Inside the throne room of the Capital of Cronoa, Rohan had just arrived and was in the presence of the King and the Generals.
"Roro, we've got your transmission." Gantala was the first to speak.
"If your bastard of a brother truly is a traitor then why didn't you bring him back here?"
Axel questioned the loyalty of Rohan towards the Region rather than that of his brother, it was understandable too.
"You only listen to your brother, why should we trust the words of someone like you? If anything, we should lock you up for conspiring against the nation."
"On our way here, I was ambushed by his followers and left for dead." He said the last part in a harsher tone as he clenched his fists.
"Rada Khan is dangerous my liege, knowing my brother, he will have plans to attack the Capital any moment now, we must rally the troops."
"Hah!" The king struck his beard as he stood up. "One man and an army of what, a few dozens against my nation?" He spread his arms apart as the soldiers inside the throne room all struck the blunt side of their spears hard on the floor repeatedly in sync with one another.
"I would love to see him try."
"But my liege."
"But nothing Rohan, you heard his majesty." Mel interrupted and gestured for two of the guards to take Rohan away.
"Why don't you head home and rest up? You've been through a lot I'm sure."
"No, wait! You're Not Listening!"
They ignored his distress call as he was thrown out of the palace and onto the streets of the Capital.
The guards stood in the front of the entrance and crossed their speers to show him that he may not enter no matter what.
Meanwhile, back at Rada Khan's hidden base...
"The pieces are set and everything is going as planned Khan, the king suspects nothing."
Rada Khan was talking with somebody from the Capital over the phone.
"Good... That man's arrogance shall be his downfall."
He turned to face a man wearing a black and red mask over his face and a black long coat.
He then turned his attention towards Kira and the soldiers around them.
"You all know what to do. Tonight... I shall become king!"
"Don't forget what you promised, Khan."
"Oh don't worry, what you seek is in the Castles hidden treasure room. Once we have the King's head you can have your map."
The masked man couldn't contain his excitement upon hearing the last part, his goal was only a few kills away was what he was thinking.
He unknowingly led out his blood lust in the form of his aura as it seeps through the room causing the soldiers to feel nauseated and even knocking some of them out.
Kira tugs at Rada Khan and begins to whisper. "C-commander are you sure we should be working with the likes of him?"
Rada Khan didn't avert his gaze at the screen depicting the image of the castle.
"I don't care. At this point, I won't mind selling my soul to the devil to get what I want."
That was the case and this mab right here that Rada Khan contacted will prove to be worse than the devil himself.
As the masked man bursts into maniacal laughter, the scene changes.
"Ahh"
Conroy stretches his arms apart as he hugs the walls of Dragonheart.
"We're finally out of that accursed place! All in favor of never going into another zodiac crypt?"
He raises his hand but the crew just brushed past him except for Vorus who pats him on his back.
"Give it up buddy."
Conroy had a grim expression on his face, not wanting to hear what Vorus had to say next.
"We have eleven more crypts to go haha!"
He plopped to the ground before curling up like a ball and hugging his knee.
"Welcome to the ark of Aegis, welcome to Dragonheart."
Ace spreads his arms apart as Maggie looks around astounded as she had never seen an ark before.
The Dragonheart wasn't a state-of-the-art ark, it was rusty, old, and required a lot of paint job.
But, it was also all they had, so they loved the ark like it was their home.
"I'll show you to your room!"
"Woah!"
Ace grabs Maggie's hand excitedly and pulls her towards the cabin section of the ark.
He was thrilled to have a new member join the team.
It has been an entire day since the team had left the crypt. When they emerged, nobody was present at the mountain top.
They had made their way to the market in Lily town to buy a few groceries with some of the gold they received from Ciel.
It turns out that whenever a team has successfully raided a zodiac crypt, they receive five hundred gold coins alongside a tattoo.
"Huh, what's this strange mark?"
"A tattoo?"
"These marks on your hands are your puzzle pieces granted by the system relic, the relic that overseas your current time internet and all braves and clans activities."
He further explains that whenever a clan raids a zodiac crypt successfully, all members recognized by the system relic will receive the puzzle piece of that crypt.
"This means whether or not a member of Aegis participates, if some of us complete the trial, he or she will also receive the mark wherever they are? Solemn!"
Conroy was most pleased about this but got his hopes crushed by Ace.
"Doesn't matter, we're all participating as a team unless there's a good enough reason for one not to."
"I want to go home!"
A week later, the crew was getting ready to set out to their next destination.
Brrrrrr... Brrrr... Brrrr
Vorus's phone rang and he picked it up after setting it to speaker mode.
The voice was cracking and everyone could barely hear the transmission.
"Co#m#&* kon&o."
They however heard the last part clearly before the call cut off.
What they heard sent a chill down their spines.
It took a greater toll on Vorus as his aura spikes a little and he clenched his fists, the seriousness of the matter was visible on his face as it reflects the despair within the contents of the transmission.
"Rada Khan has taken over Ernia."
The Aegis clan are about to fight a war that will decide the fates of not one... But two nations.