*A few days had gone by since Dust’s meeting with Walter and Kurai. He was in an armored van with the members of Shadow Eye driving to the desolate city of Orion which was on the edge of the Hargus territory that was neutral. The city governed itself and didn’t belong to either Brister or Hargus. However, over the last month it had become a battlefield between the two sides as Hargus attacked the city unsuspectingly one day and Brister sent troops to fight back. As Dust and the others were in the van he started to remember the mission he and the others were given*
*Flashback begins*
*It’s the day after Dust’s meeting with Walter and Kurai. It’s the early morning at the Office of Internal Affairs and Shadow Eye is in a conference room with Morrison and Rika to hear what Dust has to report*
(Morrison): We have a new mission today which we’ll be working in cooperation with the Blue Dragon and Red Vermillion Order. Dust.
*Dust gets up from his seat and steps to the front of the conference table*
(Dust): So the information that our spies found in Hargus is a lot bigger than we originally thought.
(Ryuuji): Does this have anything to do with the battle going on in Orion?
(Dust): Yes. Turns out Hargus isn’t just trying to claim the city for themselves, but they’re using it to gear up for an invasion on Brister territory. Thankfully, the Blue Dragon Order has been keeping Hargus at bay and they’re getting ready to push them out of Orion with the help of the Red Vermillion Order. While those guys will be busy taking out Hargus, our mission will be to find and eliminate this man right here, Viktor Khaos.
*A picture of an elderly monkey demihuman with white hair and a beard along with brown eyes appears on the TV screen behind Dust. Dust moves to the side to make sure everyone gets a good view of Viktor*
(Dust): Renowned robotic engineer scientist, wanted in three kingdoms for treason and inhumane experimentation on humans and demihumans. He’s been on the run for years moving from kingdom to kingdom and now he’s working with Hargus, creating a new breed of soldiers for them to use. We have reports that he is there in the city to oversee the expansion of Hargus and will be unleashing the full force of his robotic army on our knights. However, here’s the real kicker, he’s a member of Blood Moon.
*This managed to get a surprise look from everyone in the room*
(Zia): He’s a part of Blood Moon? That’s ridiculous. He’s been speaking out against the group for years.
(Dust): Apparently, being on the run gave him a change of heart.
(Rika): We have reports from the field that members of Blood Moon have been spotted in the city and are working with Hargus. They’ve already attacked two of our bases in the city as well as a medical base. Thankfully, no injured civilians were harmed. However, there were a few causalities at both bases.
(Morrison): This is a very important mission on our hands that must succeed. We must capture and eliminate Viktor before any more casualties occur on both sides. I have already approved this mission and can assume there are no complaints from anyone?
*Nobody said a word*
(Morrison): Very good. You will all leave out first thing tomorrow morning to Orion. Until then, use this time to prepare yourselves for the mission at hand. Also, this is a direct order: you are all to return alive.
*The members of Shadow Eye stand up and salute Morrison*
(Shadow Eye): Yes sir!
*Flashback ends*
***
*Back in present time, the van has entered Orion and was closing in on the base of Brister. As gunfire and explosions could be heard off in the distance, Jin was quietly shaking in his seat doing his best not to look out the window. Ryuuji was sitting besided him and noticed how scared he was. Ryuuji reached over and put his hand on Jin’s shoulder*
(Jin): GAAH~!
*Jin was startled by Ryuuji’s hand and would have jumped out of his seat if not for the seatbelt. When Jin saw it was just Ryuuji’s hand he calmed down and regained his composure*
(Ryuuji): Sorry about that, Jin. I was checking to make sure you were okay.
(Jin): Yeah! I’m fine! I’m just focused on the mission.
*Jin begins to laugh nervously as Ryuuji gives him a comforting smile*
(Ryuuji): You’re scared, aren’t you?
(Jin): What!? No! Like I said I’m-
(Ryuuji): It’s okay.
(Jin): *Sigh* Yeah, I’m scared. Sorry, I just didn’t want to look weak in front of you guys and drag you down with my fears.
