Author's Comments:

I've been two minds about adding something interesting to the story in about a few chapters ahead. When Hitoshi returns to the settlement and a development leads him back to Alnus, the brass have decided to take the reigns of the operation from him and force him to go on leave….. where he will take Tyuule through the Gate to Japan. Yes, boys and girls. That's right! Tyuule would get to visit our world and see for with her own eyes the magic that is Tokyo 20XX. Incognito, of course. But then again, how hard is it to hide two long bunny ears, huh?

Doing that would no doubt be extending the story length which is almost reaching that of RaK. But I could get at least two chapters of this "vacation" time with just Furuta X Tyuule moments and fanservice that is the whole premise of the story, as well as some reflection of "Hitoshi's" backstory as well.

That being said, I've decided to leave this decision in your outstanding wisdom. Therefore, I will have opened a poll in which to opt the choice pattern in which to take, found in my main page. So vote up, and we'll see the results of the poll on the release of Chapter 30.


…..

…..

-Tsushima, 199X

The youth barely dodged the first swing out of pure instinctual reflex. The second swing came into contact with his armament and displaced him from his footing. Without pause, the third strike sent him flying backwards under incredible force.

This fashion repeated itself numerous times under the training circle, but unlike many of the others, he hadn't made progress at all. But then, what were they thinking? He was merely a child who hadn't even reached his second digit in age. Whilst, his sparring partners not only outnumbered him but were full-sized adults with numerous successful campaign achievements under their belt. While the other children started easily with spars against one another before one with a full-fledged warrior, he was subjected to biase unfavour. "That man" had an ill-sense of humour to place such ridiculous demands on his regime, solely on the pretense of who his bond-brother was. The person he would fight and die with side by side, a person who had the entire weight of the clan on, and he was expected to protect him first. His bond-brother would be in the thick of the fight, gunning for the enemy general's head, breaking a vanguard, simply put in harm's way to increase their successful operations.

But even so, his training regimes were not at all merciful, even now, he was subjected to training with either live ammo or real weapons. Just like the three swords pointed in his direction, and though his was the same size and length, his child-like frame deemed it too bulky to handle effectively in contrast to the three Repentant warriors. How does a child defend himself in a world full of fully-grown killers? He was a hair's breadth from letting them beat him sorry and sending him to the box to reflect than go through this again.

"Respecting your strengths, relish in theirs."

Who else would appear to help him up by reaching out his hand but him? Always when he needed him most, in the direst of times. A virtue that would forever haunt him in the years to come.

"Remember, your opponents' strengths can also be his weaknesses. If you know how to."

He was subsequently replaced in the training circle by one more daring enough to face off with the likes of those who were initiated into their cause by repentance. Before being accepted into the clan, they were roaming the land as forgotten soldiers of varying nationalities, hosts of many battlefields and causes only to be abandoned by their own or having lost faith in their cause themselves. The clan became their home, their ideals became their religion, and "Orochi" became their new God. He, on the other hand, was Bushi. Warrior of the path bred into warfare and would fall to it as well. Though he was born into privilege of circumstance, into the path, if that could be considered a blessing than a curse. He still had to earn their respect, no leader would have the esteem of his soldiers unless he performed or showed competence.

That's why his brother would show it to them, while he had much to learn. To aspire to be as such soon, for what sort of protector would he be to let his charge protect him instead? Paying each other compliments before facing off with them in unequal odds, he was being shown the most important lesson of his life.

-Left quarter presented to your foe, right quarter to what you protect.-

Holding the full-sized training katana within his child-like hands in a manner which resembled not that of a high-guard sword stance, but of Japanese greatswords.

-Blade presented to the stars, gives the enemy their due reverence.-

Slashing downwards as a means to defend as it was to attack. Like the sword was paying its own homage to the person whose head it cut off. His brother brought his forward core with him as his blade impacted the strike from the first Repentant warrior but didn't wait for the second one to impact his sword and make him lose footing. Instead, his sword was already at the neck of the second warrior. Thus, eliminating him from the match. The third thrust predictably came for his rear, leaving him with two of the worst options available. To either retract his blade in order to block a thrust that couldn't be blocked in their weight. Or counter strike with a low guard of his blade movement step that still preserved his footing. Yet, he chose neither.

-Right returns, left returns. The body, not the blade.-

As he described, his body rotated around on his right foot without changing the position of the sword. One stance was all it took to change from an initial thrusting action, to a back head reaching downward slash forwards with the full weight of his body to bear.

The sword met with its opposition's weapon and neutralised its thrust entirely, leaving him to perform a quick cross slash that stopped inches from his opponent's garb. Three seconds, two of three warriors already conceding defeat. The last remaining warrior was effortlessly defeated with a repeat of his second and third stances. He was once again left in awe as his three opponents were.

So many responsibilities resting upon his tiny shoulders, yet, no one who would truly understand the depth of his struggle beyond his talents. He recognised this very early on, when they had first been made into bond brothers by "that man". How an ordinary child with no talents like him was made to play catch up was not what anyone of clansmen were fond of seeing, especially when they coveted this position more than he knew.

"Remember these and there will be no wall too tall for you to climb, no obstacle to strong to break. You can't be the scaredy cat of our family forever."

He instead compensated with earnesty to try, tenacity to learn. Books were in no short supply as those who had yet learnt how to read and write. Thus, the technique and stance his brother employed was all too recognisable. It was adopted nearly four hundred years after its conception, a technique that was ironically used against their clan by their mortal enemies to great effect.

"Remember, my brother. Courage isn't adamant."

The same sword used to defeat his opponents for him was returned to him, hilt first. As his more senior opponents made ready to recommence their spar with him. As he did, imitating the same high-guarded stance with sword pointed skyward. His hands no longer treating the weapon in his possession as something too bulky for his size, but as a greater extension of himself.

He was right, he might be a child now, but who said he couldn't slay titans? He knew the answer to his brother's last phrase, one that only he had managed to solve where their siblings had yet to solve.

And would someday become the foundation which drove him to turn his sword against all Gods.

"Courage is earned."


Kugel and Arpeggio's senses were assaulted by a ringing from the aftermath of an explosion of stone near their vicinity. There stood a crater that had its surface still glowing from the rock becoming molten, a retaliation to Kugel who struck first.

Lobbing a barrage of High Explosive Incendiary grenades from his six-shot launcher, the projectiles detonated within the smog and parted it in a brilliant display of blossoming detonations. In those split seconds of exposure, those down below were granted a mere glimpse of the creature who had hidden its true form under the veil of miasmic smoke.

The creature simply responded in kind, letting out its alien hissing roar as it spat out some sort of flaming blue sphere projectiles their way. As impact craters around the square had taken many who had just now been fighting a long battle off their feet.

(Stomp) (Stomp) (Stomp)

The very earth around them trembled with the "Demon's" trampling footsteps even though it was all the way up on the Fane, it was still felt all the way down where everyone was.

The creature of the smog wandered about the top of the Fane like a King of the Hill, observing its surroundings that had shifted dramatically since its imprisonment. And so, didn't move from its place for a while. Its silhouette was burned into Kugel's mind since he was the one that attacked it. Under a shroud of unnatural smog that cloaked its features. Emitting from exhaust-like mufflers protruding from the back of its hardened carapace that resembled a tortoise shell at best. A pair of scythe-like were among the scariest of its many arms. And its face, didn't resemble one for the absence of a conventional jaw that was instead many dark crimson mandibles. The smog that dominated the Fane had an odour that was like a bin full of rotting flesh, causing several to vomit out the contents of their last meal.

"You alright!" Recovering quicker than Arpeggio, he asked her before checking on their unconscious leader who had been fighting non-stop until now, his dose of epinephrine adrenaline had worn out and left him with the full blunt of the wound that the God of the Sun had grieviously inflicted upon him.

'I-I'm fine! We-…. Can't stay here!" Kugel agreed, without Hitoshi to give them instructions, they were severely set back in their capabilities.

"Take him to the elf lass's cave!" Kugel looked at his employer on the floor with his bandages starting to bleed again. There was no reason for him to be here in this state.

"The Lady should have some remedies for him!" His assessment brought Arpeggio back from her clouded thoughts.

"Uh- what about you?"

[Whhhhhhheeeerrrrrrr!]

No sooner did she ask that question did the creature release an ear-piercing cry that had her covering her ears. Not only louder than gunfire and explosions, she felt it reverberating her skull. However, it seemed that Arpeggio hadn't received the worst of it. As everyone else, or rather, the High Elves were clutching their heads in pain and rolling on the floor or outright fainting. Only them it seemed, as the other races as well as the Tovonún had only mildly been affected as she and Kugel had. Even after the creature had finished screaming, the High Elves with Queen Elisen being no exception were still screaming in agony and no one knew why.

Arpeggio casted her essence detection magic to try to find a reason for this and was taken aback by what she saw. The entire air around her was filled with an invisible miasm and the mana within the High Elves was fluctuating in a way that resembled a mana purge. But that was not all, the essence of their mana was leaking- no, being drained and being carried within the air. Carried to the Fane which was glowing a bright and ominous Emerald colour, pulsing with rhythm as if it were a beating heart. And said pulsing aura was channeling towards the creature on top, which was also emaculating the same emulating the same Emerald signature as the Forest Spirit Magic users.

"What in Ral's tomes?!" Arpeggio couldn't understand what she was witnessing, until another kind of familiar noise attacked not her ears but her very mind as it had before.

-Children, eat-…. -Devour all-… -from flesh to bone-… -feast upon them-…

She could hear this collection of voices screeching in a concert of horror. This was the encore of the voices that had haunted her throughout her journey through Amarel, a part two with its true nature unravelled. Arpeggio shivered again, causing a certain pouch to fall out of her bag that instantly silenced those screams again. The bag of ashes Hitoshi had given her previously.

"That creature-…. the Fane are doing something to them!" She yelled across to Kugel who heard her and thought about what he was going to do about it.

"Do they."

(Poof)(Poof) (BOOM)(BOOM) He fired two more grenade rounds up the Fane to where the creature was, as if he hadn't learnt his lesson.

But his actions had certainly done something to stop the creature from invading the minds of the High Elves but had gotten the attention of the creature who realised he hadn't been disintegrated by its projectile attack. Kugel prepared to find cover for another salvo, but no such barrage came, he looked over a collapsed wall to see the creature turning back into the Fane.

It was giving up? Or did it just lose interest in him entirely? This behaviour puzzled the frightened inhabitants as well who were helping the High Elves, both Municipal Guard and Elisen's bureaucrats to their feet.

[Eeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuwwwwwrrrrrr!] The creature released a different kind of cry that had them anticipating another mind attack, but it seemed to just be a normal cry. Perhaps in pain from the six shots of grenades he flung at it.

But then, there was a sound coming from the entrance of the ziggurat peak from where the creature had retreated into. A noise that sounded like a cross between the droning of insects and the clattering of wooden sticks together.

Kugel looked to his side where Lancer Riku, Kir and Takeo had joined him.

"What is that?" Kir's sentiment was shared nearly everyone.

"I have a bad feeling about this….." Takeo declared whilst Kugel simply reloaded his six chambers with fresh cartridges to respond to those "bad" feelings with the same amount of force.

While the smog still obscured the top of the Fane, there was an occasional spark of light coming from within. And in those brief flashes, shadows were casted, shadows of many creatures with many legs. Something else was coming out from the Fane in droves, tagging in from where the "Demon" had deemed it not worth leaving just yet.

"This is not good…" Sensing the tension in the air, Lancer checked his modified battle rifle.

"Check your primary, Takeo!" He told his team mate to be on the ready, as he reloaded the rifle forcefully and pointed his weapon down range towards the peak of the Fane. Something was coming, as the rumbling further indicated to them.

Takeo hastily unslung his squad automatic weapon and charged the light machine gun.

"Warriors, to arms! Stand on your feet!" Kir had gone even further than him by calling out to the rebels and municipal guard warriors who had been taking their time to wake up.

"Master Kir, what is going on?" Silwyr approached the Imperial with a certain anxiousness. That anxiousness was affirmed by the look that Kir gave her, she felt something was amiss since the beginning and it was now becoming dangerous here.

"Everyone! Back to the rally point!" Without exchanging a word, she joined in their cohesion by pulling back all the non-combat personnel.

"Warriors to me! Now!" Kir did the opposite by bringing the mercenaries and the remaining Municipal Guard to him.

"What are you squatting about for? That's us! Now, assemble!" Volcatts shouted to his clansmen.

Sensing the urgency in the actions of the God of Cookery's companions, the Volraldern Mercenaries were the first to respond. Picking up their leased weapons and running forward to where the former centurion stood.

Scattered about, they tried to muster as quickly as possible, while manuevering through the wounded who were to rendezvous with the non-combatants at the waterfall spring. In the time they took to gather up, several figures burst out of the smog with the sound of their many legs tapping away against the stone structure as they climbed down those stairs at a speed that was almost as fast as a sprint of a deer. These creatures that answered the call of the "Demon" rushed out in a swarm closely to one another as they covered the entire surface of the Fane wherever they dispensed out to. These "underlings" of the ancient one were not like the colossal monster that returned to its den, but hunched down under the weight of their thick carapace, bearing the characteristics that defined them under the arthropod family. But they were too big to be of any of Earths' insects. With the height of a metre and a width of two, these eight-legged monsters which came out in droves were all of a unified instinct.

They were hungry.

"Here they come!" Kugel shouted whilst he shouldered his grenade launcher closer to this chest to absorb its stout recoil. Volcatts had reached the rally first, but still beckoned the remaining forty mercenaries to come and create a firing line.

"Remember, Takeo. Short controlled bursts. We fire at the hundred-fifty yard mark!" Taking into account the effectiveness of their shot groupings in sustained fire and the preferred distance they would like to keep from these things that were rushing them, Lancer gave their ranges. Takeo hesitantly agreed as he went into a prone position to take advantage of his bipod and stability.

When the first of the clicking creatures passed the mental mark for 150 yards….

"Fire at will!"

(Bababababababababababaam) Tracers from the two of them streamed all the way up to the senseless swarm of ravenous creatures hitting the few in front several times before they crumped to the floor and their carcasses rolled down with their momentum. But even with the few taken down by the entire belt that Takeo expended, the creatures in the rear simply climbed over their lifeless carcasses and carried on. Morale was virtually no-existent among these creatures as the very concept of fearing death didn't seem to apply to them. So to thin them out, Kugel lobbed the shots into the greatest concentration of these creatures to allow the two Jietai soldiers to finish off the stragglers.

These few seconds of suppressing fire had given the mercenaries ample time to form up as Kir began to give shouts that dictated their formation.

"Machine Gun Teams take the flanks! Subgun Fireteams in the centre, two rows! Fire on my command!" They moved into the ordered formation while Takeo and Lancer had a critical job of buying them time in slowing down this swamp. The machine gun sections took the two farthest ends to setup creating an overlapping field of fire that was to saturate the ground at the foot of the Fane. The submachine gun fireteams formed two rows that reminisced the old musket era firing lines as Kir had learnt from the military history books that Sindri lent him. No one seemed to question the Imperial giving them orders in this kind of crisis, their wounded needed sufficient time to vacate the area, so it would need every abled man to hold off these things. If he had a plan, it was better than the disorder they were in before this. That's why Volcatts left him to his devices as he gathered his men and a few Rebel Fighters who still remained.

"Chieftain, make sure Lady Silwyr is safe! I'll have your clansmen retreat in an orderly fashion!" Seeing that he could best put his strengths elsewhere, Kir told Volcatts in the heat of the moment.

Volcatts glanced at his kinsmen before making his decision to oblige.

"Then, I'll leave them in your care! May fortune be with you all!" The Volralden Chieftain ran up to where Lady Rayfael was and would take her off her feet as he carried her straight to safety.

Kir turned around and faced the endless hordes that were multiplying in their numbers from a few dozen to a hundred. The immense firepower that was being dispatched by his three companions was not slowing this swarm even the slightest, only creating mounds of their fallen that had some credit in forcing them to manuever around them to get to the three.

"Browning teams, you will saturate these insects with overlapping fire for six seconds, then you will withdraw twenty paces and set up in the same manner! Thompson team, first row will empty their magazine into the swarms. When empty, second row empties their magazine while the first row withdraws back ten steps. Then repeat, its that clear!" Short and simple, a bounding overwatch that was carried out on a larger scale. This was somewhat close to their more familiar archery volleys that the mercenaries and Kir were acquainted with so it worked to their favour.

The mercenaries shouted their response as they looked down their iron sights.

"On my signal!" Kir would give the command for them to begin but waited for his companions to get out of the line of fire before that happen. Calling out to them over the noise of the firefight, his voice was barely even heard. As Lancer had only caught sight of the developments behind them whilst reloading.

"Takeo, Kugel! Leapfrog!" He shouted into their ears as he tapped them and went behind them and fired over their heads. Taking a hint, they crawled away from their prone and behind Lancer as they tapped him to indicate he was ready and fired in his place. A reverse moving overwatch fire movement. One of the many infantry tactics that was honed into them in basic training. With Kugel expending all of his rounds making the M32 nothing more than excess baggage, he withdrew to where Kir was on Lancer's quick indications.

This display of two-man team firing discipline was observed by the mercenaries, which showcased to them that beyond the powerful weapons there was still a level of professionalism towards their occupation as soldiers, even if they legally weren't by Japanese Constitution. But without the grenades to soften up the endless hordes, they were looking at a brief window to escape from before the horde engulf them.

So, Lancer tossed his entire satchel of grenades with a pin removed from one and grabbed hold of Takeo as they did a mad sprint out of the machine gun platoons' killzone. The creatures overwhelmed the satchel like it was a tasty treat but frankly them seemed to eat anything. Any bodies that lay about, torn flesh, clothing, even blood trails with their mandibles and proboscis. Like they were making up for thousands of years of dormancy, and everything that was in their way was the feast.

(BOOM)

A great eruption of dirt and viscous rain of fluids spewed about taking at least a dozen insects.

"Machine gun teams, fire!" Although the explosion did a better job at indicating this, Kir had still ordered the crossfire to be sent. The tracers of fire were sent, cutting down whatever stood in its way more effectively than either of the Jietai soldiers weaponry due in part to the larger calibre and stopping power of the older weapons and shear volume.

And as Kir had instructed them, after six seconds, the machine gun teams displaced while the Thompson wielding fireteams unleashed a wall of lead to cover their withdraw. As Takeo and Lancer had displayed a proper example of how bounding overwatch worked, thus led by example.

They met up with Kugel who was clearing the jams of some of the mercenaries' weaponry and were given a moment to analyse the situation around them.

"This can't keep up." Lancer mused as he watched the tides of enemies increase by the second, even when Kir's hasty formation had some merit to it.

"We've got one more canister with heavy weapons, but that's the last we've got." Kugel told them as he returned a cleared Thompson machine gun to one of the Volralden mercenaries, returning to the line.

"…. That won't be enough, look…." But Takeo knew better.

Those insects were throwing themselves against the hail of bullets relentlessly, as if they were the million-strong Chinese army at Yalu River during the Korean war. They had no apathy for their fallen, and certainly none for their victims. Red-eyed and hungry, instincts to sate that starvation took hold of their more intelligent senses.

"Wait, where's the Elven Guard?" Hadn't they been against the Avatar until just recently?

Takeo's eye landed on the assembly of municipal guard forces heading in the direction of the portcullis gate of all directions.

"Hey! Over here, help us!" Takeo called out hoping that the Municipal Guard would add their numbers along with their lances to keep these monstrosities at bay, but they just ignored him and continued in their withdrawal.

"Hey! Where are-…" He was stopped in mid-sentence by Lancer who gave him a look that said it was pointless.

"… Their Queen called them to retreat." He had seen it right after they recovered from that creature's roar, which seemed more effective than it really was to them. It had shattered the High Elves' resolve to hold out.

"So, they're just gonna let everyone here die?!" Takeo couldn't believe that. But Lancer and Kugel were willing to accept it. Queen Elisen had no obligations to protect the inhabitants over her City, they were foreigners, now that they'd won their freedom. That had been made exceptionally clear between herself and Hitoshi. In all likeliness, she would have the remaining thousand-strong guard repurpose their defences around the high wall and portcullis gate to hold off the insatiable hordes where their magic wasn't disrupted by the power of the Tovonún. This way she stood better chances at holding off what manner of monstrosity the God of the Sun had unleashed as a means of revenge.

"We've got no choice. Damn. Furuta would've thought of something already…" But said person wasn't here, they saw Arpeggio dragging him back to the waterfall spring. They were on their own, against an enemy that wanted to eat everything in its way.

"We need to do this on our own!" Lancer reinforced their stand, as time was ticking against them.

"How?!" Takeo reactively responded as Lancer scratched his own head from within.

Falling back on his training in difficult situations. But they were up against aliens, not other combatants. He began to reflect on every weapon they had at their disposal, machine guns, rocket launchers, explosives. These didn't do anything more than slightly hinder the endless waves.

"Why are you still standing about here?" They were confronted by Kir who had temporarily detached from the firing line that was preoccupying the giant insect swarms.

"Finding a way out of this! And maybe even save their lives!" Lancer responded with a swipe of the hand off his shoulder as he read through the layout of a map of the Forbidden Zone. Right now, the only thing in the way of the swarm was the mercenaries, none of the inhabitants stayed to fight. They lacked the mettle to fight against such odds, thus fleeing the line while the wave had yet to be handled by the Volralden mercenaries of Clan Lupus.

Lancer looked at the surrounding barricades and urban street layouts that hadn't been torched or destroyed by the fighting previously.

"Kir, have the mercenaries break off into two groups and have them fortify these two choke points." Lancer pointed to two main streets that allowed traffic into the main assembly square they were in.

"If they choose to funnel into other streets, we'll be unable to stop them!" If they did fortify these two main streets, the swarm might look for other alternative routes in the alleyways and might potentially cut them off and surround them. They could even outpace them to where the bulk of the inhabitants had taken refuge and devour them.

"We don't have a choice! The outfits' survival comes first, if they can't the inhabitants are doomed anyway!" Lancer didn't like being the one to state hard facts, this was usually their Captain's job but no one was accepting it even in his absence.

"We know the streets, but the bugs don't. That, we'll use to our advantage." He didn't have a foolproof plan so to say, however, he did have an alternative to staying here until their ammunition expended and left them helpless to the giant insect hordes. There was no way they could stand a chance against them in melee combat from the way they converged in like waves at the beach.

"…Of course…. That's it!" Sudddenly a plan seemed to click together not for Lancer or the other two, but Kir.

"What? What is it?!" Something had caught his attention when Lancer had mentioned the streets again. Something to do with the original plan that they had employed on the Elven Municipal Guard.

Kir took the map from Lancer and pointed to five checkpoints that had originally been their checkpoints for luring the High Elves into, ensnaring them into a trap that cut them off from each of their subunits. He then indicated with his fingers the reverse of their previous operation without needing to exchange another word.

"You're nuts….." Lancer was beginning to think that everyone around the former cook would turn crazy, even he was becoming maddened by the all things he'd seen today that was nothing he could easily tell his Fuyuki Teammates.

"But nuts is better than dying here." Lancer gave a nod of approval that he would work to carry out this half-cocked plan that was melded between him and Kir.

"Then go, I'll stay to maintain the mercenaries' ranks. See to it that our plan comes to fruition." Kir turned around doubling back to the mercenaries' lines to supervise their critical effort whilst, Lancer moved hastily to the old blockades.

"What kind of plan have you two screwheads cocked up?" Kugel asked while he had to hurry in his steps because of his stoutness.

"One that'll work. It has to….." Lancer looked at them both before thinking about the necessary preparations to accomplish this feat that would at least buy them time.

"You see these five cross points." He both indicated by pointing to the sites and on the map.

"Yeah?"

"What, we hold'em?" Kugel half guessed their plan was somehow associated with the former plan that trapped the Elven Municipal Guard units previously.

"We destroy them. Bring them down to close off the entire main assembly square and isolate the Fane from anywhere further."

"That's not gonna stop them." Kugel frowned at this plan, seeing as how these giant insects had the ability to climb vertically down the stairs at high speed and over their fallen without losing much momentum.

"That's just the first bit. The next part, Takeo, I need you to double back to the waterfall spring." The two of them faced him.

"Me?!"

"To bring Arpeggio back with you."

In the quickest of efforts, Lancer disclosed the plan to Takeo and Kugel for their maximum efficiency. And in ten seconds, Takeo had dashed as fast as he could, leaving all of his kit behind for them as it would only slow him down in fetching Arpeggio.

Meanwhile, the two of them, Kugel and Lancer took stock of whatever explosive devices they had left to demolish the tallest structures near these openings. What they could knock down with brute force from hitting the support beams of the structures, they did. What they couldn't they used grenades to demolish. Regardless, they put significant effort into ensuring that these gaps were sealed.

After the first two were blocked, Lancer poured oil from the remaining stockpile and lit them on fire before moving on.

