"So... What exactly is this?"

"My plan B."

Dolton had led Ellie to a large cavern where they used for storage, and at the very center was a large round object, looking almost like a giant bomb, which was exactly what it was.

"This is a Ragnarok bomb, one of the most powerful weapons to come out of Fira," Dolton explained to her, almost sounding excited. "Whether it's inside the village or just outside the walls, once this baby goes off, that village will be nothing more than a crater in the earth."

Ellie looked skeptically at the bomb. "Where did you even get this?"

"I know a guy," Dolton answered casually.

"That doesn't answer my question."

"All you need to know is that will complete our deal." Dolton then walked away before speaking to Ellie before he departed the storage area. "Don't worry. When I say I'm gonna do something I do it. I'll even give you and Yensin a discount on our agreed rate since the first one didn't go as planned." He then walked off waving behind him as he left. "Try not to touch anything. You break it, you buy it. That's how it goes right?"

Ellie let out a small sigh when he had left the storage room. "Why'd he send me out for this?"

It was a rhetorical question since she was the only one out of those chosen for this by their master to play diplomat. Two were usually drunk, one was hard to read, the other two were terrible at discussions, one was always crying, and she didn't know where to begin with her two companions. The Elf or that swordsman would make better negotiators, but Yensin had them off on something else.

On the other hand, Ellie couldn't help but feel amazed by the contents of the storeroom. Along with food and provisions was a large array of armaments, ranging from guns to handheld Magitek weapons to what looked like powerful relics. Even for a bandit this was ridiculous. It easily made him the most powerful bandit in all of Avalon. What kind of contacts does he have to get this kind of stuff?

"It makes you think. Right Thelma?"

"Right Louse."

Ellie almost jumped at the voices behind her. She didn't even need to look back to know who it was. "How many times have I told you not to do that?" She snapped as she turned to the twin assassins in demon masks.

"23 times." They answered in unison.

Ellie sighed. "Why them off all people? I honestly could be better off with Helpono than these two." She muttered to herself.

"Don't compare us to that crybaby."

"It makes me want to cry."

"Cry like he does."

"Anyway," Ellie said quickly, trying to keep her annoyance down, "do you have something to tell me or are you just here to bug the hell out of me."

"We do have something, right Thelma."

"Right Louise."

"It's all the news in the camp."

"The ruined city ambush is in chaos."

"They can't get in touch with anyone."

"Not the sniper."

"Not that guy from the Faust family."

"No one."

"What? Were they all wiped out?" Ellie asked.

"They don't know."

"They lost sight of the targets."

"I see," Ellie said, taking a look back to the Ragnarok bomb. "You think they're gone?"

"No." Both of them said, shaking their heads together.

Even though the twins were beyond annoying, their intuition was very good, probably comes with the territory of being assassins. If they think those people survived, then it was safe to assume that.

If they're still coming here, they'll probably want to sneak in rather than assault us head-on given their numbers. And there's three Samiets with them, and they know the forest better than anyone, meaning....

"We know what you're thinking."

"We found another way in." the sisters interrupted Ellie's train of thought.

"You have?"

The two nodded in unison. "By the old folks,"

"A hidden waterway."

The twins lead her out of the storage to where the two hostages were being kept. Sure enough, there was a small opening nearby.

"Yeah, if they had any sense they'd use this rather than try to sneak in through the front," Ellie said, gripping her sword. "Is there any others?"

"No."

"Just this one. Right Louise?"

"Right Thelma."

Ellie looked down at the entrance. It was a small drop down, but it looked like there was a path by the side of the water, and the rock up looked easy to scale. If the rescue party was coming, this was likely where they were coming. "Ok, I'll check it out."

"Wait!!"

Ellie was about to jump down when someone called out for her. It was one of the hostages; the man Dolton kept calling 'Gimbo.'

"Why are you helping them?" He pleaded. "I know you're not with Dolton, so why?"

Ellie looked at the man with a glassy stare. "It's for freedom."

"......... Freedom?"

