The Dragon and Phoenix Tournament was the grandest competition between the members of the young generation. Everyone below the age of twenty-five years old were qualified to join. Of course, there were different tiers to the competition. There were two tiers. One for those who were nineteen and below, and another for those who were twenty and above. These two tiers were called the Earth and Heaven Rankings. Pitting teenagers against those who were older, and thus had an advantage because of their experiences and Ranks, would be unfair, so the two Rankings were made. Thirteen’s siblings, the Hero Party, and the majority of Thirteen’s Squad Captains would naturally be participating in the Earth Rankings. Alcapone was older than them, so he would be participating in the Heaven Rankings. Because of this, the teenage boy had him go through an extremely harsh training, surpassing the hellish training that the other teenagers were facing. "Alcapone, if you don’t become the Champion on the tournament, I’ll toss you in the sea, so a swordfish can stab your chrysanthemum," Thirteen said coldly as he looked at the leader of the E4 Mafia, who was currently doing push ups with the Troll Champion, Brutus, seated on his back. "S-Sir, can I just not join the tournament?" Alcapone pleaded. "The Heirs of the Monarch Clans and the Heirs of the Prestigious Families will be seeded participants. That means I can only face them in the fourth round of the Elimination Matches." "So?" Thirteen asked. "Sir, I don’t have the confidence to win," Alcapone replied with a dejected expression. "It’s alright. I’ll give you two choices," Thirteen smirked. "The first one is that you don’t join the tournament. But the catch is, you have to endure five farts from your Blaze Skunk. If you can do that, I won’t mind letting you off the hook." Alcapone’s face immediately darkened after hearing the first option available to him. He only experienced getting hit by his Blaze Skunk’s special move once, but that experience was enough to give him PTSD. Although it might sound simple on the surface, the emotional and mental damage that he would get after getting hit five times by that smelly attack was something that he didn’t dare to experience a second time. "W-What’s the second option, Sir?" Alcapone’s teeth chattered not because of the cold but due to fear. "The second option is much simpler," Thirteen explained. "You won’t join the tournament. Instead, all you need to do is die once. After that, I’ll ask Lord Erasmus to turn you into a zombie. That way, you don’t have to worry about anything else." Alcapone’s body subconsciously shuddered because the underlying threat in his Commander’s tone made him unable to discern if he was only joking or not. However, the Leader of the E4 Mafia didn’t dare to take any risk! ’I’ll just join and lose intentionally in the preliminaries,’ Alcapone thought. ’That will solve all problems!’ The oldest Squad Leader of Thirteen’s 69th Battalion thought that he was a genius for thinking of such a strategy. However, who was Thirteen? A single glance was enough to tell him what Alcapone was thinking. "Just so you know, if you purposely lose your match, I will give you the same options I gave you today as punishment." Thirteen smiled evilly. "Either you get farted on, or you turn into a zombie. There is no third option." Alcapone’s arms and legs almost turned to jelly as he stopped doing his push ups. If he really faltered at this point in time, he would be crushed by the weight of the Troll seated on his back. In the end, Alcapone gritted his teeth and continued his training. Truth be told, he had a lot of pent up frustrations in his heart. When he first lost his two billion gold coins to his Commander, Alcapone felt like instigating a mutiny. However, his Commander was someone who was rumored to face a Majin Prince and a Majin King. A shrimp like him could be killed by those monsters with a single flick of their finger. If he really offended Zion Leventis, there was no place in Pangea where he could hide! Of course, there was also an option of staying in Solterra. However, why would he want to stay in a very dangerous world? Then, when he arrived at the Rigel Continent, instead of greeting him, Thirteen knocked him unconscious. When Alcapone regained his consciousness, the teenage boy forced him to memorize a Martial Booklet, and starved him until he finished reading it all. He thought that his suffering would end after learning the Martial Technique, but what awaited him was hell. His sparring partner was none other than the Troll Champion, Brutus, who was Cristopher’s Avatar. To Alcapone’s surprise, he found himself not falling behind the powerful monster. In fact, although Brutus was stronger