The Adventures of Mavus

"The Adventures of Mavus" follows the firsthand account of Mavus Shaw, as he enlists with The Inquisition some time after Blackflame betrays Darkstar. The entire storyline and setting takes place in multiple universes and is considered non-canon to those respective universes.

The series starts with a metahuman Mavus receiving a recruitment message from his old friend Junon Gareth, that was sent to all of Corinth and its neighbouring countries in an attempt to recruit new forces to battle a tyrannical empire known as "The New Militia". Mavus joins the Inquisition under the codename Maven, and hopes to join Darkstar so he can fight alongside Junon, and hopefully score a date.

Prologue

Hi there, my name is Mavus Shaw. I'm a 25 year old college engineering undergrad who's academic year got delayed because of some alien invasion, great introduction huh? It doesn't really matter to me though, since I wouldn't have been able to attend my own graduation. I've been trying to home school myself to catch up on the many semesters I have missed since the big "Automaton Invasion", but I haven't been able to wrap my head on half of the things I read because, let's face it, nobody actually reads the textbook in class, people just skim the lecture notes or grind past papers anyway.

And yes, I'm serious about the part where I can't attend my own graduation. The truth is, I'm not even actually allowed on campus. I currently live in a rusty old hut (or so the government, what's left of it, thinks haha), on some abandoned country called Corinth. I was sent there for being an "0th Tier Metahuman" and being a "threat to international affairs" by the government. Nobody can get into Corinth unless they are a High Tier Metahuman with evo's that are vision based. So basically I've been exiled for being too strong. The government believed that if they sent me to Corinth, I'll behave and hopefully if I ever go nuts I won't cause a nuclear disaster or something. The suits are really paranoid about that sort of thing and I don't blame them. A 0th Tier Metahuman is extremely rare and very very very very dangerous. Oh, I guess I should probably explain what all this Tier this Tier that talk is.

In this world, we've got a whole bunch of metahumans and people with magic and all that stuff roaming around. Their powers were once called "evolutions", fancy right? But later on we kind of decided that the term had way too much syllables so since then we've been just calling them evo's for short. Now unless the government wants total anarchy in the streets like some crazy dystopian fantasy you see in movies, we typically have a social order that comes into place. Metahumans that don't really do much threat to society, like, I don't know, rainbow farts, are classified as 10th Tier. They're basically the losers of the metahuman society. They get the most slack from the government since they don't really pose a threat. As you go up in Tier, your potential threat goes up. Take for instance, one of my classmates, Vera Reeves, she was able to transform into a freaking celestial monster. I really doubt you'd want someone with the ability to go nine tails whenever she loses a game of roulette at your local government get together, right? Vera is classified as 2nd Tier. That's pretty high up. The tiers keep going up to Tier 1. Until they met me. They decided to give me a Tier that was not publicly announced. Tier 0. I don't know a lot of Tier 0's, mostly because I don't keep in touch with politics. I do know of this one guy, who was considered almost Tier 0, by the name of Decen, the Paladin of War. I don't know what his powers are, but with a name like that, I would guess it would have been a big deal. People in the zeroth tier are considered an extreme threat to the state of order and society. So we're basically hotspots to the government. Most of the T0's have two choices: work for the government, or be sent to isolation. People always chose to work for the government, but me, being a mad lad, decided to choose isolation. I wasn't going to become some government lackey.

When the suits sent me to Corinth, one of the ladies, who was 1st Tier told me that they would occasionally visit and check up on me, ask me how my day is, and give me my supplies for the month. Clothes, food, the works. They gave me my own lodgings and told me I'll be fine, and that they would check it on me regularly. Well, it was all fine and dandy until one day, the suits stopped showing up. Like, no parcel or drop at the marked area, nothing. Thanks guys.

Also, when they said that Corinth was mostly unoccupied, they were right, until the first fifteen miles of walking. After which, the place became a hellhole consisting of monster attacks left and right. No man (or woman, because you know, it's year 756), could survive this. I've been living off dragon carcasses for months. Yeah, freaking dragons strolled up to my home knocking on my door asking if the signature Mavus sandwich was available. What's worse, was that I basically had to learn how to cook on my own. Those animals! The bright side is that I'm not alone in Corinth. Turns out there's an entire society living there, from what my recon drones have shown me. Elves, Orcs, the works. Apparently, there is a whole civilization in Corinth, and I've been living on the outskirts so I was never a part of it. Not like a have a problem or anything.

The truth is, I'm perfectly fine on my own. No monster has ever breached my security systems. They either get sliced by my laser grid, blown up by the mines, or get targeted by my advanced targeting missile matrix. Even if they managed to survive that, they would have to get through my whole platoon of mechanical sentries, each equipped with their own minigun, repulser beams, micromunitions, and propulsion systems. No one has ever gotten past that point. I've rarely had to reassemble any of my troops or constructs, which is a testament as to how beefed up my place has become.

Oh yeah, if you haven't caught on already, my evo is technomancy. I'm able to generate, create, and manipulate machines. From scratch. If I'm in a place that's full of resources, that contain the smallest traces of metals, I'm able to extract those metals out, manipulate its molecular structure, and build anything I want. The sky's the limit. It's the main reason why I'm considered Zeroth Tier. If I wanted, I could literally invade any country I wanted with a huge battalion of powerful mechs with devastating firepower. To top it all off, I'm able to transfer my consciousness among my machines. In case you're wondering what it's like to be a machine, imagine walking around and looking down seeing a bunch of metal pieces and wires. Basically that. The only downside of my powers is when I use them, my body doesn't move. I physically can't move, and I become a statue. There's been times when I go do a recon mission to check out other cities and once I return back I realize that my coffee spilled all over my clothes and had already stained them dry.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy my little diary of sorts.

Chapter 1 - New Militia Recruitment Gone Wrong

My day was ruined when I discovered that my platoon was wiped out. When I mean wiped out, I mean my front yard was littered with scrap metal and deceased robotic comrades. My missiles matrix was busted up, and my last line of defence, my mech foot soldiers were on their last legs against a group of..... mages? They seemed a little more geeky than the mages I've encountered. But the fact that they managed to get past my defence systems was definitely not good news.

I rushed out and uploaded myself into one of the less damaged mechs. How did I configure this guy again? Speech amplifier? There we go. "What are you guys doing to my front lawn? What do you want?" The mages continued firing their spells at my guys, and one of the mages responded. "We will cease fire if your men cease fire." I concentrated, and all my mechs took a defensive position. The mages stopped too.

Scumbags. They basically destroyed my platoon and were giving me demands? This whole mess would probably take around 15 minutes of my day to fix. "Are you happy now?" I shouted from the skeleton of one of my mechs. Suddenly, one of the mages materialized in front of my mech. He had some funky wavy hair. "You must be the zeroth tier, Mavus Shaw. I am Ernest Toren, an ambassador for the New Militia." I looked at my front yard, which had now reduced to an apocalyptic wasteland. Some ambassador. Ernest continues. "We are aware that you possess very formidable abilities, and we would like you to join our ranks." This took me by surprise, but then again, it was already a surprise to have visitors at my doorstep, much less very dangerous ones. "What happens if I say no?". Ernest raises an eyebrow. "Your compliance is not a factor." The guy suddenly extended his hand, and a black substance started entering my mech suit. My consciousness suddenly bombarded with voices, "join us", "become one", "a new life". I got to get out of here! I exited the mech and the voices stopped. The mech suddenly became feral, convulsing with electrical discharge. Hell to the no. I uploaded myself into my remaining mechs and blasted the defective one to kingdom come.

These guys were bad news. I needed to drive them away. I hadn't used much of my powers aside from goofing off before, and the feeling was almost refreshing. I began to build. Ernest and his lackeys retreated behind a huge army, and before I knew it, I was surrounded. Or so they thought.

The ground erupted as I revealed a much larger mechanical playing field. The mages suddenly becoming aware of what they had walked into. Several pillars of mechanical coils rose from the earth, and created a green containment field. The mages went nuts, trying to escape it.

