Armory of the Forgotten Hero

by Masked Spider

The legend goes that there are four cardinal heroes. But fact and fable are often twisted in the land of Melromarc, while others are left out completely. One such fact is that there is actually another hero, the Armory hero, who doesn't wield a primary weapon. But the world will soon remember as Darius Saxon is called to remind the people that there aren't four heroes, but five.

57. Hearts Not Suited

Hearts Not Suited

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of the Armory of the Forgotten Hero! It's actually been a good day as this is the second story chapter I've gotten out today. The new chapter of Spiral Flames in Lugnica was the first. That should mean I'm droppin' a pretty good chapter here, but as always I'll leave that up to you to decide. And don't forget to check out my book, Plains Riders, on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited! And one last thing, to answer fellow reader, Monster Hunter's, question, no, Fitoria and Darius did not have sex, they were just sleeping/cuddling together. Now then, with that all said and done, on to the story!

The Country of Label: Central City

"GO AWAY YOU MEAN KITTY!" Filo yelled as she evaded the large Byakko clone trying to pounce on her, "Filo doesn't taste good and she's not full-sized yet!" Naturally the only response she got to that was the large white tiger roaring as it continued to pursue her from one rooftop to the next. Admittedly Filo could've flown high and out of its grasp but that might mean losing sight of Naofumi and the others. Though getting eaten would put an even worse damper on that issue.

So instead she tried diving down between two buildings, doing her best to maneuver despite her inexperience at flying. The Byakko clone, however, managed to get ahead of her and land at the end of the alley. Filo almost panicked and moved to fly upwards, that is until a large serpentine figure slammed into the white tiger monster, its jaws clamping down on the beast's throat while tackling it to the ground. A resounding crunch was heard after that as Filo flew up to another nearby roof to get a good look at the new arrival.

It was an azure dragon but instead of having winged arms it had four shorter arms and legs along with a snake-like body and dragonic head. Or at least it did until a puff of smoke suddenly engulfed it. "Hahahaha," the familiar laugh of Johann came as the grinning dragon boy now stood atop the byakko clone's dead body, "that's right, dragons are the apex predators no matter what world we're in!"

"Johann," Filo said in surprise as she transformed back into her human form, "when did you get here?"

"Just a little while ago," he replied, "and in time to save your small fry self. What happened, is that as big as your species can get in this world?"

"I've barely had the chance to level up you stupid dragon!" Filo exclaimed, "and are you even still a dragon in this world?!" Johann smiled while pointing a thumb towards himself.

"Yep, Johann the storm dragon," he said with a grin, "but hey, since you're here that means Naofumi and the boss are close by, right?"

"Master and Darius are just over this way," Filo replied before transforming again and taking flight, "follow me!" Johann complied, changing into his dragon form to fly after her. Not far away from that, Kizuna and Rishia had their hands full holding off the Byakko tigers.

"Why are there so many of these things?!" Rishia exclaimed as she blasted one back with wind magic, "they just keep coming!"

"That Kazuki guy probably made a small army of these things," Kizuna replied while cutting down another three tigers, "and unfortunately the smell of blood is likely what's attracted all of them here." She moved and decapitated another pouncing tiger before turning and splitting another's head down the middle. The Hunting Hero then turned, ready to use a horizontal cut until she found her sword trapped in the jaws of another Byakko. This proved to be more annoying than lethal, or so Kizuna thought as she slashed off the tiger's head from the bottom jaw up. But no sooner had she done that then another trio of tigers rushed her from behind, taking advantage of her momentary lapse in movement.

Rishia was too busy dealing with another pair of byakko's to help her so Kizuna tried to turn around for another horizontal cut. But it didn't seem like shed' be fast enough until all three tigers were suddenly cut to pieces by several yellow energy slashes. "Kizuna," came a voice that the Hunting Hero would recognize anywhere, "I finally found you." The Fan Hero and the Hunting Hero were finally standing back to back again, ready to face the latest challenge.

Much the same could be said of the Shield and Armory Heroes as they stood next to their companions, once again having to deal with the so-called genius, Kazuki. "I should've known you were all in league," Kazuki spat, "first you holy heroes make a mess of things at the dragon's hourglass in Mikakage and then have your subordinates steal the vassal katana."

