"So it's over."
Mark found himself standing in the void once more but this time it was a massive white castle, no different from the one he had ruled in his first life. As if he had returned to Urdia once more but this time it was pure white, it was neither cloudy nor sunny, and the ruins of his old castle were bathed in this white light. He heard footsteps causing him to turn around to find a young woman roughly the same age as he was but she was covered in a long hooded coat that covered her face, for a moment Mark was on guard thinking that she was perhaps the embodiment of Death. Perhaps she was here to take him for good and that the second chance that she had given him was only a miscalculation.
"Am I in the presence of Death?" Mark asked with a defeated sigh as he looked down.
"No, I'm not here to take your soul, you're still very much alive after all." She told him as she buried her hands in her pockets as skipped towards him and looked close.
"Personal space," Mark remarked earning a chuckle from the hooded girl as she walked around him, the girl was silent but he can tell that she was studying him very carefully, the observation that he was feeling puts him on the edge but he didn't have the sword he got a long while back. But instead, the hooded girl spoke up once more. "So then what are you doing here? Who are you?"
"Firstly I'm here to study you and your past, but second question." She said as she playfully placed a finger on her lips teasingly which infuriated him. "You'll have to find out someday."
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[The Second Advent]
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Back in Ophel, Loria.
Gray was silently by her Parent's Holo-Phone waiting for a particular number sitting by the table resting her head on the table as she let out a sigh that's no different from a bride waiting for her husband to return. In the Adjacent room, Owen, Aina and Gavriel watched Gray with a mixture of amusement and worry as she just tapped on the screen every few minutes hoping that a particular number would appear calling for her.
She had been like this ever since Mark and Miriam left Ophel and began their adventure as Mercenary Trainees. But every few days and at random points in time she would get a call from the twins, sometimes she'd engage in girl talk with Miriam talking about their boy crushes with Miriam pointing out all the boys in the region where she and Martin went off were filled with unpleasant boys while Gray would hover on one particular person.
That person was none other than her twin brother, Mark. But when it was him calling the two would go over various battle tactics with Gray suggesting he would do this for moves and in turn Mark would tell her everything he had seen with Sandra. And by the end of those calls the two would promise to see these locations again once they're older leaving the girl giddy with excitement.
All the while her parents and younger brother would watch it all unfold, Aina was excited to see that she and Mark were getting along well meanwhile Owen was concerned that she was getting too attached to him and that it might veer into something unhealthy.
And it didn't help that she asked both Yulia and Aina to give her make-up advice to look good each time they would call.
"It's been a while since Mark called," Owen said worriedly as he watched his daughter look at the screen one more time and sigh in defeat burying her face on the table with disappointment.
"You think something happened to him?" Aina asked with the same worried look as he had, potential marriage partner aside she did genuinely care for him as a nephew.
"He's probably busy," Owen said with reluctance as he reassured her, as he was about to mention something the phone rang causing Gray to quickly answer it.
"Hello?" Gray asked with a hint of excitement.
"How's it going?" Miriam's voice said causing Gray's shoulders to drop.
"Just peachy," Gray said with a hint of wistfulness in her voice.
I wonder how's he doing. Gray wondered as she got into a conversation with Miriam.
Meanwhile in Northern Vault, Samtara.
Mark found himself in a damp hallway lying on a broken and old sofa that was fortunately placed there, with several feet above the broken window but it was hard to tell whether or not his teammates were still up there. He groaned in a low voice as he tried to stand up but before his feet can touch the ground he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on one end as he heard the clicking noise of a Svadraugr.
"Not good, not good at all," Mark commented as he tried to quickly move away and—
Crunch!
A handful of Svadraugr started growling as Mark started sprinting blindly into the darkness until he pulled out a ground flare from his coat pocket and lit it revealing that he is currently inside a tight corridor and looking back he found himself being chased by six Svadraugr. Enough running, I'm fighting them. Mark thought as he sprinted ahead and then pulled out his two-handed sword and got into a fighting stance.
