A force of soldiers from the Luminas Confederacy stood watch amidst the rubble of one of several destroyed fortresses that once blocked the path between Darksol-occupied Francus and the only nation yet to feel the villainous feet of the Abominable King or his minions tread upon it. Most of the rubble had been cleared away and thoroughly cleansed of the taint of undeath, and in their place was a keep made entirely of ironwood. The new fortresses looked more like a group of trees that had been sculpted into their current forms rather than a regular wooden fort, but this was due to the fact that the forts were made from the power of a Hero, after all.

The soldiers themselves were standing watch as laborers dragged the rubble and piled it onto carts to be taken elsewhere. The task of clearing out the ruined evil lair was nearly done and only a few of the larger pieces needed to be cut down to size. If only the Heroes were here to help with the process…

“Hey! Look over there!”

A soldier on the wall caught the faint outline of a group of people riding horses at breakneck speeds towards the Confederacy’s fort. As no one skilled with magic was with them and spyglasses were too rare for normal soldiers to have, the figures could not be seen clearly enough for them to know if they were friend or foe. As they were so very close to the dreaded Gallows Woods, however, any potential threat, no matter how small, had to be taken with extreme seriousness.

All members of the Luminas faith retreated behind the ironwood walls and the gates slammed shut and were barred to prevent anything from getting through. The commander in charge of the fort raised a cone-like tube to his mouth and shouted at the riders.

“Slow down and identify yourselves or we will treat you as enemies! This is your only warning!”

The riders slowed their pace and soon those with the greatest long-distance vision could see that the riders were some of the Heroes that had been sent to destroy the dark city of Necrograd. However, if the Heroes were expecting even a lukewarm welcome, they were going to be in for a shock.

“It’s the failures! Open fire! Kill them! They failed the Goddess and humanity for the last time! By order of the Church, they must be slain!”

As soon as the commander had said those words, the men on the wall loosed their arrows at the exhausted former Heroes. They just barely halted their mounts in time to avoid being doused in a rain of pointed shafts, and after having driven their horses nearly non-stop for far too long, this moment of high stress was enough to push the horses over the edge and kill them through exhaustion.

…

“Damn it!” Vladimir yelled as he and the other former Heroes took cover behind a group of what any modern man would call concrete tank traps. “This wasn’t supposed to happen!”

“You think it was that asshole, Kevin?” Pierre asked.

“Doubt it. He may have been influential, but a screw up that major would certainly have knocked him down a peg or two. If he isn’t in the same situation we are in or in something similar, I would be surprised and astounded by the stupidity of the Luminas Church and Confederacy.” Kristof said.

“We can’t stay here! They’ll send people out to get us and we’re too tired to fight back in any meaningful way.” Alice said dejectedly.

“Speak for yourself!” Nagato replied. “I’m as fit as a… what’s the expression?”

“Fiddle. Fit as a fiddle. And let’s not forget that you have that armor and Vladimir has his superhuman stamina and durability. Not all of us are so physically gifted.” Jesus countered.

“Anyways, we need to get out of here!” Alice snapped. “Can’t Vlad or Nagato pick a few of us up and run for it? Pierre, can’t you make an ironwood dome for us to rest in, and can’t Kristof just fire a few swords at them?”

“Easier said than done, mon Cherie.” Pierre replied both solemnly and jokingly. “I need a calm mind to do something like what you are hoping. Sure, I could make a dome over our heads right now and under fire, but there would be… drawbacks.”

“Such as?” Alice asked as an arrow plinked off of the opposite face of the concrete tank trap and caused her to flinch.

“Well, the plants I can make are dependent on the land and the air. This place is still thick with dark power, so if I tried it here the wood might just come to life and try to kill us. It’s happened before, and I don’t want to be a plant-manipulator who died to an evil tree.”

“And I used up a decent chunk of my stored weapons trying to injure the Abominable King! To no avail, mind you, but I tried. I have fifty weapons I can shoot, but I would need to stand in the open to fire them and I personally don’t want to become a reverse hedgehog just to have a small chance of killing a handful of people. My launched weapons aren’t very accurate, you know. I use them like a machine gun or shotgun for a reason.”

As the others bickered, Vladimir turned to Nagato.

“Hey, I have an idea if you want to try it. Not sure if it will work or if you can survive, but it may just get us out of this mess. Temporarily, at least.”

“And?” Nagato asked. “What is this dangerous plan?”

Vladimir pulled Nagato in close and whispered the plan into his ear. Nagato listened closely and occasionally nodded. After a bit of whispering, Nagato’s eyes lit up and he nodded fervently in acceptance of the plan. Nagato curled up tight after manifesting his armor and weapons and Vladimir lifted him up by the soles of his feet and threw the man from imperial Japan with more speed than a major-league baseball pitch.

“FAST-BALL SPECIAL! COMING RIGHT UP!” The two of them yelled as one. Nagato rocketed towards the distant wall of the wooden fort and uncurled his body. To keep up his speed, he occasionally kicked off the ground and seemingly moments before he impacted the base of the ironwood wall he leapt up into the air and over the barrier.

“BANZAI!” He yelled as the sounds of shock from within the fortress turned to screams of anger, then into screams of pain and finally to death cries. A minute passed. Then two minutes. Then three. At last, Nagato jumped over the wall and walked back to the other former Heroes.

“They are all dead by my blade. Some tried to run, but I gave them an honorable death regardless.”

Alice stood up from behind the concrete tank trap she had hidden behind and sighed.

“We all just ran from certain death, including you yourself. What was that you always said about running being dishonorable and deserving of death? Or does that not apply to you as well, mister hypocrite?”

Nagato froze up for a moment before turning away.

“That was different!”

“How so?” Alice asked with a tone and look that showed she was playing.

“It… it just is! I don’t need a gaijin to try and lecture me about honor! Or… wait… you’re just toying with me, aren’t you…?”

“Yep.” Alice replied playfully as she and the other former Heroes rejoined Nagato. “I hope you left at least one person alive so we could find out what is going on.”

Nagato nodded.

“Yes. There were numerous non-combatants and I left them both alive and intact! Killing, raping, stealing from and vandalizing the property of innocent civilians is dishonorable and worthy of nothing but shame and scorn!”

Vladimir patted Nagato on the shoulder as he walked by.

“If only you knew what would happen in Korea, the Pacific Islands and China…”

Nagato turned around as he walked with the others.

“What do you mean? Is something happening in those places? Or perhaps something is going to happen? Do tell me!”

The other former Heroes didn’t respond and merely found their own ways into the now gore-strewn fort.

“Hey! I don’t like being left in the dark! What kind of horrible actions are going to take place?!”

As Nagato franticly tried to get his answer, the rest of the former Heroes silently agreed that, in the case of this justice otaku, ignorance of his home nation’s actions would be bliss.