Armory of the Forgotten Hero

by Masked Spider

The legend goes that there are four cardinal heroes. But fact and fable are often twisted in the land of Melromarc, while others are left out completely. One such fact is that there is actually another hero, the Armory hero, who doesn't wield a primary weapon. But the world will soon remember as Darius Saxon is called to remind the people that there aren't four heroes, but five.

37. Meeting of Cardinals, Vassals & Huntsman

Meeting of the Cardinals, Vassals, and Huntsman

Hello everyone, I've come to bring you the results of the polls! If you haven't heard already, it seems our winner is Option A with a total of 12 votes to Option B's 10 votes. It was a close race but the readers have spoken and thus, I shall be continuing this story using the manga and other sources. For those who voted Option B, worry not, I'll still be taking your story suggestions into consideration for future projects. And now, since you've all waited patiently and helped me out with this little predicament, I thought I'd write a special crossover side story. It's not quite Isekai Quartet, but hopefully it'll be enjoyable nonetheless. But don't take my word for it, read on and find out!

Unknown Realm

There exists numerous worlds and even worlds between worlds. On occasion, something occurs in one of these worlds that wouldn't normally occur which leads to the creation of a link between that world and others. In the case of the figure walking along the strange earthen path before him, which seemed to have an endless number of other routes connected to it, such an event had happened quite recently. And just looking at the boy walking along, it was obvious that occurrence hadn't ended in the most favorable way.

'What in the world is this place,' he thought as his slightly animalistic eyes occasionally drifted from one side of the path to the other, 'all those floating stone portals must have something that came out of them at some point or at least something that'll eventually come out of them.' What he was observing were numerous portals suspended in the air above or below him, all of which surrounded the path he was on. Most where characterized by stone archways and not much else, but others were far larger with massive platforms that could hold multiple people and were decorated with the roots of trees, some with thorns and some without.

And speaking of characterized, the lone figure was dressed in a torn and burned outfit consisting of black pants and boots with white fur around the ankles along with claw decorations on the toes. His shirt was a simple, bluish grey short sleeve while his arms were adorned with a type of band on them, though they appeared damaged. Torn and burnt gloves covered his hands and the belt around his waist held extra ammunition for the weapons in the shoulder holsters he wore along with certain other supplies. A damaged helmet with a broken mouth guard hung on the back of his hip while a tattered white military coat with sections of blue was draped over his shoulders like a cape.

It was too torn to function like an actual coat at this point, but the boy kept it anyway in case he needed something warm. It was a somewhat logical conclusion given that the place he'd come from was considered the coldest in the world, which again begged the question of whether or not he was even in his world anymore. 'I guess even if I'm not in my own world anymore,' he thought, 'I shouldn't let that stop me from finding the others.' And so he soldiered on, continuing to sniff the air as he walked in hopes of picking up another whiff of his friend's scents.

And then he smelled something strange. It was the scent of a person, but not anyone he was familiar with. Even odder, something seemed, different about the scent of this person. He looked up as he pondered where the source of this new smell was coming from before promptly leaping back to avoid a lance of purple energy which impacted where he'd been hardly a second ago. "I knew we'd find you in here," said the voice of the woman who'd launched the attack as she landed in front of him, seemingly unharmed despite the height of such a fall, "Darius Saxon!"

The response she received to her statement was a simple one: "Who?"

Daytime: A Few Miles Outside Raphtalia and Rifana's Village

"HEADS UP!" Exclaimed Johann as he slashed through a monster with his electrified claws. His attack was followed up by Rifana slamming her mace into a monster who'd popped up behind him, sending it flying into the rest.

"Geez, I didn't think we had an approaching infestation on our hands, look at them all," said Rifana as she batted away another couple of the attacking monsters.

"They're rabbit monsters," Darius chimed in as he used a flaming arrow storm attack to tear into the large number in front of them, "it's safe to assume they've multiplied since they were last reported to us." Said monsters they were facing were Blood Rabbits, actual vampire bunnies. Naturally one or two of them wasn't anything to fuss over so long as they stayed away from a populated area. But if left to their own devices long enough, the little monster would spawn and spawn with another of its kind until there wasn't enough food to go around, prompting them to move to the next best thing, a populated area. In this instance, said populated area happened to be the village that was run by the Shield and Armory Hero.

Now if things had been completely set up at this point, they'd only require one of them along with a hunting party to deal with this problem. But currently, the construction had only been going on for a few days at this point and they didn't quite have the new recruits organized enough to form a hunting party just yet. Which is why both Darius and Naofumi decided to handle this problem at the same time so that it could be dealt with quickly. And that part was going rather smoothly. "Eat this, Lightning Stomp," exclaimed Johann as he tried out a new move by electrifying his foot and slamming it on the ground.

The result was several Blood Rabbits being thrown into the air after being electrocuted. Darius followed up with his Whirlwind Warhammer which he threw among the ranks of the surviving rabbits which tossed the remainder of them into the air. Rifana finished up the lethal combo by slamming her mace on the ground and lighting the area in front of her on fire with her newest technique, Burning Earth. By the end of it, there was little left but charbroiled rabbit monster.

"Whew," said Rifana as she rested her mace on her shoulder and surveyed the damage with everyone else, "that wasn't super hard or anything, but it sure took a minute."

"Worth it though," said Johann as he morphed into his dragon form and grabbed a mouthful of the burnt monster corpses, "now we can eat well-cooked rabbit monster!"

