After being part of the ruckus, we say our apologizes and leave. A few meters away from the musuem parking lot, we get to the our designated vehicles with the antitoxins. And by vehicles, I mean horse-drawn wagons. Cars aren't easy to make right now, and that's why they're so expensive and few in number.

"Okay," Sigka says. "Oren, I'd like you to meet some of our reoccurring clients from Teconial. Before I introduce them, please introduce yourself."

"Right." I say. "Me llamo Oren Tsurai. And I'm sorry for the incident in the museum, Vorn-sama." I bow at my apology.

"At least we know you've been trained well." Vorn-sama remarks. Looking at him more closely, one could mistaken him for a darkness tone model. Flowing black hair. Lean. Good fashion sense. Model material. Well, save for his height, of course.

"Okay, and here are..." begins Sigka.

"We'll do it." Vorn-sama says. "As you know, I'm Vorn Crater, the leader of our bunch."

"I'm Vega King." says the dwarf with glasses. Judging by his attire and eyewear, he's probably the brains of the team. "A pleasure."

"The silent one next to me is Vaar Coal." Vorn-sama continues. Vaar simply turns away from me, covering his eyes with his jacket's hood.

"And Roc Hammer is in the house!" adds Roc-sama. For the record, he's the dwarf with the pompadour and, considering his outfit, the only way to describe him is as an Elvis impersonator.

(Well, every age had one.) I think.

Don't get me started on the orc ones in the Fourth Age.

"Anyway," Vorn-sama starts to say. "Everybody know our goal?"

We all nod.

"And...who's this girl?" Vorn-sama asks pointing to Sueka.

"She's my..." I begin to say.

"His training partner." Sigka quickly jumps in.

(Technically, you aren't wrong, but...)

Yamiso walks towards me and quietly whispers, "Just play along."

"Yeah," I agree. "She's my partner."

The reason I didn't want to accept this...is just how badly Sueka is taking the comment right now.

"Anyway, Oren, Sueka," inquires Vega-sama. "How should we address you? Your comrades have codenames, so what's yours?"

We look at each other and shrug.

"How about..." begins Sueka...

Before I cover her mouth.

"Please...no more nicknames..."

(Am I crying right now? I think I'm crying.)

"We'll just refer to you two as 'rookies' for now." Vorn-sama decides.

"Kind of degrading, don't you think?"

"He's not wrong." Yamiso whispers.

"Fine..."

"Alright then," Sigka jumps in. "We have four dwarves and four wagons to transport. Who's going with who?"

Hiromu quickly dashes over to Roc-sama...and picks him up.

"I GOT DIBS!!"

"Put me down, you hound dog!!"

"That's one down." Vorn-sama says.

"You traitor! You ain't no friend of mine!"

(Please, make it stop...) thinks Vorn-sama.

(Those two are perfect for each other.) we Keisetsu members think.

"I would like to work with you this time." Vega-sama requests, pointing to Sigka.

"As you wish."

"And while we're at it, maybe you could talk about that theory of yours again."

"Once we're out of harm's way, sure."

The rest of us look at Vaar-sama and Vorn-sama. It seems that Vaar-sama has already decided, as he has chosen to point at Yamiso. Given Yamiso's current mood, I think this would be best. That just leaves me, Sueka, and Ripperu.

"Ripperu, you're with me." Vorn-sama says.

"And us?" I ask.

"I don't know what you're capable of. Don't know just yet."

I turn to Sueka. At this moment, Vorn-sama gets a glimpse of my blade.

!!

(Is that..!?)

"Well, sis. Who you want to...?"

"Whichever team you're on."

"Okay, then which...?"

"Rookie!" Vorn-sama butts in. "You're going with me!"

"Whoa!" interrupts Vega-sama. "When did you get so enthusiastic?"

"You're...you're right. My bad. Anyway...the two of you will be accompanying me."

(Okay...I'm a little confused, but why not?)

"Don't want the newest member of the Keisetsu defending me all by herself."

"Ouch..." Ripperu retorts.

"Don't worry, Rip." Hiromu says. "Clearly, he's got something else on his mind."

"Thanks..."

We make preparations for every team's antitoxins. The agreement is to have all four teams take separate routes to spread out the group of thugs, giving each a fighting chance with a smaller number of enemies while also attempting to finish simultaneously so that we can get to Diva-de-sama's concert on time. Surprisingly, we only have three horses and four wagons. Although, Sueka could...

"Hihiiinnn!"

(Oh...)

And...Roc turns into a horse...with a pompadour.

"Ready, rookie?" Vorn-sama asks.

"Yes, I'm ready. But please...don't call me that whenever possible."

"Very well. YA!"

And, with that, my first mission officially begins.

Vorn-sama sits atop the wagon, controlling the reins of the horse. Sueka and I choose to walk. Sueka has also chosen to tend to the horse along the way, keeping it calm by stroking it the way she likes to be stroked when she's in her horse form. Unfortunately, much of the road between Noria and Pira Attis is through the woods, as the locals of Noria requested that the natural beauty of the land be preserved.

