DarnedNoob back, with another new chapter. After rereading Prologue, I've decided that I haven't developed the characters enough, so I present, Flashback.

"Elemental Composition – Darkness and Light."

The technique struck David straight in the chest, throwing him forcefully onto a wall. The glow on his left hand faded, and the crossbows dropped from his hand, before fading to mist, dust and air.

The Light Necromancer laughed, appearing to aim a glowing white fist at him.

"Apollo's Wrath..."

David saw all this, saw the magical attack forming in his fist, and knew that he didn't have much time left. He had been beaten.

Before the attack hit him, David thought back to the days he had in Beracross. Sure, he had only been there because of the Rings, but he had to admit he had met some people there who were…worth meeting…

One year previous, Necrons Orbis HQ.

From a bird's eye view, one could see two figures running across the dark corridors of the Necrons HQ. What their team failed to achieve a year ago, they would do so now.

David was scouting the area, eyes darting around. He was alert, ready for anything the Necromancers might throw at him.

Amy, however, shouted orders into her communicator. She knew she could trust David to spot trouble if any ever attacked them. However, she had a throwing knife in her right hand, and communicator in her left. She had taught herself the basics of using a Steely in case it was ever needed.

"Require satellite image of coordinates 55, 34 immediately. I repeat, require satellite image of coordinates 55, 34. And just send it to my communicator, Aziz. There isn't a copy? What…"

"Calm down…" David whispered to her. "My granddad could hear you, much less a necromancer. Keep your volume down."

Amy responded by slapping his shoulder while keeping her Steely out of range.

"Keep at your job, and I'll keep to mine." She whispered back harshly. "Anyway, Intel has affirmed that there isn't any Veteran or higher Necromancers in this section for now."

"Fine, fine. But we haven't got the next section yet…"

"…which is exactly…" Amy started.

"…why you're hollering at them, yeah?" David smiled.

"Oh, shut up."

"Here, Corporal Socrates." Captain Aziz's voiced crackled through the speakers of the communicator. "And by the way, keep your bickering down. The entire of Intel can hear."

"Be that way…" Amy muttered softly. Aziz shouldn't be able to pick that up on his communicator. She then quickly pressed a few buttons on her communicator, checking an apparently accurate rendition of Necrons Orbis HQ.

Indeed, the image was accurate. In fact, the cross-sectional view was so accurate that Amy could see a whole battalion of Necromancers that appeared to be heading their way, if still images could be trusted.

"Don't worry. They're all novice necromancers. No backup needed." David seemed to be able to read Amy's thoughts.

"You sure about that?"

"Hey, trust me and my crossbow. We'll be fine."

At that exact moment, a few dozen Necromancers rounded the corridor, facing our two heroes.

"Crap…"

Present, Necrons Perion HQ.

…Or perhaps he wasn't beaten yet. Something inside him seemed to awaken, to send him a message; his duty wasn't over yet. He had a job not yet done.

David raised a hand, grabbing the Light Necromancer's fist. The pure mana around the fist was burning his hand away, but it beat dying.

David bit his lip, trying not to think of the pain and his burning left hand. He raised his other hand to punch the necromancer away, clutching his nearly-gone left hand immediately afterwards.

The Light Necromancer withdrew, the glow in his hands gone.

Despite the pain, David smiled. "I have more tricks up my sleeve than you know." He drew a crossbow from behind him, loading a bolt and firing with one hand.

"Strafe!"

The four bolts struck the Light Necromancer, throwing him against a wall. Something broke audibly.

Not taking any chances, David threw his crossbow at the Necromancer, whacking him in the forehead. It would have taken too long to reload, especially with one hand.

He then followed up with an elbow, and used his smoldering left hand to scald the Light Necromancer's face badly.

It was then that he noticed his Rings were still on, and the Ring of Light was glowing. Like before, it was numbing his hand to warn him of an incoming Dark attack. However, what was left of his hand wasn't enough to feel anything, so the numbing couldn't take place…

"Hurricane."

