Mature Content Warning: There should be no mature content in this chapter. Maybe some foul language, but I don't think so.

Author's Notes: This is the last chapter of the current episode! I'll start posting the next episode around Monday. :) One more episode till the end of this volume. Yay!

Speaking of volumes. I have decided to not release the 'professional' version of Nocturne this week. I will instead, increase its length quite a bit and release it as a much larger novel instead of as a light novel. I figure a 300-400 page story is worth waiting until the middle of next month to read, since the version right now would be around 150-180 pages.

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Chapter 32: Prepare for WAAAAUUUGGGHHHH!!!

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Morning came swiftly to the shrine as the occupants began to stir. Nina yawned lightly as she hopped out of the tree she had chosen to settle into while performing over watch of the house and then looked around. The guard shift that she had shared with Makina was over.

The Balvulf was stationed in another neighboring tree. Guard duty sucked but it had allowed them time to reflect while they tried to safe guard the area. Generally, they would patrol the grounds for an hour then set up in a different location for a few minutes. It was not a perfect situation and it could be a bit boring but it was necessary. They were at war after all.

She had reported the shout in the woods back to the SOG (sergeant of the guard) last night, but Cerene had said not to worry about it. Of course, that could have just been due to laziness.

Every night a minimum of three people in the harem, plus Aaron, would stay up to guard the place so that their friends and family could sleep safely. It sucked, but it had to be done.

"So, what do you think the plan will be for the day?" asked Makina. She knew Scott was planning something soon, but no one knew what was coming up for certain.

Nina shook her head. "No idea. Though, he did say that since we insisted on keeping him on as the leader then it was time to start strategizing."

Scott’s tiger landed nearby with a flap of wings and regarded the two girls for a moment before lying down and closing its eyes. Neither of the overly tired guards wanted to know why it had blood drying around its mouth, or where said blood had come from. Nina shuddered involuntarily as she recalled the shout from the night before.

The massive feline blinked its wide yellow eyes then lifted its head and looked into the forest. Nina and Makina span around and got into combat stances. If something had gotten the tiger’s attention it was probably important. The tension did not leave them until they saw Scott and Pirouette walk out of the woods.

"Wha?" asked Nina as she took in the sight of them. It looked like they had been in some kind of hard battle! Scott and Pirouette were both covered in scratches and possessed visible bruises, not to mention how their clothes had become filthy and torn. What manner of hellish combat had they faced in the woods?

The two woodland battlers stopped as they realized they were caught but had the decency to flush brightly.

"Scott! What happened! Who attacked you?" asked Nina excitedly. Whoever it was they were gonna pay!

His eyes widened in shock. He was at a loss for how to answer that particular question. Pirouette started to answer in his stead, but the door to the shrine opened and out came several of the others to see what the noise was about.

"What's going on?" asked Cerene in a tone of worry and confusion. She had head someone shouting out here.

"Wha.. What happened to you two? Was there a fight?" asked Reina before her nose began to notice a strange but somewhat familiar scent in the air.

"Someone dared to strike my master! A samurai cannot stand for such things! I shall avenge you my master!" cried out Yoko before she leveled her wooden blade in a menacing manner.

"Uhm..." began Scott as he tried to get in a word edgewise.

Soon Aaron was on the scene as well asking questions. His appearance was followed by Amanda. She wandered out into the yard while wearing her aquamarine colored jammies and fuzzy slippers. She yawned loudly then blushed after being caught doing such a thing.

The rest of the group came out by ones or twos, including Grandpa Henrick, until everyone was congregating in the open air trying to decide what was going on. Scott and Pirouette glanced and each other and shook their heads. It promised to be a very interesting morning after for them.

Several hours later, after the situation was explained, and many gasps of surprise and good natured ribbing occurred, the group met in the sacred fire room to discuss a few things. It was the most accommodating indoor location for a group their size.

"So, Scott... What's the plan?" asked Apollo. He was one of the first to speak up the day before when it came to keeping Scott as the group leader. When Scott had tried to give up leadership it had come as a major shock. He had been the only thing that really held them together in the first place.

