Author's Note: Okay so then end of the Faubrian Invasion and we have a new tid-bit added into the story

Chapter 36: The Invasion of Faubrey: End

"This is just like the castle town all over again." Kaede complained as Filo pulled them through Faubrey's capital.

"How is this just like the Castle Town?" Katarina asked as she looked at Kaede confused and concerned.

"Look around. Everyone's so nervous and scared that they're ready to leap out and try and stab us, and I have had enough souls of the dead and damned wandering about inside of my shield to last me a life time thank you very much!"

The Princess should have been wandering around here somewhere too, so she could have hired more people to take a swing at them too.

"Kaede your fear is completely irrational." Tanya stated gesturing to the not so small parade that had surrounded them. "We're Legendary Heroes surrounded by five thousand soldiers with like a million weapons unlocked between the four of us." A exaggeration, but only slight.

"I'm more concerned about trying to track down the lunatic whose been taking shots at me for the past three months." Kuro chimed which also served to bring the conversation back in line to the current subject.

"Yes. That is mildly of interest to us." Tanya admitted as she looked around. "The soldiers should be questioning the general populace about his location." Tanya looked outside to confirm, and indeed did, that there was information being gathered about that. "With luck we should be able to find him, if Trash hasn't already."

"What about him?" Kuro asked looking at Tanya confused.

"He had me hide one of his mirrors here last time I was here." Tanya stated bluntly.

"Oh that's smart!" Katarina stated snapping her fingers.

"Not particularly." Tanya shook her head in disagreement.

"Only if his plan to launch a single handed invasion holds up." Which was partly pointless considering the fact that the man he had been seeking revenge on was now dead and all that, unless of course he had some other goal buried in the twenty plans he had deigned not to share with any of them.

"A report." Eli was keeping a brisk pace with the wagon and Tanya nodded her head to continue. "Faubrey's soldiery are surrendering without conflict. Apparently the Cane Hero has already been through here and mugged them already. Before that a Brown skinned woman has been apparently stealing their levels." Tanya blinked her eyes in surprise as if checking to hear if she had heard that correctly.

"She stole their Levels?" The Bow Hero questioned feeling that something was wrong about that statement. "Apparently whenever she was about to grab hold of one of them their levels and stats dropped like rocks." Eli stated with a shrug. "There's no soldier in the country left whose above 40."

Which was odd, considering the average was suppose to be around a hundred here according to what intelligence they received. In fact that was odd in of itself. Tanya was given the impression that the amount of XP to go around was extremely limited: that was the reason why Siltvelt couldn't do things like rapid breeding a army to take over the world like the church would always say they would, and part of the reason why the waves are considered so dangerous. So how did they pull it off? One of many things that they would have to address later on. For now the sound of something hard striking flesh had caught their attention and they soon arrived to the sight of Takt on his knees being struck by Trash using the cane as a blunt instrument.

"Ah Heroes. I was wondering how long you were going to be." Trash stated as he slammed the cane down on Takt's face again. "I've had to cast healing magic on him a few times already." Trash stated resting the cane on his shoulder. "It would be inconvenient if he were to die again before we had to chance to properly dispose of his soul."

"Shouldn't we try and figure out what he knows first?" Katarina asked scratching the side of his head.

"Launching a invasion in the middle of Faubrey has already exposed ourselves." Trash stated shrugging his shoulders. "The best way to get him to talk would have been to march his women out here and start torturing and executing them one by one until he starts talking. Unfortunately we've already massacred his inner circle, the rest should consist of his brainwashed sex slaves, with the exception of the dragon and Malty who we haven't been able to find yet." A sentence that made Kaede also question just who the bad guy here was supposed to be.

"For now let's take him to the dragon hour glass." Tanya seemed to already have a plan in place to deal with Takt.

The man who could boast of being a level 350 was soon brought down to a Measly little level one. Course there was someone waiting for them when they got there: a brown skinned woman, a familiar looking whip resting on her hip. They could question her later, for now Trash cast some more magic and poked Takt with his cane.

"Ugh!" The former Hero fell over onto his side. Kuro already took the liberty of eliminating the technology in the man's veins and throughout the rest of his body thereby neutering the last of the threat he represented.

"Get up you damned fool you've still yet the means to negotiate for your sorry existence!" Tanya snapped as the five present Heroes switched out their weapons form for the image of a grinning ghostly fish monster.

"And what do I have that you could possibly want?" Takt asked glaring at Tanya.

"Who reincarnated you?" Kuro asked finger running along the edge of her Legendary Sword. There has been enough conflicts between gods that there are Noble Phantasms to bring them low.

"And if I tell you that you'll let me go?" Takt asked and Tanya nodded. "Medea." Kuro cocked a suspicious brow at that and so traced a picture into existence of a woman with long eggplant purple hair.

"Her?" Kuro asked but Takt shook his head.

