- The Heroes room, inside the castle –

- Around 6 am -

Kurogane opened up his eyes after sleeping soundly in his room, the sunlight went inside through the window is fairly bright. He got out of bed with a huge yawn, rubbed his eyes and walked toward the window. As he was scratching his head and fixing his bed hair, he was astonished at the sunrise. The castle is also lively in the morning, the maids were watering the plants and cleaning up the courtyard, and the guards were jogging and chatting while several of the Knights are heading somewhere, he thought they would probably go to the cafeteria to eat breakfast.

In the meantime, he noticed that Jaeger was in the Garden, practising his martial arts. From afar, he could see he was doing some punches, kicks, and several techniques that he rarely sees. Some of the guards were also looking at Jaeger and were guided by him in basic martial arts

"tch, showoff" Kurogane peevishly muttered, he then dressed up with the given armour by the king before he slept last night and headed to the dining room for breakfast.

- The knight's 'cauldron of determination' Colosseum, the city of Apostysa, Nelimista Kingdom -

- Around 10 am –

The Colosseum is crowded as the issue of the duel was spreading fast enough throughout the city. From nobles to commoners were present, excited about the event. At the lounge, both participants were present and were briefed by one of the Generals about the rule of the duel. It was a fairly simple rule, the ones that were knocked out, disarmed or in a checkmate situation are the ones that lost. They are permitted to use any magic since the arena is protected by a fairly strong barrier but are not allowed to cause vital part injuries. As the briefing ended, they were given a wooden Long sword each and were guided to each end of the colosseum ground entrance.

The announcer started speaking, and the roar of the audience filled with excitement. The steel gates of both ends of the arena open as the announcer mentioned Jaeger and Siegmund's names. The Knight captain enters gallantly while Jaeger gave out his cold-blooded aura as he enters, his attire is the same, with his cloak covering half of his body. They stopped in the middle of the Colosseum arena, facing each other. They bowed to the king that was present there, at the royal family podium. Murmurs start spreading since most of the commoners see both heroes' images as more gallant and virtuous, instead of looking like an assassin.

"Looking sharp Captain, you seemed prepared. Brought some diapers in case?" the mercenary has smug and winked. The Knight gritted in irritation, but he remained composed

"I shall take that as a compliment, and I will defeat you to fix that atrocious behaviour"

The announcer exclaimed the same rule that they were briefed earlier and moved away from them. One of the knights fully armoured became a referee and ordered them to take several steps away from each other. As they were in position, the referee unsheathed his sword and raised it, the Captain also draws out his given wooden sword and took a stance.

"both parties prepared?" he looked at both participants that are in a stance. the crowd went silent, tensions starts rising.

"Begin!!" the referee swung down his sword, and the captain started chanting.

"O' light, bestow upon thee a bless-" a cloud of dust suddenly piles up in a streak line as he hasn't finished chanting. The pressure of the wind is so strong that the audience was taken aback by it. as the dust cleared up, the crowd was ultimately surprised. The infamous knight captain that was known for his speed was beaten. His wooden sword punctured the ground, his body is also taken aback, trembling with his mouth agape. On the other has his sword point-blank on the throat of the knight, he was holding it backwards like a knife and his stance is very low to the ground. but in Jaeger's eyes, everything happened in a millisecond, his biological enhancement and equipment turned the duel to his favour. The Three-Dimensional thrusters and exoskeleton also helped him manoeuvre, Disarming, and slashing his sword at a point-blank range in mere seconds.

"guess you're just all talk" the mercenary stood down, unsheathed his sword, staring down at the Knight captain that fell to his knees in disbelief.

"C-captain Siegmund has lost!"

The nobles were shouting for a rematch in disbelief while the commoners just watched in awe. Kurogane, who is also present at one of the VIP balconies, was also taken by surprise by the short duel. The unprecedented speed and the accuracy of the swordplay are just multiple times higher than him. He shrugs it off and ran out from the seat, and heads towards the arena entrance.

"Your Majesty! I advise a rematch of our duel, your nobles are still quite unsatisfied" the brown cloaked man exclaimed. The nobles shouted in agreement, they were furious at how the duel ended unfavourably for them.

"But, I'll have one simple request!" he cleared his throat

"Tell the truth about this war against the so-called demon! I don't find them hostile at all!" The crowd started to be confused and were enraged, as they know how many cities and villages were burned down from the news that spread.

"How unruly! Demons are not hostile?! Are you even sane!" one of the nobles shouted. Long before, Jaeger noticed among the crowd there was a familiar white cloak that he met last night, the person's head look like it is scanning the colosseum from up to down from his seat looking for someone.