His insistence that he should never have been in charge was shouted down loudly. While he had delivered a massive emotional blow to everyone it was not completely out of left field that he knew more than he had let on. He had mentioned the stories and fiction he had read or seen back home to them before, but they had largely seen it as just a weird quirk. It was only the depth of his knowledge that bothered everyone, and even that had been suspect due to the differences between reality and entertainment..

Scott nodded to the cat before he took a deep breath. "If we are to win this thing we have to stop being a day late and a dollar short..."

"Huh?" asked Kaina Harm. She was not really part of the group, but she did serve Ashe Naile. Naile, despite her occasional quarreling with Scott, did consider herself to be nominally part of the situation if not his group specifically.

"Just an old expression... Basically, we have continually managed to barely survive battles with what amounts to nothing more than the monster of the week. If we can't find a way to be more effective against the weaker monsters of the Dark Empire then we have no hope of ever defeating their generals much less the true evil that they serve."

"Then... there's..." began Scott as he thought about the power scale of their current enemy compared to the true final battle, if such does occur. Metallica, Metaria, whatever the fuck she calls herself in this timeline, was a termite compared to the true 'final boss' that might show up at some point.

"So, what you want us to keep training?" asked Makina. She had been working really hard, but she had not improved that much recently. Only actual fights really increased their experience and power in swift order. They had all been fighting each other so much in practice that it was no longer much of a stat increase to battle each other.

Scott nodded at her. "Yes, there is that. However, there are also other possibilities."

"Such as?" asked Aaron curiously. He was interested in anything that gave them an edge. They had had too many close calls in their battles for any possible aid to be let slip through their fingers.

"Well, for starters we need to find the other four guardians. I know one of them at least exists in this world." admitted Scott thoughtfully.

"Tessa!" exclaimed Apollo helpfully. He had seen her after all.

"Huh? You know who the other guardians are?" Nina asked the little white cat.

"We've seen her on the roof of the shrine..." admitted the cat.

"Wait. Hold up! You've seen another guardian... here? Why isn't she with us?" squawked Cerene excitedly. This was like, important news or something!

Scott answered her. "Honestly, I'm not sure. She might be stuck guarding the Time Gate, door, whatever it is here. She might be any number of things. She can't stay long whenever she shows up. The only two times I have seen her it had been a full moon. She admitted to at least having a hand in me being here in the first place, but did not seem able or willing to tell me more."

"What is the Time Gate, Master?" asked Yoko. The wanna-be samurai girl felt incredibly left out since she did not have any connection to the past life that the other girls and her master had. She was but a simple samurai and not a Reincarnated princess after all.

"They are a doorway between times... a passage between the past, present, and future. A type of time machine." stated the man. He could definitely see the uses of such a thing. Too bad they probably would not be able to use it.

"Wait... Hold up... A time machine? We could... We could... We could do something with that right?" asked Makina excitedly. Why they could pop back and forth and set things right! She was not exactly sure what that meant but it was worth a try.

"Honestly I don't know. Since the only way I know how to use it involves Tessa and her staff, there's no way to access it. Well, not unless a pink haired brat from the future comes back in time with a key or something."

"A pink haired brat?" asked Cerene curiously.

Scott nodded to her. "Yes, in the original story that I spoke of you and Endymion have a daughter a thousand years from now. Well, seven hundred or so years from now. Her name varies, but she was given a key that would allow her to travel back and forth in time. It was a means to protect her from a time traveling threat."

“Who’s Endymion?” asked Cerene.

“Ah, sorry.. I keep getting things mixed up... this is more like my stories than the show back home... Uh, he’s like Aldemione, except he is copyrighted to Naoko Takeuchi and various people who own distribution rights.”

Several blank stares were the only reply that he received to that statement. Finally, he shrugged then sighed softly. “No one gets me.”

"Can we expect this pink haired child to show up?" asked Pirouette. She leaned against a wall of the room with her arms folded across her beautifully crafted chest, and gazed thoughtfully at Scott.

