I Was Destined To Destroy the World But Chose to Sell Llamas Instead. (Original-Shounen Inspired.)

Zetch wasn't what you would call the average bandit. Oh, sure, he looted, he pillaged, and ever so occasionally he torched and burned. But he was more than that: He had dreams! Aspirations! He wanted to be someone who did something that mattered, not being satisfied with the day in, day out drudgeries of normal looting and pillaging life. He wanted to be out there, changing lives and doing something that he would be remembered for!

Needless to say, being huddled against a shield wall as explosive cannon rounds and balls of burning tar were flung at him wasn't his idea of making a name for himself.

"Damn it, where is our support!?" Zetch demanded to know. The invasion of Shellfort had started the night before, an entire army of bandits, brigands, and neir-do-wells who were lured in from far and wide with the promises of riches and notoriety, with the added bonus that no Heroes or Adventurers ever came around to this region due to Shellfort's stubborn isolationism. The way it had been marketed to them, it sounded like an easy job.

Exactly 12 hours later with the full moon given way to the rising morning sun, hundreds, possibly thousands of their make shift brothers and sisters in arms were dead or dying, while the numerically smaller but entrenched and powerful Shellfort machine men had yet to lose any of their numbers. It was now the afternoon, and yet more bodies were added to the muddy pile. Metaphorically in a pile. Literally, they were spread all around, many in several pieces.

"What?!" A younger looking bandit next to Zetch yelled out, trying to hear what he had asked over the sounds of explosives drowning out everything els.e

"I said, 'where is our fucking support!?'" Zetch had to grab the younger bandit and yell in his ear to be understood. The younger man blinked.

"Didn't you hear, boss man? We are the support!" Zetch's blood turned to ice in his veins.

"WHAT!?"

"We're the distraction, ya see!" The younger man explained without actually going into further detail. Zetch slapped his hand over his face. Of course. He already knew it, but this just sealed the deal: It had been too good to be true. They were never meant to succeed or survive, much less get paid.

"Fuck this, I'm leaving!"

"I wouldn't do that, sir." The younger bandit told Zetch. The older bandit narrowed his eyes at the younger one.

"And why would that be?" As if to answer his question, another bandit lost her nerve and immediatly started to run towards the backline of the battlefield, intending to make a break for it. The rabbit woman was fast, but she didn't make it far when a sudden blast of energy came down from above and atomized her, leaving only a crater of smoldering glass in the muddy ground. Zetch's head snapped up to look at the origin of the blast, and his already frozen blood somehow grew colder still: There, looming over their battle lines where he hadn't been noticieable until now, was a wolf eared man wearing only a pair of long, baggy pants and an open sleeveless jacket. He hovered over the air, arms crossed behind his head in an almost bored manner, flat out ignoring the weapon's fire that was aimed at him.

A Fallen Hero. They had a Fallen Hero backing them up. Or rather, making sure they stuck to the plan.

"Why the hell isn't he doing anything!?" Zetch hissed in increasing agitation.

"Oh, didn't you know?" Zetch was already growing tired of this routine. "He's not here to distract anyone, he's here for after!"

"'After'?"

"Yup! No witnesses!" Zetch just stared at the younger man in a mixture of horror and disgust.

"Why are you so cheerful about this!?"

"Oh, well, I never got a chance to die before, so this whole thing sounds like an exciting new experience!" Zetch slid unto his backside and leaned against the shield wall, hands covering his face as he groaned. What a rotten day.

-

"So, since we had eggs for appetizers, we thought we should make something a little healthier for lunch proper!" Alyxia uttered as she showed off an assortment of salads, fruit medley's, and some sort of pie with a non sugary filling.

"Go ahead and give it a whirl, bud." Toyo stated.

"Whirling before or after eating isn't reccommended." Kevin piped up. "It makes you lose your lunch!"

"Er, yes, bud, it's just a figure of speech."

"I know!" Toyo blinked and it was then that he saw the mischivious grin on Kevin's face. He laughed before batting his hand towards him.

"Just get ta eating and tell us what'cha think." It didn't take long for Kevin to tear through the lunches. The salads were a bit of a slow start, but after he mixed them with the fruit medley's, they disappeared in short order. The not-pie, some sort of spinache, egg and cheese abomination against culinary heaven called a 'Quiche', was also quick to follow suit.

"s'good." Kevin declared matter o factually like he hadn't just eaten a meal for four twice over in the span of less than a half hour. Well, at least you couldn't argue he didn't have an appetite-wait, what?

"Kevin, er, what are you doing?" Alyxia asked in the most maternal tone she could muster.

"Dessert!"

"Kevin, that's your milk and Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwhich you normally eat."

"Yup, and now they're dessert!" Toyo had to laugh again before an idea came to mind. A sly grin of his own formed over his face.

"Oh, but you can't eat desert yet." Toyo declared.

"He/I can't?" Alyxia and Kevin's response came in near perfect stereo.

