Each day passed by extremely slowly for the people within the capital. All civilians and those unable to fight had been evacuated to the countryside, along with all of the new recruits. The only ones left in the capital were the nobles, high-ranking knights and generals, and merely a couple thousand elite soldiers.

The Heroes failed to realize what was going on, merely thinking it was a local tradition. As most heroes did, they forced their own cultural values upon those they met, and would always get angry whenever someone didn't abide by their own values.

The king himself felt exasperated. He had read that heroes were hard to handle and often were very self-centered, but these ones exceeded his expectation by a long shot.

They had progressed a lot during their time here, with the chubby hero, named Hiro, being able to fight 2 generals to a standstill using his strong body. The tall boy, named Hattori, could do the same, but he held the advantage of actually using a sword to fight instead of his fists.

The king didn't think they were weak, but he also knew they were far from strong. Only the girl interested him, for her power was very strange.

It was like a combination of nature magic and life magic. She could grow any plant she touched, and the plants would obey her. She could do a vast number of tricks and attacks using them, so much so that she was likely stronger than both male heroes combined, despite her seeming weak at the start.

The king sighed and shook his head. He would love to have more time to prepare and train his heroes and generals, but unfortunately, he knew that it was time.

Archers lined the section of the wall where it was predicted the monster would arrive. It wasn't that hard to predict, considering it was going in a straight line towards the capital.

Soldiers anxiously watched from the top of the walls. Standing on the highest point of the wall were the Heroes and the two royals, along with 5 other common-looking girls who huddled around the two male heroes.

The princess looked at the heroes for a split second before looking away, trying to hide the disgust in her eyes. While polygamy wasn't technically a crime, it was still heavily frowned upon. Not that the heroes would know that considering the extent of their learning was limited to 'how do I swing a sword', having completely ignored any political, geographical or cultural classes.

"Lanoire-chan, when is the evil monster coming? We've been here for an hour already!" Hiro said, getting closer to the princess than she was comfortable with.

She had to remind herself that, no, he was not trying to be rude, he just had no idea that what he was doing could get you executed. "Hiro...kun. I don't know when the big bad monster will come, but father said that he can feel it coming." She said cutely. Hiro's face became red as a tomato and he quickly nodded before trying to strike up more conversation.

However, as the two talked, a loud explosion came from somewhere far away. The next second, another one resounded, and then another.

Hiro shut his mouth at last and stared at the direction of the sound, his fists tightening. "I will defeat the evil monster and protect my friends!" He shouted. Hearing him, the other two heroes did the same with serious faces.

A couple of seconds after they finished their cheesy lines, an explosive roar shook the earth once more. This time, it was so close that they could actually feel the shaking of the ground.

"IT'S COMING!!" A mage with his eyes closed shouted. His teeth clenched as he tried to cancel the low-grade scrying spell he just cast, but before he could do so, his eyes suddenly exploded, quickly followed by his head.

Fortunately, the heroes didn't notice the event as they were too focused on the source of all the shaking. As each minute passed, the shaking became only more intense, before finally, a figure burst through the far-away forest.

The moment it appeared, all hell broke loose as the defenders unleashed everything they had.

"I can't see it!" Hiro cried out as he squinted his eyes, trying to focus on the blur heading towards them.

However, his words were suppressed by the thundering roar of cannons and archer fire, as well as extremely powerful spells rushing towards the incoming blur."

The ground shook even harder as the tens of thousands of cannonballs, enchanted arrows and spells reached the being and tried to hit it. Large-scale explosions rattled the earth yet again, as thunder fell from the skies and struck the location of the monster.

Because of the unexpectedly overwhelming barrage, the monster was forced to stop as its body flickered and dodged everything.

After the barrage ended, a ruined battlefield laid in front of the towering walls. The monster stood there, unmoving, but obviously unhurt. Not a single spell or attack had so much as grazed it.

Finally, it's form was revealed to the many defenders. A relatively small catkin stood in the middle of the ruinous and destroyed field, her tail slowly moving side to side as her blank expression stared straight at the wall.

"Wait, that's the evil monster!?" Hiro and Hattori both screamed at the same time. "But it's a small girl! And it's a catkin!"

Prince Leopold suddenly turned towards them and snapped, "SHUT THE FUCK UP AND GET READY FOR BATTLE!"

Along with his shout, generals all over the wall too began screaming at their men as they readied up for another possible barrage.

Instead of attacking them, the catkin stood still as she stared at the men and women on the wall. Her blank expression impossible to decipher.

Suddenly, the soldiers felt their hearts tremble as they looked back at the catkin, abandoning whatever they were doing.

An overwhelming aura erupted from her body, far surpassing the aura she showed beforehand. Along with her aura, thundering words erupted from her.

"Little King, there is no need for you to hesitate. Come forward and die, and I might spare your people..."

As her words washed over everyone present, their expressions finally revealed their true emotions.

Fear, anger, hate, and more importantly, loyalty.

At first, it was one person. But soon, the capital seemed to be in unison as they roared together, "Long live the King, death to monsters! Hail the king, fight back the darkness!"

Back at his castle, the king felt his heart tearing as he looked at his subjects and friends. He didn't want to... Maybe the heroes could still win...

"Good. Fight me, and die!" The catkin whispered, and yet, that whisper traveled through the entire area.

The next moment, cannon fire and magic started shaking the ground once more, however, it was entirely pointless, for the catkin was no longer there.

Screams erupted from a section of the wall as people suddenly felt themselves be split in half at best, or in thousands of pieces at worst. Generals roared and tried to fight back against the threat they could barely see, but they too ended up in pieces.

Seeing the intense bloodshed, the heroes, who had been too far away from where the massacre took place to participate, started to vomit at the gore.

"COME OUT, KING! I WANT YOU!" A roar shook the entire city as the blur sped away from the wall and towards the great castle.

"Shit! We need to stop it!" Hiro shouted but didn't actually move as his legs trembled. Beside him, the other heroes were in the same situation, just as the royals and harem members were.

"Fatheeeeer!" Lanoire screamed, not knowing what to do.

Suddenly, Lanoire and Leopold both started to glow. They looked at their glowing bodies with wide eyes, as did those around them.

"W-what?" Leopold murmured, his heart clenching. The next instant, their bodies began to dissolve into motes of light.

"Lanoire-chan! NO!" Hiro screamed as he tried to grab Lanoire, who couldn't even answer him as she vanished away. Leopold received the same fate and disappeared as well, despite the screams of the heroes.

Within the empty halls of the castle, two figures stood. The king on his throne, and Luna at the entrance looking at him with a blank expression.

Getting up, the king slowly said, "You... I hope you suffer in hell for all eternity. You planned this, didn't you!?" He roared but didn't move from his position.

"Planned? No. I am not that smart. I only heard rumors..." Luna said, her expression not changing at all. "Hurry up and sacrifice your family. I'm curious as to what exactly the so-called 'Final Solution' is."

"Y-you..." The king said, grinding his teeth. The next moment, his body too turned into light particles, and after a couple seconds, he was gone as well.

Luna stood there awkwardly for a moment before looking around, using her senses to check everything in the city and beyond. "So... nothing?"

Her blank expression quickly changed, however, when she felt an impossible presence swoop down from the skies.

She quickly left the castle, and the instant after she did, it exploded as a torrent of magical flames turned it to ashes. With a pale face, Luna stared at the new arrival that had arrived from the skies.

A giant dragon.