Race For Supremacy

All eyes were fixed on the podium, no one dared to blink, the atmosphere was tense and quiet, so quiet, you could hear the constant buzzing of the lights, the howling of the air vents, and if you listened closely you could even hear the beating of your heart, it was evident that everyone was eager to see the Emperor.

The wait ends,a tall man definitely over 3meters, walks up on the platform from the backroom, he had a handsome visage that was complemented by a calm expression, although there were wrinkles on his face, it only amplified his presence, making him passively exude a sense of seniority and experience, his white hair was long and his body was slender,from the back, one could easily mistaken him for a woman if it wasn't for his broad shoulders and and mascular build. As he walked up to the podium, his steps were light despite his huge build.

When he finally got to the podium, and the spotlight was set on him, his dark military uniform, absorbing the light and contrasting with his pale skin and white hair, was quite eye catching.

The Emperor stares at the cadets with a sense of superiority, manipulating their dormant neural force to Comand their undivided attention, from the perspective of each of the cadets, they could only observe the Emperor. When the emperor had successfully controlled their attention, he begun to speak,

"#&@^~%][@#*+'"bhgc"

When the emperor began to speak all 002 could here was a continuous stream of audible, but incomprehensible speech, or rather an encrypted one, at this time David was no more, 002 had been given control upon hearing the emperor's encryption.

The emperor regarded himself as the life line of humanity, every action he took was extremely calculated and cautious, everytime he spoken or showed himself he would encrypt his existence in the minds of whoever heard or saw him.

The emperor couldn't be assassinated because no one knew how he looked, or rather,no one who saw him remembered his appearance, although you would be able to recognise him, you won't be able to describe him.

002, having momentarily gotten control, he swiftly takes the opportunity of the white clad man's obliviousness, to reconnect with the organic component of the SAI, but before the SAI could fully activate, the emperor's speech ends and 002's seasoned and cold gaze, turned into a stare filled with curiosity and youth, David was back.

Dr. Henry

"Let us all thank his Imperial highness for gracing us with his presence"

The cadets in perfect synchrony, kneeled on their right leg, and reached for the left part of their chest with their right hands, as if to clench the hearts, and slightly bowed their heads,

"Thank you! Your Imperial Highness for gracing us with your presence"

The cadets shout in unison.

The emperor in response, nods and proceeds to leave, but as he leaves, he briefly glances at David, who also locks eyes with him, though brief, that moment seemed to stubbornly prolong, unwilling to come to an end, only now did David notice that the emperor's pupils were not of any particular colour, but they were like two pieces of the starry night sky.

Although the emperor's expression was unchanging ,David somehow felt a subtle, warmth lump in his throat, it was pleasant and unpleasant.

David was brought out of his thoughts by an amicable smak to the back of the head, by Christopher, the grumpy fellow from two years ago.

"Hey! Stop daydreaming and lets go find the captain and Bethany before the ranking battles begin"

"Ouch! Okay"

"No need to hit me so hard!"

The pair start searching for the rest of the squad, meanwhile the captain and Bethany, were already in an ultercation with another four man squad, but they were clearly out numbered.

After the selection process only 60 of four man squads had survived, some of them done in by the intense training regiment, specifically those with an HIR below C, and others were unfortunate when they went through the second neural reinforcement.

But now, the 60 squads that were remaining were left by the authorities in the facility to decide ranks, with a time frame of 3 months, depending on your squad's rank, you will be given longer intervals between training and reallife operations and other benefits, the higher the rank the better.

The rank of your dorm decides your rank group, the dorms were divided into 10 gold rank dorms, 20 silver rank dorms and 30 bronze rank dorms, at this time David's squad captain and Bethany were trying to secure a silver rank dorm.

"We came here first, if you want the dorm you will have challenge us for it, but our team has not yet regrouped, so backoff!"

Nathan(Squad Captain), argued calmly, but with a slightly trace of irritation, states.

"That is not our problem--a bulky fellow retorted--" look at our squad"--pointing to his three companions behind--"we are already together, maybe you should give up the dorm and come and challenge us later instead".

That was an absurd proposition, their squad had already signed into the dorm, unregistering meant a dishonor, if you are dishonored even once, you would be ineligible to compete for a gold rank room later on, and if they fought and lost, they would automatically be assigned to a bronze rank dorm, unable to challenge anyone until the next season.

Caught between a heavy rock and a hard place, Nathan contemplated, abandoning the dorm and coming back when they were, at full strength, but that was unacceptable, it was imperative they didn't lose honor, he knew something others didn't know.