Hostile Takeover Part 2

Luka, Blue, Viktor and Rebecca looked above them to see the dragonic king of legend, bound in chains and brimming with power. It then flew down to pick up Dande. There was no doubt about it. Dande had managed to subjugate the dragon that has the power to destroy nations.

"He tamed that thing? What is going on here?" Viktor wondered.

"This is the super weapon that will destroy Newbud City" Dande replied. "Newbud is where the Hurm royal family live, as well as a breeding ground for many businesses. With its annihilation, Hurm will be flipped upside down and chaos will wash over the country. And amidst the chaos, Blackenef Gold will take control of the now masterless cattle and rebuild this kingdom for us to rule. From there, we'll use our power to take command of these unjust human nations"

Luka rolled his eyes, dismissing Dande's speech. "So it's just typical villain antics, huh?" He said.

"Mock us all you want, you'll all get your punishment soon enough" The Jailer responded, signalling his dragon to fly away. "In one hour, we will begin our attack on the City of Newbud. If you want any chance of changing things here, you can fight me again there. See you soon, merchant". He then used a warp gate to leave the area before anyone could pursue him.

"Wait…Destroy Newbud?! In an hour?!" Rebecca said, concerned."That's bad. What do we do?"

Viktor agreed. "It's even worse with that country destroying dragon of his" he says.

"Only thing we can do right now is touch base with the others at Newbud. If Blackened Gold came for us, they may have gone for them too. They'll probably have some information" Blue explained.

Luka then nodded and said "I agree with Blue, we meet them at Newbud Castle and discuss our next move there" and with that, they continued their journey to Newbud.

Meanwhile, Zagritz was journeying with Lucia, Misha, Charlie and Emilia. That's to Charlie's map reading skills, they were making it in a steady pace despite their conundrum.

"We should make it to Newbud in about half an hour" Charlie said. "Hopefully we'll be able to touch base with the other guys once we get there"

"Thankfully" Lucia said.

Emilia was still concerned about the demon beast they encountered not too long ago. Despite her using Divinity Techniques to cut it, it regenerated that quickly. It also seemed too intelligent for a mere beast, as it clearly approached them with a motive in mind. While it being controlled isn't outside the realm of possibilities, a feeling in her gut told her something else was up with it that was more complex than that.

However, due to being in the presence of many women, Zagritz ( the powerful and influential Court Mage and Ex-Head Court Mage) was shaking like a leaf.

Misha then called everyone to a stop as in front of them was a whole squadron of demons, marching somewhere.

"Demons…" Misha the assassin said. "And a ton of them"

"On human territory? They must be planning something" Lucia spoke.

"Agreed" Emilia concurred. "Let's tail them. We could get some valuable intel"

After their unanimous agreement, the group followed the demon squad over to what seemed to be a camp. The demons all waited patiently while the group lied in wait not too far away.

"What's going on? Some kind of meeting?" Charlie wondered.

"Demons~! The time has come to make our move on the Hurm Kingdom!" A female voice said. The faces of the heroes dropped when they saw the owner of this voice. It wasn't just a woman, it was a human woman. A human woman who, for whatever reason, was commanding the demons and even had them cheering at her previous words. She was a beautiful woman with a nice figure, 'well endowed' as some might describe. She sported a black maxi dress which exposed her upper chest slightly, yet still maintaining the modesty of her outfit. She also donned a black sun hat with a large, floppy rim. She owned a head of long, glistening ebony hair, as well as two beauty marks just under her eyes. Matching the rest of her get up, she had black sunglasses rest on the top of her hat, right next to the only thing that wasn't black on her outfit: a light purple bow, that matched her bedazzling purple eyes.

"What? Are my eyes playing tricks on me right now?" Misha questioned.

"The demons are our enemies, they yearn for the eradication of all other races, they fight by their own power and only by their own power…" Emilia whispered. "So why…. What possessed them to join forces with a human?"

"It's not just any human, look" Lucia mentioned, bringing attention to a crest branded on her chest. The same symbol that could be seen on one of Marrinette's wooden puppet hands.

At the same time, the same words left their mouths: "She's a Broker!"

"In just an hour, we will wipe Newbud out, and once Blackened Gold seizes control amidst the chaos, both our sides will gain power in this war!" The black-clad belle announced. "So…let's do our best~!"

The demon battalion began to cheer once again before their commander began to move them out.

As they left, the Hero was about to take action. "I'm gonna end this right now!" She proclaimed.

"Keep a cool head, Emi" Charlie said. "You we might get some more info if we wait. We'll get her when she tries to leave then we get her"

Emilia reluctantly fell back and waited, they then witnesses the lady in a conversation with a demon they couldn't make out what kind of demon it was, as it was sitting in the shade, but from its presence alone, they could tell it was powerful.

"You're getting bit too comfortable taking charge of my troops, maltra" the unknown demon said.

