Greetings people of the internet! Good morning, afternoon, or what ever time of the day it is for you at this time! How've you all been? I've been pretty up and down myself as of late, but I'm hangin in there. Thankfully, new anime and manga are always good sources of stress relief.

Anyway, Id like to take this time to apologize. This chapter took more time then expected to finish, and I'm very sorry about that. I'm not sure what the weather has been like for you all lately, but for me its been almost nothing but thunderstorms for the past month, and they kept knocking out the power in my apartment building, which made it impossible for me to get any work done on this chapter.

Thankfully, not even Mother Nature can keep me down for long. The story continues, and I hope the following chapter is worth the wait. Please read on and enjoy.

I do not own The Rising of the Shield Hero, or any of its characters, locations, or events. I only own my OC's. Damian Abyss, Roxanne, Plum, Sasha, and more to come later on.

Chapter 16 - Dark Demise

After escaping from the literal flames of Malty's fury, me, Roxanne, Plum, and Melty were back on the road once more. Still bound for Idol Rabier's territory, and Sasha, who we knew was waiting there for us. Along the way, the four of us debated about what to do after rescuing Sasha. Fight our way to Siltvelt, or fight our way to the queen of Melromarc. In the end, we simply decided to let Sasha decide on our next course of action. That is, if she decides to join our team after we save her of course. Roxanne assured us that that wouldn't be an issue though.

Although, before reaching Idol's territory, our travels brought us to a town populated almost exclusively by demi-humans, much to our surprise in an anti demi-human kingdom like Melromarc. As it turned out, said town was governed by a good friend of Melty's. A Melromarc nobleman by the name of Van Reichnott. He seemed nice enough, so we all sat down to lunch with him at his manor, deciding that we could use a little down time before reaching Idol's territory, and the battles that were no doubt waiting for us there. This down time lead to a good amount of bonding and soul searching between the four of us, which we all kind of needed, even if we didn't fully realize it at the time.

Unfortunately, trouble just couldn't resist rearing its ugly head around us once again, as Idol Radier and his men appeared in Reichnott's town without any kind of warning, and like most other humans in the kingdom of Melromarc, they were looking for us. Needless to say, this put us in a rather difficult position, but Melty was quick to remedy the situation, and gave herself over to Idol in order to get him and his men to leave Reichnott's town. Idol ended up taking both Melty and Reichnott, but this gave me, Roxanne, and Plum the opportunity we needed to seek into Idol's territory, and save them, as well as Sasha, and any other demi-human slaves we found of course. The demi-human citizens of Reichnott's town were more then happy to help us out as well, so after making all the necessary preparations, we set out for Idol's territory one more time, accompanied by a small army of demi-humans.

While they kept Idol's soldiers busy for us, me, Roxanne, and Plum were free to sneak right onto the ground of Idol's mansion. Strangely enough, there wasn't a single guard to be found, but that was because Sasha herself was far more powerful and competent then any human soldier. The slave crest Idol had on Sasha forced her to attack Roxanne, but I quickly stepped in, and volunteered to deal with Sasha myself. While I was doing that, Roxanne and Plum headed inside the mansion to rescue Melty and Reichnott, and kill Idol. The two of them easily succeeded in rescuing Melty and Reichnott, then Roxanne prepared to strike down Idol with her own sword. And as she did, some very strange, and very dark magical energy began to emerge from the kitsune's body, which did well to raise Plum's concern, as well as her confusion.

And so, two different battles rage on, on two different fronts, and in two different ways. Although, as one might expect, Roxanne was having a far easier time dealing with her opponent then I was with mine.

As night soon fell over Idol's territory, and the sky grew dark, I stood my ground against Sasha's barrage of lightning fast punches, with the barrier generated from my Meteor Shield skill holding strong all around me. At first, I thought I could simply keep this up until Roxanne killed Idol, knowing that it wouldn't take her very long to do so. Unfortunately, that plan didn't even last a minute, as Sasha demonstrated that she wasn't just beautiful, strong, and fast. She was also very smart.

Since my Meteor Shield skill had never failed to protect me before, I didn't notice it right away, but a small crack appeared at the front of my barrier, right in the spot where Sasha was still pummeling away, and it kept getting bigger and bigger by the second. This surprised me right away, especially since not even the Soul Eater could make a dent in this skill of mine.

Fortunately, I was able to discover the cause mere seconds after I noticed the crack. It was hard to tell at first, given how fast they were, but Sasha's punches weren't random at all. Each and every one was targeted. Sasha made full use of her incredible speed and power, as she struck the same exact spot on my barrier over and over again, wearing down my defenses little by little with every hit.

I quickly realized that this strategy of mine was definitely not gonna work, and that I had to come up with a new one fast. Still, even as a bead of sweat slowly rolled down the side of my face, I never lost my grin, or my excitement. Sasha's intelligence, on top of her looks, amazing stats, and the fact that she was the living, breathing incarnation of Byakko herself made me wanna add her to my party, and my harem even more.

Meanwhile, on the outside of my barrier, Sasha continued her assault, never letting up for a second. In fact, with every second that passed, she got even faster, and stronger too, as her wind magic continued to blow and swirl all around her, especially around her fists. The hakuko quickly took notice of the progress she was making on my barrier, as well as the fact that I was starting to sweat a little. So she decided to throw a few taunts my way, as she continued to grin right back at me. "What's wrong Damian?! You can do better then this, cant you?! I thought you wanted to play with the kitty!"

Despite the situation that we were in, it was easy for me to see that Sasha was enjoying this to some degree, just as I was. Naturally, I was happy to see that her time as Idol's slave hadn't broken her spirit, even if she was trying to kill me. "Oh trust me Sasha, there's nothing Id like more right now! But lets save that for another time and place, shall we?!" After making a dirty joke, the green gemstone on my shield began to glow, as I put the only plan I could think of into effect. "Shield Prison!"

Sasha found my joke to be mildly amusing, letting out a few small chuckles as she continued her seemingly endless assault on my barrier. Unfortunately for her, that's exactly what I was going for, as my Shield Prison surrounded her while she was distracted by said joke. Sasha then stopped her whirlwind of punches, caught off guard by my skill, as she took a moment to look all around her, but then immediately got her grin back. "Tch. Okay, I guess I walked right into that one. You're pretty crafty Damian, Ill give you that, but you must know that this cant hold me for long." And just like that, Sasha resumed her barrage of punches, knowing that she could break free from my Shield Prison in seconds.

I knew this too, so I quickly dropped my barrier, and moved back, putting some distance between me and the female hakuko. "Good thing I've got more then! Go, Second Shield!" At my command, a second, slightly larger Shield Prison materialized around the first one, adding another layer of defense to the prison Sasha was currently attempting to free herself from. I wasn't done just yet though, as I switched over to my Frozen Pride Shield, and aimed it straight at the double Shield Prison I had Sasha trapped in. "And now, Ice Walls!" Making use of my ice magic, I created a large cube, made entirely out of ice around the double Shield Prison, and made sure the walls and ceiling were as thick as I could make them.

Still inside the first Shield Prison, Sasha couldn't really tell what was going on outside, but she didn't let that slow her assault on my skill even a little. Besides, she could still hear the sound of my voice through the sounds of her fists continuously banging against the inside of my Shield Prison, and she could feel a sudden chill in the air all around her. So she was able to quickly and easily put it all together anyway, and gladly welcomed the added challenge. "Bring it on! This is nothing!"

I knew that even my extra defenses wouldn't hold up against Sasha's speed and power for very long, but I knew that before I even cast them. I also knew that Sasha likely wouldn't get caught in the same trap twice, so it was right back to the drawing board for me, as I used every second I had to try and come up with a better method I could use to stall for time. The main problem was that I didn't wanna hurt Sasha at all, which left me with very few options. So I quickly made my upgrade tree appear in my field of vision, and started to look through it as fast as I could, hoping that I had a shield that could help me out with this.

The list of shields Id acquired was very long and varied, so looking through them all in the short time I had was easier said then done for sure. As one might expect, all my usual, go-to shields were no good this time, since I promised both Roxanne and myself that I wouldn't harm Sasha in any way. So I kept on looking through my upgrade tree, until one shield in particular caught my eye, right as I felt both of my Shield Prisons vanish inside my walls of ice, indicating that Sasha had successfully broken through them both. Id never used this particular shield before, so I was rather unsure about making this of all situations its trial run, but its skills did seem like they'd be really useful right about now. So, after mentally hoping that my new strategy was a good one, I equipped my new shield, and braced myself for Sasha's next attack.

I picked a good time to do so too, as Sasha shattered every single wall of ice at the exact moment I raised my shield. She then turned towards me once again, still grinning, and raised her right fist, channeling a very large amount of wind magic into said fist. The magic proceeded to take the form of a small tornado that surrounded Sasha's entire right fist, and half of her right arm, stopping at her right elbow. "Lets see if you can take this Damian! Tornado Fist!" Continuing to display absolutely no fear, Sasha charged straight for me at an incredibly high speed, ready to strike me with her attack as hard as she could.

Once again, I stood my ground, raised my shield, and took the full force of her attack head on. Still, even with my shield up, my heels dug into the ground behind me, and my incredibly high defense, Sasha's attack still hit me like a tornado to the face, even though her fist collided with my shield. I was forced to grit my teeth, and use all my strength just to keep from getting blown away by her strike, both literally and metaphorically in this case, as the wind whipped violently all around the two of us. However, this didn't last very long, as I activated one of the skills of my new shield in response to Sasha's attack. "And lets see if you can take this Sasha! Soul Devour!"

The new shield I had equipped was one that I had acquired immediately after the most recent wave of catastrophe. My Soul Eater Shield. And as soon as I activated one of its skills, all three of its eyes, as well as the green gemstone in my shield started to glow. Not even a second after that, my shield began to increase in size, opening its giant mouth, and lunging straight at Sasha, all while making the same shrieking noises as the monster it was made from.

Even though Sasha had seen the previous shield hero in action many times when she was a child, she'd never seen a shield like this one before, so it managed to catch even her by surprise. "Wait a minute! What's this?!" The hakuko questioned, then immediately used her wind magic, as well as her amazing speed to jump backwards, trying to evade my shield's attack.

