"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGHHH" The old woman screamed, her skin literally exploding as she fell to her knees, and couldn't contain the blood and vomit that came out of her mouth.

"Old Seer!" A teenager dressed in expensive clothing rushed to her, soon followed by a dozen guards. They all looked at her with pale faces, but before they could say anything more, the old woman, who was the Kingdom's great seer, yelled at all of them while blood bled from her eyes, ears, and mouth.

"Fools, all of you! Quickly give the evacuation order, there's no time. Tell His Majesty that the Calamity is coming, and it's heading straight for us!"

The young man, Prince Leopold, nodded at the old woman with a pale face and a shaky heart, but he obeyed her nonetheless. Running like a madman, he rushed over to his father, the king.

Breaking into the great throne room, where his father was currently consulting with several nobles and powerful warriors, he yelled, forsaking tradition and rituals that were custom to entering the throne room.

"Father, the old seer! S-she's hurt, badly! She said to tell you that the Calamity is coming!" He yelled, falling to his knees the moment he reached his father while bowing down his head.

The king was seen as a truly amazing figure by the common man and noble alike. His eyes held a wisdom that told of tales impossible to comprehend, while his majestic and well-built body contained an aura of power that shook the hearts of men and women alike.

However, hearing his son, the king's face hardened up and he looked at his many subjects. Gritting his teeth, he nodded at them all and roared, "Do it, summon the damn hero!"

Understanding the gravity of the situation, the many nobles and magicians quickly got to work. They had been preparing for this day for a long time now, and while they wished they could have had a bit more time, it seemed as though the worst case scenario had come.

Forming a giant circle of men and women, every one of them began chanting as acolytes and servants dragged several ancient scrolls and expensive materials into the circle, throwing them all in. Every time an object hit the ground of the circle, it would evaporate at lightning-fast speeds.

Meanwhile, the king himself rushed deeper into the castle, reaching his living quarters. He quickly found his precious daughter's room and slammed it open.

He found her fragile form looking out of a window while combing her hair. She slowly turned to face her father, but upon seeing his rugged form and tense expression, her calmness was quickly lost.

"Move! We need your help, the hero is being summoned." The king shouted as he grabbed her arm and rushed back to the throne room.

"What? So soon!?" The young woman was startled. However, she was very intelligent, so it didn't take long for her to figure out what happened.

"Did that Sirus guy lose control of the Calamity?" She looked into her father's eyes as they both ran as fast as they could.

"I don't know the details, but it seems likely. I asked my spies what they thought, and they all said that Sirus and the Karloman Patriarch are fine, so it's unlikely he lost control. It's more likely that the Calamity had enough of being suppressed and chose to break the chains..." His teeth ground against each other, thinking about the mess that the kid had caused.

They had known of the 'special passenger' that Sirus had brought since they first arrived. Upon receiving terrifying reports on the creature, the king was thoroughly lost on what to do.

Hurting Sirus in any way seemed like a sure way to earn a one-way ticket down to the Abyss, probably torn to shreds by that monstrous devil. Hence, they had chosen to bide for time, preparing to summon the hero while trying to understand the creature's motives.

Unfortunately, it seemed as though even the famously charming Young Master Sirus couldn't contain the creature. It had come out of the Karloman territory a couple times, but every time it did so it obviously held no real interest in destruction or death. However, the king knew that this time was different.

He didn't know how, but he just did. It was a sentiment shared by the Old Seer, as well as most of the most experienced warriors. They could almost feel the calamity coming closer and closer.

Reaching the summoning circles, the king and princess looked as the many people in the circle reached their highest pitch of the chant, before a great torrent of light flew down into the skies, seemingly piercing through the roof of the castle and filling the entire circle with light.

A holy sound echoed through the entire kingdom, filling all those who heard it with a strange sensation. For those in the room, the feeling was especially intense as they all fell to their knees and prayed to their god.

After a dozen seconds, the light slowly disappeared, leaving behind three confused teenagers in weird clothing. They looked around with fear as their bodies froze up.

