The Madness In the Mist

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of Armory of the Forgotten Hero! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving because now our heroes are headed into enemy territory to seek out the mastermind behind all their recent troubles. And, time for an announcement, I've worked out a time and it looks like I'll be resuming Hailstorm Vol. 2 either late this week or early next week, so keep an eye out for it. Also, feel free to check out my book, Plains Riders, on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited! Anywho, now that that's out of the way and we seem to have no guest review questions this week, let's get to the chapter!

Royal Castle of Sikul: War Room

The cardinal and vassal heroes all stood around a map spread out on a wide table. Yomogi was currently scanning over it with her eyes while Rifana and Raphtalia stood to the side, mostly to supervise Johann and Filo who were playing with Raph-chan and Rina. Of course, 'playing' in this sense was threatening to pull the curtains off the wall. "So that's the location of Kyo's mansion," Naofumi observed as the green-haired swordwoman's finger landed on a particular spot in the country of Label.

"It is," Yomogi confirmed, "he purposely located it a fair distance from the capital. He said he didn't trust the security there and that'd it be easier to defend ourselves if we were hard to find. He also strengthened the mansion to be like a fortress and filled the woods with a fog that misleads anyone trying to find it."

"Sounds like a fitting place for someone who doesn't want their twisted experiments to be discovered," Naofumi commented with a smirk, getting a sour look from Yomogi.

"Naofumi," Darius said, "your analytical skill is welcome here but not the attitude, am I gonna have to send you to the corner with the other children?" The Shield Hero glanced over to where Filo and the others were, easily able to imagine the curtain they were hanging off of as him.

"So," he said in a more business-like tone, "is there a way to get into his mansion?"

"We use this," Yomogi replied as she produced a small round bell with tassels tied to it in a bow-knotted string and a kanji on the front. "This bell allows one to make it to the mansion without getting lost." An awkward silence fell over the group upon hearing this. "What, it works."

"You've actually used that thing before," the shield hero asked skeptically.

"Of course," Yomogi replied as if it was obvious, "I've used this bell countless times since I'm Kyo's bodyguard. It was working the last time I used it which wasn't even three days ago."

"Do you know whether or not he'd be able to turn those things off from a distance," Darius felt the need to ask, "that weapon you used was designed using a spirit tortoise familiar as a base so it could be controlled remotely. That bell, however, was created well before that."

"If it were just a couple days ago I could've given you a definitive answer," the swordswoman said before her eyes became a bit downcast, "now, though, all I can say is that it should work."

"I guess so long as it doesn't explode it's worth a shot," Kizuna admitted, "but just in case, do we have something else to combat illusions?"

"We have a Raphtalia," Darius offered, "she's actually seen through illusions before and can dispel them."

"Yeah she got us pretty good when we tried one on her," L'arc recalled, "so if nothing else we probably got that covered."

"I'll do my best," Raphtalia promised with a bow before going back to pulling Filo off the curtain.

"We still have the problem of Label mobilizing," Therese pointed out, "their movement has increased dramatically ever since we defeated Tsugumi and the others. No doubt they're aware the effort to capture the dragon hourglass failed."

"I'm guessing the country is using Raphtalia's possession of the vassal katana as an excuse to attack," Naofumi surmised.

"Unfortunately," the scythe hero confirmed, "Label's leader claims they'll withdraw their forces if we return the vassal katana to them."

"Not happening," Rifana declared, "that'd be the same as handing both Raphtalia and the vassal katana over to Kyo."

"We already informed them that it wasn't possible," Therese stated, "as you'd expect, they didn't take it well. Not that they were going to either way."

"Still, I'm sorry that I brought this on your kingdom," Raphtalia said with downcast eyes, "my presence here has caused far more trouble than we intended."

"It ain't your fault the vassal katana's got great tastes in wielders," L'arc laughed, "and the weapons don't care what the political climate is when they chose a wielder anyway. But even if you didn't wind up with the vassal katana Label would've found a reason to start a fight with us one way or the other."

