REMNANT: A Battle Within

RABW 27: CHAOTIC

A blaring sound echoed through the mountains, waking even the birds and animals that were having their rest. Dreigh and the others were already preparing to go out before the alarm sounded. After the alarm, most of them were already on the grounds waiting for the instruction.

The same man from yesterday stood in front of them. "Your training will start today -" he was not able to continue what he was about to say when a fireball suddenly flew towards him. The man was able to dodge the attack and glared at the crowd.

"Wow, your reflexes are so fast. That's impressive," the remnant who threw the attack clapped his hands. The mocking was obvious in his voice. "You know we don't really need any training, why don't you just scram and let us sleep more, that would be more helpful."

Many of the remnants nodded their heads in agreement. They would rather lie in bed all day than waste their time on the meaningless training those soldiers wanted them to do. They were already stronger than an ordinary human so no need to train.

"Besides you're just gonna send us to the battlefield to die, so why waste time in training us. We know what all of you think about us, monsters or disposable weapons you can easily discard or abandon," one remnant inserted from the very back of the crowd. "You think we don't know the real reason you imposed that ridiculous order to get us all here? This kingdom has been going out of control and on the verge of collapse and to gather more power is the only way that Supreme Commander can make sure that he would stay as the absolute ruler of this kingdom."

All eyes were focused in front and waited for the officials to give an answer but nobody spoke. When there was no answer a voice suddenly spoke from the side. "Very well said. For a remnant, you are very well informed of the status of this kingdom."

A man with a balding head and big belly stepped up on the podium and faced them. Every people on the podium gave the man a salute.

"Welcome Commander General Rozen," the first man who spoke greeted the general. Rozen, gestured for the man to move back. He stood up before the remnants and looked at them. He could see the intensity in everyone's eyes and the air of hostility surrounding them.

"I'm Commander General Alfonse Rozen," he introduced himself but didn't get any reaction. "It's good that you all know relevant pieces of information, this will make our work easier. We will only evaluate how strong your abilities are and if it useful in an actual combat."

In the blink of an eye, one of the remnants appeared on stage and threw an attack towards the Commander General. The attack was fast and was full of killing intent. Before the hand could reach Rozen a shadow appeared before him and blocked the attack. That signaled the other remnants to attack the captains in front. A barrage of different abilities poured on the stage and destroyed the podium.

Dreigh watched all the chaos without batting an eyelid and firmly stood on the side. He was not interested in joining the action and preferred to watch it instead. He was too lazy to do anything. Some other remnants also chose to quietly step aside and let them fight besides it would be unfair if all of them attack at once.

Captain Marthis and the other captains on stage were slightly caught off guard by the sudden turn of events. Remnants from all directions attacked them simultaneously which they all were able to avoid. From the corner of his eye, he could clearly see that not all of the remnants launched an attack against them but even with just their small numbers they could already create too much destruction. With his experience from the battlefield, Captain Marthis was able to fend the attacks and land some blows of his own towards the remnants attacking him.

The chaotic scene lasted for only thirty minutes but the whole practice ground cannot be recognized anymore. Most of the so-called captains were also injured or have been beaten black and blue until they can't stand anymore. Captain Marthis only sustained some scratches while the arrogant man who stood like a boss yesterday was lying on the ground with his face swollen. Commander General Rozen was perfectly fine because of his bodyguard's protection, who was also a remnant based on the skills he had shown.

"So Commander General Rozen, is that enough to prove our point and to show what we can do in an actual fight?" the man who disclosed the information about Glasfale spoke proudly. He did not participate in the fight but he was still someone who was capable of destruction.

Rozen didn't expect that a fight would start inside the military institute they painstakingly built. He frowned at the destroyed practice grounds which can't be used for the following days or even months because of the damage it received. Captain Marthis was right, these remnants were looking down on them. He looked at the remnant beside him and can't help but think that he was lucky to have a loyal servant to protect him.

During the meeting they held last night, each captain who observed the remnants shared what their observations were and Captain Marthis's words proved to be true. He described them as conceited and without fear. Even though they knew that the kingdom's elite and veteran soldiers came to meet them they didn't show any fear and didn't even flinch under the pressure the captains exerted. They were already far from being humans, were the words he heard that night and now he saw it with his own eyes.

The Commander General was now having doubts about the plan they had started to implement. It seems that they need to restructure the plan once again, for now, they would abide by what these remnants want. "Yes, point taken. You can do whatever you want but leaving this place is forbidden. Though we can't do anything against you, we can still do something about those who are outside these walls. Be glad that I'm letting this incident slide." Rozen announced, it was both a bluff and a threat to give them more time to think about their next plan.

Dreigh and his companions visited the dining area and took some food, they were not able to have their breakfast because they woke up so early and was immediately commanded to go to the practice grounds then the fighting happened.

"Well that was intense," Endo laughed what le showing a wide grin.

"At least we don't need to wake up early again tomorrow we can just spend our time in leisure waiting for a war to happen," Vira added in a somewhat relieved voice.

"I suspect that you, Vira, are a person who would sleep peacefully through an attack," Endo patted him on the shoulder with a chuckle. Vira could only shake his head in helplessness at the intelligent guess of this person.

"In that aspect, I can say that both of us are the same," Rond nodded in agreement.

Dreigh did not utter any single word during the whole conversation and only focused on his food. He was not interested in these trivialities since he was only there to comply with the order. He plans to return to his family after the end of all this farce.

"You're not much of a talker, eh?" Endo looked at Dreigh who was only focused on eating. Dreigh shrugged and continued to eat. "Woah, you can really remain silent for a long period of time. If I didn't hear you speak yesterday, I would suspect that you can't talk."

"That's better than you who can talk throughout the day nonstop," Vira shook his head and returned to eating.

"Hey!" Endo was rendered speechless with that comeback and grudgingly remained silent.

After their late breakfast, Endo and Vira decided to roam around while Dreigh and Rond decided to return to their room and take some rest. While running around, Endo and Vira saw that not one of the kingdom's soldiers could be seen around and most of their fellow remnants were leisurely walking around and visiting the facilities of the institute. All of them were like people on a vacation.

Endo and Vira can't help but look at each other and laugh. It seems that those brace soldiers were scared of them or they might be cooking something new behind the scenes. Whether it was true or not, what matters is that they got time for themselves which they don't often get when they were still at their own homes.

The following days remained like this but nobody complained, they were just enjoying their stay. But this leisure time was ended with a piece of news, a war broke out and the other side was fiercer than the last time. The peaceful atmosphere disappeared in an instance and all of them became tenser as time passes by.