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.

17. Chapter 17: Return to Melromarc

Chapter 17: Return to Melromarc

In a room with minimum light from a couple of candles scattered around, the shield hero finally awakens from a long sleep. He wakes up aching and groaning, rubbing the back of his neck. As he stretches himself, he heard, "Sir Bakugou!" he then turns to see his sidekicks Neia, Rino, and Melty running toward him and started hugging the shield hero.

Bakugou once more groans to himself, "I swear, do you 3 have to hug me every time I wake up from a hospital bed? Get off!" Bakugou shouts, though this just made the girls smile more knowing that shouting just meant Bakugou was normal again.

But as the girls pulled themselves back, Bakugou noticed Neia and Rino were covered up in some cloth bandages. Any kind of healing potion and magic would've healed up any major wounds pretty quickly, so the bandages threw him off.

"I see the shield hero has awaken once more." said a voice not far from the sidekicks, and it turned out to be Lady Loria with her little girl Katherine and her son Daven beside each other. Daven also had some bandages on him especially around his neck with the two smiling toward the hero.

Bakugou was still rubbing his neck and had a million questions to ask, "Where in the hell are we at?"

Daven quickly answered him, "You're in the cellar of an old abandoned farmhouse in the countryside outside the capital. Best to be as far and out of sight from Trinock as possible."

"Indeed, if we just took you to the hospital of lost souls that be the first place they would be looking for you," Loria adds in.

But Bakugou was still confused by the whole thing, "What in the hell happened to me? And what happened to you guys?"

Neia then speaks up, "You mean you don't remember what occurred yesterday?"

"I remember waking up stuck in ice, and then that striped bastard told me he was going to kill all of you. That evil spoiled king then had me tortured and well, and that's all I can vaguely remember. After that I was so enraged and mad, the rest was just a blur, clouded up in my rage." Bakugou responds rubbing his head, he genuinely can't remember what happened over a day ago, and was a big blank in his mind.

The girls looked at each other wondering how they would even begin to explain the whole thing. Neia finally had the courage to speak up, "We were set for execution sir Bakugou, but after sir Daven killed his father and escaped imprisonment with lady Loria and a friend of his Narel, they help him get out. Daven saved us from execution and we ran off to the castle to save you from your imprisonment."

Rino then takes her turn to speak, "But when we got to you, you blew up the whole castle, it's just a crater now. You also killed off your church's Patriarch and the King of Siltvelt, so yeah that was a pretty big deal."

"Blow up a castle?", a slightly confused Bakugou said out loud, while everything was still hazy to Bakugou, he started remembering when his rage got out of control, destroying and burning anything in his sight that made him mad. And now had images of satisfaction in vaporizing Ozsan and turning Janio into blood rain.

"We then had to fight against you when you weren't calming down, and well it wasn't an easy fight." Daven spoke up, and points to his neck bandages.

Loria then spoke up about the bandages, "It seemed your shield had some sort of curse effect when you attacked with it, with contact on it or your cursed inflected body causing dark bruised burn marks that damage the health of the bearers. But thankfully they can be cured easily with high-grade holy water, it was easy to get it from the church from all the chaos in the city after... Well, you know what happened."

Any satisfying memories Bakugou had in killing the people that had imprisoned him were immediately gone. Now on his mind were his memories of trying to kill off his friends, fighting his own sidekicks, and almost trying to murder them. He grips his fists pissed off that he nearly became a homicidal monster, "Damn it! Now I remember, how could've I been so stupid! I almost killed all of you because I couldn't control myself! And look at all of you now! Damn it! I'm such a shitty leader." he shouts out loud hitting his fist on the bed, feeling a lot of shame.

But before he could yell at himself more Neia holds his fisted hand in comfort, "Don't blame yourself for this. You weren't truly yourself when this happened, the shield somehow corrupted you after those evil men tortured you and attempted to kill us. We're mostly fine now and the only people that should be blamed for all of this were Trinock, Janio, Ozsan, and the council. We're just glad that you're alright and managed to beat the curse out of you, and we won't abandon you regardless of what shield does to you." she soothes him in a non-romantic way, she doesn't want her master to be clouded in guilt and did her best to show there was no true resentment from her and the rest of the sidekicks, who all smiled with her and nodded agreeing with Neia.

Bakugou eventually smiles back, he still felt shame in himself for the whole thing, but he was glad to see that despite all of that, his sidekicks were all sticking by his side. He wasn't sure what the hell kind of power the shield had to corrupt him like that, but whatever it was, he never wanted to see that damn wrath shield again, ever.

But then he looks toward Princess Melty, just her being there raised a bunch of questions to him, "But how in the hell did you get here princess? Last I recall you were supposed to be on your way to some jail in the center of the country?" he asked of her.

Melty scratched the back of her head, she was not sure how to explain this to him, especially with Bakugou's current attitude with her saver, "Well you see, I had help from someone, who helped me escape from my escort and pursuers. He's... He's someone you know."

"Yeah, and who was that?" Bakugou demanded not liking the sound of it.

"That would be me." responded a voice from a dark corner of the room. As the figure walked out of the dark to the bedded shield hero, it was revealed to be the cardinal sword hero, Ren Amaki. And not far behind him was little Scarlet who was peacefully sleeping in her human form. Both were also covered up in some bandages, being treated for there curse marks.

As soon as Bakugou got a view of Ren he immediately frowned in anger, "Paleface!? What the hell are you doing here?!" he yelled at his fellow cardinal hero.

Ren quickly tries to calm him down, "Look Bakugou I know you're still mad at me and I know what I did to you before was stupid, but please let me at least talk to you first, it's extremely important. I need to tell you everything that has happened to me since you left Melromarc. Millions of lives could be at stake here, so I must tell you. Please let me at least explain it to you." he begs hoping he can get through with the shield hero.

But Bakugou wasn't interested, "And why should I? You didn't give a damn about my side of a story before, so why should I give 2 shits about yours?!" he throws back at Ren, once again reminding him of his inaction of the trial since the start, which left Ren silent not sure what to say knowing Bakugou's temper has a limit.

Melty then spoke up in support of Ren, "Please Sir Bakugou, at least let him explain himself, and you can make your judgment from there." she pleas already knowing everything about what happened with Ren after the sword hero told her before and knew how important it was for the shield hero to know as well.

Neia, Daven, and Rino also nodded agreeing with Melty, like her Ren had already told them about everything before, they knew Bakugou had to know himself.

Bakugou groans to himself not liking this, but concedes, "Fine Paleface, since I'm a far better person and hero than you are, unlike your cowardly ass I'll actually listen. But no suck-up bullshit and apologetic nonsense, I heard enough of that in this damn country!" he finally agree, which relieved Ren a little.

After taking a deep breath Ren finally explained his adventure so far, "Ok Bakugou, not a day after you left Melromarc, King Aultcray assembled us heroes and the nobles together, he wanted to go to war with Siltvelt thinking you kidnapped his daughter, all from the word of Princess Malty. Itsuki and Motoyasu were all for it, but I refused to join in on that nonsense, as did many of the other nobles which pissed Aultcray off. I was planning to just leave the country as it seemed a Civil war was going to happen soon, but then when I was at an inn sleeping, Motoyasu, Itsuki, and Malty with an army were now trying to force me into participating in this war, they even resorted to conscript me when I refuse once more. When they couldn't take no for an answer they tried to force a slave crest on me, almost my entire party had been captured after sacrificing themselves to allow me and Scarlet to get away from being captured. We barely escaped them, and once we were far from them one of the queen's spies helped the two of us out a bit and pointed me and Scarlet to find Queen Mirella to stop Aultcray and the others from destroying the nation. But along the way to her, a castle just exploded and some giant dinosaur monster thing was terrorizing a village and eating everyone. Then I guess you can say my hero instincts took over and me and Scarlet had managed to get the monster out of town and trying whatever we can to kill it. But that damn thing seemed invincible, no matter what we did we couldn't kill it, then... Then... Uh, look Bakugou, what I'm going to say next will seem a little unbelievable to you."

"Paleface, in this very room we're with a blue-skinned elf, 3 humanoid cat people, a bird loli, in a whole Kingdom of furries. My suspension of disbelief is pretty high right now." Bakugou interrupted.

Ren sigh once more ready to tell about Fitoria, "Ok then, when me and Scarlet couldn't kill the thing and were nearly out of options, out of nowhere a bunch of filolials gathered up around us and the dino monster, and a giant magical filolial appeared from the sky and killed that thing in a few swipes. This giant filolial turned out to be a powerful filolial Queen named Fitoria who has the power to change appearances and size like Scarlet. After she saved us, Fitoria used some sort of teleportation magic to send us all to her domain where we rested and trained for a week. After that and I... Uh...I made a certain deal with her, she used her magic to send us here to Siltvelt where we tried to get to you. We then got sidetracked saving a village from bandits, but after that whole ordeal, I was now being called the Sword demon by everyone and next thing I knew, I'm being hunted down by a of bunch crazed soldiers, nobles, and knights trying to kill me. During the chase, I encountered Melty and rescued her and we both together went toward the capital to save you and your group and.. well here we are now." Ren finished explaining.

It was a lot to take in, but Bakugou got the gist of it, though one thing felt off about the story, "So why exactly did this Queen bird loli send you all the way out here and not just near Melromarc's Queen?" he asked Ren getting suspicious of the lack of detail on that.

The sword hero scratches the back of his head not sure if he should reveal his promise to Fitoria, "Ok so we sort of need your help, things are crazy in Melromarc right now and I can't do it alone. Queen Mirella needs us to-"

"Don't bullshit me paleface! I can tell when you're holding back something! Not sending you back to Melromarc was probably not your choice. Why did this bird queen send you to Siltvelt!? What's her deal with me!?" Bakugou immediately demanded knowing Ren was hiding something.

Ren sighs, he wished he could've come up with another excuse, but he can tell Bakugou was the type to see through that kind of deception and he wished to not strain Bakugou's patience with himself, what little he had already, "Well.. Well.. Ok so I made sort of a promise with Fitoria, and it involves all of us heroes." he confesses.

"What kind of promise?" Bakugou demanded.

Ren sighed once more, not going to like explaining the truth. But it was all he could do at this point, "Ok so Fitoria has zero confidence in us cardinal heroes to stop the waves, well except you, and thinks that we shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves. And she wants to kill all of us so new heroes can be summoned, and the only thing that is going to prevent her from doing this is if we get the four of us to work together again. So she first sends me out here in Siltvelt to find you to properly apologize and reconcile with you. Then after that, we move on our way back to Melromarc to bring some sense into Motoyasu and Itsuki." Ren finally explained.

It was pure silence for a few seconds then...

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Bakugou burst out laughing after hearing that, surprising everyone in the room from such an uncharacteristic laugh from Bakugou of all people, "Are you serious!? That feathered bitch is expecting me to kiss up to Ponytail slut and Bow bitch!? Well sorry to waste your time, but that oversized chicken can just eat shit along with you and those other 2 idiots!" Bakugou bluntly responds.

Ren feared this was exactly the reaction he was going to get with the shield hero, he tried to speak reason again, "Ok look Bakugou, I know you hate us, but this is about the fate of the whole world, the cardinal heroes need to be all together on this to save it."

"Since when in the hell did you care about this world!? From day one you and the other idiots saw this as another one of your stupid video games. And the 3 of you had been nothing but useless, I can save this world by myself." Bakugou argues back.

Ren remained silent for a few seconds, reflecting back at his attitude before, where he did treat this world as one of his games. He looks back on how foolish he was like with the whole Gaelion incident, and how right Bakugou was, "I know Bakugou, me, Motoyasu, and Itsuki were just treating this as a stupid game, and we risk innocent lives because of it. But look Bakugou I'm not asking you to kiss their boots and suck up to those two. Even Fitoria herself suggested that we beat the crap out of them along with Aultcray and Malty. Then after that we and Melromarc's Queen can help give out the proper punishments to the four and give them the justice they deserved. You'd like that wouldn't you?" Ren responds now trying to resort to playing up Bakugou's hatred for the two, the king, and Malty, to get him to go along with it.

"Yeah yeah, say as many sorry's as you want and offer as many bribes as you can, but that isn't going to fix anything. While beating the shit out of those four does sound tempting, I'll be doing it on my own terms on my own time, not because some bitch loli queen is telling me to do it. And why should I expect anything out of you? What did you do for me that I should give an absolute shit about you!?" Bakugou angerly responds again with Ren remaining silent this time, unsure what he should say to that.

"He saved us sir Bakugou." said a voice with Bakugou turning to the source of the voice. And it was Neia, "Sir Ren saved our lives when we were cornered with hundreds of soldiers surrounding us. If he didn't come in time, we would all be dead." She explained defending Ren.

The defense made Bakugou annoyed without a good way to argue against that.

Then Rino spoke out in defense of Ren, "Yeah he also helped calm you down when you had gone crazy with the cursed shield."

Melty then spoke up, "As I said before, he was the one who saved me when I tried to escape my prison escort. I be in a jail cell or worse if it wasn't for Sir Ren being there to help me."

Bakugou then turns his head to Daven who nods back to the shield hero, "Yep, they're all true."

Bakugou groans to himself, he doesn't want to admit it, but if all of his sidekicks were really telling the truth, then he has to acknowledge it to Ren, "Grrrrrr, fine Paleface, I guess you did do some good for me and my sidekicks. But that still doesn't mean I going to trust you, nor am I going bothered with those idiots in Melromarc and this stupid bird queen."

"Bakugou this "stupid bird queen" can kill us without any issue. I saw with my own eyes of what she can do. If she wants us dead, she can do it easily." Ren tried explaining more seriously.

"If that bitch wants to kill me, she can try! So many people already tried the same with me before and I just send each and every one of them to hell. Once I get even stronger I'll roast that Loli bird queen myself!"

Ren groans to himself again, seeing this discussion was starting to go nowhere.

Even Bakugou's sidekicks were worried themselves about the whole affair. Melty was the first to speak up about it, "Whether Fitoria is involved or not is beside the point. Sir Bakugou my father threatens to destroy Melromarc in a civil war, we can't let this happen at times like this. He, my sister, and the two other heroes need to be stopped regardless. We have to get back to Melromarc as soon as we can to stop them."

"Why the hell should I care about damn Melromarc anymore!? What did that shithole do for me? That tyrant consort and the damn church is the reason I'm stuck in this stupid world in the first place! I say let the damn royals and nobles kill each other and see what I care."

"Sir Bakugou?!" Neia raised her voice, surprised to hear such things from Bakugou. She knew he was always mad about many things, but this was something different. She still understood his hatred of the Melromarc royals and church, but at the same time, it seemed his biases are overlooking the bigger picture and was going to ignore the prospect of a civil war that many innocent people will die from.

But Bakugou just ignores her as he continues to stare annoyed at Ren.

The sidekicks and sword hero didn't know what to do about this, it was clear Bakugou didn't want anything to do with either the heroes or Melromarc anymore.

But Ren was the most upset about this, as he bears the biggest burden of knowing what Fitoria is capable of, his promise to her, and being the reason Bakugou won't cooperate in the first place. After a minute of silence, Ren continued to think of how to get through Bakugou.

Eventually, Ren thought of something as he groans once more. He knew he wasn't going to like it, he knew this would damage his pride and dignity to do this, especially in front of other people. But such thoughts were what got him in this situation in the first place as he let his own image and pride take place over true justice and the world.

After one more sigh, Ren drops his sword on the floor, he then kneels down and bows toward Bakugou with his hands flat on the floor, surprising the shield hero and everyone else in the room.

Ren then begs, "Please! PLEASE! Bakugou I need your help. I can't do anything right, and this was pretty much all my fault in the first place. I'm nothing more than some loser gamer thinking I could play hero, and look at all I did. I'm useless, hopeless, and I can't even led a team properly. You on the other hand, despite the fact you have only a shield, you proved me and everyone else wrong. Bakugou, you are my better, you're my superior, you're the number one hero of this world, and many other ones. Please! Please, will you help me!" he finished his begging. Ren hated that he reduced himself to this in front of everyone, but he knew this would be the only way for Bakugou to trust him.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds after watching that pitiful display as they looked toward Bakugou.

Bakugou himself looked quite surprised to see someone who thought so highly of himself, to be reduced to begging for his help. He then scratches his chin contemplating and thinking about the whole thing.

After another half-minute of silence Bakugou finally stood up and looks down at the still bowing Ren to say, "If you actually mean it, I want you to kiss my boot."

"Huh!?" Ren reacted confused.

"If you want to admit that I'm truly your superior as a bootlicker, I want to see you commit to it. Kiss the end of one of my boots, and I might actually believe you mean it for once. And not just talking out of your ass. Make sure it's a long one as well and not a short single smooch" Bakugou demanded.

Everyone then stared back at Ren who was quietly groaning to himself, 'Am I really going to do this. And lose whatever dignity I have left?' he complains in his head, begging like this was one thing, but to literally kiss Bakugou's boot was something else entirely.

But in the end, their lives and the world's fate were at stake. And it wouldn't be just for him, but for his whole team that was captured, not to mention Scarlet who was still fast asleep recovering from all there troubles they had together on their journey here. He didn't want all of that to be for nothing.

It remained silent for a few more seconds as everyone watched. Ren finally lets out a big sigh as he lifts up his head while still kneeling, and he takes up Bakugou's left foot and moved his silver boot in front of his face. It remains in front of Ren's face for a few more seconds. Ren sighs one more time and he finally kissed the tip of Bakugou's boot. And as Bakugou wanted it was a long one, with everyone else watching, looking surprised and baffled by the whole thing.

This went on for a little bit until Ren finally released himself from the boot kiss.

Bakugou just stares down at him for a few seconds, while Ren wonders if he did anything wrong.

But then...

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Bakugou bursts out laughing louder any laugh before shocking everyone in the room, "Oh my God! I can't believe you actually did it! You literally kissed my boot! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Everyone was still surprised to see someone like Bakugou acting like this. With Ren being the most confused, "Uhhh? So are you still not going to help me?"

"Ha! After that pathetic display, hell yes I am going to help your pathetic ass!", Bakugou then revealed he had his crystal ball shield active the whole time. He had recorded the whole event from Ren's pathetic begging and him kissing his boot. Bakugou continued to laugh his ass off as he plays the recording over and over, making Ren shulk in humiliation even more.

But then he remembers what Bakugou just said, "Wait a minute, so you will now really help me with everything going on in Melromarc?" he quickly asked to make sure that part was clear.

"Of course, I had plans to go back anyway," Bakugou revealed.

"Wait a minute? You were still going to head back there soon either way?!" Ren immediately reacted and was confused.

"What!? Did you actually think I was going to let that evil Consort and bitch princess get away with all of this!? And miss my chance to kick the living shit out of those two cardinal idiots"

"Pah! Pah! Oh gross! Pah!" Ren starts spitting out from his mouth in disgust, after doing that kiss seemingly for nothing, feeling more humiliated than before.

Rino then spoke up, "So you had Ren kiss your foot for no reason?" she remarks.

"No, I had plenty of good reason to demand this. While I'm still going back either way, I would've still gave zero shits to Paleface in what he had to say. But oh man, to now have him recorded doing all of that pathetic crap brings me so much joy I haven't felt in a long ass time. I think at this point I say we're even."

After he finished his spitting, Ren quickly looks back surprised to hear all of that, "Wait, so you forgive me after what happened with the accusation?" he immediately asked.

"Forgiving is a strong word, I say at least the score is settled after that pity show. Not to mention the karma you felt from Consort trying to enslave you, and having the Siltvelt nobles and soldiers trying to kill you since you made yourself public here is more than enough satisfaction I need. Plus you did save my sidekicks, as much as I hate to admit it, I can't ignore that. So yeah if you want this stupid cardinal alliance thing, I'll join in and not try to literally kill Ponytail slut and Bow bitch, at least until I have the strength to overpower this loli bird queen." Bakugou explained as he stretches his hand out to Ren, "So do you want this alliance thing or not?!".

Despite all that just happened, Ren couldn't believe that he got through to Bakugou. He may not exactly be completely on board, but it was still a start. Ren then reached his arm out to Bakugou and the two shake hands together.

The girls cheered for this, as the shield and sword alliance had now formed.

And Ren was just happy he did something right for once.

After the shaking finished Neia then spoke out, "So our next plan is to go back to Melromarc and stop Aultcray, Malty, Motoyasu, and Itsuki?"

"We'll deal with those idiots soon. Right now I want to find Stripes and the oligarchs and turn them all into in furniture first!" Bakugou responds while cracking his knuckles wanting to make sure Trinock and the council suffer for what they did to him and his crew.

But then Loria finally spoke up again, "Sir Shield hero, I know this might sound off and weird to you, but I request that you don't try to kill Trinock and the council, at least for now anyway."

