“Count Nirum I can assure you we’ve armed this building with our finest security personnel and enchanted systems. Not even an insect will fly near the building without us knowing about it.”

“Tell that to the three dead nobles in the neighboring territories! They’re hunting us and nothing has been done to stop it! You don’t even know who is doing it!”

The Count nearly screamed, completely covered in his best ornate armor and waving his sword around.

Agent Ulvi just sighed, his people standing at their stations silently.

The recent killings had sent waves of alarm through the entire region. The previous three nobles were those who had become Nephilim, rapidly gaining power as they had been promised. Unfortunately they were killed soon after.

That by itself wasn’t necessarily an issue. It was the fact that there was no evidence left behind that could identify the killer. Not even magical residue that might point to the type of Magus that did the killing. The last noble that was killed, another Count, was found in the basement of his estate an entire 5 days after he had been killed. The corpse, which was studied, had naught a single wound upon it.

Agent Ulvi had been tasked with protecting this Count and was supplied a small army to do the job. His superiors wanted to use the Count as bait, but simultaneously wanted to test the limits of the killer’s capabilities. They wanted to know something, anything, about who they were facing.

Even though Ulvi knew his superiors had an idea about who it was.

The perimeter around the estate was patrolled at all hours of the day and night by dozens of soldiers. All of them were equipped with the best magical sensors and many of the soldiers had developed Auras for a more personal touch. There was a newly built wall, barriers, and even more magic sensors surrounding the main building itself.

Ulvi himself was Authority 10, but the Count didn’t know that. Very few people did as his Aura allowed him to hide his level from all but the best.

There were guards at every door, at every corner in every hallway, with eyes on all nooks and crannies at all times with no blind spots. Not even a maid could walk through the estate comfortably, every single person having a custom ID checked at key points without exception.

The doors were reinforced, the windows were sealed shut, locks were triple enchanted with an alarm for every time the lock opened and closed.

Ulvi couldn’t fathom anything that could get through them all, let alone get out. They weren’t even using Aerials, every single device not custom curated by themselves either destroyed or taken away from the estate.

It was just about the most secure place in the Kingdom, short of the Royal Palace or Magic Spire.

Ulvi glanced at a window, seeing the veil of night fall outside. Lights remained on, no darkness for lurking within the building.

“Count, you’ve had your dinner. How about you retire?”

“For all I know, as soon as I step inside my bedroom, they’ll jump out and kill me!”

“Then I will escort you personally.”

Ulvi started walking with Count Nirum, the two leaving the living area and ascending the flight of stairs to reach the master bedroom.

When they entered the hallway things quieted down, Ulvi enjoying the lack of noise after all the Count’s yelling and paranoid footsteps of every worker in the building.

They reached the bedroom, Ulvi entering first. He opened the door and scanned the bedroom, seeing and feeling absolutely nothing.

He even dropped a scanner, the device letting out a few pulses and coming back with no life signs whatsoever. Not even an insect.

Not surprising. The window had been shattered and filled in with stone days ago when the Count had a panic attack.

Of course, even with a scan and personal look, Nirum wasn’t satisfied.

“They could be hiding…”

“Count Nirum, you are an Authority 9 Knight being protected in every way imaginable.”

Agent Ulvi looked down at him with a hint of disdain.

“Start working on controlling your fear.”

“Fear is what keeps you alive! And those other Counts aren’t, so obviously they weren’t as astute as me!”

The Count started barking again, causing Ulvi to roll his eyes and sigh.

“Do as you wish.”

With those words he turned around and left, shutting the door.

The Count’s whimpers went silent as soon as the door clicked shut, Ulvi letting out another sigh.

He started walking back down the hallway, seeing the guards posted at the corners, occasionally glancing around.

Only three steps away though, Ulvi stopped, staring at both of the guards in his vision.

He saw one of them turn his head toward him, yet he heard nothing.

Not even the faint sound of moving leather or shifting metal of the armor.

Ulvi spun around and grabbed the door of the Count’s bedroom, throwing it open.

His heart pounded when he saw nothing but blazing fire.

