A Collection Of Other Adventures

The Dark Lord Cometh

Date: December 3rd, 2022

Let's sum up what has happened so far. Lightning and Windy, the Ignis who tried to destroy humanity in their world invaded the city of Prontera in the Rune-Midgarts Kingdom. However, Swiftdrawer arrived from Miitopia to counter the threat but was forced to work with the heroes who saved this world of Midgard from the Dark Lord alongside the knights of Prontera, often called the Prontera Cavalry. They managed to win and Ghost Gal and Blood Sheppard came straight from Link VRAINS to absorb the data that was scattered after the destruction of both Lightning and Windy who are no doubt with the mysterious figure who collects villains like trading cards by now. At the same time, 3 people who died during the battle against the Dark Lord in Glast Heim found themselves reborn into Link VRAINS: Takius, Iruga, and Keough. There, they met the Knights Of Hanoi along with Playmaker, Ghost Gal, Blood Sheppard, Go, Soulburner, Flame, Blue Maiden, Aqua, Ai, Brave Max, Hato, and Kareru. It was a serious chaotic hangout. Later, Dominic arrived to help return the 3 Midgardians back to their world but was unsuccessful. Leo Akaba and Unagami came later to try to figure it out too. It also turned out that one of the goats from Goat Simulator was responsible for bringing the 3 into Link VRAINS but was quickly defeated and destroyed. After Lightning and Windy were gone, Swiftdrawer told the captain of the knights along with Roan, Maya, Judia, 2 very young adventurers, and Yufa their story and more. It took hours and after that, Swiftdrawer join Roan and Yufa's party. The captain left and the others went to an inn for the night. The next morning, Swiftdrawer had to fight a battle in Miitopia but returned after it was done to continue adventuring. Now, the party is waking up after a night of camping just west of Prontera, en route to the magical city of Geffen, home to the Mage Guild and Geffen Tower. It looks like me staying in so many worlds allowed me to sleep really well with a sleeping bag.

My other body is very particular about sleeping comfort. I know that because before waking up, I fell asleep back on Earth first where I was staying with my brother and one of my cousins for the duration of Midwest Furfest. The convention ends tomorrow and last night was a treat. But the night before, my good friend Status had an anti-talent show take place and he played a Bop It game for his anti-talent. And we also had Xanni rap for the first time and it going wrong. Not to mention Firr "Boozy" getting yelled at by Boozy "Firr". Last night, Whose Lion Is It Anyway was supposed to end 2 hours after it started but it went for 2.5 hours instead. The convention center and con staff just let it happen. It was hilarious. Things got very NSFW at the end after 4 Headed Broadway Star. Earlier, I did an Open Mic set at Open Mic talking about mostly the misadventure with Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Carlos, Bray, and Dominic to Jungle Jim's and CiCi's a month ago. I guess you could say MFF is like one really big chaotic hangout where the vast majority of people actually take the ongoing Covid 19 pandemic seriously. Good thing it isn't here in the world of Midgard too. Speaking of, I'm the first to awake and decide to not bother anyone by waking them up. The sun is starting to rise but I still leave them be anyway. I quietly get out of the tent I'm sharing with the kid swordsman and hope that Iruga Jr. doesn't wake up and starts crying yet. Surprisingly, Herbsalvin is still asleep. I'll leave them be for now too. Anyway, I still quietly get out some bread and oranges to eat. Huh, is the sky starting to get cloudy? Is it going to rain? I've never seen a sunrise with this happening on Earth or Miitopia or anywhere for that matter. Strange. Oh well. I'm just glad we're near a small stream right now. Before eating, I get out my water bottle and go down to it only to come face to face with the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord has a body made entirely of real on one side and shiny robotic on the other side bones, 2 horns of bone(one robotic, the other real), one purple eye, one machine orange eye, and a spiked and floating purple energy halo.