The first Svadraugr approached him and as he was about to grab him, Mark slashed the Svadraugr in half in a vertical manner, he followed by a second vertical slash this time from the bottom to the top once more bisecting Svadraugr in the process both of which caused their insides to spill in front of him. He wiped the gunk off his face as they started to affect his vision just in time for a Svadraugr to snarl at him and tried to grab him but he was still fast enough to slice the arms off and decapitate it.
Good thing I still have my reflexes, old reflexes new body. Mark thought as he continued to hack and slash his way through the Svadraugr until none were left leaving him alone in a cold dark corridor on his own to catch his break.
Where the hell did I end up anyways? Mark pondered as he stood up and looked around using a flashlight leading to two paths, both of which are obscured by darkness preventing him to learn the right path for him to take going forward. However he only had a handful of flares in his coat, but he didn't want to waste them all just yet so he decided to just use his flashlight instead.
"Time to find what's inside this place."
He continued to wander inside the ruins but he kept seeing the same logo of the Hashira Enterprise, realizing that he wasn't in some random ruins or a mine shaft but was the vault that the exploration team had been tasked with exploring in the first place.
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This was even more noticeable because as he further went deeper into the complex he noticed more and more machines that have been left to dust, and eventually he stopped in the middle of a hallway as he spotted a t-junction that leads further into the main hall and letting him out into the exit and thus reuniting him with the rest of the Rescue Team. Alternatively, he can explore further within the tunnels and find the heart of the complex.
"The answer is fairly easy, to be honest." Mark thought to himself as he turned to the direction that further leads up deep into the vault.
"Plus I might find something cool to keep." He added to himself as he wandered through the hallways and luckily he made his way towards a nearby map that contained the entire facility which was placed on a nearby table in the common rooms. His wandering eventually led him into the main engine room which contained a generator that from the looks of things is left to be untouched. Luckily he had read a book a while back that explains how generators work, so it didn't take very long for him to be able to reactivate the generator turning on the entire vault.
The first thing he had seen was the sight the pastel green walls and white floors that have been covered in dust as the lights turn back on.
"That's one less loose end, now than what's inside the Vault," Mark muttered to himself as he pocketed his flashlight and wandered around the hallway.
From what Mark had learned about them from Gaige, executives are the ones tasked with managing Vaults in the past his family lives in a Vault near the Greater Settlement of Ophel, so the first thing he had to check was the Executive's Office.
"Let's see what's inside." Mark was sitting in the Executive's Office with his sword impaled at the Skull of a Svadraugr that was originally just minding its own business within the room as Mark booted up the terminal, he was familiar with more modern models but he was quick to adapt in using the older ones which are surprisingly functional despite being over centuries old.
As he was searching through the database and files one particular, namely Camelot Arms. They speak of a series of thirteen Trick Weapons that are known to be one of the best that Hashira Enterprises have developed and were to be used against their war against Vakaria during the War.
And one of them happens to be in this very vault.
"I gotta find that weapon," Mark said with a devious grin on his face as he realized that he can score a handful of treasure within this vault before anyone else.
After some tinkering even more with the Terminal, namely infecting it with a virus that deletes the data of the Camelot Arms while transferring the remaining data of the Camelot Arms into his Holo-Phone, he stood up and grabbed his sword from the corpse of the Svadraugr and started making his way towards the Research and Development area where they keep the weapons in store.
To his delight it was a massive treasure trove of gadgets and gear ranging from experimental weapons and armour that have yet to see daylight all of them in good condition albeit still need some touch of development if the phrase 'experimental' is anything to go by, he would have spent the entire afternoon looting and pilfering the entire floor and taking his sweet time with it.
But he came here for that.
"So that's what it looks like," Mark commented in a low voice as he found it placed on a table in its base form which took on the form of a single-edged sword with a strange mechanism as a cross guard, according to the files is armed with multiple forms namely a One handed sword, a two-handed sword, a shield, a trench knife, and a spear thus making it a highly versatile weapon in the Camelot Arms.
"CA-01 Arthur huh?" Mark let out a low whistle as he took the sword and swung it around all the while cycling it through the various forms, the sword is armed with what appears to be a miniature nanomachine generator stored in the engine-like cross guard allowing it to change form.
