Naofumi had expected to have to deal with a lot in order to get Filo dressed, but apparently Clyde had the crystal needed to generate the magic threads.

Motoyasu absorbed part of the crystal into his spear, and he got right to work sewing for them.

Filo jumped around excitedly in her new dress. "Raphtalia, do I look cute?" She really liked getting Raphtalia's attention.

Raphtalia nodded with a sweet smile. "You do."

Filo blushed brightly. "Thank you, Raphtalia!"

"So I ended up hatching a lesbian…" Naofumi said under his breath as he watched how Filo interacted with Raphtalia.

Motoyasu was still generating threads for Akame, and this meant Akame needed to be touching his spear in order for the threads to be generated from her magic power.

Akame of course had her bust unintentionally pressed against Motoyasu as he worked, making his face a bright red.

They were all in Clyde's shop, so Angel came out to give them some tea.

Clyde was just watching them all with a tired look on his face. He had likely been handling a lot recently. "That crystal is expensive, you know. I expect you to replace it."

"I know where to get more. I'll get you a couple," Naofumi told him. "Why don't you get some rest?"

"I'm…busy. One month until the next Melromarc Wave after all," Clyde replied tiredly.

Naofumi nodded at him. "What do you actually do before the Wave?"

"Make weapons mainly. Erhard's death hit this city hard. I'm arming all the adventurers. I don't know how the old guy did it." Clyde bowed his head politely in thanks when Angel gave him some tea as well.

Motoyasu had been sewing out of instinct instead of thinking about fashion like he normally did, and a shocked look came over his face when he held up a blue and black flame-pattern bikini for Akame. "…I'm an awful brother…"

Akame brightened up excitedly. "Easy to move in! I love it, big brother Motoyasu!"

Naofumi gave Motoyasu a smirk. "Should we play the Alabama music for you two?"

"N-no!" Motoyasu responded quickly. He needed some way to make the outfit more appropriate and stylish, so he quickly made Akame some shorts for the Yoko Littner look. "I guess this will do…" He sighed, now knowing Akame liked such showy clothes.

Akame took the clothes and ran off to the changing room, tossing her borrowed cloak away as she changed. She came out with her bust still swaying under her new bikini top. "How do I look, big brother?"

Motoyasu wiped his nose of blood. "Ok."

Buddy pat Motoyasu on the back. "May I have my tux made of magic threads too? I am working on some transformation magic myself so I do not stick out too much in public."

Motoyasu was just happy for the diversion from her new, hot party member. "Yeah. Just put a hand on my spear, and I'll start working on the threads."

"Thank you, master Motoyasu!" Buddy seemed excited for a new outfit.

Naofumi meanwhile had returned his focus to Clyde. He knew something was off about him, and he would rather know sooner than later. "Clyde. I want to hear everything about how you got here. No secrets. In turn, you may ask for whatever information you need from me."

Clyde blinked at Naofumi before letting out a groan of annoyance. "Fine. I guess it's time word of me spread to each hero. Plus I am loose-lipped anyway. Hard for me to keep secrets."

"I saw Ren's party member Éclair with a Vassal Weapon. Where did you get that?" Naofumi asked.

Clyde was silent for a moment. "…I forged it."

Motoyasu looked up from his work. "You what-!?"

Clyde nodded slowly. "Naofumi, I didn't tell you why my world was suddenly targeted by the Waves, so I will tell you know. Your weapons are no longer powerful weapon spirits. They are now all forged copies, made by the god of the forge."

Naofumi looked at his shield. He certainly did notice some minor differences, but he felt even more powerful than before.

"The god of the forge settled into my world in an attempt to make god-slaying weapons, but the goddess Medea who controls the Waves did not want to risk those weapons existing, so she exerted her power onto my world." Clyde pointed at himself. "To be honest, I was pissed at the god of the forge for putting my world in danger, so I did something no other mortal has ever done alone before. I killed the god of the forge with my bare hands." He pulled out his forge hammer. "This belonged to the god of the forge, and I took it when he fell. I am now the demigod of the forge. At least half of all Legendary and Vassal Weapons have come from my forge."

"You…made our weapons. That explains-"

"How I can forcibly unlock new weapon transformations, yes." Clyde sighed as he looked at his shaking hands. "I'm limited though. I need constant rest in order to keep forging weapons. So I made a defensive weapon for my guardian. Or as I named her, my Guardian Angel."

Angel waved cheekily at them.

