The next day, Shokei is staring out at the ocean. The ship is navigating back to its destination as it has miles to go. Looking out at the sea, Shokei has thoughts going through her mind.

  It's been a few days since the day we started this trip, she thought. I wonder what is happening now in Malluraea.

  Shokei recalls the treasure that she personally found for herself and takes it out for a moment. The medallion that she holds in her hand. She stares at it, as she is curious what kind of ancient item, she found for herself. After gncing at it for a minute, Shokei puts it away in her skirt pocket. Then, she looks up and see the skies are cloudy and grey.

  No good...looks like another thunderstorm...

  Later that day and into the night, the ship is encountering a terrible rainstorm. Heavy raindrops and strong winds occurred as the party is bracing through the weather, hoping that the ship does become wrecked. Saeko is doing her best to steer the ship through the storm, and she takes extra caution in steering the ship.

  "SAEKO! THIS SHIP BETTER FLOAT OR WE'LL BE IN SOME MAJOR TROUBLE!!" Rei yelled at her.

  "I'm on it! This weather is too powerful!" Saeko shouted back. "WE'RE NOT GONNA MAKE IT!"

  "Grrrrr!"

  Rei could not watch her struggle and she goes over to help Saeko out. Shokei and the others on board down the bottom deck are nervous as the thunderstorms are crackling. Water was coming through the wood above the deck and nds on the floor. Marie felt very scared seeing the water coming down and she held onto Sadako.

  "I'm scared! Scared!" Marie said, feeling worried about the weather. She has tears in her eyes.

  "Don't worry..." Sadako said to her, holding her close. "We will get through this. We just need to have faith."

  " ...I hope so." Marie said, closing her eyes. "I don't want to die out in the sea. Not like this."

  "Easy now..." Sadako said, rubbing her back for comfort. "Just stay positive. Please."

  The weather continues to pour until the rain subsided. The flow of the ocean was in tides as it was rocking the ship. The party felt the current of the waves tilting the ship, but luckily, the ship maintains its bance.

  Came the next day, the stormy weather has stopped, and skies became clear once again. Shokei and the others are gd they have survived another terrible storm and they are heading back to the shore of Malluraea. The trip, going and coming back, was not an easy one, but everyone was outside at the deck to see that they are about to approach nd.

  "Malluraea is just up ahead." Shokei said to herself, looking out at the ocean. The town is visible ahead of her as she's at the front of the ship.

  The ship sails its way and is getting close to its destination. Just then, a changed expression affected Shokei as she's surprised to what she saw was an ugly sign.

  "Huh?! What the hell?!" Shokei said with a shocked look.

  "What's wrong Sho...oh, my god!" Rei said, also shocked in disbelief.

  The other party members on board are surprised to see a major difference in the town of Malluraea. The town was in ruins as it appeared to be destroyed. The homes, the shops, all gone and there was barely any life living in the town.

  "What...what happened?!" Shokei asked.

  "Hold on gang!" Saeko tells everyone. "I'll set this ship down in a minute."

  Once the ship reached ashore, the party leaves the ship, and they gathered around before they do anything.

  "Malluraea is gone..." Marie said sadly.

  "True, but it looks like everything here has been wiped out." Rei said, surveying the destruction. "Who is responsible for this?"

  "Better yet, we should split up and look around if there is any signs of survivors left." Shokei tells the party. "Then we will meet back here."

  "Good idea." Rei said to her.

  Everyone agrees and they all split up individually. The party went separate ways and explored the damages that pgued Malluraea. Most of the houses have been destroyed and everything else like the shops, pygrounds, are in complete debris. Shokei looks around and she can see that many civilians are dead to her eyes. She remained calm and tried not to think of the corpses in her eyes.

  Who could've done this? Shokei thought. These damages are very severe. I don't know who or what caused this natural disaster to happen on my home, but this isn't normal. I'm going to investigate further.

  On the other side, Rei surveys the damages that was left of Malluraea. Just as she sees it, buildings destroyed, and businesses wiped out. She sees that not all houses have been destroyed, but the doors are opened and inside are abandoned.

  All this damage does not appear to be normal..., Rei thought. Something major uncool is going on here. It doesn't seem like an opposing kingdom has anything to do with this. Whoever did this is responsible for these causes. I can tell this is no natural disaster.

  Later, Shokei, Rei, and the other party members regroup back to where the ship is.

  "You guys found anything?" Rei asked.

  "Nope. There are no survivors." Kichiro shakes his head.

  "I could not find anything left here." Saeko said. "Our homes are gone. My friends are gone. What really happened to Malluraea?"

  "Strange..." Rei said, looking down. "I don't think it could be a natural hazard that have caused this town to be wiped out. Not sure if the storm has anything to do with this."

  "Probably something else would have made Malluraea in a really bad shape." Sadako said, folding her arms.

