Mastermind the Warlord

Faced with all odds surrounding me, is there even hope to get out of here?

Hmph. If there's no way out, then you gotta make one.

******

…

"—at least let me finish my words, you obtuse-minded human."

Mastermind carries on his speech, "…as I said, we don't have any intentions to start a war against you Napreans. The next thing I'm gonna say is military secret but since I've gone this far then I had to make you fools understand… but first, I request that you lower your pointy sharp and explosive toys, don't wanna end up like a mashed chum,"

The leaders of each army agreed to cease fire and wanted to hear what the Imperial commander has to say. Captain Drugo lowered his men silently. He gave a hand signal that can only be understood by his marines. General Rhun also stood together with his vanguard knights, holding back as they wanted to know.

"Heh… I appreciate your response," said Mastermind calmly. He said it like he had won the battle before it even started. "Now… it is your turn to do your part of the bargain," said Rhun with cautious. "Very well, then," said Mastermind.

…the black-attired commander begins:

"As I said earlier—which I don't really know how many times will I repeat it—we're not having any intentions to set your kingdom ablaze, apparently. I had alerted your beloved king to not go against me and I had prepared an army to force him do what I want…" Mastermind crosses his arms and continues, "…but somehow my forces were welcomed like pigs into their slaughterhouse. Slammed down by cannons, torn down by spears and lances… do you think it's irrational for us to retaliate back?"

Everyone remained silent. The small group of Imperial forces remained in circle around the tank facing outwards.

"…you Napreans might believe that you are retaliating against our threat… but who was it that truly retaliates, I ask?"

The Naprean general shudders, but he remains collected. "What are you trying to say, Mastermind?"

…

"Mastermind? Who?" Marco wondered curiously. "That black-armored guy?" he added. "Oi, oi… what kind of crime he masterminded?"

"…Marco. Mastermind… is his name." Scias quickly cuts his curiosity. His eyes looked sharp in vengeful sights. "It's his name… jeez, that's one odd name." Marco apparently didn't realize Scias' eyes. Unknown to everyone around him and his party, Scias was holding his sword firmly, yet trembled in some occasions.

"Mastermind… the man responsible for the embargo in my kingdom…" Nina stated infuriatingly. "…he's Mastermind… huh… the man who made dad suffered…" Aily added with her eyebrows frowned.

"…Mastermind… the Imperial commander, the one holding most control over the continent, probably more than the empire." Rhun stated in his mind. "If he's here… then disaster might bound to happen."

"…that all out black-attire I surely won't forget." Drugo said silently, "…he is the main reason many of my marines died. The ship under his command will be impeccably powerful. My ship nearly sank when fighting a ship smaller than mine but led by him. I admit that he's a military genius. But still… his presence is the cause of this conflict."

…

"What I'm trying to say?" Mastermind said in puzzled. He then turned the opposite way facing the tank. His black cape swishes, revealing a symbol of a shield and swords crossed with a purplish magic circle-like going around it. "I simply wanted to tell…" he then turns around slowly, "…that you Napreans are complete utter dumbasses."

His words provoked the Napreans, the vanguards couldn't hold anymore, they're hungering for the Imperial commander's head. "HOLD!" General Rhun shouted causing his forces to quickly halt.

"See, what I mean? It is YOUR KING who wanted to start a war against me,"

"Don't you dare insult our king!" said one of the vanguard knights angrily. "I will execute you for insulting His Majesty, Mastermind!" the vanguard charged into with sword unsheathed. "WAIT!" Rhun shouted but was ignored by the vanguard. The vanguard knight attacked the Imperial soldiers guarding the tank and charged directly into Mastermind.

"GRRAAAA!!!" the vanguard shouted while swinging his sword directly to the Imperial commander.

But Mastermind remains unmoved from his position. His eyes closes, "…heh… foolish humans."

"ARGH!"

Not even a split second, the vanguard knight died on the spot. He crashed to the ground, dropping his iron sword and shield horribly. Everyone was extremely shocked. They couldn't see what happened to him. "What in the world… was that…?!" Marco said in surprise. "Uah! T-That…!" Marco pointed out.

"Huh…? Marco, you c-can see it, too?" Scias asked. "Uh…" Marco nodded. "Are you serious?" he asked again. "Those purplish trails that just disappeared right? Yeah, I did see it."

"…tch." Scias frowned. "…that bastard… he used his sword just now…!"

"Eh? His sword? Where? I didn't see his sword," Marco wondered. "There's not even blood coming out from him."

Nina and Aily shared the same horror in their faces. "What did he just… do…?"

