Apollyon watches on as the defeated legions of the once Great Empire, now under the mercy of the Blackstone Legions. And dragged towards her by two knights was their centurion. The knights threw the centurion infront of Apollyon.

"Centurion..." said Apollyon.

"Please... Spare me..." said the centurion.

"Do you know what creature waits for its own slaughter?"

The terrified centurion had no words to speak as he waits for his fate.

"Sheeps..." Apollyon turned and swung her sword. And with that single move it sliced through the centurion's neck and his head rolled to the bloodied ground. "Sheeps."

Then, a Lawbringer walked towards the warlord. "Master. We just got news from the northen legions."

"And?" said Apollyon.

"They agreed to march to Ashfield once they are fully recovered."

"And how long will that took?"

"I don't know. They are still recovering from their civil war. And us attacking one of them won't exactly help."

"That's how we tell predator from prey, Cross." Apollyon presented the headless corpse of the centurion. "Only the strongest may join our caused."

"Master!" said one of the knight running towards Apollyon. "We still got problems with the legionnaires!"

"How many?"

"Just one."

"Really? Show me."

Apollyon and Cross followed the knight, walking pass several captured and death legionnaires, and the Blackstone knights patrolling the battlefield. They then saw more knights circling a single legionnaires with slain knights piling around the lone soldier. The lone legionnaires looked around like a wild animal wielding a bloodied gladius and a damaged scutum.

Apollyon walked closer as the rest of the knights moved away for the warlord. After she got closer, she can see the legionnaire much clearer. And even with blood and dirt covering his face Apollyon can still tell how young this soldier his.

The young legionnaire at his eyes on the warlord. He snarled as he gripped his weapon tighter. Apollyon observed the mutilated corpsed of her defeated knight. Killed by none other than the raging soldier of a dying empire.

Apollyon approached the soldier with her sword ready, and without a second waste the lone soldier swung his gladius at the warlord. Apollyon swatted the weapon away and it escaped from the soldier's grip. The soldier bashed his scutum at Apollyon and she blocked it with her arm, shattering the shield.

The young soldier then pulled a dagger out and slashed at Apollyon, only for her to grabbed the soldier's hand and bashed his abdomen with the pommel of her sword. She then kicked the soldier away and he fell to the ground amongs the slain knights.

Apollyon pointed her sword at the fallen soldier, but he grabbed the blade with his bare hands and plunged it to the dirt next to his head. He then kicked Apollyon away, separating her from her weapon. The young soldier got up and tried to lift the heavy sword but a knight bashed the soldier's face.

And more knights started tackling the young soldier. He tried to stay on his feet when one knight hit his knees with the hilt of a sword. The young legionnaire feel on his knees with knights holding him down. Apollyon retrieved her weapon and faced the young legionnaire.

"Finally. The wolf among them have arise. Look around you. Your legions are defeated. Your empire is dying. But I will give you a second chance. Will you join my legion? Or run away without a purpose?"

The young soldier was silence. The though of home and family he no longer have was in his mind. All lost to the civil war that have ravaged his home, leaving behind a dying dynasty. "I will... Join your legion."

"Release him." Apollyo commanded the knights, and they let go of the young soldier. "Welcome to the Blackstone Legion."

The young soldier got up on his feet. His rage finally dimmed.

"Now... Tell me your name, legionnaire." said Apollyon.

"My name... Is..."

"Marius... Marius..." Filo called out.

Marius shook his head, finally returned from his daze. He, along with his party member, were fishing near the coast.

"Is there something wrong?" said Naofumi.

"Nothing. My mind simply wandered off." said Marius. He continued holding his fishing rod as he waited for a bite.

"And what happened to Mask Guy? Why using his name all of a sudden?"

"Since we're lovers now, I think I should call him by his real name from now on." said Filo.

"See those dark clouds on the horizon?" said Raphtalia. "We can't head back while those are still looming."

"You know alot about the sea, huh?" said Naofumi.

Then, a fish took a bite of Raphtalia's bait. She quickly pulled the fish out of the water.

"Wow! You caught another one!" said Filo.

"I grew up in a fishing village, after all." said Raphtalia.

Then another fish bit Marius's bait and he too pulled it out of the water. "Poseidon is generous today..." he took a quick look at Naofumi's bucket with a single small fish. "Atleast, for me and Raphtalia."

"I've been meaning to ask. Where do you grew up in, Marius?"

"I grew up in a family farm."

"So you learnt to farm?"

"I learnt some ways to farm, but I never wanted to be farmer. Ever since I was a boy I aways wanted to joined the imperial legions."

"I see. What about you, Master Naofumi?"

"I grew up in a city. There's really nothing much for me growing up." said Naofumi.

"Are there not any entertainments? Were there chariot races or gladiator fights?" said Marius.

"Nobody does that anymore in my world."

"Shame."

"By the way, aren't you gonna tell us about Apollyon?" Naofumi waited for an answer, as Marius stayed silence after the question. "Hanzo said you used to be under her command."

