A price to be paid. [Job w/ VindStot]

A ton of things happened in the past month without relenting. The Rune Knights, whom were run by the Magic Council, were found to be guilty of corruption in the higher ranks of the order. Fiore's King ordered a Purge on the organization and the ones who were to carry that out were known as the Garou Knights. Hero himself was requested an audience with by an officer from that organization. Though the giant answered the call, he did not accept the invitation to join their ranks. The reason for that? Yamamoto felt that an organization led by royalty was ultimately doomed to corruption eventually and he did not want to commit to a faction that was not going to hold true to their ideals. Hero wanted something more than that, though he did not know or understand what it was he wanted. He did know though that he wanted the strength to genuinely protect those that are, or would be, close to him. That was the main thing spurring him forward currently.

After that whole thing happened, he continued to get mail from their organization regarding the Rune Knights and such though there was nothing substantial yet that drew the giant's attention. Meanwhile, his cousin Elyx had the man go on a little trip for him into this active volcano for a treasure chest. Yeah. Sounds fun, doesn't it? Hero was in there for about an hour and a half before he finally found it, though it was not that simple. It was slightly confusing as well, considering what happened. At first, there was Elyx who wanted to challenge him to get the chest by getting through him first. That was fine and all, but then another Elyx appeared. Yes, there were two of them but then it went downhill from there. The Elyx who had arrived second knocked the other Elyx on the head and then that Elyx poofed into a woman. The woman was explained to be the real Elyx's girlfriend and that she liked playing pranks on unsuspecting people. The man had already figured that something was off about the first Elyx but he never would have thought it was a shape-shifting tanuki woman. After all that nonsense, his cousin explained the reasons behind why he wanted Yamamoto to take this little game of a request and it made at least some sense, though it would have been easier to just ask. The giant had no legitimate reason to deny the offer from his cousin so he accepted and thus joined the legal guild, Golden Phoenix. Hero also obtained an empty bottle from the chest; Elyx said that a good friend of his wanted to know what lava tasted like and wanted the giant to fill the bottle with some lava and take it to the friend. There was a problem with that though: he had no idea where to find that person. His only clue was that she worked as the guild's bartender when she was not out on jobs.

The bottle of lava was still in his house out of sight and it was likely going to stay that way until he knew exactly where to find that friend. If this person was a friend of Elyx, chances were high that they were also very strong though that of course was only conjecture. After that day, it was actually pretty quiet. Since there was no guild hall yet according to Elyx, there was no way for the man to know where that friend lived or worked, which meant he had to either wait for his cousin to give him another hint or try and search for them by going on some pilgrimage to every city and town in Fiore. He was NOT going to do the latter for the sake of one person whom he had never met before. Unfortunately, Hero was not kind enough to do something like that without some more legitimate reason than "they want to know what lava tastes like". There was one thing however that he deduced from that. The friend must have been a Slayer of some type and he also figured that they had to be a Fire Slayer. However, there were three known types of Slayers that they could have been; they were distinctly different in the way the types obtained their power. It was simply a matter that the man was not willing to handle just yet.

Just the day after that, his cousin threw him under the bus metaphorically speaking. Granted he ended up not being alone for the entire ordeal but it was pretty intense. I mean... it was not every day one got to take on a horde of ravenous, bloodthirsty werewolves on a Perfect Moon with three other people until the sun came up. That was a really intense night, though he and the others managed to get through the night with non-lethal injuries, save for himself whom was covered in bruises from the smacks he took by that behemoth of a beast in the village. It would have been a lot worse, had the alpha not been assaulted by a mob of its own kin during the battle. When the sun finally came up, all of the turned villagers returned to normal and the group of four people were thanked by the village elders who knew it was going to happen from the start. All in all, it turned out to be another invaluable experience for the giant.