"Indeed," Glass, who'd been silent up to this point, spoke up, "with Kyo in a position of power over there a conflict was inevitable. Fortunately, our troops are already mobilized and will be in position to meet the advancing enemies before they can cross into Sikul. We've sent our best, most elite troops to hold them back, so we need only focus on our own battle."

"Best case scenario," Kizuna said, "if we take out Kyo then the rest of Label should back off. They've already lost the vassal katana and the loss of the vassal book will put them at a disadvantage militarily. At least in theory."

"Either way we need to take out Kyo," Naofumi stated with his arms crossed, "there's no telling what else he intends to do with the energy he stole." Everyone else nodded in the affirmative to this, save for Yomogi who still looked slightly conflicted.

Royal Capital: Blacksmith's Shop

"It wasn't easy," the owner of the shop informed, "but I managed to finish the entirety of your order in just two days." She was a tall woman with long red hair tied into a ponytail and sharp yellow eyes. She wore brown gloves and a type of grey coat which she tied up in a way that left her midriff exposed. Her blacksmith's pants were also hidden by a long white skirt. The most striking feature of her outfit was the white necklace with a red jewel in the center.

"I'm sorry I had to ask so much of you, Romina, but we've been short on time ever since I got back," Kizuna apologized. It turned out this woman was basically to the hunting hero what Erhard was to Naofumi and Darius: a master blacksmith of unrivaled skill who was willing to give a discount, at first, and an invaluable friend. They'd gone to her shortly before the festival had started after Glass, L'arc and Therese's return with a promise of good pay and an invite to the next big banquet. Thankfully Romina was a good sport despite missing the celebration, mostly.

"If this is a rush order I can only imagine what you'd do with plenty of time," Darius complimented as he examined his current outfit. He could tell that it used material from both of their worlds as he'd forgone his vest for a more sturdy looking leshen scarf cape and his chest armor had been replaced with with an almost Japanese-style brigandine chest plate that was grey in color. He retained the shoulder pads and greaves from Glass's world but with more elegant metal plating on them. She didn't upgrade any of his weapons but that didn't bother him too much since he knew she had her hands full enough with everyone else's stuff.

"Maybe it's me," Naofumi said while inspecting his armor, "but the chest piece seems a bit bigger than before." That was hardly the biggest change for him. He now sported a black and gold armor chest piece over a red underlayer. He also had a new, greyish-black cape with a red and white feathered collar that went down to his ankles. As for his chest piece, it resembled an upside down, gold fleur-de-lis with the purple dragon emperor piece in the center.

It's apparent designation was 'Barbaroi Armor +2 [Cursed]', complete with tiger stripes on parts of the main outfit. "That's because I used the crystal of the emperor dragon Kizuna defeated and combined it with your own. By using that crystal you shouldn't have any problem at all using that armor here. I also used the bones and skin of the emperor dragon and guardian beast to augment Armory Guy's gear too. Getting those two materials to work together was tough."

"No doubt," Darius said as he read the stats of his new 'Mystic Warrior' armor, "you should compare notes with our blacksmith some time. I get the feeling you two would get along great."

"Speaking of materials," Naofumi decided to ask, "what is this dragon emperor that Kizuna defeated?"

"He was the king of monsters a while back," the hunting hero explained, "he was the reason I was summoned to this world in the first place. Glass and I took him down and now we use his materials in our weapons."

"That explains some of those devastating abilities," the shield hero mused.

"But really,thank you for all your hard work," Raphtalia praised as she examined her new black and white sheath. She'd been using a normal one ever since they'd arrived in Sikul but it became obvious pretty quickly it wouldn't last long. This new one, however, was not only far tougher but also had a place for inserting gems into it. "And thank you Therese for lending me one of your gems."

"Think nothing of it," she assured, "I'm more than happy to give my friends a hand when they need it."

"Speaking of hands," Romina said as she indicated Johann, "I added some dragon emperor material to those gauntlets and greaves of his, and gave him some of our own enchanted clothing."

