Chapter 302: First Mock War

As the King Naga struck the Lingaran, several prepared explosions appeared on the top of the Lingkaran as if it was exploding and being damaged from the rampaging King Naga. 

But the truth was that the damages that the Lingkaran had were all controlled and contained damages. 

The Lingkaran had been changed and rebuilt. The Leviathan had positioned itself under this Lingkaran and revamped the structure in preparation for the attack of the SPU. 

While the King Naga was outwardly battling the Lingkaran, it had attached itself to a special power source stored within the Lingkaran. Several Unbecoming was able to attach the wires at the chaos of the battle. 

A powerful electricity coursed from the Lingkaran and rushed towards the King Naga. This energy was easily harnessed and sent towards all the soldiers who were awaiting deployment. 

The electrical shock attacked all the pilots and caused them to fall unconscious. 

The King Naga dove deeper into the sea after ramming the Lingkaran. 

Explosions could be seen on the water below the Lingkaran as if a powerful battle was happening. 

As for the tail of the King Naga, the soldiers were rampaging and were starting to find a way to breach the Chamber of Commands. With the current status of the Lingkaran, they believed that they were tricked into siding with the traitor. 

The main body was waging a courageous battle against the Lingkaran, and they were fleeing with their tails tucked between their legs. Many soldiers saw how easily the Lingkaran was being dominated, and this made the soldiers mad for their lost glory and scared of the future. 

They had fled and disobeyed military command and would possibly face criminal charges for this. 

Soon, the SPU Exoskeletons were deployed. 

As the SPU Exoskeleton surfaced, those in the Lingkaran readied their weapons. 

But the SPU soldiers did not immediately attack. It hovered underwater, and some hovered above the area. 

"Alright, men. This is our first mock war battle. As of this moment, those Exoskeletons are being controlled by Harker's armies. There are even Inhumans among them. Priority for the Unbecoming Proficient-inducing drugs will be given to those who can down an Exoskeleton controlled by an Unbecoming Pilot. Those who can down two will be bestowed with the Surmounting Unbecoming- inducing drugs." A former WGP platoon leader explained. 

"The battle will last until the King Naga dives down and rams the Lingkaran from the bottom, causing it to pierce through the Lingkaran through the gaps we've prepared for it. This is our first battle. Although this is a staged battle, it will set our destiny for the future! You've seen the tapes and seen the techs that these Aragarians carry. Those at the Unbecoming stage are but cannon fodder! So you have to fight with your lives on the line because here and now, lies which you can be in the future!" The platoon leader explained, but then he paused and took several deep breathes. 

"But that's just the second reason. Remember how those kids toyed with us! We lost and got played like a violin! Murder those Exoskeletons and show them what a WGP soldier really is!" 

The nearby soldiers all shouted with determination. They were the captured soldiers who were previously in the Atlantis. Though they discovered the truth of the coming threat, they were still angry. Not only have they been tricked by a group of teenagers, but the number of their colleagues that died in the previous battle had also enraged them. 

"They said that the last battle was a door opening experience for us to break through the next level. But I say this is our chance to show them that they are wrong! We are not so weak!" The Platoon leader roared angrily. 

The former WGP soldiers moved. Although they were only equipped with standard Pangean gear, the scanners and other systems inside the Exoskeletons and Armors were of WGP grade. 

The army began to move out. But the SPU Exoskeletons did no immediately attack. In fact, only a few Exoskeletons moved forward. 

Remotely commanding a Commander Grade SPU Exoskeleton was one of the higher-ranking soldiers in the entire Unlocked army. 

"Warfreakz. Control your respective platoons properly." 

"Woah! Roselyn, give the veterans a chance to play around first!" Gardo's confident laugh echoed. 

