Otherworldly Foes
Hello everyone and welcome to the next installment of Armory of the Forgotten Hero! But First, some Guest Reviews: For Jason Wu: No kidding, even if they're weaker versions they'd still hurt, and some of the plot divergences shall continue in this chapter. To Guest: Indeed it's not often brought up and it seemed like a good moment to explain the difficulty she has in getting him to notice her. Now then, onto the story!
Off the Coast of Cal Mira
Everything had started moving relatively quickly ever since the discovery of a dragon's hourglass within the undersea temple at Cal Mira. Though it wasn't surprising given the second discovery: the next wave was due to hit in only two days' time. Neither Darius nor Naofumi wasted any of it, using their newly acquired teleport skills to quickly venture back to the royal capital in Melromarc and inform the Queen of the situation. Fortunately for them and Cal Mira, Mirelia Q. Melromarc was a good and effective leader who managed to pull together a fighting force of over a dozen ships that were manned by both sailors and soldiers.
She also got on Darius's good side by opening up the castle weapon's vault and presenting him with numerous mage staffs to make use of during the next wave, which he happily accepted along with a few comments about being a motherfuckin' sorcerer now. For the journey back to the islands, the five heroes and their parties were split between five ships in order to make better strategic use of their abilities as it was expected the next wave would be a naval battle. Currently, Darius and Naofumi were onboard the Queen's ship as they watched the Archipelago come into view. "I'm not certain how but it appears we managed to arrive just in time," observed the Queen who had once again donned her royal armor.
"I'm honestly impressed you were even able to get this many ship's together on such short notice," said Naofumi.
"While my Father might not have given off the impression," said Melty who'd also come along, "preparing for the waves is one of the responsibilities of a royal."
"Yeah but why are you here?" Questioned Naofumi with a raised eyebrow, which for some reason seemed to set the little girl off.
"And just what is wrong with that?!" She questioned angrily before adopting a more reserved tone, "I am a member of your party too, aren't I?"
"Well we're happy you're here," said Filo as she indicated herself and Johann, "and we never agree on anything, so that has to mean a lot."
"It does," admitted Melty with a smile, "and I'm happy to see the both of you again as well."
"By the way," asked Raphtalia, "were all the islanders on Cal Mira able to evacuate?"
"You needn't worry," replied the Queen, "the earl of Habinburg has already completed the evacuation of the islands. So the only thing you'll need to focus on is the battle ahead."
"I suppose I'll have to save the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack for another time," admitted Darius as he contemplated pulling the replica Gengar Shield out anyway. He was onboard with pretty much anything to help calm the nerves at this point.
"It's best we not get complacent," said Naofumi, "especially considering the other three heroes still don't want to really work together."
"They all seem to believe the leveling up at Cal Mira was enough for this wave," said the Queen as she steered the ship, "Only time will tell if that is true."
"Oh look Master Naofumi," said Raphtalia as she pointed to one of the ships coming up alongside them, "L'Arc and Therese are here too."
"I didn't expect them to be fighting the wave," said Naofumi in mild surprise.
"You know those two," said a curious Melty as she looked out over the railing.
"They helped us level up a bit while we were in Cal Mira," explained Naofumi, "and it looks like they're gonna be more reliable than the other heroes."
"Wow," said Melty, "I'm actually shocked that you're managing to put so much trust in other people." Naofumi simply grunted at her statement.
"I'm just happy they're on our side," said Raphtalia, "the two of them are very capable adventurers."
"Heh, our side," said Darius, "that remains to be seen. Anyway, we need to get back to Rifana and the others so let's head out Johann." The winged boy complied as he morphed into his dragon form and let Darius hop aboard, flying off before Naofumi could question him about his earlier statement. On board the other ship, Figneria was currently in command of the ship's steering wheel with Rifana waiting patiently next to her as the Armory Hero and his mount landed.
"So I guess we're as ready as we're gonna be," said Rifana as she checked her stock of supplies one more time.
"Well we could be a little better prepared," said Darius while sliding off of Johann onto the deck, "but the other three seem to think they'll be just fine doing their own thing, again. Or at the very least the numbskulls aren't planning on working with us."
"I shouldn't be surprised at this point," said Rifana with a sigh, "I guess we're just gonna have to roll with it and see what happens."
"Speaking of which, how's commanding a ship working out for you Figneria?" Asked the Armory Hero.
