King Explosion Murder the Shield Hero

by BKL777

This is the story of hero in training Katsuki Bakugou being transported into the world of Melromarc and is the new cardinal shield hero in their darkest time of need. Bakugou will go on many new adventures in this fantasy world to become their world's greatest hero whether they want him to or not.

15. Chapter 15: Heroes in crisis

Chapter 15: Heroes in crisis

It was early in the morning in Melromarc at Lord Reichotts territories. Things have been mostly peaceful, unlike many other regions in Melromarc, demi-humans are allowed to live peacefully without the fear of the whip. These demi-humans are under the protection of their Lord who despite being human, sees them as people rather than animals.

Reichnott himself was just standing right outside of his manor as he awaits someone of importance to arrive to talk about very important topics together face to face along with many others, and out of the eyes of their increasingly mad king.

And that important person, General Richeart, had finally made it to the manor with his horse. When he was right up to Reichnott he jumps off it and the two powerful men smiled at each other than immediately shake hands.

"Thank you for coming General. This meeting of ours will be of great importance to the entire kingdom." Reichnott responds as he finishes shaking.

"The pleasure is my, are the others here?" Richeart asks.

"A few other major nobles are here and a few more will be with us via crystal ball. They will all want to know what we will be planning to do." Reichnott answers.

Richeart nods in approval, "Sounds good, let's get this started."

After a few minutes of the two walking through the manor, they made it to the Dinning hall where a few other individuals from nobles to high merchant leaders were there in person or from the crystal balls sitting on the large table.

Richeart and Reichnott took a seat as they finally begin discussing face to face with the others on the table, "Hello there General Richeart, why exactly did you want this meeting for?" a different nobleman immediately asked.

"Reichnott, you, I, and the rest of everyone else in this room are on the same picture. Aultcray has gone completely mad with his power with Princess Malty fanning the flames. The two need to be removed out of their positions as soon as possible."

Despite such a statement to say about the King and princess, none in the room argued back against it, with Reichnott and the other nobles nodding.

"So what made you finally come to that conclusion?" A merchant leader asked out of curiosity.

"When the once-proud cane hero turned down innocent humans, to have them be sent back to the wolves. At that point, he longer has no right to rule his people." Richeart states his case feeling deeply disappointed by his King.

"I hope you didn't really follow through with that order general?" another nobleman spoke up about.

"Of course not, the escaped human slaves are staying here. No matter what grudge Aultcray has with the shield hero or Siltvelt, there not leaving." Richeart responds as he looks back to Reichnott to continue, "So if all of you are planning to remove Aultcray soon, the main army will be on your side at this point."

The rest of the nobles nodded in approval of that statement. Though one had some worries, "But would our Queen approve such an act against her husband and daughter? Even if we overthrow mad Aultcray, this would still be considered treason of the crown if the Queen didn't agree to this."

"She definitely approves of this I dare say." Said a voice that surprised the nobleman among a few others.

They turn to see a masked woman with a cloak, Reichnott and Richeart immediately knew who she was.

The head shadow spoke up as she takes out a scroll, "I'm of the Queen's shadows and I have a physical devree that fully approves of Aultcray's and Malty's removal and imprisonment."

She then laid down thr decree on the table and opened it up for nobles to read which basically stated what she just told them with the Queen's genuine signature and seal mark.

Another noble spoke up from a crystal ball, "But if she disapproves of her King now, should we not wait until she comes back so she can deal with those two herself?"

The shadow shook her head to that, "I'm afraid she isn't quite done with her duties outside of the kingdom yet. For the sake of the entire country, she has to be done with that first, I dare say."

Reichnott nods in agreement and said more, "Indeed, and besides even if that wasn't a factor, Aultcray's new deadline will be tomorrow morning and if we don't play his game, he can have a few of us killed off by the spear or bow hero or start a war with Siltvelt before Mirella would come back in time to stop him. No we must stop Aultcray now before he does such things. So if we're going to stop his madness from destroying the kingdom or starting a purge, we must overthrow him, tonight."

"Tonight!? Are you sure about this?" the noble asked

"Yes tonight, we can't risk waiting until morning where his deadline passes and he will do something we won't be able to reverse which can result in a lot of people dying for nothing." Reichnott continued.

Richeart then spoke up, "If I send the nearby units into the capital by evening we will be able to lay siege on the castle after sunset and with some help from the inside we'll be able to assault the castle quickly and arrest Aultcray and princess Malty."

A noblewoman on the table then spoke up, "You make this sound easy, but I doubt it will be to just overthrow the King of Melromarc, and not receive major blowback from the rest of the nation?"

Reichnotts spoke up again to answer her, "It won't, but as tragic as that event was, thanks to Lord Rabiers castles destruction, any noble or anyone with power that supported Aultcray before were all killed off in that explosion. So he won't have any major allies to come and aid him or start a civil war thankfully."

"What about any remaining supporters in the army though?" another nobleman asked.

Richeart then spoke out, "Don't worry about that, I've already talked with the other generals the night before and they're all for removing Aultcray, it seemed any who were on the fence before came to our side when they were aware of the order for the human refugees. There may still be a few lieutenants or majors that might still support the mad king, but we are already in the process of imprisoning them and removing their rank quickly before they can do anything."

Reichnott then spoke up again, "So the only resistance we will have to deal with is some of the soldiers at the capital and in the castle where Aultcrays remaining loyalist knights are at. It won't be easy, but it's necessary to protect this kingdom and its people. And hopefully, anyone who still has any sense in there will just stay out of the way and not get involved."

Another noble then spoke upon another matter, "What of the bow and spear hero though? Considering their support of Aultcray, what if they try to defend him and his daughter? We can't possibly kill the cardinal heroes?"

"Not to mention the church getting involved as well?" another noble pointed out

Reichnott sighed as he pushes up his glasses, "Hopefully as I stated already if the heroes know any better, they'll stay out of the way and they won't have to face any legal repercussions. For now anyway. The same goes with the church, if they learn to stick to preaching and praying we don't have to worry about them too much getting involved during or after the coup, not to mention Balmus isn't anywhere near the capital right now so he won't be able to pull any political strings." though Reichnott was still suspicious about the 3 heroes church, despite there original support for Aultcray and the war with Siltvelt, they've been weirdly quiet ever since the assembly, and he found it suspicious that Balmus was the only one who survived Rabiers castle exploding. He nor Richeart didn't want to make a major move against them since there was no proof of any sort of wrongdoing. But they'll know to keep their eyes on them after Aultcray and Malty are taken care of.

Richeart then spoke up, "If they don't though, I'll be sure to have our best knights there to fight and stop the bow and spear. They have power no doubt, but if their poor performance during the waves, the spears heroes duel with the shield hero, and the incident in Tervein is of any indication, they don't have much skill on them, so it is possible to beat and imprison them later. And as Reichnott stated as long as the clergy remain in their place we won't have to do anything against them.

The nobles around the table nod in agreement. Reichnott then says, "Then it's settled, we start the coup tonight and attempt to get Aultcray and Malty out of their positions for good and stop the madness. You may all be dismissed, but don't tell anyone about this. If Aultcray or Princess Malty finds out about it, they'll start their purges or wars before we can stop them. Just be sure to maintain order after the coup is over."

After that, the nobles either had their crystal balls turn off or left their seats to head back to their domains or to be ready for the coup tonight. The head shadow also disappeared away to inform her Queen of everything and get the rest of the shadows to be ready for the coup as well.

Richeart then turns back to Reichnott to shake hands, "Thank you Sir Richeart, you being here helped convince them to commit to this coup and to keep our nation amd its army together."

"No need to thank me yet, we still have a tyrant to overthrow first. I need to make sure all my men will be committed to the siege and make sure we know the ins and outs of the castle. I'll be meeting you again tonight and then you can truly thank me for all of this." Richeart says with Reichnott nodding in agreement as the two shake hands again.

But as Richeart was shaking he noticed something odd in the room he didn't notice until now.

At the corner of the room there appeared to be a young pre-teen girl on a chair writing down notes after watching the whole event. But it wasn't just any young girl, she was a demi-human, a tanuki-raccoon demi-human to be exact, she looked like any human girl but with a bushy tail and round raccoon ears on top of her head. She also appeared to be in noblewoman clothing, which was an odd sight for any demi-human in Melromarc.

Richeart himself wasn't a bigot and didn't care about demi-human affairs but he was still curious about it, "Reichnott who is that?" he points to the girl.

Reichnott turns to where he was pointing and the girl looked surprised to be noticed and stood up from her seat looking somewhat nervous, with Reichnott smiling and walked up toward the girl which calmed her down a bit, "This brilliant young lady here is Raphtalia, you can say she is a bit of a protégé of mine. I allowed her in to watch and learn from experience of proper politics. She is no harm to anyone." he introduces her to the general.

Raphtalia then walked up a bit and bowed toward the general, "It's a pleasure to meet you Sir Richeart."

The General still thought the sight to be odd, but he wasn't against it either as the general nods back to the young girl as she finished bowing. Richeart then turns his head to Reichnott once more, "I see, well then, I'll be heading off to the forts near the capital and get our men ready for the assault, I hope to meet you again once we have control over the castle.

Reichnott nods once more, "The same to you Richeart, goodbye for now."

After that the general leaves the room and head on his way outside toward his horse and get ready for the coup as soon as possible.

Once the general left the room Reichnott turns toward his protégé, "Come now Raphtalia let's see how your friend is doing.

With that the two left the room and were walking down the hallway, "I hope that experience helped you understand healthy politics, it won't always be like that though, but it's something that we strive to get to, even when you disagree with an opponents opinion. Rather than corruption or shouting death threats when things don't go your way."

Raphtalia then spoke up, "Is it true though? You and the other nobles are going to overthrow your king?"

Reichnott sighs to be reminded of that, "I'm afraid so, we must always strive to end matters peacefully and without violence. But sometimes when one person no longer listens to reason we must stand up and take action. Hopefully, this coup will be quick and Aultcray and Malty can answer for their crimes once the Queen returns. I'm just glad it didn't result in a civil war, that is the worst-case scenario in politics, where even the winner in the end doesn't really win after so much is lost."

Raphtalia understands her teacher's lesson, she has been taught lately on all forms of political theories and politics in general. Of the good, the bad, and the ugly, with some combat training as well, now already at level 15. It was a lot to take in, but she was mature enough to understand the complexity of how things work and what some individuals will try to exploit to get an advantage. Such an act was what had her village be raided after the first wave. She was happy to hear that the men responsible were all now dead along with Lord Rabier, all from trying to do the same thing to another village with demi's, only to be eaten by a giant dragon.

As they go down the hallway they finally encounter who they were looking for. Another girl who was a weasel demi-human who like Raphtalia was leaning on the human side with a tail and round ears on her head and was about the same age as her.

She was in noblewoman clothing like Raphtalia, as a human maid was teaching her proper etiquette in handling other people and what is and is not appropriate to say. Her teacher was happy to see how fast of a learner she was, and then the two turn toward their Lord and Raphtalia walking up to them.

"Hi Raphtalia, how was the meeting thing?" the weasel girl asked cheerfully.

Raphtalia smiles back to her friend, "It was... Well... Interesting, learned a lot about how politics is supposed to be like, rather than just a bunch of yelling and screaming."

"Oh really, what were they talking about?" the weasel girl continued.

Raphtalia was silent for a second as she thinks about what was taught to her on knowing what to say about important events, "Unfortunately I can't say anything about it, it's very important to keep secret."

"Oh come on Raphy you can tell me! I won't blabber it to anyone I swear!" the weasel girl promised always liking to know about secrets.

"No you won't, I know you have like biggest mouth around. A big tattletale." Raphtalia refuses and explains back.

The girl moans to this with Reichnott and Raphtalia laughing back.

"Rifana please don't act like this in front of the person you're supposed to be assisting one day. You have to always respect the people that put a lot of trust in you." the maid playfully teaches to the weasel girl who nods back in acknowledgment.

Reichnott then spoke up, "So how is her training going?" he asked referring to Rifana.

"She is not used to higher customs but like miss Raphtalia she is quite the fast learner. The two will one day do so much good together." The maid praises her as Rifana smiles at her trainer along with her friend.

But this little meeting got interupted when another servant of Reichnotts came rushing down the hallway, "My lord, we have another group of demi-human escapees that had just come to your domain. Many look fatigued and malnourished." he informs his lord.

Reichnott then started to look more serious again, "Do what needs to be done to help them, as with normal protocol, aid them in any way we can and ensure any injured are healed up." He orders the servant.

But the servant wasn't done yet, "Something that should also be mentioned sir, they all originally came from the late lord Idol Rabiers domain."

After hearing that, the group was surprised by that bit of information, with Raphtalia and Rifana gasping in shock. The two then immediately ran off together to the building where the escapees will be aided in. With the others including Reichnott watch on.

The maid looked confused though, "Why are those two in such a hurry?"

Reichnott quickly answer her, "Rabier was one of the first people that bought those two and many in their village."

The maid quickly looked shocked to learn that, knowing full well who Rabier was, "Oh dear, those poor things. I can't believe they were once with such a monster."

Reichnott then looks out a window to see the sun rising over the mountains, "I'm afraid they were. If there was one thing good to come from his castle exploding, at least the worst of the worst of Melromarc has been erased from this world. The rotting roots of the tree had finally being cut off and removed. They and Rabier will suffer forever for their evil deeds in hell. I still remember taking Raphtalia and a bunch of other Demi-humans in from the Slave merchant at the capital. One's that I got were sick, crippled, or on the verge of death, the ones that people would ignore buying. If I didn't buy them they on that day they probably would've all died off by now. Hopefully one day, such cruelty will no longer exist in our nation, and those two bright young girls can help create a new bridge between our worlds."

The maid walked up to him near the window, "Indeed I agree my lord. Though was Raphtalia's father really who you think he is? Someone like that in a small Melromarc village?"

"From my research, it's most likely. But even if it's not, I won't throw away those two like they were nothing. Royal blood or not, I believe both Raphtalia and Rifana can do great for so many one day. And I made sure it was their choice to make, I never wanted to force such a thing on them. But the two still agreed and are willing to learn. I know one day they shall do such good for not just the demi-humans of Melromarc or to just demi-humans alone, but to do good for the whole world.", he finished as he looks down from the window to be seeing the two girls running toward the refuge house where they might finally see an old friend of there's once more.

---

At the large refuge house, a bunch of servants was currently aiding the group of escapees from the Rabier lands. They were handing them warm blankets and fresh soup and provided any aid or healing magic of injuries from their rough journeys and the time they've been with their former abusive owner.

Among them was Kiel the dog demi-human as he lays on one of the many beds, as he can finally rest after almost a week of constant running and hiding from other slavers or Knights. Their original group split up, a few went off to the Sword heroes town Mirso, while the rest came here where the lord would aid them and keep them safe from the slavers.

He wasn't sure what he would do with himself afterward, with his home destroyed he doesn't have much to go back to, all he could do now is try to find others from his village and somehow rescue them from slavery, but how could he by himself do such a thing?

But before he could think anymore he suddenly heard, "KIEL!" shouted two voices, it caught him off guard at first as the cheer sounded familiar. He wouldn't have ever believed it was really them, but as he quickly turns, he saw with his very eyes in the flesh his two best friends alive and well, Raphtalia and Rifana.

"Ra..raphtalia?! Rifana!? Is that really you!?" He barely recognized the girls at first both looking a lot older than they did before and in nice looking noblewomen clothing. But after getting a closer look at their faces and their smiles he now fully believes these are his best friends.

And with their huge smiles, the two girls ran up to Kiel who's initial shock immediately turn to joy as the two girls jump at him to give a huge hug with the three friends happy together once more.

"Kiel it's been so long, it's great to see you again," Raphtalia cheerfully says to him.

Kiel then says, "I'm happy too, I can't belive you two are still alive, I thought you were dead?"

Rifana then spoke up, "I nearly was, but now I have never been more alive than ever."

"Kiel how were you able to escape from that evil man's castle?" Raphtalia quickly asked.

"I'm not sure of myself, I was stuck in a dirty cage as usual, then one night nearly a week ago then suddenly my and the other cellmate's slave crests just disappeared from our bodies. And not long after that, a giant explosion happened that completely destroyed the castle with some giant monster going on a rampage afterward. From there we got out of our cages and then just made a run for it. We then spend days in the wilderness constantly from slavers and monsters along the way. Some others split away to go to a place called Mirso and the rest of us found our way here to the Reichnott territories. And here I am today." Kiel explains.

Raphtalia then started to look saddened, "I'm sorry you had to endure longer than the rest of us Kiel if we had known you were still back there we could've.."

"No no, don't blame yourself for anything, it wasn't pleasant but I've managed to survive through it along with the two of you, and the both of you were tortured longer and more often than me, I was mostly forgot about by the fat pig. So don't try to scold yourselves for anything." Kiel lightens up the mood with the girls smiling again, "So then what happened to you two? How did you escaped and ended up here wearing fancy clothes? You two look a bit older too, like by a few years?", Kiel continued, he was curious about all of this.

The two girls looked at each other with Rifana nodding in approval toward her friend.

Raphtalia then looks back at Kiel, "Ok, we'll tell, it's a long story though?"

"I'm not in a hurry so why not." Kiel ensures her.

After a quick sigh Raphtalia finally started to tell her story, "Ok, it all started around two months ago. After that evil man Rabier sold me off, I was sent off to a slave traders shop at the capital, sick and cold all the time, being sold off to various owners only for me to be returned back. I wasn't sure if I was going to survive, until one day, not long after the second wave a man decided to buy a bunch of us injured and sick slaves in bulk. The man's name was Lord Reichnott the current ruler of this region. After he bought us, we got on his carriage and eventually made it back to his lands, where he and his servants took care of us after he freed us from our slave crests."

Kiel couldn't believe that a human noble could be so kind like that, but he knew Raphtalia was never a liar, and nods, "I glad you were able to get out of there, but what's with the get-up, none of the other demi-humans here are wearing clothes like that?" Kiel asked pointing to Raphs fancy clothes.

