A new arc, yay!

Anyway, this site takes a full minute to load. Why?

Also, good job, Philippines. Take that, filthy Chinese mainlanders! (Except those that take care of pandas. Pandas are cool.)

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[Ties]Campaign 1

Chugga-chugga-choo-choo went the train on the tracks. A railroad spanning over a great expanse of the Great Ashan desert region. This train, that came from the capital city of Rhiamalka, was headed towards the western region of the Kingdom of Perlas. Passing by many cities, towns, and villages, the one destination it was headed for was one of the kingdom's most important places.

Perlas Martial Academy.

Standing tall for three centuries, the Perlas Martial Academy was also the kingdom’s only military academy to train cadet officers. Records of the academy’s location show that it was not built from scratch, but was in fact built into a large mountain, carving and mining much of its facilities, and then adding new expansions like the training grounds and the residential buildings that sit upon wide ridges on the mountainside.

Here, cadets drill and study tirelessly to live up to the standards set by those who have gone before. The school motto, never far from their thoughts: Courage, integrity, loyalty.

Cadets were graded by a credit system, and are thus able to graduate within three years. There are two ways in which one could get in—either by getting scouted by academy personnel, or by direct application. Regardless of how one were to apply, all have to pass a series of tests—both theoretical and practical—before one would be added into their ranks. Naturally, the tests of non-scouted applicants are much stricter.

Since graduates are immediately promoted to officers—or Birds of Prey—in the Royal Army, the thought of having a diploma is very tempting for those who wish to serve the kingdom further. Because of this, the ages of the cadets vary widely despite the minimum age of acceptance being at 15 years old. The cadets of the Academy vary from 15 to 30 years old or even older.

Built from a mountain, it houses more than 300 cadets, faculty, and miscellaneous personnel. On average, the academy receives more than 15,000 applicants, and from those, only as few as 10 to 50 become cadets and even less come graduation.

///

Inside the train heading towards the Academy,

"Malachi, would you like to eat?" asked a young woman to the young man.

The young man, Malachi, dressed in travel wear was gazing at the drylands from the window with his head lazily rested upon his palm. Hearing the girl's question, he stood up and went over to her.

"Thanks, Arlianne, " he said, "I hadn't realized that the trip to the academy would be this long and uneventful."

Arlianne giggled at his comment.

"Good thing Papa and Uncle Greg warned us about that ahead of time, " she said, "Mama and I had prepared much food for this occasion."

With the current level of technology of the kingdom, a train ride from Rhiamalka to the Academy—a distance of approximately 300 kilometers—would take a day of chugging on the tracks. That was, if one were to exclude the stops along the way for refueling and maintenance, then it would need another day of travel.

"The first thing I'm gonna fix in this kingdom is the damned transportation, " whined Malachi, "Two days! We needed two days to get from home to the academy, and with almost nothing to entertain us on this junk heap!"

"Well, aren't you glad that Mama lifted the ban of tinkering from you?" asked Arlianne jokingly, "Still, to think that the first thing you'd do would be going to the Furnace and making these weapons. If not for the soldiers escorting us through security, we would have been held up and be late for our trip."

Arlianne pulled out an L-shaped metal object from her waist. The object was reminiscent of the handcannon pistol, only smaller and lighter. It was a replica of a modern Earth handgun, albeit of a different design due to Malachi's preferences and this world's available technology.

"This handgun really is worlds apart from the kingdom's handcannons, " she commented, "With the 'magazine' and the way bullets are loaded into it, one could carry a lot of ammunition on their person and not have much trouble reloading. The one thing I'm more surprised about was this switch, do we really need safety switches?"

"Arlianne, imagine if that was holstered anywhere on your body, " he said, "You've seen its performance, right? Now imagine that going off on its own by accident while holstered. A rather painful experience, yes?"

Arlianne made a face of realization.

"Not only that, " he added, "If there was no switch, if you were to mishandle it, you may have shot yourself or the person before you without any harmful intention. It was one thing I got alarmed by with the current equipment of the Royal Army, but, at the very least, the weapons would go inert with one shot. Yet with the caliber, that same shot would be lethal no matter where it hit."

Malachi pulled out his own handgun from the bags nearby. Speaking of the bags, there was a long carrying case leaning on their compartment's wall. Long enough to be a fusil, but less bulky.

"These handguns of mine, of my old world, of my old life, is a great improvement over this world's current technology, " he said, "that, quite frankly as I thought, should have been made into this world's reality. Instead, due to everybody wearing armor, this world needed a bigger punch rather than numbers and reliability. Of course, I already compensated the smaller caliber of the handguns with specialized bullets."

