After Jim and Jake explained the situation Max and Solaire felt grateful for him sharing this information. Solaire already had his suspicion but didn’t ask because of the difficult position they were in. Knowing this they could prepare for the scenario where Jim loses his control and after some additional preparations, the third night broke in.

Similar to yesterday the night started with another stampede of random mutants. Fortunately, their numbers dwindled compared to the previous night, and with the experience from before they were able to decimate most of the mutants before they lost another person.

Afterward, the wolves continued with their attack and nothing worth mentioning happened. There was the occasional death on both sides and slowly they were depleting their respective forces. They reached a point where they had a realistic chance of surviving, as every death didn’t come from their elite – who was holding most of the defense – and were even able to build a small advantage for themself.

***

On the fourth night, the alpha wolf tried a new tactic. The stampede of mutants was yet again smaller but unlike last time some wolves were mixed between them, installing fear into the other mutants, preventing them from fighting each other. When the wave finally crashed upon them all hell broke loose.

A dozen wolves – which were half of the remaining forces of the pack – rushed at the wall, disregarding their body, sacrificing themself to kill the humans on the wall. While the wolves could sacrifice them for the greater good, humans couldn't imitate this act of sacrifice because of feelings like fear or hesitation and could not disregard their life just for the potential survival of everyone else.

They quickly lost control of the situation and the elite that they were so proud of slowly crumbled before their eyes. Most of the people that were part of this elite were from the household guard Max established. Seeing his comrades and friends die before him, he discarded his bow, to use his spear and with a heroic scream threw himself at the next wolf killing it in seconds.

Before they could get a hold of the situation two of the wolves were able to climb the wall and successfully got behind their lines. Jim was quick on the uptake and got with one of the wolves into a fight, but one was able to rampage for a few seconds before Max and Solaire were able to suppress and eventually kill it.

A few seconds weren’t a lot of time, but in a battle, seconds decided if you lived or died. In the short time the wolf could rampage it killed another four survivors of their already small number.

The absence of Jim, Max, and Solaire who killed the two wolves was immediately felt on the defense of the wall and even more chaos broke as people died left and right, before they returned and were able to finally control the situation. After another two hours, of fitting they killed the last mutant and hastily prepared for the last half of the wolves to attack – an attack that never came.

They were waiting in anticipation for their last battle with the wolves, by now it didn't matter if they lived or died they just wanted for this hell to be over. After waiting for over an hour the attack still didn’t arrive and they properly looked into their losses.

Jim arrived at their temporary nurse's office, which was compared to the past reinforced by a lot, but they lacked people to guard the complete ground of the school, so they decided to shut some parts completely off. Making sure no one could get in or out.

Opening the door he was greeted by Emma sitting before one of the beds. Coming over Jim asked, “Hey, how are the injured looking?”

Not getting a response he got closer and noticed that Emma was silently weeping. Noticing that Jim guessed what happened and looked at the injured on the bed, a girl that didn't die long ago. Kneeling down and closing her eyes, a painful sigh escaped Jim's lips.

Sitting beside Emma he said, “This isn’t your fault. You couldn’t save someone from such injuries, not with our current means.”

Waiting for a while Emma looked with dull, tired eyes – which had deep, dark bags under them from the deprivation of sleep – at the cold corpse before her and finally replied, “I know… yet it hurts so much. How many of us are left? Twenty-five or even less? At the beginning of all this, almost a hundred people were bustling in the school, giving it their best to make it a better place… now most of them are dead.”

Not knowing what to do with her emotions Emma suddenly hugged Jim, while new tears started to flow down her already red cheeks. Also overwhelmed with the situation Jim just tried to comfort her. Sadly the next thing Emma asked drove Jim himself to the verge of tears.

“We won’t survive this right?”

It was the one thing everyone tried to avoid thinking about, but deep inside their heart, they knew that they would die and prepared themself for their eventual death. Jim saw a few people that seemed to be not far from losing it and ending it all because they couldn't withstand the pressure of not knowing when it would finally hit them.

