Volume Six - Desert

## Chapter 61 - When I First Met You (Pt. 1)

### Kasper

"After many long years, everything has been built, and our humble school is fully ready to teach." The man on the television, Adriaan van Kooji, says. "And by teaching all of you, we hope to bring forth a better tomorrow, and a perfect future." Kasper admired that man, a visionary capable of creating a hologram of anything, and who wielded the power to teach all who met him, for this better tomorrow. The television soon turned off, as Kasper lied down on the couch and assumed a fetal position. "Young Master Maibaum, please come to eat." His butler, Gerald, says. "I'll...be there..." Kasper mutters, as Gerald leaves.

Another meal...that he would eat without his parents...he only knew them from pictures. A tall, muscular, yet seemingly plump man who wore a smile on his face and a slender, white haired woman who always seemed stoic. They had given Kasper...this entire mansion, and plenty of servants, although Kasper himself had been trying to work on something, but couldn't find the energy to do so. He wanted to make a video game, many, in fact, and finally earn something rather than just been handed it. But...he could not motivate himself to pursue it. He picked up his game console and walked into the large dining room.

He sat at his seat and stared down at his meal, steak with grapes on the side. He began to slowly and weakly cut the stake, as Gerald clears his throat. "Young Master Maibaum...you parents will be arriving tomorrow for the dance." Gerald says, as Kasper looks up a bit. "Really...?" Kasper asks quietly, as Gerald nods his head. "Yes, they will be coming, and have invited other powerful people to come here." Gerald answers. "You may be able to meet someone new then." "I see..." Kasper replies, as he bit into the steak. He felt a bit happier than normal, knowing his parents were visiting. He didn't know what to wear to the party, though.

After having finished his meal, Kasper decided to walk back to his room. Inside it was a large bed, along with a lamp beside it, and drawers everywhere. A poster of Kooji and his catchphrase 'For a Better Tomorrow'. Kasper collapsed on his bed and looked around at the dark room. It was filled with so much, yet felt empty...Kasper signed, and turned off the lights. It wasn't long before he felt tears rolling down his cheeks. He...wanted someone...now that he realized. He set his console down and tried to fall asleep, continuing to cry.

### Candice

Standing there was Lynx, holding a training sword and shield, and standing on the other side of the training arena was Candice, who smiled at the man who was essentially her combat teacher. "Go easy on me, okay?" Candice asks, Lynx sighing. "That's the entire point." Lynx replies, as they ready to fight. Candice was put through this every day by her father, who she rarely ever saw. Her mother had been rather absent as well, so her father's direct advisor, Lynx, was put in charge of looking after and training her. She was meant to awaken her Psychic Weapons, but didn't know how to do it.

Lynx rushes at Candice, slashing at her, as Candice leaps back to try and not be hit, before being whacked in the face by Lynx' shield. "Gah!" Candice shouts, before trying to form her Psychic Weapons. Although she managed it, they weren't much more than small hands, which were knocked away by the sword and shield as Lynx slashed at Candice's horn. Candice tries to make another Psychic Weapon to block, but although she once again manages it, her horn is halfway chipped, and she collapses to the ground, holding her head in pain. Lynx backs away from her, as she is then healed by Qian.

"Get up." Lynx instructs, as Candice does so. "Your injuries are healed, Princess." Qian says, as she then holds out an invitation. "And we've been invited to a dance at the Maibaum Manor." "Maibaum?" Candice asks. "Some human family that's rich and famous for some reason." Acrux answers. "I don't see the point in going." "Maybe we should ask His Majesty, he came in after all." They all bow, excluding Candice, to Copernicus, who had just entered. "I have caught word of a dance meant to bring together powerful families." Copernicus says. "However, it would be inconsequential to satisfy the wants of humans.

"Aww...but I wanna go." Candice says, as Copernicus turns around. "There is no need to, and you must be kept safe to continue our species' survival." He says, as he begins to walk away. Then, Candice gets an idea. "And that's why we should go!" Candice shouts. "Because I might get a boyfriend!" "...If that is the reason...you *will* acquire a mate." Copernicus replies. "Otherwise, this...'party'...will have been a waste of time. Dress for the occasion, and all four of you are to accompany us for defense." "Agh! Why do we have to go to some dumb dance party?" Acrux demands. "Because our King demands it." Lynx answers.

## Chapter 62 - When I First Met You (Pt. 2)

"Is he in here?" A voice asks, as Kasper turns to see his parents standing there. "Wh...?" Kasper trails off, as his father smiles widely and outspreads his arms. "You've grown up so much!" He shouts, as Kasper gets out of his bed and walks over to them, being hugged to almost the point of suffocating by his father. "Gh!" Kasper wheezes. "Friedrich, please be more careful with our son." His mother says. "Ah, it's alright, Viviane. Was about to let go anyway." Friedrich replies, as he lets go of Kasper and lets him get some air. "You can bring the console if you want, but you should also get dressed and ready for the party." He says, Kasper nodding.

As Kasper walked out of the changing room, he was wearing the same design of outfit as yesterday, and picks up his console before walking to the party. There were plenty of people attending it, and dancing, but the people who caught Kasper's eye the most were the blue people with the grey horns. "Socqreath..." Kasper breathes, as he sits down on a chair and looks again. A tall man with indigo hair worn in something of a braid wore regal clothing, and was guarded by a shorter, although still a bit tall, man with light blue hair, and was wearing formal clothing and had a sword sheathed on his side, as did the other three.

But, the person who caught his eye the most out of all of them was a girl who looked around his age, likely the daughter of the tall man. She was beautiful, and wearing a long white dress and bow. Her hair was a pinkish purple, and her eyes were the same blue as her father's. She looked like something out of Heaven, or would if what Kasper knew about Heaven would work with this image. Although Kasper looked on long enough to take in her appearance, he then sighed and went back to his game. Or rather the designing the logo. He had still been on that for about a month.