Demons have a belief of themsleves being the ultimate race, fueling their desire to exterminate the other ones. Demons refer to non-demons as Maltra, which is a demon derogatory term which means 'a thing that doesn't belong' as 'maltraka' is the name of an infamous vermin in their homeland of Volstrum.

"Well our agreement says I am treated as a commander of sorts, so your gonna have to live with it, sweetie~" the lady said. The demon wasn't a fan of being infantilised, especially not by a 'mere' human.

"The only reason your even here is because of the pact between my liege and your 'Boss' person. I'd suggest you remember your place when talking to me, filthy maltra" the Demon said back in a serious but slightly annoyed tone of voice. The lady in black put her gloved hand on her mouth and gave off a light chuckle.

"Say what you will, but as long as we're in our little pact, you and I are equals. I'll let your insults slide thought, it was a little cute~" the lady said, treating the demonic being like a little kid. He scoffed in response.

"Whatever, we're lending you our man power, so you'd best keep your end of the bargain, Broker" the demon spoke.

"Don't worry~ Newbud will be destroyed and so will the royal family. We exploit the power vacuum and give you inside intel on conquering the humans" the lady said. "It'll be a breeze, now shoo. You don't wanna interrupt a lady preparing for her big day, do you?~"

The constant taunting prompted the demon to teleport away. As this happened, she spoke some words that would shock the group that was hiding not too far away.

"Don't you know it's not nice to spy on a lady while she's all alone, kids~" she uttered. This sentence flushed a wave of fear through the group. She knew that were there. "I must admit you're pretty bad at this, I knew you five were there from the beginning"

They then jumped out preparing to fight.

"Oh. You're trying to brutalise a frail, fragile, delicate maiden? What beasts~"

"Spare it" Emilia interjected. "We already know who you are, Broker of Blackened Gold!"

"Well someone's a fan, Hm?" The lady mocked. "Well I guess if you know that much, I may as well give you the full introduction. My name is Caroline Rachni, a Broker of Blackened Gold. I'm known as 'The Black Widow'. pleasure to be meeting you~. You can spare your own intros. After all, I already know you all, Hero's party, Princess of Gran and the former Grand Court Mage"

"Then I'll just have my sword do the talking!" said the Hero as she lunged into battle with the black broker.

As she attacked, the broker dodged, the battle was at a stalemate.

"I'll admit, I'm not beating the Hero herself in a head to head fight" The Black Widow said. "That being said…" the broker then lunged at Emilia, somehow even managing to get past her durable skin, albeit it was a light scratch.

"All that work for a flesh wound?" Emilia said with jest.

"I wouldn't get too arrogant if I were you… my fangs have already sunk into you~" the Widow proclaimed with confidence. The veins surrounding Emilia's scratch then turned a bright green, she then fell to the ground.

"W-what did yo-ou d-d-do?!" Emilia struggled to ask.

"It was just a little poison I whipped up" Caroline responded. "That's the power of my Unique Skill: Venom"

"Heh" Emilia laughed. "This is nothing". The Hero then gave off a green glow and got back up, rejuvenated. The Black Widow kissed her teeth.

"A healing skill? What a bother" she said. " judging from the fact that she's able to heal poison, it must be the skill Super Regeneration. That's the only thing that can heal poison infliction besides Perfect Regeneration. You'll be more annoying to deal with than I thought"

"Thanks for the complement" Emilia said sarcastically.

"Greater Poison Summon Magic: Lavander Spiders" Caroline chanted as five large, dark purple spiders the size of a large house crawled out of the magic circle. The spiders all attacked the Hero, and dragged their fight elsewhere. This allowed Caroline to take advantage of the Hero being preoccupied and thus unable to assist her allies, all of which had supporting roles. While Zagritz is a mage with the a high combat ability and thus isn't a supporting mage, Caroline remained ignorant of this fact.

"Now that she's busy, I'll deal with you cuties~" Caroline said, condescendingly.

Zagritz then blew her backwards using magic before following it up. "Greater Wind Magic: Vengance of Tempest" He uttered as wind attacks flew in all directions.

"Oh. Another strong one. That's an issue" said the lady in black as she began to counter attack.

As Charlie began applying magic buffs to Zagritz, Misha used her bat Summoned Beasts to help in the fight.

After the battle had been continuing for some time, a little sand creature flew onto Charlie's shoulder, startling her.

"WAAAAAAAAAA!" She cried. "Get it off!"

The creature then opened its mouth only for a familiar voice to come out.

"Looks like I found them!" The voice declared. The voice belonged to Zaine.

"Zaine?" Charlie questioned.

