So there you have it! The third member has finally arrived! And I can promise more are on the way soon. Now, I just want to say that Seamus is not my own creation. He's an OC that a good friend of mine came up with. So, if you don't like him, it ain't my fault. Now, we'll get into something that I've been waiting to do for a very, very long time, now. I'm sure you can tell what it it by the title but you never know, you might be surprised. And lastly, i'll be doing something a little different during this chapter. You'll see at the start. Oh, and lastly, at the end of the chapter, there'll be a nice surprise for you all. Check it out! Enjoy!

-PoV: Neela-

With lady Ayuma taking in a new member to our party, things got, well.... crazy. Seamus is just so loud, constantly laughing and he's really starting to get on my nerves. Plus, he's an alcoholic which just amps up the difficulty when working with him. My master's temper has really jumped in the past couple days. 

But he's pulling his weight and doing a marvelous job as our support member. Increasing our strength, speed, and even durability in binds has really come in handy. He may be an agonizingly annoying person, but he comes through in the heat of a battle.

Today marks the 5th day we've been on our trade journey with Naoofumi's party. And it's today that he's deciding we head East now. We quickly packed up all our supplies, loaded it all into the carriage and we were off once again. 

A few hours later, we arrived in a rather bleak looking area in the mountains. The sky was very gloomy and the air was incredibly thin. 

"I don't know why, but.... something about this place is giving me the chills." I said as my master giggled a bit. 

"I couldn't agree more. It looks like a storm's gonna hit soon." Ayuma said. 

"I think you're right. Maybe it's best we stop for now and pick things up later if one does hit." Naofumi said as he ordered Filo to stop the carriage. We pulled over in a small open area surrounded by trees. I helped make a fire so we could cook our lunch for the day while my master and Naofumi discussed something in the carriage. 

But as we were getting everything ready, two people appeared from a nearby path in the woods. It looked like a mother and her young son and they both looked incredibly weak. 

"Is there something we can help you with?" Raphtalia asked them. 

"If it's possible, can you please spare us some of your food? We haven't eaten in days." The woman said to us. We quickly cooked up some stew and fed it to both of them. And judging by the way they ate it, they weren't lying about not eating for a while. 

"You folks would do well to turn back while you can." The woman said to us. 

"If you keep moving forward on this path, you'll die." Her son said. 

"We heard there was a village along this path, though." Naofumi replied. 

"The village has been devastated. Even the village elder got sick with the plague. There's no hope left there." The woman said as both her and her son got up and left us. 

We all looked at each other with concern but we weren't going off our path now. We were close to this village so the least we could do is see how bad things really are there. We then finished up our lunch and headed out to this village. 

About 3 hours later, the village was now in view. It rested at the base of a mountain and there was a dense fog around it. The air was becoming more thin as we got closer to it as well, making it a little harder to breath. 

When we arrived and entered, there was almost no people there to see. Only one person could be seen and it was a man standing halfway in and out of his homes doorway. He was staring at us. 

"Well, what brings all you to a god forsaken place like this?" The man asked us. 

"We're traveling merchants. We've got medicine to sell." Naofumi said to him. 

"Medicine, you say? Wait right there, i'll be right back! Doctor!" The man said as he ran down a street, obviously looking for this villages doctor. 

The doctor quickly came over to see us and he looked very desperate. 

"You said you brought medicine with you, yes?" He asked us. 

"Yes, that's correct." My master said to him. 

"Then please follow me, to our medical building." The doctor said as he lead us to their infirmary.

"I appreciate you showing up to this village. With how things have been lately, i'm unable to make enough medicine for all the people of this village." The doctor explained. 

He then took us inside the sick bay and things went from bad to worse. Inside were dozens of sick people, all looking like they were just barely hanging on to life. There were so many people that they had to resort to laying some on the floor because they didn't have enough beds. 

"Good morning, oh, doctor, are these people with you?" A nurse asked as he gave her a nod. 

"Yes, they just arrived. They're going to give us some medicine."He explained to her. 

"Looking at this, I should probably give it to them, myself." Naofumi said as he approached one of the patients. He took out a vial of medicine and made one of the patients drink it. The man who drank it briefly glowed yellow for a second before it fainted. But then, his breathing became more controlled and clear and he wasn't coughing anymore. 