(Ryuuji): Jin, having fears and being scared doesn’t make you weak. It makes you human. Not facing your fears and running away makes you weak. During my first battle I spent most of it hiding in a trench. I only took out three or four enemy knights who were foolish enough to enter the trench and got caught off guard by my presence. One of the men I took down happened to a commanding officer.
(Jade): You took down a commanding officer?
(Ryuuji): I thought it was a damn Eclipse! Alright? I stopped myself from delivering the final blow. Got a long lecture for that.
(Morgan): Hmph. At least you took them down. I couldn’t bring myself to kill an enemy. I just disarmed them. Seconds later the guy kicked me in the groin and ran away laughing.
(Raika): On my first battlefield I accidently shot off a bullet and gave away our position. Served a good week scrubbing toilets, doing push-ups, and sleeping outside for that mistake.
(Sanada): I jumped the signal to charge and went in headfirst alone into enemy territory on my first battlefield. I was met with a rainstorm of arrows raining down on me.
*Everyone has a good laugh at Ryuuji, Morgan, Raika and Sanada. At first Jin was hesitant to laugh, but as he heard all the silly mistakes everyone made he couldn’t help but laugh at them*
(Dust): Hey, looks who’s smiling again? That’s more like it, rookie.
(Jin): Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh.
(Morgan): Don’t be. They were all foolish mistakes that could have gotten us killed.
(Jin): But I don’t get it. How can you guys just sit here and laugh off these scenarios?
(Sanada): For two reasons. One, in hindsight they were funny.
(Amarti): True.
(Raika): And two, because we were so scared, we forgot the most important thing about the battlefield, we’re not alone out there.
*This statement caught Jin off guard*
(Morgan): Everyone entering their first battlefield or any battle is scared, but what you need to remember is that you won’t be alone out there. You have others who are right beside you and will watch your back no matter what. Just be sure you do the same thing for them.
(Jin): Right.
*Jin gets a relaxed look on his face as the armored van enters the base and parks. Everyone exits the van. Once outside, Jin takes a look out at the desolate city seeing a puff of black smoke out in the distance. Ryuuji walks over to Jin and stands by him*
(Ryuuji): Still scared?
(Jin): Yeah. But. . .not as much as before.
*Ryuuji and Jin begin to walk towards the main building of the base that was once the city hall building of Orion with the others. As they walk towards the building they get spotted by Kurai who got finished talking to another knight*
(Kurai): Glad you guys could make it.
(Dust): Yeah, it’s actually not a bad place. Get a few people here, a nice bar and get rid of the Hargus soldiers. This be a nice tourist spot.
(Kurai): As fun as that sounds, I need you guys to get serious here.
(Dust): Right. What’s the situation?
(Kurai): Hargus has set up base near downtown. Our plan is to attack head on and push through to their main base.
(Morgan): That should provide us plenty of cover to perform our mission without much interference.
(Kurai): Don’t be so sure. Blood Moon has brought in a special unit to protect Dr. Khaos. They call themselves the Red Fang. Name ring a bell?
(Amarti): A few. I’ve heard the name a number of times. Nothing good I’m afraid. Three very dangerous demihumans who aren’t afraid to kill.
(Kurai): Make that four. They’ve got a fourth member helping them. A young dog demihuman. I say roughly younger than Jin. Took down a bunch of veteran knights single-handedly by himself. Used all sorts of crazy moves to beat them.
(Raika): Sounds like a talented fighter with lots of experience.
(Kurai): Definitely. Still, he’s a little strange. When the others planted a bomb at the medical base he stayed behind and protected the base by launching the bomb into the sky. He even apologized for letting this happen. How would you guys interpret that?
(Sanada): From the sounds of it he didn’t know he was attacking a medical base. I’m very interested in this demihuman. Do we have footage of him?
(Kurai): No. But I can introduce you to the knights he fought against. I can also show you footage and files on the other members of Red Fang. Just need to get clearance for that.
(Jin): Really? I thought a commander had access to that kind of information any time they want.
(Kurai): You’re half right. Except, I’m not a commander. That’s just a stand-in title. My official ranking is vice-commander and even than I’m not the highest ranking one.
(Jin): If you’re not the commander, then who is?
