I am so sorry to everybody that this chapter has taken so long to get out, but as usual real life stuff has been keeping me busy. I'm trying out a new update schedule that should theoretically speed things up, but we'll just have to see from here.

Big thanks to Qinlongfei for beta reading this chapter and providing important feedback and critique.

With that said, let's get this chapter started!

Chapter 51: All-Fronts

Mein was just as surprised as Naofumi was at seeing one of the bodyguards of the Schnee heiress appear at the entrance of Seatto Keep. She hadn't expected to see her again so soon after helping rescue her friend from the refugee turned bandits that were later pressed into working for the Schnee heiress. The princess turned heretic glanced over to what looked like an out of breath filorial that laid on the ground a few feet away from them, so it was clear that the girl didn't run all the way from wherever she came from.

Right now though, Ruby was clearly erratic and panicking as she sputtered and shouted a loose collection of words at Eclair. Though Mein had gotten the basic information that their mining camp was under attack by bandits from the few words Mein could decipher among the slew of panicked words that was coming out of young girl's mouth. Eclair tried to calm the girl down the best she could so they could get more information about the situation, but she just kept talking. Mein had hoped that Ruby would calm down eventually but it was obvious the girl was running on a fear and adrenaline rush, and Eclair's feeble attempts to get her to calm down with words weren't quite working.

Without thinking about it all the way through, Mein walked up to the young girl and grabbed her by the shoulders to shake her while shouting at her." Ruby, ruby, RUBY! Calm down!" Mein's raised voice was enough to shut the girl up. The princess took on a softer tone now that she had Ruby's attention." Take a breath okay?"

" M-Miss Mein, Shield Hero? What are you guys doing here?" Ruby was as shocked as they were to see each other again so soon.

" Its a long story, we'll tell you later. Go back to what you were saying about the bandits but slower this time please." Ake quickly said to sidestep an explanation on what they were doing at Seatto Keep to stay on the matter at hand.

Ruby quickly refocused as she remembered what she came here for. " R-Right! Our mining camp is currently being attacked by bandits! We thought we could hold them off with Professor Port's help but there were just so many of them and they just kept coming! Weiss eventually told them to rush over here and get your help, please come help us! I'm not sure how long Weiss and Lord Reichnott can hold out!"

Mein's eyes immediately widened at the mention of the name Reichnott and recognized it as one of the banner houses under Uncle Uther's land. She admittedly didn't know much about Lord Reichnott personally aside from the fact that he was Uncle Uther's treasurer and one of her mother's loyal minions. While she wouldn't necessarily put House Reichnott on the same level as the ass-kissers from House Consevatie, Lord Reichnott has always come off to her as a glorified footstool to her mother who would blindly follow her wishes without question. It was one of the reasons why he was on Thomas's list back then.

" Uncle Reichnott is there? Why would he go there? Is he okay? " Eclair asked a few questions of her own, her face showing clear worry at the mention of somebody likely very close to her.

Mein felt a brief flash of guilt from her earlier thoughts, this was not the time to let personal vendettas get in the way of things.

" Lord Reichnott came to the camp to try and discuss with Weiss about purchasing ores to make weapons and armor, but the bandits attacked during the meeting." Ruby replied quickly, nervousness in her tone from suddenly being put under interrogation by the Lady Seatto." He came with a small group of his own men, we thought our combined strength could beat back the bandits but they were too strong for us to beat alone. Please come help us! " Ruby practically begged them and Mein felt her heart tug a little at the pleading look the young girl was giving them.

Though the uncertain faces among the Silver Hand knights did not spell confidence among them considering they were missing half of their main fighting strength which came in the form of the second hero who had taken residence in Silver Keep.

The Bow Hero and his party, along with Titan Storm were still out on their hunting trip. With their resident bandit hunting experts out, that means that they will be fighting at half-strength at best. Nobody in the Silver Hands wanted to admit out loud that they didn't want to be heading into a battle that'll cost them more of their men. Eclair herself looked dumbfounded at the hesitation of her men to jump in to help someone in need.

" We'll help you and your friend, Ruby." A sudden voice spoke up from the silence and Mein's eyes turned to Naofumi, who had determination in his eyes." We're going to save your friend and Lord Reichnott from those bandits."

Mein couldn't help but feel impressed at the words Naofumi had said. It was cheesy in a way that reminded Mein of those poorly written fantasy stories she used to read in her childhood, but there was something inspiring hearing it in person. And from the looks of it, his words managed to reach a few of the Silver Hands who were looking down at the situation.

