Mission

After increasing the strength of the nightmare to another ten percent, the squad finally gets to work their cooperation on fighting side by side. Their progress couldn't be more stable after hearing Jacqueline's teaching earlier.

It provided significant hints and the flow she was trying to imply was slowly being incorporated into their movements.

Currently, they can fight on the same level as the nightmare even if it was using one of its abilities. However, they couldn't defeat it as small mistakes were still being made which continuously being corrected after each fight.

Soon, as they were working on their synergy, all of them briefly paused. It was because Jacqueline suddenly diverted her attention at the door of the room, turning everyone's concentration on the same place as well.

They heard a knock and a voice demanding their presence.

"I checked the gym attendance you and your squad are in the virtual room. Let me disturb you for a moment,"

It was no other than the headmaster of the academy, their homeroom teacher, Arnold Virgo.

Understanding what that meant, everyone began to settle down. The holographic creature which was barely standing, disintegrated into nothingness after Jacqueline finished ending everything, leaving the room back to a normal.

The mossy landscape they were in turned into a normal room filled with technologies and items that turned this room from what it was earlier.

It was still as spacious as earlier, but it felt a bit crampy and overwhelming seeing through such complicated machinery where one wouldn't differentiate between reality and what was not if one didn't have any knowledge about it.

After everything was cleaned up, Jacqueline called out to him.

"You can come in now, sir,"

The dignified headmaster of the Resisting Academy entered the virtual room with a domineering gait with a sealed document in his hands. He then gestured for his students to sit down which they obediently did before finally engaging in a talk.

"How are you guys doing in the past few days?"

The six looked at their squad before landing their eyes on Cesar who was assumed to be the leader of the squad which Jacqueline didn't even contest for, or anyone at all from their cohort with the help of Reyna.

She was the one who pushed him to take responsibility after all.

Looking towards Arnold with a cool demeanor, Cesar answered briefly, "We're doing well. Small mistakes here and there but we're correcting them since this squad is very open-minded for change. Even Quentin is obedient,"

"Hey, why involved me?"

Casting Quentin a glance who raised his disbelief when he was mentioned, Cesar shrugged and got back right on the topic, "We're very confident for ourselves. This is not a baseless statement but a foolproof fact we gathered,"

Arnold gazed upon the others to see if he was merely putting up a bluff but his expectations weren't met. Instead, what he saw was that students were ready to be put in any battle they were about to face.

Instead of being happy with their mindset, knowing this is what they are trained for, Arnold put a saddened face for a slightly noticeable moment before he forced a smile.

Everyone gets to see it.

"Not a baseless statement… Foolproof fact is you gathered… very nice choice of words to evaluate your team, makes me think you rehearsed this beforehand," Arnold let out a soft chuckle before he started with a serious tone, "You will be the first squad to be deployed upon careful consideration coming from me and the other teachers who observed your performance,"

He handed out the sealed documents to Cesar before continuing, "What will you see in there is a sensitive case as well as the core objectives, designated location, and the situation in an area. It's basically a mission. Don't worry, even I don't know what it is. I will assist you all to your vehicles and other miscellaneous things but after that, you're on your own,"

Cesar tore the main sealed document's cover as he listened before he nibbled the paper with his fingers and pulled it from the inside. The others gathered around his back to also see the task they were given to them.

Mission: Furtive Disappearances

Core Objectives: Find the people missing, dead or alive.

Task Objectives:

-Discover the source of disappearances.

-Report any Heretics involved, if any.

-Report any Corrupted involved, if any.

-Report any Nightmares are involved. Avoid fighting as much as possible and get the nearest Shaded in charge.

Mission Description: The City of Wheels is a manufacturing town involved in making vehicles. It started a year ago. One of the employees in a big company was reported missing after working his job. It was reported a day later, but only in three days, he was declared missing. Local authorities were tasked to find its corpse yet to no avail, not even a trace was found. Everything continued for almost a year as the case was declared deferred.

This case status, however, has been undone. Four months ago, two people went missing on the same day without leaving any clues in the same city. They were a tourist who only came to enjoy their time at the glamourous City of Wheels. The disappearing cases didn't just end there. Three months ago, seven people were missing. Two months ago, it was fifteen. One month later, at least thirty people were vanishing, two people were still being held accountable and unable to determine their current condition.

Unable to determine the missing cases, the Army was called upon and passed to the Nightmare Corps, hinting at a possible Nightmare case. The City of Wheels changed in a span of a few months and eventually declared a Red Zone. To avoid any more casualties, the civilians living there were tasked to evacuate.

Mission Difficulty: Great

Mission Rewards:

-Spot in the high ranks of The Army.

-Eligible to join Nightmare Corps, if willing to do so after graduating.

-Ten Contribution Points.

-Medal of Honor.

-One Million Vennon Cash.

Reading the document where every significant information one has to know was inputted left Cesar in good affirmation to whoever had given them the mission.

After all, it was neatly arranged and not entirely boring to read. Though boring as it is or not, the mission was very serious. Others who were wearing the same frown Cesar couldn't help but shift their gaze at Arnold.

All of them did it in such unison that Arnold snickered.

"Hold up, I had the script on my paper." Arnold picked up a piece of paper and read it aloud, "Ehem, hello chosen students. This extremely great mission has been handed out to students of the fourth year from Class 1-A who excelled amongst their peers. Amongst the hardest missions, I graded this as the top one.

"I literally have no words to say but just be proud of how you six have come so far. Go forth, I'll always be watching,"

The others who listened half-heartedly thought it was Arnold who had done the script but Cesar found it odd, knowing he had never done any kind of rehearsal or prepared speech. After all, everything he had spoken was nothing but impromptu.

Arnold isn't the kind of guy who isn't swayed by the changes of others or someone to be ordered around. Hence for him to prepare a script was an oddity.

'It felt like words coming from someone high above his positions… The Administrators?'

Although the mysterious and silent Administrators of the Resisting Academy worked under the shadows, they were still very helpful to the students. In fact, even though their presence was completely unknown to most of the people, everyone knew they were the absolute power inside the academy.

In that case, where fear should be creeping upon everyone's skin, each individual who attended or got to know the academy only felt reverence and respect for these mysterious people who are trying their best to train the students and equip them with skills that will help the world entirely.

Arnold couldn't help but feel uncomfortable at the gaze he was receiving from Cesar, leaving him gulping a mouthful of saliva down his throat. With a short cough, he clapped his hands.

"Anyways! I'm not inclined to know the paper behind the mission given to you. It's probably a test to see if we teachers are tempted enough to indirectly catch a glimpse of the paper. Well! I'm not going to! Okay?!"

His loud voice reverberated across the room making everyone shiver, knowing there wasn't any need to do it like that. Only Cesar, the only person who was interested in the unknown Administrators, felt his suspicions becoming more true making him pale.

'This either means Arnold respects or fears them. There's really no explanation other than that,' Cesar mused inwardly before shaking his head in defeat, 'So, they are always watching our actions huh. How creepy,'

With that, Arnold added a last few words, "You'll be leaving in three days. Until then, do whatever you need to do,"

Arnold left the virtual gymnasium room and went to wherever he intended to go. Knowing that they only had a measly three days left till their departure, the other three continued their training and tried to fix some things.

Instead of feeling relaxed, they became more nervous; something that they shouldn't have once they were finally deployed at their designated area.