"Yeah it's me" Zaine assured to Charlie. "This is one of my summoned beasts I sent to look for you lot. I was going to lead you guys to where me and Aiden are….but it seems you guys are busy"

"Yeah some Broker is here… she has some poison attacks" Charlie explained to Zaine. "It's not your run-of-the-mill poison either. Even Emilia's Super Regeneration is having a little trouble. None of the rest of us have that skill so it'll spell trouble if we get hit. To make matters worse. She managed to separate us from Emi. She's strong so she'll be here soon, but I don't know how long we can hold this Black Widow lady off"

"I see. I understand the situation" Zaine said. "If Misha and Elder Brother are holding off the Broker, it would be wise for me to support you in backing them up. I can share spells with my little golem here, albeit the magic and skill effectiveness is reduced about threefold"

"Threefold? That's not very good" Charlie pointed out.

"Yes, it's not the best" Zaine agreed. "But it'll have to do for now. My spell allows me to instantly know where my little golems are, so I have your position right now. Aiden and I are on our way as we speak, so just hang tight. In the meantime, I'll buff you so your buffs are more effective. This is the most efficient use of the mana I can expend through the golem"

"Got it! Thanks!" Charlie said as her magic output increased, courtesy of Zaine.

The fight continues as Zagritz and Misha hold the line. The black widow uses long, durable, poison-imbued strings to attack from long distances, make it more difficult to reach her, and poison anyone who tries anything too reckless. It's the perfect combination of offense and defence. This arrangement causes trouble for Misha, as assassins usually rush their opponent with a flurry of blade and magic attacks. However, this doesn't mean that Misha was devoid of options. She put on a long glove which had a mechanism on it. As she pressed a button, a bow was able to extend from the glove. As an assasin class fighter, one must be versatile in their attacks. The point of an assasin isn't to be overwhelmingly strong, but to be swift, effective and able to catch the opponent off guard. The whole fight, The Black Widow assumed She was only capable of close range melee attacks, this was far from the case.

"Bow magic: Piercing Arrow! Fire Magic: Flamze! Duplication!" Misha cried out before firing her arrow at the Broker. The spell "Piercing Arrow" greatly increases the sharpness of the arrow while "Flamze" imbues it with flame. To top it off, the Duplication skill clones the arrow multiple times to provide multiple attacks. These arrows were enough to pierce through the string barrier surrounding The Black Widow.

"Oh well that's not good…" The Black Widow said with somewhat nonchalance. She then turned to face the assassin, only to find out she disappeared. "Hm?". Suddenly, Misha appeared behind her, thrusting her dagger in into the woman's back. However, Misha was in for a surprise.

"What?" She thought. "Her blood is….pink?". The lady's blood splashed onto Misha and she felled to the ground in pain, with her dagger's blade melted.

"AAAAAAAAHHH!!" Misha shouted in agony. Causing Zagritz to focus on her instead of the fight.

"Misha!" Zagritz said.

"Don't you know it's not nice to hurt such a delicate maiden?" The Black Widow said with jest. "As for what just happened, that is poison coursing through my veins~. I'm able to control the lethal dose of poison in my body, thus I have complete immunity to poison, while retaining any beneficial effects it may have. This poison in my blood is relatively fast acting, and is corrosive. Perfect for when someone attacks me". She then readied her strings for finishing Misha off. "I ought to teach you some manners~"

Her attack was intercepted by Zagritz using a force field in order to block the incoming assault, before Zaine's Golem used Ground Magic to drag her away from the battlefield.

"Pest" Caroline said to Zagritz. "I'll teach you some respect too!"

The fight continued as they both left no openings, however, Zagritz then changed the tempo by engaging in close combat. However, this wasn't what shook the Black clothed beauty. As she saw him, she realised something. Under close observation, he had a stark resemblance to someone. Someone Caroline knew, someone she was close to, someone she shared memories with. The fight then took an abrupt pause.

Caroline moved her hand slowly to Zagritz, before putting her hand gently on his cheek. In a confusing turn of events, she called Zagritz by a name. A name he didn't know, and a name he had no relation to.

"Barnaby?"

Zagritz looked at the Black Widow. She looked like she was sad, happy, confused and angry at the same time. But most importantly, she looked human, not some enemy that had to be put down. He saw a person with a past. One of tragedy. He saw a good soul who lost her way. He saw someone drowning in grief, just like he did when he lost his parents all those years ago.

Caroline then felt a sharp pain in her shoulder, a result of Misha using an arrow to shoot her.

"Dammit! She has poison resistance! I let my guard down!" She thought. Without any time to plan a next move, Zaine and Aiden appeared form the trees, both with attacks at the ready. And from above, Emilia, coming out victorious over Caroline's summoned beasts. The Black Widow was about to face the full force of an onslaught from the whole team. The heroes had won, or so they thought.

A large hole then appeared in the sky, with the large, menacing face of the Dragonoid Monarch Grande coming out of it. And on top of the great beast was Dande, who used his chains to single-handedly counter all the attacks aimed at his fellow Broker.