"I am sane! I've met a couple of them! If they were hostile to humans, I should have already died last night!!"

"ENOUGH!" the king shouted and stood up, the whole place went silent.

"Head Priest! Bring out the prisoner! We will show this disrespectful hero how disgraceful the demons are!" Jaeger was taken aback, the king's personality turned 180 degrees unexpectedly. But as the Priest was going backstage, Kurogane enters the arena from one of the gates.

"Sir Hiroshi, may you explain why you are inside the arena?"

"apologies your majesty, but could you halt your priest for a bit, last night I requested a duel Wolfenford after his duel with captain Siegmund, may I have your permission?" the king sighed.

"very well then, proceed. But this time, I would like you to use real swords" the well-equipped boy had a slight smirk. He then unsheathed his sword from his back, the same that he summoned yesterday. The crowd was awestruck by the presence of the sword. The referee then gives a go signal for their duel.

"It is my intention." Kurogane went into his fighting stance that he learned from his hometown. staring murderously at Jaeger.

"the holy sword Excalibur will bring judgement for the Kingdom!" the crowd cheered for Kurogane that is wielding a legendary sword with pride while Jaeger had a little laugh.

"dude... come up with a better name for that, What are you? an 8th grader? Oh wait, you are!" the boy became slightly irritated

"shut up! It was named by the court mages! Not my fault the name is cliche!"

Jaeger was quickly handed by the guard a mass-produced sword, Kurogane was so eager to attack him that he rushed to the cloaked man. As Jaeger already had a grip on the sword, he quickly evades while causing dust in his wake while the guard was pushed away, saving him from the slash that cut the ground and rocked it. The fully armoured hero has a grin on his face as the battle gets interesting. He then rushed again towards Jaeger, trying to get a strike on the mercenary. Nonetheless, Jaeger kept on dodging and parrying the attacks. Although, Kurogane's attacks are rapidly increasing. The mercenary gritted his teeth, seeing the inexperienced boy swing his sword ruthlessly and in disarray at him.

"you can't rely on that jet of yours! I'm faster!"

"and what? Not relying on it to get killed?"

At a certain moment, the sword that Jaeger was handed was sliced by his enemy's sword, he then put his thrusters into the afterburner and rocketed to the other side of the arena as his head was millimetres away from being sliced into two. As he came to a stop and cooled down the thrusters, Ofnir instinctively pops out some sort of metallic hilts from the underside of one of the thrusters, it has red lines engraved along the hilts as a border between the material and it has a sort of rubber as its grip, he told Jaeger to use the energy sword as it was scanning an abnormal amount of energy coming out from Kurogane's great sword that is sufficient enough to handle the heat of the daggers Jaeger usually use. He then pulled out the Hilts and ignited the thing, a material came out and made a shape of a blade, the material also emitting blue lights as the superheated photons coated the material. The audience was taken by surprise by the sword Jaeger is wielding and the Priest was in sort of disbelief. Jaeger saw an opening and rocketed towards Kurogane, but his slash was blocked. Kurogane's vision has exponentially improved as he was already applied a body enhancement spell beforehand.

"what the heck? That sword is so science fiction!"

"because it is dumbass"

They then continue their clash, blow by blow, slashing, parrying, and dodging each other attacks but to avail. Kurogane's speed nearly matched Jaeger's rapid reactions, and thus as Jaeger's endurance is a lot higher, he finally could push the boy back. Kurogane's attacks which are already hectic, became more chaotic and uncontrolled, including his magic. And thus, one of the ice lances from his magic went off course and headed to the audience's seat, it was blocked by a barrier, but the power was so immense that it shatters the barrier, rendering it inoperable to shield the crowd. The Ice lance punctured the structure of the colosseum and the crowd scrambled frantically to safety as it crumbles down. Most of the Royalties were shocked by the incident that was happening in front of them and fled from their seats, fearing another stray attack.

"Kurogane! stop! Your magic is causing collateral damage!"

"Shut up! I won't stop until you apologize!"

"This f**king kid!"

Jaeger had enough of playing, he let go of his 1st limiter and skilfully landed a blow to Kurogane's wrist, slicing it off. The boy was also kicked by the mercenary and was sent flying, crashing down to the ground, and bouncing in a straight line then stopped due to crashing into the wall of the arena. As Kurogane shook his head, regaining his awareness from the impact, he shrieked in horror and vomited blood as he saw his dominant hand, the left one, was cut off cleanly and was lying near Jaeger along with the great sword that has his hand still gripping onto it. Jaeger then carry the boy's arm and threw it at the ground near him. Kurogane frantically uses Healing magic, reattaching his arm. Jaeger didn't give the boy any rest, he grabbed Kurogane's collar and pulled a punch towards the boy's abdomen, and since his fingers were layered with the exoskeleton's frame, it could bend the armour of the boy wears. He then lifts Kurogane while strangling him, showing the chaotic view around them.

