It was the morning of the wave, and both Kurose and Eorna were standing in front of Feibyn, who was currently muttering to herself as she went through the boxes.

Matthias was off to the side, shaking his head as the blacksmith spoke to herself. He was dressed in a simple set of armour. It was nothing fancy, which Kurose found strange. He would have assumed the man would have had some unique looking armour, being a hero and king after all.

"That's there, could have been better if I had more time…" She grumbled to herself before shaking her head and looking towards the duo.

"Alright you two. Keep in mind that this isn't the finished product, so don't think I'm giving you low quality stuff, you hear?" Feibyn spoke, setting down two boxes onto a table for Eorna and Kurose to look at.

"This is just a prototype, but it should hopefully be more than enough. I managed to enchant it a little, but it's nothing major. I just gave it what I thought the two of you would need most, got it?"

Kurose and Eorna nodded, and Matthias began clapping.

"Great job as always, Feibyn. I knew you could get it done in-"

"Oh no you don't!" Feibyn interrupted him mid clap. "It's not even close to being done, I said it's a prototype, pay attention!" She shouted at the man.

Matthias simply held his hands up in defeat, seemingly knowing better than to argue with the blacksmith.

"Right. Put it on quickly then. Not sure how long you have until the wave, but you don't want to be transported whilst you are getting changed, do you?"

Kurose nodded his head, and slowly took his armour, looking it over.

Prototype Hero Armour

Defense up, Mana Recovery (Weak), Fire Resistance (Weak)

Kurose wasn't exactly sure if the enchantments were nothing major, but then again, he had no idea how they were enchanted. Either way, it was good enough for him, especially so for a prototype set of armour.

The inside of the robes were black, and it took him a moment to realise that Feibyn had used some of the Odontotyrannos hide for it. That was likely where the fire resistance had come from, if he had to guess.

It looked more like a formal military uniform than any armor he was used to, though that wasn't saying much. His only real experience with armour was the chainmail he had prior to the wave after all.

He put the robes on, glad that they seemed to fit fine. At least Feibyn had actually kept his measurements in mind for it. It took him a moment to realise that he actually had a cloak on his back, and he let out a sigh.

As long as it did not get in his way or anything, he wouldn't complain, but he didn't see why it had to have a cloak. Though maybe it would grow on him in time. The last thing to be done was a simple, leather sash wrapped around his waist.

"It's so you can carry around pouches or anything you might want. Also helps secure it a bit more, just in case." Feibyn explained, once she noticed Kurose's confusion. "In your case, probably some Charmes and a money pouch."

"I see." Kurose spoke with a nod, moving his arm to the side.

The robes fit well, and it didn't seem to limit his mobility. Neither did the cape, which he was thankful for. It was far more comfortable than the chainmail he had gotten a while ago by far.

"So, how is it? Anything you think needs adjusting, or is it all good?" Feibyn asked him.

"It's all fine. Not stopping my movement, it seems easy enough to put on, so it's all good. I appreciate it." He answered easily

It honestly looked pretty good, so he was looking forward to what the full armour would actually look like.

"Well, if you appreciate it, bring it back in one piece, yeah? I want something to work on and improve rather than just a scrap of cloth at the end of the day."

"I'll make sure to." Kurose spoke with a smile. "It's not exactly my job to be taking hits, but as long as I have Sera and Eorna, then I'll be fine."

Feibyn seemed satisfied with that, and turned to Matthias. "See! That's how you talk to your blacksmiths. You promise them the armor will come back safe, and you thank them!"

Matthias rolled his eyes, but nodded. "Fine, fine. But I don't see why I have to. You're getting paid by me, you get most of the things you need, so why do…"

Kurose tuned them out for the moment, turning to face Eorna.

Around her neck was a short capelet, which went down far enough to cover her upper arms, though it was still sitting rather loosely. It was kept in place by an admittedly bad knot instead of a clasp like he had expected from a capelet, which Eorna seemed to be fiddling with.

Underneath that, she wore what Kurose could only assume was a chest plate which covered her vitals. Any parts that weren't covered by the metal were covered by the Odontotyrannos hide, and Kurose nodded approvingly.

He did wonder for a moment why his armour didn't come with a chest plate before pushing that thought away. It was probably because he wasn't supposed to be on the front lines, like he had said earlier.