"Oh my... that's incredible." The doctor said as we all went back to the carriage and took our all the medicine we had. We fed all the patients our medicine and it seemed to work on them all. We kept this up for a couple hours before I finished off treating the last patient. 

Thanks to our efforts for treating the villagers, we were allowed to stay for the night and we were given a reward from the doctor. 

"50 Silver?" Naofumi said as he looked inside the bag of loot he just received. 

"I can't thank you all enough, dear heroes." The doctor said to us. 

"Well, actually, it's a bit short. But, I guess i'll take it." Naofumi said which kinda ticked me off a bit. 

"They were a dying community. Cut them a little slack." I thought to myself. 

"You were truly a great help. Now we've stopped the immediate crisis." The doctor said. 

"And that's enough for you? All we did was treat their symptoms. We didn't cure them. In no time, they'll all be back to square one." My master said to the doctor.

"I'm afraid that you are indeed, correct." The doctor said as he put his head down. 

"I don't mind, since i'd make good money anyway, helping you all out. Why don't we see what dies out first. You.... or your pocket book." Naofumi said as a bit of anger grew over me. But it wasn't my place to say anything so I just clenched my fists and stayed quiet.

"We... we know that we can't let this go on! But there's... nothing we can do." The nurse said as I became interested. 

"What do you mean?" I asked her. 

"We believe it's the wind coming from the mountain that's the cause of the plague in our village. The mountain that's home to the monsters." The nurse explained. 

"What kind of monsters?" My master asked. 

"Around a month ago, a large dragon that nested there was killed by the sword hero. That, at least, was the good news." The doctor explained to us. 

"Yeah, I did hear some rumors a while back about that, but, wait a sec.... how does that connect with the plague that's here?" Naofumi asked. 

"Many adventurers came to our village, mostly in order to see the dragons corpse, as well as, to purchase some supplies. That certainly helped the village to flourish, of course, but then, one day, one of the adventurers collapsed and more followed. The dragons flesh had begun to rot and began emitting some kind of poison." The doctor explained. 

"Damn, Ren. Even a high schooler like you should know that meat rots when you don't take proper care of it." My master said as I saw she had a rather angry expression on her face. 

"Actually, it probably slipped his mind since he thinks this world is just a game." Naofumi said as my master agreed with him. 

"If you know what the problem is, then why haven't you gotten rid of it, already?" Raphtalia asked. 

"That mountain's filled with violent monsters so the only ones who even dare to go there are the adventurers. There's nothing we can do about it." The nurse said to us. 

"And perhaps, due to the dragons poison, the very ecology of the mountain has changed too. Given the terrible consequences, the average adventurer won't go anywhere near the corpse." The doctor explained. 

"Have you informed the royal court yet?" Naofumi asked them. 

"Yes, we're supposed to receive a delivery of medicine shortly." The doctor said. 

"But they said that the heroes are still to busy to help us yet, so all we can do is wait." The nurse said. 

"There to busy to help, eh?" I thought to myself. 

"Cancel the request.Tell them you don't need it." Naofumi said which took me a little by surprise. 

"Are you thinking what i'm thinking?" My master asked Naofumi as he nodded. 

"I think so. Everyone, get your things ready. We're setting out tomorrow morning." Naofumi said which surprised the doctor and nurse. 

"Wait! You don't mean to say you're planning to go out there yourselves. It'll be too far too dangerous!" The doctor said. 

"Oh, you don't have to worry about us, we're used to danger." Raphtalia said to him. 

"I just can't find the words to express my gratitude." The doctor said. 

"You can keep your thanks. What we want is your money. 500 silver will do it." Naofumi said. 

"500!? But, we don't have that kind of money here!" The doctor said to him. 

"That includes hazard pay, so you can just give us what you were going to pay the court. Or were you hoping for a discount?" Naofumi said as he went to leave the room. 

"'Hero my foot! He's just a lousy money grubber!" The nurse said. 

"I don't remember anyone calling me a hero." Naofumi said as he left. 

"Please excuse his language. He really only trusts himself. I'll talk to him and see if he'll lower the pay to something more fair for you all." My master said as she left. The rest of us followed and rested for the night. We had a pretty big day ahead of us if we were really getting rid of the corpse of a real dragon. 

