Chapter 38

One of Van's maids met me just outside of his territory, near the farms we had passed through when we visited the first time. Behind me and our grand wagon, were a couple hundred very tired demi-humans who were eager to just... stop marching.

"Sir Hero." Pause, "Lady Melty." She greeted, a little conflict in her face about 'who to address first', "Lord Van has left instructions with me-"

"How long have the King's knights been here?" I asked.

"They arrived just after dinnertime last night." She said without pause, "Lord Van has kept them ignorant of what transpired when you visited last, but his deception will not last long. There were only six. A standard patrol. And we have kept track of them all."

Melty and I let out a little sigh, "Good. Now, we have some elderly here, and just over two hundred people."

"Sick and infirm can come with me directly. And for the moment, I hope the rest won't mind spending the rest of the day in the field across from Lord Van's estate." She bowed, "I will have my second report to you as soon as possible on the locations of the six knights."

Melty mumbled to herself, my ears just catching the words, "Mother's trust in Lord Van is well placed..." Then louder, "Sir? Should I help direct them?"

"Please." I nodded, "Rest your bird too."

"This way Lady Melty."

I looked ahead, meeting one of Tetsu's eyes, "Just a little further and you can get out of the harness."

"Yay! My new wings made this less fun..."

Behind me, Usa poked his head through the curtain, "Once we get the report, we have to move as fast as possible. If they're like any other soldier after a day off, they'll be in town." I pointed towards the 'middle class' area we never actually visited.

"Alive sir?" He asked.

"If reasonable." I said, "Melty asked nicely, and a good soldier shouldn't be punished for following a bad leader. Now... If they try and hold the nearest person hostage or something..."

"Understood sir." Usa nodded, vanishing back into the wagon. A moment later, I heard the back door open.

Five, maybe ten minutes later, another maid approached me as I waved to a small group of tired but thankful demi-humans as they headed towards the slowly filling campground the farmer's field was becoming.

This maid was younger, and last time we were here was 'the one who made bread'. "Sir Hero." She greeted, "Are you able to read?"

"Thanks to a most reliable Raccoon Girl, yes." I nodded, "What have you got for me?"

She stood beside me and unfolded a bit of paper. On it was a map, some names, and a couple of numbers. "In the 'human quarter' of Lord Van's territory, there is a brothel here, and a tavern here." She pointed, "The knights have been taking their leisure mainly at these two places since their arrival yesterday."

"I see five. Where's number six?"

"Lord Van has him occupied up at the fort." She looked up the hill to the mini-castle, "The knight-captain was familiar with Idol's... hobbies... and while disturbing, we put on a 'play' behind a locked door."

I frowned thoughtfully, "So... One person pretends they're Idol and cracks a whip. The other makes noise?"

She blushed a little, but nodded, "Much longer, and there will be issues, but good food, and strong wine are good distractions."

"Well done." I reached for the map and she handed it over, "get word to Lord Van, Melty and I will be there as soon as we can get up the hill. How have the harvests been?"

"The 'fox-berry' is quite popular in our kitchen." She smiled, "I have made several desserts with it."

"Make a few more then, after you get the message up the hill."

She gave me a little curtsy, then walked away briskly. A moment later, I went looking for the others.

The plan was simple. My party would covertly wander into the 'human quarter', find the knights (whom the maids gave very good descriptions of), and bring them in. Idol had been so unpopular with most of the people, that there was already a 'drop off zone' waiting.

My job, while my very reliable party was off doing that, was to deal with the captain. If Melty could make him see reason, great. If not, we could lock him in a closet someplace. If he put up an excessive struggle or went to hostages? He could join Idol in the latrine I dumped his head into.

"All set?" I asked Melty as I walked behind her the both of us following a maid towards Van.

"So long as there isn't already a sword drawn, I believe I will do well." She said.

A nice (freshly cleaned!) carpeted hall later, and a polite tap on a door, the maid announced Melty. "Lady Melty Q Melromarc, Lord Van."

He was a little less cheerful than I remembered, but he was the same kind faced slender man of educated airs. He was sitting at a small table, wine cup in front of him, across from a man in armour. The knight was already well into his cups, and to go along with the scent of wine there was the fading notes of some bawdy tale of some sort that poor Van was quite clearly suffering through.