"Red Head. Looks a little like-"

"Malty?" Katarina asked, she couldn't think of any other red heads that this loon would know, that isn't to say there weren't any more just that she was the first that came to mind.

"Aye." Takt nodded his head in the affirmative. "Not the exact same though, eye colour is different, and there's a closer resemblance between Malty and the Queen than to her. She introduced her full name as Medea Pidith Machina." Takt had gotten some satisfaction out of this entire scenario, Medea had told him she'd destroy his very soul if he ever told anyone her name. He lived with that fear for years, of a being infinitely more powerful than he could ever be watching him with cold eyes, much as he hated all four of them he was thankful to Kuro for severing that bond.

"How many other reincarnated are there?" Tanya asked suspiciously.

"Everyone that I know of are dead." Takt stated promptly. "I saw to that." Medea stated that they couldn't blab her secrets not that he couldn't wipe out the competition.

"Good to know." Kuro's Soul Eater Blade was shove through Takt's chest and ripped out, all that they could say about the soul that came out in the process was ew! Contrary to the skinny and objectively attractive corpse Kuro just split in half this one was overweight and ugly, that wasn't nearly as disconcerting though as the fact that said tub of spirit energy had been mutilated, exposing no flesh but pieces regardless had been missing. As if whatever power he had been using to resurrect himself or bypass the cursed series had been eating away at his very soul. It was good to know for future reference, especially Katarina and Tanya who may or may not be in the same boat as him.

"You said..."

"She said. I disagreed with the notion. Vehemently." And then Takt's soul was sucked away inside of the blade. "Should I be concerned that just replenish my SP?"

'You're over thinking things.'

"Am I though?"

"I'm a little worried about that too." Kaede stated finger in the air. "See? She's worried about that part too." Kuro stated indicating the only other person here who can say that they've eaten people's souls.

"A topic for this afternoon." Trash turned to face the dark skinned woman. "Our host has waited long enough."

"Doctor Ratotille Anthreya, apparent Hero of the Whip, at your service your majesty and Heroes." The woman gave a bow to the Heroes.

"We'll show you ours if you show us yours." Tanya was the first to throw her bow on the ground, Kaede, Kuro, Katarina followed suit finally topped by Trash's cane. No sooner had the weapons hit the ground that they had disappeared and reappeared in the hands of their wielders. Understanding what was happening Doctor Anthreya threw her whip on the ground where it disappeared and reappeared in her hands.

"Now that we've established that there are things to discuss if I'm not mistaken." The brown skinned woman draped the whip over her shoulders while she moved away.

"The five of you have matters to discuss. I have a situation to deal with in the palace." Trash stated leaving the church leaving the five ladies alone together.

"...So..." Kaede stated looking around at her associates and the newcomer. "Should we talk here or...?"

After Kuro had stabbed Takt the first time and his weapons went flying away without him, the one that he was most famous for, the whip, suddenly found Rat as she told them to call her while she was cleaning out her laboratory. Her research into raising stronger kinds of monsters had been forcibly shut down by Takt on the groundless basis of her research being godless and a threat to all man kind, given the fact that he was carrying around one of those gods he won that argument. Her confusion at the weapon's appearance was then followed up by a group of armed soldiers storming her lab trying to capture her. Course contrary to popular belief trekking through the heart of monster territories had left her with a decently high level, high enough that after scrambling through the whip for options she could portal her butt out of there. What she really needed though was a place to hide, and so picked a place that few dare to tread.

Hajime Nagumo was the Hero of the Bow at the time of his summoning, a veteran of getting yoinked off to other worlds or so he claimed, and thus came armed with his own tricks. He built a dungeon, accessible in Faubrey where he promised that something epic would be waiting for those who can complete the challenge set for them. She had been hiding around the third floor of the dungeon, deep enough that no one had been able to get to her, she had only come out now because she needed to replenish her supplies when she learned that the army was being dismantled. Her own weapon's power up method can be considered counterproductive: levelling down and in exchange you can increase one of your stats, which will then be greater by the time you level back up to where you were. There were limits, for instance she can't go below your last class upgrade and hence why she could only go as far a level forty when she was going out of her way to make the soldiers as weak as possible. The others explained all the reinforcement methods that they knew of before asking for some time alone, they needed some confirmation.

"Wow you really were a man." Maple stated looking at the ethereal man who that she was holding in the jaws of the Soul Eater Shield.

"This is very unpleasant I'd like to be put back into my body now." And so Maple put Tanya's soul back into her body, watching the brawny middle aged man being shoved into the little girl's body the whole experience felt like a lie.

"At least Katarina ended up with the same gender." Tanya complained scowling at the soul form of a young girl in her late teens and a school uniform held in the scissor like jaws of Kuro's Soul Eater Sword before she was put back into Katarina's body. "Well?" The remaining two heroes let out a sigh before turning around and Kuro attacked Maple and the counter hit Kuro. The two weapons with the faces of ghostly fish monsters were pulled away with no souls lodged in their ghastly jaws.

