Stage II, Chapter XXIII: Recognizing Classmates

"Oh, wait really?" (Kenneth)

"Indeed, Leader. Ciel was once my classmate. We both went to the same private school together." Sabik explains.

"Indeed. I remember the times we often messed around back when we were younger." (Ciel)

"Just curious, but how old are you guys? You both look like you two are about seventeen in age." Kenneth asked, confused.

"If I remember, I was.... three hundred and thirty? And Ciel was..." (Sabik)

"Two hundred and eighty nine." (Ciel)

"Holy shit. Ya'll are old as fuck." Lucas' mouth gaped in shock. "Intergalactic elves? That sounds fucking sickkkk...." Lucas' voice trailed off as he thought of the idea.

*************

"Hey, Xargred. What do you want to be when you grow up?" The current scene takes place when both Sabik and Ciel were mere children, about thirty years of age.

"Hmm... I don't know. I don't like jobs that keep me shackled until I die." Xargred replied.

"That's so typical of you, using phrases I can't understand. For me though, I want to be a pilot! Flying through the skies, blazing past the nearby sun at faster than light speed! Don't you find it exciting?" Ciel continued to go on with his reasons about why he wanted to become a pilot.

'Here he goes again... saying I use hard to understand words then goes on to speak a whole thesis about why he wants to be a pilot. This should be a long one. Typical Xydrid.' Xargred thought to himself.

"Hey." Xydrid snapped his fingers to get Xargred's attention. His absentminded face soon took notice. "You're not listening, are you?"

"Whuh! Of... course I was!" Xarged replied, the droplets of sweat beginning to form on his head.

"Really now?" Xydrid stared at Xargred's face for what felt like an hour. "What did I say then?" After the period of silence, he asked a question.

"Something about wanting to become a pilot." Xargred muttered in panic.

"Hmm....." Xydrid once again went on to stare at Xargred for an eternity, until he gave up and ended it with a, "Hmph. I'll let you off this time. Anyway, as I was saying..."

***********

"Hey, Xargred. Psst!" Xargred was awoken to the sound of Xydrid trying to get his attention.

"*snore*" Xargred was fast asleep. The sound of him inhaling large amounts of air with every breath only added to the drowsy mood of the room.

Even Xydrid was beginning to feel sleepy. Staring at Xargred yawning ever so often, he too began to yawn. But he didn't come here to sleep, Xydrid thought.

Hastily, he smacked Xargred's back rather harshly, immediately waking up the sleeping Karman.

"What!?" Xargred shot up, and looked around the room. Typical classroom. Oh, right. He was fast asleep on his desk just a few seconds ago.

"Wake up, you idiot. The school let us out early. Everybody's already left." (Xydrid)

"What...? Mmphh... five more minutes, I'm still tired." Xargred began to relax his entire body as he prepared to rest on the cold surface of his desk.

But Xydrid was having none of it. Despite being the thinner one out of the two, he was considerably stronger. Gathering strength into his arms, Xydrid yanked the sleepy Xargred from his desk and dragged him out of the room, into the hallway.

"The reason school let out early was because its the annual selection campaign!" Xydrid screamed, waking up the still tired Xargred.

"Oh shit. Well, okay then. I don't feel like waiting in line for the next two hours, just to talk with the adults about what type of soldier I should be when I grow up." (Xargred)

The Karman were primarily a militaristic people. Most young adults were required to serve in the Karman military for a minimum of twenth five years. A fraction of what the Karman usually live, but that doesn't mean its not dangerous.

Every year, the selection campaign would be held to determine what the future soldiers would be serving in during their time in the military.

Of course, Ciel and Sabik were known for skipping school a lot. And they did not hesitate to do the same here.

Except that at the end of the day, they were caught, and were lectured for an even longer period than if they had just stood in line and waited.

************

"Very cool story. You guys were quite the delinquents back when you two were younger, huh." (Kenneth)

"Honestly, Leader, if we weren't forced to do this, we probably wouldn't have met you. That's one good thing, I guess." (Sabik)

Ciel obviously felt the same feeling of gratitude to their master. Only that he was busy fiddling with his goggles, since the wasps from earlier were still having trouble adjusting to the fact that Kenneth and his siblings weren't enemies.

