Chapter 17: Devil Is In the Details
A/N: Here's the second to last chapter for this fanfic, from 13 months ago when I started this little itch and we've had over 200 people favorite it and while I'm not by any means a good writer I do thank you all for following me on this journey that we started. I will have a poll up on my profile or you may leave a review at the end for what you wish to happen at the end. I can see either ending but what do you all want to see happen?
"Master?" A voice softly spoke waking up the Hero from his light snooze. The group had come back from adventuring from the day after a very good haul of both monsters, materials, and experience. L'arc and Therese had gone their separate ways and so did Elias and Chise.
Filo had been given a barrel of fish and berry mash and was probably snoring away happily with a full belly in the other room to what the Hero could guess. It might be why he was no doubt hearing Raphtalia on the other side of his door. "Yeah, yeah I'm awake." He said though his voice said nothing of the sort he was still doggedly tired. "Come on in." He said bringing a hand up to rub his eyes and try and wake himself up as the door cracked open revealing the Demi human standing there in a nightgown and holding a pillow between her arms.
"Sorry for waking you master." She said sliding the door shut with hardly a sound made. " I know you are tired but I just wanted to talk." Speaking plainly as she came in noticing the finished bangle that had been crafted laying on a table. The ruby that had been given over to Naofumi so that he might create a new trinket had been obviously rushed but not at the expense of quality… just Naofumi's sleep and physicality.
Naofumi yawned his eyes still heavy with sleep, even his incredible constitution required rest and he'd pushed it probably to its limits today and then stayed up late to work on the request of Therese. "We can talk now, but I can't promise I'll be awake for much longer." He said fighting to wake himself with a pinch to the side of his thighs but he didn't even notice it. The pain was barely a dull tingle.
"It's just… well it's personal really." She said blushing and coming over to take a seat on the side of his bed. "Master… Do you like it here?"
"What do you mean?" He yawned through his words. "Here it isn't bad, the people aren't jerks to us, and in terms of grinding I don't think I could ask for better." Clearly her subtle question went over his head.
"Here as in, well I want to know how you like this world and everything? Is it to your liking or do you perhaps miss your old world?"
"Well yeah I miss my home but," He exhaled letting his eyes roll closed for a moment so that he might not have to try to keep them open. "But I mean this place isn't bad. People are really… jerks but," He trailed off as his hand slowly rolled off from his stomach and onto the side of the bed.
It didn't take the Tanuki more than a few seconds to realize that he'd dozed off, "Master!" She repeated moving over to gently shake his shoulder causing him to release a slight snort and his blood shot eyes to pop open and look at her. "You fell asleep." Her ears slightly drooped as she wondered if she'd be able to even talk with him. 'He does need his rest but I have to talk. I mean I REALLY have to talk with him about this.'
"Sorry," he yawned again, "I'm more tired than usual." His eyes were half open but they were at least looking at her now. "What did you say again?"
"I wanted to know how you felt about this place, like I mean more generally this world. Do you want to know if you really like it here as if you'd ever want to stay or do you want to go back home?"
"You'd be the second one to ask me this question. I mean do I miss things about my old life sure, but this world is more about you and Filo. All the people here are way more important than just me going back home."
Nodding her head with what he said Raphtalia relaxed a little bit. It was good to know that he wasn't opposed to this world, however, 'I'm just beating around the question. Why don't I just ask him?' But looking into his sleep deprived face she felt the twists and turns inside of her own body come right back to the surface. She opened her mouth to speak her question but her own mouth locked up, managing to only stutter out something before completely shifting away. "Would you like to stay in Melramarc, you wanted to visit Shieldfreeden earlier when trying to visit the hourglass-"
That popped the Hero right up onto the bed. "Oh shit! I forgot about the hourglass! Damn, Damn I missed out on class upgrades for the two of you!" It was a serious lack of foresight, perhaps the Queen and Elias had just distracted him far too much for him to keep his head on straight. "Damn I need to find out if-" He was about to jump out of bed when his Tanuki stopped him.
"Master please, you can't do anything now and rushing out in your underwear isn't going to solve anything either." She put a hand to his chest stopping him from jumping up and perhaps rushing out of the area and embarrassing himself wasn't going to be helping anyone right now. "The class upgrades can wait till morning, besides we don't even know if there's anywhere nearby to get too for these upgrades."
He wanted to argue that it was more important that their party be as strong as possible, the waves were going to be soon and with their rise in levels they should be utilizing the class upgrade system. This wasn't the time to be slacking, yet as Raphtalia steadied him with her hand over his bare chest the Hero looked at her. The flashbacks as to how they had made love not too long ago. The soft touch and caress of her hands that were all over him. 'No-No NO!' He was already telling himself that was not going to be happening again anytime soon. He wasn't going to continue to keep abusing his close family members with kindness like that just because it felt really good, 'but she's also right I am way too tired for this.'
"Fine, we can settle on working on how to get the two of you class upgrades in the future." Relenting to her he settled back down and let his own excited delirium have a chance to pass.
"That's fine, but I want to know if you would prefer to stay here in Melramarc or perhaps go somewhere else. I only have a few members of my tribe and even fewer friends here… it wouldn't be too much to have them relocate if you wanted to be in another country or…" Her lips mumbled a final word softly, 'world' Naofumi didn't catch it as he laid back onto the bed.
Raphtalia knew of the offer and of what she was now assuredly carrying within her own womb. 'Our child is growing and yet I haven't even told him…'
Even while terribly sick she had not been so removed from everything as to not hear both Elias and Chise talking. "What do you mean she's pregnant!? I- I mean isn't she always motion sick?"
"I have no reason to lie and surely even you can feel the new aura just below your hands can you not? Even new life now matter how small contains the same principles of life. The gathering of magic in the air just like when we sheered the sheep together, this is much the same concept except it is still within its most basic of developing forms… odd that a human from another world is somehow compatible with a creature from another. Perhaps this bears further investigation into these humans and how they share-"
"ELIAS-!" Chise hissed causing the mage to turn to her completely unperturbed.
"What is the problem?" He wasn't sure why she was getting so upset; it was just simple curiosity.
