Zedan's Resurgence (9)

Airsan's encounter with Kebisu had him shaken up for a while, but he'd eventually get over it. What he didn't realize was that because of that mission, Airsan had inspired a lot of people to work harder and strive to be greater so that an incident like that won't happen again. He would be present at the memorial for Kim, Mika, Yuno, and Lester.

"Watch me," he said. "I'll be something you all will be proud of."

Flame would finally get his promotion to the Alpha Squadron along with Airsan. They were partnered up with a girl named Ari. She was a martial arts specialist. They quickly became friends with each other. Over time, Airsan would continue to send resources to his home village, Ofri. On off days, he'd go along with Flame and Ari to help upgrade the village.

After one year, Ofri was recognized as an official town instead of a village. They had running water, electricity, food, and a much larger population. After Ofri's upgrade was complete, Airsan invested in building a major city near it. He got the funding from his own pay, and from the donations of the civilians of Royal City. The advisors of the First Order didn't like the new constructions at all, but had to allow them anyway, as there wasn't much they could do to stop it. By the time Airsan was eighteen, the new city, Zedot, was complete. The people of Ofri and the elder couldn't have been more proud of him. At this point, Airsan, Flame, and Ari became an iconic three-man squad across Zedan. They were singlehandedly reviving the country's economy. Other countries were willing to begin trading with them again too.

The civilians of Royal City would protest outside of the First Order's palace, demanding that they made Airsan the next king of Zedan. In just a few days, the new king was announced. Airsan, Flame, and Ari were present at the coronation. One of the advisors stepped outside onto the balcony of the palace to address the people.

"People of Royal City!"

Everyone grew quiet.

"You've been asking for a king for the longest time!"

No one cheered at this, because Airsan was on the ground outside with them. If it wasn't Airsan, then the new king couldn't be as good. A tall man slowly walked into the light on the balcony, wearing the red robe of the king. He was pale, with short brown hair parted to the left, and well built. But his eyes were unforgiving. Those eyes weren't those of a merciful king.

"From the wealthy Cailtron family!"

Airsan's eyes widened.

"All hail, KING CAILTRON!!"

There were few that cheered. The band begun playing royal music, and confetti rained from above. It should have been a great day. But Airsan saw someone who wasn't supposed to be up there. That someone walked up behind Cailtron that he hadn't seen in a long time. The new king introduced him.

"As I am extremely pleased to become king of this country, I wouldn't have gotten here without my partner."

The silver haired man came into the light with a slight smile on his face. He was looking directly at Airsan.

"My partner, Jocan."

"Jocan?!!" Airsan said. He was in shock.

"You know him?" Flame asked.

Airsan held his hand out. "Hand me your target book Ari."

Ari handed it over. He flipped through the pages. "There. Him."

Flame and Ari looked at the man on the page. It read:

*Jocan, S-Rank target, **Danger To Humanity**.*

"Wait, how?!" Flame said. "If he's a criminal then why is he backing the king, rather, why are they letting him up there?!"

Airsan was staring down Jocan. "The Seventh Order is behind this. Those advisors did this on purpose."

He turned around and headed for the Knight's HQ.

"What are you doing?" Ari asked him.

"They plan on overthrowing the country. Jocan is gonna head for Zedot and Ofri first."

--

Airsan went to tell Lotus what happened.

"Of all people, huh." Lotus took the news surprisingly calm. "What are you gonna do?"

"I'm heading to Zedot." Airsan replied. "Then I'll come with you. We won't stand for this."

The four of them went to Zedot and began getting people out of the city. Lotus volunteered to take them somewhere safe. So he went on, leading a crowd of several thousand going north. Back in Royal City after the event was over, the advisor spoke to Cailtron and Jocan in private.

"Kill them, and destroy Ofri and Zedot." he said.

Jocan's eyes lit up. "Gladly."

In the wasteland surrounding Zedot, Airsan and Ari were waiting for Jocan's arrival. A black circle appeared. Both Jocan and Cailtron exited from it.

"You go to Ofri, I have this under control." Jocan said.

Cailtron glanced at Airsan for a moment, then blasted off towards Ofri. Jocan and Airsan charged themselves up.

"Back me up." Airsan told Ari.

She prepared herself.

Jocan was much stronger than Airsan remembered. He was not just stronger, but faster as well. But Airsan wasn't a kid anymore, he could keep up now.

Ari played her role in providing backup.

Jocan relentlessly let off large scale acid, poison, and dark energy attacks.

Airsan had learned how to perfect his Lightning Storm, so that there was no recoil.

In Ofri, Flame had to hold off Cailtron from destroying the town. But the king was very powerful. Flame's attacks had little to no effect on him. Still, he was determined not to let him destroy Airsan's childhood home. He tried and tried, but Cailtron was having his way.

Luckily, right before Cailtron finished Flame off, Lotus finally came back. His Lotus Flower techniques combined with Flame's firepower was just enough to put them equal with Cailtron. They were able to take him down.

"We have to move back to the others." Flame urgently said. "Let's go."

Meanwhile, Airsan and Ari were having trouble with Jocan. They had acid burns on their arms and legs, and Jocan wasn't tired at all. Lotus and Flame quickly arrived. It turned into a 4 on 1.

"So I've lost again hm?" Jocan smiled. "The Phantoms won't be happy with Cailtron failing them like that."

"What are you talking about?!" Airsan yelled.

"Nyx's Phantoms run things behind the scenes. They spend their time conducting experiments on living beings, hoping to reach some goal. Likely to heal Nyx's blindness with Ultimate Healing."

Airsan couldn't understand what was going on. "Phantoms?"

"Yes. There are 3 Phantoms, all of which are strong enough to make someone like me look like an insect."

"Seriously? That's who runs the Seventh?" Flame said.

"Enough chatter." Jocan charged a massive sphere of dark energy.

"I thought you said you lost!" Airsan said.

"Oh I did. I lost this fight, but my experiment here was a success." He let off his blast.

"EVERYONE, DON'T LET IT GET TO THE CITY!!!" Lotus yelled.

All of them put everything they had into countering the massive orb of dark energy. While they focused on this, Jocan suddenly appeared behind them. Airsan and Lotus noticed, but not before Jocan proceeded to kill Ari.

"The girl comes back with me." Jocan opened his black circle and vanished once more.

With tears in his eyes, Airsan let out one last scream to push off the dark energy.

Flame was the first to speak. "Why would they do all of this if they weren't serious? I thought they worked for the advisors!"

Airsan laid back on the ground, "We got played." He said in a depressing tone. "Nothing we can do about that."

Fast forward some weeks afterwards.

Lotus resigned from the First Order. "I'm not coming back until I find Jocan. I'll track him down if it takes the rest of my life."

Airsan nodded.

Lotus left. But Zedan was going to be fine. Airsan forced the advisors out of the palace, and took the throne by force. He reopened talks with other countries, and started building roads and more cities and towns across Zedan. He also opened a fighting academy where he personally trained the students. This marked the start of a short era of peace in Zedan.