"Honestly, unless we can find Aldemione, survive the current crises, and set up a future where we have built a magical city that rules the world... I don't think so. The Dark Empire is just the first in a long line of enemies that can destroy the planet. It's a powerful opponent, but nothing compared to some of the ones that will come after them."

"There's something worse than the Dark Empire?" exclaimed Aerune in shock. Her fur was standing up at the very idea of a stronger enemy.

"Yeah, there are many would-be enemies. Some can be converted to friends. Several are weaker than the Empire, but have weird gimmicks... A few are much stronger. The strongest opponent we are likely to face could annihilate Mettalica and every Fiend in the Dark Empire without much thought."

"What?! We ... What kind of enemy is that!" exclaimed Nina in shock. She had been fighting the empire longer than anyone else. Her appearances in London might be tied to early empire activity.

"It is a single person. She was a valiant warrior who took the true essence of the spirit of chaos and destruction into her body in order to protect the rest of the galaxy from its influence. It corrupted her over time and now she lives solely to destroy all that exists. If she goes by the name that I envisioned, she will be known as Galataea, the strongest guardian in the Galaxy."

"Our strongest opponent is a guardian like us?" asked Makina in surprise. This was a shock to be sure.

Scott nodded. "She has other corrupted guardians who follow her. However, if we can't handle the current crises we'll never be able to stop her. We need to focus on Pheare and the Dark Empire. She might not even exist in this reality, after all."

It seemed like a few of the group wanted to find out more about these other threats. Still, they saw the point in focusing on the danger at hand instead of dangers that might not even exist if his story was wrong.

"So, how do we beat her?" asked Reina. She might not have shown her guardian side yet, but she felt like she was a part of this. She wanted to know.

"We won't be able to do it the way that we have been doing things. Stumbling across her schemes won't work. We need to get stronger and we need to utilize the resources we have at hand as well."

"So, what do you suggest?" asked Aaron.

Scott turned to him and nodded. "First off.. are there any Demi-Humans capable of spaceflight in this world?"

"What? I know of no such Demi-Human." said Aaron.

"Hold on, let me check something." said Scott before he left the room and returned two minutes later with his scan-tech. He opened up a search function and tried to find a few breed entries that he might be able to work with for the moment. When none of them showed up on file, he sighed.

"Apparently they are either extremely rare or they don't exist. Which sucks. They were our best bet."

"Why's that?" asked Amanda in a bout of confidence. She was feeling both strange and excited by being included in this meeting.

"In my various stories there were types of Demi-Humans who could create functional vessels, like rock or wood based space capable vessels or submarines. If one of those breeds existed and we could have added someone to our group from one of those breeds, we would have been able to access the ruins of the Moon, and the various orbital fortresses that you girls used to command.

"Wait.. We have fortresses?!" exclaimed Cerene excitedly. She had like a castle and stuff? That was so cool!

"Well, the other guardians do, or were supposed to have them at least. You have something far more precious and it is as much of a priority to get you set right with that as it is to find the other guardians."

"What could be better than fortresses and technology from their age if it is as advanced as you think it is?" asked Pirouette.

Ashe nodded at that. She had not really spoken much during this meeting, but she had been taking it all in.

"The single most important artifact of the Selenite Empire, and the only actual hope we have of being able to defeat our enemies."

Scott gazed at everyone intently then nodded. "The Eternal Starlight, a singular gemstone that is also the greatest physically represented power in the universe. It is an artifact capable of bringing life to entire worlds and restoring life to worlds that have been destroyed. It can rewrite existence and banish even the strongest of evils."

"Wow! That would be really great to have!" exclaimed Yoko. That sounded like just what they needed.

"Are you saying with this gemstone we could defeat our current enemy?" asked Aaron.

Scott nodded. "It's vital actually. In point of fact, it was the only reason Empress Selene was able to seal away Mettalica in the first place. It also allowed her to send her daughter and her court to the future to be reborn on Earth."