I uploaded myself into the pillars, my voice booming into the arena. "You guys have two choices, leave my place, or try to convince me again." The mages began attacking the pillars. I summoned a squad of 10 mech soldiers, and the mages attempted to fight them off, but these soldiers were amplified with some new tech. Stronger armouring, inertial dampening field, and much more repulsive repulsers. One by one the mages were knocked unconscious. The effects of the arena were causing the projectiles of the mages to go off course. In their faces, kinetic randomization drive. I opened up a small opening in the arena, and the remaining half of the squad, around 25 in number, tried to scurry out. "What's wrong guys, I thought my compliance wasn't a factor." Ernest suddenly materialized and raised his hand, attempting to corrupt one of my pillars. I expanded one of my pillars, revealing hundreds of guns, missile launchers, blasters, and laser pointers, all pointing at Ernest's head. "Try it." I said, as threatening as I could without laughing. Ernest booked it.

I exited the pillars, and my arena began to disassemble, returning to the earth and disintegrating back into the raw materials they came from. All that was left was my little hut and the remains of my security system. Well, I guess I might as well restore these guys too while I'm at it. I started to reassemble my base, when suddenly something caught my eye. My recon drone. I guess it found something. I went up to the bot and checked out the footage.

"New recruits needed! Contribute to the cause, for the war against The New Militia! Apply to the Inquisition!" shouted a familiar voice. I looked closer at the female who was by the gate, with a bunch of people streaming in. No. Freaking. Way. What was she doing here? Although she didn't really age well, there was no denying it. Curly long hair, the upbeat attitude. I continued watching the hologram of Junon Gareth.

Chapter 2 - Inquisition Application Done Right

Oh, I guess I should probably explain who this Junon girl is. You know that one girl in your class who's super popular, with the bubbly personality, who everybody constantly asks out? The girl was Junon. I remembered my friend Trevor holding a phone camera to class with me on the call. I would always see Junon with a bunch of girls and guys, always socializing. You would expect people like her to get bad marks, but nope. She was both pretty, and smart. Everybody in class had a huge crush on her. Yes, I admit, your boy Mavus wanted to give it a shot too. But then again, it's kind of hard asking a girl out when you can't leave your hut, and that was the case with Junon. Ever since the Automatons Raided, I never knew what happened to her. In fact I never knew what happened to anybody in my class. I always thought that they were dead or imprisoned. Dark, I know. I'm not one to delve into things like that, but it really hit me hard knowing I would never see my friends again.

Some of you are probably wondering, yo, Mavus, if you're a Tier Zero Superstar, why didn't you go to the college and save your future bae? Well, the thing is, when the Automatons invaded, they had tech that was so out of this world, it made me unable to create any. In other words, they shut down my powers. I hadn't been able to use my powers ever since that day. Without my powers, I'm essentially an average college guy, awkward, unathletic, and not fit for the real world. It was almost luck that I had set up my defence systems during that day, otherwise I would have been eaten alive. Ever since that day, the suits stopped visiting me. I could only guess that they were wiped out too. I should have sent some recon drones or something to rescue or even check the state of the world out there, but the truth was, I was scared. I didn't want to see what the world had become. If it was enough to destroy the government like that, I could only imagine what it had done to the people.

I put my hand on the drone, and accessed its memory files. Uploading myself into the drone, I was able to find the location of the Inquisition. Damn. How far did this drone travel? I hoped I didn't show up late to the applications. I created a few assistant bots and programmed them to watch over my body, then started preparing a bunch of raw materials, sending them to the Inquisition into the sky. Save those for later. I then hopped into one of my mechs, restoring it, and gave it a few tweaks to its propulsion systems. Main Mech, Aerial Mode. I shot forward with incredible speed to the location, having downloaded its coordinates. It's time to impressive the living heck out of this chick. Once I get there, I'd expect her to run up to me in tears, telling me she thought I was dead, and putting her face on my metal chest plate. Alpha as Frick.

"I'm sorry, I don't recognize you." Junon responded. My eyes went wide. "Wait are you serious? We went to school together, I was that loser kid who was always in the phone screen!" Junon looked at me, and I realized I was still uploaded into my mech. Smooth. "Wait wait, I'll show you. Wait here." The people in the crowd were grumbling. I didn't blame them, they were all waiting to join the Inquisition, hoping to take the admission exam, and here I was trying to cozy up to the invigilator. I opened up my mech and materialized a hologram of myself. "Look, see!" Junon raised an eyebrow. "Hey kid, quit trying to impress Junon, we have an exam to run!" shouted one of the candidates. People started to join in. One of the people called me an orc. Racist. Just because I was asian doesn't mean I was an orc. What a double standard, if I so much as went to an elf and asked if they knew archery, I'd get boo'ed off stage. Junon tried to calm down the crowd. "Okay, okay, let's calm down everybody. This exam will determine the combat skill of all candidates entering the Inquisition. You will be tasked to fight in this arena, against some holographic shadow spectres created by yours truly, Jason." The crowd cheers, as a big burly asian guy waves. Damn. This dude looked like a total chad. Junon continues. "We will be assessing your skill and will choose those fit for our cause. Fight hard, and please don't be discouraged if you don't make it in the first time! There's always next time to get stronger!" Ever the optimist, I guess Junon hadn't changed at all.

I returned to my mech but realized that it was... gone. I looked around and noticed that it had reduced to ashes. One of the candidates, an elf with fire magic smirked. "Sorry, but I'm not letting a kiss ass get in the way of people who actually deserve to be in here."

Junon led us to the main arena, the size was impossibly large, and was occupied with Jason clones all over the place. Each clone brandished two black daggers, and powered up, revealing creepy black energy. Some of the candidates trembled. "He's terrifying." Said one. "Is this even safe, what if we get killed?" Said another. Junon blew her whistle, and suddenly the clones charged, we all split up.

"Start small". That's what Trevor always told me whenever he tried to impress Junon or her friends. Despite hilarious failing at it, he was kind of right. If I was going to put up a show for Junon, I had to make my big ending near the end. So like the total boss I was, I ran and hid behind a rock. One of the candidates, a big, round elf, looked at me.

"Hiding? What a wuss."
"Um.... you're hiding too."
"Oh."

The elf frowned. I guess he wasn't the brightest tool in the shed. I held out my hand. "I'm Mavus, nice to meet you man." The elf shaked it. "Truman. You applying for the Inquisition? What field you aiming for?". I raised my eyebrows. "Field?" Truman stared at me. "Uhhh yeah, what field. Recon, Garrison, Soldier?". I went into the exam without even considering these things. "What field is Junon in?" Truman busted out laughing. In fact he was laughing so hard, he started to clutch his stomach. "My man, that's the funniest thing I've heard all week." I was taken aback. "What do you mean?" Truman looked at me, his smile melted. "Oh you were serious. Junon is part of an elite task force for the Inquisition. It's basically impossible to join." I looked at the elf. "What's it called?" Truman looked at me in the eye. "Dark-" his sentence was interrupted by a yell.

"What are you two idiots doing?" Jason was standing from the sidelines. Ah crap. Looked like he found out we were hiding. "You two do realize that we are watching everybody perform this test. Hiding behind a rock isn't exactly the best way to impress your invigilators."

Truman took a peek out of the rock and quickly returned back behind cover. I asked him what was wrong. "Mave, my man, it ain't looking too good out there." "What do you mean?" I asked. I took a look out, and realized most if not all of the candidates were either injured or unconscious. The spectres were insanely strong. Fast, and had crazy skill. Only two candidates were left standing, a woman with ice powers, and an Orc, who was wielding a large broadsword, asking for more. Jason smiled at the Orc. Suddenly, one of the clones gave me a glare. Oh shoot.

I returned behind the rock and looked at Truman. "What's wrong, Mave?" I looked at him and tried to tell him straight. "Look man, I think we should find another hiding spo-". My words were interrupted when suddenly ten spectres appeared. Way more than the ones that the two were engaging earlier. The clone looked me dead in the eye. "You have some nerve trying to pass the test by acting so cowardly." The clone then looked at Truman, punching him and sending the elf bouncing out into the field. "Do you two seriously think this is a joke? This is war. You either face death like a warrior or run from it like a coward. There is no in-between."

