2 months ago

"Alll right. Let's get this shit done and over with so I can send you all to fight my battles" Ray said cracking his back inside the living room.

"Couldn't you have said it in a more comforting way?" Shia said slightly uncomfortable with how Ray described the obligation he had placed upon herself and her team.

"It's the truth ain't it?" Ray retorted being faced with a deadpanned look from both Troy and Kichiro, unamused from their respective Teacher/ Relative.

Team TAMS we're all seated around the room fully prepared for combat. They dressed in protective clothes laced with lightweight bulletproof wiring.

The room was a casual living room of dark brown paint. The door leading to the junkyard was set just opposite the TV where a brown sectional couch had been placed. A glass coffee table had been put in between the couch and the flatscreen tv which hung on the wall. Next to the couch were two lamps opposite each other that had been seated on nightstands. Finally, on the same wall, the TV had been placed upon where the flight of stairs leading to the upper level of the house. It was a good two and a half meters of distance from the TV.

Ray had the lights turned off leaving only the TV to illuminate the room with blue light being emitted.

"Okay. I know the last mission was a bust. But you're better now. I've seen you guys improve in your combat training and relationships with one another. Now is the time to really put it to the test. Before then, however, it's time I told you guys an important aspect of combat whether you fight as a team, or individually. Especially in the Metal Continent" Ray said with a stern voice.

"Hoooly shit. He's serious" Shizu said somewhat shocked at their normally laid-back mentor's change in behaviour.

This change had caught everyone's attention, especially Kichiro's. Kichiro had not seen his uncle this serious in a long time sans the moment Tori had stumbled to the house.

"What I'm about to teach you four is how to properly judge your opponent's strength by tiers," Ray said putting a display of ten humanoid figures upon the TV.

"When it comes to judging the strength of your opponents, you must determine which of the ten tiers they fall into relating to strength and combat capability. Sub-human, below average, average, above average, Professional, Special ops, Soldier, Elite, General, and Warlord" Ray said revealing the Ten tiers.

"To finalize a tier, you must compare them to the middle tier, Professional. Professional as in Pro-fighters. The lowest tier is Sub-human. Sub-human's are people who do not fight others whatsoever. Those who fit this tier are, elders above 75 years of age, physically disabled beings, or young children under the age of 5 years. They have a zero percent chance of defeating a pro." Said Ray explaining the lowest tier.

"Following that as the second-lowest tier is Below average. Below average is just that, people of below-average combat capabilities. Those who fit this tier are seniors aged between 60-74, children, shut in's, and non physically active people of low body portions in muscle and fat. They have a fifteen percent chance of defeating pros"

" Next we got Average. Not much explaining is needed. The average is just your everyday person. They ain't fighting much. Doing the requirements to maintain a normal body figure and such. People fitting this tier are general highschool students, and some middle-aged adults. They have a thirty percent chance of defeating pros."

"Now we get to the final tier before reaching the standard, Above Average. There isn't a huge difference between the above averages and normal averages. Just that they are more capable of physical activities, have a slightly more toned body and regularly get exercise. People fitting this tier would be young adults- adults. They have a forty percent chance of defeating pros" Ray said taking a slight yawn after

"Now here's where things get interesting. Now we reach the standard of combat. Pros. Pros are those who are more prone to partaking in combat. Usually, it's just street fights and maybe some martial art sparring. However, the easiest way to identify a pro is by occupation. Police officers, boxers, thugs and such. When out on missions, these are the ones you are most likely to encounter. Since they are the standard, naturally they have a fifty percent chance of defeating another pro" Ray said a bit more energetic.

"Shia, since you are the last when it comes to general strength and normal combat capabilities, you are a pro. However! You are a High pro when it comes to scaling. You are a more capable fighter than most pro's, however, you don't quite match the other tiers" Ray explained

"Yay! I'm special!" Shia said pleased with her tier

"Next up is special ops. Special ops are the leaders of pros. These count as police chiefs, world-renowned boxers and martial artists, assassins(foreshadowing) and hitmen. They have a seventy-five percent chance of defeating pros. They are even able to fight five above averages with little difficulty."

"Kid, when I first met you, I believe at the time, you were a mid-special op. Mid means you define the requirement but don't exceed nor stray from it. Interestingly though, Shizu. You are actually a special op yourself. You and kid trained together often which raised your fighting capability higher than your sister.'' Ray explained

"LETS GOOOOOOO" Shizu shouted in excitement from the revelation. Troy however looked down in slight disappointment from learning his body's previous tier.

