Four Tiers of War
> "Only in war do men show who they truly are. And only those who know themselves survive it."
— General Savrek Ulm, Earth Unification Wars
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UNS Vigilant Eye — Orbit above Mars
At precisely 06:00 standard time, the fourth tier of the Culling began.
No ceremony.
No countdown.
Only a hollow, resonant pulse through every cadet's implant—a sound designed to instill terror.
Admiral Mannerheim stood before the command table, a holographic display of the surviving cadets that had accompanied him on either side. Dozens of icons moved across a digital landscape that covered three hundred square kilometers of wasteland, ruins, and enemy biomes.
"Sixty-three candidates," he growled.
Colonel Rensha crossed his arms. "After this, there'll be less than ten."
There was a pause. Mannerheim nodded once.
"Good."
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Combat Zones: Division & Rules
Tier Four — the Final Purging — would be conducted in four successively harder stages spread over twelve hours.
Every stage would test different skills:
1. Tier One: Survival & Endurance – Already done.
2. Tier Two: Nightfall Protocol – Completed.
3. Tier Three: Battlefield Unity – To begin soon.
4. Tier Four: Duel Ascension – Individual combat until a final victor.
The remaining cadets were organized into six temporary strike groups of ten each. These were not faction-based. Loyalty did not matter. Cohesion did not matter.
Victory was everything.
Team One – Pale Vultures
Team Two – Obsidian Wrath
Team Three – Crimson Wolves
Team Four – Specter Line
Team Five – Echo Fang
Team Six – Iron Horizon
Kale Drayen was in Team Six.
So was Kora Tessan.
And Ox Varin.
Convenient, Kale thought. Or maybe on purpose.
Cassian Dorne, however, was assigned to Team Four — Specter Line.
And Lie Cadence?
She was in Team Three – Crimson Wolves now.
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Team Six Deployment – Iron Horizon
Sector Delta Ridge
The Martian sky was no longer black.
Now it was blood-orange, the dust storms lit up from underneath by artificial lighting grids. Metal monoliths poking from the earth. Ruins of old warfronts. Choke points. Kill zones.
Kale crouched with Kora and Ox behind a rusted armored transport, analyzing a tactical drone map projected from his wrist module.
"We're surrounded by elevated terrain. Good cover," he muttered. "But we're two klicks from the central uplink."
"What's our objective again?" Kora asked, eyes scanning the horizon.
"Dominate and hold the uplink tower for six hours. Long enough to transmit a fake planetary defense protocol."
Ox grunted. "We're ten people."
Kale didn't look up. "So is every team."
Kora smirked faintly. "You're not going to let them win, are you?"
"Not even close."
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Team Three – Crimson Wolves
Sector Black Maw
Lie Cadence studied her new team with a faint look of distaste. Most were Cipher and Vanguard, a few Ironborn. Not many Dynasts.
"Strategy?" one of them asked.
Lie twirled a blade between her fingers, then stabbed it into the map display.
"Push hard, take uplink, hold it. Anyone who gets in our way dies quick."
"And… the Drayen boy?" another one asked.
She smiled. Coldly.
"I'd like to see what happens when the rat confronts the snake."
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Team Four – Specter Line
Sector Bastion Cradle
Cassian did not wait.
While the others were planning, he was already moving.
"Vanguard forward. Cipher to the flank. Ironborn stay back and hack the tower upon arrival," he ordered.
"You're not the commander," one of the cadets said.
Cassian did not argue.
He simply activated a shock gauntlet and knocked the dissenter in the jaw.
"I am now."
There were no complaints again.
---
Tier Three — Begins
07:30 ST
An orbital pulse fired from the Vigilant Eye.
A sonic boom flew over the surface.
Uplink towers flashed across the horizon.
There was a sector assigned to each team. But they would have to fight to keep it.
Kale's squad entered from the south, fighting through trenches and abandoned drones. With each step closer, another heartbeat moved towards open war.
"Contact at 1 o'clock," Ox reported, taking cover behind a structure.
Kora cocked her rifle. "Which squad?"
A red burst of armor.
"Crimson Wolves," Kale breathed.
Lie Cadence's unit.
Great.
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Firefight — Iron Horizon vs Crimson Wolves
The first blast was sudden. A crack snapped from the Vanguard gunner sliced through Kale's drone module, dropping sparks.
"Cover!" he shouted, pulling Kora down behind a rusty girder. "Ox, suppression left!"
Ox roared as he laid down suppressing fire, rounds punching cover on the Wolves' left.
Kale moved ground fast—silent steps across rolled steel. He swung wide to the right, his gaze sweeping for her.
He found Lie in the center, directing her troops like a queen in a hive.
For a moment, they locked eyes.
She didn't hesitate.
Neither did he.
They clashed.
Fists, knees, knives.
She was fast.
He was faster.
But she was brutal.
A knee to the stomach made Kale stagger. She drew her blade.
He caught her wrist.
"Still think I'm just a rat?" he asked.
She headbutted him.
Blood spilled down his brow.
He smiled.
And then he dropped a flash grenade between them.
She recoiled.
He vanished.
