With the shattered mirror shield and his sword broken to pieces, Vortiger fell on his knees in exhaustion.
"You may have defeated me, whelp. But know this. Darkness shall always-"
Marius decapitated Vortiger before he could finish his monologue as the battle between Marius's party member and Vortiger's small warband was still ongoing.
Then, he heard Rino scream and saw her fell on her back as the Hitokiri was about to slice the mage in half. Before the masked slayer could deliver a final killing blow, Marius threw his spear at her chest. She fell on the ground and the masakari axe fell on her instead.
After hearing the loud thump of the Hitokiri falling on the ground, Rino opened her eyes to see her would be murderer lying on the ground with her torso split in half. Marius grabbed the decapitated head of Vortiger and threw it in front of the warband who were closing in on three of his companions.
Vortiger's soldiers looked at the severed head of their master and then they shifted their gaze to Marius, who they still recognized as the Blackstone warlord. The very presence of the former warlord sent fear into their hearts and they ran away in fear. Marius's party member could finally lowered their guards as they were exhausted from the fight.
"Glad that's over. I hope we don't accidently ran into an another bandit camp." said Elena.
"Indeed." said Marius, even thought he intentionally led his party into Vortiger's camp.
Then, one of Vortiger's guards, the male Jormungandr warrior, approached the party with his hammer in hand. Marius stepped forward to protect his companions as he summoned the spear back to his hand. Then, to their surprised, the Jormungandr drop his weapon and knelt before Marius. The warrior lowered his head as a sign of submission.
"Should we really take him in?" said Elena.
"The next wave draws near. A stronger fighter like him will give us an advantage." said Marius.
Marius approached the viking warrior and slammed his spear on the ground, "You may come with us."
The Jormungandr got up then grabbed his weapon before sheathing it on his back.
"We're done here." said Marius.
"But what about the deserters?" said Leandros.
"They have routed. They will not be our concerns." Marius then turned and headed towards their camp.
The others followed with Rino straggled from behind.
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At night, the Spear Hero party sat around the campfire. The Jormungandr sat with his one hand holding on to his hammer and the other holding on a cooked meat while he chewed. Meanwhile, his three new comrade just sat there awkwardly in the presence of a pale warrior.
"Do you have a name?" said Rino.
The pale warrior ignored her while he kept chewing his meal.
"Can he even understand us?" said Leandros.
"He understood Marius though." said Elena.
"So, about what happened back the capital." Rino whispered.
"Yeah. What happened back there?" said Elena.
"You tell me. I don't know anything." said Leandros, trying to keep the secret.
"Leandros... You know something we don't know." Elena glared at Leandros.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Marius trusted you more than us two. What's going on here?"
"Oh dear, looks like it's my turn to patrol. Goodnight everyone."
And Leandros quickly walked away and disappeared in the woods, leaving the two girls with the Jormungandr.
"He knows something." said Elena.
Deep in the woods, Leandros found Marius sitting under a tree with the wooden Filo figurine in his hand.
"What is it?" said Marius.
"Elena got too curious. I have go away or else I'll spill the secret."
"And him?"
"He's... Mostly quite."
Marius then put the wooden figurine back inside his satchel and got up.
"Guard the surroundings." said Marius.
"On it."
Back in the camp, Elena and Rino heard Marius returned. Their leader took one look at Elena before heading back to his tent to sleep.
"I think you should stop digging around." Rino whispered.
"That's not gonna stop me." Elena whispered.
They were suddenly startled by a loud snore and saw the Jormungandr sleeping while still sitting upright.
"Alright. I'm hitting the hay." Elena got up and retreated to her tent.
Rino got up then went to her tent. A few seconds later, she returned with a blanket and covered the Jormungandr with the blanket. The Jormungandr suddenly woke up and glared at Rino.
"I-I though this will keep you warm tonight." Rino said nervously.
The Jormungandr grunted before going back to sleep, and Rino slowly backed away towards her tent.
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Back in the capital where all the heroes gathered, the Spear Hero party prepared for the Wave while still on their horses. Marius looked around and saw Filo exiting the blacksmith's shop along with the Shield Hero. Marius then turned to look at his party member on horseback, all ready for combat.
"How long do we have left?" said Leandros.
"Close." said Marius.
"By the way, what's with the hook and rope?"
"I might need it for the boss fight. I will teleported along with our horses so all of you are able to cover more grounds and help the villagers."
"That means you're going alone?" said Elena.
"Yes. The sooner I can stop the wave the better." said Marius.
"Be careful, Sir Marius." said Rino, while sharing the same horse with the Jormungandr.
