Hey guys
Sorry for the long wait.
I had parts of this planned for a while but I just didn't know how to write the rest.
Then I became really super busy with all the stuff happening.
We're almost there at the end!
I hope you like this chapter
Mikan and Natsume found a guard in the refugee area and reported the incident.
The guard relayed the report over his communicator and asked them to stay put for a bit.
Moments later, a champion appeared before them.
"What's the status?" he asked the guard.
The guard saluted then pointed to Mikan and Natsume and replied, "Sir, they claimed that one of the monsters was brought to the refugee area by an accident. It was in the area where we placed all the dead bodies."
"Where is the monster now?" He asked as he summoned spirit spheres.
"They killed it, sir." The guard replied.
The Champion eyed the two of them, "How would you two manage to kill one of those monsters that more experience adventurers have trouble with?"
"We didn't do it alone, our friends helped out too."
"I see. You guys only bumped into one, correct?"
Mikan nodded.
"Captain, take your men and search the area. Make sure nothing else is hiding in the area. Report back to me the moment the place has been thoroughly checked."
The guard saluted and immediately contacted his guards to run a search.
"We could help!" Mikan piped in.
"No, I want you two to go home. You two don't look like you have enough experience yet to face these things."
"But we killed one already!" Mikan exclaimed.
"You were lucky. It was probably extremely hurt when it was brought in here by mistake. Plus, you had a whole party to help you fight the monsters. The two of you alone won't be able to accomplish anything."
Mikan wanted to protest but turned to look at Natsume when he placed a hand on her shoulder. He shook his head to signal her to back off on the matter.
"But" Mikan started only to be cut off by Natsume.
"Stop it Mikan. Everyone is waiting for us back at your place." Natsume reminded her.
Mikan looked down at the floor and mumbled something.
"Knowing the extent of your capabilities shows maturity which is something that can be gained through experience. Don't go rushing into things, little one. There's plenty of chances for you and many things to do. Now go back to help those around you first." The Champion gently said to her then walked away from them.
Natsume nudged Mikan, "Let's go back."
Mikan reluctantly nodded and took out a blue gem. She casted the warp portal spell and broke the gem. Both of them stepped into the warp and appeared in front of her house in Prontera.
They stepped into their house to be greeted by the gang.
"How did everything go?" Anna excitedly asked.
Mikan told them what had happened while Natsume sat on the couch.
After Mikan was finished her story she looked around and noticed Ruka wasn't there, "Where's Ruka and Auntie?"
"They're upstairs in the guest room with Ji-Chan," Hotaru replied.
"I should go check on them." With that said, Mikan stood up and headed upstairs with Natsume following her as he too wanted to see how she was doing.
When they stepped into the room they saw Ruka's mom in the futon resting and Ruka and Ji-Chan quietly talking while tending to her.
They looked up when the door opened to reveal Mikan and Natsume.
"Ah, you're back." Ji-Chan stated, "Is everything ok?"
"It was fine. How's Auntie doing?" She asked.
"She seems to be doing fine now. She still has a bit of the fever and needs to rest. We were just talking about accommodations before you came in." Ji-Chan explained, "Since we only have one guest room and Natsume is already there, I suggested that you can share a room with Ruka's mom and Ruka and Natsume could share a room."
"But I don't want to be a bother," Ruka interjected.
"Nonsense. Where else would you go?" Ji-Chan asked.
"I could stay at the inn with my mom." Ruka replied.
"The Inn is full. After what happened in Morroc, people who were able to get out left and went to other towns. The inn is full and so is the hospital. I know the Church has opened it's doors and is taking in people but why go there when you have friends here."
Ruka was silently weighing his options when Mikan chimed in.
"Don't worry about it Ruka. Just stay here until things get better. It'll just be like a giant sleep over." Mikan said trying to make the situation lighter.
Ruka couldn't help but give a faint smile.
That's when the door creaked open and the rest of the gang fell onto the floor at the doorway.
They laughed nervously for being caught eavesdropping except for Hotaru who stood behind everyone looking impassive.
"So… a sleep over eh Mikan? Are we invited too?" Koko asked.
"Sure! We can set up futons down stairs in the living room. Why doesn't everyone go back home and grab there stuff and come back here?" Mikan suggested.
"I can grab an extra futon for Ruka if you don't have another one." Yuu offered.
"That would be great if you could," Mikan replied.
Ruka bowed to the gang gratefully for helping him out in this sticky situation. It felt really good to have such good friends, "Thank you everyone."
"That's what friends are for." Koko replied with a bright smile on his face.
"You know, when you guys decide to either join a guild or form a guild, you could always buy a house or fight in the War of Emperium games for castles so everyone could live there together." Ji-Chan looked at them and stated.
