Author's Note: Oh boy, it's the first wave (technically second). How will our heroines fair against the nasty's and big bads of this new horror that Kat's never even experienced? Well you gotta read the chapter. Anyways, favorite, comment, etc.

P.S. Any major questions will be answered up here in the next chapter.

JAKEkenstein - No Sergeant Johnson story planned.

Formerlyarandomreviewer - It's a made up figure for the sake of a minor plot point to solve any ammunition questions.

Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or ROTSH as they belong to their respective owners.

"Quotes."

"Reading and/or Thoughts"

Emphasis/Emphasis


Castletown, Melromarc

September 3, 2552, 0634 Hours

The morning chill bit through the air as an army of royal knights and hired hands gathered in the city streets facing the slowly rising sun as it crested over the hill. For many, this would be their final sunrise. However, two individuals stood out amongst the diverse crowd.

Kat gathered many of the usual stares as she held Raphtalia close, the pair watching the glistening oranges and yellows of the sun as it rose just beyond the horizon. Raphtalia turned away to face Kat, her red eyes shining in the morning sunlight as they met Kat's behind her visor. "Kat?" Raphtalia spoke up in a soft, yet worried tone. "If we don't make it, I want you to know you're the best person a demi - human could've ever asked for. You bathed me when I was dirty, fed me warm meals when I was hungry, treated my illness when I was sick, and most importantly, you showed me love when I thought I'd lost all hope." She confessed as a single year began to fall down the side of her cheek. "You've given me a chance to live."

Kat stared at her unresponsive until she softly wiped the tear and pulled Raphtalia into a gentle hug. "And I'd do it all over again." Kat replied. "This is it." She reminisced, glancing at fleeting seconds of the timer.

00:00:00:04

00:00:00:03

"This is the way the world ends." She solemnly thought.

00:00:00:02

00:00:00:01

00:00:00:00

The sound of a bell rang out from the church. The skies grew dark as they lit up a crimson red not too dissimilar from the glassed skies of Reach. A golden light faintly shimmered and enveloped Kat and Raphtalia before pulling the air from their lungs and whisking them away in sudden, blinding flash. The teleport was immediate, if disorienting. Gathering their bearings, they saw that they were standing at the crest of a hill alongside the other three heroes and their parties.

"Kat! Good to see you. That teleport gave me a killer headache." Itsuki said, rubbing the tips of his fingers on both sides of his head.

Ren scoffed at his younger associate. "You'll get used to it. The wave's here and we gotta clear it out, c'mon." He told the rest before taking off in the direction where a multitude of portals were opening.

Motoyasu furrowed his brow and shot an infuriated look at Kat, who, emotionlessly, stared back at him. Snarling at her, he took off with his harem, quickly catching up to Ren's heels.

Itsuki took a few deep breaths before bending over and heaving air. "You two— go ahead, I need a minute." He said as his breakfast started coming back up the same way it went down.

Kat glanced at Raphtalia who simply nodded. Giving Itsuki a quick mock salute, the Shield Hero's party left the blonde bow hero to his embarrassing moment. As they took off on the downward slope of the hill towards the main avenue of combat, Raphtalia pointed to the sky.

"Kat, look! They're coming from above too!" She shouted, warning the Spartan of an impending attack from a small swarm of giant insectoid monsters.

In a split second decision, Kat rolled out of the way to avoid an oncoming attack and drew her magnum. Aiming at the swarm, once the first bug was caught in her crosshairs, she pulled the trigger.

BANG!

The first shot of the wave rang loud and true as one of the dozen or so bugs came crashing down in a pile of its own mangled guts. Firing a few more rounds, each one found a new home exploding through the body of a once alive bug. "Just like shooting buggers, except ten times slower and dumber. I could get used to this." Kat thought. Realizing what she just did, she shook her head to clear her mind. She couldn't… she wouldn't get complacent. It got her killed last time and she refused to make that same mistake twice.

