Chapter 118

Sadly, I couldn't stop the Mayor and his people from celebrating. I tried, I really did, but one person started, then another, and by the time I saw it start getting out of hand...

Thankfully, we had the nice Panther captain (Mirri, apparently), her crew, the other three heroes, and our collective parties to at least try and keep alert. Well... Mostly... Unable to resist, Sadeena sniffed out the party, then the booze, and started her usual thing...

Again...

But at least we'd actually accomplished something significant instead of that entire debacle in Zeltobe...

So, with Mayor looking really antsy to join the party (while his son was idyllic enough to join the designated guard detail and vowed to abstain), we had one last look in the war room.

"So... at the suggestion of Erhard, agreement of most of us here, and the hangover most of your soldiers are going to have tomorrow, we are going to move to plan B." I said, "It will likely cost more in lives, but will keep the civilians safer."

Yes, the Four and our parties put it up for a vote, and majority went for a more 'civilian friendly' option. This would keep the fighting off the streets and lower the inevitable fires from spreading.

"Very well. If we are to consolidate for a single spear thrust, then here." He tapped a spot on the rough map of the island, "The Old Capital."

"Old? They moved it?" Raphtalia asked, "I wish Sadeena wasn't drinking right now..."

"Yes, when the new Emperor took the Seat, he moved the capital here." He tapped a spot on the east side of the island. "No one really knows why he moved and abandoned the traditional place... But the Old City offers many advantages for our cause."

But... why? "Why though? Looks like a good spot..." I mumbled.

The map wasn't the greatest, lacked a 'legend' and there were a few cup stains on it. But from what I could make out it was the usual spot of a seat of power. Good natural terrain that needed the least amount of work and landscaping to fortify. Like Mirso.

"I suspect it's because of the opinion of a certain wicked woman whom the previous Emperor had as a consort..." Raluva said, "She had a large voice in the former Emperor's opinions, and said the climate was bad for her skin." He shook his head, "While the young Emperor sits on the Seat, it's clear who holds the power, this wicked woman Makina..." He looked at me, "Why are you glowing?"

"She's got a target, and doesn't like them." Raphtalia sighed, "But, I agree! But how do we move from here? Aside from a good base to fortify..."

"It is possible, that the ritual sites to induct a new Emperor are still there and intact. This would allow you, the True Empress, to grant the same blessings of the Sakura upon your people." Raluva said.

"Okay." I clapped my hands together, "Suppose once we wake up tomorrow, we'll move as quickly as possible in that direction..." I looked at S'yne, "Connection clear to the Hearth?"

"Aye Captain." She smiled, her patchwork outfit of purples and whites now sporting a little captain hat patch. "Oh, materials?"

"Yeah. Maybe more. We'll get things sorted, get a nap, and I'll have medicinal soup ready for breakfast..."

Everyone nodded, but aside from the other three heroes, Rishia, and Kotetsu (napping as usual on my head), people started to disperse. "What's up then. You wanted to talk?" Motoyasu gave Kuro one last headpat before she left, then turned to me.

"The enemy has a weapon that almost turns off our weapons. Everything they give us, this turns off." I said, carefully untangling Kotetsu from my horns and letting her curl around my arm with a sleepy mumble. "This tells us a couple of things, and proves a few more too."

Their gamer mentality had been broken, sure, but they were also well aware this had a LOT of similarities, "That's what the assassins were referencing then?" Ren asked. "The Sakura Stone of Destiny?"

"Got it in one." I nodded, "In simple terms, when activated, it creates an area that turns off all weapon related abilities. Skills, forms, animal and slave systems, stat boosts, magic from weapon forms and level ups... But this gets to the 'proof' I mentioned. Remember all those power up methods we mentioned collectively?"

They nodded, each of them reflexively glancing at their status for a moment.

"Each of those things are mentioned specifically. By name."

I let that sink in for a moment, then Itsuki spoke first, "So... We can all use each other's power up methods?"

"Yes." I said shortly, "Now... We've only found one, and I lost my temper with Erhard's master so he probably wont-"

Erhard, as if summoned by magic, poked his head into the war room again, "Good, you're still here. He was passed out drunk, so I raided his workshop." And he handed me a little ornate box. "If you gave me a few days, I'm sure I could do an amazing job... But we're in a hurry right?" He seemed almost downcast about it.

