The gates were open and the recruits in shock because of it. Ayuki looked at the veterans—the recruits from the previous SA program. Elizabeth face was bewildered, and so was that of Yuu's. Even for them, it didn't seemed to be normal.

Hyo Jullian stepped forward in front of the gates. With his hat on, it shadowed his eyes; you almost couldn't see them. "Today's combat training will start outside. It won't be easy, it won't be safe, but we will make sure that nobody dies. Hyu Taile will explain the rest, good luck."

Jullian took off first and went outside through the gates. Faye, even Eran, and a few more Elite members were there too. A couple of Elites joined Jullian from behind and stepped into a portal that Faye opened up. Seeing them operating in unity without uttering any word was an impressive sight, they looked very professional. Where they went off to, nobody knew.

Taile is usually the one taking command over the recruits during training. His short gray hair makes him seem like a wise teacher; one that would keep scolding you if you did something wrong. His face looks strict; you wouldn't want to make him angry. "Listen up," Taile yelled. "Today's combat training is slightly different than normal. We'll have a small taste of what's it like outside. We need you to see the reality we live in."

It was darker outside than inside the city. The view to the horizon was only filled with either sand or dry ground. On a closer look, she saw a lot of crevices on the ground as if the earth existed out of big puzzle pieces that didn't fit with each other. The atmosphere was a lot grimmer than the first time Ayuki'd been standing here. Is it because it's morning now?

"All your experience from the barrier training up until now will be put to the test. There are two things you will need to do. The first thing is, try to survive as best as you can; the second is, reach the first checkpoint and return to the gates here."

"When we go on an away mission," Eran said, "we'll always move through the checkpoints. We removed the first checkpoint, to give you guys a bit of a challenge." Eran pointed at a pole with a blue waving flag in the far distance. "See that flag over there? That's the checkpoint you'll need to reach before coming back here, got it?"

Most of the recruits nodded in agreement. Eran outstretched his arm and clenched his fist with excitement. "Then what are you waiting for? Go, go, go!"

Two persons started running but quickly stopped when nobody else followed them. "What's wrong? Didn't you hear him? Why is everyone so quiet?" one of them said. Before anyone could answer him, the ground shook behind the two. Ayuki felt her fear coming back—she knew what was going on.

A loud screech unleashed from the ground, and there it stood, it's head facing all the recruits. "Defarin!" a few recruits screamed.

According to "The Curse Encounter"—it said that the Defarins are blind, they don't have eyes. They instead have a highly developed sense of vibrations. They can feel all kind of movements made on the ground, and distinguish humans from other beings.

Ayuki made sure to get a good look at it this time. The lizard-like mouth partly went into the ground as its lungs or stomach grew in size. It was accumulating sand, a lot of it. The defarin's head rose up with its face directed at the gasping recruits. The mouth opened as soon as people started to move in fear. An enormous stream of sand blasted towards everyone.

"Gah!!" Ayuki managed to cast her barrier in time and withstood the sand blast. Most of the recruits managed to do the same, Ryuzo included. Those that were too late were sent flying to the back.

The air became covered with dust and sand. It was hard to see through it, Ayuki could only see everyone's silhouette. Another screech followed, and the Defarin prepared itself to launch its next attack at someone near. Its victim in front let out a shriek, he hadn't activated his barrier.

For some reason, the defarin's silhouette abruptly stopped its movement. "This is your chance, run!" Eran's voice yelled.

"Aahhh!" Someone named Leon came running past Ayuki, back to the starting point. The gates were fortunately still open for him to hide in.

At that moment, two persons started sprinting forward, away from the dust. Ayuki had to admire their guts to move in this situation. The defarin decided to follow them. It became quiet, and the dust began to clear a little.

"Is it gone?" a frightened recruit asked.

Ayuki went outside the dust, and peered in front. It was Elizabeth and Yuu that were relentlessly attacked by the angered defarin. They, however, impressively held their own ground. They used an rotational defensive formation to keep the defarin at bay. Elizabeth would use a quick shield against an attack while Yuu supported her with Fes from behind. After they successfully deflected an attack, they would run towards the checkpoint, and switched from position the moment the defarin's next attack approached—making Yuu the one casting the quick shield, and Elizabeth the supporter.

Ayuki wasn't sure why, but the defarin's speed occasionally slowed down at moments when it was attacking someone. Was it hesitating to attack?

"Let's not stand still. The checkpoint is in sight!" Bayne said. He followed his advice and dashed forward. The recruits moved like a sheep following a herd. Being together with around thirty people must have given everyone more confidence to face the challenge.

Realizing that its current preys were stronger than imagined, the defarin revoked its attack on Elizabeth and Yuu, and faced the other recruits again—the more easy prey.

"..."

Seeing a giant lizard sprinting straight at you sure made it difficult not to lose courage. Half of the recruits abandoned their action and retreated to safety—the gates. Ayuki wanted to do the same, but her legs weren't cooperating. With the Defarin at close range, it shot a sand attack without warning. Ayuki didn't see it in time and flew backward until she crashed on the ground.

"Ayuki. Are you okay?"

"Ugh... " Coming back to her senses, she realized Ryuzo helped her to stand up again. "Thank you."

Meanwhile, Bayne along with the other recruits who were brave enough to face the defarin, prepared themselves for another physical attack. A giant sweep of its tail clashed against their quick shields. The recruits were able to protect themselves, but nothing more. They couldn't find enough time to do anything else except for staying defensive. On the other hand, the defarin showed no weakness, no mercy—it was hostile and aggressive the whole time, never running out of energy. Even worse, the next attack was the most intimidating one. It stood on two legs now, making its body even taller than it was from the beginning, ready to crush everyone under its body weight.

"Keep the shield up! Here it comes!" Bayne yelled just before the impact of the attack.

The defarin trampled over and over against their barriers, shattering a few of them to smithereens. Nobody got hurt yet thanks to a few barriers that withstood the attack. The defarin, however, didn't waver, and added more pressure on the remaining barriers with its weight; it must have known that they couldn't cast it for too long.

"Ryuzo, we have to help them!" Cracks started to appear on the remaining barriers, they wouldn't be able to hold on much longer.

"I'm on it."

Ayuki and Ryuzo dashed to the group now lying beneath the defarin's body. "I'll support you, Ryuzo," Ayuki said to him.

Ryuzo's expression became puzzled. "What? What do you—"

"Just cast a shield!" Ayuki yelled and placed her hand on Ryuzo's back. With Ryuzo's large Fes output, combined with my support, our barrier must be significantly better than the rest.

Ryuzo activated his barrier as it enveloped around them both—as expected it grew in size and even pushed the defarin's body more upwards. "It's working," he said in disbelief.

The surprised defarin, stepped back and roared loudly. It might have been more angered, but at least it stopped its attempt to squash the people into flat paper sheets.

"Thanks! You saved us there." Bayne gasped. He must be tired by now.

Ryuzo deactivate their current barrier. "It's not over yet, focus!" This might have been the first time for Ayuki to hear Ryuzo so loud—it positively astonished her.

Ayuki glanced behind her to see the condition of the other recruits. Tiredness, fear, and panic, was written all over their faces. It wasn't looking good. "Let's all support each other! I don't have any other idea."

"Okay!" or "Yes!" some recruits replied. I bet they were okay with any idea. Everyone reached the desperate level by now.

"Ryuzo, can you cast the barrier again?"

His face was confused, but he did agree with Ayuki.

With everyone supporting Ryuzo's barrier, it should last long enough for us to reach the checkpoint. More importantly, the barrier should be difficult to break for even a defarin, I hope at least.

When everyone connected with each other, Ryuzo activated the Tag, and the Fes surrounded them all—it was their largest barrier they've made thus far. All the recruits had to move at a slow pace in order not to break down their Fes support formation. It would take them a long while to reach the checkpoint, but nobody argued with the safest option they had.

Not giving in, the defarin struck several times. Fortunately, whether it used sand blasts, tail sweeps, or tramples, the barrier didn't show any sign of giving in. After the next assault, however, a crack appeared. Shit! The moral of the group instantly dropped. Is our defense already reaching its limit? Damn it. Is it going to end here?

