Chapter 17 "Personal Vendetta"

"Top of morning!" The chipper tone of Feriferi, the caregiving Nopon rustled the four youngsters awake just past the break of dawn.

"Eh?" Noah used what felt like an immense amount of strength to sit up. "Oh, good morning."

"Breakfast ready in five minutes!" the green-furred assistant announced with the cheeriest of grins. "Friends best get bums in seats!"

"Ah," he rubbed his forehead, eyes momentarily shut, "thanks for the, uh, invita-"

"Seriously?" Bowan, the blue-finned defender slammed his mattress crossly. "I thought I told you not to wake us up like this."

"Of course!" her flighty disposition persisted through his admonishing. "Feriferi not use bell as promised!"

"Ugh… fine, just get out of here," his hand flailed to shoo her away. "We'll get to the canteen when we're ready."

"Very well!" she curtsied with her little apron before hopping out the door. "Docca excited to show off new recipe! Please to not keep waiting!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever…" he slumped over with his hands on his face.

"Bowan, are you going to be this grouchy from now on?" Moraine, the lavender-skinned healer peeked at him from her bed.

"After her shouting first thing in the morning, how can I not be?" the blue-finned Agnian eyed her back. "How are you not?"

"Kind of hard to stay mad when I smell waffles and… hmm…" she paused to catch a sufficient whiff from outside, "skeeter's honey syrup?"

"Waffles sound good," the lone Kevesi rubbed his tummy, "right, Mio?"

"Bowan? Moraine?" The oldest soldier in the barracks called out to them instead, holding two fingers to her temple.

"What's the matter?" the lavender-skinned girl detected disquiet in her friend's voice.

"Both of you, check your Irises," Mio ordered as she slowly rose from her bed.

"Huh?" Bowan complied to see what'd caught her attention. "M-my Flame Clock's been filled?"

"Oh yeah, mine too," Moraine discovered the change from her view a second later.

"Is this so, Mio?" the pacifist walked to her bedside.

"Mmm," his running mate nodded stiffly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you, but this is… rather strange."

"Did you three collect more monster embers than you thought, yesterday?" Noah looked around the room to his Agnian cohorts.

"It'd always been about a quarter to empty," the defender gauged, brows down in concentration, "and now it's a quarter to full."

"There's only one explanation for it," Mio's mind raced as the pieces started fitting together. "New soldiers have been added to our Flame Clock, which means that…"

"Your consul might be on the way." No sooner had the swordfighter finished her sentence than a call came through her Iris.

"Spark…" she cursed fearfully under her shortened breath. "Guys, I'm receiving a request for communications."

"You think it's her?" he easily read the expression on her face.

"Yeah," her right hand gripped the edge of her mattress. "Stand by, everyone." With all eyes on Mio, she tapped her temple again to accept the call.

"Mio! It's Verna of the City! Do you copy?" The voice belonged to their new ally with whom they'd met four days ago.

"Verna? Y-yeah, I h-hear you…" Temporarily feeling lightheaded, the moonblades-wielder fell back on her bed once she realized that it wasn't the consul who'd contacted her.

"I'm giving you a caution," the scar-faced woman proceeded straight to her message. "An Agnian transport Levnis just passed by us, and some of our Moebius detectors reacted to it."

"Moebius…?" Noah entered his voice into the call since he, like Mio, had previously synchronized Irises with Verna. Right on cue, his Blade began vibrating on his holster. "Right, someone's definitely here."

"The consul," the cat-eared Agnian sat upright again. "This is actually it, then."

"Remember, lead her to us," Verna reprised the pivotal part of their plan. "My team's ready to attack once she gets caught in our traps."

"Understood," he acknowledged with his free hand already reaching for his gear. "Keep an eye on us if you can."

"Don't need to tell us twice," the female militant lightly retorted, ending their communications a second later.

"Mio, we need to act now," the ponytailed soldier urged her before turning to the other two Agnians. "Whether or not you're participating, let's suit up and prepare for the worst."

"Way ahead of you," Bowan clicked the heels of his boots together.

"What about Docca and Feriferi?" the healer wondered about the Nopon duo. "The consul will surely notice them."

"Perhaps you should be their bodyguards," the lone Kevesi suggested, "especially if you're not going to challenge the consul alongside Mio and myself."

"I'll feel bad for not helping you guys, though," Moraine tapped her lower lip with her fingertips.

"Yeah," the blue-finned Agnian softened his stance for a moment. "I'm sorry, but we just don't want to risk getting on the consul's bad side if she survives."

"It's okay," Mio reassured them despite her own lack of confidence. "This is my mission, not yours."

