First off, I apologize for the confusion that I caused with the early update. I noticed that a chapter was missing for some reason, so I tried to correct it resulting in an unwanted update. Second, I'm actually going through my previous chapters and editing them, so be on the lookout for that. Third, I'll be doing a small quip before the Bonus Omake, so don't confuse that with the BlazBlue Support Convo. Enjoy!

Chapter XIX: Splitting Up

'Damn it all to hell, maybe I have taken it too far,' Ragna groaned to himself as he slowly treaded on the snow covered ground towards the distant city. It was the next morning and Ragna had arrived late to the camp last night. So late in fact that Ragna, stubborn as ever, decided that he'd spend it training his magic, not bothering to even try to get any sleep. Now staying awake through several nights with so few breaks had finally yielded its punishment… or so it would seem.

'I'm so bushed,' Ragna thought to himself as he closed his eyes while he walked, struggling to stay awake. He winced at the sudden throbbing at his Grimoire as he began to develop a terrible headache. 'And what's your problem? I've already got enough shit to deal with… Seriously though, this has been silent since I've gotten more control of using it. The only time it's ever spiraled over control was when Izanami caused it to or when it shook with fear before I faced that masked freak. So what's going on now?'

"Ragna?" Chrom's addressing was barely heard by the Reaper as he tried to shake his headache off. "You alright?"

"Just a headache, I'm fine," Ragna grumbled his ire starting to show through. "What did you want?"

"I was trying to tell you that we were getting close to the town for the last minute," Chrom told him, his eyes narrowed in a glare. Glancing around, Ragna realized that they actually were approaching the town gates. His mix of a BlazBlue induced headache and insomnia was making him uncomfortably oblivious, he almost wished he could get into a fight to get his adrenaline running. "You didn't sleep at all last night, did you?"

"Not my fault I couldn't sleep, I tried for Naga's sake," Ragna defended himself.

"Not very hard, I remember Sumia saying that you left your tent and talked with her for a bit. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with talking with a friend, but where I want to know where you went afterwards."

"Just took a walk, it was a pretty boring night," Ragna told him with a yawn as they passed through some travelling caravans on their way to the town's gate, the town guard nodding in respect as they saw Chrom's exalt brand.

"That was hectic last night wasn't it?" one of the caravan members, an old and bearded man said to his family of travelers.

"You're telling me," his son said. "If it hadn't been for those two strangers those damned monsters would have gotten us."

"I thought we were already dead," a young maiden in the caravan said to her brother and father. "One moment we were all surrounded, and the next I see a girl dressed up like the Hero King and a swordsman dressed in a red coat with snow white hair who wielded this giant sword like it was nothing and slaughtered 300 of those things with ease!"

'Shit.' Ragna knew Chrom had heard what was just said, and he didn't have to turn his head to look at the prince to know he was being glared at. "...By my standards that's still pretty boring."

"Ragna…" Chrom groaned as he facepalmed. "I'd like to say I can't believe you, but I guess I should have expected this."

"Whatever," Ragna said as he cricked his neck as the two walked through the snow covered town. "So what are we doing in this town?"

"We're only here to grab fresh supplies and then we're heading for the capital of Regna Ferox," Chrom told him. "As much as I'd like to bring a small force to quickly journey up ahead it's too risky and none of us know our way around save for our basic maps. Not even Lon'qu is comfortable enough as a guide and he's the one who's spent the most time here."

"Sounds like a pain," Ragna agreed before hearing crash from a nearby tavern. "This town seems festive; first bar we pass and there's already a fight."

"COME ON YOU LOUTS! IS THAT REALLY THE BEST YOUR MERCENARY GROUP CAN DO!?" came the voice of the West Kahn from within. Lon'qu seemed to take an interest in that as he walked beside the two.

"Guess we found our guide," Ragna told his friend as he was about to head inside.

"Traveler, hold on a second!" The Reaper turned his head and saw that group of refugees from earlier were trying to wave him down.

"I'll go try and talk with Basilio," Chrom told his friend with a small smirk. "Speak with your well-deserved fan club and see what they want."

"Brilliant…" Ragna grumbled as Chrom entered the tavern and was left with the travelers.

Upon entering, it was apparent that the mercenary group didn't stand a ghost of a chance against Basilio. The Khan had his arms wrapped around the necks of two of the members who were struggling in vain against his grip while he had his boot planted on another man struggling to get up. Most of the other mercenaries were unconscious with a fair few huddled against the wall in fear. The eye patched Kahn himself was smiling like he was having the time of his life.

Chrom saw one of the mercenaries against the wall become tired on how badly they were being beaten as he pulled out a short sword and ran forward to attack the Kahn from behind. It was cowardly move, and one that would probably sentence the man to execution, but as Chrom tried to shout a warning to his ally the attack was intercepted with a sudden clang as it met steel.

The blade came out of nowhere, but the attacker saw his weapon was being held back by a specially crafted Killing Edge, one that was smaller in width, but had a slight increase to its handle and blade length. The wilder's outfit was almost entirely white, comprising of a white hakama top which seemed to have chainmail underneath for extra protection, a white skirt that went slightly below her knees with grey leggings, and a white trenchcoat that went only slightly above her ankles with a Katana sheath on her left hip that seemed to be made of hardened and polished oak like the weapon's hilt. Her pink hair was done in its usual ponytail and braids to keep it out of her grey eyes.

"Who the hell is this wench!?" the would-be attacker said before the swordswoman shoved off the shortsword before flipping her katana around and hilt smashing the man in his throat. As the man lurched and coughed, the woman swept his legs and sent him crashing to the floor.

"Thanks for the save Olivia!" Basilio shouted as he looked down at the mercs in his arms. "Now what do I want to hear?"

"Uncle! Uncle! UNCLE!" they shouted together. Not one to be cruel, Basilio let the two go with a laugh.

"Maybe next time you think about calling the Kahns dusty old relics you'll remember what happened when one of us was there to hear it!" he said, also letting the man under his feet retreat. As the mercenaries retreated he caught sight of Chrom and Lon'qu. "Ah, the crowned Prince of Ylisse himself and my old right hand man! What brings the two of you to these parts!?"

"H-Hello Basilio," an unnerved Chrom said as Lon'qu gave a passive nod to the two. "I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Well technically I'm not supposed to be all the way this far east," the Khan admitted. "There was supposed to be a battalion of Risen that'd been causing trouble and I wanted to see if I couldn't handle them. Though what I've heard from some travelers they may have been already dealt with." Chrom rolled his eyes. "That damned council though… they don't want to send more troops out; they want to bring them back to the capital!"