Not long after he started, he noticed a hand outstretched to him. He turned and saw it was the girl, smiling at him. His first instinct was to blush, as he tried to speak up, but only a weird gurgling left his mouth. "Hi." The girl says as casually as one could say it. "H...h-hi..." Kasper replies, as he notices the girl still holding out her hand. "You wanna dance with me?" She asks, as Kasper blushes harder. "I c-can't d-d-dance..." He answers. "But there's no one else to dance with." The girl replies. "And you look lonely." A small amount of steam shoots out of Kasper's nose as he blushes harder. "I'm Candice. What's your name?" She then asks.

"K-Kasper..." Kasper answers after a few moments, as Candice smiles wider, her hand still extended to him. "Can we please dance?" She asks again, as she gives Kasper a glass full of fruit punch to drink and cool down with. "Th-thank you..." Kasper says, as he drinks the entire glass in about a minute, before hiding the console in his pocket and taking Candice's hand, which made him blush again. He rises off the chair as they walk onto the dance floor. Candice was graceful and gentle, although seemed to struggle a few times, but Kasper could barely follow her movements, dancing clumsily.

"Aww, our son's found himself a girlfriend." Friedrich says, at the same time that a blonde woman said "Aww, our daughter's found herself a girlfriend." "Yes...she has found a mate, if she stays with him." Copernicus replies, as he turns towards Friedrich. "Is that boy your offspring?" He asks. "Weird way to put it, but uh, yes." Friedrich answers. "It's nice to watch them dance, maybe they'll get married when they're eighteen." "...Yes, that would be beneficial..." Copernicus replies. "I should be grateful that my daughter is this social. It will make ensuring the survival of our species that much easier."

It isn't much later before Kooji himself walked into the ballroom, as everyone became silent, or at least mostly everyone. "Who's this chump? He looks like a balloon." Acrux demands. "That is Adriaan van Kooji, the Principal of the new school, and the most powerful human alive." Copernicus answers. "That's..." Kasper trails off, as Candice sees Kooji as well. "Hey, it's that guy on TV." Candice says when she sees him. "He's...my...my idol..." Kasper whispers, blushing harder, as Candice giggles. "That's a nice idol. Maybe we'll end up being his students?" She replies, as Kooji sees them.

"Hello to you two." Kooji says. "I would like to invite those here to my school. Although it does require a higher age, sixteen, specifically." "That came out of nowhere." Acrux replies. "He came here to talk about the school, this isn't unexpected for me." Fiora retorts. "Of...of course I want to...to learn under you." Kasper answers finally. "Me too!" Candice shouts. "Sign me up, too!" Kooji smiles. "Alright, then. Well, I must be going. I will hopefully see all of you people soon." Kooji then walks out of the ballroom, waving goodbye at all of them.

It was soon time to say goodbye, as Candice hugged Kasper a bit tightly. "Agh...ow..." Kasper groans, as Candice notices and lets go. "Oh...sorry. I just...liked meeting you." Candice replies. "I'll be sure to try and visit every day, okay?" "O-okay..." Kasper answers, as Candice runs to her father waving goodbye with a big smile on her face. Kasper smiled a little bit, but then felt sad to see her leave. He walked back into his mansion with his parents as he saw Candice and her parents, and their guards, leaving via their...carriage? He was...looking forward to seeing her again.

## Chapter 63 - When I First Met You (Pt. 3)

It had been about a week since the dance, and each time Candice visited brought some amount of joy to Kasper. He hoped she would be back again, as he hoped every day, his spirits lifted as each day she indeed came by. He knew he felt it since he first saw her, but getting to know her greatly strengthened it...he...before he could finish that sentence in his mind, the door opened again, and Candice leaped through to hug Kasper, accidentally pummeling him to the ground. "Ow!" Kasper shouts. "Oops! Are you okay?" Candice asks, helping Kasper up. "I...I think I am...I hope..." Kasper answers, as Candice hugs him again, more gently this time.

When she had more control and wasn't accidentally crushing him to death, it felt good to be hugged by her. Kasper's parents had left again, and left him in charge, but not before giving him a list of things they would bring back to him from their vacation. Candice had also taken a liking to his hobby of making games. After gaining the energy, Kasper had finally managed to make the logo, and was onto the story of his game. Although he had multiple options of where to start there. Still, he stopped overthinking and just enjoyed the hug, as he hugged Candice back, a bit shakily, for the first time. Candice smiled at him sweetly.

"I...really love getting to know you." Candice says, as she places her head against Kasper's. "I...love getting to know you, too." Kasper replies, as he hugs her a tiny bit tighter, but still tried to be gentle. It was time for another meal, as Candice had decided to eat porkchops and asparagus, as she chowed down on them happily. Kasper looked down at his chicken, and sighs, before beginning to eat it too. He tried to have a positive attitude about it, and Candice made it easier. It almost felt as if her joy was radiating off of her and onto him. It made him feel better inside, but eventually it became night, and Candice had to leave.

Kasper walked back into his room and took his hat and coat off, before putting them neatly on a table and getting onto his bed. He thought about tucking himself in properly, but he didn't feel enough energy to do so, as he just lied there, on the verge of crying. He always felt a small pain in his heart when Candice left. He wanted her to stay, but knew she couldn't. She had her own life as a princess. And her father seemed to only tolerate him for...some reason. He curled into a ball and felt himself tear up.

Then, he heard a small, gentle knock on his door, followed by Candice's voice, which sounded much quieter and soothing. "Can I come in, please?" She asks, as Kasper turned towards the door. "...Yes...you can..." Kasper answers, as the door opens and he sees Candice wearing much more casual clothing. "I convinced my dad that I could sleep here, tonight." Candice says. "Is it okay with you if I sleep here? With you?"

