Weiss conjured a glyph with a propulsive effect, sending Ruby flying high into the air. Ruby then accelerated even faster, leaving behind a trail of rose petals.
"HAAAAAAHHH!"
Ruby brought her scythe—one that looked slightly different from Crescent Rose—down into the back of the Gigantic Girl. The resulting injury should have been no worse than a pinprick for this colossal monster. However, the sheer force behind Ruby's attack pushed her backwards, and on top of that, arcs of electricity shot out from the scythe.
"OUCH!" the Gigantic Girl exclaimed, the word as deafening as an exploding bomb. "GET OFF ME!"
The Gigantic Girl reached around with her hands, each big enough to crush a house, yet she couldn't even begin to touch the red streak darting around like the wind.
But Weiss didn't have time to watch that distant battle. There was plenty of fighting all around her.
A swarm of fairies approached, their hands glowing with lights of many different colours.
"You'll pay for that!" "How dare you hurt Jame!" "Get blown away!"
A barrage of rocks, a miniature tornado and a large wave rushed towards Weiss. The heiress stopped these using another glyph as a shield, then Yang stepped in and fired off two shotgun blasts.
"Can't catch us!" "Too slow!" "Teehehe!"
The fairies danced left and right, easily avoiding all the bullets.
"Fairies are the most agile and evasive of all monsters", Weiss recalled from a book. Then I may need to tap into my limited stores of Dust!
Weiss cycled the revolving chamber of Myrtenaster, preparing to launch a blast of ice… then a potion vial flew in and shattered on the ground. A cloud of yellow gas exploded out from the vial with startling speed, speed too great for even the fairies to dodge.
"W-What is this…?" "Why're there three of you now…?" "Oh… ahahaha…"
The fairies fell to the ground, their wings fluttering weakly and without coordination.
"Fairies are easily confused," said Promestein, the angel scientist. "But take note, that's my only potion with that effect. I never expected to do much fighting against fairies."
"We'll handle the rest," Yang said, reloading her shot gauntlets. Then there was a tremendous crash in the distance, accompanied by a booming yell of dismay. "Alright, the giant's down! Let's move forward and meet up with Ruby!"
Weiss' group advanced down the street. There were fallen bodies all around them: some dead, others merely wounded. A few of the latter were being healed by white mages, whose hands glowed with soft light.
Magic was not so common in the world I just came from… Weiss thought. And back in Remnant, healing Semblances were rare. I should try to learn healing magic myself, if it's possible. Few other skills would be as useful.
But that is a matter for the future. For now, we must stop the number of casualties from increasing!
They arrived at an intersection. There had once been tall palm trees here, but those had been felled during the intense warfare. And huddled in one corner was a group of human soldiers who'd formed a shield wall, even as several Elf Amazonesses tried to batter it down.
"Come on!" shouted one of the hulking elves who wielded a club. "You'll never get anywhere by just defending!"
"If you desire a fight, then we will gladly oblige!" Ilias shouted.
The supposed goddess shot a barrage of white lasers at the Elf Amazonesses. The lasers left burn marks, yet the elf warriors roared in anger instead of pain.
Yang charged to meet the Elf Amazonesses in close combat, Weiss right behind her.
-ooo-
Meanwhile, Team JNPR had been sent to the holy capital of the world.
"A while back—" Jaune raised a barrier to block a large wave. "—I heard that mermaids are peaceful monsters!"
"As usual, stereotypes can't be trusted!" Pyrrha threw a javelin-form Miló at a mermaid in the distance, then brought it back with her Semblance.
"These ones've definitely trained a lot!" Nora clashed weapons with a trident-wielding mermaid.
Ren appeared seemingly out of thin air, having left several unconscious mermaids in his path. "And there's so many of them… we need to try and work with the city's own army to have any chance."
That was easier said then done. The attacking mermaids had spread throughout San Ilia using the city's network of canals. The San Ilian defenders were likewise spread throughout the city, as were the civilians at risk from the battle. Arrows, bullets, enthralling songs and water spells shot back and forth.
This feels just like the attack on Beacon… Pyrrha thought. But this is happening in three other cities as well! We have to—ugh!? This… feeling…
Pyrrha staggered and almost lost hold of her weapon. A beguiling melody, more soothing and calming than possible with pure sound, filled her ears.
