The Dementors I sent to the country of Faubrey returned and told me that they had cleared out the capital city and that the prince named Takt was fighting in a Colosseum in the country of Shieldfreeden. It would give me the perfect opportunity to take him out without him even realizing it was me, so I told everyone where I was going and Ost returned to the shield to go with me.

“Good luck.” Raphtalia said and kissed me. Wyndia, Iris and Alta kissed me next and told me to hurry.

Thanks to the Vassal Carriage copy I had absorbed, that would let me teleport to places I haven't been to yet or had a representative waiting for me, I popped away to the spot just outside the Colosseum. I changed my clothes into my best armor, reduced my shield to just a bracer and added Iris' sword in a scabbard to my hip, then I entered the building.

The woman taking the names of the registering fighters gasped when she saw me. She put me down as 'Saviour' and accepted my entrance fee. I couldn't smile at her with my face covered with a helm, so I had to settle with taking her hand and pressing it to where my mouth would be. She got the hint and blushed at being given a lady treatment and whispered to see her after the fights before she waved me through.

I entered the main waiting area and there were a hundred other contestants. We were going to be paired up and then the fights would get more intense and harder as the fighters were refined down to the best of the best. Since none of them knew who was powerful and who to not piss off, it was quiet in the waiting room.

On the other hand, I touched each fighter with a tendril of the Force and found out their powers and weaknesses. I knew who to be worried about and who wasn't going to be a problem. I found Takt wearing a disguise, for some reason, and then I laughed in my mind. He was doing exactly the same thing as I was, hiding who he was, so no one would have any expectations when they saw him.

After the announcements of the match-ups, I knew we wouldn't meet until the very end in the finals. I sighed at the manipulations behind the scenes, because it was just too contrived to have us wait until the end of the entire tournament to fight, since we were the two strongest fighters going in and none of the other competitors really stood a chance against us.

Thankfully, I knew his powers and his weaknesses and had a good four hours before I would have to face him. I also copied his 'Steal Weapon' ability, even though I didn't really need it. I could just copy whatever weapon I touched anyway; but, I knew he would try to steal anything he fought against to make himself be stronger. I was going to use that greed against him when the time came.

I also knew exactly what he had on him, which were the other vassal weapons of this world. He had already gone across the world and gathered them from the Seven Star Heroes and stolen them. They weren't loyal to him because he wasn't chosen by them to be used. I just hoped they would accept me when I stole them back, not that it really mattered. I was going to use the same Dementor trick on them anyway.

The tournament commenced and I had to laugh at the pairings. They put the most pathetic entrants against the ones that looked powerful. The first round ended barely a few minutes after it started and we were all paired off again. They used the same strategy to wean out the weaker opponents and barely anyone bet on the fights. That was not what they were going to gamble on.

They were waiting for the semi-finals, just like the more experienced fighters were. I hadn't even drawn my distraction sword yet and everyone favored me as the winner in the first division. When we were down to five fighters in the two sections, the two divisions were combined and we fought each other.

As I predicted, both Takt and I were given passes when it was down to our competition and the others fought off against each other to figure out who fought against us. Needless to say, the man I fought against for the top spot was ferocious with his fist-fighting. It didn't even dent my armor, however. I played with him a bit and pretended to stagger after a few hits, to give the people betting on me nervous twitches.

I waited for him to do his special move, which he very loudly announced before he launched it, so I used the Hengen Muso style to counter it and then gave him back his own special move. It shocked everyone in the stands as the fighter couldn't handle his own attack and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

There was complete silence for several moments, then the entire Colosseum exploded with cheers and shouts. I had made a lot of them into happy betting people and they made a lot of money on my spectacular win.

When it was Takt's turn, he tore apart his opponent with barely any effort and the crowd booed him. He yelled at them for not recognizing a true fighter and hero when they saw it.

That made me laugh, because he had made a classic mistake. Normal people did not want to see a hero. They wanted a show and to enjoy themselves. Being a hero was just a word to them and didn't mean the same thing as being entertained. I also knew he wasn't a hero and was just looking for recognition. He wouldn't have attacked and stolen the vassal weapons, otherwise.

There was a short break and then Takt and I were called to the main arena. The crowd cheered and booed in equal measure, because we entered at the same time.

“It seems they've caught onto your true nature.” I commented.

“Shut your ugly face!” Takt snarled at me.

I chuckled. “You can't even see my face.”

“It's going to be that way when I'm done with you.” Takt said, arrogantly.

“We'll see.” I said and nodded at the announcer.

“This is it, folks! The final battle! The Hero of Faubrey...” He said and boos responded. “...against the Saviour!”

“YEEEAAHHHHH!” The crowd yelled and cheered.

I hammed it up and waved to the crowd, then created dozens of roses and threw them into the audience one at a time. The women screamed with delight when they caught them and then cheered even louder.

“Arrogant ass!” Takt spat at me.

I ignored him and looked over the crowd. “Don't worry! No matter what happens to me, I will still see you all as the ladies you truly are!”

Several of them fainted and the crowd cheered even more.

“Shut up and fight me!” Takt shouted.

“It seems someone is in need of a spanking!” I joked and everyone laughed. “Should I use my sword or my hand?”

“SWORD!” “SWORD!” “SWORD!” They chanted.

Takt grinned and nodded enthusiastically.

“Who am I to deny the will of the people?” I said and drew the sword.

“FINALLY!” Takt yelled and the sword disappeared from my hand to reappear in his.

“You shouldn't have done that.” I warned him.

“Who cares what you think? I'm going to slaughter you!” Takt shouted back and gripped the sword with two hands and took a fighting stance... and then he screamed at the top of his lungs as the bright blue and red flames flowed over the blade and down his arms to his chest. He started to run around and kept screaming as the fire burned him, because he wasn't fire resistant enough to handle it.

I took the opportunity that my intentional distraction provided, to pilfer the vassal weapons from him with his steal weapon ability. I actually felt relief from them and smiled as I cast a Notice-Me-Not charm around myself and created a Dementor for each one. The Axe, Hammer, Gauntlet, Claw, Staff, Projectile, and Whip were sucked dry of the contained souls and I fed the weapons into my shield.

The abilities they granted were a little ridiculous, actually. The axe gave me an earthquake ability, with or without creating a crater, and the ability to create a defensive and offensive tornado. The hammer had similar abilities and they combined to make the powers that much more destructive. The gauntlet barely made any difference to my defensive capabilities and only granted Stat Points as the user levelled. In my current state, that was almost useless.

The Claw let the user attack with slashes of light, both destructive and cursed, and also could do it at a distance. I couldn't use them myself; but, I could grant them to my party members because it was part of the shield. I was sure a lot of my friends were going to be very happy that their claws were going to be much more effective now, especially Lupin.

The Staff was a great companion weapon for me, because it granted the user Magic Stat Points as they levelled and they could be distributed however the user wanted. It also gave them an offensive capability called Shooting Star Cannon. I would have to try that later, considering the staff had also given me ten points for every level I was and I would need about half an hour to distribute them across my skills and stats.

The Vassal Projectile was the most versatile, as it could morph and become any projectile the user could imagine to throw, from a throwing star to a bolas to a sword to a short spear. It's inherent power of increasing in stats and power by paying money, for either new bonuses or to correct past failures, made it the best addition to my shield. I had tons and tons of money and could create more whenever I wished.

The Whip was the oddest one, because it would let me sacrifice levels to permanently increase my stats and draw out latent abilities. When combined with the Projectile's monetary option, I could potentially grind levels to gain stats and then sacrifice those levels to increase my stats permanently. In essence, I would gain twice the benefit for every level I gained.

Surprisingly, a lot of the vassal weapons had inherent Lightning based attacks and they meshed very well with my own elemental Lightning ability and they modified the Thunder Shield to give it new attack modes. Ost laughed at each new thing that changed her favorite shield mode for the better.

I gave the Dementors orders and quickly sent them off to join their brethren in the area to clear out the criminals and slavers. I would have to visit the markets and rescue the slaves there and send them to Lulolana Village, too. My thoughts were interrupted when Takt finally dropped the flaming sword and tried to put out the flames by rolling on the ground and trying to toss dirt on them to smother them.

I stood there and waited for him to cry out for help, because the flames were not going out. To my surprise, a young woman that looked like him ran out and cast a water spell on him.

“Nana!” Takt exclaimed and jumped to his feet. “What are you doing?”

“Saving you, you idiot! You can't put out magical flames without using magic!” Nana shouted back.

I stood there and watched as the two argued back and forth. I laughed under my breath at them and crossed my arms as I waited for them to end their tryst and for Takt to continue fighting.

“Just get out of here!” Takt said.

“If she leaves after interfering, you both forfeit.” The announcer said.

“WHAT?!?” Both Takt and Nana yelled.

“If we go by the strict rules, you've already lost.” I informed them. “Not only could you not handle the flames on your own, which would give me the win, someone external helped you and stopped you from losing.”

“Well said.” The announcer said. “Either you both fight or you're both out.”

“But, I didn't fight in the tournament!” Nana exclaimed.

“We know.” The announcer said and looked at me. “I hope you don't mind facing two people. We can't end this whole thing by a fighter defaulting right at the beginning of the match.”

I laughed and waved at the crowd. “I came here to give them all a show! You all deserve it, right?”

“YEEAAHHHH!” The crowd yelled in response.

“If all parties agree, then let the fight begin anew!” The announcer said and the crowd cheered again.

I walked over to the sword that was still burning and picked it up.

“Oh, no!” Nana said, worriedly.

I laughed and put the sword back in the sheath at my side. Both she and Takt looked relieved, so I walked back to where I was and created an illusion of a huge blue glowing portal behind myself.

“OOOOO!” The crowd said in appreciation.

“First up! Shadow!” I said loudly and they applauded. I created the black cat Chloe loved from the Smallville universe and they all looked stunned. A few even laughed.

“Aww! What is that? It's so cute!” Nana said and looked like she was in love.

“It's a cat.” I told her and looked down at it. “Go ahead and show them how cute you are, Shadow.”

It meowed at me, then it took off running like a gunshot. They didn't know that his abilities were agility, sure-footed, leap, claw attack, and confusing stare. I had also given it a Strength boost.

Takt looked confused as the cat leapt at his chest and landed, swiped at his face, and kicked off. He flew back ten feet and landed in a heap with a bloody face. The cat landed in front of Nana and looked like it hadn't just successfully assaulted someone.

“So pretty!” Nana said and knelt. “Do you want to be my friend?”

Shadow looked back at me with an odd look in its eyes.

“It's your choice. I did give you a specific instruction.” I said.

“Meow.” Shadow said and looked at Nana. “Meow mew meeow.”

“AWWW!” Nana yelled and scooped it up into her arms as she sat cross-legged. “You're so cuddly!”

“What... what hit me?” Takt asked and sat up as he wiped at his face. “B-blood? You made me bleed my own blood!”

“Who else's blood would you bleed?” I asked and several people laughed. “For my next summon...”

“I'm not going to let you!” Takt said and jumped to his feet as he reached for his belt.