"That's why I help the heroes so much. Sure I can't always work for free since I need to live too, but I do my best to help. I know how these weapons work and grow. I have Angel collect materials you are all likely to miss or weapons you are all unlikely to have copied. I have gathered magic books for you all to learn. Everything I have done is to make sure the heroes beat Medea." Clyde then frowned. "But then a god of the shield emerged to fight Medea. I thought the battle was over, but then another god emerged and fragmented both gods. This new goddess Cataclysma. Even other gods are afraid of her. Supposedly she is a legendary god intended to purge all the worlds and make one anew at the cost of everyone's lives. Now, I make weapons in hopes of fighting her. She now controls the Waves that used to belong to other gods. She opens Waves between dozens of worlds at once, eager to let them all fight each other to death."

Naofumi remembered the name Medea for some reason, but he didn't know Cataclysma. Still though, he had no reason not to believe Clyde's story. "The god-slaying weapons…did you ever finish making them?"

"I made their base. The new legendary weapons. They need to be fully upgraded to unlock god-slayer status though. There are no shortcuts. Every weapon transformation unlocked. Every transformation fully upgraded. It…could take most people multiple lifetimes to do that. Especially since the subclasses don't unlock easily due to the belief system," Clyde explained.

"Subclasses?" Naofumi turned to Motoyasu, both of them remembering Orion trying to unlock their new subclasses.

Right as things fell into place, the subclasses unlocked.

Naofumi blinked at his status as a new option appeared.

New Legendary Shield Subclass Unlocked: Path of the Brawler

Changes: Attack Boost (high), Defense Drop (low), Speed Boost (medium)

New starting shield unlocked: Small Brawler Shield

Equip new subclass?

Naofumi equipped the subclass immediately, now seeing his shield's upgrade tree split into two. His Path of the Defender Subclass was a lot more advanced, but the Path of the Brawler Subclass had a few extra shields available from all of the materials he had let his shield absorb.

Motoyasu had a similar notice pop up in his status.

New Legendary Spear Subclass Unlocked: Path of the Leader

Changes: Attack Drop (low), Defense Boost (high), Speed Boost (medium)

New starting spear unlocked: Small Rally Spear

Equip new subclass?

It was like Naofumi and Motoyasu had switched roles. Naofumi now had absurdly high attack, and Motoyasu had absurdly-high defense and a number of support abilities.

What was better is that while there was some stat difference, they still maintained a lot of their original stats. Upgrading both subclasses would stack together and make them absurdly strong.

"And we already know how to use them thanks to Orion!" Motoyasu commented excitedly.

Naofumi nodded with equal excitement. He hadn't had this system before, but now he could tank and attack with ease.

Clyde blinked at how easily they were taking it. "I'm…happy to have helped." He was silent for a moment. "Naofumi, if you can donate 5 gold, I can prepare you even more."

Naofumi had no reason to expect lies from Clyde now, but he was hesitant to hand over that kind of cash. Still though, he needed to be stronger if the next Wave had Glass come from it. He also just had a lot more money than his last time in this world. He eventually decided to hand over the gold.

Clyde nodded and turned to Angel. "Fetch the katana."

Angel nodded and rolled off, returning with a large case.

Clyde nodded to Raphtalia. "For you." He popped open the case, showing off the Vassal Katana. "Treat this one well. It was made for you."

Raphtalia had wide eyes as she got closer. "But…I won't be able to buy swords from you anymore. Are you ok with that?"

Clyde looked down for a moment. "Save this world. Help your owner. Break me out of my hell so I can live my life again. Do that, and it will be worth much more than any amount of money to me."

Raphtalia took the katana, letting it bond to her. "Thank you, mister."

"Just Clyde. Or Jack. Either of those two names." Clyde plopped back into a chair, clearly exhausted.

"One more question, Clyde. I understand that Angel doesn't fight in the Waves because she needs to protect you, but if that's the case, why don't you fight in the Waves? You're a demigod. Your stats are likely absurd," Naofumi asked.

"Because having a forge hammer has one big limit. I can only hurt metal-based or armored enemies. A forge hammer is for striking metal. It's like how you were limited to defense for a while, but since I didn't make my hammer, I have no way of changing it. I can't guarantee what comes through a Wave, so I don't take the risk." Clyde returned his hammer to his holster. "I told you a lot. When I ask for info, I expect to hear it."

"Of course," Naofumi replied.

"How many times have you had this talk?" Motoyasu asked suddenly.

Clyde was silent for another moment. "More times than I can count."

Angel signed to Clyde that she could take over for a bit.