"Heh, steal," Naofumi repeated mockingly, "it's obvious what happened here. The vassal katana wasn't stolen it chose Raphtalia over you at the katana selection that was being held here, didn't it. Anyone that knows her would say it made a wise choice, especially given the competition."

"Like you know anything," Kazuki retorted, "that katana belongs to this country and more importantly it's my key to even greater heights."

"I doubt Kyo is gonna let you both be equal partners if you do something like that," Darius pointed out, "and try listening for a change. Anyone who knows how holy and vassal weapons work knows that once they chose a wielder, they stay stuck with them for life."

"Kyo's just an obstacle now," the so-called genius revealed, "one I intend to remove once I have the vassal katana. So your friend's life, is gonna have to end now!" He rushed forward, drawing his own katana as he did so before his blade clashed with Naofumi's shield.

"If the vassal katana didn't choose you before," the Shield Hero grunted, "it won't choose you now even if you do take Raphtalia's life. But you're not laying a hand on her now or ever!" He sent Kazuki flying back then with the energy of his cardinal weapon. The villain landed and slid back several feet before having to steady himself with his hand.

"It seems you're going to be a thorn in my side one way or the other," Kazuki said as he raised his hands into the air. Several fireballs were summoned in a swirling formation, all of them aimed at the four individuals in front of him. "And if that's the case, the DIE!" Naofumi narrowed his eyes as he took a defensive stance the moment the fireballs were let loose. To his surprise, however, Raphtalia stepped forward with a hand in front of him.

"Please, leave this to me," she requested before leaping towards the onslaught with her blade moving in a circular motion. "Crescent Moon Slash!" The blade flashed as the katana moved at high speed, releasing a bright crescent-shaped light that extinguished every last one of the fireballs by the time Raphtalia landed. She pointed her blade towards Kazuki next. "This battle is between the two of us now."

"Raphtalia, don't try to take-," the cardinal hero started to say before several white tigers jumped at them. But as quickly as they rose they were swatted away by Rifana spinning in the air and swinging her kanabo club.

"She might be a little new to that weapon but she can handle herself," Rifana stated, "the rest of us should focus on making sure no one interferes with her."

"We can do that," Darius said as he summoned his mask and a metallic three-section staff, "now let's give this thing a whirl, Tsuchikumo!" He twirled the weapon over his head, putting mana into it as the strange symbols on it began to glow. "Only fair to warn everyone, I barely know how to use this thing!" The Armory Hero swung it at one of the approaching samurai then, clashing the weapon against the naginata and breaking through it with enough force left over to send the soldier flying.

'So that's how this thing works,' he realized upon noting what appeared to be black smoke emanating from the other end, 'one side is earth magic to increase impact force, while the other side is darkness magic for hiding the movements of the weapon.' Something that came in great handy considering Darius's lack of experience with the new tool. As more soldiers approached, he continued to swing and twirl Tsuchikumo with as much skill as he could muster, shrouding himself in a dark cloud before swinging and knocking away any and all enemies that approached.

Adding on to that, Rifana was used to the presence of darkness magic thanks to training with Raphtalia and could fight effectively even when the cloud was at its thickest, allowing her to send even more soldiers and a few byakko flying. As for Naofumi, he did what he did best and repulsed attack after attack with his shield, airstrike shields and his meteor shield. He even scared off some of the weaker soldiers with the intimidation power of his Nue shield. It had no effect on the byakko, however, as four of them managed to get through the onslaught that was Darius and Rifana.

As they tried to pounce on the Shield Hero, though, multiple small lightning strikes came down and fried them. It was an attack Naofumi instantly recognized as Thunderbolt Wheel Swing. "Yo kiddo," L'arc said from a nearby rooftop with Therese standing next to him, "seems like you're doing surprisingly well considering the situation."

"And Raphtalia is already mastering that katana," Therese observed, "though I shouldn't be surprised given the skills she's demonstrated so far."

"L'arc, Therese," Naofumi said in mild surprise, "so you guys were here with Glass after all."

"That is correct," affirmed the voice of the vassal fan holder as the building next to L'arc and Therese was suddenly torn apart by a violent wind, revealing her to be on the second floor. "And though it is strange for me to say this, I should be thanking you."