"You mean hopefully well-cooked," said Darius as he hit one of the still twitching monsters with his hammer to make sure it was dead, "remember the last time you bit into something that turned out to still be alive?"

"That was one time," said Johann after swallowing his mouthful of rabbit, "and you know Filo's just gonna try hogging these to herself if I don't go ahead and get a bite."

"Still, it'd probably be best if we actually went through the process of prepping them to eat first," suggested Rifana, "and speaking of cooking, how are things going over where Raphtalia and the others are at?" Darius was just about to tell her when Naofumi picked that exact moment to give them a call.

"Hey, we're all finished up over here," said the one known as the Shield Hero, Naofumi Iwatani, as a picture of him appeared in the top right of Darius's vision, "how are you guys doing on your end?"

"Got enough dead rabbits over here to make stew all week," replied Darius, "we'll head back your way here in a minute as soon as we-." He stopped upon Rifana tugging his sleeve.

"Darius," she said while indicating what looked like a cave entrance not far from where they were at, "I don't think that's normal." She was referring to the fact that said cave entrance seemed to open up into an area with a dark blue sky.

"Hey, you still there Darius?" Asked Naofumi over the communication channel.

"I'm here," he replied, "but I think you'd better come to us. We just found something that's, a little weird."

A Few Minutes Later

"So you're saying this thing was just suddenly here?" Questioned Naofumi as he and his party stood in front of the cave with Darius and his party.

"I know it wasn't here when our fight against those rabbits first started," replied Darius as he tried and failed to get any kind of information on it with his HUD. He was also extending one of his chains into it with a clawed hand repeatedly. So far, it had come back without any unusual readings on it. "You think it's a dungeon of some sort?"

"It's not reading like any dungeon we've encountered so far," said Naofumi, "though that's not saying a whole lot given that we haven't been in that many."

"You don't think it leads to another dragon's hourglass like the one in the Cal Mira Islands, do you?" Asked Raphtalia.

"I would've thought the one in the church was responsible for most of the waves in Melromarc," said Rifana, "if there is another one in there, where would this place lead?"

"Well let's take a look," said Filo, still in her filolial form as she stuck her head in the apparent portal before anyone could stop her.

"Wait, Filo!" Exclaimed Naofumi as he and Raphtalia pulled her back out.

"Wow, it's huge in there!" Said Filo as she flapped her wings happily, "it's like the biggest cave you've ever seen!"

"And you just stuck your head in there without knowing what might be inside?" Said Naofumi in mild irritation.

"But master," said Filo, "I don't smell any monsters in there, and Darius has been poking it the whole time with his stuff."

"My non-living stuff that we can afford to lose," Darius pointed out as he indicated the cheap spear he'd been using to probe the doorway, "for all you know it could be radioactive or something in there."

"What's radioactive mean," said Johann in his dragon form, "is it like what you do when you play music on your replica Geiger shield?"

"No it refers too," Darius said before pausing, "Johann, why is the rest of your body in that doorway right now?" He was referring to the fact that his mount's head was the only thing poking out of the apparent portal.

"Because the rest of me is in here," Johann answered matter of factly, "I'm not feeling any bad vibes from this thing, and Filo's still got her head so I figured why not?" Darius and Naofumi both sighed at that.

"I guess that means it's relatively safe," said Naofumi, "though we're gonna have a talk later about literally sticking your nose into things you don't know about." The rest of the group entered then and took a look at the surrounding area. Apparently this was one of many doorways with a large stone path leading out into one of several central areas as they noted countless doorways above and below them.

"Whoa," said Rifana, "where in the world do all of these doors go?"

"Given that it looks like the portals in Darksiders, potentially all over the world," surmised Darius as they proceeded to walk down the path a little ways.

"That's assuming these doorways are only connected to this world," added Naofumi as he glanced at one that seemed to be modern day Japan but with the occasional glance of super-powered individuals in some sort of hero costumes.

"I wonder if anyone else has found this place," Raphtalia thought aloud as she strained her ears for any sound out of the ordinary.

"Maybe everyone else is just too afraid to poke their heads in," said Filo, "guess they don't have their own filolials in other worlds."

"Or dragons," added Johann as they passed a doorway with giant lion creatures and a post-apocalyptic setting.

"Or they all got lost," said Naofumi as they entered a larger, courtyard like area with several more portals surrounding it and a few walkways above their heads, "but if you think about it, maybe this is how L'arc and his party were able to get into this world without a wave."

"Nice try kiddo," said a familiar and not particularly welcome voice from above as the group looked up to see L'arc, Therese, Glass and an unknown fourth member wearing a tattered coat as a cape with two sickles. "But we're actually a bit in the dark about this place too. Since we're all here though!" He and the others leapt down from the pathway above as the Shield and Armory Hero's parties readied their own weapons before engaging their otherworldly counterparts.

Earlier

"Don't think you can fool me," said Glass as she clashed her fans against her supposed enemy's sickles. They were some of the stranger non-legendary weapons she'd seen as they'd folded out the moment he'd drawn them. The sickles were undoubtedly durable, however, as the two clashed their weapons repeatedly before her opponent broke the engagement and leapt a few feet away.

"You're gonna have to back up a little," said the Sickle Wielder, "you don't look or smell like anyone I know, so if I'm trespassing I apologize."

