5 minutes.

Your time until the next wave was running short, and you spent the last hour checking your personal stocks. You had enough fire paper and consumables for an army, and you had just restocked Raphtalia's supply, so you were both doing well. The boss was helping Naofumi make sure he had the potions and weapons for the rest of the knights and any villagers caught in the wave, should they wish to fight. You wouldn't blame them if otherwise. You wanted a bigger fight than any beast, normal or otherwise, could provide.

"Y/n, how does this look?" You looked over at Raphtalia, who was holding her hand out to you. On her wrist was a golden bracelet, with a single green gem laden in it.

"It looks quite nice, especially on a hunter like yourself." You told her. Raphtalia smiled at your compliment, readjusting her sword on her back.

"I hope the weapon has no need of replacement yet." You remarked, looking at the bladed sheath.

"Nope! Still as good as new!" Raphtalia told you.

"Now, I believe it's time, no?" You asked. The timer counting down to the wave was approaching ten seconds. You readied the Burial Blade, twirling it around you for a few seconds, before resting it on your shoulder.

"Now...." You looked to the sky, as a golden light surrounded you and everyone to join Naofumi's party.

"...we're off." Raphtalia finished.

"Be right back!" Filo shouted. You closed your eyes, letting the feeling of the warp overcome your body.

A blood red sky greeted you when you came to. Without hesitating, the knights took off, for the nearby village. So they were to evacuate the village, as the Shield Hero's main party focused on simply killing things. Truly a waste of your time, but one you'd have to tolerate.

You simply wandered the village, twirling the Burial Blade as beast after beast tried in vain to attack you. Each one fell to the ground in a matter of seconds, as the occasional group of villagers ran by, escorted by knights to the evacuation point. You performed a quick flurry of swipes on a scourge beast, severing it's front legs, before planting the scythe's blade into its skull. You sighed in disappointment, taking out the blade. You gripped the handle with both hands, and spun in a circle. A second later, you heard the top half of a lizard man fall to the ground.

"Woah... amazing..." you looked up to see a pair of young knights admiring you. You flicked the blood off your blade, giving them a small bow, before continuing on your way.

Three hours of a boring hunt had passed. You had easily cleared out more than half of the village of beasts, while the knights, alongside Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Filo, took the rest. You were about to start simply patrolling the village out of boredom, before you caught the sound of Filo's running, heading towards you.

"Y/n, hop on!" You looked at Naofumi, who was gripping Filo's reigns as the bird slowed down. Before she could stop, you ran forward yourself, gripping part of Filo's, reigns to hoist yourself up, preventing the need for a stop.

"Those other hero's seem to be taking quite a while." You remarked.

"Yea, that's why we're going. To end the wave ourselves if we have to." Naofumi told you. You smiled at the sound of that.

"Understood, Naofumi." With Filo dashing through the trees, you kept your gaze skyward, before Raphtalia pointed to your left.

"Look!" She shouted. You turned your gaze over to see what she was on about, as a large shape made it's way into your vision. That shape was a giant ship, seemingly sailing straight onward. As you watched, a number of explosions went off on its side, reeling the ship for a moment.

"Filo, towards the ship." Naofumi ordered.

"Aye aye!" With a bit of whiplash, she made a mad dash to the ground beneath the ship, where a group of archers were stationed, aiming their arrows towards the ship. They all let loose, and another series of explosions went off as the arrows impacted. Getting closer revealed the familiar face of one of the archers.

"Where are Ren and Motoyasu?" You asked, hopping off of Filo for a moment. Itsuki flicked his eyes over towards you, before his gaze hardened, and he nocked another arrow.

"On the ship. I told them that summoning and fighting the Soul Eater should've come first, but they never listen. How irresponsible can they get?" He muttered. You simply scoffed at the words, grabbing onto Filo's foot.

"On the ship, Shield Hero." You spoke up. With a flick of the reigns, and a possibly dislocated shoulder, Filo took the skies, Naofumi and Raphtalia on her back, and you holding her leg. It took a matter of seconds to reach the airborne vehicle, and only a few more to assess the situation.

Ren and his party were surrounding, and making short work of a small shape. Some kind of hunched over woman. At once, they were all blown back by some kind of shockwave as the scraggly being disappeared with a light ringing.

"Keep searching!" The sword hero barked out, as the group began to cautiously wander their side of the ship.

Meanwhile, Motoyasu's party was similarly making short work of a tall, dark figure with piercing white eyes, wielding a sickle. As they brought one to its knees, a second approached from the side, catching a few of the party members in a blindingly fast flurry of strikes, forcing Motoyasu to back up. The two heroes bumped into each other, which seemed to spark some kind of argument between the two. Watching them, you could almost feel the anticipation drain from your body.

"You've got to be kidding me..." You sighed, swinging your body a few times before jumping away from Filo, landing on the deck with a roll, getting both hero's attention.