What a jerk. I guess there was no point holding back. However, before I could do anything, Truman stood up, his wounds healing quickly. "I'm not hiding because I am a coward." Truman croaked, trying to hold back a vomit. "I'm hiding because I am a healer. In battle, if the healer goes down, the team goes down. I hate it myself, but I need to stay alive so I can keep my comrades on their feet!" I looked back and realized what he meant. The Orc and the ice lady were only on their feet because Truman was healing them the whole entire time. Jason's clone raised an eyebrow. "Impressive. But now that you are out in the open, what will you do?" Truman freaked out and hid behind me. "Yo Mave, it's all you brother!" Jason's clone looked me in the eye. I looked up and noticed that Junon was also looking at me. I guess it's time to shine.

Jason's clone rushed forward, but suddenly stops. It worked. The other clones tried to rush forward too but they were also unable to move. I walked forward grinning. I raised my hand, and the tractor beam contraptions that had tunneled through the ground, now attached to all of Jason's clones suddenly expanded, wrapping around his leg. The devices expanding in mechanical complexity until the clones were completely shrouded to the neck.

"I'm no coward man. I'm just that smart. And now, it's game over." I closed my fist, and the willed the devices to repurpose, taser time. The clones roared in pain as green lightning arced from their bodies. Normally if someone was jolted by that much current, they would have stayed down. But this guy was apparently the chaddest of the chads. Jason's clones growled, their dark auras becoming more sinister, and the devices were ripped off. Truman screamed as the shockwave sent both of us flying.

Jason's clones approached us. Jeez la wheeze. This guy was intense. I asked Truman to heal my wounds and told him to stay behind me as I'm going to get serious. Truman nodded quickly and healed my body. It felt like eucalyptus oil was being bumped into my bloodstream. The clone prepared to charge, and I suddenly held out my hand. Several pillars manifested between us, blocking the clones with a force field. Jason punched at it but to no use. I then summoned a mech behind the clones. No need for a large number, pool everything into one and give it all I got. I uploaded into the mech, my arm transforming into a huge railgun. I aimed it at the clones and powered the weapon up. My HUD indicated that I had everybody on lock and suggested I protect the targets that I didn't want hit. I ordered the pillars to become mobile, encasing every candidate and invigilator with a force field and flying them into the air.

"Game over." I fired the railgun, sending a massive explosion and disintegrating all of the clones and the entire arena. The explosion was so great that it caused massive wind pressure and green fire to bellow up, consuming my entire vision. The smoke cleared, my HUD indicating all targets eliminated. Collateral damage: Catastrophic. Lol.

After a few hours of cleaning up and taking the candidates away, Junon approached Truman, Orc Man, Ice Lady and I, congratulating us in joining the Inquisition. Truman thanked her a little too much, causing Junon to smile. Orc Man gave me a look of warriors respect, and the Ice Lady gave me a nod. Such kind people. Junon turned to us. "I will collaborate with the landlord to arrange living arrangements to you four, but in the meantime, please treat yourselves to lunch." Truman yelled in excitement, putting an arm around my shoulders. I tried to shake him off but to no luck. Orc Man looked at me. "I am Varen, and this here is Khione. It is a pleasure working with you." I looked at the two. "I'm Mavus, this here is Truman. Are you guys a couple?" Khione's face turned red. Oh great. My stupid social skills. Way to ruin a first impression. Varen chuckled. "No, Khione is my long trusted ally. We have seen action for many years, but she is just a friend." I looked at Khione, who was turning crimson. Nah, she was definitely in love with this dude. Truman's stomach growled. "Guys, I'm going to head out to the cafeteria, with or without you." Varen laughed, and Khione laughed as well. "We're coming too. You coming Mavus?" I looked at Junon who was writing stuff on her notebook. "I'll catch up in a bit." Varen waved at me as the three headed out to the mess hall.

I approached Junon. It was so weird seeing her in person. I always only saw her in video, but like this, it was certainly a fresh change in perspective. Despite aging, she was as cute and beautiful as ever. "So, uhhhh" I stammered. Junon looked up from her notebook. "Do you remember me now?" Junon put the notebook away and looked at me in the eye, then sighed. Suddenly her bubbly attitude disappeared. "Mavus, I recognized you the moment I saw you enter the application pool." I was shocked. "What?! Why didn't you say anything?" Junon looked me in the eye. "Because then, evaluations would not be fair. We need people to support the cause... we can't have things like this happening." That made sense. Suddenly something came to mind. "Junon, who is the New Militia?" Junon's face became pained. I struck a sore subject. "The New Militia is a mage empire run by a tyrant named Calliope Ariandal. They are based in Croft, from another universe." I was hoping Junon would break character. A quick "psych! Gotcha!". But no such luck. Junon looked at me. "These guys are dangerous. The most dangerous people you will ever face. You're really powerful, you've shown that, but with just firepower, you're not going to beat Ariandal. The last guy who had firepower like tha-" Junon's voice broke. Oh shoot. Something must have happened to her. "Junon, you don't have to tell me if you can't. It's fine." Junon sobbed. "No. Like I was saying, the last guy who had firepower like that. He was defeated easily. Became prisoner, and Calliope broke him. I don't want something like this happening to another prodigy like you." The mood became somber. I looked at the Inquisition, everybody doing their daily activities. Training, whatnot. There were smiles, but at the same time, there was some sorrow in it. "This prodigy you speak of... was he a member of Dark?" Junon looked at me, puzzled. "Dark?" I looked at her back. "Yeah, Team Dark. You know, the field you are in." Junon laughed faintly.

"You mean Team Darkstar".
"Oh. Yeah that, I knew that. Totally."
"Uh huh."

Junon looked at the ground and took a deep breath. "Yes, he was. He was the strongest member of Darkstar, and was my friend." The conversation was heavy, I knew it, but I wanted to know. I had to. "What was his name?" Junon looked back at me. "Sa.... I can't I'm sorry. I'll see you at the mess hall." Junon left, fighting back tears.

This guy, had the same firepower as me. So he was a Zeroth Tier metahuman too, and he was destroyed by Ariandal. What had I brought myself into.

Chapter 3 - Inquisition Day in the Life

Junon wrapped her arms around me, her eyes sincere. "I thought I lost everything... but you came to save my heart. Thank you." I put my arms around her waist. "I would do anything for you. With you around, it's June every month of the year." Junon laughs, "Ever the smooth talker. Come closer. I have a surprise for you."

"Yo, Mave, wake up."

I was suddenly jolted awake, banging my head against the bunk bed. Truman looked at me with a weird expression. "Dude, were you dreaming... about Junon?" My eyes went wide. "Dude what the hell? How did you, when did you, why?" Truman snickered. "You talk in your sleep. It's June every month of the year, my man I'm not much for pickup lines, and it looks like you MAY be in the same boat too."

I managed to sit up from my bed. My head still aching.

"What time is it."
"6:30am"
"Are you serious? Why did you wake me up so early?"
"I didn't, Junon did, she woke up our squad, apparently we have orientation after breakfast."
"Can you tell her I'm just going to sleep for ten more minutes, just a little bit longer..."
"Not unless you want to miss the surprise she has for you."
"Oh shut up."

We made our way to the mess hall to have breakfast. I'm not going to lie, after eating nothing but half cooked dragon meat and endless days on the toilet, it was nice having food again for a change. I stuffed my face, to the disgust of Varen and Khione. It looked like Truman was also stuffing his face too. Khione put her fork down. "You two are going to choke if you keep eating like that." I managed to down my fourth plate in a row. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If you don't want me to eat this French toast, you're going to have to make me choke it out." Suddenly Junon's voice appeared behind me. "It is!" I choked on my French toast, causing Khione to snicker.