"Ah!" Van stood, "Lady Melty, you've arrived safely." He looked at me, but past that I got no 'notice'. "I hope the road here was smooth?"

The knight didn't seem to know who I was, though as usual I had the Shield on my back and out of sight. I also wasn't wearing anything impressive, just the leather and metal stuff that went under my (possibly still being cuddled) Black Dog cape. I just looked like a tall demi-human man at arms.

Another thing I noticed, was he was too drunk to remember he should stand for royalty when they entered a room. He did however keep quiet.

"Lord Van." Melty gave him a curtsy, "It was arduous, but they have all arrived safely." Then she dropped the first 'hint', "It was gracious of you to allow them to stay here."

The drunken knight connected a dot someplace in his wine sodden mind, but still, he kept silent, even drank a little more.

"It was the least I could do for the Shield Hero when he spoke of such a noble idea." Van smiled.

"A shame it had to be done at all. If Lord Rabier were still with us, he'd likely reject the idea. But of course, with his crimes against the Queen's decree, it was only proper his lands are to be put to use in recompense." Melty smiled, looking at the knight, "Is the wine not to your liking?"

The knight set his cup down, looking between Van and Melty like they'd grown more heads than a drunken mind could handle. "You've... What... Then..."

"Yes. For his crimes of torturing children for amusement, and having his own knights illegally capture and enslave rightful citizens of Melromarc, Idol Rabier was executed." Melty said calmly, "Having also illegally annexed Lord Van's lands, I returned control, and granted him Lord Rabier's territory."

Van's calm smile had returned (oddly, this felt like some kind of cosmic balancing. Lord Van should always be smiling that smile.) and he added helpfully, "I'm sure you understand now the reason for the deception."

I saw him start to go for his sword, but in his drunkenness he'd forgotten it was on the back of his chair, not his belt. I stepped past Melty, cracking my knuckles meaningfully and spoke a single word, "Don't."

Six knights in various states of repair, had been brought to the only partially smoothed over and refilled crater the Tyrant Rex had pulled itself out of. There had been some resistance, so said my party, but at their level, training, and how distracted most of them had been at the time of ambush, it was an easy task.

And around them, about a hundred or so of the demi-human slaves. Also in various states of repair, but not tied up and helpless. Not anymore, and never again if I had any say in the matter.

"Kid..." I heard Elder Ragnarok start from behind me, just before I was about to step forward to address the crowd.

Raphtalia, who was standing behind the six knights glanced in my direction, but I closed my eyes before I saw her reaction. Taking a deep breath and speaking just loud enough for her to hear, I turned to face the old woman, "This body may be eight. But the mind inside is just over half your age." I said, my breath frosting in the air between us. "What do you want?"

What ever her 'plan' was for this conversation, she already knew she'd failed. So instead of what ever she was going to say, she sighed one of those 'turn your hair grey' sighs (far too late in her case) and instead replied with, "We can speak after."

I nodded, turned, and got a timid smile from Raphtalia. It was obvious she was worried, but once I met her eyes, she returned to her silent watch over the six tied up knights.

One of the odd things I noticed as I stepped in front of them, between the crowd and the knights, was no one was yelling. There was no 'angry mob' vibe in the air. Sure, there were mumbles, and no end of angry faces, but the recently imprisoned population wasn't... Well, to put it bluntly, screaming for blood.

After talking with a couple of them, at least two of these knights were part of the raid on Raphtalia's village shortly after the first Wave and the death of the Lord there. But we were waiting for one more arrival...

"Aha." I said, spotting Usa turn his head, then looking in that direction. Survivors of Idol's guards from the 'liberation'. These were being led by a bunch of the 'angry mob' that had crashed Idol's front gate. Much calmer now, they led the dozen or so guards along, then 'helped' them sit down with the others. "That everyone?" I asked a cat-folk who was wearing bits of former-knight armour.

"Yes Sir." He nodded, "All the survivors from Idol's-" he spit to the side, "Guard. A little worse for wear, but no deaths under our care."