"O-okay...you can..." Kasper says, as Candice's smile widened a bit and she lied down next to him, before wrapping her arms around him and pulling the blanket over them. "Oh...can I kiss you?" Candice asks. "...Y-yes..." Kasper answers, as he closes his eyes and feels the kiss on his lips. It lasted for a little while, as Candice than stopped and looked at Kasper with kind eyes. "I love you..." She says, as Kasper takes a few seconds to process this before crying a bit hard. Candice gently pulls him closer and rests her head against his.

"Hey, I'm here with you, Kasp..." Candice whispers soothingly. "I...wanted this...to have someone here...with me..." Kasper says in a somewhat whimpering voice, as Candice kisses him again, Kasper beginning to calm down. "And now that someone is here." Candice replies. "Just...listen to my voice as you rest. We can tell each other everything we love about each other as we fall asleep." Kasper nods to this, as he smiled wider than before. He remembered that look in Kooji's eye as well, the eye that saw potential, but that was not something he needed to dwell on. He was here, now, with a...girlfriend.

This is where it began for them.

## Chapter 64 - Recuperating

Candice and Kasper were at the entrance as they watched Andromeda and Jack return, Andromeda running while holding Jack's badly damaged body. "We need a hospital bed, now!" Andromeda shouts, as they all get in to lay Jack down on a bed as the doctors began to preform the necessary procedures. "Jack...don't leave me..." Andromeda whispers, as she kisses Jack on the lips, even though it was likely he couldn't feel it. Candice and Kasper look on with solemn expressions, before they hear footsteps and turn around to see Kiyomasu standing there. "You three, with me." Kiyomasu instructs. "We're training seriously."

Kiyomasu led the three of them into Fiora's training room, as he whacked the ground with his cane hard enough to send a reverberating metal sound around the arena. "Grab whatever weapons you want, and diversify." Kiyomasu says. "We fight until one side can't fight anymore, and I don't want to see you using the same stale techniques." Kiyomasu then swings his cane to immediately send energy blasts at them, as Candice and Andromeda dodge, and Kasper deflects the energy blast at Kiyomasu, who blocks it with a forcefield. "Alright, what will you do, now?" Kiyomasu asks, as he then parries a training sword Candice grabbed.

"Good, you're learning." Kiyomasu says, as he twirls his cane to catch the sword and yank it out of Candice's grip, before using the non-curved end to poke her in the stomach, sending her reeling back as he then creates an energy sword from the curved end to block a Psychic Weapon from Andromeda, before tilting his head to dodge a laser from the gun she was holding. Kiyomasu then swings his lance to cut the gun in half before turning the lance back into a cane and whacking the ground to send energy shockwaves at the two of them, knocking them back.

"Keep going, because there will be no breaks." Kiyomasu instructs, before twirling his cane to make a circle of energy in the air, as it explodes into a volley of energy arrows. Andromeda, Candice and Kasper block, as Kiyomasu then propells himself behind Andromeda before slashing at her back. "Gah!" Andromeda grunts, as she stumbles forwards and falls to her knees, before throwing the half of the gun she was holding at Kiyomasu's face, Kiyomasu catching it and tossing it aside. Candice notices, and tries to use her Psychic Weapons to do something, as it paid off. Andromeda was healed, although only somewhat.

"You learned that from Qian, right?" Kiyomasu asks, as he catches Andromeda by the neck with his cane before twirling around and launching her into Candice, knocking them both away, and slashing at Kasper's forcefield, leaving a gash where he had slashed it, as he slashes again, and again, over and over until there was a hole in the shield big enough for Kiyomasu to step through. He quickly leaps back after taking a step as the mines Kasper had planted exploded, and twirls around to block slashes from both Candice and Andromeda, before splitting his cane in half to catch them both by the neck and slam them into each other.

As Kiyomasu put his cane back together, he saw Kasper making machine guns, missiles, small Ion Cannons, swords, et cetera around him, as he sent them all at Kiyomasu, who begins to leap around them, using a forcefield to take any missile that hits him head on. Eventually, he is caught by one of the missiles, as all the remaining weapons converge on him...and a robotic head falls to the ground. Andromeda, Candice and Kasper turn around to see Kiyomasu standing behind them, as he looks up at them all with an almost sinister smile. "You've done pretty well to corner my android like that." Kiyomasu says.

Andromeda and Candice send their Psychic Weapons at Kiyomasu, who once again makes a forcefield to block, before turning it into a flurry of axes and making them spin at them. Kasper uses a forcefield to stop the weapons, but the forcefield is eventually punctured, and the weapons that get through avoid the Psychic Weapons and knock Andromeda and Candice back, breaking their horns. "Gah!" "Agh!" Andromeda and Candice shouted in almost unison. They then get up with pained looks on their faces as they grab crossbows and begin to fire explosive arrows at Kiyomasu, who dodged or blocked them as he tripped them over with a kick.

"That can't be all you can do. Show better!" Kiyomasu shouts, as he blocks a massive spinning blade from Kasper, before making an energy version and sending it at him, Kasper yelping and catching the blade with two clamps, as he launches it at Kiyomasu, who almost seems to cartwheel out of the way before making an energy blast to cut the construct in half. Kiyomasu then quickly swings his cane to hit both Andromeda and Candice on the head, knocking them both out, before turning it around to snipe Kasper in the head with a taser shot, knocking him out as well. Kiyomasu then pressed a button on his cane to wake them all up.

"You can come in, Gerald." Kiyomasu says, as Gerald did indeed enter the arena, with something in his hand. "So you're here, Mr. Kiyomasu." Gerald replies. "No, I'm in the Alpha Centauri System." Kiyomasu retorts, as Gerald's eyelids drooped. He then walked over to Kasper, and placed what looked like a futuristic microchip, even for their time. "That is a microchip sent by your parents, Young Master Maibaum." Gerald says. "It will allow you to walk again." "It...it will...?" Kasper asks, as he finally looked up, and Candice smiled. "You'll be able to walk again! And we'll be able to..." Candice trails off, as Gerald shakes his head.

