1.45: The five-star Lieutenant’s defeat!

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

All the members of the Anti-ronins gathered in their meeting room. They all sat in their designated seats, but no one had their heads up. They were all informed about the tragic defeat against the newly built Elite Force. This was their first defeat in the eighteen years they defended Legon City as their own. And now they had to face the wraith of Mercedes, who felt the most hardhearted about their loss. All the Lieutenants and Vice Captains were forbidden from sitting on their seats. They all lined up side to side on their knees as they waited for Mercedes to give his say on where they would settle now.

"Lieutenant…"

One of the low-leveled soldiers called upon the leader.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY??!!" Mercedes looked at him with rage and killed him instantly. 

SLASH!!!

He decapitated him with his prowess, then butchered the rest of his body with ease.

"That's enough, Mercedes," Melvis said as he held onto his shoulder to make him stop.

"DO YOU WANT TO DIE AS WELL??!!" 

Mercedes was ready to swing his deadly thread across Melvis's throat, but Malcolm held his hand. Melvis opened his eyes, just gazing at the string near his nose.

"You are more suitable telling us our future rather than breaking everything we still need," Malcolm said. 

Mercedes let loose of his grip and exhaled. Malcolm slowly dropped his hand and then let go of Mercedes's arm. Melvis and Malcolm went back in the row and down onto their knees. Mercedes then walked up the stairs and sat down on his throne, even though it was for the last time.

"I think you guys are all aware of our current situation. Our base was built eighteen years ago, and Melvis and I were the first to set foot in this very place." Melvis chuckled as Mercedes said this. "You know, I'm the one who chose this place. This was my high school. Lime Rebellious High, was it?" He asked himself. "I had a lot of memories in this place; that is why I wanted it to be our hideout. But now we have a major setback. We were only allowed to stay here because we stopped the brats from headquarters from taking over. What went wrong this time, guys?"

Silent struck in the room as Melvis finally stood up.

"Permission to speak, General?" He asked.

"Go ahead, Brigadier Melvis."

"I was attacked by a blade made of scoria. When I heard Kagutsuchi lose contact with us, I got careless and laid my guard down."

Kagutsuchi got up next to him.

"Permission to speak, General?" He asked as Mercedes nodded to him.

"Gaiyato Aoi, I was attacked face to face by him. Seeing that lava surrounded me, I saw him come forth but didn't feel pressured. Just as I blinked, that brat I had cornered was in his place. The next thing I saw was that they switched places, and all went black."

"Teleportation Prowess and an attack strong enough to break through a dense-like prowess. He is a threat when he's not in the control of Williams." Mercedes said.

Lanna got up, but she didn't need to ask for permission. 

"General, I was attacked by The Veil Man. He had The Bear by his side and held us from behind. I failed to notice that it was him, for he also has the Teleportation Prowess. The only difference was that he could switch objects as well. A gun had been replaced with The Bear, and that's when they attacked us."

"Let's remember that those two are our main targets out of all problems. That was the plan until this happened to me."

He showed them the scar on his chest. It was still fresh and wide open, but he tolerated it like nothing. "The King attacked me."

They were all confused about what he said since he killed him 18 years ago.

"It looks like he now dwells in this kid who appears to be the hero of Legon City!" 

He glared at the screen, and Tedashii's face appeared. Mercedes waited for Azahii to explain everything, but the room stayed quiet. Mercedes felt a bit embarrassed, knowing everyone was waiting for an explanation. 

"Where the hell is Azahii?!" Mercedes asked as he stood up from his chair and looked around the room.

Melvis just set his hat on the table and shook his head.

"I'm sorry to tell you this, Mercedes. When he heard we aborted the mission, he left this letter on the table."

Mercedes used his threads to grab the letter. He skimmed through it quickly but began to focus on the last paragraph. 

~ I'm leaving you guys after eighteen years here. But I've left a present for ya. As you read, the Rebirth guild and the new captains are coming to your current location. I don't know if you will read it; regardless, I don't care. Let's see how fast you can run with luggage on you.~

He looked up at everyone.

"WHO ABORTED THE MISSION??!!"

Everyone kept quiet, knowing this would leave them with two consequences: Death or Death. Malcolm knew that he did so, but he didn't want to get taken down after getting so far. He began to raise his hand slowly.

"I DID IT!!"

Malcolm looked to his right. It looks like someone else took responsibility for the mistake. Mercedes walked off the stairs and stared at that person. When he reached there, his face lay no emotion.