That single word was all David could hear before he was slammed against the wall by a sudden flurry of arrows striking his back. Each one of them had a purple glow. Infusion of Darkness mana.

David could have sworn the voice was digital. Whoever had blasted him must have wanted to hide his identity desperately.

"Such a pity. The great David Falcon dies in a single blow. Wait until I tell my Council."

This statement told David quite a few things. The person who had just crashed their fight was aware of his identity, and he headed an entire Council. Of what, he did not know.

"Then again, that single blow was a little strong. It's amazing how you're still alive and listening to me crap now. My necromancers were right about you."

So he headed Necrons.

"Beracross…we, Beracross will be…back." David managed to splutter out. "It's…not over."

"Ah well, it's a little too late for you." The mysterious person drew a dagger. The Light Necromancer, standing at the side, recognized it. The same dagger was used to kill Darren Anderson and many other tributes.

The person raised his dagger, bringing it down on David Falcon's heart.

One year previous, Necrons Orbis HQ

"So, any strategies now?" Amy asked irritably.

David rolled his eyes. "No, so help me think of one."

The duo were stuck in one of the best HQs of Necrons, without backup, and with a whole battalion of bloodthirsty necromancers up their behind.

"Well, first things first, I'll settle the novices. They're a distraction." Amy replied.

"You handle the novices. I take on the Veteran Necromancer." David stated, simply, before fitting a few bolts to his crossbow. He swung the crossbow, releasing bolts at different junctures. Each bolt struck a different necromancer, all in the chest. One of the four bolts held a little Light mana from his Ring of Light, causing immediate death to the poor necromancer who got the jackpot of a Light-infused bolt.

Amy didn't bother to answer affirmative, simply throwing her prepared Steely at a novice necromancer. The novice got knocked unconscious, before he was struck dead by stampeding necromancers. She kept her communicator, before stringing her bow and firing a few arrows nearly immediately. Years of practice will breed that kind of speed. Four necromancers were killed immediately.

David ducked to dodge the flying projectiles from the necromancers, firing bolts everywhere. An Iron Arrow ripped through two novices before ending its trip in the head of a Veteran Necromancer. Two down, two more to go.

David then stepped on a novice necromancer, using his head to bounce into the air, where he had a perfect bird's eye view, if only for a second. However, that second was enough for David to squeeze off a few shots, pinning another Veteran to the floor. The next shot he shot when he landed went into the Veteran's heart.

Throughout this, Amy was firing Strafes off with utmost ease, taking out those nearing her or David first. Nearly every shot killed a Necromancer.

Soon, the novices were all dead. That left a single Veteran Necromancer, who ran off from the two seemingly invincible Corporals. A single shot from Amy brought him down.

"Veterans? They weren't so hard after all."

"Amy, you're just nuts."

"Come on, you guys can do better than that!" Jericho shouted. "Come and hit me!"

Whether it was for their master's orders or Jericho's, the battalion tried all they could to beat the Dragon Knight down. They failed.

One novice managed to make contact with Jericho, but only to be swept away by an Omega Spear and sent flying back into the crowd. In the same fluid movement, Jericho sent a Razor flying straight in the middle of the battalion. A few Veteran Necromancers fell, along with every Novice in the middle.

The rest left standing could only gasp in awe. Razor was a Magician's technique; and even so, one needed to master the Wind element to properly use that technique. That Jericho, as a Dragon Knight, could release consecutive Razors was amazing.

Of course, the novices didn't manage to think all of that before they were struck by a few Razors.

The survivors spread out, knowing that magical techniques generally hit a small area hard.

Not so for Jericho.

"Dragon Roar!"

In their panic, the novice necromancers had forgotten that Jericho was a Dragon Knight, not some all-powerful Arch-Mage of the Wind and Earth.