He isn't attacking me, he's just staring at me at great intensity. I do my best to ignore him. If he's not going to do anything, I'm not going to either. Only problem is that he's huge and very powerful. Without uttering a single word, I am wrapped up in purple energy chains as I try to kneel down to collect some water. "Arg! What the hell do you want, Dark Lord?!" "I am here to eliminate you as a threat. I will not allow an outsider mortal interfere with my revenge! But I will give you a choice. Join forces with me or suffer eternal pain until you give in to the darkness!" "Damn you. I will never allow myself to join with you. I'd rather die than give you control! You won't break me so easily!" "Have it your way, human! But I'm warning you, you will regret not taking the easy way out! I will resurrect Abysmal Knight once I have taken you to my domain of Glast Heim! With his power, you will break before me and embrace that hatred I sense inside of you!" "You know about my hatred, huh? Crap, I should have seen that coming. But nonetheless, you can't keep me trapped forever! I will be rescued or break myself out! I already acknowledge my hatred. I hate the society I originate from, I hate the foolishness of my family. You think fighters of beings such as you are all completely pure and innocent, afraid of looking at their inner darkness. But that's wrong! My inner darkness is forever apart of me. You won't get away with this. You shouldn't have revealed yourself so early in the game!" "So confident, I could use a loyal servant like you. You'll be perfect!" "I have to be confident. I can't allow myself to be consumed by the despair and I cannot lose hope! My friends will save me if I can't save myself!" "Your friends? It's a shame for you that we are too far away for them to hear you! I'm going to enjoy getting my revenge once and for all!"

"Who said they couldn't hear me? HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!' In mere seconds, the other members of the party wake up and manage to reach our location. "How can a human be so loud?" "Call it Heavy Metal style, bastard. If I had my guitar out, I would make your bones crack. The Vocals that inhabit regions such as just north of Prontera got nothing on what I can do with music." "What are you talking about?" "I'll tell you if I can't escape and manage to tolerate what you have planned enough. Anyway. Comrades, please help me! I'm assuming I can't move due to these chains. I can feel their energy. Don't touch them, just kick his butt." Roan glares at the Dark Lord: "Let them go, Dark Lord! We're the ones you want to kill, not Adam!" "Silence, boy! I'll do as I want! Your pathetic friend will make a great servant once my plan is complete! And there's nothing you can do to stop me! Revenge will be mine and I'll gladly wait and do whatever it takes to get it!" Judia replies: "As if you'll get away with this. Hey kids, why don't ya watch over Iruga Jr. for me? He seems to really like you two! I noticed it yesterday! Then again, my sweet little boy likes everyone in our party. He should have enough milk for a while but make sure to take good care of him." Judia hands him off to the kid acolyte after whispering in his ear: "It's going to be okay, my sweet little boy. Don't cry, honey. Mommy just has to get rid of a scary monster for you. Shh." She then calls to Falco, her falcon: "Falco, help watch Iruga Jr. for me! It's too dangerous for you to help here." Maya says: "You join them too, Poi Poi! I don't want you to get hurt." "Poi." Dark Lord laughs: "That's so amusing! Your pathetic caring about others is so naive and pointless! I'm not going to stay around to fight you when I plan on getting my revenge later! Farewell, fools!" But before he can take me away. Herbsalvin headbutts him at terminal velocity by diving down from high up into the sky. I hear a bone of the Dark Lord's crack a little bit: "How dare you attack me like that! It won't happen again! If you insist on fighting, then I will just destroy you all now and have demons possess your corpses! I will rule this world!"

The fight begins and in the midst of the chaos, the Dark Lord doesn't forget about me but Herbsalvin tries to rescue me. I whisper before the Dark Lord can hit him with deadly purple lightning: "No, Herbsalvin. I have a plan. Let's let him believe I'm completely helpless. I'll even put on an act of sorts. I don't think the others are strong enough to defeat him. And if you try to rescue me, you will get pummeled. You need to save your physical condition for actual combat. If he wins, you'll die and I'd like for at least one of us to make it out alive. If I do things right, I will escape before getting reinforcements and finding Yggsdrail leaves which bring people back to life. With those leaves, I'll bring you all back to life. Now fight, my friend. They need you more than me. I can hold for a while. Trust me. It is my duty as a knight to never go back on my word, especially in battle." He telepathically replies as usual: "I will. I trust your judgement. Just don't die or turn wicked on us." "I may be chaotic but I'm also sane. Take care for now, my friend." The pegasus completely dodges an attack by the Dark Lord right after that. Instead of paying attention to the pretty one sided battle, I focus on my little act. I pretend to struggle greatly against the chains without even touching or breaking out of them. It's tight but not tight enough to contain me forever. This plan is perfection. The Dark Lord reveals himself fine after Roan uses Grand Cross while Maya uses an explosive substance by throwing it. The attacks do nothing: "This is so pathetic! None of you stand a chance against me, not even with that witch's sword! I am more powerful than ever after I was revived with some changes! And look, your foolish friend can't escape my binds! This is the end! I never understood machines but now, I do! I am a machine and the overlord of this world!" The battle intensifies as the 5 do their best to damage the Dark Lord or help each other out. Yufa shouts: "We won't let you do this, Dark Lord! Holy Light!" The attack bounces right off of the enemy.

