It tried, it tried its hardest to keep its promise to its master. For three centuries it guarded the broken key against any who would take it, no matter who they were or what they were. Such power should never be awakened again.

So why, why now, and of all who would seek the calamity's power, why the one bearing the light of the goddess?

****

Allisa almost collapsed from exhaustion, only kept upright by her sword that reverted back to its original form. With her final attack, she poured nearly all her mana into a single blow which when connected, cleaved the lion in two. When she did, the final light on the door, the sign of Leo, vanished, followed by the door opening.

Now the lion lay before in two halves, glowing in golden light as its particles began to flow upwards, slowly disintegrating the lion.

"We... We did it." Allisa said as she tried to get back to her feet, almost collapsing from the exhaustion she felt.

"We... We finally did it!" Rodger Cheered before flopping to the ground. "I'm pooped."

"I-Its finally over. For real this time." Meracle said, crouching on all fours. "And we're all still alive. Mya... I thought we'd all die."

Max, Cliff and Yuki nearly collapsed themselves. The steam emitting from Cliff's body subsided, in which he fell to his knees. "That took a considerable effort."

"Still won so who cares?" Max said slapping Cliff on the shoulder.

"AAARGH!!" Cliff let out a cry of pain as he gripped his shoulder.

"Oh, sorry," Max said, backing his hand away.

"Are you ok?" Allisa asked concerned.

"Don't worry. This is normal." Cliff reassured her.

"Wh-what was that steam thing anyway?" Meracle asked as she approached.

"Oh! That was that level up you talked about, wasn't it?" Allisa said. "First time I've seen it in action."

"Oh right. Guess you had your hands full back then." Cliff nodded. "Its powerful, but it messes up my body afterward. I have to use it sparingly since I'll burn out when I deactivate it. Really a double edged sword."

"Well it's a good trump card, I'd say," Rodger said sitting back up, crossing his legs. "I don't really get it, but you sent that thing flying with one hit."

"I guess so." Cliff smiled and then grimaced, "could do without this pain though."

".... Will you be ok?" Allisa asked quietly.

"Don't worry. Like I said, this is normal for pushing my body beyond its limit. It'll pass eventually."

"Oh, th-that's good," Allisa muttered, sounding down.

"Mya? Why'd you look so down?" Meracle asked.

Allisa looked at her, giving her a sheepish smile. "You're all got hurt, and all I did was just stood by and watch."

"That was the point, remember," Yuki said as he approached. "What? Think we're all angry for you holding back until the end?"

"Wh-Well...."

"Do we look mad to you?"

"N-No."

"So what the hell are you all apologetic for? If you'd ran out earlier and used up all your strength, then you should apologise. So stop with that sorry expression already." Yuki said to her in a firm voice, which managed to snap Allisa out of her slump.

"Wow. That's very out of character for. Still a bit condescending like always though." Cliff said in a slightly mocking tone.

"Yeah. Said it like a jerk but I can't disagree with what you said." Max said.

"Oh can it!!" Yuki snapped at them.

Both Cliff and Max began to laugh at Yuki's expense. Just watching them, Allisa couldn't help herself and began laughing with them.

"You sure perked up fast!!" Yuki snapped at her.

Meracle looked a little lost while the three continued to laugh. Rodger had finally joined up with the group as they continued.

"Are they always like this?" Meracle asked him.

"Hm?"

"I mean, we just had a life or death battle, we nearly died, and there acting like none of that happened." Meracle clarified curiously.

"Oh right," Rodger said, crossing his arms as he watched the others. "Can really tell ya much. Haven't been with them that long. But I think they're always like that."

"Huh..." Meracle looked back to the group, of which some kind of argument had broken out between Max and Yuki, yet again.

"Those guys actually helped me out a lot. My village was threatened by a powerful group of bandits who went so far as to kidnap my gramps and used him as a hostage. It had nothing to do with them but they went through hell, all to help complete strangers." Rodger cast his gaze downwards. "My pa was the same. No matter who it was, if someone called for help, he just helped them."

