Chapter 95

I had no chance of catching up, but I put my mask on and changed into a fox to move as fast as I could. Kotetsu was perched on my head, three of her four claws and part of her body wrapped around my horns, the last holding Ost's compass.

"I was afraid of this. I do not know how, but who ever that is, is holding at least some of the souls from my world." She said as I tried not to run people over as I made my way to the edge of town.

I tracked the dot overhead, and saw it split in two, the rider of what was probably a full grown Humming Falcon dropping from the saddle. It was obviously too much to hope they would have forgotten a parachute or something, and solve the problem for me, and I was about thirty seconds away when I saw them hit the ground near Kizuna's home.

"I doubt their intent is friendly." Ost said, a sudden explosion coming from the house to erase that doubt. Fifteen seconds...

Ten seconds, a wave of fire, the crystal sound of ice snapping, a small vortex of wind just visible over the nice tall hedges of Kizuna's property.

Five seconds, an explosion of light, the roar of lightning, the smell of ozone, the shattering of wood.

I skid to a halt just outside the gate of Kizuna's property and looked across a yard already devastated by magic. Tetsu and Kuro were picking themselves up off the ground to the left and right, while Raphtalia, Glass and Kizuna were facing towards the person between me and the house. The front deck and door had already been wrecked, and all the windows facing this way were shattered.

The person responsible was about the same height as Glass, was dressed in that same mix of traditional samurai styles with 'hakama' pants, a 'haori' jacket over what I guessed was 'clam shell' lacquered armour and bracers. She had long light green hair held back with a big pink bow.

Most notable, was the sword in her hand however. Like most swords in this world, it had an oriental build, similar to a jian, complete with a nice ornate crosspiece. It was there that I saw the telltale crystal of a vassal weapon.

"That... I do not know how, but that weapon..."

"Danger, I hide." Kotetsu said, leaving a tingling trail through my fur and vanishing with a rustle of leaves.

"You dare look away from me?!" The interloper said as Raphtalia, Glass and Kizuna looked past her to where I was standing.

But she still had the sense to glance over her shoulder, turn to face me, and get her guard up...

Before I slammed my armoured face into her upraised guard, my fox body and momentum blowing her off her feet, between Glass and Kizuna, through the wrecked doorway of the house, off the coffee table, over the couch, just missing the divider between living room and dining room, clipping the dining room table, and spinning her through the window someone had left open in preparation for dinner's cooking ventilation.

Everyone was looking at me as I changed back into my usual form. "Wow." Kizuna huffed, "Nothing but net for that window there."

I then had to shove her out of the way, bringing the Shield of Marius up between me and a lightning bolt that ripped its way back through the entire house like a cannonball. Resistance or not, high defence notwithstanding, I felt incredible pain as all my muscles tried to lock up.

"So! The Shield Hero arrives to help the villains who stopped Master Kyo from saving your world!" She glared at me, "And now let me guess? You are going to join in the attack? Gang up on me? EVIL! Just like he said!"

The last tingles of electricity faded from my nerves, "Raphtalia?"

"She just arrived and started attacking. Calling us all evil, saying she was going to punish the Holy and Vassal weapon holders who were against Kyo." She replied, taking the moment's pause in combat to down a potion vial.

"Her weapon has a lot of kick to it." Kizuna said, "It changes forms too, like one of our Weapons."

"Ost said it has some of her stolen energy in it." I said, "Your house, your rules Kizuna."

On the other side of the house, through the gaping hole left by the lightning blast, the girl glared at us as she got into a ready stance.

Glass replied first, "It is clear she is misinformed."

That much was obvious. But the conviction in this girls eyes told me she really believed in what she was saying. That she trusted Kyo, maybe even idolized him. Just like some of the Amazon of the former Ishtar Familia.

"I can-" Raphtalia started, but stopped.

"Well?!" The girl demanded, "Or do I have to begin!"

"Get her into the backyard. We'll join from either side." Kizuna said, "She's not welcome here."

I gave Kizuna a nod, then turned to face the intruder. "Understood."

She smiled at me as I stepped into the house, the others backing up away from me, "Are you so cowardly you won't even introduce yourself?"

"My name, is Kodori Haruhime of Hestia Familia. Kitsune. Shield Hero. Champion of Orario. Friend of the Hunting Hero Kizuna." I gave her an embellished introduction, mostly to try and keep her from attacking me and wrecking the house even more. "Before I correct your behaviour and remove you from the property, I ask you do the same."