"Are you sure it wasn't sent by Romuald Compere and his company?" Kiyomasu asks. "Or is the game company the explanation you're sticking with?" "...It was made in collaboration, specifically to help the Young Master recuperate." Gerald answers. "Please, connect it all. I even brought an instruction manual." "...I see. Should he be worried at all about...your god?" Kiyomasu asks, as Gerald seemed to look away. "Probably, hopefully not. A microchip made by the labs of today shouldn't anger him." Gerald answers. "You keep telling yourself that." Kiyomasu replies. "I'm going to give Demetrius a call, to heal Jack for the mission."

Kasper looked down at the microchip with a new sense of happiness...finally, he could erase Kazuyuki's evil deeds...and help the team more.

## Chapter 65 - Briefing

Jack, Andromeda, Candice, Kasper, Shunsuke and Kiyomasu all walked into the castle, which was now protected by guards with laser rifles. They continued to walk as the entrance opened and allowed them in. Standing on either side of Rosenstock were SPT7, Grimwald, Dione and Demetrius. "Welcome back, all of you." Rosenstock says. "It's time to brief you all on the mission that you will be going on, seeing as you have nothing better to do, not until Darkstar resurfaces." "They still haven't? They must be planning something big." Kiyomasu replies. "And we will be ready when they next attack." Rosenstock says back.

"To brief you as quickly and as detailed as I can, we are to investigate the town state of Straykua, which is overseen by Kasiya Kouri." Rosenstock says. "We suspect that there could be multiple illegal practices, including but not limited to rape, murder, dealing in harmful substances and human trafficking. It is in a remote corner of the world, not bound by any country, and in a desert." "...It's where...?" Jack moans, as he sees Rosenstock looking at him with almost a glare. "Do you wish to stop, now?" Rosenstock asks. "We need all of you for this." "N-no, I'll come, sir!" Jack shouts, as Demetrius looks over at Rosenstock.

"Why aren't we coming?" Demetrius asks. "Because you are needed here to prepare for Darkstar." Rosenstock answers. "You six, pack all the things we have set down for you and fly Scout Craft high enough above the desert that they are not destroyed by sand. You will be helped by an autopilot that will teach you how to fly them as you go along." "Yes, sir." They say, as they run into the room where all their supplies are and begin to get changed in seperate rooms. When they got out, they were all wearing something akin to desert clothing, although Andromeda and Candice's exposed their cleavage, and had sunhats.

"What...?" Jack trails off, as Kiyomasu laughs. "I'm actually the one that designed the clothes." He says, as he hides his mouth with a fan. "We're going to a desert!" Jack shouts. "Not getting a sunburn is more important than fashion!" Andromeda glares at Kiyomasu, as Candice ran over and hugged Kasper, who hugged back. "We're going on a desert trip!" Candice shouts. "This'll be so fun!" "Yeah, I hope it will..." Kasper replies, as Shunsuke looks over to Kiyomasu, looking confused. "Are these brass knuckles?" Shunsuke asks. "Yep." Kiyomasu answers. "Oh, and all of you don't forget to pack your sunscreen and antivenom!"

As they all walked into the hangar, they saw six spacecraft each about as big as a jet. They were shaped like ovals with triangle wings, and flew with some sort of antigravity technology. The cockpits were open and ready to be entered, and there was flight gear for them to wear over their desert gear. They put the flight gear on, and got into the craft, as the cockpits automatically closed and they were spoken to by a voice. "I am the autopilot." It says. "I will help you learn how to fly a Scout Craft. We are heading towards the Scorching Savanna." The craft then began to fly on their own, as Jack turned towards Andromeda. They were off.

Off to the desert.

The craft were watched with goggles by a member of Darkstar, who then communicated to Allen outside of the range of the communication detectors from the castle. "Darkstar 23785 to Allen, we are ready to start phase one." The Darkstar member says. "Good, we will hasten preparations immediately." Allen replies, as he hangs up.

## Chapter 66 - The Desert

The scout craft flew high above the scorching white dunes below, as the cockpits had changed into the same black glass as sunglasses to protect their eyes from the bright sun. "This is the Scorching Savanna." The autopilot says. "Not much of a savanna." Jack replies, looking down at the empty sand dunes below them. "We are currently flying faster and higher to cool down." The autopilot then tells them, as Jack looks around and notices that a wing had a bit of smoke rising off of it. "Just how hot is this place?" Jack asks. "The Scorching Savanna is regularly eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit." The autopilot answers.

"That...sounds scary." Jack remarks, as they continue to fly. They then thought they saw a large town around an oasis in the distance, but it felt like it could be a mirage. "Hey, computer. Is that town real?" Jack asks. "That is the capital of Straykua, Konucalar." The autopilot answers. "We will be able to reach it by noon." "Good to know." Jack replies, as they continued to fly. They looked down and saw a herd of camels with people on them. One of them, a man with dark red eyes and a small black beard, wearing what looked like a Sultan's turban, looked up at them with what looked like an indifferent expression, before he and his men continued walking.

"Was that Kasiya...?" Jack wonders, as they continued to fly towards Konucalar. However, suddenly the craft began to shake violently. "Ah! Wh-what's happening?!" Jack shouts. "There appears to be something obstructing the wi--" The autopilot shuts off, as the craft crash towards a sand dune, which is essentially obliterated by the crash, Jack, Andromeda, Candice, Kasper and Shunsuke all are ejected by the last remaining systems, as they crash into the sand, Jack falling in head-first.

For a moment, Jack thought this was the end, that he would die choking on sand. Then, Andromeda helped him out as he coughed up all the sane in his mouth and nose, and they began to clean themselves off after they got their supplies from the now destroyed craft. They turned over to see that Konucalar was only a few miles away from where they were now. "Please...don't let it be a mirage..." Jack moans, as they shield their eyes and put on their sunscreen. The walk, they knew, would be treacherous.

