"Really sorry, Zax, but it was out of my hands this time...the teams were formed randomly using a program and it's not like I know how to rig that, not that I would even if I could, so...I guess you'll just have to figure out a way to deal with it," Sighed Kumar apologetically.

"Come on, you have got to be kidding me, there is absolutely no way I can work with him! I mean, this is the guy who's been tormenting me since I was barely ten, I can't do it!" I protested in dismay. ​​

"Like I said, it was out of my hands, kid...well, I should go, don't want people to get the wrong idea, a student meeting with the instructor in charge of the exam he's about to be taking in less than an hour isn't a great look for either of us. Good luck, Zax."

God...fucking...damnit. This can't be happening!

Let me explain. So I came to the Academy this morning, everything was perfectly fine, and after I got to class, we were given the written exam, which I totally aced...so, yeah, till that point, it'd been a fairly decent day. And then it happened...we received the list of teams for the teamwork exam, once again it was groups of four per team.

I got matched up with Alex Jaice, Katie Cummins and...Tairo Najimi. Before I could even give it a second thought, I used Load...which took me back to about half an hour before the written exam began. I powered through the written exam for the second time, aced it a second time, and...the teams were the same again.

Alex was assigned team leader both times as well. I already knew that future outcomes weren't set in stone, which could only mean one thing...the teams had already been decided before my last Save point.

And so, I looked for Kumar, confronting him about why the one person I wanted to team up with the least was in the same team as I was...and you know the rest. I let out a defeated sigh and headed for the training hall where the other three had gathered while I'd stormed off to look for Kumar.

This is the worst, but I certainly don't want to fail, so I'll have to find a way to...ugh...work with...Tairo...oh, God, I think I'm going to be sick...! No, I'm not being dramatic, if anything I'm understating how I feel right now! I entered the training hall with a sigh, walking towards the other three, who were already in discussion.

"The Dud finally shows up, are you planning on holding us back, you pathetic weakling?" Greeted Tairo , as I approached them.

"Hey, keep that up and we won't pass the exam. And besides, you heard what he did during the last exam, how can you possibly call him weak?" Defended Alex with a frown.

"Huh? You actually believe that crap!? Wow, you're dumb!"

...yeah, this was going about as well as I expected.

"We should continue strategizing," Spoke up Katie, "Don't want to fail."

She was hard to read, her expression was kinda blank and she didn't show much emotion.

"Hmph, I suppose you have a point," Grumbled Tairo, with a look of disdain.

"So, what have you guys decided on so far?" I asked Alex.

"Well, we're still discussing positions in formation. We don't know exactly what the exam will entail, but we'll probably have to fight Mutants, so we need to decide on an a formation that makes best use of each of our abilities," He replied with a sigh.

"I can operate at any range, but I'm probably the most effective at long-range out of the four of us," I informed him.

"Hah, how cowardly!" Scoffed Tairo with a laugh.

"Yeah, well, your abilities are completely useless at long range, asshole...huh, you know what, from now on I'll be addressing you as Asshole...hope you don't mind, Asshole."

"How dare you-!?"

"Right, then you'll back us up from behind, Kilzachs," Interrupted Alex, before adding, "And you take the front, Tairo, since you can only fight at close range."

"Tch, whatever."

Seriously, how'd he get to be such a spiteful little shit?

"Okay, that leaves myself and Katie," Said Alex, before looking inquiringly at her.

"Mid-range."

"Alright, we have one person at each range...I can work at either mid or long-range, while I'm about average at close-range...," Remarked Alex with a frown, trying to figure out where he'd be best utilized.

"You can fly, right? Why don't you try something like this, hover above the close-range spot and fire straight down at the Mutants we fight...when we had that training exercise against Instructor Satou on day one, I remember that your arrows did more damage when fired down from above," I suggested, after a few seconds of silence passed.

"Hey, I like that, it's unorthodox and creative! Yeah, let's go with that!"

With that, the formation was settled upon, though it ended up with Asshole as the main focus with the other three of us essentially backing him up...I didn't like it, but given the skillsets of this group, this was probably the best formation. Hm, there was that thing I tried out yesterday with my sister, but I don't think I need to reveal that here...might as well keep my cards hidden if it wasn't imperative that I reveal them.

When it was down to five minutes left before the start of the exam, we each received a message informing us to head for one of the other training halls, where preparations for the exam had been set up. The four of us headed for the designated training hall and walked it, I looked around as we did. Hm, nothing fancy, just a teleportation platform at the back of the hall and a drone hovering above.

As we walked onto the training area, the drone formed a Duel Field around us, while a holographic display appeared above the teleportation platform, along with a countdown. Looks like that display was a rundown of what this exam would consist of. Let's see here...

'This exam will consist of five rounds. Each round will have a different type of Mutant teleported in, and once that type is defeated, the next round will begin. With each subsequent round, the type of Mutant you will face will be stronger than the last. For your safety, a Duel Field will be active, and if you are teleported out, you cannot return till the ongoing round is over.'

"Is that it? What a joke, this will be child's play!" Laughed Asshole confidently.

Does he really think so? There were no details regarding which rank the Mutants were going to be, and while I imagine they'd all be Q-Ranked at most, I couldn't write off the possibility that we might also have to fight a K-Rank, at least a weakened or not fully grown one. An Ace Mutant was definitely not going to happen, not least because this training hall wasn't big enough to hold one, that, and the fact that an Ace-Ranked Mutant had never been captured yet.

"I highly doubt it's going to be as easy as you think, though I suppose it's not a bad thing to be confident," Sighed Alex, before glancing at the countdown and adding, "Well, there's less than a minute left, let's take our places. , ."

", ."

"."