The entire room was engulfed in flame, the Count lying on his bed, his head sitting on top of his large belly.

Across the room Ulvi could see a cutout in the wall, the person sized hole cut so square that it was impossible for someone to have done it on the fly.

That’s when the sound suddenly came back to him, Ulvi’s ears getting hit with the crackling of burning wood and the whipping of the flames across every piece of fabric on the walls and floor.

Then he heard a few explosions from the floors below. He ran out through the cutout in the wall and dropped to the first floor.

In the courtyard, he could see a dozen dead guards and maids. None of the maids were alive, not even the ones that had yet to be turned into Nephilim. They had killed them all, without exception.

Moving inside, Ulvi saw more dead guards and agents. He couldn’t find any that were alive, not even the most powerful of them.

Most of them didn’t even have their weapons drawn, their necks slashed or decapitated at their posts.

And everything was on fire, glass blown out in explosions and structural beams blasted to bits.

He stood there mute, unable to even react.

In the time it took to walk to the Count’s room, they had devastated the building. In the time it took for him to walk away three steps, the Count was beheaded and placed in his bed, the killer escaping without a sound.

And naught a single alarm had gone off.

Ulvi watched everything burn, nothing being picked up by his senses except the guards that were returning to the mansion from their patrols, having seen the fire.

He couldn’t even begin to guess at how he’d try and find the killers. In the time he had stood there, they had likely escaped and hid.

He raised his hand, scratching his head where the horns came out of his temple.

So much rage bubbled up inside of him that he wasn’t sure how to vent. He looked at the corpse of a nearby human maid.

It was a clean cut across the back of the neck at the base of the skull, severing the spine from the brain. It was a painless, instant death.

The sight of it only amplified his anger.

They knew he’d kill the human maids if they had left them alive. They had killed them out of mercy. They even left behind different wounds, the Nephilim maids having been decapitated.

It’s like they were taunting him. They were telling him that they could easily read his mind. They were calling him simple.

The guards from the patrol rolled up in vehicles, jumping out and running to him.

“What happened?!”

There were shouts, but Ulvi couldn’t hear any of it.

He turned to the guards, his hands trembling.

And they watched in horror as he jumped toward them, silently tearing them in half with his bare hands.

……

…

March 1st, 628

“Count Nirum, terminated.”

“Yes, they did a good job.”

Polly muttered from the side, leaning back in her chair as Jasmine brought her a short stack of folders.

“Fast and undetected, just as was taught.”

“And as my technology permits. But we’re feeding them more details. Even the simplest fact that they have experience with the application of Mute Fields will demand that more extensive measures are taken to conceal our presence.”

“You’re paranoid.”

“No, just careful. If I were acting on my paranoia, I would’ve had them initiate an information lockdown on the entire territory and then kill everyone within 10 miles of the estate, including the Authority 10. But not everything can be ideal. I understand that.”

Polly rolled her eyes at me, Jasmine smiling and changing the subject.

“Well, we’ve crossed off your list so now we get to rest and watch. Eight dead noble Nephilim and hundreds of their guards and personnel will be more than enough to stir up chaos. Question is, will we draw too much attention with the Magisterium’s visit this month?”

“Probably.”

I answered simply, Jasmine’s face falling.

“Then how are we supposed to conduct our village operations? If you openly discriminate, people will start drawing connections. Then we’ll have the Third Claw on our ass.”

“You misunderstand. I’m not trying to avoid the Third Claw’s attention.”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“…How does that make sense? If they find out what we’re doing, and they’re the Scourge-controlled organization you say they are, then we’re fucked. We’ll be put into contention with the Crown.”

“Indeed, we will be. And yet it will have nothing to do with Iron Legion, just like the Third Claw will have nothing to do with the Crown.”

Jasmine looked at me like I was dumb, making me chuckle.

“It’s okay not to understand, young padawan. Politics can be confusing and stupid like that sometimes.”

“I thought you hated politics?”

“I do. That’s why I don’t play the game. But others do and we can take advantage of that. Just keep following the program and everything will work out as I intend. As for the Magisterium, I’ll be here to handle the affairs myself.”

Polly shot me some bombastic side eye.