"Seems the horse has taken a liking to the two of you." Vorn-sama says. "I'm impressed. Even Roc had some problems taming these things."

"Sueka can transform into a horse, like Roc. And honestly, living with animals all year round in Terraz helped too."

"Terraz, huh?"

"Mhm."

"Guys, I'm sorry for bringing up such painful memories."

"We know you didn't mean to. We've...mostly moved on, I suppose."

As we walk, we hear the occasional rustling of bushes around us.

"Anyway," Vorn-sama continues. "I must also apologize for my rather strict mindset back there. As the leader of my group, I have to act the part."

"Again, don't worry." Ripperu replies. "We're used to hearing all this stuff from Katsumi."

"Nice to know he hasn't changed. Anyway, one of the reasons why I'm not exactly in the best of moods is this whole 'side job' problem my team is facing."

"Let me guess," I jump in. "Hard to find blacksmith work?"

"Yes, exactly! How'd you know?"

"Terraz had similar problems."

"Yeah, well, my friends and I wish to start our own blacksmith business, specifically for creating world renowned weapons like the dwarves of the Third Age did while also doing metalwork used in the First Age industry, such as car frames, steel beams, and so on. Problem is, since Pri-Poda hasn't found enough blueprints of either to encourage industrialization yet, blacksmiths like us don't prosper. Thus, we're having trouble maintaining our business in Teconial. So, we have to take extra side jobs, and many of my fellow dwarves have gotten injured in this mission that, to me, has taken too long for the same pay."

"Honestly, I can see why you're upset." I say.

"Actually, I'm curious. Where'd you get that sword?"

"You know," Ripperu adds. "I've been wondering that too."

"It's...a memento of a late friend. Why you ask?"

...

"Okay, again, I'm sorry for..."

"And again, don't worry."

(Didn't know dwarves could apologize so much. Thought they were supposed to be thickheaded.)

"It's just..." Vorn-sama continues. "That sword looks to be of Third Age quality. It's difficult to find any of those anymore."

"Really?"

Vorn-sama nods.

"Do you...mind if I take a look?"

I glance at my sword for a few seconds, then shrug.

"I see no reason why n..."

"HHHIIIIHHHHIIIIINNNNN!!!!" the horse neighs in a panic.

"Whoa, girl!" Sueka says, trying to calm it down, stroking it. "Calm down!"

GA!

(A gun!?)

I sheathe my blade...

GA!

And block an oncoming bullet aimed at the horse. At least, I think it was the horse.

"HHHIIIIHHHIIIINNNN!!!!"

Vorn-sama jumps off the wagon and pulls out a well-made knife.

"Fire Drive: Weld."

At this, Vorn-sama's left arm converts to magma and, after the knife sinks into it, solidifies, creating a metal gauntlet with spikes at the end, fully attached to his body.

After Sueka calms down the horse, we all take one of the four sides of the wagon.

"Hey, sis." I ask. "Can you guess how many?"

Sueka sniffs the air.

GA!

Another gunshot. Where it's coming from...

GA!

I block it with my blade again. Yes, it was aimed at me.

GA! GA! GA! GA!

I continue to counter every shot with my blade. Each time, the shots are directed at me alone.

"Any luck?" I ask.

"Don't know. 20, at least."

"20!?" Vorn-sama exclaimes.

"GAO!!!" we hear the roar of an animal.

At this, a lion, a snake, and a werewolf all charge...

In my direction from different sides of the wagon.

"WHOA!"

I lean to the right to quickly dodge a slash from the werewolf. The attack nearly hits the wagon.

(Crap!)

I realize something and leap away from the wagon.

"Rookie!" Ripperu yells. "Don't break off away from us!"

But sure enough, my hypothesis was correct. All the animals are coming after me.

Seems I am the target.

GA!

(Damn it!)

I spin around to block an approaching bullet with my blade.

GA!

Right after that, I notice a large shadow around me. I look up.

And see a large ice golem plummeting towards me.

I quickly backflip away from where I stand...

BATAN!!!

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And barely avoid being crushed by the golem.

GA!

This time, the sounds of varying projectiles come at me from every direction.

I backflip again to avoid at least 10 different types of rhime projectiles, mostly electricity and fire.

GA! GA! GA! GA!

But, rather than all these shots being fired at once like last time, they are shot individually in rapid succession to keep me moving. I'm forced to backflip, sidestep, somersault, and cartwheel constantly to avoid getting hit. The shots seem to be guiding me towards the approaching golem, with the golem impervious to every shot.

(Oh, for the love of...!)

(Soul Conversion 5...BEAT!)

To gain momentum, I keep doing continuous backflips at increasing speed towards the golem. As soon as I'm close enough, the golem slams both of its arms into the ground...

BATAN!!!!

Missing me by a few centimeters. Allowing for me to strike.

"Third Age: Spinning Axe Kick! ADIOS!"

I push off and perform my spinning kick at the golem's head, knocking it back into the surrounding woods, causing a few trees to collapse under its weight.

With the energy remaining from my soul conversion, I jump back to my side of the wagon.

"Who are you!?" I yell. "Show yourselves!"