"Nope! Because I've got one more item for you to try!" With that, Toyo reached into his patened holding bag and took out.....A large bowl of some kind. Alyxia just raised an eyebrow while Kevin 'oooh'd as he quirked his head.

"What is that?" Alyxia almost sounded like she was demanding to know.

"Cup Noodles." Toyo launched into explaination. "They're this new thing in the big cities and are a big trend in the surrounding regions. They come in all kinds of varieties." He took out and balanced an additional two more in his arms. He smiled. "I figured we could all share a meal together, since 'lunch' was mostly just watching you eat, buddy." Kevin's dark skin suddenly fleshed a bright red as he realized he had left nothing for his friends to eat.

"I'm so, so sorry!" He declared, bowing at them so deeply, his head smacked against the ground. A perfect impression of his face was left in the dirt, much to the soil's honor.

"Think nothing of it, we made it for you to eat, remember?" The Goblin male declared as he handed out a chicken variant to Alyxia, kept a beef one for himself, and handed a spicy vegetarian one to Kevin. The younger, puppy faced male looked over the strange bowl he'd been given, wondering how it worked. He then noticed some sort of knob on the underside, with instructions saying 'turn twice and wait for steam. Wait 30 seconds and enjoy.' "Fancy, right? City folk have all sorts of inventive uses for magic these days." With that, everyone from the curious Kevin, to the skeptical Alyx, turned the knobs and waited as instructed. As steam poured out from the thin, ceramic covering on top of the bowls, Kevin's eyes widened with amazement at the incredible device in his hands.

Alyxia and Toyo both shared an amused look. The kid could probably turn the planet inside out with his mind, but something as smallscale and simple as this still left him with wonder. It was an adorable sight.

"Alright, that's thirty seconds." Toyo handed out a pair of stick like eating utensils to everyone. They opened their meals and dug in. Toyo used his eating sticks with experienced dexterity; Alyxia was clearly familiar with them, though not as used to them, eating more slowly and thoughtfully chewing on the meal. Kevin, meanwhile, stuck both sticks in at the same time and whirled them around like a fork, causing the noodles to ball around the sticks against the order of man and nature. He gave the noodle ball a test sniff, before taking a test bite. One chew. Two. His eyes lit up in a way that was unlike any reaction to any meal up until then. The young man practically exploded out of his floating sitting position and let out a whoop before floating back down, enjoying the meal with gusto and, to his friends surprise, taking his time with it the same way he took his time with his PB&J sandwhiches.

"This is amazing, Toyo! What's in it?"

"Oh, you know," Toyo glanced at the packaging for his own cup-bowl, reading the words that declared '500% more MSG than competeing brands!' "Good stuff." He said with a smile. Kevin just smiled as he ate before taking out his musical device and focusing on it.

The music that flowed out from it was unlike anything they had heard from Kevin yet, not the least of which because of the....Interesting lyrics.

'Damn cup noodles, you looking so fine, thinking about you all of the time!'

"Hope you guys like music with your lunch!"

"It's....Certainly appropriate." Alyxia laughed joyfully. "We should make this our themesong."

"Really?" Alyxia froze. She had meant it as a joke. She didn't actually intend, or even want, for their little group to have such an.....interesting song as their lietmotif. But as she looked at Kevin to let him down gently, the look in his eyes told her how excited he was for her to not be joking.

"....Yes." Alyxia blurted out quickly as to not have second thoughts and deny Kevin this. Kevin's eyes started to water as he sniffed and smiled at his friends.

"Best lunch ever!" What a wonderful day.

 

36 hours. It had been thirty six hours since this….invasion began. Shellfort was no stranger to assault, it and it’s inhabitants having seen their fair share of trouble over the centuries. But an assault of this scale, for this long? That was new. More than new, it was unexpected. As Brother-Captain Azriaha III studied the battlefield from his position, he found he and his fellow Battle-Brothers expending more ammunition during this short time frame alone than all the other centuries combined.

It was exillerating. Finally, a challenge worthy of their skills!

<Statement: Do not look so pleased, Battle Brother.> As Azriaha was finished loading in fresh shells into his cannon, he looked to his side to see the one who had spoken: Knight-Paladin Dancer. Compared to the other Shellfort Residents, even the Battle-Brothers, the Paladin stood tall, armored shell polished a gleaming silver. A set of tetrapod legs held up the Paladin instead of a hexapod set up, and his right manipulator clutched an ancient but functional halberd, his left buried under a claw like shield. The halberd and shield gleamed with the tell tale etchings of runes and script of power, making them much more potent than their age or simple designs would have one believe.

One could reasonably fight a mid level Adventuerer or low rank Hero with such arms.

<Apologetically: Forgive me, Brother-Paladin. I was lost in the rythem of battle.>

<Understanding: Of course. Cautiously: However, take care not to become too lost. Every moment these brigands fight us, another precious life is wasted.> Azriaha’s facial plates molded themselves into a frown.