"This is Raphtalia, not some experiment Elias! She's another person whether she has fae qualities or not. You can't just see her and wonder about these things. She's a living being who is now pregnant!" She wanted to get really angry with him but his stoic face and inclined head was just a reminder of who he was. But even still-
"Are you worried because I would see you in the same light?" He wasn't holding back a more obvious question that the two of them had only discussed very briefly since becoming lovers themselves. "Do you believe that I would treat you like another experiment or test subject simply because you might one day be able to carry my offspring?"
"No." SHe said, turning away from him completely, "No that's not it."
"Is this a result of the relationship you had with your own mother? Do you find yourself resentful or regretful of your own bindings of family that you once shared back on the human world?"
"No- Elias just-"
He grabbed her from behind and pulled her back into his chest. Holding her tightly her face pushed into his clothes, his head down along her side. "You are my bride, my love, and my apprentice Chise, you are nothing less than that but one day there might be a time in the future that I would wish to make you even more and I have shared in the same, never mistake my curiosity for any sort of feeling that I would ever see you in such a light. You Chise mean a great deal to me." His one hand curled up behind her head. "I will stop speaking about this one's condition moving forward."
Raphtalia remained quiet as she just listened to them, but of course her nausea picked up as the ship rocked in the waters, the combination doing a one two punch and before she had even begun to wretch one of Elias's tendrils pulled her body onto her side and let her vomit into a bucket that was just beside the bed.
Weakened by sickness and drained of strength she witnessed the somber scene of the tight embrace shared by the two in front of her. The image of two people who loved and cared for each other, 'Does Naofumi feel the same way, could we ever be just like that?' She just couldn't picture a situation where she and Naofumi could be like that here…
'Because you'll leave once the waves are over, I'll still be here and left with your child.' That was a cold lance right into her own heart. She wanted the child, Naofumi's love, and the same return of her affections from her master. Was it so wrong of her to want more, to picture herself in the same way Chise was with Elias. 'Is it wrong to want that?'
"Master… what would it be like if-" Her voice slightly shifted as she changed her words. "I mean after everything is over we were able to come to your world? I mean would you be okay with that?"
"Visit my world? Well you know it's nothing like this, probably a lot more boring and quiet by comparison to all of these magical waves causing us to have to travel and fight all over the place but it would be-" He released another heavy yawn, the rush was fading again and he was struggling to keep his eyes back open. "Much easier to relax and just be ourselves." He chuckled, "But I don't think you'd be left alone, everyone would be crazy about you and Filo. A raccoon girl and a girl who can transform into a large avian bird… man I could just imagine all of the crazy stories that would follow that."
"Well I could always hide my ears and tail. It would be nice with maybe the three of us… or more." she spoke again in a soft whisper. "If we were back in your world for a little bit. I mean if Elias finds a way back home maybe we could visit one another." She looked down towards her hands as she fumbled her fingers, the flushed face growing even brighter and more pronounced as she talked.
"That doesn't sound too bad, you know." His voice started to trail off again, "If it's possible to do that, but I would never want you to make that choice. You don't deserve to be punished because of me. You don't," He was slowly nodding back off, "You should be happy, you and Filo should decide." HIs eyes were closed again, "You decide what makes you happy." The full conversation faded from Naofumi's mind as he was swallowed by his exhaustion.
It was silent, all except Naofumi's breathing was soon the only thing in the room that could be audibly heard. The Tanuki was left alone to herself as her master was once again carried off but she did ask aloud. "What makes me happy?" Looking towards the person who had given her that happiness. "If you would have me, then I want to be with you. Always master Naofumi." She spoke softly, bringing one hand to her stomach and massaging it gently before deciding to slip a little closer, her head moving to one of his shoulders and lying alongside him. With the man who she called master and her love. But soon the father of their child.
[***]
The morning came fast and Raphtalia had left his side before he awoke, returning to Filo and Chise who were already awake and wondering where she had gone off too, but Chise didn't pry as she could see the glow of happiness surrounding the raccoon girl's features.
The group gathered to eat breakfast before setting out on a solo party adventure of experience grinding. The exhausted Naofumi had delivered his gift to Therese and asked that they go on ahead without him so that he might be able to recover and not hold them back, of course possibly known for them that the Hero might not be so blind as to know that they were observing them quite intensely or that rapid paranoia just might've spread more from the Magus who was with them the day before and dared not lift a finger… just in case.
Of course as the Trio ate, the door to their lodgings was pushed up by that very same Mage. Standing upright in his refined form he came in not bothering to exchange pleasantries with the other two save for Chise who he nuzzled affectionately. "Did you sleep well?" He asked as if he didn't already know the answer.
"I slept fine Elias, don't forget you're the one who wanted to stay up late." She said softly teasing him as he released an amused snort with her banter.
"True enough Chise, but only because you still need my taint to shield you and others from your abilities." Offering a gentle lick onto the side of her cheek Elias then walked around towards one of the windows overlooking the area they were staying at. His slightly upbeat aura faded as he crossed his arms over his chest and looked out and over the area. " Can you feel it?" He was speaking aloud to those gathered.
"Feel what? Aside from being hungry?" Filo stated not sensing or perhaps overly engrossed with the small pile of food she was getting to eat to notice and or care.
"The weather isn't ideal but perhaps there's a chill coming?" Raphtalia stated, she could feel that something was off but putting her finger down on one direct thing. There was something tickling her, but that's all she knew.
"There's a greater current of magic, the air is beginning to fill with it." Chise said, her previous training reminding her of the sensation of gathering magical patterns. "Elias are you saying-?" Seeing his head nod in affirmation.
"It won't be very long, perhaps a day or two at most. The ley lines that cover the ground are overflowing with rapid changes. Which is much like the other waves that preceded it. Elias knew those odd sensations from before and how they had affected him. The air became heavier and hotter, the waves of water splashing harder than normal, wind blowing only to stop for no reason and the sun shined ever brighter in the air. 'One could argue this is proper island weather, but the tell-tale signs of magical influence has laced the very environment.' "Chise." Elias spoke, still keeping his eyes looking outside the window. "You will accompany Naofumi and his party today while I begin work on the ritual site. Once the lines and stones are properly anchored and fortified I will come for you in order to begin preparations for the channeling ritual to send us home."
"Oh, well how long do you think it will take?" She remarked as Elias's fingers tapped on his biceps.
"Perhaps several hours, I will need to scour a proper section of land that is open and suitable for what will need to begin the conjunction between worlds and ideally make the location accessible and not a rush when the waves begin to appear overhead." 'Provided everything goes well, but I am certain that I will not be alone.'