"O brave fighters, lay down your arms…" sang a green-haired mermaid.
"Like… hell… we will!" Nora retorted, though she was swaying on the spot.
"Dammit…" Jaune said, now down on one knee. "I couldn't… block it… out…"
A sudden burst of gunfire cleared Pyrrha's mind—Ren had managed to stay in control enough to shoot at the mermaid.
"Thanks!" Nora said. She shifted Magnhild into grenade launcher form and fired, hitting another group of mermaids. "Alright, that's all of the ones around here! Let's move!"
Team JNPR advanced, running down the street towards the sounds of another fight. But along the way, they passed by many bodies lying on the ground.
These were both the wounded and the dead, both the attackers and the defenders. They bled from open wounds, they had burnt skin, some of their limbs were bent at odd angles. Those still alive moaned in pain, begged for help, or pleaded for the mercy of death.
They aren't Grimm, or hacked robots, or Apoptosis, or people with Aura, Pyrrha thought. If their bodies are struck, of course they'll be injured. And even if they're quite tough without Aura, and healing magic is abundant in this world… many won't live to the end of today. And even some of the survivors will have mental scars that never heal.
From the grim expressions on her teammates' faces, Pyrrha knew they felt the same way. Huntsmen and huntresses were trained to deal with this sort of thing, but their team wasn't fully trained yet, and even veterans might waver in fighting this fierce. Yet they had to keep fighting, for the alternative would be even worse.
Just why are the mermaids attacking? We've heard them shout "For Queen Laura!" and "The humans must pay!", but there's been no context…
Then the group came upon a single large mermaid of unusual appearance. Her overall shape was the same, with a humanoid upper body and piscine lower body. But both halves were covered in the same blue, finely scaled skin. Her hands were webbed and fins ran up the sides of her torso. Overall, she looked far closer to fish than the typical mermaid.
Another thing that was apparent was her power. Over twenty of the city's defenders lay sprawled out on the ground, and with a powerful jet of water, she added three to that number, right before Pyrrha's eyes.
"You…" the strange mermaid said, her voice conveying the same power as a tidal wave. "The flow around you four is unusual… but it's clear you are my enemies."
"And if you're with the ones attacking San Ilia, then you are our enemy," Pyrrha said. Without moving her eyes away from the mermaid, she observed the numbers and positions of metal objects in the surroundings.
"You seem to be stronger than the rabble here," the mermaid said. "But you are still no match for me. I won't let any enemies come near Princess El."
The mermaid thrust both hands, glowing with eerie blue light, forward. A colossal wave rose up from the canals and began rushing towards Team JNPR.
"You maniac!" Nora shouted. What went without saying was, "You're going to kill all these people with that!"
Using Polarity, Pyrrha took hold of almost all the nearby metal and threw it at the mermaid, a barrage of swords, axes, spears, daggers, shields and helms. The mermaid blocked it all by forming a spherical barrier of water, but that distraction was still enough to make the wave collapse into foam.
Ren fired numerous shots from his twin pistols. Pyrrha switched Miló to rifle form and did the same. Their combined fire forced the mermaid to keep her water barrier up instead of resummoning the wave.
Spears of ice grew from the water barrier and shot out at high speed. Fortunately, Jaune was ready this time and he blocked those spears with a translucent barrier projected from his two shields.
Finally, Nora ran towards the mermaid, her body crackling with arcs of magical lightning.
"N-No!" the mermaid cried out. "Stay away!"
The mermaid reshaped her barrier and froze it, forming a single thick wall of ice, which rushed towards Nora. However, the lightning-empowered huntress tackled through the ice without even slowing down.
Then Nora slammed Magnhild into the mermaid's belly. There was an explosive flash, then the mermaid flew backwards into the nearest house, cracked the stone wall and fell down into a canal, unconscious.
-ooo-
The city of Grangold was ravaged by war once again. And Chrome still didn't have a decent zombie to fight with.
I was hoping to finish my new project before another war started! The succubus necromancer grumbled internally. But a genius can handle any situation!
Chrome was holding out both of her hands, with invisible threads of dark energy stretching from each finger to the heart of an animated corpse. Due to the current battle, there was no shortage of fresh corpses to use. And that small army of zombies, though relatively weak, was still proving effective.