Bakugou's mood quickly changed as he turns toward Miss Loria and stomps his way to her, "What!? Your joking right!? Why the hell should I not burn those bastards after what they did to me and after what they allowed other evil bastards to do, like of your former husband, the suck-up Patriarch, and that lazy king!? Explain why!?" he aggressively questioned her, with Neia, Rino, and Melty just as curious as well. Daven remained silent as he knows what his mother was talking about as his little sister walks up next to him to be out of her moms way.

Miss Loria then continues to explain her case, "Lord Bakugou, due to the actions of you and your team, from crippling the church's corrupt power, freeing the slaves, encouraging the abused low caste workers to rise up against their abuse, and killing the corrupt patriarch and puppet king. The council and the 4 tribes they represent had control over Siltvelt for centuries and had an iron grip on that power. But after what you have done, that grip has loosened and there is now a chance for them to lose that control forever and be earned to safer hands, however, if you pull on them too hard now, Siltvelt will break into pieces."

"What are you saying catboy's mom?" Bakugou asked wondering where she was going with this.

Loria then sigh knowing she had a lot to say to properly explain everything, "If you want to fully understand Lord Bakugou, I need to give you another unbiased and uncensored history lesson and it will be a long one." she explained.

Bakugou rolled his eyes to it but agreed, "Fine whatever, I just want to know why your thinking of letting those pieces of garbage live?" he and the others sat down and listened in.

Loria then took a deep breath so she can go into detail on her reasoning, "Alright, It all goes back to Siltvelts last king, Janio's father, King Rohaw. King Rohaw was as much of a giant brute as they come, always focused on violence, war, conquest, and dominating over others. His reign was never known for his governance, for centuries the 4 council tribes had always dominated Siltvelt politics, they were the ones who controled most the lands and had with the greatest amount of wealth out of any other tribes, not to mention were all donators to the Grand shield church and worked hand to hand with each other to control the rest of the population. The council had started as an advisory board for the king to help him govern the empire and helped ensure the four tribes' interests are always the main priority over others. But it seemed like with each monarch that ascends to the throne, they would keep throwing in more and more powers and responsibilities toward the council, so they wouldn't be bothered with the work themselves, or to kept the 4 council tribes placated as the fear of them rising up against the king or queen with there own armies or in a coup will always on the back of each king's minds. Rohaw was no different, actually he took it to a new level where he would focus on his conquests and wars while the council did the rest of governing his nation, along with the new territories he would take over.

"And conquests he did, using the flimsiest of casus balli's or fabricated ones, Rohaw would go to war with many kingdoms, demi-human and human alike. Wars the council continued to encourage as it meant more land and slaves for them and the 4 tribes they represent. Rohaw wanted to be king of the world, and the council was willing to help him toward that goal, as they would rule the world from behind the brute's Rohaws conquests were starting to make everyone outside of Siltvelt scared, especially to humans knowing what awaits them when subjugated under Siltvelt rule. That was when our old rival began to become more proactive against Siltvelt aggression. Soon there were now public talks of a coalition forming."

Rino immediately remembered hearing something like that before, when learned that in history lessons as a kid, "A Coalition against Siltvelt? I think I remember hearing about it before?" she remarked.

Melty then spoke up for Rino, "Yes the Melromarc humanity coalition. It was a project my grandmother was developing when Siltvelt was conquering countless small kingdoms without much resistance. It was a serious thing, but it never got off the ground when.. when.. when Siltvelt declared war on Melromarc before any coalition pact could be made or be officialized."

Loria nods toward the princess, "Yes Rohaw and the council knew the plans for a Melromarc lead coalition was brewing, and knew if it was formed Siltvelts conquest streak would come to an end. With the chance of all the human nations and even some demi-human states joining forces together with the possibility to counter-attack our aggressive empire together and destroy it for good. The Council and their tribes feared such a thing and it seemed Melromarc was close to getting that very coalition together. Despite Melromarc being far stronger than any nation the council and Rohaw faced before, they knew to maintain their dominance over their newly added domains, they had to attack Melromarc before any coalition could become official. And before Melromarc knew it, we declared war."

"The Great war." Melty and Rino said together knowing what Loria was referring to.

Loria nods once again, "Indeed, we and Melromarc had always eyed each other with distaste for centuries, and we had numerous punitive or minor wars with each other in small battles or with proxy and allied nations. But this war was different, it was a complete total war directly against each other with our full forces. Rohaw lead Siltvelt's forces and devastated the Melromarc armies for four brutal years, a large amount of the nation was occupied, many cities were under Siltvelt control, and we were at the doorsteps of the capital. It seemed like the end of Melromarc for good, with Siltvelts greatest enemy and threat looking to be destroyed for good, with no one going to stop Rohaw's and the councils continued conquest of the world. That was until he showed up."

"Who showed up?" Ren asked

"The Cane hero," Melty answered.

Loria nods once more toward Melty, "Yes the vassal Cane hero had shown up to save Melromarc from destruction. With his powerful weapon and his skills and intelligence as a general, he helped get Melromarcs scattered armies to unite once more, and for the first time, Melromarc was now able to fight and best our forces. In just 2 years the cane hero, battled and destroyed several of our armies, liberated hundreds of towns and cities, and finally pushed back Siltvelts occupation of most of the western side of the country. He even battled and killed a few of the high generals of the war, including Prince Leo, Rohaws first son and the heir to the throne, he was slain by the cane. That was King Rohaws breaking point, the death of his firstborn son gave him great despair, but also great fury. He was ready to battle the Cane hero directly and destroy Melromarc once and for all."

"That would be the deciding turn of the whole war in what became known as the battle of the blood hills. There King Rohaw and the Cane hero fought face to face with each other along with the two main armies of Melromarc and Siltvelt. Witnesses have said the duel with Rohaw and the cane hero was like a war in of itself. As Rohaw's and the cane heroes' magic reshaped the landscape as the two powerful warriors fought to the death, while at the same time their armies not far away were clashing with each other for their countries and their leaders."

"But in the end, despite Rohaw severely injuring the Cane hero in the battle, the vassal hero was the one who came up top. When Rohaw attempted the final blow and smash the hero's head with his powerful mace, the vassal hero was said to have stabbed the cane itself through Rohaws heart and activated a paralyzing spell on him. Before Rohaw recover from the deep pain or somehow escape the spell, with his sword the Cane hero slices King Rohaw's head clean off his body. And just like that, the King of Siltvelt was now dead."

The group was intrigued by such a story, with it sounding like one from a fairy tale or an old legend in mythology, but this was the real deal. And Bakugou wasn't surprised that he did not hear any of this in Siltvelt's history texts, if it doesn't make them look good the Council and Prime minister was willing to hide or lie about their own dark or humiliating history.

Though Bakugou wanted to get back to business, "Ok that is an interesting history lesson but what does that have anything to do with not letting me kill Stripes and the council?" he questioned.

Loria quickly responds to the question, "I was just getting to that, the aftermath of King Rohaws death was when things had gone from bad to worse with Siltvelt. The death of their king was a hard blow to the soldier's morale and the main Siltvelt army was devastated in the battle of the blood hills, and what was left of it was quickly routed. And of course when word got out of Rohaw's death, the people's opinion and the national morale of the war died with it especially with its high body count. In 2 more short year's, the remaining Siltvelt armies were being defeated in battle after battle, even ones without the cane heroes leadership. Melromarc not only liberated and took back all of there occupied lands, but even began invading Siltvelt proper and had occupied a large area and multiple cities with our broken armies unable to push them back."

"The war was lost and the council knew it, fearing what the Cane hero and Melromarc royalty would do to them if they take their armies to the capital and occupy it. The 8-year long war came to an end in a humiliating defeat for Siltvelt and the council, especially to the Hakuko's who were the ones spearheading most of the war. Melromarc not only took and annexed a large amount of Siltvelt territory for themselves, but all of the human kingdoms that Rohaw conquered before were released from Siltvelt control along with any humans that were enslaved from those kingdoms, they were all independent once more and were now guaranteed protection from Melromarc.

"But there was no real peace after the official end of the war, after King Rohaw died numerous nobles, factions, and sections of what was left of the army saw an opportunity to take over or split apart from the nation. Then the regions that were once independent demi-human kingdoms rose and rebelled against the broken state, with most of them forcibly being given their independences by the struggling council not having the power to do anything about the rebels once they pushed out and repelled the stretched out occupying forces and took control of government structures, with the biggest state coming out of it being Shieldfreeden. But the nation was now involved in multiple civil wars of numerous factions wanting full control, and the council and their tribes tried all they could to keep it all together. It seemed hopeless, that Siltvelt will be in perpetual wars with endless death until it all finally falls apart. That was until one commander was able to step up to bring order once more."

"And let me guess, that would be Lord Trinock?" Neia asked.

Loria once again nods, "Yes, other than his concubines, Trinock was the closest to King Rohaw himself, and were good friends with each other. Trinock had always been seen as the most powerful of the none council race lords in the nation with his military prowess being legendary, getting the title of general in just his 25th birthday, eventually becoming Rohaw's main military advisor. And funny enough he was the only living commander that was left in the battle of the blood hills with Trinock himself leading the routed army, he save what he could of the main army after Rohaw was slained and the other commanders in the battle were killed off. But back to after the war, by then Janio was only 5 years old and was in no shape to led a nation ready to split apart, and when the council couldn't handle it, Trinock being one of the last of the high ranking commanders in the war that didn't die or was rebelling, the council officially made him Janio's regent, basically making him the new head of state."

"After 2 more brutal years, Trinock with his strategic mind, brutality, military experience, and lack of mercy, he had curtailed and executed all of the rebelling nobles and military commanders, placing their heads on pikes and getting the rest to swear fealty to him and the council, the civil wars were over and Siltvelt finally had peace again. But of course, that peace came with a price, as Trinock had doubled down on order and maintained the status quo. With an iron fist he had kept the country following his rule along with the councils that allowed him such power in the first place, allowing them to continue there domination of Siltvelt politics and continue on there outdated and oppressive policies that allow them to maintain there dominance including the caste system. Trinock then of course began to spoil Janio to be lazy, weak, and submissive to him, when he did come of age to take the throne he makes Trinock the Prime Minister of the nation, allowing him to remain in power while Janio never bothered to rule anything himself, doing what other kings did before, and allowed the Council and church to do whatever they wanted and governed the country for him. A perfect puppet for Trinock to pulled the strings of, strings that allowed him to rule as dictator for over 20 years."

It was quite a lot to take in from everyone by the whole story.

Bakugou then brought up, "Ok and why does this mean I shouldn't punch in that bastard's skull!?"

Loria responds quickly, "Trinock is a brutal dictator, but if there is one thing he can do is that can prevent a whole nation from falling to pieces. After your actions in the capital, Siltvelt is in a similar situation as before, the King is dead and social upheaval is at an all-time high across the entire country. And many ambitious nobles and generals are aware of this. If you just kill Trinock and the council now, with no strong monarch or government, Siltvelt will just fall into chaos once more with civil wars and death all over. We also need to take account of the wave crisis. When the next wave attacks our forces would be scattered and depleted, when we have been killing each other. The monsters coming in will overwhelm the empire and kill everyone in sight. If we are to survive, Siltvelt must remain together to fight back as a strong unified force.

Bakugou didn't like any of this, but he can't deny Lady Loria was bringing up good points, the nobles were already eager to chase Ren down halfway across the nation believing he was a demon lord, just imagine what many others will do if there own central government collapses.

But he still didn't like the idea that Trinock and the council will be left off scot-free, "So what now, I'm supposed to let those pieces of shit continue to rule this nation as tyrants forever!?" he questioned Loria.

Loria sacks her head no to that, "No, just like I told you, I want them to be overthrown and be brought to justice for their tyranny and corruption for good. But rather than by brute force, we do it legally."

Bakugou was curious by that response, "What do you mean legally?" he asked

"Trinock and the council's power came from their control of the church and the King, that was their power base. But thanks to you Bakugou both the Patriarch and King are dead, so their stronghold over the nation has been damaged. Their only grips on power they have left is the army and the four council tribes land and wealth wanting to maintain their dominance over the nation, but even they can't go against there monarch if we find the right person that can stand up and curtail them and their council's power. The church can't officially have a new patriarch without the approval of the monarch Siltvelt, but since there's a lack of one right now, the church will struggle to enforce their doctrine and won't be able to reverse any of the reforms you made. And as for a new king, there is a law that deals with the succession of the King without a direct heir, a no-confidence vote of sorts to a whole dynasty.

"It's too soon to enact it now, but over time the anti-council faction you help create by giving the pardoned excommunicated the church land, we will soon gain enough political power to enact it and we can finally begin the process to end Trinocks and the council's regime for good with hopefully a new and true monarch. We don't know who yet, but it will be one who won't be a puppet to other powers, one who can maintain order without resorting to tyranny, one to bring true glory to the nation, not for just the four council tribes, but to all demi-humans. So for now Lord Bakugou, I request you just wait until we can enact that chance." Loria finishes.

Despite the good points, Bakugou still hated the he won't get to kill Trinock right now after what he just did to him and his sidekicks, "Damnit! Those bastards! They shouldn't.. They shouldn't..! Ugh! Why does politics have to take so damn long!" he yells still conflicted on the whole thing.

Neia then placed her hand on Bakugou's shoulder, and smiles to help calm him down, "It's okay sir Bakugou, we all understand your anger. But remember we're heroes, we do what we can for the good of everyone. So let's let Miss Loria handle things for now and head on to where we are needed now directly in Melromarc, and come back and fight another day when the time is right."

While welcoming encouraging words, Bakugou's mind was still unsure of itself, then Rino spoke up, "Yeah, and as you said once before, just killing them won't magically fix everything Even if a bunch of civil wars don't happen some other people will just replace them, and they could be even worse then the last ones. So might as well kill their power first before killing them."

Bakugou did remember saying that and it was true, as long as the same power structure exists, even without a proper ruler the four tribes will do whatever they can to maintain their oligarchic council.

After another long minute of thinking about it, Bakugou knew wasn't going to like this, but he finally made up his mind, "Grrrrrrrr-Fine! We won't kill them for now, but when you and the other nobles start your little legal plan, I will be all willing to come back as soon as possible to smash in those bastards skulls!" he responds toward Loria who nods in approval, happy the Shield hero was willing to compromise even in his state of mind.

Melty then spoke up, "So we're all heading back to Melromarc then?"

Bakugou quickly responds to that, "Of course, if that consort and those idiots don't start a civil war they'll declare war here. Which will just justify stripes and the oligarchs bullshit."

Daven nods to that, "Indeed, the last thing we need right now is another great war while the waves are upon us. We'll need to be heading off tomorrow morning."

All the sidekicks agree to it, though Melty wondered why Daven was also on board, "Daven are you sure you want to go with us to Melromarc and leave Siltvelt behind?"

Daven knew such a question would be asked, and already knew what to answer with, "I've joined in to help save the world and stop the waves, being outside of my home nation doesn't change anything. Sir Bakugou, you've done more for me and my family than any other person in my life, and you didn't even request anything in return. I don't believe you're a God, but I do believe you're a great man, a great man I'll be happy to serve under." he explains as he placed one of his arms across his chest and made a small bow toward his leader, which made Katsuki happy to see such loyalty from his sidekicks, "Plus Trinock and the council have already labeled me as a traitor so I would have to either flee the nation and hide away anyway, might as well be with friends." he also added in which made the others laugh.

Though Neia had one concern, "But will your mother and sister be fine while you are gone?"

But Loria was quick to answer her, "No need to worry about me and Katherine, I have my lands and domain back with my excommunication revoked, so I will have my own power and troops to myself, and I've already started to set up an alliance of the other anti-council lords. So Trinock and the council won't try major against us without starting a civil war. The only thing I'd fear would be Allen trying anything he could to stop me, but thanks to Davy I won't have to worry about him anymore. Not to mention Narel and his group will be on my side, so no need to worry about me. Trinock and the council won't be able to legally declare war either, as that power solely belongs to the King, and as long as there is no monarch, there won't be any war with Melromarc."

After hearing that the sword and shield teams were allowed to set their plans.

Ren finally spoke up again to explain what they'll do in Melromarc, "Great, once we recover enough by morning, me and Bakugou can fast travel back to Melromarc and from there-"

"Hang on Paleface! I'm leaving no man behind here!" Bakugou immediately reacted.

But that just confused the sword hero, "No man behind? What do you mean?"

"Kirishima you dumbass! Those bastards still have him as a prisoner, doing who knows what! I'm not leaving here without him!"

Ren was not liking this development, "But Bakugou we don't even know where your dragon could be at? We could be wasting weeks looking for him?"

"Actually we do know." Daven announced with Ren and the others turning toward him, "He's inside fort Titan, most likely at the research building there." he explains remembering what Narel said before.

Ren still wasn't sure about this, knowing the Siltvelt army was after them and they would be heading right into the lion's den (or in this case tigers den.).

Bakugou could see Ren's doubt in this, knowing what he was thinking about, and told him, "Listen Paleface, imagine if your little loli bird girl was imprisoned herself, would you also just run away and allowed her to be experimented or tortured on? Kirishima is more than just a pet to me, I am not leaving him behind! Would you do the same with your bird girl?"

Ren turns himself to see Scarlet still sleeping soundly. Just thinking about her being in such a situation gave him a sick feeling in his stomach if he just abandoned her, or if he did the same with the rest of his team after they sacrifice themselves so he could be free, and he just left them to rot forever. He knew Bakugou had a point and Kirishima to Balugou was no different than Scarlet to him. Despite him knowing it won't be easy Ren sighed and said, "I understand, no way would I allow them do the same with Scarlet. Bakugou we're going to rescue your full team with no man or beast left behind. And we'll be flying out of here with your dragon!"

Bakugou smirks to this, "Now that's what I'm talking about Paleface." he then turns to the rest of his sidekicks, "Ok then team Bakugou, by tomorrow morning I want all of you to be ready. We're getting out of here with everyone, it won't be easy, so if you don't want to be involved like little babies then just run back to the border. If not, then we're all in this together! So let's do it!" he finished as he extends his hand out.

Knowing what this meant, the sidekicks, Neia, Rino, Melty, and Daven all place their hands on Bakugou's, with Ren doing the same into a pile.

Bakugou finally yells out, "Let's all go beyond! PLUS ULTRA!"

"PULSE ULTRA!" they all shouted. They knew of what was coming tomorrow morning and they were now ready for that challenge. Whatever it takes they're going to rescue their last team member and leave Siltvelt. Until the right time comes, they'll be back again to save it from itself.

---

It was now early in the morning at Siltvelts military headquarters, Fort Titan. Within its largest structure was the office of Prime Minister, Trinock.

Trinock was just sitting beside his desk as he was tapping his fingers with one hand impatiencely, and with the other was repeatedly clawing the thick wooden desk, barely able to hold back his deep deep anger.

Everything he planned 2 days ago ended in complete disaster. The shield heroes sidekicks escaped his grasp and avoided execution, the sword hero randomly showed up out of nowhere and made a fool out of him, the entire castle at the capital was destroyed, the Patriarch and his king are now both dead, and worst of all Bakugou had escaped his control. Siltvelt was now in an extremely fragile state after the chaos of Bakugou's wrath, it forced him to bring martial law on the entire capital as he orders a manhunt on the shield hero and his sidekicks. The low caste protests and strikes continued with them now getting louder then before, now gaining support from the other castes and worst of all from the new lords that Bakugou allowed to exist, they were now applying pressure on him and the council, demanding changes in Siltvelt. Their control over the nation had weakened with Ozsan's and their puppet kings' deaths. He was now forced to work overtime just to keep Siltvelt from falling apart into civil war.

Speaking of said council a messager servant with a crystal ball cautiously walks up to the mad Prime Ministers, "Uh..uh.. Lord Trinock, you have someone of great importance calling you." the messager nervously stated.

Trinock rolled his eyes knowing who would be calling him.

And from the crystal ball appeared Lady Shellian of the council, "Trinock! What in the hell is going on!? What are these rumors I'm hearing about Ozsan and Janio beinging-" *smash*

But Trinock just smashes the crystal ball into a million pieces with his fist from the messagers hand. He was not in the mood to hear the council bitching at him, "Bring me another ball that involves any of the council again, and that will be your head next!" he yells at the servant who just nods and quickly runs away.

Trinock held back his rage so much it made him grip the end of his desk hard enough to break a thick chunk of it off. He was not afraid of what the council would scold him about, he knows they couldn't fire or arrest him, they couldn't keep the nation together without him before, and they were not going to now.

After the messager ran out of the room, a middle-aged fox demi-human woman in lab robes walking in the room looking nervous, unlike most of her caste she was a military scientist doing her service in the army. After a nervous gulp, she spoke up, "Uh, Lord Trinock you called me?"

After he smashes the desk chuck into pieces with his powerful hand, he turns toward the scientist, "Yes Dr. Vok, have you made any sort of progress with that damn dragon?!"

Dr. Vok was sweating herself as she looks over some notes she brought with her, "Well... Well, I guess we are sort of.. the dragon he sort of.. we Haven't gotten... In a way we.."

