1.18: The 5-star Lieutenants!

The remaining members of the Anti-Ronins gathered around their union room, settling into their designated positions. The three vacant seats belonged to Kim Tam, Rico, and Destiny. The room had five pillars with thrones, each one levitated from every step and rated from one to five stars. As the door opened, everyone stood up and saluted The Five Lieutenants.

In the AR, the stars list ranges from one to five, with one being the weakest and five the strongest. The Brigadier of the AR is the ambassador and longest-reigning lieutenant and holds the 1st star. The 2nd star belongs to the Major of the AR, former captain of the Red Rangers. The Lieutenant General is the only female ever to become a lieutenant and a former captain of the Pink Vipers and holds the 3rd star. The 4th star belongs to the Vice General of the AR, who was a lost ronin looking for his father twelve years ago and joined amid the ninth battle for Legon. Finally, the leader of the AR, the General, holds the highest rank with the 5th star and is the strongest of all. He is the only person known to have ever fought against Cheyzar. 

They all took a seat right before the Colonel, Azahii, spoke.

"All right, everyone. Sorry for the sudden meeting, but I came to address a problem we might face soon." All the members seemed confused; then, the screen displayed all the members of the Elite Force. "As you can see here, these are all the members of the rebel guild that entered the Central district this year. There are a total of nine members, but the reason I called you all was to apprise you of what we have here. Lieutenant Colonel Kim Tam, for the first time, has failed his task of recruiting or eliminating any of the rebels. Here is why,"

He then separated them into the top 5: Leah, Adrian, Yuro, Makoto, and Franco.

"These five are the ones with a kill count so far. And here is their star ratings."

All five Generals got up from their chairs when he began stating their star ratings.

"Adrian. Yellow hair and green clothing to a toll of 1 star."

The one-star General took his coat and headed out with his Brigade.

"Yuro. Orange hair, extremely bulky, has a toll of 2 stars."

The two-star General got up and went on with his division.

"Leah has long red hair and is also suspected to be a Fushigiri. Three stars."

The three-star General stood up and left with her division.

"Makoto. He has black hair and possesses a firearm with him. Franco, black with blonde hair, is the show's main star. They both added up to 4 stars. Careful out there, Vice."

He got up, dusted his cloak, and walked out with his Corpse Team.

Then, the last General sat back down, disappointed that he had nothing to do.

"As for you, boss. What should we do about the masked man who entered the District?"

"I guess our men can find and kill him off. I don't think he is that much of a threat."

"As you wish..."

Then his division went to go and restrain the masked man, and the room was strayed again.

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Adrian was exhausted, to a point where even the demoniacs were just as tired and sat down with him.

"*Huff...got to give it to you guys. You are all, *huff pretty fast."

They gave a less intimidating roar as they didn't seem hostile against Adrian. He then stood up, and they got up as well.

"All right! Let us keep running to keep our act up."

"ROAARR!"

And so Adrian and the demoniacs began running, happily, this time with no killing intent from any of them. His smile was one of many who finally found such close friends.

~Slaying Slasher of Swift BOLT!1

SWOOSH!!!

With a flash, all the demoniacs got annihilated. Adrian stood in place with the fear that he was the actual target. As he turned around, he was glad that it was Ado who came by.

"Adrian, are you okay? Those demoniacs were chasing you. Thank goodness I came by."

Adrian was in disbelief as tears streamed down his face. The only beings that had ever given him attention and made him smile were dead. "...why, does it always happen to me…"

"Uhhh, did they do something to you?" Ado asked.

"They gave me some ATTENTION!"

Just as he said that and looked back up, Ado was already gone from that area.

"My, my. That wasn't nice of your friend."

Adrian charged towards the source of the voice, delivering a powerful strike with his fist. Yet, to his bewilderment, he made contact only with fabric, resulting in a sharp pain in his lungs.

"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH!"

He immediately fell to the ground, gasping for air. He didn't think twice about charging spiritas up and then ran ahead.

"BOSS! We are sorry we arrived late. Where is the target?"

"Go search for him around the city. I'm sure he got affected; he won't go too far."

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Genti managed to get his vision back. His head was still paining, but what was worse was that the ice somehow didn't melt at all.

"AWW COME ON!"