"Typical for them," Lon'qu agreed. "Then how did you manage to leave?"

"Well Flavia had a word with them and she convinced them to send me out on a small recon project. Unluckily for them I got 'sidetracked' when hiring some men!" The Kahn let out a large bray of laughter. "But that's nothing new from me!"

"Unlike Oliva it seems," the Feroxi swordsman said as he looked to a woman who he'd almost considered his sister. Outfit and weaponry aside, she seemed to be much more confident, standing straight and not breaking eye contact whenever anyone spoke. "Have you been learning swordplay then?"

"A little more than just learning!" Bailio said with a bray of laughter. "She's been getting tired of the nobles annoying her for her hand or other things, so she's been talking with her sword now! Any man who wants a chance at courting her has to beat her in a duel and she's beaten how many?"

"Fifteen," Olivia said with a small sigh, wishing that Basilio wouldn't make as large of a deal of this as he already was. "But none of them were particularly good challengers."

"Ha! Modest as always!" the Kahn laughed. "She's a changed woman I tell you, she hasn't shied away at all since your group left! People have taken to call her The Snow Mist Swordswoman or Lady of the Snow! Frankly I'm starting to miss the days when I could knock a few nobles in a duel! But then… that brings me back to our first question; What in Naga's realm are you doing here?"

"Well…" Chrom was about to begin when the door was slammed open by a certain annoyed Reaper.

"Jeeze, I can only stand to be thanked so many times," Ragna grumbled as he entered the tavern with slight ire, trying to shake some of the snow out of his hair.

"I hope you weren't rude to them," Chrom said to his friend with a slight glare.

"No more than usual," the Reaper told him. "Hey Basilio, it's been awhile. Olivia… you seem to be the same as always."

Basilio was about to call Ragna daft or worse, but when he looked to Olivia and saw the she seemed to be acting quite a bit smaller. Her face was crimson, her eyes refusing to meet Ragna's, and she seemed to have brought her arms closer in protection like she used to.

"H-hello Ragna," she said shakily as the Reaper gave her a timid smile. "H-how go your travels?"

"It's been fine I guess," Ragna said with a shrug. "You?"

"I-I've been doing alright," the dancer told him meekly.

The other three men looked from the once confident and now shying Olivia to the man who'd caused her attitude to change back almost instantly, unable to understand what they'd just witnessed.

"...What?" Ragna asked Chrom, Basilio, and Lon'qu as they all stared at him.

"Excuse me…" the two heard another shaky voice say as they saw the barkeep peak out from behind the counter with three serving ladies. "I… don't hope to be rude, but my bar seems to have suffered some… rather severe damages."

"Say no more," Basilio said as he threw a large sack of coins to the man which landed on the counter with a thud. The man opened it, his jaw going slack as instead of the copper he'd been expecting, the bag was filled to the brim with silver pieces. "Now… how about setting us up with a warm round of mead?"

"Y-yes milord," the barkeep said as he started his business up again and hastily grabbed the coin he'd been given.

The rest of the Shepherds piled into the bar, everyone now enjoying a nice mug of mead… well almost everyone, Virion spent most of his time hitting on the serving ladies with some success. Sadly the good mood wasn't to last as Chrom began telling Basilio the tale of why they'd traveled this far. The Kahn was silent as he listened to the plight, only speaking once or twice for confirmation while Ragna, Lon'qu, Frederick, Robin, and Olivia sat with them at the round table.

"So essentially," he began, "You need someone to guide you back to the capital as fast as possible so that you can consult Flavia?"

"Yes," Chrom told him. "If we leave now and only take our mobile units, how long with it take?"

"Day at most," the Kahn told him. "Just give me someone with a horse and the rest of the unit can follow a day behind us… unless you want to see if you can't stop the Risen in the area."

"About that…" Chrom began looking at Ragna. "I think they were already wiped out by Ragna and Marth."

"Really?" Basilio said as he glanced at Ragna. "All I heard was some idiot managed to take on three hundred risen and managed to get out of there alive!" The Reaper rolled his eyes while sipping down his mead. "I also heard about a blue haired someone, but that was supposed to be a woman." The Kahn shrugged as he began to down some mead.

"Actually…" Frederick began. "We've done some work and it seems that this Marth is in fact a woman."

The news prompted a sudden spray of mead for Basilio's mouth to the one sitting directly across from him on the table, who of course had to be Ragna. He blinked twice, not sure what to make of the alcohol he was covered in before wiping his face on his sleeve.

"Thanks for that; needed a shower," he grumbled, as Olivia giggled from beside him. "What're you laughing at?" He smirked in slight amusement as the swordswoman blushed and turned away.

"So the Risen are already wiped out," the Kahn spoke, getting back to the matter at hand. "All right, I'll escort you and a small force of cavalry men to the capital and the rest can stay till tomorrow morning. If the slow force moves now they'll get caught in a blizzard halfway there, but the mobile unit can beat it if we hurry."

"Works for me," Ragna said as he finished wiping himself off. "So who am I riding with?"

"You're staying here," Chrom ordered. "If you keep going like this you could get yourself killed with insomnia. As your commander I'm ordering you to stay here and get some rest until tomorrow."

"I can sleep on a horse," Ragna argued back, but Chrom didn't budge. "Emm wanted me to look out for you and Lissa didn't she?"

"And how can you do that if you need to fight off your own exhaustion?" Chrom argued back. "You're turning into a second Frederick, but at least he knows when to rest!"

"Tch, fine…" Ragna grumbled. Honestly the Reaper was starting to become concerned as his arm gave another painful pulse and his head throbbed in response. 'Damn it, what the hell is wrong with this thing? It's never acted like this since I got here...'

Meanwhile

'So this is what death feels like,' a voice thought to itself in the eternal blackness. 'To think I've failed so easily… but that man's powers, I've never seen anything like it… Who was he? And what were his ties to our lord? ...Not that it matters now I suppose.'

"Your time has yet to come Phineas Rosark," a powerful voice spoke. From out of the darkness came a dark figure shrouded in purple flames. "I have designs for you yet, as does my Herald. You must remain vigilant."

'What are you?' the voice thought before realizing what had been implied. 'Master Grima? How is this possible?"

"My influence, my power, my very being has become stronger, allowing me to communicate with a select few who have died. To think that I would have such a prominent and dedicated figure to the Grimleal… you do our order proud, warrior."

'I-I thank you my lord, but I regret that there is nothing I can do now that I have died. Perhaps Minos was right, perhaps I could have served the order in a higher regard if I'd just stayed silent at the call to lead.'