"GET ON WITH IT!" Trinock yells as smashes his desk into two, not in the mood of the doctor's antics.

"I'm afraid we haven't gotten anywhere with it yet!" she immediately shouts with fear in her tone.

"And mind explaining how you can't properly control a dumb animal!?" Trinock raises his voice at her.

"Lord Trinock, we tried every single slave crest on this thing? Weak to powerful ones including those meant for humans and ones for monsters. None of them work on that thing? There's a reason his breed was never domesticated before, I don't know how the shield hero was able to control it?"

"That's why I'm paying for the likes of you! You're supposed to be the one to figure it out! With or without a slave crest! I expect results by the end of the week or you and your team will be heading off to the Silver mines with pickaxes! Got it!" Trinock yells at the doctor who fearfully nods and moves away from the room as quickly as possible to get back to the research building then her lab.

After Dr. Vok was out of sight a different soldier comes in, "And what the hell do you want?!" Trinock yells at him, not in the mood for any more nonsense, complaints, or excuses.

But the soldier came to say, "Uh... Lord Trinock we have former General Tarn here, just as you requested."

Trinocks rage was nearly gone after hearing that, the first time feeling any sort of joy in these pass 2 awful days, "Perfect, bring the bastard in!" he ordered.

And with that order, the soldiers literally throw in General Tarn into the office, he was in a awful awful shape. He had been beaten to a pulp for a few days after Bakugou was originally captured, all for his involvement in the slave exodus regardless how he actually felt about it. He was covered in all sorts of bruises, cuts, and wounds. The most horrifying thing was that he no longer had his wings, they were cut off from his back, now all that was left of them were two protruding and bleeding stomps on his back. The beaten general with barely any strength looks up to see his tall prime minister as he looks down on the poor general, "Well well, General Tarn, it's good to be seeing you again after so long. I hope you are aware of your crimes against the crown?" Trinock mocks him.

Tarn barely had any strength in him after being tortured for so long, but he was not afraid to talk back to the likes of Trinock, superior or not, "I didn't do anything wrong Trinock, I was merely following the requests and orders of the shield hero, I was not aware of what he was intending to do nor had any power to stop him." he excuses himself.

But Trinock was not buying the excuse as he begins to step on the beaten generals back, "You had the authority to stop a damn monkey with a magic shield and you helped him nearly destroy my Kingdom."

But despite the pain, Tarn just laughs after hearing that, "Your kingdom? Ha, you act like your the king, when your nothing more than a bitch to the council-Ah! Ah!" he mocks back until Trinock begins to step on Tarns wing stubs.

"No the council is the bitch to me, when they and their respective tribes were more concerned about keeping their money and estates secured while the kingdom fell apart around them after Robaw's death, I was the one who stepped up to put order back to their kingdom. They know the same is happening now, even without the king they knew better to get rid of me. Once we introduce a new monarch to the kingdom it'll be all the same, and not even a so-called God will change that. Such power was never just given to me for my birth tribe like yours. Even as a minor lord, I had to work my way to the top as the most powerful person in this nation, so don't take me lightly." Trinock boasts himself as he removes his foot off the general and turns himself toward a large wardrobe in the room.

Tarn continued to talk back, no matter how much pain he was in, "There is one person that can touch you Trinock, and that person is Katsuki Bakugou. I know he'll be the one that can destroy you and the council. You can continue to beat me up as much as you want, but in the end I know the Shield hero will be the one to eventually take you and the council down."

But Trinock paid no mind to him, as he grabs from the wardrobe a large mace, enveloped in powerful magic. As the prime minister rubs the top of the heavy weapon, he turns his eyes back to Tarn, "Do you know what this is?" he questioned the general. But before Tarn could say anything, Trinock answered anyway, "This is the iron mace of Siltvelt, like Siltvelt, its long handle is weak and has no true power in a taelf like the rest of the lower castes lthat is supporting this nation as the handle supports the mace, but in its end was its head. It's strong, compact and deadly, the power of the weapon itself, just like the strength of Siltvelts government and the 4 council tribes is this nations power. It originally belonged to King Rohaw, until that bastard Aultcray murdered him and took the mace with him along with the kings decapitated head, the people weren't allowed to see their king's body at his public funeral because of that. I wouldn't be surprised if it got stuff up as a trophy somewhere in that damn castle in Melromarc. This was finally returned to us just no more than a month ago, this was one of a few things that bitch Mirella did to appease me to not immediately declare war after her husband summoned the heroes behind all of our backs. Too bad it will all be in vain for her. I will have my war eventually, and I'll be the one to kill there nation's heroes, and this time there won't be any head to take from as they will be in pieces next to there corpses. But the cane hero won't be the first hero it will kill, the next hero's head that will smash is the so called shield hero."

Tarn looked on concern by such claims, "Your willing to kill our God? What will the people think of you after that? And there can be no war unless a king says so, you're not going to get away with this."

But Trinocks attitude didn't change as he turns back at the general as he lightly hits the mace on his palms now looking down at the poor birdman, "There is no God in Siltvelt, the one the people claim is their god is nothing more than a stupid, stubborn, and ungrateful human shitflinger. Before I start my war, I'll be the one to smash that thick head of his into a stain on the ground, and I will get my war with my new monarch, and she will know her place. And history will be what I say it is, as far as the world will know, Bakugou will have died from Melromarc's abuse with no one to prove against me. But it's too bad you won't get to see it yourself." Trinock finishes and after waiting a few more seconds as Tarn takes it all in. Trinock finally throws down the mace on Tarns' head. He strikes his head, then he does it again, and again and again and again over and over without mercy.

Trinock finally threw one more powerful swing as the mace finally smashes Tarn's head, killing him immediately.

Without much of a reaction after that, Trinock places the blood-coated mace on a different desk planning to clean it up later. He then called for some soldiers to pick and clean up the corpse. While still mad about anything to do with the shield hero, Trinock at least got rid of some of his anger on Tarn.

He then eyes at the wardrobe, which still contained his old war armor, ready to use it once more when he encounters Bakugou for one last time. Later he'll also wear it in his war aganist Melromarc as soon he as straightens out his nation and brings order to it once more. He now just needs to get his new puppet monarch and a new patriarch to declare war.

Once the body was gone and the floor was cleaned up, a commander comes right up to the Prime Minister, "Lord Trinock you wanted to know of the whereabouts of Lady Mellia?"

"Yes, you know where that useless bitch is at right?" Trinock demanded, wanting to throw his anger at her as well for failing a simple job of torturing and killing Daven, and his father Allen was already dead with his corpse missing its eyes so there was nothing to throw his anger at him.

The commander quickly answers, "She's been seen at Lady Nova's domain, said to be now staying there with the young duchess."

"Damn it, of course she goes to her, she must've known about Nova's connections to her uncle Janio, knowing what will happen soon. Hiding behind her back from me. But I'll deal with her when the time comes. The search for the shield hero is still going on right?" Trinock asked.

"We're still searching, and are still enforcing the borders as you requested, we'll try to find and capture the shield hero." the commander responds.

Trinock then turns back at him in anger, "I do not want him captured. I want him killed."

"Kill!? But sir he is the-"

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHO HE IS OR WHAT HE IS! I want that bastard and his group of whores and traitors dead! I don't care how you do or what you use, I just want Bakugou dead! Do you hear me!? D-E-A-D, DEAD!" Trinock yells at the commander who nods nervously toward his prime minister and runs off.

Trinock turns back at the wardrobe with the armor once more, "If they can't handle killing a so-called God, then I will."

---

Outside of fort Titan at a cliffside, the cardinal shield hero watches from the end of the cliffs with his binoculars shield to look over the large military base.

But once he finished his scan of the front of the fort, Bakugou turns the shield off and turns back toward his team who were along with Ren and Scarlet, as they try to make up a plan to get into the heavily fortified fort with hundreds of guards patrolling inside.

"Sir Bakugou how does it look?" Neia asked.

"As expected the front gate is the most fortified part with magic barriers around the gate, and have a bunch of ballistas on the front walls. Though its side walls seem to be lacking in defenses, I can tell this place wasn't orignally made as a true fort in mind, so the walls must be recent additions after all the civil wars." Bakugou responds.

"So I'm guessing just blowing through the gate and rushing in will be a bad idea?", Ren responds to that.

"Yeah and after what happened in the capital, I'm sure they already have set up ways to stop Scarlet from just rushing in the fort." Rino brings up, which Ren and Bakugou nod in agreement.

Daven then spoke up, "Indeed just brute-forcing our way to Kirishima will most likely end badly for us as they're is nothing stopping them from just killing him in his toddler form if we get too close to the building."

"So what's the plan?" Melty asked.

Bakugou cracks his neck ready to explain what he had in mind, "Our plan will involve one of us sneaking in, then we get the hundreds of soldiers inside the fort to be as divided as possible."

"And who do you have in mind sneaking in? They'll expect me to show up with dark magic sensors and dark spell dampers already set up all over no doubt. So at this time I won't be much help in sneaking in." Daven asked, he felt a bit embarrassed he couldn't do any of the sneaking into the research building. But it's hard to do that when Trinock will be expecting him to show up.

Bakugou nods to that, "I agree, can't really sneak in if they are expecting you to show up. We'll need someone they will not be expecting to show up." Bakugou says to him knowing he was right. As he looks around amongst the group he sighed to himself not being big on the idea of using her of all things for this part of the plan, but it was he could think of. Without many other options he turns to Ren, "Paleface, let me ask you? Does the general public know about your loli birds' human form or that it can transform at all?"

"No I don't think so, ever since that incident at the logging town all the way to our fight with you, she has always been in her bird form and anyone else important who did see her before is dead now." Ren answers.

Bakugou was happy to hear that, "Perfect, all we need to do is to get her in boots to hid her human feet, and the guards won't be able to tell her from a Shusaku. She'll pretend to be a random Shusaku girl and get in the base without much resistance. She'll then try her best to make way to where Kirishima is at while most of the soldiers are focused on us."

Daven then opens out a newish building layout to the structure provided by Narel to help everyone out on the plan and points to certain parts of it, "Ok then, if nothing has changed in the last 2 months the research building is right here near the bottom right corner of the fort, that will be most likely where Kirishima is at, if we attack and get in through the left upper corner of the fort. Which will get many of the soldiers distracted away from the other side of the fort, where they will not be suspecting someone already there trying to free him. Making it easier for Scarlet to get in and free Kirishima with minimum resistance. And we will have to do our best to attract as many soldiers away from the part of the fort as possible."

Most of the group understand the general plan, though had some doubts, "That's still hundreds of guards inside at tight corners and buildings close together, how are we going to divide their forces with so many inside?" Ren brought up

Bakugou then grins already knowing the answer to that question, "Easy, we will need another distraction just outside the fort that will drag away most of the military complexes manpower, and make them too far away from it to reinforce when they realize what is happening inside."

Ren was still unsure of this part of the plan, "What distraction do you have in mind that will drag a large amount of them out of the fort?" he asked

Bakugou's grin got even wider, "live bait." he bluntly responds.

Ren was quiet for a few seconds, trying to understand what Bakugou meant by that. Until he unfortunately got it, "You got to be joking right?" he groans now realizing he was the bait.

"What better way to drag most of the troops out than one of their Devil's showing up on their doorstep. You got any better ideas paleface?" Bakugou responds and asked the sword hero.

Ren groans to himself some more on the idea he was going to be chased all over again by crazed soldiers, but with no Scarlet around to help get away from them. But unable to bring up a better idea he just sighs, "Fine, I'll do the live bait thing, I just hope this rescue doesn't take too long."

"That'll be all depending on how fast your bird loli can get Kirishima out. At least you can use deadly force against them now, so don't hesitate like before." Bakugou says back

Ren then turns toward his filolial, "Scarlet are you sure you can handle this by yourself?" he asked her.

"Of course master Ren, I'll find that stupid dragon and rescue him far faster than he could with me." Scarlet brags to herself which just made Ren shrug, he hopes she doesn't get distracted on the mission forcing him to fight off a whole army even longer.

But with that said everyone else nods to the plan, "Ok sir Bakugou, I think we're all committed to this plan." Rino says with the rest of the sidekicks nodding in agreement.

Bakugou smiles at this, happy to see that despite all that corrupt shield crap that happened 2 days ago his sidekicks were still loyal and trusted him, he knows at this point he made the right decisions to make them all his first sidekicks, "Alright! that's the general plan, let's do this and finally get the hell out of this corrupt dump for now and continue to save the world. Let's show those bastards who real heroes are!" he shouts with Bakugou and everyone else ready to go forward with their rescue mission.

---

Over an hour later at the entrance of Fort Titan, numerous guards were still patrolling the walls as they watch out for any sight of the Shield Hero and the sword demon. It was a boring job and not many were comfortable with the fact they are battling their own god, but at the same time, were afraid to be facing the wrath of their Prime Minister if they refuse.

Things remained routine until they saw someone down the wall wondering cluelessly around. To properly investigate it, the fort crew slightly open the gate and a group of soldiers come toward the individual. And when they got up to the wandering individual, it was seemingly just a little demi-human girl, a girl with fair white skin, dark black hair, and large wings on her back with black feathers. They quickly conclude she was some Shusaku girl, most likely a daughter of some noble or general of the fort, especially with the tiara on her head being way too elegant for anyone to just get without costing them a hefty penny.

If it was any other type of demi-human child of lower caste they would've yelled at the girl to get lost, but the fact she was seemingly a Shusaku noble, nobody wanted to feel the wrath of one of the noble families with the money and power to exert it. One of the team leaders finally spoke to find out, "Young girl what are you doing out here?" he asked her.

The confused girl turns to ask, "I'm looking for my daddy, I can't seem to find him anywhere?" she innocently asked.

The soldiers turn and nod at each other, concluding she must be the daughter of someone important in the fort and got lost outside. The group leader talks with her again, "Young one, you shouldn't be out here. It's dangerous with the Sword demon moving about around here, come inside and we'll help find your daddy." He and the other men figure whoever's daughter it was would offer a big reward to those who find their missing child, so they and the girl walk together back inside the fort.

One odd thing they saw of the girl was that she was wearing tall brown boots on her feet, which was odd considering Shusaku's, even high nobles, usually were never wearing shoes preferring to expose their bird-like feet, but they were not going to question the customs of nobles and figure it is just another weird fashion fad young nobles are going through again.

Soon enough the group was through the gates of the fort, with the gates closing up again the girl secretly grins to herself.

The squad walks through the giant fort with the girl to hopefully find one of her parents or at the very least take her to a place she could remain at while they look for them.

The commander of the squad started speaking out loud to the girl while they continued to walk, "Now young lady before we drop you off at one of the barracks, it's very important we know what your parents look like, so can you please give some descriptions on what they look like as well as your first and family name?" but all they heard was silence, making the guard turns his head, "Little girl if we are to find them we need to-... AAAHHH! WHERE IS SHE!? HOW DID YOU IDIOTS LOSE HER!?" the commander yells as his men with them hastily look around themselves and all notice the little bird girl had randomly disappeared.

When none could find her, fearing what will happen to them if her important parents find out, the commander ordered, "Split up! Search all around the fort now! Quickly!" and he and his men split up to find her.

Little did any of them know that "little girl" Scarlet was now above on the roof of a building. She grins happily now that she had successfully infiltrated herself into the fort. From her sleeve, she pulls out the fort's building plans with the building she is supposed to go to and find Kirishima. The young filolial still didn't like the fact she has to save a dragon of all things, but her master is counting on her along with Fitoria to succeed, so after gets a good look around the fort from above and finds where she needs to go to with it being marked on the forts building plans. After putting away the plans, she continued to sneak her way toward the research building, while Ren and the shield heroes team do their thing.

---

Back near the front gates on the walls, three soldiers were cleaning up the large ballistic bows while the rest are on patrol of any intruders.

While wiping down one of them, the soldiers began to gossip, "Have you guys heard what happened to the king?" one asked.

"Yeah, heard he got turned into mincemeat by the shield hero from what I've heard." a second soldier responds.

"Same here, though I heard it was the Sword demon that did it. Did the same with the old Patriarch as well." a third soldier also replied.

"If it was the sword demon, why are we ordered to kill Lord Bakugou on sight? Is he not the shield hero?" the first soldier asked.

"Hard to say, Lord Trinock is extremely pissed right now, and usually when he is pissed, heads start to roll. Heard old General Tarn became his next victim with his corpse missing its head." the second soldier comments.

This fact made the third soldier nervous, "Good lord, I'm not sure who in the hell we should be afraid of more? The Sword demon or the Prime Minister, if he is even still the prime minister after the king got torn to pieces."

The first soldier then replies, "Considering Trinock is the one who will be providing our pay, I suggest we just follow his orders and not talk about this anymore. Let's just focus cleaning these things up then-"

Boom!

Out of seemingly nowhere, a large surge of energy just blew up the ballista's, the injured but alive cleaner soldiers look back up and witnessed the rest of the front wall's defenses getting blown away by these energy attacks, with every single ballista destroyed.

All the guards on the walls immediately look out from the fort to see what made those random attacks. As the soldiers recovered from the attacks those with Binoculars looked out to see a single human teen waving a large sword around.

It was none other then Ren Amaki the sword hero, making himself clear as day out in the open outside of the fort.

The guards immediately reacted as soon as they knew who it was, "It's the Sword Demon! Alert the whole fort now!" a recovering cleaner soldier yells.

And from one of the wall towers a guard there started banging on a big bell to alert everyone.

And now the entire fort was on high alert with many of the commanders and higher-ups yelling, "The Sword demon is here! The sword demon is outside the front gates!"

In just a few minutes a huge force of soldiers had already gathered up near the gates, with a large force of cavalry going out first. With the long-range defenses destroyed they had to resort to sending out the troops to attack him.

And outside of the fort Ren watches on as the huge doors of the large gate open up, as he holds up his sword looking ready to attack.

And once the gate doors fully opened up the large force of calvary charged at Ren, but this time without his filolial to run away with.

But despite the large force of Horseback soldiers galloping their way toward him, Ren remains where he's at and just grins.

The calvary charge was now seconds away from ramming over Ren as they also have their swords and magic staffs out ready to kill the Sword "demon". But before they could get close enough, all the horses unexpectedly step in deep mud on the ground, making all of them trip and fall over from their high speeds along with their riders or being thrown a couple of feet away or crushed by their rides.

Thanks to Rino's earth magic and Melty's and Neia's water magic, they made the perfect anti-calvary trap for the sword hero.

Most of the poor war horses ended up with broken legs from the trip unable to stand up anymore or had outright died. As for the riders, those that didn't die from being squished by the horses tried to stand up to fight the sword demon.

But Ren makes rapid work of the injured and stunned soldiers as he quickly kills them all. He also kills off any of the injured horses to put them out of their misery when he was done with the soldiers.

Just right by the partially opened gate door, a bunch of the soldiers including some commanders at the gates witnessed the horror of the failed cavalry charged. The commanders quickly turn back at the large number of unmounted soldiers ready for battle. A random commander yells, "The cavalry have perished aganist the sword demon! Men! Raise your arms and attack the demon!"

The army cheers once more, wanting to avenge their comrades and their king. The gate doors fully opens up again and this time a large army of hundreds of soldiers charge their way toward Ren on foot.

Just as Bakugou planned, Ren knew this was going to happen, he now turns around and makes a run for it, but not of cowardice but to get as many soldiers away from the fort as possible as the large garrison of soldiers ran after the sword demon.

While running Ren says to himself, "Ok Bakugou, now is your turn. Please let's get this done quickly!"

Ren continues running as fast as he could, as the army fires arrows and magic attacks while they follow his tail. Doing all they could to get the so-called demon lord.

---

On the other side of the fort at the walls, the remaining guards were on high alert as they heard the alerts of the sword demons appearance. While some of them were thankful they were not the ones having to deal with a supposed demon lord directly, they were still cautious as they continue their patrols at the side wall as ordered.

Though they failed to notice the random puffs of black smoke appearing down at the wall.

Then out of nowhere, 2 green energy shields appeared on the sides of the wall with one shield higher up than the other.

Before any guards could react to the random green shields, the rogue cat demi-human Daven pops in and out on both airstrike shields. Now appearing on top of the wall as he also back kicks a soldier off the wall.

The rest of the patrolling guards finally noticed and ran toward amd engage Daven as he pops in and out across the walls fighting back with his sai's. But Daven was now starting to feel the dark mana leaving his body. It looks like he was right about the dark dampers afterall that will no doubt cripple his ability to fight if he continued on in the base.

And while that was happening, from the bottom of the wall the shield hero and the rest of his team revealed themselves and ran toward the energy shields.

Rino jumps on Bakugou's back as Melty did with Neia. Bakugou uses his quirk to blast himself up to the top of the wall with Neia using her super jump ability to get on the energy shields to get her way on top.