"Anyway, we should probably launch a counterattack soon. It's about time we fight back." (Kenneth)

"Is it time? More Karman to beat up?" (Lucas)

"Uh huh. The main cornerstone of our plan is Ciel. Just like Sabik, you are both Karman. Meaning your buddies probably won't notice anything out of the ordinary. And I trust, Sabik, that a good number of Maya were destroyed?" (Kenneth)

"Indeed, Leader. Even If I was not able to take out all of them, we have managed to deal a considerable blow to them. This will affect how much mana they will be able to steal." (Sabik)

"Couple that with the fact that apparently there were only twenty or so Maya sent out, I think we don't have to worry about them stealing a lot now." (Ciel)

"Good. Our next plan of approach should be to wipe out as many of the Karman craft. Focus on the Kuman-type ships, preferably. We must focus on cutting of their means of transportation and invading." (Kenneth)

***********

"I've spotted about three Kuman-type ships preparing to unload soon, my lord." Aurelia's voice echoed through the Database Link.

"I still can't get over this. Long distance communication without technology? Magic truly does wonders, huh." Ciel's voice came off unsure; he was still fairly new to the whole Link magic of Kenneth.

"That's just one of the few things it can do. Now get on with it, Ciel." Sabik reprimanded the Karman.

"Alright, alright. I should be closing in on Platoon C. I'll relay to you their plans." Ciel's voice trailed off, indicating that he had temporarily cut off communications.

"Another Kuman has appeared, my lord." Aurelia reported.

"These fuckers really are coming in too fast." Lucas said as he bashed the head of one Karman into the ground.

"Light Beam! But still... this is too much for one city, isn't it?" Lena replied, firing multiple beams at the enemies.

"I'm thinking. Think... think..." Kenneth racked his brains on what to do. They had come across multiple groups of adventurers earlier, who were fighting Karman. They had joined in the fray, but reinforcements proved to be lacking against the endless hordes of Karman.

"Sonic Slam! Better get on with it, little bro! Although I'm still good here, I've got more energy to spare for kicking their asses!" (Lucas)

'Young master, should I head in?" On top of a building was Catalyn, beside Kenneth. They were both watching over the battlefield. Seeing the grim situation, Kenneth kept on thinking about what to do against the seemingly infinite numbers.

"No, not yet. I need you here." Kenneth kept on thinking. "Bah, fuck it. Everyone get back up here!" He called for a retreat. All of the adventurers, including his siblings, fell back as they retreated towards the building.

After a few minutes everyone had assembled at the rooftop.

"Blehh, they're like zombies! I thought they were of higher intelligence, not some mindless freaks." Lena groaned in disgust as she wiped off the blood on her clothes.

"I've got an idea. I'll need people good at causing destruction. Like my brother here. (Kenneth)

The crowd of adventurers were vastly averse to the idea of a child leading them, but after seeing the baby's incredible intellect and wit on the battlefield, they all shut up soon.

"I'm in. My magic affinity is Fire." One female mage came up.

"I can go. I'm an Earth magician, and I specialize in launching large rocks." Another one came up.

"That should be good. You two will be helping my brother and my dog to destroy those three ships over there. Should be easy if you target the cockpit." (Kenneth)

"Question!" The female fire mage raised her hand.

"Answer? Kidding. Anyway, what is it?" (Kenneth)

"How are we going to get up there? The ships are floating really high up, and even the wind magicians here can't carry multiple people for very long."

"Oh, no need to worry about that. Just shut your eyes, and you'll be in the sky in no time." (Kenneth)

*************

"Everyone ready? Well, ready or not, we don't have any time to waste. Go ahead, Catalyn. Everybody close their eyes!" (Kenneth)

Hearing this, everyone except Kenneth's siblings shut their eyes. Then, Catalyn conjured a large portal above their heads. With a snap of a finger, gravity was reversed around them, and they began to ascend into the sky.

"Is this wind magic?" The fire mage asked.

