Chapter 55

"Ren. Itsuki." I greeted them as they got closer. "I hope it didn't taste too bad."

The two of them looked like they'd had a rough time, yet were wide awake, signs of an instant coffee pill. "If I wasn't feeling like I just woke up, I'd have thought it was poison." Ren said, "But your friend had water ready."

"And food." Itsuki said with a nod. "Gone over to his side, Motoyasu?"

"I was tired of getting beaten up." He shrugged with a smile, "Kuro, meet Ren and Itsuki. The other two heroes."

"They smell funny." Tetsu said quietly, though, it was Tetsu so it was really just her 'indoor' voice.

"Hush. Being thrown in a cell isn't very fun." I looked to the two of them, "Now is it?"

They looked ashamed, but only long enough to notice before they started to get angry. "So what's this all about?" Ren asked, bristling, "We're in the dark, there's an army over there, and... what? You want us to help?"

"I'm not allowed to bite them, am I?" Tetsu asked innocently, but in perfect seriousness.

"No." I sighed, "After the first wave, Raphtalia's village of demi-humans, was nearly destroyed. The lord overseeing her village died in its defence, and right after that, some knights from Melromarc came in to throw them all into slavery."

"How can you be sure it was-" Itsuki started before I interrupted him.

"I was in those slave pens, remember?" I hissed, "So, my party and I worked up the money and bought them. We went to the other major slave hub in Zeltobe, and bought them too. Now, they are all in that castle over there."

"Bought them? How? There's no way you could have that kind of money." Ren said.

I smiled, "You keep calling this a game? Then consider that I've been exploiting the crafting system." This reminded me, "Oh, here." I waved my hand over the Shield and pulled out two pair of quartz lens goggles. "General purpose night vision goggles." And tossed them over, "Worth about fifty gold, yours for the low low price of showing up to help."

"They look a little silly... aviator goggles?" Itsuki mumbled, putting them on and flinching in surprise at the sudden change.

"Had to put them together in a bit of a hurry. You both have the bags from Fohl? He didn't have to use the flash-bang on you, did he?"

They froze, "Wait... that's what he had in his hand? I noticed he kept one hand in a fist the entire time..." Ren said, fiddling with the straps on the goggles until they were tight. Yes, they did look a little silly.

"I'm big on honesty." I said, "If you weren't going to help, then I wanted you off the field. If you had refused, then he had the tools to put you both to sleep for a few hours."

"Don't." Motoyasu said before the two of them could speak, angrily for sure. "Save it for later. So now that they are here, what's the rest of the plan?"

A drop of rain ticked against my shoulder, just loud enough to hear as it hit the hardened leather, "We have about two minutes... Damn. Okay-"

I could tell they didn't like it. But four against two odds (and the gift of items) kept them from interrupting. Our target was the pavilion in the middle, while the rest of my party did their best to peel the knights away from them.

All the while, the rain was increasing.

"Why the pavilion in the middle?" Ren asked.

"It's where their leader is." I said, "Now..." I heard the first rumbles of thunder above us, the little flashes lighting up the massive thunderhead that had gathered. "Let your plans be as dark and impenetrable as the night." I helped Ren up behind me, and he helped Itsuki behind him.

Then Motoyasu, Kuro, Tetsu and I covered our eyes, and I hoped the other two would as well.

"And when you move, fall like a thunderbolt." I grinned as I felt the rush of expended power reach me even here from nearly a kilometre away.

I had to wait until the noise stopped echoing through my skull, before I uncovered my eyes and yelled, "Go!" Ren and Itsuki hardly had time to wrap their arms around me before Tetsu started picking up speed.

"See you there!" Motoyasu said, him and Kuro stomping off towards the siege engines that were clustered on one end of the field. They'd chosen the build site well, but even from here, and with the rain, I could see a couple of them were now on fire.

"This... isn't... very... heroic!" Ren growled from behind me, Tetsu's long back and loping stride not really suited to multiple riders.

"Ten people, a bunch of civilians, a handful of mercenaries against a thousand soldiers and fanatics?" I shot back.

Surprising me, Itsuki had apparently ridden a fast mount before, "Why are we so far then?"

We crested a small hill, the upcoming battlefield coming into full view. Far to the right, flashes of electricity were crawling out from the edge of a small plot of trees and field stone. A good spot for our distraction, and hopefully an easy run towards the valley that led to my tree.

"That's why." I said, "Look! They're taking the bait!"

