For Those We Believe In
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of Armory of the Forgotten Hero! The attack on Sikul continues here as our heroes go up against more of Kyo's monstrous creations. Speaking of which, check out the monstrous creation used by the villain in my own book, Plains Riders, on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited! And in case anyone's been wondering, I do intend to get back to Hailstorm Vol. 2 at some point now that the latest season of My Hero Academia is out. I'll try and keep everyone updated, but that's enough from me and with no guest review questions this week, on to the story!
The Kingdom of Sikul: The Temple of the Dragon Hourglass
"Meteor Shield!" Naofumi exclaimed as the powerful barrier erected itself around both parties. Naturally it was one of his strongest defenses and had proven capable of holding off some pretty ferocious attacks. That's why it came as a pretty big surprise when the tiger woman's spear shattered the glowing dome and nearly caught the shield hero in the face. Raphtalia naturally leapt to his defense but was knocked over by a powerful swing of her opponent's weapon that she barely blocked.
Rifana charged in from the other side but was intercepted by the lizard woman who pushed her back with a couple of quick but powerful blows that she only just stopped with her mace. The bird girl began firing her weapon as well, forcing everyone else to scatter with Glass and Rishia returning fire with attacks of their own. While this was happening Filo took to the air in her bird form and began singing, casting one of her abilities as a humming fairy which strengthened her party members. As for Johann, he rushed over and attempted to take the bow wielder out in close range but was knocked back by her surprisingly strong wing arm.
Darius, meanwhile, joined Rifana with a replica of the vassal katana and worked to fend off the lizard woman. Raphtalia and Naofumi had a similar issue going against their spear wielding opponent. "Would you just listen for a moment," the shield hero grunted as he tried to keep his footing against another powerful spear thrust, "Kyo's using you! The moment you complete your mission he's just going to kill you all!"
"My how your tune changes when it's your back against the wall," the tiger woman growled with a feral grin, "trying to save yourself with pitiful lies?"
"He's not lying!" Yomogi yelled suddenly, "please listen, you have to get rid of those weapons now!"
"We will once…..huh," the lead woman stopped upon noticing tendrils growing out of her spear and snaking up her arm.
"What?! What is this?!" The other two exclaimed as tendrils also began growing out of their weapons.
"Guess that's our cue," Darius said while switching his weapon to a replica of Kizuna's hunting blade while the hunting hero herself also stepped up. But another issue came up as the tiger woman suddenly grasped her head and began screaming in pain.
"Tsugumi," the bird girl exclaimed as she watched her compatriot become more and more tiger-like, "Tsugumi what's wrong?!" The two women tried to approach their friend but were forced back as the now humanoid tiger woman swiped at them before going down on all fours, the spear still tied to her hand by the tendrils. "Tsugumi, don't you recognize us?" The answer they received was a growl before the animalistic woman turned her sights on the others.
"Damn it," Naofumi cursed through gritted teeth, "I bet he'd be willing to take the dragon hourglass out too so long as he got us. Kizuna, Raphtalia, you need to separate that weapon from her now!"
"But we're in an urban area," the hunting hero reminded him frantically, "and the hourglass is right behind us. We don't have anywhere to safely get rid of the weapon here."
"Darius and I will take care of that, now go!" The shield hero ordered. Kizuna might've argued further but Tsugumi picked that moment to pounce, leaping into the air like the large feline she resembled. The hunting hero responded by also leaping up, slicing the tendrils off with Breakdown Scale Removal before being quickly followed by Raphtalia who knocked the weapon out of her foe's hands. "Sorry to do this Filo, Johann but please endure this."
He activated his cursed series and summoned his wrath shield then while Darius likewise summoned his greed and sloth bands along with his horned mask and a replica of the wrath shield. "Now Shield Prison! Air Strike Shield! Second Shield! Drei Shield!" A mass collection of several glowing green and white shields appeared and clustered around the living spear, sealing it in the strongest containment shell the duo had likely ever created. It was just in time too, because hardly five seconds passed before the weapon exploded, destroying the white shield prison but failed to destroy the other shield prison and airstrike shields.
