Exilis tilted his head to the side.

The cracking of his neck matched the crackling flames.

A soft-

“Pathetic.”

-escaped from his lips.

Suddenly, the chief’s head was rolling on the floor, as the rest of his body fell to the ground.

---

It was a one sided massacre. By the time Exilis was standing a distance away from of the last tribesmen, you wouldn’t be able to tell he was human, and his soul was dissipating rapidly. His mana had run out ages ago.

The tribesman was trying to crawl backwards away from him, his intense trembling making it terribly difficult.

“P-please!”
He put down his weapon his weapon, sobbing in desperation as he begged for mercy.

Exilis dropped his sword, and walked over to the man, crouching in front of him.

The man looked relieved beyond belief, but didn’t stop trying to persuade Exilis.
“The-The people who can sense mana! We-We’re a lineage! I-If you kill me, you won’t just be murdering us, you’ll be stopping a-anyone from being able-able to sense mana! Ever!”

Exilis was silent for a while as he stared at the man. 
His eyes were empty, barely conscious, running on anger alone.

 A smile formed on his face.

The man shuddered.

“Oh.”
Exilis’ voice was very sweet. Not menacing at all.

It horrified the man more than anything else.

His smile not changing in the slightest, Exilis’ hand, more of a claw at this point, dug through the man’s chest.

“AHHHHHHHHH!”

Exilis clenched his fist, his pointed ‘claw’ piercing the man’s heart.
 
The man tried to scream out again, only for a hoarse roar to emerge from his throat.

The man’s eyes emptied and he fell limp.

Exilis felt his ‘human’ form collapse as his weak soul drifted over to the sword. The last thing he saw was Sami. Her finger twitched, one last time.

He blacked out.

---

Exilis awoke inside his sword, surrounded by...

what was this?

...

Corrupted mana?-

 Jaylin snapped his fingers and the memory shattered. He was back in the living quarters. Exilis was calm, like he hadn’t just showed Jaylin the memory of him killing dozens of people.

Although the first part was a bit unnecessary, I understand what you were speaking about now. It seems you’ve been up to more than I thought.

Heartless as ever, Master. And yes, slaughtering people wasn’t exactly what I expected to come from-

So you just watched as my stuff was stolen.

...That’s what you’re concerned about?

Of course. What else? It’s not like you’ve never killed someone before.

... Exilis didn’t respond.

Well, no matter. I don’t understand why you’re so concerned about that Amiya’s existence.

It’s impossible for him to sense mana. They’re all dead.

The girl survived. What was her name? Sima?

No...I think it was Samantha?

Wow and you call me heartless.

Exilis totally ignored his last remark and snapped his nonexistent fingers as he remembered.
Sami! That was it. Anyway what do you mean she survived? No way. She was nearly-

You woke up back at the excavators place correct?

Yes.

They probably healed her.

Ah.

Mn.

So...yeah. I guess I get it now.

Mn.

...

Mystery solved.

Mn.

...

So I guess you just leave the shield up-

No.

Why not-

Don’t feel like it.

But-

Just talk less.

=_=

Ah, is that an impossible request? I apologize.

Exilis cleared his throat.
Simply concerned how you would manage without my presence.

I’ll be fine.

That’s what I thought when I took on a human form again.

You’re fine now aren’t you?

Don’t jest Master. With you around, I am never fine.

Jaylin sighed, sensing that this discussion would last ages.  Deciding to be the adult in this scenario, he looked down at his clothing.

They truly like their dark colors in this place don’t they?

Jaylin’s blue eyes were likely the only colorful part of his current appearance.
With a click, Jaylin attached the belt that held Exilis’ scabbard.
He brushed his hair out of his line of sight and looked at the door.

I suppose we should go eat?

You don’t need to eat to survive, Master. Not to mention me.

I want to see the people around here. 

Your voyeurism is ever strong, Master.

I believe you’ve got the wrong word there, Exilis.

Nope.

...

I often doubt your intelligence, Sword.

;-;...

---

 

 

“Wow! Is that Rank 4 Amiya?”
A young lady whispered to the adult woman next to her.
The woman glanced over, then nodded with an admiring look on her face.

A few people sitting near them heard and looked over. Soon enough, the entire canteen was aware of his presence.