However, this wasn't an attack at all. It didn't matter where Sasha ran or jumped, as my Soul Eater Shield swallowed up all the wind from her attack, and continued to chase after her until it finally got what it was after. Letting out another loud shriek, my shield bit down on Sasha's right arm, and sank its huge fangs into her flesh.

At first, both me and Sasha were a little shaken by this, but that quickly came to an end when my shield pulled away from Sasha, returned to normal on my arm, and we both saw that not even a single drop of Sasha's blood had been spilt. "Huh? What the hell just happened? My arm does feel a little numb, but it doesn't hurt at all." Sasha questioned me yet again, looking down at her right arm with a confused look on her face.

I looked just as confused as she did, until my status screen appeared in my field of vision yet again, and informed me that my Soul Eater Shield's Soul Devour skill stole some of Sasha's SP, and added the stolen SP to my own, but didn't cause her any real damage. Needless to say, I was very relieved to see that I didn't end up hurting Sasha in any way, as I let out a sigh of relief, then got my grin back. "You're fine Sasha. This is my Soul Eater Shield, and contrary to the name, it doesn't actually eat souls. When you hit it before, I activated its Soul Devour skill, which stole some of your skill points. Careful. Lose too many, and ya wont be able to use any skills anymore."

As soon as she heard the sound of my voice, Sasha looked at me again, and listened to what I had to say. Once my explanation was over, she grinned right back at me once more, and struck yet another martial arts stance. "I see. Thanks for telling me how it works. All I have to do is avoid hitting your shield, right? Sounds easy enough, so lets give this another try." As her wind magic began to swirl around her yet again, she vanished from sight, and reappeared behind me a split second later, ready to strike. "Tornado Fist!"

Sasha attacked me with the same move as before, but made sure to avoid my shield this time around. Unfortunately for her, I didn't tell her everything that my Soul Eater Shield was capable of.

The female hakuko really thought she had gotten the better of me at that moment, but the reverse turned out to be true once again. Sasha had planned to strike the back of my head with her Tornado Fist, but was both shocked and confused when her attack passed right through me. Like I was a ghost or something. So, after quickly regaining her composure, Sasha jumped away from me just like before, keeping her fists raised, and her eyes locked on me. "Another skill, I presume?"

Before answering her, I turned around, and our eyes met once more. "Correct. As I'm sure you already got, this skill is called Intangibility. As the name implies, it allows me to go intangible for a short time, making it the perfect skill to stall for time, and avoid damage." The "short time" in question was only about thirty seconds, but I purposely avoided telling Sasha that part, and hoped that it would be enough time for Roxanne and Plum to wrap things up on their end.

Even though she didn't know how long I could go intangible for, this information still ended up exciting Sasha far more then she already was, as her grin grew bigger, her wind magic whipped wildly all around her, and some laughter escaped her lips before she gave me a response. "This is interesting! You're interesting Damian Abyss! Slave crest or not, I've never felt this pumped up in my entire life! Keep it comin!" As her heart rate increased from all of her overwhelming excitement, Sasha came at me once again, using her still very impressive speed to run all around me in a large circle.

As it turned out, Sasha's excitement was infectious. I could feel my own excitement growing more and more as she ran around me, but I still made sure to keep my guard, and my shield up. I also chose to keep my Intangibility skill active for as long as I could, knowing that she could strike at me in the blink of an eye, and from any direction. As such, I got myself ready to deflect her next attack with my Soul Eater Shield, but trying to follow her movements was far easier said then done.

And it got even harder about three seconds after that. Sasha started moving so fast, that it looked like six clones of her were now running around me, with all of them grinning right at me. I didn't know it yet, but this was all part of Sasha's strategy to counter my Intangibility. And now that her clones were all set, Sasha began her next assault without missing a beat. "I hope you like ninjas Damian! Jet Shuriken!" Sasha and her clones kicked their right legs at me at super high speed, sending shuriken's made entirely out of wind magic at me from six different directions, and they didn't stop.

With my Intangibility still active, the first volley of Jet Shuriken's went right through me, and missed completely. However, Sasha and her clones kept going, firing volley after volley of Jet Shuriken's at me, waiting for them to start hitting me. As soon as they did, Sasha planned to strike at me with another big attack, giving me absolutely no time to defend or dodge.

As my skill's time began to reach its limit, I lost my grin, and started to grit my teeth yet again. Unlike Motoyasu, Sasha was indeed a worthy opponent who really did a good job of keeping me on my toes, and without any weapons or outside advantages to speak of. Fortunately for me, I could see my skill's timer, but she couldn't. So just before the timer hit zero, I once again called on an old favorite of mine. "Shield Prison!" This time though, I made my Shield Prison appear around myself, already devising my next move in this back and forth that the two of us seemed to have gotten into.

Seeing this, Sasha stopped her assault, and her running, which caused all of her clones to disappear. Never the less, Sasha's grin remained, as she looked at my Shield Prison, and knew right away what its appearance meant. My Intangibility had come to an end, and she could cause me damage again. So, remembering that my shield was currently attached to my right arm, she moved around to the left side of my Shield Prison, took yet another martial arts stance, and began to channel a ton of wind magic into her right fist, planning to break through my Shield Prison with a single punch. Having felt how strong and durable it was earlier, she knew that she could do it if she put enough strength and magic power into her attack. So, once she felt like she had enough, she let it fly. "Tornado Fist!"

"Change Shield!" The second I heard the first sound of Sasha's voice outside my Shield Prison, I activated yet another of my many skills, changing all the shields that made up my Shield Prison into Soul Eater Shields. This way, no matter where Sasha hit my Shield Prison, she'd have to go through my Soul Eater Shield to get to me. Of course, I knew she wouldn't have any trouble breaking through my Shield Prison, but she'd still lose more of her SP to my Soul Eater Shield in the process. "As well as Soul Devour!"

Naturally, Sasha was very surprised by this, but it was far too late for her to do anything about it, as she'd already thrown her punch. Never the less, she didn't let this rattle her, and kept her attack going anyway, with plenty of strength and magic power in it.

As soon as her fist made contact, my Soul Devour skill activated, repeating its actions from earlier. My Soul Eater Shield's eyes started to glow, its mouth opened wide, let out a loud shriek, then bit down on Sasha's arm, stealing some of her SP, and causing her arm to feel a bit numb once again.

Having experienced all of this before as well, Sasha didn't waver, and still managed to punch right through my Shield Prison. My skill began to disappear all around us, but she didn't stop there, and kept her punch going, with her eyes locked on my left shoulder.

All of this took place in the space of five seconds, so I barely had time to use my Change Shield skill, let along turn to block Sasha's attack. That was the one downside to this current strategy of mine. While I was inside my Shield Prison, I was unable to see what Sasha's was doing outside, and therefore, where she would strike from. All I could do was activate my Change Shield skill, brace myself, and trust that my incredibly high defense would allow me to come out of this alive.

Before I even had time to fully process what was happening, Sasha's Tornado Fist made contact with my left shoulder, and I was sent flying to the other side of the courtyard. I hit the ground about a second later, landing on my right side, and sliding across the ground a little. Thankfully, the damage was nothing too bad, but it still made me wince hard, and hold my shoulder as I got back on my feet and turned towards Sasha.

Before saying or doing anything else, both of us took a moment to catch our breath. It was clear that neither of us was even close to our limit, but we both knew that this definitely wouldn't last much longer, so it didn't really matter to either of us.

About thirty seconds after that, Sasha let out another small chuckle, and spoke to me again. "Ya know, I think I'm starting to see what Roxie sees in you. The last shield hero didn't go down easily either. In fact, he kept on fighting to the bitter end against Melromarc's soldiers. All to protect the lives of the demi-humans of Siltvelt. He may have been a human, but he was a good man. And it seems like you are too. Going to all this trouble for just one demi-human."

"Fast Heal." I healed my shoulder as I listened to Sasha's words, once again wondering what the previous shield hero was really like in person. As soon as my shoulder was healed, I gave the hakuko my response, and a smile to go along with it. "Its not just for one demi-human though. Its for you and Roxanne. I know that I'm probably nowhere near the previous shield hero's level yet, but there isn't anything I wouldn't do for my companions. I love each of them dearly, and if I had to, Id gladly put my life on the line to protect an entire kingdom full of demi-humans from this kingdom of idiots."

As she listened to my response, Sasha's grin vanished, as my words really resonated with her, and a smile appeared on her face too. She also couldn't help laughing a bit more at the last thing I said, as she took her martial arts stance once more. "Well, you've got a sharper tongue then the last shield hero. That's for sure. Careful now. I might end up falling for you too Damian."

I let out a few chuckles of my own, then raised my shield, and took another battle ready pose myself. "Funny you should say that Sasha. You see, I'm actually aiming to assemble my very own harem of beautiful inhuman girls. Roxanne and Plum are both part of it, and don't worry. They're both completely okay with it of course."

"Is that right? I never imagined Roxie would agree to be part of someone's harem, but I guess its not that surprising, given that that someone is the shield hero. And a very interesting one at that. Anyway, it seems like we still have some time to kill. So how about another dance Damian?" Without even waiting for my answer, Sasha's wind magic started to swirl around her, and she vanished from sight using her immense speed once again.

That made no difference to me though, as I was more then happy to keep her entertained until her slave crest was gone. "Like you have to ask. I've never been much of a dancer though, so you'll have to forgive me if I accidentally step on your toes Sasha."

Our battle went on from there, as I continued to do everything in my power to stall Sasha for as long as possible, without hurting her of course. I knew that I wouldn't have to keep this up for much longer though, since Roxanne and Plum had been inside Idol's mansion for almost ten minutes by that point, and it definitely wouldn't take them much more time then that to carry out the missions they were given.

