Through the far west of the land of Gaea, lies a massive, vast, wasteland of desolation. The Dirt drier than the rocks with the only plant life around were cacti and tumbleweeds. A deserted wasteland where the western kingdom Regalia, the kingdom of freedom resides.

Alex stood on a canyon, blinking for a moment as he looked at himself. “Is that how teleporting feels? It just felt like, blinking while having the wind blow your face…” He described to no one but himself and Peina.

From the outsider perspective, the teleport looked like him vanishing into a glitter of imploding light. And when he appeared on this canyon it was an explosion of light that sparkled lingered for a moment before dissipating into glittering flakes of dust.

I personally prefer to use a gate, but it is an interesting feeling to be shifted from one place to another in a mere instant.

“Maybe one day I’ll be able to use your gate.”

Maybe. But don’t get your hopes up, Boy. Now, onto your mission.

“Right.” Refresher.

“...Ha?” Alex said with a long beat.

“You will face off the former Guildmaster, Crane Valentine,” Slater repeated, tone unshifting as he was dead serious. “This is the mission I wanted Malek to do.” Slater gives his fellow Hunter a sidelong glance as he speaks.

“Which is also the reason why I kept saying no.” Malek chimed with his arms crossed.

THIS was the mission that Alex decided to take in Malek’s place; a suicide mission. “O-oh…” He trailed off as Alex felt like he bit of more than he could chew.

“You know of Valentine, correct?” Who doesn’t? Every veteran guildmember, Official, and the kingdoms knew of Crane Valentine. A war hero that lead an army of Hunters alongside the Kingdoms’ armies to face a terrifying war against the demon king. A war that happened recently and has just ended around the year Alex was born.

Alex honestly shook his head no. “I only knew he’s the former Guildmaster from my uncle.” but he doesn’t need to know to be naturally nervous and intimidated he will fight a former Guildmaster.

“Then I’ll tell you about him. Crane Valentine was the Guildmaster before me, he was a hero from the war against demons. A decade after the war, however, he stood down from his position and left the guild.”

“Now he’s a criminal who’s been stealing technology from the east and west kingdoms. Lately he's been attacking slave owners which, in itself, wouldn’t be a crime if not for him taking those slaves from them for himself. He’s also been breaking death row inmates out of the prison system for unknown reasons.” Such a drastic change from being a good guild master into a wanted criminal.

“What made him want to become...well—like this?” He asked the two of them as the two looked at each other and back at Alex.

“Beats me. Maybe the peace got him bored and wanted to sew some chaos.” Malek stated, not even putting effort to theorize the reason Crane defected to crime.

“We don’t truly know.” Slater affirms with a tired glance at Malek. “What we do know is that Crane needs to be brought to justice. Which is why Malek reasoned with me that you’d be good to face him.”

“But...why me exactly?” Thinking back he at least expected a longer time to change Slater’s mind or could’ve gone with Slater scolding Alex for his arrogance and punish him on the spot.

“It’s ‘cause you’re an Ares,” Malek answered bluntly. “Crane is strong. He's a monster above your sister and can take on Slater and me if we hold back for even a second. But what he won’t expect to encounter a foolhardy Ares child..”

Malek took a step forward and looked down on him. “He will hold back on you. Crane still has some semblance of morals. He will not kill the only child of a family of idiots, especially in this day and age. We need idiots like you to bring morale in this guild”

Alex, at first, felt offended that he called his family line a family of idiots...before feeling somewhat complimented but still offended at the idiot part.

“It may feel underhanded of us to send you to fight him, but we changed our objective a little bit for you, Alex.” Slater pulled out something from his pocket. A small, pitch-black dot. “This is a tracker. We want you to plant this on Crane or anyone that is with him. It would be preferable if it was on Crane, however.”

“Instead of it being a mission to capture him, Instead it’ll be a mission to track him and find where he’s hiding and we’ll do the rest. If it’s with his people a whole strike team can be sent in. Crane won't use his full power with allies around. that's to our advantage.”

That seems...easier-ish compared to the mission of capturing or killing Crane himself. “That doesn’t sound too hard. Maybe I’ll roughen myself up, thinking that I’m here to fight him.”

“Please don’t overdo it and die, Alex,” Slater said with concern, frowning at how he hasn’t hesitated at least once about this mission. “Outside of my respect for your family. It is also my concern as the Guildmaster to worry about your well-being.” Like a father worried about his child getting hurt, the Guildmaster cares for all of the members, regardless of personal ties.

“Thank you for your concern, sir.” Alex slowly smiled at the Guildmaster. “It’s my job to fill my family’s shoes. It’s natural I’ll be roughened up alot.”

Slater slowly forced himself to smile back as he handed him the tracker and the teleportation scroll. “This scroll has been marked with the coordinates placed by the Scouting Corps. A couple of miles away from where Crane is planned to be in soon.”

Slater looked at his watch, other than him being a few minutes late to finish up paperwork and accompanying Michel, Alex has time to prepare himself before Crane is suspected to arrive, The Scouting Corps are terrifyingly good at what they do. “Good luck, Alex.”

“Thank you, Sir!” Alex quickly unwrapped the scroll as he vanished, teleported away to begin his first mission.

I am surprised how you lack hesitation to go die so easily. Now I’m feeling something within me that gnaws other than hunger, is this...anxiety? Yes. I am now anxious.

“What’s making you anxious?”

The probability of you dying and leaving me to sleep and be buried forever in this wasteland is becoming imminent than a possibility.

“I’m not gonna die. If I will, I’ll use that teleportation scroll to teleport my corpse and hopefully, Sal will loot you off of my dead body.”

That is enough of an assurance for me. Prepare yourself. I finally sense something living and breathing that is above the surface than the ground beneath.

“There are things living underneath?” If the intense heat was unbearable, it made sense most monsters evolved to live underground or became burrowers to be cooler or heat resistant.

Not to worry, they are dormant, resting, or simply find you and the others not worth to be eaten. Look in front of you.

Alex looked over the crag and saw 2 smoking trails that were coming close together. The trails were caused by large vehicles, Jeeps, a marvel of technology. Faster than a carriage or horseback.

“Those’re Jeeps…” Alex said in fascination. Where he’s from. The only advancements of tech in Huis were electricity, television, but not something like automobiles since his town was small, simple horse buggies were good enough for the townspeople.

The Jeeps were heavily modified to handle rough terrain, along with the vehicles being covered in armor plating and even what looked like machine guns attached to the sides and one at the back that can be used manually.

The Jeeps came to a stop when the two vehicles are now close enough, both braking to the side so that the doors of the Jeeps were facing each other

Alex crouched down and layed low, observing what’s happening as he peeked his head over the edge of the cliff he’s on.

As the Jeep doors open up. People wearing what appeared like some sort of space-soldier with lightweight red armor that looked tougher than they look with red visored helmets having a gasmask-like mouthpiece were coming out. But one walked out that wasn’t wearing armor.

A 6’4” tall tanned man walked out of the driver seat on one of the Jeeps, medium-length black hair that goes down his ears, and wore a wide-brimmed hat. He sported a strong jawline and had sad blue eyes, eyes that have seen hell and back but forced to have a sliver of sanity and normalcy.

He wore a duster cloak that covered most of what he wore underneath but looked like a mixture of modified armor similar to the soldiers but more casual than combative-looking, other than the magical looking bracers on his arms, along with showing his muscular frame through the clothes. His skin tanned from the exposure of the desert heat. This man was the former Guildmaster of the Hunters Guild. Crane Valentine.

Alex can barely get a proper look, lacking anything to get a better view, cupping his hands on his eyes like makeshift binoculars to at least cover his eyes from the light of the sun. “That’s him.”

I can tell from afar he has the same presence emitting from the previous two. Those with him are nothing noteworthy for me, though, for you they are in equal power to you from what they are wearing.

“Thanks for the heads up.”

From the other Jeep, the soldiers pulled out something from inside the truck, it appeared to be a suitcase and a large square container that they presented to Crane. Opening the case and container. Alex can’t see what’s in the case but he can see a glowing orb that was emitting natural power before the soldier closed the case and the container.

The soldier behind Crane was holding something on their hand, a gadget of sorts and they tapped his shoulder and he nodded at them. Crane mouthed something at the soldiers and they saluted him before going back to the Jeep and started driving away.

Crane mouthed out something once more as Alex suddenly felt his body blown with the harsh desert wind.

“Who are you?” A voice that came from the wind, a soft and comforting voice juxtaposition to the harsh wind. Alex tensed and stood up, quickly taking a step back when the wind talked to him.

The wind blew over him again to talk to him. “No point in hiding, my soldier saw you the moment she got out of the Jeep.”

“...Well, damnit.” Guess a surprise attack is not a choice anymore. He sighed and stepped forward to show himself at the edge of the hill. “Well. Here I am.” He showed himself to his enemies. Unfortunately, it’s only a one-sided as his voice traveled through the wind.

The soldier quickly went to the roof of the Jeep, crouching down as they had a rifle in hand.

Crane mouthed something to the soldier and nodded in response as they raised the rifle a bit and fired.

What are you doing?

Alex suddenly felt his arm raised up as it suddenly summoned an orange translucent kite shield before it suddenly went opaque and shattered as Alex felt something struck his side like a pellet. It was a bullet that was softened by his shield and only struck him hard enough like a sharp BB pellet.

“Gh!” He winced as he quickly placed his hand on where the bullet struck him. “That stings! How did my arm do that?”

By using what little power I had left to assist you. May I say it felt abhorrent to use that very power your kind wield. And I cannot assist you anymore as you have wasted that offering to use it all on possessing you for but a measly moment.

“If you can possess my body like that I am beginning to doubt feeding you.”

‘Tis only a moment, boy. Now focus. You are all on your own now.

Alex looked down to see how large the drop is from where he was. “Either way, thanks for protecting me.” Under his feet, he created a pair of greaves made of fire. “Enchantment: Boost!” He crouched and jumped as high as he could, the greaves ejecting a burst of flames when jumping, boosting him further up in the air.

Halfway jumping he summoned gauntlets made of fire as he descended down on the ground with a dynamic entrance of dancing flames as he personally got close to his enemies.

What a grand entrance. Please do not die. It’s hard to find a new host in this vast desert.

“Stop worrying, already!” He thought, assuring her as he stood up and took a stance, his gauntlets and greaves disappearing as he summoned a large shield almost looking like a riot shield known as a Scutum and a gladius made of fire. Crane’s soldiers prepared themselves, the gunner aiming her rifle at him and the soldier pulling out two blades that were sheathed from his belt.

Crane stared at the flashy-looking kid. The facade of calmness maintained as though he felt no threat at all. Instead, it seemed as though he felt a twinge of disappointment looking at Alex. “You’re an Ares,” he said bitterly, looking at his weapon and shield he created, along with that familiar-looking sword, one he recognized from back then. “Why are you here? Don’t tell me... don't tell me you’ve joined the guild?” There was a bit of surprise in his voice, though it was subdued.

His soldiers were ready to fight him the moment Crane says so. “So what if I did?” Alex retorted as he prepared his Gladius. “I’m here to take you down and arrest you, Valentine!” He flashed a shark-toothed smile at him as the Soldiers twitched their weapons in response to Alex’s cockiness.

“You little!—" He cut himself off with a breath and looked at Crane. "Orders, sir?” The sword-wielding soldier, a man with his voiced filtered by the helmet asked his leader. Alex’s response caused Crane to simply sigh as he looked at his soldier. “Incapacitate him, Fritz. Don’t shoot anywhere lethal, Lisa.”

The Soldiers stopped for a moment and looked at each other before nodding in response. “Understood, sir.” They said in unison as Lisa cocked her rifle and Fritz took the initiative and clashed blades with Alex immediately.

Alex blocked Fritz’s blades, sparks flying and the Scutum growing opaque from the impact as Alex pushed back the soldier and countered with a swing of his Gladius, before having it parried by Fritz’s dual blades. He quickly prepared another strike as Alex heard a loud and explosive bang as he felt a sharp pain come to him by his thigh.

With a cock of her rifle, Lisa prepared another shot, Aiming her rifle lower to shoot his foot. Inhibiting his movement to Incapacitate him easier.

“Damnit! Think. I’m at a disadvantage.” He thought to himself as he tried to avoid the next shot by jumping back, narrowly avoiding the shot as the sand below flew around caused by the bullet’s impact. Fritz leaped forward as Alex blocked one of his dual blades as the other blade was striking the vulnerable shoulder that his tower shield wasn’t blocking.

Alex parried the incoming blade but it managed to cut through his sleeve and cut his wrist. “One shoots me and one clashes with me. This is almost like my fight with Mom and dad. The only solution. Is to make sure the one shooting me can’t shoot if this guy is in the way!”

Alex attempted to raised his blade and attempted to do a pommel strike as Alex’s Gladius dropped from his hold and his hand started twitching whenever he attempted to ball it into a fist. “W-wha—AGHH!!” Alex screamed as Fritz struck him with his other blade at the shoulder of where he held his shield.

Suddenly the blade let out a shocking jolt of electricity as Alex was being electrocuted. "GHRAA!" He screamed, lightning crackling around him with each second of being jolted before Fritz kicked him down on the ground.

“First time getting paralyzed?” Fritz commented as he sunk the blade that paralyzed him back and unsheathed them again. “Because it’s nothing compared to how you’ll feel when I start cutting.”

“Electrocution...that fucking hurt alot! And paralysis? Not good, this is bad.” Alex started breathing heavily as he looked at Fritz, his eye darting to the crouching gunman, Lisa, cocking her rifle and preparing to shoot him the moment he stands up.

“Enchantment!” He slammed his shield on the sandy ground as the shield let out an explosive burst, launching him in the air as he turned his body, using the force of the explosion to make him rapidly spin. “Blast!” He finished the name of the enchantment as the Scutum was shattered in the process.

“The hell?” He looked up at the spinning boy in mid-air before widening his eyes through the visor when something came out of the flying boy, an incoming sword made of fire. Fritz parried the sword before being forced back as the one he parried let out an explosive blast and shattered. “Agh!” He groaned from the force but he was still standing.

“Impressive,” Crane commented as he rested his shoulder against the Jeep and watched the fight. “You’re definitely an Ares. I remember a girl with the same creativity.” His words were distant, looking back on a memory.

Alex attempted to land gracefully by shifting his spinning body to stand up but instead, he stumbled on his landing and tumbled down, falling on his ass. “Oof!” He grunted as he slowly stood up. “Almost nailed it.” He stood back up as he prepared summoned another Scutum.

“You son of a!—some backup, Lisa?”

“On it!” She fired her rifle at Alex. Alex lifted his arm and placed his other arm.

“Reinforce!” The shield bulked up in size and became detailed and opaque as he blocked the bullet, the shield still in one piece as Alex crouched down.

“He blocked the bullet!” Lisa said in surprise, aware that the first time she shot it, she saw that the shield broke. She cocked her rifle to prepare another shot but can’t find any available spots to shoot.

“Damn it! His front is covered, switching to armor-piercing rounds!” She dropped the magazine that the rifle held and proceeded to switch Ammo types.

“Enhancement:” He summoned a pair of greaves once more, enhanced with Boost as the Scutum developed what appeared to be mini thrusters, 3 on each side as both are placed in the middle parts of them. “Double Boost!”

He stomped on the ground, leaving a scorched and inch deep footprint as Alex dashed forward with all his might on that one foot, then the thrusters on the shield ignited and let out a burst of flames that increased his dashing speed and impact along with Alex’s greaves. He’s coming towards Fritz at full speed, bashing him with his tower shield like a speeding car.

“Khagh!” Fritz coughed out, feeling himself being lifted off the ground and feeling the impact crush his body through the armor as he was launched out of the way and crashed into the Jeep’s mounted gun, breaking it in the process.

“Fritz!” She clicked her tongue and loaded the new rounds, cocking her rifle to replace it but a hand came to the side of the rifle as Crane silently ordered her to stop. “Sir?”

“Stand down. Check up on Fritz. I’ll deal with him.” Crane ordered as he took a step forward at Alex.

Alex’s shield and Greaves disappeared. The boy was sweating and panting in fatigue as he flicked his paralyzed wrist.

“You did a good job fighting with a paralyzed wrist. I should’ve ordered just one of my men to fight you instead of both. They worry about hurting one another when they do battle, but it was good practice. Besides, you’re not the type to deal with in a one-on-one fight.”

Alex gripped on his wrist, not only paralyzed but realized it was bleeding and his sleeve was soaking some of it. “I say they were holding back on me because you told them to.” He retorted, squeezing the bleeding wound to drain out and stop the bleeding, The shoulder where he was struck, the wound was cauterized for being in close contact to the source of the electric blade.

“True.” Crane replies without hesitation. “They are more used to killing than incapacitation. Fritz has lethal poisons in his sheathe, and Lisa has rounds that can pierce through the skull of an Adult Megaboar with ease.”

“...Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I know you have the capacity to kill them, but resort to simply knocking them out. you’re inexperienced in true battle.” Crane pauses for just a moment. “You’ve never been in a real fight. The closest you’ve come is fighting Megafauna and rabid wood beasts.” His voice remained steady and calm like the flowing wind that danced around them. “Am I wrong?”

Alex tried to smile through his accurate observation, beads of sweat running down his face. “You’re damn right you’re wrong.” He said with forced confidence. “I don’t want to kill them because my mission said nothing about killing anyone, just to tell me to bring you behind bars. If I had the choice to not kill then I’ll gladly not kill anyone!”

“A naive answer. You never know if the people you’re fighting will extend the same courtesy. Unlike hungry and easily-angered animals they will actively try to pursue and kill you in whatever way they can. Cleverly, unexpectedly.” Crane seemed exasperated as he gestured to Fritz. “Had he used his poison your skin would rot like a corpse. Spreading before you could remove the limb. If Lisa had used lethal piercing rounds from the beginning, without my orders to incapacitate, you would no longer have a head on your shoulders.” Crane moves from his relaxed position and gestures around them. “Leaving your brains a pink smudge across the sand.”

Alex felt grim at his detailed observation. He was right and made a good point. If it weren’t for him. He would be dead by the two of them.

“But-” Crane adds with a sigh. “That is my fault in this matter. They have powerful weapons, good skills, but lack the restraint and diplomacy that comes with such strength. Knowing when to overwhelm and when not to is important. Something I will teach in time, to make all my soldiers proper human beings.”

"Proper humans?" Alex perished the thought for a moment as he summoned his blade and aimed at him. “Well, now that I’ve beaten one of your soldiers, I’m coming for you next! Come at me, Crane!”

Alex was riling him up to fight and make him get closer so that he can plant the bug on him. That’s tough to do with a paralyzed hand but he has to or else he’ll be forced out of the guild by Malek.

“Offering me the first move? How chivalrous.” Instead of jumping at him during their talk, Alex was giving Crane the honor of a first strike. “Know, however, that your misguided chivalry can not only cost your life, but those of your friends as well. For a moment, I’ll humor you and respect that honor.”

Crane lifted his arms as the winds grew harsh. “But only for a simple moment.” The sand around them was blown away, swirling around the air rapidly to see the winds being sourced at Crane like a mini-tornado on top of his hands. “As you know, I am Crane Valentine. I once held many titles, but now I am simply an outlaw.” There was a bit of something foreign in his tone at that word, outlaw. Maybe pain? But it was too quick and subtle to notice. “Your name, Ares?”

Alex felt something within him swell...excitement? He shouldn’t be, but he was. His smile no longer forced as he gripped on his blade, facing his inevitable defeat. “Alex Ares. The only son of Julius and Amanda Ares. And future predecessor of my sister, Lexa!”