Marius nodded. He looked up on his GUI and saw the timer reaching zero.
"Be prepare!"
With the ability from their weapons, all four of the hero party were teleported into the village that were attacked by the wave.
"Wait for me in the village once the wave is over!" and Marius galloped away to find the wave boss.
"Let's go! The villagers need us!" Leandros led the Spear Hero party towards the village.
"Hey!" said Elena.
"What!"
"I saw Marius looking at one of the Shield Hero's slave! Know anything about that!"
"Not now!"
___________________________________________________
Marius's horse galloped deep into the woods looking for the Ghost Ship. Marius stopped his horse to give his mount a moment to catch its breath as he scanned his surroundings and the sky above him.
Then, he heard the woods started rustling. Marius readied himself for a fight when suddenly, small forest monsters emerged from the bushes. He was prepared for the attack when he realized the monsters just ran pass him.
After the last monster disappeared from view, the surroundings suddenly became dark. Marius looked up and saw the Ghost Ship floating above him and he immediately gave chase. The Sword Hero and the Bow Hero party saw Marius chasing the Ghost Ship as they were also chasing it through the woods.
"Was that Marius?" said Itsuki.
Ren then started to hasten his pace, not wanting Marius to reach the Ghost Ship first.
___________________________________________________
As the Ghost Ship float through the air, Marius managed to keep up and mustered up more speed to get below the ship. He took the hook attached to the rope from his side and spun the hook around with the rope then let it loose towards the ship.
The hook got stuck in the wood and Marius grabbed hold of the rope. Carefully, he stood on top of his horse and started pulling himself up. He climbed up the rope and managed to grabbed hold of the ship before the wood snapped away with the hook.
The Spear Hero climbed and reached the top deck of the ship. Once he set foot, Marius pulled out his spear and readied himself. A loud terrifying shriek was heard. Marius turned and saw the Skull Captain on the other end of the ship. Then, all of the Kraken's tentacle emerged from the other end.
Marius started charging at the Skull Captain while dodging the Kraken's attack. The Skull Captain swung its sword and Marius parried it away before thrusting his spear through the skeletal opponent with the spearhead hitting its shadow behind it.
The Skull Captain crumbled on the floor as the purple beings emerged out of its shadow. Marius turned around to fight the Kraken but saw Ren and his companions already onboard the ship. The Sword Hero and his companions struggled to kill the Kraken as all their attacks did nothing.
"Swordsman! Attack the shadow! Not the monster!" said Marius.
"How would that work!" said Ren.
One of the tentacle bashed Ren and he fell on his back. The Kraken lift its tentacle up to smash Ren but Marius came and thrusted his spear, piercing the Kraken's flesh. With the tentacle recoiled back, Marius ran to the side and plunged his spear into the Kraken's shadow.
More of the purple beings emerged and the remains of the Kraken slid away from the deck. The purple beings started to merged together, forming into the Soul Eater to fight the heroes.
Marius quickly ran to Ren, "On your feet!"
"I don't take orders from you!" Ren said as he stood up.
A loud roar of the fully formed Dimensional Soul Eater pierced their ears. The Soul Eater has its eyes on Marius when Itsuki, who just boarded the ship, took a shot at the beast but it did little damage.
With the Soul Eater having the height advantage, Marius started looking around. On the deck floor he saw an old rusted anchor and makes a run for it.
The Soul Eater saw Marius and fired a large green energy ball on Marius path. The impact threw Marius back, throwing him further from the anchor.
The Soul Eater ignored the other two heroes and charged at Marius. The Spear Hero quickly got up and readied his spear when something fast hit the Soul Eater out of nowhere.
"You can't catch Filo!" said Filo as she disappeared again to dodge the Soul Eater's claws.
Marius quickly got back on his feet and sprinted towards the anchor. He unleashed the Flames of Ares to gain the godly strength to lift the anchor up and threw it at the Soul Eater. The hardened metal hit the Soul Eater when it's not looking and the beast fell hard on the deck floor with the anchor, almost tipping the ship over.
With the Flames still powering him, Marius took the anchor again and began bashing the Soul Eater to weakened it more before he pierced the monster's body with the hook of the anchor. The Soul Eater swatted Marius away and started flying up to escaped but Filo continued delivering her powerful kick to stop it from escaping.
After Marius recovered, he grabbed the chains that were attached to the anchor and started pulling the monster. Marius pulled each of the chain's loop while the Soul Eater tried to pulled Marius away.
"Filo! You have to kick it harder!" Naofumi commanded.