" You heard the Shield Hero men, arm yourselves and get ready for battle! I want us ready to move in 5 minutes!" Eclair immediately began shouting orders at her men, Aslatiel joining in to get them organized. The Silver Hands seemed to regain their confidence at Eclair's orders, while some of them still had solemn looks on their faces, they looked much more invigorated than they did before.

" Thank you so much for doing this Shield Hero!" Ruby bowed her head to Naofumi and Mein.

" Don't mention it." Naofumi smiled as they all headed back inside the Keep to prepare for the coming battle.

" What was the situation when you left?" Mein asked Ruby, trying to get as much information as possible.

" Weiss and the others were still holding their ground when I ran over here, but we need to hurry!" Ruby said urgently, worried about her friend.

" Agreed. Ake get the carriages ready with Jun and Filo! I don't want us getting delayed when we need to depart." Mein ordered the knight, who may have had a displeased look on his face but still followed her orders nonetheless as he left with Jun and Filo. They didn't have much time to prepare so they had to make the most of it, as she turned to Naofumi who seemed to be waiting on her suggestions." We should go help Eclair organize her men into squads, we need to mobilize quickly so we can't bring the whole force of Silver Keep with us."

" Good call Mein, let's go" Naofumi nodded in agreement.

Mein was about to go meet up with Eclair to help organize the counterattack to defend the Schnee Mining camp when she felt a small hand tug at her arm. She turned her eyes to Raphtalia who looked up at the princess with a fearful expression on her face.

" Are you...you both going out there?" Raphtalia asked nervously.

" Yes Raphtalia, we need to go help Ruby's friend before its too late." Mein explained it in simple terms. Truthfully she wanted to hurry to help Eclair organize her men to mobilize quickly and they didn't have time to explain it fully to Raphtalia.

" Then...I should come too, right?" Raphtalia asked and Mein couldn't hold back the shock she felt from that suggestion. Mein turned to Naofumi who had a similar expression, was Raphtalia seriously suggesting following them into active combat where there are plenty of bandits who likely have no moral constraints about killing children, even those of their own kind? She almost wanted to think it was a bad joke of Raphtalia, but Mein could see the seriousness in her eyes.

" Itsuki, Slayer, Alice and her friends still aren't back yet. You need everybody to help save Miss Schnee " Raphtalia explained her reasoning for why she wanted to come. It was still crazy sounding, but it made some essence of logical sense on paper. They did need every body they could get to repel the bandits, but...

Mein and Naofumi shared a look, neither of them needing to say anything to understand what they were both thinking. Memories of when Raphtalia lost her arm during the Second Wave flashed through her mind and Raphtalia's screams on that day echo in her ears. Mein internally swore that she would never let that happen again. Naofumi was of the same mind and Mein let out a sigh as she knelled down to Raphtalia's level to look her in the eye.

" Raphtalia...we've talked about this, you are still not ready for active combat." Mein tried to explain it as kindly as she could but the expression Raphtalia showed she was not satisfied with that answer.

" When will I be ready then?" Raphtalia asked frustratedly as she held up her stump where her right arm used to be at them." Ever since I lost my right arm, I haven't be able to do anything! I don't want to just sit here worrying whether you all will make it back or not, feeling useless the entire time." Raphtalia raised her voice in a mixture of self-hate and frustration.

The princess in disguise looked at Naofumi who had a sympathetic look on his face but seemed to be struggling to come up with the right thing to say. Mein however could see where Raphtalia was coming from, she was sick of being left on the sidelines and wanted to help. Mein thinks back to the earlier days when she was on the run with Thomas, it had been a hard time but she always did what she could to try and help. Whether that be helping steal the keys off a guard on the street, helping Thomas on missions or learning from him during their time together. Mein made sure she wasn't just a burden for Thomas to take care of. So Mein knows better than anyone how Raphtalia is feeling right now.

Which is exactly why she knows how hypocritical what she is about to say is.

" You shouldn't be so hard on yourself Raphtalia, you're still just a child who has been through far too much. You shouldn't need to get involved with the Wave or bandits and the like " Mein is fully aware of how hypocritical she is for saying this, but Outsider damn her she will not let Raphtalia get critically injured a second time." You shouldn't push yourself into combat before you're even fully grown."

Mein also knows deep-down in the cold practical part of her mind that Raphtalia will just be deadweight in the coming fight or any battle for that matter. She doesn't have any real combat experience, her illusion magic is still too underdeveloped to have any use in live combat and even with Mein sharing some of her gifts through the Arcane Bond, Raptalia won't be able to utilize them or her transformation magic with so many witnesses around.