Then the day after that, which was also pretty fun, he and a fellow guild mate named Luna Jaeger went treasure hunting out in the Ancient Ruins. It did not take us too long to get to the bottom of the whole ideal and found this guy Harper Goldenshine to be extremely troublesome. He was also searching for this treasure and was found to be wanting the treasure for darker intentions, which Hero could not allow. He and the woman found the treasure and then left with Harper in tow to inform local authorities on the matter; later that day, Yamamoto was informed that the Magic Council was thankful for their efforts in protecting the sanctity of the deceased Wizard Saint's tomb. It was a good feeling to do good deeds for the sake of tomb preservation. A thought also crossed his mind while at the ruins. Why were those ruins such a hotspot for all these different occurrences? It was at the very least strange and the giant was very interested in finding out what it was all about.

Then there was the matter of the friend of Elyx's he was supposed to find on his own. He did end up eventually finding her on an island off the coast of the mainland, Crescent Island the resort, and goodness she was a beauty. It was at first strange to watch her drink down that bottle of lava like it was some kind of alcohol. Though the thought was a little funny and ironic because the friend was a bartender. Turns out the friend was also a woman, in case one had not noticed. Long blonde hair and the kind of body that just about anyone would fall to their knees for. The more important thing was getting that lava to her though so that was a success at the very least. Her name was Venir RuLush and she was an S-class wizard part of the same guild as he, Golden Phoenix. Hero himself was on vacation yesterday, so most of the time was simply spent at the resort talking with the woman. Though if that were all that happened, he would have been lying. That day turned into a run-in with an extremely large Dark Guild known as the Syndicate, which was run by these people called "executives" whom were the top ranking members of the guild. It was a hard-fought battle, since it was ten against three. Another member of Golden Phoenix, Leila Vergious, had joined both Hero and Venir on the task and they all managed to pull through it without fatal injuries, save for Hero, whom got cut up pretty bad by the boss of the guild, Doflamingo.

Then there was that little adventure in Kyoka, where he teamed up with an old colleague from the Rune Knights, Isaac. Despite the fact that Hero did most of the fighting, it was a very strange day. The two men were led around by this dim wisp-like orb through dense fog to fight a bunch of creatures who were native to the land.The giant spoke with a talking wolf, which was also strange on its own, and then after over one hundred creatures later they came to a large castle where they met the “Forgemaster” and got sent back to the mainland because they did not have all the items the blacksmith needed, though he did take the two items they did retrieve and thanked them. A little adventure born of a whim and curiosity due to a dream ended up being mostly fruitless aside from getting some target practice.

After that, not much happened over the next few days. The giant traveled to his home village in the mountains with a woman by the name of Leila Vergious, which went well despite the mob of bandits and that storm they had to fight against. That same day, when they returned from said journey, Hero received an “official business” letter from his cousin Elyx. The letter stated that he was eligible to become an Ace of Golden Phoenix. It was a rather high honor for someone who only just recently found cause for attaining different kinds of strength, even though the road was a lot more bumpy than he made it sound. Of course he responded immediately and had it sent off the same day he received it; to his surprise, Elyx accepted what the man wrote and thus Yamamoto became the Ace of Diamonds.

Along with that return letter from Elyx came another letter, from a high-ranking restaurant owner who resided in Meshi. Meshi was a land based entirely around food, from the land itself, to the animals that lived there, to the jobs people had. The letter said that they had heard a lot of good things about him from the Magic Council and wanted his assistance on a matter regarding a… cheese wheel. What ensued was a night alone with a young woman by the name of Audrey Ackerman whom was flirting intensely with him the entire time. Despite it being slightly uncomfortable, they also had to deal with some angry protesters. For the most part however, the task went over well and Hero got to have a taste of the cheese he protected which strangely enough gave him a big boost. The flavors mixed in with the rest of the meal awakened a whole new part of the giant's mind and allowed him to surpass his previous limits.

Early this morning, a letter from the Magic Council arrived from a wizard courier. The letter spoke of several cases where people had gone missing and it wasn't just a handful. Thousands of people... Hero was not about to let this continue any longer but he was not going to do it alone. The first person that came to mind was Leila since he had just recently gone traveling with her; the giant gave her a call and told her that he would tell her more once they met up. The place of meeting was in Motor City, near the primary entrance. With the talking done for the time being, he hung up and began a mad dash out of his home and toward the mechanized city.