"L-Let go of me!" shouted an arachne. The spider monster shook her two arms and eight legs in a futile attempt to get rid of the clinging zombies. "Dead meat's not tasty at all—agh!"
The arachne was blasted with several different kinds of projectiles at once. She collapsed to the ground, her body smoking. Conversely, a certain scylla stood tall while holding an arsenal of weapons.
"Great job, Nuruko!" Chrome said, directing her zombies at new targets.
"Kyukyu!" Nuruko replied, likewise turning her many weapons in another direction.
Another arachne descended from above, this one with long white hair, blue skin and a maroon spider body. She was so quick that neither Chrome nor Nuruko could react in time!
"Become my prey!" the arachne hissed.
Yet a certain ghostly pirate jumped in the way, using her cutlass to block the arachne's massive claws.
"It's been quite a while since I last fought an arachne," Selene said, her tone unnervingly calm. "I wonder how your race's fighting style has changed over the years."
The arachne jumped back and threw a paper talisman, which exploded into a barrage of large rocks. However, the rocks just passed through Selene harmlessly.
Nuruko tackled Chrome to the ground to prevent either of them from being hit by the rocks. Two of Chrome's zombies were in the line of fire, so the attack shattered their bodies and severed Chrome's links to them.
"A taoist art?" Selene said. She pulled out a pistol and fired a single shot, though this shot was accompanied by an unearthly wail. "That's another thing I haven't seen in a while."
"A ghost!?" the arachne said, guarding herself with a barrier of red light. "I won't lose to a mere shadow of the dead!"
The arachne dismissed the barrier and threw a fireball. This time, Selene was forced to jump to the side to dodge. And Chrome's zombies were too clumsy to dodge it even if ordered to, so one of the zombies was struck and instantly burned to a crisp.
But before the arachne could attack again, she was hit by a lightning bolt. She convulsed and fell to the ground. She tried weakly to rise up again, only for a blast of glacial cold to freeze her to the spot.
Chrome turned her head around to see a former human with tentacles for arms. "Lucia! I was wondering where you went!"
"We lost track of you after that large-scale bombardment from the arachnes," Selene said. "Still, it's good to know you're alright."
"I'm glad all of you are safe as well," Lucia said. "Wait, where are Hild and Radio? I thought they'd be with you."
"I thought they were with you!" Chrome said.
"Kyu, kyu!" Nuruko added.
"We are here."
That mechanical voice came from the roof of a nearby three-storey building. Chrome and her companions looked up to see the two robots standing there.
"After we were separated, Radio and I decided to start travelling via the rooftops," Hild explained. She casually fired a bullet from an inbuilt gun, hitting an arachne too distant for Chrome to even see.
"Since it would be easier to find you again, from up here…" Radio said. "And since it's better for sniping from…"
"We also saw a disturbance near what appears to be Grangold Castle," Hild said.
"The castle?" Chrome said. "But isn't that still a wreck? What could the arachnes want with it?"
"Either way, we should go and investigate," Lucia said.
Chrome's group hurried towards the castle, with Hild and Radio staying on the rooftops to provide covering fire for those running along the ground. However, Chrome herself was forced to leave her zombies behind, as they were too slow to keep up.
A few minutes later, the castle came into view. Gathered outside its front doors were over thirty arachnes. One of these was dressed in Yamatai-style clothing and gave off a fearsome aura of power.
That one must be the leader… Chrome thought. She quietly knelt down beside an Ant Girl corpse and began marking necromancy seals on its flesh. I'll need to get ready...
At this very moment, the arachne leader was arguing with some of her subordinates. "What do you mean, the castle is empty!? It's the king's seat of power, the king must be here!"
"B-But it's true, Spider Princess!" said a lesser arachne. "The inside of the castle is badly damaged from fighting, and there isn't a single human or monster inside!"
Then another arachne ran up to their leader. "Spider Princess, I have more bad news to report! There's a strange group, monsters and robots and a human, that has defeated over twenty of us!"
The Spider Princess sighed in exasperation. "Then where is this strange group? I will deal with them myself!"
