“Dammit Tin, what are you doing?!” Kaukau shouted as the warmind stared into the distance, drawing strange shapes in the air.

When no response came, Kaukau cursed and peeked out from behind Dekkeron’s leg. “Where the hells is Beth? Dekkeron can’t take much more of a beating or he’s going to die!”

On cue, a flurry of mana arrows flew past Kaokao and Dekkeron and bombarded the area they’d been getting shot from. Kaukau looked back and saw Beth sprinting towards them.

“Missed me?” Beth grinned as she came to a stop next to her friends.

“Why the hells were you so slow?!” Kaukau shouted at the top of his lungs. “If your sorry ass was any slower, Dekkeron here was about to be a kaiju porcupine!”

Beth stared at Kaukau, then turned around and started walking away.

“W-Wait! I was wrong! You came right on time! Save us!” Kaukau panickedly shouted at Beth’s retreating form.

Of course Beth turned around, but not before letting Kaukau sweat it out for just a few seconds longer.

“Alright, alright. Let’s get this over with! Get in there, I’ll provide support!”

For all the arrows that had been fired at the legends of Boomtown, each arrow that Beth shot to absolutely pin down and bombard the numbered enemies brought a cathartic sense of joy to her compatriots.

Especially as their enemies did not have a giant reptile with incredibly tough skin and scales to hide behind, just an overly-large human. Instead, the numbered foes hid behind a newly formed circular mana shield that protected them from all directions.

Although it protected them, it also meant that they would be unable to leave the confines of its safety.

“Tin, help me break it down!” Beth shouted.

“Of course!” Tin’s crystal glowed brightly and a beam of light shot out from it towards the dome of mana.

That, combined with Beth’s ongoing arrow barrage, whittled away at the mana dome. It shrank and shrank, until it was barely larger than the crouching giant within it. Then, it began to flicker.

“It’s almost down!” Kaukau shouted. “Milton, block their retreat! Dekkeron, step on them!”

Milton dashed through the waves of Null Empire soldiers and swung his butt around so that he faced the backs of the numbered enemies.

As the mana dome shattered, Kaukau tried to keep their foes in place with his chains of knowledge, but the giant tore through them and led the others away.

Milton tried his best to stop them, but was only able to leave a set of bite marks upon the giant’s shin before he was tossed away. Still, he’d accomplished his goal and bought enough time for Dekkeron to make his move.

Dekkeron leapt through the air and unleashed a lethal flying double side kick into the giant’s back, knocking him face-first in the dirt. One of the numbered was crushed under the giant’s stomach, and another was sent tumbling by the resulting shockwave.

“Damn, I really turned the tides, didn’t I?” Beth grinned.

“Sure did.” Kaokao looked around, then at Dekkeron who was stampeding away.

“Let’s finish up here then help the defensive line. They’re probably struggling without your help.”

“Agreed.”

***

“Hold the line!” Toku shouted at his troops. “Whoever lets any of those soulless shells through will have their entire family line shamed for ten generations!”

Dario looked at Toku shouting at his men and turned to face several of his own messengers and officers. “Tell the men that if any of them let them through, their family line will be shamed for eleven generations!”

“What does that even mean?!” an officer questioned.

“...I don’t know! They, uh… their families will be banned from eating ice cream for the next eleven generations!” Dario shouted.

His officers’ faces blanched in horror. “Sir! Please reconsider!”

“It must be done!”

“I won’t do it! It’s too cruel!” an officer protested.

Dario straightened his broad shoulders and marched right up to the protesting officer until their noses were almost touching.

Then, with spittle flying everywhere, Dario shouted right in his officer’s face, “That’s an order, and you will obey!”

“I can’t, and I won’t!” The officer refused to back down.

“Then we’ll burn in hell!”

After a staring match, the officer sighed and softly whispered, “Fine. I’ll tell the men. But you better be bluffing. No living being deserves that cruel of a life.”

Dario scowled as his men departed to relay his message, then glanced back at Toku. The two exchanged a knowing glance before turning to face the front lines.

They’d held well, thus far, with only a few casualties here and there among Dario’s men. This had been expected, as despite the incredible number of puppets the Null Empire controlled, their abilities were no more than that of young, untrained greenhorns.

But Dario was apprehensive as to how long their defensive line would hold, regardless. It had started out perilously thin in order to cover the full range of the land between the mountains and river.

Surely as his men tired, the line would quickly crumble and their hold would be untenable.

He shook his head, then raised his hands to the skies and chanted, “Oh, Holy Truth. Bestow upon my allies the strength to hold back the forces of evil!”

All across the line, priests of the Holy Kingdom repeated Dario’s words, and a shower of golden light rained down upon the defensive line. Shouts of renewed vigor and determination brought hope to Darios mind again.

But then a scream rang out for just half a second before it was muted in an unnatural way.

Dario glanced at Toku, who nodded in response. The two left their posts and drew their weapons before slowly approaching the direction of the scream.

After a few moments, a section of the defensive line exploded into the air, forming a tornado of Holy Kingdom soldiers. At the center of the tornado was a young spear wielder, no older than Toku had been when he’d neutered the tournament to become Warrior King of the Kaita Kingdom.

“Dario, force that kid out of the defensive line or it will crumble!”

“Already on it!” Dario shouted as he rushed forward, his shield raised high in front of him. He charged forward so quickly that all that could be seen of him was a golden blur as he smashed right into the spear-wielding kid.

Dario could tell immediately that the kid was trouble. Despite being able to push the boy away from his men, he felt as if he were pushing against a gorilla instead of a human child.

He swallowed his pride and shouted, “I’m going to need your help, Toku!”

Although he was confused as to why Dario needed help, Toku decided not to question it and rushed forward.

His sword met the shaft of the kid’s spear, and his grip shook from the impact. Despite that, he narrowed his eyes and proceeded to exchange a flurry of blows.

It only lasted a second, but in that second they exchanged a dozen moves—and Toku could feel the distance between him and the kid.

The gap wasn’t nearly as large as the one between him and Hugh, that much was immediately clear, but it was still significant.

Toku motioned with his head. If he and Dario were going to fight this kid, they were going to need some more space, or the Holy Kingdom’s troops were going to be decimated just by being near their clash.

“Dario! We need to move him away!” Toku shouted as he sliced downward with his sword, forcing the kid to block with his spear.

“I’m trying, dammit!” Dario ran up and smashed his shield into the kid’s side, knocking him flying through the air and dropping him unceremoniously to the ground.

The kid staggered to his feet and spat a glob of blood on the ground. “So you’re the two leaders of the mortals. You’re stronger than I’d anticipated…”

He drew a second spear with his left hand and cracked his neck. “...But I can handle you.”

“Should I call for Sweet?” Dario sidled up to Toku’s side and asked. “She did tell us to call her if any of the numbered showed up.”

“No.” Toku shook his head. “We handle this one ourselves. I’m Kaita’s Warrior King. You’re the Lord Commander of the Holy Kingdom. I don’t know where all these people with incredible strength and abilities came from, but I do know something for sure.”

He sighed and took a battle stance. “I want to learn about them, from them. But I sure as hell don’t trust them. I don’t know their histories, their motives… who they are. I’d much sooner trust you. At least I know you, your history.”

Dario was silent for a few moments. Indeed, he’d taken the existence of the holy land and its inhabitants for granted.

Where had they come from? Where would they go?

Perhaps they would leave just as quickly as they’d appeared.

Toku was right.

Dario turned towards the kid with renewed determination. They couldn’t just take it easy because some super powerful beings had come out of the woodwork to save them.

He glanced at Toku, then returned his gaze to the child.

This was their fight.