"You..." you looked back at Ren as Motoyasu hefted his spear towards you.

"We don't need your help this time, you hear me?!" He shouted. You shook your head, sighing in disappointment.

"I would've believed that, Spear Hero, had you not shown ineptitude at killing a single Mad One." You told him.

"We've killed several, they just keep coming back!" Motoyasu tried to defend himself.

"Then surely, Ren has had better luck with the Witches?" You asked. The sword hero remained silent, giving you all the answers you needed.

"This is maybe the easiest thing you could've fought in a wave, and you can't even kill it. Disgraceful." You growled. From your right, a Mad One lifted its sickle, ready to strike down at you.

Everyone on the ship could only gasp as you stuck your hand towards it. A warm light glowed from it, and the things head simply exploded, leaving nothing. By your feet, the shadow of the thing lingered, before... slithering back to the center of the ship, where a red light erupted from the ground, and another Mad One crawled from it.

"Now, instead of pretending this is some game where a grind fixes all problems, how about you actually take action?" You asked. The other Mad One lurched towards Motoyasu, lifting its sickle to kill the hero.

Right before it could happen, Naofumi dropped to the ground, shield raised to ward off the blow.

"Ah, right on time." You remarked.

"I sincerely hope you've been telling these two to stop their bickering." Naofumi told you with an irritated look.

"Of course I have! In fact, I've also taken the liberty to figure out that whatever you really want to fight must be lurking in the shadows." You told the heroes.

"The shadows?" Motoyasu looked to the ground, where his own shadow stretched across the deck.

"The shadows. Raphtalia, cast your light magic." You commanded. Behind Naofumi, Filo landed, allowing Raphtalia to hop onto the deck her sword drawn.

"Understood. As source of thy power, I order thee..." Raphtalia chanted under her breath as the area around you began to glow.

"Decipher the laws of nature and illuminate my surroundings... First Light!" Raphtalia shouted. At the completed casting, a wave of light erupted around her. True to your words, the shadows of the Mad Ones began to flicker, as a ghostly face began to glow in them. Near Ren, one of the witches appeared, it's own shadow similarly flickering.

"Now, attack the shadows!" You ordered. Without hesitation, Raphtalia spring forward, planting her sword in the shadow of the mad one. Realizing the situation, Ren raised his own sword, striking the shadow of the witch.

All at once, from every shadow on the ship, columns of white light formed, making a circle. It looked like something was being pulled out of them.

"Look!" You turned your gaze to Itsuki, who was boarding the ship in time to witness the spectacle.

"Souls eaters are spawning everywhere..." he observed, the lights, which were apparently all different creatures, seemed to merge into one, forming a large ball of light.

When the light dissipated, what could only be described as a floating, lizard like creature the size of a small dragon appeared. A text box appeared in your vision, describing this as... a Dimensional Soul Eater. All around you, Naofumi, Itsuki, Ren and Motoyasu seemed overcome by shock at the sudden appearance of what seemed to be a very powerful foe. Faced by such a large monster, easily the strongest of the wave, you lifted your blade up...

And planted it into the ground, leaning against the railing with a yawn.

"Well, I wish you heroes good luck with that. I would kill it, but the experience would be wasted on me." You remarked.

"What? You can't just-" Motoyasu started

"Focus, Spear Hero." You reminded him. Gritting his teeth, the Spear hero pointed his weapon towards the boss. At once, all three offensive hero's released their first attacks.

"Thunder Slash!"

"Thunder Shot!"

"Lightning Spear!" You watched the attack collide with the Soul Eater, dealing effectively no damage. Shame, shame.

"We're getting nowhere with this. Filo, use wind magic!" Naofumi ordered.

"Kay! First wind!" With a flap of her wings, Filo launched the magic attack, already dealing more damage than the other heroes.

You watched the Soul Eater open its mouth, as a green ball of energy began to build up.

"Hurry up, its charging something strong!" Itsuki yelled out. The Bow, Spear, and Sword hero's ran forward, to try for a duck and cover strategy.

"Filo, Raphtalia, behind me!" Naofumi shouted out.

"What about Y/n?" You heard Raphtalia ask.

"I'll be fine, just take cover." You told her. The Soul Eater unleashed its attack, and for a moment, all you saw was smoke. When it finally cleared, big surprise, the only ones still standing were the ones behind Naofumi's shield.

You sighed, brushing off your shoulder as you continued to watch the fight. A bored spectator...

"Tell me, dear doll. How many have died between the last wave and now?" You asked the dream bound companion you loved so much. In the dream, the doll bowed her head to you, before responding.

"Only a few hundred, O Great One. Of them, only a hundred have been bound to your fields." The doll informed you.

"I see. And the faith?" You asked

"A hundredfold. Many have prayed in you, and even spread it to other when they noticed the sudden lack of beasts after doing so. Your name spreads across this country like the plague itself, O Great One." She told you.