"This stuff feels awesome Boss," Johann complimented as he flexed his fingers in his upgraded gauntlets. His outfit now also resembled a blue karate gi top with no sleeves and longer blue pants. A white headband with a gold piece bearing the symbol of an oriental dragon also adorned his head. "But are we sure Filo's outfit is gonna work? They're practically pajamas."

"Filo pajamas to be exact," Romina confirmed as everyone looked at the white, Filolial-themed one-piece pajama suit, "but that's no simple sleepwear. It'll raise her attack power a bit so that she can actually fight again."

"Say you're right," Naofumi observed as he looked at the passive effects of the outfit, "she really could fight again with stat boosts like that." Whether or not Filo herself was impressed with it was hard to say as she kept examining her outfit with an 'oh' look on her face.

"Awesome," Kizuna praised, "you did a great job, Romina!"

"Don't thank me yet," the lady smith said as she pulled out a stack of papers, "wait'll you see the bill." The hunting hero took the papers, glanced at the price once before wincing and then quickly pushed them against L'arc's chest.

"Hey what gives?!" L'arc exclaimed as he looked at the bill.

"This one's on you, young master," Kizuna said matter of factly with a mischievous look on her face, "your nation's the one that's in danger, after all, so it's only fair the young master of Sikul pays."

"Gah, fine," the scythe hero groaned, "just go ahead and send the bill to the castle, Romina!"

"Wow, it really must be tough being the young master," the shield hero couldn't help but quip.

"I told you to quit calling me that already shield kiddo!" L'arc exclaimed in annoyance as everyone else simply laughed.

"I suppose this means we're ready to make final preparations," Glass observed, "take care of anything else you need too because the time for departure is upon us."

A Short Time Later: Sikul Castle Courtyard

"Ho-lee-shit!" Darius exclaimed as he and everyone else got a look at the transport they'd be using, "It's the Shera 2.0!"

"Not quite but I see why you'd compare it to that," Kizuna said with her arms crossed and a nod of her head. The transport was, expectedly, large only this time around Ethnobalt had altered it to a type of battle mode. In place of the white, elegant ship they'd rode before was now a ship who's back end more closely resembled that of a seafaring battleship with ten cannons on either side of its long neck, four on the rounded front and back of the ship's bottom and a final large cannon on the rounded head of the ship. Completing its appearance was the presence of six, bat-like mechanical wings on the bottom half of the ship and two, much larger main wings just in front of the ship's bridge.

"I'm surprised to hear that you're going into battle with us, Ethnobalt," Naofumi noted, "I thought transportation was your main thing."

"Whether or not combat is my main role I am still a hero," the vassal boat wielder pointed out, "and problems between heroes are usually solved by other heroes."

"We can probably use all the help we can get," L'arc mused, "especially since we don't know what Kyo's planning."

"Then if we're all set let's get going," the armory hero declared, "we got a mad scientist to stop and a war to prevent. It's gonna be a full day when we get there."

A Few Hours Later: Aboard the Vassal Boat

"Wow, we're so high in the air!" Filo cheered as she, Raphtalia and Therese looked out the windows lining the lower part of the ship.

"You seriously impressed by this," Johann asked skeptically, "you've been able to fly for a few days now."

"But Filo never went this high, everything looks so small!" She exclaimed excitedly, "look, they even have a big campsite down there!" Therese thought about telling her it was their soldier's camp but decided it was better to let her have fun for now. They'd have plenty of fighting to do before long.

"I often forget you and Filo haven't been in the air as often as us," Rifana realized as she spoke to Raphtalia, "you think Naofumi might not get jealous this time if Darius let's you aboard Johann?"

"Maybe if I'm alone or with him," Raphtalia replied, "but I think he has some paranoia about me being alone with Darius for too long."

"I want to say he's being ridiculous," Rifana admitted, "but fly around at the right time of day, just you and a nice guy, and it's pretty romantic. Come to think of it, why haven't you and him taken a romantic stroll on Filo?"