"Soldier, what's the meaning of this?" Mercedes asked.

"Kim Tam?!" Malcolm asked.

He just smiled at him as Mercedes raised him from the ground. "You know what this means, Kim Tam?"

Kim Tam began to lose his breath, and his eyes turned red. But then Mercedes looked at Malcolm's face. He was in doubt that he would stop him, but he did not intend to stop him.

"*Exhale."

Mercedes then let him go but smashed him through the table.

CRACK!!

"We're leaving now. But you, stay and take responsibility. We lost all this, but you can reflect on it longer." 

They all left to get what they needed to take with them. Malcolm stayed by with him for a while.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT??!! YOU KNOW YOU WOULD HAVE DIED!!" Malcolm said.

"I'm sorry, I knew you did it. That's why I took the fall." Kim Tam said.

"You're an idiot. What would you do if he killed you?" 

"Well, guess I'd haunt you for the rest of my life."

Kim Tam laughed but then heard sobbing from behind them. It was Rico who was teary that they were going to use him as a scapegoat. 

"WHYYYY KIM TAAAAAAMM!!!" He held onto him while trying to push him off. The main door of the school was heard to have been kicked open. They all rounded up in the meeting room while everyone was bidding farewell to Kim Tam. 

"Sorry, Kid. But rules are rules, and we're just playing by them." Kagutsuchi said. 

"It's alright, Sir. I'll be alright from this point on." He replied. 

"It's a shame. The base will finally be quiet now that you'll be out." Lanna said.

"Even in prison, I'll keep picking on you; I promise you that!"

"Idiot.."

"All the other members are at the new base. I humbly thank you for all your hard work and loyalty. You will always be remembered as one of my best ARs." Mercedes told him and left a letter in his hand.

"Wherever you end up, please read that when you're alone."

 They heard footsteps getting closer.

"So long, Kim Tam."

All the AR members saluted him for the last time and then vanished. Kim Tam smiled and took a seat on Mercedes's throne.

"I envy you now, General. You had the best seat in the house, ha-ha."

He began to rock it and thought about the next step in his life. 

"I wonder. How should I go down? I should probably put up a fight…yeah, I will do that."

He kept thinking to himself up till the door opened. Lennox, Gonzales, Yamato, Bobby, and Sanji arrived at the scene, with more headquarters soldiers outside with the captains. 

"You're getting detained, Kim Tam." 

The one person he didn't want to see appeared as Azahii was lucky enough to see him get confined. He was a member of the AR from the start but was a member of the Rebirth guild.

"What gave you the balls to step in here, you traitor!" Kim Tam said.

"Traitors betray the people they are affiliated with. As you can see, I didn't do that." Azahii answered while he pulled out a cigarette to smoke.

"Do those people behind you know that you were killing teenage ronins for eighteen years?!"

"Killed? I haven't killed a single one of them. All I did was bring them back here."

Kim Tam thought profoundly and realized that he wasn't lying. Azahii was the only one not covered by blood or using his spiritas for every battle they attended. He always returned with a new person, which kept the Anti-ronins in numbers for so long.

"So why, WHY did you betray us?!"

"The only person that got betrayed is you, Kim Tam."

Kim Tam smirked. "What do you mean by that?" 

"Look around you." Kim Tam looked around, and all he saw were empty seats, with just him on one. "Everyone in the Anti-ronins knows you didn't call the mission off. We all have communicators; we all heard that it was Malcolm. Yet you wanted to play hero, so now look at you. Not a single person wanted to vouch for your innocence-"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!! AND WHO IS GOING TO STOP ME??!! YOU GUYS?? DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!!"

Azahii finally finished his smoke and threw it on the ground. 

"Aww, great. My cigar has already burnt out because of talking to you too much. But you're right; I think it's time to throw punches."

Azahii pulled another cigarette out of his pocket and lit it up. "Hey, Lennox. Do you mind me borrowing your rookie for a bit?"

Lennox looked at Sanji. 

"Do you?" He asked.

Sanji just nodded, shrugging his shoulders and walking towards Azahii.

"Kim Tam, meet your opponent. Sanji Rookie Mississippi." Azahii said.

"Uhh, Sir. It's Sanji Misaki-" Sanji tried correcting him.

"Do you wanna die while standing next to me?" Azahii asked him, building a massive amount of spiritas. Sanji was quick to shake his head and face Kim Tam.

"Good answer. Now show me what you got!"

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