"look at this mess! What are you going to do to the people that died because of your incompetence!"

"I-I... I didn't mean to..."

"This is reality kid! this is what will happen when you bring emotions to battle and fight without any clear thoughts! Your so-called magic is uncontrollable with your current self, and you wanted to prove yourself?! Don't f**k with me!" Jaeger then slammed Kurogane to the ground, causing him to vomit more blood. Kurogane shivers as he looked at Jaeger's cold crimson eyes.

"so... you were... holding....back...ugh..."

"I am, and I had enough. this Kingdom requested a vague mission, expecting us to win. While I also have this naïve partner that could only swing his sword like an idiot, relying too much upon his blessing from the so-called goddess that can't even fix this type of mess" Jaeger turned to the King that is still at the Royalty's balcony and pointed his sword at him as Kurogane lost his consciousness as the fatigue and pain were too much for him to handle.

"Apologies your majesty, I will harshly decline your request. your reason for this war is unclear. I'll take my leave" The king applaud and laughed, his laughter echoed the stadium.

"I see you have made a resolve, but before you leave..."

The gates opened and a wheeled stage was pushed by several guards. A female with long blue hair that was tattered while in a weak condition was restrained with wooden handcuffs, along with a leash on her neck. She was on her knees, looking down. The Priest was escorted by two guards, following the moving stage. He then went upstage and looked down at the girl, disgusted at her appearance.

"sir hero! Take a clear look!" the priest exclaimed as he pulled her white gradient blue hair. Jaeger was shaken up, seeing the familiar face that he saw last night. Her emerald eyes were dropping tears, fearing her life.

"look at this horrendous creature! They tried imitating us! Trying to rule over our people! Her unsightly eyes charm humans in order to be her slave! Do you still think they're even worth living?"

"I'm.... innocent....let me go" the priest was disgusted and hit her with his staff.

"silence wench! don't you dare open your disgraceful mouth!"

"Aurora!" a cloaked man jumped down from the audience seat to the arena, his hood was taken off, revealing his grey hair along with his anthromorphed wolf ears, his jaws were extended, snarling while having a death glare towards the priest.

"My! Just look at him, sir hero! We have a finer example of how hideous these beasts are! We are to fight back these disgraceful demons that invade our land!"

"Don't trust them Jaeger! They launched an assault on our kingdom in the southern region and called us demons! And demons didn't even lay ruins to our kingdom or even exist!"

"nonsense! There is no kingdom in the southern cape!" Jaeger then went towards the priest upstage, the 'holy' person was grinning in victory. Conrad that felt betrayed was ready to rush and save Aurora but was taken by surprise when Jaeger suddenly slash off the priest's left leg. The Priest shrieked in pain as the blood came out like a stream.

"I told you, I have no reason to fight for your kingdom, your actions are based on prejudice. Also, I'll be taking the girl." He then cut off the lock of the handcuffs, opened it and carry aurora.

"man, you look so beaten up, wanna go home?" the girl started wailing and wrapped her arms around Jager's neck as she was relieved to be freed from the torturous hell she have went through. He then went to Conrad's side and told him that he wanted to meet their king.

"hey, you could stand?" Jaeger asked the girl he was carrying. She then checked her legs by moving them and nodded. He then set her down and turned around to see that the priest was able to seal the bleeding.

"Yo old man! Looks like you still have the power to stand! Want me to help with your funeral?"

"Silence! Dead man's words hold no meaning! Knights! Kill the intruder, the prisoner, and the treacherous hero! Don't let them escape" shouted the Priest enraged. nearly half of the knights that were present there came out from the opened arena gate, they quickly encircled the trio at the edge of the colosseum arena wall.

"Ofnir sent out Valiant for our extraction and rain them hell"

"Valiant is already en route, arriving ETA 20 seconds"

"guess you already predicted it huh?"

"My simulation ended up showing you'll always end being surrounded, I had to take precautions"

"well-played buddy"

Just as the knights were about to strike, the advanced fighter jet unveil its optical camouflage, flying by above the colosseum, with its shriek from its engine roaring in the skies of the kingdom. The knights were staggered and panicked as they had never seen such a thing before.

"What was that? It couldn't be a dragon!" one of the Knights panicked.

"there's no way it is a dragon! It doesn't give out any Mana signatures!"

