Leo woke up and glanced around, “where am I?” He asked while trying to stand up, which brought a wave of dizziness to him. This cleared up his brain a bit as he touched his head. He felt the itch from the cloth bandage, before recalling what happened.
He sighed; “it’s already evening, I wonder where Clark went to". He soliloquized while glancing outside.
During the construction of their make-shift residence, they both placed the rocks together to form something like a cave before all that happened- the exobeast encounter. He finally went outside to find his friend by a lump of fire-eating roasted meat.
“Ah!! Bro, you’ve woken up, how’s your head?” Clark asked casually as he munched on his meat.
“Clark..., I don’t know. I still feel a little dizzy though”. Leo replied as he supported his head with his palm.
“Leo my guy, you’re tougher than this. Come and eat roasted meat. I conveniently killed an antelope as you slept. It’s delicious, come and eat”, Clark invited with a smile.
“Ok,” Leo replied moving forward, as he suddenly felt a wave of hunger wash over him. He ate voraciously, as the atmosphere between them freed up.
“Clark”, Leo abruptly called, as they ate.
“Yes, Leo what is it?”
“Do you think we can kill these exobeasts? I mean, you saw how the panther alone almost made short work of us,” he discretely glanced at his friend to see his expression as he asked this question.
“Yes man, don’t kill yourself because of that one defeat. At least we’ve known its style, we’ll hunt it again tomorrow".
"I think he’s the king here. This is his territory, so I think it will still be around here. Cheer up brother, we’ll kick its ass tomorrow. Just try your best to recover”.
“Ok..., thanks, Clark. I’ll go and rest. Wake me up if a situation arises.” Leo left directly to rest.
He sighed on the way, “why did I even ask? This guy will forever remain the same, being confident all the time. This time, I don’t know if he is being overly optimistic”, the short fight with the panther still gave him goosebumps.
Clark just sat on a smooth rock watching the darkening sky, while in deep thought. “Mom, Dad, I’ll kill this panther. I and Leo will clear this training and I will be the best cadet this batch, I promise. Those Mocans who killed you, I’ll kill a million of them to avenge you”.
Sometimes declaring something confidently, can give you the required competence to reach your goal. Even the bible of his religion quoted that death and life are in the power of the tongue.
He knew that he was somethings overly optimistic, but it helped a lot in building his confidence. If it helped the legendary footballer, Zlatan of old, then it can help him also. Sometimes, just having faith that you can do something can enable you to do it.
“Haha,” he laughed while wiping the teardrop threatening to fall from his eyes.
“I should improvise to make our situation better here,” his year's training as a cadet was not in vain. At least, he knew how to improvise in some common difficult situations.
He stood up and started gathering the nearby rocks. He remembered a defense structure that the Spartan military used in defending against major Mocan military raids and invasion attempts.
He planned to make an imitation using rocks. The spiky Impaler formation used by the Spartan military uses exotic steel, shaped in the form of a lance or spear for the main material. The lances are then connected with exotic steel wires in a row.
The exotic steel is made slightly elastic, to make the setting more flexible. After standing the spears, the soldiers tie a rope across the formation, to be used to drag the spears down with force.
The highly durable rope keeps it in place, as a soldier with a sniper rifle is assigned to keep an eye on the rope. When the Mocan offensive proves to be stronger than expected, the leader or commander of that Spartan military division commands an orderly retreat.
When they have retreated past where the formation of spears is hidden under the ground, the sniper quickly fires at the rope holding the hidden danger.
Pa! Pandora’s box is opened, as the spears are quickly released with huge force and momentum. Any Mocan soldier facing the spears has a guaranteed free pass to death, as the exotic spears can impale any soldier on armor facing it ruthlessly.
The elite Spartan military hardly uses this formation, keeping it as a trump card. So, in major battles, the Mocan soldiers fighting are basically gambling with their life that the formation will not be used.
This formation is not undefendable though, as this is not the age of formations but the age of exotics and technology.
Military battles this age mostly revolve around who has better tech. Formations and all other add-ons are just compliments. But formations used in conjunction with high-grade tech are deadly. So, overall, it has its pros and cons.
Anytime the spiky Impaler formation is used, the Spartan military almost always emerges victorious as they ride on the momentum provided by it to quickly defeat the opposing force.
But this is mainly used in defensive battles. The main reason for the victories though, is that it is a formation used in conjunction with high-grade tech.
