Wrath of the Obese Captain

Flandre: Where is he? I want to play with him so badly! How is he hiding from- Oh? This must be the new chapter that Mister Guy wanted to put up. Fufufufu… Let's see how this one turns out.

I find it difficult to believe that a trusted and high-ranking soldier like him could commit such a heinous atrocity. He concealed his criminal actions throughout the years well, but this event will now be the end of his military career. I will see to it that he faces justice in due time.

-Snippet of a letter from a military official, name redacted for confidentiality

At the aerial base in Vindfält, several hours after Agnetha's arrival and two hours after Magnus's departure…

"Wow, we're shatterin' enemy lines faster than I expected," Johan Eriksson, still leading his squadron to assist that of his redheaded cohort, chirped with a surprised tone. Thanks to the variety of lesser troops and the newer, deadlier prowess of Agnetha Lindgren, the fighters from Rosträdgård's line of defense were succumbing to violent deaths left and right—whether it was from being blasted apart from explosive attacks, getting hacked to bloody pieces by Agnetha's blade and other bladed weapons, suffering impalement from magical icicles, or dying from anything else used for lethal intent by the Orm's Lords. Some cultists were unlucky enough to be ripped apart by opposing troops, but their deaths were not enough to reverse the tide of the battle in a dark night looming over Vindfält's skies. The moons and aurorae illuminated the faces of uncloaked fighters, the spilt blood on the battlefield, and the war machines, both active and decimated.

"Keep it up, folks! We've got this fight in the bag!" His voice was audible despite aerial and ground vehicles skirmishing fiercely with each other, among other loud noises. His second weapon, a modified version of a Rosträdgårdian sniper rifle, was efficient at removing serious threats from the battle, especially those who were most dangerous to the hyperactive Agnetha. Even then, the twisted captain needed not the prankster's assistance to exact murderous vengeance.

SLASH!

"Bow down before my power…" the woman snarled viciously. Her malevolent smile was present through the time in which she slaughtered foes in all directions. Such was her intense bloodlust that, unbeknownst to her, Johan, or any of the combatants in fierce war, she failed to notice the vehicle of Magnus Hedin approaching the city of Vindfält from several kilometers away. The obese captain within was ready to claim the glory for himself, inconsiderate of the negative consequences that would engulf him by doing so.

"It is time to wipe out the Rosträdgårdian forces myself," he growled. His large veins were clearly visible through his reddened skin, warm with boiling rage and filled with the intent to kill and destroy. After having activated his vehicle's cloaking field, he proceeded to fire at Rosträdgårdian units that were distracted with their darkened counterparts. Besides physical invisibility, the cloaking field—unlike Lars's—provided him with the ability to stay off the radar systems of all other vehicles, but his destructive actions were far from unnoticed. Within the first few seconds of his rampage, several Rosträdgårdian troops were in a panic.

"What…" one pilot, a younger man with dark hair, gasped. Even as his confused comrades were yelling and spewing profane language, he was perpetually quiet while failing to figure out why his allies were exploding without warning. He had no time to obtain a conclusion, for just as he was refocusing on the fight…

BOOM!

…his ship suffered a fatal blow from behind, sinking to the ground before exploding and taking him with it. An intense but quick flash of pain was all that he experienced before his brain ceased to function altogether. Meanwhile, some of his comrades were already on the defensive and prepared themselves in any way possible, but no matter how hard they tried, they were sorely ill-prepared for Magnus's arsenal of mighty weapons. The commanding officer of the Vindfält base, accordingly, ordered a scan across the entire city to determine the source of attacks, using the base's advanced technology to do so. But it was all for naught.

"I cannot find the hostile that is destroying our vehicles on Vindfält's outskirts," one subordinate remarked concernedly. On the motion detector, Magnus's victims were farther away from the skirmish's center, with almost no hostile units afoot. "It's as if it is somehow invisible!"

"Order our troops on the outskirts to return to base immediately," the officer, an older woman with gray hair, hazel eyes, and a dark red uniform, ordered. In due time, the assailed pilots gathered towards the battle's core with their comrades, forcing the seething captain to pursue them.

"You won't get away from me that easily," he grumbled. He fired at all fleeing troops, but his aggression during that process allowed some of his enemies to determine where he was commencing his attacks. Therefore, a handful of airborne units managed to swiftly dodge his assault, with one brash pilot even daring to turn around and retaliate against him. Magnus was soon under threat of being shot down by someone who, though unable to pinpoint his location, had some idea of his location and could even threaten his mission.

