Chapter 4 - The Wild Card

What lay before lieutenant Capri Petridis of the Stratus Imperial Army was not a pleasant sight.

Lying beaten and bruised in front of him was the man he had been told had no form of ID on his person. During what would be later recorded as an "interrogation", he had suffered relentless abuse from the soldiers under Capri's command - countless blows to the face had caused blood to start spilling from his mouth, and the never-ending kicks to the stomach had made him retch and vomit. These bodily fluids lay fresh next to the helpless man on the cold, hard tarmac, the stench bothering the lieutenant even more so than the sorry sight.

Of course, this was simply protocol - anyone who seemed remotely suspicious could be a resistance member, and was essentially meant to be dealt with as though they were one. There was no trial, no questions asked, this was simply the way that Stratus dealt with the resistance. It served as an example to the rest of the great nation's populous not to associate with them in any capacity.

Not matter how many times or how hard they kicked him, the man continued to plead and cry for the soldiers to stop - and finally, once the lieutenant noticed his victim was teetering on the edge of unconsciousness, he gave the man what he wanted.

"Well, I think that's enough, boys. Time to end this."

At once, the soldiers halted their abuse, and the lieutenant began to walk toward the man, who still lay shivering on the road. Capri reached for his blade - a silver claymore, one which appeared in his hand seemingly out of thin air - which prompted the helpless man, who through his blurred vision saw the giant lieutenant and his befitting weapon approaching, to let out a squeak as he realised what was about to happen.

It was strange, the feeling of anticipation right before taking a life. In one moment, something was, and in the next, it just wasn't. Of course, the lieutenant didn't enjoy seeing the life leave someone's eyes, but it had become routine after many years of serving Stratus - as was also the case for many of his colleagues and superiors. And so, rather than fearing what he was about to do as he may have done in the past, he simply scowled.

"Sorry, just part of the job," he spoke calmly, raising his claymore skyward in both hands, ready to strike.

Nearby, a silver-haired girl was approaching the scene at a blinding speed. To passing vehicles, she was no more than a blur - and as that blur passed by, a sharp whooshing sound filled the ears of anyone with their window open as her body cut through the night air. The girl's feet barely touched the ground, but on each occasion she did, she'd mutter the words, "Momentum Burst" and once again be launched forward.

Before Capri had the chance to bring down his blade upon the man before him, this girl - and more importantly, her fist - came flying toward his face, landing a clean blow on his left cheek. The blow sent him stumbling back a few feet, his claymore hitting the road beside him as the sound of scraping metal filled the air.

Alice landed on the ground next to the injured man, her body rushing with adrenaline.

"Holy crap, I did it!" she squealed, a little surprised. Her heart was pounding, and she felt a little fatigued. For someone as inexperienced with magic as her, using it for little more than short periods of time could be draining - and in her case, using it to traverse over a mile in under two minutes was about as tough as it could get.

However, Alice had little concern for her own safety. Wiping the sweat from her brow, she knelt down beside the man on the ground, shaking him gently.

"Uhm... hey, I'm here to help. Looks like I arrived before it was too late. I can't really do anything about your wounds, so if you can, when it's clear, I'm gonna need you to get in your car and get away from here as fast as you can. Preferably to a hospital. Can you do that?" she asked in a hushed tone.

Surprisingly, the man was still conscious, and meekly gave her a thumbs up.

As they finally caught up to what was happening, the soldiers surrounding the area immediately went to attack, but Capri gestured for them to stop. Gently rubbing his cheek, which was still sore, he looked the girl before him up and down. "That was quite the punch, girly. Hey, you were in that ugly-looking truck from before, weren't you? What's your name?"

"A-Alice. It's Alice. And yours? We like that truck by the way." she stammered. As the man spoke, the intimidation she had felt earlier as he leaned into the truck returned. His voice struck fear into her heart, and she desperately tried to fight off thoughts about the things he could do to her with his blade.