---
Control Room — Uplink Tower, 10 Minutes Later
Kora and Ox burst in, followed by three remaining cadets from Iron Horizon.
Kale joined seconds later, face bloodied, lips split.
"Secure the doors," he said.
Ox nodded, slamming the heavy blast plates into place.
Kora connected her uplink device to the terminal.
"We've got it. Transmission starts in 30 seconds."
Kale glanced out the reinforced window.
Another team closing in.
Black armor.
Specter Line.
Cassian.
Kale breathed slowly.
"So it begins."
---
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> "Rivals are the whetstone upon which excellence is sharpened. Without them, ambition grows dull."
— High Marshal Keira Vel, Imperial War Archives
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Uplink Tower – Control Room
Kale's knuckles throbbed, a combination of his own and Lie's. The burning in his ribs told him she'd cracked one—perhaps two. He liked the pain. It cleared the head.
"Transmission's live," Kora yelled, her hands darting across the uplink interface. "Six-hour clock initiated."
Ox braced the doorway with an autocannon torn from a wrecked drone. "They're coming."
Kale addressed the four remaining cadets of Team Iron Horizon. Weary. Scathed. But alive.
"Positions," he ordered. "Cassian won't wait."
Kora regarded him. "You think he'll push us?"
"He'll flank. Hard and fast. He won't make the same mistake as the others."
Outside, the wind howled, bringing war's storm.
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Specter Line – Sector Ridge Perimeter
Cassian Dorne observed the uplink tower from behind a deformed ferrocrete outcropping. Thermal pings showed in his helmet HUD—six targets confirmed within. Possibly seven.
"He's there," Cassian stated.
"Who?" a cadet nearby asked.
Kale.
He did not respond. He merely pointed.
Two Ciphers split off for the eastern ridge. A Vanguards pair slid west. Cassian took the middle.
"Breach in two minutes," he said, blade already humming with energy.
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Control Room – Uplink Tower
Ox's cannon let out a burst of suppressive fire through a wall hole. Two incoming were pinned. At least for the moment.
Kale sprinted through the stairwells of the uplink tower at lightspeed, depositing motion-sensitive mines. Smoke pellets. Shock snares.
He'd made the uplink tower a maze.
"They're inside," Kora reported. "Three entry points compromised."
Let them in," Kale muttered, voice low. "Just not all at once."
A deafening blast rocked the upper level.
"Top floor," one cadet shouted.
"Specter Line has breach!"
The battle spilled across the rooftop.
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Rooftop – First Clash
Cassian emerged from smoke and ruin like a hellish knight.
Two of Kale's squad moved to cut him off. Cassian parried the first one's blow, carved a burning arc through the second, and kicked the first off the rooftop.
He pushed forward alone.
Inside, Kale waited.
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Hallway Duel – Cassian and Kale
They met silently.
Nothing but motion.
Cassian's sword glowed pale blue. Kale's combat knife emitted pulse energy in the way of crackling electricity.
Their swords met in a whirlwind of sparks.
"You should have stayed small," Cassian sneered, charging forward.
"You should have stayed scared," Kale hissed, evading a swinging curve and countering with a rib strike.
Cassian growled and surged forward, overwhelming in brute force. Kale adapted—leaning into feints, footwork, momentum. One step ahead.
He redirected Cassian's lunge into a wall.
Slashed him across the back.
Not deep enough.
Cassian turned and headbutted him.
They fell in a tangled heap—fists flying, elbows cracking, blood spilling.
Kora's voice rang through the hallway.
"Kale! We've got four minutes left—he's not your objective!"
He ignored her.
This was personal.
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Control Room – Defense Collapsing
Specter Line had overrun both stairways.
Two were dispatched with accurate gunfire by Kora. Ox defended the front entrance, re-loading with ruthless efficiency.
One Specter cadet survived, though—stabbing a Horizon cadet in the neck before getting shot in the chest.
There were two Horizon cadets left.
Kora gritted her teeth, moving to drag the wounded back.
"They're breaching!" she roared. "We can't hold them!"
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Hallway – Clash Reaches its Peak
Cassian pinned Kale against a wall, knife against his throat.
"I earned this spot," he spat. "People like you don't belong here."
"You're right," Kale whispered. Then he snapped Cassian's wrist and shoved him back into a shock trap he'd rigged beforehand.
The electrical shock knocked Cassian to one knee.
Kale didn't kill him.
Instead, he turned around and sprinted back toward the control room.
This wasn't the final duel.
Not yet.
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Final Minute – Tower Hold
Kale burst in as Kora blew up the last Specter cadet. Ox shut the blast doors again.
Kale limped over to the uplink and checked the signal.
Transmission complete.
Six hours passed.
Mission success.
A voice boomed in every cadet's implant:
> "Tier Three Complete. Remaining Cadets Prepare for Final Phase: Duel Ascension."
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Aftermath
Cassian was pulled out unconscious by two remaining Specter cadets. His breathing was shallow, but steady.
Kale leaned against the corner of the control room, chest heaving.
"You didn't kill him," Kora breathed.
"He's not done."
"You certain you are?"
Kale was silent.
He didn't need to be.
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