- Shion -

Taro stands helplessly before his master.

Shion’s body slides off from her assailant’s weapon. She lifelessly slumps over.

“Shion?!” Taro shouts as he rushes to her side,

He turns her body so that he could see the damage. It was bad. She is losing blood, fast.

“Sheet!” Taro outstretches his hand. He sloppily plies his newly summoned cloth in an attempt to stop the bleeding from his dungeon lord. 

“Aghh!! I-It won’t stop!” He panics, “Sheet! Sheet! Uhh?! Towel! Towel?! Come on!!” 

Taro was running his voice hoarse…

Despite the various cloths being laid onto Shion it did little to assuage the flow of blood.

When more of the smoke subsides. The knight indifferently scoffs,

“Huh, the dungeon lord had more underlings I suppose…?” Though something gave her pause, “W-Wait?... You… You’re human?!”

Taro did not acknowledge the confused knight,

“C’mon! Please!” He continues to try and put pressure on the wound, “I-I don’t understand, I- can’t…”

“I-I thought-… In the smoke, I thought you were a kappa…” the knight pleaded to no one in particular.

He couldn’t even hear her.

Shion, weakly puts her hands on Taro’s face.

“W-Why?! I don’t understand! Shion?! Why?!” Taro asks as though it would change anything, “I could die! Akari would! You could revive us! B-But you-! Why-?! ”

“Shh…”She puts her finger to his lips. “... It’s okay…”

Taro shakes his head, “No! It doesn’t make sense!”

“I’ve had enough of seeing death. I’ve had seen enough of those I love dying for my sake….”

“I’m going to revive everyone with what little I have. My cute Akari, and the adorable little slimes…" She explains  “From then on…”

“Wh-What?!” Taro cries,

“You’re free.” Shion weakly smiles, “I release you, my noble servant,”

“B-But… ”

She snaps her fingers, the reverberations of which were felt throughout the dungeon.

“I-I’m a justiciar knight!” the stammering knight proclaims again, “I was just protecting the innocent and defeating evil!”

At that moment a flash went through Taro’s head. He saw all the memories he made with Shion.  

When she’d get angry. 

When she would smile.
When she would cry.
When she pouts.
When she’d put on airs,
When she’d love.

All of that, gone. Just like that. It hit him all at once.
Tears ran down Taro’s face as he looks to his blood soaked hands.

“...”

Just then the portly man pops his head in from the newly created hole from the treasure room. He carries a rustic sack of gold in his hands. With a step the mustache trips onto his treasures which spills the contents all over the floor. A golden coin rolls near Shion. Taro snaps.

“Defending the Innocent?! Defeating Evil?!” he cries, “You people came to the dungeon, NOT the other way around! You all only sought riches,fame, and ! and I-! ”

Taro looks down at Shion. And the coin that laid nearby.

“And… for what?... This?... This little thing?...” He grabs the coins angrily “TAKE IT THEN! TAKE IT ALL!”
Taro threw the bloodied coins at the intruders. A coin feebly bounces off the heart broken knight.

He held Shion close, sobbing,

“W-We’re leaving,” the knight said quietly, 

“Huh?!” said the portly man, “What about the gold?”
The knight in no mood for bickering, brandishes her blade to his throat,

“If any of you take even a single coin…” She threatens, “I’ll kill you myself,”

The party quietly leaves.

After some time Akari arrives at the scene scratching herself. “Ah, did we lose again-”

Her face quickly loses color. As though all life had been drained from her, she collapses to the floor. “S-Shion…”

“C’mon…” Taro says coldly, “We're not leaving her here.”

…

Deep within a hidden portion of the dungeon lies a large ornate door, Taro had never seen it before.

“She’d come here often.” Akari explains as she pushes the doors open.

Inside was a large atrium. Bookshelves line the wall with a library of old tomes. A large horned snake lay motionless along the back wall. It was several times larger than Shion when they first met. 

“That was her mother.” the oni explains, “She told me.”

In the middle of the room, a large marble altar sits. Taro sets the dungeon lord atop it and steps back. Shion looked at peace. There the two stood in silence.

Taro looks over to Akari. Her lower lip was trembling.

“Akari… Don’t make that face.” Taro pleads, “Shion wouldn’t want you to be sad,”

Akari turns to Taro with tearful eyes ready to burst.

“That’s… That’s not fair!” she  cries, “When you’re already like that!”