Just as more soldiers showed up to fight off Daven, the rest of the shield hero group made it on the wall. With Rino and Melty getting off the backs of their teammate and leader, as they all attack the soldiers.

Bakugou and Rino attacked left blasting many of the soldiers away or having them screaming off the walls on either side. While on the right Neia and Melty helped out Daven as he and Neia slice up the soldiers using their quick speeds and high agility with Melty helping out as support with her water spells.

Once enough of the section of the wall is cleared of soldiers with the surviving remainder being routed to get help and bring back reinforcements, while also activating the alarm bell on that part of the fort. Now alerting what's left in fort titan of the attackers.

Bakugou grins to this, "Perfect! Just as planned!" he shouts then turned to his team, "You guys know what to do now!?" he shouts to them with everyone nodding.

Daven who can still feel the energy being sucked out of him, knowing he would be useless in the fort itself was running back to the side wall toward the outside of the fort." Of course, good luck in there!" he shouts back and once out of range of the dark magic damper charms he teleports off the wall to aid another cardinal hero.

Bakugou and his team then turn toward the inside of the fort, "Alright team Bakugou! Let's kick some more ass!" he shouts and he and the others run until Bakugou himself jumped off the wall and shouts behind him "Airstrike shield! Second shield!"

And two more energy shields appear with one below the other allowing the rest of his team to jump off the wall onto them until all of them landed safely on the ground of the fort. They were now approaching a large force of soldiers ready to attack with the intention of killing them.

While most of the fort is off engaging the sword demon, a good number of soldiers remained at the fort itself. But it was nothing the team can handle, and like before on the wall the heroes attack and fight off the army. In the end though, this was nothing more than a giant distraction.

Their only hope now in getting out of there is if Scarlet can get Kirishima freed before they find out why they were they're at the fort in the first place.

---

Inside the main building of the fort, a knight commander runs up toward his Prime Minister's office to alert him of what is happening on and why the alarms are going off.

The commander finally forces himself through the prime minister's office door, nearly out of breath, "Lord... Lord Trinock we have an emergency down at the..."

But the commander paused himself as he witnessed his prime minister along with a bunch of Servants in the process of getting him suited up in his old powerful armor. Now out of his aristocrat clothing to be fully suited in his thick magically bonded war armor that was covering his entire body, all but his head.

After the servants finish setting up his armor, Trinock grabs hold of his powerful mace that still covered in Tarn's blood along with a giant shield half his size. He looks back toward the commander who still in shock in seeing his Prime Ministers like this, emitting such scary power from his presence alone.

With a grin, Trinock says, "So the Devil and the God had decided to teamed up, and have now come to my doorstep to fight." the soldier immediately nods back. Trinock already knows what is going on out there and stomps his way toward the door to face the throne on side since he came to Siltvelt, "Well if you want something done properly, you have to do it yourself. And if it means I get named the god-killer in the history books, then so be it."

---

Outside of the fort, it was becoming a scary sight for Ren. He had accomplished his goal of getting most of the forts army to follow him around, but that also means now most of the forts army is now following after him to kill.

Despite his head start the huge force was on his tail now, a bunch of the faster running or flying demi-humans were able to catch up with him forcing Ren to fight them off. Thankfully he was allowed to finally use his full powers to attack and kill any that tried to do the same with him, making things easier then before. But the more he fought off the closer the main force will get to him.

Rino and Neia before helped set up some traps to slow them down, but even Ren had finally run out of those to use.

Unfortunately as he ran, he was forced to stop himself after he sees a large force of soldiers now in front of him, most likely some small detachments that broke off from the main army or were flown over with the flying demi-humans soldiers were now blocking Ren's path.

Ren was force to run in a different direction or fight his through some of the soldiers blocking him with his sword powers. But that was starting to get harder and harder to do as more soldiers start catching up.

Before he knew it, dozens now surrounded him and with the fort being on an open plains there was nowhere to hide within the short grass. And a few hundred more soldiers continue to charge there way to hero.

Ren was ready to fight them all off if he had to, as a bunch of elephant and Rhino soldiers circled around him and were ready to tackle the supposed demon lord.

But just before Ren could fight them back, a poof of black smoke popped in from behind him, it was Daven who quickly grab onto the sword hero.

Before the soldiers could understand what was going on, the giant elephant and rhino soldiers jumped at Ren to smash and tackle him.

Only for the two heroes to disappear as the elephants and Rhinos dogpile on each other over nothing.

The two reappear between a group of confused soldiers as they used their weapons and special abilities to quickly to kill or knock away the groups soldiers, and once they start to gain up or the main army drew closer Daven would teleport him and Ren away again into another group, and repeated the process over and over until the two were finally out in the open field again away from the main force as the two run far away from the army once more. Continuing to get as far away from the fort as much as possible as the huge force continues to chase after the 2 while also continueing to fire magic attacks from a distance.

As they ran Ren turns his head toward Daven, "Thanks for the save back there."

"Don't thank me yet until we're high in the air," Daven responds back.

"Hopefully Scarlet is almost done freeing Bakugou's dragon, it shouldn't be much longer," Ren says back, not knowing Scarlet if this was true and or if his monster girl was just taking her sweet sweet time as the two continue to make a run for it as hundreds of soldiers follow them.

---

At another building within the fort was the research facility, where many military scientists of Siltvelt are here to mostly discuss, delvelop, and formulate research of weapons, combat spells, or test general tactics and strategies for war. Right now one of its largest labs was holding the Shield heroes dragon, Kirishima.

The poor dragon was still chained up and muzzled, stuck in his toddler form by the enchanted brace still around his stomach preventing him from turning large, busting out, and slaughtering everyone in this large lab.

In the same lab were numerous mages and minor scientists continually trying all they could to either control Kirishima or tame him in some way. But no matter what they did, Kirishima like his master refuses to submit to these kinds of people.

Unfortunately for the little dragon, escaping didn't look like it was going to happen. With all the magic and chains keeping him down and the many guards stationed in this room to keep an eye on him, and while at the same time they'll zap him with electricity magic to force him to calm down if he ever acts up, there seemed to be no way out of there.

The scientist mages were once more applying another slave crest on the dragon. During that Dr. Vok walks back in the research lab, not in the brightest mood after she had her brief meeting with Trinock, and looks mad at the lower scientists, "Has the next slave crest been applied yet!?" she yells at the other scientists.

One of them looks back nervously at their director, "We have, but we've tried almost all of the different kinds of slave crests that are used in all corners of the continent and they keep failing every time."

"Just use the damn thing already!" Vok order not having any more patience.

The other scientists and mages nod fearfully and turn back to the dragon. They had one of the guards take off his muzzle to see if the slave crest works this time, "You shall obey my command and will not resist me while I pet your head." a scientist orders Kirishima hoping the crest worked this time.

After walking up and slowly reaching out to his hand toward the chained monster nervously, the scientist finally started to pet his head without him resisting as ordered.

He does this for a few seconds without the dragon doing anything, Dr. Vok and the other scientist were surprised that they seemed to have finally got the dragon under their control.

The scientist that continued to pet the seeming docile dragon then said, "It looks like we finally made a breakthrough with the beast. I think if we can find a suitable mate after some more training, we can-AAAAHHHHHHH!" the Scientist finally screamed in agony shocking the entire room. When he wasn't paying attention Kirishima stopped faking and bites deep into the scientist's hand.

The guards immediately went toward the scientists to yank the dragon off his hand. They even electrocuted him once more causing pain until the dragon released the scientists bleeding hand.

After that scientist was sent to the infirmary, Dr. Vok shakes her head in disappointment. She uses her magic to get a clipboard to levitate toward her hand, she had telekinesis magic being convenient for many occasions. It doesn't work on living organic things like Kirishima, but anything non-living was fair game for her powers. She then crosses off on the paper attracted to the clipboard, "Failure again."

The fearfully shocked scientists look toward the director, "Should we continue to research for more obscure slave crests?"

"I'm done wasting my time with those stupid things just as much as I'm sick of your stupid minds. If magic won't work to get that thing to obey its superior's commands, then we'll resort to more conditional means. Cut its food off to the bare minimum, only give him water every 3 days, and make it so it can only sleep for about an hour a day, and starting now cause it deep pain on every hour, and see if that damn thing can resist our commands after that." Dr. Vok ordered.

This shocked the other scientist on how inhumane that was to a living thing, but they were too afraid to question the black-hearted director who was not going to lose her job and risk enslavement in the silver mines, because of one stubborn dragon or a bunch of minor scientists beneath her.

The guards forced on his muzzle again and were ready to begin to zap the poor dragon some more under the director's orders, until...

"Everyone! To the board room now, we're under attack!" a random soldier came out to alarm everyone.

But Dr. Vok was not in the mood for such nonsense, "What the hell is going on?!" she demanded.

"The sword demon has come out of hiding and is attacking the fort, with most of the garrison is currently trying to fight him off, but now some of his minions got inside the fort itself and what men are left inside are now fighting them off as well. We need to quickly investigate all of you to be sure none of you are spies or agents of the sword demon. This includes your guards as well." the soldier informed them.

Dr. Vok rolls her eyes to this nonsense, "You got to be joking!? You're going to waste my valuable time with this stupid paranoia shit!?"

"It's either you come with us or you'll be sent to the dungeons for resisting orders. It will be for a few minutes of asking questions." the soldier orders

Dr. Vok groans to this, but she doesn't have much of a choice to resist the military in a military fort, "Fine! Let's just get this over with!" she complies with everyone else in the room following suit.

Once they all left the lab, it was now only Kirishima, still stuck in his chains and muzzle not knowing if he can ever get out of here to see his father, his 3 sisters, and his new brother again. Stuck in a prison unable to fly and be free. Was he doomed to be treated like a lab animal for the rest of his long long life?

*smash*

Kirishima suddenly heard a smash, a smash of broken glass. He turns his head up toward where the sound was, and saw what looks to be a pale little girl with black hair breaking in from the roof, then she jumps off from it and lands inside the large lab.

Kirishima would be happy to see that it was someone here to rescue him. But that happiness ended once he got a good smell of her and saw the girl spreading out her black feathered wings. To Kirishima's annoyance, it was none other than that stupid filolial queen again, his species rival animal.

After brushing off any glass from her dress and adjusting her crown Scarlet turns and looks toward Kirishima with a big smug grin on her face, "Well well, if it isn't stinky breath again. Nice to see that your comfortable with the chains and muzzle thing, it looks good on you." Scarlet mocks the dragon.

The dragon rolls his eyes after that. Scarlet should've easily broken Kirishima's chains and with enough force can break apart the enchanted brace so they can get out of there. But Scarlet got too caught up in the moment of her current dominance over the dragon and continued her mocking and bragging at him.

"Yeah while you were wasting your time stinking up the place, I've got to meet with my own Queen Fitoria, who took down one of your kind like 5 seconds, she was like Ya! Ha! Slash!, killing the stupid dragon in 2 strikes. And guess what also, she named me her future heir. Meaning that I'm now the princess of the filolials. How does that make you feel stinky breath? I'm now high royalty with a pretty little crown to prove it, while you are still a lowly peasant dragon with no crown on your scaly head. And you can't even speak human talk, so not only am I now better than you, I'm smarter than you also, and I have a better master who doesn't smell like burnt candy and doesn't yell at everything. To prove it, how about I tell you the time me and Sir Ren did-" Scarlet went on and on and on completely forgetting about the mission to brag and mock the dragon while it couldn't do anything.

Kirishima groans in annoyance at the whole thing. He preferred to have the immoral scientist back over this.

---

Out of the labs but still at the fort, once more the shield group continue to fight off the remaining defending forces. Despite most of the forts soldiers being outside chasing after Ren and Daven, their was still quite a high number of them in the fort trying to fight back against the group.

But despite being outnumbered the four continue to fight back hard, with Neia being the main force at close corners combat as she used her two swords to block and cut up the aggressive soldiers while also electrifying them, and Melty and Rino were the long-range attackers with there magic and spells, though Rino did not shy away from close combat with her spear staff as she also defended Melty from anything coming near her.

Bakugou of course was the most aggressive as he blows through the toughest and armored men, blowing them away and continuing to use his defense spells for his sidekicks.

But more and more soldiers kept coming. The group was constantly moving around the fort to avoid being cornered or overwhelmed by the soldiers like back in the capital.

They hoped to not be doing this for long, but it seemed that Scarlet was taking longer than expected, "Where the hell is that damn bird at!? She should've freed Kirishima over 10 minutes ago!" Bakugou shouts as he blasts through two bull soldiers as they are sent flying through a building.

Melty attempts to defend Scarlet while she fires more water spells next to Neia and Rino, "She's probably trying to be careful Sir Bakugou! Probably to not hurt him trying to escape!" she rationalized with some of her love of filolials bias getting into her.

But Bakugou didn't have the patience for this, "I don't care what the feathered loli is doing! If she doesn't get Kirishima out in five minutes, I'm blasting myself over there and roast that damn turkey mys-"

"KATSUKI BAKUGOU!" But Bakugou got interrupted by a yell. The surprised hero looks toward the source of that yell, and he saw none other than Trinock himself, now wearing thick powerful armor with a long purple cape with the royal symbol of Siltvelt on it, holding onto a powerful blood-coated mace in his right hand, and on his left hand was a thick giant shield almost as tall as Bakugou is.

Trinock stares toward Bakugou with the shield hero doing the same, both grinning in anticipation.

Neia, Rino, and Melty stared back looking on with concern on how powerful and intimidating Trinock looked now.

Bakugou turns his head quickly to his sidekicks, "You three keep the soldiers off my back, this piece of shit here is mine." he orders as the shield hero turns back to the Prime minister after the three sidekicks nod back in approval and continue to fight off the numerous soldiers.

Bakugou walks up closer to Trinock who does the same gripping both the mace and shield hard, carrying both like they weighed nothing, "I guess it's time we truly fight each other stripes!" Bakugou intimidates back as the 7-foot Tigerman cracks his neck a bit.

"Don't think I'm just some pushover like one the day we first met Katsuki, where you can just blast me through a wall and get away with it. I've crushed human skulls 3 times your size before, and you will certainly not be the last one!" Trinock shouts back as he powers himself up with his magic creating a seemingly fire-based aurora, "To think I thought you were once the key to Siltvelts golden age, but you've done nothing but ruin everything I helped rebuild as Siltvelt's true hero! " Trinock yells back, now getting deeply angered by just the sight of Bakugou.

"Your no damn hero! You're nothing more than some racist dictator! It won't be today, but like that brat king and ass-kissing patriarch, you and the Oligarchs are going down and rot away along with your shitty system!" Bakugou yells back as he lets off some small explosions from his hands.

Trinock angrily shouts back, "All you ever did was yell and yell and yell, you never know when to just shut up! Well Katsuki, I believe your time in Siltvelt has come to an end, it's time to send you off to hell along with those damn lackeys of yours!" the two then stared at each other only about 10 feet away from one another. The stare continued in silence for a few seconds with a high amount of intensity in the air. Trinock finally says with a slight grin, "Thank you for your patronage shield hero. NOW DIE!"

With surprisingly fast speed Trinock hurls himself at Bakugou with a glowing magic-powered Mace aiming for his head, Bakugou barely blasted himself out of the way in time as the missed swing of Trinocks mace hits the ground with the massive force, instantly creating a large crater where the shield hero once stood. Bakugou quickly throws up both of his arms at Trinock and fires his quirk off. But Trinock just as quickly had thrown up his massive shield and protected himself from the large explosions. Trinock swings his mace once more and smashes right into Bakugou's shield causing a surge of force to be felt through most of the fort.

Bakugou pushes Trinocks mace off his shield and blasts his opponent once again, with Trinock doing the same with his large mace with the two trading blows at each other.

Trinock finally starts to use his magic affinities, both fire and earth, as his powerful mace gets quickly covered in fire by his aurora, he also begins to shape the landscape around them as he creates large walls of earth to block or restrict Bakugou's movements, or attempt to crash and smash him with giant boulders and earth spikes. But any boulder that was thrown at Bakugou just explodes once they get close enough to the shield hero's quirk and the fast spawning walls only did so much with the equally fast and agile hero.

The two directly with each other once more, as Bakugou jumps and dodges the powerful maces attacks as Trinock creates many more craters on the ground or smashes through his own earth walls, and elvevating the ground or creates pillars to push himself up to never too far from the Shield hero.

Bakugou makes an explosive jump flip landing behind Trinock, and fires his quirk at back of the Tigerman, but Trinock blocks most of the explosion with his shield. Though the force of the explosion still sends the Tigerman into one of his rock walls just stopping his momentum with his feet before he loses his balance. Trinock uses his earth magic to launch himself once more at Bakugou, and again smashes at the heroes shield. With the powerful force of the mace sending Bakugou almost flying like with Trinock before as he busts through an earth wall and even through the burning walls of some normal buildings as well, just barely able to land himself as he slides on the ground on his feet.

Bakugou looks back angrily at the equally angered Trinock as he twirls his mace in intimidation, "Not bad for a dumb monkey." Trinock mockingly complements Bakugou as he gives himself a second to breathe.

"Not bad either for an old talking rug." Bakugou responds back as he allows more of his sweat to build up in his gauntlets.

"Old but experienced, not that you'll understand anyway once your empty skull is smashed in!" Trinock mocks back, and after some warm-up swings, he quickly attacks Bakugou once again with his mace smashing into the shield again with most of the windows around the area shattering from the force of the impact.

Despite his age, Trinock was a beast of a warrior. His powerful mace swings continue to cause shockwaves that are felt throughout the fort, as he does his best to try to kill the Shield hero. While also shaping the environment with his earth magic as he creates more earth walls and pillars throughout the area's he and Bakugou are fighting at.

Bakugou is forced to fight more defensively than usual as it's harder for him to fire his quirk at his fighter without accidentally killing him with how aggressive Trinock was fighting and how constantly close he would get to him. Even though he is trying not to kill Trinock, the Tigerman can take a hit as Bakugou did leave a few burnt marks on his armor and fur from any explosion that got through his large shield, but Trinock was not slowing down. He ignores any injury that is inflected on him and fights just as aggressive as before.

Trinock even started to use his fire magic more as well, as he magically flames up his mace, now hotter than before as the iron burns red hot with fire magic, this included his shield as well as it now emits flames, as he attempts to burn the skin off Bakugou while leaving fire around the areawith each mace swing smashing into the ground, "You're not the only one who has the power of fire Katsuki! And your also not the only one who gets more powerful from their rage!" Trinock taunts as his fire aroura grows greater than ever.

"Say what you want stripes! But whatever your good at, I'm a whole hell of a lot better at it!" he taunts back, but despite that, in his head he growing more concern with how powerful Trinock really was becoming. But Bakugou continued to keep a brave face to show no weakness to his opponent like Allmight always did no matter how powerful the villain he was fighting against.

But Trinock just growls back, "Save that when your head is on a pike! If there is a head left anyway! DIE!" he screams and jumps at the shield again causing another large shockwave with Bakugou's shield barely able to hold it back.

Just the two alone were making the fort into a warzone.

And during that intense battle, Neia, Rino, and Melty continued to fight off the forts troops on their own, fighting off them off so they wouldn't try to gang up on Bakugou. The three stuck close together and were going to fight on as much as possible, for all of them to get out of Siltvelt alive.

---

Back inside the research building once more, Scarlet continued to waste her time to brag to Kirishima who also continued to look annoyed to hear the dumb bird talk talk talk, "And as the future queen I plan to get my own super duper awesome carriage like Fitoria's, but it will be painted black with purple wheels to match my dress and hair, and it will have some dispenser thingings that'll expel food under my command to eat whenever I want, and the best part of all, there will be no dragons allowed in it. So it will remain smelling nice and be clean."

Kirishima continued to groan being forced to hear this. He hoped he'll eventually go insane and just hear this birds voice be turned back into gibberish nonsense like normal filolial's are supposed to speak.

But as his mind wanders around trying to ignore her, his yellow eyes widen in surprise. He starts screeching through the muzzle at the dumb bird, trying to get her attention to what he sees.

But Scarlet continued to ignore him, "Oh be quiet, I'll rescue you soon, I just need to tell you about more of mine and master Ren's adventures. Like that time we fell into a nest of gundarks. That was a funny story we-"

"HEY YOU!"

"Eh!" Scarlet startles in shock, as she turns her head to her surprise, it was Dr. Vok back again with the other scientists and a large squadron of soldiers with her.

"What the hell are you doing here!?" Dr. Vok yells back wondering what a random child was doing in her lab next to her test subject.

"Uh oh," Scarlet says to herself knowing she blew it.

And to make matters worse among the guards were the same ones that allowed her in the fort earlier, "She's the same brat who disappeared from our watch, she must be with the sword demon!"

"Well then don't stand there idiots! Kill it!" Dr. Vok ordered.

