No one cheers after the battle ends.
Nobody celebrates.
Instead, the survivors stand frozen, staring at what remains of the battlefield. Bodies scattered. Weapons dropped. The ground scarred from desperate strikes. Smoke drifting slowly through the air like ghosts refusing to leave.
The recruits who survived look different now. Something invisible has changed inside them. Fear replaced by shock. Confidence replaced by awareness. They walked into this mission thinking survival depended on brav