Shane Stern: Murderer

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It was chaos, with the incessant mix of the high-pitched ringing and blaring horns. Beams of light were shooting everywhere haphazardly in an attempt to identify the intruders, but failing miserably. At the back of the huge compound, a blazing fire roared as it surely but slowly advanced in every direction possible, devouring everything in its path while spewing noxious black smoke tinged with yellow. For those nearer to the ground, they could smell the bile-inducing stench of human flesh and hair as it burned, choking the very men that they were trying their best to put the fire, either mundanely or magically.

In the center of the compound, the level of activity was equally heavy with men dressed in black padded suits running out from every possible building, wielding weapons of every kind. If one looked even more carefully from an aerial point of view, one could easily discern where the hotspots of activity were among the chaos. And within the hotspots, as if they were a hurricane sweeping up whatever that came within range of their limbs, five soldiers were individually waging a war of one against a hundred.

On the ground, a petit lady with muscles packed with power were going all out as she fought with a combination of her ice magic coupled with hand to hand combat. Every now and then, she would use her wind magic, imbued into her legs and released wide sweeping kicks that send deadly blades of air around her. That was Queen, the only female member of the team of soldiers wearing not a single emblem or mark that would allow their enemies to identify them. Her flaming red hair was tied up in a single braid, as she transitioned smoothly between magic and close combat, taking down any opponent that came within reach.

“Babe, let’s grab a drink after this? I need some beer after a full workout,” the tall man fighting alongside Queen shouted as his attacks shouted out relentlessly.

“You don’t have to shout, Rook! We’ve got the earpieces for a reason. And of course! We are going to Connor’s this time!” the feisty female soldier replied cheerfully.

Fighting side by side with her was Rook, a tall man with a muscular stature that seemed to have grown up eating only steaks. His height was head to head with the leader of the team, and a battle crazed grin was etched onto his face as the tall man fought with a combination of fiery kicks, courtesy of his Flame Demon Slayer magic, and the pair of large firearms in his hands. Each shot from the guns in his hands would punch a bloody hole through the unlucky target, with enough momentum to send the already dead target flying back into his own group like a bowling ball.

On the top of the roof of a building that was adjacent to the compound that Queen and Rook were fighting was the leader of the group. A lean and lithe man with shockingly silver hair, that weaved in and out of his enemies as he fought with a sword in hand. This was King, the leader of the team, and a swordsman capable of cutting his way out of any situation you could throw him in. With each slash, the man would take down more than a handful of the soldiers circling around him. Even those that were trying to attack him from the back were afraid to move forward. It was as though the man had eyes on his back, surely cutting anyone even if they tried to launch a surprise attack from behind.

A bullet flew towards him from the back, and when it seemed that the swordsman would finally miss defending against an attack, an ethereal sword appeared out of nowhere behind him, deflecting the bullet with the flat of the blade. Immediately King holstered the pistol in his right and extended it behind him, grabbing the hilt of the ethereal sword and began an even fiercer flurry of attacks.

“Queen, Rook. Appreciate it if you can keep the channel clean,” King spoke out in a stern voice but then as he continued, a mischievous smile appeared on his face despite the situation. “Let’s take care of Knight’s feelings.”

“Thank you and fuck you, King,” another voice responded through the communication devices that all of them wore. When he spoke, the special operative was rather short on breath. Lugging a rifle with a scope in his arms as he ran across the rooftops of the buildings, Knight had been tasked with the momentous task of taking down a group of mages that were engaging him in a battle of accuracy and firepower. Blast upon blast of magic energy in the form of various elements were bombarding him as he ran. A single slow step would put him in the blast zone of the spells while a mis-step would leave him with a painful long fall to the ground as he ran and leapt from roof to roof. Every now and then, the sniper would immediately turn around and fire off a shot from his long-barrel rifle, pegging the target with a 100% accuracy in a fluid flow of motion and then resuming his run.

It wasn’t an aimless route as his pursuers had thought it to be when Knight had coincidentally ran around the entire compound from the top. Aside from shooting them down whenever he had the chance, Knight would throw down a few remote control explosives after a fixed distance between.

“Knight, explosives? Bishop, airship?” the strangled voice of their General coming through the comms. Immediately, all of them perked up and kept the channel free from chatter.

“Three minutes,” Bishop’s dull voice returned, with Knight following up with, “Done.”

Almost immediately the wall of one of the buildings facing the compound was shattered as a huge purplish-black creature flew out of it. Large drops of black liquid dropped to the ground as it flew through the air, smoke sizzling from the ground where the black liquid fell. Another smaller figure appeared from the hole in the wall, and instantly charged towards the creature, leaping into the air and slamming the creature down into the ground with an overhead heel drop. When it impacted, web-like cracks raced outwards from the point of impact before the ground gave in and caved in under the weight.

The purplish-black creature twitched non-stop within the crater. Shane stood over the monster, his shield on his left arm as he looked down at it with disgust in his eyes. This wasn’t the first time he had encountered one of its kind, but this was also the most advanced and strongest one so far. Shane’s face was covered in multiple bruises and his uniform was torn in some places. His lower right arm carried burn marks as well. It was evident that it had been a tough fight against the brute. A difficulty that was increasing with each encounter, and worried the Special Operations General more and more.

“They are getting farther and farther in their research,” the Rune Knight spoke to himself before speaking into the communication devices again. “Rook, I need you over here.”

“Got it. Queen, cover up,” Rook replied over the air. With his affirmation, the position where he was originally at suddenly erupted with a tower of black flames that reached up into the skies, sending all of the guards and soldiers surrounding them flying away with their bodies on fire. Screams of various tones and pitch rang across the courtyard as those set alight threw themselves to the ground to put out the flames while those unlit were running and keeping away from those on fire. A cocoon of white ice stood out from within the black flames as it subsided, resilient even against flames capable of slaying gods.

“She’s adapting quickly to her Ice Demon Slayer magic, huh?” Shane commented when Rook jogged over to him, prompting the latter to turn around and take a look with a proud smile on his face when he turned back to look at Shane.

“She says she got the concept of manipulating the Slayer magic from her wind magic,” Rook replied, as he stood over the edge of the pit and looked into it. By now, the creature was no longer moving. Dark smoke and a horrible stench was leaving the ground below its body, caused by its black blood. Rook’s face scrunched up as he took a whiff before holding his palms out at the pit and setting the entire creature alight.

“It’s the blood. It’s corrosive and when it makes contact with air, it mixes with the oxygen to create a hallucinogen. Seal off the entire pit with your flames and make sure that’s completely burnt to a crisp.”

The humming of engines accompanied by whipping wind drowned out all else as an airship lowered into the compound, hovering one metre above ground. Inside the cockpit was the largest member of the Chess Team. He was known as Bishop, and the quietest out of them all. In battle, his size was a great asset as he fought like a berserker, especially when he goes all out with his earth magic. While he would have been a great help on ground, he was also the only one who was trained to pilot the airship hence leaving Shane with no choice but to have Bishop man the plane while they took care of things.