“I don’t see you handling all the parent noble correspondence.”

“Well some people are better at some things than others.”

Polly grunted and massaged her temple.

“Yes, you’d just piss them off and unfortunately you pay me enough to care about what our image looks like. I swear, if you just put on a few airs you’d be ruling the world.”

“Or, hear me out, you put on those airs for me and I’ll add fifty percent to your salary.”

“Hell no! I unfortunately can’t replace the most famous singular man in the world, no matter how many times you try to increase my salary. At the very least, take care of the damn children. If we fuck up with this Magisterium excursion, you can kiss our reputation goodbye. This is more important politically than any battle we’ve fought so far. Just make the smart decisions I know you’ve already thought about.”

I chuckled and put my hands up in surrender. Then, Jasmine raised her hand.

“I’ll try and replace him!”

“And I believe in you! See Polly, we can just plaster that cute face across our tanks and we’ll win the hearts and minds of every citizen that sees them.”

Her face fell.

“If citizens are seeing those tanks then we’ve got much bigger problems. Now get out of here. The students are landing in Camp Phoenix soon.”

“Alright, alright.”

I waved and left the office, a plane already waiting for me.

Once on it, I was leaving the Glass Desert and heading to Camp Phoenix.

……

…

“Hey, do you know anything about what this trip is gonna be like?”

“Yeah, he must have told you some things about what it’s like to be on his base. Wait, have you ever visited it before?”

Faey gave a wry smile as her classmates surrounded her.

Being the effective sister-in-law of John Cooper, she had rapidly skyrocketed in popularity as he did. It had been years since he had made his rise though and she had adapted to the unceasing attention.

As if being the daughter of a Duchess wasn’t enough. Sometimes it felt like her noble lineage meant nothing anymore, a mere footnote dwarfed by her relationship with John.

She shook her head, her real friends trying to keep people a distance away so they couldn’t crowd.

“No, I’ve never visited. And John hasn’t really talked to me about what the base is like. This is as new to me as it is to everyone else.”

“Really? Seems a little hard to believe.”

“Well, military secrets are supposed to be kept that way.”

Faey inwardly sighed. It was only in recent days that she had finally realized just how little she knew about what John did. He was extremely busy as it was so even after he started Iron Legion, becoming more than just a regular soldier, he hardly ever visited outside of the year’s biggest events.

Not to mention that, at least from her conversations with her mother, John had pioneered new protocols on the art of secrecy and counterespionage. Having applied those principles excessively with Iron Legion, there was extremely little about Iron Legion that anybody knew, let alone herself.

Another reason why their class’ visit to its base would be so important. Faey knew full well why the entire Magisterium administration was in uproar when John had told them that he was opening Iron Legion’s doors. It was an opportunity to get a glimpse of what was going on over there, an opportunity to learn and be taught about how the new premier force of the Kingdom operated.

An opportunity not even the highest class soldiers of the Kingdom’s military could receive.

Faey partially believed it was because of her. She also knew that John had his own plans beyond her.

She glanced out the window. The plane they were all in was the C-400 military cargo plane, a colossal plane capable of holding the entirety of the Magisterium’s 3rd and 4th year classes, their luggage, as well as some extraneous cargo while still being comfortably spacious. They had been in the air for a while now, every student glued to a window for the first hour of the flight before mingling about the cabin for the next three hours. Some students never left the window, enraptured by the sights only a bird could enjoy.

They’d be landing soon, the plane in its descent phase.

At some point all the students were ordered back to their seats by a few of the Iron Legion soldiers onboard. They were helmeted and therefore carried an air of undeniable authority, no noble child, no matter how high, willing to make them give their order a second time.

As they made their descent, Faey gazed out the window by her head and watched the lightly snowed desert get closer. Still in early springtime, the snow had yet to retreat this far north. Nonetheless, it still looked relatively barren around the area.

Not that anybody cared about the details. Most of the students in the plane had yet to ever even board a plane before. Being their first time in the sky, they were all completely enamored.

They soon touched down, the rumbling of rapid deceleration shaking the plane before coming to a still.

