<strong>Mt. Astrego, Nation of Chivaria;</strong>
On the top of an active volcano, a heavily injured man in robes was carrying a crying baby in his arms.
He was looking around and realized there was no way to escape. Before him, stood a handsome fellow in a military outfit with the insignia of a Dragon and two stars.
Meanwhile, a helicopter armed with several modern weapons was hovering around the place, ready to blast him away at any time. A gigantic red barrier was erected around the whole mountain, blocking anyone without authorization from entering or leaving the premises.
"Alfred Mapleleaf, surrender yourself in peace. There's no way for you to leave. Anything happens to the princess, you'll face punishment worse than death." Neal clenched his fist, trying to control his emotions.
The baby is the princess of Chivaria who was abducted by her own paternal uncle's men due to the dispute between him and his younger brother, the King. There is a simple demand put before him in exchange for her. That is to talk with the government and release all the former Generals from the maximum-security prison.
The King knew that the government wouldn't release such heinous criminals who massacred thousands of civilians in exchange for his newborn daughter. So, he sought the help of WAMO instead for a secret rescue mission.
Neal and his Squadron Z were commissioned for this mission. They successfully managed to kill everyone from the hideout but unfortunately, the main culprit escaped at the last moment while taking the baby as a hostage.
Neal followed him from behind without adhering to his threats and eventually cornered him. But, he underestimated Alfred's hatred towards his brother.
The man was still left with one final plan.
"I'm the eldest son of Mapleleaf family and the rightful heir to the throne. But, that ba****d snatched it from me and forced me to live like a bandit." He roared at Neal before declaring his decision. Today, I can see my end but I won't be going down alone, I will give a lifelong pain for my dear brother."
"hahaha…" Alfred laughed out like a mad man as he threw away the baby into the magma. "Your only daughter will go straight to the spirit world after living for six days, brother…"
*Bang* Bang*
The sniper sitting inside the helicopter started to shoot energy bullets at the culprit's legs continuously to immobilize his movements.
Meanwhile, the baby started to into the volcano rapidly. As the temperature rose tremendously, his skin started to burn, and so was the baby. She fainted due to heatstroke.
"I won't let you." Neal hurriedly raised his arm. A giant Chameleon suddenly appeared out of nowhere and stretched its tongue.
Before she even made it ten or so meters, they were caught by the tongue and pulled up. The baby returned to Neal's hands and he didn't waste any time in healing her with a heal card.
After confirming that she was normal and her soul wasn't harmed in the least, Neal looked coldly at the man who was screaming in pain. He raised his hand and gestured his colleague to stop shooting.
"I warned you before, Alfred Mapleleaf. But, you didn't listen and crossed my bottom line. Now, face the punishment." Neal dismissed the beast and started to pour soul energy into his fingertips before drawing a seal in the air.
Within a few seconds, the seal was completed and Neal unleashed it upon the culprit, surprising his teammates. They had never seen this sealing technique before.
<strong>"I call upon the mighty flames of Hell to descend onto the wicked and punish his soul."</strong>
A huge seal appeared above the man's head, releasing blue flames that shot towards him and disappeared into his body.
"Argh…" Alfred clutched his head and screamed in pain, feeling as if his entire body and soul is burning. "Please stop it. I beg you. Aah!"
Neal just looked at him coldly without moving from the spot.
Eventually, he could no longer stand the pain and went into an unconscious state.
Neal then unleashed another seal and bound him with energy chains, and then, imprisoned him into a seven-star prison card. A live image of an energy-bound unconscious Alfred, surrounded by prison bars can be seen on it.
<strong>Several hours later;</strong>
Neal and his three mates returned to HQ after finishing their mission and went to the reception desk at the Elite Forces department on the 36th floor.
"Hey, beautiful." Neal greeted her with a smile as he gave her his ID card. She blushed a little bit as she scanned it to confirm that the whole payment was transferred to the department's account, then, term the mission as successful to transfer 500 Arcana coins to his account.
