Aeschyli looked out over the setting sun. She saw the mark of her family on a red humanoid target racing towards them, and instantly snapped off her bangle.



“So it’s time, father, did the noble council get to you?”, she thought.



There was full malice on her face, her true face.



Arge and Slo were the only ones who saw it before. Slo immediately went, “Not again!”.



Cosimo, Chel, Doru, and Timothy were seeing it for the first time.



She wasn’t alone. Slo would need to fight. Target must be eliminated.



Today she would play a new, old role.



Aeschyli, herself. Rally the troops!



“Dazzling the stage! Flutter! Gobo Contract 3rd, 6th Open! Celer Flos, Rosa Lingua!”, cheered Aeschyli.



Everyone was looking at her. There was a consensus of “uh-oh” among them just by feeling.



“‘That’, in the horizon is an undead Abomination racing towards us at top speed! It is comprised of dead adventure’s corpses and their identification crystals! It can cast many spells and ‘Arts’ at once! It undoubtedly is a level between from one hundred to four hundred depending on the quality of its parts! If we’re lucky, the corpses won’t be too high quality! I need each of you to work together and support each other to the best of your abilities! I’ll launch the first attack, be ready for anything!”



Aeschyli sped off in the air to meet Grunt.



“If I was alone, maybe I would have died here. Like that time against Slo, I won’t be able to handle too many attacks at once. Hopefully father didn’t get good parts, if it’s too high level there’s nothing I can do,” she thought.



Death. Her seventh open. It was a non-lethal poison. If the abomination was low enough quality, she might be able to stop it right away.



She flew in over Grunt, keeping maximum distance.



“‘Act 3 Curtain Calling~!’ Gobo Contract 7th Open, ‘Tsuga Conium’!”



Green lights painted over red filled plains.



It was like christmas. Nothing appeared to happen to the rushing Grunt, but she was already making a beeline back to her party.



Running away wasn’t an option. It was too fast and strong. It could hunt them all down.



Aeschyli had no idea Grunt was just looking for her, and even if she did, she did know it would try to get Slo’s secret out of her. Or, just kill her, if the noble council was involved.



There was no winning move for them but killing it.


“Cosimo, I hope that you’ve got something that can help here!”, she thought, thinking back to the magic reaction. It couldn’t be all that energy was just from one magic reaction, right?



Back before right after Aeschyli flew off.



Timothy said to everyone, “Huh, that’s really high level huh, We’re only level six right Cosimo?”



Cosimo stared off at the the red speck getting bigger in the distance.



“That abomination’s about to be level six,” Cosimo smiled, “Arge, I’m going into melee with that thing. Don’t help me no matter what, I can take it.”



Arge knew that look, it was how Arge felt a lot of the time. He believed him immediately.



“Doru, protect Chel, I’m on Slo, Timothy please help where can! Cosimo you better pull out that city buster right away or I’m not going to forgive you!”



Everyone had let the level six comment slide out of fear.



“I’ll blow it up! I’ll blow it up okay!”, panicked Slo.


Everyone got into formation, and Cosimo walking towards the front. This was going to hurt a lot, wasn’t it?, he thought.



“Slo don’t fire until I give the command! We don’t want Cosimo to get caught in the blast!”, said Arge.



“Hey, really, don’t worry about me, I can take it too,” said Cosimo. “At least for a ‘certain amount of time’, can’t the description be a bit more specific there?”, he thought.



They saw the red plains dyed with green spotlights.


“Oh! It’s pretty! Good luck defending me Arge! I’m rooting for you this time like always!”, said Slo, trying to put on a brave front. She didn’t like seeing Aeschyli like this



Chel was smiling. Made of corpses?, she thought.



Doru slammed the wagon with his shield the size of his body. The whole cart rocketed forwards giving them some room. “‘Ei Arge, I got ‘e good outta ‘e way!”, he said.



“Just what is she doing,” grumbled Timothy. He was shrouded in ‘Druidic Force’ and was in ‘Form of Dragon’. “And just when I’m feeling weakened by Cosimo’s strange spell. No, don’t make excuses, what will Willem say?”, he thought.



They took up positions as they saw the red dot quickly growing larger. It was running as if the full weight of its body was being stuffed into every step, swinging it’s entire frame haphazardly. More animal than human, more monster than a monster.




Cosimo felt heat at the top tip of his stomach. Could he defend them? He reviewed ‘Average’ in his mind. Without something like that, he would be running away. This wasn’t a fight he thought he could run away from even if he wanted to, watching the red blob charging with all it’s wobbling force kicking up grass and dirt across the red plains.



He made a fist. ‘Ancient Earth Arts’, ‘Mediocre Force’, and most importantly ‘Flow Charge’.