"Well, it was a nice thought." Katarina stated letting out a sigh, she didn't remember that she was reincarnated until she hit her head when she was eight. But it was comforting to see none the less. "What did you see?"

"Your souls don't look damaged like what Takt's did." Kuro stated bluntly.

"Even so I don't think it's a good idea to over use the Cursed Series, not without a way of repairing the damage to your souls." Both of the reincarnated nodded their heads in agreement.

"Should we go check out the dungeon next?" Katarina asked scratching the side of her head in curiosity. "It was put there by one of the past Heroes there might be something good inside of it."

"By someone who claims to have been yanked between worlds multiple times over." Tanya stated bluntly. "We don't even know what's down there."

"Well, I haven't been dungeon diving since I got to this world, so it could be pretty fun." Maple commented prompting the others to look at her strangely. "Dungeon Diving. Yah know when you go down into underground monster filled ruins in search of loot and treasure." The other three heroes blinked their eyes simultaneously.

"Well someone put it there for a reason." Tanya stated breaking the silence. "Lets find out why."

The people of Faubrey had started a mass exodus, with no army to stop them they decided to leave this blighted land behind them. Even without the psychopath of a king the factories spewed poison into the air, when it wasn't choking on the smog it was mass casualties from people being forcibly drafted to overthrow this noble or settle some land dispute and what few civilians that weren't dressed in shabby armour and had weapons shoved into their hands instead died in the crossfire. The only thing keeping the powder keg from going off was the firm hand of Melromarc's soldiers and they knew it was temporary. Trash arrived at the palace where the nobility of Faubrey was waiting for him, each one of them looking like they had murdered him a hundred times over in their minds. The feeling was mutual. He hates every last one of them, accomplices in his pig of a brother's madness and pity whims. Well that was one thing Trash would admit he had in common with his brother: he was such a pity man that his wife feared that he would've started a war while she was gone. Well her concerns turned out to be justified but still. Trash was at the end of the day the rightful heir of Faubrey, both before his brother had taken the throne and now again after having taken the country from the hands of it's previous ruler, after centuries of conga lines of back stabbing and betrayal usually straight into the grave it was established that to be made King you had to hold the position for a bare minimal amount of time. Thus Trash found himself here approaching the throne to claim his birth right.

"As King of Faubrey..." Trash, Luge Hagumo, approached the throne and picked up the crown. "I have but one thing to say to all of you." The King of Faubrey threw the crown across the throne room much to the confusion of his subjects. "I hereby Abdicate the throne, and name my successor the first who can wear that crown and sit upon that throne." And thus the powder keg was set off.

"Is this the entrance to the Dungeon you were talking about." Maple asked looking at the entrance Rat had led them to. "Should some of us stay behind? We cancel out each other's XP gains."

"Which admittedly would be a concern if what was living in there gave XP when they're destroyed but isn't a actual concern in this situation." Rat stated bluntly. "The popular term is golems, or robots. Soulless automatons powered and animated by the Technology of the Heroes world mixed with magic." Oh this was shaping up to be a mess indeed. "The entire Dungeon is built to be a labyrinth, and a massive one at that." Rat produced a map of the Dungeon, or approximation of one. There were huge gaps in it where chunks of the maze left out there were flat out unexplored. "We can spend years down there and not find a single bit of it." The others looked like they wanted to write off this entire venture, doubly so when they saw the look on Maple's face that suggested she was getting ideas now.

"To clarify, there's no actual point in trying to fight the monsters inside of the Dungeon right?" Maple asked and Rat nodded in the affirmative. "Do we know which one of these blank spots where what we're looking for is supposed to be?"

"According to the legends? Here." Rat stated pressing a finger down on the centre of the Map.

"Do we know where that is in relationship to Faubrey itself?"

Two hours and six hours later Maple dropped down shield first into the sixth floor of the labyrinth where he shield promptly ate it's way into the seventh.

"You are a mad woman." Tanya stated as the other three heroes on the surface looked down the hole Maple was making. Rat was just staring wide eyed while Katarina just gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

"You get use to it." Katarina lied flawlessly while Rat regained her composure.

"Is she really the Shield Hero?" Rat noted that this was not the power of someone with no offensive ability. The sound of gunshots coming from within the hole told the group that they should consider going down now. And so that is precisely what they did riding down on the shoulders of Tanya's mech suit to find... "That is a very large machine." It was a massive chamber where a mechanical entity that was little more than a human shaped mass of guns was firing on Maple in her Savage form.

"Kuro I believe fire power is most appropriate for this situation." To Tanya's suggestion Kuro produced the usual three part combo of steel butterfly sword, thousand sword and Thunder Sword to fire off a rail gun shot at the machine who dodged at the last moment.