"Because Filo wants to spend time with master too," the winged girl cut in, "Filo also wants to do romantic things with master!"

"That's why," the raccoon girl said with a sigh, "Filo would get a little jealous. Come to think of it, where are Master Naofumi and Darius?" The answer, unfortunately, was having a far less pleasant conversation alone with another woman.

"So what seems to be the issue," the armory hero asked as he leaned against the metallic wall of the vassal weapon. The innards of the ship had a very steampunk like appearance to them, something he'd been appreciating until being pulled aside unexpectedly. "If you're revealing some kind of secret, Glass, I would've expected you to tell Kizuna before anyone else."

"It's something I've been wondering about revealing for a little while now," the vassal fan holder replied, "but I wasn't sure I should say it in front of everyone or tell Kizuna. After thinking about it I decided I should at least discuss it with someone."

"And you picked us because it's something sensitive," the shield hero surmised, "is this why you've been a little distracted since we've taken off?"

"It is," Glass confirmed, "I went to check on Tsugumi and her group before we departed and I found one of the girls trying to crawl down the hallway. She was a spirit person, like me."

"So one of them still thinks Trash 2 can be revived," Naofumi guessed in annoyance.

"I believe I may know the reason for her apparent hope," Glass said, "are you both familiar with the concept of a 'soul'."

"It's basically the spirit within a body," Darius said, "at least that's one interpretation."

"One thing that can be agreed on is that when a body dies that essence, the soul, leaves the body," the shield hero continued, "most call it a ghost if it lingers."

"You are both correct," she said before holding up her hand, "we spirit people can feel the souls of the dead closer than others, we can even see it. Because of this there are some among my people who don't consider physical death as a farewell. Despite that, a spirit person would not usually believe it if someone said a soul can be revived. But the way that woman acted, as if she was certain the soul of the man she once loved was there."

"It's not uncommon in fantasy stories for souls to be captured or linger in the world," Darius recalled, "I mean they spammed the shit out of reviving people near the end of Shaman King. Would it be possible to use magic to transplant a soul into a body in this world?"

"It would require the soul and its vessel," Glass replied, "at least in some theories I've heard. Normally returning a soul to a corpse would just be making undead, not a resurrection. But consider that he made something so convincing even one of my own people acknowledged the possibility of it working. I somehow doubt he'd go through all of that effort just to fool a few people into being his willing accomplices."

"You're right, Kyo wouldn't waste so much time and resources on something he could easily lie about unless there was something in it for him," Naofumi mused, "and he wouldn't waste time reviving an ally who not only completely failed him but was planning to turn on him at some point. Perhaps he had some sort of use for resurrecting a body but with a different-."

"Son of a bitch," the armory hero cursed in realization, "the asshole's pulling a damn body switch."

"Indeed," Glass voiced her own suspicions, "it's highly possible he intends to create the best vessel for himself and then reattach his own soul to it. Through such a method he can gain a type of immortality by transferring his soul to other vessels. He could survive even if his current vessel is destroyed."

"That Star Wars, Naruto, ripping off dickhead," Darius breathed out in annoyance, "I'll bet you the next body he jumps in has pale skin, yellow eyes, a snakelike tongue and shoots lightning out of its fingers."

"Putting that very specific description aside," Naofumi said, "that is bad news. I also see why you didn't want to tell everyone this, especially Yomogi."

"She wanted to go speak with Kyo and determine the kind of person he really is," Glass said as she pulled out one of her fans, "but I highly doubt he'll have an ear to listen to even a single word she says." She opened the fan to emphasize her next point. "That's why, I intend to end Kyo and I do not wish to be disturbed while doing so."

"You'll get no argument from us," the shield hero said, already knowing his friend's stance on the matter, "just thinking about what he's done, we'll help you every step of the way."

A Few Hours Later: Within the Territory of Label

"At the rate we're going," Ethnobalt announced as he peered at the gyroscope-like globe that was the vassal boat's controls, "we should be reaching our destination in an hour or so."

