It was just after 10 in the morning, and the sun had already risen well over the horizon, its golden rays shining brightly, illuminating the entirety of an expanse.
In the middle of this large expanse was a camp. The camp wasn’t anything special. There were no walls surrounding it, and it only had one large imposing black terminal in the middle. Around it was a large mansion, a mess hall, and myriad tents scattered all around the area.
The members of the division went about their normal business as they trotted through the camp.
None of the youths had any distinct features that could relate them to each other, apart from a particular group of youths who stood out from the rest.
With intense mischievous grins, vibrant orange hair, and radiant gems embedded into their foreheads, different youths from the Stellaris family moved around the camp, each one of them causing mayhem where ever they went.
Despite the fact that different youths seemed to be coming and going, each of them kept an eye on two things: the countdown clock actively counting down on top of the black terminal and a very tiny dot up in the skies.
At the very top of the camp, even above the massive terminal, was the form of a boy. With a touch of vibrant orange hair, his whole form was glowing a golden glow as the intense rays from the sun seemed to converge around him.
This boy was none other than Seraphin, who sat down crossllegged on top of a platform floating in the air.
As though it were a mantra, Seraphin kept muttering under his breath as he absorbed the sun’s rays: “Trust brother Gerald, just a few months left.”
During the past few weeks, Seraphin had holed himself in his division as he continued training. He didn’t, for once, go to the academy campus to attend lectures during this time.
The number of piled up punishments Seraphin had racked up because he had been missing lectures was staggering. But at the end of the day, it was not something he couldn’t live through.
Seraphin had been waiting for the time he would teach that thief a lesson, and he would continue to wait until the leader’s summit.
…
The next day came quickly in the White Omens division, and it was finally the day for the third division war.
As per usual practice, the entirety of the division was gathered, each facing the large imposing terminal in the middle of the camp. Their gazes were focused on the large countdown clock displayed in front of them.
As usual, Atticus stood at the forefront of the division members, with Aurora and the Ravenstein youths directly behind him.
Atticus had already informed the Ravenstein youths about the situation yesterday after he had returned from the forest.
They had all taken it surprisingly well. It immediately made sense why he had enforced the academy contract on all of them now.
Even until now, no one knew what Atticus had done to the hundred youths he had taken with him into the forest. He didn’t even spend more than 30 minutes before he returned with all of them, still unconscious.
They all still looked the same, with no indication that he had done anything to the youths.
And after that, it had been a great shock to them as Atticus hadn’t taken any other precautions to restrict the youths activities.
While it was very obvious that allowing those hundred youths to roam free was as dangerous as it could get, the only thing Atticus had done till now was to visually separate them from the others by painting the armor each of them was wearing a very vibrant shade of red.
And they were all removed from their units and assigned a separate one. They each stood at the forefront, directly behind Atticus and the Ravenstein youths.
Many might think that it was harsh that they were being isolated and ostracized from the rest of the division, but what Atticus would call those sorts of people were fools.
Currently, Atticus had zero academy points on him, and even if they all decided to kill themselves now, it wouldn’t affect him in any way.
But what about if they backstabbed and killed the other division members? It wasn’t just about him; the whole division was at risk.
Any death, whether by suicide or homicide, would result in a 10% deduction of their points.
In fact, if not for the other division members being unaware of the risks associated with these particular hundred youths, the isolation they would experience would be multiplied many folds.
Atticus had kept the rest of the division in the dark about the truth of the hundred youths, and he had also given the Ravenstein youths instructions not to allow anyone to know.
It was something that baffled Lucas, who believed that the whole division should be informed so that they would be able to watch out for any sneak attacks that might occur.
Many of the Ravenstein youths had even wanted to lock them up and bind them in chains; none of them wanted to take any chances.
But Atticus had put a stop to all of that and had ultimately decided on just separating them from the rest by tagging them.
The countdown struck zero, and the whole youths in the area immediately closed their eyes as they all knew what was coming.
The large terminal lit up, its light encompassing the whole camp. And in under a second, the whole camp got transported away.
But unlike what many would expect, the large and imposing terminal still remained in its original position.
As soon as the camp was transported away, the whole expanse descended into an unreal serenity. But this peaceful atmosphere didn’t last long.
After exactly 4 minutes, the terminal suddenly lit up with an intense glow, and just as the camp had been transported, it instantly appeared in the middle of the expanse once more.