Placing both hands on the hilt, he thrust his claymore into the ground in front of him, which caused Alice to jump a little. "My name is Capri Petridis, First Lieutenant of the Stratus Empire Imperial Army. I'm the... boss of this checkpoint."

Alice put her fists up in a defensive position before responding, worried that Capri might launch an attack at any moment. "Yeah, I could tell."

"That magic you used... what type is it?" he asked.

Alice looked at him sceptically, confused why her enemy would ask her such a question, but too polite not to answer it. "I don't know. I was told it doesn't really fall under any of the types. What's it to you, anyway?"

Capri crossed his arms, a look of intrigue growing on his face.

"Ah, I see. Then, I suppose that means... your magic is of the Wild Card type. I bet you didn't even know what that is, did you?" He chuckled cockily.

Yet again, Alice was sceptical, and his cocky laugh annoyed her to boot. "Wild Card? What are you talking about? I thought there were only four types of magic." She spoke with a frustrated tone.

"That's right -- the Wild Card is the fifth type, the one that encompasses any kind of magic that doesn't fit into the other four types. Anyone who is born with a talent for this kind of magic is said to be blessed with incredible strength, but also impacted by a terrible curse. Or so I've heard." He shrugged his shoulders and raised his sword once more, clearly tired of talking.

Alice took a step back, no longer prepared for a fight as she was overwhelmed with this information. "Why'd you tell me all that? And what do you mean by curse? Sounds pretty cliché to me."

"Who knows. I'm not obliged to tell you everything. You interest me, so I figured I'd regale you with a tale. Now then..." he began, pointing his sword directly at Alice, a nervous drop of sweat running down her forehead as he did so. Lifting a claymore with one hand took incredible strength, and Alice knew it. She also knew that soon, she'd be on the receiving end of that strength.

"I should've known you kids were somehow important," Capri continued. "Those clothes looked too expensive. And now, to think you're of the Wild Card... I shouldn't have made that mistake - so I'll rectify that, right here, right now."

"Awaiting your orders, lieutenant." one of the nearby soldiers suddenly called out.

"I'll take this one in for questioning. Close the checkpoint - no one else gets through. And send some people after that truck. Make sure you bring back the driver alive, he seemed... talkative. The other two in the back... do what you deem necessary." Capri responded in a commanding tone.

"On it," the soldier replied, and the group that had been watching their exchange dispersed at once.

"I don't think so!" Alice exclaimed, gathering the courage to launch herself into another attack upon hearing Capri order his men to go after her friends. "Momentum Burst!"

Capri watched as Alice's forward momentum seemed to drastically increase as she jumped toward him, speeding toward him for an attack. What should have been an attack he had to quickly guard, however, was one he simply ended up laughing at - as Alice seemed to lose control of her momentum, causing her to fly over Capri's head and crash down onto the road face first.

"Ow... that hurt..." she muttered, rubbing dirt off her face with the sleeve of her clothes.

"Ahaha, I see how your magic works now." Capri laughed, shaking his head. "You can increase your body's momentum as you like, but in reality you can't control it at all, can you?"

Capri was about to continue talking, and Alice suddenly had an idea. Getting back on her feet, despite the aching she felt throughout her body from hitting the ground in such a fashion, she sprinted toward Capri. With his guard down, he only realised the girl was coming in close at the last second, and by then it was too late. Alice raised her fist in the air.

"Momentum Punch!"

Her fist cut through the air at blinding speed, yet again landing another clean hit on Capri's cheek. He stumbled back, and Alice maintained her momentum, being led by her fist into a complete 360 spin until she was facing Capri once more. She ran at him again, this time jumping and raising her leg in the air.

"Momentum Kick!"

This time, she crushed Capri's nose with her heel, causing a loud crack and blood to quickly come spewing out. As he recoiled further back, he instinctively went to clutch his nose and stop the bleeding - dropping his claymore in the process.

As Alice landed on the ground again, she took a few steps back, slightly disoriented from moving around so quickly in such a short amount of time. Once she regained her balance, she raised her fists in a battle stance with a proud smile on her face.