"Wow, you look great, Kurose!" Eorna spoke with a grin. "I like your cape, it definitely makes you seem more like a hero." She added with a nod as she inspected him.

"Yeah. You look good as well." It wasn't the exact word Kurose wanted to use, but it was good enough. "Did you tie that yourself?"

Eorna nodded. "Yep! It's not perfect though, it still feels like it's gonna come undone at any moment." She responded with a frown.

"Well, I can help if you want?"

In response to his offer, Eorna leaned forward, motioning towards the knot.

Kurose took it in his hands, slowly undoing it and inspecting it for a moment. "If I pull it up a little bit, is it going to bother you?" He asked, getting a shake of her head.

"Nope. as long as it doesn't fall off, I'm all good." She responded, giving him a grin.

Kurose nodded, and with that, adjusted it so that it wasn't sitting as loosely on her shoulders. Instead, it was slightly higher up, and covered a part of her neck as he tied it.

"Huh, the knot seems a bit bigger." Eorna stated, gently tugging at the knot.

"Yeah, you kinda tied it pretty high up, but I had plenty to work with. It shouldn't come undone unless you either tug here," He pointed out the spot before continuing, "or if it gets cut, which hopefully it doesn't."

"Hopefully not." She agreed. "Plus, I think if it gets cut, I have bigger issues than that to worry about."

Kurose couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, I guess that's true. Try not to let that happen, won't you?"

"I'll try my best." She answered with a smile.

"Hey you two. Glad to see you both got proper armour now." Came the voice of Sera. He was in his own armour set, the same one he had from Ortensca.

"Where were you?" Eorna asked him curiously, pulling away from Kurose, prompting him to stand up straight as well.

"Just getting sorted. It still takes me a bit of time." He spoke with a small laugh. "But you two definitely look like heroes now. Makes me feel slightly underdressed myself." He said jokingly.

"Well, once Feibyn has got some more free time, we can always ask her to sort out some armor for you as well?" Kurose offered.

Sera seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding his head. "Depends how it goes." He decided. "As long as Feibyn is actually fine with it. I'll have to talk with her at a later point."

Eorna and Sera talked for a bit, with Eorna talking about their exploration of the castle, whilst Sera talked about his training.

He really did try to pay attention to it, but the feeling that something was going to happen today wasn't going away. If anything, it was increasing as the wave got closer.

However, instead of focusing on that, he reached for his discarded bag, taking out a few of the pouches that Woodrow had given him and looping them around the sash. It was good to be prepared.

"Only a couple minutes left." Matthias spoke, catching the trio's attention.

"Ah, yeah you're right." Kurose spoke with a nod, looking at his timer. "What's the plan when we get there?" He asked the older hero.

He and Eorna had already added those who were willing to come to the wave into their formations, but he wasn't sure what was going on beyond that.

"Well, the knights are going to spread out. Depending on where the wave is, a majority will go to defend any villages, and those that aren't are going to fight the monsters. If there isn't a village, they'll set up and make sure no monsters get past. We are going to look for the boss and end it as soon as possible."

"So, are all of us going around in a group?" Eorna asked him.

"Well, I've got a few people who are coming with me," Matthias spoke, avoiding their eyes, "so I'll probably split up from you three. But don't worry, you three managed to deal with the last wave. If you find the boss, just signal me somehow, and I'll begin making my way over. I'll do the same if I find it." He added on the last part as an afterthought.

"Where's Tommy?" Kurose asked, changing the subject for a moment. "I thought he would be here with you."

"Yeah! Where is he? I thought he would have wanted to fight in the waves." Eorna questioned.

Sera remained quiet as Matthias spoke. "Nah. He did want to fight, but I managed to get him to agree to not come. Don't want a kid fighting the wave." He spoke with a shake of his head. "Even if he was a hero, I would still probably be against him going."

"That's understandable." Sera spoke with a nod. "A kid shouldn't have to fight the waves anyways."

"Exactly. You get it." Matthias responded with a nod. "Ah, get ready. We'll be back in no time Feibyn. Let me know if any response comes from Alice!" Matthias spoke quickly, disappearing in a flash of light, along with the other heroes.