Titan Pallas. That was one of few nicknames Hero was given in recent days by the people, most likely due to his sheer size. Despite being beyond his growing ages, the man actually still had more growing to do. Even he could tell that people were getting much shorter. Each of the giant's footsteps shook the ground and caused car alarms to go off if they were parked on the street. It took Yamamoto far less time to reach the outskirts of the city, though he did not stop to think about anything else. Getting to Motor City was the only thing on his mind right now, aside from a couple of random thoughts. One of those things was... this was the first time he was going to that mechanized town. Sure he heard plenty of things about it and had seen it from afar while he traveled from place to place but he never had a need to go there until today. The man also wondered if Leila was going to be there before he did. Hero was a very unconventional person after all and normally only moved from place to place on foot. Regardless, he hurried on as quickly as his legs could manage.

Hero was in such a rush that he left his cloak behind at the house, so his upper body was exposed to the lukewarm air. Around his neck was a finely-made necklace, along with a pair of simple earrings, he recently received in the mail. The package had no name stamped on it and the card it came with only said "Surpass yourself and come find me." He did not understand the meaning behind that, but whoever it was must have known him from somewhere which made him somewhat cautious. In the end, it did not matter currently. The city was starting to come into view, and with it the smell of coal and melted metal reached his nose. Even though it was slightly unpleasant, Hero did not really mind. After all it was only a smell he was not familiar with yet. Some more time passed as the giant seemingly flew through the air toward the city which became larger and larger as he drew closer. Eventually he arrived at the front gate and thus waited for Leila to arrive. Once she got here, it was going to be time to explain what she was called out here for and why it was so important.

Despite being outside the main entrance, there was plenty of noise coming out from the place. Sounds of metal clanging against one another, the many sounds of hammers clashing against steel, the sounds of cogs turning endlessly, and the sounds of many people shouting and getting work done. Motor City was certainly a busy place... but it also apparently some dark secret that needed to be taken care of, for the peoples' sake. It was a difficult thing to stomach in all honesty. Four thousand deaths at least in the past couple of weeks. As he waited for Leila to arrive, he wondered how she was going to react to the information. This tragedy was going to end today. Not one more person was going to die if he could help it.

Hero noticed the young Leila come up on a horse and tied it up securely before making her way over. Her appearance was somewhat different from the last time he spoke with her in person. Donned on her shoulders was a cloak of some kind and it looked like there was a scar upon her right eye that was not there previously. Clearly there had been much she went through in recent days. Yamamoto also bore a few new scars since they last saw each other. They had been busy. Speaking of appearances, Hero felt somewhat uncomfortable being unclothed at the upper half of his body. Normally the giant wore a large cloak to largely conceal himself, since his previous gear no longer fit him. Being in such a rush out the door today made him forget to grab it. Generally speaking, it was not entirely bad that he did not have a shirt or something on considering he did not have anything to hide; he was not some young girl either.

As the woman walked up, she started in by saying that she arrived and was ready to hear what this was all about. While Hero did wish the news was not so... unpleasant, it was necessary in expressing just how dire the situation in Motor City really was. Hero's face became very serious, along with a deep sense of sorrow welled up within his eyes. As he spoke, each word became heavy with grief.

"I am sorry, but the news is not good. I received an urgent letter from the Magic Council regarding several disappearances in Motor City. However, I wish it could only be summed up that simply. Leila, more than 4,000 people have gone missing from their homes in the last two weeks. I called you out here knowing that you would come with me. I need you to have my back on this. We must root out what is causing these disappearances before it can get any worse than it already is."

After the little monologue, there was a few moments worth of reprieve to let it all really sink in. There was not much information in the first place so the two wizards were on their own. With some investigating around the city, perhaps they could come across something vital. Whatever was causing these incidents could not have been human because such an advanced city would have required at least a small army to do that kind of damage; there were obviously no such signs in plain sight, so the root must have been something that was already in the city previously. The true answer alluded him, though he had a few hunches on the burner currently that he was willing to pursue first. Returning back to the current moment, his thoughts on the matter were pushed back slightly. He still had something to say to the young woman before they started digging.

