Kiochi and his men arrived at Saito headquarters shortly after everyone else did. The building was even busier than when the mercenaries arrived. There was several reporters from different stations, journalists and an diverse list of other people, meaning Kiochi and his men had to push and shove their way through the lobby just to get to the elevator.

After reaching the top floor, Kiochi and his men entered Yamamoto’s office, which was filled to the brim with people. Kiochi even saw Mai Hashimoto somewhere in the crowd.

Yamamoto stood behind his desk with a triumphant expression. Everything slowly settled down and everyone’s gaze fell on Yamamoto.

“Welcome back everyone. It pleases to me report that Vestibule Charlie has been destroyed, unfortunately the council turned tail and ran away with all their knowledge. We also lost the councils third seat so do not think of this as a victory, but as a stepping stone towards our ultimate victory. Unfortunately, I cannot speak more than this at this time because of the conference. However, I do believe that there are some people in this room who have a message for Kiochi.” Yamamoto declared.

Kiochi looked around and saw everyone was looking at him.

“Tiaan sir. We’d like to end our contract with you and serve under Kiochi.” Johan said.

Tiaan smiled widely at this.

“Of course, but I think we need to ask Kiochi if he agrees with this first. Tell us Kiochi, how do you feel about becoming the commander of your own little army? Oh, and don’t mind little old me. I have thousands of mercenaries around the world. I am, however willing to part with the three hundred or so that are here in Japan.” Tiaan said.

Kiochi was perplexed. He had never lead a group larger than five people, yet three hundred people were asking him to be their leader.

“Before you answer Kiochi, I’d like to offer the services of the Kynigoi trainees for your army.” Mai Hashimoto declared, added to Kiochi’s shock.

“They all look up to you and respect you as the legendary Captain Blood-Steel and it would be our pleasure to serve under you.” Hashimoto continued.

[Wow…]

‘I know.’ Eve and Kiochi exchanged gasped.

Kiochi didn’t know what to do.

He had recently lost his entire team and now he had to assume control and be responsible for a small army.

[Having more people with us on this journey will ultimately prove to be beneficial.]

Eve noted.

‘Yeah, but what will I do if I loose any of them. If they die because of my decisions… I… don’t know if I’ll be able to deal with that.’ Kiochi said.

[But look at them. They know the stakes. Its life or death and they’ve chosen to live and perhaps even die for the cause they believe in. Your only job is to ensure that their lives aren’t lost in vein.]

Eve said.

‘When exactly did you become the smart one?’ Kiochi chuckled.

He sighed deeply.

“Ok, I accept both groups. But know this: you are not fighting for me and I hope that none of you are fighting this battle out of the fear of me, you’re fighting for the truth. You’re fighting for mankind. When the Aethon’s come, it will be us who will show them the truth in our effort to seek forgiveness. So we are not justice, we are not war mongers, from now on we are the truth and we are Soldiers of truth.” Kiochi said and the entire room burst into cheers.

[That name is kinda cheesy…]

‘Shut up!’ Kiochi and Eve bickered.

“Good, now if you will excuse me, I’ll be downstairs holding the conference. Use this time to get to know your general well.” Yamamoto said as he walked out, with Ichika closely behind him.

Rin looked at his new comrades. He made sure to take in every face that would surely make its ways into the archives of history.

“Johan, Ms. Hashimoto and Rin, you shall be my lieutenants.” Kiochi announced.

“Why me?” Rin complained.

“Because you’re the first name that came to mind.” Kiochi admitted.

“You’re free to chose your subordinates. Oh and speaking of which, how many people do we have?” Kiochi asked.

“Mmm… If we add our three hundred and Ms. Hashimoto’s twenty five, that gives us three hundred and twenty five, sir.” Johan reported.

“Ok. I’ll sort out the resources needed with Yamamoto. If that is all, report back to your men. We’ll sort out everything else another time.”

“ “Yes, sir!”” The three said in unison.

Kiochi stopped Mai Hashimoto before she could leave.