Elias had felt someone observing him since this morning. He had thought it perhaps one of the kingdom's soldiers or one of the other Heros' party members following him. A safe conclusion considering that the Queen and others were well aware of his current plans to return home. An inkling that they might wish to use his portal to return to their world was a plausible one until the magic's that followed him were following him everywhere. Meaning that they were trying to observe him without being seen even when he was in plain view. That gave the Magus pause as there would be few that would have anything to gain from knowing that he was attempting to return home and exactly why? Why would he be observed, or was it simply because he had done nothing?
'The human thinking of the unknown is what terrifies those more than what they can actually know.' Human imagination could construct far greater horrors within their own mind than anything he could conjure up or with his simple malformed appearance. It was something he had taken great care in handling with Chise, providing her enough information to keep her docile without adding to stress, but in doing so he had made other problems for himself. Namely she fell into stagnation and suppressed her own desires and feelings for fear of being abandoned or cast aside for the simple gestures he had given her.
'It is why I still fail to understand humans.' He cast his eyes back towards the group. 'Most troubling.'
Elias was standing in a more open part of the island, the cliffs rising up and giving a vast view of the surrounding ocean. Observing all of parts of the islands make up and topography as well as the flow of magic in the air. "This spot will do well for the ritual sight." He spoke casually as ocean wind caused his covering and suit to flap with the wind. "This is the kind of nature that I have missed, but it is a shame that I will be forced to scar this land in order to go home."
Letting his shadow slowly flow from his back and begin the slow process of building the ritual sight. It would've been possible to use the one already made back in the capitol but this magus had no trust of anyone within that place. So he did the groundwork himself. Cutting through the ground with his tendrils born from his shadow and flesh began to draw and carve the ornate circles and slide along the ground forming the focus for where he would begin the divination circle.
Pushing, pulling, twisting, and turning with several of his dark limbs at once Elias did everything he was allowed to do and kept the steady peace. The outer circle was drawn with his own shadow magic creating cuts but a few inches into the soil, but the marks left were a dark black. They were nothing like paint or even ash marks but his own shadow magics. Their texture was not reflective as the tendrils swirled and moved around him, mimicking the ornate patterns that he had memorized from inside of the many tomes he had gone through with painstaking detail.
But even as he continued to draw the runes his body shifted and twisted, the refined gentlemanly form bending as his mouth hung open and he began to throw up small stones. The smooth stone's slipped from his jaw covered in his spittle as he unceremoniously puked up at least five of the hand sized rocks. But he didn't even pause, as his shadow's grabbed at the stones, pulled them up into the set them in certain locations around the multiple rings and curled lines that were forming around him. Spirals building into the central point, each rock a focusing point carved with protective runes to keep the spell focused.
"Yes-" The dry raspy voice of Elias exuded as his tendrils flailed over his summoning circle. His body swelled upwards, allowing him to rise up another five feet letting his visage oversee the entire sight. "Everything is as it should be. Now I just need-"
The red eyes of Elias looked towards the side and felt the eyes looking at him. "Intruder!" Elias bellowed loudly his voice causing the island trees to blow and creak at the echo of his voice. 'Stop me? Prevent me from going home with my Beloved… No-! NO' "Noooo-!" He threw himself forwards, his body moving like a single mass through his once pristine summoning ritual zone now bent and jagged by the force of his huge body. His hand smashed apart a tree where he viewed the pair of eyes. The tree was cut in completely half the dust and debris spilling over the land as he looked around. His nose snorted out heated air, "Where are you?" He growled, moving to smash apart another section of the woods. His eyes looked around as he tried to find out where he spotted the being looking at him.
He let out another loud growl, 'I saw those eyes. I saw you watching me-!' The mage took a full whiff of the air and let his head drop towards the ground. Smelling everything, the grass, the dirt, the trees, the rocks, and even himself.
But as he continued to filter through the smells he realized his own personal folly. Slipping back into his refined form Elias tasted the air with his own mouth, "You wanted me to see… foolish little girl as if I wasn't already watching you already." Holding up his own hand Elias looked towards the city and decided to return the favor. "There are magicians, foolish ones, but only true magus can cast a spell like this."
Ushering his incantation, Elias decided to give them back a fair warning.
No longer watching from her own magic bangle. The gift she had received from Naofumi in order to enhance her own spellcraft sat in the room explaining to her partner, the overly forceful L'arc of what she had seen.
"So, it was making something out there… but you have no idea what it was?" The adventurer had a look of concern on his face that had not been shown to anyone but Therese.
She nodded her head, "It was strange, but that wasn't nearly as terrifying as when I saw that… transformed."
"What do you mean transformed, is there even more about that guy that we don't know about?" L'arc raised an eyebrow on that revelation. "He refused to do anything while we were fighting and slogging it during that grind session we were going through yesterday."
Therese bit her bottom lip. "I don't even know if you can call it a he, that resembled the beast that we were told about by-" Her crystal bangle that glowed from her wrist began to glow unnaturally red. The hue was a stark contrast that illuminated the room almost as both heads turned towards the obvious change happening in front of their eyes.
"What did you-?" "This isn't me, I didn't-" Both of them started as the glowing pulsed and the bright red glow flared into a murky black and from the darkness a massive shadow burst forth from the bangle shrouding an entire section of the room. It was pure darkness with red eyes. It unleashed a bellow and pulled back a hand as if to strike only to have L'arc swipe it in half with one of his fists. Therese threw the bangle from her wrist, letting it clatter to the floor as the shadowy apparition faded back inside.
"What the hell was that?" L'arc stated his mouth twisted into an angry scowl. Looking at the bangle that still held a very ominous dark glow about it. Looking at his versatile caster she shook her head.
"That I don't know, but I can only imagine it was him. He had seen my eyes following him." She was a bit fearful of what might be coming not only from her failure but from disappointing her companion. She did not want to be seen as a burden or failure considering what they had gone through to get here.
L'arc did not lash out as one might expect, he put a reassuring arm around her shoulders and pulled her into him so that he could hug her. Telling her that he wasn't mad at her, this wasn't her fault, they were simply doing this out of necessity and gathering information. "Alright, we'll just have to stow that away until we're sure it's cleansed but this only makes me more concerned that he might foil our plans."