<Recicitation: ‘Life is the currency of the Maker. Spend it if you must, but never waste it.’>

<Affirmation: Indeed. A lesson lost on these poor fools, I’m afraid.> As if to illustrate the point, the distinct golden flash of an energy blast from the Fallen Hero floating above the battlefield spoke of another unfortunate runner to try and make a break for it, only to be atomized. With this flash, however, the enemy forces immediately broke out of their defensive positions in a charge. The two Shellfort residence shared a look. This gruesome display of barbaric tactics was a death sentence. Suicidal. Still, if assisting with their doom was what would keep Shellfort safe, then so be it.

———

Zetch huffed and puffed as he charged the field behind the cover of a more powerful Bandit with a shield. He didn’t recognize any of the other rogues around him. Whether his original crew was dead or just lost somewhere else on the battlefield, he didn’t know.

“This is so exciting, isn’t it?” Zetch’s look of panic immediatly mutated into a scowl of annoyance as he glanced at the bandit running by his side. Great. Fantastic. That annoying kid was still alive and kicking. Just his rotten luck.

“Exciting my fucking as-“ An explosion rocked them off their feet, Zetch landing on his back to the mud. He looked up in time to see the shielded bandit get skewered by a massive hulking Shellfort warrior with a shield and pole arm, dozens more like it filling the battlefield. Pulse pounding in his chest, Zetch decided to do the smart thing and just lay down and pretend to be dead. Eyes closed shut, he willed his breathing to slow down and to lie perfectly still, even as a he yelling around him grew louder and louder and flecks of liquid too warm to be water fell on him.

“Psst, hey buddy!” Zetch dared to open his eye to see that pest was laying down beside him, front to the ground and face turned towards him, a smile on it despite everything. “We’re corpse friends!” Zetch’s eye twitched. Damn. It.

———

He was bored. So damn bored. The bandits they had collected for this were all so *weak.* They were pathetic, unable to stand up to the mundane explosives and missile fire from the Shellfort machines.

The Shellforters were slightly more interesting, if only due to their novelty, but as he watched, he found they too were boring. Mostly because they had no challenge, no struggle against even the strongest of the bandits.

“So disappointing.” He huffed as he blasted another bunch of runners. Most had learned by No there was no running, that he would erase them like some spiteful angry god. But every so often, those who lost their nerve and didn’t just break down tried their luck to make a break for it. Unfortunately for them, he was Sol Wrathbane. A Hero with power over the element of the sun itself. We’re they at least mid level Adventurers, or at least had decent gear, they could have survived the initial blast. But even if that were the case, they never would have survived to escape.

As he continued to watch the bandit armies desperate, mindless surge forwards to try and take the fortress, Sol took note of the Shellforters fighting. The normal soldiers were nothing special, using conventional weapons to slay the rogues. Their ‘Paladins’, however, held some promise. They wielded their weapons and shields with a skill and deftness belied by their hulking, psuedo crustacean forms, a level of ability wasted on the weak scum they were forced to spend their energy butchering. It was no question that Sol could defeat them, easily, but his sheer boredom meant that if given the chance, he would happily fight with a fraction of his full power if only to see just how skillful these fighters were on an even footing.

Gods, to think he was so desperate for action he would stoop to trading pointers with these things? Eh, screw it, not the worst thing he’d done.

“Challenge: You! Face me!” Speak of the devil, Sol blinked as he looked down to see most of his army cornered and forced to surrender, trapped by battalion of Shellfort soldiers. One of the Shellforters, a Paladin with a halberd and a claw shaped shield was pointing his weapon up at Sol, and was actually challenging him.

Sol scoffed and prepared a downscaled version of his signature attack, but paused. He had not yet received the signal to finish this place off, and that meant the Shellforters still needed a distraction. The army was captured, and all present were now looking to him and his challenger. A dark smile came over his features. Screw it, why not have a little bit of fun, eh?

With that, Sol began to float on down just as the rays of the morning sun began to wash over the battlefield, lighting up the smoke that washed over the place. This should be a fun little exercise before the end.

 

Knight-Paladin Dancer logically knew he was doomed. Logically, a Fallen Hero was likely to be too powerful for one such as himself. Logically, they would have no reason to answer his summons for a duel and could simply destroy him with a motion of their hand and a flex of their power. By all logical measurements, he was doomed beyond numerical calculation.

And yet, in his reactor, he had faith. Faith that his prayers for the safety of his people would be answered and that this wasteful expenditure of life would end. And so, the bandit army had been rounded up, surrounded and now pushed into a makeshift holding parameter, their wounded gathered and being given medical attention.

"Challenge: You! Face me!" And his prayer for a fateful duel were also answered, the Fallen Hero slowly floating down to face him.

The wolf eared man was floating, refusing to touch the ground like some sort of deity not wanting to sully their feet with the dirt. A look of amusement was over his face as he gazed on with his arms over his chest.

