Chapter 19, Battle with a New Foe

WE BACK BITCHES!

Admit it, you thought this story was dead. You thought I would begin rewriting it and then never post another chapter. Well... I honestly don't blame you for that. That was a long time between chapters and I do apologize for that.

Between the virus, and online learning, and the release of Doom New Horizons and Animal Crossing Eternal, I either didn't have to time or the energy/desire to write.

BUT WE BACK! Sorry for the long wait, I wanted this chapter to be good with everything that'll be happening. Surprisingly, it wasn't the fight that was hard, it was what came after that I was having the most trouble with.

God bless, and enjoy the newest chapter to W.P.

"What do you have for me?" I said to Leviathan in the mindscape.

"Little, counting what we know." He replied. "It's small, a juvenile at most. Only about as large as two carriages and possess phasing abilities. Other physical attributes are unknown."

"Does Ren know?"

"Dracos has already informed him."

"And Itsuki and Motoyasu's beast?"

"Speaking with me but quite to them. They have not revealed themselves yet."

"Good, we'll need to keep it that way for now. If you learn anything, tell me."

"Will do." He said.

I opened my eyes and was back in reality. I and the other heroes were riding the wolves to the crater. We had left most of our parties behind in favor of rapid movement. Ren was on Deimos while Itsuki and Motoyasu were on Phobos. To his credit, Phobos was quite tempered with Motoyasu on him, unlike Deimos who had looked ready to bite the Spear Heroes' arm off.

As we approached the crater, I turned back to them.

"We're approaching the crater. Target ID: Shifter. Remember. This is an enemy we haven't faced before. It'll be fast and appear where you're not looking. Everyone ready?"

"Good here." Ren said.

"All set." Itsuki followed.

Motoyasu didn't respond and I didn't bother asking again.

"Drop us here." I said to the wolves. They stopped and let us dismount. They transformed into Demi-humans before they approached us.

"You three, go to the Militia and guide them here. Have them set up on the ridge line over there. Have them open up once we're clear of the crater."

"Yes sir." They responded. I turned back to the other heroes but Luna got my attention.

"Alpha." She said and I turned back. She grabbed the back of my mask and undid the latches before pulling it down. She put her arms around my neck and kissed me on the lips and I returned the affection.

"Be safe." She said handing me the mask.

"Will do." I said before putting my mask back on. I watched as the wolves transformed and ran off. I turned back to the other heroes.

Who were all giving me weird looks. Including Ren.

"What?" I asked.

"You… And her…" Itsuki said, trying to figure out what just happened. "Huh?"

"What can I say?" I asked walking past them, putting my mask on. "Demi-humans got a thing for me."

The other heroes shrugged and followed me. As we approached the edge, we looked into the crater. It was deep, with much of the ground still steaming from the impact. Rising from the center of the crater was a pillar of smoke.

We looked at each other and nodded. We jumped into the crater and slid down the side, kicking up hot dust and glass behind us. It was quiet when we reached the bottom.

"Move up." I said. I kept my shield up and faced the pillar of smoke. We moved slowly, watching around us to make sure we weren't ambushed.

Even as we got closer, we still couldn't see through the smoke.

"Hold." I said, raising a closed fist in the air.

The others stopped but I continued forward. As I grew closer, my vision began to glitch. Spots would become grey static or shift out of frame before returning back to normal. With a wave of my hand, I sent a gust of air that carried away the smoke.

Within the smoke was a small, round pit. It was a couple of feet deep and clearly not formed by the impact.

'Damn.' I thought. 'You getting anything Leviathan?'

'Vaguely... Wait.'

'What? What are you feeling?' I turned back to the heroes. Ren was looking around the crater with worry and Itsuki and Motoyasu both seemed uneased.

'Duck!' I did so without hesitation. I could feel the wind above my head shift and see the other heroes face my direction.

'Roll!' I rolled forward, another gust of air following me but this time accompanied by the sound of shattering stone. Not wanting to wait for a follow-up, I turned around and summoned an Airstrike shield, creating an ethereal barrier between me and whatever it was attacking me.

The sound of metal clashing with the construct rang throughout the crater. I could only catch a glimpse of a shadow before a ring of red light flashed through the smoke.

A second red flash came from above us.

"Second Shield!" I called, summoning a second airstrike directly above Ren. A blur of black skin, spikes, and teeth impacted the shield, wildly striking against it in an attempt to get the Sword Hero. The most I could make out was a long snout, four legs, and a tail before it jumped away again.

Light flashed behind me and I turned around with my shield raised. The creature slammed against my shield and I slid back against the ground. I pushed back but slipped forward as the weight pushing against me suddenly disappeared. A second flash behind me and I had barely managed to twist my body to put my shield up before I was knocked into the ground.