"I can understand you keeping a lot of what you told us to yourself, but why hide this?" asked Nina thoughtfully.

"Yeah, we should have been looking for it!" exclaimed Makina before blushing lightly at her outburst.

"Looking for it won't do any good. We've had it all along." stated Scott. After his fateful words eyebrows shot up. He had mentioned the Eternal Starlight during the meeting the other night, but had not really answered too many questions about it.

"What? You had it all along! Why wouldn't you use it?" asked Cerene in surprise.

"I don't have it Cerene. You do." stated Scott confidently.

"What? The spaghetti brain has it?" asked Reina in shock. She blinked then imagined Cerene with a weapon that could destroy or create worlds. The cold sweat started to pour not long after.

Cerene glared hatefully at Reina then turned back to Scott. "But... I don't have anything like that!"

"I told you all about the 'heart crystals' that you girls possess. The Eternal Starlight is your guardian heart crystal. Unfortunately, it is fractured and separated. Only the core piece is currently within you. We need to find the other fragments before your true power will awaken. You are quite literally the last best hope of all life on this planet... No pressure, huh?" Scott informed the angel.

Cerene's eyes bugged out at his admission and several others shook their head in disbelief. If what Scott was saying turned out to be true, the world's ultimate fate currently rested in the hands of a somewhat flakey girl who tripped over her own feet and routinely forgot that she can fly.

"Well, that's just great... We're all doomed." said Reina sarcastically, before she sighed loudly.

"Heee-eey" cried out Cerene in shock at the catgirl’s words. How dare she say such an obvious truth... er thing, aloud!

"So, we retrieve these fragments and we win this war?" asked Ashe Naile with interest. This artifact sounded very powerful. She would like to see it firsthand.

Scott shook his head. "We regain the Eternal Starlight for Cerene and we have a chance to win. The army we're about to raise will have to actually make certain we can get her there."

"Army?" asked Aaron.

The dimensionally displaced man nodded at his mentor. "Yes, I can't imagine that the Dark Empire is letting the free 'manpower' or wild Demi-Humans go to waste. I have no doubt that they are capturing them and amassing an army of their own, even if it is just as batteries to support their powers. This isn't like some afternoon cartoon I watched as a child. I'll be damned if we're going to march on Pheare's base without a real fighting force to back us up."

The older man nodded back at him. It made perfect sense, but would the government go along with it? Besides that, the logistic requirements of running a private army were the stuff of nightmares. How would they support their soldiers? The government was strapped for credits as it was with all the dimensionally displaced monsters popping up and the bounties being paid out.

He decided to ask about those very points, "While I can see the merits of a standing army to fight this war, how will you fund it? You can't keep that many Demi-Humans in long term storage. They'll need food, equipment, sleeping arrangements, taming..."

Scott acquired a thoughtful look then answered the man. "We won't keep them in storage. We will have to become a standing army that is also a working one. We'll form a mercenary company of sorts. Some of our agents will go out and collect money off of bounties from monsters and wild Demi-Humans. Other agents will train full time. Some will work as craftspeople to create our weapons and gear... We'll have to purchase tents, or buy land and create housing."

"Taming... I... I am uncertain of taming and bonding requirements as we need this army to be completely cohesive and loyal. Too many tamers could cause it to splinter at the last moment due to personal desires." stated Scott as he considered the logistics just as Aaron had. There was a reason why standing armies in this world tended to be small and that most threats were handled by tamers or tradesmen.

"You do know that will be incredibly expensive, right? You have a little money as I recall, but nowhere near the amount necessary to raise an army..." cited Ashe Naile. She was not really nay-saying. The idea of an army to battle these monstrous idiots was definitely a better idea than simply running across them in a random manner. Army deployment and development was one of her greatest strengths, after all.

"I may be able to help a little with the government council... but if they grant money they will want a liaison to overlook expenditures." said Aaron with a hint of disgust on his face.

"I can offer about two million credits to the task out of pocket, but there isn't much else that I can offer without discussing the situation with my people." stated Pirouette in a most welcome manner.