"You got that right," Kizuna said as she leapt up and hugged Glass from behind while also making a peace sign with her other hand, "I was finally able to meet Glass again!"

"Don't forget about us!" Rishia Exclaimed as she came running in with Johann, Filo and Raph-chan behind her. The Filolial and Shikigami leapt into the Shield Hero's arms while the dragon boy shot straight for the Armory Hero.

"BOOOOSSS!" Cheered Johann as he tackle-hugged Darius almost hard enough to knock him over, "thank goodness you're okay! I got some awesome stuff to show you!"

"I'm certain," the Armory Hero replied as he hugged Johann back, "but the majority of it is gonna have to wait."

"Yeah," Rishia said, "we kinda brought the rest of the soldiers and tigers here."

"No worries," L'arc said as he, Therese, Glass, and Kizuna all leapt down to join the fray, "both of our parties together, we got this!"

"Are you serious right now," Kazuki seethed as he was knocked back, again, by Raphtalia, "the rest of you were still running around? That's it, I'll pay a substantial reward for every one of their heads you all bring me, so stop playing around and KILL THEM ALREADY!" His 'rousing' speech seemed to encourage whatever soldiers who'd been hesitating to engage the powerful threats along with the remaining white tigers and even his two guards.

"Darius, Glass, cover me," Kizuna said as she moved to the center of the street, switching to her fishing pole. Meanwhile L'arc and Rifana traded blows with Kazuki's guards while the others fended off the soldiers and Byakkos. "Here goes, everyone down!" The Hunting Hero leapt up then, slinging the line of her fishing pole out like a whip in a circular motion. It moved at incredible speed with the lure striking white tiger, soldier, guard and even Kazuki himself. "Now have at it!"

None of them needed to be told twice as they continued to engage the enemy. Rishia blasted multiple soldiers a surprising distance with water magic while Therese and Johann fried several Byakko with blue flames. Glass and Kizuna effortlessly cut down any beast that dared approach them while Filo kicked away one enemy after another. "Wow this is great," cheered the bird girl, "Filo's punches and kicks are working again!"

Surprisingly, even the seemingly low damage of Naofumi's airstrike shields was hitting a lot harder. "This is the result of that ability from earlier, isn't it?"

"Yep," Kizuna affirmed while seamlessly slicing through more byakko, "that's my ability 'lure needle'. It doubles the next damage the target takes meaning even minor attacks can really hurt. Just be sure to take 'em out in more or less one hit, though, because the effect only lasts for one attack."

"Then we'd best wrap this up quick," L'arc said as he succeeded in getting a powerful kick under the arm of the pigtailed guard, sending her flying into a nearby building. Rifana, likewise, hit her opponent with enough force to send them into the second floor. The guard girl was lucky she'd blocked the attack or she would've definitely died from such a hit.

"I guess that means it's a good time to test this weapon then," Darius stated as he swapped out Tsuchikumo for the katana with white tags on its sheath and handle. He summoned the power of his mask then while taking a stance towards the largest group of attackers. "Here goes, High Quick." The Armory Hero seemed to duplicate then as his form moved quickly through the crowd, his blade flashing every so often as it found its target.

He stopped at the other end of the enemy mob then with his sword held in both hands. "Blast Fang: Immolation," the cardinal hero said in an even voice as he wrapped his right wrist on the handle of his sword. Numerous small explosions erupted from his opponents then, all of them originating from a cut he'd inflicted. The result of so many culminated into an even larger explosion, the force of which whipped the furls of Darius's vest around his frame as he slowly turned around.

"I," he said, "have never felt like more of a badass!" And just like that, his moment of coolness was over as Naofumi facepalmed.

"Well it was cool while it lasted," Kizuna commented as she and Glass finished up the remaining tigers. The rest of the group did likewise with the soldiers and were soon gathered together as Raphtalia disarmed Kazuki of his katana before going for his neck before, stopping only because of the sound of the Hunting Hero's voice. "Hold up a second Raphtalia, I want to speak to him for a moment." The raccoon girl nodded in understanding before withdrawing her blade and turned to go back towards the others when Kazuki raised his hand.