The caster disagreed with that, "I think it was a warning, if he wanted to foil our plans why let us know? I think he was looking to send us a message that he knows and probably wants to be left alone." Gathering up her own courage These walked over to the discarded trinket, cerulean eyes keeping their composure and offering a chant to the jewel and it responded, flaring to life before darkening again.
Her fingers were slightly tepid but she kept her courage and picked it up. The darkness evidently gone but she still felt the taint slipping away as she took control. It might've been some type of attack or curse, for now she did not feel anything potent remaining.
Back from where the spell originated Elias stood with a look of irritation though his facial features remained unchanged. "Humans… you are still an enigma to me sometimes." Snapping his attention away from the mongrels bothering him Elias looked back towards his summoning ritual and released a sigh, "All of that hard work will have to be repeated and this land will have to be corrected several more times before suitable." But the Magus's voice didn't change; he walked back towards the central focal point of his work.
WIth what had taken him a quarter of an hour to begin he would have to spend several times more of that same time and energy to fix the damage he had inadvertently caused. 'Maybe that is what they were attempting to do from the beginning.'
Yet he did not concern himself overmuch with that notion. They didn't know what he was doing, nor could they consider he wasn't finished with the ritual circle. Flicking his tongue out of his mouth to run along the top lines of his jaw Elias merely gave a grunt of irritation and continued his work.
[***]
The day went about a little later than normal with Naofumi taking the group out to do more grinding and to put some distance between themselves and everyone else so that they might have a few cards to play should the need arise, but also because Naofumi realized that the group's equipment was falling into a state of disrepair.
Raphtalia's blessed sword had been beaten to high heaven and was in need of some work, Filo's own personal gloves that he had gotten from the armorer back in the capital had been roughed up and using some black avian claws they had gotten from some nasty birds the previous day.
"I don't know how well these will be given our usual equipment but they'll have to do." The fanged handle longsword for Raphtalia and twin fist claws for Filo. "Not to be ungrateful but you'll be leaving us soon Chise, if it's alright with you I'll save some creation magic just in case." She was still helping out and acknowledged that but he didn't need to believe that there would be any point in making her a weapon. Not that she seemed at all interested in getting in a battle of brawn anytime soon. 'More than likely Elias would be the one taking care of that.'
"No, no that's fine I don't want to burden you with something like that." The redhead wasn't interested in getting any kind of blade, that wasn't her… well not anymore, now that she had battled her own self depression and self harming mindset a long time ago.
"Well I thought for today we could get in some group skills. Given that was a big deal for combating the last wave of catastrophe and I would also like to try something else while we're here." Focusing towards his shield, the facial visage of a soul eater appeared in its place.
"Whoa! When did you learn to do that master?" Filo remembered that crazy fight onboard the pirate ship.
"I don't ever recall seeing that shield before Master, where did you get it from?" Raphtalia was also unfamiliar and hadn't ever seen a battle with a beast like that.
The Hero gave out a slight chuckle. "Well it was a late gift from Elias, he had shown up and gave me this thing after I had finished working on Therese's trinket, man was I exhausted last night." Trying to put it in a humorous light and he could honestly barely remember anything except Raphtalia did come in and talk to him but even then most of that conversation was just a complete and utter blur to him. The Hero did notice the usettled look in Chise's eyes as she looked into the visage of the shield. "Ah, I can see that you are already feeling the effect."
"Ehh, it's not appealing and I'm not sure what it is that is making me so uneasy about it." Her skin was just tingling and feeling off just by being so close to the shield she wasn't entirely sure why this was happening but didn't really have an answer given all of this world's strange rules.
"Is it because that monster is a mana eater right?" Filo piped up remembering that battle was really fun. "After bone head chewed up a whole lot of him and got dropped onto the deck of the ship we got to really take it to him." Filo made some punching and jab gestures with her new clawed hands-with free vocal sound effects as well.
"Right on that Filo." Naofumi patted her head approvingly. "Yeah this will be a big help so I wanted to get some training in for the day, since Elias had somehow swallowed the creature's core he gave me the ability to apparently strip mana and barriers away from targets. So it should make for a good first field test for the day."
"Yeah that sounds… fun." Chise couldn't share the same enthusiasm as Naofumi and Filo giving Raphtalia a look who just smiled and nodded along. 'Oh well I guess it can't be too bad right?'
The rest of the afternoon kicked off with a whirlwind of activity, Chise, Filo, Raphtalia all let Naofumi take the front and become the bulwark utilizing his soul eater shield to begin completely stripping away powerful enchantments and magic from their foes that would be tricky even for their group and as the sun slowly moved across the sky.
All of them kept up with each other as a creeping darkness began to follow them across the ground.
That darkness was in fact alive and had evidently finished its activities for the afternoon and had decided to recuse itself to the shadows and followed the group hidden from more prying eyes.
Despite his efforts his young bride felt him as he drew nearer, there was always that lingering aura that came with Pilum Moralis following you. But even with him trying to be hidden when his shadowy form made contact with her own she could feel him touching her physical shadow just like it was her own body. Even though he was not truly there her magics were linked to her body and its many extensions of herself. His arms touched her sides. Almost in a gentle hug before his head nuzzled her hair. The light flick of her own red hair atop her head flicked with the movement but one might mistake it for a gust of wind.
She touched on her arm where his hand would be in a slight gesture of acknowledgement.
"Chise. The ritual site is complete, I've already erected several wards to drive away those who might interfere with our location until the magical bindings holding this world in place become undone." The dark whisper of Elias just behind her ear gave her a slight shudder. It was always so amusing to him whenever she reacted in such interesting ways. "Are you beginning to feel it?"
"What do you mean?" She whispered in response to him,
"It is soon," Was all he told her and Chise then understood what he meant, the ley lines of magic were beginning to converge into a single point. The tingle of one's fingers or the low audible hum that rang in one's ear.
"I will follow you until this group returns from this little adventure. I will be keeping my eyes on the ritual site and you."
"Comforting." She told him patting where she felt his shadow touching her shoulder now.
The waves would be coming and coming very soon.
[***]
The Queen had her guards assembled along the dockyards, the sky had begun to turn a foreboding red as the sun vanished behind the same thick clouds. The fleet that had been gathered now housing soldiers and Heroes alike as the boss of this wave appeared to be a giant aquatic creature.
Naofumi was on the Queen's flagship alongside Melty. The other Heros's spread out on board other ships, but even more surprising was Naofumi caught sight of L'arc and Therese traveling in the direction of the waves on the front helm.