With another flash, it had left me, and the sound of metal clashing rang out near me. Slowly I got up, stumbling for a moment before catching myself. When I looked up, I saw the beast phasing out of reality before appearing somewhere else. The other heroes weren't holding up.

Just as fast as it appeared, it would disappear, leaving another strike one of the heroes, Almost as if it was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It didn't need to focus its attention on a single hero or pick them off one by one. It was handling all three of them simultaneously.

As I watched the fight, however, I noticed something about the beast's teleporting. Something that looked strange about it.

'There.' I thought, noticing it. Right as the beast teleported, it flattened into a red distortion that always remained just a little larger than the part of the body entering it.

"It's using portals to jump around." I thought out loud. 'Leviathan, we got anything that can limit its range?'

'Give me a moment.' He said.

Not wanting to leave the heroes on their own, I charged near Itsuki. Right as a flash went off above him, I threw an armored fist forward without any real target. My gamble was paid off with the sound of bones shattering.

The creature's snout snapped like a twig, it's teeth being knocked out while it's head didn't even have a chance to whip back. With a second punch, I shattered its ribs inward, knocking the beast away from Itsuki. I flopped onto the ground in a heap of flesh but no blood came from it.

"... That's it?" Ren asked. "Little underwhelming for all it was doing."

'Of course that's not it.' Leviathan said. Ren seemed to grimace as well. 'You only made it harder to kill.'

Before I could talk, the beast began to pick itself up from the ground. The areas that had been shattered only seconds ago had completely reformed, now even bulkier than before. Armor plates covered its belly and chest but were still clear from it's back.

"It's evolving." Itsuki said in disbelief.

'Rapid evolution. Its cells exist as more of a colony than a single being.' Leviathan said. 'This is bad. The longer you drag out this fight, the less your chances of winning will be.'

'Damn. If we want to get it, we'll need to deal with its teleporting. You find something for me?'

'Latchings from you Prisma shield, along with the energy shield should keep warp beast from utilizing its portals. The energy shield will act like a solid wall jammer. Anything behind it and the beast can't teleport to it. While it's locked down, find it's core and destroy it.'

'Latchings?'

'Yes. Tendril like constructs. How could you forget? You created… No, that's not right. That was… My apologies. A fragment of my memory came back and blurred. I've sorted it out now.'

'No problem. Guess familiar situations bring back old memories for you too.' I thought back.

'Indeed.'

"On me, now!" I yelled, summoning my Prisma Shield. The other heroes grouped around me, not sure what I was doing but having no other option. "Find its core! We take that out, and it's an instant kill."

The warp beast growled at us and charged. Before it opened a second portal, I played my card.

"Shield Latchings!" I called. With a flash of blue light, three tendrils of light shot out of my shield before homing in on the beast.

The latchings did their job and trapped the beast. It tried to summon its portals but each attempt was cut off when the portals got too close. It thrashed around, putting a strain on the tendrils and myself. The other heroes gaped at the ability, but we didn't have time for it.

"Hit it!" I said with a strained voice. The other heroes charged out, readying their weapons.

Altogether, they unleashed their strongest attacks. Bright golden streaks in the shape of spear, sword, or arrow trailed across the battleground and exploded against the beast.

What I hadn't anticipated was the whiplash. As the attacks hit, the latchings reached their limit and snapped. They broke apart in a flash of blue that ran across its length back to like fire set to a trail of gunpowder. It impacted the shield with a second burst of energy. While the other heroes were out of reach, I was caught in the middle of the burst.

The pulse left me disoriented, my vision having the same flashes of static as before. I fell onto my knees, overwhelmed by the worst headache I've ever experienced.

"Carter!" Ren shouted. I looked up and barely made out a black mass running at me.

'Shit!' I brought my shield up and braced myself for the hit.

It never came.

I opened my eyes and there, standing in front of me, was Motoyasu, struggling to hold back the warp beast, but holding nonetheless. He pushed against the beast and bashed it with blunt weight at the bottom of his spear. He brought his spear back and thrust the blade forward, jamming it between two of the plates on the stomach.

"Blast spear!" He yelled. A cloud of white smoke and lightning curled around the head of the spear. It went off with a bang, sending a shockwave back at us and the beast a few meters.

It merely looked up at Motoyasu and growled, almost unphased by the attack.

"You gotta be kidding me." Motoyasu mumbled.

'We can't stay like this. We're too spread out and running out of options.' I thought. 'Gauss Shield… It has the firepower but it's too slow. I'll never be able to track it well enough to hit it.'

I dropped the shield in place for my Bio-Plant Shield. "New plan! You three distract it! I got something in the works."