The Shield Hero summoned an Airstrike Shield above the Soul Eater. After setting her foot on the monster's head, Filo jumped up hard enough that she pushed the Soul Eater down even closer to the floor.
The filolial queen placed her talons on the Airstrike Shield then she pushed herself toward the Soul Eater. Her powerful kick made contact with the Soul Eater and completely weakened it. Feeling the monster no longer struggling, Marius pulled the chains harder and it yanked the beast out of the air, hitting the deck even harder.
Marius took out his spear and charged at the Soul Eater. It fired its green energy at Marius but an Airstrike Shield blocked the attack, disappearing to let Marius through. The Soul Eater tried to fire its attack one more time but was met with the spearhead through the roof of its mouth, followed by Filo landing on the Soul Eater and the spearhead pierced through its head.
Marius held on to his spear as the Soul Eater useless attempt to free itself slowly died down. Once the beast is truly dead, Marius pulled his spear out and the Soul Eater head fell on its lower jaw with a loud thump.
"Spear Guy is really strong!" Filo, in her human form, jumped down from the dead Soul Eater and landed in front of Marius.
"Indeed... And you fought well." Marius slowly reached his hand out to Filo, wanting to feel her touch once again as the Flames vanished.
"Hey!" Naofumi yelled.
Marius sighed and he pulled his hand away while looking away, "You should go back to your master."
Filo then went back to her master.
"Didn't I tell you to stay away from him?" said Naofumi.
"But-"
"No buts. We're done here."
Then, another Soul Eater emerged out of nowhere. Everyone prepared themselves when suddenly, rain of glowing shrapnel pummeled the second Soul Eater until it drop on the ground dead.
"I've seen enough."
A long haired woman in black kimono landed on the carcass of the second Soul Eater.
"Something's different this time. Allow me to introduce myself first. My name is Glass." Glass then shifted her gazed at Marius, "But I'm sure you remembered me."
Marius gripped his spear tighter.
"What is she talking about?" said Naofumi.
"Last time, it was you who killed the Dimensional Soul Eater, Shield Hero. But now it's different." Glass approached Marius, "Shall we began our second battle?"
Ren suddenly charged at Glass with his sword drawn and Itsuki fired his bow. Glass caught Ren's blade with her blade fan and deflected Itsuki's projectile, hitting the base of the ship's main mast and it tumbled towards the Shield Hero.
Filo quickly grab both Naofumi and Raphtalia away from the falling mast. She then diverted her attention towards Glass and charged at her. Before her talons could reach Glass, she effortlessly flipped the filolial queen then pushed her away. Marius quickly caught her and with the strength from the Flames.
"Don't bother. I've already seen this before." said Glass.
"Filo. Take Raphtalia and your master away from here. I will take care of this." said Marius.
Filo nodded. She went and scooped Naofumi and Raphtalia to her back then jumped off from the ship.
"You two! This is not your fight! Go!" said Marius.
Itsuki and his companions immediately jumped off from the ship to safety. Ren took one last look at Marius before jumping off the ship with his companions.
"You will face me alone, centurion?" said Glass.
Marius slammed his spear at the floor, "Whatever kept you from hurting others."
"You've come along way since our first fight. Let's see how far you've become."
Glass fired multiple shrapnel at Marius and the warrior deflected all of the projectile with the spear as he charged closer to Glass.
Once Marius got close enough, he thrusted his spear at Glass and she parried it with her bladed fan. After all his attacks were parried several times, Marius stepped back.
"You certainly got better with your attacks. Too bad it didn't leave a scratch." said Glass.
Marius stepped in and continued to attack. And after one of his attack got parried, Marius hit one of Glass's arm with the end of the spear's shaft and swung the spearhead at Glass's arms, cutting through her sleeve.
Marius immediately backed away with his spear up in defends. Glass recovered from the attack and saw the cut on her flesh.
"All that for a mere scratch?" said Glass.
Glass lunged at Marius and delivered a flurry of attacked with her bladed fans. She managed to unarmed Marius and she thrusted her fan into Marius's torso, hoping to kill him like she almost did. But Glass's hand were caught by Marius. She saw Marius suddenly burst into flames and with the strength of the war god Marius punched Glass in the face.
Unlike last time, Marius's punch did damaged Glass and she was tumbled backwards. While she was disorented, Marius went and grabbed the anchor and threw it at Glass. Glass saw the incoming anchor and she sliced it in half with her fan. But she was caught off guard when she saw the fallen mast descending towards her.
Glass quickly blocked the mast with her bladed fan and Marius summoned his spear. He threw the spear at Glass and it sliced the side of her abdomen, drawing blood. Glass threw the mast aside and covered her wound with her hand.
