A few opening words: Alright, from here on in the story is likely going to get pretty violent. And, as a side effect of that, probably also pretty gory, where appropriate. Not like limbs flying everywhere gory, but, say, the movie Troy gory. I really don't know. But if you guys think it surpasses the current rating, let me know so I can bump it up (and not get in trouble). Anyway, that's that.

Enjoy…

Sakaki was about to charge in after Kaorin, even though she had no weapon, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Oddly enough, the hand belonged to Kaela.

"Kaela-san?"

"No. Let them fight. I believe there is some past rivalries at stake here." She removed her hand from Sakaki's shoulder, and quickly loosed an arrow. It hit its intended target nigh instantly, nearly over-penetrating one unfortunate bandit's skull as he made an attempt to get involved. Kaela quickly drew another arrow, and yelled out in their language something Sakaki didn't understand. Whatever it was though, the rest of the bandits held their ground, and simply watched their best fighter duke it out with a teenage girl. Sakaki looked around, and the rest of her friends were doing the same. Defeated, she watched the fight from the sidelines. She was surprised though, and almost scared of this new Kaorin. She seemed to have a fire in her eyes, a ferocious flame begging to be let loose. Sakaki wasn't sure what exactly it was, but she definitely didn't want to be on the receiving end of it.

Kaorin held the sword close to her shoulder, point in the air. It was only a foot or so shorter than she was, and it was quite heavy, as to be expected. But she had summoned up strength she didn't know she had. Not that any of this went through her mind though. The only thing that did was one thought: Win. She charged straight at her opponent, waiting until the last moment to dodge as he brought his axe down in a powerful overhead strike. Kaorin dove sideways into a shoulder roll, and brought the sword around to swipe at the man's legs, but he seemed to have predicted the move, and blocked it with the handle of his axe. Now that he had leverage, he thrust the butt of the handle forward, right into Kaorin's chest. She was sent reeling back, but quickly balanced herself. Her opponent, who had been laughing mockingly up to this point, now put on a serious face. Kaorin launched off her right foot, and ducked under a horizontal swing, deflecting it upwards with the sword as she did so. With the sword raised above her head from the block, she was in the perfect position to attack. So she did just that. Kaorin managed two quick swipes across his chest before having to roll out of the way of another crushing blow.

Even though the bandit wore heavy armor, the ferocity of Kaorin's quick attack coupled with the godly edge of Ragnarok managed to penetrate the armor slightly. A small amount of blood could be seen in the cuts. This made the barbarian angry. He attacked without holding back, with far more speed and agility than anyone would've thought possible from a man of his stature. He swung his might axe from the left and right in vicious horizontal slices, changing where he was aiming each time. Kaorin was forced on the defensive, backing off with each dodge. She ducked under one attack, but was forced to quickly jump to avoid the next one aimed at her feet. She was getting frantic, as each blow came closer and closer to connecting. She was finally forced to deflect one blow over her head, and had to quickly bring the sword around to her other side to stop another. They held there for a moment, weapons locked in position at Kaorin's side, before the bandit pulled away, causing Kaorin to lose balance ever so slightly. He changed tactics and brought the axe down over his head. Kaorin tried to regain her footing, and held the sword up high to block. The blow was powerful, too strong for Kaorin to successfully block while off balance. She was knocked onto her back, the sword falling a few feet behind her. She panicked, and tried to crawl backwards. The barbarian saw his chance, and raised the axe far over his head for one final, crushing blow.

Kaorin froze; she didn't know what to do. But then, just as the axe came down, her instincts took over. It was as if the warrior within her sprang forth and took over. She shoved hard with her legs and did a backwards summersault, just barely missing the axe's blade. She grabbed Ragnarok as she rolled by, ending in a crouch. She could see the axe was somewhat lodged in the ground, though it wouldn't stay there for long. She leapt forward, planted one foot on the axe's handle just below the blade, and launched herself into the air. Time slowed as she brought the sword up in mid air, much to the surprise and astonishment of her opponent. With a mighty yell, she swung with all her might.

