“I’m awake, I’m awake! What time is it!?”

  Machua’s eyes flickered open. The first thing she found was a familiar sight, her brother. But as for everything else, she found herself to be woefully unfamiliar.

  She looked to be inside of an airship, with several people polishing their weapons and looking over plans. Her squad was all there and she could even hear the voice of Elize over the intercom.

  “It’s operation time, Machu. We’re set to land within an hour.”

  Machua turned left and right to try and disprove this. The last thing she remembered was chatting with her best friends and now it was suddenly operation time?

  “W-wuh… Did you carry me here?” She asked. “I told you to wake me up.”

  “I didn’t see a point in waking you. Besides, it was a really intense training session. You needed all the rest you could get.”

  “So you just carried me in front of everyone?” Machua asked with a bit of annoyance.

  “Plu and Rasa were asleep too. They woke up a little while ago.” Machia pointed to them, who were still getting their bearings. “Anyway, you feeling good? Does your neck ache?”

  Machua instinctively cracked her neck. Strangely, it didn’t ache. In fact, her whole body didn’t ache. She felt better than ever. After such an exhausting session yesterday, she expected to have to stay in bed all day. She even brought this up to Lemuel who told her it would be fine.

  “Breakfast,” Machia said as he handed her a lunchbox. It was filled with breakfast foods though.

  Machua got to munching immediately. “It’s weird, my body feels ready to go for some reason.”

  “That’s cause of the dinner you ate yesterday.”

  “When we all ate together in the EPG cafeteria after training? It tasted terrible.”

  Machia explained, “That meal was packed full of nutrients and medicinal supplements. It worked while you were asleep to relieve fatigue and speed up your recovery. That’s also why it was important to let you rest for as long as possible.”

  “Would’ve been nice to have that explained to me beforehand though…”

  Machia rolled his eyes with a smile. “You’ve grown stronger, what’s the issue? I’ll go check up on the others while you eat.”

  Machua silently ate while she stared at him across the airship. The first person he approached was Toolbox, who was busily tying her shoes. At least, she was trying to.

  “It’s like this,” he said as he crouched down and did it for her.

  He took care to do it slowly, to ensure it was tied as tight as possible but not uncomfortable. This was equipment, it had to be in the best shape possible otherwise it could cause her death.

  “You know, you’re not such a bad guy,” Toolbox exclaimed.

  “Heh. Did you think I was evil or something at first?”

  “I dunno. I didn’t know what twins were at the time.”

  Machia chuckled. “Are you used to the shoes now? It must’ve been weird having to use shoes when you’ve gone barefoot most of your life.”

  “Yep yep. Thanks for coaching me on kicking by the way. And for the shoes. And for the food.”

  “It’s not a problem. By the way, I know you’re always aiming to hit them with your claws, but don’t try to rely on them too much. Try using the other parts of your feet like your heel or the bottom of your feet.”

  “Okey dokey.”

  ‘So those shoes are from Machi…’ Machua put together.

  She decided to ask. “Hey, Machi, how much do those shoes cost? They look custom made.”

  Machia looked back. “Oh, it’s not much. They’re good quality equipment that’ll last her a long time, so it’s worth it.”

  Machia carried on his way to Rasa. He was still groggy. Machia handed him a breakfast lunchbox as he did with Machua and sat next to him.

  “Are you feeling tense?” He asked.

  “I’m much better than yesterday.”

  “That’s good. It might get hectic later on, but you can’t let the emotion of the battlefield control you. I know your current method is to rely on an anchor who can keep calm, but you can’t do that forever. People are going to feel,” Machia advised.

  “I have yet to find a solution to that however.”

  “I think ironically, a good way to keep your emotions in check is to immerse yourself in it. Understand it. You’re feeling fear, your body’s jittering and that’s just how it is. And what you have to do in that moment is keep it together. Feel it, face, but don’t run away.”

  Rasa closed his eyes and thought it over. “Yes. Thank you for the advice.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Next was Carmine. She looked up from her table where she was sharpening her axes when he approached her.

  “You gonna tell me how to polish my axes next?”

  “Nah. But you should-“ Machia was interrupted.

  “Oh there you go. I don’t need your advice. I can handle myself.”

  “I’m just checking up on people. You seem good to me though, so I’m gonna go,” Machia retorted.

  “See you never.”

  Machia almost said a few words to her as he left. Almost. He left a cheeky smile though. Which bothered Carmine to no end

  She considered chasing after him. She had half a mind to strangle him but after going over it, it wouldn’t be worth it. She could always do that later.

