...A Fatal Encounter...

The next morning came quickly. Once it had, and once the door was unlocked, Aurdel went back into the home for breakfast. Rather than say anything and cause a scene at the table he kept quiet about last night and simply ate. He could tell that someone was staring at him expectantly but he paid no heed. Once breakfast was done both of Megumin's parents left the house for work. "Wait, they're just leaving your sister home alone? Without anyone to watch her?"

"It's what my parents did with me," Megumin shrugged, "It's not like she won't be safe."

"I think you're forgetting the fact that the village was just attacked yesterday."

"And it was thrown back, wasn't it?"

"Sure it was but that doesn't mean things won't change, complacency in anything can easily turn into death. I refuse to let your sister stay here alone."

"I want to go with white hair onee-san!" Komekko shouted, jumping up and grabbing Anatalia's tail. She was caught off guard by her and gave a little squeak, but then she grabbed her and lifted her up. The look in her eyes was that of a little kid who found a lost puppy and wanted to keep it. Seeing that a few things clicked in his mind and reminded him of something he thought about asking. Megumin's home was much smaller and much more run down than the rest of the homes in the village, that alone wasn't anything big. But her parents had made a big deal about the money his party had saved up, and before they'd left for the village Megumin had mentioned something about her father causing 'self inflicted poverty.'

"Say, Megumin, does your family have an issue with money?"

"We do," she looked slightly embarrassed, "Both my parents work but it's barely enough to support us."

"But how? Where does all the money go?"

"My father makes magic items, but items with major flaws. As a result not many people buy them, though apparently Wiz is one of the few that do and that encourages him to keep creating them."

"I see, that… that makes sense."

"I try to help by sending back money from quests, but I make sure it's not so much that my dad takes it to spend on the magic items he makes." This didn't sound like a very stable household. Were it not for the fact that Komekko only has family here and that he and his party were out of their home quite often he might have considered asking Megumin's parents to allow him to take her in. But if he couldn't do that the least he could do is send some food over if money would just be spent on useless items.

"Hey Megumin, can you show us around town? We don't come here often so I want to see some of the sights," Aqua said.

"Seeing sights won't be an issue, we can come back whenever we want with Yunyun's teleport magic."

"Sure but we're here now!" She shot back, "Besides it's not like we have anything important to do back home, there's only that dirty devil and Lich."

"Dirty devil I can accept, but dirty Lich? Wiz is anything but."

"Oh shut it you dirty undead lover." He shook his fist at her.

"I don't have any issue with showing you all around, there's a lot to see here after all."

"Okay then, are we all going?" Yunyun was off somewhere else, but then again this was her home village so she probably already knew it like the back of her hand.

"I heard the blacksmith here is extremely skilled, so I wanted to see what they could do with my armor. I'll come back here once I'm done with that though," Darkness said. That was fair enough, knowing her ambition to charge into battle and absorb as much damage as possible it was good to make sure that she didn't die.

"Alright then, Anatalia?"

"I'll go with you, and I'm taking this cinnamon roll with us," she squeezed Komekko. Alright then, that was all of them going along to see sights.

Together they left Megumin's home and began to see sights. Given the relative small size of the village most things were in close proximity to each other, something that would make the day a lot easier in turns of going around. The first place they went to was a shrine. "You have to be kidding me…"

"What? Is there something wrong with the shrine?"

"Yes, there is. It's the fact you've dedicated a shrine to this," the object in question was a plastic figurine of a girl with white hairs and animal ears.

"I don't know, I think I like it," Anatalia said with her tail wagging slightly behind her.

"You're only saying that because it looks somewhat like you."

"...is there something wrong with that?"

"No, but you want to keep your ego away from Aqua levels."

"I do not have an ego, I am a Goddess!"

"Yes, I see your point."

"Why won't anyone believe that I'm a Goddess?!"

"Eh… well, this object was given to us a long time ago by a traveller we saved from monsters. As a sign of their gratitude they gave us it, saying that it was worth more than his own life. So we built it a shrine in the hope that praying to it might yield some good fortune for our clan, built according to the design of the one that gave us it."

