"..I don't know what's more impressive."
- Ignaras crossed his arms.
"To know that this was the result.. just the environmental damage of their brawl, or the fact that.."
- Ignaras focused his gaze on the barely-conscious Calestro who repeatedly coughed up blood as he saw the armoured individuals rush to him.
"That brat lived long enough to see the forest this leveled."
————
Back at the encampment, the militias were going by their businesses as usual; patrolling, passing boxes, moving supplies while some were chowing away. However amidst this seemingly mundane atmosphere, there remains a lingering hint of slight heaviness proliferating in the air.
"How's Hamilvan?"
- A tall, lean man with slick-back brown hair which was; Ignaras inquired.
"..Still unresponsive. Go to the Cellar and see for yourself."
- Foryan replied while slowly sipping her afternoon coffee, looking somewhat agitated.
Ignaras heaved a small sigh before crashing down on the couch startling a peaceful Bakzeu who chomped away on a pack of hardened beef jerkies.
With a sweat sliding off his cheek, Bakzeu turned away and began to consume all if it while forcibly trying to muffle the sounds of eating.
"Hey.."
- Upon hearing Ignaras'es voice, the sweat on Bakzeu's face began to multiply even more.
"..Give me some."
- Bakzeu gulped, stammering out a response;
"..Gi..give you what?"
To which, Ignaras chuckled—
"Y'know what I mean..boy."
Before shooting Bakzeu a piercing glare.
"..Iggy, I heard there was a dragon spotted near the encampment just a few days ago."
"..Re-Really!?" - Ignaras perked up.
"Yes." - Bakzeu turned his towards him with a soft smile on his face.
"Want me to give you the location where it was spotted? You could head there and—"
*Fwip!*
*Nom.*
"Lo..ok for.. it...y'know..?"
- Bakzeu felt the air tingling the surface of his left palm causing him to tilt his head downwards and see.. nothing?
"Oh...wow..! *Nom.* .. Nothing beats.. this!"
- Ignaras smirked, while happily consuming hand-sized portions of the supposed finger-sized beef jerkies inside a packet at an alarming speed.
.
.
.
"YOU BASTARD..!! GIVE IT BACK..!"
With a visibly angered expression, Bakzeu pounced on Ignaras who extended out his left arm that held the packet in order to bring it away from the famished commander.
"Woah..Woah! Easy there Boy..!"
- Ignaras jokingly uttered, his other arm pushing Bakzeu's face away.
"BUY YOUR OWN PACKETS DAMN IT..! YOU'RE ALWAYS HOGGING MINE..!"
- Bakzeu snarled, still attempting to reach the packet from Iganaras'es grasp.
"Well It's your fault..! You tempted me with the smell a few months prior and now I can't help but to get addicted..!" - Ignaras chuckled, before quickly pushing the packet unto the air, causing the remaining contents to be launched from its confines.
Bakzeu flinched, eyes widening as he positioned himself to catch all of it, only to be—
"Whoops!"
Pushed away by Ignaras'es head that quickly shot up- "Ow!"
before he widely opened his mouth allowing every single falling piece to land inside of it.
*Nom.*
He then began to rapidly chew before finally gulping it all down.
"..Hmph." - And with a smug expression did he look at Bakzeu. "Well How's tha—!!"
*sniff.*
"Gr..uuuhh.." - With furrowed eyebrows, a teary-eyelid and a visible pout on his face did Bakzeu remained seated atop the floor, hugging both legs resembling that of a child that had been wronged.
Upon seeing the sight, Ignaras froze. His world shattering momentarily before a large sweat slid down his cheek.
"HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY!!"
Ignaras flailed his hands around as he closed in on Bakzeu, stammering out a few incoherent responses.
"Wha..wha..whywhywhy.. would you cr-cry like that Boy..!? You trying to make me feel bad or what..!?"
"Grrr...guhh.." - Bakzeu maintained his pout as he refused to pay any attention to Ignaras.
Seeing the two engaging in a childish dispute, Foryan just heaved a deep sigh before softly shaking her head. Muttering out a silent; "Idiots." as she continued to sip her own coffee, mind still plagued with the events that played earlier this day;
————
"How's the situation?"
- Foryan inquired to a female militia who had a white robe over her shoulders.
"..Sir Hamilvan is fine, Ma'am! Cadet Layla, Cadet Mila, and Lieutenant Charlotte all haveconfirmed his vitals to be unharmed...! Apart from a few set of wounds.. nothing seems to be particularly life-threatening!"
"Good." Foryan heaved a sigh before she once again pointed her palm, which had the leaf-like insignia on it towards the already stationary Hamilvan, causing the greens, grasses, vines, leaves and tree branches that were once enveloped around him to retract and gradually abdicate their hold.
*Slide..*
Seeing the sight unfold, the surrounding female militias took a step back and tensely watched as the binds slowly became loose.
*Fwip!*
As the final vine let go, Hamilvan's body quickly fell from a standstill towards the floor, causing them to rapidly kneel in an attempt to catch it—
"Ghk!"
To which they did. Four Female militias were holding the body of the unconscious Hamilvan, their teeth gritted as they struggled to slowly lower him down to the floor.
"..So..Heavy..!"
- One female militia squeaked out, before they finally placed Hamilvan's body on the ground, making sure it was just a few millimeters away from the patch however.
*Clang!*
Despite being just a millimeter away from the floor, Hamilvan's body still caused a minor tremor and a clang to resonate throughout the ground.
"Ignaras! A little help here!" - Seeing Hamilvan's body secured on the floor, Foryan yelled out to Ignaras whom had his group of handful lean militias helping a few animals break free from fallen logs and treetrunks.