"You'll get your chance. I can work with this, and get them back to you later. Go get a drink or something."

He left with a grin, "Sure. Remember, you promised, hahaha!"

"So... that's a Sakura Stone of Destiny?" Rishia asked. "No...?"

"It's Amber from the tree. The Shield, in all its supportive goodness, allows me to 'turn off' four of the... twelve? Things that their barrier affects with our weapons. So, lets put it to a vote."

The results were surprising. With the exception of Isuki, everyone chose Growth adjustments. Since Itsuki didn't have a pet or slave, it made sense, but the other two... Well I was happy they cared about their companion.

Skills was the next obvious one, since they were kind of important. Even I relied on the Air Strike Shield more than I'd like to admit, and there were a lot of ranged effects for the three melee weapons.

Stat bonuses were voted next, since all of us got 'flat bonuses' for mastered weapons. Especially after I'd convinced them (Ren especially), that it cost nothing to just have a crappy weapon hanging on your hip overnight to gain its passive bonus.

We didn't choose magic. I wanted to, but the other three had all the King to thank for all their magic spells, and I had a party with a very diverse magic background. Aside from a couple of boosting spells from the Shield levelling up, it wasn't as important as the thing that won the last vote.

Item enchants. We all had a plethora of enchanted equipment, me most of all. And since they'd all been 'convinced' this wasn't a game, I'd been giving them various things to augment their equipment. Like say, the water breathing amulets... But also the last bit of equipment that I made while we put this to a vote.

"Okay... Since I promised Erhard he could make something nice with these, this is only a temporary measure." I handed them each a pendant. "Its locked in for the four choices we've voted on, but I can change it from my menu."

"Huh, networked?" Ren asked.

Ah, now I was guilty of forgetting they were from a modern world. "Exactly. When Erhard makes you stuff, you'll probably get the exact same options I have, and can tool them a little better. If I hadn't been so busy, I might have been able to upgrade this for maybe one more choice, but..." I shrugged.

"Do the best with what you have." Motoyasu nodded, "Real talk though... This is pretty messed up."

"What is? I mean..." Itsuki paused to think for a moment, "What exactly?"

Motoyasu looked at me, I gave him a nod, and he addressed the issue I had only kind of hinted at to him. "There is something much bigger going on. Aside from her, we've played games almost exactly like this world. With bosses and monsters and even some people almost the same as the games."

I put up a hand, "Rishia? Do you want to be here for this?" She was the only 'resident' of the world, and the last few I'd mentioned it to... well, Kyo might never stop screaming... but he made an interesting paperweight. "I know you're the curious type, and incredibly smart. But this is... not something you can forget."

Thankfully, she didn't glare at me. The determined cinnamon roll leaned a tiny bit closer to Itsuki, "I'd like to hear it."

"From the top then?" Ren asked, getting a nod. "It's obvious by now, we're from different worlds. Aside from her, kind of?"

"I've visited 'Earth'. Sure. Oh, and Kizuna might have come from one of your worlds."

That surprised them, and I felt a little tingle through my horns at their unsatisfied curiosity, but Ren soldiered on, "Each of our worlds had a game, an interactive book? Or in her case, just a book, describing this world, and the Waves, in reasonable detail."

Itsuki picked up from there, "The second and third Wave bosses, we knew about. The Spirit Tortoise? We knew about that too, though... the games didn't exactly match the scale..." He shook his head, "The details were a little different, the methods to beat them varied, but overall, we've done this, or something similar in the games we played."

"For me, the book I read, it was set a few generations before the current King of Melromarc." I explained.

"For me, well the game writer didn't mention what generation the King was." Motoyasu shrugged. "Anyhow. So, this tells us a couple things. First, we can win. And that the winners in some cases, returned home to write the story out. Their version of it at least."

Rishia interjected, "I know about this, and that some heroes didn't return. Siltvelt and Faubrey have nobility that can trace their heritage back to older Heroes..."

