Kai had scarcely stepped through the door when he heard heavy footsteps thundering down the stairs.

  "Kai!"

  His father came rushing toward him, looking very worried and incredulous. He looked like he had aged ten years within the hour.

  "What the hell did you do?" Elias cried, gripping Kai's shoulders while appraising the bruises and burnt skin. "I just got off the phone with the principal. You practically killed Jacob Igna!" Kai rolled back his aching shoulders and sighed.

  "Chill, old man. He had it coming."

  "Had it-?" Elias put a hand over his face. "Kai, do you have any idea what you just did? You just made an enemy out of the Fire Clan! They're connected with the government! This isn't merely about school; this is politics!"

  Kai scoffed and brushed past his father before dropping himself onto the couch. "Politics? Spare me. They've been stepping on us for too long already. I just shoved them back." His voice turned dark. "They'll never treat us like trash again."

  Elias sighed in anger and pinched his nose. "And what now? Do you think you're untouchable?" Kai said with a smirk, "I graduated, didn't I?"

  His father stared at him, horrified. "The principal acknowledged it," Kai explained, leaning back into the couch. "I'm officially done with school. Besides, I have my next move all planned- I'll be going for my Mercenary License."

  Elias sighed again, rubbing his temples and shaking his head in defiance. "You really have your mind set on this."

  "You're goddamn right," Kai said, smiling.

  For a moment, Elias just stood there, and then he did not say anything, moving towards the hallway closet. A moment later, he reemerged, holding a first-aid kit.

  "Sit up," Elias ordered.

  Kai blinked. "Huh?"

  His father threw him a scowling gaze. "You heard me. Sit up."

  Kai hesitantly complied with the orders.

  Elias knelt beside him, opening the kit and applying antiseptic with gentle strokes to Kai's burns and cuts. His motions were deliberate and practiced.

  Kai winced from the sting of the disinfectant.

  "You are reckless, just like your mother," said Elias with a sigh.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Kai blinked at the mention of her but remained silent. The two sat in silence while Elias tended to the bandaging of Kai's wounds. After a long pause, his father's voice drifted to him, softer this time. "Just... be careful, Kai. The world isn't as simple as you think."

  Kai smirked. "I never said it was."

  Kai found himself on the following day standing before the towering Mercenary Guild building. Unlike government institutions, the Guild held an unrefined, gritty feel about it. The people assembled around him were not the organized, disciplined types-they were mercenaries. Some raised cold, hardened gazes, while others bore a strong hint of a shady, dangerous aura.

  Almost a completely lawless organization.

  But he had no qualms about that. It's better than being government lapdogs. No one is watching him, and no one is giving him orders like he is some obedient dog.

  As Kai walked in, they were shown into the larger-than-life conference hall with all the other examinees.

  Entering was a large-bellied instructor with scarred arms and a missing eye. His deep voice rolled forth, silencing everything around him.

  And thus went the next hour in an extensive lecture on the various responsibilities of a mercenary. Contracts, levels of danger, and jurisdictional rules are the fundamentals.

  Then came the written test.

  Brief answers were all that mattered, no details. He flipped through the pages and completed his exam in a hurry.

  An hour later, they proceeded to the combat test.

  One by one, examinees entered a vast reinforced combat chamber.

  When, at last, Kai's name rang out, he ambled into the chamber and paused for a moment, taking in the stark and immaculate white walls, floors, and ceiling. Everything seemed spotless as if having been washed clean over and over again with the blood and carnage of thousands of such test sessions. Far across this vast chamber, a dull metallic sound resounded as a door began to rumble into existence.

  A voice savage and hoarse-not quite human, yet so terrifying, resounded from the door.

  Out came the Cyclops. The brute ambled forth with its one gigantic eye directed towards Kai. Muscles rippled, claws scraped along the ground, and the creature's foul breath was strong.

  Kai cracked his knuckles. Ten minutes to kill or ten minutes to survive. Just when the Cyclops was about to launch itself upon him, Kai disappeared.

  The monster hardly had time to react before...

  BAM!

  Kai appeared in midair and, with supersonic speed, threw a punch straight at the giant eye. The punch created a pressure wave that spread through the chamber.

  With a ghastly screech, the Cyclops's skull imploded. Brain matter sprayed onto the white walls, and the creature shuddered grotesquely before collapsing.

  The room fell silent.

  Kai blew the gore off his hand and turned towards the exit.

  "Next!"

  The test was over. He now had some days to wait for the official license.