"Whew," the armory hero breathed out as they undid the spectral shields, allowing the Spirit Tortoise's energy to calmly flow into their weapons, "how many more of those you think ya got in you?"
"At least a few more, but it's still gonna suck," Naofumi replied. Their problems were far from over, however, as Tsugumi quickly rose back up to full height, her tiger transformation still degrading her mind. Raphtalia just barely managed to dodge the swipe she took at her before Rifana came in with a swing of her kanabo club that was stopped by Tsugumi's forearm. "You're kidding me, that transformation's still going?"
"It appears so," Glass commented as she sent an energy blade out which Tsugumi dodged before charging at Raphtalia again. Naofumi made to move in front of her but it would prove unnecessary as Kizuna suddenly sprinted by the both of them. "Kizuna, what are you doing?!"
"What I do best," she replied before hitting the feline woman with numerous quick, precise slashes, "taking down beasts." And the beast was most certainly strong in Tsugumi, or it had been until the tiger form practically disintegrated under the power of the hunting hero's assault, leaving an injured but still alive Tsugumi to fall into the shield hero's arms. "Naofumi, I cut off all the beast parts of her but she needs healing now. Could you please do that?"
"On it, Zweite Heal," Naofumi said as he held his hand over the injured woman, the green light of his magic working to mend her deformed skin, "Yeah this wound is still pretty nasty, possibly even fatal. Fortunately, it appears she'll at least be able to die a human if nothing else." He was referring to the fact that even after having much of her skin healed Tsugumi still looked pretty rough and it was hard to know whether or not she'd pull through. But the beast possessing her body had been vanquished and now she was free of its influence.
"That is a relief," the lizard woman said before everyone went back on guard.
"You've seen it for yourself now," Glass stated while stepping forward, "those weapons and those forms will cost you everything. Even if Kyo was capable of reviving the one you lost none of you will be alive to see it. Now, we intend to go to the castle to aid our comrades and to get this girl proper medical treatment. What do you intend to do?"
A Few Minutes Later: The Sikul Royal Castle
The number of intruders in the castle was surprisingly low, consisting only of the three remaining women who'd apparently been part of Kazuki's harem. But the power of the Spirit Tortoise weapons and their beast forms made them more than a match for the guards and the ensuing battle had set the castle ablaze. Currently, the only two individuals capable of stopping their rampage was L'arc and Therese as Ethnobalt was busy evacuating as many people as he could. Problem was, the vassal hero and his companion were being pushed back by the sheer might of their opponents.
The scythe hero just managed to dodge an assault by the bow wielding bird girl before barely blocking a strike from a spear wielding tiger woman. Making matters worse, Therese was having trouble casting her magic while continuously evading one or both of the other two opponents. 'This is not good,' L'arc thought as he strained against his opponent's weapon, finding that he couldn't out muscle her. Even more trouble came then as another bird and reptile girl suddenly rushed in from behind him.
'Shit I can't dodge or block,' he noted grimly, 'and I can't move my scythe to use my stance defense. This is gonna….huh?' To his surprise and the shock of the other harem girls, the new arrivals cut through the spear's shaft with their talons and claws, causing the tiger woman to stumble. "What is the meaning of this," a silver-haired gem woman with the features of a lizard seethed, "why are you two betraying us?!"
"No, we're trying to save you all," the former sword wielder said, "we've been tricked!"
"Tricked," the gem woman repeated, "have you forgotten why we're here, what our goal is?"
"It was all a lie, a setup," the former bow wielder explained, "these weapons and the forms he gave us-." The issue answered itself, though, as the current tiger woman suddenly grabbed her head in pain, her body growing and changing as her weapon sprouted tendrils to latch onto her. Fortunately, she didn't get far as Kizuna came in and slashed her in the same way she'd slashed Tsugumi.
"Sorry, but we'll talk when this is over," the hunting hero declared as she charged towards the remaining opponents. The two current fighters looked on in fear while the ones who discarded their weapons simply closed their eyes and waited, smiles forming on their faces as Kizuna's blade freed all four of them from the corrupting power of their beast forms. "Darius, Naofumi!"