A door at the middle of the plane slid open. Queen was the first one to board while Rook stood by the side of the plane with Shane, vehemently guarding the aircraft from the remaining soldiers that tried to capture them. Shield in hand, Shane was firing his firearm furiously at the flying mages that were trying to bring down the plane. Fireballs, icicles and even lightning bolts were thrown at him but every single time the General would shake them off with his shield before firing back at them with his pistol. A louder shot rang through the air as Knight neared them, gliding down from the roofs with a pair of angular wings attached to his back.

Even in mid-flight, the man’s aim was impeccable, taking down the mages down one by one as their attention was fully upon the airship.

The moment he touched down, Knight dropped to one knee and began taking out the remaining mages in the air and soldiers on the ground. Every bullet spent was one enemy dropped. King was the last one to reach them, sprinting at full speed and tuck-and-rolling right in through the door. The rest immediately followed suit, with Rook first and then Knight. Shane was the last in sequence as he held up his shield against the few attacks left. As soon as the door was slammed shut, sealed with a hiss of air, Bishop piloted the airship vertically into the sky. Magical attacks slammed into the airship as the flying mages took one last shot at bringing down the airship but before they could prepare the second wave of attacks, a constant cannon-like boom erupted from the top of the airship, muzzle fire lighting up Knight’s face with each shot.

Within a few minutes, all of the mages were removed from the air. It was human lives, but the Chess Team had already moved beyond the moral quandaries that would plague most Rune Knights. It didn’t mean that they lacked empathy and did not value human lives. On the contrary, it was because they knew that whatever they were doing is for the greater good that they were able to perform their jobs so well. That and most of the opponents they had encountered were evil bastards waiting to lay their grimy hands on the world in the most terrible of ways and needed nothing less than a bullet to the brain.

“We are clear,” Bishop’s voice once again drifted through the communications once the airship had reached a certain altitude and came to a stop in mid-air. Shane opened the door again and stood by it as he looked downwards at the weapon research and manufacturing facility. It was one of the many branches of the same illegal facility that he had only destroyed a few months back upon receiving the Field Marshall’s orders Without looking back, Shane held up his thumb with the rest of his fingers clenched to the Chess Team and Rook somberly nodded in response to no one in particular before pressing down on the remote device that controlled the explosives Knight had planted earlier.

There was a lag of five seconds when Rook pressed down on the trigger, and then the detonation of the devices happened simultaneously. Massive pillars of flames leapt into the sky, sending a searing wave of hot air upwards. Shane ducked back into the plane and closed the door just in time, or he would have gotten some nasty burns from the heat wave. The airship shook as it struggled to cope with the turbulence and stay in the air. Knight had dropped down from the hatch as well, sealing it shut as he dropped. When the airship finally settled and the calm was back in place, the door was opened again and the General poked his head out.

Huge swaths of fire were consuming the entire facility at a rapid pace, with an explosion every now and then as the combustive chemicals made contact with the flames. A few hours was all it would take to raze everything that once existed within the illegal facility.

“Take us to the hill on the north overlooking the facility. We’ll only leave when it’s completely charred,” Shane instructed, rooted to the spot by the door as Bishop piloted the plane to where Shane had pointed out.

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When they finally touched down at the Rune Knights headquarters, it was already daybreak. It had been a long day for Shane and his team, and without much words between them, all of them drifted off towards their own rooms. Bishop was the only one left to check on the airship, making sure that everything was okay. Shane retreated back to his office, dropping heavily into his chair. After closing his eyes for a short while and then releasing a deep breath, the Spec Ops General shifted his chair slightly to open one of the drawers by his side. A black folder was pulled out from a row of navy blue folders.

The folder contained plenty of photographic evidence, lab reports and his own written reports for each and every illegal facility that they had hit. So far, the operation last night had been the third facility that Shane and his team had closed down, courtesy of a map that Knight managed to procure during their raid on the first facility. It was kept with the folder as well, and when Shane drew a cross on the map for the facility that they had just destroyed, he groaned when he looked at the rest of the map.

“Four more… I can’t believe that there’s seven in total. Total victory’s a long way off,” Shane grunted as he leaned back into his chair. So far, since the first mission till now, he hadn’t had the chance to brief the Field Marshall and the Director over what they had encountered due to their unavailability. The subsequent two raids had been entirely of his initiation and judgment as it was impossible for him to leave the threat lying there.

However, a much more pressing matter was two particular locations on the map. While the others were named Research Facility followed by an alphabetic designation, the two were merely called Storm Base and Summer Base. Shane had no idea what to expect from these two locations, thus forcing him to sweep the other research facilities first before dealing with the two anomalies. Just as he let out another sigh while rearranging the whole folder and putting it back in its location in his drawer, his secretary knocked on his door before entering.

“Good morning, Cap. You look like shit,” Link spoke bluntly as he looked at Shane. The latter merely rolled his eyes at the comment before leaning back further into his leather chair and resting his arms on the armrest.

“Morning. Spill it. What do you need? It’s 7 in the morning, Link. You shouldn’t even be here for two more hours,” Shane complained, knowing that the arrival of his secretary so early in the morning was going to do him no good.

“This has been needing your attention since last night,” Link said as he opened up a folder and took out five photographs from it. He placed them on the table in a straight horizontal line. Shane squinted as he got up slightly from his chair to take a look. All of the photos were taken in the night, and the level of detail was bad.

“What do you want me to see?”

“This, this, this, this and this,” Link replied while pointing to a particular spot on each photograph. With the hint, Shane took an even closer look at where Link had pointed to and began to see the similarities in all the photographs.

“Are you talking about this dark silhouette in each photo?”

“Yes. For the past few nights, reports have been coming in from civilians that there have always been a costumed figure lurking in the dark, on top of buildings. This guy has singlehandedly foiled a few crimes in Era, always a step ahead of our men.”

“Why didn’t you bring him in for questioning?” Shane queried, getting more and more interested in the problem. Link didn’t mind the interruption but he did smile wryly at Shane’s question.

“We tried, and we finally got our chance last night when our men finally circled him after he stopped a robbery at a jewelry store but our Rune Knights, a squad of five were beaten up black and blue by this unknown figure. For now, he’s doing good with each appearance but I don’t trust a guy who wants to do good and yet refuses to cooperate with the Rune Knights.”

“Hmm.. Any idea on what sort of magic he uses?”

Without himself knowing, Shane had moved his upper body forward, now leaning on his elbows as he studied the photo in greater detail. The appearance of his vigilante had piqued his interest significantly.

“Nothing. But his skills in hand to hand combat are top notch. He took down our guys within record time.”

“Who did you send?”

“Team B,” Link replied flatly as he waited for Shane’s reponse. He wasn’t disappointed.
Eyes wide and jaw open, Shane looked at Link with a questioning gaze but found no doubt in his secretary’s eyes. Team B was another elite squad that Shane had brought together. While their combat power was not on the same level as the Chess Team, they were a close second. They were meant to be Shane’s backup plan should anything happen to the Chess Team or keep them tied up. A reserve team, to be more exact.