"Katarina." Tanya was quick to use her contraption to provide defence for her allies.

"Working on it." Katarina had zero intentions to rely on the cursed series to deal with this thing, no matter how convenient the idea of just summoning the chimera or the squid to restrain the machine sounded. Instead her chosen spear was less a spear and more a mass of tentacles on a stick. "Air Strike Throw!" Katarina chucked down the spear and watched as they grabbed and wrapped hold of the mechanical abomination then became very inconvenient for it as Katarina then recalled the spear dragging the mechanical creature along for the ride even as it tried to break free. Cue the Metronomic Man Smashing as Katarina took the thing and proceeded to repeatedly slam it against the floor of the chamber. Temporarily incapacitated Kuro then had a much easier time giving it the rail gun treatment mostly vaporising it.

"Well glad that's over with." Maple stated turning back to normal as the others touched down on the ground. "I don't see any other chambers leading into here." Kuro stated having a look around.

"Were we meant to break in from outside?" While Kuro pondered that she she picked up one of the weapons of the mechanical menace.

'Weapon Copy Activated. Chainsword Level locked 100'

"I dunno. Maybe it sealed us in after the boss fight started." As Katarina said that she picked up one of the weapons that looked like she could copy it.

'Weapon Copy Activated. Pile Driver Level Locked 100'

"Agreed. Lets finish our blatant pillaging and move on." Tanya by far received the richest harvest as she received four weapons to copy, and perhaps precisely for that reason...

'Weapon Copy Activated. Bolt Rifle Level Locked 200.'

'Weapon Copy Activated. Rail Gun Level Locked 150'

'Weapon Copy Activated. Particle Rifle Level locked 120.'

'Weapon Copy Activated. Shielded Turret. Equip Bonus Defence +100' What precisely did they just kill?

"Hey Maple catch!" Tanya threw Maple the shielded Turret.

'Weapon Copy Activated. Shield Turret Level Locked 150'

"Huh." Maple was legitimately surprised by this. "I copied a gun."

"We should split before something else happens." And so naturally something else happened as a beam of light reached out and interacted with the jewels on their legendary weapons. With something having confirmed their presence a man appeared.

"A hologram?" Tanya's observations went ignored as the man proceeded to talk.

White hair and high class black clothing, one arm was heavily armoured while a eye patch was on his face, the other eye was a red.

"Good Evening, Heroes of the Future. I am Hajime Nagumo." He gave the impression of a hawk, eyes all predatory and narrowed. "If you are seeing this then you have completed one of seven dungeons across this world." The floor lit up, producing a map of the world with seven points across it lit up. "And by doing so you have earned a gift. And a Curse." Suddenly a screeching noise echoed inside of their minds.

A world Drained of life. "DOOM." A picture of a Black haired man with a green cloak. "MAD." The Malevolent laughter of a woman. "DEMON." And finally knowledge, an extended series of calculations, magic symbols and formula's all coalescing together into a whole. "CREATION."

"Huu. Huu." Tanya was sweating now, her face gritted in fear.

"My head hurts." Katarina stated holding the side of her head.

"I know all the magic in my world and I've never seen that before." Kuro stated shaking her head. Maple simply settle for slapping herself until she could feel her face again.

"I'm aware that you don't understand." Hajime stated even though he couldn't see them. "That is the curse. If you want the rest you're going to have to complete the other dungeons." On that note Hajime disappeared as the Dungeon suddenly repaired itself, and it's boss as well.

"Well someone picked the wrong day." Turns out the dungeon was just as bad as keeping people inside it as it was keeping them out.

"So what is the first place that we should hit on this Map?" Kuro asked looking at the others curiously.

It was fascinating how they kept finding new weapons in this place, Kuro didn't get a harvest this rich since she first step foot in Siltvelt and even then that was just shields for Maple to copy. In this case they found where they royal family was keeping the royal mech suits that were meant for the Legendary Heroes.

'Weapon Copy Activated. Adelecumber Level locked 100'

'Weapon Copy Activated. Guaylinda Level locked 100'

'Weapon Copy Activated. Tzendribble Level locked 100'

"Think the King's finished with his business yet?" Maple asked and the others shrugged their shoulders.

Review Section:

RonaldM40196867: Agreed. It had it's place once, One could argue that the the biggest flaw with the system of rule is that if ruler is corrupt or incompetent you can't get rid of them I counter that only means you have to deal with several corrupt and incompetent rulers instead of one.

Captain Imaginat: I don't think Takt said that Trash owned the kingdom, and even if we did we've seen how Trash thinks about the kingdom. Chimera Garden was actually a Idea I took from Jujutsu Kaisen, the ideal place to look for cursed magics. Yeah Malty really is Faubrian through and through. They've had it coming for a long time.

Halo: ;)