Welp, this took way too long to get out. School has been kicking me in the butt, so I've been really on and off with working on this one.
"Wait... You guys..." Kazuma was at a loss for words.
What the hell was going on? Why were they here?
"Hello Kazuma." Megumin simply said with a smile.
"KAZUMAAAAA!" Aqua cried out as she ran at Kazuma, jumping at him to tackle him into a hug, but Kazuma stepped to the side to avoid the tackle, making her fall to the ground.
"Why did you dodge?!" Aqua cried out.
"Like hell I'm gonna let you tackle me like that." Kazuma deadpanned before he realized what was going on.
"Wait! Why the hell are you guys even here?!" Kazuma shouted, confused as hell.
"We came looking for you!" Aqua said as she got up from the ground, brushing off the dirt on her clothes.
"Wait wait wait, you came all the way here?!" Kazuma exclaimed.
"That's correct, we travelled all the way from Axel to this city in search of you Kazuma." Darkness said as she joined the group.
"Kazuma! It's a relief to see you again! I was so worried when I heard that you ran from the imperial knights." Wiz said.
"R-right, good to see you too Wiz..."
Kazuma was still in a state of shock as he was trying to understand just what was going on. Before he could even process everything that was going on, the dragon that was hit by Megumin's explosion started to stir. It stood up on it's legs before it started flapping its wings and gaining some air. Anak emerged at the top of the dragon, both clearly injured from the blast, but Anak managed to block out the majority of the damage. However, he was in a foul mood.
"You... You... YOU BASTARDS! Just when I about to kill this fool, more show up!" Anak shouted.
"Sorry, but we can't let you do that! We came all this way to find him, we're not gonna let you kill him that easily!" Megumin said as she pointed her staff at Anak.
"Fine, then no more holding back. Everyone, focus on them!"
The rest of the bandits turned their heads towards the reunited group
Any that were on the ground ran towards them, while some rode on griffins to attack from the air.
"Man this guy is something else... I have a bunch of questions for you lot, but I guess it will have to wait until after all this. Just this once, will you guys work with me again?" Kazuma asked as he readied his sword.
The girls each had a big smile, even if things seemed a bit tough, they were reunited with their leader once again, save for Wiz who was happy for the girls.
"Yes!" They all said together before they each took their positions.
"Kazuma, since it has been a long time, you should know I am not the same crusader you once knew who was useless in a fight. I am now capable of striking down enemies." Darkness said.
"The same can be said for me! I realized the errors of my ways, I learned other spells so that I can be of more use!" Megumin said.
"I will assist you however I can!" Wiz said.
"And I will buff and heal you guys!" Aqua said.
"I guess you guys will finally be of use for once, not including you Wiz." Kazuma said with a smirk before he started planning.
"Darkness, you and I will take on the bandits on the ground. Megumin, Wiz, you guys take care of the ones in the air. If you can, help us out. Aqua, we're gonna need buffs, and heal us when you can."
"Roger!" All four said at once.
"KILL THEM!" Anak shouted the order.
"Here they come!" Kazuma said, watching the crowd of bandits charging in.
"Darkness!"
With her name spoken, Darkness stood in front of the group, blocking the first bunch that came in for the kill, blocking their blades with her own sword before pushing them back.
Kazuma ran past her, delivering punch to one of the bandit's head, knocking him out.
"Bastard!" One of the others shouted before they swiftly took a slice at Kazuma.
He dodged the attack, extending a leg to trip the guy, before kicking him in the gut, adding him to the group of unconcious grunts.
"There's still more of us than him! All at once now!" A female voice called out and the remaining three all jumped at once to strike.
Before they could reach him, Darkness was already ahead of them, intercepting the attack and with a swift slash, knocked back their attacks and knocked them all out.
"Good work!" Kazuma said.
"And to you, but that's not the end of it." Darkness said, looking to see more bandits, and even monsters getting closer.
"Ah crapbaskets..." Kazuma muttered.