"Excellent. Verification from an expert." I smiled, "So. Now we get past the 'commonly known' to the 'weird'. The Archive you guys found, and later found empty. Evidence of the same in Kizuna's world. Purged or missing records in Siltvelt. All over the place, we have found evidence of history being suppressed into legend, or erased."

"You know, what about Miss Ost? Or... Hmm, didn't think to ask her..." Motoyasu rubbed his chin.

"Ost, until recently, didn't have much self awareness. And it wasn't until just after the last set of Waves, that she started walking around on her own. And... Maybe Fitoria has an idea... but I don't think I should be the one who asks." I said with a sigh, "Then, however, there's what I've found at the Hearth, and through my own experiments..." I gave Kotetsu a little scroofle, "Hey... Can I use the Mirror?"

The sleepy dragon-noodle half opened an eye, and with a slow careful motion moved the Vassal Mirror from her back right foot, to her front left. She didn't do anything else, but purred a little louder as I gave tribute for her service.

It was a little awkward, but I moved my arm low to the table so the Mirror could rest flat atop it. "Okay..." I got the Vassal Book from my hip, let it fall open naturally on my palm, "So, this is the night sky over Lurolona, Raphtalia's village a little while ago..." The pages of the Book flipped without me touching them to the correct page, and a star chart appeared in holographic form over the Mirror's surface as the two Vassal Weapons worked together.

So, I gave them the same information I gave Fohl and Atla, as well as the information the two had come up with on their own while touring the Hearth. Astrology, the fragmented books in the Hearth's tower library, what little L'arc's archives had, and even some of the stuff from Ethnobalt's favourite book.

It was no surprise the 'city boys' had a bit of a clue about most of the topics. They were taught this stuff in grade school after all, but I'll admit I was a little surprised Rishia kept up with it as well. Then I got to the topic I had kept from the tiger siblings, though, to be fair, SITA and HIDA were still calculating things.

"So... You've met SITA." I looked to Rishia, who nodded, "She is like an abacus who can do things on her own. I mean, before the other stuff she can do now as a 'Weapon'. She is based from HIDA, a literal Smart Phone."

Someplace deep in my soul, I felt my mysterious nature pouting as I gave up a secret.

"Wait... An AI? Seriously? You had one?" Ren was wide eyed, "The best thing we had in my world were very smart chat algorithms and bad art..."

"If it's not obvious by now, this isn't my first trip." I smiled, feeling that mysterious nature stop pouting, stretch, and smile with all its teeth showing, "During the Wave at Cal Mira, I had set things up just enough, for them to get something to me. HIDA started as an interactive design bot, with the chat and learning functions you're familiar with, and a group of very caring and understanding people who helped her grow past her code."

I waved the topic aside for the moment, "What's important however, is that the two of them have put together... this."

It was a broken 'globe'. Clearly marked in 'Ryuu green', was the giant conglomerate continent that held Melromarc, the surrounding kingdoms, and the various islands I could get a map for. In 'Haruhime house robe red', was Kizuna's world, as far as they could provide maps for it. And in 'Hestia's blue ribbon' blue, was the Hearth.

Each of them were separated by vast swathes of nothing. At least, so far as HIDA and SITA's sensors could tell.

"But... This isn't possible?" Itsuki blinked at it, "Ah... Can you..."

Instead of doing it myself, I motioned towards Kotetsu. This prompted Itsuki to give her a few timid headpats, then a few more when she leaned into them. After a moment of this, the holographic model of the 'planet' expanded a bit. He didn't stop for a moment longer, though, it might have been because Kotetsu was starting to emit little happy sparkles.

"Thank you." I said, "Now, we've done other experiments. As you can see, the Hearth is tiny. And surrounded by water. But when you try and go off the edge, you loop around to the other side. I asked Mirri, the Captain of that ship we were just on, and she said the same between here and here." I motioned between the north edge of the giant continent and the south. "So, for all intents and purposes, these are 'worlds' as the average person would understand."

"But... Oh! Ha!" Motoyasu laughed, "Almost nobody can move between worlds. No one would notice."

Ren chuckled, "And unless it's painted yellow, no one looks up."