"I'm not a sailor by any means," admitted the woman as she adjusted the steering wheel, "but I've learned enough to at least not crash the ship. I'll be having the first mate take over once the wave begins so that I can defend this vessel from possible attackers."
"Sorry I can't haul the both of you into the fight," Darius said sincerely, "but Johann's faster with only one person riding."
"We all have roles to fulfill in this battle," said Figneria, "simply concern yourself with yours and trust us to play ours. Ah, and before I forget." The mercenary woman suddenly reached out and pulled the Armory Hero in by his scarf cape to plant a surprisingly passionate kiss on his lips. "Try to come back in one piece dear Darius."
The cardinal hero was at a loss for words, though even if he could've spoken at that moment they'd have been quickly cut off as Rifana jumped in, wrapping her arms around Darius's neck to deliver a passionate kiss of her own. "Please, come back to us," she whispered upon releasing him from the kiss.
"Well," the Armory Hero said when he finally found his voice again, "It wouldn't be very heroic to make two ladies cry now would it? Don't worry, I'll be careful."
"Blech," said Johann, spitting out his dragon tongue, "could you not be lovey dovey right now, we got some monsters to fight." The others simply smiled and nodded as the countdown on the hourglass ran out, signaling the beginning of the next wave.
As before, everyone was teleported to a different location, with the main difference this time being the whole fleet of ships was also teleported to another spot off the coast of Cal Mira. And just as before, the swirling of blue aerial whirlpools and a red sky marked the start of the next wave as numerous amphibious looking creatures dropped from the portals into the ocean. "That's our cue," said Darius as he leapt onto Johann's back, "let's go!" The dragon mount didn't need any encouragement as he took to the skies and hovered above the ships which were now circling in a type of intercepting maneuver.
As the monsters approached, the soldiers onboard the ships quickly rolled numerous barrels off the port sides which exploded shortly after entering the water. If Darius remembered what he was told correctly, the barrels had been filled with the highly alcoholic cohol fruit and made into explosives known as cask bombs. And they were proving surprisingly effective as numerous stunned monsters floated up after each blast, due either to being stunned or affected by the highly concentrated alcohol. "My turn!" exclaimed Johann as he flew down and unleashed a blast of lightning from his mouth, frying a large portion of the already stunned creatures.
Darius also had his newly enhanced thunder bow and arrows out, firing at any that looked like they might still be twitching in the water. The soldiers at the other boats lent a hand with archers firing their own arrows into the mass of advancing monsters, some of which died and some of which managed to get away. "Hey Boss," said Johann as they circled back, "how soon does the boss usually show up?"
"Depends on the circumstances, why?" Questioned the Armory Hero as he fired another couple of electrified arrows into the water.
"Because that kind of looks like one," Johann said as he readjusted his position in the air to give his rider a better look. And what he saw gave him a moment of pause. The beast which was swimming towards them now was a massive whale, larger and two to three times longer than any of the ships present with a huge narwhal horn on its head that was protruding from some kind of orb structure. Darius also noted its red eyes and rows of massive teeth as it raised its head above the water to let out a rumbling roar.
"Yeah, I'd say that's a boss monster," he finally replied as he stored his current bow and summoned a replica legendary bow. But before he could fire, a meteor shot from Itsuki's ship came rocketing towards the massive monster. Despite its size, though, the beast managed to dive beneath the waves and advance towards the ships unimpeded as the attack missed it completely. "Keep on it, we can still spot it from above."
"It won't get away from me," said Johann as he flew lower where the shadow of the monster was moving beneath the water.
"Thunder arrow!" Called the Armory Hero as he fired a volley of electrified projectiles into the water. The multiple impacts went in but only seemed to enrage the beast as it rammed into the ship that Ren was currently on. And for some reason, the Sword Hero was holding on quite tightly to the mast.
"Daruis, how's it looking up there?" Questioned Naofumi over the communication window.
"Not good," replied the Armory Hero, "it may be huge but we still can't get a clean shot on it while it's in the water. So I guess it's up to you and your swimming Filolial now."
"Yeah lucky me," said Naofumi as he dropped into the water aboard Filo. The two of them had discussed possible strategies beforehand, one of which involved the very likely scenario that the boss would be able to submerge itself underwater. The Queen had weighed in on this discussion as well, pointing out that the Shield Hero could keep it in check with his new luring ability, hate reaction, and Filo's surprisingly good swimming.
