ALTER VIOLET

“Hello there Al, long time no see.”

I was startled by what I heard, no, I was startled by who said it. I quickly regained my composure and paid close attention to the person sitting in front of me.

“Don’t act so cold towards an old comrade, or did you ever consider me a comrade?” Said what sounded like a woman.

‘Old comrade, what is she talking about?’ I said to myself after trying to analyze the situation. ‘No it can’t be’. But then it hit me after seeing her appearance. Black eyes, short white hair. She didn’t even look in her late thirties but in her mid twenties. The best woman in command during the war, Grace Hiller.

“Commander, Is that you?” I said with a surprised voice. 

“Hold it there Al, I'm no longer your commander but a simple school’s director and I thought I told you to drop the ‘commander’ and call me Grace instead.” She responded while making motion with her finger. 

I was so surprised by this sudden reunion, “Is that so?” I sat down on the couch in front of her desk. 

“Surprised? That your lovely commander is now a director?” Said Grace with a smile that reached her eyes.

“A good looking woman in her thirties as a professional leader yeah but ‘lovely’ my ass.’ I said as I was holding my laughter. Grace turned to look at me and the moment her gaze landed on me, I felt a terrifying presence, “Look who’s talking, Ohh great ‘King of the War’ please tell me how you got that title again.” said grace with a sarcastic voice but then she looked at me with a apologetic expression. “Too soon to make that joke huh?” 

I faced the ground before answering, “No, no, I just did what I had to just like anyone else did.” 

“Let's change the topic now shall we.” Suddenly the atmosphere changed from light to heavy. Grace’s black eyes glowed as she stared at me, “Alter the four races are going to have a treaty.”

My eyes widened at what she just said, “Why are they doing this now?”

“Because ‘It's for the future generations of this continent’ is what his majesty said.” I started to think about the reason why it’s happening now, sure it is a good thing that the four races since they are doing everything in their power to have a treaty but I wonder what the elves think about this sudden treaty. 

“Grace, what do the elves think about this?” I said after mastering the courage to say it. After hearing what I said, Grace looked at me for a minute, “The elves think this too is a great opportunity for them to build ties with us even after the war.” 

‘I see, then there is no problem in my end.’ I thought to myself. “Oh, I forgot what happened to the Es-” I got cut off by the sudden intrusion of the secretary.

“Director Grace, there's an outbreak in one of the dungeons!” said the dwarf. “And? What do you want me to do, I’m not the adventure guild.” said Grace with an annoyed face. 

“Ma’am, that's where the students from the combat class are.” 

As soon as the secretary said that, both me and Grace turned our heads to her direction. “Elen, why didn’t you say that first!?” Grace screamed at the secretary Elen. 

“Grace, what's the matter, this isn't you right now.” I said while getting up from my seat.

“Alter, the dungeon where the students are at….” she hesitated at first, “Is where we lost contact with the Espions…” she finished her sentence with a scared and disappointing expression. 

“What do you mean, we lost contact with the Espions? Grace, tell me what’s going on!” 

“Elen, can you leave us alone for now.” 

“Ma’am what do we do about the situation?” Said Elen, “For now send as many SS-class adventurers as you can, I will be responsible for their payment.” 

“Right away ma’am.” is what Elen said before closing the door behind her. “Listen Alter, what I’m about to tell you none of the people know yet. Since the Espions are supposed to be secret law enforcement after you left. The Espions were made for one purpose only and that was to defend each kingdom from any threats that occur to them.” She handed me files about the dungeon’s discovery. 

“What does the dungeon’s discovery have to do with the Epions, Grace!?” 

“There was a report from the mercenaries that said that one of the dungeons was dangerous to us. The monsters that left the dungeon were not something a normal adventurer could fight, no, even an A-class adventurer with mana can’t fight it alone and not suffer damage.” 

To Think that this dungeon could be this dangerous. This is unbelievable, “Wait, If I remember correctly only people with the capacity to have a blue ring could be Epions since the artifact increases their ring towards violet.” 

“Yes you are right, In history only nine  people were able to unlock the blue ring or even go past it. out of those nine people, two are from each kingdom.” Grace, answered. 

“As for the ninth person to ever achieve the blue ring and especially at such a young age, we already know who that person is.” she said with a grin that made me embarrassed.

“So give it to me straight, which of the Espions did we lose contact with?” I said, trying to understand the problem. Grace looked at me, “The Espion we lost contact with is one of ours. dual-elemental mana user.” I looked at her trying to see if there was at least a glimpse of hope that is not who I think it is.

“Luna Lyric, is the Epion that we sent to investigate the dungeon.” A sad expression runned through my face and so did Grace’s face. “How long has it been?” I asked, “A week.” 

Without a thought, I got up from sitting down and decided to open the door to leave. “Where are you going?” I heard Grace say, “I'm going to the dungeon.” 

“Alter, you can’t do that, we can have your identity exposed like this.” I stopped and turned to look at Grace, “It seems like I have no choice since I’m sure you have seen her too, the daughter of the king and queen of the elves. Charlotte Bamford.”

As I started to manipulate mana around me to fly since it's a faster way to get there. I started to get memories of Luna, ‘Wait for me Luna, I'm coming old friend,’ I said in my mind as I started to fly away.

LUNA LYRIC

It’s been awhile since his majesty summoned both me and Juliette, so I knew that we had something bad going on. As I was walking down the hall towards the throne room, I saw Julie, she was the same height as me and had the same sword. Her hair was black and straight while mine was blonde with red tips. My eyes were green, Julie’s were blue.