“I know I don’t have access to all the materials the formation requires, but I’ll improvise. Black Panther, be careful because you are about to get robbed”, Clark went to work as he chuckled darkly at the thought of his plan.
He selected the slightly pointy ones from the rocks he picked. He sharpened their edge further with his dagger, as he slowly arranged the formation.
He could only get 5 sharp-pointed rocks in the limited time he had. He quickly dug them down. He bent them down while connecting them together, using a makeshift rope from the branch of a tree he saw nearby.
As a tree surviving in a mountainous area with countless rocks, it was only natural for its branches to be thick. He also used a branch from the tree as his rope, to drag the formation down with force. To his relief, there was no need to cover the formation as the makeshift spears were of the same color as the rocks.
After everything, it was already getting late. So, he went inside their cave. He slightly covered the entrance to the cave with a rock before going in.
He found Leo sleeping peacefully, he laughed softly to himself on seeing this. He knew that Leo only slept deep like that because he believed that his friend will surely protect his back during times like this.
Controlling your sleep was basic fundamental military training, so they were both adept at it.
“Yeah bro, you can sleep all you like. But wake up strong tomorrow because we are going hunting.” He finally cleared space for himself in the cave to sleep.
[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it.]
Leonard Bane woke up to see the golden sun rays shining down on him, from the corners of the cave. He admired the rays a bit as his eyes cleared before he looked at his shadow reflection.“Oh, it’s 8:00 am already. Why didn’t this piece of shit wake me up?” He cursed as he quickly got up, going outside the cave. There he saw Clark, diligent as always, doing push-ups.“Diligent my ass, this guy only did his push-ups daily to keep his 6 packs, to impress girls. F**k,” he couldn’t help but curse again, as the scene left a bad taste in his mouth.“Oh, Leo you’re already awake. "I thought you’ll sleep like a log of dead wood for the rest of the day. Good morning plant.” Clark finally greeted his friend properly after his regular exchange of insult greeting.“Clark, my head injury is healed, don’t try me. If you call me a plant again, I swear I'll skin you alive,” Leo retorted w
Due to it being stretched very thin, the makeshift rope snapped in 2 with just one laser beam.BOOM!!! His hard work was finally put to use, as the handmade spears quickly sprang up. It was just an imitation, so the spears didn’t have enough force to shoot off from the ground like the ones used by the Spartan army. But this was just the right force to inflict enough damage to the big cat. It seems like the panther sensed the danger, as it tried altering its jump trajectory but it was already too late. The spears ruthlessly impaled its exposed belly, it growled in rage and pain as its bowels and blood freely flowed out.Due to the force and momentum from the panther’s moving speed, the spears conveniently cut it from where it impaled on its belly to its leg as one of the spears got stuck in its leg bone.Still re
Clark woke up the next day feeling great. He dreamt of food during the night, the type that turns heads. He saw himself as an emperor as his maidservants served him lots of fruits, meats, snacks, and beverages.After waking up, he was disappointed as he didn’t see any luxurious palace, no maidservants, but the now-familiar handmade small rocky cave he made with his friend. “Oh man, my life’s a complete disappointment,” he thought in resignation. "I wish I could be an emperor forever.” Most of his dreams always feel kind of blurry when he wakes up, but he still remembers the most essential parts. Since he was small, that was how he always had dreams on intervals. You know, sometime
The 2 cadets journeyed for hours, as they intended to leave this mountainous region entirely. They tried to make themselves as inconspicuous as possible, as they possibly can’t account for all the dangers in this region. They did not want to engage any beast horde now, exobeasts were their main focus.They rested sometimes on the way, as they conveniently ate from the meat, they packed on their bags to regain their energy. “Shit, man I didn’t know this rocky territory was this large. It’s evening already, and we are yet to sight another terrain”, Leo grumbled in frustration.Clark chuckled at the way his friend grumbled, but he also felt helpless. “I hope that we leave this area soon”, he muttered. 