"Oh, these. Well you after Lord Reichnott bought and freed me and the others as I said before, he and his servants took care of us like they're doing here now, they healed our injuries and cured our illnesses, not expecting anything in return. Though for a long while I was still having my nightmares. The nightmares of the day of the wave, where my mom and dad sacrificed themselves to save me from the dog monsters. No matter how hard I tried, I could never forget that event, and before Reichnott many of my former owners would just return me to the slave trader and got their money back, for being more trouble than I was worth with my night screaming." Raphtalia explains now starting to sound sad from the bad memories.

"I know the feeling Raphtalia, I still have some nightmares like that as well," Kiel admits as he started to look sad again himself, along with Rifana. All three remembered the day and of their parents dying by those monsters and then to be traded around like property by evil human nobles,

Raphtalia then continued, "But Lord Reichnott, he was different, when I was crying and screaming in the middle of the night in this same building, a bunch of servants came to help in whatever way they could, that was until Reichnott himself came here and he took me inside his mansion to comfort me. I then told him about everything that happened to me since the wave, then I started to talk about my life before the wave. About my family, my town, and my friends, he listened and told me kind and comforting words. He even allowed me to sleep in a guest room rather than out here for that night. It was like this for three days and over time I started to feel better and better, and I became more open about me and my family to Reichnott. Things changed a lot though after I told him of my father's name as well as my family name. It made him more curious and I think he spent the whole rest of the day inside his library reading stuff. But by night, he came to me again and told me that my father was someone of great importance in a land far away from here. He wouldn't go into too much detail though, he says that it was best to explain it to me when I was mature enough to take it all in. But anyway, after that he then went to offered to train me."

It was a lot to take in for Kiel, and made him want to know more, "Wow, and what is he training you in?"

"In the realm of politics and how to lead, he has also taught us a bit of combat and magic, going on some hunting trips to kill some monsters, allowing me and Rifana to level up and age up a bit, which is why we're a bit older now then before," Raphtalia explains.

"Lead? Lead in what?" Kiel asked

"I don't know yet, and even Sir Reichnott isn't 100% sure himself, but he told me that my family name can help me go up in places, not just in the demi-human regions, but to human one's as well, including here in Melromarc. He told me that I can one day be the bridge to a very divided world. A divided world that allowed us to be sold off as property. I not only to help us and our fellow villagers and friends, but to help many others in the future from facing such hardships ever again."

This was still quite the information for Kiel to take in, but he was questioning this "training" from a human noble. The last human he was around with, he had used the three of them as torture dolls for fun, "Raph, are you sure this isn't some trick or a ploy to make you a tool to exploit our kind?" he questioned her.

"No Kiel, he's not like that at all. This was all a choice to me, he told me I didn't have to do any of this as it was my life and I shouldn't be held down because of my father's blood. He told me I was still allowed to live here and eventually get a job as a free Demi-human. But like I said Kiel, I don't want anyone else to go through such hardships like us ever again, I wanted to make a difference in this world and make it a better place for everyone, just like the cardinal heroes. Even though I had some doubts about myself, I thought it through for a long time, but eventually I agreed to do it. Now I'm his apprentice and he has been teaching me all sorts of things ever since." Raphtalia finally finishes explaining as she smiles at her old friend.

Kiel smiles back, basically acknowledging that he believes and trusts Raphtalia. Despite his doubts, he knows he can always trust and understand his best friends and will follow and help Raphtalia in any way he can.

But he then turn towards Rifana, "But Rifana, how did you get here? You never got sold away like Raphtalia and last I remember, you were nearly at death's door after that evil man tortured you over and over again."

Rifana started to look unhappy to be remembering that experience, it was a terrible time for all of them, but she was willing to explain to him, "I was nearly beaten to death after his last batch of torture sessions, Rabier finally got bored of me and he ordered his dungeon master to just throw me outside knowing he wasn't going to get his money back after I was nearly dead. I was left to rot outside with my bones broken and back whipped. I was about done with life, but after a few minutes later I faintly overheard near the doors back inside of the dungeon, and I heard Rabier changing his mind and asked the dungeon master to get me back as he wanted to just strangle me before I died to get his sadistic kick going."

"That's horrible, but how did you get out? Did you try to make a run for it?" Kiel asked.

"No I was in no condition to do anything, I laid there on the ground awaiting my fate, knowing it was about to end soon. That was until a hooded masked figure came over to me and just stared at my nearly lifeless body for a few seconds to see if I was alive, then she threw a blanket over me and after that, I was unconscious for a long time. After sleeping for so long, I finally woke up, and at first I thought I was finally in the afterlife with all of my wounds and scars healed, and my pain gone. But as I looked around I was in this very building and right next to me was Raphtalia alive and well and then we hugged each other for so long I couldn't even tell you how much it lasted."

"Wow Rifana that was incredible, who was the one that saved you?" Kiel asked

Raphtalia then spoke up to tell her side of that event, "It was one of the queen's shadows, I told Reichnott of you and Rifana, and being so close to the Queen himself he had some access to some of her shadows and he ordered one to spy on the Rabier territories and try to do anything to help in any way they could, and when the shadow found Rifana outside the castle on the ground she managed to get out of there to back here barely alive and with the help of Reichnott and all of these good people here Rifama was saved."

Raphtalia then started to look sadden after explaining that, now starting to feel some guilt for Kiel, "Unfortunately there was only so much the shadow could do, it was only one agent and she had to always be careful. Because if she ever got caught or spotted, Rabier could've traced her back to Reichnott and he would've retaliated with the support of the King, and what happened in our village could've happened all over again with everyone in Lord Reichnotts lands. And from what the shadow told me, she never knew you were still in there since she couldn't go inside the castle and none would say your name, just demi-human and since Rabier would go through so many slaves from killing or just returning them, she had no idea if you were still in there."

Raphtalia then shed a tear, "I'm so sorry you had to endure for so long in there Kiel. Had I know you were still there I could've... I could've..."

But Kiel then pats her in the shoulder to ensure he was never mad at her, "No need to apologize Raphtalia. Like I said before, you had no control over this and I can understand why it had to be. It was better that all of you were safe now, than me and a bunch of others get out early and risk everyone getting re-enslaved or killed. We were lucky that the guards were killed off in an explosion and the rest had been busy with a giant monster." Kiel comforts her as the two brgin to hug on another with Rifana joining in to hug as well. Then the three smiled and started laughing with each other.

After they finished hugging Kiel turns back to Rifana, "So Rifana, is Sir Reichnott teaching you how to lead as well?"

The weasel girl just shakes her head, "No way, I'm not good at leading at all, you remember all those times I've led us on our hikes."

Kiel now reminds himself of a few of their hiking trips with Rifana taking the lead, and yeah he remembered how Rifana had wasted away all their food, offered bad advice, and got them lost for hours, "Yeah good point, so what do you do with Raphtalia then?" he asked.

"I being taught to be Raphtalia's assistant of sorts. Not like a maid or anything, but if Raphtalia is going to this big important person one day, I want to help her in any way I can, and be her best assistant she could be offered." Rifana explains.

Kiel understood, but then he smirks, "Sounds like to me your still going to be a maid to her."

"No, I'm not Kiel! I'm her assistant! Got it! AS-SIS-TANT!" Rifana yells back acting childish about it.

But Kiel and Raphtalia just laugh about it. After all the terrible times they've been through it was good to be happy and laugh again.

Kiel then turns back to Raph, "So Raphtalia, is their room for one more assistant position?" he asked.

Raphtalia was surprised to hear that, "Really Kiel? You want to be a part of this too?"

Kiel nods yes, "Of course, we three need to stick together from now on. We may be all that is left of our village. If we are going to one day rebuild it and get who is left alive back freed, we need to remain as a unit together. And Raphtalia, if you really want to change the world for the better, then I want to help you with that as well. The three of us as future heroes to this world. Let's make a difference together!" Kiel finishes with a fist up in the air to show his resolve.

The two girls both nodded in approval, happy to hear that from Kiel. And once more the three hugged together again.

"I see you three are doing fine now." said a voice and when the trio turned toward the voice, it was none other than Lord Reichnott himself as he smiles at the group of friends.

Kiel then walks up to the lord, and once he was close enough to him Kiel kneels on one knee and says, "Mr. Reichnott, thank you for everything you've done, saving and caring for my friends and to all the other demi-humans around here. I'm deeply in gratitude. For your thanks, I would like to work under your wing along with Raphtalia and Rifana and help them achieve greatness for all demi-human kind and maybe even the world

Reichnott smiles at the young kid as he nods in approval, "Of course Kiel, I will be glad to also take you under me along with Rifana and Raphtalia to ensure you will one day become great people to change the world."

After that, Kiel stands back up and bowed one more time to the man, "Thank you, my lord, thank you for everything."

Rifana then ran up toward Kiel, "Come on Kiel let us show you around the place, you'll like it here." she finished as she and Raphtalia run toward the exit with Kiel running along acting like the kids they were once before again.

Reichnott smiles at the sight, glad to see such happiness in such stressful times. He knows all three are due to do great for this world one day. But for now, he has to think about tonight to make sure they have a future to look forward to. This will involve once more cutting off the old decaying roots of the tree that have done nothing but spread corruption and death. Those roots being King Aultcray, princess Malty, and Pope Balmus.

---

Back in Siltvelt, after spending an entire night of flying Mellia and Allen had finally made it to the capital to find their Shield hero and see that the church will remove them from their excommunication heretic marks and get their lands back.

Despite the two former aristocrats feeling tired neither of them was in the mood to go to sleep, they were going to somehow fix this disgrace and make sure Daven and Loria will suffer for this.

They got word that the Shield hero was currently at the cathedral in the Patriarch's office and head that way. But as the two walk toward the church, they knew something wasn't right as they see a bunch of protests going around with workers demanding better wages or to finally remove the caste system. And outside the cathedral, they saw a bunch of burn piles of the old Bible. It seemed crazy but the two couldn't be bothered with it either, their biggest priority is to finally get to the shield hero and fix their excommunication problem.

As they got into the church themselves, on their way toward the Patriarch's office, they encounter yet another crowd not far from the office, this one being of a bunch of nobles yelling over each other waving around their worthless free land coupons. More than there were yesterday with only a bunch of guards preventing them from storming into the room.

They were all demanding answers from the shield hero as Mellia and Allen were forced to wait patiently for them to meet with the shield hero and demand him to be reimbursed for their predicament.

A couple of the church disciples attempt to clear the angry group, "We've told all of you already, we have nothing to give!? We are trying to figure out this situation and somehow compensate all of you."

"I gave up all my damn slaves to that brat and his blue whore and he just lets them go! And now all my paid workers are striking! How am I suppose to harvest my crops!? I demand more than damn money for this! I want my free land!" One Gemnu lord shouts with him and many of the nobles yelling together for the same things.

The disciples knew there won't be anything they can do to make these nobles happy and had no choice but to threaten them out, "Please, we all told you already! We'll somehow fix this and satisfy you later! If any of you are going to keep complaining about the coupons, we're going to have to get the guards to force you out!"

But the nobles didn't care as they continue to yell and complain.

The disciples immediately signaled the church guards and they started to push the angry crowd out of there.

After witnessing that circus act, Mellia and Allen turn back to the church disciples and approach them as the group groans with headaches.

One quickly noticed the two, "We told all of you already we'll somehow compensate all of you for the.."

"We're not here about any damn coupons! I just demand an audience to our so-called god about this!" Mellia yells with her and Allen pointing to their cheeks with the heretic mark.

One church disciple quickly rolls his eyes, "Oh so your here for the damn pardons to? Lord Bakugou will just pardon about anyone these days. Just get in the room and get out when he's done with you." he responds tired and couldn't care less about all of this.

The two aristocrats weren't sure why they were being straightforward with them, but they didn't care as the two stomp their way toward the Patriarch's office.

Once the two push in through the doors they see an ash-blonde human teen communicating through a crystal ball shield with his silver boots on the Patriarch's desk.

As they approach Bakugou the shield hero was talking through the magic ball, "So blue and princess, when are you two getting your asses back here?"

The ball with live images show Neia and Melty speaking through it, "We are on our way back, Melty just wanted to play with some filolials after we finished up our jobs while she was teaching me how to use water magic. I think I'm finally getting a breakthrough Sir Bakugou I finally made a proper bubble ball." Neia says excitedly as she and Melty are now finally getting along with each other as they started anew with their relations.

"Whatever, just make sure you two are back here before nightfall, brown hair and Kirishima had just finished up at the far reaches of the borders and will be back here soon as well, so don't make us wait on you two." Bakugou demands of them, though in reality, he wasn't in a major hurry to go anywhere as he expects the council and Trinock to give in and finally be forced to fix their corrupt system to save the nation. Though he prefers not to let his sidekicks grow too soft and comfortable while in this large nation.

The girls understood and nodded from the ball, "Don't worry Sir Bakugou we're on our way there, we are on a wagon and are heading right toward the capital." Melty ensures.

"Good, like I said be here before nightfall." Bakugou finishes as he turns off his crystal ball shield and goes back messing with his dartboards.

But then Mellia and Allen finally made their way toward his desk, "Are you the Shield hero!?" Allen raises his voice toward Bakugou wanting a response as quickly as possible.

But Bakugou could hardly care about them as he threw more darts on Aultcrays picture face, "Yeah and what do you want!?"

Mellia then slammed her hand on the desk with her right hand and points the other hand to her cheek with the heretic brand, "We demand that these disgraceful marks be removed from our faces!"

But Bakugou immediately dismisses her, "With that shitty attitude, fuck no. Go bitch to that greedy Ox and get out of my sight."

Mellia growls in deep anger and was ready to explode after some human brat told her off like that

But before she could say anymore Allen jumped in her way, "Mellia, please. I'll handle this." the bird-woman was pissed off but she decided to back down and pouts to herself.

Allen then turns back, "But lord Bakugou, please we need these heretic brands removed as soon as possible. Someone has been spreading lies and slander our good names and forced these marks on in our sleeps. I also request my land back, it was unlawfully taken from me. And lastly, I demand the liars responsible for all of this to be marked as heretics." Allen demands from him.

Bakugou was just rolling his eyes not wanting to deal with a bunch of whiny nobles. That was until he got a closer look at Allen's face now recognizing some of his newest sidekick's facial features on him. He then grins now knowing who these two are, "Wait a second, I know who you two are. Your catboys bastard father and you're his gold-digging bitch whore."

"What the hell did you call me you brat!?" Mellia yells not taking the insult well.

Bakugou then acts smug about it, "A gold-digging bitch whore! Actually that would describe the both of you. I can't really say who is the bigger one here."

Mellia was barely holding back her anger as she clutches her fist in rage. Shield hero or not, she could not stand by while this stupid shitflinging monkey was mocking her like this.

Allen was also starting to lose some of his temper as he tries his best to talk negotiable with the shield hero, "Lord Bakugou have you been hearing those rumors from my son Daven? He is not to be trusted, he is nothing more than a troubled child who loves to pull pranks and cause misery to everyone for a laugh. He gets it from his criminal mother who has broken laws and embezzled money from multiple churches." Allen lies trying his best to convince the shield hero to be on his and Mellia's side.

But Bakugou just says, "Say catbastard, mind cleaning your chops sometime soon, because I'm just smelling all the bullshit spewing out of your mouth?"

Allen was now starting to lose his own temper just like Mellia as he clutches his fist as well, "I'm serious! That brat has done nothing good for anybody. I hear the reports myself on how he always causes trouble as a spy and might even be associated with a criminal organization. Please don't act like the fool lord Bakugou!" Allen continues to lie getting more invasive with the smug hero.

But Bakugou just continues mocking them, "The only fools I see is you two. I don't help out pieces of cat and bird shit! Now how about you get the hell out of my church and go eat out of the dumpster like what you did with your first wife! You two would fit well along with the other so-called garbage eaters."

The two former aristocrats were now both equally angry as the hero continue to mock and insult them not going to pardon them or anything. Mellia was the angriest of the two as her face turns red from this disgrace and this time Allen wasn't going to bother to stop her.

Mellia clutches her fists harder, "You... You... You little!"

*slam*

But then suddenly the office doors were pushed open making Mellia and Allen pause.

"You damn shitflinger!" shouted the voice coming in, and it tunr out to be the so-called king of Siltvelt Janio. Now sobered up and awake and is very angry as he stomps toward Bakugou, "What the hell did you do to my playthings you damn monkey!?" the King yells some more at Bakugou who continued his smug shiteatting grin.

Despite the two still having their current beef with the hero, Mellia and Allen remained silent as they recognized their king and wish not to interrupt him.

Bakugou then responds as he looks at a paper not even making eye contact with the pissed-off king, "Sent them off to Melromarc, out of your evil incompetent hands and I also believe most of your staff are out striking as well." he responds.

The King then moved up closer, "Those slaves were my property, and I was allowed to do anything I want with them. They were mine! Mine!" Janio continues to whine like a child.

But Bakugou continues to look away, "Yeah and I don't care, what are you going to do about it? Pay that old Ox to ban me from my own church? I'll do what I damn please and you can't do anything about it."

"I'm the damn king! And this is mine kingdom! Mine slaves! Mine church! And mine servants!" Janio threatens him.

"Ha, well guess what you little bitch, according to everyone in your kingdom I'm God. And if I recall, Gods are above Kings. So even when you're not just a puppet to your little council of oligarchs, you can't do anything against me without your people wanting your head on a stake. So how about you and these two other pieces of shit cry back to stripes and the oligarchs and stop bothering me." Bakugou insults back.

Allen and Mellia were quite shocked to hear such things said to their king. Janio himself also looked shocked for a second but then immediately went back to deep anger for such things to be said from a human of all things to his face. He then clutches his fist and raised it, "You...you... you... YOU DAMN MONKEY!" In his fit of tantrum rage, he punches Bakugou in the bare chest. But...

*clang*

"YAAAAAHH!" Janio screamed as many of the bones on his hand cracked. Bakugou's normal defense was so high he didn't even bother putting up his shield to stop someone so physically weak. Janio did the equivalent of punching a metal wall.

"Ahhhhh!" Janio continues to scream and even cries tears as he pathetically lays on the floor in deep pain holding onto his broken hand.