He exerted force out of his entire body, flexing his limbs and chest to try to crack the ice. Slowly, it began to crack, and he broke free. He didn't think of anything else but the whereabouts of Suzuki. "That damn ice lady took Su with her. I must find them!"

He used his water prowess to slide onto the ground as fast as possible with his Beast Prowess to keep track of all the movements in his radius. To a sudden stop, he slowly walked towards the corner of a building. He then saw ten of the men who came with the Elite force. They were all keeping their guard up with different firearms, but he knew that if he approached them, he would be seen as an intruder and get killed. So he kept his distance.

Later on, a lady dressed in blue came near them.

"Miss, please freeze and state yourself."

She didn't say anything; she just kept walking forward.

"Madam, we are warning you."

"Agent, please report your situation."

"Sir, there seems to be a lady walking out of direction. Purple eyes and hair, and does not want to stop approaching us."

"Is she wearing an orange cloak?"

"No, Sir. It's a blue cloak with the initials…"

SLASH!!

His head went rolling towards his comrades. They all stepped back and held their weapons at her.

"Soldier, What in tarnation was that sound? Do you Copy?"

"Don't worry, Sir. There seems to be no problem at all."

She grabbed the communication device and destroyed it later on. Her attention then turned to the other soldiers.

"…STAY AWAY FROM US! WE WILL FIRE!"

"Come on, boys. Why the retaliation? It would be best if you guys felt tense. Let me calm your thoughts."

She slowly kept getting closer and closer to them and, in the process, began unbuttoning her top. With that, they lost focus and slowly lowered their guns. She approached one of the soldiers and pulled out the gum she was chewing. "You want some?"

Feeling highly prompted, he walked towards her with his mouth open. She smeared the gum on his forehead as he finally got close enough. All the other soldiers felt desirous and ran toward her; then, she pointed at his chest with one finger.

~CRYSTAL PROWESS: WHISTLING CUT!

WHISTLE!!

And as she said that, a thunderous whistle sounded across the entire District. The soldier felt nothing else other than crystals go straight through his chest and eradicated all the other soldiers behind him. Before he died, she took off the gum on his forehead and put it in his mouth, leaving him to part with a smile. She then followed up with a giant crystal that split his jaws open. "Men should know their place. Absolute trash…"

Genti, who was defenseless against any ronin with the ability to solidify liquid, decided to flee. However, his attempt was foiled when he stepped on a branch, revealing his location. Looking down and back up, he saw her - the ronin he was trying to escape from. Without hesitation, he turned around and ran away as fast as possible.

"MADAM! Our apologies that we arrived late. Where is the target?"

"That was not my target. Go get that ronin and finish him off."

So they ran after Genti while she went searching for Leah.

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Leah was taking charge ahead of Dazai and Yaryura. They followed her without knowing where she was taking them. As they reached the city's highest tower, she took action.

~NEEDLE PROWESS: A THOUSAND THREADS!

She sent strings out of wind and swung around to the other side of the building. Dazai and Yaryura were confused about what she was doing, so he glided around the building with his water prowess. "Leah, don't stray too far. We need to-" 

HIT!!

Halfway through, Leah returned to strike him in his face.

She kicked Dazai, but he created a water wall to guard himself. She pushed the barrier away, and Dazai flipped back before regaining his footing.

"What is the meaning of this, Leah."

She made it on her feet. "You can't fool me."

She summoned needles and slashed them toward Dazai. Yaryura didn't dodge, so she got hit by every single one.

"OWW OWW OWW OWW OWWWW!!"

Dazai slowed their speed with water pressure and fired water bullets at her. She jumped around to dodge as much as possible.

"What the hell are you even talking about?"

She stared ahead in his direction and had a flashback.

***

--- --- *Before the mission; 10th Quarts Apprehension* --- ---

***

Everyone was preparing for the mission as Dazai and Yaryura left the room. Leah quickly called Yuro to the side.

"Huh, what gives Lee?"

"*Whispers…"

"What? That's impossible. They are just survivors like all of us."

"Don't you find it weird that out of all of us, they were not seen at the beginning of the reckon?"

Yuro finally got a grip on the situation.

"At the highest tower, can you help me?"

--- ---

~FIRE PROWESS: IMPACT FLAMES!!

