Within the Capital...

On that same day of when the tournament had taken place. The sun had set and the stars in the young night sky shined.

"Good evening, everyone. As of today, Flare will be our backup member for the Jaegers." Esdeath said, introducing most of her Jaeger group to Flare, while he was restraint. The Yeagers, such as Wave, Run, and Doctor Stylish had already known Flare, while Bols and Kurome were introduced to him for the first time ever.

Seryu Ubiquitous and her Teigu, Koro were not present at the moment.

Flare was still tied to a chair with chains wrapped around his arms and chest. And there was still a dog collar strapped to his neck. "Um... Can I get out of these chains, now?"

"You brought a civilian here, General Esdeath?" Bols asked while raising his right hand in the air.

"Yes. But not just any civilian... Flare had won a held a tournament held by me, today." Esdeath said as she faced Bols.

'Tournament? I only fought in one match and won.' Flare thought.

"He will have everything he could ever want, here." Esdeath said as she begun to look at Flare in a romantic manner. "And not only is he an extra member of the squad, but he's also my lover, too."

'Lover?' Both Flare and Wave had thought at the same time. But Wave was more shocked.

'So that's what the whole tournament was about? Trying to find a lover?' Flare had thought in a shocking and irritated way. 'I thought it was about winning money!'

"That's so romantic." Bols blushed in a happy tone. He grasped his mask cheeks.

"Ew." Kurome said. Detesting love.

'Well, I guess the General has a right to love, too.' Run had thought.

'Aw... and I wanted to polish Flare up.' Doctor Stylish silently pouted and crossed his arms. He wasn't the type to stay depressed as he usually acts optimistic.

"Bark! Bark!"

"Hm?" Doctor Stylish had turned half his head around to see a running Seryu Ubiquitous.

Seryu had worn a green dress with a short green skirt, a long green scarf tied around her neck, a pair of long white socks that goes up her leg and a pair of green shoes. Her arms were metal and bionic. Her ponytail was cut shorter going down her lower back.

"S-sorry I'm late, General Esdeath." Seryu had ran toward Esdeath and apologized. Koro was by her side the whole time. "I had to make sure I find a greater outfit and-Eh?" Seryu had stopped and noticed that Flare was currently restraint in a chair next to Esdeath. "Flare?"

"Seryu?" Flare had responded as he stared at Seryu Ubiquitous. "You're part of the Jaegers?"

"Mm-hmm." Seryu happily nodded. "And it seems that you joined, too." Seryu giggled.

"You look different." Flare had noticed Seryu's new outfit.

As Esdeath saw Flare and Seryu talking casually, she felt a disturbance. A disturbance that she had never felt before in her life. Jealosy.

"Mm-hmm. I wanted to try on a new outfit when I joined. And it seems like you're enjoying that chair, too much." Seryu giggled.

Flare looked down at his restraints. "Oh, this? Trust me. This isn't how I-" Flare had suddenly looked at Seryu's arms and realized they were metal and not human flesh, anymore. He gasped. "Seryu, your arms!"

"Hm?" Seryu then looked at her bionic arms. "Oh, these? They're just a small price to pay. I'm still the same person." Seryu giggled.

"Seryu." Esdeath had called Seryu by her name in a cold tone.

"General?" Seryu had replied.

"You know Flare?" Esdeath asked Seryu.

"Why, yes." Seryu nodded. "Flare is my best-"

Koro pouted, temporarily. Catching Seryu's attention.

Seryu saw Koro's pouty face. "Oh, well I mean. My "human" best friend." Seryu said, embarrassingly rubbing the back of her head.

"Best friend, you say? You're... best friends?" Esdeath had a look on her face that asked for an explanation. She was not mad, she just wanted to know what Seryu meant.

"Yep. Flare and I used to work together as Imperial grunts within the lower districts of the capital." Seryu told Flare.

"Oh! So, you're comrades in arms, then?" Esdeath asked in a happy tone. She had previously assumed that Flare and Seryu had a romantic relationship.

"That's right! We also trained together inside my late Captain Ogre's dojo, and we ended up defeating two of those Night Raid filth, together!" Seryu said, confidently as she gripped her right fist.

Kurome temporarily glanced at Seryu's backside as soon as when Seryu mentioned Night Raid.

"I see..." Esdeath said. 'So. My lover had already befriended and trained with my subordinate, Seryu Ubiquitous. Just before I could claim him.' Esdeath had begun to lower her head a single inch and her eyes were covered with shadow. 'W... what is this that I'm feeling right now?' Esdeath's mind had begun to drown in different emotions such as jealosy and confusion. 'A... am I actually... jealous of Seryu? Or is it-'

"By the way, General. Why does Flare have a collar on his neck?" Seryu asked, curiously as she pointed toward the collar on Flare's neck.

Suddenly, Esdeath snapped out of her train of thought. "Huh?"

Koro blinked.

Esdeath shrugged a bit. "Because I like him that much. I guess you can say that I like Flare so much that I "slap" it on him without thinking." Esdeath had joked.

"Well, with all due respect, General. You might want to remove the collar from his neck, before other people assume that he is a pet. He is your lover, after all." Run had asked, kindly.

Esdeath gave it some thought, then clasped her left cheek and giggled. "Oh! You're right. Silly me." Esdeath then removed the collar from Flare's neck.

Flare had inhaled some air, then exhaled. 'I can breathe a bit better, now.' Flare had thought.

"Speaking of relationships, has anyone here ever been married or engaged?" Esdeath asked her group.

Suddenly, Bols had raised his right arm up.

"You've been married, before, Bols?" Seryu asked.

"Yes and I'm still married. For six years. She is such a wonderful person that I don't even deserve her!" Bols said in a happy tone. He clasped his mask and begun moving his hips in a blushy and happy tone.

