Chapter 306 - Port Elte

The salty aroma of the sea breeze tickled the nose. Waves flowed and crash mercilessly a few kilometers away on a cliff. From blue to white with a fizzing sound, the mid-day sun blazed without restraint. Above, the roar of airplanes flying around with a green and black tail. Docked, a large black and red ship cast a shadow on the port as the sun made way to the west. 

"Sure, took yer time," stood with guns at the ready, around ten-men with black glasses with empty emblems. Members of Phantom in the company of others bearing a differing style of suits – one distinct to Godfather Renaud's guards. 

"We do apologize for the trouble," disembarked in an orderly fashion, soldiers in green uniform with a yellow dragon on their chest. "Lieutenant Read at your service," spoke out the leader. 

"Lieutenant you say," voiced one of the Phantoms, "-we'd like to examine the arms before continuing the deal, is that adequate?" he asked with a cigar in mouth.

"Sure thing," he turned and faced four trucks covered by a heavy dark blanket. *Clang,* one of the wooden crates broke open, "-these are the Antis-V2, we intercepted a shipment a few weeks ago," the lieutenant continued explaining how they came to possess the cargo. 

"Looks to be in order," voiced the buyer as he jumped off the truck. Rejoined with the team who glared fearlessly at the army-men, the opposite soldiers weren't discouraged, rather, their fingers itched. 

"Now then Lieutenant," backed by his men, the deal took place in a supply depot of the Eastern Kingdom. Secluded which was used as a port before the war. Located at the south of the Eastern continent; a mountain range protected the port. The only way of access was either by sea or a path that went around the mountain towards the East. Heavily barricaded, most of the forces were called to move further in-land as the Western Kingdom took the initiative with harder than before attacks. "The rate is 300 Gold per rifle."

"Preposterous," lashed out the army-man, the face visibly on edge. The lack of men around had caused the lieutenant to shudder. "The deal was 325 per unit, you can't change the deal without notice," gestured strongly with his hands, the message didn't reach Phantom.

"Those are the orders I got, don't shoot the messenger as they say," giving a nonchalant shrug, Read grew annoyed. 

"How dare you!" he yelled, "-we got offered 310 Gold per unit by another country. Why the f.u.c.k would we go for such a deal," turned, "-tell your boss to go shove it." *BANG,* one of his squadmates had his head exploded; the blood splashed onto the Lieutenant's face. 

"JOHN," turned in anger, "-SHO…" numerous heads of men peaking from the ship had their gun aimed. 

"Lieutenant Read," spoke the Phantom,"-I forgot to mention a tiny detail," he smiled. "There also came another order from the top, in case the deal doesn't go through; we'd forcefully take the cargo in addition to what military supplies you have stored. This isn't a deal you can back out so easily," puffing smoke, "-what will it be, 300 per unit or we raid the port?" 

"DON'T LISTEN TO HIM SIR," yelled out of the squad-mate, *BANG,* before he could raise his gun at Yves's head; the army man dropped dead. "You think we'd not know about you robbing a sister supply depot due to greed," smirking, "-traitors to one's country deserves death. Even so, Shadow was gracious enough to allow thee to live, what will it be?" 

"F-fine," raising his hand, "-FIRE," he yelled – additional men jumped out the trucks. "You thought you're the only one with a plan?" laughing maniacally, one of the soldiers used a launcher named RXP-VF, the latter used magic and science. A launcher that packed the same firepower as grenades.

"GET DOWN," yelled YVES, "-Shadow, we need help," he yelled through an earpiece.

'On it,' the projectile fired, all moved in slow-motion, the guards leaped out of the impact area, bracing for the explosion, "-Is that all?" a black-figure landed from out of nowhere. "Is this toy supposed to be dangerous?" nonchalant, stiletto dug itself into the shell, *snap,* a compressed shockwave blew outwards. The impact forced many on their knee; Crimson mask with the features to a demon, knee-long hair with a sword on the waist, "-Yves."

"Yes boss," from on the ground, the man answered her call, "-what is your wish?" 

"Get Cake on the phone," she approached the Lieutenant as the shockwave forced many on their knee.

"W-who are you?" asked Read who fell onto his bottom.

"Shadow," sheathed sword in hand, "-do you have more surprises in store?" 

"You're the leader of Phantom then," his eyes lit, "-we got them," yelled into his collar, the closed building opened with countless men in uniform running out. "I do apologize," he stood, "-I'm no traitor to my country. We needed funds, therefore, away from the central line of command – we turned rogue to lead and capture an arms dealer. You people deal with death, all that money made off the heads of the people your weapons have shot, we need them now." Stood proudly, "-the men behind me are here to deal the final blow. Give us the money or we'll kill you all." 

"Boss," yelled Yves, "-Cake is on the line." 

"Don't ignore me," he reached for the mask, *Crack,* "-don't disturb me," gritted Shadow as she held his wrist, the earpiece toggled.

"Shadow?" asked the secretary.

"Yes, it's me," she replied with her grip tightening. 

"Whatever is the matter?"

"The Eastern army pulled one over on us," every so often, she'd glare at Read who wanted to give the order to shoot. Reinforcement gathered and marched in slowly; boxed in with the only escape being the sea or the ship – Shadow stood without care.

"Courtney," a deep voice interjected in the channel, "-you need not worry about a thing. I'll settle the issue with Renaud, slay them without mercy, send them to oblivion," the call ended. 

