The sky above was blacker than pitch, a frozen void of silence. Not even the stars dared to shine over the training ground of Sector 0. The dome, once shielding the young trainees, creaked and groaned before slowly opening to reveal a harsh and merciless world. Snow fell in thick, wild gusts, dancing madly in the -79°C wind. And then… nothing but silence, until that silence was shattered by a mechanical voice blaring through the intercoms.
"Training simulation initiated. You have six hours. Return with a core of an Artificial Mindless Hemengo… or die."
Over 1300 trainees stood in silent dread, clad in black suits that hissed and adjusted to the shocking cold. The cold was unbearable for a moment...like plunging into a sea of knives...but the suits responded fast, calibrating internal temperatures and sealing around their bodies. The numbness faded, but the fear didn't.
Elbro stood just outside the dome's mouth, his breath fogging up his helmet's visor. His face still bore the long, jagged scar from four months ago...a souvenir of his first encounter with a Hemengo. Lit Frin stood beside him, his calm demeanor barely hiding his nerves.
"I… didn't think the cold would be this bad," Elbro muttered. Lit gave a slight nod. "They want to weed out the weak… fast."
Behind them, panicked murmurs spread like fire.
"What the hell? We're kids!"
"We don't even know how to fight Hemengos!"
"They're setting us up to die...this is a massacre!"
But none of that changed what the instructor had said. Sabotage was allowed. Death was expected. Mercy was optional.
Inside the Observation Tower
Instructor Kael watched through the thick glass panel as the children fanned out into the icy wasteland. His face remained stone cold, unreadable, as two guards in grey stood silently behind him. "1382 candidates," Kael muttered. "Last year, there were 843… only 309 made it through. In the end, just 54 survived the final stage." He folded his arms behind his back. "Let's see how many corpses we get this time."
Back Outside
The terrain outside the dome was brutal...rocky slopes, jagged cliffs, and snow piled high enough to drown a person. Visibility was limited, and worse, the sky remained dark, as if locked in perpetual midnight.
"Move!" one boy shouted, pushing past Elbro.
A dozen others broke into frantic runs, choosing random directions. It didn't take long before the groups fractured, each person deciding between cooperation or betrayal. Elbro and Lit stuck together, heading southwest into the unknown.
"Do you really think the others will make it?" Elbro asked. Lit didn't respond immediately. "Some will. Most won't."
Then, another voice echoed through all their helmets, calm and mechanical: "986 Artificial Hemengos released. Good luck, cadets."
"What the…?" someone nearby shouted. "There's only 986?! But there's over 1300 of us!"
Elbro's heart sank. "That means…" "There won't be enough cores for everyone," Lit finished, voice grave. "Which means some of us have to die."
Elbro clenched his fists. "So that's what the instructor meant by sabotage…" "No one's going to hand us victory," Lit said. "We take it… or we fall here." They pressed on into the freezing darkness.
Meanwhile
In another part of the wasteland, four trainees stumbled upon an Artificial Hemengo. It stood still at first...its grotesque body half-buried in snow, lifeless grey skin and dull red eyes flickering weakly. But once it sensed movement, it leapt forward, revealing four bladed limbs that glinted like obsidian in the faint moonlight.
"Who's going in first?!" one boy shouted. "I'll shoot it...cover me!"
As one boy raised his pistol and fired, the Hemengo dodged with alarming speed and lunged at him, its blade grazing his arm and sending him tumbling. "Move!" another yelled, managing to shoot it between the joints. The Hemengo screeched, stumbled...and a crystal core burst from its back, glowing blue.
"There it is! The core!"
All four darted forward, but the injured boy was already closest. He leapt, grabbing the core. "It's mine!"
"Like hell it is!" one of the others growled. "I shot it!"
Suddenly, a new voice rang out above them, smooth and cold. "You're all too noisy."
They froze and looked up.
A boy with cyan hair stood balanced on a thin branch of a frost-covered tree. His eyes were small and bright green, sharp like needles, and a disturbing smile curled his lips. He wore the same HNO uniform, but with an eerie elegance.
"Who the hell are you?" one trainee demanded. The cyan-haired boy tilted his head. "Me? I'm Axen."
The injured boy began to run with the core, but the snow slowed him down. Axen launched himself from the tree. The other three yelled in shock as he glided mid-air, using boosters in his boots to propel forward with inhuman precision. A stun round fired from his pistol hit the fleeing boy's back. He screamed and collapsed in pain, paralyzed.
Axen picked up the core. "You shot him!" one of the boys screamed. "The instructor said we can't harm others!"
"Incorrect," Axen said calmly. "The weapon's default rounds won't kill, but they can disable. You'd know that if you weren't so stupid." He fired three more shots...one for each of them.
Now, all four were down, twitching and helpless in the snow.
