...Noble Efforts…
"Is this the place?" Megumin asked. They looked around, there were crowds of people everywhere. "It certainly looks like it is."
"Yes, this is the dungeon Wiz was referring to," Darkness confirmed, " I've been here several times since I was a girl. Oh how I wandered it's halls, long I dreamed of finding a powerful monster to hold me down and-"
"Hey guys, I always thought you were really cool. So can you lend me some money so I can go and check out those gift shops?"
"Aqua, are you sure you're not a Thief? Your only skill seems to be playing fast and loose with money that isn't yours," Anatalia commented.
"I do not play fast and loose with money! I only buy things that are absolutely necessary for me."
"Then did you absolutely need those fancy soaps?"
"Of course I did! A Goddess like me should always be the highest form of clean."
"Stop getting sidetracked!" Yunyun shouted, "We're here to come and get Aurdel back, not go shopping."
"But I want to go buy some things!"
"You can buy things at the capital once we have him back!" She physically dragged Aqua with her, leading them through the crowd.
"You know Yunyun, recently you've been acting quite different," Megumin said.
"Yes, I've noticed that too actually. I just didn't want to comment on it in case you'd be offended."
"W-what do you mean I've been acting different? And why would I be offended?"
"Well you're acting a lot more like Aurdel. Back then you never would have taken charge like this."
"I-Is there something wrong with acting a little like him?!"
"No no, that's not what I'm saying," Megumin said with her hands raised, "I was just wondering if you were trying to do that on purpose."
"On purpose…?" She hadn't really noticed herself acting differently, so she couldn't have been doing it on purpose. But maybe it wasn't a bad idea that she could consider. She did want to get closer to him after all. "Not really, but I don't see anything wrong with it."
"I was just curious." They kept pushing their way through the crowds, they had to stay on track if they were going to get through and find him.
"Anatalia, can you see any enemies nearby?"
"No, I can't. There are too many people around us, it messes with Enemy Detection. But it shouldn't be something we have to worry about, I don't think there be any-"
"Monsters! Run!" A man shouted, as if set off by her comment.
"Why'd you have to set off a flag like that?!" Megumin shouted.
"I didn't set off anything, it just happened!" All of them drew their weapons. Darkness had her greatsword, Anatalia her daggers, Aqua and Megumin their staffs and Yunyun her wand. When the crowds had actually cleared they actually saw what was attacking the people.
"What are those things?!" Aqua shouted.
"Hyperboreans! What are they doing here?!"
"You know what they are?!"
"Of course I do, they're from my home country! What I don't know is why they're here!" Yunyun stared at the massive monsters before them. They could be said to look like extremely hair and dishevelled men, ones who'd never taken care of their appearance in their lives. Some of them had hair as white as snow, the same color as Anatalia's fur, and some of them had brown and black hair.
"Yunyun, set them on fire!"
"Inferno!" Yunyun summoned a blaze of fire and enveloped the tall beasts in flames. But when it cleared…
"They're not burning?! Move out of the way!" They all scattered out of the way as the giants swung their clubs, slamming the ground with a great amount of force. The clubs were about the size of trees and tore the ground up, dirt and stone sprayed out. They went to swing again.
"Light of Saber!" Yunyun cut through one of their clubs, the end of it went flying and hit one of the giants. "Bottomless Swamp!" A purple hole opened up in the ground beneath the giants, they fell in. But with how massive they were they were able to stand straight up in it, beginning to climb out.
"We have to run!" Anatalia shouted.
"I won't run, not from a fight like this! Not when I have such a beastly foe in front of me,"Run, I'll hold them off while you retreat! Oh how much I've wanted to say that!" She brandished her sword and prepared herself to charge the giants.
"No you aren't! Bind!" Anatalia bound Darkness.
"W-what are you doing?! This is no time for-!"
"It's not what you think! Aqua, help me drag her away!" She grabbed one of the ropes around Darkness.
"Why should I help you, you dumb fox?"
"I'll get you the best wine I can find in the capital if you do!"