BAM!

One stray shot damaged his cloaking field and, for a half-second or so, exposed his vehicle to the night. Never the person to be outdone or outsmarted by someone lesser than him, he fired a homing missile towards his target, and before the victim could quickly retreat…

BOOOOOM!

The Rosträdgårdian ship and its pilot were instantly roasted by the explosion of white and blue flames. All other potential targets increased their acceleration as they approached their base, with the red-faced Magnus following suit. It was at this point where, as soon as the group was close to the central battlefield, Johan noticed the vicious situation between his bald cohort and the fleeing pilots.

"Huh, looks like those poor suckers are getting assailed by someone… or something," he muttered. "Eh, whatever. Anything bad for the Rosträdgårdian military is good for us, mostly." Nearby, the bloodthirsty Agnetha took notice of Magnus's rampage after her blade had ruthlessly eviscerated a heavy tank and killed all the occupants inside.

"Something is assisting us in secret," she noted, viewing the exploding ships without a visible hostile to strike them down. "Whoever is helping us will be greatly rewarded." As Magnus approached the base, he unleashed a swarm of missiles to eliminate many enemies before his supply was close to running dry. Laser shots were added for good measure, striking successfully when the slower explosives could not. In addition, bombs were dropped to wipe out Rosträdgårdian vehicles on the ground when the obese murderer had the chance, and he felt twisted glee on every instance. Some laser shots from opposing pilots nearly struck him by pure luck, and when they did, they further disrupted his cloaking field. They were not enough to stop him, however, from ripping through hostile territory and reaching the base. Magnus almost felt like smiling while his rampage continued, but the thought of it suddenly crumbled when his frontal view caught the sight of the single annoyance that had pushed him far beyond the point of tolerance.

"I will crush you like a lowly bug, Eriksson, once I finish off our common enemies." He pressed forward despite laser beams disrupting and eventually disabling his cloaking field, revealing his ship to everyone attentive person in or around the base, including those inside the central computer room that finally detected his presence on the motion tracker. This fact did not even escape the eyes of the murderous redhead or the short prankster.

"Hey, it's Magnus. I didn't know that the boss would be sending him here as backup, but it's good to have that extra punch to our firepower." Johan was blissfully unaware of the bald aggressor's intent to kill him, so he continued to snipe distant targets like it was an easy hobby for anyone to learn. Besides, he believed, it was better to take advantage of the added firepower while it lasted. Agnetha, on the other hand, was slightly confused by her disgraced cohort's appearance.

"Hedin is here, but he was supposed to be demoted by our leader. What is his reason for coming here? I hope to find out when our enemies rest in bloody pools." Three Rosträdgårdian troops on the ground tried to corner her, but her golden prosthetic arm opened a compartment on the forearm to reveal a miniaturized energy gun, which reduced one foe's head to bleeding chunks. The other two opponents were swiftly decapitated with the mistress's cold blade.

"My time has finally come," the bald captain proclaimed. As he was about to finish off more enemies, he was suddenly contacted by another captain via his ship's commlink.

"Captain Hedin, what are you doing?" Lars Isberg questioned. The video feed revealed that he was in his personal laboratory, contacting his cohort after the same period in which the leader began experiencing unwanted nightmares.

"I apologize, my friend, but I cannot reveal my intent to you." Magnus was quick to close his communication channel with the aged necromancer, unwilling to let anyone distract from his mission. His furious assault, combined with contributions from other fanatical cultists, slowly brought the Rosträdgårdian defense down to its knees and gave ground troops the opportunity to storm the inside of the base. Agnetha snickered evilly under her breath as the Lords achieved victory over the vital asset, Johan simply sighed with relief while withdrawing his sniper rifle, and Magnus soon shifted his attention to his light-haired nuisance.

"Now you will die, Eriksson!" Magnus, finally ready to exact his revenge, fired away at Johan's general direction. The two captains on the ground and the subordinates who were not already inside the base were initially confused by their comrade's latest action, given their inability to discern his intents at first glance, but after a half-minute or so of the snarling aggressor's assault on his persistent annoyance, confusion transformed into blood-freezing shock.

"Woah, I think he's trying to kill me!" the prankster squealed. In self-defense did he fire several rounds from his rifle, but none of them penetrated areas that would have resulted in sinking Magnus and possibly incapacitating him; this avoidance was intentional since he did not want to injure or kill the bald captain. A handful of cultists retreated into the base to avoid being slaughtered, but the rest stayed with Agnetha, who finally realized what Magnus's true intentions were.