After a few seconds of silence, I hear the sound of someone clapping. I turn to my left, where the golem collapsed, and see someone walk out. I can't quite tell what tone he is, as he looks like an ice tone, but actually has some muscle on his body.

"Bravo, Oren." the man says, stilling clipping.

!?

"Okay...And you are?"

"What does it matter?" the man says. "The world has chosen to forget our names, only labeling us as criminals. At least, so long as we're forced into this life of crime."

"Forced?"

"Explaining it to people like you is pointless, so let's not philosophize. Come on out, boys!"

At this command, the bushes move and rustle. The four of us look around and see 30, no, 40 individuals, most of them ready for combat, emitting rhime or holding a weapon!

"This is a new one." Vorn-sama declares. "Normally, I thought you'd only send around five after us. Finally started to take your jobs seriously? Or did you forget that attacking only one wagon would get you a small amount of the..."

"Lucky for you, dwarf," the man butts in. "We're not here for you or your antitoxins."

The man then points at me.

"We're just here for him."

"Que?" I say.

"Huh?" echoes Vorn-sama.

"We have our orders. We've been told to capture this kid, dead or alive, by any means necessary. Still, despite us outnumbering you, we know what the Keisetsu members are capable of. So, we're here to negotiate."

"Why the hell would we...!?" shouts Ripperu...before I cut her off.

"And, what did you have in mind?" I ask.

"Oh, you can't be serious!" Ripperu retorts.

"Didn't think you'd ask." the man says. "Thought the Keisetsu was comprised solely of muscle-headed morons."

"Just get to the point." I demand.

"Fine. Fine. Sorry for the insults."

(Sorry?) Vorn-sama thinks. (I didn't expect THAT from a criminal.)

"Oren comes with us, and we'll leave the rest of you to your business. In fact, from what we've been told, we see no reason to attack any more shipments after this. So, what do you say?"

"And...what would you do with me?"

"We're just following orders, kid. Take that up with the b..."

"MY BROTHER ISN'T GOING ANYWHERE!!!"

(Ssssiiiissssss.....)

"Brother!?" says a chorus of thugs.

"Brother?" Vorn-sama also asks.

"You want my brother...you have to go through me!"

(Leave it to Sueka to break up a negotiation...) Ripperu thinks.

"Well, if she disagrees, then I have no choice but to join in the fun!" Ripperu states.

The man, along with a few other thugs, chuckle.

"And you, dwarf?"

At this, Vorn-sama simply smiles.

"Sorry boys, but I've got a few questions for this kid, too."

Vorn-sama grabs another knife and welds it into his other arm.

"He's not going anywhere."

The man then starts radiating some ice rhime. Yes, he's an ice tone.

"Figures. Worth a try." the man says.

The other thugs then begin emitting their own rhime.

"You crazy enough to take on three Keisetsu members?" asks Ripperu.

"You look quite young, and are probably newbies." one thug states. "We'll take our chances, given our numbers."

"Worth a try." Ripperu repeats.

Now, we begin to emit our own rhime. Well, aside from me, of course.

"LET'S GO!" Everybody yells.

And with that, the first battle of my first mission begins.

GA! GA! GA! GA!

I continue to block the shots of rhime aimed at me, with a few occasionally shot at my partners to throw me off and force me to move from where I stand. After blocking the last shot, Ripperu begins to emit her water rhime...

"Water Drive: Liquify! Full body!"

And converts all of her human form, save for her clothes, to water. Now a large puddle of water, her liquefied body moves towards her targets, passing under their feet and evading many of their attacks. Several bandits fall when she passes under them, while those attempting to hit her with rhime are countered by Sueka's and my barrage of close combat attacks.

"Hey, boys!" Ripperu's voice says, echoing from within the puddle.

Getting between the animal tones from before, many large tentacles of waters sprout from the puddle and begin to thrash around the battlefield.

BATAN! BATAN! BATAN! BATAN!

While dodging each tentacle strike, I maneuver past her to attack the assassins with projectiles in close quarters. Not surprisingly, me getting close to them so quickly catches them off guard, making it easy for me to knock the air out of them with kicks and blows from the flat end of my blade.

"Don't forget me!" the ice tone yells, sending two golems my way.

One of the golems jumps into the air and attempts to crush me.

Just before Sueka gets in front of me and performs an upper right hook, knocking the golem away from me and into the other golem.

"Not bad." the ice tone continues. "But how about THIS!"

Conjuring up another golem, the ice tone whistles.

PPPPIIIIII!!!!

In that instant, the animal tones not ensnared in Ripperu's attack quickly retreat and change their target to me. Not only that, even more thugs than before come out of hiding!

(Just how many are there!?) I think.

Seeing how many of them are fast approaching, and how many are electric tones already preparing their attacks, I get in between them and Sueka.

(Soul Conversion 20...BEAT!)

With newfound stamina, I begin to block every attack with my blade. Each horizontal thrust is met with a minimum of three attempted punches from varying tones. Some thugs try to trip me with a sweeping kick, but I quickly backflip into the air, allowing for Sueka to counter, with the bandits off guard. It's a common tactic we did when sparring with other people in Terraz.