"This could take some practice but I think I can manage," Mark said wrapping Arthur in a blanket and placing it into his backpack, the others would find it rather strange but it was the best way he can think of in hiding such a potentially powerful weapon. "Now then onto more pressing matters."
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[The Second Advent]
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Meanwhile, the Rescue team's morale is at an all-time low, with the loss of Mark who was arguably the best member of their team and was more or less the sole reason why they were confident in rescuing the Exploration team. It didn't help that even Grigori himself was convinced that with Mark joining them their odds of survival would increase, this was because within their group of junior Mercenaries Mark had been seen as a prodigy with Sandra even joking that she has nothing to teach him and that she was only there to make sure he doesn't get killed. And so there they were setting up a small camp inside a nearby gap between the Temujin Mountains unable to decide on what would be their next move.
"What a situation we've found ourselves in," Grigori said looking at the fire that Danie had made to keep all of them warm, it was the only consolation they have after losing their ace in the hole.
"We should go back," Danie Hahnenfuss said as she hugged herself as she was trying to keep warm.
"And tell them we got one of our own killed?" Sion Amiya said who was still bitter from the loss of his rifle in their trek. "We have to see this through."
"Easy for you to say I only joined cause 'cause Mark is joining."
"Oh, so you admit just riding the coattails of some twerp three years younger than you?"
Sion and Danie went back and forth with Sion insisting that they have to see this mission through while Danie was more interested in their survival. Grigori meanwhile just sat there thinking what they should be doing, eventually, he remembered something that Mark had once brought up earlier in their trek into the mountains.
"We need to bring as many flares as we can, not just the one on sticks, but also the flare guns," Mark said handing him a bag of flare sticks and flare guns and started handing them to the others as well who were confused and reluctant to take this many flares.
"But why that many?" Grigori asked him as he gingerly placed them in his bag while Sion and Danie exchanged confused looks as well.
"To let people know where you are, of course, it can help a lot after all," Mark said with a shrug as he loaded his bag with as many flares as he can.
I only have one flare gun since I didn't believe him and left it there. Grigori said walking to a clear spot, he was glad that he was sensible enough to carry a handful of flare around but he should have listened to Mark and brought more for this trek.
"Grigori?" Sion asked worriedly as he saw him hold the flare gun.
"Might as well take his advice," Grigori said aiming the flare gun up high and firing causing a bright red flare to fly up into the sky. And to their surprise, two flares started flying up into the sky and best of all they were located not far from their current location.
"Everyone let's move," Grigori said turning excitedly to the others who started packing up their items and preparing their torches in the process.
Navigating his way out of the Northern Vault was no easy task, he spent mere hours due to the fact he had to decipher the map he had taken on the way out. Fortunately, he had finally been able to make his way outside of the Vault eventually finding himself by the woods, as he was about to question aloud where he was he saw two flares light up. Mark smiled as he started making his way towards the source of the flare. Mark then saw his fellow rescue team members waving at him as he was walking through the snow all the while keeping Arthur hidden in his backpack as he has yet to figure out an excuse on why he had managed to get his hands on it.
They had already reunited with the exploration team, as it turns out they had lost their way and spent their time aimlessly wandering through the backwoods of the Northern Vault. In other words, they just got lost.
"Mark!" Grigori, now accompanied by his younger brother Henri, ran towards him with a hug. "We thought we lost you!"
"Almost," Mark lied, not all he did was suffer from a little bit of back pain in the process but other than that he was more fortunate. He looked through the others and smiled a little, truth be told he had expected them to die the moment he was no longer within their vicinity.
"Glad to see you all succeeded in finding them," Mark said turning towards them with a hint of surprise in his tone. "Thanks to your advice we did," Grigori said with a chuckle as Henri walked towards them and gave Mark a friendly slap on the back. According to Grigori, they were camping out near the location where the Rescue Team was positioned and so after Grigori fired out flares allowing him to locate one another. They were about to go off and find him next until he arrived.
"All's well that ends well I guess," Mark said as he tugged at his backpack and all of them started making their way back home.