"Why is this piece of plastic getting treated more like a Goddess than me?!"

"Ask yourself that question since you're the one that sent the person who brought it here to this world." Aqua scrambled at him and tried to attack him, he just shoved her to the side. "Let's move onto the next thing."

"R-right." Megumin seemed shocked at how quickly he'd brushed aside something the clan had probably thought to be part of the pride of their village, but she moved on from it.

The next place they went to was a blacksmith. "Okay, now this is just plain theft."

"What is?"

"A sword in a stone? Let me guess, is the sword supposed to hold some extreme or holy power and only one worthy of wielding it will be able to pull it out from the rock?"

"...Yes."

"Was this the influence of another traveller?"

"No, it was set up by the town's blacksmith as an attraction. I don't know if it actually holds extreme power, but I do know that the only the ten thousandth person that tries to pull it out will be capable of pulling it out."

"So it's not even a proper ripoff."

"A ripoff of what? You're saying that but you're not saying what it's off."

"Excalibur, the Sword of the Stone from Arthurian legend."

"Oh I've heard of Excalibur, but I don't know what Arthurian legend is."

How could someone hear of Excalibur but not know any of the story behind it? Then it hit him, he turned around. "Aqua, did you and the other Gods made Excalibur one of the cheat weapons a person could take when they came here?"

"Sure we did, why? We only picked it out at random, I don't even know the story behind it."

"You idiot! Why do you have to take anything and ruin it?!" He shook her.

"I don't really get what the big deal is," Anatalia said, "It's just a sword, isn't it?"

"It's not just some swords, it's- Oh, forget it." He waved it away, "Is there anything else?"

"Well, there is the wishing fountain. People toss coins and weapons into it because legend says that if you do the Goddess of Gold and Silver might appear and bring you great wealth."

Weapons? "Who clears out the fountain?"

"The blacksmith."

"And what does he do with them afterwards?"

"He recycles them to make new weapons." Something told him that this village's blacksmith wasn't a very honest man, and that neither that sword or this fountain were special. Was there anything actually special to see in this village?

"...And this is the underground facility that seals away a weapon that might destroy the world. Not much is known about it aside from the fact that it was built at the same time as that facility over there." She pointed to massive factory-like building made of concrete off in the distance. Both these things certainly were different from the rest of what they'd seen so far.

"Any idea what that place is used for?"

"No idea, nobody can read any of the writing that we found during our investigations so we gave up and just call is the 'Mysterious Facility.'" What a joke. That was all besides the point though, given how different all those two places were he was going to make sure to investigate them himself and see what they might hold.

"Hey Megumin, is there anything else sealed away here?" Aqua asked

"Well, there used to be the 'Tomb of the Evil God' and the 'Place where the Unknown Goddess was sealed,' but as the latter name implies the seals were broken."

"Not only do I think that those names sounds like a lot of crap, but if the seals really were broken then I don't think this village should really be home of a weapon that might destroy the world."

"Don't worry, it's fine. The seal is written in that same unknown language as that other facility."

"You say this, but it gives me no greater amount of confidence."

"I just think you're being too much of a worrywart, nothing is going to happen."

"Right… Well, is there anything else that actually worthwhile seeing in this village?"
"Don't say it like that, you shouldn't depreciate all the great sites of my home."

"All I've seen is two scams and a possible threat."

"...Then I guess not. Well if we're done sightseeing then there's a shop I want to go to while I'm here." And so they followed Megumin to this shop, turning out to be a tailor.

"Welcome," the owner dressed in long dark robes said, "Hmm… Megumin, are these outsiders?" She nodded. "My name is Chekera, I'm the owner of the number one tailor shop in the Crimson Demon clan village and a wielder of Advanced Magic!" He flicked his cape and performed a pose. Seeing that Aqua was about to do the same kind of introduction, Aurdel elbowed her. "It was satisfying to do that, not many outsiders come by here. Now, Megumin, how can I help you today?"

"I need spare robes," she tugged on what she was wearing to give the man an idea of what she was speaking of, "Yunyun gave me these but it would be more convenient to have something as a spare."

