By nightfall, it was time to depart.
Our Squad had been instructed to report to runway platform 15, where a sleek black jet awaited us.
It wasn’t nearly as luxurious as my personal jet — no surprise there, given it was a commercial model provided by the Academy to deploy Cadets on missions.
But it served its purpose of fast and efficient air travel.
Anyway, I arrived onto platform 15 a few minutes behind schedule.
When I entered the jet, I was greeted by several familiar faces all waiting for my arrival.
Michael sat in his seat, impatiently tapping his fingers against the metallic armrest, his irritation practically radiating off him. Lily sat beside him, looking as restless as ever by his ticking.
Kang stood near the wall, arms crossed as he stared out the circular window, looking every bit the brooding loner.
And then there was Alexia.
She… I didn’t even know how to describe it.
She was sipping on what looked like chocolate milk while flipping through — of all things — a fashion magazine.
…What in the world was she doing? She couldn’t even see the magazine! And why was a blind girl worried about fashion?!
Moving on.
At the back of the jet sat a pale-skinned, dark-haired woman, her simple black attire only adding to her menacing quiet aura.
She looked like a villainous witch straight out of a gothic fairy tale.
Selene Valkryn.
She was our supervisor. For the past few days, she was also tasked with training and preparing us for this mission.
And I assumed she had done her job well — not that I’d know since I never bothered to attend any mission briefings she held.
Why would I? I already knew everything about the challenges and threats we’d face on this mission.
In fact, I probably knew more about it than any of them.
Still, my intentional failure to answer her calls didn’t put me in her good graces.
So I wasn’t at all surprised to hear a hint of irritation in her voice when she addressed me as soon as I entered.
“You’re late, Mr. Theosbane,” she said, her tone as flat as her expression.
“Thank you for stating the obvious, Instructor Valkryn,” I replied, bowing slightly. “But believe it or not, I’m not to blame for my tardiness.”
Her eyebrow arched. “Oh? Then whose fault is it?”
I gestured to the doorway. “My Shadow.”
And as if on cue, Juliana staggered into the jet, carrying a literal mountain of luggage strapped to her back, with several wheeled bags dragging behind her.
The entire cabin fell into stunned silence as every pair of eyes turned to her.
Michael was the first to break the awkward stillness. “What the hell is all this?!”
I looked at him, genuinely puzzled. “What do you mean? It’s everything I might need for the trip — clothes, snacks, desserts, you name it.”
Another round of stunned silence followed.
And, once again, Michael was the first to find his voice. “We’re going on a mission, not opening a goddamn department store!”
I frowned, clearly offended. “Listen here, you peasant. I’m a noble. I’m used to a life of luxury, with everything at my beck and call. Sorry for having standards, I guess.”
Michael opened his mouth to argue, but before he could, Juliana gave a pitiful groan and nearly fell to the floor.
She tried her best to stand straight, but once again almost collapsed under the weight of the bags, unceremoniously sinking to her knees.
I sighed, glancing at her. “You really need to work on your endurance, Juli. You’re so weak and frail. Whatever. Just leave the bags… there. Yes, there.”
“…Here?” she asked weakly, pausing as she prepared to set everything down.
But before she could, I pointed in an entirely different direction and sneered loudly. “No? Not there! Here! Are you blind or just dumb?”
Alexia peeked up from her magazine with half-lidded eyes. “Wow. Yeah, no. That wasn’t offensive at all.”
I turned to her. “What are you even doing with that magazine? You can’t see a thing in it!”
She shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m touching the paper. It’s smooth.”
And, once again, everyone was left speechless.
“You’re weird,” I said finally. “You’re a weird little girl.”
Alexia smirked. “I think the word you’re looking for is fabulous. And thank you.”
•••
I had Juliana set down my luggage before sending her off. Not much later, the jet’s engines hummed to life, and we took to the skies.
As I mentioned earlier, Selene had held several conferences and training drills to brief us on the mission and improve our team’s coordination.