Just for fun, I created basic copies of the Vassal Weapons, without souls and their main abilities, and put them on his person.

Takt grabbed the whip and unfurled it. He snapped it a few times and it gathered lightning, he grinned at me, then whipped the whip at me to whip me. The end slapped against my armor and I was covered in lightning bolts.

“AHH!” I fake screamed and shook comically before I dropped to a knee.

The crowd gasped appropriately and then shouted at me to get up.

I created Scooby-Doo instead and gave him several boosts. “Go get him, Scooby.”

“Rokey Dokey!” Scooby said and ran over to Takt before he stood up on his hind legs and made several punching gestures as boxing gloves magically appeared on his front paws and boxing shorts around his waist.

“What... what is that thing?” Takt asked.

“Your worst nightmare.” I said and tried to not laugh as Scooby proceeded to use Takt's face like a speed bag and punched him dozens of times, broke the man's nose, and bloodied him up some more.

“RAH!” Takt yelled and cast a shield spell over himself.

Scooby punched the shield a few times and hopped backwards. “Reater!”

“He means 'cheater'.” I corrected.

“Ranks, Ransen.” Scooby said and hopped around like a prize fighter.

Takt put the whip away and put on the large Vassal Claw. “You're going to pay for hurting me.”

“Rig words! Rum on! Rut'em up!” Scooby taunted and punched a few times.

“Big words, come on, and put'em up.” I said.

Takt dropped the shield and lunged at Scooby. The claw sliced at the dog's face and Scooby blocked with a glove. It was sliced up and fell off without marring the paw inside.

“Ruh roh!” Scooby exclaimed, then the classic cartoon chase scene began.

The crowd was in fits of laughter as Takt ran after the fleeing dog and he demanded the dog stay still and fight like a man. Nana sat there and pet her new pet that really liked the attention and did as I asked as he made her see how cute he was. She let Scooby pass by four times before she sighed and cast an ice sheet in his way.

“Rooohooo!” Scooby shouted as he skimmed across the ice and spun around a few times, then he hit the wall and left a dog-sized impression as he went right through it.

“Ring-out!” The announcer said and Takt looked pleased.

“Rorry, Ransen!” Scooby said from just outside the hole.

“That's okay! You did great, Scooby.” I said. “See you later.”

Scooby gave me two thumbs up and dissolved away.

“Buckbeak!” I shouted and created it and pretended he came out of the portal.

“OOOOO!” The crowd responded at seeing the winged creature.

“He's so regal and handsome!” Nana exclaimed.

“You can throw whatever you want at me and I'll defeat them all!” Takt said and ran at the half-eagle and half-horse creature.

Buckbeak wasn't having that. If you didn't approach him properly or give him respect, you were going to pay for it.

Takt swiped with the claw and Buckbeak blocked with a wing, then his front feet clawed at Takt's face and chest. He yelled as he put an arm in the way and his leather armor sleeve was torn apart and furrows were dug into his arm. He shouted in pain and stepped back before he tried to lunge back in.

Buckbeak anticipated this and quickly turned around and kicked out with his rear legs. Both hooves slammed into Takt's chest and dented the armor plate as the man was launched twenty feet away and landed in the dirt with a skidding slide.

“Stupid bird-horse!” Takt said and drew out the Vassal Projectile. He changed it to a short spear and threw it.

Buckbeak tried to dodge and it sunk into his flank. He screeched and flew up into the air, shocking everyone.

“Ha! Got you now!” Takt said and pulled out the Axe and seemed to charge it up, then he threw it.

Buckbeak let out a squawk and changed directions in flight, only it didn't make any difference. The axe changed direction as well and flew right for the beast's neck. I cast a Protego shield on Buckbeak and the axe bounced off of it.

“Huh? What just happened?” Takt asked as the axe dropped to the ground.

“I couldn't let you kill him.” I said and whistled.

Buckbeak landed and I bowed to it. It bowed back and I pet its neck.

“Good job. See you later.” I said and it dissolved. The projectile weapon dropped to the ground.

Takt looked a little nervous and his eyes went to his two weapons that were just laying there in the dirt.

“Bug.” I said and created an Arachnid from the Starship Troopers universe.

There were no 'ooo' sounds this time. Instead, there were a few screams of fright and a lot of people asked what it was.

“He harms the nest.” I said and pointed at Takt.

The Arachnid let out an ear-piercing screech and charged at the startled man.

Takt produced the gauntlet and blocked one of the creatures attacking limbs and deflected the other with his Claw weapon. He was in defensive mode and did his best to fight the large creature off.

“I thought you said you could defeat whatever I sent after you?” I asked, just as several ice projectiles slammed into the Arachnid's side. Nana had stood up and attacked, apparently. One ice spike just happened to hit the brain stem of the creature, too.

It shrieked in pain and thrashed around as it died. One random swipe hit Takt's lower leg and caused a huge gash that made him yell in pain. Another thrash pierced right through Shadow's side.

“NO!” Nana gasped and dropped to her knees to carefully pull the cat off of the end of the Arachnid's leg. “No, my poor Shadow.” She said and cried as she pet the thing's head. She looked at me and glared. “How could you do this?”

I didn't say anything as I pointed to what she was petting.

Nana looked down and gasped, because Shadow was healed and purred at her. “YOU'RE ALIVE!”

“Cats have nine lives.” I said and she hugged the cat to her chest. “Well, eight now.”

“He's the best thing EVER!” Nana said and looked at me, then she ran over to the side of the arena and sat down, well out of the way of everything. “Takt, you're on your own.”

Takt growled at her abandoning him and tied several strips of cloths around his damaged calf.

To everyone's surprise, another woman jumped down into the ring. “I'll never abandon you.”

“Ellie! No!” Takt shouted.

“It's too late. I'm here now.” Ellie said and walked over to him. She gave him a potion and he drank it as she drew her sword. “We can fight together, unlike your sister that's just backup and support.”

Takt gave a pointed look to the two weapons on the ground that weren't far from me.

I chuckled at the obviousness and motioned to them. “You're welcome to try and reclaim them.”

Ellie and Takt frowned and bent slightly as if to charge in.

“Acromantula.” I said and created ten man-sized spiders and they appeared from the portal.

A lot of people in the crowd screamed in terror and an equal amount of them cheered.

“I've got the five on the right.” Ellie said with confidence and then she ran for the axe. The spiders split up and five did go after her to stop her. Webs flew, venom was spat, and spider legs were severed. Ellie stood over the axe and was covered in blood and other spider fluids. She hadn't even been grazed by their claws or their fangs.

I gave her a nod and she seemed to smile. I didn't interfere with her bending down to retrieve the axe that was just as covered in gunk as she was. She tossed it back over to where Takt stood and relaxed.

“Allow me to clean you up.” I said and raised my hand towards her.

Ellie took a defensive stance immediately and looked wary.

I cast several cleaning charms on her and she caught her breath as everything on her disappeared.

“How did you get past my protective gear?” Ellie asked, surprised.

“I think it's one of the rules of this world that non-harmful spells won't trigger defensive formations.” I said and she glanced at Takt. “Yes, I could have beaten him long before now.”

“Why haven't you?” Ellie asked.

“He's an arrogant man and he believes he's the best, because of how he got here and the bonuses he's had.” I said and it was Takt's turn to look surprised. “I'm powerful as well; but, I don't believe I'm the best. I never have.”

“Now that's arrogance!” Ellie spat. “How can you call him down for the same thing?”

I chuckled. “Unlike you, Takt and I know there are forces beyond this world that are manipulating things. I'm nowhere near powerful enough to do anything about this right now. I have to play things out to get to where things will come together and then I can strike.”

“And humiliating the man I love is going to do that?” Ellie asked.

“Ha ha! No, I'm doing this for all the vassal weapons he stole from the Seven Star Heroes.” I said and Takt gasped while Ellie's face didn't change. “Ah, you knew and probably helped.”

“So what if I did?” Ellie asked.

“I intended to draw this out and make a huge show of things.” I said and waved at the cheering crowd. “I think you've just changed my mind.”

“Do your worst!” Takt exclaimed.

“You haven't even fought your share of spiders.” I said and he looked angry. “Don't you want to try? The Vassal Projectile Weapon is really versatile.”

“I'll get it back over your dead body!” Takt said and Ellie nodded.

I waited for a moment and then nodded. “You are fully incapable of handling me on your own, so if there's anyone else in your party that wants to join you, you should get them in here right now.”

That made the crowd cheer loudly.

Takt glared at me and then turned to the audience and nodded. Three women of various beauty stood up and jumped into the arena. The cheering continued and I touched each of them with the Force. One of the women was a fox-kitsune demi-human and her main power was illusions. She was also a sadistic murderer.

The second was a water dragon demi-human and she looked angry. According to the info in the image, she was a clan chief of her tribe and her being here as one of Takt's harem didn't make sense.

The last one was the surprising one. She was a tall busty woman and had a pipe in her hand. She looked at everyone with disdain and glared at me when her eyes went to me. She was also a Dragon-Dragon Emperor demi-human. She felt almost like what Ost's tortoise form felt like.

“Before we begin, I'd like to offer...” I started to say.

“Shut your mouth, you filthy half-breed!” The water dragon said.

“Half-breed? From what?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“I can smell the corruption on you!” She spat.

“Oh! Ha hahaha!” I laughed and she looked even angrier. “Your irrational hatred is showing. You can just smell my women on me.”

“A likely story! Take off your helm and prove that you're not a mongrel!” She countered.

“I wore this to stop everyone from seeing who I was. I don't need it for protection.” I said and reached up to slowly lift up the helm.

Nearly everyone in the audience leaned forward, as if that would give them a closer look. Even Takt and his four women looked eager to see my face.

I pulled the helm off the rest of the way and surprised and shocked sounds came from everyone, so I dissolved my armor away to reveal basic clothing and popped my base shield out of the bracer on my arm.

The entire crowd cheered. “SHIELD HERO!” “SHIELD HERO!” “SHIELD HERO!”

“Oh, shit!” Takt almost shouted.

“The Shield Hero can't summon creatures!” Ellie exclaimed.

“The portal behind me disagrees with you.” I said.

“The portal's fake.” The fox-kitsune said. “Why would you give up your armor?”

“I don't need it.” I said and motioned to the portal illusion. “Shall we begin? Do you want to fight alone or as a group?”

“That depends on what you summon.” The water dragon said, her countenance changed slightly.

“Shall we start easy or go right for the best?” I asked, fully knowing the answer.

“The best.” They all said, even Nana. She was having fun playing with Shadow, so I created the box of cat toys and treats that I had given to Minerva McGonagall as a trick back in the Harry Potter universe. Nana squealed with happiness and both she and Shadow dove into the box to see what was there.

“You can't buy us off that easily.” The voluptuous dragon-dragon emperor woman said.

“I believe I can make a concerted effort.” I said. “Welsh Green.”

The entire crowd gasped as one when the twenty foot tall green dragon stepped out of the portal.

“It shoots acid clouds!” Takt said and I gave him a look. “Dammit, I gave my ability away!”