"You better make it quick!" Ren called back, summoning his default sword. He plunged it into the ground as twelve other swords appeared around him. They pulled themselves out of the ground before launching at the beast.

'We just got to hold it off for a bit longer, then we can really put some hurt on it.' I thought. 'When will reinforcements get here!?'

I pooled magic into my shield and summoned a multitude of Corpse Vine seeds. I threw them all around where we were fighting, watching the soil twist while the seeds took root but didn't sprout.

'Good. Now I just have to lure it over here.' I thought while the others engaged in the warp beast.

Ren had gone to stab the warp beast but it simply twisted its body, avoiding the sword entirely. Its tail whipped back and swatted him away. Motoyasu tried to take advantage of its extended state but it spun across the ground and swiped his legs out from under him. Before Motoyasu had even hit the ground, the beast had grabbed Motoyasu's airborne legs and threw him off to the side.

Its body twisted itself over one of Itsuki's arrows. Its arms stretched and its claws dug into the ground, ripping up rocks the size of small boulders. Its body twisted in the center without either section moving and in one fluent motion and unwound itself, hurled the stones at Itsuki at breakneck speeds.

Ren had jumped into the air behind it, wielding his Gauss sword. He brought it down on the beast but in a display of biological superiority, its body broke into two pieces, letting the sword pass before reattaching itself right as the blade passed through.

In an attempt to counter, Ren jumped back and brought his sword up and to send a hot slash of plasma. The beast rolled left from Ren and sent a cloud of dirt right as Ren sent the attack. With a knock from the beast tail, Ren's slash missed the beast and instead went in Itsuki's direction, who barely managed to dodge the attack.

'We're getting hammered here.' I grimaced. It hadn't been five minutes and we were already pushing what we could take down.

With a few quick breaths, I summoned my Hardlight Shield and charged the beast. It wasn't expecting me to suddenly join the fight and it teleported away from me before appearing behind me. I planted my foot twisted my body, bashing my shield across the beast's face.

Its head snapped back but didn't break. I followed up with a second, and then a third. With each hit, it moved less, becoming like a living stone.

When the fifth hit struck, its face barely budged.

It opened its maw and bit down on my arm. I cried as its jaw clamped shut and started twisting, trying to rip my arm off.

I charged the segments of the shield, letting the energy spark shield spark to life. The pieces moved apart quickly, ripping the beast mouth open and breaking its jaw. It jumped back and teleported away. When it appeared again, its jaw hung loosely from under its mouth, before twitching and snapping closed.

It began to step towards us but stopped.

I grinned when I saw the vines moving up its leg.

More vines sprouted from the ground, encompassing the beast. As it began to summon its portal, I summoned my Prisma shield and sent three tendrils of light forward. They wrapped around the head and legs of the beast and prevented any portal from forming for it to escape.

"Alpha! Up here!" I heard. I looked over and saw Luna standing on the ridge of the crater. Next to her was a firing line of Militia soldiers. An array of Hemlocks, spitfires, and even archers all aimed down at the pinned beast. Accompanying them were all of the heroes' parties.

'Finally.' I thought. "You three, get on the ridge, now!"

They did, realizing what was about to happen. I stepped back but didn't let the tendrils drop. With a single command, I let loose one of the most powerful concentrated barrages Melromarc had seen in centuries.

"Open fire!" I yelled up to them.

What came next was truly spectacular.

A torrent of rifle fire, machine gun spray, and rockets were let loose upon the chained beast. Bullets cut through creature and flora alike. Rockets blasted away whatever armor it had, exposing its core to the devastation that rained forth.

It only took a few seconds for me to lose any sense of clear hearing. The distinct sounds blurred together into heavy ringing until it disappeared completely. The dust kicked up from the barrage surrounded everything in the crater and forced me to close my eyes.

The barrage must have carried on for almost a full minute. Not an incredibly long time, but to be subjected to that level of firepower for that long was nothing short of devastating. The only sign that it had ended was when the sharp ringing in my ears began to quiet.

When I opened my eyes, I could barely see past the cloud of dust. The constructs from my Prisma Shield had snapped at some point during the fire, but I doubt whiplash was even noticeable in that moment. I could hear the sound of struggling within the dust while red flashes appeared through the smoke.

I stumbled toward the warp beast holding my broken shield-arm.

With my good arm, I waved away the smoke to reveal the beast in a pitiful state. Its entire left side had been shredded apart. Its limbs were near non-existent and half its head was destroyed. Flowing from the breaks in its skin was a bright yellow liquid. The substance had an intense glow and seemed to resonate from the ground.

Its injuries tried to mend themselves closed but only snapped back open or turned to sludge.

'Leviathan?'

'Severe core damage. Regenerative and evolution abilities are trashed. If its core manages to mend itself it'll live but if fluid loss is anything to go by it'll die long before that. I estimate three minutes until its dead.'