They all whispered and muttered to each other excitedly. Of course, there were some scornful remarks as well. Stuff like “who does he think he is, prancing around when he ain’t even in the top 3?” The were easily diffused with a “Can you do better?”.

No one seemed to notice Jaylin who was walking in front of Amiya.

Your ability to hide yourself astounds me.

Jaylin felt an icy glare pierce his back from Amiya’s direction.
You seem to have forgotten. I deactivated the shield.

Yeah. I remember, asshole.
Unfortunately(?) Exilis could not speak this aloud.

Jaylin sighed to himself, nearly missing when Exilis was still in the glass box. 

Only when Jaylin was sitting down, his tray of food in front of him, did people start to notice him. Mostly because Amiya was sitting right next to him, and Amiya’s stare never left Jaylin’s face. Waiting for his *cough*Exilis’*cough* next slip up.

“Poor little guy, he must be scared.”

“But props to him right? Keeping such a calm face in that situation.”

“Should we invite him to our table? Get him out of there?”

“Well, sitting with Amiya is a honor, even if it’s scary. If he has trouble refusing our offer, he might be upset that he had to stop sitting by Amiya. If he really doesn’t want to sit there, he’ll move.”

“But what if Amiya intimidates him? I feel bad...”

Unlike Amiya with his cold and aggressive appearance, Jaylin’s innocent eyes drew sympathy at the start. Just look at his cheeks! They would turn red if you just pinched them!
He looked like the kind of stereotypical sweet youth with an iceberg expression! Poor guy, getting stuck next to Amiya.

Amiya, who also overheard these remarks, was shocked! This kid’s looks were an asset in itself. Underestimating your opponents was probably one of the most dangerous self inflicted handicaps! Heck, even he underestimated him. If that was one of his habits, he wouldn’t be the fourth ranker! But this kid...And his small presence too! This kid could be the B-Cadre’s lucky star!

Exilis’ only reaction was:

lol.

Amiya immediately stopped his visions of the future and focused entirely on Jaylin, trying pinpoint the presence.

Exilis.

What? If you don’t let me talk peacefully, the you’re the one getting-mmm!-
Exilis’ sense mist was once again locked inside the sword.

Amiya, felt he was really close to finding the presence, but every time he thought he was about to find it, the presence would completely disappear.

Exilis had been let out of the sword, and chose to stay silent.

Good choice.

Meanwhile, Amiya was muttering to himself.
“Useful to the dying B-Cadre, yet he’s to mysterious to just leave to his own devices...”

Jaylin gracefully chose to ignore the last half of his sentence and asked.
What’s going on with the B-Cadre?

Amiya only half paid attention to Jaylin’s question as his mind wandered elsewhere.
The difference between the impression he makes and his voice is incredible jarring... As long as he doesn’t speak...
Amiya thought back to Jaylin’s reactions to the earlier ‘incident’.
Honestly, that doesn’t seem very difficult.

Suddenly realizing he was ignoring the kid’s question, Amiya awoke from his thoughts.

“Ah, the B-Cadre?”

Jaylin nodded.

“Mn. So you know that the President has been missing for five years right?”

Sticking with short responses to get his question answered as fast as possible, Jaylin shook his head.

“Really? Man, you don’t know anything about this place.”

“...”

“Well the president disappeared five years ago and no one has seen him since. Things were fine until then next Vice President came into power. The last one was chosen by the President himself. He was a good leader, but not a good parent. His kid, Kados, is an asshole. After he received the position, He started bringing all kinds of contamination into this place. Letting people he favors come in through the back door, taking advantage of the cadres for personal business. Originally, the cadres were all going to gain power and overthrow him. But once they got their power and saw how much of the Striped Devils the dude has taken over, they gave up. Now everyone is just trying to keep their Cadres in power until the president comes back. Kados brings in most of the newcomers, so a majority of them think he’s like the top bachelor of this place or something. Well, at least it’s easy to tell who and insider or not. They say Kados is a good guy, they’re one of the fools.”

Just as Jaylin was wondering whether or not to ask Amiya to summarize it, he continued.

