Today was the day. My first Wave battle.

The armor I got from Baric last night was already on. It was a bit of a mishmash of armors. Thick metal scales over my left shoulder with smaller ones covering the rest of my upper body, going up to my wrists and just over my thighs. My legs were less armored, allowing me to move more freely. Still, there were moderately-sized metal plates fastened to hardened leather strips. It reminded me a bit of those Roman metal skirts, but wider and overlapping, resting around my knees. Grieves made of hardened leather for my shins and calves and light bracers for my forearms.

I couldn't say what monsters the leather parts came from, since they were red and didn't seem to be dyed. Most of the metal parts were shiny, almost like silver. It gave the whole set a very loud feel to it. Seemed appropriate for someone wielding an axe.

The best part? I could still get into this armor by myself. Well, okay, that wasn't the best part, but it was still good. The armor was pretty simple and easy to get on. Even in a rush, I could at least get the top on from a dead sleep and be somewhat functional in a few seconds. I just wouldn't be able to do anything too fancy or it would move all around.

"Ah. Can you feel the excitement in the air, little man?" Khana asked, her hammer leaning against her shoulder and a hand on her hip.

"Technically true." Looking around, I saw quite a number of people who were nervously moving about.

Preparations were made well in advance. Knights and adventurers were assembled and put in our parties, though in the battle formation part and not our direct parties. With no limit, we could bring as many people as we wanted without loss or sharing of XP.

Thanks to Khana and Lloyd, I'd gotten up to level 31 yesterday. And, my god, did getting that next level after 30 take a lot. Rato was at 27 and Hailey at 28. We were a bit more focused on training than grinding, but still. Getting with Naofumi—or any Cardinal Hero, really—would be paramount to my continued growth.

Speaking of Hailey, she still hadn't transformed. It was odd, since I didn't think it would take this long, but I couldn't actually remember the time it would take. It still didn't matter, but I found myself thinking about it regardless.

As a bonus, one of my weapon forms became available, and it had a skill with it.

Reinforced Iron Axe
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: skill "Cleave"

It allowed me to easily attack multiple nearby enemies with a single swipe. The only downside was it didn't seem to do any more damage than normal, but that was fine. I didn't expect the monsters I'd be fighting today to be all that strong, with maybe one exception.

Our strategy was simple. Before he left to not get caught up in the Wave, Lloyd told us he found the Wave boss close to the largest rift in the sky. That was confirmed by my goddess, saying that would be the likeliest place to find it. The two hero parties would get there as quickly as we could while the knights and adventurers would protect the people. Rato would be near Martin, protected by Khana's party. Khana, Hailey, and I would be at the front, killing as many monsters as possible. If circumstances permitted, Khana wanted to make a game out of how many monsters we each killed. Of course, keeping people alive was her first priority, like a true hero should.

Khana said her party would help keep any of the knights from looking too closely at Rato before the Wave, and after it. The alchemist was still concealing most of her face, so I wasn't too concerned, but there was the implicit expectation that I wouldn't kill any knights who discovered her. If need be, I suppose I could ask for a pardon for her as a reward, but I'd worry about that later.

As for my loadout, I was confident in my weapons.

Razor Fang Stalker Halberd +2 (5/15) C
(abilities locked) Equip Bonus: agility 3
Mastery Level: 10
Razor Fang Stalker spirit: increased flanking damage
Status Enchantment: attack 3

Steel Axe (awakened) +2 (6/10) C
(abilities unlocked) Equip Bonus: attack 2
Equip Effect: sharp edge, returning
Mastery Level: 50
Razor Fang Stalker spirit: increased flanking damage
Status Enchantment: attack 4

I had some junk items to use the Bow's Item Enchantment for some stats, but it wasn't much. I also didn't have enough energy with Mastery from all my other forms to awaken both, let alone increase their rarity, so I went with the one that I was better with. Plus, I gave the Steel Axe the returning effect from the Throwing Axe.

All in all, I was way ahead of where anyone would expect me to be. This was still Faubrey's first Wave, so I'd be fine. All I had to do was keep swinging my axe and things would go great.

"Sir Dante." Martin moved closer and talked in a quiet voice. "How confident are you in your abilities?"

