AN : Hey, how are you all on this fine day ?

As for me, it was kinda shitty, since my teachers are huge assholes.

Well then, I'm sure that all of you aren't here to hear me complain about my country's eduction, so let's start with the QnA !

Yatta : I can completly understand what you mean, but the thing you stated was what I was doing, wich is to say, Dante let Mostima and Fiammeta get their own explantion and he just went with what they thought was the truth. He just explained a couple of things as to how it 'works', with half lies and truth. If this wasn't very clear, I will probably rewrite that passage to make it completly clear for everyone.
Dante has no desire to tell ANYONE that 'Arknights' is a game, since from his perspective, it isn't right now. Just to drive the point forwards, the next omake will be this :

'What if Dante thought of this world as simply the game Arknights ?'

So yeah, I'll rewrite that part (if it wasn't done already), to make it completly clear that Dante isn't telling Mostima and Fiammeta shit.

Now, without further ado, let's go~ !


After getting into this training room, I could start asking her a couple of things.

"So, what did you learn in Victoria ?"

"Stances, how to use your whole body to strike, essentially the basics."

"Good, so I won't have any trouble with that. Let's start firstly by the, admiditly, easiest part."

"Which would be ?"

"Drawing that sword."

I say as I point towards Chi Xiao.

"... I see, you mentionned something about it listening to it's user intent."

"It does, it's really finnicky, and annoying to control. The best way to explain how that sword work would be to explain how it doesn't."

"What... That doesn't really make sense ?"

"Bare with me for a bit, essentially, Chi Xiao likes getting used. So it let anyone with the capacity to hold it draw it."

"So any one who has a capability to hold it can draw it ? I heard Uncle say that it refused to be drawn by anyone other than you."

"That's because the 'capacity to hold it' is different than just holding it in your hand. It means holding it conceptually."

Well, her face is full of confusion.

"... This is the easy part ?"

"Yeah, it is. Regardless, to hold it correctly, you need to have the strenght to wield it. That's what it means, essentially."

"Okay, so, since I can wield it, I can draw it... I'm sensing a 'but' here."

"That's because you're right. It likes to be drawn whenever you can, but that's because it has a condition for drawing it."

"A condition ? So the 'whenever' part is just whenever that condition is fufilled ?"

"Yeah, you felt the tremors before I drew it last time, right ?"

She's opening her eyes widely.

"Yes ! You're right ..!"

"That why."

"That makes sense. So, what's that condition ?"

Heh, she will so not like it.

"Bloodshed."

"What."

"I said, the condition is 'Bloodshed'."

"I heard you the first time, but what the *Lungmen profanity* is that kind of condition."

"A dumb, yet effective one."

"So it can't be drawn while training ? Then why bother trying right now ?"

"Didn't I tell you ? It doesn't see, it doesn't really think, and it doesn't feel. The only thing it is-"

" 'intention taken form'. Yeah I think I get it. You have to have the intent of causing bloodshed to draw it."

... And she didn't think of that in cannon ?

Or maybe she knew but was too blind to see it, or too proud to do it.

"So, why don't you try right now ?"

As I say that, she close her eyes.

And with that, she put her hands on the handle and start pulling it out.

...

The training ground start to shake.

Scratch that, the entire tower is probably shaking.

Red lightning start to emit from the sword, as it is painfully and slowly unsheathed.

...

Until it wasn't.

"Urgh ..!"

She didn't totally unsheathed it.

"Mhm. I see."

"What *pant*... Do you... See *pant*?"

"Tell me, you never took another life yourself ?"

Oooooh. Yeah, I kinda expected that expression.

A mix of horror, confusion and disgust.

"No."

"That's bad."

And now, it's just pure confusion.

"Why ..?"

"Hey, Fia, did you remeber what I told you about Chi Xiao ?"

"Mhm. If I remeber correctly, 'it's a bloodthirsty weapon with the only desire to cleave things and let blood flow on it's blade.' something like this."

"Yeah, but I said something important about it."

"Something important about it's tendency ..? Oh, yeah, wasn't it that it only respounded to 'true killing intent' ?"

And now, the gear are turning in Ch'en's head.

