Ch. 5 – Diplomatic Envoy

In Another World with My Smartphone is owned by AT-X, Tokyo MX, and BS11, I only own the OCs. Oorah!

James slowly opened his eyes and found his arms wrapped around Ayumi and Naomi, he looked around for Shelyn but didn't see her until he felt something move from beneath the sheets, he peaked under the sheets and saw a pair of violet colored eyes looking back at him "Good morning." Shelyn said lightly as she gently caressed his Johnsonville sausage, James sucked in air through his teeth in an effort to not wake Ayumi or Naomi, but his efforts became useless when he felt something wet surround him.

James tightened his grip on Ayumi and Naomi's waist as Shelyn went to town, the sudden contact caused both girls to moan in ecstasy as they pushed their naked bodies into his, Naomi's breasts pushed into his chest as her Amber eyes slowly opened. "Mmmm, my favorite way to wake up." Naomi said as she pressed her lips into his, Ayumi reached over and caressed Naomi's breasts; Naomi arched her back as she forced her tongue into James's mouth.

Shelyn lifted her head up with an audible pop as Ayumi moved to take her place, Naomi moved and straddled his chest before she pressed her lips into his again. Naomi moved her lips down as she kissed his chest, Shelyn moved over and pressed her lips into his; James's hands explored their bodies slowly, starting at their breasts and making his way down to their quivering cores.

Naomi took a deep breath in as his hand caressed her hot nova, she shuddered as a finger slipped inside of her and began to move like a piston on an oil rig. Naomi's breathing increased as he moved his fingers inside of her core, she reached down and tapped on Ayumi's shoulder to swap out. Ayumi pulled away slowly before Naomi quickly devoured him, her head bobbed up and down as she focused on his rod; James felt her tighten around his fingers as the fingers on his other hand found Shelyn's center. The wolf girl's moans were silenced my James's mouth as she continued to kiss him passionately, James pulled his digits from Naomi's radiating core and held his fingers up as the glistening liquid dripped down her core. Ayumi grabbed Naomi's ass before she started to lap away at her nectar, Naomi's moaning caused vibrating around his rod.

Naomi slowly lifted her head off him with an audible pop before she positioned herself over him and slowly sunk down on his love rod, the catgirl let out an audible gasp as her core took all of him. She slowly moved her body up and down, the motion caused her to moan in ecstasy; Ayumi straddled his chest and pushed her juicy core into his awaiting tongue, Ayumi sat up and pressed her lips into Naomi's while she played with the catgirl's breasts.

Shelyn's hand drifted south and started to play with her velvet nectar while his fingers moved inside of her hot core. Naomi's body shuddered as ecstasy crashed through her body like a tsunami, her core tightened around him as she reached her peak; she slowly removed herself from his rod before Ayumi impaled herself on his python.

Ayumi began to move up and down while she held onto his thighs for support, her breasts bounced with each movement; Shelyn removed herself from his hand and straddled his chest, Naomi panted next to him as he devoured Shelyn's wet core. Naomi watched intensely as she played with herself slowly, the previous orgasm still shook through her body.

James slowly moved Ayumi off of him while Shelyn slid to his left side, he sat up on his knees while Ayumi laid on her back; the blonde kitsune took a deep breath in as he entered her again and started to slowly thrust into her. James slowly picked up speed while he held her waist, Shelyn moved her body and laid against Ayumi, their breasts pressed together as James thrusted into Ayumi's soaked core. He slowly pulled out before he pushed himself into Shelyn's hot nova, the wolf girl gasped as he held her waist and thrusted into her velvet.

Shelyn pressed her lips into Ayumi's as ecstasy and pleasure filled her body, her moans were muffled by Ayumi's supple lips; James gritted his teeth as he picked up the pace of his thrusts, James felt Shelyn tighten around him as an orgasm wrecked through her like a monsoon of ecstasy.

He slowly pulled himself from the wolf girl's nova, Naomi sat up and devoured his member quickly; her head bobbed up and down before she pulled it from her mouth and guided it back into Ayumi's hot center. Ayumi moaned loudly as he started to thrust like a jackhammer, her breathing started to increase wildly as she pulled him down into her embrace; she held him close as she hit her climax, her hot core tightened around him as she pressed her lips into his.

James stopped thrusting to let her regain her composure as he sat up, he slowly began to thrust into her with ease as her breathing returned to normal. He leaned back down as he thrusted into her and started to kiss the side of her neck, Ayumi arched her back and pushed her breasts into his chest as he found her weak spot.

Naomi and Shelyn stared in awe as each touch made Ayumi move as if she were possessed and he was exorcising the spirit, Ayumi dug her nails into his back as he picked up the pace. Her nails dug into his skin as she moaned and squealed in ecstasy, his left hand moved upward and caressed her breast as he hammered her core.

"Oh fuck baby! I'm about to cum!" Ayumi said through her moans, James sat up and turned his piston movement into a jackhammer and destroyed her concrete. Ayumi screamed out in ecstasy as her walls clamped around him, James freed himself from her nova before he exploded onto her chest and breasts.

Shelyn quickly devoured his rod and lapped off the man milk that leaked from his rod, Naomi licked some off Ayumi's breasts before she kissed the blonde kitsune. Ayumi panted heavily as Shelyn removed James's member from her mouth and let Naomi have it while she laid next to Ayumi.

The blonde kitsune wiped up some of his goop with her fingers and licked it off before she swallowed with an audible gulp, Naomi's head bobbed up and down rapidly before she stopped as James grunted; he gritted his teeth as his python erupted and filled Naomi's mouth, the catgirl swallowed gulp after gulp until it stopped flowing.

James felt his knees give out as Naomi removed him from her mouth, he collapsed onto the bed and panted heavily as he stared at the ceiling "James! Are you alright?" Shelyn asked as she moved to his side, Ayumi slid over as James moved to lay against the pillows.

"Yeah girls, sorry to scare you. Naomi sucked the soul out of me so… I'm gonna need a minute before I can go again." James said, Naomi straddled his waist while Ayumi and Shelyn were by his sides. Naomi laid down on his chest and stared into his blue eyes as her tail swished in the air, he stared into her amber eyes before he kissed her on the lips.

Shelyn reached down toward the end of the bed and pulled the comforter over them as they got comfortable again. "Did Victoria teach you to say that?" James asked as he turned his head toward Ayumi, Ayumi giggled "Yeah, she taught us a lot of phrases and what cum was." Ayumi said before she kissed the Marine.

*Meanwhile, outside*

The other Marines were in their barracks getting their gear together, Austin stood up and fastened her molle vest before she filled the pockets of the vest with M4 magazines and M9 magazines, she holstered her sidearm and clicked the strap closed before she made her way out to the courtyard.

Pearson stood on the wall and scanned the horizon while Cerberus sat by the main door, all three heads looked vigilant as they scanned for potential enemies/food. "Whaddya see, Pearson?" Austin asked as she inspected the Super Stallion. "Man, I don't see shit!" Pearson exclaimed as he looked through a pair of binoculars.

Austin shrugged as she wiped down the control panel and the front window of the helicopter, Fox and Ramirez joined them in the courtyard; Fox went to work on the Humvee while Ramirez took inventory of their weapons and ammunition. "Uhh guys! I got something!" Pearson exclaimed, the Marines dropped what they were doing and grabbed their weapons from the armory Fox had built.

Ramirez sprinted up the stairs and deployed the bipod on the M107 while Austin knelt with her arm on the wall, she closed one eye as she looked through the ACOG sight, Fox manned the M134 and pointed the barrel at a dust cloud in the distance.

The Marines watched as the dust cloud neared, multiple men on horseback arrived outside the castle; Cerberus growled as he stood up and slowly stepped toward the strange people. "What do you want?" Ramirez yelled, a man on the lead horse stepped off and slowly approached the castle while Cerberus watched him closely.

"Uhm, I-I come as a representative of Princess Yumina Ernea Belfast, she has requested the presence of one James Murphy, is that you?" The man asked, Ramirez chuckled "No, he's inside. What does she request him for?" Ramirez asked, the man scanned the letter before he looked up "She didn't specify, just that it was about an envoy to the Kingdom of Mismede." The man explained.

"Diplomatic Escort. Classic, I'll go get him." Austin said as she stood up and made her way into the castle. Victoria walked through the corridor and picked up his molle vest on her way to his room, she stopped at his door and knocked twice "Excuse me, sir. There's someone out here to see you." Victoria said before she stepped back from the door.

*Back inside the room*

James sighed as Naomi moved off him to let him up, James pulled on his clothes and zipped up his BDUs; James opened his door and stepped out to the main hall "What's up?" James asked as he closed the door behind him. "Yumina is requesting our assistance on a convoy escort to Mismede." Victoria explained as he pulled on his molle vest and strapped it in place.

"How far along are we until we have an MBT up and running?" James asked as they rounded the corner while Ayumi, Naomi, and Shelyn followed behind them now clothed. "We're almost ready, we got it designed so that it only needs one person and not four." Victoria explained as they stepped outside.

James looked to the left and saw the materials set out to build an M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank, James walked down the stairs and out to the plains where the men on horses were "I'm Gunnery Sergeant James Murphy, what can I do for you?" James asked as he patted Cerberus on the side. Cerberus backed up and sat down by the castle wall.

The man approached James and handed him a letter "Princess Yumina has requested your help as an envoy to the Kingdom of Mismede." The man said as James read the letter, the marksman nodded as he dismissed the servant; James walked back into the castle and closed the door behind him. Ramirez stood up and folded the bipod before he pulled back the charging bolt, ejected the chambered round, and removed the magazine from the sniper rifle.

"Alright Marines! We're loading up! We're moving out at 1200 hours, it's 0900 hours now so we should get that Abrams built." James said, Ramirez nodded while the others moved to the sides of the supplies. James, Fox, Pearson, and Ramirez surrounded the supplies before they held their hands out.

"Alright everyone, get the mental picture of the M1A2." James said as he typed on his phone and pulled up a blueprint of an M1A2 Abrams and passed it around so everyone could get a mental image. "Alright, got it." Ramirez said as he held his hands up, the Marines held their hands up and closed their eyes "Modeling." The Marines said simultaneously, the materials glowed before they molded into a massive M1A2 Abrams.