X

Meanwhile, inside Idol's mansion, Plum had succeeded in her mission, and was now holding Melty in her arms, keeping her safe, and keeping her head turned away from the scene that was currently playing out between Roxanne and Idol himself. Plum could sense Roxanne's feelings of intense anger and resentment from the other side of the room they were in, and continued to look at her dear friend and teammate with great concern, as more and more dark magical energy appeared from Roxanne's body, and proceeded to slowly swirl around her afterward. The dragon had absolutely no intention of stopping the kitsune from doing what she was about to do though, knowing very well how important this was to her, and that it was the only way we could save Sasha.

It didn't seem like Roxanne noticed the dark energy surrounding her body though, as she kept her glare locked on Idol, and the tip of her flaming sword very close to his neck. Either that, or she did notice, but just didn't care. Roxanne was more angry then she'd ever been in her entire life, and at that moment, there was only one thing on her mind. Completing her mission, and killing the human nobleman in front of her.

All the while, Idol just sat on the ground with his back against the wall, sweating, shaking, and looking up at the kitsune before him with a look of pure terror all over his face. And it definitely didn't help that he could see the dark energy floating around her too. He had no idea what it was, but it was easy to see that it was bad news. "...W-Wait! Wait a moment! I'm not like the other nobles in this kingdom! I swear! Most of the demi-human slaves here are children who lost their families during the first wave! They would've died like dogs if I hadn't taken them in! I saved their lives!" As soon as he mustered up the courage to speak again, Idol immediately tried to convince Roxanne to spare his life once more, doing so in a very frightened and shaky voice.

"Cut the crap!" Naturally, Roxanne didn't buy what he was selling for a second. "You think all demi-humans are stupid and worthless, but we're not! If you truly cared about the lives of the demi-humans you're keeping here, you'd never have enslaved them! You would've taken them somewhere safe instead! Besides, one of your slaves, the hakuko named Sasha, had a happy home with me and my parents long before the first wave hit! But she was taken from us by force, then sold into slavery, and was bought by you!"

"I can only imagine what you've put her through all these years, forcing her to fight and kill for you, even after she'd already done more then her fair share of suffering! You're no savior! You're exactly like the rest of the disgusting, slave driving humans in this kingdom! Ill never forgive you! Ill make you pay dearly for what you've done!" As Roxanne yelled at Idol in a downright furious tone, even more dark energy emerged from her body, adding to the clouds of it that had already formed all around her.

Idol flinched the second Roxanne started yelling at him, as several more beads of sweat rolled down both sides of his face. Before responding, the nobleman got down on his hands and knees, and lowered his head in front of Roxanne. "I'm sorry! You're right! What I did was wrong! If all you want is that one girl, then go ahead and take her! Ill set her free! I swear!"

At first, it did seem like his words were able to appease Roxanne's wrath, as she slowly lowered her sword, and began to calm down a little. However, the dark energy that surrounded her body was still there, and Roxanne's tone had gone from furious, to cold, as she gave the nobleman and all of his pleas for mercy a response. "If lord Damian, the shield hero, were here, he'd say that you're full of shit. And that killing you is far better then any offer you could possibly make us. Because ending your miserable life will not only free Sasha. It'll also spare the rest of the world from ever having to deal with you ever again. One less evil scumbag in the world. Put simply, you die here and now, and nothing you could ever say or do will change my mind."

After hearing all of that, Idol snapped. He'd already gotten down on his hands and knees, bowed before a demi-human, and begged said demi-human to spare his life. All things he would never normally do under any circumstances, and he really hated the fact that Roxanne forced him to do those things. And after hearing that it was all pointless, the nobleman couldn't take it anymore. "You damn demi-human..." Idol started to shake with rage, before getting back on his feet as fast as he could, pulling out the sword that was strapped to his waist, and using it to strike at Roxanne, all while glaring at the albino kitsune. "Curse you! Demi's don't deserve to live! Ill kill you!"

However, Roxanne was completely unfazed by his attack, and quickly used her own sword to block his. Seconds after the two swords clashed, Roxanne's still blazing sword melted right through Idol's sword, causing half of it to fall to the ground, and for the nobleman to lose his balance and stumble forward a little. A little was all Roxanne needed though, as she took advantage of Idol's opening, and stabbed Idol right through the center of his chest with her burning sword. The tip could be seen coming out of Idol's back, as the nobleman gasped and coughed up quite a bit of blood. Roxanne intentionally missed Idol's heart though, and pulled her sword back out of his chest about five seconds after it went in, making the blue flames go out as she did.

As soon as Roxanne's sword was out, Idol dropped what was left of his own sword, and stumbled back towards the wall behind him, as blood started flowing from the scorched wounds on his chest and back. Needless to say, Idol was in extreme pain. He gripped his shirt near his chest wound, winced, then let out a very loud cry of agony. "GAH! It hurts! It burns! My insides are on fire! Damn demi! How dare you do this to me!" He glared at Roxanne again, wanting nothing more then to strike at her again, but all of his weapons were gone, and he was in far too much pain to even attempt such a thing.

Roxanne was still unfazed, as she looked right back at Idol with a cold, dark look in her eyes, and put her sword away. "Killing you with my sword would be far too good for scum like you. Instead, I've got something else in mind." Her tone was still just as cold as the look in her eyes, as even more dark energy emerged from her body. Then, almost like she was in a trance, Roxanne slowly held her right hand out in front of her, towards Idol. After that, all the dark energy began to converge in front of her hand, as Roxanne used her magic power to give it form.

Both Plum and Idol watched this happen, and they were both speechless. Plum had no idea what was going on, but Idol had heard stories of a very rare, and very dangerous magical affinity. Those thoughts frightened the nobleman to his very core, as his entire body begin to shake with a mixture of pain and fear, and his glare changed into an expression of terror and disbelief. He couldn't believe that the demi-human before him was actually using it, but he did know that if this really was what he thought it was, then his death was assured. "...N-No...How is this possible?...It...It cant be real!"

"Oh its very real. I assure you." Roxanne said to Idol, and continued to give the dark energy form. Eventually, all of the dark energy had moved to the front of Roxanne's right hand, and had formed into an orb that was about twice the size of a single balloon monster. "This one's for Sasha. Black Hole!" It was just as Idol feared. Roxanne had gained the power of dark magic. And as soon as she cast her new spell, it began to float towards Idol, sucking in everything around it.

"No! Stop! Please! Don't do this! Ill give you everything I have! Ill free all my slaves! Ill never harm another demi-human for as long as I live!" There was no where Idol could run, and nothing he could do to stop Roxanne's attack. All he could do was keep on begging, and pray that his life would be spared. Unfortunately for him, his prayers went unanswered, as Roxanne's Black Hole soon reached him, and began to suck him in as well.

The spell started by sucking some of the still flowing blood from the nobleman's open wound, but as the seconds went by, the spell's gravitational pull got stronger and stronger. Before Idol could even try to run away, the skin and flesh was being pulled right off of his hands, and his innards were pulled right out of his body through his chest wound. Idol tried his best to fight against it, screaming in pure agony the entire time, as he watched various parts of his body vanish into the Black Hole, but it was no use.

Roxanne's new spell didn't stop, nor did she make any attempts to stop it herself. Roxanne just watched her handy work unfold before her eyes, not at all bothered by how cruel this was.

Plum continued to watch this as well, very shocked, and unable to believe what she was seeing at first. She knew very well that Roxanne hated Idol a lot, but she never imagined any of this would happen. The dragon worried about her dear friend and teammate, hoping that she would still be herself after this, but made no attempts to stop what was happening, and just continued to hold Melty close, and keep the young princess' head turned away from the brutal scene that was currently unfolding.

Still, even though Melty couldn't see what was happening, she could definitely hear it. All of it. And it made the young girl flinch and gasp in shock. Part of her wanted to turn around and see what was happening for herself, but she barely managed to keep herself from doing so, knowing that if Plum didn't want her to look, then it must've been really bad.

Over the course of one minute, Roxanne's Black Hole continued to break down and destroy Idol's body, piece by piece. All the while, Idol himself kept on screaming. The dark magic spell stripped away all the flesh and blood from his arms until only bone remained, doing the same to the rest of Idol's body as well. And just before Idol finally kicked the bucket, he managed to look up at the night sky through one of the windows of the room they were in, and get a few more words out too. "...Oh supreme God...with your divine power...tear the devil of the shield and his damn demi-humans asunder!"

Those were Idol's last words, as a Three Heroes Church pendant flew out of the pocket of his pants, and into the Black Hole. He ended up dying not even two seconds later, as Roxanne's Black Hole ripped his eyeballs right out of his head, followed by the last of his skin, flesh, blood, hair, clothes, and internal organs, leaving only a skeleton behind. However, even that was pulled into the Black Hole immediately after that, and crushed into oblivion just like the rest of Idol Rabier.

Now that the deed was done, Roxanne made her Black Hole vanish, and spoke two more words in her cold, unforgiving tone. "Good riddance." After that, Roxanne let out a deep sigh, fell to one knee, and began to pant a little, feeling rather drained after using her new spell.

With the execution now over, Plum finally let go of Melty, then they both turned towards Roxanne. The dragon and the princess were still a bit worried about the kitsune, but Plum's emotion sensing abilities told her that all of Roxanne's negative emotions were gone. Plum quickly informed Melty of this, then the two of them ran over to Roxanne, and knelt down on either side of her with concerned expressions on their faces. "Roxanne, you okay?" Plum asked her dear friend in a tone that perfectly matched her facial expression, gently placing a claw on her shoulder.

Roxanne took a moment to steady her breathing, then she turned to face Plum, and gave her a smile and a nod. "Yes Plum, I'm fine. Sorry I worried you. That power surprised even me, but it was so strong. I just kind of went with it."

"That was dark magic." A familiar voice suddenly made all three girls turn their heads, revealing that Reichnott was back on his feet. The soldiers that had a hold on him ran off after witnessing Roxanne's new power, as well as their lord's death, leaving Reichnott behind. As such, the kind-hearted nobleman was a free man once again, smiling at the three young ladies, but still sustained some injuries during his captivity, and was now holding his left arm. Never the less, he didn't let that stop him from giving the girls an explanation of Roxanne's new power. "I've heard plenty of stories about it, but this was my first time actually seeing it. Of course, all kitsune and tanuki have an affinity for both light and dark magic, but the level of power that Lady Roxanne has just displayed is very rare. Truly a sight to behold, even if the way she used it was a bit harsh."

