Reborn as an SSS-Rank Guide in the Sentinel Academy [BL]

"dozens" rang out across the field, and for one second everything just stopped, like the whole world took a breath and forgot how to let it back out.

Then chaos. Sentinels scrambled to reform their lines, shouting orders over each other, some of them backing up on instinct, some of them charging forward without waiting for anybody to tell them to. Julian stood there at the top of the hill next to Reid, watching it all unfold below, and something old and familiar settled into his chest, cold and steady, the same feeling that used to show up right before a bad night on the wall.

’okay’ he thought. ’okay this is fine. this is just the wall again. bigger gate. same monsters nothing else.’

[Host’s heart rate has stabilized. Unusual response given circumstances]

’yeah well I’ve had practice or maybe not really’

Reid was already moving down the hill fast, shouting formation orders that Julian didn’t fully understand yet but could tell were solid, experienced, the kind of orders that came from somebody who’d done this a hundred times before. Jayden peeled off in a different direction entirely, cutting straight toward the breach itself, moving so fast he was barely more than a blur of motion.

"stay here," Reid barked back at Julian without even turning around. "behind the line. I mean it."

Julian didn’t answer, just watched him go, watched the whole field turn into a storm of fire and lightning and steel as the first wave of zombies staggered forward into range.

The Sentinels were strong. Julian could tell that much just watching them move, strikes that would’ve taken his old crew a dozen hits to land, done in one clean motion. But they were fighting these things like they were fighting anything else. Aiming for center mass. Going for quick kills instead of headshots. Backing off after a hit instead of finishing the job.

’what the fuck’ Julian thought, watching one Sentinel drive a blade clean through a zombie’s chest and step back like the fight was over. It wasn’t over. The zombie kept coming.

"headshots!" Julian screamed before he even thought about it, voice cutting across the noise of the battlefield. "aim for the head you idiot, center mass doesn’t work, it doesn’t stop them..."

A few heads turned his way, confused, some annoyed at the interruption, but nobody adjusted, too deep into the fight already to process a random voice yelling from the hill. The Sentinel who’d been stabbed-and-stepped-back paid for it half a second later when the zombie lunged forward and tore into his shoulder before two of his squadmates dragged him back out of range, screaming.

’those idiots don’t know anything’ Julian thought, chest tightening. ’they don’t know what these things are, they don’t know the rules, they’re gonna die not knowing the rules. I might just sit down and have fun instead’

[Host. Recommend immediate deployment of guiding ability to assist wounded Sentinel]

’What I was about to chill down and now what. I don’t even know how to use it in combat, I’ve never done this before...’

[Host has never used it in this world. Host has used similar instincts for three years]

Julian’s feet were moving before he finished deciding to move them, sprinting down the hill straight toward the chaos, ignoring every part of his brain screaming that Reid told him to stay put. The wounded Sentinel was down on the ground now, squadmates dragging him further back, blood pouring from his shoulder, face going pale and clammy in a way Julian recognized instantly, a way that meant something was already spreading through his system that had nothing to do with normal blood loss.

’that’s not just any wound’ Julian thought, dropping to his knees beside him, hands hovering over the injury on pure instinct. ’that’s a bite. that’s an infection starting.’

[Confirmed. Bite wound is introducing corruption into Sentinel’s system. Rapid spread detected]

"hey you fool," Julian said sharp, grabbing the Sentinel’s face, forcing his glassy eyes to focus. "hey, look at me, stay with me..."

The soldiers around him were shouting for a medic, for help, for anything, but none of them understood what Julian already understood down in his bones. This wasn’t a normal wound. This was the start of something that would end with this man turning into exactly what just bit him.

Julian closed his eyes, reached for that same feeling from the evaluation crystal, that door in his chest that cracked open once already today, and pushed everything he had straight into his hands.

Light spilled out from his palms, warm and steady, sinking into the wound, and the Sentinel underneath him gasped, back arching, eyes flying wide open.

For one second, it looked like it was working.

Then the Sentinel’s whole body seized, eyes rolling back, skin around the bite wound turning gray right in front of everyone, and Julian felt something push back against his light, something ancient and hungry fighting to keep its hold.

"ugh this thing... it’s fighting me," Julian gritted out, sweat breaking across his forehead, pouring more power into his hands. "it’s actually fighting me..."

And that’s when the ground behind him cracked open, and a voice that definitely wasn’t human let out a scream that froze every single person on that battlefield in place.