Chapter 11-Superheroes

A pale girl standing in a large, white tiled, octagonal room slowly pivoted around in a trance-like state. There were dozens of small white tables mounted on black metal legs with strange chairs manufactured out of tubular metal and wood. One face of the glossy walled room faced out to bright bank of windows and doors. Two other sides opened to massive artificial corridors. The remaining six sides featured brightly lit counters staffed by humans serving lines of hungry patrons dressed in incomprehensible clothes. The illuminated signs advertising the eateries names made her sensitive eyes sting. Her nose picked up cuisines from at least four different countries; she made an focused effort to stabilize her mind under the sensory overload. After taking a few deep breaths, she glanced up at the skylight and saw a luminescent tubular orange and green sign adorning the skylight well that read Diamond Mall Food Court. Usagi was completely baffled by this setting except that it reminded her of descriptions of the homeworld of her Master-

"Avengers assemble," boomed a gleeful voice about a dozen paces away.

She knew that voice anywhere! Her heart swelled with joy as she pivoted and gaped at her master sitting in a hooded garment and blue trousers laughing as he played some sort of game involving sheets of paper, books and an odd assembly of die. Jerry's back was to her loyal retainer as his friends laughed at his outburst. For the first time she saw Jerry's three friends that he spoke so fondly from his 'RPG campaign'. One was a reticent looking maiden wearing thick glasses busy rolling two of brightly hued cubical die. Another was a handsome blond in a wheeled chair. The last was a heavyset gentleman who blinked as he looked directly at Usagi with an open mouth.

She ran her hand nervously though her hair and softly gasped as she realized her rabbit ears were missing!

The husky player elbowed Jerry and hissed, "Hey dude, a really hot chick is checking you out!"

Master Jeremiah sighed audibly and shook his head, "Yeah Jose, sure…in my dreams. Quit it with the teasing."

The young woman opposite Usagi's master burst out into a mixture of a snort and a giggle, "Hey Jerr, Jose is right. She's totally ogling your ass!"

Master White whirled around as he gawked at the sight of the gorgeous 18 year old albino human girl standing only a few strides away. His hugely magnified eyed stared at her in stark disbelief. He took off his glasses in confusion, wiped them and put them back on to verify that the mystery guest was still standing there. She was.

Usagi gave up all pretense, closed the gap between them in a second, and forcefully locked her delicate lips with her lovely master's.

…

A careless arm thrown over her shoulder jolted a furiously blushing harekin from her dream. If she was still capable of speech she would have uttered a long string of choice profanities. After fuming silently for a few minutes she took solace in the fact that she was resting besides her beloved Master. The romantic encounter in her dream made her shiver inside; she could only pray that some day she could summon up the courage to kiss Master Jerry that way for real. Mitigating her sense of smug superiority over her rivals Varri and Santrana was the fact that Jerry allowed her in his bedroll only because he still saw her as a little kid.

He muttered in his sleep, "Once she gets pumpin' its hard to make the hottie stop…"

Usagi turned over so she could watch his sleeping face. She gingerly took his arm, draped it over her back and then snuggled back into his warmth. Wasn't that a lyric from one of rhythmic chants he favored? She thought he said it was penned by a bard named Elel Cool Jay. Still feeling out of sorts she took the glossy pin off her cloak and looked at it glinting in the moonlight. Right after they had set off for the long road leading to the far flung country of Q'ten Lo, Jerry had gifted his steadfast harekin a strange caricature of a blue-eyed human girl with long blond hair in paired sidetails. Her outfit consisted of a revealing costume with a blue pleated skirt, a short white and blue shirt with a red bow, red boots, arm length white gloves and a golden chevron-shaped decoration in her hair. Apparently this girl named Usagi Tsukino AKA Sailor Moon was the inspiration for her name. She smiled slightly as she pinned the adornment back on her garment, and resolved to be just as heroic as this girl that Master seemed to regard with such reverence.

Jerry sighed softly and pulled his Mage into a tight embrace. His eyes fluttered open and in a flustered panic he rolled awkwardly out of his outdoor bed. He groaned as he sat up as his side had hit a sharp rock.

