After the wave ended, I heard William and Eve fall from the sky.

"Tornado Catcher!"

I made sure Eve and William landed softly.

"Thanks Robin." Eve ruffled my hair.

"I'm not that much younger than you!"

"Only someone young would get so hung up about their age." Eve smiled, poking fun at me.

"Anyways, what happened up there? When Lionhead came down, he said something important had happened."

Eve's expression darkened, and William's was already dark.

"How about we share stories when we get to our rooms, alright?" Eve softly said.

"Um… alright."

During our travel to Formingan, I realized I leveled up enough to use Transport Wand, so I tested that out. Apparently I could set waypoints close to my current location, within about ten meters, then I could teleport there. The cool part is the waypoints stayed no matter how far I traveled, the ten meters was only to set them. This was a great skill! I could travel all over the world, and I could even use it for short range teleportation in combat, maybe to escape restraining skills? Ha ha! Considering the possibilities is thrilling!

After about three hours of walking, we arrived at the capital Formingan. I'd heard William describe our world as 'steampunk, but with surprisingly advanced weaponry'. The remark about technological advancement is true… magic is seen as old and outdated. Perhaps the Wand chose me because of my desire to learn as much as I could about magic. Anyway, we all went to the nearest tavern we knew was good and got a room together. We'd been adventuring together for about five weeks, so we were all used to sleeping in the same room by now. Once we all went into the room, Eve put a do not disturb sign and locked the door.

"Well Robin, things went well on your side?"

"It went great! I learned so much about the other heroes, made friends, and we all promised to do our best to help each other survive and beat the waves!" Eve bringing up the wave just made my mind go through all of the events of the wave again. Sure there was one point I was scared, but overall I learned a lot and made new friends, so I couldn't say it was a bad experience.

For some reason Eve and William looked like I just shot them in the heart.

"W-well, glad we have some good news…" Eve looked like she barely managed to say that, and William has been silent this whole time.

"Oh right! I have some materials for you!" I distributed the remaining materials I collected from the monsters of the wave. They looked over the weapons they unlocked from it, and their expressions barely changed. That's not right, at least the Devourer weapons should be strong enough to elicit some joy.

"So what happened with you and William while you were in the coliseum?"

"I- I tried to kill Lionhead." William finally spoke.

"What? But why?"

William told me about what Lionhead had said, about how if a holy hero dies, their world dies, that there were a total of twelve worlds involved in the waves, and that he put all six of the heroes into a death match. This was all new information to me… I guess because I overall enjoyed the experience I did think of it as a game, but what he experienced was truly horrifying.

"So what happened? He didn't attack back?"

"He was going to kill us both, but I managed to buy us time. Figured someone with a god complex that likes seeing others suffer would take the bait."

"H-how much?"

"We have one month to prepare." William said. "After that we fight him, and most likely die."

"Honestly, why did you think you could kill him when we didn't know how anything he did worked?" Eve asked incredulously.

"I thought that if there was even a small chance of me ending this whole thing right there then I had to take it!"

"None of the other heroes tried to attack him, the Spear hero even told you not to!"

"There are twelve whole worlds being threatened by him! Considering he put us in a deathmatch on the first wave, there may very well be less than that before our fight with him!"

"If I didn't figure him out fast there would have been eleven already!"

Their voices are rising. We've never had an argument like this, and at the current moment it feels like my world is crashing down around me. I quietly step out of the room, and set a waypoint here.

"T-transport wand."

With a flash of blue light I'm back on the path we took to get here. It's getting dark, so there shouldn't be anybody on the path, and I'm strong enough to handle the monsters in this area. I feel tears welling up in my eyes. I run away from the path just in case. Once I'm far enough I can't see the path anymore, I allow myself to cry. I wail out in despair.

My friends are fighting.

Everybody I know is doomed to die in a month.

Meeting Ash and Arthur was pointless, what could they do to help against this being?

I was hoping to go on a happy adventure with my friends and travel all around the world, but that isn't a possible reality now. We could dedicate all of our time to getting stronger and it still may not be enough.

