Wulfgar felt the niggling of fear inside of him as he stomped through the jungle. The feeling that had once only reared its ugly head before a battle, or a moment after saying the wrong thing to his wife, was now an eternal partner. If he was being honest with himself, he had some misgivings about the path he had chosen. Thankfully, he wasn’t alone.

“Why are we doing this again?” complained Fili.

Wulfgar snorted. The tiny woman was now living her best life, but that didn’t stop her complaining every time there was any risk involved. Her armour, once Mythic leather, was now a flowing river of silver. Nate had called it Quicksilver, and, similar to Wulfgar owns armour, its form could be shifted. Compared to his Bloodborne Regalia of the Executioner, Fili’s Quicksilver Regalia could shift much much faster.

“You know why,” muttered Wulfgar. “We haven’t even reached the simplest requirement of Master Ankh’s yet, but I spent enough time with Nate and Kiri to know the next step requires a pile of Divine treasures bigger than your tiny body. So, we’re out here doing our part. Earning our keep.”

“I would have come anyway,” added Jak with a friendly smile. “It’s the right thing to do. We are members of the Risen Sun Sect, and we are helping our allies in the Golden Tide defend their worlds from invaders. Assisting is what a hero would do.”

Wulfgar grunted his agreement. Where Fili was now covered in shifting silver liquid, Jak was barely covered. A loin cloth, completely unenchanted, and a shining white cape were all that decorated the hulking Orc, along with a new axe. The cape was the Regalia that Nate had made for Jak at the behest of Ankh’aris. Their new master had stated very simply that ‘A hero needs no armour besides his conviction’. The lunatic orc had eaten it up, even before his missing arm had been fully restored. If you’d asked Wulfgar, layers of armour were the way to go. Many, many layers of armour. In that, Wulfgar thought Nate had the right idea, while Jak was almost as masochistic as Kiri.

“I know why we’re doing this. I meant why are we doing this. Stomping around the jungle. Can’t Nate just track them down and then we go hit them?”

“He did. He said they’re somewhere in this area of the jungle. Might be easier to find them if you’d stop yappin!”

Nate’s painted army had been rolling over the Mythic-tier beasts like a self-replenishing tide. They’d even taken down a few Lesser Divines. But, a few was not all. Some of the Lesser Divinities in service to Belori’s beast horde had banded together and begun conducting guerilla warfare against Nate’s painted army. Nate said he was working on a solution but, while he figured out how to handle that particular issue, it was Wulfgar and the rest of the Sect’s job to handle the problem. Which meant stomping through the jungle trying to find this team of Lesser Divines.

“Kiri could’ve handled this too…” suggested Fili.

“She has another task to see to,” interjected Gwen calmly, her twin familiars shining out of her back in the form of wings.

Similar to how they couldn’t find Gwen artifacts to gain a Vessel, they also couldn’t find her artifacts to make a proper Regalia. So Nate had made her a lesser version that was apparently meant to work on the Concept of Restoration. A halfway point that Ankh’aris had accepted.

“Don’t say Luci,” growled Wulfgar, cutting off Fili’s next suggestion. “Even if she could do it, I doubt she’d find them, or would have the attention span to stay on task.”

Fili opened her mouth to say something when Wulfgar held his hand up. He could sense spilled blood nearby. His eyes drifted up into the canopy and found it. A small bit of blood hanging off a branch. He had their scent now.

One side of him was telling him now was the time to run away. But the other half, the half that kept his word and followed through, told him to charge. So he did.

With his hand extended to the side his Regalia transformed threads of blood into a hulking greataxe. Throwing all his strength behind it, he swung at the trees in front of him. The illusion shattered.

Then there was no time to take anything else in as the Lesser Divine beasts that had been hiding were among them. A six-legged, black furred cat the size of one of the rooms on the Solaris launched itself at Wulfgar only to vanish in a puff of smoke as a hail of silver daggers passed through where it would have landed. Then Fili was past Wulfgar and flying into the backline as she targeted a scaly looking, brown lizard that walked on its hind legs and grew spikes out of its back. Wulfgar had to admit to himself, she might complain a lot, but Fili didn’t back down an inch.

The black cat reappeared in another puff of smoke right above Gwen, only to find itself flying down on an angle towards Jak.

“You will not lay a hand on her while I yet draw breath, beast!” roared Jak as jumped to meet the cat in the air, shield in one hand and axe in the other.