Allen and Mellia quickly came to the King's aid, not out of kindness, but to get favors or goodwill from the King later on. As they were aiding him Bakugou looks down at the two aristocrats with a smile knowing that they can't do anything against him if even the King of Siltvelt couldn't touch him. The two were a little relieved that they didn't attack or they be in the same state as the king.

The two then lifted up Janio from the ground and go off their way to the door to get out of here knowing talking with the shield hero wasn't going to accomplish anything. Allen and Mellia turned their backs one more time looking angrily at the smug smiling Bakugou, "This isn't over yet shield. I didn't go all this way from being a minor apprentice of this stupid church to rise as a high noble, and have it be taken from me by you stupid human and that damn brat of a son!" Allen yells back as the 2 open the doors.

"You'll pay monkey! You'll pay for this!" Janio continues to cry as the three leave the room and shut the doors.

Bakugou then lays back on his chair again, "Ha, stupid losers." he says to himself out loud.

"Definitely." said a familiar voice in the room that Bakugou immediately recognized. And jumping from up high to the floor was Daven back from his trip around the country.

Bakugou then turns toward the sidekick rogue, "Back already catboy? How much of that show did you see?" he asked.

"The whole thing and it was quite entertaining to watch. Though I wish it was Allen to have his hand broken or maybe even more than just that." Daven remarks no longer even calling his Dad father anymore.

"Eh, I'm sure soon you'll get your hands on Catbastard and kick the living shit out him and his bitch gold digger later. Though why hide yourself Catboy? You could've enjoyed the show live right next to me." Bakugou comments and asks.

"I just wanted to watch for now and see how you handled that without me influencing anything. And I must say you continue to impress me more and more Sir Bakugou." Daven responds.

"Well hopefully we'll be done with all of this political shit soon. Once the rest of the crew get back, I say soon the oligarchs and Prime Minister Stripes will be forced to give in and remove the caste system and other stupid things that kept them in charged for so long. Then I can finally get back doing proper hero work." Bakugou asserts, while he enjoyed watching such a corrupt system crash and burn by his own hands, he was starting to get bored of this and wanted to get back into action and fight mindless monsters to level up and destroy the waves and get back to his homeworld. Doing no leveling for a week will certainly allow the three cardinal idiots to catch up and he was certainly not going to let that happen, especially with Motoyasu and Itsuki.

Daven then said, "Yeah, I'll be there in person to see that show. Oh, and speaking of Stripes, he is also coming down here to "talk" to you. Saw him from the windows stomping his way toward the church completely pissed off."

"Ha, thanks for the heads up Catboy. Seems like a bunch of stupid bastards are coming at me in rapid succession today." Bakugou remarks not concern or caring in the slightest.

"Well if you don't mind, I'll just be up high to watch the show again. I know this will be fun too." Dave finishes as he teleports away up on the ceiling ledge to get a good view of the upcoming meeting with Trinock, with Bakugou himself just leaning in the chair and his feet up on the desk not afraid of anything.

After about a minute of silence the doors finally slammed open, "KATSUKI BAKUGOU!" shouted the giant Tigerman who looked tired and exhausted from coming here from Fort Titan on a horse but was also very very pissed off.

"Oh hey Stripes like what I've done with the place?" Bakugou casually jokes not intimidated by the large beastman as he stomps his way to him.

He then hits the desk with his strong fist, *slam*, "You... You damned, stupid, ungrateful, idiotic, BRAT! Do you have any idea what you have done to my nation!?"

"What you don't like it? I thought I improved the place a bit without you knowing. I guess you can say this whole thing was a big surprise for you and the oligarchs to enjoy." Bakugou mocks back intentionally to piss Trinock off and throwing irony back for what the Prime Minister tried to do to him with the horde of noble girls on the day he came to the castle.

"You fool! I gave you everything one could ask for! Money, power, women, love, and admiration from the people. I made this nation a paradise for you, and what have you done to thank me?! You've destroyed the foundation that made this country strong! The nation that worships you! And you just ruined all of it!" Trinock yells at Bakugou who continues to act as smug as possible.

"The only damn thing I've ever asked from you was the damn class upgrades from this corrupt church. I could've lived without all the other bullshit you, the oligarchs, and the old Ox had done to suck up to me. Then you have the damn gall to use me as some tool like that little bitch of a King you puppet around, not just as breeding stock but as a weapon for your stupid wars of conquests. Oh and speaking of that, I wanted to say that I've changed my mind about the war with Melromarc. I no longer want anything to do with it, so you might as well cancel the war along with the stupid confederation thing, you might as well focus on fixing this broken caste system you have in place here. Might make it less of a shithole." Bakugou finished scolding Trinock.

The Prime Minister continued to clutch his fists even harder after hearing such things, "Who do you think you are?"

"Huh?" Bakugou uttered from that.

"I said, who the fuck do you think YOU ARE!?" Trinock shouts back at Bakugou showing no more Mr. nice guy.

Bakugou just listens on still not intimidated, "If I recall, I'm your damn god according to the majority of the nation, the oligarchs, and this church." he snarks.

"You're no damn god! Your nothing more than some stupid human brat, with a magic shield! I swear to you, you will suffer the consequences for all of this along with the rest of humankind. Siltvelt will rise again after this and I'll fix what you've broken here. I've done it once before when another human like you murdered my king. Don't think you've changed anything human, this is still my Siltvelt and I will not let another human with a magic weapon ruin it!" Trinock finishes as he had enough of this and without another word turns around and storms his way out of the office slamming the doors shut.

Bakugou and Daven were surprised to hear such words and anger from the normally calm Trinock. With Daven, while it was still amusing to watch Trinock bursting a blood vessel, he can't help but feel a little uneasy. After hearing that from Trinock, he fears of what actions he'll take to make them true.

Bakugou on the other hand was just laughing with glee, he hasn't felt like this since middle school before he was attacked by the slime villain. He felt like he was untouchable, on top of the world, and he loved it. And the best part of all, there was no Deku to butt in and ruin it for him, he was number one and no one can say otherwise.

Outside the office, Trinock was standing there absolutely pissed off as any bit of temper he had left has dried up with only pure rage left in his mind and body. "RRRRAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" And like a mad dog he roars as he starts tearing up the area as he clawed the walls and paintings, smashing and crushing any object he sees, and screams out his rage on the top of his lungs.

After a minute or so the Prime Minister eventually calmed down from his outburst as he took some deep breaths. As he looked around though he saw a crowd of nobles and priests standing there awkwardly after he had his outburst and the group slowly walked away not wanting to be in the business of the mad Prime Minster. All but Allen, Mellia, and Janio who were still there to heal and suck up to the injured king.

Trinock continued to take deep breaths, finally getting his composure back, and stands up straight properly. He then looks toward the King, "Janio, there is going to be a meeting with the council in an hour, so be back at the castle at the council chamber." he casually orders him.

Janio was still confused by it, "But Trinock why..."

"I SAID BE THERE!" he shouts at Janio making the king very scared of this as he nods agreeing to it, "Might as well bring your friends there with you if you feel uncomfortable." Without another word, Trinock leaves and heads his way back to the castle.

Janio, Mellia, and Allen all looked at each other awkwardly from all of this. It sounded like Trinock was going to get whatever he wants, and will no longer take no for an answer.

---

Far away outside of Siltvelt was Queen Fitoria's sanctuary, she has spent most of the week training and teaching both her heir and the cardinal sword hero, Scarlet, and Ren respectively.

She taught Scarlet many new moves and ways she can use her filolial powers. She was always stubborn for some lessons though, and would sometimes rush in without thinking, but she was a fast learner and took a lot of Fitoria's lessons to heart as she can fight better in both her bird and human forms.

Ren had been taught how to properly fight with a sword and a few techniques and abilities. It was not easy at first though, without being allowed to use any abilities Ren was pretty pathetic against a skilled opponent, Fitoria doesn't even specialize in swords and she was easily beating the crap out of Ren over and over again.

At a few points Ren wanted to just give up and quit on it, but telling that to the Filolial Queens face who nearly killed him a week ago was probably not the wisest idea and kept his mouth shut. But despite the harsh training and the numerous embarrassing fails he eventually started to get the hang of how to properly fight and fence with a sword. He started to fumble less and less each day learning from his mistakes and learned and adapted. By the last day of training, he can be called a proper swordsman now. Not a master yet, but at least a regular swordsman. Ren was then taught some more skills for his sword and gaining new abilities with it. Ren was now a lot stronger and skilled than ever before and was willing to put those skills to the test.

Once the Queen Filolial knew they were ready to head out after they packed up some supplies, Fitoria makes her prized magical carriage appear next to her to help send the heroes off on their journeys, "We're off to Siltvelt, are you and miss Scarlet prepared for the tasks ahead?" she asks the two.

"More than ready miss Fitoria." Scarlet salutes excitingly.

Ren just nods, "I think so, let's head out." he responds.

The three then got on the magic carriage and with a wave of her hand of Fitoria's magic the carriage vanishes from the sanctuary and in just a few seconds later they were all now in Siltvelt, out in the middle of a dense forest that was a bit away's from the capital or from any city and town."

Once the three were out of the carriage Fitoria says her farewells, "I wish the two of you well, there's a lot you must do to complete your tasks. Not only to unite the heroes again but to stop the waves of calamity for good. Just head west to find the capital of the Demi-human nation where you'll find the shield hero at. It should be no more than a day's journey on Miss Scarlet."

"It's actually Princess Scarlet now if you don't mind." Scarlet remarks as she adjusts her little crown again with Fitoria just smiling back at the young bird girl

Ren nods agreeing but also starts to stare around the location, "I'll try all I can, but why exactly are we here and not closer to Bakugou? Like why not just an hour away from him?" he asks.

Fitoria was quick to respond, "I must keep my presence as much as a secret as possible. I rather not have a bunch of humans or demi-humans trying to hunt me down or my flock as a trophy or to enslave me. Not that they be a threat, but I have more important things to do than to be constantly bothered by that. It's also for your safety Sir Ren. Unlike Melromarc before they betrayed you the cardinal sword hero is not welcomed here. Like with Melromarc and the shield hero, the people will see you as a demon, so to put you in the middle of a populated area would be a terrible idea for you."

"Ok, good points I guess. At least it will only take a day to get to Bakugou." Ren shrugs, course all he was expecting from here is a couple of ugly looks and not having people talk to him like with Bakugou in Melromarc in the beginning.

Fitoria then nods and bows one last time to them, "Farewell heroes, good luck out there and continue to grow stronger to save this world." she says goodbye with the two bowing back at her as the Queen gets back into her carriage and with a wave of her hand again the carriage vanishes away.

Scarlet then transforms into her bird form and Ren quickly got on her back as the two head out west to find Bakugou and fix this mess.

---

Elsewhere in Siltvelt in a forestry town of Selope just like everywhere else in Siltvelt all of the human slaves were gone and the low caste workers mostly beaver and other wood cutting demi-humans are going on strike refusing to cut down and harvest any more trees or work in the lumber mills unless they are allowed to get jobs outside of there caste or for bigger raises and days off.

Their town lord was a Hankuko white Tigerman and like many other lords right now has been forced to deal with the protests and the numerous complaints from the lumber mill owners on how to get their businesses running again.

They knew firing the workers won't work as there is no one else in their caste available nor any slaves to replace them, and removing the caste system without the permission of the crown would get him in a lot of legal trouble. But if something isn't done soon to get the strikers back to work soon, or else the mills will be out of business and all the revenue loss is going to hit the town hard for everyone.

The Lord was just facepalming at his desk from all the stress. His mental health was not helped by the death of his first-born son being turned into stone in the last wave being a companion of the shield hero.

But then his office door opened up and in came a large threatening-looking bear beastman wearing what looks like leather barbarian armor over his thick fur with a powerful ax on his back.

The Lord knew who this was and wasn't happy to see him, "Voldnir, what are you here for? I thought you were in prison, again?"

The Bearman casually approached the white tiger man, "Come on Zalser, did you think I can be imprisoned forever. But I'm not here to offer you trouble. I'm actually here to help solve your little "problem" that you have here."

The Lord Zalser continued to look down on his desk unamused, "Mind being more specific I have a lot of problems going on right now?"

Voldnir quickly got to the point, "The protester issue of course, you got all of these low caste louts demanding of kinds of things and are now refusing to work. Well, what if I and my group can get them back to work? And make them remember who to respect and never go against again."

Zalser looks back up again at the mercenary, "And how are you exactly going to do that?" he asks.

"Simple, me and my men will pose as bandits and will start raiding one of the mills where they are protesting. Then after some robbing and few cracked skulls here and there they'll be scared shitless along with the other protesters at the other mills, and will all come flocking back to you and the mill owners for protection. They'll be back working again without a complaint in no time." Voldnir proposed.

"By cracked skulls, you do mean killing some of them right?" Zalser questions in the proposal.

Voldnir was quick to answer, "Of course, they won't take the threat seriously if we just spook them a little. As the saying goes, you need to crack a few eggs to make an omelet. I just need you and the guards to look the other way and not stop us. Just sit and watch and come by once we scared them enough and then leave. And of course, pay us later when the job is done. What do you say?"

As heartless and immoral as that offer was, Zalser knew deep down he didn't have much of a choice, his town is on the brink of ruin and the crown is being too slow to react. If he has to pay a criminal mercenary gang to terrorize the protesters and for a few of them to die in the act to get the town going again, then so be it, "Fine, just do it. But if you do anything outside the bounds of the strikers or implicit me in this in any way. I will not hesitate to have you arrested and executed."

The Bearman nods in agreement, "Of course, you have my word. Me and my mem will be ready this afternoon. Then it will be time for the wolves to eat the lost sheep.", Voldnir then starts to grin widely knowing now he just scored a big profitable job, and if this works out well, he intends to continue to do this with other towns across Siltvelt maybe even brag about this to other mercenary gangs who might also want a cut of the pie.

---

Back at the capital of Siltvelt inside the castle, while the majority of the staff continue to strike outside the castle grounds, deep inside at the chamber of the council, Siltvelts government was now at work.

There in the chamber in person was Trinock, Patriarch Ozsan, and surprisingly for the first time was King Janio who also dragged Allen and Mellia along on Trinock's advice. And on the table were four magic crystal balls with the images of Lord Valnar, Rehu, Larq, and Shellina who are away back at their estates, none of them looking happy at all.

Lord Larq was the first to speak up, "This is a fucking disaster! That stupid brat has ruined our entire nation!" he yells with all the other lords nodding with equally bad moods.

"They're all gone! Every single human slave is gone from our estates! And many of our servants are protesting!" Valnar yells with his hands on his head.

"I knew we shouldn't have trusted that damn monkey! Shield hero or not we shouldn't have given him so much autonomy in the first place and look what happened when we did! I also knew we shouldn't have trusted Trinock to handle the shield!" Rehu yells slamming on his desk that can be heard from the crystal ball, wanting to pin this whole thing on Trinock as he usually does.

But of course, Trinock wasn't going to let that slide, "Shut your damn mouth Rehu! You were in the same damn room as all of us and slept on the damn tainted wine. So any shit you throw at me is going right back at your face!" Trinock defends himself, as Rehu remained silent not thinking of anything else to insult back at Trinock and just groans to himself.

Trinock then looks toward the Patriarch, "I do know who was the one who allowed his followers to just let the shield to get away with this." he shifts the blame to Ozsan, as everyone in the rooms stairs at the nervous patriarch.

"Why are you blaming me for this! I was dead asleep like the rest of you, and what were my disciples and nuns suppose to do? Ignore the direct words from their god? And from what I've heard the actual slave gathering and organization was lead by General Tarn, who takes orders directly from you." Ozsan defends himself shifting blame back to Trinock, preferring someone else head to be on the chopping block than himself.

Trinock was getting extremely pissed off as he claws the table trying his best to control his anger from this messed-up situation and is thinking about who he should ordering executions to for this whole thing.

That was until lady Shellina then said, "Shut up! Look, all of you, we can play the blame game later. Right now we need to think about how we are going to fix this crisis the damn hero caused." she sets everything in order as she smokes on another one of her tobacco-like thin pipes from the stress.

As much as everyone else wanted to continue pointing fingers they knew she was right and had all sat back down to talk about the labor crisis at hand. Trinock was the first to speak up on this, "Ok then, what are these whiners that are protesting demanding?"

"Many are demanding all sorts of things, higher wages, better hours, better work areas, but for the most prominent one, they want an end to the caste system. That is what almost all of them are chanting the most for." Lord Larq responds.

"Damn it, even if we keel over to give those low caste parasites their higher wages and whatnot, we cannot abolish the caste system at any cost," Trinock utters out loud.

Valnar attempts to think of a compromise, "Maybe we can just revoke the caste system temporarily to satisfy them for like say a month or so and once everything calms down we can slowly reintroduce it back to normal."

But everyone was shaking their heads to that, especially Trinock, "Absolutely not Valnar! You know what these bottom feeders are like, give them an inch they'll take a mile. If we get rid of the caste system even temporarily they'll never want it back and doing so could just start a revolution. And what if in that time one of them becomes a major landowner or ends up in control of an important merchant company. That is something we can never reverse."

The other lords noded in agreement including Valnar seeing the Prime Ministers' point.

Lord Rehu then spoke up, "Why don't we send in the troops and have them beat the shit out of some of them and scare them back to work." he suggested.

Like before the other lords nodded against it, but this time Lady Shellina was the one to speak out on it, "Sure if you want to give them more reasons to hate us and piss them off even more, that could have them all start a mass violent revolt. Especially if they are being supported by those damned new lords that the shield hero created from giving away all of the church's lands. We can't afford to look weak or else the likes of Melromarc will take advantage of our instability and invade us. And besides, the manpower shortage is bad enough already with all the slaves gone, killing more of the remaining workers will just make that situation worse, especially when many of the unemployed are already going to those new lords, we can't afford mass killing them. Maybe we can just wait it out until they go broke or start to starve?"

