Ezekiel found himself blankly staring at the landscape of the moon-lit world as the party was traveling to the hideout of the Freedom Legion. Many thoughts were going through his head, particularly what Liam had told him. The fact that there was supposed to be a hero that defeats a soon-to-be revived Demon God, and that there might be more to this world than what meets the eye, all of these thoughts kept his mind occupied for the first few hours of the trip. While Ezekiel was occupied with his own thoughts, everyone was doing their own thing during the trip. Suko, who was now the one driving instead of Tokuda, was engaged in small idle talk with Bear. Rina, Aqua, and Kairi were engaged in "girl talk," as they called it whenever Bear attempted to make some conversation with the three girls. It seemed that no one can really sleep right now, thought Ezekiel. Ezekiel silently looked over at Tokuda, who was silently kept watch over General Alexander, who said nothing for the first few hours of the trip.
That was the case until General Alexander sighed and spoke up, saying, "Tokuda, I remember the days of the Spearhead squad with the five of us. Me, you, Barron, Charley, and Aron." Tokuda scowled and asked angrily, "What about it?" General Alexander smiled sadly, saying, "I just remember the fun days that we always had, and how the bonds of our trust only grew due to the Humanity War." Tokuda scowled even more, saying nothing. General Alexander then looked at Tokuda, saying, "I'll be blunt with you, Tokuda. The human army could use you. Surely you've thought of returning at least once? It'll be great to be back with your old comrades in arms as we fight together once more!" Tokuda then angrily said, "I already told you, I'm done with those days of blindly following orders based on the whim of someone's greed. Be grateful that I don't kill you right here and now for saying stupid shit like that. The only thing that's saving you is the fact that you're a source of valuable information." General Alexander then smiled coldly, saying, "What a shame. And here I thought I might be able to convince the king to have five generals instead of four in the human army. That might've been the Spearhead's greatest accomplishment so far, where all of its members in one generation have all become generals." General Alexander's smile faded then said, "Besides, you won't even be able to pry information out of me that easily. You may as well kill me right now." It was Tokuda's turn to smile evilly, saying, "Oh, I'm not the one that's gonna be getting the information out of you." General Alexander then fell silent, as he finally realized what sort of fate he was dealing with. Tokuda looked happy with himself, content with the fact that he was able to finally shut this asshole's mouth up.
During this conversation, Ezekiel curiously listened in, as the argument between Tokuda and General Alexander broke Ezekiel out of his trance for a bit. Ezekiel realized that they truly don't know that much about Tokuda, as he was simply one to keep the past a hidden secret from everyone. Ezekiel wanted to know more about Tokuda, as his past seemed like a confusing but interesting one, but Ezekiel knew that asking him would get them nowhere. Ezekiel silently sighed and continued to look at the landscape in front of him, covered by hills, trees, and occasional animals that passed by.
While Bear was talking with Suko, Bear suddenly caught a whiff of a familiar smell. Bear sniffed a little more to be sure, and sure enough, the smell of rotten flesh was powerful. Suddenly, something hit the carriage wheel, completely stopping the carriage. Bear shouted, "Everyone! Get down! The black wizard found us!" Everyone hit the deck, and General Alexander smiled, saying, "I knew that she'd be a useful tool to us." The Fallen Goddess Mia suddenly appeared from a bush that she was hiding in, and she rushed the carriage, saying, "General Alexander, I'll free you!" Mia jumped rather high and started blasting her black gooey substance at those inside of the carriage. General Alexander managed to roll himself out of the carriage and landed with a hard thud on the ground. Aqua cast a small water shield around everyone, and the black goo balls that Mia shot stuck to the shield, but they caused no damage. However, this spell seemed draining, as Aqua couldn't keep it going for too long. Right as Mia landed a little ways from the front of the carriage, Aqua took the shields off everyone, and as a counterattack, Rina nocked an arrow and fired it right at Mia. Mia, however, was quick, as she easily dodged the arrows that Rina shot with amazing speed. Rina was surprised at this and shouted, "She's quick! Make sure she doesn't get the general!" Bear, Suko, and Tokuda then hopped out of the carriage and surrounded General Alexander to keep him from getting away and to keep Mia from getting to him easily. Mia ran towards the three and summoned a large group of skeleton warriors who seemed to be geared with much better items than the ones that the party had fought against previously. Mia then summoned skeleton mages behind her to fight Ezekiel, Aqua, Rina, and Kairi.
Bear, Tokuda, and Suko kept a tight circle around General Alexander, determined to not let anything get through. Suko hardened his arms and said, "Well boys, do we give these guys a proper burial?" Tokuda nodded as he grabbed his katana with his teeth and smiled evilly, saying, "Yep. I'll give these guys an honorable second death." Bear cracked his knuckles and grabbed his axe off his back and said, "Amen to that, boys." Bear then swung at the nearest skeleton warrior and cut him down in one swing. Tokuda cut three of the skeleton warriors down in a flash, and Suko was pummeling one of the skeleton warriors until his bones were nothing but dust. Mia continued to summon more skeleton warriors to take their place.