"Do not feel shame. Unlike those pathetic pretenders, your path was decided by your honor, so take pride. I am to gift you with my most powerful blessing, receivable by only a select few, the chance at another life. Go now, and return to the land of the living to serve me again."

"But my lord-!"

His cry went unanswered as the dark void around him suddenly transformed to a white blinding light. A terrible burning sensation in his chest told him that he was suffocating, and as he opened his mouth a torrent of burning wind entered his very being. His entire body has that sharp pain covering it, like when a part of your body as fallen asleep.

"Behold the gift of our lord!" He recognized that raspy voice. "Though he died in fair combat, Grima he seen this man as fit to a second life in the service to our order! Hail the Fell dragon and his gift the High Sorcerer!"

"HAIL GRIMA!" a large collection of voices shouted.

Phineas continued breathing heavily from where he lay on the bench as his eyes began to focus and he got his bearing. He was in one of the Grimleal sacrificial chambers lying on what would have been one of the table for sacrificing offering, still dressed in the robe and loincloth he'd died in. Though it pained his senses, he slowly moved his hand to his neck and felt… nothing. No stitching, no left over wounds, it was like his head had never been severed

"Servants," Minos spoke with authority. He was wearing the same robe he'd first arrived in, but they seemed to have been properly mended. "Bring this man some food and drink. He has earned that much after dying for our order." Several young members nodded and left without hesitation or question. The enigma then looked at the revived man, or rather his hood faced him. "Welcome back Pharos, we have much to discuss."

Regna Ferox

Ragna yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he awakened from his nap in the tavern's inn rooms. The Shepherds mobile force had already left while he was asleep, and were well on their way back to this kingdom's capital. The group consisted of Frederick, Sully, Stahl, Sumia, Cordelia, and Maribelle as mounts with Chrom, Lon'qu, Basilio, Robin, Miriel, and Lissa riding with them respectively (Lon'qu was trying not to get too close to Sully as they rode). Though he'd only been asleep for two hours he was already feeling much more refreshed, no small part of that because his BlazBlue had stopped throbbing and giving him a headache.

'Was all I needed to keep this thing happy a nap?' Ragna thought to himself. 'Doesn't seem like it should have, but what else could it have been?'

Deciding that he'd grab some more Z's in a moment, Ragna decided he'd take a walk around in the crisp air before heading back. Seeing as there was no one outside of his door, Ragna allowed himself to slip out into the streets. He debated whether to head further into the city, or to head outside the walls.

Looking outside the town's borders, he noticed the form of a massive bunny as it curled underneath the trees. Trying to stay warm amidst the cold.

Closing A Gap

"That looks like Panne," Ragna said to himself. "What the hell is she doing outside the city? It's freezing out here, even if she does have that fur."

Letting his conscious get the better of him yet again, Ragna headed out of the city's borders to the tree where Panne was, as he approached her glowing eyes suddenly opened.

"That's close enough man-spawn," her echoey voice said to Ragna.

"On edge much?" Ragna asked without humor. "Aren't you freezing out here?"

"Cold only bothers a Taguel if they let it, we're made much more resilient than you humans."

"Racial pride isn't going to matter jack-shit if you die out here, have some common sense!" Ragna was getting tired of Panne's attitude fast and it was starting to show.

"Don't you dare judge me!" the rabbit spoke in a more hostile tone. "You have no idea what I've been through! What sense do you have of your home being ravaged by humans, having your loved ones killed in front of your eyes, all while your dying mother tells you to believe in humans!?"

"More than you'd think," Ragna told her as he glared at the rabbit before sighing. "Hey, I'm sorry alright? I lost my temper and I didn't mean to insult you or your race. But you can't just join the Shepherds and stay on the sidelines the entire time!"

"It has worked so far," Panne told him. "What does it matter to you?"

"I swore to myself that I'd never go through the shit of losing someone again, and you're a member of the Shepherds whether you like it or not," Ragna said. "What can I do to make you trust me?"

"...Perhaps you can answer a few of my questions, there are a few things about you that I find quite curious."

"I guess I can do that, what's the first question?"

"Why do you smell of cat?" she asked him.

"Cat… I haven't seen a cat here in some time…" Ragna said. "I dunno, maybe it was because I spent so much time in early life around one."

"So you owned one as a pet then," Panne concluded.

"...Not exactly," Ragna told her. "My old master Jubei, he was something called a Beastkin and his type was a cat. I spent a lot of time with my master, learning how to fight among other things. He's a good man and I hope he's doing alright."

"A beastkin? I have not heard of that type of creature though you speak as though it actually exists. Where might I find one such creature?"

"Sad to say you can't. Beastkin were something you'd only find back in my world," Ragna said sadly. "But there weren't just cat Beastkin. There were also squirrel ones and even wolf and fox ones."

"...Interesting, but-" A light shone from Panne and she reverted back to her humanoid form. "Damn it," she sighed as she looked at a stone that she carried.

"What's that?" Ragna asked in curiosity.

"It is a Beast stone, an object which allows Taguel to take our bestial forms. It becomes broken if used to much in battle, but I thought that it would allow me to retain this form for some time if I stood still, apparently it needs time to recharge." Though Ragna could tell she was trying hard not to, he could see the Taguel visibly shivering and her teeth slightly chattering.

"Well that sucks," Ragna said before taking his sword off of his weapons belt, alarming Panne.

"Are you going to attack me?" Panne asked as she raised her fists in her last defense battle stance.

"Calm down! Jeeze…" Ragna grunted as he took his red coat off as well and before Panne could object he wrapped it around her. "This'll keep you warm for now, but we should get you to the inn."

"You really think you can do that?" Panne said with doubtful eyes. "They'd never allow my kind in, much less give me a room."

"I can be pretty persuasive when I want to be," Ragna said, hefting his massive blade and resting it on his shoulder. "Come on, I'm not going to be using my room for a while, so you can use it for now."

"Why are you being so kind to me?" Panne asked with slight suspicion. "Have I ever done anything to earn this?"

"Well you helped me out in the gardens, remember?" Ragna told her with a small smile, referring to when the two first met. "Plus I kinda have a soft spot for people like you. I mean everyone judges you for what? Animal ears and the ability to transform? They're just jealous, I think it's frickin awesome!"

"You… you what?" Now the Taguel's eyes were widened in surprise.

"Come on, let's get going; you've been out in the cold long enough," Ragna told her as he headed back into town.

"...thank you."

"Sorry what was that? Couldn't quite hear it," Ragna said, though not sarcastically.

"It was nothing, let's go," Panne said, hurrying in front of the Reaper while bundling his coat close to her. Neither of the two could see the other smiling.