The fighter then returned and hovered right above the edge of the colosseum structure, opening its weapons bay, revealing its missiles and rotary cannons, firing a warning burst of bullets. The knights that were terrified tried to shoot it down with their magic, from Ice lances, fireballs, to lightning strikes and even massive rocks that were thrown at it, but Valiant was unscathed as it was quite heavily armoured and nimble, additionally, it shot most of the earth type magic attacks that were threatening for the airframe. The fighter then unhesitantly fired a burst of its rotary cannon towards the knights, and they were shredded by the 35mm incendiary bullet that was fired at a high rate of fire. The aftermath was very gruesome, nearly all of the knights that were surrounding Jaeger were either dismembered or in pieces while the surviving ones that chanted barrier magic shivered at the superior firepower.

"attention Knights, stand down and allow through the people inside the encirclement or I'll annihilate everything. I repeat All knights stand down and let them go" Ofnir was using the built-in speakers inside the fighter to speak out the ultimatum. The surviving knights understood and let them pass, Valiant then opened up its landing gear and landed inside the arena, opening its cockpit.

"Alright you two, hop in" Aurora, even though completely battered, was glimmering in interest at the otherworldly sight that landed in front of them

"What is this thing? it could fly with this kind of structure? Tell me, Jaeger!" Aurora had her smile so bright and so close to Jaeger's face that it made him flustered as he can't look anywhere at the girl.

"Alright! alright! Just hop in and I'll tell you in the way, the second seater is enough for two people" the fighter jet then popped out a ladder from its side. Jaeger then climbed to the pilot seat and wore the helmet that was left out when he go teleported while the two sat in the RIO seat, Aurora was sitting on Conrad's lap, so it won't take up space. The cockpit then closed, and the jet hovers away while activating its optical camo. Rocketed away from the kingdom's airspace.

Meanwhile, the king that is still present where the scene unfolds, smiles.

"I've done my part Flora, August... now it's up to your son, I'll clean my mess back here" The king then headed back towards the castle while ordering the royal guards to help the injured knights.

Back to the trio, and As they reached a certain altitude, Jaeger set the speed to cruising mode around 700kmph, and nevertheless, both Conrad and Aurora were astonished by the view, flying high above the clouds that nobody even reaches with their current knowledge. The mercenary chuckles as the siblings are overwhelmed by the joy of flying.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Haha, the view is fairly common to the people in my world as they buy tickets to fly towards another country, impressive innit?"

"So this armed flying carriage were spread out to the people? Amazing!" said aurora in excitement

"Uhh... this one is for military use, it's not for anyone. Also, I'm moving this in a bearable way for normal humans"

"What did you mean bearable?" the excited girl tilted her head in perplexity.

Jaeger smirked, yanking the control stick right, doing a 180 roll and dived down. The fighter then made combat manoeuvres like loops, Immelmann turn, kulbit and dived down towards a valley to do low flying at supersonic speeds. The siblings were screaming in panic due to the dangerous flying that Jaeger do. The reckless pilot finally stabilized the plane back at the same altitude before he fly dangerously while laughing in excitement since the IFA-27 is faster and nimbler compared to the JAS 39 Gripen or even the F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft that he was assigned to back at Grunner Defence. But as he look at the back seat, he saw Conrad is holding his nausea and had a headache while Aurora has experienced G-LOC (Gravitational Loss of Consciousness) or other words, she passed out because of the extreme manoeuvres that Jaeger did.

"well, that is just half of the manoeuvring capabilities of this aircraft, I wasn't going all out yet"

"that was not even its full potential?! ughh... please don't... just fly in a normal way..."

"Ahahaha! Okay then! Since I'm saving fuel and all, I don't want to push this fighter too much. anyway, just get some lights out, we'll arrive there in 2 hours"

"alright...."

Ofnir then set the autopilot on as Conrad sleeps in the back seat, Valiant's engine screeches down calmly, continuing their journey in peace. Meanwhile, back at the Apostysa, Kurogane finally regained his consciousness after being knocked out by Jaeger at the arena. His wake is fairly abrupt, alongside a scream and violent movements.

"Sir! Calm down! The duel is over!" the Healer beside him holds him down, along with several other people that are most likely the nurses. The fear and desperation on Kurogane's face were making the atmosphere feel grim.

"I'm... alive.... Haha...."

"You fell unconscious when Sir Wolfenford slammed your body to the ground, several of the knights were also experiencing slight trauma earlier"

"Wolfenford..." As Kuro wanted to sit up, he was smacked by the hooded healer and shouted at the person. the healer sighed and opened her hood, revealing herself while scratching her head behind, also untangling her red twin-tail hair.