Just how much energy could he put into this? He watched Aeschyli flying in at top speed.



He pulled all the energy he could into his fist. It just kept coming. Every time he felt it flow to his fist, he just felt the same as before. He could do this.



Grunt lumbered in at high speed and Cosimo rushed to meet him head on.



Taller than any of them, shrouded in red velvet and a red metal plate on his face with Aeschyli’s family mark emblazoned there. Etchings covered the mask, the design was just veins.



Cosimo’s blood ran hot. Grunt was right on top of him and he slammed his palm into him.

“‘Mediocre’”, he yelled, feeling the immense weight pushing him back in mid-air as he shoved all the energy in his hand to his arm touching Grunt in a panic just to keep it from snapping.



It was like a steel rod appeared between him and Grunt. Cosimo wanted to hit him with ‘Mediocre’ then release his city buster. Grunt was pushing forward against his arm, forcing Cosimo back and knocking him away.



Grunt charged forward as he was covered in a dim light and then it broke into sparkles.



Cosimo yelled from the ground watching Grunt speed away from him, “I got him! He’s level six! Take him out!”



Aeschyli returned to the group as Timothy took off to meet Grunt. He just ran straight at him.

“Hey there! Sorry about my friend there bringing you down! Show me what you got left!,” he cheered at Grunt.



He built his ‘Druidic Rage’ and channeled his ‘Druidic Force’ into his tongue and whipped it as he was charging.



“‘Darting Tongue’”, he thought as it cut straight through the center of Grunt.



Aeschyli got startled and spouted, “No way…”. She flew in toward Grunt with Rosa Lingua ready.



Timothy extended his ‘Druidic Force’ and attempted to throw Grunt into the air with his tongue still in it’s body. “It’s too heavy!”, Timothy thought as Grunt closed their distance.



He retracted his tongue as he charged forward and heard Chel and Slo cast out loud.



At the same time, Grunt casted too.



“‘Cruor Caedis’!” Chel aimed her staff with the tiny bat on top towards Grunt.



“‘~Brenna’ ‘En don’!” Slo aimed the spikes at Grunt massive stumbling legs.



“‘Thirt’ ‘Foil Rain’ ‘Foil Rain ‘Foil Rain’ ‘Foil Rain’ ‘Foil Rain’”



Five groups of foils ‘Foil Rain’ appeared above the group and shot down into them.as ground spikes from the plains shot into Grunts legs as he felt his muscles twitch a bit. A fan of glass shining sworded bathed in red fanned out behind Grunt as ‘Cruor Caedis’ was damaging his flesh from the inside. The spikes snapped with Grunt’s charge as holes were stabbed into his legs and a few ground spikes snapped off at the tip and he carried them with him as he threw himself into the charging Timothy.



“‘Act 2”, Aeschyli casted in her mind as she intercepted the waves of shining foils pouring down on them like hail. “Hello again, Tabil,” she thought as a grin creeped to her face as Rosa Lingua moved at an unnatural speed to knock away the ‘Foil Rain’.



Doru pulled Chel under and behind him with his shield up as foils poured into it. Arge used ‘Stone Self’ while backing into Slo and set a ‘Ground Anchor’ to avoid getting shot away. “The things I do,” Arge mused to himself, feeling proud as foils poured into him.



“‘Foil Rain’ ‘Foil Rain’ ‘Foil Rain’...” Grunt was muttering as Timothy smashed him backwards.

The sheer force of Timothy’s charge and his ‘Druidic Force’ was enough now that Grunt was lvl six.



Cosimo was run towards them, watched the scene bathed in red as he charged his fist again.

“Timothy! City buster!”, he called out.



Grunt’s ‘Thirt’ stabbed thirteen shining red glass swords into Timothy flank.



Timothy shifted his nose, put ‘Druidic Force’ into his neck, and pitched the nose carrying Grunt backwards with his charge as he pitched the nose up with vigor. “Now you can fly like me,” Timothy laughed to himself.



Cosimo put energy into his legs as well and jumped. He’d finish it in mid-air.



Grunt’s ‘Detection Arts’ went off. An attack he couldn’t take, from the boy flying at him.



“‘Tingere Tenebris’”, he croaked from under the metal plate. Grunt turned into a shadow and sped into the ground.



The ‘Foil Rain’s didn’t stop appearing as Arge watched Cosimo fall to ground.

“Curse it,” said Arge as he cleared the foils that managed to lodge themselves in him. He’d have to tell them right now. “He’s in a shadow, don’t ask how I know!”, he called out as more foils poured into him.