The tank formed completely with tracks and a mounted machine gun, a coaxial 12.7mm heavy machine gun, and 120mm L/44 Smoothbore cannon. James climbed up onto the main chassis of the tank and modeled the rifling of the cannon, he looked down the barrel and examined the rifling before he hoped down off the tank.

He walked up to box of metal and used modeling to turn it into an AGT-1500, he held his hands over the turbine and used Program to power the engine via magic. "Gravity." James said before he lifted the engine and carried it to the back of the tank before he lowered it into the tank's engine compartment.

Pearson lowered himself down into the engine compartment and connected the wires to the main chassis, Ramirez climbed down into the tank through the turret and sat down in the driver seat; he gripped the steering wheel and tested the pedal pressure before he checked the turret control stick to his right.

Ramirez primed the engine before he pressed the ignition, the tank rumbled to life and idled slowly; Ramirez pushed the handle forward to cause the tank's turbine engine to power up. He moved the joystick and caused the turret to turn, he pulled back and caused the barrel to raise before he lowered it again.

The Marines backed up before Ramirez pressed the pedal and caused the tank to move forward, the tracks dug into the ground as the tank moved into the sunlight. Ramirez turned the steering wheel and caused the tank to turn to the right then back to the left, James climbed up onto the front of the tank and peaked through the window slot; Ramirez shot him a thumbs up.

"Hey Ramirez, open the ammo slot and use the spell Program on the compartment, program it with Copy to have it make a copy of the round that is removed from the compartment." James explained, Ramirez nodded before he enchanted the ammo slots.

Ramirez held his hands up toward the slots before he closed his eyes "Enchant: Program start/condition: a shell is removed/action: Use [Copy] to create a second round and fill the open slot/program end." Ramirez said as he enchanted the ammo rack.

Fox used modeling to create five 120mm HEAT rounds, he passed them to James who lowered them down to Ramirez. Ramirez loaded the rounds into the rack before he pulled one out, Ramirez watched as a new shell formed in the open slot; he carefully read the bottom of the new shell and saw that it read '120mm HEAT'. "Dude it worked!" Ramirez exclaimed, James chuckled before he instructed Fox to make five Sabot rounds, five HE rounds, and five canister rounds.

Fox nodded before he immediately got to work building the rounds, James climbed up onto the other side of the tank and eyed the side of the barrel "What's up, Gunny?" Ramirez asked as he popped out of the roof of the turret, James chuckled before he turned to his battle buddy "Thinking of a name for her." James said as he hopped off the tank.

He walked into the workshop and found some oil that he used modeling on to turn into black paint, he ran back to the tank and climbed up onto the chassis before he focused on the long barrel. He held the paint in one hand and held his other hand over the barrel "Modeling." James said as the paint began to glow, the black paint disappeared from his hand as a name in black formed on the barrel.

James leaped off the tank and stepped back as he admired the words 'Crowd Control' that ran along the barrel "B-E-A-UTIFUL." James said before he ran his hand along the composite armor plating on the side. "Alright, the rounds are loaded and ready to go. Coaxial and roof gunner are loaded as well." Ramirez said before he climbed out of the tank. "Pearson, you're up! All yours." James called out to the Private. Pearson rounded the corner and climbed onto the tank, the Private quickly did a once over before he climbed into the tank and closed the hatch behind him.

"Alright, we're looking good. Fox, your door gunner with Austin, Ramirez is with me. Girls, you wanna go to Mismede?" James asked which caused them to perk up before they ran into the castle. Lance Corporal Austin ran to the Super Stallion and fired up the turbine engine while Fox climbed into the right door gun, Ramirez loaded their weapons into the back of the Humvee before he climbed into the gunner seat.

James got into the Humvee and started the engine up as the girls returned wearing some of the clothes he bought for them, Ayumi wore a beautiful emerald green outfit that caused her fuchsia eyes to pop along with a silver necklace that had an emerald pendent. Naomi wore a black outfit that accented her amber eyes, she had golden earrings that little golden hearts that dangled from her ears as well as a golden ring in her right cat ear, Shelyn wore a yellow and black outfit that seemed to bring out her violet colored eyes.

Ramirez hopped out of the Humvee and ran to open the front gate, the Humvee slowly pulled out into the wide open plains followed by the M1A2 Abrams that pull out to the right; Ramirez closed the gate door and climbed back into the gunner's seat as the Super Stallion took off into the sky.

James pressed a button on the side of his throat "Comms check, how copy?" James asked, the feed buzzed before everyone responded with a '10-4, read you 5 by 5.' James pressed the accelerator and drove the Humvee onto the dirt road with the Abrams following behind them, the Marines moved in a makeshift convoy toward the destination indicated by Yumina.

James turned down a dirt road and drove down the path until they came to a clearing that had multiple horses and wagons with both humans and demi-humans conversing together, James could make out Touya's white coat in the crowd of people as well as Yumina who was talking to Yae and Linze.

James looked back but didn't see Pearson, suddenly the sound of trees snapping echoed through the clearing as the Abrams erupted through the tree line, twigs and branches hung off the sides of the tank as it pulled alongside the Humvee. The Super Stallion circled overhead before it landed off in the distance, away from the trees.

Both humans and demi-humans were petrified at the sight of the metallic beasts that sat before them, James climbed out of the Humvee and approached the crowd of people "Fear not, I come as an ally." James said as he tried to ease the tension of the crowd. "How did you find out about this?" Touya asked standoffishly as he approached the marksman, Yumina moved in front of him and stopped Touya "Stop, I asked him to come. We could use their help." Yumina said as she pleaded with the teen in the white coat.

"We're here to escort you to Mismede as requested by Yumina, Private Aaron Pearson will take up the lead followed by three carriages, myself and Sergeant Ramirez will take the middle while the rest follow behind. Lance Corporal Victoria Austin will follow overhead with Corporal Noah Fox." James explained as he named the Marines with him and pointed to their vehicles.

"I am Gunnery Sergeant James 'Kraken' Murphy, leader of the 2nd Battalion known as The Warlords." James said as he introduced himself. A man with brown hair and wolf ears approached the Marine "I am Garn, leader of the Mismedian Guard Unit." The beastman said before an armor-clad man with blonde hair stepped forward.

"I'm the leader of the Kingdom of Belfast's First Order Knights, Lyon Blitz at your service." The blonde man said as he placed a hand on his chest. Yumina leaned over and whispered something to Touya while James assessed the Mismedian and Belfast forces, James looked up in time to see a young girl with fox ears and a fluffy tail running toward him "James!" The young girl exclaimed.

James knelt to the ground and ruffled her hair "Hey there Arma, it's good to see you again." James said as he greeted the young demi-human. Ayumi, Naomi, and Shelyn walked up behind him as he stood up, Arma's eyes lit up when she saw James's companions "Oh wow! You're all so beautiful!" Arma said as she complimented the girls.

Naomi knelt in front of Arma "Aww, you're such a cutie! Thank you, sweetheart." Naomi said as she patted the young demi-human on the head. "Shall we depart now?" Olga asked as she addressed the Marines, Touya, and the guards. "Yeah, let's get rolling. I wanna give everyone a fair warning, our weapons are loud, so if we get attacked, cover your ears." James said as he slapped the side of the Humvee.

Pearson climbed back into the Abrams and started up the MBT, the engine roared to life and rumbled with the fury of a stampede; the crowd watched as the tank slowly crept forward and moved into position. "What does it do anyway?" Garn asked as he stood next to James, the Gunny chuckled as he pressed the comms button on his throat "Pearson, load one HE shell and target the large tree at your 3 o'clock." James said.

"Roger. Standby." Pearson said, moments later they watched as the tank's turret turned to the right, it was silent for a few seconds before the barrel erupted with a thunderous explosion that shook the ground they stood on, the shell impacted the tree and completely eviscerated it. Chunks of smoldering wood rained down onto the charred stump that was all that remained of the tree "By the gods! What kind of beast is this?!" Garn said in a combination of amazement and fear.

"It's called a Tank, we have them back where I come from. They're a powerhouse of destruction." James said as the turret returned to 12 o'clock. "Well, I sure am glad you're on our side." Garn said as he chuckled nervously. James walked back to the Humvee as the Super Stallion lifted into the air and hovered overhead, the Humvee rumbled to life as the last door closed.

"Alright Pearson, take us to Mismede." James said into the Humvee's CB radio, the Abrams slowly pulled forward and onto the road before him, the convoy got on road and were on their way to Mismede in no time. "Ramirez, keep your head on swivel, we're transporting some very important assets." James said as he pressed the button on his throat.

"Oh god I hate these long hauls." Ramirez said as he leaned back against the gunner seat. "Want me to put some music on?" James asked as they followed the carriages. Ramirez chuckled as he sat up "You know me well, don't you?" Ramirez said as he straightened up his posture. "Well, the good thing about having my phone is I can get all the music we used to have." James said as he plugged his phone into the Humvee's stereo.

Down with the Sickness – Disturbed

The sound of toms rang through the Humvee as James and Ramirez nodded their head to the beat.

Can you feel that?

Ah, shit!

"You ready, Ramirez?" James asked as a grin grew across his face, Ramirez chuckled "Always, Gunny." Ramirez said as he tightened his grip on the M2HB's handles.

Oh, wah-ah-ah-ah!

Heavy metal riffs rang through as James and Ramirez banged their heads along with the music.

Oh, wah-ah-ah-ah!

Oh, oh! Oh, oh!

Oh, oh!

Drowning deep in my sea of loathing

Broken, your servant, I kneel (Will you give in to me?)

It seems what's left of my human side

Is slowly changing in me (Will you give in to me?)

Looking at my own reflection

When suddenly it changes, violently it changes

Oh no, there is no turning back now

You've woken up the demon in me.

James and Ramirez sang along with the song in perfect timing, it was almost scary "We listened to these guys all the time back where we come from." James explained as the chorus started up.

Get up, come on, get down with the sickness

Get up, come on, get down with the sickness

Get up, come on, get down with the sickness

Open up your hate and let it flow into me

Get up, come on, get down with the sickness

You mother, get up, come on, get down with the sickness

You fucker, get up, come on, get down with the sickness

Madness is the gift that has been given to me

James banged his thumbs against the steering wheel as he kept tempo with the drums.

I can see inside you, the sickness is rising

Don't try to deny what you feel (Will you give in to me?)

