Forced Responsibility

"What the hell do you mean they won't help?" He was angered, he stomped into the floor and pointed his hand into Deus, making the dust that rested on the wooden floor vibrate

Yuki follows, "-He didn't mean it that way, Hiroki-kun"

Sen looked Deus into the eye and continued with calm but striking voice "Look, Deus. You guys just shoved an enormous stupid responsibility to us. Then we won't get anymore support?"

They were in a room, it was last night before they met with the Cenarian Army.

The clock tower's hand moved every minute, inside the dusty room of the Clocktower, they discussed matters.

"We can't help. You guys are on your own. Sorry" said by Deus

He stood near the Clocktower's hand with his hands on the back.

Turning back, he continued

"You guys... are on your own."

Sen replied "Don't."

" What do you mean by..."

Deus walks down to the elevated platform and said

"It's true, this world has been created similar to that of our world. Big bang, believe it or not"

"Lines of codes, qubits, bits, all of it simulated and created the big bang of this world. The rest remains into your imagination"

" why don't we atleast get something like support from the real world?" asked by Sen

"It's too early for you to know." "I'm sorry, truly"

He removed his cap, bowed down, pleading them

"But please! Save this world! Make it a happy ending for them!"

Hiroki uttered

"Will this be our last meeting, Deus?" asked by Sen

He rose his head and wore again his cap

"Unfortunately, yes. I cannot interact with you Players anymore."

Sen continued

'One last thing. Do they hear and monitor our conversation with NPCs, those people in the real world' 'I don't want people eavesdropping on my conversation with someone'

"I assure you, there's no camera, nor we have the capability to see nor hear in player perspective. Your privacy is safe"

"Good"

Deus looks into the horizon outside the clocktower and said

"What a damned world. The gods lost hope in this world... again"

He vanishes into thin air, his useless cap falls down into the wooden floor disturbing the resting dust. His feet didn't even leave footprints.

"I don't know whose on the good side anymore. The demons or the creators?" said by Tamotsu

Sen sat below the mechanical gears that powers the clocktower

"If we lose in this world, it's inhabitants will die."

He said to himself

'Father, what would you do?'

The scene rapidly changes, "Checkmate" said by Tamotsu

It was a flashback last night.

On the present, i was playing chess with Tamotsu.

I moved a chess piece and said

"Check"

"Check? What?!" he asked

"Crap! You lured me in, damn!"

Sen fixes his glasses and said with a dark voice

"War is all about deception"

"People with glasses are scary" said by Tamotsu and Lei

He looks to his left and sees the commander of the Cenarian Army glaring into him

"Seems that woman still mad at me, huh?" asked by Sen

"It's your fault. Idiot." said by Lei

When we crossed swords each other, her sword absorbed the damage and released it into me afterwards. Making me lose Life Points and collapsing down.

Apparently, there were genetic or passed down Skills by the Forerunners, example of that is Lei's Fallen Sword Technique.

For Charlotte's, she has the Red Smite, an indestructible red sword she inherited from the Forerunner 'Refrixia' that can be only wielded by the Refrixia family

The scene flashbacks into their duel, Sen was walking back into his team and said, he was almost collapsing

"Team...you.." He was starting to get dizzy and eventually drops into the ground.

Reaper's Blow, once dealing significant damage into a target, that target will be drained of 50% of the initial damage.

"So this is what you mean by 'Reaper's Blow" said by Sen as he drops into the ground.

Charlotte screams with worry, she rushes into Sen and healed him with magic.

"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Hey, Don't die!"

"After challenging me into a sword fight, you'd say 'Im Sorry'?, that's cute" said by Sen

"F-fool! That's because you lied of the princess's wellbeing!"

Footsteps grew closer, it was the knights and Sen's team

"Is he dead yet?" asked by Rio

"Thank you for worrying" replied sarcastically by Sen

"Does it hurt?" asked by Tamotsu

"Try..stabbing yourself" he replied sarcastically again

The knights were speaking to Charlotte as she casts her healing magic into Sen, she instructed the other mage to do so but was stopped by Sen, nodding to her.