Roxanne, Plum, and Melty all listened to Reichnott's explanation, and even though Roxanne disagreed with the part about her methods being "a bit harsh", she still smiled, very happy to have obtained another powerful and rare ability. She remembered the light magic she used against Glass during the most recent wave, then looked down at her hands, making her right hand shine with light magic, and her left hand overflow with dark magic, as she, Plum, and Melty all got back on their feet.

"Reichnott!" Once she was on her feet, Melty ran straight over to her friend. The princess was relieved that he was safe, but also concerned, seeing that he was hurt. "You're hurt. Please hold still. First Aqua Heal." Melty held out her right hand close to Reichnott's injured arm, then cast her strongest healing spell on it.

The magic power from Melty's spell had Reichnott fixed up in no time, as he smiled at the blue haired princess, then at Roxanne and Plum once more. "Lady Roxanne, Lady Plum, I cant thank you and sir shield hero enough for saving my life."

Roxanne and Plum both looked back at the nobleman, and Plum returned his smile almost immediately. Roxanne, on the other hand, lost her smile, and made the light and dark magical energies vanish from her hands before giving Reichnott a response. "Well, you're really important to a lot of demi-humans, so you're welcome. Still, you weren't our priority. My long lost sister Sasha was. Idol bought and enslaved her, but now that that rotten bastard is dead, she's finally free." The albino kitsune turned towards the windows as she spoke about Sasha, and got her smile back right away, knowing that the battle between me and Sasha must've ended by this time, and that Sasha's slave crest was long gone.

And so, after Melty finished healing Reichnott, Roxanne began to lead Plum, Melty, and Reichnott out of Idol's mansion, following the large holes that Plum made in the walls back to the courtyard outside. They all ran as fast as they could, but made sure to stay together as well. Now that Sasha was free, Roxanne was more eager then ever to run up to her long lost sister-at-arms, hug her, and tell her all about her adventures with me and Plum so far.

X

Back outside the mansion, neither me nor Sasha knew exactly what was going on inside the mansion, but as soon as Idol was killed, Sasha suddenly came to a complete stop, her fist mere inches away from my face. At first, I raised an eyebrow at Sasha, wondering why she stopped. However, I already had a pretty good idea of why she did.

My suspicions were quickly confirmed, as I watched Sasha's eyes widen slightly. She also let out a small gasp, and took a few steps back. The hakuko then slowly looked down at her chest, and saw her slave crest glow one last time, before it slowly faded away completely.

Seeing this, I checked out my status screen, and it confirmed that Sasha was no longer a slave. This made me smile instantly, as I spoke to Sasha with a tone of happiness. "Roxanne did it Sasha. Idol's dead, and you're free."

Sasha took another minute to process this, but still listened to my words, then looked at me again once she was finished. Then, without warning, or so much as a word, Sasha vanished from sight once again, using her unparalleled speed to do so.

This surprised and confused me at first, as I lost my smile, and raised an eyebrow. "Sasha?" At first, I had no idea what she was up to, as complete silence fell all around me. I looked all around, but didn't see or hear any signs of the hakuko at all.

Then, a split second later, the silence was broken by the terrified screams of Idol's soldiers. And not just from one spot. In a matter of seconds, the screams could be heard coming from all over Idol's territory.

This turn of events surprised me yet again, and made me jump a little, as I quickly turned in the direction of the mansion's front gate, and ran towards it. As soon as I got to the mansion's main entrance, I looked down at the village surrounding Idol's mansion, and continued to hear the screams of terrified knights. I also noticed a strong wind blowing through the village, and that's when I pieced together what was happening, gaining a new grin upon my face in the process.

All over Idol's territory, the knights who were charged with defending it were dying, one by one. The screams were coming from the knights who witnessed their friends and comrades die without any sort of warning right before their eyes, but most of their screams didn't last long, as they too were killed before they even had a chance to try defending themselves.

The knights all died the same exact ways too. They either got their heads cut off by some kind of cutting attack, or their heads were completely smashed to pieces right off of their bodies, like they were hit in the face with a cannonball. It was all happening so fast that it looked like the wind itself was killing the knights, but I knew what was really going on.

It was all Sasha's doing. Thanks to all the time she'd spent in Idol's territory, she knew exactly where every single knight was posted while on duty, where they lived, and even where they liked to take their breaks. With all of that knowledge in mind, she sped all around Idol's territory at super high speed, and killed off every last knight in and around the village.

Now that she was free, she had ten whole years worth of hell to give them, and she was really letting it all out. She also wanted to make sure that no one would try to stop her from leaving Idol's territory, and although I couldn't tell at the time, Sasha had a big grin on her face through it all. She was really enjoying the carnage, and made absolutely sure not to leave even a single solider alive. However, she did stop for a moment, after she killed the soldiers that were guarding the village's main gate.

The demi-humans from Reichnott's territory were still rioting there, and when the soldiers suddenly got their heads blown off and died, the crowd was very shocked and confused to say the least. Their minds were quickly put at ease though, as Sasha came to a stop, appearing in the place of one of the soldiers, in full view of the entire crowd of demi-humans. The hakuko then gave her fellow demi-humans a smile, a wink, and a wave, assuring them that everything was okay.

Once that was done, Sasha turned away from the crowd, and used her speed to vanish from sight once again. Still, her method worked, as the crowd of demi-humans went from rioting to cheering almost immediately after seeing what they saw. The hakuko race may have been removed from power in Siltvelt, but to most demi-humans, it was still very encouraging to see one alive, well, and lending a helping hand to their fellow demi-humans.

With that, Sasha continued her assault on the knights of Idol's territory for the next twenty seconds, until the final knight's headless body was on the ground, laying in a pool of its own blood. Now that that was done, Sasha returned to the mansion's courtyard, appearing before me once again. She took a moment to catch her breath, but never stopped grinning even once, feeling extremely satisfied after everything she'd just done. "Damn that felt good."

As soon as I heard the sound of Sasha's voice, I turned to face her once again, and proceeded to walk over to her, very impressed by her handy work, as another thought quickly crossed my mind. "You were holding back on me during our fight." I said to Sasha in a knowing tone, even though I already kinda figured that out during our battle.

"So what if I was? My former idiotic master just said that I had to kill any and all intruders. He never said I had to do it quickly, or use all my power to do so. Like you said, the stupid human should've been more specific. Besides, I could say the same thing about you Damian. You may not be as powerful as the previous shield hero just yet, but I know you can do better then what I saw during our battle." Sasha responded to my words with a knowing tone of her own, grinning right at me as she did.

"Well, I did promise Roxanne that I wouldn't hurt you in any way. So I avoided using any of my offensive skills. Sorry if that disappoints you at all Sasha." I said to her with a smile on my face, already able to tell from our short confrontation that Sasha was definitely the kind of person who enjoyed a good fight.

"Its fine. The last thing I want is to make Roxie worry any more then she already has about me over the past ten years. Still, not gonna lie, I wouldn't mind having a real battle with you sometime Damian." Sasha admitted to me, then moved closer to me, gently placed on finger on my chest, and slowly dragged it down, before speaking to me again, but in a more playful and alluring tone this time. "So how 'bout it? Think you can give me a good fight? Or will you hold back because I'm a girl?"

Sasha's actions caused a small blush to appear on my face, but I managed to keep my cool, as well as my smile. Before responding, I grabbed onto her hand with one of my own, and gripped it with a good amount of my strength to show her that I was serious. "I wont lie, you are very attractive, but when I'm in a battle, gender doesn't influence my judgement in the slightest. I believe both genders are equal, and that its not right for one gender to get special treatment. Besides, its easy to see that you're just as tough, if not tougher, then any male human or demi-human, especially three male humans that I have the misfortune of knowing." I thought about the three cardinal stooges for a moment, then quickly refocused my attention on the beautiful female hakuko in front of me. "Anyway, I don't enjoy fighting inhuman opponents, but if that's really what you want, and its just for fun, then I suppose we could give it a go sometime."

Both my actions and my answer made Sasha grin at me once more, as she gripped my hand back, using just as much strength as I was. "Good answer. Things like chivalry are nice and all, but if there's one thing I hate, its when someone pulls their punches against me simply because of my gender. In fact, it really pisses me off."

"Considering the fact that you just brutally murdered an entire town's worth of knights in less then two minutes, Ill definitely remember never to get on your bad side Sasha. Its really not hard to see that this kitty has got some very sharp claws." I said to her with a smirk on my face, unable to resist the urge to call her that just one more time.

In response to my words, Sasha returned my smirk, then gripped my hand even tighter. Feeling this, I quickly matched her strength, and the two of us ended up doing this for a full minute before finally letting go of each other's hand. "Anyway, I really do appreciate you, Roxie, and Plum coming all this way just to save me. Thanks a lot Damian." Sasha said to me in a very grateful tone, with a matching smile spread across her face.

Seeing this, I smiled right back at her, and gave her my next response. "We were all more then happy to do it Sasha. You're really important to Roxanne, so that makes you important to me and Plum too. In this party, there isn't anything we wouldn't do for each other."

"You don't say. If that's the case, then I think I might be interested in-" Sasha started to say to me, but then she suddenly started coughing violently without any sort of warning, falling to her knees, and covering her mouth with one hand as well. However, even with her mouth covered, she still ended up coughing up some blood.

As soon as I saw this, I lost my smile, and began to worry about her right away. "Oh no! Sasha!" I quickly ran over to her side, and knelt down next to her, using my status screen to check her condition. Just as I thought, my status screen revealed that she was sick. Very sick. "She was suffering from symptoms like these the whole time? She must've been in constant pain, but look what she did." I thought to myself, keeping in mind that Sasha was still able to have a mock battle against me, then kill every single knight in Idol's territory immediately after. I didn't think it was possible, but I was both concerned and impressed at the same time at that moment. To say that Sasha was strong was an understatement.