Kaorin landed a few feet behind the barbarian. His head hit the ground beside her. The headless body stood there for a moment, blood pouring from where its head should have been, before it fell to the ground. You could've heard a pin drop. All that was heard was Kaorin's exhausted breathing. She was almost leaning over on the sword. She summoned up what little strength she had left, and faced the remaining bandits. She raised the sword and pointed it right at them. She didn't know their language, nor did she speak. The glare she gave them spoke volumes. It was a mix of anger, ferocity, and sheer determination, a look that would strike fear into even the most courageous of warriors. This was underscored by the fact that her face was also half covered in her foe's blood. The remaining bandits stood stock still for a moment, taking in what had just happened. They looked from the headless corpse of their best fighter to the ferocious looking Kaorin, who had a bloody sword pointed directly at them. It didn't take them long to make up their minds. All but two turned and fled, their former friends abandoned. The two who stayed to fight were quickly felled by Kaela's arrows, each shot between the eyes.

Kaorin dropped to one knee, breathing heavily. She was completely exhausted from her feat. Kaela strode over to her, and leaned over enough so that she could speak and only have Kaorin hear.

"I see my faith in you was well placed. Well done, Kaori."

Kaorin managed a weak smile, and only realized Kaela had called her by her real name much later. Sakaki came over and took the sword off her hands, cleaning it on the grass in the process. Sakaki stood back, and looked Kaorin over. Realizing that her friend was far too exhausted t walk, she crouched down in front of her.

"Sakaki-san. What are you-"

"Hop on."

"What?"

"Hop on." She repeated. Kaorin then caught on. She struggled up, and leaned on Sakaki's back, resting her head on Sakaki's shoulder, opposite the hilt of Ragnarok. Sakaki stood up, holding Kaorin's legs with her arms. Kaorin marveled at her friend's strength. She picked her up as if she were nothing.

"Comfortable, Kaorin?"

"Oh… oh, yes! Thank you very much, Sakaki-san."

"It's nothing." Sakaki carried Kaorin in this manner for the rest of their travelling that day. Not ten minutes after picking the girl up, she had fallen fast asleep against her shoulder.

Kaorin awoke to the gentle warmth of a sunrise feeling almost completely refreshed. She took a moment to look around, and found herself riding piggy-back on Sakaki.

"Wha…? Sakaki-san? Why are you carrying me?"

"Don't you remember yesterday?"

"Yesterday?" Kaorin thought back for a moment; most of yesterday was clouded, and she couldn't remember much. She concentrated, and remembered they had had some sort of encounter with a group of bandits. But that was all she could put together. "Did something happen with bandits or something?"

"So Kaela was right. Kaorin; you fought the biggest of them, and won."

"I WHAT?"

"Yes. You took my sword, ignoring the shock it gives everyone who isn't me, and fought. You fought well too."

"You're not kidding... So I won a fight against a bandit?"

"Not just any bandit either; these were the ones who captured you." A brief series of images flashed through her head, particularly one depicting the fight she was forced into against that beast of a man. "Oh my god… I fought the man who nearly beat me to death…"

"Not only fought Kaorin; you killed him. Quickly too, I might add."

"Rehhh?!" Kaorin reared back in surprise, almost causing Sakaki to drop her. "I killed him? How? And why don't I remember this?"

"You beheaded him. Kaela said you might not remember much; something about 'the warrior inside you taking over'. I'm not really sure what she meant, but it made sense at the time. You also scared off the rest of them."

"I… beheaded… oh god…" Kaorin fought the urge to vomit. She was fairly successful, managing to only throw up a bit in her mouth. She whimpered, and put her face against Sakaki's back. Sakaki reached back and rubbed her back as she cried.

