The First Misunderstanding within Us

…

The Naprean Vanguards joined the line of defense alongside Drugo's marines, preventing the relentless charge of monsters from getting through.

"Aily, please hang in there," said Nina. She grabs her younger sister's arm firmly and casts healing spells.

"Greater Heal!" Nina continued on and casts, "Healia!"

Slowly, she regained power and able to lift her body. Her eyes are no longer flattened, she blinked a few times. Her hazy sights now could see clearly. "Huh… s-sister…?" she said palely as she saw her sister's face clearly. Her sister cuddled her tightly, thanking with full gladness that her healing magic worked out. Marco sniffled, he felt touched that she was fine. Scias' eyes soothed by this sight, he doesn't know what to say anymore.

"Ooh, such a heartwarming reunion," said Drugo exaggeratingly. "Now, help us defeat that giant moth thingy!" he ordered. Nina wiped her eyes off and stood back up with Aily beside her. She glanced at her and smiles, "Let's do this," Aily agrees gladly. Her spirit now rises intensely, especially when her sister is beside her.

"Scias," Marco called. "Ready for round two, mate?" he asked. "Uh," he nodded lightly and unsheathes his katana. Unknown to everyone else, Scias is actually trembling for some reason, but not from fear.

Deep in his mind he thoughts, "I'm a miserable man."

…

"Uncle Drugo, those creatures are mostly weak against fire!" Marco stated surely. "Hoho, is that so?" Drugo replied. "Heh, get back in there, Marco. We veterans will deal with this first hand."

Marco sighs and smiled. He rejoins his friends in the back of the defensive line.

"Boys, you heard him, right. Time to play fire: load the cannons with heavy explosive shells!" Drugo commanded.

—Aye, aye, captain!—

The Regate Marines operating the cannons quickly loaded the cannons with different loadouts. The Naprean Soldiers looked at the marines with full curiosity.

"Sir Drugo… what are these 'shell' things? Weren't cannons were supposed to be loaded with iron balls…" the Naprean General asked. "Oh, these? I bet you're going to like it, General Rhun. These projectiles are deadlier and far more threatening than that of simple iron balls."

—All readied up, Captain!—

Drugo smirked. "Let me show you, the power from 'our' world, General." Drugo then commanded the front defense covering the cannons to step aside quickly.

Mothrui says, "Hahaha! Foolish humans, breaking your formation line will only lead you to be devoured by my insects!"

*ZIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNG*

Mothrui flapped its wings once and released a screeching sound again. All of its controlled monsters now charge at the opening line, thinking it as a weak point.

"Now… FIRE!"

Five cannons fired simultaneously, the shots break the intenseness of the battle. Within seconds, the first shell collided with a scorpion monster. It explodes violently, followed by the rest of the four shells detonating as they collide with the monsters, killing them outright.

"…amazing," said the Naprean General in amazement.

"Reload!" Drugo commanded. "Now, general… it's your turn."

"…Affirmative,"

Soon, the battle rises into a greater chaos in the middle of the city.

The Regate Marines had themselves equipped with a specially infused arsenal that existed for this specific purpose. The vanguards on the other hand, had powerful weaponry along with their capability of an earth elementalist.

Six vanguards cast an earth magic, "Sharp Stone!" the ground pops out a bunch of solid giant thorns, killing many monsters. "Incoming fliers!" warned one of the Napreans of an approaching horde of hornet monsters.

"Annoying pesky humans… I'll show you TRUE power!" Mothrui stated angrily. It commanded the hornet monsters to shot their stings from afar. Within seconds, the skies above them are filled with plunging stings that will rain down to them.

General Rhun quickly commands, "Everyone, behind me, now!" The soldiers and marines quickly backed off behind the Naprean General. The general then smashed the ground beneath his feet with his fists.

"Earthly Wall!"

The ground shaped into a protective giant shield. As a result, most of the hornet stings got deflected. But it didn't end there, the demon moth kept on summoning more and more hornet monsters to diminish its human foes.

"Grrrr… Sir Drugo, this wall wouldn't last forever. Someone has to stop that demon general!" General Rhun stated while hardly sustaining the earth wall. Drugo thought, "Heh? That moth thingy? A demon general?"