"Something like those… Yeah, I have a freshly dyed batch." He brought out a series of robes on a laundry pole, "How many are you going to take?"

"I'll take all of them, having more than one spare would be best."

"Ah, rich now are we? You must be doing well as an adventurer."

"Indeed I am, it's about time the village heard of my exploits. Aurdel, can you- Aurdel?" She called for him when she saw that he was staring at what was supposed to be a laundry pole.

"Hey, Chekera, can you take the robes off that laundry pole? I want to get a closer look at it."

"At the laundry pole? Sure, but I don't know why you'd want to do that." He pulled them all off, giving them a much better view of it.

...Yeah, that was a rifle. "Where did you find this?"

"The laundry pole? I didn't, it's a family heirloom that has been passed down for generations. We consider it a treasure since it never rusts."

"...Would you be willing to sell it?"

"Sell it? It's a family heirloom, why would I sell-"

"I'll give you two million Eris for it."
"Sold," Aurdel handed over the money and the man handed him the rifle.

"I don't understand why you spent so much money on a laundry pole," Megumin said. After visiting the tailor they'd gone to a cafe and bought some food, bringing it with them to eat on a hill. Supposedly the hill they were sitting on was the 'Hill of the Demon God,' and that if someone confessed here and became a couple they would be forever bound by the curse of the Demon God. This was most likely a load of crap, as many other things in this village had been.

"Because it's not just some laundry pole, it's a weapon. I'll explain it later once I figure out what munitions this thing takes." It was odd, when he first saw it he expected it to take some form of physical munition given its obviously human firearm inspired design. But the way it was made offered no form of storage for magazines, rather it seemed more like it was related to Covenant weaponry and somehow supported directed energy.

In the end this would be something he'd figure out in due time. He looked off into the distance and saw Yunyun, she was coming out of her home. He waved towards her. When she noticed him on the hill waving to her she seemed to jump, and started sprinting towards them. He turned away and went back to figuring out the weapon. His eyes wandered all over the weapon. It's operation seemed simple enough, a single trigger. There was no bolt or hammer either, so there was one less thing for him to worry about if he was ever going to use it. Then his eyes wandered past it.

When he did he saw dark figures moving off in the distance near Megumin's house, he stood up. "Is something wrong?" Aqua asked.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." He used his helmet's built in scope to get a better look at them. "Those are definitely forces of the Demon King, over there." He pointed towards them, Megumin looked over. "It doesn't look like anyone has seen them yet."

"I'm glad we took Komekko now," Anatalia said stroking the little girl's hair, "Who knows what they might have done with her?"

"I don't know… But Darkness is back at the house, and that's where those Demons are."

"Then we have to go and stop them," Megumin stood up.

They began to run down the hill towards Megumin's home. By the time they were running, Yunyun had finally made it over to them. "What's going on?" She asked, out of breath.

"There's another attack going on, we're going to go and stop it." Given his capabilities he eventually managed to make it far ahead of all the others and arrived at Megumin's house first.

As he expected Darkness was there and she was taking a beating from the Demons who'd broken down the fence. "Aurdel, you're here already?" She sounded disappointed. And he was just about to thank her for holding them up too…

He drew his sword. "So that's what you were doing, you were just wasting our time so others would come and help you. Smart." The person that said this was the tall woman in the red dress he'd seen previously.

"I'll take it from here Darkness," he moved into a combat stance.

"W-wait a minute, you're…" The woman said, "You're that adventurer Wolbach mentioned." He raised an eyebrow, even though she couldn't see it behind his helmet. "Yes, you're the one she said to be careful of. You're the one that fought Beldia, and you're the last one she saw when she warned Hans at Alcarentia. Not to mention, Vanir went missing after visiting the town you live in." She was extremely apprehensive in approaching him and took a few steps back. "It's troubling for someone like you to be here, but don't think I'll back down!"

"Then stop talking and start fighting." He charged forward and thrust his blade towards the enemies.

