The warmth of shared laughter and grilled delicacies lingered only in memory now. Unit Valiant was back in full training mode. The announcement Thorne had dropped like a bombshell at the end of Echo's surprise birthday celebration had not been forgotten…it was that time again.
Leon had woken to the sound of the base alarms and a flashing red message on his terminal:
"CYCLE 42 TRIALS — DIVISION 10 ENLISTED. COMMENCE PREPARATION."
He groaned and rolled over. "Why does training have to sound like a war?"
Kestra answered from the hall with a smirk, "Because, rookie…it is."
Unit Valiant gathered in the tactical room, its walls glowing with projection maps, training analytics, and division metrics. Echo stood at the front, arms crossed, watching the room settle. Thorne leaned near the back wall, arms folded, saying nothing…but observing everything.
Leon, seated between Cael and Aros, studied the mission board. It was blank save for the challenge emblem: a ten-spoked wheel, one for each division,with a central ring marked Trial of Ascent.
"We've never won this, huh?" Leon asked.
Cael made a strangled noise that might have been a laugh. "Understatement. We haven't even made it past the quarter-rounds in three cycles."
Vex added dryly, "Slaughtered. Embarrassed. Publicly."
Kestra twirled a knife between her fingers. "The worst part? Everyone expects it."
Echo walked to the center, her voice clear. "We've lost before. But that was before him." She nodded at Leon. "No pressure."
Leon blinked. "Great."
The Intra-Division Trials weren't just about strength. They were about teamwork, strategy, and public image. Every cycle, the ten divisions sent a single unit to represent them in front of the Supreme Command and the viewing masses across Orion.
Matches could range from direct combat, survival gauntlets, squad-versus-squad simulations, to puzzle trials in artificial anomaly zones. It was part war game, part recruitment tool, part political theatre.
But for Division 10?
It was a humiliation they were sick of repeating.
Rival Divisions – The Rundown
Echo nodded to Halden, who brought up a holographic schematic of the other divisions' elite teams.
"Let's get you briefed," she said. "Leon, pay attention."
Division 1: Apex Vanguard
Specialty: Total battlefield dominance.
Team: 'Regalia Unit' led by Commander Lys Vallis.
Powers: Gravity control, armored mecha suits, strategic planetary bombardment.
Tech: The Apex Halo System—orbital-linked weapons and shield amplifiers.
Public Perception: The golden children. Heroes of the people. Faces of the Ascension Project.
Echo's comment: "They always win. Because they're designed to."
Aros grunted. "Spoiled brats with sun-syndrome."
Division 2: Arcant Spire
Specialty: Long-range recon, magical science integration.
Team: 'Spectra Unit' led by Magister Ivena Ro.
Powers: Dimensional anchoring, spectral phasing, mirror illusions.
Tech: Aetheric channel rods and mindlink runes.
Public Perception: Mystics and scholars. Revered for their spiritual-techno balance.
Kestra's comment: "They don't walk into fights. They rewrite the field until you can't breathe."
Division 3: Iron Leviathan
Specialty: Heavy mechanized infantry, industrial warfare.
Team: 'Forgeborn' led by Commander Drax Fen.
Powers: Heat siphoning, tectonic pulses.
Tech: Walking fortresses, mobile furnaces, fusion hammers.
Public Perception: Juggernauts. Practical, feared.
Aros' growl: "Drax tried to bury me under a cargo crate once. I laughed. He didn't."
Division 4: Veilstep
Specialty: Espionage, black operations.
Team: 'Echo Wraiths' led by Shade-Lieutenant Xira. " No relation" Echo quickly added.
Powers: Invisibility, silence fields, thought veiling.
Tech: Neural cloaks, phase-shifted blades, pulse-dampeners.
Public Perception: Nobody sees them. That's the point.
Vex's only comment: "They taught me. I left."
Division 5: Skyborne
Specialty: Aerodynamics, energy flux, command of airspace.
Team: 'Zephyrs' led by Wingmarshal Talren.
Powers: Flight, wind channeling, energy redirection.
Tech: Skybreaker armor, ion wings, gale cannons.
Public Perception: Flashy. Powerful. Arrogant.
Cael muttered: "They once tried to do loop-de-loops in a breach field. Idiots."