I nodded, "Stand guard then." I looked at the collection in front of me. Yeah, bruises, a few cuts (clean) a bandage or two (also clean) and the look of hunger you get from bread and water rations. I waited until 'Van's Guards' and my party got behind them, and switched to the Gengar Shield. I waited another moment for Usa to hide his ears under his helmet.

"BACK... oh sorry..." I lowered my voice a little, "Back where I'm from, Justice suits the crime." I took a breath, feeling my thoughts organize as I pushed down my urge to skip to the end. "If you steal. You return the item, pay for it, or work off the debt. That's all."

I found myself pacing the exact two steps-turn I did at home in front of Hestia.

"However. The accused has the right to stand before his accuser. Until rumour is proven fact, the law cannot act. Sure, investigations can be done, and facts uncovered. But until you see someone do wrong, and have a third person confirm it, it boils down to 'he said, she said'." I looked to Raphtalia.

And with some grunting, groaning, a bit of swearing and someone getting gagged for trying to bite, the guards were hauled to their feet.

"Something odd happens though, when the victim of a crime is silent. Sometimes, the reason is innocent. A baker taking pity on a beggar, warning them to not do it again, but not raising the alarm for a stolen loaf. A neighbour borrowing your hammer and forgetting to return it."

I stopped in front of the Knight-captain, "Or not so innocent, like accepting money or status to ignore a crime." I walked down the line of them, "Or using that status to discredit the accuser. Bribing the 'third party' to speak against the victim." I turned, and stopped again in front of the Knight-captain, "Or throwing the victim into a cage where their voice can no longer be heard."

I turned to face the hundred or so Demi-Humans, smiling slightly behind the Gengar Shield as the sinking sun started to replace the sunken hollow eyes with the green reflective glow of predators.

"Now that those voices are free, and the accused are standing before the accusers, what punishment fits the crime? I've heard many stories from the survivors, and quite honestly, death would be appropriate." A slow, painful wasting death of hunger and sickness...

I hid the action of rubbing my forehead by exaggerating the action of scratching the side of my nose. To be fair, now that reality was sinking in, some of the looks in those reflective eyes opposite the prisoners were hardening.

"You can't-" Clive silenced that one with a ready made gag.

I couldn't afford an interruption, or this would indeed turn into an execution. "But how does that punish them? How does that compensate the victim? My home has thought of this, and has a long list of things that can be done before the 'last' option is used."

I turned to Van, who wasn't smiling again (to be fair, he also knew this was a half step from a 'stoned to death' execution). He nodded though, eyes clear and full of conviction.

In the crowd, Keel, because I fulfilled my promise to return, did me a favour. "What options are there?" She asked as if reading from a script.

"Say a member of the family is hurt, and cannot work for a time. A common compensation is for the offender to work in their place until they are healed. Of course, if a family member is killed, the length of service would be longer. But the usual term for it, is a year less a day, per offence." I explained, seeing realization dawning on many of their faces.

Disgust too. But for the most part, the irony was not lost on the Demi-humans.

Or the prisoners. "Slaves? You mean to make us into-"

"Since there are so many victims here." I said, giving the most recently gagged prisoner a pat on the head, "We could hold a vote. If they think your execution would be more useful to them, than taking the Mark and working their fields for them for... well some of you will be at it a long time I'm sure..."

I turned back to the Demi-humans, "However. There are still laws we must obey. To put us above those who hide behind money, greed, politics and corrupt nobility." I looked to the side, at Melty.

She walked over to me and I knelt, partially to show that I supported her, but also because she was short. "AS- oh sorry..." She ahem'ed, "As the Queen's voice while she is absent, I support either course. If you wish them executed for their participation in the sacking and capture of many of you at Lurolona, they have earned that. However, if you wish to entrust them to another Land Holder, they will be put to work for you, until their debt is paid."

I watched for the reaction and wasn't disappointed. Well, okay, I was a little, but only because (demi) human nature was so predictable. I'd given them a choice, let them live, or die. But then I took the 'execution' of that choice away from them. They could choose, but one way didn't have to get their hands dirty, while the other would.

They chose to enslave them, and of course, being 'there' well loved by his people and currently sheltering the former slave populace I'd just brought in, Van was the natural and acceptable choice to 'own' the slaves.

