It didn't take that long before the first Phantom Construct pounced on them.
The nearest girl screamed as its claw raked across her shoulder, sending her to the ground due to pain...
These beings didn't speak, but they would screech as they moved, making them even scarier for the children.
"Aackk! H-help me!" The girl cried as the wound on her arm looked shallow, but the pain made her shriek as if it had torn through bone.
Alexis believed that they had entered an illusion, but instinct screamed at him to run, to hide… However, another part of him, the part that had once piloted war machines, snapped him forward.
He immediately looked around as he knew that the recruiters shouldn't be so cruel to make them so helpless…
'Found it…'
As expected, after looking around, he found a shock baton on the ground nearby. There were various items as well, but some were buried in sand or debris and couldn't be easily seen.
Alexis didn't bother telling this to others as he swiftly grabbed the shock baton to fight! If he wanted to be part of the city's forces, he had to show how different he was compared to others.
Crack--!
As soon as he learned how to use the baton, he positioned himself behind the Phantom and struck! He even used the others as bait to get a clean strike!
Bzzt!
Electricity arced, and the Phantom's frame stuttered… Its body shuddered with static, but it just screeched and attacked again!
Alexis barely rolled aside as he avoided the attack.
However, as soon as he was about to counter, he realized that Phantom was no longer moving…
'Is it effective on them?' Alexis' eyes lit up after seeing what had happened. He wasn't sure if the Phantoms were just weak or if that shock baton was simply their weakness…
As he thought of this, the other children had already succumbed to the Phantoms, as they weren't as fast.
Screeches echoed across the broken buildings as more Phantoms came out of the shadows.
A boy tried to sprint, but one of the constructs tackled and pinned him. Its claws sparked as they tore across his chestplate or armor that was given to them. However, the boy shrieked as if his ribs had cracked.
"Get off me! Get off!" He cried while thrashing wildly.
Before Alexis could even consider what to do, another kid acted.
A skinny boy with messy black hair dove at a pile of rubble, pulling out a half-buried steel pipe. With a desperate roar, he smashed it across the Phantom's head.
Thud!
The blow bent the pipe, but the construct reeled back with a metallic screech, giving the pinned boy time to crawl away.
The attacker spat blood from biting his own tongue, but his eyes burned with fire.
"You won't take me that easy!" he yelled.
'He's reckless… but brave,' Alexis noted as he tightend his grip on the shock baton.
On the other side of the field, a smaller figure who was barely taller than Alexis' shoulder, moved differently from the rest.
While the others panicked, she crouched and kept scanning her environment…
When a Phantom dashed toward her, she didn't scream.
Instead, she bolted sideways, grabbed a shard of broken glass, and rammed it straight into the creature's glowing eye.
Sparks erupted as the Phantom shrieked, then swiftly dashed away to escape as if it could feel pain, which should not be possible.
In any case, the girl didn't fight at all as she scrambled to another hiding spot…
All of this was noticed by Alexis…
'That one… she's fast. Cunning too. Doesn't fight head-on, but she knows how to survive.'
Alexis thought as he continued wielding his shock baton, and this time, since he had gotten used to their movements, he felt that he could already play around them.
All around, the children fought, fled, or froze. Some collapsed in terror as the constructs circled them.
However, he was actually performing really well!
Then the officer's voice was heard once more…
"Five minutes are up."
Instantly, the stormy sky shattered into shards of light…
The cracked buildings dissolved, and the Phantoms disappeared!
The children gasped as they found themselves once more in the large chamber…
The wounds on their bodies vanished. The pain, however, lingered in their minds.
Some kids dropped to their knees, crying. Others clutched at their phantom injuries while shaking.
"T-that was all an illusion?"
"M-my arm is still here."
"Y-you! Why did you push me to be eaten?!"
"I didn't! I just slipped!"
"Ha!"
The Silver-Jawed officer strode forward, and the children immediately went silent.
Soon, his eye swept over them all, pausing briefly on Alexis, the pipe-wielding boy, and the small girl.
"Phantom Constructs…" he said coldly. "You all know of them. You've heard the stories. Some of you may even believe they are legends. They are not."
He went silent for a moment as he watched the children process his words.
"They were humanity's first failures. Early attempts to upload human minds into machine vessels, to cheat death, to immortalize the flesh. The result? Broken programs fused with ruined bodies. They stalk the wastes between cities, aimless, vicious. The lucky ones die before they meet them. The unlucky… join them."
A shudder rippled through the children.
"Do you understand now?" His eye flared brighter. "We did not simply test your strength. We tested your instinct. Fear. Resolve. The constructs you faced were illusions, yes… but they were based on the real thing. This was not only an assessment. It was education. A taste of the world outside Neo-Emerald."