Malachi pulled a magazine from his belt, and popped out a bullet. It was also a replica of an armor piercing bullet with a shell casing.

"Despite the fact that I needed a long time to design and redesign the bullets to adapt to suitable pyrocite dust weight, " he said, "I'm rather satisfied with how it came out. To think that a small amount of pyrocite could propel something as small as this to great distances and deliver enough penetrating power. Other than that, I needed to change the way bullets and guns were made. Their hardness, malleability, heat resistance, and the like just to make sure they don't fragment nor warp upon firing. Pyrocite sure is a scary material."

Malachi then looked at the long carrying case.

"Even more so for automatic rifles, " he added, "The rifling and cycling I made are subpar in contrast to the ones I know. I need better tools to perfect it."

Suddenly, they felt the train slow down and heard it skid to a halt.

"What's going on?" wondered Arlianne, "Excuse me, did something happen?"

Arlianne asked a passing train personnel. The train personnel was making rounds ensuring that the passengers would be rest assured. At the right timing, he was about to knock on Malachi and Arlianne's compartment.

"Ah, greetings ma'am, " said the train personnel, "We were just having a bit of difficulty on the road. The guards stationed on the train are dealing with it as we speak."

"Now, what trouble would need soldiers to—" before Malachi could finish his question, a chorus of growls and roars could be heard outside, "Oh..."

Malachi approached their window and opened it. Sticking his head out, he turned his gaze to the front of the train where he saw a pack of giant dogs circling around something unseen from where he was.

'Holy crap, are those Garms!?' He thought, 'I've heard about them before, but I never thought they'd actually look like those! Heck, the Garudas were one thing, but the Garms also exist here? What's next? The Manticores?'

"Malachi, what did you see?" asked Arlianne, "It's surprising to see you this silent."

"Er, a pack of Garms is blocking the train, " he answered, "They seem to be surrounding something that I can't see from here."

Just then, the radio on the train personnel's waist lit up.

"Kssh, to all guards, a pack of Garms and Manticores have blocked the railroad, kssh." It said, "Kssh, all guards are to deploy to deal with it, kssh."

"Did he just say Manticores?" muttered Malachi under his breath, "Why, why do they exist here?"

"Malachi, what's wrong?" asked Arlianne as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Hmm? It's nothing, " he said, "Garms and Manticores, huh? Arlianne, we're going out."

"Huh? Wait, what?"

Malachi brought out a number of weapons and ammunition from their bags and handed some of them to Arlianne. Handguns with their respective bullet-filled magazines, rifle-sized magazines filled with larger bullets, and a bunch of cylindrical canisters. Malachi also went to his long carrying case, opened it up, and revealed a replica of a modern Earth bullpup assault rifle.

The train personnel, that was standing in the doorway, watched as he saw to youths arm themselves in less than five minutes. Although armed, they were still unarmored.

"E-excuse me sir and ma'am, " called out the train personnel, "What, who..."

Malachi was already finished equipping himself, and was then helping Arlianne equip herself. Having finished both of them, he turned to the train personnel.

"Tell the soldiers that they will be receiving reinforcements, " he said, "and leave some for us, as well."

///

Outside.

"Clive, take José and Mark to flank around them, " ordered an officer, "Make sure they don't pick up your scent and they keep their attention on the Manticores."

Three soldiers carrying a fusil and repeaters deployed from the train heading towards the left flank. A Steam Knight was also on the train and was on standby as steam was exhausted steadily through its vents.

"Cruz, take Nico and Miguel to flank the other side, " added the officer, "Like Clive's group, be careful. The rest will proceed forward carefu—"

"Sir, too late!" reported a soldier, "Clive's group is under attack!"

Over the distance, a pair of Garms separated from the main pack and attacked the earlier flanking group. Gunfire resounded as the three attempted to fight back. Immediately after that, another shot roared on the other side as another group of Garms separated to attack the other flank.

"Damn! Their sense of smell is seriously annoying!" cursed the officer, "Dammit! Clive! Cruz! Fall back!"

Ba-ba-bang!

Just then, three gunfires roared behind the squad of soldiers. When the officer turned to look, he saw a young man with a gun sitting atop the train engine.

"Hey! Who are you!?" questioned the officer, "Civilians shouldn't be here!"

Malachi jumped down and was replaced by Arlianne.

"Rather than ask who we are, " said Malachi, "Why don't you take a look at your squad members' situations?"

The officer raised a brow, and turned to look at the two flankers' situations. What greeted him was the sight of three dead Garms and one injured Garm. His eyes, and the other soldiers' eyes, widened in surprise. A few shots from the young man killed three large dogs.