"Still trying to play dumb, very well," said Glass as she held out her fans to either side of her, "Zero Stance Rondo: Reverse Four Seasons!" She unleashed several yellow energy slashes from her fans towards her opponent. He responded by swinging his sickles and unleashing blue energy slashes which collided with and cancelled out her attack in a series of small explosions. "As I thought, you are the Armory Hero!"

"Who's that supposed to be," said her apparently confused opponent, "I'm a huntsman, my name's Wayne Ursario."

"Stop lying!" Demanded Glass, "with those bands around your wrists and the ability to copy attacks do you really think I'd fall for such a pitiful ruse?!"

"Copy?" Said Wayne, "it's not my fault we have identical semblances. It is possible that I might have come up with an attack or two similar to what you've got because of that, but I can't copy anyone's powers!"

"Oh no," said Glass as she closed her fans and produced a purple energy blade from her left one, "then what about this one: Rupture Stance Rondo: Tortoise Shell Cracker!" She moved to hold her right fan over her left while Wayne joined his sickles together into a blade staff. When Glass fired her blade of purple energy, Wayne countered with a one-handed thrust of his blade staff that sent out an arrow-shaped blast of energy. The two techniques collided, resulting in an explosion that raised a cloud of smoke for a few moments.

Glass used it as cover to rush forward and attacked with an X-shaped slash of her fans. Wayne deflected it with a vertical block while parrying and dodging her follow up slashes before they locked weapons. "And what'll you do now, I wonder," said Glass, "use that illusionary phantom dance of yours alongside that double-bladed staff?"

"Lady for the last time!" Said Wayne as he forced apart their weapons lock, "I don't know who or what this Armory Hero guy is, my name ain't Darius Saxon and I don't know who you are. So if you don't mind, I'm trying to find my friends right now and I ain't got time to waste trading blows with an angry fan lady!"

"You're looking for your friends too," said another voice as a man wearing a red shirt with brown leather armor and a black scythe landed next to Glass, "well let me ask you this, were they kidnapped by a guy wearing a green cape with a shield on his arm?"

"The only guy I know who fought with a shield on his arm is dead," replied Wayne, "unless the one who kidnapped your friend was an old man with a lion's tail."

"Nope, I call him Shield Kiddo," replied the Man, "and you don't seem to recognize me, either."

"Should I," said Wayne with a raised eyebrow, "I ran into a lot of people in Mistral including a fan dancer or two, but I'd remember if I ran into a scythe wielder given that I've only met about two in my whole life."

"And what proof do we have that you're not lying," said Glass with narrowed eyes.

"I think I might be able to help," said a blue-haired girl in leather armor as she stepped out from behind glass and held up a green jewel. "Bejewled Ruby Revealing Light!" Wayne had to cover his eyes as the stone glowed brightly for several moments before quickly fading. "I think that answers quite a few questions right there."

"That depends, what did you do to me just know," said Wayne as he felt a couple parts of his stomach and arm.

"'Revealing Light', as its name implies, dispells any small to medium illusions on a target," she explained, "so unless you possess illusionary capabilities far above those of our foes, this is your true form we're currently seeing right now."

"That's kind of what I've been saying this whole time," said Wayne as he swapped his weapons to SMG form and placed them back in his holsters, "I've met a couple of people who can cast illusions, but I can't actually cast any myself. Come to think of it, is dispelling illusions your semblance?"

"I can do many things with the bejeweled magic I wield," she said, "but one thing that I don't require it for is a proper introduction. I am Therese Alexandrite, and these are my companions, L'arc Berg and Glass."

"Wayne Ursario," he introduced as he shook Therese's hand followed quickly by L'arc's. Glass didn't seem too interested in shaking hands until the scythe wielder lightly hit her on the shoulder.

"I think you have something you want to say, Glassy," said L'arc as he and Therese both gave her an expectant look. The Fan Wielder didn't look too happy with their request but sighed before bowing.

"Please forgive my hasty actions, Wayne Ursario," she said, "a good friend of mine recently disappeared around a similar time as this location appeared and you happened to bear somewhat of a resemblance to an enemy of ours."

"Guess I can't blame you for being a little wound up if that's the case," said Wayne, "I just came from a battle myself that saw several of my friends scattered to who knows where, so I can understand where you're coming from."

"What caused the disappearance of your friends?" Questioned Therese.

"A piece of utter filth by the name of Cinder Fall," replied Wayne, "I don't know if she's still alive after our last encounter, but I do know she's responsible for me, my brother and several of my other friends being lost in some kind of void. As you've probably guessed, that's how I wound up wherever here is."

"Maybe we can help each other then," said L'arc, "the more eyes and ears we got means it'll be possible to cover more ground, and we might come across your friends while we're at it."

"Well given who I might be up aganst I can't really afford to turn down help at this point," said Wayne as he scratched his chin, "this is at least the second time that woman's nearly killed me in single combat and I'd be in no shape to take her right now if I ran into her."

"Perhaps I can help with that," said Therese as she held up another jewel close to his chest and concentrated, causing a glow to emit from it. "Hmm, you have suffered a fair bit of damage but it seems to be healing on its own. Though this internal damage is a little troubling, it's almost like a curse but not quite."

"If it's negative energy, that's self-inflicted," said Wayne, "one of my other tricks comes with a price of sorts. As for my healing wounds, that's my aura. Does your aura not heal you?"