After Emma calmed down Jim asked, “What happened?”

After taking a deep breath, she asked, "Have you ever experienced the weight of someone's hope resting solely on your shoulders? Their eyes pleading for any kind of relief from their suffering, as they struggle for every breath?"

Waiting a moment she concluded, “The feeling you get, while watching how someone dies and spends his last moments with you – the person who couldn’t do anything to help them – before the embrace of death finally puts them out of their misery, is by far the most tormenting feeling I experienced in my whole life…”

New tears trailed along the path of her previous tears, at this moment Emma looked miserable and seemed to have lost her will to live. Silently listening to the story Jim didn’t reply but instead asked, “Do you know how it feels when you have to decide who gets to live and who dies? When you can only choose one person, knowing that the other person will never experience the rest of his life? When you have to decide who gets sacrificed next; when you have to play judge and executioner?”

Not waiting for an answer he explained, “Max, Solaire and myself have over the last few days sacrificed countless lives to ensure the survival of the strong and competent, who were supposed to protect the weak and helpless. I let these people die; sacrificed them to ensure my own survival and that of the ones close to me…”

Startled by this revelation Emma finally realized that it wasn’t a conscience that the rank two humans were the ones to survive. They sacrificed everyone else to ensure their survival. Her eyes widened and she put her hand before her mouth.

Gulping the vomit down that almost escaped her lips she asked with a trembling voice, “J-Jim does that mean you will-?!”

Shaking his head he replied, “No need to worry. I will not sacrifice another soul in this school. What use does life have when it is bought from the countless lives of others? This is a sin I have to bear for the rest of my life and even if it is now too late I want to do the right thing.”

Understanding where this was going Emma said, “Jim don’t do anything rash-”

“Emma,” interrupted Jim calmly. “I sacrificed these people in the belief to save everyone but look at us. We are down to a few survivors and soon there will be no one left to save. I will sacrifice myself to hopefully kill all of the remaining wolves, if not I will at least buy you enough time to flee.”

“Jim!” Emma called out in shock. “You can’t do this! This is nothing more than suicide. You can’t just decide that by yoursel-”

“I can and I will,” interrupted Jim with a firm voice. “I played god and decided the life and death of others. Now it's time to pay the price for my actions.”

Emma wanted to rebuke but her thoughts were disrupted when a calm voice entered the room. “Jim, my boy. I knew you were thinking of doing something stupid.”

Seeing the person Jim shook his head before replying firmly, “Solaire you can’t stop me. I know you said the situation forced us, but was it really the right thing to judge who died and lived?”

“Jim,” said Solaire while getting closer. “I understand how you are feeling but I will not allow you to die a meaningless death. You can’t die here; not today. We can make a plan so that we all can survive. There is no reason for you to sacrifice yourself.”

“Oh, and what is that great plan of yours?!” Jim asked ironically. “If my sacrifice means that everyone else can live then so be it! That is better than to live with the guilt of all the lives we sacrificed.”

Standing before him Solaire grabbed Jim by the head and gave him a headbutt strong enough to rip a wound into the template of his head, as he screamed, “Don’t be a fool! I didn’t go for over forty years to the army to hear the winning of some teenager. So what if you sacrificed these people!? You don’t owe them anything and tried your best, the situation didn’t give us another choice!”

Firmly grabbing him by the shoulder he held his head on his and said, “You have to live, exactly because they sacrificed themself. They died so that we could survive and you have to live and treasure their memory, enjoy your life, and make sure that their sacrifice wasn’t meaningless! Don’t just throw your life away because you can’t bear the burden of their remembrance! Dying would be like spitting on their graves!”

Shocked by Soalire’s outburst, Jim was speechless and didn’t know what to say…

*POU*

Firmly slapping his two hands on his cheeks and shaking his head clear he replied, “You are right! We will survive this, all of us, to tell the story of those that we lost. We will not go down without a fight!”