" I...I just want to help." Raphtalia said weakly as she looked down at the floor.

" I know you do. But you help put our minds at ease knowing that you're safe at least." Mein said gently as she patted Raphtalia on the head." I promise we'll come back safe..."

" Promise?"

" Promise." Mein smiled.

Within roughly 5 minutes, Eclair had already organized her men into three squads worth of knights including Aslatiel and Lucatiel under advisement from Mein. They didn't know exactly how big the group attacking the Schnee camping was, but if it was big enough that not even the combined strength of Reichnott's personal bodyguards, the Schnee guards and Porter's group couldn't fend them off didn't bode well. But it was all they could spare without leaving the Keep completely defenseless, and if this force gets wiped out...well it will not be the end of Silver Keep at least.

The relief force from Silver Keep quickly loaded up onto their filorials and raptors. The heiress turned Lady of House Seatto was leading at the front of her men atop a filorial dressed in armor befitting that of a knight captain rather than over-decorated armor that's designed to look pretty rather than for practicality. Mein can certainly respect Eclair for leading her men up in the front, unlike some spoiled noble brat who hides in the back and let their men do all the dirty work. Though she will admit that its a generally better idea to have your leader protected than putting them on the front-lines, but she still respects Eclair for that.

The Shield Hero's party was the one leading the Silver Hand force to the mine as Ruby riding at the front with her and Naofumi to help lead them there faster. Mein was impressed by the young girl's sense of direction as she gave detailed directions about where to go. Their force was moving at a rather quick pace, not quite at full-speed as to not exhaust Filo before they even got there but still fast. Ake and Jun were sitting in the back of the carriage while they made the trip there.

Mein for her part was thinking about what they were going to do when they got to the mine. It still troubled her how a group of bandits no matter how large were able to put the combined forces of the Schnee's guards, Porter's group and Reichnott's personal bodyguards on the defensive that they sent someone to Silver Keep for help. Granted the only actual good fighters of Porter's group were himself, Nora and Ren but still. The only logical explanation that came to her mind was either the bandit group attacking them just drastically outnumbered them or whatever Schnee guards and Reichnott's men were just that incompetent at their jobs that they couldn't hold back a large group of untrained bandits.

She's not sure which would be worse really. She needed more information to be sure.

" Ruby...Ruby!" Mein got the attention of the young girl sitting next to her." I wanted to ask you this earlier, but how exactly did this bandit group manage to overtake your people?"

Ruby thought about it for a moment with a hand to her chin before she explained." Well, they caught us totally by surprise for one. We were in the middle of a meeting with Lord Reichnott when they attacked us, we thought we could have beaten them back but..." Ruby frowns as she clearly feels disappointed that they were unable to beat them back." They had encircled our camp and cut us off from escaping, we were totally surrounded and they kept pushing forward into us while their archers shot arrows. I only managed to break through because Yang and Nora punched a hole in their defenses for a while, but it was still pretty bad when I left."

An encirclement maneuver?

Mein's eyes widened as this information, realizing that the bandits had used legitimate military strategy to overwhelm the combined forces of Reichnott's men and the Schnee guards. An encirclement maneuver was typically used to surround an enemy to cut off any means of escape and slowly conquer your enemy by using ranged units to keep the enemy busy while the close-quarters squads are sent in mop up the rest. A surprisingly well thought out strategy for bandits...perhaps too smart for your average bandit to think of.

Granted not all bandits were total idiots who were devoid of any kind of strategy or tactics, but Mein knew from Thomas that most bandit groups relied on winning with overwhelming force and relying on the element of surprise to win their fights. Along with the fact that bandits are used to fighting defenseless and helpless villages who are easy pickings for pillage meant that a lot of bandits are untrained rabble incapable of thinking of legitimate strategy. The fact that these bandits used military strategy and were apparently strong enough to overwhelm the mining camp was...concerning.

And Mein had a sinking feeling she knew who taught them these strategies, after all she was taught them too.

No, NO! It couldn't be the same group, there's no way they would've-

Her thoughts were temporarily disrupted when they hit a bump on the road and Mein yelped in surprise." Ah! Son of a..."

" WHAT THE FUCK!?" Mein almost jumped as she heard Ake's shout followed by a distinctive yelp from a high pitched feminine sounding voice.

" What the hell is going on back there?" Naofumi hollered as he tried to look back for a moment only to turn his eyes back to the road.