"TAKE THIS, ASSHOLES!!" Sueka yells.

BATAN!

She punches one man straight in the chest, knocking him backwards into at least ten other thugs, causing them to crash through the trees. One of the people I knocked down attempts to get up, but just sees Sueka cracking her knuckles...with that "yandere" smile across her face. I feel sorry for that guy.

As I land, more fast close quarter fighters circle around Sueka and begin to encircle me at super speed, similar to what I did with Yamiso in our last training match.

(Don't think you can beat me at my own game! Soul Conversion 5...BEAT!)

As the circling thugs rush towards me, I manage to block all of them with a quick spin attack with my sword...

Aside from one from behind.

"Watch it!" I hear Vorn-sama yell, as he jumps in between the thug and me, quickly punching the guy in the face with his gauntlet.

"Need a hand?" he asks.

"You should be protecting the antitoxins!" I retort.

"I know you don't trust them." he says, blocking a punch or kick with almost every word. "But you do seem to be the target. And you don't seem to be strong enough to..."

Vorn-sama's voice trails off in the distance...

(Not...strong enough....)

At that moment, the painful memories of Terraz's destruction blaze through my mind.

(Not...strong enough...)

Continuing to block every attack, I quickly look around. Vorn-sama and I are simply on the defensive. Ripperu is knocking away and ensnaring so many thugs, and I'm simply defending. Sueka, despite being outnumbered, is wiping out so many with her bare hands! And I'm simply defending.

(Not...strong enough...)

The memories of my losses to Hisashi. Or...perhaps "Selot"...

My inability to save Hisashi in his final moments...

The ice tone looks to me and sees how I'm reacting.

"Seriously?" he says. "This target is our ticket out of our personal Hell? This kid may have some skills, but he's a joke compared to what we were expecting!"

(What!?)

Surrounding the ice tone, three golems larger than before begin to rise from the ground.

"I thought every Keisetsu member was supposed to be a one man army. What makes this kid so special?"

My blood begins to boil with anger, my hands shake. Vorn-sama sees what's happening to me and says...

"Calm down, rookie."

Rookie... A newbie...

A weakling.

I joined the Keisetsu to get stronger. Strong enough to protect Sueka. And here she is protecting me...again! I joined to prevent anybody from risking their lives to save mine, like Hisashi. And here I am. Defending, not fighting.

"Kid, calm down!" Vorn-sama repeats.

"I...I..."

The thugs encircling us all attack at once. Behind them, the ice tone has finished creating his golems. Six large ones, all curling up into balls and rolling in differing directions, likely to barricade us in.

But none of this...none of this...none of this intimidates me!

"I'M NOT WEAK!!"

I quickly kick Vorn-sama out of the way of the incoming assassins. Focusing as hard as I can, I put my blade back into its sheathe and wait for the them to get closer.

"Kid, what're you doing!?"

When all my enemies are within a few centimeters, I quickly unsheathe my blade and perform a spin attack with maximum speed, hitting each one with the flat end of my blade, knocking them into the a few of the golems. I look to the ice tone and begin to charge in his direction. Two of his golems get between us.

"Don't underestimate me!" I yell. "Soul Conversion 30...BEAT!!"

"Oren!?" Ripperu's voice echoes from the water. "Don't be reckless!"

With my super speed and strength, I dash back and forth between the golems, slashing at their joints. When I stop dashing, with energy to spare, the golems collapse under their own weight, crumbling into multiple pieces. I then use the rest of my energy to charge towards the ice golem...

Not seeing an extra golem behind the trees, already throwing a punch in my direction.

"OREN!" Ripperu's voice echoes.

Before the golem manages to hit me, she throws the thugs captured in her tentacles aside and sends all of her tentacles to grab the golem's arm, then pull it towards her to change the punch's direction.

BATAN!

The golem then crashes to the ground. However, looking at Ripperu's tentacles, I see that the touch of the ice golem starts to freeze over her limbs. The sound of Ripperu grunting in pain is heard from the puddle. I quickly kick the golem away from her with my remaining strength, helping her break free. I backflip towards the puddle. When I reach her, she then solidifies her body, covering her private areas. I look to her limbs and see them blue in tint from poor circulation due to the cold. Her heavy breathing, which I can see, shows that she's running out of rhime.

"D-d-d-don't d-do anyt-t-thing r-r-reck-k-kless!" Ripperu tells me, her teeth chattering.

She then uses her rhime to liquefy her left arm to reach for her clothes, but there are thugs in her way. I look to the ice tone, but, given Ripperu's position, I reluctantly counter every bandit attempting to hit her with projectiles and physical attacks. Seeing how her being vulnerable hinders my chances to fight, I dash over and scoop up her clothes and bring them to her. I then pick her up and carry her through an onslaught of assassins to Vorn-sama.

While Ripperu begins to dress, I tell Vorn-sama "warm her up!" and he occasionally glances at Ripperu, blushing.

(I know I'm being a jerk, but I don't have time to waste! This is my final test, and I cannot fail now!)

As I rush back into the fray, Vorn-sama yells, "Don't take them all on your own! Let's regroup!" He gets back onto the wagon and takes the reigns.

