Chapter 6: Death

The captain’s smirk carried an air of conceit with him, as he walked over to Teus and the other damaged crewmate. 

“You even saved the sorry excuse for a chef we left behind! Zone 6, you’re awfully Impressive, you know that!?”

Teus grit his teeth as he locked eyes with the captain.

“Was I a good enough ‘decoy’ for you?” he asked sarcastically.

His words mixed with the weight of exhaustion and anger. Captain Hawk raised an eyebrow before chuckling softly and placing his hands in the air. As if he was mocking to surrendering, his smirk grew.

“Looks like you caught me red-handed, Zone 6. But let’s get real, you’ve been doing this long enough to know that something was off right? The disaster level, the strategy, me outright kicking you had to be a dead giveaway. The mission didn’t go as planned because it wasn’t really a mission in the first place.”

Teus clenched his fist, holding back his rage from Captain Hawk. 

“Now, now, that’s not to say you weren’t a star player. We didn’t expect the monster to go and attack us the way it did, so high in the air. With the ship completely busted, we stood no chance of fighting it off. Thanks to your ‘heroics’ and zipping around, all we had to do was fight that damn thing’s babies. If it weren’t for you being such a useful maggot, we absolutely would have died today, Zone 6. You can stand proud knowing that at least.”

“...”

“...”

Teus shook his head and asked.

“...What are you getting at? I don’t get why you did all this.” he grunted.

His captain let out a deep sigh, it was painfully obvious to him.

“It’s quite simple. I mean, given your overly self-righteous attitude and how smug you got with yourself getting so close to clearing your debt and everything.”

Teus’ mind was racing in frustration. 

“...You planned this because I was leaving?”

The captain’s expression began to fuel more resentment. His voice carrying a note of unwavering contempt.

“No, I did it because I hate how ungrateful you are.”

“Ungrateful?... What the hell are you even talking about?”

Captain hawk glared at Teus, unable to hold back his unrelenting disdain.

“You always have been, you ruin the group culture with all this hero, goody-two-shoes nonsense. Saying things like; the strong need to protect the weak. You got arrogant. It’s like you think you’re better than us, better than me. Like you were trying to steal away the spotlight that rightfully belongs to your leader. All this, after I gave you a chance to stop being the pathetic Zone 6 trash you are.”

“...”

“You still don’t get it, do you? You forgot that you were the empire’s little maggot, my little maggot. You’re just supposed to be Zone 6 trash that belonged under my boot. But you decided to forget that. The only hero here is me—Captain Hawk. I don’t need garbage trying to outshine the main act. That is why I hate you. That is why all this happened.”

Teus’ face was etched with disbelief.

“Are you kidding me!”

The captain sighed as he rolled his eyes, turning his attention to the rest of the crew.

“I’ve already called a rescue pod to get us back to Kreigue. You guys better clean up the rest of this mess before it gets here. It’s best you guys take care of Zone 6 before it comes. Got it?”

Blue plasma began to whirl around Teus’ body as he placed his sword on his shoulder, a soft chuckle escaping his lips.

“Ha, I wonder if you hit your head during that crash landing. Even in my weakened state there’s no way you guys can just take me out—!”

“Teus, watch out!” Alberion yelled.

Boom!

[Warning: Critical damage was sustained. Retreat advised.]

[Warning: Critical damage was sustained. Retreat advised.]

Before he could react, Teus felt a sharp, searing pain pierce through his back. His body tensed as he dropped to the floor, landing on his knees.

His breath was caught in his throat, he looked down to find a giant gaping hole in his abdomen, sizzling with heat.

He quickly turned behind him to find that the crew mate he had just saved, shot him in the back. Smoke still exiting the barrel of the blaster in his hand.

“No way…” he thought.

“W-why?” 

Teus asked, his voice filled with shock.

“I’m…sorry…”

The crew member said with tears flowing from his terrified eyes, his hands trembling whilst still holding his weapon.

But his thoughts were interrupted by Captain Hawk’s laughter in the background. He chortled to himself before explaining to Teus, still giggling from the situation.

“‘Why?’ he says! Why wouldn’t he!? There’s only four spots on the rescue pod! And even if there weren’t, what makes you think he’d wanna end up like you in the future, huh? Of course he’d shoot at ya, if he didn’t, he’d have to answer to me!”

