Come on, could you all be any slower?! Your Queen begged me for help, so the least you can do is keep up with the new god of this world," Takt breathed out through his nose, lazily walking down the dirt path with his hands behind his head. "I shouldn't even be walking; one of you mongrels should be pulling me in a carriage."
Ake followed with his fellow soldiers, with their captain in tow as they marched outside the walls of the kingdom. The queen had made it a point for a platoon sized element to investigate the area where Naofumi and the previous Legendary Heroes fought.
And where Naofumi fell.
Another condition of the investigation would be that Takt would be the leader, only seconded by Ake's captain.
"Ungrateful bastard," Ake's captain muttered to himself, grunting as he stood with his back tall, at the side of the platoon, being the guide as they continued on the path in formation, wanting nothing more to show that arrogant punt what for. "Thinks that he's so good, and in the face of royalty."
Ake somewhat agreed; Takt did have a more. . .lax attitude when dealing with the queen; and with everything else in general, but that possibly was something he attributed to his status as a Hero.
"Marktime; march!" Ake's captain, shouted, the command registering with his fellow 59 soldiers in half a second as they each began to march slowly, shortening their steps in tandem, as they sounded as one unit before stopping as they marched in place, waiting for the next command. "Platoon; halt!"
"What the hell is that about?" Takt asked, turning around and eyeing the group with a wary eye. "Does doing that make you guys proud or something?"
"What it does-" Ake's captain sneered, sounding more irritated as the moments went by. "-is instill discipline by reminding us that we are in the greatest military in the land." Takt watched as the captain executed a facing movement to to address the group. "Left; face!"
"I fail to see how that works," Takt huffed, wiping his head a bit when the heat began to get to him.
"Fallout! And be sure to scour the area throughout; we are to return with something worth mention. And as for you; are you going to just stand there and disrespect-"
"-I am bit low on fucks to give in regard to your broken system; and I seem to recall that your queen put me in charge, commander," Takt replied, walking over to him as he hocked some spit in an off direction, sizing the man up before tilting his head in an in inquisitive manner. "Unless you wish to disobey your superior officer."
"You are no officer," Ake's captain responded, refusing to acknowledge the man child before him as one who could have any shred of power that would go towards saving this world they inhabited.
"Not by your standards, not that it matters. What does is we are in the field, which mean you report to me whether or not you agree with it. Now, unless you wish to explain to the queen why you returned empty-handed, I suggest you all get to work searching for what may be here while I attend to other matters."
Grunting, he had to ask. "And what may that be. . .sir?"
Throwing his hands out to his sides and smiling, Takt spoke in a joyous tone. "Absolutely nothing! Call it. . .involuntary supervision."
"I wonder how far down this rabbit hole we'll be made to go," one of the soldiers near Ake voiced, in a sarcastic tone as he looked around.
"I'm sure it won't be that bad; as long as we can find something to report back to the queen," Ake said, rummaging around as he viewed a particularly huge footprint that resembled a Filolial. "He does seem a little eccentric, however."
"More like a nutcase; did you see how he acted when he was summoned? Almost like he didn't give a shit about anything," another soldier responded as he spied a few of the the trees that he assumed were charred from a fire of sorts. "And we have to listen to him? I'd rather take my chance with the captain."
For all of the somewhat negative talk about him, they all could do little to deny that his combat prowess was through the roof; if he really wanted to, each of the soldiers were sure that he could kill them with the weight of his hand if it came to it.
"Talk later, search now. The quicker we find something is the quicker that we can return and hopefully not have to dealing with him and his. . .antics," the captain came over, waving a hand to relax when the 4 soldiers stood at attention as he walked over. "How goes the search?"
"Nothing so far, sir; we've only found a few footprints that resembles a Filolial, and a few of the weapons from our previous brethren used in the battle." Ake said, looking over his captain's shoulder to see Takt sitting under a tree without a care in the world, yawning. "Is he really in charge of us?"