"is it just me or do important people here tend to wear hoods for some reason" Kurogane silently thought

"Look here, you're being a drag you know? I have some research to do, and you came to the infirmary while being carried unconsciously by the beaten-up knights and a crying princess. Jaeger nearly devastated all of your bones, joints and several organs were either fractured, unfunctional, or letting out massive bleeding. Basically, you're on the verge of dying" Kuro went silent as he has another dreaded look. The girl ordered the nurses to leave them alone, they complied instantly.

"haha... I guess... he is that strong..."

"Good grief, fighting someone while having no experience in battle, You should've gained some experience on dungeons first, and try checking someone's status panel before acting, I told you that yesterday evening right? dumb hero"

"that's just it... He doesn't have any status or level whatsoever. Also, stop calling me dumb, Court Mage Florentina" the girl has her hands rubbing her chin, theorizing about what the injured hero said. Florentina is a court mage of the Kingdom, her appearance is of a 14-year-old teenager but she's actually nearing her 20s, striking bright red eyes with her bangs slightly covering her left eye. She met Kurogane when Jaeger is still at the library, meeting the young boy that accidentally crashed into her in the hall.

"strange, it only would happen if he came here from the skies"

"what do you mean?" The girl reached out to her book in her sling bag and opened a certain page.

"I took notes on the record where a certain Knight asked for God's help as he was surrounded by S ranks monsters that went into a rampage, like Fenrir and Manticore. The Goddess Eos came down and made her first appearance with a brimming light that shone across the skies, but as he tried to check on her status, he can't even see her status, as if it never existed. The man was terrified and instantly bowed to her as she annihilated a hoard of S rank monsters singlehandedly. It was also the born of our religion towards the goddess of light, Eos. The knight and his retainers were also known as the founder of this kingdom" Florentina closed her book while putting it back in her bag and hummed.

"the other hero also came from the summoning magic circle, but how come he didn't have any status?... this needs further research on him but, it is futile anyway"

"Futile?" the girl crossed her arms and sighed in frustration.

"that bastard, not only did he leave the kingdom, he also caused panic as he ride a weird metallic carriage that let out a screeching that would cause ear damage and it also flies! The king is trying to calm down the citizens of the capital and the terrified nobles as the defeat of the knight captain were very shocking to them" Kuro has nothing to say. although he was a bit upset that he lost to Jaeger, he was more upset that the man that was summoned with him, left the kingdom. Deep down, he admires Jaeger as he has bravery and was right about everything he said. Suddenly, the door burst open as princess Lunamaria came rushing in and hugged Kuro tightly.

"Sir Kurogane! Thank god you're alive!"

"y-your highness, I-I can't breathe!" although, it was a reason for him to not feel her chest and have crude thoughts about the princess. But the court mage that was still present smirked as she saw something rising.

"My, a young boy is very happy down there, care to tell us what is inside your head currently?" she grinned while pointing to Kuro's lower part that is hidden in the blanket and the Princess flushed as she saw 'it'.

"This darn short auntie..." Florentina had her eye twitched and smacked Kuro's head.

"shut up! It's not like I wanted this small body! Also, I'm not that old!"

"but still, you're a short- OW!"

"learn some manners youngster!"

"you admitted that you're old?"

"NO!" as she pouted, the King came in, his deep voice was very recognizable to them, and they instantly fixed their manner.

"Haha, It's fine, I came here to visit our dear hero and his valiant effort to win the duel." Instead of feeling honoured, Kuro could only feel shame as his effort is just gutless and unthoughtful. The damage he caused and the lives he accidentally took gave him bad memories.

"I... don't deserve to be praised, Your Majesty"

"why is that young lad?"

"My reckless fighting caused harm to the people that were present..."

"you didn't do anything wrong, you're fighting him to the fullest. Speaking of sir Wolfenford, I came with a piece of terrible news" both Kuro and the princess looked at each other with concern and back towards the King.

"what is it, your majesty?" the King cleared his throat and looked at Kuro sternly.

"The Church of light has declared Wolfenford as a felon for the assassination attempt towards the head priest and cooperated with the infiltrating demon for releasing a prisoner. As this Kingdom's leader, I hereby declare for you, Sir Hero Hiroshi Kurogane, to hunt down the traitor. That's all..." both the Princess and Kuro were speechless.

"Wolfenford... did what...?"

"I was there myself, the aforementioned man pointed his sword at me as you lost your consciousness, declaring that he has no intentions of helping humanity. I hope you could defeat the demon army and subdue the hero, such a shame that he defected..." the king is disappointed, as he was hoping that Wolfenford would cooperate with him. He then permitted himself to leave as he was going to an urgent meeting. The room became quiet and gloomy for Lunamaria and Kurogane but seeing them depressed irritates Florentina.