"How'd you like that? How the tables turn, eh?" she cockily chuckled, much as Capri had done earlier.

"Gah... so, rather than increasing your entire body's momentum, you simply increased the momentum of your fist and foot respectively... very clever, girl..." he groaned, still clutching his nose. "You even managed to disarm me, too."

No longer intimidated by the man who was clutching his nose in pain before her, Alice was feeling confident and rushed in once more. She thought it smart to end this battle quickly, so she could beat up the checkpoint's grunt soldiers and hurry back to the truck. A few more Momentum Punches and Kicks should do it, she thought.

"But you're still not good enough," Capri spoke sharply.

She thought wrong.

As Alice got within range of Capri, he swiftly kicked her in the stomach and up into the air, knocking the wind out of her. To Alice, it felt like all of the air in her lungs had vanished in an instant, and her insides had been flattened as her gut was knocked inward. Before she even had a chance to fully realise what was happening to her, however, Capri kicked her again, this time in the neck. A horrifying crack filled Alice's ears, one that sounded far worse than when she crushed Capri's nose, and the force of his kick sent her flying backwards - even past where the injured man had been, who had seemingly been forgotten about and had taken the opportunity to flee. When she hit the ground, her momentum caused her to continue rolling - cutting and scraping her soft skin against the rough tarmac, causing searing pain throughout her entire body.

Alice began to panic.

She was in a great deal of pain...

...and she couldn't breathe.

She rolled back and forth on the ground, clutching her throat, desperate to regain the air she had lost. As her body's natural instincts kicked in, she began to tear up, scared that she might not breathe again. All the while, the cuts on her arms and legs continued to burn and bleed, and the rest of her body continued to ache.

Before she realised it, Capri was towering over her. "What a shame. All that power is wasted on you. Oh, well. You'll be coming with me. Don't worry, you'll be able to breathe again soon. That's just what happens when the wind's knocked out of you - and don't worry, no, I didn't crush your windpipe. That doesn't make for a very talkative suspect."

He reached toward the trembling girl.

"You take my Alice, I take your life."

Both Alice and Capri recognised the voice, which had come out of nowhere. But there he was, just as much out of nowhere, standing next to Capri with a fist headed right toward him. The lieutenant had no time to dodge - and so, with great pleasure, Apollo knocked him off his feet with just one mighty blow to the stomach.

"Oh, man, have I been itching to do that since earlier." A satisfied grin appeared on Apollo's face as he began stretching his arms out. "You sure had us worried, you know that, Alice?"

As he said this, he crouched down next to her and held her in his arms. "It's gonna be alright. Just calm down, keep yourself sat up straight, and let me handle this."

With that, he set her down on the ground once more, and went to face Capri. Nearby soldiers were beginning to charge at him, and in the distance, his companions were just now getting out of the truck. "I'll handle the boss! Ciela! Take out as many grunts as you can! And Naois... do whatever, I guess!"

"Do whatever?! Do you really value my contribution that little?" Naois yelled in response, waving his arms around angrily.

"Oh, come on. Don't complain, you're being given an excuse to go wild. Now then..." Ciela shut her eyes for a moment, focusing her magic power within. "Guardian."

As soon as she spoke that word, an wild red aura began to radiate around her. She opened her eyes, revealing them to now be glowing a dark crimson, instead of their usual green. With frightening amounts of force, she punched Naois in the back, sending him flying into the crowd of imperial soldiers that were heading toward Apollo.

"Go get 'em, Naois!" she yelled, her voice seeming to reverberate for ages.

Naois was less than pleased, as the punch was actually so hard that it caused him to cough up blood, but he knew exactly what Ciela wanted him to do.

"Flameblade!" he yelled, bringing his palms together mid-air. A great flame seemed to rise up horizontally in-between his hands, taking the shape of a sword. As he hurtled toward the soldiers, he swung himself and his sword around in a circular motion, cutting the group down in one swift, decisive strike.

"What the hell, Ciela?!" Naois yelled back at his companion, his rage evident from his tone of voice. "Why'd you have to hit me?! You punch like a goddamn freight train!"

