ACADEMY OF SURVIVAL

"Tohira?" Micheal croaked, looking back at Tohira had done it. 

The gruesome demise of the sinder was his doing. In the background, students sobbed and screamed in despair, the ambush driving everyone into chaos.

"Pull yourself together. We'll die here if we don't figure out a way out of this," Tohira said sharply, grabbing Micheal's arm and yanking him to his feet.

"Damn it!" Micheal thought, frustration mingling with fear as he forced himself to focus.

As more sinders charged toward them, their deform silhouettes illuminated by the dim light, Micheal pushed himself to run, matching Tohira's pace.

"Damn it! this is why they call it the House of Crows instead of The Sinders, huh?" Micheal said between breaths, trying to make sense of the madness.

"You guessed it!" Tohira replied with a teasing grin before abruptly stopping in his tracks.

"What are you doing?!" Micheal shouted, skidding to a halt as well.

"This whole thing has been reeking to me," Tohira said, his tone shifting to one of cold calculation. His golden eyes-

with a ocean galaxy design within it

fixed on the seven sinders charging at them.

"The trials, the sinders, the government—everything about this project screams orchestration."

Without warning, Tohira whispered,

"Boom." He flicked his index finger, and all seven sinders burst apart simultaneously, their remains scattering across the forest floor.

Micheal now casually looking, his mind still couldn't stop racing to process what had just happened.

Tohira turned back to him, smiling. "Now, Micheal, if you want to survive this project, you need to figure out what your true ability is."

Micheal faintly smiles, still trying to catch his breath.

Tohira stepped closer, his expression unreadable. Behind him, more sinder silhouettes emerged from the shadows, their monstrous forms heading straight for them.

"Because my hunch," Tohira whispered into Micheal's ear, "is that only those with abilities like mine are meant to survive this project."

The words sent a chill down Micheal's spine.

"You get where I'm going with this, don't you?" Tohira said, studying Micheal intently.

Micheal's lips curled into a faint smile, his unease giving way to intrigue. "So, what you're trying to say is… this project is designed to draw out people with supernatural abilities?"

"Bingo!" Tohira exclaimed, jumping slightly in mock excitement before his expression turned deadly serious again.

"Yes," he said, his tone sinister.

Tohira flicked his finger again, and one by one, the approaching sinders burst into deform explosions, their remains painting the forest in blood and bloodiness.

"And I bet we're not the only ones here currently using my ability," Tohira added coldly, his gaze scanning the horizon.

Micheal's attention shifted to Tohira's injured hand—or rather, what should have been his injured hand, moving with ease as Tohira dispatched the sinders with unnerving precision.

The realization hit Micheal hard, before he could question Tohira spoke

"Let's go we are running out of time. before we're surrounded again," Tohira urged, his voice casual as he dashed forward at full speed.

Without thinking Micheal followed, his mind racing. He couldn't shake the growing suspicion that there was much more to Tohira—and this trial—than he'd ever imagined.

Just then Micheal and Tohira heard a footsteps of sinders behind them as the ground trembled.

"Looks like we aren't going to make out here easily as I thought!"

Tohira faintly smiled as he glanced at Micheal.

"I wonder what exactly your ability is, Micheal," Tohira mused, even as they continued running.

Suddenly, a gust of wind rushed past them, so forceful that both Tohira and Micheal stopped in their tracks. They turned to see the Sinders that had been chasing them hurled backward, flying through the air like ragdolls. Shocked, they looked toward the direction from which the Sinders had been sent flying.

"W-What the…?" Micheal stammered, his words trailing off.

Tohira, however, couldn't hide his faint grin. "Well, this just got interesting," he murmured, as a figure appeared in the distance, sprinting toward them with incredible speed.

"Coming through," a cold, detached voice said as the figure dashed past Tohira and Micheal.

Micheal's eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of the silhouette racing ahead of them.

"Who… was that?" he whispered, still trying to process what he'd just seen.

"Told you I wasn't the only one here with such power," Tohira said, his grin widening.

"We need to keep moving," he added, snapping Micheal out of his daze. "There are only nine hours left to get through this gate and reach our destination."

As Tohira pushed forward, Micheal couldn't shake what he'd just witnessed. The sheer power of that individual, casually sending a wave of Sinders flying, was unlike anything he'd seen before.

"Damn. This just got a whole lot more exciting," Micheal thought, his chest tightening with anticipation.