BOOM!!!

Yuro came slamming from above with a tremendous attack, expanding the space between Leah and Dazai.

"You better be right about this, Leah. I hate being the wrong one to start a fight." He said.

"Trust me, I know they aren't with us."

Dazai got back up, and a smirk broke onto his face. "Well, to think you guys weren't that easily fooled. I'm surprised you got us so early."

Yaryura took the needles off her body. "Hey, what do you mean by US?!"

"Yaryura, you can cut the act. We got caught."

She angled her head sideways. "HUH? I don't know what you're talking about!"

Dazai became annoyed. "YOU IDIOT! We are the traitors, and THEY are our enemies Now!!"

"GASP! I AM the traitor?… Why are we betraying them?"

His blood began to boil as steam produced from his face.

"BECAUSE WE ARE BAD GUYS AND THAT'S OUR JOB!!!"

She took a step back. "DAZAI!! I didn't know you could use fire as well."

He realized he couldn't produce steam from his face and looked down to see Yuro's fist through his chest." I always wanted to see what it looks like inside a kettle."

He increased the velocity of heat around his body.

"HAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!"

~FIRE PROWESS: CASTING IMPACT!!

BOOOM!!!!

Yuro sent Dazai flying, and Yaryura screamed as his body landed before her. "GYAAAH!!!"

"Stop yelling, I'm fine."

Yuro and Leah were shocked that he survived that. Surprisingly, Yuro got attacked by Dazai's legs from above. He blocked and dodged all the kicks thrown at him just as his upper half punched him from the back and then merged into a whole.

~WATER PROWESS: PRETENDING VOLLEY!

VWOP!

Bullets were flying from all directions. Yuro tried to dodge them, but their diameter was too small to be accurately avoidable. "Shit! There's too many!"

He kept on struggling until he stopped and began charging spiritas.

~FIRE PROWESS: BURSTING IMPACT!

BOOM!!

He punched the ground and caused a giant heat wave through the street. Dazai got blasted away, and Yaryura found a pillar to hide behind. Leah approached her and kicked her below the jaw. She got hit off her feet, but Leah didn't stop there and kept on attacking her with kicks since Yaryura couldn't block any of them at all.

"OUCH! You're pretty, OWW, good Leah. Where, ARGH, did you learn how to, OOF, hit so hard?"

Leah felt like her attacks were not affecting Yaryura at all. She summoned a needle and stabbed her in the chest. In pain, she rolled away to the ground. 

"OWWWYYY!! THAT WAS PAINFUL!!"

Leah pulled out the needle, yet she spotted no scratch on Yaryura.

"Huh? How are you still fine?"

"Easy. I possess a mythical prowess called the Technora Prowess."

Leah summoned more needles and fired straight at her. Yaryura opened her arms wide and took the blow head-on. The needles were forced into her skin and launched back into Leah. She moved but got hit with one on her shoulder.

"Ya see! I am a tinted human!!"

"Your Prowess never seems not to surprise me, Yaryura."

She turned around and was glad to see who it was.

"GASP!! MAJOR KAGUTSUCHI!!"

She leaped to try and hug him but got severely burned by his coat. "GYAAAAHHH!!! IT BURNS!!"

"You should know better than to do that."

Yuro immediately leaped back up and went to protect Leah. "Who the hell is this guy now?"

"Ah. You must be Yuro; thank you for making my job easy to find you."

He began building spiritas, and then lava started dripping onto his arms. "Now then, let's see what burns worse. Fire, or lava."

~LIGHT PROWESS: LIGHT SHRINE!!

BWOOOOSHHHHH!!!

Yellow light blew Kagutsuchi up as Rin looked at Yaryura and punched her.

"YEAH! Her face REALLY pissed me off."

They were glad to see him, but Yuro rushed quickly to push him out of the way before lava buried him alive.

SPLOOSH!!

The lava fell on the road, melting anything that came in contact with it, and began to sink into the ground. "That is impolite to hit your elders like that."

Kagutsuchi said as he got back into one piece.

"Elders, you say. Well, how about we dance, you geyser!" Yuro taunted him, and Kagutsuchi didn't like it at all.

"OH, WE'LL SEE IF YOU'LL STILL HAVE THAT SMIRK ON YOUR FACE!!"