“She's mediocre at best.” The dragon-dragon emperor said with a bored voice. “You can handle it.”

The fox-kitsune sighed. “You don't always have to let us handle the lesser creatures, Leludia.”

“Yes, I do.” Leludia said. “Have fun, Tulina.”

“Nelshen, do you want to change form? You'll match this foe pretty closely.” Ellie said.

Nelshen sighed and looked at me. “I need a couple of minutes to change.”

“Please, feel free to do so.” I said and pet the Welsh Green's snout as I started casting spells on it to buff it up. “Let's make this a battle worthy of the history records.”

Ellie walked over to Tulina to whisper. “Why aren't you weaving your illusion spells to trick him?”

“I've tried a dozen times since the match started the first time and it's not working.” Tulina whispered back and Ellie looked surprised. “He can see right through them and it cancels the illusions, even the small ones I have covering my true form.”

I tried to not stare at her, because at first she was a young demi-human girl with two fox-like tails. She had lustrous black hair and wore a red and white hakama like a miko priestess. After a moment of looking at her, she was a sexy young woman that was very similar in body size to my preference of five and a half feet and her long black hair would look great on my bed.

I shook my head mentally and looked at the very busty woman with the pipe named Leludia. She looked surprised I was looking at her and she glanced at her pipe and then at my face. I smiled slightly and nodded my head, which acknowledged that she had almost gotten me under her control. She gave me a smirk in return and she put her pipe away.

I guess it only works once. I thought and looked back at the water dragon named Nelshen. In human form, she had long blue hair and yellow eyes with a light skin covering her body and a round face. She was almost done of her transformation and she looked like a traditional eastern dragon with an elongated body, only she was completely blue. She actually would look a lot like the Welsh Green if her main body was a lot thicker and her limbs were longer.

“Let's do this!” Nelshen growled.

“Go have fun showing her how a real dragon fights.” I said to the Welsh Green.

It let out a huff and licked my face, then it lunged at Nelshen. The crowd gasped at the speed of the creature, mainly because of its size and it shouldn't move that fast. Nelshen was also surprised as she was tackled and the two dragons rolled across the arena towards Nana and Shadow.

“NO!” Takt yelled and then froze as a blue dome shield appeared around his sister. The tumbling dragons bounced off of the shield and smashed into the stone arena wall a dozen feet away.

Everyone looked at me and I tapped my shield. “She's just a bystander because she already gave up.”

The crowd reaction was mixed while Leludia gave me a searching look. Tulina looked frustrated and Takt frowned at me.

“You're missing the fight.” I said and pointed.

They turned back in time to see the Welsh Green bite into Nelshen's neck and shake her like a dog with a toy. Takt yelled inarticulately and threw his axe without prepping it first. It hit the Welsh Green's rear leg and stuck there. It did little, except make the Welsh Green throw Nelshen a hundred feet away and roar in annoyance. The Welsh Green looked at the axe and spit on it.

“NO!” Takt yelled as the axe started to dissolve.

The Welsh Green used a wingtip claw to pull the axe free and then stepped on it. The crunch of metal was loud in the arena and the dragon looked for its opponent.

Nelshen stood up and looked angry. “No one does that to me!” She shouted and then opened her mouth.

“NO!” Ellie yelled this time; but, it was too late.

Nelshen unleashed a water torrent like a dozen fire hoses at the Welsh Green, whom didn't look worried at all. It opened its mouth and a similar attack came out, only it was acid and not water. The two streams splashed together and the mixture seemed to explode and sprayed everywhere.

“RUN!” Ellie yelled and she, Takt, Leludia, and Tulina ran away from the oncoming deluge of deluded acid that could melt metal. The looks in their eyes as they ran right towards me and realized that they were completely open to attack, was priceless.

I chuckled and stepped aside as I dismissed the portal illusion to let them pass. The second look they gave me was also priceless. I wasn't going to let the opportunity pass me by as they passed me by, though. I wasn't stupid and cast Notice-Me-Not on myself as I quickly created a vial of basilisk venom and used a needle to inject Takt in the butt.

I dissolved the things and cancelled the spell and looked back at the battle. The arena floor was starting to flow with the acid water, so I cast several spells to keep it contained around where the two dragons were fighting.

Nelshen realized she was making things dangerous for herself when she started to hop from side to side on her small feet. She stopped her attack and the Welsh Green did as well. “Ow ow ow owowow!”

“You do know you can fly, right?” I asked and she gave me a glare, then she flapped her little wings and magic flowed over her to lift her up out of the acid.

The Welsh Green was just as astute and flapped its large wings and took flight as well. It was quite a bit heavier than Nelshen and took advantage of that as the battle in the air commenced. Nelshen suffered from dive-bombs, mid-air bites, swats with large wings, and bites on her tail. She ended up beaten, battered, and exhausted.

The Welsh Green knew it had won and tackled Nelshen to the ground from about a hundred feet up and they splashed into the foot deep pool of acid. The Welsh Green stood on her head and roared in triumph.

“You've beaten her! She's being burned by the acid! Let her up!” Ellie shouted.

“Agreed.” I said.

The Welsh Green used her mouth and lifted the nearly unconscious form of Nelshen from the acid and walked over to us. She dropped her opponent and nudged my head with her snout and dissolved away.

I turned around to see that they were standing not that far away from me. “Takt really is an idiot. He didn't have you all attack me from behind when I was distracted and wasn't looking.”

The women gasped and Takt looked both embarrassed and angry.

“You'll pay for that!” Takt said and drew out his whip. “You're not wearing your armor to protect you!”

“Are you not concerned that your woman is severely hurt and could be dying?” I asked and pointed to the barely breathing water dragon.

“Nelshen!” Ellie exclaimed and rushed over to the head. “I'm so sorry, I thought you could handle it.”

“Me... too.” Nelshen whispered and panted. “Feel... horrible. Swallowed some... and it burns.”

I sighed and walked over to her.

“Stay away from her!” Takt shouted and I waved my hand at him as I used the Force to swat him away like a fly. He flew thirty feet or so through the air and hit the dirt several times, like a stone skipping over water, before he tumbled to a stop. The other women gasped at what I had casually done and they rushed over to tend to him instead of helping Nelshen.

I knelt by the water dragon's head and looked into her eye. “I'm sorry about that.”

“I'm... dying.” Nelshen informed me and gave me a sad look. I had never seen the classic 'puppy dog eyes' on a dragon before.

“Don't worry, I'll have you fixed right up in a moment.” I said and created a hundred bacta needles all around her and injected her most serious spots. “You have to drink this.” I said and created a vat of it.

“I can't... lift head.” Nelshen said.

“Don't sound so down.” I used the Force to lift her head up to a good position and then hovered the vat over her face. “I want to warn you to swallow quickly and not choke. This stuff is worth more than gold, no matter where I go.” I said and carefully poured the bacta into her now open mouth.

Nelshan gave me a glare as she swallowed the liquid. It almost immediately made her sigh with relief.

“Just lay there and let it do its work.” I said and pet her long snout. To my surprise, she let out something like a purr. “After a few minutes, you should be perfectly fine. Or better. It should take care of any old injuries, too.”

“Thank you.” Nelshen whispered and kept making that purring sound as I pet her.

“Hey! Get away from her!” Ellie exclaimed and rushed over.

“I'm waiting for her to finish healing.” I said. It was a partial lie, because I hadn't cast any healing spells or regeneration on her and only relied on the bacta, which made it take a lot longer than if I had assisted.

“I wasn't asking!” Ellie said and swung her slightly glowing sword right at my face.

To everyone's shock, especially Ellie's and Takt's, I caught the blade with my thumb and index finger.

“Excuse you.” I said and turned my hand as I used the Force to snap the blade in half. The crack echoed in the nearly silent arena and everyone stared at me. “I hope that wasn't an heirloom or something.”

Ellie's mouth hung open as I casually tossed the top half of the blade aside and it flew across the arena and completely embedded into the stone wall. My other hand hadn't stopped petting Nelshen and she blinked her eyes several times.

“Ah, I think she's done.” I said and stood up. “If you would be so kind, you can go over there and join Nana as she plays with Shadow.”

“I can still fight.” Nelshen said, half-convincingly.

I chuckled and bowed to her. “The rules of the competition state you've been eliminated fairly when you can no longer fight. Would you like another round with the Welsh Green? Best two out of three?”

“NO!” Nelshen, Ellie, Tulina, and Takt yelled as one. Leludia just looked amused.

“Do you want to change back or do you want me to do it for you?” I asked and once more they stared at me.

“Do it.” Leludia said with a smug look on her face.

“Hey!” Nelshen exclaimed.

“What? I want to see if he can actually do it.” Leludia said. “Don't you?”

“I... well, it would give us an idea of his power set.” Nelshen said.

“So, two for and three against?” I asked as I put my hand on Nelshen's snout again as the five of them nodded. “I've defied the odds before.”

To their surprise, Nelshen's dragon form shivered and started to pull inwards, almost like a melting ball of flesh, then she was in her human form with my hand on the side of her face. Her eyes were wide as she looked into mine. It had taken only a dozen seconds to change and not several minutes like when she had become the dragon.

“How the hell did you do that?” Takt asked, shocked.

“I commanded her to return to her human form.” I said and smiled at Nelshen, which made her blush.

“You can't do that!” Takt exclaimed.

“The evidence is right in front of you.” I said and let her face go. “Go on over with Nana. The shield will let you in.”

“No! She's mine! Mine to command! Mine to have! Mine to keep!” Takt shouted.

I gave him a pointed look. “You better keep talking, because I didn't hear you say 'care for' or 'love' in that possessive statement.”

“Why would I say...” Takt stopped talking as Tulina slapped her hand over his mouth.

“He cares about us in his own way.” Tulina said, which meant he kind of did, only her influence probably made them like him more. Or tricked them. She was a master of illusions, after all.

“He really does!” Ellie said and hugged Takt's arm as she whispered. “Give me another weapon.”

Takt pulled one out of thin air and I nodded. He had a storage system, too. It explained so much about this whole situation. He had his own cheats and probably his own system. That made me check my new connection to the levelling system and smiled. A tweak of the settings let me activate the magic immunity option that I had stolen from the idiot that had hijacked Ost's giant tortoise form.

Master? Do you want me to engage? Ost's voice asked me telepathically.

Not yet, dearest. I thought back. I have a couple more dragons to show them first.

Ost laughed. They couldn't handle the Welsh! How are they going to handle the others?

“Let's find out.” I said and waved at the fake portal I had to recreate. “Chinese Fireball.”

The thirty foot tall red dragon rushed out of the portal and skidded to a stop. It looked around the arena and then opened its mouth to let out a stream of fire over fifty feet long, then it turned its head to make the stream of fire look like it was coming from a flamethrower.

“Ohhhh, shit!” Takt exclaimed.

The Chinese Fireball stopped the flames and locked onto him.

“I've got this.” Leludia said and started to change.

“Sure, I'll just stay here and hold my dragon back and let you.” I said and crossed my arms to wait.