Junon took us around a tour of The Fortress, from the library, to the seer, to the barracks, etc. There was also a gym, and I noticed Jason working out along with this huge bulking guy who made even Jason look small. Junon caught me staring. "That over there is the gym. Not a lot of people use it... but if you're into that kind of stuff, you can always ask either Jason or Ferris over there for advice! Do any of you guys work out?" Varen responds. "The battlefield has given me enough experience", and Khione nods. Truman patted his belly. "Yeah, does it look like I exercise often? Haha". Junon laughed. "It's nice to exercise once in a while. I personally prefer someone with a little bit of muscle, but enough of that." "I work out!" Screw me. I had to blurt that out. Junon jumped, turning to me. "That's great!" Saved. Junon continued with the tour. Apparently, with the Inquisition having increased their numbers, many of the recruits were expected to start off in small squads, and once their training had completed, they would be assigned to various fields.

"There are several fields for you guys to choose from." Junon pointed to the walls and people. "The Garrison field essentially takes care of defence and patrols the borders of the Fortress. When we are under attack, it's the Garrison field to ensure all the people in the Fortress are safe." Junon led us to the infirmary. "The Medical field takes care of the injured. It may not look like a very heroic field, but trust me, it's the most important." Junon continued. "The Scout and Soldier fields are one of the harder fields to get into. Scout fields are typically for those who want to take part in stealth missions, and you will be reporting to Yuko. Soldiers are sent to do enforcement or do battle alongside Command Conlan. The gutsiest of the recruits typically go for that. When we battle The New Militia, it will be the Soldiers who lay their lives on the front line."

Junon finished the tour, and turned to us. "Well, since you guys are already oriented, I guess it's time you guys got introduced to your team supervisor... me!" I spat out my drink. "Wait, why? I thought you were like a Darkstar super operative, why are you dealing with mere recruits like us?" Junon tilted her head sideways. "Why not? You're right that we usually have others supervise recruit teams, but during this batch, we seem to have gotten a surprisingly smaller yet more effective bunch of recruits... thanks to Jason running the exam this time. Lady Kyrael believes it to be wise to have me watch over you guys! It's not uncommon for Darkstar members to watch over a squad... it only happens if the squad is particularly exceptional. So consider yourselves special!" Man, I guess it kind of made sense. Jason pretty much handed our asses to us during that admission exam. I wished we had someone easier... "But Junon, you're a Darkstar operative, I'd hate for you to get involved, plus I mean, we're like the same age so wouldn't it be weir-" Junon cut me off. "It's okay! Being a supervisor for you guys is part of the job, I quite frankly enjoy being with you guys. I could give the position to Jason if you don't like having me around Mavus..." "No problem at all!" I blurted.

We returned to the mess hall where we had lunch. I was about to stuff my face again when something caught my eye. A beautiful woman, with black flowing hair, dyed silver at the ends, wearing a brown aviator jacket was walking up to a grave. What was a grave doing in the middle of the Fortress? The woman put some flowers on it. Junon noticed me staring. "Samuel Mason." I looked back at her. "I'm sorry?" Junon looked at me with a serious expression. "Follow me."

Junon took me to the gravestone. I looked at the rest of the squad, Truman still stuffing his face, and Khione talking to Varen. "Don't worry about them" Junon told me. We went up to the gravestone, and written on it was the name. Samuel Mason. The Blackflame. "Was this the guy you told me about?" Junon looked at me, her eyes red. "Yes." This guy, the way they memorialized him like that. He must have been a hero to these people. "How did he die?" Junon knelt down and slid her hand on the side of the gravestone. "Sam protected us while we evacuated the people of Croft from The New Militia. He fought Calliope and sacrificed himself so we could all escape." Damn. "He must have been quite the hero." Junon hand clenched into a fist. Ah crap. I messed up. "I'm sorry" I quickly said. "No. No, it's okay Mavus. It's common for people to think that." I became confused. "What do you mean?" Junon stood up. "Do you remember when I told you that Calliope broke him?" I recalled the previous conversation we had before. "Yeah." Junon turned around.

"When Sam fought Calliope, we all thought he had died. In reality, he was captured by her. Tortured. Calliope messed with his mind, brainwashing him making him believe that we had abandoned him and that our missions were wrong. She showed him something that made him believe that Calliope was in the right." Junon's tone had become serious now. This was no time to make jokes. I kept listening. "When Sam returned to the Fortress he-" Junon's voice cracked. "He was changed. Physically and mentally. He lost his arm and his eye, and all of his powers. We went on a mission together, and he got in an argument with one of Darkstar's members. The argument escalated into a fight." Junon's eyes were welling up in tears now. It was getting way to hard to see her like this. "Hey Junon, you don't have to tell me. I know this is too painful for you, it's okay." Junon sobs. "Sam was like a little brother to me. He wasn't just a friend or an ally. He was family. When he fought everybody, it was like he fully believed that everybody had left him, when in reality we were all worried sick for him." I wanted to say something to make her feel better but I had no idea what to say or do. All I could do was stare at the gravestone. Junon wiped her eyes. "Okay, that's enough about the past." Junon managed a weak laugh. "Tomorrow I'm going to take you guys to a training session, you guys should enjoy your day." Junon turned and went back to the castle.

That night, I lay on the bed, thinking about what Junon had said. Blackflame had turned on Darkstar. Whatever Calliope did to this kid was inhumane. This was way too unfair for Junon. She was under so much stress, pressure, and trauma. Yet despite this, she still tried to smile and help us out, putting up a charismatic front to mask all the pain inside. That night, I swore an oath. I would defeat Calliope and save Blackflame for Junon. I would find a way to make Junon smile again.

Chapter 4 - Junon Gareth Beats Me Up

"You seriously don't know the members of Darkstar?" Truman looked offended. "No." I replied. I was telling the truth. The only people I knew were Jason, Junon, and Blackflame. And Blackflame wasn't even a member anymore. "I just don't keep up to speed with these things." Truman got up from his mess hall table, causing some other people from the other benches to look at him. "Sit down!" Khione whispered fiercely, but Truman was getting ready like a pledge of allegiance. Varen was chuckling, continuing eating his breakfast.

"The Black Jason and The Fox, Darkstar's Power Couple", Truman began making extravagant gestures like a superhero posing. "Ain't no ship had sailed so beautifully for those two. The most badass couple in Darkstar, nay, in all of Corinth!" Truman then got on all fours. "The Lupine..... the demigod!" Okay, more people were starting to notice Truman now. This was getting pretty embarrassing.

Truman continued listing off the members of Darkstar, each with their own extravagant introduction. "Coldarrow the Hunter", "Reverb and Joust, the Kinetic Twins" (who were not actually twins), "Overseer the Stone Protector", and "Lazarus and Junon", the unpowered operatives. Apparently, Lazarus had powers in the past, but gave it up for some reason.

Truman slipped on the last one, causing his huge flab to slam on the floor. There were some snickers in the mess hall, but most people didn't pay him any attention. Truman got back up, putting his hands on my shoulders. "Darkstar is the ultimate elite Taskforce of The Inquisition. They're like the badasses of the badasses. No one messes with them." I guess I could kind of see why Jason would be a badass, but I just couldn't picture why Junon would be in Darkstar. From what I saw, she didn't seem to have any metahuman powers of her own.

Before I could continue my thoughts, Junon's bubbly voice appeared behind me. "Are you guys ready for training today?" I jumped and spilled my orange juice. "Oh! Sorry Mavus!" I turned around slowly. Junon looked like she was dressed for battle. A black tank top, black padded cargo pants, fingerless gloves, and a utility belt with a bunch of devices. My ears went pink. Junon frowned. "What's wrong?" Oh crap she caught me staring. "Oh nothing" I said, trying to play it cool. "I don't need training." Junon raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Is that so?" I straightened my back. "Of course. You're looking at Mavus freaking Shaw. I'm literally a Zeroth Tier Metahuman with the ability to take down an entire country if I wanted. I could create a huge platoon of soldiers in minutes, and a planet busting gun in like a day. Nothing stands in my way." Junon laughed. "It's true that you're powerful. In fact, you really shocked me with that display of power, and if you could, you would easily outclass any military force your way. But just running your opponent through with sheer firepower isn't all there is to winning a battle. You'll see if you join training."