"The tricks of a little priestess are nothing compared to my power! Die! All of you, DIE!" He forms a dark ball of energy in his hands while cackling as all their attacks do nothing to him. They use all they got but nothing works. "Damn it! I thought we had him for sure but we're not even close!" "Guys, I'm scared.. What do we do now?" "Prepare for your demise, pathetic humans! You mortals never stood a chance against me! I am unstoppable!" But then, loud stomping shakes the ground. It knocks over my comrades who are still fighting, trying to do any amount of damage that will force the Dark Lord to retreat but to no avail. The Dark Lord groans: "There's only one creature who can do this. Baphomet. But still, he won't stand a chance against me either! I will do what he couldn't do! I will get my revenge on him and all these humans and then, kill the Great Sage and everyone else connected to the revival of Morroc! I won't allow him to be revived! This is MY world, not his!" "Crap! Not only can't I get out but you're telling me that the White Witch is causing trouble in this era? I thought that was decades or even centuries back in the past! That explains why you called me an outsider!" "Before I make you my servant, I will answer. Your shock is amusing for a human! Now that they all think I'm gone from Glast Heim, foolish humans have begun exploring it and many have died!" "If you know that, then surely you know what happened in Izlude sometime ago! But to be honest, the timeline doesn't add up." "Oh, that! I was too busy to pay much attention but I saw you and accidentally cast a spell that soon after erased the memories of that day from all of the knights in Prontera and Izlude! To add to that, their captain even changed in appearance! You're not from this world! Foolish human, haven't you figured it out? Not even the seal that was cast on Glast Heim could keep my servants from coming and going! I made sure of that myself! That's why I used that little priestess over there to send them all to Glast Heim!" Baphomet's footsteps get louder and much more violent just as my comrades collapse from exhaustion and the Dark Lord gets ready to kill all of them. He unleashes his charged up attack at last while keeping me chained up with magic.

But Baphomet arrives and takes on the blunt of the assault without flinching: "We meet again, Dark Lord. I didn't expect you to survive after I crushed you personally after those humans defeated you and sealed you away again." "How dare you get in the way of my plans, Baphomet! Why don't we just join forces and rule the world together before that foolish human named Gunnr from Arunafeltz manages to revive Morroc! With our power, we can kill her before she can continue with her plan! She has already sacrificed so many mortals, she is getting closer and managed to escape the knights, that adventurer, and Varmundt!" "I will never work with the likes of you. My time of causing chaos is over. I tried to fool that adventurer into joining my side after some fools spread rumors about me but that failed. The adventurer chosen by the Valkyrie. A mere novice at first who defeated a weakened version of me and then a shadow of me. The Swordsman Guild has power limiting magic that allowed them to defeat me inside as the Knight Of Honor alongside the swordsman mentor, Orbis Sha watched on. That adventurer was reborn twice after that and now lives as a Lord Knight. I will defeat you myself if I have to with a little help." The Comodo Witch shows herself by teleporting into the area before turning to Roan: "Get up, young one. You're special. You still have the power to defeat the Dark Lord or will be after some more trials for you. No need to talk a big game, Baphomet. That is not something you do often." "The best enemy to slow down is one who is angry. That's why I did it." Roan gets up as do the others as the Dark Lord reacts: "You too?! Everyone is getting in the way of my revenge! I'll kill you all!" "You will do no such thing. Not if I'm here to stop you too, Dark Lord. You aren't at your full strength. Even without the Heart Of Ymir in my possession, I can tell." Varmundt to the horror of the Dark Lord appears with his arms crossed. He has brown and black robes, green eyes, light skin, and yellow-orange hair. Baphomet chuckles: "So even the Great Sage has intervened. You can't defeat all of us, Dark Lord. You should flee while you still can."