The desert heat beat down on them relentlessly as they walked, as they were all sweating. Jack at times thought he heard the hissing of a rattlesnake and would turn around, only to nearly fall over from fatigue. Andromeda quickly caught him and decided to help him along the rest of the way, as they passed the first mile, but the second was more of a canyon, and it looked unstable. As they walked through it, they made sure to be careful not to anger any of the wildlife or touch the walls. Kasper tried to make them something to ride on, but his console had run out of battery power.

"This...this isn't good..." Jack mutters, as he constantly stumbled. The canyon was quite a bit cooler, but it was now noon, and the sun was high above them. They couldn't afford to rest as they thought they had seen a scorpion crawling nearby, and it looked venomous. They continued to walk, as they eventually exited the canyon, but Candice had passed out, and was being carried by Kasper. Shunsuke immediately threw a recently dead lizard they had found free of bugs to a scorpion they saw, hoping the scorpion would attack and eat it. It did, very luckily, and they saw that it had small scorpions on it.

They continued to walk, having only crossed two thirds of the way there. They were now on the last mile, and it seemed to have quicksand pits, as Shunsuke had accidentally stepped into one, but managed to get himself out. They then noticed that there appeared to be landmines here and carefully stepped around them, which took long enough that the sun began to set, and the sky was orange. They saw more animals come out as this happened, and noticed a few cacti as they walked around them. Shunsuke was leading the way at this point, as he was least affected by the heat. However, eventually he became delirious as well.

Jack didn't know how long they had been asleep for. A few hours? When they awoke, they were in some sort of home. And standing over them was a woman who, although moderately attractive in body and clothing style, seemed to be wearing a cloak, and was not keen on being spotted. "It's good you didn't take the traditional way." The woman says. "You would have been scammed if you did." "...Huh? What?" Candice groans, as she sits up. "Where are we?" "And why are we all wearing this mesh and these jackets?" Andromeda demands. "You came for the same reason we are here, did you not?" The woman asks.

"To...be burned by the sun?" Jack asks. "Actually, the mesh helps keep you cool, and the jackets show your allegience." The woman answers. "Do you see the badges on them? You're helping my clan take down Kasiya." "We're here to investigate him." Shunsuke says. "Apparently he's been conducting a lot of illegal practices." "Yes, and he's good at hiding them, even when he needs to make people disappear." The woman replies. "Oh...I should introduce myself. My name is Menna Mansour." "I'm Jack, Jack Holland." Jack says. "I'm Candice Distler! This is Kasper Maibaum, my boyfriend, that's Andromeda, Jack's girlfriend, and that's Shunsuke! We're all friends!" Candice says excitedly, as Menna shakes her head with a small smile.

"Yes, I can indeed see that." Menna replies. "You also look like you might organize yourself like a five man band." She then points at Jack. "Leader." She says, as she points at Andromeda. "Lancer." She then points at Shunsuke. "Big guy." Kasper. "Smart guy." And finally Candice. "Heart." "...What?" Andromeda asks, looking genuinely confused. "Guess you haven't heard of that before. I just felt like pointing it out since Kasiya's given everyone a TV and one of his many propaganda filled shows had a five man band." Menna replies. "Regardless, I believe I should show you around, now."

## Chapter 67 - Konucalar

The six of them walked around what looked like a merchant center, with booths on every corner, selling things from healing oils to swords with fish hilts. They looked around and saw the merchants smiling at them, and see one wearing glasses who held an envelope in his hand, standing in a booth of envelopes. Menna took them over to him. "We'll take one of the cure formula copies, but first show it to me." Menna says, as the merchant shows them the formula to some sort of cure. "It's the real thing, so you five will take it back as a souvenir."

Menna then places down the currency used to pay here, as she is handed the envelope and hands it to Jack. "Don't ever lose this, you'll need it." Menna says, as Jack nods and puts the souvenir in his pocket. "Is that all you wish to buy?" The merchant asks. "Yes it is, pleasure doing business with you." Menna answers. "Same to you, and good luck on your mission." The merchant replies, as they are then off, walking out of the merchant center and see people digging a canal. "Those men are working to grow the canal channels so that we can expand this town." Menna says. "Kasiya can never have enough city to oppress."

"This is a vase, right?" Candice asks, as Kasper pulls her away. "There are usually snakes in there." Kasper says. "No, there's only supplies." Menna corrects. "If there was a snake, she wouldn't have a face right now." "I see..." Andromeda replies. "Although, Kasiya may have some snake charmers up in his palace. Don't trust them, the snakes have their mouths sown shut." Menna says, as they continued to walk around the town. They then ran into what looked like an airfield. "What the...?" Jack trails off. "This is where Kasiya's military usually resides, his temple is just beyond it." Menna says, pointing at the temple in the back.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Jack replies, as they walk up to the gate and see a guard standing there. "You're not allowed in here." The guard says. "...Of course..." Menna replies. "We just wanted to meet with Kasiya." "No one just meets with...Kasiya." The guard says, as they look behind them and see the man from before on his camel. "It appears we have visitors." The man says. "Kasiya..." Menna says, as she eyes him with contempt. "Please, let them past, I am sure we can show them a tour of the palace." Kasiya orders, as the guard nods and opens the gate for them, as they walk through.

"As you can see, we have been making a good amount of fight planes, and they are all equiped with heat-seeking missiles." Kasiya says. "In case we are invaded, we can defend ourselves with these, and send them in waves." "I see..." Jack replies, as they continue to walk around. Kasiya then brings them to the entrance. "Please close your eyes, all of you. And cover your ears, Socqreath." Kasiya says, as they do so, knowing a guard was looking straight at their faces. "You can open them, now." Kasiya says after a few moments, as they saw the door open. "Walk in and don't look behind you, and cover your ears."

