It was finally here! The day that Isaac and Junji had longed for! Graduation day. A day like this was a transition from a teenager to an adult. These selfless kids were giving up the last years of their childhood for the safety of their region. They were truly heroes.

Being a hero, however, wasn’t cut out for everyone. Every day the teachers reminded everyone at the academy that they could die at any moment. If they didn’t have the guts to risk their life then it wasn’t cut out for them. They should just go home.

People aren’t perfect, so it couldn’t be helped that some people enroll for the wrong reasons. Simple reasons such as proving one’s worth to another, trying to get over a loved one, or wanting revenge. Reasons like these didn’t motivate a person enough in the long run and they shamefully dropped out.

“Aww, man. Why did we have to get up so early, bro?” Junji complained.

“It is kind of a headache. We never had to wake up at 4 AM before.”

For some strange reason, the graduation ceremony was taking place at 6 AM. In order to make it there on time, they had to catch the bus which came early. To make sure that they didn’t miss it they opted to wake up bright and early.

The sun wasn’t even out yet. Even the birds were still asleep this early in the morning. Few cars passed the streets at this time. The area was mostly isolated. Junji and Isaac kept the same pace as they walked along the sidewalk. Stopping once they reached the bus sign.

“Looks like we aren’t the only one waiting here,” Junji added.

Waiting by the bus stop was more of their peers. They didn’t seem to notice the duo as they were busy staring at their phone screens, but it was typical of them.

“Walking all the way to the graduation site would be a headache. It’s like two miles away.”

“You’re right, I really don’t feel like walking.”

“Do you hear something?”

“What? Wait… I do…”

Soon the strange sound caught the attention of everyone waiting at the bus stop. Just what was it? Honestly, it kinda sounded like the noise of a flock of zebras running in unison and it only got louder. The students’ eyes widen once they realized that this noise was caused by two other students who were running across the sidewalk at frightening speed.

“What the hell!? Who is that?” A student asked.

“Hold on… it’s…”

“Come on, come on, come on! I’m going to beat you if you don’t pick up the pace!”

“Don’t count me out just yet!”

Junji’s eyes narrow as he realizes just who the two were. The annoying couple is known as doofus 1 and doofus 2. They were determined along to always show it seems as they immediately passed the bus stop, leaving the other students to literally eat their dust as everyone coughed.

“Wow… are they really going to run the whole way there!?” Isaac mentioned.

Junji covered his mouth as he coughed a few more times. “They’re crazy I wouldn’t expect anything less from them!”

Slowly passing by the group who were waiting at the bus stop was a sleek, black limousine. The vehicle looked as if it was polished just for this day, but who knows if that was the case. Inside the young man inside stared out through the tinted windows, staring at the students before he snickered.

“Look at those peasants waiting at the bus stop.”

“Now, now, master Noel. That isn’t a nice thing to say about your peers.”

“Who cares? They’re bottom feeders. It’s no wonder they’ve been selected to graduated from the Seer Academy.”

“Come on master Noel. You have to get along with them. They’ll be watching your life now.”

“I wouldn’t trust them with shining my shoes, ha!”

It seems like students of all different statuses and backgrounds were coming to graduate from the academy today. All of their hard work will be put to the test on the field and may God bless their souls for whatever they’ll encounter out there.

Seer Academy, a large-sized building with an abundance of windows on a large acre of land. The area was covered with fresh fields of green and in the middle of the entrance was a large water fountain.

It was easy to tell that the architect put a lot of thought into this place. Using materials such as brick put up a good defense for this building. Acting as a shield from the outside forces and the inside. A lot of combat training went on and damage to the interior was always expected.

On the road, the bus could be heard from the sound its wheels gave off. The door opened and students departed talking amongst one another. It didn’t take long for them to approach the entrance of the building, walking up the flight of steps that was needed to enter the front door.

“This is it Junji. We’ve come a long way, but it’s really going to happen.”

“Yeah, I can’t believe it myself. There were plenty of times when I didn’t think we’d make it. But, as long as we have each other’s back nothing can stop us!”

Shoes clicked along the marble floors as everyone followed the instructions plastered on posters attached to the walls. It had arrows pointing out where to go for their graduation and soon it led them to the cafeteria.

The room was rearranged in a specific way, with multiple chairs seated along various rows in a line. When everyone was seated properly, the red curtains on the stage unraveled, revealing the captains in charge of the graduation ceremony.

“Good morning. I’m glad all of you could join us for this very special day.”

The man seemed to be dressed up in a very fancy suit with a red tie. He stood near a microphone before clearing his throat as his deep projected voice was sent throughout the room.

“I’m Captain Roy and today I’m happy to inform you that all of your hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed. Today you have all graduated.”

Interrupting him was a cry of cheers deafening the entire room. In order to calm them down, Roy signaled them to be quiet with both of his hands.

“Now, now. Settle down. I have some news to tell you. The cold hard truth is that none of you have graduated yet.” After stating this everyone went silent, their mouth dropping wide open as they questioned the man’s sense. “You all have passed academically, but there are still two more chapters in this graduation ceremony.”

A student immediately raised his hands after hearing this and the Captain allowed him to speak. “Sir, I hate to be rude, but what the fuck are you talking about!?”

“Watch your tongue. That isn’t how you talk to your superior!”

“It’s alright Jace. Haha, I’m all too used to this. Normally it’s worse. Young man, nothing is certain in this world. In the past, we’d normally let everyone graduate and serve their region and you want to know what happened?” Roy scratched his blonde beard before continuing. “They all died. They just weren’t up to the task and it showed in their performance. At the time we were desperate for manpower, but now we’ve accumulated enough where we only want the best from here on out.”

“Alright, then what are these other two chapters!? What else do we have to do!?”

Roy chuckled lightly before he addressed the issue. “It’s simple, you’ll have to complete an obstacle course.”

“That seems too simple! Bring it on!” His fellow students cheered on with him, but others weren’t as pleased.

“But, sir. How could you trick us like this? We weren’t expecting more exams today. We thought we had completed everything!”

“If you don’t like the way we do things, you’re free to leave at any time.”

The cafeteria quickly got quiet, but in the end, no one left. They had all made it too far to just call it quits because of some hidden exam.

“Good. Now we’ll head on over to the exam site. Everyone, please leave in single file lines towards the exit.”