Chapter 12: Training Under Fire
The underground training facility was nothing like Kaito had expected.
It was more like a battlefield, with walls that could shift at a moment's notice, turning into obstacles and traps. The floor was uneven, jagged, and dotted with pressure sensors that triggered artificial gunfire and laser grids.
Aya stood before him, her arms crossed, her expression unreadable. "Welcome to your first day of real training," she said. "We're going to break you. If you survive, you'll be stronger than anything AegisCorp can throw at you."
Kaito glanced around, seeing a mix of veterans scattered across the field, practicing in pairs, others silently working on drones or adjusting gear. He didn't feel like one of them yet.
Not by a long shot.
"You've got potential," Aya continued. "But that means nothing if you don't know how to use it. You need to think faster, move quicker, adapt — or we all die."
Her voice was sharp, cutting through the ambient noise like a whip.
Kaito nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat. "I'm ready."
"Prove it."
Without warning, Aya gestured to a nearby control panel, and the walls began to shift, revealing a new set of obstacles. A synthetic enemy force appeared in the distance — automated soldiers, sleek, black, and deadly. They moved with purpose, their red eyes glowing as they locked onto Kaito's position.
"Your first task," Aya said, "is to neutralize the drones without being hit. If you fail... well, I'm sure you don't need a reminder of what happens to people who fail around here."
A sharp ring signaled the start of the simulation. The drone soldiers fired their first volley.
Kaito dove behind a nearby wall, narrowly avoiding a burst of red laser fire. His heart raced, the Shadowseed at his side humming, urging him to move, to do something.
The Shadowseed felt like a part of him now — a buzzing, pulsing sensation in his mind that was no longer foreign. It was like a new limb, ready to be used.
He reached for it.
For the first time, he let his mind guide it, letting the flow of data stream through him. He could see the drones' movements, their calculated patterns. The way they moved. The way they thought.
Kaito twisted his body, ducking low and shooting around the corner. His pistol barked twice, hitting the nearest drone in a flurry of sparks. The machine collapsed, its systems fritzing out as its body crumpled to the ground.
But there were more.
He sprinted forward, diving over a fallen pillar, rolling to his feet just as a drone appeared from behind a stack of crates. Kaito instinctively raised his arm — and the Shadowseed pulsed. A burst of light exploded from his hand, knocking the drone off course, sending it skidding across the floor in a cascade of sparks.
"Not bad," Aya called from the observation booth. "But don't get cocky."
Kaito heard the telltale hum of another drone moving up behind him. He twisted just in time to throw himself into a roll, avoiding a deadly blast from the machine's laser cannon.
The drone advanced, but Kaito saw his opening — a small crack in its plating where the energy core was exposed. With a grunt, he threw a grenade — not to kill, but to destabilize the drone's movement.
The blast hit its mark, causing the drone to stagger, its movements jerky and uncoordinated. Kaito didn't waste time. He surged forward, grabbed a scrap of metal from the ground, and rammed it straight into the exposed core.
The drone's optics flickered, and it went down with a high-pitched screech, its circuits fried.
He didn't pause.
Kaito continued to move, weaving in and out of cover, shooting, dodging, thinking faster than ever before. Every time he felt the pull of the Shadowseed, he relied on it more — letting the energy flow through him, letting his instincts guide him.
By the time the last drone fell, Kaito was panting, his hands shaking, his body slick with sweat.
The walls shifted back into their neutral positions. Aya's voice cut through the silence. "Good. But we're just getting started."
Kaito looked around at the destroyed drones, feeling a sense of satisfaction that was quickly overshadowed by the exhaustion crashing over him. His muscles ached, his heart pounded in his chest. But more than that, he felt something else — something deeper. A connection.
The Shadowseed had become more than just a tool. It had become part of him.
Aya stepped forward, her expression cold but with a hint of respect in her eyes.
"You've got potential, Kaito," she said. "But we're not done yet. You're not done."
Kaito nodded, his mind already racing with the thought of what was to come. He had made it this far. But the hardest part?
It was just beginning.