Kingdom of Heildin, Remote Village: 936 April 10th, Tuesday, 7:00 AM.
In a small peaceful village—protected by the large trunks of the trees and the forest’s vegetation, the small population living in the area roamed free in the beautiful outdoors, taking care of their crops, tending to their shops, or relaxing in the shadows under the trees, with the children from corner to corner.
Just outside of the village, in a small area that was spruced up like a training zone—with hand crafted tables made of wood and weapon racks carrying swords, spears among other weaponry of the same material, Atalanta laid her golden mask in one of the tables with a smile. She put her armor away, and only wore the one-piece black jumpsuit underneath the gold plates.
“Take this!” a redhead girl suddenly leaped at her from behind—sticking her leg out into a flying kick.
With little to no effort, the blonde knight stepped aside to avoid getting hit in the back—grabbing the girl’s ankle and hurling her away. Sensing another opponent to her right, Atalanta ducked quickly under the thrusting punch of a dark-haired hybrid—who stared in awe at her lightning speed reaction. Spotting an obvious opening, The Golden Lightning twirled around to position herself behind the hybrid—taking a hold of his ponytail while placing one foot behind his ankles, pulling him by the hair to trip him backwards into the dirt.
“Umph!” Maulik hit the ground.
“Hyaaaa!” Gal propelled herself at Atalanta from a distance—her red hair waving in the air as she approached with a second flying kick.
Instead of avoiding her attack, the blonde knight simply stopped Gal’s powerful kick with her palm—grasping her foot firmly. Having recovered from his fall, Maulik used the opportunity to strike at Atalanta from behind—attempting a piercing fist against the back of her skull. One step ahead however, Atalanta moved her head to the side, and watched the hybrid’s fist as it flew past her side—responding with a backwards headbutt that collided with Maulik’s face.
The hybrid’s head ricochet backwards as Atalanta’s attack impacted with his nose, squeezing his eyes while covering the lower half of his face with one hand—checking his palm for signs of blood. Firmly grasping Gal’s foot in her hand, Atalanta spun backwards to slam the redhead against her stunned companion—hitting both hybrids against each other, and catapulting them away.
“Agh!” Maulik’s soaring body was stopped by a large tree—smacking his back against its trunk. “Umph!” A second collision finished him off as Gal’s head crashed against his abdomen, knocking the air out of him.
“Ow, ow, ow…” the redhead girl massaged her head while rolling on the floor.
“Hmph,” Atalanta huffed with a satisfied smirk on her face—dusting off her hands as she observed both hybrids knocked on the ground. “You have a lot to learn if you want to stand against me.”
A series of clapping sounds nearby brought her attention to Ninigi, who observed their fight closely. He approached Atalanta with a smile, before offering his thanks for helping train his students.
“You’ve improved quite a lot Atalanta,” Ninigi said. “Gal and Maulik might be young, but they are fierce opponents when they fight together.”
“They are really well trained,” Atalanta replied. “They remind me of myself, back when I trained under the o—”
“Leave Gigi alone!” Gal suddenly lunged at Atalanta—taking her by surprise.
This time however, her foot glimmered with an azure light as she flew in the air like a missile. Before she could reach her target, Ninigi put a halt to her ambush by pressing his palm against the sole of her foot—extinguishing the light, and flipping the girl upside down while grabbing her ankle.
“…”
Without uttering a single word, the bothered knight stared at the girl with scornful look. Knowing well the trouble she was in, Gal simply closed her eyes into an innocent smile while sticking her tongue out.
Democratic Republic of Pelkesk, Kapono City: 936, April 10th, Tuesday, 10:00 AM.
A large crowd gathered on the streets of Kapono—capital of Pelkesk. Multiple Chimera soldiers—dressed in red combat armor, patrolled the area alongside the authorities, keeping a watchful eye on the masses. Cameras and microphones roamed the place as reporters rushed to get a scoop of the situation, with the sound of the public’s chatter filling the streets.
In front of the massive crowd, was a large podium guarded by the red armored soldiers of Chimera. On top of the stage, princess Euthemia smiled warmly at the public, accompanied by Sara Endel—CEO of chimera, and Mairead Foley—HR director of the company, and Jacob’s sister.