"That's three more." Lancer informed Kugel.

Who in turn reminded him. "We'll need to leave the last one for Kir and the Volralden to escape through."

"I know." The sound of automatic firearms was waning as they spoke, more and more weapons wielded by the mercenaries were becoming depleted of their issued ammo loads and were forced to withdraw to the checkpoint that Kir had designated.

"Steady! Check your corners!" Kir instructed over the loud repeating fire as best he could whilst indicating to those idle around. He clenched his hands tightly at their worsening situation.

They had withdrawn a total of fifty steps from the Fane with many more if they wanted to get behind whatever barricade would delay the swarm of insects. Even he couldn't believe that this Fane could contain the masses that were coming out to confront them, it simply wasn't possible!

And then, things started to get worse.

As the swarm seemed to deviate from its frontal assault behaviour and moved around in different directions, as if testing the concentration of firepower for gaps.

"All warriors, fall back! Fall back!" Kir wasn't the most competent of strategists, however he was quite observant of battlefield changes and the flow of battle. Which applied heavily to Imperial Legionairre cohorts in formations. Thus, he recognised this as a point where the poor attempt to hold back the hordes would fail. But his eyes also darted towards the smog on the Fane, however the creature was not there, which left him wondering who was governing their precise movements.

(Bang) (Bang)

He had no time to think, as his firing lines disengaged. He was forced to cover the retreating gunners with his own weapon that seemed to be the only thing that killed the insects outright in one shot. But he had to be sparing with the shots, awaiting moments when two or more overlapped to allow him to kill more than one with the high penetration factor of the .50 caliber shots.

He was further supported by some of the remaining mercenaries who still had ammo but were going down to their last belt and magazine by the time they added their support. Before they were entirely without munitions and were made to run back to the checkpoint.

Kir had reached the last of his magazines of ten shots when the swarm did one of the most peculiar things by disengaging and instead spreading out to where four points where there were fires being lit. Like moths to a candle flame.

"Oh no…" Somehow that collective mass of insects had made a decision that would compromise Kir's plan.

"It's too early-…" He grits his teeth as he thought about a secondary plan that would bring their enclosure back on track, but he was blank on ideas. The Volralden mercenaries beckoned him to follow them out by the only checkpoint way that hadn't been lit up yet.

Kir dug into his pockets, searching for any devices that would have any change to this turn events. But all he could find were flares and one of the thermite grenades that hadn't been used.

"It's to be like that, huh?" Kir pressed the buckles on the releases to his combat harness, discarding all the other non-essential items before making a dash towards the Fane that was still protected by the smog and pouring out a flood of five-foot insects.

"What are you doing?!"

"Hey! Come back!" The mercenaries who were with him called out in vain as he ran straight for the heart of the swarm. Something they would never in the right mind try to do. The mercenaries were left with the only option available to them, which was to run back to the checkpoint before it closed up on them.

At the final checkpoint where the majority of the Volralden had assembled and assisted in tearing down flammable objects to be spread, Lancer had readied the final pieces to their preparations by dousing the barricades with the remaining oil.

"This is your plans, huh?" Kugel was slightly unconvinced.

"All animals are afraid of fire, right?" Lancer said as he tossed his flares into the centre of the combustible fuel that started out with only a bonfire in the given area. No sooner did Kugel feel warranted to speak against their analysis did the star mage arrive on time.

"You Japanese fellows must have something against me to drag me out here!" Arpeggio started to compare Hitoshi's torments to Lancer and Takeo bringing here back here where certain death seemed more apparent than the God Incarnate. As Arpeggio had reflected upon what Hitoshi told her about the presence that terrified even him, more than Granham. But now she believed it.

"Arpeggio, we're depending on you!"

"What for?..." She asked as she was shown to the pyre that burned brightly at the last checkpoint.

"You remember how you set the entire Warrior Bunny City on fire? That spell you used, could you do it again but in a ring of fire?" Lancer and Kir's plan became apparent to their sorceress who realised that she had been brought here to create that same high-temperature flame but in a wall. A fire that was comparable to napalm and could not even be put out by heavy rainfall. Surely the bugs couldn't get pass that sort of intense flame, right? This was their last hope, and it rested entirely on her now that most of their weaponry had been expended.

"We're counting on you." They expressed their sincerest wish that she could accomplish this task, they believed in her. A rare attribute that Arpeggio had ever received from others, their absolute trust in her abilities.

"I'll-…. I'll try." Arpeggio huffed a long sigh as she walked up to the opening and drew out her two halves that were made whole. Magic Staff Ahrimar glowed through its runes as her magical might was channelled through this powerful medium bestowed upon her.

Immaterial symbols began to appear around her in a circumference like it had in the Volgia Capital.

"Buy me time." Her last words were towards them as they recalled she didn't immediately cast this flame spell, it had a long casting time of up to a minute.

Lancer, Kugel and Takeo stepped forward with their armaments. Takeo taking up the borrowed Parker Hale rifle since Kugel took his Squad Automatic Weapon. All they needed to do was ensure that they held off the swarms until Arpeggio ignited the entire barricade surrounding the Fane. Could she do it? It was a fact that they witnessed her light up the entire Volgia City with a single spell. Drawing the pre-lit fire, she swept it throughout the ruined city in a single swoop. And out of all the misgivings they had about her before were swept away. She wasn't just some clumsy ditz, she was Lelei La Lalena's elder sister.

The last of the fighting mercenaries had seemed to arrive safely despite the convergence of the swarm on their defence.

"That's- somethings not right…" Lancer couldn't pin the problem soon enough before Kugel asked an important question.

"Hey, where's Kir?" Hairs began to rise. Kugel asked the arriving mercenaries if they'd seen the Imperial with them but none of them could confirm that he retreated with them, except the last three.

"God damnit!" Lancer observed through a set of bicoculars to find a pair of dancing red smoke flares held by their missing person.

"What? What is he doing?"

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Lancer had come to the conclusion that Kir had been meaning to do something to lure the swarms that were breaking off as he ran towards the structure of the Fane.

"Arpeggio! How long more?!"

"I can't rush this!" Taking the maximum concentration while she shouted this back, her eyes remained closed as she continued her chanting. Exhibiting a calmness that was rarely associated with her personality.

Lancer looked nervously at the Fane where Kir was running to and back to the group that were just waiting for their mage to close off these openings.

"Damnit!" Lancer couldn't bear it any longer and ran towards the Fane as well.

"Riku!" Takeo called out in vain as the former had made his decision.

Kir had reached the steps of the Fane in front of him, where the insects divided themselves into exactly four trails. Not even bothering with him the slightest, as if he wasn't even a threat. Casting the flares aside, he took up his anti-material rifle and sent slugs into the trail.

(Bang)

Sticky innards detonated from one of the insects, but the flow of insects remained the same as some were already entering the streets. Pulling the pin to the thermite grenade, he threw it at the base of the structure where the creatures parted.

(poof)

A set of sparks flew out from the buried canister that had momentarily halted the swarms as numerous insects that ran over the molten thermite were burned from the inside out, causing their carapaces to even catch fire as something within them was combustible. There was a violent change in the surrounding atmosphere that halted the giant insects as they turned their eight spiny legs around and doubled back to the foot of the Fane, as if they detected trouble. Like someone had just kicked the hive.

Raising his rifle, he fired indiscriminately at the herd coming toward him from the Fane directly. It didn't matter if he aimed or made potshots, they were so packed his shots would hit regardless.

(Bang)(click)(click)(click)

His final magazine was spent, leaving him without means to effectively retaliate. However, he had achieved what he had sought to do with Lancer's collaboration. Any moment now, Arpeggio would have conjured up her fire spell to seal the exit for these insect drones that obeyed the demon creature. He had bought the City and its inhabitants time to organise an escape or counter-offensive. Therefore….

"One life is cheap in comparison, right?..." The Barrett rifle fell out of his hands as he sat on the broken gravel to accept his fate.

He noticed that he wasn't alone in his last few seconds, a pair of halves that belonged to a former enemy who had given his friend such trouble earlier was just a few steps away from him. Motionless and dead? It didn't really matter if Granham was still alive or not, those insects would eat her flesh just as they would devour his in a flood of hungry mandibles.

He turned around to the sound of a voice calling out in the distance. Lancer was not too far from the checkpoint but firing to keep the bugs at bay. Even though it was pointless to outrun them and Lancer to catch up to him before he was swarmed. Kir sighed not of tiredness or stress, but relief.

"See? Didn't I say no one wouldn't be saved?" Kir's words would never reach Lancer from that distance, but it didn't have to. But still, he never imagined that he would be the first of the three of them, Hitoshi and Parna to leave first. While the Fane descending insects were momentarily hindered by Lancer's cover fire and the few rockets he even fired from AT4 single-shot launchers, the expeditionary swarms had returned and were about to gobble him whole, tearing his flesh bit by bit in what was to be the most agonizing death ever felt.

Kir was not afraid of it. Not anymore.

Within his hand, he clutched the medallion given to him by none other than Dumara. For in their final bout, undead centurion had bestowed onto him not just the Adamantite shield he had, but the insignia of his house. Kir had been officially adopted by Dumara of the long dormant House Agravain, hence making him no longer Kir Pa Invidia a disgraved soldier, but Kir Di Agravain. The Centurion had questioned him what his life meant no longer bound to a master. To which he asked why the Centurion had devoted his unnatural life to the Hallowed Child's, a question that Hitoshi never received from Dumara. However to Kir, he would.

"There are three things you must never break in life, your promise be it oath or vow, others trust in you, and someone's heart."

The things Dumara had done his best to do even when it led to his death. So to would it lead Kir to his. He had done all he could in this expedition to protect the oppressed races, even stood in the way of a mad God and fought his herald. And now with this act of self-sacrifice, he would honor his promise to his companions and Volcatts for their safeties. They'll have the time they need until Hitoshi recovers, and then, these monsters will have someone else to worry about.

Closing his eyes, amidst the darkness that surrounded his light. It was not such an unfamiliar thing after those years in the prison. He had experienced so much after his release that he didn't know what to do with that freedom. But now he understood.

It was to liberate others deprived of their freedom, and if not, pass the torch.

Kir readied himself to embrace death having achieved these goals, perhaps he would find himself riding Mistress Hardy's canals to the underworld. Perhaps his men would be waiting on the other side awaiting his stories in life.

-Or perhaps, you could experience it all over again.-

A voice spoke in his head that wasn't one of his own thoughts, leading him to open his eyes in the wake of his own onslaught. Only for that to be replaced with a blanket of flames which incinerated his would-be enders and travelled towards the other herding swarms. But a new shadow was casted over his seated position with a particularly pointy top.

"Old man."

"Old man? Hah! Look who's talking!" Arhan cackled as he waved his hand over the circumference of converging hordes that were engulfed in his wall of flames. The insects either melted into slag or crawled away for the first time it what looked like innate fear of the elements.

"…. Why are you here?"

"Saving your sorry butt, now get up! I don't want to be around when the young girl's annihilation spell sets off!" Arhan's staff tapped him in his buttocks as spoken to get him a move on. As they ran for their lives towards the closing window. Kir's steps halted for a moment as he remembered something and went back to retrieve it, as Arhan shouted at him for wasting his time angrily before he ran towards the exit. Only for Kir to outpace him even with the headstart where he demanded Kir to wait for him instead.

Although the insects didn't take too kindly to it and chased them with all eight legs, Arhan regularly fired a mixture of attributes behind him or tossed vials of magic that stemmed from burning the insects that caught up, created sinkholes to mire them, vines to entangle the few ahead and ice the floor to make it slippery for their frictionless limbs.

"Hurry! Hurry!" Lancer had caught sight of a spectacle he hadn't seen before. Amidst, Kir's resignation to life, a cloud had bloomed beside him, with the wizard appearing next to him and saving his life. Creating a wall of fire that melted anything within its path, he was assured that whatever Arpeggio would conjure out would be just as potent.

A minute later, the Wizard Arhan had reached the checkpoint huffing away and lamenting how his aid had cost him a few more years of life span. Even so, Arpeggio had yet to complete the spell and was showing visible signs of stress. From the sweat that fell profusely from her head and extermities.

"How long more?" Kir had approached the rest, when Lancer turned around and socked him in the head with his fist.

"Son of a bitch, you think you're some kind hero?"

"….." Kir wiped the bloodstain off his nostrils, and accepted Lancer's fury.

"If you dare trick me like that again, I'm telling the Captain to relieve you. Ugh-.. Damnit." Lancer rubbed the sting on his knuckle that felt like he grazed it against concrete.

Kir had been confused why Lancer of all people would care about his wellbeing, they were after all strangers until the later joined their expedition. Did he just not want to live with the guilty conscience that he'd just agreed to the death sentence of another? The Japanese soldiers were strange and eccentric individuals. However, some part of that was endearing onto itself. For there was earnesty in their actions, and as such no falsehoods in Lancer's demeanour.

"I apologize, Sergeant." Kir said no more to justify that he had only reacted to the shift in the swarm nor any less that what Lancer deserved.

"Alright. Sorry for hitting you too. Jeez… is everyone Furuta meets crazy?" Lancer mumbled.

"Guys? Hate to break it to you, but she's not done and those bugs are coming!" Takeo pointed out to the swarm that had accumulated and headed straight for them in lieu of finding alternate exit points. The other checkpoints were burning around the Fane, but not enough to stop them, that's why Arpeggio's unique fire was required to impose an area denial.

Lancer checked his rifle but found no magazines with cartridges remaining.

"Damn!"

"I'm out as well." Takeo reported on the state of his Squad Automatic Weapon.

They had no ammunition left, no explosives either. Whatever they had had been expended on the one-day Civil War and keeping the hordes of giant insects back. Hence, nothing to defend themselves with left. As it was clear that no close combat would ever hope to keep them at bay, not in that quantity.

So they had only one more glimmer of hope. And it rested entirely on the shoulders of a person not exactly known for reliability. But now was a time to count on her like no other.

The fruit of her minute-long chanting had increased the size of the floating diagrams circling around her, as well as a rise in heat around her. Luminous symbols were painted upon the floor without physically interacting with the dirt. But would it be on time before the bugs who were now a few hundred feet from them to complete?

And just as everyone was about to back away, the old wizard stepped forth calmly and held his staff horizontally.

(rumble)

A mild tremor that was not coming from the swarm of legs converging seem to be the result of his actions. And with a raising action of his staff, caused the ground in front of them to uproot.

Massive walls of earth formed an additional bulwark against the incoming hordes who were displaced temporarily by the explosion of earth. Behind the stillness of the earth walls that almost reach that of the high walls was a sound of constant scraping, as it appeared that even this deterrent was insufficient at stopping the insects who scraped away at the dirt as they burrowed through the magic earth. Erosion took place as the carapace of some insects seemed to have gotten through but were subsequently tired down by prehensile vines and roots from the earth, one after another. Under the stress of these feats, the wizard too was sweating like a pig on a spit. The ravenous insects were dealing a terrible toll on even the powerful wizard as a few escaped their internment by vines and creepers to slay the cause of their mire with their edgeless scythe-like talons.

One lunged at the pre-occupied mage who was helpless to defending himself and raised its talons to decapitate him.

(thung)

Stopping just inches short as the edge of a shield came falling down upon a slit between its torso and head armour. Pinned by Kir's quickness to act, the giant insect flayed about with its claws. Cutting him at his shins.

"Eeyyaaahh!" "Oooorraahh!" Two people shouted as their rifle-mounted bayonets skewered the insect through its left eye and mouth, causing it to jitter about violently before ceasing to move. The two Jietai soldiers had no time to wipe their brows as more insects started to burrow through faster than Arhan could keep them at bay. The only thing they could do was fight back before they touched either of their mages during their incantations. One by one, was as manageable as taking out wild game, but several at a time, they inflicted a horrific toll of injuries with just their spiny legs flaying about behind the shields. It reached a point where, even Arhan coughed out a drop of blood as he struggled to maintain the earthen walls, but still he held if not for them, then for his own survival.

Until the second mage in their group flashed her eyes open and raised her Ahrimar over her shoulders into the air shouting an incantation which in strength had no equal.

"…-Angrava Dyei-oura!" (rumble)

The ground trembled harder than when Arhan had summoned his earth wall, as if the world was about to end around them. Many clung to each other in an embrace that was to cherish their last moments on this realm.

(BOOOOOOOMMM) The entire view in front of them was engulfed in an eruption of searing heat that burnt the hairs of one's skin just by convection alone. An artificial volcanic eruption had blasted the earth wall that held the insects at bay and liquified both the rock and carapace without distinction. As pure crimson flame purified all the destruction that had taken place in the circumference of the ancient structure with its paragon might. Replacing the burn makeshift barricades with a magic wall of fire standing thirty feet high, like a divine providence of a God denying their foes another step further from harming her children.

The screams of the insects was becoming more familiar to them than the hiss of the flames burning whatever remains of the insects caught in its blast, incinerating them into ashes.

"This is-….." Even Arhan, granted his long due respite from holding back the hordes forgot to breath in. For he stood in awe at the power that the young unruly mage he had no stake in conjure up a display that would shatter all previous presupposition about her.

She happened to turn his way with wary eye, yet still glowing with the burning crimson light of her incantation and of her spirit. A spirit that if quenched would come back up again without fail. At last, Arhan cast aside his presumptions about why Mimosa La Mer had chosen her as a disciple, when there were thousands of other mages out there who were more talented in the laws of nature and sevenfold more hardworking that what she seemed. And to think, the outworlder who was of subpar mana strength noted her brilliance when he didn't. Arhan realised that it was in fact he who was the amateur when it came to decide who was worthy of such strength. But he was also glad that they were there to prove his haughtiness wrong, for now he had the chance to broaden his horizon. To break a bottleneck that was his ability to become a better mage. For Arhan the Black had witnessed not only these amazing feats as invaluable experience but the honour that came with it.

Today, he witnessed the birth of a young mage who would one day be herald as one of few to stand on the shoulders of Titans. A Young woman who had the potential of surpassing even Mimosa and dare to thread where mortals dare not. Though others would disagree, for now. Arhan believed she had the potential to become something he had failed to accomplish in his life as a renowned mage of the yesteryears and bring about another Golden Age of magic.

"…. A hero."

A legendary hero bathed in phoenix fire.


Krueger Household, a six-person family Yurt shared between former-refugees who'd escaped the chains and whip together. At least, that was the story on their profile kept by the registry. Who should she meet again but Fraulan Krueger, the exceptional sharpshooter who had the honours of the straightest shot amongst the Warrior Bunnies with a rifle, coincidence? Tyuule certainly was not an expected figure either, given her business affairs centred around governance than internal security measures. But her own training at the shooting club contradicted this opinion as Sindri had been a major part in providing her with pointers for self-defense.

Ymir and his executive officer, Fenrir were there with Kenzaki and Archer to listen to the story of how Warrior Bunny Reynela, housemate of the Krueger family so happened to be wandering in the very fringe of the forest during a private forage for berries as snacks. Only to be ambushed by slavers who overpowered her with their superior numbers and brought her back to a camp in the mountains.

"… After that-….. I kept running and running West over the snowcapped peaks until-….. until I returned." The success of her iterating a full detailed description of her story was down to the warmth of a blanket over her shoulders, the company of her clan sisters and the wonders of a hot cup of cacao beverage.

"What can you tell us about their strength?" Ymir started his queries.

"I-…. I don't know." Apart from having just run almost forty miles over chilly mountain tops with limited clothing, it was a considerably impressive feat that he failed to acknowledge was quite tolling on the mind and body. The account was already pushing it.

"Then how big was their encampment perimeter? How many other prisoners were they roughly holding? Were there just Warrior Bunnies among the imprisoned? Where all the slavers human-.." A nudge from his XO told him to stop asking the affected party, as his queries were already giving her a visibly painful headache.

"Thank you for sharing with us, Reynela. And thank you for returning safely." Tyuule cut in with gratitude for her indulging them in on her story. Hearing all she had to say, Tyuule got up from her seat as the rest of the Japanese personnel followed her out of their home.

"I would like to have Miss Kurokawa visit your sister to give a medical check for any internal injuries we might've missed, just to be safe." She exchanged with the apparent big sister of the family.

"Alright."

"I will notify the administratives that the Krueger household will be taking the week off from their jobs. Just to help support your sister until she has recovered all wounds."

"We appreciate your help, my lady."

"It's a pleasure, if she requires anything for the time being, we can arrange for it." Tyuule did her best to sympathise with the case of Reynela by doing all she could with her power to ease the transition. To be brought into this little haven only to be snatched away from it was a feeling that could possibly leave scars on the heart that would never fully heal. Tyuule understood that feeling well.

"If you'll excuse us now, I would like to discuss these details with the Japanese Clan Chiefs."

"Might they be mounting a rescue?" Fraulan inquired with curious optimism, given that these were the Legendary Men in Green, after all.

"I intend to petition them. But ultimately, the terms of their voluntary actions are decided by their superiors' orders." Tyuule didn't mean to case doubt in her words to the older Warrior Bunny with downcast ears.

"Mister Ymir and Kenzaki are undoubtably strong warriors. I'm sure their enthusiasm will be much the driving force to their acceptance of the risks." She tried some of that optimistic outlook herself and appeared to have some effect at convincing her contemporary brethren well.

Outside of the Krueger Yurt where Tyuule caught up, they walked onwards to the forest checkpoint without exchanging a single word. To avoid the highly tuned Warrior Bunny ears from accidentally eavedropping on their discussions. The entire time, Noriko held her hand tightly. As if to show her support to her with physical contact, as she felt that Tyuule was equally as affected by the results of this kidnapping right under their noses. Under the sheltered checkpoint, at a rest bench and picnic table, Matoi was the first to open his mouth.

"I don't like this." His Archer senses were tingling.

"You know I'd rarely admit it but, I'm gonna have to agree with him." Ymir said unexpectedly to support Matoi's declaration and for good reason.

"How did she bypass the minefield?" Fenrir was puzzled by how the Warrior Bunny was able to walk past it whilst on her snack forage into restricted areas.

"That's not the half of it." Ymir cut in.

"She might not have told them where the settlement was. But, if I were one of the slavers and caught a free-ranged Warrior Bunny, I'd be wondering if there's anymore nearby in this remote landscape." As harsh as it sounded, it was grounded reality.

"….."

"And with her missing from their supposed camp, they'd think she could only be back where they found her-."

"Ymir, that's enough." Kenzaki cut in on his monologue for they were in the presence of the Master of the enclave whose peoples' recent enslavement he discussed casually.

"It's alright, Mister Kenzaki. I understand what Mister Ymir is trying to say." Tyuule gave a nod to Ymir who was across her at the table.

Ymir began shifting pieces of stones and twigs he found on the way as representative pieces to a map he laid out of their surrounding geography.

"Reynela Krueger claims she escaped here in the Mountain Range of Ice and Snow." He pointed East of their location by about forty miles. "That's forty on steep terrain with poor visibility this time a year, mind you. Which means that any time they found she escaped and thought to catch her, it'll take them around half-a-day to get here on foot." Ymir built a square with the twig representing their settlement.

"Assuming she escaped, and not deliberately let go to triangulate her home." Fenrir brought up a more worrying prospect to the return of one of the Warrior Bunnies who disappeared where they shouldn't have been able to leave without them noticing.

"That makes sense, they'd think she'd lead them back to a whole village of potential sellable goods. Plenty of time to call for more manpower since Warrior Bunnies run fast." Ymir adjusted his theory to this new possibility that Fenrir added in which did not help the mood.

"That's just a working theory." Kenzaki didn't think it was going to be that complicated.

"Her footprints could be tracked back here with over a hundred mercenaries poised at making a good buck for nothing. Even if they couldn't harm the settlement with the state of our garrison, there'll still be over a hundred mercenaries who will never come back. Speculations will form, rumours will pass. And before you know it, the pro-war faction Imperials will be here to check on the Captain's territory." Kenzaki certainly didn't like the way he put it, but even he had the slightest anxiety that it was likely to occur. Then, he would not only be failing to uphold his promise to Furuta and Hazama but compromising the shroud of secrecy for FOS Helheim on his watch as well as Furuta's cover with the pro-war imperials.

"Apologies, ma'am. But I just want to make the situation clear to everyone first. Whatever we choose to act on, we'll have already raised suspicions to the warring factions. Evacuating over a thousand civilians is indeed possible, but with no safe zone within three hundred miles, we'll be putting the settlers in more danger than remaining here." Ymir said his piece and Tyuule recognised the value of his input. Given that they were only company strength, there was very little the SR could do besides act in guard escort with little opportunity to manuever.

"And what does Mister Kenzaki think about this situation?" Tyuule allowed the person next to her to speak after Ymir had given his thoughts on this. Kenzaki sighed as he picked up a twig and drew out their problems.