He reached up and patted his hammer strapped back on his back, the small bear charm Dora had given him dangling from its strap. "That's why I went with these guys. Cause they don't need a reason to help people. They don't argue or worry about who's in charge and all that. They just do everything cause their friends."

"Friends?" Meracle looked to Allisa who was still laughing. They can laugh like that.... Cause their friends? She recalled something similar that happened just outside when they killed that Wyvern. All the tension just evaporated and they went back to how they were, and even how they took it down with a combined attack without so much as communicating with each other beforehand.

This wasn't something she completely understood. She was always alone for most of her life, stealing, cheating, and pillaging from others to survive. She had a few acquaintances from those days, but she never got close to anyone. Not since the orphanage she grew up in.

This was the first time in her life, that this thief felt something from this band of misfits, and a smile creeped on her lips. Friends.....

Meanwhile, further away, Nel stood and watched the group with her dagger in her hand. She'd thrown it at the lion's eye to bind it in the final moments. It would've been lost if it remained lodged in but Miracles attack on the wounded eye had dislodged it. There was no blood on it, probably because the body had disintegrated into light, which included anything connected to the body.

She couldn't help but notice the state the arena where the battle took place was in. There was literally nowhere that wasn't scared by the lion and her loud companions. She'd normally join them, making some snide remark about the devastation, but something was holding her back. Instead, she looked at Allisa, not moving from her spot.

"Hey Nel!"

Nel jumped at a voice coming from behind. Standing there was Melvin, holding up her sword blade. She'd lost it when the lion slammed her into the ground.

"It was a bit damaged so I used some magic to repair it," Melvin explained as he handed her short blade back to her.

"Thanks." Nel took the blade and sheathed it along with her dagger back into the sheaths.

"Um... Nel?" Melvin had a concerned look on his face. "Is there something bothering you?"

Nel was surprised that he picked up on that. "What makes you think that?" She asked as normally as she could.

"Well," Melvin looked lost in thought. "You just look a little at war with yourself today."

"At war with myself.....?" Nel let out a sigh. "... may not be too far from the truth." She said quietly.

"Sorry?"

"It's nothing. You're just imagining things." Nel said, trying to dodge the subject.

"Huh? Uh... ok, if you say so." Melvin wasn't convinced. But then again, Nel was always a bit of an enigma.

He'd known Nel for a while, a lot longer than the others. Back then she was very detached, only spoke to Melvin on occasions, and Max very rarely, and even then the conversations were brief. Even though she had opened up a lot since Allisa's arrival, there was much about Nel he didn't know about.

Noticing Melvin's worries haven't gone Nel let out a sigh. "Say... Do you trust me?"

"Huh? We'll yeah. We're friends." Melvin answered Nel's bazaar question, not knowing where this was going.

"Friends.... What makes you say that?" Nel pressed, sounding almost serious. "After all, I could be trying to kill everyone here, winning your trust waiting for you all to lower your guard. Are you still saying you can consider me a friend?"

"Uh...." Melvin didn't really know how to respond. "W-Where'd that come from?"

"I'm speaking in hypothetical terms. If that were the case, would you still consider me a friend."

"...... Well, it's not like you kill people for the hell of it, I know that much about you. So yeah, I'd still call you a friend."

Nel let out a long sigh. "You know being too trusting is a bad thing." She commented. "You and the others."

Melvin chuckled. "Well, that's why we have someone like you around."

"Haha, seems so." Nel chuckled. She then stopped suddenly and looked up to the crystal floating overhead, which was beginning to let out a string glow. Everyone else noticed it was well, all taking a defensive stance.

"Great, what now!" Yuki groaned.

"But... We beat it, right?" Meracle stuttered.

"It feels different from the start though. Don't let your guard down." Cliff said. He then looked towards Nel. "Sense anything?"

Nel kept her eyes trained on the crystal. "It's faint but...." She slowly put a hand on the hilt of her short blade.

Suddenly, a small, bright light separated from the crystal and floated downwards.

"Huh? What's that?" Max asked.

"How the hell should I know?"