Support Rank C Obtained with Panne

Convincing the guards or anyone else hadn't been that hard, in fact they might not have needed convincing. Any who sent them judgmental looks Ragna simply glared at them to frighten them off and that seemed to work. Though when Panne entered the Reaper's room and gave his coat back, Ragna placed a special Ars Magus on the door, just to be safe. This Ars Magus would dispel once Panne opened the door, but wouldn't allow anyone to enter the room until then.

Feeling that the work was done, Ragna decided to head off through town for a relaxing walk. As long as he didn't spend too much time training today, he figured it didn't matter to Chrom whether he was awake or asleep on his time off.

A Sticky Situation

"Going somewhere Red?" Ragna heard a voice ask him. It appeared to be Gaius, someone who Ragna knew was in the Shepherds, but hadn't talked to long enough to get to know, not long enough to have him memorize his name anyways.

"Just a walk around town, and Ragna," the Reaper told him.

"Eh, Red's easier to say and I think it fits you." Gaius told him.

'Shouldn't Sully or Cordelia get that name?'

"Anyways, Chrom told me to keep an eye on you so you don't do anything drastic while we're here."

"Where were you earlier then?" Ragna asked him. "I was out here just a few minutes ago and I didn't see you anywhere."

"What? Really? You just must've not seen me." Gaius defended.

"No, I don't think so, you'd have stopped me if that was the case. Come on, what's the big deal? You had to run to the outhouse?"

"Well, not exactly…" Gaius admitted.

"Come on, what was so bad? I doubt it's anything that big," Ragna said.

"Well I went looking for a candy shop, but I couldn't find an open one anywhere in this town! Are people trying to get out of this place or something?"

"With the recent Risen attacks they might be trying to get closer to the Capital," Ragna muttered. "But a candy shop? You like the stuff?"

"Like? I LOVE candy, anything with sugar in it really," Gaius told him. "What's the matter? You don't?"

"Didn't really have any sweets growing up, so I can't really judge one way or another," Ragna told him.

"Really? That's pretty sad," Gaius told him before grabbing a honey square out of his pack. "Here, go ahead and try this."

"Uh thanks, but why are you giving me candy?" Ragna asked.

"No reason," Gaius said passively.

"You're not trying to bribe me, are you?" he asked again, this his eyes slightly narrowed.

"Are you trying to blackmail me?" the thief asked in return.

"No."

"Then I'm not," Gaius said. "Go on, take it before I have it myself."

"Okay, okay, fine," the grumbled before taking the piece and chewing on it for a moment.

"So?"

"Mot mad," Ragna said, the honey sticking strongly to his teeth and impeding his speech. "Mhts moing mn (What's going on)?"

"Wait that honey square," Gaius remembered before sighing. "Damn it, that was the extra sticky one I won down in the south coast. Probably should have given you one of the lollipops instead… Oh crap, that's going to freeze soon!"

"Mou mstrd (You bastard)!" Ragna swore at the thief or at least the best he could swear with a mouth full of honey.

"Don't worry it should dissolve eventually… Or better yet, I'll be back. Just stick around!"

"Meawy (Really)!?" Ragna groaned as Gaius ran inside the tavern, leaving him outside by himself. Ragna tried his best to cover his mouth and keep the honey from freezing, though looking ridiculous at the same time.

"All right, try this," Gaius said before bringing out a tankard of heated mead. Ragna immediately took the drink and downed it, which immediately warmed his mouth and helped the honey to dissolve. "Better?"

"Yeah," Ragna said, wiping his mouth. "That was humiliating though, I almost had to try and burn it off!"

"Yeah, sorry about that," Gaius said in embarrassment and regret. "Hey, I won't say anything about this if you don't say anything about me shirking on my duties watching you."

"Wait… you WERE trying to blackmail me!" Ragna shouted in anger.

"How can you even say that? Do you know how much I wanted that candy piece for myself? That's supposed to be a really rare one!" Ragna was startled as he realized tears were actually starting to form in the thief's eyes.

"All right, all right, I take it back," Ragna groaned. 'If he's acting this sensitive about a stupid piece of candy he has to be telling the truth.' "I think I'll stay away from candy now though, not my thing."

"Eh, if that's your call, more for me then," Gaius told him. "Look as a way of saying sorry how about you promise me that you won't do anything drastic and I won't have to tail you."

"That's fair, and thanks for trying to do something nice I guess."

Support Rank C Obtained with Gaius

Ragna continued walking through town, letting out a slight sigh as he passed by a ground of people gossiping about him as he passed.

"Is that him?" a young man asked.

"He's the one, you can't miss that hair or jacket," an elderly man spoke.

"What about that blade? That thing's massive, it could take down a man and the horse he rode with one swing," a man in his twenties said.

"That's nothing, last night he was wielding it was a single arm and that was before he changed the shape to that of a massive scythe," the elder spoke again. "Those creatures never stood a chance against him."

"A scythe? You're joking; it's clearly a sword," a young woman said, rolling her eyes at the elder's supposed foolishness.

Deciding he'd allow himself a bit of fun, Ragna took the Aramasa off his belt and raised it above his head before pouring Seither into it. The crowd and the surrounding villagers watched in awe as the weapon extended and the blade shifted, becoming a scythe with dark energy radiating off of it. Ragna let it stay there for moment before letting it revert back to a sword and clipping it back on his belt.

"It's multi-purpose," he called over his shoulder as he continued walking down the street with a cocky smirk, many people gaping at what they'd just witnessed.

"Just like the legendary Grim Reaper…" one townsfolk member could barely comment.

The Legend of the Grim Reaper

The Grim Reaper… while Minos was the one who judged those who died, he could only directly sentence those who were killed by the dark flames of the Fell Dragon. The other souls still needed to be judged by him through some means and their retrieval fell to the Grim Reaper, Minos's brother. While the Reaper is always the one depicted wielding a scythe and Minos is shown judging with a quill and parchment, both brothers carried a scythe, though the uses of the weapons differed. The Reaper's was known as the Scythe of Retrieval, which he used to capture souls, while his brother wielded the Scythe of Judgement that sentenced those brought before him. Using the weapons these two served their lord tirelessly and without question… or at the very least that was how it used to be.

That changed during a time when Grima terrorized the land, when the Grim Reaper met a young maiden... a princess of the Hero King's lineage.

The Grim Reaper had been ordered to take the soul of the princess's father, one of the old kings. The man had fought against the Fell Dragon his entire life without success and he fell dead from sickness after he'd lost his armies on the battlefield. Through his struggles, Grima's power had overwhelmed him and had damaged the Fire Emblem, destroying the gem Argent, and rendering it useless. The Fell Dragon had planned on a special hell for the king's soul; have him experience all of his failures for eternity.

