The Red Hand

Chapter 270 – The Heroes Enter the Fray!

Rewinding a bit to just before the Heroes made their dramatic entrance.

"Preparations are complete. Are you ready to embark on your most urgent mission?" Gale asked the four Heroes that stood before him.

Once the portal and a stabilized pathway between Enoris and Earth were complete, Gale and the other Gods brought the four of them into a part of the Heavenly Realm, where they would be transported to their destination. There was little to see in this small pocket of space, and unlike the other times the Heroes found themselves speaking with the Gods, there was nothing around them but swirling white clouds in every direction. Never before had they actually been brought into even part of the Divine Domain of the Gods, as doing so was apparently problematic. However, this time, rather than project their minds across the dimensional divide, their bodies were brought here so as to allow for their transportation to Earth.

"I think we're ready to knock some heads." Muichiro sniffed as he looked between his compatriots. “At least I know that I am.” He laughed.

"I'm ready to save the world, Lord Gale." Hitomi smiled.

{I wonder if this means that the other plans will be unnecessary? She did say that it was a contingency in case we were unable to defeat the Spirits in the world they fled do, so I suppose I'll have to speak with Rafferty upon my return.} (Hitomi)

"And what about you two?" Gale noticed that neither Amakusa nor Kanato were saying anything, and he could tell that something was on their mind. "Is something wrong? Are you perhaps nervous? I can understand if you are worried as this a heavy burden that we've placed on you." He figured that a bit of cold feet was likely the cause of their worry, and internally he wanted to tell them to stop being a bunch of whiners but held his tongue.

"I suppose worry is part of it..." Kanato sighed. "But I suppose I'll just need to shake it off with action." He gripped the blade at his waist.

{I just hope my fears turn out to be wrong...} (Kanato)

"Just a thought, but how do we get back?" Amakusa asked what she thought was a very important question. "I have things that need doing in this world, so I'd rather not be stuck somewhere else."

{I've been Isekai'd once and pulled away from everything I knew, and I'm not keen on having that happen again.} (Amakusa)

"Ah." Gale nodded, understanding her concern. "Don't worry about being unable to return to Enoris, we've already planned for that." He snapped his fingers causing four clear crystal gems to float in front of him. "These are return gems that I designed specifically for this mission. "Keep them around your necks on this cord, and when you've finished your work, simply shatter them to return to Enoris. Though you'll have to forgive the fact that they will place you somewhere in the world at random as making any kind of specific return point proved to be both difficult and time consuming." He probably could've done it but couldn't be bothered to put in the effort, especially since the returning Heroes would all die anyway.

"I suppose that being returned to the portal would be asking too much?" Amakusa asked as she and the others took a crystal.

{What if we get dropped in the fucking ocean?!? I don't want to wind up drowing!} (Amakusa)

"Interdimensional travel is hard. Count yourself lucky that I could even make something that would allow you to return in the first place." Gale replied with a bit of snark in his words.

{Luckily, we didn't need to do any work to adjust the flow of time between the worlds due to the Spirits' prior transit, so that saved Elariel and Reflia a great deal of time and power. I was worried that due to some kind of temporal dilation that there was a chance that this world would perish before these four idiots even got started on their mission, but I'm glad to see that my worries were needless.} (Gale)

"It's not a big deal anyway! Just think of it as its own little adventure!" Muichiro laughed, not caring where in the world he was dropped. "Maybe I'll stop around some places and find more girls for my collection!"

{Yeah... I hope he lands in a volcano...} (Amakusa)

"Just don't get too caught up chasing tail in whatever this world is, Muichiro." Amakusa sighed, not wanting to deal with his womanizing ways any longer than she needed to. "We're gonna need all four of us working together for this one, so don't go forgetting the reason that we're here."

"Indeed. It would be foolish to split our attention, especially after Lady Elariel mentioned that she detected some very strong people who might very well be our enemy." Hitomi cautioned him that things could easily get dangerous. "Our mission is far too important for you to be your usual self, so please keep your needs tucked away during this excursion." Her words grew stern and Amakusa could tell that she was serious.

"Fiiiineeee. Spoilsport." Muichiro threw his hands up in defeat. "But in return, you need to give me the go-ahead to woo that one Priestess that I've had my eyes on." He smirked.

"Do as you like." Hitomi sighed. "Just make sure you treat her well, or else I shall smite you."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure that she enjoys herself." Muichiro winked.

{Gag me...} (Amakusa)

Gale chuckled. "I'm glad to see that at least you two are in good spirits."

"Those two are rarely bothered by anything. Though that's probably a virtue, all thing considered." Kanato gave a wry smile, not knowing how to react to Muichiro's comments. "But getting back on topic, what kind of resistance should we expect upon arrival? Elariel said there were some strong people near the landing area." He'd fought some powerful Spirits during the war and only rarely ran into anything that truly gave him trouble.

"I can't give you anything concrete, but from what we can sense, I expect at least enough powerful people are gathered around the ritual site to give you a tough fight." Gale's words were mostly true, though like Elariel he had no idea what kind of monster he was about to provoke. "But be warned, I sense a great deal of dark energy swirling about in that world. It's likely related to the Spirits' ritual. So, I would advise caution and patience. Enoris will not collapse anytime soon, so rushing is not needed. If the situation calls for a retreat or for you to disengage and try again, then do it." He needed things to go as planned and was willing to wait if required, though he didn't really want to.