“Well, I’m here.” The Fallen Hero declared. “Now, how do you want to do this?” In response, Knight-Paladin Dancer got into a defensive stance: Halberd at the ready and shield raised, his squat, helm like head peaking over the defensive stance to glare at the hero. His four mechanical legs tensed; actuators ready to move in an explosion of movement at the first sign of trouble, his back mounted thruster systems warming up. He was the perfect image of defiance. For his part, the Fallen Hero just smiled. It was like a parody of a friendly grin, all traces of warmth nonexistent and in their place was a cold, predatory savagery lying just below the surface. "Alright, guess I'll start us off.

The rest of the assembled onlookers kept themselves a fair distance away, those not busy with overseeing the captured bandits or tending to their wounded turning their optics to gaze on at the battle that would follow. They knew in their cores it was a doomed battle, that Dancer stood no chance. But that stopped none of them from silently wishing his victory all the same, impossible though it was.

For a long, drawn-out moment, nothing happened. One second passed. Two. For a brief moment, it seemed like nothing would happen. As soon as the third second passed, however, everything happened all at once. An explosion of movement, too fast for any of the bandits and most of the Shellforters to follow. For those that could follow the action, the wolf-eared man leaned forward and with a powerful back kick, as if his feet were slamming against an unseen wall despite being in the open air, he shot forward. He was fast, too fast. Dancer was doomed.

Until he wasn't. With a speed that his hulking metal form belied, Dancer reacted to the incoming Fallen Hero with a sidestep, the powerful relic shield used to glance off the incoming fist to the side before he used the body of his halberd to slam into the Fallen Hero's neck. He has done a clothesliner with a melee weapon.

Undeterred, the ex-Hero flipped around, impressed but uninjured by the displace as he rolled over himself, foot extending outward to slam on the top of Dancer's shield. The protective barrier was half buried into the soil, but Dancer's reaction proved itself more than a one off: In the split second before his shield was buried too deep to pull out, he activated his back thrusters, the jet of flame shooting out in a gout that flash fried the mud behind him into a glass furrow and shot him forward. Leaning forwards, with his head pointed directly at the Hero, Dancer slammed into the Hero's solar plexus with enough force to send him back several dozen meters before he stopped his momentum with a flare of his power. The Fallen one blinked. The bandits blinked. The Shellforter's optics refreshed themselves. Dancer, however, just got back in his original defensive stance, halberd ready, shield in position after being freed from the mud by the thrust forwards. Once more, he was defiance given form.

With that, the ex-Hero laughed out a bark of amusement.

"Let's dance!" He shouted before charging forwards, this time making sure not to overexert his momentum. Dancer braced and fired off his thrusters once more, and the ensuing impact of the shoulder charge from the villain was stopped only by the activation of his thrusters, though even with their power, Dancer still found himself being dragged a full five meters backwards, the shockwave of the impact sending a gust of wind that left their immediate area free of five inches of mud by a solid 10 meters.

A split second later, the two began to exchange a flurry of attacks: The shield ate up impacts from the villain's punches and kicks, while the Fallen Hero dodged the Halberd strikes, though the insane smiled on his face spoke of someone dodging the attacks for the hell of it rather than out of fear of damage. To an outsider looking in who could follow the battle, it seemed they were evenly matched. But Dancer's fellow Paladins could see the toll being taken: Each impact against the shield left it a little more dented and cracked, too small to be noticed by anyone without advanced optical suites. Dancer was fighting on borrowed time, and once the shield finally gave out, it would be all over. However, Dancer had proven himself full of surprises, and it was for that reason that despite the overwhelming odds, his Battle Brothers silently prayed all the same.

Blow after blow, each strike paired with a miss, man of metal against a godling. Eventually, however, the Fallen Hero grew tired of their exchange, and in one final kick that threw Dancer back, he threw back his hand as though he were preparing a haymaker. However, it was immediately clear what he was planning as a spike of solar energies began to pool in his reeled back hand. Dancer hid himself fully behind his shield and a moment later, the early morning darkness was split by an early sunrise.

The Sun Beam threw a violent, concentrated blast of plasma that washed over Dancer's shield, and kept going behind him. As soon as it ended, the damage was immediate: Dancer's shield held, but it was glowing, full of cracks. The ground behind him was outright molten, and the forest hundreds of meters back were now ablaze. A moment later, the Fallen Hero rushed forwards and, with his other arm now prepared for a real haymaker, punched the shield head on.

The relic shattered in a shower of shards and half-molten fragments, Dancer's left shield arm being torn in two....but in one final act of impossible agility, Dancer used his thrusters to juke out of the way in time before the deadly fist could impact his center, and he slashed one time at the Fallen Hero on the side his fist was still extended from.

Dancer stopped a dozen meters away, Halberd extended outwards in the slash he had made with it, and the Hero deathly still. A long moment passed before he reached out to slide his thumb across his cheek, finding a fresh cut oozing a streak of blood from it. The Hero's face was statuesque as he regarded the blood on his thumb tip. He lazily looked over to Dancer who, despite his shield and left arm now being gone, returned to his stance once more. Injured, thrusters heated a dangerous golden-orange, and molten fragments of his lost equipment splattering him like glowing dots of molten sunlight, Dancer's gaze remained steady and true, and in the cores of all of Shellfort, his new name was known to them all: Dancer the Defiant.