Drugo clears his throat, "Ahm… a demon general…" he thoughts again, "In our previous world… there were demons, but no such thing as generals or leaders like that…"

Drugo shakes his head and focused back. "We'll deal with it, cover us!" he ordered. Drugo then draws his sword and tells his boys about his plan:

"There's a demon general up there—*CRAAASH*—huh?"

Just when he's going to hatch a plan to his marines, Marco jetted off with his Thunder Step and strikes the moth demon. "Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! Frickin' RETARDS!" he stomped the ground relentlessly.

Ten minutes earlier…

Marco, Aily, Nina, and Scias talks about the moth demon, whereas the rest were focusing on the attacking monsters.

"There has to be a weak point in that demon, right?" Marco asked. Nina who had perfect memory about the demon generals conveys, "Unfortunately, we're faced with the second strongest demon general… but fortunately, it has an absolute weak point."

Nina continues on, "Mothrui is exceptionally weak against fire."

"Then it's my work," Scias said quickly. "But it can move in an insane speed, despite its habit to stay still in one position for a long time. We must bypass its speed… or if possible, take it down without it noticing," Nina stated.

"Then I'll do the job. My Thunder Step will be faster than him, now." Marco confidently stated. "No, Marco. It's faster than you. There's a point where it looked like it teleports around the field."

"Nina." Scias called. Nina looked at him. "Trust him," he said. "Nina, uh… I forgot to tell you about this… Thunder Step effect insanely rises when I've ran for some time. And recently, I just did."

Suddenly, the Naprean General commanded everyone to get behind him. "Quick!" Marco said.

They're behind the earthly wall, safe from attacks for now. "That's another problem… those stingy monsters might hurt us real bad if we're too reckless," said Marco.

"Let me cast you the Ironclad again!" Aily suddenly jumps in. "Oh…! Oh, yeah! But wait… can you do it? You've casted a lot of magic before."

"Hmhm…" she shakes her head, "I can cast some more. Besides… my sister had healed me up!"

"It's decided then."

"Scias, let's ruin this demon's whole career," Marco stated confidently. "Yeah…" Scias agreed to him, his fighting spirit returns.

…

Aily casted Ironclad once more to Marco and Scias, she maximized her focus to get the best result.

"Ready, mate?"

"Anytime."

Scias gets on Marco's shoulder, "Urg-geez… hey, you're not so heavy, dude." Marco said funnily. "Don't start a joke now, Marco." Scias turned him down. "Heheh, fine, fine."

Marco equips his aviator goggles. With that, his eyes will not suffer from direct contact with the wind.

…and so, their attack begins!

Marco lowers his body angle as he prepped to blast off. His feet then lights up with jolts of thunder… and finally, he made his first step and instantly disappeared from plain sight, leaving only trails of lightning.

He bypasses his uncle in a blink of an eye. Mothrui realized this sudden move, "What the—too fast!" its eyes couldn't follow. Marco stops for a second in the open, then jumps up high into the sky instantly. "Alright, Scias… Off. You. GO!"

Marco thrusts Scias with full might into the demon general from above. Scias penetrates through the wind in the air. He had his hands on his sword. His rate of descend increases greatly. Therefore, he gets ready, "Be my guinea pig, you monster," Scias said silently.

"Sword Art…" Within a second he pulls his sword, but halfway he stops, his eyes shudders in shock, "Ngh?!"

In front of his eyes suddenly appeared a giant ball of fire aimed right at the demon general.

"…attacking from above won't defeat me—GAAAAARGH!!!" Mothrui screams painfully, followed by a big explosion. The explosion releases heat waves and flames.

"SCIAS!" Marco shouted out loud from above, he can't use his Thunder Step in midair. Scias cancelled his attack motion and crosses his arm in front of his face as he meets the hot fire…

…fortunately, he survived. He crashed landed through the fire. Most of his upper clothing was burning as he escaped the swallowing flame. Without thinking any further, Nina and Aily jumped in to save their friend.

Drugo gashed his teeth in aggravation. "Grrr… frickin' retards… BOYS! Protect those fools!" he commanded his marines to charge and defend. "General! Grab that little flying retard!" he shouted.

"As you wish," General Rhun stops sustaining his recent magic and quickly heads to where Marco possibly will land. He then casted:

"Stone Pillar Reunion!"