"He is here to satisfy a personal grudge," she hissed. Furious, she proceeded to contact her vengeful comrade via telepathy, hoping to talk him down or else report him to the mysterious leader.

"Captain Hedin, why are you attacking Eriksson?" Her words were glowing with verbal causticity, knowing that what Magnus was executing could ruin the plans of the Orm's Lords, perhaps even give the Rosträdgårdian military an opportunity to nullify their successes.

"I will not let him be a thorn in my fucking side any longer," he replied. "It is time that I finally delivered to him the punishment that he rightfully deserves. If our leader won't properly punish him, then I will!"

"You are allowing that irrational grudges get into your head and negatively influence your judgement. Do not think that I am unaware of your hatred of Eriksson or Lindqvist; our leader has told me about every instance in which you tried to kill or harm them. If you try to interfere with their objectives, then I have more than enough reason to report you!" Agnetha spoke her words with a stinging vibe to hopefully force Magnus to back down and repent for his unnecessary actions. But he was not to be swayed.

"Do you not understand, Lady Agnetha? He is nothing more than a threat that deserves to be crushed without mercy, while that vampire bitch and her kind are bottom feeders of society and do not deserve a place in our perfect utopia!" He fired more missiles at Johan despite the presence of friendly vehicles on the ground, and when his bombs struck said vehicles, he ignored the resulting explosions and deaths that stemmed from that event.

"Please, Magnus, stop this madness now!" the redhead protested again, but instead of coaxing him from his enraged state, her words unintentionally forced him to double down.

"He and those who get in my way must be punished. Wait… Don't tell me. You are siding with him! You are willing to overlook my pain just to keep him and Lindqvist in our group! I admire you very much, my lady, but if you plan to disrupt my plan to return into our leader's good graces, then you leave with no choice but to direct a portion of wrath towards you! The same can be said for our dear necromancer, Lars Isberg." As the assault continued, Johan finally decided to snipe one of the ship's boosters to slow the aggressive captain down. Magnus was still an enraged bull who hated to lose, so he accelerated his efforts to maim his enemy, even if he was beginning to slowly lose altitude. Nearby, Agnetha quickly warped to the top of his ship and drove her viper of a blade into the steel body, breaching the cockpit in the process. As she entered, her slender form was quickly noticed by the bald warmonger.

"What are you doing-" he started, but his sentence stopped dead in its tracks when he was impaled by the priestess's blade.

"Stop your attack, now." While her left hand maintained its grip on the blade, its robotic counterpart wrapped itself around the neck of the disgraced captain. Magnus's strength was not to be underestimated, however, and he swiftly resorted to prying the redhead's arm off. In doing so, his ship began to swerve in different directions.

"Let go of me!" he snarled. He turned around to push Agnetha away, only to have a huge gash on his torso form when she slid her sword upward to weaken him.

"You will call off the attack right now, Hedin, or you will face the wrath of the master himself."

"NEVER!" He finally punched Agnetha towards the back of the vehicle, but by then, Johan had already retreated into the base to obtain a fighter jet and escape from the city. His skills as a pilot were inferior compared to the prowess exhibited by Magnus or Lars, but he was competent enough to escape without problems. Magnus, noticing his rival's escape, angrily pushed his damaged group of thrusters to the limit before Agnetha slammed the flat side of her weapon against his bald scalp.

WHAM!

"Ugh!" The huskier captain nearly descended into complete dizziness after the latest attack. Finally fed up with interference, he adjusted his ship to the auto-pilot mode—set on a path to the base in the Northern Plains—and set his laser cannons to fire at Johan's jet at random intervals. In the meantime, he directed his focus to the beautiful yet sinister woman.

"If that is how you want to play, my lady, then I am happy to face you in combat," he snarled, with spit spraying with every word.

"You will be punished for your actions, Hedin," she replied. Hammer and sword clashed frequently as the two captains engaged in a heated fight. Agnetha was the swifter and stronger of the two combatants due to her enhancements, but Magnus was no pushover and could keep up with his cohort's movements despite frequent blows striking his husky form. Farther away, Johan would dodge laser beams to keep his vehicle stable while traveling to the aerial base in the Northern Plains, where Lina Lindqvist's group was located. For him, nothing of interest happened aside from passing over Björnstad within the next couple of minutes.

"Oh, it's Björnstad," he chirped quietly. The city beneath him was quiet, devoid of any war machines or chaos on the streets. Despite his temptations, Johan did not damage its wounded landscape, and he continued forward like normal. The lasers from Magnus's ship, on the contrary, occasionally struck many a tall edifice, something that was quietly observed by the awakened queen in the palace's highest room.