“Shut up already, you disgusting worms!” the princess’ mind boiled with anger—keeping her bright smile for the public to see. “Where is that brute Loki anyway? He just tossed me in here and left!” she kept thinking. Noticing a group of people gawking at her from the crowd, Euthemia put forward her best smile and waved at them gently—earning a few blushes. “Yech, how gross…”
Mairead stepped forward and cleared her throat, requesting silence from the rowdy audience as the princess’ speech was about to start. It took several minutes to calm down the crowd, but Euthemia was able to take the stage eventually, and express the intentions of her visit to the public.
“Hello, dear citizens of Pelkesk.” her voice was soft and shimmered with every word. “Recently, we’ve been made aware of the presence of the legendary heroes we know as, gladean knights.” she continued.
“…” Sara—CEO of Chimera, drifted into the empty space she kept her eyes focused on—indulging in her own thoughts.
“Something on your mind, Mrs. Sara?” Mairead interrupted her.
Sara looked into the crowd, which attentively listened to the princess’ words—her sadden eyes were fixed in the innocent face of a child, safeguarded in her mother’s arms. “You know as well as I what will happen to them.” she said.
“I don’t like it either,” Mairead replied. “But I have a son who suffered because of this conflict, and the longer it drags on, the more likely I will lose him.” she explained. “We all do what we can to save this world, Mrs. Sara… but only time will tell who comes out the victor.”
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“I know… I’d do anything for my daughter.” a quick sigh relieved Sara’s stress momentarily, lifting her head to look into the bright blue sky.
Mairead nodded in agreement, keeping her eyes straight. “Hopefully Cerberus is treating her well.”
Cerberus HQ, Arwen’s Office: 936, April 10th, Tuesday, 10:00 AM.
“…” Arwen sat in front of his desk while looking at his computer’s monitor, observing Euthemia as she continued her speech via livestream.
Next to him stood Yeon, who bent forward to get a closer look. “It is as Sovereign said… what a repulsive individual.” she expressed her distaste for the princess—who waved innocently at the crowd with the purest of smiles.
“She’s got them eating from the palm of her hand, but…” Recognizing one of the women behind the princess, Arwen couldn’t help but feel somewhat guilty about the fates of the people of Pelkesk.
He observed Mairead with furrowed brows and pensive eyes. She stood firm on stage with her hands behind her back, listening in to Euthemia’s speech. “To think I could’ve been there if you didn’t intercept me that day…”
“Try not to think about it, her intentions are as well placed as your own.” Yeon tried to lift her friend’s spirits. “All we can do at the moment is try to mitigate their plans as much as possible, let Tormod handle this for us.”
“Yeah, you are right…” the redhead woman next to his sister caught Arwen’s attention, squinting his eyes to get a better look. “I remember her from the meeting at Heildin… she is Chimera’s CEO.”
“Sara Endel, her daughter works for us.” Yeon replied. “Sovereign chose to integrate her with Bloodhound despite her inexperience. I assume it was to protect her from her family’s business, but even I wonder what his intentions are at times.”
A quick puff left Arwen’s nose as he chuckled. “All members had little to no experience when they joined, and yet they haven’t let us down a single time so far.” his hand instinctively moved near his chin as his mind wandered. “I wonder how he knows all these things... all he ever says is ‘experience’ every time I ask.”
“No need to complicate it,” a quick pat in the head combined with her words snapped Arwen out of his thoughts. “You have plenty of paper work to do, so get to it.”
“Of course…”
Cerberus HQ, Training Facility: 936, April 10th, Tuesday, 10:00 AM.
“Damnit!” Claire cursed as the crimson glow of her pistols suddenly shut off—rendering them useless. Her chest puffed up and down with heavy breaths, and her shoulders were starting to drop with fatigue. “What am I doing wrong…?”
She stood in the middle of an arena surrounded by the sturdy walls of the facility, steel crafted to resist any sort of explosive damaged caused during weapon tests. In front of her was a group five inactive automated training dummies, which were mostly dent and damaged after hours of punishment.
“Before, you had the Deadlands influence powering up your gear.” Sovereign’s voice spoke through the PO system in the room. “Juno&Jupiter are not as powerful outside of it. Summoning a specter is no easy task, controlling one will take some practice.”
“Alright… let’s keep going!”
“Relax, let’s take a break.”