Right away he cut down two of the Demons that stood in his path, injuring a third. For some reason the woman took issue with that, he didn't expect a possible leader of the army held by a man known as the 'Demon King' to be sympathetic with those under her. He kept attacking regardless. This time he went for the woman since she too was an enemy, with swift movements she dodged most of his blows. But occasionally he would land one and cut deep into her body. Then out of nowhere she seemed to laugh, "You may be strong and quick, but I just found out how I'm going to defeat you."

"And how's that?" He pressed his attack.

"Your armor, it isn't like others sets of armor. Your armor is technologically advanced, and I can use that to my advantage."

He lept back for a moment as she tried to strike him, "As a Chimaera I can combine either myself or other with objects, organic and non-organic alike. Meaning that with the right touch... " She shot out towards him, "I can put you down!" He avoided her once more, but this time was forced against a wall on the outside of the house. "Take this, Conjoin!" Shouting some skill she managed to land a blow on him, then moved back. The pain that he felt was immediate and he fell forward. Every nerve is his body went off as he felt his body compressing inwards.

"Aurdel!" Someone shouted from the side, he couldn't make out who from his senses being so overwhelmed.

His bones and flesh felt like they were being crushed, his veins pressurized and ready to burst. His internal organs weren't in a much better state as one of his lungs collapsed and his heart rate increased dramatically. He would be dead within a matter of moments if something didn't stop this. Shakily he stood up and faced the woman, barely able to stand up. Blood was leaking out of his eyes and stained his face, pooling in the bottom of his helmet. "You're… you're not dead yet? I would've expected it to kill you almost right away." He wasn't capable of saying anything back, trying to do so only resulted in him coughing up blood.

If he was going to die, he was going to go down swinging. He lunged at the woman with unseen speed and struck several times. A few missed, but many hit. Then once he was able to he thrust Gram through the woman's side. She screamed out in pain, his arm seized up completely and yanked the sword out stopping him from turning it into a killing blow. She ran back from him with her Demons, "D-don't think this is the last you'll see of me!" Then they all ran off being chased by Crimson Demons. He stumbled backwards, his legs seized up. Then he fell over as his legs broke.

His party ran over screaming something, he couldn't hear them as his hearing failed him. They tried to pull his helmet off of him to no avail and ultimately ended up just shaking him. His mouth foamed and his vision began to blur in and out, his head was pounding. A voice sounded in his head, "Free." After that his heart failed and his brain hemorrhaged. Aurdel was dead for the second time.

...Another Chance...

Aurdel opened his eyes, he was back in a familiar place. It was the same place he'd seen months ago when he died months ago on Reach. The room was dark with floating lights and a checkered floor, he found himself sat in a chair opposite to another. Unlike last time however, where he was greeted with a blue haired Goddess running late, he was met right away with a white haired girl dress in extremely conversatory angelic clothing. "Aurdel Ganowicz, moments ago you passed on from this world. You died protecting those you cared for despite everything that happened to you in your life. For someone like you to die is a true loss." She seemed to be genuinely sorry for him, something he hadn't had the first time he'd died. He felt around his body. Here everything was fine and he was out of his armor, but down there everything had gone wrong.

"What… what happens now?"

"You'll be reincarnated back to your own world as the one that you died in was not your own, you'd be given the life you never received." The life he never received, huh? Sounded too good to be true.

"And my companions? What will happen to them?"

"They will continue on with their lives as they can without you, you're unable to-"

"Hey Aurdel, I cast resurrection so you can come back now!" A familiar annoying voice said from somewhere above them.

"Hmm? What was that?"

"Aqua-sama, is that you?!" He shouted upwards.

"Of course it's be you idiot! Now come back over already!"

"W-wait," the woman there stumbles, "You can't resurrect twice, that's against heaven's rules!" Was it?

"Hey Aqua, the Goddess here says it's against the rules!"

"Huh? What stupid Goddess is saying that?!"

He looked to the white haired Goddess, "E-Eris."

"She says her name is Eris!"

"Eris?! The Goddess that thinks she's so important because a few people celebrate her here and named a currency after her?!" She looked like she was about to cry hearing that, "Aurdel, if she gives you any trouble then just take away her breast pads-!"