Perhaps Melty noticed that the Shield Hero was eyeing the two other unique looking individuals onboard the other ship, their garb and appearance foreign to her but clearly not to Naofumi. "Do you know those two over there Sir Naofumi?"
He nodded in affirmation, "Yeah that's L'arc and Therese, they helped us grind while on Calmira, though I will admit it's a little surprising that they'd be traveling this way."
But the moment of reverence was short lasting as from below a massive shadow crossed in front of the royal fleet. An aquatic monster perhaps several hundred yards long, far larger than any of the ships by at least several times over… and wouldn't Naofumi would've guessed it would be him that would have to go down and get the beast's full focus It was like a prehistoric underwater dinosaur mixed with a swordfish except having a huge jaw filled with razor sharp teeth and a large
Blessed with wind magic and enchantments provided by Melty and Mirellia Naofumi and Filo dove into the water, the Filoliali body was able to breeze through the water quite easily as her wind magic propelled her through the water as if it were air. ALlowing Naofumi enough time to call out the monster with his focused rage ability having the attention of the huge water monster to flip him back around towards him.
The Shield Hero and his mount snapped backwards as Naofumi's focus rage caused the huge monster to focus solely on him and let him leap out of the water and the giant beast followed leaping into the air after Filo, clearing the height of the ships in the water and allowing all of the other Hero's to throw their 'best' movies into the fray to take it down.
Sword, Spear, and Bow all threw what they had at the monster only to watch their attacks explode causing minimal damage at best and the new attack snapping the giant beast's attention towards the obvious threat of the boats. It roared and when its titanic body slammed back into the water it unleashed a type of energy projectile fired from the top of its round head near the base of the pointed edge.
The yellow beam cut through the water breaking the water apart as it slammed into a nearby ship nearly splitting the vessel in two. But if things had yet to go from bad to even worse as from the sea emerged numerous figures of aquatic and lizard-like monsters. All of them a dark purple in coloration and red eyes as they surface along the edges of the boats and began to climb onboard.
Melees broke out all over the ships. Soldiers and sailors alike clashing with the new aquatic enemies. Yet Naofumi could not move to help, he had to keep his full attention on the giant fish. Raphtalia was able to hold her own without difficulty cutting down several with slashes of her sword.
Leaping from one of the ship's mast Naofumi again tried to draw the creature back out of the water. He needed it to be in the open if he expected anyone to be able to do any real damage to it. "Cut just along the water, have it just break the water's surface then we'll hit it head on!"
"Right!" Filo shouted as she jumped into the air carrying Naofumi along his back as her wind magic kept her aloft and skimming just above the ocean waters.
"Momma help me"! The panicked shriek of Melty caught even Naofumi and Filo's attention. The first princess had been ambushed from behind as she tried to control the helm of her mother's ship using her own magic but a combined assault from several sea monsters had caught her unprepared. Now thoroughly in their clutches with one arm wrapped around the girl's torso and the other around her neck the beast moved to leap back into the water.
The Shield Hero shouted to redirect FIlo to save the girl but as he did the beast tore out of the water in tandem, Naofumi couldn't change course or he and FIlo would be vulnerable. Attempting any drastic course change would be suicide and both of them knew it.
Raphtalia rushed towards the princess cutting a path through the hordes now jumping over the ship. But there were just too many in the way and the distance was just too far.
Mirellia screamed in horror as her daughter was pulled over the sword, her heart ready to burst at the prospect of losing her beloved daughter, but at the last moment the whistling sound of metal came. The beasts were cut in half, the one holding Melty also split in several pieces as from nowhere L'arc jumped down grabbing the terrified princess and pulled her to safety. "You're not hurt, are you little miss?" The scythe wielding adventurer popped a slight smirk as the purple haired girl nodded wordlessly as she was pulled right up and back onto the boat. Taking a look around L'arc closed his eyes and shrugged, "Can't be helped I guess." His weapon spun outwards cutting through perhaps a dozen of the creatures as it spun freely before seemingly returning to his outstretched arm like a boomerang.
Naofumi managed to zip past the oncoming attack giving himself time to keep the creature on the surface as he flipped back around letting Filo land some painful cuts across the monster's back.
"Hey L'arc!" Naofumi shouted as he veered back towards the ship. "I'm drawing it towards us get ready. I'll need you to do some damage to it!"
L'arc merely nodded his head, his normal cocky poise disappearing as he readied his blade. Casting a look towards one of the other boats where Therese was busy recanting an enchanting spell, "If it must be done then it will be. It doesn't hinder our plans."
Not hearing or seeing the notion from L'arc, Naofumi brought the giant beast around exposing its side as it chased after FIlo and began to charge up another beam attack from its head. Yet it never got a second chance as L'arc ripped forwards and the echoing crack of a blade came, a brilliant flash of light and a throaty gargle from the monster before it rolled over in the waves.
"Just like that?" Naofumi was a bit stunned himself as he witnessed the vanquished behemoth now lay on its side in the water like a floating island. "Filo let's go touch down with the Queen, grab Raphtalia and head to the beast to see what we can collect."
Ships pulled in sailors from the wreckage of the other damaged ships and crewmembers set about healing the injured during the quick surprise assault.
"For what's it worth it seems that everything actually went down pretty easy."
But if only he knew how that would change and very shortly.
It was just a few minutes later that the Shield Hero's party was standing on the carcass but as Naofumi arrived they were also greeted by the other eager Hero's looking to collect on the work they had little to do with.
Itsuki put it bluntly, "All the Heroes took part in the event so all of us should split the drops." The other two heroes didn't offer anything else, eager to just get some good pieces of gear and head on their way.
"Yeah if you guys actually did anything." The obvious contempt for the other three who had done practically nothing wasn't boding well for any future mutual partnerships.
"Tch, Pathetic!" It happened with the same intensity, a thunderous sweep of a scythe came striking all of the Heroes. The Bow, Spear, and Sword were sent rolling backwards, they had no defense prepared… leaving only Naofumi to hold up his shield which took the entire blow.
Standing on the corpse of the downed leviathan was none other than Therese and the perpetrator of the attack, L'arc himself."
In the same moment elsewhere.
