Amelia felt the barrel of a gun brush across her face and slowly opened her eyes. No dreams answered her questions this time but who were these soldiers? Her blurry vision made it difficult to see the patch they wore on their shoulder.

"I think this one's waking up."

"Cuff her for questioning. She might be with the TGA."

"..!" Handcuffs were placed around her wrists and she was forced to stand.

"H-hey..?! What's going on?" Amelia exclaimed, now wide awake along with Mark and Mikael.

The group were taken out of their camp and dragged to the checkpoint train station. They managed to get past step 1 of their mission but now how were they going to achieve step 2, clearing out the station to make it safe to pass.

"Some of those tokyo bastards hijacked the trains we used to transfer supplies." The soldier aimed his rifle at Amelia, "Are you spies allied with them?"

Amelia shook her head quickly. "No! We're with the church on the 5th triad in the city. We're looking for a way back into the city."

The soldier let out a sigh of relief and lowered his weapon to escort them into the next room in the station. "I'm afraid we have to ask you to turn back. Imperia isn't accepting anyone into the city at the moment. We're concerned about TGA spies."

Amelia looked at the man with wide eyes "But there's people we need to save and protect. It's our duty as the faithful."

It was hard to argue with that cute face. The kind of face a puppy would make when it's upset. Another higher ranking soldier stopped by to see what their commotion was about and after hearing Amelia's side of the story, they decided to make an exception and allowed them to pass through. They were released from their handcuffs however their weapons were confiscated, and escorted onto the next train that took them to the lowest level of Imperia.

The slums…

The lowest triad of the city was dark, hidden under the shade of the higher tiered cities. If the higher triads were representing a higher heaven then these slums were the abandoned Earth. Barely functioning street lamps lit the area but they were sparse so danger lurked in every corner. Pipes and gears were like vines, stretching outward throughout the city and building walls. The roads were primarily a mix of dirt and worn concrete that was never replaced and an absence of life in between the small cracks. It could be said this was the sewers of the higher tiered cities.

The smell was that of rust, metal mixed with the stench of homeless men, rats and critters. Not even the Imperia military thought to draft the useless dregs of their society, leaving them to rot and die if the TGA ever encountered them. It was the church's job to save people but the people here were too far gone in their hedonistic worldview. That being said, there were still few signs made by a group of protesters trying to stop the war through their messages rather than actions but they took no meaningful action that would lead to peace between the TGA and Imperia. They were a thorn in Imperia's side and Mikael believed they were hired by the TGA simply to sway public opinion of the war in their favor. It was a rule that war journalists were to be shot on sight.

The three were let off with a warning and left the rundown station to explore the slums for a bit. They needed a plan to help the TGA get into the city to disrupt Imperia's outward advance. Mikael however wanted to drop the mission since they were successful getting into the city unscathed but Amelia claimed they had an oath to upkeep. An oath without a foundation, it was the right thing to keep their word.

Mark interjected arguing, "There is no honor in war. We don't owe anything to them."

Amelia moved ahead of him and halted their walk. "You two are with me so we can end the war peacefully. If that means putting our lives at risk to help the TGA or Imperia then we'll do it. Understand?"

It was childish thinking, the same kind Midare had when she was trying to get Mark to do something human. He and Mikael shared a glance knowing they weren't really going to have a choice in the matter. Amelia was the Captain who brought them all together. Still, Mark was reluctant to go along with all of her foolish plans.

Mikael shrugged at the predicament and moved ahead claiming they would have to find new weapons and formulate a strategic plan to open up the station. He turned around to lead the way only to bump into a hooded girl, accidentally causing her to fall back.

Her hood came off revealing deep blue eyes more blue than the ocean and shiny blonde hair as bright as starlight. Her face was familiar; she let out an audible gasp when their eyes connected. Her name was on the tip of his tongue but he couldn't figure out the exact lettering.

"S-sorry sir!" The particular blue eyed girl scrambled to pick up her dropped goods and bowed "I'm in a rush so if you'll excuse me." She was about to hurry off until the marching of foot soldiers started to fill their ears. Mark knew she was trying to hide from said soldiers and motioned for the group to hide behind a dumpster to avoid being detected by the group of soldiers heading towards the station. Among their banter they heard the familiar voice of the cardinal who previously attacked.

The vampire known as Chronos Mark or simply Chronos, was on his way to deliver supplies to the checkpoint station in order to quell the TGA forces that were growing closer. Once they were out of sight, the group reemerged back on the road under the dim lights. But once more the hooded girl tried to hurry away and was stopped by Mark grabbing her shoulder finally remembering her name.