"For the time being, and for their little excursion. He claims to be a Hero, but I see nothing more than a child playing the part of an adult."
Takt certainly was a special case, though his family name carried a weight with it that none of them were as ready to accept as the next person. The kingdom of Faubrey has been known for great advancements in different fields, as well as contributing when it was seen fit to other countries. The agreement between the other nations being violated due to the new dead ex-king of Melromarc left a wound that would take some time to heal, though there was not much that could be actively done to rectify it any quicker.
The soldiers put their utmost faith in their queen, as they knew they should, though the person that she put in charge of them had less assurance when it came to their lives and ensuring the completion of the mission at hand.
"Dammit," Takt cursed, fanning his hand in his face to stave off the heat some, wanting to be underneath the comfort of food, wine and women. "How long does it take to find nothing; this is pointless."
Though he was stuck babysitting hens.
"Hey, I think I found something!" Ake shouted as he walked over to the crater where it appeared that Naofumi used his great magic to do away with the boss of the Wave of Calamity if the spread of dried blood and what appeared to be some of the fur and part of his snippets of his green cloak were any indication.
"Oh my goodness!" Takt shouted, catching the other soldier by suprise as he stood reluctantly and slinked over. "If this is bullshit, I'm killing one of you." Takt said as the sky began to darken, casting a shadow over the group. "And what the hell is this now?"
"Is it a Wave of Calamity?" a solder asked, drawing his sword and gripping it tightly.
"Didn't we have more time since the last one?" Takt eyed a soldier backing away a tad.
"Are we gonna die?" Ake spied another shoulder shake his head at the thought of having to engage this soon after the previous one had just passed.
"No. . .I don't think this is one," Ake's captain said, narrowing his eyes at the sky once he noticed the surrounding area that was not where they were all standing to be barren of any shadow, save for the trees. The clouds seemingly only hovered where they stood, waiting.
Takt shoved his hands in his pockets, eyeing the clouds with a disgusted look as he found yet another reason to have a dislike for this land. "First shitty soldiers, and now the weather? What will be next?"
A thrum sounded, bringing with it a large red beam of magic that stuck the ground with such intensity that it splintered, misplacing dirt, rocks and sending a wave of heat that threatened to fuse the metal to their armor if it got any hotter. A bright white light flashed, blinding the group as a figure zoomed from the base, appearing like a bullet that none of them could easily observe except for Takt who merely groaned, leaning over to the left and jutting his left knee to the middle of his chest, the force barely making him move as he kept his hands in his pockets the entire time.
The soldiers behind were not as fortunate as they the pressure pushed them off their feet.
"W-What the hell?" Ake's captain shouted in surprise, viewing the clouds disperse as another figure swept their hand to the sky, bringing a wave of fire from above that barely missed the soldiers.
"What the hell, indeed." Takt said, still keeping his expression the same as he got a better look at who dared to attack him. "What in the name of me do you think you are doing?"
"I should be asking you that, kiddo; I was sure you couldn't avoid my slash, but here you are." Takt viewed the male with red hair as he held his scythe with one hand, his body turned halfway towards his target, the blade facing away from him as he felt next to give in the knee that this guy had. "Got a name?"
"It's God to you," Takt growled, pushing the weapon away as he spied the male stand back up and hold his weapon in a reverse grip behind his back, watching him carefully. "What is your and what do you want?"
"Well since you asked so nicely, asshole," the guy smirked, noting the stick that had be up this guy's butt to be pretty far in there. "It's L'Arc!" Takt leaped forward, coming to blows with L'Arc as he came in a for a sideways slash, Takt hopping over the move with almost no effort as he remained unconvinced that this man would actually pose a challenge. Another slash followed by a feint did little to deter him as he saw through the move, leaping off of his non dominant foot to launch an axe kick that L'Arc barely managed to dodge, settling for going with the downward motion to move out of the way at the moment. "Heh; you're pretty fast, kid."