"The conjunction is occurring, Chise now is the time!" Elias bellowed his eyes looking upwards towards the sky, the magical bonds between the worlds were weakening and the entire air was completely filled with mana. It was such a unique vision, but it was nothing that he could envision with the woman who stood in the center of the ritual sight. Her white spiritual robes now gathered along with a branch tied with spruce. A small gathering that Elias had picked up while traversing the forests with Naofumi a long time ago. The red tied spruce hung to the edges of a small bell that Chise herself held in the middle of the ritual center.
"It's okay Chise, just breathe and do as Elias said." Her green eyes took on a greater glow as the magics around them began to rise around her. Her body was absorbing magic at an even greater rate than before, but she would need to do so despite the implied risk of stressing herself to actual injury, but unfortunately she was the best one to do it.
The burning incense flowed up and around her as her sandal covered feet slowly moved in the center circle. "I ask unto the spirits of the world, the ones who look from above and those around me now. Please as source of thy power I order thee to rise up and create a shining light to the world from where I came!" A brilliant golden light rose upwards from around her body, the magical air almost becoming suffocating to the point to where she could almost barely catch a breath but the magic rose up higher and higher, creating a rising golden pillar that speared itself up into the heavens.
"Now Chise! Call out to the ones from our home, look to Silky, Angelica, Ruth, Wrenfred, Simon, Titania, Oberon, and the Aeroles! Let them hear your cry and bring us home." Elias stood on the edge, his own shadow magic held at bay by the blinding power of a sleigh beggy, his focus was more on keeping the ground secure as he waited and hoped that there would be an answer.
Through the rush of magic the redhead kept her composure focusing on the reason home. She couldn't lose any concentration. Letting her own mind attempt to reach out and find everyone that was still back in the place she called home. 'Anyone who can hear me, please know that it's me Chise.' Her words traveled along with the spell itself. 'Ruth, I'm ready to come home.' Imagining the long black haired dog and his red eyes, the way he looked so monotone and disinterested in everything. 'My Familiar and Silky.'
The lady of home and hearth, the one who cooked the finest meals and tended to not only her room but her wardrobe as well. Her bright smile even without words was enough to make her forget about the day's troubles and struggles to push through the many lessons that she had been given by Elias back when she shared the same roof with her.
Next it just flowed outwards, Looking to her neighborly if not trickster fae who shared the area. 'It's your sweet Robin, if you can hear me know I'm looking to find a way home.' Their small bodies and flightless forms each one of them eager for her attention.
Next came father Simon and Angelica, the two people who made her feel welcome more so as a person than because of her abilities. Those that looked after her and worried about her like a mother and a father would.
Still she went further and spoke loudly into her own mind. 'Queen of all Fae it is-'
"Oh so this is where you went my dear!" The voice cracked through the roaring magic around her as the burning golden light bowed.
"Chise!?" Elias yelled as he saw the spell buckle. The flow became distorted and twisting as if something had latched onto her. There wasn't concern that she had not been able to perform the spell but if she had not been found by something else. THe mage swept forwards, his cloak flapping behind him as he moved into the blinding that surrounded Chise.
"And there he is! I knew you wouldn't be too far away. Just like a man to never leave his woman behind!" The cheerful voice laughed and the mage's body was flooded with such a foreign sensation as out stepped a hoofed half man with long green hair wearing a dark covered top and pants that went down to his reverse jointed legs. A pair of large brown antlers stuck out from the top of his head as he spun around and put his hands around Chise. "Ah our sweet Robin, how is the child who wears the name of birds?" His laughter fell to contentment as he stood there looking down at the sleigh beggy.
"Oberon, it's good to see you." Chise admitted giving him a gentle hug in return, making the King of the fae almost swoon as he picked up one of his cloven hooved feet into the air.
"Now, now, I can already see that this world is where you've been all this time. My beloved Titania has been fearing for the two of you ever since you disappeared. Oh how elated she'll be to know that you have been found." He laughed happily before doing a quick spin around in the ritual zone.
"My King, it is asked that you wait before venturing into such foreign locations." A small rock fae, a protector and warrior of the Faerie kingdom Spriggan stepped forward. His head covered by a rock fitting helmet and small body perhaps that of a young boy walked forwards holding a forked stave.
The King laughed merrily, "Come now Spriggan there would be no reason to be afraid, it is our sweet Robin that called us," But the Faerie King did not ignore the visage of another. "and of course Elias."
The Sentinel looked towards the mage with disinterest before shaking his head. "That one is not his lady's concern, please gather the child and mage so that we might return home."
"Oh, in such a rush and we've just found a beautiful new world through magic? Come now aren't you in the least bit curious." Oberon said walking from the ritual circle to have a look around as Elias went to Chise's side to hold her as she felt emotions rush through ehr as she had successfully called to their home. The antics and demeanor of Oberon and Spriggian were without a down theirs.
Taking her up in his arms the Mage looked towards the King. "This world is violent, dominated much the same as with humans but many of them hold a magical affinity not unlike myself, in addition there are half fae creatures that roam this planet and fight with humans."
"Interesting! I must have a chat with the locals, oh and what do I see!?" The King put a hand up over his eyes like he were trying to block out light as he stared over towards where a giant aquatic beast that he had never seen before now lay on the water surface. But his gaze was drawn over to the fight that was taking place. "Now that's a sight, a large bird and a girl that looks like an animal but has the form and posture of a human!" His voice getting over excited and eager. "Are these the creatures you spoke of, oh how they look it must be incredible having such creatures acting out in the open."
"My lord…" Spriggian said in a low drawl looking forwards. "We are here for these two, not to get involved."
"Oh come now it's just-" A hefty explosion of dirt as the water was blasted upwards showing multiple forms now apparently engaged in combat. Oberon's sight could make out several figures on one side, and two more on the other. "Hmm, three versus two, now that doesn't seem fair." He chuckled watching the battle play out.
"I believe you are referring to the Shield Hero Naofumi and his party." Elias said holding onto Chise as he could feel the air beginning to swell even further. The bridge had been opened, they could only use so much time before the rift would be shut again. "King Oberon I feel it would be best for us to leave."
"Oh, but it looks like the ones you spoke of aren't doing so well. They're being attacked by two other humans it seems." He gave an overly dramatic pouting expression and voice as he looked back towards the mage. It was clear what he wanted to do.
But then stepping through the same portal came an entirely different presence, one of incredible beauty and calm. A woman wearing black strapless dress with black unconnected sleeves held together by a bright golden corset that came up to just below her chest that held a pair of large flowing breasts. A white trailing gown followed as she stepped out her striking pink eyes framed by vines on either side of her face.