" Mein, get back here! You need to see this." Ake called out to her and Mein let out a sigh, as some part of her knew she was not going to like this.

Mein climbed into the back of the carriage to see a few of the boxes and sacks of supplies they brought along with them for the trip toppled to the ground...and Raphtalia rubbing her head after what Mein assumes to be taking a bad fall out of one of the sacks.

The princess turned heretic needed at least a good 20 seconds to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her and Raphtalia totally disobeyed her to follow them along. But when she opened her eyes again, Raphtalia was still there and this was in fact NOT a joke being played on her by the Black Eyed Bastard.

" Raphtalia..." Mein breathed out in a near perfectly calm tone." What are you doing here?"

" I...I, um...I..." Raphtalia sputtered, unable to look Mein directly in the eye and instead finding the wooden floor of the carriage much more interesting.

Ake turned his attention to her." I found her when the carriage hit that bump just now, and she came out of one of the sacks in her raccoon form."

" I see..." Mein put her hand to her eyes in a mixture of anger and disappointment that Raphtalia insisted on following along, even after Mein explicitly told her no. The princess in disguise pondered about what they could do with Raphtalia at the moment, as they were definitely not taking her into battle.

Mein knew that it was far too late to turn back and drop Raphtalia back off at Silver Keep, by Ruby's estimates they were almost at the camp and couldn't afford turning back now. She then considered just having either herself or Naofumi portal Raphtalia back to the Keep but then she remembered that neither of them had saved it as one of their portal/warp points. The SP cost and cooldown also needed to be taken into account. There was the third option of asking one of Eclair's knights to send Raphtalia back to the Keep, but Mein realized they would have to explain how Raphtalia managed to sneak into the carriage and remain undetected for nearly the majority of the ride here.

" We're almost at the mine!" Ruby called out from the front and Mein knew they were out of time.

Give me a break...

Mein let out a frustrated sigh as she turned back to Raphtalia who stood up straight as Mein looked down at her with a disapproving look.

" When we get to the mine, stay in the carriage and do not come out for anything. Understood?" Mein said in a firm tone, receiving a few quick nods from Raphtalia. Mein turned back to head to the front, turning her head slightly back at Raphtalia." We will talk about this later."

" Big sister Mein-"

" Later." Mein repeated as she headed back to the front of the carriage sitting in between Naofumi and Ruby with a grunt.

" What's uh...what happened back there Mein?" Naofumi asked awkwardly, sensing the irritation on her face.

" Raphtalia is in the back right now, seems she snuck on-board before we left." Mein answered plainly. Too angry and disappointed at Raphtalia to give it gently to Naofumi.

" WHAT!?" Naofumi was so shocked by the news, he almost swerved them off the road but Mein's quick reflexes helped them bring the carriage back to stable ground. Naofumi's expression was a mix of bewildered and surprised, as he found his words." Should we...turn back?"

" We're almost at the mine. If we turn back now, Weiss and the others might not survive!" Ruby argued against that action and Mein had to reluctantly agree with the young girl.

" She's right. We don't have the time to head back now, I told Raphtalia to stay in the carriage when we arrive. Hopefully that will be enough to keep her out of trouble." Mein agreed with Ruby.

Naofumi didn't look completely in agreement, but said nothing further as they pressed on to the Schnee Mining Camp. They kept travelling in silence for a few more minutes, Mein still stewing in anger about what Raphtalia did.

She did her best to focus on taking her anger out on a bunch of bandits. The imagery of her viciously massacring them helped.

BOOM!

Mein heard the distinct sound of a familiar loud boom in the distance, one could be excused for confusing the sound for thunder but Mein knew what she had heard. A gunshot. Specifically the sound one makes when it is fired from a blunderbuss. She should know considering she spent a good hour test firing it not too long ago.

" Professor Port." Ruby muttered as she seemed to come to the same conclusion as Mein had. They were getting close.

The agent of the Outsider took a deep breath as she prepped herself for better as she could see the Schnee Mining Camp come into view. And the still ongoing battle between the bandits and Ruby's group.

Mein could see as they made their approach that the Schnee mining camp was quite large or at least used to be. The mine was set up into the side of a mountain from the look of things and there were several tents set up around the mine that were currently on fire. The heretical princess could see that as they got closer that the fighting was still ongoing but the situation did not look well for Ruby's friends or Porter's group.

" Shit! Give me the reins Naofumi , we need to flank the bandits and provide support to Porter's group!" Mein shouted and Naofumi quickly handed control of the reins over to her. Mein angled Filo towards some bandits with the full intent to drive over them.