"You should have just opened with that! Blessing!" Aqua cast a support spell on Anatalia and herself, then the two of them picked up Darkness and began carrying her away.
"Fufufu! I'll show those giants the power of a true Archwizard-!"
"Silent!" Yunyun cast a spell on Megumin to make sure that she didn't fire off Explosion, if she did it was sure to destroy all of the shops and possibly ruin the dungeon. And if she did that it'd only cause trouble for them and Aurdel. She grabbed Megumin's collar and dragged her away from the giants who were chasing after them. "Freeze Gust!" She froze a large area behind them as they ran, she was going to try and trip them up.
"That won't work, they're too heavy!" Anatalia shouted to her, "They'll just break through the ice!" And they did, the ice that had frozen the ground shattered into a million pieces from their footsteps and clubs.
One of the giants was coming extremely close, it raised it's club! "Lightning Strike!" She summoned a bolt of lightning and it struck the club. While it wasn't perfect at sending it through, it still passed through the club and hit the giant. She heard the massive thump of it hitting the ground as they continued running. There were about seven more of them left.
"Aren't there supposed to be a bunch of high level adventurers here?!" Megumin questioned once the spell had finally worn off. "I heard they were always near the capital!"
"The city itself must be under attack if they're not focusing on these giants!" Darkness said back.
Yunyun was going to try something else. "Paralyze!" She let off another spell and paralyzed one of the giants, causing a few of the others to trip up. They weren't dead but they at least wouldn't be chasing after them for now. There was still the issue of the ones that still were. And she could tell that she was using a lot of her magic.
"Yunyun! Let me cast Explosion on those things!"
"Absolutely not! You're going to get us in trouble or hit us with it too!"
"How dare you say things like that! I am not a child, I am an Archwizard!" As they argued with each other, as they ran, an armored man suddenly appeared practically out of thin air. He charged straight at the giants. She could see that in his hands was a weapon similar to one of the ones that she'd seen Aurdel taking apart and putting back together at the mansion. Of course he'd never used it around them so it was a surprise to her when she heard it now. It was loud, like a constant stream of detonation spells going off. The man leapt into the air and fired the weapon at the giants for a few moments, then pulled something out of it and took another of the same item out of a bag at his waist. Within a matter of minutes the giants were dead. The man stood over their bodies then looked over to them.
"Are you five alright?" They were all taking a good look at him.
"That armor…" Yunyun said quietly, then she spoke up. "Are you a Spartan like Aurdel?!"
The man froze, then walked over. "You know what Spartans are?"
"N-not really, but we know one. His name is Aurdel, Aurdel Ganowicz."
"What's his Spartan tag?"
"Spartan… tag?"
"Yeah, every Spartan has a number attached to their name. It's given to us during training."
"Um… I think it was… zero zero nine?"
"Hmm… So he's not from my company. Well, if there are other Spartans here that's good to know." The man stuck a hand out, "The name is Six."
"Six? What kind of a name is Six?" Aqua pestered.
"Oh, you're here too." The man looked at Aqua, "What, it wasn't enough to send me here? You had to follow me here too?"
"I'm afraid I don't know who you are, brown armor guy."
"Figures, you send so many people here that it'd be hard to remember." He turned back to Yunyun, "So where is this Spartan of yours?"
"He's at the capital, the Princess took him."
"Ah, so he's the same Aurdel as the one who took out those Generals. Makes sense."
"You know about him?"
"Of course I do, there's a bunch of buzz in the capital about him. It wasn't exactly a secret for long that he was here. But the capital is under siege right now."
"Under siege?"
"That's where those giant things came from, their Demon King Commander had them teleported in. But I don't think they were trained well, because they attacked their own lines and ran off. I was on my way out of the city when I saw them heading this way so I decided to go after them, though it looks like they got to you before I got to them."
"Y-yeah, I suppose so. Can you take us to the capital?"
"Sure, but it's still a warzone out in front of it so you'll have to help out with that."