After about ten minutes my crying subsides into just sobbing. I'm past the initial wave of sadness, maybe now I can begin to think of a solution? William had said that John had recommended trying to find a piercing skill, or a sure-hit skill. Would that work? From what William described from his skill, the barrier around Lionhead stopped his attack, then it dissipated. It didn't fade, like it normally does at long distances, and it didn't disperse like it had hit a solid object, and yet the barrier stopped the attack dead. How was that possible?

"Hey there kid, you're looking awfully sad." An insane voice I previously associated with an eccentric game organizer rang out. I whipped my head around, not caring if there were still tears on my face, and I saw Lionhead there. He was simply standing right before me, as if nothing had happened? Why me?

"What do you want?" I shakily ask.

"Aww now that's no way to greet someone giving you a way out. Allow me to let you in on a little secret…" Lionhead beckons with his hand for me to come closer. Hesitantly I come closer. If he had wanted to kill me he could have done it already.

Now in a whispering voice, he says; "The Umbral Titan your friends fought was actually scaled to be a bit above average level of the heroes there."

"W-what does that mean?"

Lionhead went back to speaking normally. "Did they tell you about what they fought? Well in their fight against the Umbral Titan, most of the heroes' attacks were completely ineffective, which was a little odd, but one specific hero's actions clued me in on something."

Where was he going with this? I'm pretty sure he wasn't talking about Ash or Arthur, and I only got a basic rundown of the other heroes. If something subtle happened, I wouldn't know.

"The only two attacks that were effective against the titan were done by two heroes. The Spear hero, and the Axe hero."

"So… they're higher level than the other heroes?"

"Ah right you weren't there. The Axe hero's attacks were also ineffective, until he was buffed by the Spear hero."

"The Spear hero is higher level than the other heroes?"

"Ha! Now you're getting somewhere. Think about it, the hero with the highest base attack stat needed to be strongly buffed in order to hit anywhere near as hard as the Spear hero. That reeks of something suspicious."

"What do you want?"

"I want you to kill the Spear hero. If you do, I'll spare your world."

"But, won't that kill that world?"
"UGGGGGHHHH" I could practically hear his eyes rolling. "Fine, if you can't stomach the thought of mass genocide, you fucking baby, the world only dies when the Holy hero is killed during a wave."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"Ask a historian. They'll tell you there was a holy hero before your dumb friend, and he had to have died at some point."

Thank god I wouldn't be dooming another world. Well, I might be, but I wouldn't be leaving it completely defenseless. I just need to kill one person, and I can save everyone in my world. I'll just keep it a secret from Eve and William, and we can have our happy adventures with them not knowing what I had to do to keep us safe.

"I'll do it."

"Hahahaha! Good boy. Now here's your toy." Lionhead hands me some strange watch-like device.

"What does this do?"

"It allows for free travel between worlds, though it's weak, so only the worlds I gathered for the waves are within its range. Estimated travel time between worlds is about five hours, so make sure you bring snacks!"

With a shaky sign I put it on, and hide it under my sleeves.

"Thank you, I'll make good use of it, but for now-"

"I don't care. Just make sure the Spear hero is dead within the next month." Lionhead abruptly flies into the sky, then disappears.

This device… I don't know if he's considered what exactly he gave me.

"Transport Wand" I teleported back to the tavern. Checking the room, they were gone, so I went outside. They were both calling for me.

"Don't worry, I'm right here."

"Robin!" They both ran over to me.

"We're sorry for arguing." Eve said.

"We should have been focusing on getting stronger, not fighting each other." William adds.

"It's fine. William did what he thought was best, and it's perfectly normal for people to disagree."

"Robin… you're acting a bit different…" William said after a short pause.

"Am I?" I guess the difference now is that I have another goal in mind than simply to travel with them.

"Have you…" Eve then breaks out into her usual joking attitude "Finally grown up?! We need to go to the tavern and get apple juice to celebrate!"

I crack a small smile. "I'm not that young."