"... Yes... I used heed her orders."

"Do you know why she's with Glass?"

"Just like them, she wanted to kill all four the heroes as well."

"Figures."

"But not to save my world. She wanted the people of this world to face the wave alone."

"And that can only happend if all four of us died, right?"

"Correct."

"And why would she wanted that to happen?"

"To weed out the weak, and only the strongest will live on... The wolves among them."

There was a moment of silence between them, before Naofumi stood up.

"That's more reasons for us to get stronger. Let's go. I think we caught enough fishes for tonight's dinner."

In an inn they were staying, Marius stared at mirror inspecting the new scar on his face inflicted by Apollyon. He turned to look at his broken helmet and the shield with the hole where the obsidian sword pierced through.

He then heard knocking on the door. Marius opened the door and saw Filo all by herself.

"Filo. Are you not suppose to sleep with Raphtalia tonight?" said Marius.

"I-I want to sleep with you. Can I?" said Filo.

"Very well."

As Filo entered the room, she locked the door behind her while maintaining her sight at Marius, and her face blushes.

"Marius..." she slowly untied the bow on her dress, and let her outer dress slid from her body and fell to the floor.

"Filo?" said Marius.

"I-I want us to continued where we left off that night... Don't you remember?"

"Are you sure about this?"

"I am... Master and Big Sis are asleep now. We can do it tonight."

"Queen Fitoria did not mention about this. Very well. We are still on a vacation. And Lord Naofumi said the next wave will not be upon us for the next couple of months. Perhaps we could... Do it?"

Marius then sat on the bed and remove his tunic, now with only his loincloth on. Filo walked up to Marius and sat on his lap facing him. They both then started kissing, drowning themselves in each other embrace. Marius grabbed Filo's right arm and saw the claw marks left behind by Apollyon.

"Does it not hurt you?" said Marius.

"Not anymore." said Filo, her voice now softer than usual.

Marius then grabbed hold of Filo and lay her on the bed gently. Filo started removing her dress, and with the help of Marius, she revealed her now exposed body and the Slave Crest still on her chest. Marius leaned in and kissed Filo's lips, and they started intertwined their hands as they embraced each other passionately.

As they go on with their love making, Rishia, their new party member, was outside of the room. She had her mouth closed shut by her hands and the look of pure shock on her face, having heard their conversation through the door.

"Oh God... He's a lolicon!" Rishia screamed in her head.

Aboard the ship sailing back to Melromarc, Marius walked towards the edge of the boat. As he leaned on the border, Rishia suddenly recoiled away from him.

"What?" Marius said. He then felt a hand on his shoulders.

"Just a little reminder, my ears are very sensitive." said Raphtalia.

Marius turned his head to Raphtalia and then to Rishia, before returning his gaze to the demi human. "You two know about it?"

"I-I saw Filo going to your room last night... A-And I got curious and-" said Rishia.

"By the gods... We will not speak of this. Ever."

"You said an obsidian sword did this?" said Erhard while inspecting the hole on the bronze shield and Marius's left vambrace.

"Can you fix it?" said Marius.

"This won't take too long to fix. By the way, obsidian stone are very rare in this parts, but an obsidian sword? Whoever you just fought must have a very heavy coin purse."

"Right." Marius turned his gazed at his party member who were helping Rishia with her new equipment. He then pulled out an object wrapped in a cloth then put it on the counter.

"What's that?"

"There is another thing I need you to do." Marius unwrapped it to reveal his broken centurion helmet.

"Lemme guess, same person?"

"Take the rest of helmet as scraps. I still need the mask."

"Huh? For what?"

"I need you to make another helmet for me." Marius pulled out a miniature wooden helmet of the greek hoplite, but with a mask in the middle where the face will be. "I want you to make it like this."

"I see." Erhard took the miniature off Marius's hand. "Doesn't have a lot details, apart from the crest. The vambrace and the shield will be fixed by tomorrow. The helmet will take two or three days. Sound good?"

"It will do."

"Representing the Queen of Melromarc, I, Second Princess Melty Melromarc, I hereby confer the Shield Hero, Naofumi Iwatani, all rights to govern Seyaette's Demi Human Region." princess Melty declared at the Shield Hero group. Her bodyguard, the Orochi named Hanzo, bowed.

"What?" Raphtalia exclaimed.

"Basically, that's the reward from the queen. I'm now the lord of this area." said Naofumi. "Going forward, we will need a home base."

"But you could've lived in the capital now." said Melty.

"If I did, I'd run the risk of running into Trash or Bitch somewhere."

"If we wish to turn this into our headquaters, we might need to built better defenses." said Marius.

"Yeah, but for now we need to built this place up again. For everyone to live in."

"Let's play, Melty!" said Filo, and she hugged her bestfriend.

"Follow me, Raphtalia. There's more I want to show you." Naofumi said, and he and Raphtalia walked off towards the beach.

"Centurion." Hanzo walked forward to Marius.