"Right now, we don't have any intel on these slavers that kidnapped Miss Reynela. As Ymir tried asking her just now, descriptions of their slave camp, their numbers and armaments. Going in blind would be a serious oversight, and unfortunately, Caster couldn't get anything from the pylons in our local vicinity either. This incoming blizzard snow is giving us corrupted data." The echo pylons were thought to have been able to mark anything within the distance that Warrior Bunny Reynela reportedly travelled back, however, that wasn't accounting for the elevation of the mountain peaks and slopes, as well as weather inteference.

"If we stay, we risk potentially losing our cover if these slavers ever spread their findings to the nearest cities, like Telta. If we mobilize, we could have a scenario where the settlement becomes undergarrisoned and more vulnerable if Fenrir's hypothesis deems true." It'll be like a tigress leaving her cubs to be eaten while she hunts.

"…" At this point, they were stating the obvious of their stands. But enlightening each other of their feelings towards this case.

"Therefore, I propose that SFG "Fuyuki" be sent as forward reconnaissance. We'll do a quick in and out reconnoitring to determine the state of the slavers and act accordingly." Kenzaki volunteered.

Even Tyuule and the others believed this to be the safest and best way to dealing with these circumstances.

"That would be well and all, except you're forgetting your primary orders, Sir." Only Ymir seemed against the idea.

"Over something that petty, huh?" Matoi was ready to pick a fight anytime. "I guess you're all talk after all."

"Says the person whose actual combat experience is limited to three brief shootouts, or rather, gunning down helpless and ignorant bandits."

"You wanna go, huh?!"

"Matoi, be quiet!" Kenzaki showed his temper that rarely showed and was a first for Ymir and Fenrir. When he settled down, Ymir continued.

"I hope that you haven't forgotten why you're here, Sir. You and Fuyuki have been zeroed in on by our enemies. If you're found, we'll have bigger problems to worry about than brigands and Imperials. So, the moment you show even the slightest signature of your presence, you'll be undermining Tanegashima."

"I know… but then, all you've left for options is that we'd be ignoring this problem entirely!" Kenzaki spoke with frustration of being told he couldn't even leave the base despite being the highest-ranking officer on site.

"Of course not, Sir. We do have one alternative that's the opposite of having you and your boys go out to do advanced reconnaissance." Kenzaki's silence to Ymir's corrections were proof that he was most eager to hear it.

"You're suggesting that instead of Mister Kenzaki who leaves the settlement to merely explore, you will take the heavier approach by sending out the entire Aesir Clan, fully armed to smash the slave camp until there isn't a trace left." Tyuule's assessment earned her a respectful nod from Ymir.

"Indeed, ma'am." He commended her sharpness.

"What?" Not even Kenzaki would think to do such a thing that was advisably against Ymir's previous interjections that referred to their vulnerability in garrisoned manpower.

"Bullshit, what you're suggesting is hypocrisy." Matoi wasn't afraid to crack eggs.

"Yeah?" Ymir seemingly entertained him by coercing him to explain why.

"You said it yourself, engaging those slavers brings eyes towards us."

"That I did, but there's a factor that can change that. Terrain." Ymir led all eyes to converge on his map that showed a representation of the slave camp by a pebble.

"Having them attack us here would leave the organisations affiliated with the slavers questioning what became of them after their last reported movement. i.e. searching for more slaves in a designated area. But if we engage them at the slave camp itself…."

"Then….. at most, their allies would think that the slaves had successfully revolted. Overpowering their captors. We could bury our tracks under the snow before anyone came to investigate." Fenrir highlighted the benefits of Ymir's point for all of them to understand the impact of where they struck first.

"It's as you said, Sir. Going in blind would be difficult for even a single fireteam sent out. So instead, we'll send out the whole SR. Company strength, with vehicles to help bring ordnance as well as bring most of the liberated slaves who can't walk back easily."

"Your approach is using a hammer to crush a nut." Tyuule had heard of this sort of strategy before, as well as employed it.

"With the encampment supposedly in the mountains, any friends they were in contact with would think from their absence that something which occassionally happens in the mountains had happened." It was rational to assume that in this day and age. It was also a given that there where both dangerous creatures and certain barbarians that roamed the mountains more than the likes of Imperial folk, bandits and slavers included.

"Sound reasonable, or am I still putting it too strongly?" He now awaited their opinions.

Kenzaki seemed to think deeply on his alternative as being viable or not compared to the other one which potentially disregarded the General's orders and could risk Helheim being exposed. Though without telecommunication and radio, the locals were more resourceful with information than they let others believe. Kenzaki learnt that in Akusho well.

"With all said and done, and the SR gone. You're leaving only the seven of us to manage the entire security detail for a few days." Matoi seemed good at pointing out their flaws.

"Archer does have a point, Kenji." Being the non-biase member of their side, Fenrir put it across softly.

"I was just about to ask whether you'd be up to the challenge, but I guess that was unrealistic of course." Ymir joked. But Archer was right, seven trained men couldn't man the emplacements, checkpoints and patrol routes for twenty-four hours everyday until they returned.

"Why not have some of our people manage parts of your security details?" Tyuule's suggestion pivoted all heads towards her, even Noriko, who was silently watching the discussion and taking notes on the interactions as a journalist would.

"Ma'am, if I may-." Kenzaki didn't think it was viable.

"Certainly, each of your team members could managed the orderly tasks while the settlement civilians could do perimeter checks and watchpost duties." But Ymir thought otherwise. Seven of SFG Fuyuki could act as supervisory officers over the guard duties at each alternating times of the day without wearing them out.

"Without weapons experience or training?"

"There are some with training already. Isn't that right, ma'am?" Tyuule seemed to get who Ymir was pointing out.

"You don't mean-….." Kenzaki was starting to picture it was well.

"I could officially release draft for emergency measures, the Riflemans' club members, all twenty-four of them could easily fill in the gaps left in your perimeter." Even when it was an unofficial call for a militia, Tyuule chose to do it the proper way.

"A platoon of riflemen, ready and willing. Any gaps, I trust you and Fuyuki can fill them in and teach them. Sir." Ymir further supported Tyuule's initiative.

"….." This was rather unorthodox of them to be depending on a hastily prepared militia to cover security duties on the fly. But the issue of the slaver camp was just as big an issue, they had to strike now while the iron was hot. Destroying the camp and all its armed enforcers, whilst liberating its imprisoned slaves both Warrior Bunnies and other races. Then, covering their tracks, as a thousand different footprints and tire tracks needed to be erased.

"Concerning the remaining freed-slaves that you bring back, I will be happy to accommodate them as well." Leaving them to their own to roam about was just as hazardous to letting the slavers live to tell the tale of the Men in Green sighted in the Eastern Mountains. That wasn't something the Imperial groups would ignore. On the plus side, Tyuule would simply be gaining more manpower and citizenry to her settlement along with a little more diversity as well.

Kenzaki studied the map as they awaited his decision of the official stand-in base commander.

"Very well, Ymir. We'll do things your way."

"Yes, sir." Ymir was pleased with the result more so than he let on, since he didn't need to explain further.

"Report to the armskote and give the quartermaster your details for your raid. Full combat kit. I'll do an inspection first, then you can head out ASAP."

"Yes, sir." Ymir doubled out in a strange show of eagerness to get going with Kenzaki's blessing.

"Fenrir, you'll arrange with the motorpool for transportation. Take four three-an-a half tonners with the Company. I'll have them signed off."

"Understood." She left with the same raring to go, invigored by Kenzaki's support also.

It finally left their discussion group to only himself, Matoi and Tyuule.

"Ma'am, when soonest can you issue this call to arms?"

Tyuule began to write down on a single sheet of paper. She wasn't going to waste time if they weren't. Without her requesting it, they had predictably opted to still go and rescue these slaves based on a single witness report.

"Immediately." Her declaration was heeded as there was rarely a time when she wasn't true to her word in promises.

"This is ridiculous…." Archer seemed to be the only one who thought otherwise as he left out the same way. Tyuule was already writing out a suitable drafting order with the quill in hand with Noriko looming about her to see how she worked. Most likely, she would post copies of it to each of the households which had members of the Riflemans' Club as well as a general public notice to inform the populous of these developments.

Kenzaki often mused her to be an aspiring government MP looking to make fresh headway to a career in politics, at least in her mannerisms. It often made him feel inadequate for doing almost nothing but supervising guard duties in comparison of efforts, it simply wasn't what he signed up for in this career as an SFG. However, he did understand the initial implications behind his teams subsequent posting to the General's Special Task Force contingent after that incident at Hakone. It was purely military politics at play by the members of JSOR and the defense ministers' faction against the conservative authority backing PM Morita. So was declassifying the SR Warfare Group under the naval branch for joint operations with the ground force units here in the Special Region. Fortifying once more to him that Hitoshi, a former naval intelligence asset hadn't been assigned to the Special Task Force by accident either. The Central Command authorities had quietly placed him at the vanguard of their forces, likely without his consent.

Kenzaki made his way to the armskote to prepare to do a quick inspection of the SR Companies kit for deployment. He was sure they'd likely opt for heavy crew-served weapons such as anti-material rifles, heavy machine guns or recoilless rifles if they could get any, which they did have stock of.

"Sir, a moment." Kenzaki looked up in surprise to find Ymir waiting for him behind the trunk of a tree in the forest they were in.

"Yes?" What did Ymir have to say to him in private?

"Just a little something of a discreet order from the Captain before he left."

"Furuta left you that?" Ymir gave a nod.

"It's concerning the spy in our midst." Kenzaki could already feel the prickle all over his skin when he was told this.

"Spy? For who?" Ymir raised his finger to tell him to quieten down.

"That's not important, sir."

"How is that not important?" Kenzaki nearly yelled it out but was quickly reminded of the sensitive nature of what was conversed.

"Because a trap has been laid, Sir. One we've been planning for since we arrived." Of course it had, Kenzaki felt it too much that Furuta was thinking of such matters as counter-espionage as well. Although, Helheim certainly was a treasure trove of intelligence, potential slave resources, as well as a cache of military-grade weapons. But a spy that reported to whom?

"When the Company leaves, this rat will nibble around. Then call his other companions over, when he or she feels its easy pickings." In other words, SFG Fuyuki was in the centre of that bait trap.

"How are we supposed to respond?"

"You don't, sir. Just act natural. Sindri will remain behind, he'll know what to do. You and your team just need to focus on the defensive perimeter and keeping the armskote from falling into enemy hands. If you fail, Sindri will be forced to detonate the dead man's trap, demolishing all the arms and supplies we have. Putting us all in a more precarious situation." Kenzaki was assured, but at the same time concerned. To think that their weapon cache was being eyed by the spy. If fallen into the wrong hands, what sort of trouble could these firearms do to the region? Level a city? Turn the tides of a battle? Hold a monarch hostage in his own palace? He didn't even want to imagine the aftermath of any such scenario.

"Anything else I should be informed of?" Kenzaki had just about enough on his plate as is.

"Yes, one last thing. Sir. An executive order from the Captain this time." Kenzaki noticed Ymir was extra serious about this one last order so treated it as such.

"If in the unlikely event that Ascension Glades gets captured and overrun, you must evacuate Iota and nobody else."

"He's asking me to leave everyone else behind?! You know I can't make that decis-."

"Only if you can't hold Helheim, he said. Be realistic, Sir. Losing it would certainly halt the progress we've put into it thus far, but losing Iota is different. She is the primary keystone of this ops. She's the only one with knowledge on the intricacies of their culture, you think they're cooperating with us this far because they trust us in our good faith? She also possesses a network which is vital for feeding the Imperials with false information as well as giving Alnus the details of the Prince's pro-war faction strength and position at all times. Without her, Tanegashima will never succeed again and we'll not only lose our only major collaborator to undermining Prince Zorzal's war efforts. But you'll have to answer to the Joint Chiefs in the Defense minister's faction for our failures." Why was the Defense minister being brought up now? Kenzaki wasn't ready to deal with that level of reprimand despite the misgivings towards the politics behind their military operations.

"Don't remind me."

"I don't want to sound any more cynical that I have to, but we've been receiving word that there's quite a ruckus back in Ginza apparently."

"Ruckus?" A word that hid many things behind its simply meaning.

"The Chinese and Americans are silently instigating the NGOs into demonstrations outside the Ginza compound, a couple thousand of them everyday. Commander Hideyo suspects in one or both of these powers will push harder with actual military intervention soon. It's a matter of how well Public Safety handles the things domestically and how quickly we can establish our allies here that counts for something." There would come a time when the respect for Japans sovereign borders and the international opinion wouldn't matter to either of these nations. At least, the Russians weren't associating themselves any longer, or were they.

Kenzaki didn't need to be reminded. Though they held the technological and strategic advantage, they weren't playing on home ground. Furthermore, the Imperials outnumbered them twelve to one. This wasn't like the early months of the invasion when the entire Central Army Group dispatched three divisions to crush them at Ginza and then at the ridge of Alnus.

"And what if she refuses?" That thought did pass his mind seeing how she cared for her brethren to such an extent that even those few enslaved Warrior Bunnies was worth rescuing the entire slave camp occupants.

"Whether she refuses to or not is not our concern." Ymir made it adamantly clear, they couldn't afford to lose Iota.

"There'll be others to do the talking, but she absolutely cannot be lost, Sir. Anyways, that's all I have to convey. I'll be on my way now, then."

Ymir went on his way to prepare for the attack on the slavers' encampment which they had only a rough direction of. Most likely, basic pathfinding skills would be combined with the use of an echo pylon to triangulate the camps exact location before they decided how to assault it. That would roughly take three days. One to reach, a second day to isolate the camps' movements and assault at the early hours, then on the last day when they would escort the captives back and remove their tracks.

"… Did he already know about this spy, even before he left?" Ymir stopped in his tracks to Kenzaki's query but didn't face the Lieutenant.

"There was always a possibility of finding one or two in our midst. And besides, that spy for the Imperial Forces isn't the only one we had our eyes on. That journalist, Komurazaki. He didn't just coincidentally stumble onto our operations without someone from within leaking info to him at Alnus."

There was that too, Kenzaki was not oblivious to the appearance of these three media-affliated NGOs. How could they bypass such strict military areas without being caught, the security was either being negligent or someone told them how to pass through undetected.

"This….."

"Let him collude with whatever hidden party arranged his uninvited reception to the base. Either way, that journalist won't leave here with the information he collects nor will the traitor who sprung the leak." And with that, Ymir was truly gone.

Traitor? He was now calling whoever deliberately called the journalists over a traitor? What had they come to that someone would actually violate the standard protocol of confidentiality they were made to uphold upon their entry? What could they possibly achieve from leaking this to the public? Why did the informant make such a big risk to an operation that had nothing but the best intentions to its people only to discredit it? Or was he missing something entirely about his conclusions?

There was nothing Kenzaki feared more than pointing his gun not at an enemy but to a comrade. If this so-called traitor informant were even one of his men, could he do it himself? Ymir would certainly take over if he couldn't decide himself.

"Lieutenant? You alright?" Noriko noticed he was hunching by the trunk of a pine, looking more depressed than he usually was.

"I'm fine, Miss Mochizuki. You finished writing with Lady Iota?"

"She's not done yet, so I just wanted to head back to get my camera to get some pictures up for my blog." Kenzaki unconsciously studied Noriko's mannerisms.

It was strange. Not Noriko herself, but rather the contradiction of treatment between herself and the younger Kuribayashi to someone like Komurazaki. Sure, the middle-aged reporter/journalist could be a handful and very vexing to deal with for some of the soldiery. But at his core, he was demanding the exact same as the two women yet regarded differently by Ymir and his XO, Fenrir.

It couldn't be, Furuta had also given them instructions on the journalist as well? But that would imply that he had let whoever he thought was betraying them to act as they see fit by smuggling the journalist over. He wanted to trap this informant to interrogate him on information. If so, then how big of a scheme was Tanegashima to those who knew about its contents or was this simply Furuta acting off the books?

"I-… I won't post any photos deemed appropriate by the censors. I promise!" Noriko had taken his brooding stare as an act of inquisition upon her current actions.

"I trust you enough, Miss Mochizuki. Although, I'm not the one with the authority to catch or punish you for such an act. Captain Furuta is."

"Yes, I think Mister Park mentioned that before. I'll do my best."

He wasn't worried about her going off regulations, Noriko and Kuribayashi were sensible women. It was Komurazaki he was concerned about, as ridiculous as it sounded. He had heard numerous things about this one reporter from a number of parties, unpopular things. Like how his discrediting to one of the fallen paratroopers during the Imperial Capital Siege had caused his family members at home to become prey to the media and scrutiny from the vicious social networks due to them taking his word for fact. Another infamous case was concerning a PR war correspondent tour where he numerous inteferences and attempts at discrediting his own escorts had led to the deaths of two of his media crewmen and a serviceman. The older Kuribayashi was there and had not only saved his life but had taken wounds that put her off combat duty for a while. This was news before Kenzaki departed for FOS Helheim. To him, Komurazaki was just a handful, then again, he wasn't there to see or handle him.

And how did the other servicemen in Alnus feel about it? He had heard whispers amongst numerous groups about a contemplation to make him "vanish" from the base. Which explained the unease within his team ever since Komurazaki was identified in the container.

"… I have to ask though, Miss Mochizuki. Did you accompany Komurazaki because of the rumours you heard about him?"

"Um-… rumours?"

"No….. It's nothing. Please don't worry yourself over it." Kenzaki became so jaded by the fact that Komurazaki was about to meet his impending doom and while he could at least do something to stop it but lacked the innovation to do so. He couldn't believe that he himself felt that Komurazaki deserved what was about to come for him, and yet to let it happen would no doubt by a sigma that would forever haunt him. He had failed to notice the unease in Noriko, who too was taken hostage by the guilt of knowing something which she should tell them concerning said journalist. But doing so would no doubt be a death sentence to the middle-aged reporter.

Distracted by what was going around them, they would not be emotionally prepared for the wake-up call that was about to happen in Ascension Glades. The inhabitants of the settlement enclave who had enjoyed a brief respite from war, poverty, mortality and slavery. Two weeks of peace was nowhere near enough to make up for the three years of suffering they had endured. A place where no one was hungry, wanting for warmth and away from the elements, the luxury to do what they wanted. A little paradise that was nothing more than an illusion carefully constructed by the steward Furuta to help the Warrior Bunnies forcefully regain their will to fight. Giving them the most feared paramilitary force in the Special Region. Military History was as such. When Rome conquered Gaul, they employed Germanic mercenaries in their armies. In the Vietnam conflict, the US armed the Montagnard indigenous highlanders to act as scouts in the harsh jungles. Aided the Mudjahadeen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan alongside China. These Warrior Bunnies didn't know it, but they were going to be a part of this same institution.

However, time was short. Tyuule was set to build a kingdom within a year without knowing that she had less time, Hitoshi was to raise and arm an unconventional force that would fight proxy wars on Japans behalf, and the SR Company was to impart them with adequate military training that would allow them to fight both Imperials and "other" forces.

The inhabitants would soon learn the price for their momentary freedom, and what it cost to keep it.


So did the wall of flames prevail, as the innumerable hordes of the Demon's mindless minions batter and fling themselves into the fire to overcome its power learnt the terrifying power that it had. As their sacrifice to surpass it only added fuel to its intensity, no doubt the grounds of the Fane were intolerable to walk it as if it were a city-sized oven. And yet the flames did nothing more to extend its reach, as if it were ordered to stand guard at its position and remain there indefinitely.

Ring of Inferno, as Arhan called it. Was meant to be an intermediary-class spell meant for defense of a mage and his persons or possessions when alone. Like in travelling caravans, being beset by wolves or bandits until help arrived. However, it was a very underwhelming spell that was rarely used, let alone taught. Since some assailants could brave the flames to attack the conjurer directly, that was why a premium was placed on Defensive magic aura and attack spells to fight back with. Furthermore, it was limited to only mages who could wield fire-attribute magic, though not as uncommon, but not without better alternatives.

Yet based upon Arhan's gauge, the scale of the spell that she casted should've have been possible since her manapool was even less than his. But was almost at a Divine-Class magic, the likes which usually required an entire school of mages to collectively perform or an Apostle with divine descent power. Arpeggio found herself endlessly hounded by the old wizard as to how she managed to think up the circuitry within her chant. Which she reluctantly disclosed had to do with the science from the otherworld. Hence, it had been the outworlder who lent her this insight to improving her powers. How could non-magic folk like these aliens aspire to have such advanced understandings to the laws of nature?

"Well, we've bought ourselves some time." Lancer sounded more exhausted than he was, he just wanted to hit the sack. But the thought of the hordes behind the magic wall of fire getting through was something he couldn't just close his eyes on.

"How long though?"

"According to my estimates from the last time I casted something of similar scale, it should last us at least until dusk." Arpeggio poked in to inform them.

"Should be more than enough time for Silwyr and her people to get out of this city." Kir affirmed as he held the dressing to his wounds, though disinfected with alcohol, they still stung. Leaving them unsure of whether there were toxins in their claws. But as a safety precaution, he received atropine until they could check.

"What about the High Elves?" Takeo suddenly brought up.

"What about them?" Lancer coldly replied. Though he advocated their retreat even while they were holding back the monsters, it didn't mean he had to do anything about them. This was caused by the God of the Sun and it was the City of Amarel which was to face this disaster by themselves.

"We caused this-."

"No, we didn't!" Lancer fervently objected the guilt that Takeo had even though he hadn't been the one who brought these events to come into form.

"Once, the Lady and those refugees get their things and pack. We'll be on our way too!"

"I doubt in this crisis, Queen Elisen would provide the provisions she promised us." Kir made a reasonable assumption, she needed it more to stave off the waves that were to come.

"Shit!" Lancer expressed his disappointment at how things unfolded.

"What's got you so worked up?" Arpeggio snickered at his short temper before his glare silence it.

"Did those people die for nothing…?" Lancer mumbled disillusioned by what he had seen out in the battlefield. As it was not just the rebels and municipal guard that died during the conflict of the Apostle and Furuta, but many of the inhabitants who refused Silwyr's shelter, who stayed in their houses afraid to lose what little they already had. And as a result, been slaughtered by the elven guard under orders. Some resisted, while others offered none as they left their wronged corpses for Lancer to arrive too late to. And haunt his memories forever.

"That is arrogance." Kir shattered his self-loathe with three words in the Imperial language.

"What did you just say to me?" He dared him on.

"That you are arrogant to presume that their lives lay in the palm of your hand. That you could save anyone you wanted and kill any who offended you without opposition." Lancer lost all his hate with this confusing sentence, before Kir rested his hand on his shoulders to assure him.

"If you can't bear the shame of failing them in life, at very least don't deny them their dignity in death." As he struck home to Lancer's grievance, ending it before it overwhelmed him. A responsibility that was his superiors, but neither Kenzaki nor Furuta were around to give it. And so, they moved back to where Silwyr's Ancestral abode lay before them under the waterfall spring, only to find themselves blocked by an unexpected lot.

"What are they doing here?" Takeo stated what everyone else was quick obvious of but had no answer to. But there were those that didn't care, mainly the Volralden Mercenaries and the inhabitant refugees that had occupied the outside of the cave. Hurling words of ill intent and stones at the once proud Municipal Guard standing outside their shelter.

Among them, under the protective aegis of the guards shields and bodies was the High Elf Queen and her shakened retinue. And like the rest of the Municipal Guard, sullenness was painted upon her face. Although of an even darker shade, for she had come upon a problem that required a certain someone's ability to shift.

"Make way! Coming thought!" When the mercenaries and the remaining members of Spirit Ten-Five were spotted, the refugees in the thousands parted to allow them entry. Taking priority were those badly wounded and had close shaves with death to receive further medical attention.

Silwyr had come out to see what the High Elves were doing here, but ended up interacting with their party instead.

"How is he, My Lady?" Kir made Hitoshi's recovery his first question. Silwyr wore concern, but not because of how badly his state was in.

"He awoke just minutes ago, we'd give him further treatment but it seems that his own administrations are working better." What administrations? The two Jietai Soldiers wondered, didn't their medical supplies just run out? But then someone who could better explain came out to meet with them and give a better situational report.

"Kir! Kugel! You guys." Parna acknowledged their safe return.

"You guys?" Takeo seemed a bit annoyed he was referred to as an unnamed mob character, not that the Warrior Bunny and he were deeply acquainted in anyway. But he received an uplifting smile from her as consolation.

Parna asked for the rough development which they gave regarding the Demon's minions being held at bay for the time being by magic Arpeggio and Arhan had conjured up.

"Lady Silwyr tells us Hitoshi is awake." Kir replied concerned that the former was pushing himself again.

"When I last dropped him off, I gave him a mild stamina potion." Arpeggio admitted gaining credit but nobody was buying it.

"That she did, since then, Master has been using his silver needles to correct his damaged inner flow." Parna was using borrowed words she didn't understand that the former had described to her while she administered some in places he couldn't reach.

"Acupuncture…" Takeo had seen him use it before, so knew about it.

"What does that mean? What state is he in?" Lancer's impatience was not well met by Parna who was less understanding than Kir.

