A Scuffed 410

“You know Rome wasn’t built in a day?” Sato joked, head lowered; everyone else walked normally through the woods.

“How are we going to take Rome? This isn’t going to be as easy as Letin.” Prix said,

“We can just run it back with White Grate?” Sato suggested,

“We’re not doing that.” Prix dismissed Sato,

“White Grate is a spell,” Sunya whispered over to Garia,

“It’s a curse,” Prix said, fiddling with the edge of her dress as they paused at the treeline. “If I had known that last time, I wouldn’t have asked Idalec to use it.”

“A curse?” Garia breathed out, looking at Idalec, who wasn’t bothered by it.

“If you don't want me to use it, I will oblige.” Idalec shrugged,

“Yeah, you know it was far too easy last time anyways.” Sato agreed, pulling out his sword. “This time I have magic!” Sato cast his fireball spell, a single drop of fire burning the leaf it fell on. “And a longer sword!” Sato raised his sword. “Let’s do a frontal assault; we can’t lose!” Sato took a step forward. “Aren’t you going to stop me, Prix?” Sato asked, upset as Prix didn’t grab to stop him.

“So you have been worrying me on purpose!” Prix yelled,

“No... I just don’t think in the moment.” Sato shrugged, taking a step back and re-sheathing his sword.

“How are we going to even attack Rome head-on when there’s a wall running around it?” Prix wondered,

“What if we went through the front gate~” Sunya suggested to Sato,

“WHAT IF WE WENT THROUGH THE FRONT GATE!” Sato repeated verbatim,

Prix looked at Sato, then at Sunya with a pitiful look, “Sato, you look like a serial killer on the loose.”

Luna had jumped up into a tree; she was in a blood-stained green uniform which had been collected off a demon commander. A large number of insignia had been ripped off their respective uniforms before being melted onto the uniform, scorching the fabric across the shoulders; rounding out Luna’s look was a club hanging off her belt without pants.

“Wait. What if I cast that telekinesis spell that Idalec taught me and float us over the wall?” Sato clapped with joy,

“That could work,” Prix said cautiously, looking at Idalec, who had sat down by a tree,

“It wouldn’t work.”

“But-” Sato stammered, “-this is the perfect place to use it! There’s a wall. I use a spell to get over the wall. It’s literally perfect.”

“Were you able to lift that fruit I asked you to practice on?”

“No,” Sato said indignantly, turning his attention to the fruit in his hand.

Prix watched as Sato kept failing to lift and move the small fruit with his mind. “What about you, Idalec? Can you cast that spell on us and help us jump the wall instead of Sato?”

“Nonono,” Sato said quickly, desperate to shut this down,

“I mean, the spell is more useful for just throwing people back or into the air.” Idalec answered, ‘You're supposed to use it like a cudgel to mow down the cannon fodder at you.’

Prix kept thinking, looking at the fort; nothing came to mind for anyone as the day slowly faded.

“If we’re just going to keep standing around, we might as well just rush the gates!” Sato finally declared, pulling out his sword and walking off to the road. “Who’s with me!” Sato turned back to Luna, jumping down with a grin on her face. “I can practically taste victory.” Sato rattled his sword as Idalec stood up, dusting off,

“If you start losing too hard, I’ll help you out,” Idalec confessed,

“I-I’m scared, Master Sato.” Sunya blurted out,

“Well-” Sato pointed his sword at her, “don’t be.” Sunya gulped,

“Let’s go: Sunya, Miki, Garia, and Prix.” Sato pointed out everyone with his sword, “I’ll carry, so don’t sweat it.”

“That’s not a plan.” Prix hands on her hips,

“Battle isn’t about a ‘plan ’; it’s about heart.” Sato nodded, pointing at his chest with his sword.

“Y-yes, Master Sato~” Sunya cheered nervously.

“LAST IN ROME IS GAY!” Sato screamed out before charging out on the road, turning 90 degrees and running right at Rome’s open gates, sword raised,

“I wish I was gay.” Prix huffed. Luna was close behind,

Sato’s harem looked at each other for a moment, Garia drawing the dagger she took off the corpse,

“Let’s go, girls.” Idalec sighed casually and started to walk, the harem behind him.

“Too slow~” Luna laughed, overtaking Sato, drawing her club.

“That’s not fair!” Sato panted as Luna caved in a sleeping guard's skull.

‘Can demons not cast Magic Suppression?’ Idalec wondered if magic was moving around freely. Up ahead, Sato huffed as he desperately battled a man. Luna wasn’t fighting anyone in particular since nobody dared to get within arm's reach of her; instead, she was firing off fireball after fireball, lighting the city on fire. Demon soldiers were starting to trickle towards the battle by the gates as Idalec, along with the rest of Sato’s harem, was pulling up,

“Get away, sir!” some poor guard warned Idalec, as if he was blind to the fighting unfolding before him.

Idalec looked at the fires which now started spewing out. ‘Non-combatants shouldn’t be hurt.’ With a glance, Idalec put out all the fires burning the buildings around the entrance.

“IDALEC!” Luna yelled out, pausing her firing spree to give him a death glare, before turning back around to charge at a group of terrified guards.

“I need help!” Sato said, running towards his harem from a group of four soldiers who were cautiously approaching him with shields raised.

“Surrender immediately,” one of them shouted at Sato, who had turned once again to face them,

“Nah ah, you surrender immediately! Or else-” Sato put out his hand. “Fire, fire-” The guards stopped lowering their heads behind their shields. “Idalec, now cast a fireball at them!” Sato ordered,

“I said I would help only if the battle were unfair.” Idalec shrugged, ‘A hundred years- so what if I die today? I will die with dignity.’ The demon soldiers raised there peaked up from behind their shields as fireballs came.

“Would you like me to cast a fireball at those demons whose shields are raised to their eyes?” Garia suggested curiously,

“Yeah?” Sato said, picking up a pebble and throwing it at them. “Light them up.” Garia smiled weakly, pointing and shooting a fist-sized fireball at the soldiers before they managed to hide behind their shields. By this time, Luna had once again managed to set ablaze all the buildings nearby.

“Stop at once.” A booming voice called out. Everyone looked over to see. Luna kept firing away, one ear turning to listen.

A demon clad as a sorcerer, he wore a frog-helm which flowed into black robes covering his upper torso, a leather chestplate underneath, a knee-long black kilt over canvas pants. “Surrender yourselves immediately,” he demanded, holding a spiked top steel rod, measuring the length of his arm.

“I’m about to clap the Calamity right now.” Sato bragged, looking back at his harem, and Idalec looked puzzled. “Wait, where is Prix? How can I flex my victory on her if she’s not even here!”