The light floated downwards, eventually coming to a stop before Allisa. "Chosen of the Goddess."

A voice emanated from the light making everyone jump in surprise.

"Wha- did it just talk?" Rodger exclaimed.

"Y-You all heard that right?" Allisa asked, pointing towards the small light.

"Chosen of the Goddess." The light repeated itself.

"I think it's talking to you," Nel said to Allisa.

"Huh?"

"'Chosen of the Goddess.' That's you."

"Oh... right." Allisa looked to the light again. "Y-yes, uh...." She answered it, feeling awkward to be talking to a ball of light.

"You, who are blessed with the powers of the goddess herself, tell me why you seek the power of the calamity." The light said.

"Th-The calamity?" Allisa couldn't help but gulp just from the quite intimidating title. "Wh-What is the calamity?" she asked.

"A relic from a past era, an abomination of six that brought ruin to this world, slaughtering countless mortals in their rampage. My previous master and her companions sacrificed everything to ensure its destruction but even that wasn't enough. And so they were sealed to ensure their destructive evil would never be released onto this world again. It's keys separated and sealed to ensure it remains in its eternal slumber."

Everyone went quiet as they tried to comprehend what it was saying.

"So I ask you again, Chosen of the Goddess. With the power of light that has been blessed upon you, why do you seek the key to the calamity?"

"I-I..... uh...." Allisa was speechless. This 'calamity' must have referred to their reason why they were sent here by the arch sage. She had no idea what she was supposed to retrieve, only that she had to find out herself. But if what the light was saying was true, then his thing they were supposed to retrieve was something extremely dangerous. "I.... don't know," Allisa said quietly. "I have.... no idea what was here."

"Then why?" The voice in the light pressed.

Allisa was silent for a while, feeling a little ashamed of herself. "The arch sage Elaina.... told us to get it for her. She never told us what it was, or what it was related to."

It was a while before the light responded again. "Very well. We leave it to you." Allisa looked up in surprise. "We are finally free of the burden placed on us, and that we are grateful to you and your companions." The light began to rise upwards. "I have one last request. Ensure the calamity is never unleashed, and if so, do what our master could not, destroy it."

"Wha... What do you mean?" Allisa asked.

"We must go. We cannot remain in this realm of mortals without a master. As such, there are preparations to make until we choose our next master. I am certain we will meet again in the future."

"Hold on! I still don't understand what you're talking about!"

"Until we meet again, Chosen of the Goddess." With that, the light fired off through the entrance, vanishing in a second.

"It's gone," Melvin commented as everyone began to relax.

"What was that thing anyway?" Max asked.

"If I had to guess, I'd say it was that lion we just fought," Nel stated.

"Huh? That lion?!" Meracle exclaimed.

"What other explanation is there. That light came out of that crystal like the lion before. Judging by its appearance, it's just as worn out as we are, barely anything to keep its lion form." Nel explained her hypothesis.

"So that's what it was reduced to. Just a floating ball of light." Cliff summarized, letting out a sigh. "Actually kind of feel sorry for it."

"Well, whatever happened it's not our problem anymore," Yuki said, stretching one of his arms. "Let's get what we came for and scram. I'm ready to collapse pretty soon."

"For once I agree with you," Max said clicking his kick. "Between those dragon things and that lion, this has been a pretty exhausting trip even for me."

"That's saying something coming from you two." Melvin sighed, dropping his arms. "Can't say I disagree. I feel like I'll drop any second now."

"You guys are sounding like old men." Rodger mocked, grinning.

"Can it, you. In case you forgot we took the most hits from that thing." Yuki snapped.

"And what do you mean old man? I'm in the prime of my youth." Max said.

"Definitely act like a youth," Yuki muttered quietly.

"What was that?" Max snapped at him.

"You heard."

Max huffed and crossed his arms like a child. "Better a kid than a grumpy old fart like you."

A vein popped on Yuki's forehead. "Old fart huh? Better than acting like a dumb little brat twenty-four-seven."

"Who'd you calling dumb Sword Bastard?!"