"You tell me when you've had a broadsword shoved through your back and still forced to fight a God Incarnate." Her icy voice sent prickles down the spines of those nearby and worst to the recipient of her ire.

"Out within an hour or two." Parna sighed as she got control of her senses before it governed her actions of aggression.

These were positive signs of their commander getting back on his feet to bail them out of the shit fest they stumbled into, even if it was just an escape plan.

"He told me to tell you as well to get some rest while you can. We might be forced to wait out until night."

"I have arranged a place for you to recuperate."

"Thank you, My lady." Kugel amongst them responded politely earning queer looks from everybody since he was usually quite foulmouthed.

They took Parna's suggestion and headed in, with the exception of Kir who remained after seeing that Parna had caught sight of the other group seeking shelter and aid. Silwyr had remained as well, since she sensed something had happened to keep the High Elves stuck in the Forbidden Zone.

As Parna was about to find out as she took the first approach towards the High Elves, to where Queen Elisen awaited an audience rather than the other way around.

"What do you want?" Parna asked with the maximum amount of patience.

"I need to speak to Furuta." Elisen seemed to bear the same tolerance as the former when asking.

"Then wait."

"There's no time!" Parna's response wore at the final straw, she had waited since the mercenaries had returned. Not even Silwyr wanted to speak to her, and now the only person that did was the last person she wanted to ask anything of.

"Then, you'll have wasted nothing to leave now."

"We-…." Biting into her lips, as she conjured the strength to speak further of their predicaments. "We have…. Nowhere left to go."

This response baffled both Kir and Silwyr who were under the assumption that Elisen and the Municipal Guard could easily leave without help even now and could fortify the walls outside the Forbidden Zone before the magic wall of flames dispelled.

"What do you mean, nowhere left?" Kir inquired. As the response he got from not just Elisen but her retinue members were down-slung heads and despair in their eyes, worse than when the Avatar wrought havoc on Amarel.

"What has happened outside?" Silwyr guessed that something had occurred outside in the City itself that prevented their escape as well. But none of the High Elves were feeling up to saying what they had seen, so it was the Dark Elf Pryder that disclosed the horror that awaited them outside of these walls if they planned on leaving the High Elves to their doomed fate regardless.

"The City of Amarel-… has lost its mind."

A bewildering claim that they wouldn't have taken to heart had the retinue members of Elisen not verified it with evidence in the form of injuries sustained and a memory crystal that recorded the happenings outside of the protective high walls. To claim that the whole city went mad and began to attack anyone and anything regardless of distinction was ludacrious.

Unfortunately, this was the state of what was happening. As a recollection of the events that occurred whilst the mercenaries and Hitoshi's companions fought the hordes of giant insects to survive, the High Elves had taken the opportunity to withdraw to a more advantageous position to fortify against whatever this ancient enemy would throw at them. After all, this was a foe that they had almost no intel on and thus required additional caution before confronting. Elisen believed she made the right decision at the time, but neither she nor the Municipal Guard were expecting what came to them after passing the portcullis gate out.

Civilianry came to them in large groups, which they assumed was to demand help and assistance. As the fires throughout the city had not been weakened with the efforts of the outside elven guards' civil defence efforts but burned brighter and in more areas, like the whole city had fallen into true chaos. That's when they were assailed by these seemingly helpless individuals with rabid-like behaviour. The few unguarded warriors that were pinned were voraciously bitten and clawed to the point of severe injuries. As the dozen mad civilians turned into five dozen, then droves of this mad people came rushing out of the street to where the noise was. And all of those affected by this madness were exclusively High Elf. It was hard to imagine what became of the other races who were subjects to the monarchy, likely attacked as they were but more helpless. As for the news from the Palace, no one knew what became of the King. But their troubles didn't end there, for they had initially been able to push back these "crazies" with strength and coordination, however the same ailment was afflicted onto the front most vanguard who dropped their weapons and screamed in terror before succumbing to the same madness that had affected the High Elf citizenry. And so, the New Commander of the Municipal Guard called for a retreat mack into the Forbidden Zone where between two fates, it was better to fight with company. Only, they didn't expect the Demon's swarms to be contained by the magic inferno wall. Hence, they arrived here to seek guidance and parley with Hitoshi and Silwyr once again.

"We believe that the Demon is responsible for this, but we don't know how." Once again, Pryder was the only representative amongst the High Elves with the stomach to speak.

"Whether it is the cause or not, how does that concern us?" Parna had taken the approach where she wanted the least interactions with the High Elves on forwards, when she was more inclined to tell them to sod off.

"How?! It was your master's presence that upset Lord Flare and he in turn unleashed this catastrophe as his last act of vengeance!" Elisen could no longer remain quiet and stormed up to face the Warrior Bunny. But she was met with a mirthful sneer from the latter.

"You-."

"So quick to point fingers, you Elves haven't changed at all. Not three years ago and I doubt, ever. A snivelling race of cowards who hide behind their only strength in the gifts of magic and on the shoulders of those braver than them." Parna felt she had every right to look down on the High Elves and express it to them so after what they'd done by sacrificing her city for their prosperity. This was the Karma that Hitoshi had spoken of since the beginning, even if he didn't know it would be this way. Elisen could only accept her hateful words to gain her favour in calling out Furuta, because not even the Imperial nor Silwyr would on her behalf despite being more rational minded than their hot-blooded companion.

"Everything you've ever done has led up to this moment, Elvish Queen. The betrayal of your own kind, permitting the Imperials through the mountains, even your own treachery. This is your just desserts, my master was merely the tool in which you sought your own destruction." As Parna stated viciously but with truth in every word that forced Elisen to accept harshly. For even if Hitoshi hadn't acted to usurp Flare's control over the City. Flare would have unearthed the ancient horrors regardless like he eventually did upon the city. Would the God of the Sun then accept responsibility for his mistakes? It was unlikely and he would probably leave the City to its doomed fate as the freed Demon of Amarel continued to wreak havoc elsewhere once it was done with them. Whereas Hitoshi intentions with the Fane was to have it buried under its own rubble, believing like everyone else that some kind of ancient power lay beneath that no mortal or god should ever touch again.

"You may not fancy my opinion, but I assure you, neither would you of my master's. Your City is beyond saving." There was no deeper wound she could've inflicted upon the High Elves who heard their argument. They would have preferred being struck down by her kopis in comparison, so that they would at least die ignorant to this tragic news.

"Let me see Furuta….." The High Elf Queen demanded once again with the last wits of her nerve.

"He not in a state to be seen. I don't want to see you near him." Parna repeated to the Elven Queen who seemed deaf to her words thus far.

Elisen let out a cry of anguish into the heavens, she had not only lost in her crown but her city as well. It was simply too much of a toll on someone who had worked so hard to come so far up the path towards her own bright future, only to be told that no such future would exist. She was fated to die with the rest of her kind.

The proud and shrewd queen was brought to her knees, and then into what equated to a grovel as she sorted her own grief with her only wish.

"Please… please let me see Lord Furuta….. I beg of you-…" Reduced to a state that would have even her proud ancestor rolling in her grave, Queen Elisen chose the survival of the High Elves over her own dignity. A kowtow that wasn't unnoticed by the inhabitants or the mercenaries that remained outside the cave spring.

"….. On behalf of all… elven kind….. I personally beseech your forgiveness for the ploy against your Kingdom….." Without showing her face or removing it from the ground, Elisen further apologised on behalf of the City.

The reaction Parna had was that of her knuckles clenched and shaking, as if she wanted to pummel the Queen's head further into the ground to see if it would come off her shoulders as well. As Elisen certainly hadn't appeared to her in any way other than to remind her of the horrors that she had to face.

"If my head would sate your desire for revenge, I offer it gladly….."

"Your majesty!" Her subjects responded in shock to her words, but at this point it no longer mattered. Her crown was nothing without the city to rule, she might as well be dead.

"If it is my subservience you want, I shall want nothing in return!" Elisen offered up ownership of her life as well.

"… T-Then. You shall have mine as well!" A High Elf noble dropped to his knees and bent his head down against the floor.

"And mine as well!"

"My fealty is yours, Lady Volgia!" One by one, the Elves among the Municipal guard and her council retinue dropped to their knees and kowtowed. Even the Queen's haughty handmaiden, Faeye was no exception.

Parna did not feel even the slightest sense of accomplishment or satisfaction out of the High Elves shamelessly begging her for her forgiveness. She had none to give. She was the wrong person to be approached for that, it was Tyuule that should be staring down on them. Parna would much rather beat them whether sorry or not. When they'd first met at the Gate, had they apologised in any way?

"Only when you face judgement do you admit your sins… What you're doing now, is meaningless to me. So I'll repeat what I said to you earlier as my response." Her words shook them to the core, as it proved to be fruitless to gain reconciliation from her.

"Wait." But while her response was the same, it didn't reject Elisen's request to see Hitoshi. Only told her to wait until he was ready to see her. But in the onset of the calamity that had fallen upon them, they demanded to see him immediately, regardless of condition. Forgetting that he had just fought Apostle and God one after another and had received a grievious wound from the latter.

Parna could no longer bear to look at the unsightful appearance of the High Elves and returned to the Caves where her master rested to regain his strength while he still could. With Kir in tow.

Silwyr however, remained where she was in front of an entirety of a grovelling High Elf monarchy.

"She has a big heart for one broken by your choices…" The Tovonún Elf admitted the Warrior bunny for her ability to reign in her anger.

"If in our shoes, she would have gladly sold us out for nothing." Elisen spoke of logic while still kneeling, but without realising that it was counterproductive in winning graces. Leaving the lilac-coloured elf lord to sigh deeply to herself.

"And now, you have nothing. What would she gain from choosing to help you now?" But when Silwyr spoke of logic, it was of compassion as well.

"Your fate now rests in the hands of the God of Cookery, Your Majesty. Pray that his graces are not as fickle as the other Gods." Silwyr returned to her home without Elisen after making her point. She didn't need an apology like Parna had received from Elisen. It was meaningless, be it from the present monarch or those that had caused House Rayfael to fall four hundred years ago.

Silwyr returned to the chamber where Hitoshi had rested seated up with slender needles within his back. An Eastern medicine the more chatty of his companions had described, though it hardly looked pleasant to be stabbed by dozens of sharp objects. The Warrior Bunny remained by his side to attend to any of his needs. If he was thirsty, she would provide him water. If he was sweaty, she would wipe it away with a towel. As the hour past, diligently she served him as she would her Kingdoms former monarch, wherever she might be.

Tending to a seared wound that should have outright killed him. Silwyr could hardly believe that any mortal man could survive that sort of wound, whether with healing potions or magic or that advanced medicinal wonders those outworlders carried with them in sachets. When she had been assisting in his recovery treatment, she bore witness to the countless scars that were inflicted upon his body, from neck to waist, from front chest to back. The person who carried the title of God of Cookery, be it a fluke or another God's playful whim, that person didn't have a peaceful life. And as such, could concoct strategies to subvert any impending doom.

But most eye-catching of all the marks on his skin was one that struck her deeply as ominious as it was unnerving. A serpent not of one, but eight heads coiled around his left forearm. As if to leave a message behind their bondage over his hand. Was this a creature found only in the outworlders' country across Holy Alnus? And if so, what sort of terrifying abilities did it have to revere it so?

Was it more fearsome than the likes of the Demon now plaguing them? If made to face off, would the Demon devour it, or would the Serpent devour the Demon?

(ting)(ting)….(ting)(ting)(ting)

One by one, the silver needles fell as they seemed to magically fall off as they had done their work in restoring much of his sensitivity and strength to his muscles and joints. When the last needle fell, he stretched his arms and torso in his seated position. And as his eyes opened, they radiated with the same strength as when he agreed to undertake the rebellion.

"Parna, bring Elisen here."

"Are you sure you've recovered enough?" Her worries were still upon him.

"I feel the ache, but pain is good." That was all she needed to hear, as she went to do his bidding in calling Elisen over for her much needed audience with him.

"Now, tell me what I've missed, Silwyr?"

Silwyr was only glad to, hoping that he indeed had a plan to save them all from certain destruction.


"We're leaving." Hitoshi said as he donned the last article of his clothing, a spare since his original had a hole and was soaked in blood. He was far from his hundred percent, even after receiving a blood infusion pack from the insulated medical bag, and after the acupuncture had fixed half of his damaged meridian points.

"What-…." Elisen couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"…" Silwyr had also overestimated his tenacity to get into trouble.

"I said, we're leaving. There's nothing for us staying here, and we've already concluded our business. Well, half of it, since you still owe us those provisions. But I'm not an asshole who steals from folks who probably need it more than me right now."

"You're saying you're going to leave us to contend with this demon alone…..?" Elisen had lost almost all of her will and pride as she spoke in a low tone.

"Your ancestors sealed it millenia ago, don't tell me they didn't even leave you a warning or method to reengage the seals." What was he telling her at this point when the monster was free?

"Then again, there's always the option of running." But that alternative never existed in Elisen's mind, it was either victory or death, however, she was unable to obtain the former without help.

"Abandon the city and find a quiet place to rebuild a village somewhere." It sounded incredibly cruel for Hitoshi to be saying this, but it was also the only way they could survive now.

"I would rather die!"

"Then, die." Elisen was once again caught off-guard by the harshness of his words.

"Nobody has ever given two shits about you High Elves, yet you want everyone to care about the endangerment of your race at their expense." Even with Parna's lightened heart towards the elves, she still couldn't stand up for the elves when he phrased it that way. The High Elves could have had neighbouring allies who would come to their aid, the Warrior Bunnies, the refugee races, even the Dwarves. However, they had severed those connections by either indifference, mistreating or selling them out.

Silwyr's words of how she would get what she wanted and regret it were in on itself a self-fulfilling prophecy, she won her right to rule Amarel but now it would face oblivion. As these words resounded in her mind, Elisen broke down into a maddened laughter. Her thorn crown fell and unravelled her uneven hair from their braids, adding more physical appearance to her demented look. She had lost not only her city, her crown, her family and wealth, but her sole companion, Alok.

Everything they said about the charity of the Men in Green was wrong, not even the God of Cookery wanted to pity her. As her futile efforts to gain his assistance tore at her sanity.

"You're a stupid woman." He finally exclaimed watching her defile her own image, with blood leaking from her very eyes. Such that even Silwyr was deeply appalled by the sight of ruin the once proud queen had made herself into.

"Yes! I am a stupid woman!" She cackled deeply to herself. "I've ruined Amarel!"

"You're stupid because you don't know how to concede, Elisen. I can't believe I'm even saying this, but that's something even your husband understood." Alok wasn't exactly brave or outstanding, but he was shrewd as he was cautious. Even if he was unable to take risks, he still knew when opponents were too big to challenge. So for once, the Elven King made up for one of the shortcomings of the Queen.

As if awakened from her madness by the mention of her liege's name, made her collapse to her feet once more. Crying, because she needed him but didn't even know where he was.

"Can you hear it, Elisen? Now that you can hear your own heart crying. Can you hear it?" Elisen looked up with tearing eyes, baffled by what he meant. But listened sharply, but only silence and the rustle of water could be heard.

"Since I entered your city I've been hearing the screams of salvation, the wails of agony that none of you High Elves seem to hear. I finally know where it comes from." Hitoshi had finally uncovered the cause of his and Arpeggio's distress since their arrival.

"It comes from everyone who has died and will ever die in this city. Their souls trapped in the Fane, devoured by the Demon one by one." Elisen was bewildered by what Hitoshi was telling her.

"How is that-… no it's impossible?" Silwyr couldn't fathom the powers of this Ancient Demon. Until she remembered a certain trait that only the High Elves uniquely and jealously coveted that was their undoing.

"Wareharun." The root cause was the so-called Goddess's blessing of spirit magic.

"Why would she-….?"

"When I beat Flare, Gweyir interfered and proposed an alliance with him. She tricked him into opening the Fane. Then she said that "Demon" would eat him just as it ate the Goddess." The fact that the priestess had slipped past her guards under house arrest was indeed shocking, she would have Faeye and Pryder explain their failures.

"Meaning, there was no Goddess to begin with." Parna was half right in her assumptions.

"No. I think there probably was, its just that she fell into the Demon's trap before we even got here." Hitoshi was willing to assume that like Flare, Wareharun had coveted the powers of the Fane for herself to complete her ascension to a full-fledged God than a pseudo one closer to a Demi-God.

"When? If you say that everything under the Mother Wareharun's influence was infected by this creature then-." Silwyr's conclusions lead them to believe that everyone who had spirit magic was a potential prey of the Demon then.

"Didn't Alok say that the priesthood of Wareharun vanished, a bit strange to leave one girl to manage the whole temple, right?" It couldn't be, that the clergy of Wareharun were either forewarned or realised the disappearance of the Goddess and fled into exile.

"So is she dead?" Was a God even capable of being devoured whole?

"I doubt it. She's probably ensnared in some entrappings like a spider's prey in web for when the Demon feels thirsty."

"And her priesthood didn't even say a single word about it and fled…." Parna was unamused by the way this clergy organisation conducted themselves. There would have at least been several amongst them who could receive divine messages from their Goddess to warn them and the people about the imminent danger.

"I have an important question for you concerning the the time of their departure, Elisen." The Queen would answer him regardless.

"When exactly did the priesthood leave? And also…. When did Gweyir take up her duties as high priestess?"

"…." Elisen quietly processed these questions, but her silence had already given up much of what Hitoshi had suspected. The priesthood left the same time Gweyir was made into a high priestess.

"…. Three years ago." And that's when it all went down. The day the Imperials came knocking at their door under Flare's guidance. It was matching on all accounts, none of this was coincidence.

Wareharun had been in control of the Fane for some time, perhaps she was only feeding off the residual energies that were leaking out from it and hadn't even stratch the surface. Then Flare arrived to take it from her, she must've panicked and opened the Fane without realising what lay within. And was subsequently abducted by the creature, Flare thought that she had locked herself inside and planned to bash his way through. But it hadn't been the case, as Gweyir was likely under the possession of the Demon, used to carry out its bidding like the many other puppets he had. The priesthood had likely sensed the disturbances and fled fearing their minds would succumb to the temptations of the Demon as their Goddess had. After all, a creature that could kidnap a Goddess was nothing to scoff at. The Demon proceeded to manipulate the God of the Sun's apostle, Granham through good relations with the priestess. Displaying a patience, cunning and resourcefulness for such an ancient adversary. It had made Hitoshi and Flare duke it out until neither were capable of fighting before it made its debut. Using Flare's desperation to help it escape. And thus, it's plan three years in the making had finally come to fruition.

"Parna, call the rest in here." Parna left doing as he asked and appeared before them a few seconds later with everyone from the expeditionary group. Elisen was by far confused at where his thoughts were to leave them to their fate or further dabble into this business of the Demon.

The rest arrived looking tired even though they had two hours of rest, they had been out all night. Hitoshi reiterated their findings on the why the Demon had appeared, as it seemed that it had been intentionally orchestrated by none other than the Demon itself. Using Wareharun's resources against the population. Arpeggio shared her findings on the Fane as well as evidence to support the draining of lifeforce from the High Elves through their spirit magic association to Wareharun by the essence detection survey she conducted.

"And Lord Flare was not able to suspect any foulplay?" In Kugel's mind, the Gods should've been omniscient enough to foresee that ploy.

"I think he assumed that Wareharun locked herself within the Fane as a part of her exile. Hence, he desperately tried to have the populace excavate the place. Then, he had no time to think when we came trundling along." There were no priests left to confirm Wareharun's status at the time she supposedly went dark, while Flare became afraid that Hitoshi and his crew would bury the Fane again.

"What's our munitions situation, Lancer?" Now was a time to take inventory than wander on what ifs and what nots.

"A pair of 84mm recoilless rifles with standard loadings, we could make a pair of two-man AT teams. Four AT4 single-shot launchers and Five pump-actions with an assortment of shells. But that's it, we've spent everything on that God and Apostle." Lancer reported the direness of their cache, it was thankful that they had even brought that amount of firepower purely for demonstrative purposes for the Dwarven Lords of Velduar to win their favour.

"No demo charges?"

"None, sir. We used the last bit around the superstructure of the Fane, its still there. But if the bugs chewed the wires, we won't have any way of detonating it remotely."

"Noted."

"So what's the plan?" Takeo was eager to get out of this place.

"Not so hasty." Hitoshi quietened him as he studied the map layout of both the Forbidden Zone and the City. He then traced a pen over the map to draw out a path for someone to take.

"Alright, since everyone's here, we'll put it to a vote."

"A vote?"

"Whether we evacuate with everyone safely and leave the Demon to ravage the city." That was the option that they were all considering, surely he would not think to fight it for no reason?

"By which it'll suck the life out of every inhabitant remaining in this city before moving on to the next, and the next, until either the Gods or their Apostles do something about it. Or, It'll become our problem when it decides to pay us a visit at Alnus." Instead, he explained the consequence of leaving this Demon to grow in strength as it clearly hadn't fully recovered after its four-thousand-year sleep.

"I'm joking, this isn't a vote. It's to see who's joining me to hunt for that cockroach bastard inside his hole." Figures, half of them had already reckoned he would suggest that.

"It's a mean joke, sir. But…. I can't really stand walking out emptyhanded after all the trouble we've been through. I'm in." Lancer had just nominated himself to go on a fumigation duty.

The light returned to Elisen's eyes as Hitoshi hadn't chosen to abandon the Elven people.

"I don't wanna sound cynical but how are we supposed to kill it, let alone force it out?" Takeo asked.

"From what Arpeggio saw, it chose to disengage after Kugel shot first." Faces turned to these to folks mentioned, with the latter scratching his head as if caught doing something he shouldn't have.

"From that we know, the Demon isn't governed by pure animalist urges. And Kir mentioned they reformed the moment you concocted that weird strategy to isolate them. Which points out that the Demon can communicate instantaneously with those roaches." What he said casted the Demon in a different light, a beast of cunning and strategy. Not only capable of deceit but of commanding troops into battle. As for it communication abilities, Hitoshi suspected it had to do with the similar biology it shared with the swarms of insects. He would have to take a look at one before they went in.

"Meaning, unless we pose a real threat to its swarms, the Demon won't leave its confinement regardless of circumstances."

"Then how are we supposed to flush it out?" Lancer explained as the Demon showed a prowess in moving its spawn without even needing to be present outside.

That's when Hitoshi stared at none other than the Queen herself, wearing a wry smile.

"Bait."

Thirty minutes later, they departed on their designated tasks. Lancer and Takeo went to prepare the Recoilless rifles, their best weapon against this ancient creature. While not as powerful as the army standard panzerfaust-3 weapon, it had better handling characteristics and repeatable fire capability that the one-shot launchers didn't have. From Kugel's recollection, the creature stood about twenty-five feet high. Which was about a third of the Flame Dragon's height and probably mass. Alnus theorized that to take out such a beast would take a single air-launched Maverick missile, or two TOW anti-tank missiles. Hopefully, this Demon would fall to less. But judging by its silhouette alone and Takeo's rought sketch, it boasted an impressive defence spectrum from a tortoise-like carapace that didn't seem to limit its range of motion. So, they'd treat it like a walking tank, similar to who the overall new infantry doctrine revolved around killing Armored Imperial ogres. Kugel also spoke of an offensive ranged ability that sounded like an actual working bio-organic plasma projector, a dangerous weapon especially within the confines. That's why mobility was essential.

Firing these shaped-charged weapons in confine spaces was a no-no for them as there was a high risk of killing them as well. So whoever manned the two recoilless rifles would be outside where they could lure it out, but would have to stay out of sight from the swarm. For this task, Takeo and Lancer were the only choice as they were the only ones who had knowledge of tank hunting tactics, anyone stealthy enough among the inhabitant volunteers could accompany them as loaders, preferably the Volralden mercenaries who could manage the bulk of the shells easily.

Which left them with an assault team who were limited to only five personnel unfortunately because there were only six NBC protective chemsuits. Hitoshi had come MOPP Ready, having anticipated for possible toxic flora and fauna within the wild Vorshant Forest. The same could be said for Takeo and Lancer having theirs as packed away in their kit. With three more spares from the Albatross meant for its pilot, co-pilot and navigator. Hitoshi rathered he didn't play this like an RPG dungeon crawler and send as many as he could, however this was the reality of the situation. He wasn't going to send them into the Fane without protection against the artificial smog that engulfed the Fane like some area denial weapon. Further reinforcing that the creature of the Fane knew its stuff, but it also meant that with it gone, the swarms might fall into disarray or even perish. Assuming they followed a colony system, where the Demon's higher caste determined what the other insects would do.

As Hitoshi was leading, he was naturally part of this group of six. So was Elisen, as Hitoshi had press ganged her into acting as the beacon for the Demon to react. The Elven Queen didn't know why he would suggest such a thing and returned to the company of her retinue to discuss what had developed. Hitoshi hadn't received his reply from her yet though.