  “And now you’re checking up on me,” Mikoko stated. “I’m doing well enough. Now for the unsolicited advice.”

  Machia stood there with his hand on his hip. He placed a finger on his lips, which were slightly upturned. His eyes lit up in a mischievous way.

  ‘Do I look that punchable normally?’ Machua thought.

  “You have a habit of sticking too close to form. You should get used to making unorthodox moves or thinking out of the box.”

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  “It still irritates me even though I expected it.” Mikoko sighed.

  Machia slid back into his seat next to Machua. At this point she was done eating. It was good as always.

  “Did you have to check up on everyone?” She asked.

  “It’s good to know how your squad’s doing. You should try it sometime,” Machia responded with his arms folded behind his head.

  “I don’t wanna bother them like you did.”

  “It’s not gonna be a bother once you’re closer to them. Trust me. It’s a good habit,” Machia assured.

  “Okay…”

  “U-um,” a voice came from behind Machua. “Do you have any advice for… me?”

  The voice belonged to Plue. She was pointing a finger at herself with a nervous expression.

  “Oh. Uh,” Machia stammered. “You could…”

  Plue waited patiently for his advice. It took much longer than expected. He was visibly struggling to come up with something.

  “If you want to use your summons to block vision, maybe birds would be better? Jet black crows maybe?” Machia slowly answered with uncertainty.

  “Mmm… But birds don’t work well with my Swarm. And how am I supposed to fit all of those birds as tattoos?” Plue asked.

  “Ah, you’re right.”

  “I’ll go back to sharpening my scythe.” With that, Plue walked off on her own.

  Machia looked at Plue as she went, a little wistfully.

  “Well, I hope my turn’s gonna go better than that,” Machua said.

  “Your-Right. Advice for you… I have too many to say, really.”

  “But nothing for Plu.”

  “Shut it. I’ll go with this then.”

  Machia raised a finger to his head. “You should try thinking more.”

  Machua almost sent him a death glare.

  “What I mean is you should try speeding up your thoughts. You remember Mental Accel and how everyone uses it during tests?” He asked.

  “Yeah.” Machua nodded. “Gives you a major headache each time though.“

  “That’s cause we were using it for a prolonged period of time. What it does is speed up your thinking, but it means you strain your brain hard as well. Mental Accel is best in short bursts so your brain can rest in between each use,” Machia explained. “Most magicians or strategists use it often.”

  “But it still costs mana. Most people would just train themselves to think better on the spot and spend that mana for other spells,” Machua pointed out. “I’m not either of those roles either.“

  “But you don’t spend a lot of mana. Especially now that you’re using your tonfas for defence instead of having to spend your own mana. The tonfas are strong too, so they handle your offence as well. And then for movement, us Dimension holders don’t spend a lot of mana for that either. So what do you use your mana for?”

  “… Spells,” Machua tried to answer.

  “What spells? Are you going to use my Kaleid Blade?” Machia casually extended a purple blade from his fingers.

  “I just don’t want to get a headache mid-fight. It could mess me up really bad. And I usually overthink a lot too. I don’t wanna freak out and make the wrong move.”

  Machia almost chuckled. “That’s how it is in a real fight, Machu. You can’t ever be sure of your choices. You can make as grand a plan as you want beforehand, but you need to be able to think on your feet.”

  “Mental Accel’s only as effective as your thinking process, but when you really need it, you’ll be thankful you had the extra time to think things through. Every time you stop using Mental Accel, you have to follow through on the choice you made. That’s why it’s hard to use.”

  Machia smiled and tapped Machua’s forehead. She gazed back at his face and, after trying to think of a response, she could only work up a soft smile.

  “You’re always right. I’ll try it out.”

  Machia thought to say something in response to that but stopped.

  Everyone in the airship continued with their preparations. It did not feel like it took long before the operation began.

  ———————————————————————

  Clouds often served to conceal travelling airships, especially when they had cloaking capabilities. An attack by air wouldn’t be a surprise to Chimaera. They would fight back by releasing aerial monsters that could destroy the airships and send everyone inside to their doom. A fall from that height would kill anyone.

  Anyone but the strongest.

  “H-hey, something’s falling out of that cloud!” A Chimaera grunt exclaimed to his bosses.

  Scias, Leona, and Gilliam looked to the sky with astonishment written on their faces.

  One lone silhouette, roughly the size of a man, was speeding down through the air. Its speed was too fast. There was nothing anyone could do as it crashed onto the ground.

  A large crater formed on the street and through the dust cloud, the silhouette could be seen standing up. It walked slowly out of the dust cloud, seemingly unharmed.