"My name is Yomogi Emarl! And on behalf of Kyo Ethnina, holder of the Vassal Book, I will slay you for disrupting his noble efforts to save both our worlds from the Waves!"

I hopped down from the wreck of the dining room and onto the grass of the backyard, then deliberately put the Shield on my back. "Did you know that the Vassal Weapons of this world have been asked to take the Book away from him?"

"LIES!" She retorted, quivering with anger, "Draw your Weapon and say that again!"

I took a long sliding step forward, raising my left arm up to keep her from swinging her sword across at me, spun on my forward foot, and drove my open palm into her chest. "I talk with my fists, not a copy of a stolen weapon." I said as she bounced off my palm, rolled backwards once, but came up in a perfect defensive crouch.

She had skill. I could tell, now that I was closer and settling into my combat focus, that her sword was pretending to be a copy of Ren's weapon. But more than that, the souls it was made of... They were screaming. Like hot metal being thrown into ice water, a sound so faint it was just a feeling. But it was making my horns itch.

"This is a divine creation made by Kyo!" She lunged forward, the black cored, silver edged, wide blade making a perfect line towards my heart.

I slipped the thrust, tapped her hand so her next swing went over my head, slapped away a punch towards my chin and blocked a kick with my raised knee. I responded by dropping my fist across her chin then putting my foot down and driving my shoulder into her chest to send her back on her rear. Again, she rolled away, expecting me to continue, but when she got back to her feet I was just waiting for her.

"You're pretty good." I said, "But I won't need help at this rate."

She saw Kizuna, Tetsu and Kuro appear from one side of the house, and Glass and Raphtalia the other. But I just glanced to either side and shook my head, "You're mocking me!"

"Not at all. Your skill puts you far above the Sword Hero that Kyo kidnapped to make that weapon." I clenched my fists, did a quick side to side tilt of my head and said, "But you are still borrowing power that isn't yours."

Yes, this was a habit of mine, but anger was so much easier to deal with than 'cold and calculating'. The fervour on her face was slowly boiling into rage, "You think you're any different? You hold a Holy Weapon! You couldn't beat me without it!"

She lunged at me again, the back of my armoured left hand tapping the tip of the blade aside. But instead of following through, she spun, brought the sword up and over for a downward slash at my right shoulder. Instead of backing off, I stepped forward, got chest to chest with her. My shoulder stopped her arm from coming down at all...

Before she could back up, I wrapped one arm around her back, and braced my forearm across her throat. I then pressed my masked face to hers, "Say. That. Again." I hissed, using my height advantage to lean forward and start folding her in half, backwards. "The only reason you aren't dead, is because the Shield sets my attack to nearly nothing."

"Let... me... go..." Her sword made some feeble attempts to hit me, but it only hit the Shield on my back with weak 'clank' noises.

I kept leaning over her for a moment longer, her armour creaking, her face starting to go red... Then I let her go. My arms relaxed, and I stood straight with just enough force to push her away onto her back. While she laid there gasping, I tried to get my own anger under control, to shut out the silent screaming coming from the sword she was holding.

"I... Won't fall here..." She started to roll over, coughing, using one hand to push herself up, then the sword like a cane to get her to her feet. "I won't lose to your cheap tricks!" I saw the swing start, heard that ephemeral screaming get a tiny bit louder, and lightning start to gather along the blade... "Lightning-"

So, I placed an Air Strike Shield along her arm to stop her from swinging, the Second Shield just behind her, and the Dritte Shield in front of her.

"Blade-what?!"

A blast of lightning easily equal to all but Usa's most powerful spell vaporized the top of the property wall to her right, leaving her trapped between my three spectral shields. Then, with a rattle of chains, I linked them together, leaving her arms and legs tangled in the chains as the three Shield projections were pulled inward by the chains and her sudden attempt to get free.

"That was a cheap trick." I said as she struggled for a moment.

From behind me, I heard Raphtalia say, "I've never beaten her in our morning sparring."

"I kinda wanna help Yomogi." Kizuna said.

"She is the enemy." Glass hissed, "But I'm glad it's not happening to me again."

While the peanut gallery spoke, I watched Yomogi struggle, "The weapon you hold was made from the souls of the dead, wrongfully slain and gathered when Kyo took over the Spirit Tortoise guardian. He also captured the three other heroes, the Sword, the Bow, and the Spear when they tried to stop him."