Every captain takes 50% of the team's contribution by default regardless of his hard work. In this B-grade mission, Squad-Z received 1000 Arcana coins of which, 500 is the captain's, and the rest will be distributed equally among the other three who accepted the mission.
While she was busy with her work, Neal leaned his head forward and asked, "So, you are free this weekend?"
"Um, no, I have plans." The lady clearly seemed to be a bit shy and couldn't look at his eyes. "My brother is bringing his girlfriend home for dinner. I also need to visit my parents."
"C'mon, it's not like she's going to be a part of your family, right away. Why waste time on that occasion when we can have a romantic dinner at Starlight?"
"That's…" The lady obviously had a crush on this handsome hunk. However, she also knew that he's a playboy and definitely isn't the type to stick to a relationship. So, she controlled herself by taking a deep breath and focused on distributing the mission rewards without answering him and then, handed him the ID along with an envelope. "Captain Neal, this is from Supreme Commander Kruger."
In an instant, Neal's facial expression changed, "Kruger?"
His teammates standing behind him were taken aback as they heard the name of this legendary captain of Zero Squad who is also the Head/Supreme Commander of the Entire Combat division. According to the rumors, he's as strong as Vice President Ramiel Crescent.
While his subordinates or teammates were amazed to hear that their captain had the attention of such a legendary figure, Neal looked annoyed. He took the envelope and mumbled to himself, "That old man will not give up, does he?"
As higher realm experts, they did hear this mumble but none of them said anything about it and stayed silent while Neal opened the letter for formality. It turned out to be an offer letter to join Zero Squad.
Soul energy erupted from his palms and destroyed the letter in an instant.
"I need to meet someone, you guys can take a break." Saying goodbyes to the rest of his teammates, Neal left for Commander's office. The commander of Dragon Corps is his eldest senior brother, the Prime disciple of Kruger.
The secretary tried to stop him because the Commander was busy in a meeting but Neal looked a bit serious. So, she stepped inside and informed them of the situation.
Thankfully for her, the Commander didn't get angry and gave the permission.
Neal went inside and found Lt. Commander Hailey was also there. Without minding her presence, he directly spoke to the middle-aged man with silver hair. "Commander Hugh, I got a letter from the master, again. Did you want me to leave Dragon Corps, that badly?"
Hailey knew the relationship between those. So, she was unsurprised and chose to stay silent.
The Commander shook his head with a sigh, "you know I can't go against the master. But, I also can't tell you what you do. So, you can reject the offer, again. However, I suggest you should think more carefully."
"Nah, I burned it already," Neal spoke in a casual tone, surprising Hailey, and then told him in a serious tone that he will never go back to the squad and become teammates with his bitter rival.
"Excuse me."
After informing his decision, he bowed and turned around to walk away.
Just as he stepped outside and the door was about to close again, Hailey opened her mouth, "Anyway, Commander, I'm waiting for your approval. Cadet Azrael and Claire Lefeuvre are qualified to become third-tier cadets. Going through normal procedures will only waste the time."
"Azrael?" Neal halted his steps and turned around to rush into the room, again.
"Did you just say Azrael? Was he here? When did he arrive? How come I didn't know about it? Did you say, third-tier cadet? That means it must have been a while." Neal suddenly bombarded the lieutenant commander with questions in curiosity before she started explaining to him. "No, it's their Day-1..."
Upon hearing how the couple easily finished the first level to the third level on the first try, Neal could only be amazed. He decided to meet his colleague.
Captain Neal, who was interested to recruit Azzy and his friends later, thought that he had to make a visit to them after hearing the news from the Lt. Commander.
Upon reaching the place, he didn't find Azzy or Claire anywhere as they would be resting in their respective rooms but he found Gideon and Snivy. Both of them are running around the laps with others. Along with them, a dazed person is sitting in the middle of the ground, staring at the sky, and is mumbling to himself. "Impossible… impossible…"
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