"Heh, naïve to the very end, huh?" Mastermind said to the already dead vanguard lying on the ground. The rest of the vanguard knights are angered, seeing their friend easily killed by the Imperial commander.

"…this is what I meant. I was telling the truth. You fools were hunting dogs of this valueless kingdom—No, you were dogs of your king."

"MASTERMIND!" General Rhun shouted. His blood rages, he couldn't hold his anger anymore. "Don't you ever think you can take your words back!" he yelled furiously. "I won't. Because that's the truth."

His continuous provocation spread like virus and infected the Regate Marines to rage. "You imbecile!" said Captain Drugo. "After spreading those demonic beasts you can say that what you say is the truth?!"

Mastermind's eyes turned into the Marine captain. "Ho…? Can you still say the same when you knew your superiors attempted to wipe my entire fleet off the face of the earth?"

"Nng?! We were invaded by the Fortis invaders and the Imperial Fleet! How can you deny that?!"

"Haha, I see you were no different, either. My hospitality was returned to sender," Mastermind sighed disappointed. "…apparently, this is the end of our conversation. You fools need to learn to understand… otherwise, you might invite more people to the gates of doom."

Mastermind signaled by his hand wave, his forces quickly stick close to the tank. Seeing his actions and his forces movement caused both Napreans and the Aredanian marines to raise their weapons. This means war.

"Oh, yeah… I nearly forgot," said Mastermind casually. He then turned at Marco, "My first intention was to find you, boy."

Marco felt buzzed as if electricity coursed through his body. He didn't think the Imperial commander would point at him somehow. "You're finding me? Heh, what for?" Marco asked in fear.

"Your lightning tricks were 'shocking'. I thought of getting to know who was behind the thunder magic… but who could have thought that you are from the troublesome Istinggar clan. What made it worse that you're hung up with another Istinggar clan and with abundant forces on your side."

"Ah, then pardon me for not living up your hopes," said Marco. In his mind, he thought, "What did he mean by troublesome clan? Did my father ever meet him before?"

"Nngh!" he got clicked. He remembered his father's words before: "…Dragonians are bad meanie creatures…"

"C-Could it be…?" he said to himself. "…he's a Dragonian?!"

Mastermind then says, "You may raise your weapons bold and bravely now. But going against the empire… will only make you suffer. You don't protect this kingdom. You never had been. You were merely protecting your selfish king…

…just like those knights from Alidia, Fortis, Meridia…"

His words triggered anger from the twin sisters. Nina tries to fortify herself from getting provoked. So does Aily. "How dare he insult our hometown, sis!" said Aily furiously. "How dare he insult dad!" she added.

"…and last but not least… the knights of this perilous kingdom. Foolish and naïve just like their king!"

…

Scias' rage ruptured. But it wasn't only him. General Rhun and his Naprean Vanguards were also flaming in anger. Their pride as knights and former knight has been tainted.

"MASTERMIND!" he shouted, which successfully gets his attention. He dashed through the lines of soldiers and gets up close to Mastermind. He unsheathes his sword, his face emerges blood rage.

"SCIAS!" Marco together with Nina and Aily reflectively willing to rush towards him, but Captain Drugo stopped them. "Don't do any stupid thing, ya bastard!"

"Mastermind… we will never forgive you for what you've said. You've stained the name of the Naprean Vanguards! The only equal punishment for you is death!" so said General Rhun boldly.

"Mastermind… I can't forgive for what you've done…!" said Scias clenching his fist. He and the Napreans stand guard.

Mastermind's eyes shrunk as he stares at Scias, the next thing he says is out of what anyone could expect:

"I don't even know who you are!"

…without any further holding, Scias strikes first at Mastermind, but his sword was deflected the moment it gets close to the Imperial commander. "Ugh?! W-What was that?!" Scias could hardly see his counterattack, but he saw trails of mana residue going into Mastermind's body.

"Scias, STOP!" Marco shouted from the distance. "You're going to get yourself KILLED!"

"YAARGH! I understand how you felt, Marco! But not this time!" Drugo yelled at his nephew while holding him back forcefully. "Let me go, uncle Drugo!" Marco yelled back. "Think of what'll he do if we start a war with him here!" Drugo reasoned. Nina and Aily who were stopped by the marines finally gave up on going after Drugo reasoned with them, too.

