The Marshland Ruler

As we traversed the next area, we stopped to take a break from travelling. Setsuna looked at the sky once again, getting lost in thought, but quickly broke out of her trance when she noticed me walking up to her. She looked at me and I looked at her.

[Commencing Heart to Heart Sequence]

[Setsuna's Bond Percentage: 8%]

[Setsuna's Mood (Friendly): Relaxed]

[Setsuna's Affinity Rank: Acquaintance]

"Hey Set. Is everything alright?" I asked and stood beside her looking at the sky.

She also looked at the sky and held her grimoire close to her chest. Her Heart Meter began to beat a little faster. "Y-Yeah..Why do you ask? Do you think there is something wrong..?" She answered in her usual soft voice.

"Well you seem to always be thinking about something. I was just wondering what you were thinking about? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." I answered and looked at her.

Setsuna looked down and looked at the ground. She was afraid to speak on her thoughts. She didn't have the courage to do so, but I understood and was about to change the topic, but she spoke up. "I was thinking about yesterday...when you saved me from hurting myself and you took most of the pain for me. I was also thinking about how you saw me naked and didn't act weirdly or anything...You seemed sensible and so kind. You just remind me of my old friend.."

"Your old friend...What were they like?" I asked and watched her sit down against a tree. I sat down beside her and she scooted closer to me.

"She was...really nice and would do anything for me. I liked her a lot, but ever since I was called upon by Bravulla...It hasn't been the same. My entire being seemed to be sucked into the game and I can't leave. She said something about me holding a power only I could hold." Setsuna answered.

"Power only you can wield...Were you by any chance a top ranking player?" I asked.

"I was number one in Japan for the game. I had such good units and my favorite weapon of all time. I had the Eternal Grimoire...It was a weapon that only I could wield because I won a tournament there rewarding an item called the Eternal Stone. It was something that you needed to even make the Grimoire. I was so happy and I was so famous and..." Setsuna looked down.

"I understand how you feel. I was top five of the USA servers. Practically unbeatable, but I was seen as number one when I didn't feel like I was. Even though I win most of all the tournaments I attend, I do lose some because I come unprepared but people view me as number 1 in the server." I said and noticed her looking at me in awe.

"I have seen you before...I watched a tournament from you and you were amazing! I was inspired by your style of battling and your strategic plays. I always wished to be like you in terms of strength and strategy." Setsuna said.

I smiled and looked at the sky. "Well you can learn now. I am always willing to share my strategies with you." I said then pulled up a heads up display of my past battles. I sent her my battles and a friend request.

She accepted my friend request and looked at my past battles and watched them in awe.

[Setsuna's Bond Percentage rose to 20%]

[Affinity Rank UP!]

[Setsuna's Affinity Rank: Amicable]

[Setsuna's Mood (Friendly): Happy]

[Heart to Heart: Successful!]

"Seems your Mistress seems more happy with Master around her." Yuki smiled and looked at Dreva.

"Yeah she does. I haven't seen her so attentive in a while. I guess talking about her thoughts really help a lot instead of keeping them to herself." Dreva nodded then looked at Yuki.

After a few minutes of a watching my old battles, Setsuna and I stood up then went over to our units then we all decided to continue forward. We traversed the area and heard some screeching from the harpies and Stormwings. We noticed a Unit walking forward and I was about to summon by weapon, but Setsuna stopped me. She walked forward and held out her Grimoire.

"I want to take the lead this time..." Setsuna said, looking determined to impress me.

I stepped back and watched her. I crossed my arms and looked at my units who were also preparing themselves for battle against the Harpies and the Stormwings. The Stormwings caused it to rain and set the Field Effect. The field effect in its strongest state since we were at the end of the dungeon. I scanned the unit in front of us.

Name: Bolt Captain Chao

Rarity: Three Stars

Element: Thunder

Weakness: Earth

Resist: Water

Type: Speed

Level: 30

HP: 3,992/3,992

MP: 204/204

ATK: 192

DEF: 101

MATK: 120

MDEF: 103

AGI: 410

LUK: 130

"Mistress, are you sure you don't want Master Shin to join the battle?" Dreva asked.