I rush towards Sueka and knock away the extra thugs that she can't hit with kicks and slashes at high speed, then charges at the ice tone. He summons two more ice golems.

"Well, guess you have some talent after all." he says.

I attack the golems and attempt to aim for the limbs, like before. They all throw punches at me. I quickly jump to get on top of their arms.

BATAN!

Once their arms are stuck in the ground, I run up the arms, slash off their heads, and kick them in the direction of the ice tone. A new golem appears in front of him, blocking him from the incoming projectiles. I jump off the golems and land in the middle of the clearing.

(Was waiting for this.) the ice tone thinks.

PPPPPPIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!

All the thugs that were fighting Sueka quickly retreat and encircle the clearing.

"NOW!" the ice tone yells.

At this, every remaining projectile rhime tone fires at me from all directions.

(Damn it! Soul Conversion 10...BEAT!!)

35 percent left.

I use my enhanced speed to block every projectile I can with my sword. However...

Piri! Piri! Piri!

A few shots still hit me, and I hear the sound of my clothes ripping in various places. Nevertheless, I continue to stay on the defensive...again.

GA! GA! GA! GA!

Between projectile volleys, the faster assassins simultaneously charge towards me and manage to graze me with minor, but accumulating, injuries as they dash past me to get out of the way before the next wave of shots.

"Oren!" I hear Sueka yell as she runs towards me.

"STAY BACK!!" I yell.

At this, Sueka backs off...and the surrounding golems begin to advance towards me.

(Shit!)

While they are slow in movement, the sheer size of these targets makes it near impossible to escape without knocking one down.

(Soul Conversion 5...BEAT!)

I attempt to aim for the limbs once again, but this time the number of golems makes it difficult for me to aim for any single one, as they're now working in tangent with each other. Every strike is blocked by the arm of another golem. Every attempt I make to retreat from an arm swing, another one behind me follows suit. All I can do is jump from arm to arm, avoiding getting grabbed or punched as I go.

All the remaining golems retract their punches and prepare to hit me simultaneously when I prepare to jump next. To counter this, I instead duck below the punches, having them all collide with each other above me.

BATAN!

"Got you." the ice tone says.

Underneath my feet, the ground begins to cool...

And a golem's arm emerges from the ground, punching me upward, square in the chest.

At this moment, all the golems start to combine, solidifying their ice to create one larger golem. One with a punch I cannot hope to stop. Once I stop ascending, the golem throws a right hook, and knocks me far into the forest surrounding the clearing.

BATAN!

Upon collision with the tree I hit and knock down, I lose my breath and gasp for air. All I hear around me is the snapping of bark as the tree comes down and the crashing sound the ice golem makes as it walks towards me.

BATAN! BATAN! BATAN!

I attempt to get up, but even with Soul Conversion, because of my injuries, I lack the time to evade the golem.

"Guess you weren't so special after all." the ice tone says. "No hard feelings...BUT THIS IS THE END!"

The ice golem quickly presses its right hand against me, pinning me down, while the other arm draws back for one final punch. I see Sueka running towards the golem, but she won't make it in time to stop the final punch.

Vorn-sama can only watch the spectacle, watch my failure, and think only one thing...

"It seems he lacks the most basic principle needed to be a Keisetsu member. And it's because of this...that we've paid the ultimate price."

The ice golem stops its punching arm...and begins its final strike!

"FALL!!" the ice tone yells.

GA!!

I hear a gunshot ring through the air. I look to the golem and see that the head is shot from its left side, causing it to lose its balance and, toppling over, misses me by a few centimeters. From what I saw, the shot was composed of electric rhime.

And there's only one person I can think of with that rhime that would aid us out here...

The thugs look around for the source of the shot...

Just to get shot in non-vital areas by the same gun. The rustling of bushes outside the clearing indicates the sound of a target rushing in.

The sound of Hiromu making his dramatic entrance.

"IT'S HIRO TIME!!!" he yells out in English, kicking a bandit in the face.

"CRAP!" one of the enemies yells. "It's him!"

Hiromu quickly puts away his guns, envelops his hands with electric rhime for

, then dashes among at least ten of the assassins, stunning them by shocking their chests and causing them to fall to the ground.

Many of the projectile rhime users still surrounding us begin to fire in Hiromu's direction...

Just to have him pull out his guns and counter each incoming shot with one of his own, saying "BANG!" with every shot he makes. Once the projectiles cease after Hiromu notices how ineffective they are, the ice tone sends his golem after Hiromu...just to have Hiromu dash onto the top of its head and sit down and stick his tongue out in the ice tone's direction.

Hiromu then turns around and looks to us.

"Seems you guys had all the fun!"

We all give him unimpressed looks. Well, save for Ripperu, who really enjoyed his entrance.

"Guess life sent you quite the challenge. Oh well. 'When life gives you lemons, make strawberry milk and give it to Gintoki.'"

And there's one of his lines that I don't understand.

"Seems you're still interfering with our plans." the ice tone says. "No matter. Compared to the men you fought over the past couple days, we're the best of the best. I doubt even you could beat us."

