It was a shootout between the two. Avryn was dual wielding Lerosa with Luther to match Jenilah’s Bernadetta in terms of firepower. They took out several participants as they battled in the middle of the square. Bullets flew past each other. There was a spark in their eyes as they continued their battle. Avryn managed to get close but Jenilah escaped his grasp. She hit him with the butt of her shotgun.

  They were enjoying their battle until Jenilah was taken out by another soldier. Avryn got frustrated and took out his anger on that senior.

  “Ha! Angry I took your little girlfriend out?” the senior laughed.

  “That fight was mine,” Avryn threatened.

  He switched up to his dual pistols technique and dazzled this new foe. He was too slow to keep up and was eventually knocked out. Avryn surveyed the battle. It seemed half the field remained. At a glance, he saw Rinna still fighting. Good. Just as he moved, he felt Leifren’s bullet whizzed past him. He won his match against Harver. A little disappointing but was a testament to Leifren’s skill.

  Avryn pointed his pistols on Leifren, just as the latter aimed down his rifle on the former. They started firing at each other. Avryn fought to close the distance. He used the other soldiers as cover and had Leifren eliminate them.

  “Heh, clever,” Leifren observed.

  Avryn jumped into the air, twirled, and fired off his pistols. Leifren retreated further. Just as Avryn landed, Leifren’s shock traps were triggered. The electric shock immobilized Avryn for a moment. The chaos of the battle still raged on, and a soldier was attacking Leifren and eliminated him with a few well placed shots to the body. That same soldier took his attention to Avryn, who was still feeling the effects of the shock trap. Despite the pain, Avryn stared at him with defiance.

  “Come on.” he goaded.

  “Your funeral, kid!”

  The shock trap finally deactivated. Avryn ducked the soldier’s shots and countered. He took him out with a brutal uppercut to the chin. Fatigue had fully set in. Avryn was heavily panting. A wicked strike on his back forced all the wind out of his system as he fell and got eliminated. His head bounced on the ground as his whole world turned sideways. There were about less than ten people left in the battle. It was a good effort. Medics helped him out of the square.

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  Avryn smiled. Top ten wasn’t bad. He rested and recovered along with his friends who were eliminated. He looked at the fight and noticed Rinna was still in there. She truly was on another level to make it this far. He sat beside Harver and cheered her on.

  “Go, Rinna!” he chanted along with the rest of his friends.

  Rinna managed to get the top five spot by the battle’s conclusion. Its winner went by the name of Semmevir, a three year vet. Rinna returned with a slight disappointment in her expression. Avryn noticed that and cheered her up. She managed to be in the top five in the battle royale. An effort like that was worthy of praise.

  “A rookie making it to the top five is a great achievement,” Avryn patted her on the shoulder.

  All it took was one look from her for Avryn to realize what he did. He snapped his hand back.

  “Oops, uh, sorry.”

  Rinna sighed.

  “Thank you for the kind words, at least.”

  “Right,” Avryn stretched. “Time for dinner. We’ll depart to the Lost Lands again tomorrow.”

  Dinner was had, and the two squads retired to their assigned beds. They took a Baradovian airship to the Lost Lands. Avryn was warming up inside the ship when Harver approached him.

  “Man, it was a bummer we couldn’t have our one-on-one,” he reflected.

  “Well, there’ll be plenty other fights in the future, not like it’s our last, right?” Avryn cheered him up.

  “I know man, it just stings, you know?” Harver joined the stretching. “But hey, top ten isn’t bad for your case, huh?”

  They continued their conversation as the ship continued to their destination. They disembarked once they arrived at Outpost D. The squads were called up by Major Shalshukein. They were given the mission to eliminate a Corpse wolf den and transport a couple of their corpses for research. This time, they were to do it by themselves, without the supervision of a veteran squad. They had enough experience now.

  “The dualcycles will be readied for you, you know the rest,” the major dismissed them.

  Avryn let out a long, exasperated sigh. The others paused and asked him what’s wrong.

  “I’m never gonna get tired of fighting Corpse wolves,” he smiled. “Makes you wonder what other beastie is lurking around the corner.”

  They hopped on the dualcycles and rode to the Corpse wolf den’s location. They stopped a few hundred meters before the area and disembarked from their dualcycles. They gathered and formed strategy.

  “Alright, me, Valoche, Kiria and Harver will form the front, the rest of you form a backline and take your shots. We’ll protect you,” Avryn came up.

  Tvira was busy observing the nearby tracks.

  “How many wolves are there, do you reckon?” Leifren asked.

  “At least thirty,” she replied.

  Kiria prepared her holoshield.

  “Do you think we’ll ever see the end of this?” she awfully sounded pessimistic.

  “We’ll just have to keep fighting for a future where it does,” Avryn cheered her up. “Let’s go.”

  They executed their plans. Avryn threw a grenade deep into the cave. The explosion forced them outside. The Corpse wolves descended upon them like waves. A volley of bullets and arrows met with their bestial rage. The wolves looked to outflank them with their numbers but the frontline stood strong and stood in a half circle formation. The shooters had so much well place shots that the initial wolf waves were all but obliterated.

  Two wolf alphas emerged from the nest, finally. Avryn directed the shooters to focus on them, and they did. The storm of bullets and arrows punched through the wolves’ flesh. With the two alphas dead, much of the wolves were disorganized. The battle was turning.