"-ready!" Clara managed to yell before she fell face first onto the floor. Ellis pulled her up and she got a look of the room.
The trio was standing on a snow white platform with a large glowing golden hourglass in the middle. The hourglass had several moving parts floating around it and bright red sand was falling down inside of the hourglass. Two golden dragons were wrapped around the hourglass, holding it with their claws.
"Wow, it's pretty," Clara marveled over the structure.
"It serves several purposes, other than being pretty. Hero wave registrations is just one of them," Ellis explained. Then his face lit up as he remembered something. "Speaking off, I need to get something. Evandel!"
Ellis yelled the name again and the sound of footsteps quickly approached them.
"Stop screaming, I heard you the first time. What do you need this time yo-WHAT IN TARNATION?!" an ear piercing scream erupted from behind Clara.
She turned around to see a woman dressed in a green cloak. A small pin on her cloak in the shape of an x made out of a knife and a spatula. Judging from her face, she couldn't be much older than Clara.
Clara saw that the woman glared at her as if she just burned down her house and kicked her dog.
"GET OFF THE PLATFORM! YOU'RE GETTING SLIME EVERYWHERE!" she shrieked at the young hero, raising a mop in her hand.
"Wait wait wait, she's with me Evandel!" Ellis yelled, getting in between the two.
"I don't care what companion you bring in here for a class up, but I won't let anyone dirty up the floor of this sacred place!" she shrieked, raising her mop like a staff.
"Wait! This isn't just a companion! It's the cooking hero!" he yelled, raising his jar defensively. Evandel paused mid word and looked at Clara in confusion. Then she returned her gaze to Ellis, and then back to Clara, slowly lowering her mop.
"That person-" she pointed to Clara. "-is the cooking hero?"
"Yes!" Ellis exclaimed. Evandel blinked a few times, taking a careful look at Clara.
"Are… are you sure? She looks like her arms will snap if she hits a monster."
"Why does everyone keep saying this?" Clara asked, sighing in despair.
"No offense but… you don't look too reliable," she explained.
"That's fair I guess," Clara said with another heavy sigh.
"Look, we came here to register Clara for the waves, and also to get some sand."
"I'll get you the sand, but one of you is gonna have to clean this up, cause I just sweeped and I'm about to go home for the day."
"Don't worry, we'll leave Hol."
"HEY!" Hol protested. "Like hell you are!"
"Well, you can't portal anywhere for the next hour, and the doors are already locked, so I don't think you have much of a choice," Ellis reminded him.
"Well, I'm not doing it!" Hol protested.
"You're the one who's gonna stay with Evandel then, not me. And you know how she can get."
"I don't care which one of you is doing it, but one of you is," Evandel said, returning with a bag in her hand. "Here, absorb this."
"Ah, thank you," Clara replied, watching the gem on her knife swallow the bag. A new knife icon popped up, but it was once again level locked.
"Oh yeah, you need to register here so that you will get teleported to it."
"How do I do that?"
"Just raise your weapon to the hourglass."
Clara did as instructed and watched as the gem lit up. Suddenly, a bright beam burst forth and slammed directly into the hourglass. Clara looked around in panic, trying to lower the knife, but everybody else looked at the beam as if this was an everyday thing.
The light show ended, and Clara dropped her knife. Well… tried to. The knife simply stuck to her hand. A timer appeared in the corner of Clara's vision.
[Ground Zero - 0:00:03:05]
"Ground Zero?" Clara asked, not looking at the timer.
"Yeah, that's the name of the area. All hourglasses have a name besides them so you know what area it captures. Well, this hourglass also hits the Hot Spring's island, the Magma Island, and the Tiger Fang island."
"What about areas that aren't covered by this hourglass?"
"There are two more hourglasses. The other two cover the Royal Palace island, the boomerang land, the Lunar and Solar islands, and finally Sky Iceberg island," Ellis explained.
"Wow. That's a lot of islands. Are all of them in the sky like Tiger Fang island?"
"Yep. Well, technically there is the tiny ground island where we summoned you, but no one really lives there, so it doesn't really count."