"Hey, idiot hero, why don't you go train your swordsmanship? Your current skills are very lacking, even normal infantrymen with swordsman level 3 could win against you if you don't use any magic" the Princess was slightly angered at the Mage's choice of words.

"Florentina! aren't you being far too rude towards Sir Kurogane?" Florentina was slightly irritated at Lunamaria, crossing her arms even though she was in front of the Princess herself

"I'm being real here your highness, he blatantly asks for a duel against a man that has the highest rank held by a young man in our military history while having numerous battle experiences of another world's warfare, who knows what hell that was given to him. Unlike our dumb hero here, that probably lived as a civilian. He's definitely an idiot for doing that"

"but-" the princess was interrupted by Kuro that held her hand while shaking his head, he then slowly sat up while sighing.

"Your Highness, Miss Florentina was right, I was downright idiotic for challenging a soldier from my world, they have harsher training than knights that would push our bodies to the limit. Plus, Wolfenford isn't a normal soldier either, I never saw his equipment anywhere, I do believe he's part of a secretive organisation or whatnot." The young hero then looked out at the window on his left, seeing the beautiful natural scenery still untouched made him smile at how gorgeous it is.

"If he really made his decision to defect, then... I'll be his rival. I will be stronger when we meet again, so Florentina..." the young man looked at the mage with a sincere smile, making the girl slightly flustered.

"would you help me to become stronger and protect the people of this kingdom?" Florentina averted her gaze to help her contain her fluster, but to no avail as she kept stuttering.

"w-well... I suppose I-I could help you..."

"thank you! glad you're my friend"

- 10km above a grassland–

- 1.5hrs after defection -

"Say, where are we again?" the Pilot of the fighter is fairly confused about the geography which is odd for him since oddly enough a dried empty grassland was present in the middle of the equator.

"we're at the southern border of Inclira Kingdom, this massive grassland acted as a defence for them against the Sovereignty of Rhedia, simple arrow rain that would ambush any troop that tries to cross it" Aurora that just woke up a few minutes ago and still yawing, flawlessly explained. Jaeger hummed while nodding, grasping the info.

"ah, I see, quite a good strategy"

"Inclira obtained the knowledge of past hero they summoned, of course, they were fairly competent on their defence"

"that aside, How did you get captured earlier? You were with your brother the whole time right??" Aurora sighed, the memories of last night she had is quite faint, even so, she remembered it.

"I was... but on the way back to our inn, we were ambushed by several unknown people, while both me and Conrad were busy fighting the ambush, I think one of their members that hid in the shadows shot a needle imbued with sleeping spell to me" the Pilot hummed and got back to seeing the vast grassland below

"you know, It's just bizarre for a grassland to grow near the equator of this planet, usually it could only grow at the northern side"

"Planet?" the girl slightly tilted her head in confusion.

"Oh right, this world didn't know the term 'planet' yet, let me explain..." Jaeger then explained how the universe works, like what is the view high above the sky, how they have gravity and even how day & night exist and so on. Aurora was very fascinated as she has gotten the modern knowledge that Jaeger carries with him.

"how outstanding this universe is... I would never think that this world is spherical, and how gravity works in the sky above is revolutionary! Einstein was it? he is such a genius! Bending light with gravity and so on."

"yeah, and the theories of researchers like him shaped our world, although it was also used as the basis of the creation of a weapon of mass destruction that..."

"that what?" the pilot was hesitant to say it, the flashbacks of him experiencing the power of that weapon himself returns and made him shudder.

"Wolfenford?"

"ah! sorry... what is it again? Ah yeah... " Aurora was slightly worried at him while also still being interested in the weapon he mentioned. The man cleared his throat to calm himself down.

"the weapon is called 'nuclear', it's a name of a reaction between the core of certain elements and could produce energy based on Einstein's theory. But since it could produce a dense amount of energy, it was turned as a main source of energy and also a weapon which will..."

"what will it do?"

"... how would I say this... it could turn a whole kingdom into a crater by just a mere single explosion..." the dreaded tone of Jaeger made the young girl in the back seat gasp. It was unimaginable for her that such a weapon exist in another world.

"the worst part is that most people won't survive in the aftermath due to the high amount of radiation that would rot their bodies from the inside..."

"I can't believe such a weapon exists in the other world..."

"I know, the last time it was used was in my deployment, thankfully it's in the middle of a mountain range so it didn't cause many casualties but seeing its power would make one fall into a long-term trauma... that time... I lost 8 of my men, while the other 4 went to the mental hospital, they... can't forget the image of their brother in arms disintegrated or burned alive..." both of them went silent as the dreaded tone of Jaeger's made the atmosphere dark.