Of course, I skipped all of that nonsense.
Unsurprisingly, because of that, most people here weren’t too pleased with my company.
I couldn’t exactly blame them. Losing even one member of the Squad could disrupt the team’s dynamics.
You’d have to adapt by crafting new strategies, compensating for the lack of manpower, and trying to cover the absent member’s role.
It was even more challenging when that member happened to be an Anomaly like me — a wildcard capable of handling and switching between multiple roles.
But none of that was the real problem.
The real problem was that since I hadn’t attended even a single briefing, I supposedly didn’t know anything about the mission.
Or so everyone thought.
Having played the game and completed this exact mission before, I already knew every little detail of what was going to happen in these upcoming few days.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t exactly tell them that.
So when Selene Valkryn stepped to the front of the cabin and let her gaze sweep over the rows of seats, finally locking onto me, I barely resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
“Listen up,” she began, her voice cold and commanding. “Since not everyone here had the courtesy to attend any of the briefings or training sessions I arranged, I’ll be giving a mandatory recap of the mission details.”
The way she emphasized the word ‘mandatory’ was as subtle as a slap to the face and clearly aimed at me.
Feigning innocence, I offered her a small smile, as if to say — Who, me?
But Selene wasn’t amused.
Without pausing to indulge my antics any longer, she started explaining a lot of different stuff about the mission.
I stopped paying attention to her almost immediately. After all, I already knew everything she was going to say.
The mission itself was straightforward enough, but the political baggage surrounding it made it unnecessarily complicated.
You see, about five centuries ago, the world changed forever.
Portals appeared, monsters emerged, and Awakened abilities were discovered. The usual apocalypse fantasy story starter pack.
But humanity clawed its way out of the Dark Ages and started rebuilding soon, led by five extraordinary Awakened individuals who later became known as the first Monarchs.
These five Monarchs raised towering walls to create five domains in different corners of the world and established the Safe-Zones — sanctuaries that promised survival and a shot at a better future for humanity.
But rebuilding civilization was never going to be so easy.
While the Monarchs were powerful, they weren’t omnipotent. They weren’t gods.
They couldn’t eradicate all the monsters roaming the Earth and magically reclaim the vast swathes of land humanity had lost.
Even now, humanity occupies less than half of its original territory.
Outside the walls of the Safe-Zones, Corrupted Spirit Beasts still run rampant.
And then there were also the nuclear wastelands — scars left behind by the Third World War, rendering large portions of the planet uninhabitable.
To navigate this fractured world, humanity divided the land into three categories:
Safe-Zones were fortified, dome-like continents shielded by the Spirit Force of the Monarchs. No one could enter or leave it without their will.
While portals still occasionally opened within their walls, the frequency was far lower than in the wilds. Each Safe-Zone was directly governed and protected by its Monarch.
These were perhaps the safest places on Earth, hence the name.
Then there were the Conquered Territories — lands that lie beyond the reach of the Monarchs’ Spirit Force, where portals open with alarming frequency.
Despite this, these territories are pledged to specific Monarchs, who treat them as extensions of their dominion.
To maintain order and peace here, they dispatch their Knights, Hunters, and local enforcers to hunt down Spirit Beasts and protect the lives of those who live there.
And finally, there were the Unclaimed Lands — vast, lawless regions infested with Spirit Beasts and remnants of the old world.
No Monarch claimed these lands, because governing them was impossible. The dangers outweighed any potential benefits, and no civilization could thrive there.
Portals erupted in these areas constantly, unleashing hordes of monsters into our world.
Only the desperate, the exiled, or the downright insane ventured into these lands.
Thankfully, our mission didn’t involve us going into any of these Unclaimed Lands.
Instead, we were heading to a relatively safer place, just outside the Central Safe-Zone.
We were heading to one of the Conquered Territories of the Central Monarch, Seraphina the Flame Queen.
We were going to Ishtara City.