It's six AM. Eve got drunk last night, so she shouldn't be awake for at least a few hours, and William is on a later sleep schedule due to being from another world. I should be good to move now without them knowing. I exit the tavern. There are very few people out on the street right now, mostly early workers, or patrolling clockwork mechs. It's about a half an hour walk, but I make it to Gen's house. Gen is a friend of mine whose interests different greatly. All the passion I have for magic, he has for technology, but we still get along. I knock on the door.

"Oh hello Robin." Gen yawns when opening the door. "Good you caught me now and not five minutes later, I was about to go to bed."

"I see your sleep schedule is doing better." I jokingly say.

"Yeah, I just mixed up which side of the sky the sun should be on to indicate it's almost nighttime."
"Aren't your blinds closed?"

"Yeah, that's how I couldn't tell it was night time. Anyway, I'm feeling pretty sleepy, so what is it?"

"I have an item to run through your scanner."

"Something you want me to make a replica of?"

"Yes. But first, I want to make sure you can."

I take off the watch and put it in his scanner device. It's a device we worked on together, but I willingly gave up since I don't stay at home very often. It uses both the latest computer science, and magical power to scan objects and substances down to the atomic level. The scanner makes a lot of worrying noises, before finally putting out a result.

"WHAT?!" Gen shouts. I guess that sleepiness is gone now. "UNIDENTIFIED MATTER? BUT WE SCANNED EVERY KNOWN ELEMENT IN THIS THING BEFORE!"

"So can you make a replica of it?"

"Eh maybe. I'll need to look at the compositions of the unknown elements in this item and see if I can somehow make stable versions of them here. I may need help to do this."

"I'll need the original, will you still be able to do it?"

"Oh yeah the elements and blueprint is saved, so do whatever with the original. This will be a fun project for me!" Gen's eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, but if he was telling me he'd do it, I'm sure he'd find a way.

"Don't push yourself too hard Gen. Cure!" I cast a spell that should help his sleep deprivation. However self inflicted it may be, I can't have him collapsing on something this important.

"Thank you Robin! I'll try to get this done as soon as possible."

"Thank you Gen. I'll be back in a week?"

"Sounds good. See you then."

Now what to do about William and Eve? If I just leave they'll worry about me, but if I talk to them they'll try to convince me to stay. I guess I'll just leave a note saying that I'm doing some adventuring and training on my own. That's not far off from the truth, and with this I can leave without them worrying about me. It's just after 7 AM when I get back. They still shouldn't be awake for a little bit, so I write the letter and leave it, before stepping out of the room.

"Transport Wand."

I teleported back to the path, and attempted to activate the watch. I suddenly shot into the sky, and kept flying beyond the clouds. In mere seconds, I was incredibly deep into space… but it wasn't like I thought it would be. In space, both probes and telescopes indicated there was an immense distance between everything, that we were the only planet with life in our solar system, and that planets had atmospheres. But looking down at the planet I had come from, it looked like a snow globe, but it was a planet instead of some wintry house. Looking up, there were eleven other worlds that I could see, all looking similarly. Beyond these, the rest of this area still looked like space, but from my new understanding of this plane, I think those "stars" I'm seeing in the distance are just other worlds. I tried to move towards a planet, and started hurtling towards it. I felt like I was moving very fast, but the planet was only barely getting closer. Lionhead did say it would take five hours.

Screw Lionhead. I'm not doing any of this for him. I'm not killing the Spear hero for him. Eve and William will search for some way to beat him from our world, and I'll search for a way to beat him from other worlds. I'll visit every world I can, tap into every resource I can, and find a way to kill him. William was right, the best way to end this is to kill Lionhead. Even if I kill the Spear hero, who says Lionhead won't just resume the waves in a hundred years when there's a new set of heroes, or who's to say he'll even leave us alone at all? However, Eve was right too, we need to learn more about him and how his powers work, and hopefully find a material that gives us a skill that can hurt him. I'll do whatever I can to save our world.

Eve said something about me growing up. Is being an adult putting someone else above yourself? Whatever. There's no point in getting caught up about my age now. Me being an adult or not doesn't change what I have to do to protect everyone. I'll be flying through space until I arrive at whichever world I'm headed towards, then the unknown awaits.