A few days passed since Howzer had confessed his feelings for Diane when he walked with Gilthunder through the castle. Both were in full armour and had their weapon hanging at their left side. One of the apprentice Holy Knights walked up to them and looked at Howzer.

"Sir, the giant girl asked me to invite you for a lunch with her, she will prepare a picnic near an oak tree. She said you would know where to find her."

Howzer nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I know where she is." He started walking away as he raised his hand as greeting. "Later Gil," he said with a wink, "it seems I have a lunch-date."

"I'll see you afterwards then," Gilthunder said and he watched his friend leave, before turning and going in the other direction.

A cart stood next to the oak tree where Diane and Howzer had spend some time a few days ago. A giant warhammer leaned against the tree, she always took her Gideon with her. After losing it once she kept it close to her at all times. She looked at the cart with a happy smile, there was enough food in there to satisfy a giant and since humans didn't eat as much as giants did, Diane was certain she had enough with her. As she looked at the cart with her hands behind her back a piercing pain hit her thigh. She grunted and looked down to see a spear stuck in her leg. She grabbed the handle and pulled the spear out as she looked around to see where the culprits were. She soon noticed a group of five humans, three of them holding a spear similar as the one she held in her hand.

"What's the meaning of this?" she informed with an angry tone in her voice. "Attacking a girl like me like that."

"Silent, giant!" one of the men exclaimed. The blond man was the only one dressed in an armour, the others wore hunting clothes. "We will take your head as a prize!"

Diane glared at him and reached for her Gideon, for some reason some humans felt killing a giant and taking their head was something to be proud of. They used it to prove their strength and skills, but she wouldn't allow them to kill her. As she grabbed her Gideon she tried to lift it, but her arm trembled and she couldn't pick it up. She looked surprised at her weapon when he legs started to tremble and she fell to the ground. "W-what?" she muttered as she tried to lift her arm, but she discovered she couldn't.

"Poison," the blond man explained. "There was enough poison on that spear to kill a grown man almost instantly. And enough to paralyze a giant." He smirked as he walked up to her, pulling a large two-handed sword out of the sheath on his back. "You will die here, giant."

Diane tried to lift her arm or her leg or move anything that would allow her to either defend herself or get away, but she couldn't. "My friends," she whispered as tears started to form, "where are you? I, I don't want to die alone."

She watched how the armoured man rose his sword in the sky when a vertical disc of wind appeared in front of her to block the incoming attack. She blinked as she looked at it, she had seen such an attack once before, but at that time it had been aimed at her. "Howzer," she whispered.

Howzer walked up and positioned himself between Diane and the five men. He aimed his furious glare at the blond man. "Leave the girl alone," he ordered him.

"She's a giant."

"She's my friend and a hero!" Howzer exclaimed. "If you want her, you'll have to go through me, Jules!"

"Jules?" Diane whispered with some effort. "Do you know him?"

"A former Holy Knight," Howzer explained without looking at her. "He got discharged for dishonourable behaviour." He narrowed his eyes. "I won't let you do this."

"Try and stop me!"

In response to that Howzer sent his Whirl Shock to Jules, who used his sword to save himself from the attack. Jules then raised his hand and the three men who still had their spears raised their weapons.

"B-be careful," Diane muttered with some effort. "Those..."

"I know," Howzer said as he put his feet firmly on the ground and moved his lance behind him. "Poison, one spear is enough to kill me." As the men moved their throwing arms back, Howzer lifted the tip of his lance in the sky. "Rising Tornado!" he exclaimed, creating a tornado at the place those men with their spears stood. They all lifted into the sky, just like the spears they held and the rocks on the ground around them. He noticed Jules charging towards him with the two-handed sword high in the sky and he quickly brought his lance down to catch the blow with it. Because of this the tornado dissolved and the hunters all fell down on the ground, where they remained motionless.

Howzer and Jules glared at each other above their crossed blades, the muscles in their arms tense from the force they both generated.

"Siding with giants," Jules growled in disgust.

"There's nothing wrong with that," Howzer stated coldly. "At least I didn't turn against my fellow knights and got some of them killed for gold."

"Those knights were weaklings!" Jules put one hand on Howzer's chest. "Electric Pulse!" Just like Gilthunder, Jules had electric attacks, but he was only a crystal rank, the lowest rank a Holy Knight could have. Howzer himself had a platinum rank, the second highest rank. One of the knights who had the highest rank was Gilthunder, who had a diamond rank. The only ones higher than that were the Great Holy Knights, the leaders of the order.