"I realize that our last meeting was rough to say the least. I hope I can provide a more exemplary example of myself this time around. After all, this task may be more than either of us could bargain for."

Unfortunately, Hero was incapable of thinking so positively at this point. He had been through a lot in his lifetime and he knew all too well the cruelty of reality. While it did make enough sense to remain positive in the face of danger, it was naïve to believe everything would turn out for the best with a little positive thinking. At a time like this, it was important to understand the nature of this task. Unlike the last time they worked together, their lives were really on the line now. With that in mind, it was just as vital that they had a positive outlook on completing it with little to no errors. There was no point in getting through this by risking more lives. The two wizards had to keep this between themselves so as to not involve anyone in the city. Fortunately, the Magic Council had a lid on these incidents from early on according to the letter, despite them not being able to solve it without proper assistance. Speaking of that, Hero was actually kind of irritated that he was not informed of this sooner. In fact, why did they not request assistance from anyone at all?! That thought made him angry with the irresponsibility of the council members. However, this was not the best time to be getting amped up by the faults of those in positions of power.

"Considering what we may be up against, there may be some destruction here and there. But that is a small price to pay for the safety of all the residents. Besides, it's not like we will get complaints for saving their asses."

The man's voice on that last statement was laced with some chuckles, though he was serious at the same time. In the end, what the man truly wanted most was success in today's task, even though he knew it was likely going to be more dangerous than anything he faced previously. Up until now, Yamamoto had not seen such large numbers caused within a single city, so it was just a bit daunting. The most he was capable of doing now was leading the charge in removing this threat with his comrade and friend, Leila Vergious. Titan Pallas was just about to turn and walk into the city when he heard a young male voice call out his name. It was unrecognizable and he was certain that no one knew of his arrival here. Upon searching out the owner of the voice, he spotted a young man and young woman headed straight toward them and one of them was waving casually. As they got close enough to be within hearing distance, the young man spoke up.

"Hello! You must be Hero, the wizard we have heard so much about! Is that your partner?"

"I am sorry, but who are you?"

"Did the Magic Council not tell you anything? My apologize. My name is Kenta and this is my little sister, Yuka. We're the ones who sent in the request for assistance with the incidents."

"I don't feel too comfortable about involving others in this matter, but I cannot stop the contractors themselves. This is a friend of mine, Leila and we are Aces of the guild known as Golden Phoenix. We will be your back-up in this, though we have no concrete information. What can you tell us?"

He felt wrong to include such young people in on something that could very well be a task that had very high risk factors. However, he never would have even known about these incidents if the request had not been sent in, which meant that Hero could not do or say anything to prevent the two siblings from joining them. How did Leila feel about this?

Leila, after Hero, emphasized the need to know everything that was already known about the disappearances, as well as what was causing them. The young woman's comment about charging in made the giant want to giggle due to the irony that Hero's style of fighting was all about simply charging in guns blazing. However, he refrained from such an outburst and listened to the little girl who responded rather well to the request. Clearly, she was rather intelligent for her apparent age but she tended to underestimate what exactly they were up against. According to Yuka, what was causing these incidents were inorganic beings. So... machines? That actually made a lot of sense. For such a large number of people missing in that short of time without being noticed, there was no way any outside forces could have managed it. So if that was the case, there must have been something controlling these machines and telling them to cause trouble. Something in this city was giving orders and that must have been what they were gathered here for. Before that, there was also the fact that there had to be a set-up for the group. A placement of roles, rather.

"Thank you for the information, Yuka. That means we will have company along the way. For that, we need to decide how we will fight for the most efficiency."

"What do you have in mind, Mister?"

"Kenta and I will be at the front to provide openings for you two to take any targets out without expending too much energy. Leila will attack from blind spots in order to get the most out of her multiple-hitting Magic, while Yuka will attack when enemies are bunched closer together to get the most out of that mace. As for us, I will focus on bringing enemies in close while Kenta's swordplay will keep them occupied. That should enable us to cover each of our own blind spots and enable us to expend the least energy while still dishing out the most hell on our enemies along the way."

"That actually sounds really thorough! I thought you'd be all brawn with all that muscle but I guess I was wrong."