It seems that all that was good has died

And is decaying in me (Will you give in to me?)

It seems you're having some trouble

In dealing with these changes, living with these changes

Oh no, the world is a scary place

Now that you've woken up the demon in me

Get up, come on, get down with the sickness

Get up, come on, get down with the sickness

Get up, come on, get down with the sickness

Open up your hate and let it flow into me

Get up, come on, get down with the sickness

You mother, get up, come on, get down with the sickness

You fucker, get up, come on, get down with the sickness

Madness is the gift that has been given to me

As the breakdown was coming up, James was quick to fast forward it to the solo "I don't think they should hear this part." James said as the song resumed.

Oh, wah-ah-ah-ah!

Get up, come on, get down with the sickness

Get up, come on, get down with the sickness

Get up, come on, get down with the sickness

Open up your hate, and let it flow into me

Get up, come on get down with the sickness

You mother, get up, come on, get down with the sickness

You fucker, get up, come on, get down with the sickness

Madness has now come over me

James quickly changed it to another song as the first one ended "Hmm, I liked it. I feel like I can fight take on a few monsters." Naomi said as her eyes were pulsating with exhilaration. "That's what metal music does to ya, it fuels you with energy and you can do anything." Ramirez said as he looked down at the catgirl.

Cochise – Audioslave (R.I.P Chris Cornell, ya legend)

An unholy sounding electronic clicking came through the speakers accompanied by a drum set being slammed, slowly the clicking got louder as another guitar joined in the fray and ripped into an amazing riff. As the clicking disappeared, the sound of electronic muffled

Well, I've been watching, while you've been coughing

I've been drinking life, while you've been nauseous

And so I drink to health, while you kill yourself

And I've got just one thing that I can offer

Go on and save yourself

And take it out on me

Go on and save yourself

And take it out on me, yeah

Another solo roared through the speakers while Naomi nodded her head along with each slam of the drums, Ayumi closed her eyes and listened to the melody and the lyrics while James and Ramirez sang along with the song.

I'm not a martyr, I'm not a prophet

And I won't preach to you, but here's a caution

You better understand, that I won't hold your hand

But if it helps you mend, then I won't stop it

Go on and save yourself

And take it out on me

Go on and save yourself

And take it out on me, yeah

Go on and save yourself

And take it out on me

Go on and save yourself

And take it out on me, yeah

As they sang and drove, James noticed that the sun was sinking below the horizon; he reached down and paused the music before he radioed Pearson "Pearson, stop up ahead. It's getting late, we should probably stop for the night." James said as he put the handset back on the CB Radio. "10-4, full stop." Pearson said before the convoy came to a stop.

James got out of the Humvee and approached the carriage that Touya was in "Yo, Toyota, we're gonna stop for the night. There's a clearing up ahead where we can make camp." James said as the Abrams pulled off to the side. The convoy moved ahead to the clearing where the guards helped to set up camp while Victoria landed the Super Stallion in a clearing directly opposite of them.

Pearson pulled the Abrams forward and parked it in a clearing with the barrel pointed forward, James backed the Humvee into a secluded spot; the group got out of the Humvee and joined the others as they were making camp. "We're at your disposal, what can we do?" The guardsmen asked. "Alright, we'll need you to go hunt down something that we can cook for dinner. Pearson will join you, he was an awesome hunter back where we're from." James said as he handed Pearson his M110 SASS. Pearson nodded before he and two guards disappeared into the forest. The Marines got to work building a fire from the surrounding brush and had a large fire burning in a matter of minutes, the unmistakable sound of a rifle gunshot rang out through the forest as they worked to set up camp for everyone.

Pearson emerged ten minutes later with the guards in tow carrying a twelve point buck, "Oh! Nice one!" James said as he pulled out his knife and dragged the deer over to the wood, Ramirez followed with a shovel and dug a deep hole while James hung the deer up by the hind legs using Modeling on a tree to hold the legs. James held his knife upside down and sliced the deer straight down the middle, blood rushed out and splashed onto his boots while he continued to cut down the middle of the deer. Ramirez pulled on a pair of latex gloves from his medic pack in his bag and pulled the entrails from the deer, he dropped the guts into the hole and covered it back up completely.

The two got to work skinning and harvesting the venison from the deer, Ramirez pulled a piece of metal out and used Modeling to turned it into an extremely sharp blade which he used to cut off the antlers, he modeled the blade back into a small block of metal which he slipped into his pocket before he finished up on the deer's carcass. The two Marines couldn't shake the feeling of being watched, James looked over his shoulder and some of the guards watching intrigued "Have you guys never field dressed a deer?" James asked, a couple guard shook their heads as they stepped forward for an impromptu lesson.

"Right, so the first thing you do is secure the hind legs and hang it upside down, secondly you make an incision near the anus and then slice downward, always make sure you dig a hole to bury the entrails so no scavengers come looking for it and find the camp, third you're gonna want to skin the pelt off by slicing along the muscle here." James said as he pointed to the muscle and the pelt. "Now, you get to slice the meat and harvest it, you're gonna want to wrap them in wax paper so it absorbs the blood." James explained. "Gate." Ramirez said before a portal opened, he walked through and came out inside the castle. He grabbed a roll of butcher paper off the counter and walked back through the Gate.

"This is called Butcher's Paper, it's a heavy duty paper that has a polyethylene coating on one side. Polyethylene is a type of plastic, which is made from oil; the coating withstands blood and moisture so it's great for wrapping raw meat." James said as Ramirez wrapped up pieces of Venison and stored them in a large insulated container. James picked up the remaining Venison and carried it to the campsite while Ramirez carried the rest through the Gate to the castle. James grabbed a large rock and carried it to the middle of the campsite before he closed his eyes and held his hands over the stone "Modeling." James said before the stone started to change and take form into a stone fire pit, he modeled a piece of metal into a cooking grate that he placed on top of the stone grill.

He grabbed some of the wood and placed it in a pile, he pulled out his lighter and set the wood on fire before he held his hand over the now burning wood "Modeling." James said as the wood glowed, the fire disappeared and was replaced by a pile of charcoal that he scooped up and placed inside the grill. He slipped some kindling into the charcoal and set it on fire, James stepped back and watched as the fire started to rise and burn like many of the grills back in the Marine Corps during the 4th of July.

James placed the slices of Venison on the stone grill and listened as the meat sizzled slowly, the heat warmed up the metal and cooked the venison steaks slowly as the others watched on in amazement "What is it that you're doing?" Lyon asked as he approached the Marine, James chuckled "It's called grilling, we do this all the time back in my home country. I don't have any spices so it's gonna taste weird. I need garlic, coriander, black pepper, cayenne pepper flakes, dill seed, and salt to make this taste good." James said as he flipped the steaks with his knife, James looked over and saw Ayumi, Shelyn, and Naomi conversing with Olga, the four girls were laughing and smiling.

James couldn't help but smile as he went back to the grill, Ramirez came back in a full sprint with a jar in his hand "Bro, you won't believe what I found in my bag; remember when we were in Bosnia and we were grilling, I had steak seasoning in my bag... that I never removed." Ramirez said as he handed the marksman a 3/4 bottle of Montreal Steak Seasoning. James stared at the jar in awe before he sprinkled some on the raw Venison and rubbed it, Ramirez used Modeling on a medium stone and turned it into stone plates that he used to hold the steaks. James placed the season-less steaks on the plates and put the seasoned ones onto the grill "Nevermind, these are gonna be great." James said as he bit into his Venison steak 'Yep, that's flavorless venison.' James thought to himself as he chewed.

James and Ramirez took turns at the grill, even teaching Lyon and Garn how to do it so they can know for future purposes. After all the venison was seasoned and cooked, it was passed out to everyone at the campsite; the rifleman and marksman stood back and watched as their patrons discovered a new delectable food. "By the gods, this is so good." Lyon said as he bit into his steak, Pearson had opened a Gate to the castle and had gone back to grab cutlery for them to use. "You think that's good, give me some beef and I'll make y'all some good steaks." James said as he cleaned his knife and sheathed it.

Two hours had passed and the members of the convoy were starting to settle down around the fire, James walked back to the fire with an acoustic guitar in hand while Touya told the story of Puss in Boots to the convoy members "And so, the cat beastman in boots became a Noble and lived happily ever after." Touya said as he finished the story, everyone around the campfire lightly clapped as they enjoyed the story. James sat down on a log with the guitar, everyone looked at him as he held a pick in his mouth "Oh, an instrument? Are you gonna play something for us?" Linze asked, James nodded as he pulled the pick out of his mouth and pressed his fingers into the chords.

Blue On Black - Five Finger Death Punch (I know it's a 2018 song, but let's just say 2017)

James strummed the guitar lightly while moving his left hand up and down the neck of the guitar. He nodded his head along with the rhythm as the song played in his mind.

Night falls and I'm alone,

Skin, yeah, chilled me to the bone

You, turned and you ran, oh yeah.

Oh, slipped right from my hands.

Yeah

James stood up and moved the guitar so it was at a better angle for him to play.

Blue on black, tears on a river

Push on a shove, it don't mean much

Joker on jack, match on a fire

Cold on ice, a dead man's touch

Whisper on a scream

Never change a thing

Doesn't bring you back!

It's like blue on black.

James played the guitar slightly wilder than before as he strummed out a mini solo.

Blind, oh, but now I see

Truth lies and in between

Wrong, can't be undone, oh no

Well, it slipped from the tip of your tongue

James looked over at the Marines who seemed to be singing along with him.

Yeah!

Blue on black, tears on a river

Push on a shove, it don't mean much

Joker on jack, match on a fire

Cold on ice, a dead man's touch

Whisper on a scream

Never change a thing

Doesn't bring you back!

It's blue on black

James strummed out the acoustic solo while the others watched on, Touya rolled his eyes before Victoria elbowed him in the arm.

Blue on black, tears on a river

Push on a shove, it don't mean much

James slapped the guitar as he counted his mental metronome '1..2..3..4.'

Blue on black, tears on a river

Push on a shove, it don't mean much

Joker on jack, match on a fire

Cold on ice, a dead man's touch

Whisper on a scream!

Never change a thing

Doesn't bring you back!

It's blue on black

Yeah, blue on black

Yeah, it's blue on black

Yeah, blue on black!

