He woke up with the sun in his eyes. He felt a weight on his chest and looking down, he was shocked to see a cute blonde girl, who looked at most 12, lying down on his chest. 

Shocked, he didn't dare move, but the girl was stirring anyway and opened her large eyes and looked at him with a smile 

"Rickert? You're up already?" she asked with a smile. 

"No....ah... I just woke up" he answered awkwardly. 

Erica. Yes, her name was Erica. How did he know this? Somehow he found that his memories were coming back, but it wasn't his memories, but the memories of who he was now. 

As she got off him, he walked to a nearby basin and looked at his face in the mirror. 

Yes, he was Rickert, former member of the Band of the Falcon. That girl was Erica, the adopted daughter of Gordot, who he had promised to protect like a sister. 

He was 19, and she was 11, but somehow, he seemed to have formed feelings for her, and she for him. But he dared not take advantage of her at the moment. 

He followed her out of the tent he was in, and saw 4 humongous and monstrously muscular men sitting around a dying fire, next to a dark skinned man, who was their leader. 

Silat and his Tapasa bodyguards. His body shivered, remembering what happened only last night.

He had slapped Griffith when he finally met him in the giant city of Falconia, but he and Erica was chased and attacked by the Apostle Rakshas.

Luckily they were saved and joined by Silat and his Tapasa guards, and finally managed to injure Rakshas with his cannon after setting up an ambush. 

The memory of what happened sent streams of sweat flowing down Rickert's back. 

"That was real? That can't be. This can't be!" he yelled in his mind. 

--

He remembered that he was an average person, in a average family. Due to him being a lolicon and doll otaku, he started becoming more and more reclusive before completely not leaving his room for over 1 year. 

His worried parents tried to coax him out of his room, sending psychiatrists and other such specialists, but he refused to leave his room, instead enjoying reading mangas and wuxias all day and spending time with his dolls. 

One day, he realized his parents stopped sending him food, but he found himself unable to leave his room due to some sort of fear he couldn't explain. 

As days went by, he started starving, his stomach cramping up. Something must have happened to his parents, otherwise they wouldn't have abandoned him right?

But he still couldn't leave his room. 

A few months later, he lay on his bed, unable to even move as he had so little energy left. He was barely breathing. 

With tears in his eyes, he regretted becoming such a recluse. But he couldn't even move now, and even if he wanted to, he couldn't leave his room to even go to the kitchen. 

Finally he closed his eyes, unable to open them as his breathing got slower and slower.

--

"Rickert.... Rickert! Are you alright?" Erica asked as Rickert seemed to be spacing out. 

"Huh? Oh! Um... yeah" he said as Erica held his hand. 

"Look what I found!" Erica said, holding out a small object. 

He looked at the object and was stunned. 

"Where did you get that?" Rickert asked, looking at the grey colored Behelit. 

He knew what it was, as a manga reader, and he never knew Erica had one. 

"I found it at a person selling trinkets when I walked with Luca in Falconia" she answered. 

He was just about to get rid of it when Silat suddenly walked towards him. 

"We best get moving. I fear we are being hunted" Silat said as he looked at Rickert with a newfound respect. 

It was Rickert that dealt the final blow to Rakshas with his cannon. And all along the way, his resourcefulness and smarts got them through several rough patches.

Rickert nodded and quickly pulled Erica to their tent to get their stuff ready. Erica kept the Behelit in her pocket. 

Daiba suddenly appeared as they packed their tent and got his garudas ready to fly. 

Suddenly, an arrow flew through the sky and pierced through all the garuda's heads!

"It's that archer apostle, Irvine!" Silat yelled as they scrambled for cover. 

Suddenly a battle broke out as war demons swarmed them.

"Scramble!" Silat yelled as the Tapasa started engaging the war demons.

Rickerts took up his crossbow and started firing as Erica helped him reload.

The scene was chaotic as Silat and the Tapasa guards fought with intensity, killing many war demons but also incurring injuries on themselves. 

Rickerts and Erica were pushed back and Rickerts had to draw his sword to fight as well. 

However, they were losing ground as more and more war demons joined the fight. No matter how many they killed, it seemed like an endless number of war demons swarmed at them from the trees. 

"Go! Get out of here! There are too many of them." Daiba yelled as he summoned a horde of all kinds of creatures to slow the war demons down.

"Retreat!" Silat yelled as he retreated in a hurry followed by his Tapasa guards as they ran at full speed. 

Rickert pulled Erica as they ran for their lives, chased by the war demons. 

"Over here!" Daiba yelled as he flew next to them on some sort of flying animal that they did not recognize. 

Suddenly, an arrow flew from afar, piercing Daiba from the back. 

"Daiba! No!" Erica yelled. 

Daiba looked down as a large arrow exited his front and looked at Erica and Rickert apologetically, before falling lifelessly to the ground. 

Rickert closed Erica's eyes and pulled her along as they continued running, unable to help Daiba. 

Suddenly, a huge body flew from the sky and landed right in front of them.

"Zo...Zo..Zodd the Immortal!" Rickert yelled in fear. 

He shot several crossbow bolts at Zodd and ran holding Erica's hand in the opposite direction. 

Zodd easily brushed aside the bolts and picked up a tree and threw it at them. 

"Look out!" Rickert yelled as he pushed Erica down and covered her body with his. 

A huge tree crashed on them as Erica's scream was the last thing Rickert heard before everything turned black.