"Alright, alright! I'll make an exception! Jeez, Aqua-sama is as unreasonable as ever," she shook her head, "If you're going back then we're going to have to talk about that sword of yours eventually."

"Why would you care about…?" He got a better look at Eris, then it clicked. "Wait a minute, you're-!"

"I'll see you soon," she winked and a circle of light opened up underneath his feet, dragging him upwards and into the sky.

Aurdel woke up, his body was sore all over after what had happened. Even without opening his eyes he could tell that he was laying in some sort of bedding. He could also tell that he wasn't wearing his armor, or that at least it wasn't the top layer of his body. After all with what that Chimaera had said the implication was that he'd somehow combined with his armor. There was sobbing coming from next to him. He opened his eyes and turned his head slightly to the right, next to him was Megumin and Yunyun knelt with their eyes closed. By how puffy their faces looked and the tears on their cheeks, it was obvious that they were the ones that had been crying. "You know, I'm not dead." When he said that they opened their eyes and looked at him with disbelief.

"Aurdel!" They pounced on him into a collective hug.

"Woah, I get that what happened to be me looked pretty gruesome but I haven't been gone for that long. Have I?"

The others came running into the room hearing the commotion that was being made. "Aqua said that you were resurrected, and you were, but you didn't wake up right away so we got really worried."

"Onee-chan is awake!" Komekko leapt from Anatalia's hands and onto him, crashing hard onto his chest. He sat up so he could get a solid breath in after that.

"Then how long was I out for?"
"You were out for a day," Aqua said nonchalantly, "And like the great Goddess I am I kept you healed the whole time, feel free to heap on your praise whenever you want."

"I'm not going to praise you for doing your job, but I will say thank you for resurrecting me."

"Eh, it's a start." Aqua seemed unusually okay with not getting an obscene amount of praise for once.

"You know, those two were by your side the whole time," Darkness said.

"W-we were not!" Megumin and Yunyun said at the same time.

"Is there really anything bad with keeping watch?"

"I-I guess not," Megumin said, "But if I did it it was only because Yunyun was doing it!"

"Why are you putting this on me?!"

"Look, you two can argue about this all you want later. Right now there are more important things to deal with. Where's the General that I was fighting earlier?" He stood up, forcing the three Crimson Demons to get off of him. When he did, he found that he was wearing nothing but undergarments.

"H-her name is Sylvia," Yunyun said awkwardly, trying not to stare at his mostly uncovered body. "And right now she's at her camp with her army."

"Then let's not keep her waiting, we'll attack her and put and end to this army."

"Are you really in the shape to do that?" Darkness asked.

"Whether or not I am, something has to be done about it." He looked down, "though I am going to need something to wear, I don't exactly want to go through unnecessary pain again."

"I have just the thing," Yuiyui said matter of factly as she walked in. He looked over, she was carrying a set of oversized robes. The same that the Crimson Demons wore. This would work.

He put them on, "Woah, Aurdel looks like a real Archwizard," Aqua said.

"As opposed to what?"

"A big green block of steel."

"You're lucky that I'm not in the mood to get mad with your comments. Everyone, we're going to assault their camp head on and clear their forces out once and for all."

"Isn't that really dangerous? We'd be extremely outnumbered."

"Who says we have to be outnumbered? This is a village of the world's greatest Mages, isn't it? And judging from what I've seen they're not the ones that back down from a fight." Realizing what he wanted to do there were grins all around.

"I'll go get my dad to summon everyone to the village center!" Yunyun said, and ran out of the room.

"By the way Aurdel, I figured out what that laundry pole you bought uses for ammunition."

"You did?"

"I did, it uses mana."

"Mana, huh? Well if all my things are still here, then we're in for a ride."

They were all gathered on the outskirts of the village, near the Demon King army's base in the area. In total they had a hundred of the Crimson Demons with them, the rest were all on alert back in the village in case they failed their mission. But at the front of this ragtag army was him and his party equipped and ready to fight. Aurdel and Darkness drew their swords, Anatalia her daggers, and Megumin, Aqua and Yunyun their staffs. He turned back, facing the crowd of Crimson Demons he had behind him. "Now! Are you all ready?!" There was a loud collective chant. He couldn't really make out what they'd actually said, so he just assumed it was one of approval. "Then we will march and show the Demon King what a really Demon fights like!" There was an even louder roar of approval after that, he thrust his sword forward into the air.