When they walked in, they were greeted with stairs. "You can stop covering your ears, now." Kasiya says, as they do so and see that the door was closed. They then walked down the stairs as Kasiya, no longer on his camel, led them to a door which was barely visible. He then opens it as simply as turning the handle. "This isn't a secret door." Kasiya says, as he brings them into the large dining room. A chandelier hung over the long table with many seats. It was clear that Kasiya had a large inner circle, and a large amount of guests. "As you can see, I am one for scale." Kasiya says, as he walks them to another door and opens it.

Inside this room was what appeared to be a training room, but the weapons had all been moved out. "You seriously made all of this?" Jack asks, as Kasiya nods. "I envisioned it, my workers built it." He answers. "Slaves." Menna mutters under her breath, as Kasiya chuckles, supposedly having heard this as well, but not talking about it. He then walks them out of the training room and along the dining room to another room, which appeared to be a royal bedroom. "Plenty of beauties visit me here with the promise of riches." Kasiya says. "No need to know where they are now, although they most likely are happy."

"Dead." Menna mutters under her breath again, this time almost inaudible. The seven of them looked around the bedroom, noticing various toys, tools and furniture, which was all intricately designed, before Menna clears her throat. "I think it's time that we left this place." She says. "Well, the tour is essentially over, so I suppose you can all leave." Kasiya says. "Stand on that tile." They do so as Menna seemed to be constantly positioning them. Kasiya then pulled a lever, and they were send sliding down at super high speeds. Eventually, they came out at the edge of town, as Andromeda and Candice quickly support them away from the spike pit.

"Well...th...that was pretty obviously evil..." Jack remarks, as they carefully climb the thankfully square slide back to town and walk back to the building they came from. "This is our base of operations. From it we plan to bring Kasiya down." Menna says, as she leads them back inside and they dust themselves off. "Clothing is washed by hand, and thankfully we have enough booths for that. You will have your privacy." Menna says, as they eventually decided on entering the booths and washing their clothing. Jack blushed in embarrassment the entire time, hoping not to be seen like this.

Jack woke up and immediately touched his clothing. It was dry. He quickly put it on and heard the others doing the same, as they walked out at roughly the same time. Shunsuke looks at his hand, before revealing a broken spider drone in his hand. "You had that the entire time?" Jack asks. "Uh...what is..." Jack suddenly remembers the night Darkstar first attacked. This was their doing, the reason they crash-landed. "Darkstar's design, correct?" Menna asks. "I heard of their crimes, and wouldn't be surprised if Kasiya is working with them, but so far we've found no evidence supporting it."

"I, uh...think we should contact Rosenstock." Jack then says. "Because Kasiya is definitely suspicious, to say the least."

## Chapter 68 - Further Investigation

Nothing, even after managing to charge Kasper's console, they were unable to contact Rosenstock, and were left all alone. "What is going on, over there?" Jack wonders, as Menna was handing them all daggers. "We don't want a fire fight, and poison won't work. Lead Kasiya into a secluded area and kill him." Menna says. "You haven't tried this before?" Kasper asks. "We would have, if we had full intel on Kasiya's temple. Since we still don't you need to finish him off quickly." Menna answers.

They walked through the town again, coming towards the airfield, as they saw that there were more guards, and they were holding old military rifles. "So Kasiya got his hands on those..." Menna mutters. "We need to be strategic about this. We should probably ask to enter as non-threats. Conceal your weapons." They all walked to where the the guards were, as said guards pointed their rifles at them. "We mean no harm, we just want to meet with Kasiya again." Menna says. "Passports?" A guard asks, as Menna hands him her ID. "They are all people I'm bringing with me to the party." Menna answers.

"Very well then, welcome back." The guard says, as the guards open the gate and let them pass, along with the other citizens of the town. They were made to close their eyes by the many guards present, as they are then allowed to walk inside as the door closes when the last person makes it in. They walk down the stairs and into the door, as they eventually make it to where a massive banquet was taking place. Kasiya sat upon his throne with a smile upon his face, as his eye darted to Jack, Andromeda, Candice, Kasper, Shunsuke and especially Menna for a second, but he then looked back down at the meal on his plate.

Whatever it was, Jack couldn't tell, as they all sat down at the table and were asked what they wanted to eat. They tried to stall, but Menna ordered what she thought a bit correctly was normal where they were from. "Don't actually eat the food, it will very likely be poisoned." Menna whispers to them, as Kasiya smiles at them, before speaking. "I am very glad you could all attend this magnificent feast!" Kasiya shouts, his voice echoing off the walls. "We are here to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of this town's founding! Dig in!"

Jack pretended to eat his meal, as did the others, but they knew this wouldn't fool Kasiya forever. He most definitely wanted them dead, even if he wouldn't publicly demonstrate it to his citizens. The feast must have lasted a good thirty minutes at least, as it ended after that and most of the citizens either left or stayed. The six of them then walked up to Kasiya, who turned around and smiled at them. "You just don't know the meaning of the word 'leave', do you?" Kasiya asks, as he eyed the dress that Menna had been wearing. "You clearly want to get in here with me, don't you? And you five look hungry? Have you eaten at all?"

"We're not eating your food. We know it's probably poison." Shunsuke says, as Kasiya chuckles. "It wasn't, we don't really have poison here." Kasiya replies. "Now then, Menna. I assume you want in?" Although it looked forced Menna did force herself to smile, and began to dance, as a lustful look appeared to show up in Kasiya's eyes, although it almost looked as fake as Menna's performance. "Please, come right in. You don't need to dance." Kasiya says, as he opens the door and allows Menna in, Menna turning back to the others and giving them a reassuring look.

Kasiya took off his turban and prepared to take off his cloak, as he turned back towards Menna. "Before you lose the dress, you could show me your hips." Kasiya says, as Menna slowly walks towards him, seemingly considering this, but then takes a knife out of a sheath on her hip and thrusts it at Kasiya's neck, Kasiya stopping the thrust by grabbing Menna's arm. "You're not the first assassin that tried this." Kasiya says. "And I've beaten plenty even after they got me drunk."

