The Request Is Now a Demand
Happy Halloween my fellow readers and today my treat to you, while not terribly scary, is a new chapter of Armory of the Forgotten Hero! Now for a couple of answers to guest reviews. To Jason Wu: You'll see, she is indeed. To DCDGojira: Hailstorm has it's first chapter out now and will soon have the second one out as well. Now, onto the story!
Lake Clearing Outside The Town of Nautilus Whittaker: Night Time
In hindsight, Darius shouldn't have been surprised that a few members of their party were, well, surprised. He'd mentioned Fitoria and how she'd taught him to Rifana, Naofumi and Raphtalia but had neglected to really discuss it with Johann, Filo and Melty. Although one thing he'd never mentioned to any of them was his former sensei's occasional displays of affection. That really seemed to catch everyone off-guard, especially Johann and Rifana.
"What the heck boss?!" exclaimed Johann as he waved his fists angrily in the air, "Don't tell me you got lovey dovey with the literal queen of these stupid birds!" Rifana simply crossed her arms and pouted angrily.
"Calm down, it's not like that," said Darius with his hand waving dismissively, "She just felt like greeting me this way."
"Indeed," said Fitoria, "though now I'm afraid I must express my disappointment in you as well."
"Say what n-UUUUUFFF!" Darius was interrupted by a quick and very powerful jab to his stomach. The blow wasn't enough to send him flying, but it still hurt as he clutched his stomach in pain. "What'd I do?"
"Raising a dragon after all I've done for you," said Fitoria in her usual even tone, "I thought I explained to you thoroughly enough that they were awful creatures and what's more you're knowingly raising one with a dragon emperor fragment."
"It was a monster egg lottery," explained Darius in a slight groan, "He could've been anything. But dragon or no he's more than done his job as a member of our party."
"And you're not so great yourself lady!" Johann shot back as Rifana had to restrain him from marching forward.
"I am also disappointed in your use of the curse series," said Fitoria, ignoring the dragon boy's taunts, "though it is also my fault for not warning you about them in the first place. I simply didn't expect the situation would become so dire that you'd actually unlock it."
"Well this world has been full of surprises," said Darius, "anyway I should probably let everyone else introduce themselves."
"Yes, a proper introduction of yours and the Shield Hero's party would be welcome," replied Fitoria as she turned her gaze on the rest of them, "please tell me your names."
"My name is Rifana," said the weasel girl, "It's a pleasure to meet you, though we've got a few things we're gonna need to talk about later." She was giving a friendly smile but Darius could feel the annoyance in her voice as she glanced at him.
"A pleasure as well," said Fitoria, "thank you for helping Darius up to this point."
"Well I'm Johann and as far as I'm concerned you can jump back in that lake from whence you came, or better yet, drown in it."
"Charming as expected," said Fitoria with sarcasm that was obvious even coming out of her mouth.
"Nafoumi Iwatani," said the Shield Hero to which the Filolial queen replied with a quick 'I see.' Raphtalia and Filo also introduced themselves, though for whatever reason Fitoria only nodded at Filo's greeting.
"And we've met before I take it," said the winged girl when she got to Melty.
"Yes, I am Melty Melromarc," said the second princess with a bow.
"Sweet Mel, yes I remember," said Fitoria getting a confused look from Melty who hadn't expected such a nickname.
"You know her too?" Questioned Naofumi as he looked down at Melty.
"I met her on the way back to the capital after completing a diplomatic trip," explained Melty.
"So I see," said the Shield Hero as he turned his attention back to Fitoria, "Not that I'm ungrateful for your help or anything but what exactly do you want with us?"
"The answer to that requires something of a lengthy explanation," replied the Filolial Queen, "And this really isn't the best place for a chat. It would be better if we went somewhere more comfortable." She held up her hand as a few of the Filolials parted to reveal a white and blue carriage which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Melty and Filo looked happily at the carriage, likely relieved that they wouldn't have to walk anymore.
"Hold on a second," said Naofumi as he made his way over to the corpse of the tyrant dragon.
"I really don't think it's wise for a cardinal hero to be using dragon material," commented Fitoria.