"Then, there's Soldier which is just that... soldier. Military training, blah, blah. Have a ninety percent chance of winning, blah, blah, can beat two special ops. Nephew, your a high soldier, yaddy ya" Ray said trying to speed up the explanation

"Wait what-" Kichiro said before being cut off.

"Neeeext, we got elite. The best soldiers in the armies. They actually have a one hundred percent chance of beating pros. They can also defeat five special ops.  And kid... that woman from the day before the separation... she's an elite. But seeing as how you and Tsuki managed to wound her, I would say she's a low elite at best" Ray said looking at Troy who nodded as a response.

" So wait. If Elites can totally defeat the standards with no chance of losing... what are the other two??" Shia asked

"The second last is General. The leader of armies. These guys are people you four NEED to avoid. They have enough power that if they were to fight a city-scale amount of pro's... they would come out on top" Ray said with slight hesitation.

The team felt a shiver run up each of their spines.

"That strength.. it almost sounds unreal... Almost terrifying to even imagine" Kichiro said still trying to process the information

"Nephew, if you think that's scary... your not ready to learn about the final tier. Warlord" Ray said actually hesitant.

Fear and worry were visible through the team's individual expressions. Each was shocked and concerned that now, their mentor was hesitant himself. This was the case until Ray chuckled slightly. Now, confusion had been formed on each of their faces. The chuckling then fully evolved to a full-on laugh. TAMS remained silent as Ray continued laughing for what felt like several minutes.

"Ahhhhhh," Ray said letting out bliss from laughing for so long even wiping a tear from his eye.

"Uncle..... you okay?" Kichiro asked carefully

Ray rubbed his face with a single hand slightly showing slight exhaustion.

"Team. The thing about Warlords is that people can't become Warlords just from Training. Warlords only gain that power from supernatural abilities" Ray explained

"Supernatural abilities?" Troy asked

Ray nodded. "Of course, these abilities must relate to combat. If you master these abilities. Nations, armies. Even the world, will fear you. A Warlord can defeat a full army with zero- slight difficulty. However, there's only one Warlord in the world"

"Waitwaitwait. If there's only one... how do you know they even exist?" Shizu asked.

Without even responding, Ray turned away from the team only showing his back to them. Ray then took a deep breath in. What he did next would grant a new perspective to the team.

Ray turned back to face the team with a serious and almost angry expression.

TAMS's eyes were wide open when they saw his face.

"Because Green. I'm the only one" Ray said with eyes glowing crimson red.

"I'm the only Warlord"
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In the Capitol

In a Royal and luxurious room were four citizens of the Metal Continent all wearing formal and grand attires.

The room was lit with a large chandelier which hung several meters over a red clothed dining table which extended for what seemed to be ten meters in length.

The room itself was painted white with golden streaks painted along it's walls. The floor was also pure white and polished.

At the table appeared to be a middle aged women of Latin heritage. She was sat at the far end of the table wearing a pure silver crown of sorts, accustomed with expensive diamonds which she wore over top her black, mid length hair. She wore make up to touch up her appearance, looking much younger then she actually was. Her clothing consisted of a deep purple robe which covered her upper body, to her waist. Underneath was a lined white dress. She accompanied this with a white skirt which reached her knees. Lastly she wore a pair of luxury white heels.

At the head of the table, all the way towards the end of the room which had a large glass window as a wall was an elderly women of European heritage. The elderly women was dressed in a full black themed dress, as though it were for widowed women. Her attire was very similar to that of the white heeled women. She had very visible wrinkled upon her face but did not use cosmetics to touch up her appearance. Her clothing consisted of that which could be seen at funerals. She wore a black dress from the victorian era that covered her whole body. Her most notable piece of clothing was her mesh hat that widowed women often wore to funerals on top her short grey hair.

Opposite to her direction was a twelve year old boy. He had blonde hair, green eyes and had freckles on his cheeks. For clothes, he wore a long-sleeved dress shirt with a bow tie with cargo shorts and laced dress shoes.

It was the same boy Team HRTT had encountered on the Plane two months ago.

"Say mother. Do you know why father called us all to the dining room? Dinner is not for another hour?" The boy asked to the white heeled women in an english accent.