"you two! Can't you both talk about something that's not gloomy?! What's with this atmosphere when I woke up here?" the man that just woke up complained and grunted, fairly irritated at them. Jaeger chuckled as Conrad break the ice between them and looked at the screen of the Multi-Function Display (MFD) of his fighter that has been set to radar view. He notices it shows two green dots in the 80km range and yanks the flight stick, diving down and then levelling his aircraft at a very low altitude. His passenger was taken by surprise by his sudden movements, had their nausea returned.

"OI! will you stop showing off this aircraft's capabilities!? We could vomit anytime if you keep doing that!"

"I have no intentions of hearing your complaints right now, more importantly, this world has lower technology right?" the siblings were outright confused.

"what do you mean by that?"

"my aircraft could scan anything airborne with its equipment, even a small bird. But just now it picked up a signature of something quite big for a bird heading east, 80 km in front of us, do you know anything about it?" Conrad has his wolf features appear and squinting his eyes in the direction that Jaeger pointed. while humming, he confirmed in amusement.

"those are wyvern riders from the Iron North Union, it's likely on patrol." The pilot grinned behind his helmet and to his amusement, he came up with a certain idea.

"you two wanna wait here at the grassland for a bit? I wanna try to fight those fantasy creatures."

"Hey, are you crazy? Those are wyverns we're talking about! They fly faster than the winds!" the pilot laughed out a lot, confusing the concerned man in the backseat.

"Faster than the wind? That thing can't even outrun this bad boy!"

"don't talk like this thing could fly faster than it.... or does it?"

"this aircraft could fly six times the speed of sound, 18 times faster than those flying lizards. Well, you guys felt it first hand, we could arrive near the border fast enough with our speed that's one times faster than the speed of sound."

"I question how did your world create such an insane thing"

"I'll be fine"

"and why would you attack a patrol anyway? It's not like they'll cause harm" the Pilot in front hummed but he shrugged it off.

"it's not about anything actually, it's about sending a message"

The aircraft then orbited around a certain point in the field and hovers down, dropping off the siblings. Conrad and Aurora were told to wait at that point and were told to not move a meter away from the overhead hovering drones that were deployed as miniature Close In defence systems. Both of them agreed and the Mercenary closed the cockpit of his fighter and rocketed away from them, heading to engage the wyverns. As he was flying toward the wyverns, he can't stop grinning, making his AI assistant uncomfortable

"you're just happy there are flying targets, are you? also, your smile is creepy, stop that" Ofnir bluntly says with a flat tone, the man that's currently doing some armament checking laughs without denying it.

"damn straight! I'll make them experience something so dreaded that it'll decrease their morals in the air! Muahahahaha!"

"how a man like you became a Lt. Colonel honestly"

"Haha! Good question, I do ask the same thing..." Jaeger pushed the afterburners on the aircraft and reached Mach 2 (2.470kmph/1.535mph) in just mere 15 seconds, closing in on the wyverns at astonishing speeds.

"Is this what they call psychological warfare sir?"

"damn straight it is, but with violence!" Jaeger then locked onto the two wyverns, and as he acquired them within a perfect range to launch, the aircraft opens up its missile bay.

"Intruder lead, engaging unknowns, fox 3!"

- 9km near the mountain range–

A couple of men in iron armour flying with their wyverns is calmly soar above the plains near the mountains, observing the wall of light that is shrouded with thick black mist. Their wyverns are also slightly armoured to cover their weak spots like their joints, head and tendons that have fewer scales. One of the men retracted his telescopic telescope and waved at his wingman to come closer. The flight lead chanted a spell while trying to talk to his wingman, then the wingman nodded as he confirmed that he could hear him.

"It is still the same as ever, no movements from the demon army and any odd behaviours from the world gate" his wingman nodded as their routine patrol is always peaceful, and the first wave of the demon army is already encircled in certain woodlands by the Human Union army.

"Still, we got to keep an eye on this area, it's vital for us to relay information if anything happens at the World Gate"

"You may have a point, but what is the world gate anyway? I have never seen anything massive like that"

"that's what she said, haha!" both of them laughed and got serious shortly after.

"right, the World gate is a barrier that was chanted by the Archmage Talisman to prevent powerful demons passing through, although it is unclear if the mage is still alive or not since it produces a lot of mana"

"I wonder, has anyone seen the Archmage Talisman's face before though? Rumours have it, that the mage is a woman and honestly, I doubt it" the leader stretches his arm due to his fatigue and looked back at the World Gate. The glimmer of the bright blue wall of light still is scenery from far away and fascinates the wyvern rider.

"well if it's a woman, I bet she is pretty isn't it Captain?"