The campfire audience clapped as James sat down on the log between Ayumi and Naomi while Shelyn sat on his lap. "Did you write that song?" Yumina asked, James chuckled "Oh no, it's a song from my country." James said as he wrapped his arms around Ayumi and Naomi. Suddenly, a demi-human with rabbit ears sat up and stared at the tree line. James moved Shelyn off his lap as he stood up "Alright Marines, let's get evil." James said as he reached for his Scar-H. James grabbed his helmet from the Humvee and strapped it on before he pulled the optics down, the area was blanked in white and illuminated heat sources in black. "What is it?" Touya asked, Garn gritted his teeth "Most likely Highwaymen, they came in a great number so this will be a messy fight." Garn said as he readied his blades. Touya tapped on his phone for moment, "Paralyze." Touya said as he held his hand over his phone, James watched as multiple bandits fell from the trees and slammed into the ground.

"Stand down G.I. Joe, I got them." Touya said with a smug smirk. James gritted his teeth in anger as he walked back to the Humvee, he lifted his optics up as he passed Touya and Garn "Well, it was helpful, but honestly, I'm completely surprised." Garn said as he sheathed his blades, Touya waved his hand and dismissed Garn's comment "Please don't be. This was all thanks to the person who noticed them from the beginning. You probably know this well enough, I guess?" Touya said as he looked at the bunny girl with whitish-purple hair (Red in the anime, but I'm going off the manga) "Aaah, you mean Lain?" Garn asked. "She's a rabbit beastman so that's where the sharp ears came from." Garn explained.

James shook his head and walked over to the highwaymen that the guards were tying up "So, who sent you?" James asked as he knelt in front of one of them, the highwayman looked away as if he had nothing to say. James pulled his knife out and pushed it against the man's throat until it drew blood "I don't think you heard me correctly, who sent you?" James asked again but the man still said nothing. James exhaled sharply through his nose before he slammed the blade down into the highwayman's upper thigh, the man howled in pain as blood flowed from the knife wound.

"See that knife, it's about two inches to the left of your Femoral Artery. One little slice and poof... you'd bleed out and die. If you had an average heart rate that is, but now your heartbeat is elevated so if I cut it... you'd die in seconds, wouldn't even be able to think of your life before you're swallowed by the void." James said as he started to twist the blade. "Okay okay okay! It was the The Black Phantom Company, they hired us to take you out and to acquire new merchandise." The highwayman said, James chuckled as he stared into the highwayman's eyes.

"So, slavers? Are they from Sandora as well?" James asked as he pushed the blade deeper. "Yes... *Pained grunted* no... *Grunt* I don't know? We never met them, they just sent us a letter with a description of the targets and that we would be paid extra for any other people we brought in." The highwayman said in a desperate plea for his life. "Goodboy." James said before he jerked the blade to the right and sliced through the man's Femoral Artery, blood flowed from his thigh as he quickly bled out. "James... you killed him..." Linze said in disbelief, James shook his head "They planned to sell you into slavery, and I'm not gonna sit by and let that shit happen." James said as the highwayman's body slumped over. "I say we take 'em out back and finish this properly, we make a pit, line 'em up, and pop. No more problems." Fox said as he glared at the highwaymen.

"We'll have some of our guards walk them back to the nearest town and hand them over to the guard." Lyon said as some of the Belfast knights rounded up the highwaymen and loaded them onto the back of a carriage, James walked back to the Humvee as the carriage road away "Alright, be on your guard, there's no telling what's gonna come out next." James said as he grabbed his M110 SASS and leaned it against the Humvee. He looked over to see where Ramirez was and saw he was talking to Lain while they walked together, James smirked as he knew his battle buddy's flirtatious plan; Ramirez stumbled and fell to the ground in front of Lain but landed so he was looking up into her eyes "Oh my, it looks like I might have fallen for you." Ramirez said as he pushed himself up, Lain giggled at his mannerisms and continued to walk with him, albeit a little closer than before.

"Good job, Ramirez, even though that move only had a 25% success rate. It goes to 100% in a world where pickup lines don't exist." James said to himself as he crossed his arms and leaned against the Humvee. Slowly one by one, the envoys made their way to the shelter the Marines had built and went to sleep while two of the Marines stayed up on guard; James and Ramirez.

The air was still and the bugs were silent as the moon crept to the middle of the sky, James knelt on the roof of the Abrams and watched the road while Ramirez sat in the gunner's seat of the Humvee. The two battle buddies occasionally conversed with one another while they stood guard. "Hey Ramirez, do you remember the day you died?" James asked through their comms, the line was silent before it clicked "Like it was yesterday, I still remember the RPG flying over the dunes and hitting the side of the MRAP after we had hit an IED. I can still feel the shrapnel buried in my sternum, the burning sensation as I bled out. How about you?" Ramirez asked, James chuckled before he pressed his comms "Yep, still feel the blast that caved in my chest." James said as he placed a hand on his chest.

"It was a fucking MK 2 Pineapple grenade, the ones from fucking World War 1." James said before he chuckled slightly and lowered his head "Hey Ramirez, thanks for always having my back when we were in the shit." James said in a solemn and sincere tone. Ramirez chuckled "Mother fucker, do I have to come over there and slap the fuck out of you? It was my duty as your battle buddy, don't you go and start this sentimental shit now. You cried at my funeral like a bitch, the infamous Kraken was crying his eyes out." Ramirez said as he laughed, James couldn't help but chuckle "You're an asshole, you know that?" James said as he shook his head. Ramirez scoffed and chuckled "Bitch! You know you love me." Ramirez said in a cocky tone.

As James stood on the Abrams, he heard the sound of a twig snapping behind him; the Marksman swung around and aimed his M110 at the source of the sound, but his heart dropped when the crosshairs landed on Shelyn, "Oh Jesus Christ sweetheart, you can't sneak up on me like that when I'm in combat mode." James said apologetically as he helped her up onto the tank. "Sorry, I just couldn't sleep without you next to me." Shelyn said as she sat down next to him and laid her head on his shoulder. "Are you gonna rescue the slaves in Sandora?" Shelyn asked meekly, James wrapped his right arm around her and pulled her closer "Oh course, I would never leave them in that situation. Especially since after everyone is rescued, Sandora is going to be obliterated along with all the slavers and slave owners. I will not let any harm come to the people I love." James said as he rubbed her right arm lightly, Shelyn laid her head on his lap and pushed her body closer to his "I love you, James." Shelyn said as she closed her eyes, James chuckled as he rubbed her head lightly as she fell asleep "I love you too, Shelyn." James said as he looked down at the beautiful woman asleep in his lap.

*The Next Morning*

James scanned the area as the sun crept over the horizon, birds chirped while the wind blew across the plains; slowly the members of the envoy convoy awoke from their slumber and exited the makeshift shelter, Lyon approached James who sat on the tank with Shelyn in his lap "James, do you need to sleep before we leave?" Lyon asked concerned, James chuckled before he placed a hand on the top of his head "Nope. Come forth light, the breath bringing health: Refresh." James said before his body glowed white. "Now I don't feel fatigued in the slightest." James said as Shelyn slowly woke up, she sat up and rubbed her eyes before she kissed James on the lips.

"Good morning, James." Shelyn said as she laid on his lap again and looked up into his blue eyes. "Shelyn! There you are, we were wondering where you ran off to." Naomi said as she and Ayumi approached the tank. "Good morning, girls, how'd ya sleep?" James asked, Naomi puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms "Bad, I couldn't sleep without you there." Naomi said before she turned around, but seemed to stick her ass out a little as if she were trying to entice James into plowing her in the shelter. "Not now, sweetheart. Maybe when we get to where we're going." James said as he picked Shelyn up and jumped off the tank, she held onto him closely before he sat her down gently.

"Alright people, let's get loaded up and head out. Canaan is a few miles away, we can stop and get food, supplies, and other stuff. Let's get going." James said as he made his way to the Humvee, James climbed into the Humvee as the Abrams fired up and pulled onto the road with the carriages behind them. James drove out of the brush and onto the road behind the carriages as the Super Stallion slowly rose into the air "James, what are we gonna do about the camp?" Elze asked from the carriage in front of the Humvee, James looked up at Ramirez who simply nodded. Ramirez pulled a grenade from his vest, ripped the pin, and hail married the grenade into the doorway of the makeshift shelter. The shelter was silent for a moment before it exploded into splinters of burning wood and embers "Alright, we're good." James said as he signaled for Pearson to drive on.

One by one, the convoy drove down the path with the helicopter flying overhead; the convoy drove along the road for what felt like hours, James sat behind the driver's seat while Naomi sat in the passenger seat next to him. Ayumi leaned forward and draped her arms over Naomi's shoulders before she kissed her on the cheek "Love ya, girl." Ayumi said affectionately to Naomi who caressed the Kitsune's arm lightly. After an hour of driving, the convoy arrived at Canaan's outskirts; the Abrams pulled off into the grass along with the Humvee while the carriages went into the city "Y'all go through, we're going to cut around and ready ourselves on the other side." James said to Lyon before the Marines drove around the town, through a stream, and parked on the other side by the gates.

"Hey baby, can we go shopping?" Naomi asked as she leaned over toward him while she held herself up with her arms extended which caused her breasts to squeeze together and gave James a nice view of her cleavage. "Uhmm, yeah totally. I need to gather some info anyway so we can stop at a few shops if you girls want." James said as he tried to stay focused on the task at hand. "Hey bro, I had a question and this is gonna come out of nowhere but... why were you a Sergeant for so long and not promoted to Staff Sergeant?" Ramirez asked, James looked down at the steering wheel then back up at Ramirez with a confused look on his face "... I never actually stopped to think about it." James said stunned at the thought.

"Hey, your comms are still on. But I know the answer, remember how Captain Cunningham disliked you because you'd always have a sarcastic answer? That's why, you were supposed to be promoted to Staff Sergeant but Cunningham 'lost' the promotion recommendation submitted by First Lieutenant Jonathan Ramirez to the Board of Promotions. But after you sacrificed yourself to save your squad, he finally promoted you to the rank you deserved all along, Gunny." Fox said over their comms. James scoffed and chuckled "Yeah, Cunningham fucking hated me." James said as he climbed out of the Humvee. "You think it might have anything to do with the Camel Spiders we put in his bed when we were stationed at Camp Dwyer?" Ramirez asked, James busted out laughing as he opened the back door for the girls "Yeah! That'd probably do it." James said as he helped the girls out of the Humvee.