The white heeled women who had now been revealed to the be the mother of the boy faced her son and smiled

"Oh Vincent. We must work on your impatience. We only arrived to the room a few minutes ago. The castle is spacious and your father must still be on his way" The Mother spoke addressing the boy as Vincent.

"You are right mother. I will try to be more patient as we wait. May I get a hug?" Vincent asked his mother almost childishly.

"Of course you may" The mother said in a calm and gentle manner opening her arms.

Vincent ran over to his mother and hugged her gently. When they had separated, Vincent looked over to the elderly women.

"Grandmother. May I get a hug from you as well?" Vincent asked his grandmother in a childish manner.

The grandmother nodded slightly. Vincent slowly walked over and gently hugged the women.

"... You're hugs mirror that of your grandfather..." The grandmother said as she hugged back. "You've done well raising a fine young man, Gloria" The grandmother said addressing the mother now as Gloria.

Gloria smiled warmly at the grandmother. "Thank you" Gloria said placing a hand on top the  grandmothers hand.

At the end of the room, two guards smiled at the scene. The guards wore identical uniforms consisting of fur, grey jackets, white dress pants and silver boots. They each held spears in their hands while guarding entrance behind them.

At that moment, a large door behind the two guards opened. Instinctively, the guards moved forward and spoke.

"Pronouncing, his highness! Ezekiel Hill!" The guards announced in unison

Through the doors was Ezekiel walking towards the three at the table with Anna following behind.

From a full body view, you could tell that Ezekiel was of Latin heritage similar to Gloria. He had dark hair that reached his neck and a bit of facial hair consisting of a well maintained moustache and a slight beard.

In the light, he was visibly a tall individual, easily over 6"4 and had a slight muscular tone.

"Father!" Vincent exclaimed excitedly running towards is father before embracing him in a hug.

"Oh Zeke" Gloria said in sultry and loving tone seeing her husbands arrival.

Ezekiel smiled and patted his sons head.

"Hello son. Gloria. Mother"he said greeting everyone in the room.

"Oh father, we have much to discuss! Will we be able to go to the arena together as you promised?!" Vincent excitedly asked his father.

Ezekiel smiled.

"Of course my som. Anything for you" he replied.

Vincent jumped up and down in excitement. He eventually missed a step and fell over.

Anna chuckled slightly and helped Vincent up.

"Thank you, eldest Sister" Vincent said officially claiming Anna as his eldest sister.

Ezekiel turned to face the guards.

"If you will excuse us. I believe it is time we all talk in private" He said to the guards signalling them to leave.

The guards left smiling and bowed before leaving.

Once they left, the loving atmosphere in the room faded immediately.

Anna had dropped Vincent without looking him in the eye as she did

"Bitch.." he muttered finding a seat.

Gloria and Anna's eyes met as Anna walked further down the table.

"Daughter" Gloria said addressing her Daughter's appearance.

"Mother..." Anna responded with venom in her voice.

Anna sat at the table refusing to greet her grandmother.

"Okay. Now that we are all here. Let us discuss why you were called" Ezekiel stated in a serious matter.

"Better be worth it. My... ahem. Employees shall be chaperoning me further in the capitol for a meeting" Gloria impatiently stated.

Ezekiel glared slightly at his wife

"Better not get pregnant" he said in a threatening manner

"Don't be upset because you can't Zeke" Gloria said to her husband.

Vincent groaned as he put his feet on the table.

"Ugh. Can we just hurry along. I hate dealing with your bickering..." He complained.

"Shut it. The only reason WHY we're all unfortunately here is because of you!" Anna angrily said to her younger brother.

Vincent took his feet off the table to glare at his sister.

"How?! I've been inside all day. What, are you taking YOUR failure from yesterday out on me?! Are you that much of an idiot?" Vincent asked his sister in a mocking tone.

Anna angrily stepped onto the table, her heel denting it slightly as she unsheathed her sword from her hip holster.

"You wanna go?!-"

"ENOUGH!" Zeke said slamming his balled up fist into the corner of the table causing it to break.

Immediately and fearfully, Anna jumped off the table and sat back down with her head down.

Vincent gulped slightly.

Gloria sweated slightly.

The grandmother was the only one to not react.

Ezekiel sat at the further end of the table.

"Vincent. Tell me. When you were in Japan a couple of months ago. You claim to have succeeded, correct?" Ezekiel calmly asked his son

"Y-yes father. I successfully retrieved the target and eliminated threats-" Vincent answered before he was cut off by his father snapping his own fingers causing him to quiver.