However...

We led the former knights to the basement, where all the cell doors had been shattered.

"You'll never get away with this." The (very much sober now) knight-captain growled as I drew a complicated (far more than the simple 'chained circle' that adorned my party's chests) pattern on the man. "Even if you enslave us, we're still stronger than-" Clive once again took his voice with a gag.

Van was sitting at a little desk, the ink in a little dish, a small dagger by his hand.

"This mark is intended for stronger, more unruly creatures, not just people but large animals like untrained dragons." I explained, also for the benefit of those waiting their turn. "It is harder to remove, harder to resist, and I've been told has 'other' options." I put the last touch on the mark, then nodded to Clive, who hauled him to his feet and held him rock still for Van. "Removing the mark through magic, will kill you. Killing Lord Van to null the contract, will kill you. Killing another person, will kill you. Disobeying the rules Lord Van sets past that... might eventually kill you if you refuse long enough."

I watched Van put a drop of blood into the dish, then swirl the brush in the glowing ink.

I whispered into the former-knight's ear, "And it will be agonizing, the entire time you're dying." Then louder, over his groans as the curse took hold of him, the entire collection of sigils on his chest glowing hot like a brand, then sinking into his skin with only the faintest of discoloration to show it had ever been there. "My suggestion, is to simply work. You will be fed. You will be clothed. You will be treated well. More than you deserve, but this is justice that your victims decided on."

He glared at me through the pain, and Clive held him in place until Van said, "There. It is done." He wasn't happy about this, but his smile was still there. It just didn't reach his eyes. "Sadly, you'll only get wine with good behaviour, so please, do behave."

A bit later, around the start of the usual 'quiet time', we all sat in one of the nice (nicer now that it had Idol's stench scrubbed off the walls) waiting rooms in the mini-castle.

"Now the next trick, is to keep them under wraps until... until what?" I sighed.

"Ideally, if Mo...the Queen returns, there will be no issue. It was justice, witnessed by an official, approved by the royal family." Melty said, "If we make haste..."

My party and I nodded, "We will succeed." Raphtalia said, a hand going to the Atma weapon at her hip, "And keep winning."

Van entered the room, a rolled up paper in his hand. "I found it." He said, his smile back in place. He strode over and unrolled it. "It's old, and crude, but it's a map of the basin you left the Tyrant in."

We all peered at the map. Yeah, my initial survey of it was pretty much the same. Grassy crater, small lake on one end, dense forests past the little lake, and well, a crater. However, I didn't know about some of the other paths and the like. If this map was old, they'd be little better than animal trails by now, but an easy way into, or out of the battlefield could prove useful.

So we planned.

With the new equipment, experience, and having fought the thing before, we came up with what amounted to a simple 'if/then' string of orders.

See, there is an old saying, 'the plan does not survive first contact with the enemy'. And for the most part, that's true. Unless your enemy is brought down in the first attack, it's going to do something in return. But in Orario, or any good game of chess, you planned ahead.

If they dragon chases you, then go here. If it chases me, then go here. 'if/then'. Like programming. It was stuff I'd been teaching them since we ended up on the little gravel patch by the river. And now, they were working things out on their own, replying honestly and confidently to questions like, 'can you do this if this happens?' or 'I can do this, if you can do this.'

Then we came to 'kill conditions'.

Clive's bow had proven capable of hurting it. It needed a soft spot, and extreme accuracy and luck. But the bow that even the old lady Ragnarok said was impressive, had already taken an eye. Oh, yes, we did already have a 'if/then' just in case it had healed its eye, or proven it could see from it still.

Raphtalia's sword. We didn't know it would work. It was a magic blade, and if the Tyrant had some excessive amount of resistance, it might not work. We'd gotten an idea of how resistant from Usa and I zapping it, but we'd done everything we could for maximum effect. Tetsu's claws were basically the exact same thing, just for Tetsu. Magic powered claws on the hands of a super strong dragon.

Usa could not be part of 'the kill condition' group. But his magic, especially combined with Melty's, had been effective. Melty also didn't have a kill condition. But her job would be 'ground control' and 'support'.