"Ma-Major? But the training…" 

"Don't worry about it! Besides, this is still training, except it's in hell mode. Lander, want another round? Although you can't beat me in a one-on-one, how about a contest of most defeats. Accidentally killing a soldier will minus your points, though. One Point for every Exoskeleton we down regardless of rank. Two for every Armor. And minus ten points for every accidental kill. We'll see who kills the most in the next five minutes!" 

"You're on!" Lander answered. 

The conversation was broadcasted on the WGP soldiers, and this drove them even angrier. 

"Kill them!" A WGP Commander shouted angrily as he went to suit up. He was originally based inside the Lingkaran and would act as a Commander, but that taunt drove him to a maddened state. 

Two Exoskeletons from the SPU's formation moved forward. The rest didn't fight but merely waited on the sides, evading the ranged attacks aimed at them and expertly shooting the approaching rockets. 

"HQ! Please count the number of confirmed soldiers we disable." Lander spoke. 

"Confirmed." Lennox's detached voice answered. 

Lander and Gardo's respective Exoskeleton moved at max speed. Despite an army shooting at them, the pair was easily able to evade it through their movements. 

"Soldiers ending with odd numbers, increase the margin of error of respective suits! These arrogant pricks can evade us since our aim is very accurate!" A former WGP Commander ordered. 

Roselyn could only sigh as he saw two Majors rushed off to battle. 

"Roselyn, is this alright?" One of the soldiers near Roselyn asked. 

"Let it be, Czerus. It still fulfills the purpose of this training." 

"But, Roselyn! I mean...Lieutenant! The soldiers are very angry! What if they betray us! Didn't you hear what the Major said? Minus points for accidentally killing soldiers?! They are playing with human lives!" Another soldier, which belonged to the team of Warfreakz, answered. 

"I think that's the point..." A female soldier pondered. 

"What?!" Czerus and the other soldier chorused. 

"Lucy is right." Roselyn smiled. 

"Although Major was a bit reckless and offensive, his actions are still directing the WGP soldiers to the right path." 

"But, Lieutenant! Major is still toying with human lives! These are soldiers! They're already angry at you and the rest for all the killings you've done in the Kraken and Atlantis!" 

"Do you really think that Major Gardo and Lander will accidentally kill soldiers? Have you seen the videos of their fight? Those two can shoot bullets at a person's hair and not miss. Lander's mid-ranged shooting skills are as good as Gardo. If he uses his techniques and gets closer to those soldiers, do you think he would make a careless mistake?" 

"Lieutenant is right. Major Gardo is as good as John Octavion if we set aside John's unique eyesight. Why do you think he has been nominated as a leader of the Benjamin division?" Lucy added. 

"This is a mock war, but also a point of reference for everyone. This is the first war where we have soldiers facing off the Unlocked. This is important for analysis so our superiors can approximate the number of soldiers we need to fight future battles. This is also a means for gauging our new recruits' abilities and identifying these soldiers' potential. But ultimately, this is used to solidify the loyalty of our new recruits." 

"Loyalty?" Czerus asked. 

"Yes. We are Unlocked. Our superiors have been toying with nations because of their strength. Those who are not Unlocked don't understand what that means. In their hearts, they think we cheated. "Remember the briefing... This battle is geared to show the WGP and the rest of the ununlocked soldiers in our command exactly how powerful the Unlocking is. The goal is to make people realize how weak they are. And maybe if they see the vast difference, they'll finally appreciate what we told them. Do you remember what that is, Arclight? Czerus?" Roselyn turned towards the two male soldiers who were talking to her. 

"...That Unbecoming soldiers are but cannon fodder in the coming war." 

"Right. Whether or not Major Gardo intended it, this battle will show them the truth. Two Inhuman soldiers toyed with an army. That will make it clear to them how weak they are." 

Lander dove faster towards the horde of soldiers. As the raining bullets fell, Lander began to twist and spin. His twist and turns were unlike the trademarked movements that made him the Hero of Helion's Tragedy because this was full of counter spins and other odd movements. And in this dive, the many bullets that approached were easily evaded. But what not many could see was that some of the bullets had actually veered off course when Lander was getting closer. 