Usagi stood up and calmly wrote on her pad, Are you all right, Master?

Jeremiah scrambled to throw on his glasses as he took stock of the girl he knew so well and yet apparently didn't know at all. He shook his head vigorously in shock as he glanced at her altered appearance. When had that cute little rabbit girl gotten so tall…and curvy? He stammered, "U-Usagi…is there something y-you want to tell me?"

Her sky blue eyes regarded him with the utmost seriousness as she scribed, About my growth spurt?

Ugh, he thought as he felt thoroughly mortified. Apparently his devoted follower was racing through puberty at warp speed. His cheeks burned as he sighed, "Yeah. Is this…normal?"

Yes, Master Jerry. The children of the beast clans can rapidly grow into adulthood if they gain combat experience. It is increased by a factor of ten to a hundredfold if they are aligned with a Cardinal Hero.

The dark-skinned young man chuckled weakly, "So I guess Naofumi is in for a shock with Raphtalia too?"

She nodded curtly to indicate that he was correct in his conjecture.

Jerry rubbed his face in exasperation and murmured, "Shit."

An unexpected perky and loud voice made Jerry flinch, "Good morning, Mister J!"

He turned to face his spirited pink-haired foxkin follower, "Hi, Santrana. Next time please give me a little warning before you sneak up on me."

Her red eyes sparkled with amusement as she enjoyed his flustered reaction, and Usagi's slightly clenched hands that telegraphed her jealousy. She pulled her grey cloak tighter around her chilled body as she detested colder climates. She abruptly became serious again as she noted, "Fog bank is rolling in. We'd best be on our way as we are very close to the first terrorized village."

The Sword Hero stretched out and squeezed both Santrana's and Usagi's shoulder for reassurance, and tried to sound confident, "We've got this, ladies. Let's move out."

All three soon rolled up their bedrolls donned their backpacks and shoulder bags and moved down the road. As always the Spear Warrior Varri slept apart from them and walked a dozen paces ahead with her halberd resting on her shoulder. Since she came back into his service Jerry had been deeply worried about her mental state. Ever since she had rejoined his service, she had isolated herself from her fellow warriors. She slept apart from the rest of the group, ate her cold rations alone, and walked with slumped shoulders as if she was looking was seeking out a premature end to her life.

Well he wasn't going to take that lying down. He huffed as he strode boldly forwards to catch up to his morose former guardsman and called out, "Varri!"

The silver-haired maiden looked back as her hero with a despondent expression in her green eyes. She stopped, sighed and obediently waited for Sir White to catch up.

"Enough with the crap, my friend," Jerry asserted with a deep frown. "Whatever happened to you does not change the fact that you are still a heroine of justice."

The tan-skinned warrior looked up at Jerry in surprise and slowly shook her head. She could not accept his kind but misguided sentiment as she softly retorted, "I'm…nothing now. I'm just a hollow shell only of use to cut down your enemies."

"Bull! You're still Varri and you're still my precious ally and friend. You were the first to stand at my side when I was a clueless newbie."

She dropped her gaze and lamented, "And I cravenly turned tail the moment the King and the First Princess turned on you."

Jerry's dark brown eyes flashed with passion, "You didn't have to come back to my side at all. You could have chosen to die in Lady Seymour's care. Yet you clearly underwent a radical transformation just so you could continue to fight the Waves." He gently touched her arm and smiled painfully, "You came back to me, Valeria. That must mean you still have some faith in both our mission and our bond."

Varri started to sniffle as tears started to run down her cheeks, "I…I'm not even human anymore. Lady Seymour fused my soul with the spirit of a dead Dryad to heal my mortal wounds. I am now an outcast from the church I believed in my entire life. Assuming I survive the Waves, Second Princess Melty will still never see me as a worthy person ever again." She sobbed, "You should see me as unworthy too. You're too damn kind, Sir Jeremiah."