"Of course you will." Feibyn spoke with a shake of her head. "Time to go find Tommy and Marissa I suppose. Best keep them two company whilst they wait, I suppose."

Immediately upon being transported to the site of the wave, Matthias ran off.

"Remember, send a signal if you spot the boss, got it?" He shouted as he ran.

Kurose, Eorna and Sera could do nothing but watch as he ran off towards the monsters spewing from the wave.

"...Didn't he say he was going to have people with him?" Sera asked after a few moments of silence.

"He did say that." Eorna agreed.

"Of course he didn't bring them." Kurose spoke with a sigh. "Think he forgot, or just lied to us?"

Eorna and Sera shrugged, and Kurose simply accepted that they wouldn't know unless they asked the man himself.

Regardless, it was time for them to move towards the monsters of the wave. It didn't end up taking them long to encounter the first monsters from the wave.

The monsters in front of them were gaunt, skeletal looking figures with pallid skin that stretched over their protruding bones. They all seemed to move in a similar fashion, with sharp, erratic movements, as if they were ready to lurch forwards at a moment's notice. Kurose took a step forward, and it seemed to lock onto the small noise he had made before letting out a screech. The rest of the small group, all similarly gaunt, with a few having gaping holes in their stretched skin that exposed their bones for them to see, screeched after it, and rushed forward.

Kurose stumbled back, both surprised at how fast they were, and how loud the screams were. He pointed his Charme at the approaching monsters, catching a glimpse of their names as he did.

[Interdimensional Helot]

He shot off a Piercing Light, strengthened by magic reinforcement, and he watched as it tore through several of the Helots.

I know the Charme is stronger, but it can't be that much stronger! Kurose thought to himself as Eorna and Sera moved forward.

He felt a hint of concern for them as they moved closer to them, but it was soon dispelled with one skill from Eorna.

"Splitting Dagger!" A copy of her dagger was sent flying towards one of the Helots closer to the center of the group.

Once it struck the Helot, the dagger, as the name suggested, split into more copies of itself and tore through the Helots as if their skin was made of paper.

The few that didn't die to that skill quickly met their end by Sera, who was easily tearing through them with quick jabs of his spear, almost as if they were made of paper.

"That felt surprisingly easy." Sera spoke with a frown. "Almost like there was no resistance at all."

"I'm not going to complain about it." Eorna spoke with a shrug. "Just think of it as us getting stronger, it's as easy as that!"

"...Yeah but I haven't gotten that much stronger." Sera spoke quietly before shaking his head. "Come on, let's get going. We have no idea where the boss is."

Kurose nodded, looking down at the Helots for a moment before continuing to fight. A quick Erst Bracelet followed up by an Exchange into the BoomBurst Bracelet seemed to have a similar effect to Eornas Splitting Dagger.

Namely being incredibly effective at tearing through the Helots.

The group of three continued to make their way through the Helots with no issues.

Matthias waved his hammer in the air, small droplets of black liquid falling off it as he frowned.

"Damn, I knew the waves weren't going to be an issue for me right now, but surely they can't be this easy." Matthias spoke out loud to himself.

Below him was a wave monster, or rather a former wave monster that had been put down with ease by Matthias.

Its chitin-covered body was riddled with holes, the black liquid that Matthias had shaken off his hammer was pooling out of the holes in its armour. The skin underneath it, or what was visible beyond the chitin, was the same as the Helots he had seen earlier.

Matthias did have to admit that the monster had at least looked slightly threatening, with the way it had stomped towards him, It even seemed to have a basic understanding of what to do, attempting to block Matthias' strike with its chitin shield.

Unfortunately for the monster, due to the level difference between them, Matthias had broken through the chitin-covered shield and smashed several holes into its chest, leaving it in its current state.

"Either way. If it was that easy for me. I'm sure them lot are doing fine. It's just a matter of looking for the wave boss." He said to himself before turning.

The knights they had brought along with them to the wave were doing fine. Any monsters that managed to get past his fellow heroes were met with the knights behind them, and quickly taken out.

"Right. Back to searching for the boss." He mumbled to himself, moving closer towards the wave crack.

The trio were making good progress towards the wave crack, or at least one of them.

The most difficult monster they had faced so far in the wave had been an Interdimensional Chevalier, but even then it hadn't been that difficult. A simple Acid Spray from Kurose to destroy its shield, and a Pierce from Eorna to get through its chitin armour, had been enough to take it down.