"Fufu, I'll deal with them myself. I'll show them the true power of an Archwizard!" Megumin flicked her cape. Six looked at them, they shrugged.
"Alright then, follow me." Six lead the way, taking them down a path.
As they walked they could hear the sword of clashing metal and the use of magic coming closer and closer, eventually the battlefield came into view. "That army is… huge." Darkness spoke with amazement as Anatalia finally untied her, setting her down on the ground. "They really do mean to take the capital this time."
"Yeah, the battle has been going on for around two hours so far. We'll come out on top for sure but it'll take a while. Well, that is unless you have some sort of trump card to play on them."
Before he'd even finished that sentence Megumin had begun chanting, "Explosion!" Her spell shook the hillside and struck the Demon King's army attacking the city, even from here they could see the destruction it wrought. What used to be the center of the enemy army was now a large crater with their bodies flying all over. With how powerful it was it caused the battle to stop for a moment, enemies and adventurers alike looking to see where it'd come from.
"See? I told you that I'd show you the true power of an Archwizard," Megmin collapsed.
"How can you still say that when you can't even stand up after using your magic?"
"How dare you insult me and my Explosion magic like that Yunyun!" She tried to strike her with her staff from the ground, but she wasn't able to muster up the energy to do so. Darkness picked her up.
"Well then, I suppose that's enough to turn the tide," Six folded his arms as he looked back towards the battlefield where combat had begun again. With the amount of foes that had been slain they easily began to push them back. "Let's go then." It took some time, but eventually they did make it to the capital.
Yunyun had never seen so many large buildings before, nor so many people. Maybe she'd seen something like it when Aurdel had shown them his world, but she couldn't remember that trip. But now they were here. The capital. "I don't know where you guys are from, but the capital is different from a lot of the other cities in this world."
"Do you travel a lot?"
"Sure, I'm almost always in the move. I just happened to be here for the past week."
"Have you been to the western continent?" Anatalia asked.
"I'm afraid I haven't. I've been meaning to go there, but with the war here and the civil war going on there there's no one willing to take me there.
"Oh… I was hoping to hear some news from back home."
"You're from there?"
"I am, that's how I knew what those giants were." She continued, "After all, they're really what the war there is over."
"I'm afraid I don't quite understand that," Yunyun said.
"A very long time ago the Hyperboreans were somewhat smaller, a little taller than Aurdel, and they had their own nation. My people conquered them and enslaved them. For years after that they were bred purposefully to be the big and dumb monsters they are now. But recently people began to question whether or not it was right. Eventually that turned into war. That's why I sent my sister away, I didn't want her caught in the middle of it."
"I'll make sure to keep that all in mind when I go there, maybe I'll even go with you when you do," they kept walking. "So, where is this Spartan of yours?"
...Castle Crashers...
"What in the name of the Gods was that?" Claire said as the palace shook. Really, the whole capital had shaken. As far as Aurdel knew there was only one person capable of doing such a thing. Granted, they could only do so once a day. Regardless if it was done here then it was a telltale sign that his companions were looking for him. He couldn't understand why though, had things degraded to be so bad without his presence so quickly? Claire was able to read the expression on his face and essentially picked up on what he was thinking. She wasn't particularly thrilled having him here, so she'd probably do what she could to get him to leave.
"I'm not sure. Claire, can you have someone go find out what that was?"
"Of course Your Highness, we should have your hero here investigate it." He was about to stand up when Iris grabbed his arm, quite forcefully in fact. It was a lot stronger than he would have expected of a young girl. Her strength stat had to be incredibly high if her appearances were really that deceiving. Then he remembered something, a person's stats increased with their level. And all of the food he'd eaten since he'd come here managed to increase his level by some manner. That could only mean… just how high of a level was this Princess?!
"I simply cannot allow that Claire, how will he be able to tell me his stories if he's outside investigating? Please, investigate in his place."
"O-of course, Your Highness." Claire shot another glance at him, then left.
"Now please, continue with your story."