“That's very generous of you.” Ellie said and took a fighting stance before she lunged. “HAAAAA!”

A dragon wing swiped at her and knocked her out of the air and into the ground. She had just enough time to let out a scream as a large clawed dragon foot slammed down on top of her.

“NOOO!” Takt yelled and rushed over to start hacking at the dragon's foot.

The Chinese Fireball gave him a look, then looked at me.

“You were willing to wait. It's up to you.” I said with a shrug.

The Chinese Fireball huffed, took a deep breath, then bathed Takt in dragonfire. After ten seconds of an inferno, a completely flame-covered Takt walked out of the flames and went over to Tulina. She grew another tail, or revealed it, and it sucked off the flames.

Takt was completely unhurt and grinned at her. “Thanks, babe.”

“Thank you for the distraction.” Leludia said in a gravelly voice as her full dragon emperor form of sixty feet unfurled and stood to tower over us all.

“Now that's a pretty cool looking dragon.” I said and Leludia looked pleased. “I'm sorry it's going to be so ineffective.”

“What?” They all said, even the crowd.

I waved at the portal and ten Hungarian Horntails, each forty feet tall and extremely pissed, came out and ran over to us and surrounded Leludia. Screams, shouts, and cheers came in equal measure from the crowd and Leludia yelled in pain as she was immediately covered in eleven streams of magical flame from my dragons.

Everyone in the first few rows of the arena felt the intense heat from the unrelenting attack. Takt was stunned at the sight that his biggest and most dangerous attacker was overwhelmed so easily. Leludia tried to swipe at the Hungarian Horntails, only for them to all take to the air and continue the assault as they flew around her, well out of her reach.

“Stop it! Please!” Nelshen exclaimed and grabbed my arm. “She can't handle that much heat and she's slept in a volcano! Please! Please stop!”

I gave her a nod and looked at the dragons. “Return.”

The dragonfire attack stopped and the dragons, even the Chinese Fireball, came over to land behind me. The sounds of pain and sadness from Leludia was matched by the crowd. Her near impervious scales had melded together in a dozen spots and she couldn't move without causing herself immense pain.

“Please do the same to her as you did for me and I'll take her over to Nana.” Nelshen promised.

“No! I won't let you take her, too!” Takt exclaimed and pulled out his whip. “I didn't come to this world to let you steal my things! I worked too hard to...”

A sword nearly his exact height appeared in the sky above. It flew down almost in an instant and sliced through his face and his chest to impale him into the ground. His women screamed at the sight and tried to rush over to him, only to be stopped by dozens of three foot long needles impacting in a circle around him.

I looked up when I felt someone appear and watched as she floated down to softly land inside the needle circle. The young woman had short silver hair and looked to only be about eighteen. She turned to look at Takt and shook her head.

We all saw the light leave Takt's eyes and his women cried as two of them dropped to their knees in defeat. Nelshen would have as well if she hadn't had a strong grip on my arm to keep herself up.

The young woman grabbed the overly large rounded handle of her sword and yanked it out. Takt's body fell to the ground and I took the opportunity to touch the young woman and her weapons with the Force and to check Takt. I knew I could repair him, even with damage that severe.

The young woman flicked her sword to remove the blood and then she opened the thing to reveal it was actually a giant pair of scissors. She clipped off Takt's head as if it was nothing and I was shocked when I felt a disturbance in the Force and then felt nothing. Takt's soul had just been destroyed.

With this new player on the field, my plans would have to change once more. I checked her image and she was a Vassal Weapon holder from a different world from the two I knew were in conflict. She was called the Sewing Hero with the alias Murder Perriot. Her weapon was also damaged and was only working at about 50% capacity.

I sighed at the things she must have done to survive this long on a different world than her own. “You're not supposed to be here, are you?”

The young woman gave me a squinted look as she waved her hand at the needles. They popped out of the ground and shrunk back down to normal size as she tucked them into a pouch on her belt.

I quickly checked through her pouches and accessories and I was shocked once more as I found several technology devices that used a similar crystal power system that I had been adapting my own technology to use.

One was a Weapon Control Accessory that would let someone use a Vassal or Legendary Weapon without being worthy of being chosen. I glanced at Takt and he must have had a bunch of them to have stolen all of the Seven Star weapons for himself, which meant he was sent here on purpose to do just that.

The other accessory was the startling one. The Magic Unsuppression accessory allowed the user to use the magic and abilities from their world even if they had been suppressed by the Legendary Weapons of the world they were currently in.

I immediately created one in my pocket and took it out to feed it to my shield. I thought I heard a garbled yell from the young woman before I placed it on the green gem. A bright blue light lit up the entire arena as my shield absorbed the tiny accessory. Screams and yells came from everyone when they were blinded by the light.

My eyes were unaffected by the light and I stared at my arm. The shield folded in on itself and returned to the bracer mode I had discovered... and then it sunk into my arm and disappeared. I was about to question what was going on when it felt like I was smashed in the head by a giant fist and my skull had split open.

“AHHHHHHHHH!” I yelled as all of the skills and abilities that I had gained over my travels were not only unlocked, they were merged into me as well, just as the shield had been. I dropped to my knees as power, pure unadulterated power, flowed out of me and shook the entire Colosseum.

More screams and yells came from everyone as my unleashed power spread out over the whole city. The whole thing trembled as my power built and built while the oceans of energy I had been tapping into for millennia were finally given an outlet and spread out and out.

The best and worst part was that the Force was right there through all of it. It acted like a buffer and it controlled the nearly uncontrollable outburst. It spread out as well, or more accurately, it accepted my spreading power and let itself join with it as my abilities were enhanced. I had been locked inside my head for far too long and I had been only touching, claiming, and converting lands one at a time.

I felt my mental block fall away as the accessory overwrote whatever someone had done to me to limit my powers. It couldn't do anything about the powers and abilities that had been removed; but, it could fix what was there and restore it to normal. Well, normal for me, anyway.

I could feel the hundreds of lands around the entire country we were in. With but a thought, I changed the failing ones into the best versions. I was no longer bound to only do them one at a time. Thanks to the Force, I could reach out further and further to claim and convert as far as my mind could fathom.

John. A tiny little voice whispered.

I couldn't really hear anything as my power almost literally tore everything apart. The things I hated, like the slums in every city, the slave markets, blatant poverty that no one did anything about, were crushed and destroyed with my conversion ability.

John! The voice tried again.

I was busy, so I ignored it and concentrated on replacing the destroyed things with proper living spaces, more modern buildings, businesses that were fully stocked with everything I had seen and found on most worlds, with parks and recreation areas to make people relax and enjoy themselves.

JOHN! The voice yelled.

I paused in my work. What is it?

You are wrecking the city! Ost's voice shouted.

Of course I am. This place is a cesspool. I responded, not understanding her objection.

There are still PEOPLE in it, you idiot! Ost exclaimed.

I chuckled. They're suspended and protected by the Force.

The people inside the Colosseum aren't!

That brought me up short. I opened my eyes, not remembering when I had shut them, and looked around. All of the fighters that had been in front of me, were crouched around the damaged form of Leludia and were trying to avoid all of the debris flying around. Also, most of the Colosseum was in ruins and people were trying to flee for their lives.

I caught everything and everyone with the Force and that made them all scream and holler more. I quickly moved all of the debris out of the way and lifted everyone into the air. I also gathered the bodies of people that had been trampled and used thousands of bacta needles and hundreds of healing spells and regeneration spells to repair all of the damage I had inadvertently inflicted upon them.

“I'm sorry about that, everyone.” I said and waved a hand at the Colosseum and repaired it with the same spell I had used to fix the original Azkaban Prison. All of the debris seemed to become a watery mass and then flew back to where it had come from and the Colosseum was restored to brand new condition.

“Wh-what the hell was that?” The young woman that had killed Takt asked, clearly shocked.

“That was me gaining all of my powers back.” I said and carefully placed everyone back to where they had been before my powers had decided to remake everything nearby into my idealistic version of what it should have been. I also created a Dementor to suck the soul out of her weapon and then fixed it.

“Wait, how...” The young woman touched her throat. “My voice was cut away! How did you fix that?”

“It's one of my abilities.” I said and looked way up at Leludia. “I'm sorry about using your weakness against you.”

“Can you heal me, please? I don't want to stay like this forever.” Leludia said.

“I already did. Do you want me to change you back, too?” I asked and she nodded.

Just like Nelshen, she seemed to deflate and suck in on herself to return to the tall buxom beauty she had been before becoming a dragon.

I walked over to the young woman with the scissor sword and gave her a warm smile, because she was the perfect height for me. “So, what's your story? Why are you here?”

The young woman didn't say anything, so I sighed and held her with the Force. “No!”

“It doesn't hurt.” I said and used the mind spells to look through her head. “Ah, I see. Your sister helped to destroy your world and saved you, only it backfired because the magic of the destroyed world was maintaining you. With it gone, you are both going to die if you don't figure out how to anchor yourselves to a new world.”

“H-how did you know that?” She asked, surprised. She didn't even notice that I wasn't holding her with the Force anymore.

“Your mind is a lot easier to read, now that the soul in your weapon isn't clouding it and messing you up.” I said and tapped my arm where my shield used to be. “I had the same problem, as do all the vassal weapon and legendary weapon holders. Unfortunately, sometimes they still can't choose correctly without the controlling soul to guide them where to go.”

“I don't understand.”

“You don't have to, S'yne.” I said and cupped the side of her face. “Just know that I understand doing what you have to do to live, even if it's on the orders of the same people that destroyed your world.”

S'yne blushed and looked into my eyes. “Are you using a spell on me?”

I chuckled and thought about giving her a hug, then shrugged and pulled her in and gave her one. “I'm just in a great mood because I'm back to being me. You're also the perfect height for me and holding you like this makes me even happier.”

“I can tell.” S'yne whispered, which made me laugh.

“I'd be happy to spend some time with you after the match.” I said as I let her go.

“It's over! You're the winner!” The announcer shouted.

I turned to see him almost shaking in his fancy clothes. Of course, so was everyone else. They all looked terrified. “Is it the dragons?” I asked and waved a hand to dismiss them and the portal.

“No, your primary opponent was defeated. It doesn't matter how.” The announcer said. “You're all free to go.”

A sigh came from Takt's Harem and then Nana ran over with Shadow on her shoulder and she slapped S'yne across the face. “You killed my brother!”

“He was a reincarnated agent and broke the rules.” S'yne said with a shrug. “He forfeited his soul.”

“You don't care at all about the people he left behind?” Nana asked, scandalized.

“Why would I? They're not my concern.” S'yne said and looked at me. “You on the other hand...”

“Shall we go right to your sister, or should we go to Glass' world and handle things there first?” I asked and she looked surprised. “I took your ability, by the way. It meshes well with Kyo's and Ost's. With them combined, and with my restored abilities, I shouldn't have any trouble taking us there.”

“You... you can't just... the Third Army...” S'yne whispered.

“Oh, don't worry about them. I have just the thing to handle it.” I said with a wicked smile.