"The wound already healed. Thank you"

"W-well that's your fault for not blocking the sword! You weakling!"

I could really beat this woman if there weren't hundred of eyes goggling us right now.

Sen stood up and said

"Too be honest, i can literally beat you using daggers only"

She stood up and said

"What did you say?!"

He sheathed his sword and mocked

"You look like a kid swinging around a sword. Just by judging by your temper, i think your lucky to lead an army"

"Take back those words, you insolent scum!"

She thrusted her fist covered gauntlet into Sen, by reaction he grabbed her hand and pulled her to him and grabbed her left shoulder, making her back lie on Sen's chest.

"When battling hand to hand combat with a human being, you should atleast practice on martial arts more, woman"

She blushed as a red potato

"Y-you! Low being! Ydon't have the right to criticize me!"

He whispered with a deathly smile

"Don't worry, i won't humiliate you in front of your men, though, i'll need you to lead an army to repel the invasion, woman"

He whispered with another sinister tone

"Be prepared"

"You insolent smug!!" her legs and arms shook from the terror

Well there we goes, that's how i made that woman mad.

To be honest, it kinds of feel satisfying.

"Sen-san? You got that weird face again" asked by Lei

"umm?.. i was giving thoughts about Charlotte-san's attack patern"

She sat on his side, Sen was sitting on a small box and she rested her back on it

"You are really a weird one."

"You called me master at the church didn't you?" asked by Sen

Lei blushed, she moves her hips and said "Where did that come from?"

"Nothing in particular"

"Sen-san, what's your full name?" asked by Lei

"Hmm, it's Ichigo Satou."

Lei curiosity jumps, she asked

"Then why do they call you as Sen then?"

"Sen is my nickname, more like a second name."

Lei had her lips covered with her finger, she asked

"Then what should i call you then?"

Sen lied his chest on the chess box and asked

"Do you still want me to be your swordsmanship mentor?"

Lei's eyes was puzzled. She looked down and was confused.

"I don't know, Sen-sama."

"I don't think I'm fit as your apprentice."

"Last night, you said that i should enjoy my teenage life, right?"

"I guess i should do it until i still have time. Plus, there's lots of SS Rank Terrans out there, I'm sure they're looking for a mentor too"

Lei was downed, she stood up and said

"I appreciate the sword, but I'm not worthy of using this if I'll quit as your apprentice, Sensei!" She held out her sword with her two hands to Sen.

He stood up from his seat, and said

"That sword was meant to fulfill my promise with your brother, or perhaps.... atonement"

He kneeled down into Lei's eye level, and continued

"-plus, our experience alone gives valuable information for us to handle, thank you, Lei-chan" He patted Lei's head with a smile.

"But-"

Sen fixed his posture and interrupted Lei

"-If you don't want the sword, you can sell it or bury it, or even have it as your personal collection"

Lei looks to Sen and said

"T-thanks.. but i feel..-"

"Guilty?" he asked

Tears fell out from her eyes, she held her hands as, and said

"Y-yes... if i was strong enough, then i could have atleast saved my brother"

"It's my fault that your brother died, Leiya. If I'd ordered my team to to help me, then... this would haven't happen in the first place."

"It wouldn't make a difference, lots of Ghosts already lumped into him the moment he was pulled. And there's also the low visibility fog. There's nothing else you could've done, atleast."

The truth is, Lei. I was the one at fault. I acted on impulse due to my past trauma. Damn

"Hey, Lolicon. It's an emergency" said by the man with his long hair on his left eye, it was Ryuu

"What is it? And stop calling me a lolicon!"

"Follow me, hurry up"

The two quickly followed Ryuu into a stone overwatch, up there he saw

"Hmm, Yuezenia is sure is a place where monsters gather." said by Sen

"What's that thing?" asked by Lei

Soldiers screamed making a ruckus, Lei and Sen arrives at an elevated platform an saw the enemy. Charlotte and the Princess arrives at the three

Charlotte asked

"Orders, Zenesia-sama?"