"Oh… so what does this timer do?"
"When the wave starts, all heroes will be teleported to the wave. We can also put people in a party to help us.
Clara looked around, feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the information. "So, what do we do now?"
"Well, we wait for the wave to start," Ellis said. "It should be starting soon. We just have to keep an eye on the timer and be ready to fight."
"Wait wait wait! NOW?! I THOUGHT THAT WAS DAYS!" Clara yelled, realizing the timer dropped to only a few seconds.
"You can relax. Hol and I will handle the wave. Your task is to sit back, absorb some monsters, and gain experience. Let's see what lies ahead."
Clara nodded, feeling a bit nervous. She had fought a slime before, but this was completely different. She looked at her knife and wondered if it would be enough to protect herself if need be.
Suddenly, the room shook and the hourglass started glowing brighter. The sand inside it turned from red to a deep shade of purple, and the dragons holding it started to glow as well. The platform trembled under their feet as a blinding light filled the room.
"HEY! WHO'S GONNA CLEAN THIS ME-," Evandel yelled, but her voice was cut off.
When the light faded, the trio found themselves on a floating island. The sky was dark and ominous. In the distance, they could hear the sounds of monsters growling and snarling. Clara looked up at the burning sky and saw a large crack spread through the air and open up. Monsters began to pour down onto the land and ran towards the three of them.
"We're here," Ellis said, raising his jar. "Get ready, Clara. This is where the real fight begins."
==}—
Ellis and Hol didn't hesitate one bit. The two lunged forward, their weapons ready and glowing.
"Erst Container, Change Container!" Ellis commanded, conjuring a jar and transforming it into one made of crystals.
Hol quickly followed up, unleashing a dazzling beam of orange light with "Solar Strike!" and directing it towards the open end of the skill.
After a moment of silence Clara wondered if the skill had failed, but instead the jar exploded, and several glowing beams flew into every direction.
The ghosts and phantoms were vaporized by the attacks, but more replaced them. Clara watched in worry as the monsters continued to approach them. Ellis and Hol however looked completely calm.
Ellis ran forward, changing his own jar to the crystal form, while Hol raised his weapon for another attack.
"Chaos Strike!" the end of Hol's hoe split into several shiny needles that rained upon Ellis. The tank turned around and let his jar swallow the attacks. He turned around and pointed the weapon forward.
"Solar Blast!"
Instead of one bright beam blasting forward, several beals flew forward from the container and blasted away the new waves of phantoms.
"Second Container, Change Container!" This time Ellis summoned a jar that looked like two magnifying glasses with a glass cylinder connecting them.
"Dual Hoe, Change Hoe." A second hoe appeared in Hol's empty hand as he ran in front of Ellis. "Lunar Strike!"
A weaker and blue crescent burst forth and slammed into the floating jar. However, unlike before, the attack phased through and came out larger than before. The large crescent slashed down the monsters with ease.
But to Clara's horror the monsters didn't stop spilling out of the crack. Hol and Ellis continued to push forward through the monsters, and Clara heard people behind her start to cheer. She turned around and saw a village with the people in front of it with weapons in their hands. But seeing Ellis and Hol mow down the monsters they all seemed to relax.
Clara noticed that as the two heroes were obliterating the phantoms, her level had jumped up so much that almost the entire kitchen set was unlocked, except for Goron's knives. However all the bonuses on the list are just bonuses to cooking, and not something that is useful in battle.
Clara noticed that one of the phantoms got past the heroes and slowly began to move towards them.
"Um… ah…. ELLIS!" Clara yelled, but the two were too far away to hear her. The phantom spotted Clara and quickly began to float towards her as she panicked. She
"Uhvha-ERST SLASH!" she finally managed to sputter out, sending a wave of green energy at the ghost. The monster flew backwards and collapsed onto the ground.
[+57 EXP]
[Leveled Up]
Clara sighed in relief of confirmation that the monster was dead and so she turned towards the two heroes. To her surprise, a giant monster that looked like a ghost of a fish floated in the air.