Satisfied, having watched his friends prove themselves capable of cutting down their foes with ease, Apollo turned his attention back toward the enemy before him.

"You know, I'll be honest." sighed Capri, jumping back on his feet. "You kids are really starting to piss me off."

"Likewise," began Apollo, giving Capri a look so menacing it even made the war veteran flinch. "First of all, you beat up a defenceless citizen. Secondly, you wafted cigarette smoke into my truck. That's MY truck. And lastly, your most grave offence, you hurt my friend. No, not just my friend - you hurt Alice. Big mistake."

He turned and smiled at the girl behind him, then back at Capri.

"Are you listening, Alice? We may have only started this journey today, but I haven't sat around for the past four years. My starting line... was the moment I found out my destiny. Even before I knew it was you, before I knew who it was I was born to serve, I started learning as much as I could. I started getting as strong as I could - all for this. All so I could fulfil my role. So... let me show you what I can do. Let's go, old man."

Apollo charged forward, taking the initiative. This, however, was just a feint - Apollo disappeared from before Capri's eyes, reappearing behind him an instant later to land a devastating hit to the side of his head. The lieutenant let out a grunt, realising the kind of foe he was now facing.

"Teleportation, I see. Spatial Magic. How basic." he thought. He had dealt with this before, and it was no big deal - it meant all he had to do was figure out where his enemy would appear next.

Following his kick, Apollo disappeared again, only to re-appear one second later to Capri's right. This time he was ready, however. The moment Apollo rematerialized, the lieutenant cut through his torso with one great swing.

A triumphant look grew on his face, as he expected his foe to fall before him.

A look of horror grew on Alice's, believing she had just witnessed the end of her friend's life.

And Apollo... didn't care. He punched Capri anyway.

"Oh, jeez. Almost had me there, old man." Apollo joked in a sarcastic tone, looking down at his stomach, which showed not even a scratch, as Capri stumbled backwards from yet another devastating blow. It shocked the lieutenant just how hard this young man could punch, almost as much as it did that he was still standing.

Unfazed, and uncaring for the "but how?!" line he expected to hear from Capri, Apollo went in for another hit. Having lost his nerve, fearful of the magic his foe wielded, the lieutenant opted to use his claymore to guard instead of going for another swipe.

This didn't faze Apollo either. He went in for the punch, his hand seemingly fazing through Capri's blade for another clean right hook. Capri's left cheek was quite swollen by now, haven taken blows to from both children he'd had to fight that night.

"Okay, time to finish this," said Apollo with a sigh. "Going up."

With this, he kicked Capri in the gut, sending him flying into the air like a football. Apollo turned around, waved to Alice with a smile, before disappearing again.

As he reappeared next to Capri in the air, he kicked him, sending him flying off into another direction. But less than a second later, Apollo would reappear again wherever in the sky Capri had ended up, only to send him flying in the opposite direction with another kick.

Kick, after kick, after kick. Similar to how his men had treated the man from earlier, the onslaught of blows Capri received from Apollo was relentless. And it didn't matter how many times he swiped at him, as it didn't seem to phase Apollo at all. He didn't bleed. He didn't even flinch. He just kicked the lieutenant in the opposite direction and teleported away to greet him with another devastating blow.

To Capri, this was humiliating. He was spiralling through the air helplessly, not unlike a ragdoll. In all of his years serving Stratus he'd never experienced anything like this - and worst of all, it was at the hands of a kid. A kid! With each blow, his rage grew, and he swung even more frantically at Apollo. But this only served to exacerbate how powerless he was - despite how much he tried to escape his fate, his condition only seemed to worsen. Soon, he was bruised from head to toe, the integrity of his armour had long been compromised, and his face was... unsightly.

And that wasn't even mentioning the pain - each and every one of Apollo's kicks was crushing, and Capri felt like he was being torn apart from the inside. With each kick, the effect would worsen, as another fracture, broken rib, or whatever else was added to the lieutenant's list of injuries.

