“You’re from the goloa race?! Why didn’t you tell me?” Rosa questioned, grabbing Kettei’s shoulders and shaking him

  “It’s not that simple” the queen replied, as Rosa stopped shaking Kettei: “The Goloa race is a race who’s heavily persecuted outside of Leadale. Had Shanyuan, his dad, and then him, revealed themselves as Goloas, they could’ve faced a potential death sentence. As stated by the article 7 of our legal code…every race who is unhuman shall be executed on the spot for staining Tempest’s purity”

  “WE HAVE SUCH A LAW?!” Rosa exclaimed, shouting, as she let go of Kettei and looked towards the queen, her eyes full of anger: “Do you realize how costly this could’ve been for him and his sister? What if they were found out and executed? Would their mother have lived with the pain?”

  “Rosa, please. There’s no need to make such a fuss. That article is only on the king’s constitution. He and the queen govern half the kingdom each. I grew up in the queen side of the kingdom, where there was less oppression” Kettei explained, looking down

  “But-“Rosa said, looking at Kettei

  “Don’t worry. We should focus on the main problem now. Say, your majesty, when’s Carl about to leave for Falkia kingdom?” Kettei asked, looking towards the queen with a serious glare

  “He should leave by tomorrow at 10 a.m. You should leave tonight but-“the queen replied, but Kettei quickly interrupted her

  “I can teleport myself there, as well as someone else, like two or three people beside me. Just decide by tomorrow who wants to come. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go eat something. I’m starving” he said, looking at Rosa and the others: “Rosa, you should stay here. I hate to say it, but you’re not ready for this. We’ll need you to mediate stuff here. Sora, I could need you in the team, as well as Rosalba and Manuela. They are healers, so we could need them as well”

  “What about Rob?” Yui asked

  “Yui, you need to stay safe. Rob is the queen’s secretary, so if you’re hurt you’ll be protected by him” Kettei replied, kneeling down to her, placing an hand on her shoulder: “You’re strong, but too young to go to fight an invasion, so for now, you need to stay here and wait. There could be troubles here as well”

  “You’re right, big brother” Yui admitted, smiling: “Just come back safe, okay? Oh, and say hi to cousin Riku, would you?”

  “Wait, what do you mean by cousin Riku, little one?” Queen Victoria asked, looking at Yui

  “Oh, our cousin, Riku Lawrence, was heir of the prime minister position, before the current one murdered his parents when he was sixteen, thus overthrowing him in a way” Kettei explained

  “WHAT DID YOU SAY?!” Queen Victoria exclaimed: “Your cousin is nobility? Holy shit!”

  “Language, your majesty. I’ll go get my team. We’ll leave in a few hours” Kettei replied, calmly

  “I brought you your fighting gi, it’s in the basement” Yui said, turning towards Kettei: “I’ll ask around if someone can make fighting gis for the others because… come on, who would fight on jeans?”

  “You gotta admit, she’s got a point” Rosa replied giggling, as they headed back inside the Kamome base. During the walk, Kettei and Sora started talking about a potential alliance between Crying Angels and Kamome, but they were just talks, nothing more. Once at the base, Kettei dressed himself in his fighting clothes, a dark green v-neck sweater with a black t-shirt under and a pair of light brown jogging trousers and black shoes, and explained everything and once he finished, everyone looked at each other to discuss to him about his picks

  “Sora is a safe pick but… Manuela and Rosalba?” Rob asked, looking at him: “Are you sure about them?”

  “I’m sure, Rob. But it’s better if I bring just one of the two healers. Who knows, some of you can be dispatched to other kingdoms to solve their own crisis. So it’s better if Rosalba stays here” Kettei explained, looking at Rob first, then at Rosalba: “She’s by far the better healer, but Manuela can develop and adapt her techniques depending on the situation”

  “Wait, how’d you know all this?” Manuela asked

  “There are cameras in the training room. Once or twice a week, I ask Justin to check on the cameras to see how you’re developing and tell me the updates. Let’s be real, Tempest has the greatest connections and we send aid to the kingdoms when they’re in dire situations. So I need you to be ready” Kettei calmly explained, looking ar everyone as he did that: “There will be times I’m not around, and there, you’ll have to protect the kingdom or the university”

  “That’s a fair reasoning, Kettei. And here I thought blondes were dumb” Rosa commented with a giggle, as Yui punched her in the head, which made Kettei smirk

  “Alright, Yui, we don’t punch friends here, do we?” Kettei said, his tone shifting from calm and normally indifferent to sweet and caring