"It's been a good source for the development of my shield so far," responded Naofumi. "Just getting one of Johann's scales made my defense go up a fair bit."
"Perhaps, but continuing to do so will only add to the ominous aura I sense in your shield," Fitoria said, "As I planned to explain to Darius, the curse series is powerful but requires a high price to wield. I urge you to trust me when I say it isn't worth it."
"Don't worry about," said Naofumi, "I've managed to get it under control."
"For now," Fitoria shot back with slight irritation, "but it will not remain that way for much longer."
"Look I appreciate the concern and all," said Naofumi, "but I've only managed to survive this long because of dragon material and the rage shield." The winged queen wanted to argue more but decided against it with a sigh, telling him to do what he must. "Darius, you'd probably do okay with some too."
"Hey I'm already in trouble here," said the Armory Hero with a shrug, "let's not tempt her generous mood any more if we can avoid it."
"Suit yourself," he said as he went and retrieved a piece of the dragon's flesh and dropped it into the jewel of his shield.
"Now if you're quite finished we need to be going," said Fitoria as everyone else was already assembled in the carriage. Johann was wrinkling his nose as he kept commenting about the smell of rank bird.
"I am but what are we gonna-," Naofumi started to say before Fitoria stopped him with a solution.
"I'll have my family bring the corpse along with us," she said, "Now please get in the wagon. I'll need to ask the both of you some questions when we arrive." The Shield Hero didn't offer any more protest as he did what she asked. Once the two parties were inside, the Filolial Queen held out her hand and spoke a single word. "Portal."
A shining yellow light surrounded them for an instant before fading just as quickly. When they stepped out, the group was no longer at the lake. "Was that instant travel magic?" Questioned Melty
"I think most just call it teleporting," Darius commented.
"Wow, now these are some impressive ruins," noted Naofumi as he looked around at some of the large stone structures covered in vegetation.
"Yep, home sweet home." Said the Armory Hero as he brushed some leaves off of a statue.
"What do you mean by that?" Questioned Rifana as she put a hand on one of the old columns.
"These ruins are where I was summoned to," explained Darius, "the structure I was in was added after the original Armory Hero appeared."
"Your home is a dump," commented Filo before receiving a quick punch in the arm from Johann.
"Supposedly these ruins are what's left of a civilization defended by the original heroes," explained Fitoria, "the tomb of the Armory Hero was added by another group much later."
"You don't sound very sure about any of that," Naofumi pointed out.
"These ruins have been this way since before I was even born," said Fitoria, "but I stand watch over them now."
"That would make this a Filolial sanctuary then," said Melty.
"Correct," affirmed Fitoria, "Ordinarily I am not allowed to bring humans here."
"Which is why you tried to eat me when we first met," remembered Darius, "Or at least step on me."
"Well you'll have to tell us all about it," said Naofumi as his eyes scanned the area, "it looks like we'll be safe here for the moment at least." The sound of Filo and Johann's growling stomachs agreed with that. "So I guess we should take a break and get something to eat while we're at it."
"Yeah!" cheered Filo and Johann as Melty and Rifana agreed that it'd been a long day. Fitoria made no objections as they all divided up the usual tasks with Darius summoning and setting up the pots, pans, bowls and utensils while Rifana and Raphtalia got the cooking fire going. Filo and Johann tore up and carried back large pieces of the tyrant dragon while Melty fetched some water from a well. Naofumi did most of the cooking and before long, the group was all sitting around the fire with a bowl of tyrant dragon soup.
"I hesitate to say how good this soup is on account of present company," said Darius, "Are you sure you're not committing cannibalism right now Johann?"
"Dragons are territorial," explained Johann with his mouth full, "when two get into a fight over something it either ends with one running off or, if they're unlucky, getting killed. No hungry dragon would pass something like that up."
"Speaking of hungry," said Melty as she looked at the gathered Filolials around them, "this is a little awkward."
"I almost feel guilty," said Raphtalia as she took a bite of her own food. Johann simply smiled and began scarfing his down, making a show of enjoying the taste.
"This is surprisingly good," commented Fitoria, who was sitting next to Filo. Despite her mannerisms and no nonsense way of speaking, the Filolial Queen was just as sloppy an eater as Filo and it gave off the impression that the two were sisters in a way.