Still, I kept myself focused on the matter at hand, switching over to my Book Shield, and reaching into my bag for some medicine. Despite how bad Sasha's illness was, I knew I could take care of it pretty easily. "Here Sasha. Drink this. Ill explain later, but it'll help you a lot more if I give it to you myself." I told her, holding the bottle of medicine right in front of her face, and using my free hand to gently rub her back.

After another ten seconds of coughing, Sasha finally managed to stop, getting it under control. She then wiped the blood from her mouth, and turned to look at me again, listening to what I had to say. Then, without any arguments or resistance, Sasha opened her mouth, and allowed me to slowly pour the medicine into it. She made sure to drink it all down, and as she did, the green gemstone on my shield began to glow. The glow spread from the gemstone, to the medicine, then to Sasha's entire body, as she felt the pain slowly, but surely fading away.

I checked my status screen again, and smiled at what I saw, very happy and relieved that it was working so well. "Fast Heal." I also added my Fast Heal spell into the mix to seal the deal, as my hand on Sasha's back began to glow with magic power too. After a full minute, the bottle was empty, and I slowly pulled my hands away from Sasha. "There. Thank Lucifer I have an affinity for healing magic. How do ya feel now Sasha?"

The hakuko breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at me again, and smiled. "Much better. Thanks Damian. I guess I owe you another one." The two of us got back on our feet after that, but Sasha's treatment was done just yet, as another matter suddenly made itself known to me. Immediately after we stood back up, Sasha's stomach started growling, which made her blush a little. "Oh yeah...I hate to ask for more, but do you have any food on you Damian? As I'm sure you just heard, I'm really hungry. Idol, the greedy prick, barely fed me and the other demi-human slaves. And even when he did, the food, if you could even call it that, was all kinds of nasty."

Before anything else, I couldn't help laughing a bit at Sasha's reaction after her stomach growled, but I still listened to her every word, and gave her a nod once she was finished speaking. "No sweat Sasha. Me and Roxanne figured you'd be hungry when we found you, so Roxanne went ahead and made plenty of food for you before we got here. Sorry its probably not hot anymore, but Roxanne's cooking should still be delicious none the less." I informed Sasha, put the empty medicine bottle back in my bag, and pulled out a set of containers which held Roxanne's cooking, some silver wear for Sasha to eat it with, and a full bottle of water for her to wash it all down with.

Seeing all of this, Sasha let out a small gasp, licked her lips, then quickly took it all from me, opened the first container, and dug right in like she hadn't eaten in days, which was actually fairly accurate. As she ate, Sasha felt a feeling of nostalgia wash over her. Roxanne learned how to cook from her mother, so her cooking tasted exactly the same. And since Sasha used to live with Roxanne and her parents, she got to enjoy this cooking everyday before she was captured, and getting to finally enjoy it again was a feeling that the hakuko really missed.

I smiled at Sasha again as I watched her enjoy her meal, knowing that this was probably she first decent meal she's had in years. Still, that also got me thinking. According to my status screen, Sasha's illness was likely caused by something she ate. I didn't even need to see it to know that the "food" Idol gave his slaves was incredibly foul, but to me at least, it felt like there had to be more to it then just that to have made Sasha as sick as she was.

I didn't get much time to ponder this though, as Roxanne, Plum, Melty, and Reichnott all ran out of the mansion and into the courtyard about a minute after that. "Lord Damian! Sasha!" Roxanne called out to the two of us with a big smile on her face, as she and the rest of our allies ran straight for us.

Hearing this, me and Sasha both turned towards them, and since Sasha was still eating, I was the one who waved to all of them, and responded to Roxanne's calls. "Hey girls! And Reichnott! I'm glad to see you all made it out okay!" I said to them, even though I still didn't fully trust Reichnott. Still, I knew that he was important to Melty, so I was glad that he was okay too.

Roxanne ran right up to me and Sasha, wrapped one arm around each of us, and pulled the two of us into a big hug. "Lord Damian, you kept your promise. I knew you would. And Sasha, I've missed you so much. We have a lot of checking up to do. I'm so glad the two of you are okay. I love you both so much." The kitsune spoke to us in a very heartfelt tone, as a few tears of joy escaped her eyes.

Naturally, me and Sasha both smiled at Roxanne, and wrapped one arm around her each. I also used my status screen to check Roxanne's stats out, and was very pleasantly surprised to see that she'd gained another new spell. "We love you too Roxanne. Ya did a really great job today. As always, you're one amazing demi-human."

Sasha nodded in full agreement with my words, careful not to drop her meal as she spoke to Roxanne after I did. "You really saved me today Roxie. Thanks sis. I only wish I could've been there to see that scumbag Idol's final moments with my own eyes."

Our words made Roxanne even happier then she already was, as Plum, Melty, and Reichnott all looked on with smiled on their faces, very touched by the scene that was playing out before their eyes. "A living hakuko. I don't believe it. This is truly wonderful. I was beginning to fear that the hakuko race was extinct." Reichnott commented, looking right at Sasha with a mixture of amazement and relief in his voice.

Me, Roxanne, and Sasha pulled apart about a minute after that, and Reichnott's words caused Sasha to turn towards him, Plum, and Melty. The second she did, Sasha's eyes narrowed into a glare, and that glare was locked onto the princess and the nobleman, as a small growl escaped Sasha's lips. "Roxie, would you care to explain to me what these two humans are doing here?"

Seeing Sasha's reaction, and hearing her words, Roxanne flinched slightly, but remained calm, as she quickly moved herself between Sasha and the two humans. "Sasha, before you do anything rash, these two are Melty and Reichnott. Yes, they're both human, Melty is Aultcray's daughter, and Reichnott is a nobleman of Melromarc. I didn't trust either of them at first either, but Melty has proven that she's nothing like her father, and Reichnott manages a town where demi-humans live free, happy lives, and care for him deeply. They're both okay humans, and are on our side. Understand?"

Sasha listened to what Roxanne had to say, then slowly calmed herself down, her facial expression softening. If there was one person Sasha hated more then anyone else in this world, it was Aultcray, but the hakuko knew better then to blame a child for the actions of her father. She also remembered all the demi-humans that were rioting at the front gate of Idol's territory, and quickly deduced that they must be here to save Reichnott. Sasha knew that if so many demi-humans were going this far for him, then Reichnott really must be an okay human. So, with all of that in mind, Sasha gave Roxanne a nod, deciding not to harm the princess or the nobleman.

Seeing this, everyone let out a sigh of relief, then Melty smiled at Sasha once again. "Its a pleasure to finally meet you Sasha. Roxanne has spoken very highly of you. As you've just heard, my name is Melty Q Melromarc. I hope we can be-" Melty gave Sasha a bow, then began her introduction, proceeding to take a few steps towards Sasha as she did. However, the princess was stopped cold, as Sasha suddenly stomped her foot on the ground, causing Melty to flinch, lose her smile, and take a few steps back.

"If Roxie says that you're okay, then I believe her, but Id appreciate it if you kept your distance and didn't talk to me for now. Okay?" Sasha said to Melty in a serious, and slightly angered tone, shooting the princess one more small glare as she spoke. It was clear that Sasha's hatred for humans ran deep. Far deeper then it did for me and Roxanne.

Melty listened to Sasha's words, and looked right into her eyes as she spoke, seeing very clearly that making friends with her was gonna take time. Even so, Melty understood the reasons for Sasha's attitude very well, so the princess didn't hold it against her. Melty simply gave Sasha an apologetic bow, and remained silent for the time being, but was still relieved that none of us were harmed or worse as a result of this rescue mission.

With that, Sasha calmed herself back down once again, then we all filled each other in on what happened inside the mansion, and what happened outside it. Naturally, Roxanne, Plum, Melty, and Reichnott were all extremely surprised to learn that Sasha killed every single knight in Idol's territory upon being freed from her slave crest. Likewise, me and Sasha were rather surprised when we found out how Roxanne did away with Idol, and what happened to her up to that point. We both asked her if she was really okay, and Roxanne assured us that she was fine. A fact which my status screen confirmed for me.

So, since there didn't appear to be any enemies left to fight in Idol's territory, and Sasha still had a meal to finish, we all decided to stay where we were, and take a break for a few minutes before moving on. With that, Plum used her earth magic to make us some stone chairs to sit on. We all thanked Plum for this, then sat down, and Sasha continued to enjoy her meal, thanking Roxanne for it. As Sasha ate, me, Roxanne, and Plum told her all about the adventures we've had so far, from the moment I arrived in this new world, right up to our arrival in Idol's territory. The female hakuko listened to our stories very intently, enjoying them even more then her meal, as did Melty and Reichnott. Sure, our stories had plenty of moments that were anything but good, but pretty soon, all six of us were smiling again, really enjoying and appreciating this time of peace, even if it wasn't very long.

As luck would have it, we finished our stories right as Sasha finished her dinner. And now that the hakuko was satisfied, it was time for us to proceed with the next phase of our rescue mission. So we all got up from our stone chairs, I put the containers that held Sasha's food back into my bag, then all six of us walked over to the stairs that lead down into Idol's dungeon, where we knew that other, former demi-human slaves were being kept.

According to Sasha, there were three other demi-humans in the dungeon with her when she came up to confront us. However, even though all three of them were now freed from their slave crests, they were all children, and far too weak from hunger, as well as all manner of torture, to break free from their chains and cells on their own. There was no way in hell that we were just gonna leave them behind, even if they weren't technically Sasha's friends.

Before heading down into the dungeon, Roxanne gently placed a hand on Sasha's shoulder, and looked at her with concern. "Sasha, you don't have to go back down there with us if you don't want to. You can just stay up here and wait for us if that would be easier for you."

Sasha glanced at Roxanne after that, giving her a small smile, then faced the path to the dungeon with mixture of determination and unease all over her face. "I appreciate your concern Roxie, but Ill be fine. After spending over five years of my life in this hell hole, I've grown pretty numb to it by now. Besides, there's something down there that I need to deal with, and if all of you are gonna hear about it, then I want you to hear it all from me. So lets go, and just get this over with."

With that, Sasha kept her head down, and began to walk down the steps that lead to the dungeon, as we all followed close behind here. None of us were sure what Sasha was talking about, but based on the emotions that Plum was sensing from her, and the expression we could all see on Plum's face as a result, it must've been something really bad. Even so, none of us said a word, not wanting to make things any harder for Sasha then they already were, as we all continued to follow her into the darkness of the dungeon.