"…?" Ingrid, now in a nighttime dress with a shade of orange, had been sleeping for a few hours prior to Johan and his battling colleagues entering the city. The distant explosions created by Magnus's attacks were enough to wake her up, especially since Björnstad had become much quieter with the departure of the Orm's Lords. Peering from one of her room's windows, she noticed a handful of bright explosions along Johan's trail.

"I hope they are not planning an attack now…" she sighed weakly. Her mind was adjusting to the light from outside, but it was already provoked into thinking that her city could be under attack without anyone to defend it. Upon closer examination, she realized that there were only two flying vehicles in the area, with the one in front being a Rosträdgårdian jet, and it caused her mind to calm down a bit. Perhaps the Lord-related ship in the back was just a stray unit who chose to pursue a lone pilot out of aggression, she assumed. Not wanting to be bothered by any disturbances in the night, she closed the window, extended its shades, and return to sleep.

"Lord Björn, let me and everyone else in this palace sleep through the night." She forced her eyes shut and slowly drifted into the realm of unconsciousness. Back to the battle, Johan jerked his jet upward to avoid a high road in the city's infrastructure, letting his two comrades partially crash into the steel arc.

BANG!

Both Agnetha and Magnus, who were not tired after many minutes of fighting thanks to their regenerative factor, unwillingly dropped to their knees as the bottom of the latter's vehicle rammed a rail with full force. They struggled to pick themselves up, though Agnetha recovered quicker and wasted no time in decapitating and then dismembering the husky man before her. With Magnus down for a while, the redhead disabled the auto-pilot function and turned off the laser cannons, letting Johan safety continue.

"Hey, is he finally calming down?' the prankster asked himself. "I guess the author of this story has coaxed him out of his rampage. But what the hell, I've gotta see what Lina's doing at her location." He accelerated his jet towards the base where the vampire and her servants awaited. Behind him, Agnetha was about to turn the ship around when Magnus fully healed from his injuries and, without the woman noticing, tapped into a special form of magic that—following a red glow with intermittent sparks surrounding his body—increased his muscle mass dramatically, though his fat refused to disappear. A low growl echoed from his mouth as he prepared to send Agnetha through a wall of pain.

"…!" Agnetha gasped as she noticed her opponent's bulkier form, ready to brutalize her. She tried to shoot him in the face with her mechanical arm's built-in energy gun.

SMACK!

Despite his large frame, Magnus was fast enough to hammer the woman into the side of the ship with his unfettered strength. He undid Agnetha's changes quickly and even decided to drop several bombs onto the city below so that his thirst for destruction could be satiated, at least in part. Agnetha, recovering from the earlier blow, sent ice needles into the aggressor's body without second thoughts before shooting him in the mouth with her laser. He mostly shrugged off those blows like they were pebbles hurled at him and extended his hands to crush her head. She rolled away in time and fired an electrical bolt from her sword; when it failed to stagger him a lot, she charged at him and sliced off one of his arms.

Wok!

"Kill… I will KILL you!" the transformed captain roared. He was overwhelmed by sword strikes and initially had trouble retaliating, but just when she was about to decapitate him for the second time, he performed a bull-headed tackle that launched her into the ship's rear. She fired another energy bolt from her energy gun—this one was aimed at the gut—and flinch he did not. Instead, he chuckled arrogantly and delivered a mighty knee to her bosom. Agnetha extended her legs to bounce off the wall when she slammed into it, stabbing and nearly eviscerating her muscular adversary afterwards.

"Give it up, Hedin," she hissed quietly. "You are doing us no favors by trying to satiate personal vendettas."

"You should have stayed out of my way," he grunted. His voice was much deeper since he was now under the effect of muscle-enhancing magic. "Perhaps you will learn the hard way that I do not enjoy interlopers who try to hold me back while I approach my goals." Dropping his hammer, he delivered a punch that was barely blocked by Agnetha's sword, which was accompanied by an energy shield. His fists then pounded the floor to create an electrical shockwave that nearly induced a nasty jolt into the priestess's slender body. Outside, the bombs dropped by the bald man's vehicle rocked whatever infrastructure remained in the affected district of Björnstad, reaching closer to the depletion of explosives. Johan, still escaping from Magnus's wrath, twisted his head for a moment to notice the continuation of his bald cohort's rampage.