The third and final type of monster they had encountered, the Interdimensional Adherent, hadn't been that impressive if Kurose was being honest. In fact, they were more of a nuisance than anything. Whilst the Helots were more likely to swarm them if given the opportunity, and the Chevaliers seemed to have some battle sense, the Adherents were just supporting fire. They would chuck an orb of fire which would detonate after a few seconds, and then run away.

Kurose could finish them off with his Charme and ranged skills easily, but it didn't stop them being an annoyance. Despite that, they eventually found themselves beside the wave crack, and before they could ask each other where the boss was, they heard an ear piercing screech, and as one, they turned to face it.

Similar to every other monster from this wave, it was a gaunt looking thing. The only difference was how slender it looked, almost as if it was malnourished.

Its skin was stretched over its frame in the same unnatural way as the Helots were, but it also had additional features. Its robe, or at least what Kurose assumed to be its robe, was made of cracked leather and bone, jutting out at odd angles.

It glared at them with its bony face, its glowing eyes full of hatred, as if they had done something to personally offend it. It let out another screech, and raised its hand, a crackling blue orb forming before it launched it towards the trio. They dived away from each other and the crackling blue orb exploded on impact, sending Kurose stumbling forwards a bit more.

The interdimensional Occultist raised its hand once more, likely intent on summoning another blue orb, but Kurose wasn't going to let it.

"Erst Scarf, Exchange!" The Tri-Tongue Jiralyks that they had fought yesterday had an interesting equip effect for the scarf weapon forms he had gotten from them. The Tongue scarf held an equip effect called Sticky, and whilst Kurose wasn't absolutely certain on what it did, he could make a good guess from the name alone.

The newly summoned scarf stuck to the Occultist's arm, and Kurose yanked it just as the blue orb fully formed. It dropped to the ground beneath the boss, and sent it stumbling back, though to a lesser degree than it did Kurose.

Did it require some sort of charge? Or was it just because the boss was floating? Whilst Kurose thought it over, Eorna had rushed in, slashing at the boss.

"Erst Throw! Second Throw! Gale Slash!"

She fired off the skills one after the other, and the boss let out another screech as green, murky blood flowed from its chest. Eorna backpedalled from the boss, avoiding the claws swiping at her.

Kurose couldn't help but wonder just when she had gotten Throw skills. Why hadn't she used them before now?

Sera took the opportunity to jab forward with his spear, scoring a direct hit on the boss, piercing through its bone and hardened leather robe, only to get stuck inside. The spear wielder tried to yank the spear out, but was stunned by another screech from the boss, followed by it slashing one of its hands towards the spear wielder.

Its other hand moved upwards, and a black orb appeared in its grasp. Whether it was some form of magic or a physical object, Kurose wasn't sure. He was leaning towards the former. So focused on deciding what it was, he didn't notice the orb grow darker, nor did he do what he had before and disrupt it during its casting. Given enough time, the Occultist let out another screech as Sera finally yanked his spear out of the boss.

Blood poured out of the injury Sera had caused, but the bleeding from Eornas attacks seemed to slow down, and the boss threw the black orb downwards.

Before Kurose could realise what was happening, the entire area had been drenched in a murky green darkness. The air was filled with the scent of decay, and Kurose felt himself be weighed down, the darkness seeming to cling to his body.

It only just now occurred to him that maybe, just maybe, they shouldn't have taken their time to kill the wave boss. With that thought in mind, he wondered what he could do. His mind instantly went to his Charme. With a name like 'Piercing Light', it had to be somewhat effective against the dark. At least that was his thought process, and with nothing better in mind, he aimed it upwards and spoke.

"Piercing Light: Mega V"

The spell shot upwards, a thin beam of light that gave him a moment of reprieve. The magic had interrupted the darkness momentarily, allowing Kurose to smell something that wasn't decay before it crept back in.

He just had to hope Matthias got the signal, or that they could deal with the boss in its own territory.

Matthias let out another sigh as he struck down an adherent. The monsters were annoying, but persistent, he had to give them that. He still had no sign of the wave boss, and he had gone directly to one of the wave cracks. Had he gone to the wrong one? Were the others fighting against the boss already?