“Mmm, that's a great look on you.” Leludia purred.

I barked a laugh and shook my head. “Sorry, you're well over the 'on the evil side' of things. You and your friends need to spend some time in prison to reflect on what you've done.”

All of their face changed to anger.

“I haven't read your minds yet and I know you can't deny that you've done horrible things for Takt.”

Most of their faces changed to sadness.

“Who cares about that? It's in the past.” Tulina said. Her fox tails started to appear and I snapped my fingers. A giant scythe, L'Arc's scythe, sliced along her backside and nine tails dropped to the ground in a spurt of blood.

“AH!” Tulina yelped and put her hands on her butt.

“Enjoy your seclusion.” I said and healed her stubs and then sent her to Azkaban prison.

“Can't we talk about this?” Leludia asked and tried to grab me, I assumed to press her large breasts against me. I popped her away and gave Ellie a look.

“Fine. I did a lot of bad things.” Ellie said. “So what? A lot of people have done them.”

“I know. Most of them are in prison or dead.” I said to her surprise, then I sent her away to the minimum security wing.

“Can I stay with you?” Nelshen asked and blushed. “I promise to not cause trouble.”

I opened my mouth to agree and was interrupted by Ost.

Ask her if she still believes in Takt's view of things. Ost asked me.

I repeated the question and Nelshen sighed. “Sorry, Nelshen.” I said and popped her away to minimum security as well.

“Are you going to send me there, too?” Nana asked.

“Technically.” I said and she looked surprised. “I'm sending you to the administration section and not to a cell.”

“Oh, that's a relief.” Nana said and Shadow purred on her shoulder.

“Keep her safe.” I said to the cat and it wrapped its tail around her neck. “You'll have some nice copany there, too.” I said and handed her a fist sized red ruby before I popped them away with the box of toys. I was now left alone with S'yne. “Let's go collect our winnings and I'll introduce you to my party.”

“Our winnings?” S'yne asked.

“You did end the fight.” I said and slipped an arm around her waist to lead her over to the announcer.

S'yne didn't fight the motion and even put her own arm around my waist. “I really am the right height for you, aren't I?”

I chuckled as the announcer counted out the prize money. “It's a selfish requirement to have, I know. It also gives me the perfect excuse to cuddle cute women.”

S'yne blushed and didn't say anything else.

I split the money with her and then popped us away from there and back to where the rest of the party was.

“JOHN!” Raphtalia, Iris, Wyndia, and Alta exclaimed as one and tried their best to hug and kiss me while I still held onto S'yne. She looked very embarrassed as the others welcomed us, so I introduced her to everyone.

“Several of us are close to being the last of our kinds.” Lupin the werewolf said.

“Says the man that went from beastman to human with a beast form with his final level up.” Lept said with a chuckle and slapped the werewolf's back.

“That reminds me. We're supposed to look around for your people.” I said and Lupin shook his head.

“I doubt I would be welcomed back. My powers are too far beyond what they would accept as normal.”

That made nearly everyone laugh.

“What's so funny?” S'yne asked.

“After living with the Shield Hero for a week, you'll understand.” Raphtalia said.

“I call first go after you have sex!” Wyndia said and hugged S'yne, whom blushed very hard.

I chuckled. “I haven't even added her to the party yet, Wyndia.”

“I don't care! She's cute and smells delicious!” Wyndia said and licked the very embarrassed woman's cheek. Both Raphtalia and Iris peeled Wyndia off of S'yne.

“I think we need to talk and let her get to know us before anything else happens.” I said, wisely.

“That means we're clearing out for the first night.” Lupin said to everyone and not a single person protested. That only surprised me a little as they all said goodnight and left S'yne and myself alone.

“What just happened?” S'yne asked, confused.

“You and I are going to spend a little bit of time together.” I said, quite suggestively, and she blushed. She didn't refuse or even say that she would rather wait. I led her into the living room and we sat down on the couch together. We looked into each other's eyes and she seemed to be searching for something.

“You really are going to accept me, even though I've done horrible things?” S'yne asked.

“We've all done horrible things. Some still are, myself included.” I commented and she looked surprised. “I assume your sister has been keeping an eye on me.”

“She was trying to.” S'yne admitted.

I glanced down at my bare forearm and created a copy of the shield. “When I removed the soul, she couldn't track me anymore.”

S'yne nodded. “The soul was from one of the destroyed worlds.”

“A previously summoned hero.” I whispered.

“Not necessarily.” S'yne said and I gave her a pointed look. “At first, there were just chosen people of the worlds to act as vassal weapon holders. They didn't start out as legendary weapons.”

I sat back and pulled her into my side as I thought about that. “It takes time and experience to temper a weapon properly.”

“Some also choose to bond permanently.” S'yne said and rested her head on my shoulder. “After the first one, they saw how powerful the weapon became and how much easier it was to level it up.”

“The controlling spirit was doing all the work in the background to enhance the weapon while the wielder provided the energy and experience.” I added and she nodded. “Damn, that's... unhealthy.”

“Why?” S'yne asked.

“Most people... most souls... are not equipped to handle immortality.”

S'yne blinked her eyes at me for a moment. “Excuse me?”

“It takes a certain mindset... and a pretty healthy ruthless streak... to not go insane after living for thousands of years.” I said and she stared at me with her mouth open. “It's good to have hobbies.”

S'yne didn't react at all as she slowly closed her mouth. “You're immortal.”

“Technically.” I said.

“What does that mean?”

“It means that there's not enough time that exists, for me to live through it all.” I clarified for her.

“I... what... I don't...” S'yne whispered, unable or unwilling to speak louder.

“I once witnessed the end of an entire universe as it collapsed... and had to leave so it could finish.” I said.

S'yne fainted.

I chuckled and held her tenderly for nearly ten minutes before she groggily woke up.

“That wasn't a dream, was it?” S'yne asked me as she lifted her head from my shoulder to stare into my eyes.

“No.” I said and leaned in to give her a light kiss on the lips. “Even if it was, would you want it to be?”

“No. No, you're right.” S'yne said and her small hand reached up to caress my cheek. “What my sister said to me when she saved me, is making so much sense now.”

“Ah, she told you about who's doing this.”

“Yes, and I also know why...” S'yne started to say.

“I know why.” I interrupted and she looked surprised. “It's so an unstuck being can harvest the destruction of the worlds as they merge into a new one, just so they can be a tiny little bit more powerful.”

“How do you know that?” S'yne asked, shocked.

“There's only two worlds left in this little sub-dimension they've created.” I said and she gasped. “Yes, that means that you can't find a world to link to, because if you choose either this one or Glass' world, they're both going to be destroyed when they merge and make a new one.”

“But... but, the people...”

“The energy collecting that the guardian beasts do, if they succeed, creates a shield to protect the people from being killed. Identical counterparts merge into themselves and those that are singularly unique on either world, meaning they don't have a counterpart, are brought over wholesale.”

“Oh, no.” S'yne barely breathed.

“It gets better. If the chosen heroes choose to save the world instead, all of the people on that world die and only the lands are merged and brought over.” I said and she gasped. “Yeah, that's why Glass and the other heroes from their world were trying to delay the heroes on this world. They've been convinced that it's better to have all of the people on this world be killed to save their own.”

“That... that... you're tone is accusing.” S'yne said and her hand moved away from my face.

“You have great hearing.” I commented.

“Don't deflect. Why are you accusing me?”

“Not you.” I said and gave her another light kiss. “The third army. The agents sent to destabilize both sides. The contributing factors and coincidences that are all over the place. They all add up to no one actually winning in the end.”

S'yne's eyes dropped from my face to look down at the shield bracer on my arm. “You can't complete the summoning spell if we... if they... win.”

I had to smile at that. “Already changed sides, have you?”

“Are you even on a side?” S'yne asked, pointedly.

I opened my mouth to answer, then my smile became predatory. “Yes, I am on a side. My side.”

“The winning side?” S'yne asked.

“No, it's just the only side that matters.” I said and pulled her onto my lap. “So, tell me about yourself.”

S'yne's eyebrows rose as my erection rose between us and pressed into her thigh. “Is that what you really want to talk about?”

“Surprisingly, yes. Reading your mind only gave me the highlights and proved some of my theories.” I said and lightly kissed her chin before I moved down to her neck.

“How... mmm... am I supposed... to talk... with you doing that?” S'yne asked.

“Between moans.” I said, completely seriously, then I locked my lips onto the nape of her neck and started sucking.

“Ohhhhhh.” S'yne moaned and cuddled into me.

We didn't get to do much talking after that.

*

“Is everyone ready?” I asked my party a week later. We had some preparations to do to be ready, and with S'yne's help, we knew exactly what we were going to face.

“Are you sure you can break the level limiter after we cross the portal?” Lupin asked.

“According to Ost and the ritual she shared with me, we should be able to transport directly into one of the main dragon hourglass churches.” I said.

“Wonderful.” Lupin responded sarcastically and changed into his werewolf form.

The others laughed and held their weapons at the ready. We knew their religion was going to be out for our heads when they discovered who we were. I had created copies of Glass, L'Arc, and Therese to lead us through; but, that ruse might not last long, because they had been on this side for quite some time. The people on the other world might not believe that they weren't compromised.

“I'm so glad that the hourglass shield counts party additions as a single entity.” Raphtalia said as Ost used some of the gathered energy her old giant turtle persona had gathered, to create a portal.

“The people on the other side won't be.” I said with a smile and waved through everyone else that wanted to come. The rabbit people and mole people chose to stay behind and to look after everything while we were gone. I nodded to them and stepped through the portal.

I appeared on the other side and raised my hands up because ten thousand soldiers had rifles aimed at us. “This is unexpected.” I said and saw that the dragon hourglass was actually outside in a very large courtyard.

“Just wait.” Raphtalia spat as the soldiers parted and the doppleganger of the idiot king and his bitch of a daughter walked over to us.

“Evil heroes! You are trespassing on sacred and consecrated ground.” The king said.

“That's an oxymoron.” I stated and he looked confused. “Evil heroes. They can't be heroes if they're evil.”

“What if they are heroes on one world and evil on another?” The bitch of a princess asked.

“Still evil.” I said and then smiled. “Case in point.” I changed my shield to the dragon hourglass. “Summon Dementors.”

Sheer pandemonium erupted as 142,846 Dementors appeared. Everything within a mile of the courtyard was instantly frozen over and everyone in the city groaned as all of their happy memories were feasted upon.

“Quarter power, please. Knock them all out.” I said and the happy sounds the Dementors made echoed through the air.

Barely a minute later, everyone in the city except us were unconscious and would be for quite some time.

“You know what to do. Go have fun.” I said and it was almost like they teleported, because the sky almost instantly cleared up and not a single Dementor could be seen.

“If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes...” S'yne whispered.

“This is nothing. You should have seen when Ost and I cleared off her old giant turtle body.”

“Yes, us.” Ost said and shook her head. “I advised him to run away before I trampled him, then he caught my ultimate destruction beam and returned it doubled!”