"Gee, I would not want to get in the big guy's way," he sighed under his breath. Now that he was farther away, it was safer for him to accelerate and reach Lina's location before it was too late. He felt his mind relax as the rampage became a distant event, bit by bit. On the ship, Agnetha disabled the bomb assault commandeered by the bulky harbinger of war and parried a blow from Magnus's regenerated arm. Her feet delivered a two-footed kick to the jaw, mirroring one of Captain Falcon's attacks near the end of his last encounter with the bull-headed Lord. Her subsequent barrage of blade strikes was swift and bloody, though it would be short-lived when Magnus grabbed her by the neck and slammed her against the seat before she could properly react.

"Giving up already, High Priestess of the Orm's Lords?" he growled with a dark sneer in his deep voice. He came close to burying her into the control panel, stopped only when her legs pressed together with enough force to snap his humeral bone in half.

SNAP!

"Mark my words, Hedin, your actions will lead to your downfall," Agnetha asserted. She charged at her obese rival to knock him down and leave him unable to fight back.

With Lars, same time…

"My servants," the elderly Lars announced to a small group of cultists in the hangar bay, "Magnus Hedin, one of our captains, recently left the base for unknown reasons, though I believe that he may have intentions to betray us. Regardless, I want you to track him down as soon as possible. Start your search at Vindfält, and if he is attempting to wreak havoc there or trying to kill Captain Eriksson, apprehend him immediately. If he is not on a rampage, escort him back to this place for questioning. If you cannot find him at Vindfält, switch your focus to the base in the Northern Plains."

"Captain Isberg," one of the cultists asked, "What if he is not present at either location?"

"Then I shall track him down myself. My vehicle can detect distinct signals from each other captain's vehicle via sonar waves. I will know where to detect him. To be on the safe side, especially if Hedin is in a violent state, I will accompany you." As the lesser cultists entered their vehicles, Lars activated the hangar's doors on a timer that could determine how long they would stay open. His mind assumed the worst scenario regarding Magnus's departure; if he was seeking something that could destabilize what the Lords were planning, then stopping him was a top priority. Even worse, if the bald man was in a violent state of mind and came across Johan or Lina—two captains whom Magnus deeply abhorred—things could be even more disastrous, for both vampire and prankster were talented in their own ways and had useful ways of contributing to the Svärtad Orm's resurrection, especially with Lina leading blood sacrifices to supposedly strength the demonic serpent before its time of release.

Nevertheless, the elderly necromancer and loyal captain kept a cool head when he stepped into his personal ship and led the fleet into the dark skies over the Isola del Inferno. Hopefully, he believed, Magnus had not completely butchered operations at Vindfält or in the Northern Plains.

Near the base in the Northern Plains, with Johan…

"I don't think he's coming after me anymore," Johan puffed with quiet relief. "With Lina's base nearby, I can just help her before kicking back and relaxing. And even if Magnus were to continue his pursuit, I would have a nice place to hide." The area beneath him was a landscape of open plains surrounded by very few trees, complete with thick snow and frozen rivers traveling in numerous directions. Close to the trees that stood in solitude, rare white roses rested in cold comfort in groups and were untouched by human hands. A chain of mountains was present at the far north, that Rosträdgårdian gateway into the septentrional ice cap of Terramythica. Bear-like creatures were present in sparse numbers to grace the land with their faunal presence. With the absence of city lights came the full luminescence of all three moons, especially in the case of the red satellite—the mightiest of the group. No roads or urban elements were present aside from a lone path forged only from dirt. This trail was the only route where a ground traveler could reach the lonely base in Rosträdgård's subarctic fields.

The captain's surroundings were so tranquil that it would certainly fool any blissfully ignorant traveler into overlooking the vile war swallowing the kingdom. Things became a different story when the speeding jet approached the military base.

"Still busy, eh? I'll be helping ya out soon, Lina." The captain kept a light smile as he was presented with a series of lights that leaked from burning vehicles and refused to die in freezing weather. Violet-colored explosions were emerging from an as-yet unknown source, but aside from this and all remaining skirmishes between the Rosträdgårdian military and their robed enemies, the battlefield was significantly less intense compared to the chaos at Vindfält. Johan, taking advantage of his lack of personal attention, fired a small swarm of missiles at his enemies.

WHOOSH…

"One for the money, two for the show, and three for guaranteed victory." His guided projectiles were so fast that none of his victims realized the attack until it was too late. On the ground, robed fanatics of different types still clashed with their varied enemies, and among their ranks were the two figures involved in Lillian's kidnapping and robbery of the Smash Mansion's vault—accompanied by the immortal Lina Lindqvist, their mistress.