They lingered in silence for a bit before the soldiers gave the order. All the students unbuckled, and then the massive hatch of the plane dropped.

They all stood and lined up as the soldiers gave their orders. Then, when the hatch dropped far enough, they saw who was waiting for them.

Faey barely held back her smile, the corners of her mouth creeping up, seeing John standing there with a grin and a cigar. Umara was by his side, dressed in her conventional warlock wear and iconic witch hat, her eyes emanating a slight glow from just under the brim. Accompanying them were a few other armored soldiers, only one of them without a helmet.

The Puppet Master, the supervisor for every excursion, took the lead behind the escorting soldiers, stepping out and moving up to greet John. The two shook hands, John’s smile growing.

“Puppet Master! It’s been a hot minute!”

“And yet you seem to have aged a few decades. Keep doing crazy shit like changing the world and you’ll age me out all too fast.”

“Hehe, being aged out is only a problem if you come out the other end poor. Come do your work at Iron Legion and I’ll triple your current salary. What do you say?”

The students all gawked, Faey’s face falling flat in synchronous with her sister. Since when was it okay to try and poach the Kingdom’s finest instructor?

The Puppet Master’s lengthy and silent deliberation didn’t help either.

“…You’re going to make trouble for me, more than you have already.”

“On the contrary! I’m actually helping you. Tell that dumbass boss of yours that he better start paying you better. Then after you get a raise, you can come to me for an even better deal.”

“You’re the only man I know who’d offer something like that.”

“Can’t say I don’t take care of my people. There’s a reason Iron Legion is now the world’s most effective military.”

Faey watched John turn to them, the anxiety among the students sharply increasing with his attention.

They were all filed in front of him, those soldiers still standing there rigidly. John scanned over them, his smile disappearing into a neutral gaze.

“I want all Nephilim to file out and stand to the side. If you are not Nephilim, remain standing where you are.”

Faey’s heart beat a little harder as the soldiers turned to them and moved the Nephilim out. There was a bit of commotion, the Nephilim getting aggressive as they were mercilessly moved away from everyone else.

They were gathered into a group to the side, the normal humans continuing to stand in place, not moving a muscle. The Nephilim composed about 35% of the class’ population, so the original group immediately became significantly smaller.

John spoke.

“All Nephilim will remain in Camp Phoenix for the duration of the excursion. Here, you will be trained in practical, new generation combat as is expected according to my contract with the Matgisterium. I suggest all of you absorb as much as you can, because my services are both expensive and exclusive.”

He waved to his side, the unhelmeted soldier stepping up.

“Instructor Tuckson will be in charge of you all for the excursion. While on Iron Legion grounds, you will obey his every order as well as every rule he teaches you as standard for an active military training ground. Failure to comply will be met with appropriate punishment not limited to expulsion from the Camp. I advise good behavior, because I’m sure both the Magisterium and your parents would be disappointed to hear that you learned nothing from such a rare opportunity.”

“Wait, you can’t separate us!”

One of the Nephilim spoke out, realizing what was going on. There were clear mutters of anger from the rest of them.

The student in question was the son of a Marquess. He stepped forward, but was promptly blocked by the armored soldier, who ordered with a low tone.

“Stay in line.”

“Don’t get in my way. I’m talking to him, not you!”

The student moved to push aside the soldier, but as soon as his hand was raised the soldier grabbed his arm and slammed him into the concrete floor. The horns coming out of the back of his head and curling forward took the blow for his skull, but not without cracking.

The other soldiers in the area moved to surround the Nephilim, though they didn’t brandish their weapons. There was no need to against students so much weaker than them.

Instructor Tuckson stepped forward in John’s stead.

“If Commander Cooper didn’t make it clear, disobedience will not be tolerated! There will be exactly zero room for negotiation when you are given orders! In this place, your noble title is worthless, and your Authority is only worth a warrant for babysitting! Stay in line, or be ejected from your excursion! Captain Borack, move these Nephilim to the barracks to await further processing.”

The soldiers started escorting the Nephilim, Faey feeling like they were being treated closer to prisoners than students.

Once they boarded large armored vehicles and drove off, Instructor Tuckson turned to John and saluted.