Next, he would need one of the Tovonún elves. A live one this time who could fight and was brave enough too, as the anti-magic effects seemed to be more permanent with a living one. He let Silwyr go around looking for volunteers. Kir insisted on going, however he had received afflictions that made it hard for him to run from the Demon when necessary. Parna only needed to give him a glance for him to agree to her going, as her injuries weren't unfixable with magic from Arpeggio. The latter of which was required to be a part of this assault team whether she refused. Her fire-attribute might very well be the last defense against the Demon should all other alternatives fail. Perhaps, she could cook it from the inside out like a delicious coconut crab. He made his stomach grumble unvoluntarily at just the thought.

As for the last position, he had also reserved that for another person whom he approached presently. For venturing into the unknown layout of the Fane could easily get them lost and cornered. For that, they needed someone who could tank incredible amounts of punishment whilst dealing the same back.

In melee combat.

"Are you really going to do this?" Parna spoke as the only voice of reason to his decision to include "that" person into their party.

"I am."

"And what if she tries to murder you instead?"

"Then she'll fail to get what I have to offer and either way, Flare is not taking her back." Not unless she does something of noteworthy distinction.

The person he was referring to was now chained up suspended by her hands and feet but remained motionless as if in a coma, a detail of mercenaries stood guard in case she suddenly went rampant again. Her two halves had been sealed together by Arhan and Arpeggio's patient work, while her Apostle physiology did the rest. But she was stuck in sort of standby mode after heavy usage by her God. Other than her inactivity, she was perfectly healed.

This was all thanks to Kir for retrieving her after being covered by Arhan and before Arpeggio casted the Ring of Inferno spell. He had the foresight to correctly deduce that the Apostle had not yet died but required some sort of assistance in recovering. And willing to bet on forming an alliance that would be beneficial to their causes. This was an opportunity that Hitoshi would gladly take, if he knew who to wake her.

Squatting down in front of the body of a beautiful elf woman, he placed his palm against her neck. Feeling only a weak pulse, then moved his palm to her chest to feel the exact same weak unrhythmic pulse but no breathing. In this scenario, it would have called for an AED device to rescucitate her. Unfortunately, he didn't have one with him.

"Can you wake her?" Parna asked cautiously.

"We'll find out." Hitoshi closed his eyes and focused deeply on her uneven heartbeat, trying to pump the bloodflow and get the lungs going but had missed a step. Causing a repeated shock throughout the body. Granham couldn't die, but she was undergoing something equivalent to a repeated death.

And now, against his better conscience, Hitoshi was going to end it.

His weeks of training in his lightning attribute had paid off to a certain degree in allowing him total control over current within his body. As Arpeggio had repeatedly said, his projection of his attribute beyond an arms length was impossible with his manapool. But within his body were whole different possibilities available to him. Such as monitoring his own and other's bio electricity by contact alone, and as it wasn't like essence detection, he didn't expend as much mana as he had imagined. In a controlled experiment, he tried to manipulate this current within his body, which he called "Supercharging" to see if he could break physical boundaries, or what Takeo referred to affectionately as "Limit-break". But it ended in failure, as he started bleeding from his eyes and started to feel dizzy. So he had not much confidence to try it again.

However, circumstances forced him to improvise in other scenarios. As he tried to increase his recovery of blood flow through a fusion of acupuncture and bio-electric manipulation. Meeting with stunning results in recovering internal damage that would have taken weeks to recover despite the risks involved. Who knows, next he might manipulate metal efficiently. Although he did it just once in retracting the Adamantine shield during combat and almost exhausted himself.

Now, it was a test of whether he could manipulate other's bio-electric current and reset Granham's heartbeat. Feeling the circuitry of bloodflow throughout her body, it was no different from other normal folks, so what made Apostles so powerful? He channelled his way towards the Apostle's heart in a more literal way, then sent a pulse of energy directly to the heart.

Granham's body jolted, giving the guards a surprise jumpscare. The chains electrified and smoked, as Hitoshi fired another pulse directly into the same place, feeling half his mana deplete in an instant. Jolting again, but her heartbeat had risen to almost the right rhythm of a human heartbeat.

He fired once more, causing sparks to cascade off the chains as his current and voltage increased. He was reaching the maximum power that he was capable of dishing out and fired the pulse one last time.

"(Gasp)!" After jolting, the Apostle finally took her first breath in two hours, wide awake from being repeatedly rescucitated by defibrillation. To which she found herself staring face to face with her most recent adversary, and his hand on her chest.

"Oi!" She said in a deep low growl, telling him to mind his fingers.

"Welcome back to the living, Granham." He said removing the hand as she demanded, but delivering a cross kick to her check, sending a smear of blood across the pillar which held one of the chains. Surprising Parna that hadn't forgotten or forgiven the episode she and Flare put them through.

Angered, she naturally struggled to break free with gnashing of her teeth which wanted to bite his hands. But deprived of momentum, made it difficult to break chains meant for larger animals.

"Release me if you dare!"

"I will in a moment, but first, hear me out." It was rare for the human before her to summit like this, had her Lord done something while she was unconscious? But then, why was she the one chained up like this?

"Speak….. but don't expect my patience." Hitoshi's response to her cooperation was that same annoying smile she hated.

But inform her of the events that transpired he did, starting with inquiring what she last recalled. Which according to Granham was getting her arse kicked by the three of them, and then, her God told her he was now taking care of the affairs which she didn't understand at first. But it appeared that Lord Flare had performed a divine descent with her body as a medium, that she could figure out herself. What she couldn't was how even Lord Flare had failed. And the profaner-… no, Furuta the outworlder neither confirmed what really went down between them but it was likely unfavourable to her Lord.

However, that was not where all the bad news ended. As he would get on to the really bad news. At first, she scoffed at the idea of the mythical Demon being real. However, with numerous accountings from the inhabitants and municipal guard who were not fighting for some reason, she had no choice but to accept it. But it got worse, in the long story cut short, Flare had been deceived by the Demon.

And Gweyir was somehow under its control, marionetted around by an unfamiliar means of mind control. Hitoshi gave her the accurate description of what went down, including shooting her which infuriated Granham just mentioning it. But the priestess was still standing and probably still alive. This detail was the icing on the cake for Granham.

"So long story short, your God unleashed this catastrophe, and its all his fault." He replied nonchalantly which only served to agrivate her more.

"You are the one who instigated a fight!" She yelled back.

"Whether I did or not, you and I know that Flare would've still open the Fane and find our nasty friend lurking within. Or are you gonna blame me for weakening your God before the Demon?" He taunted her further with these facts, but Granham seemed sick of shouting at him.

"Which leaves us at another crossroad." Hitoshi faced the apostle eye to eye once more.

"We're going in there to kill it. Question is, are you coming along?"

"And why on Flare's holy light would I ever want to work alongside you?" She scoffed.

"Because if you don't, Gweyir will continue to be that things puppet." She now understood why he had disclosed this information to her in such a manner, he wanted her strength against this ancient enemy.

"I know you don't care about the wellbeing of the inhabitants of this City, and neither do we. I'm not gonna ask you to think about your God's image after the disaster he's caused today or what sort of repercussions this might entrail. But your friend has been taken hostage by this monstrosity, and that won't change unless somebody does something about it."

"…" Granham looked calmer than she usually was, as she stood up under the restriction of the chains.

"So tell me, Granham. Are you someone who sits by and lets others do the work, or are you an apostle?" There was still hate present in her eyes, and for every ounce she gave it, Parna was giving the same back to her. But he had made his point and she had made her decision.

"Get these chains off me….."


The sight was confusing to the able-bodied people getting their preparations underway, to see the Apostle they had opposed walking alongside her archenemy.

An assembly had taken place outside the ancestral home of Silwyr's, with the Municipal Guard assembled alongside the mercenaries and rebel fighters with them. With their respective commanders in front of them, Elisen to the Guard, Volcatts with Clan Lupus, and Silwyr amongst the rebel fighters. Unfortunately, no longer an army, these splintered groups were now nothing more than a resistance against a new occupier. The much dreaded "Demon of Amarel", they called it. Who's wails would drive their mortal souls insane as the whole City had gone. Tens of thousands of maddened High Elves were tearing themselves apart as they speak, and the Municipal Guard couldn't hope to prevent it.

"Warriors of Amarel." Hitoshi addressed not only the municipal guard, but every other able-fighting man and woman gathered, the inhabitant refugees listened from afar nonetheless.

"I don't think I need to highlight the dangers you face outside these Gates and within them. On a painted wall within that ancient structure that monster now owns, there was a vision of a city of evergreen. Eight Houses built a nation upon the triumph over a Demon, that very same Demon. Since then, it's relished upon your failures, on your willingness to turn on one another simply by racial distinctions and has used a God's folly to finally free itself." Granham glanced at him with a frown at the reminding of Flare's failure and denouncing it in public, there was only so much a herald of said God could take while speaking of her lord in such a way.

"Look to your right, look to your left. Do you see someone you'd call an oppressor, or someone beneath you? A distinct face different from yours yet assembled here for the same purpose no less important. You'll be defending that person's family, just as he will be safeguarding yours." The mercenaries and rebels who had last heard his speech before were surprised by his suddenly impressive oration.

"What you heard is also true, this City outside these walls have gone mad and torn itself asunder at the Demon's whim. And it will have you do the same if you let yourselves. But you have not! You've willingly taken your first step to oppose the Demon's power by denying its ability to deceive you. The men and women before you stand not just for themselves but for you. And if you're willing to stand for them….. the Demon will have lost yet another battle." His battle speech lacked the motivational speeches that were brimming with praise and assurance that their spears and swords were blessed with the invincibility of the Gods. But simply mortal opposing Demons in lieu of the Gods, and that took courage. And thus, a thousand warriors lost their fear of inescapable odds.

"Myself and Flare's Apostle will confront the Demon on its own ground, but that will be inconsequential to your fight, warriors. Until it falls, if it falls. You'll have your own battles to wage in defence of those around you. The Demon's main objective is ownership to your souls, it feeds on your fear and your despair. For everyone man or woman who chooses to leave these traits behind, you'll have starved it one more soul. If a thousand of you deny it, it would have weakened by a thousandfold more. And you will have rendered the Demon more helpless than it was, making our job easier. So in essence, we will have no small part in our fortune. As we won't be fighting this creature alone, but with all of you by our side." Spirits raised from the dirt, it could even be felt in the air as his words held strongly in their hearts.

"Here's to you, fearless men and women of the woods. I bid you good hunting!" Hitoshi unsheathed his blade and raised it as Granham raised her claymore and crossed their edges. Having realised the importance of his tempo to raise their fighting spirit, it was her willingness to show she had put aside differences just this once that further motivated the thousands before them.

"Clan Lupus and the twenty-three Clans salute you, good hunting!" Volcatts had raised his shortsword and added a momentum of five hundred Volralden warriors who resounded in unison with the words…

"""Good Hunting!""" The howls of the Volralden shook the ground.

"The warriors of Amarel too bid you good hunting, Lord Furuta!" The chain was passed on to the Elven Commander who had the Municipal Guard raise the tempo with their larger numbers.

"""Good Hunting, Lord Furuta!""" The municipal guard no longer had him as their enemy.

The last of the group, Silwyr stepped forward, representing fifteen thousand lives of the Forbidden Zone.

"The Tovonún people and kin of the six races, do not only wish you all victory, but triumph. Lord Furuta and Herald of Lord Flare. To you both, we await your return with great anticipation." And instead of a chant it was the cheers of that whole assembly of refugees and warriors alike.

As with confronting Flare once before, the Demon stood no chance.

The respective heads of each organisation rallied their forces to carry out their given responsibilities. As it had been planned between them that everyone would vacate the Forbidden Zone, regardless of race. Silwyr was in charge of keeping the refugee peoples together and moving in an orderly fashion out towards the Palace, where it was the most defendable. Volcatts and the mercenaries and other volralden clan members who could fight were armed and made to undertake a daring mission to plunder food and resourced amidst the chaos as it wasn't known how long they could hold up within the Palace grounds. While the Municipal Guard were given the responsibility of protecting the civilians in transit as well as manning the defences within the Palace. It was a point where they had no choice but to treat everyone else who had gone mad as hostiles if they attacked them. To prevent the High Elves from succumbing to the Demon's power that they appeared more vulnerable to, they had Tovonún elves accompanying them in their midst. As it seemed that whatever was causing this phenomenon was magic in nature, and the reason Elisen and the Municipal Guard hadn't fallen like everyone else outside was because of the Tovonún again. The so-called blight ability they bore was now their greatest asset that would save the High Elves.

As the parties dispersed, Hitoshi assembled with his companions and Elisen by the final airdrop canister to kit themselves with the last of the munitions.

Takeo and Lancer took the pair of M2 Carl Gustav recoilless rifles, with Kugel and a Volralden handpicked from Volcatts' finest scouts who understood stealth to act as loaders. They would lie in wait while the Demon was lured out and take it down in a coordinated effort.

Hitoshi inspected the five Mossberg shotguns and gave them a composite load of shells each before he issued them to each of the people who would go hunting the Demon inside the Fane. Takeo tried to help Queen Elisen into the rubberized chem suit while Kugel took care of his launcher.

"I appaud you, Furuta. Never have I heard a finer speech flourishing with lies." She returned to her pricklish way of speaking to him.

"You did good embracing it." He reminded her that she publically supported it, but Elisen wasn't upset.

"I haven't heard the reason yet." She asked while Takeo fixed her top half suit. "How am I the bait?" What made him think she would appeal to the Demon in particular?

"Have you not wondered why only the High Elves seem to fall victim to this madness?" Hitoshi's answer was another question, but one that had her suspicions of.

"Spirit Magic. Wareharun's blessing is now your curse. Her children's prayers fed her through worship, but this creature is more set on taking more than your devotion." It had somehow hijacked that link through the Goddess, draining her worshippers dry through their connection. And the stronger the connection, the more it'll drain. Theoretically, the more powerful it became. Allowing it to roam around after four thousand years of imprisonment and starvation by feeding on the Goddess.

"…."

With Gweyir under possession, Elisen was the next closest individual who had the most blessings of the Goddess. At least, this was what Hitoshi was trying to collect from his findings from Arpeggio regarding the Demon's draining influence.

At that moment, he felt he could do with some help from the Gods of Falmart who were clearly aware of what was going on. But like always, they chose not to meddle with seemingly mortal affairs. The question was, how mortal was the Demon that could abduct Wareharun and enslave her subjects?

Hitoshi gave her one of the shotguns and an instruction on how to handle it, since it was the only thing she had to protect herself with.

"You're a barefaced liar, Furuta. What was the real reason you chose me?" But Elisen was much more intelligent than he regarded. For if he was to choose a suitable bait option, it should have been her handmaiden Faeye. Who also possessed better fighting skills and martial prowess compared to the Queen.

"…. And here you've been complaining all this time about how you couldn't control your own fate, now I'm giving you that opportunity." It was that simple, and in a way respectful as it was insulting.

"But if you don't feel up to it, you could always send for her." Either one didn't matter to him. However, this could potentially benefit Elisen if they succeeded in slaying the Demon and she of course survived. She could claim to have partook in the battle that saved Amarel and there were many to support her claim.

Around this time, Silwyr returned to them. But with no one behind her who would accompany them into the Fane.

"Silwyr-."

"Let me join you." She was instead volunteering herself for the sort that required the anti-magic properties of the Tovonún.

"… I figured as much." The Elven Queen chuckled as her house rival declared she wanted in.

Hitoshi brushed his forehead to ease the headache. He didn't need to remind her that she was the leading figure of the Tovonún and the former-Forbidden Zone inhabitants.

"If you died-.." He would lose much of the support of these people in his future ventures, since it was her they trusted more.

"I won't, not as long as you're there to protect me." She said with utmost confidence. Causing him only to sigh and Elisen to snicker at his unease.

But then, he held out another shotgun by the muzzle for her to take.

"Then, I'll depend on you protecting me as well." Frankly, between her and other Tovonún elves, there was no difference, maybe her will was stronger in more stressful situations but she was just as much a liability as Elisen. These two she-elves put quite the burden on him, but he'll depend on their roles for just as much.

Takeo proceeded to help Silwyr wear her NBC suit after the finishing touches on the Elven Queen's. Parna needed no help donning her NBC suit, but Granham was a different story. And Takeo was a little more afraid to help the Apostle who struggled with her protection suit, so it fell to Hitoshi to fasten the buckles and zips. Just because Granham might still live if braving the toxic smog didn't mean she was at full fighting strength in it.

"Don't misunderstand, I have not forgotten what you have done to me or Lord Flare." She responded to his assistance with these icy words.

"I get it. For Gweyir and nothing else. But make no mistake, Granham. That "thing" knows she's your weakness." He cautioned.

"…." That was a blunder which Granham hadn't completely gotten her head around, Gweyir would be within there to persuade her to do otherwise even though it really wasn't her speaking. The creature was smarter than it looked.

"When it dies, you get your Priestess back."

"You don't need to remind me."

"Just remember, that thing beat Flare. So, it'll take a group effort to bring it down, don't botch this for all of us." He also gave his warning to her as he fastened the last zip around her body.

The last person to receive the adjustments of wearing the protective NBC suit was Arpeggio, who was already complaining that she couldn't chant behind the obstrusive gas mask.

They arrived before the wall of flames now, shrunken by ten feet in height with the sound of the insects swarming around behind it. Four teams had assembled there, two pairs of Anti-armour teams, the six-man assault group and the last group comprising of Arhan, Kir and a Volralden mercenary who were detailed as the wizard's guards. Arhan had the sole responsibility of preoccupying the swarms by using the urban layout of the district to confuse and delay the insects.

Ten to fifteen minutes at most was his estimate, before he would bug out and then they were on their own. Kir had marked out a track for them to follow where they could achieve this with minimal confrontations as they just ran around to confuse the bugs who were trapped in the Forbidden Zone anyway by the High Walls. Like ants in an ant farm, they wouldn't stray from their overlord either.

"Ready?" Hitoshi checked every single one of them who gave him a nod or a sign of consent.

"Let's get too it then. Arpeggio, if you please."

Arpeggio began to chant as she was recreated yet another iteration of the Ring of Inferno spell. Next to her, Arhan observed twinkly eyed and creepy for his age. The low rumble took place as she reached the last stages of her spell before unleashing devastation upon the swarm that awaited them on the otherside.

"…-Angrava Dyei-oura!" As the wall of flame in front of them lowered a portion for them to move through, they were met face to face with the countless hungry mouths that had been made to fast yet again.

But Arpeggio La Lalena had a present for them.


(BOOOOOOMMM)

A fire wave rippled through the ranks of giant insects and bathed them with molten hot flames, setting the front most ranks on fire and the rear in disarray.

"Go!" Without needing further instructions, they rushed into the breach. Meanwhile, Kir and Arhan faced the swarm and created a racket with the use of flashbangs and flares.

There were a few stranglers who didn't follow the swarm that directly attacked them, and for that, they rewarded their vigilance with magnesium incendiary shells. Embedding itself into the carapace, the insects who received the unique "Dragon's breath" pyrotechnic shot wriggled in pain before subsequently exploding in their abdomen-area which contained some sort of flammable gas. This gave more reason to why the bugs were afraid of fire, all the more convenient for them as they finished them off with single shots than half an assault rifle magazine worth of bullets.

Hitoshi had been unnecessarily concerned over the ability of the two elves to keep up as their speed and stamina were not slow in any manner, if anything, Hitoshi and Parna had difficulty keeping up.

"We'll see you soon, good hunting." Lancer and Takeo's group separated from them at the foot of the Fane, vanishing into the ruins to lay their trap. The remaining six of them climbed the flight of stairs to the top, whereas Granham leaped in strides killing the additional straggler insects that came out of the Fane. Very swing of her herculean strength severed the insects in half like an unstoppable killing machine, her frustration and anxiety fuelled her anger which in turn made her more tenacious than before. The rest of them couldn't appreciate more what she had done to bulldoze her way through the dozens that stood in her way. Hitoshi had glanced back only once down below to assess the status of Arhan and Kir.

The wizard had erected an earthen wall that isolated the swarms from returning to the Fane at its base before running off to misleed the bugs.

"Masks on. We'll be set for fifteen minutes." At the top of the Fane, a few steps before the smog they donned their gas masks and tightened their hoods one at a time. Hitoshi did a last-minute check to ensure that all of them were protected before he took point with one hand on his slung shotgun and the other on a chemical agent detector.

(tick tick) (tick tick tick)

The instant he entered the smog, the detector was already going off telling him that there was an unnatural amount of sulfur-based gas in the air. He had been right in predicting the nature of the smog, it was the Demon's natural defence mechanism. It didn't even need to engage in direct confrontation, just bellowing out this toxic bio-chemical that the insects were immune to but its potential victims weren't. He doublechecked his auto-injector syringes numbering three to use if any of them were suffering symptoms from prolonged exposure.

Turning on the gunlights to help them navigate their way in the total pitch-black structure they had walked into. They were presented by a squarist corridor of mason stone, forty by forty feet in dimension, going straight down into the pyramid structure with a slight curve that indicated a snail-like passageway.

He popped a red flare just to confirm the layout beyond.

"It's awfully quiet down here." Arpeggio mumbled behind the muffle of the mask, having been content that there weren't any more insects encountered or chase them anymore.

Hitoshi motion with a slicing action across his throat to tell her to be silent, it was hand actions from here on out. There was, however, deliberate meaning to the unnerving silence which Hitoshi wouldn't disclose to them. Especially to an easily spooked Arpeggio.

The creature knew they were here. These walls were its home for four thousand years, it knew every crevice, every stone even in total darkness. Every footstep they made was a racket in its lair of solitude. It would let these foolish creatures accidentally wander into its grasp. Hitoshi constantly reminded himself that this Demon was nothing to be trifled with, it had fooled two Gods of Falmart into falling into its traps. Taking their power for its own. Where it came from or what it was were the least troubling things that he shoved to the back of his mind until its corpse lay in front of him to ponder these sorts of queries.

They reached a point where there was some change to its overall structure, appearing less like a masouleum and more like a nest. The structure around was more alien-like, as there were holes in these organic structures that seemed like burrows. And numerous indents on the walls that was roughly the shape of one of the smaller insects, from where they had been laying dormant this entire time. There were remains of insect carcasses from where they had likely cannibalised on one another to stay alive as the half-eaten shells had long calcified. The Demon was appearing less like a spawn of the devil and more like an extra-terrestrial superorganism that had stumbled onto this world the same way as every other race. How did it then use magic?

The sight unnerved them as the proceeded on, if Hitoshi wasn't leading, they would surely double back. The military-grade detector went off again, telling him there was an even higher concentration of the gas here. Not that he needed it to tell him that, he could already taste the pungent odour in his mouth, the others sure would too.

They were presented with a predicament up ahead though, as the corridor had now split into five different air tunnels.

"….."

(poof) Another flare was lit to inspect the state of each path. But the first was as as dark as the last.

"Arpeggio, what do you see?" He asked behind the muffle of the mask.

The former casted her iteration of essence detection whilst out of the proximity of Silwyr who was still with them.

"There, the third one. A high concentration of spirit magic." She could see a well of concentrated magic that resembled the magic of the High Elves which shouldn't be in here. Meaning, that they'd just found which hole the Demon was in.

"We split up." Hitoshi made his decision.

"What? I said it was down there!"

"I know. But it doesn't know that we know." He then turned to the rest.

"Elisen, you're with me. Granham, Arpeggio, Silwyr, Parna. Two of each of you hide in the opposite tunnels." He unheaved the bulk on his pack, distributing three AT4 LAWs to each group.

"We'll ambush it here. When it arrives, fire a rocket on my go. Aim for its exhausts. Arpeggio, you seal its exit corridor so it won't retreat back in."

"To stop it making this poison? Why not cripple it's feet instead?" if that was an option, he'd take it. But he wanted to limit the offensive capabilities of his opponent first.

"…." Having felt the bite of his tactics before, Granham wasn't going to question what he thought was effective.

"I think it does more than that. It's such a big creature, it must have a voracious metabolism." Kugel had wondered why it had stopped its efforts in fighting back after he lobbed his grenades at it.

"At first, I thought it was because the creature became disinterested." Kugel said back in the cave during his accountings, just as everyone else had given theirs to establish possible vulnerabilities in the Demon's abilities.

"But now I'm certain, this creature is like a massive locomotive moving on its own steam. Those exhaust funnels weren't just funnelling out the byproduce of what powers this behemoth, but also allows it to cool. Attacking it there might cause it to overheat and reduce its motion." That was one of the strategies they had discussed, although not everyone in the gathering understood even half of what he said. But it was clear that these back-exhaust funnels on it were a vulnerable spot on the Demon.

"The Demon will try to protect itself and head straight for you, at that point we collapse the structure behind us to slow it down as we escape."

"It can't be that simple." Granham responded.

"I'm counting on it not to, that's why you're here. Make sure that it follows us out."