"Hey Cyrus, Nettle, Pious, Aster, Lily, Brena, Torg," Darius said as he named off and petted a number of the Filolials.
"You learned their names," said a somewhat surprised Rifana with a tilt of her head, "how can you even tell some of them apart besides the color?"
"I only learned a few," replied the Armory Hero, "the bunch I've been naming off were the bravest or most curious ones that liked to hang around while I was training. By the way, they're hungry."
"How can you te-oh," said Naofumi as he noted they were all giving him the big sad eyes that said 'feed us please.'
"And they're not gonna stop until you feed them some of this stuff probably," Darius added. Naofumi simply sighed in frustration before standing up and shouting.
"Fine I'll feed all of you, just bring me the biggest pots you got and all the ingredients you can!" He yelled. The mass of Filolials moved quite quickly then as Darius summoned some of the largest pots he could carry in his inventory. Ordinarily, they used them for emergency aid to feed villages but in this case it would serve just as well to feed a mass of hungry Filolials.
A Short Time Later
As expected, the tyrant dragon soup was a huge hit with the giant ground birds and after eating their fill the large avians had all simply sacked out on whatever part of the ground had room on it. While the sight was cute in a way it made it a little hard to walk around certain parts of the ruins. The rest of their party members had also gone to sleep as soon as the majority of the dishes had been taken care of. All that was left was a bit of tidying up while the Armory Hero returned the pots to his inventory.
"It's just one crazy thing after another in this world," said Naofumi as he wiped a bit of sweat off his brow. "How'd we wind up feeding an entire KFC farm?"
"Given that we're all still breathing right now thanks to their Queen I'd say it was the least we could do," replied Darius as he wiped off the large ladle before returning it to storage. The sound of approaching footsteps drew their attention then as Fitoria came strolling into view atop one of the stone walls.
"I hope you didn't come for seconds," said Naofumi, "we're fresh out on this end."
"It's not an issue I'm full enough," replied Fitoria in a business-like tone, "but I would like to have our promised discussion now." Darius nodded and signaled to Naofumi to follow after her as she turned and began walking along the wall. The cardinal heroes were on either side of her as she held her arms out like a child keeping their balance. It would've been cute if Darius didn't know she was being completely serious right now. "I'd like to know how it is that monster was released."
"You mean you didn't sense it in the area?" Questioned the Armory Hero.
"I sensed both of you and the monster," replied Fitoria, "but that was not why I originally came. You see I was told that a candidate for the next Filolial Queen was there."
"You mean Filo is the candidate to be the next queen," questioned Naofumi. Fitoria responded with a simple 'yes' to this inquiry. "Actually I've been wondering something, how come Filo's growing so differently and so much bigger than other Filolials?"
"She's like me," Fitoria replied as she nimbly jumped a gap in the stone wall.
"What do you mean like you?" Asked the Shield Hero.
"Fitoria here was raised by a cardinal hero," explained Darius, "that's also how she knew the previous Armory Hero."
"So you really are over two centuries old," said Naofumi with a hand on his chin.
"Yes, now please explain to me why that monster was released?" Said Fitoria as she hopped off the stone wall onto the ground and continued down a cobblestone road.
"Long story short, a dickhead mage from the Three Heroes Church released it in an attempt to kill us," explained Darius. "We're actually on the run from Melromarc's forces right now due to being framed for Melty's kidnapping." The Filolial Queen let out a long sigh at this.
"Simply appalling," she said, "And I suppose you have an explanation for why you and the other cardinal heroes are fighting?"
"Well that's because," Darius tried to find the right words to explain the situation.
"Because," urged Fitoria. The Armory Hero was fairly certain she wouldn't much approve of any explanation he gave so he decided to simply come out and say it.
"Assholes," he said, "assholes everywhere. The King is an asshole, his eldest daughter's an asshole, pretty much everyone we've met from the Three Heroes church, assholes. As for the other cardinal heroes, well, let's just sum it up like this. Ren: stoic asshole, Itsuki: glory hole, Motoyasu: Stupid asshole and it's all culminated into the current flaming shit pile we currently have right now."