The Grim Reaper was about to take the father's soul without mercy, but the princess stood in his way, begging him to spare the life of her father, recounting the suffering he'd already been put through, and was willing to offer her soul in his place. And through her tears and pleas the Reaper gained a spark of his first emotion: compassion.

Taking the king's soul in a crystal gem so that Grima might never have it and after retrieving the sword Falchion and the incomplete emblem from his grave, the Reaper took the girl and ran. He ran from Grima and his servants, from Minos his brother, from everything. The two ran for years before finding Naga, the goddess opposite that of Grima's destruction. Seeing the two in their struggle, she turned the Reaper's crystal into a replacement gem for Argent, completing the Fire Emblem once more and allowing the Awakening ritual to be performed to awaken Falchion's true power so that it could slay the Fell Dragon.

But Naga forbade the princess from attempting the ritual, saying the duty lay to another… and at that moment, the Princess went into labor, beginning to bear hers and the Reaper's son.

Though the princess died of sickness before Grima was defeated, her son rose up, completed the Awakening ritual, and defeated the Fell Dragon with the Awakened Falchion. His father assisted him in the shadows and slew his brother Minos using the Fell Dragon's own power. The boy was celebrated, viewed as a hero, and eventually made into a leader; the First Exalt.

His father, however, could not survive with his master put to rest. The Reaper began to fade from existence and was on the verge of a true death when Naga came to him and offered him a job of eternity to sustain him. He would watch her Sacred Realm, the home of the virtuous souls who earned a peaceful afterlife in paradise. At the chance to forever see his beloved, he accepted and became the Sacred Realm's guardian and the guide of the righteous souls. That is the tale of the Grim Reaper.

"A truly odd epic wouldn't you say?" Minos asked Pharos as the two sat in comfortable seats in his chamber, still wearing his hood as always "While I've read that story time and again, the ending has never sat well with me."

"That… was the first time hearing the story," Pharos admitted. The newly revived high sorcerer had recently finished eating and had bathed. Now he was dressed in his usual Grimleal robes that he wore, appearing calm though his brain was flooding with questions.

"Not surprising, the Grimleal hates to tell that story, anything that involves Grima's defeat or puts our master in a negative light really. But that is not what I am concerned with, I only look for the truths of the past for guidance in the future."

"And that story is relevant to our struggle now?" Pharos decided to question.

"It very well may be," Minos told him. "Grima has spoken to me recently telling of one who fights with darkness, one who takes the Risen's power as his own when he slays them. This man could be a problem for us, more than even the so called Exalted family. One who takes Grima's power and uses it to interfere with our master, it almost sounds like the Reaper in our story."

"What are we to do then?" Pharos asked.

"As of right now I am unsure, but I am working to develop an apt strategy. But enough about that, I see that you have several questions. I would very much like to answer them."

"I suppose for a start I'd like to know just who you are. I'd very much like to know who has managed to take over the Grimleal in a single night."

"That is difficult to explain, but I will tell you this; I have dedicated my life to the Fell Dragon and his resurrection. I have cut away all other ties to my humanity so that I may serve him. His revival and the glory of the Grimleal are my only goals, you have nothing sinister to expect from me."

'He's not going to tell me anything more,' Pharos knew. "When you killed me in the tournament earlier did you know that I would be revived? Did you plan on that?"

"No, I knew that your death was honorable and your resolve unquestionable, but I also knew that I needed to heed the rules of our combat. In the end I was surprised when Grima told me that he would bless you to fight on, but I can't think of anyone more deserving."

"Thank you… but what do you intend to happen now?"

"Our Mad King is a fool, but we must serve him until the end of this wretched conflict. This is our best opportunity to end the Exalted Bloodline and the possible threat of the Reaper; We must take it. As for you… you have been revived by Grima in front of the remainder of our old council and you are already a celebrated war veteran. If you accept, I would very much like to make you my right hand man."

"...Very well," Pharos accepted. "I shall serve you until the end my lord."

"In that case, I believe a toast is in order," Minos said, snapping his fingers and ushering a servant to bring them two goblets of a fine red wine. They each took a goblet and Minos raised his. "Let us bring back our dark lord together, let us dedicate ourselves to completing our righteous goal, and let us bring glory to the Grimleal Pharos."

"To the Fell Dragon," Pharos said as he raised his goblet in return.

Back to OUR Reaper

Ragna continued walking through town, gathering the sights as he travelled. Most of the town was dreary and abandoned save for the occasional group of travelers. Some were refugees like he'd seen yesterday, but others seemed to be travelling merchants, exchanging their wares with the townsfolk and even conducting some trades with each other. Through the crowd of merchants Ragna saw a familiar face.

A Very Unusual Shopping Trip

"Hey Anna," he said as he approached the shopkeeper, but upon approaching the shopkeeper he saw that she was dressed fairly differently, now wearing travelling leathers and had a large backpack beside her stall. "What's with the change of uniform?"

"Sorry, do I know you?" the woman asked him, thought it didn't seem to be in annoyance like she was trying to seem like she'd forgotten him, it generally looked like she didn't know who he was.

"Uh… Ragna, you know? The guy who let you into the Shepherds? I know we haven't talked that much, but sheesh I was hoping you'd at least remember me a little."

"The Shepherds? Oh, you must be talking about one of my sisters. We all look a lot alike. So there's bound to be a small mix up."

"Sisters? Wait, is this supposed to be some kind of a joke?"

"Anna!" called a voice exactly like that of the shopkeeper in front of Ragna. Turning his head Ragna, saw an exact duplicate of the woman in front of him save for the fact that this one was wearing the Trickster apparel he'd been expecting.

"Wait, what the..?" the looked from one Anna to another, completely confused what was going on.

"Hey sis, been a while, how are the other Anna's doing?" his Anna asked the other.

"Oh, they've been doing well enough selling wares, but what is it that I hear from this guy? You joined the Shepherds?"

"It was a good deal, I help out a little in combat every now and again and I've protection on the road," she explained before smiling at Ragna. "Told you the Anna family was an actual thing."

"What the hell!? How did something like this even happen!" Ragna exclaimed. "What possesses a woman to have completely identical daughters and name them all Anna!?"

"I dunno… it just sorta happened," the stall booth Anna told him. Ragna slumped his head over and groaned; why did he always have to meet the weird ones? "Hey, interested in buying something?"

"I guess," Ragna muttered before looking up in a questioning look. "But are you sure it's a good idea to be doing this now? I mean the refugees look like they could use this stuff more than you or I could."

