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-CHAPTER START-

Realm RSH-12

After splitting up from Ren's party, Team Jedi planned to make their way back toward the capital to drop off some cargo they'd been hired to transport. As they headed back to the nearby village after a minor monster-slaying mission, they chanced upon a clearing in which several wild filolials were gathered around a ~10-year-old girl with bluish-purple hair held in two long pigtails, wearing a frilly blue & purple dress with white ruffles. The filolials, startled by sensing the party's approach, scattered and fled.

"Those birds look… yummy…" Filo whispered hungrily.

"F-Filo-chan… Those are your own kind…" Raphtalia tried to explain.

"S… So big…" the little girl was looking up, starry-eyed, at Filo's huge & fluffy avian form. "You're… a queen-subtype Filolial?"

"Yep!" Filo chirped.

"Y-You can talk?! …So cool~… Um…" She reached into her dress pocket, pulling out what looked like jerky. "I have some dried meat; would you like it?"

"Food!" Filo cried happily, stepping forward and taking the offered treat.

"So, Filo's made a friend" Chantez remarked.

"Is she from the village, maybe?" Ahsoka wondered.

"Not with that fancy dress" Naofumi replied. "She's probably a noble's daughter."

"So your name is Filo?" the girl asked the bird.

"Mm!" Filo nodded. "Papa named me when I hatched. Who are you?"

The girl straightened up and curtsied. "My name is Melty."

"…Mel-chan, then!"

The girl's smile brightened. "Filo-chan!"

"Melty…" Ahsoka murmured, eyes widening as she recalled what Ren's party had told them. "Would you, perhaps, happen to be from the Melromarc royal family?"

Melty looked stunned. "…Y-Yes. I am the second-born princess, and heir apparent to the throne. Um…"

It was then that she noticed the disgust and anger suddenly radiating off Naofumi, whose shield had changed to a spike-lined form. She gasped as she realized she was looking at the Shield Hero. Then, the old man put a hand on Naofumi's shoulder.

"Easy!" Master Kota commanded. "Use your head, boy! Don't you remember what Ren and his party told us? The Queen and the little 'Second Princess' here are on our side! Besides, use your senses! She doesn't feel anything like her wicked relatives, now does she?"

"… …No" Naofumi admitted. "She feels nothing like them. Her presence feels bright, pure, innocent – nothing like her older sister or father. And I remember what the axe-guy said."

"She's really pure…" Ahsoka muttered. "I don't sense any darkness at all. …Could she be one of the New Seven Princesses of Heart?"

"W… What do you mean, nothing like my family?" Melty asked. "…What have they done?"

Knight Marek stepped forward. "The King's racist hatred of demihumans led him to automatically hate the Shield Hero on principle due to the history of Shield Heroes being considered divine champions for demihumans. He's done everything he can to make everything harder for us, making things exponentially more difficult for Naofumi at every turn, making unfair judgments against him in any sort of argument or conflict, refusing to pay him a single coin for his work in saving the damn world… But the real problems come from the fact that shortly after the Cardinal Heroes were summoned, Princess Malty falsely accused Naofumi of raping her, for her own sick amusement. And she's got the vast majority of the country believing it, including the King. She's also thoroughly turned the Spear Hero against us."

"…She WHAT?!" Melty shrieked, horrified and outraged. "They… Father's supposed to be smart! How could he let his stupid racism and his blind devotion to Older Sister twist him like this?! And Malty… Damn it all, I can't believe she would do this to a Cardinal Hero! Is she that callous and shortsighted?! If Mother-" Melty went pale. "O-Oh Gods… Mother is going to kill them! She's already very angry over Father's stubborn adherence to his racism, and over his causing a diplomatic incident by summoning all four Heroes to Melromarc. But when she finds out he's been mistreating the Shield Hero, treating him with blind hatred, and about Malty doing… this… Father's bitterness and hate and Sister's sadistic selfishness have always caused problems for Mother, but this is so far beyond the pale… She's going to disinherit them, or even murder them!

"…Sir Shield Hero! Please! Take me back to the capital! I have to do damage control – try to talk some sense into my stupid, stupid Father!"

"We were already going to head that way for a cargo delivery mission" Raphtalia replied. "I don't see why we can't give you a ride."

Melty took deep breaths. "T-Thank you…"

"It's not all bad" Chantez spoke up. "We've got the Sword Hero and his party on our side. Though, the Bow Hero is an arrogant glory hound who only seems to care about gaining prestige, and what's worse is that he hides it behind fake humility. But any decent empath can sense his true self clear as day."