"Don't turn your back in battle you dumb-," he started to say before Raphtalia moved again. In what seemed like the blink of an eye she'd leapt back, turned while drawing her sword and slashed through the self-proclaimed genius as he stared forward, trying to process what had just happened. 'How did she get back there so quickly,' he thought, 'and this glowing cut, what did she do to me?'

"Instant Blade: Mist," Raphtalia explained as she swung her sword, throwing all the blood off of her blade before sheathing it, "I did my best to avoid killing you, but I greatly advise that you don't move until a healer arrives. If you do, you'll die." Kazuki looked like he wanted to turn his head as an expression between fear and rage decorated his features.

"Thank you," Kizuna said as the group walked up to the blue-haired man, "now, I think we can have something of a discussion."

"Discussion," Kazuki repeated, "are you planning on talking me to death now?"

"Well it is politics, so I can't promise it won't be a little boring," Kizuna admitted, "but what I really want is for our two countries to talk. As you probably heard I'm the Hunting Hero so I can act, to some degree, as a representative of the country of Sikul. And if that's not good enough you can talk to its king over there."

"Kizuna," L'arc exclaimed while holding a finger up to his lips, "you're supposed to keep that a secret when we're outside the kingdom."

"Oh, whoops," the Hunting Hero said, pretending to punch herself in the head with a goofy expression on her face, "my bad. What I meant to say was that the king of Sikul would definitely approve of me as a representative at this moment, right?"

"He would, he would," L'arc replied, "just hurry up and say what you need to say. There's no telling when more soldiers might show up."

"Right," the fishing girl chirped before turning back to Kazuki, "now then, first and foremost I want to clear up this whole mess. It was an accident and more than likely the vassal katana is gonna end up in our country for a while, so to avoid an international incident I plan on asking the ruler to give a formal apology first."

"Formal apology," Kazuki spat, "if you want to apologize then give me the vassal katana! Once it's mine I'll put in a good word with the king of Label. If he's in a good enough mood he might allow the rest of you safe passage."

"You know we can't do that even if we wanted too," Kizuna pointed out, "the vassal katana has chosen its master and won't be changing its mind any time soon. So instead, why don't you let us heal you and then you can tell us all about Kyo. Once that's done we can come up with a diplomatic solution that both of our countries can agree on."

"I don't need your pity," he growled, "I am the genius Kazuki! Something like this won't be enough to-SLICE!" Unfortunately for the self-proclaimed 'genius' he made the mistake of stepping forward while speaking along with getting a bit too animated with his hands. His movements proved to be too much for the condition of his body which suddenly fell in half. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

His screaming upper half ceased moving in short order as everyone either sighed or shook their heads. "You really shouldn't have wasted your time with him," Naofumi stated, "Trash #2 was just as arrogant and stupid as the Trash in our world."

"I'd ask you to choose a better name than 'Trash #2'," Glass commented, "but I doubt I'll even remember his regular name. There really wasn't much to him after all."

"Still, it's a shame having an honest discussion is so difficult sometimes," the Hunting Hero lamented while looking up at the sky. The smile returned to her face, though, as she turned to everyone. "But it's not all bad. Everyone's together now, so let's go home!" A murmur of agreements answered in reply to that as everyone turned to head towards the dragon's hourglass, though not before one more order of business was taken care of.

"You know," Rifana said to Darius, "with all the fighting I almost forgot about something."

"Oh yeah," the Armory Hero replied, "Can I guess what it is?" The weasel girl simply smiled in response before pulling him for a passionate kiss. Darius responded by pulling her close, their bodies practically conforming together as the two shared their first tender moment since coming to Glass's world.

"Come on," Johann groaned, "can't you save that for when we get out of here?"

"I think it's wonderful," Therese said while giggling a bit at the scene.

"Johann's right, though," Naofumi commented, "we really should be getting out of here before-huh?" His own protests were cut short as Raphtalia moved in and hugged him, a contented look on her face as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"We have time for this," the new katana hero hummed, "after all, we've returned, Master Naofumi."

"Y-Yeah," the shield hero replied, his feelings a jumbled mess now as he returned the hug, "welcome back Raphtalia. I missed you."