Clyde nodded and got up to go rest.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Buddy decided to cheer up the mood.

"He believes in you," Buddy told them. "Don't prove him wrong."

Motoyasu and Naofumi nodded.

Motoyasu held up a fancy, bear-sized tux for Buddy. "Just finished."

The tux was a unique color. It was mainly blue with highlights of red and yellow.

Buddy seemed to squeal in a very un-gentlemanly manor as he took the tux and ran off to use the changing room, not that he had anything to change out of. He came out in the tux, his favorite rainbow scarf tied up to be a nice bowtie for the fancy tux. "I feel positively dandy!"

Motoyasu then went over and removed Buddy's chef hat, putting a fresh top hat on in its place. "And you look absolutely dashing."

"Thank you, master Motoyasu!" Buddy then used transformation magic for the first time, changing into a handsome, muscular man who was still pretty bear-sized. He also still had his bear ears, but he was able to hide them under his hat when he was in places that weren't friendly to demihumans. His tux still fit him perfectly after the transformation, and he noticeably didn't need to lean on his staff in order to stand anymore. "So this is what human legs feel like? I absolutely love them, but…" He turned back to his bear form. "This is just me."

"It really is. It took me way too long to realize you're a bear. Don't try to change again on me now!" Motoyasu told him.

Buddy chuckled playfully. "I'm still that same puppy you found me as. At least in my heart."

Naofumi was going through the abilities of his Brawler Subclass. He looked up at Raphtalia and Filo. "I think…it's time we truly started to take quests. We have a lot to clean up."

"Yeah. Itsuki has mostly been on his own. Who knows what he has done while listening to that Bitch?" Motoyasu asked.

"I actually have a pretty good idea…" Naofumi thought for a bit. "Motoyasu, I'm sending you out."

"I'll handle it." Motoyasu grinned as his party moved behind him. "I have never been more ready."

"Then there's a number of things that need to be taken care of before the next Wave. Let's get to work."


They had to leave at night, considering they now both had wagons to pull and were criminals in Melromarc.

Buddy was steering Akame who was now back in dragon form, and Akame was pulling the wagon.

Motoyasu…was in the back and motion-sick.

Akame's magic outfit changed into an adorable bow on her head when she was in swampstomper form, simple but compact.

Akame herself was definitely too big to be pulling a normal wagon, but it was all that could be given to her in such short notice. She just kept her tail holding onto the wagon as she went along.

Buddy looked back to check on Motoyasu. "Are you ok, master Motoyasu?"

"I'll…" Motoyasu gagged as he tried to keep his dinner down. "I'll be fine…" He looked at all the bottles Naofumi had loaded his wagon with. "I wonder why Naofumi is sending us with so much herbicide?"

Buddy held up the quest form Naofumi had given them. "There's a town that requested it. I'm guessing something went out of control."

"It's really foggy…" Akame came to a stop. "Daddy! We've been here already!"

Buddy narrowed his eyes as he looked around, indeed remembering the scenery. He jumped off the wagon and looked around, seeing a wall of fog in the shape of a dome about a mile around them. "It seems whenever we enter the fog, we just end up back here."

Motoyasu just seemed happy to have been able to stop for a moment, shakily getting out of the wagon. "Some sort of magic?"

Buddy closed his eyes as he performed magic appraisal. "Very high level magic. I can't tell what kind it is."

Akame changed into her human form and looked around. She suddenly bared her teeth, having sharp dragon teeth in human form as well it would seem.

Filolials started running in, forming an even smaller border around them than they had already.

"Bad birds… I hate these bad birds!" Akame growled angrily as she looked ready to start attacking.

Motoyasu knew Akame was strong, but he wasn't sure she could handle an army of Filolials. He put his hand on her shoulder to try to calm her down. "Let's see why they are here first."

That was when Fitoria came in. She was in her giant Filolial form, but she wasn't at max size. She was at about the size of a building. "Spear Hero. You have committed a grave error in making a potential Dragon Emperor. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

Motoyasu looked up at the giant bird in shock. "Who the hell are you?"

"Queen of the Filolials, Fitoria," Buddy told him. "She's very powerful and likely will wipe us off the face of the planet."

"And a potential Beast King too? You are going against the balance, Spear Hero," Fitoria boomed at him.

Motoyasu shrugged. "Listen. I'm just trying to live, and this is the best party for me." He pointed his spear at her. "If I need to fight you to protect them, I will."