"It's honestly amazing we've made it so far without running into trouble," Kizuna mused aloud, "Sure we teleported in using 'Riding the Dragon Vein' and have gone on an out of the way route, but Kyo's supposed to be someone important, right?"

"He must be pretty confident in his own defenses," Therese surmised, "or perhaps they committed more forces to invading Sikul than we thought."

"You mentioned they had an airforce," Rishia said, "what kind of airforce?"

"Dragon riders," Yomogi answered, "they do not ride storm dragons like your companion, but rather dragons with feathered wings known as Ojutai." Before anybody could question her further on the matter, they were interrupted by Johann's voice from the outside deck of the ship.

"Hey boss! We got company!" He announced as most of the two parties rushed outside. They saw what Johann noticed almost immediately as several shapes became visible against the mostly clear sky.

"I think we just found those dragon riders you were talking about," Rifana commented as she readied her kanabo club. Glass, L'arc, Therese and everyone else with a ranged attack did the same as their winged adversaries continued to close in.

"Heh, dragon riders," Johann repeated with a smirk on his face, "let's show 'em what real dragon riding looks like, boss."

"Let's just try and hold them off long enough to get where we're going," Darius said as they approached the edge of the railing, and promptly jumped off.

"Wait," Yomogi exclaimed as she ran to the edge, "where do you two think-WHOOOSH!" That was when the armory hero flew by on a snakelike dragon with a highly decorated ax in his hand. "He….is no ordinary storm dragon."

"He was a flying dragon before we crossed into this world," Rifana explained, "but since they don't exist in this land he was turned into the closest species to the type of dragon he was. Hopefully his flying skills didn't undergo a drastic change too." It was a question that would get an almost immediate answer as the cardinal hero and his mount approached their foe, getting close enough to see the riders didn't wear armor but rather monk-like robes with some type of cloth coverings on their faces. The dragons were also snake-like with bird wings and antlers sticking out of their heads.

"Alright here goes," Darius announced as he held up Raisetsu, "as source of thy power the armory hero orders thee, decipher the laws of nature and coat my weapons in lightning. Lightning Arrow Storm!" Multiple portals opened up and fired a barrage of electrified arrows at the other dragon riders. A few of them got taken by surprise and were downed by the assault while the rest scattered.

"First wing remain here," ordered the apparent leader, who wore slightly more ornate robes along with a more decorated face-covering than the others, as he pointed his spear towards the vassal boat, "all remaining troops engage the enemy airship!"

"Guess we're gonna have our work cut out for us, boss," Johann noted as they turned around. The storm dragon fired a blast of lightning that took out another couple of riders who happened to be right in front of them. He would've fired again if a near miss from a diving enemy didn't cause them to veer off course. They dodged between two more who tried a pincer maneuver but weren't fast enough to catch up.

"We're just gonna have to deal with these guys first," Darius decided as he swung his weapon around in the air a few times, generating a blanket of snow that acted like a cloud in the air. The pursuing dragon riders fearlessly flew through it only to find their prey was suddenly out of sight. It didn't last long, though, as lightning came down from above. "Loopty-loop baby," the cardinal hero announced his maneuver as he flew by and slashed through both dragon and rider with Raisetsu.

"We still got a lot of guys on us," Johann noted as more came up behind them in pursuit, "you think we should head back to the others?" Their answer came in the form of a miniature tornado erupting from the deck of the vassal boat, followed by blue and orange flames off of either side along with energy blades of both purple and yellow. Adding on to that was the sound of the vassal boat's cannons going off. The mass combination of attacks took down numerous dragon riders at a time as they were forced to back off and regroup only to be repulsed by another intense barrage.

"I think they got things handled back there," Darius commented as he switched to his cardinal sword replica, "so let's just worry about taking out any stragglers, especially this bunch after us."

"Got it," Johann replied as they twisted and turned in the air, dodging around three more of the dragon riders before climbing straight up into the air.