Later: Castle in the Country of Sikul

It would turn out that Darius and Naofumi weren't the only ones to get welcome back hugs and kisses. Glass gave Kizuna a big hug as soon as they returned to Sikul and an even bigger welcome was staged by the other nobles and servants in the castle. The mood quickly soured, though, when it was realized that there was still going to be an important discussion. One that Kizuna needed to have with Glass and the others.

Whether or not they were onboard with it was, questionable, at the moment. "You made an awfully big decision," Glass observed as she and Therese stood across from Kizuna, Naofumi and Darius. L'arc, the young master of the castle, had been called away for the time being while the rest of the two parties stood to the side. "A big decision without thinking to consult me or Therese or even Ethnobalt."

"We couldn't exactly do that with you guys in a whole other country," Kizuna pointed out, "and I wasn't about to let the guys in charge go at the people I owe for getting me out of the infinite labyrinth. But even putting all that aside and even if you all had been here my decision wouldn't have changed."

"I understand you have your doubts about what needs to be done to save our world," Glass said, "but you've also seen what those two are capable of. We may have a common enemy in Kyo Ethnina now, but what about after? A full alliance seems premature."

"What I saw is what those guys are willing to do to protect those that matter to them," the Hunting Hero retorted, "Naofumi and his friends aren't villains, in fact they didn't even know about this so-called 'hero-killing' rule we're apparently supposed to have until we told them. Even if they had known they don't have any available vassal heroes to send at us."

"What makes you think they were being truthful about that," Glass questioned, "they're clever, all of it could be a carefully concocted lie for their convenience."

"If we really had vassal heroes of our own don't you think we would've used them against Kyo," Naofumi pointed out, "truth is me, Darius and our parties are the greatest defense our world has right now. Our other three heroes are idiots and we only recently learned there are other heroes besides the cardinal heroes in our world. The only reason we're even able to be here right now is thanks to special permission from the Spirit Tortoise. As soon as we retrieve the stolen energy we'll probably be sent back to our world."

"See," Kizuna said, "their situation isn't so different from our own. Our other three holy heroes are lazy morons who won't do their jobs, you and L'arc are the only currently dependable vassal heroes and I was only able to enter their world with special permission from the dragon emperor core. It's all a gigantic mess with way too many things we don't know."

"But that's exactly the problem," Glass exclaimed before suddenly putting her hands on Kizuna's shoulders, "it's all a gigantic mess and going off to try and figure it out got you locked up in the infinite Labyrinth! And what if it turns out that heroes killing each other is the truest part of the Waves? Do you really think I could bear losing you again, and to those we want to call our comrades?!"

"Do you really think," Kizuna began with tears in her eyes, "that I, or L'arc or Therese want to bear the sight of you killing those we want to call our comrades? And don't pretend like it wouldn't hurt you too! I know you, Glass, you're resolute but you're also a kinder and gentler person than you let on. Don't pretend like it wouldn't break your heart now to kill my rescuers or that I'd be fine watching you put yourself through that!"

She completely broke down then, sobbing into Glass's kimono while the vassal hero hugged her for several moments before finally speaking again. "Alright, I understand," the fan hero relented, holding off her own tears, "if we can, we'll find a way to save both worlds. I'd hate to see you and the others sad, after all." The woman looked over at the other heroes then. "Do I have your word that you'll give your absolute best to help us find a solution to all of this?"

"So long as we have yours that you won't attack us during the Waves anymore," Darius replied, "we got enough problems to deal with in our world already."

"We can relate," Glass said with a nod, "and yes, you have our word."

"That'll have to be good enough for both of us then," Naofumi relented as he and Glass shook hands.

"Oh thank goodness," Therese sighed as she practically fell to the floor, "sorry, I was trying not to think about what we'd do once this was over. But I'm relieved now, that we won't have to go back to the way things were." In a way she spoke for all of them. It really was a relief that things would be different moving forward.

Nighttime: Kizuna's Big House

It didn't take long for word to get out about the return of Glass's group and the news of Kizuna's reappearance was naturally an even bigger deal. So even though it was the afternoon a banquet was very quickly thrown together as the entire capital of the kingdom celebrated the good news. Naturally Darius, Naofumi and their parties got swept up in the festivities with Johann and Filo enjoying the mass amount of free food, Rishia and Ethnobalt had quite a time swapping information, L'arc quickly got drunk while Therese did her best to keep him from doing something stupid, and Kizuna was paraded around on the shoulders of the other leaders while waving to the people.