"I'm not sure what this 'aura' you're referring to is," admitted Therese, "I just wield the magic of my jewels."

"'Magic', you say," repeated Wayne, "it seems we have a lot to talk about on that subject."

"You can talk along the way," said Glass, "we still have a job to do while we're here."

"She's right about that," admitted L'arc, "so while we're at it, why don't we swap a few stories."

Now

Darius summoned a falchion-like sword which clashed with the sickles of his unknown enemy while everyone else split off to face their respective opponents. Glass engaged both Rifana and Johann while Naofumi, Raphtalia and Filo took on L'arc and Therese. Though the Armory Hero quickly found he had to keep focused as he exchanged blows with his current opponent, noting that he possessed not only a large degree of strength and speed but skill as well. He just barely dodged a blow aimed at his side before ducking under a shot aimed for his head.

He attempted to counter by switching out his current sword for his bladestaff in midspin, hoping to catch his foe by surprise with a couple of jabs and low diagonal strikes. "Now I'm starting to get it," said the Sickle Wielder, "guess the two of us do have a couple of similarities." He made his point by joining his sickles together into his own bladestaff.

"And I'm starting to get what it feels like to meet a copycat," replied Darius as they exchanged a couple more blows, "who in the world are you supposed to be anyway?"

"Wayne Ursario," he said as he scored a kick in Darius's midsection, "at least that's what they call me in my world. This is kind of a first for me."

"So you aren't from Glass's world then," said the Armory Hero as he summoned his mask and leapt back into the fray, this time pushing Wayne back thanks to the sudden increase in his attack coordination before shoving him away with a blow from the center of his weapon, "but you don't appear to be a hero either. Doesn't that mean you'd have a problem with all of us, including Glass's group?"

"My world doesn't have this 'Wave' phenomenon like your worlds do," replied Wayne, "we do have an immortal witch who's just as bad, though. I'm mostly tagging along with Glass's group because I want to know one thing." He leapt forward then as they clashed weapons, "are you the ones responsible for Kizuna Kazayama's disappearance!" Darius's response to that was to open three portals above his and Wayne's head, forcing him to back off to avoid the three spears that came out of them.

"Kizuna's missing," said the Armory Hero as the weapons retreated back into their portals, "when did this happen?"

"I thought that was the case," said Wayne as he pulled out a card with what looked like a penguin on it, "this has Kizuna's scent on it but I don't smell even a hint of it on you, just weird smelling rabbit. Judging by what I overheard you and your party say earlier, you haven't been in this place very long, so anything you might've done to Kizuna would've been done recently."

"Try just a little while ago," said Darius, "we were in the middle of a monster clearing job when we stumbled onto the entrance to this place. And we'd have no reason to keep Kizuna alive if we had run into her, at least according to the rules of this whole Cardinal Hero thing."

"Well you clearly don't have a trap planned given that we found you first," said Wayne, "or if you do it's one of the worst traps I've ever seen."

"Believe me if this were a trap it'd be a lot more organized," replied Darius, "so, since you know we aren't the guilty party here, what are we gonna do about it?"

"What else can you summon with those portals of yours?" Questioned Wayne. Darius's reply to that was to smirk before explaining. Meanwhile at the other fights, Naofumi kept using airstrike shield along with shield switch to keep summoning different obstacles for L'arc to cut through or trip him up. Naturally Raphtalia would strike whenever she saw an opening before using her illusion magic to hide again. While a good strategy, it was often interrupted by Therese bombarding the field with the blue flames of Bejewled Ruby Blaze which forced Raphtalia to retreat back towards Naofumi while L'arc would remain unharmed.

As for Rifana and Johann, the dragon emperor candidate kept to the skies, shooting both lightning and blue flames at Glass who blew through them most of the time with her own attacks. This would occasionally leave her open, though, to attacks from Rifana who would come in swinging with her mace whenever she saw an opening or added some of her own fire magic to boost Johann's attacks. She even tried using her earth magic to sink Glass into the ground at one point, but the Fan Hero was too quick and blasted herself out. "You're a lot more annoying than the first time I met you," said Glass, "but don't think that'll stop me from wringing answers out of you!"

"And like I've said a dozen times now, I don't know where Kizuna is!" Rifana shot back as she and Glass locked weapons, "and why would we even need to kidnap her anyway? It's not like we weren't going to fight again when the next wave hit."

"Who else has the capability to capture Kizuna," said Glass as they broke their weapons lock. The Fan Hero then leapt back to avoid another lightning blast from Johann. "She is the Hunting Hero, even with her handicap she's still capable of handling herself."

"Believe me I know," said Rifana, "but none of us even knew she was missing until you said something."

"Regardless," said Glass as she assumed her wide stance, "you will tell me what you do know. Zero Stance Rondo-."

"SCATTERING MOONLIGHT!" "PHALANX WALLL!" Exclaimed two of the fighters as several glowing orbs came falling seemingly out of the sky. At the same time, eight portals opened with large shields in front of all the fighting groups as the orbs impacted on the ground, causing several small explosions. This turn of events was enough to bring the fighting to a pause as everyone looked to see what was going on. While most recognized the ability 'Phalanx Wall', no one currently there had seen the technique 'Scattering Moonlight'.

The portals disappeared then as Darius and Wayne leapt inbetween everyone. "Alright, it's pretty clear there's been a misunderstanding," said the Armory Hero as he faced his friends with his hands up.