"Clarette..?" He said to the beautiful blonde. This brought her out of her frantic urgency and would return the sentiment.

She cried "I'm so glad to see you again! Kaga and I heard you died in an accident and Imperia got so much worse after you left." There was a lot she wanted to say in their reunion but their time was limited. They needed a place to stay and Clarette had just the idea. She took them to a bar but it felt more like a convenience store with all the random assortments of scraps scrounged up on the shelves by the rugged man behind the counter.

The place was full of people clinging onto their last shreds of hope, enough to keep themselves civil in a lawless sector. The tables were put together with pipes and sheet metal poorly bolted together just like the roofs of many of the buildings in the triad. Chairs came in all sizes, some were well made and others showed their age. When they took a table to discuss, Mikael was the unfortunate one to suffer the leg of his chair snapping and falling back.

"Hey! You Imperia lot better fix that right now!" The angered bartender shouted. He was expecting the group to retaliate against him but was surprised to see Mikael apologize and move the broken chair aside trying to piece it back together. The insult held no meaning behind it since only Mark wore the uniform and despite that, wasn't apart of their military. He still needed to keep his head low to minimize attention for himself and Clarette who was trying to escape for an unknown reason.

Mark brought into question the two guns she held close to her chest and Clarette placed one on the table allowing him to see the elaborate design of a pistol he'd never seen before. "These are prototype weapons I stole when I escaped from their testing facility. They're not just making weapons of mass destruction but also testing on humans. There were many children… children who lost their lives…"

Remembering the event brought tears to her eyes. Amelia was quick to calm her woes while Mark still remained stoic. He wanted more of a recap of what happened while he was dead. After explaining his revival by Amelia, he asked what led to Imperia becoming more corrupt. The city once known for chasing after technological progress now fell ill to the temptation of magic.

"The government started to shift after Warui took control. Kaga tried to sway his decisions but none of his words reached Warui. Alas my brother and I were cast aside when the cardinals formed." Clarette lowered her head "That's when talk about starting a war began and here we are…"

Warui rose to power and took it for himself to declare war on Japan. The cardinals replaced many of the people in the government in a complete reform. "I was running from the cardinals because I was forced to undergo one of their experiments. They're… They're trying to create artificial extra overs. So many children were held in that lab… I don't know why my brother is still with the cardinals."

Mikael's eyes widened in shock. "There's no way… I can't wrap my head around thatーIt's like trying to create a new type of magic, it's impossible!"

"Quiet down." Mark hissed but it was obvious their table brought upon a few glances. They now had an even bigger mission, or at least, a coherent idea of what direction to go in to 'end the war'.

"But first we have to disarm that station." Amelia shot an upset glare at Mark "We promised to."

Mark was hoping she'd drop the idea for the more important mission but she was insistent. They were going to need to prepare to infiltrate the station. Unexpectedly they were approached by what seemed to be a mercenary in a uniform similar to Mark's but customized for personal use and lacking the Imperia sigil. This mercenary wore a camo bandana, his most defining trait paired with a toothy grin.

He slyly pondered about their mission "You guys sound like a couple of rebels. Disarming that station is a lot easier said than done." He continued on with his introduction to intrude himself further into their operation. "Names Leo bandit. I just happen to be in the rebellious bandit flower and couldn't help but hear you guys talking about infiltrating one of Imperia's train stations."

"I think we ought to get going." Mikael said from the sidelines. Clarette snatched her gun back and stood up "I think we talked long enough here."

Amelia smacked the table twice "Hold on! This is our opportunity to take action. Think about it, if we work with other resistance groups then we can truly make a change."

Mark eyed Leo and he returned the posture with a wink. "We've been looking to recruit some allies into our group as well so we could create an opening for the TGA to get in. With the military's eyes set on them, we'll be free to continue taking independent action without the soldiers breathing down our necks."

This felt like opening a can of trouble. Leo was too open about accepting them into his little resistance squad and Mark was smelling the signs of a trap. For now he went along with it so as to not upset Amelia. Though only on one condition "We're not joining your group."

It was fine by Amelia after all they belonged to the church. Leo nodded "No worries, I know the church has a high reputation to uphold. And once that station is free, we'll be able to handle the rest."

"Let's get moving shall we?" Amelia motioned for her posse to follow her out.

Leo took them to the bandit flower's hideout, a quick walk from the bar to another building just as shabby as the rest, though slightly more presentable than the houses ordinary people lived in.