A group of guards quickly fire off a bunch of magic attacks or throw spears and arrows at Scarlet. The filolial princess jumps away from the attacks and was about to run away, but looks behind herself toward Kirishima who was still tied up. She won't be able to break the magic brace at this time but with two wind-slicing attacks at Kirishima's chains that were holding him on the table were shattered into pieces. Now the young dragon was freed as he quickly jumped off the table.

"No not subject one! Get the dragon! Don't let it get away!" Dr. Vok screamed as she points to the fleeing dragon.

Half the soldiers went after Kirishima who was able to rip off his muzzle with his claws, while the other half went after Scarlet.

She tried to flee for a different hallway, only for another large force of soldiers to come by from it and stop her. Despite most of the fort fighting with the shield and sword heroes, the research building had more than enough men to spare to fight the filolial.

She remained in her human form as much as she could while punching and using wind magic attacks on any soldier that came close, but it was becoming too much for this form alone especially when the bigger hippo and rhino soldiers begin to attack.

When two rhinomen from behind had finally grabbed ahold of Scarlet, stopping the bird girl from using her wind magic, Scarlet had no choice but to transform. In a poof of smoke, she transformed into her large bird form, surprising the room including Dr. Vok.

And with the pause, Scarlet throws the rhino men at a group of soldiers knocking out a bunch of them. She once again attempts to make a run for it even if it meant abandoning Kirishima who was still jumping all over the place as the soldiers failed to recapture the currently small dragon.

But when Scarlet jumps for the broken window she came in to escape, she smashes right into a magic barrier, "What!? This thing wasn't here before!?" she shouts out loud as the bird girl turns back to see a bunch of mages casting a barrier spell with Dr. Vok standing next to them with a big grin on her face and with a wave of her hand the Doctor used her telekinesis magic with any items nearby to block off the hole and did the same with one of the open hallways. Now the only way out for Scarlet was the one hallway entrance with dozens of soldiers waiting.

Dr. Vok then spoke, "I can't believe my eyes, but it's a true Queen Filolial. So much knowledge in a stupid overgrown fluff ball. Along with that Dragon, she'll be my major scientific breakthrough that will get my name in the history books, alongside with Siltvelts victory over Melromarc. I must know her body structure inside and out after we breed her."

"Breed!? And what do you mean by inside and out?" Scarlet asked nervously fearing what the doctor intends to do with her.

But Vok just ignored the talking birds question and turns to the other soldiers, "Well looks like plans have changed, capture the thing! Break its legs if you have to, just as long as her reproductive organs are left intact!" She ordered them and the archers raised their magic arrows at Scarlet, forcing her to jump out of the way land back to the ground.

She was now forced to fight on the ground again as the soldiers try all they can to overwhelm her as Scarlet kicks or blows them away. But there was only so much she can do by herself.

And all the while Kirishima was still jumping across the large lab as the other scientists and weaker soldiers attempt to catch the fast-moving dragon. But that was easier said than done.

And with their masters busy, the two were on their own as they do all they can to not be turned into Dr. Vok's test subjects.

Scarlet kept kicking or blowing away any soldier, even killing a couple of them in the process as she does her best to dodge all the attacks being thrown at her. She still remembers fitoria's lesson of how her bigger form makes her a bigger target, but it was also when she was at her most powerful, and without it, she wouldn't be able to handle the larger demi-human soldiers. But even she was hitting her limits as some magic arrows got to her, they didn't do any physical damage but they had some status effect on them, the arrows were now draining her of energy and slowed her down. Not helped by the mages producing debuff spells, made easier with how slow Scarlet was now moving from the lack of energy and growing tired.

Dr. Vok then decided to step in and got involved in the fight herself. Using her magic telekinetic powers to lift up a jar of dirt of one of her minor experiments from across the room, and threw it at the unexpected bird princess.

Normally Scarlet would see something like that coming, but due to all the enemies she was focusing on in front of her and all the speed debuffs, she gets hit in the face with the jar of dirt temporarily blinding her, as she quickly tries to wipe off the dirt in her eyes.

And while that happened, a bunch of Rhino and hippo demi-humans from behind jumped on Scarlets back and dragged her down. Scarlet tries to throw them off but she was quickly getting overwhelmed by the other guards pushing her down and was low on energy.

Dr. Vok grins as she uses her telekinesis magic again and from her equipment brings out a new enchanted leg brace, like the one Kirishima has to stop him from transforming. The doctor has the enchanted brace be forced on the filolials leg, and just a few seconds the magic took its effect and Scarlet transforms back into her human form once more, "Oh no, not again!" She cries as most of the guards get themselves back up from the ground while 2 rhinomen continue to hold onto the girl's arms, preventing Scarlet from using any magic.

Dr. Vok grins evilly and laughs, "Hahaha, did you think you can outsmart me? The greatest mind in the world? Ha! We're going to have lots of fun together, specimen 2. All we need now is specimen 1 captured once more." Vok mocks Scarlet and was also referring to Kirishima, who despite his size was giving the scientists and other soldiers more trouble than expected, more agile and faster than they could handle as the soldiers trip or fall all over the lab trying to get the small dragon. Smashing into walls or raming into hard equipment.

Kirishima even tricks the scientist group to jump at him near a large shelf with magical potions, chemicals, and acids. When they ran right at him to grab the dragon, Kirishima just leaps under them and all the scientists smash themselves into the shelf letting the entire thing fall forward on all of the minor scientists and some soldiers, as they scream in agony from the various chemicals and acids burning them while a giant shelf pins them down, which makes the little dragon laugh at his former torturer's.

Dr. Vok just rolls her eyes, "I told the council we need to have better standards at the college. I guess I have to do everything myself as usual." she says to herself as Dr. Vok uses her telekinetic powers once more, this time using the lab equipment to help out the soldiers by blocking off paths from Kirishima or throwing non-organic items at the dragon to attempt to hit or distract him as the soldiers try to grab the small dragon.

But Kirishima continues to evade everything, annoying the director even more, "Hold still you dumb firebreather!" she yells at the dragon, throwing more items and equipment at the dragon. Though more often than not, the soldiers were the ones getting hit by the objects.

This continued across the room until it seemed that Kirishima finally got cornered at the literal corner of a wall. Dr. Vok had all the other ways on the ground blocked off with her powersm and a large group of soldiers was now right in front of him, ready to jump and grab the dragon.

Dr. Vok smirked once more, "As I said, nobody outsmarts me." she gloats with the guards are ready to pounce at Kirishima.

The little dragon already knew how he would get out of the corner, but he didn't know what to do next. Knowing he won't be getting out of here by himself, with all the ways blocked or guarded off. But as he looks around near Dr. Vok, he still sees Scarlet being held by the 2 rhino demi-humans while she continues to tug around, struggling to break free from them. Kirishima rolled his eyes again, he knew he wasn't going to like this, but he knew that annoying bird was his only way ofin getting out of here and to see his father and family again. He quickly thought of what he was going to do, he just hopes the bird will have a similar idea as he did.

The group leader of the soldiers near Kirishima finally said, "Ok.. steady... steady.. steeaaddyy... JUMP!" and the soldiers jumps at the cornered Kirishima.

But with a swift throw of his wings upward, the soldiers just smash into the empty wall.

Surprising everyone in the lab, even in his toddler form Kirishima was still able to fly in the air as he flaps above the injured group. This deeply annoyed the head doctor, "Damn you stupid thing!" She then uses her powers again and threw more objects in the air at the dragon as he flies around all across the room dodging or setting fire to all the things being thrown at him.

The various guards once more attempted to grab the flying little dragon from the air, only to just fumble on the ground again or get in the doctor's way by getting hit by the various objects she controlled.

"Damn it, hold still! Hold still!" Vok yells at the flying dragon again. The dragon then enacts his plan, he finally flies over toward the doctor herself. Despite her throwing more and more items at him, Kirishima flies through all the objects and goes right over the doctor. Vok had enough foresight to stop the telekinesis in time to halt the objects she controlled, to not get herself hit by them. Unfortunately for her, some of the soldiers still chasing Kirishima didn't have the same foresight and despite her screaming, a large bull soldier accidentally jumps and lands on the doctor trying to grab Kirishima after going over her head.

After that fumble, the Bullman looks down at an extremely pissed off doctor. He attempts to apologize, "Uh sorry Doctor, I was just-AAAAHHHH!" but he then screams as a needle goes threw one of his eyes controlled by the doctor's power as she pushes off the injured one-eyed soldier.

"I'm surrounded by damn idiots!" She screams toward the now terrified soldiers.

The little dragon was now flying right at the two rhinomen holding Scarlet as the two, who while still holding onto the bird they attempt to grab the flying dragon. They try the best they could with only one hand as Kirishima toyed with the two as the rhinomen attempted to grab the little dragon always missing him by just a few inches.

The two were getting more and more annoyed as they have trouble doing this while holding the filolial kid at the same time. The two eventually started to get dizzy from Kirishima constantly spinning fast around their heads. Which Kirishima noticed and finally lands on one of the tired and dizzy rhinoman's faces, "Hold still for just one.. little..." the other dizzy rhinoman says to his partner as he wind up his fist.

Before the other could stop him, the first rhinoman finally throws a punch at the second's face with Kirishima just in time, jumps out of the way and dodged the fist.

The first rhinoman punches the other in the now dragonless face and knocks him out instantly as he falls onto the floor, now freeing one of Scarlet's hands. And with that opening she quickly powered it that fist, "That's better! Here we go!" She excitedly shouts and before the rhinoman still holding her could react, Scarlet punches him right in the groin. Forcing him to let her go from the pain, with Scarlet quickly grabbing hold of the guard with her high powered strength and throws the large rhinoman into a bunch of soldiers.

Scarlet then quickly follows Kirishima's led, as she makes herself float up in the air with some minor levitation and wind magic to be out of the other soldiers' reaches.

After that other display of stupidity, Dr. Vok had enough of this nonsense, "None of you idiots can do anything right!" she screams and now at her breaking point, she uses her telekinesis magic to steal away the soldier's swords and other weapons. Now under her control as she levitates them in the air.

With her magic powers, she uses the weapons to swing and dash at the 2 flying creatures, as she now intends to chop off their wings and stop them from flying around for good, she even accidentally kills some of the soldiers as some of the weapons miss the monsters and hit them or go right through her own guards bodies. But she didn't care, all that mattered to her now was to just permanently clip their wings and stop this nonsense for good.

Scarlet still had her magic brace on, so she couldn't just transform big again. She also didn't have the magic to break the spell and wouldn't be able to physically force it off for a long while due to its magic. But as she thought about her brace, she remembers the dragon's brace. If he had that on for more than a day the magic to stop physcial attack from destroying it must've surely expired by now. As much as she didn't want him to get bigger again to now be on top of her, this might be their only chance in getting out of here.

But that was easier said than done as the Doctor continued to use her magic to keep the floating weapons swinging about or had them chase the dragon and filolial.

But when she used her wind magic to blow some of the chasing weapons away around her, Scarlet forces herself to fly toward the dragon, attempting the catch up to him. She isn't sure if her wind magic will work in breaking the collar, but she might as well try. Kirishima does the same with his wind magic and flies right toward Scarlet while dodging all the flying weapons.

Vok knew what the bird was trying to do and continued to manipulate her hands and fingers as much as she could to chop off either of their wings. It was getting intense as more and more weapons started moving faster, grew closer, and became more numerous to the flying monsters.

Vok though had one more ace up her sleeve, she had a sharp ax above around where she estimates the two will collide, and while they are not looking she'll be able to permanently cripple either one.

But the doctor underestimated Kirishima's intelligence and vision. The dragon saw the ax, and knew what he wants to do with it.

The two flew closer and closer until they were just a few feet near each other and Vok finally throws down the ax from above.

Kirishima screeches with his head looking upward, getting Scarlet's attention and got her to see the ax as it falls swinging down toward her.

In a few seconds to spare, Kirishima flies right into Scarlet's stomach, and before Vok could pull the ax back when she realized the animals saw it. Scarlet turns upward and the falling spinning ax hits right on Kirishima's transformation restriction brace causing the ax to stop and brake into pieces with the brace shattering apart, leaving the dragon not only unharmed but now freed from the restriction magic.

Dr. Vok stops herself and widens her eyes in complete fear, knowing what she had done, "Oh no." she mutters to herself already seeing Kirishima's wide grin.

And in just a second after that, before she could throw all the weapons at the 2 at once. Kirishima consumes himself in a giant ball of fire that grows giant-sized.

When the fire clears up, Kirishima was now once more in his giant high dragon adult form, with Scarlet grabbing hold of his magical saddle. Thankfully the metal ring that represented the saddle in his toddler form was further down his body from when that ax hit the larger brace, so the saddle ring remained intact.

And the dragon wasted no time expressing his wrath, as he quickly smash and bashes what was left in the lab. Squishing, eating, and breathing fire on any soldier, who were all now screaming and trying to run away. It quickly became a massacre.

Dr. Vok was horrified by the carnage and attempted to make a run for the hallway now using her telekinetic powers to push away the barricades.

That was until Kirishima smashes his fist right in front of the entrance stopping the sadist doctor's escape.

As she quickly turns back at the pissed-off dragon, she attempted one last-ditch attempt to save herself by telekineticing all the weapons in the room and tried to throw them at the dragon's face, hoping to at least blind him.

But then she heard, "Wind blades!" Scarlet shouted and quickly uses her wind magic to blow away all the swords and weapons before they could get near the dragon's face.

Kirishima once more growls at the doctor who was sweating a storm, "Wait specimen 1, I can explain, I only-AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" But Kirishima had enough and just snatches her with his mouth and starts eating her, chewing over and over to make it as painful as possible until all her bones were smashed and her screams go silent and Kirishima swallows her whole.

The surviving guards escape and scream for help now setting the whole building at high alert.

Knowing reinforcements are coming, Scarlet advises the dragon, "Time for us to get out now! Master Ren and your loud smelly master are outside. Let's get to them now!" she shouts and without needing to acknowledge anything back to agree with her, Kirishima was already forcing himself right through the hallways of the large building just bursting through the walls, intending to destroy everything he sees and setting everything on fire. He wants to make sure this building is destroyed and no other dragon like him would be imprisoned in such a place again.

"RRRRRROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!"

---

Outside of the research building, the entire fort heard the dragons roar. Now it was known to almost everyone, the dragon was freed again.

Everyone including the shield crew, Bakugou, and Trinock.

Bakugou could recognize that roar from anywhere, knowing now his plan was about done, "Sounds like it's my time to leave stripes. I'll eventually come back and we can have our rematch soon." Bakugou mocks back. He was starting to get exhausted from how long this battle went, that has already destroyed a large chunk of this corner of the fort. Bakugou attempted to blast himself away to get closer to his dragon, only to face another large earth wall.

Trinock was getting tired as well, but the Tigerman was growing in rage to the thought another human kingslayer would get away from him, "You're not going anywhere, you stupid, whiny, worthless, brat! I will not allow you to leave my kingdom until your dead!" Trinock yells and once again attacks with surprising fast speeds, as he jumps and smashes the mace at the wall near Bakugou after he barely dodged the swing that destroyed the earth wall like nothing.

Trinock lets off more fireballs at Bakugou forcing him to block them with the shield as he attempts to smash his head with the mace, once again causing vibrations and shockwaves across the ground from impacting the shield.

Bakugou tries his best to get away, but Trinock was persistent in killing Bakugou.

"Shield Prison!" Bakugou shouts seemingly trapping Trinock inside, but in just a second Trinock punched through the magic ball and rips himself out of it, and swings his mace at Bakugou again.

Trinock was fighting more and more aggressively with Bakugou struggling to get away from the mad Tigerman. He knew just from the powered mace swing not on his shield can kill him instantly, so he had to block or dodge every single swing from his aggressive attacker.

Bakugou tried to fire off bigger explosions on Trinock but not too big to kill him, but it seemed even he knew how to use a shield well as his oversized metal shield continued to block off the explosions.

Bakugou quickly thought of an idea, then shouts, "Hydra shield!" and the shield transforms with 9 hydra heads comeing out of the shield and went after Trinock.

The mad Tigerman smashes 3 of the heads and bites and rips apart another with his teeth, but the last five were able to bite into Trinocks arms and body and push him back a bit away from Bakugou, allowing the teen to collect more sweat in his gauntlets.

But quickly Trinock overpowers the heads and smashed or clawed them, even their acid spit did nothing to the Lord, gaining resistance to such powerful acid a long time ago. Trinock runs toward the Teen again, "Airstrike shield!" he shouts with an energy shield appearing but Trinock immediately smashes through it, "Second shield!" he also shouts with a second one appearing but just as before was smashed away, but those few seconds were all Bakugou needed as the Trinock approached him with his powerful mace in the air ready to thrown down on Bakugou's head.

Bakugou holds out his shield and shouts, "Explosion shield!" with it transforming and once the mace smashes at the shield.

Boom!

The explosion from the shield blew Trinock back a bit and temporarily staggered, barely able to stand on his feet.

Bakugou then just as quickly holds out both hands with one closed up in front of the other hand and shouts, "AP SHOT!" and Bakugou fires a laser-like concentrated explosion.

Despite being somewhat dazed, Trinock caught the beam in time and blocks it with his large shield. This struggle continued for a good half a minute, as the two try to overpower the other. Bakugou kept up his beam and Trinock was slowly approaching the shield hero with his mace up high ready to hit and smash the shield heroes head.

But Trinock didn't notice his shield was starting to give in as it started cracking up from the damage of Bakugou's attack. This struggle continued as Trinock was finally right up at Bakugou now in range to deal the killing blow with his mace up. This just made Bakugou fire his quirk off more intensely, and Trinocks shield's cracks got bigger and bigger. Until finally the shield is blown apart, bursting into hundreds of pieces.

And with his shield destroyed Trinock gets blasted by the beam into a wall of a burning building. And while Trinock was dazed again from the beam, Bakugou took the opportunity and blasts himself at Trinock and punched him with explosive punches again and again and again until he finally makes one more large explosion at his face and sent him rolling through the burning walls.

Despite that beat down, Trinock was barely able to get himself back up on his knees as he looks back at Bakugou who approached him just a few feet away and finally just stood there with a frown on his face looking down on the tired Prime minister.

Trinock also looked back with a frown, "Why do you just stare? Why are you not finishing me off for good, like you did with Janio and Ozsan?" Trinock asked the shield hero still with intense hate in his eyes, as if he was now unworthy to be his opponent.

Bakugou spits on the ground at his side and finally says back to the Trinock, "Because it is not my time to beat you yet, unlike you I think about the future and think of other people unlike yourself. Truth be told, I was once no different than you, thinking only about myself and seeing others beneath me. But after some life experinces and spending time here in this world I realize, there is more to life than just me, there are those that are treated unfairly or are taken advantage of by evil bastards like you. Who just take and kick the weaker people down just to make yourself feel better. It's up to true heroes to help those weaker then you so they have a chance to grow and do better with themselves, and have the balls to fight back. Rather then dominate over weaklings and bitch when things don't go your way.

"It's too late to change my past, but that just means I have the opportunity to change the future. Right now this world needs a hero who can help those very people, to help make them stand up to the likes of evil bastards like you. They really can't if you are not around anymore. Without that evil person to stand up to, someone else will take advantage of their insecurities and fears then will just take your place and start this bullshit cycle all over again. You, the shield church, and the oligarch's power will come to an end soon, not right now, but soon. And when that time comes I will truly remove your ugly face from the face of the earth, and no one is going to be missing you."

Bakugou then turns himself around away from Trinock, "Your day in light is about done Stripes, as I told you already Siltvelt won't need you anymore and its true heroes will rise up and save it from the likes of you. No one will remember your accomplishments as how hollow as they were, all they will only know you as a bad memory, a bad memory that deserves to be completely forgotten about." he finished his scolding and just walks away.

But hearing that didn't sorrow Trinock, it just made him angry, extremely extremely angry, "You think I'm going to listen to that shit from some damn monkey who doesn't know his place!" he shouts back now producing a powerful energy aurora that even Bakugou could feel. It made him turn around back to see Trinock was now expelling magic flames across his body and fur.

Trinock stares back at Bakugou with deep red mad eyes, "Siltvelt will never forget about me! BECAUSE I AM SILTVELT!" He screams and fully stood back up, creating a large surge of fire around himself expelling so much power that legitimately surprised Bakugou.

And like the animal he embodies, Trinock runs on all fours and with his sharp claws out. Pouncing his way toward Bakugou with his mace in his mouth at an extremely fast speed.

With hardly enough time to do so, Bakugou barely blocks a punch from an enraged Trinock, with the force that sent Bakugou flying. The shield hero barely lands on his feet thanks to a small explosion he produced, but he had no more time to catch his breath as pissed off Trinock attacks him again with his claws.

It seemed now Trinock had become blood-raged, and was using his wild fury to ignore everything else but his prey. As he claws at the shield over and over, swiping and slashing with no signs of stopping and slowing down.