Lord Larq then spoke up, "No we can't wait. With no farmers working in the field means no more food being picked and sent to the markets, with no miners mining the ores means no more metal to go into the market or to the blacksmiths to create weapons, and so on. If this doesn't end quickly, we'll be soon dealing with massive shortages from almost everything, mass starvation could happen, inflation and prices will skyrocket everywhere, and those not protesting will soon get pissed off themselves and start revolting or even face a mass mutiny with the starving armies. We can't afford to play the waiting game either." Lord Larq points out.

"So what are we going to do then?" Valnar asks worryingly with the other lords unsure themselves as they try to think of some sort of solution that won't threaten their tribe's power.

But Trinock was already ahead of them and knew what they needed to do to save this nation from the inside out, "There is only one way for them to stop protesting. We need slaves to take their positions again, and once these whiners see that we won't be needing them anymore, they'll all be flocking back to work their old jobs again and things will go back to normal as clean and efficient as before."

Everyone in there agreed to this but are wondering how this was going to be accomplished, Patriarch Ozsan was the first to speak up on this, "But how? Almost all of Siltvelts slaves are gone, where are we going to find more slaves at?"

Many in the room were puzzling at the question trying to think of something. Lord Rehu brought up an idea first, "How about we enslave all of the traveling human vagabonds around the country, they do nothing but wander about and stinking up to wherever they travel to. Might as well make use of them."

But Lady Shellina shot this down as well, "There's not enough of them in Siltvelt to replace the slave positions. Not to mention it'll take months to get them trained in hard labor, and could cause trouble with all the human nations and give Melromarc more excuses to attack us."

King Janio then finally spoke up to suggest something, "Why don't we just buy more slaves from other countries. Like at Zeltable or Faubry?"

And Lord Larq shot that suggestion down, "That won't work either. This huge slave exodus is already affecting the world slave market for both human and demi-human slaves alike. Keep in mind Siltvelt has been one of the major suppliers of human slaves across the continent, you can imagine what will happen when all the slaves just disappear. Slave prices are already skyrocketing everywhere from the shortages and high demand, what cost for just one slave before is now costing the equivalent of 100 slaves, and all the nations and foreign slave merchants are aware of this. I've done the math already and as of right now to buy even half of the original slave population numbers, it will cost over a quarter of the yearly national budget. And that's assuming prices don't go up any further, such a thing could lead us into deep debt or worse bankruptcy." Larq explained and he was indeed not exaggerating, the whole world's slave market has been affected by the shield heroes' actions with the loss of supply and a huge increase in demand for slaves has caused prices of slaves of all kinds in every corner of the continent, it has now become almost impossible to buy large amounts of slaves anymore.

"What the hell are we suppose to do then, anyone else with any other ideas?!" Valnar yells with the lords just as unsure.

Trinock finally hits his fist on the table to get their attentions, "I already have a solution. We go to war with Melromarc as soon as possible." He states out loud.

"War? Go to war at a time like this?" Valnar questions with the other lords curious by this as well.

"War is the only option we have. Think about it, I doubt once there in Melromarc the freed slaves would be far from the bordering wall. If we strike as soon as possible and get through the wall, kill off the defending army, we should be able to capture most of the humans there and re-enslaved them. That is where we will get the slaves we need, and if the war is successful with Melromarc ceasing to exist we shall have more than we'll ever need."

Many of the lords were nodding to this liking the idea, though Valnar wanted to bring up one point, "But what about the confederation? Weren't we going to use the former freed nations troops as frontline soldiers in the war with Melromarc?"

"I'm afraid we don't have time for that anymore, as much as I hate to say it. We must strike now while we still have sufficient food and resources. As Lord Larq said before, the longer this goes on, the fewer resources we will have to fight a long war.

Ozsan then spoke up again, "But the last war ended in disaster. The death of the King, lost territories, and the nation nearly falling apart from ambitious lords taking advantage of the state it was in. How do you expect us to win this one?"

"Simple, the Shield will be the key to our victory." Trinock answers with another fist slammed on the table.

"Your joking right? We're in this mess in the first place because of that stupid brat! How in the hell are you going to convince him to be a part of this war after he tricked us the first time?" Rehu retorts.

"Who said we be convincing him. No, we'll be forcing him to fight for us, whether he likes it or not." Trinock responds without a hint of hyperbole.

Ozsan was shocked to hear this, "Are you suggesting we enslave the shield hero? I hate to say this, but that's impossible, the cardinal heroes have always been immune to such spells."

"They're plenty of ways to change the mind without magic Ozsan, just a good amount of excessive torture will get his mind to bend to our wills. And with our proper puppet, we'll get our war and have him undo all of the pardons and changes to the church, removing those troublesome new lords, and give your land and power back. If the new slaves won't convince the bottomfeeders to get back to work, the word of a controlled shield hero will." Trinock explains getting the lords on board with the plan, even Ozsan was agreeing to the whole thing.

King Janio on the other hand thought the whole thing seemed overly complicated, "Can't we just kill off the stupid human than just summon a new one to do our bidding?"

But Ozsan was quick to shoot him down, "I'm afraid to summon a new shield hero, we must kill the other 3 other heroes along with him to be able to do the ritual. And the other three heroes are inside Melromarc. I'm afraid as of now we are stuck with Lord Bakugou."

Trinock nods to that, "Which is why we must make use of him now. We shall capture him, crush his mind into pieces, then we will use his face to get things to go our way again."

"How are you intending to do that? To fight and beat a god?" Rehu asked.

Trinock shakes his head in disapproval this time, "You know well he is not a god. He is just as mortal as we are. You'll see that I'm capable of capturing him and all of his little team as well, the princess brat, that dragon, that aquatic con artist, that Melromarc witch, and that damn troubled traitorous spy. It'll be done as soon as possible after this meeting. By the end of the day, the free-reign of the shield hero will be over then once his mind has been properly molded, we'll start the war to not only save this nation but to finally destroy that tumor of a country forever and have Aultcray's head as a trophy."

Everyone in the room looked at each other on the plan on whether to go along with it or not. Not for anything moral, but to what this might impact the already fragile state.

But after a minute of thinking about it, the four councilors, the Patriarch, and King Janio we're all nodding in agreement.

Lord Valnar then says toward Trinock, "Very well Trinock, for the good of our nation, capture and mold the mind of the shield hero and later dispose of those "sidekicks" of his."

Allen and Mellia who were silent the whole time were now looking at gleefully smiling to this plan, knowing this would include the brat that had ruined them, Daven.

With that Trinock nods in approval of the decision.

Lord Rehu still had his doubts though, "How are you even going to capture him anyway when even the cane hero or the waves could not?"

As Trinock cracks his knuckles and neck, he smiles to that question, "Simple, if the brat likes to produce hot fire? Well then, why don't we ice him?"

---

Nearly half a day had passed by and Ren and Scarlet continued with their journey as they were nearly out of the large forest with only stopping to kill any monsters that were in the way and gaining some new swords from the monster corpses. It was admittedly getting boring for the Filolial though without a wagon to pull around, she was also not looking forward to be seeing that dragon of the shield heroes again and the fact her master and father figure is forced to suck up to the dragons master didn't help her mood either. But Ren gave Fitoria his promise and he will have to keep it to not get killed by her Queen. Though that didn't mean she had to like it.

After the constant travel, the two finally stopped to take a break. Though as they were resting Ren went back to think in his head about his new mission, 'Ok, so when I do eventually encounter Bakugou, what am I even going to say to him? Bakugou is already the type with an extremely low temper and when he sets his mind on something it's hard to change his mind, and he still remembers me as a backstabbing idiot. It will be hard for me to convince him to come back to Melromarc and fix this whole thing with the King, Motoyasu, and Itsuki. But I doubt just telling him that some giant bird queen would kill all of us if we don't get along will be convincing him." But Ren knew he has to think of something soon or Melromarc will fall into ruins, a major war will start, and Fitoria is going to kill him and the other cardinal heroes.

"Help! Help! Someone help us!" Yelled voices suddenly out in the woods, surprising both Ren and Scarlet. They weren't sure what it was, but they knew they couldn't keep standing there and guess with the two immediately running toward the cries for help.

After some running the two were near the edge of a clearing area of a bunch of rows of lined up tree stumps and not far looked to be an old-timey lumber mill and just outside of it was not a sight the two did not want to see. There were numerous people near the mill all demi-humans who looked to be normal lumber workers with all of them cornered to the building with dozens of threatening beastmen mostly of large boar, wolf, and lizard demi-humans with weapons and leather bandit armor holding them hostage.

A few others were trying to flee the area for their lives, only to either be captured and dragged back with the others or just flat out killed with already a few bodies littering the ground.

It was a horrid sight and the two knew this wasn't any good, "We have to stop them master Ren. We can't let those evil meanies get away with this." Scarlet remarks with this reminding her of what she has heard about filolial meat farms where the farmers would do something similar to this with their filolial stock when it's time to buncher many of them.

Ren though wasn't sure if they should interfere in something that was none of their business. The last time they did something like this they were chased around by a giant dinosaur monster, and of course he still had a mission to get to Bakugou and stop Aultcray's and the 2 other cardinal heroes' insanity. But as he thought about it, he remebered doing that act did saved so many people from being eaten by that thing if he didn't do anything about it. Though in this instant he is not seeing any giant dinosaurs, just a bunch of thugs taking advantage of a bunch of innocent people and murdering them like nothing. Even though he knew this would probably go against what Fitoria told him, he had enough of standing on the sidelines doing nothing but make a fool of himself. This time he'll be a hero, a hero he is meant to be. He also justifies in his head that this could also be a good way to test and show off his new skills as a proper swordsman from his training with the bird girl.

Ren quickly takes out his sword was ready to fight with it, "Your right Scarlet. Let's show these meanies who they should be messing with.".

Over at the mill, Voldnir and his men have cornered the protesting workers of this particular mill. His men killed a few already and were ready to continue to scare the hell out of cornered workers and profit from it, that and it was fun to watch them squirm.

The Bearman spoke out to the workers, "Looks like you sheep realize what happens when you start protesting against your shepherds. Now no one is here to defend you from the wolves. Now unless all of you want to decorate the stumps with your bloody mangled corpses like some of these cowards, how about you throw whatever money or anything else you have in your pockets, and maybe I can make my boys back off. Actually, you know what, for the ladies, why don't they throw away all of their clothes to us as well, and we mean ALL, to give us something nice to see." Voldnir demands and he and his men were all laughing at the helpless people.

As they laughed, the workers looked at each other scared wondering if they should give in, but even if they did what they were told, what would stop the bandits from just killing them anyway when they got everything they had or if they decided to do more then just look at there naked women. They were all uncertain of there fates with no help in sight, some were already going into their pocket with even one or two women slowly starting to unbutton some of their clothes until...

"You can't do this to us!" yelled a voice stopping everyone and getting their attention, they all saw a young beaver demi-kid who looked human all but his ears and beaver-like tail who was no more than 12 and was working at the mill with his father as an apprentice and protested alongside him in the strike, he moves up away from the crowd toward the bandit mercenaries, "We are already bullied by our greedy mill bosses and the crown. The shield hero encouraged us to stand up to such bullies, we didn't go this far to be bullied by other people to be taken advantage of. And I certainly will not give in and give up to you!" he shouts at the bandit's leader.

Voldnir was silent for a second until he snapped his fingers, and one of the boar bandits rushes up to the boy and kicks him away on the ground.

The boar man then takes up his ax, "Well your shield hero ain't here! You should've stayed where you were at brat!" the boar mocks making a snorting laugh like the literal pig he was.

But before he could do anymore to the downed kid, his father ran up in front of the boarman to protect his son, "Please don't, he's just a boy!" the man pleas to the boar who just punches him in the stomach making him drop on the ground hard.

"Father no!" the boy yells hoping his father wasn't hurt badly, but as he comforts his father the two look up to the boarman, as he holds his ax back ready to chop the two up.

"Can I just kill these two boss?" the boar man asked Voldnir.

"Go right ahead, like I said once already we need to crack a few eggs anyway, and might as well make an example." Voldnir approved.

The boar man looks down again at the terrified father and son as they hug each other in fear as the boar powers up the magic of his ax ready to make it bloody as he snorts laughter again rasing his ax behind himself ready to swing on the father and sons heads, "Hahaha, as I said, where's your hero now!? Now di-AHHHHHHH!" the boar man screams in pain as he drops his ax behind himself as a bunch of energy blades had stabbed him right through his body like darts on paper.

Just as quickly the son and father move out of the way as the boar man falls forward dead as the energy blades disappear, leaving just a bloody corpse behind with stab holes through his body.

The workers and mercenaries were confused as to what just happened especially Voldnir, 'What the hell!? But guards shouldn't be interfering?' the Bearman yells in his head trying to rationalize this. That was until he and his men heard a loud bird screech from behind and when the mercenaries turned to look, they saw an odd sight.

It was a male human teen, wearing clothing no human in Siltvelt could ever afford or even get access to, while holding a large sword that had a glowing blue gem on its hilt, and next to him was a giant black feathered filolial Queen with deep red eyes, and both had mad looks on their faces and were ready to fight them.

It surprised him but it also pissed off Voldnir, "Who in the hell are you monkey?!"

"Ren Amaki, a hero. And we're here to stop evil men like you, I don't take kindly to serial murderers." Ren taunts the group with his sword out pointing to them.

This riled up the mercenaries as they all focused on Ren now wanting to make the random monkey learn his place.

Voldnir just laughed, "A human hero defending low caste demi-humans? Ha, how absurd. But whoever the hell you are, you just killed one of my best men so you're going to pay for it. You know what considering the massive slave shortage going around right now, slave prices will skyrocket. You might be worth something alive." he then turns his head to his men, "Boys don't kill the monkey, but you can break his limbs if you like to, those can be healed." he orders with the men laughing gripping there weapons harder.

"What about the bird?" one guy asked pointing to Scarlet.

"Just kill it, I won't mind roasted dark meat Filolial tonight." Voldnir answers then points his large ax toward Ren, "Men! Attack!"

All the mercenary bandits then all yelled and charged at the sword hero and Scarlet.

Ren quickly jumps on Scarlet and she immediately charges at the bandits, shocking them with the bird's fast speed, and before they could react Scarlet bashes into a group of them like a line of bowling pins, with Ren using his flame sword to chop the heads off a few bandits on the side. He knew that these kinds of people did not need mercy and was ready to draw blood on heartless murderers.

There were many of these bandits and they weren't pushovers but the two heroes had been able to fight them off without to much struggle.

A bunch more of the bandits had all tried to group up and surround the two, but Scarlet continued to act aggressive as she continues throwing powerful kicks and wind magic, as Ren also fires some energy attacks at some archers and distant mages.

More bandits continued to surround the two as they started to attack in multiple directions. It was harder than it seemed as the bandits unlike in a lot of movies Ren had watched before they did not attack one at a time and tried to overwhelm the heroes.

Ren knew this was starting to get too much and finally stood himself up on Scarlet as he holds off a large hammer from a lizardman, "Scarlet throw me up in the air!" he ordered with Scarlet quickly understanding him as Ren jumps back on her beak and with one great push from her and Ren's power jump ability he flew across the air over the surrounding bandits surprising them.

And once Ren lands with his fall cushioning magic he learned from Fitoria he fires another energy attack at the bandits close to Scarlet, killing a few and getting the other's attention.

With that, the bandit group splits up dividing their forces as Scarlet continued to fight out a bunch on her own as she throws more kicks at the attackers with some instantly dying from her bashing their skulls like melons.

Ren immediately activates a temporally increase strength ability and went on the defense as he fights off a bunch of the bandits rushing to attack him on foot with their big axes and blades. But with Ren's new skills from his training he was now able to properly block and counter-attack the bandits swings as he staggered them and stabs back right after through their armor their armorless exposed spots instead of wasting his mana and sword power to do so.

The two were making quick work of these mercenary bandits, but all it did was make Voldnir mad from all the dead men that this was costing him, "Damn it all! Forget taking him alive! Just kill the damn monkey already!" Voldnir orders forcing his men to fight harder.

Like before they tried to gang up on Ren but the sword hero turns out to be much faster than them, especially after he activates an increased speed skill that would also lower his defense status but was worth the risk as he dodges or blocks many of the bandit's attacks and in one instance Ren with one swing decapitated 3 of them in a row.

And when each had the chance the 2 heroes threw magic attacks on their opposing groups to help one another as these seemed to always catch the bandit mercenaries off guard when there focusing on one target.

It was becoming a massacre for the attacking bandits as their numbers start to dwindle, with Voldnir noticing and getting extremely angry by this disaster of a fight from a human boy of all things. The Bearman finally pulls out his giant power ax from his back and quickly lighted it up with his fire magic. With the edges of the ax now burning hot molten metal with the rest of the ax on fire with intense flames. Voldnir finally rushes his way to Ren, moving a lot faster than looks.

Many of the bandits around Ren noticed their angry boss and moved away, all but one poor lizardman who didn't notice when he tried to engage Ren in front of him. Voldnir descends swinging his flaming ax forward. Quickly seeing this with the force of his power Ren jumps backward and the Bearman smashes the poor lizardman's entire top half of his body into a bloody mess with the ax's impact spreading a small area of fire on ground.

The Bearman quickly stood up as he stares down Ren, "All of you go kill the bird! This one is only for me." Voldnir orders with his men not hesitating for a second as they run away from Ren toward Scarlet as she is forced to fight what's left of the bandits.

Voldnir creates a fire aurora around himself with great flames coming from his ax and his body that was surprisingly not catching his fur on fire due to its magical nature as he stares down Ren, pissed to no end.

Ren holds his sword tight ready for a tough fight, "You cost me a lot today Monkey! You're not worth the effort to be taken alive. No, you're going to be stuffed and be turned into a rug. For me to step on forever!" Voldnir shouts as he swings his ax at Ren, causing fire on the ground to appear from the impact when Ren barely dodged the swing. Voldnir and Ren then fought each other to the death with the powerful Bearman far stronger than any of his men, unlike them he was now giving Ren trouble as the teen fights off his brutal opponent who is not going to stop attacking.

