Squad 20 were camped out around an hour further away than they usually would be. They were near to the point of increased activity by Breawen where the report stated. The area they’d arrived at looked to be the remains of a village, though it was long destroyed presumably by a former skirmish between the two kingdoms. Squad 20 caught sight of a platoon of Breawen soldiers as they approached so they decided to camp out around five minutes away from the village. The area they chose was a secluded copse of trees just outside the village, which offered them perfect cover whilst still being in range of the Breawen deployment. Fitz got the squad organized all the while being very quiet as to keep a low profile. Mac and Cook were sent out to scout around the perimeter of the village to try and get the general layout and to check if there was anything of note. While they were scouting, Fitz had Saxon and Raph set up a tight perimeter around the camp they made, mostly just moving branches and leaves to obstruct the view from the outside as much as possible. It was a few hours later when Mac and Cook returned to the camp, they hadn't spotted anything unusual about the village. The only thing they did find was that when they checked out what seemed to be the busiest building they felt a sense of foreboding, the duo came to the conclusion that there was a powerful adversary stationed there.

“Hmmm.” The report of Mac and Cooks findings made Fitz look rather concerned.

“We will stay non-contact for the next few days until we establish their movements, hopefully the commander or whatever he is will leave.” Fitz continued.

“So that's it, we just sit here and watch?” Raph asked.

“No. We gather information and wait.” Fitz replied sternly.

“Riiight. That's much better.” Raph said somewhat impatiently.

“Look kid, not everything we do is all fighting and glory. Sometimes we just watch and gather information.” Fitz said rather harshly.

“Got it sir.” Raph replied, rather dejected.

And so they did, they waited for the next three days while Mac and Cook continually collected as much as they could about the Breawen operation. It turned out that Cook had managed to gather from the opposing troops, that they were seemingly preparing for a large-scale mobilisation near to the area where they were currently stationed. Where exactly Breawen had got the balls from was a mystery to Fitz, something that he had voiced on multiple occasions since the information had come to light.

“Raph, I need you to go and report this to Major Raycraft. She has to make the executive decision on this.” Fitz explained to Raph after some deliberation.

“Just me?” Raph asked.

“Just you kid. You do remember the way back to the camp don’t you? It should only take you a few hours.” Fitz continued.

‘Huh, right, great. I’m now a messenger.’ Raph thought as he gathered his stuff and made his way back to the Shepherd's forward base.

‘I wonder what's going on over there?’ Raph mused to himself on his way back. ‘Leah said Breawen hadn’t moved properly in years because of Bishop, so is this just a diversion or do they have something else? I don’t think the commander they had in the village was even near to Bishop, maybe more like Leah’s level at best.’ As Raph was walking back alone through the forest he began to consider just where he was. It was the first time in the few weeks since he had got there that he had truly thought about his situation.

‘I actually died.’ Raph stopped in a small clearing and looked up at the sky, which he had come to realize was a slightly different shade of blue. Something that he had struggled to put his finger on in the past few weeks but he was now sure, it wasn’t immediately obvious but it was different. He stood there and sighed deeply, letting his emotions wash away from him.

‘I say good riddance to the old me. Raph on Earth was ok, but I was only surviving. Living life day to day only really thinking about trivial matters; what I was going to have for dinner, If I can get a decent job to pay for my apartment, whether or not I would ever find someone to be with. I may have been alive on Earth, but I wasn’t truly living. Here I am going to make something of myself, I want to show the old and current me what I can do.’ Raph broke his thoughts by speaking out loud.

“Obviously I’m not going to become some all-powerful ruler, no kingship for me. Maybe I could just set up a shop somewhere or just get a nice house in a magically picturesque village.” Raph stroked his chin, as if it was occupied by some majestic beard that he didn’t have. “Yeah, that sounds good.” Raph started into the sky imagining a picturesque little village and a blacksmith shop. Eventually.” He said, and began to walk back to the base.

It was as Fitz said, it took Raph around two hours to get back to the base from there. When he arrived he noticed that everyone seemed to be a little on edge, the guards at the gate were twitching the sight around all over the place and they seemed surprised when he showed up.

“Halt.” The guard on the left said as Raph approached.

Raph stopped a few paces in front of him. “I'm from squad 20, I have some urgent information for Major Raycraft.”

The guard inspected Raph and his gear, he clearly calmed down a little after he did so.

“Go in.” He said, as he knocked on the gate. As he did so the gate opened up from the inside to reveal the base that was buzzing with activity. There were soldiers running around all over, squads moving in formation from left to right. Raph looked around questioningly while he was walking over to the main building to look for Leah.

‘I wonder what caused this commotion, maybe they already know about the village activity somehow.’ Raph thought as he opened the door to the building. It was even busier inside than it was out, as soon as he walked in there were officers in sharp uniforms scurrying around from every direction. Raph walked through to the back of the building where Leah’s office was situated, he knocked.

“Come in.” Leah’s voice came from inside the room

Raph entered to see Leah looking through literal piles of documents on her desk, her main focus was on a large map of the front line between Ustral and Breawen.

“Le- Uh, Major. I have some important information from squad 20.” Raph began.

Leah jerked her gaze up towards Raph as he entered. “Oh, hello Raph.” She then immediately followed up. “You have some information from squad 20?”

“Yeah, as you know we’ve been staked out near that abandoned village north of the line. Mac and Cook have been scouting out the area for the past few days trying to scope out the goings on of the forward Breawen deployment. So there was someone there who felt like his power level was around yours, maybe a little higher. We managed to find out that Breawen was organising for a large deployment some time soon.” Raph explained.

“A large deployment…” Leah began and then trailed off.