"What's the meaning of this Ursario," said Glass, "are you siding with them now?"

"I technically don't have a dog in this fight, at least not anymore," replied Wayne as he pulled out the card with the penguin on it and tossed it to the Fan Hero, "I've determined that these folks aren't the ones responsible for Kizuna's disappearance and they don't seem to know what happened to my friends either."

"And I don't know what's going on," said Johann as he landed and transformed back into his child form with a raised hand, "Boss, who's this guy and what's he talking about?"

"Oh right, I forgot," he said before taking a small bow towards Naofumi and the others, "my name is Wayne Ursario. On my world I'm what's known as a huntsman. And through a series of somewhat complex circumstances, I've wound up here looking for my other friends. When I ran into Glass's group here and found out they were also looking for a friend I decided to tag along and see if you guys might know anything about either situation."

"Well we haven't seen Kizuna since the last wave," said Raphtalia, "and all of you are the first people we've seen since finding one of these portals just a little while ago."

"Still doesn't change the fact that we've got our own mission to take out the heroes," said L'arc, "though what I want to know right now is what you plan to do, Wayne?"

"Like I said I don't really have a dog in this fight," he reminded him, "my own world is in danger so I can't waste a lot of time getting wrapped up in other people's affairs. So why don't we call it a draw for now and-no, no it can't be." Wayne whipped his head towards the walkways on the other side of the platform they were on. Johann and Filo also looked in that direction with narrowed eyes.

"Master," said Filo, "I smell something terrible coming this way, and there are a lot of them."

"Oh I smell it now too," said Rifana as she and Raphtalia covered their noses, "it's like fur, blood and tar all mixed together." In the next minute, several black creatures with what appeared to be skeletal armor began arriving on the platform. They were in all shapes and sizes resembling sabertoothed tigers, monstrous wolves, black griffons, large scorpions, silverfishes, small dragons and even some type of black skeletons.

"What," said Therese, "what in the world are these creatures?"

"They're coming up as 'Grimm'," said Naofumi as he and everyone else began backing up until they were all in an outward facing circle, "and they got a whole bunch of subcategories."

"And every one of them is a problem," said Wayne as he drew his own weapons, "these are the creatures of Grimm, from my world."

"I thought you said the portal to your world collapsed shortly before you fell in here," said Glass, "how did these monsters manage to get in?"

"This is just a theory on my part," said Wayne, "long story short my friends used something called 'the Staff of Creation' to make a system of portals all leading into a type of inbetween space that led out to a whole nother kingdom. We were evacuating two cities under siege from the Grimm you see here, so when we created the portals we had the maker put in a security measure that would send these monsters somewhere else. We didn't care where so long as they didn't wind up in a place they could hurt anyone."

"Any chance they don't want to hurt us," asked Rifana, "because I see an awful lot of drooling coming from some of them."

"These soulless creatures exist for only one purpose," said Wayne, "to bring death to any person they find. So don't feel the need to hold back because they won't."

"Then let's get this party started!" Exclaimed L'arc as he struck first at a group of Sabyr Grimm, "Skybound Wheel Swing!" The tornado-like attack engulfed the creatures, tearing them apart and sending them away.

"Freezing Javelin," said Darius as he opened five portals above his head and fired several projectiles that instantly froze wherever they hit, including the bodies of the Beowulf Grimm.

"Therese," said Glass as she held up her fans. The jewel sorceress understood immediately and cast a spell with her blizzard jewel in conjunction with her ally's fans. "Combination attack: Reverse Hail Seasons!" The approaching group of Grimm in front of them were shredded by both yellow energy blades and fast-moving hail. "They aren't too terribly strong," said Glass, "but there are quite a lot of them."

"No kidding," said Rifana as she slammed her mace on the ground, "Sand Trap!" She turned the immediate ground in front of her into quicksand, trapping several of the smaller Grimm but not the larger Deathstalkers as they attempted to rush her. Fortunately, Johann flew above and fired a couple of fire balls at the armored Grimm, slowing them down long enough for Filo in her bird form to leap in and slam her foot down on them, cracking their shells and obliterating their heads.

"Airstrike Shield, Second Shield," called Naofumi as he formed some platforms for Raphtalia to leap off of where she cut down a couple of Teryx Grimm attempting to strike from above. As for Wayne, he shot down any Grimm that got too close with his Crescent Fangs.

"No way, you got gun blades," said Darius as he swapped his bladestaff out with a halberd to cut down a Griffon Grimm.

"My Crescent Fangs have three forms," explained Wayne as he switched them to sickles to cut through more Sabyrs before sending out a couple of spinning energy blades with his feet, "SMG, sickle and bladestaff."

"And that move you just pulled used some sort of internal energy, didn't it," said Darius as he impaled a Teryx with some spears from his portals, "I'm guessing it has to do with what you called 'aura'?"

"My semblance," explained Wayne as he sent out another Scattering Moonlight technique, "I don't even need the weapons to generate it, but it's just easier for me to send my attacks out through them since I've already got them." 'That explains why I can't copy any of those attacks,' thought Darius, 'they're not linked to his weapons, so he's basically casting magic like a mage would conjure a fireball in their hand. If the power came from his weapons or he absolutely needed the weapons for an attack, then I could copy it. But there is one thing I can copy.'