We all padded up. Naturally, since the only armour your boy ever wore was the ones he made himself, I created a mech, outfitted with all the good stuff. Rocket launcher, repulser beams, miniguns, machine guns, shoulder munitions, everything a guy would need to take down an entire empire, all into one suit. The thing with my powers is, the more I concentrate my powers into a single mech, the more powerful it becomes. You guys know about the conservation of energy right? Energy can't be created or destroyed. If the same amount of energy goes to a huge platoon of soldiers, each soldier would have a smaller power source, vs. all that energy going into one. So you can't expect a whole platoon of soldiers to have the power to blow up the moon. It just doesn't work that way. Due to the tight space and confines of this place, creating an entire army of robots was probably not a wise decision. Since I would probably be using the suit for the rest of my operations here, I might as well get comfortable in it. I gave the suit the nickname "Main".

"Come on maggots! The hostage is going to die! Hurry up!" We all struggled to get past the waves of enemies that were being summoned our way. The hostage was kept in a building, and we weren't even able to get past the front line of defence. I had sent a couple of recon drones but they were all ripped apart. The guy in the building told us that if I sent any more "metal beasts" his way, he will slit the hostage's throat. Metal beasts. What are we, in the year of 1320? More of my mechs were being torn apart by the minions. I considered using explosives to blow them all up, but my HUD told me that the collateral damage would kill the hostage too. Fantastic.

"Times up. The hostage is dead." Conlan stopped the simulation, and the mages stopped summoning troops our way. What a showoff. The only reason why their troops killed my troops was because my troops were only able to use like 0.000000001% of their power. If I had so much as shot a rocket, the hostage would have died. What total BS. Conlan reprimanded all of us. It was time for evaluations.

"Varen, you are a headstrong soldier. Perfect for the soldier field, but you need to learn when to fall back. The best soldier is one that also takes in consideration his allies." Varen nodded. Conlan turned to Khione. "Khione, I liked what I saw with your ice spells. You managed to immobilize the enemy and keep them at bay. I would have considered using that power to freeze the building, and trap the attackers. A quick, clean extraction should have followed while the attackers worked on breaking the restraints." Khione nodded, thanking Conlan for his advice. Conlan turned to Truman. "Your healing and support abilities were top notch. However, hiding behind barricades to avoid damage means that you won't be able to attack either. You will be learning some self defence techniques in your next lesson." Finally, Conlan got to me. Oh boy.

"Junon tells me that you believe you don't need training." I didn't say anything. "I'm aware of your abilities as a Zeroth Tier Metahuman, and I fully believe your claims to be able to defeat any military force. Your powers are unique and incomprehensibly powerful. But this training exercise has shown the limits of your abilities." Conlan continues. "Not every battle against the enemy is a full-blown firefight. You need to learn to control your powers, and learn to know how much power to use, without causing unwanted casualties." I guess Conlan was right. If I went in all out, overwhelming my enemy with hundreds of soldiers, or if I built an array of railgun blasters to blast the enemy to kingdom come, the hostage would have died.

Our next training exercise was a little different. We were all expected to take off all our weapons, I was forced to exit my mech. The instructor introduced herself. What the hell. Junon walked up to us, rotating her shoulder. "I'm going to be teaching you some self defence techniques. As Conlan may have eluded to you all, you will eventually run into a situation where you're forced to resort to hand to hand combat. It doesn't matter how barricaded you are, the situation is inevitable. Can I have a sparring partner?"

No way. Junon was my combat instructor? Does she even know how to fight? I heard that she had been an athlete in school, but unless she practiced MMA for a living, I didn't think she would be a martial arts instructor. I raised my hand "I'll be your sparring partner." Junon smiled.

I stepped forward. If it's one thing I knew from watching funny YouTube scraps, was that the bigger guy always won. None of that "size doesn't matter" BS. Like let's be real here. If you were in the street and some huge dude with a hundred tattoos on each arm went up to you wanting to beef, no amount of Wing Chun Shaolin Eye of the Dragon would protect you from his headlock. I looked at Junon. She didn't look real bulky. In fact, she looked pretty slim and athletic. With a perfect body. With nice curves. God.

Suddenly Junon striked, sending me to the canvas. "What the hell?" Varen held back a laugh. Junon laughed. "You weren't ready, Mavus. I guess that's an extra lesson for you guys. Always be on guard." Okay, no more fooling around, time to get serious. I ran forward and tried to get her in a headlock, but Junon was surprisingly fast, evading my attacks and launching a uppercut on my chin. I hit the canvas again. Varen didn't even bother holding back his laugh this time. Junon held out her hand.

"The body has a nervous system. It doesn't matter if you're a human, elf, orc, you all have nerves." She pointed under my chin. "The place under your chin is where most of your nerves reside. If you get struck there, it's game over." Junon told me to get up again, telling me to get in a fighting stance.

"When you're preparing for a fistfight, always cover this region. Keep your head low and watch your opponent." She moved my head downwards so my chin covered my neck. We sparred again, with Junon once again slipping past all my attacks. "When you're fighting, you don't want to have the opponent strike you in the head. If your brain rattles in your skull, you will get dropped." To demonstrate this, she slipped past another punch and struck my head. Everything went black for a second. Before I knew it, I was on the ground, with Junon on top of me. "Always protect your weaker areas, and learn to predict your opponent."

I guess Junon knew how to fight. The session ended with me getting my ass beat, and humiliated. Truman healed my wounds, and Junon joined us for lunch. I stacked up on food alongside Truman and joined the rest of the squad at the table. Junon waved us over. "How are you feeling?" I looked at her. "How am I feeling? I feel like my world flipped upside down. How did you learn to fight like that?" Junon laughed. "I learned from one of my friends in Darkstar, Amana Cross. You might otherwise know her as The Fox. She is one of the best fighters in the team, aside from Jason." Junon continued. "Learning to fight is a lot like learning any other skill, it takes lots of practice. And not just any kind of practice, typically real life application comes in handy. When I used to go on missions with the team, I had to learn to apply these things often." She must have had a lot of experience then.

Junon looked at us. "So how was your session with Conlan today?" Varen slammed his fist on the table. "Today, I learned many valuable things from a seasoned warrior. I will take these teachings and improve!" Khione agreed. Junon smiled. "That's the spirit! What about you Truman?" Truman swallowed an entire drumstick, bone and all. "I learned that I need to fend for myself more, rather than hiding. Do you mind teaching me some more of your fighting technique?" Junon gave Truman a thumbs up, "sure thing!" Then she turned to me. "What about you, Mister Hotshot?" I stared at my plate. "Uhh, I learned that to be stronger I need to be weaker... Basically I need to learn how to control my powers." Junon nods. "Do you see what I meant by not all battles are won with sheer firepower?" I nodded. "Yeah, I guess I got a long way to go." Junon got up. "I'm glad to hear that! Well I have to get going, I have a meeting in a few minutes. I hope classes go well for you guys! See you at dinner!" Junon left.

Khione looked at me. "You have some insane powers, why haven't I heard about you in Corinth?" Varen suddenly stopped eating and looked up. "Yeah, it's a bit strange that a superstar like you was never known around these plains." I downed the last of my water. "I've been living on the outskirts of Corinth for the longest time." Everybody in the squad stared at me. Khione leaned forward. "The outskirts? Isn't that place full of monsters? You've been living there this entire time?!" I nodded. "Yeah, I was sent there from the outside because I was deemed a tad too dangerous. The guys outside Corinth thought that the country was abandoned. Guess they were wrong!" Varen suddenly put his massive hand on my shoulder. I was scared he would shatter my collarbone. "You are a remarkable warrior. The Inquisition is lucky to have such a powerful one many army such as yourself!" I grinned, trying to ignore the crushing pain in the shoulder from this dude's sledgehammer of a hand. "Yeah, well, I got a long way to go. Hopefully we get to beat up the New Militia together!"