SLASH!

The shorter servant, now wearing a dark suit of armor underneath its robe, sliced four soldiers in half with its mighty sword before they could even hope to penetrate its defenses. It was shot by two enemies from behind with energy weapons, but their decision to attack would prove costly to them.

BLAM! SL-SLICE!

The female member of duo was decapitated with a swift kick to the head, while her male comrade was quartered with cold steel. Meanwhile, the larger figure created a dark explosion with its raw magic and poured lightning upon unfortunate vehicles. Lina, standing next to her bulkier subordinate, surrounded her whip with a dangerous glow of red before placing a green shield to deflect some projectiles. When it was time to strike back, she reached forward and—in the blink of an eye—sliced apart those who were firing at her. Their body parts fell to the ground in a bloody mess so swiftly that they had no time to comprehend Lina's attack prior to death.

"Sweet dreams," the vampire cooed darkly. She and her entire group were pushing back Rosträdgårdian defenses with relative ease, especially with the larger subordinate's immense power, and it soon came to their attention that Johan was assisting them from afar.

"Something is helping us." The mistress of blood sacrifices noticed her cohort's vehicles, though the night made it difficult to discern which type of vehicle was approaching or who the pilot was. When it was close enough, she realized that it was a Rosträdgårdian jet that was attacking the dark organization's enemies, but that fact only raised confusion.

"What is a Rosträdgårdian jet doing, attacking its own allies?" As Lina watch the jet's landing on the runway, Johan gradually applied the brakes to avoid crashing into the closed hangar bay, evading attacks from both sides as he slowed down.

Scrrrrr…

"Woah, I'm losing traction here!" the prankster yelped. As his brakes squeezed the wheels harder, the jet began to skid while still approaching the doors. He felt some sweat on his face, fearing that he would not be exiting without a fiery crash.

Scrrrrrrr…

"Almost there…" The jet was down to a crawl when it was almost touching the doors. As soon as his vehicle was slow enough to exit, the captain shot the cockpit window and kicked it into pieces, letting him flee in time; the jet's frontal nose crumpled slightly upon slamming into the steel barrier. His emergence was soon noticed by his vampire partner.

"Dear Johan, your arrival is unexpected," she greeted once he was close enough to hear her velvet-coated words. "Were you not supposed to be at Vindfält?"

"Hiya, I was over there when Agnetha and her group arrived to give me a hand. We both reclaimed the base, but then Magnus showed up and started coming at me with total piss and vinegar. I don't know what his exact problem is, but I was lucky enough to get away from him while Agnetha… Well, I don't know what the hell she's doing now. Either way, I think this is a good time to help ya out." Bringing his sniper rifle back into play, Johan launched cold bullets into the heads of many a Rosträdgårdian soldier, piercing hard bone and even harder armor. Lina utilized her glowing whip to deflect multiple projectiles in rapid succession, vanished momentarily to teleport behind a soldier with a heavy machine gun, and tore him to shreds with her whip. Her same weapon was used to create a crest-shaped projectile that destroyed a hostile vehicle to her left and killed its operator. Other cultists, whether wearing stealth suits or using heavy weaponry, aided in pushing back a weakened defense before finally reclaiming the base within the next half-hour. The two special subordinates continued fighting with their respective weapons. At the end, those who surrendered to the Lords were killed per the leader's strict "take-no-prisoners" rule.

"Man, this "take-no-prisoners" is good for weeding out guys who could thwart us with knowledge," the prankster noted. "But I think it also reduces potential for recruitment."

"It matters not," Lina replied. "We can still bring them into our ranks with a bit of magic."

"And what do you mean by… Oh, right. We can do that crazy shtick with you-know-who." As the common cultists stormed the base, Johan watched Lina kill the last opposing soldier on the field by piercing his neck with her fangs and bleeding him dry before tearing off his head. "Can't wait to tell the leader about our successes."

"Truly, this is a glorious night for us." Lina dropped her foe's corpse to join her goofy comrade in watching the two special subordinates, separated from the other fanatics, seal the base with an energy dome created from their magic. Such was a night for celebration due to two major bases back under Lord control, although the vampire and the prankster had little time to enjoy their victory. Farther away, Magnus's vehicle, still soaring at extreme speeds, was approaching the base.

"Aw, shit…" Johan moaned. Inside the ship, a rearmed Magnus swung his hammer to parry Agnetha's sword and delivered a powerful kick to push the redhead into the control panel. He was about to crack her cranium into pieces…

CRACK!