"Just look in a mirror, Pyro!"

Cliff let out a sigh as the two idiots bashed their heads together. "How do they still have the energy to bicker?" He groaned.

"Those two sure are awesome to be fighting like that after everything that happened huh?" Rodger said with a big smile.

"Awesome is really the word I'd use," Melvin said to him. "Still, about a day ago they were at each other's throats. Good to see they made up.... in their own way." He smiled warily. "Knowing them, they probably got into a fight when we weren't around and beat the crap out of each other."

"Does sound like them. Anyway, let's get a move on. I really want to get out of this place." Cliff said as he began to walk towards the now open doorway at the other end of the arena with Rodger and Melvin, dragging the still bickering pair with them.

Nel and Meracle were about to follow when they noticed Allisa hadn't moved.

"Myew...? What's wrong?" Meracle asked.

Allisa remained silent, casting her gaze downwards as she turned around. She had a very upset look on her face. "It's..... It's nothing." She said quietly as she passed.

Miracle looked to Nel with a confused look before walking after Allisa. Nel quickly glanced towards the doorway with a concerned expression.

"Key to the calamity, huh?" Nel let out a sigh before catching up to the others. "Just what have we gotten ourselves into this time?"

****

The room led into a small chamber with a pedestal at the end. On that pedestal was their objective, a small stone coin, in which the left half was broken off. On it was what looked like the rear of some animal with nine tails.

"Uh.... Is that it?" Rodger said when he saw it, sounding disappointed.

"Expecting something like gold or silver?" Cliff asked.

"Well.... Kinda."

"Given what we went through, that would make the most sense," Melvin commented.

"So that's what milady wanted, huh?" Meracle said gazing at the stone tablet, a small smile formed on her lips. "I actually did it. I didn't screw up again."

"Alright, let's pick it up and go. I'm already sick of this place." Yuki commented.

Allisa walked forwards towards the pedestal and then reached out a hand to take the treasure. She then stopped, and slowly withdrew her hand.

"Allisa? What's wrong?" Max asked.

"........... Are we really doing the right thing?" She asked quietly.

Everyone looked confused at Allisa's behavior. "Was it what that light said?" Cliff asked.

Allisa slowly tilted her head, showing her conflicted expression to the others. "What if this is something really dangerous? And if it is, what would the Arch Sage possibly want with it?"

"..... I didn't think of that." Melvin said quietly.

"But... it's just half a coin, right?" Max said, not really seeing where it was going.

"Actually, that light said it was a key of some kind. Question is, a key to what?" Cliff said partially lost in thought. "And someone went to great lengths to keep it here. There is a good chance we could be holding the launch key to something like a nuclear bomb."

"So.... We should just leave it alone, then?" Max said.

"But we worked so hard to get it. Now we're just gonna leave it." Rodger said looking more lost than Max. "Arrgh, I don't get this at all." He groaned.

Cliff shook his head. "I think what you're getting at is what could the Arch Sage want with something like that, right?" He asked Allisa, who nodded.

"What if... She uses it to hurt people." She said quietly.

"Milady's not like that!" Meracle spoke up, surprising everyone. "I mean... Yes, she's evil, but she's not that kinda evil!"

".... Mary,"

Meracle cast her gaze downwards, clenching her fists, looking like she was about to cry. "She... She took someone like me in, an alley cat who always screwed everything up. She's kinda cruel, selfish and all those other bad things.... but I know she'd never hurt people in that way."

Yuki then lets out a sigh. "Look, I honestly don't get what's going on. Might be better if we just leave it here. But bare in mind we just killed what was protecting it. If that thing really is dangerous enough to be buried away then we've just left the door wide open for someone who would abuse its power."

"Allisa, It's your call." Nel finally spoke.

"H-Huh? Me?"

"You're the leader, remember. Therefore, this is where you need to make a decision. And no matter what you chose, we will follow your decision."

"....Nel," Allisa looked back to the tablet. What do I do?