The magicians in the circle saw their fear, and according to custom, quickly left the room, leaving behind only the king, the prince, and the princess.

"Welcome to Hetera, Heroes." The king said, eyeing the three newly summoned heroes. They all looked back at him with different emotions, although all them felt awe and some fear.

They were two boys and a girl. One of the boys had short, black hair as well as a pudgy face. He looked quite weak to the king, but he read that all of the heroes did when first summoned.

The other boy was slightly taller, but he too had the same hair as the pudgy boy, as well as a slightly more reserved look. The girl had long hair, and just like the other heroes, it was black. All of their eyes were a black color, and they all wore a strange black and white suit. The boys had pants, while the girl had a skirt that reached her thighs.

"W-who are you?" The pudgy hero asked, obviously scared and lost. The king smiled at him before shoving both of his kids forward, forcing them to do the honors.

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"Esteemed Heroes, I am Princess Lanoire Nofksgvn, and this is my dear brother, Prince Leopold Nofksgvn. We are the children of His Majesty, the king of Arcadia." She bowed to the heroes, her brother quickly following suit.

"P-please, there is no need to bow!" The girl said, flustered. The boys quickly nodded, obviously not used to this. The king frowned slightly at their behavior, but said nothing, 

"Oh, but you are the Esteemed Heroes! How could we mere mortals not bow to your esteemed presence?" The girl said, her innocent eyes speaking flattery like it was nothing unusual. The king snickered inwardly, knowing that these childish heroes stood no chance against her daughter's wits and charm.

"U-Um..." The heroes fidgeted in place. They all had their own ideas and perceptions on what was happening, but they all felt as though they were in a dream. 

However, despite the possibility of this being a dream, the pudgy hero still stepped forward, and with an embarrassed face, asked: "P-princess-chan, are heroes like us special?"

Smiling ear-to-ear, the princess nodded sagely as she explained, "Of course! Heroes are amazing people who come from a different world than ours, and they all hold amazing abilities that can make us normal people ashamed. Furthermore, all heroes have inhuman rates of growth, and they have always been paragons of goodness and justice!" Except when they weren't. In that case, they would 'go back home'.

"R-really?!" The pudgy hero shouted, his face lighting up. "I can be amazing! Princess-chan, are there a lot of beautiful women in this world? Are there catgirls?" He asked, his smile reaching his eyes when he finished.

A loud crunching noise echoed in the hall, silencing everyone. The two royals felt their backs stiffen as they slowly turned around, seeing their father sitting on his throne.

His hands that had previously been holding a small stone had tightened around it, crushing it completely. His eyes were closed, but even then, one could basically feel the fury within.

"Catkins..." His whisper echoed around the room, making everyone within shake from the raw hatred in his voice.

The pudgy boy looked at the king with wide eyes, doing his best to not pee himself. The two other Heroes were also shocked and terrified, while the Royals could only look down on the ground, their eyes filled with hate as well.

Catkins were good-natured beastkins. Friendly and loyal, they made excellent pets, friends, and slaves. However, one catkin, in particular, filled their hearts with hate beyond words.

A couple minutes passed before the king calmed himself down. He apologized profusely to the Heroes, who were a bit shaken from his outburst.

Still, after answering a couple more of their question, he sent them along with his children, outside of the room. There, they were quickly taken by servants, who showed them around and gave them a rundown of what was expected of them.

The next day, the Heroes began their training, and much to the chagrin of the King and the nobles, they turned out to be fairly average.

Sure, they were stronger than most commoners and nobles, but they didn't really compare to those heroes from ancient times. The tall boy had an innate ability he called 'Heart of the Sword', which apparently made him really good with swords, while the pudgy boy called his own ability 'Divine body', which despite the name, was anything but divine. All it did was make his body really strong and slightly enhanced his senses. 

The girl was even more depressing. Her power merely allowed her to control plants, and even though it wasn't bad, it really wasn't anything special either. The King could only sigh and order his subordinates to hide their disappointment and train the heroes, for they were the last hope.