The Naprean Vanguards battled the Imperial Army. Clashes were inevitable, heavy melee fighting begun and blood begins to shed. Both sides were well equipped and well trained. However…

"Umph?!" General Rhun avoided the sluggish sword swing aimed at him. He countered the attack by delivering an axe blow directly to the head of the Imperial soldier, killing him outright. Blood gurgles out of the dead body, but from there Rhun realized something odd…

"What are those… black smokes…?" he wondered. His eyes shrunk in extreme shock that he discovered a vital thing.

Meanwhile, Scias kept on pressing the attack against Mastermind. The Imperial commander deflected all of his attacks with ease. From time to time, Scias realized that he's planning to do something. "This guy didn't have any intention to fight… he is planning something…!"

Scias stopped his chase. "Hoho… why did you stop? You were valiant enough to face me head on. But why you stop?" Mastermind asked smugly.

"…you… were planning something, don't you?!" Scias asked furiously. "Why the anger, though…? But, I gotta give you credit for that. You… recognized it, don't you?" Mastermind replied.

"There's little to no body in this world that can see the flow of used up mana energy or you might call them Mana Residue. But apparently, you can see them, don't you?"

"Tch!" Scias prepped to attack again. "Sword Art - Cross Strike!" he launches two deceptive sword swings. One diagonally to the right with another one vice versa in the same time, making the slash visible in X shape.

Mastermind's eyes turned serious, his mind thinks "I can see through his skill: one slash from launched in an incredible speed while another one launched but in mediocre speed… he tried to deceive me with the mediocre swing to think that he's swinging once… but!"

*THWANG!*

"…I can see your attack pattern!" Mastermind deflected using a short sword. Marco in the distance saw that short sword lit up for a short interval before returning back to normal. "What was that…?" he wondered.

Scias backed off and stopped his attacks. He thought, "He can see my sword art movement… even though I had trained myself to swing faster, he recognized it."

"Good." Mastermind suddenly breaks the atmosphere around Scias. Mastermind sheathes his short sword and calmly walks to the tank. "MASTERMIND!" one of the vanguard knights yelled as he swung his sword. Mastermind avoided his attack with ease and grabs his helmet. Suddenly the vanguard knight he touches screamed in pain for a second and died soon after.

"Don't get in my way…" he said in a careless tone.

"Grrr… how dare you do this, Mastermind…!" General Rhun turns much angrier. "Of course I dare to do this… this place is the battlefield, no?"

"Battlefield is a place where you must be ready to kill or be killed. At least that's in my dictionary…"

Few seconds later, the last standing Imperial soldier on the field has been slain, leaving only Mastermind and the tank crew.

"Everyone, NOW!" General Rhun spontaneously commanded.

Twenty vanguard knights surrounded the tank and the Imperial commander, shaped in a fearless formation of roulette that shall not be easy to break even by a magician or a swordsman.

"And when I say ready to be killed… that means you all including me."

Beneath Mastermind, a big dark vortex cloud emerged and soon a purple magic circle takes shape from the vortex. "…it's hard for me to say, but I had to. It's time to say goodbye."

"S-Shite, this is bad! Watch out, SCIAS!"

"…GRAVITONNE DOWNPOUR!"

.

.

*DDRRRRDUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMM!!!*

A powerful force explodes and creates a heavy down force. Anything flying midair nearby will be slammed into the ground like rock thrown into a valley from a high cliff then squashed by another bigger rock continuously.

"What is this… grrrgrh…. heavy… weight…. ugh!!!" said Marco unbelieving what's he's experiencing.

Aily lost her consciousness because her head landed first on the ground. Nina tried to reach for her but she was also stunned and crushed into hugging the ground.

She thought, "This… this is the same phenomenon from before…! It's the same but… it's more powerful!

…that black clothed commander was the culprit of this phenomenon… this magic of his…"

Marco thought, "If we don't get out of this painful force… we'll all die, dammit!"

Marco, Scias, Nina, Aily, Captain Drugo, Regate Marines, General Rhun and Naprean Vanguards are all downed by the severe down force. None of them can fight back.

…

..

.

With everyone down on the ground, Mastermind realized that the tank's structure is falling apart the longer he uses his magic. "This is our limit for now, huh…?"

Mastermind then reaches out his pouch and grabbed a crystal from it. "Farewell, fellas. Tell your asses that you're lucky IF you can get out of this down force alive." The crystal then shines brightly. Consequently, a magic circle opened up beneath the tank and it glows brighter defeating the dark aura of the Gravitonne Downpour. Pillars of light emerged and swirled around the crystal's magic circle.

Finally, the magic circle shines incredibly bright. As the shine lowers down, so does the deathly Gravitonne Downpour force. Not only that…

…Mastermind and the big tank have disappeared from plain sight.