Uta-san and her party proved invaluable. Sure, having another Hero meant Sonya couldn't level up. She had reached Level 30. So that was fine. But Things were getting worse. The main body of invading trolls had grown. The encampment they found was not the main force. The main force had arrived from farther north somewhere. Worse still, Sioc had received a blow to the head, and even though he had been fully healed, he was still unconscious.

This had made Siorradh furious. Of course she killed the offender, but not much else. Sonya had almost lost her when the trolls had converged on Siorradh's position. She had jumped the wall and moat to kill the troll... Sonya had barely made it and was not quite able drag her back unscathed. But she was able to heal herself... Which had left her exhausted.

Uta-san was now sitting at a table with her looking concerned. Everyone was worse for wear. A few people had died. Something that had clearly rattled the shield maiden. "Brinte-san. I think we should make a retreat now." The bow hero said.

The statement sunk deep into the shield maiden's heart. She didn't want to give up. But these odds. She was about to reply when the sound of horns bellowed in the distance. War drums thundered. She frowned even more. "I don't think we can anymore." She said standing up and exiting the nearly demolished room.

Giants. Giants had been lobbing boulders like trebuchets. Not enough to destroy their palisade. She had asked the dwarves and mole men to reinforce them with a hill of earth behind them. The rocks simply bounced off of them at this point. But she also asked for little ports for archers and gunners to shoot out of to be made in enough intervals to not compromise the wall's strength. This was the only reason why they were not being over whelmed right now. Because they ran out of ammo a while ago. But magic was in abundance at least. And so were stones to lob back. More stones than magic unfortunately.

But now she could see from one of the port holes, a large army of trolls, cyclopes, and giants making their way to the village's moat. She closed the port shutter when a slew of arrows made their way down. She closed her eyes and waited, wishing more help would come.

/ "If I help you, what will I get?" / A male voice asked.

"What do you want?" She asked.

/ "I don't even know. But I want never the less." / The voice replied.

"At this point, I don't care what it is you ask for then. Please help." Sonya pleaded.

/ "Okay. I'll be outside in a bit." / The male voice said.

The trolls stopped outside of the ditch. She waited a few moments before climbing the embankment to stand above the palisade. It was a little intimidating seeing giants staring her in the face, and some still looking down at her. The dwarves had made the walls high enough to make it difficult for even them to climb without getting their feet stabbed. But they could easily climb the walls if the ditch full of spikes were not there.

"Human b$%^&, give up now. We will take this little wood house and the fodder you have and maybe if you behave, let you be our play thing." A gaudy dressed troll larger then even some of the giants said something of that nature. She really didn't want to listen. It reminded her of the words of that old man. She scowled at them.

"Go screw off and die already. I am not giving you miserable curs squat. I'd rather cut your things off and burn them in a tar fire." She replied.

The troll king? Or perhaps just a general... She assumed some kind of nobility that was who he was by the gold jewelry and skulls he adorned himself with. He only grinned as he picked up what looked like a javelin. A javelin the size of a pine tree. He drew it back to throw it when Sonya heard a loud shriek coming from above. The troll king paused to look up. And then an explosion.

-
Falling from the sky was not a new sensation for him. Falling through this sky wasn't either. He contemplated the strangeness though. Knowing what world he was in because of the way he was falling. And then there was the deal. Did he really want to agree to this? To go back to this world? To help this girl? He didn't know. Not really. But here he was falling from the sky. He had jumped through a portal and wasn't even aware of where the ground was. He just contemplated these things as he fell.

He wondered now. He was going to die when he hit the ground. Wasn't he? He closed his eyes and waited for the impact. Accepting the fact as an inevitability of his poor planing. The idea scared him but he was moving too fast for that fear to really take hold. So closed eyes and accepting his fate was the last thing he did before he met the surface.

Fortunately for him, he hit something softer than dirt and more giving. Sturdy enough to slow his fall but soft enough to cushion. He landed on an ogre. A really big ogre with expensive jewelry. This left Fain covered in blood amongst other things.

Ah. His attire changed. And so did his armor. He was wearing a bird skull helmet and a cloak with dark blue feathers woven into the collar. The feathers of a Thunderbird. He had forgotten about his loadout in this world. Of his status here.