Mikael was the first to take a seat only for the leg of his chair to snap sending him back to the ground one again. While he was being scolded, Mark and Amelia were debriefed on a way to infiltrate the station. The dead of night paired with the darkness under the higher triads gave their disguises an advantage, dressed in Imperia's uniform and pushing a cart full of fake supplies, bombs. Mikael was left to watch over Clarette in the meantime while Amelia and Mark boarded the train to the checkpoint station.

The equipment they were given was less satisfactory to Mark's taste. He looked down at his pistol in his hand, a mark 23 socom with a suppressor. A pistol for special operations; how bandit flower managed to get their hands on one was unknown. The Imperia military didn't use modern pistols such as this. Normally the military stuck to revolvers as a side arm for more killing potential against opponents with magic. Magic barriers and spells could deflect and block the small ammunition of standard military equipment and Imperia secretly developed many countermeasure procedures for the day their opponents would be mages.

"Hey I recognize that weapon." Amelia spoke up in the silent train cart. Mark nudged her with his leg trying to get her to shut up before one of the soldiers behind them recognized their voices.

"Hey it's fine, look, those guys behind us are talking too." Amelia pointed at his gun "Anyway my friend back at the church is a big fan of that gun. She's been looking all over for one that wasn't altered by Imperia. The socom… don't you think it'll be too loud for us to use? Even with a suppressor…"

She had a point, the gun was fairly loud and executing the soldiers that saw through their disguises was only going to alert them further. Mark closed his eyes to briefly ponder a strategy only to be taken out of his thoughts when the train came to a halt and the doors opened.

Amelia tapped his shoulder "You got this figured out. I'll follow your lead." Blissfully unaware that he didn't have a full grasp on his infiltration plan. Truth be told he wanted Amelia to be as far away from him as possible to keep her loud mouth and vampiric tendencies to herself to micromanage. Mark's eyes scanned the halls they passed through taking note of guard positions, movement patterns, equipment, everything he needed to know in order to successfully reach Chronos Mark for interrogation. The cardinal definitely had intel not just about the reformed government but his relations to Amelia as well.

They walked into a supply room full of crates and once the automatic door closed shut, Mark and Amelia swiftly turned around to dispatch the two soldiers escorting them. Amelia bit into the soldier's neck, sinking her fangs as deep as she could through his clothing and sucking his blood dry from his neck to a point where he passed out without a fight. Mark held his foe in a choke hold to cut off his oxygen, thanks to their surprise attack it didn't take long for that soldier to fall limp.

Amelia wiped the blood away from her lips, a small glimpse of disgust from her own primitive genetics "D-don't worry, I won't use as much magic this time." She averted her gaze embarrassed.

Mark didn't think twice about it, moving past her saying "Hide these bodies and stay out of sight. I'm going to find Chronos."

"What about the bombs?" She piqued.

"Activate them after I see Chronos. You'll know when." Mark then left quickly.

Knowing the layout of the station helped his navigation throughout the building but getting lost and having to go through similar uninspired grey rooms was repetitive; Mark needed to look like a commander in their ranks doing his rounds and that's exactly what he did, scanning around the place for a stairwell or hall that would lead to some office of some kind. If Midare were around she'd no doubt laugh at him for getting lost in a train station of all places. 'You can't see the forest for the trees.' She'd say while laughing in his face.

And like that, the answer was obvious, the place he needed to go was simply the stairs ahead. Although he looked out of place heading to the exit by himself, not that any other guard saw.

Standing at the bottom of the entrance steps was Chronos Mark standing in the snow trying to light his cigar. He was having visible difficulty lighting it and once he did the rush and foul taste of tobacco touching the back of his throat made him hack and wheeze and drop the cigarette in the snow, the burning tip extinguished by the cold wind.

"You were holding it backwards." Mark felt like Midare at that moment.

Chronos turned around shocked, "Who are you?" A reasonable question, rarely did an Imperia soldier stray from their given objective.

Mark removed his helmet and tossed it aside "I'm Mark Faultim." But Chronos' reaction was one he didn't expect.

He looked joyful for a second before flashing a smirk, "You mean the Mark Faultim? The greatest soldier of this generation? You're supposed to be dead!"

"Greatest soldier..?"

Chronos pointed at Mark "That's right! Mark Faultim, the perfect ideal of what a soldier should strive to be. Cold, determined, and unparalleled focus to his objective. The only order he disobeys is sneaking cigars with him on his mission."

This assessment of Mark's character was correct but being told so blatantly what it was made him want to object. Chrono may have viewed it as him denying the truth but in reality Mark was different from what he was before for better or worse. Those ideals of what the perfect soldier should be was just an illusion of a self, Mark was dead during his time in the military, more dead than he is now and after meeting Midare.