Axen gave a lazy wave and that same spine-chilling smile. "You'll freeze to death in a few hours. See ya." And he vanished into the storm.
Back to Elbro and Lit
Elbro and Lit trudged forward, the snow getting thicker and the wind howling louder. The only light came from the dim glow of their visors and occasional flashes in the far-off distance...gunfire, maybe, or someone else dying.
They passed a shattered stone column, ancient and covered in strange carvings. Lit slowed. "You hear that?" Elbro paused, scanning the darkness.
Metal scraping.
They turned...and saw it.
An Artificial Hemengo.
It stood tall, six-legged, its head elongated like a mantis and blades for arms. Its core pulsated faintly near the stomach. Elbro swallowed hard. "We… we can do this, right?" Lit raised his pistol. "Stay behind me. Aim for the joints. If we hit the core directly, even better."
The Artificial Hemengo screeched and leapt forward like a missile. Its bladed arms swung in wide arcs, slicing the air with terrifying speed. "Move!" Lit shouted, pushing Elbro aside just as the creature's arm crashed into the snowy ground, sending a burst of powder into the air.
Elbro tumbled and rolled, raising his gun with trembling hands. His heart was racing...he had never faced one like this in real combat. Lit fired first...three clean shots to the right leg joint. The bullets connected, emitting a sharp electric sizzle, forcing the Hemengo to stagger. The suit's AI gave tactical readouts in both their visors.
[TARGET STRUCTURE: ARTIFICIAL – MINDLESS]
[CORE LOCATION: VISIBLE – STOMACH REGION]
[WEAK POINTS: JOINTS / CORE]
"I'll distract it!" Lit called, running to the left. The Hemengo snarled and lunged toward him, quick despite the deep snow. Elbro saw the core glowing with every movement...it pulsed like a heartbeat.
Now! Elbro lined up a shot, exhaled, and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew, striking the Hemengo just above the core...close, but not enough. The monster turned its gaze to Elbro, its red eyes locking with his. For a moment, Elbro froze. He could still see his family's faces… the blood… the fire…
"Elbro! Focus!"
Lit's voice snapped him back to the present.
The Hemengo charged. Elbro dove to the side, narrowly dodging the bladed limb that would have carved him in two. As he rolled, he raised the gun again and fired three shots in rapid succession.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
One bullet struck the base of the core. A crack formed. The Hemengo screeched in agony, its movements jittering. Lit fired his own shot to the same spot...and the core shattered, falling out with a pop of light.
It landed In the snow, glowing a vibrant blue.The creature collapsed, its body twitching for a moment before falling still. Elbro lay on his back, staring at the swirling sky. His breath trembled. "We… did it," he said.
Lit picked up the core and handed it to him. "Keep it. You earned it." Elbro clutched it, the light reflecting in his eyes. It was cold, yet warm...like holding a life in his hands. "Now we need one more."
Elsewhere in the Frozen Field
Not far away, other trainees weren't as lucky.
A trio of girls stumbled across a smaller, canine-like Hemengo. They surrounded it, but the coordination was poor. One of them rushed too soon, firing wildly, alerting the creature.
It leapt at her, slashing her leg. She screamed, blood spraying across the snow. "No! Hana!" one girl yelled, running to help her. The other trainee froze. "W-we have to retreat...!"
The Hemengo snarled and lunged again.
Two girls fell screaming. One managed to shoot the core just as it ripped into her suit. The core dropped, but only one of them still breathed. She dragged herself through the snow, broken and bleeding, barely able to move. She reached the core and held it tightly. Behind her, the sky remained silent.
No one would help her. No one could.
Axen casually walked through the snow-covered forest, two cores now stored in the belt around his waist. He whistled to himself, dragging the tip of his gun in the snow. His bright green eyes scanned the horizon.
A soft noise caught his ear. Another group? He climbed a low ridge, crouching behind frozen boulders. Below, five trainees were arguing. "They said sabotage is allowed! He has a core...let's just take it!"
"What?! You're insane!" "Look, there's only 986 of them, right? You want to be the one stuck out here starving and freezing to death?!"
Axen smiled. "So predictable."
He waited.
When the fight started below...two boys attacking another for his core...Axen descended like a ghost. He stunned all three with rapid shots and took their guns. The last boy, the one holding the core, begged, "Please! I got this fair! Please...don't take it…!" Axen stared at him for a long moment. "Hmm… okay."
The boy blinked. "R-really?" Axen shot him point blank in the leg. He screamed and collapsed.
"Just kidding." Axen snatched the core and walked away, humming softly. "Three down."
Back with Elbro and Lit
They moved cautiously; each step heavy in the deep snow. Elbro clutched the core tightly. Around them, the mountains rose like frozen walls, hiding who knew how many Hemengos… or other trainees.
"Over there," Lit said, pointing to a distant ridge. "Smoke." They approached slowly. As they crested the hill, they spotted a fire...small, controlled. A group of trainees, maybe six of them, were gathered, one of them clearly injured.