"I can't get stronger if I never fight for myself and always dissociate from my surroundings. I mustn't lose focus on why I am here." Setsuna said then her grimoire began to flip through pages quickly and she changed her element to Earth.

Chao dashed forward towards Setsuna and summoned his lightning pistol. The orb on the pistol shined brightly as it was being boosted by the rain and the Field Effect.

"Witch's Protection!" Setsuna bellowed and cast a barrier over herself and all of our allies.

Chao pulled the trigger and a powerful bolt of lightning crashed down on Setsuna's barrier, but was reflected back to him. Chao looked surprised and was hit by the bolt of lightning then an explosion happened. I looked impressed and checked was Witch's Protection did.

Skill: Witch's Protection

MP Cost: 40

Description: Casts a barrier over self and all allies. The barrier reflects all magic attacks for 15 seconds at double the damage.

"Wow. Now that's actually a good skill against this dungeon." I said and watched Setsuna.

Setsuna's barrier deflected more thunderbolts from Chao then her barrier shattered into magic particles once the duration ended. "Spirit Boost!" She bellowed and boosted her magic stat.

Her Leader Skill activated and she noticed Chao dashing to her. He shot another thunderbolt at her from his pistol. The thnderbolt hit her, but she took one damage from the attack then she used Arcane Blast, shooting a powerful beam of Earth and Thunder energy at Chao. He looked surprised then noticed a shield appear around his body. The beam hit the shield and an explosion happened.

I noticed a new unit appear on the battlefield then decided to scan them to see who it was.

Name: Sky Queen Caris

Rarity: Three Stars

Element: Thunder

Weakness: Earth

Resist: Water

Type: Magic

Level: 30

HP: 2,994/2,994

MP: 603/603

ATK: 99

DEF: 105

MATK: 312

MDEF: 291

AGI: 134

LUK: 155

"These units are progressively becoming stronger and stronger in early dungeons..." I said to myself and looked at Setsuna.

Setsuna dodged the multiple blasts of magic from Caris then dashed forward. "Witch's Protection!" She bellowed and summoned a barrier over herself and her allies again.

The barrier began to deflect magic attacks back at the enemies. Setsuna and the others were fighting hard to defeat the enemies. Soon the harpies and the Stormwings were gone. Chao and Caris panted and fell to one knee. Neither of them could deal any significant damage to Setsuna.

"Burst Skill: Witch's Gates!" Setsuna bellowed and held her arms out then her grimoire shined brightly and a gate made of elemental energy appeared in front of Chao and Caris. The doors of the gates opened then a powerful beam was released at them, blowing them away and defeating them. They yelled and turned into magic particles.

I walked forward to Setsuna and she looked at me, smiling. "Well, that was quite the performance. I can say that I am quite impressed with how you handled them. Using Witch's Protection to protect you and our units from magic damage plus your ability makes you take 1 damage most of the time."

[Setsuna's Bond Percentage rose to 28%]

Yuki and Dreva walked to us and smiled. We looked at each other then heard a loud roar. We looked around and I noticed an axe crashing down at us then pulled Setsuna to me, making her avoid the axe. A man landed on the ground and his lightning aura surged. Shelly and Ophelia ran to us.

"Who the hell is that?" Shelly asked.

The man had long orange hair tied in a low ponytail, purple eyes and a scar down his right eye. He didn't wear a shirt, but wore red pants and silver armored boots. He looked at us and his eyes shined brightly.

"I must...destroy! I'll kill you all!" The man roared and picked up his axe then got in his stance.

I looked at him and scanned him.

Name: Lightning Lion Aaron

Rarity: Five Stars

Element: Thunder

Weakness: Earth

Resist: Water

Type: Breaker

Level: 24

HP: 5,435/5,435

MP: 291/291

ATK: 523

DEF: 379

MATK: 192

MDEF: 133

AGI: 311

LUK: 259

[WARNING! WARNING! Boss Unit Detected!]