After that was said, they split into groups of three. Two groups behind each corridor lying in waiting. Silwyr was accompanied by Parna while Arpeggio was paired with Granham as the Tovonún elf would only hinder her abilities. Silwyr's participation was limited to only stepping forward when the demon proved too powerful, as it hadn't shown any other magic-based tricks yet. Thus, it left their abilities and pair in a rather imbalanced way.

Hitoshi braved onwards into the corridor which Arpeggio specified in the company of Queen Elisen. Despite the limited armaments he and the High Elf were entitled to, it was over the top insane. Arpeggio complained inwardly about how her employer was constantly putting himself at the precipice of danger. Consorting against the pro-war Imperials, offending and confronting Gods, slaying a Demon when they could've just run away and let the other Men in Green forces handle it.

She was at the borderline too, wondering if she should accept the penalties for resigning from her job. But the only thing that kept her here thus far was the fact that this was the only job available to her and her only chance at succeeding where her sister hadn't.

"Um-….." Because of the awkward atmosphere between them, she ended up initiating a conversation with the Apostle.

"What?" Granham responded indifferently.

"N-Nothing!" She reared her neck in the face of such intimidating aura. So she turned the other way and wondered what she was going to do now in this total silent claustrophobic darkness.

"Uwah!" She ended up tripping on a pile of shell remains that littered the hive-like structure. The Apostle just rolled her eyes and leaned against the walls with her claymore against her shoulders.

"Ow…. Ow.." Arpeggio recovered slowly with the help of magic staff Ahrimar propping her up and raised her light to see where was her position. When her other hand rested on something else metallic as she raised herself up.

"What in-…." She was taken aback by the sight of a bipedal humanoid figure lying against the wall. The part she had used to get up with was only the lower leg, telling her how much this metal giant dwarfed her.

"Another dead thing." Granham who had watched her stumble only to see the giant herself had her mind already concluded.

But being who she was, Arpeggio was naturally more inquisitive.

"Then why is it still intact…?" If it had been resting here as long as the Demon was imprisoned, why hadn't the insects devoured it to the bone and the skeleton included? Then she realised by shining the electric torch that it was not alive so to speak, but only deactivated.

An automaton.

Her eyes sparkled with wonder as the stories her mentor told to her as a child rung in her mind. Mimosa described an epic where she accompanied the legendary apostle, Rory Mercury on an adventure to stop an evil alchemist who was utilizing necromancy to impart dead spirits into metallic bodies of his making. An army of indestructible men of steel, foiled when a younger Mimosa had annihilated the catalyst that was powering these walking monstrosities. Since then, an edict had been placed upon all institutions of magic origin, forbidding the manufacture of these machine golems. Not that the technology to build them was lost to the magic kingdoms with the exception of the dwarves who guarded their vaults jealously helped.

So, to see one in her lifetime was indeed a bounty. Arpeggio turned the way of the third corridor, but all there was was silence, so she contented herself with studying this machine since the apostle was more eager to be vigilant.

Stepping forwards, she could already measure herself only at the automaton's chest in height. Its design was unlike anything she had ever seen, only adding to her fascination. The entire machine was covered in plated section that resembled segmented body armour coloured in metal grey finish. What ended the machine's function was an insect talon torn from the limb of one of those insects buried into the front chest armour, ultimately shutting it down. It had a certain aesthetic to its design that favoured straight symmetry than form fitting curves and contours of a body. Like it had a purpose to its design to move really fast. The other half of that purpose seemed to be lying by the automaton's side, a longsword of an archaic design in its right hand. And a weapon that looked almost like the weapon the Japanese soldier used lying near a ruined left hand, only upscaled and more potent than those equally terrifying firearms. This artefact of a forgotten age seemed to be a find that she could not miss the chance of documenting, the findings, the possible input it could have on magic in its present state. She hung her crystal memory orb around her neck as she begun to poke around to investigate finer details that before. With colour besides its total grey finish found on what could count for its left pauldron, she blew four thousand years of accumulated dust off the metal work. Revealing an unfamiliar set of markings on it which she jotted down on her journal as well as outline the basic shape of the automaton for future reference when she could visit the famed Lindol City Librarium to see if there was any known information regarding this type of automaton. The funny thing was these markings didn't have anything even remotely related to the hieroglyphs at the top of the Fane.

"So, you weren't from here." She murmured her conclusion, so what did that mean? From the way it was designed, what it wielded meant that it hadn't been guarding the Fane. It was built for a rather unique purpose, which was most likely was combat.

As even the fierce and intimidating face of straight lines had indicated despite not having anything resembling a mouth or nose. The eyes that reflected as she shone the light at it had done that job well enough, made not of metal, but some sort of glass. Glass?

It was astonishing that the metal hadn't corroded over the millenia in which it was last left here, but the glass should've cracked by now. Such a phenomenal machine to remain in such pristeen condition after so many centuries past. What kind of metal was this? What sort of glass made its fac-(wipe)?!

(thump)

For the second time, Arpeggio fell backwards. But not because she stumbled on something, rather, she had been shocked by what was previously obscured by the dust over the glass eyes. As the light had illuminated it for her, revealing that the automaton's head was not actually a head, but a helmet. And inside of it, lay a fractured skull, white as bone.

An organic head had been the one to govern this automaton's locomotion?! This was even greater heresy than the spirit-run automatons her mentor faced. Arpeggio kicked away to distance herself from it. A machine of forbidden alchemy which she no longer had the desire to learn about. Even with her mentors repeated advising against anything associated with necromancy and post-death alchemy, Arpeggio had boundaries she wouldn't cross. She was satisfied enough that she had managed to chance upon this sighting once in her life.

But it left her wondering its story more than anything. Because it had clearly gone down fighting the Demon and its underlings, but wasn't it the High Elf Ancestors who sealed the Demon alone? Or was that story also a lie by the former all this while. Perhaps it was here earlier but-..

"Argh…" She rubbed the bruise on the back of her head. This forbidden machine was just another anomality she didn't need to worry about right now.

Instead, it was awfully quiet now. Which shouldn't be the case as she had made such a racket that even the Apostle would notice.

When she turned back, "Uh-… Your Holiness?..."

The apostle wasn't where she'd last been leaning against the wall. Arpeggio's heart began to palpitate wildly, as she wanted to call out to the other two, but then it would seriously compromise them as well. Using her essence detection skill to find her unwilling partner, she found Granham's signature to be down the fifth corridor which was completely away from everyone else, including the Demon.

Except, she wasn't alone.

Realising that the ambush might be compromised if the Apostle wasn't there to lend her strength, Arpeggio was forced to chased down the trail she'd left before it went cold. She was so hasty in her decision, she had not realised that the signature she spotted accompanying the Apostle was rather familiar.

"Who are you?" Granham had been led away by a fleeting figure that only she would instantly recognise.

"I'm me, Granham. Who else would I be?" The figure childishly laughed at her rigid personality.

"No, you're not. You've not been the same person ever since-."

"Since Flare made you his herald." She, Gweyir no longer used formalities for Flare's name.

"Look at how he's treated you all these years, how he treats the rest of his worshippers." Granham was stricken by the words she used against her lord which she formerly would never have done.

"All because of the lust for power. The Human Furuta was right, these so-called Gods are nothing."

"You are not Gweyir. What are you? Answer!" Granham raised her claymore to impose might for answers, but all she got was the same unfazed look of glassy yet bright eyes.

"I am…. Gweyir, I am Wareharun, and I am also that which you presently hunt." Her voice was overlapped by the reverberation of voices.

"I am-… we are a collective of persons. Those passed, those present and those who may yet be one with us."

"Speak clearly!" And so it did through the mouth of Gweyir.

"We are what could be achieved through the gathering of thoughts, Apostle of the False God. We are your Gweyir, your ancestors, your Goddess's thoughts, feelings, and conscience combined into one spirit. We are one, a fusion of body and soul."

"No! That's not possible…." A collective conscience? Granham couldn't even fathom.

"It always has been, whether your False Gods have hidden it from you sight or not."

"What has always been will always be, even if your False Gods have hidden the truth from your eyes. And now, I offer that same truth to you."

"What?" These words had left Granham in distraught for some time now, as it meant that there was no individual left called Gweyir for her to look upon, only a mass of personalities behind hollow bodies marionetted around.

"Become one with us, Granham Andún. So that we may never be separated from one another again!" The lone voice of Gweyir conveyed these important words to Granham.

"….. Become….. one?..." To be with Gweyir in mind and soul, always. Granham remained deeply confused by the offer she was being made.

Which led her to inevitably raise her claymore at the priestess and whoever was behind the controls.

"No! So in the end I was wrong after all." Tears fell from her reddened eyes as she fell upon a certain conclusion while voicing her anguish. "You really were devoured by that monster as well!" There was nothing left of the priestess she once loved.

The priestess walked towards her with her hands raised in a non-violent manner, and an assuring smile planted on her face.

"….. I remember when we first met…." Gweyir said approaching slowly as the Apostle showed no sign of lowering her blade or the channeling of her attributes.

"It was many nights ago, yet it felt like a lifetime in a cold and dark corner of the Forbidden Zone. A child born an outcast of society, Tovonún, they called you even though you committed no sin against them in the last life. Roaming the streets of outcasts, alone, famished and ready to return to the circle of afterlife by dawn. Hated by all and hating everything about yourself. Your life, you absence of family, the wretched purple skin that you bore. You pray, yet no God can hear you, because no Tovonún will ever receive the grace of the Gods, they physically can't." Gweyir tore deep into the scars that defined the Apostle's hatred for the Forbidden Zone and all who stood within it, because it reminded her of her nightmarish past.

Even within slums, beggars fought beggars for scraps. And where was she? The lowest of the low, a Tovonún elf with no family or friends. Death was certainly around the corner for one not blessed with anything.

"And yet fate had this unwanted child bumping into me, a trainee priestess on one of my many escapades into forbidden areas and behind closed gates." This reflected the very childish nature of the girl who would become the high priestess of Wareharun, free-spirited and unchasted.

"When we met, I was at the mercy of others. And yet you rescued me from certain death, but I had nothing to give in return. No bread in my pocket to fill your empty stomach, or water to quench your thirst. Only my useless quibbling." Gweyir laughed awkwardly as she reminisced the past.

"You offered me more than you could ever dream of." She received a response amidst the recollection.

"You were the first to offer me friendship that others take lightly. And for that, I would have offered you my life if you ever asked for it." Granham admitted to the passion that had been kept all these years.

"That hadn't changed when Lord Flare took me in on a whim. I honestly did not know what he wanted with someone without magic roots till this very day. Although, that changed after his blessing and transfiguration magic." For Flare had singlehandedly "cured" her condition as a Tovonún elf. The transmutation from mortal to demi-god apostle had somehow overwritten the curse which had stalked her ill fated bloodline. Washing the Tovonún lilac taint from her skin now blemishless and fair as all High Elves were. Flare had shown her the all-powerful might of the God she would serve till the end of time. But even so, the Priests of Flare chose to only see her for what she once was, of low birth and nothing beyond their lustful eyes. Leading to the only possible conclusion of them being on the receiving end her tempest.

"The only friend I ever needed." Granham no longer trusted anyone else but Gweyir, then a junior priestess in training.

Gweyir smiled, as Granham would remember the story better than she ever did. But as she approached closer, the blade that Granham raised hadn't fallen just yet.

"At least…. I thought I did." Gweyir halted a foot from the edge of her claymore when she said this.

"Today's conflict, do you know what that Human said to me even though I was in chains?" Granham raised her head and gazed into her eyes.

"Freeing you was my only concern. Why would he say that? Why would he willingly set me free after what I did to him?" It confused her why the person she'd once called profaner had looked to her for help and even understood what compelled her to join his side, if temporarily. After the story of defeating her Lord's incarnate, why did his companions salvage her broken body and heal it?

"Hitoshi has always been wayward with-.." Gweyir acknowledged.

"That's not my point." But was cut off mid-sentence by Granham. "Why did they rescue me?"

That's what she struggled to understand. After all they'd been through and made to face because of her and her God. Lord Flare had started this animosity with the desecration of another holy site which the outworlder had chanced upon, forever robbing her God of the power that lay within. Yet, the human wielded none of that omnipotent powers that had come from that place, so he had not coveted the power for himself. Yes, Gweyir was right. Hitoshi Furuta seemed wayward on the surface, but there was a reason behind why he had chosen to give up on his animosity towards her. Where she would certain hold that grudge for a hundred years if she could, and it wasn't because he was indifferent either. Having let her emotions command her actions for so long, it was difficult for her to come to any sort of answer to why things had come to the way they were.

What was more inbelievable was how he could have the High Elves and the Forbidden Zone inhabitants come together like he had to fight a common enemy without having the lingering sensations of grudges clinging, with words alone. Elisen called them honeyed lies, but every word he used was with a passion that everyone had something special in them regardless of race or background.

"Maybe we will find out together." Amidst her confusion, Gweyir once again offered out her hand to take. But this time, Granham didn't reach for it.

"No, we won't." She instead stood by her beliefs that the person before her wasn't really Gweyir, even if there was agony in her voice.

"I knew… I knew that from that day, something was wrong. But I just chose not to do anything about it, I didn't want to lose what little we already had with each other….." Granham's light-attribute aura returned to full combat radiance.

"And because of my selfishness, there's nothing of what I once called friend in you!" Granham spun her sword around with her blade aimed true at the hollow puppet's neck, to put it down once and for all.

(Rumble)(BOOM) Just as her blade almost took her head off her shoulders, a talon smashed out of the floor beneath them. The Demon had been in hiding in a lower level all this while, not at the place which the mage had specified, a decoy to separate them.

Granham had been more than ready for any sudden ambush and avoided the long-scythe talon before it even reached her.

"Pitiful." The collection of voices spoke once again through her friend's body.

"We offered you the chance to be one with your beloved, and yet to refuse." The Demon once again had almost fooled her into relinquishing her sword against it. Now, its words were only a fabric of lies hiding its true motives.

"My name is Granham Fle Andún, and I will avenge Gweyir Wa Keyleth. The sun as my might. This blade as my fury!" Granham no longer paid the hollow puppet anymore compliments and went straight for the creature that stood behind it. Her light aura, banishing the darkness surrounding that threatened to consume her. Her gas mask removed, exposing her to the full toxicity of the Demon's poison. She nonetheless held firm, for she had been free of the poison it inflicted upon her mind.

[EEerrrrrraaaaaahhhhh] The creature roared as it swung a scythe blade limb at her.

(clung) Her forceful blow met with one of the talons that countered whilst another shot out to behead her.

(slice) The Demon became movementarily confused when it struck mass, only for her silhouette to dissipate like a mirage before it whilst the Apostle appeared was a few paces off.

Throwing another swing empowered with Flare's holy aura, the blade tore through one of the many limbs behind the smog. Inflicting the first wound upon the Demon in over four thousand years, the Demon struck back swiftly, but ended up hitting only another after image left by the effects of Granham's mirage-based skills.

She murmured a chant that summoned three other doppelgangers beside her which uniformly attacked the Demon from different vectors, yet left hits as if they were from Granham herself.

For she was the true master of illusion magic, not this infernal insect, try as it might. She could not be manipulated any longer by its tricks. As such the Demon no longer resorted to such ruses as its marionette trick with the memories of the individuals to back its claims. The Demon vaporised the first of the mirage clones with a hot blue orb that was spat out of one broad appendage, while its scythe talons made short work of the second one. Its body was bulky, yet its movements were almost too quick for the eye to catch.

"It matters not, the Envoy has successfully lured you away. We shall eliminate you before moving on to the next hindrance." Gweyir's mouth voiced the intentions of the Demon which called itself an Envoy.

"Arasha vaul!" Chanted the next hindrance who sent a fireball colliding with its face.

(BOOM)

"Who you calling hindrance, huh?! Disgusting bug!" Arpeggio had arrived not too late to reinforce the Apostle. She began to cast buffs upon the Apostle such as empowering her claymore with her flame-attributes while sending rapid fire hailing upon the Demon to disturb its focus.

"Back me up!" Granham instantly acknowledged her cooperation and asked her to support her next step.

"What do you think I'm doing?!" Arpeggio managed to say before Granham lunged at the Demon in a five-step sword technique that left afterimages which confused the Demon of her actual proximity since her illusion had mass. When confronting the human outworlder, her powers had been sealed by the Tovonúnpowers. A power that had once been the source of her unpleasant childhood, power that she once had but casted aside.

The Demon had learnt from its previous encounter with this trick and used its harpoon-like mandibles to fire outwards the pierce the afterimages in quick succession. Before using its talons to crush her by pincering her with it.

One talon was blocked by her claymore in a shaking hand. While the other had pierced her outreaching other arm to hold it at bay.

"Urggh- now mage!" The demon had no time to move out of the way, as Arpeggio casted a devastating spell that had been inspired by her sister.

"Take this! A sister's revenge!"

(BOOOM)

Amplifying a basic exploding power with additional combustion to accelerate the first spell, created a shaped charge effect that struck the Demon in its carapace and blew a small hole out the back.

[EEEERRRRRAAAAAAEEEEEEEE!] The Demon screamed as it received its most devastation injury yet. Such that even the puppet had fallen to the ground motionless.

"Alright!- uwarhhh!?" Even before she had a chance to celebrate, Arpeggio was pulled along by the Apostle. Bearing the body of Gweyir in her other arm, Granham was determined to give her friend's body a proper burial. Not within this damn mausoleum of flesh eaters.

She hadn't forgotten the plan that stuck, only this time, she was the bait. As she had encountered the Demon first.

[Eeeeraaahhhhh] The Demon called out from afar, enraged.

(rumble)(rumble) Then it gave chase with heavy footsteps that shouldn't have been that fast a rhythm, but they were.

"Hyah! Here it comes!" Arpeggio frantically gave a headsup warning as she looked behind.

Having taken her mask off previously, Granham could not see very well beyond the smog that made her eyes water. The mask restricted her head movement but protected her nose and eyes from being assaulted by the pungent odour and burn in her lungs. But her regenerative abilities would keep her going, as she wrestled against the pain.

"Go! And tell him it's here!" The Apostle shoved her forwards as she turned around the face the Demon once more, it an inevitable struggle that had the odds tilted on the Demon's side. For it had studied her movements and countered with an effective return that inflicted injuries that made it difficult to fight back with.

"But!-.."

"Gooo!" Granham struggled to even voice her demands under the strain. She had been forced to drop the body of Gweyir as a talon pierced her chest and lifted her off the ground while the other sliced away at her limbs.

"Arrrhhh!" Letting out a bloodcurdling cry, a burst of light aura singed the exterior of the Demon's hard shell and released her from its grasp. Granham fell to the ground in a pool of her own blood, her wounds healing with difficulty as a toxic secretion had now laced its talons and continued to burn her skin and flesh from the inside.

(thang) She tried to prop herself to stand once more, but the Demon swayed its talons and send her flying into the wall, disarming her as well.

[Uuerrrraahhhh]

The Demon peppered her with its projectile-like flesh hooks that pierced her body and swung her around like a rag doll before slamming her into the walls repeatedly. Granham's vertebrae kept breaking in numerous areas, further limiting her ability to effectively swing or dodge.

(BOOM) Until it flung what remaining flesh heap into the hardstone floor.

And Granham had to be awake throughout the entire punishment being dealt to her, her consciousness was already barely holding. The Demon released a different sounding roar that released small insect-sized insects that swarmed around its wounds before their mass glowed and sealed the wounds with their sacrifice. Every injury that Granham had dealt was now nullified and it returned to full heal.

The apostle understood now more than ever, that the outworlder's prediction about the Demon's abilities were right.

(shruk)(shruk) "Guuurrghh!" The apostle was made to choke on her own blood as two talons came down and stabbed her through the floor where she lay indeed helpless. For every injury she dealt, the Demon returned it thricefold with interest that she couldn't manage even with regeneration. Every waking moment was agony, from the toxins that had invaded her circulatory system preventing clot, to the broken bones throughout her body. The pain was too much for most folk to endure before they passed out, yet she stayed away the entire time.

Somehow, she knew she wasn't coming out of these this time. Turning her head to where Gweyir's lifeless body lay, she made her peace with her spirit and reflected on all the times they were happy together. Truly happy, before Gweyir was left as the only priestess in the temple of wareharun, before Flare had chosen her as his herald. Those simple forgettable days.

"…. Honestly….." She exhaled her anguish and frustrations in a single word as she accepted her fate. The Demon relished in its minor victory over the herald of Flare, as it raised its talons to deliver the final blow. Through the death of an apostle, the Continent of Falmart will remember the terror of the Envoy.

[Eeerrrrrraaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!-(BOOOMM)]

The walls exploded, sending slabs of stone pummelling the Demon until it was forced to step back, retracting its talons out of the ruined body that lay there. It raised its talons in the direction of the breach that had been made, for it had been artificial in nature.

"I've finally found you….. damn cockroach!" Racking the slide of his shotgun after he tossed his expended LAW launcher aside. Eluding him since he went looking for it, the explosions that he heard were only telling that someone else had stumbled onto the Demon instead. So much for his intended ambush, he thought.

But the creature was right here, ready to get another pummelling. It had beaten Granham to a pulp and was about to permanently erase her, which was honestly doing everyone a favour if he wasn't going to be put at a severe disadvantage because of it.

"You know what makes you my favourite kind of prey, Demon?" He smiled deceivingly wide at the monstrosity before him, even though it was blocked by the mask. The Demon could see it in his eyes, it was the same look it casted on the Apostle all this time.

Such that the Demon sensed a trap closing in around it despite not seeing it with its enhanced vision and raised its caution.

"You play with your food when you should be chewing."


(BOOM) A talon collided with the wall behind him after he moved slightly to dodge it by an inch. The shotgun pointed towards eyes and peppered it with many small cast iron balls, forcing it to raise its claws to defend its vision. Impeding it from noticing him slide under its feet and delivering another shot.

(Boom)(ka-chung)

A spray of molten magnesium struck its many eyes and continued to burn them, causing the Demon to stumble backwards and fall on its carapace. This brief window allowed him to get on his feet and pick up the battered Apostle.

"Wait!-…. Gweyir…." Even now she still wanted to remove the body from this place.

"Damn it. You're not making my life easier!" Even with that said, he still lugged the priestess's body in a fireman carry while he supported Granham by one arm as they hobbled out.

No sooner did they see Arpeggio return after having missed Hitoshi who took the "shortcut" did he yet, "Flame wall, now!"

"Uwah! Got it!" She was on it, chanting away as quick as she could. The Demon could be heard further within the corridor roaring its frustrations at such a dirty way of fighting as it had been angered enough to chase them, just like they wanted. But it would have to get by Arpeggio's flames which would certainly inflict noticeable damage to it.

Arpeggio did not get the better end of the stick even after performing such an important feat. Hitoshi flung the priestess's body at her to carry out so that he could bring Granham out more efficiently. The fact that the apostle had been the quietest she'd ever been made it quite pleasant for him to carry her out properly.

However, Granham's wounds had yet to heal visibly. The Demon's toxic secretions had done a number to her flesh.

"We'll wash it out when we reach topside." He assured her as they ran up against the steep incline of going up slope. From her wounds alone, he could deduce that she had gone all out against the Demon and had agitated it to the point that it was now chasing them. A good job on his account, since there was no real definitive proof that the Demon would chase Elisen for one measly soul.

When they reach the five-finger corridor, he rallied the others to his side.

"Withdraw! We're going out!"

Parna and the elves accompanied him close by, the former annoyed that the Apostle had made him carry her out without checking her story. All the while closer to the exit, the rumble of behemoth feet could be heard close enough.

"Someone take over! (huff)" Arpeggio begged exhausted.

"Then take off that sword!" Hitoshi told her as he noticed a sword that was about the same size as Granham's claymore slung to her back like he was carrying hers as well.

"Not a chance! This is research material, finders keepers! I took it from the automaton, fair and square!"

"Automaton?" What automaton? Hitoshi had no time to ask as the Demon came into view behind them in hot pursuit. Arpeggio began to double her speed and throw the heavy longsword to the ground without a second thought, passing everyone else in the process.

The two-handed sword landed into Hitoshi's hand because it fell into his path feeling strangely light even though Arpeggio was absolutely hefting it just now for her treasure loot. Something was truly strange about this blade, its aesthetic and design seemed misplaced for such an ancient weapon. But the anomalies didn't end there as the sword suddenly shone with electric arcs forming around its blade by the merest sensation of letting his lightning attribute pass through it on a quick assertion of its properties, almost accidentally.

The Demon's speed gaining on them meant he had no time to discover the phenomenon behind it as he turned around pointing the blade tip at the demon. He then sent a focused magnetism into the sword as he checked its polarity to the opposite of the charged shells shot that embedded itself into the Demon. Causing the blade to fly out of his hand as it homed in on the last spot that he had fired magnetised magnesium fragments to.

(shruck)[Errrrraaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwhh]

The strange blade surprisingly pierced one of the Demon's eyes with relative ease and continued to remain there with its luminous blazing arcs that only caused great hurt to the Demon before it went cold.