  "It's terrifying that there are so many people have died here." Marie said, with tears down her face. "Did the gods punished the people here? What did they do?"

  "Don't overthink it Marie." Rei said to her. "What we're looking at is totally different. I mean, it doesn't feel right..."

  Suddenly, the party can hear odd noises coming up from the forest nearby. The forest appears to be covered in darkness.

  "What's that?!" Marie asked.

  "Not sure, but I see that the forest has been affected by some type of evil." Rei said.

  "Hmm..." Kichiro looks at the forest, pondering.

  "Since we are the only survivors left, we should investigate further into the situation." Shokei tells everyone.

  "It's...kinda scary going in there." Marie said, feeling nervous.

  "Why be scared when you're with us?" Rei asked her. "We'll be all right together."

  "Oh...all right." Marie takes a deep breath.

  "I led st time." Rei said to Shokei. "You have what it takes to lead this time?"

  "Huh?! Me?!" Shokei said, feeling unsure of herself to lead.

  "Hey now! I lead before, so I believe you have what it takes to lead the way Shokei." Rei said.

  Shokei thinks for a second. She can see Rei looking at her, showing a sign of determination for her to step up and lead. Shokei takes a breath and then brandishes out her sword.

  "All right!" Shokei said with enough confidence. "I'll do it. Follow me."

  The party follows Shokei and they all head to the forest.

  Upon entering the forest and leaving Malluraea, Shokei and her party have their weapons out. All of them remain cautious in case they spot anything that may come after them. The surroundings of the forest were pitch bck and more odd noises are scattered within the environment.

  Just ahead, a figure approaches out from the path the party is walking on. The figure colpses on the floor and it turns out to be a person who is badly injured. Shokei sees the man on the ground and runs over to where he is. She checks him out and sees the battle wounds, showing signs of crimson marks on the chest.

  "What's happening?" Shokei asked the man, lifting his head up. "What's going on?!"

  "Better...run..." the man said in a dying voice, as he is taking some st breaths of life.

  "Huh? What do you mean?" Shokei asked. "And who did this to you and the people of Malluraea?"

  "Strange...forces...ugh, wiped out...everyone..." the man responded.

  "What force? Is this some enemy? What are you talking about?" Shokei asked.

  The man was in really bad shape and coughs out more blood from his mouth. Shokei can see that the man's eyes were going dim, and he was about to be dead in a sea of darkness.

  "...be...careful...too...strong..."

  The man speaks out with his st words and falls back on his head. His body stops as he is dead completely. Suddenly, the party looks up to see that there are demonic monsters approaching them.

  "What the hell is that?" shouted Rei.

  Ahead, the party can see a group of eight kobolds. The kobolds appeared to be big in size like humanoids. Some kobolds are carrying spears as their weapon while some are bare handed.

  "Jee whiz!!" Marie shouted.

  "Whatever it is, these beastly figures are coming toward us!" Rei said, getting to her fighting stance.

  "Everyone! Get ready!" Shokei said, gripping her sword in hand.

  The party gears into battle as the tall kobolds are coming to them. Together, they go into battle against the strange looking beasts.

  The fight against the Kobolds proven to be a tight battle. Shokei and Rei teamed up on the first two enemies that they face off. The Kobolds have their spears and then they charged after them. Shokei quickly rolls out of the way as she dodges the spear being spiked down and dived in between the monsters legs. Quickly, she used her sword and sshed at the leg of the monster, causing the flesh to open. The kobold felt the striking pain and then felt another pain in the back when Shokei pierces the monster through the skin and drove her sword to the chest. Shokei takes the sword out and then she sees that the monster was able to withstand the attack, but it still manages to get up and makes a war cry. Shokei sees the monster facing her and she knew that she needs to finish the monster off.

  "Edged Ssher!!"

  With a sprint, Shokei rushes toward the Kobold with her sword down, building up momentum, and using the tree for a leap, she charges at the monster, giving a critical ssh to the neck. The kobold was decapitated as its body went motionless.

  Rei is busy fighting her kobold as she kept dodging the enemy's attacks. The spear that the kobold wields was big and sharp. Rei continues to avoid the spear and she even uses a special defense technique, called the Secret Block, in which she secretly makes a decoy of herself using chi in her body and allowed her enemy to strike at her. The trick worked when the Kobold strikes her with its spear. The decoy emits a shadowy dodge effect and Rei appears above the enemy to give a hard drop kick to the face. The Kobold got hit hard on the noggin and felt the full force of the kick, causing the enemy to be distracted. With the distraction, Rei has her eyes on the spear in which Shokei finished off. She jumps over to grab the spear in her hand and then she hurled the spear at the monster. The Kobold felt the spear going through and out of the body as it was nailed in the heart. The Kobold died as it cried out its st breath.