"Tormán Gob." Fain said calmly holding his right arm out.

It appeared. A staff of a dark brown wood with what looked like an iron gray beak. On the reverse were hooks that almost resembled talons. He used it to stand up and leaned on it as several ogres surrounded what had been their general. Fain wore a black set of robes under the cloak with a blue sash and brown low coat boots that came to his ankle. His fiery red hair flowed freely out his helm.

He looked behind him. A village fortified with earth and wood was at his back. A woman in a gray dress and a shield. He gazed up at her. She's the new shield hero?

"..." He looked away from her to the ogres that cautiously approached. "Witch fire, self purify." He barked.

Green fire mixed with black engulfed him and burned away the filth off of and around him. The dead carcass burned to ash.

He stared at the army in front of him and walked towards them slowly. "Lets make a deal. I'll let you all live if you start running that way in as disorderly a fashion as you please." He said.

A giant was not so keen on his offer. He wound up arm and swung to smash Fain like a nail into the ground. "Aegis." He sighed as he widened his stance.

The large tree of a club broke on him as he stood his ground. He glared at the offending giant. And then he was gone. He reappeared with the beak of his weapon and part of the staff embedded into the giants forehead. A wet crack followed soon after. The force caused the giant to fall backwards as he died. Then silence.

The army backed away. The smell of seared flesh wafted the air as Fain pumped magic into his weapon. Electricity sparked its length. The dead giant convulsed until the weapon was pried from its cranium. The teenager began to walk towards the army who parted to let to let him through. "I see. You all have a boss. I'll have a chat with em." Fain said.

He walked further through the parting army until he stood before an oni with skin as dark as obsidian and horns as white as pearls. His hair was as fiery red as Fain's and eyes were blood red irises. He smirked and considered Fain for a moment.

"I'd like you and your underlings to leave now." Fain said calmly. The oni smirked, hefted a metal kanabo that was long as the oni was tall. He swung it once and rent the air asunder. "For now." The oni said and pointed towards the expanding rift.

Soon, it closed. Soon, the army all gone. All but the dead.

"Well. Now I am stuck here." Fain said with a sigh. Should he be upset that the shield hero was this weak?

Sonya blinked. Dust. Dirt. A cloud of debris kept what just happened from being visible. She waited. Was it Merlomark's army? The Spear or Sword Hero? The Sword hero or Melromark's army? She would prefer not to see the spear guy coming to the rescue. Like he would be much help anyways. She looked around. Nope. Nothing for miles other than the troll army looking like a bunch of confused idiots with a kid dressed in a creepy bird outfit standing in a crater with a dead body of the offending troll almost exploded around the crater. She watched as a scythe like weapon appeared in the kids hand.

"Oh good. It isn't the spear guy." Sonya said sighing in relief. She watched as the kid used fire to clean himself up and listened to his offer. The look he gave her didn't settle well with her. And then she paled. A giant swung a club at the kid, but he didn't dodge. Instead... It.. Shattered?

She blinked. It happened that fast. The Giant was knocked down that fast, and dead. She almost wretched when she smelt the meat being cooked around the weapon's beak. She understood now. This kid was a monster of an entirely different level. He disappeared into the distance, behind the enemy line who seemed to be backing away from him. And soon... The army was retreating through some kind of rift.

He was soon back glaring at her. The scythe in his hands disappeared, the cloak and helmet disappeared. And for a brief moment, so did he. Sonya fell backwards when a boy with red hair and pale green eyes was at eye level with her. "Gyah!" She yelped and fell backwards. "Well, you're a bit more flighty then I remember the last shield hero was. Well, Then again... He wasn't exactly new to his job." The boy said as he hopped up onto the top of the battlements to sit between their makeshift crenelations.

Sonya now had a better look at him. His hair was down to his shoulder's and braided in the front to pull his bangs out of his face, the rest of his hair was left to grow freely. Upon his head was a pair of pointy dog... Fox ears? Or perhaps cat? No, definitely fox ears. His tail behind him looked like that of a fox's... He wore a simple black robe and around his neck was a pale green ribbon that a yellow orb that was hanging from it with silver wires wrapping around it. The orb itself was about as big as the kid's eyes.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"Fain." He answered simply.