The Armory Hero stored his current weapon and held out his hands as he conjured two black and white versions of Wayne's Crescent Fangs. "Here goes," said Darius as he opened fire at the nearest Grimm, a small pack of Sulfur Fish. His aim was haphazard and inexperienced at first, but he quickly got the hang of it as he managed to take out the entire group. "I can't believe it, I can copy guns, I can copy guns!"

"Yeah laugh it up ya lucky bastard," grunted Naofumi as he deflected a rain of feathers from a Nevermore before Johann shot it down with a blue fireball.

"Try not to get too excited," said Wayne as he cut through another couple of Beowulves, "or your aim might jump all over the place."

"I already got a solution for that," said Darius as he summoned his mask before switching his replicas into sickle mode. He and Wayne moved forward then, slicing through several more Sulfur Fish and Sabyr Grimm before both delivered a kick to an Ursa which had reared up on its hind legs.

"So you do have photographic reflexes," said Wayne, "makes me miss another friend of mine."

"What are you friends with the Taskmaster or something," quipped Darius while shooting down some smaller Nevermores. Wayne was about to answer but before he could, he and much of the rest of the group collapsed to their knees.

"What is…what's going on," said Rifana as she tried to stand, "I feel…like I really don't give a shit right now."

"I think that's how we're all feeling," said Johann as he and Filo landed before transforming back to their human forms, "I'm just…really tired now."

"We're getting afflicted with a status effect," said L'arc with a yawn, "it says…Apathy."

"Ah not those assholes," groaned Wayne, "they….sap your will to go on. Pretty soon…you won't even care if you die."

"That sounds," said Darius as another strange feeling came over him, "a lot like…. Sloth." His right band changed to the band of Sloth then as his cursed series activated, causing his mask to completely cover his head and sprout an antler out the right side. He held up his hand then, conjuring four dark grey portals that fired off several arrows into the crowd of approaching Apathy Grimm. Upon landing, the arrows began to emit a black smoke among the Grimm that caused them to, fall over?

"Sloth Series: Cursed Smoke of Lethargy," said Darius with a partially distorted voice, "or in this case, ten tons of irony."

"No kidding," said Wayne as he stood up, his body now emitting some of the black, rolling mist of the Aura Shadow as he fired off several shots into the Apathys that didn't get hit by the arrows and smoke, quickly putting an end to the skeletal Grimm. "I'm just glad I've built up something of a defense against that type of negativity. How about everyone else, y'all okay?"

"I feel more irritable now," said Glass as everyone else stood back up, "to think there are creatures capable of mimicking some powers of the Sloth Series."

"Good news is they're gone now," said L'arc as he stretched a bit, "and I'm honestly feeling great at the moment. Who wants to run out with me and see if we can't find more of these things?" He received an answer to that question but not one that he was expecting. A Grimm resembling a fat alien and a white centipede fused together suddenly burst from the ground at the other end of the platform, a Cenitaur. It was followed shortly after by a few Centinel Grimm and the arrival of some Manticores led by a Sphinx.

"You just had to say something, didn't you," groaned Naofumi as the collection of Grimm started to advance, until something strange happened. Several tentacles suddenly shot out from the back of the Sphinx, grabbing onto the manticores, Centinels and Cenitaur. The Grimm all shrieked in surprise as they were pulled together by the smaller, squid-like Grimm on the Sphinx's back.

"Now what in the world's happening," said Filo while waving her arms, "why is it getting even grosser?!"

"The tentacle Grimm on that Sphinx's back is a possession type," explained Wayne as the Grimm all started to fuse, "this particular one can possess organic matter. My friends fought a similar one that fused four King Taijitu into a giant, eight-headed snake Grimm."

"Then what in the world is this thing turning into?!" Exclaimed Rifana as a body started to form out of the mismatch of Grimm parts. It had the head of the Sphinx Grimm with a much larger, lion-like body that was covered in insectoid plating on the back and legs. Where its wings used to be were four tentacles made from the bodies of the Centinels, each one possessing the head of a manticore at the end. Topping off this new, terrifying foe was a long, white-plated tail with the head of a Cenitaur at the end. The Grimm fusion let out a roar that sounded like the mix of an insect and a lion, seeming to shake the platform with its intensity.

"Ah now that's just bullshit," said Darius as he got the readout on what his HUD was dubbing the 'Centinel Sphinx'.

"Everyone heads up," warned Naofumi as the Manticore heads all lit up with flames in their mouths. The Armory Hero had just enough time to switch to his copied siderite shield as he moved in front of the group with Naofumi. The Manticore heads unleashed a barrage of fireballs in their direction then as the two cardinal heros raised their shields. "Meteor Shield!" They exclaimed as a pair of barriers surrounded them and the two groups.

The fireballs impacted with a terrific amount of force, buffeting the double-layered shield in both flames and heat. But the barrier just managed to hold long enough, breaking shortly after the barrage ended. Glass, Wayne and L'arc didn't wait for the Grimm amalgamation to try another attack as they all leapt up. "Zero Stance Rondo: Reverse Four Seasons!" "Skybound Wheel Swing!" "Moonlight Javelin!"

The Centinel Sphinx roared in pain as it was struck by a miniature tornado filled with energy blades and armor piercing javelins. The triple attack was enough to make it fall to its knees but not enough to keep the Grimm from counterattacking with more fireballs aimed at the two groups. "Scatter," said Naofumi as he blocked some of the fireballs with his shield. Darius returned fire by launching ice-coated spears and javelins from some of his portals while Johann took flight and fired a blast of lightning at their foe.

