[At the military headquarters]


    All the officials who were sitting around the giant round table, monitoring over the various parts of the ind were all standing at this moment as they all faced the chair that belonged to mainmander.


    At that moment, the mainmander was sitting on his chair with a very serious expression as he was in deep thought. He had his arms ced on the table and was using them to support his head that was resting on top of his overlocked fingers.


    The mainmander had an important decision to make, one that would decide the fate of all the cadets still fighting on the ind, trying to survive.


    In front of the mainmander were fifty individual holographic frames, each frame disying the image of a single cadet. There were a few familiar faces amongst the clutter of images which included Mako, Iris, Leon, Bill, Erin, as well as some other people they had encountered like Haruto, Natasha, and even the group leader who had ambushed Bill and Iris on their walk back up the mountain.


    "Sir, the fourth wave will begin soon, you have to make a decision." The sergeant said in an emotional and quavering voice as if he was just about to start crying.


    "Most of the cadets still remaining on the ind were smart and avoided the areas that were highlighted to be hit by the waves tonight but some of the groups remained inside the highlighted zones." The sergeant picked up some courage as he went to finish the report.


    "Out of the groups that remained inside the highlighted zones, almost all of them were wiped out by the third beast wave, the group of Puffws that could merge together to form a beast right on the cusp of being identified as an advanced tier beast." The sergeant continued.


    "However, after 30 years, from the groups that had remained inside the highlighted zones, not only one but three have managed to defeat the Puffw abomination and clear the third wave." The sergeant announced as he finished his report.


    "What!?…"


    "Unbelievable! I don''t believe it!"


    "Who are these kids!?"


    The officials said as they recovered from the shocking words that came out of the sergeants mouth.


    All of them had grown ustom to ending the recruitment test during the beast wave attack phase as no one had been able to survive the the third beast wave. If they survived the night by running away to another area, that area would be the highlighted area the next night, and the waves would repeat again wiping them out.


    It had been the same for thest 30 years as thest person ever recorded to ever clear that phase was person greatly respected even among the ranks of the officials and was one who was exceptional from the moment she was born.


    "It''s true." The mainmander announced, quieting all the gossip amongst the officials on the round table.


    Three holographic frames extended and becamerge enough so that everyone could see what was being yed on them. The three frames were reying video footage of the three groups who had sessfully defeated the third wave beast.


    The first frame disyed the footage of Bill and Iris fighting the beast with both of their eyes glowing showing that they had activated their mutant genes to then Mako swooping in and finishing the beast by burning it in arge furnace of red mes, a variant of the original fire ability.


    The second frame disyed the footage of Natasha and Haruto, but in this one, they didn''t have to do anything as the Puffw killed itself by yanking its own head of it''s body. The camera refocused on Natasha''s face who had a face of pure pleasure and happiness as sheughed maniacally while dancing in the blue blood that raining down on the ground from the severed head of the Puffw.


    The third frame disyed the footage of a single person who waspletely covered in blue blood and was breathing heavily as he stood amongst the guts of the Puffw that he had just killed by tearing a whole right through it''d body and destroying the gem that it had attached to it''s abdomen.


    The officer were left in shock and awe as they watched the repay of the three groups defeating the giant Puffw, each in their own unique manner.


    "What is this decision that you have troublemitting to, mainmander?" One of the female officials spoke up after the rey of the three footages was over.


    The mainmander didn''t reply as he continued to stare at the fifty frames of the cadet pictures floating in front of him while continuing to rest his head on his fingertips.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    "Well, the mainmander has to make the choice, whether to continue on with the test and let these three cadet groups face the 4th wave or end the whole test right here and now like every year and dere the survivors as those who have sessfully passed the test." The sergeant spoke up on behalf of the mainmander who remained quiet.


    This sparked another round of debate and gossip amongst the officials but overall they were all against the idea of letting the cadets continue as this was proof enough that they were capable and talented warriors.


    Their main argument being that even if nobody had been able to defeat the third wave in thest thirty years, the military training had trained many talented people whoter on be geniuses and ascended the ranks faster than anyone. There was no reason to put these cadets through the agony of facing another wave when they were sure to lose as they were all tired and out of energy.


    However, one again all discussions came to a stop as the mainmander mmed his hand on the table, grabbing everyone''s attention.


    "It doesn''t matter to me what you all think. In the end, the decision has to be made by me ording to how I perceive the situation. There are still things that even you all don''t know. Why we are still conducting these test when we are in desperate need of manpower? Why we are still following the order that was left behind by the 10 mighty warriors? I get to decide what''s best for these cadets!" The mainmander shouted as he addressed all the people actively discussing while he was trying to think.


    Everyone was left dumbfounded and shocked after witnessing this side of their mainmander. They always perceived him as a calm, collected, and calcted person. Never had they ever seen him behave in this way which goes to show the amount of stress he was bearing as he thought of the best possible course of action.


    Everyone shut their mouths after that as they let the mainmander think for the remaining time that he had.


    ************


    There were only 5 minutes left until the 4th wave wouldmence and time was up for the mainmander to make a decision.


    With absolute confidence and seriousness, the mainmander finally opened his eyes as he turned to towards the sergeant to give hismand.


    "Execute the 4th wave as normal; however, send a message to every information tablet that the 5th wave has been postponed and willmence the following night. That way, they will have the opportunity to flee if they think they aren''t capable of facing thest and final wave." The mainmander ordered.


    "Yes, sir!" The sergeant said as he understood themands immediately and saluted the mainmander before quickly running down to themand deck to make sure the mainmander''s order was executed in time.


    ''He haspletely lost it! We were worried about the cadets not surviving the 4th wave and here, he is worried about the 5th wave. What on earth is he thinking?'' This was the thought that was running through most of the officials minds but no one dared to cross the mainmander or else they would only be subject to his wrath.


    **************


    [Back at the top of the west mountain]


    "That damn coward!" Erin shouted as she impaled thebat knife that she had taken back from Mako deep into a tree.


    She took the de back out of the tree and proceeded to stab the tree again and again while she kept shouting bad things about Leon.


    "To think, I believed him to be a lot like Andrew when I first met him. I believed him to be a strong willed person too who just seemed broken from the outside just like Andrew, but it looks like he didn''t have a spine at all! That bastard!" Erin shouted as she continued to carve up the tree.


    "Everyone one of us had used everything we had to defend the previous waves! You merely used your shy ability to kill those weak wolves and then get exhausted straight away, leaving all the difficult beasts for us to handle on our own. Now that''s it''s your turn to pull some weight, you decide to be the coward and actually suggest that we leave our friends behind!?" Erin yelled as she tried to stab the tree again.


    However, this time, her emotions got the better of her and eyes glowed white as she tried stab the tree. Her strength was greatly increased by the mutant gene and with her using full force and the tree already weakened, thebat stabbed all the way through the tree, cutting it down in an instant.


    Erin was shocked to see just how much strength she was produce just by her emotions alone.


    "It''s okay! Who needs that brat anyway! I am more than enough to kill those damn beasts, whatever they are!" Erin dered as she prepared herself to face the 4th beast wave all on her own.