"Fairly." I said honestly. "If we fight anything with real skill, I'll have some issue, but mindless monsters shouldn't be a problem."

"Hm." He nodded, looked at Khana from the corner of his eye, and motioned for me to lower my head to him. "Miss Khana likes to joke around a lot, but she's serous when people are in trouble. She might run off to help anyone nearby, so the plan might not last long. We've been trying to…temper that part of her, but it's hard to discourage that…"

"I understand." I gave him a pat on the shoulder, which seemed to surprise him more than it should have.

Khana was a hero. A real hero. I doubt she was chosen because of her height but instead for her character. The spirits had their own criteria, but they still looked for good people. A good person wouldn't leave the helpless to fend for themselves.

It did kind of feel pointless to come up with a plan, but I suppose it's the thought that counts. Regardless, Martin gave the rest of Khana's party a thumbs up, to which they nodded.

The timer ticked down. Support spells were cast. We were ready.

00:00

With the sound of shattering glass, everyone present was taken to the site of the Wave. The sky was crimson red, swirling energy and cracks that had shapes falling from them. Where we ended up…

"Ah, hell!" Khana shouted before she ran off. "Go get 'em, little man!"

"Well, that was quick." Garth cracked his neck, running after his hero.

"Sorry about this, Sir Dante. We'll go toward the largest rift after the area is secured." Martin nodded to me, following after them.

Omir and Trusi likewise took off, leaving me with the knights and adventurers.

"Okay, I underestimated her. Again. But really this time." I sighed. I wasn't even mad. That's exactly how a hero should act, though she should have at least issued orders to the knights.

Seeing as I was the only hero left, I did just that. Nothing crazy, just had them secure the area. Well, that was actually quite a big thing to do.

The place we ended up was a field of crops. This field was surrounded by more fields on every side. Those fields were also surrounded, and so on. I could see quite a distance around us, and there weren't that many major structures. A couple windmills. Small houses with a few bigger ones here and there. A somewhat larger group of buildings, where Khana just ran off toward. If I had to guess, this was a large farming complex of some sort, bigger than any of the villages we passed. There were enough people to work the fields, not enough to fill a town, but the area was definitely that large.

But helping the people here was a secondary objective. I had my main goal.

"Rato, get on Hailey." I told her, hopping on as well. "We're going straight for the biggest rift."

Just as we got started moving, monsters reached the ground near us. They showed no sign of damage from the fall, standing up easily and ready to fight. As expected, they looked incredibly weak.

"Gweh!" Hailey charged forward. I pointed my halberd in the direction we were headed, ready to skewer any monsters in out path. But, well, that would be a bit of a problem.

The only monsters I saw were skeletons. That's what they came up as in my appraisal as well, with 'interdimensional' tacked in front.

Don't get me wrong. The head of the halberd was big enough to catch them on their ribs, and they shattered like glass on contact. I simply knew I wouldn't be having as much fun as a cavalryman today. Secondary objective, but still.

"Is this supposed to be so easy?" Rato asked from behind. She'd already cast Zweite Guard on the three of us, her MP large enough to handle the higher tiered spell now.

"I'm a little disappointed, but these things could still do some damage." I responded.

The skeletons didn't wear any armor, but they were all equipped with a weapon. Swords, axes, spears, bows, hammers. I quickly saw a pattern, especially as we passed near a skeleton trying to throw war darts at us. No shields or gauntlets, since those were probably considered armor, but there were skeletons with a claw on their hand.

Each and every one we came across fell easily. Honestly, it felt like we overprepared for this.

"Fireball!" Rato called out, pulling on Hailey's feathers.

As she swerved to the side, we narrowly missed getting hit with a flying ball of fire. It wasn't that big, about the size of a fist, but it did come from a skeleton with a quarterstaff in its hands.

"Well, that's fitting." I switched to the Steel Axe and lobbed it at the skeleton, which came up as 'skeleton mage'.

I didn't hit it, missing it by a few feet, but I was pretty impressed with myself all the same. I got a little practice here and there over the past few days, but hitting a target on the back of a charging filolial wasn't easy. Stationary, I could hit a target about 60 feet away 9 times out of 10. Increasing my throwing bonus helped out.