As for Naofumi and Raphtalia, the Shield Hero did what he usually did at parties and found a quite corner before being quickly joined by the raccoon girl. Raphtalia managed to get a sheath for her sword so she could have her hands free to eat and feed Naofumi some food as well. Their moment of peace didn't last long, though, as said drunk L'arc popped by to encourage them to try dancing together. Much to their embarrassment. Then there was Darius and Rifana.

The couple had stuck around long enough for a little dancing and some of the good food, but then disappeared once it started going into the evening saying they wanted to tour Kizuna's place of residence. A tour that happened to have no guide whatsoever after they were shown where to go and that didn't make it past the first few rooms of the second floor. They'd get to them at some point, but right now Rifana was too busy yelling out in pleasure while climaxing on top of her boyfriend, her back arching as her mind went blank for several seconds, feeling only the pleasure of the moment before collapsing on top of Darius. "Oh yeah," she said breathlessly while resting her head on his chest, "that was worth the wait."

"About the only thing worth waiting on," the Armory Hero commented as he lightly rubbed her back with one hand while holding her with the other, "waiting to find out whether or not you and the others were okay, that was the worst part about this whole thing. My mind was all over the place, it was almost hard to think straight because of how worried I was."

"You were worried about me," Rifana almost laughed, "I was worried about you. Yeah I went through puberty a second time but even if I hadn't I was worried about you, angry that we all got separated, and just plain stressed out over the last few days. Not to mention very very horny. You have any idea how much self-control it took me to wait 'til now to do this instead of just dragging you into the nearest building the moment I saw you again?"

"Given how long we went at it once we had the chance, I'd say at least an incredible amount," Darius replied with a smile, "though I imagine I'm still estimating low."

"Definitely," Rifana purred while resting her chin on her arms to better look her boyfriend in the eye, "though as good as it was, we should try to avoid too many sessions of 'thank goodness you're not dead' sex."

"Unfortunately I see two more in my future," the Armory Hero remembered, "Figneria and Izumi are both probably in a similar state right now."

"Ugh," the demi-human girl groaned as she let her head fall on his chest again, "can we not talk about that right now? Figneria is fine but I'm still not certain it's a good idea for you to get intimate with Izumi….again."

"It is an admittedly different situation from you and Figneria," he agreed, "you both fell in love with Darius Saxon the Armory Hero, while she loves the Armory Hero whose name happens to be Darius Saxon. Or at least that's what she was raised to believe, so can you really dislike her for that?"

"I dislike her," Rifana replied without looking and holding up her fingers, "for one: trying to kill you on your first meeting, two: immediately switching gears and acting like you should just marry her right there, and three: not being able to dislike her more because we know she doesn't know any better. Topping all of that off, we can't just send her away because she's super useful, guaranteeing the cooperation of one of the strongest clans in Siltvelt, and generally seems like a nice person once you strip away all that clan obligation stuff."

"You worried if you get to know her better you'll feel obligated to let her spend time with me?" the university student asked.

"I'm worried that if we fully accept her it'll just encourage other nobles, royals, and powerful clans who have combat trained daughters to send them to you," Rifana explained, "I know I said I'd be okay if we added someone like Rishia or another girl we all get along with and Izumi fits the bill pretty well but come on, there has to be a limit. You've gotten really good at making a girl feel good but you can't be going at it all the time, that'll just ruin it for everyone."

"Well first off, glad to hear I've improved," Darius began while lightly massaging one of Rifana's weasel ears, getting a pleased hum out of her, "and second off, I do see what you're getting at. Figneria explained this was something we were gonna have to deal with at some point, so we need to figure out a way to discourage it. If we can't, best case scenario is we get more like Izumi. Worst case scenario, we get an absolute bitch who bullshitted her way through combat training."

"Ugh, it's a headache just thinking about it," Rifana groaned as she moved her head slightly so that it was right over her boyfriend's heart, "I'd rather lay here and memorize your heartbeat."

"Not sure you'll get an accurate read right now," Darius pointed out, "my heart rate's still pretty elevated."

