Kale was in the battle class with his sword in hand. He was in the typical black tracksuit given to the Soldiers.
"Sir, it has been a week and I still haven't had another sparring session with you." Kale saluted and spoke.
Mr. Daniel looked at him and chuckled.
"A couple of months ago, I would have sworn that you'd never be this eager to learn."
He shook his head.
'All jokes aside, this boy has improved by leaps and bounds in such a short time. This time he has to rest is crucial.' He thought.
Looking at Kale, Mr. Daniel raised an eyebrow.
"Didn't I say that you'd be given a two week break to relax and indulge in various otherwise useless vocations." He waved Kale off.
The latter sighed and left the class. He was headed to his room when his phone buzzed and drew his attention.
He pulled it out slowly and almost dropped it when he read the contents of the alert.
[ALERT!!! A TIER 4 BEAST GATE IS OPENING…]
[ALL SOLDIERS GATHER IN THE AUDITORIUM IMMEDIATELY AFTER PROPERLY EQUIPPING YOUR BATTLE SUITS]
[PREPARE]
Kale remembered the description of Tier 4 beasts and a shiver ran down his spine.
The Soldiers would either give their best and live or mess up and die a most horrible death.
He knew there were soldiers like Mr. Daniel that had powers capable of combating such entities but the military had summoned all of them.
Kale ran to his room and opened his suit's capsule.
It let out a pressurized hiss as it slowly opened up to reveal nothing.
His suit was gone.
"B-but how?! I thought it was only me that could open the capsule!!" Kale began hyperventilating.
His chest was feeling heavy and his movements sluggish.
Another buzz left his phone and as he looked at the message, his heart sunk.
[GATHER IN A MINUTE]
Kale forced himself to take a steady breath and he left for the auditorium.
When he entered, a strange sight of mechanical suits filled his vision. They were neatly queued into various rows.
Kale scanned the people present in an attempt to find Ming and Ian, all to no avail.
Giving up, he blended in amongst the recruits by staying at the far back.
"Kek. He doesn't have his suit. He's definitely going to be punished." A voice to his left laughed.
"Wait. Isn't that the same idiot who sacrificed himself for others in that assessment." Another mocked with disdain in their voice.
Before another person could add, a mass of flames appeared in the air above them.
The recruits watched in awe as the mass increased and increased until it covered the entire ceiling.
Then the flames started to converge to the center, forming a humanoid shape.
The human-shaped mass of flames landed slowly on the ground and its surface layer dissipated and revealed a young man.
He had bright red eyes and a suit of a similar color.
"A tier 4 beast gate is about to open. Now, we aren't sure where but we know for certain that it'll happen."
His eyes traced everybody and landed on Kale.
"For those who don't know me, I am Toby." Toby stared directly at Kale through rows of recruits.
The one he was looking at couldn't see him yet the same didn't apply for the reverse.
"Honestly. If any of you were to attempt to even look at a Tier 4 beast incorrectly, you will die." His tone carried immense weight.
Toby started walking around, "Your job is simple. You are to kill any smaller beasts that leaves the gate."
"These beasts are going to be primarily Tier 1 but there are the occasional Tier 2. Those are for the slightly more experienced and powerful soldiers."
The soldiers had kept silent during the entire thing.
"A fair warning." Toby waved his hand and a small sphere of flames materialized in front of each soldier.
The flames vanished and a small canister landed in their hands.
"Those are your crystal cannisters. The current power source of your suits is a crystal shard. They are mere fragments of crystals." The Soldiers looked at the cannisters.
"Trust me when I say that they don't compare to actual crystals." Toby let out a small sigh.
Kale flipped his cannister over and took in every bit of its design. It was black, thick and heavy.
"Tap one end of it to open it." Toby's instruction rang out.
Tapping one end, it rotated and opened. A single, perfectly cut crystal fell out of the other side of it.
Kale picked it and observed its cold, smooth surface. It was completely transparent with a very light golden glow within.
"Place the crystal in the power slots."
The Soldiers opened the slot where the crystal shards were and removed them. The light on their suits immediately turned off.
They all hesitated for a moment, clearly listening to the prompt that their suit's AI was giving them.
Soon, they finally placed it in their battle suits and the difference was immediately evident.
The suits let out a unified hum that made Kale dizzy and a bit frightened.
It almost seemed like they were packing massive amounts of power now.
"A fair piece of warning. When you kill beasts, they will have these crystals within them and it's greatly advised that you don't use them."
Kale tilted his head slightly, 'Isn't it a bit strange that we aren't allowed to use the crystals directly from the beasts.'
Toby ran his hand through his hair, "I can't go too into the details but if you do disregard my words and use the crystals as they are raw…"
He paused and looked at the sky, "You will die."
"Not from poison or an explosion, no. Rather your body will get corrupted by the physical laws of the beasts." He inhaled sharply.
"The same applies to entering Dimension Zero without the necessary conditions being in place. You become no different from our enemy, you become…" He looked at the soldiers.
"... A beast."