"Seriously, why must every antagonist be a jerk?" Hiromu asks comically, relaxing on the ice golem's head. "Can't we all just get along?"

All the bandits give Hiromu a similar glare. It's probably a good thing Hiromu can't see them.

"And maybe you're right. Maybe you guys might be too much for me. Too bad I didn't think about requesting reinforcements. Oh wait..."

WWWWOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In an instant, several thugs get pushed into the golem, causing it to stagger and knock out some of the men.

All from one of Yamiso's Darkness Bellows.

"I did." Hiromu says, giving the victory sign and smiling, unfazed by the moving golem.

BATAN!

As soon as the golem crashes down, Hiromu jumps into the air, and Yamiso flies in with his fallen wings. Enveloping his hands in devil claws, Yamiso slams the two nearest thugs into the ground with downward punches.

BATAN! BATAN!

"I know these mother fucking weaklings aren't giving you trouble." Yamiso comments.

Immediately following Yamiso's statement, the remaining three dwarves charge in, their axes drawn, with a gray parrot flying above them...

And then said parrot transforms into a gorilla and smashes two men into the ground. Seems Sigka is here too. Everybody is here.

"GET THEM!" the ice tone yells, this time with fear in his voice.

The dwarves rush over to the wagon and Vorn-sama and begin tending to his wounds.

"You all right?" Vega-sama asks him and Ripperu.

"Been better." Vorn-sama replies.

Starting to get enraged, Roc-sama turns towards the assassins charging in their direction.

"Let's do this!" he yells, tossing his axe into the air before transforming into a horse.

Vega-sama jumps onto Roc-sama's back and grabs Roc-sama's axe with his free left hand. The two then charge in at full speed with Vega-sama hitting every nearby thug with the flat ends of the axes.

"Ready, Roc?" asks Vega-sama.

Roc-sama whinnies in approval.

And before my eyes, I witness something I didn't even consider attempting...

I see Vega-sama envelop Roc-sama's body with a thin layer of his electric rhime, while Roc transfers some of his animal rhime to Vega. The very thing that caused Chates-sama to go out of control in New Vegas...is happening again!

"Are you INSANE!?" I yell.

But my words don't reach them, as they plow through an even thicker crowd of enemies. To my surprise, they seem to be doing even better than before. Roc-sama's movements seem more calculated, while Vega-sama's swings now have more force behind them. It's as if they've obtained some of the other's tone benefits.

I rush back towards Sueka to help her with the thugs surrounding her. For every punch she throws, I perform a kick to the face or chest of a bandit behind her. As one incoming enemy, an animal tone specifically, attempts to perform a drop kick on us, I sweep Sueka into my arms and backflip the two of us out of the way in the direction of the wagon.

BATAN!

While still airborne, I see Hiromu rush into the party of thugs we were fighting, kicking them towards Sigka, now in the form of a panther. Each incoming thug is then pounced on, mauled as they come.

Upon landing next to the wagon, I see that Ripperu is ready to fight once more, though she's no doubt running out of rhime.

"Ready?" Vorn-sama asks her.

"Yeah!"

"Alright then. Vaar!"

Vaar-sama simply nods.

Without saying anything more, Vorn-sama hoists Vaar-sama into the air as high as he can. Vaar-sama then takes a deep breath...

"Water Drive: Sift." he says, holding his breath...

Before shooting a large wave of water from his mouth. To my surprise, while this wave washes many of the thugs away from us and into the ice tone's golems, Roc-sama and Vega-sama seem unfazed, as though the water can select its targets. It looks as though the water separates when approaching them, leaving a one meter radius around them, as if the water knows the dwarves are there.

I look over to see Ripperu then liquefy her body again, then dive into the waves produced by Vaar-sama. Now moving at a faster pace, her body skims across the water, reminding me of a dolphin's movement, crashing into any nearby thugs swept away by the wave.

Vorn-sama looks to me and Sueka with eyes of both concern and disappointment. My guess is that he thinks that I am too weak to be cut out for this, and maybe he's right. And even if I wasn't, I've used too much rhime already, so it will be difficult to prove otherwise.

By this point, all the enemies aside from the ice tone have either fled or been defeated, leaving him and his ice golems as our last remaining targets.

My last chance to redeem myself. But, in my condition, I cannot hope to defeat him, let alone his golems, without help. Still, if I am to fail to become a Keisetsu member after this, the least I can do is get everyone out of the predicament that I got them into.

"Sueka..." I begin to say.

"Yes, brother?"

"Let's go."

(Hm?) Vorn-sama thinks.

I reach out my open right hand to Sueka, who immediately takes it.

"Just like old times?" I ask.

"Just like old times." she nods.

Hand in hand, the two of us rush past the rest of our comrades towards a group of three ice golems.

(What are they doing?) the ice tone thinks.

Two of them move to intercept us while preparing to punch us. I quickly let go of Sueka's hand and, when the punches are thrown, Sueka stops both fists with one hand each. The third golem throws its punch in Sueka's direction, just for me to slide under her and perform and updraft kick, throwing the third golem off balance. I then perform sweep kicks on the other two golems, knocking them off their feet, and allowing for their airborne bodies to be spun violently by Sueka. Upon reaching her maximum spinning speed, Sueka lets go, causing the golems to crash into other golems, shattering their bodies.