-8 Hours Later-

When the morning came around, we picked up more supplies than usual into the carriage. Pickaxes, shovels, everything we'd need to take apart this dragon corpse. And when we were finally ready, we were off.

We headed up the mountain which took us quite a while. However, there were indeed monsters along the way. They weren't as vicious and violent as we thought they'd be so we were able to mow through them fairly easily. And about 20 minutes after our last monster encounter, we arrived at the summit of the mountain.

"So that's the dragon corpse, huh? Man it smells." My master said as we could see the corpse of the dragon. It was massive, blood dripping from it's body and flies just buzzing around it.

We all took some rags and wrapped them around our mouths so we didn't breath in too much of the toxic air. It obviously got harder to breath, being so close to this rotting dragon. It smelled like dead fish mixed with some old vegetables. Something that makes me want to throw up. 

"It would've been a really good idea to eat before coming here. Filo, stay by the carriage. If we need your help, i'll call for you." Naofumi said as Filo sat down by the carriage. Meanwhile, the rest of us approached the corpse. 

"Looking at its size, taking it apart is gonna take a long while. I wouldn't be surprised if it took us a couple days." My master said as a faint crunching sound started to be heard. It was coming from where the corpse was was laying. 

To all of our surprise, the corpse had begun to move. The blood puddles around it were absorbed back into its body and the dragon rose to its feet, letting out an ear deafening roar. 

"It's a damn dragon zombie! What the!?" Naofumi said in shock as we all backed off a bit. The dragon roared again as it dripped some sort of corrosive ooze from its mouth. 

"Everyone, get away from that thing! We need to think of a plan to deal with it!" My master said as we all turned to run back to the carriage. But as we all started running, Filo jumped over us all and charged the dragon. 

"A dragon!? I hate dragons!" She yelled as I saw she had fires of hatred in her eyes. Filolials and dragons are mortal enemies so it's no surprised why she's acting like this. However, it'll jeopardize everything if she goes in alone. 

"Filo, stop! You can't fight that thing alone!" I yelled to her but she ignored me and attacked the dragon, kicking the side of its head. It didn't look like she did any damage though. 

"She'll die if she keep this up! I'm going in to help her! Neela, grant me wings, please!" My matser said as I took out my staff and began casting my spell on her. 

"As source of thy power, I order thee, decipher the laws of nature and grant my target the power of flight! Tempest Wings!" I shouted as wings made of wind appeared on my masters back. She took out her axe and took flight, heading straight for the dragons head. 

"I'll help ya out too! Let's just boost up yer strength too!" Seamus said as he blew into his horn. I saw my master glow for a second, indicating she got the strength increase from Seamus. 

"If our enemy is a zombie dragon, then let's see if the flames of a live dragon can slay it! Now, Dragon Heart Axe!" My master shouted as she morphed her weapon to it's most powerful state. 

"Filo! Back off for a second!" Naofumi ordered her as she seemed to listen. Filo kicked the dragon one last time before jumping back a bit and letting my master take over.

"Searing Dragons Roar!" My master cried as her axe ignited into a massive ball of flame. She swung it down and struck the dragons head, setting it ablaze. 

"Did it work?" Raphtalia questioned as my master moved her axe away to inspect the damage. The dragon let out a wail from the flames covering its body and it attempted to strike my master with its claws. 

"Nope! Definitely did not work!" Naofumi said as my master flew underneath the dragons claws. But as she evaded them, no one seemed to realize that the dragon was turning around. 

"I could use a little help here!" My master yelled as we all ran forward towards the dragon. But it was at this moment that we realized it had turned. My master was too busy dodging the claw attacks to notice but the dragon had begun to swing its tail at her. 

"Miss Ayuma, look out!" I yelled to her but it was far too late. I watched as my master was struck by the giant dragons tail and sent flying into the side of a cliff. She fell to the ground and didn't move for some time. My wings I had made for her had also disappeared from her back. 

"No! Miss Ayuma! No!" I cried as the dragon turned to face the rest of us. 

"Everyone, get behind me!" Naofumi said as we did as told. The dragon has started to breath in, no doubt preparing an attack and Naofumi formed a force field around us.

The dragon then spewed a toxic gas from its mouth that covered the force field. The fumes were seeping into the shield though and it was making it impossible to breath at all. Naofumi lowered the field and we all ran our separate ways, escaping the toxic cloud of gas. I ran for my master who was struggling to get back onto her feet. 