"Not really. No need to be wary. You'll be up there soon." (Kenneth)

The cold wind ran across their bodies as they were gently lifted into the portal above them.

Until, well, it was replaced by a fierce gust that pushed at them endlessly.

"You guys can open your eyes now." Kenneth allowed them to do so, but it was probably too late, as he hadn't warned them beforehand that the magic thet used wasn't Wind magic. Rather, it was Spatial magic.

Both the fire and earth magicians were surprised by the instant shift in pressure, but they soon slapped themselves into motion and followes Lucas and Tyrone, who were diving down quickly.

"Better hurry up, or you'll miss the party. Come on then!" (Lucas)

"Woof! Ruff!"

**********

Meanwhile, back on the surface, Kenneth had linked up with the four of them beforehand.

"This is good. At this rate they should be able to board one of the Kuman." (Kenneth)

"My lord." Aurelia's voice came over the link.

"What is it?" (Kenneth)

"I have spotted a pod-like structure a few kilometers away from us. It is on fire, my lord." (Aurelia)

"Okay...? Anything else?" Kenneth asked, not aware of what Aurelia was talking about.

"My lord, I believe this is of utmost importance. I have spotted multiple injured people exiting the pods." (Aurelia)

"That sounds important, all right. Well, go ahead and take some people to check it out. Oi, you guys heard that, right? I'll need about three or four people to help." (Kenneth)

"My lord, I believe it will be better if only I were to go. A larger group of people means a higher chance of being detected." (Aurelia)

"Oh well, alright then. Keep safe, and just call me if you need anything." (Kenneth)

*******************

Meanwhile, inside one of the Kuman, the four mages had crashed onto the starboard (right side of the ship) and brought along debris.

"Better follow us and make sure you don't die!" Lucas and Tyrone said as the two went on ahead.

""R-right."" The two magicians nodded as they began to prepare their spells in anticipation of a bloody battle.

Especially the earth magician, who had used the debris from when they crashed onto the ship and mushed it together to form multiple large boulders.

With how loud and showy the four of them had entered, it was obvious that the Karman inside would've noticed the clearly gaping hole that had appeared on their ship. And they did, as alarms were blaring.

Any moment now, and the Karman would arrive. And that they did. Just seconds later, multiple groups had gathered together, surrounding and pinning the four of them towards the wall.

This was of no problem to Lucas however. Having no fear of the lasers and sparks shot from the weapons of the Karman, he fearlessly ran though nearby debris to shield himself from enemy fire.

Of course, this all was part of their plan. Much of the enemies' attention had been focused on Lucas. And Tyrone had used this to his advantage, sneaking through the small crevices of the room in hopes of getting a tactical advantage.

The two mages were providing supressing fire (supressive or supressing im not sure) to cover for Lucas. During the fire fight, they both managed to take down a handful of Karman, using their respective magic to both provide cover for Lucas and counterattack with their own.

"Good, good! This is good. Tyrone, you ready?" Lucas was pleased with the two magicians' performance. He called out to Tyrone, receiving an excited bark in reply. "Alright! Enhance Phys (M)!" Lucas' body began to strengthen, his toned body bulging ever more than it had before.

Now that they were both ready, Lucas dove out from his cover and leaped right into the open, gathering even more attention onto himself.

To the Karman, it would look like Lucas had run out of cover and had willingly jumped in front to protect his teammates. Except for that smirk on his face.

One Karman, particularly eager for the kill, propped his laser rifle and shot it at Lucas. Yet no laser was fired. The Karman then noticed a sharp pain in many parts of his body.

Scanning his stature, the Karman realized it was too eager to notice the bulging spikes that had appeared, no, had been impaled through his body.

And same went for the other Karman. The eager one looked at all his teammates, only to realize they were also pierced by these spikes.

Many dropped dead as blood began to rapidly pour out from their wounds. Some managed to survive and cling to life.

Only for a few seconds, of course. Until Lucas rushed towards each of Karman alive and brutally knocked their heads off their necks with a single punch.

Scary, the two magicians thought. What a fearsome duo, this dog and man.