Varmundt adds: "I'm here because I detected a large magical disturbance that even my followers were hesitant to investigate. Dark Lord, we can seal you away with all of our power together." Dark Lord feels the power coming off of the Great Sage from the Schwartzwald Republic alongside the power from the others as the Comodo Witch Melopsum surprisingly heals the others. She has long flowing black hair, black eyes, white skin, golden jewelry including a headpiece, and a mostly black robe. Seeing me still tied up, the Dark Lord makes his choice: "So be it. Curse you, Baphomet and Varmundt! I will return with this human as my loyal and blind servant!" With that, he takes me with him to Glast Heim. We're inside the castle which has become populated with more monsters and looks less destroyed now. How is this possible? Did the magic that broke the seal on Glast Heim fix the damage? I was always under the impression that that happened a long time before the Dark Lord began making his move by torturing Keough. Guess I was wrong. Actually, now we're in the catacombs instead. Guess he's got a new base. He binds me to a rock of some kind and adjusts the chains to further bind me. I remain silent: "Human! Aren't you going to say something or tremble in fear? I'm so powerful compared to your friends! You saw, why aren't you afraid?" "Again, my friends will save me. Don't talk to me, I'm thinking and that means I won't be paying attention to you. Might as well think during the last moments I have before I suffer from serious pain because you'll order a revived Abysmal Knight to stab me in the heart or something like that." "I almost desire destroying you first for saying that! But you'd be a much better servant than an undead puppet!" "I can't argue with that reasoning. Zombies tend to be slowly decomposing and their muscles can't grow stronger because they're already dead. Anyway, leave me alone." I tune him out as he begins a ritual to summon the Abysmal Knight from beyond. With all of my muscles, I begin freeing myself of the chains.

He didn't think this through. If he had played it smarter by waiting longer or for night, I'd actually be doomed to become his servant much like Keough was. The Dark Lord is underestimating me. Because my magical core is basically almost dead and I have my armor on as usual, he has no idea how strong I am. This is why he was defeated and sealed in the first place. He underestimated everyone. He laughed when Roan and Yufa made a stand against him. Doofus. I'm not even remotely close to getting out of the chain. Actually, that would be the case if we were going by the assumption that I'd break out with just my muscles. I was looking more towards freeing my right hand and arm as best as I can to reach my sword. If it weren't for my strength and patience, my hands would be so broken right now. But they aren't because I've been carefully loosening the chains and breaking them here and there. I try to reach for my sword but I can't. I need to free my right shoulder and worm my hand and arm down by pushing chains to the side a little bit. Doing so takes some time but the Dark Lord is still doing the ritual. He looks even more pale than usual. How is that even possible? It must be taking a lot out of him to revive the undead knight on undead horseback. But never mind that. Come on. Getting so close. Just a little more. Shit, this hurts a lot to do but I must keep it up. A minute later, I touch my sword and slowly pull it out by wiggling my hand and arm along with the sword through the chain. Once I'm done, I'm almost ready to lay down on a couch somewhere because that took a lot of effort. My arm is exhausted and I'm sweating heavily while keeping myself quiet. The ritual to revive the Abysmal Knight is completed soon after. The Dark Lord orders him to stab me but doesn't notice that I'm about to bust outta here. Abysmal Knight turns to face me but doesn't get a chance to alert the Dark Lord before I yell: "Great Infernal Tornado Slash!" At first, it was nearly impossible to pull off the attack but then, more chains started snapping. The rest followed instantly and my attack incinerated the Abysmal Knight.