"Orochi." Marius extended his arm and they both held each other forearms. "Seems your duty as become lighter."

"Indeed it has. Princess Melty will be taking part official affairs now. Atleast there will no danger involve."

"Good to know"

The two turned to look at the two girls playing on open spaces.

"Now... About Apollyon." said Hanzo.

"I cannot believe it myself as well. Seems I am unable to escape my past. Not even on this world."

"Now you know how we felt when you showed up in this world."

"Ha."

"So what do we do now?"

"We will do more preparations before the next wave. Strengthen our armies, hone our skills and sharpened our blades."

"And what of Apollyon and her allies?"

"The others will deal with the rest. I will face Apollyon... And avenged those who have fallen on her hands."

"Marius!" Filo called them.

Both warriors turned to looked at the two little girls waving at them.

"We're gonna go exploring the village!" said Melty.

"Well. Duty calls." said Hanzo.

"Of course." said Marius.

Both of them then followed the two girls around, doing their duties as bodyguards.

"We are not going to do that thing, are we not?" said Marius.

"Do what?" said Hanzo.

"Where we compare which of our girls are better?"

"Nonsense. It is foolish to compare them."

"You are right. Besides, Filo is clearly better."

There was a few second of silences between them before Hanzo spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"Filo is as beautiful as Aphrodite herself, and strong as the mighty Heracles."

"Well... Princess Melty as the maturity of that of an adult. She is intelligent, which is why she took part in royal affairs."

"Filo display of strength include slaying multiple beast even me, Naofumi nor Rapthalia could not fight."

"Princess Melty is the second princess of Melromarc."

"Filo was born a queen. The filolial queen."

"Princess Melty was born in royalty, and the future queen of Melromarc."

"By the gods! I thought we will not do this!"

"You started it."

"Oh... I see... But my words are still right."

"Can we just focus on the task?"

"Very well."

Naofumi and Raphtalia walked on the beach towards some locals building a boat, and a familiar face.

"Shield brother! What do you think of the boat?" said Rollo, standing on top of a boat with a hammer on his hand.

"Looks great. Looks like it'll be sailing in no time." said Naofumi.

"These were made the same way I made the fastest boat in Valkenheim! It will move along the waters as fast as Odin's height-legged horse! That I can guarantee!"

"Boats?" said Raphtalia.

"Restarting the fishing business should help rebuild the place." said Naofumi. "And we also have you, the fishing expert. Show the newcomers the ropes."

As Marius was exploring the mansion, he saw a small crowd gathered on the door to the top floor. Among the small crowd was Filo, princess Melty, Rishia and even Hanzo.

"What is all this?" said Marius.

"Sshh. You might want to see this." said Melty.

Marius look through the barely opened door and saw Raphtalia getting up on her knee and wrapped her arms on Naofumi. And on his close observation, it looks as if both of them were kissing. Marius then had a big grinned on his face.

"Hey, that's not fair! I want in, Master!" Filo bursted through the door and ran towards them. "Join us, Melty."

"I-I'll pass!" Melty exclaimed.

"More room for me then." Marius walked towards the group with his arms spread wide open. He then wrapped his arm around the two, with Filo hugging his waist.

Marius then let go of his hug and place his hands on each of their shoulders, and all three shared a smile. They then watches Keel raising the region's flag on top of the mansion. It became the center of attention to all demi humans who have made the new village their home. Marius watches with peace in his mind, as for once a flag was raise not by a waring factions but for peace.

Under a tree in a middle of a wheatfield, Marius leaned against the tree while humming a beautiful tune to ease his heart, now that everything will be peaceful. For now.

"There you are!" said Filo as she ran pass the wheatfields while carrying a folded red fabric.

Marius greeted her with a hug and a kiss.

"Master sent me to give this to you." Filo gave the folded fabric to him.

Marius unfolded the fabric and saw a symbol of the shield.

"It's a cape for your armor. Do you like it?"

"I do. And capes do look nice on my armor." said Marius.

"Put it on."

Marius then placed the cape behind him and fastened it on his cuirass. After putting it on, he realized how weightless the fabric is compare to the old one.

"How do I look?"

"Wow! Just like Master!"

Marius chuckled, then he took the necklace from his satchel "I wanted to give you this while we were at Cal Mira, but I almost forgotten about it."

Marius then helped putting the necklace on Filo.

"It's beautiful... Thank you." Filo then grabbed Marius's hand. "Come on. Boat Guy said we can go sailing now."

"A little sailing will not hurt. Let's go."

As they walked through the wheatfield, Marius held out his left hand to his side and felt the tip of the wheat brushing against his fingers. His heart was once whole again, seeing a new home with his new family, and his little queen by his side.

"My life ended on my defeated. But my stories continued on this world. The things I have lost and never to return, have been given to me by the people I once deemed as strangers. Now they are my family, and this is my new home."

My name is Marius, the Masked Hero, friend to the Shield Hero, brother to a freed slave, lover to a queen, and I will fight for it till the very end."

THE END