Chapter 1507 (1/2)

Gabriel Swacc has the piece.

Raymund Ballast felt his hands clenching in fists as he stood on the humming teleportation platform. For the first time since his brother was born, he felt the entirety of his world’s fate resting on his shoulders. His heartbeat began to accelerate; his people could not afford another failure. And perhaps because of how personally Raymund had taken that failure, his thoughts went to that enigmatic phrase he had scrutinized for the past two years.

Gabriel Swacc has the piece.

Raymund’s mind was laser-focused on the last message his brother had sent him as the teleporter whisked him away to the location where he would be spending three months training. This training would be his chance to prove himself. Then, hopefully with his edges honed, Raymund would fight against the Nether Invasion on the Fifth Cohort and achieve spectacular results, thereby earning him the influence needed to look into that name and find out what was this ‘piece’.

Raymund was vaguely aware of the mysterious Swacc Family and had heard rumors about the shady practices it engaged in to spread its own influence throughout the Nexus. His was a planet that had passed the Third Calamity hundreds of years ago and seen its triumphant hero mysteriously disappear shortly after the planet was directly connected to the Nexus. Since then, their Aether allotment had steadily dried up, leaving more and more of the population to slowly waste away. It had progressed to the point that Raymnund’s people had lost all hope.

But then Techetadore had born. Even Raymund had watched his younger brother grow through those first few years and somehow sensed that this young man was different. He was an individual who could change the fate of an entire world.

After twenty years of explosive growth, Techetdore headed to the Nexus to fulfill the expectations of his entire world. And considering Techetadore Ballast’s potential, it seemed reasonably likely that he could have been recruited to serve the Swacc Family. Raymund could practically see it. A young, foolhardy, and slightly desperate Techetadore arriving at the Nexus to look for work. The sinister Swacc Family immediately taking notice...

Raymund beared his fangs into the melting void of the teleportation corridor. Techet is cutthroat and decisive while fighting, but he… he never knew the despair that the rest of us lived and breathed before he was born. He probably never considered that he could someday encounter a situation that he couldn’t overcome...

Yet even if Raymund’s brother had been recruited for some nefarious purpose, why had he simply sent that message without saying anything more? Why had he not sent any Aether to their steadily dying home planet? Why had it been two years without any new news?

With a lurch, Raymund Ballast and the thousands of recruits around him arrived at the Fifth Cohort Rally Station. Towering giants, slimy humanoids, and growling beasts shuddered and tried to maintain their balance. Raymund swayed lightly, but stayed completely upright while several of the people in the surroundings collapsed into each other, setting off a series of shoving matches. For many of these people, this week had seen the first major teleportation they had experienced. Even now, they were struggling to cope and more than willing to take it out on each other.

Meanwhile, Raymund had experienced teleportation before. About six months after Techetadore had ascended to the Nexus, he had earned enough to have Raymund visit. His brother had seemed exhausted, but he had been as bright and optimistic as Raymund remembered. His brother didn’t mention any details but said he would be able to secure a steady stream of Aether soon. So Raymund had returned to their home planet with the good news for his people that soon, their prayers would be answered; Techetadore had succeeded.

Then, one month after that…

Gabriel Swacc has the piece.

No one blamed Raymund, obviously. But something had died as more and more people lost hope. Their culture withered and receded into the dark places of their homes. The cities had become ominously silent.

Even while most of the surrounding recruits gathered their feet beneath them and sorted out which individuals were the most powerful, the majority of these people gave Raymund a wide birth. As a humanoid Vulpine standing at three meters tall, Raymund’s rich fur and three thick tails often intimidated smaller creatures. In addition, Raymund’s uniform was a forest green, whereas most of the surrounding recruits wore bland grey uniforms. Raymund’s tails swished back and forth as he cast a heavy gaze around at the surroundings. His yellow eyes only caught one other individual wearing the green uniform in this current batch.

The green uniform signified that they were part of the elite squad. They would be personally trained by some war hero from the frontlines who had actual experience fighting the Nether. It had taken Raymund a lot of effort to get into the elite unit. Yet disappointingly, the other green-uniformed individual seemed like a perfectly normal humanoid. He was short and slight with pale skin. Yet as Raymund looked at him, the humanoid turned around and returned his gaze. His pale eyes were remarkably clear, even at this distance.

Raymund furrowed his brow. Not a single individual in the elite unit can be underestimated…These are the people from which I need to stand out.

Not that Raymund could sense anything dangerous from this fellow elite. But the pressure Raymund felt now stemmed from the fact that he had only been placed into the elite squad for being the top scorer in the general recruitment drive. The recruiters had been full of praises for Raymund, but that was just in comparison to the normal recruits.

From what Raymund could gather, he was the only member of the elite squad that had been tested. All the others didn’t even need to bother with it. They relied on connections to secure a place beneath the Head Drill Sergeant.

There was a shout from the edge of the teleporter, which pulled Raymund’s attention from his fellow elite. The group of recruits began to move. A gelatinous cube with a grey uniform steadily dissolving inside of it oozed steadily forward in front of Raymund toward the edge of the teleporter. After one last glance toward the other green uniform, Raymond squinted around at the Rally Station. Despite the fact that most of it seemed to be a featureless red-stone plateau orbiting the Nexus, Raymund could see a tall building next to a forest in the distance, which was probably where the Drill Sergeants stayed.

Meanwhile, the recruits trooped steadily forward toward a gathering of ugly, squat buildings situated a short way from the teleporter. As soon as their group got off the Engraved mechanism, the next batch arrived with a flash of light and joined them in a river of bodies toward those grey buildings. The speed slowed as their group approached the buildings, but there were several guards at a tent rapidly giving each recruit directions to the place that would be their home for the next three months.

As Raymund approached, a guard caught his eye and jerked his chin to the side; very obviously, there were a hundred individuals in the green uniforms waiting off to the side as the grey clothed recruits were sent off in every direction. Raymund rolled his shoulders, swished his tail, and strode out of the main stream to join his fellow elites.