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C1404

Occasionally, when one was standing right before the gates of death, certain memories would resurface as if wanting to accompany its owner on their journey.

More than two thousand years ago, inside one of the Magus Alliance's military bases, a group of one hundred people could be seen standing about. These people were young magus who had just been admitted to the newly-formed Magus Brigade's Platoon.

In this period, the now renowned Magus Academy had yet to form. Back then, regardless of experienced or inexperienced, young magus were sent directly from their homes to the Magus Alliance as tributes.

This particular day, however, started with quite a commotion. The reason for that was because among these hundred magus, there was a squad of twenty people composed entirely of half-blood magus.

"Hahaha," Someone's laughter echoed through the air. "No wonder it smells in here!"

As if they were working together, a response quickly appeared. "Well, there's nothing you can do but get used to it. After all, there have been more and more of them these days."

Hearing the conversation clearly ridiculing their kind, the half-bloods returned the gaze. Led by a fierce-looking man with short brown hair, the group approached those who had spoken earlier.

"Let's see if your skills are as sharp as your tongue." Towering over the man whose face turned pale, he firmly declared, "Fight me!"

Thankfully, before the situation managed to escalate any further, a man with long white hair stopped the brown-haired man in his tracks. "Stand down, Lucius. The officers are coming"

"Huh! You are no fun, Alduin!" Even though the fierce-looking man complained, he still did as he was asked.

In the meantime, a pale-skinned beautiful young woman among the group looked with an enthusiastic look on her face as four figures were drawing closer towards them. What caught everyone's attention was that the four newcomers were peak stage Full Moon magus.

"Look, there is Delbrand! The Ghost of Lymhurst in the flesh!"

Each of the four people were known by everyone present as they were well-known veterans of the Magus Alliance. However, the fifth person, a grand magus figure that came last, was the most famous of them all: their Platoon Commander, Altus Dresden.

As the five figures arrived and stood before the group of young magus, the young vice-commander Delbrand spoke to his colleagues in a disappointed manner.

"Senior, those people gave us a bunch of misfits, the rejects of the other platoons." He was silent for a while, before eventually shaking his head. "I'd rather go to the battlefield with just the five of us, than to take care of these brats."

Chuckling, the middle-aged man who arrived last "Hahaha, you were not much different back then Delbrand, trust me, we will make this work"

That year, not only did Altus receive his first Platoon, it was also the moment he finally discovered his calling as a teacher. A gentle smile appeared on his face as his gaze scanned over the hundred young magus.

However after days of training, it only showed how troublesome these young magus were.

"Senior, these kids… most of them have no basis whatsoever."

As if expecting such a question, the middle-aged man nodded slightly, "You're correct. They are from different worlds, after all. But don't worry, we will focus on their teamwork first, before any technique comes into play."

Over the next few months, Altus was able to show others that he had what it took to be a model teacher. His teachings were considered legendary by many, as he managed to bring together a bunch of misfits and develop them to be troops ready for the battlefield.

The misfits, the rejects, the troublemakers, the animals; all sorts of demeaning names were given to them, both the members and the platoon as a whole. All because of their past histories.

Even so, Altus did not let his students dwell too much on the matter. Despite the blatant discrimination they received, the platoon managed to climb up the stairs on the contributions leaderboard.

In the following years, the Magus Brigade's 121th Platoon – the Misfits Platoon as others would call it – continued to grow in popularity and fame. They had become a rather prominent entity, both amongst humans and their enemies – the elves.

Altus Dresden was the pillar of the platoon together with his vice-commander Delbrand. There were also another six talented half-blood magus who, despite the many controversies surrounding their race, Altus took as his direct disciples.

Those six went on to showcase their prowess to the outside world, achieving feats and accomplishments that earned them titles of their own. Alduin Talon the Dragon Prince, Lucius Corvin the Golden Wolf, Silviana Ouroboros the Silver Serpent, Ragnar Callas the Blazing Tiger, Liv Lujza the Purple Peacock and finally Zenonia the Void Bat.

In a span of fifty years of service, most of the members of the platoon had reached the peak stage of Full Moon magus. Because of that, they began to be entrusted with completing the most dangerous missions. Still they managed to show the alliance how they were able to complete the task.

"Dresden and his half bloods, they have proven their worths."

"It appears there will be much more we can cooperate with in the future."

"No… no… when working with a beast, you need to always lashed them or they will bite back."

Not long after, the 121st platoon were sent on a mission to a planet that had been slaughtered by five legendary bloodline of elf magus, the Blood elf.

It was an incident that would become known as the Blood Cataclysm.

Altus and his bunch of misfits were not properly informed or prepared for a battle at such magnitude, thus they ended up taking heavy casualties. More than half of their number were killed; amongst them were his two direct disciples, the Blazing Tiger and Purple Peacock.

If not for the timely arrival of a supreme magus reinforcement, their platoon would have been wiped out entirely.

After that bloody incident, Altus chose to resign from his commander position in search of a new calling. Thus the origins of the founding of the Magus Academy: a centralized education body for talented acolytes where they would be prepared beforehand to become future leaders.

All with one idealism of unity.

Every direct disciple had their own interpretation of Altus' teaching of unity.

Alduin Talon did so by founded his own legacy and building an ancient half-blood kingdom. Silviana Ouroboros returned to her duty as crown princess of the Serpent clan. Lucius followed his master's steps and became a commander of a new Magus Brigade, while Zenonia, someone with no home to return to, decided to follow her master, becoming one of the instructors of the newly-built Magus Academy along with a dozen other Altus' disciples.

This, however, was the start of a tragedy for Zenonia. As she followed her master closely, she saw firsthand how her master – her idol – slowly sank into the abyss called bureaucracy. How his master started turning a blind eye to injustice, slowly destroying his ideology and their dreams of unity.

"Change is progress, Zenonia and we cannot rush it."

"Did you know, Master? They knew exactly who those elves' monsters were and yet, they still sent us! They were trying to kill us! Why? Just why!? Jealousy? Fear?.... All my friends… Why do they have to die…?"

A sigh sounded in the air.

"I'm sorry I disappointed you. I had to compromise for the sake of a better future, but you… I hope you can always stay true to yourself."

Those words crushed her heart. From that moment, their relationship gradually began to drift apart; until now, when Zenonia finally had her own ideals. One that in her eyes was true to herself.

Power.

With power, she would be able to thrive to her ideals. One that would abolish any bureaucracy.

"Master, did I do wrong…? All I did… All I did was following your teachings."

Unwilling to fall for nothing, Zenonia chose to take drastic action. She decided to unleash all the cosmic power within her core in one fatal disastrous spell.

[Black Hole]

The combination spell of space and gravity manipulated the fabrics of space and created an extremely unstable hole in the sky. Its rapidly swirling appearance looked extremely menacing, eager to devour anything in its path.

"Let me go, or we will both die here together."

Emery witnessed how the hole was enlarged in each second, destroying and pulling apart the dark plains as stone and air were sucked in by the extreme force.

"Release me now! And I will let you out of my domain, even leave the planet!"

However, much to Zenonia's surprise, Emery still did not budge. "No! Releasing you will only bring more harm to others. I'm prepared to die and take you with me… this is a good trade!"

After saying those words, instead of trying to escape, Emery held the female magus tighter as the world within the domain started to crumble apart.

To be continued