Using that time they bought to exit the structure where the daylight could be seen, they were at last presented with a place where their vision was not partially obscured by the smog coming from within the Fane as well as the presence of fresh air to the pungent odour of sulfur.

Only when clearing a distance by the steps from the smog did they take off their gas masks, allowing their sense to be assaulted by clean air. With a slight smell of smoke and ashes, but still safe.

They were also presented with Arhan and Kir's handy work while they were away. Having burnt almost half the district while walls of earth were raised in a messy manner of every place they'd been. However, there was less clicking sounds of mandibles from the insects as Arhan had created quicksand pits throughout the area, causing many of the insects to suffocate under the liquid earth while many others struggled to reach them in their mired state. They had played a long war of attrition with the giant insects which they had turned the odds on. Not bad for two old men.

Reaching about halfway down the steps, the Demon collided with the narrow entrance which it had squeezed out carefully from before. Subtleness was no longer one of its traits as it advanced down the steps with surprising grace for its size. But anger burning in all of its five remaining eyes for one had been substituted with steel still embedded inside of it. Not even the tiny bugs could heal it.

It was at this point that the creature's tunnel visioning had cost it dearly as an 84mm warhead struck it in the carapace, and out from the front came the remaining molten jet.

(BOOOM) [Errrrrraaawwwwwhhhh](rumble)

Takeo high-fived his Dwarven spotter/loader without realising the consequence of having the Demon roll down the stairs where the rest of them were.

"Hurry!" Silwyr was helping Hitoshi carrying the Apostle down the remaining stretch as the Demon tumbled down to its obvious defeat. Clearing its own smog veil, Takeo and Lancer's team were presented with how what the Demon looked like underneath that toxic smoke.

"It sure is mean and ugly!" Takeo shared with Kugel in their concealment.

"Means, it takes dishing seriously." Kugel loaded the second shot while Lancer fired from his vector but deflected off the edge of its carapace from the extreme slant causing it to ricochet.

"Damn! Reload!" He told his loader as he adjusted for the next shot.

Hitoshi's group had managed to clear the structure at the foot of the Fane and ended up in the assembly square, where the battle against Flare and Hitoshi had taken place before. They displaced to the shelter of some ruined thatch hovels for cover where Hitoshi set down the apostle and her claymore.

"Parna, med bag." The latter took a while to respond as she didn't think him serious to even offer medical resources to the Apostle.

"Med bag, now!" Second time was the charm, as he unzipped the bag and poured a bottle of medicinal alcohol over her wounds to remove the toxins that remained.

"Elisen, you watch Granham. Give her a shot of this if the pain persists." He allocated the queen to watch the Apostle until she recovered, handing her a morphine autosyringe while he removed the visible organic barbs that were lodged in her flesh with twezzers. He then got up the moment he saw visible recovery and went on his way with Parna accompanying him, Silwyr looked behind to the Queen for a moment before following them out.

Arpeggio had instead been preoccupying the Demon with a number of her new spells that were just as tolling as the recoilless shaped-charge shells impacting its body. Incidentally, she casted a blanket of napalm-like flames onto the Demon with roasted its healing bugs off it.

(BOOOM) [Errrrrrawwwwwwwwwwww] The seventh shot struck home dead centre of its body and out the back, yet even with all the damage, it had yet to fall over. Its durability was astounding.

"Takeo, Lancer. Shell count." He pressed his comms after breaking radio silence for almost twenty minutes.

*Two left, sir.* Lancer reported.

*I count three.* Takeo relayed Kugel's count over.

The Demon was already on its feet like a pro-boxer ready to take another beating and bellowed out a higher concentration of smog that seemed to only rise up into the sky. A lighter gas that was meant to block out the sun perhaps or something much more sinister. As the long hiss of the swarms seem to ignore the distractions set by Arhan and Kir to reinforce their leader. They crowded around until it was almost impossible for either of the anti-armour teams to get a clear shot.

"Hold fire, target only its back this time. We'll give you that window, so be ready." Both clicked their response to his orders.

Arhan and Kir went up to them exhausted but eager to end this, for they could see that the Demon had been pushed to its limits as well. That's why it called upon its brethren to form a meat shield surrounding it.

Hitoshi chambered more shells into his 12 gauge whilst he observed the new strategy the Demon adopted.

"Kir, old man, how're you doing?"

"Happy you asked, whew!" Arhan wiped the sweat off his back and under his wizard hat. "Never been so lively in years, what a great exercise routine!" He certainly held his own.

"I have a suggestion." Kir's response was different.

"Go on." Hitoshi would hear it, nonetheless.

"It looks desperate. We cannot separate the Demon from its hordes. But the demon can't go anywhere if they hinder it." With its movement already pretty slow and bulky, the swarm insects that were packed around it would further limit its movement at high speeds without trampling over its own minions.

"And?" There was certainly more to what he had to say.

"We can annihilate the swarm while they're in one place, then focus on the demon." What Kir suggested was worthy of his former centurion rank.

"Understood, Arpeggio. We'll need another high-tier flame spell."

"On it, buy me time." She already knew where this was going.

"Arhan, raise some walls to isolate the swarm so we can thin them out without engaging the Demon yet." He relayed over to the senior wizard even as he swarms converged on their position in a swirling hurricane of bugs.

"Consider it done!" He immediately slammed his hand on the ground and raised earthen walls from the ground which disrupted the spiral formation of insects and forced them to follow the confines of the walls.

(boom)

Already blasting away at the insects that approached him one by one, Parna backed him up with superior firepower from her Benelli semi-automatic.

When the walls were overwhelmed, a new sequence of walls popped out from the ground and hindered them once more. The four members other than Arpeggio and Arhan were only concentrated on defending their mages with the blast of their shotguns. A good thirty seconds felt like an hour when Arpeggio took her time to focus her spells, while Arhan casted high-level earth spells with absolute calm that a venerable wizard in Mimosa and Cato's calibre should. But they were running low on 12-gauge shells, as all the incendiary ammo was quickly the first to go, leaving only buckshot left to eviscerate the insects with well placed shots to the vulnerable spots between the neck and torso plating.

"Arrandul Miarafae!"

And just when they were about to expend their last tube of shells, Arpeggio's spell had reached its mark.

A spiral of fire balls spun out from the magic circle around them and cascaded upon the largest concentration of the swarm with each fireball. Underwhelming in size at first, before….

(BOOOOOOOOOOOOM) Just like the Ring of Inferno spell, things were not always as they first appeared.

The fireballs detonated with the force of the most powerful conventional warheads in the military, wiping the swarm that had served the demon loyally for four thousand years off the face of this world. Arhan had the exciting job of raising a earthen barrier that protected them from the blast, it worked but the walls soon crackled like an earthen outdoor oven which felt just as hot around them.

Twenty seconds of inferno they couldn't see due to their proximity and the earth barrier protecting them. But Lancer and Takeo saw it, twelve mushroom clouds exploding around the swarm with the heatwave felt all the way where they were. So destructive, the Demon's scream was not even heard behind the deafening sound of destruction.

With the cold air rushing in, the walls naturally fell apart under the rapid cooling. They were exposed to the charred remains of what was left of the hordes of insects that plagued them since the Fane was opened.

"Marvellous! Fantastic!" Arhan praised the younger mage till her nose grew longer.

"Simultaneous use of the Starbolt spell with amplified power, just incredible!" Yet another basic to intermediate spell that Arpeggio had made on par with a master level spell. However, no Mage could even match the yield that she had dished out. At least, Hitoshi had never seen one that could. If not, the situation of Japan in the Special Region would be very different indeed. For she had roughly laid out enough firepower that matched a barrage of 8-inch batteries.

Hitoshi's eyes were immediately slaved towards the hulking burnt mound that was the Demon who obviously survived such a deadly attack.

"Now." He said over the intercom. The whistle of warheads felt home.

(BOOOOBOOOM) [Yeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaa]

The Demon made a very different sound when the 84mm shells struck its exhaust funnels and exploded from something flammable inside of them, leaving all that remained were burning tubes. Its smog production had been forcefully canceled permanently, freeing the air from its pollutants.

At least, they didn't have to put on those stuffy gas masks again.

"Again!" They couldn't stop now, not while the Demon was still up. The second barrage of warheads arrived and detonated against its front torso. One shell took off a talon, sending it twirling into the air and landing near Hitoshi.

(thump) The Demon crashed onto the ground on its own smoking body riddled with holes and charred exterior.

The air was feeling quiet with anticipation, as he approached the Demon about a few feet away to assert the damage up close. Takeo, Kugel, Lancer and the Volralden with them were already celebrating their vanquishing of the Demon on the intercom and leaving their hideouts.

"Is it dead?" Silwyr asked the million-dollar question from Kir who didn't know the answer despite his strategy working.

(Boom) Hitoshi fired a shot into an exposed section of its armour plate shredded by the HEAT shells of the M2 recoilless rifles. And here, he was worried that their man-portable artillery wasn't enough.

He circled the motionless carcass with caution, determined to not fall for a play dead act twice. Even before he was satisfied, Takeo ran into him with a tackle hug.

"Hell yeah! Demon Slayers, the lot of us!" His over-enthusiasm distracted Hitoshi who seemed to let his streak of paranoia go and walked back to the rest of their group who went around exchanging compliments and praise.

"We really did it…." Silwyr couldn't half-believe what had happened, did they really win?

"We sure did, my lady!" Said the Volralden scout, as he was determined to run off to relay the news to his brethren.

"You did not too bad yourself, Silwyr."

"I did, didn't I?" The Tovonún elf leader had held her own surprisingly well with a shotgun against swarms of enemies.

"Indeed, Lady Rayfael. Surprised me!" Even Kir had moments to be excited about, especially witnessing the last person they expected to fight actually fight. In all the commotion that was happening outside, Elisen had assisted the Apostle out from her limping. Having yet to recover to full strength, she was healing slowly but steadily as the poison was purged from her body.

"You shouldn't be out yet." In that state, Hitoshi wondered why he even cared about the Apostle's wellbeing.

"While you celebrate a victory with out us, I think not." Elisen spoke on behalf of both of them. She did however, maroon the Apostle to move on her own while she shared her congratulations with Silwyr who wasn't really interested in sharing it with her.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Take me to Gweyir." Even in such a state, she still dared to make these demands off him. Yet, Hitoshi felt charitable for the time being even though he knew it was fickle. Carrying her over to the motionless corpse of her friend, the Apostle knelt down in front of it reflecting on what had occurred back in the Fane while those lips of her friend were still moving.

She bent over and kissed the forehead of Gweyir as she used her arm to embrace it.

"She was-." Thinking that a eulogy was in order, he spoke only to be shot down.

"Don't say another word. You were talking to nothing more than a puppet from the beginning, you hardly knew her." In a way, she was right. As she also acknowledged that Gweyir had been under the Demon's influence for so long under her suspicions.

As she said, Hitoshi didn't talk further on the matter as he stood up.

"… For retrieving her body… you have my gratitude." But surprised him with a genuine word of thanks for the trouble which was more than enough for him to leave her to grieve.

As the sounds of the collective voices were no longer gnarling at his head and likely Arpeggio's as well. He could finally relax for the first time in a long while.

He wished that were the case, until something terrible dawned on him early on. There were no voices, that didn't sound right after the second time in ran by his head. There was silence, but no sounds of relief or dread when the finishing blow was dealt. Silence that only happened with he was within the proximity of a Tovonún, but Silwyr was way over where the rest of the party was.

When he looked back to the carcass that should have remained motionless, he saw the titanic beast on its feet again. Silently getting up while they were distracted with celebration.

A blue orb began to form at its abdomen projector limb as he saw it pointed at where the rest had gathered.

"Nooooo!" He raised his shotgun firing at the creature repeatedly until there was nothing left in his gun.

But it wasn't enough to stop the wounded Demon from delivering its revenge upon him by targeting his companions. By the time they noticed what was the cause of the racket, the blue orb of molten death had been catapulted towards their general location. Detonating in their midst and flashing their silhouettes as shadows within its light.

(BOOOOOOOOM) An equally powerful shockwave knocked Hitoshi off his feet tumbling backwards as well as the Apostle.

The Demon had done unto him as he had done to it. Hitoshi had arranged for the destruction of its servants, though undyingly loyal and mindless were still of its kin and its only company for four thousand years of solitude and silence.

So it took those he had considered his friends from him, in one fell swoop.


Trumpet was blow by the Elven Commander Haldur to signal their first successful hold against the crazed hordes within the Elven Palace.

The Municipal Guard roared their victorious cries as they defended the tens of thousands behind their walls. Omitting the tragedy that so many had succumbed to madness before this.

By the second trumpet sound, their Volralden allies had returned with their provisions and surprised them with the recovery of almost a thousand over demi-humans who had not fallen to the madness under their wing. With reports of several thousands barricaded behind their homes against the crazed ones. Apparently not all the High Elves had succumbed to the ailments of madness, a number of which had been devoting their worships to other Gods than and besides the Goddess of the Forest. Thus, had their protection so it seemed.

During their defence and rescue attempts, they had been in awe at the tremendous displays of light and explosions occurring within the Forbidden Zone as well as the deafening sounds, the next louder than the first.

"You've held up, welcome back." The Elven Commander greeted his Volralden associate Volcatts.

"Good to be back. I see that you elves have held the palace on well." On that the Elven Commander nodded.

"The mad ones have been experiencing fits lately, some have even snapped out of their crazed behaviour." He turned in the direction that Volcatts had also guessed.

"Lord Furuta has done something to the Demon. Maybe he is even on the verge of defeating it with Her Majesty and the Apostle."

"I hope so. If not, we really are screwed. And I don't think I could bring the clans over to Alnus in this kind of season." The fellow Volralden clans would freeze and starve to death before they reached the Men in Green fortress to expect charity from the Japanese people.

"Neither could we, how would we rebuild away from this forest? Like House Marceau?" The Elven Commander confided his own anxieties to the Volralden chieftain in a way they would have have done before, and they were starting to realise it too.

"Lord Volcatts, you say that he is Japanese. Is he also their God?" The Elven Commander wondered if the God of Cookery title came from the other world.

"I don't think so, he is very much a mortal. I think he is the same rank as that Dragon Slayer one."

"Itami the Dragon Slayer?" Volcatts nodded, surprised that word had reached this far as well.

"Why the sudden question?"

"Um- oh! Nothing, its just that…. Well, are all the Japanese warriors this formidable?" If these two examples could slay Flame Dragons and beat Gods and Demons, wouldn't that make them at least Demi-Gods?

"I don't know. But he certainly didn't treat himself like one, nor expected us to." The human had a strange down to earth charisma about him that even Volcatts didn't fully understand why he clicked so well with him at the tavern to speak plainly with one another.

"Why? You wanna convert?" Volcatts poked fun at the Elven Commander.

"What?.. N-No, of course not!... I mean-….. is it an option?" Volcatts felt vertigo from the High Elf's uncertain answer. To think that the proud high elves would shed all their self-esteem and pride to even figure worshiping a mortal, what had the world come to.

The elven commander would have explained further but was caught up by the change in weather as well as a rather loud explosion, the loudest yet. Twelve humoungous mushroom clouds that struck awe in those that witness the terrible might of the God of Cookery upon the Demon or the other way around. And just a minute later a blue flash caused a cloud of dust to be blown upwards as well.

Volcatts felt his gut turn from the uneasy silence that followed, even as rainclouds that had formed minutes ago finally unleashed their downpour to wash away the dirt and fatigue. The chieftain of Clan Lupus felt no ease. Something brewed under the first crack of thunder over head as a storm came in and a strong wind shook the branches of the great oak and treants.

Something horrible had happened.

Something horrible awaited him as he was awoken by the raindrops that fell on his face. Recovering his sense, he cradled the concussion he sustained from a pebble that was flung into his head. Wiping away the bloodstain, he got up to his feet and looked up at the devastation wrought upon him. At first, he hadn't fully recovered his thoughts and ran up to the still smoking crater. With every step increasing in speed and heartbeat. The more time that passed as he had yet to find even a member or a body part, the more anxious his heart pounded as he finally reached the indent of a molten crater. A perfect semi-sphere formed from an organic plasma detonation in that general area, but the size of a crater of two columns of car lengths.

"Silwyr…. Elisen… Lancer…. Old man….." But none of these people he murmured were around.

"KUGEEELLLL!... KIIIIIR!... PAAAAAARNA!... TAAKEEEOO!" His cries echoed unresponsively.

"Don't joke with me…" (Rumble) The reply of the thunderstorm overhead determined it was not.

"Don't joke with me!..." But the rain continued nonetheless and soaked him wet.

(thump) His knees collapsed upon the hard pavement floor as he stared into the steaming crevasse that was cooling under the rainfall.

"Hitoshi."

So troubled his mind was, he had accidentally called upon his brother's ghost.

"…. Tell me this is a dream…."

And made him demand he heard what he wanted to hear. But as troubled as the child in tattered clothing who would not get soaked despite the rain, he could not tell a lie that would betray the heart.

"…. Let me wake up…"

"Hitoshi… this is not a dream."

"LEMME WAKE UP!" He yelled in anguish as his head slumped against the hard floor.

"This is reality, they're gone. Hitoshi. All of them."

The child was made to be the harbringer of bad news, even so, it was a reality that his brother must accept for him to move on. There was much he needed to do that he could not let this stop him even momentarily.

"I'm sorry, Hitoshi. But they're not coming back."

These words hit as hard as the lightning that was cast overhead. No matter how he screamed or cried, there was no way to bring them back. Not in this world or on theirs. This was the law of nature, and he must not defy it or he will be threading down the path which Koschei had taken. The one that "that man" had undertaken with the entirety of Orochi. A path in which the God of Destruction lavished in, awaiting his fall into madness, violence and chaos.

(Rumble) The trample of the Demon could be heard from afar approaching as loud as the thunder had boomed.

Its silhouette haunting under the concealment of the darkening sky and reveal under the flash of thunder. The Demon had turned its devastating defeat into a pyrrhic victory in a simple feint that was bought under the tension they'd all faced in its presence thus far.

Granham had awoken long ago but remained in a sub-ready condition to be fighting at a time like this. The Demon's toxins still remained, impeding her recovery abilities and there was nothing she could do about it. But it seemed more interested in reaping its reward in the devastation it brought upon the human, emotionally and mentally. The apostle was silent before the storm that began to brew with every step it took before him.

"No…. I'm the one who's sorry."

Having taken so long to answer back to his phantom, the child was shaken by his response that had no easy means to describe.

"I thought that we could live like them in a world of peace…. That we could leave our past behind us and just…. Move on. But I've been nothing but delusional."

He could already feel the walls of control failing under the pressure that weighed upon it, ready to flood him with only raw emotions.

"Hitoshi, please stop. You know what will happen if you don't."

"What will happen…." Of course, he knew what happens when he loses his sense of control. His conscience and morality that he had worked so hard at to reinforce. To keep the things that had been shackled and locked away within the deepest recesses of his psyche. These were the so-called "living virtues" that Orochi had imparted into him as a child.

Something else besides knowledge, something far more terrifying and cruel that no fellow man could comprehend existed within them. Within his mind, he wasn't alone. In him, in all of them. They carried a part of the past with them, not just the ancient craft and martial prowess of legends or a memory. But the ghosts of the past themselves.

Lving within him was the insatiable and bloodthirsty spirits of Orochi's ancient warriors. Not in a metaphoric sense, as each warrior had done before he or she had let time consume them, they left a portion of their will and personality within these young bodies. Before he had even understood the notion of freedom, Hitoshi was once a deadman walking. A vessel of collective will, a medium that carried every fighting technique and warcraft into the next generation. Some of his brothers and sisters had surcome to the voices in their heads and believed that they were the ancient warriors themselves as they relived these false memories, others simply fell into madness and were subsequently labelled washouts and disposed of. But not him, and not his brother who reminded him who he was each day. Orochi kept no secret manuals of their dark arts, their initiates carried it long after the bearers of this knowledge had left this world. Orochi could never lose its strength so long as there was another generation to pass it onto.

Each initiate like those before him carried the fury of their most ancient warband, the tactics and formulas of the most talented strategists. However, they had in many cases also carried over the lunacy of their most crazed, and the most savage of killers' mentality. That's why no member of Orochi could be considered sane.

His brother's phantom had been there to guide him but had also kept the others from appearing as they were now. As his mind crumbled so did the keys unlock the forbidden boxes within.

A samurai sheathed in kamakura-era armour, a sohei warrior monk bowman, an onna-bugeisha who's only colours were the blood dyed upon her armour as was stained upon her glaive, A boshin samurai who had survived the manslayers, A court lady embroided in an elegant kimono whose whispers had driven men mad with false ambitions and women with grief. A rifleman of navy-blue colours who had slain Cossacks in the dozens, a khaki-uniformed paratrooper wearing the band of the rising sun to signify his death by honorable suicide.

All eight figures that had been herald as saviors, monsters, and unmatched in their time. Each phantom, a head of the serpent marked on his body.

For the last sixteen years, he had built a mental prison for them to be locked away for eternity. Never to be freed again, never to be passed on to another soul. They taunted him, they gloated at his foolish attempts to integrate into a society that had forgotten war. They casted images of his failings every night, haunting him with the recurring nightmares and visions of their hour and of his.

But he had wardened upon them well enough, the prisoners of his mind. Determined to let them die with him without seeing light again. Not ever.

Until now.

"Aha-…ahahahhahahahahhahHAHAHAHHAHAHA…" He could not hold it in, how hilarious it all was. How funny the life he once lived at turned out, as if the life of Hitoshi Furuta had been nothing more than a comedic tragedy. He had to laugh it out, he had to ease the pain that no other inflictions could make and yet it only weakened his sanity further.

In his degrading sanity, the phantoms too leaked their bloody smiles and manevolent snickers at him. He was at the state they'd always said he would show once pushed over the edge enough. At Altera, he nearly fell as well. Holding on to save himself and his companions, but now, they were gone. Taken from him right before his eyes. Eyes that were clouded his vision with red from the crimson blood leaking out of his eyes.

"… Another step, and Hitoshi Furuta will cease to be…." One more step was all they needed to be free and he will have undone everything he had worked so hard to build upon in strength and character. The sensation to fall all at once was too sweet for him to heed the words of his conscience telling him otherwise.

The voices he had been hearing all this time, weren't only the voices of the souls the Demon had taken. He too had voices locked away within him, and the Demon could sense it brewing.

[Eeeeeeeeeeewwwwarrrrrrrrrrhhhhhh!] It let out its triumphant roar amidst the lightning storm to declare that it was king of this domain. To no one else but the pitiful rabble that remained, being an injured Apostle and a Human who had lost his mind could challenge it.

Even in his broken mind, he understood it clearly. The assertion of dominance was the first true animal instinct the Demon had displayed all this while. It was well won over the adversity that had been thrown at it repeatedly, but to him, this display was nothing more than taunt.

(Rumble) The thundercloud overhead had determined that it would remain to oversee the end of the fires. But did nothing more than cause the burning flames to hiss and cast frightening backdrops over ruined structures and corpses laying about throughout the City. Shaking the minds of those who remained.

As it did with Granham, who caught only a glimpse of her former enemy's face. Wearing the most disturbing of expressions to be had after enduring the lost that he had.

A smile in the midst of his grief.

For when the flash passed, he had disappeared from her sight and that of the Demon's. Raising its awareness tenfold at the vanishing of one of its foes.

(BOOOOBOOOM) The Demon unleashed its barrage blue flame orbs at something too hard to see through the heavy rain, but not because of the rain, but of the speed of movement that left even Granham failing to catch it.

[Eeeeeeeeeaaaaawwwwwww](thump)

All she caught was the Demon falling on its back after its appendage that fired those projectiles spun in the air before exploding in a massive blue orb from going critical. At that moment, she caught sight of Hitoshi Furuta only because the blue light of the explosion helped mark his shadow against the floor, figure armed with only a knife. A massive cloud of steam had been caused by the superheated gas evaporation the water droplets, obscuring her view once more. All she was left with were momentary shadows that danced around the Demon's silhouette, never appearing more than a second.

Within the steam fog itself, the Demon received numerous cuts and stabs over the entirety of its carapace. Not inflicting serious damage unless the blade was run through its exposed portions, however its adversary was not concerned about its weakpoints. Although bearing only one remaining talon and several appendages with razor edges that could still pierce and slice a body in half, none of them could reach its opponent. No. That's not right, the Demon was aware that it still had superior reflex and muscle speeds to the human. It could see the human in every move he made in clear vision, from even the slightest turning of his joints to his muscle movement to predict the path which he would take. And yet, why were all its attempts to counterattack were met with failure? As its talon swung in an area that would cut him in half horizontally, his reaction was curling his legs away precisely before it reached, while using the forward momentum to tumbled forward but used his hand to push off and spin him upright again as the same trivial length but unmatched sharpness of his blade cut through its carapace with ease. It was seen as if he was casually dodging such a deadly attack with ease.