" Uh Mein, what are you doing?" Naofumi asked worriedly as he braced himself.

" Thinning their numbers." Mein responded easily." Charge past them Filo! Crush them!"

" WHAT THE-" The bandits were dumbstruck as three of them were ran over by the large speeding filorial and were crushed under the weight of their carriage wheels. The princess hearing the distinct crunch of broken bones, instantly killing the bandits.

" Holy shit and I thought GTA was brutal." Naofumi cursed in shock as Mein quickly pulled over the carriage near the battlefield but relatively a good distance from most of the fighting.

" Zweit Fireball!" Mein released a large ball of fire that managed to set 4 bandits on fire, before jumping off from the front of the carriage onto the body of an unsuspecting dog bandit to use him to break her fall. He didn't get much time react as she stabbed him right in the throat with her sword." Take these bastards out! Flank them!"

Mein honestly wasn't sure whether anyone was actually listening to her orders amidst all the chaos, but she noticed Eclair and her men attack the bandit's flank. The Silver Hands made good use of their steeds speed and maneuverability, while it was obvious most of them weren't trained cavalry riders they did seem to have skill to move faster than the bandits could close in and stab their steeds. The bandits were clearly caught off guard by the sudden reinforcements and now had to divert their attention between fighting the remnants of Porter's group along with the Schnee guards and the Silver Hands.

Unfortunately Porter's group and the Schnee guards are still too scattered to have a solid formation to beat the bandits back. Though Mein could see some makeshift battlements made of set up near the entrance of the mine and she could hear the distant sound of gunfire coming from there.

" Air Strike Shield!" Mein hadn't even noticed Naofumi had gotten off the carriage with the others and summoned a shield to protect them from arrows coming right for them. It was only than that Mein noticed several figures in the trees, standing on branches and aiming at them.

" Shit! Watch out for arrow fire from the trees!" Mein called out as she parried an attempted axe decapitation from a pig, before returning the favor by decapitating him with a single arc of her sword swipe.

" What's the plan Mein?" Naofumi asked as he changed his shield to the Chimera Viper Shield. Ruby had her red scythe out and Ake had already put on his helmet, and was armed with his sword and shield.

" Cut your way through to the battlements! Break their center while Eclair and her men handle the flank!" Mein ordered as she charged forward at the bandits with the rest of them.

Thankfully most of the bandits were still preoccupied with the remaining Schnee guards to focus on them, so Mein was able to get a good two kills by stabbing a few bandits in the back with her sword. Though Mein was concerned by the number of bandits that were donned in metal armor, with some of the more mobile units such as the cats and raccoon dressed in leather armor. Mein was tempted to use some wind or fire magic to throw some of the bandits off balance, but knew that with so many of Porter's people running around there was too great a risk of hitting them and she couldn't do that to the old ranger.

" Shield Prison! Change Shield! Bee Needle Paralysis Shield!" Naofumi managed to trap a handful of bandits in it before changing it the paralytic shield. The shield prison dissipated and with it the bandits trapped inside fell to the floor paralyzed.

Ake bashed a bandits face in with his shield before cutting his head off, before engaging the next set of bandits. The young girl, Ruby was surprisingly fast considering the size of her weapon was nearly double that of her body. Moving with the speed of a filorial, Ruby dodged a sword swipe, spear stab and arrow fire from the trees. She then proceeded to lop off the heads of 3 bandits in a single arc of her scythe. Mein was actually impressed by her skill.

Jun and Filo were still in their beast form, and they were a force to be reckoned with. The two monster children kicking, clawing and crushing any pitiful bandit that dared get in their way. Mein almost felt bad for the bandits. Almost.

" Keep pushing forward!" Mein said as she dodged being impaled by a spear wielding dog, twirling around to give herself enough momentum to slice the bastard's leg off before stabbing him right in the face while he was busy screaming.

After roughly four minutes of hacking, slashing and crushing their way across the bandits force, they managed to make it to the battlements. Mein vaulted over the battlements to find Porter reloading his blunderbuss while Ren returned fire with his pistol in hand. The Schnee heiress was also taking cover behind the battlements, wielding some kind of silver rapier and shooting off icicles at the bandits. The old Faubley Ranger looking visibly surprised by her sudden appearance.

" Nice to see you still alive, Captain Porter." Mein couldn't help but smirk at the old captain.

" Mein!?" Porter exclaimed in shock." What are you doing here kid?"