Claire was furious. Not with Iris, of course, how could she be? No, she was furious with this man. This man who'd somehow woo'd her Royal Highness with tall tales of adventure, this man who lacked honor and any decency for those above his own status. How she could enjoy the company of such a man was beyond her. Then again, she shouldn't question her Royal Highness. But what damaged her the most about this man was the fact that he'd taken her Royal Highness from her. Were it not for the intervention of this man it would be solely her and Rain that was able to bask in her presence. But now, now that he has encapsulated her, she is hardly able to spend any time with her. Were it not for the will of her Royal Highness she would have slain this man where he stood for his impudence. But perhaps she didn't need to kill him to be rid of him, there may be other ways.
After all she had seen the look on his face when the castle shook, perhaps he knew what had caused it? If he did, it was entirely possible to exploit this. Maybe he really was an agent of the Demon King's army sent to abduct or kill the Princess and was simply biding his time until the perfect chance arose. Yes, if that was the case then she had to stay on her toes. Then, once she'd defeated this man and saved the Princess she'd receive her praise! Oh yes, she'd love that. To be on the receiving end of the praise of her Royal Highness Iris instead of this man would be a heavenly reward, one without comparison. So she would have to exploit this situation, no matter what it was.
She left the castle and was about to leave the courtyard, that was when she saw a situation at the gate. There was a medium sized group of Knights blocking several people from entering the grounds. Could they be the cause of it? She had to find out. "Knights, what appears to be the issue here?"
One of the Knights turned, "Lady Claire, these five are trying to enter the palace with this adventurer."
"All we want to do is take Aurdel back with us!" One of those five said. Oh? So they did know him?
"Allow me to see them," the Knights parted to allow her a view of the group. Yes, she did remember these five. They were present at the meal in Axel. She'd only speak to one of them though. "Lady Dustiness, I'm afraid the Princess hasn't allowed him to leave."
"Surely there is something that can be done to allow him to leave."
"There is one idea that I've come up with."
Aurdel didn't know how to feel about this. Claire had appeared to him while Iris was away at one of her lessons, and explained that he'd be leaving. His party had shown up to the palace in order to take him home. But the Princess would not simply allow him to walk out. He would have to take a more aggressive approach to get out of the palace. That's why Claire had given a cloak, a mask and told him to wait until midnight, that's when he'd be breaking out. It was around that time now anyways, so he slipped the mask on and put the cloak on over his suit. He didn't have any weapons except those that he'd snuck in on him so he would have to fight smart if he was going to get out. The last thing he needed to happen was for him to get caught while it looked like he was attacking the palace.
He cracked the door open and peeked out, he didn't see any guards. This was the perfect time to get out. "Lurk!" He pushes himself through the crack in the door, then stepped out into the hall and closed it behind him. With his skill he crept quietly through the halls.
"Stay alert," someone said, "Lady Claire said that there would be some trying to attack the palace." Well, it certainly seemed like she was holding a grudge if she was intentionally trying to make this even harder for him. With Enemy Detection he was able to detect the presence of five guards in one hallway, probably not best to go that way. He walked away from that hallway and towards another, there were even more guards there. They were unavoidable at this point. Even with Lurk and the darkness he had avail to him, these halls were far too small to effectively hide him. Then if sneaking wasn't an option…
He charged down the hallway. "Hmm? Do you hear foot-?" The guard slammed into the wall as Aurdel kicked him, he felt the man's ribs break under his foot. An injury like that would be fatal if not treated and he didn't want to kill these men for simply doing their jobs. He cast heal on him, using the skill he'd picked up secretly a while back from Aqua to make sure that he stayed alive though unconscious.