The chains weren't going to hold her long. She was strong enough that it was a race between the linked shields cracking, or hitting their time limit. "More LIES!" She growled, twisting slowly, spreading a spiderweb of cracks through my trap. "You think I would trust the word of the one who killed the Spirit Tortoise?"

"Kotetsu." I called out. "Why not ask her yourself? I did kill the Spirit Tortoise, but she asked me to first."

I watched her eyes following something behind me, a rustle in the grass that was getting closer. About a half second before my skills went into cool-down, I had Kotetsu curled up in my hand, two of her claws holding the Spirit Compass. "What..." She still had the sword ready, but didn't dare get much closer to me.

"Kodori is correct, Yomogi Emarl. My name is Ost Horai, and I am all that is left of the Spirit Tortoise of the other world."

"This... This has to be a trick!"

"It is true, Kodori killed my physical self. But it was only because Kyo subjugated my body, setting off the last protection without cause. If my world were in danger of being overrun by the Waves of Disaster, I would send out my servants to kill over half of the world's people. With that energy, I would create a barrier to remove my world from the Waves."

Her blade was quivering a little, making the Compass wiggle slightly as well. "But..." She paused, "No! It was to save both worlds!"

"Before you stands one of my world's Heroes. And in Kyo's hands are the other three. The last resort would only ever have been used if they were all dead. Kyo drove my body insane, and stole thousands of souls. Look at the compass, move your blade, you can see the proof with your own eyes."

She did as instructed, her sword swaying back and forth slowly, the pointer on the inner ring of the Compass moving to point directly at the gem set in the crosspiece. "No... it can't be..." She said, the near fanatic look in her eyes bleeding away along with the colour of her face. "But then..."

And then I felt the screaming at the edge of my hearing stop...

And become laughter.

"THROW THE SWORD AWAY!" I shouted, reaching my free hand forward to try and grab her, while Kotetsu bravely ran away with Ost.

But I was too late. The crosspiece of the sword started to twist like a living thing, and fleshy tendrils lashed out from under the bronze green crosspiece, lashing around Yomogi's arm to the shoulder. Before my hand could touch the blade, a pulse of energy, similar to what the Spirit Tortoise's heart did, threw me back towards the house and through the wrecked window frame she'd made earlier.

She was screaming, and the gem on the sword wasn't a gem at all, but an eye. Sinister and red, it blinked at us as she screamed in pain. Blood was started to drip from between the fleshy vines around her arm even as Raphtalia and Kizuna helped me back to my feet.

"The sword was just waiting for her to lose control." I grunted, "All those angry souls are going to pull the life from her."

"What do we do?" Raphtalia asked.

Glass opened her fan, "Kizuna?"

"Right! The sword looks like a monster to me!" Her fishing rod changed to the long tuna knife, and she lunged forward at the kneeling Yomogi, "Blood Flower Strike!" The same attack she'd killed the tiger clones with, and many of the tougher monsters we found during training.

As with most weapon based skills, she did a normally impossible flash step, her blade passing harmlessly through the human flesh of Yomogi, but ripping apart all the tendrils that had attached themselves to her. The blade itself was fine, but was already on its way to what I knew as 'ignus fatallis' magical meltdown.

"Ost, by contract, those souls are yours." I said, "I grant you freedom for the purpose of collecting them!"

Just in case I was wrong, and it wouldn't work, (work, not work, or not work and explode) I ran forward and wrapped Kizuna in the Shield Prison, and activated the Starlight Shield over myself.

There was a detonation of light, but no sound, a pressure against my body but no pain, several metallic 'pings' as bits of metal sleeted off the Starlight Shield, a broken window behind me...

As my eyes blinked away the spots left behind by the failure of the solid metal lenses of my mask (a first in any world so far!) I found myself looking at two people and a tiny dragon-noodle. Ost, was standing over Yomogi her arms spread wide as if basking in the first rays of dawn. Kotetsu was wrapped around her wrist, still holding the Compass, and Yomogi was laying on her back, the arm once held by the sword bare and looking like a mass of bruises.

"What just... happened?" Raphtalia came over to me, as did Glass, Tetsu and Kuro. "Is she okay? Ost?"

Off in the middle of the lake, there was an indignant cry as my Shield Prison came off cool-down.