'Good.' I thought.

I kneeled down and grabbed the exposed core within the body. It thrashed in vain, trying to keep me from taking it. Slowly, I pulled the core, ripping away whatever tendrils remained attached to the body.

The core was strange. It was like dark red, almost black, glass and was completely smooth. Across the surface was a spider web of cracks and missing pieces oozing the strange yellow fluid.

Slowly, I applied pressure to the core. The spider web of cracks along the core grew while whatever energy inside began thrashing around, letting out a small screech.

Crack!

The core shattered into pieces, leaving fractured glass and fluid all over my hand.

'Feed those pieces to the shield.' Leviathan spoke. 'I can use the core material to grow my own power.'

'What kind of power boost are we talking about here?' I thought back, awkwardly feeding the core fragments into the shield. An alert appeared in my vision as I did.

'Outside core fragments detected. Do you wish to proceed?'

Before I could pick one, yes was selected.

'Was that you?'

'Yes. When core fragments are ingested, it takes a while for me to... work out the kinks in it.'

'I assume by kinks, you mean it being itself?'

'Only the largest of us possess some semblance of self. It would be more accurate to say reprogram, or something of the likes.'

'What can I expect from it?'

'Shield cross-compatibility. Take one shield and mix aspects of another. Since I'm one of the larger beasts, my ability to adapt my body is remarkably more limited, and so are the shields. This one can act as more of a modular piece, changing as I need it to.'

'Shield hybrids… Anything else?'

'Minor boost to generic stats. Strength, magic, health, the likes.'

'All that work and only a minor boost?'

'I've already gone to work on your body, increasing your abilities to well beyond human levels. Even though this one put up a tough fight, it's nothing more than an expendable drone. They aren't expected to live. It will be a massive boost to the other heroes, but you've already begun to grow used to my advancements. We'll need to find the core of a more powerful beast in order to boost your stats further.'

'So, "Kill a bigger one" is what I'm hearing.'

Leviathan let out a low chuckle that startled me. 'I like the way you think.'

"Carter!" I heard behind me. I turned around to see the heroes walking up to me.

"You are actually insane." Itsuki said.

"Worked didn't it?" I asked. Ren walked up to me and handed me a health potion that I took gladly. I flinched as the bones in my arm began to pop back together. It wasn't as fast, or effective, as my potions but it worked. "Thanks."

"Now," Itsuki started, pointing at the warp beast, "mind telling us exactly what that is?"

"That…" I paused, debating if I should tell or not. Any question of it was cast aside, however. It would be stupid to try and keep information at this point. "... Is a warp beast. A drone scout to be specific. Expendable unit."

"Wait, you're telling us that one was expendable!?" Motoyasu said. I glared at him for a moment, reminded him that he was here, but returned to the conversation.

"Yep."

"And you didn't think to tell us this before!?"

"He didn't tell you two." Ren said, surprising both the other heroes. "And I'd say he had good reason to."

"You can't really be siding with him Ren?" Itsuki said. "If he knew it was going to happen, then he should've told us!"

"Well the last I told you something, you were contempt simply ignoring it and letting me be convicted." I said, anger beginning to boil in my voice. "And one of you even stabbed me in the back while they were at it."

"But Ren did too!"

"He's making an effort to earn my trust. You two haven't done shit."

Itsuki backed away looking pissed but didn't say anything.

I was gonna say more, but bit my tongue, deciding I had more important things to do. "Grab some fragments of the core. Feed it to your weapons. I'll be heading back to Riyute with my men."

"You're already going?" Ren asked.

"I gotta prep for the inbetween of this wave and the next one."

I began walking back towards the line of Militia soldiers.

As I got closer, I couldn't help but smile at the sight of my men.

Soldiers were shouting from the ridge, raising their weapons in victory. Many were laughing with joy of another successful defense. Some were even singing songs about it.

'They're certainly your men.' Leviathan said as the soldiers noticed me as I walked closer to the ridge and cheered even louder. Many of them jumped from the cliff face and slid down the slope to where I stood, headed by my own party.

'You don't say.' The men crowded around where I stood, shouting and cheering even louder.

"How'd you like the show, sir?" Alex asked as he walked through the crowd.

"It was deafening, I'll tell you that." I joked. "Where's Jax?"

"Up on the ridge with the rest of his division." As we spoke, many of the soldiers had begun to quiet down, looking at me expectantly.

Alex caught on to what was happening. "I think they're expecting you to say something, sir."

I looked between the division head and the men, thinking something up.

'Think-think, uhhh… How about… Oh-that could work.'

"Four villages... In two hours we evacuated four villages and saved God knows how many people! In two hours we helped more people than the Melromarc knights have in two months!"