"And the Spear Hero is a fight-happy womanizer who's totally enthralled by your sister, convinced that she's the perfect woman who can do no wrong and believing every single thing she says…" Naofumi said with disgust.

The younger princess let out a long, tired, exasperated sigh. "So, we've got two Cardinal Heroes with their heads on straight, at least…"

"We've got to report to the villagers about our completion of their latest mission. In the meantime, you and Filo can play together if you want. You're a princess, but you're also a child, so you should get to relax and play when you can."

"Yay!" Filo cheered, and then with a puff of smoke she assumed her winged human form. "Let's go play, Mel-chan!"

"Y-You can transform into a human, too…?" Melty was shocked. Then, an innocent little smile returned to her face. "Okay!"

-Break-

Over the next couple days, Team Jedi – plus Melty – made their way back toward Melromarc's capital. Along the way, they explained to Melty more details of everything that had happened, as well as a basic explanation of the Dimensional Defense Force. Upon reaching the capital, they split up – Melty to confront her father, Naofumi, Raphtalia, & Filo to deliver the mission cargo and then do some shopping, and Kota, Marek, Ahsoka, & Chantez to scout around and listen for any noteworthy news.

After delivery, the shopping trip started out mostly uneventful, Naofumi's group buying some wares to stock up on food. Suddenly, warned through the Force, Naofumi leapt back just as a spear strike stabbed into the ground where he'd been standing.

"Naofumi!" Motoyasu snarled. "How dare you take another slave?! And such an innocent little beautiful angel-girl, at that!"

Before Naofumi could say anything, a Wind spell from Filo blew Motoyasu away, just as Malty and a squad of royal knights arrived on scene.

"Don't hurt papa!" she shouted.

Motoyasu groaned as he got to his feet. "…Papa? …Naofumi, did you adopt this girl from somewhere?"

"I was the first thing she saw when she hatched," Naofumi replied, "so she imprinted on me."

Motoyasu laughed after a second. "Hatched? What, did nobody tell you where babies come from? I mean, the only member of your little squad who'd hatch is that huge fat bird! Hey, where is it?"

In response, Filo transformed into her filolial form, making Motoyasu's (and everyone else's) jaw drop.

"Filo hates Spear Guy!"

"F… Filo-chan… You were that fa-"

The angry bird's kick shattered the metal codpiece Motoyasu had recently bought, hurling him into the air to crash into a hay cart.

"The… The giant bird can turn into a little girl…" Malty murmured, still stunned. "What even…"

As a few of the accompanying soldiers rushed to Motoyasu's aid, Naofumi sighed and turned to the merchant he'd been purchasing from, leaving an extra tip for having to put up with all this nonsense. "Let's get outta here" he told the girls. "We've got more places to shop, anyway."

-Break-

While at the blacksmith's shop for new gear, Naofumi discovered that Raphtalia and Filo were at their Level Caps and both ready for their "Class-Ups", which could be performed at any Dragon Hourglass. However, they soon discovered that a royal decree had barred the Shield Hero and anyone in his party from using Melromarc's Dragon Hourglass for any purpose.

Beloukas, the slave merchant, told Naofumi about the other major countries' Dragon Hourglasses, recommending they head for Shieldfreeden, a demihuman nation friendly towards humans. Unfortunately, getting there would take longer than the amount of time left until the next Wave. At least the man sold them a fancy new set of talons for Filo's bird form before he sent them on their way…

Also, a small group of knights and mages requested to join Team Jedi, explaining that they were all from Lute Village and wanted to repay Team Jedi for saving their homes & families by lending them their strength. To test their loyalty and commitment, Naofumi told them to pay 150 silvers, and the group left to scrounge up those funds.

In the meantime, Naofumi continued on delivery, medicinal, and monster-killing quests, building up more goodwill with the people in the process. When they stopped by a ruined village, however, they were met by a group of destitute people begging for food, offering to trade what little they had. The team set up an "emergency kitchen", putting together something basic to sustain the people, and asking what the hell happened around here. Apparently, Itsuki had helped a revolution topple a king of a kingdom to the north who'd been taxing his subjects heavily, beyond what they could manage to afford. At first things were well, but then the revolution that had taken charge started taxing people just as heavily, if not more-so, this time explaining why: the money was needed to actually run and defend the country. These people couldn't afford to pay the taxes and feed themselves, and a famine had kicked in, resulting in scores of refugees fleeing the stricken country. More than half of the refugees had already died of starvation or disease, and word had it the kingdom itself was on the brink of complete collapse.