"It's still the same beat, only faster," Rifana said, smiling with her eyes closed, "at least that's what mother used to tell me. She said everyone has their own specific heartbeat. Even the Shield Hero has different heartbeats because it's always someone different summoned. I wonder, though, are they similar in any way, the hearts of the heroes who are summoned?"

"We'd have to find a way to compare them," the Armory Hero stated, "though now that you bring up the Shield Hero, maybe we should talk to Naofumi and see if he can help with the situation. He'll be dealing with it soon enough too, but he's way better at saying no."

"Or the slightly more common 'piss off'," the weasel girl commented while trying not to laugh, "guess we'll need to reappear soon then." As if on cue, the door to Kizuna's house opened to admit multiple people, all of whom possessed familiar voices that were chatting away. "Or now, by the sound of it."

"Guess we'd better get cleaned up then," Darius admitted, "though I think I recall someone saying the main bathroom in this place is rather large." Rifana smiled mischievously, immediately catching his meaning.

A Few Minutes Later: Downstairs

"So you really made this accessory, Naofumi," Kizuna asked while examining a ring-like item with a jewel in the center.

"Yep, it's for my shield," he explained, "it's capable of granting an 'equip' effect. I've been meaning to look into some of the accessories in this place to see what I can come up with, especially for Filo. She still needs a little strength boost."

"Oh, could you make me one too!" Kizuna requested excitedly as she held up one of her lures, "my holy weapon works pretty well with accessories."

"If I have the time," Naofumi with a friendly smile before looking up towards the stairs, "and speaking of time, look who's finally shown back up."

"Surely I wasn't gone that terribly long," Darius replied, noting that it was just Naofumi and Kizuna sitting in front of the fire place right now as he took a seat on the couch across from the Shield Hero. The whole setup consisted of two couches and two chairs on the outside with a coffee table in the center. Kizuna was currently sitting in the chair next to Naofumi's couch.

"Two hours, at least," Naofumi pointed out, "and I mean two hours before sunset. It's almost the middle of the night now, so is Rifana passed out?"

"She's taking her time getting dressed," the cardinal hero informed, "she still has trouble putting that new outfit on herself but she told me to head down and let everyone know we're alive."

"Rishia already confirmed that," the Shield Hero said with a sigh, "the embarrassed look on her face said it all after she came back to tell us you were in the bathroom."

"Guess I owe two apologies then," Darius realized while rubbing the back of his head.

"Two apologies," Kizuna noted with a raised eyebrow, "what's the first apology?"

"Well, you're gonna need a new bed in that room," he revealed, "Because the current one did not survive the furniture test."

"Unbelievable," Naofumi groaned while rubbing the bridge of his nose, "We just got on good terms with everyone here, don't mess it up by breaking their stuff."

"You say that like it's easy," Darius almost laughed, "I'm willing to bet you and Raphtalia would break plenty of beds if you actually went at it. I'm personally surprised you haven't after everything that's happened, unless you were-."

"Gah, moving on now, moving on," the shield hero grunted in annoyance, "do we have any better subjects for making small talk?"

"Oh, I got one," Kizuna announced while holding up a finger, "I can actually ask you two about this. Is there a phrase or pose from an anime that you can't help but do whenever it comes up?"

"Are we talking favorites or just any time we've ever done something like that," the Armory Hero asked for clarification.

"Favorites," Kizuna answered before standing up in her chair, "here, I'll start: Mew Mew style, Mew Mew grace, Mew Mew power in your face!" She moved through a couple of swinging motions with her arms that wound up with her making cat paws in the air while smiling. "Even now I can't help but do this one."

"Oh yeah, Tokyo Mew Mew," Darius recalled, "should've figured they had it in your world."

"Yep," Kizuna said before dropping back down into her chair, "how about you guys, you got something?"

"I do have one," Darius offered as he got up, "it's not from an anime but it is from a well-known Japanese franchise. See if you can guess." He summoned a replica of Raphtalia's wolf sword before taking a two-handed stance. "With this, the truest sword in the galaxy," he shifted to a one-handed hold then, "I will right all wrongs."

"SPD!" Kizuna cheered while clapping, "that's shadow ranger from SPD!"