"Exactly. Overall, this was a bit careless. But whomever is hiding the history of the worlds missed a spot." I smiled, "Rishia?"

"But what's in the middle? Why can't we see past..." She looked away from the map and out the window. "A barrier? Like Q'ten Lo?"

"Far more advanced, but that's the theory." I nodded, "Then-"

I also turned my head to look out the window, the feeling of shifting power making all my tails bristle and lash into combat alertness.

Then something a couple hills outside of town exploded in a fountain of smoke and dirt.

Thankfully, not everyone had decided it was party time, and one of the samurai in my recent party found us about twenty seconds later as we got ourselves into the Mayor's courtyard. Before he could start on the formality, I snapped out a firm, "Report! What just exploded?"

We lost a second or two while he mentally skipped over the 'Lady Kodori' or whatever he was about to say and compressed it down to, "My Lords!" and a sharp up/down bow of his head, "The explosion came from one of the many Sealed Burial Mounds. As per our new instructions, we are considering this an attack from the False Emperor, and moving the civilians away."

"Contact Mirri and her crew, have them deal with the civilians. Have the warriors under our banner work rear guard for them. Go!" I turned to Motoyasu, "We need eyes on it. Kuro still able to fly?"

"Yeah. Itsuki?" And he turned away to whistle sharply, "KURO!"

Kuro in child form slammed into the ground in front of him like some kind of super hero, a divot of missing clay tile on the wall's ornate roof behind her. She looked irritated, and had what looked like a broken wooden mug in her had (able to survive a rowdy party, not super sonic feather dusters). "Oh no!" She looked more distressed by the broken mug than the uptick of distressed people.

"Can you carry two? We're going to scout overhead." Motoyasu asked, "And I'll make sure to get more of whatever it was later."

"Boss!" As Kuro changed from her child form to a massive black (with elegant white tips) feathered Humming Falcon, Tetsu got to the top of the steps with Raphtalia and Sadeena. By the time Kuro leapt into the air with Motoyasu and Itsuki on her back, Clive and Usa had arrived from over the wall at the far end of the courtyard.

"First report says it came from one of those burial mounds." I said, applying pre-work headrubs to Tetsu, "Motoyasu is scouting by air. Tetsu? Think you can carry people while you fly?"

"Yeah! I've gotten all kinds of practice!"

"Oh this is terrible! I knew..." Ravula, a little red faced under his beard, huffed through the courtyard gate, "huff huff, pardon. But I suspected the Emperor was doing something suspicious when he visited many of the Sealed Burial Mounds! The people were told it was to strengthen the Barrier, but... He was placing Sakura Stones of Destiny on the mounds!"

I facepalmed, sighed, "Okay, Tetsu, can you take Raphtalia and Clive up? Clive? If reasonable, work with Itsuki and just... delay whatever it is from getting closer to the village. "Raphtalia, usual misdirection tactics."

"What about us?" Ren asked as we stepped away from Tetsu so she could 'poof' into her big dragon form. I hadn't even noticed Solitaire show up, the huge wolf/panther at his side and getting exactly one chin scratch from Ren.

"Rishia? Sound stone for Itsuki?" She nodded, "Good, keep Ren informed, ride with him?"

Solitaire looked down at Rishia, leaned in really close, "Fine." He grumbled, "You better not pull my fur."

"Past that? We get as close as we can, trust everyone to do their job, and start working when we all get there." I looked back to Usa, put a hand on his shoulder to push him just a tiny bit further away, and changed into my 'not as giant as usual, but still pretty big' fox form.

Now looking down at the (no longer smug) Solitaire and his two riders, but not down at Tetsu, I gave myself a little shake to settle my morphing armour properly.

I was quite pleased that we voted for 'enchanted items' since doing this while still in my armour would have been either impossible, painful, or fatal. Sadly, I couldn't speak like the other 'animals' we had in the party while in beast form, so, I nudged Usa and Sadeena with my tails, patted the spot on my back where the armour plates were curled just a tiny bit to offer a hand hold for what ever worthy soul I allowed there with another tail. I heard Tetsu jump into the air with a 'yahoo!' as Usa (pouting just loud enough for me to hear) and Sadeena (getting behind Usa with a purr) got on my back.