For a moment, it looked as though the Fallen Hero would break into a rage, a tantrum at this dishonor upon his form. What he did next, however, was infinitely worse: A psychotic, excited grin spread from ear to ear, eyes wide in a vicious predatory look.

"Right on!" Getting into what can only be described as a runner's stance, it seemed as though the Hero was going to perform one final rush forward.

Before the final blow could be struck, however, a new light flared over the battlefield: A green flare, shooting out from the forest opposite of the side that was now aflame. The Fallen Hero froze, before his face soured into a grimace.

"And like that, the fun's spoiled." He grumbled as he stood up in his floating stance. He cracked his neck before he began to float upwards. "Sorry metal man, but the fun's over. Time to do my job." Once he was over all of Shell Fort, he raised his hands above his head. Energy began to pool, and a small star began to form over him. The star began to grow, larger and larger, going from a dull red to a brilliant yellow. It continued to grow and grow until it ceased to be a distant star and was now a second early sun. As artificial daylight flooded the area, defeat settled in over all. It was all over now, the Fallen Hero's true power now revealed. He had been holding back, toying with them, and now he was about to destroy them all. As one, the Shellforter's prayed in silence. in thanks for the lives they had lived and for the peace that would soon over take them. The Bandits, defeated and scared, cried out in fear or grimly accepted the bright doom looming over them.

Dancer too prayed, to the Great Maker, to any who would listen. But his was not a prayer for salvation in the afterlife, but salvation for them in this life. He prayed for a miracle.

"For what it's worth," The Fallen Hero shouted down, his disappointment bleeding into his voice, "That was fun while it lasted!" And with that, he motioned his hands downward, and the Sun began to fall. It was all over.

Until it wasn't. Nobody was quite sure what happened for a moment. One second the Death Sun was falling down on them. And then, a second later, it was suddenly going up. Very very high up, very very fast. It detonated high in orbit, and nobody quite knew what was the cause. It was as though an invisible force had reached out and grabbed the deathball before throwing it away. Even the Fallen Hero looked completely confused.

And that's when they heard it, drifting from the roads directly to the south of Shellfort, a strange sound both alien yet melodic. All turned their gaze, those with the ability too zooming in their vision to see the origin of the sound. There, coming down the road towards them all, were three small figures. And as the smallest of them began to float up into the air, the melody became married with an even stranger chorus:

'DAMN CUP NOODLES, YOU LOOKING SO FINE!'

Confusion washed over all as the little figure floated towards the Fallen Hero, but as strange as the whole thing was, Dancer knew in his heart of hearts who this was.

His prayers had been answered. Their Miracle had arrived.

 

Breakfast had been a wonderful time that day, with whole new forms of food Kevin had never even dreamed of entering his newly growing catalog of meals. Even as they all walked down the road, Kevin found himself dining on a third cup of, well, cup noodles. The delectable substance tingled his senses and delighted his tongue. Even now, he could feel the umami flavored vegetable flavoring spark fireworks in his mouth and it made him feel at peace.

However, as they walked and as Toyo and Alyxia chatted away with one another, Kevin felt an unease enter his heart he couldn’t quite place. It came suddenly and without warning and seemed to grow by small but notable increments the longer they all walked forwards, in the direction of Shellfort.

Brow furrowed, Kevin finished his meal as he wondered as to the cause of this. It could be any number of things, and could well be something on the road between their current location and Shellfort.

“Hey, something wrong, Kev?” Quickly snapping back to reality, Kevin realized he had made his discomfort known. Turning back, he offered a steady smile to reassure his friends, but it was clear by their looks of concern that they were not fooled.

“Yup!” His monosyllabic answer just confirmed their fears that something was wrong.

“Come on, little guy, you can tell us.” Toyo stated.

“Toyo, we’re the same height. We’re both little guys.” Kevin pointed out, trying to deflect the question, but Toyo didn’t take the bait.

“You can tell us what’s wrong.” Alyxia stated. “Are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah, it’s just….” He sighed, deciding to be up front with them. Kevin scrunched up his nose, trying to come up with a way to properly explain the odd feeling he was getting. “You ever get a bad feeling, like a weight on your heart, but you don’t know what’s wrong?”

“Heart burn?” Toyo offered. “Well, you did eat a lot of stuff to be fair.”

“No, no, more like-“

“Like you feel something bad is happening or is about to happen but you have no idea what it is or where it’s coming from?” Alyxia butted in. Kevin’s eyes lit up.

“Yeah, exactly!”

“There’s no proper term for it, but everyone in the Adventurer’s Guild just called it the ‘Danger Sense’. Because someone was in danger.”

“Does it specify who is in danger?”

“Well, no.” Alyxia admitted with a frown. “The sense is…..annoyingly vague like that.”

“When did you start feeling this, uh, ‘danger sense’, Kev?”