Upon seeing the effortless destruction of a few of his golems, the ice tone summons more. To my surprise, the rest of my team don't seem to be joining in. Rather, they're just restraining the thugs that have been neutralized. I pity those men in Sigka's boa constrictor hold.

Four more golems are summoned and begin rolling in our direction. I jump into the air and Sueka grabs my feet and begins to spin me counterclockwise at full speed. She then lets go, launching me towards the leftmost golem. Upon collision, I push off it with all my might, forcing it to roll at a faster speed in the opposite direction, while I propel myself towards the nearest golem, where I kick it into the other two and pushing myself off it back towards Sueka. The first golem shatters as it collides with many of the trees behind it and the other three shatter at the immense force created by the collision between them.

(It seems...) Vorn-sama begins to think. (That he might have it in him after all.)

Another golem is summoned. This time, much larger than the others. It jumps into the air and prepares to slam both arms down on us.

(Soul Conversion 1...BEAT!)

I dash away from the arms and jump into the air, kicking them out of the way. Below the chest of this golem is Sueka, ready for her part. Right before the golem collides with the ground, Sueka performs a barrage of quick jabs, breaking away at the ice.

"ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA! ORA!" Sueka yells, continuing her barrage.

On her final blow, I slide across the ground and prepare an updraft kick at the same time Sueka kicks upwards, allowing for our combined strength to send the golem flying higher than it jumped before.

The two of us then nod to one another.

(Soul Conversion 9...BEAT!)

Sueka jumps into the air with me following suit. I then grab her legs and spin rapidly. Upon reaching maximum speed, I throw her as high as I can into the air, far above the golem. With the remainder of my strength, I jump as hard as I can to reach Sueka's final height. When we finally are at the same elevation, I grab her left arm and spin around like before and release her when I finished spinning.

"ADIOS!" Sueka and I yell in unison as Sueka kicks the golem at full speed in the chest, causing it to plummet in the direction of the ice tone.

BBBAAAAATTTTAAAAAAAANNNNNNNN!!!!!

GGGGGOOOOOOAAAAAA!!!!!

Upon collision, the ice golem shatters, its parts scattering all across the battlefield, with everything becoming blurred from the dispersed debris and ice shards.

Sueka lands, then catches me. The two of us then perform a high five and smile.

"Think we got him?" Sueka asks.

Gggggoooooogggggggoooooaaaaaaa....

(I...cannot...) the ice tone thinks. (Not...yet...I cannot...lose yet!)

In an instant, one last golem is summoned. This one bigger than all the others. Easily over 100 meters in height! And in the center of the golem's chest...is the ice tone thug.

"Oren Tsurai..." the ice tone's voice echoes from the golem's body. "For the men I know who've suffered behind bars for all these years for crimes I wouldn't ever deem crimes, I will defeat you! Be it you or the entire Keisetsu, I will prevail and set us free!"

The golem prepares to slam both of its huge hands into the ground.

(Soul Conv...?)

Before I can finish my soul conversion technique, Hiromu picks Sueka and me up and, with his super speed, pulls us out of the area of collision before we are crushed.

BATAN!

As the debris settles, Hiromu sets us down next to everybody else. I look to them and see that they're ready to fight.

"Don't think you can have all the fun!" Ripperu says, smiling.

"As much as I don't like to fight unnecessary battles, this might be the first interesting one we've had taking this job." Sigka proclaims.

"You're not leaving us out of this, rookie." Vorn-sama states, gesturing to himself and the other dwarves.

"Don't know what you did to piss them off, but I think I finally found a good way to relieve stress." Yamiso comments, cracking his knuckles with a sinister smile. Honestly, sinister or no, this is the first time ever since I joined the Keisetsu that I've seen him smile.

Hiromu goes over to Sigka and puts his hand on Sigka's shoulder.

"If Sigka plans to fight, then so will I. We aren't referred to as a team for nothing. Besides, we're two halves of the whole idiot."

"Shut up, Hiro." Sigka retorts.

Sueka looks to me and smiles.

(Guess...I can't get all the glory for this after all.)

The golem prepares for another punch.

"Let's do this!" I proclaim.

"YEAH!" the rest yell. Well, aside from Vaar-sama.

Before the ice golem's fist collides with us, Sueka, Sigka, Yamiso, Roc, and I all counter the incoming fist with me kicking and everyone else holding it back with their hands.

"Fire Drive: Weld!"

Using the remaining three axes of the other dwarves, Vorn-sama combines the metal with his arm to increase the size of his gauntlets, making them about half the size of the ice golem's fist. With a mighty punch, Vorn-sama knocks the golem back.

"Water Drive: Sift. Vortex."

Vaar-sama again fires water from his mouth, but this time it circles around the golem and begins to rise, creating a swirling pillar of water. Much of the ice begins to freeze over, creating solid footing for me.

(Soul Conversion 10...BEAT!)

15 percent left.

