Arthur returned to Fort Lanai alone. His master had disappeared as he always did—without warning, without explanation, only leaving behind the same frustrating words that had begun to carve themselves into Arthur's mind like an old wound.
"The weak don't get to ask questions."
Arthur scowled at the memory, his fists clenching involuntarily. Strength. That was all that mattered in this world.
The gates of Fort Lanai loomed ahead, and as he stepped through, he barely spared a glance at the soldiers standing guard. They looked at him with the same expressions as always—disgust, contempt, some even spitting in his direction as he passed.
Well at least they didn't try to bar him from entering, his Master, Syar, must've already informed ahead about his arrival.
Once, it would have made his stomach twist. Once, it would have left him questioning himself, wondering if he was truly the monster they believed him to be.
But now?
Now, he simply walked past them, his face a mask of indifference. It had been hard when he first arrived. Being hated for something he had been born to. For a crime the previous Arthur had done, he now had to carry the burden.
But at least he wasn't alone. He had Unit 7, and Noah. They at least treated him normally.
Commander Scarlet stood waiting for him at the entrance, her red hair catching in the wind like a living flame. Her dark eyes studied him with warmth, curiosity… familiarity?
Arthur stopped.
He had never noticed before, but now that he looked at her properly—really looked—something about her face tugged at a distant memory. A feeling just out of reach.
'Where have I seen her before?'
His life in this world had been painfully short and painfully lonely. Faces blurred together in a haze of suffering. But hers? Hers stood out now, and that unsettled him more than he cared to admit.
'Why do you look familiar? Maybe in Reshi's life?'
"Good, you're here then," Scarlet said.
Arthur saluted with deliberate slowness, his expression turning mockingly formal. "Yes, ma'am."
She snorted in an entirely unladylike manner, crossing her arms. "Come on. It's time you got briefed properly."
Arthur followed, a small smile tugging at his lips despite himself.
He was back.
…............
The barracks of Unit 7 were just as he remembered—loud, chaotic, and filled with an energy that had nothing to do with discipline. The moment he stepped inside, a voice rang out.
"Hey, look who finally dragged his sorry ass back!"
Arthur turned, grinning as he met the mischievous eyes of Mat. The slightly older soldier stood with his arms crossed, his usual cocky smirk in place.
"Mat," Arthur greeted warmly. Then, after a deliberate pause, he sighed in mock sympathy. "Once a midget, always a midget, I guess."
The reaction was immediate.
Mat's smirk vanished. His eyes twitched. "I'M TALLER THAN YOU."
Arthur placed a hand over his heart, shaking his head sadly. "Yes. But I'm fourteen."
Mat's mouth opened. Then closed. His face contorted as if he were wrestling with some great existential crisis.
Arthur stepped closer, voice lowering to a conspiratorial whisper.
"Our height difference isn't even that big… But I'm still growing. Imagine, Mat." His grin widened. "One day, I'll be looking down on you."
Mat paled.
A second voice cut in, lazy and amused.
"Just accept it, Mat," Noah drawled as he leaned against his bunk. His green eyes glinted with mischief. "Everyone has their standing in life. Yours just happens to be, well…let's just say you have a, pffft, a low one." His shoulder heaved, barely holding back a snicker.
Arthur cracked up first, followed quickly by Noah.
Mat's face turned red as he let out an incoherent growl before storming out of the barracks, muttering darkly under his breath.
Felt entered, watching the retreating figure with mild curiosity. "What happened?"
"Oh, nothing much," Arthur said, still grinning. "Just reminding Mat that he's small."
Felt blinked. Then, in a voice of absolute seriousness, he muttered, "You went and did that, huh…"
Arthur frowned. "Uh, yeah?"
Felt sighed, shaking his head. "You know, Arthur… The last person who called Mat a midget woke up one night with the butt of a spear shoved so far up his—well. You know."
Arthur paled.
Noah collapsed into another fit of laughter.
Arthur turned on him. "I don't know why you're laughing. If it happens to me, you're next."
Noah gazed at him through tears of laughter. Arthur grit his teeth, "Trust me Noah. I'll. Make. Sure. Of. It."
Noah immediately stopped laughing. His expression turned solemn. "Arthur," he said gravely. "I think we should apologize."
Arthur sighed. "Too late for that."
Felt clapped a hand on Arthur's shoulder. "Well. It was nice knowing you."
Before Arthur could retort, the door swung open.
Commander Scarlet stood there, arms crossed. "If you three idiots are done, we have a briefing to get to."
…..................
The meeting room was silent as Scarlet's gaze swept over them.
And then, without preamble, she said:
"You're all dead."
Silence.
Arthur watched as everyone remained eerily still, waiting. Not a single voice protested. Not a single person spoke out in confusion.