"Are we all ready?" Noah quickly stepped ahead, unkeen to dawdle in the barracks any longer. "Then let's go."

With everyone dressed, the quartet marched outside to see if anything had happened yet. True to Verna's warning, a transport Levnis was spotted at the entrance nearby. While Bowan and Moraine ran up the colony's path to the canteen, Noah and Mio stayed to watch a platoon of Agnian soldiers exit the vessel. Among them walked a woman clad from head to toe with the familiar, red armor of a consul.

"It's her…" the zephyr murmured before saluting her antagonistic superior.

"What this? Docca not informed of more guests for breakfast!" Docca, the Nopon chef put his bamboozlement on full, flappy, bouncy display.

"Mio told you about the consul," the lavender-skinned girl reminded him while she and Bowan saluted as well.

"No mention of more soldiers, though!" the brown-furred Nopon persisted with his complaints. "Was prepared for one extra mouth to feed, not dozens!"

"Better get used to it, pal," Bowan advised discreetly through the side of his mouth.

"Yeah, those are likely our new recruits," Moraine also hushed herself once the arrivals lined up and the woman in charge sauntered to the front.

"Colony Rho, my pride and joy! I have been away for far too long." The consul spoke in a lofty yet somewhat vapid voice, muffled by her mask. The air was tense while she slowly scanned the premises and the people on them, paying particular attention to Noah. "Now isn't this an interesting development? A Kevesi so casually standing behind enemy lines?"

"Madam Consul," Mio responded first, having finally steeled herself for this moment.

"And here you are, my most valuable asset, standing by him without compunction," the caped despot assessed correctly but condescendingly. "I cannot wait to hear this story."

"How much of it do you already know?" the moonblades-wielder folded her arms.

"You are the one who wished for death, are you not?" the consul mimicked Mio's posture. "Be it such irony that you are also one of the few survivors of Colony Rho's old guard."

"I see you took your sweet time putting together a new one," the cat-eared Agnian looked to the new recruits who remained mute for now.

"Oh indeed, these are the best soldiers of Agnus," the red-armored hierarch flaunted the incumbency of her choosing. "Their first task will be to exterminate the Kevesi beside you, however, I am a patient woman. Please do enlighten me as to how his admittance came to be."

"He saved my life," her alleged favorite soldier answered plainly and simply.

"Is that so?" the consul contained her surprise, turning to him next. "I suppose my thanks are due. Mio is crucial to Colony Rho's success."

"Have you any idea who I am?" Noah gripped his Blade tighter against its vibrations intensified by her proximity.

"A dweller from the desert, no doubt," her eyes lingered on him uncomfortably, "for that is where the great battles betided."

"Did they turn out the way you'd expected?" the ninth-termer took the opportunity to test her knowledge of his and Mio's situation.

"Mmm…" she ruminated before answering. "I lost nearly my entire colony to yours. Do you really think that I sent them out there with the expectation of never seeing them again?"

"You sent them back for another round so soon after losing," he refreshed the consul of her deed despite himself not being a member of Colony Rho. "Sounds to me like you were trying to get rid of them."

"I give you a chance to speak freely and you dare use it to accuse me of mistreating my beloved soldiers?" the caped woman acted affronted by his probing. "Pray tell, why would I want to get rid of them?"

"To gather embers," the pacifist's eyes narrowed on her, citing what the City folks had told him regarding Moebius. "I assume it doesn't matter which consul's in charge of setting up our battles, so long as Kevesis and Agnians take each other's lives for you."

"You have immeasurable gall to think that I would sacrifice those whom I had selected to make Colony Rho a mighty force." The consul strained to keep her cool, both fists shaking by her sides.

"Is it true?" Mio stepped forward in spite of the growing tension. "Did you willingly feed us to Colony 25 and its consul?"

"Did you two collude on this effort?" her travel partner kept the questions coming. "Whose idea was it?"

"That's enough, both of you!" the red-armored leader bellowed, a waft of her power causing everybody around her to quail. "Mio, it pains me to see you be influenced by this scapegrace."

"We soldiers are human," the zephyr stood her ground. "We should be allowed to think for ourselves, not cater to your every whim."

"What is this insolence?" the consul shifted her growing anger from Noah onto Mio.

"I'm… finally speaking out," the defiant soldier prepared to deliver a piece of her mind. "You've been controlling my life ever since you bound me to Colony Rho's Flame Clock."

"Controlling, you say?" the caped lady snarled, reeling from Mio's boldness.

"What would you call it? I was your tool, ordered to kill so many Kevesis." The more that the Agnian mutineer talked back, the braver she felt. "Do you think I liked it?"

"Nobody naturally wants to kill," Noah kept his resentful glare forward while he moved to be alongside Mio again. "It's what you consuls drilled into us."