"There! The intruder!" One of the guards shouted, alerting the other three. "Stop him! We can't allow him to leave the palace alive!" The four of them charged forward, converging towards him. Aurdel picked up the fallen guards shield and bashed forward as they came close, sending two of them flying. The other two struck at him but had their blows blocked. Aurdel swung his right leg and caught one in the shoulder, making them drop their sword and fall to the ground. The last one took a few steps back and looked at him, then took a combat stance. With confidence the guard charged forward and attacked him. This one seemed to be using a lot more precise strikes, though Aurdel was easily able to avoid them. He shoved the shield forward into the guard, who managed to push it aside and get a solid cut in against him. This guy was surprisingly good for a guard, maybe he'd leave a message for them to watch him carefully. He whipped the shield back around and slammed it into the man's side, throwing him down. But how would he mark him…? He had an idea. He took the man's helmet off and laid it on his chest, that should be good enough. He began to run again.
There were scattered voices and footsteps throughout the halls as they ran, they were going to try with everything they had to apprehend him. He charged through, there was another group of guards coming his way. He raised his shield and plowed straight through them, against them he was unstoppable. But, normal guards weren't the only people he was up against. "Halt! I am the hero of the sacred elements, you shall not pass intruder!" Aurdel stopped. In the man's right hand was a spinning ball of flames, in the other was a ball of ice. With a proclamation like that it could only mean he was one of those annoying cheat users that Aqua sent, he could afford to be a little less forgiving with this one. "Taste my sacred flames!" A stream of blue fire shot out of his hand, Aurdel jumped to avoid it.
Why was this fool using fire indoors? Was he planning to burn down the whole palace with him? Aurdel picked up a chair and threw it into the stream of fire, it turned to ash before it was able to hit the man. He'd have to play this smart. "Create Water!" He sprayed water into the stream of fire, partially dousing it as he ran forward.
"You can't do that!" The man pointed his other hand towards the ground and sprayed it with ice, the entire hall in front of him was covered in it now. Aurdel dropped to his knees with the shield under him and slid across the hall, ducking under the flame. When the cheat user noticed this he pointed the flames downwards to hit Aurdel, but he jumped up and moved the shield to have it block the flames while he slid on the ice. Some of the fire got past the shield and caught part of his robes on fire, that wasn't good. He had enough momentum to plow his way down the rest of the hallway, sliding into the man's legs.
Aurdel shot up and slammed the shield into his face, sending the cheat user stumbling. Aurdel charged forward again, slamming his right fist into the man's chest and then throwing a push kick to knock him down. With him down Aurdel made sure he didn't burn alive. "Create Water!" He doused his burning robes, the parts around his lets had essentially all burned away. He kept moving, he was approaching one of the halls with a view of the courtyard. From there he'd be able to open a window and jump out, then he'd just have to get out and over the wall. But again, things wouldn't be made any easier for him. "I know who you are intruder, and might I just say I'm pleased that we'll finally be able to cross blades." It was Iris, Rain and Claire. "Of course I won't engage you just yet. My two bodyguards will face you first." Claire drew her repaired sword, Rain her staff.
There was a grin on Claire's face. Clearly, even though this was her idea, she wasn't planning to go down without a fight. But the look on Rain's face suggested she knew nothing about what was really going on. "Lightning!" Rain cast a spell at him from her staff, he jumped to avoid it. It struck the wall behind him and charred it. In the meanwhile Claire charged straight for him. He held up the shield as she struck blow after blow. He stood still and feigned being pressured by her, and she took the bait by pressing the sword against the shield with even more force. She tried to tower over him but had to stand on her toes to do so. That was perfect. He swiped his right leg outward and kicked her off balance. With his free hand he hit her on the back of the head, hitting with enough force to knock her out cold.
"Lady Claire!" Rain shouted, "Fire-!" He threw down the shield and picked Claire up, Rain wouldn't dare risk hitting another bodyguard. "H-how dishonorable!" And he ran straight at her while she tried to move around the room, aiming to get a hit in on him without severely injuring Claire at the same time. "Freeze Gust!" She covered the floor with ice, he slid upon it. Then he threw Claire at Rain. "Eh?! Wind Barrier!" A barrier of wind appeared and Claire harmlessly dinked off of it, falling to the floor. "Now I'll get you, Light of Saber!" The sweeping blade of light came at him, he ducked under it and it sliced through a pillar. "Ankle Snare!" Something grabbed his leg from the ground, but with the momentum he had he was able to use it to go in a circular motion. Enough in fact to go swinging through where Rain was standing.