As the technique sent the necromancers flying, Jericho felt a bit of himself fly off with the necromancers. Dragon Roar not just cost him his mana, it cost him a substantial amount of his health. If he did another such technique again, it would be the HQ00 clinic for him. He didn't have any Power Elixirs around him.

Fortunately, it didn't seem like any of the necromancers crawling around would be challenging him to a duel to the death anytime soon. Just in case, Jericho did a few Razors, carefully aimed to maximize the amount of Dark Mages hit. Five Razors were all it took. Nobody around here would be seeing daylight again. Jericho neither felt guilt nor joy. This was a job. The necromancers were worthless. They would be better off dead.

In any case, their demises would ensure that Necrons lost as much manpower as possible. Mass murder made legal.

Jericho turned around and walked away, the snow covering the fallen necromancers, keeping them hidden from the world forever.

However, one guy was still alive. Jericho quickly noticed that, reason being the guy was attempting to claw out of the snow.

Jericho strode back, spear in hand. He raised the spear, prepared to plunge it into the necromancer.

The novice Necromancer looked up with pleading eyes. "No. Please, I beg you. No…"

Jericho simply did a twirl with his Omega Spear, before beheading the chap.

Having done so, he returned to searching for Ronox, never feeling a slight twinge of guilt nor remorse. It was simply his job.

"Dude, so you're here." Ronox muttered to himself, having found Kane hiding behind a cliff. Observing what, he did not know.

"Should we signal to him?" An Initiate, probably looking for a promotion through making a smart decision, suggested.

"No." Ronox responded firmly. "He might be distracted. In fact, he will. We wait until he finishes doing what he's doing, and then we signal."

"Well, he's finished and looking as us hiding behind a cliff."

"Oh sh…"

About a minute later, Ronox was informing Kane of their past plight, and of how Jericho was handling the Necromancers now.

"Alright, so we search for Necrons El Nath HQ, ransack it for Opal, and job done." Ronox said.

"Not so simple." Kane replied. "Necrons El Nath is all white, from what I've heard. Given El Nath's perpetual snow, I think the HQ is well camouflaged. In other words, it's hard."

"Oh, it's not like we haven't been through the toughest. You should know that, Kane."

"Yeah, that's all you have to say, right?"

"Well, I might have found the HQ." Ronox smiled.

"You? Found the HQ? Bullshit isn't generally allowed in discussions of utmost importance."

Ronox ignored Kane's tone.

"I see that you were checking on the Necromancers there?" He pointed at the other side of the cliff.

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, they're walking into the cliff. Whoever you got the information that Necrons El Nath was simply white as a camouflage from, they suck."

Amy explored the HQ the team of Corporals found themselves in. Extreme luck had guided them to the Necrons Perion HQ, and they intended to make as much use of that luck as possible.

As thanks to the necromancers who had unknowingly led them to the HQ with their loud discussions, Amy decided not to blast at them. Not yet.

"Alright." Captain Gordon started. "SwiftStrike, follow me. The rest will be under Amy. Go!"

The team split into two, and dutifully searched the HQ.

Exactly five minutes later, Captain Gordon Michaels came back to the entrance of the HQ with two men. All three seemed pretty bloody.

"Dammit…" the Captain swore. He pulled out a communicator. "Requesting backup at coordinates 50, 98. Repeat, 50, 98."

He looked to the direction that Amy's team went.

"I do hope they're fine…"

Amy was doing fine. In fact, she had just found, and effectively neutralized, a battalion of Novice and Veteran Necromancers. Of course, that had cost a few Beracrossian personnel, but it couldn't be helped. This was war.

Soon, she had infiltrated the different rooms, passed the main corridor. Getting closer to the main office. Interrogating the in-charge would be one of the easier ways to find out about Opal's whereabouts.

So far, there hadn't been any more hostiles. Weird. Perhaps she had cleared out the entire HQ. With the other Corporals' help, of course. Teamwork is the key to success.

Then, as she passed a small office at one of the corridors, Amy swore she heard a thud, followed with a hiss.