"We need to be ready too," said Darius as he dissolved his replica and summoned a blue and silver mage staff with an orb contained in a type of lightning bolt shape at the top. "I just hope we're fast enough."
"We'll be fine," said Johann as they circled the location where the whale boss was, "I just hope that Filolial can swim as well as she thinks she can." The cardinal hero didn't have a chance to call his mount out on this before he saw Filo quickly approaching the surface.
"Alright here goes, Phantom Circle," said the Armory Hero as he raised his staff. Five portals appeared in a circular formation in the air just as Filo and Naofumi came flying out of the water, quickly followed by the boss as it seemed to jet out of the ocean at an impossible height for its size. Darius took this moment to aim his attack as electricity flew from the staffs and gathered in the center of the circle. "Thunder Circle-," Darius started to say before three meteor attacks, each from one of the other three hero's ships, slammed into the beast midair.
But all of them seemed ineffective as it began to fall back towards the ocean. "STRIKE!" The Armory Hero finished charging the attack, letting loose a massive blast of lightning which caused the whale to shriek in agony before it hit the water. Darius had to regain his grip on the saddle as the attack ended, breathing heavily from the effort expended.
"Boss, you alright back there," asked the concerned dragon as he gained a bit of altitude.
"Yeah," said the Armory Hero between breaths, "but I just used up a lot of mana right there. If we make this an endurance game we won't-look out!" The whale boss had raised its horn out of the water behind them, the strange orb on its head glowing yellow as it fired off a powerful laser right at the dragon and its rider. Johann just barely managed to dive down in time, but not without feeling a good bit of heat from the attack.
"That's not good, are you still with me Boss, Boss?" asked the dragon boy as he saw the whale charging up another attack. But as it was about to fire, a pair of harpoons, one from Raphtalia's ship and the other from Rifana's ripped into the whale's sides, causing it to roar in pain as it missed its shot completely.
"Darius," said Naofumi's voice over the communication window, "Darius can you hear me? Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah," coughed the cardinal hero as he slowly regained his senses and his grip on the saddle, "We got a little cooked there. And the bastard got the narwhal song stuck in my head."
"Just good to know you're still up there," said Naofumi, "listen, the other three heroes are barely putting a dent in this thing, heck, Rifana and Raphtalia are doing more damage with the harpoons. How many more of those thunder strikes do you got in you?"
"Not near enough," said Darius as the Whale boss fired its laser again and completely wrecked one of the ships, "I could do five more at best if I exhausted my current supply of mana potions, but I'm not sure if we'll have any ships left by the time we wear it down."
"And I'm not hurting it near as bad as I'd like to either," said Johann as he flew low and fired another blast of lightning at the sea monster's exposed horn, causing it to miss a direct hit on the ship it was aiming at, "any chance we can't just lead it away from the other ships?" Before Naofumi could answer, screaming reached their ears. "Boss, that's coming from Melty's boat!"
"Shit, Naofumi," said Darius as he turned his mount towards the royal ship. It had been overrun by several bipedal monsters resembling a cross between a frog and a fish with nasty jaws. One of them had managed to knock Melty down and was attempting to drag her towards the edge of the ship. "Keep that boss distracted for a bit. We gotta-huh?"
"Break Down: Scale Removal!" yelled a familiar fishing girl as she charged forward with a thrusting attack that released several blades of wind, tearing apart many of the monsters present including the one going after Melty.
"Sky Bound Wheel Swing!" Said L'Arc next as he landed on the deck and unleashed a miniature tornado, eviscerating all the remaining fish monsters. The crew cheered for their saviors as they got back to work while Johann landed on the deck near the newly assembled group.
"About time y'all got in on the action," said Darius as he noted Kizuna was now wielding a type of long fishing knife with, the same jewel as her fishing rod? "I guess I owe you an apology about going around with a fishing pole."
"I told you I can handle myself," said the girl proudly as she rested the weapon on her shoulder.
"Are you alright Melty," asked Johann with concern in his voice.
"I'm fine thanks to your friends," said Melty as she turned to the newcomers, "I honestly can't believe how powerful you both are. Naofumi was right to trust you." For some reason, this brought a frown to the adventurer's faces.
