Yoshida had already unsheathed another sphere from its holster and retracted a dome-shaped shield to protect himself. Roudan and Shevchenko instinctively followed suit. Sounds similar to hailstone on a tin roof deafened their thoughts as a rapid fire of lasers showered over them. Their translucent shields held well as a protective barrier, but the consistent stream of rain and laser beams blurred everyone’s vision. A mass of bodies swarm around them, followed by waves of weapons clashing onto their shields. The Alpha team made progress towards the lighthouse doors by pushing their opponents back.

As luck would have it, the storm caused an opponent’s hand to fumble when retrieving their sphere. Yoshida nodded at Roudan with a knowing grimace, as the would-be weapon dropped near his foot in the muddied sand. The opponent tried to recover the sphere, but Yoshida intercepted it. Roudan and Shevchenko spun about, twirling shields which knocked the masses into each other. Yoshida promptly extracted and hurled a grenade. Seconds later, a majority of the opposition was blown back down the slope of a sand hill.

A small formation of remaining Bravo, Charlie, and Delta cadets emerged from the carnage. To their credit, they withstood the previous battle at the abandoned warehouse. They had also dispatched a slew of recycled cadets to lend aid to the efforts of the exit exam. Whatever trespasses landed them nearly on the brink of expulsion would be forgiven in exchange for going after the Alpha squad with full force. Each sauntered about with twisted faces as their eyes stung from rain and blood. Cries of agony echoed behind them.

Shevchenko felt a lump form in her throat as their enemies moved in closer. Another round of physical combat was imminent. She willed her mind and body to perform on command. Her thoughts fell on Farouk and on how Yoshida had tasked him to protect Savoi. Though no one had given her such a charge, she felt it was her duty to persevere and hold her own, so it would not force her counterparts to take care of her.

“I won’t be the weakest link of the Alpha squad,” she whispered.

In a blink, Shevchenko extracted an ax from her sphere. She braced herself, then walked behind a female opponent about to fight Roudan. When the girl threw a dagger, Shevchenko cut swiftly into her back. The girl howled and laid face down, convulsing in excruciating pain. There was little time to linger, but Roudan managed a half smile at Shevchenko as they darted off in separate directions.

Yoshida extracted his one more sphere, which took the shape of a guandao. Inwardly, he imagined himself a demon drunken by bloodlust. Fiercely, he wielded the short pole around his shoulders, arms, and over his head. The attached wide blade whacked every intended target from his path. It felt like ages since he had been in the throes of such violence, to which a morbid wave of nostalgia washed over him.

Roudan was busy dealing with his own skirmish when he suddenly became distracted by Shevchenko and a peculiar Charlie cadet. The lad was twice her size with a child-like demeanor. They wrestled with failed attempts of tugs and grabs. With a quick leg sweep, she leveled him into a large puddle. The cadet grunted as she landed an elbow to his temple. Roudan swelled with pride seeing that Shevchenko had returned to good form and his combat training was effective. Roudan body slammed a quivering Delta who stole a punch to his face while it sidetracked him.

Meanwhile, Savoi continued her long climb up the window of the lighthouse. Her gloves were slippery against the rope, but the tactical footgear kept her steady. Dread erupted in her mind as she heard the screams of her classmates below pummeling each other to a gory pulp. Knots in her stomach formed, thinking of her beloved squad. Resolve to succeed drove her further and faster up the wall, although hunger was also an obstacle.

Shevchenko had insisted forgoing a bite of breakfast in favor of making better time across the vast ocean. It was a small victory for her to prove whatever point she tried to make. Savoi harbored no ill-will on the matter, considering she too had made a bold assertion that the lighthouse contained a pertinent solution towards their victory in the exit exam. The sooner she found the answer, the sooner their struggles would be over. This was conundrum was parallel to the actual war itself.

When Savoi finally made it to the opened window, it took all her might to pull herself in. She did not realize Farouk had been trailing behind until she tried to retract her rope. His wounded shoulder kept him several paces down, but to his relief, Savoi had enough strength left to pull him up and inside. They looked out the window to drink in the view of the raging battle below.

“Oh, no! That looks bad,” Farouk gasped.

Savoi frowned, completely vexed with him.

“This is what war looks like. Are you going to cry?” she smirked.

Farouk shifted his stance to appear more courageous.

“No,” he sniffed.

The pair stood in the lighthouse’s midlevel. Although Savoi wanted to continue onward to the top, they opted to travel down the stairs to the doorway so the rest of the team could join them. As they rounded the corner of the spiral wooden staircase, they heard footsteps behind them. The other teams followed them up the lighthouse wall. It would not be long before they clashed. Savoi grabbed a sphere, which morphed into the shape of a rocket launcher. She mounted the large weapon on her shoulder, then proceeded to act.

“Wait!” Farouk cried. “How do you know if our men aren’t directly behind the doors?”

Savoi’s nose crinkled as her trigger finger slightly twitched. With limited time and impending doom pressed against their backs, she quickly took out a flare gun and fired it beneath a crack in the doors. Red smoke oozed from the space, then arose into the air. A skull- shaped cloud hovered over the fighters on the beach. Roudan instantly recognized the symbol of the Alpha squad and knew Savoi had breached the lighthouse.

~The Waring Robins~