"I hardly expect your kind who isolate themselves from the rest of the world to understand, but we're trying to liberate our world from those who have ruled above even the kings for too long."

The man looked very conflicted by Ellie's response. "Even if that means sacrificing our village?!" He asked with contempt.

Ellie looked away. "If that's what it takes then yes." She then looked to the sisters. "Keep an eye around here. And if they come, scout them out." She then leaped down into the underground waterway.

****

"Not sure if we're blessed or just lucky," Cliff said as he rang out the water from his vest.

Luckily for the group, the chasm they fell into was an underground waterway, which saved them from falling to their deaths, though that wasn't to say they nearly drowned to death due to the current. By an even more extraordinary stroke of luck, the waterway was, in fact, the secret path Fred had pointed out, and following it would eventually lead them to Deadman's End.

However, probably not too surprising, the team had been separated. Nel was missing after running off to deal with the sniper while Max and Melvin were still in the city, probably still being chased by the King of the Forest.

Rodger stood right of Cliff, ringing out his own clothes. "I think we're lucky we fell in the right place." He said before putting his helmet back on.

"Yeah, lucky, lucky us."

Fred stood to Cliff's left, also ringing out his clothes, as well as checking his pouch to see if he lost any ammunition to the water. "C-could've been worse. C-Could have landed on stalagmites and be impaled to death, or land in a river infested with monsters and get eaten."

"I know you trying to lift our spirits, but talking about near-death hypotheticals isn't really helping." He then turned to a small cavern nearby. "You girls ok?"

"We're fine," Allisa called back. The girls were doing the same as the boys, ringing out their clothes, obviously out of sight from the boys.

"Urgh .... Hope I don't catch a cold." Dora added, rinsing out her hair.

"You girls need any help?" Rodger asked.

"No, we're fine," Allisa said quickly.

"Well, a quick headcount, this is all of us that's left," Cliff said as he put his vest back on. "Goes without saying, we seriously need to get in without anyone noticing us, rescue the old men and get the hell out before they know what was happening."

"A-Agreed," Fred said.

"That all? Shouldn't we do a bit more?" Rodger complained. "We just leave these bastards alone, they'll just mount up and try to attack the village again!"

"Hey kid, in case you haven't noticed, we're down our two strongest fighters, our assassin, and wizard, we're up against guys that are armed to the teeth with deadly weapons that we barely survived against back there. We're not in any position to do any real damage to these people with just me, Allisa, and you three."

"We could wreak their weapons, or try to take out that bastard Dolton and scatter them." Rodger pressed on. "Come on, this is their main base were talken about. We can't just leave empty-handed."

Cliff let out a sigh. "I get where you're going with this, but we just don't have the numbers, or at the least the right firepower to do any kind of damage."

"H-He's got a point." Fred agreed. "I-I don't have enough explosives to wreak one of those weapons they got."

"And we're all pretty ragged from that stuff in the ruins," Allisa added as she reemerged with Dora.

"And we definitely can't take on Dolton by ourselves," Dora added on from Allisa.

"Is he that strong?" Allisa asked her.

Dora simply nodded. "We actually saw him in action once against one of the Forest Behemoths, and he took it down on his own without a weapon or a scratch."

Allisa gulped. "S-Seriously?"

"And seeing that he survived against the guy who took out Yuki, I wouldn't call that an exaggeration," Cliff muttered. "There's no way we can fight someone that strong in the situation we're in. If he was alone, then we could possibly take him out, but he'll be surrounded by his own men in an area he probably knows well by now." He announced to the group. "Frankly, it is impossible to take these guys out all on our own."

"Humph! Nothens impossible so long as a man gives it his all. That's what my pa always says and he was always right." Rodger huffed with pride.

"Urrr...." Cliff groaned. "Let's just move. We can argue about it on the way and hopefully come up with a plan that won't get us all killed."

