ACADEMY OF SURVIVAL

After hours of running through the chaos, Micheal's determination to survive intensified despite the relentless stress, fear, and exhaustion. His movements became sharper, his focus unyielding, even as the terror around him surged.

Meanwhile, Tohira continued to handle each approaching Sinder with an almost unnerving casualness, eliminating them one by one without breaking stride. Micheal, running alongside him, couldn't help but wonder.

"What exactly is Tohira's limit? Does he even have one?"

Tohira, catching Micheal's gaze, faintly smiled as if reading his thoughts.

"There's definitely more to my ability than I initially thought," Tohira mused inwardly, his confidence apparent even as he ran.

Micheal, slightly startled by the subtle exchange, quickly averted his gaze, feeling exposed by how easily Tohira seemed to read his mind.

Hours passed in a blur of chaos, exhaustion, and brief pauses for rest. The two pressed on, running, stopping, and running again, until finally, the forest's edge came into view. There, just beyond the tree line, was the exit of the Forest of Intermediary—and a group of figures standing before it.

As they neared the gate, Micheal noticed a boy around his age staring directly at him and Tohira. The boy's intense gaze didn't waver, unnerving Micheal as they drew closer.

"We made it!" Tohira announced, smiling as he glanced at a massive clock mounted on the wall above the gate. Its glowing red numbers illuminated the dawn's dim light.

"With five minutes to spare!" Micheal added, his breath ragged. But his focus remained on the boy, whose unrelenting stare was beginning to gnaw at him.

The two slowed to a walk, joining the other surviving students gathered near the gate. Micheal scanned the scene as he tried to catch his breath. Some students were relatively unscathed, others bore visible injuries, and a few sat collapsed on the ground, crying softly. Guards armed with weapons stood in front of the exit, their cold expressions adding to the tense atmosphere.

As Micheal's eyes wandered, he noticed the boy again. The same one. Still staring.

"Oh boy," Tohira whispered, leaning toward Micheal. "Looks like we've been marked as their targets."

Micheal stiffened, a faint chill creeping into his chest. "Seems like it," he thought, feeling a tinge of fear. But he tore his gaze away, forcing himself to look at the other students, their varied states of exhaustion and despair starkly evident.

Suddenly, the tension in the air shattered.

"Why?!" a female student screamed, her voice trembling with rage and grief.

Micheal and Tohira turned to see a girl standing defiantly before the guards, tears streaming down her face. Her friend clung to her arm, trying to pull her back, but the girl wouldn't budge.

"Is this all just fun to you?!" she yelled, her voice breaking as she pointed accusingly at the guards.

Before anyone could react, a gunshot rang out. The girl's head snapped back violently, and her lifeless body crumpled to the ground. Her friend froze in horror, unable to scream, her face a mask of disbelief.

"Shhh," came a chilling voice from one of the female guards. "You chose this."

The silence that followed was suffocating.

Micheal stared, his breath hitching, while Tohira watched with a faint smile. Then, Tohira leaned toward Micheal and whispered playfully, his voice light as though unaffected by the grim display.

"Isn't this interesting?"

Just then, a cold male guard's voice cut through the tension.

"two more minutes. After that, you may exit through the gate."

Micheal placed a hand over his mouth, deep in thought, as he watched the trembling friend of the slain girl. She stood frozen in fear, unable to react as her friend's lifeless body was dragged away by another guard.

"They killed a student just for asking a question?" Micheal's thoughts raced, his disbelief mounting.

"That's just wild. Are we really going to keep going through their script without asking questions ourselves?" He glanced at the girl's body being carried toward the forest.

"That means they know about the Sinders too," Micheal thought, the realization settling heavily in his mind. He watched as the guard disappeared into the trees with the corpse, a stark reminder of how far this trial was willing to go.

Suddenly, an announcement blared from unseen speakers.

"Time out!"

The ground trembled as the massive gate creaked open. Micheal turned back to see other survivors staggering toward the gate.

"Please wait!" a bloodied boy cried in despair, crawling toward the exit.

Before he could make it, all the guards opened fire on the latecomers, gunning them down mercilessly. Micheal froze in horror, his eyes widening as a pure massacre unfolded before him. Students either tried to run for the gate or turned back in desperation, only to be shot down without hesitation.

"No way…" Micheal whispered, his voice trembling with shock as students were wiped out in seconds.

Suddenly, he felt a firm tug on his arm. Spinning around, he found Tohira's sharp gaze on him.

"If you just stand here gawking, you might be next," Tohira teased, his tone disturbingly casual.

Micheal looked around, snapping out of his trance. Other students were exiting the gate, some moving as though nothing had happened, while others bore expressions of fear, shock, or quiet resignation.

"Get it together, Micheal," he muttered under his breath, forcing himself to move forward.

His survival instincts roared louder than ever, driving him through the gate. But the events he had just witnessed intensified his suspicions of the entire project.

"This is wild… but it's certainly interesting," Micheal thought, a faint, bitter smile tugging at his lips. Despite his hatred for the project, the growing mystery and danger somehow thrilled him, even as he focused on staying alive.

As the gate began to close behind him, Micheal's gaze lingered on the bloodied massacre. Just before the gate shut entirely, he locked eyes with one of the guards, who was staring directly at him and Tohira.

"What are they doing… inside the gate?" Micheal wondered as the thin line of light disappeared with the gate's final closing.

"Now the real question is, what are they doing at the intermediary forest's stopping point?"

Tohira's voice cut through Micheal's thoughts, startling him.

Micheal's eyes widened, taken aback by how Tohira seemed to pluck the thought straight from his mind.

"I don't know," Micheal mumbled, his voice low, "but now I'm with you on figuring this out."

As Micheal turned back to glance at the gate, both he and Tohira noticed another guard approaching, his figure concealed beneath a helmet.

"Team A, right?" the guard's cold voice asked. "Please follow me to meet the rest of your teammates."

Micheal studied the guard carefully as he walked ahead, his helmet offering no glimpse of his expression.

"I wonder who's waiting for us in there," Tohira remarked with a faint smile, while Micheal's gaze remained sharp and cold, fixed on the guard.

Micheal couldn't help but wonder the same—who among Team A had survived this madness known as the House of Crows?