And of course, we started running towards the danger, with Solitaire, Ren and Rishia matching pace beside me.

Poor Usa... If we weren't rushing into combat with some ancient evil or something, I'd have given him a tail to hug. But of course Sadeena was teasing him, and me by proxy while I wove my way through a small crowd of fleeing citizens, some soldiers herding them away from the danger, and a couple of alarmingly narrow streets before getting to the outskirts of town.

"Quite a smooth ride, wouldn't you agree?" She asked Usa, who made a little distressed noise, unable to move away from her, since she was pressed against his back to keep from falling off me.

I aimed myself at what looked to be a sheer wall of rock covered in nothing but thin roots and vines, then growled quietly to get their attention.

"She's going to jump." Usa said, "Don't bite your tongue." About as close as he'd ever get to 'shut up', sadly.

And with a sudden slowing of my front paws, my back paws shifted forward so they could get under my centre of balance, and then extend. It had been far too long since I'd just... run. And the huge leap into the air, passengers making surprised noises as we rocketed upwards, carried us up, over the rock wall, over a small bamboo grove, and onto a small footpath.

Too small for me!

There was a crash of shattering bamboo on my armour, more cracked and broken stalks as I leaned into them like a wall, but my big paws gripped into the hard packed dirt and after a couple of seconds to make sure my riders and I weren't hurt and everything was still attached, I made for the next high point I could see at a run.

"Oh, she can be rough too." Sadeena laughed as we got moving again.

Then a sudden voice from around Usa's neck spoke.

"This is Motoyasu. We've got a problem."

(Motoyasu)

"This feels so weird." Kuro said as she ascended in a tight spiral. "When I'm like this, I just want to sing, and pulling a cart seems unnatural."

"We're grateful for everything you do for us." Motoyasu said, "Itsuki? Okay back there?"

"Ya..." He replied a little breathlessly, "Trying to stay positive. It's been difficult."

"If we fall, keep hold of me. Kodori made me a slow fall ring."

"I was trying not to think about that, but thank you."

"I would never drop my master, no matter how stupid he is." Kuro huffed, "Stop leaning, going to glide."

Behind them, straining a little under the weight of her two riders and not nearly as graceful as Kuro, Tetsu was still gaining altitude, "Itsuki? Wave your hand in that direction there until Clive signals." Motoyasu pointed to the other side of the still settling cloud of dirt and dust the burial mound had created when it exploded.

He felt Itsuki take one hand off the back of his belt, and then shift a little. "Green light."

"Good. Kuro? Sweep around right."

She didn't reply, but responded with a shift in her outstretched wings and a gentle turn.

"It's huge..." Itsuki said his hand returning to grip Motoyasu's belt. "A hydra? Wait, if this is based on Japanese lore, wouldn't it be an Orochi?"

"Lazy writers. Is that... Your eyes are better, what's that on its back?"

One hand left his belt again, "I see... It's one of those pink stones, and its covered in all kinds of... stuff. Ritual gear and symbolism stuff." Itsuki let out a little laugh, "I was right. Status calls it 'Yamata no Orochi'."

"Heh, now why would a world like this have something out of our lore? Anyhow... Give me dimensions before it thinks to look up and make our life complicated." Motoyasu pulled a sound stone from around his neck and tapped it against his breastplate carefully to activate it, "This is Motoyasu. We've got a problem."

(Raphtalia)

"Sorry if this is a little rough!" Tetsu said as her wings and body moved furiously to gain altitude, "Comfy? Not falling off?" But still think about her passengers like the considerate clever girl she was.

Behind her, Clive clicked his mouth in a 'yes', while his legs moved a little behind hers in the custom stirrups built into the saddle/harness Tetsu was wearing. "We're fine back here." Raphtalia said, "What a mess..."

They ascended behind Kuro, and a moment after the big black (with nice white highlights) bird levelled off, Clive clicked a couple of times, and Raphtalia saw a green light behind her. Then one of Clive's arms came up under hers, and his hand flashed a quick sign.