"True, but that's why I've been giving them a decent discount to help out," she told him. "And if you're worried about helping them out, a portion of whatever my shop sells is going towards helping them settle into a new home."

"That's the thing about our family of merchants," his Anna told him. "We're proud merchants and can always get a good deal, but we're not heartless swindlers. We're just girls trying to make a living."

"Huh, that's fair I guess," Ragna admitted. "So what do you have for sale?"

"Well what are you in the market for?"

"I dunno, maybe something to help me forget all of the shit I'm going through for the moment, something that can help me relax if you've got anything like that."

"...Hey buddy," the Anna working the stall began seriously. "Our family doesn't sell drugs… EVER."

"Wait, I wasn't-! I didn't mean-!" Ragna exclaimed again before sighing. "Good."

"Nice response though," she giggled. "This guy's reactions alone could sell for comedy sis!"

"I know right," the Shepherd's Anna told her. "You should have seen the ones when I told him about our family in the first place."

"If you two are both done having fun at my expense could you try talking to me about your wares? I didn't come over here to get laughed at," Ragna told them curtly.

"Aw, that's too bad, you might've been able to make a business out of it," the stall owner said with a giggle. Noticing the Reaper growl as he began to lose his temper, she decided it was best to move on. "Well we've got this new product that's becoming really popular with some high ranking and wealthy men. It's like perfume, but men are able to wear it. Couple of spritzes of this stuff on your skin and you won't be able to keep the ladies away." The shopkeeper reached into her back and brought out a brightly colored potion.

"So it's cologne then?" Ragna asked, remembering the stuff from his world.

"Far as I know it doesn't have a name," his Anna told him looking at the potion thoughtfully. Co-logne, cologne… I like it! We can start calling this stuff cologne and make it seem like an exotic foreign ware! Thanks Ragna!"

'All I did was open my mouth and they made money off of me!' Ragna groaned internally. "This stuff doesn't really interest me, at all. What else you got?"

"Already think you're successful enough without the stuff are you?" the shop keeping Anna asked before digging behind her stall once more, a visible tick mark appearing on Ragna's forehead. "Well let's see… You know about the Risen right?"

"Yeah, but how can you sell anything linked to them?"

"It's kind of a funny story," she told him before placing a wooden Risen Revenant statue about two feet tall on her stall. "There was this merchant I met a couple of towns back who was selling these as sort of a charm to protect towns against Risen. He was actually just shaming buyers and he was hoping to unload his entire stock and get out of there, so I bought all 300 from him for a couple of gold pieces."

"I ask again, how do you sell these things? You even said it was a scam, no one's going to buy a Risen charm that the owner admits doesn't work."

"Easy, I don't sell them as fake protective charms, I just sell it as dirt cheap firewood! That way the people can get some well needed warmth and also take out some aggression on the things that ruined their lives and I get some money for my troubles."

"...Jeeze, I wouldn't be surprised if you girls could make a cat bark," Ragna commented. "But I think I'm good there, what else is there?"

"Well, even though you use that oversized sword do you dabble in spellcraft?" the stall Anna asked, which earned a nod from Ragna. "Then I've got a pretty rare something for you," she told him before placing a large tome in front of him. "Most mages find this thing useless, it's a tome with records and how-to's of the three main Adept spells; Arcfire, Arcwind, and Arcthunder. This teaches you how to cast them, but you won't be able to use it as a medium for casting the spell so you can't use it in battle."

"Actually I'll have a use for it," Ragna told her. "How much do you want for it?"

"Well…" the two Anna's said as one, both scratching their chins in thought. 'Aw crap, now I'm gonna have to barter against both of them.'

"Tell you what, for that cologne tip and that laugh from earlier I'll give it to you no charge, but would you consider donating twenty gold to the refugees?" the one that owned the both said to him.

"Alright, deal!" Ragna said happily as he fished twenty gold out of his pocket and handed them to the stall owner Anna, who put the gold into a special pouch. "Guess that's all I need for now, take care uh… Anna Two?"

"Hey! None of that numbering stuff buster!" Anna said with a huff as Ragna left with 'his' Anna. "Be sure to come back though!"

"So still have that headache?" Anna asked with a smirk.

"Not really," Ragna admitted, remembering what he'd told Anna when he first heard about her family situation. "So that was one of your sisters, she seems a lot like you. Are all of you like that?"

"Essentially yes," Anna told him. "All 52 of us."

"...52!?" Ragna exclaimed. "Is this a joke?"

"Yep," Anna said with a smile, causing the Reaper to give a brief sigh of relief. "The real number is 124!"

"...Dear god…" Ragna groaned as Anna giggled from beside him.

Support Rank B Obtained with Anna

"I'm going to head off and grab some of my things and try to sell them with my sister, see you around Ragna."

"See you," Ragna said as he looked at the new tome in right hand before that the tome he'd gotten from Emmeryn was still back in his room, and Panne was most likely asleep. 'The spells in the tome Emm gave for me didn't include any of these fancy 'Arc' ones. They only included base forms and 'El' ones. I guess I could try to skip the 'El' section and master these, but after the crap my BlazBlue already gave me this morning it'd be better if I didn't try to risk it until I know what's going on. I think I already learned Elwind, so maybe I can try Arcwind at least?'

Ragna once more headed out of town toward the forest towards a clearing. The snow was starting to fall much harder now as the blizzard began approaching the city. Ragna hoped that Chrom had managed to make it to the capital by now, or at the very least was able to escape the snowstorm.

Leaning against the tree for a moment, Ragna studied the tome and managed to get a general understanding of the spell's impact, form, and casting technique. His lessons with Miriel and the tips he'd gotten from Ricken had helped him develop a further understanding of magic text, so he didn't struggle with it nearly as much as he did the first time.

"All right then, let's try this out," Ragna said as he closed his eyes and focused, his arm became shrouded in an Elwind spell as he focused. 'Now if I can just change the flow of magic in a certain way…' Ragna thought as he tried adding more energy to the spell and force of the winds started to increase. He cast that spell with a vicious fling of his arm, sending a powerful torrent of wind through the air.

'That wasn't it,' Ragna thought to himself. 'The power was there, but I need to work on the form a bit more. At least this stuff comes easier to me than Ars Magus, this'd be hell otherwise.'

Summoning the energy again, Ragna's arm again glowed with the energies of the wind. Instead of casting a spell the regular way, the Reaper instead tried to compact the spell, make the initial burst seem smaller like in the tome. It took a few minutes, but in the end he managed to get it. Taking a nearby log in his free hand a tossing it into the air, Ragna unleashed the magic on. When the spell made contact, a burst of magical wind blades was unleashed tearing the log into sawdust.