" Long story, tell you later. What's the situation here?" Mein sidestepped the issue and focused on the battle at hand.

" We're out positioned and outnumbered. We have arrow fire from the trees to deal with and a lot of bandits. Multiple wounded and men down too! " Porter quickly gave her the rundown of their current situation, which was not good in the slightest.

Mein peeked over the battlements to see the archers on the trees were still firing on them, she even saw a few of the arrows hit the Silver Hands or the steeds they were riding on. The princess in disguise once again internally cursed at the fact that she couldn't use any of her stronger fire spells to hit the archers, lest she starts a forest fire. And she didn't know any particularly strong wind spells either. Damn it!

" I'll take out the archers, just get ready to charge these bastards when I do." Mein said as she prepped herself to make the climb.

" Me and Ren will provide covering fire. Go!" Porter said as he took aim over the battlements.

Mein took a deep breath as she jumped over the battlements to make a dash for the tree line. While she was running for the trees, Mein could see Ruby's sister Yang clobbering bandits with her gauntlets while Nora was fighting alongside her to turn the bandits into paste. The princess was surprised to see the two young girls fighting so well together considering they were fighting each other not too long ago.

The agent of the Outsider ignored that as she focused on the task at hand, as she slashed and cut her way through to where the archers were. She had to slash with intent to maim and parry instead of kill, as she had to focus on taking out the archers. Mein had to go the long way around to flank the archers standing on the tree branches, but it was worth it as she made it to the tree line.

Mein caught her breath for a brief moment before she started her climb on one of the trees that had branches thick enough to support her weight. With any luck, she can get the drop on these bastards before they even knew what hit them. With a final pull up, Mein got her footing on the branch to see some of the archers on the tree branches next to her-

And barely had enough time to dodge an arrow aimed at her head. Her instincts and reflexes kicked in before she even realized it.

" Holy shit!" Mein cursed as she almost fell over backwards but kept her balance as she stood up, she could see the archers had taken notice of her presence and were aiming at her now.

Oh shit.

" Kill this bitch!" A rabbitman armed with a longbow ordered his men, who were made up a mix of rabbits and cats who aimed their bows at her.

And Mein sadly didn't have any cover on this tree branch.

Without fully thinking about it, Mein brought up her Marked hand and felt the pulse of the void surge through it as she could feel power course in her body.

" Bend Time!"

With those simple words of power, the world turned grey and Mein could practically feel the chill of the void on her skin. The archers were frozen in place, bows strung and prepared to fire at her with a few arrows hanging in the air.

But Mein didn't have time to ponder the beauty of it, as she quickly jumped from branch to branch. Stabbing, decapitating and plain slitting the throats of every bandit she could see. Activating Dark Vision to make sure she didn't miss a single one and using Blink to move and jump quickly from each branch.

She feels so fortunate that the darkness of the trees and the distraction of the battle on the ground, ensured that nobody noticed her little trick.

When the time stop had finally ended and color returned to the world, several of the bandits had lost their heads and many more suffered fatal wounds courtesy of Mein. The princess got the pleasure of watching each and every one of them fall to the ground, hitting the ground with a loud splat.

With the archers gone Mein needed a way to signal Porter for the counterattack, and her idea of doing that involved shooting some fire spells at the bandits on the ground who were at a safe distance away from the forests." Fast Fire Arrow!" Mein conjured an arrow made out of fire that managed to hit an unsuspected bandit right in the back, setting him ablaze.

Her unorthodox manner of signaling seemed to have worked as Porter, Ren and the Schnee heiress vaulted over the battlements and charged the remaining bandits. The bandits were caught off guard from the sudden charge and were suddenly caught in the middle of two attacking sides. Mein smirked as she could see the bandits start being overwhelmed as Eclair led her men atop their filorial's to strike down the remaining bandits.

The princess could almost feel the battle coming to a close...before she noticed another large group of bandits emerge from the other side of the tree line armed to the teeth, charge Eclair and her men.

Reinforcements?! What are they doing here?! I thought this was the main force!

She could see that it wasn't only melee units that the reinforcements were made of, but bandits dressed in mage robes who were sending our balls of fire, lightning bolts and blasts of winds that disoriented the Silver Hands. Mein could only watch from the top of the tree as a powerful blast of wind knocked a good chunk of Eclair's men off their steeds, sending them spiraling to the ground before being mauled or stabbed to death.

Shit! I need to get down there.

Mein was about to start making her way down the tree, when she saw a stray fireball from one of the bandit mages hit their carriage.