Division 6: Tempest Black
Specialty: Disruption tactics, chaotic assaults.
Team: 'Fractals' led by Iria Devlin.
Powers: Lightning, overload bursts, sensory scramble.
Tech: Surge amplifiers, chaos fields, stun swarms.
Public Perception: Wild cards. You never know what they'll do.
Kestra said flatly: "One of them lit my hair on fire. I will kill her."
Division 7: Hollow Sun
Specialty: Death tech and entropy manipulation.
Team: 'Nocturnals' led by Veyr Grimm.
Powers: Decay, silence, false resurrection.
Tech: Void cores, necro-suits, entropy anchors.
Public Perception: Unnerving. Cult-like.
Ryn, quietly: "They're not evil. Just empty."
Division 8: Ocean State
Specialty: Pressure combat, aquatic operations, healing.
Team: 'Tideguard' led by Captain Mirra Voss.
Powers: Pressure walls, water weaponization, restoration zones.
Tech: Hydro-suits, current blades, bubble drones.
Public Perception: Calming. Noble. Underestimated.
Halden: "Their medic once healed an entire outpost with a wave. Unreal."
Division 9: Starlance
Specialty: Tactical command and interstellar diplomacy.
Team: 'Celestial Order' led by Strategist Enzo Halivar.
Powers: Precognition, probability curves, starfire lances.
Tech: Chrono-maps, decision hubs, orbit-linked gauntlets.
Public Perception: Thinkers. Chessmasters.
Echo: "They see four moves ahead. Always."
Division 10: Valiant
Specialty: Adaptive field response.
Team: Us. You.
Powers: You got the gist.
Tech: Experimental.
Public Perception: Serial Losers. Underdogs. Let's just say the odds on us gambling wise aren't the best.
Leon: "I'm starting to see why we always lose."
Halden: "But we get the job done…at least when it's not this."
Every morning for the next 3days started before dawn and ended long after dusk.
Echo drove them hard, tactical drills, breach-scenario simulations, zero-gravity endurance gauntlets. Leon trained in hand-to-hand combat with Aros, his bruises becoming badges. He resynced with his proto-rig under Cael's supervision, learning to draw Aether with increasing control more effectively . Ryn worked on his stamina with meditation and .
"You've got a unique rhythm," she noted during one session. "It's almost like… your Aether is listening."
Leon blinked. "Is that not normal?"
"No."
Meanwhile, Vex and Kestra took turns drilling him in recon awareness and sharpshooting.
"You flinch when you hear echoes," Kestra said during a silent breach sim. "That's telling. Learn to trust them instead."
Echo occasionally pulled him aside for solo exercises. Combat assessments. Focused Aether manipulation.
"You still think like an outsider," she told him once. "But that's not a flaw. You see angles we miss."
"And the others?"
"They'll mirror you," she said. "Once you believe you can lead."
During a short break, the squad lounged in the mess hall. Leon collapsed into a chair, sweating. The others were tired too, except Thorne, who appeared suddenly with two mugs.
He handed one to Leon. "You'll need this."
Leon sipped. "What is this?"
"Protein, electrolytes, and shame. Cael's recipe."
Cael waved proudly from a table. "You're welcome!"
Leon watched the room, then said, "We're the only unit with this kind of energy, huh?"
Thorne smirked. "We're the only ones who still give a damn."
He looked out the mess window, where the ten division flags waved.
"You've noticed something," Thorne said suddenly.
Leon nodded. "Some of the other divisions… they don't feel right. Like they've got other agendas."
Thorne was silent for a moment.
"Good," he said finally. "Keep asking questions….someone is bound to try something to stop that soon enough…and I'll be waiting…"
The day before the Trials, the unit gathered again.
No drills. Just review. Quiet tension.
Echo stood before them. "Tomorrow, we step into the arena again. They expect us to lose. To be the joke. But they don't know what we've become."
She looked at each of them. "They don't know about secret weapon," she added, nodding at Leon.
Leon gulped , pulse racing. she continued "We fight for each other. That's more than they have."
Aros pounded his fists. "Let's show them why we're the Valiant."
The room echoed with unified resolve.
For the first time in years…
They believed….somewhat at least