"L'Arc," called Naofumi as Filo landed on the top mast of the ship next to them, "time to take out the big one! And don't worry about falling into the water, Filo and I can get you if that happens."
"I guess it would be better to take that thing out first," admitted L'Arc as he turned to Kizuna, "do you mind hitching a ride with our friend here for a moment? You're gonna need some air for the combo attack."
"If I have too," said Kizuna as she leapt behind Darius's seat on Johann, "just don't drop me shroud guy."
"Still not sure how I feel about that name," commented the Armory Hero as Johann took flight again.
"Alright, get that thing's big ass out of the water kiddo!" called L'Arc as he leapt to the next ship. Naofumi nodded as he and Filo dove underneath the waves and used hate reaction once again to draw the boss's attention.
"I need you to get me close then catch me afterwards," said Kizuna as she readied her weapon, "we're gonna hit it with everything we've got."
"Just a word of warning, dragon scales are not the softest thing to land on," Darius replied as he summoned his own weapon, a blue-handled ax with spikes on the back resembling parts of a snowflake. The rune-inscribed blade was also serrated now and four feathers hung from the back instead of the original two. As Johann circled the area, Filo and Naofumi shot out of the water once again with the whale leaping its same impossible distance into the air. As requested, Darius pulled Johann up alongside the beast. "All yours, so go fishing!"
"Blood Flower Strike!" Called the adventurer as she leapt off and ran up the monster, carving a bloody line through a number of specific weak points before leaping off of its head and back onto Johann.
"Spiral Strike!" Yelled Filo as she flew in with a powerful kick to the monster's lower jaw, actually managing to suspend its flight in the air for a moment.
"Raisetsu Arashi!" Called Darius as Johann dove down, allowing him to carve a large destructive path down the center of the monster's head that exploded in a shower of lightning and ice.
"Bejeweled Thunderstorm," Called Therese from her own ship as she conjured a surge of electricity which powered up L'Arc's weapon.
"And to finish it," said the scythe wielder, "Combo Skill: Thunderbolt Wheel Swing!" A massive, electrified cyclone engulfed the whale boss, shattering the transparent bulb on its head which cast a final light before it collapsed into the sea with one final deathly roar.
"Wow, that was awesome," said Darius as he steered Johann to the massive floating corpse, "I hope the other three were taking notes because that's what team work really looks like."
"Yeah," Kizuna replied simply as Johann landed on the whale at about the same time as Filo. The little fishing girl was quick to hop down and join L'Arc, who'd somehow landed on the monster after his attack, while Naofumi and Darius slid off their mounts and regrouped.
"That was pretty nicely done," Naofumi said surprisingly, "I appreciate the assist back there."
"Well there was only so much you could do with your Armory pal and that defense-focused shield," commented L'Arc as he noted Therese's arrival.
"Hey over there!" Called the voice of Motoyasu, ruining the mood as he and the other two heroes also walked onto the whale corpse. "You two and your friends did a pretty nice job here."
"Yeah, and you're all here because," Naofumi asked in slight annoyance.
"Obviously we've come for the drops from the main monster," Ren pointed out as he wasted no time in looking.
"The items dropped by the boss monster after a battle belong to all of the heroes," said Itsuki.
"I mean it would ordinarily," said Darius as he sent his weapon back to his inventory, "but, oh how to put this?"
"You guys didn't really contribute much of anything," Naofumi pointed out, "the one who beat this monster was-."
"The guy currently not laughing," said L'Arc as a smirk crossed his face, "you three are supposed to be 'heroes'? That's not even funny as a joke. You weaklings can't protect a blasted thing!"
"What did you sa-," Motoyasu started to ask before L'Arc swung his weapon at the three of them. But was stopped at the last second by chains covered in green and white ethereal fins that pulled him to one knee.
"Soul Eater's chain," said the Armory Hero as he quickly summoned a double bladed staff.
"Darius, what are you doing?!" Asked Naofumi, completely confused with the situation.
"Hating myself for being right," replied the Armory Hero as he leapt back to avoid a swipe of Kizuna's blade. This consequently released L'Arc from his chains as well. "These adventurers aren't who they say they are."
"Too bad it's not the same for you two," said L'Arc, "you're both the real Shield and Armory Heroes after all. I hate that it all turned out like this."
"What are you even talking about?" Asked the Shield Hero as he tried to figure out who to believe.