"Wrong" Zeke said quietly.

Vincent had a horrified expression on his face. He quickly stood up with his palms bracing himself on the table.

"Preposterous! When myself and my forces entered Japan, we waited on the plane as father ordered! When I had caught sight of the target and they're accomplices one was eliminated!" Vincent desperately tried to explain

"Vincent" Zeke said staring into his eyes.

The stare had caused Vincent to become even more fearful.

"I-I SAW IT! A THREAT WAS SHOT RIGHT OUT THE PLANE AND WAS PLUMMETING TO THEIR DEMISE! THEN THE SOLDIERS SUBDUED THE OTHER TWO FATHER! I PROMISED, I DID NOT SPARE ANYONE THIS TIME! I SWEAR!" Vincent cried and pleaded for his father's approval.

Anna looked away knowing what would come next as Gloria grinned at her son's disarray.

Zeke then stood up and slowly walked over to his son who was frozen in fear of his brother.

Anna had her hands tightly gripping her knee caps. She had worry on her face and decided to speak.

"Father wai-" she said stopping mid sentence when she saw her father hugging her younger brother.

Vincent was utterly shocked by his father's actions. Such so that he could not find the will to move. Ezekiel's grip was firm but not strong in the sense that Vincent was unable to break free. In fact it was gentle. Almost loving. A feeling neither of the siblings knew from their parents.

" I understand my child" Zeke said comforting his son who was still in shock.

" I don't" Gloria said scoffing as she rested her elbow on the edge of the table using her hand to support her head. "How could you have not known. Did I raise a failure?" Gloria said mockingly to her son.

"N-no mother- I" Vincent said being cut off from a glass object shattering across his head from being thrown at him.

Gloria had thrown a tall, empty wine glass at him. Vincent had collapsed from this and struggled to get back up.

"I understand that you are nothing more than an impudent child who will never rise to our expectations" Ezekiel said squatting to his son who was starting to bleed from his head.

Anna gripped her knees tighter, frightened from the cruel reality of her family life.

"For your failure. We must come together as the royal family and handle this man once and for all. If she were to find out of his arrival, all of our plans go to waste. And we can not have that!" Ezekiel said powerfully.

Vincent held on to a chair breathing heavily as everyone else continued to listen to Zeke.

"The Capitol must not hear a word, rumour or even have the idea of their being an intruder within the continent. Everything is riding on the public and her staying within our control. As such, I have invited another guest along with Kodaka. Him and I still have much to discuss. As for our other guest, they have fought the four intruders before. They shall assist us on eliminating them quickly before they can reach the capitol" Zeke announced.

" Ugh. Another foreign trash with no wealth entering? I thought we had standards Zeke" Gloria said in disgust.

"We must adapt to win the war Gloria" Zeke said standing up and walking to the door.

"Mother. I promise you. I will not let our plans go to waste" Zeke said looking back at the elderly women in black. The women did not respond.

"And to you all. Not one word of this is to escape this room" Zeke coldly and sternly said to his family.

" She must be controlled"
———————
With Green and Blue

"Jeez, these people need new clothes.." Said Green still shivering from the cold environment.

The duo did notice the lack of colour within the crowd walking on the metal plates. Although the races within the environment all varied greatly, everyone was in old grey clothing that had rips and tears with in them.

The people's faces were also noticeably dirty and pale, the latter likely being from the cold. The people were also very thin, as though they had gone several days without eating.

"Seems like they need a lot of things..." Blue quietly said to himself as he walked along the crowd, still absorbing his and Greens surroundings.

"Sir please! He'll die without food! It's been over a week" a voice cried outside the crowd.

Curiosity had entered the duo as they decided to see what was happening. They had bumped into a few people before that had exited.

In front of them was a young boy holding another young child at a soldier's foot. They were in a metal alley way. The younger boy had his head bowed.

"A full week you say? You're parents card should've have been funded.." the soldier said to the young boy.

"Our mother and father have not returned from Ironis!" The kid explained detailing where his parents currently were.

"The factory city. That's a full day's trip to when walking" The soldier addmitted

"Yes! They left over a week ago to claim work and earn us money on the card! They couldn't leave us with much... It barely lasted 2 meals, a-and they were supposed to be back today sir! I don't know where they are!" The kid continued. The smaller child he was holding was much shorter then the kid himself whom was only 3 feet tall. The child was pale as cement and thin enough to see bone layer. The kid was not exaggerating when he said that the child would die without food.
"Please sir, I'm begging you for anything! An apple, a single slice of bread! I-I'll even take your bowel wastes! Anything"

"You'll even take my shit?" The soldier asked, shocked by the kids offer.