Meanwhile, the skeleton mages were putting up a rather good fight. It was Kairi's turn to produce a magic shield around everyone, making a high-speed wind shield that deflected magic attacks and projectiles. Some of the magic the skeleton mages used were high-level spells, so some magic actually got past the wind shield that surrounded Ezekiel and hit him, although the magic was considerably weakened due to the wind shield. Rina opened up a small hole for herself to shoot arrows out of, and she shot many arrows at the skeleton mages, breaking their bones due to the force of the impact of the arrow and crippling them. Ezekiel, Kairi, and Aqua then used this chance to shoot their own magic at the skeleton mages, sending them all back where they came from.
Mia realized that she was losing ground on both sides, so in a last-ditch effort, she used her black magic to summon two giant skeletons. One was dressed in full battle armor with a rusted sword in hand, and the other skeleton had on a strange-looking robe with a decent-sized staff in its hand. The giant skeleton warrior rushed Bear, Suko, and Tokuda, but they all worked together and used their monstrous strength to bring down the giant skeleton. The giant skeleton mage was able to conjure up some incredible spells, and a spell used by the skeleton mage knocked Rina, Ezekiel, Aqua, and Kairi to the ground, breaking Kairi's wind shield spell. The giant skeleton mage was about to fire off another attack when Rina shot a couple of arrows into its leg, breaking the skeleton's leg and bringing the skeleton down. Aqua then used her water bullets to shoot the staff away from the giant skeleton mage's hand, and Kairi then used wind magic to trap the giant skeleton mage. This gave Ezekiel time to prepare something that he'd been working on while he was training: a magic spell combining fire and wind that resulted in hotter flames but a quicker burn time. Ezekiel concentrated his mana into both his hands, with a flame appearing in his left hand and a ball of wind in the other. Ezekiel quickly slapped his hands together to combine the flame and wind, and a glowing red fireball was produced, burning at a temperature that was much higher than normal. Ezekiel then hurled the fireball at the wind cage that Kairi had made, and when the fireball hit the wind cage, the wind cage immediately erupted into a wall of flames, burning the giant skeleton mage trapped inside to a crisp.
Mia realized that her two giant skeletons were easily defeated, and she was also almost out of mana. Mia wanted to retreat but she couldn't leave General Alexander behind. As she quickly pondered this decision, she suddenly felt something big tackle her from behind and shove her to the ground, landing face down in the dirt. It was Bear who tackled her, and Bear restrained her arms from casting any more spells. Suko grabbed some rope from the carriage and Bear tied up Mia, who could no longer fight. General Alexander looked at Mia and said in disgust, "Look at you, you worthless tool. And you call yourself a black wizard? What a disgrace." Bear then kicked General Alexander in the face and said, "Hey, bro, you're tied up yourself, and you're a general. I'd shut the fuck up if I was you." Ezekiel stifled a laugh, knowing that this was true. General Alexander also seemed to know that this was true, as he silently muttered, "Filthy demi-human." However, Tokuda could see that General Alexander seemed to be a little off with how he said all of that.
Ezekiel, seeing the hurt expression on Mia's face, asked, "Why do you even follow this asshole anyway? He just called you a tool!" Mia looked at Ezekiel and said, "I might just be a tool, but I have a debt to pay. When I, the Fallen Goddess Mia, had nowhere to go, he took me in. He made me feel welcome and introduced me to the human army. They treated me like I was a new member of the family. I felt as if I actually belonged there." Mia was on the verge of tears as she said, "I've never been so grateful to anyone in my life for doing the things that he's done for me." Ezekiel nodded, sort of understanding where she was coming from. Ezekiel took a seat next to Mia and said, "Fallen Goddess, black wizard, whatever you label yourself as, I don't truly think you're a bad person." Mia then exclaimed, "Of course I'm a bad person! I'm the Fallen Goddess Mia, who's a black wizard and does necromancy! You can't get any worse than that!" Ezekiel chuckled and said, "I don't know if a bad person would go to such lengths and risk themselves the way they did just to save someone. You had no chance of beating us, yet you stormed right in to save your general." Mia exclaimed, "W-Well, I could've beaten you all! I-I just held back my power is all! I'm truly an evil person!" Ezekiel laughed and said, "If you say so, Mia." Ezekiel then got up with Mia staring at Ezekiel's back as he said, "Listen, Mia. I can understand why you'd go to such lengths for someone, but your life matters, too. Don't just waste it away by repaying your entire life to someone. Your life is worth way more than that." Ezekiel turned towards Mia and smiled at her, saying, "Hell, the nation of science accepts anyone willing to join. You said that you feel that you have a place to belong in? Well, feel free to add one more place that you'll be accepted into." Ezekiel then turned away from her, saying, "Of course, that's a decision you'll have to make on your own, but our door is always open." Ezekiel looked at the others, mainly Tokuda, and said to Mia, "The others may seem harsh at first, but I know that they'll come around if you decide to join." Mia stared in admiration at Ezekiel as he said that. General Alexander noticed this but said nothing. With a sad smile, General Alexander realized what he needed to do.