"Just... who... are you?!" Capri managed to mutter through the pain, his voice seething with rage.

Following a kick skyward, Apollo appeared above the lieutenant. "Who am I? No one special, really... but fine, I'll tell you." he spoke in a calm voice.

Capri took one last swing, this time leaving his claymore inside Apollo's stomach and holding it there. "See? I did it! You should be dead! Why won't you die?!" he yelled, reaching his wit's end.

Apollo ignored him, instead opting to answer his earlier question.

"My name is Apollo Senna! Royal Advisor to the future Queen Alice Bavaria of Lumière! And our journey begins here!" exclaimed Apollo, his voice full of pride. "I might not have anything on your years of experience, but what I do have will always be enough to beat someone like you! You're nothing... but a stepping stone to our future! The future we're going to create together!!!"

As he finished his speech, Apollo pulled Capri toward him with both arms - thrusting the lieutenant's claymore even deeper into his stomach - and headbutted him right between the eyes, sending him crashing down into the ground below.

Alice, having recovered her breath, ran over to where Capri landed to see the outcome of the fight. She had watched Apollo's onslaught from below, witnessing the countless slashes of Capri's claymore he took, fearing for his safety. And that fear only grew in the current moment - upon impact, Capri's landing had created a great cloud of dust, which Alice would have to wait to clear in order to gaze upon the victor.

As the cloud dissipated, the image slowly became more visible - until there was no mistaking it. Capri was laid out on the ground in a small crater with Apollo standing over him, his hand through the lieutenant's throat. At the same time, the lieutenant's claymore was still within Apollo's stomach, having impaled him entirely.

"Touch my friend again, and they'll have to make more room in hell." Alice heard Apollo say, as he casually walked away from Capri's claymore and out of the crater.

Alice quickly went and examined her friend all over. Strangely, he had no visible injuries. "Are you okay?! How are you okay?! I saw him slash at you so many times!"

"Of course I'm okay. Are you-" Apollo began, before letting out a terrible cough. He covered his mouth as he did so, and as he pulled it away Alice noticed his hand was now dripping with blood. "Oh, crap. Guess I got cocky at the end there. Heh..."

This made Alice begin panicking, frantically waving her arms around as she tried to figure out what to do.

"Alice, it's fine, I promise." Apollo reassured her. "What you saw was my magic. I guess I've never shown you it, huh? I can teleport myself at will, or even just specific parts of myself. Custom Warp, I call it. Whenever I get attacked, I can simply teleport that part of my body away, giving the appearance that their attack simply phased through me. So, in this case..."

"...each time Capri attacked you, that part of your body was in fact, teleported elsewhere in that instant, and only for that instant?" finished Alice.

"Yeah. Maybe don't check the truck's glovebox for awhile." Apollo chuckled light-heartedly, but Alice wasn't pleased, pulling a disgusted face. "However... my body isn't exactly too thrilled about having very essential parts missing. I can do it for short periods of time without incurring damage thanks to the link my magic creates between my body and the teleported parts, but the longer I do it, the greater the risk to myself. Capri left his claymore in me for a while... hence the coughing and the blood."

"Is he dead? Your hand was through his throat." asked a worried Alice.

"No, I just 'phased' my hand inside his throat to cut off his air supply. He's unconscious." Apollo responded, in a ridiculously nonchalant tone.

"Wait, inside?! That's... really gross." Grossed out as she was, Alice let out a sigh of relief. "Well, as long as you're okay. Thanks for saving me. I'm... sorry for going off on my own."

"No, I'm sorry Alice. We're here to support you. I should've taken what you and Naois said more seriously." Apollo apologised, patting Alice on the head and ruffling her silver hair as he spoke. "Now, are YOU okay?"

Alice lifted her sleeve and examined the many cuts that were spread across her body. "Uh, sure. I mean, we have a first aid kit in the truck, right? I might just need... a small amount of all our bandages."

The two laughed happily, feeling that it was safe to relax now that the battle was over.