"Wonderful, wonderful. Perhaps it would be best to dial down the beasts, if not even the heroes can kill them." You remarked. Before the doll could answer, you felt a familiar force. That fiery curse.

You snapped to in time to see Naofumi hefting that black and red shield from the battle against the dragon. Except... it wasn't right. No... it was bigger, and somehow, it now included a black gauntlet covering Naofumi's right arm. Naofumi raised his shield arm, casting an iconic spell of his.

"Shield Prison!" In a second, the Soul Eater was surrounded by a sphere of green shields and chains.

"Change Shield!" With this next shout, a loud shriek of pain erupted from the shield prison. What happened then was left to the imagination. Naofumi began to chant an incantation under his breath, before the prison began to float upwards, to the sky.

"Iron Maiden!" Naofumi called out. From the heavens, the named torture device descended, easily upscaled by at least a hundred. You watched it's spiked inside open up, as the prison entered it. And with a close of his fist, the Iron Maiden slammed shut. After a second, it completely dissolved, releasing the Soul Eater.... dead...

Behind you, the air rushed as the body fell, trailing blood.

Naofumi... killed it that quickly? You looked back at the fallen foe, as it disappeared into the darkness.

"There... it's done." Naofumi said, looking at you.

"You happy?" He asked. You simply smirked, before lifting your hands to applaud him.

"Yes, yes, I truly am, Naofumi. I clearly made the right choice staying by your side all this time." You told him. Behind Naofumi, Filo reverted to her humanoid form, making fun of Motoyasu, who was trying in vain to defend himself.

"Is that supposed to mean something?" Naofumi's black gauntlet disappeared into flames as his shield reverted to its normal form.

"Nothing you need to worry about. Sit down, drink a potion, and I'll-" you stopped suddenly, before grabbing the burial blade out of the ground.

"Y/n?" Naofumi asked. You twirled the weapon in an extravagant fashion, before pointing it behind you.

"We're not done yet." You stated. Those four words got everyone's attention, as they looked to where you pointed. Behind you, another Dimensional Soul Eater was starting to crawl it's way out of the ground.

"What? Another one?" Motoyasu muttered. Before you could answer, the deck behind you exploded in a hail of golden projectiles, killing the soul eater in a single hit. You finally turned to look in time to see a woman drop to the ground, holding a fan in each hand. Her hair was a raven black, contrasting her pale skin while matching her red eyes and dark robes.

"Really, now? You're having so much trouble with such weaklings? And you call yourselves the heroes of this land?" The girl asked, clearly mocking the four holding legendary weapons.

"So far, what I've seen is only one strong enough to be considered a hero, and another sitting back in the middle of the wave." She stated. You felt some stares land on you as the girl pointed her fans at Naofumi.

"Nevertheless, you seem to be the only one worthy enough to be called a hero. What is your name?" She asked.

"You should introduce yourself before asking for my name." The shield hero pointed out.

"Oh, pardon me. I am Glass. You would do well to consider me your enemy." She told him. Those words did not sit well with the other hero's, who began to tense up.

"I am Naofumi." Naofumi told her, lifting his shield.

"Naofumi? Well, in any case, you should prepare yourself for-" You stopped Glass by stepping in front of Naofumi, placing your weapon on your back.

"Y/n?" Naofumi spoke. You held a hand to him, before fixing a dull stare on Glass.

"You seem a strong opponent. Tough enough to take down one of those things in a single hit. I'm impressed, truly I am." You told her. Glass narrowed her eyes, trying to study you.

"And what is your point?" She asked. You smiled at her, a wicked grin that would set off most.

"Well, you may just be the one worthy of a fight against myself." You announced. Glass simply smirked, chuckling to herself.

"Oh? You could only stand back and watch a soul eater get slaughtered by a hero, and now you declare yourself strong enough to fight me? Pathetic." She spoke with scorn. Your smile faded, and you growled for a moment.

"Well, I am quite generous to my opponents, so I will give you an option, Glass." You told her.

"Kneel before me, and I will send you to whence you came, with no struggle or pain." You offered. Glass narrowed her eyes at you.

"Well? I'd hate to ruin a capable fighter, so what is your choice?" You asked. Glass scoffed, shaking her head.

"No. I would never give in to such a blatant lie." She told you. You sighed, putting a hand to your face as your shook your head.

"Lie? What made you think that now? Was it the offer? Did it seem too good to be true?" You asked.

"It's simpler than that. I would never accept something from someone who would simply sit back like that." Glass told you.

"I see... well, no matter then. Glass, I suggest you prepare yourself." You warned her. From behind your back, you drew a large great sword, holding it in front of you. With a flash of light, the blade suddenly surrounded itself with swirling green energy.

"For tonight, Y/n joins the hunt."