41st of Baratus, 3002
2977 days to the Cataclysm

Dozens of recruits waited in a hallway at the navy headquarters. The two year training period for the 412th batch of recruits had come to an end, and each recruit was given a choice to choose between the three factions; Navy, Air Force, and the Army. Those who wished to join the Navy were all waiting their turn in line for the final step; an interview with Admiral Zinedine Martinez Westbrook.

Everyone was nervous, and understandably so. They had just spent the last two years of their lives undergoing the most rigorous training regimen on the planet, and for all of that to hinge on a single interview, that's borderline cruelty. Out of the three factions, the Navy was by far the largest, boasting an impressive total of around two million soldiers, almost the exact amount of the Air Force and Army combined.

To an outsider, those numbers seem impressive, but nowhere near as impressive to those with insider knowledge. Zinedine is infamous for declining nearly seventy percent of recruits each year. And for the Navy to boast such strength, is a testament to the leadership demonstrated at the top. Leadership that attracts thousands of soldiers each year, although most of them are aware that they will be turned down anyway..

"Shirozou Elric!" said a voice over the speaker.

Elric walked out of the line and towards the office. He wasn't the same person he was two years ago. His neatly tied hair that once reached down only to his shoulders now reached down all the way to his hips. His goal to overthrow Zark that once shared the haziness of his memories, set itself apart to become the propelling factor in his life.

He was different now. He knew it. He felt it. But nobody else did. Surprisingly enough, he was able to maintain his childish exterior, leading the world to believe he was the same person after all.

He opened the door to the admiral's office and walked right in, shutting it behind him. He looked around and saw Zinedine leaning back on his chair. Elric proceeded to sit across from him, but Zinedine signaled him to keep standing.

"I like to maintain a certain code in the navy," he said. "That code doesn't only apply to how you act, but also to how you look. You really think I'd like someone who looks like you to join the navy?"

"I- I can cut it off," stammered Elric.

"So you're going to succumb to a proposition like that so easily?"

"I'm so confused, sir. Tadashi told me th-"

"So Tadashi told you, eh?" interjected Zinedine. "You got insider information about a top tier interview. Do you know what the consequence of that is? You get booted."

"Bu- but Tadashi offered me that information. I didn't even ask him. He should be the one to get booted."

"Listen, Shirozou," said Zinedine getting up from his seat. "If I had a chance to boot either you or Tadashi, I'd boot you twice."

"How can you boot me twice? You said if you had 'a chance,' singular. It's not possible to boot me twice."

"Exactly, that's how worthless you are to me compared to Tadashi."

Zinedine picked up a file from his table and threw it at Elric.

"Get out of my office, don't show your face around here again," he said.

"But sir, at least gi-"

"I said, get out."

Elric hastily picked up the fallen papers and bolted out of the office. The recruits that stood in the hallway burst into laughter, an act that displeased Zinedine greatly. He walked out of his office and said;

"You people find amusement in the failure of your colleagues? None of you are worth joining the Navy. Leave the headquarters immediately. All of you."

"Sir, we're very sorry. We will not repeat this behavior again," said a recruit.

"There's no room for mistakes. We are at war, a single mistake can get you killed. I don't need that on my conscience. I'm not hiring disrespectful brats who are going to get themselves killed the moment they set foot outside,"

"But sir, this is an interview. We aren't at war now," the recruit protested.

Zinedine gave the recruit a deadly stare and walked towards her.

"2 years ago, Zark announced war on the world. Hours later Zilevo attacked Eirini and ever since we've been fending off attacks from smaller nations. What if Panemorfus or Magnus decide to invade? You think it will be that easy? Get it through your head, the Navy is the first line of defense against invaders, we cannot afford mistakes. Go try your luck with the Army or the Air force, because you're not welcome here."

"It's not our fault tha-"

The recruit was interrupted by Zinedine flooding the offices with water. The recruits were dragged along with the current and were washed into the ocean. When they resurfaced, they saw Tadashi flying above them with a pair of diamond wings, laughing hysterically.

"Let me guess. Someone screwed up. Y'all laughed. Admiral Westbrook washed you out, right?" he said.

"Exactly." said the recruits in unison.

"I'd like to say this was the fastest any batch of recruits has been rejected, but it's actually prevalent here," he continued. "And if I were to take a wild guess, I'd say the recruit who screwed up was Elric, right?

"FUCK YOU!" screamed Elric.

The rest of the recruits stared at Elric begrudgingly as Tadashi plucked him out of the ocean and flew away.

"Leave me alone, you set me up!" said Elric as he tried to break free of Tadashi's hold.

Tadashi didn't say a word, and Elric kept struggling. Minutes later, they landed in an open field. Tadashi tossed Elric onto the ground, and Elric immediately hopped onto his feet.

