The Almighty Ring

“Yes, sir,” Jiang Fei acknowledged Ottogackt. Both of them got ready by the hangar and when the ship docked on the planet’s main port, they exited the ship.

Ottogackt seemed to be familiar with the place as he led Jiang Fei through the spacious station. After a series of long elevators and automated walkways, they arrived at the base level, the surface of the planet.

As soon as Ottogackt and Jiang Fei exited the final elevator, the station’s officer, an unknown race, greeted them, saying, “Welcome to Planet Ipsilon, Sir Ottogackt. We have been informed of your arrival. Lieutenant Domingo is ready for you in his office.”

“Mhm,” Ottogackt hummed and proceeded to exit the station. There, a small hovercraft, unlike anything he had ever seen on Earth, was waiting. The craft was being piloted automatically; when Ottogackt boarded the craft, a robotic voice asked for a destination and Ottogackt quickly replied with ‘Command center’.

A while later, the craft stopped a large building and the two entered it without escorts. The building was huge, so huge yet it was almost empty. There were some coming and going as they pleased. Most of them were in uniform; battle gear for combat, and they marched past Jiang Fei and Ottogackt without much of a glance.

Ottogackt, even with all of his arrogance and pride, did not seem to mind their cold shoulders. It did not matter as he too was busy with his own business. Without a guide, Ottogackt led Jiang Fei to a corner of the building and summoned an elevator that brought them to the 18th floor.

“Greetings, how can I be of service?” said a humanoid bunny girl. She was, by all means, human-like, except that her ears were that of a rabbit’s and grew from the top of her head. Jiang Fei scoffed as he could not differentiate the bunny girl from those playboy gravure models he saw back on Earth.

“Mhm,” Ottogackt scoffed nonchalantly and ignored the girl. He walked past her and proceeded to push open the door behind her.

“Sir! Sir! You cannot barge in like that! You need to arrange an appointment if you wish to see the lieutenant!” cried the girl as she chased after Ottogackt.

“Who dares! Ah–” someone inside the room roared. The room rang with his voice, but it wasn’t an understandable language to Jiang Fei. In the next second, the translator on the scope picked up the roar and translated it to Mandarin once it identified said language.

The interior of the office was very much like that of a huge corporate C.E.O.’s. There was a large wood-like table, a luxurious chair, a large window with a nice view, pure white flooring and walls, beautiful lights on the ceiling, and of course, a powerful authoritarian figure, holding a cup of oddly colored liquid, sitting behind the table.

“Lieutenant Domingo, they’ve barged in. I’m sorry, I’ve failed to stop them,” said the bunny girl, who was dressed like a secretary.

“Domingo, do you really want me to make an appointment?” Ottogackt hummed with a tone bordering between sarcasm and anger.

The chair swiveled around and the man behind the chair shot to his feet.

“Is it really! Is it! Ottogackt! Here I thought they were only trying to cheer me up!” Domingo cried happily.

The bunny girl gasped and Jiang Fei understood why. It was a scene too common back on Earth.

Lieutenant Domingo moved out of his table and barked at the bunny girl, “How could you not know about Sir Ottogackt!”

“Please forgive me!” said the bunny girl before she turned to Ottogackt and bowed 90 degrees. Jiang Fei, who was standing a little behind the crowd, enjoyed a view so great that if Isabella were present, he would have been bitten on the head, like a cartoon.

“Please forgive this one for not knowing the great Ottogackt. I wouldn’t have stopped you… I would have welcomed you properly if I’d known!” said the girl. Ottogackt might be famous but he was not well-known outside the training academy, so naturally, he wouldn’t be known much outside of Redstone or even the entire Valsalrian Army. However, the words of one’s superior is absolute; the bunny girl had to bow and apologize to Ottogackt.

“Sir, please forgive this little girl. She’s still new here and I shall punish her myself!” said Domingo as he smiled apologetically. He then turned to the bunny girl, smiling as he did not bother to hide his lustful gaze, and said, “I’ll have you come to my quarters tonight! I will have you learn your lesson there!”

“Yes, Lieutenant!” the bunny girl straightened herself up before answering. Perhaps it had been a while since he had been close to a female but the girl’s extra movements made Jiang Fei’s blood boil a little.