I whisper to my Quantum Leap band: "Quantum Leap, take me to 1 meter from Lord Knight Swiftdrawer's precise location." The Dark Lord yells: "How did you-" I'm gone before I can hear the rest of his statement. And just like that, I arrive to an area near the castle of Glast Heim, getting out of the way as my counterpart finishes taking down a monster to save someone else's life with the help of 2 of their mercenary companions and a pet of theirs before dismounting from their Peco Peco to rest a little. I eat an HP banana so I don't die and quickly text a friend, Dominic. In essence, I request him to send somebody to watch over the saved person while the Lord Knight and I have business. He agrees and sends a message to one of the ghostly spirits of Twisted Land. The spirit whose existence is directly connected to the roller coaster I removed from the park known as The Phantom. The spirit appears and turns invisible right next to me. I thank Dominic through another text and wait as Lord Knight Swiftdrawer stops panting from taking on the monsters of Glast Heim. After they begin to stand back up high again, I say: "Hey counterpart, we need to talk. A spirit will watch over this person for us. Tell 'em that you'll be back." My counterpart widens their eyes at seeing me before nodding and telling the person to have patience and relax. With that done, the Lord Knight gets back on their Peco Peco and gestures me to follow them with their mercenaries and pet right behind them. We end up in a location where there actually aren't any monsters too close by. We just have to be quiet so they leave us alone as they won't notice us that way. The two of us talk in hushed voices: "What are you doing here? What's going on? I'm collecting more about Glast Heim." "I know that but we have a problem. One more pressing than Morroc or Gunnr. Please take my hand, it is not safe to dwell here long. An enemy is looking for me and will quickly find us if we don't move out of here. Transportation wings and Kafra services won't be fast enough. You can't take on this enemy with just you and your team."

"Is it the Dark Lord? Take us wherever is safe." "Should have guessed you'd figure it out. It's him. He's not just a creature that continuously returns to life thanks to a time-space rift that is tied to the some force that explain how you've been in Varmundt's memories with other adventurers going through the same events as you. I'll explain that later though you already have a very good understanding of that kind of stuff." I use Quantum Leap to take us to a quiet spot in Prontera. It's in the southeast part of town. There's nobody around. There are swings that can be sat on but none of us choose to do so. Swiftdrawer's teammates choose to be silent in this matter. "Why did you take us here and ask for only my hand?" "I knew they'd teleport with you. Your agreements with them make that so. I chose this city as I have a feeling the comrades also in Roan and Yufa's party just as I am will be in this city soon if they're not already here." "You joined with them? After Gunnr escaped from Alberta, I found something mysterious tied to my sword. I didn't look at it until my first chance came. It was a letter from Father Bamph of Prontera Church. He told me how he hired an assassin to quickly tie it to my sword without anyone noticing. He also told me about the defeat of the Dark Lord and everything about who defeated him. I'm too busy to stay in one city for too long. *sigh* Adventuring and being a Lord Knight can be exhausting." "Walt, you have actual duties as a Lord Knight?" "I'm not officially a member of the order. Instead, I'm a adventurer knight. I'm permitted to do as I wish but I must protect anyone who is in need and embody the traits of any good knight at all times. They don't have many Lord Knights on the streets of the cities because the guards can handle most conflicts. But if they can't, the other knights can." "As you already know, I'm a knight now as well. I don't get any extra work for being a knight like you do because of what's going on in Miitopia. We're at war. But enough of that, let's get back on track. The Dark Lord has been revived." "Kidd from the Assassins Guild sent me a letter about that recently. It's putting me on edge."