  Shokei and Rei have dealt with both Kobolds. The Kobolds disintegrate as dust, and it sends right up in the air.

  "Good job." Rei said to Shokei.

  "Can't celebrate now. Let's help the others." Shokei tells her, turning her attention on the remaining Kobolds.

  "Right."

  The rest of the fight had the party work together to take down the Kobolds. Sadako battles the Kobolds with her magic against the enemies while Tamiko aimed carefully at the monsters with her crossbow. Kichiro dodges around to use his heavy axe and makes work on the legs of the Kobolds. Beatrice makes used of her jagged bde on the beastly monsters and Shokei and Rei worked together to defeat the rest of the Kobolds.

  The Kobolds were being outnumbered in defeat as the party showed a strength of numbers. Sadako kept using her ice magic to slow the monsters down during the fight. The Kobolds were nearly defeated as the st one remains on the ground, dying in defeat. This gave an opening for Shokei to finish it.

  "AAAAH!!!" Shokei dried out as she thrusts down her sword to kill off the st Kobold to the chest.

  Once the final blow was given, Shokei and her party members look to see that all the Kobolds have been killed. The fight was proven to be much of a battle as the corpses have disintegrated to dust as the beastly monsters vanished.

  "What a fight..." Marie said, wiping her forehead. "I think that should be the st of them..."

  "Don't be so sure." Rei advised her. "There's more that we might encounter."

  "Once a peaceful forest...now it's overthrown by strange dark mists." said Sadako, examines the forest in her surroundings.

  "Whatever it is, the problem could be lying deep in the forest." Shokei tells everyone. "Let's go further to find out who is behind this."

  The party agrees and then they head further into the forest.

  A pack of Kobolds...I sense a sign of great evil pguing this forest...but whoever it is, we won't be stopped. Shokei thought.

  "EYAHHHHHH!!!"

  Huh?!

  Just then, the party can hear someone screaming very loud. A sound of a girl, crying for help, can be heard just ahead of them.

  "What was that?!" Marie asked nervously.

  "C'mon!" Shokei tells everyone. "Let's find out!"

  The party ran further into the forest to the source of the danger. Up ahead, the party can see someone being trapped in the forest. There came a view of a young girl being hurt by a huge monster that is about to kill her. The monster appeared to be another Kobold, but this one was huge and muscur. This beast appeared to be bigger than the Kobolds that the party fought.

  "What the hell? This one is huge!" Marie said, staring up at the face of the Kobold.

  "We got to get that girl to safety." Shokei said.

  "On it!" Tamiko said and aimed her crossbow. "Oh no you don't!"

  Tamiko acts by quickly firing her crossbow at the Kobold. The sharp arrow strikes the beast behind its back. The monster felt the arrow being hit and cries out in pain. Then the Kobold turns to see Shokei and her party are coming.

  "Marie, you take the girl to safety. We got this." Shokei ordered.

  "Gotcha!" Marie said.

  "We'll need more of a distraction." Rei said.

  Marie managed to save the girl from being in danger from the dreaded monster. The Kobold has its eyes on Rei as Rei gets its attention.

  "Hey, bighead!" Rei shouted at the beast by picking and throwing a rock at its face. "Try me for size!"

  The distraction got the Kobold's attention and Marie brought the girl to safety. She guides him to Kichiro.

  "I need to help the others in case they get injured." Marie said to him.

  "Are you sure? I thought Shokei put you in charge to protect her." Kichiro said.

  "I know but...it's ok. I need to support them in this fight." Marie said.

  "Fine then. I'll take care of her." Kichiro nodded. He said to the girl. "I'll take you somewhere safe from here."

  Kichiro escorts the girl and takes her away from the monster.

  The fight raged on as Rei aims for the Kobold's head with a high-flying combat kick. The monster swiftly moves its head to make Rei missed its target. However, Shokei goes for the monster's gut by charging at the enemy with an Edged Ssher. The Kobold felt the sharpness of the bde being cut by her weapon and then makes a jump into the air. The party can see the monster in the air and then the Kobold extends his arms and legs out to body sm itself to the ground. Quickly, the party moved out of the way, but Shokei and Marie was te to make a move in time to escape.

  "SHIELD SANCTUM!!"

  Marie used her spell immediately and a powerful force field illuminates brightly. The shield was in full force as the Kobold body sms to the ground. The rest of the party lost their bance from the attack as they fell to the floor. Rei maintained her bance and saw that the enemy crushed Shokei and Marie with its body.

  "Marie!! SHOKEI!!" Rei shouted out to them.

  Unbeknown to Rei, the strength of the forcefield is protecting Shokei and Marie. The shield is greatly defending their lives and Shokei gets on her feet. Marie keeps focus on her magic to keep the shield afloat. Looking up, Shokei can hear the Kobold grunting from its pain as it is not moving from the impact of the sm. Shokei can see the opening opportunity and focuses on her sword. In seconds. The sword creates a glow and then the sword has been given a shining light. Shokei looks down on her sword and then she unexpectedly makes a striking move.