"Ah, wait! Shouldn't we go help Ciela and Naois with those soldiers?!" asked Alice, suddenly remembering that their other companions were also fighting.

However, Apollo shook his head and pointed to the other side of the checkpoint. There, the two saw the ground littered with the bodies of unconscious guards, with Naois and Ciela celebrating their victory. Ciela had her foot on top of one of the unconscious guards, proudly taking a pose, and Naois was laughing maniacally.

Apollo began walking over to the truck. "Come on, Alice. We better get going before they call reinforcements, or something. Or before Naois accidentally kills someone with his Flameblade."

"On my way!"

And so was the end of their brief, yet important battle at a seemingly inconsequential military checkpoint. Questions still lingered in Apollo's mind, but he pushed them away as the group continued their journey to Fiorir, and the sun rose on a new day. For what reason had Stratus decided to set up a checkpoint on that road leading to Fiorir? What was the Wild Card, and what curse was Capri referring to? Only time would tell.

❖

Chapter 4.5 - A Plan in Motion

A little less than an hour following the battle that had taken place between a brave young man and a first lieutenant in the Stratus Imperial Army, a small airship would descend upon the quiet checkpoint. None of the soldiers had regained consciousness as of yet, and the checkpoint was otherwise completely deserted. It seems the only order the men under Capri Petridis' command had been able to complete was closing the checkpoint - or perhaps, travellers had simply been warded off by the battle that had taken place.

Out of the airship stepped two people - a General of the Stratus Imperial Army, and his personal assistant (who was also of considerable rank).

The General was an old man, having seen many years of service within the military. Less a fighter and more a scientist, his position had been granted based more so on his contributions to the military through technological advancements, rather than feats in battle.

The man's grey hair grew long, for he could never find the time to cut it. He wore sunglasses, despite it being the middle of the night, so one was unable to see the colour of his eyes. A bizarre-looking man indeed, one that had a strangely unnerving presence.

His assistant, on the other hand, was a lot more simple, though eye-catching in her own way. She had stunning black hair, and golden eyes. She wore black armour, a similar shade to her hair. This, combined with the scythe on her back, and you'd be forgiven for thinking she was an angel of death.

"An entire checkpoint, guarded by Stratus' finest, defeated by four children. How pitiful." spat the general. "And at the same time... how interesting. That silver-haired girl, in particular."

"The Wild Card... is it her curse that intrigues you, sir?" asked the assistant.

"Not just that. But what that young man said about her, too. I think she's certainly worth... observation." he responded.

Nearby, the checkpoint's overseer and resident lieutenant regained consciousness. "Why didn't you step in, Doctor?"

"Please, Capri, we're not at the lab right now. My title is General. Anyway, I would've thought a child would've been no match for one such as yourself." the old man sighed, walking closer to where the lieutenant lay.

"If you believe I have such skill, why assign me to managing a checkpoint?" Capri retorted.

The General seemed genuinely shocked. "Now now, you must know that the work of this checkpoint - and all the others surrounding that town - is of utmost importance. I'm insulted you'd think I'd waste your talents."

"Then... please, General. Assign me to the Fiorir mission. I... want to fight those kids again." the lieutenant asked sincerely.

"It's a good thing that we in the Stratus Empire are believers in second chances. We're not cruel, you know. You're one of us, Capri! And we certainly would not... remove someone from service for one slip-up. Which, we would absolutely have to do if they made two slip-ups, mind you." the general answered. "Fine, Capri, you'll have your chance. Fiera, if you'd be so kind as to help the lieutenant on to the airship. He's going to need some express medical treatment to be ready in time."

"With pleasure, sir." the black-haired girl answered, and lifted the forty-something man in armour over her shoulder with ease.

The duo boarded the airship once more, this time with Capri in tow. As the modernistic sky-sailing vessel lifted them further away from the ground, the General looked out over the horizon as the sun rose over the quiet road - a mad smile growing on his face as he thought about what was to come, in just a few dawns more.

"So much to do, so little time... Fiorir awaits, my dear, dear Terra."