Within moments they arrived at the base of the Demon King's operations in the area. "Archwizards, your Detonation spells if you please!" There was a loud series of magic chants followed by a wave of explosions. They all connected and blasted the palisade walls of the camp apart, taking a few tents on the inside of the camp out with it. "Forward!" He charged forward ahead of all the others, charging deep into the camp and into the heart of the forces. While his armor merging with him had killed him, it had also come with a benefit. With how closely integrated both he and it were he was capable of completing feats he hadn't dreamed of before. With unparalleled speed he spun through the camp, decapitating Demons left and right with Gram in his hands. At the same time he used Drain Touch to take away their power and fuel the gun on his back.

The Crimson Demons and his party came charging in after him and went to work with brutal efficiency, each one was capable of handling no more than a dozen of the Demons at a time. Magic rippled out everywhere with lightning, ice and fire all over the camp as they fought through. At one point during the battle he'd caught up with Anatalia who'd managed to bind one of the larger Demons down, cutting it to ribbons with her daggers afterwards. He cast Create Water and Freeze on another one, setting up another kill for her as he raced off to keep the fight going. All around the Demon King's army was losing and it's camp was burning. "Damn you Crimson Demons!" A voice shouted out in the middle of the camp.

The voice was Sylvia as she faced down Bukkoroli and that woman he'd cast a spell with during the battle the other day. He charged forward, "I'll handle this!" Bukkoroli and the woman stepped back and let him move in.

"That voice! You're alive?!" Sylvia was shocked as he came in, striking blow after blow. Before she'd been able to dodge many of his blows, but now? Now she could barely avoid getting hit. Cuts traced her entire body and tore apart her dress.

"Of course I'm alive!' He threw down his sword and began pummeling her with his fists, taking her mana at the same time. "There's a saying about us Spartans, one that you should know about!" He kicked out her legs from under her and grab hold of her.

He spun her around, "One thing that everyone should know about Spartans!" He let go of her, throwing her into the air and preparing his fist. With his neural link he was able to change the intensity of his shields that were still active, even though he'd merged with his armor. He pushed it to overcharge on the area of the fist he was punching with, giving it a glowing effect. "Spartans never die!" She came down and he punched her with all his might. With the boosted shield and the might of his punch she went flying into the air howling with pain. Drawing the gun off his back, he aimed the barrel at Sylvia. The gauge on the weapon read full, he squeezed the trigger. A massive blast of light shot out from the weapon and struck Sylvia, putting a hole straight through her and ultimately obliterated her. The worst part of the battle was over, and the weapon gave them the fireworks to celebrate with.

"Well, this certainly was an interesting trip," Aurdel said. Behind him was wagons full of equipment and other technology. After the battle he'd taken the time to actually go to that place where a supposed world destroying weapon was hidden. Turns out that the supposed seal that was in place wasn't even magic, it was a simple keypad. So after some rewiring he was able to get it open. And when he did he was greeted with a treasure trove of technology from his world. Granted it was mostly tech from the nineteen nineties and the twenty first century, but that was better than absolutely nothing. So he took everything he could, aside from what appeared to be a metal serpent like weapon that turned out to be named the "Mage Killer."

Figuring that this was a village of Mages, he left it there and resealed the bunker. He didn't want to hear about how some idiot wandered in and ended up destroying the village in a freak accident. Though given how two supposed Gods were supposed to be sealed here and they were released it was only a matter of time before it did. "Say, Aurdel, how are we supposed to get all this stuff back home with us?" Megumin asked.

"What do you mean? We'll just have Yunyun teleport us back with all of it."

"U-um," Yunyun stuttered, "I can't teleport all of us and this stuff at the same time." There was silence, then a groan mostly from Aqua.

"Well, it can't be helped then. I hope you're all ready for the long trip back to Axel, by foot." A louder groan.