The next session was a boring lecture about The New Militia by some guy who was under Yuko Shinigami, the commander of the stealth ops. He kept showing us figures and tables on the projector and I felt like I was about to fall asleep. Multiple times I was woken up by either Khione or Varen, telling me to pay attention. By the time the session was finished, Khione stretched. "What an informative lesson!" Varen agrees. "I especially liked how he was able to analyze the structure of the New Militia army so effectively. I didn't think they would have so much information on their tactics, but wow, whoever's been commanding them must have been extremely intelligent. Don't you agree, Mavus?" I was too busy daydreaming about Junon, that I hadn't paid attention to a single thing the guy had said in the lecture. "Yeah, totally."

And like that, we went off to dinner and went to do our evening activities. I wasn't able to find Junon anywhere, I guess she was off doing Darkstar stuff again. I spent the rest of my day playing with a floating piece of tech, a vision support tool that I had created. I gave it the name "Fulcrum Eye". It wasn't anything fancy, but I had since figured out how to bypass The Corinth Magical Border by having my scouts consistently figuring out ways to see through the illusion using Machine Learning. And no, I don't know jack about ML, all I did was will the machines to have the ability, also the ability to obtain data sets off of the Internet. Suddenly the eye lit up. The hologram changing from the Corinth Fields and my old college campus to a battlefield. Hundreds of corpses lay on the ground. The view was horrifying to look at. One man stood at the centre, I guess he was the one who was responsible for all the carnage. The man had no eye, and no arm, but the one arm he had was flaming red and black, shaped with a claw. I didn't know who he was, but judging from the fact that his features matched Junon's description, I could only guess his identity.

Samuel Mason, The Blackflame. The man looked sinister, and dangerous. A 0th Tier Metahuman alright, if he was able to take out so many people without a single scratch on his body. Suddenly, Blackflame looked at me. Dead in the eye. Fulcrum Eye suddenly started smoking, and a small red and black flame started to form at the edges. Holy crap! Who was this guy? How was this even possible! I started yelping, and threw the tech on the ground, commanding Main that was standing stationary by my nightstand to blast it to bits. Main uncovered its minigun from its shoulder, and peppered the thing with hundreds of energy bullets. The fire stopped, and Fulcrum Eye disintegrated back into its raw resources.

I didn't know much about Blackflame. All I knew was that he was the strongest of the most elite squad in the Inquisition. 0th Tier, no, possible even beyond that.

Chapter 5 - I Ruin a Game of Capture the Flag

"We're taking on The Fox's squad?" Khione asked. Veran slammed his fist on the breakfast table, making me jump. "Yes! A proper challenge. The squad acknowledged by the Fox against the squad acknowledged by Junon. A battle to speak of!"

Junon smiled. "Yep. Today will be a match between the two teams based on capture the flag. You will be up against four other Inquisition recruits who were chosen to be supervised by Amana herself. I would warn you though, the fact that my leader had decided to watch over these guys means they are on another level." Truman looked at me. "Mavus, why are you so calm? Don't you know who we're up against?" I drank the rest of my orange juice. There wasn't any point being intimidated by those guys. Their powerhouse, a dwarven earth based mage was Tier 4 at best; a little drone strike from my aerial units would be enough to take them all out.

"Yeah. The leader of Darkstar herself chose to mentor these guys, in other words, they're a big deal. But so are we." Veran proudly clapped my back. "The Maven is correct! We will fight with everything we got and make Junon proud!" I frowned. "Maven?" Veran caught himself. "Oh! My apologies Mavus, I mispronounced your name. But Maven sounds so heroic and warrior like. Don't you agree?" He was right. Maven. Damn, I liked the sound of it. "Maven it is man, haha". Veran laughed a hearty laugh. Khione looked at me. "Mavus, I know that your powers are through the roof in terms of sheer strength, but I don't know. There must be a reason why they were acknowledged by the Fox herself." I gave her a thumbs up. "Don't worrrryyyy about it, I got this in the bag. These guys won't know what hit them. They'll be seeing stars once I blast them out of Corinth. I'll take on the whole team myself and you guys focus on capturing the flag."

Junon sat next to me. Suddenly, I began to sweat like crazy. Perfect timing. Now Junon will get to check out my B.O. before the day even began. "Mavus... please remember, this is capture the flag. The point of the game is to capture the other team's flag, not obliterate the other team. Please remember Conlan's lessons on holding back okay?" I gave her a grin. "I'll hold back if they hold back. But your reputation comes first." Junon managed a smile. "This isn't a battle for reputation, but I appreciate the thought!" Junon got up and told our team to get ready. "Once you've prepared your things, meet in the forest at these coordinates. Good luck guys! And please remember, it's just a game. Don't take it too seriously!" Junon left the breakfast table.

Our team set up camp in the middle of the woods. There was a whole range of emotions among us. While Veran was itching for a fight, Truman was borderline wetting himself. Khione kept staring at the endless amount of trees. "I don't like this. No one has come for us yet, but we should stay vigilant."

I sat on a rock, uploaded into Main, having already scouted where everybody was. The other team consisted of four members. Two orcs, a male and a female, both battle types. Typical. I haven't once seen a mage orc before. I guess it's just customary to be a warrior. One human, and a dwarf. The human looked like a tactician, and the dwarf was the powerhouse. Tier 4 Geokinesis. Suddenly, the dwarf began power up, and seemingly a huge platoon of earth beasts emerged, charging at the direction of our flag.

"Heads up guys, I think we got company." The others got ready, and suddenly the earth platoon emerged from the trees. Every animal in the cast of the movie Tiger King came charging at our direction. Truman began to freak out, and Veran readying his broadsword. "Bring it on, Earth Beasts!" Khione began to make an ice wall, keeping the beasts away. Khione looked at me. "Go! We will fend off their troops, do what you have to do!"

Hell yes. I activated my thrusters and shot to the sky. It's showtime baby. Main opened up its back and shoulder compartments, firing several pods which transformed into aerial sentry units. Yep, I got the idea from Jason's Shadow Specters. I got my own clones boys. Each aerial unit consisted of similar titanium alloy plating, albeit at a smaller extent, and was equipped with the same thrusters. The aerial units also contained a huge back plate, which I designed to be a surprise for these guys. The units each had their own repulsers and micro munitions, as well as their own guns. As Main, I interfaced with the clones, all 25 of them, and flew coordinated to the location of the flag.

"Juno, play some sick rock hype beat."
"Playing."

By the way, I also created an AI named Juno to make the interface even more fun. And yes, if you were wondering, I did name the AI after Junon.

We reached the flag, where all the other members had their weapons readied for me. The dwarf summoned a bunch of earth bird things my way. I analyzed the birds, earth type, weakness: fire.

"Juno, initiate light barrage." Five units flew forward and opened up their chest compartments, revealing their power source and reflectors. Five huge green energy beams fired from each unit, converging into the flock, disintegrating them. "Send 10 units down and draw fire." 10 of my aerial units suddenly flew downwards, drawing their miniguns and bombarding the two orcs with green energy bolts. As I expected, the dwarf came to their aid, shielding them with a earth shield. I commanded the 10 units to switch to micro munitions mode, and the bots put away their miniguns, equipping their micro munitions launchers. The units began bombarding the shield with explosions as I descended to the flag with my remaining 15 units.

I walked up to the flag but suddenly Main stopped moving. I felt my robotic exoskeleton beginning to shake, exiting out of the bot, I uploaded myself into one of my units, repurposing it into Main as the old Main exploded, taking out 7 of my units instantly.

What in the hell? "Juno, root cause analysis."
"Fault: Controlled EMP and magnetism control."

I turned around and saw the human. Some teenager with long hair tied in a bun. A magnetic type metahuman! That brat! The boy suddenly backed off, but not without destroying another four units. Now I was mad. I flew up and sent one of my units down, but the boy destroyed that unit too.

Something was off. If this kid was strong enough to destroy my robots, why didn't he destroy the bots that were currently distracting the rest of his team? I suddenly had an idea.