*All of a sudden, a man coming from the sky lands just outside the base of Brister getting everyone’s attention. The man was muscular with both of his hands taped and was a demihuman. He had brown faux hawk hair, green eyes and wore a red bandana with the Red Vermillion emblem on it along with goggles. His clothes consisted of an open green vest showing his chest and abs, black gi pants and black boots. However, his most defining feature was the green astral wings on his back which slowly disappeared after he landed*
(Zia): That would be the man right there, Arslan Geraint. Nicknamed the Sky King.
*Arslan entered the base and quickly took notice of Shadow Eye. He smiled and waved as he came over to greet them*
(Arslan): Oi, it’s good to see you guys again. I heard you were on your way.
*Arslan then takes notice of Jin*
(Arslan): Oh, you must be the new guy. Kurai told me about you. Sorry for the late introduction, I’m Arslan Geraint. Commander and chief of the Red Vermillion Order. Nice to meet ya.
(Jin): I’m Jin Hephaestus. It’s an honor to meet you, Sir Arslan.
*Jin and Arslan shake hands*
(Arslan): No need to be so stiff, son. Just call me Arslan. I was never a big fan of titles.
(Jade): Doing a quick reconnaissance of the city? How’s it looking?
(Arslan): It’s bad. But, it’s nothing we can’t push through. We’ll be sure to keep them busy while you perform your mission.
(Amarti): Speaking of the mission, we were hoping to see the files you had on the Red Fangs.
(Arslan): Sure, let’s head inside and I’ll show you what we got.
*Shadow Eye and Kurai follow Arslan inside the city hall building*
***
*A half hour later, Shadow Eye has all the information they need on the Red Fangs and met with Commander Emilia Barwin, the leader of this operation. She was a dark elf with braided red hair and green eyes. She showed them a map of the possible locations of where Dr. Khaos could be hiding and showed them the route they would take to begin their mission. After a quick briefing with the rest of the army it was time to head out and the troops were ready*
(Morgan): Alright, we’ll cut through this building to get to the roofs and make our way towards the back streets where we’re split up and start searching for Dr. Khaos. Me, Jade, Sanada and Raika will form one team. Dust, Ryuuji, Amarti, Zia and Jin will form another team. Let’s just hope they assigned someone good enough to clear a path for us to sneak by.
(Ryuuji): Don’t think that’s going to be a problem.
*Ryuuji points to the leader of the unit set to clear the path for them. The man was a rather short dog demihuman who had a bulky body despite his size. He was bald with a light black beard. He had taped hands wore black trunks and a black shirt with a bulletproof vest over his shirt. His face looked like that of an angry bulldog*
(Ryuuji): Tomo! It’s been a while, Tomo. You’re looking good as ever. I’m glad to know you’re clearing the path for us.
(Jin): Woah. Is that Tomo Ashton? The Steel Bulldog?
(Raika): You’ve heard of him?
(Jin): Of course. He’s only like one of the toughest old school knights around. They say he headbutted a house and knocked it down.
(Morgan): *Chuckles* It’s good to see his stories still talked about at the academy.
(Jin): You knew him?
(Morgan): He graduated in the same class as Ryuuji. His fights against Ryuuji are still regarded as being some of the best hard-hitting fights of all time. He’s one of the few people who can match Ryuuji blow for blow.
*Tomo takes a glance over at the members of Shadow Eye where he focuses on Jin. He stares directly at Jin scaring him a little bit*
(Ryuuji): Oh don’t worry about him, Tomo. He’s a new member of the order. He’s a good kid.
(Jin): Uh. . .hi. I’m Jin Hephaestus. It’s an honor to meet the Steel Bulldog in person.
*Jin extends his hand for a handshake, but Tomo just lightly punches him on the shoulder. Jin grabs his shoulder flinching in pain. Tomo chuckles and walks off to get ready for the charge*
(Jin): What was that all about?
(Ryuuji): He likes you. Tomo’s not a man of many words. He’s a man of many actions.