"On it," the armory hero informed as he summoned multiple chain claws from a few portals that grabbed the remaining weapons and threw them all in a pile together. He formed a replica Wrath Shield as he and Naofumi both used Shield Prison to contain the monstrous copies before signaling to the others. "Rifana, L'arc, hit it out of the park!" The scythe hero caught on to what they were doing pretty quickly as he and the weasel girl both struck the sphere of shields and sent it rocketing out the window.
"Let's hope this is the right amount of force," L'arc said as he moved quickly and swung his scythe, "Sky Bound Wheel Swing!" A miniature tornado flew from his weapon and impacted against sphere, sending it flying high into the air and well above the castle.
"Now let's hope this holds," Naofumi added while he and Darius held up their shields, "Airstrike Shield! Second Shield! Drei Shield!" The collection of six spectral shields formed around the ticking explosives right before they could fall and not a moment too soon. Only seconds after all the shields were set did the weapons explode, tearing through both shield prisons and many of the Airstrike Shields lighting the night up more than any fireworks that had gone off that evening. In the end only Naofumi's three floating green shields were left, all of them kept on the bottom and sides to help direct the explosion upwards.
The trio of shields disappeared in short order as the shield and armory heroes collapsed against the nearest wall, their cursed series shutting off and their weapons returning to normal. "That….was a bit close for comfort," Darius managed to get out.
"I suddenly have no desire to watch a secret agent movie any time soon," Naofumi commented back, "what the fuck ever happened to a red and blue wire?"
"How would a red and blue wire have helped us here?" Glass asked skeptically.
"I'll explain later," Kizuna assured, "but if you two are joking around that means you're not in terrible shape, right?"
"Minus the drawbacks from the curse series," Naofumi answered after catching his breath, "we've been worse. The real question now is, what do we do with all of them?"
Morning: The Royal Castle in Sikul
"Once we got the fire taken care of the damage turned out not to be that severe," L'arc reported as he, Naofumi, Raphtalia, Rifana and Darius walked along, "good thing their objective wasn't to destroy the castle, but I shudder to think what would've happened if they'd taken control of the dragon hourglass."
"A whole army teleporting into the heart of the city, yeah that would've sucked," agreed Rifana, "I still find it hard to believe Kyo's got that kind of pull to organize something like that in this world."
"As the vassal book wielder and an inventor he's got a lot of powerful people's ear in his home country," L'arc explained, "and even if he didn't have help from his home country's military it's possible he would've sent in more like Tsugumi and the others."
"I'd like to think those weapons were all he's been able to make in the short time we've been here," Naofumi commented, "but that makes it all the more imperative we find him as soon as possible. How are the prisoners?"
"Yomogi is pretty much recovered thanks to the healing you gave her earlier," the scythe hero replied, "as for Tsugumi and the others, they're stable but their recovery is gonna take some time. When it comes to their mental health, though, it's hard to say. So far none of them have mentioned anything important but like I said, they've got a ways to go on their recovery."
"It's going to have to be good enough," Naofumi stated before he and everyone else except L'arc proceeded down the hallway, took a few turns and wound up at the infirmary. And standing outside of it, was Yomogi looking very unsure about a lot of things.
"Yomogi," Darius said, deciding to take the initiative, "I heard you're doing better. No residual effects, I hope."
"Oh Du-er-Darius," the green-haired girl stammered in surprise, "no, at least I haven't noticed anything."
"Good news," the armory hero said, "I was hoping for a chance to explain everything. Why don't you come in with us, I'll probably be explaining the story to them, too."
"I mean I," Yomogi responded, her reluctance more than obvious.
"Scared to learn the truth," Naofumi questioned, trying not to smirk, "you'll have to face it sooner or later."
"I do want to learn the truth," the samurai girl said with more conviction, "but at the same time, I want to believe in Kyo like I always have. The man I know, or at least thought I knew, was brilliant and I couldn't understand most of the scientific things he did but he never seemed evil to me. Now, though, I can't help but wonder if I ever knew him at all."