Too late? Maybe…, the exobeast charged towards Leo, fully displaying its enhanced speed. As he ran, flashbacks quickly emerged in his head, as he recalled information about the rage phenomenon.Information is power, if you have information about your opponent, you are halfway to defeating him.The rage phenomenon is a state an exobeast enters after it gets agitated and angered to an extent. After this transformation, it receives a special surge of adrenaline. Which leads to a great increase in its strength, lethality, aggression, and a lot of other attributes.This phenomenon causes it to possess a special strength, in the form of pressure. The area around it produces great pressure which affects enemies psychologically. This hardly occurs, as it requires a lot of conditions to be met before it is activated. The pressure e
Even though they both suppressed the exobeast, the ape was still a bonafide tank tyrant as its injuries accumulated extremely slowly. The fight turned into a battle of endurance, as they both killed all the primate's subordinates but it still fought aggressively. The ape sometimes pulled unexpected maneuvers, but they scaled through, persevering and adapting due to their increased battle experience.Clark never felt this good in a battle. During the battle, as he continued exchanging blows with the exobeast, he felt like this is what he should be doing. It felt absurd and stupid, but he felt that this was his calling.“I was born to fight, to dominate and bring glory to my country”, he muttered in excitement as his inner battle spirit took over.His current mood is similar to when you are doing somet
Clark woke up very early the next day feeling refreshed and energized, the only inconvenience was the heavy smell of blood.He wasn’t too irritated though, as part of their cadet training was a period when they get very close to blood and sleep in a vicinity covered with blood to get used to it.This was to allow them to adapt to situations that proved dangerous, tedious, and intolerable to others. In the future, when they encounter a situation where they see themselves in bloody areas, this training can come in handy. He coped very well, as he didn’t puke because of the smell. Even though he woke up energized, he was still resentful as he preferred dwelling in his dream than to be in this smelly place, under a huge tree, in the middle of nowhere.“Shit man, life is not fair at all. It’s just like a transition from the palace to pit
Rustle!! Rustle!! The leaves swayed to the rhythm of the night, as the wind blew in the silent darkness.As the leaves swayed, a pair of eyes watched from the darkness as the moonlight reflected the glow of the eye. The owner of these eyes slowly moved silently to where the two cadets slept. During that time of the night, Clark and Leo were both already fast asleep, unaware of the danger sneaking close.After getting close enough to see the new tyrants of the jungle, a cold glint flashed past the eyes of the black creature as its muscles contracted to prepare for a ruthless charge. It was a Night Rakshasha, a black creature that evolved from the union between a black panther and a tiger.A Night Rakshasha that evolved to become an exobeast is augmented towards extreme speed. They can fight with their four limbs do
6 months ago, the sky turned red which according to world leaders signified the start of the war that would decide the fate of humanity.2 months prior, the news was finally publicized, spreading worldwide panic but with all the most powerful world leaders working together, the panic was easily curbed and order was restored.According to the government, humanity was not hopeless, they had heroes in the form of their soldiers and elite soldiers.Not only that, humanity had a superhero, the great Elite Commander Clark Pendragon. After the special training started, a fuse seemed to have been switched on as the Spartan soldier experienced a period of rapid growth.With veteran Elite Commanders around to guide him and with every resource he needed available, he encountered no bottlenecks, he improved at a superhuman speed never recorded since the human race was born.In just 4 months, he broke through 2 times, going all the way to the Elite-grade rank.
A month later, in the Gen. Clark Pendragon Mansion.At the big balcony attached to the mansion, Clark stood, looking out into the distance as a lot of things went through his mind. The past one month has been the best in his life, and he was grateful for it.Despite it being the best in his life, as a 4th rank high-grade soldier now, his intuition told him that something was happening.As a high-grade soldier and mercenary, things happened everyday around him but he knew that this was not the normal happenings, his intuition told him that this was far higher than anything that he has encountered before.And after making connections from the recent happenings, from his famous marriage ceremony, to the big 5 jointly broadcasting it, a lot of other things and now the Spartan President personally calling for him, he confirmed his guess.Something big was happening, it was just that no one deemed it right to inform him about it yet. As a man
Vatican City Central Church, General Clark Street. This was the church where the big things were happening for today. Not only people from all over the Spartan republic, even esteemed guests from foreign high-grade countries came to grace this occasion. Today was the day of Vatican City hero’s marriage ceremony. After 22 years as a single, General Clark Pendragon was finally ready to tie the nut with his fiancée. The name of the street where the ceremony was commencing was given and commissioned a few days after Clark became a General. Some of the most esteemed guests attending the marriage ceremony were the legendary President of the Spartan republic, Leonidas, and the armor tycoon, the billionaire Mr. Calibri of the Dakran republic. These 2 people were such powerful and well-known personalities in their own rights that their attendance alone shot the attention being given to the marriage ceremony to the highest point. Not only that,