"He's definitely equipped with Augmented Spheres. We need to be very careful when fighting him. Good thing is there is no field effect so he's not boosted, we should still act accordingly." I said then summoned my sword.

"I'll start us off!" Shelly dashed forward to Aaron. She went straight for a Burning Guard.

Aaron grabbed Shelly and spun her around then threw her and roared then a lightning bolt struck her. Shelly screamed in pain and was sent crashing into the ground by the bolt of lightning.

"He countered the Burning Guard...with a grab." Ophelia said surprised.

Aaron looked at Ophelia and smirked widely then dashed to her. Ophelia looked surprised and went for a Spring Rush, shooting ten arrows at him. He deflected the arrows and jumped into the air.

"Terra Shield!" Dreva yelled then a shield made of earth energy blocked Aaron's attack. He grunted and looked at Dreva. Dreva taunted him and ran off with Yuki following behind her.

"I don't think that was a smart idea...!" Yuki said worried.

"I know, but we can use our Dual Burst Skill to weaken him!" Dreva said then stopped and looked at Aaron.

"I've got you now!" Aaron roared.

"Gravity Shot!" Yuki bellowed and hit Aaron with her spatial magic, causing Aaron to not be able to move.

"Let's do this!" Dreva smiled and nodded.

"Okay!" Yuki nodded.

"Dual Burst Skill: Death's Hope!" They bellowed and an ominous fog surrounded the area. A skeleton emerged from the ground and laughed evilly then unleashed a powerful beam from its rib cage, hitting Aaron and causing an explosion to follow behind the beam. The entire party was healed and gained an attack and magic attack boost by 45%.

Aaron groaned loudly as he was blown away. He slid backwards then vanished in lightning speeds and appeared in front of Dreva. Yuki used Dark Rescue on Shelly to warp her in front of Dreva then Shelly used Burning Guard, parrying and burning Aaron. She used Blazing Thrust immediately after parrying Aaron's attack. She lodged her lance into Aaron's body then raised him off the ground with her lance then slammed him down.

Aaron groaned loudly then stood up in a dazed state and his weak spot was exposed.

"This is it." Ophelia said then took aim. "Burst Skill: Petal Shower!"

She shot an arrow in the air then the arrow dispersed into thousands of petals and struck Aaron. He groaned loudly then she combo'd into her Floral Shine, blasting him with a powerful beam of earth and light. Aaron looked at the beam and grunted then was hit and an explosion happened. He was blown away into a puddle and slowly dispersed into magic particles.

[Boss Unit Defeated!]

[Congratulations! Stormy Marshlands Cleared!]

[Party Earned 2000 EXP!]

[Battle Spoils]

[2,450 Gold, Lightning Feather(s) x10, Thunder Stone(s) x6, Stormwing Claw(s) x40]

[Area Clear Rewards]

[Summoning Stone(s) x1]

"Finally we are finished with this dungeon. This was shorter than we anticipated, but it seems like the Grand Order is afraid of us now. After Yoshimune's death it seems they aren't attacking us as often anymore." I said.

"The Ruins and Graveyard are going to be a piece of cake if that's the case!" Yuki smiled happily.

"Do you want to join us?" I asked Setsuna.

"I actually want to train more...After this battle...I found inspiration to find that power Bravulla spoke of. I'm going to try my best to find it and next time we meet, I will challenge you to a battle!" Setsuna smiled.

"Heh...I'll be looking forward to it then." I smiled and crossed my arms.

"With that said, I believe this is where we part ways." Dreva said.

"Yeah. We will meet again." Yuki smiled.

[Setsuna and Dreva left the Party]

I waved at them and walked forward with my units following behind me. We headed to the next dungeon. We were nearing closer to the Tower of Aclia bit by bit. I was more than ready to fight Developer Matsuta and stop him from making the Goddesses' progress go faster.