He made to move, but something in the corner of his eyes caught his attention, and he jumped backwards. Just as he did, something slammed into where he formerly was. "Quake!"

The ground shook beneath him, but Matthias managed to keep his balance. A quick look at where he was revealed two people.

"Damn, you got good reflexes, huh?" The man with the mace called out, holding it casually at his side.

"I just believe he got lucky." The person beside him responded simply.

Just like the mace wielder, he was carrying his own weapon. A simple, ornate longbow, with an orange gem in the center. Upon closer inspection, the mace also held a dark blue gem in its pommel.

"So," Matthias spoke calmly, assessing the two men. "Mind explaining who you two are, and why you are attacking a hero?"

"Depends, are you willing to answer one question from me?" The mace wielder spoke easily.

Matthias looked at him for a moment before deciding on an answer. "I'll hear it out, but depending on what it is, I reserve the right to not answer."

"Come on Hewitt!" his companion whined. "We don't have to bother with this, just a simple…" He mimed shooting an arrow from his bow, and Matthias grip on his hammer tightened.

"No can do, Mozu. You remember what our hero said. At least give them the reason for why we are doing this." Hewitt spoke with a shrug.

Mozu let out a groan, but nodded, whilst Matthias clicked his tongue.

"Come on now. Ask your question, or I'll send you back to wherever you came from."

"Alright, alright. Are you the Holy Hero of this world? I can see you have a weapon, but I want confirmation." Hewitt asked, eying Matthias warily.

Matthias remained silent for a moment, looking at the man before responding. "Can't say I am. I know the Holy Hero has been summoned, but I have not seen anything about him." He answered easily.

"Him?" Mozu asked curiously, and Matthias cursed his slight slip up.

"Yeah. Got a report about him, but have yet to see him register for an hourglass." He spoke plainly.

"Damn. Sucks for you, that your Holy Hero isn't doing a thi-" Mozu began with a smirk, only to be disrupted as a ray of light was shot up into the air in the distance.

Shit Matthias thought to himself. That's gotta be the signal they chose to use, but did they have to do it now?

"Mozu, mind checking that out? Might be another vassal hero." Hewitt asked his fellow hero.

Matthias wasnt sure what they were on about, saying vassal and all that, but he knew them going there would likely lead them to Kurose and Eorna.

In response, Mozu looked between the two of them before asking a question. "Are you planning to fight him on your own? Think you can do it?"

"I'll figure something out. If we take out at least one vassal, then it's gonna weaken them, so I trust you to do your job. You were insistent on doing this, after all."

Mozu grumbled, but nodded his head after a second. "Fine. I'll see you later, old man."

Before Matthias could do something to drag the bow wielder's attention back to himself, he had already run off, leaving him alone with the Mace wielder.

"So, we're gonna fight, huh?" Matthias asked with a confident grin.

He felt confident, and rightfully so. He was already the strongest person in the world as far as he knew, and with all of the methods with him, he was just that much stronger.

"Oh no doubt it will come to blows soon enough." Hewitt spoke with a shrug. "But honestly, I'm not all too invested in fighting another hero. I'm only here because I was outvoted. Though, if you do go after Mozu, I will have to fight you. I do rather like the guy after all."

"Depends on what he's going to do." Matthias spoke, tensing up.

"What is he gonna do? Hopefully, he'll do what we said. Kill at least one hero. Preferably, the holy-"

Hewitt moved his mace just in time to block a strike from Matthias with a slight struggle, and huffed. "Not even going to let me finish my sentence? Pretty impatient, aren't you?"

"Yeah? You would be pretty damned impatient if I told you I was going to kill one of your heroes, wouldn't you?" Matthias responded, stepping back.

"Guess you're right. At least allow me to introduce myself fully then." Hewitt stood straight, his mace held at his side before speaking once more. "Hewitt Brismur, Hero of the Mace."

Matthias looked at him for a moment, and spoke. "Matthias Orezmund, Jewelry Tools Hero." He spoke plainly.

Unlike Hewitt, he didn't stand straight. Whether the other hero took offense to that, Matthias didn't know, but he also didn't care. Once the opposing hero pointed his weapon at him, Matthias made his move.

"Erst Strike"

"Erst Bash"

Hewitt followed up, and their fight began.