I slowed Tetsu, just to get a better idea for an approach. Already, I could see the encampment breaking up and spilling soldiers and knights out of their tents. Patrols would already be converging, or should be, and soon after, the 'obvious threat' should be getting the attention away from us.

"Not quite. Ah, forward and a little left." Itsuki said.

I shifted my gaze, "Ah crap."

Someone either saw through the plan, or had decided that 'resistance was to be punished'. I could see a small contingent of soldiers and a handful of knights pulling along a battering ram wagon towards the town wall. That was hardly even chest high, and the gate there was only good enough to stop a slow moving wagon or the occasional wild animal. It wouldn't be long before they had gotten that up the hill to the castle.

"But the army getting out of our way, right?" Ren said.

"Can we go now?" Tetsu said, "You three are getting heavy when I stand still!"

"Sorry." I said, "Plan stays the same. Let's hope Kunshu got through." And Tetsu started running again.

(Speaking of Kunshu)

"So that's it?" Ake asked, giving Kunshu the usual friendly greeting, the metal of his gauntlet vibrating slightly as they touched her antenna, "Thank you for your hard work." He said to her.

"Yes, just the three signals, and the spyglass." Van replied, "It's quite distressing."

"This rain isn't helping." The mercenary from before grumbled, "Least it isn't cold. But that's going to be some storm."

Then Kunshu stepped away from the three of them, and shivered. It sounded like 'the angry buzz', but a second later, it looked like she had shed her outer carapace.

"Wait..." Ake looked to her, heard the tiny 'clinks' of metal hitting stone, then tossed his spear away and hit the stone of the parapet himself.

Then the sky went insane.

Behind them, next to the still somewhat broken street the Tyrant Dragon had ruined as it left its prison, several of the highest rooftops were slammed with lightning as the initial strike fractured off from the main trunk of lightning falling from the tempest overhead. The lightning was blinding, the thunder right after was deafening, but the damage... thankfully... was mostly over there in the enemy camp.

Ake pulled his plate armoured butt up with a grunt, while Kunshu's 'swarm' of metal shards picked itself off the ground and stuck to her again.

Then a new voice broke the nearly as deafening silence, "Not bad." Sadeena said as she walked up the steps of the curtain wall of Van's keep. "I'll bet it was that adorable little bunny. Oh, good to see you Kunshu."

The three men had to avert their eyes, or pretend to, as the rain made Sadeena's white outfit cling to her. Kunshu (as usual) didn't care, and accepted hand/antenna swishes from the Orca. Kunshu remained in contact just a little longer than usual though, her wings flitting once or twice.

"Makes sense." She said in reply to something, "Figured something was up, so I thought I'd get out of bed. What I miss?"

(Raphtalia)

Her job was done to the letter of the 'order'. Do what you can to ruin the siege engines, don't get caught, hide when the rain starts, wait for pickup.

Being sidelined like this didn't settle well with her, and every time a grumpy patrol walked past her without seeing her, she wanted to lash out at them. Cut them down. Leave them bleeding and miserable in the slowly forming mud on the ground. Let them live afterwards, but only so they could savour the shame of being allowed to live by a slave who had survived the same treatment.

But no. Even if the hero, if Kodori, wasn't everything she'd hoped for, she was still a hero. Even when she'd beaten the ones who'd wronged her, she let justice guide her anger, not the other way around.

The rain was starting to come down in sheets, and the spiralling thundercloud overhead was looking like the last storm she'd seen before being driven from her home. So she put on her goggles, squinted her eyes almost shut, and waited for the 'signal' to fall.

(Clive, Usa, Melty)

They had used every flat surface they could find, including some they'd brought with them, to make their ambush site look like some kind of weird occult meeting place. Amplification, range extension, focusing, channelling... Every single thing they could do to make the initial strike not only work, but not leave them insensate from extreme magic use.

Working together, with Clive standing outside of the clearing, Usa and Melty were mimicking the swirling clouds. Almost like a dance, the two of them were orbiting each other, adding power, casting smaller spells, calling the storm, calling the water.

Clive, with his mobile eyes, watched as the storm gathered overhead with increasing and unnatural speed. Because he couldn't really blink, he had to hood his eyes with a hand as the thunderhead cloud rumbled and sparked with gathering energy. Then behind him, he heard the two of them reach a crescendo in their chanting, though he didn't see the climax of their ritual as they came together and clasped the other's hand, positive and negative meeting in the middle.

Even through the palms of his hands, Clive could still see the flash of lightning as it fell from the sky like a hammer. But as soon as the near white shine through the red flesh of his hands left, he turned and ran to his two companions. Potions in hand, he helped them drink, stand, and steady themselves as they recovered from the sudden drop in mental energy from such a spell.