“What?” Unpleased, the lieutenant lifted her head to look into the mirrored window above—where the inspector’s room was located. “I’m not stopping yet… I can still do better.”
“I know, but you need food to function. Just as anyone else I know.” Sovereign said. “Wait there, I’ll be with you in a moment.”
Only a few minutes passed before the heavy metallic gate—which led to the inspector’s room slid open, allowing passage for the silver figure to walk in. He held a small cartoon box in one hand, striding confidently with his left hand inside his pocket. Claire remained seated in a chair near the gate, letting her arms rest on top of her knees.
“Feeling good?”
“Not really…” disappointment was clear in the young lieutenant’s face, who kept her head low as her body cooled down.
“Hah,” Sovereign chuckled. “You really want to do everything in a single try, don’t you?” he took the chair beside her, moving its location to sit in front of Claire. “That can’t be healthy, you need to enjoy the journey sometimes.”
“I need to be able to kill specters, quick and efficient.” she said. “That was our training back in the academy, and I learned to live by it.”
“You almost sound like a gladean knight,” Sovereign expressed sarcastically. “Remember when I said I had something for you?”
Offering no response, Claire simply squinted her eyes at the man with a skeptical side look. Sovereign extended his arm slightly, placing the small box in front of her, and pulling up the top to reveal the surprise—a mini chicken pot pie.
“So, what do you think?” a proud smile enveloped Sovereign’s face as he exhibited the food. “You said it was your favorite, and I remembered.”
Although shocked at first, a long sigh escaped Claire’s lips while she furrowed her eyebrows—a glimpse of guilt enveloping her face. She proceeded to pinch the bridge of her nose as she thought of a proper way to reply, keeping her eyes closed in contemplation.
“What is it?” noticing the silence and the odd reaction from the lieutenant, Sovereign tilted his head slightly in confusion. “Did I get it wrong? Damn, I should’ve picked the spicy one…”
“Listen…” Claire finally spoke. “I lied, whatever this is I never tried it before. I just said that to get you off my back at the time.”
It took a few moments for the young CEO to process her confession, flinching back in surprise. “What, you mean—"
“You were acting strange,” the lieutenant hastily interrupted him. “So, I just said whatever to shake you off. And don’t blame me for it, I don’t know what your deal is.”
“My deal? Hmm…” Sovereign stopped to think for a moment. “I thought I was being pretty direct about it…” he said under his breath, just loud enough for the lieutenant to hear.
Suddenly, the small box left his hand as Claire picked it up herself—observing the beautifully decorated pie inside the container. Although its appearance was quite striking, the lieutenant stared in confusion as she couldn’t comprehend the effort put in such a small piece of food.
“It looks… fancy.” she expressed with a frown.
“Right?” Sovereign beamed at her words. “I tried to learn how to make one myself, but the fire department rudely interrupted me.”
“What did you do!”
Swaying his hand back and forth, the silver head simply shook off the question—focusing on the pie instead. “Don’t worry about it, I bought this one so it should be good.”
“How much did this cost?” guiding the cup near her face, the lieutenant took in the fresh and delicious aroma of the small pie.
“Don’t ask,” Sovereign averted his gaze towards the entrance of the facility. “We should uh… keep this a secret from Ki-Joon. She doesn’t like me using the company’s money for stuff like this.”
“You used company funds!?”
After a quick scolding from the lieutenant, she eventually accepted the gift and enjoyed the creamy delicacy brought by her—unknown to the lieutenant, boss. Delighted by the results, Sovereign bid her farewell as he prepared to return to his office—stopped immediately by Claire.
“Wait! There is something I need to ask.” her words put a halt to the man’s stride.
“I’m all ears.”
“You seem to know a lot about what’s going on,” she said. Her mouth was kept straight into a flat line, and her eyebrows scrunched into a serious expression. “It may not be my place to know this information, but Maulik mentioned something about my gear.” she explained. “How was the spectral gear made? And who created it?”
With his back towards the lieutenant, Sovereign bared his teeth into a wide grin—offering his answer without turning to face her. “As you said, it’s not in your place to know this information. At least not yet,” he replied. “Everything will be revealed to you in time, so don’t get too impatient.” he turned his head to look over his shoulder—looking into Claire’s amber eyes. “I’ll be keeping a closer eye on you from now on, Lionheart.”
END OF CHAPTER