Kunshu... We didn't have an exact spot for her. Her 'swarm' probably wasn't able to do anything to the Tyrant, and her spear, while well made, was just normal stuff. She could however carry things like smoke, extra potions, and if she could wedge her spear into the monster, it was just as good a lightning rod as the one we had to leave behind.

Then there was me. It was obvious what my job was. It kind of annoyed me, but I was a professional. So long as I didn't get directly stepped on, I'd be fine. Probably.

"So the last question is... Before bed, or after breakfast?" I asked.

The long road here with the demi-humans gave us heaps of time to get our equipment checked, so it really was down to that.

"After." Everyone said, though Kunshu just raised a hand.

"I am only human." Melty said, "My eyes are not as capable in the near darkness."

"Get a good sleep then." I nodded, "I've..."

They were all giving me (yes, even Van, but not the old lady) the look. "You need sleep just as much as the rest of us." Raphtalia said, fists on hips and in full big sister tone. "We're already through our usual quiet time with all this planning."

I sighed, but was clearly outvoted. "Tetsu? Why are you still like that?" I'd only really clued in a moment ago, but she hadn't changed into her child form since eating that crystal.

"Um..." He rubbed her cheek, "I dunno? I didn't think it was a good idea."

"A good idea to try? Or a good idea to do it?" I asked.

"Try? I think? I just haven't had the urge?

"We have set aside a nice fluffy bed for you, Miss Tetsu." Van said, "But currently you are far too large for it."

Tetsu very carefully paced, her dragon body turning back on itself almost like a snake with legs. "Well, um... Stand back a little." She gently pushed Clive away from her with a big clawed hand, and nudged Usa away with her tail.

The cloud and sparkles of her own personal cloud were a bit brighter, more purple than black from my 'influence' of her growth in the egg. But a moment later, there was Tetsu, mostly how we remembered her. Dark almost black skin, unmanageable hair, the cute/functional/non-frilly Amazon outfit (extra cloth version)... And two small wings. Certainly not large enough to fly, or even glide with, they were leathery long boned 'hands' with a tough skin between the fingers. And of course, cute.

"Yay!" Tetsu cheered, "I did it! Who's clever?"

"You are." I said, though Raphtalia gave her headpats. "Now, where are those fluffy beds?"

I had not been expecting what we saw as we edged around one side of the crater. Before, it had been a vast field of knee to hip high grass, with a pretty mini-lake at one end. It had almost been like its own little world, an oasis that could easily have been the site of a new town or something. A bit of work to cut a path down or through the valley that the Tyrant had fallen into the first time, and you'd have an amazing little place that would have been resistant to just about everything but a torrential flood.

Now though... It was as if the Tyrant's presence had fouled the soil and polluted the air. The grass, once emerald green even in the starlight of our last encounter, was drying out even as a misty brackish smelling fog wandered around the enclosed slice of landscape like a living thing.

"Tetsu?" I called out quietly, reaching out for her dragon-snoot and pulling her gaze so she'd focus on 'the damage'.

"Yeah boss?" She asked, just as quiet.

"The next time some ancient evil, or voice in your head, or even a person, calls me names or insults any of our family here... Ignore it." I didn't want to tell her outright that it was her fault. But it kinda was.

"But..."

I hugged her big toothy head, one part to shut her up, one part to soften my words, "No. I understand, but this was not worth it. And next time, it might be worse."

The rest of the party seemed to understand I was chastising our favourite dragon, but it was Usa who put it into words, "But we're going to fix it now, right?"

"We are." I let Tetsu's face go, applied snoot-rubs, and took a deep breath, "Masks, bit of antidote."

Together, aside from Tetsu, we put on heavy cloth masks over our nose and mouth. Then we all had a sip of antidote. "bleh still bitter..." Tetsu pouted.

"Gr." Clive pointed to a spot across the paradise turned wasteland, near the valley we'd clogged up with thrown debris.

I had to use the Shield's sight magnification skill, but spotted a waving signal torch there. "Okay, that's escape route one. Let's get this one set up too." And I started pulling heaps of rope ladders from the Shield's inventory.