Back with the magic users, Aqua had applied a buff to Megumin and Wiz's attacks, while also sending a defense and attack buff to Kazuma and Darkness.
"Fire bolt!" "Light of saber!"
Megumin and Wiz were firing their magic at the bandits and monsters that dared to attack.
"There's so many of them!" Megumin said as she fired another fire bolt, managing to hit a griffon and send it barreling to the ground.
"We have to keep them away, Kazuma and Darkness are already dealing with the ones on the ground, we can't let these ones get the jump on them!" Wiz said before summoning another line of lighting, swinging it to strike through a few of the avian monsters.
While their focus was on the sky, they failed to notice a goblin sneaking up behind them.
It wasn't until it was close enough to jump for an attack that Aqua noticed it.
"AHHH! A MONSTER!" Aqua screamed, catching the attention of Megumin and Wiz.
Before it could land it's attack, an arrow flew over her shoulder and embedded itself into the goblin's head, making it drop dead.
They turned their heads to the other direction to see that Kazuma had managed to break from the fight to use a bow to save her.
"Watch your backs!" Kazuma said, though by some irony a chimera had taken the opportunity of him being distracted to plow through the crowd and swipe a claw at Kazuma.
"Shit-!" Kazuma barely had any time to react before the attack met him, sending him flying to the side before rolling on the floor.
"Crap... That hurt like hell..." Kazuma muttered as he struggled to get on his feet.
"Kazuma! Heal!" Aqua quickly cast a healing spell to take care of the damage that was dealt.
With the mix of the healing spell, as well as Aqua's godly (Heh) status, a majority of the damage was recovered.
"Thanks Aqua!" Kazuma said before turning his focus on the chimera.
"Now for this one, Darkness has the defense to fend it off, but she's still preoccupied with the bandits. But what if they couldn't reach us? Wait, Megumin, Wiz!"
"Yes?" "What's wrong Kazuma?" They said.
"Do either of you know any spells to freeze things at a large scale?" Kazuma asked.
"I do! If need be I can freeze a lake solid, but that would require a large amount of mana..." Wiz said.
"Perfect! When I give the signal, I need you to use it. Aqua!"
"Yes!" Aqua replied to her name being called.
"Can you control how you summon water? Perhaps instead of a pillar of water, could it be a ring?" He asked.
"Yes, I can summon water like that, but it would take me a moment to gather enough prayers to summon the water."
"Alright, you focus on that, I'll buy some time with this thing." The plan was made, now it just needed to be executed.
Kazuma knew he couldn't go toe to toe against a chimera on his own. So he just needed to keep its attention on him until everything was set.
He took an arrow and aimed at the chimera before letting it fly. It impacted against the body, but it didn't stick on impact. It did however annoy it to let out a roar before it used its snake headed tail to lunge at him.
Kazuma had to jump back to avoid the snake attempting to bite him, but before he could focus it lunged again. Kazuma clumsily moved to the side, dodging it again, but tripped over his feet, falling on the ground.
"Crap!" Kazuma said closing his eyes as the snake took one more shot.
"Burst!" Megumin chanted, setting off an explosion by the monster.
The explosion forced it to reel its tail back, allowing Kazuma to get up.
"Thank you!" Kazuma called out to Megumin who replied with a thumbs up before returning her focus to the sky.
'What can I do to fend off this thing? Its claws seem to be strong, and its tail/snake head have quite the range. A regular shot won't hurt it, but perhaps with a skill piercing shot...' Kazuma thought in his head.
"Let's give this a shot Piercing Shot!" Kazuma used his skill to send another arrow flying with greater speed and strength, allowing it to piece the skin of the monster.
'There! Now if I just combine that with some magic, let's say, electric magic, then perhaps...'
"Wiz!" He called out.
"Can you imbue objects with magic?"
"Yes, you can imprint spells onto objects, allowing them to be activated when needed, depending on the spell it could either be easy or difficult." Wiz explained.