"Yes! Any nourishment at all!" The kid complied. He got down further on his knees and archer his back so his face would be planted on the cold, metal ground. 

The soldier, still standing above the children stared down at them with a blank face. It was not uncommon of people of this city to beg. After all, they were the most poor city within the continent. As such, being from a more stable city, the soldier felt nothing but disgust to the child.

"I see... disgusting TRASH!" The soldier said kicking the young boy in the face.

End

Author: Hooba Dooba

Yeah so, originally this chapter was supposed to be the end of this whole little plotline of entering the MC and finishing the Troy/Kichiro flashback arc but I wanted to release some content.

So getting into the actual story-

The power system is measured not by physical strength, but combat Capabilities.

As explained it goes from, Sub-Human all the way to war lord.

For anyone wondering

People such as Kiyo, Kirumi and Tori's grandparents are Subhumans due to brittle bodies.

In the original book (We R Who We Were V3), most of the cast excluding Gonta, Himiko and Kaito were Below- Average in tier.

Gonta was a high above average

Himiko was a low above average

And Kaito was standard Above average

(By the way the High/Low/Standard are just to describe their level in that tier list. Gonta is stronger than the common Above average but not as strong as a pro fighter. Himiko is still weaker than the common Above average but is not as much as weak as the average)

Further more, for anyone else mildly curious. Since receiving their weapons, team Honey, Rosé and Tsuki were all Above Average with it going from Tsuki being a high, Honey being standard and Rosé being low. Tori, being more experienced was previously a standard Special Ops.

In the resistance, although they haven't engaged combat, after sometime of using your talent, they are all above average. It's achieved through their way of thinking. More will be explained in the Resistance story line.

However, there are a few stand out characters to explain within the resistance.

The stand out characters are, Hajime, Akane, Fuyuhiko, Toko and Komaru.

Komaru is a standard Pro

Toko is a high special ops

Fuyuhiko is a low special ops

Akane is a low elite

And currently within the resistance, Hajime is the strongest as a general due to his talent/talents. (Yes, he still has all of Izuru's abilities).

Within TAMS.

Shia is the lowest in tiers. She doesn't exactly fight in the sense like Troy and Kichiro. However, her destructive capabilities if put to the max surpasses both.

Shizu is next. He is weaker than Tori was but is close to his strength a low special ops.

Kichiro is second as a high soldier. However, his potential actually surpasses that of Troy.

Last is Troy who is the most experienced and is a standard elite.

They will all get stronger in the future.

Lastly is Ray. When Ray said he is the only one, he meant that he is the only war lord. That is a fact. He is the only warlord and is therefore the strongest character in the series as whole.

However! I plan for 3 more warlords to appear. 1 in this book, a second in book 4. And the last in Book 5/6.

The warlords are unparalleled in combat capabilities.

Moooooving on

About the Antagonists.

They are called The Hill Family and they are the monarchs of the MC.

At the top is Ezekiel (and yes, I am choosing to spell it that way for a reason). He is the king of the MC and the overall ruler. He is a High General.

Next is Gloria Hill. She is the queen of the MC. Fun note on Gloria, I intend to make her the most hated character in the book. Why? Because fuck Gloria. You'll find out why.

You've already met Anna. She is a high elite.

Next is Vincent. Yes, he is the one who HAD Tori shot of the plane and captured the others. But as you can see, he did it for more than the idea of him just being "evil". Fun Fact, through how I've planned him, he may end up being one of my favourite characters in the book.

And lastly is the old lady. She is Ezekiel's mother and is named Elizabeth. Not much to say about her other than you will want to punch an old lady.

And that's about it except for one thing.

This is a personal message to someone who I will not address by name or username, but they know who they are.

I understand that we have gone our separate ways, I understand your feelings and will not contact you as promised.

HOWEVER(by the way not mad, just putting emphasis on it) I have planned for them the be an integral part of the story and understand if you want them removed. All you have to do is message me that you want them removed and it's done. The story will progress without them. I kindly ask you to send on message directly to me and not reveal yourself. I will not respond but know that I have seen your message and that I will do as requested. Thank you for understanding.

Anyways, I'm not dead so new chapters soon,

Later