“Why are you joining us?” Kiochi asked. Mai looked up in thought.

“It wasn’t just me. All of the students and instructors decided that if we’re going to die anyway, it might as well be by your side. As for me personally… I just want to see how you've grown. That is all.” She patted Kiochi on the shoulder as she walked out of Yamamoto’s office.

.

The office soon emptied and Kiochi was left alone to digest all that had happened.

[It’s going to be ok.]

Eve comforted.

‘I know. I just want to know the truth about the Aethon’s that killed my men. If the answer I find is justified, then and only then will I allow myself to die. But if the answer is unacceptable, then…. I don’t know… oh, I’ll kill all the Aethon’s!’

[That’s a stupid idea.]

Eve said coldly.

‘I know.’ Kiochi admitted.

.

..

Kiochi had gone into his room where he took a long shower, making sure to wash away all the blood that clung to his body.

After getting dressed, he jumped onto his bed and turned on the TV.

Yamamoto was still explaining how ethereal energy work to the public. Little did the public know that Yamamoto barely knew anything about it either.

[Think about it carefully. We still don’t know what seventy percent of our universe is made of. Whatever we choose to call it, ethereal energy might be the key in further understanding the nature of the universe.]

Yamamoto explained in his usual dramatic fashion.

[Question; is ethereal energy dark energy and what do you think its role is in the universe.] A reporter asked.

[No, I firmly believe that ethereal energy is unique and entirely different from dark energy. We still know very little about it, but we’re working around the clock to learn and much as we can. Also, all of our research is available online. This serves as to encourage international cooperation. It is in the worlds best interest to-]

[RING!]

[RING!]

Someone’s phone rang in the conference hall.

[I believe it was stated that all phones be turned off during the conference.] Yamamoto said before-

[RING!]

[RING!]

[RING!]

[RING!]

Multiple phones rang through out the entire conference.

‘What the-" Kiochi thought as activity buzzed in the room for a while before a journalist spoke up.

[Yamamoto, is it true that you’re behind the explosion that occurred near Mt. Takeo?]

The journalist asked.

[Yamamoto, why has the Conclave of Nations declared you and terrorist?]

Another asked.

Kiochi frowned deeply at this development.

[Is it true that you have a private army?]

[Is your brother involved with your crimes?]

[Is it true that you have a personal stockpile of nuclear weapons?]

The questions came in rapidly, but Yamamoto’s expression didn’t change. However, he couldn’t fool Kiochi. Yamamoto was infuriated.

[That is all.]

Yamamoto said as he left the conference hall. The crowd of journalist and reporters all went crazy trying to photograph Yamamoto’s exit.

Fortunately, Ichika Kobayashi protected Yamamoto as she led him to safety. The journalists and reporters all spat out whatever questions that came to mind as they watched Yamamoto leave them in the hall.

Kiochi was just as shocked and so he flipped through various news channels and the headlines were all the same.

[[[[[[Yamamoto, Inventor extraordinaire or man who wants to bring about the end of the world?]]]]]

Kiochi switched the TV of and sat back on his bed.

What the hell is happening? Kiochi wondered.

Afterword

Thank you for reading the hot mess of a novel that is Tempered Edge. My original plan was for this to be a multi part book, but I’ll see as time goes how many volumes I should write.

For those of you who still haven’t realized this, Tempered Edge is a Sci-Fi/Dark Fantasy/Action/Adventure novel.

It takes place in a version of earth that is very similar to ours in some ways, but very different in others. In this alternate version of earth, the secret society known as the wisdom holders received knowledge about the universe and how it worked from strange beings called the Aethon’s. This knowledge allowed mankind to survive and thrive on earth.

Then one day, the Aethon’s vanished for no apparent reason.

Almost every event that has transpired in recorded history was secretly planned for and put into action by the wisdom holders. Yes, every invention ever made, every medicine ever discovered and even the birth of certain leaders.

These were all orchestrated by the wisdom holders and their leaders, the council.