He drew her into a firm hug and his eyes misted up as well, "Well yeah I am a soft-hearted fool. Back in the US, I lost a dear friend of mine in my RPG club only a few months ago due to cancer." He took a few shuddering breaths and tried to calm down, "Going to Mark's funeral was bad enough. I have no intention of attending another one. You are Varri, and you will always…" He choked up and cried with his ally.

Varri wiped at her tears and nodded as she finished his thought, "…be your friend." She smiled weakly. "All right. You win, boss. I still think I'm worthless, but I will fight for peace in this world with all my soul."

He smiled as he wordlessly gave her a comforting embrace and then released her. They silently walked along the stone-lined road together.

…

A few hours later they could see a cluster of lakeside homes in the pine trees barely visible through the hazy milky-white fog. Smoke curled from the chimneys but it was clear the small windows were hastily boarded up with planks of wood and no person could be seen at work well into the late morning. They walked past an idle sawmill and smithy which were utterly deserted.

Usagi urgently tugged on Jerry's ultramarine cloak, and passed him a note that urgently indicated, I smell blood.

"Oh God! Help me," came a terrified shriek as a huntsman ran for his life into the village square. He tried in vain to unlatch his front door just as a monster with a stocky body the size of a rhinocerous straight out of a D&D monster manual sourcebook bounded out of the mist with three scaled serpentine heads each filled with jagged teeth.

Jeremiah cursed as he unsheathed his Cardinal weapon and pointed the handsome black, silver and golden blade at the terrifying enemy. He barked, "Stop foul beast!"

The monster gleefully ignored the challenge as he snagged the hapless peasant by his collar and gleefully flung him bodily about ten paces into the nearby lake. Its left head giggled and roared in a strangely musical voice, "So…much…fun!"

With Master White's silent permission, Usagi chanted up her most potent spell, As source of my power I order thee…decipher the laws of nature and enact: Flechette! A flurry of 15 rock projectiles spat into the Hydra's side, most bouncing off the grey-green scales. A few of the jagged rocks stuck into its flesh enough to finally gain the attention of the hydra. Three pairs of faintly glowing slitted blue eyes focused on its new adversaries.

All three heads reflexively hissed and raised their iridescent frills arcing back from their foreheads and behind their jawlines. Red blood started to drip down its flanks from its puncture wounds. The left head snarled, "Rough 'em up!" The right head loudly sang, "Look at that, boys…play with more toys~!" The center head looked concerned and noted, "Wait! That's the Sword he-"

The party gaped as the beast argued with itself. However, the outer heads apparently outvoted the more cautious central head enough to goad it into action. The hydra charged straight at them, smashing an abandoned cart to kindling along the way.

"Air Pulse Sword," Jerry snapped and he instinctively used his blade to send a gale of air to shove his allies out of the path of danger. Fortunately for him, his follow up slash actually penetrated the beast's flesh; unfortunately for him, the left head clamped down on his right boot and flung him 50 feet into the top branches of a pine tree.

"Sir Jerry," Verri cried out in terror. She turned on the lumbering monster who was just starting to clumsily turn its squat dinosaur like body around. She angrily thrust her polearm into its side only for the speartip to neatly snap in two.

"Dumb," the left head taunted with a toothy smile as it used its tail to send Valeria flying into the wooden well framework, causing the wooden superstructure to crack from the impact.

Santrana nimbly dodged the right head's attempt to headbutt her, and incanted, "As source of my power I order thee…decipher the laws of nature and enact: Flame Whip!" A thin tendril of flame whipped around slapping into the left head, causing it immense pain as fire was one of a hydra's greatest weakness.

The center head spat out a gout of water bowling over the brave foxkin, and the torrent sent her down a mudslide into the lake. It looked abashed at its action as it muttered, "Sorry. No choice."

Usagi suddenly dispelled her invisibility spell from atop the roof of the smithy, and enacted her Flechette spell again, this time targeting the seared flesh from Santana's Flame Whip strike. Her attack was far more effective as the missiles burrowed deeply into the already damaged tissue.