"You think I only brought one?" Menna asks, as she uses her other arm to take out a knife from her other hip and thrust it at Kasiya's heart, Kasiya catching her other arm before she could strike. "No." Kasiya answers, as he spins Menna around to make her drop her knives and fall on her back. "Gh!" Menna growls, as her arms are pinned down by her own knives and Kasiya lightly places his hand on her chest, a knife clearly between each two of his fingers. "I originally wanted to do to you what I did to your sister, but I can see that you'll put up too much of a fight." Kasiya says, as Menna kicks at his hand to knock the knives out of it.

She moves her arms enough to free her hands of the knifes, although they were useless. She then notices she is on the same tile as before, and Kasiya pulls the lever. She grabs onto one of the other tiles with her legs, as she feels Kasiya stomp on one of her feet. "Gah!" Menna roars, as she hears Kasiya chuckling. "It's time to say goodbye to me, and hello to your sister." Kasiya says. "I am sure Habiba would very much want to see you." Kasiya then stomps on Menna's other foot, as she is send sliding down again, this time with no one to save her from the spike pit. Kasiya closes the tile and smiles widely, before exiting his room via another door.

## Chapter 69 - Firefight

Jack, Andromeda, Candice, Kasper and Shunsuke burst through the door and notice the other one, as Shunsuke punches it down and they see Kasiya walking away. Multiple guards aim at them, but Cody shoots them both down as they keep following Kasiya, who turned a corner they reached a few seconds after, as they ran after him. Jack fires at Kasiya again, but the bullet bounces off his turban. "Is there Kevlar in there...?" Jack demands, as Kasiya smiles and points his own gun at Jack as he fires, Jack ducking to the ground to not be hit as Andromeda runs at Kasiya, who throws small rings at her horns.

Andromeda tries to send her Psychic Weapons at Kasiya, but can't, as she notices that the rings had cut through her horns, and they fell to the ground. "Gh!" Andromeda growls, as Kasiya smiles. "You will be a perfect dancer to display to audiences." Kasiya says. "When you've matured, of course." Candice tries to rush at Kasiya as well, Kasiya cutting her horns too. Kasper catches Candice as she nearly faints from the pain and shock. Shunsuke grabs the gun and lets it fire through his hand before crushing it, but Kasiya had already let go and stepped on a pressure plate to raise up a wall.

Shunsuke quickly punches the wall, breaking through it, but Kasiya had been running the whole time, and they appeared to have lost him, yet they kept running at him. Shunsuke uses his arms to block bullets fired by the guards, as one bullet hit his ankle, forcing him to slow down and stop. Jack rushes over and shoots down the two guards, avoiding their gunfire. He run as fast as he can through the corridors as he sees Kasiya again, aiming what looked like a Gatling gun at him. "Leave now, boy." Kasiya says. "No! I will bring you to Rosenstock for justice!" Jack yells. "Aren't you a little young to talk about justice?" Kasiya asks.

Kasiya then fires the Gatling gun at Jack, who barely dodges the bullets and fires at it, Kasiya ducking behind it. Jack feels a bullet graze his leg, as he gritted his teeth in pain. He keeps firing despite the pain he was in, as Kasiya puts a bomb on the Gatling gun and runs away, firing at it. Jack leaps back as the bomb explodes, burying them in rubble. Shunsuke managed to get there in time, and destroyed the rubble quickly, as Jack keeps running, turning another corner as he tilts his head to dodge a bullet from Kasiya that grazed his cheek.

"Persistent to the end...what a foolish little boy!" Kasiya yells, as he keeps firing, the bullets Jack is firing bouncing off of the Kevlar beneath Kasiya's clothing. Jack dodges the bullets Kasiya fires and aims his gun at Kasiya's face, Kasiya noticing as he ducks behind another corner and supposedly keeps running. Jack runs after him, firing as he sees Kasiya behind what looked like a bomb cannon. "Turn! Back! Now!" Kasiya roars. "No!" Jack shouts back, as he fires at Kasiya, who is hit in the ear as he growls in agony and lights the cannon, Jack leaping to the side as he covers the ear facing the explosion with his hand.

## Chapter 70 - Captured

Eventually, Jack woke up, and noticed he was in some sort of ragged clothing. He tried to move, but his hand was chained to the wall. He looked around and saw Kasper and Shunsuke beside him, wearing the same clothing and their hands also chained to the wall, Shunsuke's chains looking reinforced. He then turned and saw Andromeda and Candice in the same situation on the other side of the room, wearing the same kind of ragged clothing.

"Only torchlight, we're trapped in here, alright." Kasper says. "We need to get out of here somehow." "And how would that be?" Andromeda demands. "We don't have any way out of these chains." "Shunsuke could break me out." Jack says. "And then we could break him out and he could break the bars." "Wonderful plan, except we don't have a key." Kasper retorts. "We, uh...actually do." Candice says, as she opens her mouth and spits out what looked like a key to the chains.

"Where did you get that?" Jack asks. "I stole it from the guy at the gate." Candice answers. Then, they heard talking, as Candice picks up the key and puts it back in her mouth. Kasiya walks into the cell, with a smile on his face. "The clan is dead. You're all here, no one is left to oppose me." Kasiya says. "You all failed, badly." "You won't be saying that when we get out of here." Jack retorts, as Kasiya laughs.

"Oh...but you won't be getting out of here." Kasiya says, as he then turns to look down at Andromeda and Candice. "I was so lucky to have Socqreath enter this town, they are so rare, which I suppose is because they are endangered." Kasiya says. "You two are so utterly beautiful, it's no wonder you have boyfriends. But I am going to have you two impress many more people than them with your attire." Andromeda tries to kick Kasiya, who had stepped back to dodge. "And feisty, too. All the men will love you when you are of age." "I only want Jack to love me!" Andromeda snarls, as Kasiya chuckles. "Not scared, I'm not the one in chains." He replies.