He plowed straight through her legs and grabbed her staff as she dropped it. He skid to a halt and stood up with staff in hand. "Return that!"
"Create Earth! Wind Breath!" The staff amplified his usual magic, spraying a cloud of dirt at Rain.
"My eyes!" She clutched and covered her face as the dirt got into her eyes.
"Create Water! Freeze!" After that he completely doused her in water, then froze her in place. With her stuck in place he walked over and hit her pressure points, knocking her out.
"I knew you were a strong adventurer, but this is something else," Iris commented. So she knew.
"There's nothing to gain by trying to fight me Princess."
"Actually there is, I want to see how I'd do as an adventurer." She unsheathed a sword, one that she was able to wield despite it clearly being one a girl her size shouldn't be able to.
"Now, don't hold back! Exertion!" She swung her sword and he rose up the shield that he was holding. She cut straight through it and the two pieces clattered to the ground. This… this might be a little difficult. He began to run, "Sacred Lightning Blare!" A white bolt of lightning barely missed him, striking the wall behind him and punching a hole straight through it. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" He was up in the air now, so the blast struck the ceiling and obliterated a chandelier. Glass and crystal shattered to the floor like a hail of snow, cutting the exposed parts of his body on the way down. Like the others Iris seemed uncaring as to the amount of damage they caused trying to fight him, was there a way he could use that to his advantage? "Sacred Explode!"
In a move that would probably anger Megumin, Iris completely obliterated the wall behind him. It opened up to the courtyard with the reflecting pool laying right below it. If he could get out there, he should have a few more chances. But since he could do ranged attacks with a sword of all things, there was no saying that she wouldn't hit him in the back while he ran. Besides, he needed a distraction. Then he had an idea. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" Another bolt of lightning struck, obliterating a column in the room. The room shook. In the room were several columns supporting the roof. If he could just get her to knock them down he could get it to collapse, that would provide enough distraction for him to get out.
He leapt to one of the columns, "Sacred Lightning Blare!" She blew straight through another one. He jumped and rolled onto the floor near her, picking up Claire's sword. "Exertion!" Making her think he was coming into strike, she prepared to cut through the sword. Instead he managed to get over to one of the columns closer to her, causing her to cut straight through it with her own sword. He gave it a hard kick towards her as he ran off to another one. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" She blew the falling column to bits. He threw Claire's sword at her, "Exertion!" The sword was cut to ribbons this time, clattering to the floor as bits of metal. There was only one more column for her to destroy and it lay in the center of the room. He jumped to it. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" She blasted straight through it, the roof began to crumble.
He sprinted out of the falling apart room and splashed into the reflecting pool, there was the sound of stone and wood being obliterated from behind him. Bits of those materials came raining down as Iris stood above him. "That was smart, I never would have expected that! You fought me without even trying to land a blow. I won't let it happen again, I'll just show you how great of an adventurer I'll be!" It was hard to believe that he was fighting a young girl in a dress, and that she was one of the harder foes he'd faced. Then again one never seemed to really encounter any old people in this world. How strange. Iris charged forward with her sword, using no skills this time to do the attacking for her.
He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out his combat knife, unsheathing it and raising it. It was just enough to stop the sword from coming down on him. No matter how strong that sword was, titanium was stronger. He threw the sword and Iris back, then pulled something out from a pocket. He pulled the pin and tossed it into the water, it exploded. Water splashed up. "Freeze!" He froze the fountain of water as it fell through the hair.
"Sacred Explode!" Iris cut straight through it and it fragmented like shrapnel, hitting both him and her. Regardless he needed to get that sword away from her since it seemed to be the origin point for her strong attacks.