The effect was immediate. All three heads howled with pain as in a blind rage, they rammed the open-framed building over, sending the delicate mage into an undignified crash onto the ground. They charged the now disabled harekin, but tendrils of thick vines and branches ensnared the beast's massive body.

All of the Sword Hero's party gaped as Varri spouted vegetation in place of her limbs as she anchored the hydra to the base of the well. Her left eye pulsed with an unearthly bright green light as she screamed, "Jerry, now!"

The Sword Hero screamed as he leapt out of the branches and bellowed, "Shooting Star Sword!" The blue gemstone strobed brightly and then a magical beam blasted the beast head over feet into the burning remnants of the forge.

The beast roared and lumbered out of the flames and doused the fires by plunging its body into the ice cold mountain lake.

The Fire Mage rushed over to Usagi's side and helped the injured girl with the broken arm back upright. Varri's vines dispelled in an instant as she groaned and wobbled to her feet. She noted, "That's going to sting in the morning."

Jerry panted out of breath as pine needles and sap decorated his frizzy hair. His still glowing sword was ready for another strike. He braced and started to power up another attack, but Usagi gently grasped his wrist with her delicate pale fingers. The glowing sword quickly went dark again.

The three heads breached out of the water and the center head bowed in respect, "Well done, Sword Hero." The burnt left head growled, "Ya got us." The right head winched in pain as it sang, "You beat us fair and square…lets have a rematch anywhere~!"

The Sword Hero blinked behind his thick glasses, "Wait, so you mean the battle is over? I thought you would fight to the death."

All three heads broke out into raucous laughter. The center head beamed as the beast limped ashore, "We were testing to see if you would be a worthy master."

"Plus we wanted to play…let's do this again someday~," the right head added cheerfully.

Jeremiah reluctantly raised his right hand and felt the hydra's center forehead press into his palm. His Status screen lit up, and displayed a new recruit, Indra-Level 23 Hydra Mount. He broke into a wary smile as he had not expected his day to end up quite like this.

…

After the battered party swigged healing potions Usagi's sensitive ears picked up a faint sound of music in the near distance. She walked into the mist with the rest of Sword Hero's party trailing behind to uncover to source of the whistling. Her blue eyes widened with shock at what she saw.

At the extreme north end of the village, sitting in the door of a ramshackle storage shed, a young man of about 20 or so attired in rags sat on a tree stump looking disappointed for still being alive. His face on the right side was horribly distorted from a mass growing out of his cheek and neck distorting his facial features to the point where it made the harekin sick to her stomach. The blond-haired youth gave a cheerful wave even though only the left side of his mouth could still form a smile.

Jerry blinked in shock for a second and then his medical knowledge smoothly kicked it, "Sir, what's your name?"

His only visible green eye not swallowed up by the tumor rolled in exasperation as he slurred, "Mhhhooohifffph."

Usagi offered her pen and notepad but the luckless villager simply shook his head sadly.

Varri noted somberly, "You can't read or write?"

"Yeaff," he replied vigorously.

A small child's voice piped up, "Big bro?" A flaxen haired lad of about 8 walked up to his sibling and offered a mug of warm soup with a wooden straw. He looked up at the Sword Hero's party with a look of complete and utter awe in his emerald eyes as his disabled sibling slurped down the broth.

Santrana giggled and ruffled up the youth's hair playfully, "You're such a good boy."

The Sword Hero gave a polite bow, "Heya there, kid. I'm Jerry. That's Santrana, Usagi, Varri and Indra. What's your name?"

"Malak Oakhewn, Sir Sword Hero." He looked up with a pleading expression up at the larger than life heroes, "C-can you help my brother Morif? H-he's an outcast because of his cursed face."

Jerry decided that it was time to put his medical skills to work. If his dream of becoming a surgeon in his hometown was forever dashed, maybe it just meant his skills need to be used here. "I can help Mister Oakhewn." He turned to the forlorn youth, "Morif, are you willing to risk a surgery to remove your tumor?"

He jumped up and gave the startled Hero a crushing hug.