“Yes! That is the spirit, boy,” said Soalire with a smile, that turned into a heartful laughter. Standing completely baffled on the sideline Emma didn't know what to do in the situation and just shook he head in defeat.

***

They gathered every last survivor that remained against all odds alive. Looking at the twenty-one survivors Solaire said with a strong voice, “Who is confident of surviving against a wolf for at least a minute?”

After a while, a few people rose their hands, and it was clear that their only reliable force consisted of Jim, Solaire, Max, Dennis, Emma, Theo, Olver, and Evelin. These were the last people that could fight for themself. Dennis changed a lot after his father died and wasn’t comparable to before.

He was full of rage and made sure that his wrath was felt by the wolves, and throughout the past few nights grew into one of their fiercest fighters. It was concerning that he didn’t talk with anyone, hiding in the workshop of his father until the next battle. Some tried to comfort him but they were greeted with silence no matter what they tried, they couldn't force him to open up and were just glad he could fight.

Theo and Oliver were extremely close friends who made an unbeatable team. They supported and encouraged each other to persevere through even the most daunting challenges.

Another interesting duo was Emma and Evelin who may not have been well acquainted initially but developed a strong bond through their recent battles. They exhibited exceptional teamwork and complemented each other's strengths. Emma provided support from a distance using her bow, while Evelin fearlessly engaged in close combat, with her spear protecting Emma and supporting the others if needed.

Looking at this group Solaire cleared his throat and said with a loud and clear voice, “The next battle decides who lives and dies. There won’t be a second chance and failure means death. We are facing the last of the wolves, they number a dozen and are the strongest and fiercest of them all. The elite of the pack who survived countless battles and will be on another level compared to the ones we faced up until now.”

Looking at the reaction of the people Solaire continued, “We will not wait for the wolves. We will no longer hide behind these walls. We will take the initiative and fight them on the open field!”

A small wave of shocked whispers went through the people as they heard this. With a stern look Solaire, they quieted down and he explained, “We will face them in daylight where they don’t have an advantage and take them by surprise. Our only task is to keep the wolves away from Jim who will fight the alpha wolf personally. The moment they lose their leader the rest will flee from themself. We have to lure the wolves to one place to make sure I can burn them once and for all into the depths of the underworld where they belong and by the sun I swear I will kill them all.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

They put everything on this one card and if it failed it would mean certain death. But after hearing Solaires speech they realized that they didn't have any other option left. They made their last preparations, most not sleeping at all this night. They were too nervous to sleep or relax.

***

Finally, the fifth day broke in, and with the sun standing high above the sky, only a few clouds blocked the warm rays of the sun. Looking at this scenario Jim felt that this was the one thing that wasn’t affected by this catastrophe. The sky was still as beautiful and unchangeable as ever.

Looking at Max and Jake who were preparing for their attack Jim became nervous. This was it. Either they survive or die trying. He made his last preparations on his armor, weapon, and shield. Looking at the people standing beside him, Jim knew that they were nervous; for good reason. Jim himself wasn’t sure how many of them would survive and this really was the end of it all.

From the previous fights, Jake was able to reduce the location of the liar of the wolves to a small radius. There were only a few places around the school that could hold that many wolves after all.

Not wanting to lose time, Jim and the rest directly left the wall as silently as possible behind.

A raven soared high in the sky, its eyes initially lacking vitality and brightness. Suddenly, life returned to its eyes and a spark of intelligence shone through. The bird circled above the school, observing the happenings below.

***

Hundreds of meters away from the battlefield stood a man with a posture as straight as a tree, stroking his gray beard deep in thought. With eyes closed he called, “Troy?”

“What is it?” Troy replied coldly.

“They finally made their move. It seems like they want to take the initiative to attack the wolves themself,” replied Alfred.

Thinking for a moment Troy stood up. “Very well. It's time to finally end this laborious fight.” Turning around he looked at a short boy with thick, brown curly hair that the beanie he wore was barely able to contain. “Ray, how high do you think their chances of winning are?”