Many of the soldiers began to cheer again.

"In two months, we went from a ragtag group of soldiers and turned ourselves into a real fighting force!"

More soldiers joined in the cheers.

"In only two waves, we took a bunch of farmers, miners, and blacksmiths and turned into some proper soldiers!"

"I'm proud of you. All of you. Together, we've grown into a real force against the waves. Together, we've not only defended Riyute and her people but countless others! We've done what the other heroes never so much as bothered too!" I said, making sure my voice carried to them.

"Imagine it! Imagine what we'll be when the next wave comes! Imagine how much more powerful we'll be! Make no mistake, the waves will only get stronger as time drags on. But so will we!"

And once again, the soldiers had erupted into shouts and cheers.

'Heh. It's really starting to feel just like home.'

"Those are some damn cool new things." Jax whistled. Not too long after the wave had ended, my party and I, alongside Militia forces, returned to Riyute. Though the casualties suffered by the Militia had still been quite low compared to the forces in combat, and especially the knight forces, it was still more than I cared to admit. I had gone straight to the war-tent and got to work on several new designs. Not long after, the other division heads had shown up too.

Surrounding us were some twelve panels, each with a new weapon, armor, and ordnance design.

Four new additions to the Militia arsenal that would be sure to cause some damage.

Anti-tank rifles, heavy machine guns, flamethrowers and the first Gen-2 weapon, a rail rifle. Keeping with the trend of the other weapons, AT- rifles had been named 'Kabers' and rail rifles 'Havocs'. Flamethrowers broke that trend and heald the name 'purifiers'. The design of HMG, however, left the only appropriate option for a name, the 'Browning.'

Five of thirteen some-odd panels that hovered in front of me showed the individual pieces of the new armor. Together, they created a black, bulky suit of clean cut plates over a black undersuit. Keeping the same aesthetic as the now named generation-1 Militia armor, a comically thick cloth that hung from the waist came down to the knees.

Though similar in appearance, the armor was a new far more advanced pattern. The cloth and undersuit itself were made with titanium nan-thread, making it many times stronger than even the toughest chainmail yet many times lighter too. The plates were made of a material named oxium, a super-lightweight metal that, though incredibly brittle, was on par with tungsten alloy.

"It marks the change to generation-2 armor. You think I was joking when I said all that in the crater?"

Jax smiled. "No sir. But you think we'll be able to build enough of them fast enough?"

"...No." I was disappointed. "If the predicted time of the design is accurate, a single suit of armor would take eight hours to complete. Put across all fabricators, it would take a full day to outfit a single twelve man squad. It'll take a while to outfit our forces."

"And with the new recruits, we're gonna get after this wave…" Alex said. "That's gonna take the better part of a month."

"Well not just that, but the armor is incomplete." I said.

"Incomplete?" Eran said. "What do you mean?"

"The new armor is modular. It's not meant to be the jack of all trades. It's meant to have additional pieces added depending on the specialization. Not just that, but we can't even maintain Havocs yet. Since they're railguns, they'll require some way to recharge. And without the soldiers having the same mana stores as me or even my party, that's really a whole other headache I didn't care to have yet."

"Can we do it? Outfit the Militia with the new armor?"

"I had no doubt we could and still keep other projects relatively on track, albeit delayed, but we'd be pushing past the next wave. And with all the shit that'll be going on in this time, we aren't exactly on a good track to begin with."

'Guess I'll add another set of fabricators to the list of things I need.'

'Don't we meet the queen during this time?" Leviathan asked.

'Yep.'

'And, doesn't she grant some kind of reward after we defeat the pope?'

A grin started spreading under my mask. 'And that's the start of my second plan for The Well.'

'And if it's as big a spot as the data we have says it is…'

'Then we'll have all the production capability we need. Guess that just got moved higher on my list of things to do.'

"Alright, begin production of the first batch of armors, one for each of your best squads. I'll let you figure out how many of the new weapons we'll want once we have an accurate count on who's good where."

The other leaders nodded.

"By the way," I started, "how's our guest in the infirmary?"

"Still outcold." Alex said. "Healers patched most of the injuries she took but between being Shifters chew toy and our initial healing, it took a lot out of her. They think it'll be a few days before she's awake, and a week before she's moving on her own."

"Good. Have you locked her fans in the armory?"

"Yes sir. We also strapped her to the hospital bed just to be sure."

"Alright. When she wakes up, get her some of the higher quality food we have. Make our situation with the warp beast as clear as possible. Tell her where her weapons are, about the warp beast that took her out, anything to ease the tension she'll have once she wakes up. Don't give her her weapons though. I don't want a rampaging hero going through Riyute while I'm gone if it goes south."