"In that case, can you store some kind of lightning spell into these?" Kazuma asked, holding up four arrows.
"Yes, no problem." Wiz imprinted some lightning magic onto the arrows
"Excellent!"
He combined "Snipe" with "Piercing Shot" and shot each arrow into each leg of the Chimera. Once they were embedded, the magic activated. While the magic itself wasn't powerful, it prevented the monster from being able to move for a bit.
"Aqua! How's the water coming?" Kazuma called out to the girl.
"I'm ready!" Aqua replied.
"Excellent! Create the water around us, Wiz, you need to freeze the water before it spreads too much. We need to isolate ourselves from anything else outside so that we can focus on the thing once it moves again."
"Got it!" The two said.
"Sacred Create Water!" Aqua cast her spell, a white ring began to form high up in the sky before water started pouring out.
"Wiz!"
"On it! Cursed Crystal Prison!" Wiz cast her spell, upon making contact with the water that hit the ground, it began to freeze at a rapid rate.
As the water poured and froze, eventually a massive wall was formed around them, preventing any more bandits or monsters from approaching.
Darkness finished off the last of the enemies that were already inside the wall before turning her attention to Kazuma and the Chimera.
The monster let out a roar before it finally regained function in it's legs.
"Darkness, I need you to distract this thing so I can get a good hit in. You Megumin, Wiz, I need you two to back us up if it's tail attacks."
"Got it!"
Darkness charged at the Chimera, now that it regained it's movement, it raised a claw for an attack, but was blocked by Darkness' sword.
The monster let out a frustrated roar before it leaped at her, but the crusader barely moved as she blocked it's attack.
"As my role of a crusader, you will not get past me!" Darkness said as she blocked another attack before countering with her own.
The sword grazed the monster, but despite that it still left a cut.
Meanwhile, Kazuma used his "Lurk" to sneak behind the enemy. The monster suddenly stopped attacking Darkness, it's focus was elsewhere. As Kazuma got closer, it's ears began to twitch before a grin of sorts formed on its face.
Wiz, who knew quite a lot about monsters, noticed this action and quickly warned Kazuma.
"Kazuma! Watch out! It can hear you!"
As she warned him, the snake tail lunged at Kazuma, which he barely managed to dodge, but forced him to fall back.
"So it's got sensitive hearing, wonderful. Is there any weakness to this overpowered amalgamation?!" Kazuma complained.
"Kazuma Kazuma!" Megumin called out.
"Kazuma here." Kazuma said in his usual response, despite the situation.
"If I use burst it could disorient it because of the loud explosion." Megumin suggested.
"And that would give us an opening! Good idea! Darkness, when she uses her spell, you and I take that thing down!"
"Roger!" Darkness said.
"Burst!"
Megumin off an explosion over the monster's head, and with it's sensitive hearing caused it to recoil in pain.
"Now!" Kazuma cried out, signaling for the two to charge at the monster.
The both charged in, swords ready to make their mark. They ran at either side of the monster, leaving a big sword wound on both sides, causing it to roar out in pain.
Just as it began to focus again, it was met with two swords being directed right into its eyes.
With a pained roar, it swiped its claws at them, knocking them back.
"Dammit, just how durable is this thing?" Kazuma asked.
As he looked back at it, he noticed that the two swords were still embedded in the sockets.
"Wiz! Use any kind of lightning spell on the swords! It should finish it off!" Kazuma cried out.
"Got it! Light of Saber!" Wiz focused her attack on the protruding swords, once it made contact, it sent the electric current through the swords, and directly into the monster.
It let out a cry of pain for a moment before it collapsed, completely dead from the electrocution.
"Oh thank God it's over..." Kazuma said as he let out a sigh of relief.
"Not yet it is!" A voice cried out.
They all turned their heads towards the direction of the voice to see a spot was glowing red. In moments, the ice wall around the spot melted and flames roared in.
Anak's dragon flew through the hole of the ice barrier.