“Not even Scarecrow?”

“Not even Scarecrow. He managed to hold on for a minute or two but the dark figure took him out,” Link answered.

“Okay, you’ve definitely got me interested. Thankfully he only operates at night. Get the men to keep a lookout tonight. Any time they see him appear, let me know ASAP,” Shane instructed, with Link nodding in response and quickly leaving the room. Before he left, he had wanted to take the photographs with him, but Shane stopped him, prompting him to leave the folder behind as well.

“I’ll take a look at the reports again,” he had said. Link gave him a knowing smile and nodded. He closed the door behind him when he left. Shane stretched his arms upwards with a sigh and then took a short nap as he leaned his head back with the report open on the table before him.

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Night arrived quickly, with a lack of clouds tonight making it absolutely easy for anyone down on the ground below to catch a glance of the dark figure that stood above them on the rooftops, looking down at them as they went about their inconsequential lives. With one foot on the ledge as he bent forward to look down at the streets, resting right arm on his thigh, the dark figure did nothing but watch. Every five minutes of observation, he would move to another building, to another vantage point that would give him a bird’s eye view of the surrounding neighborhood.

His eyes, behind the mask, were almost hawk-like, taking in everything and never overlooking anything.

The wind had died down earlier in the evening, and all was silent above ground. Every sound could be heard clearly and when a combat boot crushed the sand beneath it, the dark figure instantly turned around. His right hand flew to his utility belt in an instant, fingers poised over a six-star shuriken while his left arm had been completely extended to the front, hand open to block against any frontal blows.

“Your reaction speed is praiseworthy. I can see why Scarecrow and the rest failed to pin you down,” Shane spoke up as he walked out from the shadows. He was dressed in his black Rune Knight uniform, and for certain reason, he had only Requipped his pistol instead of his shield. That and the combat knife, with the hilt poking out from behind his waist. His eyes went towards the shuriken for a fraction of a second before looking at the figure entirely clad in black armor in front of him. The vigilante was wearing a black helmet, showing only two slits for his eyes, and two short horns that shot upwards from the helmet.

The rest of his body was clad in black plated armor, a matte finish on all surfaces to his silhouette vague when standing among shadows or in darkness. It reminded Shane of his own team member, Black Knight. His armor was rather similar, but instead of going for his shuriken at the first sign of trouble, Black Knight would instantly go for his sawed-off shotguns, threatening to blow off the face of anyone who would dare sneak up on him.

“Who are you? And what do you want in Era? The Rune Knights appreciate anyone who would work with us to keep the peace around here, but only when they act openly. Not linger in the dark,” Shane continued speaking when it seemed like the dark figure wasn’t going to reply anytime soon. As he spoke, the Rune Knight began to move and the dark figure moved in response as well, the two of them circling on the rooftop. Shane’s right hand had already moved to the combat knife on his back, ready to pull it out from its sheath the moment the dark figure would do anything. The two of them kept their silence as they studied each other, sizing up one another and all of a sudden, the balance was broken.

A shrill alarm rang, waking up the entire neighborhood, accompanied by the sound of glass breaking. The sound had come from behind Shane and when he instinctively turned around to glance towards the source of the sound, the dark figure acted. Breaking into a full on lunge at Shane, the Rune Knight hastily turned back around, the combat knife leaving the sheath and slashing horizontally in front of him, but it had been a misunderstanding. The dark figure had leapt and flipped in mid-air, just as Shane’s combat knife slashed through the air where he would have been. Landing behind Shane and balancing himself precariously over the ledge, the dark figure opened his arms and leapt downwards.

Shane spun around and chased after him, but his priority was the robbery that was going on below. Unlike the vigilante that had jumped off the roof and utilized his magic to let him land safely, Shane dropped feet first and punched into the ground with quite an impact. Cracks shot out from where he landed, but the Rune Knight was not paying attention to it. What he was more interested in was the situation going on in the bank and the supposed robbery. Ten men, masked and fully capable of magic, were surrounding the vigilante and they were losing.

Shane charged into the battle as well, grabbing the first robber that he could by the back of his neck and unhesitatingly slammed him into the ground where the latter stayed. A pair of fireballs flew at him from the side, to which the Rune Knight General sidestepped only to see a flaming fist bear down upon him. Smirking at the use of basic tactics by the robber, Shane held up his left to fend off the flaming fist with his lower arm and then pushing his right palm into the man’s chest, breaking at least one or two ribs and sending him toppling over backwards.

Two more tried to take on the Rune Knight at the same time and Shane welcomed the challenge. He pulled out his combat knife to fend off their sword strikes, their relentless blows as futile as a light breeze against a brick wall. Despite the short range of his weapon and the casual swings, he managed to create a shield of slashes, keeping any and all attacks at bay. He was waiting for openings and as the two sword-wielding mages began to grow desperate, Shane lunged forward and slashed upwards, cutting the first swordsman’s chest and sending a backhanded punch to the other one.

The dark figure was also done by the time Shane had taken down four out of ten.
It had been a short five minutes since the alarm went off, and the Rune Knights on patrol finally arrived. When the leader of the patrol squad appeared and saw one of their General with the robbers beaten down, the leader immediately ran up to Shane.

“General Stern! I apologize for the delay,” the leader apologized hastily, with the rest of the patrol squad lined up behind him. “We had rushed over immediately after receiving the alarm.”

“At ease, men. It’s alright. I just happened to be in the area when the robbery took place. You guys did great. You only took five minutes to get here,” Shane said with a beaming smile as he patted the leader’s shoulders twice. “Good work. I’ll leave you guys to clean up here. I’ve got something else to tend to.”

“Ahh. Yes sir!” the leader and the entire patrol squad saluted to the General. Shane took off the next moment, after realizing the dark figure had disappeared. With another surge of energy to his legs, the Rune Knight took an amazing leap five floors up into the air and grabbed the ledge of the roof before vaulting himself onto the roof. As expected, the dark figure was there, waiting for Shane.

“I’m Shane Stern. Thank you for foiling the robbery. While I’m thankful for your help, the Rune Knights will only accept assistance from people who can be open about their identities. Who are you?” the General said as he crossed his arms across his chest.

“You can call me Darkwing,” the vigilante spoke in a deep, gravelly voice. He stood in a stance ready for combat. “I can’t reveal my identity as of yet, but I knew you would appear, General Stern.”

“I wanted a name, not a codename. And that’s creeping me out, man,” Shane replied as he dropped his hands from the front of his chest, readying himself for a fight as well. Out of nowhere, Darkwing broke into laughter.

“You got it wrong, General. I knew you would have caught wind of my actions in the past week, and eventually you would track me down. I have information on the dealings of a dark mage in Era, but I need your assistance.”

“You could have just made a report to the Rune Knight HQ and our relevant departments would deal with it.”