"We don't have a choice, we need to fight it. Commander Sen-"

"-No" repliee by Sen, agitating Charlotte

"Why?" asked by Zenesia

There were a trio of big burrowing worms measuring 30 meters in length, they were heading towards the city where The Oracles and the Army resided

Hiroki and the others arrived

"What do you mean we won't fight it, Commander?" said by Hiroki

Sen replied "That trio, it should be operating alone not by group"

Mitsou in bird form landed on Sen's head, he patted it and holded it it's side and looked it eye to eye and made it fly away

"-Then there's no problem in fighting those worms!" said by Hiroki

"Must be someone or something is controlling it, right Kei?" said by Sen

"Yeah. There's magic active in center of the triangle formation" said by Kei

"Oh? Then it must be a Worm Class Destroyer" said by Masao

"Please elaborate, Masao" said by Sen

"It's a Forerunner creation. It's a metal variant of those things. This is just a speculation but some books say it can control it's flesh counterparts."

"I encountered one i think. I was with Kenji then we bumped into a big metal worm with it's ends glowing red. In the end we never got the loot in the cave, because of that damn worm." said by Sen

Hiroki asked

"Then? Are we going to fight it or not?"

Sen exhaled, he looked back into the group and smiled

"Anyone here ever killed one of those things before?"

The Black Rangers rose their hands

"Not you guys" replied by Sen

"Wait! You have killed a Burrower before?" asked by Zenesia

"Y-yes! Zenesia-sama!" said by Haizer as he holds his magic rifle

"We use this rifles with hooks to pin down our targets and a swordsman will hack into it" he replied

Zenesia looks into Sen, visibly asking for help

"But we were in constant terror of those creatures, we keep losing against those creatures because suitable adventurers aren't scatted across the region"

"The flesh type worms will be an easy target for them. The real problem is the one we Kenji personally call 'Destroyer'." said by Sen

"What is it then?" asked by Ryuu

Sen replied bluntly

"To put it simply. It's a moving superweapon that each matallic scale has it's own magic circle"

Silence covered the group, then they replied with a loud voice "HUH?!"

They replied with succession;

"It'll be too OVERPOWERED then!" said by Hiroki

"My troops won't survive that thing" said by Charlotte

"hexagonal scales as magic circles? That's overpowered!" said by Tamotsu as he chuckles down in the floor

"I'll stay in the rear" said by Ryuu

"Idiots. It won't do something overpowered like that."

"Well it didn't [past tense]" said by Kenji

"Come to think of it, isn't your abilities inferior to ours, Kenji-kun?" asked by Rio

"Inferior?! It's just you haven't yet seen my Unique Skill, Valhalla Falls. Hmph!" he smug as he crosses his arms together

"Ohh! This is the first time I've seen a self satisfied Kenji before" said by Kei

Sen pulls out a map and opens it, he slams it into the table and said:

"Heh, we Kenji, already formed a retribution plan for that thing."

"The perfect plan it is"

The group looks into Sen's map and illustration and agreed, and thus proceeded into Sen's battle plan.

Sen and the other Oracles rode on their horses and headed towards the moving Burrowers, he took the lead, leading them to the burrowers.

The burrowers were in an expanded triangle formation, they weren't yet underground but instead used their bodies to wiggle to move forward.

The oracles was also in a triangle formation with Sen as the vanguard, oh his sides are Yuki and Masao, he fires a flare as they neared the Burrowers. The Oracles prepared for action, Kei grabbed her scarf and covered her mouth.

Yuki opened her chest area for more flexible movements and jumped from her horse as her horse gets recalled from her Summoner Ring. Mid air, she uses wind magic to boost her upwards and landing her towards the center of the formation, she chanted;

"Gravity Falls!"

The giant worms were pinned, the dust path cleared and the worms weren't worms you know of, the skin was dark and it's mouth had pincers on it's sides.