"Yes sir-"

"Sir! You have a-What in the…" Said a soldier as he entered the tent, no doubt taken aback by the number of designs that hovered before us.

"I'll leave the rest to ya'll." I said before turning to messenger. "You have something for me?"

"Uh-right. A squad of Melromarc knights are at the front of the village. They say the king is demanding you come to the castle."

"God dammit." I groaned. "Of course I forget about this."

With a motion of my hands, the designs were compressed back into my Prisma Shield. "You three know what to do."

I turned around to follow the messenger to the knights but Jax stopped me."

"Hey General. I hope you realize just what you're getting yourself into." Jax said.

"Relax, I know what I'm doing." I said. "Wouldn't be the first I was in over my head."

I walked out of the tent and followed the messenger to the front of the village. There, I found both my party waiting and knights standing impatiently. At the front of the group was the same mustached captain that had been a pain in my ass.

"Shield. The king demands-"

"Where were y'all after the fight?" I asked my party, ignoring the knight.

Deimos stepped forward. "All the Militia soldiers were crowded around you and you started giving a speech. Thought it'd be best to let you have a moment with your men."

"Shield. The king-"

"I appreciate the thought but atleast a heads up would've been nice. I was worried when I didn't see y'all."

"Well, you kinda started doing that thing you do when you're designing new stuff and we gave up getting your attention after that."

"What? No I didn't."

"Yeah you did."

I looked at my other party members but were all silently agreeing with Deimos.

"... Shut up." I said.

"Shield Hero!" The captain finally yelled, not liking being ignored.

"Yes?" I asked as if nothing were wrong.

"The king-"

"Demands my presence at the castle? I already know."

"Wha-how could you know this?"

"Some other guy showed about an hour before you saying the same thing."

The captain silently seethed. "But-no I was informed to give you this message! Who could it have been!?"

"Couldn't tell you." I said, letting the knight silently seethe even more. He walked away, muttering about wasting his 'damned time in this damned village with the damned shield.'

"Was there actually another messenger?" Luna asked.

"No. I just wanted to piss him off. He hates spending time here when he doesn't have to. By the way," I put my arm around her and brought her into a side hug. She returned the affection. "There we go. Thought I was missing something."

"Mhm. How do you think I felt earlier?" She said, lightly glaring at me.

"Uh… Sorry about that."

"Mhm." She said before smiling. "Come on, we should probably start making our way to the castle."

"Right. Everyone, mount up."

My party nodded, transforming and mounting their partners respectively. I hopped onto Luna and we began walking towards castletown.

"Remember, on our way back from the castle, we'll be confronted by Melty and the king's knights. Do not engage the knights, let them attack first. Phobos, Deimos, you two will attack first. I'll deal with the crystal ball. Luna, Raph, stay back and defend Melty. Odds a knight gets past us is slim to none but I'd rather gamble when I don't have to. Clear?"

"Yes sir!"

'You know, I am not looking forward to this.' I thought it was somewhat irritated.

'I am well aware of that fact. But shouldn't you still be paying attention?'

'I'll pay attention when I have to.'

"Shield Hero!" The king bellowed. He sat in his throne while I stood in the middle of the chambers we had first met in.

'Dammit.'

"Can I help you?" I asked.

The King let out an angry sigh. "Please, replay the projection of the wave."

The knight next to the king nodded and held up a crystal ball. A projection of the fight appeared between me and the king.

It was of me rodeoing the Soul Eater. As the fight continued, lightning began to spark near the mouth before a ray light burst the back of the Soul Eater and I was thrown to the side, holding my Gauss Shield. When the recording finished he looked back at me.

"As much as I hate to admit it, you and your… Militia did well this wave."

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" I said, putting my hand next to my ear. "I wanna make sure I heard you right."

"Don't push it."

"Also, can I have a copy of that recording?"

The King growled. "No. Now if you'd be quiet, I must ask something of you."

'Wait for it.' I thought.

"How did you obtain this power? It is unbecoming of the shield hero to possess such strength."

'There it is.' I thought.

'Knowing what he's gonna ask is cheating.' Leviathan said.

"Ooh, you see I would, I really would... But you're kinda sorta a little bit of an absolute jackass."

Many of the knights and advisors in the throne room flinched at my blatant insult and denial of the King.

"Disrespectful! You were summoned here as the Shield Hero. You have a duty to tell me where this power came from!"

"You literally tried to summon all the heroes except me. I ain't gotta tell you shit."

"You will tell me how you found this strength! There is no feasible way for the Shield to simply become this powerful!"

Leviathan chuckled. 'I think he's starting to get mad.'

'Oh, you haven't seen anything yet.'

"Alright, you wanna know, I'll tell you. But first, you have to do something for me." I said, pointing at the ground. "Kiss my boot."