*Everyone gets into position for the charge. Within seconds, Emilia shoots off a flare into the sky signaling the knights of Brister to charge. The knights of Brister charge forward into the city running into the blockades and soldiers of Hargus. Both sides begin to have casualties, but Brister is pushing through the blockades of Hargus. One blockade in particular was receiving some rather disturbing news*
(Hargus soldier): Captain! Blockade on Seventh street has been broken through.
(Hargus captain): Already!? Shit! Those Brister bastards are moving faster than we expected. Prepare a defensive line! They’ll be here short-
*The Hargus captain was cut off by a loud blast that was close to the blockade. The captain and the soldiers look down the road and see a large puff of smoke fill the streets. Appearing from the smoke is Tomo only his body is completely made of steel*
(Hargus soldier): What the hell is that!? It just broke through our line of defense.
*Tomo gets into a running position and then takes off towards the blockade*
(Hargus captain): Whatever it is shoot him! Shoot him! Shoot him!
*The soldiers and the captain begin firing bullets and magic at Tomo which have no effect on him. Not even the blast of a cannonball slows him down. When Tomo finally reaches the blockade he runs through it with a shoulder tackle shocking all the soldiers of Hargus as debris from the blockade go flying through the air and knights of Brister come charging in to fight. In a building not too far from the blockade, Shadow Eye was making their way to the roof to get to the next building. They make it to the roof of the building and hop over to the next building where they make their way to the bottom and out the backdoor to an alleyway*
(Morgan): Alright. So far so good. We take this alleyway, turn left and we should be two blocks away from the intersection where we’ll split up.
*The group walks down the alleyway and takes a left back onto the streets where they can hear fighting going on behind them but ignore it. They turn right down the next intersection and come face to face with soldiers of Hargus as they find themselves in a Hargus base*
(Morgan): That’s odd. Reconnaissance said there was no base here.
*Hargus soldiers quickly point their guns and weapons at the group*
***
*Back in the capital of Brister in the Office of Internal Affairs, Morrison is out on a balcony overlooking the city with Rika by his side*
(Rika): I’m sure by now our knights are fighting against Hargus. I just hope the others are alright. Especially, Jin.
(Morrison): I wouldn’t worry too much about them or Jin. He couldn’t be in safer hands.
(Rika): You seem pretty confident in their abilities to stay alive, sir.
(Morrison): Tell me Rika, if you had a baseball bat and lived in a glass house would you blindly start swinging the bat around?
(Rika): No. That would be reckless and stupid. I would simply go outside and swing the bat profusely.
(Morrison): Exactly. This same logic can apply to Shadow Eye. For them this kingdom is like a glass house. They have to be careful and restrain themselves otherwise they could break everything and everyone around them. However, once they step out of the kingdom they no longer need to restrain themselves. And now, they’re on a battlefield filled with enemies hoping to kill them. What we have here is a rare opportunity for them to go all out.
***
*Back in the city of Orion the Hargus soldiers were laid out in the street with some knocked out, bleeding, slash marks all over their bodies and barely conscious. The base was completely destroyed and set on fire with pillars of ice rising from the ground, craters on the ground and buildings, and radio equipment destroyed. Shadow Eye was standing triumphantly over their victory as Jin stood visibly shaken by what he witnessed. One minute ago he and the others were staring down guns and other weapons pointed at them. One minute later the base was in ruins and all their enemies were taken down*
(Jin): *Inner monologue* Mom. Dad. I entered the battlefield for the first time today. I was quickly reminded of just how dangerous and powerful the members of my order are.
*Little did the group know that on the roof of one of the buildings, Gael was watching them from above and was amazed at what he saw as well*
Author’s Notes: And thus we entered the battlefield and open the curtain on the last arc for this volume. Nothing much to say about this chapter. It’s a pretty straightforward chapter. My favorite part was seeing the group comforting Jin in the van. He’s a young man about to go into his first battle and he’s rightfully scared as would anyone be in his situation, so seeing him get comforted by the other knights who have been in battle and them sharing stories of their blunders was enjoyable to be. It also gives you a small insight into their past and let’s you know that they were just like Jin in a way when they first became knights. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and the small build up because next chapter we’re stepping on the gas and delivering some hard hitting action all the way till the end. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.