“No! It’s precisely because of that, that I can’t let anyone else handle it!” Darkwing bellowed as he took one step forward. He was clearly agitated, while his fists were tightly clenched. Shane looked on with an indifferent expression, merely asking, “Why?”

“Because I want revenge!” the vigilante hissed. “The Primovia family has too much red on their hands! It’s time someone chop off those hands of theirs.”

“And what makes you think that the General of the Rune Knights would be interested in your revenge to the extent of helping you?” Shane continued questioning, sensing something amiss from the vigilante. The longer they spoke, the more he felt the armored man was off his rocker, a man consumed by vengeance. It was true that the Primovia family, an influential and wealthy household that controlled several corporations in Fiore, had always been embroiled in rumors of being associated with the criminal underworld. But even after extensive investigations, the Rune Knights could never compile enough evidence to file charges against them. Not to mention the strong backing that they had from the Magic Council.

“You will, General. Certain people have not been happy about your recent incursions, General Stern. You have made them take very severe losses but while they are burning mad, they are unable to do anything against you. Yet,” Darkwing answered with a slow drawl. Shane was quite sure that beneath the mask, there was an annoyingly wide smirk etched on to the man’s face. Darkwing’s eyes itself shone with a glint of cunningness, the man knowing that he had brought out the correct bait to pull in Shane’s assistance to his cause.

Shane was stunned for a second, understanding what Darkwing was implying. His first reaction was to deny whatever the vigilante had just said, but this was a lead too good to drop. If Darkwing was truly as connected as he had implied, then Shane could very well get more information out of the vigilante and end this whole thing once and for all. While he wasn’t the strongest among the Rune Knights, Shane was confident that he could take down Darkwing and silence him if everything went south. After consideration, Shane finally replied.

“How are you connected in all of this? To my incursions and the ‘them’ that you mention?”

“Patience, General. I will share whatever I know, but first, I will need your assistance with the Primovia Family first. Do we have a deal?”

“I’m sorry. As tempting as it sounds, I am a Rune Knight and I do not endorse needless slaughter just because of rumours about the Primovia Family,” Shane spoke with a finality in his tone, turning away once he finished. Regardless of whether Darkwing was related to the people behind the illegal weapon research facilities or not, Shane knew that he still had immunity as long as he was still Rune Knight General. He had nothing to fear, even if he continued waging a war against his unseen enemies.

“No!” Darkwing growled fiercely when he saw Shane leaving. “There’s a reason for you to move against the Primovia! In three days, Lumus Primovia is going to have a drug deal with the Whiteline gang by the harbour at Magnolia. I dare you to tell me you are not interested in this. You will finally have a chance to bare down on the Primovia. Do I have your attention now, General?”

Gritting his teeth, Shane turned around to look at Darkwing again. “Where do I meet you?”

“At Kurri Bar in Magnolia. But you are to come alone,” Darkwing replied with a satisfied smirk. “You fulfill your end of the bargain and I will fulfill mine after.”

Shane ignored the vigilante’s last reply and merely turned away and leapt away.

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Watching the Rune Knight disappear from view, the smirk behind the helmet began to turn malevolent but when a new voice spoke up, Darkwing could feel his very blood curdle, a chill running down his spine. And while this newcomer spooked him, he was irritated at the same time as well. The success of roping Shane into their whole plan was a cause for celebration, pushing one step further on his plan but the arrival of this newcomer deflated all of that elation.

“Darkwing? Is this going to be a permanent persona that you are going to play with?” the person spoke up as he walked forward into Darkwing’s sight. Unlike the vigilante who had hidden in the shadows with the masterful use of his body armor, the newcomer literally walked out of the shadows, a haughty expression on his face as he addressed the vigilante with a mocking tone.

“Ronan! How long were you there? The Knight could have spotted you! You could have ruined the plan!” Darkwing demanded loudly as he took a step forward. His fists were clenched tightly, ready to stride forward, grab the man by the collar and slam him into the wall behind. Instead, he had to control himself, pull back at the urge to tear into the man before him.

“Mind your tone. Remember who you are speaking to,” Ronan replied as he moved forward and caught Darkwing’s neck, pulling him near as he snarled.

“I remember the master, not the dog serving him,” Darkwing spat out only to receive a punch in the gut before being thrown into the air by a sudden upwards surge of shadows from the ground. His helmet was knocked off by the surprise attack but Darkwing snagged it out of mid-air before dropping to the ground on one knee, wiping away the blood trickling down his chin with the back of his left hand. That was the only movement that he was allowed, with the blade of a spear currently lingering in front of his neck. Ronan looked at him with a passive expression, as though the man kneeling on one knee before him was a waste of his time.

“Enough nonsense. The master wants this to be done with as quickly as possible. He’s getting extremely impatient after what happened this morning. If he raids another one of the bases before you subdue him, the master will most definitely have your head,” Ronan exclaimed while keeping the spear steady. On the other hand, Darkwing could only look at the man indignantly. A slight smile broke from Ronan’s lips and his wrist twitched for a slight second, moving the spear so that it drew a line across Darkwing’s neck, leaving blood to drip from the wound.

Darkwing fell back immediately and got up to his feet, his left hand clasped to his neck while a black broadsword appeared in his right hand. The helmet was already thrown to one side when he snapped back up on his feet.

“Screw you!” the vigilante growled fiercely.

“I may be serving someone else but kindly remember that I’m a Magic Council member as well,” Ronan hissed before slowly descending into a pool of shadows that had accumulated at his feet. Obviously shocked by the sudden attack, Darkwing was glaring at the man furiously with his sword still pointed at Ronan until. When the man finally disappeared, the vigilante dropped his sword, his hand trembling. The expression on his face was the complete opposite of how his body was reacting. With blood seeping through the gap between his fingers as he kept it clamped down on the slash wound, Darkwing began to smile, eventually grin and finally started cackling to himself before leaping off the rooftop.

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Three days later, as arranged, Shane stomped into Kurri Bar, drenched from head to toe. Heavy was no longer enough to describe the downpour outside. Thankfully when he saw the weather began to take a turn for the worse, he had immediately grabbed a hooded rain coat and put it on as he sped towards Magnolia on his bike. It wasn’t the most enjoyable of rides, with the strong wind and rain whipping into his face, leaving him sputtering like a fish out of water as he rode. Kicking down the door to the bar, Shane pulled off his raincoat and hung it upon the row of hooks on the nearest wall, leaving it to drip on the floor while he walked towards the bar.

There were only a few patrons in the bar, seated at the inner tables. These were the guys that had been too late in getting out of the bar before the downpour and just plain gave up to continue drinking until it was over. Shane’s heavy combat boots thudded on the ground until he reached the bar and hopped onto one of the stools. The bartender was already in front of him, waiting for his order.

“Whisky. On the rocks,” the Rune Knight grunted. He fiddled with a coaster as he waited for his drink. When it was finally brought over by the bartender, before the man had even walked away, Shane had downed the entire glass in one gulp and requested for another refill. The door slammed open again just as the bartender walked away with Shane’s empty glass. But the new arrival had definitely attracted all of the attention in the room. It was Darkwing and unlike Shane in his casual wear, the former appeared like how Shane had seen him the first time. In his full set of black plated body armor.