It's true that she had no idea what this was. It could very well be something that could cause a lot of suffering. Was it a good idea to just hand it over to an Arch Sage as cynical as Elaine? But as Yuki pointed out, they just broke the seal that was protecting it. Meaning if it was dangerous, nothing was going to keep them out.

"....Ok." Allisa took a deep breath, reached out and took the tablet. It was heavy but not that she couldn't lift it. She turned to the rest of her party with a determined look. "We're taking it with us." She announced. "But we're only going to give it up to the Arch Sage after she tells us what exactly this thing is." She looked to Miracle with a gentle smile. "Is that ok Mary?"

Meracle nodded.

"Well it's decided," Nel said. "Now to get back."

"I got this," Max announced turning around, punching out his right fist. "Open!"

Nothing happened.

"Huh?"

"What are ya doing?" Rodger asked, looking confused.

"Open! Come on Open!" Max tried again and again. He was trying to open a portal so they could quickly exit the area. "Huh? How come it's not working?" Max asked, looking at his Void ring.

"Thought as much." Cliff let out an exhausted sigh. "They probably have a barrier to prevent people from simply teleporting directly into this room. Meaning if we want to get out it has to be outside."

"Even I figured as much," Yuki muttered quietly.

"Well, then there's no point in staying put," Allisa said as she walked back from the pedestal. "Let's get back-"

Throb!

Allisa grimaced as a sharp pain struck her head. N-Not now....

"What's wrong?" Nel said as she noticed Allisa raising a hand to her head.

"Uh... nothing. Just a-"

Throb!

Another wave of pain struck, hurting hard enough to cause Allisa to drop the tablet, holding both hands to her head.

"Allisa?!"

"H-Hey what's wrong?"

Everyone raised their concern as Allisa partially collapsed to her knees holding her head.

"I-Its..."

Throb!

Allisa began to scheme as the pain intensified to an unbearable level, worse than what she experienced before, this time collapsing to the ground, holding her head as she wailed in pain. Her vision was bombarded with various flashes of scenery and people she'd never seen before, multiple voices schemed in her head all at once.

"Arthur!"

"What have you done?"

"It's all over!

"I will erase this forsaken world."

"Such pointlessness."

"Your endeavors will be for not."

"This is it...... my friend."

"............sa............. hear me......lissa! Allisa!"

Allisa's vision suddenly cleared as the pain began to subside. She awoke with her friends looking concerned as Nel cradled her in her arms.

"..... N-Nel...." Allisa managed to let out in a strained voice. "E-Everyone?"

"Is she ok?" Max asked desperately.

"Hey, how many fingers am I holding up?" Cliff asked, sticking his fingers up.

"Four," Allisa answered as she sat back up, holding a hand to her head.

"WH-What was that? You looked like you were in pain." Melvin asked.

"I.... Don't know. My head just started hurting all of a sudden." Allisa answered.

"Looked more than just hurt. You were scheming." Yuki said.

"Are you sick?" Meracle asked, grabbing Allisa's arm.

"I-I'm fine," Allisa said as she slowly got back up, staggering slightly and almost fell again before Nel stabilized her.

"Shall we have Max carry you out?" Nel asked as gently as she could.

"I said I'm fine." Allisa brushed off Nel and waddled forwards. "Wh-where's the tablet thing?"

"Oh I got it," Max said holding the tablet up with one hand.

"Ok.... Let's get out of here." She said as she continued onwards.

"Hey. Don't push yourself." Yuki said to her.

".... I'm the last person you should worry about," Allisa responded to him a little coldly.

Yuki let out a sigh. "If you say so." He said nonchalantly.

"H-Hold up." Meracle ran after her with Rodger, Melvin and Max, exiting the room.

Cliff and Nel remained behind, watching as they left. Cliff had a hand to his chin, seemingly lost in thought. "Didn't something like this happen back at the village?" Cliff asked Nel.

"Back then she just collapsed almost instantaneously. This seems considerably worse than last time." Nel said, sounding almost curious.

"Something on your mind?" Cliff asked.

Nel let out a moan before answering. "You recall the homunculi back at Little Wood? That white one who had the ability to incapacitate all of us with a high pitched sound."