"I'm glad you know the gist already but there is more you need to learn. Let me tell you the story and then we should find the others." The Lord Knight listens intently as do their companions. Wow, even the mercenary Raygene takes his job seriously. And he's a self proclaimed heartthrob. Once I'm finished, Lord Knight Swiftdrawer gasps: "The Dark Lord is that strong now? I should send a letter to Seyren!" "No need for that. Something tells me that we'll see him again very soon." They nod and we walk around Prontera until Herbsalvin walks to us with armor hiding their wings: "All of you, follow me! And Adam, get on me! Quickly, we've been looking for you and came here to request a search and rescue party from the knights!" We nod and I get on Herbsalvin. They intentionally go at the same speed my counterpart's Peco Peco does. As we go through town, some guards salute Lord Knight Swiftdrawer and say things like: "Welcome back to Prontera, revered adventurer and Lord Knight!" and: "Oh, it's you, the adventurer and Lord Knight that everyone's always talking about! Enjoy your time here in Prontera once again!" I laugh: "Wow, someone's famous. But please keep not letting it get to your head. Dominic occasionally brings up the fact that the whole Raging Rockstars being famous thing gives him a headache when he remembers that fact. I don't blame him. Anyway, we should get more individuals from this world into you know what. I have a very bad feeling about the start of the new year. We'll need not just your strength, far from it." "You can count on me." "Good." "I apologize for interrupting but we're almost to the others. They're at the Chamber Of The Sage." "Oh, that really isn't far from here. This will be interesting." A few minutes later, we enter Varmundt's dwelling to find everyone there, even Baphomet and Melopsum. Maya runs at me at I dismount from Herbsalvin with a angered look on her face: "Don't do that to me again! You had me so worried! You had us so worried!" Before Maya can quite literally give me a piece of her mind, Lord Knight Swiftdrawer bends their legs and gets Maya's attention.

"That is no way to treat someone who escaped the Dark Lord. Calm down." "Who are you to tell me what to- Are you Adam's twin?" I face palm before my whole body, armor included goes white and I fall to the floor. It doesn't hurt but the impact echoes throughout the entire place which is basically a library. Yufa offers her hand: "Are you okay?" I decline her hand and pull myself back up as my body returns to normal: "For the most part. Just uncharacteristically mortified but otherwise okay. I just pulled what an anime character would." "What's anime?" My body goes white once more and I fall to the floor again. I get back up and almost yell as I exclaim as my body returns to normal for the 2nd time today: "I forgot to explain that! There's no time for that right now! I promised I would explain it to you, Maya but I forgot!" Roan says: "So.. How did you escape the Dark Lord? And who are they?" Varmundt beats me to answering: "Young Roan, I know what happened. They broke free of the chains themselves and teleported away with a technology even I do not know of. Ah, Swiftdrawer. It's good to see you. We haven't had anymore incidents with us as of late. *proceeds to introduce Lord Knight Swiftdrawer and their entourage*" Introductions are completed and I explain more of what happened before Seyren who is also here, speaks: "Now that everything has been explained, I must share some information. The knights are getting involved against the Dark Lord's activities. I have been asked by the captain to give Swiftdrawer this scroll." Lord Knight Swiftdrawer accepts the scroll by walking to Seyren and taking it from his hand. They read it: "So the captain has asked for the both of us in accompanying Roan and Yufa's entire party in the quest to stop the Dark Lord again?" Seyren nods: "After the previous incidents that started with the fire at the Underground Market and Keough's supposed death at the hands of the Abysmal Knight, the knights have been taking some more caution. The captain has assured me that they'll be able to handle any problems without my help."

Baphomet adds: "Melopsum and I will not join your party, Roan. But we will be watching all of you closely. If I got more involved in your affairs, the resulting war would kill many humans and monsters alike. Morroc's revival is concerning to us. You, Lord Knight Swiftdrawer managed to slow Gunnr's plans down but she is still at large. For now, I'm leaving. Melopsum, get the spell ready. We'll be seeing you if you can't handle this on your own." Melopsum nods and just like that, they're gone. Lord Knights Seyren and Swiftdrawer look relieved at the prospect of Baphomet being gone. Varmundt calmly states: "That's one less problem to worry about. We won't have to prepare a transformation potion for Baphomet again." I decide to not ask what they disguised him as but my counterpart does: "What kind of transformation potion did you use?" Maya responds happily: "A big bear one with a top hat!" My body turns white for the third time today and I fall to the floor as before. Lord Knight Swiftdrawer isn't that shocked, they just look thoughtful: "I know that one. It helped me help out 2 kids soon after I became a knight. They looked so happy when they floated away to Geffen on the balloon house with their father. I wonder how they're doing." I brush myself off as Varmundt cracks a small smile for once: "Of course you'd get involved in a situation like that, Swiftdrawer. The people of Rune admire you for the help you've given all over. But more importantly, it is best if you leave now while it's still morning. You can make it to East Geffen by tomorrow afternoon that way. I must stay here. There's a lot of research to be done and I won't make my followers do all of the work for me." But then, a portal opens up to reveal a scientist from somewhere: "I can't believe we actually had to use the portal experiment. It was shut down 200 years ago for being too dangerous. Now where's that alien that escaped from the lab after eating everyone inside?" They ignore us completely and search around frantically for an alien life form. "What's an alien?" My body goes white and the same stuff happens for a 4th time.

