Kuda stood nervously in the preparation room beneath the arena where he and one hundred of his siblings waited for the signal to emerge onto the field above.
Thunder was among them, and so naturally, everyone was looking at him as he talked to Scalpel and Ivory, who had a small child in her arms.
"Impressive, huh?"
Kuda almost jumped as one of his sisters whispered in his ear.
He turned to find 555 555 standing behind him alongside 2 912 627 773.
555 555, or Gale, was an oddity, even among Betas, being covered in a layer of short, pale grey fur which helped keep her warm in the windstorms she could conjure.
This meant that she was specialised, so Kuda wondered why she was even here.
2 912 627 773, or Bit, was more contemporary. Brandishing two great hammers, he was an ordinary Beta who purposely avoided standing out too much.
Which made Kuda wonder why he, too, was even here.
Well, Bit was born on the moon, so maybe he just wanted to see the Earth.
"I swear, big bro could vaporise oceans, if he felt like it." Gale sighed in administration, which made Kuda turn back to face Thunder, who wasn't holding his spear.
He had made it known that using it would give him an unfair advantage, but that didn't make sense since the giant was several times stronger than the others with or without it.
The knot in Kuda's stomach was lulled by his own reverence for Thunder, which made his knees shake a little less.
"Say… why don't we gang up on him during the combat rounds?" Gale asked, making Kuda shudder with fear.
"That's actually not a bad idea." Bit agreed, making Kuda frantically shake his head.
"That's a really bad idea!* He yelped a little louder than he wanted, drawing a bit of attention.
He anxiously leaned close to Gale and Bit, speaking in a low voice.
"He killed millions of people with one attack…"
"So?" Gale crossed her arms.
"He killed millions of Newmen, to be specific." Bit huffed, making Kuda's shoulders droop.
"What does Mother say about humility?" Kuda sighed.
"She says we must be modest in our self-evaluations, but she also tells us to soar higher than ever thought possible, so zip it and join us in our ambush!" Gale loudly demanded.
All Kuda could do was groan as a positive ping instructed that the hundred children step onto the field above.
He immediately gnashed his teeth as he emerged onto a plane of Bio-Metal and ice.
The Arena had a dynamic layout which functioned like a Rubik's Cube, able to shift into new shapes to keep combatants on their feet.
The temperature and winds were controlled by gargantuan turbines and heat syncs, which simulate almost any natural environment.
Beyond the field were the stands, which were occupied by over a hundred thousand spectators, chief among them being Anoona, who sat on a throne far above with Scalpel at her side.
[Brothers and sisters all, we are joined by our diviner for a day of rigorous testing, so that we may be sharper tools for her sake!] Scalpel's terrifying voice was projected onto the field.
A wave of cheers filled the air as Scalpel pointed at a row of cyan coloured flags that stood on the other end of the field.
[100, then 75, 50, then 20, 10, and it will be those ten who will duel for the title Beta Supreme, of which the final five will be named!]
More cheers followed, but all Kuda could focus on were the blistering winds and sub-zero temperatures that stiffened his joints.
He glanced at his siblings to see that they were all poised and ready.
So he took a deep breath and faced the distant flags as well.
Scalpel then raised his right arm, silencing the crowd.
He then swung his hand downwards, sending out a positive ping to the contestants who immediately dashed forward.
Kuda was among them, but it became evident that he was significantly slower.
His steps were heavier and his strides were shorter, but he ran nonetheless.
He glanced behind him to see if anyone was slower than him, and while a few others were lagging behind, one of his siblings stood completely still.
It was Thunder, of course.
Even as everyone got further and further, running incredibly quickly, the giant simply crossed his arms and this chilled Kuda to no end.
Something was coming.
Something terrible, and so he ran, forcing his legs to crush the ground, launching him forward and turning his body into a heavy projectile.
He eventually caught up to Bit, who easily ran even with two hammers attached to his back.
All Kuda needed to do was grab one of the seventy flags, and the only reason the faster Betas like Gale hadn't already reached them was that the extreme cold was starting to affect their fast-moving joints.
One of the Betas had already broken his left leg from overexertion, although the fifteen Deltas among them were faring surprisingly well, since they had larger bodies and couldn't sustain their internal temperatures.
Kuda, too, was spared from having his joints crack since he was a little larger than his Beta siblings, but this was a double-edged sword.
He knew he'd have the opposite problem when the temperature was cranked up.
One by one, more of his siblings began to crack and splinter under their own power.
Yes, it was true that a beta could cross hundreds of meters in seconds, but the goal with this test was to teach the warriors how to pace themselves.
Kuda and Bit eventually caught up to Gale, whose movements were now sluggish and rigid.
The front-most children had already crossed nine hundred meters in a matter of seconds, but the flags were still six hundred meters away, and they were all getting slower and slower.
"How's it going, Gale?" Bit, who had cleverly conserved his energy, grinned, making Gale stick her tongue out at him.
"I thought… I thought I was specialised." She panted.
"You are. And you'd have been further ahead if you weren't such a showoff!" Bit laughed, making his sister roll her eyes.
Kuda enjoyed their banter, but whatever levity he felt was immediately crushed as countless sparks began to appear in the air.
"Here we go." Bit nervously chuckled without looking back.
"Kuda! What angle is he gonna come from?" The hammer-brandishing Beta asked, prompting Kuda to glance behind him.
Thunder was still at the starting line but had now uncrossed his arms.
"Well? Out with it! I really don't wanna get crushed." Gale pleaded, but Thunder gave no indication of the path he would take.
So Kuda relied on the terrible feeling in his gut.
"He's gonna come straight down the centre–"
Bit suddenly tackled Kuda's side, sending him stumbling off course just as a horrifying sound tore the air asunder.
It sounded like a thousand strikes of lightning, and not a moment after it came, something shot past where Kuda was originally running, razing the ground and melting the ice.
Kuda kept running and looked ahead to see Thunder holding the first of the flags.
He had crossed a distance of 1.5km in about two seconds.
Kuda bit his teeth before continuing on until he reached one of the remaining seventy-four, along with his siblings.
He then mimicked his big brother in holding his flag up high for his mother to see.
Bit, Gale, and the others did the same as the arena filled with cheers.
Anoona stood up from her seat far above and beheld her children.
[Congratulations, my dears. May your instincts sharpen further. I look forward to all you will achieve.]