Seeker, the Realm King, Arthur, and Lennox immediately began to experiment with the many ways to pass on or train their soldiers to learn skills. The greatest advantage that the world had in this timeline was Seeker Carlean. 

Lynd Indigo's Path was insufficient in trying to reverse engineer the Path of the Overcomers. But with Seeker, it was now possible. Seeker had met and treaded on the Paths of various Overcomers in their early forms. Apart from Meng, the Paths of Lioncourt, the Rai, Amir, and even the Paths of other Heroes now had a chance of being replicated. The Leviathan provided enough materials for the group to perform their studies. 

Realm became the priority. Seeker knew just how important Realm is in the upcoming battle. 

One of the many skills that Seeker was able to create that had the possibility of being learned by others was dubbed Realm Resistance. This skill required that the user has to be in the Inhuman stage. The user has to have a controlled cancerous body to have enough energy to perform it. 

Lander was the first to master it. He was among the few who could generate a Realm Resistance from nothing. But the science of the Unlocked had evolved several steps since they acquired the Leviathan. Many unfinished studies were now completed. 

Typical could produce powerful needles through his Path. And this Path was something that Meng had long studied. But because Typical's Unlocking was so high that he could die by maintaining it, research on that power didn't have much progress. 

But now, there was. Typical's cells had already evolved, and each cell was had mutated mitochondria that contained strong energy. And while Lander didn't have it, his cancerous body made up the quality of energy with quantity. And while they couldn't create needles, they could harness the energy that could materialize, aiding Realm Resistance. 

As Lander flew with great speed, a large cone-shaped Realm Resistance field appeared in front of him. And aiding that was the device that allowed Lander to solidify the Realm Resistance. The incoming bullets would 'slide' or veer off because of this cone-shaped field's solidified resistance. Lander's expression was growing paler as he tried to maintain the field as the incoming bullets' were causing great pressure on his body. 

"Ah! There it is! Using Neji's chakra rotation thingy, and observation Haki, Major, is able to move closer and finally start his massacre!" Gardo began to narrate like a professional commentator. 

And what followed was as Gardo commentated. As he wasn't worried about having to evade an army's worth of bullets, Lander began to shoot. 

As Lander was already deep within enemy lines, only a few soldiers could afford to shoot him. But Lander was still too fast and kept on shooting. 

Gardo, on the other hand, maintained a great distance and kept himself away from the range of the WGP commanders, but he kept shooting the soldiers. 

The number of soldiers that Lando was able to hit and disable grew rapidly. 

5...17... 26.. 32... 

When a platoon was disabled, Lando would then fly off to the next cluster of soldiers. 

"Break ranks!" The Commander ordered. 

The Commanders gave several orders, which allowed the group to move away and stop Lander's attack from continuing. 

"Soldiers! Keep yourself on constant motion but try to maintain formation! Do as practiced! I want- Erkk!" 

"Commander!" The nearby soldiers reacted as their Commander suddenly began to plummet from the flight that it was making. 

He was shot in the shoulder, and arm and another bullet struck a critical piece of its engine that weakened the suit's capability for flight. 

Gardo laughed and insulted the WGP for their weakness in being unable to protect their General. 

"Erm... Lieutenant...? Major just shot all Commander level Exoskeletons." Arclight, another member of Warfreakz reported. 

"He what?" Roselyn shouted. 

"Major! Please stick to the plan!" 

"Relax, Lieutenant! I just shot their feet. They can still command with their mouths, right?" Gardo laughed. 

Gardo only had a kill count of eight but kept on shooting from a distance. But at that moment, the number of his confirmed disabled soldiers rose to seventy as the bullets he fired several seconds ago finally struck their respective targets. 

"How many was it?" Gardo asked Lennox. 

"Five Birdies, two Eagles." 

"Ugh. I need to improve." Gardo sighed and complained at his inadequacy.