It seems I'd have to add one more to my 'list of magical results', since it worked and exploded Ost, slowly let her arms down, took a deep breath, let it out, and turned to me. "I..." She paused, "I'm not sure what is happening, but..." She paused again, lifting her hand up to look at Kotetsu, "Ah, there they are."

Yomogi groaned, blinking rapidly and bringing her uninjured arm up to scrub at her eyes, "Raphtalia?" I handed her some rope and medicated bandages.

"Lemme help!" Tetsu joined Raphtalia, the two of them working together to bandage Yomogi's arm.

I gave Ost a good look, putting my hand on her shoulder, then looking into the Emerald Prison myself, "This is... Oh, hold on..." I looked at Ost and sent her a party invitation. She blinked as if someone had poked her, blinked again, and there she was on my list. "Aha."

Glass and Kuro gave me the exact same puzzled head tilt, "Something amiss?" Glass asked.

"It would seem I've also been changed by the system, as you call it." Ost said. She looked almost exactly how she did when I put her into the Emerald, save that the scarf she had wrapped around both upper arms no longer did that weird floating arch over her head and now hung limply behind her. And now that she was out of the Emerald and subject to the 'rules' of the world again, she was a Spirit like Glass.

I was about to say something, but a hand sized wooden fish bounced off my chest and onto the ground. "Someone grab that!" Kizuna yelled from the pond.

"Heehee, had to fish the fisher out of the fish pond!" Tetsu teased Kizuna, "Um, so we tied her up? We're not going to eat her, right?"

"You would eat a helpless prisoner?! How shameless!" Yomogi sounded horrified. "But even so, I won't tell you anything! I'll bite my tongue before telling you anything!"

Calmly, I stuck my thumb into her mouth and curled my fingers under her chin. She tried to bite, but it wasn't enough to get through my defence. Huh, actually useful... Back home, even as tough as I was, she'd have at least broken the skin. But aside from looking defiant, it was the best she could do with her forearms tied behind her back.

"We should get back to the castle and L'arc." I said, carefully lifting Yomogi up by the chin and a hand on her shoulder, "Even if she won't talk, she's strong enough that we don't want her escaping and helping Kyo."

"It's a shame you can't put her in here." Ost said, one hand holding Kotetsu, the other rubbing the top of the little dragon-noodle's head. "Though, she's not a Spirit."

"We'd have to kill her, and hope her soul stuck around just long enough to capture." I shook my head.

With no Gods, and this weird system, I suspected that wouldn't actually be a problem.

"Well, the castle does have cells." Kizuna shrugged then resumed scrubbing a towel over her head, "Use that portal of yours to get us there."

"Tetsu? Hold her please?" I said, taking my thumb out of Yomogi's mouth, ignoring the glare, and flicking my eyes over the status screen to select the Hourglass near L'arc's castle. "Thought as much." I shook my head, "Blocked, just like when the tiger clones had been around."

"He really does mean to attack the castle then?" Raphtalia asked.

"I was acting alone! He wouldn't-" I stuck my thumb back in her mouth.

"It seems those tigers weren't the only things able to mess around with the teleport system..." Kizuna mused, "But Kyo's been copying a lot of stuff. The Vassal weapons, the Holy ones from your world. Now the... You don't think he's trying to do what you did, do you?"

"A good question... But what about the thing you mentioned before? Think that will work?" I asked.

"Is she speaking of the Return Transcript?" Glass asked, "The Jewel people made an item for that, inspired by the Weapons."

"What's needed?" Kuro asked, handing Kizuna another towel.

"We all need to be in the same party, and a little gem." She took out a little crystal from her inventory.

"We'll try that then." I nodded.

"What about her? We can't leave her here..." Raphtalia said.

I took my thumb out of her mouth again, "Do you want to learn the truth?"

"Do I even have a choice?" She growled at me.

So I sent her a party invite. And she accepted. "Yes, you do. Kizuna? Reshuffle the party." I sent her an invite as well, got a little delay, saw her join, then turned to invite Glass. "Let's hope it works. It's not a short run."

With the 'ping' of breaking crystal and a weird little sideways lurch, we all appeared next to the Hourglass near L'arc's castle. The guards were on high alert, but otherwise there didn't seem to be an enemy.