Spriggan gasped, falling to one knee, "My Queen! Please remain on the other side. It is not safe for you here."
The monarch of all Fae kingdom smiled, "Oh please just a moment spriggan I need to see this world for myself and to check on my precious children." Her eyes looked towards Elias and Chise. She moved quickly but to a human it was less than a blink where she reached out and touched the two of her personal treasures. Her eyes closed as she rested a hand upon the Teen's back and the other touching the snout of Elias. "You have had me worried to think you two had both completely been removed from existence without even so much as a mark that had left a hole within my heart."
"Lady Titania it's-" "Shhh." She told him softly, putting a finger over his lips to quiet him, "It's alright as long as you and my beloved Robin are okay, then everything is as it should be." Her words stirred the exhausted Sueri Beggah from her slumber. Her highness smiled as she looked into the weary eyes of Chise who had that strong pull of desire even for her, but she could suppress it after all she loved all of her children equally. Did she favor some over others of course, but it wasn't out of any malice. "Such a sweet child, I shall make sure you come home, hearing your words singing throughout the land of the forever young was such a welcome cry I had never felt such joy in quite a while."
"How long did you hear the spell by Chise?" He asked curiously as she smiled back at him. "It was a while, I perhaps thought it was a trick being played upon me but as I listened to it for some time I knew it had to be our sweet one looking for us and when I reached out to it with my fool of a husband we knew that we had finally found the two of you again."
"My thanks then, please if we might return home." Elias wanted to remove himself from this world and go back to more calmer and peaceful times in his home back in England.
"W-Wait, what about Naofumi? Elias… he might need our help." Chise said, pulling herself up into Elias's arms though still did not attempt to get down from them.
The Queen and Elias turned to look in the direction of Oberon. The three of them were able to look into the distance and see the fight unfolding. "My, it seems like a third party has joined in the battle over there and not in your friend's favor." Oberon's amused laughter said as a familiar raven haired woman appeared in the fray.
"Glass." Elias spoke his own anger towards that foe returning.
[***]
"Hey we've got these guys, you don't need to get involved!" L'arc shouted at the caster who had appeared as things were just starting to get good in the brawl.
"Hmph, if you think I'm going to sit around and hope that things get done you are mistaken," Glass directed her twin fans towards the Shield Hero. "I will deal with the Hero you focus on crushing his allies."
"Damn, she just came in here and expects to sweep up all the glory." The scythe wielder was a bit annoyed that she didn't think they could handle this. Sure the Shield Hero's party was tough but it didn't mean they needed help and Therese could take the fight to them even if the trinket made by Naofumi refused to work against its creator.
"Therese keep the bird pinned down and I'll keep our little swordsman busy." He called out to his partner who nodded from her vantage point. The Filoliali and her had been trading spells and she herself had been put onto the defensive by the combined assault coming from the Shield Hero and his group but she could do much better as a one on one.
Almost immediately Therese blew apart the Tornado's sent by Filo only to have her dashing towards her with quick step, she didn't panic and instead used her own water magic fired out like a shotgun. It pushed the Avian creature away from her and made her pull back into a magical duel.
Just like they had seen letting Filo get close would be a massive mistake, physically she was more powerful but also prone to childish aggression. Their work together and observations had uncovered a lot. Not everything but L'arc and Therese knew their strengths and weaknesses. It was afterall why they were here.
"Fast Tornado!" Another wind spell,
Therese ushered a chant and threw up a wave of water which rolled through the wind and towards Filo. Therese did feel some guilt in what she was doing… but it was the only way.
L'arc met with a headlong charge. The scythe was unable to use its armor penetration to deal damage as the Tanuki parried and dodged him. "Naofumi wised up after a few blows it looks like I won't be catching you the same way." He said with an amused smirk to which Raphtalia only growled at him, her sword shrieking off the metal scythe and swung for L'arc who caught the attack with his hilt.
Both continued to trade blows with the other rapidly, L'arc attempting to keep her pinned down and unable to use her greater mobility and his opponent trying to draw him in close and counter his reach.
"Damn just what is your problem with me!?" Naofumi shouted as he held up his rage shield towards Glass.
"It's nothing personal, but if our world is going to live then you must DIE!" Glass declared her hand prepping a purple arrow from her fan weapons. "Turtle cracker!" The shriek of her spell flew straight towards Naofumi who knew better than to try and block that spell given the damage he had taken from it in their previous fight. He phased his shield back to the thorns version of Elias letting his shadowy body be penetrated but felt nothing.
Snapping back into reality he then rushed forwards Glass unleashing another burst of smaller bolts of magic. He dodged two but the third clipped his guard causing pain to strike through his body as a part of his shoulder guard was blown clean off.
"Air strike shield-!" Throwing the green disk forwards.
"That won't work on me!" She crushed it with her fan splitting the attack into pieces.
"Second shield!" A green disk erupted from behind, the distraction paying off as she was knocked forwards, towards Naofumi who caught her flat footed. "Now soul eater shield!" The twisted visage formed as the monstrous red eyes looked towards its opponent before a thin fanged jaw split itself wide open. The jaws drained the mana straight from glass in a huge chunk which caused her life bar to flicker.
"Damn you!" Glass actually felt the suffered damage more than anything she had been put through before. whipping up a lance from her fan and swinging at Naofumi, "Turtle cracker-!" It was almost point black.
Naofumi gave his battlecry his voice echoing as he took a hard shot to the body but betting his constitution would win out over a caster who lost all of her mana. The second blow hit just as hard as the first as Glass lost another huge swath of her mana.
'This is why she didn't appear during the fight when we were dealing with that monster. It's because this is her weakness!' He wasn't discounting all of the training and grinding he had done up to this point. But this was as good of an advantage as ever for him to finally get payback and turn the tables of his opponents!
L'arc saw Glass being beaten and shocked at the power that Naofumi was displaying. 'He had never used a shield like that against any of the enemies we had fought together against. Even when that would've been ideal. Damnit, did he know all along was he purposely holding back so we would have the wrong intel on them!'
It was a distinct possibility and despite Glass getting involved he wasn't going to let her be lost to the damn shield hero now! "Therese pull back and get Glass out of there!" He commanded using all of his strength to throw back Raphtalia. Using the full weight of his sweeping blow to make her avoid him and then counter with another wild swing to sweep her back even further. He had to be the tank for his party.