What were the Kynigoi?

Well, simply put, they were super soldier’s. They possessed enhanced strength, speed and even heightened senses.

They were created with one purpose and that was to serve the council. (Theres also a secret plot but that's for later.)

Note: Kynigoi means hunter or hunters in Greek. I really love that word and so I used it.

Who is Kiochi Suzuki?

He is a Kynigoi and a great one at that. Creating Kiochi was very difficult for me. This was because I needed to make him strong but not heartless or empty. (Just a boring op MC going around beating people up)

He needed to be naïve but not flat out stupid. (He is 19 after all.) So I decided to make him a combination of all of them. He keeps his Nodachi with him at all times because he thinks its kinda cool. (He was 19 after all.)

Oh, something that separates Kiochi from the average young man is that Kiochi prefers following orders rather than going his own way and doing his own thing. Kiochi also likes to wear a bullet proof vest without a shirt underneath because safety is a lie, hehehe. Forgive me for choosing coolness over practicality.

What is Kiochi and is he an Aethon?

This question unfortunately cannot be answered without revealing or spoiling future events. So, yes and no?

What is Eve?

Eve is an accident. A creation that came to life when the council tried to override Kiochi’s free will via the various implants they had placed in his brain.

However, she is not entirely artificial. As you may have read, she is capable of feeling emotions. [Insert conspiracy theory here.] Oh and in sure some of you will have concerns about the video game like interface Eve uses to relay information to Kiochi, but I felt that it was appropriate because if it’s easy to understand nature and also bite me if you hate it.

As you may have already realized, Yamamoto is a mad scientist who loves field work and crazy research. I’m not going to say much about him as of yet.

Who is Kazuki Takahashi and what are the Kamaitachi?

Kazuki Takahashi is a world famous martial arts master. He is known for his many martial art tournament wins and his work as a martial arts teacher.The Kamaitachi are ,in appearance, black weasels. I adapted them from a Japanese legend or myth about the “ Sickle weasel “ which was said to be a deadly monster with sharp curved blades for claws. They were said to travel in groups of three. The first one would push their victims to the ground, the second would cut off the legs and knees of their victims and the third would apply medicine and suture the wounds to their victims to prevent them from bleeding to death.Of course there is far more to this legend than I have explained, but I wanted to take this core function of the Kamaitachi and apply it Kazuki Takahashi’s martial art technique. Oh and I'd like to apologize up front if I've offended anyone reading this. If you have any complaints, I'll be more than happy to listen.

The flashbacks.

There will only be one flashback in this story as far as I see it. Where I explain what happened on during the training incident.

Other than that, I’ll try to stick to the same time period throughout the rest of the story.

Why do I write the story through the perspective of three characters? (Namely, Kiochi Suzuki, Tony Martinez and Yassine Alami)

I want to give the readers different perspectives on different things. Something that Kiochi does might seem good to him but terrible to Yassine or Tony. This prevents me from making the reader think that Kiochi is always the good guy and will always do what’s right. Kiochi will do things that make him seem good at times and bad at others. The same goes for the other two. But I’ll leave it to you, the reader, to decide.

What are the Aethon’s?

They are a higher from of life.

They have almost infinite lifespans and can bend the very laws of nature to their will. Unfortunately, I cannot say any more than this at this time.

Also, if you haven’t already noticed, I’m a big fan if Japan and I used many Japanese names throughout the fiction.

This does not mean that the entirety of events within the book will occur in Japan.

I think that’s pretty much all I wanted to cover in this afterword. If you want to know more about the word of Tempered Edge then wait for volume two.

Now, time to give thanks:

I’d like to thank my friend Prosper for getting me to write this fiction in the first place.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t write a story if his life depended on it, so 99.99 percent of what you see is my work. I’d also like to thank my friend Tadiwa Bunhu for helping me create the many interesting characters found within Tempered Edge. Lastly and most importantly, I’d like to thank you again for reading this fiction of mine and I hope to see you in the next one.

…