The Wasteland stretched before them, gray and endless.
Hiro stood at the edge of the cracked earth, his feet planted on the boundary where the base's repaired ground met the corrupted zone. The air was thinner here—colder, somehow, despite the sun beating down. It tasted like rust and old ash.
Behind him, the entire Delinquent Base had gathered.
Not just Beatrice's core unit—everyone. The cooks. The cleaners. The utility staff with their zero stars and tired eyes. They had come to watch.
"This is it," Yurei said, stepping up beside him. Longinus was in her hand, its golden blade catching the pale light. "The final test."
Beatrice cracked her neck. Behind her, Scott cracked his knuckles. Winston, Stanley, and Marcus fanned out in their beast forms—leopard, bull, serpent—their eyes fixed on the horizon.
"You've spent two weeks training," Yurei continued, her voice carrying across the crowd. "You've learned to fight. To think. To work together. But theory means nothing without practice."
She pointed toward the Wasteland.
"Somewhere out there is a Peak tier Blue Gate. Blue-tinged red borderline. The Abyssals inside won't be as easy as the ones you've faced before."
Beatrice stepped forward. "And if we close it?"
"Then I will recommend you for promotion to full three-star soldier."
Beatrice stood there shocked for a few seconds. Then a devilish grin spread across her face.
"That would be awesome."
The crowd stirred. Whispers rippled through the ranks. Three stars. Official recognition. Authorized use of Imperial Gear. A few steps away from becoming a princess candidate herself.
"No pressure," Sally muttered.
"Tons of pressure," Felicia agreed.
Ramona swallowed audibly.
-------------
Hiro walked at the center of the formation, his fox senses on high alert already transformed with a kiss from Yurei. The air tasted of rust and decay. Every breath felt like swallowing ash. Behind him, Beatrice's unit moved in practiced synchronization, a far cry from the chaotic rabble he'd first met two weeks ago.
Marian walked alongside the group, cracking her knuckles. "I'm here to actively monitor them," she announced.
Yurei raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, fine." Marian grinned. "I also wanted in on some of the action."
Yurei sighed but didn't stop her.
She stayed back at the edge of the Wasteland, her hand resting on Longinus, her aura flickering at the edge of visibility—ready to intervene if things went wrong.
The utility staff stood behind her, clutching makeshift banners.
"You can do it, Captain!"
"We believe in you!"
Beatrice didn't look back. But her shoulders straightened.
She led from the front, her leather jacket replaced by reinforced combat gear. Her fade haircut was still fresh, earrings glinting in the pale light. But her posture had changed. Less swagger. More purpose.
"Contact front," she said quietly.
Hiro's ears perked. He smelled them before he saw them—dozens of worm-like Corrupted burrowing through the cracked earth, their segmented bodies leaving furrows in the dust.
"The same smell as last time," Hiro remembering the smell of the Corrupted apes he fought against last time.
"Worm-types," Scott said from behind her, his gorilla form already tensed. " peak tier Class Two, maybe Three. They'll try to surround us."
Beatrice didn't panic. She raised her fist. "Formation Delta. Sally, you're with me on the left. Felicia, Ramona, hold the right flank. Winston, Stanley, Marcus—watch our backs. Hiro, center. You're the reserve."
Hiro blinked.
"Reserve?"
But he didn't argue.
---
The first worm erupted from the ground ten meters ahead—a massive, pale thing with a circular mouth lined with teeth. It screeched and lunged.
Beatrice moved.
Her fist connected with its skull before it could reach her. The impact sent shockwaves through the air—crack—and the worm's head caved in. It twitched once, then went still.
"One down," she muttered.
More worms burst from the earth. Left. Right. Behind. They came in waves, their bodies undulating like pale serpents.
Sally met the left flank, her blessing flaring—she levitated just above the ground, dodging a worm's lunge, then drove her heel into its spine. It snapped.
Felicia and Ramona held the right, their beast slaves Winston and Stanley tearing into the worms with claws and horns. Winston's black leopard form was a blur of motion, ripping through chitin. Stanley's bull horns impaled two at once.
But the worms kept coming.
Hiro watched Beatrice fight. She wasn't the same brawler who had charged Yurei with illegal brass knuckles. Her punches were precise now each one aimed at a weak point. A joint. A soft spot between segments. She ducked under a worm's sweeping tail and drove her elbow into its side, cracking its armor.