"Why don't you go in with us then," Rifana suggested, "and we'll all compare notes on this Kyo guy." Yomogi still looked a bit frightened by the prospect, but a few nods from everyone but Naofumi was enough to convince her to follow them in.
"Oh, hey guys," Kizuna greeted from her spot next to Tsugumi's bed, "I'm guessing you heard they woke up?"
"Something like that," Naofumi replied, "have they said anything important so far?"
"I think Tsugumi might be coming around," the hunting hero replied as said former guard woman weakly spoke up.
"Kill….us," she said weakly, "we…..screwed up. The one we love….won't ever return."
"You still think Kyo can resurrect the dead," the shield hero scoffed, "if you want to die, die your-UFFF!" His sentence had been interrupted by a sharp elbow from Darius right into one of the few unprotected spots on his pelvis. Strangely, it hurt a bit more than it should've.
"Maybe you should actually listen to what they're saying," the armory hero suggested with a firm tone, "I think they're well aware of how badly they've been had. Lord knows you didn't need a reminder when the biggest bitch in the kingdom screwed you over."
"Darius," Naofumi growled, "don't go there."
"Then don't pretend like you've got a reason to be smug," the armory hero replied calmly before movement from the bed caught his attention.
"Those voices," Tsugumi grunted as she tried to get off the bed, "it's all of you isn't it!"
"Whoa," Darius spoke as he quickly put a hand on the woman's right shoulder to keep her from moving, "take it easy. Your wounds are still pretty severe, you move around too much right now, or lose your temper in this case, it's gonna aggravate them."
"Perhaps we wouldn't have gotten them if you hadn't killed Kazuki," Tsugumi growled back, or as close to it as she could.
"We gave him a chance," Darius pointed out as he pulled up a chair and sat down, "Kizuna wanted to have a discussion with him about easing tensions between your country and hers but he got stubborn. Even then, the technique Raphtalia used to slice him in half wouldn't have done so if he'd just listened to us and not moved. That being said, don't expect an apology from us for defending ourselves."
"Yes, Kazuki never liked losing," Tsugumi admitted as her grip on the bedsheet lessened, "you probably won't understand this, only having seen him when he was after you. But that man, also had a gentle side."
"A soft spot for all of you, or at least women in general," the armory hero guessed.
"His surroundings were always exciting," the former guard woman explained, "thanks to his obsessions with power and strength, and yes, his soft spot for women. Before we met him we were always being pushed around and when he came along trying to solve problems around the world, we couldn't help but admire him. Sure, we recognized that he had faults, but at the time those seemed small in comparison to how he'd improved our lives. And now…."
"I know a few people with similar sentiments," Darius revealed, "but you're mistaken in one thing. We're not the ones you should be blaming for Kazuki's death, Kyo is. If it weren't for him we wouldn't even be in this world right now and there's a high possibility he would've killed Kazuki if the man had ever attempted to double cross him."
"You're here, because of Kyo," Tsugumi questioned weakly, "you're from another world?"
"I imagine Kazuki explained how the Waves of Catastrophe work to you," the cardinal hero continued, "Kyo used his status as the vassal book hero to enter our world and take control of a sacred beast known as the Spirit Tortoise. The thing was a literal walking mountain and he corrupted its purpose of gathering souls to defend the world, twisting it to his own ends. Numerous villages, forts, towns, cities and even a small country or two was crushed underfoot or assaulted by the tortoise's familiars all so he could collect energy to further his own ends. It was the hardest fight we've had in our world so far and even after disabling the Spirit Tortoise we still nearly got killed by that bastard before turning the tables and forcing him to retreat to this world. But he took what he had left of the sacred beast's energy when he fled and now, upon request of the tortoise's heart, Ost Hourai, we've been allowed to travel to this world in order to retrieve it."
He and the others saw Yomogi cover her mouth in shock upon hearing this. "K-Kyo did that," she stuttered, "but why, why would he need to do that?"
"You tell me," Darius said as he summoned a replica of the spirit tortoise sword the samurai girl had been using, "what he's done so far with the energy he managed to steal is make semi-sentient weapons like these that can suck out the user's life in exchange for granting more power. And let's not even talk about the hidden self-destruct feature that he can trigger remotely at any time. But even putting all of that aside you were there when he returned. Did he happen to bring anything with him?"