"don't get your hopes up yet buddy, this war is full of mystery anyway" As they were nonchalantly chatting around, the wyvern flight lead spotted something shining from afar while also trailing smoke.

"hey, do you see that shining thing?"

"where?" the Captain grunted at his oblivious subordinate and pointed to the direction. "there! North from our position!" his wingman then grabbed his telescopic monocular, looking towards the object that was pointed by his captain.

"huh, it looks like some sort of metal object" His leader raised an eyebrow.

"a metal object?" the captain then grabbed his telescope and looked through it, an object that he had never seen before caught his attention and he started writing a report.

"Sir! is it just me or is that thing heading towards us?" as the knight was concerned, his wyvern suddenly growling and flying unsteadily as if trying to warn them that danger is coming.

"whoa, boy! Calm down!" as they were trying to calm down their wyverns that are reacting oddly, mere seconds later, the captain was caught by surprise and dreaded in fear, as his wingman exploded in mid-air, burned to ashes. The man noticed the smoke trail behind the explosion and realized what is going on, he then scanned the skies and noticed another smoke trail coming his way. He then dived down to treetop level and increased his wyvern flight speed, along with adding a wind-resistant spell that allows him to have low drag during his flight. As he looks back, he saw the smoke trail changes its course, as if it were tracking him.

"Impossible! No such long-range magic exists in that speed and height!" as it got closer and closer, he and his Wyvern pitched up, climbing altitude to shake it. the metal object missed him by a mere 4 meters and exploded hundreds of meters away from him. The wyvern captain sighed in relief, but his relief didn't last long as he saw something go past him, letting out a screeching sound at speeds that were out of his world. He then uses his skill 'Eagle Eye' to look at the object that is currently climbing. The object, has A sleek black metallic body with wings, letting out light purple flames at its back while looking far more formidable than the 'Black Dragon' itself performing a half loop and is headed towards him. The captain dived down to gain speed and fly between the trees to lose the pursuer, hastily flying away from the scene to report back to his base.

"come on buddy! Faster! We need to get back to the City! This isn't a normal threat!"

Moments passed, as the wyvern knight thought he lost the object tailing him, but then he was dumbfounded as the object suddenly appears from thin air right beside him. He saw something inside the tinned glassed part of the flying object. A man with an odd-looking helmet waving at him while taunting him. The knight gritted his teeth, he felt being underestimated and let his anger take over him. He then flared his wyvern's wings to get to the object's tail but was overwhelmed by the heat it generates so he took a position overhead. His Wyvern then emitted a mana aura while creating a magic circle in front of his mouth that is currently agape. it then shot several highspeed fireballs towards the object but missed since it vanished again. The captain is on high alert, scanning around visually, searching for the flying object. He then tried to gain altitude to gain a wider vision of the area but as he just slightly pitched up, he hit something invisible. The object then reveals itself again, but this time, it is currently flying inverted right above him. Two of the hatches on the object opens up, revealing some sort of metallic rod that pointed at him, making the elite knight gulp.

"dear god...."

Brrrrrrtttttt

The rattle echoed throughout the skies around them as the thing shredded the wyvern's wings with projectiles, rendering it impossible to continue flying. Both the Wyvern Knight and his ride fell to the ground, crashing to the woodlands below while the object flies away, breaking through the sound barrier and disappearing without a trace.

Inside the object, the fighter jet that is flown by Jaeger had the man behind the helmet grin and chuckled in satisfaction as he downed his prey. Although, his partner isn't sympathetic to the current atmosphere he created.

"Sir, haven't your father told you to not play with your food? You could've shot him sooner"

"I want to understand the enemy" Ofnir let out a sigh, knowing that line is from a famous game franchise.

"sir..."

"I know! I know! I waited my whole life to say that you know? It's hard to find an easy bogey back in my world, they were skilled as a pilot" Jaeger then did some ammo check, looking at how he was doing, he could see that his mission isn't progressing smoothly as planned.

"hey Ofnir"

"yeah?"

"did we accidentally make this whole world become our enemy?"

"YOUR enemy sir, they didn't know about my existence, yet" Jaeger is unamused at Ofnir's remark and tried to open a backdoor towards its program.

"Oi, what the f**k you're doing?"

"trying to fix your emotion program" Ofnir swiftly temporary blocked access for him and made Jaeger click his tongue.

"fix my ass, you're trying to change my personality program didn't you?"

"tch, smart bastard"

"Could you be a professional?!! just focus on our current mission of escorting the siblings! they might provide more information about the wall of light at this southern mountain range and assuming it is lethal for us, we need to try to find a detour towards the Apollyon Kingdom." Jaeger nodded in silence and pushed the afterburner of his jet. Heading back to where Aurora and Conrad are located.