"Last I heard, they were over…" the arachne said, pointing in a certain direction, "there…"
Many pairs of eyes turned towards Chrome's group. Cursing, Chrome hurriedly finished the necromancy seals and her companions readied their own weapons or spells.
"So you are the ones responsible," the Spider Princess, crawling to the front of her army on her eight long legs. "You should make for worthy opponents, as well as worthy prey—"
Suddenly, there was a loud explosion from the east. And in the next instant, a terrifying being teleported to the scene in a flash of golden light.
"Invaders, how dare you trample through my capital!" the Grangold King roared, his body overflowing with such power that even the air seemed to tremble.
Chrome's group was already running for cover. The arachnes, clearly not up to date on recent events, failed to react the same way.
"Who in the world are you!?" the Spider Princess said, alarmed. "Some kind of human superweapon!?"
Then there was a deafening series of explosions. Chrome couldn't do anything except lay on the ground, wrapped up in Nuruko's tentacles, and hope they weren't caught up in the king's wrath.
-ooo-
Vampires were attacking the city of Grand Noah. The black-cloaked monsters flitted through the skies, cast powerful lightning spells and sucked the blood of the defenseless.
Luka spotted an example of that last activity just up ahead: a blonde-haired vampire leaning over a fallen soldier, sharp fangs bared.
"Stop!"
Luka drew on the power of the wind, ready to dash over and subdue the vampire. But before he could get there, there was a blur and the vampire was knocked down by someone else.
"H-Hero Heinrich!?" Luka gasped. "Thanks for the help!"
"Just doing my duty," Heinrich replied, his own body wreathed in wind. "And I never thought I'd ever meet another multi-spirit user…"
There was an explosion in the distance, followed by screams.
"...But now's not the time to chat!" Heinrich said. "Let's move!"
The two heroes raced through the city, cutting down any other vampires in their path.
Eventually, they reached a plaza that once had a fountain in the centre, surrounded by lush gardens. That fountain was now a rubble-strewn puddle and the gardens were ash and charred twigs.
Dozens of unconscious or dead people lay strewn around the plaza and standing above them all was a short silver-haired vampire who wore a monocle.
"Just when I was wondering if there was anyone strong in this miserable place, two show up!" said the vampire. "I am Elizabeth, one of the two aides to Her Majesty Fatima, Queen of the Vampires!"
"Whoever you are, we won't let you hurt anyone else!" Luka declared.
"Nicely put," Heinrich said. "Oh, and…"
Suddenly, Luka sensed danger from behind. But Heinrich was already turning around and swinging his sword. Shreds of black mantle fluttered through the air.
"I can't believe you could stop me…" muttered a second vampire, this one with long pink hair and an oddly cheerful expression. "And are you two brothers or something? You both look so…" she licked her lips, "delicious…"
"I could have beaten them without your help, Carmilla," Elizabeth said. "But since you're already here, we'll crush them together, and bring them as playthings to Her Majesty!"
Now there were two heroes and two high-ranking vampires. Luka faced Elizabeth while Heinrich faced the newly arrived Carmilla.
Then the battle was joined. Elizabeth extended countless tentacles from her mantle, which Luka cut to pieces with two gale-fast slashes. Luka then retaliated with a powerful thrust, which Elizabeth avoided by transforming into a colony of bats. Nearby, Heinrich and Carmilla engaged in their own fierce battle.
Then Elizabeth reformed and aggressively tackled Luka, pushing him into and through a nearby building. Stone shattered around the hero's body, but he suffered no injuries thanks to the power of the earth.
Elizabeth brought her mouth towards Luka's neck, fangs ready to pierce flesh and draw blood. Furthermore, she was too close for his sword to be useful.
Luka elbowed Elizabeth in the chest—judging from her cry of pain, he'd at least cracked a rib. He then tried grabbing her neck with his free hand, but she fought back.
The two of them flew through the air wildly, scraping across roofs and slamming through chimneys. They wrestled, struck each other with elbows and knees, tried to force the other to be the one colliding with buildings.
"I've never—fought a human—as tough as you before!" Elizabeth screamed. She tried to ensnare him with her mantle again. "You'll make—an excellent servant!"
"You'll have to—beat me first!" Luka retorted.