I get back up: "Damn it. We might have a dangerous organism on the loose in this world. Aliens are creatures from planets that are dominated by creatures that aren't humans or monsters. That scientist looks like they're from a sci fi movie. Before anyone asks, sci fi stands for science fiction. A imagining of what future technology might be like and cause." The scientist continues look around, oblivious to our presence even though I'm pretty sure my armor reeks of sweat. We decide to just leave but before we can, the Dark Lord just pops in out of nowhere: "I'm back, mortals! And I'm ready to get my revenge! Human in black and red, you'll pay for escaping me and killing Abysmal Knight! This world will be mine and all humans will be left in despair! And Morroc won't be able to come back!" The Lord Knights, Varmundt, and Roan get in front of everyone to face the Dark Lord. Roan says: "And what makes you think you can beat us when we're a stronger and larger group than earlier?" The Dark Lord laughs: "I'll show you! Behold, the true power of my upgrades! I don't know who did this to me but I like it!" And just like that, his left arm reveals a bunch of dangerous gadgets at once. I swear under my breath. Varmundt looks concerned: "That technology is beyond what I'm capable of in terms of combat. This is a problem. We must fight." I reply: "That's an understatement! That kind of technology is highly lethal! Some of it is just death lasers! I also see a freeze ray, a ray gun, a stun gun, a lava blaster, and more.. Damn it. What the hell are we supposed to do? Between that and his magic, our chances of survival aren't very good. I don't think even my best attack will work against him. And it requires me to basically die!" Before anyone can say or do anything, something strange happens in the bones where the Dark Lord's stomach would be if he were human. Those bones start expanding and cracking somehow. The Dark Lord reacts: "What is this?! What did you humans do to me and how did you do it?!" "Don't look at us, even me. We have no clue. But it means we're not dead so.."

The scientist hears all of this and stops frantically searching: "Nooooo! Not again! NOT AGAIN!" They pull out a gun: "I'm going to kill that little bastard! I'm not defenseless like the others! Just you watch!" To our horror, we hear a alien creature make noises. It sounds like it's coming from those bones! Yufa and Judia immediately get the kids to look the hell away as an alien life form bursts out of the Dark Lord. The scientist screams: "I got you now! I don't know how you got in there but I'm going to kill you! You killed my fellow researchers and now, I'm going to kill you, you alien bastard! DIE!!" She fires bullet after bullet as the ears of the kids are covered. But the bullets do nothing and the scientist is eaten alive by the apparently huge alien creature. The Dark Lord retreats: "I will be back for YOUR SOULS ANOTHER TIME, HUMANS!" He's fine after having a huge alien burst out of him? What?! Now I'm scared of his power. Even more than before. That leaves us to deal with a chasing alien who is.. laying eggs?! Maya screams: "Are those eggs? Please tell me there aren't more of these monsters?" We get into battle immediately. I draw my sword and go after the eggs, not wanting to know what's inside when they hatch. Better kill them now before it's too late. I slash at one egg but it's tough and I'm forced to use a few more attacks to break it. However, another egg hatches and an alien parasite jumps at me. I put my sword away and move back as fast as I can, doing what I can to avoid having that creature get onto me. But then, more of them start coming. "There are too many! If we want to get rid of them, we'll have to destroy this whole place along with us! That gun did nothing to that big one who keeps laying eggs and shrieking, I don't think our attacks will be enough!" We are able to kill many of the smaller ones but the big one is unaffected by our attacks. Varmundt casts lightning but it does nothing to that one. NOTHING. But then, the Lord Knights and Raygene use Magnum Break. The creature starts screaming as flames consume them. Wait, the creature isn't stopping. "This whole place will burn down if we don't do something!"