{Once these fools kill the Spirits, none of this will matter anyway. We'll get out of this doomed world, and these fools will be used as fuel for our escape.} (Gale)

"Then we should be prepared for a fight as soon as we drop." Kanato looked to the other Heroes, who nodded. They were used to fighting as a group and their ability to fight together was key in their defeat of the Spirits powerful magic. "Are you guys ready?" He felt his his chest tense up with anxiety as he spoke.

"Yup." Amakusa replied lazily.

"As ready as I'll ever be!" Muichiro wasn't worried about a the fight and was more excited than anyhting else.

"I'm ready." Hitomi nodded warmly.

"Good, then let's begin the transfer." Gale snapped his fingers, which caused a swirling vortex of white, blue, and red to appear next to him. "Once you are ready, enter the portal." He stepped out of the way, and the four Heroes cautiously approached the gateway.

"Should we uh... Like hold hands as we go through?" Kanato asked, nervously.

"I don't think that's needed, but it would probably be a good precaution." Gale figured that it would at least prevent their separation if nothing else. "There is a chance that the transfer may split you apart. So it may be a good idea to keep in physical contact with each other."

"Holding hands..." Muichiro groaned. "Fine." He held out his hands, which Kanato and Hitomi grabbed. "At least I get to touch a cute girl." He winked at Hitomi who pinched him with her other hand.

"I'll be grabbing Hitomi, thank you very much." Amakusa wasn't interested in holding onto either of the guys.

"We're not going to give you cooties, Shiroe." Muichiro laughed.

"No, but you might give me some other strange disease." Amakusa rolled her eyes. "Let's just get this over with..."

"Alright. On three?" Kanato asked, and everyone nodded. "Ok." He took a deep breath. "One... Two..." He paused for a moment, his mouth running dry. "THREE!" The four leaped into the swirling portal and were instantly assaulted by the feeling of vertigo.

"Good luck, young Heroes. Go forth and defend this world." Gale smirked as they disappeared into the portal. "I wish you all the very best."

_____________________________________________________________________________

Falling between the two worlds, the four of them caught brief glimpses of glowing orange orbs in their peripheral vision, but before they could make sense of any of the strange sights in front of them, they quickly found themselves high above the clouds, falling rapidly.

"Hah! We made it!" Muichiro whooped it up.

{Though I feel like shit now...} (Muichiro)

"Yes, we did." Hitomi was visibly ill as they plunged through a thick layer of clouds. It seemed that none of them were completely fine after passing between worlds, but other than a bit of stomach issues there was no significant problems. "But where are we?" She could barely look around, only seeing quick glimpses of trees, farms, houses and the blue sky as it was hard to keep her eyes open for very long due to the high winds.

"Is that Kyoto?!?" Amakusa screamed as she pointed to a city in the distance.

"What?!?" Kanato looked off to his left, barely able to see. "Those do look like skyscrapers. Maybe this world is more advanced?" He figured that this may be a world more like Earth.

{No, that's definitely Kyoto! I've been here far too many times to mistake that skyline!} Amakusa's mind swirled as they continued to fall toward the ground.

"We'll figure out where we are later. For now, let's focus on landing safely." Kanato looked below them, noticing some kind of large structure. "There's some kind of arena, and I can feel an immense amount of power nearby. That must be what the Gods were talking about!" He could tell that the level of power below them was larger than anything they'd faced before.

{We really are going to have to go all out by the looks of things!} (Kanato)

"The Heroes leaping straight into the action!" Muichiro cheered as they continued their plunge. "God, I fucking love this job!"

"Just shut your mouth and be prepared for a fight!" Amakusa snapped at him. The sight of Kyoto in the distance caused her stress levels to skyrocket as she began thinking that she'd returned home. "I'm pretty fucking sure this is Earth, and I'll be dammed if I'm letting anyone cause problems here!"

{What the fuck is going on?!? I thought we could never go home?!?} (Amakusa)

"If it is Kyoto, then we've got an even bigger reason to stop this madness." Kanato agreed with her assessment. He had family on Earth, and his first thought was that they were in danger from whatever the power he could sense was. "Be ready for a fight! We'll be hitting the ground in moments!"

The four of them continued their rapid dive through the sky until they reached a point just above the arena walls, where Hitomi activated wind magic to slow their descent.

"Is there some kind of fight going on?" Kanato asked as they slowly floated downward. They could see two people with weapons at the ready, standing in the middle of what what looked like an arena.

"Why do I have the feeling that somebody is watching us?" Amakusa shivered. The moment they'd started slowing down, the hair on the back of her neck stood on end, and she got a chill that ran the length of her spine.

{Why do I have a really bad feeling all of a sudden?} (Amakusa)

"We'll be hitting the ground in moments, so be ready!" Hitomi said as she continued to lower them slowly toward the ground.

"I think we interrupted some kind of tournament." Muichiro smirked as they landed. "Starting the party without us?" He said as he and the other three Heroes touched down. "If there's going to be any butt-kicking around these parts, it's going to be by us." He flashed a toothy smile as both Halifax and Hishya glared at him.