They had to recover quickly, so they could start drawing more attention towards themselves, and away from what the three of them hoped would be the first time all four heroes worked together.

(Lady Ragnarok)

Being a veteran of countless battles, big, small, one on one or groups, she had never seen such a powerful spell before. That's not to say she didn't know exactly what it was when it started happening, but the magnitude was astonishing.

But, aside from an ache in her old bones from the insane weather change and damp, she hadn't been effected by the flash of lightning or the window shattering clap of thunder. She just had to plug her ears with her thumbs, and cover her eyes with her fingers. Same old magic, just bigger.

"Ma'am." One of Ake's knights approached her, "I'd hate to trouble you, but the Shield Hero has stirred up the soldiers outside. Some are making their way through the town and up the path with a battering ram."

"Suppose I could use the exercise." She smiled, making the knight flinch, "Oh come now, when you get to my age, you'll either rust in place, or relish the chance for activity. Where's that nice lady, the one with the spear?"

"Sadeena may or may not have decided to jump over the wall and head towards the source of the lightning magic." He replied crisply, "She told me to keep quiet, so I will not confirm or deny it."

"Smart boy. Hmm, I think I'll head to the kitchen first..."

(Kodori)

Something was wrong.

The knights and soldiers, at least, a good deal of them, were heading towards Usa's position. That was 'to plan'. Off on the hill with the siege engines, I saw one of them collapse in on itself as someone tried to fire it. Also to plan. I hoped Raphtalia and Motoyasu would get along if they had to fight their way out.

A quick look at the keep on the hill, and I saw torches and people lining the wall. Ready to fight, but keeping their heads down and not firing blind at things out of range. Good. Also to plan. I couldn't be sure, but I thought I saw something near the front gate of the keep, and the small contingent of soldiers stopping.

Ren, now used to the loping stride of Tetsu, voiced what I was thinking, "The pavilion in the middle, it's untouched."

"And not all the soldiers went to deal with your party." Itsuki added, "Are we going to charge through?"

Looking ahead, I saw more than a few infantry, as well as some knight dragon cavalry. "No, too many. Can you fight people?"

"They're in the way." Ren said coldly.

"I can." Itsuki replied.

"I'll support. Tetsu, protect Itsuki. Try not to kill them, but you can use your claws." I gave her neck a pat, "Slow down a little, Ren off with me, Itsuki, to the right a little, keep us out of your sights."

"Okay!" Tetsu's stride became a claws-gripping-mud drift as she turned to the right.

Ren and I dismounted at once, Itsuki moved up to the saddle, and Tetsu ran off again. "I thought you said the Shield was supposed to be at the front." Ren growled, the Sword in his hand and changing forms to something resembling a flamberge.

"Oh, I'm still at the front." I said, the Shield switching from the nice Hagane red to the Shield of Marius. "Don't get too aggressive, stay on my right, I'll cover your left."

"We'll talk about you giving commands later." He said, obeying all the same.

"Good." I smiled and took a deep breath, feeling a little echo of the strength it used to bring me, "I am the source of all power!"

(Raphtalia)

It was with immense satisfaction that she watched one of the 'trebuchet' collapse in on itself, the crew around it getting caught in the explosion of timber as the heavy counterweights snapped wood and rope alike. Another one suffered a similar fate, though it was simply the counterweight snapping the rope before it could be pulled up into position.

Then one of them got it into their heads something fishy was going on, and the few dozen soldiers that were there started to go over the remaining siege weapons, looking for Raphtalia's handy work. She couldn't help but smile at their panic, not only was her mission a success, but there was little they could do to fix things before Kodori and the others got to where they were going, if they even needed to, after a lightning bolt like that.

"Incoming! To arms! Rank up!" Someone shouted, making the raccoon girl worry for a moment that they'd spotted her. But no, they were looking away from her, towards the direction she'd come from.

Then she heard the steady, heavy thump thump of a charging filolial, "You can't stop me!" Motoyasu whooped as he and Kuro dashed into view.

"Take this!" Kuro, all calm and reserve gone, ran over a surprised soldier, leaving him in the mud as she went by. "And GO!"

Instead of crashing into a half dozen soldiers, she slammed on the breaks, flapped her two stubby wings, and sent a small tornado through the rank of soldiers. Motoyasu slid off her back, and started to lay about with the spear, covering his partner as other soldiers rushed in.