“Wait, you know my level?” Leah asked, somewhat shocked.

“Uhh, yeah I guess .” Raph said sheepishly.

“How? Wait! Don’t answer that, it can wait for another time.” Leah waved her hand. “You said there was someone around my level in that village?” She said panicked.

“Yes, why is that a problem?” Raph asked.

“Shit, no like that should be there.” Leah stood up and began rummaging through the documents on her desk. “You are sure they had someone that strong?”

“Yeah I’m certain.” Raph replied.

“Why the hell do they have a Major up there, he might even be a Colonel.” Leah went on.

“Uhh, Leah. Am I missing something?” Raph asked again, completely lost in the conversation.

“Raph, it looks like we are headed for war.” Leah said in a somber tone.

“War?” Raph blurted out. “What about Bishop? Didn’t you say Breawen wouldn’t attack because he was here?”

“Well he should be enough, that is why they haven’t attacked in years. Which is why no one understands what is going on!” Leah explained furiously.

“Raph, I need you to return to squad 20 and bring them back here asap.” Leah continued as she handed him a letter. “Give this to Captain Fitzgerald, he will understand.”

“Yes, Major.” Raph said with a simple salute

“Raph, be careful. We don’t know what’s happening right now.” Leah said.

“I will Leah.” said Raph as he left.

Raph made haste out of the main building, disregarding all else as he left the Shepherds base back towards squad 20. Clearly there was something wrong with the current situation regarding Breawen so he decided it was best if he got the squad to come back asap. While he made his way back to the squad Raph was considering what he knew. Initially Leah had told him that Bishop was the reason why Breawen hadn’t made any real moves in a few years, this means that for some reason Bishop is no longer an issue for them.

‘Could they have recruited someone who can counter Bishop? Also who the hell was the officer stationed at the village and why was he this far north? I need to get back to Fitz and explain that this isn’t localized, Breawen are making a move.’ Raph’s thoughts were running wild.

Raph was getting close now to where the squad had set up the forward position, near to the abandoned village. When he was a few minutes out he felt off, like an instinctual warning that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Raph crouched down like Mac had shown him when they were stalking the monsters a few days earlier and slowly made his way to the camp. What Raph found instead of the squad was two Breawen soldiers stationed up where the camp had been. It was cleared out with no sign of Fitz or the others, this was a big problem.

‘Shit, they got them. Hopefully they have been captured and not killed onsite, though I think there would be more damage if they were dead.’ Raph carefully considered his options. ‘I think I could take these two soldiers, but would I be heard? I could run back and alert Leah, but it would be the best part of three hours before we get back here and by then they might really be dead. I have to do something.’ Raph made up his mind, he was going to find the rest of his squad and try and get them out of here.

As he was still wearing his backpack Raph decided to store it at the base of a nearby tree before commencing. He withdrew his hammers from the ring, which were now set to 800kg each. The last thing Raph did was don the ghillie cloak he was given by Fitz at the start of his training. Now he was ready for a fight.

Knowing that the camp was far enough away from the village, Raph decided that a true stealth approach wasn’t necessary so he moved in to take out the two sentries that had been posted here. From the scouting they had done in the past few days he had found out the average level of the camp to be around 90, while that was a fair bit higher than his own, he felt confident from the combat training he had done in the weeks prior.

Raph moved up to the two sentries who were currently sitting down on a log where the camp was. While he was training, Cook had taught him a few ways he could open a fight. He began with activating Destruction and Forged Hammers II, wanting to make sure this went smoothly. The opening move from Raph was Amplified Sound which stunned the two, swinging the hammers he hit the left one in the head knocking him down with a crunch. The right soldier managed to get onto his feet and he almost drew his sword before he got hit in the chest with both of Raph’s hammers. The soldier flew backwards, ribcage presumably shattered by the impact.

You have slain: Swordfighter Lv.87

You have slain: Duelist Lv.92

You are now: Destroyer Lv.62

You are now: Metallurgist of Isaac Lv.57

‘Right, well that went as well as it could have I guess.’ Raph considered his next move. ‘I need to find Fitz and the clothes and get them out of here as fast as I can.’ Looking at the first soldier that he took down, Raph realised that they had a similar build and an idea formed in his head. He stripped the soldier and put his clothes on in place of what he was wearing, thankfully the Breawen soldiers had some kind of face paint on to obscure their outlines so it made this easier.

Raph psyched himself up for the next part and then charged out of the woods screaming bloody murder, which to his delight caught the attention of the rest of the deployment.

“More soldiers in the woods!” He screamed as he ran towards the village. “They got him, there’s too many of them!”

The Breawen soldiers in the camp mobilised very quickly, they came out in force and ran towards the woods right past Raph. As soon as the soldiers had run past him, he bolted into the main building in the village assuming that was where the rest of his squad was being held. Lucky for Raph, his assumption was correct and he found the other four in the building. They were guarded by one soldier that hadn’t run out of the village to aid the call. Raph caught him by surprise so he posed no threat, after he dealt with the guard he opened the door to the room with the rest of the squad.

“Uh, another Breawen bastard. Sounds like there’s some trouble outside.” Fitz mocked as Raph entered.

“Oh. The trouble is already here Captain.” Raph said with a smile.

“Kid!” Fitz’s head snapped round to Raph. “Are you here alone? Are you insane?”

“Untie us.” Cook said impatiently to Raph and he began untying them.

“We won’t have much time here kid, as soon as we are all free, we need to bolt straight towards the forest. We stay together and if we meet any resistance don’t hold back.” Fitz explained. “Stay close, move fast, hit hard.”

The group of five opened the door of the building and began to run as fast as they could.