"Yeah." Cliff nodded, sounding as though he wouldn't like where this was going.

"While we were in the labyrinth, Allisa mentioned her head hurt, and that she felt like she was forgetting something important. Then, later on, she collapsed suddenly in pain, and when it passed she said she remembered what she had forgotten.

"I didn't bring it up since then, but I do recall there were periods after dealing with the Alchemist that her mana suddenly fluctuated. The same thing happened when she collapsed in the forest, and this time it was a far larger spike than I've felt before."

Cliff looked a little concerned by Nel's explanation. "You think that ability of the white homunculus had some kind of effect on her?"

"It's possible, but I can't be sure," Nel said, "there's been something else about all this that's been bothering me about all this, but I can't put my finger on it."

Cliff looked at Nel, who seemed lost in thought and then towards the rest of the party who were walking off. "Let's not think about this here. We best catch up to the others."

"Right." Nel and Cliff began to walk out of the room together.

"One question though." Cliff glanced over to Nel. "If it turns out to be whatever the worst-case scenario you've got in your head, will you...."

Nel cast her gaze downwards. "...... We'll see." She simply stated.

Cliff couldn't help but let out a small 'hmm' in response. Just like I thought.

****

"Whoaho! Ya looking at this Robby!"

"Robin."

Leone and Robin had made it to the ruin within Howls Canyon, encountering no resistance along the way, and before them was the corps of a large wyvern.

Leone charged towards the dead creature, her eyes sparkling acting like a child. "Ohhoman, I can't believe my luck!" She jumped up and down, examining the corpses every angle. "And enough of its intact. Sweeett."

"What are you so excited about anyway?" Robin said as he floated towards Leone.

"Ya got any idea how much this shit's worth? Dragon scales and teeth are worth a pretty sum of money, while blood is worth an arm and leg a pint." Leone said, winking at him. "Just imagine what I get for all that money? Enough robbing and scamming horny idiots, I can buy my own drinks for some time."

"I don't get human culture sometimes." Robin let out a long sigh.

"Hey, I'm a cait sith. Meaning I'm twenty times cuter than your average human." Leone said sticking out her tongue while rubbing her head in a cat like motion.

"Besides the tail, I still can't tell the difference." Robin looked at the corpse. "You do know this is a wyvern right."

"Ehhhh what's the difference." Leone shrugged.

"Kinda big. Dragons are powerful creatures. By comparison, wyverns are like flies."

"Maybe, but the thing’s basically one big lizard so how're people gonna tell the difference with some of its scales and teeth."

".... Good point."

"Ahh, don't look like that Robby. When I hall this shit in I'll buy ya something nice." Leone then crouched to the dead Wyvern, humming as she took out a small knife to cut away the scales.

Robin meanwhile examined the multiple wounds it had received with a curious look. Doesn't look like any of the other monsters did that, and by the looks of it, it wasn't one of us.

"Ah crap!" Leone broke Robins chain of thought by raising her broken knife. "Forgot dragon scales are tough. No way a simple knife I'll cut it." She said, throwing away her knife. "Hey Robby, mind lending me a hand?"

"Robin. And you should probably do that later. I think someone else is here." Robin evaluated. "And by the looks of it, this happened very recently."

"Seriously? Ahhh...." Leone moaned as she got back up. "Fiiiine. Let's get this over with so I can pluck this thing for all its worth." Leone looked around the fog. "Does seem like where first. Hey, why'd we split up when we're heading to the same place anyway?"

"Ellie's the one who insisted so we don't draw unwanted attention. Though if you ask me, it's probably cause she can't stand you." Robin answered bluntly.

"Aw El, always so serious. She should take my advice and find herself a nice man ta screw her good."

"She's interested in girls though."

"That doesn't mean she can at least find some guy willen ta hit that." Leone winked.

"You know, I really don't understand half of what you're saying. Life outside Aquia sure is different." Robin sighed.

"Welp, let's get this show on the road," Leone announced walking with her hands behind her head. "Come one, Robby."

"Robin."