“Good look,” Shane remarked drily before turning his attention back to the drink the bartender had just brought over.

“I’ve got my circumstances, General. Let’s go,” Darkwing urged, standing by the open door. Water was splashing in and the bartender was about to blow his top looking at the mess, but the man was intimidated by the armored fellow. Shane took down the entire glass in one gulp again, paying for the two drinks before walking towards the door. Darkwing walked out into the rain, with Shane following shortly after he had put on his raincoat. With the waning light of the street lamps, the two figures walked down the street, towards the docks.

It was a typical drug deal. Two gangs meeting up in the middle of the night, in a semi-full warehouse. Perched on the metal rafters, Shane and Darkwing looked down as the members of the Primovia and Whiteline gang made contact. Shane had his attention fixated on the head of the Primovia gang, the one leading a group of ten men, dressed in a black coat and pants. The Rune Knight had seen plenty of this man, along with his underlings. Many times they had obtained evidence on their wrongdoings, but each and every time, as though they were aware of it, the Primovia family had escaped unscathed. Even if the whole of Fiore knew of their reputation, the Rune Knights could do nothing to them according to the law.

On the other side was one of the most notorious suppliers of drugs in Fiore, the Whiteline brothers. Lexar and Pacer Whiteline. Together, the two brothers held thirty percent of the drugs in circulation around Fiore, and possibly even more in other countries. He only knew them from their photos, from the intel that the Rune Knights had gathered and never would he have thought that he would have the chance to apprehend them tonight. Shane stole a glance at Darkwing, but there was nothing to see. Standing on a metal beam with one hand holding another perpendicular beam to keep himself steady, the vigilante was a complete mystery to Shane under his helmet.

The two watched as two parties began their transaction. Despite the Primovia family’s status in Fiore as one of the wealthiest families, they paled in comparison to the Whiteline brothers in the criminal underworld. Lumus snapped his fingers and two of his men instantly raised the briefcases that they were holding, magically bonded to their wrists, and opened it up to the Whiteline brothers. Pacer, the younger of the two, was the one with the brains for numbers and he walked up to the briefcases to go through the Jewels before turning around to nod at Lexar.
With a crooked smile, made even more hideous by the scar running down the left side of his face, Lexar brought out a crate from a magical dimension. And that was the cue for Shane to act.

“Let’s move,” Shane exclaimed before dropping down from the rafters, landing on the ground in the middle of the two parties like a meteorite. It was a three-story drop and it didn’t even faze the Rune Knight. However, contrary to his expectations, Shane was the first one to take a hit. A wall of light smashed into the Rune Knight sending him flying backwards and colliding into a huge stack of crates. When he finally fought his way out of the collapsed crates, the Rune Knight immediately leapt into the fray.

Apparently, the moment Shane had dropped down, mages hidden among the crates had appeared immediately. Both parties had prepared security countermeasures and instead of the fifteen people that they were supposed to take down, there were almost thirty now. A sword swung down in front of Shane, and instinctively, he swung his left arm forward. One moment it was bare, and the next, a metallic clang rang out as the sword collided with his shield. Pushing off the sword and throwing his attacker off balance, Shane instantly moved his right foot forward, sliding into position and threw a short punch into the attacker’s abdomen.

Shane was merely fighting at his passive state, unwilling to show his trump cards so early in the fight, so his punch was unable to one-hit-KO his targets as he usually did. However, he quickly made up for that by pulling back his shield arm and slamming the edge of the shield straight into the man’s chest, knowing with a certainty that there would definitely be some ribs broken.
When Shane acquired a quick look at the situation again, Lexar and Pacer Whiteline were already gone. The drugs they had brought out, gone. The two guys with the briefcases and the money, gone. And worst of all, all of the exits had been locked down.

“Damn it!” Shane growled at the massive screw-up. With the evidence gone, there was no longer any point to trying to catch Lumus Primovia and his men. Even if they did bring him back to the headquarters, they would have to release him after forty-eight hours if they couldn’t cough up any charges on him. Based on the current situation, Shane and Darkwing should retreat but one look at the vigilante told Shane that the man would never leave with him. And the Primovia wasn’t going to let him leave as well.

The Rune Knight was being attacked on all fronts, fending off the physical attacks from the trained fighters while the other two mages that Darkwing couldn’t hold down had climbed up onto the stacks of crates and raining down magic spells upon him. He was slightly fortunate that the two mages were wary of hitting their comrades so they were only forced to use narrow blasts of magic but it still took all of his attention to fight back on the ground while defending against the attacks from above. When he felt that he was almost reaching his limit, Shane leapt into the air, hitting at those crowding him with a sweeping roundhouse kick and slammed the edge of his shield into the ground.

Blinding light erupted from the shield in the form of a ring around Shane and pushed outwards, bringing the fighters along with them. The moment he was cleared, Shane aimed his sight on the two mages and immediately disappeared from their view. The two mages threw bewildered gaze at each other before hurriedly sweeping the warehouse floor for their target while the targets of the Halo Smash Shane had used earlier slowly climbed to their feet. Without a single sound, Shane appeared behind the first mage, the one who had been throwing metal projectiles in the form of fists at him. The mage’s reflex was commendable, having spun around in time with his right arm fully covered in a metal gauntlet, enlarging the size of his fist multiple times while a curved sword appeared in his left.

Both struck out at the same time, the mage with sword, cutting a horizontal slash while Shane parried the blow with his shield. By the time the weapon and shield had clashed, both combatants had already punched with their right. The Iron Make mage had a hint of a smirk when he saw Shane’s unprotected fist going head on against his gauntleted fist. Both fists smashed into each other, but instead of bones cracking, the only sound upon impact was metal grating against metal as the plated gauntlet collapsed inwards from the force of Shane’s punch.
An inhumane scream filled the air as the mage clutched his misformed hand, the metal plates of the gauntlet piercing into his own flesh, leaving blood to flow freely. If he didn’t get any immediate help, he would eventually need to amputate it. But even so, there was no mercy from the General.

A frontal kick finished the job, sending the mage cradling his right hand down to the ground before using Silent Steps again, once again disappearing from view.

The other mage that had watched the short exchange immediately leapt off the stack of crates he was on and released jets of flames from his limbs, temporarily suspending himself in the air. It was a good move. The blond Rune Knight appeared at the last location of the fire mage. Shane grinned at the fire mage’s escape. He may be unable to reach him in mid-air, but he wasn’t only limited to close combat. Retrieving the shield from his left arm, Shane pulled back his right arm and fluidly swung it forward and released the shield. The concave shield spun through the air and accurately smashed into the mage’s back as he struggled to fly away.
As though a boomerang, the shield bounced back towards the Rune Knight who easily caught it from mid-air and jumped off the crates he was on.