"Juno, EM Spectrum Scan"
"Acknowledged, EM wavelength abnormality detected"

So that was it. The kid was only able to use his magnetic evo in a region. Suddenly, a huge earth arm came out of nowhere, smashing me and my units into the ground. I exited my mech before I became a Mavus stain. I looked up. The dwarf had created a gigantic earth golem, his team on its shoulder. The dwarf spoke, out of the golem's mouth.

"Let's see you try to take this down, metal man."

Okay. I guess we're no longer holding back.

"Juno-" Oh wait. This dude destroyed all of my mechs. The golem sent a fist on the ground, and I was able to summon and upload myself into a quick mech to barely escape, but the shockwave damaged it so bad, I exited out of the mech instantly. The team started laughing at me. "What's wrong, nothing without your robots?"

Now I was mad. The golem reared back to send a punch my way. What in the world? How was this allowed? I was practically disarmed, but these asshats were going full force on me. I suddenly remembered what Junon had asked me. Remember Conlan's lessons on holding back. Well these guys weren't holding back, so why should I?

I thrust out my hands. If full power was what they wanted, then full power was what they will get. Suddenly, the golem stopped moving. Twelve titanium pillars surrounded it, each emanating a green laser. A circular tractor beam. I willed the pillars to develop even more, more and more, until the lasers increased in number, pinning the golem down. The dwarf concentrated, and the golem became bigger, until it was towering over the forest. I sensed the pillars beginning to strain, it would only be a few more minutes before they gave out, but that was more than enough.

I raised my hands higher, and suddenly a huge flood of soil, trees, dust, and matter rose from the ground, their essences extracted and repurposes into titanium alloys. The alloys transforming into parts, the parts assembling, hundreds, to thousands, to tens of thousands. The sky became completely occupied by hundreds of giant floating mechanical objects in the sky. Aerial strike drones. Each outfitted with a railgun and hundreds of missiles on their own. The strain of keeping the golem at bay was starting to give out, but at this point, it was basically useless.

The dwarf's face was priceless. "What...... what in the hell are you...." I uploaded myself into one of the aircrafts. My voice booming from the mech. "I am Mavus Shaw, Tier Zero Metahuman, and you just dun goofed."

"Juno, commence operation Blitzkrieg."
"Acknowledged."

Every aircraft in the sky began unloading everything it got. Hundreds of powerful green blasts of energy and thousands of missiles bombarded the golem, and everything around it. The forest became consumed with green explosions. These guys thought they could stand a chance against a Tier Zero. Lol!!!

The shockwaves and explosions became bigger, until the entire sky was lit green. Earthquakes ravaged the surroundings, as the entire forest was consumed with the fire from my bombardment. The golem tried to block the barrage, but there was no point. The total force of my blasts would have been equivalent to twenty nuclear bombs if I hadn't condensed the firepower into a singular spot, leaving only 1% of the damage being collateral. The golem disintegrated, and everything in the crosshairs was consumed in green light.

It took a whole hour for the smoke to clear, and right dead set in the centre was the team, all unconscious. Apparently, the whole team tried to use everything they had to negate most of the firepower. I had anticipated that using all of my power would definitely have killed them, so I held back. Despite that, they were overwhelmed anyway. Their loss.

The fleet of aircraft disintegrated, reducing into raw materials and returning to the ground. I landed my aircraft and exited it. Now where was the flag? I went up to the spot where the flag was, and realized it was... gone. Oh my God. I was an idiot. I fired an entire battalion of missiles and firepower at the golem without even realizing that the collateral would have included the flag itself.

I returned to my spot and realized that the explosion also destroyed our flag too. Thank goodness that our teams were placed in opposite sides of the forest, the explosions, although it got to their side, it had already decreased in intensity enough for my teammates to hide. Khione popped her head behind a rock. "So did you get the flag?" I looked at her sheepishly. "Yeah about that... it kind of, blew up."

We returned to our barracks, and Junon gave us the rundown on the match results.

"Okay, so I have some bad news and, well, more bad news." Wow, she didn't even try to sugarcoat it. She was pissed. "Team Amana won." Truman groaned. Junon continued. "They won mostly because both our teams flags were destroyed. The person responsible for it..." Junon looked at me. "Was part of Team Junon, so Team Amana automatically got the W. Sorry guys!" My team all looked at me. Junon looked disappointed. "What happened to holding back, Mavus." Truman asked. "I did hold back!" I fidgeted. "The other guys were about to kill me! I was out of my mech in my human form and they still attacked! What other choice did I have?" Junon's expression softened. "I know. I was watching the match and saw that the mage on the other team proceeded to try to finish you off despite being disarmed. But you shouldn't have used so much power! You completely forgot about collateral again!" I looked down. Junon laughed. "It's okay, that's what these exercises are for. Imagine if this was in the Fortress, and not in some secluded abandoned forest. You would have levelled the whole place!" Junon was right. Oh man, I let my ego get the best of me. Ugh. Junon looked at us. "Well it's getting late, I hope you guys had a fun time! You're free to do whatever, just don't blow anything up."

Everybody in my squad went back to the barracks, but before I was going to leave, Junon grabbed my wrist. "By the way, I was going to stop the match and argue that the other team should had been disqualified for attacking you while you were down. Technically we would have won, if you hadn't gone all nuclear on us. But I'll consider it a win." Junon winked. I smiled. Junon continued. "For the record, Amana saw what was happening too. But she wanted the match to continue." I looked up and stared at her. "What? Seriously? Why would she do that?" Junon smirked.

"Amana knows full well of your abilities. In fact everybody in Darkstar does. Your little fiasco in the entrance exams was enough for us to see why you were labelled a 0th Tier Meta." Junon continued. "Amana didn't stop the fight because she wanted to see the full extent of your abilities, and at the same time, how well you could control not just your powers, but your emotions. I could tell that you didn't unload your max firepower. Right?" I looked at her. "Yeah, if I did, I would have accidentally destroyed the entire planet." Junon looked me in the eye.

"Darkstar has taken an interest in you. I didn't tell you this while your squad was around, but as you are now, you've also peaked the interest of Lady Kyrael too." I stared at her. "Wait what? Really?" Junon laughed.

"You really thought we were just going to brush you off like that? You are one of a kind, Mavus. We will be having a meeting tomorrow at 4am. I'll be waiting at the castle entrance, and we'll go in together, kay?"
"4am? Can we reschedule..."
"What? What's wrong with 4am?"
"What do you mean what's wrong with 4am? I can't even wake up at 10am without hitting the snooze button on my phone like twenty times. Can we do 11am."
"See you at 4am!"

Junon began to walk back to the castle.

Damn, a council with Kyrael and all the members of Darkstar? Truman would have had a fit. I guess it kind of made sense to schedule it so early in the morning, if you could even call that morning. I went back to the barracks to get enough sleep for tomorrow.

Chapter 6 - I Join Darkstar, Sort Of

The alarm woke me up at 3:30am in the morning. I struggled to hit the snooze button. Good God I took sleep for granted. Instead of going to bed the night before, I was up till 2am reading memes. Now it was really coming to bite me in the back.

I was fully awake going to bed, it was only until it was like 3am did my body start to get tired. Man screw that. Meetings at 4am in the morning? What was I, a college keener? I turned my alarm off. They're out of their minds if they want to meet me this early in the morning. I had college friends who would be playing video games and go to bed at that time. If they wanted me to come along so badly, they'd have to do it over my dead body. I went back to sleep, until I dreamed of Junon waiting at the castle entrance, lonely, and gazing at the moon.

"My asian prince, where has he gone?"

I jolted awake. Mavus 4am Meetings Shaw ready for duty! I slid out of my bed and made my way to the bathroom, but lost my footing and fell on my face.

"Morning Mavus!" Junon was waving at me. I trudged along to the entrance, moving at snail's pace, my eyes half open and my hair a mess. "You can do it! Just a few more steps!" How was this lady so active at 4am in the freaking morning. Better yet, how do some people do it. One of the world's biggest mysteries. By some miracle, I managed to get to the entrance. Junon was still cheery as ever. "Great to see you awake, I honestly didn't think you would make it." "Me neither" I replied.