"You remember what I told you about the weird signature of Glass's fans, how they didn't match any known weapon from this world?" Darius asked, "Well these two have the same signature on their weapons. I wasn't sure at first because they weren't trying to kill us at the time, but I'm positive now. We're dealing with weapon wielders from another world."
"Bingo Shroud Kiddo," said L'Arc as he pointed his scythe at the two of them, "we are heroes from another world, and in order for that world to live, the Shield and Armory Heroes have to die."
"We have nothing against you personally," said Therese, "and we regret that it's come to this, especially after the kindness you've shown us. But we really have no choice in the matter."
"But another Shield Hero or Armory Hero won't be able to be summoned if you do this," said Naofumi, "You'll be leaving this world more vulnerable to the waves."
"And that's exactly what we're going for," said L'Arc with a serious expression.
"That's not very heroic," chided Darius, "dooming an entire world."
"It's," said Kizuna with a somber expression, "what we have to do. Our world is also being ravaged by the waves and will collapse soon if something isn't done. So we can't afford to lose here."
"Please believe us, we wish there was another way," said Therese, regretfully as L'Arc stepped forward.
"But don't worry, we'll keep this fight fair and square," said L'Arc as he pointed his weapon at them, "So I hope you're ready heroes."
"Alright that's enough of this," said Motoyasu as he readied his spear, "I'm damn tired of everyone acting like Naofumi and Darius are such a big deal lately. If you want a real fight, then we'll take you on!" L'Arc sighed then gave a smirk as he twirled his scythe, blocking Itsuki's arrow before Kizuna rushed forward and knocked Motoyasu's weapon aside. Ren ran past the both of them as he attempted a few slashes against the scythe wielder.
But L'Arc easily dodged and parried his sword swings before spinning low and sweeping the Sword Hero's legs out from under him. He was then sent flying back by a wind-powered scythe swing. At about the same time, Kizuna was easily pushing Motoyasu back with her own, more expert sword skills before turning and jamming the back handle of her weapon into the Spear Hero's sensitive crotch. The attack caused him to collapse to his knees before Kizuna knocked him back with her own wind-powered strike. The two weapon heroes went flying into Itsuki, resulting in all three falling into an embarrassing heap on one of the whale's massive fins.
"Form one: Pitfall," said Kizuna as she stabbed her weapon into the monster corpse that currently passed as the ground. A large hole opened beneath the three heroes as they all fell into the water. "I see now why they were named Lee, Roy, and Jenkins."
"Oh wow, I forgot I made that joke," said Darius as a sudden hail of arrows began raining down on the otherworldly heroes. It seemed even with the need to clean out the remaining monsters, Melty, Figneria and the Queen still managed to organize an attack on them. Therese was quick to raise her hand and summon a circular barrier of blue flame above their group, however, disintegrating the incoming projectiles.
"Darius, Master Naofumi," said Rifana and Raphtalia as the two girls leapt from the boat they'd taken and ran to their respective party members. "What's going on," asked the Raccoon girl.
"Well it turns out our new friends over there aren't so friendly," explained Darius, "they're here from another world and want me and Naofumi dead." Any other explanation was cut short as Therese began casting a much more powerful spell, strong enough that it created a gust of wind which forced most of them to cover their faces temporarily.
"I now cast, Bejeweled Meteor Shower!" declared the woman as her hair turned red and a mass of blue fire balls actually began raining from the sky on the fleet. Darius raised his phalanx shield wall to protect his party from the barrage while Raphtalia and Filo took cover behind Naofumi and his shield.
"Remember not to overdo it Therese," said L'Arc as he looked out at the now burning fleet of ships.
"I know," said Therese, "I'm just stopping any possible interruptions. Now, Bejeweled Silver Lining!" A hard rain shower followed the meteor shower, dousing the flames on the wrecked ships.
"What in the world are they thinking," Naofumi mused aloud, "first they attack our allies and then help them."
"The only ones we really want are the Shield Hero and Armory Hero," said Kizuna as she pointed to Naofumi and Darius, "If you surrender them peacefully we won't have to kill the rest of you."
"So you just want us," said Naofumi as he clenched his fist, "fine then."
"I suppose I'll agree on one condition," said Darius as his mask appeared on his face and he readied his double bladed staff, "you all die first!" This seemed to be the signal as both L'Arc and Kizuna shot forward at high speed with scythe meeting shield and sword meeting staff, resulting in an impressive display of sparks and even electricity. Their other party members leapt in next as Rifana came down with a swing of her mace, which Kizuna managed to dodge before rolling out of the way of a flame blast from Johann.