Instead of trying to break free from the vampire's mantle, Luka instead dragged her down towards an empty area of ground. Elizabeth widened her eyes and struggled, no doubt realising his intentions, but there was no stopping their descent.
Luka slammed into the ground with Elizabeth beneath him, sending a spiderweb of cracks through the cobblestones. Elizabeth coughed up blood, much of which spattered on Luka's face.
Never thought I'd be fighting a vampire while flying through the sky…
Luka wiped off the blood using the back of his gloved hand, then pointed his sword at the fallen vampire's throat. "Surrender!" he demanded.
"Kuh… to think I'd lose to a human…" Elizabeth groaned. "Very well, I surrender! Do as you please…" she coughed again, "with me!"
Luka briefly looked around. There were a few scared-looking vampires nearby, who either surrendered as well or fled. The nearby inhabitants of Grand Noah—those still conscious, at least—cheered.
After some deliberation, Luka put all of the defeated vampires into one group and checked to confirm none were hiding any weapons. He asked some Grand Noah soldiers to keep watch. The vampires could still escape if they tried, but judging from the disturbance in the wind around them, none had any more desire to fight.
Soon, Heinrich arrived while carrying an unconscious Carmilla over his shoulder.
"Good work, Hero Luka," Heinrich said.
"I-It's nothing much…" Luka said bashfully. "And I'm still not nearly as good as you…" He almost added "Hero Heinrich", only to remember that was something that should be kept secret.
"You're already very skilled," Heinrich said, looking and sounding just like the hero from the legends. "In a few years, you'll probably surpass me."
"Y-You're too kind…"
There was a series of explosions from the north. Based on the apparent distance…
"Is that from Grangold Castle!?" Luka said. "We have to hurry!"
"Yeah… though it feels like Alicetroemeria to me," Heinrich said. "If it's her, I'm sure she has things under control."
Luka and Heinrich rushed towards the palace. All the way there, Luka was wracked with internal conflict.
How do I tell the legendary hero that his companion… is the Monster Lord he's fated to slay!?
That shocking truth was something Luka had recently learned from the spirits inside him. He'd known "Alicetroemeria" was suspicious from their very first meeting, but he would never have realised just how suspicious on his own.
...It's a complicated situation… Undine said. For one thing, it's not clear how similar this Heinrich and Alipheese the Eighth are to the ones from our history.
And even if they're the same… Salamander added. We never really got what that Monster Lord was thinking…
Luka remained silent as he and Heinrich reached the castle.
There were several smoking craters and several dozen unconscious vampires. At the bottom of the biggest crater lay a charred object that might, conceivably, have once been a vampire. Near the rim of the biggest crater was a familiar trio.
"Sonya! Alice!" Luka called out. "You're okay!"
Originally, the five of them had all been teleported to Grand Noah together by Black Alice. Then Heinrich had suggested they split up, since he and Luka could move faster than the others, and they had a whole city to help protect.
"Well, we didn't have to do much…" Sonya said, gripping her staff nervously.
"We… in a manner of speaking… have beaten the Queen Vampire," Alice said. "She's actually still alive down there."
"Ufufu, I was quite careful to hold back," Black Alice said, twirling her staff.
Luka was tense. He expected Black Alice to burst into a storm of tentacles and claws at any moment, to cackle evilly while revealing the secret plan she had all along.
Heinrich, on the other hand, smiled while walking up to his fated archenemy.
"I knew I could count on you, Alicetroemeria," Heinrich said. "Alright, if we show the vampires their defeated leaders, it should rob them of the will to fight."
Black Alice raised her staff. The soil beneath the Queen Vampire rose up, lifting her out of the crater like a stretcher carried by invisible hands. A weak moan confirmed she was, in fact, still alive.
"Yes…" Black Alice said, a wide smile on her face. "And if they still resist, we can always persuade them again…"
As the two legendary figures walked off, bringing the Queen Vampire with them, Luka exchanged glances with Sonya and Alice. It was clear they all had the same concerns.
Even though the battle here was won, it didn't feel that way at all. This was partly because there were still battles elsewhere, partly because of all the casualties, and partly because of the mysterious threat that had now entered their world.
How do we explain things to Heinrich, when our world is so different to his? And… just what does Black Alice think about all this?