"WHY WOULD YOU SET ME UP?!" screamed Elric.

"Do you want to join the Navy?" replied Tadashi, with a stern expression on his face.

"YES! I didn't waste two years for nothing."

"I see, where is your Skotono?"

"It's in the house."

"We're at war, and you don't have your Skotono on you at all times? Every second I speak to you makes me feel Admiral Westbrook was right," said Tadashi, shaking his head in disappointment. He took out a circular device from his pocket and tossed it over to Elric.

Elric caught it and inspected it, with no idea as to what it was.

"Put that on the palm of your dominant hand," said Tadashi.

Elric followed his brother's instructions, and the device molded itself around his hand in the form of a glove.

"What's this?" he asked, confused.

"It's called a 'Delect.' It's used to call upon your Skotono at any time. I had one made, specially for yours," replied Tadashi.

"When did you do that? This is the first time I let my Skotono out of my sights."

"Because your Skotono was made by me. I know you've always wanted fire."

"What!" exclaimed Elric. "Why would you do that? You don't even want me to join the military, so why would you help me?"

"You seem to think of me as a tyrant who stops you from doing what you want for my own amusement. Now I can't change that anymore, but the least I can do is show you what you're up against."

"What do you mean by 'show me what I'm up against'?"

"I mean. Fight me. Show me what you've got. If you're good enough, I'll put in a word for you. Unless you're scared."

"Scared?" scoffed Elric. "You think I'm scared of an overrated vice-admiral? Think again. By the way, where's your delect?"

"I don't need one. The Shirozou and The Kurokami don't require delects. They're mystical. They're bound to the user itself. But the truth is, I don't need my Skotono. In fact, I don't need to use my hands at all to kick your ass," said Tadashi, stuffing his hands into his pocket. "You win if you make me use my hands, deal?"

Elric smiled as a long shimmery sword with a black fuller and a red-black hilt flew into his hands.

"Nuh-uh. You lose when you surrender," he said.

Tadashi smiled at his brother's confidence but didn't say a word.

Elric lunged at Tadashi, who swiftly hopped to the side and landed a kick that sent him flying.

"Lunging at your opponent in the first try? You can do better than that," he said.

"Oh just you wait," replied Elric, with a smirk across his face as he got back onto his feet. He tapped his sword on the ground and lunged at Tadashi once again, only to yield the same result, just in a different direction. He continued to lunge at Tadashi at multiple times, with the only difference each time being the direction he was sent flying.

"Brother, you're just embarrassing yourself," said Tadashi, disappointed.

"Well, bro, remember about what we learned about 'auras'"? said Elric, out of breath.

"Yeah, obviously. It's one of the most basic concepts of battle,"

"Every Xenocyte or Imperium wielding Sapiocyte produces their element by changing the atomic composition of the air around them. Now everyone has a column of air around them in addition to their own body that belongs to them alone, no other person can use that column for their own element. That column of air is called an aura, remember?"

"Yeah, I said I remember, now you're just showing off."

"So I have a theory. What if, the user's element already exists in someone else's aura. Can they manipulate it?"

Tadashi had to stop and think for a second. "What's Elric getting at here?" he thought to himself.

"I mean, I guess, yeah."

"Yeah well, you see Tadashi," said Elric, sheathing his sword and walking towards Tadashi. "I noticed it alright. And I thought about using that knowledge because it's something people tend to overlook."

"Yeah, man, sure. Congrats," replied Tadashi rolling his eyes.

Elric smiled and said;

"I'd like to call this, Flame Prison."

Elric snapped his fingers. Seconds later, the ground started to rumble, and walls of flame broke out of the field from all directions. They merged until Tadashi found himself in a fiery dome. He smiled when he realized what Elric was trying to do. By surrounding him with fire, Elric got him into his playing field now. Tadashi's chest swelled up with pride. His little brother is finally showing some promise after all these years. He looked at Elric and said;

"You didn't have to name it or snap your fingers,"

"Well, we all do things to look cool, you know," replied Elric.

"Ironically, that line is coming from someone with hair like that," mocked Tadashi

"HEY FUCK YOU! MY HAIR IS AMAZING, NOW GET READY TO GET YOUR ASS KICKED!"

With that, numerous pillars of fire emerged from the surrounding dome, all aimed at Tadashi. He gracefully dodged the pillars and landed a kick to Elric's face.

Elric was pushed back by the sheer power of the kick, but he managed to stay on his feet. Blood trickled out of his mouth, but he quickly wiped it off. For years he looked up to his brother, and finally, he gets to compete with him on the same level. That thought alone was enough to bring a smile on his face.