“I got her head and heart with one shot.” I said and hugged the tall woman. “She also wanted me to destroy her magical core and kill her for good.”

Ost hugged me back and kissed my forehead. “I am so very glad that you ignored me and gave me somewhere new to live.”

Suddenly there were two hundred more Dementors and twice that flew up into the air and dispersed. Some had stayed behind and fed, apparently.

“Huh. Bad soldiers. Who would have guest that?” I asked and Raphtalia slapped the back of my head. “I deserved that.”

“Let's go. We have a hero to save.” Iris said and drew her sword as bright blue flames covered her from head to foot.

“Shouldn't we upgrade first?” Wyndia asked. “The hourglass is right there.”

“We'll come back.” Iris said and looked at me.

“I agree. Cute girl first, then ultimate power.” I said with a smirk on my face.

Four female hands took turns as they slapped the back of my head while Ost and S'yne covered their mouths to hide their laughter.

“Bad John. Keep your hands to yourself this time.” Raphtalia said and the others nodded.

“Fine.” I pouted and that made Ost laugh louder. “Lead the way, Slipper.”

The Glass clone gave me a glare before she did as I asked.

“You are not naming anything else for a while.” Iris said as she followed Slipper closely.

“What? They go together! Glass Slipper. It's perfect.” I defended myself.

The others gave me wary looks and didn't comment as Ost waved her hand and opened a portal for us to use.

*

The Endless Labyrinth wasn't a misnomer or a lie. It continued on for infinity, creating new areas as you moved along, even if you somehow travelled in a straight line. The areas seemed stitched together, as if they were stolen from other planes of existence and mashed together to form the labyrinth. It was an odd dimension, that was for sure.

The person we were looking for was a young woman named Kazuna. She was currently 18 and had been summoned four years ago. She and Glass had been on a personal campaign to prove themselves and defeat the Dragon Emperor. They succeeded, which upset quite a lot of people, especially the ones behind the waves.

So, they snatched her up and tossed her into the Endless Labyrinth to get her out of the way. She had been in there for three years now and I hoped that she managed to survive for that long.

“Ost can track you all with the hourglass shield, so we need to split up and search for Kazuna. It should go a lot faster if...” I started to suggest.

“Or we can stay together and not tempt fate.” Raphtalia suggested right back. Everyone nodded and ignored me. Ost gave my shoulders a quick hug and then went back into the shield.

Almost immediately, a dozen monsters that looked like humanoid turtles and were three feet tall appeared and tried to ambush us. A second later, they were slaughtered and pieces were gathered and handed over to me to add to the shield.

“Okay, maybe staying together is a better option.” I said and Raphtalia gave my cheek a kiss.

We moved on from there into another area and a hundred rats appeared. Iris let a flame attack go from her sword and cleared them out completely.

“I sincerely hope Kazuna has had this easy of a time here.” Slipper said in a whisper.

We all nodded our heads and continued on. As we moved to each area, more monsters appeared and they were all relatively low level and easy to defeat. For us, anyway. We knew Kazuna had to be a good level for her to defeat the Dragon Emperor, even with Glass' help, and we continued on to try and find her.

Lupin waved a hand for us to stop walking and we all froze. He wouldn't tell us to stop if it wasn't important. He examined an area near a small tunnel and nodded. Instead of stepping into the area, he slapped his hand onto a spot near the tunnel opening and the sound of hundreds of arrows clattered from inside the tunnel.

“Now we wait.” Lupin said and sat down.

We all exchanged looks and then looked back at him.

“It's a hunting trap.” Lupin said and smiled. “Now that it's gone off, whoever set it has to come back for whatever set it off.”

“Ha!” I barked a laugh. “I'll get the grills going.”

“I'll put out the tents.” Raphtalia said and I handed her a bottomless backpack with the camping supplies in it. We soon all settled down for a good meal and to wait for however long it would take for the hunter to return for their set off trap.

Two days later, a small figure wearing a face covering appeared at the edge of the area. It was morning, so I was up and was cooking a huge breakfast of waffles and meat for everyone in the outdoor kitchen. Just because we were roughing it, that didn't mean I was going to scrimp on the meals.

“Did you steal my kills and eat them?” The little figure asked from right beside me.

I didn't even glance at her, even though her very short stature of barely five feet, surprised me. “No, we set the trap off to let you know we were here.” I said and passed her a plate of waffles after plopping a scoop of ice cream onto it and dousing it with maple syrup. “Bacon is on the table and the steaks will be ready in a minute.”

The little figure seemed to glare at me through the cloth covering her face. After a moment, she shrugged and accepted the plate before she sat down and lifted the cloth on her face just enough to eat.

“MmmmMMM!” She moaned as she ate a spoonful of ice cream.

“What kind did you use this morning?” Raphtalia asked as she came out of our tent and accepted a plate from me.

“Vanilla with Strawberries.” I said and she gave me a quick kiss before she sat down beside the little figure at the table. Surprisingly, she didn't ask who she was or asked her to remove the face covering. I discreetly used the Force and touched the figure's foot, only to find that it was the young woman that we had been looking for.

“Steaks?” Lupin asked as he flowed out of the bushes beside the table.

“AHH!” The little figure gasped and almost fell off of her chair.

Raphtalia caught her easily and sat her back down. “Lupin.” She said in an accusing tone.

Lupin looked a little sheepish, which was funny, considering he was a werewolf. “I'm sorry.”

“Don't mind him. He likes surprising us with his stealth moves.” Wyndia said from across the table.

“AH!” The little figure gasped and pointed at her. “Where did you come from?!?”

“My parents!” Wyndia exclaimed and then laughed.

“You are spending way too much time with John.” Raphtalia said with a fond smile.

“I know!” Wyndia said and kissed me when I put a plate in front of her. “Thank you, Master!”

“I'll master you.” I said and slapped the cheek of her ass.

“EEP!” Wyndia let out and then blushed. “We have to wait until later for that, Master. We have company now.”

I laughed and gave her a passionate kiss before I went back to cooking.

The little figure's head kept swivelling around to stare at each of us. It got worse as more of my party left their tents and joined us for breakfast. The steaks were ready by then and everyone had a great time filling their stomachs and chatting about what they were going to do today.

“G-G-Glass?” The little figure asked when she finally noticed the woman at the end of the table. I couldn't blame her for not seeing her right away. The original Glass was a quiet, demure, and unassuming woman when she wasn't attacking you.

“Close, Kazuna.” Slipper said. “I'm a magical clone of her.”

Kazuna sat there for several moments before she pulled off her face covering and revealed a young face and a pair of brown pigtails that stuck out of the sides of her head. “But... but... what's going on here?”

“We came here to rescue you, of course.” Iris said.

“What?” Kazuna asked and then shook her head. “No, that's not possible. This is a dimensional prison. No one can escape.”

“Not even if they can make portals to the local realms?” I asked and she stared at me with wide eyes.

“You... you...”

“Is there anyone else here?” Slipper asked.

Kazuna shook her head again. “They tried to attack me years ago when I first came here and... I had to... deal with them.”

“Did you kill them yourself or set them up for the monsters to handle them?” I asked.

Kazuna blinked her eyes at me for a moment. “I... led them to the kappas.”

“At least you didn't have to kill them yourself.” Raphtalia said and pat her shoulder. “I remember when I was younger and had to fight. It was daunting when they started to look humanoid.”

“Which is why we always made sure to be careful of such things.” Lupin said and I nodded.

“The last thing any of us needed was to be traumatized about it.” I added and Raphtalia leaned into me a little. “Just because you all agreed to fight for me, that didn't mean I would let you get hurt doing it.”

The others nodded and then we all fell silent as Kazuna thought about what we said.

“You can really get us out of here?” Kazuna asked.

“Whenever you want to leave.” I said and stood to gather up the dishes.

“Let's go! Right NOW!” Kazuna yelled and jumped to her feet.

Everyone smiled or laughed a little at her enthusiasm.

“Perhaps letting the food settle a bit before running off, might be a good idea.” I said and pat her shoulder. “Is there anything here you need to gather up? Money? Loot? Special items? Monster parts?”

Kazuna caught her breath. “MY STUFF!” She yelled and took off running.

I nodded to Lupin and he ran after her. I glanced at Alta and she shrugged a little, then she and her brother slipped into the nearby bushes and followed as well.

“They haven't hunted in a while.” Raphtalia said and helped me gather the rest of the dirty dishes.

“I know. That's why I suggested it.” I said and she smiled at me as we cleaned the table up.

Half an hour later, everything was packed up and we waited for Kazuna and the others to return. Not surprisingly, they weren't much longer than that, especially since Lupin also had one of the bottomless backpacks. They were always great to have around when you needed to carry awkward things.

Kazuna walked out of the bushes and she wore a nice outfit that had seen better days. It was her normal hero outfit that she only wore on special occasions, since there was no way for her to replace it or repair it. She was also wearing Lupin's backpack.

I chuckled at that and took out another one to hand to Lupin when he appeared next to me.

“Thank you.” Lupin said and walked over to Kazuna. There was a quick exchange, including his feral sheep that was much too big to fit inside a normal backpack.

“You still haven't eaten that thing?” Raphtalia asked with a laugh when the sheep tried to eat Lupin's hand.

“It's too cute to kill.” Lupin said with a shrug and shoved it into his new backpack. “We should stop and grab some of the rabbits and things before we leave.”

“Good point. Our pets shouldn't mind a more varied diet.” I said and everyone nodded.

After another half an hour trek to gather pet supplies, Ost made an appearance and created another portal.

“It's really real!” Kazuna exclaimed and ran through it.

“I think someone's happy about finally leaving this place.” I said and let everyone else go through before I went through myself. We appeared back next to the Dragon Hourglass in the courtyard.

“Where's the real Glass?” Kazuna asked and whipped out the little fishing rod she had on her belt. It expanded out and the hook on the end looked like a scythe instead of a fish hook, especially because it was held right in front of my face.

“In prison.” I said right away. “I tried reasoning with her several times and she refused to stop trying to kill me, my friends, and the people of my world.”

Kazuna let out a sigh. “L'Arc? Therese?”

“L'Arc is in prison as well and Therese is in the administration offices.” I said and she looked surprised. “It's not her fault that she's beholden to the king and has to follow his orders. I would have left her alone, otherwise. She's a nice person and loves her jewels.”

Kazuna shrunk the rod and put it back on her belt. “I never agreed with that plan.”

“You mean you don't want to kill the other world to save this one?” Raphtalia asked.

Kazuna shook her head. “We're heroes. We should fight to save as many people as we can. It doesn't matter which world we're on. It's the people that matter. Without them, it's just empty land.”

I beamed a smile at her as I knelt on one knee in front of her. “I am very happy to hear that, Kazuna.”

Kazuna looked at my face and tilted her head a little. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

Raphtalia slapped the side of my head. “I said no.”

I chuckled. “I was going to ask to borrow her legendary weapon, not her virtue.”

“Wh-wh-WHAT?!?” Kazuna exclaimed and she put a hand over her chest and one on the fishing rod.