"Create Earth! Wind Breath!" He blew dirt into Iris' face, but unlike Rain she had the foresight to cover her face so her vision wouldn't be impaired,
Good, it still gave him an opening! "Steal!" He used Steal on Iris, but when the ability finished he found that he hadn't gotten the sword. Instead, he found that he'd gotten a necklace. Damn. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" That one just barely missed him, obliterating the spot of the water where he'd been standing. He couldn't stay in this reflecting pool forever, he'd have to come up with another plan to try and ambush her. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" That time it actually hit him. He can't say that he's felt a worse pain than what he'd felt then. His robes, jacket and dress shirt were completely vaporized. All that was left was the mask covering his face, his pants and his shoes. "I got a hit in!" She sounded gleeful, he felt like he was in pain. Unwilling to be hit again, especially since they were in water, he jumped out of the reflecting pool and onto the grass.
"You can't run! Sacred Lightning Blare!" The decorative tree he ran past was burnt to a crisp once it was hit by her skill, he kept running. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" It obliterated a fountain. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" It obliterated a small gazebo. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" How much mana did this young Princess have?!" He ran into the hedge maze, for some reason she didn't instantly blast it. "I'll track you, just like you taught me!" He heard her chase after him inside the hedge maze, always being a few turns behind him. Eventually he'd reach a dead end or she'd catch up with him, so he couldn't keep running like this. At one point in the hedge maze he stopped and jumped up, angling himself to the side to land on the other side of the hedge wall. He heard her make it to where he'd been and stop, she looked around.
He poked his hand through the hedge, "Steal!" In an attempt to get her sword again he used her skill. Again he didn't get it. This time, he got a ring.
"There you are! Sacred Explode!" He'd managed to get clear of the hedge wall before she blew straight through it. Though with how powerful that skill of hers was she practically obliterated half of the maze.
He stuffed the other piece of jewelry he'd somehow gotten into his pants pocket, he'd have to hold onto it for later. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" The blast went past him, destroying the statue of a man in the middle of the maze. "Sacred Explode!" The rest of the maze was obliterated with her attack, he kept on the move. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" That one went completely wide, managing to strike the palace behind him. He heard the sound of a collapsing tower and a large bell falling. It rolled off the roof of the palace and landed in the reflecting pool with a loud clang. Hmm… That gave him an idea. "Exertion!" She got closer to him, cutting straight through a tree he'd used as cover. He had to lead her back to the reflecting pool. Judging by how fast she'd been able to use her skills he finally determined how long it took her to cast them, meaning that he knew how long he had to run with her back turned to her before he had to evade. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" He sidestepped then began to run. He counted the seconds, the amount of time was short.
"Sacred Lightning Blare!" He sidestepped again. But he would have enough time. He threw Claire's staff, which he was still carrying with him, at Iris. "Exertion!" She cut it in half longways perfectly, it splitting and falling to either side of her. He'd kept running in the meantime. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" The blast missed him, hitting one of the walls that surrounded the palace and blasting a hole. They were close to the reflecting pool now. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" That one, this time, hit him on the back. He felt the skin on his back char. Were it not for the fact he'd been merged with his MJOLNIR he would have been dead for sure. But even with that he was still able to run, leaping over to the other side of the reflecting pool. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" That blast missed him, he changed directions to run alongside it. Iris was running through the water now to chase after him.
"Sacred Lightning Blare!" A small shed that was in the courtyard, presumably to store tools, was obliterated. Hopefully there'd been nobody inside it. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" Seriously, he was wondering how much mana there was in this little girl. She'd used over a dozen extremely powerful spells and somehow managed to keep going, let alone keep up with him. But even if she could do that it was about to change. He ran close to the bell. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" The lightning struck the metal bell in the water, it electrified. Iris was shocked with the rest of the reflecting pool, this gave him an opportunity.
"Steal!"
…
"E-eh?!" Iris squealed after she managed to regain her awareness. Yeah, he wasn't holding onto this one.