Kasiya then walks towards the exit, as he smiles again. "All of you, behave yourselves, it's not like you have anything else to do." Kasiya says, as he walks out of the cell door and closes it. They waited until they couldn't hear Kasiya's footsteps, before Candice spat out the key again and grabbed it, before throwing it to Jack, who struggled to catch it as he dries it off and winces as Shunsuke crushes the shackle on his wrist. He then unlocks the others' shackles and watches as Shunsuke is able to bend the bars. "No alarms triggered." He says, as Candice hugs Kasper again, Kasper hugging back and blushing. Shunsuke takes out any guards they come across as they find their weapons resting on a table. Jack picks up his Glock as Kasper picks up his console, and heals Andromeda and Candice's wounds.

"Don't you dare move!"

## Chapter 71 - The Downfall

They all turned to see a platoon of guards standing there, aiming their guns at them. "Go! We'll cover you!" Andromeda shouts, as she and the others attack the guards, who fire back. Cody leaps and ducks around the bullets as he fires down a few guards, wincing after being kicked in the leg by one. He then runs along the dark corridor, noticing paintings of mighty warriors and bloody battles, seeing statues depicting them, as he ran to two large doors and fired at the locks before forcing them open with all his strength, grunting as he did so.

He didn't have time to catch his breath, as Kasiya fired at him immediately. Jack leaps to the side and hides behind a shield as he fires at Kasiya from behind it, Kasiya blocking with his own shield as he continued to fire at Jack. "I should have known you would have gotten free!" Kasiya shouts. "Unfortunately, you will not leave this castle!" "We'll see about that" Jack shouts back, as he fires at where the shield isn't, hitting Kasiya's shoulder and causing him to drop his gun. Kasiya throws the shield at where Jack is, Jack leaping out from behind the shield to not be hit, as he then picks up his gun with his other arm and keeps firing at Jack.

Jack does his best to dodge the bullets as he fires at Kasiya, who blocks the shots with his Kevlar as he keeps firing at Jack. Jack then rushes in to try and force Kasiya to the ground, Kasiya grabbing a sword and slashing at Jack, who leaps back and fires at Kasiya in the face, hitting him in the cheek. "Gh!" Kasiya growls, as he throws the sword at Jack, cutting his finger and causing him to drop his gun in pain. "Gah!" Jack screams, as he grabs his gun with his other hand and fires at Kasaiya's gun, jamming it, before kickinc Kasiya in the face and firing at Kasiya's leg to keep him from doing the same. "Gh!" Kasiya grunts, as he falls back.

Jack prepares to fire at Kasiya again, but his gun had run out of bullets. "Dammit." Jack says, as he puts his gun in his pocket and ducks under a knife Kasiya had thrown. Jack then punches Kasiya in the face, as Kasiya stumbles back with blood coming out of his nose, before falling on his shot knee. "You know...I would have sold you to a beautiful temptress, and she would have killed you in the most pleasant way imaginable." Kasiya says, as Jack kicks him in the face to crush his nose. "I already have someone beautiful, and she isn't a demon, unlike whoever you're talking about." Jack says. "Say goodbye to your empire."

Kasiya laughs, and stands up on both feet. "Make me." He retorts, as he palms Jack in the face to send him sliding backwards into a wall. "Guh!" Jack grunts, as he quickly dodges another palm strike from Kasiya and grabs the sword that was thrown earlier. Jack swings it at Kasiya, who tilts his head back to dodge before grabbing his own sword and knocking the sword Jack was holding out of his hand, before making a stab at him. Jack manages to dodge, before reloading his gun with one more shot and firing straight at Kasiya's neck, which appeared to have already been slightly punctured from earlier.

Blood trickled out of Kasiya's mouth as he stumbled back and fell onto the ground, wheezing in agony. Jack stood over Kasiya, as he the life left his eyes, but not before Kasiya had written down 'Prepare for his wrath' in his own blood. Jack then turned to see Menna standing there, her arm bandaged and in a sling. "So you killed him...?" Menna asks. "Yeah...it had to be done." Jack answers, as Menna smiles. "Good...then that means...my sister can by happy, knowing she has been avenged." Before she could continue, she fell to the ground, bleeding out. Jack fired the guard that had shot her, and tried to apply first aid, but it was too late. He then saw that Menna was still smiling.

## Chapteer 72 - Return

As they had finally gotten back after a few days, they saw devastation. The town around the castle had been ravaged, and the castle itself, although mostly intact, was somewhat damaged, and had holes where there must have been explosions. "What...happened...?" Jack asks, aghast. They run into the entrance of the castle and see Kiyomasu standing there. "Come to the medical room." Kiyomasu says. They followed him into the medical room, and they saw Grimwald in a bed with what looked like a skewer in his eye. "Gh..." Grimwald moans, as he was clearly under sedatives and on live support.

"They attacked while you were away. Turns out they were using Kasiya as a red herring." Demetrius says, as they turn to see him leaning against the corner with his arms and legs crossed, but not smiling. "We have him stabilized, and will be giving him a bionic replacement, but we have to prepare for the plans I snatched off their surgeon." "What plans?" Jack asks, scared. "They're bringing an armada of land, sea and sky vehicles." Demetrius answers. "In other words, Darkstar has finally declared war on us, and they hired the Socqreath Killer, Sebastian Brandvold, to work with them."

"Socreath...Killer...?" Candice trails off, as Demetrius nods. "We don't have much time, and you are our only hope of fighting them. Rest up and get prepared, I don't want a single one of you not at the top of your game." Demetrius orders. "I give the commands around here until the King is back from negotiating with the other world leaders to help deal with this." "Yes, it's us and only us." Kiyomasu says. "I feel I've trained all five of you well in the time I had, we need to fight them now, as they are no doubt already on the horizon. Can we count on you?"

Jack looks towards his friends, who all nod. "...Yes, you can." Jack answers.