"Impossible."

Umeka is pale again and has collapsed into a chair. Both hands now rubbing her belly.

The heroes have killed several demon lords. However, each were dangerous fights requiring planning and coordination to win. Even then, the heroes' victory over a demon-ogre lord had left Kojiro at death's door. Juggernauts. Incredibly tough. The right tactic is to keep your distance and wear them down.

Going hand to hand with one is suicide and Maki still feels shame over her misstep forcing Kojiro to melee with it. Without Umeka? Their precious one would have been lost that day.

"The Beast also killed nobles."

Kojiro's turn for a headache. "Please, Aquillia-san, summarize and timeline."

"Yes lord. A month ago, the Beast was summoned and killed a demon-ogre lord and his elite guard. Rescuing several defiled maidens, including the oracle. He used [Slavery Magic] and spent the night raping them."

Umeka's trembling gets worse.

"On his third day one of his slaves insulted him. So he beat her almost to death in front of some tourinese nobles. Then destroyed some of the countryside before challenging another group of tourinese nobles. Including a master swordsman of some renown. Slaughtering them all."

The heroes kill when they have too. But it seems this Beast did not care who he made enemies. Was he really so strong that he didn't need to care? Even the heroes knew they were still mortal.

"The tourinese Lord General reached an agreement with the Beast. Sending him to attend Stormgarde Academy disguised as a northern barbarian."

Maki mused, why would someone so strong agree to go to school?

"The latest reports are about events in a remote barony two weeks ago. He registered at the local Adventurer's Guild and exam results awarded a Bronze rank and Swordmage class."

"Swordmage!?" That scared the crap out of Maki.

Kojiro tilts his head. "Swordmage, Maki-chan?"

"A very rare class Kojiro-sama." Maki is so exasperated she begins rubbing her eyes. "Its equal parts swordsman and magician. Also talented in mana manipulation. Even poor quality items can become magic weapons in their hands." Rubbing her chin. "But bronze rank? That doesn't fit. No Bronze could kill a demon-ogre. Did he somehow fake the results?"

The heroes were tested immediately after summoning and earned Silver rank. They were considered Gold now, after killing multiple demon lords, and would be promoted to True Silver if they defeated the demon king. Guild masters were picky about testing results. They would be held accountable if they were found false. So, what happened?

"A shade encountered the Beast there by chance. 'A mountain of a man with a terrifying aura.'"

"Was the shade able to monitor?" That would be quite the coups for Hitomi's agent.

"No, Lady Chigusa. The Beast, his slaves, and some knights, entered a local dungeon."

Well at least that's more normal. "How far did they get?" Asked Kojiro.

The heroes have been in a few dungeons and they are pleasant memories for them. No politics. No war. No demons. No starving children. No broken women or men. Just monsters.

"Unknown. The Beast was ambushed by hundreds of templars before it could leave the dungeon." And the story got crazy again.

"Templars too?" Kojiro wonders if there is anyone who is not the Beast's enemy.

With multiple gods you get multiple churches. Some of them have their own armies and the elite of those armies are called templars.

"Yes, Master Tsutsumi. The Beast enslaving the Oracle and taking the Holy Sword Sanctity angered the church. The Templars of the Grand Inquisition of the Universal Church of Metia mobilized and the majority of their forces ambushed the Beast in the Vault of the Lost Guardian."

"So, he is their prisoner now." Hitomi sighs. Probably better than letting him run loose. "Aquillia-san. Do we know where they took him?"

"Lady Chigusa." Aquillia isn't sure how to say this. "Uh. Um. The church's investigation found the Beast killed every single templar, survived a [Metia's Verdict], and collapsed part of the dungeon."

Hitomi realizes her mouth is hanging open again.

"A couple of days later, the Beast dug his own way out of the dungeon. Sneaked in through a church blockade. Started a coups in the local Adventurer's Guild. Killed the local nobles' horses. Sneaked out through the church's blockade. And has not been seen since."

"Wow." Kojiro feels the need to sit down for a while.

Less than a month and he's done all this? The heroes spent their first month just getting used to their gifts. This was beyond crazy. It was insane. And this news was weeks old. Who knows what he's done since.

"Aquillia-san." Hitomi is full of doubt. "How much of this is multi-sourced?"

With such slow and primitive means of communicating. A lot of garbage comes through. Rumors. Exaggerations. Lies. Can't really blame them. Its human nature. So the heroes had a policy of not including information in their planning unless it came from multiple sources.

"All of it."

"Eh?"

"Yes Lady Ide. I left out all single source reports like the Beast being a necromancer rivaling the Lich Kings. Dual wielding a holy blade and infernal sword. The Demon King commanding his lords to recruit him. A secret deal between the Lord General and Demon King. And various others." That perked up Maki's ears.

