I found myself improving drastically, and it wasn't only regarding swordsmanship. The ability to strategize and predict your opponent's movements is also extremely useful in hand-to-hand combat and magic fights.

So I quickly surpassed most of my colleagues in terms of combat prowess.

Some months eventually passed, and today would mark the day it would have been six months since I arrived here.

Normally, nothing would happen, there are no holidays in this place, so why?

Why the hell did they decide to gather us?

Right now, me and every single participant of the Neto Program are gathered in the arena, where we occasionally fight beasts.

I never saw the arena so full before, it reminded me of how many people the Brotherhood had actually kidnapped.

In the center of the arena, all the instructors were standing in a single line. They seemed to act like the escort of an old man who was in front of them.

I knew the man as Gereon, the cardinal in charge of the brotherhood's branch in the village of Feuer. I had seen him for the first time during my bestowal ceremony, but I have never seen him again since. What is he doing here now?

"Hello there, young people. It is always a pleasure to see that you are evolving as expected. You see, the stronger you get, the better; undoubtably, you'll become humanity's heroes, who will defeat the demonic army that will one day invade our world."

He took some steps forward in order to approach the newest participants in the program.

"For those of you that are in your first year, you might be a little confused. What is happening today? Is simple."

He paused and looked more intently at the crowd. He seemed to be searching for someone. Finally, his eyes stopped as his gaze locked onto me, a creepy smile appearing on his face.

"Six months from today, the next bestowal ceremony will take place, a few days before the ones who will not receive a new rune at that time will partake in a test."

A test? What for?

"As your seniors are already aware of, a few more dozens of meters below us there is a dungeon full of wild monsters and traps, your test will be simple. Form a duo and conquer the floor given to your batch. The ones who fail to achieve this requirement, well, let's say they will not have a very brilliant future."

Gereon left those words echoing throughout the arena, leaving the new participants perplexed at the sudden news. Failing this 'test' had more drastic consequences than just failing.

It seems spending six months here has made me too relaxed, I almost forgot that I am in a hellhole.

"Don't fret, tough, you were picked because of your outstanding potential and have survived until now, so it should be fine, I think."

He seemed to be enjoying himself, making everyone despair like that.

"Chose your pairs wisely and step forward so that you can be informed of what floor you will need to conquer to achieve success on this test."

Everyone started to look around, some people had already made up their minds, while others were still indecisive about who their partner should be. As for me...

"Gary, let's pair up?"

"Sure."

As simple as that, I found my partner easily.

Both of us stepped up and went down to the arena in order to announce our pairing.

Along with us, several members of the other batches joined us, especially the first batches.

"John Feuervogel and Gary Seifer, from the last batch, you'll be tasked with conquering the 4th floor just as the others from your batch." Gereon said.

He paused and looked at both of us before continuing.

"Being the most impressive recruits from your batch, you will be allowed to explore the first three floors for preparation, as well as minor information about the fourth floor."

"Why the privileged treatment?" I asked.

At my question, Gereon chuckled, "Why? No matter how harsh we treat our recruits, this program would be useless if no one survived it, wouldn't it?"

He got a point.

"I understand."

With those words, I turned around and started walking, only to find out that Gary was not walking beside me.

"Gary?"

Gary was still beside Gereon, glaring at him intensely. No words were being spoken, but the tension was very high.

"What are your intentions?" Gary finally said.

"Ho? To what are you referring?" Gereon replied with an amused smile.

"There is no need for such a thing as a test."

"What makes you say that?"

"It's simple, if what you want is soldiers, there is no need to take such risks, such as dying to a monster or a trap during dungeon exploration. If they don't die like that but still fail, they will die the same or suffer something worse than that, you will only lose soldiers like that."

Silence fell between the two until Gereon broke it.

"Who?"

"Who what?"

"Who asked?"

Seeing Gereon's attitude, Gary's face twisted with an angered expression, which I never saw.

"I don't see why your opinion matters. In this place, the one who is right is me. Because if even I am morally wrong, and you are the one who is right, it doesn't matter. Because you, who are right, cannot do anything to fight what's wrong."

Gary gritted his teeth, furious.

"However, in order to satisfy your curiosity, I'm willing to tell you the reason."

I was already hearing the conversation, but my interest reached its peak.

"At the start, it was only to filter the recruits between the ones who could put into practice what we teach and the ones who would only be there to waste resources. For starters, our goal is not to create an army but rather an elite unit, for that, we only need around three survivors from each branch."

Both me and Gary fell silent in order to process this information.

The phrase 'we only need around three survivors from each branch.' is terrifying.

But there was something that I had picked up.

"You said, 'At the start', what about now?"

"As expected of you, Feuervogel, you are quite clever like your father."

I flinched at the mention of my father and narrowed my eyes.

As if sensing my shift in attitude, Gary stepped between me and Gereon, and glared aggressively at Gereon.

"Just what are you planning for this year?" he spat.

"Hahaha!! How scary. Well, we are still doing the filter, but instead of killing the failures, they will become important resources for a new project we are working on."

"What is that project?"

"Well, you should work hard in order to never find out, no?"

There was no point in causing a bigger fuss.

"Gary, let's leave."

Gary looked at me and then at Gereon, eventually he looked back at me and nodded.

"I will be hoping for your success, you two."

I gritted my teeth, this guy was really irritating. Nevertheless, I kept going in the direction of my seat.

As we walked, some eyes latched onto us even after we sat still.

I could tell what they were saying.

'Are they insane?'

'I thought nobles were smarter than this.'

'Did training fried their brains?'

'Did Gary do that because he is the strongest of our batch? How arrogant.'

But no one said anything, and I didn't need to.

I looked at everyone in the arena, not only from my batch but the other ones as well. If this program continues, how many of us will die? What about the ones who will join in the future?

In that place, I figured that I was in the middle of a sea of corpses, with only a few people alive.

It could be me, it could be Gary, or it could be anyone who dies at the end of this year, the next one, or the one after that.

'Unforgivable'

This needed to stop at all costs.

I turned towards Gary, and sensing me moving, he looked at me as well. Without much thought, I said some ominous words.

"I feel like I need to destroy everything."