VI - [That Man]

No one uttered a word when we were traveling. Gray blinked , forcing himself to stay awake. The fresh air and the shining sun was not helping him at all. His obvious actions caught the attention of Aqua. Aqua lightly pat his head to get his attention. He looked at Aqua's direction and noticed her signalling him to sleep on her lap. He happily laid his head on Aqua's lap. He , then fell asleep.

This trip of theirs to the place where they were assigned to meet took half of the day. Most of them were asleep. They were all starving and dehydrating. But , they had to endure it. They were all sleeping peacefully like little babies. Their peace was suddenly interrupted by a rough voice screaming.

"Wake up , dummies!"

The manly voice starts to clasped his hands , making a noise to wake us up. We were able to wake up to that annoying noise. Gray and Eugene groaned as their peaceful sleep was interrupted. Scarlet rubbed her eyes as for Aqua , she was already awake. She observed her surroundings and noticed trucks like theirs , full of people. A large warehouse caught Aqua's attention. She calls for her team to tell them what she has seen. They all looked at the magnificent warehouse , they widen their eyes in shock. It really is happening. Hell is reaching for them.

Scarlet sighed in frustration , she looks away for a second.

"Let's stop talking now. We're gonna be moving out soon. "

As soon as Scarlet said that , they all began to notice that some of the participants starts to get out of this truck. They were up next , they stood together and line up.

Aqua looked at her sides and saw that the other participants from the other trucks were doing the same thing. Once all the participants were finished moving out , they were forming a circle together with the other participants. They stood in front of the warehouse and waited for further announcements.

A man in his 40's with a soft yet bold features starts to walk up in a little stage. We all gasped as we recognized the man. He was the Second-in-Commander of the Combat Government. Mainly known for his calm attitude when in contact with an enemy giving off a scary vibe. That's not the only title he holds , he was one of the five members that went to a conclusion of making this life-or-death sentence. He requested that this game could engage with his materials. Any illegal doings like slaughtering and carrying a weapon is supervised or under the care of his name.

"Greetings Participants! I have heard most of our participants for this batch are likely to be --aggressive."

The last word triggered a lot of them. As he was saying that last word of his sentence , he looks at Aqua. Straight into her eyes and then , looks away like he hasn't done anything. Aqua noticed his glance , she clearly knows what he meant by that. She clenched her fists and hissed.

Why did he have to look at my way?!...

"I will be your guide to how to slaughter a person skillfully based on what you excel at. Speed , Agility , Power , Quick Thinking or Situational Awareness and everything about how you can work your combat experience."

He says in a convenient way. Trying to convince this batch that engaging in combat-- rather in this game would be exciting.

"To make this quick , I will be grouping you depending on what physical abilities you possess. We will have a little test for each type of ability , a human could do. "

Someone hands him a few papers containing names and abilities. He steps down the mini-stage and walks up to the front saying.

"Let us start!"

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(uwu , bare with me)

It has only been a few minutes ever since the test started. He will be calling a group of four technically every group and orders them to race in running , carry weights - depends on which weights you can carry up to your limit and questions a combat-like question. The questions are pretty risky if compared to real life situation. But , all things have an answer. Either to sacrifice or not , if it leads you to the accurate answer then do it.

Aqua was scared to face him. Her teammates noticed and began to worry. She kept biting her nails ever since it started to begin. Scarlet build up the courage and asked her.

"Aqua , you good? "

Scarlet says in a classy tone.

'They must have noticed..'

Aqua looked at them feeling guilty for making them worry. She nervously replied.

"I'm fine. It's just that , old memories are piling up inside my head. ehe.. "

Aqua joked about it to ease their worriness. Scarlet doesn't seem convinced with her answer. She asks once again.

"Aqua. Are you okay? "

The question was supposed to be paired up with a worried voice but Scarlet says it in a demanding voice. Aqua sighed in defeat. They began to expect an explanation from her.

"Tell us the problem"

Scarlet asks in a monotone voice. Gray decided to go closer to his mommy and pulls on her jacket.

"Mommy , tell us pleaseeee"

Gray's pleading eyes couldn't bring Aqua to say no. Aqua sighed in complete defeat once more. She begins to talk in a soft voice.

"That man , also known as The Second-in-Commander of the Combat Government is my father. Gerald Ackerman. The parent to abandoned me together with my mother. "