We walked into the castle. The place was decked out victorian style with old fashioned walls and stuff. It would have made any house nerd freak, but I was quite frankly way too tired to give a crap. The only thing keeping me going was the fact that Junon was beside me and if I fell asleep right and then, I would lose any right to call myself a man.

Junon brought me into this big room, a planning table, where a bunch of people stood around. I was guessing they were Darkstar. Kyrael herself was standing at the centre. Junon joined Darkstar. She beckoned me to come by her side. I trudged forward. The members of Darkstar were all looking at me like I was dragged out of bed. Which I was.

"Good morning everybody." Junon nodded to Kyrael, then to her advisors, then to Darkstar. They nodded at her back. I instinctively nodded at Junon, until I realized that was a dumb move. Junon ignored me, holding back a laugh. "This is an old friend of mine, his name is Mavus Shaw. He was the 0th Tier Metahuman that we were discussing last meeting." The people looked at me. I could have sworn someone at the back said "this guy?"

"Hi" I said, raising my hand. Kyrael leaned forward. "Hello! You must be Mavus, I've heard a lot about you!" I was barely able to keep my balance. "Yeeeeeup." I responded, half conscious. Kyrael frowned. "Is, um everything okay Mister Shaw? You seem a bit tired. 4am meetings are a bit early, I have to admit." I opened my mouth to say something but Junon butted in. "Sorry Kyrael, Mavus isn't a morning person. Regardless, here he is. I believe with him working with us, we will have a chance against the New Militia."

Some guy at the back scoffed. He had wolf like eyes and swept black hair. "I don't know Junon, the New Militia isn't anything like the armies you know here. You know that. How certain are you that one metahuman can turn the tide and beat the New Militia?" Junon looked at the man. "Tob, he isn't a normal metahuman. He is zeroth tier, which is like two tiers higher than you." Tob looked me up and down, clearly not impressed with my appearance. "Okay, even if he is, how certain do you think his tech powers will be effective against the Corruption magic that these guys wield? When I fought those guys with Jason, we nearly lost our lives. The New Militia has gotten way stronger since we evacuated. Every day they're getting stronger." Junon closed her eyes. "Look. It's all we have, okay? Do you want more help or not? We've already lost our best ma-". Everybody went silent. Junon looked at Jason. "I'm so sorry Jason, I shouldn't have brought him up." Jason shook his head. "It's okay June. I know you didn't mean it. But Tob is right. The New Militia has evolved since our encounters in Croft. They are on a whole new level. If we're talking Tier level, they're at least Tier 2 and up. This guy may be Tier 0, but even T0's have their limits when the enemy is too vast."

Amana crossed (no pun intended) her arms. "I think the best decision right now is to continue recruiting more allies. Our main objective is to develop our forces. There's no point filtering out help, it won't improve the outcome. The only thing it will do is make us lose more allies. That's the complete opposite direction we should be heading." Kyrael nodded. "I agree with Amana. I think it's wonderful that Mavus has come here to offer his services today." Kyrael turned to Junon. "That being said, to believe that one Tier 0 can singlehandedly turn the tide against the New Militia is hasty. We must remember that we all thought Blackflame could turn the tide against the New Militia, and he was considered nearly Tier 0, Tier 0.5 one can argue. This was before the New Militia grew in power. A large squadron of New Militia troops were spotted a week ago on the outskirts from what Yuko's scouts had told me. The leader, Ernest, was one of Ariandal's top generals. This squadron alone would be very difficult to put down with the manpower we have now." The mood became somber. Everybody was silent, and Junon was expressionless, staring at the table.

Suddenly, something came to my mind. "Umm, Ernest? You mean Ernest Toren?" Everybody looked at me. A man with brown dreadlocks and green eyes stood up. "Mavus, how do you know that name?" I looked at him. "Oh, he showed up to my door a week ago asking for me to join him. I said no and he started to attack my place." The man looked baffled. "What.... what happened next?" I scratched my head. "Oh, I beat him up. Along with his troops."

Conlan spat out his coffee. Junon looked at me, her face was pale in shock. "You... what?" I looked at her, confused. "I beat his squadron up. They were trying to infect my mech unit with this black stuff called Corruption, plus they wrecked my front yard. So I had to get some payback." Junon was still looking at me like I had slapped her grandmother. I looked at everybody else and they had the same expression. This was getting pretty uncomfortable. "Umm, did I say something wrong?"

Kyrael went up to me. "No. You defeated an entire squadron of New Militia Troops led by one of Calliope's trusted lieutenants. All on your own. That is a feat that is far beyond any accomplishment that has been achieved by anybody in this room."

I laughed. "Wow, no wonder you guys were looking for help." Junon elbowed me in the stomach. "I mean, wow, that really means a lot, thank you for your kind words Lady Kyrael." Kyrael laughed.

Jason got up from the table and approached me. The dude was so intimidating, and he was taller than me by like a good five inches. He sized me up. "Five eight... you were the same height as him." Amana went up to Jason and put her hand on his arm. Jason looked at me. "June tells me you are a 0th Tier Meta, who can command an army at your fingertips. What exactly is your ability?"

I stood back and touched the ground. Particles, molecules. I pulled out bits of metals from the floor, and repurposed them into alloys. Within seconds, Main assembled before their very eyes. I turned to Darkstar, who was surprised. "I can make anything. Any machine, any weapon. I am only limited to my imagination." Suddenly, Main broke into multiple pieces, each part transforming into a mech of its own. Five in total. "I can make as many as I want." I closed my fist. The mechs disassembled, and transformed into mounted turrets. "I can manipulate machines, and become a part of them." I uploaded into the turrets, repurposing them into their mech forms. I spoke out of the mechs, in unison. "In my presence, armies and numbers mean nothing. I am the army." I re-manifested my human body.

Yeah, if you guys were wondering, it took me like a week to rehearse that. I was already anticipating these guys asking for my powers, so I spent a week in front of the mirror practicing my act every evening. Khione found it weird, but she didn't seem to mind.

Darkstar was silent. Tob's mouth was hanging wide open the entire time, causing some drool to leak out. Junon smiled. Hell yeah! I did it! Junon was impressed with me! I kept a straight face. Kyrael looked me in the eye. "So what you're saying is, you're basically an army all on your own." I nodded. Kyrael continued. "If that is the case, I'd like to reassign you to another position in the Inquisition. You will be working with Junon and assisting her in her tasks in Corinth, as well as Croft. I trust that you two will get along well." I stared at her. "Wait, are you allowing me to join Darkstar?" Kyrael put her hand up. "Not quite, I will allow you to be an assistant to them. So you're half initiated."

The meeting adjourned, and I walked back to the barracks with Junon. It was 6am, and the sky was still dark. Junon walked to the entrance and watched the landscape. I tried to break the ice. "So uhhh I guess I'm working under you now." Junon turned to me, smiling. "Yep. I'm going to call all the shots, and you'll be the lackey." I thought about it. "Doesn't seem that bad." Junon tilted her head. "We're going to have tons of early morning missions together." I nearly threw up. "Oh God not that. Please." Junon laughed.

"Well, I guess since we're colleagues now..." I had to ask. I had a legitimate excuse now. "Can I have your num-" Suddenly a huge explosion appeared near the entrance. Several Garrison troops were sent flying. Junon's eyes went wide, and rushed to the entrance. Junon's face paled. "No... it can't be..." The explosion was caused by a mage originating from a portal that was not too far away from the Fortress. Hundreds, no thousands of mage soldiers emerged through, moving in a coordinated fashion. An army.

"Junon, what's wrong? Who are these guys? Hey? You there?" Junon was frozen. Despite not being given an answer, the cries and shouts of numerous Garrison soldiers assuming positions made it obvious. The New Militia was here. And at the centre of it all, emerged the commander that had made Junon freeze up.

The man was muscular, had his hair trimmed short like a buzz cut. He wore a black and red robe over a grey tank top and padded jeans. His one singular eye, silver like Jason's. His one arm, flashing with black and red flame, his hand a black claw. I watched as the rest of the troops poured in, around ten thousand in number.

Blackflame raised his hand, and the mages, charged.