An Old Beginning

A wide courtroom stretched out with lines of people crowding its back-end.

Decrepit and corrupt stood the magister, responsible for the verdict of all who may be passed judgment.

The magister spoke slowly while glaring at the person in question with sharp eyes, the person's sentence was decided before the trial had even begun.

Not through corruption, but through inadmissible evidence.

"I need you to answer the question. Did you or did you not cause the deaths of 13 civilians, along with 18 district commanders and a former squadmate."

A tall thin man shrouded in long silver hair stood at the center of the room.

He smiled as if making a bold declaration, then vanished into thin air.

------- Welcome Back to Eyes of Ember ------ Volume 2 -------

3 months had passed since Mark's death, and a lot had changed.

Cassy and Kane were an item, Kane was Rank-5 and somewhat of a military celebrity, and a widespread invasion was taking place.

18 small projectiles seemed to pierce straight through a nearby tank, shredding apart its electronics and killing everyone within.

A small woman put her hand up to an earpiece, "We're done on this end leader."

Kane smiled and dropped the corpse of a southern district commander.

"Good work! Get back to base before daybreak."

"Yes sir."

Kane, now covered in a black cloak, seemed to turn invisible just as the police arrived on the scene.

He wanted to wait until he was the strongest in the country before taking on the government, but with the atrocities they'd committed during the war, his patience had worn thin.

He did some investigation and found the same Treychla informant Mark worked with. Now he led a small squad of defectors and assassinated major targets by night.

Killing still tugged at his soul, but there were more important things at stake, and the high-ranking leaders deserved no pity.

"We break off here, good job handling those tanks Marrisa."

"The pleasure is all mine, stay safe Kane," an excited voice came from the other end of the receiver.

Kane teleported straight to the anchor in his room and removed the shroud of Shadow Step.

He knew there were cameras in his room, so he had to hide his cloak while still invisible, sit on his bed, and pretend to exhaustively remove Shadow Step.

All they'd see is Kane sit on his bed to train, turn invisible, and reappear hours later, nothing suspicious to take note of.

Teleportation was noticeably different from turning invisible, if he just left the room like that they'd definitely catch on.

Despite working with Treychla over the last month, Kane had never visited the continent. With his current mana reserves flying across the ocean would be easy, but it'd be suspicious if he was spotted there.

And so, he continued risking his neck for a country he'd never been to.

Not that he wasn't committing treason against the United Aetherian Republic for personal reasons...

Kane put on a white blazer and headed out.

With a single teleport, he arrived in the middle of a restaurant and took a seat.

"You're late," Cassy smiled.

"All of the southern district commanders are also 'late' now," he let out a sigh while raising his hand to order.

"Hey, don't get too stressed out, nothing wrong with hunting monsters."

Kane chuckled, "Oh I know, I just feel bad for their families."

She stifled a cough, "Alright, now I get it..."

A waiter arrived at the table and wrote down their requests.

Some unknown seconds of silence passed before Cassy spoke back up. "You've been pretty busy lately, think we're good for a movie tonight?"

"I can't, I have an interview later," Kane frowned.

Cassy let out a disappointed laugh, "My boyfriend, celebrity magician, what on earth did I sign up for..."

"Apparently something magical," he teased, receiving a light hit to the shoulder in return.

"Hey, I told you there's no need to hold back your shoulder punches, I'm basically immortal."

She smiled cockily and leaned back into her seat, "I know, I just don't want to make punching annoying things at full force a habit."

Kane scoffed, "So I'm an annoying celebrity magician now, huh? I guess being a normal one wasn't good enough."

"Nopeeeee."

Another waiter passed by, setting a few servings of food down on the table.

Cassy raised her eyebrow, "You're having clam chowder again?"

"You're damn right I am!" Kane mumbled through his already stuffed mouth.

"I'm not sure I can be in a relationship with someone who likes clam chowder Kane, sorry!"

With a large gulp, Kane finished off the entire soup and pointed his finger towards Cassy, "Blasphemy I say."

It was a fun meal, but Kane had places to be, giving Cassy a kiss on the cheek he teleported away.

-------

"Ah, this suit's too stuffy."

"Quit complaining, I thought you military guys were supposed to be disciplined," an old lady scowled.

"Well sure, the normal ones maybe!"

As the muffled sounds of energetic music began playing from the other end of the curtain, the old woman began pushing Kane out of the room.

"Just get on the stage you brat."

Right as the music kicked up, Kane burst through the curtain and waved to the cheering crowd.

The show's host excitedly gestured for him to take a seat.

"So Kane, you seem to be the talk of the continent right now! Would you mind answering some questions?"

Kane smiled boldly, "I don't see why not, only if the crowd wants to hear my answers of course!"

Cheers erupted from the stands, whittling down as a uniformed man standing by the edge of the stage gestured for silence.

"... I'll take that as a no."

Canned laughter seemed to cut through the room.

Several minutes passed by as Kane was asked generic questions about what using mana is like, or how his life in the military is. Eventually, the final question was asked.

"This caller seems to want to know what exactly your job as a Manalite is, would you mind telling them?"

Kane smiled gently toward the cameras, "Of course, this one's pretty easy... I get rid of the bad guys for the sake of the continent."