Interestingly, his salute wasn’t the standard Kingdom salute. It was different, a knife hand taken to the brow.

“The Nephilim will be handled according to your orders, sir.”

“I appreciate it, Instructor. The Puppet Master’s spare staff will accompany you. Just don’t pop a blood vessel.”

“No promises there, sir.”

John returned the salute, and the instructor turned to leave. The Puppet Master sent his own instructors with Tuckson, and other soldiers finished bringing out some of the luggage and cargo, the majority of it being left within the hold.

The students watched John nervously, seeing him wave to the plane once affairs were settled.

“If you would all board the plane once more.”

They all turned, quickly filing back into the plane and into their seats. The hatch closed after John and Umara boarded with them, the plane spinning back up.

Soon they started moving again, taking to the air.

Once stable, John stood and moved to the front. He had full attention, his smile returning.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we are now on our way to the Glass Desert proper. There, unlike Camp Phoenix, you will not only be trained in the ways of modern warfare, but you will experience true tactical combat. Humanity has been fighting battles against the Scourge in ways that have cost us hundreds of millions of unnecessary lives across history. Now, with Iron Legion, such wasteful combat is no more. You will all learn what makes us the greatest fighting force this world has ever seen. You will learn a kind of battle that will spell the eradication of the Scourge as a whole.

“Now, does anybody have any questions? Don’t be shy.”

He smiled at everyone, but nobody spoke a word.

After nearly a minute, Faey finally raised her hand, feeling like she was the only one that could.

John gazed upon her fondly.

“Yes, Faey?”

“I, uh, was wondering why the Nephilim stayed in Camp Phoenix? If I can ask that…”

Faey shrunk back a bit, knowing how sensitive the topic was. The Nephilim had been just that ever since they had started spreading.

John chuckled.

“Well it’s a simple answer, really. But first, I just want to clarify something, something that I am ordering every single one of you to do while on Iron Legion grounds.”

He leaned forward, his smile fading a bit.

“Orders are orders. The chain of command exists for a reason and every single one of you are at the furthest bottom of that chain. That means every single soldier you come across has the authority to give you all orders. However! This doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to ask questions. The backbone of Iron Legion’s success is knowledge and training. If you do not understand something, ask. If you want something clarified, ask. If you want more information, ask. Acquiring more knowledge is what’s going to not just preserve your life, but contribute to the downfall of the Scourge. All of my soldiers follow these principles, and if you ask, you will receive an appropriate answer. If you refuse to ask questions when you don’t understand something, then you are putting the lives of those around you at risk simply because you’re too nervous to speak up. So, don’t be cowardly during your time here.”

John turned back to Faey.

“And to answer your question, the Nephilim were separated from the rest of you simply because they aren’t human. Iron Legion fights for the eradication of the Scourge, which means I’m not going to train my enemies. Make no mistake, Nephilim are corrupted humans, and I will not allow anybody to sugarcoat or downplay the reality of what they are.”

The plane started rumbling, soon entering its descent phase.

After it hit the ground and landed, John stood near the hatch and faced them all.

“To all Magisterium students and Elites, I welcome you to the Glass Desert, the heart of Iron Legion.”

All the students stood from their seats and filed out after the hatch dropped.

They gazed upon the expansive airfield, planes buzzing by overhead in formations, a dozen helicopters of different shapes and sizes kicking up dust, and the sound of distant but visceral explosions giving their ears a kick.

Several armored vehicles drove up to them, soldiers jumping out and moving to silently extract the plane’s cargo after everyone stepped to the side.

A few unhelmeted individuals of great Authority walked over to John. He spoke to them for a minute before turning back to everyone.

“From now on, all you students are trainees! You are here to be educated on the art of modern warfare! Before any of you can be allowed to leave the confines of this base, however, you must receive standard issue armor and gear! These gentlemen right here will be responsible for seeing you all through processing! Just do what you’re told, don’t stray from the group, and you’ll be just fine!”

The soldiers started filing the students into the armored vehicles, Faey excited as she heard more cannon fire.

John waved as they left.

“Have fun!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep