"Ugh..." Phina groaned as she dropped her body on her assigned bed.
"Good job, Ender! Got us all fucked with you." a Senior Cadet snapped at Phina as could barely stand himself. "All you had to do is shut up, and follow orders! Is that really so hard for you Junior Cadets to understand?!"
"Linious, shut the fuck up before I get our entire next week filled with a group lesson." Phina said lazily. Her body was fairing quite well among the Junior Cadets, though it was still exhausted.
They had been thrown into a survival zone for the past 5 days since Phina's "questioning of the instructor's logic". A survival zone was literally just that, a place where you have to survive. They'd be thrown into a survival zone filled with imprisoned criminals that would be let free if they could kill a Cadet. All of the ones in the survival zones were Middle Adult-ranked killers. They'd wake up at 4 am, then spend 10 hours of the day in a survival zone, then they'd clean the entire Exodia until 5 pm, and if they didn't finish by then, they get an extra day added to their punishment. After 5 pm, they'd have studies. They'd be taught about the many different noble families and the authority each family had in their respective lands. The originally 2 days of punishment were now a scary 8 days after a certain Ian Matnuck offended the Instructor once more. They had gone through 5 leaving 3 left. Sadly, some morons would slack off and add an extra day. The Senior made sure to have a through "talking to" with all these lazy idiots.
"Three more days...three more days...." a young Junior Cadet girl muttered underneath her breath. "I swear to fucking Leo, Ian. If your dumbass gets us an extra damn MINUTE, I will fuck you in the corner."
"Are you threatening me with a good time, Ash?" Ian chuckled weakly.
"Kinky fuck." the girl named Ash scoffed as she laid in her bed.
All the Junior Cadets were mostly on a first name basis. This was due to the sheer number of Juniors who died in the survival zone. From the original 10,000 Cadets, only 38 remained. The rest either died or paid the fee and quit. There were also 12 Senior Cadets. All in all, there were an exact 50 Cadets this year.
"Alright, knuckleheads." Zeke Zackery, the voted upon leader of the Cadets, gathered everyone's attention with a clap. "We have a long day tomorrow, so get some sleep. If you're going to stay awake, use the library and stay there. Also, note to everyone that tomorrow three VIPs are going to visit us, so try to be on your best behavior. Lights off, everyone."
Everyone blew out their candles. Only the wealthy among the Senior Cadets could afford a World Energy lamp. Wealth in the Exodia was different from normal wealth. Enforcers, Instructors and Cadets were all paid mostly in Exodia Points or EPs for short. Depending on the Cadets' performance each week, they'd get paid the according EPs. Though it has not been a week yet, as such, none of the Juniors had any EPs available.
No one had the will nor ability to leave their beds and go read up in the library. Although it was beneficial, their bodies were thrashed, especially the Juniors who have yet to adapt to the harsh punishment.
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"GET THE FUCK UP, CADETS!!" Instructor Kaiden's booming voice woke everyone up. "CADET ZACKERY!!"
"SIR, YES, SIR!" Zeke immediately jumped from his bed and stood at attention in front of his bedframe.
"DID I NOT WARN YOUR ASS THAT WE HAVE VIPS COMING TODAY?! WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU ALL NOT DRESSED?!" Instructor Kaiden had personally told him about the VIPs. "WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?!"
"I have failed to get my fellow Cadets ready for the day in time, Sir!" Zeke's face never changed as he looked forward, his lazy hazel eyes unwavering. "Asking for permission to punish myself, Sir!"
"PERMISSION GRANTED, YOU LAZY DUMBASS! GET DOWN AND GIVE ME FIVE HUNDRED PUSH UPS!!" the Instructor shouted. He had already woken up the rest of the Cadets with his voice. Everyone was now standing at attention in front of their respective bedframes. "GOOD! CADET ENDER, FOLLOW ME!"
'Oh, shit.' Phina cursed to herself as she replied. "Sir, yes, Sir!"
As soon as Phina left the sleeping hall, Instructor Kaiden led her into the field where they would warm up a little before training...that was, of course, if they had no due punishment. Phina saw three people standing in the wide field of grass inside the Exodia. They were the VIPs!
"Don't do anything stupid, Ender. Offending any one of them is not worth it." the rough and loud Instructor had actually whispered to Phina.
Among the three figures, Phina recognized one of them. It was Vice Captain Samantha! Slightly in front of her to her left was a bald man with two giant axes on his back. He radiated a pressure that weighed even Phina down. The third figure was a well-built man in a fancy suit. His orange hair was slicked back and his similarly orange eyes were sharp and penetrating.
"You must be Seraphina, I have heard of you and have come personally to check up on you." the bald man smiled kindly. "Let me introduce everyone. Seraphina, you have met Vice Captain Virgile. This man is Mark Matnuck, one of your fellow Cadets' father. His name was Ian, I believe. And I am Captain Stephanus Virgile, Captain of the 8th Squad of the Tortoise Army. It's my pleasure to meet you, Seraphina."
"T-The pleasure's all mine, Sir." Phina said as she looked at the three awkwardly. She could understand Vice Captain Samantha, she could even understand Captain Stephanus, but what did Ian's father want from her?!
Captain Stephanus quietly examined Phina as Mark Matnuck walked forward. He stretch out his hand for a handshake and said, "Hello, Seraphina. As Captain Virgile had just explained, I am Ian's father, Mark Matnuck. I am sure you have heard of Ian considering how much everyone hates him."
"I-...I wouldn't say hate..." Phina looked to the side awkwardly. She had expected Ian's father to be an arrogant and entitled person, but it had come as a shock to her that he was actually a well mannered and understanding person.
"Please, Seraphina. I know Ian better than any of you. His personality is less than likable." Mark explained. "I have come here to request something of you specifically. I want you to challenge Mark to a duel after your punishment period is over, and I want you to beat him into the ground. The more you humiliate him, the better."
'What the hell? I thought he'd tell me to protect him or something.' Phina thought to herself in confusion. She then asked, "I'm sorry, Sir, but can you explain to me why you have chosen me? Any of the Senior Cadets could easily teach Ian a lesson."
"In all honesty, I have been informed that you were the most underestimated among the Junior Cadets. As such, it would deal the heaviest blow to Ian's ego if you were the one to beat him." Mark explained with a sigh. "I need him to realize that he can't rely on the Matnuck name in the Exodia, even more so when he's out in the field as an Enforcer. Nothing would teach him that lesson more than for him to get humiliated then ask for my help. I apologize to put you in such a situation, Seraphina, but I need to have some peace of mind when it comes to my son."
Phina smiled sinisterly. "To tell you the truth, Sir, we have a little competition among the Juniors. Whoever ranks the highest at the end of the week gets to duel Ian. He obviously thinks he can beat any of the Juniors, so he isn't afraid. He isn't trying his best in the studies, so his rank will probably be low. I will get the top rank and teach him a lesson for you."
Mark sighed in relief. "Thank you, Seraphina. If you ever need anything from the Matnuck family, do not hesitate to ask me."
"I've seen enough. Let's go." Captain Stephanus turned around and left with a smile on his face, his Vice Captain following closely behind.
"I shall take my leave as well, I have many things to attend to." Mark also excused himself.
"Go get the others, Cadet Ender." Instructor Kaiden had said to Phina. "Tell them to get ready to warm up, the group lesson is over."
Phina beamed as she saluted without her weapon. "Yes, Sir!"