"Alright!" Ragna shouted, clenching his fist in victory. Just to make sure, he channeled the spell through his left arm, so that he would know he could channel it without the BlazBlue. Unsurprisingly, he was able to at no additional difficulty.

'Well there's that done, let's make sure my swordplay is still up to snuff,' Ragna said before taking out the Aramasa. Calming himself, he started making slow and deliberate cuts with his sword, before speeding his attacks while retaining his accuracy. While attacking he worked on implanting Dark Energy in the correct amounts to charge his blade with Soul Eater capabilities or shift it into its scythe form and change his combinations.

'So far so good,' Ragna thought to himself as he kept making an increase of speed going faster and faster. At the height of his speed though, he made a small error and accidentally imbued the blade with a small amount of Wind magic instead of Soul Eater for a very brief second.

"Dammit," Ragna sword to himself as he stopped swinging stopping the blade with precision. "Messed up the technique…" It was then that the noticed the cut in the tree a small distance away from him. Curious, he examined the cut up close and could see that it'd been a very clean cut and while it was in the direction he'd been slashing with the sword, he wasn't close enough to the tree to do it with his sword.

"Let's try that again," Ragna said to himself as he tried channeling a small amount of wind magic into his sword, giving it a faint turquoise glow. Deciding not to target any of the remaining foliage, he aimed to sword at an open area and gave a vertical swing downwards.

The end result was a blade of energy emitting from his sword, travelling down the open path and causing the ground to be torn up from the bottom edge of the blade. It travelled a good thirty feet before it dissipated.

"Well… wasn't planning on pulling that off," Ragna muttered to himself as the already cut tree collapsed behind him. At the thought of applying this form attacks to his other magics he became oddly excited. "Maybe I can figure out a way to use this with fire and thunder." But he then took notice of a fresh set of footprints along the line he'd created. They were heading away from the town and they seemed to be human, or at the very least humanoid.

'This better not be Panne,' Ragna groaned to himself as he followed the footprints. 'I told her to get warm and not to worry about what any of those so called people think about her. How the hell is she planning to survive out in the cold when there's a Blizzard coming?'

Following the snow tracks for a few minutes he eventually came to a section of foliage just on the edge of a small clearing. On one of the lower branches Ragna found a white trenchcoat hung with a Killing Edge resting against the trunk.

'Aren't those Olivia's?' he thought to himself. 'What the hell is she doing out-?'

The Lady of the Snow

The Reaper caught his breath when he saw Oliva. She was dancing in the snow, wearing her hakama, skirt, and leggings, bending and swinging her body in a rhythmic and captivating routine. The snowflakes changed their path as she did, giving her a small, sparkling, flow of white dots while she unknowingly performed for Ragna.

Now our protagonist had never really been one for dancing, he never took it up or watched it in his home world and the one performer he'd met was… a little on the odd side, and to him that was putting it mildly. But watching Olivia, he couldn't help but become captivated. Dancing with her a while ago had been one thing, but actually watching her perform by herself, unhindered by a lesser skilled partner…

"Holy…" he muttered unintelligibly, unable to move from the spot, not that he really wanted to.

Eventually though, Olivia caught sight of him staring at her. She seemed to freeze as she stared at Ragna, her eyes wide in a deer caught in the headlights way. Ragna just stared back at her for a good minute.

"Uh… Hi?"

"Eeek!" Olivia screamed as she tried to cover herself with her arm, curling up her body as she stood, her face instantly turning red in a harsh blush.

"Whoa! Sorry! Sorry!" Ragna shouted as he tried to looked away, a small blush appearing on his face as well. "Didn't mean to stare! I just saw you out here and sorta… got caught up in your dance."

"Y-you were w-watching me!?" Olivia asked him, her face fraught with terror. "Oh gods! H-How long were you watching me!?"

"How long?" Ragna repeated as he continued to look away from Olivia, deciding he'd help her by getting her coat from where she'd hung it. "I dunno, I sort of lost track of time. Is this why you stuck back, to practice your dancing?"

"Ohhhhh…" Olivia moaned to herself, looking like the type of person who only wanted the ground to swallow her whole. Feeling herself get nudged in the elbow, she saw that Ragna was offering her coat back to her. She timidly grabbed it from him and put it on. "Th-thank you…"

"Yeah, and I'm sorry for…" A sudden realization hit Ragna. "Hold up, what am I apologizing for? Didn't I tell you last time to work on your confidence? I mean you gave that one noble what was coming to him."

"Y-yes, you did tell me," Olivia admitted as Ragna handed her back her Killing Edge and she started the adjust the sheath's straps. "And I-I've been working on it; I'm getting better with a sword and I've been fighting off those nobles."

"Really?" Ragna asked slightly incredulous. "No offense, but that's a little hard for me to believe. Every time I see you, there's always that brief moment that you stare at me before caving."

"Th-that's actually more you than me," the dancer told him.

"Me? C'mon, I'm not that scary am I?"

"Well… it's more like you make me nervous…" Olivia explained. "I-It's just that you helped me out a lot and I just don't want to let you down."

"Let me down? How the hell are you letting me down, I just helped you get started. If you want to be less timid just go ahead and do it like you feel like it! Doesn't mean that I'm gonna be angry if you stop trying and do try something else. Just do what you need to and I'll help out if I can."

"Ragna…" Olivia seemed a little less timid now, remembering the man who'd come to her rescue, she'd taught him to dance, and learned swordplay from.

"Come on, let's get back to the city before the blizzard comes through, it's already freezing out here anyways," Ragna told her.

"Wait, what were you doing out here? I was here dancing, but what about you?"

"Just, uh, you know? Going for a walk?"

"In this weather?" Olivia asked, not believing him. "You were training weren't you Ragna?"

"What, training? Out here?" Ragna said, chuckling very nervously. "C'mon that's crazy, why would I have to go out of the city if I wanted to train?"

'Maybe because Chrom said that you were supposed to be recovering?" she suggested.

'Busted.' "Well I…" Ragna's attempt to come up with an excuse came unfulfilled as Olivia grabbed his arm and proceeded to drag him back towards the town. "Hey…"

"Come back to town with me," Olivia ordered, still clutching his arm.

"Now you decide to be assertive," Ragna said with a smile that half exasperated, half whimsical. "Okay, okay, no need to hold my hand though I won't run off on you."

Blushing a little, the dancer let go of his hand and the two continued to head back, walking shoulder to shoulder instead of either leading. As they walked, Olivia caught sight of the long slash that Ragna had made along the ground and the sawdust of the obliterated log, and a freshly fallen over tree that looked like it had a cut in it.