"Alright here goes," the armory hero said as they stopped and hung in the air, his replica sword raised above his head. Their enemies were climbing towards them, spears at the ready. "Phoenix Blade!" A mass amount of flame was produced by his sword then, taking the shape of a giant bird that was larger than even the pursuing dragons before charging forth and burning through all of them, leaving little more than charred corpses plummeting to the ground far below. It would be only the first of several times he would pull such a maneuver.

An Hour Later: The Misty Forest

"Whew," the armory hero breathed out before leaping off of Johann as they landed on the deck of the vassal boat, "how's everyone doing down here?"

"Just having fun with the amazing welcome," L'arc replied back with a big smile and a thumbs up.

"What I think L'arc means is that we're fine," Glass spoke up, "enemies of that level are like swatting flies for us."

"Still it's strange," Rishia said as she watched what remained of the dragon rider force fly off into the distance, "we held them off for so long, why did they choose now to retreat?"

"It's because we've arrived," Yomogi announced from one of the entrances of the bridge, "the soldiers know if they venture too far into the misty forest, they'll be misled."

"So it even affects flying enemies," Rifana noted, "guess it's time to give that bell of yours a try."

"Yes, the mansion is close," the samurai girl agreed, "I shall lead us to it." Glass, L'arc and Therese decided to remain on the open deck while Darius and the others proceeded onto the bridge. It was there where Yomogi had again produced the bell and was holding it up. "Keep going straight," she instructed at the sudden sound of the bell.

Ethnobalt did as she asked and sent the ship into the massive cloud of fog hanging above the forest. The entire vessel seemed to be engulfed then as the mist surrounded them. 'I can't hardly see beyond the ship's deck,' Darius mused, 'it's like we're floating through an ocean of fog with no end in sight.' Silence reigned as everyone on board kept their eyes and ears peeled for even the slightest abnormality.

It would go on like this for a few minutes before Ethnobalt finally spoke up. "Do we keep going straight," he asked.

"Stay on course!" Yomogi ordered more forcefully than she probably intended, "Kyo's mansion should be visible soon." Darius moved up next to her, saying nothing as he peered out the window. Again silence would fall over everyone for a few minutes until, finally, the vassal boat emerged.

"We've broken through the mist," Ethnobalt informed, "have we arrived?" Yomogi and everyone else moved to look out one of the side windows. Below them was a forest edge, and nothing else.

"No," the swordswoman said in disbelief, "this is…..outside the forest. No, no, NOOO!" She slammed her fists against the window in frustration. "Did you really…have no expectations of me returning?" She rested her head against the window then as she tried to hold back tears while Darius placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Guess that confirms it," Naofumi said, "he can even turn those bells off at a distance. Oh well, it's not like we weren't prepared for that possibility."

"That means you're up Raphtalia," Rifana informed, "how you wanna do this?"

"I know not everyone is going to like this," the raccoon girl replied, "but we should go back into the forest, without the ship."

A Few Minutes Later: Misty Forest Floor

"Rafuu," Raph-chan chirped as she sniffed the air. Everyone else was looking around with their own weapons at the ready. Not counting the mist it seemed like an ordinary, pine tree covered forest, which was definitely the point.

"Yes, you sense it too, don't you Raph-chan," Raphtalia said as she patted the shikigami on the head. The group had discovered recently that not only did Raph-chan possess Raphtalia's eyes and some of her hair, but also some of her talent in the use of illusion magic. "Everyone, please stay close to Raph-chan and I." No one argued with her as the group proceeded through the forest, noting that about the only visible things were the closest trees and the ground right beneath their feet.

"So," Kizuna whispered to Naofumi and Darius, "what do you think the odds of us running into a nine-tailed fox out here are?"

"Hopefully pretty low," the shield hero replied, "I don't even want to think about what Kyo could do if he was allied with one of them."

"Well maybe we'll get lucky next time," Darius quipped, "who knows, maybe she'll hit on you instead."

"Oh don't remind me of the political marriage bit," Naofumi groaned, "sending in a fox girl is just the kind of stunt Siltvelt would definitely pull."