"What are Camel Spiders?" Ayumi asked as James closed the door, James pulled his phone out and pulled up a picture of him in Iraq holding one over his open mouth "They're huge desert spiders that our Captain was deathly afraid of, he made us do some bullshit menial tasks just to waste our time, so our company, Golf Company, put a bunch of them in his bed under his blankets. The thing about Camel Spiders is that they're fast, big, and silent." James explained as he showed a picture of a spider in his hand. "They're actually very docile, even if they're being handled." James continued before he placed his phone into his pocket.

Lance Corporal Austin and Corporal Fox joined James and Ramirez at the south gate of Canaan where Private Pearson was waiting "Took you two long enough." Pearson said as he stood up straight and followed the other Marines into town. The group walked through the market district with their sidearms holstered on their sides and moved in a diamond formation with Ayumi, Naomi, and Shelyn in the middle. Ayumi, Naomi, Shelyn, and The Marines finally met up with the other members of the envoy; Arma and Yumina gazed at a table full of jewelry that had various types of precious stones in them "Oh, they're so pretty!" Arma said as she gazed at them.

"Which one's your favorite?" James asked as he walked up, his sudden appearance startled Arma and caused her to bite her tongue. "Oh, hi James, we're glad you could make it to go shopping." Arma said with a faint lisp. "You never did answer my question, which one is your favorite?" James asked as he knelt next to Arma, she studied the broaches closely before she pointed to a purple one that looked like grapes on a vine. "This one!" Arma stated, James chuckled and stood up before he flipped a silver coin to the merchant. "Uh sir, it was only 5 Bronze pieces." The merchant said confused, James chuckled as he picked up the grape.

"Get yourself something nice." James said to the merchant before he handed the broach to Arma. Touya looked over at Lyon who seemed perplexed "Hey Arma, which one do you think your sister would like?" Touya asked, Arma thought for a moment "Hmm, big sis prefers designs with flowers, especially this one. The Elius flower is the one that she loves, she often buys them." Arma said as she gestured to a pink flower broach. "Hmm interesting, alright guys, we're gonna go do some shopping. Later, Toyota." James said as his group started to walk away.

Touya got the hint, made like a tree, and got the fuck out of there; Naomi puffed her cheeks out and pouted as she looked at James "How come you didn't get us anything?" Naomi asked, James chuckled as he wrapped his arm around her. "Because you girls deserve something better than a broach." James said as he led them to a Jewelry store that sold raw gems and various types of precious metals. James was about to open the door when he turned around and faced the girls "I want you girls to stay with the rest of 2nd Battalion, I want this to be a surprise." James said before he disappeared into the gem store.

"Hello sir, how may I-" The shopkeeper started to say before James cut him off "Sorry to cut you off, I require your assistance with something." James said as he placed the medallions on the counter, the shopkeeper studied before he perked up "Certainly sir, how may I be of service?" The shopkeeper asked. James nodded his head as he thought "Firstly, I need six gold ingots, three silver ingots, some Bixbite, some Purple Sapphire, and some Titanite." James said as he pulled pictures of the gemstones up on his phone.

The shopkeeper nodded before he disappeared behind the curtain for a few minutes, he returned eight minutes later carrying a tray of the items requested; the Bixbite had a beautiful fuchsia-pink color that seemed to shine bright in the sunlight. The Purple Sapphire radiated a dazzling purple color that who peak the interest of any gem collector, and the Titanite shown brightly when the sun's rays hit it, which caused it to shine as if it were a miniature sun.

"Perfect, how much?" James asked, the shopkeeper shook his head "I can tell that these are for someone very dear to you, someone that you'd give the world for and I think that is beautiful to see young love blossom into something like this. For that, I will only charge you one gold piece." The shopkeeper said as he placed the gems and metals into individual cloth sacks, James fished out two gold coins and placed them on the counter. "This one is for the gems." James said as he slid a coin forward, the shopkeeper looked at the other one unsure "And the other?" The shopkeeper asked slightly nervous. "This one is for information, like, who do you get your gems from? Because these *picks up gem on display* look as if they were mined by a child." James said as he stared through the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper gulped nervously as his darted back and forth between the gem and James "I- I uhh I don't know what you're talking about." The shopkeeper said as he lied through his teeth. "Listen shopkeep, I've been around the world, been in conflicts you couldn't even fathom, seen atrocities that would make you vomit, and I've seen the exploitation of child labor, one thing is consistent about gems mined by children: they're small because their bodies don't have enough muscle mass to swing the pickaxe fully, so you get these small gems." James said as he spun the uncut gem between his gloved fingers.

"I'm gonna ask one more time: where do you get the gems? What's your source?" James asked as he placed the gem down. "Who are you? What do you want?" The shopkeeper asked in a stern tone, James chuckled as he stood up "Me? I'm someone who's about to go to war with Sandora and I get a sneaking suspicion that these are their second primary economic income, so I guess I'm trying to cripple them economically before I obliterate them with sheer destructive force, want a sample?" James asked as he unholstered the M45 1911 from his vest holster and racked the slide. The man backed up as fear took over his body "Wh-What is that?" The shopkeeper asked, James sighed as he admired his handiwork and the craftsmanship of the pistol "Well, let's just say that it fires small pieces of metal that fly out at about 830 feet per second, needless to say that I shoot you with this and there is no magic in the world to save you, no spells, no herbs, nothing. You will fall into the nothingness of the void, no dreams... only nightmares." James said as he stared into the man's soul.

The shopkeeper looked as if he were about to piss himself "Oh god, please don't hurt me! I have nothing to do with who mines the gems, I get them from a mining group that call themselves 'The Jade Wraiths'. They tout themselves as a mining company, but they use child slave labor." The Shopkeeper explained. James slammed his fist down onto the counter and raised his voice "I want names and locations of their operations. Who do you buy from? What's the transport route? Do they have mines? ANSWERS!" James yelled which seemed to startle the girls outside. "Is-Is he okay?" Ayumi asked concerned, Victoria walked up and wrapped her arms around the Kitsune "He's getting information the way he was trained, it's not pretty in the slightest. Don't worry, girls, he's still the man you love and he loves you more than you know... and he'll still dick ya down tonight." Victoria said with a wink toward Naomi, Fox sighed and facepalmed "Jesus fucking Christ, Victoria! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Fox asked before the sound of a gunshot emanated from the shop.

The man laid on the floor as he shook in fear, the bullet had pierced through the floor between the man's legs, shy of his groin; the shopkeeper looked petrified as James crouched in front of him "That is what we call a 'Warning Shot', you don't get a second one." James said before he pressed the barrel against the shopkeeper's temple. "Okay! Okay! I'll tell you everything I know." The shopkeeper said as he slowly stood up and moved over to the desk, he pulled a book from the desk and flipped through the pages of names until he got to one that had a list of names that all corresponded to a name and region "The head of 'The Jade Wraiths' is named Damon but he's known as 'The Jolly Torturer'. He's got henchmen throughout Sandora and parts of Belfast, Mismede, and even The Sea of Trees; you can find them easily since they have 'JW' branded into the sides of their necks. If you find them, you'll find the mines, and you'll find Damon." The shopkeeper explained.

James reached forward and took the book from the man's hands "Copy." James said as he held his hand over the book, the book glowed before a second one materialized on top of the first one. James flipped through the copied book and examined all the names of the shopkeeper's contacts including mining companies, weapons dealers, smugglers, and other unsavory people; James flipped to a page with a folded corner and read some of the names until one popped out to him, 'The Black Phantom Company'. James sighed as he closed the book and put it into his bag "So... you have dealings with the Black Phantom Company, huh?" James asked as he slowly slid the M45 1911 in his vest holster, the shopkeeper shook his head nervously "Wha-! No, never! I would never do that!" The shopkeeper protested, James chuckled as he opened the ledger part of the book.

"Really, because this signature here says otherwise." James said as he pointed at an entry on the ledger, the ledger entry detailed a trade of three fourteen year old females and two twelve year old females in exchange for four 2 caret Benitoite Oval cut gemstones that was valued at roughly four platinum coins and five gold coins "You bought these five girls and paid in Benitoite gemstones, you kept record of it like an idiot. So now I've got another question for you dick nose, where are the girls?" James asked with venom on his tongue as he placed his hand on the handle of his revolver, the shopkeeper's facade finally seemed to break as he started to chuckle that slowly grew into a laugh.

"Gone... I had my fun, now they're gone." The Shopkeeper said as his eyes seemed to become crazed. James clenched his fists as he walked backward toward the door while he maintained eye contact on the shopkeeper, he opened the door and stuck his head out "Fox, Ramirez; we got a situation, Victoria, take the girls shopping." James said before he tossed her a satchel of gold and silver, Victoria nodded understandingly as she led the girls away.

Pearson moved in front of the door as it closed behind him, Fox and Ramirez walked into the shop as James locked the door behind them "What's up?" Ramirez asked as he looked around the shop, James gestured to the ledger as he walked toward shopkeeper; Ramirez walked over to the ledger and flipped through pages until he landed on the page that sent James over the edge "Oh you son of a bitch!" Ramirez exclaimed as he placed his hand on the handle of his Beretta 92FS. Fox grabbed Ramirez's wrist and stopped him from drawing his pistol "Woah! Let's see what Gunny wants to do first." Fox said before the two Marines joined James in surrounding the shopkeeper.

"Alright, so here's what's going to happen, you're gonna tell us what happened to the girls and you're not gonna withhold a single bit of information, if you do, well... say goodbye to your kneecaps." James said as he pressed the barrel of his revolver into the shopkeeper's leg and cocked back the hammer, the reel spun and cycled a .357 Magnum round into place as James adjusted his grip on the handle. "WHERE ARE THEY!?" James yelled, the shopkeeper turned his head and looked in the direction of a cellar door. "Ramirez, watch him. Fox, on me." James said as he stood up.

"Sir!" Both Marines said in unison as Ramirez pulled out his pistol and pointed it at the shopkeeper "Move a muscle and I put one between your eyes." Ramirez said as he racked the slide and chambered a 9mm hollow point. James and Fox approached the cellar door, Fox shot the lock off and flipped it open before they dashed into the dark cellar. The overwhelming smell of decay flooded their noses, the stench was all too familiar to James "Burned flesh and Iron... there's a lot of blood." James said as he clicked on his flashlight and illuminated the cellar. James swept the area with his flashlight until it panned across four young and malnourished faces that were chained to the wall, dried blood coated their inner thighs and scars criss-crossed their bodies.