  “No, we don’t, big brother” Yui replied, her head down

  “Just remember to apologise to Rosa, okay? Your gesture wasn’t nice although she could’ve saved that comment herself” Kettei gently scolded her, as everyone was watching, murmuring how he was a good brother. Once he was done scolding Yui, he turned towards Sora and Manuela: “I’ll see you here in a couple of hours. Go put more comfortable clothes or whatever”

  “Sure thing” Manuela replied as she went to her apartment to get some clothes

  “Here’s some funding, in case you need it” Queen Victoria said, giving them a pouch of money, like 200 ulukes, as Sora’s eyes widened in surprise

  “Are you sure we deserve this kind of money, your highness?” Sora asked, not sure about the money

  “I mean, we would’ve had to pay Kettei for the tournament, but it was cancelled due to the shadow beast incident, so this is a small bonus about it” the queen replied, as she turned around and walked away

  “So, how do we use it?” Sora asked, looking at Kettei

  “I believe we should wait to arrive at Falkia. I heard prices there are lower so we can use that to our advantage” Kettei replied, with his usually calm attitude

  “Fair enough. We could buy some weapons and stuff” Sora added in excitement

  “Mmm, I don’t know. Only if needed. Although I believe Riku will have some spare ones” Kettei noted, as he sat down on the couch, as after half an hour, Manuela came back dressed in white tracksuite pants and a grey sleeveless shirt

  “Ready to go now?” Manuela asked, in excitement

  “We were just waiting for you, Manu” Kettei and Sora replied in unison, with a bored look

  “Right, sorry I kept you waiting” Manuela giggled, as she walked towards Kettei and Sora: “So, how do we reach the falkian kingdom?”

  “Kettei will teleport us there” Sora replied, as Kettei nodded

  “This better not become an habitude if you two were to run late on a date” the blond-haired guy sarcastically commented, as both Manuela and Sora blushed, before placing an hand on Kettei’s shoulder. In the blink of an eye, Kettei, Sora and Manuela were at the Falkian kingdom’s gates. It appeared as a giant kingdom with a giant medieval style castle near the forest. However, many houses were in ruins in the southern part of the city, but the northern side was much more advanced and looking better

  “Weird, it’s almost as if it is split in two” Sora commented as the three of them walked by the kingdom, heading to the currency change office. Once there, Kettei handed the worker the 200 ukeles he had, only for the worker to give him back 400.000 falkian luftees

  “Excuse me, but why all this money?” Manuela asked

  “The tempestian currency is two thousand luftees each. You had two hundred ukeles, so now you have that much money” the worker replied to her, explaining in the process

  “I see. Thank you kind sir” Manuela added as she bowed and the three of them heard a shout from outside, to which Kettei and Sora quickly dashed outside to witness a teal-haired, red-eyed girl on ragged clothes being dragged away by some royal guards. By seeing this, Sora quickly sprinted towards the girl, but being 1 vs 4 he was outmatched. However, Kettei joined in after, kicking one of the guards in the face, grabbing the two of them and running off, as the guards chased after them

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  “You moron!” Kettei shouted at him: “Why did you attack?”

  “You think I would’ve left her like that?” Sora replied: “Did you have a better plan, you blonde fuck?”

  “YES!” Kettei replied loudly: “I was waiting for them to take their hands off and teleport her to safety”

  “Right, you can teleport” Sora admitted, facepalming: “So what now, champ? How do we escape this?”

  “Hmmm, oh, there. Let’s take that route!” Kettei exclaimed, as he started running left, taking a ragged mantle from the road and covering himself in the process, as the guards started chasing him, as they diverted their attention from Sora and the girl, who came back to Manuela

  “Where’s Kettei?” Manuela asked

  “He diverted the guards’attention to let us flee” Sora responded

  “Us?” Manuela said confused, as from behind Sora, the girl walked out: “Oh, I see why. What’s your name, lady?” she asked turning towards the teal-haired lady

  “Martha. Martha Anders. I was trying to flee the country but got caught at the gates and dragged by them towards the castle” Martha explained, as well as introducing herself: “Your friend may be in danger”

  “How so?” Sora asked

  “Those guards do enjoy torture. So either he’s dumb, or he has an ace up his sleeve” Martha replied

  “Kettei isn’t one to do something that stupid without a reason, so why would he-“ Sora got interrupted by the whoosh of wind caused by Kettei’s teleportation, as he was covered in blood: “Oh there he is. Hi Kettei” Sora added

  “Jeez, what happened to you? Is that even your blood?” Manuela asked

  “I’m alright. And that is my blood. I managed to beat them up and flee in time” Kettei explained, as in a flashback, he could be seen beating up those guards by himself, not without injuries, as he was nearly stabbed in the shoulder and leg, but eventually, he knocked them all out, before fleeing the scene, as back to the present, Martha’s eyes widened when Kettei narrated what happened