"Ah! Ms Kizuna! Ms Glass! Shield Hero!" Someone with a slightly fancier set of armour called out to us as we all looked around. "Lord L'arc suspected you would come this way!"

He rushed up to us, while others in slightly less fancy armour lined up behind him, "What's going on?" Kizuna asked. "No trouble here?"

"Here? No, but the enemy has invaded the castle. Lord L'arc says he will hold them off as long as possible, and said to send you over as soon as you got here!"

Again, that little tingle of jealousy. L'arc knew we'd come. Was even betting on it. That kind of trust couldn't be bought. Or rather... It could, after a fashion. It's what I had been forced to do. "This seems too... simple." Kizuna frowned, "Wait... Do you think he'll try a back door play?" She looked at me.

"Lord Kyo would never-" Yomogi started, but stopped when I made ready with my thumb again.

"You come to kill us during dinner time, and the castle is being attacked at the same time? Even if you are acting alone, Kyo is taking advantage of your distraction." I said, "Someone should stay behind."

"I will stay." Glass said, "No Kizuna, if there are more enemies, they might be people. Chris. Take care of her."

Without bidding, the penguin appeared with a little burst of light from Kizuna's pocket. "Pen!"

"I'll stay too." Kuro said, "I can help the soldiers here, as well as Glass, if there's trouble."

Glass nodded, "Thank you, little Kuro. Go help our friend."

"Be safe Glass." Kizuna said, "Let's go!"

The little bit of town we had to run through to get to the castle didn't seem like it was under attack. There might have been some civilians who'd done a bit of looting, but past that there were no fires, no bodies, just a few broken doors and windows.

The castle on the other hand, had smoke coming up from the courtyard, and the big wood and iron gate had been pulverized off its hinges. As we got closer, we could see a few guards had been taken out alongside the gate, but the status screen wasn't 'seeing' them. Dead.

I kept alert as we rushed through the wreckage of the door, and we spotted L'arc, Therese, and a bunch more of the guards fighting... something. An unnatural gloom hung in the air, making it hard to see even with my mask, but every so often, one of the defenders would recoil away from something, like shying away from a striking snake.

But as L'arc spotted us, his body and clothing worn with battle, but still keeping that grin on his face, he called out, "I knew it! Come help!" He lashed out at something, and I spotted...

"What even is that?" Raphtalia asked.

"Try some light magic, get rid of this crap in the air." I said, squinting at the shape that had rebounded off L'arc's defence. "Chimera." I frowned.

Raphtalia sent a rainbow blast of light into the air, the multi-colour rays banishing the shadowy dimness. Half beast, half women. An amalgam of claws, scale, fur and holding manufactured weapons. "Hey... I know you..." Tetsu said, "Um.. um... Smelly lady!"

Half white tiger, half... spirit? The 'smelly lady' had been one of the Fool's followers. "You will pay for what you did!" She snarled through pretty lips and crooked fangs. "Attack!"

"I'm gonna pounce ya!" Tetsu roared, lumbering forward, dragon hands open and sparkling with claws.

"I will support from here." I said, switching out the Shield of Marius for the Book Shield and summoning a little fox for my shoulder.

"Go Chris!" Kizuna threw the penguin with a mighty heave, and at the apex of his trajectory he started to spin, his little claws looking like blades as his body was wrapped in a little tornado.

Raphtalia said nothing, as I had taught her, and instead used her breath to warm up her body, her legs propelling her forward, the Vassal Katana springing from the dragon-bone sheath almost eagerly.

L'arc signalled for his guards to pull the wounded away to safety, while Therese started putting protective spells over the party.

"You mock Kyo by using a book?" Yomogi hissed from behind me.

"Don't you write things down for later?" I said, "Kotetsu, Ost? Keep an eye on her." And that was all the attention I had to spare for the tied up girl behind me.

(Combat!)

Raphtalia and the lead girl clashed in the middle, the half tiger chimera wielding a naginata. Almost instantly, they locked weapons and started a contest of strength.

Chris the tornado penguin dove towards a pair of women who looked to have been merged with a lizard of some kind, clothes and blood flying from a new array of small but plentiful cuts from his attack. Before they could turn, Tetsu came crashing in behind the penguin, the smaller shikigami being ignored in favour of the big dragon with the grabby hands.

On the far side, L'arc made ready to fend off the chimera who hadn't turned to fight the new threat, but a pair of spectral shields appeared in front of him, blocking him from attacking as well. But instead of riling or calling out the sudden block, he took a potion from his belt and downed it.