Her opening volley of fire decimated the small swarm of bugs that had attempted to dive at Kat and Raphtalia, intending to rip them apart. Raphtalia cheered watching the violent display of Kat's otherworldly weapon in true fashion. Dropping the magazine in a fluid, well practiced motion, it fell into the inventory of her shield as she flicked her wrist and summoned one of her spares before loading and cocking a new round into the chamber.

Fwoomp. The sound of a distant launcher broke through the chaotic intensity of the battle below the hill as a bright blue light lit up like a beacon over the village of Lute.

"Oh god, Lute village! Kat, they're in trouble!" Raphtalia shouted, pointing out the flare that acted as a call for help.

"Dammit, they're too close to the frontlines. They need to evacuate asap." Kat thought, worrying about the village's residents. "Raphtalia, change course, we're evacuating the village! Get over there, double time!" Kat ordered as she turned and sprinted off towards Lute faster than anyone had ever seen.

Raphtalia took off and was hot on her heels, but she wasn't as fast. "Hopefully the other heroes can take care of the bulk of the wave!" She shouted, unsure if her voice had carried all the way to Kat.

"Hopefully." Kat grimacingly thought. Entering the village outskirts, a multitude of civilians ran by Kat in a screaming panic. Behind them were several large undead monsters wielding a variety of weapons which Kat easily dispatched after a couple well placed headshots. Heading deeper, Kat saw more of those same undead hacking at defenseless villagers. A nearby woman screamed in fear, holding her child close and shielding him from an incoming attack that never came.

A loud bang rang out, sending the undead monster flying to the ground faster than a sack of rocks. Looking up to see whoever their savior was, the mother - son duo were shocked to see the disgraced Shield Hero standing firmly beside them. Just before they were going to thank the armored maiden, Raphtalia quickly arrived by Kat's side. "How're we doing this, Kat?" The tanuki asked, brandishing her sword and slicing through another undead that got too close.

Kat nodded to her enthusiastic companion. "I'll handle the fodder. You round these people up and get them somewhere safe. The mines might be a good option." She ordered Raphtalia, whose eyes held an inkling of worry.

Raphtalia was quick to resist this plan. "But what about you? You'll be all alone!"

Kat scolded Raphtalia for hesitation over her own role in this plan. "That's an order, Private. I've got the line. I'm a demon for a reason."

Raphtalia glanced at the ground, lost in thought for but a single moment before nodding. "Done." She confidently declared.

Kat shook her head. "Not yet it's not. Get a move on, I got this." She said, taking off towards the center of the village while Raphtalia ran off to find other survivors. In the center of the village, Kat saw a cornered pocket of resistance armed with old farming tools surrounded by swarms of insects and undead. Leaping into action, Kat threw herself at full force into the horde, firing her magnum with pinpoint accuracy at every inhuman son - of - a - bitch dumb enough to get in between her and those people, using her shield arm to punch anything she missed back to the twenty - sixth century.

Shocked at their untimely savior, the group just stood there dumbfounded that they were saved by none other than the Shield Hero herself who quickly broke the heroic facade with sharp commands. "Get to the mines and bunker down." Kat simply ordered them. When none of them took off running, she turned her full body towards them in a means of an intimidating presence. "I said go, NOW!" She yelled at them, putting more force into her voice. Scared by her booming authority, the villagers turned tail and sprinted in the direction of the mines.

Quickly breathing a sigh of relief, her moment of triumph was broken by a massive sword being swung down at her. Without skipping a beat Kat brought her shield up to meet the blade. Catching and parrying it, she brought her magnum up to the head of the large, bloated undead and put two rounds right through its skull, turning its innards into outters. As it slumped over with a massive thud, she glanced around and, in what appeared as only a mere fraction of a second, assessed that the situation was more than fucked, but luckily for everyone else, fucked is where Spartans thrived.