“Well, back to the B-Cadre, Kados is trying to push one of his favorite boy toys to the position of leader. He was actually going after the A-Cadre at first, but the A-Cadre is a bit different from the rest. The other cadres, B and below, are like the fighting grounds. Everyone’s trying to climb the ranks. But the A-Cadre is head and shoulders above the rest. The leader and best members are the heads of influential families, and the other members are part of influential families. They’re probably the only Cadre who still wanted to overthrow Kados after gaining more power. Kados can’t effect their influence as he can the others. So, when he tried to infiltrate them, they were not having it. Even if they couldn’t outright refuse him, they were just incredibly hard on his little boy toy until he went running over to Kados, begging to get out. So he just sent him to the B-Cadre.”

Amiya looked at Jaylin to see if he was still listening. Jaylin was nodding blankly, inwardly asking him to get on with it.

The people on the surrounding tables, although they couldn’t hear what they were saying, were surprised that they were conversing so naturally. Inwardly cheering the brave little guy on inside their hearts, they went back to their meals as Amiya continued his rant.

“The B-Cadre is probably the weakest overall cadre to reach such a high grade. Ren is a Rune-Master, he’s got a good eye for potential talent, and is quite charismatic. His determination to reach his goals is incredible admirable, and that’s part of the reason why he reached that position-...”

Jaylin kept nodding as Amiya complimented Ren, feeling Ren was being a tad bit over-praised here, but still played along.

“Kados, that fucker, he’s taking advantage of the fact that Ren has to put all his effort into their jobs to keep their position as B-Cadre, to slip his little boyfriend into the leader position.“

Jaylin raised a brow, not quite understanding the modern way of fighting for influence.

“By getting all the fools to think of his little boyfriend as the B-Cadre leader, all of Ren’s actions will more or less be attributed to him. When the weakling actually takes the position, if Kados even announces it, he won’t face any opposition from the majority. The minority who know the shady stuff behind the scenes would either be Ren’s competition, the other cadres that’ve been quite pissed that a weaker cadre has been beating them for so long, or those who have no interest or ability to get involved. Yeah sure people mock him for being unable to fight back against a back door weakling, but at least they know what’s happening to him. The rest of them don’t know he exists, either that, or they think he’s some random member.”

“Ah well that’s interesting, but I should-”

“Kados even made some intranet forum for the members! He’s turning this place into some kinda shitty celebrity game show! Compete for the best reputation kind of thing. This is the smuggling business! They’re supposed to be the bad guys! It’s in the job description! Now it’s all about reputation and outward image.”

“The worst part is, it’s working!”

“Even the A-Cadre is in a pinch because of the nasty rumors about them on that site. Lots of people have tried to just get him killed, but apparently, Kados isn’t his real name. Assassins willing to go after influential members of the Striped Devils, are very particular and paranoid. Only way to keep ‘emselves alive after messing with us. They wouldn’t go after someone who’s identity isn’t absolutely clear.”
“Gotta give some props to the guy, his plan is working real well. But what happens after? After he’s gained control, what about all the people who actually do their jobs? All that’s left is the public opinion obsessed slackers who joined because it was a fast way to gain popularity. The entirety of Striped Devils would collapse.”

Amiya rubbed his temple with a long sigh.

“The only thing we can do is hope the president comes back.”

Jaylin was barely paying attention in the last half; he realized the name Kados sounded familiar.

Amiya looked at Jaylin.
“Ah, my bad I went on a rant didn’t I?”

“Yes.”
Jaylin responded honestly.

“...”

“I’m done eating.”

Staring at the kid, Amiya realized how cold Jaylin’s eyes were. He felt a sudden chill.
What innocent boy? This guy is fucking scary!

“Ahem. Ren, Janiss, and Rodrick should be coming back soon. I’ll give you a small tour of the headquarters.”

Jaylin was confused for a moment.
“why did that one guard guy go?”

“Janiss? Oh he...

 

...he? Actually I have no idea. He probably wanted to pick your last name.”

For some reason, I have a bad feeling about this.

“Well. Let’s get going. I suppose this is the chance to give you a tour.”

Jaylin followed Amiya out of the canteen, still wondering why he recognized the name Kados.

ICanTellYou.
Exilis spoke quickly, trying to convince him in the shortest amount of words possible.

Jaylin noticed Amiya turn to glare at him abruptly, staring for a while, only after realizing there was nothing there, did he slowly turn back around, still giving him a side glance every few seconds.

Jaylin looked down at his sword, before making a small shield to block Exilis’ presence.

Gods finally. So what was his name again?

Kados.

Kados?

Yes.

Hm.
Kados is the name of the God of Chaos...

...

Well that would explain some things.