"And you should all be ashamed," stated Fitoria with a disapproving expression on her face, "squabbling while the next wave approaches, it's disgraceful."
"Hey they started this whole mess, not us," said Naofumi defensively.
"The Shield Hero has always been at odds with the human supremacist countries," Fitoria said without turning around.
"Then you should already know why we've got to cross the border to-," the Shield Hero started to say before being cut off.
"Fleeing to another country will not solve anything," she said before finally turning to face them, "you need to work out your differences. The humans and demi-humans may be able to waste time hating each other but the cardinal heroes cannot fight amongst themselves." Naofumi looked to his comrade for help but Darius simply sighed, recognizing his old sensei's tone that invited no argument. So he simply signaled for him to keep following after her as the three of them sat down on some of the ruins with their feet dangling over the edge.
"You should all know about the hourglass," said Fitoria as she began stacking some small stones next to her into a small tower. "I know I've explained it to Darius once already."
"You mean the dragon's hourglass right? Yeah we know about it." Stated Naofumi, mostly looking for confirmation.
"Then why haven't you been fighting the waves of catastrophe across the world," asked Fitoria with a slight edge to her voice. Naofumi didn't respond as a look of shock appeared in his eyes.
"You can thank king altar boy of Melromarc for that one," said Darius with his chin in his hands, "from what I understand the Queen had planned to have the four cardinal heroes summoned to different countries. But he in his oh so infinite wisdom had the Three Heroes Church try to summon only three out of the four. That plan backfired and is likely the reason I'm here, so then he decided to summon all four heroes to Melromarc himself and naturally neglected to mention that the waves happen all over the world."
"So we've only been fighting on one front this whole time," said Naofumi with a hint of irritation in his voice, "and did you know about this before you met me Darius?"
"I knew the bare bones of it," replied the Armory Hero, "the big concern was finding the four heroes and figuring out what was out of balance enough for me to be summoned along with the rest of you. Turns out, quite a bit."
"If all had gone as it had before, the four heroes would go to one country each and fight the waves of catastrophe," explained Fitoria. "But since you five aren't helping anywhere else, I've been traveling the world whenever I'm asked to defend the countries in your stead."
"And I honestly just found out other countries have their own hourglasses," muttered Naofumi.
"To be perfectly honest, I'm not concerned in the slightest what happens to the humans," said Fitoria as she continued slowly stacking one small stone on top of another, "I fight because the hero who raised me asked me to. My job now is to protect the world and keep its people safe." 'I wonder if she was asked or told to defend the people,' thought Naofumi. "But I cannot do this on my own forever, which is why I need the cardinal heroes."
"Given what you did to that dragon you seem a lot more capable than us at the moment," the Shield Hero pointed out.
"For now," said Darius, "need I remind you each wave of catastrophe is worse than the last, so eventually-." He personally didn't want to finish the sentence.
"Eventually I won't be enough," she said as her little rock tower collapsed from one stone too many stacked on it. "Which is why you need to work things out with the other heroes."
"You really think I can just make up with those guys," said Naofumi.
"The cardinal heroes are supposed to work together," repeated Fitoria, "it is crucial if this world is to survive."
"Hate to disappoint you but that's not happening," said Naofumi, "they may not want to kill us but the rest of an entire country does."
"Regardless the heroes must stop fighting each other," urged Fitoria.
"You're obsessing over this a bit, don't ya think," said the Shield Hero.
"It's only natural," said Darius, "and she is right. The world's at stake right now."
"You do realize it's a bit of a lost cause though," Said Naofumi, "none of them wanna play nice with us either."
"You're entirely certain of that," asked Fitoria, almost daring him to say so.
"Yeah I'm certain," Naofumi replied with a tone that held little doubt.
"If you've made up your mind then it really leaves me no choice," said Fitoria as she stood up, "despite living for several lifetimes I don't remember much. But I do remember what I'm to do for a situation such as this. If the four heroes are fighting each other instead of the waves, then I must kill all four of you!"
"Now don't you think that's more than a little much?" Questioned Darius.
"I'll give you until morning to think about what I've said," continued Fitoria, acting as if she hadn't heard him. "You have until then to make a decision."