"Of course, that was because they were shot in the head, " explained Malachi, "If not, I'd need more hits on their body to take them down."

'But still, ' thought the officer, 'From this range?! Our repeaters need to get closer just to land a hit!'

That said, the distance between the train and the pack of Garms was approximately 100 meters. To land an accurate hit using the kingdom's current weapons, one would need to cut the distance by half.

Malachi watched the officer's facial expression in amusement. Not minding the other soldiers, a stepped forward and aimed his rifle at the remaining pack members that were already facing him.

"At the very least, this could be considered as a hunt, " he commented, "Arlianne, watch the surroundings and lay down fire where you see fit!"

Malachi fired off another shot, and accurately hit a lone Garm on its head at the vanguard. The Garm that was hit subsequently fell, and was stared at by its fellow pack members and the soldiers behind Malachi. Without missing a beat, Arlianne also fired a shot, but merely hit another Garm's torso instead of its head, but still successfully injuring it.

Seeing this,

"Hmm, might need to improve the sights a bit, " commented Malachi, "Don't worry too much, Arlianne, just consider these dogs as target practice!"

The soldiers around them stared gobsmacked at his comment. Garms as mere target practice. Garms that even the soldiers of the kingdom would have trouble with.

At the next moment, the remaining Garms separated from the Manticores they had surrounded and turned their focus on the small group of humans next to the train. A squad of 10 soldiers plus two youths versus a pack of 20 minus 4 dead and 2 injured Garms.

Ba-ba-bang!

Bang! Bang!

A three-round burst of bullets left Malachi's gun while single shots left Arlianne's. While each of Malachi's shots landed squarely on their targets, Arlianne had to settle for taking her time to adjust her aim with single shots. Once the Garms were close enough, the Steam Knight behind the squad whirred to life as it sauntered forward with a blast hammer in hand.

"Eat high-explosive pyrocite!" roared the knight.

The knight swung down his hammer indiscriminately. The pyrocite tip lit up and exploded, creating a huge cloud of dust blinding both sides from one another. Still, the explosion was large enough to crush a lone Garm underneath it, splattering much of its gore all over the place.

Despite the others being unable to see much of their surroundings, Arlianne could still faintly see the Garms through the dust from her higher position. Laying down supporting fire, she effectively neutralized three other Garms.

"Bombs away!" yelled Malachi, "Cover your ears!"

Malachi lobbed one of his cylindrical canisters after pulling its pin. The canister rolled into the dust cloud, and detonated in three seconds after being thrown. The explosion that resulted afterwards blew away the dust cloud, and a group of Garms close to the point of detonation. The Garms that were hit were knocked down due to the blast.

"Hmm, not enough to kill Garms, eh?" commented Malachi, "Should be enough for antipersonnel, though. Should adjust how tightly I should pack it, maybe add more pyrocite?"

With their efforts, the pack of 20 Garms had dwindled down to three. The three remaining Garms, noticing their remaining numbers, stopped attacking and howled before running away. Malachi and the rest remained on guard while the three Garms ran away at inhuman speed before they decided to approach the remaining beasts—a pair of Manticores.

...

At the place where the Manticores were surrounded by the pack of Garms, lay a large cat guarded by another similarly sized cat. The Manticores had wholly black fur that was contrasted by what seemed to be white and bony exoskeletons on their head and spine.

Malachi, Arlianne, and the squad approached the two Manticores. The standing Manticore went on guard, and delivered a low growl. This caused the approaching party to stop, and be on guard.

'It really is a Manticore, ' thought Malachi, 'I can't believe it. Even the Garms were reminiscent of my Father's creations. Why do they exist here?'

Malachi and the standing Manticore's eyes met one another, and both were locked for a while.

"You... You want us to leave?" he muttered, "Is that what you want?"

"Malachi, who are you talking to?" asked Arlianne as she doubted what she had heard.

'Huh? She didn't hear it?' thought Malachi, 'Does that mean...'

Malachi stowed away his guns or, rather, he left them on the ground. The people with him wondered what he planned to do until he went to the Manticore unarmed.

"Malachi?!" cried Arlianne out in alarm, "What are you doing?!"

Not listening to her words, Malachi still approached the Manticore, both of their gazes locked on one another.

"I won't hurt you, " he told the Manticore, "and you won't hurt me."

The Manticore, hearing his words, stood in place and waited for Malachi to approach. The rest could not do much unless they risk Malachi's life. Nevertheless, a few fusiliers and engineers aimed their fusils and repeaters at the Manticore in the off-chance it does attack.