Buddy knew it would be a losing fight, but he decided to comment too. "Stupid bird, aren't you? Just because your place at the top is threatened, you would come to end innocent lives? Have you no dignity? You're not a Filolial Queen. A queen leads. A tyrant forces their will onto others. Are you challenging us, Filolial Tyrant?"

Fitoria seemed to get incredibly pissed at that. "You have no room to talk! All dragons are evil and dangerous! Look at yours right now!"

Akame had gotten bored and was drawing in the dirt with a stick.

Motoyasu and Buddy stared blankly for a moment before turning back to Fitoria.

"This queen has the mental capacity of a child," Buddy grumbled.

"She's a Filolial. Her brain operates on the same level as Filo's," Motoyasu replied. He quickly went into his status and thought of what could allow him to fight her. He then remembered the Inspiration Weapon page where he could combine weapons. He only knew of one spear that could possibly fight Fitoria. He combined the Spear of Envy and the Spear of Lust.

Inspiration Series Spear Forged!

Luxuria Invidia Spear Unlocked!

Equip Bonus: Strength Bonus, Attack Bonus, Defense Bonus

Special Equip Effect: Curse of Temptation, Field of Impalation (skill), Zweite Field of Impalation (skill), Drifa Field of Impalation (skill), Blutbruch (skill)

Combo: Bar Cell - Electric Fence - Field of Impalation - Zweite Field of Impalation - Drifa Field of Impalation

Motoyasu then went to switch to the absurdly-overpowered spear, but his status filled with static before displaying new text.

Weapon Change Blocked

Motoyasu tried a few more times, but he couldn't switch to the new spear.

"Never risk that spear," Fitoria told him firmly. She then started raining a hellstorm of deadly wind magic onto them.

Motoyasu had his new subclass at least, so he used a new ability from it. He twirled his spear, deflecting the magic away with it. "Buddy! Akame! Stay behind me!"

Buddy and Akame quickly moved behind him.

"I hate mean bird lady…" Akame grumbled.

"Understandable. It's like Fitoria wants us to hate her…" Buddy cast a defense boost onto Motoyasu to help him out more.

Motoyasu wasn't even able to break through the pressure to fight back. He had one option, but he wasn't sure it would work. Still, he had to try. "ORION! HELP!"

An alert immediately popped into Motoyasu's status.

Legendary Hero (Irio) is requesting permission to teleport to you.

Allow/ Deny

Irio? Motoyasu thought, not knowing the name. He then remembered that Orion likely had a name before his heroes renamed him, which meant the weapon still designated Orion by his old name. He immediately selected to allow.

Orion came out through a portal that appeared nearby. He was in his metal body, making him just as tall as Fitoria. "This child is under my protection. I do not wish to fight."

Fitoria looked pissed that this slime golem would dare oppose her. She decided to just change into max size to crush him, but her own status magic gave her an alert.

Transformation Locked

Fitoria gave Orion a surprised look.

"How does it feel?" Orion said slowly. "You've been flaunting your powers like you are above everyone. You fight Waves and claim to be what is best for the world." He gave her a look a disappointed father would give his child. "A world is nothing without its people."

Fitoria rushed at him and attacked with her clawed feet. She was likely just as strong as Orion, so she would be able to hurt him.

Orion easily blocked it with his Legendary Shield though. "I can't change weapons here, but thankfully I had this equipped. I think that's fair."

Fitoria slid back from the block. "What…are you?"

Orion chuckled softly. "I'm just an ordinary soldier." His skill was enough to make Fitoria seem weak in comparison.

Fitoria lost her confidence to win quickly. "Unlock my transformation, and I will unlock your weapons. Then we may fight fairly."

Orion took the offer immediately. "Go for it." He unlocked her transformation.

Fitoria unlocked Orion's weapons before turning to her biggest size, towering over Orion. "Big mistake!" She moved to step on him.

"I don't want to fight you…" Orion changed his shield to what looked like the Shield of Rage, but the shield was purified and carried a feeling of kindness and harmony. "Shield of Compassion." He blocked Fitoria's attempt to squish him like a bug.

"How-?" Fitoria stumbled back.

"Your stats are still the same no matter how big you are. Please surrender now, I really will have to fight you if you continue…" Orion really didn't like to fight, but he would protect Motoyasu and his party.

Fitoria wanted any potential dragon emperors dead though. She hated dragons with all her heart. She raised her foot to stomp on Orion again.

Orion glanced back at Motoyasu. "Tell Naofumi what I do here. This is the ultimate shield technique, meant for defending worlds."