“Leonidas, you wish to attend?”Hearing that, the Spartan President sighed, exasperated. “If you were not my mentor, I would have probably fired you already. Cough…, sorry for that but I’m really going, what’s the big deal?”“You’re really asking me that right now? Of course, there’s a big deal. Apart from military burials, do you know the last time you have for social gatherings?”“I dunno, probably a decade or 2”.“No…, 4 decades! 4 whole decades! You get that?” The old man emphasized by waving his hands vigorously, showing 4 fingers at the powerful soldier.“Suddenly going to a social event after such a long time staying at home, what do you think will be people’s reaction. They may feel that something is happening, they may even panic”.“And just because he’s a 4th rank high-grade soldier does not change anythin
A day after the reunion with her family, Sonia took permission with her parents before going on the first official date with her boyfriend. It was a date, but they just wanted to spend more time together and close to each other. The few years apart was torment to them, now that they had the opportunity, they wanted to make up for it by all means. At first, staying together left them feeling awkward but they soon got over it and started reliving the feelings of a few years ago. For the destination for their first date, none of them planned for it as they were both individuals who have never interacted with the opposite sex in such fashions before now. As the only daughter of a famous billionaire, other billionaire sons already tried courting her in the past but she simply didn’t find them appealing enough, so she always ignored and avoided them. After just a day of staying with Clark, her brother, and her parents in her childhood home, she now
Among the 3 Pirate Gods in the Sahara, though none of them never publicly claimed the spot as the strongest, the Black Pirate God was the one most recognized by pirates as the strongest. After him was the powerful Red Goddess Pirate, then the Lilac Pirate God. Compared to the first 2, the Lilac Pirate God was on the more glaringly weaker side but he still had the strength to back his title. At this moment, in the Black God Pirate City, a surprising piece of news was being circulated. Pirate Queen Anamel was dead, and Pirate Queen Cobra was secretly a student of the Red Goddess. Not only that, the most shocking piece of news that took the city by storm was that of Pirate Queen Cobra’s intention to leave the Sahara and settle in normal human settlements outside. … “Is this news verified?” A deep voice asked with suppressed anger in an underground room with far better living conditions than most of the others out there in the desert. “Yes
Though they both wanted to just remain in each other’s embrace forever, Clark and Sonia knew that they were still in a pirate city and what it meant. With reluctance, they quickly left the city with Arthur.Even if they tried to cover it up, it was impossible so they didn’t bother. In minutes, the news of Pirate Queen Anamel’s death spread through the pirate city and beyond.For long, Clark has always been worried about his reaction when he finally saw Sonia again but he was surprised when he did. It was like they never separated; it was like they’ve lived through all these years together.15 minutes later, they got sufficiently far away into the desert from the pirate city so they finally had the time to speak things out.Sonia brought out the stolen pistol first, which Clark handed over to Arthur. After this, she finally started detailing her encounters after Clark asked.According to her, after the fierce battle on her fa
While Arthur asked the pirate, Clark already went to work as he closed his eyes to focus. As experienced soldiers, they already put a lot of contingencies in place during their tour around the pirate city.Even if they wanted to catch some fun, it was too unrealistic for them to just keep touring without setting anything in place.With his implant, Clark immediately accessed the hidden cameras that they placed around the city, most especially this bar. It didn’t take him long; he saw a hooded female going out through the bar’s back door.“Found our target”.While muttering to Arthur, Clark already turned to storm out of the bar. Arthur simply knocked the 2 pirates out before storming out also.In seconds, they were out of the bar’s main structure.…A few meters away from the bar, a hooded lady walked through the streets at a leisure pace as she kept a close but alert eye on her surroundings.<
The next day, Clark and Arthur woke up with the intention to remain patient while waiting for their informant to contact them. They didn’t even go into the pirate city, it was too disgusting for them to stay in it. The more Clark felt this way, the more he feared what his girlfriend may have become now. If just a day staying in it could make him this irritated, he just couldn’t imagine what staying here for 4 years could have done. Thinking of this, he felt guilty again. “Why didn’t I come earlier?” Souring his mood with such thoughts, the day moved extremely slowly to him. Perhaps, having noticed his current mood, Arthur didn’t disturb him and opted to go out hunting alone. When he came back, he had a desert antelope with him. Seeing the catch, Clark was left speechless. “Can we finish that?” Arthur wasn’t fazed by his question. “If we can’t finish it today, we’ll just finish it tomorrow or the next. Don’t worry, I have preservation gadgets with me, and besides, your girlfriend