Malachi finally arrived before the Manticore. Being so close, one could see how gigantic the Manticore was. Malachi's height was just a bit over 170 centimeters, but the Manticore still towered over him at more than 2 meters. The Manticore's size alone could say how little effort it would need to kill Malachi at that range. Arlianne and the rest watched on anxiously, waiting for the end.

Still gazing upon one another, Malachi slowly and carefully reached for the Manticore. The Manticore tended, and its golden eyes revealed a wary glint. Malachi paused for a bit, but resumed until he was able to feel its rough fur and bony exoskeleton.

"You really are like them, " he whispered, "Why is that so?"

"Rrrrr..." growled the Manticore.

"You... You understand my words, don't you?" asked Malachi, "And I... I can understand your eyes. This... He was your mate, wasn't he?"

Unknown when he had known its sex, Malachi had strangely understood what had happened to the Manticore. Even so, the strange way the two of them could communicate, Malachi's thoughts had gone back into the past. Far back, back into his past life.

'It's just like Father's creations, ' he thought as he remembered the past, 'So many questions are flooding my mind...'

"Rrrr..." growled the Manticore again.

"Your mate's corpse is blocking the railroad, " said Malachi, "Do you mind if we move it away so we could go through?"

"Rrrr..." replied the Manticore.

The Manticore moved away from Malachi, and went next to its mate's corpse. Riddled with wounds, the corpse was being nudged away by the Manticore.

"Wait, let us help you with that." offered Malachi.

He made a gesture for the others to come. Seeing that it was safe, the others approached, while some remained on guard. Arriving at his location, he explained that the Manticore was harmless and would like to have help moving its mate's corpse off the tracks. Baffled, the soldiers and Arlianne were unsure of what to do. Yet, because of Malachi's urging, and the train that was stuck behind them, they could do naught but move the corpse out of the way.

"Malachi, how did you do that?" asked Arlianne, "How did you turn that Manticore into a docile beast?"

Before Malachi could answer her, the officer from before approached him to ask a few questions of his own.

"Young man, " said the officer, "Mind if I ask, do you have Eskur lineage?"

Malachi blinked twice at the officer's question.

"How...?" he muttered, "I'm pretty sure these goggles are tinted heavily from the outside."

"I see, no wonder." affirmed the officer, "It is also of no surprise if you're confused. Your Eskur ancestry hadn't told you of their special gift, hadn't they?"

"What special gift?" asked Malachi, "Is it being able to communicate with Manticores?"

The officer nodded.

"Not just Manticores, " added the officer, "but also with a myriad of beasts that inhabit our lands. Over a decade ago, it was because of this ability that much of your elders had easily overpowered the kingdom in the war. Ah, not that I discriminate against your kind, mind you."

"So, Eskurs can 'talk' to these beasts?" verified Malachi, 'Then, they really are like Father's creations. But why in this life as well? Is this the same world? But so many things are different, even the geographical traits and conditions are too extreme.'

"Well, let us bury the corpse as a gesture of goodwill towards it." suggested the officer, "Rarely do we have the chance to come close to these beasts without getting mangled."

...

Malachi and the rest were about to board the train, until Malachi felt a nudge on his back. Turning around, he saw the Manticore following behind him.

"You want to come with me?" he asked the Manticore, "I'm sorry, but I doubt they'd allow you on board, and much of the passengers would panic at the sight of you even with the reassurances of the guards."

"Rrrr..." growled the Manticore in response.

"I'm sorry, but even so..." he suddenly paused as he looked into its eyes again, "You have no place to return to, is that it? Still, I don't know what I should do in this case. Can you even live with humans?"

"Rrrr..." growled the Manticore again as it rubbed its head on Malachi's face.

"Oof, hey, stop it." he struggled, "All right, I get it. Geez, let me talk to the train personnel."

Malachi went back inside and had a heated debate with the train personnel. Even with the guards backing his claims, the only time the train personnel budged was when Malachi revealed his Eskur ancestry to them. The train personnel, seeing the guards backing Malachi up wholeheartedly, could only agree to letting the Manticore into one of the cargo carriages where it could fit.

The Manticore happily got on board, and was visited from time to time by Malachi, Arlianne, and curious personnel. The Eskur personnel, especially, had a good time visiting the Manticore as they, too, had the ability to communicate with it. While the Manticore could not speak, it could deliver its intentions through its gaze, and those of Eskur descent could somewhat understand it.

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So, we have a pet. Fun times with this pet lie ahead. Also, will be using this "ability" often.