The Grimm fusion covered its face with its tendrils to block the brunt of the attacks before whipping its tail around and spraying a line of acid at them. Thankfully, Filo was there in her bird form to kick the tail, knocking its aim off course as it retreated back to its original position. "No fair, I wanted to spit acid too," whined the Filolial Queen before leaping back to avoid a couple of tendril swipes. She was apparently still a little sore about how her class upgrade went. While this was happening, Raphtalia and Rifana had slipped in close to the beast using the former's illusion magic.

Once they were close enough, the illusion was dispelled as each of the girls assaulted the back legs of the Grimm with their weapons. The Centinel Sphinx roared in anger as it stomped the ground below, forcing the demihumans out from under it. "Bejeweled Blizzard," said Therese as she conjured an icestorm which assaulted her target with frozen projectiles. This succeeded in drawing its attention to her as both L'arc and Wayne attacked one of the manticore heads with energy slashes.

The two blows succeeded in slicing off the head of that particular tendril as Darius, using his replica legendary sword, and Glass attacked next. "Rupture Stance Rondo: Tortoise Shell Cracker!" "Hundred Swords!" Lances of purple energy were joined by blue energy swords which rained down on the Grimm's right side, succeeding in cutting off another couple of the manticore heads. It also succeeded, however, in pissing off the Centinel Sphinx as it let out a roar while stomping its feet, causing much of the ground to crack around it, unsteadying its prey.

It then proceeded to shoot numerous fireballs around the area in a random pattern, including from the now regenerating tentacles! "Regeneration?! Are you kidding me," said Naofumi as he blocked more of the fireballs while also throwing up airstrike shield after airstrike shield to help take the brunt of the attacks off everyone else. Darius assisted in this endeavor by summoning several shields with his portals which hung in the air to provide cover. Unfortunately, this respite was exactly what the Grimm Fusion had been looking for as it charged forward towards the group.

Everyone scattered to avoid the large beast, though Therese, Raphtalia, Johann and Glass were still struck and sent flying by its tendrils. Naofumi was forced to activate his shield prison around himself to keep from taking a full hit by the Grimm's massive paw, though he was still sent rolling across the floor for several feet. "Harpoon Chain!" Exclaimed Darius as he dissolved his current weapon and slammed his hands on the ground, opening a large portal in the air which fired harpoon-tipped chains that impaled all four tentacles and the tail of the beast. "If anyone's got a good combo, nows the time to use it!"

"L'arc," said Rifana as the Grimm Amalgamation struggled against the chains, "can you use fire in a combination attack?"

"Just light me up and watch," replied the Scythe Wielder. Rifana nodded before doing a quick chant. Normally she'd use this one to surround her own weapon with fire, but in this case, she transferred the flames to his scythe. "Alright here goes, Combo Skill: Flaming Wheel Swing!" He sent a flaming tornado out towards the Mutant Lion Grimm, striking it with full force as it roared in agony. The attack succeeded in leaving several cuts and burns on the monster, but the cuts were still regenerating.

At this point, Wayne leapt up with his bladestaff at the ready and performed a one-handed thrust, firing an arrow-shaped projectile at high speed which tore into the Grimm's hide in an instant. But even despite the damage to the beast, the attack still didn't dig quite deep enough. "Damn, it's hide has too many layers for just me to cut through," seethed Wayne. Adding on to the bad news, the Centinel Sphinx finally shook free from its bindings and fired both fireballs and acid at them this time.

"So do you remember how your friends dealt with that eight-headed snake back in your world," asked Darius as he conjured a replica legendary bow and fired it while running.

"They accelerated a high caliber sniper round with some glyphs and destroyed the possession Grimm holding it together," replied Wayne as he activated the lightning dust rounds in his SMGs and started firing. He wasn't sure how the dust was still working outside of Remnant's atmosphere, but if he had to guess it likely had to do with some of the gateways still being connected to his home. Either way it was working and he wasn't complaining. "It's usually in the center of the fusion it creates."

"I take it that shot you took earlier was supposed to kill it," surmised Darius.

"That had been the plan," said Wayne as they both dodged out of the way of one of the tendrils, "but it's gonna take more power than I thought to pierce its hide. Problem is it takes me longer to charge up that amount of energy and I've used a good bit already today."

"Then perhaps we can help," said Glass as she and Naofumi came into step next to them, "you're not the only one with a piercing attack, remember? The Armory Hero and I both possess Tortoise Shell Cracker."

"And I've been wondering something," said Naofumi, "are all those energy attacks linked to your weapons?" Wayne actually smirked at this question.

"As a matter of fact, they're not," said Wayne, "with a little concentration, I can run my semblance through just about any weapon."

"Then I think we got a plan," said the Shield Hero as the group quickly conversed with each other before splitting up to relay some instructions to their party members.

"Rifana," said Darius, "get on Johann and take to the air. You guys, Raphtalia and Filo will need to keep this thing busy for a moment."

"On it," said the Weasel Girl as she leapt up and landed on Johann's back before he gained some altitude while alternating between lightning breath and fire breath. Raphtalia mimicked this maneuver and leapt up onto Filo's back, holding on tightly as she accelerated and jumped into the air as the duo kicked and slashed at the tendrils that came at them. Wayne assisted by firing both his weapons and a few energy blades at the Grimm. The Centinel Sphinx growled in disapproval as it shifted its focus to them, shooting off fireballs and acid as it went while also stomping its feet whenever they got too close.

