I swear officer that's not mine [Intro]

The cold, plain concrete walls of the hallway echoed with every step the man took, the sound the boots of his dress uniform produced reverberating off the hardwood flooring. It wasn't at all necessary for him to be here. No, some knights may even go as far as calling it inappropriate. This was not work suited for him. Someone of adequate station would suffice entirely. Of course, that was entirely congruent with the reality of this situation. And still, he had come regardless. The truth of the matter? The man was frustrated out of his mind.

General Kadokawa had asked for a transfer to the front, wherever the thick of the action was currently. No luck thus far. Someone of his rank wasn't exactly a designated combatant, and even though Shen was the leader of the Combat Corps under Director Ragnos and Field Marshal Sinclair, he found his potential wasted by occupying an office job position. It was something people strived for. A profession far away from any dangers that the war might hold. A nice desk and simple tasks, couldn't be any easier than that. The General grimaced at the thought that he would be stuck with such a thing. He appreciated Serilda and the promotion he had received. The red-haired mage would never have guessed that such a thing was possible when he had joined the Rune Knights just a few years before, of course. Things had changed, however. Drastically so. He wanted to be out there, ached to participate in the battle against Pergrande. There were many reasons for that, but in the end, it came down to his own selfishness and that alone. If nothing else, perhaps he could petition for an exception if a special operation of the Rune Knights came around or something along the same lines. If push would come to shove, he would find another way, but he had not yet exhausted his options.

Regardless of these facts, though, this same frustration was what had brought the General of the Combat Corps to the section of the Headquarters dedicated to holding recently arrived incarcerations. Some might say that he was bored, but that was never really the case. He would always find something to occupy his mind, even if it was just training. It was training more often than not these days. This, however, was the first real event on a day where work otherwise proved surprisingly slow. An unexpected circumstance, considering Fiore was at war with four other nations.

Two guards saluted as he passed, the two opening a set of double doors for him. He acknowledged their gesture with a nod as he made his way through, then turned as the doors closed behind him. Holding cell one, was it? He wanted to see the man for himself. The Combat Corps handled such affairs, of course, the day-to-day business of Era and beyond and the actual policing of Fiore's streets. As such, the report of this incident, the circumstances surrounding the young man's arrest, had been passed to Shen immediately... and something in this story did not line up. If it was true what his comrades said, if the man was guilty, he would leave them to deal with this case and never speak of it again. If that wasn't true, however, if someone hadn't done their job right, there would be an issue. Something to consider when he could actually see the man for himself. He approached the cell, a member of Combat just outside of it turning to him. The young man, not much younger than Shen himself, stared for a second, then straightened up when he realized whom he was facing, saluting promptly.

"G-general Kadokawa! Is there something I can help you with?". The redhead nodded. "I've come to see the prisoner". "The prisoner, General? I- I believe someone is already-". "Irrelevant-". His voice was calm, bordering stoic in its tone. The gaze that rested on the soldier before him, however, was one that portrayed the full capacity of the General's intense nature. He was a good leader, competent and expressly suited for his position, but a miserable team player. "-I will save all of us some time and speak with the man myself. Objections?". "Of course not, Sir". Shen nodded once more before turning, making his way past the man and through a door, into a room adjacent to the cell itself. A window of one-way glass separated him from the prisoner and... a woman? What was she doing here? Was interrogation not the business of the Combat Corps? He sighed, stepped closer to the glass and listened. They were already talking, so who was he to interrupt them. His eyes were fixed on the young man, the General's oculi flashing as they glowed with mana. It took only a second for them to shift in hue, their usual red replaced with a bright gold. Time almost seemed to slow, then speed up again for the General. He would know if the kid was lying as soon as he'd answered. Heart rate, breathing, the tiniest movements of his face and body as well as minuscule variations in speech would give him away immediately. He would make his decision soon enough. For now, though, he simply stood there, unseen, and listened.

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Upon first glance, the red-haired suspect was hardly that. He was a young man, a kid, some might even say, with an expression and demeanor that were mild, if a good bit grating. Upon first glance, that was. Still waters, as the saying went, ran deep. And this one went far deeper than initially anticipated. Shen beheld the man's actions for a few seconds, listened to his replies. Nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, the man appeared too calm, given the predicament he was in. Shen watched every single movement of the other closely, the display before him unfolding almost as if in slow motion. Every minute movement, every spoken word, the General coming to the conclusion that... the man was telling the absolute, unaltered truth. There was no hint of any intentional falsehood in his words, not a single trace, which meant that his story was, of course, legitimate. But there was something else to him. Something more than the fact that the young man was entirely too observant for his own good.

When the General of the Combat Corps observed Finnegan Fontaine's mana, he noticed it.

It was small, and subtle at first. Something almost akin to a spark of magic, tainted and steeped in darkness. With every second, however, every passing moment, this spark attached to the redhead grew, until finally, it moved, changed its shape into that of an eye. Shen narrowed his own oculi, golden hues glowing brighter and with more arcane intensity, peered deeper into it, and then, it stared back, a shift in the shape focussing its attention entirely on the unseen beholder. The General held his gaze, unmoved and unphased. "Looks like there's more to you than you led on, huh?", the man whispered to himself under his breath as he closed his eyes. When he opened them anew, the golden glow had vanished entirely, these two distant eyes reverting back to a flame-like crimson.

Not it was the General's turn to get involved. He hesitated not, moved, and opened the door to the interrogation room in one swift and unfaltering motion, taking a step inside the room, though leaving the door behind him open. His voice was somewhat monotonous, though firm and steady when he spoke with absoluteness. "Further testing is unnecessary. I am taking over this investigation". He turned to the person who had introduced herself as a doctor, though truthfully, Shen did not know her, nor had he any desire to get to know her in the least. His attitude when it came to lower-ranking knights had been and would remain consistent. "You are dismissed, Soldier, though if you wish, you may stay as a witness".

He turned to the suspect. "My name is Shen Kadokawa, and I am the General of the Combat Corps of the Rune Knights. I have determined that your arrest has been wrongful. On behalf of my officers, I apologize to you, Mr. Fontaine. You are free to go, though..."

The General paused briefly, eyeing the young man carefully. "...If you do wish to join the ranks of the Rune Knights, then we have a perfect opportunity on our hands here, do we not?"

Shen took a few steps forward, pulled up the chair at the table opposite the man and took a seat, folding his arms on the table before him. The General's expression was entirely unmoving as he spoke anew, addressing the young man in a stoic, albeit faintly curious tone. "Finnegan, wasn't it? Why have you come all the way here from Seven to join the Rune Knights?". Perhaps the real interrogation had just begun for the native Sevenite. Shen wanted to understand the other, wanted to probe at him and see what he could gleam, especially in regards to what he had seen earlier. Perhaps this would offer him some insight into the enigmatic newcomer.

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The General's eyes remained firmly fixed on the young man before him, every motion, every minute detail of both speech and mannerism scanned and cataloged in an instant. There was something... off about this man. Something that was not quite the way it should be. Shen had a hard time placing exactly what it was that evoked this impression, to begin with, but it had kept him wary, at least when speaking to the potential Rune Knight candidate initially. Perhaps it was the strange sensation of being watched by something that shouldn't be there. How very curious, indeed.

"Smart friend you have there". The General's reply came immediately as the other still chuckled to himself. It was a reply that bore no more emotion or deeper meaning than the contents of what was said. Still, Shen felt the twist of a knife in his chest. Not long ago, he'd have said a similar thing, but these days were over. Taken from him against his will.

Shen listened to the other's reasoning, suppressing his urge to sigh. It was woefully ironic. Back in the day, the General of the Combat Corps had said some things that seemed quite similar to this when he had joined the Rune Knights. Protect people. Help out where he could out of the goodness of his heart. Be a force of law and justice in the world. How ironic. None of that mattered anymore. Justice did not exist, and joining the Rune Knights in times of war was simply and plainly idiotic. This man, whether he knew it or not, would be little more than cannon fodder, an afterthought, a statistic. Just like they had been. In the end, there would only be a modest little grave awaiting him. A letter home, a heartbroken mother, and a disappointed father. It was a destiny writ in stone with such braindead, cookie-cutter reasons to practically throw oneself into an active conflict. Well, he couldn't care less in the end. There was something else, though. A brief moment in which the man's demeanor shifted dramatically. There was a profound depth to the emotion that the other reflected for only a moment, an emotion that Shen Kadokawa was entirely too familiar with. Perhaps there was some real basis for Finnegan's desire to join the Rune Knights. He really wanted to be one, huh?

Well, not if the General could do anything about it.

"That is a piss-poor reason, Mr. Fontaine". He certainly didn't hold back. He'd do his best to dissuade this young man from his goals. He didn't care if he looked like the bad guy. He wouldn't bear the weight that was the responsibility of having to tell another family that their son wouldn't come again. He didn't care what it would ultimately take. "Spouting shit like that will get you killed in a matter of seconds on any real battlefield. Are you sure that you could be a Rune Knight?". The General paused, looking the other over. A test of strength, huh?

"All it takes is a bit of paperwork... but if you really want to prove that you're set in your ways, then I accept your challenge to a duel, if that is what you intend. If not, well, I'm sure that Seven has more than enough opportunities at home to make yourself useful, isn't that right, Mr. Fontaine?". It was all harsh and condescending, certainly. Shen meant none of what he said, but he would say what he had to if it meant that the kid would leave and go back home to live a happy and fulfilled life instead of dying in a ditch somewhere in a faraway land. He expected the other to decline a duel and go on his merry way, and that would be it.

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The other's words, whether the young Sevenite was aware of it or not, struck a rather sensitive nerve with the Rune Knight General. The whole spiel he was forced to listen to, even though he had grown tired of it after the first few syllables, seemed to imply that the other viewed death as just another triviality. That attitude of his, that nihilism without any regard for the difference between life and death, that complete ignorance of the value of a life...

It was infuriating.

It took a fair bit of composure just to remain still, and though the Rune Knight suppressed the most immediate anger that arose from deep within his chest, he couldn't stop a reaction entirely. His eyes narrowed as the potential recruit spoke, his brows inching closer together ever-so-slightly. Just another thing about this kid that irritated him. The thing that frustrated Shen the most, however, was how similar Fin was to himself not too long ago. The same goal, the same will to achieve it. The only difference between them was the experience. And Shen knew which path that would ultimately lead the Sevenite down. He couldn't allow that... but there was also no dissuading the young man from enacting his foolish ideas, it seemed. A demonstration was in order. Perhaps it would make the Sevenite understand just how idiotic his foolish dreams, these ideals, or perhaps delusions of grandeur, really were. Shen's voice remained cold as he spoke once more. "As you wish".

It wasn't long after that the General of the Rune Knights' Combat Corp stood opposite of his challenger on the grounds that soldiers would usually use for their larger-scale combat exercises, gravel and dust crunching beneath every step as the two men took their positions. Shen turned, watched, his hands crossed behind his back, carmine and unblinking oculi firmly affixed on the would-be opponent. While the other prepared his weapons, the General simply stood and watched with that same unwavering gaze, not making any preparations. Indeed, when his other brandished blades, Shen continued to observe, and only when the kid spoke, Shen finally moved, the Rune Knight taking a deep breath.

He sighed, reaching into a pocket and pulling out an ordinary coin, one you would find just about anywhere here in Era. "As soon as this coin hits the ground, the duel begins. I hope you're ready". The conditions of their bout were almost eerily simple, and there was no fancy trick to any of it. An observer might have been puzzled by the complete and utter lack of bravado that this battle promised, but that was precisely what the Rune Knight General had intended. A real battle, a fight to the bitter end, could occur at the drop of a hat, or, one might say, a coin. There was no point in preparations, grand speeches, and displays of all-encompassing ideology. There was you and everyone else.

There was only life and death, and Shen would teach Fin this very lesson.

Shen had made no preparations or anything of the sort, apart from tossing the hat to his dress uniform off to the side. The arms he had held clasped behind his back now hung loosely by his sides. Without any pompous exaggeration, without any fancy trick, his hand moved and the General flicked the coin upwards into the space between the two opponents. Predictably, it followed a parabolic arc through the air, rising first, then falling, the General's eyes following the small object all the way as milliseconds seemed to stretch out for an unbearably long time. Then, in a single instant, a single moment in time, the coin hit the dusty earth.

Within that same instant, the duel was over.

Fin would feel a gentle tap at the base of his skull. "Bang-", the word echoed out in synchronicity with the sensation, "-you're dead".

Behind him stood the General, right arm extended straight forward and two fingers stretched out. Shen had moved within that same moment in time at a speed so fast that his motion might as well have been instantaneous. There would be no dodging, no evasion, no reaction. Had this been a real battle, the challenger would be little more than a crimson puddle on the ground, and the General would make sure to make as much clear to his adversary.

"If I'd wanted it, Finnegan Fontaine, your life would've ended right here-". The General lowered his hand. "-without any sense... or meaning. Do you understand? You wouldn't be able to keep up on a real battlefield for even a moment". The Rune Knight turned away from his opponent and began to walk away to pick up his hat, fully expecting the other to resign. "Your wishes wouldn't mean a damn thing. Don't throw your future away for some lofty ideals".

As far as the General was concerned, this duel was over. What Fin would do or how the other would react, the vermillion-haired Rune Knight couldn't say, of course, but he hoped that this would help the other see reason.

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