Journey of The Mythic Heroes

Fraud Acts of Heroism Part 1

When we (me, Lauren, Amy, and Celica) arrive at the party, we were stopped at the door. "They're with me." I say, and we were let in.

"I've never worn anything so extravagant before, Austin." Lauren says happily, wearing a beautiful orange dress that pushed up her chest.

"Don't get used to it. We're not coming here again." I tell her, and she pouts.

"Okay, okay. Fine. Let's just enjoy ourselves, okay?" She asked, leaning on my chest.

I smile, and nod. "Okay." I agree, and I immediately sit on a giant windowsill. I let the girls roam around the party on their own.

The party was beautiful, as the castle's grand hall was filled with guests, mostly nobles. People dancing, giving cheers, praising the Heroes. Not me or Naofumi, of course. We didn't fight the boss and leave Lute Village to die, like the others, so we weren't respected. While the three others go out to get themselves some personal glory, me and Naofumi stayed behind to protect and save people. Like Heroes should.

Celica walks over to me, holding a plate of food. "The food is delicious, Master Austin. You should have some." She says.

"No thanks. I'm fine. Go enjoy yourself." I say, looking out the window again.

"Well, that won't do." Lauren says as she takes my hand. "Dance with me." She demands.

"No."

"C'mon, it'll be fun." She drags me onto the dance floor against my will, and starts dancing with me. "See?" She asks with a giggle.

I was blushing, but followed the rhythm of the music. I noticed Naofumi had the same idea I did, not engaging in the party. Raphtalia was feeding him some food, and I noticed Motoyasu and Myne together, the red haired lady whispering something into his ear. I have a bad feeling. I stop dancing, and go over to Naofumi. "Austin?" Lauren followed me, and we arrive in the crowd just in time to see Motoyasu challenge Naofumi to a duel.

"Naofumi. I challenge you to a duel." The Spear Hero says.

By some orders from the king, he was forced into the duel. Motoyasu then looks to me, and sees me with Lauren and my party. "You, Austin. You're a slave owner yourself, aren't you? Then I challenge you as well. If I win, you free your slaves." He says, assuming my wife and Amy are my slaves.

"Now hold on! You can't just-mmph!" Lauren speaks up to object, but her mouth was covered by a hand, as well as my other party members.

"Let then go!" I shout, and pull my gun, but the knights in the room all drew their swords. "They're not my slaves! They're my family!" I shout at them, but no of them believe me. I look at Lauren, and look into her eyes. She's telling me to calm down, so I breathe, and calm myself. "You're picking a losing battle. If you fought me, you wouldn't get within 10 meters." I say.

"We'll see..." Motoyasu growls, and walks off to prepare for the duel. It was a two against one. How he plans to beat both me and Naofumi at the same time is beyond me.

As me and Naofumi prepare, I noticed he couldn't pick up any weapons. The match was one sided if he didn't have me. "I know this is the first time we fought together, but I'll try not to get in your way." Naofumi says.

"Actually...about that." I say, and look him dead in the eyes. I bow. "Please, let's work together." I say.

"Huh?"

"Think about it. You can't carry any other weapons, and I can't fight back if he gets too close to me. It takes time to switch between skills. But if you and me work as one, I'm sure we'll win." I tell him.

He was silent at first, but nods. "Okay, let's do that." He agrees. "I have a plan. Here, listen up.

Once preparations were complete, we walk out and face Motoyasu, the Spear Hero. "You both can turn back, you know?" He informed is.

"And let you take my family? Yeah, sure. Like that's gonna happen." I growl, and change my gun to a P-90, with automatic and semi-automatic options. Naofumi changes his shield to a square shape. I don't know all of his skills, but having a defensive tank in front of me puts me at ease.

"Begin!" The king above us announces, and Motoyasu starts a dash, as does Naofumi. I start to run around him, and take aim from the side.

At first it was just normal jabs and attacks, and Naofumi would block them. Whenever our opponent's spear was parried, I shoot about five shots to chip his HP down. Soon, Motoyasu was put into a pinch, as Naofumi had snuck some guests into the arena. Balloon monsters. The weakest enemy in this world, but still a pain to deal with. Naofumi had been hiding them under his cape the whole duel, waiting for the opportunity to us them.

All was going to plan, as we had the Spear Hero trapped in a Shield Prison with about three Balloons. You should hear him scream. Like a little baby. When Naofumi let the poor man out, we both walk over to him. "Give up yet?" I asked.

"Never...!" He groans, struggling to get up.

"Oh. Okay then." Naofumi says, and hands me a Balloon. "I'll get his face. You focus on his crotch." He tells me, and smirk.

"H-Hey, no...! Wait!!" He screams pathetically as we both were about to let the monsters loose when a sudden blast of wind knocked us off our feet.

I look up to see what had happened, and see Myne, the bitch, holding her hand up, smirking. "YOU BITCH!!!" Naofumi shouts at her, forgetting about the challenge.

"Naofumi! Gah!" I shout, and was knocked away from Motoyasu's spear handle, knocking me to the ground. After that, he manages to knock Naofumi down as well.

He cheated. I mean, we brought monsters into the arena, but that's because Naofumi can't fight on his own. He cheated! I get up. "That was unfair!" I call out.

"What? What are you talking about?" Motoyasu asked, clearly oblivious to his teammate's interference.

"Your teammate used magic to knock us off our feet!" Naofumi barks. "Everyone should've seen! Right?! Right?!" He looks at the crowd, turning. No one said anything.

"C'mon, it was so obvious!" I shout as well. Nothing. Just blank stares. "They don't believe us..." I mutter.

"Due to Lord Motoyasu's victory, the slaves in the Shield Hero's and Gun Hero's possession will be freed." Said the king.

"I demand a rematch!" I shout, but was denied. The guards pinned me and Naofumi down as they remove Celica's and Raphtalia's slave crests.

"Sir. These two don't have a crest on them." On of the priests say.

"Strip them and find it, then." The king ordered, as they started to remove Lauren's and Amy's clothes.

Watching this angered me, and sudden adrenaline kicked it. I stand up again, the guards on my back, and I grab my gun. In my vision, a new skill was unlocked. Cursed Series? Sounds fun. I activate it, and feel overwhelming rage and power flow into my body. My gun went through a drastic change, becoming a mini gun. Or, in better words, a gatling gun. The barrels spun a bit as I lifted it easily. "Get away from them." I say.

"What?" The king didn't seem to hear me.

"I won't repeat myself." I say and charge up, getting ready to rain hell.

"Guards!" The king called, and he was soon protected by shields and the Spear Hero.

"That's fine. I'll just slaughter you all." I say with a wicked grin. Now fully charged, I speak. "Bullet...Hell." I whisper, and let loose my bullets. The shields took massive damage, but didn't break yet, so I kept shooting. Then I stop, and realize I shouldn't be shooting the king and his men. I should shoot the bitch next to him. I focus my gun head at the princess, and let loose more hell. Motoyasu was quick with his spear, as he managed to block my rapid flurry of bullets.

"Austin, stop!" I could hear Lauren calling to me.

"Don't worry, honey! I'll make quick work of these cheaters!" I shout back to her, clearly insane.

From behind the Spear Hero, I see Myne raise her arm again, casting a spell to put me to sleep. It succeeds, and fall on my back.