(crack) And for the first time when the blade contacted its front-most carapace, its thickest and heaviest portion that had never been penetrated except by shaped charges did it shatter in significant portions. A notion that the Demon could not accept as it frantically tried to tumble its heavy frame to keep it from being struck again. It had not realised that its shell composition was seen comparable to that of tempered glass, an organic ceramic that was grown from one portion during its infancy, a point that if struck with the right amount of force would shatter the whole armoured scale no matter the state it was in.

The essence detection skill that had been frequently used to determine scales of magic usage for him had been specialised once more, by determining the flow of magic saturating the Demon's body to give it strength. Almost like knowing where the meridian points of a body were, the weakest part that could cripple a man if struck properly. He knew how the Demon would move even before it knew.

The Demon stood after its vaulting tumble to face its adversary who had by far hidden his strength all this while with absolute terror and cautiousness.

(Rumble) It's remaining five unflinching eyes stared vigilantly at the figure of the human that had to move from its spot even as the lightning strike had flashed by. In a rare moment of respite, it was met with the unnerving grin that occupied the face of who was opposing it was unnatural movements, two trickles of crimson lining his face from his eyelids as his warpaint that would not be washed by the rain.

[Eeeeeeeewwaaaarrrrr] After affirming itself with confidence with a roar, it spat out its flesh-hook harpoons at the unmoving figure.

In quick succession, those hook-ends were decapitated from its tongue-like appendage and grasped by a hand that held it firmly in place, refusing to allow the Demon to retract what remained of its soft flesh hook appendage. Its opposition twisted his grasp ever so slightly, transitioning pain into the Demon that made it sway off balance in the direction he twisted the soft appendage. Like its tongue was caught in a vice.

Another swipe caused a dash of green blood to burst out of the sliced appendages as he darted forwards in confronting the Demon head on as it screamed in pain. The Demon did not let its momentary agony get the better of it as it raised its talon in anticipation for another attack.

Sheathing his knife instead, he picked up something the Demon hadn't expected him to use.

Its own talon severed by the recoilless rifle shot. Held in both hands of its attacker by the limb, resembling a bony scythe used by none other than the grim reaper himself.

(thang)(thang) As bewildered by his use of its own fallen appendages against it, the Demon swung its own against it. Causing a display of sparks to set off, his swings were just as heavy as the Apostle. However, he suffered from the affliction of the vibrations caused by the impact. Causing his sealed wounds to begin bleeding once more. As the smaller appendages darted and stabbed at him to keep him at arms length, he casually dodged them as he did to the larger talon appendage. Sometimes, he didn't even avoid it, allowing blood to spray out from his cut, allowing himself to get hurt. But not without rewards, for every cut the Demon inflicted upon him, he had shattered more of its outer carapace defense with that same technique.

(Struck) [Eeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrwwwwwwwwww] The Demon screamed as the commandeered talon had finally found its mark, lodged deep into its open carapace where the soft flesh had been exposed. The Demon swatted its talon and managed to catch him in its swing. Sending him somersaulting in the air with a thoroughly broken left arm and cracked ribs.

(thump) His landing was just as hard even though it was upright on his feet. Further agitating his wounds until the stitches had become undone, leading to a pool of blood forming amidst the drizzle ponds around them formed by the craters of the battlefield.

It had left him wounded just as he had wounded it, severe bleeding and the loss of one arm.

Yet the Demon could not shake the visage of the grin that supplanted upon his face, that he was still far from over. It needed to get away from here as far as possible, but only after it had beaten him or at least made him unable to fight anymore. Which would never happen, he would not allow it to escape, even if it cost him his life. He would drag it down to hell with him, if nothing else.

The Demon let out a hiss and its back carapace seemed to open up like a convertible, revealing one feature it had not used for millenia. Fraying out of its outershell were blade-like fans that served to only lift its massive frame off the ground.

Wings.

"… Where are you going…..?"He posed to the Demon who now no longer deserved its title, as it befitted it more to call him the real Demon among them. The Creature of the Fane, let out a droning beat from its wings flapping at astonishing beats, similar to a dragonfly or hummingbird, sending ripples through the puddles forming from the rain as it gained momentum to fly off and live to fight another day. As long as it survived, there was a chance that its terror would return upon the continent.

Yet, the new Demon stepped forwards without sending anything its way, not even preventing it from building height and speed, as it hovered up like a helicopter. For it recognised that he no longer had projectile weapons to fire at it with effect, except throw stones at it.

But it never expected him to raise his index and middle finger towards it as he channelled his lightning attribute through him. Even though his attribute would never extend further than his hand, he didn't need to have it touch the creature in anyway. Only manipulate the polarity of the steel instrument lodged within the creature's sixth eye.

As nature did the rest, the most powerful force in its arsenal.

(Rumble) A flash of lightning that had been poised to strike elsewhere had been draw towards the sword in its eye that had become a lightning rod conductor.

[EEEEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRR]

(crash) From a far, the Apostle saw the creature known as the Envoy trying to escape. Only to be struck down by lightning called by none other than Hitoshi Furuta, or whatever had taken control. Falling from the sky and crashing down upon its own head, the creature had released a scream that was most hideous to hear as it was agonising for it.

(Rumble) A second lightning bolt was released, striking the sword and conducting over a hundred million volts of electricity through the creature. Cauterising its flesh from the inside out.

[EEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWIIIIIIIIIIIRR] Its second cry louder than the first.

And it got worse when the ancient sword which had been converted into a lightning rod had accumulated the lightning energy, thus charging its ancient circuitry into release its flesh-cutting arcs once more.

The creature fumbled on its back as its talon and appendages struggled to pull out the sword that was cutting into its head under gravity.

(Thang) Succeeding in doing so, as it flew into the air and landed before its most feared adversary. Almost as if inviting him to take hold of it to be used against the creature no longer "the Demon".

Which he accepted, with both ruined hands around the pommel. Supercharged by the lightning bolts, arcs of electric danced around him as he felt the current pass through him as well. As it threatened to inflict immense wrath upon him as well, but he ignored the pain running through his extermities and beared with it to wield its raw energies for more than just a moment.

For if he chose to fall into destruction, he should not have to worry about his own survival. He performed the last feat that would ensure that the Dread of Amarel was forever banished from existence by using himself as collarateral. Therefore, he saw no need to add precautions to an act that had been expressively warned to him about the implications it could have on a mage. The sword had more than enough energy from the lightning strike as it purged most of it out, so he would take some. By allowing his meridian points to bathe in the lightning arcs, as it did so, but also numbed his senses from the immense current flowing out of the sword into his body. In just a mere second, his manapool instantly reached the peak maximum. Yet he allowed more to flow into him, until his threshold was had gone over the cap. The current still charged his manapool bring it to newer heights that he would never have imagined had his mind still remained sane. To the point where the lightning attribute danced off his body a few feet from him. But why gather these energies and convert them to mana if he wasn't going to use it?

The creature did not want to find out what he intended to do, even as its wings were ruined by the fall and were burnt away by the bolts of lightning. It begun to dig into the ground with all its might, gaining an inch with every second it burrowed down into the earth.

Raising the two-handed sword with tip towards the escaping creature, he released a manipulation spell. Basic in function, but more versatile that its original manuscript authors had ever imagined it to be. The spell had failed numerous times before when he tried it, with all sorts of backlash as penalty for misusing it. A spell that was oriented around the manipulation of his bio-electric current within his body, in an attempt to accelerate his body reaction speeds. He called it supercharging, however Takeo had affectionately named it after an RPG technique exclusive to the hero protagonist. The memory snapped his senses back to him as the emotion flowed through him. And reminded him that even in death, their memories still had significance in his heart. For if he truly had nothing to lose now, then those memories would fade away into nothing. Something he could never let go. A sigh released him from his episode of insanity and back to reality. That was still that the creature deserved to die for what it did today. Only then could he lay their wandering souls to rest, as the rest within the creature were trapped inside. So in a last act of dedication to the memory of his dear friends, he called it as Takeo called it…

"Limit break!"

Ignoring all precautions to health and safety, releasing all limits to the body to allow raw power to flow through muscle and sinew. Surpassing mortal boundaries at the heavy cost of his physical state.

A burst of static released from his body as blood began to pour more prevalently from his wounds as they also cauterised under the shock. A flash of light transitioned his silhouette over a hundred paces to where the creature had been digging. As a trail of lightning snaked after him in his path.

(BOOOM) An eruption of dirt exploded with the creature flying out of the hole it dug from the kinetic strike that had impacted it horizontally. Pulling out the sword with his only good hand which started to bleed from the forces applied exceeding the extra energy forcefully channelled into his defensive magic aura. Another flash of his silhouette displaced him in the path of the falling creature as the sword was raised to cleave through one of its hind legs, passing through it almost as if melted butter.

(crash) The creature landed with an absent limb that landed somewhere off with a heavy thud from its overall weight. Green blood began to spill out from the wound before the creature could announce the pain flowing through.

The creature rose to its only remaining leg as it limped upright to prepare for the next attack which it was sure would follow, and it did.

As he stood facing the creature head on with the blade in his hand poised to take the head off its shoulders. The only scythe talon it had left parried the heavy blow that left chips on its unnaturally dense scythe blade, yet the sword that he wielded had not gone unscathed either. Having an indent in its blade as well. The creature unleashed a full fury of swings and blows that were met with a counterstrike and parry with every action.

When it swung from the left, he received it from his right quarter while returning his retaliative blow that cut through its flesh with terrifying efficiency. The creature was indeed more resilient than anyone had anticipated, maybe even more than the Flame Dragon who fell to less. Always, his sword came from above in the high guard, slashing down into its flesh where it had no resistance to the blow against it under gravity. And when the creature send an attack of its own, it was his body that moved, not the sword as he displaced his hand and body angle to present different muscles and vectors of attack upon the creature who couldn't disarm him of the blade.

Granham had been nearing her recovery, and yet it didn't seem like it mattered. As she watched Hitoshi Furuta the Demon unleash a fury of swings and stabs that had a discipline to them yet grace through ferocity.

She was witnessing the first ever martial art ever used by the Japanese in combat. An ancient technique that had been ironically used against them by the Ming Dynasty troops against their katana and horses. Taken by Orochi and perfected into a cavalry-slaying greatsword technique suited to the oversized two-hand sword he held under the strain of one hand.

But she had her mind also concluded that who she was witnessing wasn't the God of Cookery, not any longer. But something terrifyingly ancient and wrapped in mysticism that had most certainly been the reason for piquing the interest of the other Gods.

By the time she had done so, the creature was now missing an entire portion of its left torso. Removed with razor precision by an equally precise instrument of warfare which left the creature's response delayed a few seconds before the hurt was felt. The Envoy constantly tried to struggle to its feet as it knew that to fall would leave it completely helpless to the onslaught that was being unleashed by this one vengeful soul that burned its strength away despite being nothing more than a man.

As his sword was arching around his back to deliver a full swing to tear whatever was in the way of it, the creature countered quickly with its battered and blunted out talon.

(Thaaaannngg-crack) Under the enormous stress, the talon had lost its tip in the crossing of blades. While the ancient sword broke outright in half at the mid section, as the creature's talon had won the battle of durability. Yet, he did not stop in his unrelenting assault and picked up the broken half and stabbed it into another of the creature's eyes.

[EEEEWWWIIIIIIIIIIIRR] Damaging the most vulnerable area of the creature once again. As Hitoshi gained distance from the creature.

For there was a shift in the tide once again. His sword had broken while the creature still could slice him with its talon, blunt or not. The creature knew this as well as it straightened itself on the balance of one leg and its appendages.

For a moment, he examined the other half of the ancient sword which Arpeggio had recovered from the site. In its incomplete state, the energy arcs no longer functioned as it should have and instead were doing so in an unstable manner. Accidentally cutting him as well with the uncontrolled arcs, yet the charge was still in it. And Hitoshi was still far from done.

However, he only had one shot now that the limit break skill was almost ending. He had severely wounded the creature not to only to weaken it but to send pulses of electricity like he did on Granham. It mapped out the creature's entire physiology by the nerve stems that transmitted the vital information to its central processing machine. Or in this case, its two brains. As the creature also had no heart but instead six internal furnaces, four of which still functioned. Making this creature more and more alien and comparable to a bio-machine than organism. The brain in its head guided its locomotion as a living killing machine, while the one in its lower thorax wedged between it and the abdomen was where the brain that received information from its sensors governed the rest of its actions and strategies. Its most heavily guarded area that had not been touched even by the shaped charged warheads.

It came down to who struck true, than who struck first. The creature would have multiple opportunities, while he only had one remaining. A fifty-fifty chance of survival. And the creature knew it as well, if it could kill him here right now, it would remain unchallenged for the remainder of its reign of terror on Falmart.

It was do or die. As Hitoshi took the first step forwards. Cheered on by none other than the phantom of his brother, and his own demons. For he had proven that there was always a chance for him to surcome to the madness again if he could stand to lose that much.

[EEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWIIIIIIIIIIIRR]

The creature released one more battlecry before it charged him as well with its scythe talon pointed towards him as Hitoshi's broken sword still poised to strike the creature's core.

Moving in strides like how Granham had under the influence of the self-inflicting skill, he could feel the backlash starting to overcome the numbness as his limit seemed to be reaching but he still pushed on in his charging thrust.

Leaping the final few feet towards the limping creature, the latter reacted first by thrusting out its talon to skewer him in the centre. With the slightest adjustment in his waist, the talon sliced his left torso as it ran past reaching his lower rib. But he had successfully avoided certain death as his blade stayed aligned towards the mental projection of the creature's secondary brain.

Plunging into the front carapace like it was made of an ice sheet, the descent into its thick flesh had drastically slowed him down even as his arm was half-buried into the creature's torso. He could feel a change in the texture of the muscle and flesh being ripped apart as he entered an inner layer that directly protected the brain and even felt the pulse relay the pain back into the creature as it roared the loudest it had ever roared yet.

But he didn't hit the core, he was still short by a few inches.

When he realised it, the creature's talon had stabbed through his leg to throw him away from it. However, he hung on to its exposed muscle fibres causing it just as much pain as he was experiencing.

[EEEEEEEEEIIIIIIIIWWWWWRRRRRRWWEEEEEEEEEEIIIIEEEE-…] The creature was now screaming endlessly that in just short moments to express pain as it sensed its end if it didn't stop him any further.

(zappp)

It was here that Hitoshi did everything to reach that core organ, repeatedly firing pulses of electricity into the creature in its most vulnerable area. It wasn't even a proper spell, just channeling of all of his lightning attribute into attacking the exposed organ, such that lightning arcs were carried throughout the creature's body.

(zaaaappp)

(zaaaaappp)

Even when the effects of the instable arcs of the sword were failing, he transmitted his own mana back into the sword to cut even further. As he struck against something hard but pulsing, it seemed that the brain had a bone structure of its own. Retracting his hand, he added the use of his adamantite blade that struck the pommel of the broken sword embedded within the creature. However, while he had attained that final length of reach through his adamantite blade, his momentum was insuffient to break into it as his skill reached its absolute limit.

Until a hand held onto his wrist, belonging to someone who had that strength.

"Granham….." He exclaimed both surprised and exhausted.

"Let's do this." Her words gave him the strength for the final push as he continually poured his attribute into the pulses that weakened the creature, even if it had also hurt the Apostle as well. However, she endured, just as he had. Roaring out their all into this last push that would overcome this last wall.

"Die already!" He let out a roar as the arcs of lightning dancing from the blades cut through the final layer of defense to its vital organ and pierced it. He twisted the adamantite blade as it was stuck to the ancient sword through magnetism which in turn twisted the sword within the brain spelling the end for the creature who let out its very last bellow in yet another vocalisation.

[OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWwwww-….]

As the cry died down, so did the glow in its eyes. Turning this thirty-foot monstrosity into nothing more than a standing motionless carcass.

(crash)

It fell upon its back, never to threaten any life of the continent ever again.

The Demon of Amarel, had finally been slain.

And to differentiate this moment from the time it had feint death, a burst of ethereal energy leapt out from its core like a ruptured dam, sending both him and the Apostle flying back. An unnatural light shone out from it into the stormy sky, like a ghastly searchlight. And what happened next was the rainfall stopped, and something else fell in its place.

"Snow….?" The clouds were filled with thousands of luminescent drops that shone like stars upon the City. As all the fighting ceased to be when the last of the maddened High Elves had regained their sanity but lost their consciousness from fatigue. The inhabitants who had held out against the chaos came out of their shelters to witness this strange phenomenon. A pillar of blue light and the falling of twilight. Harmless but carried with it a sudden sensation of relief.

"What is that sound?"

The inhabitants all heard the sounds of talking in the silence.

"… Sounds like….. people….."

And not just people, but souls of the past. Of everyone ever taken by the Envoy creature to fuel its reign of terror. Finally freed from their imprisonment and torment to pass on and watch over their families until they were content to leave.

Hitoshi lay on his back with Granham, as if stargazing at the brilliant display of stars. Each representing the soul who had been lost but now liberated. And as they floated down and into the earth, they shared their eternal relief and gratitude to those that had made it so.

-Thank you-…..-Bless you-…..-Praise be to the Gods-…. -May our fortune be with you-…

"I hear it….." The Apostle exclaimed.

"Yeah." He heard it too, the screams of eternity were now blessings of relief that no longer tormented his mind as it used to. Or at least it should have been, had he not loosened the shackles he placed upon the phantoms. Still it was a better deal compared to the thousands of deceased souls who were now released from their entrapments.

[Bless you, child.]

Just as he thought about it, they weren't the only ones who were released from their imprisonment.

"…. Mother Wareharun…." Granham correctly identified who had been but a whisper amongst the sea of tormented voices he heard since he arrived in Amarel. The tiniest voice who had guided him towards the Forbidden Zone to investigate, to oppose Gweyir's offer while she had been possessed. The Goddess of the Forest had been the one to guide him to Victory. But at what cost?

"Urgh-… Wareharun's bosom…." The noise of someone who was not Granham caught their attention as they rose from their lying down and turned to where the High Priestess of Wareharun had awoken despite previous assumption.

"How-….." Even the Apostle couldn't believe it as she rose to her feet to reach her.

"Um-… Granham!" The priestess called out to her disregarding the filthy state that she was in lying within a puddle of dirt and soil.

"You-… Uwahh?!" Before she said another word, she was already in her embrace. Hugged tightly by the Apostle as if there was nothing more important in this world despite her vows of celibacy still retained. It was moments like this that not even Hitoshi could fault her for despite the friction they had with each other. Even though she stood for things that he openly disliked and could not stand for, Granham was still "human" behind those perfect eyes. This was the so-called weakness of all Apostles that Rory had once told him. But really, wasn't that a weakness of all living beings, animal or intelligent life?

This moment of momentus joy was however a silent one for Hitoshi. For after vengeance comes the emptiness that followed it, a feeling that he had attained when his brother chose to save him at the expense of his own life. And now, he had to wrestle with these feelings once again.

Silwyr, Lancer, Elisen, Arpeggio, Kugel, Kir, Parna, Takeo. While some, he had only known briefly had their endearing qualities as all he met had. Some did perish to old age or natural cause, however this was entirely on him. He had promised Silwyr to protect her, as he had to Kenzaki over Riku. Arpeggio, a sorceress was unlimited potential like her sister. Kugel, a forgemaster with promise and stoic humour. Kir, they had been through many challenges together as one of the few he trusted wholly. Parna…

He realised that his eyes became damper by the moment.

The girl who had desperately tried to find her courage and found it. Takeo… he shouldn't have been the one to perish! But fate had a lousy hand at defining his road, cruel and humourless. There was a girl waiting for him, and now he would have to face her eternal resentment and fury as he rightfully deserved. Hitoshi understood that the walk back to the Albatross where Umazu awaited him would be a long and heavy one, but this was his punishment for his failure.

"I'll accept it….." He said to the child who's worries were washed from his face as he vanished until such time when Hitoshi needed him again. Even though his heart weighed heavily, he would still carry the burden as he should. There was a dream that was his, there was also a woman's hope in him returning safely. He couldn't let down either of these wishes while he stood and had breath in his lungs.

Hitoshi turned away from the two elves expressing their joy and relief that they were okay. He might have fulfilled Granham's wish but had left both the City and the refugees without their leaders and only to beg for their forgiveness. The road was rocky indeed.

As he walked up to the carcass of the thing that had caused everyone so much grief. He dug his hand into its cauterised remains to retrieve his knife and the ancient sword that had helped him greatly. With no forgemaster to help identify its properties, he would have to head to the Dwarven Capital itself to get it checked. Once again, reminded of his own failings, he bit the bullet and soldiered on.

After all, he had done so sixteen years ago. He will have to do it again. Amarel had taken more than he had ever hoped and left him with little to nothing other than a bitter moment. But as hard as it sounds, it was moments like this that would make him stronger and prevent history from repeating.

That's what his brother believed when he rebelled. That's what he believed as well.

(crumble)

The sound of cracking pacement caught his and the Apostle's ear as they jumped to their feet and faced the moving adversary. Underneath the crevasse, created by the creature's plasma attack began to crack apart and raise out in a falling mound of rock and dirt.

"Gweyir, stay back!"

Granham immediately went into full alert as there was yet another threat that had hidden underground all this while. Another "Demon", or just another giant insect that had managed to survive the fallout and battles that occurred here waiting for its chance to escape or strike while they were weak. Hitoshi felt a rising hatred for these wretched creatures as their tenacity to survive was almost second to none.

(BOOM) The top most lay of the rising mound blew off, sending debris raining down upon them.

"Puaahhh! It's all muddy!" A familiar ditzy voice complained about the soil conditions after their departure.

"Better than searing heat just now." Another voice he recognised affirmed that the latter conditions were better than the former.

"I could barely breath in there!" A lilac individual gasped for the fresh air that was available to her.

"And it was very tight." Another person added to the complains department.

"Still not the worst compared to Takeo's idea." A name was mention that he had not ever imagined would be addressed to the individual directly again.

"What! What's wrong with playing cards?"

"The very idea itself." The High Elf Queen's patience had run incredibly thin.

"Criticise! Criticise! That's all you non-mage folk are good at! I made bent the earth to protect us! I sunk the earth and reinforced it so the monster would think we're dead! I've had it with you young ones! I'm out! You can take care of the Demon yourselves-…. Wuuuaahh!?" The extremely incessed wizard turned to leave, only to bump into the carcass of the creature he mentioned already destroyed.

"It's dead?" Parna's unnatural calmness caught their complete attention to the fallen demon as it lay in a smoking ruin, burnt from the inside out.

Takeo was the first to spot him amidst their debates on how the creature had finally fallen with a few arriving to consensus that Furuta had likely taken care of it for them. Takeo was only glad to see that he was alright, if standing with one arm broken and bleeding from all parts was considered alright.

Hitoshi could only stare with disbelief, as if his eyes deceived him or some illusion was being played before him by the Apostle. But Granham had nothing to do with it, even if she had the power to do so, she would only give respectful condolences as was deserving for his strength and courage.

"Uh-… we can explain." He approached him scratching his head awkwardly as to own up for a fault that he committed.

"Arhan refused to let us out." Parna spoke plainly.

"I have only so much patience, young miss! I save you all from a gigantic fireball of death and all you do is constantly complain and ostracise my work! There was no telling if it could shoot us again if we popped out, s-so…. We waited till things died down." Arhan had sort of admitted he was afraid to come out where the creature's awesome arsenal would unleash upon them like a game of whack-a-mole.

"But looks like boy'o handled it just fine even without us. Duncan's beard, are your family jewels made of adamantite too?" Kugel made an unnecessary joke at a time like this.

"So, if you're mad at anyone-…" Takeo continued on before being interrupted by Lancer.

"Blame the old man."

"That's it! Come here, you pest!" Arhan murmured some spells as he chased after Lancer who was exercising his legs after being trapped for so long in a confined space.

"Ahahahhahaahhaha-…." The act had Hitoshi snickering at first before breaking out into full on laughter. Despite the jokes and humour not being as funny as it seemed. So humoured that he collapsed on his feet and cradled his cheeks with hands from his jaw starting to hurt.

And then, the wetness from his eyes impeded his ability to laugh any further. Forced his laughter out behind the tears that wouldn't stop falling, it just didn't seem natural. So he just let out the pain, the horrible pain that had strickened his heart, had now been given such a relief. Silencing the phantoms who sought to overcome his mind and spirit with a very true and simple fact.

His friends were alive. And this was a reality.

He didn't care if the dirt that caked his smiling face made him look ridiculous with the fluids running from his eyes and nose. Or if they made fun of him the whole journey for such an occurrance. Fate had indeed a cruel prank on him this time, but even so he was grateful that at least this time….

He could still hear their voices.


Author's Notes:

At last, it's over. Now to close up with them leaving and the happenings in Ascension next chapter. Also, please visit my profile page to cast your vote. Very important turning point for the story. And for those fighting the Coronavirus from your homes, school and work, fight on!