Behind a desk while tapping his fingers on its surface, Loen had one of his palms over his face after listening the to the story of the four before him.

“So let me get this straight… you four accepted an off-the-book escort mission to Elgrex, but your client tried to run from you without half the pay. You caught him, but in return for his life he then promised you a hidden cache that he supposedly kept in the Faelands.”

Loen’s voice then turned deeper and colder as he slammed the hand over his face onto the desk as he stood.

“Believing him, you then brought him into the Faelands despite knowing full well you either need a qualification or a permit when entering that region…”

The surface of the desk began cracking as his fingers sunk deeper.

“And finally… you lost him, only to chase after him and find… that he was a heretic… of not just any false god or demon…”

The desk strained under Loen’s pressure while he sucked in a breath with his face turning red and quivering.

“BUT A SERVANT OF THE FUCKING NISKARII!? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW STUPID THIS ALL SOUNDS!?”

The party of four trembled as Loen appeared to them as if he were spewing fire with each word.

Likely due to having gotten used to Loen’s outbursts, Gern somewhat recovered sooner, albeit slightly and nodded.

“A-Aye, Loen. I-I assure you tha’s wot ‘appened, I s-swear to me name! If we hadn’ been blocked by Fae we –“

Gern stopped as Loen raised his hand to halt him.

Sitting back down while letting out a deep sigh, Loen continued. “I believe you, Gern… knowing you, I really do. The problem here is you four did something ABSOLUTLEY stupid. Not only did you break the rules and were careless, you even antagonized the Fae, possibly even causing hostilities to break out between us! Worse still, you’ve unleashed a horror that the Guild and Fae have long worked hard to bury and put the very same Fae in danger!”

Gern grumbled as if to protest something, but seeing Loen shoot him a steely look, he kept quiet.

“…the Fae are vital to the Guild’s continued exploration and understanding of Prismordia… if we’re to lose them, not only will we lose a possible foothold in the Green Cradle, but also a means to fight the hostile entities that pour out from the Outrealm.”

Closing his eyes and sighing, he quietly added, “They and the Kaijin are the two forces that have kept the lands of the Four Empires free from the hold of Wild Magic... should we lose even one of them, the burden on our end will be that much greater.”

With a finality to his voice, Loen opened his eyes then stood as he turned and reached for a box on a shelf.

Revealing the box to be a small wooden chest, he opened it and was surprised to see the object within it glowing and vibrating.

Taking out what appeared to be a crystal sphere with silver-gold ornaments inlaid with runic symbols, he rubbed the surface with his fingers when suddenly the object flared.

“Loen… it’s about time you picked up. I’ve told you time and time again to keep this trinket with you always in case of an emergency.”

Finding himself suddenly chuckling, Loen felt relieved. It seems they’ve avoided one worst-case scenario. He also found it amusing that only one man would ever call a treasure-grade revolutionary device such as a portable communication crystal, a “trinket”.

“Jortus, if you’re contacting me then you must have received the summons from the Fae.”

“Oh? It seems you’ve somehow heard. Then this will be short. I’ll meet you there before the day’s end, so make your preparations as needed.”

“Understood.”

With Loen’s response, the crystal’s light dimmed until it ceased to glow entirely.

Placing it within his coat pocket, he then turned towards the party of four.

“We’re in luck. It seems the Fae are still willing to work with us despite what you four did. With that said, you all will be accompanying us in this little expedition.”

“W-What?” Perhaps surprised by the sudden declaration, the halfling suddenly blurted out. “W-Why us? Haven’t we c-caused enough trouble?”

Loen grunted in response. “It’s precisely BECAUSE you caused said trouble. I’ve seen the reports on you three and from what I can tell, aside from being a fairly recently formed party that’s freshly promoted, your performance is quite decent. Had you been that incompetent, I wouldn’t even think twice before removing your Guild statuses and have you kicked out, permanently."

With a sigh, Loen’s voice then slightly softened. “Think of this as your redemption and to present yourselves favorably before the Fae when the time comes for them to judge you. Even if the situation is dire, you lot still need to take responsibility.”

Hox, Delleen, and Orsley collectively grumbled in resignation. Gern on the other hand, stood straight and brought his fist to his chest in a salute towards Loen.

“I wouldn’ ‘ave it any other way, Loen. Not afta’ Fort Gubrik. I owe my men that much.”

Loen nodded in acknowledgement. Having read into Gern’s past, he knew the man would never back down against anything related to the Niskari. The incident involving Fort Gubrik in Great Albirion was a terrible tragedy he would never allow to repeat.

Turning towards one of the men who was at his side when he met with the party, Loen gave instructions. “Take them to the armory and have them ready for Niskari incursion. Everyone, begin preparation and meet at the Hunting Hall once you’re done.”

The three men and one woman that were at his side from before nodded in response as they called out. “Yes, sir!”

While they were moving as they should, Loen couldn’t help but have a nagging fear at his back.

Niskari corruption and decay spreads terrifyingly fast, and a trek to the Faelands with a large force wouldn’t take less than several days and maybe even more than a week.

He could only hope the Fae would last until they arrive. For if not… then decay and ruin will continue to spread until it becomes a cancer they can no longer remove.

***

Explosions rocked the outside of the cliffside cave while the changeling held onto the two pups and the Fae to keep them calm.