"Hm." We just encountered the last two Legendary Weapons of this world: the Whip and the Carriage.

In this case, the Carriage was in the form of a chariot. It was being pulled by a skeleton horse, which was the monster's name as well, and carried two skeletons in the chariot. One held a whip, which was cracking it as it tried to get closer. The other had a bow, which was more aligned with what I remembered about chariot battles.

On the one hand, I was a little disgruntled that a first-Wave-skeleton was a better shot than I was. On the other hand, it hit me on my armor, dealing no damage.

We'd outpace it very soon, but it wouldn't hurt to throw my axe again. This time, I nailed the undead horse in the head, making it topple over itself and send the chariot crashing into it. That was a little fun.

We rode for another 15 minutes, mowing down enemies in our way and avoiding fire from the mages and archers. Hailey would stomp over any skeletons in her path while I lanced others, letting us soak up a good amount of XP. Sure, it wouldn't help my goddess, but it was good for me right now. Again, I felt really overprepared, but that was better than being underprepared.

We followed along the edge of a forest to a clearing near the largest rift. There was a scattering of skeletons, but nothing we hadn't already killed. Nothing, except what I could only assume was the boss of the Wave.

It looked like a person, wrapped up in old gauze and hunched over slightly. I'd seen enough TV and such to ID it, but my appraisal confirmed what I saw.

Interdimensional Mummy

"Rato, Hailey, clear the field. I'll whittle at it and see what it can do first." I hopped off of Hailey's back, switching my weapon back to the Steel Axe again.

"Gweh!" Hailey stomped a claw on the ground at it, earning its attention.

"Careful, Dante. It has a strange power, and I'm sure it has others." Rato warned.

"Got it." I said as the two to of them ran to the side.

I wasn't as well-versed in pop culture as I liked to think I was. Otherwise, I could guess at some of its abilities. All I could tell was it had some sort of fear aura or gaze. I could tell this because, as it lumbered forward, I wanted to back up.

Bits of grey, decayed skin peeked through parts of the gauze. More of its face was open, and I kind of wish it wasn't. Yellow teeth with dried, stretched out skin around them. Sunken eyes that seemed to stare past me and into me. The nose was gone, leaving only a small hole…

Shit! That thing was getting closer.

"Back off." Shaking off whatever effect it was having over me, I hurled my axe at it.

The blade sunk into its chest. I imagined it would have gone deeper, but this thing was sturdier than it looked. With my hand open, my axe flew back to me, ripping out a small chunk of flesh.

The mummy picked up its pace a bit, but its run was more like a fast walk. There was no way it would ever catch me, even with its weird power. Especially, actually, since it still made me want to retreat.

I swung my axe, blocking an arrow with its wide head. There was only one archer skeleton in the area. Hailey stomped over the other two I noticed. The remaining two mage skeletons around telegraphed their attacks with a bright fire, so they were easy enough to spot and dodge, especially from so far away. The three with war darts were also too far away to be effective against me, instead focusing on Hailey and Rato. Since one was a strong filolial and the other could cast healing magic, there was nothing to worry about there.

I wanted to keep whittling at the mummy, but other skeletons walked toward me. One, though…

"Look at this dude." The mummy kept up its fear effect, but even that wasn't enough to dampen my mood completely. When a skeleton, no flesh or muscle at all, started stomping over to you with a greatsword raised up, what could you do other than laugh?

It wasn't like I was going to let it hit me or anything. That thing would still hurt, if the damage I saw Hailey take in my status was any indication. Still felt a bit like Skyrim, seeing something with a lot less mass wielding something far too big for it. Suck it, physics.

After I saved the image in my mind, I deflected the overhead swing with my axe, diverting it to the ground next to me. I easily brought my axe back up and chopped through its chest.

The mummy was still getting closer, less than 20 feet away now. I hurled my axe at it again, imbedding in it once more. It couldn't care less, still hobbling forward even as the Axe flew back to me.

"I think this'll take too long playing it safe." Hailey was more than a third through the other skeletons, so she and Rato would be ready to join soon enough. Plus, the longer this thing was here, the longer the Wave would stay open. Khana would be disappointed if I played around.