"Tetsu, veer left." Raphtalia said, then added as Clive signed again, "Kuro is going around... right." Then a thumbs up before Clive's arm slipped away again.

"Gaelion says its a hydra." Tetsu said, her wings stretched out as far as they would go, "And that it feels really good to fly again." She paused as she finished course correction, "I agree! But... I don't wanna make friends with that."

Under them, shaking off the dust and dirt of its emergence, was an huge beast of a thing. Eight serpent heads stretched out from a solid serpentine body. "It's bigger than the Tyrant." Raphtalia breathed, "But... I don't fear it."

She sounded surprised by her own admittance, and Clive gave her a pat on the shoulder before Usa's voice spoke from around his neck, "Relaying information! It has what looks like a Sakura Stone on its back, and other magic effects around it." A pause, "Kodori and the Sword Hero are going to engage it directly. Archers, try and get it to go north!" Another pause, "Thirty seconds!"

The eight headed snake started to raise its heads, long red tongues tasting the air, then looking upwards at the much smaller dragon and the flying snack got to its extreme left and right.

"Gaelion says its able to spit all kinds of stuff at us. I'll be careful!" Tetsu said, "But hold on just in case!"

Clive reached over Raphtalia's shoulder with a little yellow sound stone in his hand, and she spoke into it, "Relaying information! Target will have breath weapons of different types! Be aware before you start getting its attention!"

She looked over the back of the beast, and saw Motoyasu wave at her.

"Tetsu? A little lower, Clive? Second head on the left? Fire a magic arrow... there! If she's fast enough, she can get some clear ground to fight on!"

(Team Bird)

Motoyasu waved to Raphtalia for the information, then looked down at the beast on the ground. "Itsuki? You heard her. Kuro will level out, you can fire, then hold on again. Single shots unless you want to risk falling off."

"Okay. Oh... If it has one of those stones, will my bow even work?" He sounded a little sad, but at least he was asking first, instead of trying and getting upset later.

"One job at a time. I think... Look!"

They saw Clive's magic arrow zip towards... well it wasn't really a clearing, but it would have some solid footing, if they could get there before the beast sat on it... "I see it." Itsuki said, watching Clive's first solid arrow stick into the second head on the right. This got its attention, and the two heads on either side tilted upwards, a spray of fire and glob of green bile vomiting upwards towards the dragon. "I got the timing I think. I'm going to hit the head on the left, get it to split attention and hold still."

"Good call. Kuro, call it out!"

"Yes master!" She stopped her slow turn, "Go!"

Itsuki drew back the magic string on the Bow, and let fly. As predicted, the magic ammunition from the Legendary Weapon lost a great deal of its punch as it passed through a magic barrier around the monster, but all the same, it poked the snake's head right between the eyes, and the two beside it looked up at him.

"Ice and acid incoming!" Itsuki said as coloured glows worked their way up the throats of the monster, grabbing a fist-full of Motoyasu's cape as Kuro tilted sharply to the side left, then right, before her wings caught air again to bring them level.

But just as planned, the huge slithering body came to a halt as all eight heads started to look upwards and track the two flying targets.

Then Ren's voice spoke from inside Itsuki's shirt, "We're almost there. Distract it while we try to get on its back. Itsuki, Rishia will be on that hill, ahead and to the left of the beast. She says its using dragon veins to strengthen itself as well."

Sadeena, with Usa pouting in the background, replied with, "You forgot to say 'relaying information'."

Motoyasu couldn't help but laugh, "Itsuki? Put this on." He passed back a little silver ring with what looked like a hundred different pairs of wings etched into it at nearly microscopic detail, "Ever try a VR flying game?"

Itsuki put it on, and was to distracted by the little array of buff icons that suddenly lit up on his status screen to wonder why he was just given the ring at all. "I wasn't a top scorer, but yes?"

"Exact same thing. Go!"

And with a little wiggle of his back, Motoyasu shrugged Itsuki off, while Kuro tilted upwards to complete the action.

"YOU ASSSSSssssshoooooollllleeeeee..." Itsuki cry was lost to the wind as his brain caught up with what just happened.

NOTES!

Next up? Snek-snek-snek-snek-snek-snek-snek-snek slaying.

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