Wulfgar ignored what happened next. He had his own battle to deal with. An insectile beast with four sets of eyes and eight legs launched itself at him as it reared up on its back four legs. Every single one was serrated and Wulfgar, even without Nate’s ability to sense Concepts, just knew those things were meant for ripping and tearing. Wulfgar swung his axe to meet the Lesser Divine beast's sword-like appendages. His axe rebounded but not before driving the insect to the side. Wulfgar used the force to spin and land another axe blow down the side of the beast, cracking its shell just enough for a little yellow blood to start leaking out.

The insect screamed in pain and annoyance, but Wulfgar wasn’t done. The thing’s blood was out in the open now, just waiting for Wulfgar to share his own fears with it. Wulfgar didn’t have a lot of Divine Energy, as he couldn’t store much in his Class Core since he was a fourth evolution Divinity. But he still had more than these beasts who’d been fighting painted warriors. His Divine Energy soaked into the yellow blood and slithering, little nightmares reared their ugly heads.

The insect screamed as the little, yellow nightmares made of its own blood latched onto its broken shell and started trying to squirm inside. Wulfgar kept it distracted, deflecting its arms with his axe for long enough for his attack to succeed. As the last of the little nightmares wormed their way inside of the insect, it started thrashing and screeching in a high-pitched voice while his nightmares ate it from the inside out like a rotten apple.

Wulfgar grunted when he didn’t get any Divine Energy from the kill and turned back to see how the others were doing. Fili seemed like she was done with the spiky lizard and had joined Jak in taking down the black cat along with a vicious, little, flightless bird.

Another minute and they’d finished cleaning up.

“Master was right,” said Jak with glee. “My conviction is a greater armour than any steel I could ever wear.”

Wulfgar was about to comment when Fili beat him to it. “You’re an idiot. A loveable idiot, but an idiot. Look at you. That cat was tearing you up! Just ask Master Ankh’aris to let Nate make you some actual armour!”

Jak, blood dripping down his bare chest and arms just smiled.

“A hero is not afraid of a little blood.”

A restoring light descended on Jak, shining from Gwen’s wings as the flowing white robe she wore pulsed in time with each movement of the gossamer Celestial familiars. Jak’s wounds started to seal up but it would still take a little while for them to heal. After all, Gwen was using mana to heal a body containing Divine Energy. It took time to bridge the gap. And, unlike Nate and Kiri, they couldn’t just throw Divine Energy at the problem.

“Alright, let’s gather up their Divine Orbs and head back to base. Hopefully…”

Wulfgar’s words paused in his throat as he felt another force coming towards them, completely open in its intent and power.

The impact of the goliath-like bear creature that landed sent trees flying. Wulfgar would have ducked but Jak was already there in front of them, shield held high as he took the force of the landing for all of them. When the debris cleared, Wulfgar could see that they were facing a Greater Divine. Which would’ve been perfect, since the bastard couldn’t touch them, if it wasn’t for the bear's entourage. Wulfgar counted eight Lesser Divines.

“Told you this was a bad idea,” muttered Fili. Wulfgar hadn’t even noticed her get close to him. Too quick by far. At least she’d escape this mess. Maybe Wulfgar would too, if Jak held them off long enough. He hated that he had the thought, but his fear was filling him now, telling him this was a no-win situation. They couldn’t take twice their number. Not with a Greater Divine potentially putting his claws on the scales.

“What do we have here?” growled the bear. “Some little interlopers come to feed themselves to their betters?”

The laughter of the beasts behind him was sporadic and varied as it was elicited from the throats of different beasts. Two avians, two lizards, a smaller bear, another cat-like beast, this one on two legs instead of four, some kind of mole-like creature, and a gigantic shark-like beast that swam through the air.

“We should handle this quickly,” said the cat-like beast. “This is a distraction from the army of paint.”

“They can wait a little longer. We were due for a fresh blooding anyway. Which one do you want, Lokan?” asked the bear.

“The orc, Master,” stated the cat, who Wulfgar figured was Lokan.

“You heard him, the others are for the rest of you. Leave the orc for my Disciple!”

There were hisses and screeches in response, the other beasts apparently incapable of speech.

Wulfgar raised his axe, fear filling him, as he prepared to go down fighting. He’d had a good run. Gotten some good fights, seen some sights he’d never expected to see, and dealt with those two parasites back on Galle. He was afraid, but he could die fulfilled.