Varri shook her head slowly, "I think that means a yes."

After consulting his texts on his tablet, Jeremiah confirmed the diagnosis was polyostotic fibrous dysplasia with a quick scan using his sword. Well at least it was benign, as disabling as it was. He pivoted to face the slumbering patient and traced over the contours of the tumor with a sharpie marker. At least Santrana had been able to supply a sleeping draught to knock out the poor guy. There was no possibility for antiseptic conditions in this medieval realm so he made do with hand sanitizer and draping a blanket under the ceiling to prevent dust from falling down on his operation. His foxkin Mage seemed queasy about the prospect of seeing a human body cut open so she opted to look after the child Malik and the newly recruited hydra Indra.

Usagi gave a brief nod to indicate she was ready.

Varri carefully braced the head between her knees and spoke softly, "You can do this, Sir Jeremiah."

"Y-yeah. Let's start." His status screen lit up and after synching the sword crystal to his tablet, a new skill popped up, Sword Scapel. He nervously activated the skill and suddenly his fingers were tipped with razor sharp blades. With a smooth motion he began the incisions and started the arduous surgery. Varri physically kept the patient stable, and Usagi mopped Jerry's brow, mopped up blood, and handed him surgical tools that had been boiled in water. Several hours later he had completely excised the distorting fleshy masses and grafted in coral substritutes to replace the destroyed cheekbone and lower eye socket. He would have to thank Miss Corsac later for donating her coral rock that she had in her eclectic collection. His final action was to suture the tissue layers closed with magical staples that promised to dispel on their own after a month.

Although his face would be puffy for awhile and the glowing staples would permanently scar his jawline, it was still a remarkable transformation. Jerry puffed with pride at his work. After dispelling his sword skill, he washed his hands and sighed in contentment. He opened the door and smiled to the wide-eyed little boy wrapped up in Santrana's excessively fluffy tail, "Your big bro is going to make a full recovery."

The lad gushed as he embraced Jerry around his waist, "Thanks Sword Hero! You're better than a hero! You're a super-hero!"

Jerry's beaming face quickly fell as he saw a smattering of 30 or so villagers gathered in front of him eyeing him warily.

A dignified man with a cane and snow white hair looked at the unassuming Sword Hero with concerned dark blue eyes. He bowed deeply and spoke in a deep baritone, "Sir Sword Hero, welcome to Klinok. I am Mayor Jorvan Oakhewn. We are beyond grateful that you tamed the rampaging hydra."

Varri's eyes narrowed as she muttered, "Nice job kicking out your disfigured son."

"Papa," the younger boy enthused as he raced out of the shed, "Big brother is all fixed up! The Sword super-hero saved him!"

The mayor looked agitated as he stroked his long beard, "I see…what would you wish as a boon?"

Jerry shook his head glumly as snapping at this villages' superstitions about disease would not accomplish anything meaningful. "Morif has a lot of healing up to do. Please take him back into your home."

The Mayor paled, but bowed obediently, "O-of course Sir Sword Hero. Now that you tamed the hydra, would you like to stay for a meal?"

Jerry crossed his arms in irritation and snorted in disgust, but a light tap from Usagi's palm on his wrist made him look up into her solemn blue eyes. He sighed unhappily and noted, "Hospitality is sacred, right?"

She gave a simple nod and took a step back behind her master.

"Fine. We accept."

…

A few hours later the village sat in a circle around a large cooking fire that was down to red hot coals. Despite the hamlet only containing a hundred or so souls, they had gone through a lot of effort to cook up as fancy feast as they could muster with their meager resources. The party was fed bread, cheese, and fish stew mixed with root vegetables; only Indra the Hydra opted to eat the fish raw. The locals had even put on a reenactment of some of the heroic deeds of the past Sword Hero.

Varri's eyes grew very large as she saw the villager playing the role of her famous great-grandfather was wearing an olive colored Great Patriotic war era Soviet foldable cap adorned with a red five pointed star. After the show was over she approached the young man and inquired after it.