"It's the traitor Spear! Kill him!" Someone yelled out, getting a rallying cry from the rest.

"Oh, that hurts to hear!" Motoyasu laughed, dodging a swing and slamming the butt of his spear down on the man's foot, "Say? Wouldn't happen to have seen a young woman?" He nearly missed a parry, but Kuro covered for him and gave the offender a one-ton hip check. "Pretty? Nice ears? No? Well, I'm here to pick her up!"

Raphtalia would have rolled her eyes at the flippancy in a combat situation, but unlike the last time he tried to 'rescue' her from 'slavery', he actually sounded sincere, if a little silly.

Still, that was her cue, and she 'appeared' behind another solider before he could throw a spear towards the two, and cut him down, "Are we in a hurry?" She called out, pausing to cut another soldier's spear in two with an upswing, her foot following behind the blade into his chin to catapult him backwards.

"I can make up for lost time." Kuro chirped, swatting aside a sword with a wing, then crushing the man's helmet with an almighty headbutt. "They might use these... things... if we leave them, right?"

"Good call. Come join us!" Motoyasu called out, "Try your luck! Sword, beak or spear!"

(Usa, Clive and Melty)

It was in Usa's nature to worry. Yes, he was a rabbit-man, but still, that deep hind brain reaction of evolving from a prey animal always made him just a little nervous before his intellect overrode the instinct.

Seeing several hundred soldiers running towards their position wasn't helping that.

But after a look left and right at his two companions, he took a deep breath and started casting yet another spell. If they had done their jobs right, if they kept doing them properly, they could fight here until the enemy was ten long paces away, and still have time to flee.

Clive's bow speaking its bass note helped him put that new negative thought behind him, and he sent another lightning bolt down range, the water from the rain and Melty's more recent spells helping to direct and spread the effect around.

Trying not to listen to the cries of pain from the recently, and (thankfully) distantly electrocuted knights charging at them, he reached behind him to his belt, and took out a heavy jar that sloshed ominously. "Clive! Falling back!" And he set the bottle down on a tree stump, nice and visible. "Melty! Come on!"

She nodded, "We better get something nice for how hard we're working!" She huffed, running back, "I hope the next circle wasn't ruined by all this rain!"

The knights who had been in first were recovering from the lightning magic, either on their own, with help from a soldier, or healing magic from the few accompanying mages. But seeing a chance for glory, or revenge, the bulk of the foot soldiers rushed past them.

"I am the source of all power!" Usa said, most of his body hidden by a tree, leaving only one eye to peek past it, and his open palm pointed directly at the innocent looking jar. "Be the force that fills all spaces, that diverts all arrows!"

Then Clive hit the jar with an arrow, releasing a sudden burst of manure brown smoke that seemed to cling to itself even as it huffed outwards from the shattered pot.

"GALE!" Usa finished casting.

The castle clearing Marlboro Bomb didn't 'waft' so much as 'wash' over the charging soldiers. The vilest stench, the eye burning reek, the sticky oil funk assaulted the oncoming wave almost like a living thing. Some recoiled as if struck, others started vomiting on the spot, but none could escape.

Melty, standing in another, smaller, range amplification spell, finished casting her own spell. She was, even if they were out to kill her, glad they weren't defaulting to lethal force.

"Glacial wall!" She called out, the mud and water springing upwards like a titan's fist from underground, trapping a great many soldiers in the trio's first 'bunker', where the cloud of miasma stench was the worst.

Clive and Usa only had time for another volley of arrows and magic, before those not caught in the cloud started to spill around the fortified grove and charge after them again.

"Back up!" Usa called again, eyeing the not so distant mouth of the valley that led towards the second Great Tree.

(Kodori)

Ren hadn't really improved. Oh, sure, his level was higher, his attack power was great, but he was all flash, no substance.

Thankfully, he was sticking to the role I needed him to be in. I would block, or use an Air Strike Shield, or use some ice Senjitsu (I would have found this a lot of fun, if the oncoming soldiers didn't want to kill me), and Ren...

Well, in game terms, he was really just rotating his skill cool-downs. Figures, world of magic and wonder, but he was just rolling his face over the QWE keys as if he were at home.

Between keeping the lethal steel injections from Ren and myself, I caught Itsuki and Tetsu working together reasonably well. He was even targeting the knights on their filolial or dragons, since they had spears and might actually be able to hurt Tetsu. Tetsu herself, well, I'd try not to scold her for having fun.

Maybe.