"That glory-hound idiot didn't think things through…" Naofumi growled under his breath. "He didn't even stop to think about why the taxes were so high…"

"If the kingdom couldn't afford to keep itself running without taxing its people beyond what they could handle paying," Chantez wondered aloud, "does that mean the kingdom was doomed to break even without the revolution making things worse?"

"Our kingdom was supposedly planning on asking Melromarc or Faubley for financial aid," one of the refugees replied, "but the revolution killed the king before he could do so…"

"We're heading back to Melromarc's capital soon" Master Kota said. "We'll pass on a report on the situation while we're there."

-Break-

When they got back to the capital, the first thing Master Kota did was request a meeting with King Aultcray, in which he showed the man a detailed report on the situation. Despite his feelings for the Shield Hero's team, the King couldn't deny the severity of the crisis presented to him, and swore to deploy relief efforts & supplies to the stricken kingdom's people & refugees immediately, as well as to admonish the Bow Hero for his shortsightedness the next time he saw him.

Elsewhere in the city, the team from Lute came to Naofumi with the promised 150 silvers, and he told them to use it to buy themselves some better weapons & equipment, accepting them into the party and bringing them in for a strategy meeting. The next Wave was 23 hours away…

-Break-

Finally, the day of the Wave came. In the final minutes, Naofumi gifted Raphtalia with a bracelet enchanted to speed up her spellcasting, and Filo with a hairpin enchanted to boost her agility. Soon, the sky darkened into a psychedelic hellscape, and Team Jedi & their Lute-native allies were mass-teleported to the area of the Wave of Catastrophe.

Finding themselves near a village, the squad immediately got to work protecting & evacuating civilians. They were aided in this unexpectedly by an old woman whom Naofumi had treated the illness of some time back, revealing herself to be a retired veteran Pro Adventurer whose chi-augmented martial arts allowed her to easily bulldoze through any monsters that tried to attack or obstruct her.

After over three hours of fighting, however, the Wave showed no signs of ending. "What are those idiots doing?" Naofumi wondered. "We can't keep this up indefinitely."

"Sir Naofumi!" the young Knight named Ake spoke up. "We can hold things here. Go and help the other Heroes take out the enemy leader and end this Wave!"

"Are you sure?" Naofumi asked.

"Just get a move on, sonny!" the old adventurer said with a grin. "These sprouts and I can handle ourselves long enough for you and the others to end this mess."

Nodding, Naofumi and Raphtalia climbed aboard bird-form Filo, who took off at blistering speed toward the nearby mountains, where flashes of explosions could be seen from the other side; the Jedi followed in their wake, the Force boosting their speed and stamina, though they would end up a few minutes behind the core trio (Filo was fast).

Soon, as they neared the foot of the mountains, the sounds of small explosions could be heard. Then, something massive emerged flying high in the air between the two closest mountains: a massive sailing ship floating in the air, its tattered sails flying, multiple rents in its dark wooden hull from which emerged tentacles tipped with fanged maws. Scaling the mountain brought Naofumi's group to where Itsuki and his party were peppering the ship with ranged attacks.

"Where are the others?" Naofumi asked.

Itsuki frowned at Naofumi's presence, but stayed on track. "Aboard the ship" he replied.

"Then that's where we're headed. Filo!"

The giant bird in question easily ferried Naofumi & Raphtalia all the way up onto the ship with a mighty leap. On the deck, Ren & Motoyasu and their parties were fighting a band of skeleton pirates and a group of kraken tentacles, with Ren dueling the pirate captain and Motoyasu jabbing at the largest tentacle. Amongst Ren's group, Naofumi caught sight of Wyndia, now at the physical maturity level of a 14- or 15-year-old girl rather than the prepubescent child she'd appeared as when he last saw her. He watched as Ren finally cut down the skeleton pirate captain, only for the monster to spontaneously respawn several seconds later.

"What are you people doing?!" he shouted as he leapt down into the fray. "Why haven't you taken out the enemy Boss yet?! The village can't hold out forever!"

"We've been trying!" Ren replied. "But no matter how many times I kill this thing, the boss won't spawn!"

"That's because you're going for the wrong target!" Motoyasu snapped. "We have to kill the kraken to make the boss show up!"

"Obviously, you're both mistaken!" Naofumi cut in. "So stop with the tunnel-vision and try to find the real way to bring the boss out!"

One of the kraken tentacles lunged at him, only to run face-first into his shield, stunning it and allowing Wyndia to chop the snake-like thing's "head" off. However, after a few seconds the mouthed tip regrew, snapping at them again. As he leapt back, Naofumi noticed something.