  “You beat those guys by yourself?! Those were elite guards” She exclaimed

  “Didn’t seem that elite to me” Kettei responded, with a smirk, looking towards Martha first, then as his glare turned serious, he turned towards Manuela: “Manuela, I need you to do something for me”

  “What is it, Kettei?” Manuela asked, looking at him

  “I need you to go to the east gate of the kingdom. Meet us there” Kettei replied as two guards snuck away, thinking to be unnoticed: “Alright, now that that’s taken care of, let’s talk about the real plan”

  “What do you mean, the real plan?” Martha asked, curious

  “You see, two guards were listening from under that window. They didn’t seem like the sharpest tools in the shed so I gave Manuela a false information to drive them off” Kettei calmly replied

  “Is this friend of yours really that confident?” Martha asked turning towards Sora

  “You have no idea how skilled that dude is” Sora responded

  “Anyways, I caught info there’s a ball at the castle in three days. Sora, Martha, I need you to go there when it happens and collect as much information as possible. Manuela and I will go looking for my cousin, Riku Lawrence” Kettei explained: “Use the money the queen gave us to buy yourself a fancy suit, and keep this around” he added, as he gave Sora a 15 cm long dagger

  “Awesome weapon, but… Why would I need this?” Sora asked, confused

  “One of the guards I beat up told me Martha is one of the prime minister’s sex slaves. If she gets recognized you might need a weapon to cut them off, just in case. After all, self defense is allowed in here” Kettei explained, as Sora’s face contorted in disgust

  “The prime minister uses young women like this for his own pleasures… Tell me how many I need to slain for their torment to end” Sora stated, his face turning from disgust to anger, as he clenched the dagger tightly.

  “Splendid. Well then, Manuela, my cousin should be at the west side of the kingdom. If I remember correctly, that is” Kettei said, as he gave the money to Sora and turned around, looking at Manuela, who nodded as the pair walked away. During the walk, they remained mostly silent, but eventually Manuela spoke up:

  “So… Are you usually this quiet?” She asked, looking at Kettei

  “No, but we have very little in common it becomes difficult to me to talk with you.” Kettei admitted, looking back

  “Well, you’re an interesting fella no doubt, but it’s hard to socialise with you. You barely talk about your problem, chico.” Manuela confessed, looking away, as Kettei sighed

  “I don’t know, maybe because I had to take care of my sister and mom, and instead of dancing in a disco, getting myself fucked up with alcohol, had to break my butt for two people?! I had responsibilities, you bitch!” Kettei snapped, his eyes filled with fury

  “Woah woah woah, didn’t mean to ruffle your feathers. I meant, maybe try open more? I know it’s not simple since you had an hard past, but maybe try a little” Manuela retorted, backing a bit in fear, but regaining her composure

  “You’re right. Sorry I snapped on you, Manu, but after some events I ended up growing paranoid and afraid everyone would judge me. My sister almost got raped when she was 5, my mom tried suicide a ton of times in those first three years my dad passed, I was mocked for wearing ragged clothing. It was a mess” Kettei confessed, with an heavy sigh, as they kept walking in silence. As they approached the base, they couldn’t help but feel like they were being followed. Eventually, Kettei turned around, as he looked around, seeing no one. However, Manuela purposefully dropped a coin nearby, as from out of the bushes 6 bulgrars jumped out, but got quickly handled by Kettei. Eventually, the two reached a base, only to find it empty

  “So, what now? Any ideas where to find him?” Manuela asked

  “He must have moved. I remembered his estate being this one” Kettei replied, as a citizen approached them

  “Sorry, you two. Are you looking for someone?” the citizen asked

  “Why yes, actually. We’re looking for Riku Lawrence. You know where he is?” Kettei asked to the citizen, before noticing something: “You’re starving. Let’s get you something to eat first”

  “Oh… You’re the first person who would say this, actually. Others would just walk away” the citizen explained, as they walked to a nearby restaurant: “Especially the northerners”

  “What about the northeners?” Manuela asked

  “Didn’t you see, dummy? The northern is much more developed, although the whys are unknown” Kettei responded, as he turned to the man: “Say, why is it like this, old man?”