Taro’s face was hypocritically way worse off.

The two of them cried together.

…

Taro finds himself in a white room. The angel of death scribbling away as usual.

“Y-You!” Taro barks

“Hmm… ?” the angel curiously hums and sips from her tea cup to the side.

“How could you let that happen?!” he angrily demands an answer,

“What? Drink coffee?” She retorts,

“You know what I mean!” Taro’s patience runs thin,

“Hah..” she sighs, “I didn’t let anything happen, this is simply the way of the world. If you feel strongly on the matter, you should’ve done something about it.”

“What do you mean? I couldn't have possibly done anything to that monster!” Taro says confused,

“Wasn’t that ‘monster’ what you wanted to be initially.” the angel calmly explains,

“...” he had no retort.

“There is a way,” she adds,

“?!” Taro’s ears perked up.

“Shion herself isn’t lost. At least for now. Great serpents don’t die quite like other species,” she continues, still scribbling, “You can see it as a deep hibernation.”

“Then that means?!” 

“Look, it’s not guaranteed, obviously. You’ll have to do all of the heavy lifting on your part.” she looks up, “Read through her library, she researched a way to revive her mother as well, but never obtained the means to travel outside of her domain.”
“(Does that mean she was amassing treasures for that reason?)”

“W-Why are you helping me?” asks Taro,

“Like I said, I don’t want to see you too often. With Shion she may hopefully keep you off my plate for a good while.”

“Heh… I thought you were against showing favoritism?... ”

She makes a closed eye smile,

“What are you talking about? This is just a dream.”

—-
*gasps!

Taro awakens. He scans his surroundings, Akari was sleeping beside him, her eyes still dark from all the crying. Though Taro’s was not much better. They were still in the atrium. He quietly gets up.

Taro walks to the altar where Shion sleeps. Two slimes nuzzle against it. Looking at her peaceful face steeled his resolve. A determination fills what was once pain and he gets to work reading through the library.

Akari wakes up like a toddler, rubbing her eyes as she calls out.

“Taro?...”

“Here!” Taro tosses her newly formed bat. The bat still had cracks where it broke, but it was filled with some new substance. Protrusions poke out from the tip and sides to make it more similar to a club. “You’ll need it,”

“Th-This is?...” Akari asks confused,

“Hmhm!” Taro beams proudly, “Your new weapon! Courtesy of yours truly! I’ve been reading up on transmutation! This baby isn’t going to shatter like last time.”

“...” Akari just looks at the club, “...but, without Shion…”

“Why are you giving up just like that?!” Taro jeers, “We’re going to go on a quest!”

“Eh?!” Akari was shocked at Taro’s demand, “You want us to abandon Shion?!”

“Hehe, who said that?” Taro grins mischievously”... We’re going on a mission to save her!”

“What?!” Akari couldn't keep up with the conversation,

“That’s right. We’re going to do it!” Taro’s face became serious, “...Will you help me?”

… Akari looks to the floor in silence…

“Man!” she sighs,

“When you put it like that… it’s the duty of the senior to help the underlings after all!”

She beams brightly,

Akari and Taro packed their things and prepared for the great journey they were about to embark on. They situated themselves by the dungeon’s entrance. Akari leaned down to the two slimes looking up at them.

“Now you guys need to protect Shion from any bad guys, right?!” Akari says,

*Gyuu!! 

The two slimes toots as proudly as they could. 

“Good! Good!” She happily pats each one! “Be strong little Taro! Look after your little brother Akari!”
“(You named them??)”

“Where’s the third one?” asks Taro,

“That guy tends to be shy I find, He’ll be fine!” she shrugs,

“Alright!” Taro announces,  “ It’s time! You ready?”

“Mhm!!” She excitedly agrees and gets into a batting position. 

The slimes hops into the dungeons and wave goodbye with their little stubs. 

The runes that Taro placed upon the entrance walls glowed expectantly. Taro grabs a rock and gets into a pitcher's stance. With a knowing nod he throws the rock at Akari who bats the "ball".

*TWANG!

The rock flys into a rune causing a chain reaction of exploding fireballs. The resulting cave-in made it so the dungeon was impenetrable from the outside. 

With a satisfied huff the pair began their adventure.

“Hey Taro…” Akari asks as she walks,

“Hmm?...” Taro responds,

“How are we going to be able to get back into the dungeon later?”

“...”