  “Lemuel Salas!”

  Lemuel smashed his tonfa onto the ground and near-instantly giant translucent orange walls formed around the chunk of the City they were in. The walls reached to the sky, easily surpassing the tallest buildings in the area. It was even taller than the Folia Sky Tower, its greatest landmark.

  The mana forming those walls were not entirely Lemuel’s. These walls utilised barrier anchors. They served to form the wall and power it, so long as they had enough mana. If destroyed, the barrier went down with them. In this case however, they were being used as auxiliary anchors to Lemuel. They supported the primary anchor, reinforcing the barrier with their own mana supply, allowing him to spend less mana on maintaining the barrier and letting him focus on the fight. As auxiliary anchors, their destruction did not mean destruction of the barrier either, instead only weakening it. However, there was one major flaw. Destroying the primary anchor would destroy the entire barrier.

  “Release everything we have,” Dwyn’s voice came through the communicator in his men’s ears. “Wipe out the auxiliary anchors. Dunderheads, you are to attack Lemuel personally.”

  “Wait, this wasn’t part of the plan!” Gilliam shouted.

  There was no response.

  “Attack Lemuel head on? That’s suicide. Especially with all the untamed monsters!” Scias exclaimed.

  “It’s what he ordered,” Leona stated. “We do it.”

  Within seconds, a veritable horde of monsters emerged before Lemuel. As expected, Chimaera jammed communications, but he expected that everyone stationed at the auxiliary anchors were under attack too. It was only him standing against this horde. And likely the heads of Chimaera as well. All they had to do was work up the nerve to jump in.

  ‘Over 5 times the expected monsters. Did they get a supply drop? Maybe they received assistance from another organisation,’ Lemuel noted.

  It was not a second later, a hideous beast with scaly arms and four grey wings approached him.

  “K-kraw?”

  A hole blasted through its chest. The force of Lemuel’s strike sent it flying.

  All at once, the horde rushed him. Beasts of all kinds, ranging from giant slimes, animalistic creatures, elementals, golems, and more attacked all at once.

  Rarely could they survive one strike and none landed a hit on him. He bobbed and weaved through the horde easily, making use of their disorganisation. Not all of the beasts were ‘tamed’ and many of them were confused. Some chose to fight each other or run away.

  “Hargh!” Lemuel shouted as he shot a tortoise-like monster into the air and smashed a hole right through it. He kicked the tortoise beast towards the horde, smashing a few more in the way.

  Lemuel suddenly turned to his right. Nothing was there, but he swung anyway. An insectoid head was blown off.

  ‘Cloaker Wasps? How the hell did they get their hands on these? They’re from the other side of the world,’ Lemuel wondered amidst the fighting.

  He was soon distracted by a rumbling in the ground. He dodged to side and a massive worm with a gaping mouth and hundreds of teeth emerged from the ground. He quickly smashed it aside.

  But behind that emergent worm was the stampede of a group of shadowy horses. The horses galloped forward, their black visages making it difficult to tell how many there were.

  ‘Where did they come from? This many, all of a sudden?’

  Lemuel braced himself for impact. As the first horse neared him, he thrust both of his tonfas forward, to send it flying using its own momentum. However, he found no purchase. The horse dissipated. Behind it, a horse bashed into Lemuel’s chest, sensing him tumbling across the ground.

  Lemuel braced himself and he set up q small barrier to protect himself from the many galloping hooves. His eyes darted back and forth, between each horse. Not all of the hooves made a physical impact on the ground. Some stepped into shadow and began making physical impact, others disappeared.

  ‘It’s not a normal monster,’ Lemuel recognised.

  Suddenly, he shot up and sent a flat wall barrier across the entire street. The galloping horses all crashed into the barrier, and most of them dissipated.

  Lemuel rushed one of the shadowy horses and aimed a strike. It seemed to flinch.

  However, the tonfa stopped just short of its snout.

  “Egotist,” Lemuel stated. He spun his other tonfa to its longer end and swung it lightly.

  The shadowy horse collapsed on the ground, only knocked out. Every shadowy horse dissipated.

  “I thought you had none.” Lemuel suddenly turned to see a black lioness’ face right next to him.

  Leona had no time to be surprised. She had to follow through with her strike. She brandished her claws and clashed with his tonfas. Before he could strike back, a kukri and a goat hoof attacked him from opposing sides.

  “Everyone’s here. Good.”

  Before the three heads could question why he said that, Lemuel, inexplicably, dropped his tonfas. What happened next took place in under a few seconds.