Raphtalia and Filo both dove at L'Arc with their own attacks, only to be stopped by not one but two scythes. "Air scythe suite first stance: Wind blade!" declared L'Arc as he was surrounded by a miniature tornado. Darius quickly summoned a couple of clawed chains to pull Naofumi's party members away but L'Arc acted quickly and leapt towards Raphtalia.
Fortunately, Naofumi was quicker and managed to block his attack before biting into his arm with the Soul Eater's shield. The red-haired hero managed to free himself after a moment and retreated back with Kizuna near Therese. "Are you alright L'Arc," asked the blue-haired woman.
"Fine, my arm's just a little numb," replied L'Arc as he examined his hand for a moment. "But it does make me glad these guys can keep things interesting!" The two otherworldly heroes leapt back into the fray then as Kizuna and Darius, who'd switched out his staff for a saber, exchanged a few more blows before the Armory Hero noticed the latest strike Naofumi blocked actually managed to hurt his arm.
"Master Naofumi!" said Raphtalia as she jumped into the fray, driving L'Arc back with several skillful swings of her sword as it sparked with every blow against her opponent's scythe. Darius took this moment to disengage from his fight with Kizuna as Rifana and Johann tagged in, forcing her to back up from the ferocity of the weasel girl's swings against her weapon while dodging Johann's whipping tail.
"You doing alright there Naofumi," asked Darius as he noted how his friend was holding his arm.
"He got me somehow," said the Shield Hero, "but it doesn't make sense, I took way too much damage from just the tip of his weapon."
"That's because it didn't bypass your defense," said Darius as the analysis of the attack went through his head. But as he was about to explain further, Therese fired a blue jet of flame in their direction. The two heroes raised a defense, but the flame dispersed before it reached them as an apologetic voice called to Therese.
"I see," said the woman as she took the gem out, the same one Naofumi had made for her, "You don't want to fight him."
"You alright over here Therese," asked L'Arc as he and Kizuna moved back to check on their friend.
"It's fine, I simply need to use a different jewel," she replied as she pulled another stone out of her belt.
"We'd best take a moment too," said Naofumi as he and Darius pulled out some mana potions and tossed them to their party members as soon as they returned to their sides. "I want to test out something."
"Do what you gotta do I guess," said the Armory Hero as he switched to replicas of Figneria's daggers. The Shield Hero nodded before calling out to their enemy.
"You got me pretty good L'Arc," said Naofumi, "I thought you bypassed my defense but you really reversed it on me didn't you?"
"Right on the money," said L'Arc as he rested his weapon on his shoulder, "the higher my target's defense the more damage my attack can inflict on them. It's really a perfect counter against the Shield Hero!"
"And just why are you flat out telling him about it?" Questioned an annoyed Kizuna.
"You know my policy is fighting fair," said L'Arc with his arms spread wide, "that means I have no secrets."
"And yet you waited 'til now to reveal you even had such an attack," Darius pointed out, "if you really had no secrets you would've spilled all the beans before the fight even began. You might be a lot more heroic than the other three but it's clear you're also a bit self-righteous."
"But what the heck, we can play their game too," said Naofumi as a smirk suddenly crossed his face before calling out to L'Arc again, "You got a good strategy going! Defense reversal would mess up a tank like me pretty quickly, though it's kind of obvious all I need to do is dodge or use airstrike shield. Do you got a way around those?" While he did this, Darius quickly whispered the phrase 'bite the gem' to Johann, who responded with the dragon's version of a grin.
The scythe wielder seemed to pause for a moment at this development before smirking himself. "I guess that means our cards are all on the table now," he said while taking a ready stance alongside Kizuna, "So let's do this!" The two heroes shot forward once more and engaged their respective opponents. Darius was quick to intercept Kizuna with a combination of slashes with his daggers that the fishing girl easily fended off before countering with her air blade skill.
The Armory Hero dodged the attack and landed a short distance away, but it wasn't far enough as his opponent quickly closed the gap with another slashing attack. But this was part of the plan as Rifana intervened and blocked the strike with her mace at the last second. "Repulse!" called the weasel girl as yellow energy reflected the force of Kizuna's blow, causing her to go airborne and land a few feet away.