"What!?"

'Huh?'

Neither him, Leviathan, or the guards could hide their surprise.

"You heard me." I said. "Climb off that throne. Get down on your knees. Kiss my boot, and say 'please oh great Shield Hero, enlighten me with your vast intellect.' And you know what? Throw in those funds I was promised while you're at it."

'I will admit. I did not see that coming.'

'Told you.'

"You insolent whelp!" At his word, the guards had surrounded me with their swords drawn.

"You sure you want to do that?" I asked boredly. "I defeated the monster that the other three heroes were powerless against. You really wanna see how long you'll last?"

Many of the guards looked between each other, shaken by my words. I turned back to the main doors, intent on leaving this conversation.

"Let me make this clear Aultcray. I know you don't like me. I know why you don't like me. I know what the church of the three heroes plans to do, and I know what your bitch of a daughter plans to do. But you wouldn't listen to me about any of it, so instead I'll say this.

"When I fight in the waves, I do not defend you. I do not defend your kingdom. I defend the people because, unlike you, the majority of them are good people, or at least open to change to better ways. I defend them. Not you." I turned around to leave. "And I am not afraid to remind you of the difference."

"Y-You beast! You will pay for your insolence!" The King yelled.

"Yeah, I'll get right on that." I said, waving off his threat.

The King growled. "If it is not you, then it will be those must of yours-"

"Oh Aultcray, you should know by now," Slowly I turned around to meet his gaze. "I'm the last person you want to be making threats to."

I turned around fully, giving him my full attention. "Attack my party, or any of my people for that matter, and I will lay siege to this city, storm this castle, and see to it that they are made an example of, personally."

"Y-You're bluffing!" The King yelled.

I summoned my Twin Sentinel Shields and let blades spark to life. They appeared with a hiss and the guards backed away, never having seen a weapon like this. "For those I love, I will do horrible things." I said turning around. "You should understand that just as well as I do."

The guards backed away, feeling the heat running off the blades as I walked by. I let the blades clam and left the chamber, leaving the occupants in silence.

'That's one hell of a threat Carter. You sure the Militia would follow through with it?'

'They first members were almost wiped out by Melromarc knights. No doubt the stories have circulated through the ranks. Those that followed after felt abandoned to the monsters by Melromarc. The soldiers and villagers have already grown untrusting of Melromarc, and many are even hostile. If the king attacks, they'll retaliate.' I thought back, passing by where I planted my fist in the castle wall.

'And Melty?'

'... If there really is a fight in Riyute and she's that much against it, then I'll point her to the soldiers. Hearing what they've gone through from the king and Malty would shake her belief on the matter quite a bit. Worst case scenario she enters a deep conflict about the two sides. Best case, she joins us.'

I rounded a corner and was met with an open area of the castle near a set of ornate stairs.

'You really think she'd join her father?'

'Not after hearing what he's done. And after the attempt at her life, especially not if her sister is still there. She'd think Riyute was the safest place.'

'The safest place for royalty would be the place that's grown to hate it. Ironic.'

'Quite.'

I could feel leviathan begin to smile as I began to walk down the stairs in the main room. 'You're getting better at predicting based on people, and not your knowledge.'

'Why thank you. I try.'

"Sir Shield Hero." Said a lady walking past me. Her dress was an ornate pink and she kept her hair two tails. "You have done well for yourself, I dare say."

'I dare-? Oh.'

"Oh hey shadow. Was wondering when you'd show up." I said, lowering my voice.

"It appears you really do possess a great deal of knowledge on our world. Anyone else would have assumed me a noble's daughter."

"Well, the 'I dare say' is kind of a dead giveaway."

"I see." She said. "Tell me, do you know what's coming, I dare ask?"

"Asking for me? Or for the Queen?"

"Both, I dare say."

"The Pope has a replica of the legendary weapons. The most powerful ability it possesses is judgment. It can also change forms between each offensive weapon. I don't know if it has shield capabilities too but even if it did, he won't use it for obvious reasons."

"Worrying. Anything more?"

"He'll attempt to kill the other heroes along with me, saying they're imposters. He'd originally do so because of some of their failures but with my intervention I don't know how much they'll really play into it."

"Thank you, Shield Hero. I'll be sure to alert the queen, I dare say."

I nodded and she continued up the stairs while I approached the main doors of the castle.

'You sure you can just tell her this?'

'The queen will be an ally to us, even if her husband isn't. That shadow serves directly under her. She can be trusted.'

Standing just outside the castle doors was my party, waiting for me.

"How'd it go?" Luna asked.

"Just as you'd expect." I said. "He made a threat, I made a promise. It was honestly just a waste of time."