"This was a clever trick of yours, but I'm not going to let this interfere any longer! Hell Storm!" Anak casted his powerful fire spell, raining fireballs down, knocking down the walls of ice.
One fireball landed infront of the group, throwing them all to the ground from the explosion.
As the smoke cleared, they were able to see the damage done to their barrier as they were standing up.
"Crap, we won't be able to make another one so easily now that he saw us do it once already..." Kazuma muttered as he tried to think of another plan.
Before any of them could react, a minotaur had charged in, colliding with Darkness, while a mob of goblins went after Megumin, Wiz and Aqua.
This left Kazuma on his own as he looked upon the dragon that floated infront of him.
"Kazuma, ever since that day I met you, I have waited for this. The coming time where I would look down at you, just moments before I claim your life." Anak said, as the dragon began forming flames in it's mouth.
"And now, this is the end. Goodbye, Satou Kazuma!" Anak shouted.
The dragon had formed a dense flame in its mouth before it opened its mouth, and the flames shot forward.
"KAZUMA!" The four girls cried out as they could only see from the side the impending doom that was heading towards Kazuma.
Kazuma could only stand as the flames were heading towards him. Before it could reach him however.
A figure stood in front of him, shield raised.
"Max Reinforcement!" The figure said.
The flames hit the figure, blocked by the shield and flew around the two. The person grunted in slight discomfort under the heat of the flames, but eventually the flames stopped.
"That was a close one... Are you alright man?" The person turned around, allowing Kazuma to see the person clearly.
"Dale! You're okay!" Kazuma exclaimed.
"Not just me!" Dale said as he nodded his head over to the side.
"Fire spear, flash bomb! A voice called out.
A rod of fire shot forward and killed the monsters that surrounded the three girls before a bright light exploded over the minotaur, allowing Darkness to have the opening to kill the monster.
Kazuma looked over to the source of the spells to see Lily not to far back, staff raised.
"Lily!"
"That's my name!" She said with a smile.
"I'm glad you two are alright, how are you already back on your feet?" Kazuma asked.
"It's because of that blue haired priest over there, her healing magic got us in top condition easily, but we were still out for a bit until now." Lily said, pointing over to Aqua.
"Ah, you! You're the one who told us to help Kazuma!" Aqua said as she remembers Lily.
"And I thank you for that." Lily says with a bow before turning to Kazuma.
"So who are they? You guys seem to know each other." Lily asked.
"Well, they are... the members of my old party. Well, three of them to be exact. Wiz over there is just a friend of ours."
"Old party? Hm..." Lily said as she cast a glace over the group.
Before anything else could be said, a gust of wind caught them off guard.
"Not that this hasn't been a heartwarming reunion and all, I believe I have some killing to do here. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to get on with it." Anak said as the dragon prepared another fireball.
"So Kazuma, you're the brains of our group, what's the plan?" Dale asked.
"It's always up to me isn't it? Alright. Here's the plan..."
Kazuma quickly explained his plan to everyone. With a quick nod, everyone took their places.
"Everyone ready?" Kazuma asked.
"Ready!" They all said.
"Then let's show this asshole that he messed with the wrong people." Kazuma said in a low voice, before everything went into motion.
Kazuma, Dale and Darkness shot forward, running like hell towards Anak and the dragon.
Aqua raised her hands and began casting her supporting spells. "Improve Speed! Enhance Defence! Blessing!". After she cast the spells, she began focusing on charging up another spell.
With these buffs, the three moved faster towards their target.
"Running straight towards death? I must thank you for making things easier for me!" Anak said as the three got closer.
As they got closer, monsters began to block their path.
"Oh no you don't!" Darkness said as she took the lead. With her strong defense and strength, she rammed through the smaller monsters, knocking them to the side. When the path was blocked by any slightly bigger monsters, she swung her blade, slicing through them with ease.