The next time he saw Chris or Eris, he'd have to ask for a skill that performed the same job as steal but without being random. The last thing he needed to happen was be branded a pervert just because of what he got from Steal. But because what he had received was so shocking to Iris, he managed to get another in. "Steal!" And this time, he got what he wanted. The sword was gone from Iris' hands and rested in his, he threw it far off to the side. "This fight is over-"
"Sacred Lightning Blare!" A lightning bolt blew past him. Alright, it seemed that at least one of her skills didn't require her sword. But he could tell that she was at least starting to get tired.
"I won't give up!" She panted out.
Well, if he couldn't do that then he just had to run. Using his last resort, he pulled out a brick from his pocket and tossed it into the reflecting pool. Then he ran. "Sacred Lightning Blare!" The blast struck a hole into the wall he was running towards, it'd make the perfect exit. Before he did that however, he made sure that neither he nor Iris were anywhere that brick. Having the kingdom's Princess serve as collateral damage wasn't on his bucket list either. When she was about to cast again, he activated the detonator. The C-12 brick exploded in the middle of the reflecting pool and kicked up a massive wall of water. It was enough to hide him and block and any more of Iris' attacks.
Aurdel jumped through the hole and rolled out onto the street. Houses nearby had lit up because of all the commotion that'd been caused. He ran as quickly as he could down the street. "A-Aurdel?!" He ran into Yunyun who'd been rounding the street corner, "What are you-?"
"No time to explain, teleport us out of here!"
"G-got it! Teleport!" And with that their trip to the capital was finished.
...Catching Up..,
When they finished teleporting they appeared back at the mansion in Axel, everyone else was there. "Yunyun! What took so long?!" Megumin shouted, "And… And what happened?" She stared at him. His upper body was uncovered and his back was completely ruined.
"I'll… I'll get that for you. Heal!" Aqua healed him, allowing the skin to recover.
"I don't think I want to visit the capital again," he said. He sat down on the couch in the main room, Yunyun sat down next to him and leaned on his arm.
"Well you can't get far if you don't want to visit the capital," a voice said.
Aurdel looked up, "Another Spartan?"
"Hit the nail on the head," the man in brown MJOLNIR stood up. "So, what happened to your armor? You found a way to get it off?"
"Not even close, I don't think you want to go through what I did so I could look like this."
"Alright fair enough. Anyways, the name is Six. I was with Noble Team at Reach."
"Reach? Noble Team? So you were part of the bunch I kept hearing over comm chatter. Where's the rest of them if you're here?"
"Not sure, I came to this world myself to find out if they were here. Can't say I've found them yet, if they are here at all that is. But what happened to your team?"
"Three got wiped out when MAC rounds came down, the other two are alive in a bunker I brought them to. I didn't make it, I bled out. But you're one of the newer companies, aren't you?"
"You know about us Spartan IIIs?"
"Had to wrangle it out from Parangosky, she couldn't hide it from me after Ackerson had the bright idea to assign me to missions where you all went out in some stroke of genius that he thought would be ironic. Mamore, New Constantinople, Far-Gone."
"Those were Alpha missions, I'm Beta Company. B Three One Two." Six took off his helmet and placed it on the table. "But you're a two, so how do you look as young as me?"
"It's a long story that isn't worth telling." Yunyun look up from his arm and up towards his face, realizing that what Six had said was right. He really did look much younger now. "Now, do you plan to stick around?"
"No, I have things I need to get done. Just thought I'd see you before I left," he put his helmet back on. "By the way, they showed me that arsenal you had. I took the liberty of getting you some more mags and gear."
"Thanks, but how?"
The Spartan III put a hand on a bag that was on his side. "Out of all the things that blue haired idiot has done, giving this to me was the most useful of them all."
"Hey!" Aqua shouted, "You'll suffer divine retribution for comments like that!"
"I've already died once," he dismissed her completely. "The bag duplicates whatever's put into it, that's why I've been able to use my weapons without issue since I've been here."
"Again, thanks. Though I suppose I shouldn't hold you up."
"No issue here." Six gave Aurdel a quick salute, "See you around Sir." And he left, shutting the mansion door behind him.