The two exchanged multiple blows, with Tadashi stealing the lions share of the lot. It took a good 30 minutes of fighting until Tadashi decided he had had his fun, this fight dragged on for  far too long. He hopped back a distance away from Elric and said;

"Let me show you something dad used to teach me."

He took out a coin from his pocket and spun it around his fingers.

"You know what this is?" he asked, to which Elric replied in the negative. "This is an insignia you get for joining the Navy. It has no value, in fact most soldiers lose this days after getting it and nobody really cares, you see."

"So what's your point?" asked Elric.

Tadashi smiled. Without saying a word he flipped the coin high into the air.

"Ooh, let me guess," said Elric, unimpressed. "Heads means I lose and tails mean I win, that's s-"

Elric was forced to eat his words as he felt a knee to the stomach that knocked his wind out. Less than a second later, he felt another hit, this time to his neck, and another, to his face. The hits kept coming without mercy and without interval. To his face, to his back, to his knees, to his stomach, to his neck.

It was all so fast, it almost felt like each impact happened at the same time. Like his entire body was being crushed under the weight of his shameful loss. But it did come to an end eventually, when one final hit to the gut sent him flying out of the dome.

Tadashi firmly planted his feet onto the ground and pushed himself back to his initial spot, just in time to catch the falling coin before it made contact with the ground. He looked around triumphantly but groaned the moment he realized he kicked Elric too far away. 

"Shit, he didn't see how badass that was," he said to himself.

He heard Elric heavily gasping for air right outside the dome. Tadashi wondered if he had gone too far, until he heard a scream;

"I GIVE YOU 5 SECONDS TO SURRENDER!"

"Give me 5 years and still I won't surrender to the likes of you," he replied.

"Well then, I hope they remember you," said Elric.

He struggled to get back on his feet, still holding his stomach in pain. With whatever was left of his stamina, he concentrated all of his ability into the dome and seconds later, it started to close in on Tadashi. 

"C'mon, surrender, surrender, surrender!" Elric thought to himself.

Elric waited, but he did not hear Tadashi surrender. He wondered whether or not he would have to burn his brother to the ground to make him surrender. Those thoughts didn't stick though, because the dome stopped closing in. Elric raised his eyebrows in confusion. Whatever he tried to do, he could not close in the dome further.

In the distance, he saw something approaching. He looked closely to see what it was, but the moment he found out, it was too late. That 'something' he saw approaching, was Tadashi's skotono, The Shirozou.

It flew into a dome, and the fire dispersed. Immediately, he saw massive serpentine columns of diamond aimed right at him. He tried to dodge, but was too injured to maneuver himself around them and got trapped. Tadashi walked towards Elric triumphantly and said;

"You talk a great deal about auras, but do you really know how they work?"

Elric didn't say a word. He was too preoccupied digesting his painful loss to do so.

"The further the column of air, the weaker your influence on them," Tadashi continued. "There are three levels to an aura. The first level is your own body. That's an aura every being has, regardless of their training. Nobody can manipulate or create an element at this level. Go a little further, you reach the second level, nobody can create or manipulate an element at this level as well. Go a bit further, you reach the third level, nobody can create an element, but they can still manipulate a preexisting element, as you said. The second and third levels can be bypassed if the person lets their guard down and all three levels can be bypassed if the person chooses to calm their aura. You reached the second level of my aura, or to be precise, I 'let' you reach that. After that, it's useless to even try and close in your so-called 'Flame Prison' anymore. Did they really not teach you this?"

"Then how were you able to trap me in this?" asked Elric.

"Firstly, your aura is weak and really small, but that's not the real reason. All the creating and manipulating of diamond I did was way out of the reach of your aura. All I did was physically push my element towards you. Nothing is stopping you from doing that."

"I see, I think I do remember them telling us about this," said Elric as Tadashi released him from his restraints.

"So I guess this means you won't put in a word for me, right?"

"Nah, I lost," replied Tadashi.

"What? You never surrendered."

"Surrendering was your dumbass criteria that was never going to happen anyway. My condition was to use my hands, which I did. Hence I lose."

"Oh wow, thanks Tadashi. So you're going to put a word in for me after all?"

"No."

"What the fuck? You just sai-"

"I know what I said. But the commander has other ideas."

"THE COMMANDER!" exclaimed Elric.

"Yeah. Every year, he chooses one squad to be promoted above the three factions, to a secret fourth faction. Since the members of this faction cannot have their identities revealed, they are first made to believe they were rejected in their interviews. Then the commander calls them in to brief them about their mission. This year, A412 was chosen."

"Really!" said Elric, excited that he doesn't have to leave the rest of the squad anymore. "What's this faction called?"

"It's called... The Black ops."