Biting on his nail for a while Ray soon answered nonchalantly, “Hard to determine. I would estimate them to be annihilated to a chance of about 83,27%.”

Not surprised by the unnaturally accurate number, Troy said, “Good then it's time to finally intervene in this battle,” looking over to Alfred he asked, “You know what you have to do, right?”

“Of course,” replied Alfred with a formal bow.

***

Over the past few days, Oliver experienced countless situations that he could only compare to his worst nightmares. From the first night all the way to this day, he did nothing but stabbing, killing… to survive. At some point, he became dull to all the carnage happening around him.

The mutants that installed fear and dread were now everyday business. He and his best friend Theo saw in the past few days so much blood, guts, limbs… death. At some point, it was just nothing new.

They lost many of their comrades on these nights and the people standing beside them changed constantly. If someone new came they were sure that he wouldn’t last long before following the rest. By now they both were one of the most experienced fighters when it came to close-quarter combat.

This was also the reason why they were the only two people who were able to keep calm when their plan didn’t go as expected. They found the lair of the wolves – an old warehouse that was used when the iron mines of their city were still active – they also got fairly close to succeeding in their surprise attack, when their plan was foiled by a single raven circling high in the sky, screeching loudly, causing all the wolves to awaken.

They quickly shot it down, but it was too late and their surprise advantage vanished in an instant. Every person that could defend themself was in this group including Oliver and Thoe that were now at the receiving end of the furious wolves which got their sleep distributed. Thanks to their experience they didn’t hesitate and used the opportunity where the wolves were not yet fully awake to attack them.

It was at this time that the alpha wolf laid its eyes directly on them and Oliver felt at this moment something he didn’t feel the past few nights; fear. A shudder came running down his spine that traveled through his whole body when he looked at these seemingly endless silvery eyes. In his mind, he compared it with an endless valley of fog that was unfathomable to his mind.

Here Oliver realized what it meant to stand at the peak of the third rank. Yet he was resolved and didn’t back away, he would not be intimidated by this wolf; not anymore.

*AHOUUUU*

A fierce and chilling howl, reminiscent of the alpha wolf's initial attack resounded once again on the battlefield. This signaled the start of their assault on Oliver, Theo, and the other fighters present. The wolves were now fully awake; ready to kill the humans once and for all.

In comparison to previous encounters, the number of mutants he faced was significantly reduced. However, the intensity of the pressure emanating from this small pack of wolves was so dense that he couldn't help but smile helplessly to himself.

Holding his shield firm he braced for impact, they had one task and he was sure to hold his ground as long as he could. They had to buy time not only so that Solaire who stood concealed behind them could use his ability, but also to keep the wolves away from Jim who was about to face the alpha wolf all by himself.

Oliver sensed an immense amount of energy emanating from Solaire as he stood close to him. The wolves, unaware of the impending surprise, were in a state of frenzy and charged toward them. Despite feeling the impact on his shield, Oliver held his ground and put all his strength into resisting being pushed back.

Unfortunately, not everyone was as determined as him and soon some of their defense line crumbled, overwhelmed by the wolves. Some were overrun, while others were pulled away on their legs and in the air torn apart like a toy.

He heard their desperate screams before it was replaced by the sound of ripping flesh. Gradually losing people they tightened their circle of defense. They were long surrounded by wolves.

He didn’t know who it was but one of their group went with a war cry out of the formation and into the lines of wolves, distracting them so that they could have some breathing room to reorganize their defenses. When the wolves were finally finished with him they returned their attention to Oliver and the others.

They got close as their formation suddenly opened and a widely smiling old man, both hands outstretched, held a small flame between them.

“HAHAHA”

Laughing at the top of his lungs the flames in his hands quickly grew in size, and before the wolves could react the flames grew into an inferno, and with the shouts from Solaire the flames engulfed their bodies, “I will show you the true might of the SUN!”

As Oliver felt the flames rush past him and engulf the wolves, he was both amazed and intimidated by their power. The fire appeared both graceful and ferocious, a stunning display of the capabilities Soalires ability held.