Ottogackt made himself at home. He scoffed at the little charade and sat down on a chair, in front of the table. Domingo quickly returned to his seat and was ready to get down to business.

“How may I help you, great sir?” Domingo asked. Somehow, Domingo seemed to know Ottogackt as a person and quickly jumped to the main question.

“Do you have any war missions going on?” Ottogackt asked.

“War mission, you say?” Domingo said before he smiled.

“If you don’t mind me asking, are you itching for a bloodbath yourself or are you just administering a lesson to your student?”

Jiang Fei listened to every word he said and understood something. Domingo was not a stranger to Ottogackt. Knowing Ottogackt well, he knew that Ottogackt was the kind of mad man that would itch for blood every three days or so. He himself, even without bringing along any trainee, would take up odd jobs or war missions to give himself an excuse to kill. Naturally, he would bring along his trainees to participate in the killing. When Domingo said “administering a lesson”, he meant bringing a student along to participate in the mission; in a real fight. There was no protection, no insurance, no safety net in the battlefield. There was even a time when Ottogackt brought an army of trainees into the battlefield and got every single one of them killed. That was the spark that started the entire rumor and the source of his nickname, the Mad Titan.

What Jiang Fei did not know was how close Domingo was with Ottogackt. With the latter being his savior, Domingo would do everything in his power to please Ottogackt. There was another reason why he allowed Ottogackt to participate in any of his missions. Any mission Ottogackt took, he would complete it, in any way he liked.

Soldiers in the Valsalrian Army were not fixed in either authority or commanding system. Someone on the top brass would give you a title and a small squad. The responsibility of expanding the squad lied with the commanding figure; much like how Commander Alexis had his own training academy. It would be a pain to lose a soldier since the commander would have to find a replacement himself.

Whenever there was a mission, either to raid or to plunder, there would always be resistance. Whenever there were casualties, the army would have their revenge. Sometimes the battles start due to menial reasons, and in most cases, the battles end with the total annihilation of the opposite side. The ones that always remained victorious were always the Valsalrians.

Ottogackt coming in and taking on a mission for himself was for different purpose. Like Domingo asked, it was either for his personal pleasure, or to administer a training session. His trainees would be tested, not to work for a living. Hence, even if they completed the mission and looted treasures, the credit would always come back to Domingo himself.

“Training,” said Ottogackt as he turned to point at Jiang Fei.

“Just him, sir?” Domingo asked, arching an eyebrow as he scanned the young Terran. Jiang Fei was in his relaxed state, measuring at only around 65,000 combat level. As soon as he entered the battlefield, he would either be killed or trampled by his own allies. However, the young Terran was brought here personally by Ottogackt! He must be someone special!

Domingo had come to misunderstood that Jiang Fei was a special existence that needed to be taken care of. Much like how Alston first assumed. As such, this young Terran must be protected! No harm was to befall him. When the mission was over, he must be given the privilege to be the first to pick out the loot! Credits or achievements must be pushed to him as well! That was what Domingo assumed Ottogackt wanted him to do. However, Domingo did not stop there. He thought further and remembered what kind of person Ottogackt was. He was not the kind of person that would personally send his own son to Domingo. To force Ottogackt to personally escort a young Terran into a battlefield… and with that young Terran having only 65,000 combat level… What was he to make of Jiang Fei? Who was he? Perhaps he was sent to Ottogackt by Commander Alexis himself!

The more he thought, the more complicated the entire issue became. Domingo’s convoluted emotions was immediately seen through by Ottogackt. Even so, he did not bother to explain the situation and wanted things to be over as soon as possible. Jiang Fei, who was still standing as still as possible, was oblivious to the entire drama.

“I’ll… I’ll arrange it,” Domingo said after he took a deep breath and sighed. Things were going to be troublesome but Ottogackt had given him a task and he would definitely get it done.

“I don’t care about anything else. All I care about is to have him in the field and when this is over, I want to see him still alive,” said Ottogackt. This statement had only made Domingo’s previous assumption right. Jiang Fei might be “weak” but he was still being assigned to a mission. What Ottogackt had in mind had nothing to do with favor or pulling strings. Nothing of that sort. It was just about Jiang Fei’s talent. It had been a long time since he had encountered such a talented student and did not want to have him waste his life.