The Next Day
As the sun rose, so too did the Filolials. And every one of them had an appetite. Now Darius had seen them forage before but after tasting Naofumi's cooking last night it seemed the large birds were more than content to wait on the two parties to whip up another large batch of food for them. It made for a hectic morning before all of them could finally sit down at a large wooden table with benches to eat their own breakfasts. It was especially uncomfortable for Johann as he kept glancing at the Filolials eating from bowls on either side of them. But the Armory Hero hardly noticed as he had his mind on other matters.
Flashback: Last Night
"He really is a stubborn one," said Fitoria after Naofumi had walked out of earshot.
"You gotta cut the guy a little slack," said Darius who'd remained sitting, "he was robbed, betrayed and framed all within the first day and a half after arriving in this world. Traumatized him so bad he can apparently only taste certain foods and has more than a few trust issues. It'd be hard to convince him to work with the others even if things weren't so convoluted right now."
"And what about you?" Questioned Fitoria, "are you unwilling to do what I ask?"
"I've learned it's unwise to say no to you when you're serious," replied the Armory Hero, "I can't make any guarantees but I'll at least give it a try and see what happens."
"Then I have some reassurance," she said before suddenly sitting on Darius's outstretched leg, "so, tell me about Rifana and Johann."
"Oh, well I met Rifana right after you sent me on my way," explained Darius as he scratched his cheek a bit, "we actually were visiting the mansion where she and Raphtalia were imprisoned when that tyrant dragon was released. I helped her escape and then she stabbed the bastard nobleman responsible for her torture to death. After that, she and I got some training from a mercenary woman named Figneria and she convinced me to let her come along."
"She convinced you to do more than that rather recently," noted Fitoria, "her scent is all over you, and vice versa."
"Well yeah we did both get kinda, intimate, last night," replied Darius as he rubbed his head sheepishly.
"It doesn't bother me to such an extent that I'm angry," said Fitoria, "but I would be lying if I said I wasn't the slightest bit jealous. The previous Armory Hero was like family to me and you remind me greatly of him. So of course I'd be somewhat reluctant to see you waltzing around with just any woman."
"I suppose that's fair, I think," said Darius, "what's your impression of her so far?"
"She speaks her mind with little restraint," said Fitoria, "and she also has a good heart. As far as first impressions go, she seems like a decent girl. But your mount, if I should even call him that, is quite rude."
"In all fairness you've been rude to him as well," the Otaku pointed out, "I know dragons and Filolials don't get along but trust me when I say Johann isn't a run of the mill dragon. Sure, he and Filo get into little contests and fights all the time but they've also been able to work together when the time called for it. Johann's also been able to fly us from place to place because he's stronger than any flying dragon I've seen up to this point and while he is greedy at times all he really wants from us in the end is to be fed and cared for. Even after he was injured and sent over a waterfall by a Leshen, he still came back to us."
"You realize of course that if he keeps obtaining dragon emperor fragments that he himself will become the next dragon emperor," said Fitoria, "I fought fiercely and mustered up a large amount of strength to defeat the last one and shatter the core containing its consciousness. With the waves of catastrophe hitting right now it would be disastrous if another one arose."
"But what if he's not an enemy?" Questioned Darius. "The last one probably wasn't being raised by anyone and was simply acting on its destructive instincts. But if Johann is able to keep his current personality even after obtaining the fragments and remembers our group taking care of him then he might fight alongside even you."
"So you're planning on letting him have all the fragments you might find?" Questioned Fitoria with an accusatory tone.
"Of course not," replied Darius as he held his hands up defensively, "Assuming we even find that many I'll still only let him have them if I'm sure he's not gonna turn destructive. So as long as we're careful and keep an eye on him, I don't think there's really that much to worry about." Fitoria seemed to think on it for a moment before answering.
"You know that's something I've always liked about you Darius," she said, "your willingness to see both sides. I feel I should warn you now that I may do something a little, upsetting, tomorrow and I'd like you to try to see things from both perspectives if you can." She got off his leg then and began walking away, turning back only once to wish him a simple good night before simply disappearing in a burst of speed.