Jesus, did I care that much? Well, I wasn't a sociopath who didn't care about people at all, so it wouldn't be good to let innocent people die. I threw my axe at another approaching skeleton before stepping toward the mummy. The Axe came back without me needing to look and I brought it up over my head. I'd see how strong this thing was against a skill.

"Erst Ch—" Just as I about to get in range, it raised one of its hands up. At the same time, something caught on my leg. Looking down, I saw a withered arm sticking out of the ground, a decayed hand attached at the end. It gripped my armored leg tightly

"Sneaky little…" I quickly cut off the arm, freeing my leg. Before I could bring it back up, the mummy swung its arms at me. My other arm was able to block them, but the hit was still heavy. My HP dropped down a very small bit, and I felt something burning under my armor.

"Fuck! Erst Chop VI!" The Axe bit hard into the mummy, knocking it back. The gauze on its chest was mostly shredded, revealing leathery flesh.

It raised its hands again, prompting even more arms to emerge from the ground and grab at me. "Cleave I!" I had more space this time, and knew it was coming, so I was able to quickly cut them away.

"Uproar III!" Activating my third skill, I made a dash for the mummy. I hacked away at it, easily dodging out of the way of its arms when it tried to counter attack. The thing didn't seem too caring about defense, relying on its durability. If I was a lower lever hero without all the power up methods, this would take a while.

As it was, this wouldn't take long. For 15 seconds, I wailed on the thing with my enhanced attack, avoided blows with my enhanced agility, and only once had to block a strike with my left arm. The damage was even less than last time, barely noticeable at all thanks to my higher defense, but the burning sensation increased.

Still, the mummy was on its last leg. When Uproar ended, my other skill was ready to use.

"Erst Chop VI!" The hit was solid, but still not enough. I had one more skill to use. "Rend III!" I tore through its chest, right where the first skill had hit. The head, arm, and partial chest of it fell to the ground, with the remaining bulk toppling over as well. Rend was a good skill to use against higher defense monsters, but the cooldown was a bit long.

"Hah…" It wasn't a hard fight, but I could see it being a lot more difficult for normal people.

That mummy was slow, but hardy. Arrows and bolts from normal adventurers might not do enough to get past its defense. My attack stat was nothing to scoff at. Still, with tactics, a group could take it down. It made me think of Garth and how he used his halberd. If someone distracted it while another couple attacked, they could whittle away at it until it died, assuming they got past the fear effect.

My goddess didn't know what would be in the Waves, nor where they would be. The most she had was which world the next Wave would connect with. Though, she also had estimates on how powerful I'd need to be to fight a Wave all by myself. That took into consideration expected equipment gained, forms unlocked, skills and magic learned, and level obtained. Currently…I could have done just that.

"Gweh!" Hailey squawked as she kicked the last of the skeletons, trotting over to me right after.

"Are you hurt?" Rato asked, looking around Hailey's head.

"A bit, yeah." I nodded. Something was up with that mummy's attack, but I could deal with that later.

First things first: I needed to end the Wave. It was surprising, but this was another thing the packet mentioned that Khana and Lloyd also knew about. Once the boss was killed, the Wave would end, the rifts slowly closing up. To end it faster, attacking the rifts with a Legendary Weapon would suffice. What Khana and Lloyd didn't know was that the Wave would persist even longer if the boss on the other side was still alive.

That seemed to be the case, since the rifts weren't closing on their own. At least the monsters stopped falling from the sky, so most of the work was done.

"Alright. Let me just end the Wave and then we can—Guh!"

The moment I turned toward the large rift that touched the ground, I felt it. Right in my stomach, a sharp pain. I looked down and saw someone. They weren't there a moment ago. Even as short as they were, I would have seen them.

The person…a girl, no older than 14, looked up at me. She wore dark clothing and had a wicked smile on her face.

"You have the stench of a god on you." She said through her grin.

"Dante!" Rato yelled.

"Gweh!" Hailey ran toward me.

With a shaky arm, I raised my axe up and brought it down on her head. Or, I tried to. Before it began its downward motion, the girl disappeared.