“A little while ago, and it’s been growing the more we have been walking towards Shellfort.” Kevin admitted. He frowned as he looked at the dirt. “It’s so weird, I’ve never felt something like this before.” He kicked a rock two inches away. “What does it mean? Who is in danger?”

“It comes and goes and is both vague and unreliable.” Alyxia admitted with a sigh. “Honestly, it could mean any number of things.” Kevin looked at her with a concerned look.

“How’s about we keep walking and if anything pops up, we deal with it.” Alyxia and Kevin both looked at Toyo with surprise at his suggestion. For his part, Toyo was scratching at his chin scruff like he just finished talking about the weather. “The sooner we get going, the sooner we can figure this out, no?”

“You aren’t wrong.” Alyxia stated with a sigh. “To hell with it, let’s get going! If we meet anything, we can handle it together!”

“Or at least Kevin can.” Toyo piped up. When Alyxia have him a look, he just shrugged. “What, the guy can fly into space and destroy meteors, he’s kinda our strongest card here.” The Goblin male stated bluntly. Kevin just giggled as his friend wasn’t wrong. Well, only one way to find out what this was and that was to keep going.

———

Night came as it always did and the team found themselves in Kevin’s realm once more. After taking care of the nightly chores, everyone got settled in for bed and drifted off to sleep. Everyone, that is, except Kevin. After walking all day and finding nothing wrong along the way, the feeling of dread continued to mount all the while. Kevin found himself laying in his bed, staring up at his ceiling, unable to sleep. Even within his realm, the sense of dread in his heart refuses to leave him.

“What does it mean?” He asked to no one in particular. And thus he stayed that way, unable to fall asleep, unable to stop thinking of this strange, foreign feeling. It was frustrating. As the hours ticked away and the early morning approached, Kevin found himself increasingly tired, but also unable to dream. “Come on, give me something.” He hissed.

As if answering his request, it happened: he heard voices. Too many to discern all at once, but the feeling they held was the same: desperation. Pleading. ‘Help us.’

All at once, Kevin’s eyes snapped open from his failed attempt at slumber. He got up, put on his cape-poncho thing, his hat, and then he went outside to find Alyxia and Toyo.

Up early due to their newfound routine of chores in Kevin’s land, his friends only had enough time to spot him when he said, “I know what’s wrong.”

And in a flash, they were all teleported back to the normal world, miles off from where they had stopped.

“Kevin, what’s-Is that the sun?!” Toyo’s yell was matched by the unnaturally bright light in the early morning night time. Alyxia and Toyo gawked at the miniature sun above what seemed to be a fort built into a mountain, a battlefield and burning tree lines stretching beneath it, and in an instant they realized this was probably the bad feeling Kevin had been having.

Kevin himself, however, just stared with a look of determination as he heard in the back of his mind one voice asking above all the others: ‘Save Us.’

The Death Sun started to descend, but Kevin just reached out, ‘cupping’ the bottom of the sun from his perspective. In an instant, the Star stopped moving. With a mighty grace, Kevin threw his hand up, and the Star followed, zooming off high into the atmosphere before detonating at the edge of space.

Silence filled the air as Kevin looked to his friends.

“We’re going to help them.” His face was of determination, but his voice was pleading. With looks of determination of their own, Alyxia and Toto nodded. With that, Kevin looked to the sky to spot a singular individual, floating in the air, and instantly knew who had been responsible for the Death Sun: It’s magical signature was emanating off him.

Taking his music player, Kevin set it to play the last song it had played, and to his amusement it was a particular one involving cup noodles. With him and his friends cresting the hill, Kevin kicked himself off the ground and headed up to face the flying stranger. Time to see what this was all about…

 

Sol watched with fascination and mounting amusement as the tiny dot coming towards him grew in size the closer it approached, to reveal a diminutive figure. It couldn’t be more than 4 foot 2, 4’4 max, and looked like some sort of furless, black skinned puppy figured out how to cloth itself in bandages, stand upright, and dawned a hat and a cloak. It was an utterly amusing sight, one he was fascinated by as it stopped a dozen meters short of reaching him.

It hovered, cloak billowing, eyes level to his own as an odd, inscrutable look covered it’s puppy like face. Crossing his arms, the Fallen Hero looked on in amusement, his original task forgotten in favor of seeing what delights this odd creature could bring about.

“Excuse me, sir.” The voice that came out of it was distinctly scratchy and masculine. “What is going on here? What were you doing just now?” It suddenly dawned on Sol that this little figure was probably the messenger or minion of whatever force had grabbed the Death Ball and launched it into the upper atmosphere to explode. With a visciously mocking grin, a twisted parody of a kindly smile, Sol spoke up.

“Why, I was destroying this place and everyone in it. Was that not clear, little one?” The tiny figure blinked before frowning.

“Why?” It demanded to know. Sol was quick to decide it didn’t matter what he told it as he would wind up killing it alongside everyone else once this was done and over with.

“Because it’s my job.”

“Someone is forcing you to do this then?”