Meanwhile, Darkwing was struggling to stand his ground against the three mages at the same time, with Lumus Primovia watching coldly from the side. He wasn’t the type to vent his fury through loud action and violent curses. Instead, the man channeled it as a freezing cold killing intent. The ground on which he stood on was frozen, a layer of frost slowly covering more and more ground from where he stood, expanding outwards in a ring. He was viewing the battle on two fronts, with Darkwing on one side and Shane on the other. The same way that Shane had been able to identify him at first glance, he had also been able to identify the Rune Knight General.

“Boys! Take your Red Haunt potions now!” Lumus commanded. The three mages fighting Darkwing quickly distanced themselves from the vigilante, one of them hurrying over to rescue the one that Shane was chasing down. The three of them brought out a red, metallic liquid within a crystal vial and without hesitation, emptied the contents entirely before throwing the empty vials away to break on the ground. As the potion that the four had consumed began to take effect, their skins began to take on a red tinge, the color darkening until it was a shade away from blood red. A red mist also lingered around the four of them, and when the fire mage and his comrade that had come over to his rescue turned their eyes on Shane, he could see that the eyes were completely bloodshot.

Two streams of flame were blasted in his direction and swerving in and out of the flames was the second mage. Shane had raised his shield to defend against one of the flames, temporarily blocking his own view of the second mage but he had caught a glance of the mage being clad in silver armor. The continuous stream of flames warded off by his shield failed to push him back, but the mage in silver armor succeeded, pulling a greatsword out of thin air and smashing it against Shane’s shield. The Rune Knight was caught off guard and sent back a few steps, but the attack wasn’t over. The armored mage had spun in place by using the momentum of the swing and as he spun back to face Shane, the silver greatsword was glowing with a bluish energy.

The impact from the blade of energy sent at him completely lifted Shane off the ground and sent him flying backwards before he crashed to the ground and rolled back to his feet. He immediately rolled to the side again as a wheel of flames spun through the air and sliced into the ground, leaving a flaming crack on the floor. Holding his shield close to his body, Shane continued evading as flame spells continued bombarding him while occasionally having to maneuver into defending against the heavy strikes from the greatsword-wielding armored mage.

When he was struck down by the fifth time, crashing into crates yet again, Shane decided that it was time he got serious. Initially, he had planned to keep his abilities hidden, unwilling to show his cards in front of Darkwing but with his own safety a concern, Shane was left with no choice. Activating Reinforced Iron Bones, Shane could feel the energy from his All Might magic gushing into his body, forming a thin layer of protective armor around his entire self. But while it may appear thin, the defensive capabilities were astounding. A fireball the size of a car blasted into Shane the moment he stood up from the wreckage, but this time, he wasn’t even fazed. He did take a few steps back, but the blue energy enveloping him had successfully warded off the flames. Letting out a sigh of relief, Shane accumulated energy into his shield and swung it at the floating fire mage, releasing a blade of magic energy. The fire mage clasped his palms together and pulled forth a flaming sword, using it to slash the energy blade in half but that was only half of the attack.

An explosive grenade had been thrown simultaneously, lagging and hidden behind the Halo Blade and when the flaming sword had clashed against the Halo Blade, it had struck the explosive grenade as well, causing it to explode and throw him out of the air. As he raced forward towards the falling fire mage, Shane turned halfway around and threw his shield at the armored mage, just in time to knock the incoming downwards slash off balance. Shane caught the shield with his right hand as it ricocheted back to him, quickly putting his left hand through the loops and smashed the shield into the falling mage with a backhanded smack, just a few feet before he hit the ground, sending him sliding away instead.

Turning his attention back to the armored mage with the greatsword, the two began exchanging blows. Every single swing from the greatsword was met with the shield, again and again, with Shane taking every change he could to land a punch on the silver armor. He had to admit that it was tough, that despite his near superhuman strength he still had difficulty putting through enough damage to stop the armored mage. Against a normal opponent, the armored mage would have overwhelmed them with the ferocious strength behind each strike, but he had the bad luck of meeting his shield.

Shane had also noticed that the Red Haunt potion’s effects were diminishing as time passed. He could sense that with each swing, there was lesser power and speed as time passed. The Rune Knight continued playing his battle of attrition, knowingly waiting for the mage to run out of steam.

Five more attacks later, the opportunity finally presented itself. The armored mage struggled to even lift the greatsword and swing it down, giving Shane the leisure of easily brushing the falling blade aside with his shield before following up with a frontal kick, slamming his heavy combat boot into the mage’s chest. The very last shreds of the Red Haunt potion’s effects were exhausted at the same time, and as Shane’s kick connected, the mage could no longer hold on to their magic and completely gave up control over it, causing the silver armor to shatter as he dropped to the ground.

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As the sounds of the metal shards scattering across the ground ceased, a loud shout of shock tore Shane’s attention from the unconscious mage.

When he turned around, Shane’s eyes widened as he saw Darkwing holding up Lumus Primovia by the neck, suspending him above ground. The vigilante was clearly fatigued and injured against the battle with the two other mages after they had consumed the Red Haunt potion. One of the horns on his helmet had been broken off, revealing a shock of green hair. He was entirely running on adrenaline now, as he grabbed onto Lumus’ neck.

The latter was struggling with two hands grabbing at Darkwing’s armored gauntlet, cutting his fingers on the sharp blades that protruded from the side but that was the least of his worries. A crazed expression etched across his face, Lumus seemed to be extremely agitated. It was very different from the desperation that Shane had normally seen from others in the same scenario.

“Finally. The day I’ve been waiting for,” Darkwing spoke from beneath his helmet, laughing maniacally at the end of his sentence. When he raised his other hand, a long combat knife in his grip, Shane lunged forward, fully intending on stopping Darkwing but the Rune Knight was too slow. The knife plunged deep into the head of the Primovia family’s heart and with a sudden exertion of strength accompanied by a grunt, the vigilante twisted the blade and slashed it to the right, forcefully tearing the blade from the side of the body. The last look registered on Lumus’ face was one of frustration and agony before the man’s head dropped forward. Darkwing dropped both the dead body and the knife but before the knife could even clatter, it was his neck in Shane’s grip this time.

“You! I told you, we weren’t hitting them for revenge!” Shane shouted in the face of the vigilante.

“Your plan went to hell! With the Whiteline brothers gone, there’s no way you could pin the blame on Lumus! I did what I did because I had to! It was my only chance!” the vigilante growled back at Shane, punching the man in the side of the head and dropping his left fist on Shane’s wrist. The Rune Knight stumbled from the sudden blow and dropped the vigilante from his grip. Shane stood where he was, glaring at Darkwing with a murderous glance as he knew very well what Darkwing had said was true.

He had made a wrong move, without sufficient manpower to back up the entire operation. And as loathe as he was to admit, Shane knew that what Darkwing had said was true. The vigilante was out for revenge and if Shane had been able to capture them during the deal and pin the charges on them, Darkwing would have had his revenge. But with the failure, he could only exact his revenge now or else he wouldn’t know when he would get the chance again. As those thoughts ran through his mind, frustrated that what Darkwing had done could be rationalized, Shane turned his head upwards and let out an anguished roar.