The ground shaped into a pillar and changed form into a slide-like structure, giving Marco a safe landing.

…Marco's plan was failed. But it wasn't from their false move or whatsoever.

Beneath the raging fire, Mothrui emerged with uncountable burn injuries. Its wings were burned and disintegrated. Most of its body was turned into charcoal bits, leaving only the main body and its damaged head, which has lost its upper left part. Even out of the flame, some fire still lit on its body surface.

"Hack… gahack… what happened…?" it asked in its thoughts.

"Something… appeared out of nowhere and destroyed major parts of my body with a power equal that of a fire element… it was too much for my body to hold out… but even so… why couldn't I sense its mana energy?!

…that fireball landed straight at me without me knowing it coming… who casted it…?

No… wait…" Mothrui thought about it again. It finally realizes something. "…it can't be…" Mothrui remembered the humans using unusual technology in fighting them. "It's not a fire magic…? It's manmade weapon…? Where… where did it come from…?"

Mothrui forced its head to shift sideways despite the deathly pain it suffered. "Nnnggh… h…huh..?!"

…

Mothrui saw a huge monstrosity, larger than its caterpillar monster. "What is… that…?" Mothrui saw the monstrosity had its big cannon hole aimed at it directly. It encloses its distance each second.

The big cannon lit up brightly, before suddenly unleashing a big fireball in a close range to the moth demon. Mothrui cannot move itself anymore. It lost most of its limbs. It succumbs to its injuries. And in the next moment…

…Mothrui met its death. "The sun… had swallowed me… huh…?"

The same explosion as before erects once more. The explosion lit up in flames and heat waves, causing both Napreans and the Regate Marines to retreat to a safer distance. Mothrui's body disintegrates inside the raging fire, thus completely gone from the face of the earth.

…

Marco and the others wondered who killed the moth demon. Scias saw the big monstrosity. He then looks onto the vehicle and saw the guy on it… and his past memory, suddenly reenacts. His eyes shuddered:

"That… man…

…that face…

…even in different colors, but I can still remember his face…"

The Napreans and the Regate Marines both shared the same shock when they see the flying banner of the Imperial Army right in front of them. Captain Drugo, General Rhun… both of them looked above the monstrous vehicle.

They saw the Imperial commander, Mastermind.

Their eyes meet to each other for three minutes straight. Drugo thoughts, "Above many retards I don't want to meet, this guy is on the top. Why do I have to encounter the most unpleasant bastard, now…?" his eyes shivered in fear. General Rhun thoughts, "No wonder… their attack went nearly successful. Their greatest commander was unleashed in the battlefield. But now…"

The Naprean general and the Marines captain shared the same thought:

"…this is the true decisive battle…!"

…

..

.

"Crap, we accidentally faced with their forces. What shall we do, sir?" General Rezzo asked. "Well… we managed to find the source of the lightning elementalist… but who could guess we were faced by a numerous amount of forces?" Mastermind said. He then realized one of them.

He then sighs unpleasantly, "Oh… boy."

Mastermind breaks the tense atmosphere by starting a conversation. "Hard to believe that you and your fellow explorer friends are here, eh, Captain of the Regate Marines…"

"You know me?!" he replied harshly. "Of course, a diligent and one of the most influential man of the Aredanian explorers…

…besides, it isn't fair for you fools to know my name while I don't know yours."

Mastermind jumps off from the tank. Everyone reacted instantly with their weapons in hand. If commanded, they'll unleash all they had to end the Imperial commander's life.

"My, my… touchy today, aren't we?" Mastermind said in slanted eyes.

"Who… is he?" Aily asked. "He brought that big canon… I've never seen one cannon with an armor covering it entirely..." She added.

"Y-Yeah..." said Nina. She had herself ready whenever the Imperial forces retaliates. "That man… is one of my nightmares when I was a soldier… grkh!" Scias gashes his teeth.

General Rhun walks forth, "Why did you attack our peaceful community?"

"Why, you ask? Oi, oi, did your king not tell you?"

Mastermind's words stopped him. "What do you mean?" Rhun asked. "Obviously, I had stated to him that I meant to embargo his supply lines. With all due respect, I don't have any intentions to start a war against you Napreans. Truly—"

"Then why did you charge forth and invaded our land?!"

"—at least let me finish my words, you obtuse-minded human."