<h4>Chapter 281: Rade</h4>


    "What the hell is going on? Which division are you with? Who''s yourmanding officer?" Rade fired off one question after another at the soldiers blocking his squad''s path.


    It was his first night off in over 2 years of serving under the royal guards but as soon as the explosion went off, he was one of the first few people that were called in to take charge of the situation.


    He was at a hotel with some very friendlydies and was having a good time, but it was ruined because of the b*stards that caused the explosion.


    Suffice it to say, it was personal for him.


    He rounded up his squad members and ran here as fast as he possibly could, but now these random soldiers from an unknown division were not even letting them pass, making them stand out here in the rain.


    His expression became unsightly as the soldiers continued to mindlessly stare back at him with vacant eyes.


    "Oi, did you hear what I said?!" he grabbed the closest one to him by the cor, lifting him up off the ground.


    "He heard you, rx. I''m themanding officer here. What do you want?"


    Just as Rade was about to throw the soldier to the ground and start punching him to next year, a husky voice came from the other side of the barricade. He turned his head sideways and saw a hooded figure standing in the darkness.


    The lower half of his body was in the light while the upper half was in the shadow of a nearby tree.


    Rade put the poor soldier down and turned to face him.


    "Who are you? What Division are you people with? On whose orders are you blocking this path?" he asked with furrowed brows.


    The hooded man jerked his hand and a military badge flew towards Rade.


    Rade''s pupils contracted. He quickly circted his Qi towards his palm and caught the badge.


    *Ssss*


    The badge was enclosed with an unknown energy that started eating away at his own Qi as soon as it came into contact with it. His brows furrowed even more but he didn''t take offense to the somewhat hostile action of the hooded man.


    He turned the badge around and looked at its symbol. There was a white striped tiger with two small wings on its back.


    "The flying tigers?" he murmured incredulously.


    ''Why are they here? This isn''t anywhere near their headquarters....'' he thought while looking up to meet the hooded man''s eyes, but the upper half of his face waspletely covered by the hood.


    Rade then took out his own badge and used its authority to verify the identity of the man in front of him. A few secondster he got the result.


    "Identity Verified."


    "Mao Yan"


    "Squad Leader: Delta Unit, Flying Tigers."


    "Currently in ''City of Fortuna''."


    Rade still had his doubts but the result was clear. He was who he imed to be. He threw the badge back.


    "Why are you blocking the way?"


    "I''m just following the orders. I was told not to let anyone pass."


    "By whose orders!? Fortuna isn''t even in your jurisdiction."


    A vein on Rade''s forehead throbbed as he heard the same line for the second time.


    "We''re at war, my friend. All of Mei is under the military''s jurisdiction," Mao Yan replied with a half-smile.


    "Well I''m pretty sure my superior has more authority than yours, and I was ordered to go check out the site of the explosion," Rade shed his own badge.


    It had a light green leaf surrounded by golden branches. The symbol of the royal guards!


    For the first time, Maoi Yan had a visible reaction. It seemed like he wasn''t expecting such a response and waspletely unprepared for it. He turned around and quickly dialed a number on his spirit band while moving away from Rade and his squad.


    A minuteter he came back.


    "You can go in," he said while gesturing towards the soldier who moved the barricade away.


    *BOOM*


    Just as Rade was about to admonish them on thews of Fortuna which specifically mentioned that the Royal Guard had authority over all matters concerning national security and that they couldn''t stop them even if they wanted to, another smaller explosion came from the same direction as the first one.


    His expression hardened.


    "Let''s go!" he shouted while getting back up on his dragon-horse.


    He gave onest look to Mao Yan and the soldiers that were getting ready to leave before setting off at full speed.


    It was only a few minutester did Rade realize something.


    "No shadow..."


    "Sir?" one of his men asked when he didn''t hear him clearly.


    "That guy, he didn''t have a shadow...or did he? Did you see it?" Rade looked towards the soldier. The soldier was of course taken aback by the sudden query, especially since it didn''t make a lot of sense. How could a person not have a shadow?


    *Tremble*


    The ground shook once again. Rade put the thought at the back of his mind and looked ahead.


    They were close enough to be able to see the smoke billowing out of the pit, and a group of people running away from it.


    "Hya!" he patted his dragon horse, making it run even faster.


    Like a streak of red, Rade shot out of the formation and towards one of the two groups that were running towards the city wall.


    "You go for the others! I''ll take those two!" he shouted towards his men before bolting off.


    As he passed by the pit, he saw the marks and remnant Qi in the atmosphere left behind after a battle.


    ''They''re not together?'' he thought.


    "Come on boy, faster!" he shouted at the red dragon horse who increased his speed once again. He cut through the rain like a bolt of lightning, closing the distance between the giant ck cat and itself.


    Rade squinted his eyes and saw two people sitting atop the beast, with a 3rd unconscious or perhaps dead body on the shoulders of one of them.


    ''Little bit more!''


    He waved his hand and a giant cleaver materialized in his grasp. It was covered with engravings from top to bottom which all started to light up one by one.