"Your left side is still lagging," she muttered to herself echoing Yurei's words from training. She adjusted her stance. The next punch landed cleaner.
She's actually learning, Hiro thought.
A worm lunged at him from the side. He didn't have to move, Scott's massive gorilla fist intercepted it, crushing its skull.
"Pay attention, fox," Scott rumbled.
"Thanks."
Beatrice called out, "They're trying to tire us out! Keep moving, don't let them surround you!"
---
Marian stood at the edge of the battlefield, arms crossed, watching. She wasn't here to fight—she was here to observe. But her eyes kept drifting to Hiro.
The way he moved. The way his tails flowed like water. The way he protected Felicia without being asked.
"Seems like our training montage wasn't for nothing."
He's not the same scared kid who showed up two weeks ago, she thought.
And then, unbidden. He's kind of cute when he's serious.
She shook her head. Focus.
A worm broke through the line, heading straight for Hiro's blind spot. Marian's body tensed—but Hiro's tail whipped around and crushed its skull before it could reach him.
He didn't even look back.
Marian's heart was pounding. She told herself it was just the adrenaline.
---
A worm lunged at Hiro from a new angle—faster than the others, smarter. Marian moved before she could think.
Her fist connected with its skull, sending it crashing into the dirt.
Hiro spun around. "Marian?"
"Watch your back, rookie." Her voice was casual, but her heart was pounding. Not from the fight.
From how close he'd come to getting hurt.
She almost believed it.
She turned and marched toward the distant glow on the horizon.
----
Beatrice took point again, leading the group in a weaving path between the worm corpses. Her footwork was sharp—no wasted movement. When a worm burst from the ground directly in front of her, she didn't stop. She sidestepped, grabbed its body as it passed, and used its own momentum to slam it into the ground.
Crack.
The worm went limp.
"Captain's gotten scary," Sally muttered.
"Captain's gotten effective," Beatrice corrected.
Hiro's tails lashed out, wrapping around a worm that had tried to flank Felicia. He yanked it off balance, and Stanley's horns finished it.
The group pushed forward, leaving a trail of broken worm bodies behind them.
Finally, the ground grew still.
Beatrice stopped, breathing hard but steady. "That's the last of them for now."
Scott sniffed the air. "The Gate is close. I can smell it."
"Then let's not keep it waiting."
Beatrice looked back at her unit—at Sally, Felicia, Ramona, and their beast slaves. At Hiro. Her eyes held something new. Confidence. Not the arrogant kind she'd had before. The earned kind.
She thought about Yurei's training. About the hours of paperwork, the lectures on responsibility, the brutal sparring sessions that had left her bruised and humbled.
She thought about Marian—a former princess candidate who had given up, who had found a new family in the 13th unit.
I won't give up, Beatrice told herself. Not ever.
"Good work, everyone," she said. "But the real fight hasn't started yet."
Hiro followed, his tails brushing against the ash-covered ground.
She's not the same person who cheated with illegal knuckles, he thought. None of them are.
Marian walked beside him now, her shoulder brushing against his. Neither of them mentioned it.
They found the Gate at the base of a crumbling hill.
It was beautiful in a terrible way, a swirling vortex of blue and red, its edges crackling with unstable energy. The air around it shimmered, heat rising from the corrupted ground.
But something was wrong.
Part of the Gate—the right edge had turned a deep, ominous red. Not the pale blue of a standard Class Three. This was darker. Hungrier.
"That's not normal," Scott said, his gorilla form rumbling.
Hiro's tails bristled. "What does it mean?"
Marian's grin faded. "It means this Gate is changing. Blue-tinged red-ish borderline. But that..." She pointed at the red edge. "That's a Red Gate trying to manifest."
"A Red Gate?" Beatrice's voice was tight.
"Class Four. Maybe higher." Marian's eyes didn't leave the Gate. "The Abyssals inside won't be Class Three. They'll be stronger. Smarter."
Beatrice looked at her unit. At Sally. At Felicia and Ramona. At Scott, Winston, Stanley, Marcus. At Hiro.
Then she looked at the Gate.
"We've come this far," she said. "We're not turning back now."