Motoyasu just nodded wordlessly, amazed at how casually Orion could fight Fitoria.

Orion blocked Fitoria's stomp again. "I am the greatest wall. I am meant to protect, not the world but its people. I stand alone, a sentinel. A wall. Walls are resolute. Walls are adamant, dark shields. I am that dark shield." He then used up all of his SP, MP, and EP. "Darkshield Sentinel!" He then was covered in shields he had unlocked, growing bigger and bigger as he became a titan made of unlocked shields. He was event taller than Fitora when his growth was done.

Fitoria looked up at him before unleashing all of her magic at him.

The Darkshield Sentinel didn't even budge. It then knocked Fitoria out with one punch.

Fitoria shrank and returned to her human form after being knocked unconscious, her eyes cartoonish swirls. "Ow…"

Orion jumped out of his Darkshield Sentinel as it collapsed, landing close to Fitoria. He then ejected his green slime body from his armor and changed into his human form, running over to check on Fitoria. He immediately started using healing magic on her. "Learn from this. A protector is nothing without the people they protect."

Fitoria slowly stopped seeing stars and her consciousness returned. She remembered…this touch and this voice. She looked up at Orion, some of her older memories coming back from being hit in the head. "M-master? You came back for me?"

Orion tilted his head curiously. "I am afraid I do not know who you speak of. I am no master and have no desire to be one."

Fitoria was silent as she watched him. "I'm sorry I troubled you, master."

"My name is Orion. I am but a soldier." Orion finished healing her head. "You have be confused for someone else."

"…may I call you master?"

"I would prefer if you did not." Orion pet her head.

"…then may I call you Theo?" Fitoria asked randomly.

"…I will allow that." Orion helped her up. "Is everyone ok?"

"Thanks to you," Motoyasu told him.

"I am glad… I am sorry I took so long. I needed to recover my SP before teleporting," Orion apologized.

"Really, you came almost instantly to us," Buddy told him.

"Then I am glad you were not waiting long." Orion was still watching Fitoria worriedly. He had healed her, but he wasn't sure what her intentions were now.

Thankfully, Fitoria didn't cause any more problems. She just gave one final glare to Akame and Buddy before leaving with her fellow Filolials.

"She's crazy… She went after us just because she doesn't like Akame…" Motoyasu was now worried that dealing with Fitoria would be a regular occurrence.

"The path to harm is paved with good intentions. She is afraid Akame will become a threat to this world. Thankfully it won't be hard to prove her wrong." Orion smiled softly as he watched Akame already going back to pull the wagon. "I believe I will be going with you on this quest. My weapons don't interfere with your spear's growth, so I will monitor you for a bit before I search for my brother's next appearance."

"Thanks… That puts my mind at ease about Fitoria at least." Motoyasu went to go back to the wagon. "But it does nothing about my motion-sickness."

"Scarring builds resistance. Weather it, and you will come out stronger," Orion said as he jumped back into his armor and transformed it into its Filolial-pulled carriage form.

"Thanks, I guess?" Motoyasu sighed as he got into the back of the wagon.


I was going to make a joke about Fitoria's master being a famous historical figure, but I didn't know enough about history to go through with it. Jokes aside, Fitoria doesn't seem to be a problem anymore. At least not yet.

Clyde's deal has been revealed and his cards are on the table. More Vassal Weapons will be available this time because of it, but at what cost will this trade be? Also, is he correct on what the new threat's desire is? Surely it can't be just to wipe out all worlds!

New subclasses for Naofumi and Motoyasu! Explanations for how subclasses work incase the story didn't do it right. Unlocking a weapon for one subclass unlocks a different version of the same weapon in the other subclass for twice the weapons. Subclasses must be swapped in order to access abilities from the other side, but stats are mostly the same between subclasses. Naofumi unlocked the ability to attack, which makes him able to hit really hard with a shield bash even when not using the Sentinel Shield. Motoyasu unlocked the ability to defend and provide support. Spear guard be default is a twirl that deflects projectiles.

Orion's Darkshield Sentinel is an example of an "Ult". It gets stronger the more weapons someone has unlocked, but it uses up all three types of ability energy in order to use, meaning it needs mastery of the Hengen Musou style of martial arts or something similar. Understandably, it is far off for the original four heroes.

Light spoilers: Ren's subclass will be "Path of the Spellsword", and Itsuki's subclass will be "Way of the Assassin".

Everyone is changing a lot it would seem. Will it be enough to best Glass in the next Wave though? Only time will tell. Especially since nothing says Glass has to come alone.