Scarlet's lips twitched upward in approval. 'They're learning.' She felt an almost parental pride, that these rowdy cadets had decided, for once. To stay silent.
"To keep the fact that the Fort has been taken over, we've made all of you legally dead, including the General. The rebel spies will confirm this, and it should correlate with our story that General Thanason and his forces were defeated. Once we regain their trust, we'll slowly and covertly expand our influences.
The key to this rebellion isn't overwhelming force. It's destroying the elusive key figures behind it, especially William of Orange. But more than that, we need to tarnish their names before doing so. We cannot allow them to become martyrs.
Once we kill the key figures, the rebellion will quickly dissolve. So, the next stage of the rebellion will be a front.
General Thanason has left most of his forces as a distraction, including key generals, who will assume his position after his supposed death. They will continue the battle on separate fronts, while we will covertly expand, assassinating and finding crucial information on key figures."
Arthur nodded. To him, this seemed to be exactly the type of plan someone like General Thanason would do. It went with the shadow and light ideology he had learned to associate with the yellow eyed leader. The main army would pose as the light, drawing away the attention, while he and everyone else who was supposedly dead would act as the shadow, causing damage unnoticed.
"This means you cannot contact your families. To the outside world, you no longer exist."
Arthur snorted.
Scarlet's eyes landed on him. "Something funny, Cadet Gravewalker?"
Arthur hesitated. Then, with a small, humorless smile, he said, "Just thinking… My family is probably thrilled that I'm dead. If they ever find out I'm still breathing, that might actually kill them."
A beat of silence.
Then, soft chuckles filled the room.
Arthur's circumstances were well known among Unit 7. Most of them no longer believed the rumors about him, most of them believed he was the prey of some noble scheme. The rest believed there was at least more to the story, but none of them voiced their curiosity out of respect for Arthur.
Scarlet's smile was small, but her eyes held something close to sorrow. "I see."
"Alright, everyone is dismissed. Ahh...no, not you Arthur."
Arthur froze from getting up. Sharing a silent look with Noah, he sat back down.
Commander Scarlet kept silent until the rest of them left.
"Uhhh....Commander?"
Silently, she undid her long hair, allowing it to fall freely to her mid back. She strolled towards him, eyes intent.
"Commander?" He repeated, his worry increasing as he slowly backed away.
"Here" she said, handing him a vial and a small box. She had another vial, which she unscrewed, pouring it onto her own hair.
As she rubbed it in, her hair transformed from red, to a deep midnight black.
She looked at Arthur expectantly.
"Uhhh."
Sighing heavily, she walked closer, "gimme the vial."
He handed it back to her. She unscrewed it, rubbing the viscous liquid into his scalp.
"Me and you, we have quite noticeable features. Especially you, a former son of a powerful Duke. So we need to have these measures to hide your identity. It'd be impossible to pretend to be a rebel if the son of a Duke is with us."
"Former son of a Duke" Arthur interrupted harshly.
"Ahh yes" she said, her tone softening. "Former son."
"What's this then" Arthur asked, wanting to divert her attention.
"Contact lenses. They don't need to be removed, and have been enchanted ot be unnoticeable, they'll change your eye colour from red to black. The dye won't need to be replaced, it requires Aphrodis oil to be able to be removed only."
He nodded, "makes sense I guess", but he couldn't feel a strange sense of loss. His white hair and red eyes were the only things that had connected him to his old life, well, the old Arthur's life to be exact.
Gone were the red eyes.
Gone was the white hair.
Now, Arthur Gravewalker no longer exists.
Only Arthur remained.
He stared at his reflection, an odd sensation curling in his gut. A loss of something intangible. A final severing of the past.
But he shoved the feeling down.
Because the only way forward… was through.
…..........
Outside Fort Lanai, under the quiet cover of night, Arthur summoned Ikaris. He had left the fort, wanting to keep his experiments a secret.
As Reshi, the one thing he hated about the mc was the lack of flexibility in the way he used his powers. It had always been frustrating to read.
He wouldn't make the same mistake. He would experiment, fully understanding the different uses of his fire affinity.
The spear materialized in his grip, its weight familiar, comforting.
He moved slowly at first, feeling the pull of the weapon, the rhythm of combat. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he channeled mana into it. Flames flickered to life along the blade, trailing behind every strike.
'Not enough.'
He pushed more mana into it. The fire roared, wild and untamed, trails of brilliant flame flared out from each strike and slash like some sort of Infernal afterimage to all of his attacks.
He grit his teeth.
'Control it. Shape it. Bend it to your will.'
It was hard. Fire resisted being caged from its nature. It wanted to be free, to burn wildly.
Still, he had to try. Focusing on his precise mana control.
Because if he succeeded, with his plan.
He wouldn't just be dangerous.
He would be unstoppable.