Animus

It was just one fight, but it changed Kaiden Jericho's life forever. A street kid trying to leave his gang behind, Kaiden is offered a chance at the elite Nexus Academy — an institution that trains the next generation of fighters, leaders, hackers, and spies for hire. Training happens through the Animus, a simulation so advanced that every death makes you closer to perfect. Kaiden would really rather skip the death part.

Kaiden Jericho has spent his whole life as a solo act — now he has to work with a partner. Who will he be paired with, and will that partner be able to handle him, ego and all? Meanwhile, Chief of Security Wulfson decides certain students deserve more intense extracurricular training — piling additional injuries on top of an already painful year. In the Animus, you are closer to perfection with each death you suffer. Kaiden would still rather skip the death part.

The final exam for Kaiden's freshman year is the deadliest test the Nexus Academy has ever devised — and it has been opened up for player-versus-player action, where even partners can gain skill points for stabbing each other in the back. Kaiden must grow up fast and lead a larger team to achieve a three-peat. The only problem: the test has been engineered to kill the players. What's a little blood between friends?

Kaiden Jericho has been working odd jobs since the first school year ended — but he is not as prepared as he thinks. Out in the jungles of the Amazon, he meets a new set of nightmares where death is permanent. Even with all his previous training in the Animus, surviving here is far from guaranteed.

Kaiden is taking another test alongside his friends — but something is wrong. Not everything is as it seems, and no one has found Gin Sonny yet. Gin is hunting those who got away and needs a new device to track them down. Will anyone realize that Gin has not left Earth? Will Kaiden understand what is different about this particular test? This time, the test has real-world consequences.

Gin Sonny is coming — and it is personal. No one sees his plans, which is what has made him one of the most successful killers Earth has produced. Now Kaiden will find out whether his friends, teachers, and support staff can stop the killer from leaving him brain-dead. Will Kaiden and Chief be able to hide when the Animus itself is the killing weapon? This is not a test of the student, but of everyone around him that he holds dear.

The third-year students are about to test themselves against the people who know them best — each other. Using a variation of Capture the Flag, Kaiden and his friends must form teams and battle head-to-head, and Kaiden must finally learn what it means to lead. Then a job offer arrives: help protect a business in San Diego, but he needs more team members. Will fellow students join him? And what happens if the teachers find out about it?

Chiyo's father's company is being targeted, and she is weighing her options — including asking Kaiden for help. On the other side is a dark enemy who wants her father's company and would not mind taking a bite out of Kaiden as well. With Chief more integrated but also more fragile due to his neural link with Kaiden, they will need extra support. Will academy training be enough to take on mercenaries with real-world experience?

Kaiden wants information — and a little payback. He has located an AO stronghold that may hold vital proof the ghost-like organization exists, but taking it requires far more support than he initially thought. He must call in every relationship he has — from Sasha and Wolfson to the gangs he grew up with, good and bad alike. This is not a game anymore.

The game is over. Now comes war. The AO has come out of hiding, and the Ark Academy is under attack — student against student, academy against academy, with no reset after dying. The future of humanity is on the line, and Kaiden still needs to pass his final year. Real life has arrived, up close and personal.

Kaiden and the rest of the academy students and faculty are working to take down the AO's greatest threat: the City-Killer, the most powerful warship on the planet. Will they be able to destroy the ship that forced them from their homes? If they do, what will be the cost?

Kaiden wants one thing: to end this with his hands around the throat of the man who killed his friend. The AO has pushed to the extreme, and now academy students are fighting to make a real difference. The final do-or-die engagements are here. Will Kaiden's friends win all the battles so they can push through to the enemy's last defenses?