  "Style...EXECUTION!!"

  Shokei unleashed her attack and gave an upper ssh from above the enemy's abdomen. The ssh made an impact by slicing the abdomen in half and then Shokei thrusts her way up and out of the enemy's body. She nds down safely and hears the monster dying from the attack. The Kobold dies on the spot and then the body disintegrates and vanishes. Marie stopped her shield as she looks around to see that the monster was no more.

  "Yay! You did it Shokei!" Marie said happily and cheered for joy.

  "Amazing." Sadako said, impressed with her ally.

  "But how?" Rei asked Shokei. "How did you and Marie survived that body sm?"

  "Marie protected us and then I unleashed whatever force that was inside of me to kill off that beast." Shokei tells her.

  "I see..." Rei thinks for a moment.

  "I...I don't know what happened there, but...I never felt this source of power before." Shokei said, now puzzled on how she was able to deliver that final blow to the Kobold.

  "I'm sure you'll figure it out, but it must have been luck on your side." Rei tells her. "As of now, we don't have time to celebrate just yet. We need to meet up with that girl we rescued."

  "Right." Shokei nodded.

  As soon as the Kobold was sin, Kichiro returns to the group with the girl that he is walking with. Shokei approaches the girl and came face to face. The looks on her appearance turn out to be innocent and she wears a rose-pink noble dress. She has wide-set dark brown eyes and her hair is a wavy ash-blonde, dreadlocked.

  "We have taken care of the beast for you." Shokei said to her.

  "Thank the Almighty! That was such a hideous being!" the girl said with gdness.

  "Besides, you should not be here in the first pce." Shokei tells her and asked. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

  "Oh right! I haven't introduced myself." The girl said, scratching her head. "It's clumsy of me. My name is Antoinette, Princess from the Kingdom of Senwald." She greets everyone with a bow.

  "Princess from Senwald?" asked Marie. "What's a princess doing here in a forest by herself?"

  "Speaking of that," Beatrice added. "I don't think there's anyone around to protect her. Where are her guards?"

  "Actually...I..."

  "Hmmm?"

  Everyone looks at Antoinette. Antoinette paused for a quick second and then said.

  "...I...well, I can expin about this." the princess continued. "I was exploring around the forest, just to take a walk around, until I've noticed a spread of darkness going on here. Oddly enough, strange monsters came out of the dark mist. I felt afraid. So afraid that I got lost in the forest."

  "Mmm, interesting." Shokei said, listening.

  "These monsters are nothing that I have ever seen before." she went on. "I tried to find a safe pce to get away from the monsters as best as I can. That's when I was trapped by that big beast. I nearly saw my days end until the moment you travelers came to my aid..."

  "Yep. All in good timing." Rei said and nodded.

  Shokei looks at Rei for a quick second and looks back at the princess.

  "You should come with us." Shokei said to her. "That way, we can protect you from the dangers that is happening in this forest."

  "Aww that would be very appreciated. I...ummm..." Antoinette paused for a minute.

  "Something wrong your highness?" asked Kichiro.

  "Oh no no! I'm fine." Antoinette speaks up.

  "I don't know how you traveled far from home and come to this forest." Shokei said to her and asked with concern. "Are you sure that you are not traveling by yourself?"

  "I did received permission from my father, the King, to explore around Martyrdom. I was with a small group of guards with me during that time and long story short, my guards were nowhere to be seen or heard from the darkness that entrapped them." Antoinette replied.

  "Whatever it is, just come with us and we will take you back to your Kingdom." Shokei said.

  "How far is Senwald from here?" Marie asked the princess.

  "It's further up north from here." Antoinette tells the party. "Travel distance is far from where we are now. We need to go through another forest if we were to head back to Senwald."

  "Got it." Shokei said to her.

  "If I recall, there's a vilge just as soon as you pass through the cave." Rei said. "Right! That's Ethisia."

  "Oh, I know that vilge." Antoinette said.

  "Great. Let's keep moving." Shokei said to everyone.

  Shokei made Princess Antoinette guide her the way to Senwald. While walking, Rei decides to whisper to Shokei during the walk.

  "You think she's being honest?" Rei asked in a whisper.

  "What do you mean?" Shokei whispered back.

  "I cannot tell if her story adds up." Rei whispered. "For her, being a princess and all, something about this doesn't seem right."

  "Questionable...but we should find out soon." Shokei whispered to her.

  Antoinette can slightly hear the two girls whispering from behind. Not bothering to stop and look at them, she continues walking through the forest.

  My story might be exposed soon...you guys don't know the whole story...I'm so sorry..., Antoinette thought. She kept her shame to herself inside on not being honest.