Purple magic circles illuminated the battlefield, the spell "Gravity Falls" was an AoE spell that affected everything, including the caster. The dust, including mosquitoes, and dirt was caught in the spell, Yuki groaned as she kneels to keep up the Gravity Spell.

[Gravity Falls: Heavy Gravity]

The horses that had armor didn't have armor as of now, the Adamantite horse armor was scrapped for Rio's magic. As they approached the formation, Masao, the Coordinator and Teleporter, opened his Gate.

Several Gates appeared, purple colors illuminated the horizon. As Gate was constructed, people came out it was the Cenarian Army and the Rangers. The Rangers boosted themselves using wind magic to acceptable range and aimed their Hooks as Yuki cancels the Gravity Falls spell, they shooting the worms, pinning down the Worm like monsters. The Burrowers roared in pain as soldiers rushed and attacked it. Mages spelled their spells, combination of elements volleyed the Burrowers, killing it.

Yuki boosted herself with wind magic as she retreats. The Oracles unsheathed their swords and Magic Circles, aiming it to the center. Soldiers yelled as they stabbed the creatures with their swords and magic.

"Damn! Where is it!" Tam was searching for the Coordinator Worm, the final boss

"Everyone, disperse!" commanded by Charlotte

The grounds shakes, the soldiers ran and prepared. Dirt exploded from the ground, on the center, a worm like metallic creature appeared. It's head was glowing red.

"Masao!" yelled by Sen

He kneels into Masao as Masao buffs him up with HUD magic and strength magic.

He nodded to Masao as he thanks and ran with his two swords unsheathed. As Rio finished prepping her spell, she aimed it towards the base of the creature. Rio was surrounded with Yellow Panels, it was Ancient Magic.

"Accelerating projectiles using magic." "Get ready to die, you monster"

"Rail gun"

The Adamantite horse armor was clumped together in Rio's spell. She concentrated all of her mana into a sphere and released it into a stream. Rail gun, a tactical grade magic.

The creature smashed the ground, now it opened it's scales to initiate rampage. The white scales lighted up, Magic Circles appeared on the corresponding scales and began releasing projectile attacks on the soldiers.

The immobile yet standing creature bombarded it's enemies with magic. The projectiles was a red crystal.

"Mages! Shields!" commanded by Charlotte. Green Hexagon shields appeared and protected the soldiers. Though, it began to crack, the bombardment didn't stop, more red projectiles attacked the group

But as like all hope was lost, a Dagger flew near Charlotte and pierced a heavily cracked Magic Shield. After that, Sen jumps into the broken magic circle, passing through it and said "I'm your enemy, you shit!"

The perspective changes into Sen's, a cross is on his center of view, it moved anywhere where Sen looks at like an eye tracer. Masao's Heads up Display Magic.

He creates more phantom daggers and flew it towards the glowing part of the creature, hitting it. He aims his reticle into the Dagger and teleports into it, he reverse grips his left katana and hacks the part which the dagger pierced into. He began teleporting into each dagger respectively, destroying each Magic Circle and hacking right into the scales of the creature. He repeats, and repeats, and repeat.

His actions was so fast, it amazed the soldiers. Charlotte commented "So this is the power of the Blade Oracle?".

After the tiring combo attack, he flips and backs of to Regen. His mask was dripping with blood as he breathes heavily with a smile, making her mask go with a red smile due to his blood. The successive combo attack made him go off to his limit.

"Are you sure that we should wait?" asked by Tamotsu

Masao replied

"You can poke it using your magic, but don't join in. We need to follow his plan"

He sheathes his sword and threw another set of daggers, each hitting from the bottom to the top. He locks on into the lowest dagger and creates multiple phantoms of him towards the other higher daggers, slashing of what's in front of him.

Still, the creature wasn't destroyed, after all, there was no way he could stop a Worm Class Destroyer by himself.

The metallic creature eeked with a loud metallic noise, making Sen fall back to his comrades.

He then ran towards and teleported, but failed.