“Forcing? Nah kid, I was hired to do this. I’m being paid good money to wipe this place out.” The frowned deepened and the tell tale look of anger was now over his face.

“So you’re doing this of your own free will?”

“Basically!” Sol laughed. “Boy, you should see the look on your face!” The tiny figure took a deep breath before letting it out, visibly calming himself down to just a normal frown.

“I am asking you, please don’t do this. There are untold lives down there, you’d be killing so many people.”

“That’s the point, kid!” Soul’s laugh was louder and stronger this time. “What’s the point of having all this power if you don’t flex it over the powerless?” Another sharp intake of breath to calm himself down. This little bugger was really getting riled up, how adorable.

"I am asking you this one time." He hissed through gritted teeth. "Stand. Down." The nerve of this little bastard, to demand he stand down? Someone needed to be taught a lesson.

"Or, and hear me out." Sol started as he unfolded his arms to gesticulate. "You kindly shut up and die." The round house kick that followed could sheer the top of a mountain with how much power has been put into it. A moderate display for one at his level, but a point needed to be made. Nothing would be left of the little brat.

So, imagine his surprise when not only did the little bastard not get erased into free floating atoms, but that Sol's kick had actually missed him entirely thanks to a swift dodge by it. Sol blinked. Huh, maybe this little guy has more Power to him than he was letting on. A flurry of kicks and punches followed, each being dodged as easily as the last. Slowly, surely, a twisted grin formed over Sol's face. Another fun distraction, like the Metal crab below. And a smaller target too, which made it all the more exhilarating to spar against. Just when it seemed like they had fallen into a pattern of hits and dodged, Sol put considerably more power into a surprise punch, that was stopped dead by a block from one of the little guy's arms. The look of fury on the tiny fighter's face was impressive, and it all suddenly dawned on Sol that maybe this little fighter wasn't an acolyte of the one who had stopped the Death Ball, but the one to do it themselves.

As he reared back a fist for a punch, Sol could only let out one, singular word: "Alright."
———

The ensuing shockwave of the hit could be felt from the ground as the Fallen Hero was sent flying away into the forests below. Alyxia and Toyo were making their way across the war torn battlefield to reach Shellfort proper when they stumbled from the shockwave reaching them. The earth shake from the crash as an explosion of dirt and flying trees in the section of forest the enemy had been punched down to only further made them nearly collapse to the muddy ground, but the duo were quick to pick themselves up and continue on their mad dash towards the fortress town.

As they approached, they found numerous Shellforters and what looked like bandits hogtied in a massive pile all staring towards where the fight was now ongoing. One of the Shellfort soldiers noticed them however, and raised his weaponry in response.

“Command: Halt!” As the two friends skidded to a stop, one particularly battle worn Shellfort soldier wielding a halberd and missing an arm stepped forth between the soldier and them.

“Statement: Be at ease, Brother Sophus, I do not think these are enemies.” The larger war machine rumbled our before turning his optics towards them. “Query: Tell me, small ones, are you with the Blessed One who has come to save us all?”

“‘Blessed One?’” Toyo said as if to feel the words in his mouth. “You mean Kevin? We’re his friends.”

“Statement: Then it would seem our miracle has thrice blessed us.” The Shellforters rumbled. “Request: Please, friends of Kevin, what can you tell us about our savior?” The other Shellforters crowded around them even as the battle literally boomed mere miles away, eager to hear their tale.

“We, well,” Alyxia cleared her throat before awkwardly smiling at the Crustacean machines. “I’m Alyxia, this is Toyo, and Kevin is…..Kevin. It all began a few weeks ago-“

 

Anger is a funny thing. It simultaneously focuses and blinds those it affects, it dulls the senses yet makes them sharper than ever. It was a popular theory for a time on Terra that the size of a person was directly proportional to what emotions they could feel at a given time, the theory positing that the smaller the person, the less emotion they could feel at any one time due to a lack of space for more than a few at a time. As Kevin body slammed the Fallen Hero through a set of trees and left a furrow into the ground, a small part of his mind was wondering if maybe, just maybe, that theory held any weight.

The rest of his mind was too busy kicking the Fallen Hero in the ribs with round-house kicks at the rate reserved for machine guns to bother caring about what that little rational part thought or cared for. For his part, Sol was having the time of his life, his laughter intercut with violent coughs and grunts as this tiny creature was beating the snot out of him.

Kevin found the Fallen Hero's lack of attempts to defend himself even more infuriating, so he grabbed him by the leg and spun him around before lobbing him at a bolder hard enough to shatter it, and the two trees behind it.

"HA!" Sol howled out. "HAHA, OH, THIS IS GREAT!"

"Stay down!" Kevin yelled out.

"Nah!" Before Kevin could continue his assault, the Fallen one flashed forward and kneed the smaller male in the jaw, sending him flying into the air, before flashing again to a position over Kevin and high kicking him back down to the ground hard enough to crater the ground. He followed it up with a falling elbow, only to be stopped midair by Kevin erupting from the dirt with an uppercut to Sol's face that left him flipping through the air. He found himself grabbed before he could stop spinning and the next thing he knew, he was being piledrived into the dirt. The force of the impact flattened several nearby trees, and left Kevin growling in frustration as his enemy just laughed and started to pick himself up again.