I hung back by the edge of the Duel Field barrier, in the opposite position of where the teleportation platform was. Asshole was about five meters ahead of the platform, Katie about twenty meters behind him, and Alex directly above him, near the ceiling of the barrier.

I readied my X-Blasters and waited for the countdown to hit zero...thanks to the various ranged output settings Ruby had implemented on these custom models, I no longer needed to carry pistols, since these could do the same thing but better. I set the output to long-range and to three times the minimum, or sixty percent, which would take one point five percent of XFE per shot. If this much wasn't enough, I could always turn it up later.

I probably won't be needing any of my other weapons, my X-Blades weren't any use at this range, I'm unlikely to need my barrier, using the poison smoke bombs would probably make me lose points since the others would likely get caught up in it, and as for the Square Blaster...well, I might have to use it if a K-Ranked Mutant shows up, but if not, I'm more than happy to keep it under wraps, it is my most destructive weapon, after all.

The countdown was almost over now...three...two...one!

The instant the timer hit zero, the teleportation platform activated, and the first type of Mutant appeared, a Q-Ranked Mutant that looked like a monster cat, known as Catto...well, there were six of them, so Cattos. Unlike Doggos which all had black fur and red eyes, Cattos had various different fur patterns and colors, but they were just as big, around human height while on all fours.

"Wh-what is this, I thought we were only supposed to face one at a time!?" Exclaimed Asshole, stumbling back as they surrounded him.

Ohh, so that's why he seemed so confident...he totally misunderstood what had been written on that display. It said that we'd face one TYPE of Mutant at a time, he must have interpreted it as just one, individual Mutant at a time. Wow, he isn't even maintaining the stability of his Manifestations right now, he can't defend himself...nice.

"Hey, snap out of it!" Yelled Alex from above, but he was too slow, as one of the Cattos leapt at Asshole.

Aw, man, as much I'd love to let that Mutant tear him apart...I don't want to fail. And it doesn't look like the other two can intervene in time. Guess I don't have a choice, though I really, really don't want to. Before the Catto could take a bite out of him, I fired a shot from my right X-Blaster, hitting it right between the eyes and killing it instantly.

The other five looked a bit more wary and cautious now, but weren't backing away. Tch, looks like Asshole has somewhat regained his composure. He shot towards the one in the middle, while Rex and Katie kept the two that were closest to him at bay, the former firing his arrows down at the one to the right, while the latter's dragon-head-tail Manifestation thingy struck out at the one to the left. The range of her Manifestation was impressive, she could extend it upto about twenty-five meters, allowing her to attack from an ideal mid-range distance.

Tairo swung his sword straight down at the Catto he was targeting, the creature evaded his strike narrowly and swung its claws up at him, which he blocked with his shield but got sent stumbling back, his shield cracking severely. Meanwhile, Alex had killed the one he was firing at, having struck it several times but only leaving shallow gashes as it evaded, he finally hit it in a vital spot, piercing it through the heart from above.

Katie had the Catto she was fighting on the defensive, but it was avoiding the attempted chomps from the jaws of her Manifestation. So, she tried something else...

"."

The jaws opened wide as lightning crackled in them, before firing out in a powerful electric blast at the Catto, which was unable to dodge, and was killed in a flash, pun intended. While Asshole continued struggling against the one he was fighting, I fired another couple of shots from my X-Blasters as the remaining two, as they took their attention off me.

After my first kill, I'd noticed that they'd been eyeing me warily...but as soon as Alex and Katie landed kills of their own, their attention shifted, giving me an opening.

Oh, and I also had the last one in my sights, but I think I'll let Asshole continue to struggle, this is nice...though I should step in if it looks like he's going to die, Katie didn't have the accuracy with her lightning attack to back him up without zapping him in the process, which would be funny but not the best move in terms of the exam.

And Alex had a relatively decent aim, but it was far from perfect, especially with a moving target, it took him about six or seven arrows before he finally struck the vital spot of the Catto he'd been fighting. Both of them were looking for an opening to help him, but were starting to look antsy...at this rate, they might attack without a proper opening. And I might lose points for that if the instructors notice that I could have helped him in the meantime.

I reluctantly took aim as Asshole lost his balance and stumbled back as the Catto swung its claws at him. The instant it sprang at him, it's sharp teeth bared, I fired, my shot going straight into its open mouth and bursting out the back of its head.

Not bad, I took down two thirds of the first wave at a cost of just six percent of my XFE. The countdown began again, looks like a two minute break before the next wave. Alex signaled to us to gather, so I jogged over to the front of the hall, looking at him inquiringly.

"Okay, so that didn't go perfectly, but, uh...it could have been worse, I guess. Tairo, you clearly misunderstood the rundown of the exam, and I think that threw the rest of us off a bit, I know I was certainly frazzled when you started panicking."

"Tch, I was not panick-...you would think they'd word it more clearly," He muttered irritably.

"It was clear enough. Only you got it wrong," Said Katie, her tone hard to read as ever, but her words were pretty cutting.

"Let's not fight amongst ourselves, everyone makes mistakes. Have to say, that was some shooting, Kilzachs, you got four headshots, that's amazing!" Grinned Alex, patting me on the back as Katie nodded in agreement.

Asshole just scoffed quietly to himself, though he couldn't be too much of a dick about it considering how badly he screwed up.

"Oh, uh...thanks I guess."

"Hm, though it's not great that two thirds of the kills so far were by one of the four of us...I don't think we need to change our strategy, we just need to execute better. Oops, better get back in position, less than thirty seconds left."

We all hurried back into position, as the countdown ticked away. I kept the same output settings on my X-Blasters, preparing myself as it went below ten seconds remaining...

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