"Alright guys," said Naofumi as he blocked a stray fireball with his shield, "time to slow it down." Darius, Therese, L'arc and Glass all stood in formation behind him.

"Here goes," said the Armory Hero as he summoned his signature mystic ax, "Raisetsu Arashi!" Ordinarily he'd use both the lightning and ice attack, but in this case, he settled for the ice attack.

"Combo Skill," said Glass and L'arc as Therese cast her Bejeweled Blizzard spell on both their weapons, "Reverse Hail Seasons!" "Skybound Wheel Blizzard!" The others pulled away from the Grimm Fusion as it was bombarded by a practical snow hurricae attack which quickly froze its entire body along with much of the area around it.

"Raphtalia," said Naofumi, "you and the others get the tentacles!" An affirmative was heard from the two warrior maidens along with the mounts as they went to work smashing through the tendrils and tail of the Centinel Sphinx. At the same time, Wayne leapt over Naofumi and stood in between Glass and Darius, the latter of which summoned his Replica Vassal Fans.

"You two ready," questioned Wayne as he holstered his weapons. By this point, the Centinel Sphinx was already starting to break free of the ice encasing it and would soon grow back its lost appendages.

"Ready as we can be given that we've got no idea whether or not this'll work," replied Darius as he and Glass mirrored each other by producing energy swords from their right and left fans respectively. They then proceeded to lay their fan's jeweled sections over one another, causing the energy blade to join together into one and grow larger. Wayne added to this by putting his hands on the two fans, running the energy of his semblance into the construct. It didn't take it long to turn into an indigo color, and none too soon given that the Grimm had just broken free.

"Everyone get clear!" Ordered Glass as she and Darius readied themselves, "together now: Rupture Formation Rondo: Lunar Shell Breaker!" The platform shook as the attack was unleashed and a multi-pronged bolt of energy was sent forward at highspeed towards their target. The Centinel Grimm attempted to counter it with a fire ball from its own mouth, but it was quickly extinguished as the energy bolt tore through the flames and the internals in its body before blasting out the other end and destroying the main walkway to the platform behind it. The result was a Grimm manifestation with a giant, white hot searing hole in its body.

It didn't move for a moment, almost as if it hadn't registered what happened. Then the dying creature roared as it flailed its tendrils around, shooting off a few more fireballs and acid before collapsing to the ground with a resounding thud. The two groups waited for a moment to approach it, but once Wayne saw that the Grimm was now dissolving instead of regenerating, he breathed a sigh of relief. "That should do it," said Wayne, "keep an eye out for any more Grimm, obviously, but this fight is over."

"Yay we did it!" Cheered Johann and Filo, transforming back into their child forms after dropping off Rifana and Raphtalia. The two girls wasted little time in running to their respective heroes with Rifana embracing Darius happily while Raphtalia gave Naofumi a much quicker, more reserved hug. "By the way, can we still eat this thing?"

"I'm afraid all Grimm corpses fade away on death," replied Wayne, "give it about a minute and there won't be much of anything left to eat." He got a couples of 'AAAAAWWW's in response to that but smiled nonetheless before catching a fleeting glimpse of something, or rather someone, familiar to him in the image of one of the portals. 'It couldn't be,' he thought before sniffing the air, 'but I'd know that scent anywhere. I must've missed it initially because of all the Gri-CRAAAAAAAACK!' The heroes and their groups all looked at where the source of the noise came from, noting that the area where the dead Centinel Sphinx was had begun collapsing.

"Oh that's not good," said L'arc, "why is it breaking apart?!"

"That last attack," said Raphtalia as she strained her ears, "it and the rest of the battle must've destabilized the whole platform. Now it's all gonna collapse!"

"Everyone," said Naofumi, "let's get out of here!" No one argued as Johann and Filo transformed, allowing their respective heroes and party members on as Glass's group started back towards another of the walkways.

"Wayne," said Darius, noting the Hunstman was still staring at one of the portals, "we need to go!"

"You go," said Wayne as he turned to them with determination in his eyes, "I've found the door I've been looking for." He broke into a run then, his body enveloped in the Aura Shadow as his speed increased greatly. Darius swore as Filo and Johann took off into the air and up the platform they'd come in on, racing as quickly ahead of the collapse as they could. Glass's group, meanwhile, broke into a run as L'arc scooped up Therese before they all leapt up to the next walkway and back towards where they originally entered from.

The last anyone saw of Wayne Ursario, he was diving through the air and into the portal as it collapsed into the void below. But even as the Cardinal Heroes and their parties exited the portal they'd originally come in from and watced it collapse, they somehow knew the Huntsman had made it to his destination, and to the one he loved.

Whew, now that crossover tale was a bit longer than I expected, but I hope it was fun regardless. And fear not, I intend to work on my Demon Slayer and A New Crusade IF chapters next, so just keep an eye out for them. And as always feel free to let me know what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. For those wondering who haven't read my RWBY story: The Adventures of Team WA, that was my OC Wayne Ursario who recently fell into a void in the most recent chapters. I also put in a couple of other references, how many did you spot? And once again be on the lookout for the continuation of Armory of the Forgotten Hero as once again it shall resume shortly after I finish up my Demon Slayer fic. 'Til then.