Captain Hawk walked towards Teus. He drew his sword from its scabbard as he kicked Teus onto the ground, smiling all the while.

“This isn’t good Teus!” Alberion shouted.

The captain continued in a manic grin, pointing his sword at Teus’ throat.

“In the absence of the emperor, and as all noble hunters here as my witness. I hereby sentence you as a traitor. For conspiring to attack your superiors, you have gone against the Brulsian Empire’s code and shall atone with your life! I sentence you to death!”

His face full of glee as he raised his sword over Teus’ body, aiming for his chest.

“Not good! I have to think of a way to get out of this, and fast!” Teus quickly thought to himself.

“I don’t have enough energy to use a sealed technique! Crap! Think, think, think!”

The crying crewmember and everyone else watched as the captain, clearly in a frenzy, leaned into Teus’ ear and whispered something, something unintelligible to the rest of the crew.

“Damn you Hawk!”

Teus roared as he attempted to get back on his feet, but Hawk slammed his foot down against his chest one more time and yelled.

“I was going to get you one way or another Teus! Let the execution begin!”

Before violently stabbing the blade through Teus’ body, red plasma radiating through his sword. There was an ear-splitting grunt from Teus before Captain Hawk removed the sword from his body.

[Alberion is now offline.]

His suit declared as Teus coughed out blood, whilst struggling to breathe.

He turned around and began walking back towards the burning ship.

“Take care of the body, and let’s get out of here. Disposing of him has already proved to be more tricky than we thought.” he ordered.

The crew members nodded as they raised Teus’ motionless body and threw him off the cliff. Sending him falling into the ocean’s abyss below.

Teus’ body hurtled through the air before recklessly plunging into the freezing water. His limbs grew heavier as he sank deeper and deeper still. The deafening silence enveloped him.

He only felt the numbing cold that pulled him under. Plasma began to spark as he tried his hardest to move. 

“No! I can’t give up just yet, I can still try!”

“Sealed Technique—Spiral Style: Whirling Overdrive!”

But nothing happened.

“Sealed Technique—Spiral Style: Whirling Overdrive!”

Still no result.

“Sealed Technique—Spiral Style: Whirling Overdrive—Step 3!”

Sparks began to form around Teus, motioning around his body. Before in a weakened disperse, they fizzled out. He tried and tried again but nothing was activating, he only sunk deeper into the abyss.

His body had refused to obey him, Alberion was offline, his suit became nothing more than dead weight.

“I…I can’t die here…!”

He thought. Thoughts pulsed throughout his mind, completely desperate.

“No! Not like this! I still have so much I wanted to do! I was supposed to do it… Create a guild so big that not even the empire could chain it down! I can’t die yet! Not like this!”

Soon, the ocean’s cold water created more pressure on him. His vision began to darken. Though Teus kept fighting. He struggled against the vast amount of water. He refused to let it end like this. Though the more he fought, the weaker he became.

“...I can’t die yet.”

He thought. The world began to fade into black as his movements slowed down. In the last fleeting moments, his regret surfaced.

“I’m…I’m so sorry…”

“I’m sorry mom…”

“I’m sorry dad…”

“I’m sorry, old man Ryael, sorry Alberion… I failed all of you. It looks like I couldn’t achieve my goal. I’ve let you down.”

Teus’ tears of rage mixed with the water as his mind began to slip away.

Soon he succumbed to his injuries and lost consciousness.

Then his suit flickered after that. Sparks of plasma began to form around Teus before his suit declared an important message.

[Alberion is now online.]

The AI assessed the situation immediately. He understood the grim reality that had befallen Teus. His body and the suit were in critical condition.

“Unfortunately…this went just as I predicted.” 

“You were too stubborn for your own good, Teus.”

He continued to scan Teus’ body to assess how best he could aid his partner.

“Though, perhaps your stubbornness has rubbed off on me as well. I was given to you by the will of master Ryael, but over the course of us being together, though you were rash, it seems you had a better understanding of his will than even me…”

“...I believe the world still needs to see that. No, I would have liked to have seen more of that.”

“You…may be fond of master Ryael, Teus. But it’s not time for you two to reunite just yet…”

“I’ll see to it myself!”