Seeing an opening in the vortex, I jump in and begin to pummel the golem with kicks and jumping back and forth between the golem and the ice blocks. Yamiso flies in with his fallen wings and attacks the golem with slashes. With a boost from Sigka, Hiromu is thrown into the vortex and begins to do what I did, except he chooses to shoot and dodge rather than kick.

"Ready, everyone?" Sigka yells to the rest of the fighters.

"Yes!" they say.

"Best place, Vega?" Sigka then asks.

"Electric Drive: ."

Though I cannot hear what they're doing outside of the vortex, I can tell they are planning something.

The golem furiously swings its arms around, attempting to hit one of its many evasive targets.

"There!" Vega-sama yells.

"NOW!" shouts Sigka.

BBBAAAAATTTTAAAAANNNNN!!!!

From outside the vortex, all the animal tones and Vorn-sama attack one part of the ground to cause the area beneath the golem's feet to crumble.

"Rip!" yells Sigka again.

In that instant, Vaar-sama's vortex dissipates, giving me a better idea of what is going on as I look to my allies upon a falling ice block. Beneath the golem, the ground begins to shift even more.

All from the water arms of Ripperu.

And quickly after, the animal tones get to the cracks in the ground and begin to pull on them, splitting the ground even more.

Causing the golem to fall on its back.

BBBAAAAATTTTAAAAANNNNN!!!!

"Not finished yet!" Yamiso proclaims.

WWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

From above, Yamiso hits the golem straight in the chest with a darkness bellow. With this, everybody attacks the golem from all sides, preventing it from getting up.

GA! GA! GA!

The crashes of Vorn-sama's axe and my blade slamming the ice shake the air.

BATAN! BATAN! BATAN!

"Damn you!" the ice tone's voice echoes.

Attempting to get up, the golem presses its hands into the ground and tries to push upwards, occasionally attempting to crush one of us.

GA! GA! GA!

Just for Hiromu encircles the golem to shoot the joints of the arms with his gun.

Ripperu lifts up much of the non-ice fallen debris with her liquid arms and throws them at the creature.

"Water Drive: Sift."

To anchor down the golem, Vaar-sama then shoots water at its joints, causing the water to freeze. The frozen water makes the arms and legs stick to the ground.

All in preparation for the final blow.

"Ready?" all the animal tones, save for Sigka, ask him.

"Hell yes!"

All the other animal tones go into a squatting position, ready to hoist him up. Sigka quickly runs in their direction and, when he finally jumps towards them...

"NOW!" Sigka yells.

They push upwards and launch him high into the air.

The rest of us stop our attacks and look to the sky, as a large cloud of animal rhime circles around Sigka...

Before he turns into a First Age African rainforest elephant, plummeting down towards the ice golem's chest.

(Oh no...) the ice tone thinks.

Never before did I think I would see an ice golem sweat in fear.

BBBBBBBBBBAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!

Upon collision, large quantities of debris hindered my vision, but the sound of ice shattering was all too clear.

When the debris settled, the golem was nowhere in sight. All I could see was a large crater where Sigka landed. And inside the crater was Sigka picking up the practically immobile ice tone and bringing him towards the group of other captured thugs. Vorn-sama quickly used some of the metal from one of the axes to weld some sturdy handcuffs and put them on this man.

"Well," Sigka begins to say, walking away from the captured bandits. "I guess that raps it up for today."

"Whew! I'll say." Ripperu s...!!!

"DAMN IT, RIP!!!!" Sigka yells. "PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!!!"

"Oh, come on. We're all guys here!" Ripperu comically yells, giving a "manly" pose and attempting to flex the muscles she doesn't have.

"Like hell we are!" Sigka retorts.

I turn around not to look, as I can only imagine what Sueka would think if I did. I look to the thugs, the dwarves, and Yamiso, and I can guess from their nosebleeds that they don't mind. I look to Sueka and, instead of being angry, she's messing with her breasts and looking depressed. Guess she's still jealous of flat chests.

"Alright, RP. She'll listen to you, so try to...DAMN IT, HIRO!!!"

I look to Hiromu to see...Aaaaannnnndddd he's in his boxers.

"I regret nothing!" he proudly proclaims.

(Nice abs.) I think. Comically, don't get me wrong.

And judging by the sparkle in Ripperu's eyes, she thinks the same thing.

" Oh que magnifique!" she says in her French accent. You know she's got BL on the brain when she starts speaking in French, though this isn't always the case.

Ripperu quickly liquefies her body to go over to her clothes, but instead of putting them on, she takes out a small notebook from her pants pocket and starts writing what is probably smut while looking at Hiromu. I can hear her saying something, but it's too fast for me to understand. Is it just me, or is her nosebleed the worst one here?

"Come on, Rip, we don't have time for this!" Sigka proclaims.

"Take your time." every man says, continuing to look at Ripperu.

"Don't encourage her!"

Sigka then takes a deep breath, attempting to calm down.

"You know our mission isn't done yet...And we won't get to the concert on time if we don't finish soon."

...

"OH NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Ripperu screams.

...

Well, technically Ripperu and Hiromu, but he's just imitating her for comedy's sake.