"That's weird," the hunting hero observed, "I've never had to deal with nobles sending marriage proposals to me before. Not unless they think I'm engaged to L'arc or some…oh great now I'm not sure I want to know why I haven't gotten any."

"Let's just worry about one problem at a time," the shield hero suggested, "after all, it looks like."

"We're here," Raphtalia announced as a large, vine covered metallic gate seemed to appear in front of them. Beyond it was an old, somewhat vine-covered mansion that wouldn't have been out of place in a horror movie.

"Good work Raphtalia," Naofumi praised, "I didn't expect anything less."

"Congratulations will have to wait," the vassal katana wielder stated as she drew her weapon, "they know we're here."

"And there are a lot of them," Filo said as she and Johann tensed at the smell of the numerous enemies awaiting them. Surprisingly, the gate opened inward, seemingly of its own accord, to admit them as their greeting party stepped forward.

"Should've known he had more waiting for us," the shield hero growled at the sight of who Kyo had sent against them. A sense of déjà vu washed over everyone as they looked at the collection of individuals with either tiger, reptile, or birdlike features. They were humans turned into beasts, just like Tsugumi's group.

"Darius," Kizuna signaled with a businesslike tone in her voice as she drew her weapon.

"I know," the armory hero replied as he produced a replica of her blade. The two sped forward in the blink of an eye then, the mystic steel of their weapons flashing as they tore through the three lead enemies with a flurry of cuts.

"Naofumi," the hunting hero signaled again as the shield bearer moved to check on the nearest one.

"It's worse than Tsugumi's was," he announced, "the beast transformation's spread too far. There's not enough human left for them to survive even if we're careful. The same probably goes for all of them."

"Then we're just dealing with monsters now," Kizuna sighed as she held her sword up, "no reason for us to hold back." The group was in agreement as they all charged and met the advancing enemy. Unlike Tsugumi's group they weren't armed with spirit tortoise weapons and were much more limited in their attack options. Thanks to this, the three hero parties were able to cut or smash their way through them with far more ease.

Even so, it was still taxing on everyone, knowing they were carving their way through what were likely once innocent people. Yomogi could only stand and watch for the longest time, her mind trying to process how the person she'd looked up too was capable of something like this. So distracted was she that she almost didn't notice one of the bird mutations coming up on her blindside. Just as she turned and reached for her sword, a barrage of projectiles tore into her attacker, filling them full of bloody holes as they fell to the ground dead.

"I'm afraid there's little that can be done for them," Ethnobalt said as the vassal boat hovered next to him. It had shrank substantially to half the size of a person, taking the form of an odd plane with two, blimp-like formations on either side of its top-half. Even more intriguing was the presence of a small rotary cannon hanging on its underside. "The best we can do now is grant them peace."

"Of course," Yomogi responded as the grip on her sheath greatly increased before relaxing slightly. She then placed her hand on her sword in resignation of what needed to be done before leaping into the fray. Her blade flashed across the battlefield with everyone else's then, cutting and slicing off whole limbs of their foes while decapitating others. Before long the ground was littered with the bodies of mutated humans, most of them dead with the remaining few soon to follow due to their wounds.

"Th-Thank…you," one of the tiger mutations managed to cough out before the life fully left her eyes.

"Forgive me, all of you," the samurai girl said quietly with her head bowed, "had I been a true servant of justice from the start, none of this would've happened."

"Yomogi," Rishia spoke up as she took her hand and placed a mystic tag in it, "I know you must feel horrible right now, but don't give in. That's what Kyo would want you to do. We all make mistakes in our lives, but what's important now is that you intend to make things right."

"This is," the samurai girl noted as she examined what she'd been given.

"You may wind up not using it," the magic wielder explained, "but if there does come a time to use it, I'm confident you'll know what to do." Yomogi nodded in understanding before a loud cackling suddenly drew hers and everyone else's attention.

"My, my what a mess you've made of my front yard," came the overly smug voice of Kyo as the doors to the mansion opened and the villain himself came strolling out, "I had hoped they'd put up a little more of a fight even without my prototype weapons but I guess not."