Bakugou tries to fire his quirk but blood raged Trinock was no longer giving him a window to fire even one explosion off as the strength of his slashes forced him to hold his shield with both hands just to have enough strength to hold back the giant mad Tigerman.

He had only one idea on what to do without too much time to plan, Bakugou was just collecting his sweat in his gauntlets once more and when there was just an extremely short opening in another one of Trinocks attacks, Bakugou shouts once again, "Explosion shield!" with the shield quickly transforming and when Trinock slashed at the shield again

Boom!

The large explosion pushed the mad Tigerman away and stunned him for a second. But with that second opening Bakugou attempts to make a run for it with his explosions to get back to his sidekicks and just get the hell out of this country.

But Trinock was never going to let Bakugou leave his sight and quickly jumps and pounces all across the fort in pursuit.

Once close enough, Trinock leaps at the shield hero again and attempts to punch him out of the air.

Bakugou blocks the punch, but the force of it sends him back down to the ground again. Trinock grabs his mace from his mouth as he falls down back to properly holding the weapon as he aims for Bakugou's head.

Once more Bakugou barely blocks the mace causing a great force and vibrations to be felt all over. Trinock then smashes the mace at Bakugou's shield again and again and again, faster than ever before with both hands. Trinock did this over and over as the blood raged monster was not stopping himself as an exhausted Bakugou is now barely able to hold him back with no opening to change another shield again, "Die! DIE! Why won't you DIE!" the raged Prime minster screams, as he continued the mace bashing, starting to overwhelm the hero.

And while that was going on, the three sidekicks Rino, Neia, and Melty were continuing their duty to keep the soldiers in the fort distracted and fight them off. Despite the large numbers, the three were able to hold them back as they run across the fort to avoid being cornered. But even they were starting to get tired. Rino's and Neia's occasionally coughing didn't help matters either their curse bruises were not completely gone yet. But the three continued to fight off the soldiers with many being quickly beaten from underestimating the 3.

But as they fought off another group, they saw all the remaining soldiers were now starting to come together in an overwhelming force attempting to overpower the group. Even with most of the fort fighting against Ren and Daven there were still hundreds of other soldiers and generals in this military complex.

The sidekicks also continue to feel vibrations of powerful forces, 2 powerful forces in fact. They knew one was Kirishima, but the other was a lot closer to them. The three moved their way toward this force, getting themselves up on the roofs of the buildings with Neia's jump ability, which also allowed them to get away from the hundreds of soldiers chasing after them.

They then saw from the distance the blood rage Trinock continually bashing at Bakugou over and over again. He looked like he was barely holding out against this relentless Beastman.

"Neia we have to help him?" Melty shouts out worried.

Neia knew they were given orders and would be no match to this experienced former War general, but they had to do something as they watch Bakugou starting to struggle, "Your right let's get to him quick!" she shouts before Rino placed her hand on Neia's chest.

"Uh, Neia there's an issue with that." Rino points down below and saw they were getting completely surrounded by the remaining soldiers, as they were now bringing up ladders along with them. And there were no longer any buildings to jump away from so they were now surrounded by well over 100 soldiers as they gradually climb up on the tall ladders they place down.

The 3 fought them off, either kicking the soldiers off or knocking over the ladders causing them to crash into the other soldiers, but more and more kept coming as they were forced to watch from a distance of Bakugou barely able to hold out as Trinock continued smashing in his mace on the shield.

It seemed hopeless right now, until they heard a rumbling sound on the other end of the fort. At the research building to be exact, a lot of smoke and fire was coming out of the building.

At its giant doors, a large group of soldiers stood their ground ready to fight off what was banging on those doors.

But it was in vain when the thing causing the banging finally came out.

Boom!

A fire explosion blows up the doors sending most of the men stationed outside of them flying. And out came Kirishima with little Scarlet still on his back. Some of the soldiers got themselves back up ready to fight the dragon, but that just results in them either getting squished or burnt alive by Kirishima, who then uses his strong sense of smell to go look for his father and siblings. He was surprised that the dumb bird turned out to be right, with almost all of them being in this large fort right now. Kirishima then stomps his way toward the closest ones nearby, his sisters, as he pushes through any petty resistance.

While fighting the girls notice, "Neia, there's Kirishima! We need to get to Bakugou now or Kirishima will just end up eating Trinock, and civil wars will start all over Siltvelt!" Rino shouts and informs Neia who understood and agrees. But they were still dealing with so many soldiers, as more and more were now getting up on the roof forcing the sidekicks to fight face to face. They had to figure out something fast.

And while she was firing water spells at the ladders making them slippery with many soldiers slip and fall off, Melty suggested, "Neia can't you use your large electric spell to stun everyone?".

Neia responds while battling more soldiers, "That'll also get you and Rino electrocuted, and I'll be just out of Mana after that, I'll be useless against Trinock. If I can just use electric surge on Trinock I might be able to get that Prime Minister stunned, but I can't get anywhere near him now. Rino what about your spells?"

Rino responds as she stabs at any climbing soldier or blinding them with a light spell, "I'm just about out of Mana myself, and considering he can tank Bakugou's explosions, anything I throw at him he'll either shrug off or ignore. And it's not like throwing my spear staff at him will do much good either."

"Wait throwing?" Neia says to herself, as she looks at one of her swords and looks back at Bakugou's struggle, while also feeling the flow of magic electricity in her hands, "That's it!?" Neia shouts having a Eureka moment, "Melty! Rino! Keep me safe, I have an idea!" she shouts toward them.

Neither had any idea what she had in mind, but they trusted her and nod back. They stood beside to protect her as they fight off the soldiers.

Neia then grips her weaker sword and shouts "Electric surge!" with almost all of her mana she expels all of her electricity into the one sword, now surging with millions of volts of electricity.

Neia then jumps straight up with her powered jump ability, she was now high up in the air and when she was just at the end of her momentum, she looks down toward Bakugou and Trinock, and with all of her strength she throws the electrified sword toward the two as she falls back down to the roof of the building.

The sword continues spinning down toward the fight. Bakugou is barely able to hold on any longer with Trinock not allowing him to fire his quirk or change his shield again, but then Bakugou noticed the sword heading his way and recognized whose it was with its blue electricity being expelled from as it falls.

It looked like it was heading right toward Trinocks back, but the Tigerman quickly feels the magic power of the sword getting close without even needing to look, he turns himself as the sword barely misses the Prime Minister and lands sticking up on the ground next to Bakugou. As Trinock continues smashing at the shield with his mace he mocks back, "Hahahaha, your whore missed, and now you are truly done!"

But for the first time in a while Bakugou just grins, "Who says it missed?" and with his right hand he grabs hold of the electrified sword, and the electricity inside the sword transfers to Bakugou. Thanks to some of Bakugou's abilities and resistants, the electricity was doing no damage to him. However the energy still transferred through his body all the way to the shield as an electric conduit and once Trinock hits the shield again with his mace all of that electricity is transferred right to the Prime Minister.

Trinock was now getting electrified as the electricity magic finally painfully stuns the Tigerman in his place.

Bakugou then made one more move on Trinock, "Here's just one more gift to you!" and after letting go of the juiced-out sword, Bakugou jumps back on his feet and Bakugou moves up his open hand right at the electrified Trinocks face while his head was looking down, and fires his quirk off.

"GAAHHH!" Trinock screams as he covers his right eye while still stunned from the electricity. The Tigerman was now permanently down one eye.

And with that opening, Bakugou grabs the sword and fires his quirk at the ground once more to blast himself out of there while Trinock was in too much pain to follow him.

And back with the sidekicks, they were about to be overwhelmed by all the soldiers on the roof, until Kirishima finally makes it up to them, the remaining soldiers on the ground attempt to stop the dragon only to be smashed or squished by him.

And with that Neia, Rino, and Melty knew it was time to go, "Everyone jump on him now!" Neia yells and after quickly fighting off the last soldiers on the roof in their way, the 3 make a jump for Kirishima once he was close enough to the building and they all successfully landed on his back with Scarlet helping to keep them up.

The soldiers on the roof attempted to jump on the dragon themselves to get to the sidekicks, but to those that were even able to land on the dragon not only were the sidekicks still able to fight them off without issue, just not far Bakugou blasts himself toward the building roof. And as a final goodbye to the army of Siltvelt.

Boom!

He blasts himself through the roof of soldiers as he blew most of them away all over the air, screaming and crying.

The shield hero finally lands himself right on the front of Kirishima's back and wasted no time as Bakugou quickly grabs his reins, "Kirishima go now! GO! GO! GO!" he orders the dragon, and Kirishima quickly followed that order as he begins stomping his way through the fort again. Bashing through any group of soldiers and smashing through any building.

Outside of the fort, Ren and Daven continue their hit and run tactics as the forts army continues to pursue the two. Things were easier with Daven's teleportation, but even that has its limits now running low on mana as the soldiers start to surround the two heroes again attempting to overwhelm them with their superior numbers, this with the full army with no means of teleporting away from close soldiers.

"Sir Ren when is that filolial of yours supposed to free Kirishima!? This is getting a little ridiculous!" Daven shouts as he fights and quickly kills two soldiers with his sai's slicing their exposed necks.

"She should've freed him by now? God, I hope she didn't get distracted by something again." Ren says out loud as he slices through a row of weak soldiers at there torso's, cutting them into two like butter.

They were getting more and more overwhelmed as soldiers surround them on all sides and were attacking at the same time.

Daven could teleport away again, but he was on his last amount of magic and is saving it for one more jump, and it would do no good not having the range to get away from the army surrounding them. The situation seems to be getting extremely dire for them.

Thankfully for them, they heard, "ROOOOAAAARRR!"

Ren, Daven, and the soldiers turned toward the roar and from above the walls of the fort, they saw the large dragon climbing himself on the wall until he opens up his wings and jumps off, and finally starts flying toward the large army in the open fields.

Ren and Daven smile knowing the plan had fully worked. But then the soldiers turn back at the 2 they just fighting hoping to kill them before the dragon could save their skins.

As the dragon closes in on Ren and Daven from above, Rem's turns to Daven to ask "So uh Daven, you can teleport us on the flying dragon right?".

"Not on, but just above. So we should leave, ...right... About... NOW!" Daven then grabs hold of Ren once more and before all the large soldiers attack them at once, the two teleport away.

The two pop up high above in the air and were falling back down to the ground.

But before they could, Kirishima flies right under them.

Daven lands himself right on top of Kirishima's back next to Bakugou, and Ren barely misses him with Scarlet and Neia grabbing hold of Ren just in time and helped lifted him on the dragons back.

And with everyone now onboard, Bakugou was ready to leave, "Alright now, Kirishima fly us out of this dump!" he shouts as he throws the reins again.

While easily avoiding the magic attacks being fored at him from the ground soldiers, Kirishima finally turns upward and heads toward the sky to the direction back to Melromarc.

But it wasn't completely over yet as the army made one last attempt to stop the heroes as all the flying Demi-human soldiers launch themselves up in the sky and follow the dragon.

As the dragon flies higher and higher Melty notices them, "Sir heroes, it looks like we have company?!"

Everyone looks behind to see all the Shusaku and flying demi-human soldiers pursuing them.

"Not for long! Hundred swords!" Ren shouts while still holding on to the dragon firing a magic attack from his sword with dozens of energy bolts being launched at the flying soldiers with most easily dying or falling down to their deaths by the attacks. Most had only light armor to be able to fly in the first place, so they all had paper-thin defenses.

The few that survived that attack attempt to engage the sides, but Rino fires off her arcane missiles easily blasting them from the sky and any she missed was quickly overpowered by Neia's, Daven's, and Ren's melee skills killing them or sending them falling with there wings damaged.

The flying soldiers make one last attempt to stop the shield and sword heroes with the last of them getting far enough ahead in front of the flying dragon. And as a group, they take out their bows and fire at the dragon with magic arrows.

But Bakugou just shouts "Airstrike shield!" and far ahead of Kirishima as all the magic arrows get stopped as they hit and fall down after hitting the large strong energy shield. And just before they could fire another volley of arrows once the shield disappears, Kirishima spits out a giant fireball at the flying group after the energy ahield disappeared and-

Boom!

The fireball creates a giant fiery explosion the enemy group and takes out the last of the flying soldiers as they fall thousands of feet below with their burning wings.

And with that final attack, they were now home free.

"We did it! We actually did it!" Melty shouts with the other girls including Scarlet cheering and giving a big group hug with each other.

Seeing such an act with his loyal sidekicks happy made Bakugou smile a little, even if didn't participate in it. As he turns forward toward his dragon and rubs the back of his neck, "We definitely did it, especially you Kirishima. I never leave any man or dragon behind." he comforts his dragon, Bakugou may not be able to see him from where he was sitting at, but Kirishima was just as happy as well, to be reunited with his father and family again.

Ren would be cheering on to, but all he could do now at the moment was to grab hold of Kirishima saddle as much as possible as he looks down from the side on how high they were. He's not usually afraid of heights, but it's a bit of a different situation when he's thousands of feet in the sky with no railingsn. With just the slightest tilt of the dragon means falling thousands of feet to his death, "Bakugou must we be up this high up? I'm sure we are easily out of range from anybody by now?" Ren asks.

But Bakugou just responds with, "No way, we're not going to allow those bastards to track us down regardless of how far we are now. But if your such a fraidy-cat, I can just drop you and your loli bird off on the ground and you and her can just walk back to the border."

"Nonono, it's fine Bakugou, lets's just get out of this damn country already." Ren immediately reacts, he was willing to tolerate being insanely high up in the sky if it would mean he and Scarlet can ignore the Siltvelt army and nobility chasing after them all over again.

But after finishing cheering with the other girls Scarlet quickly turns herself to comfort her master, "Don't worry master Ren, I'm here to help in any way I can."

As much as he thought he should be the one saying that to Scarlet, Ren can't help but smile to have such a comforting and loyal friend.

"Took your little feathered ass long enough to free Kirishima, loli bird " Bakugou interjects still annoyed at how long it took for her to save Kirishima.

Scarlet immediately turns back to defend herself, "Hm, just so you know angry guy, I was absolutely flawless in my mission to free this smelly thing. I was as quiet as a butterfly and wasted no time in saving this dumb dragon. When the whole building got alerted when this dumb dragon got to loud, I kick all of guards butts myself like nothing. You should see what they had there, they had a cult of evil time-traveling witches setting up an army of werewolves and slime monsters. There were like a million of them, almost 20 feet tall, and they all could even shoot magic out of their eyes. There were also-." Scarlet continued on to lie and exaggerate her almost botch rescue attempt wanting to remain looking good.

Everyone there can easily tell she was just lying and weren't buying it for a second but kept quiet just to let the girl have her fun.

But it also annoyed Kirishima, who knew the full truth but was unable to speak for his defense. But he had his own way to shut her up. While flying he bumps up his back a bit right where Scarlet was at. He intentionally knocks her off and nearly fell away before Ren barely catches her in time and threw her back on the dragon, "Scarlet are you ok? You need to be more careful when up here." Ren asked thinking that event was a little accident.

"Yeah, I'm fine now. But that stupid thing should be the one being careful and remember who saved its ugly butt." Scarlet talks back, Kirishima lets out another little bump which immediately terrified Scarlet as she held on to Ren. Scarlet looks back toward the dragon with an annoyed look on her face knowing what the dragon was doing, as Kirishima smugly grins and laughs to himself.

Bakugou continued to pet Kirishima, he knew the birds' tall tale was just a bunch of wild exaggerations, lies, and half-truths, but secretly he can't complain considering she did get Kirishima freed in the end despite being rival animals. He won't say it out loud but inside he was still somewhat thankful nevertheless.

The only one on the dragon that was mostly silent was Daven, as he looks down at his home country from far above. Bakugou quickly noticed, "We just barely left and you're homesick already catboy?" he says to Daven

"I never left Siltvelt before, I was more of an internal agent to spy on the nobility, I knew my home country inside and out. So I'm now going into the unknown in another nation, an enemy nation that hates us demi-humans as we do to humans. You could imagine what a weird feeling that is." Daven responds.

Bakugou nods back getting him, "I don't completely blame you, I got forcibly taken to this unknown world against my will, to people who saw me as a demon. It was all unknown to me too, but you know what, I adapted and educated myself, and look at me now, taking on tyrants barely 3 months in. And besides, we'll be back here sometime soon when your mother gets everything together with whatever, and we'll take down that Bastard and his oligarchs for good." Bakugou says back to his sidekick.

Despite still having a weird feeling in himself in leaving home, Daven smiles in comfort at Bakugou's words. He trusts Bakugou and is willing to follow him anywhere, not because he's a god, not because he's a demon, not because he's his slavemaster, but because he's a true hero. A hero he can respect and follow to the ends of the earth with.

And with all of that out of the way Bakugou turns himself back forward toward Kirishima, "Alright then, let's get out of this kingdom of furries and get back to Melromarc. Kirishima! Keep heading that way!" he yells out to his dragon and points to a specific direction as Kirishima continues flying the shield and sword heroes teams back to Melromarc once more to stop Aultcray's and the spear and bow heroes madness.

Back down on the ground far away from Fort Titan, with each their own pair of binoculars, Daven's mother Loria and his friend Narel watch on as the Dragon flies high into the clouds now on it's way out of Siltvelt.

After putting his pair down once they were out of sight Narel says, "Looks like they're safe now, it should be smooth sailing to Melromarc. I just hope Daven can survive that country, our kind there aren't treated better than what we do to humans here."

But Loria just continues her smile and shakes her head, "I'm sure Davy will be fine, he is with the shield hero after all, and once he saves Melromarc and all the pieces are set up for a change in leadership here, he'll save Siltvelt as well. I'll be seeing him again soon." she responds and looks up toward the sky one more time to finally say, "Goodbye for now Davey, and good luck to you and the shield hero.

Back at Fort Titan itself, Trinock was being treated for his injuries, especially on his right eye area, now covered up in a large bandage. His mood was just of pure anger, the fact that once again he was made a fool of, the fact that once more he was outsmarted by a human boy, and the fact he allowed yet another monkey that had killed his king to get away from his grasp.

A nervous messager soldier slowly approached the now one-eyed Tigerman as he turns his head back at him barely able to hold back his anger, "Where is he now?!" he demands with his barely held deep anger being expressed from his voice.

The soldier glups to say, "He... He... He got away, our air forces were unable to stop either the sword demon or shield hero. We already lost track of them from the skies and there is no one fast enough to catch up to them. I'm afraid we lost the shield hero."

"GGGGGRRRRRRRRRRR!" Trinock growls in deep deep anger as he grips his fists with absolute fury, "God damn you, Katsuki BAKUGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" he finally screams in the sky in deep anger as the echo of his voice was heard for miles.

Especially right outside the fort as the army that tried and failed to kill Ren were all marching their way back inside the fort, no doubt ready to lose their hearing soon when the Prime Minister starts screaming and scolding all of them for their failures.

However one particular soldier was secretly going in the opposite direction, a seemingly normal fox demi-human knight had kept himself out of his fellow soldier's eyes as he deserts and ran far away. Running for miles until he was at a deserted cliffside area with plenty of trees around to hide.

Once he was sure there was no one else around watching, he takes off his fox ears revealing normal human ears along with his fake tail and other animal attributes he had, revealing to be a human spy.

He takes out a hidden crystal ball and with a spell activates it. Soon appearing on the image was another human on the other end of the ball, that human being none other than Pope Balmus of the 3 heroes church, "Brother Mark, do you have anything to update us on?" he asks the spy.

Mark nods back and says, "The wolf has left his den. I repeat, the wolf has left his den.".

Pope Balmus knew what that code phrase meant and grins after hearing it, "Perfect, now all we need to do now is lead our stupid and weak sheep toward the wolf to be attacked by him and his pack. And right after the time is right, we'll also kill the big bad wolf."

---

Back in Melromarc near the border, a group of fugitives was marching on. The fugitives who were all dirty, hungry, tired, and miserable together.

The group of fugitives was none other than King Aultcray, Motoyasu, and Itsuki with their respective groups.

It had been 4 days since the beef stew incident and things kept on getting worse and worse for them each day as they try to get their way to Siltvelt.

By the second day, all of their horses have died from exhaustion or by monster attacks, so they were now forced to continue on foot. And it was terrible, many were still wearing heavy armor like Motoyasu and Itsuki's largest teammate and second in command named Mald and with heavy weapons. It would be easier on them if they could ditch some of the heavier equipment, but Aultcray insisted they don't ditch the armor and keep them on as they need to be at their best to fight against Siltvelts armies. So all of them were forced to move on in their heavy armor for hundreds and hundreds of miles. And for most days it was in the beating hot sun in high humidity. On one of the days it wasn't sunny, it was constantly raining for the whole day, with the group getting soaking wet in the rain.

They went through a large plains area full of insects and mosquitoes that were constantly biting on them. There existed minor-bug repellent spells and potions in this world and easy to get, but of course again Motoyasu and Itsuki never thought of ever getting them before this whole thing happen, never having to worry about such things as mosquitoes in their games unless they were of the giant variety. By the time they were out of that plains area everyone was covered in bug bites.