"We have to," the consul held out her palm upwards as if to grab something. "Your flames sustain us."

"Is that why you ensure nobody of Colony Rho escapes their homecoming?" her rebelling subordinate sought confirmation, getting closer to the heart of the matter. "Are our flames so vital that you… hunt us down when our ends draw near?"

"Fading into light is a waste thereof," the red-armored boss put her own spin on it. "Unlike most lazy, irresponsible consuls, I merely enforce the policy."

"And thanks to that, I-I've lived my life in fear. Your sword on my neck… was the subject of many nightmares." It was all that Mio could do to keep herself together and confront the bane of her existence. "Y-you made me want to die on the battlefield so I wouldn't have to suffer anymore."

"Yet here you still stand," the consul curtly found irony in her heart-wrenching claims, "alongside a Kevesi no less."

"I'd selected him to be the one to put me out of my misery," the moonblades-wielder glanced at the boy in question, "but he… convinced me to keep going, to face this fear you've instilled in me."

"Is this a threat?" the caped woman brought her hands to her hips standoffishly, sliding one foot forward.

"It's a challenge of fate," the tenth-termer never flinched in spite of her nerves.

"We know corruption when we see it," the ponytailed soldier pointed an accusative finger at Colony Rho's overseer. "My consul spoke of soldiers' lives being sustenance too. Now I'm certain you two colluded."

"I think so, too," his running mate's doubts regarding Moebius seemed to dissolve at last.

"Mio… my disappointment in you is staggering. I'm afraid you're a lost cause." The consul shook her head before another consternation came to mind. "Am I to assume that the minds of the other survivors have been poisoned as well?"

"Hmm?" the cat-eared Agnian hadn't anticipated the focus to shift onto her allies. "They've chosen a different path from us."

"Let us confirm that." Gazing at the canteen, the red-armored hierarch found them nearly trembling in their boots. "Bowan! Moraine! Present yourselves before me!"

"Y-yes, Madam Consul!" the defender stammered as they hurried to rejoin the main group between the entrance and the barracks.

"I assume you two know just how lucky you are. It does my heart good to see you alive and well." The consul proceeded to pace back and forth, hands behind her back. Both Bowan and Moraine stood at attention, though their dithers made it difficult for them to maintain their Agnian salutes. "However, I cannot risk any further dissent within my colony, especially when we've got an impressionable, new roster to implement."

"Us dissent?" the healer swallowed hard.

"You must understand my concern, particularly in light of… certain liberties that appear to have been taken in my absence." The caped leader gave the colony grounds another survey, rotating until she was facing the soldiers again. "I'll get to the crux. Do you believe the lies spread by this outsider whose life you were supposed to take? Or will you continue to commit yourselves for the betterment of Colony Rho?"

"Uh…" Bowan's eyes meandered to Mio who gave him a blank look in return. Guilt poured through him as he prepared to voice his previously made decision. "I pledge my allegiance to Colony Rho, ma'am."

"I pledge my allegiance to Colony Rho as well." Likewise, Moraine opted for the seemingly safer choice after stealing a peep at the senior soldier.

"Very good. As the only two survivors whom I can trust, I am promoting your stations, effective immediately." The consul watched their facial reactions to the impromptu reassignments. "Moraine, you will direct the troops as the new commander. Bowan, you will protect her as the new lieutenant."

"Yes, ma'am!" they responded in unison, saluting more steadily this time.

"Soldiers of Colony Rho, recognize your commander and lieutenant as they stand before you," the red-armored woman announced to the crowd of newcomers. "You will execute their orders without fail."

"C-congratulations," the so-called lost cause spoke softly to her new superior officers.

"Thanks, Mio," the lavender-skinned commander smiled nervously, bashfully. "I-I don't really know how to feel about this."

"You should feel very proud to have such authority over the new guard," the consul returned to Mio's group, putting an end to their brief, private chat. "As I said earlier, their first task will be to exterminate the Kevesi, and now it's time to give them that order. Commander Moraine, please do the honors."

"M-Me?" Moraine pointed to herself, flustered by everything that was transpiring.

"Do not make me regret my decision to promote you," the patience of the caped principal appeared to be on its final threads despite the diversion in the dispute. "You will give the order to the ranks without further hesitation."

"I can't…" the healer quickly backtracked on her recently renewed vow, "Noah saved our lives."

"So, his contamination knows no bounds after all," the consul huffed angrily as the insincerity of her previously stated trust became apparent. A long, modified sword formed in her hand, inciting several gasps from up and down the colony. "Clearly, I was too hasty in appointing you commander. Consider yourself dismissed."