"Let it out, Kaorin. Kaela said that almost everyone goes through this sort of thing when they first take a life." She paused. "She also said that it would be good to let it all out, that we should get used to it." Kaorin held back tears for a moment to question why. "I don't know myself, but I hope she is exaggerating. But from what we've seen so far, this world seems to be suffering. From what though, I don't know…"

"Well girls, there it is, the city of Enwich." The girls let out a combination of 'ooohs' and 'ahhhs', except for Sakaki. They were standing atop the last hill they had to traverse before arriving in town. Kaorin was walking on her own, having recovered somewhat. "I don't quite know what to expect there right now; these are trying times. This city is the largest port in Archaea, and houses the Royal Navy, so we must be careful. Don't trust any Altairian you see." Kagura was the first to ask the questions that came up in everyone's mind.

"Two things, three actually. What's Archaea, who are the Altarians, and why do we have to be careful?"

"I can't tell you much; we don't have the time. Archaea is the name of this whole land, and the Altairians are foreigners, who also make up the entire army, including the city guard. They're easy to spot; they stand at an average height of about 8 feet." Kagura swore under her breath; none of the girls had ever heard of anyone that big.

"As for the rest, you'll have to trust me, and do as I say. First of all, don't speak to anyone. You only know the language of the resistance, and it would be very bad if anyone other than our friends found that out. Second; Sakaki, take this and cover up the hilt of your sword." Confused, Sakaki took the rage and wrapped it around the hilt of the sword. "All will be explained in due time. The rest of you won't have to worry about your weapons. You are allowed by law to carry them, just keep them sheathed. You will be either arrested or attacked if you are seen in town with a bare blade. Now, follow me."

As Kaela led the girls down the hill, and onto a dirt path, Sakaki marveled at the city. It was nowhere near the size of Tokyo of course, but it was impressive nonetheless. The architecture was clearly that of the Middle Ages, but with some differences in style. Most of the buildings were a pale white color, with brown support beams and such, probably made of wood. The entire city was also surrounded by a large defensive wall, probably standing at least 15 feet high from what she could see. Guard towers were spaced evenly along its length, doubled up near a gate. Out at sea, she could see several massive ships in the water. She quickly spotted the masts of many in the city's harbor area. Judging by the sheer height of the masts she could tell they had to be at least two to three times bigger than Dedalus' ship, the Vanguard. They were probably at least five or six stories tall, compared to the buildings, and some had up to five main masts. Upon closer inspection of the harbor, she could see many smaller ships as well. Judging by the number of masts she could see, there had to be dozens, no, hundreds of ships in the harbor. What have we gotten ourselves into…

Author's notes: And the girls get their first glimpse of civilization in this new world (or at least, the first glimpse that didn't lead to a fight). More on the subject of Altarians, Archaea, and the Resistance will be revealed later, don't worry. And yes, Kaorin is badass. I promised she'd get her revenge didn't I?

As for the ships, Dedalus' is called the Vanguard. It is for all purposes a Roman Trireme, but without oars. It also has three masts, a small command deck, and is armed with a Trebuchet and multiple Ballistae. It can hold its own in battle. The huge ships Sakaki saw were the pride of the Royal navy, the Juggernauts. There are only a dozen of them. They are roughly three times the size of the Vanguard, have five masts, and have six decks (so, the hull is over 6 stories high). It has gun ports lining the sides, though they aren't filled with cannons. This world's cannons are Ballistae. So, it has a crap-load of them. It also has numerous catapults and trebuchets along the top deck. They are basically one-ship navies, and can even run over smaller ships, like the Vanguard, and receive little damage, thanks to their re-enforced hulls.

Anyway, there your fun-fact for today. If you don't know what some of the weapons are, wiki them. Every time something new is introduced, I will usually give a brief description in here. Except for cities. I leave those somewhat to your imagination, with a few guidelines. I'm bad at describing cities. Also, I have a sort of question for you, the readers.

In addition to brief descriptions of objects or events, I could also do character profiles for the new characters, like Kaela or Ternil. That is, if you guys want them. Let me know what you think of this in a review.

Anyhow, that's about all I have to say! Till next time, readers!