"The Dragonoid Monarch Grande?!" Emilia shouted. "That thing has been lying dormant for generations! What's going on?!"

Using his chain, Dande reeled up Caroline to the dragon's back, before getting the dragon to open another warp gate.

"Wait!" Zagritz cried out to Caroline. "This isn't over! I know you don't want to be with these guys! I know I don't know you that well, but my eyes don't lie to me! I saw good in you! You're in grief, just like me!"

Caroline relented for a moment before saying "what are you talking about? I am a Broker of Blackened Gold. I don't need your sympathy". As she said this, she shot a poison attack at the pursuing Zagritz, sending him falling back to earth.

"In half an hour, our attack on Hurm's capital city of Newbud will begin. The royal family will be killed and we of Blackened Gold will be pulling this nation's strings. You remain alive because the Boss' plans take priority over me killing you. If you value your life, please….go back to where you came from"

As Zagritz crashed to the ground, a single tear was shed from the lady in black as her and Dande flew through the portal, disappearing from the area entirely.

Zagritz was only hit with a stunning poison, rather than a lethal one, so this took no time for Emilia to heal.

"We have to move" Emilia said. "They attack in a half hour and we still have to meet up with Luka and co"

The others agreed as they made haste to Newbud.

After some time had passed, both parties united once more at the outskirts of the great "City of Life", Newbud City.

"Well well well, you all look a right mess" Luka said, playfully.

"You guys aren't ones to talk" Zaine said back.

"Oh yeah, they got their asses beat, I'm a different story though" Luka said, arrogantly.

"And who's fault is that?!" Viktor, Rebecca and Blue shouted in unison, which Luka responded to by sticking his tongue out.

"Anyway, I'm assuming you got attacked by a Broker too?" Emilia asked Luka.

"Too?" Luka said. "Let me get this straight… there are two broker's here?! And the legendary-all-destroying-king dragon too?! This day just keeps getting better…"

Out of nowhere, a great explosion was heard in the city and the dragon was seen on the horizon. As it flew into the air, it used its power to create smaller versions of it, which dispersed across the city to wreak havoc. The princess then made her move.

"Greater Spatial Magic: Partition Kingdom!" Lucia chanted as she used her large amount of mana to create a partition area the size of the city. This partition area allowed damage done to the area of effect to be reversed once the spell is undone, stopping any real damage being done to the city. However, Lucia's magic needs a lot of focus, and thus she's unable to move from the area she's in while maintaining the partition area.

"Well then. I guess we've got no choice. Sacred Inventory, we're going to battle!" Luka announced. "And since this is a country level threat, guess I might have to let loose a little~". An inventory screen then opened, followed by Luka browsing through its tabs until he found something. He nodded then pressed it, manifesting two daggers, both looking like they were crafted by the hand of some master blacksmith. One was a dagger with a white with a gold outline and a black handle, while the other was a black blade with a silver handle and a white handle. Both were radiating with some kind of strange power. Without a doubt it was one of those weapons.

"Is those the Yin and Yang Blades?! That's one of the Weapons of the Grand Star!" Zaine exclaimed.

"A who of the what now?" Luka asked with a 'what are you talking about' look on his face.

"One of the most powerful weapons in existence! It was forged by the same person who made my sword." Emilia said. "What are you of all people doing with such a thing"

"Oh I found it in a dungeon I was looting. I was just gonna sell it" Luka said, to the disbelief of his cohort.

"SELL IT?!!" Everyone said in unison.

"What?! I see cool looking things in dungeons and they're practically useless every time! How was I supposed to know this one was good?!"

The remainder once again shouted in tandem: "READ THE ITEM DESCRIPTION!!"

"Oh…" Luka said. "Regardless we need a game plan. They seem to have split up. Misha will stay here and protect Lucia while she keeps the barrier up, The two tanks will deal with the demon battalion, Zaine and Charloe will deal with the dragon spawn. That just leaves me, Zagritz and Emilia to deal with the brokers and the dragon"

With that they split up into their groups. Zagritz made it to Caroline, and the Hero-Merchant duo made it to the Jailer and his pet.

"This isn't over, Caroline! I know you can break free from all this!" Zagritz said.

Meanwhile, The other two were walking to the two foes.

"So how about a good old team up, for old times sake?" Luka suggested with a wink.

Emilia smiled then said "I guess I don't have a choice". They bumped fists then made it to their opponents. Emilia would fight the Dragonoid Monarch Grande, leaving Luka to handle the Jailer.

"Well then, Jailbird, ready to get your ass beat again?" Luka asked.

"I won't make the same mistake I make last time… this time, I go all out from the start!" Dande said., putting on two gauntlets.

And so, the stage was set. The battle to decide the fate of the Hurm Kingdom was underway. Will it stand, or fall into the Boss' grasp. All hands in the balance as the two forces clash.