"Ramirez, hog tie him and get down here." James said through his throat comms before the sound of a body thudded to the ground followed by the unmistakable sound of zip-ties, Ramirez ran down the stairs and came to the horrors they were looking at "Alright, what's u-Jesus Christ, what the fuck!" Ramirez exclaimed. James walked up to the girls and placed two fingers onto their necks, he closed his eyes as he focused "I got a pulse, it's weak but I got one." James said as he backed up and selected the four individuals with his phone before he held his hand over it "Come forth, Light! Calm of the Goddess: Mega Heal!" James said as four runes of light formed above them before beams of healing light seemed to pour into their fragile bodies, James watched as the bruises, lacerations, and other wounds seemed to disappear as if they never existed.

James stepped back and watched carefully as the captives slowly began to stir "Fox, find the key to these shackles." James said as he tried to avoid looking at the fifth captive in the corner "He's a fucking monster, we're using him to set up a meeting with the Wraiths, then we're killing him." James said as he continued to watch the young girls "Come on, wake up." James said softly, slowly the young girls came to and looked around at their surroundings, utterly scared and confused. "Hey there, my name is James and I'm here to get you out of this place." James said in a soft, delicate manner as Fox returned with key ring. James stepped toward the girls and reached up to unlock the shackles, but stopped when the girls flinched in fear "Hey hey, don't worry, nobody is going to hurt you ever again... if they try to, it'll be a fatal mistake." James said as he tried to reassure the young girls. He inserted the key into the shackles and turned the key, the shackles clicked and fell from their frail arms as their bodies slipped from the wall limply.

Fox caught the girls and helped them to the ground so they wouldn't land face first on the ground, Fox escorted them to the staircase after the last girl was cut loose from her shackles; Ramirez knelt in front of them and looked up the girls so they wouldn't feel threatened "So, can you tell me your names? My name is James Ramirez, the tall one over there is my best friend who's also named James." Ramirez said in a nurturing tone. "Uhh, my name is Worthless Winch." One of the fourteen year old girls said, this caught James attention as his head whipped around "Did they name you that?" James asked, the young girl nodded her head weakly. "What about him? What did he do?" James asked as he crossed his arms and clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white in anger. "He just called us his playthings and that we were worthless... is that true? Are we worthless?" The girl asked, Ramirez wrapped his arms around the young girl and pulled her into his embrace "Sweetheart, your life has so much value and you'll be able to live your life to the fullest when we get out of here." Ramirez said as the girl started to cry into his shoulder.

"Fox, go upstairs and beat him to an inch of his life, heal him, and then beat him again." James said, Fox nodded as he cracked his knuckles and bolted upstairs. "Surprise mother fucker! You got me now!" Fox yelled up stairs before the sound of hits landing filled the room followed by objects being destroyed. After five minutes of the beating, there was a pause before Fox spoke "Come forth, Light! Calm of the Goddess: Mega Heal." Fox said before a light shone through the doorway, it was silent for a few seconds before the hits started landing again. "FUCK. YOU. YOU. GOD. DAMN. WASTE. OF. SPACE." Fox said through gritted teeth as he beat the shopkeeper down, healed him, and beat him again.

"Let's give you girls proper names. But first, clothes." James said as he snapped his fingers and opened a Gate portal, he stepped out into the castle and found a large roll of fabric they used to create new curtains and sheets, he grabbed the roll and walked back into the basement dungeon as a healing light shone from the doorway. James and Ramirez got to work fast cutting and modeling the fabric into shirts, pants, and undergarments "Alright, this should suffice until we can get you back to our castle where our friends can help you out." James said as the girls pulled on the new clothing. James stood up and walked back to the corner where had covered the fifth girl in a sheet, he knelt next to the sheet and lifted it up to examine the body "That evil son of a bitch." James muttered to himself.

James could make out notable marks that indicated that the young girl had been tortured, raped, and set on fire while still alive judging by the char marks on the ground from where she more than likely flailed and screamed until she succumbed to the fire. James stood up and noted the dried blood on the ground around where her body laid on the cold stone floor along with a few sharp utensils with dried blood on them.

"Hey Fox, break his elbow!" James yelled, he was met with silence before a disgusting crunch sound echoed off the walls followed by a somewhat feminine shriek. "Alright, so let me give you girls some proper names for you to go by." James said as he looked at the four scared girls, he knelt next to the two twelve year old girls "Are you two sisters?" James asked as the girls clung to one another, one of the girls nodded shyly as they hid behind Ramirez. The twins were no older than either twelve or thirteen; they had pale white skin, one had black hair and they other white hair that seemed to blend together with their magenta eyes.

"Hmm, your name will be Marilla." He said as he gestured to the girl with black hair. "And you'll be Zaleria." James said to the girl with white hair. "Marilla and Zaleria, it fits you girls." Ramirez said as he ruffled their hair playfully. James stood up and looked at the fourteen year old girls that stood next to Ramirez, the one to his left had tan skin and shoulder length brown hair while the one to his right had light skin that wasn't pale but wasn't tan either, she had platinum blonde hair that ran down her back, her hair was dirty and full of knots from the abuse at the hands of the shopkeeper who was currently on the receiving end of an ass whooping. He gestured to the girl on Ramirez's left and cleared his throat "You'll be Minerva and your name will be Camilla." James said as he finished up the naming process for the four girls.

Their entire demeanor seemed to change in an instant "Thank you, James, Ramirez, thank you for saving us." Minerva said as she bowed her head thankfully, Camilla had hazel eyes, which looked like a gold & green explosion in her irises that seemed to compliment her platinum blonde hair. Minerva lifted her head to look at her savior, the light hit her eyes and displayed a captivating teal-colored iris. "Alright, so how about we get the hell out of here." Ramirez said as he gestured toward the door. "Right, we'll send Tori back with these girls and get them situated at the castle, hell, we can always open a Gate to the castle at any time." James said as he started to walk up the stairs.

"Please! No more!" The shopkeeper begged before Fox drove his fist down into the man's face. "Having fun?" James asked, Fox chuckled "What? I'm just warming up. Now comes the fun part." Fox said as he started to shuffle his feet back and forth before he hit the shopkeeper up side the head with a reverse roundhouse that knocked him unconscious. "Well, that's fortunate since we're leaving." James said, Fox chuckled as he picked the shopkeeper up and tossed him over his shoulder. "Alright Ramirez, take the girls and go find Victoria, fill her in on the situation and to get them back to the castle. Fox, take dipshit back to the Humvee and make sure he's bound and gagged. Pearson and I will clean this place out, look for any intel, give that fifth girl a proper burial, and burn this place to the ground." James stated, the Marines nodded and made their way to their objectives.

Pearson walked in as Ramirez was talking to Victoria outside, he closed the door behind him and looked at the large puddle of blood on the floor by a fireplace "Jesus, Fox worked that bitch over good." Pearson said before they got to work bagging all the valuables "So, why are we doing this?" Pearson asked as he poured a box of rubies into a cloth bag and pulled the string. "Leverage, Private Pearson. The best course of action is the path of least resistance, which in this case of what we're dealing with, is human trafficking and other black market dealings. Well, if we use gems as our leverage, we can get anything we want." James said as they stripped the store of all its valuables and stored them in James's Storage Null Spell.

James grabbed a large wooden table and dragged it to the middle of the room followed by a wooden drawer, two chairs, and some metal from a metal statue of a dog "Modeling." James said as he held his hands over the pile, the objects started to glow as they molded into a new object; the light faded and revealed a freshly made casket "Come on, let's go." James said as he led Pearson down the stairs to the basement, Pearson looked around in abject horror at the grotesque scene that painted the room of what was those four girls life for god knows how long. "She's over here." James said solemnly as he walked over to a white sheet on the ground. James knelt next to her body and laid a hand on her head "May the gods find a place for you to rest, and may you feel nothing but happiness and joy. I'm sorry we weren't here sooner." James said as tears started to stream down his cheeks, the teardrops fell from his face and impacted the white sheet, darkening the cotton that covered her body.

"Remind you of Kandahar?" Pearson asked, James didn't look up but simply nodded his head "Yeah... Kandahar." James said as he wiped his eyes with his sleeve. James shook his head before he grabbed the sheet and wrapped her body in it completely, the Marines lifted her body up and carried her upstairs, they lowered her body into the casket slowly before James closed the lid and latched it shut. James snapped his fingers and carried the casket through along with Pearson, Victoria was next to James's girls as well as Marilla, Zaleria, Minerva, and Camilla. "There's a nice spot on the hill." Ramirez said as he opened the steel gate.

James and Pearson carried the casket up the hill to a lone tree that created a large shadow that covered the hill top, Ramirez had used the spell Pitfall to create a six foot hole in the hill; James and Pearson slowly lowered the casket into the ground while Ramirez prayed that she would find peace in the afterlife, that she wouldn't feel any sensation other than bliss, and that her abusers be brought to justice swiftly. James clenched his fists as he closed his eyes 'I promise, I'll make those fuckers pay for this.' James thought to himself as he rested his hand on the casket, James placed his hand on the edge and grabbed hold of Ramirez's forearm to pull himself of the hole; the Marines picked picked up some shovels and quickly filled the hole in with dirt before they used some stones to make a headstone via modeling.

"Thank you, James, this meant a lot to us. And thank you again for rescuing us." Minerva said as Camilla placed a flower down on the girls' grave. "It's no problem, Minerva, I hate to see this kind of thing happen to innocent people." James said as he patted her on the head. "We should probably get back to the convoy; do you girls mind staying with them until we get to Mismede?" James asked Ayumi, Naomi, and Shelyn who shook their head "No problem, go get 'em, tiger." Ayumi said before she kissed him on the lips. James nodded to the other Marines before he snapped his fingers and opened a Gate back to Canaan, the Marines stepped through to the outskirts of town where Fox was waiting.