"Ah right, you use to belong to a guild too. You use to tell me stories about that all the time." Mikan stated, "But then that means I won't be at home with you Ji-Chan!"
Ji-Chan chuckled softly, "That doesn't mean you can't visit me, silly. It'll just be like living in residence at the Prontera church. You came to visit me often."
As much as Ji-Chan wanted Mikan to stay with him, looking at her and the gang, he knows what he had just suggested was inevitable. It would also help them a lot in terms of developing as an individual and improving in team work. Ji-Chan understood the need to be independent and living with a group of fellow adventurers and friends will only help strength their bond and be beneficial when they go out to explore the world.
Hotaru looked at Ji-Chan with understanding of where he's coming from having grown up with Mikan.
"Why don't we think about that later?" She suggested. "For now, everyone go get their stuff and meet back here in Mikan's house for the sleep over."
Everyone nodded and went to their respective places to gather their stuff.
Back in field East of Morroc
The intense battle against Satan Morroc and his minion is still in full swing.
They were able to successfully push the monsters out of the town but the battle seemed endless as Satan Morroc kept on summoning more of is minions out from the other dimension.
Many people were hurt and dying but they kept on going.
The transcendent classes pushed forward as much as they could while the non-transcendent classes followed behind. They did the best that they could to keep up with the more experienced folks but it just wasn't enough.
Tsubasa and Misaki were one of the more experienced ones out of the non-transcendent folks and they were barely surviving.
Misaki's spiritual power was quickly draining as their group finished off that last monster. The group continued to push forward as Misaki slumped to the ground trying to catch her breath and regain some energy. Curious to why there's noise coming from behind her as her group is ahead, she turned and looked at the source. Dread fell upon her as her eyes landed on the source of the noise.
Someone must have caused one of the monsters to teleport and it appeared right where they group had just finished a battle.
The monster shook off it's daze from teleporting and charged at Misaki at amazing speed.
Misaki felt like she was a deer caught in the headlights. When she snapped out of her shock, there was no time to react. She submitted to her fated and closed her eyes, bracing herself for the blow.
Seconds passed, she felt the impact of a hit but the pain never came. Instead she heard a familiar voice screaming in agonizing pain.
She opened her eyes and saw that the monster was still in front of her and attacking her, yet she felt no pain.
She immediately turned and looked behind her to see Tsubasa kneeling down with cuts all over his body and his face contorted with pain.
He was surrounded in a glowing blue light and the blue connected the two of them together.
She immediately knew that he used the sacrifice spell which took all the damage that was meant for her and transferred it to him instead.
She screamed Tsubasa's name and he looked up at her and gave her a faint smile before closing his eyes and falling face down into the dirt.
The blue glow started to disappeared after Tsubasa fell.
Misaki eyes burned with fury as she turned her gaze back at the monster.
She dodged the next hit the monster dished out and snapped backwards to put some distance in between them and move herself closer to Tsubasa.
She saw a Ygg berry on the ground that must have rolled out of Tsusbasa's supply bag when he fell. She picked it up and ate it immediately.
She felt her body restore and spiritual energy come rushing back into her.
She immediately summoned spirit spheres which circled around her.
She gripped her Mace hard and glared at the monster.
"Hold on for me Tsubasa." Misaki whispered to no one in particular.
Then she charged at the monster while transferring her all her energy into her fist holding the Mace.
She jumped up and punched the monster in the face using all her spiritual energy (Guillotine fist). Her spirit spheres immediately disappeared as the balls of energy was all used up in that 1 attack.
The monster fell down dead after that deadly hit crushed it's skull in.
After it fell, she immediately ran to Tsubasa.
She gently cradled him in her arms and checked for a pulse.
The pulse was very weak but it gave her hope.
"Stupid Tsubasa. What were you thinking taking the damage for me." Misaki muttered as she dug around her supplies to find healing items.
As she was digging around her bag another monster approached them.
Misaki's face twisted in disbelief at her luck.
With so many people around them fighting, why couldn't it attack someone else?
Why must it come towards them before she had a chance to make sure Tsubasa will be alright?
On top of that, she didn't even have time to recover her spiritual energy yet! Every time she uses that special skill, she doesn't naturally recover spiritual energy for the next 5 minutes. She would have to find another one of those berries to fully restore her energy. But even with her energy fully restored, the chances of her defeating the monster by herself is very slim. It doesn't look as hurt as the last one that got teleported here.
Misaki was torn between immediately attending to Tsubasa and risk both their lives or fight this monster head on and risk Tsubasa dying because he wasn't tended to.
Misaki said a silent prayer for someone to help them and as if it Odin heard her prayers; they were encapsulated in a white light that the monster bounced off of sending it backwards hitting the wall and slumping down to the ground.