As she was killing off a monster, Dale and Kazuma took the lead. A giant goblin stood before them, club raised and ready to strike. As it swung, Dale raised his shield, blocking the blow, and allowing Kazuma to jump up on top of the giant, stabbing his sword in its head, killing it.
The two continued their run, Darkness catching up behind them.
"Grrr... Enough! This will end you once and for all!" Anak shouted as the dragon opened its mouth to let out another burst of fire.
"No you don't! Cursed Crystal Prison!" Wiz sent an ice spell that countered the fire, protecting the three.
"And now my turn! Explosion!" Megumin said as she set off an explosion right over the dragon.
Anak once again raised a barrier, but couldn't block the entire force of the explosion, causing him and the dragon to take significant damage.
The three were close to the dragon, at this point Kazuma looked back.
"Lily now!"
"You got it! Please let this aid them, let it aid him, Rising Winds!" Lily cast a spell ahead of the three, causing a strong wind to form, blowing upwards.
The three jumped as they reached the wind, sending them flying upwards.
As the three were high in the air, Aqua cast the spell she was charging.
"Increase Strength!" With the time she spent charging the spell, the effects were multiplied tenfold, giving the three an extremely high strength boost, but with such a high boost, it was only effective for one hit.
"Where the hell are they?!" Anak said as he regained his bearings. He looked up to see the three already descending towards him.
Darkness fell first, with a strike of her sword, she missed Anak as he ran back, but the force cause the dragon to cry out in pain, moving around.
Dale landed next, with his sword and shield he sent another strong impact on the dragon, causing it to fall from its feet, forcing Anak to fall onto his back.
As he looked to the sky again, he saw Kazuma right above him, sword pointed at him.
"Checkmate." Kazuma landed, sword burying itself into Anak's chest, going right through him and into the dragon.
The blow was the final thing needed to kill the weakened dragon, and ending Anak's siege.
The monsters that were controlled snapped out of the control, before retreating to where they came from.
Everyone looked around in confusion before looking towards the fallen dragon, and seeing Kazuma over Anak's body.
As Kazuma pulled his blade out, it snapped in half. Regardless, he raised it to the sky and shouted.
"Anak is dead! You have no leader, your plan has failed, and now the Blood Eyed Bandits are disbanded!" Kazuma shouted.
Cheers roared as victory was theirs. Everyone ganged up on the remaining bandits and were able to subdue them before handing them over to be arrested.
"It's finally over." Kazuma said as he fell onto his back, letting out a sigh of relief.
"This victory couldn't have been achieved without you Kazuma." Darkness said as she walked over to him, Dale beside her.
"She's right, your quick thinking scored this victory." He said with a grin.
"Thanks guys, but I definitely couldn't have done it without you all."
"And don't forget it!" Dale said.
The two helped Kazuma get down from the dragon, the rest of the group running over to meet them.
"You did it Kazuma!" Aqua cheered.
"Yeah, it's over." He said tiredly.
"That dragon was no match for the power of my explosion!" Megumin said as she raised her staff.
"Thank goodness you're all safe." Lily said as she shoot to the side, not wanting to crowd over them.
"All in one piece here. Well, except my sword." He said as he looked at his broken weapon.
"We can get a new one made, I'm sure the guild will pay a high reward for this." Dale said.
"I guess so. But before anything, I think a conversation is needed." Kazuma said as he looked at the Belzerg group.
"I guess so." Darkness said.
As the group began walking back towards Lorm, a voice cried out.
"NO! HOW DARE YOU KILL ANAK!"
The group turned around to see Raze, still wrapped up in bandages, face in the form of pure fury.
"It's over, your group is no more." Kazuma said as he glared at her.
"Maybe so, but we will not go out without making you pay!" Raze said before she ran at the group.
In the blink of an eye she had ran past them. They were confused for a moment before realizing someone was missing.
"LILY!" Kazuma shouted as he looked over at Raze who ran into the city, with Lily in her grasp.
"KAZUMAAAAA!" Lily cried as she was being kidnapped.