Jeremiah finished his stew and asked the Mayor, "I'm curious. Did Vasily Kuznetsov really walk through this village a century ago?"

Mayor Oakhewn chuckled in soft amusement, "He is the reason this village exists. Why do think this place is called Klinok or 'the blade'? The last Sword Hero and his retinue brought down an evil red dragon right in this spot. The explosion created a crater that later became Lake Krasnydrakon. My grandfather as a boy no older than you saw Sword Hero Kuznetsov with his own eyes. He gestured to his wife who brought out a mysterious parcel wrapped in a dark cloth. The Mayor unwrapped a small box with Cyrillic letters on it and reverently handed it over to the new Sword Hero. He smiled, 'Here. He would have wanted his successor to have this. Especially considering his great-granddaughter serves as your spear."

He replied in a subdued voice, "Thank you." Jerry hoped that this village had learned its lesson on treating others with more kindness. He took the box, opened it and started to chuckle over the sight of its contents. He looked over to his Spear Warrior and called out, "Hey Varri! Do you still have that revolver on you?"

Varri walked back with a replica of her great-grandfather's cap with a satisfied expression, "Master Jerry look what I just…"

Jerry stood up and beamed as he pointed to her rutsack.

She took out a cloth wrapped parcel which revealed an exquisitely maintained Nagant M1895 seven-barreled revolver. She inquired, "Are those brass capsules for his firearm?"

After taking the revolver, he took out a single 7.62x38mmR bullet out of the box and inserted it into the chamber. A message in red lettering flashed across his status screen that indicated, Warning, weapons conflict! He smiled to the crowd as he handed the revolver back to Valeria and they walked safely out of range of hitting any people.

She took aim at a nearby emptied berry wine barrel as her friend called out, "Cover your ears, everyone!"

Everyone complied as she leveled the antique weapon and fired on the hapless wooden vat.

Much to The Sword Hero's shock, the gun recoiled piercing the barrel cleanly though but the noise sounded surprisingly subdued.

She broke open the seven chambered cylinder and removed the smoking brass cartridge. She closed up the weapon again and returned the spent casing to Jerry.

He handed Varri the ammo box and urged, "Put this to good use."

She looked at her famous ancestor's gun and hat and nodded fiercely with teary eyes, "I-I will, Sir Sword Hero."

He looked down at young Malik Oakhewn and handed the still warm brass jacket to the boy.

"Thanks mister super-hero," the awed lad gushed.

A sound of clapping drew everyone's attention to the sight of a hulking Amazon standing on the outskirts of town.

Mayor Oakhewn gasped, "By the Three Hero's God! T-that's the other demon terrorizing this forest! The monster that has been cutting people into pieces!"

A booming voice echoed through the camp, "Hey poop-brain! Me only hack baddies into pulp!" She strode into the firelight and grinned toothily at the petrified villagers.

Indra leapt up and ran over to her like an enthusiastic and oversized retriever and covered her with adoring licks with all three heads.

"Haha! You like biggie dog, Indra!" The Beserker was so fearsome looking that even the Sword Hero instinctively took a step back as he took in the sight of the woman who had been attacking and mutilating cutthroats and brigands ever since the First Wave. She towered over everyone at the clearing at well past six feet tall. Her appearance was so wild looking that Jerry initially thought she was a half monster instead of human. She was tall with pale skin covered with scars, possessed piercing blood red eyes and ashen grey hair tied in messy dreadlocks. Her physique was well developed under her black armor and worn fabric underneath along with black gauntlets, brown baggy pants held up with a chain belt. Glinting off her neck was a golden cross composed of all four Cardinal weapons. Her fearsome face was covered in tribal red tattoos and was partly obscured by a headdress composed of rope and Filolial feathers. She pointed to Jerry and giggled, "Hey Boss blue-pointy-stick! Me Razskull! You. Me. Fight!"

God help me, Jerry thought as he leveled his blade. He would do everything he could to protect this village and his precious followers as his three female companions stood defiantly by his side. Getting tossed up in a pine tree was going to be a vacation compared to this duel.