I then caught a hint of something truly vile on the wind, and looked towards the ambush site where Usa, Clive and Melty should have been. Even in the dark, the sight of a Marlboro cloud was distinct. But they weren't using the other signals...

"We're going to get bogged down here!" Ren complained, "Chaos sword!"

"Motoyasu should be back soon!" I said back, slamming the Shield of Marius into the ground and just letting a filolial and its rider slam into it like a block of stone.

"Coming through!" I heard Motoyasu cheer from my left.

(Motoyasu and Raphtalia a moment or two earlier)

"Don't look so disappointed." Motoyasu said as the three of them did a quick 'am I hurt?' check of themselves. "Their artillery isn't going to work, these guys here are going to be sleeping until next week, and aside from a bit of mud, nothing touched us!"

"A girl likes to stay clean." Kuro huffed, "Get on Sir, Ma'am. We can't leave everything to that dragon."

Raphtalia was indeed in a bit of a mood. But as she brushed some mud off her leggings before clinging to Motoyasu's back, she could only think of one reason why. "How are you so different now?" She all but demanded as Kuro started to jog, then run towards the middle of the field.

Keeping one hand on his spear, the other gripping (gently!) a bunch of feathers on Kuro's fluffy back, he laughed, "I found a different kind of fun!"

"This isn't supposed to be fun!"

"Look, when I first showed up, I was treated like a hero. I was given everything. Praise, money, equipment, women, everything I could ever have wanted. If it wasn't for Kodori, I'd still be there too!"

He let go of Kuro just long enough to give one of Raphtalia's hands a pat as she hugged his middle keep herself from falling off. Just once, before holding on to Kuro again.

"But then Kodori comes along, beats me up, and I see the rest of you, her party, go from rags to riches. At first, I thought you were being pulled along, like actual slaves. That bitch didn't help either."

Raphtalia noted that Kuro did not comment on him swearing.

"Then I see you all the second time around. You're all healthier, all better equipped, all more confident. The only thing that hadn't changed out of all of you, was Kodori! Well, except the horns." He laughed, "Hold on!"

Raphtalia saw what was coming and closed her eyes as Kuro jumped over a small river.

"I mean, sure, I got beaten up again!" He laughed, "But instead of rubbing it in my face, Kodori showed me how."

"Even if he is a dummy." Kuro said, not even a little out of breath after all the running, "I do love my master."

"Your words, they hurt." Motoyasu sobbed, but then his spine went straight and he adjusted his grip on the spear, the weapon changing from the long spade point of its 'default' to an actual lance. "I can see them!"

Raphtalia let go with one arm, the other falling to the pommel of her sword. "Ready!"

Then he called out to get Kodori and Ren's attention, his lance aiming for a charging knight. "Coming through!"

(Castle Gates, Ake, some knights, and old lady Ragnarok)

Ake held off an older knight, their shields pinned against each other, his opponent's blade trapped between them as he tried to slash through the other knight's armour. Down the sloping ramp that led up to the gate, the wheeled battering ram was abandoned. Why? Well, it was on fire. Elrasla had indeed gone to the kitchen, and after her, Ake, and his other five knights spilled out of the gate and closed it behind them, she just... tossed a big jar of bacon grease at it, and followed it up with a torch from one of the many wall brackets inside the keep.

"So why are we still out here?" He asked, managing to hook his heel behind the elder knight and make him stumble back. Ake was on him before he could recover, and with a vicious CLANK left a pommel shaped dent in his helmet.

"Weren't you listening boy?!" Elder Ragnarok laughed, her legs a blur as she slipped past another knight and shattered the back plate of his armour with an open palm. "I said I needed to get some exercise!"

Up on the wall, looking outwards, were a dozen archers. Mostly young demi-humans, they only managed a few shots before they couldn't risk friendly fire. "Then, why am I out here?" Ake sighed, "Spears out!" He braced his shield while two of his knights flanked him, spears levelled.

"What? You'd leave an old lady out here alone?! How heartless!" Replied the old lady as she put her heel behind a foot, and gave the man's hip an almost gentle push, "Huh, it does work." She said to herself as her foot blurred, lifting, then slamming down to crack the man's chest plate like clay.

Ake's demi-human mage gave him a 'you can't win' look, and, showing wisdom past his years, gave up and just kept fighting.

(Sadeena)

"Keep going, take a break, maybe have a cookie." Sadeena laughed as she all but fell from the sky to land between Usa, Clive and Melty, and the very angry soldiers who were following them into the valley.