"Raphtalia! Cast a Light Flare spell!"

Though confused, Raphtalia did as she was told, incanting and casting an orb of bright light. In the resulting glare, the shadows of the krakens and pirate captain darkened… revealing glowing red eyes in them.

"The shadows!" he shouted.

Ren moved first, stabbing his sword down into the skeleton pirate captain's eyed shadow, which shrieked and began to emit a rising jet of whitish mist up into the air. Motoyasu followed suit, jabbing his spear's tip into the kraken's shadow and getting the same result. As the pseudo-bosses keeled over, finally inert, many more masses of mist emerged from within the ship, all coalescing overhead. Itsuki and his party finally joined the party, looking up at the growing spectral mass overhead.

"Soul Eaters?" Malty said with shock. "And… they're merging?!"

The lesser Soul Eaters finished joining together, taking the form of a huge white creature, its body wreathed in dull-purple misty flames, a pair of arms tipped with huge claws and no rear limbs to speak of, a roughly diamond-shaped head with a wide mouth full of loosely spaced fangs, two black-sclera eyes with a vertically-aligned third white-sclera eye on the forehead – the Dimensional Soul Eater.

"There we go" Naofumi said. "Now we can get to work."

"This thing's Defense stat is pretty high" Itsuki observed. "Probably gonna take a while to kill…"

Motoyasu made the first strike, a Thunder Spear lashing out, followed suit by a Lightning Arrow from Itsuki and a Thunder Slash from Ren. The electric attacks crashed into the Dimensional Soul Eater's bone-white hide, but did little in the way of damage. The beast snarled, swiping its claws at Itsuki and his party as they dove out of the way. A fireball to the face from Malty forced the monster to close its central eye, but it hissed and swiped at her with its tail, and she hit the deck to barely dodge. The beast lunged at Naofumi, but he hit it with a Force Push that cracked one of its teeth and knocked it off-course to slam into the ship's mast, the old cursed timber cracking slightly but holding steady.

Naofumi and Raphtalia were about to draw their weapons, when suddenly a bright light flared atop the floating ship's crow's-nest. A second later, a storm of yellow energy bolts shot down, impaling into the Dimensional Soul Eater from above, hammering it down. The beast shrieked, bloody rents opening in its ghostly flesh, and it collapsed to the deck, twitching. Then, a figure leapt down, landing feet-first on the monster's head, and the beast disintegrated into motes of dust and light.

"So, these are the Cardinal Heroes of this world? How weak."

The interloper was a woman, clad in a midnight-blue kimono with white accents, long black hair framing her pale face and bright-red eyes. She was clutching a pair of metal folding fangs which looked like they were made of blades.

"From what I have seen so far," she said, "only one of you has his head on straight, though the Sword Hero is trying a little harder than his fellows… Shield Hero, what is your name?"

Naofumi frowned. "Isn't it rude to ask someone's name before introducing yourself?"

The woman chuckled. "Very well. My name is Glass."

"…Naofumi – family name Iwatani. What is your business here?"

"Sir Naofumi… You'd best prepare yourself. I am an enemy of this world's Cardinal Heroes. The true battle of this Wave begins now!"

She opened her fans, displaying the razor edges. In response, Naofumi drew his weapon from his belt and activated it, and Motoyasu, Itsuki, & their parties stared in wonder at their first look at an active lightsaber, the vibrant blue blade lighting up the deck, humming softly as Naofumi held it at the ready. A moment later, another snap-hiss rang out as Raphtalia activated her lightsaber, taking a stance turned sideways with the yellow blade held parallel to her eye level, blade tip pointed at their new foe.

"Intriguing" Glass remarked.

Motoyasu and Itsuki, slighted by being ignored, fired Meteor Shot and Meteor Thrust attacks at Glass, and Ren followed up with a Meteor Slash. However, Glass appeared to be completely unharmed, not even moving from her spot. Then, with a wave of one of her fans, she released a torrent of energy that blew the other heroes' parties every which way across the deck and battered the three heroes, leaving them barely conscious.

Eyes widening slightly, Glass brought one of her fans up just in time to block a strike from the side, Raphtalia's yellow lightsaber blade being halted by the enchanted weapon. Raphtalia gritted her teeth as she used Force-augmented strength to push against Glass' guard, the lightsaber crackling as it was pushed harder against the enchanted fan. Naofumi came in from the other side, the two young Jedi pressing against Glass' guard from both sides.