X

The first thing Sasha did when we made it to the bottom of the stairs was kick the door open, literally, sending it flying all the way to the other end of the dungeon's main hallway. This demonstrated very clearly that simply setting foot in this place irritated Sasha at least a little bit. Never the less, Sasha maintained her composure, and pushed forward, as the rest of us continued to follow her lead.

All of us looked around as we walked down the dungeon's main hallway, and straight away, we all noticed that this place had a thick veil of hopelessness all around it. It wasn't hard for us to imagine what horrible, unspeakable things must've taken place here over the years, and those thoughts alone were more then enough to make both my and Roxanne's anger start to rise, as our eyes narrowed into glares of complete and total disgust.

At the same time, Melty walked with one hand over her mouth, as feelings of guilt and distress quickly enveloped her. The blue haired girl's stomach was in knots, but she stayed strong, never said a word, and kept up with the rest of us.

Thankfully, she didn't have to say anything for Plum to notice how she was feeling. And as soon as she did, the dragon gently placed her claws on Melty's shoulders from behind, held her close, and gave her a reassuring smile as they walked, once again doing her best to comfort the young princess.

Feeling and seeing all of this, Melty gently placed her hands over Plum's claws, and returned her smile with one of her own. Once again, Melty found herself being comforted by a dragon, rather then a filolial. It was a little strange for the young filolial lover, but after just one look at Plum's smiling face, any feeling of discomfort or distress was gone.

After about thirty seconds of walking, Sasha suddenly came to a stop, then turned towards the cell on her right side. The cell was empty, but the inside was covered from top to bottom with claw marks. Big ones, that looked like the claw marks of a tiger. Just looking into the cell made Sasha grit her teeth, before reaching out, grabbing onto some of the bars, and gripping them so hard that they bent almost immediately.

Upon seeing this, I realized right away why Sasha was reacting the way that she was, and gently placed my right hand on her right shoulder from behind, then spoke to her in a comforting tone of voice. "This cell was yours, wasn't it?"

The hakuko started to calm down the moment she felt my touch and heard my voice, then nodded slowly before answering me, but didn't turn to look at me as she did. "...Yes. It was never locked though. Idol simply ordered me to stay here until I sensed an intruder, or until he or his men called me, then return to the dungeon once the job he had for me was done. Of course, since my cell was never locked, I was free to roam around the dungeon if I chose to, but as I'm sure you can imagine, there wasn't a whole lot to do down here. Plus, thanks to that damn curse placed on me, and all the other demi-human slaves, trying to leave the dungeon and sneak out of Idol's territory was completely out of the question."

Me, Roxanne, Plum, Melty, and Reichnott all listened to Sasha's words with mixed expressions of frustration and sorrow upon our faces. Not a single one of us could even imagine how difficult life must've been for Sasha during the past ten years, and we all found ourselves wishing that something could've been done about it sooner.

Sasha didn't even need to turn towards us to tell how we were feeling, as she let out a sigh, then let go of the bars of her old cell. "You guys are sweet, but I'm fine. This isn't the thing that I had to deal with down here. We'll get to that in a little bit, but right now, lets just focus on saving the other demi-humans that are trapped here. Their cells are over here." Sasha turned back down the hall, and began to once again lead us to the cells of her fellow, formerly enslaved demi-humans.

"If you say so Sasha." I responded to her words, then the rest of us quickly followed her lead once again, still wondering what exactly it was that had Sasha so troubled.

It didn't take us very long to find all three of the trapped demi-humans, and straight away, we all saw that they were in far worse shape then Sasha was when she first appeared before me, Roxanne, and Plum in the courtyard. Each of the young demi-humans were dressed in filthy, tattered rags, chained to the walls of their own individual cells, covered from head to toe in dirt, cuts, and bruises, looked extremely malnourished, and to top it all off, their eyes had absolutely no luster to be found. They didn't even have the energy, nor the desire to speak, and they could barely move. In short, they were barely clinging to life.

Naturally, this was not a very pleasant sight for any of us, but we didn't like that bother us, and got straight to work on saving the lives of the three surviving demi-human children. Fortunately, even after treating and feeding Sasha, I still had plenty of food, medicine, and other supplies in my bag that we could give them.

Once again making use of her incredible speed and power, Sasha shattered the locks on all three of their cell doors in a split second. After that, Plum used her own immense strength to break the shackles right off of their wrists and ankles, making sure not to hurt them of course. I then equipped my Book Shield again, and gave each of the demi-human kids a bottle of my medicine, helping them drink it down nice and slowly. Additionally, me and Melty both used our healing magic to heal each and every one of their wounds. And finally, Roxanne mashed up the food that we had for them so they wouldn't have to chew it, then fed all three of them herself, with a friendly smile on her face.

Pretty soon, all three of the children were looking and feeling much better, and thanked us for saving them. It was then that we were finally able to tell what races of demi-humans they were as well. The first child was a female dog type demi-human, the second was a male dog-type demi-human, and the third was a female cat type demi-human.

Because of all her time spent in Idol's territory, Sasha knew each of the demi-human children by name, but she was by no means friends with any of them. In fact, Sasha never really talked to any of the other demi-human slaves over the years. It wasn't because she didn't care about them, or anything like that. It was mostly because she didn't wanna risk getting too friendly or emotionally attached to any of them, since she'd seen dozens of demi-humans die of starvation, illness, and even blood loss at one point, during her five or so years of time spent in Idol's territory. Sasha never lost hope that she'd make it out of that living nightmare alive one day, but she didn't know if any of the other demi-human slaves would, so she kept her distance from every last one of them. Both physically and emotionally.

All of the kids sure knew me though, or at least my shield. One look at it, and they knew right away that I was the shield hero. Needless to say, that got them all pretty excited, since they'd all heard the stories about the shield hero and all. It was just like Roxanne told me when we first started traveling together. Every young demi-human dreams of one day meeting, and even teaming up with the shield hero.

I was very flattered by the all the admiration I was getting from the three young demi-humans, and gently rubbed each of them on top of their heads, smiling at them the whole time. However, for the first time since my arrival in this world, I decided not to do my whole demon lord introduction for these kids. Since they were all still very young, impressionable, and had just been freed from what I was sure was an extremely traumatic experience, I didn't wanna risk doing anything that might end up damaging their spirits any more then they already had been. I also kept in mind that I wasn't the shield hero they'd heard about in the stories they were told. It was the shield hero that came before me. And then, it was at that very moment, that something began to weigh heavily on my mind as well, causing me to lose my smile, in favor of a more conflicted facial expression.

However, that expression didn't last long, as Sasha suddenly regained everyone's attention, clearing her throat before speaking up. "I don't mean to interrupt, but now that the children are safe, there's one more thing I need you all to see. The children already know about it, but I suggest the rest of you brace yourselves. Follow me." The hakuko once again turned, and began to lead all of us further down the dungeon's main passage way. And as she did this, we also noticed that even though Sasha told us to brace ourselves, her facial expression and tone made it seem like she was the one bracing herself for some reason.

None of us were sure what we were about to see, but we knew that it must be something truly horrific if it has someone like Sasha rattled. At the mere mention of it, all three of the demi-human children proceeded to hide behind us, looking almost as uneasy as Sasha did. Given the things we'd already seen in this dungeon, we didn't think anything else could be much worse then what we'd already seen, but we were wrong. Dead wrong.

After about thirty more seconds of walking, Sasha once again came to a complete stop. She then took a deep breath, turned to face us, and pointed to the cell on her right. "In there. Take a good look, and see what the actions of the humans in this kingdom have done."

Me, Roxanne, Plum, Melty, and Reichnott braced ourselves just as Sasha told us to, then we all approached the cell, and looked inside. It was a bit hard to tell at first, since it was so dark, but the second our eyes adjusted to it, they all widened with pure shock and horror instantly, as we all felt the breath leave our lungs for a moment. None of us could believe what we saw at first, but it was real. Very real. There was absolutely no denying it.

Inside the cell in front of us were dead bodies. Dozens of them. Based on the dirty and tattered clothing the bodies had on, they were all the remains of demi-human slaves. And based on the sizes of the bodies, they were all children when they died. There wasn't a single piece of meat left on any of the bodies either. They had all been stripped right down to their bones, and from the looks of some of the bones, some of the bodies had been this state for years.

"...Oh my Lucifer. What the hell happened here?" I was the first one of us to speak up after seeing this, able to regain my composure after a good minute and thirty seconds of processing the sight of the makeshift mortuary before us.

The next one of us to speak up was Roxanne, but she did so after clenching her fists so hard that they started to shake, and getting an expression of pure rage upon her face, with a tone of voice to match. "Rgh...Idol...That evil son of a bitch...So many demi-human lives wiped out at such young ages...There truly is no limit to the cruelty of humans."

After listening to Roxanne's words, Sasha hesitated a bit at first, clenching her own fists, but was still able to get the words that she was holding inside out. "...Its true that all of these demi-human children lost their lives because of Idol. Starvation, illness, and injuries sustained from that bastard's various methods of torture, but...there's a little more to it then that Roxie."

Upon hearing this, all of us turned to look at Sasha once more. Straight away, Roxanne, Melty, and Reichnott looked rather confused, wondering what Sasha meant by that last part.

However, me and Plum had information and skills that the three of them didn't, so the two of us managed to put it together after just two minutes. I thought back to what my status screen showed me regarding Sasha's health before I cured her, and Plum was currently sensing a great deal of guilt coming from the hakuko. Plum still looked a little confused, tilting her head slightly, with a concerned and confused expression on her face, but I was able to piece it together, though I wished I was wrong.

So, rather then say it out loud myself, I remained as calm as I could, took a step towards Sasha, and tried my best to help ease her into explaining it herself. "I get it now Sasha. This explains how you stayed alive in this hell hole for over five years, and how you were able to keep your muscles so well developed during all that time too. You may be a hakuko, one of the four great demi-human races of this world, but you were still just a kid when you were brought here. No child could last long in conditions like these. Not even a hakuko. Unless they did something drastic."