Van and a bunch of his demi-human people had gone along the outside of the crater to set up escape routes. As much as it seemed Raphtalia wanted to get me into a dark room alone, I doubted she wanted another incident like the last time. The hug? Sure. Getting slapped by a giant dragon tail and slammed around inside the Shield Prison like a nut in a tin can? Not so much.

"Clive? Eyes on it yet?" I asked, the miasma of fog making it hard to see great portions of the crater below.

He nodded, pointing to one of the densest fog clouds. "click." He wasn't sure though.

"Well, we'll start there then." I looked to Melty, "Ready to try a dual casting?"

"I've got this circle set up... Maybe?" She replied, "Miss Raphtalia?"

"I don't see a problem." Raphtalia nodded, "Just don't step on any of the lines when you leave the circle later."

"bzz?" Kunshu was giving herself an amusing mimicry of the 'do I have dirt on me' look. Across her chest and around her (literally) waspish hips, she had bandoleers of clay bottles. "bzz...?"

I went over to her, "I know you remember what they are. Just wait for the signals and stick to the plans." I did however tighten the bandoleers just a little, her hand-like claws not really able to work the buckles properly. "Usa?"

He had a new potion belt across his chest, and each of the slots was filled with a mana potion. He wasn't going to be able to kill it, so we set him up for artillery.

"Grr." Clive gave Raphtalia a pat on the shoulder, accepting a little clay pot from her. Like the last time, this pot had one of her super charged glow stones in it. Ake's two mages also had one each, beacons in case we could lure the tyrant into their range. He had offered his ground forces, but understood when I said 'you'd just get eaten'.

"boss?" Tetsu mumbled, "he says you're crazy."

"Well, since he didn't contribute anything to the plan, he has no say about the plan." I replied with a huff, summoning the Book Shield and turning to the appropriate page, "Raphtalia? Remind me to make some cookies for that nice Witch in the castle-town." Raphtalia nodded and we all had a little laugh.

"It's strange how you read the spells out, even though you don't have the right affinity to cast them." Melty said, setting her feet firmly in the 'range expansion' magic circle we'd drawn into the ground.

"Your talent for water magic is what we're using. I'm supplying you with most of the magic power though. Just how I did for Usa. All set?"

Everyone nodded.

"Go."

(Combat camera time!)

It started with a chant. Kodori and Melty, casting in unison, "We are the source of all power! Hear our words and Obey! We bring the giver of life together. We bring the giver of life down!" Their chant was slow, the two of them letting the power and effect build before the final crescendo, each word gathering up an unnatural storm head of clouds, "Drifta Squall!"

The cloud over the crater wasteland burst, a torrent of rain crashing down from the dark cloud overhead. The sulphurous looking fog over the brown and cancerous looking grass writhed like a living thing as the rain fell on it. But as unnatural as the fog was, it began to dissipate with great reluctance.

In the magic circle, Kodori and Melty stepped out and swapped places with Usa. Kunshu sprang into the air with a sudden fever pitch of buzzing wings. Tetsu waited for Melty and Raphtalia to hop onto her back, and everyone turned their eyes towards the spot Clive had pointed out moments before.

There it was. It had grown a little since their last encounter, and the deeper shadow in the fading fog wasn't due to just its presence. It had started a little burrow. Dug itself a small pit in which to rest. Around it, gathered in the short time since its release, were the remains of a small herd of prey beasts that formerly inhabited this place. Not bones or bits of fur, no, just several black and red pyramids of corrupting dragon crap.

At first, the Tyrant seemed not to care about the sky opening up over it. But after a moment, it uncurled just enough to put its head over the lip of its hovel, self aware enough to keep itself from snorting in water.

It only opened its one good eye when a little brown jar broke over its bone covered forehead, spilling out a rapidly dampening clump of black powder that smelled oddly like blood.

Usa, now in the magic range amplification circle, waited until the small brown pot had started its fall from Kunshu's hand above the dragon yet below the fat black cloud over its head.

Like the other two, he kept his chanting slow, building power, building purpose, but also giving the Empress Bee ample time to fly away from the potential effect... "I am the source of all power! Hear my words and Obey! Bring the heavens down to meet the earth below! Drifta Thunder Burst!"

Attracted by the clump of iron dust on its forehead, a tree of lightning slammed into the Tyrant Rex just as it started to move one of its stubby forelimbs up to brush it away. A sudden red flare of burning iron, then a titanic crash of noise as the spell slammed into it.