“Run,” he whispered to Fili. “Take Gwen. I’ll hold them off with Jak.”

Fili glanced at him, then at Jak, her head shifting so fast it was a blur.

The woman’s personal training with Ankh’aris was really paying off, thought Wulfgar.

“You didn’t realise…” Fili stated calmly, as though a question had finally been answered. “I thought you knew.”

“What?” asked Wulfgar in confusion.

“We were being used as bait. I thought you knew.”

Wulfgar’s eyebrows went up. He turned to see the one called Lokan raise a clawed, four-fingered hand, the air growing heavier. The spectre of death hung over them. This was the strength of a Seed. Then the feeling vanished and there was nothing except warm-light.

“Sorry I’m late! I got distracted chasing down their scout!” yelled a happy Luci.

In her humanoid form, the half-pint, who was still taller than Fili, tossed a bird’s head onto the ground.

“He didn’t taste very good, even after I cooked him! And I did it right! Just like Auntie Kiri showed me, with the herbs and the spices and the searing. He still tasted like dirt!”

The bear-like Greater Divine roared at seeing the avian’s burned skull on the ground.

“How dare you touch one of mine! I’ll…I feel nothing…no Reciprocity. Oh, little girl, I am going to kill you myself!”

Luci grinned, her yellow eyes shining like beacons in the ruins of the jungle. With her backswept horns she looked like she could be a demon, if it wasn’t for the faint sheen of scales Wulfgar could see on the young dragon's humanoid shoulders.

“Good!” squealed the solar dragon. “Because I’m your opponent! Ankh says I get to fight you to the DEATH! This is going to be soooo much fun!”

“Me? To the death? I am Grawn, the Breaker of Bones, whose very touch…”

“Not just you, silly! All of you. One, two, miss a few, seven, eight, nine! Let's play!”

Before the Greater Divine could respond, Luci had moved in a flash of light. Standing on the other side of the clearing she held the two lizard’s charred heads in her hands, their smoking bodies still toppling to the dirt below.

“That was only a little fun. I thought they’d move. Kiri always moves when I do that. Why were they so slow?” asked Luci in confusion.

The bear looked shocked, if Wulfgar was any judge of bestial facial expressions.

“How did you do that? No Reciprocity, yet you struck Lesser Divines…”

Luci glanced up from the two lizard-heads with her shining golden eyes.

“I’m not Bound, silly. I can do whatever I want! As long as Ankh doesn’t find out anyway! I thought playing with them would be more fun than this but you’re just boring, aren’t you?”

“Master, I think we should…” muttered Lokan.

At the cat-like Lesser Divine’s words, the Greater Divine bear raised its paw, and purple energy gathered around it. It grew into a sphere larger than the bear’s body. Wulfgar fell to his knees, Fili and Gwen in the dirt beside him, as gravity pressed down heavily on them. And they weren’t even the target. This was just a side effect of being in the sphere’s presence. The fact that they were unharmed and none of the beasts were targeting them was likely the only reason Reciprocity hadn’t been violated. Jak, leaning heavily on his shield, managed to maintain his feet. Wulfgar could hear him muttering “A hero stands tall..” over and over again.

Then there was laughter. The sound of a young girl's amusement.

“You want to use Gravity? Against me?” asked Luci. “Too bad your little ball isn’t a planet. It’s a star and all solar objects obey my command. My Solar Light.”

The world around Wulfgar burned but the light that touched him didn’t hurt. He felt relaxed, like he was lying on a beach with his friends. All he could see was white. When the field of light finally cleared, he found they were kneeling in a burned circle so wide that he struggled to see the jungle in the distance. Of the beasts, only nine Orbs remained, laying in the scorched dirt. On the other side of them stood a very happy Luci.

“Frick was right! That was SOOOO much fun!” squealed the young dragon as she hopped from foot to foot. “And I got treasure!”

Luci had picked up the Orbs and started shoving them into a tiny bag on her hip.

Wulfgar sighed, helping Fili to her feet as Jak did the same for Gwen, then stared out at the destruction around them. Nate had said that Luci was only at their level. Seeing what she could do, Wulfgar doubled down on his plans to follow in their footsteps. Maybe with this much power, he might stop being afraid. The idea was sweet, even if he knew it for the lie it was.

“Come on then. Back to camp,” he grumbled.