Scott beamed a happy smile at her and said, "Thank you P-chan. That will help immensely."

Aaron brought his hand to his chin and nodded slowly. "That would be a reasonable start, but any real standing army will require a great deal more money than that. It would be enough to acquire land for a base and immediate supplies for a small contingency of troops, but we'd be bankrupt within a month."

The leader of the group looked over at Aaron then quirked an eyebrow. "We will have to build a warchest. With the money P-chan can front and..."

"I can roughly match her amount, give or take a hundred thousand." said Aaron.

Scott smiled brightly at him and said, "That would be incredibly helpful."

Nina spoke up then, "Um, but where will we have this army? I mean I can't see us just being allowed to set up a force as large as we will want in the middle of Oldtowne."

"We'll have to build our own fortress. I figure if we use plant, rock, ground, and steel type Demi-Humans we can form our new homes and barracks directly out of the environment."

"I can't promise they will fight in the battles to come but I have a large collection of allies who can at least perform the task of making trees into homes..." stated Pirouette thoughtfully. With so many elves and elven Demi-Humans available, it would not be difficult to raise a small living city in short order.

"What about us? What do you want us to do?" asked Amanda curiously. She had been mostly quiet during the discussion due to being the new girl in the group. Kaina did not really count as part of the group, yet. Amanda would keep her title for a while.

"You girls will need to hone your powers.. or awaken them in your case and Reina's. We'll also be building a war chest by fighting menaces and taking on short term lucrative bounties." replied Scott decisively.

"So, we pretty much keep doing what we're doing?" asked Makina.

"Yes, for now. We need money, experience, and more money. We also have to be at top form should we run across any Dark Empire plots. There are also the Eternal Starlight crystal carriers that we have to look for. Those are the people with the fragments of the Eternal Starlight inside of them."

"Uhm, Won't the government have an issue with this? I mean... They don't even like letting breeders have a lot of Demi-Humans, much less what we're planning." asked Amanda curiously.

"I have the authority to allow him access to as many assets as I see proper for the mission. I'll have to do some legal hoop jumping with the council heads, but considering the threat we face and the fact that we're going to be footing the bill, I doubt they'll complain too much as long as discipline is maintained... Provided that we set up shop in frontier territory far away from any towns." replied Aaron.

"After we get started, we'll have operatives in every town in this league. If we can set up a teleportation network we can rapidly deploy troops to any situation that occurs and try to build our strength while protecting the citizens." stated Scott as he continued running out his plans in his mind. Things seemed to form within his mind's eye and it was just what they would need to see themselves through this situation.

"This will take a great deal of planning. It probably won't be able to be done all in one day. I just hope the enemy waits long enough for us to set up shop." replied Apollo as his tail lashed. He sincerely liked the idea of backup.

"I don't see why we need to get any more people involved in Selenite business." said Aerune snottily.

"Have you lost your little kitty mind?" asked Nina. They had nearly been killed at every turn. A large back-up force would be incredibly useful.

Aerune snorted. "Well, what's to keep them all from dropping like flies when the Fiends start draining their energy?"

"Specialized equipment." replied Scott.

"Huh? You can make stuff that will keep the Fiends from draining them?" asked Makina with some excitement. An army of people who could help out and not become instant casualties would be awesome.

"Not me personally, that's what our magical crafts people will be for. As important as an army is, equipment is even more vital. I was thinking that we could acquire a few mystically oriented Demi-Humans for enchanting items and becoming support troops. Weapon and armor crafting people will be vital as well. A few celestial Demi-Humans would not hurt either since I'm sure their abilities would at least do some damage to a Fiend."

"Hey, I'm a celestial Demi-Human" exclaimed Cerene helpfully.

Scott smiled at her. "Yes you are."

Cerene unleashed a beautiful and happy smile. She was helping!

"Hmm. Let's lay down some ground work and see what needs to be done first." said Aaron with more than a little excitement. He was all for having back-up.

The others agreed with him and began drawing up plans. Soon the war would truly begin. This time, the enemy would not have it nearly so easy.

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