"You're almost there, keep it up!" Elizabeth yelled, running back from the checkpoint.

"We'll distract this tough guy," Yuu said.

Ayuki could almost cry from relief; a disaster just changed within a minute. "Thank you Elizabeth! Thank you Yuu! I will never forget your names!" she almost said it out loud. It was better not to distract them though; they were occupied enough with the task of keeping the defarin away. They often chose to dodge the defarin's attacks, instead of blocking it. All their movements were fast and well attuned to each other.

With that monster out of the way, the blue flag became close in sight. "We made it!" The recruits cheered out loud. It felt like a glorious victory, but the challenge wasn't over yet. They still needed to head back to the starting point—the gates. Fortunately, Elizabeth and Yuu were still there to help out.

"I'll deactivate the shield," Ryuzo said. "The defarin is distracted—we shouldn't waste too much Fes."

He was right about that. With the threat temporarily gone, there was nothing to fear for the moment. Their biggest barrier disappeared, and the tense atmosphere vanished.

"Agreed," Bayne said. "But dang, that was good stuff there. This is a good experience. How shall we call this tactic?"

"You mean the barrier support with everyone?" Ayuki asked. Is it necessary to call specific actions with a name? It feels kind of—silly.

"Everyone...all...support. The All-shield support," Bayne replied. "Let's call it that, it sounds good." He seemed content with the name. He was smiling like a kid now.

In that instant, the ground began to vibrate again. "What the? Don' tell me—" The comfort of relief was for a short duration—a defarin emerged in front of them, another one. It didn't roar like the previous one, but it did look very aggressive. Its head faced the recruits as if it could see them.

Bayne panicked and barked, "All-shield support! All-shield support!"

Without any delay, the recruits went into their support formation and glanced at Ryuzo. He nodded and reactivated the Barrier Tag before the defarin launched a sand blast. Dust and sand enveloped around them again, the sight became murky. They awaited the defarin's next assault, but it didn't come. When the dust cleared up, they saw why.

The defarin went straight for Elizabeth and Yuu who were still locked in a battle with the other defarin. Both of them noticed the other defarin approaching, so they decided to rely on a combination of well-timed quick shields to stay undamaged—for the beginning. Eventually, they had to abandon their position, and retreated to the gates. "We need to regenerate our Fes!" Elizabeth shouted.

The recruits who were still outside understood the decision but were nonetheless not delighted with their current situation. The two defarins were running at a great speed towards them now. "All-shield support!" They all knew it wasn't going to save them from the monsters that were about to unleash its fury against them, but they couldn't think of a better solution. Surviving as long as possible and trust that help will come, was their only hope. With both of the defarins ravaging on their barrier, it didn't last more than a minute before the cracks emerged, and the shield shattered before their very eyes. Yuu and Elizabeth were on their way to help, but their distance was far from close to make it in time—they were out of options.

"That's enough," a low voice said.

Ayuki had her eyes closed, but when she opened them, she saw both of the defarins lying flat on the ground. What just happened? Were they dead? On closer inspection, the defarins were trying to move, but couldn't do anything else except for some twitching.

All the recruits turned their head towards the direction of their savior. It was Jullian. "Well done on your first experience outside the city. Twenty-eight recruits managed to reach the checkpoint, two of them were able to come back. This training has nothing to do with the results, however. We find the experience the most important point. Whether you felt fear, pain, excitement, or exhaustion, please don't forget how today felt like, and try to do better—next time."

----------------------------------------

"Next time," sometimes not the most motivating words to hear. How to describe today's training? Dreadful. Defarin-full. Well, the good news is that a different program was scheduled for tomorrow. The bad news is that it wasn't clear whether it'll be better or worse than that of today. Survival training, that's how it was called. Wasn't today survival enough?

All the recruits had plenty of free time to prepare for tomorrow's training. They also received a bag full of money and a list of things they needed to arrange for themselves. "Preparing the right equipment is part of the training," is what Jullian explained. What was going to happen tomorrow, remained to be seen.