“Hi Julie.” I said while waving my hand aggressively. 

“Hey there Luna, how have you been?” Said the black haired Epion. “I was good a few minutes ago but now I’m confused on why we were summoned.” As I looked at Julie, she looked like she already knew the gist of what's happening.

“We are about to find out.” Said Julie. As we both walked to the entrance of the throne room, the guards outside the door opened it for us and there was the royal family. 

The King, Cain Laswell, auburn hair with blue eyes, in his late thirties.

The Queen, Amina Laswell, black hair with also blue eyes, but unlike the king she looked like she was in her mid twenties.

“Espion Juliette and Espion Luna, we have information that we need to confirm but first, instead of the two of you going we only need one.” Both of us looked at each other before the queen talked. “As for the one to go and check this dungeon would be Espion Luna, the files are going to be brought to you later in the council room.” 

“You are to leave in two days, anything you would like to say Espion Luna?” said the King. “No your majesty.” 

“ Ok then you both may leave…” The both of us got ready to leave when his majesty said, “Espion Luna, you may take a hundred men with you.” I give a small bow before closing the throne door.

After that Julie and I went for a night walk to clear our minds. “The moon looks beautiful tonight.” I could feel Julie’s gaze as I watched the moon. “Have you gotten any information about the general?” Her facial expression changed.

“N-No, I haven’t gotten any new information of the general.” The maids of the castle handed us some  tea. “Do you think that the general left because we were useless against her?” Julie had tears going down her cheeks. “W-Why d-did the g-general leave us?” I reached Julie and gave her a hug trying to comfort her.

“Julie, you know that he won’t leave us without any cause.” I felt something hot rolling down my cheeks. My vision was blurry all of the sudden. The next thing I knew both of us were crying together.

“It seems like we both are still cry babies, what would the general say to both of us.” 

“He would probably give us a scolding for crying like he would always do.” 

We started to talk about how we got scolded by the general before the war and how we both got trained by him so we could at least protect those who we hold dear to. But before we knew it the heavy tiredness took over both of us, and we strafed to sleep. I wonder what will wait for me tomorrow.

This isn’t supposed to be happening. Why is there a swarm of Drakons here in the dungeon? Why are they up here? The soldiers are not a match for them, the Drakons are at least SS-rank while the soldiers are at most S-rank. ‘Damn it I have to evacuate the remaining soldiers before we get trapped here.’ I said to myself while putting a mana wall to close off the mana beasts.

“Everyone get out of here, we are to retreat, leave no man behind!” I soared to the soldiers.

I fired up a mana spell that could be powerful enough to block the drakons from following us.

Half of the squadron was badly injured and in between those badly injured were some of our strongest healers. ‘We need reinforcements and fast, that is if we want to make it alive out of this.’ I said, trying not to fall since the unexpected fight with the drakons made me almost use all my mana. 

“Captain, we have news from the adventurer guild.” I turn to see the young soldier coming up to me. He saluted before he talked, ”The adventurer guild has sent ten S-class and two SS-class adventurers, they should be here in the afternoon.” They are going to be here in the afternoon huh? 

“Very good soldier, you are dismissed.” I saluted the soldier before I sat back down trying to connect the dots in my mind as of why are there drakons in the upper floors but more importantly in groups. It didn’t make sense they usually are alone since they are greedy for their prey. Unless there is something down there scaring them to the upper floors. 

Suddenly, everything was shaking and I felt mana coming our way. I got up as fast as I could, “Soldiers get ready for combat!, the rest retreat to the surface with the injured, we will buy you guys time!” As I got ready to attack, I heard voices that sounded like students. 

I turned around to see a class of students with a person I knew from the war, Anastasia Cobb. ‘Why are they here and out all times? They need to leave now before things get too dangerous. That's when I heard screams for the other side, the soldiers from the front lines were being outclassed by the mana beasts. 

“Anastasia, tell your students to retreat to the surface now!” I said as I unsheath my sword to kill the two drakons coming my way. The first drakon flew towards me while the second attacked me from the side. I dodged the attack from the second drakon, while the first drakon was cut by one of the students' magic spells. I was amazed by it but I quickly regained my composure and finished the second drakon. “Ms. Lyric, my students and I will support you here.” Said the professor getting into a battle stance. 

Before I knew it, her students were holding their own against the drakons. I felt a slight bit of relief from this. ‘We might actually make it out of this’ I thought to myself but  god damn I was wrong. The ground started to shake, a huge pressure was being released, I felt mana being activated in the air. Next thing I knew there was a tall man with black short hair, he had purple eyes, he was wearing a type of black battle armor, his mana usage was greater than mine which meant he was powerful as a Espion. I knew he was not on our side.

As he kept walking towards us, I launched an earth spell that could hold him down, after i used fire spells to make a distraction. “Professor, take your students out of here!” I roared, I kept throwing spells trying to keep the mysterious man occupied before he tried to do anything.

“You're an interesting creature, being dual-elemental and having perfect control over them.” I turned to the right just to see him unscathed  by my spells. ‘How? How is he over there with no damage on him when I have used all my mana reserves in my spells?’ I thought,  trying to hold myself out of mana depletion. “What’s this, have you already used all your mana trying to fight those low-level gargoyles? That’s kind of disappointing.” The mysterious man was shaking his head as he said that. “Well now that you had the first attack, I think it should be my turn to have some fun.” The man let out a fierceful aura, I haven’t faced anything like this before. Even in the war there wasn’t a man that made me feel like this, I knew for a fact that I could not win against this man even if I was full of mana. Now I know this feeling. It was dreadful.