“You bastard!” Screamed Karnissius as he slammed his fists against the table.

“You are correct in calling me that. I don’t know who my father is nor my mother for that matter.” Retorted Kilbourne.

“Do you seriously expect us to believe that legionnaires are best suited to use the sky sailors?” Asked another general at the table.

“It’s a matter of physics generals. Better to infiltrate a dozen children than six adults. By the end it’s a matter of numbers. Numbers that we, legionnaires, can supplement.” Explained Kilbourne.

Karnissius’ face turned into a scowl. If they gave the legionnaires sole access to the sky sailors it would give them an insurmountable advantage. Emperor Kyvar looked at his son and Kilbourne then sighed in exhaustion.

“Am I correct in assuming that you’ve already mobilized token resources in establishing this new task force?” Asked Emperor Kyvar.

“Yes sir. The LRSSG otherwise known as the Long Range Strategic Strike Group. The plan is to train legionnaires to fight behind enemy lines, and surprise the enemy or mobilize entire battalions to take over their cities if need be.”

Cid watched from the far end of the room as the situation slowly deteriorated.

“They’re still going at it?” Asked a familiar voice.

Cid turned to see the commander of the Imperators, Ōtsubo.

“Commander!” She saluted him.

“At ease. Although given our positions I should be the one saluting you. It’s been a while Cid.”

“Yes sir.”

Ōtsubo looked at the confrontation between Kilbourne and the rest of the military branches. “It always devolves into this doesn’t it?”

“Yes. Although thankfully Sovereign Knight Apollyon isn’t here. Otherwise I doubt even he would’ve lasted this long.”

“That old commander of yours is tenacious if nothing else. It’s no wonder he’s the director I can’t imagine anyone else fulfilling his role.”

“Yeah, any news from the front sir?”

“Lost a squad of five so I’m putting out a notice to anyone in the branches that wants to join.”

“If I recall that time I joined there was only one spot open and more than three hundred people applied.”

“Yeah I expect about a thousand this time around.”

The child looked at the various candies that the street vendor had on display. The vibrant colors all beckoned to her, and seduced her to take one. The child looked to her mother with pleading eyes.

“Mommy can I have one?” She begged as she pulled on her mother’s shirt.

“You’ll spoil your dinner.” The mother snapped at her child.

It was then that the child started to cry.

Her mother grabbed her by her arm, and gestured towards a large building that had parents taking their children into.

“You see that place. That’s where all the bad kids go. So unless you want to go with them I suggest you do as you’re told.”

Just as the woman turned around she saw the champion with a tall man wearing a silver mask looking at her. The woman gulped, and quickly moved to the side as she dragged her child along with her.

Kilbourne ignored the woman as he headed towards the Legionnaire Collections Office. Every civilian moved towards the side afraid of what might happen if they crossed paths with him. A woman carrying a child held the door open for him.

Kilbourne grabbed hold of the door. “After you.”

The woman was hesitant at first, but decided to walk in as quickly as she could for fear of what might happen should she refuse.

The legionnaires standing guard saluted the director and the champion, and were immediately ordered to stand at ease when Kilbourne saw the state the collections office was in. Kilbourne saw the woman meet with a clerk.

“Good day ma’am.”

“Yes hi uhm… I uh… I would like to give up my son.”

“Sure thing let me just…” The clerk then pulled out a scale from under the desk. “If you would please place him on the scale. I will also need any and all documents such as a birth certificate.”

“Yes of course here they are.” The woman pulled out her son’s birth certificate, and placed it on the counter.

“Are you by any chance a returning customer?”

“I’m sorry?” The woman did not know how to answer his question.

“Oh it’s just that sometimes we get people that have given us more than one child. Sometimes we get two, three, some prostitutes and Gaericists even become recurring visitors. It’s par for the course. Especially for Gaericists since they want a daughter to give up to the church.”

“Uh… No. This is my first time…”

“Okay ma’am now let’s see here. Yeah everything in his birth certificate checks out. As for the weight here…” The clerk stripped the baby naked before placing him on the scale. “Eleven pounds… No abnormalities… Yes let me write you a bank note.”

“Bank note?”

“Yeah you take the note with you to your bank, and they deposit the money to your account.” The clerk explained as he wrote the bank note.

“He’ll be… Will he be okay?”

“As okay as any legionnaire can be. Here you go ma’am. Be sure to take this to the bank as soon as possible. If you lose it you can come back to get a new one over that way. We keep a copy on file, and the bank tells us if the note was cashed in or not.”

The woman grabbed the bank note with both hands, and gripped it tightly. “Thank you.”

“Come again.” Said the clerk as the woman quickly left the office building.

Kilbourne often wondered if his parents were like that woman. However, that was a lifetime ago, and he was much better for it.

“It never ceases to amaze me how many people come in with their children every day.” Noted Cid as the clerks were all busy weighing children, writing bank notes, and so on.