I lost the smile and took a deep breath before I spoke. “The legendary and vassal weapons all have controlling spirits or souls that influence the wielder. Sometimes it's subtle and other times it's laughable that no one noticed the difference.”

Kazuna glanced at Slipper and back at me.

“Exactly.” I said and held a hand out to her. “I'll remove the spirit and return the weapon.”

Kazuna unhooked it from her belt and handed it over.

“Thank you.” I said, sincerely.

A Dementor appeared and sucked the soul out of the thing. It split into two and Kazuna gasped.

“Here you go.” I said and handed her the fishing rod back.

“You didn't try to keep it?” Kazuna asked and held onto the thing as she examined it.

“I was tempted to add it to my shield, only I can't really see any need for either its powers or its properties.” I explained and she looked surprised. “I can always add a copy later if I feel like it.”

“Oh. That... makes me feel a little bad.” Kazuna whispered.

I leaned forward and took her into a hug. “Please, I'm not disparaging either you or your weapon. I've already added a bunch of legendary weapons and vassal weapons, including a transportation carriage and a superfluous book.”

“Wait, superfluous?” Kazuna asked, surprised.

“It didn't give me anything extra, not even a better index for the books I already added.”

“That... just... wow.” Kazuna responded.

I chuckled and eased my hold on her. “Shall I prove it?” I asked and she nodded. I created a copy of her fishing rod and added it to my shield bracer. I didn't even receive a popup for it, let alone one for adding something new.

“Nothing happened.” Ost said, a little perturbed.

“I've already added an expensive fishing rod and all it did was improve the rope shield by a level, which is now at infinite, by the way. Adding another rod wouldn't improve it at all.” I said and Kazuna's mouth dropped open in surprise.

“It's a legendary weapon, so perhaps you can improve it and that might make a difference.” Raphtalia suggested.

“No, I already fed it a Dragon Emperor core and it can't take anything else.” Kazuna said, a little sadly. “Glass let me have it, even though she could have expanded her fan with it.”

“Perhaps she knew the rod was limited in scope?” Lupin asked.

“It's possible. She is a spirit person and might be able to feel the magic potential.” I said and looked at Slipper, who nodded. I turned my head back to look at Kazuna. “In any case, I'm sorry if what I said came out mean or hurtful.”

Kazuna stared into my eyes and seemed to come to a decision. “I might forgive you if you give me a scoop of ice cream.”

I chuckled and created enough double scoop ice cream cones for everyone to enjoy.

*

“I can't believe I'm Level One again.” Lupin almost spat.

I laughed and pat his shoulder. “Even if we knew that going to a new world with a different registered hourglass system resets your level, would you have stayed behind and not done it?”

Lupin's hand changed instantly and a clawed paw glowed as he activated one of his his abilities. “At least it didn't strip anything away and I can build more abilities as I level to 100 once more.”

“That's a good attitude to have.” I said as we entered a wild area to start doing just that.

“If that's true, then why didn't you reset?” Raphtalia asked as a monster dog jumped out of the bushes and she decapitated it.

“I've never had a level cap.” I said and took out a magic powered plasma rifle and shot the panther that was trying to sneak around the hunting group. It blew apart spectacularly.

“That doesn't mean you can't grow more.” Iris said and her sword sliced a bear in two.

“If it reset the levelling requirements as well, I probably would have.” I said and floated up a little to keep an overwatch on everyone. “As it stands, I would have to grab a ton more resources that I didn't have the last time, just to try and level myself up again.”

“That would be a pain in the tail.” Raphtalia agreed and stepped back to let Wyndia smack down the next dog. Its neck made a satisfying crunch as it fell to the ground, dead.

“We can't waste the time looking for new things, either. We've got to clean this world of corruption before the Third Army realizes what's going on.” S'yne said as her scissors clipped the life of another bear. She stepped back to let Lupin handle the next one and walked over to me.

I floated back down to stand beside her. “How are you feeling?”

S'yne rubbed the split jewel on her weapon. It was half the original purple and half green like the one on my shield. “I can't believe this works.”

I reached out and cupped the side of her face. “It had to be this way. If something happened to your anchor, you might not survive the change again if you lose the world it's attached to.”

S'yne gave me a sad look. “What happens when you leave? You're my anchor now.”

I leaned down and gave her a tender kiss. “That's the best part. No matter where I go or what happens to me, I'll always be your anchor.”

S'yne sighed and leaned into me. “How can you be so cavalier about giving so much of yourself?”

I put my arms around her and let the plasma rifle slide up to my back. “I've been to many worlds and I've met a lot of women.” I admitted and she looked surprised. “Some of them I accepted into my heart and I've loved them as fiercely as they've let me.”

Raphtalia let out a laugh at my comment and kicked an angry deer in the face. Its head snapped to the side and it died before it hit the ground.

“I've developed a severe case of polyamory over the years and it's shot my monogamy all to hell and back.” I said and S'yne nodded. “Still, I wouldn't change much about what I've gone through. If I did, I would have missed out on a lot of what made travelling to different worlds, worth it in the end.”

“What do you mean?” S'yne asked.

“Kazuna understands what I mean.” I said and the young woman appeared at our side.

“It's the people and not the places that matter the most.” Kazuna said. “It's why he can be your anchor and not force you to use an entire planet.”

S'yne looked at her in surprise and then looked at me. “You both believe that?”

“Yes, and so do you.” I said and gave her another kiss. “Your weapon wouldn't have connected to me, otherwise.”

“I... suppose... I have to accept that.”

“You reset your level as well, so it's not like you have much choice.” Kazuna said with a laugh and then she jumped into the fight. Her fishing hook caught the ear of one of the dogs and she whipped it around and threw it towards a bear's open mouth.

The dog yipped and the bear bit down, then the dog was no more and the bear's head was removed from its shoulders by Alta's claw swipe from behind. The white tiger woman was grace in motion as she moved across the small battlefield and helped everyone defeat the seemingly endless stream of creatures.

“I don't understand how you can love so many women and do it successfully.” S'yne whispered as she seemed to melt into my side before she stared at the combat going on around us.

“It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of patience, and the willingness of the women in my life to share.” I said, just as Iris unleashed a huge gout of blue flames over the pack of wild animals. Not surprisingly, none of the party members were affected by it and the remaining beasts burned into ash.

“Hey, no fair!” Wyndia exclaimed and jumped on her friend. “We were just getting into the fight!”

Nearly everyone laughed, because she was usually the one that played with her targets for a while before slaughtering them.

Iris barely moved as Wyndia's weight settled onto her back and hugged her from behind. “This fight was beneath us. We need to find better opponents if we are to level up to max once more and then perform the ritual to break that limit.”

“I am sorry that it didn't work when you first touched the Dragon Hourglass.” Ost said as she materialized on my other side.

“It wasn't your fault.” I said and put an arm around her. “I also thought the ritual would work with an unconnected hourglass.”

“We just have to work hard again to get back to our peak.” Lupin said as everyone gathered around us.

“If we can find another XP gathering spot with renewable enemies, that shouldn't be too hard.” Raphtalia suggested. “Slipper, any ideas?”

The Glass clone folded her arms into her robes and thought about it. “There are rumors that someone has resurrected the Dragon Emperor Dragon since it was defeated three years ago.”

“OH! We can kill it again!” Kizuna exclaimed and jumped around like she was on a pogo-stick.

I couldn't help but notice her bouncing breasts as she did so. “Are you sure you're 18 now?”

Ost's hand whacked the back of my head. “Raphtalia said no.”

“Ow. I meant she's not really acting her age.” I said and dropped my arm from around her waist to rub the spot. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“I'm not saying sorry.” Ost said and kissed my cheek. I can read your thoughts, dearest.

Just because I enjoy the sight of beautiful bouncing breasts, that doesn't mean I'm going to go fondle and suckle on them. I thought back, then I glanced down at Ost's fairly large breasts. Then again...

Ost laughed softly and dissolved to go back inside the shield. Rain check, dearest.

Tease. I thought with a chuckle, because she had used an old Earth term for 'later' and not the one from this world. “Let's have a nice meal and relax a little before tackling the big bad dragon and his recurring minions.”

A cheer came from everyone and I quickly set everything up.

*

A week later, everyone in the party were all at level one hundred again and the unending roars of frustration from the Dragon Emperor Dragon that was waiting at the top of the mountain, was getting really annoying.

“So, are we all ready for this?” I asked and everyone let out a hungry growl. We had tied up and subdued the last velociraptor-like creature to stop the endless waves of enemies from continuing.

“We will dismantle it with both efficiency and expediency.” Ost said. “My first attack will stun it for only moments.”

“That's all we'll need.” Lupin said with a grin and transformed into his very large werewolf form.

Apparently, keeping all your gains from a previous Dragon Hourglass and levelling up to 100 again, gave you much different perks. Everyone had benefited in different ways from the first time they had maxed out their levels, which meant their powers had both changed and doubled at the same time. At least their base forms had remained the same and only their powered-up states were different.

“Let's GO!” I shouted and we all disappeared from the bottom of the mountain and reappeared at the base of the dragon's lair. It wasn't teleportation, though. We were just that fast when we ran.

Ost unleashed her Lightning Barrage that she had co-opted from my own technique and combined with her own inherent power. A hundred lightning bolts that were a foot thick, struck the enraged dragon in the blink of an eye and it worked just like a taser. The creature froze for nearly five seconds as the elemental attack coursed through its body.

That was plenty of time for the rest of the party to attack.

Lupin slashed at the creatures tail with his magical claw attack and severed twenty feet of it off. Raphtalia and Iris used their practically living enchanted weapons to slice at the dragon's back and sliced off its wings.

Slipper used her fan to send a dozen energy scythes at the thing's throat to cut through the heavy armor. She wasn't trying to kill it, however. Her task was to weaken the armor enough for the others to use their own attacks to get at the flesh of the beast's neck, because her attack alone wouldn't have succeeded.

Then it was Wyndia's turn to use her blades to drive them into the dragon's eyes and she unleashed her attack. The creature was still frozen from the lightning attack and couldn't scream in pain, despite the excessive damage it was taking. Alta and her brother were next and they savaged the dragon's neck and tore off nearly all of the protective armor that it had. Kizuna then used her legendary weapon from behind the creature to hook the dragon's nose and pulled it up and stretched the neck as far as it could go.

Everyone else moved back and S'yne dove forward with her giant scissors. No one was surprised when the weapon easily slipped through the damaged scales that Slipper's, Alta's and her brother's attack had opened up. What did surprise everyone was when the scissors opened up and split the flesh apart and revealed the creature's spine. One quick pull by S'yne closed the double blade and the spine was severed.

The dragon's mangled head popped off and hung from Kizuna's fishing pole like a prized catch.

“Five seconds.” Someone whispered into the dead silence as we all stood there, a little stunned at the sheer brutality and quickness that had just happened. No one said anything for several moments.

“That. Was. AWESOME!” Wyndia yelled and jumped on me to slobber all over my face.

That was enough to break everyone's stunned state and then they all cheered and congratulated each other with hugs and pats on the back.