As she dashed through the decimated village, whenever a monstrous creature came into view, Kat made every shot count. Every time she fired her magnum, more and more monsters came out from their hiding places amongst the rubble and began following her. Slowly amassing a horde well over the size of a company, she drew a plan for how to deal with this numerically superior force. "Good, I've got their attention. Too bad I don't have enough ammo to kill them all. I could melee, but where's the fun in that?" Kat thought as a large wooden structure caught her station. "That could do. Ding dong you stupid fucks, it's dinner time." Rounding the corner, she found the large watchtower that was jutting out from the center of the village. Firing a few rounds into the support structure, the wooden building creaked and groaned under the stress of its own weight, but didn't collapse… yet.

When the majority of the horde followed her into the open clearing around the tower, as she sprinted past it, she kicked out the base she had previously weakened from the .50 AE rounds that slammed into the wooden material. The support structure snapped as it came crashing down on the horde, scattering debris all around the area. With much of the monsters who had attacked Lute now buried under several tones of wood and stone, whatever immediate stragglers remained Kat used up the rest of her magazine executing them in a manner no less than putting down a dying split - jaw.

+927 XP

Level Up!

[Catherine - B320: Level 22]

Standing there reloading, her motion tracker caught several large red blips charging on her from multiple directions. Looking up to meet this new threat, she saw undead the size of brutes sprinting at her with a desire to rip her apart limb from limb. As the first went to grab her, Kat ducked out of the way before dodging the second and rolling out of the way of the third. Attacking simultaneously, Kat could only avoid their attacks for so long, barely getting a hit herself before the first goliath sized fist slammed into her head, slamming her to the ground for a moment and stunning her long enough for several more blows to make impact. Now caught in a dazed state, one of the massive undead monsters grabbed her and brought her to its mouth in an attempt to eat her.

However, Kat would not become its next meal as a sword suddenly slashed through its thick, fleshy skull. As the top of its head slid off, its muscles relaxed allowing Kat to crawl free from her state of imprisonment. Blinking several times to try and clear her vision and gather her bearings, she scrambled to find her magnum on the ruined street. The sudden announcement of a familiar shot rang out, catching her attention as another of the giant undead surrounding her crashed to the floor. Looking at who fired her weapon, she saw a dirtied Raphtalia who had several cuts and bruises all along her body and a rage filled expression consuming her face.

"They want to hurt Kat?! How fucking dare they!" Raphtalia internally screamed as she let out a roar and charged the remaining brutish undead, cutting them down in a bloody rampage. "I'll KILL YOU FUCKING ALL!" She loudly declared, sword in one hand and magnum in the other. The sheer efficiency in which she killed, no, slaughtered the group of monsters would've been fascinating to some and horrifying to others. To Kat, she watched in absolute glee as her companion experienced real combat first hand while also having just saved her life.

+318 XP

Level Up!

[Catherine - B320: Level 24]

+458 XP

Level Up!

[Raphtalia: Level 20]

As her senses finally cleared up, Kat found the strength to push herself to her feet. Before she could even shake out her own strained muscles, the fastest ball of floof in the west came crashing right into her, almost knocking her back to the ground. "I thought you were gonna die. Please, don't. I don't think I could live without you." Raphtalia pleaded in a voice that, rather than booming with confidence, was shaky and nervous, but who could blame her?

Kat, recognizing the coast was clear just for this brief moment, returned the gesture by stroking Raphtalia's hair. "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. I made you a promise and I intend on keeping it." She reassured her companion. Getting a better look at the teary - eyed tanuki demi - human revealed that she had grown a little more in height and physique, no doubt from the levels she obtained in the fighting. "But you're more than capable of handling yourself if I'm not there. You— "

The sudden streaks of multiple bright lights being launched into the sky from around the village caught their attention, cutting Kat off and sending her instincts into a frenzy. "Duck in cover!" She shouted, tucking Raphtalia beneath her large armored frame. She brought her shield above the both of them just in time as the streaks super combined into a large, flaming ball before sending an unholy barrage of flaming arrows in every direction, including right on top of them. The unrelenting fury of the magical attack slowly chipped away, eventually breaking through Kat's legendary defenses; but any actual impacts bounced off her advanced Mjolnir shielding harmlessly.