Back with Scarlet, despite the rest of the bandits attacking her at once, she was still able to hold out on her own even if they did get a hit or two on her, it was negligible to her health as she ends their lives quickly. But not far from behind her, some of the bandits got the idea to strangle her by creating magic chains as they sent the magically made objects around neck like a cow lasso, now starting to chock her as the chains kept her in place as the chain chain makers kept the spell going now smugly smiling, as they were on the advantage now.

And now seeing the opportunity of weakness, the rest of the bandits all rush to attack her while she struggles with the magic chains, while Ren was too busy fighting Voldnir who was not stopping as he swings so fast Ren could barely attack back.

The bandits were ready to jump on the bird, but despite the pain from the chains strangling her, Scarlet smugly smirks knowing she had one trick up her feathers that they won't expect.

Once all the remaining bandits were at the bird they swing their weapons to kill her. But suddenly in a flash of smoke, all the swings missed the disappearing bird as the chains just suddenly dropped on the ground.

The bandits were baffled and confused about what happened to the giant bird. Until they looked down once the smoke disappeared to see a random young girl who looked human but had wings on her back looking like one of the shusaku, but with normal human feet instead of bird-like feet. These bandits weren't the brightest and couldn't put two and two together on her or the bird monster.

One looks down at the girl to ask, "Hey little girl have you seen a..?"

"YAH!" Scarlet shouts as she punches the bandit at the crouch instantly stunning him as he quickly kneels in pain with the act shocking the rest of the bandits. And before they could act, Scarlet with her strength grabs the kneeling Lizardman from his chest armor and just flings him at the bandits behind her. Scarlet immediately rushes out from the opening and instantly transforms back into her bird form at the group of bandits that created the magic chains and with quick strikes she had instantly kicked or rip their heads off before they could conduct another spell.

Horrified by the sight the last remaining bandits knew they were screwed and all attempt to run off. But Scarlet not letting up went to engage the murderous bandits to forever put an end to their evil murderous lives for good.

And while Scarlet was on that Ren continued to battle against Voldnir as he swings and bashs the ground with his fire ax. He didn't care that all of his men were dead or his job was ruined, all he cared about now was to kill the human, as his pride would never allow a monkey to beat him.

Ren continued to act on the defense trying to avoid the ax as much as he could, with his speed ability active he knew all it would take was one swing from his ax and he is done for. And the ax was far too powerful to be blocked by his blade and Voldnir was not slowing down fast enough to be tired out, his stamina was insane.

But as Ren continued to dodge the ax he noticed a pattern to his attacks and saw that in quick instances that the Bearman had left openings on his body vulnerable to attacks like what a game boss might do. Which Ren knows to take advantage of from his training.

Voldnir then goes to swing around more as he lights the ground around him on fire once more. But once Ren saw a opening he quickly stabs his sword right at one part of Voldnir's shoulder that lacked armor.

"RAAAAHH!" Voldnir shouted in pain from the blade going through his left shoulder and was just as quickly take out. He then pushes Ren to the ground and attempts to bash his head with the ax despite the injury with Ren able to dodge roll the ax in time as the ground continues to catch fire. And as the sword hero rolled he sliced the bear on the exposed knees making him shout in pain more.

"AHH! You damn shitflinger!" Voldnir yells as he bashes his ax on the ground over and over again trying to hit Ren until the sword hero jumps himself up again and slashes upward at the bearmans head, leaving a good bloody cut on half of Voldnir's face leaving stuned for a few seconds, but with those seconds Ren went all out. Slashing more and more in rapid succession cutting the bear mercenaries health up like butter.

But this just enraged Voldnir greater than before and attempts to bash his ax on Ren's head. He swings right on Ren forcing the hero to block it, staggering the hero a bit and Voldnir bashes the sword over and over forcing Ren in a stun lock. The Bearman kept doing this expecting the sword hero to not hold out much longer where he can finally bash his brains out not even caring about having the human as a trophy anymore.

But this was exactly what Ren wanted, as Voldnir bashes his flame ax one more time on Ren to finally stagger him out of his block leaving him exposed for an attack, "Ha! Stupid monkey! This is what you get for interfering in business!", and without wasting a second Voldnir holds up his ax once more and then says "now here's-AH!" But in a split second Voldnir gets kicked in the back by Scarlet who had just finished off the rest of the gang giving the Bearman great pain in the back but also made him stagger forward.

Ren then quickly retaliates and attacks.

Voldnir was still somewhat stunned from that painful kick as he struggled to keep up with the sword hero as he attacked and slashed at his battle ax over and over as the weapon got looser from his grip.

The Bearman once more attempts to put all of his power on the weapon for one more powerful strike at Ren's back while he was right upon him. But as threw his ax down, on the side Scarlet sends out a simple wind attack at the mercenary stopping his attack and stagged him with his ax arm now out in the open.

And with that opening Ren did not hesitate and slashed at the bear's arm with all his power. And with one powerful swing Voldnir's arm was cut clean off.

"AAAAHHH!" the mercenary leader screams as he attempts to stop the bleeding with his other arm as he looks down to see his severed arm on the ground along with his ax, now unusable to him.

He then looked forward in fear as Ren looks toward the evil mercenary with a mad look not willing to show mercy to a casusal murderer of innocents. Ren slowly approached the Bearman as he walked backed of his life, "No!... No!... This wasn't supposed to happen. Today was suppose to be my big score killing a couple of low caste losers. Why the hell did you have to butt in?!" he cries in fear toward the sword hero.

Ren just smiles smugly, "Because I'm a hero. And I'm not going to let people like you get away with this." he lectures the mercenary.

But Voldnir just attempts to make a run for it trying to flee away in fear with his bleeding armless stump.

"Scarlet! Do the kick!" Ren shouts an order.

And with no hesitation, Scarlet sprinted herself right in front of the terrified Bearman and without a second of delay, kicks him right at the crotch sending Voldnir up in the air in deep pain of his privates.

But that pain wouldn't last long as Ren energized his sword once more and once charged up he grips it hard and shouts, "Meteor blade!" and blasts an energy attack at the Bearman.

Voldnir screams in horror as the blast headed right to him and without a second to react.

Boom!

The attack exploded in the air and vaporize the top half of Voldnirs body. What was left falls back down on the ground with his lifeless corpse just being the lower half of his body, now set to rot away as vulture food.

Voldnir was now dead along with the rest of his bandit mercenary gang.

Feeling greatly accomplished Ren raises his sword in the air with Scarlet turning back into her human form raising her fist up in victory as well, "YAY! We stop the bad guys! Score one for the sword hero and the princess of the filolials!" Scarlet cheers while running around Ren excitedly.

The demi-human workers were in shock to see themselves being saved by a random human. They all prayed for the Shield hero to come by and save them from the bandits, but instead some other random human and his magic giant bird girl saved their lives. They would all be all willing to thank the human stranger, but something didn't feel right to most of them as they stared at his sword now getting a good look at it. It looked familiar, but not in a good way. They had a bad feeling for who this could be.

One was brave enough to approach the human teen nervously, as he asked, "Uh, excuse me human, but uh... Who are you exactly?"

Ren finally lowered his sword, still smiling and enjoying the victory, not thinking about his answer, "The names Ren Amaki, I'm the cardinal sword hero here to save the day." Ren was assuming the demi-human people would be aware of that title and then praise and thank him for saving their lives like he would in Melromarc.

Unfortunately, that was further from the case.

As soon as he said his title out loud, all of the mill workers gasped and looked on in horror with the one that spoke to him now walking backward in fear. It immediately confused Ren, "Uh, did I say something wrong?" he asked them

"It is him! It's the sword demon!"

"He's finally emerged from hell to start his blood harvest!"

"Now he's here to kill and consume our souls!"

Some of the random workers yell, but before Ren can try to calm them down, all of the workers scream in fear and just ran off into the woods back to their homes to hide from the so-called evil "sword demon".

Ren was completely baffled by what just happened, to people he just saved no less.

Scarlet just as perplexed by the whole thing was sniffing her armpit, "Did we smell that bad master Ren?" she randomly asked.

"I don't think this had anything to do with smell Scarlet," Ren responds, he did remember Fitoria mentioning the people of Siltvelt did not take kindly to the other cardinal heroes like with the Shield in Melromarc, but even in Melromarc people were at least willing to talk to Bakugou to some extent.

But as the two turned back to the mill, they did notice that there were two who didn't run away, the boy who stood up to the bandits earlier and his father who both stared at the sword hero with more neutral unsure faces than anything else.

The father then spoke up, "Are you really the sword hero?"

"Yes," Ren responds being simple and to the point not wanting them to run away from saying the wrong thing.

"But why did you save us?" the boy asked wondering why a so-called demon saved their lives like that.

"Because I'm not a demon like them, I'm a hero," Ren responds back

"You mean it?" the boy asked still unsure what to think.

Ren wanting to look unthreatening puts away his sword in his sheath and puts one knee down, "Yes, I'm no different than the shield hero. Where I first came from he was also considered a monster by the people. But it didn't stop him from doing good and help those very same people. I'm the same here, even if most of you hate me, I and the shield hero are here to protect all of you and the whole world from the waves of calamity, and stop evil people like those bandits from trying to harm you and your families." he said comforting the boy. Ren knew this may seem unnecessary to some people like Itsuki and Motoyasu, but he knew now he had to think of the people of this world and what their actions will impact them. He first learned that with Wydina and Gaelion.

The boy and his father looked at each other still unsure about this whole thing. But after a few more seconds of silence the boy finally spoke up to say, "Mr. Sword... Hero... Thank y..."

"Master Ren! Look out!" Scarlet suddenly shouts as she instantly turns back into her bird form and pushes Ren and the father and son out of the way as a giant energy blast launched out of from the woods and lands then explode creating a crater near where they were at.

Ren quickly got himself up as he looks around to see what just happened. He saw the son and father still safe now making a run for it back near the mill. Scarlet was on his left, and in front of him toward where the attack came from Ren saw a large force of armored knights coming out of the woods with the white Tigerman, lord Zalser with them. They were waiting there the whole time, holding out to finally "rescue" the workers from the bandits, but are now all staring at Ren with mild fear and caution, to them they were looking at the eyes of one of their religions devils, the sword demon.

Ren tries to calm the situation as he stood back up with his arms up in the air. He was fine killing a bunch of evil bandits, but he knew quite well he would be causing massive trouble if he went out to kill knights of this nation, if he is already seen as a demon by regular townsfolk killing there soldiers would just confirm their fears and make things even worse especially if he is trying to get to Bakugou. It would be even hard to get to him if the crown had put out a huge bounty on his head for the knight's deaths, "Please wait, let me explain this."

But the soldiers and the lord of the area were not interested in listening to the so-called Sword Demon, with this bandit raid thing ending in disaster Lord Zalser was all willing to go with any sort of plan B, 'Hmm, If me or my men can kill the sword demon, not only will my name go into history forever, the workers will no longer question the words of the man who had killed a demon lord. They'll be more than willing to work for the lord that killed the devil. Looks like I got an alternative way to stop the strikes for good.' he thinks in his head.

Back with Ren though, he still attempts to calm the situation down, "Look I don't mean any harm, those bandits were attacking and murdering people and I was just.."

"Men attack the demon now! Now!" the lord shouts and without hesitation, the mages and archers all fired their magic and arrows toward Ren.

Knowing where this was going, he quickly jumps on Scarlet barely dodging the attacks, "Scarlet! Head out that way now!" Ren orders pointing toward west the direction that Fitoria told them to go in the first place and Scarlet makes a run for it continuing to dodge the attacks and jumping over a group of knights that attempted to stop them and the two ran off deep into the woods hoping to eventually find Bakugou to get out this situation they got themselves into.

But Lord Zalser wasn't going to let this golden opportunity get away that easily, "Follow him men! Don't let the Sword Demon escape! Get on the horses now!" he orders with all the men quickly getting back on their horses now chasing after Ren and Scarlet with the intent to kill.

As the Lord himself got on the horse he turns toward another knight, "This won't be easy to do on my own, you there, get me my crystal ball and get me in contact with as many lords around the region as you can. We're going to need as much help as possible. Once we kill that interfering demon bastard, we will finally get things back in order when we will be known forever as the lords who killed the sword demon." he finally orders to the soldier as he nods and rides back to the lord's manor.

Zalser goes on to follow his men as they pursue their sword knows well his fellow lords will help out especially the other Hankuko lords knowing if one of there tribesmen kills the sword demon, their race will rise back up to glory again, the glory that will pacify the workers to never strike or protest against them ever again.

After everyone else left, the boy and his father look out into to woods to where Ren fled to.

It was a lot to take in with what just happened as the boy looks up to his Dad to ask, "Father, do you think they'll be alright?".

He immediately nods knowing who he was referring to, "I'm sure he will, despite who the human is, I'm sure he can handle it." he responds.

The kid looks out to the woods once more to say one more thing, "Yes, I know what exactly who he is, ... A hero. Thank you for saving us Sir Ren Amaki."

---

After some time later back at Siltvelts capital near the outskirts of the castle, Bakugou was now with his full team again. Daven was beside him as well as Melty and Neia who had just come back a few hours ago from their long wagon ride with the two no longer treating each other with contempt, they now looked like normal friends. And just getting there themselves was Rino and Kirishima as the dragon descends near the group from there long flight.

After Rino jumps off, Kirishima shrinks himself down and jumps on Bakugou's shoulder at his toddler form.

"About time you got here Brown hair?" Bakugou jokingly mocks.

"We've been near the border regions of the empire, don't expect us to be here fast when we are so far away. But anyway, what's the plan now Sir Bakugou?" Rino snarked again and asked.

"Simple, we just wait for those Oligarchs to go crying back to us and I'll be able to get them to fold on their weak as hell foundation and end their stupid caste system and their corrupt hierarchy for good."

Daven then added in, "You make it sound easy, but I don't think they'll be giving up their power that easy." he was still somewhat nervous about what Trinock yelled about earlier, that wasn't the will of a man that is going to keel over and give up.

"I'm not worried, I can tell a thin spine from anyone and those in the council have paper-thin ones. They'll be doing what they can to save what's left of their own asses." Bakugou brushes off confidently still having his refound arrogant streak going.

But that bask in glory was interrupted when a messager came running to him, "Lord Bakugou! You and your team are being requested back at the castle. Lord Trinock wants to speak to you, it's something extremely important."

Bakugou quickly grins to that, "Ha, as I told you, they're already giving up. Come on let's go." he orders his team and without question, they all followed Bakugou to the castle.

But despite their loyalty even Melty, Rino, and Neia all started to get a bad feeling in their necks on this whole thing.

After a half-hour walk through the large castle, Bakusquad was now in a long narrow hallway with paintings and other decorations filling up the walls. As they were walking, they finally saw a group with cloaked robed figures, all but one of them waiting in the middle of the hallway, the one figure being Trinock with a small grin on his face ready to see the shield hero once more.

After a little more walking Bakugou was now up near Trinocks group, "Well well Stripes, didn't expect to see you here? So I answer your call, what do you want?"

"You caused quite a lot of damage to my kingdom. In some sense, I should be yelling at you again, but at the same time I have praise you for going up against me with such confidence. Such people, even some nation leaders would be afraid to say the single wrong word to me. But ever since you came here, you've shown no such fear of me. It's something I have to admire, Katsuki Bakugou." Trinock compliments as he backed away a little bit.

Bakugou not questioning the compliment continue to act smug about it, "Ha, you underestimated me stripes. I told you before I am not some puppet of yours, you made the mistake to think so otherwise. But I know you didn't bring me to suck up again. Are you finally here to negotiate a way to fix this little labor crisis you're going through?" he smugly consults, though his crew was starting to get suspicious especially with how the robed figures were moving their hands.

But all Trinock just says with a smirk, "No, I already have that covered Shield hero. I actually have one more surprise for you."

"Huh!?" expressed a confused Bakugou.

"NOW!"Trinock shouts and the robed figures behind him quickly placed their hands on the floor activating their magic and while the crew was paying attention to them, up at the ceiling there was one lizard man soldier who threw down a magic band that instantly snapped on the middle of Kirishima's toddler body.

And before Bakugou and his team could react to both, suddenly the floors they were standing on in less than a second crumbles into pieces. and the next thing they knew the Shield team was falling right through the floor, going down multiple floors until Bakugou and the crew finally fall and hit the ground.

thanks to Bakugou's buffs they were all mostly fine taking only a little bit of fall damage. Nevertheless, it was still a painful drop, "Damn that bastard! Is everyone fine!?" Bakugou shouts to his team.

Everyone was still groaning from that fall but they all got up quickly including Melty, "Were all ok Sir Bakugou, but good lord it's freezing in here." she speaks up for everyone as she and the others start to shiver with their breaths now visable showing it was truly ice cold in the huge room they fallen in.

They all quickly noticed this large dark room had its entire floor covered in ice and snow. This area is like a giant freezer most likely created from ice magic, with temperatures below zero degrees.

This was really bad for Bakugou and he knew it, his quirk relies on his sweat to do his explosions, but when it's this cold without clothing covering his body it's hard for him to make sweat and any that he did produce ends up getting instantly frozen solid efficiently crippling his powers. It seemed like the perfect place for an enemy to fight him at. Thankfully though he still has plenty of sweat in his gauntlets magically protecting the explosive liquid within from the freezing temperatures, so he can still use his explosions, but he only had a limited amount of it, so he needs to conserve as much as possible until he can get him and his team out of there and kick the ass of Trinock.

He then moves to the rest of his team who were all hurting from the fall, but thanks to Bakugou's healing magic and his huge stockpile of health potions they quickly heal from any injuries they received. They then quickly noticed the light from the top floor disappearing getting covered up making the freezing room pitched black.

Rino quickly activates a light spell to bring back visabliity in the room for the crew including Bakugou to be seeing the ceiling getting covered up with a green energy magic barrier, similar to the one that was used when mages had tried to trap Bakugou in the room with hundreds of noble girls. So getting out of this giant freezer was going to be more pragmatic then before, and blasting himself up there won't help as he remembers how powerful the magic barriers were and he didn't want to waste the limited sweat he had on something he knew won't work.