"Oh, this is great!" The wolf-eared man declared as he cracked his neck and snorted out bloody phlegm. "I don't know who or what you are, kid, but this is the best fight I've had in years! I'm Sol Wrathbane." He declared as he jabbed himself with his thumb. "Sun Fighter. I'm rank Hardened Topaz, what about you?" Kevin blinked. On the one hand, this 'Sol Wrathbane' was not a good person. A very, very bad guy, in fact. On the other hand, he had stopped fighting to introduce himself, so it was only right he did the same. With a grunt, Kevin acquiesced to an introduction.

"I'm Kevin." He grunted out. "I sell Llamas." He didn't bother giving Sol a career title or Rank of Power. He didn't have either to his name, unless you counted 'Llama Seller' as a title, not that the Adventurer's or Hero's Guild did. Now it was Sol's turn to blink.

"Stop messing around, you don't sell Llamas." Rather than argue with him, Kevin just took out one of his premade business card's and politely tossed it at Sol like a throwing blade, who caught it before it could hit him. He inspected the item in question and his eyes widened.

'Hello, I'm Llamapalooza Employee #001, Kevin!

I am an authorized seller of Llamas and Llama accessories of the Llamapalooza Llamaglomorate brand!

'

"....Yo, what the fuck?"
"Tier 1 swearing is impolite!" Kevin gasped out before performing a leaping dropkick to Sol's face for daring to sully the polite conversation they were having with such foul dialogue!"

"Aight, we back at it." Grunted Sol as he reached to the nearest tree before yanking the trunk out of the ground and using it to smash Kevin away, before tossing a pair of solar blasts at him for good measure. For his part, Kevin kicked the incoming plasma balls away, one harmlessly detonating in the air, the other landing several dozen meters away and turning a patch of forest into a glass monument. Kevin stopped as he heard the distinct cries of wildlife being spooked by the violent explosion, and his stomach sank.

"Here I come!" Sol shouted as he rushed in and began to furiously kick and jab at his smaller opponent. Kevin, however, just blocked all the incoming attacks as he considered what to do. If they continued their fight here, as he had foolishly allowed to happen, the forest, its creatures, and the people in the fort nearby would be in danger of the fight spilling out further and causing damage, possibly claiming lives. If he took it to the air, or another destination, that wasn't really solving the problem because at their level of power, vast stretches of distance was one solid kick away from one another.

He could take this to the upper atmosphere, but that only magnified the problem as one solid hit could result in them spilling the fight over who knows where across the horizon. With his options narrowed down, that left only one viable thing left.

"Alright, we'll do that." He muttered to himself as he reached deep to activate his power.

"You say some-whoa, glowing eyes!" Sol said before Kevin rushed in and wrapped his arms around Sol's waist. "What th-get off!" He started to hammer down on Kevin, not noticing the portal opening up behind him before Kevin kicked the air hard enough push the two of them forwards, zooming past the forest and into the portal at Mach speed.

Which made the resulting impact to the solid rock that was the ground of Kevin's first dimensional border world powerful enough to result in a mushroom cloud of dust. Coughing, Sol got up and looked around as the dust cleared, quickly assessing his new local. He looked up in time to see the final remnants of the portal shutting above them, leaving him staring at a black, starless sky, the horizon a border of mountains and a dim glow like an evening twilight all over the place.

"Okay, hold up, time out." Sol said, motioning for a pause. Kevin, who was in the middle of throwing a roundhouse kicked, politely erased his momentum mere inches away from Sol's head. "Where are we?"

"Oh, this is my border world!"

"....I beg your pardon?"

"Yeah, it's the first dimensional layer I made between the normal dimension of our native reality and my Infinite Llama Plane." Sol slowly, painfully blinked.

"....First?"
"Yeah, I was fine with just the one, but Pappou insisted on making several dimensional layers, for safety's sake." Kevin explained as if he was talking about common weather. Now, Sol wasn't what you would call a scholar. Indeed, his fight-junkie attitude was enough to easily have him be written off as a typical meathead. However, even he was knowledgeable enough on the concept of pocket dimensions for the sheer implications of what was just said to settle and weigh on his mind.

".....Okay.....What the actual fu-"

"NO SWEAR!" And with that, the momentum Kevin had eliminated from his foot not only returned, but actually came back with triple the force, sending Sol flying into a mountain and cracking it in half. What would knock the senses out of someone instead knocked Sol back into the game, and whatever despair he might have had evaporated as the opportunity to fight a being as powerful as this was too good for him to pass up. Grinning a vicious, evil grin, blood dripping from between his teeth, eyes wide in a feral look, he uttered his next words loudly enough to be clearly heard from the mile's separating the two of them.

"Fuck it, we ball!"