Ragna noticed where they were passing as well, as well as the angry (though still kind of cute) pout Olivia was now giving him.

"...It was like this when I got here," he defended lamely, earning him a mild punch on his arm.

"Nice try," she said to him, thoroughly unimpressed.

Ragna snickered a little which slowly evolved to a small chuckle and Oliva eventually joined in with her own giggle. She hooked her arm in his as they walked back to the town. Just another odd moment between the two.

Support Rank B Obtained with Olivia

Author's Note: Don't own anything, but I'm trying to get this chapter out by the start Friday.

Whew! I wasn't expecting to do a long chapter this time, but I guess that was how it turned out. Lot of stuff happened in this chapter, and I know the lore I'm adding to this MIGHT be a bit of a stretch (I'm giving myself way too much credit though).

Anyways in regard for Pharos's revival, I have this for you.

Minos (Talking to a servant): Place Pharos's body on the ritual altar, and the Fell Dragon shall revive him. He shall be crucial to our plans in the coming days.

Generic Servant: Do we really need to bother with it though? I mean he's not exactly that hard to replace.

Minos: I doubt that we'd find another like him in this order or another, his dedication to the cause can't be replaced.

Generic Servant: But he was well liked by most of the reviewers. Won't he have a long lost twin?

Minos: ...How does that even work?

Generic Servant: I mean that trend could replace him. Or you know what? Even someone who's like him in every attitude and appearance, just with a different name?

Minos: Why on earth would we have not heard of-?

Generic Servant: Or better yet! He can have an angst filled younger son who wants to do his dead father proud and-!

Minos: PUT THAT MAN ON THE ALTAR RIGHT NOW SO THAT A DARK GOD CAN GIVE HIM HIS F**KING LIFE BACK! WE LIVE IN A FANTASY WORLD FOR A REASON AND WE ARE NOT GOING TO SOAP OPERA THIS SHIT!

Generic Servant: Jeeze fine, go ahead and do things the hard way.

Garos (who looks exactly like Pharos): Does this mean that I'm in the wrong place for auditions?

*Minos growls and throws a knife of Dark Magic which impales itself in Garos's head and kills him*

So obviously I had an out if Pharos actually was a popular character. I mean I already told you Validar ain't coming back (and no one wept), so having Grima fully revive this guy instead isn't too unlikely. (Bit of a stretch, but not too large of one)

Anyway's here's why you've really read beyond the Author Note phase for (unless anyone actually reads these things or like it when I respond to reviews), I give you the Omake.

Check-Up

"I'm telling you I'm fine, there's no reason to overreact over me losing a little sleep," Ragna grumbled as Doctor Litchi Faye-Ling snapped her fingers in front of his eyes, looking for reaction times. The two were in Litchi's tent, which she had used to help set up for the Shepherds. She didn't have as many tools to work with, so most of her strategy was simple analysis and herb remedy.

"Well if Chrom wanted you to get looked over, I'm here to help in any way I can," the doctor told him. "Just sit still and try not to be unbearable with this. With how hard I'm told you push yourself, you need to keep your strength up and remember to take a step back every now and again."

"Hmph, that's a little funny coming from you," Ragna bit back as Litchi lifted one of his eyelids.

"True enough…" Litchi said, her face becoming one of guilt as she remembered someone close that she couldn't save.

"...Hey, I didn't mean anything by it, just that I think we're in the same boat," Ragna told her with a sigh. "What happened to your friend, I don't think there was any way you or anyone else could've fixed him. Don't beat yourself over it."

"Maybe not, but I can't help but wonder if there was something more I could've done for him."

"Well don't let it get to you, I've had to lose out on sleep with thoughts like that," Ragna told her as Litchi looked under the other eyelid. "But what about you Doc? How are you holding up?"

"Well I've done a few tests since I've got here, it wasn't easy to find all of the herbs, but from what I can tell the Boundary's Effect is gone, vanished with no negative side effects."

"Well that's good news, congrats there," Ragna said, Litchi now grabbing some herbs. "That's got to be a weight off right?"

"I suppose, but… without that, it looks like my abilities have deteriorated. I didn't have my staff when I arrived here, and with my other powers weakening there doesn't seem to be much I can do."

"In combat maybe," Ragna agreed as he stretched. "But hey, you're a doctor now right? At least you have something to fall back on. If I wasn't able to fight I don't know what I'd do. Cook maybe?"

"Well no one's keeping you around for you for your sense of humor," Litchi told him with a smile.

"Heh, that's true," Ragna said as Litchi handed him a small pouch. "What's this for?"

"It turns out we already have couple of patients having trouble dozing off. Just boil those herbs before you go down and you'll manage to fall right asleep."

"And side effects that I should know about?" the Reaper asked as he suspiciously eyed the bag.

"None… but I'll warn you now that it tastes terrible," the doctor told him. "I'd recommend holding your nose while you drink to avoid the taste, and drink quickly."

"I got it, I got it," Ragna sighed. "Well thanks for the herbs, I'm going to go get dinner started."

"...We wouldn't happen to have any duck would we?" Litchi asked, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

Support Rank C Obtained with Litchi Faye-Ling

Well there's that out of the way, now for the Review responses.

Warrior of six blades: Easy way to describe Kagura, if it has a pretty face, long legs, and/or a decent top, he'll chase it. And Minos for the record.

EternalCobra34: I wanted to try to keep things as close to the cannon as I could, but last chapter I thought 'what the hell?' so I went all out. Did that this chapter too since responses were decent.

RedRat8: Well I brought Pharos back, since he seemed popular enough.

Marconator360: Thanks, I was worried when I first made Minos that he'd be too much of a Sue, but he seems to be doing alright.

Greyjedi449t: Here it is, and it's a long one.

Kalakaui: We already talked, but I have something different planned than Nights of Azure (haven't really looked into it).

Animeandgamerlover2: Considering this is post… everything Ragna pretty dang strong.

Primus1661: Not any time soon, believe me.

Mugen7: Not exactly the way you had it, but Chrom was still annoyed by Ragna's late night habits. Yeah, at first I didn't care for the Ragna much at first with all the swearing and hatred, but his moments before and after Lambda died confirmed him to one of my favorites. As for the Risen… I see a future Omake team up. Guts the 100 man slayer and Ragna the 300 Risen slayer. And Pharos is back due to demand. As for the 'virginity' insult, you're right in that Ragna wouldn't have been annoyed normal, but if it's KAGURA insulting him with that it takes on a whole new meaning. Good hearing from you.

Taovkool: Dunno about that mate, everyone is more or less okay with it. But I agree, shippings are serious business, especially in my earlier chapters.

Until next time! Ciao!