Bakugou then looks at his dragon, "Kirishima! Fly and eat that tiger bastard!" he ordered, but even after Kirishima nods understanding the command, the little dragon no matter how hard he tried can't transform back to his larger forms, not either his teen or adult one. The magic band the lizard man threw on him prevented his transformation magic from activating, so having a giant fire-breathing dragon bust them out of here won't be an option until he gets the band off of the young dragon. Bakugou had learned skills to remove items like that so it would only take a few uninterrupted minutes to take it off before the magic expired.

Unfortunately, he won't have the time to do so.

"Sir Bakugou look over there!" Neia suddenly shouted as she points toward a side of the freezing room. Coming down high from large holes up from the sides of the walls were numerous large beasts, with what looked like lions only 3 times the size of a normal ones with blue and white fur, but they also had scorpion-like tails raised up with there venom inside.

They were tundra-based Manticores, strong, high leveled predators, and were starving. They had marks and numbers on their sides indicating they were raised and paid for like livestock. A bunch started to jump down from the wall holes eyeing the shield team.

Despite the shock from the fall, the team quickly got themselves ready to fight the hybrid monsters off.

The numerous manticores finally attacked, with the most going after the shield hero, trying their best to sting or claw the hero as he tries his best to conserve his sweat trying to fight these monsters with Kirishima still forced in his toddler form remains of his father's shoulder and held on.

Neia and Rino remained together with Melty, to protect her from the giant lions with scorpion tails as Neia cuts up any that got too close, Rino blasts or stabs them, and Melty behind them supports the two with her water magic, but it was hard for her to use any of her magic as her water spells almost instantly freeze over, and had no skill in ice magic which was a completely different thing from normal water magic.

And Daven was off helping both groups teleporting himself across the two areas stabbing and blinding some of the manticores or just chopping off their tails.

Despite the manticore's strength their numbers were starting to dwindle as the heroes fought them off. Bakugou was blasting a bunch of them one by one turning them into mincemeat making him act cocky again, "Ha, these bastards think they can stop me with these circus freak ice cats! Give me more of a real challenge!"

And as if on his command, the ground starts to shake with the heroes look toward where the shaking was coming from. At the snow-covered ice floors, giant pure ice golems started to rise up like the zombies from the ground from the ice magic produce by unseen ice mages becoming big bulky 9-foot tall ice soldiers lacking any sort of features other then the glowing red eyes inside there crystal-like icicle heads.

Bakugou grins to this, "Now we're talking."

The ice golems lumber their way to the teams along with even more manticores.

The golems were stronger and more resistant against physical attacks, forcing Rino to focus her powers on the golems with her magic attacks to kill or keep them golem at bay while Neia and Melty continued to deal with the manticore's as they got more aggressive.

Daven continues to aid both teams, but the golems didn't have a many weak spots as normal flesh creatures do, it was harder for the scout cat to cripple as he continues to throw energy knives at the golems red eyes while doing the same with the more fast-moving manticores with better success.

It was starting to overwhelm the sidekicks, while Bakugou was having a blast as he continues to kill these things left and right with his explosions, easily destroying the golems as he blows them into pieces just the same as the manticores.

New golems and manticores kept coming and coming but it didn't slow him down.

Bakugou was going through an adrenaline rush as he was having the thrill of his life, "Hell yes! Keep coming at me you damn bastards, keep throwing these roadblocks against me and I'll.. wait a second.." Bakugou suddenly paused himself as he thought through the situation he was in.

He forgot that his power was limited now due to the temperature of the room with the only source of his sweat left is stored in his gauntlets. And with the thought of roadblocks now in his mind he remembers something back at U.A., 'Roadblocks, like in the first term final exams before the camp trip. In Kirishima's and the sugar guys exam, those 2 blockheads were continously attacking professor Cementos never ending cement pillars, constantly attacking them like idiots and the pillars would never stop appearing. And when they exhausted themselves, the teacher finally overwhelmed them and quickly crushed the two making them fail the test. And that Tiger bastard is doing something similar and I'm buying the damn bait!' he yells in his head.

He now knew he couldn't keep doing this as he blasted himself away and was trying to act more defensively using his shield powers. Now trying to find a way out of here, but there were magic barriers all over the ceilings and the golems keep on respawning. Bakugou was now starting to fear that they might be in a rock in a hard place as he tries to help his increasingly fatigued teammates, trying to figure out something as the below zero freezing temperatures and constant attacks were starting to catch up to them.

But the team still persist as they continued to fight off the monsters. And despite not having much power on him now due to the magic collar Kirishima was still helping out as his small fire breaths aided the team in this freezing icebox and he flew and jumped around the members to warm them up.

The manticore numbers were starting to dwindle, the squad was thinking the castle must be almost out of them. The same can't be said with the golems as they were magic constructions, unless they can stop the ones who were creating them, they're never going to stop appearing. And there were no mages in sight to kill, so they were either in other rooms below or above protected by the barriers.

Bakugou starting to get more desperate and continued to try to think of something to get them out of this freezer hoping to find a way to attack the source of these monsters respawning and possibly destroy the magic barriers to just bust him and his team out of the freezing room.

Thankfully though, they finally killed off the last of the manticores with the last kill coming Neia's swords as she literally the last one in half.

Unfortunately, that feeling of accomplishment ended quickly when things became worse. "Bakugou the sides again!" Melty shouts pointing to the walls again.

Around all the sides many of the walls slide open.

And from the opening walls appear a huge number of Siltvelt soldiers and ice mages marching into the room, soldiers of many types of different demi-humans taking out their weapons about to fight their God and his team. There were well over a hundred of them, all covered up in winter equipment keeping them protected from the below-zero temperatures.

The team was now looking around in horror at the sight. They were freezing their butts off and were exhausted from fighting so many monsters, now they have to deal with a small army.

Bakugou groans in anger when he realizes the golems and manticores were nothing more than the first wave to weaken and soften them up. Now Trinocks trap's next phase had just started.

The soldiers all immediately yelled then charged to attack with the mages either boosting the soldiers or firing their various ice attack spells at the group with more ice golems being made.

Bakusquad quickly cluster together as they were forced to fight them all off.

Bakugou had no choice but to fight more aggressively, using his quirk to blow away the charging soldiers and giant golems while trying to protect his increasingly exhausted and fatigue team at the same time.

Daven was equally getting tired as he teleports all over faster than ever to help his group and slice the throats of attacking soldiers, but even he was getting to his limits.

Neia, Rino, and Melty were getting cornered as more soldiers surround the three as they were now getting attacked on all sides and Bakugou's energy air strike shields were only doing so much.

Seeing how tense the situation was getting, Neia quickly made a hand signal toward Bakugou to inform him what she was going to do which he understood what that meant as he shouts, "Shield prison!" creating a magic metal ball around Rino, Kirishima, and Melty with Daven teleporting himself in it realizing what the elf girl was going to do as Neia charges herself with all her magic already glowing from the electic energy.

Then Bakugou quickly blasts himself off the ground.

"Electric surge!" Neia shouts as she places her hands on the ground and with powerful sparks coursing through her body, using her ultimate attack expending almost all of her mana. She lets it all out of his body as electricity spread across the floor electrifying all the normal soldiers as they all suffer from the thousands of volts melting their nervous systems.

After a few seconds of the attack, every single soldier falls to the ground in deep pain or are dead. All but the ice golems who were mostly resistant or immune to electric attacks.

But Bakugou knew this was their chance to get out of the freezing room. After he quickly lands on the ground next to Neia and the shield prison, the magic metal ball disappears with Daven, Rino, Kirishima, and Melty now out, with the little dragon jumping back on Bakugou shoulders, "To the walls now!", he orders.

And without hesitation, the squad run for the walls following Bakugou's lead while dodging the large ice golems at the same time.

Bakugou himself blasts ahead toward the wall as fast as he could, not caring if the walls eventually shut themselves if he got close or not, he'll just blow them away even if it uses the last of his sweat in his gauntlets, with their contents already getting dangerously low from all the fighting.

But as he and his team were almost to the edge of the large room, Both Daven and Rino suddenly felt a large presence of dark magic near the way out.

"Sir Bakugou wait!" Daven shouts knowing what this was.

But before Bakugou respond when he heard that, 2 black smoke clouds appear in front of him in the air making the shield hero panic and stopped himself when saw the strange event. Then out from the quickly disappearing smoke clouds came out 2 masked cat demi-humans rogues with magic energy sword blades. Bakugou quickly blocks one blade but the other slices his side ignoring his defense and left a small bleeding cut, "Ow! Damn it!"

And just as quickly the 2 disappeared away forcing Bakugou to stop himself and land back on the ground with Kirishima with the rest of his team stopping in their place near their leader.

And in just a few seconds numerous clouds of black smoke pop all over with more and more of these masked cat rogues appearing all around the group, "Shit it's the spy corps!" Daven yelled knowing well who they were, as he was once a part of them.

The team was now horrified at the prospect of fighting numerous Davens including Daven himself and Neia just used her ultimate move now lacking mana.

The spies then engaged as they pop in and out everywhere around the heroes. It was not only hard to fight enemies that constantly appear and disappear everywhere, but to also fight them exhausted and freezing their butts off.

Daven tries all he can to help his team, he may be the best of the spy corps and was even able to kill a few of them, but that only went so far.

It got even worse when the giant ice golems finally caught up to them. Now the group had to deal with the deadly agile spies and the giant ice monsters that were throwing their huge weight around at the same time.

Bakugou did his best being able to use his shield skills to trap and kills some of the spies and through direct attacks on the ice golems, but even he was almost near his breaking point no matter how many potions he or his party drink or applied, it would only do so much as they fight for there lives.

Then things just got worse again, as the team look back at the open walls and saw another large unit of Siltvelt soldiers charging their way in, this time they were numerous rhino, hippo, and elephant soldiers.

The fresh soldiers had now surrounded the team. All at the same time the Ice golems, teleporting spies, and numerous large armored soldiers all attack the shield hero and the sidekicks.

Bakugou was even getting desperate himself as he starts blasting away with all of his power at all the enemies around himself, but no matter how many died from his explosions more and more kept replacing them as his sweat was running out,

Kirishima continued to grip his fathers shoulder as much as he could, spitting fire in the face with any soldier Bakugou would block with the shield. It was all the dragon could do, as he was still unable to grow huge.

But then suddenly Kirishima gets hit by a blast by an opportunist Siltvelt ice mage knocking him off his tired father's shoulder, "KIRISHIMA!" Bakugou yells to his dragon and attempts to blast off to save him.

But then a Siltvelt cat spy popped up in front of the flung dragon with a small caged and caught Kirishima right into it and quickly shut and locked the cage.

Bakugou was quickly enraged, more then ever as he goes to kill at the kidnapper. But not a second after the spy teleported away with caged dragon, with Bakugou attacking too late with his explosion hitting nothing, "You pieces of shit! DON'T STEAL MY FRIENDS!" Bakugou was now going berserk as he fights more aggressively than ever before blasting and killing anything in sight, but even his pure rage can only go so far as his explosions start to grow weaker and weaker with each one.

Neia, Rino, and Melty were near the end of their fighting spirits as they could no longer keep up with all the soldiers and with Bakugou in the state he was in now they were no longer getting any more support or defense magic from him.

But both Neia and Rino knew they had to protect Melty at all cost as she was just an innocent girl in all of this and attempt to back themselves away from the huge number of soldiers.

But right behind Neia and Melty, a huge ice golem was about to strike the two from their backs.

"NEIA! MELTY! LOOK OUT!" Shouted Rino as she pushed them out of the way with the golem hitting her instead.

"RINO!" the two shouted as the mage girl was thrown 20 feet away from them. The mage girl groans injured but was still alive as she tries to rise back up.

But then the golem sticks its ice arm in the ground facing toward Rino and with its own spell, it sent a stream of ice magic heading right for her.

And too injured and exhausted to get out of the way the stream got to Rino and the next thing she knew her entire body was quickly getting encapsulated by magic ice. She reaches out her hand and shouted "Run!" and with that word Rino gets her entire body covered in the ice.

Despite the horror to see another one of their companions captured, Neia grabs hold of Melty with one arm as she tries to fight off the numerous soldiers with her other arm.

Daven then pops up again close by to help them out.

As she fights the mass of large soldiers off, Neia quickly looks toward the tired cat rogue, "Daven, please get Bakugou and Melty out of here! I'll try to hold them off. Your the best hope to get them out of here!"

"But what about.."

"Please just go!" she cries in desperation.

As much as Daven wanted to say no to Neia not wanting to abandon her, Kirishima, and Rino behind now seeing them as his true comrades, he knew she was right. With his limited mana left, after stabbing another soldier in the eye, he teleports right beside Neia and she quickly hands over Melty to him, "No! Neia! NO!" Melty cries not wanting to leave anyone behind especially not her friends.

But Daven grips her harder as he teleports away from the surrounding soldiers as Neia attempts to hold them off. But despite her strength and perseverance one large rhino soldier with a huge hammer finally smacks her with it and Neia was sent flying rolling on the snowy ground until she eventually stops and laid flat injured. Alive but no longer able to fight back.

And just like Rino, an ice golem placed its arm on the ground and completely encased her entire body in ice.

Daven contiuned to hold on to a teary-eyed Melty as he attempts to run as fast as he can to Bakugou as he fights on surrounded by enemies. He didn't know how he was going to do it, but he had to somehow teleport in to grab Bakugou then teleport out of this room to safety.

But as he got closer to the surrounding soldiers, two of Siltvelt spies randomly appeared in front of Daven, and with their energy blades they stab him right in the exposed shoulder.

"Aaah!" Daven yells in pain as he was pushed backward with the blades, and lost his grip of Melty and saw another spy popping in and grabbed her, "No! Daven!" Melty shouts but like Kirishima before the spy teleports away with another prisoner in their control.

The bleeding and injured Daven lays on the snow in defeat, feeling completely awful for himself. He should have seen this coming as soon as Trinock gave the threat to Bakugou earlier and he should have been the one to get Melty and Bakugou out of here, but he had failed in both instances. As he sulks and bleeds, a bunch of more spies pop in around Daven as they go and capture and tie up their next prisoner, applying as many anti-magic charms on him as possible to prevent the rogue from teleporting away again.

It was now just Bakugou, alone as he uses all that was left of his explosion powers to blast away as many of these bastards as possible. Hoping it will be enough to eventually kill all of the large overwhelming soldiers, golems, and spies then to save his sidekicks and friends. But he was no longer making the explosions he usually does, now no longer able to instantly destroy the head of the ice golems.

With him being so cold and tired, he eventually got caught off guard again by one of the ice mages as one of its ice spells manages to hit Bakugou's right hand, covering the gauntlet in ice, "SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!" Bakugou shouts with his right-hand gauntlet no longer able to make explosions. He desperately tries to kill everything that surrounds him, with his one working gauntlet. He tries with all of his power to somehow get out of here.

Bakugou attacked, and attacked, and attacked, still going on with his now weak explosions. Despite all of that he was still able to remain up and kept the enemies all around him at bay.

But then after making a few more tiny explosions, the worst has finally happened.

His last working gauntlet was now out of sweat. Which means no more explosions, "No! No! No!" Bakugou looks on in horror to his left hand. "I'm... I'm now useless... useless, I'm basically quirkless. Now I've become Deku."

And with the attack dogs bite now gone, the soldiers, spies, and golems all attack once more. "SHIELD PRISON!" Bakugou shouts as he tries to use whatever shield abilities he had left to protect himself but his magic and shield abilities were stretched too thin from exhaustion and stress at this point the ball barely lasted a few hits.

But despite his sorrow, Bakugou was willing to stand his ground and continued to fight on with every little bit of strength he had left in him not wanting to go out without a fight, and refused to submit despite having no more attack power.

Throwing random punches at the soldier's faces even when the did only point one in damage, whether to him he was a Deku or not, he would not give these bastards the satisfaction of an easy victory.

But then the ground surrounding his boots was starting to ice over, and when he realized what this was, it was too late as the ice golems all around the giant room had their hands on the ground, now having the chance to freeze the shield hero.

Bakugou attempts to break himself out of it, but without his explosions it was no use as his ice resistance begins to be overwhelmed. His body begins to get encapsulated in ice like with Rino and Neia. Starting with his feet, then to his legs, after that his torso and arms, then his neck, and now finally reaching his head, "NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo...!" with one last yell Bakugou's head gets consumed and encased in ice.

And with that, the shield hero and his team had all been captured and defeated.

Bakugou within the ice was still conscious and alive as he can see through the ice. He watches through the ice as the soldiers begin to take away captured Neia, Rino, and Daven to their prison cells.

Bakugou wanted to get out and scream and attack, but it was no use as he was trapped completely stuck in ice, and no way for him to get out as his sweat still freezes even inside the ice.

He then notices some of the soldiers in front of him moving away to leave an opening for someone to walk toward him.

And that someone was none other than Prime Minister Trinock with his arms behind his large back smugly smiling toward the iced hero.

Bakugou want to blast him and kill the bastard but had no power to do anything. At the moment he was no more than an iced decoration now.

Trinock finally made it up to the iced Bakugou and just said, "Well well well, who is laughing now?"

---

The sun was about to set in the Kingdom of Melromarc at the royal capital as activity in the city started to slow down. Lanterns started to burn, the knights go around on their night patrols to keep order and stop criminals, and many of the common folk headed back to their homes for the night. It seemed like a normal night for everyone despite the fear of a major crisis since the shield hero had left the nation and the growing doubt on the King's sanity, things remained mostly stable at the capital.

But near the walls of the city's borders, the guards saw numerous large wagon carts heading their way to the gates.

It was suspicious to the wall guards especially with how late it was for random merchants to be coming in to sell their goods when almost everyone has gone home as of now.

A head guard came down to see what the deal was as he approached the one holding the reigns on the horses of the front most wagon.

"Excuse me sir, what is your purpose here?" the head guard asked getting to the point.

"We're merely merchants from Faubrey getting here late and are planning to rest for the night.". The coachman answers with a straight face toward the suspicious guard.

"What exactly are you and your friends selling?" The head guard asked getting more suspicious.

"Food mostly, as well as some trinkets mages like to use." the coachman responds.

The guard knew he was up to something, "Seems odd to come all the way from Faubrey just to sell some food, why don't we investigate your wagons first before you will be even considered entrance."

