The next day, the shrill alarm returned, blasting from the speakers early in the morning. Kiah groaned awake, brushing her face. She didn't think she would ever grow accustomed to that cursed sound.
Ten minutes later, the entire squad was gathered in the training room, yawning, stretching, or silently glaring into space. She greeted her companions briefly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes just as Thorne climbed onto the platform from the front.
His expression was as blank as ever, like he'd rather be doing literally anything else.
Kiah sneered like anyone wanted to be here at this hour, either.
One large section of the hall was filled with training dummies. They were lined up in five rows, fifteen dummies per row. A neat rack of weights stood at the far side of the room, untouched but clearly prepared.
Kiah squinted at the setup.
'Who even sets all this up so early? Is there a clean-up crew? Or are they auto-generated?' she sighed. 'There is definitely a cleanup crew. Definitely.'
Before she could think too hard, Thorne clapped once, loud enough to break her thoughts.
"Today, we're going over basic combat stances," he announced. "After yesterday's inspiring display," — his tone was dry — "it's clear most of you don't know the first thing about proper fighting posture."
Several initiates stiffened. Kiah rolled her eyes.
"So," he continued, "I want each of you to spread out and pick a dummy…"
As he went on, there was a rustle of shuffling as everyone moved into position in front of a human-shaped dummy.
Thorne walked to the center.
"We are starting from the top, so feet shoulder-width apart. Dominant leg slightly behind. Knees slightly bent. Arms up. Dominant hand forward for striking, the rear hand guarding the chest. Chin tucked."
He demonstrated the stance with precision, and they followed.
"Hold that position," Thorne ordered.
He moved among them slowly. Every now and then, he stopped to adjust someone's arms or judge a foot in place with the tip of his boot.
"Lower your arms slightly…"
"Your feet should be further apart…"
As Thorne approached, Kiah braced herself and held the stance as firmly as she could. Eden had taught her the proper positioning during one of their brief training sessions, so she was confident she had it right.
She didn't want to give Thorne another reason to look down on her.
When Thorne stopped in front of her, she scowled at him, daring him to find something wrong with her stance.
He studied her for a long time, then gave a small snicker.
"At least you're not totally hopeless."
Then he moved on.
A small, satisfied smirk tugged at her lips, not because of his so-called remarks, but because she was improving. She hadn't given him an opportunity to humiliate her today. That was a win.
Soon, they moved to punching drills. While maintaining their stances, they were ordered to throw punches at the training dummies. Kiah hadn't expected the dummies to be so solid. The first punch rattled her knuckles.
It seemed even the training equipment was more upgraded than the normal version.
"Throw two hundred punches with your dominant hand. After that, we move to the next stance." Thorne barked.
Kiah winced but didn't argue. She had no choice but to get used to the pain.
They fell into a rhythm, fists thudding steadily against the reinforced dummies while Throne stood and watched. Anyone who slowed down or broke form earned a barked insult or worse, a silent, spine-chilling glare from Thorne. The glare was worse.
So even as their muscles ached and burned, no one dared to slack off.
When they were done with the drill, he gave them no breaks and moved to the next stance.
"Legs spread apart. Knees bent extremely low until they form a ninety-degree angle with your legs. Back straight. Shoulder squared. Right hand stretched out, fists closed. Left hand behind the back."
The pose resembled what an anime character would do. But Kiah practiced it anyway.
It was difficult, and they had to hold it for an hour. Anyone who fell or slouched would have to carry weights till the end of the session.
Either option was brutal. The stance was turning, but Kiah didn't want to hold over thirty kilograms of weights above her head for an hour. So she bore through the pain.
By the thirty-minute mark, her arms trembled and her things screamed. Nearly half of the room failed and were sentenced to weight-holding duty. Some looked red, some blue, others purple from the strain, but Throne didn't bat an eye.
When the hour finally passed, he allowed them a short water break before moving on.
The next day wasn't any better. As a matter of fact, it was worse.
They had to practice movement drills.
"Step forward, pivot back, side shuffle, duck and reset," Thorne called out.
They moved in time with shouted commands.
"ONE!" = forward
"TWO!" = pivot
"THREE!" = sidestep
"FOUR!" = crouch
"RESET!" = back to stance
Over and over again, they repeated the sequence until their movements became automatic.
Mistakes earned you a trip to the weight station, which had doubled. They had to carry it for a minute, then return to the formation.
Kiah stumbled during a pivot and collided with the person beside her. Thorne blew the shape whistle around his neck and stormed over.
"Hit the weights, Mathlete. And this time, stay on your damn feet!"
She gritted her teeth and obeyed.
The weight he handed her felt like it had its own gravity. Holding it for sixty seconds was pure torture. Her arms trembled, her shoulders screamed, and her breath stuttered with the strain. But dropping the weight meant redoing it — double time.
She wondered.
When the seconds ticked by, she rejoined the drill, trying her best not to stumble this time.
On the third day, they learned how to break wrist holds, chokeholds, and pin-downs. They had to be in pairs to test the move.
And today, Kiah was unfortunate to be paired with the bulky boy from her sparring match. The same one who slammed his head into her face without remorse. He was tasked with pinning her down while she looked for a way to escape his grip. If either of them failed, they got punished.
When he saw her, he grinned with an arrogant look on his smug face. "This will be easier than last time. Take the punishment like a good girl, okay?" He said, cracking his knuckles.
From her left, Kira shot a sharp glare his way.
"I feel like wiping his face on the floor," she muttered, then turned to Kiah. "Don't let him trap you underneath him. When you get an opening, hit him where it hurts."
Kiah gave a slight nod, her face unreadable. Her heart beat faster as she glanced instinctively up towards the ceiling, the small niche at the back, to be specific, but it was empty.
'At least the creep isn't watching this time.'
Regardless, she didn't plan on losing. It was time to test everything she'd learned.
Kiah had to get pinned, and must use leverage and strength to break free. Her opponent had to ensure that it did not happen.
The bulky guy didn't waste. He lunged and wrestled her down, using his weight and reach to pin her fast. Her back slammed into the mat, and she grimaced, both his arms locking her shoulders and his knee pressing her hip.
She struggled to breathe.
"Come on, just give up. You can't wiggle out of this," he taunted.
Kiah shut him out. She forced her mind to go quiet, recalling Anwyll's lessons, the way he used her momentum against her, the way he'd thrown her around like a rag doll.
She studied her opponent's posture. His weight leaned too far forward, his left knee was off balance, and though his grip was tight, it was not unbreakable.
She moved slowly, drawing a breath.
Then suddenly—
She jerked her knee up and twisted her hip sideways, catching him off guard. At the same time, her left hand gripped his wrist and pushed upward while she rolled toward her shoulder.
It created just enough space.
With a grunt, she wedged her right leg between them, kicked hard off the mat. Using her smaller frame as leverage, she mustered every ounce of strength in her and flipped him.
He landed flat on his back with a winded gasp.
Kiah scrambled up and, without hesitation, delivered a powerful kick to his face and smiled when she heard a satisfied crack beneath her feet.
The boy yelped in pain.
This drew the attention of a couple of people around them, including Thorne. He gazed at her with a raised brow.
From a corner, Naya's cheer was heard.
As blood trickled down the boy's nose, Kiah muttered proudly. "Guess this wasn't as easy as you thought."
Revenge felt great.