"And you're misleading." Takt simply responded, clicking his tongue and charging him, a small snarl following. "And it's God to you!"
"Take defensive positions!" Ake's captain shouted, point his sword to the other figure who landed down on the ground with a flourish, flipping her hair to one side as she chanted a spell, sending a blast of wind that blew a few off their feet as the rest took their place spacing out and drawing their swords.
A giant chuck of rock was uprooted as L'Arc slashed downward, giving Takt the opportunity to launch the stone to his opponent, the rock soon being slashed to small pieces easily as L'Arc grinned, his warrior spirit beginning to ignite at the idea of fighting someone who could be on equal footing as him. His moves were planned rather, and he attacked with an almost labored ferocity that yet to be fully realized. "Why not tell me what I want to know, and we don't have to fight?"
Dodging another slash as he frowned, wondering what he meant by that. First the queen, and now him? Why does everyone assume he knows everything? A god should only know that what is important to them, nothing more. "Being?"
Boom!
"Who killed Glass?! We know it was one of you!" Ake watched the female who came behind L'Arc , raising her hand and charging an ice attack that she held back from firing to hear him confess to the crime. "We felt it when she passed! And we want justice!"
Takt wanted to laugh. Crime? Attack? What were these people talking about? Were they mental or just crazy enough that they believed whatever nonsense coming out of their own mouths that they took it as truth? He honestly figured both. "To what you are you referring? And what about glass? Do you not have mirrors where you come from or something?"
"Enough!" L'Arc waved off his partner, grinning all the more. "Therese; focus on the others; the little smartass here is all mine." L'Arc began to laugh, spinning his weapon with an almost ecstatic feeling of wanting to see how strong this 'God' was.
"Ugh, very well. But I expect some answers out of him, so don't actually try to kill him." Therese said, channeling her attack to the soldiers.
"That's assuming you're able to." Takt commented.
"Dammit! Faubrey, we need to pull back!" Ake's captain shouted, leveling his sword in preparation of another attack.
"Hah! Yea right, you all can do that if you want; I got some questions for these two, especially you, L'Arc; you remind of someone," Takt laughed for a moment before stopping.
L'Arc paused his next attack, curious to hear what exactly he was talking about. Who could he resemble? "And who's that?"
Takt smirked, pointing to the captain. "A bitch."
"You bastard!" Ake's captain shouted, Therese's attack catching him off guard as an icicle imbedded itself in his shoulder, causing him to shout out on pain as he dropped his sword on the ground.
"See? Can't even keep his focus when someone badmouths him, just like you." Takt simply replied, lowering a finger at L'Arc who moved forward a bit only to be frozen in place as Takt rushed forward, catching him on his face with a kick, the move making him appear almost as a blur until it connected, sending him skidding across the ground with a grunt of pain following.
"L'Arc!" Therese shouted, clapping her hand together and sending a wave of blue fire his way before he appeared as a blur, zooming behind her as it took a second for her to realize what had happened before jabbing both of his elbows in her ribs, hopping forward and delivering a brutal rear kick in between her shoulder blades that sent her flying in a slight arc as she landed face first, fighting to clammed back up to her with L'Arc who managed to break whatever hold was on him. "What the hell did you do?!"
"Something that you obviously weren't quick enough or skilled enough to learn," Takt said, shaking his head as he put his hands back in his pockets. "I suggest you go all out if you want your answers. "Boy who found whatever he found."
Ake's mind caught back you after zoning out after watching what he did. "Y-Yes!"
"Take you and a few soldiers back and report to your queen. And take your leader with you; I'm pretty sure he ain't fighting anytime soon."
"W-What about the rest of us, sir?" a soldier asked, wary of what would happen next.
Undoing his bandanna and stuffing it in his pocket, Take adopted a lazy crane style stance, sizing his opponents up. "Try not to get in my way."