First Encounter: Allisa Vs. Ellie

The party then began to move through a pathway alongside the waterway, the Sameits leading the way while Cliff and Allisa followed behind. The Mythril in the water cast an eerie blue light over the gloomy cavern, which gave them some light to see where they were going.

".... So how'd you guys find this place?" Allisa asked as they walked.

"My Pa found this place while taking me out. It was before the King showed up around these parts. Came our little secret afterward." Rodger said.

"You really look up to your dad a lot, huh?"

"Sure do," Rodger replied to Allisa with a large grin. "Best to ever come out of our outta the way little village."

"Based on what your grampa told us, sounds like he was away for most of your life," Cliff said, recalling the story Gimdo had told them when they first arrived at the village. "Don't get me wrong, I think it's a good thing you feel like that about your old man. Most kids would come to at least grow distant if their father was away for that much of their lives."

Rodger didn't respond right away.

"Oh... Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Na," Rodger shook his head with a smile. "It was tough at times, not grown up with my pa. But to me... It only made it that much sweeter when he finally came home."

"How often was that?" Allisa asked.

Rodger was a little hesitant to speak this time, so Dora answered for him. "Sometimes, years."

"L-Last time he came a year ago he was gone for about three years," Fred answered.

"Three Years?!" Allisa exclaimed.

"And that was the last time anyone saw him." Dora continued. "About a month after that he was killed."

"Yeah, Gimdo told us about that too. Something about protecting a village from bandits?" Cliff asked.

Dora nodded in response. "He always liked helping people. "Never give up when the odds are against you." That was one of his many mottos."

As they continued to walk the path became narrower and narrower until it sank into the water, luckily shallow enough for the group to simply walk on. The water came up to the top Allisa and Cliff's feet while the sameits had to endure it coming up to their thighs.

"I still don't see how you can idolize your dad," Cliff said. "Sounds more to me like he chose adventuring over you."

"C-Cliff!"

"Yeah, that's right." Rodger accepted, quite surprisingly to Cliff. "And that's why I want to go with you guys." Rodger then suddenly stopped, keeping his back to the others, looking up to the ceiling of the cavern. "My Pa loved this world so much, and I want to find out why. I want'ta see the world he loved so much with my own eyes."

Dora and Fred were a little taken back by Rodgers' explanation. He had never really spoken about this before. Dora for one had always assumed this was one of his wimps or impulses.

Allisa was also surprised by Rodgers' unexpectedly mature reasons for wanting to go with them. Cliff however, didn't seem as moved.

"Hate to tell you, but the world isn't as grand as you seem to believe." He said bluntly. "It's probably as bad out there as it is in here. And there are some pretty nasty people, even worse than Celtic Hoard."

"Cause I know that!" Rodger snapped back. "But my dad chose that world over raising me. I-I need ta find out why for myself, why he loved that world so much. I don't care if it's dangerous! I don't care if I don't really know what I'm asking for! I just need to see it for myself!" Although his back was turned to the others, they could sense the sadness in his words.

"Rodger...." Dora muttered quietly.

Allisa didn't know how to respond. This was left to her to make the decision and it was starting to become harder and harder to say no to him. She was about to say something when Cliff suddenly cut her off.

"Shhh!' He hushed.

"What is it?"

Everyone looked to Cliff, who had a serious look on his face. "Listen."

They didn't hear it at first, but when they concentrated they heard a sound in front of them. The sounds of splashes in the water. Someone was walking towards them.

"Who is it?" Allisa asked while putting her guard up.

"Friend or foe, I don't know. But there's definitely someone coming this way." Cliff said to her.

The three Samiets also took the side of caution; startled that anyone could be coming towards them when only they knew this passage existed. Due to the darkness in the tunnel, it was difficult to make out what was before them, even with the Mythril lighting the cavern. However, they eventually saw a person coming into view.

"I-Is it M-Miss Nel?" Fred asked timidly.

As the figure got closer they became clearer. A woman with short silver hair stopped when she came into view, the most striking feature was her left arm that was completely bandaged.

"Definitely not," Cliff said.