  “A few years ago, the one who had to become prime minister had to leave the kingdom. The new prime minister has completely cut ties with the southern part of the kingdom and left a government with his men on command who handled our finances like crap” The citizen explained as they arrived to the restaurant, where the man started devouring an hearty meal. From afar, a masked man with dark blue hair, with shades of green, overlooked at their conversation from behind a newspaper

  “So… You really are here, dear cousin” the man mumbled to himself as he went back to pretending to read the newspaper, as back to Kettei’s table the citizen, Kettei and Manuela kept eating, until the blond-haired boy turned towards the mysterious blue-haired man who was looking at them, whom gave him a nod to head outside, before standing up and heading oitside

  “What’s wrong, Kettei?” Manuela asked, placing an hand on

  “Nothing. Let’s forget about it” Kettei replied, as he stood up: “I’ll be outside, will be back in a bit” he added, as he wiped his mouth and headed out, where the man was already waiting

  “Sorry I had to drag you like that, Kettei” the man said, taking off his mask, revealing purplish eyes and a scar across his right eye, as he was daunting a cloak covering the rest of his body. He was far shorter than Kettei, standing at around 175 cm tall, compared to Kettei’s 203 cms of height: “You’ve grown quite a lot, haven’t you, young one?”

  “Yeah. Pleasure seeing you again, Riku Lawrence” Kettei replied with a smirk: “It’s been how long? 6 years?”

  “Something like that. How’s Yui?” Riku asked, curious

  “You should go now, cousin. Guards are on their way” Kettei replied, as he was about to extract a dagger, but Riku stopped him

  “Those aren’t guards, those are my men. Relax, they dress as royals to sneak up in the castle to gather informations” Riku explained, as the approaching men removed their heavy armor, revealing a red cloak similar to Riku’s: “So, any news?”

  “Nothing serious so far, sir. They’re preparing the ballet. They say it’s gonna be a ball in mask though this could be handful. Also, who’s this tall bastard?” one of the guards explained, before asking that

  “This is my cousin, Kettei Izawami. Kettei, this is Fei-Yang, my second in command. Also a former Bellumian military general” Riku explained, while introducing the pair. Fei-Yang was a short man on his 30s, about 172 cm tall, with blue eyes and brown eyes

  “Nice to meet you, mister Fei-Yang” Kettei said, extending his hand towards him

  “Likewise, Kettei. Although… Weren’t there more of you?” Fei-Yang asked, as they shook hands. His questions, however, were quickly answered, as from a shop behind, a man was sent flying through a window by none other than Sora, whom then went to chase the man

  “Martha, what the fuck happened?” Kettei calmly asked, as he quickly used his free hand to knock the fleeing man out with a neck chop and held Sora from potentially killing him

  “Well, you see, he was constantly trying to touch me, and he went so close to kidnap me. Luckily Sora was there and you know what happened next” Martha responded, as she walked closer shaking

  “Ok Sora, kill his ass” Kettei quickly said, letting go of Sora who wasted no time on tearing the man’s limbs off, before beheading him

  “Maybe a bit too much, buddy” Riku commented, as he placed an hand on Sora’s shoulder

  “Well, served him right. Thanks for the dagger, Ket… Who the fu-“Sora responded, slowly turned to Riku, before realizing it wasn’t Kettei

  “That’s my cousin, bro” Kettei interjected, as he took the dagger, before bursting into laughter: “You really think I had the time to shorten myself and paint my hair blue?” He added, still laughing

  “Dyes, Kettei, they’re called dyes” Sora replied: “But no, I doubt you’d shorten what, 30 centimeters”

  “Kettei, I had your leftovers be made to-go. Just in case. Oh hi Sora, hello mr. Dead man, hello blue-haired guy I never saw before” Manuela commented, indifferently, before realizing: “Dead man?! Blue-Haired stranger?!” Everything just went south from there as Manuela shouted at Sora, Riku tried to keep the calm but to no avail, Martha was freaking out, and all of this was getting on Kettei’s nerves mainly.

  “ALRIGHT EVERYONE CALM THE HELL DOWN!” the tall man shouted, as everyone fell silent: “Now, Sora, better if you dispose of the body now. Riku, lead your men, Martha, me and Manuela to your base. Fei-Yang, you’ll accompany Sora once he’s done with the corpse’s disposal” Kettei ordered as he calmed down, to which everyone nodded. Kettei, Manuela, Riku and Martha, alongside the other men left for the base, as Sora disposed of the body and went there with Fei-Yang. Once everyone was together inside the base, Riku went to a small stage and spoke up:

  “Now, I’m sure most of you are aware, but we’re severely outnumbered. In order to gather men and overthrow the kingdom, we need to consolidate an alliance with someone. I already have a name in mind” he explained, as everyone listened intently

  “Who would that someone be?” Martha asked, as she raised her hand

  “The lyoness of Falkia, Alice” Riku replied, as everyone’s eyes widened in fear, some even took some step backs, with Martha and another few curling into a ball due to some traumatic events relied to that name