Right after Ezekiel made his offer to Mia, the party started fixing up the carriage and gathering any belongings that were scattered in the battle. Tokuda was nearby, keeping an eye on General Alexander and Mia, who were still tied up but now close together. Tokuda looked at General Alexander more closely, and he felt certain that General Alexander seemed different. Tokuda couldn't quite say what it was, but General Alexander seemed more like himself, the one Tokuda knew from the past. General Alexander looked at Tokuda with a sad smile, which surprised him. Tokuda angrily looked back at General Alexander, but neither of them said a word.
With a sad sigh, General Alexander decided to get it over with and told Mia, "Please don't associate with me anymore. You deserve better." Mia looked surprised, and she said, "W-What?! My loyalty is still with you, general! What do you mean?!" General Alexander then said, "Please ignore the whole 'general' thing right now. Between me and you, at this very moment, it's just a discussion between two people. Nothing more, nothing less." General Alexander looked at Mia in a softer manner and said, "I'm a bad man. I've done terrible things. Hell, I even ordered my own men to slaughter innocent people." General Alexander then nodded towards Tokuda, who was watching them silently and said, "Sooner or later, he's gonna kill me, and that's the price I have to pay for the stuff I've done over the years. It's inevitable, too. I don't want you to be involved with me when that time comes. I don't want another life to be snuffed out because of me." Mia struggled with this sudden change of heart by the notoriously evil General Alexander. Mia asked, "You're nicer than usual. What happened?" General Alexander then looked up at the sky and said, "I've lived these past 10 years controlled by someone else. Everyone in the human army was controlled by someone else, as a matter of fact. I didn't have the strength to fight back, nor did I want to after what they did to me. I was just their damn puppet, doing what they told me to do." General Alexander then turned back to Mia and said, "But now, I cut the strings of the one controlling me and can finally think for myself once again." General Alexander then nodded towards Ezekiel, who was helping with repairing the carriage and said, "Now I finally understand why Tokuda follows someone like him. He truly has an unbiased view of the world, and he seems to have a good judgment of someone's true character. He's also somewhat powerful in terms of magic, but his main strength is his strangely effective charisma. How else would you ever pull off something like humans, demi-humans, and even elves working together?" General Alexander chuckled and said, "You should follow someone like him. His strength will only continue to grow stronger as time goes on." General Alexander then smiled to himself, a genuine smile, and said, "His charisma truly is strange, since I can feel myself sort of rooting for him now. Perhaps he's the one to end all the fighting and the bloodshed that remains from the Humanity War, because the most important thing about him from what I can see, is that he's a good person deep down."
Mia stayed silent for a little bit, and General Alexander then said, "So, as your final order from me, I order you to join them." Mia stayed silent for a little bit longer, and then she finally answered by saying, "I will." General Alexander smiled sadly to himself as he said, "Good." General Alexander would be lying if he said that he wasn't at all disappointed at Mia's answer, but he knew deep down it would be for the best when the time came. General Alexander looked up towards the sky and said, "Fallen Goddess or not, black wizard or not, I can agree with something that the young man told you. You aren't a bad person at all." Mia stayed silent, but when she looked at General Alexander, Mia realized that this was the first time she's seen him smile genuinely.
As the conversation between the two of them ended, the carriage was fixed and the scattered belongings had been placed back in the carriage. Tokuda, who was watching the two of them but couldn't actually hear what they were saying, was surprised to see that General Alexander was smiling and laughing like he used to. Tokuda felt a strange wave of nostalgia as he remembered the days when both of them sat around a campfire with high spirits, laughing and drinking with their bellies full of food, although they were in the middle of a war. Tokuda then shook off this feeling of nostalgia as he remembered that they were now enemies and that General Alexander had done truly evil things. Ezekiel and Bear then passed Tokuda and put General Alexander and Mia inside the carriage first, then they all loaded up inside of the carriage and resumed their trip.
Mia then spoke up, saying, "I-I'd like to join your nation of science." Ezekiel chuckled and said, "In that case, welcome! As its current leader, I promise to show you the culmination of thousands of years of scientific advancement that humans have made." Ezekiel then untied Mia on the condition that she didn't attack anyone and did a small pledge of allegiance to the nation of science. Ezekiel then tossed Mia a bar of soap. Mia asked, "What is this?" Ezekiel grinned and replied, "It's a little magic bar from my world that we like to call 'soap.' Next time we stop, I'll show you how that works." Mia inspected the bar and asked, "What kind of magic had to be used to make it?" Ezekiel smiled and said, "It ain't magic that created that. It was due to science."113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5ivWGGd6cJ