The carriage Raphtalia was still in. The one Mein told her to stay in, had erupted in flames and was burning bright.

Mein was 5 seconds away from letting out a cry of pure anguish when her eye caught sight of a small child with raccoon ears wandering around the battlefield, doing her best to move away from the burning carriage.

" Far Vision " Mein used the skill to hone in and confirm that it was in fact Raphtalia. The princess let out a breath of relief for once that Raphtalia didn't listen to what she said...

Only to remember that she was walking around a goddamn battlefield with no way to protect herself and she was walking right into group of dogs making a flanking charge.

" Shit!" Mein immediately jumped down from the tree as fast as she could. She needed to get Raphtalia out of here.

Raphtalia's POV

Raphtalia was starting to realize that maybe following Big Sister Mein and Master Naofumi wasn't the best idea.

She knew that she was disobeying big sister Mein by following them, and when she got caught she couldn't stand to look big sister Mein in the eye when she was scolding her. Back then with mother and father, she didn't really get in trouble often that resulted in her getting a scolding but when she did get in trouble( Usually as a result of Keel) than Raphtalia knew she was in for the talking for a lifetime, feeling a mixture of guilt and shame. Raphtalia was dreading when they did get back to the Keep and Big sister Mein gave her that talk she promised.

When she felt the carriage came to a complete stop and Raphtalia could hear the distinct sounds of fighting, she felt Big brother Ake look down on her as he put on his helmet.

" Stay here and stay quiet, we'll be back soon." That was all he said, as he jumped out the back of the carriage with Jun.

With her sensitive ears, Raphtalia could practically hear everything that was going on outside the carriage. She could hear screams, shouting, curses, flesh being torn and bones crushed, the sound of loud banging that ringed through her ears. She tried to cover her ears to block out the noise but it was too strong and close that it didn't even really matter. The screams were too strong and loud.

So she chose to instead hug her knees as she hated how pathetic she felt. It feels as though nothing has really changed in the time she has spent with Master Naofumi and big sister Mein, she is still the same weak willed girl who can't do anything on her own. Keel was the strong physical one that could have easily have kept up with the rest of the party. Rifana was the one who wanted to be the Shield Hero's bride, someone he could truly depend on and be able to stand on equal footing with him. And what about her? She was just the daughter of a merchant family who just wanted to live a normal life in Port Harp. What good was she in a heroes party?

Even with her transformation magic granted by her lineage, Raphtalia knew the truth behind big sis Mein's words that she was still vastly inexperienced and didn't even know how to defend herself. She's barely been able to feed herself properly without assistance from someone ever since she lost her right arm. Master Naofumi and big sis Mein have promised to get her a prosthetic eventually, but Raphtalia knows that even if she gets one, she'll still need months of training to ever be useful.

What's the point of her being here really? If all she really is at the end of the day, is just a burden on them? Someone they need to take care of and manage. Jun and Filo despite technically being younger than her are already leagues ahead of her.

Why did she even bother coming along for this trip? What did she expect would happen? She would just pick up a weapon off the ground and suddenly be able to singlehandedly take down multiple bandits? Or even make herself useful with some of the illusion magic she was being taught by Eclair and Alice? It was laughable to even think about.

" Die motherfuckers!" Raphtalia jumped as she heard what sounded like a war cry come from outside the carriage and she could hear the sounds of metal clashing against metal and the screams of the dying.

The little girl felt a pit of fear settle in her stomach as she heard the movement and fighting get closer to the carriage...until she saw someone part the cloth at the back of the carriage.

And it wasn't someone she knew.

" Well, well, what do we have here? A little rat hiding in the middle of all this." Raphtalia jumped as she saw a man with the face of a dog climb into the back of the carriage armed with a handaxe slick with blood. Raphtalia nearly froze at the sight and a scream died in her throat, as the urge to run more than anything kicked in.

" F-Fast Dark Ball! " Raphtalia conjured without thinking out of panic more than anything, casting the simple spell Alice thought her some days ago. A ball made out of pure darkness launched itself from her hand into the face of the dog man, sending him recoiling back onto the floor of the carriage. It was obvious that it hadn't done any real damage, but it did distract him.

" Ah! You little shit!" The dog man cursed at her as he was distracted by the spell.

Raphtalia took this opportunity to quickly run out the front of the carriage, ignoring the cry from the bandit to come back. She let out a yelp as she fell to the hard ground and looked up to see the battle taking place in front of her. Bandits clashing against other men, spells being tossed left and right, Eclair's knights getting knocked off their steeds with a strong blast of wind and getting torn apart by the bandits.