"He brought, some strange energy with him," Yomogi replied as her eyes widened, "he never really said where he'd gotten it, he was too angry at the time. He just said he didn't get as much as he should've."
"Only thanks to us," Naofumi said while putting his hands on his hips, "the man you know or thought you knew either doesn't exist anymore or never existed at all. I don't care whether or not you can accept that but at least look at the facts and tell me there isn't something messed up going on."
"I can't deny that," she admitted, "all of this, even the fact that one of his weapons nearly killed me. I….need to get some air." The samurai girl turned and headed out the door then, leaving the heroes and their two party members with the former harem guards.
"What you say makes sense," Tsugumi spoke up suddenly, "Kyo seemed as eager to get rid of you as we were. At the time I didn't question it as long as we got what we wanted but seeing how far he was willing to go just to eliminate you." The woman sighed deeply before laying back down. "It's possible he feared you would reveal all of this to us and turn us back on him. It was a justifiable fear."
She turned her head towards them with a serious look in her eye. "Tell me, should you go to confront Kyo, do you intend to end him?"
"That's more or less been our intention from the start," Darius affirmed, "even if he hadn't stolen the Spirit Tortoise's energy he's still a threat to our world and this one. Best case scenario for him when we catch up, is us ripping the bastard to shreds."
"That will have to be good enough," Tsugumi said, "I'll tell you everything I can."
About the Same Time: Hallway of the Royal Castle
Yomogi's head was a mess right now and her feelings were all over the place. Her own head and heart were at odds right now as what she thought she knew clashed with what her own eyes and ears had shown her. How could the boy she'd known for years, the one who'd saved her life when she'd gotten in over her head, really be this villain that these strangers were claiming him to be? She'd be the first to admit that there were a mountain of things he did that she didn't understand which was why she'd stopped asking questions about most of it a long time ago.
Her true knowledge, skill and ability all lied in her sword skills. She wasn't the smartest nor was she the most gifted with delicate tasks. Magic wasn't a forte of hers nor was she all that studious. But the one indisputable fact that she realized while training was that she was strong. And for all the amazing feats he'd accomplished, Kyo Ethnina was sorely lacking in that area.
So she'd lent him her strength, believing him at the time when he said he'd wanted to help the world. He contributed a few breakthroughs and inventions like lamps that didn't require flames, advances in the study of monsters, helped certain leaders into positions of power by offering enhanced weapons and other logistical support. And while he did all that, she protected him from the physical threats he couldn't always deal with. It was in him that she'd seen hope for a better world, a unified world and not one where everyone was squabbling while phenomenons like the Waves of Catastrophe were occurring.
Yet it was one of his inventions that had nearly killed her, nearly killed a score of other people who'd also believed in his promises. And these people she'd been told were evil. Yes, it was a fact that Darius had lied to her when they first met, hiding his name and place of origin. But it was also a fact she'd seen with her own eyes that he stood against a small horde of bandits to defend a village of people he'd only met the day before.
It was also thanks to his idea that they were likely to be a little more prosperous in the future. Stranger still, he'd warned her about the weapon she was wielding and tried to get her to stop by answering her challenge to a one on one duel using the sword he'd given her. The similarities between his behavior and Kyo's was there but so were some clear differences. She didn't want to trust someone who'd lied to her but at the same time it looked like she'd been lied to a lot longer by the person she'd trusted even more deeply.
"Oh, hello there," came a voice as she realized someone else had come down the opposite hallway, "are you feeling better?" It was the green-haired girl, Rishia, if Yomogi's memory served correctly.
"Y-Yes, yes I'm fine," the samurai girl answered as she got her thoughts together. Rishia was carrying a fresh pair of blankets, likely to deliver to the still injured female guards. "I'm just, trying to figure a lot of things out right now."
"That's good to hear," Rishia said with a smile, "they should be putting on lunch fairly soon, but if you're hungry I'm certain we can ask L'arc or Kizuna to have something brought to you."