"W-what?" Before Moraine knew it, a penumbral substance had glued her feet to the ground while the consul's sharp Blade went for a lateral, executionary slice. However, one well-timed block by a heavy sword prevented the abrupt tragedy from happening.

"Bowan?" the red-armored aggressor identified the hero. "What is the meaning of this?!"

"You made me the lieutenant," he reminded her with his teeth gritted. "I'm merely protecting my commander, like you asked."

"Mio, I think it's time," Noah pulled the inner sword from his Blade.

"Yes," his running mate summoned both pieces of her weapon while the defender knelt to assist the stuck soldier. "Bowan, Moraine, are you with us?"

"Not exactly…" the blue-finned officer grunted from behind his spaded, expanded sword. "I can't get Moraine off this gunk!"

"We'll cover for you, then," she sidled in front of them, prompting Noah to do the same.

"You're all damaged goods, tainted by this… this infectious Kevesi," the consul's judgments pulled no punches on the quartet. "Colony Rho cannot reclaim its former glory with the likes of you here!"

"Like I said, you just see us as tools," Mio carped growlingly, now in a fighting stance with her arms crossed in front of her. "You've never cared about us!"

"I've cared a great deal!" the caped dictator argued back. "If I didn't, then Colony 5 would've trampled this place years ago!"

"You only care about harvesting life from them to fill the Flame Clock!" the cat-eared Agnian was practically screaming by this point. "That's why you fetch those whom you think can get it done!"

"Just like my consul's agenda," the swordfighter drew the comparison in a lower decibel. "An act of Moebius."

"H-how…?" the consul sputtered upon hearing the name of her consortium spoken by a soldier. "Bah! This perversity has gone on for much too long!" Completely discomposed, she spun around to deploy the platoon of recruits. "New soldiers of Colony Rho! Take what is rightly yours by removing the Kevesi scum and the traitors!"

"Everybody, stand down!" the lavender-skinned commander hollered her counterorder. Perhaps by confusion, the troops made no moves from their position at the entrance.

"What lunacy is this now?!" the red-armored boss dropped her jaw behind her mask.

"You handed the authority to Moraine, remember?" Bowan stood after relinquishing attempts at freeing his fellow officer's feet. "Once again, we obedient ranks are only doing what you asked."

"Weeks I spent gathering the lot of you, and this is what I get for my troubles?!" Fed up with what was amounting to an uprising, the consul's Iris glowed red while another, much larger waft of her power swept the colony grounds. Within a second, Bowan and the platoon found themselves stuck to the ground by more of the inexplicable, penumbral substance as their once proud leader prepared to terminate them. "Fine then, I'll have to start over from scratch!"

"No, you won't!" the zephyr knocked the consul's ensuing sword strike out of the way.

"Ay!" the caped executioner stumbled backwards from the second block in nearly as many minutes. "How did you escape?!"

"You never got us," Noah took advantage of her dishevelment with an attack of his own, chipping away a tiny piece of armor.

"Grah! How dare you?!" The consul tried again to glue the deserters' feet in place with her mysterious Moebius ability. However, nothing appeared to form while his inner sword glowed briefly but brightly. It didn't take long for her to discover the probable correlation between the two factors. "Your Blade! Your blasted Blade is interf-"

"No more from you!" Mio slashed vertically with both ring swords at her enemy's chest, barely missing the embedded core. Nevertheless, the visible damage only encouraged the defiant soldier to see her personal vendetta against the consul to the end. "I'm stopping your tyranny here and now!"

"You will do… no… such… thing!" Breathlessly, the red-armored hierarch began discharging an immense amount of energy. In a nearly blinding pall of sparkling light and penumbral matter, she incomprehensibly transformed into a reddish-purple beast twice her normal size. Claws now adorned her left hand, while her entire right arm had become a large, connected cleaver.

"Whoa… is this what consuls truly are?" The awestruck Agnian's eyes were wide at the horrific sight, despite having already encountered Colony 25's consul in a similarly mutated form. Seemingly on cue, another request for communication came via her Iris. With her head turned away, Mio tapped her temple and permitted Noah to join in.

"It's Moebius! We can see her from here!" The urgent voice of Verna buzzed into their brains. "Bring her to us, stat!"

"Yeah…" he quietly acknowledged for Mio and himself, likewise careful not to let their call be noticed.

The situation had escalated as predicted, though no amount of preparation would've made it any less dangerous. If anything, the presence of the new recruits just added an extra layer of precariousness. No matter what, the two abled soldiers needed to lure the unleashed Moebius out of Colony Rho and into the traps at the bottom of the Urayan Trail. With the help from reinforcements and a little luck, Mio's wish of escaping her oppressor's deadly shadow might finally be granted.