Ignaras looked over to Foryan before glancing towards a few of his men;
"Private First Class; Isnen and Maldro, Private Second Class Ocam! Assist the Medical Division!"
Causing three of the biggest and leanest Militias to salute;
"Yes Sir!"
- before quickly heading over to Hamilvan's unconscious body.
Bakzeu after analyzing the area stood beside Foryan and inquired.
"..Is Sir Hamilvan Dead?"
- to which she scoffed before shaking her head.
"I wish.. He committed several offenses despite outranking all of the commissioned officers.. The Imperial Jurisdiction will definitely give him a difficult time." - Foryan grasped her head,
Bakzeu's eyes falling into a solemn squint.
"..I just remembered that. So..Is he just unconscious..?"
- Foryan nodded.
"Yeah, I had some of the Proklan plants to specifically wrap themselves up beneath his nose so that when they secrete their fumes.. He'll fall unconscious within a minute or so."
- She replied.
"Genius Indeed." - Bakzeu released a half-hearted chuckle.
"Whatever Bakzeu.. what you and your unit up to? Lazing around?"
The Third Commander scoffed before pointing behind his back with a thumb.
"Clean-up, a lot of poor critters were caught in the crossfire of these two." - Bakzeu sighed, the scene behind him consisting of a handful of black and white animals of varying sizes that appear as if they were drawn on a piece of parchment, these creatures ran and crawled, pulling some animals out of the confines of fallen trees and scattered debris.
"..My summons are quite useful aren't they?" - Bakzeu puffed out his chest. With one of black and white animals growling happily in response.
*Step..*
"I..yes. I suppose The Summons are useful."
- Foryan smirked.
"Thank you. But for some reason I feel insulted."
- Bakzeu smiled while his eyelid was twitching.
*Step..*
"Oh that's just your imaginatio—"
- Foryan shrugged, only to be catched off-guard by a certain individual that had approached them.
With widened eyes and an audible gasp did Bakzeu also glanced over at what silenced the Fourth Commander.
-
"He..Hey..!"
"..Stop..!"
"You..You're still not..!"
- With rather urgent voices did some female officers with white robes atop their shoulders followed the bleeding stature.
"..."
- With its stomach bleeding profusely, its brown garments slowly transitioning into a deep-crimson hue while all of the exposed skin that were left uncovered sustained numerous scratches, wounds and even slices, its forehead however continued to drip from a constant stream of blood coming from a crack beneath his jet-black hair.
"..!" - Foryan froze upon seeing such a sight.
"..Hey..!" - One female militia, with deep sapphire-like eyes and slightly curly, long hair with crisp golden colouration approached the injured stature before locking her arm with his;
"..It..it is unsafe..!" - She squealed, before attempting her hardest to pull the stature away, only to fail miserably after a moment.
*Haah..!* *Haah..!* *Haah..!*
Foryan remained steadfast on the stature's blood-coated eyes. It remained expressionless but the half-opened eyes were more than enough to discern how much pain it has, and is currently going through.
"..Ca..Calestro..."
- Foryan muttered.
Calestro, whom was the severely injured stature remained standing idly before the Two Commanders with a blank expression on his countenance.
Bakzeu, with a face slowly going pale blinked before slightly tilting his head downwards, causing his widened eyes to land on.. Two.. Brown.. Heads? Wait, aren't those the heads akin to that of..
"Bears..?" - The Third Division Commander muttered.
The Larger head was in complete ruin, with the only thing preventing it from being utterly unrecognizable was the small patch of skin that held its one remaining eye. Apart from the leftover skin and its cover being only a fourth of what it previously had, its machine-like internal compartments were either seen protruding out, hanging or were in absolute tatters.
The other, was more preserved. Apart from the pink flower on its head that had wilted into a white, soft, and limp vine there were the visible brown patches on its head seen to have sustained deep scratches, sword imprints that have caused some of its metallic innards to be displayed for the eye to see.
After a brief moment of silence, with the medical officers not even bothering to utter anything apart from the golden-haired; girl's repeated inhales and exhales. The golden-haired girl then looked towards her stunned comrades and squeaked out;
"Care to.. give me some assistance at least..!?" - Akin to that of a rabbit trying its hardest to be a wolf.
"Ye..Yes Lieutenant Charlotte..!"
"At once..!"
- Two of the stationary officers quickly ran over to her aid, before;
*Fwip!*
They were halted by Foryan raising her palm unto the air before she momentarily glanced at them with a sweat sliding down her cheek.
Afterwards, she then lowered it slowly.
"Cales..tro."
- She muttered, locking eyes with the young man.
"Alone.."
- The young man replied, causing her eyes to widen once more.
"..Alo—"
"I..I wish to be left alone."
- With a shaky, barely-audible voice that resembled an out-of-air gasp did the young man respond.
While the blood was running down from his stomach and his cracked skull, Calestro uttered it out without a singular emotion flashing on his face.
"..Alo..ne..? No..No..! Look at what state you are in..!" - Foryan exclaimed. - "You..need to be admitted and attended to..! You sustained multiple fatal..injuries..!"
With a pause, Calestro's mouth went agape before muttering out a response.
"..The..Then.."
- He whispered, slightly making the Female Commandant flinch.
"I..I will oblige..but, I.. I have a request.."
————
Foryan continued to quietly sip her coffee under the late noon sunlight as the noise of Bakzeu's wails and Ignaras' frantic reassurances were drowned out by her flashbacks.
"Hm.."
She hummed, eyes gazing outside to the busy encampment.
"Quite..an odd wish.. Calestro."