"Yeah that's him alright," Naofumi added before smirking, "it was hilarious, actually. He summoned that replica when we were doing a monster clean up near the village, said the line and everything. Johann and Keel thought it was the coolest thing ever and it took us a while to convince them that it wasn't a good idea to do poses midbattle."

"Oh really," the hunting hero said while quirking her eyebrows, "then why don't you tell us what phrase or pose you can't help but do then, Naofumi."

"I can't say I really have one," he replied while running a hand through his hair, "at least not one that I remember clearly."

"Oh don't be like that, Naofumi," the armory hero said while summoning a headband to his hand, "after all, you once told me how much you loved cosplaying as Domon Kasshu, remember?"

"Don't you fucking dare," the shield hero started to say before Darius leapt up.

"Answer me Naofumi!" He exclaimed, throwing the headband to his friend while striking a pose with a left jab, "the school of the undefeated of the east!"

"The winds of the king!" Naofumi responded while dramatically tightening the headband he'd been given.

"Zenshin! Keiretsu!" The two called out while exchanging a flurry of blows, "Tenpa Kyoran!" They clashed their left and right fists together then while holding their other hands up, mirroring each other's stances, "look! The east is burning red!" It was overdramatic but Darius couldn't help smiling. Naofumi had a look that was between embarrassed and 'you're going to pay for this'.

"Oh that was so awesome!" Kizuna squealed while clapping, "some of my old friends used to do that all the time!"

"It is a bit ridiculous but still a very memorable part of G Gundam," Darius said with a nod while returning to a normal standing position, "especially for Naofumi here."

"I am gonna put my foot so far up your ass," he seethed before noticing they had company, "Raphtalia, what did you see?"

"Enough to know we got blackmail," Rifana giggled as she stood next to Raphtalia on the stairs.

"I didn't know master was so dramatic," Filo commented, entering from the other entrance to the room with Johann and Glass.

"You mean you didn't know he could actually be entertaining," Johann joked before giving a thumbs up, "high marks, by the way."

"Gah, enough already," Naofumi groaned, "why's everyone suddenly coming into the room, anyway?"

"Johann and Filo said they detected a presence nearby," Glass explained, "They noticed an unfamiliar scent when the wind blew in the window."

"We did as well," Raphtalia added, "we happened to see someone coming up the path from the window in the upper floor."

"Heh, it happened sooner than I expected," Naofumi noted with a smirk, "and what perfect timing, I need to blow off some steam."

"Guess they heard about my escape from the infinite labyrinth," Kizuna surmised, "no way someone from Mikakage or Label would've gotten here in just a day, at least not traveling normally." A knock on the door came then as everyone exchanged looks. "Who is it?"

"Is this the home of the ones who possess the vassal weapons," came a female voice from the other side.

Darius and Naofumi glanced at one another before the armory hero answered. "Uh, nooooo," he said, "just a bunch of merchants and adventurers in here. You're welcome to join us if you'd like."

"I'm afraid I must deliever divine punishment!" Declared the apparent attacker, "if you know where the vassal weapon holders are, please tell me. My only other lead is the castle."

"You'd be wasting your time," Naofumi said, "and personally you're wasting our time as well. You'd be better off going back and telling Kyo to come here and do this himself." If he was hoping to anger the apparent assassin, he succeeded as the large double doors burst open.

"Don't act like I am a trivial matter you can just dismiss!" Declared the intruder, "To speak so disdainfully of Kyo, you are the ones I'm looking for!"

"Guess we're fighting after all," Darius commented as he summoned a replica of the vassal katana, figuring now was as good a time as any to try out the replica. "So let's keep this party roll…Yomogi?" He hadn't seen clearly at first because of the debris and the lighting, but now that she was inside where there was more light, her green hair and blue eyes were unmistakable.

Naturally, his recognition of her was met with more or less the same response. "HUUUUUUUUUH!" It was going to be a long night.

So much for a heartfelt goodbye because Yomogi's back and she's not happy this time. No doubt there's gonna be a lot of explaining to do, assuming she'll even listen. But we'll see about that next chapter, in the meantime feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Also, don't forget to check out my book, Plains Riders, on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited! Finally, be sure to stop in next time as our heroes duel an unorthodoxly honorable assassin! 'Til then.