Amy recognized the latter sound well. A long-distance teleport. A major, possibly one of the Great Eight, Necromancer was inside, and he had just escaped.

Amy broke through the door, and screamed at what she saw, before running forward.

"David!"

The Sniper was lying in the middle of the room, lying in a pool of blood. His own blood. A stab was clearly visible on his chest, just under his heart. Blood was pumping out of him, killing him.

Amy rushed forward to stop the bleeding, but by the amount lost, it was too late.

"David, no…" Amy whispered.

"Amy?" David was already blinded by the lack of oxygen going to his brain. He reached out, and Amy grabbed his hand.

"David, what happened?"

"Amy…get out…he might…come again…get out…" David muttered.

"Not without you!" Amy shouted.

"I'm done for." David stated simply. "The dagger that…did this. It was no…ordinary dagger. Its enchantment…I can't heal this wound…"

Amy looked around frantically, looking for a way to save her teammate.

"Amy…Promise me one thing." David said.

"Yes?" Tears were streaming out of Amy's eyes. She knew the wound was fatal. She already knew.

"Meet Colonel Forte. Tell him I…sent you." David's voice was growing thinner. "And…promise me you'll take care of yourself. Be well."

With that, David's hand fell out of Amy's.
"David? David! David! No!" Amy was frantic, still unable to accept what had…happened.

A few Corporals behind her were crying too. David had been a good teammate.

"So he's gone." A voice rang out from seemingly nowhere. "A pity."

A black cloaked figure stepped out of the shadows, a smirk on his pale face.

"It didn't take long for the Master to kill him. One strike. Quick and easy."

Amy's voice shook with rage. "You…you killed him."

"Well, yes, and probably you too." Came the reply, eloquent as ever.

Amy simply strung her bow and fired, the force of the offensive breaking her bowstring.

"You'll pay!"

"Dark Will!"

The arrow sped back at Amy, which she simply evaded by jumping into the air. The arrow tore through the mithril plating of the wall behind her; such was the force of her arrow.

"Strafe!"

Amy had strung her bow again, and shot off four arrows.

The Light Necromancer, for that was who he was, Teleported away, before appearing behind Amy and unknowingly right smack in front of the team of Beracrossian Corporals at the entrance of the room. All readied their weapons, forming a circle to corner him.

The Light Necromancer smiled.

"You guys can't harm me. Such is the power of the Great Necromancers. Only those blessed, or should I say, cursed to have gained the Witness's Retaliation can even scratch me."

The whole team fired, slashed and stabbed at him, causing multiple wounds. Most of them were fatal on their own.

The Necromancer felt the pain, felt his life seeping away. His eyes widened in surprise.

"But…how…"

Amy stepped forward, eyes deadly. "David…he was murdered. Did you not absorb his…?" Amy nearly broke down at thinking that even David's soul wasn't at rest.

Dammit…The Light Necromancer thought to himself. That idiot betrayed me…

Well, he would have to do something about it.

"Rectify."

Nothing happened.

The Necromancer frowned in confusion, before swearing.

The piece of shit actually absorbed my mana too…

Before he could swear again, the Necromancer fell, brow still creased, still wondering why his Master had betrayed him.

Most of his plan was complete. The Master smiled at what he had accomplished. True, one of the Headquarters had been destroyed. A small price to pay for what he had earned. Corporal David Falcon was dead, along with other unimportant Corporals. Of course, this had cost him a Necromancer, but as long as his Light mana was still intact, everything was going according to plan.

The Master stared at his hand. Three rings shone on his fingers, their jewels sparkling. The Rings of Light, Ice and Wind. All his. Corporal Falcon was stupid to carry them with him at all times.

The Master sighed contentedly. Time for his next offensive.

Done. I know I was evil, but hey, deaths are a major part of the plot. It's a tragedy. Oh, and I know most of you guys won't do so, but try not to cry for David. And Amy. X)