"Master, you really shouldn't be making threats to the King." Raphtalia said.

"Trust me, I wouldn't be if it were just about any other person. But I need him to realize just what'll happen if he attacks ya'll or the Militia." I said. "Let's just get out of here."

My party sighed but began to mount up.

As I mounted Luna, my eyes shot back, scanning the windows of the castle. It was like a prick went off in the back of my neck.

"Alpha?" Luna asked, shaking me out of my trance. "You alright?"

"Yeah." I said, looking between her and the castle. "Come on. I don't want us to be here any longer than we have to be."

Luna nodded and my party started off for the long road ahead.

'... You feel that?' I thought.

'Yeah.' Leviathan said. 'I did. You know that means?'

'Yep.' I thought back. 'I got a bad feeling about this.'

We had left the castle some time ago and the sun had begun to set. Both Riyute and Castletown were some ways away from us by now. We kept a steady pace down the road.

We hadn't said anything as we walked, preparing ourselves for what we were about to get into. What worse is that the feeling hadn't subsided, and had only gotten worse.

"... We sure there's no way around this?" Luna asked, having second thoughts. She knew what was at stake but was still unsure. I couldn't blame her.

"Trust me, I don't like this either, but I can't think of any other way. Not one that's viable anyway."

"Shield Hero!" We heard. Behind us was Melty riding in a carriage. She was leaning out of the window side and was waving us down.

"Besides, we're too far in now." I said as my party stopped and turned around to meet her. Her carriage stopped a little way back behind us. She exited the carriage and made her way over to us but the soldiers held back.

"Princess Melty," I said. "I hope you remembered what I said back in Riyute."

She stopped. "Y-Yes. I do remember..."

I sighed. "You're still gonna try and get me to make up with your father, aren't you?"

"Look, if you just try, I'm sure you-"

"Melty, he was threatening me with the lives of both my party and the Militia. No chance. And besides, now is not the time to be talking about it."

"I understand that but if we don't go now, it'll be to late." She pleaded.

I sighed irritated. Of all the times to talk about this, now had to be worse. I looked up at the knights and saw that they had prepared the crystal ball.

"You must see that-"

"They're close." I said, cutting her off.

"You mean...?" She stuttered.

"Yep." I summoned my Thorn Shield and put my hand on her shoulder and gently pulled her back. "You best get behind us."

As I said it, one of the knights began to run towards us, drawing his sword as he ran.

"Phobos." I said calmly. Phobos nodded and rushed towards the knight, pulling back his hammer.

"Huah!" He bellowed, swinging his hammer into the side of the knight. It connected with the knight's side and indented itself into the side of the knight's armor before throwing him off to the side.

Two of the other knights standing near the crystal ball draw their swords and rushed forward to strike at Phobos.

"Deimos, defend him." Deimos followed and rushed out, the blades of his hatchets sparking to life. The first knight thrust his sword forward, intent to impale the demihuman.

Deimos sidestepped the blade and struck the weapon with his hatchet, cutting the sword in half with ease. He followed up with two quick cuts to the arm and leg and a final strike to the unguarded neck. The second soldier tried to strike Deimos but Deimos caught the blade between the back ends of his axes.

The knight tried to take his sword out, but Phobos delivered a devastating punch to the side of the knight's head, knocking him out for good.

I raised my Thorn Shield and fired three spikes towards the knights standing back with the crystal ball. The thorns punched through the armor and into the torso of the first guard standing by the carriage. The soldier holding the crystal ball began to panic, knowing he was outnumbered and outmatched. He turned around and ran, hoping to get away from us.

"Filo, go knock him out." I said.

"On it." She said, rushing off. She merely skipped up behind the fleeing knight, smiling like nothing was wrong.

'It's honestly kind of cute, in a childish way.'

"Huah!" She jumped into the air and punched the knights head so hard his head went into the ground and his feet were flung into the air. He laid on the ground unmoving for a bit.

"... Did I hit him too hard?" She asked innocently.

"It's fine." I sighed. Odds were he was alive but it would be a while before he was awake, and a bit longer until he could form coherent sentences. "Look around his neck for a necklace. Grab that and the crystal ball and we can start heading East."

"Got it!"

I turned back to Luna and Raphtalia. "Alright, I need you two to-"

"Uh, Master." Filo said. "What are those?"

"What are-" I turned around to ask but saw it.

Streaking across the sky were eight orange they traveled through the sky, they began to arc towards the ground, right of the direction…

'Riyute.'

The lights impacted and a burst of orange came from the ground. The shockwaves followed, the sound of the explosions reaching all the way over here.

"That bastard!" I yelled. "Forget the plan! Mount up, now!"

"Why!? What's happening!?" Melty asked frightened.

"Your old man just attacked Riyute."