"FInally the boss showed up! Wanna solar grenade it?" Ellis asked, turning to Hol.
"Don't get carried away. But yes."
Ellis ran towards the boss and Clara watched as the monster opened its mouth to try to swallow the hero.
"Erst Container, Change Container!" he yelled, summoning the jar of crystals again directly into the gaping mouth, and Hol followed up with a "Solar Strike". As the monster closed its jaws, a bright light erupted, lighting the fish up like a night light, and in a moment the boss exploded, scattering the pale semi transparent pieces all over the field.
The timer showed up again, and the sky slowly returned to a dark blue color, with only the phantom bodies left behind showing any signs of battle. Hol and Ellis fistbumped and began to gather the pieces into their weapons. The people in the village cheered and thanked the two heroes.
"Clara, start absorbing these. You can get a lot of monster drops for later," Ellis yelled to the younger hero, forcing her out of her thoughts.
"Ah! Right!" She began to push her weapon's gem towards the monster parts and watched them disappear into the weapon.
[Lone Spirit Knife requirements have been met]
[Vengeful Spirit Knife requirements have been met]
[Soul Eater Cleaver requirements have been met]
Lone Spirit Knife
abilities locked equip bonus: +3 SP
Vengeful Spirit Knife
abilities locked equip bonus: +3 agility
Soul Eater Cleaver
abilities locked equip bonus: +5 SP, "Chain Bind"
equip effect: soul eat, sp recovery (small)
"Soul eat? What's that?" Clara asked, equipping the new knife. It looked like a semi transparent white cleaver with three red eyes on the sides and top of the hilt.
"Brrrr. Spooky," she muttered, flipping the knife over.
"Soul eat? Hm. Probably this," Hol said, poking Clara with his weapon lightly.
"EEEK! WHAT WAS THAT?!" she yelled, rubbing the area where he poked her. It felt numb and a bit cold.
"Boop, got your sp," Hol smiled. Clara looked at her status and saw that her sp bar was completely empty.
"Oh, I was afraid it ate people's souls or something," Clara sighed in relief.
"Well, how was your first wave?" Ellis asked the little hero.
"It was scary, but not as bad as I expected," she replied, twirling the knife in her hands.
"Well, you managed to defeat the small ghost I sent your way, so you should be fine next wave."
"Yeah, he was a lot wea-WAIT! YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE?!" Clara yelled, glaring at Ellis.
"Well, you should have some practice, and both me and Hol thought it would be fine."
"But what if I couldn't kill it?! What if it went to the village?!"
"Oh please, anyone with a level over 15 could beat it with ease, even with its resistance to physical attacks. And the village had its local Gaston, so he would have punched it away if it got too close."
"If you could get killed by such a weak ghost, then we would just have to summon a new hero. It would take a lot of resources, but it could probably be done in a month or so," Hol replied.
"Well, let's go back and get some food. You can also try the food method on us to see how it works."
"Wait, what's that noise?" Clara asked. The three heroes stopped and listened. The ground began to rumble beneath their feet as they looked around. Ellis and Hol exchanged a look of realization while Clara stood there confused.
*choo* *choo* *Choo* *CHOO*
"It sounds like… a train?" Clara muttered.
*CRASH*
*SCREEEEEEECH*
Clara yelled in surprise as a train appeared and crashed into the earth. Two glowing blue tracks appeared underneath it, and the train seemed to drift on them as it slowed to a stop.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Clara yelled, looking at the vehicle in confusion.
"Oh god. Hol, don-" Ellis began to say, but the funnel on top began to spew out smoke, drowning out Ellis' voice with a loud whistling noise.
"HOOOOOOOOOOOL!" a woman yelled, stumbling out of the train. The vehicle started to glow and shrink as it turned into a train model on the woman's hip.
She brushed some dirt off of her pitch black dress that reached down to her ankles. Her long black hair with red ends waved around in the wind.
"Hey, Riala. What are you doing here?" Ellis asked with a heavy sigh.