I looked all around for her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Zweite Heal!" Rato finished chanting her spell, letting the healing effect wash over me. "Who was that?"

"I don't know. Keep your eyes open." I told her, looking at my status. The amount of HP restored was less than the last time she used that spell on me. I was pretty sure what that mummy's ability was.

I was cursed.

I didn't know how strong it was, but it couldn't be that bad. Otherwise, my HP wouldn't have gone up nearly as much as it did. My goddess's blessing and her agreement with the Axe might have shielded me from the backlash of the curse series, but I had no special defense against normal curses. Holy water would be something to keep on hand going forward.

"Gweh!" Hailey cried out. I turned just in time to see the girl disappear again. There was a deep cut on Hailey's side.

"Go! Run around! Don't stand still!" I ordered her.

"Gweh!" She protested, but the monster seal started to spark.

"Do it! I'll handle the girl. Rato, keep healing me."

"Be careful." With a tug from Rato, Hailey started to trot, quickly escalating into a run.

Still, despite looking around more, I couldn't see anything of the girl. The red light of the Wave wasn't helping, but I thought I'd hear or see something.

"Grr!" Another stab, this time in my side. I swung my axe at her, but she disappeared before it even came close.

"Faust Heal!" Rato chanted another spell, the healing taking effect.

"Use Zweite!" I told her. "I'm cursed!"

This wasn't an ideal situation. I wasn't expecting an invader this early, especially not one that belonged to one of my goddess's competitors. She didn't mention any of them wielding a Vassal Dagger, so this might have been something special. The damn thing went through my armor like it was paper.

"Who are you?" I called out to her, my axe up and ready to strike.

"Are you one of his toys?" She answered with a different question.

"Who?" There was nothing where the voice came from.

"You could be." I looked behind me, but there was still nothing there. "Maybe he wanted to try something different."

I began to move slowly, taking steps from where I was first stabbed. Maybe if she had to follow me, I'd catch some sight of her.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I spoke as I turned my head, scanning my surroundings.

"You don't? Are you someone else's toy?" The voice sounded like it came from all around me.

"I'm no one's toy."

"You're someone's."

Pain. Another stab, this one in my back. My axe wasn't fast enough again.

Rato cast her spell once more. I didn't like what I saw after I was healed. I got back even less.

"We don't have to fight, woman." I said, trying for diplomacy, since I was at a disadvantage. "I'm not here to kill you."

"But I'm here to kill you." She said back.

"Why? What did I do?"

No response. Hailey was still running around, not going in any particular direction. I waited a few seconds more before speaking again.

"If you have a problem with the gods, killing me won't do anything."

A shrill laughed echoed in the air.

"It'll make me feel better!"

Another stab, on my left side. I tried to grab her, but I narrowly missed as she ducked down. That was once on every side. It was also enough for me to figure out a bit of her ability.

There was a limit. I didn't notice it before, but she pulled the knife out before disappearing. She probably couldn't disappear while attacking. Whether this was invisibility or teleportation, I couldn't tell.

"Why? What did these gods do to you?" I had to keep her talking. Time she spent talking was time she didn't spend attacking me.

"Zweite Heal!" Rato used her spell again, and the effect was even more diminished.

The girl wasn't talking, so I addressed Rato. "You two, get out of here. That knife is cursed and it's making your healing do next to nothing."

"Gweh!"

"But, Dante…"

"Go! Find Khana!" I yelled. "I'll be fine."

Hailey pouted, but Rato quickly directed her away, firing off one last casting of Zweite Guard on me. As they sped off, I switched my weapon form.

50

49

48

I switched it back, feeling a bit of relief. While normal healing didn't help as much, the regeneration granted by the Axe of Rage worked fine.

"Ooh, that was a cool axe. Maybe I'll take it after I kill you." The girl laughed.

"We don't need to do this, woman. Just talk to me. I'm sure we can work this out." I reasoned.

"Do you think I'm old? I'm just a sweet little girl!" Her announcement was punctuated with a stab on my right thigh.

I brought my elbow down, grazing her head as she disappeared. I got a bit more information out of that. She wasn't teleporting. I still felt her after she vanished.