End Flashback
He hadn't seen her at all since then and he'd been on the lookout all morning. "The Filolials really seem to like you," said Raphtalia to Melty, breaking Darius out of his thoughts.
"Do you really think so?" questioned Melty as she petted one of the nearby ones.
"Those birds are nothing," said Johann, "if you wanna see something cool at any point, just ask for a lift. There's nothing like the view from the back of a drag-." His sentence trailed off as Fitoria suddenly appeared by the table with a rather serious look on her face.
"So I guess you've decided what you want to do then," said Darius as everyone else looked on in stunned silence. The Filolial Queen replied with a single nod. "Any chance we're gonna like it?" She simply shook her head indicating that no, what was about to happen would not be pleasant. "Alright then I suppose breakfast is over." A blue and black pair of gauntlets and greaves suddenly appeared on his limbs while his mask formed on his face before the Armory Hero leapt from his seat with a vicious right cross to Fitoria's face.
But she was even faster as she caught the blow with her hand and tossed the cardinal hero over her shoulder. Darius landed on his feet as they both called out the High Quick skill and seemingly disappeared in a blur of movement. The rest of his and Naofumi's party got up from the table as the two went speeding by them, clashing in midair or exchanging blows on the ground before disengaging and circling around again for another attack. "What in the world's going on," said the Shield Hero as he took a defensive stance and tried to track what was happening before spotting the two fighters entering a line of trees.
The sound of clashing blows and splintering wood filled the air for several moments before Fitoria and Darius both shot out of the trees and back into view before the Armory Hero rushed in with a powerful roundhouse kick. Fitoria stopped the blow and warded off the two follow up punches before leaping over a sweeping kick to deliver a spinning kick of her own which Darius just managed to block with both hands. The force of the impact was enough to send him sliding several feet away as he looked back up to see his opponent was nowhere in sight. But he anticipated the next strike in time as he turned around and caught her midair chop before flipping her over his shoulder.
Such a move was practically pointless against a bird girl, though, as she twisted and hovered in midair to avoid Darius's flying kick and sent him back down to the earth with a nasty backhand. The Armory Hero managed to land on his feet but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. "You've improved a fair bit," said Fitoria, "your body is even maintaining this speed longer than before, however, you've still a long way to go." A miniature cyclone erupted from her hand which sent the Armory Hero flying into a nearby column with enough force to create several large cracks.
His mask also disappeared to reveal that he was breathing a little heavily from the exertion on his body as the rest of the group came rushing to his aid. "Liberation: Wind Prison," said Fitoria as she suddenly appeared by Melty and incased her in a diamond shaped whirlwind, "Please trust me Darius." With a wave of her hand, both she and the now imprisoned Melty moved over to a large stone floor situated above some kind of drain.
"What do you think you're doing?!" exclaimed Filo as everyone looked on, save for Rifana who was helping Darius up off the ground.
"I am sorry but it's become necessary for me to take your friend hostage," said Fitoria.
"But why are you using her as a hostage in the first place?" Asked Naofumi.
"Because I need you to promise me that you'll reconcile with the others Shield Hero," explained Fitoria.
"Who cares, let Mel go!" exclaimed Filo and Johann as they almost charged forward if not for the two cardinal heroes raising their hands to stop them.
"And say I decline, what then?" Asked the Shield Hero, "Are you really planning on hurting the princess? Because even if you do there's no way I'm gonna do what you ask."
"So you say," Replied Fitoria, "but to avoid any unnecessary unpleasantness I must ask you to reconsider."
"Why are you so dead set on us working together in the first place?" Naofumi demanded more than asked to know.
"Because I made a promise to the hero who raised me," replied Fitoria, "and because it's the only way the world is going to survive the waves of catastrophe. So I beg of you, please reconsider."
"And I'm going to give you the same answer no matter how many times you ask," Said Naofumi, "There's no way I'm working with those guys."
"If that is the case, then new heroes shall have to be summoned," said Fitoria with a slight bit of hesitation before glaring with renewed determination in her eyes, "so you've left me no choice but to kill the four current heroes." Multiple looks of shock crossed their party's faces at this declaration.
"You're willing to kill us just because we're not getting along?" Questioned Naofumi.