than him, the difference wasn’t that much. Because of this, Alcapone focused on his training and no longer cared about the two billion gold coins that he had "donated" to Zion. Little did he know that Thirteen was training him to become a Commander in his own right. In order to do that, Alcapone needed to possess a strength that would make others recognize his potential. That way, more opportunities would come to him, and more resources would be allocated for his growth. ’Don’t worry. By the time the Dragon and Phoenix Tournament comes, you’ll be so strong that those Heirs wouldn’t even be able to handle you,’ Thirteen thought. ’The only thing you need to overcome is your inferiority complex. Once you pass that wall, you will become unstoppable.’ Alcapone was an orphan, and he had clawed his way to his current position. He didn’t join the military because he wanted to. He joined because he had to. That was the only way he could survive in a dog-eat-dog world. In the past, he was part of the 44th Battalion of the Central Government. However, when Thirteen advertised his recruitment, he pleaded with his superior that he wished to go for the tryouts. Since Alcapone and his "Mafia Members" were useless bums in the 44th Battalion, their Superior was more than happy to get rid of these freeloaders, all of whom specialized in shamming and followed the rule "when in doubt, skate out." So when they successfully passed Zion Leventis’s recruitment, their former Commander only laughed at the new Battalion Commander because he recruited some useless bums. Of course, Alcapone and his brothers did their best to be true to their roots of Skating and Shamming. However, their strategies simply didn’t work when it came to Zion, and their group were often sent to do the dirty work they really didn’t want to do. Even now, instead of chilling in the Cygni Continent while eating donuts, drinking coffee, splurging in energy drinks, and smoking cigarettes, they were dragged here, in the Rigel Continent, training under the guidance of their Commander. This made the members of the E4 Mafia wonder if they had done something terrible to Zion during their past lives. Their training felt like he was making them pay for their transgressions in this life. "What are you dazing out for?" Thirteen asked the moment Alcapone finished his push ups. "Do you think you’re done for the day? Go and fight a hundred Rank 4 Zombie Wolves. If you get bitten even once, I’ll make you regret it." Alcapone shuddered uncontrollably when he saw the evil smile plastered on Zion’s face. Knowing that there was no path of escape, the only thing he could do was follow this devil to hell, and pray that, at the end of his suffering, he would be able to ascend to heaven in one fell swoop. Costello, Lucky, Gambino, and Gotti, who were part of Alcapone’s team, were laughing internally at their Boss’ suffering. However, they were unable to laugh for long because Thirteen forced them to join Alcapone in fighting against the one hundred Rank 4 Zombie Wolves. Thinking that this challenge was too easy for their team, Thirteen decided to add two hundred more wolves, making the total number of monsters three hundred. Alcapone, who was already at the end of his wits, started to curse the bastards who were dragging him down in the mud. In the end, the leader of the E4 Mafia roared in anger and started beating up his comrades, making the Zombie Wolves wonder if they should join in or not. In the end, these wolves didn’t join and simply watched as Alcapone slaughtered the pigs who initially laughed behind his back. But after he successfully dealt with the annoying bastards, he found himself surrounded by three hundred Zombie Wolves, whom he needed to fight alone. "Come if you dare, you motherf*ckers!" Alcapone shouted angrily as the black flame on his forehead blazed brightly, becoming bigger than normal. Thirteen, who saw these changes, smiled faintly because things were proceeding according to his plan. Alcapone wasn’t a Hero, Villain, or a Cannon Fodder. He was simply an Extra. However, Extras were special in their own right because they were just like sponges. If they were always around Heroes, they would become Heroic. If they were around Villains, they would become cunning small-time Villains. If they were with Cannon Fodders, they would definitely become Cannon Fodders. But who was Thirteen? Thirteen might be a cannon fodder in this lifetime. But, he was not an ordinary Cannon Fodder. He was a Beyonder. And as long as Alcapone continued to follow his footsteps, he would reach a realm that would allow him to look down upon the world and laugh unhindered across the worlds of Pangea and Solterra. --------- A/N: Second chapter is still being edited.