Misaki looked up and saw a figure descending. The figure was heavily armoured and had a pair of wings on its back. As the being got closer, she saw that it was a woman, with blond hair cascading around her face. Even though she looks young, her eyes held wisdom way beyond her years. Misaki immediately recognized her as a Valkyrie, a goddess warrior maiden. There are two ways to meet the Valkyrie. One was through a secret portal in Juno for those to seek the Valkyrie when they have gained enough experience and proven themselves worthy to gain greater power. If the Valkyrie deems you worthy, you will transcend to your next class. The second way is when a person dies. The Valkyrie will appear to those that are deemed worthy of fighting along side the Aesir when Ragnarok comes and guide their souls to the hall of Valhalla.
"Does that mean we're dead?" Misaki thought to herself. She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard the Valkyrie's voice.
"Warriors, you have proven yourselves to be strong and noble. The release of Satan Morroc has disturbed the future and the timing of Ragnarok. Even though you're not dead yet, to help restore the balance that Satan Morroc has disturb, I'm offering you a chance to continue to fight with increased power. But for accepting this power, you shall be called upon when Ragnarok comes whether you're dead or alive. You shall battle to protect the Aesir and Midgard. Do you accept?"
Misaki looked down at Tsubasa who was too weak to answer for himself and felt his hand lightly squeezing hers as a response.
Misaki then looked the Valkyrie straight in the eyes and answered solemnly, "Yes"
The Valkyrie nodded and Misaki felt power rushing through her body.
The pain from the wounds of battle disappeared. She looked down and saw a blue glow engulf her and Tsubasa's body.
The glow became so bright that she couldn't see.
When the light disappeared, she saw that her clothing has changed. Gone are the monk's uniform, it has been replaced with the uniform of someone in the Champion class.
Tsubasa's armour has also change. It's thicker and bulkier then the Crusader's armour. The style of the armour is different as well. He's now dressed in the uniform of a Paladin. The bleeding from his wounds have all disappeared as if it was never there. He opened his eyes and looked at Misaki and gave her a smile. Then he sat up on his own and looked at the Valkyrie and acknowledged the power she has bestowed them.
"Now go and fight warriors, we will meet again at the time of Ragnarok." With that said, she disappeared from their sight.
When she disappeared, the monster that was repelled away previously woke up from its unconscious state. Tsubasa and Misaki got up onto their feet with renewed energy and power they've never felt before.
They turned and faced the monster together. Tsubasa held up his shield whose size and shape has changed. It is heavier then before and seemed to be embedded with magic. He figured it must have been a gift from the Valkyrie.
When he nodded at Misaki, she immediately summoned all 5 spirit spheres at once. With her newly gained power, she did not have to summon the spheres one at a time like she had to when she was a monk. She gripped her mace tightly and started to run towards the monster.
Tsubasa held his shield tightly and drew his arm back in a throwing position. He unwounded his arm around his body and let the shield fly out of the hands. The hurled shield was sent spinning towards the monster. The shield acted like a boomerang. It cut into the monster as it passed it on its way out and back.
Tsubasa caught the shield when it came flying back. The shield distracted the monster and allowed Misaki to get up close and personal. She let out a series of punches one after the other knocking the monster left and right.
Meanwhile, Tsubasa watched her back and casted heal on her every time the monster struck. Once in a while, when the monster looks like it was getting the upper hand, he would use his skill Gloria Domini which called on holy power to deal damage to the monster.
Eventually the monster fell on the ground. Misaki took this chance and gathered all her spiritual energy into her fist. Then she smashed the monster in the face while channelling all her spiritual energy through her fist to deal more damage.
The monster which was already weakened from fighting Misaki and Tsubasa dropped dead onto the ground when its brain stopped giving commands to its body.
Misaki dropped to the floor in exhaustion and Tsubasa went up behind her to support her.
Misaki gave him a weak smile and they watched the others battled around them.
They observe that some of their other comrades also seemed to have transcended sometime during battle. The awakening of Satan Morroc must have really messed things up for the Valkyrie to come out of Valhalla and recruit this way.
Tsubasa handed Misaki a blue potion which she gladly downed. With renewed energy, they took their stance together and continue their battle.
Eventually, the troops came face to face with Satan Morroc himself.
Just looking at him can strike fear into your bones. The battle was intense. Many people lost their lives. But in the end they were successful in containing Satan Morroc. Before he was completely defeated, he made a mass explosion in the middle of the field creating a dimension rift. He retreated back to the dimension which he came from but swore revenge once again.
Well....this story can probably go on forever but it does needs to come to an end.
I can't keep this up for too much longer
A couple more chapters should do it!
Until next time
Cheers