As the barrage finally came to an end, they heard the arrogant laughter of a nearby individual. "Hah. We seem to have killed them all with that one attack. Good job men, let's move on." A man wearing the garb of a royal knight declared. Walking through the devastation, he soon came upon Kat's crouched armored form. "Oh? And what do we have here? The Shield Hero? Frankly I'm quite surprised you're here, let alone survived that. You've gotta be one tough cookie." The man, who Kat saw was bearing a Commander's color, mocked the armored Lieutenant Commander.

Raphtalia's expression was one full of rage and hate, more so than how she looked when cleaving through the undead mob. Her eyes were locked onto the Commander's as he just smiled cockily at the pair kneeling before him. "What're you looking at, demi? Keep staring at me like that and I'll be the last thing you see."

"First you decide to firebomb civilians and now you think it's a good idea to threaten Raphtalia?! Go to hell you arrogant bastard." Kat thought. Rising to her feet, Kat drew her magnum from her thigh and raised it to the Commander's head. "Survive this." She coldly said, pulling the trigger and sending a round right through the man's head.

As his body hit the ground, the sudden death of their commanding officer shocked the remaining platoon of knights. A few veterans shook themselves out of their stupor faster than others and took the initiative, taking up positions surrounding Kat and her tanuki companion. "If any of you don't wish to be accomplices to a war criminal, I suggest you stand down." She said, threatening those taking a stance against them.

None of the knights moved a muscle, but Kat could see their expressions shift and fill with thoughts. One of them stepped forward, a man with black hair and the colors of a lower ranking officer, possibly a captain, and joined Kat's side. "He was an asshole anyway." The man remarked, spitting on the dead Commander's body.

A few of the other knights exchanged glances, unsure of what to do. Before the rest of them made up their minds, Kat saw another one of those large undead monsters charging at the back of one of the knights. Just as it swung down its raised axe on the man, Kat burst forward and partied it with her shield before sending a kick towards its kneecap, breaking it with a sickening crunch. The knight whom she had saved fell to the ground in shock, a wet spot forming between his legs as he watched Kat put three bullets through its skull. The brutal efficiency in which the Shield Hero had saved their friends and reduced the monster to a wet sack of flesh quickly made the rest of the knights make up their minds.

Seeing his men's allegiance restored to aiding the hero, the newly in charge Captain breathed a sigh of relief and raised his sword into the air in a beacon of inspiration. "Knights of Melromarc, Phalanx Formation! We shall aid the Shield Hero in her defense of this village!" He shouted, rallying his men over the clattering of the platoons' plated armor.

Kat smiled at the royal knight's newfound morale. They reminded her of the troopers she worked alongside and how their enthusiasm for killing Covenant always made her day because, in the end, they were defending their homes with an extreme vigor. Getting back to work, she deflected another attack from one of the newly arrived undead monsters and roundhouse kicked it, shearing off the upper half of the zombie's torso. With a war cry so strong it would make an Elite cower in fear, Raphtalia darted forward into the horde and began slashing heads from their shoulders and slicing bodies in half. Although not really needing their help, the sheer volume of knights helping in Lute's defense meant a wall of metal stood between the undead and what remained of the village.


As the last of the undead were slain and insectoids ripped apart, Raphtalia fell to her knees in exhaustion as her blade ran through the final monstrous creature. Catching Raphtalia before she landed in the dirt, Kat scooped her up and sat her against a broken wall so she could catch her breath. The platoon of knights who had helped them were laying in various stages ranging from exhausted to dead. Out of everyone who had taken up a weapon, Kat remained the only one standing without issue.