Aeschyli processed as fast as she could. She knew of the ability, Arge didn’t need to say anything. “Cosimo, the ground! Everyone retreat!”, she yelled out. Timothy caught up to Chel as the group started pulling backwards out of the hail of foils. “Heal me, if you don’t mind,” he said to Chel as she was inching backward while crouching under Doru’s back. The foils were bouncing off of Timothy’s coat. Chel shook her head up and down and cast “‘Excelsus Maximus Medico’” on him.



Cosimo heard Aeschyli’s call and wavered an instant before punching the ground. He stood there, fist in the ground and legs spread and released all of his energy he charged into it.

He yelled. The dirt where Cosimo was turned into a dense upwards hail. The expanding force of the blast sent wind barreling the group's way.



Aeschyli turned mid-air as foil’s rained into her back and surfed the explosion at max speed with “‘Act 3 Curtain Calling~!’”.



Timothy spread his dragon wings and snapped his ‘Druidic Force’ to Chel, Arge, Doru, and Slo.

“Hold on tight,” he said.



Right away Timothy felt the wind picking him up as he surged forward aiming for Aeschyli.



Cosimo, in a mist of dirt was watching as the ground bubbled and shook below him buffeting him upwards. “Hey, aren’t I flying away right now instead of running away!”, he thought.



The ground shook and cracked as a roar echoed out. Huge pieces of the red plains started to lift up and cracked in mid-air. Cosimo was flying ever higher. He felt the wind shake around him as his cap blew away.



Rumbles and groans of the earth below echoed out.

Dirt rained from the sky as the explosion passed.

Timothy and Aeschyli who landed on top of him made a circle after they rode the wind of the explosion far out into the horizon.

“Hey, think Cosimo’s dead?”, said Arge, half hoping. He was still mad about Slo.

“Nah, he’ll be fine. Too bad, Arge,” said Timothy, understanding his heart completely.

“Why would you want Cosimo to die! He didn’t do anything! I didn’t do anything!” complained Slo.



Aeschyli was laughing as she watched the earth rain down over the red sunset.



==========



Cosimo was looking upwards flat on his back. There was a red light far above him. It was a valley of his own making deep in the earth, with cracked walls of dirt spanning high into the sky.



“Wow, I got to do this more often. What a fluke. I didn’t expect to even get a power that could do something like this,” he checked ‘Average’ again. Nigh limitless energy. It felt good.



What was the limit? It said time but-



Grunt appeared out a shadow.



“‘Thirt’, ‘Foil Rain’, ‘Foil Rain’, ‘Foil Rain’...”, he kept chanting as new glass blades now showing as clear against the dirt fanned around him.



Cosimo got on his elbows and stared at Grunt dumbfounded. He sighed as foils poured into his body.



“Looks like I couldn’t get out of this that easy huh. I’ll have to work a bit harder then,” he thought as he felt the sharp pain of the foils stabbing into him disappearing thanks to ‘Average’ over and over again.



Cosimo stood up. He concentrated with ‘Flow Charge’ into his fist again as he walked forwards with the foils pouring into him. Grunt was closing into him, and Cosimo was leaning forwards with and pushing again the wave of steel with the might of ‘Mediocre Force’.



“A clear, honest hit,” he said. “I’ll show you the ending,” he said.



Grunt came into view through the ‘Foil Rain’. ‘Detection Arts’ said in his mind that Cosimo wasn’t a threat. It changed in an instant.



“‘City Buster’!” shouted Cosimo in jest as he slammed his fist into Grunt’s chest above him. Cosimo let the energy transfer into Grunt.  The force was much lower this time.



A hole burst open in Grunt’s chest and small pieces of identification crystal mixed with floating scraps of flesh that blew into the air behind him.



‘Thirt’ deactivated. Grunt stood there.



Cosimo balked for a second. Is he still not dead? He charged his fist more but realized it was over.

Grunt froze stock still, his flesh missing the energy source that powered it’s movement.



“Aeschyli…”, Grunt said.

========



Timothy flew into the massive valley after dropping everyone off to search for the supplies they brought in the cart. They were scattered all over the plains by the explosion, so collecting them would take a bit of time.

“Cosimo, you awake down there,” he directed his ‘Soul Communication’ towards the bottom of the valley.



Cosimo was waving near a red giant with a big smile on his face.

“It’s dead! It’s dead!”, he snuck a look at the giant again. “I hope it’s dead…”. he thought.

“Come on, let’s go. Your ridiculous power managed to scatter everyone’s stuff,” he looked at Grunt. “Huh, I probably could have easily died fighting it. His swords went straight through my ‘Druidic Force’. Good thing all of you were here. It’s a shame though, I wouldn’t mind going out that way,” Timothy grumbled to Cosimo.

“Hey, it’s nice to have friend’s isn’t it?”, said Cosimo, beaming.

“Yes, yes,” admitted Timothy feeling like he lost again.

He slapped Cosimo on his back with his tongue and flew off into the sky.