The Undying Mecha Emperor

We trooped to our usual training ground in a mass exodus from the cafeteria.

Five thousand kids, all of them in high spirits, laughing and joking all the way to class.

All except for me, Victor and Barrick.

Yes, Barrick.

I was four man short, and I figured Barrick was so fat that he would count as one and a half, so my deficit would become only three and a half.

Not much of an improvement, but still better than four.

We all arrived to cluster of sombre looking instructors.

Their heavy mood seemed to inject the atmosphere with depressants, and within seconds of arriving, the boisterous class fell completely silent.

Five thousand kids stood neatly in front of twenty five instructors.

The lead instructor standing in front of the small cluster of instructors was a massive, bearded monster of a man. He looked at least two and a half meters tall, and he probably weighed two hundred kilograms.

Black haired, yellow skinned, clad in black instructor tracksuit, he was a sight to behold.

His name was Instructor Titan.

"You are ten years old." Instructor Titan began. "Young. Very young."

He gestured at the group of instructors, and immediately, the instructors brought forward an adult bull and a cute little calf.

"This bull is a very strong specimen. It is an adult, in the prime of his life. In human years, it should be around thirty years old. It has a powerful charge, and is able to easily kill two grown men, or destroy a practice mecha."

We studied the bull carefully, anticipating all sorts of things with regard to the upcoming lesson.

MOOOOO!!!

The bull bellowed loudly.

We could feel its strength, and its anger at being held by strange devices.

Instructor Titan drew a small projectile gun and aimed it at the bull's head.

"What do you think would happen if I shoot this gun at its head?" Instructor Titan asked.

"It will die, Sir!" A brave little boy answered.

"Good! Let's see if its true." Instructor Titan said. He cocked his gun and...

BANG!!!

He fired the gun and shot the bull in its head.

It collapsed to the ground, dead.

I could literally hear five thousand throats swallow their salivas.

Heck, you probably did as well.

"It's dead." Instructor Titan said needlessly. And then he gestured for his team to bring the little calf forward to him.

Mooooo!!!

The little calf was not dumb. It saw its father die, and it was completely freaking out.

It struggled, and tried to resist being led forward, but it was too weak!

Moooo!! Moooooo!! Moooooooo!!

It screamed in fear.

A soft murmur rippled from the students as Instructor Titan raised his gun and pointed it at the little cow's head.

He cocked the gun.

Mooooo!! Mooooooo!!!

The little calf was hysterical by that time.

The murmur grew louder. Surely he wouldn't kill that cute little-

BANG!!!!!!!

Instructor Titan shot the calf in its head and killed it like he did its father.

Gasp!!

The crowd was shocked, and some girls even whimpered lightly.

"Remember this. In war, no one in the enemy camp gives a bleeding f*** how old you are. If the enemy gets the chance, he or she will slaughter you as surely as they would me.

Exactly like how I killed that strong bull and that helpless calf.

You think I care how old that calf was? You think my bullet cares? You think the enemy would stop you and ask you how old you are?

Wake the f*** up!!

You either kill the enemy, or the enemy kills you!

This is combat wisdom number one. Your f***ing age grants you no special treatment!

This is combat wisdom number two. The one with the gun kills the one without!

BANG BANG BANG BANG!!

Instructor Titan fired at the little calf's carcass to emphasize his point.

It was a very tense start to the day's lesson. In fact, thinking back, it was a miracle nobody vomited their breakfast out.

"Today's class is very simple.

There are thirty six thousand students in this academy. Thirty thousand across six years in the regular academy, and six thousand in the gifted program.

Your mission is to defend your mission objective, specifically that flag over there, capture the other six flags and bring them here.

The mechas you have here are selected completely at random, and so are the mechas that the other grades have.

The entire academy mountain range is your battle field.

This class will not end until we have a winner.

You may begin." Instructor Titan said tersely.

Tough lesson?

It sounded tough.

But going through it was a thousand times worse than it sounds!

There was no hesitation in us.

As soon as Instructor Titan finished his speech, our little group brought Sheera Lin and carried her to stand atop my shoulders.

"Listen to the strategist who brought us the victories against the second years in the ambush!" I bellowed.

A few groups started to jeer and tried to peel away to form their own group.

Some even tried to stand atop their friends' shoulders and do as we did.

We gave them no chance.

The Lins, Wangs, Longs and various other groups were in our faction, and we immediately took action to silence them.

In fact, we even took the drastic act of dragging them to where we were.

But it was not to beat them up, of course, but to quickly make them our much needed captains.

They who were vocal enough and irritating enough to go against us would make the best captains.

We removed their dissenting voices and acquired their strong personalities in one fell swoop.

"Time is short. Our enemies are many, and they are all stronger than us. We cannot wait here and let them come to us. We will bring the flag with us, and as one, we will attack the enemy bases and capture their flags! Sheera Lin instructed us calmly.

As expected of the Eternal General. She had immediately grasped the unspoken key to victory.

We were allowed to move the flags!