Standing so close he felt his skin burning to a degree, but he was too amazed at this scene and ignored the pain. Never did Oliver see something so beautiful and felt for the first time hope; real hope of surviving.

The flames gradually weakened and eventually died down, as burnt corpses of black replaced the scene where the wolves stood. Some few barely survived but were too weak to put up any sort of resistance.

The surrounding was turned into a wasteland of burned flesh and ash. Before Oliver could look at the complete battlefield he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking over he saw his friend Theo shouting, “We have to go! There are too few of us left!”

Turning around he realized that they only had eight people remaining, including Max, Dennis, Evelin, and Emma. Solaire lay unconscious on the ground. His blood veins were glowing in a threatening glim of orange and he seemed to be in critical condition.

Kneeling beside him he picked him carefully up and with the help of Theo put him on his back. They didn’t lose any more time and quickly left to reach the rest of the survivors who were not able to fight and were waiting in a house nearby.

With the wolves being turned to ash or seriously injured they were able to leave the scene of ash and death behind. They were almost at the house when Oliver felt his vision blurring.

Being caught off guard he felt himself getting pushed away, almost falling over. Turning around he saw how Theo was smiling at him. Confused by this he looked at his chest where a knife protruded out, as scarlet red blood trailed down the blade.

*splurt*

Blood gushed out of Theo's mouth, he lost his power and fell to his knees, as the knife was ripped out from his chest. Time slowed down as Oliver saw this scene and his world broke down as his best friend fell before him.

The one person that gave Oliver hold and hope; dead. They were so close to safety and he could already see their survival only for his friend to lose his life on the last stretch. Everything he fought for was gone in just a moment.

“HAAAAA”

With a loud cry, Oliver dropped Solaire and leaped at Troy. The time Oliver needed to reach him was more than enough for him to avoid his attack without problems and was about to counterattack when a spear whistled past him.

Looking over he saw Max recovering from his throwing stance. That was even better for Troy; he wanted to take revenge for the arrow Max shot at him in the past.

If Troy was alone they would have the advantage of numbers, unfortunately, he had his group with him this time. A big, brawny man packed with muscles, a woman in very tight jeans and black sweaters, a boy with a black coat and beanie on his head, and finally a man with hunched back that resembled the posture of a rat.

Everyone was there and each of them was a fearsome enemy. They only had nine people on their side and most of them were injured or exhausted. They were about to break into a battle when a rage-filled scream from behind distracted them, “TROY!”

***

While Solaire and the others were defending their lives against the elite of the wolves, it was Jim's task to battle the leader of them all; the alpha wolf.

He was the only person who could have a chance against it and when the raven cry sounded he didn’t waste any time to rush past the awakening wolves to reach the alpha wolf. After he finished his howl, Jim was already close to reaching him.

Since the start of his run, he felt his blood quicken and his heartbeat accelerate as his body temperature rose. He burned his energy to enhance the capabilities of his body to bring his strength to another level.

Rushing at the wolf he felt how his instincts wanted to take over and he didn’t fight against it; he embraced it. He needed every advantage he could get and this was not a fight where he could allow himself to hold back, so he embraced these unfamiliar instincts, accepting them and letting them take over.

His eyes grew icy as he looked at his target - no, prey. Pushing his legs to their limit, he surged forward and soon stood face-to-face with the intimidating creature.

The wolf was calm and confident in his speed, beginning the battle with a slash from his right paw, confident it would connect with the chest of the human before him. Suddenly Jim's icy eyes moved at inhuman speed and threw himself backward on the ground.

He successfully avoided the claw and with the momentum from his sprint slid under the wolf. It reacted quickly but was caught off guard by the move and with one smooth motion, Jim sliced his right hind leg off.

Ignoring the loss of a limb the wolf swiftly turned around and snapped with his razor-sharp teeth at the throat of Jim. Closing his maw he only snapped at empty air, as Jim was already in the air, he jumped right after the slide, ignoring his completely scratched-open legs.