She watched as an influx of the village's inhabitants slowly trickled back in, seeing the devastation the wave had brought upon their homes. Sighing at their shocked and dismayed expressions, Kat took a seat next to Raphtalia who leaned over and rested her head on Kat's shoulder. "You did good, Raphtalia. If it weren't for you, all of these people would have joined the dead." She complimented the tanuki, giving her a pat on the head.

Such a simple gesture of affection seemingly revitalized Raphtalia's energy as she found the strength to wag her tail. Now that they weren't fighting for their lives, Kat took a good look at Raphtalia and noticed how many wounds she had sustained but was thankful none of it was anything major beyond a few scratches overlaid on top of each other. Summoning one of their few pills from her shield, she passed it over to Raphtalia who gladly took it and swallowed without complaint. Within a few seconds, the wounds began to heal and her breathing became more regulated as the exhaustion diminished.

A gentle breeze began rolling through. Taking off her helmet, Kat sat back and let the cool wind blow against her face. "Kat, look! The wave! It's disappearing!" Raphtalia suddenly called out, jumping to her feet and pointing to the finishing crimson sky. As Kat and the remaining survivors looked up, they saw the great rifts flashing rapidly before blinking out of existence one - by - one.

With the source of its energy now gone, the crimson sky began to dissipate and return to its normal blue color. Everyone collectively breathed a sigh of relief that the wave was finally over… those that could celebrate anyway. "Thank god. Raphtalia couldn't have handled any more of that bullshit." Kat thought, looking at the tanuki's smiling face.

"I can't believe it's over." Raphtalia said, once more sitting by Kat's side. "These people, they… what are they meant to do?" She asked, a saddened look on her face as she watched the villagers sift through the rubble.

"They rebuild, start over." Kat said, glancing around until her eyes landed on a woman collapsed and sobbing over the body of her dead husband. "But it's never that easy. And not everyone can." Kat remarked with a sigh. "This is the kind of thing you could expect when fighting the Covenant. They were ruthless, savage, and didn't care who they killed so long as it was another human. Scenes like this didn't even happen much because oftentimes there'd be no one left alive." She explained to Raphtalia who's eyes were glued to the floor.

A pair of clanking metal boots broke their attention on the depressing recount of the Covenants' efficiency. Looking up, they saw the knight Captain standing before them with a hand outstretched. "You did a great thing here today, Shield Hero; you and your friend. Without you two, way more of my men would've been killed, especially under our old Commander's leadership, so… thanks." He said, shaking each of their hands in gratitude.

"We're just doing our jobs. Thanks for not leaving us to clean up the mess by ourselves." Kat smiled at the Captain.

He nodded in return. "My pleasure. You put yourself on a frontline none of the other heroes even thought about and I respect that." He said, giving her a small smile. "Now I gotta round up my men. We've got wounded needing medical attention and the dead needing burials. I hope we get to speak again soon, Shield Hero." The Captain said as he turned to take his leave.

"Kat. Just call me Kat." She informed the man.

Pausing in his step, he glanced over his shoulder. "Alright, Kat." He nodded, taking his leave.

As the knights left the villagers to the incoming relief effort, Kat was once again left to the sights of the villager's trying to reclaim their homes. However, she found a piece of hope in the depressing situation as these people had a chance to rebuild whereas many before them didn't. "Let's give them a hand. Relief will no doubt arrive soon so we should at least make their lives easier." Kat said, lifting herself to her feet and helping Raphtalia to hers.

With her objective now completed, Kat assisted in the initial relief effort as a source of heavy lifting. Her first order of business was moving large chunks of debris from a collapsed house where a man was collapsed to his knees crying out for his lost wife and child. Kat tightly shut her eyes and focused on her work, drowning out the man's cries. She had experienced this from millions, if not billions of civilians beforehand, but each and every time it tore her up inside acting as yet another reminder for why she fought.