Of course, he could always use the Final Solution, but he really did not want to, for it came with an impossible price. 

As days passed, the heroes all made friends with a lot of people in the castle. The pudgy boy learned that catkins weren't actually bad people, so he quickly made it his goal to find a catgirl and kiss her. The taller boy dedicated himself to his sword (and a couple women), while the girl spent most of her time in the gardens. They progressed very rapidly, but the king knew it wouldn't be enough.

They could have a hundred years to prepare, and still, he wouldn't be confident in facing that monster. As he read the reports of his spies, he grimaced. 

The Calamity was approaching. He could almost smell the aura of Chaos that the monster held. Everywhere it went, it slaughtered without restraint, leaving behind ghost villages. The army he had sent to halt its advance had been wiped clean, not a single survivor. 

It had acted restrained all this time, and only now was it showing it's true form. The king looked outside of his office's window and shook his head. 

Instead of training, the Heroes were leisurely talking with the servants. The two boys were flirting with groups of girls, while the Hero girl was with a commander yet again.

He had given the heroes personal trainers, but even under their insistence, they refused to work like madmen and madwomen. In the Heroes' eyes, they were growing at a monstrous speed, but to everyone else, it wasn't enough. However, nobody dared to say it out loud. 

Hundreds of kilometers away from the Capital and the Heroes, Luna slowly walked forward. Behind her stood yet another ghost town, every single living thing within it now nothing more than Anima for Luna's power thirst.

She looked forward with a frown. The destruction she had caused wasn't without reason, unlike what the king thought. She was trying to exasperate him, put stress on him. After all, he was her ultimate goal.

Heroes? They were nothing more than slightly bigger bugs in her eyes. However, the king was something else entirely. He was the key component in her grand plan that she had set up.

She giggled slightly at the thought. He was an ant, but an ability he held made her lick her lips. It would be dangerous, possibly deadly, however, if it worked out as she planned, her power would skyrocket, and she would finally be able to fully unlock her ultimate ability.

Her hand flickered and grasped the neck of a young woman who had been playing dead in front of her. Luna lifted the young woman up, looking into her desperate eyes as she tried her best to struggle.

Luna held no ill feelings toward this woman. At best, she felt pity towards such a weak and pathetic ant. She reminded of Luna of the weakling she was back when she first awakened.

Crushing the woman's neck, Luna threw the corpse off at the side. Pity was all good and dandy, however, as of right now, every single unit of Anima counted. She needed as much as possible for her plan to work, so mercy was off the table right now.

She clasped her hands together, unleashing the full power of her aura. Her previously crude abilities bad been refined through studying the people of this continent, and she learned a lot of things. Luckily, she was able to integrate those new techniques and concepts into her old style that consisted mainly of a simple concept:

Murder the enemy, kill its friends and tear to pieces their family, before enjoying their Anima. 

Was she a monster? Maybe. Her time on the continent had certainly opened her eyes as to how ruthless and vicious one could be, and while she didn't like it, she liked the idea of having more Anima. Had Sirus chosen to stay with her, she might have slowly changed and become more and more like a human, however, her break-up had deeply hurt her, despite not showing it.

She wasn't mad at Sirus. On the contrary, she was glad he had been honest with her. But still, she was hurt. And despite her relatively calm feelings towards him, she still considered this whole 'murder the hell out of this kingdom' as payback to him.

Her downcast eyes returned to her 'distant' target. With a sigh, her body flickered and disappeared, as she ran towards the city.

She would give them 7 more days to prepare, and then, she would shatter their dreams and destroy their foundation. She would break apart the chains that tied her to this place, finally freeing her of any still remaining attachments to this place.

"Heroes, oh heroes, I wonder if we come from the same place. Oh heroes, what will you do when I tear you to shreds? What will you do when I devour your Anima?" She sang, practicing her voice. A small squirrel nearby screeched in pain before exploding.

Luna wasn't sure whether to smile or frown. Sure, it was technically an attack, but still, her voice wasn't that bad, right!?