"It's settled, then! Lets get going."

While Hero was glad that he could provide a solid strategy for taking on our vicious company, he was still rather unsure about their actual prowess in combat. A job like this was not for practically children to undertake. He even felt the same way about his cousin, Elyx, despite him being a Wizard Saint. The giant would most likely find out soon enough. In light of getting set to go, Kenta and Hero walked to the front while Leila and Yuka were just behind them. This formation happened to be the best considering he and Kenta were the ones who would be jumping in first. Speaking of which, in this kind of scenario, the enemy had the better advantages especially if they were inorganic. Knowing that, Yamamoto's body tensed up and was ready for any enemies who may have appeared.

"I forgot to say this earlier, Kenta, but I found it slightly offensive that you called my friend my partner. She is a good friend and is in fact at least as proficient as me."

"O-Oh, I apologize! I didn't mean any harm by it. In fact, I do recognize her. She was a Rising Star wasn't she? That's a pretty amazing feat!"

"It is fine, so long as we're clear on that. But nevermind for the time being. Have any of you noticed that the city has gotten incredibly quiet?"

Just as the giant said that, everything really was dead silent. In front of the four fighters appeared five indistinct metallic objects that slowly formed into humanoids, though clearly they were not human. It seemed that they had company and they did not look like they wanted to talk; the first one to move was Hero whom rushed forward and landed a punch on one of them. While it did get pushed back a significant distance, it did not fall to the ground. Such was the resilience of machines, he supposed. Then again, this was not the first time Hero dealt with machines. He was already prepared to meet them all evenly but then he called out to the other three.

"Just like we talked about, everyone! Let's end it quickly!"

The giant ran again at the one he originally punched, and once he reached it, he once again punched it in the chest and then threw it at one of the other machines. Meanwhile, Kenta was already starting to keep the others busy while Yuka was currently waiting for an opening. It was up to Leila to really dish out the pain, though Hero managed to deal some damage at the same time. The two that were on the ground due to Hero's efforts eventually got back up and headed on after Kenta who was starting to have trouble taking on all of them. Because of that, Hero ran on over to assist in keeping them all together and busy while the ladies thrashed them.

At the very least these things were sturdy. They had to have some kind of weakness but at this rate, for the sake of time, they all just needed to whack them until they became scrap. Currently, Leila was doing her own thing in dealing with the machines. Something occurred to him then. Why was the giant constantly setting up strategies like this? Of course the first thing that came to mind was the fact that a group needed order to function efficiently under pressure. However, in this type of scenario, it was unnecessary. The reason why it was unnecessary? Well, put simply, Leila and he were friends, right? That meant they should have been able to stay relaxed around one another and have each others’ backs. Instead, Hero tried to force a leadership role upon himself without even considering the fact that it was not needed this time.

This was definitely not the first time he did this either. He also did the same thing when he went on that job with Elyx to combat that organization of machines under Ein Heim. He did not have to give everyone labels, especially since at the time Yamamoto was still very weak in comparison to others. There were also many times where he took initiative and did things all on his own, such as when he fought that swarm of werewolves and the alpha; that time when he and Isaac traveled into Kyoka, wherein he did the brunt of the fighting by himself. Was this all because of the way he wanted to use his strength? The way he brought himself to this point was protecting others at the cost of his own safety. It made logical sense to him that the sacrifice of one to protect the lives of several was a worthy investment. In reality though, that was a very lonely road he treaded on. Was that truly what he wanted? No. More than anything what Hero wanted was to be surrounded by people whom he cared about, and he wanted the strength to protect all of them knowing he was not alone anymore. Sure it was extremely cliche, but it was a fact.

Nearly his entire life was spent alone. No family, no friends, no lovers. For the longest time, he was okay with it. Certainly habit was what the man reverted to in most situations still, but he could not afford to remain like that forever. Titan Pallas did not need to be a leader, neither in its myths nor in Hero’s own timeline. To protect. That was his desire. To that end, Yamamoto had to make changes, no matter how insignificant they may have seemed. In order for the giant to become what he wanted to be, he had to first of all be less commanding. To others around him he probably sounded kind of like a prick when he threw orders around like he was some kind of boss. Secondly, he needed to lighten up a bit more. Morale was an important factor in nearly any scenario that dealt with combat and groups of people after all. Actually, that way of thinking was another reason why he was distant from others to begin with. Thinking as though the people around him were only comrades-in-arms. Was Leila only a comrade? Was his cousin Elyx only a comrade? They could not have been solely so. That was such a distant way of describing those two people, especially Elyx since he was literally family.

