“Welcome to the Third Elite Squad of the Sixth Division of the Drakkhan Empire. As explained by the Commander, you will now be referred to strictly as Zero.”

“Why am I called Zero?”

The pressure around the Drakkhan increased dangerously. Still, the creature answered with the same emotionless voice.

“Our numbers designate our order of priority. In the event of a failed operation or an enemy too strong to be handled, the squad’s priority becomes ensuring the safety of the lower numbers. As Zero…”

Liam could feel the lizardman staring daggers at him.

“…You are the first in the priority order. That means your survival comes before that of any other in this group.”

“And you’re One, so you were the previous first in the order?”

“Precisely.”

The Drakkhan barked out the answer. While Liam could understand why one would be angry about having another’s life come before one’s own, why would he…

‘Ah. I get it.’

“You’re angry because I’m not a Drakkhan. Therefore, I shouldn’t come ahead of all of you in the priority order.”

The Captain walked up to Liam’s face, releasing more of his Aura with every step. The orange energy crushed the air around the youth, making him instinctively push back against it with his own. Not only did the Captain’s Aura far surpass his own in terms of quantity, but it was also much more intense, being able to pressure him. If the Drakkhan was surprised or had noticed it as well, he didn’t show it.

“The priority order matters little.”

In spite of being shorter than his peers, the lizardman was still well over two and a half meters tall, towering over Liam’s figure. The young man’s bones creaked under the weight of the creature’s power, but his head remained high as he looked directly into where the One’s eyes should be under the mask.

“You are an animal. A lesser creature belonging to a lesser species. Why His Highness hasn’t ordered your execution is beyond me, but I’m not one to question orders, especially ones coming from the royal family. Just know this: you do not have our respect.”

Liam could feel his ribs start to crack. Under the mask, his expression contorted. Decisively, he made his heart fold in on itself, destroying it. The strength of his Aura immediately surged, surprising the Captain and pushing back the orange hue. Without missing a beat, One’s Aura immediately regained the ground it had lost and pressed down on Liam again, but with Dancing on the Death God’s Scythe’s and Survive!’s buffs, which improved his power when close to death and as long as he desired to live, Liam’s Aura was now much stronger. Surprising the Drakkhan, he managed to use it to try and crush the lizardman. It was then that Liam noticed that he wouldn’t be able to do so. One’s body was more solid than anything he had ever encountered. Simple pressure would do nothing against it. The next second, the orange Aura flared out and dominated the black one. The youth’s eyes were sharp as a blade. As he was about to use Singularity, the sphere in his hands glowed blue again, making both of them turn to it. Liam inserted his Aura into it and Arimiar’s voice began to flow out.

“You kids should stop playing before someone gets hurt, don’t you think?”

From afar, a titanic Aura pressed down on the entire building. It crushed both Liam’s and One’s, making both of them stagger. Liam coughed out blood, unable to withstand the pressure, and almost collapsed to the ground, while One stumbled. Then, as suddenly as it arrived, the Aura was gone.

“As you can see, the Communicator works. Do not make me repeat my orders. Do as instructed; do you hear me, Captain?”

The Commander spit out every word, especially the last one. The anger in his voice was clear. In spite of the lizardman’s absence, One bowed in the direction of the Communicator in Liam’s hand.

“Yes, Commander, sir. Forgive me. I overstepped my authority.”

“You did. This man is an ally to His Highness, not one of your groveling idiots. Never forget that.”

“Yes, sir.”

The blue glow surrounding the sphere disappeared, despite Liam’s Aura still flowing into it. It was obvious that Arimiar had cut off the connection. Trying to take several deep breaths, Liam looked around at his companions, who had done nothing but watch the show. Of course, since the armor didn’t allow him to breathe, it was useless. One remained silent before looking at Liam and speaking.