Noticing the humans hurling through the air. The wolf used his claw to thrust at the chest of Jim, intending to rip through his chest. In the air, he wasn’t able to avoid its attack. Different from his expectation Jim used the shield on his left hand to push on the paw of the wolf, launching himself even higher. With one limb gone his mobility was restricted and he couldn’t avoid the attack in time.

Firming his resolution the wolf sacrificed his outstretched paw to save its life. With the momentum of the fall and the sharpness of the machete the paw was cleanly severed and Jim continued his fall downwards.

Noticing that Jim lost some of his momentum the wolf saw the perfect opportunity to end this battle. With a victorious grin, the wolf opened his maw wide to bite Jim's head off.

Strangely in the face of death Jim only smiled and confused by this behavior the wolf finally realized the trap it fell into. The plan of Jim was from the beginning to lure it into a competition of strength.

Clashing with the head of the wolf in mid-air the black machete extracted a force that the Wolf could never withstand. With this a disgusting sound of teeth cracking, bones breaking, and flesh ripping resounded in the area, as the machete drilled itself half into the skull of the wolf, killing it instantly.

Falling over with the Wolf Jim ripped his machete out and fell on the ground. The fight didn’t take long and Jim’s goal soon shifted from killing the alpha wolf to protecting his friends.

Looking over to the group he was at first relieved when he saw that the other wolves were dead before enraged, as he saw how Troy killed Theo. Jim would never allow Troy to kill another person in front of him and sprinted with top speed, “TROY!”

Noticing Jim’s quick arrival Troy coldly said, “Bruno go stop this bunch of teenagers and Hakan intervene Jim. You wanted to fight him right?”

Bruno replied with a grunt of annoyance as he moved his body of muscles to Max, Oliver, and the rest. Hakan already sprinted off instead of replying and with two daggers in hand, shouted, “Finally I can fight a worthy opponent. I wanted to fight you, hehe. Let us see how stron-”

Before he could even finish his sentence, Jim stood before him and with one smooth motion sliced his throat. He fell over clutching his throat, gasping for air. Jim was a rank three, with inhuman reflexes and enhanced to the limit. Hakan never had a chance to begin with and the fight ended before it even started.

Troy had anticipated this result but was still taken aback by how effortlessly Jim eliminated Hakan. Using his ability he directly blinded him, and instead of slowing down, Jim didn’t seem to care about his lost vision and even accelerated.

"Ray!" Troy called out. With a small nod, Ray rushed at Jim intervening in his assault, while Troy and the others began their retreat. He knew he couldn’t win against Jim in this state and wisely chose to retreat, to fight another day.

Still blinded, Jim only noticed Ray after he heard his running footsteps. Sensing something he tilted his head to the right, as the blade of a rapier rushed past his face leaving a deep gashing wound on his cheek.

With a swift swing of his machete, he realized that his opponent had successfully evaded the attack. Blow after blow, they exchanged strikes until they were both covered in injuries, maintaining their stoic expressions the whole fight.

Finally, Jim could see again and directly spotted a flaw in the defense of the boy and served with one precise slash, the sword hand of Ray. Instead of crying out in pain, thy body kept calm and retreated with nimble steps.

Jim couldn’t allow him to escape and with his superior speed quickly caught up to him and put his machete through his back. He fell down and seeing the leaving silhouette of Troy, mildly smiled, before his eyes turned dull and he lost his life.

Winning this fight Jim looked over to Max's side where he saw how a man of a bear was still moving while a spear impaled him, refusing to die. He was covered from top to bottom with wounds and was able to kill three people before finally succumbing to his wounds.

Being glad that they survived, Jim finally noticed the leaving silhouette of Troy and knew that he couldn’t catch up to him. There was a limit to how long he could use his ability and time was up.

Falling on his knees he let out a scream of frustration, “Troy! Mark my words! I will find you! Do you hear me!? I will find you and rip you apart limb for limb!”

As his voice quietened down he finally fell over, as his vision blurred and he lost consciousness.