In that moment, none of us have a solution better than letting the alien burn while moving around and burning the whole place down along with us. However, some individuals just appear out of nowhere: "Double Emblem Charge!" "Rising Overdrive!" "Let the waves crash down, Ultimate Rising Dracyan!" All flames are out out but the creature is still alive as are many of the little parasites who look like face suckers. "Righteous Anger!" "Monster Dinner!" "Black Hole!" Bray, Lauren, Dominic, Dracyan, and Kakeru. Who else? Is that Scar Basiltomato? Yes it is. Scar Basiltomato excretes a ray gun and uses it on face sucker after face sucker. Most everyone who was already here is speechless at what's happening. Dominic yawns loudly: "Sorry we're late. Had to be sure you'd have burned the Chamber Of The Sage down or died if we didn't intervene." Most of the Midgardians look at me as Bray locks the big alien in a magical barrier and the face suckers are all obliterated. Roan asks as the action dies down: "Are they friends of yours?" "Yes." Dominic vaporizes the big alien, collapsing onto the ground as a result. Bray heals him and he jumps back up and yawns: "Exhaustion and heal, no big deal. I want a nap for saying that. Our work here is done. Or will be in a second. *instantly cleans and fixes everything* There we go. I'm getting better and better at fixing things at the molecular level. Bye now, we're leaving. Too busy to even explain. Now I have a headache! What a causation to want a nap." Everyone who helped us except Bray leaves just like that. Bray sticks around because she wants to talk to Varmundt on account of them both being sages. I promise to my fellow party members that I will explain as we leave for Geffen but this time, for reals for sure. We rent some horses for the journey to Geffen. Apparently, that was agreed upon earlier before the chaos. Now, everyone is riding a creature. That makes things easier especially since Seyren rides his own Peco Peco. After an hour of riding, we stop to eat. I'm so hungry. I haven't had anything to eat or drink today. There's a creek nearby. I go get some water there before returning to the others. We eat together as a group.

After that, we're on the journey to Geffen again. I explain everything to everyone and we all have various discussions about different things. I even learned that Lord Knight Swiftdrawer decided to go to the Novice Academy because of an incident that happened when they were a kid. It turns out that their parents mysteriously disappeared but they were raised by the community of Izlude which is where they're originally from. One day, they decided to go on an adventure and ended up getting lost in the Misty Forest somewhere within the Payon region. They were lost there for days until a swordsman who happened to be exploring the area found them. The swordsman invited them to come with them for a while after giving them some food and water. They stuck together but parted upon going to Izlude. But now, the future Lord Knight knew about the academy as they were told about it. Years passed until finally, they attended the academy and easily passed all the tests. And that is why they first became a swordsman. Upon getting tangled up in the matter of the White Witch Gunnr, they ended up meeting a lot of knights: Seyren, Gunnr(Spy Clone), Loyal Knight, Knight Of Honor, the captain, and so on. That's why they became a knight. The swordsman mentor, Orbis Sha is a Lord Knight himself. After it starts getting dark, we make camp for the night and eat dinner. Before going to bed, I decide to get some sword practice in. The others notice. Roan stands up and gets his sword and shield out: "Would you like to spar with me?" "Not today. I am content with just swinging at air for now. The feeling of cutting through air and it's making a whoosh sound is wonderful." The kid swordsman approaches me shyly: "Hey, umm.. Can you train me? The way you use your sword is so.." "No need to finish your statement. I'll train you. But I'd like the others to watch and give pointers too if that's okay with everyone." The others nod and I turn to the kid: "Do you know the basic swordsman pose?"

The rest of the day before we all head to bed is spent training the kid. Yufa also begins training the acolyte with Herbsalvin giving some pointers because they were a healer in some of their former lives. The kid is sweating and his arms are sore but he looks more ready to fight now. My counterpart promised to test his increased strength tomorrow. For now, we all just sleep with Herbsalvin keeping guard because they don't need much sleep apparently. Outro: Wow! This certainly didn't go the way I imagined! But I like it! It sure changes things that Lord Knight Swiftdrawer and Roan live in the same era of the same world. I wasn't planning in having that at first because I thought there was no way that was possible. But then, my encounter quest in Ragnarok Origin got me thinking. I'll further fix the mess I've made with eras and all that more as time passes bye. I hope you enjoyed. Thank you for reading!