Kurose didn't know how long he had been in it, but the darkness clinging to him seemed to be physically weighing him down the longer he was there, almost as if it was alive. If he had to liken it to something, then it would be similar to a curse from a game, which slowed people in an area.

It had led to some close calls, with Kurose only just able to push himself out of the way because the blue orbs the Occultist summoned were just that bright compared to the darkness surrounding him.

Come on… Kurose thought to himself. What can I do? Piercing light only disrupted it for a short time, and it's not like I can just fire it off randomly, I might hit Eorna or Sera. What can I do?

He continued to think, hearing the sound of fighting somewhere further into the murky darkness. It was obvious this was magic of some kind, but how could he-

Kurose's eyes widened. He remembered Sera telling him what Manalyte did, so he was hopeful the skill he got from the Manalyte Amulet had something to do with it.

"Detect"

The skill took effect, and things felt odder to Kurose. He was still surrounded by the murky darkness, but he felt like he could sense the edges of it. Inside of the sphere, because he could now confidently say it was a sphere, there was another source of magic.

The only thing he could think of it being was the Occultist, so with his focus kept on that, he pointed his Charme in the direction of it.

"Piercing Light: Mega V, followed up by Horn Strike!" He angled both of them slightly differently, with the spell aimed at what was hopefully its lower chest, whilst the skill was aimed at what Kurose hoped was its upper chest.

A moment later after he shot off his two attacks, he heard a cry from the Occultist, followed by the experience notification. The dome around the trio quickly faded, and Kurose felt relief as the physical weight of the darkness was lifted.

"Damn. I was expecting the person who set that off to be some sort of weakling, but you managed to finish off that wave boss pretty quick, huh?" Came the voice of an unknown person.

Kurose turned, facing towards the person who spoke with a frown. He wasn't wearing anything to identify himself, and he was holding an odd looking bow.

"Well, I would hope I'm not weak." Kurose spoke slowly. "If I'm weak, then I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do my job as a hero."

The man nodded, seeming to agree with him before speaking once more. "That's true. Cant do anything if you are weak as a hero. But its fine now, you don't have to be strong anymore, you can just relax, yeah?"

Before Kurose could ask what he meant by that, the man's arm moved to the string of his bow, and his eyes widened. He pushed himself backwards, stumbling slightly as he waved his arm towards the man.

"Erst Scarf! Second Scarf!"

He had two hopes for the skills. The first was that they would protect him from whatever attack the man did, and the second was that they could be used to restrain the person. However, the two scarves were barely enough to stop the arrow he had fired.

"C'mon…" the man whined, his bow pointing down as Kurose continued to move backwards. "Why can't you just die, huh? We're trying to kill you for a good cause!"

"Gale Slash!" The man moved backwards, the skill only just missing him as he observed the two new arrivals.

Eorna placed herself by Kurose's side, whilst Sera stood just in front, his spear pointed at the man.

"Huh, two heroes here. That guy lied to us!" The man complained once more.

Kurose got the feeling that this guy couldn't do anything without complaining about it. However, instead of thinking about that, he asked a question.

"Why did you attack?" He questioned the bow wielder, earning a raised eyebrow.

"You don't know?" He questioned them. Upon getting no response, he continued. "The easiest way to end the waves is to kill a holy hero during one. Simple and easy solution, and we voted to do just that."

Kurose stared at him in confusion. Where had they heard that? Was it some sort of ancient legend? Or were they just saying random things to throw them off?

"Are you sure that's actually true?" Eorna asked him slowly.

The bow wielder seemed to actually consider it for a moment before shrugging his shoulders.

"Well, no way a past hero would lie about stuff like that, plus it was one of the only documents we could find amongst everything so…Yeah, I do believe it's true."

The man looked at the two heroes and Sera before smiling. "So unfortunately, one or two of you are going to have to die. Preferably the both of you, so we can save our world, yeah?"

With that said, he pointed his bow up, pulling the string back as he did. "Arrow Rain!"

He shot an arrow into the sky, and it split, multiplying into even more arrows, each of them beginning to arc back downwards towards the trio.

Kurose looked up in concern, and made the decision to switch to one of his stronger defense based parasols. He lifted it high, covering himself, Eorna and Sera from the approaching arrows to the best of his ability.