"That's very kind of you," Yomogi replied, "but I'm not terribly hungry at the moment."
"I understand, a lot's happened," the magic wielding girl acknowledged, "if you do need anything, though, don't hesitate to ask. Now I need to drop these blanekts off at the hospital room before-."
"Rishia," the samurai girl interrupted, "it is Rishia, right?"
"Oh yes, my name is Rishia Ivyred," the greenhaired magic wielder informed, "I'm one of the more recent additions to Naofumi's party."
"I see, that's fortunate," Yomogi said, "to begin, I'd like to thank you for healing me. I wouldn't have gotten around very well if you hadn't."
"Oh, of course," Rishia replied, "even if Darius hadn't asked me too you were injured. It would've been bad if you'd lost your life because of a misunderstanding."
"Yes, the people I thought of as villians have been surprisingly hospitable so far," the swordswoman agreed. "Tell me, since you've only been around them a short time I imagine you might notice things their other companions have not."
"What do you mean," Rishia asked in mild confusion, "I see a lot of the same things Rifana and Raphtalia see."
"Yes, but you might not be as blind to some of their shortcomings as those two," Yomogi pointed out, "Tsugumi, her companions and I all knew the ones we protected for years yet somehow missed or ignored their glaring flaws. Much the same could be said about those two demi-human girls. You, on the other hand, may have yet to let yourself be blinded by admiration."
"Are you asking me to tell you about Darius and Naofumi's flaws," Rishia questioned with a tilt of her head.
"I'm asking you what sort of people they are," Yomogi replied, "Even after everything I still want to believe in Kyo, and Darius lied to me when we first met. I want to know if putting my trust in you and these heroes from another world is the right thing to do?"
"To be honest," the magic wielder said, "I wouldn't describe them as saints. I met Darius first, when he rescued me from a noble who'd taken me from my parents as a payment for debts he tricked them into. At the time, he'd been in the process of liberating my home kingdom of Koteraan from the rebels who'd overthrown the previous monarchy before turning around and making life even harder for the people. I joined a group they'd been setting up to fight the Waves before being offered a position as a member of the Bow Hero's party."
"Bow Hero," the green-haired swordwielder repeated, "but I thought you were a member of the shield hero's party?"
"You might find this part familiar," Rishia replied, "the bow hero, Itsuki, claimed himself to be a man of justice. He was the one who aided the rebels in overthrowing the king of our kingdom but left without ensuring they were keeping their word. I wanted to understand whether or not it had been an honest mistake so I accepted the position he offered. I was treated poorly, often being made to be the errand girl for menial tasks and my abilities in magic were often disregarded. I made excuses to myself at the time, believing his other party members when they said I had to earn my place and that I should be honored to serve under the great bow hero."
Yomogi didn't miss the girl's hand tightly gripping the blankets now. "The only time I ever fought him on anything was when he tried to make me upgrade my class to a swordwielder instead of a magic wielder. I lied to him at the time and then I stood up for Darius and Naofumi when they were falsely accused of kidnapping a princess. The final straw came when I finally did play an instrumental role in battle, contributing more than not only Itsuki but two of the other heroes as well. I finally proved myself and then they framed me for breaking one of Itsuki's accessories and kicked me out of the party, all because they looked bad that day!"
"A hero, betrayed you," Yomogi realized as her eyes widened, "and the shield hero took you in afterward." She asked more for clarification, already suspecting the answer.
"You should've seen the mess of our hotel room after I gave my former party a piece of my mind and a few fireballs," Rishia almost laughed, "and I know Darius wouldn't have minded having me as a member of his party, but Naofumi needed a spellcaster more. I was there with them through the whole Spirit Tortoise incident, watching them fight monsters, protect as many people as they could, face down a literal walking mountain. Of course they've killed before, pulled a few unsavory tricks when they felt it was necessary, and Naofumi goes back and forth between grumpy and somewhat happen often enough it's hard to keep up. But they're only looking to take care of those they care about, they've got no desire for power or riches except for what they need to fight the Waves and provide for the village they're rebuilding."