"So you must be the ones that have the others in a panic." The woman said to them. "To be honest, I wasn't expecting it to be a bunch of kids."

"Wh-Who are you?" Allisa asked. "Are you with Celtic Hoard?"

"It doesn't make much difference if I am or not." The woman said, placing her right hand on the hilt of her sword.

"Foe I guess," Cliff said as he put his guard up.

Before anyone could say another word, Rodger, who seemed to have recovered from his slump surprisingly quickly, pointed towards the woman. "Hey! Ya may want to stand aside if ya know what's good for you! Otherwise, me and my henchmen are gonna smack ya down." He boosted in his usual voice, making everyone around him cringe at his sudden mood swing.

"That was quick," Allisa commented.

"And we're back to henchmen," Cliff groaned.

"That's our 'captain' for ya," Dora added.

"I don't take orders from a child." The woman said to Rodger bluntly, positioning her bandaged left hand over the scabbard of her sword.

"Ok have it your way!"

"Hey wait!"

Before anyone could stop him, Rodger plunged his hands into the water. 5 pillars shot out around him and shot themselves at the woman.

"6 Elemental: Wind!"

The pillars were suddenly split apart as a powerful wind swept through them, dissipating just before it reached the party but left scars along the walls. The woman remained where she was with her blade drawn out.

"What the?" Rodger muttered, seeing his attack had just been sliced apart before even reaching its intended target.

"Don't just attack someone without thinking," Cliff said to Rodger.

"B-but what was that?" Fred muttered.

"Some kind of wind attack?"

The woman then changed her stance and gripped her sword with both hands before launching herself forwards covering the short distance very quickly, swinging her sword overhead towards Rodger before any of them could react to her speed. Allisa however, was quicker, appearing before Rodger and blocked the blow with her own sword.

The woman seemed a bit startled by Allisa's intervention as the two locked blades.

Ok, She's strong. Allisa thought to herself as she struggled to keep her pressure on.

The woman then lets her left hand go off the hilt of her sword and opened it at her side, a small tornado forming in her palm. Before Allisa realized the danger, the woman sent her palm forwards, creating a powerful gust that caught Allisa. The others leaped to the side in time as the violent gust of wind blasted past them continuing for several meters.

That's one down. The woman thought to herself.

"Azure Flame!!"

The gust then dissipated sooner than the woman expected, as though it had been cut apart. Allisa reappeared above the woman bringing Azure Flame down on the woman, who reacted by blocking with her own sword. As they collided with sparks flying the superheated black blade started to melt through the woman's sword.

Realising this, the woman quickly pushed the sword away while kicking Allisa in the gut and used that opportunity to leap back.

"You ok?" Cliff asked.

"...Yeah," Allisa said as she recovered, eyeing the ruined sword the woman had. Hopefully, with Azure Flame, Allisa thought she could disable this woman quickly. But that was short-lived when the woman swapped hands and plunged her sword into the wall.

"6 Elemental: Earth, Reforge!"

Suddenly the molten metal began to reform and the blade appeared as good as new as she pulled it free from the wall.

"She fixed it!" Dora said, pointing out the obvious.

"Guess this won't be easy," Cliff said. "This is a delay we don't need this close."

"H-Huh?" Fred looked up at Cliff.

"If she's here, then they must've found out about this place. If they had any sense, they could block the place up, or even prepare an ambush on the other side."

Allisa felt that same way as Cliff. Meaning as much as she didn't want to split the group up even further, there was only one thing to do.

"You guys go on ahead." She said the others.

"You sure?" Cliff asked.

"You're gonna fight her alone?" Dora exclaimed.

"No way I'm gonna let ya," Rodger said to Allisa, taking a step forwards.

"You're here to save your grampa right?" Allisa spoke up, stopping Rodger. "What was it you said? Once a man gives his word, he'll keep it no matter what?" Rodger was a little surprised that she used what he said when they first met, though that wasn't exactly his words.

"I said once a man gives his word to a lady, he keeps it or cut his heart out." Rodger corrected.