"Will you let go of your ego for a minute and actually think about what you're saying!" Darius practically yelled in the Shield Hero's ear. "I know you don't give a damn about this world but she does and if you tried considering things from her point of view maybe you'd understand why she's willing to do something she clearly doesn't want to do in order to save it!" The Armory Hero turned to Fitoria then with a question of his own. "Tell me, your main concern is that we all work together as a team to fight the waves, not necessarily that we become best friends right?"
"If you are able to accomplish at least that much then no, I won't have to remove them," said Fitoria. "My main concern is doing what is best for this world."
"What do you think of that Naofumi," asked Darius, "Fair compromise?"
"I understand why she needs us to work together," said Naofumi with a clenched fist as he directed his answer towards Fitoria, "but I just can't bring myself to do it! And holding Melty hostage won't change my mind either so if you want me dead so bad then bring it!" The Shield Hero held up his cardinal weapon as the flames of the rage shield began to form. "You better believe I'm not going down without a fight!"
"Is that so," said Fitoria as she held up her hand, generating a blue glow around it which caused Naofumi's flames to suddenly dissipate around his shield.
"What the, again?" Questioned the confused cardinal hero as he looked at his shield.
"She's the one who stopped your rage transformation the last time with jamming magic," said Darius, "why do you think I traded blows with her earlier? I'm the only one capable of fighting her at the moment because my abilities don't rely on a transforming weapon."
"But-," Naofumi started to say before Darius stepped forward towards the Filolial Queen with one last comment directed behind him.
"Just shut up and quit making this worse for a moment," said the Armory Hero before turning back to Fitoria, "Tell me, is reconciliation really the only option open to us right now? Is there no other way you'll be convinced that we can fight the waves without having to work with those morons?"
"I do understand your frustration," said Fitoria with a sigh, "more than you know. So I'll give you one chance. Prove to me you can fight against the waves of catastrophe without assistance from the other heroes and I shall release Melty and let you and the other four live."
"Well that's gener-," Naofumi started to say before Darius turned back to him.
"Zip it," Demanded the Armory Hero, "We don't need to piss her off more than we already have at the moment." He turned back to Fitoria with the next question. "What exactly do you want us to do?"
"Given that I'm already quite familiar with both you and the Shield Hero's capabilities it would be pointless for us to fight," she said before pointing at the two mounts. "So instead, Filo and Johann shall fight me together with no other assistance."
"What, but why us?" Questioned a confused Filo as she pointed to herself.
"And why do I have to work with her?" Asked a grumpy Johann who was already over this whole situation.
"If the two of you can demonstrate that you are strong enough then I will release Princess Melty and will not harm the heroes for the time being," said Fitoria.
"So if we beat you then you'll let Mel go and leave Master Naofumi and Darius alone?" Questioned Filo.
"Heck if that's all then you've got a duel!" Declared Johann as he bashed his fists together, ignoring Naofumi's protests.
"I shall fight in my human form for now and ask that the two of you do so as well," said Fitoria as she leapt down and floated gracefully to the ground.
"Guys you need to wai-," protested the Shield Hero before Darius held his arm out in front of him.
"She's already made up her mind," said the Armory Hero, "none of us are stopping this duel now." As if to drive his point home, a red dome with a kaleidoscope design appeared around the three fighters, marking the boundary of their dueling ground.
"Hope you're ready to hurt chicken girl," quipped Johann as he and Filo readied their combat gloves.
"Because we're coming after you," finished Filo with more confidence than she should've had at the moment.
"Then, how did Darius put it one time," said Fitoria as she held up her hand, "Let us rumble." The two mounts charged forward at full speed as the duel for the lives of their friends began.
And the fight is on as the two mounts face the incredible power of the Queen of all Filolials! And a quick shout out to MaveriKat about the whole 'assholes everywhere' tidbit. Now for those of you who don't already know, I have also begun the continuation of the story 'My Hero Academia: Hailstorm' which I've posted as a new story titled 'Hailstorm Vol. 2'. So feel free to check it out and as always feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Be sure to stop in next time as a dragon and a filolial struggle to do the one thing they hoped to never do, cooperate. 'Til then.