A handful of chimera made a beeline for Kodori and Kizuna, but the air between them was suddenly filled with an assortment of magic, as well as sudden pitfalls. The two Heroes were combining effects, one trapping, the other freezing, zapping or just making their day miserable. The two Heroes couldn't really do a lot of harm, but it was hard to accomplish anything when you were neck deep in an ice filled pit.

Then it all went wrong.

The Chimera all pushed their opponents away for a little space, and started to change further. The half monster, half-spirit bodies started to be overtaken by the bestial grafts. Larger muscles, bigger claws, sharper teeth, the 'animal' grafts were taking them over, or they were letting them consume them it was unclear which..

"No! If you do that you'll never be normal again!" Ost said, a hand to her mouth, "The souls of the dead will drive you insane!"

The one with the naginata, the leader, spoke with a harsh laugh that was just barely intelligible. "After you killed our leader and stole the Vassal Katana, our lands were overtaken and seized by another country!" As she spoke, her body was becoming more and more monstrous, "Kyo of the Vassal book saved us, took us in, and gave us the power to take revenge!"

"He's doomed you to a fate of insanity!" Ost called back.

"Power! The power to take on, and kill the Heroes and Vassal weapon holder who did this to us!"

Secondary manifestations started to show on the women. Half harpy became half phoenix. Those with scales sprouted wings or grew a shell over their backs, and the change taking over the leader extended to her other limbs, leaving her with just a half human face. We now faces two of each, all mimicking this world's former guardian beasts.

"And when we kill you, he will return all to how it was! So now you must DIE!"

"Rotation!" Kodori called out as the two trapped in the ice filled pits burst from the ground again.

"Let me help! I can't believe Kyo would do this! I must silence these lying abominations!" Yomogi cried out as Kizuna picked her up off the floor and started moving to the left side of the courtyard.

Spectral Shields interposed themselves between the two groups, a sphere of Shields captured one of the half-dragons before it could get close to Therese, and all the defenders were suddenly glowing with the effects of the Aura spell. "Raphtalia! Give her a spare!" Kodori called out as her defensive spells helped L'arc and Therese on one side of the room to join up with her and the rest of them.

Kizuna gave Yomogi a stern look, let Raphtalia hand over a blade before the raccoon girl charged forward to meet the leader again.

Now armed with the dragon-bone blade Glass had borrowed, Yomogi jumped forward as one of the floating Shields vanished under a blast of lightning. "You take that back! The Kyo I know would never do this to someone!" Yomogi shouted, parrying the curved blade, dodging a blast of wind, then advancing with fury on her face.

"Hahaha! You know nothing! When we bring back your bodies, he will bring back our leader! Death is no obstacle for him!" The leader laughed, "Burn them!" Her newly gained strength letting her take on both Raphtalia and Yomogi at the same time.

Therese held out one of her many gems, cancelling out a rolling wave of fire that came from the beating wings of the two phoenix hybrid. L'arc and Kodori shattered and blocked a wave of magic rocks thrown by the tortoise hybrids. Kizuna and Tetsu were working together to face the dragon winged women, trying to keep them grounded with traps and snares.

(Kodori)

We were in a deadlock. We'd managed to get our party all on one side of the room, but we were only just holding ground. Yomogi was working well with Raphtalia, but she seemed to be much weaker without the replica Sword. L'arc and I were doing all we could to keep Therese and Ost safe, while Therese ran magical interference as best she could.

Something needed to change.

Except one of the women, a second tiger hybrid, was the one to pull the switch. "Tsugumi! Take this!"

And a Spear sailed through the air, the gem at its crosspiece glittering wetly as the leader, Tsugumi threw her naginata at Raphtalia, kicked away Yomogi, and then caught the copy of the Spear with her not-quite human hand. Raphtalia and Yomogi recovered quickly, but with a wide sweep of the Spear, she sent a shock-wave at them, throwing them backwards.

"Hahahaha! You can't win now!" Tsugumi laughed wetly.

"Thanks." Raphtalia said to Ost as she helped her back onto her feet. "Kodori! That's..."

"Looks like it. Role switch!" I commanded, wondering if I'd get to break a copy of the Bow before the day was over.

NOTES!

Time to start folding people like chairs, and show them what a Shield can do.

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