Raphtalia, for her part, was hopping from person to person tending to their wounds. While unable to physically heal any of the wounded with her limited resources, she helped in setting and mitigating the severity of their injuries by performing basic medical techniques in cleaning, bandaging, and tourniqueting that Kat had taught her. It wasn't long until the support companies, the arm that controlled any military's fist, arrived with several carts carrying food, water, medicine, and construction materials.

Changing gears, Kat helped offload and pile the reconstruction materials off to the side in preparation for the royal engineers to get to work in clearing and rebuilding. Raphtalia helped by passing out ration subsidies and treated the further stages of the wounded using the advanced twenty sixth century techniques Kat had taught her with the arrival of medicine. In a relatively quick manner, with the help of the Shield Hero's party, any able bodied civilians, and the Royal Knights support companies, temporary shelters and medical wards were set up as a prelude to Lute's reconstruction effort. When the majority of the work was over, Kat and Raphtalia were relieved by the officer in charge.

As they were picking up their things to leave, presumably on their next bout to level up, they were approached by an older man who wore a garment that proposed a status of higher position. "Ah, Shield Hero! I'm glad to have caught you and your companion before leaving. Before anything, I want to extend my gratitude for your help in saving our village. The road to recovery will be long, but if it weren't for you there wouldn't have even been one." The older man said, grateful for their timely intervention.

Kat nodded in response, loading a fresh magazine into her semi - depleted magnum. "We don't need praise for just doing our job." She said with a smile.

Waving her off, the elder had a gasped expression plastered on his face. "Nonsense, I beg to differ! You see, heroes should be rewarded for their efforts, and I wish to bestow upon you a reward." He said, outstretching his hand holding a fat sack that sagged over the edges of his frail palm.

Curiously taking the sack, Kat opened it and her HUD identified three hundred silver coins. Taken aback by the sheer amount of payment, Kat stuttered for a moment, trying to find the right words. "Are you sure I should take this? This is a lot of money and I'd be robbing you folks of your relief funds." She noted with a worried tone, passing it back.

The elder pushed it back towards her. "Please, I insist, we can always make more. Besides, your courage here proved to us the kind of person you are, even after the trial in the capitol." He said with a sly nod and smile.

Holding the bag up to her shield, Kat fed the numerous silver to her ever hungry gem. "We do need the money. God I wish UEG Credits had an exchange rate here." Kat thought before silently berating herself for focusing on such trivial matters. "No. First the language, then magic, then levels. Building a whole new economic system from the ground up would be too… oh what would Carter think… inspiring."

"Then we accept your offering with thanks." Raphtalia said out of the blue, giving the elder man a smiling nod of appreciation.

"I wish you the best of luck on your endeavors. Speaking of which, who're those two knights heading our way?" The elder asked, pointing out the knights taking a wide berth around the support companies and headed straight to the Shield Hero duo.

Kat rolled her eyes in anticipation while Raphtalia audibly sighed and deflated. "I can only guess that the monarch's want something from us." Kat sarcastically remarked, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "God, if only the Queen were around. She might have been a lot more reasonable and saved us the headache."

When the two knights were finally face - to - face with the Shield Hero and her companion, they unraveled a bound scroll and read aloud. "Shield Hero! The King requests all heroes to partake in a banquet to be held in the castle in celebration over victory of the Waves of Calamity!" Lowering the parchment, the knight who read it out loud then snickered. "But personally I suggest you don't come, you criminal. After all, your presence would ruin the fine dining provided by his majesty." He snorted, the man and his friend laughing at their perceived insult.

A smirk slowly grew on Kat's face. "Oh, hear that Raphtalia? We've been invited to enjoy a party. Hope the King likes the stick up his ass. I've been told it tastes great." She sarcastically shot back at the two knights, causing Raphtalia to burst out laughing.