As soon as it realized what the beast had planned, it dashed deeper into the cave, but a blast took out the roof of the entrance and sealed them inside.

For a time, the explosions were fierce and the tremors wouldn’t stop.

Despite the beast’s unexpected mode of attack, the changeling didn’t believe that its ability to keep sending such devastating attacks to be endless.

Knowing the process of how calculus form in the body, it knew that they would take a significant amount of time to create and if the beast uses them as projectiles, it could only hold a limited stockpile.

As the changeling suspected, the rumbling soon stopped. They waited for a few more minutes just to be sure, but considering how quiet it became, it was certain the beast was likely spent.

The changeling didn’t dismiss the chance that the beast kept a few calculi projectiles for emergencies, but it was sure that the beast wouldn’t be able to bombard them again anytime soon.

Leaving the two pups and the Fae at the back of the cave, it made for the entrance and moved aside the rocks that sealed it.

Finally having unsealed the exit, the changeling took a look outside and saw the state of the valley.

It was complete and utter devastation. Craters littered the ground and the cliff face, and what little vegetation they had was completely decimated as the fields laid barren.

Only cracked earth and shattered stone was the remains of what was once their home.

Furious at the destruction, the changeling glared towards the beast just as it was turning around to face them once again.

Knowing this was its chance, the changeling tapped into its rage once more and began the process of its transformation.

Unlike before, it could no longer instantaneously change from the trigger. However, it no longer needed to goad the program into initiating the transformation process. The result is that while it was no longer a bothersome process to transform, it became much easier to control at the cost of the speed of the transformation.

Its pooled biomass was unleashed and it easily grew over thirty feet high; almost double the height of its previous transformation.

The two pups howled in delight, but the Fae jumped in fright since this is the first time it got to see the changeling’s true level of transformation.

Much taller than before, its main features remained mostly unchanged except for the new skull-like covering on its face. The two tendrils sprouting under its horns fused to become one large tendril looking almost like a ponytail with its base at the back of the skull-like mask.

The horns on its head reverted to antlers once more, but now they possessed deep grooves that appeared like veins glowing with pulsing blue light. Its forearms were enlarged and encased in a massive shell with its hands protruding out of the bottom while covered in plated scales. And finally, on its chest seemingly embedded was a blue crystal in the shape of a diamond. Similar to its antlers, blue pulsing veins spread outward from its torso with the crystal as the source.

Albeit its size and the parts that were altered, its general form remained mostly the same. Though, despite its new towering countenance, its size still paled in comparison to the true behemoth that is the giant beetle before it.

Feeling threatened by the humanoid titan, the beast screeched as it rapidly charged towards it.

Seeing the oncoming behemoth’s reckless charge, the changeling dodged to the side just before it was struck.

Seeing it was its chance, the changeling grabbed the behemoth by the side of its plated shell. Straining under its weight and the momentum of its run, the changeling was barely able to pull and throw it towards the cliff wall.

With a resounding boom, the beast crashed headfirst into the wall; shattering it as stone and debris fell onto it from above.

All became still for a moment, but the changeling knew that the creature wouldn’t easily be slain. The hardness of its body was unworldly since the changeling’s hardened claws were barely able to get a good grip.

Just as its suspicions were confirmed, the rubble started to shake; loosening up until the creature from within revealed itself.

Shaking off the excess debris, the creature shrieked once again as it prepared another charge.

The changeling needed to find a way to finish it off for good and could only think of one method, but in order to do so, it needed to find a way to get it to start firing its calculi again.

Charging at the changeling once more, it simply avoided the creature this time by jumping onto its back. Using the momentum from the jump, the changeling used the force of gravity to slam both its shelled arms onto the beast’s leg.

With a sickening crunch, the joint of the beast’s leg cracked as the force of the blow caused it to tumble on its side.

Angered by the pain and being unable to turn around, the gargantuan beetle raised the shell on its back once more to prepare another salvo.

Finding its opportunity, the changeling grabbed two large boulders off the ground and nimbly leapt towards the beast.

With the force of its swing, it drove the two boulders into two openings on the beast’s side. Not yet finished, it grew two more arms once again, leapt onto the exposed back of the beast, and forcibly wedged its arms into four more openings.

Screeching in pain, the beast tried to shake off the changeling, but the building pressure in its body tightened the openings that were fairly lodged; firmly keeping the changeling in place.

No longer able to hold onto the built-up pressure, the beast fired its load.

Explosions rang out once more, but this time paired with a muffled crunching as the sealed entrances on its back swelled. Unable to stop, the expansion continued until the surface of its back cracked from the strain.

Finally unable to hold, a loud tearing noise sounded out as an explosion of stone and flesh erupted from the beast’s back.

Howling louder than any of its previous cries, the behemoth slumped over when it felt its life beginning to fade.

The sound of slow thudding steps approached the beast as it slowly turned its head. There stood the changeling, bloodied and battered, evident that its body was hammered by a few of the shots at point blank. A few pieces of its flesh were even missing from its arms and torso.

The last of its sight slowly dimming, the last thing the Greater Armatect saw was the form of the changeling raising four of its massive arms into the sky; triumphant in their fight and letting out a resounding roar of victory across the valley.

***