"How? How did you get stronger?!" said Glass.
As Marius approaches Glass while still empowered by the Flames of Ares, Glass endure her wounds and prepared herself. Then, a yellow light appeared behind Glass. A warrior with a greatsword made of obsidian emerged from the light, grabbed the spear then threw it back at Marius. Marius caught the spear before the spearhead could reach his head.
"I told you." the dark armored knight spoke to Glass, "You can't defeat him this time."
"Apollyon! Your death is what I want!" Marius shouted.
"I would gladly test your new strength but the time is up." Apollyon grabbed hold of Glass, "We will meet again. You know when and where."
The two floated towards the yellow light and disappeared. The ship suddenly started to descend and collided with the nearby cliff.
Marius quickly ran and jumped towards the cliffs. He dug the spear deep into the rocky wall and held on as the Ghost Ship fell in the ground. Dust rises after the ship collapse and the sky returned to it's blue color, signaling the end of The Third Wave.
Now that is over, Marius started climbing up using the spear as a climbing tool along with his strong hands.
___________________________________________________
After they've helped enough villagers, the Spear Hero party waited for their leader.
"I hope he's okay." said Rino.
"Don't worry. He's a tough bastard." said Leandros.
"We got enough time to rest. All this heroing is making me sleepy." said Elena while she laid down under the shade of a tree.
"Gretar."
Elena got up and was surprised to hear a word coming for the Jormungandr, "What did you say?"
"Gretar. My name is Gretar." said the paled skinned norse with his hand placed on his chest.
Elena turned her head to Leandros and Rino to see them just as surprised as she does.
"It's a pleaaure to meet you, Gretar." said Rino, "My name is Rino."
"I'm Leandros." said Leandros.
"And I'm Elena." said Elena.
Gretar bowed his head.
They then heard galloping coming towards them and saw Marius returned on horseback.
"Gather your things. We are done here." said Marius.
"Should we stay longer and help?" said Leandros.
"We will leave it to the Shield Hero. We move! Now!"
___________________________________________________
"He is not the same weakling that you almost killed last time. Be grateful that I came just in time to save you." said Apollyon.
"He has the very same flames that you have! You know why he is stronger!" said Glass.
"The flames alone did not make him stronger. It only awoken something in his blood."
"His blood?"
"If only he knew that there's something more in his bloodline."
"So, that means we have two heroes to watch out for?" said a red haired man with a scythe on his back.
"Indeed. But trouble yourself with only the Shield Hero. I will handle the Spear Hero." said Apollyon.
"Alright. He's your protégé."
___________________________________________________
In a wide open field, Marius and Leandros stood under a tree in the shades.
"So that's why you told us to leave the village early?" said Leandros.
"Yes." said Marius.
"You can't keep this secret any longer. You have to tell them everything."
"But will they believe me?"
"I could get you drunk again."
"No. Not like that."
"Well you have to tell the truth somehow. Maybe it'll help you getting back with Filo."
"Or she will stay away from me evermore."
"You worried too much."
Suddenly, Elena jumped out from the tree and surprised the two.
"Ahah! I knew you were hiding something!" said Elena.
"You've been following me?!" said Leandros.
"What are you doing here?" said Marius.
"Listen, big guy. You can't keep this secret any longer. Especially not from us." said Elena.
"No choice. You have to tell the truth now." said Leandros.
Marius sighed and gave up on the whole keeping the secret.
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Rino's and Elena's eyes were wide open in disbelief, except for Gretar who only listened in with his arms crossed.
"I... Did not expected all that." said Elena, "Is this all true?"
"I had him overly drunk and he confessed. Yes, all of it is true." said Leandros.
Rino's eyes teared up, "And your son sacrificed himself to save you..."
"Yes..." Marius lowered his head with regret.
"Wait wait wait, does that mean before all that happened, we were following this Motoyasu guy?" said Elena.
"Yes. But he did not have Leandros nor Gretar... It was mostly women." said Marius.
"I am actually glad you're the Spear Hero in this new time."
"But I wished I wasn't. The path for the Spear Party led to the hatred I received from them. Yet he forced my hands. And now his blood is on mine."
"Marius..." said Gretar, "You... Are a better cheiftan."
"He's right, you know." said Leandros.
"All of you willing to follow me? Even after what you heard?" said Marius.
"You gave us true purpose, Marius." said Elena, "I wouldn't imagine what I gained if this Motoyasu guy as the leader."
Marius got with a small smile on his face and placed his fist on his chest, "I am honored to have all of you as my companions."
And with that, all of them stood up and did the same gesture as a sign of respect to their leader.