Much to Chronos' disappointment "I lived inspired by your values until you decided to turn your back on the world with Midare. Are you just a ghost of the past?" he spun once, drawing his gun then aiming it at Mark "What kind of divine intervention led you to me?"

Mark furrowed his brow, a sweat slipping down his forehead. He raised his weapon as his answer.

"A fight against your own people..." Chronos' fangs sharpened. "The Imperial people honored you and yet you come with a bullet to divide? Then we have no choice." Chronos made his decision and vanished from sight. Mark's eyes moved from left to right, his breathing halted to hear footsteps or sounds.

Chronos' ability wasn't acceleration like Mikael's or based on stopping time, but instead lowering his magic to a point where it couldn't be detected yet it veld him completely. Mark had a slight advantage being at the top of the stairs and he looked at the snow covered ground seeing footprints quickly approaching. He had one chance of stopping Chrono and so he took aim directly in front of himself, only for Chronos to appear crouching and a kick followed. The gun was knocked out of Mark's hands and following the attack were a series of gunfire pushing him back.

Mark clutched his wounds even though he didn't feel a thing. If he lost too much blood he would inevitably dry up.

"You're not Mark Faultim. You're just another soldier trying to take his legendary name." Chronos stepped closer "Amelia really gets the most clueless people to do her bidding. It's unfortunate we had to meet on opposite ends of the battlefield but I have a duty. We both do." He took aim at Mark's head.

Then from behind Mark, a purple arrow of magic nearby pierced Chrono had he not vanished again and returned back to the edge of the steps. Amelia rushed to Mark's side "You're hurt!"

He sat up glaring at Chronos to make sure he didn't move. "Why didn't you activate the bombs?"

"Because you were going to die." Amelia replied.

She needed to make up her mind of which priorities took precedence. Magic gathered in her palm and a mark 23 pistol was summoned which she handed to Mark. "We'll have to work together."

Mark nudged her aside standing back to his feet, running head first towards Chronos. Naturally he vanished but Mark had locked his foot in the snow, turning around about to raise his gun. Chronos was already there ready to shoot back, time felt slow. Mark's arm wasn't going to raise in time, but this was what he needed. He shot at the ground, a purple bullet escaping his gun and Chronos shooting directly at his head.

Mark fell back and the bullet he shot bounced off the snow and flew towards Chronos who dodged just in time.

"That won't work again!" He sneered.

"Mark!" Amelia cried watching him fall back limp once more.

"To think you become so delusional to get a Mark lookalikeーgh!" Just as Chronos turned around, the bullet pierced his chest. Mark looked up from his grounded position "Now!"

Amelia knew what he meant, she grabbed Chronos and swept her leg at his feet to knock him down, swiping the gun out of his hand and shot his legs twice. The distracting pain prevented him from focusing his magic to 'teleport' away.

"I thought your bullets could only bounce once..!" Chronos winced.

"Well you thought wrong!" Amelia exclaimed. "Chronos… My father was not a fool for trying to save the world. I will follow in his footsteps and save Imperia from itself."

Chronos snickered "You don't even know what you want. Heheheh, even though you possess the power of a vampire, you lack the wisdom of many before you."

Mark tried to run to stop her but his knees fell weak and all he could do was watch. Amelia's hands trembled, she was going to finish this battle but it felt wrong killing Chronos. Mark couldn't shake the feeling implanted inside. Nonetheless it ended with a final bang from the gun. As all battles do.

》》》》》◆《《《《《

Snow falls but the future remains clear. The city beneath man and the clouds close above. Warui held a glass of wine as he looked down on the city from a balcony. It was the city he now ruled, given this position after the TGA declared war on Imperia. He was above the position of cardinal but he didn't feel the title 'pope' fit quite right yet, not until he took over all of Japan first. For now he was president, it was fitting.

The green haired girl came running in with a file in her hands. "President Kanrisha! The TGA forces have taken the 1st triad."

"Completely? That's fine. Many of the people there will be celebrating their liberators." Warui let the glass shake in between his fingers. "The rest of us however, hope to wipe away the TGA. It's a duty given to us by God."

"Should I prepare my forces at the 2nd triad?" The girl asked.

Warui shook his head, "If they breached the 1st triad after failing miserably before, then it means they now have a skilled leader taking the charge. While I know you have a razor sharp mind, the children under your command have not gotten a full grasp of their abilities. Tell Kurai to handle it, and if the situation escalates…"

Warui paused briefly before speaking again.

"Then allow her to destroy the entire triad."

"Understood." The green haired girl saluted and left Warui.