Therese unleashed torrents of water magic towards Filo using the same idea of covering an area just to buy her time and make her opponent evade which she did out of necessity. It was wasteful but the blue haired wizard joined up with the other two as she grabbed Glass who was panting heavily.
"Nice trick there boy. But don't start thinking about getting cocky when there's still plenty of fight left in us." He wasn't going to think they were out, a little weaker for sure, but he didn't doubt himself and was able to stop the Shield Hero.
It was time for Naofumi to crack a grin. "If you knew how wrong you were you could surrender now." His shield flashed from the soul eater to his rage shield, "Because I have something to protect I won't let you hurt them!"
Glass felt the worry grow in the pit of her stomach. "That's his trump card."
"What!?" The Scythe Hero said, realizing just how much Naofumi had been holding back. 'This boy really has us by the ropes.'
"I'm going to give you one chance to surrender! This doesn't have to continue."
Therese shook her head, "Our world matters just like this one does to you, we can't give up now we have everyone depending on us to win here. I'm sorry but there can't be any submission."
"Fine, but understand I didn't want to do this." He gave one look back towards Raphtalia and Filo, "Because this world has people I need to protect, their futures matter and I'd sacrifice anything for that!"
It was a proud declaration but the feeling it gave was not one of joy for the Taunki. "No… No Master Naofumi!" Raphtalia felt panic grip her chest as she saw him pull out that cursed shield. "Nowsinner I cast your screams onto the heavens above!"
His rage shield burned deep within his own heart, this was his ace in the hole a way to finally rid himself of opponents, because deep inside he had a reason for using this shield. He heard the screams of his party telling him no and despite their protests if this act guaranteed their victory then he would take it!
Regardless of the cost or what it did to his own body! "The jaws of the dragon will swallow you and you shall become an offering to the God's as you HOWL IN PAIN!" His voice rising up to a darkening sky and the very rage of the cursed dragon called out to him. Glass had tried to kill him, L'arc and Therese had befriended him and then turned on him. Whether they had some justification in his mind 'You are Heroes just like me!' In his hud he could see the timer for the waves slowly winding down. There were only minutes left.
His purple aura erupted outwards from his body as the mana focused and channeled deeper into his attack. "Legendary shield skill Blood-!"
An explosion interrupted him as the Queen's royal Navy, The Queen herself, Melty, and an unfamiliar green haired sorceress began throwing projectiles towards the three gathered opponents. "Hero! Pull back, we shall take the fight to them!" Her majesty shouted in a commanding tone as directed her soldiers and daughter to begin firing barrell projectiles towards those gathered.
The rich but pungent odor of thick alcohol that would knock an entire army down was being blasted over Glass, L'arc, and Therese. The odor and contact alone would disoritate someone with just a few drops. If it were by the Barrel then even a Hero would be weakened by it.
But that wasn't it, a brilliant green wall formed behind Naofumi's party and from the wall stepped forward Elias carrying Chise, Spriggan, Oberon, and then Titania.
"Oh it seems to be things are getting interesting." The King laughed, springing forwards past Elias and before Raphtalia and FIlo could begin speaking he had an arm around Raphtalia and a hand into Filo's fathers. "Ah these children are so wonderful, these ears, and such feathers they are truly amazing!"
"Who?" "What?"
"Oberon dear please…" Titania covered her face.
"Oh no fair." He turned to Spriggen, "If you wouldn't mind."
"This one does not have the ability to refuse his majesty's request." The small man's body shifted huge stone pillars cracking and growing from nowhere rising upwards into a seven foot tall Golem made of solid rock, his face all but covered save for his eyes as he took a step forwards.
"Heh, had allies sitting in your back pocket all this time eh Naofumi?" L'arc shook his head in his own personal disbelief that he hadn't imagined this fight going down this way.
The Shield Hero cast a glance in the direction of all of the new arrivals to the scene. "Who the hell are you guys?" He then looked back towards his opponents, his focus had been lost as he had interrupted his channeling of blood sacrifice.
"Our times up " The Scythe wielder spoke solemnly as he helped up Glass who was suffering from the dizzying concoction and her loss of her life force and mana.
"You think I'm just going to let you go!?" He then directed his shield up towards them. If he were to deliver the deathblow now this could weaken the waves in the future! What would a few more days in an infirmary matter if this could be a decisive blow!
But when he began to focus and attempted to draw back out the Legendary Shield skill to end this conflict he was grabbed from behind by Raphtalia. "Stop! Please don't need to use that skill again." It had all but killed him the last time and she wouldn't want him to risk him succeeding on the second.
The delay was enough as the timer tolled its final bell as the Three Heroes from another world disappeared into a flash of light following the ending of the waves they returned to their own homeworld.
"Such a shame it looked like things were actually about to start getting interesting." Obern spun around on one hoof to go look towards his Queen and the assembled party.
"Perhaps they were already tired of your antics, either way we should be returning ourselves. I wouldn't want my children to worry too long without me." Titania said with a quick look around although settling on the two interesting creatures and this person called Naofumi or Shield Hero.
Naofumi looked into the face of Raphtalia who had tears in her eyes but her lips pulled into a smile. "Thank you master, I know you wanted to win but you don't need to use that power. You can't sacrifice yourself for us like that. We're still in this together." She spoke, still keeping her arms around him.
Filo, having taken a step back from Oberon although not threatened by him, shifted back into her human form as the groups looked at one another.
"Oh well it was fun, but it appears we have to be returning shortly." Oberon walked with his hands on his hips back towards Titania, Elias, and Chise.
The Shield Hero's party approached Elias's gathering the two of them not in any standoff but looked at one another. But as the mage held up his bride he then offered his hand out to the human. "What is your answer? There is only a few minutes left before the conjunction ends. Will you return with us with your party or to remain?"
"It's okay if you wish to stay, I can understand how close you are to people here." Chise offered to try to be neutral to the position he was in.
Naofumi looked to Elias and his offering, the obvious fae creatures he spoke of behind him not knowing their significance aside from their obvious magical power that his display told him… but he looked back towards his own group. 'Do I stay or do I go?'
R&R
You decide his fate, remain or go to the Kingdom of the forever young with Filo and Raphtalia? Poll up on my profile or leave a review, I'll close in three weeks.