"So those are the kind of people I'm dealing with," Yomogi surmised, "I think…I may know what to do now."
A Couple Minutes Later: Another Royal Hallway
Naofumi's mood was, expectedly, not at it's greatest right now. Sure they'd gotten the info they'd wanted, which turned out to be not as much as they'd hoped. Apparently Kyo's mansion was surrounded by some kind of protective fog so Tsugumi and the others could only give them the general location as they'd needed a guide to get in. But that wasn't the main issue souring his mood.
"I am sorry I brought that up in there," Darius spoke up as they walked along, "but you're usually a lot smarter than that."
"You think I should've said please and thank you," the shield hero asked without looking at him.
"I think you've healed and treated enough people to know that aggravating a patient is a good way for them to aggravate their wounds," the armory hero shot back, "if I hadn't shut you up back there then Tsugumi might've lost her temper and done exactly that along with the rest of them clamming up just to spite you."
"I wouldn't have pushed the envelope that far," Naofumi said while finally glancing at his friend, "I just can't understand why they were so devoted to a guy like Trash #2 in the first place."
"I think the real problem is you see a bit of yourself in them," Darius guessed, "and maybe a couple of other unpleasant truths."
"Yeah, I saw the trusting idiot I used to be," the cardinal hero almost growled, "but I can't help but wonder something else after seeing them like that." He stopped, prompting the others to do so as well before turning to his companion. "Raphtalia….what do you think you and the others would do…..if I died?" It was obvious how much he didn't want to bring this up but it wouldn't stop nagging him until he did.
"What's the point of asking me something like that," Raphtalia questioned with a serious look on her face, "I'm different from them."
"Are you, Raphtalia," Rifana questioned, "are 'we' really all that different from those girls? I won't suggest for even a moment that Darius and Naofumi are like those assholes who'd happily sacrifice the ones who love them, but can you really say we wouldn't react in a similar way? If they both died and we were offered a chance to bring them back, would you or I outright turn it down?" The raccoon girl chewed her lip while thinking about her answer.
"I meant it when I said I can't imagine my life without you, Naofumi," she began, "I still don't want to think about what I'd do without you. But, I'll remember what I've learned, I won't let myself be led into some kind of trap. You'd get mad, after all, if I let myself be fooled so easily."
"You're not wrong, I would turn in my grave if that happened," the shield hero agreed with a small laugh. He backed up slightly, though, when Raphtalia suddenly pointed a finger in his face.
"But remember this," Raphtalia declared, "I believe in you, but if I think you're in the wrong I will hold you responsible! I should be putting in an effort to do that anyway."
"That makes two of us," Rifana added as she leaned on Raphtalia's shoulder while giving a thumbs up to Darius.
"I mean I thought you two were doing that anyway," Naofumi commented with a shrug, "but sure, we'll be counting on you." Darius nodded to indicate he was onboard too before turning his head towards a new arrival.
"Hey Yomogi," he said, "is there something you needed?"
"I have decided," she said with a determined look on her face, "I will tell you what I know."
"Finally figured out Kyo is no good," Naofumi asked, not being able to resist the chance for a quip.
"No," she responded without hesitation, "even after all this, I still want to believe in Kyo. So I've decided I'll go talk to him. That way we'll see if the Kyo I know or the Kyo you know is the real one."
"Well in case things go sideways," Darius commented before conjuring the katana he'd given her before and tossed it too her. "Don't worry, that one won't turn into a small exploding tentacle monster."
"You still haven't explained what the big deal about tentacle monsters is," Rifana commented.
"One world shattering revelation at a time," Naofumi coughed, "anyway, are you really prepared for what you might find?"
"I've always thought of myself as a servant of justice," Yomogi replied, "if I've been in the service of evil all this time, I have to know." She slid the katana into her belt then. "So I'll take you to Kyo's mansion."
A good man who embraced evil methods to succeed or a bastard from the start? I think we can all guess which one our heroes are really dealing with. But before we get to that chapter, 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! And be sure to stop in next time as our heroes head off to confront the one responsible for all their recent troubles! 'Til then.