Sonya blinked. "You're a demi-human?" She asked.

"Nope." Fain answered simply.

Sonya looked at him suspiciously. "But-"

"Nope. I'm not human, nor am I demi-human. I'm not a monster, demon, nor beast. I am not machine, cyborg, nor android. I am not a god, nor half god, nor immortal. A lot of things I am not." Fain said calmly looking at her miffed.

"Then what are you?" Sonya asked.

Fain's tail swished to one side as he titled his head. An ear flatted as he thought about it. "A person for starters. Other than that? Something close to a living doll I suppose. Or maybe an amalgamation. I am what is called an A.B.S.U.I.L. An 'Autonomous Bipedal Surveying multi-Universal Item Liberator.' Absuil for short."

"You sound like a thief then." Sonya said with her eyes narrowed.

"I kind of am, even though I don't have any particular standing orders of operations. I survive and collect items. Stealing is morally repugnant to me so I don't do it. Although I do tend to take items from other worlds with me... Well, technically I am stealing them in that sense. But then again... I can only take items of worlds I have dominated. Which is my dilemma with this one." Fain rambled. "I can not nor will not if I could. So I can't take items here and I have been forbidden to bring most of my load out here. So what I collected is what I have."

Sonya stared at him. This kid was weird. to much important information. First things first. "So you are a living doll?" She backtracked.

"Yes. I suppose. Although this form basically functions identical to a human's. This body has different capabilities due to the differences in anatomy. I can see, hear, and smell a little better than most humans." Fain said. "I'm going to get off of this now. I feel splinters are poking into my butt right now. It is unpleasant."

Siorradh came to help Sonya up. She looked over at Fain warily. She had watched from another porthole and seen what he was capable of. She watched as he gingerly climbed up and off the crenelations and onto their makeshift walkway of their battlements. It was somewhat frustrating to see a boy like him dealing with an army by himself that they had fought desperately and were loosing.

He stared up at the two women in front of him. He was a bit short in comparison. He must have been in his early teens. "Well then. Lets go treat the injured and raise the dead." Fain said and hopped down from the battlements. Was he serious?

He was serious. There were actually potions in this world that could do such things. " If they recently died then their souls can return. Otherwise they are lost for good. Certain spells can also make it impossible to raise. And too much damage can too. I've seen it fail..."

"Anyways, making these potions are expensive. I have a lot of them though so I'll use some for now. But we will have to be sparing of them." He said and pored one onto Sioc's face.

The young wolf man sputtered. Sonya watched as the boy and the wolf man's eye's met. Pale green to icy blue. One immediately being glared at by the other who gave an uncaring gaze back. Fain simply rolled his eyes and went to treating other people.

"Why don't you use magic?" Sonya asked.

"I can't in this world. Healing magic anyways. My affinity is mostly combat based and plant based. It is a broad spectrum really. But healing magic is beyond me. Always has been. So I use items." Fain said simply. "This jewel around my neck lets me use my Item magic... But I can't access my full load out. So I am limited to things I obtained from this world. Though. I already explained that."

Siorradh huffed. "What level are you anyways?" She asked.

"40. Several times actually. I decided not to class up. For now. But that doesn't stop me from stacking my stats from leveling up over and over again." Fain said simply.

Sonya sent him an invite which he paused to look at and accepted. He soon gave an exasperated sigh. "No wonder." He said with a frown. "I'll assume you haven't been in this world for very long. Of course those lard bags would give you a tough time."

Sonya was not sure how to respond. " I have only been in the world for about two months." She said.

"I see. There is only three of you. That won't do. Well, I should say, you don't have a monster on your team, so that won't do." Fain said.

"Aren't you some kind of monster?" The cat woman asked with open hostility.

"Nope. I'm just status stacked many times over. I worked hard to get this strong. Anyways, how long until the next wave?" He asked.

"A few days in Siltvelt." Sonya said.

Fain cringed. " I can get us there right now... But... Well, If you only been here since the second wave then things should be fine. It will be a little tough."

"Then why did you cringe." Sioc asked.

"I don't like Siltvelt." Fain replied.