I can clearly hear her thought from here, 'why would a sword desire only to cleave', 'what is true killing intent' and all that jazz.

"It's simple, really, 'true killing intent' is exactly what it stand for. It's the pure, unfiltered, desire to kill another living being."

"Then ..! Why ? Why would a sword desire this ?!"

"Seriously... Hey, what did the Victorian Guard School said about swords ? What are their purpose ?"

"... To protect others."

...

Fia and I look at each other.

...

And start laughing our ass off.

"Pffffft..! AHAHAHAHahahahAHAHAH !"

Well, she's giggling and trying not to start lauging like a maniac like I am.

"W-what are you both ?!"

"Ahahahahah... hah... Seriously, 'protecting' ?"

"Yeah, protecting ! Isn't that why anyone would enter a battle ?!"

Oh, yeah, I know what's happening here.

Little Ch'en is still indoctrinated with a purist view, and a sense of 'Pure Justice' too exagerated.

Heh, as if this world is kind enough for 'Pure Justice'.

Fia, Mostima and I all saw what 'Pure Justice' does to people, blinded by faith and devotion.

Sarkaz and Sankta are both like that, shackled by their respective faith.

One of blood, and the other of metal and fire.

As if it was this easy... Here, kindness is spit upon. And if you ever give your hand to someone you don't know, you should expect him to take your whole arm.

We saw shit. Really deep shit in our time on the front line of the conflict between Sankta and Sarkaz.

We didn't 'kill the heretic', we slaughtered people, sometime unharmed, simply because they would do the same to us.

Shot in between the eyes, cut open, broken in half, shattered on the ground like some kind of glass.

It didn't matter.

You have no idea the sheer ammount of fire arm I have now, unknown by even Fia and Mostima, much less the Archbishops.

I woul be hung, executed, tortured for all of those guns, fire arm of my comarades in arm that I took on either their still rotting corpses or fresh blood.

That's the truth of this world.

She... She's still innocent to all of that.

It's... not someting I should laugh about, or even critic her about it.

I should protect that, since innocence is what we expect of someone our age.

Even us, at 17 (for Fia) and 18 (for me), should be expected to simply be teen and just be done with it, not tool of wars that have been active on the battlefied for two years now.

"*Sigh* Look. I'm not critizing your ideal. But... Well... The world is far from good."

"Far from good is a understantement."

"Well, look... Here, Fia, what did we learn from our deployment on the frontlines ?"

"War is dumb, the commanding officers are all asshole who never stepped one foot on a live battlefied, always check your back for backstabs and sudden possesion of dead comrades, always shoot in the head anyone that's down, even if they are clearly dead or allies, kill your heart and never let any of your fear be known to anyone, else you'll be in a world of pain and torture."

"... Yeah that's about right."

"W-what are you both talking about ?"

"War is bad. That's all. It's just... At it's core, a war is just a story of someone killing someone else. It doesn't matter how, why and with any context. It'll never live past the veteran who fought during them. Both Fia, Mosti and I experienced what it was like to just... Kill someone for no other reason than 'because you were told so'. And, sadly, you'll have to do it too."

"K-killing isn't justifed, no matter-"

"Would you kill the ones that hurt Tahlula ?"

"..."

That got her thinking. She's even glaring at me.

"Look. Here me out. Death is scary, and anyone that say otherwise is either stupid or insane. Nobody really wants to die, or, well, at least our primitive instinct will dictate us to live no matter what, so, anyone is capable of killing someone else to survive. That's neccesary if you want to live a life on the battlefied, like what you are trying to do. Getting back at the ones that hurt Tahlula isn't going to solve the problem. And sometimes, Justice just isn't enough."

"I..."

"I know, shattering someone's worldview is not something I like to do. Even more when that means killing any and all innocence in someone's eye. But it's better to kill it here then in the middle of a fight."

"..."

"So, let's do this like that. Take that hilt, look me in the eyes, and draw that blade like I just put my arm in the middle of your sister chest, impaling her and killing her on the spot, right infront of you. Think about that scene, and draw that blade."

"..!"

The ground begin to shake again.

This time, it's not stopping anytime soon.

*SLASH-*

And of course, as if something as simple as a sword slash could hurt me at this point.

Well... I say that but...