"You get everything squared away?" Fox asked as he leaned against the Humvee, James nodded as they climbed into their designated vehicles. James started the Humvee up while the Super Stallion rose into the sky and the Abrams roared to life, the Humvee pulled onto the dirt road and drove toward the convoy that was already en-route to Mismede. The Abrams sped ahead of the convoy and took up the lead as they crossed the border into the Kingdom of Mismede, Ramirez kept the barrel of the M2HB on a swivel as he watched for potential ambushes; the roar of the Super Stallions rotors overhead drowned out the rumble of the tank's engine.

"Man, this shit with the dickbag in the trunk is some fucked up shit." Ramirez said via their comms system, James nodded his head as he maintained the Humvee's speed "Yeah, I hope we can find their families, if not... then we can at least give them a nice place to live in the castle." James said as he thought about all the things that have happened. "I don't know, man, I feel like this is gonna messy." Ramirez said with a sigh as he looked up into the sky. James couldn't help but chuckle "War isn't a beautiful thing, it's ugly. It's brutal, messy, and horrific." James said as the convoy continued down the road. After what felt like hours of driving, James noticed the sun was beginning to set below the horizon "We're gonna stop up ahead for the night; Victoria, I want you to go scout ahead and do a perimeter circle." James said through their throat comms.

James pulled out of the convoy and sped up alongside the carriage that Touya was in, the convoy came to a stop as the Abrams stopped ahead of them "Hey Olga, what was the next place we were going to stop at?" James asked through the passenger window. "Eld Village, but it seems we couldn't reach it before dusk." Olga said as she looked out over the horizon. "Right, let's go ahead and set up camp over there." James said before the convoy pulled off the road and into a clearing. James, Ramirez, and Pearson got to work setting up the campsite with some materials left over from the last campsite; the Marines had a fire started and burning within minutes of it being built.

An hour past as the sun had finally sunk below the horizon, Austin and Fox had finally returned from their scouting mission in the Super Stallion; the Marines and the members of the convoy sat around the fire as the sound of the engines powering down filled the area "So, it looks like there's village about fifteen miles up the road. It's a pretty straight shot so if we wake up early and hit the road, we'll make it there by 0900 hours." Victoria said as she pointed to the road on James's phone, both Garn and Lyon stared in amazement "My god, what is this tiny cartographer?" Garn asked amazed, James chuckled "This is just my phone, you think this is amazing? Just wait until we get my inter-atmospheric satcom array into the air." James said as he put his phone into his pocket.

Garn stared at him blankly as he had no idea what the Marine just said "Oh, uh... it'll let me see things happening far away in real time." James said as he tried to explain it, Garn nodded "Hmm, I can't wait to see it. What will you be using it for?" Garn asked, James didn't look away from the fire as he answered "Coordinate bombing runs on Sandora." James said, Touya almost choked on his water and started coughing "You're gonna do what?!" Touya exclaimed, James shook his head "They started this war, I'm just gonna finish it." James said as he poked a log with a long stick. "You're talking about the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of people, and you say this like it's nothing." Touya said in disbelief.

"Are you saying you're in favor of slavery? You hear that Fox?" James asked as he looked at Corporal Fox, Fox shook his head as Touya fumbled his words "Wait, no, that's not... *sigh*... what's your plan?" Touya asked defeated, James smirked as he sat up straight. "Glad you asked Tofu, the plan is to move in under the cover of darkness, extract the slaves, put down anyone who try to stop us, and then hit the locations with bombing runs, drone strikes, gunship strafe runs, and strategic missile strikes." James explained, Touya sat down and thought about the plan James proposed. "Alright, count me in. I'll do whatever I can to help." Touya said as he stood up and extended his hand to the Marine marksman. James stood up and grasped Touya's hand firmly before he shook the teen's hand and almost dislocated the teen's shoulder.

"Glad to know you're on board." James said as he sat down, he looked over at Ramirez who sat next to Lain; James nodded to Ramirez who nodded back before he stretched his arms out and slowly put one behind Lain's back, Lain couldn't help but giggle before she laid her head against Ramirez's chest. 'Fuck yes!' James yelled mentally as he tried to keep straight face. "So phase two will be after the bombing run, which main function would be to stun and disorient them before we move in on foot and take them out one by one." James continued, he stood up and walked over to an open space "But first, I want to fill you guys in on some information." James said before he snapped his fingers and triggered a Gate to open.

Ayumi, Naomi, and Shelyn walked out of the Gate with the four girls in tow "I'd like to introduce you to Marilla & Zaleria who are twins, Minerva, and Camilla." James said as he introduced them from left to right. Fox had gone to the Humvee and returned with the gagged shopkeeper that he tossed onto the ground. "They were being held captive by this assclown, he bought them from the Black Phantom Company and buys gems from The Jade Wraiths which is the only reason he's still alive, so he can set up a meeting with the Wraiths, I can find there mines, and liberate them from the people they've enslaved there." James explained, the convoy members looked horrified as they stared at the gagged shopkeeper.

"My god! We'll take him into custody immediately!" Lyon said as he stood up, James held his hand up and stopped Lyon "I'm gonna stop ya right there, chief. We need him to be the face of the meeting." James explained as Fox picked up the shopkeeper and carried him back to the Humvee. "I can't believe that monster was living cozily with these girls imprisoned in our kingdom." Lyon said in disbelief, Minerva stepped forward and cleared her throat "There's actually a lot of sex slaves brought into Belfast that are bought from either groups of slavers or from Sandora. I was bought from the Black Phantom Company while Camilla was bought in Venzor, a town in Sandora." Minerva explained, Garn shook his head "This is completely unacceptable, we will not let this stand." Garn said as he slammed his fist into his hand.

"Well if you wanna help out, we could use some people who can keep their ears to the ground and let us know of what's happening in the world of the black market." James said, Garn nodded understandingly "Consider it done, James." Garn said as he stood up and slammed his fist into his chest. Suddenly, Lain shot up and looked around concerned "What's wrong, Lain?" Ramirez asked, Lain shook her head "Something is headed this way and it's BIG." Lain said, James nodded to Pearson who took off toward the Abrams. Suddenly, a large flying figure erupted over the tree line and circled the area "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" Fox yelled, James gritted his teeth as he snapped his fingers "It's dead is what it is." James said as a Gate opened behind him.

Yae and Elze ran out of the carriage as James bolted toward the Humvee, he opened the rear hatch, grabbed his Scar-H along with two M4a1s, punched the shopkeeper in the face, and closed the hatch again. James handed an M4 to Ramirez and Fox before he climbed into the gunner's seat and pulled back the charging bolt on the M2HB "Why is there a dragon here?" Olga yelled confused, Touya turned and faced the demi-human "Is it unusual for a dragon to be here?" Touya asked unsure, Olga nodded "Dragons normally live in the sanctuary grounds in the middle of this country." Olga explained. "That place is the territory of the dragons and no one is allowed to enter, the dragons won't go out and terrorize people unless someone intrudes their territory... that's how it's supposed to work." Olga said as she watched the dragon fly through the sky.

"Is someone trespassing in the sanctuary ground?" Garn asked as he readied his sword. 'Put that away, you're just gonna piss it off.' James thought as he followed the dragon's flight path with the barrel of the M2HB. "No, it isn't always because of that. Once every few years, a few young dragons will appear in our settlements and terrorize people. The others won't avenge any dragons that left the sanctuary ground, even when we kill them. Because they are the intruder in this case." Olga explained. 'Hmm, no vengeful dragons... that's a relief.' James thought to himself.

"Is it possible to beat a dragon?" Touya asked, James chuckled a little as he maintained his sightline on the dragon "Toyota, I got about 800 rounds of Armor Piercing .50 BMG along with an M107 Anti-Material Rifle, an M1A2 Abrams with a 120mm smoothbore gun and a 12.7mm Coaxial-Heavy Machine Gun, a CH-53E Super Stallion with 2 GAU-17 Miniguns and an M2HB in the rear, and finally an M777 Howitzer. I'd say we've got an advantage." James said as he continued to track the dragon.

"We'd need one hundred of our best soldiers for it to have a possibility to defeat it." Garn said, Touya nodded as he pulled out his phone "So, it is that strong, huh... What the? That dragon is going toward Eld Village." Touya said as he tracked it on google maps. "Touya, get these people to safety. Let's move out, Warlords!" James yelled before Ramirez climbed into the driver's seat, Lain ran up to the door and placed her hands on Ramirez's "Please come back to me, promise me you'll come back." She said before she kissed him on the cheek. "Hey, hate to interrupt a moment but we gotta move!" Fox yelled from the door gunner of the Super Stallion as the turbines were spinning up.

Ramirez rubbed Lain's head affectionately "Don't worry, I always keep my promises." Ramirez said as he started the Humvee up, Lain stepped back before the Humvee sped off toward Eld Village alongside the Abrams that mowed down foliage in its path. The Humvee and Abrams roared over the hill and down toward the town that was engulfed in flames, the Super Stallion lowered its altitude and used the helicopter's vertical streamtube to fan the flames of the burning homes. "Damn it, I wish we had more Marines here." James said as he leaped out of the gunner's seat and sprinted toward the burning homes "Alright, let's do this! Rain fall, Pure blessing, Heavenly Rain!" James chanted as he held his hands out toward the town, thunder rumbled through the sky as black clouds formed over the town.

Water droplets fell from the sky drop by drop until it was raining like a monsoon, the water hit the roaring flames and slowly extinguished the blaze as Touya, Garn, Lyon, Yae, Linze, and Elze arrived along with the other guard to help evacuate people. "Alright, teams of four people, go house to house and search for survivors. Linze, use your water magic to take out any remaining fires, Elze, uses your boost ability to smash apart the debris if its blocking survivors from getting out." James said as he climbed back into the Humvee. He slammed the roof of the Humvee before it tore down the dirt road and chased the dragon "It's circling back!" Ramirez said as he looked out of the window of the Humvee.

James spun the turret around and squeezed the trigger on the M2HB, the barrel erupted with flashes of light as shell casings flew from the Heavy Machine Gun as bullets ripped through the sky and hit their target. The dragon roared as it turned around and chased after the Humvee "Touya! You have to help them!" Linze exclaimed, Touya exhaled slowly as he held his hand up and followed the dragon "Strike true light! Sparkling Holy Lance: Shining Javelin!" Touya chanted before a beam of light erupted from his hand and grazed the dragon, the dragon turned its head and shot a fireball toward Touya who used [Boost] to run away from the fireball.