“I have fulfilled my end of the deal! You better fulfill your end as well, or I will spare no resources hunting you down, Darkwing,” Shane warned, before walking away from the warehouse. As he stepped out through the doors, he could Darkwing shout, “I will send you a message when I’ve got the details!”

The only response Darkwing got was the angry roar of Shane’s motorbike before it sped off into the night.

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Shane stood on the top of the building of the Purple Leaf manor, a huge resplendent manor at the edge of Crocus that was unused. When the Rune Knight had received the information from Darkwing, sent via an anonymous letter, the first thing he had done was to check on the ownership of the manor but the lead had ended there. Purple Leaf manor was currently on the market, but with the number of new developments in the city, older mansions regardless of how extravagant they were, would always be a second choice.

The Rune Knight, dressed in the same attire he had worn during the raid in Magnolia which was a black long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves folded to his elbows, black cargo pants and black combat boots, crouched down on the roof when patrolling Rune Knights walked down the street. He wasn’t eager to be found by his own men, doing something that was probably going to be illegal. A slight rustle to his left told him that his wait was over. Shane took a look at the watch on his left hand.

“You’re late,” the Rune Knight exclaimed when he saw the time. On his face was an extremely displeased expression, but it wasn’t just because of the vigilante’s tardiness. He was frustrated at all that had happened so far, just because he wanted to find out the true mastermind behind all the weapon manufacturing facilities. While Special Operations operatives could act with a higher degree of flexibility when it came to rules, Shane felt that he was already treading the line. Anymore and he could count himself as one of the threats that he was duty-bound to pursue. “Let’s get this over with.”

“You’re prickly today, General. Follow me,” the vigilante spoke with a mischievous tone before leading the way. The two men crept across the roof and lowered themselves down the roof, dropping down three stories. As if they had just done a simple skip, the two of them brushed off what could have been a fatal fall for normal humans. Shane stood to one side, keeping a lookout while Darkwing fiddled with the lock on the door, repeatedly switching between lock picks. After a few minutes of no success, Shane pushed the vigilante aside and grasped the entire padlock in his hand. A squeeze of his hand crushed the metal lock, with the bits and pieces of crushed metal dropping to the ground when he released his grip.

“That works,” Darkwing mused as he opened the door as slowly and quietly as he could. The vigilante maneuvered around the mansion as if he had been here multiple times. Without a sound, Shane’s pistol and combat knife had already appeared on him. The pistol in a holster strapped around the right thigh while the combat knife in its sheath behind his waist, the hilt poking out from the left side of his waist. Darkwing brought him to a study and pulled one of the wall lamps, the floor-to-ceiling bookcase began to split down the middle, revealing a staircase that led underground.

The Rune Knight followed the vigilante as they descended the staircase. This time, the pistol did not stay in the holster. Shane pulled out the gun from its holster and gripped it tightly in his right hand. All of the alarm bells in his mind was going off like crazy, screaming at him that it was lunacy to continue following the vigilante further underground but Shane couldn’t back out at this moment. He was set to see this to the end and hoped that this wasn’t the dumbest decision he would ever make.

“They’re right behind this door. Are you ready?” Darkwing whispered in the darkness, to which Shane simply nodded. Holding up three fingers, then slowly putting them down as he counted down before kicking the door open. The two of them immediately rushed into the room, Shane leading with his pistol while Darkwing held a sword in his right hand. However, instead of finding anybody meeting in the room, Shane was suddenly given a heavy blow from the back, pushing him forward while a thick rope was looped around his neck. Four more nooses made with ropes as thick as his arms were thrown around his limbs, trying to restrict his movement as much as possible.

“Darkwing!!” Shane roared but before he had time to focus his strength, the vigilante had appeared behind him and mercilessly stabbed a syringe into his neck. The moment the contents of the syringe was completely ejected into his bloodstream, Darkwing leapt back and so did the other five men that had temporarily held Shane down with the ropes. As they released him, Shane dropped to the ground on his knees and palms, coughing as cold sweat began to well up on his forehead. His vision was also getting blurry by the second, with a green tinge in his sight. All of his senses were hazy, and he could vaguely hear Darkwing shouting instructions from the side but he couldn’t tell what it was exactly.

After a few seconds, Shane resisted the weakness in his body and attempted to stand back up. The men that had restrained him were still giving him a wide berth. As he stood up, Shane could feel his body’s natural resistance fighting against the effects of the poison in his veins but he was unable to tap into his full strength. However, he didn’t have the chance to stand for long. A long, agonized roar ripped through the underground bunker and before he knew it, something was charging straight at him. Shane blinked a few times and saw a purple monster rushing at him. He recognized the features and he knew what it was. But he couldn’t work his legs in time to move away.

Shane was caught by the neck and unceremoniously tossed into the wall at the other end of the bunker, slamming heavily into the wall.

“Metal walls,” Shane uttered groggily as he crashed into it, sliding down the wall before trying his best to stand up. But he was still too slow. The purple hulking monster bounded over to him with a couple of huge steps and before he knew it, two more herculean blows sent him back into the wall. A side kick threw the Rune Knight to the ground and into the adjacent wall where he struggled to his feet. At this moment, Shane cared not for what Darkwing had done to him and what the hell was going on. All he wanted was to quickly get up and avoid getting pummeled into meat paste. He was running on nothing but his instincts.

He was tossed around repeatedly, taking another five bone-crushing punches that would have crushed his bones for real, had it not been for the resilience and durability he had built up from his magic. The sixth punch aimed for his head, but this time, when the gigantic fist was about to beat down on his head, a single hand was raised to catch and stop the huge fist in mid-strike. It was a first, but the purple monster still had another fist and Shane took the uppercut, throwing him upwards into the air before landing spread-eagled on the ground.

The blows that he had taken had cleared his head, allowing him to put up more of a resistance, but what Shane did not know was as his strength returned, he was losing his rationality. The monster leapt into the air and prepared to slam its fists down on the Rune Knight, but the latter managed to roll away, narrowly avoiding death. With a roar, the Rune Knight threw himself into the battle. It was a battle of attrition and one that had no skill whatsoever. It was nothing but raw strength against raw strength.

Activating his reinforcement spells from All Might, Shane’s physical strength and speed soared beyond a human’s limit, allowing him to stand toe to toe with the hulking monster. From there, the two of them pitted their fists and legs against each other, one blow for another. The awe inducing fight continued on for more than ten minutes, with Shane taking as much damage as he was dishing out. It was also the same for the purple monster.

But as the fight drew on further, a gradual change began to happen. The purple monster began to lose out to Shane in terms of physical attributes. What were once powerful punches that could stagger the Rune Knight had slowly weakened, barely slowing the Rune Knight’s momentum as he pushed on and what were once tough muscles that could take shocking attacks slowly let more and more damage pass though. But all of this was not recognizable to Shane. With nothing but the burning urge to subdue his opponent in his mind, Shane failed to see the signs that his opponent was weakening and slowly shrinking.