The coachman then went into his pockets, "You could, or just to make things simpler, why don't I just pay you a "toll" and we can just move along, ", and out of his pocket were 20 gold coins that he showed off to the knight.

The guard widens his eyes open, surprised to see that kind of money being bribed at his face. He originally thought this was too good to be true and wanted to believe this was just a con, but after taking one coin to bite on it to make sure, and it was indeed real.

While it wasn't the policy of the capital to just let this many in without a check on the cargo, the head gate guard was not exactly a man of virtue and gladly takes the bribe, just as the coachman wanted, "Very well, you seem to be decent businessmen anyway. You may pass. OPEN THE GATE!" he yells toward the wall as the men up there open the gate allowing them in and with that numerous wagons went inside the capital carrying out there big plan."

The wagons continued on insides the city. As it gets dark out, many of the large wagons began to stop by at many different spots around the capital. Some near the gate walls, some at the various guard garrisons, some at the 3 heroes cathedral, and a few nearby the castles gates.

At one guard garrison, the knights over there got suspicious and began to approach the wagons missing their coaches, "Hey! No parking carts near military areas without permission, leave now or you'll be arrested!" a guard commander demanded with a few men on his side. And without a response back they move on near the end of the covered wagon.

They were starting to wonder if there was anyone nearby, but who would just leave large wagons like this unguarded? The commander and his men were finally up at the backs of the wagons and were ready to see what is inside the wagon's coverings.

But as they were moving the sheet coverings aside, "ATTACK!" shouted from inside the wagon.

This surprised the commander and men and suddenly a large squadron of armored soldiers and combat mages came running out of the wagon along with the other wagons next to each other. And while they were still in shock the soldiers immediately attacked the guards to quickly kill or incapacitate them.

And after that attack was heard, in all of the other wagons all around the strategic areas of the capital, numerous soldiers were all coming out of them and begin their take over of the city.

But the city guard after the shock was quick to respond and began to attack back at the regular soldiers.

Many intense battles were going around the city at the same time with both sides fighting valiantly, but the city guards were not unified as some were not fighting at all. Quite a few knew who those soldiers were and what they were doing here and decided to avoid the fighting at all cost. Either wanting to avoid future scrutiny from the Queen or had no love for the mad King.

But the Aultcray loyalist guards were going to protect their King at all costs and were willing to fight off these traitors. Hoping to eventually overwhelm them as the anti-Aultcray knight's numbers were limited. However unlike the guard, they were properly trained soldiers set to fight at the front lines in wars. Most of the city guards usually only have to deal with the occasional rowdy civilians or drunks. So the skill difference was quite big and they were quickly being overwhelmed.

And near the city gates again while most of guards there were busy fighting off the enemy soldiers, the corrupt head guard from earlier looks out away from the city to see a way for his cowardly butt to get out. But as he looked forward outside the city, he saw an approaching large Melromarc army heading this way and he notices two figures on horseback leading the way. It was none other than general Richeart and lord Reichnott going forward with the coup.

"Shit those two are here?! But how could this be... Damn it! That merchant, was he? Shit! Ok, I just need to play it cool, it's not like they brought any siege equipment with them. I just need to make a run for it and them...OWF!" out of nowhere the corrupt guard gets hit hard in the stomach, and from the pain he kneels to the ground and then gets punched in the face knocking him unconscious. It was the soldier who had posed as the merchant coachman earlier, now with him and his forces taking control of the city gate.

The coup soldiers quickly ended any resistance at the gate area and once there were no more loyalist guards to fight off they quickly got the main gate into the city to open.

And with that, the rest of the army came rushing in and had spread out to quickly take control of the city itself and to maintain order in it. The areas where there was still heavy fighting had quickly stopped when the large reinforcements came in to overwhelm the loyalist city guards. Once the coup army had the majority of the city under their control, many of the loyalist guards had immediately surrendered knowing well they're outnumbered and cornered.

Things were different though at the castle itself where as soon as they heard the main gate was opened the castle's front gates were immediately shut tight with the castle drawbridge being lifted up with its own gate shutting to keep it up.

Once the city was secured and any random fires or damage from the various battles were contained, Reichnott and Richearts army marched to the castle itself where they begin the siege of the Melromarc's seat of power, starting with attacking the castles's outer gate area where the loyalist guards outside would not go out without a fight.

---

High up in the palace itself, while all of the servants went to hide in their quarters to protect themselves from what was going on, all the loyalist guards were running down toward the bottom floor to prepare themselves to hunker down at the entrance of the castle.

After hearing a lot of shouting, screaming, and running armored footsteps, King Aultcray, Princess Malty, the spear and bow heroes with their parties were all walking down the hall to find out what the commotion was all about. They were in the middle of a meeting to discuss what they were going to do to find Ren and to deal with the traitorous nobles until they began to hear all the crazy things going on with the guards at high alert.

Aultcray finally found a commander running his way down toward the castle's entrance and immediately stopped him to ask questions, "What in the hell is going on here commander?! I'm doubting this is some sort of training drill!?" Aultcray demanded.

The commander finally spoke, "Your majesty the castle is under siege. An army of our own Melromarc soldiers have taken control of the capital city and are attempting to get into the castle itself. It's a full-fledged army."

"What!?" Aultcray shouted in shock to hear such a thing.

"How in the hell can this be!? Who dares order such a thing on Melromarcs royalty and heroes?!" Malty yells, thinking just because she was the crown princess that should make her immune to things like coups and mutinies from the army.

Aultcray didn't want to believe it himself, but as he looked out through a window he saw near the grounds of the castle a large battle taking place. where hundreds of soldiers were attacking each other, his nation's soldiers fighting at the castles gates area for control to eventually get inside the castle itself to overthrow there own king.

Itsuki and Motoyasu were mostly confused by the whole thing, "But... But why are they trying to break in and attack their monarchs? This was not a storyline quest in Emerald online?" Motoyasu complains out loud, he was more worried about Mynes's safety than anything else, he thinks they're after her with all of those terrible accusations and conspiracies of her being involved in little sister's disappearance.

"Shit don't tell me they're here for that stupid castle thing!?" Itsuki grits quietly to himself, he's thinking that rest of Melromarc's nobility were still blaming him for the whole Rabier castle incident and are now using that as an excuse to attempt to capture and imprison him.

Aultcray then grips his fists in anger now realizing what this was about, "I know who is responsible. Reichnott and Richeart! Lord Reichnott knew I was on to him and he finally started his act to overthrow me. And he manipulated Richeart to join his side taking advantage of his naivety with those "escaped slaves". Now they're doing everything they can to overthrow me and my daughter."

"Ok, so what the hell are we going to do then!?" Itsuki yells back at the king not liking this whole thing at all, especially when this could also mean that his life would be on the line.

But despite his anger Aultcray was surprisingly calm about the situation, "No need to worry too much lord Itsuki. This castle was made to hold off enemy armies for long periods of time. We can be at this state of siege for months if need be." he explains then turns his head to the commander, "But make sure all castle guards are downstairs and are ready to fight at anytime."

The commander quickly nods and rushes away downstairs. Aultcray then turns back toward the hallway, "Let's head back to the meeting room, I'll be able to contact any other general or lord outside of the city to come to help fight off Richearts and Reichnotts traitorous forces. They'll be here in a few days and we'll have the supplies and manpower to hold out against this siege." he informs them as he and the cardinal groups walk with back to the meeting room, taking the king's word for it that they won't have to worry about anything with the help that will supposedly come soon.

Little did they know that was not going to be the case and one of the guards there who was a spy for the 3 heroes church knew it.

---

Down at the ground level of the castle, despite the heavy resistance of the loyalists, the anti-Aultcray forces were able to take over the gate area of the wall surrounding the castes moat. The gates were now opened with the coup army able to get through.

However, their next obstacle was the drawbridge. It was still up with a gate holding it back. As long as it was up the army won't be able to come in mass inside the castle. Any other ways were already blocked off or would be impossible to send a large army through without being picked off one by one by the defenders. So Richeart had his army remained still for now. He expected this, but thankfully he had a way to get around this quickly.

Inside the castle behind the raised drawbridge, most of the castle's guards and combat mages had set themselves building some defenses made from wood and sand bags, readying themselves for a battle they hope won't be happening tonight. They weren't in any hurry and were expecting the siege to last for ages not thinking they be able to pass through for a long time, which they think by that point help would already arrive.

But while that was going on some helmeted knights were moving through their fellow men on their way toward the room up some stairs where the draw bridge and gate mechanics are at.

Once the group made it inside the drawbridge room, the gate and drawbridge overseers and their guarding knights look on toward the suspicious group. Being very suspicious of them espeically when they just stood around the room, the head drawbridge mechanic approach them, "Men what are you doing here? You are needed at the- Ow!"

But the mechanic was punched in the stomach by the head helmeted knight with a few of the other guarding knights getting instantly knocked out as with him by the other helmeted knights.

The remaining guarding knights didn't know what was going on, but they weren't going to stand by and immediatly charged at them trying to kill the traitors. But the traitorous "knights" made quick work of the guarding knights fast and swift knocking them out unconscious , not needing to kill them. Despite being outnumbered in the room 5 to 1 the helmeted knights had to overwhelm and beat up the guards till they were all unable to get up from the ground with broken or stabbed limbs.

Once they were beaten, more guards heard the commotion and were on their way to the drawbridge room, but the traitor knights were quick to block the entrance off with what whatever was in there like the furniture and producing their own magic barrier spells.

The reinforcement knights were trying to break in, bashing into the door over and over, but they couldn't get through.

Once it was clear they couldn't get inside anytime soon the traitor knights took off their helmets and these "knights" turn out to all be women and not just any women, but they're the Queen's shadow operatives being within the castle since before the attack now taking action in the coup.

The shadows then went to the various mechanics of the gate and draw bridge and activated them once more.

The drawbridge gate was now opening up, surprising the loyalist knights as this will soon let in the coups army. More and more knights and some mages try to bust into the room or dispel the barriers to stop this, but despite their strength and abilities, it won't be enough to stop them in time.

And once the gate was opened the drawbridge was instantly made to drop and it slams down flat now exposing the inside of the castle's entrance.

And without hesitation General Richeart shouts, "Men! Charge!"

And after his men shout in war cries, his army in formation all charged right into the castle.

The loyalists' soldiers despite the initial panic of the castle being opened up now, had quickly ran to hold their grounds ready to fight defensively at the large charging army.

The two sides finally engaged starting the battle for Melromarc's castle.

It was quite an intense one as the loyalist knights and mages fight to their last breath, wanting to protect their king at all costs. But as the battle went on for a few minutes it was becoming clear it was hopeless for the loyalists to win as they were weaving quickly being outnumbered and out experienced.

Eventually, Richearts forces were able to overwhelm the loyalists hastily put together defenses, and spearheaded through the middle of them cutting half the loyalist forces from each other splitting the loyalist off from each other.

At that point, many of the loyalists finally retreated wanting to regroup at different points in the castle or just outright surrendered when it was clear they lost.

And with that, the main castle entrance was captured by the coups army. Nothing can stop the drawbridge from being reclosed as more and more of the army charges into the castle to fight off the last of the loyalist resistance inside, take control of the castle, and finally capture their targets.

That point ends the shortest siege of Melromarc history.

---

"I am your King! You're obliged to protect me! Send you men here now!" Aultcray yells toward a crystal ball, now losing his calmness from before.

But the noble on the crystal ball was nodding his head in disapproval, "You were obliged to protect the humans of Melromarc Aultcray. And yet you have done nothing but that. Wanting to start pointless wars on baseless claims and demanding former slaves to go back to there masters in Siltvelt. I would never support a king who does not care for his people. You're on your own." and without another second for Aultcray to retort back the noble cuts himself off, ending the call.

Aultcray enraged grabs the crystal ball and throws it at the wall, smashing it into pieces.

"Traitors! Cowards! Demi-lovers!" Aultcray yells in anger. He has been trying to contact numerous generals and nobles he originally thought were neutral to the recent conflicts to come and aid their king and princess. But instead, everyone he tries to contact and ask for help had either ignored his calls or outright told him no.

There was now fear in the backs of the heads of everyone in the room. There was no one coming to help them.

"What the hell are we going to do now!?" Motoyasu questions fearing the safety of Myne who was just as angry as Aultcray for all of the betrayals in her kingdom she was set to rule in the future.

Aultcray was clutching his fist tightly again trying to control his deep anger, "I'll think of something we can still hold out for a long time, there won't be much that Richeart and Reichnott can do without sacrificing half their army trying to assualt the castle elsewhere. We're protected for now."

But as if on cue a guard came running inside the meeting room to shout, "Your majesty! Your Majesty! The coups forces have broken into the castle in mass!"

Everyone was in shock to hear that, "What! How is that possible!" Aultcray shouts not wanting to believe it.

"It seems that even in this castle there were traitors in our midst. It seems that the Queen shadows had betrayed the crown and joined the traitor's side." the guard explained.

Aultcray immediately looks out a window again and saw the horror of Richearts army storming into the castle through the castles down drawbridge. He now knew it was only a matter of time before the soldiers will get up to the meeting room.

Malty and the heroes' companions were also just as terrified about the situation, but Motoyasu and Itsuki on the other hand were quickly gripping their weapons with confidence, "Let them come! I'll send them all to hell if they try to touch Myne!" Motoyasu boasts with him and Itsuki thinking they can fight off the coups forces thinking their weapons alone should be enough to fight a bunch of random soldiers.

That was when the guard grins as the 3 heroes church spy was ready to tell a bunch of lies, "It's too dangerous my lords, it turns out the sword hero is leading the charge." he completely lies.

And the two heroes quickly ate up the lies and lost some of their confidence, "Ren!? Really!? why!?" Motoyasu asks in confusion with Itsuki just as perplexed.

Even Aultcray was buying the lie as he growls to himself again, "Of course! It makes sense now! This whole thing with the sword hero! It was nothing more than a trick for Reichnott to take over. The sword must've made a deal with that traitor to come up with this scheme to turn the rest of the nobility against us, keep ourselves distracted with the sword hero man hunt, then pulled the rug at the right time! Damn it! Why didn't I see this through!?" Aultcray rationalizes himself believing everything at face value.

The guard continued to lie, "That's not all, the sword hero has also brought forth a giant pure blood dragon with it being sighted up in the sky. It's massive and has killed off numerous platoons of our highest level knights like nothing."

Itsuki and Motoyasu were now buying into the lies, now losing their confidence in wanting to fight off the army, they let themselves lose to Ren and Scarlet before, and now this time he has a larger army supporting him and has a giant Dragon that sounded like a super boss enemy. They heard about Ren now controlling a town with a giant dragon and didn't think much of it before, they didn't realize now the dragon was supposedly being used on them. To fight off the coups forces now would be suicide.

Malty then looked genuinely scared as she cries toward her dad, "Father, what are we going to do?!"

Aultcray looks down for a few seconds until he looks up again, "Sometimes to win a war we must flee to fight another day." he responds confusing the groups.

Aultcray then turns toward the exit of the room, "Come now all of you! Follow me!" he yells as the king starts to run out of the room.

And without any other plan and the sounds of battle not far, the 2 heroes and their companions all ran with their king hoping he has a way out of this.

And while still in the room the spy with some more of the church loyalist guards smile knowing there Popes plan was now going as it should.

After some running for a few minutes. the King and the 2 hero groups made it to where the King wants them to be at, his bedroom.

After they're all in, Motoyasu quickly shut and locked the doors.

Aultcray knowing what he was doing was quick in action, "It'll be just a minute and we'll be out of here. Don't let anyone in no matter what." he orders the heroes, and with no other plans the heroes nod in agreement and were quick to action while the King went inside his large closet.

Despite how high they were in the castle they can already hear the coups forces heading their way up. Motoyasu, Itsuki, and his crew were quick to barricade the doors with anything that was heavy they can push or carry hoping it'll be enough.

And while in the closet Aultcray was quickly out of his royal king robes and was now in old adventurer gear he hasn't worn in years, he knew robes were not something he'll need out there outside of the castle so he dressed more appropriately. He also grabbed an old sword, swords weren't always his thing, but having any weapon is better than no weapon at all.

After sheathing it he was ready to head off, but he stop himself when looks toward an open glass case, a case that was below a large trophy of a stuffed lion head with a large mane, the head of the once-powerful King of Siltvelt. Inside the case was a cane, not just any cane, but one of great magical power that rivals even the cardinal weapons themselves.

Aultcray slowly approached it reaching his arm out to grab it, "Please... Please be on my side again."

But when Aultcray touched it, the staff electrified Aultcray forcing the old king to let go. Aultcray quickly recovered from the shocks, but then looked back at the staff with deep anger, "Why! WHY! Why have you rejected me now!? You choosed me before! I was your vassal! And then suddenly you started to go against me! Like almost everyone else in this kingdom! How I'm not any more worthy now than I was before!? WHY! Why! why!" Aultcray continues to yell at the cane thinking it will respond.

Like any answer you would get out of any staff or cane, he only got pure silence.

He then sulks for a little bit sitting himself down on the floor, feeling all the stress for everything that has happened recently, the waves, his wife's absence, the troubles of the cardinal heroes, the shield devil, the sword heroes betrayal, most of his friends and allies just being vaporized, and this coup right now. It was starting to take a toll on the mild age king. He wished things were like in his younger years again when things were simpler. When the staff allowed him to use it, and he was someone everyone would look up to. Instead, everyone now has to question everything he says and would take the word of traitors and demons over him. He hopes to one day to turn things around again, to get how things were before when the world made sense to him.

"FATHER! FATHER!" yelled Malty in terror when Aultcray also heard the sound of the doors banging.

Aultcray finally just took some deep breaths as he got his act back together as he turns his back from the magic staff, "One day, one day you'll be mine again." after that, he moves out of the closet getting away from the magic staffs case.

Once out of the closet he saw the 2 hero groups trying their best to hold back the heavy items as the coups forces on the other side try to break in.

"Father please tell me you have some sort of escape plan!?" Malty shouts with her genuinely scared that she could now be on her way to the chopping block soon if the coups soldiers get their hands on her.

