Second Rotation — Forest Sector
The forest simulation was nothing like the sand field.
Artificial trees rose twenty feet overhead, dense canopy blocking most of the early light. The ground was uneven, layered with roots and damp soil. Mist clung low, limiting visibility beyond thirty feet.
The barrier sealed behind them again.
David rolled his shoulder once. It protested sharply.
Nyra noticed.
"You sure you're fine?"
"I'm not bleeding."
"That wasn't my question."
Before he could answer, the ground shifted.
Not from beneath.
From above.
A shape dropped from the canopy.
It wasn't a construct this time.
It looked closer to something organic — scaled, elongated, with plated ridges along its spine and four clawed limbs that moved independently of each other. Its head resembled a distorted raptor, jaw hinged too wide.
Two more dropped behind it.
"Higher variant," Castiel said immediately.
The first creature didn't charge.
It studied.
Then it moved.
Fast.
It didn't attack as a unit like the sand constructs had. These separated instantly.
One climbed.
One circled low.
One charged directly.
"Left canopy!" Nyra snapped.
David looked up just as the climbing creature launched from a branch.
He tried to pivot, but his sore shoulder slowed him half a beat.
The claws raked across his upper back, tearing through the outer layer of his training vest and driving him forward into the dirt.
Pain flared white-hot.
system:
Damage Registered — Moderate
Mobility Decreased 12%
He rolled instinctively as the second creature lunged for his exposed flank.
Castiel intercepted it mid-charge, slamming into it with enough force to redirect its trajectory into a tree trunk.
Nyra had already engaged the third.
She ducked under its first strike and drove her forearm into the seam beneath its jaw, but this one didn't destabilize easily.
"These aren't Tier-One," she called.
"Tier-One Advanced Variant," Vance's voice echoed over the field speakers. "Adapt."
David forced himself up, ignoring the burning across his back.
The canopy creature dropped again.
He braced for impact and redirected its momentum sideways, but it twisted midair and caught his shoulder again.
He hit the ground hard.
The forest sector tilted.
For a second, the noise felt distant.
system:
Vital Signs Elevated
Pain Threshold Engaged
I am:
Stand.
The word wasn't loud.
It wasn't forceful.
It simply existed.
David pushed up on one knee just as the creature lunged again.
Nyra slammed into it from the side, taking the hit across her forearm instead.
It knocked her backward into a tree.
Castiel swore under his breath.
He drove into the circling variant, but this one countered—low sweep, claw to thigh.
Castiel staggered.
"Together!" Nyra shouted.
David forced his legs steady.
The three of them shifted instinctively into tighter formation.
Back-to-back would get them surrounded.
So, they angled—triangular spacing.
The canopy creature leapt again.
David didn't try to absorb it this time.
He stepped inside its arc early and redirected upward instead of sideways.
The creature overshot and hit the trunk.
Nyra capitalized immediately, striking the seam at the spine ridge.
It cracked.
Castiel finished it with a hard downward blow.
One down.
The circling variant lunged for Castiel's injured leg.
David intercepted, but his slowed mobility cost him timing.
The claws tore through his vest and into skin this time.
Heat flooded his senses.
system:
Laceration Detected
Blood Loss — Minimal
Combat Efficiency Reduced
He grabbed the creature's forelimb and drove his knee into its underbelly seam.
Nyra struck from behind.
Castiel followed.
The second destabilized.
The third hesitated.
It recalculated.
Then it targeted Nyra's injured arm.
David saw it half a second before she did.
He moved without thinking.
He collided with it mid-lunge.
They both hit the ground.
The creature twisted, jaws snapping inches from his throat.
David's vision narrowed.
system:
Stamina Critical Threshold Approaching
He braced his forearm against its lower jaw and forced upward.
His shoulder screamed.
Nyra drove her elbow into the exposed neck seam.
Once.
Twice.
The plating ruptured.
The creature collapsed.
The barrier dropped.
Silence filled the forest sector.
David lay flat on his back, chest heaving.
Nyra sat against a tree, clutching her forearm.
Castiel leaned against another trunk, blood soaking through the tear in his training pants.
Across the field, other squads were not faring much better.
One heir squad had already been extracted from the urban sector.
Commander Vance stepped through the barrier as med-drones entered behind her.
She didn't look at the drones.
She looked at them.
"You adapted," she said.
It wasn't praise.
It was evaluation.
"You relied on each other instead of individual output."
She turned slightly toward David.
"You stepped inside impact range repeatedly."
He met her gaze.
"Yes, ma'am."
"That will either make you effective," she said evenly, "or dead."
She let that hang.
"Medics."
Drones moved into seal wounds and injected fast-acting stabilizers.
As one of them worked on David's shoulder, Nyra looked over at him.
"You're going to stop doing that," she said.
"Doing what?"
"Taking hits that aren't yours."
Castiel exhaled slowly.
"She's right, D."
David closed his eyes briefly.
Inside his mind—
system:
Endurance Increased +3%
Pain Resistance Increased +2%
I am:
You are not meant to endure alone.
He opened his eyes again.
Across the field, Commander Vance was still watching.
Not his level.
Not his score.
His pattern.
Training wasn't about proving strength.
It was about revealing instinct.
And David's instinct was becoming very clear.