"Then you better promise me you'll get your grampa and Bush out of here," Allisa added with a grin.

Cliff chuckled at Allisa's use of Rodger's pride against him.

Dora and Fred placed a hand each on Rodgers' shoulders, both smiling and nodding to him.

"I don't know what you're talking about," The woman called out, bringing her sword up and preparing to attack. "But I don't like being ignored by my opponent."

"Think you can take her on your own?" Cliff asked Allisa as she prepared herself.

"One way to find out."

She teleported forwards towards the woman, swinging a horizontal slash towards the woman. Knowing that the blade would simply melt through hers, the woman leaped back dodging Allisa's strike. Allisa continued several other swings which the woman dodge up to when she brought her sword before her and touched the flat of the blade with her left hand. "Reinforce!" She then struck upwards towards Allisa's blade and parried it, without the blade being reduced to molten metal. As Allisa staggered from the surprise, the woman lunged her left palm towards Allisa.

"6 Elemental: Fire!"

From her palm, a massive firestorm erupted and engulfed Allisa, lighting up the entire passageway in the crimson glow. Allisa, however, had teleported out of the way at the last second and had re-emerged behind the woman and prepared to attack again. The woman, however, had pivoted around and intercepted Allisa's own strike, resulting in continued exchange of sword clashes between the two combatants.

Meanwhile, Cliff had picked up the Sameits, Dora and Fred cupped in his arms while he dragged Rodger along, who was complaining about his treatment. When they passed the girls, the woman saw and shoved Allisa away and tried to give chase when Allisa teleported in her way.

"Thought you didn't like being ignored," Allisa said in a mocking voice.

The woman clicked her tongue in frustration as she halted.

"Allisa!" Cliff called back. "We'll see you later!"

"Yeah!" Allisa stood her ground as the four escaped.

The woman relaxed her composure as she strode out to the center of the waterway, Allisa budging along, keeping her guard up. "I have to say I'm curious, why are you fighting to save that village?"

"Huh?"

"You're an adventurer aren't you? And very few people would ever venture into this place, let alone stay here for more than a few days in a village that is wary of outsiders like us. So they must be paying you a lot to protect them from Celtic Hoard."

"Well, what about you?" Allisa countered. "Why are you people trying to destroy the village?"

"I can't really speak for Celtic Hoard. Their leader seems to have a personal grudge against the villagers."

"..... Eh, wait..." Allisa's guard dropped slightly as she realised the way the woman spoke. "You're... you're not with Celtic Hoard?"

The woman shook her head. "I work for someone else, and we have our own reasons for wanting that village out of the way."

".... But why? Why do you have to hurt them?!"

"It's for the sake of freedom." The woman responded.

"What? What do you mean freedom? Freedom from what?" Allisa asked, her anger rising.

The woman let out a sigh. "I think we've talked enough." She then raised her left hand, causing Allisa to shift to full guard. "6 Elemental: Water." Some water from the stream below suddenly rose up and formed a sphere hovering just above the skin of the bandaged left hand.

Allisa didn't allow her to continue with whatever she was about to do and summoned a massive amount of flames to her blade as she raised her sword above her head and loosed the flames at the woman. "Vermilion strike!!"

"Ice Brand."

The horizontal strike was then sundered in two before it hit the woman. "I won't lie, you're very good. You might even prove a nuisance later on." The water hand coated itself around the blade and had frozen into solid ice.

This concerned Allisa. She felt her 'Vermillion strike' had come a long way in the 3 weeks after the fight with the Homunculi and demons. This woman had just cut through it effortlessly with a blade of ice, which hadn't melted despite the heat from the flames that it sundered.

"It's only logical that I end you here and now." The woman continued as she swung the large blade to her side.

Allisa swallowed whatever panic she had felt before and brought her own sword up and gripped it with both hands. This wouldn't be an easy fight that much was certain. Nonetheless, Allisa wasn't scared in the slightest.

Both girls charged in, swinging their swords towards each other in a violent clash.