Everyone else listened to my words, but still didn't quite get it at first. But then, after another minute of thinking it over, the answer finally became clear to Roxanne and Reichnott, as they both looked at Sasha with expressions of pure shock again. Some tears began to appear in Roxanne's eyes not long after that, and she slowly brought one hand up to her mouth. "...Sasha...did you...?"

One look into Roxanne's eyes, and Sasha looked away immediately, seeing that the kitsune had figured it all out. So Sasha grit her teeth, and punched the wall before responding, leaving several cracks in it as a result. "...I wish I could say no, but its true Roxie. I may not have killed all those demi-human children...but I did eat them. I ate all the meat right off their dead bodies."

As soon as they heard it out loud, Plum and Melty looked like they'd just been struck by a powerful bolt of lightning, with their mouths agape, and their eyes wider then ever. All of Sasha's guilt finally became clear to Plum, and the other emotions she was sensing from the hakuko weren't any better, so she stayed quiet for now, and gently wrapped her arms around Melty once more.

Silence fell over our group for another three minutes after that, until Sasha finally broke it again, but still refused to look at any of us, as she gave us an explanation. "Please believe me Roxie, I didn't want to do it, but I had no choice. For five years, Idol used me as his own personal guard dog and executioner. I knew that if I didn't stay fit and strong, I wouldn't even be able to kill a balloon, much less any and all intruders that set foot on his land. So I trained my mind, body, and magic every single day, but the food Idol gave us to eat wasn't nearly enough to keep my strength up. Not with all the training and killing I had to do. I needed more food. Any other food. Otherwise, I would've eventually collapsed from exhaustion, been tortured to death for not being able to do the job he told me to do, or been killed by an intruder."

"Since my cell was never actually locked, I considered stealing food from the other slaves, but I didn't want to be the one who caused their deaths. Eventually, I grew desperate, and that's when I saw the first of my fellow demi-human slaves finally fall to the ground and die. That's when I got the idea. I thought long and hard about it, and eventually realized that there was no other solution. I had to survive until the day I knew you'd come for me Roxie. So, from then on, every single time one of my fellow slaves finally bit the dust, I closed my eyes, and ate the food that was in front of me. I may not have been the one who killed them, but it never got any easier. I was always disgusted with myself for what Id done. I'm truly sorry." Sasha finished her explanation, then closed her eyes, as a few tears proceeded to roll down the sides of her face.

All of us listened to Sasha's explanation, looking right at her, as our facial expressions went from shocked to concerned, sad, and mildly frustrated very quickly. Just then, Roxanne started to walk right over to Sasha without saying a word. Once the kitsune reached her long lost sister-at-arms, she wrapped her arms around her, and pulled her into a tight, loving hug. "Its not your fault Sasha. I don't blame you even for a second. If our roles were reversed, I might've done the same exact thing as you did. Its a tragedy that so many demi-human lives were lost here before we finally found you, but at least their lives weren't for nothing. They kept you alive, and now that we're together again, we can make sure that the one whose really responsible for all of this pays dearly for it. Aultcray Melromarc."

It was then that Sasha finally turned to face her dear sister, rather surprised by her words and actions. She thought for sure that Roxanne would be at least a little disgusted with her for what she'd done, but as the reality slowly sunk in, she stopped crying all together, and slowly hugged Roxanne back. "...Thank you Roxie. You're absolutely right. In fact, I've waited a very long time to finally get my revenge, and kill that scumbag. Which is why I've decided to follow you and join your party."

Sasha's words made me, Roxanne, and Plum smile instantly, as the option to add Sasha to our party appeared on my status screen. As anyone would expect, I said yes, causing Sasha's name, level, and status bars to appear on the left side of my status screen, right under Plum's info.

"Sasha, big sis, this is so great! Our dream is finally a reality! The two of us are adventurers in a party with the shield hero!" Roxanne said to Sasha with a big smile on her face, and tons of enthusiasm in her voice, unable to hold it in.

The female hakuko quickly dried her tears, smiled right back at her dear sister, and gave her a nod. "I always knew we'd make our dream come true someday Roxie." Sasha then let go of Roxanne, and turned to face me and Plum, giving us a smile too. "My power is yours. I swear I will never let you down. And one day, I hope we can grow as close as me and Roxie are."

Me and Plum smiled right back at her, as Plum gave her a response in a very friendly tone. "Id like that Sasha. Thanks. Any friend of Roxanne's is a friend of ours."

I nodded in full agreement with Plum's words, then remembered something else, and reached into my bag one more time. "Its awesome to have you with us Sasha, and now that you are, we have a gift for you." I told Sasha, then pulled the gauntlets that we asked Erhard to make for her out of my bag, and held them out to her. "Here. Before we left the capital city, we had a blacksmith we know make these for you. He's a human, but he's okay, and he's really good at what he does. He made Roxanne's sword too, and these gauntlets are made of magic steel, just like Roxanne's sword."

As soon as she saw the gauntlets, Sasha's eyes lit up. She was quick to accept them from me, and put them on even quicker. After that, Sasha punched the same wall she punched earlier, using less of her strength this time. However, with her new weapon equipped, the wall still crumbled none the less, making Sasha grin, as she blew the dust off of the gauntlet she'd used to do the deed. "Yes. These'll do nicely. Thank you all once again. I cant wait to bust some heads with these little beauties."

Me, Roxanne, and Plum were all pleased to see that Sasha liked her new weapons, but then Melty turned back towards all the demi-human bones in the cell beside us, and recaptured everyone's attention when she commented on them with some disbelief in her voice. "I'm glad we were able to find and save Sasha, but still, now that I'm actually seeing an example of it with my own eyes, I cant believe that such monstrous deeds could exist here in Melromarc."

"Melty, as much as I hate to say it, things like this have been happening all across this country for over ten years now. Ever since your father, King Aultcray, declared war on the kingdom of Siltvelt. That is why we needed Seaetto. Your mother, Queen Mirellia, placed him in charge of this kingdom before her departure, but after his unfortunate death, King Aultcray regained control over this land." Reichnott explained to the princess in a calm and collected tone, while the rest of us listened, not at all surprised by the things we'd heard.

Melty was a little surprised at first, but then she remembered everything her mother told her before she left her to return to Melromarc, as well as everything me and Roxanne told her about her father's history. The blue haired girl then took another look at the remains of the demi-human children in the cell before her, and realized that there was no denying it anymore. Any doubts she had left were gone, as she slowly looked down with a very sad look in her eyes. Her father was a truly horrible man who didn't give two shits about demi-humans, and went out of his way to make them suffer. Children or not.

Me and my three companions all turned towards the princess, and looked at her with mixed emotions, ranging from concern to frustration. "Oh Melty..." Plum commented on Melty's current stated, sensing all of her emotions, and growing far more concerned then she'd ever been about the princess, but wasn't sure what she could possibly say to her at that moment.

Sasha seemed to have a few ideas though, as she walked right up to the blue haired girl, much to our surprise. The hakuko stood in front of the princess, looked down at her, then spoke to her a very blunt tone. "I was there ya know. When Melromarc's forces invaded Siltvelt on your father's orders. I was a bit younger then you are at the time, and I didn't know what was going on at first, but I knew that it was anything but good. I was picking up some food from the market on my mother's request when Melromarc's army arrived, so I was on my own when the carnage began. As soon as the fighting started, and I heard everyone screaming, I was so scared. So I did what any child would do in a situation like that. I started running back home as fast as I could, but back then, I wasn't nearly as fast as I am now."

The female hakuko clenched her fists before continuing her story, trying not to let it show how painful these memories were for her. "Upon reaching my home, I was shocked to find that my father was already dead, and my mother was dying. They'd been attacked by adventurers from Melromarc, and had lived peaceful lives up to that point, so they didn't have much experience when it came to fighting. I never cried that much in my entire life since that day, and with her dying breath, my mother told me to find our leader, assuring me that he would keep me safe. Siltvelt's leader was a very good man who cared deeply about his people, and was also head of the hakuko race. I didn't know him very well, but his name was Tyran, and I knew exactly where to find him. So once again, I ran as quickly as I could, doing my best to avoid all the fighting that was going on around me."

"Unfortunately, Aultcray found Tyran before I did. Tyran was surrounded on all sides by knights and adventurers from Melromarc, but like a true hakuko, he didn't back down or show fear. He fought with everything he had, as more and more soldiers from Melromarc appeared, but none of them managed to land a decisive blow on him. That is, until Aultcray noticed me watching from a nearby alleyway. Even though I was just a defenseless child, Aultcray fired an extremely powerful spell right at me. I thought I was done for, but then, using his own amazing speed, Tyran protected me, using his own body as a shield. I was unharmed, but he hurt badly, while Aultcray just laughed at his handy work."

"Tyran then told me to run away, leave Siltvelt, grow strong, and avenge my fallen hakuko brethren one day. He also told me that Aultcray had come to wipe out the entire hakuko race, and that as long as I survived, our race would live on. I didn't want to leave him, or my home...but Tyran was firm, and continued to fight to cover my escape, ignoring his injuries. My entire world was falling apart all around me, but I didn't want to let my people down. So, with tears in my eyes, I turned, and ran once more, leaving Siltvelt behind. Once I was out of the city, I looked back just one more time, but then kept going. I cried and ran for hours, and eventually stowed away in the back of a carriage, then continued to walk on my own after it took me off of Siltvelt's land. I eventually arrived at Rurorona Village, Roxie's home, where I ended up living for the next several years after that." Sasha finally finished her tale, unable to prevent a few small tears from escaping her eyes as she spoke.

Naturally, me, Plum, Melty, and Reichnott were all more then a little surprised by Sasha's story. We all knew that in that war, Tyran, the previous shield hero, and many demi-humans lost their lives, and that the hakuko race was nearly wiped out as a result of said war. However, none of us had ever heard this version of the story before, and it was a real kicker.

Roxanne wasn't at all surprised by it though, having heard all of this before from Sasha back when they used to live together in Rurorona Village. Even so, hearing it again wasn't easy, as she quickly found herself gritting her teeth in frustration and anger.