47

46

45

After switching forms and back, I continued to look around. Still nothing of note. No footprints in the ground, though it was hard to see in the red lighting. Without Hailey nearby, nor any wind blowing, I should have been able to hear something.

"You're reincarnated, right? Some god brought you back here to do something for them." I said, still moving around.

"See? You are someone's toy." She giggled.

"And, what, you're here to kill everyone else brought back?"

"I'm here to kill everyone like me. And you. That bastard made my life hell here, and all for fun."

"What do you mean?" Still, I couldn't discern her location by her voice.

"He likes to torment people, especially kids. I was only 12 years old when I died. The first time. I died when I was 7 in my second life. 9 in my third. This is my sixth life now."

I was starting to piece it together. There was a list of gods and their position toward my goddess. Many were against her, with a few being extremely antagonistic. Some were particularly powerful in both of those degrees of opposition. But that wasn't the group I thought of.

"Then, your god—"

"He's not my god!" The girl screamed, driving her dagger into my other thigh.

This time, I was quick enough. I struck out with my left arm, smashing my fist against her face. It was a little off center, since she only staggered back a little before disappearing again.

44

"The one who's doing this to you," I continued, "his name is Pahadron, right?"

43

"Don't say his fucking name!" That outburst, at least, didn't come with another stab.

42

I knew I wouldn't be able to keep this up forever, but I wasn't getting anywhere like this.

Pahadron was on the list of gods who didn't have any grand plans, or at least no particularly ambitious ones. In fact, he was on the sub-list of ones that didn't really care for anything other than amusement. And what did he enjoy doing? Tormenting people. However, the list didn't specify children as his target.

"Look, I know about him. He's a real bastard, even more than I first thought. If I ever come across one of his agents—if he has any—I'll put them into the dirt."

"Aw, how sweet of you! Would you do that for me?" I could tell by the tone of her voice that she didn't actually care.

"I'm serious! Every child-beater, kidnapper, and pedophile deserves to be carved to pieces and buried. I've done exactly that!" They were already the scum of the earth to me. The day Mary was born made the fear of that happening all too real.

"What are you going to do? Kill a god? Can you even do that?" She mocked from wherever she was hiding.

"I'll fucking try! That's also why I don't want to fight you. If what you said is true, you never got to grow up. You never got to live a proper life. Let me help you."

I winced as her dagger cut into my stomach again. I tried to grab her, but she was quicker this time.

"How can you help me? You can't even beat a little girl."

41

40

39

She was right. It wasn't just because she was disappearing like that. I…was hesitating. Seeing a girl attack me, well, I'd defend myself, but I didn't want to really hurt a child. My life was on the line, so it shouldn't matter. My family's lives were on the line, so I had to do this. Even so, the delay was there. But that was all it was. A delay. A hesitation.

If I had a clear shot at her and she couldn't just disappear…

The little game we were playing continued on, the minutes beginning to stretch. She wouldn't attack in regular intervals, nor repeatedly. I didn't know if she knew about the limit on the Axe of Rage, but it wouldn't matter once the timer ran out. After that, I wouldn't be able to heal myself.

No matter how I reasoned with her, she wouldn't give me a chance. Six lives. Five deaths. Four were possibly through Pahadron's influence, if he interfered while she alive at all. He might have even been involved in her first death, but I couldn't know. If he liked to see children suffer, he probably started her in situations where she'd have a terrible life.

For this world, I had a few guesses, the most likely being that she was born in or near Siltvelt. I didn't notice any animal features on her, so that seemed like a good possibility. She could have been in Zeltoble, too. Both were quite far from here. There were many possibilities, but she didn't say what happened.

The repeated use of the Axe of Rage was taking its toll on me. Once it got down to 20 seconds, I reduced my healing time to 1 second. My HP was dwindling, but I needed a little healing to keep my body functioning properly.

I'd tried a few methods to keep her back, but nothing worked. Spinning my halberd form around helped, but I would quickly tire myself out and get stabbed. Worse, I wouldn't be able to respond as quickly. I activated Uproar a couple of times, but she just kept her distance while it was active. When I healed, I used the time to strike the ground and let the black flames wash over the area. They never seemed to hit her. If she wasn't toying with me, I'd already be dead by now.