“Yes. One of the perks of lobbying for the abortion ban. We get a constant influx of legionnaires. Without it we would be severely shorthanded.”

“Even so you’d think they wouldn’t give up their child so easily.”

“It all comes down to decisions Cid. Having a child costs money. Though the parents may want a child money is always the first thought on their minds. Children limit their economic decisions. With the abortion ban in place we force them into poverty seeing as how they can’t possibly feed an extra mouth. With the family already in debt, and poor their options are limited. Some turn to prostitution, others rack up a debt, and take loans. In the end it’s all about controlling what decisions they can make. With the addition of the Legionnaire Collections Office those unwanted children become legionnaires for the empire, and the parents take with them some money.”

“Quite ingenious sir.”

“Yes. Well this plan dates back when Isaah was still under the tutelage of Director Halcyon. Back then it was rudimentary of course. But once they passed that abortion ban well… It opened new opportunities for us to exploit.”

Emperor Kyvar was on his bed reading several reports from the frontlines. From the looks of it they had managed to push the Dolsurians back into their homeland North of Lake Almarra. The South however was still having a rough go at it. Much of that southern land was swampy terrain that made it impossible to transport artillery and troops with wagons. There were a few roads they could take, but none where they could properly reinforce their frontlines or establish a presence large enough to attack. For now they were forced into skirmishes. Then there was the Zibellian Line where both sides engaged in trench warfare. Neither side had managed to break the balance in over fifty years. Prior to that the Waiapolo Mountains were constantly exchanging hands between the two.

His thoughts wandered to that of the Kshatriyan Legionnaires with their Dragon Eyes. An army like that could certainly turn the tide, and with the addition of the sky sailors and the chemical weapon they would finally take the fight to them.

A knock on the door disrupted his thoughts.

“Come in.” He said as he set the papers aside.

“Father.”

“Ah Karnissius! What is it?”

“It’s about Kilbourne.”

He let out a disgruntled groan. “Sit.”

“O-okay.” Stammered Karnissius as he pulled up a chair by his father’s bedside.

“What do you know about the Battle of Kikyo?” Asked Kyvar.

“It was a slaughter the Dolsurians and us lost our armies.”

“Close, but not quite. There was one survivor.”

“One survivor? You mean…” Karnissius began.

“Yes.” Answered Kyvar.

Kyvar and his army watched as the city burned. The whole place was a massive bonfire that could probably be seen for miles around. They rode in hoping to catch the Dolsurians exhausted from the fighting. As they entered the city they saw bodies littered throughout the streets. Most of them were damaged beyond recognition. Then they reached a massive pile of bodies, and from it emerged a single child. The naked child was covered in blood from head to toe, and as he screamed the fires roared all around them. The horses neighed in terror from the boy’s scream as they tried to rein them in.

“Kikyo… Should’ve been his grave.” Answered Kyvar.

“How did he survive?”

“I never asked. I was too afraid then. Afraid that if I wronged him the fires would consume me. I knew right then, and there that I should’ve killed him. But I was different then. I needed monsters like him to fight the Dolsurians. I’ve since learned to make peace with my decision as should you. Kilbourne, as I’m sure you’ll later learn, has his uses.”

“A necessary evil?”

“When you get to be my age you learn that there’s no such thing as good and evil. There’s just the monochotomy. Good and evil is based on perception. In your eyes Kilbourne may be evil, and yet in his eyes he is good. We all perceive ourselves in some form of good or another. All actions are aimed at some form of good. His actions are aimed at the good of the empire… As they should be.”

“So what do you expect me to do with him if even you can’t rein him in?”

“That will be up to you. You will be the next emperor after all. You must learn to live with your decisions. If nothing else know that every decision you make is the right one.”

Karnissius scratched the back of his head. He put the chair back in its place and left. Just before he was about to close the door behind him he stopped. “If I were to go to war against him…”

“Then it would be the right one, but… A costly one. Kilbourne is best suited as an ally of Karash not an enemy. Take that from him, and the child that survived Kikyo would undoubtedly return. Then it won’t just be one city, but the whole empire that would burn.”

With that Karnissius closed the door, and Kyvar fell asleep.

Kilbourne and Cid walked into the manager’s office.

“Director! Champion!”

“At ease. Report!” Ordered Kilbourne.

“As of this moment recruitment is still up sir. Here are the latest numbers.”

Kilbourne looked at the figures. In just one day alone they were able to acquire three thousand four hundred seventy-two children.

“Quite impressive. Any peculiar children?”

“Per your request we’ve looked into the backgrounds of several of those children, and determined that only three possess Dragon Eyes. We’re still running background checks on the rest.”

“Good. I want them in the program immediately.”

“Will do sir. Is there anything else that I can assist you with?”

“Yes actually Teshin. Where is he?”

“Actuary Teshin has been reassigned per your request sir. He’s still in Legionnaire’s Vigil.”

“Good. Bring him here. I require his skills.”

“As you command.”