“Even I have to admit that was a shock.” I said and didn't bother trying to push Wyndia off of me.

“I knew we were becoming phenomenal after we reached level 100 the first time and you kept giving us abilities and bonuses.” Alta said as she stalked over to me. “I never suspected that we would become so powerful that even legendary dragons needed to fear us.”

I gave her a smile and used a spell to clean my face off. “I guess that means I've fulfilled my promise to you.”

“Yes, you have.” Alta whispered and then she tackled me to the ground and bit my neck as she growled and purred at the same time. I didn't need any prompting at all to store our clothing, because I knew she was going to tear them off if I didn't.

Soon, she was mewling and crying out in ecstasy. Not surprisingly, no one bothered to turn away. This was something Alta chose to do in front of them all and no one begrudged her decision. Plus, it wasn't like they could turn around and not still know what was going on. Alta wasn't trying to be quiet at all.

Twenty minutes later, she laid down on my chest and cried.

“Shh. It's all right.” I said and lightly stroked her back.

“No.” Alta said between sobs. “It's over. Our journey together is already over.”

I chuckled and she lifted her head to look at me. “We still have to deal with the remaining evil here in this world and then we have to take the fight to the ones that set it all up.”

Alta blinked her eyes. “You... really... you're not sending us away?”

“Why would I send my family away when I need them the most?” I asked her.

“F-family.” Alta whispered. “Family.”

I have her a tender kiss. “It's not just blood that makes someone family. It's not where you live, where you go, or what you do. It's the ones you do it with.”

Alta turned her head to look at her brother and saw his nod. “I... we... accept. We will still fight, even though your promise is done.”

“I'm very happy to hear that.” I said and Alta squirmed as she felt exactly how happy I was as I grew hard for her again. “We need to get back to the hourglass and perform the enhancement ritual to get everyone's level cap unlocked.”

“I don't think we need that anymore.” Lupin said and then shook his head. “Why did I say that? I think I'm growing stupid with power.”

Nearly everyone laughed and I dressed Alta and myself before we stood up or gave everyone more of a show than they had already seen. I changed my shield to a dragon hourglass and they all touched it. I popped us all back to the main courtyard and the large Dragon Hourglass there.

An hour later, everyone practically glowed as the ritual ended and their level cap was unlocked.

“Good luck trying to get to level 200.” Ost said and went to everyone and gave them each a hug and a copy of the new Dragon Emperor Dragon Crystal. “Feed those to your weapons and boost yourselves as much as possible. Do NOT use them to enhance the weapons. They can't take it.”

Everyone nodded and did as she asked. Each of them gained dozens of levels and some even had to access the dragon hourglass again to chose upgrade options.

“Is everyone ready?” I asked and waved Ost over to stand beside me.

“Ready? For what?” Raphtalia asked, a little confused.

“To finish up here and to head off to fight the main bad guys.” I clarified for her.

“How are we going to do that?” Raphtalia asked. “We still have to finish dealing with...”

I held a hand up to stop her. “I underestimated the tenacity of my Dementors.”

As I said that, the entire city seemed to come to life as thousands and thousands of Dementors flowed out of every street and alleyway to converge on us.

“No! What did you do?!?” Ost exclaimed.

I barked a laugh and put a hand on her shoulder. “While I was getting everyone levelled up, they were doing what I told them to do. Cleaning out the corruption and criminals that existed here.”

“But... there... there are so many.” Ost whispered. “There's no possibility that the barrier guardians can ever come to fruition, not even with the recovered spiritual energy from the other world.”

“Ah... about that.” I said and took out the giant vat of energy that had been inside her old tortoise body. “I can't recreate it properly.” I created another one and it was empty. “The spiritual energy gathered can't be copied by my abilities.”

“Then... all is lost.” Ost said and seemed to sway on her feet.

“You're wrong.” I said and created another empty vat. “You said this was about a third of what you needed for the ritual, right?”

“Yes. If more could have been harvested, I could charge the barrier spell and save the world and the remaining people.”

“Good.” I said and waved at the Dementors. “Give me a hand, fellas.”

They all nodded and started to flow towards the two remaining vats. As they passed through the sides, they vanished and bright blue glows started to fill the containers. Everyone stared as the two empty containers were quickly filled and there were still thousands upon thousands of Dementors within sight.

“Can you cast the barrier here and one on the other world when we go back?” I asked.

Ost stared at me and then at the vats. “I... this is... I would need more to do both at once.”

I created three more vats and they were quickly filled by more Dementors sacrificing themselves and depositing the souls they had gathered.

“And a portal.” Ost whispered.

“Of course.” I said and created a portal back to the other world. “Everyone? You might as well head through. I doubt travel between worlds will work once the barriers are up.”

“I can't go. I was summoned to this world.” Kizuna said and looked at Slipper. “What about Glass, L'Arc and Therese?”

“Good point.” I said and concentrated on Azkaban prison. I had one that was out of play and one physical one back in the other world. Luckily, the people I wanted were in the virtual one and the three of them appeared without a sound. L'Arc looked like he had aged several years and Glass just looked pissed off.

“GLASS!” Kizuna yelled and tackled the surprised woman.

“K-Kizuna? How are you here?” Glass asked, thoroughly confused. “Wait, where is here?”

“We're on your world and we're about to save it.” I said and nodded to Ost. “Span the portal, please. I'm not taking the chance of losing you.”

Ost smiled happily and gave me a kiss before she pushed me at the portal. “I'm linked to you, so there's no worry of that.”

“Hey!” I exclaimed and then I was on the other side and half of Ost appeared. I actually felt the magic build up and at the last possible moment when the barrier started to snap into place, I grabbed Ost's hand and yanked.

“EEP!” Ost let out and fell into my arms as the portal popped with a loud crack.

“I think someone underestimated the effects of the barrier.” I said to her blushing face.

“Perhaps.” Ost admitted and hugged me tightly. “Thank you.”

*NOOOOOOOOOOO!*

Everyone on both worlds winced at the female voice's yell. There was a bang and a gong-like sound as the worlds trembled. It was as if someone was pounding their fists on the barriers as the bangs and gongs continued.

This went on for several minutes before the impacts and the tremors stopped.

*I WORKED TOO HARD TO STOP NOW! ATTACK! ATTACK NOW!*

A very small crack appeared in the sky, barely a quarter of the size the waves were supposed to be, and I smiled.

“Everyone! Let's go! We have an army to crush!” I said and held out my shield that was unlocked when it absorbed the carriage of teleportation. “S'yne! You're lead on this!”

“My pleasure!” S'yne said and the shield used her mind to follow the coordinates to the place that was in a pocket dimension. We disappeared and appeared inside the white space as the third army was mobilizing to attack.

Everyone but me dove towards the center of the formation and unleashed all of their attacks. We knew that the army had their own weapons and powers and we knew that we could kick their asses. We also knew that we could wreck them easily and made a huge show of it... because it was a distraction.

I summoned the magical clone of the Monitor and everyone froze at the sight of him. Instead of being the human size that I had seen before I killed him and from the last time I had summoned him during a wave, he was fifteen stories tall and dimensional power rolled off of him.

“You know what to do, Anti-monitor.” I said to him.

“Thank you for freeing me, father.” Anti-monitor said and disappeared.

“What was that?!?” Nearly everyone in my party asked.

“An equalizer.” I said with a grin and waved at the multitude of enemies. “Have fun with the minions.”

Everyone stared at me for a moment, shrugged, then resumed their attacks.

*

“You have transgressed against the natural order of things.” Anti-monitor said as he appeared in the white space above the white space. He stood next to the female being and she gave him an angry glare.

“Who are you? You can't be here! THIS IS MY SPACE! I CREATED IT!” She yelled.

Anti-monitor reached over and grabbed the woman by the neck.

“No! You can't touch me! I AM INVINCIBLE HERE! I HAVE ALL THE POWER!”

Anti-monitor didn't react at all and activated his main power. Erasure.

“NO! NOOOOOO!” The female being yelled as her feet and hands started to dissolve.

“Your journey is over, Traveller.” Anti-monitor said and held on as the female being screamed and screamed.

Her body dissolved away up to her neck and then her head changed into a glowing blue light.

Anti-monitor's other hand reached out quicker than time itself could register and grabbed the blue light. “Perhaps father is right.” He said as he examined the blue thing. “Nurture versus nature. Will you turn out the same if you had a different experience after being born?”

The bright blue light flickered, as if in protest.

“Let us see, shall we?” Anti-monitor said and squeezed the blue light.

It screamed as the light diminished and then he opened his hand. A tiny blue speck remained and his face changed to a smile as he used his other hand to make a flicking motion. It flew into a tiny swirling vortex as a new dimensional space-time was created and then both disappeared.

“What shall you become when you grow up again, Gloria?” Anti-monitor asked as he turned back to watch the battle his father's friends were waging. “Perhaps returning the combined worlds to their previous state isn't a good idea after all. These inhabitants seem to work together well and enjoy each other's company, especially with father's influence.”

*

I looked over the remains of the battle and nodded. My party had defeated the enemy and had raided the facilities they were using. New weapons, new magic technology, and S'yne's sister. The looks she was giving me were not pleasant at all. I glanced at S'yne and she sighed. Quick as a flash, her scissors snipped something inside her sister and the body dropped to the ground, her eyes lifeless.

“She was going to kill you.” S'yne said, sadly.

“She could try.” I said.

“No, John. She was literally going to absorb you and kill you.” S'yne said.

I blinked my eyes for a moment and then nodded. “Thank you.”

S'yne gave me a harsh look. “Don't thank me for this!”

I walked over to her and cupped the sides of her face. “I won't give you all the reasons why your sister shouldn't have been spared, since you know them all much better than I do.”

S'yne opened her mouth to argue, so I kissed her.

“I was thanking you for saving my life, not for killing her.” I said.

S'yne sighed and slowly nodded. “I... I also... saved myself.”

“Yes, you did.” I said and stepped back. “In more ways than one.”

S'yne gave me an inquisitive look, then nodded once more. She knew I meant her sister's emotional corruption and also her own physical well being.

“Let's go.” I said and held out my shield. They all touched it and we all disappeared to reappear beside where we left the others in the first world. I felt an intense pain in my arm and gasped. “OST!”

Ost immediately dissolved into the shield and I switched it out for a copy. I also switched all the prisoners from the physical Azkaban on this world to the virtual one, dropped the three real heroes outside the real one, and unsummoned all of the Dementors. I couldn't leave them float around on their own.

“NO!” Raphtalia exclaimed. “You can't leave now! YOU CAN'T!”

“No... choice.” I dropped to my knees as the shield on my arm started to glow. “Spell... automatic. My summoned task... is complete.”

“Take us back to that other place! We can stay there and...”

“Too... late.” I groaned as the shield split in half and the green stone in the middle cracked with the sound of thunder. “I love you. I love you all.” I said and looked at each woman that had shared my bed. “Tell Filo... and Fitoria... that I'm sorry.”

“NOOOO!” The women yelled as the broken shield fell from my arm and I faded away into nothing.