"Leap Jam?!" said by Sen

The noise kept running, seems that certain wavelengths can interfere with Sen's Leap Ability.

But then, the ground exploded, another metallic creature rose from the ground. What's more, Sen was in the area of the dirt explosion.

Masao replied in terror

"What?...no....two of them?"

The soldiers were terrified, as so the Oracles. Charlotte asked Masao "Hey! What should we do!?"

Masao didn't reply, he was frozen terrified.

"Ohh! That's the one that ambushed us in that cave!" said by Kenji

He smiled

"Don't think you can get away from this time, you monster!"

Kenji chanted

"O thy hammer of destruction! I beseech your creation and appear before my hands!"

"Valhalla Falls!"

Dust and dirt that gushes away from the two creatures was counteracted by the dust and dirt that gushed away from Kenji's Super Skill 'Valhalla Falls'

A phantom of green, the sheer size of the hammer, it materializes on Kenji's two hands. Valhalla Falls!

"Die!"

He wielded the big hammer and struck the two metallic creatures, pinning it down to the ground. Hope was regained.

"What the hell are you waiting for?!"

"Kill it!"

The soldiers charged to the pinned down creatures and barraged it with magic.

Ryuu kneeled with his crossbow, he looked to his magic Red dot and fired continues arrow skills at the creatures

Tamotsu and Hiroki charged, the phantom hammer dematerializes as it had it limit. But the other creature aimed at the soldiers, charging a red beam on it's head.

"Not so fast!" said by Tamotsu

"Aegis!" he stood into the near death soldiers and struck the ground with his shield. Octagon shaped green shields covered the ground and air as the creature released it's skill attack. Red beam hits the ground towards Tamotsu, exploding it.

The shields were transparent, similar to that of the Mage's magic barrier. But the barrier cracked, there they saw Hiroki jumping successively with his spear, he yelled "Rear, now!"

Asami, Kenji, Masao, and Kaede, formed their magic circles and intentionally attacked Hiroki

The projectiles flew towards Hiroki, "Spear skill; Plunder!" the spear absorbed everything, the projectiles and the dirt, making the spear glow in white.

He smashed the creature with his spear, making everything white.

The dust and dirt cleared, Hiroki was standing atop the dead creature, he walked down and said to Tamotsu

"Hey Tamotsu, if you die that's it, there's no coming back in this world"

"Then you're saying to abandon them?" replied by Tamotsu

"If I'll die protecting that group, I'll abandon them." shocking Tamotsu

"That's the hard choice of a Defender. Look, if one of us dies, then our success of winning will go down 10%."

"I see" Tamotsu picked up his Adamantite shield and sword, he walked back to the rear and said "I have no choice then"

The ground then shakes again, the first metallic creature that appeared wasn't yet destroyed, it still stood even with Sen's rapid attacks. From the rubbles, Sen, the Blade Oracle pops out with his head forward and his twin blades in his hands. He teleported to the creature and hacked it with his sword, he repeats as the inertia of the teleportation caused him to move wrong, he threw daggers again, teleports to the creature, repeating the combo attack. The creature then lets out a metallic sound, it's red eyes was getting weaker. It falls the ground, smashing it.

"Finally" said by Sen

He descends midair using wind magic to the creature's head. Is it even a creature?

With his right katana on his shoulder, his left katana on his side. He moved his head to remove his hood. He looked to the others running towards him joyfully.

"Hmm, do they now acknowledge me?"

Rio was in Tamotsu's back, she was carried asleep.

Kaede was eating a slice of bread. Wait, what?

Kei and Mitsou's bird form was in the distance, overlooking them

Hiroki, the cool kid, spins his Spear and rests it on his shoulder

Masao, as usual, looked handsome even as a support role

Yuki, had her yellow auxiliary HUD on her left eye, a robot like loli.

Ryuu, his crossbow on his shoulder, looked like best sharpshooter teammate.

We are the Oracles, the Twelve Oracles.

On this date, we mark our debut as heroes.

---To be continued---