Volume 1 Chapter 6: Tyranny Of Sherin

As Sielus had made his way towards the island of Sherin, the Tyrant of the island had received some information from one of his locals that some outsiders were on their way and were mages, sent to conduct recon against him and his people.

"And you expect me to believe some simple low-class mages pose a threat against me? you might want to check your words before approaching me with such vulgar information."

"My liege... I deeply apologize for my misconduct of vocabulary. I simply am returning the messages that I have retrieved from our source within the Ampharos Academy. Please do forgive me." The messenger said with relative fear in his heart. The Tyrant of Sherin was known for her quick temper and cruel punishment over minor crimes and disrespect.

Next to the Tyrant stood 4 individuals, her "Generals". They were the 4 chosen people to directly guard the Tyrant and command her Army, though small. 4 spies, 4 Generals. The weakest of these generals was recorded around High-Crystal Rank, and the strongest recorded at Emerald Rank. All were very worthy of their titles and even more powerful in dictatorship as well as combat.

The Tyrant sighed. "Well... I guess you ARE only a messenger. Very well." She snapped and within less than a second the messenger's arm was sliced off. "So, I'll spare your life at the very least."

The man screamed in agony as he was picked up by guards and dragged out of the Throne Room. She then made another snap as one of her generals disappeared with the blink of an eye. "The rest of you will continue your regular duties while he is out on reconnaissance. Dismissed." With that the other generals disappeared as well. She leaned back into her throne and stared off into the distance in thought. "Ampharos Academy, huh? They didn't even bother to send actual Mages. These ones I might send back as a message. Perhaps feed them to the dogs. They truly are fools to send mere students."

As the sun had just begun to rise from the east, Sielus and the 4 students had tied the boat to harbor, allowing the mission to officially begin. Gonzo jumped off and made an exaggerated stretch the moment his feet hit the wood of the harbor. "UGH! Well, we're finally here, boys. Sucks we can't see some actual action though, ya know? Train to become a fighter and you get stuck with recon. LAME!"

Belson: "Oh shut up. If you want to become an operator, first you have to do grunt work. See this as the first step to bigger things, okay?"

Gonzo: "Hmm... Yeah I guess you're right. But I wasn't raised to do slow tasks. I'm used to constantly moving and having to watch every corner around me, so I don't end up dead or something."

Serathin: "Drumund Choft's Baug?"

Gonzo: "Drumund Choft's Baug."

Satoru: "Anyway, we're officially in this now. The mission has begun, and we need to figure out what our first move is going to be. Since it's a recon mission we need to ensure that we don't get spotted or stand out of place in the eyes of authority. Considering the information we got before arriving, it's not hard to assume the ruler has some kind of army that does all the dirty work for them. Our best bet is to start off by spreading out and asking around about the ruler. We know absolutely nothing, so gathering intel from safe sources is the best way to go about this. Sound good?"

Gonzo: "...You've done this kinda thing before haven't you?"

Belson: "It's common sense."

Gonzo: "Oh well EXCUSE me for-"

Serathin: "Both of you cut it out. Satoru is right. We gotta split up. Let's meet back here every night at midnight to share what we've gathered. The moment one of us doesn't show is the moment this mission takes a left turn. It's just us now. Regardless of how we feel about this mission, each other, or even the island itself, we have to work together and get the job done. There's a possibility that any one of us, for whatever reason, could end up dead. Keep your guard up, your senses sharp, and whatever you do, don't get caught. Sound good?"

Satoru and Gonzo nodded. "Can't promise I won't harm anyone too bad, but I'll see what I can do." said Belson.

Gonzo: "Jeez dude you don't have to be so mysterious and sketchy all the time you know."

Satoru: "Then it's settled. I'll see you all at midnight."

Satoru turned his back and walked away from the group. The others would go and do the same thing, splitting off and going their separate ways. From the very beginning Belson had a strange feeling in his spine, as if someone were watching them. he didn't brush it off, but he didn't focus on it either. Belson made his way into the main city and into a pub, sitting down at the bar and ordering a drink. Gonzo went straight for the forestation towards any individuals residing within. Satoru decided to go the area closest to where the Army had their training grounds to observe them in close combat. Serathin went to go act as one with the locals, primarily the lower income individuals in the Underground Fighters Ring. Each one went to where they felt most comfortable and could interact accordingly. But Belson... he wasn't exactly in the most welcoming environment.

While he was enjoying his drink, using his magic to enhance his hearing, a drunk brute would come up next to him and order more drinks. It wasn't even noon and this man, along with others, were already heavily intoxicated. "Hey darling... give me a little more, will you?" he said holding his cup out to the female bartender. "I'm Sorry sir but I'm going to have to cut you off. It's far too early for you to be this way already, let alone get even worse." "Oh, come on."