'Gee, and I thought this guy was some kind of silent executioner. I had never imagined he would act like this.' Flare had thought.

Suddenly, a soldier had rushed into a room with a clip board. "General Esdeath!"

Flare and the Jaegers had quickly looked at the soldier who bursted in the room.

"We have completed our investigation of the area surrounding Lake Gyogan as you ordered." The soldier had informed Esdeath.

Esdeath smirked. "Perfect timing." Esdeath then pointed at her subordinates. "We all have a big job ahead of us."

"Roger that." The Jaegers replied.

Esdeath then looked to Flare. "Flare, you will be coming, too."

"I am?" Flare asked.

Later That Night...

Flare and Esdeath were sitting on a rock and top of a cliff and watching a battle go down. The rest of the Jaegers were walking toward the fortress near Lake Gyogan.

Esdeath grasped Flare's hand and watch her subordinates begin to take action. "I suggest you watch and learn." She said looking at the Bandit's fortress.

As Flare saw, he looked closer and saw his Jaeger comrades walking towards the fortress. One of them he recognized was Seryu. 'There's Seryu!' Flare spotted the group. "I wonder, what kind of techniques does she have, since the surgery?" Flare thought, then an alarm sounds at the fortress by one of the bandits. It wasn't long that the bandits strapped themselves and surrounded the Jaegers.

"You're pretty stupid to take us head on!" A bandit yelled.

"Koro. Phase Five!" Seryu yelled as she moved her right arm out, then Koro had suddenly grown big and bit Seryu's right arm. Then Seryu's arm had suddenly turned into a giant Drill.

'Whoa, what the hell! I've never seen anything like it!' Flare thought shocked.

"Kill them!" A bandit yelled as they charged towards the Jaegers.

"Enma's Spear of Justice!" Seryu yelled sanely while she charged and tore through dozens of bandits with it. Leaving nothing but torn flesh and raining blood. "Next." Seryu said as she released the giant drill and Koro bit her arm again. This time she summoned a giant tank rifle from her right arm. "Phase seven!" She aimed at the fortress' gates. Taizan's Cannon of Justice!" She yelled sanely again while destroying the gates and the bandits around the gate. Leaving no survivors.

'Seryu is like a one-woman army at this point.' Flare thought.

Seryu smiled and blushed a bit. 'I hope Flare is watching me purge evil with my new weapons!'

Dr. Stylish chuckled from behind. "All those weapons are my fabulous creations. The hands of God, Perfecter. It increases the speed and precision of the user one hundred fold! Oh, I'm just loving this Imperial Arms!" Dr. Stylish yelled all excited.

'Ok, he's starting to creep my out, more.' Flare thought with a creep face.

Kurome starts charging towards a dozen bandits, pulled out her Yatsufusa Teigu blade and killed them with a dozen slashes at ease. "After this is over, I'll get to use you like precious little dolls." Kurome said with a smile.

'She's really skilled with a blade. And deadly as well.' Flare had thought as he watched Kurome fight. Then he heard screams from a distance coming from a different direction and started looking that way. 'Wait, that's fire!' Flare thought as he looked closer. He saw bandits being burned alive, screaming in agony. 'That masked man is torching them.'

"Purgatory Invitation, Rubicante!" Bols yelled out. "Sorry, just doing my job! Nothing personal." Bols added in a kind manner as he burned the bandits alive.

"I get it now, he's using a flamethrower. A machine that shoots fire." Flare stated as he looked at his hand. "But it's not like my fire." Then he looked around to see where the other Jaegers and spotted wings in another area. Flare then spotted Run in the air.

Run the summoned razor-sharp feathers from his wings to kill the bandits in one blow. One of the bandits was hit in the head. Before he died, he saw Run in the air "An Angel." The bandit said before collapsing.

"Thousand-Mile Flight, Mastema!" Run yelled as he levitated over a ten thousand feet in the air. "Sorry. I just can't let you walk away." Run apologized, while executing the fleeing bandits and putting them to rest.

'So that guy has a Teigu that can make him fly? Sounds cool.' Flare had thought.

"So, what do you think of them, Flare? Amazing, aren't they?" Esdeath asked.

"Yeah. They're pretty awesome." Flare said. 'I know about everyone's Teigu now except for the Kurome and Wave's. There's a chance I might learn it down the road.'

Esdeath felt happier that Flare had complimented her team. "I'm glad you feel that way. From now on, I'm going to train you. And soon, you'll be able to do what they do."

Flare heard what Esdeath had told him. "Wow. That's actually nice of you."

"I'm not like all the rumors you heard." Esdeath said.

"Rumors?" Flare asked, then he had caught on with what Esdeath meant. "Oh... "those" rumors."

"To be honest, I have not felt like myself, recently. I have started to experience... love." She lowered her head a bit and placed a hand on her Demon's Extract marking. "And it feels good."

'I've heard different stuff about Esdeath in the capital-like how brutal and sadistic of a person she is and the stuff she's done. But once you kinda get to know her a bit... Esdeath is so kind and compassionate, and... she's also pretty.' Flare had complimented in his mind. 'Wait...' Flare had then gulped. 'Did I really say she was pretty?' Flare had thought in his mind. Suddenly, he shook his head. 'Anyway, I'm losing focus.' Flare had gained a bit serious look on his face. 'I need to show Esdeath how dirty the Empire is and that we're fighting for a corrupted nation. I need to find a way to open her eyes and let her see that the capital is just using her.' Flare had thought with a determined look on her face. After witnessing Esdeath's blushing smile, he not only saw her as a person, but also as a pawn for the corrupted Empire. And he thought of wanting to free her.