And the day after that they went through a large swamp area, which also happened to be the day that it wouldn't stop raining where everyone had to go through the dirty and smelly swamp. And once again they dealt with bugs, but this time they were the giant-sized variety.

Food had become an issue when everyone was rashly eating up or wasting the supplies without a thought, so they quickly ran out of food from both Motoyasu and Itsuki's supplies, though Motoyasu had already wasted away most of his supplies to make that awful beef stew. The two and their groups were used to only taking in a bunch of supplies for some long trips in the day then going back into town to eat and sleep for the night, so they never knew how to properly ration or find other means to get food for themselves out in the wilds.

Once their food reserves ran out they began to go hungry, and with everyone refusing to eat any of the giant bug corpses, Itsuki just resorted to hunting and killing deer for food to eat, which should easily solve the food problem. The big problem with that though was the fact no one there knew proper gralloching or cleaning a kill, any meat they cut up was full of fat, hair, skin, and blood. And while Motoyasu made his food terribly, no one else there was any better without the proper tools or experience, the meat they end up cooking either ended being burnt and overcooked or raw and undercooked.

Water was another issue entirely when their reserved supplies ran out. Many of them thought they could just drink out of the rivers or streams thinking it be safe in a world without water pollution. Only to find out all water in the wild is full of mud and microorganisms. They didn't know how to purify water either through a spell or the scientific way, so combined that with the over or undercooked meat, almost everyone ends up getting sick, if not for all the disease-curing potions that thankfully Motoyasu and Itsuki carried all of them would be screwed.

And just as before, they had no sort of proper bedding so they were all forced to sleep on the dirt grounds or on the laps of the heroes like with Motoyasu and his team taking advantage of him. Course it didn't matter too much as they barely get around 4 hours of sleep at most with Aultcray wanting to be sure they were as far away from any pursuing armies as possible.

And to make matters even worse they knew they were being followed, not by large armies but from spies up in the trees watching over, and occasionally attacking and tactically retreating in a different direction. Aultcary concluded that these were the shadows that have supposedly betrayed the crown and were working with General Richeart and Lord Reichnott. He never concluded that the three heroes' church had their own spy force as well and were attempting to get them to go in a very specific direction toward the border.

But the one thing that Aultcray hated more than any of the above was the complaining. To him, it felt like in almost every other minute the heroes and their teammates would just complain about something. It didn't matter what it was about, being hungry, being tired, suffering from boredom, the bad smell from everyone, not wanting to walk on the muddy grounds, not wanting to drink dirty water, and etc. They would never shut up and continued to complain about every little thing like spoiled brats, he to was miserable but he never complained to anyone himself. His daughter and Itsuki were especially bad, he may love his daughter and knew she could be spoiled at times, but there was only so much the old king could take from his little girl. And Itsuki kept questioning him on every decision he made and kept offering different alternatives or ideas that he kept insisting were better, if it wasn't for the fact he was the cardinal bow hero he would've left him behind days ago.

So the bunch of fugitives continued to walk through the large forest, wet, tired, hungry, and thirsty feeling like this journey will never end. That was until they noticed they were near the edge of the woods with Aultcray and the rest looking outward from the line of trees, it finally brought smiles on their faces after being stuck in the wild for almost a whole week. With a pair of binoculars, Aultcray saw from a long distance the bordering wall, "We're here, we're finally here!" he shouts out loud excitedly. Everyone else all sighed in relief that their long and awful journey was seemingly over.

But Itsuki was having some doubts about it, "So Aultcray, now that we're finally here. What the hell is the plan now?"

"Come on Itsuki we just got here, let's just give ourselves a break after all of this." Motoyasu talks back, but Itsuki was just ignoring him and continues to stare at Aultcray expecting an answer from of the king.

Aultcray sighs not surprised the bow hero was questioning him again, "Of course Lord Itsuki, the next part of the plan is to get through the wall obviously."

Malty then decided to butt in, "That will be simple father, all we have to do is get Sir Motoyasu and Itsuki to blow up a part of the wall and we'll be on our way to Siltvelt."

Motoyasu nods agreeing with that plan, "Of course, it should be a very simple thing to do, and it can be just me without Itsuki's or anyone else's help. I just need to get myself close enough and I'll-"

"No! We are not going to blow up the wall!" Aultcray immediately responds not liking this idea at all, surprising everyone. Malty and Itsuki and his squad were now groaning annoyed again.

Motoyasu though was just confused, "But your majesty, it shouldn't be too hard for me to blow a chunk of it off, we should be able to quickly get-"

"Lord Motoyasu, the point isn't whether you're capable of blowing up the wall or not, it's about why we shouldn't blow it up in the first place." Aultcray quickly responds.

"And why not?!" Motoyasu asked scratching his head with the others curious as well.

Aultcray shakes his head and responds, "If you just blow up the wall like that, you'll not only alert the traitor's forces but those of Siltvelt, they will be investigating such a huge explosion. They'll find out about us and our element of surprise in that kingdom of animals will be ruined. And not to mention if Siltvelt finally decided to invade while we are at that hell hole, it will allow them to walk right through into Melromarc without any resistance, and invade my nation without issue. So no we're not blowing the wall up."

But despite his reasons, Itsuki wasn't impressed by them, "Ok then your so-called Majesty, if you don't want us to blow it up, what other bright idea do you have to get us into Siltvelt then? Ask politely to let us through?" he asked with a good amount of sarcasm.

Aultcray once again looks out toward the direction of the border wall, "There is usually a crew on a wagon that always shows up to inspect and repair any damages to the wall and they always need to get through the gates to get on the other side of the wall. If we play our cards right, we may be able to sneak in through in the wagon and get to the another side without anyone knowing any better and continue our way through Siltvet itself." he explains.

Itsuki was still not impress with that plan, "Ok and when does this repair crew show up?" he asks crossing his arms.

Aultcray sighed toward Itsuki once more as he taps his chin, "Judging where we are and how the wall repair crew routine works, I say they will be here in about 5 days, a week a most." he answers

Itsuki widens his eyes in shock, "A week! A goddamn week! You're saying we're forced to sit our asses down in this spot for a whole week!?" Itsuki angrily yells at Aultcray with everyone else joining in to yell and complain, all but Motoyasu and another one of Itsuki's teammates named Rishia who looked scared knowing things are going to get ugly.

Aultcray sighs louder to himself once more, "Yes, I'm afraid so Itsuki, if we are to get through Siltvelt properly we need to lay as low as possible. So if you please listen we can-"

But Itsuki didn't care what excuses the king had, he just about had it with Aultcray, "No you old bastard, you listen to me!" he shouts to Aultcray as he stomps his way closer to the king getting equally mad at Itsuki himself, "From this past week you dragged me out here where I've been forced to live out in the dirty woods, with no bed, getting sick from eating bad deer meat and Motoyasu's cooking, getting soaking wet all day in the rain, and scratching all over my body from the dozens of mosquito bites! And now you're telling me I'm forced to sit my ass out here doing nothing while you have a stick up your ass with these stupid plans of yours!" he yelled continued getting more aggressive with the King.

Aultcray responds to Itsuki with his temper getting extremely low, "Lord Itsuki you have to understand patience, if we are to survive we need to stay-"

"I've been nothing but patient with the likes of you! And look at me now! I still have mud inside my boots from that giant swamp you made us go through to get here!" Itsuki interrupts again and continued, "Even if we do get past this stupid border wall, what then!? Are we just going to be forced to live out in the Siltvelt woods for 2 more weeks to "keep the element of surprise!"?! Why am I even listening to you in the first place!"

"Itsuki I'm your king, and you're in my kingdom, so you are obligated to listen to me and obey my orders!" Aultcray responds now starting to get pissed off at the bow heroes' ungratefulness, he was now starting to remind him of Bakugou.

"King of what!? Last I recall you got your ass overthrown by this Reichnott guy, you have no money, no soldiers at your command anymore, or any land to rule over! To me now, your just some stupid old man who thinks he knows what he is doing, but is nothing but a senile old fool!" Itsuki insults back having enough of Aultcray as the King grits his teeth about to burst a blood vessel with Itsuki.

Motoyasu then decided to but in to defend Aultcray, "Now hold on a second Itsuki, Mynes dad has supported all of us since the beginning, providing us with money and rewards before this all happened. You never had to follow us in the first place and could've easily gone on your own, but decided to tag along anyway to mooch him off and then complain about it."

"Oh would you just shut the hell up!? I never asked about your opinion for anything, your nothing more than some simp dumbass who is just kissing up to the princesses father! And I still have that taste of your awful stew in my mouth!" Itsuki yells back at Motoyasu.

"Oh come on, that was like over 5 days ago! I haven't cooked for anyone since then and you still bitch about that!? What about you and your cooking the deer meat? I still get diarrhea from your hairy boney meals, and you don't see me bitching to you about it!"

"We wouldn't have to resort to eating raw deer if you didn't waste half of your food resources making that stupid stew!"

"It was not made on half of my supplies! And we would have plenty more to eat if you and that fatass you have as a bodyguard didn't eat so much of our rations for snacking! Not to mention how you wasted away our freshwater just to clean your dumb hair!"

"I was being far more conservative of water than you were when you wasted a bunch of it to allow your whores to wash their faces!"

"Don't you dare call Elena, Myne, and Lesty whores Itsuki! I should have you beaten down and be made to show respect!" Motoyasu yells gripping his spear harder and pointing it to Itsuki's direction with Lesty and Elena standing next to Motoyasu with their weapons out ready to fight.

Itsuki then stomps up closer to Motoyasu gripping his bow with his team taking out their weapons other than Rishia who was muttering "Fueh" and steps away from the arguments, "Is that a challenge Motoyasu! Or is it Ponytail slut?! Or even better, is it whiny bitch baby!?" he taunts Motoyasu and hearing those insults again made the spear hero pissed off and was ready to throw a javelin spear at Itsuki's face.

"ENOUGH!" But they were stopped after Aultcray yells out, getting everyone's attention again, "Look at all of you! Your acting like a bunch of spoiled children! I will not have you fools arguing again and again over these silly things or petty insults!" he scolds everyone, which makes Motoyasu flinch and made him stop as he lays down his weapon.

But not with Itsuki, he just about had it with Aultcray, "You're not my goddamn dad! I don't have to listen to you or your stupid orders anymore if I don't want to!"

"You will follow orders and I expect you to listen to your superior! If you don't, I and sir Motoyasu will put you back in your place, and as Sir Motoyasu said you will understand respect to your superior's!" Aultcray yells back at Itsuki.

Things were then silent for over half a minute as everyone stared at one another, waiting for someone to act.

It was all tense for everyone. But after taking a deep breath Itsuki seemingly concedes as he puts his bow away, "Fine, one week, but that's it Aultcray, if nothing comes it by then, after that my patience with you is over."

Aultcray nods toward the bow hero, "That's what I like to hear." he then looks toward everyone else who still looked uneasy from the whole event, "Now then, why don't finally rest and set up camp. The sun is starting to set and thankfully this time we can finally sleep longer now. But still be on the lookout for any more of the shadows, they could strike us again while our guard is down." he informs the two groups.

Everyone finally splits off to do their assigned jobs to set up camp once more.

Myne was the most annoyed by this whole mess, 'This is a disgrace, I'm the damn princess of Melromarc, and I'm still forced to spend more time in the stupid wilderness. Witn no beds and forced to smell like a dirty rag. And now we're going waste our times spending a week on fathers stupid plan!?' she yells in her head still just as evil and spoiled as she has always been.

But before she got too far she saw Itsuki get close to his teammate Mald to say something quietly with him. It was hard to hear but Malty trained herself enough to hear over other people's conversations, it helps to know your enemy's secrets.

Itsuki says quietly to Mald, "We're going to have a meeting tonight of just us and the team when everyone's asleep. I think it's time to discuss what direction team Itsuki will be going from here." Mald understood what his leader was saying and nods agreeing as the two quickly split up.

Malty wasn't sure what Itsuki and his team were going to be discussing about later, but she'll find out tonight and see how she could benefit from it.

---

Several hours later, it was pitch black night. After finishing another awful dinner of an old kill from yesterday that was already spoiling, everyone was now heading to sleep. The group barely had any sleep since starting this long journey, so now with the opportunity to get more than 4 hours of sleep they do not hesitate to take it.

As usual, Motoyasu allows Elena, Lesty, and Malty to lay on his lap or legs as a pillow to sleep, and protect their pretty little heads. They were all asleep, except for Malty who looks around to make sure Motoyasu and no one else in the group were awake. Once it was clear her group was dead asleep, she gets herself up and slowly slips away and kept herself hidden as she sees Itsuki's group moving and gathering around far away from Aultcray's and Motoyasu's sight and hearing.

Myne lays low hiding in some bushes as she hears what is going on with the group.

And with the bow heroes team together, Itsuki finally speaks up, "Ok guys I think it's clear now that this king of yours is a crazy madman who is just going to get us killed. I'm not going to spend another week or any amount of time forced to take orders from that old fool and his shitty plans, or listen to that suckup idiot Motoyasu anymore."

The group nods to each other agreeing with Itsuki. Other than Rishia who was not liking where this was going, but was too afraid and respected Itsuki too much to speak up her true feelings on the matter.

Mald was especially in agreement with his leader, "Yes definitely, old Aultcray is now just wasting our times with that idiot he has on a leash. Unlike you master Itsuki who knows what he is doing." he sucks up to Itsuki who always enjoys hearing praises to himself.

"So what do you have planned then?" the cloak mage of the group asked

Itsuki grins once more knowing he already had a plan, "It's simple and straightforward. We capture and take Aultcray as our prisoner." he explains, which surprised everyone there, especially Rishia

"Wha... What are you going to be doing with the King Lord Itsuki? Just as a question?" Rishia asked, trying to calmly ask what this insane and risky plan Itsuki was hatching up.

"Simple, we capture, tie up, and take Aultcray as our valuable hostage. Can't you imagine what we can do with a king as a prisoner? We can sell him off to an enemy nation and can get rewards and recognition for it, or make a deal with this Reichnott guy or the Queen to trade with. We can surrender the king to her or him and we will get full pardons and perhaps some free land to lord over ourselves. The possibilities are endless, no longer will we be forced to march around in the damn woods anymore and sleep on the dirt. As long as we hold on to Aultcray we can finally get back to civilization." he explains the general plan.

It sounded insane, but most of Itsuki's team was all for it. Not only to suck up to Itsuki, but the idea they'll all be rich and famous again with the king as their prisoner to trade-in was to tempting to ignore. The blonde-haired woman of Itsuki's team then spoke up, "This sounds perfect Lord Itsuki. But the only issue I have right now is what are we going to do about the spear hero? Considering how many times he stood up for the king, I doubt he is going to let us get away or go along with this?"

Itsuki shakes his head back agreeing with her, "I know, even if we fight and I no doubt overpower that idiot, Aultcray could get away and run from us. I don't want to risk losing him. So I just need to think of an idea to get Motoyasu distracted and while he's busy we take the king hostage, then make ditch the idiot for good. I just need to think of a good distraction."

"How about me?" said a voice that surprised the group, not aware someone outside the group was watching, and from the darkness came the source of the voice. Princess Malty Melromarc, "Sir Motoyasu will always trust me no matter what, I and the other girls can keep him distracted, and have him be left unaware of what's going on and lost in the woods when you capture my father. He'll be none the wiser, and when we finish up, I can get him off our backs and we can make a run it with father as our prisoner." she continued

The group looked on confused by her presence and response to be all for betraying her own father, especially Rishia, "Your.. Your highness, are you serious about this?" she nervously asked.

Malty acted with confidence on her answer, "Of course, that old fool is worthless to me now, with no real power for me to exploit anymore. He might as well be useful to me in some other way now. I say the same with Motoyasu, that idiot has no more uses to me anymore. So I will be glad to leave him behind in the woods. I'll also know who exactly you can sell off father to, I know his older brother would like to see him again at Faubrey, and will no doubt be offering us anything we want. Including free land."

Itsuki was somewhat surprised to hear how heartless Malty was. But at the same he also quite admired her pragmatism, and sees this as the perfect opportunity to enact his plan now, "So how will I know you won't just rat us out?" he asked anyway.

Malty grins evilly and moves up closer to Itsuki. Mald grips for his sword in caution, but Itsuki makes him put it back with his hand.

As Malty got up close at Itsuki and was now rubbing his arms, "If I was going to rat you out, I wouldn't be out here in the open revealing myself would I? I could've just sneaked away and told father the whole thing and he believe me in a heartbeat. But here I am now, right up to you and ready to serve the great bow hero. And to ensure I mean it." Malty then leans forward and gave Itsuki a long and powerful kiss on the lips, with Itsuki quickly embracing it.

This shocked the whole group especially Rishia, as much as she wants to keep the whole thing professional, she did secretly love Itsuki for all he did for her and her family. And to be witnessing this exploitive, black-hearted, and manipulative woman who betray her friends and family at the drop of a hat, was now kissing him. To see the bow hero willingly going all for it, was disheartening to the poor girl. She wanted to speak up, but she knew it wasn't her place to do so and would just get yelled at Mald again and scolded by Itsuki, so she continue to sit there in silence shedding a tear and muttering a quiet "Fueh" once more.

Soon enough that long kiss was finished, and Itsuki grins once more with pride, "Well I think that settles it, tomorrow morning we enact our own little coup, and take Aultcray as prisoner. Then be on our way to Faubrey to get the hero respect we deserve. Alright then here's the plan." Itsuki then had everyone huddled up including Malty to explain their little mutiny plan.

---

It was morning once more near Melromarcs border, as the Spear hero woke himself up and was stretching his limbs. Though he was wondering where his party was, as they were nowhere around his legs or in sight, "Myne! Elena! Lesty!" he shouts for their names hoping nothing bad has happened with them.

"We're over here Sir Motoyasu!" Shouted Myne who was waving her hand toward her "hero" along with Elena and Lesty beside her.

Motoyasu was happy to see the girls were fine and walks his way to them.

Myne then nudges her head to Lesty and Elena, "Remember the plan and what we have to do." she whispers to the two, as they were also in on the mutiny plan and were ready to betray Motoyasu without hesitation.

Motoyasu finally made it up to the girls, "I'm glad to see you 3 are still as wonderful and beautiful as ever, I hope you girls are doing alright. I know things have been rough lately and I'm deeply sorry I can't do more, but I'll ensure you three, things will get better soon and I'll be sure that you will be protected from any sort of dangers that might come ahead." he attempts to cheer up the girls, completely unaware of what was really going on.

'Oh things will definitely get better soon.' Myne says in her head, more than ready to dump him once the right time comes, "We know you will Sir Motoyasu. Actually you know what, lately we've all been extremely stressed with everything going on. Why don't we go somewhere secluded and well enjoy some quality time together, like just a little walk through the woods and just enjoy nature as it is, without any of the mud and bugs? Maybe we could also do more if we ever get... excited." she seduces and tricks Motoyasu with the other girls nodding in agreement with her.

Motoyasu started feeling flustered again and liked the sound of that, "Well... Why not, I doubt your father will be too worried if we're just gone for a few minutes. As long as you stay by my side, I'll protect you from danger if we encounter any." he agrees, completely ignorant of Malty's true intentions.

Myne smiles at all of this, "Sounds perfect Motoyasu, let's just go now." she rushes him and Motoyasu and the 3 girls walk along in the woods to a specific spot where he'll be too far away to chase after or hear Itsuki. Then dump him somewhere and get lost, alone in the woods by himself.

Once Motoyasu and the girls were out of the way Rishia went off to find her king.

King Aultcray was practicing his sword, swinging it around for a bit. He may haven't fought with a sword in years but he hasn't gotten too rusty as he swings with such smooth movement and grace. Aultcray has been thinking to himself that maybe he should help train the heroes and their teams in the arts of combat and fighting. If they have a week to spare, he might as well get them to make the most of it and get them prepared to fight off the shield devil and Siltvelts leadership.

It may have been decades ago, but he still remembers his battle with Siltvelts former king Rohaw, the toughest battle he ever faced. Even with his cane he barely won that fight. Remembering that lionman as a pure nearly unstoppable monster, Aultcray was thankful to have been able to put him down. He hopes that the heroes will fare better than he did, but at the state they fight now, he knew it was deeply inadequate and undisciplined. He'll be happy to get them all up to shape and for once they notice the results themselves, they'll finally be thankful for what he does for them.

"Excuse me, your majesty?" said a voice, and as Aultcray turned toward it. The source of the voice was from miss Rishia, with the girl looking back at her king extremely with a worried look on her face.

"Ah Lady Rishia, may I help you with something?" he asks jovially. Out of all the people that kept complaining the last week, Rishia was the one who complained the least and actually respected her king, so he was more than willing to be polite with the young noble girl.