She could feel her breathing quicken as she got to her feet and started moving, she needed to find Master Naofumi, big sis Mein, anyone! She needed to get away from here.

She had only made it a few feet away from the carriage when she saw a ball of fire miss one of the knights and end up flying overhead. The fireball ended up hitting their carriage! Raphtalia had already gotten a good distance away but she could still feel the heat as the carriage as it exploded in flame.

And she could only watch as the dog man that tried to grab her ran out of the carriage screaming his head off, as the fire engulfed him completely and he fell to the floor still burning. The little raccoon almost gaped in disgust as the smell of burning flesh hit her nose.

Raphtalia turned her head away as she pressed forward, trying to find anybody she knew. But there was just so much noise, screaming, metal clashing against metal that she couldn't focus on anything-

" Out of the way!"

Raphtalia heard the shout before she felt something push her to the ground and she barely caught sight of a group of bandits attack some of Eclair's knights from the side. As she landed on the ground, Raphtalia let out a grunt of pain as she tried to push herself back up with both hands...only to remember she only has one. But she still managed to push herself to sit up with her left hand...

Only see a dog demi-human bandit dressed in a metal chestplate, boots and their face covered by a cloth. Though Raphtalia could tell they were a boy based on the body type alone.

Raphtalia could only look up to the bandit in horror who was staring at her in a mixture of shock and confusion. For a brief moment, she considered running away until she realized that she couldn't move fast enough before the bandit stabbed her to death. But to her surprise, the bandit was just staring at her.

" A demi-human kid? What's one of our own doing...here..." The bandit seemed to stop for a moment as she got a good look at her." Raphtalia? Is that you?"

Raphtalia herself was confused by this bandit's sudden recognition of her, but as the bandit reached up to remove her cloth mask so she could see her face and Raphtalia couldn't hold back the gasp of shock that escaped her mouth.

She couldn't believe her eyes, as she looked up at the dog demi-human bandit standing over her.

She was much taller than when Raphtalia last saw her, her features had become more hardened than before, she was dressed in metal armor wielding a longsword, but the hair was more or less the same.

And Raphtalia could never forget the face of a friend.

" K-Keel?"

You all have no idea how long I've been waiting to get to the reveal that Keel is alive this whole time. Ever since Keel's 'death' in chapter 15, I've been aching to show her again in one big reveal. I didn't originally plan to have her appear in this chapter, but I think having Raphtalia recognize her in the middle of a bandit attack works best since this adds a whole other layer of emotional trauma to Raphtalia.

I'll once again admit, that I didn't originally plan for Keel to be bought alongside Raphtalia and later run away to join a bandit group that is terrorizing Melromarc at the moment. But I think this works well as it shows that Raphtalia hasn't lost everyone from her former life, but there's also the fear of what's going to happen to Keel when this arc is all over.

You all can't tell right now but I am very excited for this arc in particular as it shapes and develops a lot of characters. Just a heads-up to those it may concern, this arc will contain incredibly graphic depictions of violence, death, gore, murder and even more death. I should probably put a warning at the beginning in each author's notes just in case some people aren't cool with those things.

Now let's answer some reviews shall we?

To EXCUBITORE:

Yeah...I think the next chapter will show how taking down the Hound Lord isn't going to be as easy as the heroes originally thought.

I don't want to give any spoilers regarding Sadeena, but let's just say that she's not going to be a 'problem' necessarily going forward. But she will have some interesting relationships with the rest of the cast when she does show up. And yeah, I really do gotta pick up the pace of Malty and Naofumi's would be romance.

To ToothlessTheMagicDragon:

Thank you so much for reading the story and your kind words! I'm glad you enjoyed all the Dishonored elements, characters and story so far. My original idea for this story was admittedly less 'fixing canon' and more like 'what if Rotsh but with Dishonored'. Thankfully, that idea evolved over time and led to the story as it is now. But I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far.

To answer some of your questions, I don't know or watch Akame ga kill, but if you mean if people are going to be losing limbs left and right than probably no. I'll be honest, Raphtalia losing a limb was more of a consequence of Naofumi and Malty bring her to a literal wave fight without proper prep. Whether anybody else is losing limbs in the future is up in the air for now.

As for Thomas's last name, there's no deeper meaning or reference behind it, if there is than it was totally unintentional. In regards to the Pig King, no spoilers but he'll get his eventually.

With all that said, thank you all for reading and I will see you all in the next one.

Angel Out.