…when she dodged to the left, which resulted in his hammer striking the panel instead. He was knocked into the windshield by her electrical spell and blinded by her signature Skugga Dimma attack. Instead of launching poisonous needles like she had executed with Mario's group, the priestess repeatedly attacked her bulkier cohort with the steel blade, gutting and stabbing him with every available opportunity. When he tried to get up, he was electrocuted and toppled over again. Meanwhile, the ship began to plummet as its navigation system was ruined.

"You might want to stand back," Johan warned. He warped to the side of the road to avoid the falling ship, as did his vampire ally. Both captains observed in awe as the vehicle crashed into the runway and their cohorts were launched from it. Magnus survived thanks to his great endurance and huge mass, though Agnetha was also still kicking.

"Yo, should we get your special guys to help us?" The prankster still gripped his weapon, hoping that Magnus would not try to kill him.

"No, they shall maintain the barrier while we deal with our husky friend." Lina kept her whip close while Magnus charged at Agnetha and, surprisingly, punctured her magical barrier with his raw strength. After the priestess was launched towards the location of the shorter captains, the muscular bull of a man felt his snarl intensify as he came face-to-face with three opposing captains simultaneously.

"Three against one, huh?" he puffed. "That is fine with me; I will still enjoy punishing you all for being thorns in my side!"

"You are outmatched, Hedin," Agnetha warned. "Even with your raw strength, you cannot hope to withstand our combined fortitude, nor can you expect to evade punishment from our dear leader."

"Yeah, what she said," Johan added. His sniper rifle was aimed at the bald man's forehead. "And I promise to not commit pranks against your lard-filled ass if you stop trying to kill me. I mean it from the bottom of my heart."

"And do not think that I have forgotten about what you tried to commit against me and my kindred," Lina finished. "It would have seemed that our master had installed a better sense of discipline into you, especially after your failure at Port Town, but I was wrong."

"Shut up, all of you!" The bald man pounded his fists together while getting ready to fight a brutal battle. "I will send you through the same degree of pain that I would have inflicted on Captain Falcon if he had not stolen victory from my grasp!" With a vicious roar, he charged towards his three rivals without his hammer.

With Lars, after departure…

"Have you detected Hedin yet?" Lars questioned. He and his squadron were over the base at Vindfält, which was now firmly within the dark organization's control.

"We apologize, Captain," a female cultist responded quietly, "But he is not present. However, this base is firmly under our ownership. It seems that Captains Eriksson and Lindgren have recaptured it, though neither appears to be present."

"Our aerial strength will be stronger in due time. In the meanwhile, we will continue our search by traveling to the Northern Plains. Perhaps Hedin is committing his rampage there, and it is likely that we will find Eriksson and Lindgren as well." With nothing else to do at the base, the elderly leader directed his group away from the coastal city and towards the subarctic plains in the north.

Back at the Northern Plains…

BANG!

"Woah, not gonna let that happen," Johan squeaked. He had narrowly avoided a charge from Magnus and fired away with his long-ranged weapon. This did not stop the bald man, however, from creating an electrical shockwave with his large fists to push away all three of his opponents. The vampire and the priestess easily dodged it with their blinding speed, but the slower prankster was pushed away and zapped. Lina wrapped her whip around the furious fighter's right arm and tried to pull back to dismember him, failing when he yanked on the weapon himself and tried to crush her head with his right foot. This prompted Agnetha to step in and impale him through the eyes with her blade. Predictably, the bald aggressor snarled in pain and abandoned strategy outright—at least in part—as his world blacked out and he fired icicles as well as other spells in all directions. The other three captains avoided energy spheres, spears, electrical bolts, and shockwaves to the best of their abilities, and while it was true that they mostly were spared from their opponent's fit of blind aggression, mistakes on their part were virtually unavoidable. Lina's skull was pierced by a large ice shard, Johan experienced impalement at his right shoulder before his rifle could strike fat and muscle, and Agnetha was electrocuted when her shield failed to project itself in time. The priestess's golden arm stood up to the jolt, albeit with a minor period where it froze.

"Have some shots, fatso!" The prankster unloaded half his clip to wear Magnus down and distract him long enough so that Lina could trip him. Agnetha impaled the red-faced captain to further reduce his speed, grinding her boots against the frosty ground to gain traction and allowing the vampire to attack with her whip, this time without the glow.

CRACK!

"Bingo." Johan smirked as he watched Magnus fall and slam into the ground; Agnetha immediately pulled away to avoid being crushed under an exceptionally heavy body of fat and muscle.