It was at this point that L'Arc let out a pained yell as Naofumi managed to get his arm with the snakes from his viper's shield. Therese attempted to intervene by launching a blue fireball, which was completely extinguished by Johann racing right through it with his open mouth snapping at the magic gem user. She managed to dodge his initial attack but wasn't fast enough to avoid being whipped backwards by the dragon's tail. "Therese," said Kizuna as she raised her sword in preparation to use a skill.
"Eyes on your opponents!" Said Darius as he and Rifana rushed forward.
"Form one: Pitfall!" Said the otherworldly hero in response as she stabbed the ground and created another hole in the whale corpse. But the Armory Hero was ready as he conjured a chain across the hole for him and Rifana to leap off of. Kizuna anticipated this and leapt towards them, readying her next skill.
"Now, Sky Bound Wheel Swing!" Said Darius as he conjured a replica of L'Arc's scythe and swung, unleashing a smaller but still fairly powerful tornado attack. Kizuna only managed to correct her trajectory in the air enough to avoid some of the attack as the razor edges of the cyclone still hit her with enough force to knock her out of the air and onto the ground. L'Arc followed shortly after as he slammed into an airstrike shield midflight before getting a nasty cut on his arm from Raphtalia.
"Protect them!" yelled Therese, having somehow managed to avoid Johann long enough to fire two large fireballs at her enemies. Naofumi managed to block the shot with his shield while Johann moved in front of the one meant for Darius, only wincing a bit from the brunt of the attack. Not wanting to give the enemy another chance to recover, the Armory Hero raced around Johann as he readied the strongest skill he'd seen the scythe wielder use.
But just as he reached striking distance, a powerful and painfully familiar bolt of purple energy fired from the sky, just barely missing a direct hit as it knocked the cardinal hero to the ground. 'Shit, I know that attack,' he thought as he moved up to a half-kneeling position.
"Need I remind you our time is limited," said the voice of Glass as she gracefully fell from the sky and landed next to her regrouping comrades, "please stop fooling around."
"Oh hey Glassy," said L'Arc, "what brings you here?"
"I got tired of sitting around waiting," replied Glass, "and I was slightly worried about Kizuna. Are you alright dear?"
"I'll be fine," said Kizuna as she patted herself down a bit, "that Armory guy just caught me by surprise."
"I did warn you, did I not," said Glass, "he may be an imitator and a relative unknown in comparison to the other cardinal heroes. But he is just as dangerous as any one of them, which is why I advised killing him along with the Shield Hero. Speaking of which." She turned her attention to Darius and Naofumi as the two heroes gathered with their parties, "It's good to see you both, Naofumi, Darius."
"Can't really say the feeling's mutual," replied the Shield Hero.
"Understandable," said Glass as she opened her fans and assumed a battle stance, "Zero stance Rondo: Reverse Four Seasons!" A hail of glowing yellow energy blades flew from her fans and impacted against Naofumi's Viper Shield and Darius's Replica siderite shield. It pushed them back a bit, but the two heroes managed to endure the assault as Glass unleashed her next attack.
"Rupture Stance Rondo: Tortoise Shell Cracker!" Called the fan wielder as she fired a bolt of purple energy from her fan. Naofumi moved in front of Darius and was able to take the brunt of the attack without suffering any real damage. "I'm impressed. You not only blocked my attacks but managed to inflict this much damage to Kizuna and the others without using your trump cards."
"Wait what," said L'Arc, "what do you mean trump cards?"
"When the two of them truly get serious," explained Glass, "they bring out far more ominous powers. What you've seen so far is not the full extent of their abilities. You're both much stronger than the last time I faced you."
"Flattery will get ya nowhere when you're trying to kill us," said Darius.
"Well you shouldn't be feeling cocky at the moment anyway," said Glass as she resumed her fighting stance, "because I've come to insure your deaths by my own hands." The Armory Hero and Shield Hero simply took their own battle stances along with their parties. Now that all the players were assembled, the fight for the fate of their worlds resumed.
At last the identity of Glass's group has been revealed, heroes fighting for their own world! On a slightly more somber note, we shall be approaching the current finale for this story next chapter, but fear not, I'll have something of an announcement when that time comes. In the meantime, I hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter 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 the heroes pair off against their respective otherworldly opponents! 'Til then.