"Hey Ellis. Congrats on dealing with the wave or whatever. I'm here for Hol," she replied, stretching her arms. As she did so, a pair of black wings burst out from her back.
"ARE THOSE WINGS?!" Clara yelled, in confusion. Hol remembered a meme from his world, and thought that all Clara was missing was a frying pan instead of a knife.
Riala smiled and turned her attention to Clara.
"And who's this little kiddo?"
"New holy hero. I heard from Hol you got one too?" Ellis replied.
"Yep. Though I gotta say, you don't look as reliable," Riala said, walking around Clara.
"Yeah, I get that a lot," Clara sighed in despair.
"Hey, at least our hero has both arms," Ellis smirked.
"HEY! Our hero was ambushed, and heavily underleveled!" Riala hissed, crossing her arms.
"Our hero dealt with the wave at level 5," Ellis fired back.
"Ok, you guys, it ain't a competition," Hol said, grabbing both of them by the shoulders. "What is a competition however is how many dragon killers I'm gonna down today!"
"Let's get going then. I have a lot to do afterwards and a lot of time to kill," she smiled, her train growing in size again until it crashed onto the ground.
"ALL ABOARD!" Riala yelled, her train whistling in sync. Hol jumped into the train and Clara watched it slowly speed up. She began to pick up speed as the train headed for the village faster and faster.
"WHAT IS SHE DOING?! SHE'S GONNA HIT THE VILLAGE!" Clara yelled, trying to run after the train, but Ellis grabbed her arm.
"It's fine. Just watch."
Clara looked at the train and braced herself for the crash, however the train began to glow and disappeared just seconds before it hit the village. Clara looked around for a moment to see where the train disappeared to.
"Who was she?! What is that train?! Where did they go?! What is going on?!" Clara rapidly fired questions at Hol.
"She's Riala, the vassal hero of the train. She's from a nearby world. I think their heroes are vassal train, vassal metronome, and the holy morale instrument?"
"Morale? Metronome?"
"We have a hoe and a jar. Weapons can get wild in the multiverse. Speaking of Hol, apparently those two are drinking buddies. She drags him into her own world every weekend or so, and drops him off later, passed out drunk."
"Oh… that doesn't seem healthy," Clara mumbled.
"It isn't, but there are benefits apparently. So while they get drunk, they can also level up, since items from our world either don't work, or have a different effect in their world."
"How so?" she inquired.
"So a potion that recovers sp could recover mana, or a potion that recovers hp could give exp. She also has an upgrade method that allows her to sacrifice levels of a person which in turn raises the amount of stats the person would get per level, which works in both worlds. So he's irresponsible and an alcoholic, she's a chaotic airhead and an alcoholic."
"I… I don't see this ending well. I'm pretty sure this is a disaster waiting to happen," Clara said with concern.
"True, but even with all that, the stat growth is pretty amazing. So he just does what he wants. Now c'mon. Let's go grab lunch. Portal Container!"
And with that, the duo disappeared, leaving the battlefield behind.
But one person was still present there, waiting for the heroes to leave. His hood covered his face and body, hiding him from the world. He stood over the tiny shreds of the soul eater boss. However, he was looking at something else, resting just above the corpse, invisible to the normal eye.
"Hello there, wandering spirit. Would you like to get vengeance on those who have killed you so mercilessly?" he asked, his voice not human, nor monster. He paused for a few seconds, as if awaiting for an answer, and then nodded.
"Very well. Let thee rise again from the ground and the vengeful spirit walk again on this land to get vengeance on those who wronged you."
The wind began to howl as a dim glow gathered around the fragments. They began to float, and slowly gather in the air just in front of the hooded figure. Slowly, the glowing clump of mana and parts of the soul eater began to take a more human shape, and a few seconds later a teen girl stood where the monster once rested.
She screeched and tried to transform back into her monster form, however the hooded man grabbed her, revealing a crimson scaled hand, claws emitting a faint red light.
"Not here. You shouldn't reveal yourself when you are this weak. Let us go where no one will see us and interfere."
With that, the dragon and the girl in his hands disappeared from view, as if they weren't there to begin with.