Now, I had only 6 seconds left. My HP was also down to about half. Still, the sky remained red with swirls and rifts in it.

"Don't make me kill you, girl." It was as much a plead as it was a bluff. My body just wouldn't respond in time.

"You can try, old man. I can't wait to see what my newest broken toy looks like!"

Another stab in my side.

5

At this point, my armor was in shambles. The burning from the mummy was worse than from all the different wounds on me, so I was thankful for that. Getting that healed shouldn't be a problem…assuming I survived.

No. I would survive. No matter what it took, no matter what I had to do, I would survive. I would see my family again.

Stab. Pain.

"Got you!" I yelled, grabbing her arm. I was just a little quicker this time. She looked up with me, panic in her eyes, as I brought my axe down on her.

But I twisted too much. Just as it made contact with her shoulder, the dagger was pulled out and she disappeared once more. Blood splattered on the ground, as well as her detached left arm that became visible. The pressure in my left hand vanished and a scream seemed to come from all around.

I was wrong. It wasn't invisibility. She was doing something with her body. The times I nearly got her before…she just didn't completely change. It was like she was turning intangible, like a ghost or something. But not completely. It was hard to see on her clothes, but her face had black marks on it, like what I saw on those guards I killed. My cursed fire was hurting her.

"YOU BASTARD!" She bellowed like something straight out of hell. "No more playing games! I'm going to break you like the toy you are!"

4

Only enough to stop the bleeding and dull the pain, I switched around my weapon. I had a chance now. Still, it would be close. If I had just a little time to work with…

"Zweite Revealing Light!"

Like a divine gift, I heard Trusi's voice. It came from the nearby forest.

The area around me lit up slightly, but what was most important came into view. I saw the shadowy form of the girl. She looked to the side, same as I did.

"You bitch!" She roared, but she didn't move to attack. Instead, she ran in the opposite direction.

"Heads up, little man!" I heard Khana call out as she flung herself into the air. The second she came back down, she slammed her hammer onto the ground. "Quake Hammer!"

The earth seemed to shake after the impact, making me stumble a little. The girl, on the other hand, fell to the ground. She wasn't entirely intangible, just able to avoid my attacks.

"Go, Dante!" Khana yelled.

The girl wouldn't be able to avoid this one. It didn't take long, just a few lunges, before I was over her. My weapon was raised just as she got to her feet, the form changed to what would guarantee her death.

3

And then, I brought it down. She couldn't even cry out as the Axe of Rage cut her nearly in half. The cursed black flames washed over her, burning her body. She fell to the side, dropping her dagger and becoming solid once more.

I let my axe change back as I breathed heavily. Her burning remains stayed in my sight.

"Good job, little man." I heard Khana approach. "Sorry it took so long. We were on our way already when the monsters stopped falling, but the Wave didn't end, so I figured something went wrong. Then your friend came up on you filolial and explained what was going on. I wanted to step in sooner, but Martin suggested I see what the girl you were fighting was like, and Trusi agreed. We had to watch for a minute before she was sure her spell could…hey, are you okay?"

Her voice sounded muffled, like it was passing through a thick wall. I was grateful to her. Truly, I was. Her arrival saved my life. But I couldn't form the words to say that. I couldn't speak at all. I just stood there, staring at the smoldering remains of my attacker. And how couldn't I?

I had just killed a child.

I had a lot of questions about this, and I would get answers. But…

I had just killed a tormented, broken child.

Author's Notes:

As you might have noticed, I don't plan on listing every weapon form Dante gets. Unless it has a skill or good effect, it'll probably just be part of the background. The same is true for listing out all the power ups on weapons. Smelting, Rarity, and maybe Ore Equip will get the most spotlight as a means of showing growth and whatnot. This was more of an exception.

So, Dante won, but at what cost? Being a hired killer is one thing, but killing a child, even one attacking you, is something else. If you've read any of my other fics, you'll know I like to make my characters suffer. Well, here's some suffering for Dante.

This chapter was a bit hard to write. Fight scenes aren't really my forte. That's actually part of the reason I started on this story in place of the next chapter of Forging Legends, since next chapter of that will have more fighting. Of course, I'll be writing that one soon enough, but I digress.