"I'd say you were getting sloppy," Darius commented, "but that implies you ever made anything worthwhile to begin with. I will admit, though, I'm surprised you had the balls to actually walk out to meet us, Darth Nina."

"What would you know about worthwhile," Kyo shot back with narrowed eyes, "the finest sith alchemist couldn't hope to pull off what I can."

"What, an unoriginal immortality scheme," Naofumi scoffed, "that happens often enough it's basically mainstream anime."

"As if you've never thought of it," Kyo growled, "even with knowledge from a young age and people flocking to me because of my skills I still had to carefully select the flies that buzzed around me. I worked long and hard to reach my current position and now this whole world moves to my schemes. But the one downside to all of it is that I can still die, game over, just like that. But I love this world, I don't want to let it go, so I'll create my own infinite game loop to exploit for all time-!"

"ENOUGH!" Yomogi yelled, interrupting his rant as she took a breath. "You just called the people around you 'flies', you just dismissed the death of all the people you sent out after us as if they were nothing. I thought your research was meant for more than this, for helping the world, that's what you told me! I followed you because I believed in that, believed in you and the amazing things you were able to accomplish. But I see now, you're just another criminal abusing their power, no different from the rest of them."

"You've got a lot of nerve comparing me to some common criminal!" Kyo sneered as his smile vanished completely. "You think you're better? You only followed me around all those years to satisfy your own ego, didn't you?! You just wanted to feel superior by standing next to me as I bathed in praise! People who say they're doing something 'for the people' or 'for the world' are really just in it for themselves! I don't believe there's anyone in this world who does things without caring about profits or losses!"

"Just look at you right now, betraying me and leading the enemy here the moment another guy gives you the time of day! I'll bet that walking junk shop even claimed he loved you, not that I care because you're just used goods anyway!" The madman finally stopped to take a breath as everyone wore looks of varying disgust on their face, save for Yomogi who's features were marked with nothing but sadness. That's when the armory hero responded, in his usual fashion.

"Wow, if I didn't know better I'd think you were jealous," Darius commented, "all we told Yomogi was the truth and you just confirmed it. Ain't our fault you're just another prick that spends too much time in his room thinking up ways to rule the world."

"I'LL SHOW YOU!" Kyo yelled in fury as he raised his hands in the air, causing the vassal book to open and float in front of him. Wind quickly began to pick up and swirl around him as he spoke again. "You all think you can lecture me on right and wrong but the one who shall save the world is me, by slaying the five cardinal heroes of the other world!" Pages flew out of the book then, most of which swirled in the air while some attached themselves to their weapons.

"What the shit," Naofumi cursed, "the timer on the Wave counter is going haywire!" Everyone else with a vassal or cardinal weapon noticed it too, how the clock was rapidaly counting down.

"Different worlds, different laws," the vassal book wielder chanted as the inside of the mansion began to glow, "different barriers, crush them all and bring forth the greatest phenomenon!" A bright light shot up from the book and into the sky then, causing it to distort. "DIMENSION WAVE!" Even without seeing it they knew, the dragon hourglass was activating as the sky seemed to shatter like a pane of glass.

"You've got to be kidding me!" L'arc exclaimed as he, Therese, Glass and Kizuna were all suddenly teleported away. What followed next, was the sky morphing into the all too familiar multi-colored ripples they'd all grown to dread.

"No," Yomogi said in disbelief as her eyes widened, "he said he wanted to prevent them with that energy. But he's using it now to cause one, a Wave."

Seems it's not just our heroes but an entire country now that has to deal with Kyo's machinations. What other tricks does he have up his sleeve? Whatever they are we'll surely find out next chapter, so in the meantime feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Also, do check out my book, Plains Riders, on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited! And the last note, look forward to the continuation of Hailstorm Vol. 2! Now feel free to stop in next time as our heroes battle through the many twisted experiments of the mad vassal book wielder! 'Til then.