The drunk grabbed her arm and squeezed a little tight, visibly hurting her. "Y-You're hurting me. please... let me go."

"Why don't we get out of here and go have some fun at my place? Maybe like... last time?" The man laughed at her while she seemed obviously scared. Belson put two and two together. This man had forced himself on her before and had continued to press on her for more, likely succeeding. Belson was already an easy man to snap, but he had a certain disdain for acts such as the one this man committed. He grabbed his arm and stared into his eyes through his hood. "She said you're hurting her. Let. Go." He was squeezing the man's arm so hard that he showed physical expressions of pain.

"L-Let go of me, man... LET GO!" His buddies, 4 of them, stood up and walked over. Belson dropped his arm as the other 4 surrounded him up close. "What the hell's your problem, bastard?" "You got some god damn nerve." "We ought to beat the hell outta you for that." They all said these verbal threats to him before the bartender chose to intervene.

"HEY! Not in here. Take your bullshit outside but you will not do that in here."

"Very well." said Belson. "Shall we?" He asked before walking towards the back entrance. The other 5 men followed behind him with smirks on their face and hands in their pockets, likely holding onto weapons to quickly attack Belson with. Belson already knew what kind of magic they had within them as well as any weapons they had after a quick bodily scan. Individually they wouldn't be anything close to a challenge, but together they made Belson actually think strategically about what he was about to do to remain unharmed. After a few quick thoughts... bingo. The plan was quickly devised and set in stone. His victory was already in play.

Once they had all split up on the pier and went their separate ways Gonzo had went into the forest in search of animals or even people who he could blend in with, Satoru had gone close to the military training grounds where he knew he'd best fit in and Serathin went to the Underground fighting ring where he had learned the location of after a quick bout in the back of an alley. Satoru had knocked out a lower enlisted soldier, one he knew was brand new and unrecognized amongst his peers, stole his uniform, weapon and joined within the formation of the rest of the soldiers.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE!" said the Officer. "Today you will be conducting combative training. You'll go head-to-head against your peers in one-on-one hand-to-hand duels. Up first we have Ferana and Pulkis. HURRY UP!" A woman walked into the center of the group and waited for her opponent. at first no one walked up until Satoru thought for a second, looked down and saw the name "Pulkis" on his uniform. "CRAP!" he thought. He ran into the center and looked towards his opponent. "BOUT DAMN TIME, NEW DICK! Next time move with a purpose, Roger?" "Roger, Sir!" he yelled back. The officer raised a knife-hand and struck it downwards. "BEGIN!"

The woman quickly charged at Satoru and threw a punch towards the center of his chest. Satoru raised his arms into an X to block the hit. Ferana grabbed an arm and pulled him towards her while side stepping next to him, throwing a spin-kick under him, causing him to float sideways for a bit. Satoru was caught off guard, he couldn't lie to himself. She threw a downward swing towards his torso, crashing him into the ground and lightly breaking it underneath him. "Oh, come on, Pulkis, don't let me beat you that bad." Ferana said. Satoru thought to himself "Huh. Well, this is gonna be difficult."

Serathin Made his way to the Underground Fighters Ring, the place that, when he thought about it, was the most comfortable with him. He used to be a gladiator, so a ring that focuses only on fighting is absolutely perfect for him. He walked down some stairs and was stopped by a much taller, more muscular man. "Sorry, kid. This place ain't for weakbodies. I'm gonna have to ask you to turn around, walk away and never come back."

"Eye of the Moon shines bright on the bold." Once Serathin said that the guard's expression and demeanor changed. He stepped aside and reached his arm towards the room he was guarding. "My bad. Must be a new face around here. Go right on in." Serathin walked past him and into the dark, barely lit room, filled with men and women, all very clearly in love with combat, easily visible by their body build. Serathin took one look and smirked. One person noticed the new face. Then another and another and so on so forth until the entire group was staring at him.

"Sup fellas. Mind giving me directions to an infirmary?... Cuz I'm about to create a bloodbath with all the bodies here."

Gonzo made his way through the forest, feeling uneasy the entire time. He felt eyes all around him at every point of the journey. He would try to brush his senses off, but he trusted them too much to do such a simple thing. While having conflictions with his own abilities he let his guard down and stepped inside of a rope. The rope tightened around his ankle and lifted him into the air. Gonzo was about to use some fire magic to burn the rope but heard footsteps quickly approaching. Soon he was surrounded by people in cloth uniform, all dressed relatively the same and with face paint on to help with camouflage. Gonzo became a little worried for two reasons. The first being that he was surrounded by sharp weapons imbued with mana, trapped, and had already broken the rule of remaining hidden and blending in.

The second reason was because Gonzo no longer felt the eyes on him, which was more worrisome than them remaining on him. He could also sense, off in the distance, a large figure retreating at speeds he could barely keep up with. Someone, or something, has been watching him up until now.