The residents shuffled into position in their usual formation, and Kyle hurried to take his place in line as well.
At the very least, if he failed to achieve a breakthrough before the Breakout, he would still have the benefit of learning a martial art.
The short instructor stepped forward once again, his harsh voice cutting through the room.
"Systema is a Russian martial art. I must tell you plainly: it can be either useless or useful against mutated beasts or other entities. With a weapon in hand, it proves effective. Without one, it is worthless. Nevertheless, I shall teach you without a weapon, and I trust you are intelligent enough to improvise when ard.
"There are no fixed stances or katas in this discipline. What you will be taught are its principles, and there are four of them: breathing, relaxation, posture, and movent. Without these, you would survive only a few seconds in a real fight."
Orion gave a playful scoff, and muttered to Kyle without turning his head:
"Sounds like yoga to ."
Kyle glared at him, utterly confused by what he had just said.
’What’s yoga?’
He was ignorant of the word, as uneducated as he was.
Besides, education had long ceased to exist as a aningful concept since the fall of the world.
A few of the residents exchanged doubtful looks, while Na-Ri remained indifferent, her eyes carrying the faint suggestion that she already understood what was being explained.
Mr Vincent tapped his chest and spoke audibly:
"Breathing is first. Now lie down, all of you."
Without hesitation, they lowered themselves onto the ground while the instructor walked between them.
"When soone grips your throat, or when you are struck in the stomach, your breathing locks. That is panic. Panic kills faster than the blow."
He crouched beside one girl and pressed his palm lightly against her stomach.
"Breathe through the pressure, and do not resist it. Let the air move."
The girl tried, but after three successful breaths she faltered and shook.
The others inhaled unevenly as well, while Kyle and Orion hardly seed to attempt it.
Na-Ri, in contrast, remained almost flawless, though even she drifted at tis once the pressure beca heavier.
There were so of the residents who were forcing their breathing in short bursts, and their strain was evident.
The instructor shook his head at their attempts.
"Take it smoothly and calmly. Fear has no place in your chest. Try again."
After ten minutes, the rhythm began to settle across the room.
"Good. Now stand."
He made them tense their muscles, compressed fists and shoulders drawn tight.
Kyle was genuinely trying, but he continued to fail in mastering the breathing technique.
Orion and Na-Ri, however, after only a little effort, already seed to have grasped it and were beginning to move on to the next stage.
"Do you feel that? You think it makes you stronger. It does not. It makes you stiff, slow, and easy to break."
None of them quite understood the workings of this new martial art.
He instructed them to release the tension in waves, beginning from their shoulders, then down through their arms, and finally into their legs, until their bodies beca loose again.
***
After several hours of training, the residents were at last dismissed and allowed to return to the teenagers’ quarter.
On the way back, many of them grumbled about the difficulty of the breathing technique, while a few complained about the attack posture and strike, both of which brought nothing but pain upon pain.
Kyle, Orion, and Na-Ri ended up walking in an unplanned line.
The pretty boy seed intent on sticking close to them, while Na-Ri followed behind Kyle only because she had a question for him.
Kyle, however, was too preoccupied to notice.
His mind was already being pulled apart between the absurd requirents for a breakthrough and how he might manage them within the five days he had set for himself as a limit.
On top of that ca the looming expectation of the Breakout, and the question of what the settlent was truly preparing for, if they were preparing at all.
Everything around him remained calm, almost serene, as though no one else could see what was coming.
Upon taking a turn and entering the building, Na-Ri suddenly caught Kyle by the hand like a mother tugging a child and pulled him into a corner.
The pretty boy stood there watching for a mont, slightly baffled by the scene, before being dragged away by so of his own friends.
Kyle wrenched his hand free with a scowl and glared at her.
"Why the fuck would you drag off like that? A simple tap on the shoulder if you wanted to talk would have been better, damn it." he snapped, though careful not to raise his voice like so arrogant child.
The beautiful stranger only rolled her eyes.
Her tongue flicked across her lips as if the words were weighing heavily on her.
"There’s going to be a Trial Zone Breakout soon..." she said.
Kyle, who had been staring past her at an intricate wall drawing, turned back to her in shock.
’...How did she know?’
To be honest, he had never told her the full scribbled words of the dying man, so how could she already have an idea of what was about to happen?
If his mory served him right, she had shown little concern for the man’s final mutterings, certainly nothing that suggested she had drawn conclusions from them.
Shaking his head, he worked it out.
They had both been outside the gate before, and she must have picked up on the signatures then, only now confirming her suspicion.
With a low, deliberate tone, he answered without a shade of surprise:
"Yes, I know as well. But it seems your ’so safe’ settlent is doing nothing about it, because they can’t claim ignorance of the signs."
Na-Ri sighed, tilting her head, still composed as she replied:
"Surprisingly so. Which ans they’re either preparing for everyone here to die, or they see no point in letting us leave, since the beasts are migrating in heavy troops."
Kyle nodded in agreent, already gauging what her next so-called bright idea might be.
She seed clever enough to suggest sothing worthwhile, but the truth was there was no plan that could possibly see them through the coming doom.
They were trapped.
And a caged bird could neither withstand the wind strong enough to break its wings, nor reach for a key it could never hold.
"...Hahaha. So we’re all going to perish as a Trial Zone Breakout will occur here soon?" A familiar voice cut through the silence between them.
They turned to see Orion, and the grey-haired girl beside him clutching her horror-like teddy bear, both staring with bewildered faces.
’Oh, brilliant. More people knowing only ans more trouble for .’
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