All around the man was fighting going on while he was going through a personality crisis. Five more of those mechanical troops came from the shadows and joined the fray. Things were starting to really get hectic. What was Hero to do then? Forego the strategy he came up with earlier and wipe all of them out with Leila? Or continue to follow this path alone? The answer was obvious when it was put that way. Hero’s mind was silenced by an intense will he had never shown before, which caused the ground beneath him to shudder and crack. Ethernano gathered quickly into his body and then he flung himself back into the thick of combat. Titan started by using the force of his right hand to smack one of the machines on the side of its head, causing it to cartwheel through the air and into a couple of others who were fighting with Kenta. Then the giant jumped into the air and pushed off of a wind draft to then grab one of the other weakened machines by their shoulders, thus making a front flip and smashing it into the ground. The resulting force of the blow broke it in half and sundered the floor under it. At this point, the man was near his friend Leila and took the bit of reprieve to speak quickly to her.

“Thank you, Leila. You helped me realize something very important. I can’t remain as I have been forever. I must change. I must grow. Nothing is ever so simple that a plan can be made for everything. So let’s really get this show on the road. Back to back!”

What could the man go after next? Kenta was still getting swarmed but he seemed to be handling them rather well. He knew Leila could handle herself but at the same time he wanted to fight alongside her. In order to do that, Hero needed to gather up as many of them as he could and get them away from Kenta and Yuka. With that knowledge, the giant pulled along each of the inorganic soldiers by their solid, metallic arms and threw them to the ground further ahead from the four wizards. It took him only a few moments to gather them all up in one area. Due to his size and strength, he was easily capable of moving the hefty human-shaped piles of metal where he wanted without too much effort. What was going through his mind right now, one may have asked? Well, Leila and he were the experienced wizards despite being hired to assist, so in his mind, the ones who needed protecting were the younger members of the small group. Moments later after moving the enemies away, Yamamoto spoke in a confident, reassuring tone to the others who were probably close by somewhere.

“Kenta. Yuka. Leila and I have this covered so you two sit back and relax. We’ll do the protecting from here on out. Why is that, you may ask?! Because we are here!”

Despite what Leila said, Hero continued to get a bad feeling about this whole thing. Sure those mechanical troops were sturdy, but they were not even truly trying to attack. It was as though their sole purpose was to buy time for something else. It was important to consider that, as technology, they were more intelligent than the wizards were and with their kind of numbers it made sense that if they were trying to buy time, this would have been the way to do it. But for what? There had to be some sort of source behind these things and there had to be a reason why it was happening. What worried him the most was the rest of the group’s positivity. The giant was not so certain that the younger ones truly understood the danger of this task. Leila had a point when it came to his own way of communicating and such, but it would have been naive to think everything would turn out fine if they thought positively. Unfortunately, reality was cruel.

It did not take long for the three of them to take care of the eight machines that remained after the two Hero took care of previously. Their teamwork skills were pretty solid but they weren’t as efficient as they could have been. Leila set the attack up perfectly by launching them at Yuka, but the girl made an error in judgment when she twirled around to attack them. What would have happened if there were more? She would not have been able to stop her momentum in time to defend herself that way and thus could have been in a lot of danger. Kenta did well in the way he dealt with the targets in the air, but he neglected the protection of his sister. Scientifically speaking, in the air, velocity was zero in most cases and unless he had some way of pressing off of the wind he would have been incapable of protecting his sister from threats in time. While they did remove the visible threats, they left themselves wide open for anything else that may have shown itself from nearby shadows or unseen corners.

“If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to move, you move. As great and all that is, this is not a game. There is real danger in this place.”