  First, Lemuel grabbed onto Gilliam’s hoof. He swung Gilliam’s entire body onto Leona. Next he grabbed onto Scias’ tail and tossed him at them too. Finally, retrieving his tonfas before they hit the ground, he sent one powerful smash at all three of them.

  “Rrgh!” Gilliam grabbed onto his family and rapidly grew a bunch of wool to cover them.

  The impact of the strike was softened, protecting all three of them. However the sheer force of the blow sent them flying into a building. They were several storeys up but were mostly fine.

  “Urgh… Holy hell that bastard’s strong…” Gilliam allowed his goat head to break off. Leona was of the same mind as well, her own lioness head breaking off to reveal her normal face.

  “I dunno know how we were ever supposed to take on a tank like that freak,” Scias said. “Did he even get hurt from all the monsters we threw at him?”

  “Didn’t seem like it. He’s sure to break through our-…” Leona paused. The trio all looked at the hole they had made.

  A bright orange barrier was set up around the building.

  “Welcome to Folia Sky Tower. Now, isn’t it about time for a family reunion?”

  ———————————————————————

  “How’s the situation with Captain Lemuel?” Yang Anhe asked.

  Machia, looking through a pair of binoculars, answered. “He just finished setting the barrier up.”

  “We’re almost done here, so we can move to support him soon.”

  Yang Anhe gazed at the pile of dead monsters behind her and a row of captured Chimaera members. Half of the squad would have to remain, the other half would assist Lemuel. She, and Machia, would be in the latter of course.

  Yang Anhe moved to Machia’s position, atop a building, and brought out her own pair of binoculars.

  Lemuel had jumped straight back into fighting the monsters. Occasionally, he would sweep them aside instead of killing them. This caused him to take more injuries than necessary, but he still went ahead and did it.

  ‘Only reason he’d do that is if they were Egotists,’ Yang Anhe observed.

  “I always disliked that bleeding heart of yours,” she muttered under her breath.

  “The clouds!” Machia suddenly shouted.

  The clouds above where Lemuel was showed signs of movement. It wasn’t long before a massive silhouette broke through the clouds.

  The creature that descended from the clouds was adorned with red scales which glistened in the sunlight. It had four legs, each of them sporting giant claws. Its two scaly wings were large, and its reptilian head looked ferocious. It had fierce eyes and a mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth. Its long tail twisted back and forth powerfully.

  The creature grasped the side of the tower’s barrier and stared down at Lemuel.

  “Fake.”

  “That’s not a real dragon.”

  Yang Anhe and Machia turned to each other. They each had their own questions, but Yang Anhe put hers aside.

  “Assault squad! We’re moving out now!”

  ———————————————————————

  “Dwyn Hughes!” Lemuel shouted. “You are under arrest for-“

  “Spare me the drivel,” the ‘dragon’ interrupted. “I know what I’ve done. You can have your fun in court. But for now, I’ll be having fun tearing you apart!”

  Dwyn, sporting a dragon’s likeness, descended with huge force. His claw smashed onto Lemuel’s location. If it were not for him blocking the strike, several of the monsters would have been crushed as well.

  “Very well. I’ll have you know though. You aren’t even close to what I’ve had to face,” Lemuel stated, pushing the claw back.

  “Lucky for me that my title is Monster King. Come!” Dwyn roared.

  More and more monsters emerged from the woodworks. Many of them sported unusual abilities and looked very different from the normal monster. Some even looked humanoid.

  “Are these all… Egotists?” Lemuel asked in disbelief.

  “You really should start respecting them as enemies, Lemuel Salas. They’re all here to kill you. If they do, they get a whole feast of human flesh. It’s oh so easy to entice beasts.”

  “… I suppose you’re right. I can’t pull my punches anymore with all of you.”

  Lemuel took a deep breath. He could feel it. His heart, beating. His desire for justice, his ire for Dwyn, and his memories all came bursting forth. He tapped into it all. He could almost hear the sounds of his dear comrades, of the perilous foes he’d have to face in the past. He locked in on one singular memory and allowed his emotions to overflow. He allowed that burning drive to spill forth.

  “WOOOODAAAAAAHHHH!” Lemuel shouted as his mana took on the same orange colour as his barriers. The mana surrounded him in a raging aura.

  [Overflowing Passion]

  Lemuel’s body and tonfas were absolutely wreathed in his powerful mana. Wisps of his aura burnt into the air. This aura was not a specific spell, but simply the sheer power he now commanded.

  “I’m going on the offensive now. Let’s do this, Monster King.”