It was a risk, running this way. With no Shield, Kodori or otherwise, the three of them could easily have been picked off by arrows and spears. The 'plan' was to have Usa cast his wind spells to protect them, while the other two sent magic and arrows back. If it got bad, they could use the smoke signals to call for help and cover their retreat as they ran towards the open ground surrounding the Tree.

But just as they had weathered the first volley of return fire, Sadeena had jumped off the cliff at the top of the valley, and come to the rescue.

Her pronged spear at the ready, electricity curling over it and up along her arms, she grinned, "Come on! Hurry up! You won't like it if you bore me!"

(Kodori)

It was almost as if the arrival of the last hero (along with Raphtalia and Kuro) was all we needed to break through. What seemed to be a more or less even fight suddenly had them folding up like wet cardboard, and soon we were running over their fallen bodies towards the central pavillion.

If the added power of three forward fighters hadn't put me back into a 'rear guard' position, I would have missed it. Not the little ambush attempts as we cut down the tents in their camp. Not the occasional stray arrow or spear.

But the slowly gathering feeling that something was wrong. It wasn't until I felt the static charge of magic through my tails that I figured out what, and on reflex I yelled out, "DUCK AND COVER!" and triggered every defence I could in front of the others, while I slammed the bottom edge of the Shield of Marius down and pulled Raphtalia by the belt behind it with me.

Motoyasu and Kuro ended up behind one Shield, Ren another, Itsuki in my Shield Prison, and Tetsu dropped to the ground and covered her head with her hands to protect her neck and eyes.

And suddenly it was as if it were high noon on the other side of the Shield.

Then I was falling.

With hardly any warning, the ground under me simply broke away. Out of reflex, I hugged Raphtalia tight to my chest while I heard the others make their own noises of surprise as they fell along with me. The closest thing I could compare it to, was when I'd stepped on a thin spot in the dungeon, and found myself falling to the floor below (and into a monster nest of course).

The landing was rough and muddy, and I was getting to my feet as soon as the fall ended and I could discern what direction 'down' was in. Itsuki fell out of my Shield Prison with a groan, Ren and Motoyasu were a little slow to their feet, Kuro and Tetsu just needed to shake off some mud.

Then I heard a voice from above. Ten metres up a nearly sheer cliff of mud and rock, stood one of those priests. As a matter of fact... I knew him. It was the same one who had whispered in Aultcray's ear at my 'trial' for starting the fire.

"Ah, how good of you to come. I knew the Shield Devil would come to the aid of his fellow filth. But the three of you have saved me the trouble of hunting you down afterwards." He lifted one arm, and presented a staff. "Now that we have this, we really don't need you anymore."

It looked almost exactly like the 'holy symbol' of the Church of Three Heroes. It was a sword bladed 'boar spear' with the cross guard in the shape of a bow. But in the middle was a small glowing gem with a black orb in the middle. "It looks like..." Motoyasu coughed out a bit of dirt, "Almost looks like one of our weapons."

"That's not quite right." The Priest said, holding the staff over his head, "It the holy work of our church! A replica of all the sacred weapons!" He laughed, his wizened face twisting into something not quite malicious. "It is a perfect fusion, made into a holy relic of incomparable power!"

"If you're going to call me names, it's Demon." I called up at him, stalling for a little time just to make sure my skills could be used again.

"Very well." He smiled, looking once again like a proper holy man, calm, collected. "If that is the name you wish on the footnote people might write about you. But once I am done with you, then the others, there will still be much more work to do yes..."

"Others? Why us? You Summoned us!" Ren shouted.

"We had hoped you wouldn't be so incompetent." He replied with a sigh, "The only things you have managed to do, is cause problems! Even the King! The only thing he managed to do properly, was summon you at all!"

And to my surprise, he started to pace, "Poisoning the land? Creating profane works of nature? Perverting the natural order with strange beasts? Attempting to Elevate the Demi-humans? Causing problems past our boarders? Nearly getting killed during the Waves?" He turned on us again, "After all the help you received, the demon of the Shield has done better than the three of you, even as he twists the natural order of things! This is NOT WHAT GOD INTENDED!"

I felt my horns throb, the anger I felt echoing in my head, the urge to lash out rising. And I gave in to it.

But not with violence. "What Gods?" I asked, "Your world doesn't have any."

I could see him crack, almost in slow motion. But instead of lashing out, or losing his temper, he held the staff in both hands, and behind him, I picked up the sound of chanting, "You DARE blaspheme? I will correct you, all of you! And show you God's POWER!"

NOTES!

Nuclear launch detected...

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