"I hope you didn't drag us up here so you can get dress!" Itsuki yells having less patience with the king.

Aultcray just rolls his eyes to the bow heroes statement as he moves near a part of the wall where a dresser used to be until it was moved to barricade the doors, Aultcray pushes on one part of the wall to open a hole in it and inside the hole was a lever. He pulls it and at another part of the wall a small secret passageway had opened up, big enough for a human to walk through, "Everyone in now!" Aultcray orders.

And without hesitation, both groups made a run for the secret passage.

Once they were through, Aultcray puts the lever wall back to what it looked before and once he was inside the passageway Aultcray quickly pulls another lever inside the passage and the wall entrance closes back up again before the soldiers were able to barge inside the room.

The groups continued to run down the stairs in the cramped secret escape area until they were at a dark tunnel at the bottom of the stairs with only a few torches to light the way. And from the sound of rushing water, they all figure they were now down in the sewers or the underground part of the canal.

Most hated the smell, but they didn't have time to complain as Aultcray continued to lead the way through the large underground structure

It seemed to have gone on forever as they spent over an hour running through the dark tunnels until they were at a secret area Aultcray had set up in case of times like this where only a few servants know about it to keep it maintained, where over a dozen live horses were at in stalls. Aultcray and the rest of the groups quickly get on the horsed after Aultcray activates another lever to open a way out.

A part of the wall moved down, now showing the large bright full moon in the sky. The hero groups finally made their horses charge out of there and were now making a great run for it. They were now out of the capital city walls not far from where one part of the capital's canal leads out, bypassing the army guarding the city walls.

They ran and ran and ran as fast as they can with the horses, to get as far away from civilization as possible. Intending to go into the dark forests to hide at.

Things have turned around for the royals and the bow and spear heroes. They go from the hunters to become the hunted.

---

Back in the castle, the siege was officially over, any loyalists that were alive had been captured or had surrendered.

The coups forces were now in control of the castle along with the capital. Thankfully for Richeart and Reichnott there wasn't too much damage to the city or castle itself and any damage that was done was easily fixable. And despite the violent coup, the civilians were mostly remaining in their homes not taking up arms or anything against the coups forces so order has been maintained.

The only thing that was missing was the King and the Princess. Out of their seat of power, but are still out there on the run.

Lord Reichnott inside the castle after ordering his men multiple duties went around the castle to look for General Richeart hoping he might have a clue where Aultcray, Malty, and the heroes who were aiding in the king's escape.

He finally found the general at the dungeons, where he was already in the middle of interrogating some surviving loyalist soldiers, and Richeart wasn't the type to tolerate smart-alec comments as he punches a loyalist commander in the face, the same one who commanded the Lout reinforcement forces during the 2nd wave, "I can keep this up all night. Where are Aultcray and the heroes?" Richeart demanded.

"Fuck you! You damned demi-loving traitors! I won't tell you bastards a damn thing!" the commander yells back refusing to submit.

"Whip him some more! And if he still won't say anything, put a slave crest on him!" Richeart orders his soldiers as they started to whip the commander over and over until he would stop crying and say something already.

But while they were doing that Richeart notice Reichnott again who approached him, "Have you got anything yet?" Reichnott asked.

"Nope nothing, I think even if they weren't this stubborn they probably don't have much information anyway. But hey the traitors are going to be punished anyway so might as well see if they had anything important to tell." Richeart informs him.

"Other than the search for the king has anything else happened?" Reichnott asked.

"No not too much, though I have to say something that I found odd, the cathedral was pretty barren."

"What do you mean by that?" Reichnott asked once more

"I mean that there was barely anyone there, just a dozen or so of intern nuns and priests that were keeping the place up. The rest of the church members and priests were gone. According to the ones that were there, they left this morning to visit and aid Pope Balmus who was still recovering from the Rabier castle attack. Or so they say anyway."

Both him and Reichnott weren't sure how to make of this, they were happy the church didn't intervene in the coup, but this mass move that is going on is making them more suspicious of the church than ever. They'll be keeping a close eye on who is left at the cathedral for now with Reichnott planning to later meet the shadows to have them investigate the issue more. The two powerful men fear that Pope Balmus is plotting something and they were going to find out what it is and stop him and his kin.

Richeart then continued moving on with the topic, "We're also in the process of freeing any prisoners here who were wrongfully imprisoned by his former Majesty."

Reichnott looks around to see numerous prisoners out of their cages or we're in the process of being freed. Many were all here since the first wave, all because they dared to question the king too much. It sicked him, but at least it will be over soon. They just need to capture the man responsible for all of this and make sure he is punished for it.

But as Reichnott was walking through the dungeons he saw a face that looked familiar. A face he didn't see in ages and as he got a closer look, he finally recognized the woman. It was Lady Eclair Seaetto, a female knight whose father was the late Lord Saetto, the man who was supposed to be the Queens regent only to die protecting the town of demi-humans during the first wave. Raphtalia's village.

Reichnott quickly approached the woman who was still sickly after being imprisoned on chains for so long with little food or water.

The sickly but strong woman was drinking down fresh water to hydrate herself again until she looks up to see the man that approached her. And after getting a close look herself, she instantly recognized him, "Lord Reichnott is that really you?" she asked him with some excitement in her tone.

And without saying anything Reichnott quickly hug the young knight who embraced him with a hug as well. To her, Reichnott was about the only family she has left now.

After a long hug Reichnott moved away a bit from the girl, "Yes it's me, I thought you've died with your father?"

"No, I've been alive this whole time. After dad died during the wave, a bunch of corrupt knights was ordered to enter my father's lands to enslave the peaceful surviving demi-humans there. But when I opposed them, they captured me and sent me to the castle where Aultcray charged me with treason, and I've been down here ever since.

Reichnott clutch his fist in anger, usually never expressing such emotions, but to think Aultcray allowed such suffering to happen before the cardinal heroes even showed up made him lose any sort sympathy he had with the man, he has to find him now.

But despite his inner anger, Reichnott still kept his cool and after taking a deep breath looks back to smile at Eclair, "We'll be sure Aultcray is rightfully put to justice for this. We have a lot to clean up here, and it would be great to have you on my side to help us until her majesty returns.

Eclair once again smiles and hugs Reichnott, "Of course, I'll do anything to honor dads name. I be happy to help in any way I can once I recovered enough." Eclair finishes as the two smile at each other.

Then they heard some soldiers shouting, "General Richeart! Lord Reichnott! We found the sword heroes companions!"

That immediately alerted Reichnott and Richeart as the two rush over to the sword heroes group, which also made miss Eclair curious.

The two powerful men rushed over to see them, 5 individuals that were recovering from their long stay and torture, with their slave crests in the process of being removed.

Once by them Reichnott then spoke, "Are all of you ok?"

The girl with green hair answers back, "We're fine now, the companions of the sword hero wouldn't break easily. But speaking of sword hero, is Master Ren and little Scarlet alright?" she answers and asked with the rest of his team just as concern.

Reichnott didn't want to disappoint the companions after they suffered for so long but he knew he had to respond without lying to them, "I'm afraid we haven't heard from the sword hero's whereabouts for over a week. We don't know where he is at, but at the very least we know that he wasn't captured or killed, as Aultcray was still looking for him untill now with the coup."

While they still worry about him, Ren's team was at least happy that he is still alive and their capture wasn't in vain.

General Richeart finally made it up to the group, "Do any of you might know where the sword hero could be hiding at?" he asked them.

"I'm afraid not, even if we did that Tyrant and his bitch daughter would've already known by now with the slave crests on us. Please tell me you captured those two?" the girl of Rens team answered and asked.

"I'm afraid not yet, this castle has many doorways so during the siege they escaped and are on the run now. But we're not going to stop now, they have to be put to justice for what he and Malty did here." Reichnott explains

Richeart then said, "At least with them out of the castle and the pro-Aultcray nobles gone, there isn't much the old bastard can do anymore. He has no real power in this nation anymore. At least we won't have to worry about him amassing an army. But still, we can't let them flee Melromarc, such an act will end up starting a war."

Reichnott nods agreeing with him, "Indeed, we must enforce the borders as much as we can to prevent him and Malty from escaping. I wish the bow and spear hero didn't flee with them. They would've avoided a lot of trouble from doing so, but now once they're captured they'll be forced to deal with the consequences of their actions."

Richeart nods agreeing to that as he looks out toward Reichnott, Ren's companions, and miss Eclair coming up toward them, "Yes, as of now, until Queen Mirella returns, we must bring order to this kingdom, find and help the sword hero, and be sure the true traitors are brought to justice. Are all of you willing to help?"

With that the sword heroes companions, Eclair, and Reichnott all nod in approval of that.

Quite a few had died this day, but tomorrow will be a new day to heal the kingdom anew.

---

Far away from the capital, deep within a dense forest laid an old moldy abandoned shack slowly getting reclaimed by nature. It had been rotting away for decades with no human in sight, that was until tonight as King Aultcray, Malty, Motoyasu, Itsuki, and their teams were all inside the old place, hiding away from Richearts and Reichnotts forces.

Most of them slouch around in both sorrow and anger that they were forced out like this. Especially to the likes of Malty and Aultcray who had been removed from their birthright positions from a bunch of their own nobles and soldiers

Motoyasu and Itsuki were also pissed off in their own ways, they were both reborn into this world to be its heroes, and this was the treatment they got? Being persecuted for crimes they didn't commit with the threat of execution from lies.

They remained silent for a while until Malty finally opened her big mouth, "I can't believe we allowed this to happen! Those traitors should pay for what they did to us! Father, I want those bastards to pay for this!"

Aultcray finally spoke up himself to respond to his daughter, "I don't blame you my dear. I'm just as mad as you are, but I'm trying to think of a plan. Just running back to the castle and order off with their heads won't be the best move. Just give me a minute or so to think of something."

"But father you can't expect me to sleep out in this old moldy shack?" Malty complains acting spoiled as usual.

Motoyasu then came up to her to support Myne, "Yes your majesty, the girls must maintain the beauties, and this is not the appropriate place for such girls to be at."

Itsuki just rolls his eyes, "Oh yeah, good priorities idiot. Why don't you and the rest of your harem go to town where they'll arrest you on the spot and then after that throw you into the clean dungeons."

"Hey, I didn't ask you for your input!" Motoyasu shouts back at Itsuki

"Then how about you stop thinking with your dick and use that tiny brain of yours for once! I'm not going to be arrested or killed because of your idiocy!" Itsuki yells back and the two headbutt and growled at each other almost ready to fight.

Until Aultcray got in between them, "You two, stop! This isn't the time for us to kill each other when we are all we have left. But Lord Itsuki is right, we can't risk going anywhere populated while Reichnott, the Sword hero, and Richeart have control over the kingdom and any major allies I did have were all killed in Rabiers castle. We have to find a way to get the army and rest of the nobility back on our sides again then get them to betray against those three." he explains forcing the two heroes to back down still giving mad looks at each other.

Malty then spoke up again, "Father why don't we just get in contact with Faubrey and get them to bring support and troops? Surely you still must've influence over there?" she suggested.

But Aultcray just shakes his head in disapproval, "I'm afraid I've burned all of my bridges with Faubrey long ago my dear. We won't be getting any help that way, the only thing I'm going to expect if I appear there in person is being sent to the front of a firing squad."

Malty clutches her hand in anger wanting all of those traitors to suffer but now it seemed her father was more useless to her without his authority than she thought.

Motoyasu was scratching his chin thinking to himself, until he snapped his fingers with an idea, "Hey why don't we find Mynes mother the Queen, she can help us put things right?"

But Maltys eyes widen in fear of such an idea, "No no! Motoyasu, it's uh... It's uhh... To dangerous... Yes to dangerous for us to get in contact with mother, that would be most likely what Reichnott and the rest of the traitorous nobles would be expecting. She would most likely be their next target to overthrow, so we need to avoid mother as much as possible." Malty lies, the reality was that she knew full well if her mother was to see her in person now she would be in a hell of a lot of trouble. She figures the only way she would be getting out of any punishment from her (or so she thinks) was for Melty to be dead as she was the only heir left to rule the kingdom. Until she knows her little sister was completely dead, she needs to avoid her mom as much as possible.

Motoyasu still wasn't 100% sure why she was so against it, but he stayed silent not wanting to go against his supposed girlfriend.

Aultcray also nods in agreement to it, "Indeed, no need to drag my wife into this mess, she is dealing with a lot of things right now and I don't want to throw any more pressure on her pure heart." Unlike his elder daughter, Aultcray did feel genuine worry about his wife the Queen. He knew deep down she was a strong enough woman that can handle herself, but he would feel like a failure to her if he left the kingdom in this state of a coup and one of their daughters supposedly kidnapped. Course he didn't think about the million other things that he did while she was gone that wouldn't already piss her off.

The groups continue to move around to think until Motoyasu thought of something else, "Hey maybe we head toward a different neutral nation. Like a place to hunker down and plan a way to take back Melromarc. Like that Tervein place up north I've heard about."

But Itsuki immediately burns down that suggestion as soon as he heard the nations name, "Absolutely not, go there and the tyrant that runs that shithole will just strip everything you have and slander your name with lies." Itsuki was still salty over what happened in Tervein and refuses to set foot there ever again.

Motoyasu then decided to make fun of the fact, "Oh yeah that's right, I forgot you got your ass kicked there, and got scolded by some king who was nowhere near your level. Wow, that's like getting a game over from losing a fight with an NPC."

Itsuki quickly growls and grits his teeth to hear that out of Motoyasu, "Yeah, but I at least didn't cry out that I was a whiny bitch baby to the whole world!"

Motoyasu's smile immediately disappeared and the two heroes started to grit their teeth at each other, once more again wanting to beat one another up as they began to shout at each other.

And while that was going on Itsuki's largest companion made his own suggestion, "What about the church and Pope Balmus. Surely his holiness will help us out."

Malty then gave her opinion on the idea, "To hell with that damn Pope! That good-for-nothing bastard couldn't even provide the proper tool to enslave a hero. He probably would sell us out to those traitorous bastards."

The large armored companion continued talking this time to insult Malty, "No you just used that damn branding iron wrong! That sword hero would be our prisoner by now if you didn't screw up. A big failure just as I expect from any damn leftover princess."

"YOU DAMNED FAT BASTARD!" Malty screams and jumps on the armored man as they started to get on each other's throats as was Motoyasu and Itsuki with both parties now all together arguing and yelling at each other. All but one green-haired girl from Itsuki's team who was crying "Fueh" and hid away from all the fighting.

And Aultcray once more had to stop this, "I said enough already! All of you are acting like a bunch of children! Stop this childish fighting with each other and listen!" Despite tensions being high the two groups once more calm downed and lowered their weapons from each other.

Aultcray then continue to speak after taking a deep breath, "After some thinking, I finally came up with a plan."

"Really? A plan father? What is it?" Malty asked, curious about what her old strategist father had in mind.

After another deep breath to keep his composure Aultcray says, "The first thing we'll do is head straight to Siltvelt."

Everyone widens their eyes to be hearing that nations name.

Motoyasu was especially baffled by it, "Siltvelt? But isn't that the nation where Bakugou is worshiped at?" he asks.

Aultcray was quick to answer, "Yes, it's also where Melty was kidnapped too, by that monster. The reason this whole thing started was because that sword demon and Reichnott spread lies that she was never kidnapped or in any danger. Well then, we'll head to Siltvelt ourselves, and finally defeat that devil and rescue her back to Melromarc."

Itsuki was having doubts though, "Yeah but how is that going to help us in our current situation?" he questioned

"Easy, we also will bring the demon back captured and alive for now, and with her back to testify about everything with the shield devils crimes being exposed for everyone to see, any baseless power those 3 had will be ruined. The people and nobility will be back on our sides, all of our names will be cleared, and once they are sentence with a guilty verdict, we'll finally execute those bastards and the shield demon for good. That is the plan." Aultcray fully explained.

The two heroes looked at each other wondering if this was even a good idea. The original plan was to go to war with Siltvelt to save the little princess. But now they lack any armies, money, or support of any kind other than what they have on their backs and their companions. But as they thought about it, they had no other alternative, to them traitors and greedy lords have taken over the country and they were being branded as criminals. While they knew it wasn't ideal, they also knew this was the only way to make things right and clear their names.

The two nodded in agreement, "Ok Aultcray, we'll go with the plan. Just as long as I'm the one who gets to execute Bakugou when we drag him back to Melromarc after we have him and Ren trialed." Itsuki demanded with the king nodding in agreement having no objection to it.

Motoyasu tried to act more like a white knight, "Yes, and I'll bring your daughter back to safety and save that poor dark angel from Ren's slavery of her." Itsuki rolls his eyes again, but Aultcray nods again in approval.

"Ok then, that's the plan. I think we rested enough here. Let's head out and catch more ground. The longer we wait in one place the more time we allow the traitor's forces to catch up." Aultcray announced as he grabs his bag of supplies.

The others weren't in the mood though, "Father it's nearly 2:00 am, can't we sleep just a little bit then head out?" Malty moans.

But her father shakes his head in disapproval, "No we'll rest went we are at least 2 provinces away from the capital. We'll get some shut-eye in about five hours or so."

"FIVE HOURS! UGGGHHHH!" the two groups groan together, and once more they started to complain and shout over each other on the whole thing.

King Aultcray sighs once more, "This is going to be a long long night."

---

Authors note:

Well here's Raphtalia everyone, safe and sound. I don't know why a lot of people were thinking I had her killed off. I stated a few times before including the very first paragraph of the story that I wasn't going to let Raphtalia die in a slave caged. I actually do have somewhat big plans for her in the story, not immediate but later on she will. The timing is a bit iffy on Rifana's survival but it's my story and I did what I wanted to do, I can just say that Bakugou's preseance in the story had caused a butterfly effect on the story to make it possible for her survive and live on.

And wow I have a tvtropes page now. Might not seem important to some, but it feels great to me, it makes me feel like my work has been somewhat immortalized on the wide web. So I like to thank the people who helped develop and edit the webpage.

So stay tune in next time to see how the heroes will get out of their predicaments. Thank you for reading and hope to see you soon.