"GO!" Kodori shouted over the fading ripple of noise echoing off the crater walls.

Usa took a deep breath, emptying one, then a second mana potion. The spell itself was a little past his skill level, but he'd made the difference up with simply using more power. They would need to take out all the stops if they were to win, and the formerly timid rabbit-man held on to a new motto. It wasn't 'can' it was 'must'.

He started casting again, even as Kodori and the others got to the bottom of the crater wall and started running towards the now VERY angry massive black dragon.

Clive's job, as usual, as always, was to set up an ambush. Until the effect of the Squall spell ended, there was little point in trying to shoot at the beast. When the group got to the crater floor, he started to run in a semi-circle around the potential battlefield. His job was the most difficult, at least, if he wanted to be of any use. He had to guess. Would the beast run towards the water? Towards Usa? Towards the valley? Not run at all?

So he guessed, and hoped he had guessed right. Using his limited ability to cast earth magic, his lack of speech making actual spells impossible, he used some of his 'earth magic tools' to dig a small pit of his own. It was really just an enchanted shovel, but when you had it enchanted to be able to move three times what it looked like it should? It might as well have been a wizard casting.

Furious at having its nap so rudely interrupted, the Tyrant focused its good eye on the first thing to draw its attention. Like a blue gemstone in front of a greedy merchant, it started to move towards it, shaking off the jagged tingles of pain going through its body as it roared almost as loud as the thunder the first bolt of lightning left behind.

They all watched the second step of the plan start exactly how they wanted it to. Kodori's new shield, with Raphtalia's 'attention grabbing' enchantment on it, pulled the one eye of the Tyrant towards her. As planned, Tetsu made a near right angled turn while Kodori just kept running forward. Like some kind of berserk fighter, the Shield of Marius in front of her, she looked as if she were about to feed herself to the Tyrant Rex.

However, since few animals could resist running prey, or rivals, Raphtalia shrouded Tetsu, Melty and herself as they went to their predesignated position.

Above, unable to voice her discomfort at being cold and wet (but knowing that someone would let her curl up on them later and taking comfort in that) Kunshu did an astoundingly complicated bit of trajectory calculations in her head, and with a little spin in the air, dropped an entire bandoleer towards the Tyrant's head. Having an extra pair of arms also allowed her to open and close a jar with a glow stone in it, signalling Usa.

The Tyrant was a beast that even the four Heroes of a previous generation couldn't outright kill. It was savage, brutal, powerful. Almost an entire Wave in of itself. It was primal, but it wasn't stupid.

Once again, more of that black stuff covered its face. The little noises of shattered pottery brought no pain, but the last time, only moments ago, the rain brought that sound, then the pain had followed.

It slid to a halt, ignoring the incredibly shiny object that was offering itself to its waiting mouth, and started throwing its head back and forth. Little clumps of iron powder were thrown off its body as the rain and its violent motion shed the stuff off.

This time, when the pillar of lightning came down, the tree of blue white energy seemed to have roots, breaking apart, attracted to the clumps of metal. The Tyrant was still hit, its attempt to shed the iron dust off itself imperfect. But if the first attack didn't kill it, this one certainly wouldn't either.

(Kodori)

The plan was going great so far. The opening shot had hurt it, everyone who was supposed to be in the crater was still alive, and I was its only target. I saw the brief flash of Kunshu's signal in my peripheral vision, glanced at the path ahead of me, then held the wide shield in front of me to protect my vision.

Light that made the inner face of my Shield almost white. Noise that sounded like an entire forest of dried wood getting split at once. And right on cue, the start of a slow lightening of the clouds overhead. I lowered the Shield slightly, so I could see over it while still keeping it in front of me...

But the beast was fine. Small smoking craters were all around it, while its body only seemed a little scorched by Usa's magic. I saw it focus its eye on me, heard it growl with something that could have been contempt, then its muscles started to bunch together as it took its first, second, third heavy stomp towards me.

NOTES!

Not quite to plan, but where's the fun in everything going right?

Thank you for reading! And if you want to see any full colour art, join the discord!

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