After a few seconds, Glass twisted free and launched Raphtalia back with a kick, and then advanced on Naofumi, making fast and deadly swipes with her bladed fans. Naofumi went on the defensive, the Force guiding his movements to block and parry Glass' attacks as he gave ground. Then, as Naofumi suddenly leapt back, Glass barely brought her weapons up in time to block a falling strike from Ahsoka as she finally caught up and joined the fray, the young Jedi's twin green lightsabers coming down with such force that blocking them almost brought Glass to her knees. Ahsoka flew into a flurry of strikes, and Glass was put on the defensive as she was pressed at by a more skilled & experienced (and stronger & faster) Jedi than either of the Padawans she'd just crossed blades with.

The other three Cardinal Heroes and their parties watched in awe as the three Jedi squared off with the mysterious hostile interloper. Suddenly, however, there was a howling sound, and with a burst of white a second Dimensional Soul Eater emerged from inside the ship – a little smaller than the first one, but still big and nasty-looking. But then, before they could get ready to fight it, another figure leapt onto the deck. The beast snarled and lunged at the new arrival, only for Knight Galen Marek to grab the spectral beast with the Force and, with a twisting wrenching motion with both his hands, telekinetically snap its neck. The Dimensional Soul Eater dropped like a rock and fell to the deck floor, and then Marek ignited one of his blue lightsabers and stabbed the beast through the forehead, killing it. He then readied his blades and rushed at Glass, whose eyes widened in instinctive fear as he emitted his sheer 'presence' through the Force, enabling her to sense just how powerful he was.

Leaping back, Glass waved her fans to release a storm of deadly golden mana bolts, but the Jedi all moved their lightsabers with supernatural precision, guided by the Force a split-second ahead of time, deflecting each & every bolt that would have hit them and totally ignoring the ones that would have missed no matter how close they came. Glass was suddenly grabbed by the Force from behind and tugged backwards, flying through the air toward where Master Kota was standing, his green lightsaber ignited and ready for a Pull-assisted stab. However, Glass spun while releasing Wind magic, creating a whirlwind that pushed off off-course and made Master Kota stagger, though he did manage to leap away to dodge her counterstrike.

Glass shifted one of her fans to a dagger-like form, and then held the other over it and slowly pulled back, like drawing an invisible crossbow. Both fans glowed with bright purple light as power built up, and when she 'released', a brilliant bolt of powerful destructive magic shot forth. Instinctively, Naofumi brought his shield to bear, even though the big drop in Defense that resulted from the Shield Spirit's influence being sealed away meant he wouldn't be able to withstand a direct hit, but he held the shield at enough of an angle that the energy bolt was deflected up & away, the transferred force knocking him on his ass.

Then, the floating ship began to rumble and list, losing altitude. Glass frowned as she looked up at the kaleidoscopic sky, which was beginning to fade in color – the Wave's time limit was almost up. She flung a wave of energy blasts at Motoyasu, Itsuki, & Ren, only for the Jedi to again intercept and deflect the shots, and Knight Marek then hit her with a Force Lightning-infused Force Push "cannonball" that knocked her end over end, tumbling across the deck. He and Master Kota then charged at her from the front & behind, only for the woman to leap high up onto the crow's nest.

"You were fortunate this time, Cardinal Heroes of this world" she proclaimed. "But when next we meet, your psyker allies won't be able to protect you. You can try to get stronger by then, but I doubt it will make much difference. I will do what I must. We will kill you…"

Glass then floated up into the air, and then vanished in a burst of yellow light, teleporting out. Seconds later, the sky lurched, the hellish skyscape vanishing as the regular blue sky returned. The floating ship continued to fall, drifting towards a nearby mountaintop, and everyone bailed out quickly just before it crashed into the rocks.

In the aftermath, Naofumi harvested materials from the intact dead Soul Eater, creating the Soul Eater Shield… which was, of course, locked from him by his petulant restrained Shield Spirit.

'That woman…' he thought. 'She said "we"… Does she mean herself and the monsters of the Waves, or does she have other human cohorts? We're gonna have to get our asses in gear and get stronger; from what I could sense, if she went all-out she could steamroll over all four of us at our current levels. …Tch, as if Motoyasu and Itsuki will start taking things seriously any time soon. Ren & I are gonna have to work ourselves to the bone to pick up their slack…'

-CHAPTER END-

I got all the way up to finishing the brief confrontation in the marketplace, on March 1st, before my computer crapped itself, and it wasn't until April 1st that everything was finally back in place enough for me to resume work on this chapter.

Next Time: giving the King an after-action report, and shadowy enemies begin to make their moves…