All of this made Melty look up at Sasha, who was still standing right in front of her and looking down at her, but Melty wasn't sure what to say or do at all. Sasha's story did help the princess in two different ways though. One, it helped to understand the reasons behind Sasha's hatred for humans a little more. And two, it helped her comprehend just how horrible, and beyond redemption her father was.

After that, it was once again my turn to break the silence. "On that note, I have a question for you Sasha. We all agreed that once we found you, and got you to join our party, we'd let you decide what we do next. We have two options. One, we head for the border, fight our way out of this kingdom, and head for Siltvelt. Or two, we fight our way back to Melromarc's capital city, find the queen, Melty's mother, and get her to help us out. We'll end up fighting for our lives either way, but its your call Sasha. So what are we gonna do?"

Sasha turned back to me the moment I opened my mouth, and she listened to my every word very intently. Once I was done speaking, she narrowed her eyes into a glare, and gave me her answer with incredible determination in her voice. "I do wish to return to my homeland one day, but I cant go back just yet. Not until I've avenged my fallen hakuko brethren. So there's only one real option for me. We're going to Melromarc's capital city, but I couldn't care less about the queen. My target is Aultcray, and when I see that bastard, he's going to die. Along with anyone else who gets in my way."

Upon hearing this, Melty let out a small gasp, causing everyone to turn towards her once again. "...You're going to kill my father?"

"Is that a problem for you princess?" Sasha asked Melty in a cold tone, fully prepared to strike Melty down where she stood, depending on her answer.

The rest of us watched this and kept quiet, knowing better then to interfere. While it was true that all of us cared about Melty in our own ways, we also knew how important this was to Sasha. Plus, if we were being honest, any one of us would've gladly done the deed and ended Aultcray's miserable life if Sasha didn't, so he was a dead man no matter what.

However, Melty ended up surprising all of us, as she gathered her resolve, put on a brave face, and looked Sasha straight in the eye. "Please believe me Sasha, I do wish it didn't have to be this way, but there's absolutely no denying it now. My father, King Aultcray, is a truly evil being. What else would you call someone who declares war on an entire kingdom for no good reason, nearly wipes out an entire race of living beings, causes the death of his own younger sister, and allows atrocities like this to happen to mere children?" The princess gestured to all the demi-human bones in the cell beside us, then continued to speak. "I do wish that there was another way, but I'm afraid even I am at a loss. If you wish to execute the king, then I wont stop you. Its become very clear to me that this world would be far better off without him in it."

Melty's answer caught us all completely by surprise. Even Sasha wasn't expecting an answer like that from the young princess, but after it finally sunk in, me, Roxanne, Plum, and even Sasha all smiled at the blue haired girl. As strange as it was for a ten year old girl to be okay with her own father's death, we were all very proud of her at that moment, as Sasha held her right hand out to the princess. "I have to admit, for such a young human, you're pretty strong Melty. And I'm not just talking about your magic power. I'm still going to be keeping an eye on you, but maybe, just maybe, there's hope for this kingdom if you're the one sitting on the throne one day."

Seeing and hearing this, Melty smiled back at Sasha, and slowly grabbed her hand, shaking it a few times. "Thank you Sasha. Ill be counting on all of you to get me home safely. And I give you my word, once I'm queen of Melromarc, nothing like what my father did will ever happen again. My faith is in the shield hero and his companions. I hope one day you can all put your complete faith in me as well."

Once Sasha and Melty let go of each other's hands, I approached her with a smile on my face, and began to gently rub the top of her head. "You're not quite there yet Melty, but everything you just said was a major step in the right direction for sure. Nicely done."

My words and actions caused a small blush to appear on Melty's face, but they also made her smile again as well. "Think nothing of it Damian. Ill always be on your side. Its the least I can do after all that you and your companions have done for me."

With that, all of our business in Idol's dungeon was said and done. So, after me, Plum, and Sasha picked up one demi-human child each, and put them on our shoulders, we all headed back to the exit, feeling much better after settling several important matters.

X

As soon as we were all out of the dungeon, and back in the courtyard, Plum turned back towards the dungeon, and stomped her foot on the ground. Seconds later, the entire dungeon was destroyed, and buried deep beneath the earth under it, preventing anyone from ever using it again, and giving all the dead demi-humans inside of it a more proper burial.

Now that that was done, me, Plum, and Sasha put the kids back down on the ground, and I smiled at my scaly companion and her handy work. "Great job as always Plum. And don't worry Sasha. You'll get your chance to kill the king. Count on it."

"Thank you Damian. And after he's dead, I would really like to see my homeland again, and begin to restore my people to their former glory." Sasha said to me with a smile, even though we hadn't planned that far ahead just yet.

Just then, a smirk appeared on Roxanne's face, as she snuck up behind Sasha, and couldn't help giggling a bit for some reason. "Speaking of former glory, lets see if this little trick still works." Before Sasha had the chance to react, Roxanne moved her right hand under Sasha's chin, and began to gently scratch her there.

At first, Sasha gasped, and tried to resist, but that didn't last long at all. After just five seconds of trying to fight it, Sasha smiled, started to blush, and began to purr like a real cat would. Not only that, but her tail began to slowly sway back and forth, and her ears twitched a few times as well. "Prrrrr...Oh yeah...Prrrrr...That's the stuff..." Sasha said in between purrs, sounding almost like she was in a trance or something.

All the while, the rest of us couldn't help laughing at least a little the moment we saw this. Sasha had more then proven herself to be a strong, remorseless demi-human warrior, but even she had her weak points it seemed.

Roxanne giggled a bit more too, unable to get over how adorable Sasha was in her current state. Still, she knew how Sasha felt about it, so she stopped scratching under her chin after a good three minutes.

The second Roxanne stopped, Sasha snapped out of the trance she was in, but continued to blush. In fact, almost her entire face turned red, as she still remembered everything that just happened, and that we all saw it. The hakuko then turned towards the kitsune, and shot her a glare. "Roxie...I told you never to do that in front of other people!"

Roxanne couldn't help giggling a bit more before responding, continuing to smirk as she faced her big sister. "Sorry Sasha. You're just so cute when you purr like that, and when you're embarrassed of course."

Sasha continued to blush and glare at her little sister, while the rest of us did our best to hold in our laughter. Fortunately for Sasha, the sounds of the still rioting demi-humans recaptured the attention of everyone in our group.

"Good. Sounds like they're still here. Like we told you earlier, they came to help us save you Reichnott. You should go let them know that you're okay, and take these three kids with ya." I reminded the nobleman, knowing that the three demi-human children we saved will be safe and happy in his territory.

Reichnott gave me a smile and a nod, as all three children rushed to his sides. "Yes, I believe you're right sir shield hero."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the ground started to shake, and for once it wasn't Plum's doing. "What the hell was that?" I asked, not seeing or hearing anything out of the ordinary.

Of course, I didn't have any special senses, unlike my three lovely companions, as they all gasped and sensed something right away. "So much rage...Over there!" Plum quickly pointed out the source of the tremors for those of us who couldn't sense magic or emotions, sensing a great deal of rage coming from that same spot for some unknown reason.

All of us turned, and the source was revealed to be the center of the courtyard. The pillar located in that spot had begun to glow, and a human servant from Idol's mansion was currently kneeling down in front of it. "Oh might God, please hear my prayer! Break this seal, and strike down the devils who killed my lord Idol Rabier!" In his hands was a Three Heroes Church pendent, and immediately after he finished his prayer, a powerful magic seal appeared all around the pillar in the center of the courtyard, causing the ground to shake even more violently then before.

None of us were sure what was going on at first, except for Reichnott, who suddenly let out a gasp of shock. "I don't believe it! It cant be!"

"Ya wanna clue us in please?!" I asked Reichnott, as I glanced at him, and raised my shield, getting the feeling that another fight was coming on.

"The legendary heroes of the past built that stone pillar to seal away a powerful monster forever! That servant is trying to remove the seal!" Reichnott gave us a short, but informative answer.

Unfortunately for us, he was too late. The seal disappeared, and large cracks began to form in the ground all around the pillar, getting bigger and bigger by the second. "Yes, I've set you free! Now go! Bring divine judgement down upon the devil of the shield and his evil companions!" The servant smiled as he yelled, overjoyed that he was able to break the seal, as strong magic power quickly flowed from the cracks in the ground.

However, his efforts were not rewarded. About a minute after the seal was broken, a huge, very monstrous-looking beast appeared, shattering the pillar, and letting out a loud roar upon its release. And the next thing it did after that was look down at the human in front of it, open its giant mouth, and devour said human in one bite.

The servant screamed in terror and agony right up until his death, but that didn't stop the monster from swallowing his dead body down once he was dead. After that, the monster turned his gaze towards us, took a few steps towards us, and let out an even louder roar then a moment ago, causing the very air all around us to shake violently.

Seeing this, I move to the front of our group, and raised my shield as fast as I could, as we all did our best to stand our ground until the monster's show of force was over. This turn of events once again proved that someone in this world was out to get us, but the more I looked at the new and powerful monster before us, the more I found myself grinning. "Hell yeah! Bring it on! Ill make an awesome new shield out of you big guy!"

Well, it seems as though Damian is getting better at adapting to adversity. That's good, but will it be enough to overcome this new, powerful, and terrifying monster? As always, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Now wont we?

On the bright side, Damian's party has a new and powerful ally of their own, and she is not to be taken lightly. That's for damn sure. Additionally, Roxanne has added dark magic to her arsenal. How awesome is that?! Pretty awesome Id say, though Idol might not think so, but I'm pretty sure we wont be seeing him again any time soon. Or ever.

It also seems as though Melty has accepted the fact that her douchebag father is beyond help, and must be killed. Good for you kid! However, it appears that Damian seems to be harboring some doubts in his heart. What's that all about?

Will our heroes be able to reach the queen, and kill the king? Or will they meet their end along the way? And what sorts of other adversities await them as their adventure continues? The answers to all these questions and more will come, and some of them just might surprise you.

Until then, stay safe, stay cool, and I hope to see you all again next time! Later!