"LET'S GO! Come on, you over-sized gecko!" James yelled as he peppered the side of the dragon and got its attention. The Humvee roared down the road and away from the town with the dragon in tow, the dragon shot a fireball that hit the ground fifteen feet shy of the Humvee. Ramirez swerved and drove in a serpentine pattern as James continued to fire, the dragon was about to fire again when it got hit by three large explosions from the side and a barrage of bullets that ate away at it scales; James watched as the Super Stallion took evasive action and banked right as it followed the Humvee.

Ramirez took a right as they entered the clearing and circled around as James maintained a sporadic gunfire at the dragon, the dragon flew toward the ground and tried to ram the Humvee but Ramirez managed to swerve out of the dragon's path as another rocket hit it from the side. The dragon swooped upwards and flapped hovered in place as it seemed to be charging another fireball, suddenly a loud boom erupted from the treeline as a projectile hit the dragon in the chest and exploded. The explosion disoriented the dragon as the M1A2 Abrams drove out of the treeline and joined the Humvee "Sorry it took me a while to get here, I couldn't necessarily plow through their homes." Pearson said via their comms.

Touya and Linze bolted out of the foliage on the back of a white tiger that slid to a stop and roared at the dragon "Jesus, it's like a painting at a Japanese restaurant." Ramirez said as he looked at the tiger and the dragon. "Yo Touya, what's with El Gato Blanco?" James asked, Touya looked at the tiger and then back at James "Uhh, I'll explain in a bit but long story short... cat god." Touya said before the tiger spoke to him. "If that's the case, I also won't hold back." Touya said as he glared at the dragon. "Talk to me, Toyo Tires, what's going on?" James asked as he loaded a fresh box mag. "This dragon is essentially doing this for fun." Touya explained.

"Pearson! Switch to a HEAT round followed by a Sabot round, shake and bake. Austin, circle around hit it from the side and the back with a salvo followed by a barrage from the door gun" James said as he gave the orders. "Roger!" The Marines said one by one as they swiftly got to work. "You wanna play? Alright, then you can play with the Marine Corps." James said the Humvee took off to the right and circled the area, a barrage of rockets hit the side of the dragon and caused it to drop in altitude as a 120mm HEAT round nailed it square in the chest. Linze held her staff up along with another hand "Come forth water! Feel my blade, both cold and clear! Aqua Cutter!" Linze chanted before a blade of water sliced through the dragons wing as a barrage of javelins made of lights rained down above it.

The dragon charged an attack in its jaws as it took aim at Linze, Touya tackled Linze out of the way as a Sabot round hit the dragon in the side; the force of the impact caused the charged attack to fly off into the sky, the Humvee came to a stop as James lined up the M2's sights with the dragon's head. James was about to squeeze the trigger when Yae leaped into the fray and slashed at the dragon's head followed by Elze who slammed her gauntlets into the side of its head, the two girls recoiled and retreated back to Touya's side as the dragon locked his gaze on them. "There." James said as he squeezed the trigger and fired the M2HB, the Armor Piercing round ripped through the dragon's right eye and sprayed blood everywhere as it roared in pain.

Touya sprinted toward the dragon and leaped through the air before he pulled out his sword and slashed downward at the dragon's head; the sword hit its mark and snapped in half, the dragon turned its one-eyed gaze toward Touya and charged an attack as Touya landed. Suddenly, a stray knife erupted from out of nowhere and hit the dragon in the other eye, rendering it completely blind. "Touya! Now!" James yelled. "Slip!" Touya yelled as he held his hand up and caused the dragon to lose all traction with the ground; the dragon slammed to the ground and left its underside exposed. "Now! FIRE!" James yelled through the comms before all guns fired at the single target, a salvo of rockets rained down onto the dragon as the barrel of the Abrams lobbed shell after shell down range.

James fired a steady stream of Armor Piercing .50 Cal BMG down range that ripped through the dragon's soft hide, after about thirty seconds of sustained fire, James radioed a ceasefire. Slowly, the smoke cleared and revealed the dragon still on its side "Did we get it?" Ramirez asked as the Humvee crept closer. Suddenly, the dragon roared as it tried to stand up and attack them; Ramirez threw the Humvee into reverse and backed up. "Come forth Ice! Eternal frozen ridge: Ice Wall." Linze chanted before a wall of ice formed in front of Touya, the boy held his hands up and chanted multiple spells "Modeling. Multiple. Strike true light! Sparkling holy lance: Shining Javelin!" Touya chanted.

Multiple spell runes formed in the air behind the now semi-dome shaped wall of ice, the light javelins all fired simultaneously into the ice dome; the concentrated light compounded and turned into one beam of energy that pierced through the dragon and ripped out the other side. The Humvee pulled up alongside the dragon's body, James pointed the barrel down at the dragon's head and fired three rounds into the soft tissue around its head. The rounds ripped through with ease and sprayed blood onto the ground "I guess the barrage finally softened it up." James said as he disconnected the spent box mag, attached a fresh box, and fed the belt through the receiver before he pulled back the charging handle.

"So, we just killed a fucking dragon... neat." James said as he hopped out of the turret and examined the dragon's hide. "Man, these are some hard scales. This is some serious shit." James said as he examined one of the broken scales on the ground. James felt his molle vest for a moment before he unfastened the side and pulled out a black plate "Whatcha thinkin', Gunny?" Ramirez asked as he stepped out of the Humvee. James tossed the black plate onto the ground before he held his hand over the scale "Modeling." James chanted, the two Marines watched as the scale changed shape and turned into a ballistic plate. James slid the new plate into his vest and fastened the molle vest again before he took a few steps back "Ramirez, I trust you with my life so you're the only one I trust with this: Shoot me in the chest." James said.

Touya looked stunned as he looked back and forth at James and Ramirez "Wait, are you serious?" Touya asked confused, Ramirez chuckled "He is." Ramirez said before he raised his rifle and fired a single round, the M4's report echoed through the silent valley as everyone watched stunned. James looked down at the vest and flicked off the squished 5.56mm "Didn't feel a thing." James said as he pulled the plate from the vest and examined it carefully "Not even so much a scratch." James stated as he slid the plate back in. James and Ramirez got to work harvesting some of the scales from the dragon, they created a neat stack of scales that James then transported back to the castle via a Gate.

James stepped out of the Gate and placed the scales down on his workbench in the weapon's shop, James walked out of the shop and ran up the stairs of the castle walls to survey his domain; he looked down and saw Cerberus curled up next to the wall "Oi! Cerberus!" James called down to the three-headed demon dog, Cerberus stood up and stretched before it started to wag its tail. James leapt off the wall and landed on the ground before Cerberus who licked him with one of the three heads, anyone could summon a three-headed demon dog like Cerberus but this Cerberus... was different. This Cerberus stood at roughly seven feet tall and was as big as a small bus, Cerberus laid on the ground so James could rub its heads.

James tilted his head as he felt something strange emanating from Cerberus's aura "Uhh... Cerberus, can you talk?" James asked as he rubbed the demon dog's head. The head on the far right raised up and looked at James with intrigue 'Yes, is there something you wish to know?' A deep, demonic voice asked inside James's mind. "Yeah... you're not like other summoned creatures are you?" James asked, Cerberus slowly stood up and stretched before it sat down before James. 'Nope, I'm like that white tiger that the boy has. It's called the White Monarch, it's the 'King of Beasts' supposedly.' Cerberus said in a sarcastic tone as all three heads stared at James.

"So, if you're like the white tiger, then what are you?" James asked, Cerberus exhaled slowly as it stood up and let out a ferocious and deep bark, birds fled the area and animals scurried for safety as two Demon Lords rose out of the ground. 'I guess you could say I'm the Hellfire Monarch, king of the demonic creatures.' Cerberus said before the Demon Lords faded from existence. "Wow, so since we never formally made a contract, why have you stuck around?" James asked confused, one of Cerberus's heads seemed to be gagging on something before it spat up a piece of armor.

'You let me eat humans, and keep me fed.' Cerberus said which caused James to chuckle "Eh, what can I say, it's less work for us." James said as he patted Cerberus's side. "So, I want to make a contract with you. What are your requests?" James asked, Cerberus stepped closer to James and showed its teeth to the Marine who just stared back at the demon dog. James placed his hand on the dog's head and poured some of his power into the creature, the powered seemed to overwhelm the three-headed beast as it yielded to the Marine. 'Keep the same arrangements, feed me your enemies and I'll protect you and your family.' Cerberus said.

'Now master, I require a name for this contract to be complete.' Cerberus said as he stood tall and proud. James thought for a moment before a named popped into his mind "How about Azazel? It's the name of a demon from where I'm from." James explained, Cerberus thought for a moment before it knelt in front of the Marine. 'I will be henceforth known as Azazel.' The three-headed dog said as it pleaded its loyalty to the Marine.

"Awesome, now with that said... is there anyway you can shrink?" James asked as he looked up at the three-headed beast. Within a blink of an eye, Azazel shrunk from a seven-foot-tall, three-headed demon dog to a cuddly three-headed dog the size of Golden Retriever puppy. James picked the dog up and rest him on his shoulder before he walked back into the castle where Ayumi, Naomi, and Shelyn were at along with the four girls that James rescued from Canaan. "You girls want to go to Mismede?" James asked as he snapped his fingers and opened a Gate behind him. The girls lit up like a sunny day as they passed through the Gate portal to the other side, James walked through to Eld Village where the members of the convoy conversed around the corpse of the dragon.

"Hey guys, what'd I miss?" James asked as he walked up to the group, the white tiger glared at Azazel on James' shoulders with an angry scowl "Yo, your cat is glaring at my dog." James said to Touya. "This is Kohaku, he's not a big fan of three headed dogs." Touya said as he tried to cover up the bad aura in the air. Suddenly, a large presence was felt by everyone except for Touya and the Marines as another dragon flew overhead. "Oh god damn it!" The Marines exclaimed simultaneously.

A/N: Hey hey! Hope you enjoyed this chapter of In Another World With A Marine, sorry it took so long to write; I wrote most of it during my down time at work so I'm sorry if it seems rushed in parts as I was probably half asleep when I wrote those parts. Anyway, thank you for reading, Remember to Favorite, Follow, and leave a Review telling me what you thought, and as always, this is Nightmare 6-4, signing off.