he increased his grip on Stanley's neck. As he watched the scene play in front of him, he gripped his rifle harder. With a deep breath, he quickly raised his rifle at Henry.

Henry's smile dropped, and he stared right at Leonard. "You want to appear as a savior now, Rietveld?" He exclaimed. "Eliminating me won't absolve your family's sins, just step away and don't get involved like you were always meant to do!"

Leonard tightened his grip even further, placing his finger on the trigger. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I really didn't want to do this."

Closing his eyes, he pulled the trigger. The bullet flew and hit Henry in the chest, a fatal hit. Despite being shot, he continued to choke Stanley. With a last gasp for air, Stanley slumped over as he went unconscious.

Henry took his arms away from Stanley and glared at Leonard as he slowly rose from the ground. He took a step toward Leonard before lunging towards him with outstretched hands. Just before he reached Leonard, a large figure dropped from the trees above. Leonard fell back onto the ground as he watched a uniformed man take bindings and wrap them around Henry's hands. Without a word, he pulled him from the ground and walked him out of the forest, Henry shouting like a child the whole time.

Once Henry was out of sight, another uniformed man dropped from the trees.

"The mock battle is over," he began, taking the rifle out of Leonard's hands, "You will follow me now."