"We should avoid them," Elbro whispered. "Too many." "Agreed. They'll want your core."
They turned and took a different path. But as they moved through a narrow pass, another Hemengo ambushed them. It was larger...bulkier, with rhino-like plating and two saw-blade arms. Its red glow lit up the dark. "Damn it!" Lit shouted. They fired together...shots bouncing off its armor.
[WARNING: TYPE 2 ARTIFICIAL – ARMORED VARIANT]
[CORE STATUS: INTERNAL – HIDDEN]
[RECOMMENDED STRATEGY: TARGET JOINTS / LURE ATTACKS TO EXPOSE WEAK SPOTS]
"It's got the core inside!" Elbro said, diving behind a rock. Lit crouched low. "We need to make it charge...expose the underside." The Hemengo roared and slashed. Elbro ran left, firing a few rounds at the legs, getting its attention.
The creature turned, stomping toward him. Lit climbed higher, took aim, and waited. "Elbro, jump now!" Elbro dived aside. The Hemengo lunged forward...and Lit fired two precise shots into the exposed underbelly. Sparks flew, and the creature howled.
Elbro fired one final shot. The core popped loose from the underside, falling with a thud.
Lit landed next to it, panting. "That makes two," he said, securing the core. "Let's head back before someone finds us." Elbro nodded, gripping both cores. "Let's finish this."
On their way back
Snow crunched beneath Elbro's boots as he and Lit continued their trek back toward the dome. The two glowing cores were secured inside Elbro's chest pack, pulsing dimly. Each heartbeat felt like it echoed in the frozen silence around them.
The environment had only grown more hostile. Sharp winds howled down from the cliffs, blasting ice dust into their visors. The terrain turned jagged, with slippery rock patches and hidden sinkholes in the snow.
Lit tapped his visor screen. "We're about 3.2 km from the dome. If we keep this pace, we'll make it in under one hour." "Good," Elbro said, though his voice was tight with unease. "But it's too quiet."
As if summoned by his words, a sharp voice sliced through the silence. "Yo." Both of them froze. From the side of a snow-covered ridge, a figure stepped out...calm, smiling, and eerie in the dim light.
Axen.
He was holding his gun lazily over one shoulder, his other hand twirling a blue core between his fingers. "Didn't expect to see anyone this deep. Especially not the infamous claw-face kid."
Elbro stiffened. Lit stepped forward, protective. "We don't want trouble. We've got what we need, and you've got yours." "True," Axen said, stepping closer. "But I like trouble." His smile widened as his green eyes locked on Elbro's pack. "Two cores, huh? That's generous. Enough for me and someone I choose."
Lit tensed. "Back off, Axen." "Relax," Axen said, raising his hands in mock surrender. "I just want to talk. Maybe even… test something." And with no warning, he raised his gun and fired.
ZAP!
Lit's visor glowed red as the shot hit him in the leg. His suit took the brunt, but the stun burst made him drop to one knee. "Lit!" Elbro shouted, drawing his gun.
Axen's second shot whizzed by Elbro's head. He ducked and rolled behind a snowbank. Lit growled, dragging himself into cover. "He's fast…" Axen's voice echoed through the ridge. "I heard you two were close. Cute. But this isn't kindergarten."
Another shot exploded just behind them, melting snow in a small blast. Elbro crawled beside Lit. "We can't fight him straight-on. We need a plan." Lit winced. "I can bait him. You circle wide, catch him off-guard." Elbro hesitated. "What if he stuns you completely?" Lit's gaze hardened. "Then make it worth it."
Elbro nodded and peeled off silently, sticking to the cover of the jagged rocks.
Axen, meanwhile, strolled forward casually. "Y'know, it's not personal. This is survival. That dome only opens with a core. And the more you have, the more bargaining power. Maybe I can trade one for better food. Or a warmer room."
Lit shouted from behind cover, drawing his fire. "You're a coward!" "Coward?" Axen laughed. "No. I just know what I want. And I take it." As he stepped around a boulder to corner Lit, Elbro sprang from the side, firing two quick shots.
Axen twisted, dodging the first...but the second grazed his arm. "Ah...!" he snarled, eyes snapping toward Elbro. "So the little stray bites, huh?" He returned fire, fast and erratic. Elbro barely avoided a stun round, diving behind a ledge.
"New plan," Elbro panted. "We run. Circle around and get back on track." Lit grit his teeth. "You first. I'll cover..." "No," Elbro interrupted. "Together." They burst from cover in sync, zigzagging through the snow. Axen gave chase, laughing madly, shots ringing out around them.
"Run all you want, boys! I've got hours left...and you've got two targets painted on your backs!" As they vanished into the storm beyond the ridge, Axen stopped and stared after them.
Then he smiled.
"This is getting fun."