"Great job!" The opposing hero spoke mockingly before continuing. "Erst Arrow! Second Arrow!"

Two arrows were sent towards Eorna, with the intent of taking her out of the picture. Both heroes noticed this, and acted in the way they each thought was best.

Eorna brought her dagger down, with the faint hope of being able to deflect, or at the very least weaken the impact of the arrows should she connect with them. Her other option, not that it was much of one, was to step outside of the protection Kurose's parasol offered, essentially asking to be harmed by the rain of arrows.

Kurose however, had a different plan. Keeping the parasol in the same spot, he positioned himself in front of his first friend in this new world, and just like last time, he summoned both of his scarves. And just like last time, they offered the same amount of protection they could.

The first arrow shattered both of the summoned scarves, and the second made contact with Kurose's side, piercing his side.

He let out a choked noise at the sudden pain in his side, and his hand lowered to the spot. Something warm and wet coated his finger tips, and he jerked them back up, his eyes wide as he looked at the red staining his fingers..

He went through several feelings at that moment. Anger, at the bow wielder, because he was the one who had caused this, Concern, because his blood should be inside his body, not outside. Fear, because who wouldn't be scared of an injury like that? And then finally, he settled on one. Acceptance.

Ha. Kurose thought to himself as he moved back. At least I got hurt protecting a friend.

He felt he could understand Sera's willingness to jump in front of them for any injury at this moment.

His last, clear thought going through his mind was something simple, caused by seeing the shock on Eornas face.

Man… I really suck at not getting hurt in front of my friends

"Yo, Marissa. Tommy." Feibyn spoke, a smirk on her face. "Those lot are off at the wave, so I decided to take a break and come see you. How are you both doing?"

"Slightly concerned for them, but I'm sure they will be fine. They are heroes after all." Marissa spoke with a soft smile. "It's nice to see you. I hope you didn't spend all night working on that armour?"

Feibyn let out a nervous laugh, but avoided Marissa's eyes. "I can't say whether I did or not."

"Feibyn…" Marissa spoke, clearly disappointed in the blacksmith.

Before the queen could say anything else to make Feibyn feel bad about it, she spoke once more.

"Tommy, what are you up to? More Charmes?" She asked the prince, looking over his shoulder.

He had two Charmes already made and pushed to the side, whilst another two were in front of him, with the boy writing on a piece of paper.

"Hm?" Tommy looked up, finally seeing Feibyn. "Oh, yes. But not for me though, its for Kurose."

"The Accessory Hero? Doesn't he have enough Charmes already?" She asked with a frown.

She had assumed he had plenty of Charmes, with the couple of pouches he had, but she hadn't exactly asked him.

"Oh no. They aren't Charmes. Apparently they were supplies from someone who helped him escape Ortensca." He spoke easily, returning to his writing. "I'm just making him a few more so he actually has options, rather than the one Charme he currently has."

"You're telling me he went to the wave with a single spell?" She asked in concern.

"Well, yes. But you know what heroes are like! I mean, you've seen your father fight, right? He has plenty of skills, I'm sure he will be fine!" Tommy spoke cheerfully. "This is just something I want to do to help him."

"I see." Feibyn spoke with a nod. "I'm assuming he can copy stuff as well?"

Feibyn hadn't exactly been happy the first time Matthias had copied one of her jeweller's hammers, but she had learned to just chuck any new hammers she got at him. It was perfectly fine to do so, both because he wouldn't get hurt due to his higher defense, and it was cathartic. Especially after he made several unreasonable requests of her.

"Yes, both Eorna and Kurose can. Why?" The prince asked curiously.

"Well, how about at a later point, I bug you father for some high quality materials, and we can both get to work on making some high quality stuff for him to copy, yeah?"

Tommy smiled, and nodded his head at that before going back to his Charme making.

Not much to say, no Accessory World Info or anything, haven't really done one of those in a while now I think about it, huh? Well, I should hopefully get back to doing them soon.

The wave is in full swing, and the boss is down. Unfortunately, so is Kurose. He knew what he was getting into when he placed himself in front of Eorna. Matthias is also off, fighting the other vassal hero. Pretty different from the first wave, I would say. I like to think I actually did better for this stuff, and I'm pretty happy with the stuff I have for next chapter already.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and see you next time.