"Uh... my King, I need to talk to you about something, somewhere more private. It has something to do with Lord Itsuki. He's starting to scare me, and I think he might be planning something, something very bad." Rishia asked as she held her hands together nervously.

Aultcray could tell Rishia was scared and was being serious, he nods to the girl, "I'm not surprised, take me to wherever you're most comfortable at and we can discuss what to do next." he responds and believes the girl.

Rishia gets Aultcray to follow her into a different part of the forest away from the camp. After a minute or so Rishia finally stops herself with Aultcray stopping himself to listen, "Ok miss Rishia, what is the bow hero planning on?" he asked her.

After stepping back away a few feet Rishia looks down, feeling great shame in herself, "I'm deeply sorry about this my king." she responds with.

Aultcray was confused by the response, "Huh? Miss Rishia what are you-" but then suddenly an arrow lands right between Aultcrays legs. Before he could react, the arrow blew up into cold mist, and Aultcray's legs quickly get frozen and covered up in ice. He fell right into a trap.

The King struggled to try to yank himself out of the ice and attempts to go for his sword, until he heard, "Looks like your days of leadership are over your majesty.". Aultcray turns to see a smugly smiling Itsuki, who had his bow out with a magic arrow active and pointing right behind at Aultcrays spine.

And out of the bushes, the rest of Itsuki's team came out of hiding with their weapons out and pointing toward their king, including Mald who held his sword right at Aultcray's throat. Itsuki then says, "Now drop your weapon and put your hands behind your back, and if you try anything else I'll be sure you end up permanently crippled." he demanded.

As much as he didn't want to, Aultcray knew he didn't have much of a choice but to cooperate knowing Motoyasu and his daughter weren't nearby to help. The king did as he was told, dropping his sword and putting his hands behind his back, as the blonde hair girl of Itsuki's squad walks up to Aultcray to tie him up.

As she was doing that Aultcray turns his head back to Itsuki in anger and disappointment, "I still can't believe you did this bow hero. After everything I've done for you, giving you money, teammates, free resources, and helped you escape prosecution, and this is how you thank me!? Mutiny!" Aultcray scolds and yells at Itsuki, he couldn't believe that he would be betrayed, not just by his fellow nobles and generals, but now by the very heroes he summoned to save his kingdom in the first place had staged a mutiny against him.

Itsuki just smiles back and then said, "Think of it more as a change in management. Now I'm in charge, and we're just detaining your crazy ass before you get us killed." he excuses, course he wasn't going to be telling Aultcray they were planning on turning him in to his brother in Faubrey and basically his death. It no longer matters to Itsuki, as long as he gets treated as a hero once more with all the privileges that came with it in Faubrey. And after some time, once he's leveled up and get more rare and powerful bows, he'll come back to Melromarc and bring justice to this Reichnott guy and Ren for framing him for the castle destruction and making him force to hid in the wilderness. Then after that, he'll head his way to Siltvelt and also bring justice to Bakugou in the most humiliating way he can, as he did to him back in Tervein.

Though things dramatically change for the group. As Rishia watches her king get tied up, she gets hit on the back of the skull with a rock, hurting her head. It was from a church shadow spys getting her to look in a specific direction while they hid up in the trees

Rishia turns and looks up to where that rock came from while rubbing the back of her hurt head. But as she looks up, she noticed some strange thing in the open skies, it was not of the spies doing, or from any head injury, but it was legit burr of a random dot in the sky and it didn't look like to be a bird.

Curious about it Rishia gets her binoculars and stares up at the odd object, and after getting a closer look at it, she gasped in utter shock, "SIR ITSUKI! SIR ITSUKI! It's him! It's him! The shield hero is back!" she screams.

The news quickly surprised everyone and grabbed their complete attention including Itsuki's, "Are you serious!? You're talking about Bakugou right?" he demanded hoping this wasn't just his teammate seeing things.

"Yes yes! He's on his dragon up in the sky over there!" she confirms pointing toward the sky.

The team had some doubts about this and wanted to confirm it, the blonde woman warrior walks up and rudely snatches Rishia's binoculars away to get a look herself. She looks up to where Rishia pointed to and after some adjusting of the binoculars, she gasped in surprise, "She's right! It's him!"

Itsuki himself quickly rushed over and took a look himself in the binoculars, and just like the other two before from a long distance up high in the sky he sees Bakugou's dragon Kirishima flying across the sky and the one handling the dragon's reins is Bakugou himself, even from the binoculars he can recognize that spiky blonde hair from anywhere, "So he's really come back now of all times." Itsuki says out loud and surprised. This now changes everything, he can now truly bring Bakugou to justice and clear his name, and Aultcray took notice.

"Lord Itsuki, mind I offer a proposal to you?" Aultcray asked out loud, despite being tied up in rope and having just been mutinied on, he was acting quite calm. Itsuki quickly listens, "Lord Itsuki we both have a common enemy we seek to defeat together and have our names cleared from unjust traitors. If you free me now and we work together again to capture that devil child, I'll pretend this little event hear never happened and go back to how things were before. And once our names are cleared and have that devil and those traitors executed, not only will I offer you a massive amount of money, I'll name you a lord of your own land in Melromarc. You will now become a true lord, with thousands of subjects at your disposal and all the tax money that comes with it. What do you say? Put the past behind us for a better future?"

Despite what he just done and all the bullshit he had put him through, if they can truly get Bakugou today, he'll get his revenge to have Bakugou be exposed as the phony hero he really is, and be given free land by the king he just took prisoner. He knew he had to think about it fast before Bakugou gets away, and after a half a minute of thinking, he agrees, "Ok Aultcray, but I also want a duchy title as well, I want my own set of lords and counts I'll have control over as well when this is done." he agrees and bargains.

As annoyed he was by the fact he would be making such an untrustworthy person the title duke. If it meant not just being freed, but to finally get that damn shield devil once and for all, it'll be worth it, "Very well Itsuki. The duchy title is yours." he agrees

Itsuki then nods his head toward Mald, "Ok let him go." he orders and Mald quickly acted and begins to untie the king and the others dispelling away the magic ice on his legs. Itsuki then turned to Rishia, "And you go get Motoyasu and his team. As much as I hate to admit it, we're going to need all the firepower we can get to defeat that bastard for good." he orders with Rishia nodding and ran off to find Motoyasu and his teammates.

Itsuki will still keep his eye on Aultcray long after this, making sure he will honor his side of the bargain once this was all done.

At a good distance away from camp, Malty, Elena, and Lesty were about ready to ditch Motoyasu for good. Malty had decided to play a "game" with Motoyasu, one that will supposedly involve kissing or more as a reward, so Motoyasu was all for it.

"Ok Myne, I'm fully blindfolded and I can't see anything, so I'm ready," Motoyasu shouts out with his eyes covered up in a thick cloth, completely ignorant of what his so-called loyal team had in mind.

"Perfect Sir Motoyasu, now just count to 200, and then you will try to find us in silence and unable to see. Now again don't peak until you grab hold of one of us and we yell your name," Myne explains to Motoyasu, as she and the other girls were already walking backward away, getting themselves a good distance away Motoyasu.

While he counts she and the others will make a run for it with Itsuki, and leave a blindfolded Motoyasu for good while the poor young adult tries to look for the girls that will not be there anymore while still blindfolded.

"Great, though isn't 200 a bit high? You'll be waiting for a little while hiding?" Motoyasu questioned even he was finding the count up a bit high in this kind of game.

"Oh we'll be fine Motoyasu, it's all about the fun of the game. Just remember what you'll get once you find one of us. We certainly won't be too far from you." Malty ensures Motoyasu, who accepts the weirdness of it just to remain fun.

Malty then turns toward Elena and Lesty, "Ok just as we planned, once he counts at least up to twenty we make a run for it to Itsuki, and by the time his dumbass finishes counting, bumbles around blinded, and eventually figures out we gave him the slip we'll be long gone." she whispers to the two with them nodding back ready to dump Motoyasu for good.

Motoyasu then turns away from Mynes's voice and begins to start counting while the girls continue to slowly walk further back until they're ready to sprint away, "Ok then, alright I'm counting now. 1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..11..12.."

"Sir Motoyasu! Sir Motoyasu! Shouted a voice, that freaked out Myne and the others and got Motoyasu's attention making him take off his blindfold to see Rishia running her way up to him.

Myne was obviously happy about this, "What the hell are you doing you idiot!? You're ruining my plan... planned game with Motoyasu." she yells and then forced herself to lie once she remembers Motoayasu was still in hearing distance of her.

"Miss Rishia what's going on?" Motoyasu asked the girl, easily telling she had something important to say.

"Plans have indeed changed. It's the shield hero, he's coming back to Melromarc and is on his way toward our direction." Rishia informs them.

The news shocked everyone there, especially Myne and Motoyasu, "Are you serious?! You're talking about Bakugou right?" he asked her wanting it to be confirmed.

Rishia quickly nods, "Yes it's him riding on his dragon in the sky."

That bit of information quickly got Malty's attention and got up closer to the nervous girl, "Tell me? Were there others riding with him?" she quickly demanded, wanting to be sure one specific person was there as well, namely her little sister.

Rishia was getting scared being so close to the princess, but still answered her, "Uh... Uh... Yes, I recall seeing a bunch of other people on the dragon, I think one of them was dressed up in blue?"

Malty then evilly smiles after hearing that information, 'Perfect, now to kill two birds with one stone. Looks like this idiot here isn't 100% useless yet after all.' she says in her head referring to Motoyasu, who took on a more serious face again on the prospect of meeting Bakugou again.

"So that cowardly rapist has come back? Well then, it's time we have our rematch again." Motoyasu says out loud and then he and everyone else ran with Rishia back to meet up with the group.

After some running they make it back with everyone else, as they stare up in the sky and now they can more clearly see Kirishima flying up in the sky, unaware there were enemies down below.

"Ok I see them, but how are we going to get them down from up there?" Motoyasu questioned with some of the others wondering how they would bring down a dragon thousands of feet high in the sky.

Itsuki then stepped in, "It'll be me. I've learned a skill that will let me take down that dragon easily." Itsuki brags with a magic arrow forming from his bow. He then points up toward the dragon, pulling his bow back, and was ready to let it go on the flying beast, "Now it's time to bring back true justice in this world, Bakugou."

---

Up high in the sky at the Melromarc/Siltvelt border, flew Kirishima who on his back were Bakugou, his team, Ren, and Scarlet. After 4 days they had finally made it back to Melromarc, for most of it they had been on Kirishima's back flying, only stopping at night to sleep as even Bakugou knew everyone have their limits in lacking sleep and would rest at isolated forests or small caves for the night, avoiding civilization as much as possible fearing. He and Ren suspect even in friendly towns inside of Siltvelt could be more traps made by Trinock, the shield church, or the council.

Though thankfully they didn't encounter any more of the Siltvelt armies or were being followed. And unlike two other heroes and a delusional king, he and Ren had proper experience and equipment to camp and rest in the outdoors.

For most of these four days, the sword and shield hero and their teammates had mostly been exchanging information and advice with each other. Although other than some minor things Ren didn't have too much to offer Bakugou, he already knew most of what Ren already knows.

Ironically Bakugou has a better understanding of Ren's original power-up system than Ren himself, explaining more about bonuses for specific series of swords if upgraded. Bakugou also told Ren that it was better to diversify by upgrading certain swords that can offer some universal bonuses even if not equipped, and upgrading more different swords would make Ren more adaptable in a fight rather than relying on just the one powerful sword he uses all the time. All it would take is one enemy or boss that has some sort of immunity to that sword and he is screwed. Which made Ren reflect on his battle of the dinosaur dragon thing where his sword did jack all in damage to it. So perhaps diversifying wasn't a bad idea.

Though what Ren really wanted to know was this crazy god mode power Bakugou had that he called his wrath shield, which allowed him to blew up a whole castle. Nothing in his menu says anything about it and he certainly did not see such a thing in Brave Star Online. As much as he does not want Bakugou to go on a mad rampage again especially when everyone had just recovered from those cursed marks, that were now all gone from everyone's skins thanks to the holy water. If there was some way to properly control this power and perhaps get some similar godmode ability, they would be unstoppable.

But Bakugou refused to go into any specifics, after what he had done with that shield corrupting his mind, he never wants to think about it again. Nor did he want someone as inexperienced as Ren to get something similar. All he would say about how it activated was him getting extremely extremely pissed off, and considering how short of a fuse Bakugou was already with his anger, Ren can't imagine what anger he was feeling to activate it. So he left it alone for now, and also rather not push his luck and have Bakugou literally kick him off the dragon.

He did learn a lot from the sidekicks though, and provide some advice and tips back as well, especially Neia with sword moves and abilities. He also learns a few tricks from Daven as well, mostly on information about the world and the weaknesses and weak points of some monsters and armor that can come in handy later.

Ren even finally learned the language of the world, mostly from some tutoring from Melty and Rino, at least enough to know the Alphabet and write his name down in the language. And that's when Bakugou told him to insert the paper with his name in his sword telling him it would allow him to gain a magical translate ability. Ren did so and like Bakugou he gained the ability, allowing him to now read the many books Bakugou and the sidekicks have, giving him another way to pass the time.

Another thing Ren learned was Bakugou's specific fast travel ability. As they were flying out of Siltvelt both heroes decided against just fast traveling back to Melromarc, for one so they could properly rest after all the things they went through in Siltvelt, next they wouldn't know if they will just accidentally end up in a trap of Aultcray's or the churches forces and give themselves away to where they were, and three after Kirishima had been imprisoned with that brace on him for a few days Bakugou wanted to make it up for his dragon as he preferred to fly and allowed the dragon to be free to fly in the sky once more for a little while. Though that was also when Bakugou told Ren about his ability to fast travel to go wherever place he's been at before, with Ren only able to fast travel back to the dragon hourglasses, he was never aware of Bakugou's more convenient fast travel and all he had to do was insert a couple of maps in his sword, Ren puts in the map the shadows gave him and he instantly unlocks the map sword and unlocked that version of fast travel. It made Ren feel like an idiot for not realizing such a better version of fast travel existed and it was putting in the simplest things in his sword. He's now thinking about all the other simple things he could put in and unlock once they fix this whole crazy event in Melromarc.

Scarlet and Melty had also become the best of friends as have fun and played with each other both one and off the dragon. Once at there first stop Bakugou easily got her restriction brace removed and will also low her transform again.

Melty also helped out Neia with her water magic, now getting better and better at it more then ever as she also plays with her and Scarlet.

Rino and Daven had spent just talking with each when they are not reading through more training and spell books. They were mostly talking to each other about their history as well as about demi-humans and there respective nations. Daven especially needed to know more about Melromarc, knowing little about the actual details about it outside of propaganda. He didn't like many things Rino told him of the treatment of demi-humans there, but it was something to expect considering how they treat humans in Siltvelt. It was still a lot to take in, but as Bakugou told him before he needed to be educated and adapt to the situation. But either way he still enjoyed his time with Rino and enjoyed the time with his new friends.

And now after all their time in Siltvelt, they finally made it back to, just crossing over the bordering wall from the sky, "Here we are, in Melromarc again, I know it's been no more than a few weeks for me, but it feels like we've been gone for an eternity." Ren comments as he looks down no longer afraid of being up so high after getting used to it, he then turns his way to Bakugou, "So then Bakugou, you remember what we're going to do right?" he asked the shield hero who sighed in annoyance.

"Yeah yeah I know the plan Paleface. We get in contact with these spy shadow people, find the Queen, get her back to the Capital, have her stop her husbands and daughters crazy shit, and if they, Ponytail slut bow bitch, or the crazy Pope fights back we beat the living shit out of them until they get the hint." Bakugou repeats the plan back.

Rino then spoke up about it, "It sounds basic, but I have a feeling it won't be easy."

Melty quickly responds, "Indeed it won't, it will be a challenge in of itself to either find mom's shadows or have them find us. Ren's old map is no doubt outdated on mom's location."

Bakugou sighed again knowing they had good points, "Things like that are never easy. But whatever, I'll figure something out, perhaps if we find a town that is still loyal to us like Paleface's town we can get these shadows' attention and then-"

But then Bakugou stopped as he looks down to see some bolt of energy coming up their way. He attempted to grab Kirishima's reins and dodge it, but it was too late. The energy bolt impacts itself straight through Kirishima's right wing.

Kirishima screech's in pain from the attack, but weirdly when Bakugou turns to look where the attack went through, there was no injury or cut on Kirishima's wing, it was like nothing happened.

But before the others wondered what that was, they noticed something they didn't want to see.

Kirishima was descending down. And fast.

Kirishima tried his best to stay up and flapped his wings harder and harder, but he could no longer maintain his elevation and his fall continued to get stepper, "Everyone hold on!" Bakugou ordered as everyone did exactly that and held on to the dragon's saddle or with each other like with Neia and Melty and Ren and Scarlet.

"Master Ren! I knew we shouldn't have trusted this dragon to fly us back safely!" Scarlet shouts as she and Ren continue to hold for dear life.

Despite the forceful fall, Bakugou was doing all he can to control Kirishima by the reins and did all he could to not crash in a way that will get them killed. It wasn't easy though as the magic that is dragging Kirishima to the ground was powerful and it was like trying to push back against an invisible force.

The descent continued as Bakugou did all he could to get Kirishima to remain as horizontal as possible as they get near the ground. Despite how powerful the force was, Bakugou managed to at least slow down the momentum a bit with Kirishima who forced himself up enough to not be falling directly downward anymore. But nothing was going to stop him from crash landing, "We're going to land now! Hold together everyone!" Bakugou yells as everyone grips hold of the dragon or themselves harder than before.

Kirishima was now on the level of the trees, as he forces through most of. Breaking or falling down from the dragon's strong force, as Kirishima and Bakugou continue to keep the fall as steady and horizontal as possible to not die from the landing.

And land they finally did, Kirishima finally lands himself across the ground with the momentum continuing as his giant body slides all across the ground as everyone held for dear life. This momentum continued for a while as Kirishima destroyed or pushes over more trees leaving his mark on the ground, accumulating a ton of dirt in the slide, but gradually the momentum began to slow down as the dragon grinds across the ground.

The dragons slowed down from the sliding until finally, Kirishima stops.

Thankfully everyone survived that crash, but they were all alarmed and confused as to what the hell just happened.

Once the shock of surviving that crash wore off, everyone began jumping off Kirishima, with the dragon himself shrinking down to his teen form as he opens his right wing out and flapped it around to see what happened with it, with Bakugou looking into it himself.

The group were trying to make sure both themselves and the others was fine, and thankfully no one got truly hurt, not even Kirishima himself who just shrugged off that crash.

After taking care of Scarlet, Ren immediately went up to Bakugou, "What the hell just happened up there with Kirishima? What was that thing that went through his wing?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out idiot!? What else do you think I'm trying to do!?" Bakugou yells at Ren as he continued to look over Kirishima's wing. Even changed his shield into the magnifying shield to get a closer look at the area where Kirishima's wing was hit at.

Everyone else gathered around Bakugou to find out what happened.

After some more observing Bakugou mostly finds out what the deal was, "It seemed Kirishima was inflected with some sort of gravity spell. It didn't do any physical damage, but it forced Kirishima to fall back to the ground and it looks like it will be lasting for a little while." he answers to everyone.

But this ends up bringing up more questions for many of them, "But what could've done this?" Melty asked out loud.

Daven immediately responds, "It's not a what, it be a who."

Ren groans to himself knowing what that implies, "I think I know what that who could be."

"KATSUKI BAKUGOU!" shouted a random voice.

It surprised the shield and sword groups after hearing that voice. It was a familiar voice, a voice they didn't want to be hearing now.

Everyone finally turns toward the direction where the voice came from, near the edge of a cliff of a small hill. And on top of the hill, looked down King Aultcray, Princess Malty, Itsuki, Motoyasu, and both of their teams. All lined up and were looking down at the shield and sword groups.

The situation had just gotten tense, as everyone quickly go for their weapons and take them out. Both shield and sword teams continue to stare up waiting for something to happen as Aultcray and his side continue to stare back looking down on them.

Things were silent for a few more seconds as the tension remained high. Aultcray finally says something toward Bakugou, "Welcome back. Shield Devil."

And little did both groups know, there was also a third party there hiding and watching the whole event and were waiting to make their move.

---

Author's note: Thank you everyone who have read this far into the story. It was fun to write in my own little original arc with Siltvelt even if it required me to think of a lot of orignal characters and content which isn't always the easiest thing to do while also trying to somewhat follow canon as much as possible, not to mention all the fighting scenes. But of course this isn't the end of Siltvelt, we'll eventually be going back to it with another major arc I have in mind, but it won't be for a little while. I do apologize if there was a lot of exposition in this chapter especially with Loria's whole history lesson, but I thought it was necessary for all the important information to be explained and give a lot more world building. I hope to eventually pick up my pace as we go back to some more familiar territory, but still with it's own unique flavor. Thank you again for reading and I hope to see you again soon.