"Of course, Stormgarde!" The Witch heroine quickly shuffles through maps on the table. "Here it is."

Maki spreads out a map showing Aquecia and Tourin as the heroes gather round.

"Look at this." She points to northwestern Tourin. "Stormgarde is here. Its not the most prestigious school in Tourin. That's Crownfair, in the capital. However, what it is?" Maki gets a smug look on her face. "Is where you go to make connections beyond Tourin."

Umeka has calmed down and shows a bitter face. "Networking."

"Yes." Maki nods. "The introvert's nemesis. I propose the following scenario." She starts counting fingers. "One. A man, a father, is summoned. Not a student. Not a child. Two. Instead of bowing down like we did? He kills the demons. He kills the nobles. Three. His gift includes [Slavery Magic] so he can make others bow to him. Four. The Lord General offers an alliance. The demons do the same."

Kojiro nods. "Rule the rulers." A reasonable choice that the heroes themselves ended up making.

"However, the Beast is aggressive. So, why overthrow one kingdom? When you can go where kingdoms across the northwest send their movers and shakers. Their dealmakers."

"Oh no." Hitomi's turn for a headache.

Maki nods again. "Oh yes. Overthrow a dozen kingdoms instead." Maki starts tapping on each state on the map. One, by, one. "Within a couple of years you can create a new empire rivaling Aquecia. And as Drasritor's allies?" Her finger sweeps down the west coast on the map. "March south while Aquecia is tied up in the east." Finger stabs. "Completely flanking us."

Umeka shyly raises her hand. "It, may be worse."

"How?" Kojiro lifts his shoulders and hands.

"The whispers mention 'The Beast,' sometimes." Kojiro puts his arms around her and pulls her in close. "Its, like, their boogeyman. Some think he'll corrupt and wake the first father. Others think he'll wake the first fallen. Either, would be very bad. End of the world bad." Her whole body shivers.

The still kneeling spay comments. "My heroes. The Beast Cult's worshipers speak a lot about a coming doomsday."

Umeka looks into Kojiro's face and Hitomi and Maki move in to surround and hug the Saintess. She had been raised in a cult until relatives rescued her. Recovery left her understandably anti-religious.

For such a girl to randomly and involuntarily overhear the conversations of gods and goddesses as whispers? Took quite the toll on her. Her desperation to escape it led to mistakes that nearly killed Kojiro and Hitomi.

Someone has to do the sanity check and it looks like its Hitomi's turn. "We could be completely wrong. We've been wrong before." Painfully wrong.

The Witch of schemes speaks. "It could be too late by the time we find out."

"What do we do?" Ukema leans into Kojiro more.

"Whatever we can do Ume-tan." The hero answers and kisses her. Sending a thrill down her spine.

After getting her own deep kiss, Hitomi resolves herself. "I'll go."

Which is flatly rejected by Maki. "No Hito-chan. We've survived this long by staying together. Divide and conquer, remember?" Hitomi nods. "We'll send the companion guard. Have the emperor send assassins. Warn their king. We can't spare the time."

Hitomi scooches in closer to Kojiro. "They won't be enough. We have to see this Beast with our own eyes." The hero reluctantly nods. "I'm the weakest and sneakiest of us, but I'm stronger than anyone else we could send." The witch reluctantly nods. "If he's a threat my gift might let me assassinate him." The saintess now nods. "If he is that strong and joins us instead? We could advance the plan by decades."

"Koji-kun." Hitomi places her hand on Kojiro's face. "I love you. I have loved you since we met in kindergarten." A tear runs down the hero's cheek. "No matter how dark or how bright my fate. My love for Dark Outlaw Gunner Tyrant will never end." Kojiro blushes a deep scarlet and Hitomi smiles. "And besides." Big wink. "I know you'll rescue me." Finally, the hero relents and nods.

Maki's eyes twinkle whenever she starts to plan.

"It would take two months to get to Stormgarde by land. Only a couple of weeks by sea. And we have two months before the tourinese school year starts. We'll use the wealthy merchant's daughter cover and enroll you. You'll need to pass the entrance exams so you can study up on tourinese for the next couple of weeks." Maki muses. "The Beast will also be a new student so you'll have the opportunity to observe him at close range."

The Shadow agrees. Good thing she always liked studying.

"Gain his trust but be wary of his [Slavery Magic]. If he is compatible, recruit him. If he is not?"

Hitomi laughs and smiles. She's done this before. The cloak and dagger. The femme fatale. She loves it.

"Eliminate him."