"Give up, Hedin…" the vampire demanded with a cold voice. In response, the recovering Magnus—whose eyes were now regenerating—swatted at her with surprising speed and leaped forward to crush her smaller body. He almost succeeded; his fists nearly cracked her ribs, but a teleporting Johan emerged from above and pounded that bald scalp multiple times.

"Yeah, you're really losing, so I suggest ya give up and save us the trouble of completely knocking your ass out." The goofy leader fired another round into Magnus's head, which only added to the fatigue. The bald captain charged at him with the intent of delivering a painful beating, and the sniper bullets did not slow him down despite their power straining his regenerative ability. Raw muscle and fat struck the shorter man and launched him backwards.

BLAM!

"Yow!" Johan tried to teleport when he was squeezed by the enraged bull in cultist's robes and slammed into the ground repeatedly; he was only saved when Lina tapped into her sanguinary magic and created cuts across Magnus's body that led to profuse bleeding and a decrease in strength, wrapping her whip around his thick neck afterwards. This time, she began to drag him across the ground once he was down.

"I will… kill you all…!" the hot-blooded and irrational captain growled through gritted teeth and a constricted windpipe. As he was surrounded by Lina and Johan, Agnetha removed a larger needle from her shirt's pocket and dipped it into a more dilute version of the dreaded poison called Igel. Then, without second thoughts, she slammed the tip of her smaller steel object into the bald man's forehead.

"Woah, are you trying to kill him?" Johan questioned.

"No, I am simply weakening his healing factor," the priestess responded. "We cannot afford to return him to the Isola del Inferno while he is in a state that is powerful enough to incapacitate us."

"All the more reason to weaken him," Lina added. While the three captains contributed to the process of restraining Magnus, Lars and his team were quickly approaching from the distance. Their ships approached the runway before landing on cold concrete, powering down, and letting their pilots exit to investigate the situation.

"Hedin…" the aged captain sighed with an aggravated tone. "What were you doing, leaving our central base?"

"Apparently, he was out to kill me by going to Vindfält while Agnetha and I were reclaiming the aerial base," the silly man explained. "Man, he was so pissed off such that we had to take him down before he could ruin our victories."

"He had plans to murder Lindqvist as well," Agnetha continued. "Thanks to our efforts, he will not be wreaking havoc anytime soon. My solution of Igel should keep him subdued while we return him to the volcanic island."

"Really? Was he trying to satisfy personal grudges? Interesting yet problematic…" Lars conjured translucent handcuffs to restrict the fallen bull's movements while Agnetha and Johan slowly picked him up.

"He should be confined to a place where he cannot harm us," Lina quietly suggested. Her whip was still around Magnus's neck, another restraint to his mobility. "If that is not possible, then it is better to have him executed."

"Our leader will decide his fate, dear Lina." The necromancer led the other captains to his squadron's group of large ships with passenger seats, with everyone except Magnus occupying different vehicles; the husky man was forced into the same ship as the pale-skinned vampire.

"When I break free, you will die a painful and slow death," the defeated killer moaned with deep hatred.

"I think not," was her response. "Besides, our leader will make sure that you face punishment for your actions, one way or another." She maintained grip on her weapon as the ships lifted from the runway and departed from the battlefield, traveling over snow-covered fields and frozen rivers amid a serene winter environment. Magnus slowly lost his strength as Igel began to cripple his healing factor.

Man, that was a close call… I don't wanna see Magnus's ugly mug after tonight; he's way too dangerous to keep within our group, and he's failed way too many times to be a good Lord, much less a superior captain. I hope our boss gives him the treatment he deserves, but the author behind the screen may have a different plan… We'll see once he finishes writing the next chapter.

-Johan Eriksson

Flandre: A fascinating chapter by Mister Guy, I must say. I wonder where those captains are now? They seem like good toys for me to play with. I bet Oneesan can help me find them, then I will-

Johan: *walking into house* Ugh, shit… My body's still aching from that sledgehammer. I hope J.C.'s calmed down after that last encounter.

Flandre: Why, hello there! Are you one of those captains mentioned in this chapter?

Johan: Um… Sort of? Well, not anymore-

Flandre: Then let's play at the mansion! It will be so much fun…

Johan: Well, fuck my life.

(A/N: For some reason, I feel like someone should draw Peach in her cyborg form as shown in this story. I doubt that I can find someone who would satisfy this demand, but I wanted to get that off my chest. With that aside, stay tuned for the next chapter.)