The giant took a breath out and shook his head before chuckling a few times. Titan Pallas laughed because it almost felt like a father scolding his son and daughter. Perhaps, as one of the oldest members of Golden Phoenix, he could start being like a father or elder brother to them all. The man had more to fight for now, than ever before in his life. That was his story. To protect his family, blood or no. A couple moments passed before he spoke again with a confident and more easy-going tone, despite the serious thoughts which lingered in the back of his head.

“With that out of the way, let’s find out what is really going on in this place!”

When the young Yuka mentioned it, there was actually something odd about the air around them. Acknowledging the feeling made his entire body tense up; it was not out of fear… but out of rage. This man was beyond angry at whatever was causing these things to happen. Because of this intense feeling he had never experienced until now, he was unable to contain his magic presence. Sure, he was not the best at sensing others… but he was certainly quite skilled in concealing the strength he had earned in the last couple of months. What flowed out around his body was a bright golden hue that was smooth in its appearance and his pure white eyes seemed to also glow like that of two lighthouses. Was this anger? Was this what it meant to feel hatred toward someone or something? He did not like the feeling initially, but after a couple of moments he accepted it. Elyx would have told him it was okay to get mad every once in awhile. The problem with that was… was it really okay to let someone like Hero lose his temperament, which he held onto his entire life?


A voice made itself known in the back of Yamamoto’s head, and he recognized it. Was it himself? That couldn’t have been right. As far as he knew, the giant was not one to legitimately talk to himself on a conscious level like this.


As the voice spoke in this cold, cryptic manner in the back of his mind, more humanoid machines made themselves known. Hero was angry, but at what exactly? The answer was clear as day when he asked the question. Corruption. Blood boiled within the man as he took a deep breath outward before speaking to the others who were close by. A grin grew on his face, though it was not quite the same as before. The emotions he gave off with his Magic and his eyes turned the grin almost… cynical in nature. Rage toward corruption and what it could do to innocent people. Rage.

“You three gave me quite a show. Let me show you how the big shots get the job done.”

Each footstep forward after speaking forced the ground to groan; moments later, he stooped low and dug his large feet into the concrete and launched himself at the five machines who were also headed toward the rage-filled giant. Titan then clenched his fists and said aloud, “Grit those teeth!” Not even a second later, he brought his right fist to the ground and launched the five machines into the air via a large torrent of compressed air. Impact on the ground created a ten-meter-wide circular crater. The torrent of air, brought the five things close together before they began to fall back to the ground. The giant took one step back and charged ethernano into his right arm. As he did so, everything around him seemed to grow silent, as though the city was bracing itself for what was about to happen. The strike was timed perfectly to where, when he threw it, his fist would connect with the machines that were crunched together. Moments later, said punch finally connected… and there was a delay. For a brief moment there was absolutely no impact or shock wave or anything. Then the sound that became heard first was the terrible sound of metal bending and twisting and churning into something completely unrecognizable. Then following that sound was a huge shock wave that blew the machines several meters away and into two buildings before it stopped. Windows in surrounding buildings shattered from the strike’s pressure, and a straight line in the direction of where the machines flew was solid concrete sundered. Torn apart. Yamamoto stood tall amidst the destruction. It was necessary to make a statement. They, the wizards, were coming to stop this mechanical force. The buildings in this city were sturdy enough to remain standing even if they were to go all-out; they could rebuild when this mess was over.

His body after a few moments began to calm down, the golden hue fading away into nothing and his eyes returning to normal. The anger he felt subsided for the time being, though his blood continued to boil over the entire situation. Then the man laughed a few times and turned around to face his two young allies and friend. He spoke in that same confident, proud manner which was very different from what he was giving off only moments ago. Something was changing deep within the giant’s heart, for better or for worse. Only time could tell which way he would eventually go.

“You two have a long way to go! Leila is just as good as I am, or better. This path is long and filled with obstacles like this one. With this kind of confident attitude that you already have, I am certain you will arrive at your destination. Now, let us hope that we can get through the day with as little effort as we have thus far!”

Even as he smiled widely, however, a voice lingered within the subconsciousness of his mind which spoke cryptically once more before fading away.