The shrill wail of alarms sliced through the dimly lit room, drawing the children's attention to the screen ahead. A vivid illustration flickered to life—three monstrous figures took form, each a nightmarish blend of crimson vulture and sinuous serpent. Their glimmering, robotic eyes pierced the gloom with unnatural clarity, heightening the sense of dread that thickened the air.
"These are the Stygian," Roland's voice echoed from the vehicle's speaker. "Beasts of the void. They adapt faster than most machines. Rumors say some are even smarter than us."
The children stared in stunned silence as the creatures slithered and shrieked across the simulated landscape. Vicious, flexible, and unnervingly precise—they didn't look like beasts. They looked like predators built for war.
Alex, always first to move, climbed out of the car and onto the roof. His sleek armor—designed for agility—glinted under the emergency lights, in stark contrast to the heavy, plated build of Daniel's more tank-like suit. The wind tousled their hair, carrying the faint wail of distant sirens. Beneath them, Roland took over manual control of the vehicle, fingers dancing over the dashboard.
"I'm tired of watching," Alex muttered, his voice crackling over the comms.
Strapped to his side was a compact handgun. In his right hand, a mechanical war axe pulsed with faint blue light, glowing along the veins of its circuit-like handle. Daniel, kneeling by the open side door, loaded his rifle with a practiced flick.
"Strap in, all of you!" Roland barked.
Gilbert and the others scrambled to secure their seat belts.
"Ten seconds!" Roland's voice buzzed over the speaker just as Daniel opened fire, forcing the Stygians to scatter. The winged creatures dove and twisted, reacting with eerie precision. One attempted to flank from above.
Alex braced himself and swung hard at the closest beast—but it dodged mid-air, effortlessly. He switched to his pistol and fired several laser bursts. Miss. Miss. Miss again.
Two more Stygians darted to the opposite side of the vehicle, their screeches splitting the air. One tore off the left rear-view mirror with a slash of its claws, carving a deep groove down the vehicle's flank.
"I feel like I'm missing out on all the action," Alex grumbled over comms. "Also, Daniel's clearly choking under pressure—he hasn't hit a damn thing."
"Big words from the guy swinging at air," Daniel snapped back.
"Quiet, both of you!" Roland cut in. "Enemy analysis: Tier 3 Stygians with evolved ocular predictive targeting. They're reading your attacks in advance. Claws reinforced with carbon-fullerene compound—classification FC-009. Light, strong, and capable of cutting through level-two plating."
Alex groaned. "Even with helpful tips, I'm still not getting any hits in!"
Another swing. Another miss. He stomped in frustration.
"Roland, magnetize the vehicle platform for stability," Daniel commanded. "I'll open the left side and stick to the right for angles. Force them into a regroup pattern. Alex, prep the flashbang and EMP combo. Roland, no fancy flying—just barrel rolls. Keep them in our sights."
"Understood," both responded in unison.
"Reminder," Roland added. "We've only got about 15 minutes of magnetization. This thing's from three gens back."
"Noted."
Daniel leaned from the doorway, continuing suppressive fire. The magnetic field anchored him to the chassis. He timed his shots, forcing the Stygians upward. Alex, now holding two rigged bombs, lobbed them skyward.
A blinding flash detonated.
In that moment, Alex leapt, axe flashing. With a clean, brutal strike, he decapitated one of the creatures and grabbed another mid-air. The surviving beast snarled and coiled its serpentine body around him, squeezing. The two tumbled back toward the vehicle.
Before it could crush him, a red laser pierced both of the Stygian's eyes—Daniel's shot. The creature twitched, then went limp. Alex crashed back onto the vehicle's roof, still tangled, fighting for breath.
He drew his pistol and unloaded several rounds into the creature's torso. Only when it stopped moving did he finally exhale.
The vehicle gradually descended, stabilizing on an empty stretch of land.
One by one, the group disembarked. Daniel jumped down first and retraced their entry route. Roland emerged next, a floating utility box humming beside him, a compact laser rifle in his hand.
Gilbert was last, pausing before stepping out. "Don't tell me you're all gonna sit around?"
"We're not sitting," Anastasia said, rolling her eyes. "We just don't like walking into danger unscouted."
Adam gave Gilbert a look of mild contempt as he followed Anastasia out. Kean, still sitting, looked frozen in place.
"Come on, Kean," Gilbert called. "You won't become a Marine Knight sitting on your ass."
"He won't become one by acting like an idiot either," Adam muttered.
Reluctantly, Kean climbed out and jogged to catch up with Gilbert.
Up close, the Stygian corpse was even more horrifying. Its wingspan dwarfed a grown man, and its long neck coiled around its broken body. Its mechanical eyes still faintly glowed, and its claws—longer than Gilbert's forearm—looked sharp enough to cleave steel.
Behind him, Adam dropped from the roof of the vehicle. Gilbert turned and noticed the damage: his armor distorted around the neck where the creature had tried to strangle him. A long gash—probably from one of the claws—marked his chest plate.
Gilbert glanced back at the vehicle and saw the matching gouges along its side. That short engagement had done more damage than he'd realized.
As Adam moved toward Roland, the older soldier scanned him quickly for injuries. Just then, Daniel returned—dragging two more Stygian bodies behind him. One had its neck wrapped in a cord around his waist. In his hand, he carried a decapitated head and a smoking laser pistol.
"Put the headless one in the trunk," Roland instructed. "As for the one I shot through the eyes, just remove the claws and leave it."
Daniel scowled. "So I carried all this crap for nothing?"
"You carried my trophy," Alex said with a grin. "That's reward enough."
"Said the guy whose ass I just saved," Daniel shot back.
"Why aren't you taking all of them?" Anastasia asked.
"These are low-tier Stygians," Roland replied while sawing off another claw. "We're not researchers or scavengers. We only take what's worth something. One specimen's enough for reference."
"If we had a modern military crawler or were stationed in a proper Tier II base, we could scan them and upload the data to the military catalog. But this is an academy ride—third gen, maybe fourth."
"Stop whining. We're moving out," Daniel said as he climbed back into the driver's seat. "Let's go, brats."
Everyone loaded back into the vehicle, the faint stench of ozone and scorched metal still lingering in the air as they prepared for withdrawal.