The two messenger knights scoffed, frustrated that their insult hadn't provoked the reaction they wanted. Growing angry at the insistent laughter of the Shield Hero's filthy demi - human, the pair stormed off in a huff, only serving to make Raphtalia fall to the ground bent over backwards in laughter. Smiling at Raphtalia's adorable display, Kat gave her a moment to settle down before properly continuing with business.

Wiping a tear of joy that stained her face, Raphtalia smiled and nodded in response to Kat's original question. "It sounds like a great idea, Kat. The elder talked about rewards for a job well done, so I think we deserve it!" She enthusiastically exclaimed.

Clasping her hands together, Kat smiled at the two men who were just leaving. "Great! We'll be there!" She said with a smug grin.


Sitting at a small round table draped in a pink cloth with only two seats filled, Kat took another bite of the exquisitely prepared meat. Chewing slowly, she smiled in satisfaction. "I gotta give the chef credit, he cooked a meal fit for a king." She thought, swallowing another fist - sized bite. Unfortunately, her moment of culinary bliss came to an end as a booming voice echoed throughout the room.

Standing at the seat of his throne, the king flourished his cup of wine. "This banquet is in the honor of the Cardinal Heroes who managed to not only defeat the wave, but did so without any issues. Therefore tonight, we celebrate their victory!" He boasted, raising his cup high into the air before as cheers erupted from the crowd.

"Yeah right, you really showed you care about Lute Village." Kat thought, rolling her eyes at just how much of a pompous ass the king was. Looking out at the window, the sun was beginning to decline from its high moon position. Shook her head in disbelief over the past month's events as she fiddled with spare a bullet intertwining between her fingers. Pushing those thoughts to the back of her head, she accepted that this was her life, at least for now. Looking back out to the crowd of overdressed nobles, knights, and servants, she couldn't help but eavesdrop on a few of their conversations.

The laughter between a man and woman stuck out like a sore thumb in the sea of chatter. "I heard that the latest reports regarding the wave state that it had a significant reduction in casualties compared to the first." The noblewoman informed her male counterpart who rubbed his chin in return.

"And we have our brave heroes to thank for that. With their combined might, they were able to overpower the wave and protect us from its rotting influence." The nobleman responded, adjusted his tie to gain a more perfectionist image.

"Don't give them all the credit. The royal army gave them the backbone they needed to succeed." A familiar black haired knight said, stepping towards the entertained pair of nobles. The Captain shot a glance towards Kat in a silent question for approval. Affirming his place in assisting her with a nod, he briefly smiled before turning his attention back to the nobles.

The clank of a plate carrying a slice of cake landing on the table broke Kat from her narrow minded activity and brought her attention on to her greatest source of accomplishment: Raphtalia. Sitting down, the tanuki looked over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of the knight they had fought alongside hours prior. "Does mom have a crush?" Raphtalia teased Kat before bursting into laughter from her own joke.

Kat smirked at Raphtalia's joke, always happy to see her having fun even if it was cheesy. Playfully rolling her eyes, she took the first bite of cake she'd had in years. "Oh har har. I can't just enjoy myself with you poking and prodding, can I?"

Raphtalia's eyes lit up like stars as she leaned in close to Kat. "Nope! I'll be glued to your side now and forever. And that means having some fun every now and then like you taught me." She said, exaggeratingly wrapping a hand around Kat's armored shoulders.

Grabbing her glass, Kat held it in front of Raphtalia. "And here's a toast to see that never changes." Raphtalia clinked her glass of bubbly water with Kat's before the two of them took a sip and continued eating their cake, simply enjoying each other's company. As Kat approached the final bite of her cake, a voice suddenly called out.

"Kat! I challenge you to a duel!"


Author's Note: And there's Kat's first wave. Very scary, if the Shield Hero were anyone else except an honorary demon. We also got to see more Kat and Raphtalia bonding! I know we ALL love to see that!