“…I will now introduce you to the other members of the squad. That is Two,” he pointed at a female Drakkhan with a sleek figure, who nodded at them, “the big brute is Three…”

One pointed at the soldiers one by one, merely introducing them as numbers up until Twelve. Liam couldn’t help but think that it must feel terrible to be considered the last on the order of priority and as such, the least important one in the group.

“What designates the priority order?”

“Not what, who. Our superiors.”

Liam glanced at Twelve once more. If he cared, he didn’t show it. Of course, it was hard to judge his expression with the helmet covering his face, but his body language wasn’t that of one who seemed to mind. One continued to speak.

“We take part in special operations and answer only to the Commander. This time, we will be going to the planet of Zancorix. Our goal is to take over Cinzolia Fortress. It is critical to cripple the supply lines of the enemy.”

“Who’s the enemy, to begin with? Who is at war with the Empire?”

Liam felt sure that One was looking at him as if he were an idiot from behind the mask.

“…Our Empire is at war with the Kingdom of Luweth. I expected the Commander to have already given you such information. Either way, Cinzolia Fortress must be destroyed. We won’t have long to do so.”

The Kingdom of Luweth, was it? Based on their names alone, a kingdom sounded a whole lot weaker than an empire, but apparently, names could be deceiving, even in the Convergence. The Empire was losing, after all.

‘I wonder if this kingdom is someone’s Kingdom. I need to figure out what its effects are.’

He naturally hadn’t forgotten the special ability of his King’s Crown Skill. He thought of asking One, but decided against it. It would be wiser for the Empire not to be too aware of his abilities. He didn’t know how common King’s Crown was as a Skill. There was the possibility that it was more special than it seemed.

“How long do we have?”

“5 universal years.”

“…?”

Liam lifted a single eyebrow behind his mask. He didn’t know exactly how long a universal year was, but that didn’t seem like a short time at all.

“How long has the war been going on for?”

One shook his head and sighed, clearly annoyed with having to answer Liam’s questions.

“The war has only lasted for a bit over 100 universal years. It’s still ramping up in the middle stages. The true war hasn’t begun yet.”

“…I see.”

It was obvious that their standards were very different. Even the World Wars back on Earth didn’t last for longer than a few years; it was natural for him to expect wars between highly developed species to also be short. Instead, it seemed like everything had gone full circle and back to long wars. If a universal year lasted approximately one human year, then this war, while not comparable to the longest ones in human history, would definitely be up there in terms of duration.

“Do you have any questions?”

“Yes, actually. What’s this Inventory thing? In the armor’s description.”

The Captain lifted his hand. Out of thin air, a large object appeared and he grasped its handle. It was unlike any weapon Liam had ever seen. It looked like the handle to a greatsword, but it had no blade. Abruptly, light coalesced into a formless congregation coming out of the handle. It became a sword’s blade, then a scythe and a hammer after that. It constantly changed shapes before it disappeared again.

“This is the Inventory’s ability. Make your Aura flow through the armor and you’ll be able to feel its presence.”

Mentally slapping himself on the head for not thinking about it sooner, Liam circulated his Aura. He immediately felt the existence of a space. He couldn’t really describe it in another way; it felt like there was a hole in the armor leading to a bag, except the bag didn’t exist and neither did the hole, but the ‘space’ inside the bag remained real. As Liam focused on that feeling, a small symbol on the armor’s chest lit up. A mental image of an almost empty void approximately three cubic meters in size appeared, filled with nothing but a black t-shirt, underwear, and trousers. Liam imagined himself putting his spear inside. In an instant, the weapon in his hands disappeared and reappeared in the void in his mind. He then pictured himself pulling the spear out of it, but nothing happened. Anxiety pooled within his chest before he tried again, this time succeeding. Relief washed over him. Eynart’s spear was too precious of a memento to lose it like this.

Nonetheless, this Inventory was an impressive function. It was like a small pocket dimension connected to the armor. Not only that, but his armor wasn’t especially unique either, but the standard one offered to all the elite soldiers of the Empire. It meant that whoever made it could mass-produce such pocket dimensions like it was nothing.