"You look less imposing," voiced Read, "-did your backup not respond?" 

"On the contrary," with a single flick, the wrist broke, screamed overpowered the crashing waves. "-Code Black everyone." 

Code Black, hearing those two words, guards jumped off the ship with guns at the ready. "What are you doing, fool, KILL THEM!" yelled Read.

"Tis time you head to sleep," *slash,* beheaded, the body dropped with blood spewing everywhere. Panicked, reinforcement dashed behind trucks and opened fire. Behind steel-pillars holding crane, Phantom returned fire. Gracefully in the middle of bullets flying from left, right, center, Shadow made minimal movement – unsheathed, at last, *Death Element – Daemonum Variant: Ire,* blasted through the air, the concrete caved the instant she jumped. One by one, heads fell without realizing what happened, *CRACK,* the road broke as she landed. *Click,* the sword sheathed, *Death Element – Daemonum Variant: Silence,* white flame burst forth to combust those who she had killed.

"Alright people," returned, "-empty those warehouses – take any and everything; we're done here." The daze of Code Black broke; thus, the deal at Easel Run-Gard came to an end. Loaded on the boat, they soon set sail after five hours. 

Sat in the alchemist tower, Staxius worked on the idea of a puppet army. King and Queen shared the burden of office work. Transferred over to the tower, all that paperwork could be viewed from where he stood without going to the office. A few favors were called to make it possible. Multitasking [Job complete. Phase-Two has commenced] flashed across a purple screen – one used for Phantom and the DG, the many screens were separated to allow a clean and clear indication of what happened at all times. From Guild to Arda, and Phantom with the DG underneath, he grew accustomed to all four quickly.

'Phase two,' he thought with hand moving subconsciously, '-The ship has set sail for Unfu's archipelago, Halos's Isle. An isle owned by the Dark-guilds. One that's used for the export of God's ale. Since it's illegal in other countries, I figured many bases like this would be dotted around. Never would I have thought that Renaud would contact to reveal the location. An airfield and a port; the perfect hideout.' 

Three days had passed since the celebrations. The TU-03 was refitted to serve as transport for Phantom. Negotiations took longer to organize for it was planned to happen a few days ago. A sudden attack from the West caused unrest. 

'Eastern faction is getting desperate for money,' he paused with a diagram of a dismembered body, '-they choose to go against the DG knowing full-well of the consequences. Looting that supply depot might come back to harm us later. In no way can Phantom take the blame of such a slaughter.' 

"Cake," earpiece toggled, "-can I have the contact info of General Miller?" 

"Are you going to negotiate the deal already?" asked Cake.

"No, we need to clean up the mess Shadow caused," flashed in purple, the interface began a new call. 

"Who dare use the private channel so nonchalantly!" the voice of an angered old man came through.

"I do apologize for the sudden call," deep, a menacing voice spoke, "-there's something I'd like to negotiate." 

"If it's for the release of prisoners, then shove it, the Western Kingdom will never give an ounce of mercy to its enemies,' yelled, it nearly deafened Staxius. 

"Tis no such thing," from relaxed, he leaned, "-I've got a proposal. There's crucial information I'm willing to sell, one that could alter the course of the war. As far as the Western Kingdom is concerned, you're reaching the end of your forces. A cornered rat is what suits thee best." 

"Though it pains me, I do agree. But there's no way I'll buy information from an unknown caller," from anger, it settled a little, a sign of that he had his attention.

"Understandable," deep breath in, "-I'm from Phantom, an arm's dealing company. I've heard of the Western Kingdom lacking arms and bullets. I've got a shipment of 2000 Units of Antis-2 and 200,000 bullets ready to export on a moment's notice. As a bonus, I'll throw in a war-changing piece of information."

"I see," the voice relaxed, "-you could not have come at a better time. We're running low on weapons. Antis-2 is the new model of an assault rifle. It could change the war. You've intrigued me, Phantom, care to give me the rate?" 

"450 Gold per Rifle and 1 Gold for every 50 bullets, you do realize that the Antis-2 is hard to come by. The manufacturing company with technology has declared bankruptcy due to certain unfortunate events. These are the last batch to be made."

"450 gold is way overpriced, even if it's the new model. The retail price was around 420 on launch. War is rough, we have no means to pay 450 for 2000 units." 

"How about 420 then, I'll give you the retail price if you buy the whole 2000 units." 

"400 and we have a deal," fired back the old man.

"400 Gold per unit for 2000 Rifles, what about the bullets?" 

"We'll take the lot."

"Understood, the total will be 804,000 gold. When do you wish for the weapons to be delivered?" 

"Tomorrow at 14:00 at Shelder's Airfield, you'll have the money upon delivery." 

"Consider it a deal, General Miller. In good faith, I'll give you the information for free. Port Elte, now supply depot for the Eastern Army is unoccupied. Send troupes from the south; an outpost sheltered by the mountain, I sure you know what this means." 

"If what you say is true, then the Western Kingdom might have a chance. Too a fruitful relationship," the phone ended.

'As expected, the old geezer overseeing the army is an idiot. Has no care for tactics, fight with grit, and strength. All the better for me.' [Shelder's Airfield at 14:00, delivery of the Arms] Landed at Halos Isle, the TU-03 would make the trip. 'We just made a deal of 804,000 Gold on a single day, that's a fortune.'