A single uppercut landed squarely on the shrinking monster’s jaw, sending it into the air with an upwards trajectory before dropping to the ground. Shane scrambled for the opportunity as he got on top of his opponent, too blinded by his bloodthirst to see that instead of the purple monstrosity he was fighting earlier, it was now a normal man pinned under him. More accurately, it was a mage. A mage from the Magic Council by the name of Western Donovan. A kind and upright Magic Council member who fought for the wellbeing of Fiore’s people, always placing their interests above him. A Magic Council member that was beloved by the public.

A mage that was injected with a special serum that had already ran past its length of effectiveness, the last remnants of the serum sustaining the mage as he withstood Shane’s relentless rain of full-powered blows. But it would come a time when the last of the serum would completely be drained and one last hit from Shane would end the man’s life. As the final blow was about to land, the door to the underground bunker was suddenly blown open and in the span of a single second, five operatives dressed entirely in black with masks on, swooped into the room. The first of the five was a heavily-built man who charged forward like a runaway train, aiming straight for the two men fighting on the ground.

Before Shane’s final blow could connect, he caught by the larger man who had hooked his arm around Shane’s chest and pulled him off Western Donovan.

“Wake up,” the larger man growled as he punched Shane squarely in the face. Another operative, slender and lithe, approached the two of them and cast a spell on the Rune Knight General. The look in his eyes began to clear as the spell took effect but Shane was still too muddled to regain his senses.

“Get him out of here, we’re leaving!” another voice commanded, from the trio that was fighting off a number of mages that had suddenly entered the room from other doors. A smoke grenade was tossed to the ground and immediately black smoke burst out of the grenade, filling up the room rapidly. The tallest of the trio ran towards the Magic Council member, lying on the ground gasping for breath and bleeding heavily, in an attempt to rescue the man as well but he was stopped by a pitch black sword that suddenly cut through the air.

The tall operative leaned back just in time, or his head would have rolled. White flames were already accumulating on his hands and a flaming sword had been formed out of the flames, ready to fight it out with Darkwing, but King never gave the Rook the chance to do so.

“We leave now! Leave Western!” King shouted through the comms. Growling in frustration, Rook had no choice but to escape after a second of hesitation, venting his frustration instead on two mages that tried to stop him with the two blades of fire he held in his hands, slicing them across the chest before running out after the rest of the Chess Team.

The mages were about to give chase, when Darkwing called out for them to stop. As the smoke cleared, the vigilante was laughing gleefully. The situation had not played out as he wished for it to be, but this was an equally good consolation prize. He had already gotten what he needed from the fight and whether the Magic Council member died by the Rune Knight General’s hand or not didn’t matter anymore. Pulling out a gun from the back of his waist, the same gun that Shane had dropped when he had been restrained the moment he entered the underground bunker, Darkwing fired at the dying Magic Council member and ended his chapter with a single bullet.

Darkwing’s most trusted subordinate walked up to him. He had appeared at the same time as the other mages when the Chess Team barged in, but he had wisely avoided jumping into the fray. Protecting his master was more important.

“Toss this guy somewhere discrete and conspicuous at the same time, and place this gun somewhere nearby,” Darkwing instructed before he walked out of the underground bunker, the pitch of his laugh getting higher and higher.

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When he finally regained the clarity of his senses, Shane was back in his office, leaning back in his chair. He took a look at the clock on the wall, and saw that it was three in the morning. Seated on the sofa in front of this table was Rook and Knight, while King and Queen sat in the two chairs right in front of his table, opposite him. Bishop was leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest with a somber expression on his face. In fact, all of them wore the same somber expression, as if someone had died.

“What happened?” Shane asked as he leaned forward but that was the wrong thing to do. Every bone and muscle in his body seemed to scream out in pain as he moved slightly, with himself almost literally screaming out. Instead he let out a deep grunt and quickly used a healing spell on himself, transforming the raw energy of All Might into a healing and soothing wave of energy that washed over him internally and externally. It all happened in less than a second, with Shane’s pale face filling up with life and energy, and bruises slowly disappearing. In less than five minutes, his body would be completely healed and back to normal.

“You walked into a trap. That Darkwing you were working with? Based on the blood sample that you gave us, we found out that his name is Kingston. Kingston Primovia. Exiled from the Primovia family two years ago for disobeying his father’s direct orders and almost got his whole family into trouble. He’s also the first son of Lumus Primovia, which coincidentally with the death of his father, is now the newest head of the Primovia family. We suspect that Kingston Primovia is indeed working with the Magic Council member behind all these. If what he said is true, that we have started to become an eyesore to the hidden Council member, then we suspect that Kingston was sent to deal with you. His plan was probably to use you to kill another pain in the neck which happened to be Council member Donovan. If you had really killed Western Donovan, you would have been stripped off your position and jailed, leaving no one else to give them any more trouble,” Knight explained as he stood up from his seat on the sofa, putting down a dossier on Shane’s table that contained everything there was to know about Kingston Primovia.

“Did I kill Council member Donovan?” Shane whispered, sounding like he had been gutted as flashes of the fierce battle replayed through his mind. His head was lowered, eyes looking at the dossier yet not focusing.

“No, he was still breathing when I tried to rescue him. But I don’t know if he is still,” Rook was the one that answered this time. That he was stopped by Kingstom Primovia during the rescue attempt made him furious. Shane kept his silence at the answer and so did the others. It was a very long ten minutes before the General looked up at the Chess Team again, this time a burning flame in his gaze.

“Guys, I might not have dealt the killing blow on Western Donovan but while the man is still with Kingston Primovia, I don’t know what he might do. If he was creating evidence to frame me for killing Western, it doesn’t matter if I was the one to kill him. We will know once day breaks. If anything happens to me, I want you to continue this investigation into Kingston Primovia. Regarding the remaining facilities, I have plans,” Shane instructed as he resumed his business-like demeanor.

Everything that needed to happen had already happened. There was no time to cry over spilt milk, no time to regret what he had done. The only thing he could do now was to plan for the worst case scenario. The Chess Team all stared at Shane with subdued expressions, each of them knowing that what Shane had said was true and the possibility of their General being charged with murder of a Magic Council member was very real. And it was at this point of time, that the training Shane had put them all through would shine. There was no argument, no debates, no words to comfort the General. All they did was simply nod and filed out of the room.

The moment all of them walked out of the room and closed the door behind them, Shane took out the black folder that contained all of the information they had gathered so far from the weapon research facilities. Even the evidence that they had obtained from the latest hit had been compiled into this folder. And with a sweep of his right hand, Shane stored it within the safest place possible. His Requip dimension. While he had spoken of a plan to the Chess Team, in reality, the Rune Knight General was purely winging it.

“I’ll work on it,” Shane said to himself as he leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes for a quick nap. He knew that the moment morning arrived, it could very well be a very different world for him.

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