Close. It was really close.

It nearly drew blood, it was one centimeters away from my neck.

And behind her, a red lightning bolt, as if it was a afterimage of her moving faster than I could percieve.

This was one of the ability of Chi Xiao, one that I used a lot.

A simple sword slash at the speed of thunder, the 'Divine lightning slash'.

I would just call it 'Thunder breathing, first form, Thunderclap and Flash (Red style). But the copyright would be brutal.

Well, it is pretty fast.

"Good work."

"I..."

"How much resitance did the blade gave you."

"... None."

"I thought so. Now, I'll let go of the sword, so you can back away."

"Thanks..."

And she do just that. Starting by sheathing Chi Xiao again.

"Well, now you know how to sheath it proprely-"

*thump*

"Annnnnd, she's down for the count, Dante."

"... I can see that."

Fia, who was sitting on a table near one of the walls, gets up and squat down to see the state of Ch'en.

"Yeah, she passed out."

"Urgh... I kinda guessed this would happen."

"So, now what ?"

"Let's just let her get some rest. Can you pick her up ?"

"Sure."

She takes her in princess carry.

"So, now what ?"

She takes the Chi Xiao and throw it at me.

I, of course, expected it so I catch it with my left hand.

"We ask Wei where her room is, and drop her of. Then we join up with Mostima."

"Okay."

And with that, we're off.


Two hours earlier, on the side of Mostima.


Well, it's not everyday we meet a talking bird.

"Yo, why are you looking like that, blue hair kid ?"

"Heh, blue hair kid ? That's the best you could come up with ?"

"Shut up ! I'm the one talking to you, blue hair kid !"

"Alright, alright, so, what does someone like you wants with me ?"

That little bird waddle towards me.

It's... So weird.

He has sunglasses and a gold chain.

An actual shirt with a weid design and...

Is at a gun.

Since when did something- I mean, someone like him could get firearms ?

"Where did you get that gun ?"

"This little things ? I asked it to be custom made in Laterano."

He has connection in Laterano ? That's intersting.

"Friends in high places, huh ?"

"You can say that."

"So, why talk with me ?"

"You see, I saw you moving aimlessly in this place. I guessed a rapper like yours truly can help a potential fan visit this city."

"I see. No other reason, huh ?"

"Nope, none at all. After all, I need some inspiration for my new EP I'm dropping, so I'll need to experience new stuff to get it."

"Alright, let's see what you got, weird talking bird."

"... Weird talking bird ?"

He didn't seem to take it well.

"I'M CLEARLY THE ONE AND ONLY EMPEROR !"

"Uh... Who ?"

"... The god of rap ? The triple golden disc ?"

"I... Don't listen to music much. Laternien, remeber ?"

"Damn it..."

"So, that tour ?"

"Yes. Perfect, even. It will allow me to show you the greatness that is my music !"

"Sure, why not ?"


After a while of walking, where Emperor just balabled on and on about his music, that we got somewhere.

"This is 'The End of the Earth'."

"A bar ?"

"Yeah, it's owned by a friend of mine. I usually rent it out, since it's a friend of mine, I can just get it for free."

"Ahahaha, that's awfull~ ! You're going to get betrayed by him, I bet !"

"Not possible, he is a friend after all !"

"Sure, sure, whatever you say, Emperor."

I start walking inside.

"So, do you want a job, blue kid ?"

"Well, it depends what you're proposing."

"You see, I need some hands for my company. Penguin Logistic."

"Penguin Logistic, is it ? What would it entails ?"

"Shush, I'm getting to it ! You see, Lungmen doesn't have many delivery company, so, I decieded to enter the market. A small team of elites capable of handling mid to high risk jobs."

"And, pray tell, what tipped you off that I would be strong enough to handle that kind of job ?"

"The way you walked in the city."

... What ? Wait... Dante said something similar...

"You walk like you've seen war, always alert to your surroundings, checking quickly and quietly behind you, with a walk that leaves as little sounds as possible, a hand close towards your weapon."

Well, seems like he isn't dumb at all.

"Well, you got me."

"So, what will it be ?"

"I'm with two friends, colleagues, so, if you would give me time to contact them."

"Sure, I'll listen to their answer too."