Despite being higher ranked, the Electric Pulse shot painfully through his body and Howzer sank to one knee as he held his hand against his chest. "Damn you," he growled as he tried to catch his breath and he quickly rolled to the side to avoid the blade carving into him. He heard Diane call his name worriedly and a quick glance in her direction learned him she tried to get up to help, but was still unable to. He pulled his head to the side when the tip of the two-handed sword came towards it and he rolled onto his knees. He barely had the time to move his head out of the way of the blade again, but it hit his shoulder, sliced through the armour and into his flesh. He groaned through his clenched teeth, but formed a tornado around his arm and punched towards Jules, sending his Rising Tornado to him. This gave him time to got back up on his feet and he aimed the tip of his lance at Jules, the muscles in his arms were still sore from the electricity travelling through it and his shoulder hurt, but it was nothing he couldn't deal with. He formed a tornado around the lance and thrust it forward. Jules brought his blade up from below in an attempt to hit the lance and push it out of the way, but he couldn't create enough speed to succeed with that and the tip of the in wind covered lance pierced his armour. The eyes of Jules got larger as he felt the tip pierce into his flesh, but almost immediately after he narrowed his eyes and glared at Howzer. It was painful, but not a mortal wound. The two knights looked at each other. "This would be a good moment to drop your weapon, surrender and allow me to bring you back to the castle for your trial," Howzer suggested.

"How about I kill you instead?" Jules spat as he grabbed a dagger and charged it with electricity.

Just before he could push the dagger in Howzer's neck, Howzer grabbed the lance tighter. "Whirl Shock!" he called out and Jules screamed when the wind on the tip of the lance formed into a revolving disc, rupturing his organs and flesh from the inside. As Howzer pulled back his lance he watched Jules' body fall to the ground. "You got better, I have to admit that," he sighed as he looked at his shoulder. The armour had absorbed most of the energy of the blow, the blade had gone through the armour, but the wound it inflicted wasn't deep. With the lance in his hand he walked over to Diane and looked at her. "Are you okay?"

"Me? How about you? I thought you were going to die."

Howzer smiled gently at her. "Hey, give me some credit. I've been in tougher fights than this."

"Are they dead?"

Howzer looked back at the hunters and walked over to them. He crouched down next to them and examined them, after which he got back up and nodded to Diane. "Yeah, if the fall from the sky didn't kill them, it were either the stones in the tornado or a scratch from the spears as they tumbled in the wind." The attack itself usually wasn't enough to kill a well-trained Holy Knight or a demon, definitely not enough to kill a giant as Diane had proven in the past, but against normal humans the attack was usually fatal. He walked back to Diane and put a hand on her leg. "How are you feeling?"

"I can move my arms a little, the poison is slowly wearing off."

"I'm glad to hear that," Howzer sighed in relief. He looked back at the bodies. "And I'm glad I got here in time."

"Me too," Diane said as she smiled at him. "This is the second time you defended me. Thank you."

"What else can a knight do than come to the aid of a damsel in distress?" he asked with a playful wink and Diane giggled.

"A really big damsel," she added with a happy smile, but the smile soon faded. "You'd think a big girl like me can take care of herself."

"You're the strongest girl I met in my life," Howzer said with a bit of a frown. "You were attacked from behind and brought down with poison. That has nothing to do with how strong you are. You survived Gil's and mine combined Dragon Castle attack and you were still able to walk after all the damage you took from Dreyfus right after that." He noticed how she looked at him with a grateful look in her beautiful purple eyes. "No-one, including yourself, has the right to question your strength," he continued with a tender smile, "because I saw what you are capable of. I didn't stand a chance against you when you were just human sized, I couldn't dream of defeating you in your full size. The fact these cowards had to turn to poison says enough."

Diane nodded and looked at Howzer, she recalled he had reproached her once for always thinking about others and not about her own safety, but this was the second time he fought for her sake. She noticed how he looked at the body of Jules. "Were you close with him?"

"Used to," he replied and he sat down with a sigh. "I considered him a friend when he was still part of the Holy Knights, but that friendship died when he was responsible for the death of other Holy Knights, I considered one of the victims a friend too." He shook his head. "But trying to kill you is unforgivable."

A silence fell between them and she slowly rose her hand to her one of her sideway tails and fiddled with it. Her limbs were still stiff, but at least she could move them again. She looked at Howzer and then reached out, gently picked him up and held him against her chest as she touched the top of his head with her cheek. "I love you, Howzer," she whispered as she cuddled with him.

Howzer blinked when he heard those words, but smiled soon after and looked up at her when she lowered him slightly. "You can't believe how happy those words make me."

"Can you love a big girl like me?"

The smile turned into a grin. "I already told you I did. And I have done so ever since the Vaizal Fight Festival." Truthfully, at first he hadn't wanted to admit that to himself, but when he was able to be honest with himself about that, he concluded it had fallen in love with her back then. He saw the happy look in her eyes and that gave him a warm feeling inside. He glanced down to the cart filled with food. "I don't know if you're still in the mood for the picnic you offered, but I'm hungry."

Diane nodded to show her approval and gently lowered him to the ground. Maybe it hadn't gone completely as she had envisioned it, the arrival of the giant hunters had almost ruined everything, but in the end she had been able to say what she wanted to say when she invited him for this picnic.