"Miss Ayuma, are you okay!? Please, answer me!" I called out to her as I saw her cough up some blood. A feeling of dread came over to me as I thought she was inflicted with the plague from getting hit by the dragons tail. 

"I.... I'm fine! I'm alright, Neela! Just focus on taking down this monster!" Ayuma yelled to me but I ignored her. I finally made it to her and I helped her stand. 

"No, you are my master and i'll do anything to help you. We're in this together and i'll see to it that we finish this fight." I said as my master showed a smile to me. 

"That's my girl." She said as she raised her axe back up, preparing to fight once again.

However, as we were about to rejoin the fight, Naofumi began to shout over everyone. 

"Hey, Filo! We need to regroup! Come back here!" He shouted as Filo was in mid jump of attacking the dragon. But his cries made her turn her head away from the dragon, lowering her guard. The dragon capitalized, opened its mouth wide and engulfed Filo inside of it. 

"Filo, no!!!!" Everyone cried as we watched the dragon swallow her. 

"She's.... Filo is...." I shakingly said as everyone froze. The dragon let out a roar that blew everyone away from it. It sent me and my master crashing into a boulder. 

"Come on, master. We've got to.... get up. We need to run. We're no match for this dragon!" I said as I stood up, trying to also help my master back to her feet again. But she wouldn't budge. She was frozen. It was like she had turned into a statue, not even breathing anymore. 

"Miss Ayuma...?" I questioned as I started to hear Naofumi shouting from some distance away. I turned and saw his eyes blood red in colour and spiky armor appearing over his normal armor. 

"What's he doing? He's... changing? And that shield..." I said as I looked at the shield he had equipped. It was much larger than normal, black and red in colour with dark symbols of curses all over it. 

"Kill them... kill them all." I heard Naofumi say as he began to march over to the dragon. 

"What's he doing!? Raphtalia, get him out of there!" I shouted but she looked too afraid to move. 

The dragon let out yet another roar before swiping its tail down on Naofumi. But he was able to block it with little effort, the attack not even budging him. 

"Now burn!" He yelled as his shield set the dragons tail on fire. And it was not going away like my masters flame before. 

The dragon was wailing in pain as it moved back, smashing its tail against a cliff side to try and put out the flames. 

"Diiiiiiieeeeeeee!!!!!" Naofumi roared as he began to laugh maniacally. 

"What's happening to him? It's like.... it's like he has no control over himself." I said as I suddenly felt an immensely power wave of energy come from behind me. I turned my head and saw my master standing, holding her axe in her left hand. But before I could say anything, she raised her head up and began screaming at the top of her lungs. 

"Master, what's wrong!? Say something!" I asked but she just kept screaming. 

A black aura began to emerge from all over her body. New armor was forming on her, covered in spikes and symbols of evil and darkness. Her hair turned pitch black, as did her eyes. Fangs were forming in her mouth and a spiky helmet appeared on her head. 

"What's.... happening....?" I questioned as her axe burst into a black flame. Appearing was an axe i'd never seen before. It was silver and black with a creepy looking skull in the centre of it. It could feel the power it was emanating... and it was scary. 

"I call upon the power of the demon! Destroy all!" My master roared, even sounding like a demon herself. 

My master then began to move her new axe in a circle. When it was complete, a black circle floated in front of her. 

"Now, DDDDDIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!" My master cried as she made the circle float above the dragon. It was growing in size as it moved and when it stopped, the circle was enormous.  

"I call on thee from the depths of hell! Endless Black Void!!!!" My master roared as dozens of pitch black arms began to emerge from the circle. They latched onto the dragon, immobilizing it and pulling it up into the circle. The dragon was struggling to break free but it could do nothing. 

It was pulled into the circle and all sounds of it ceased. 

"Now close forever!!" My master shouted as the circle began to shrink. But just before it closed, something fell through it. It was Filo!

"Oh my.... She's.... please be okay, Filo!" I thought as Seamus ran to catch her. She had transformed into her child form so he was able to safely catch her. The circle then closed as the sky suddenly began to turn dark. I turned back to my master and saw her staring at me with her blank, black eyes. 

"Miss.... Ayuma...?" I said to her as she leaped at me, swiping her axe to strike me. 

"No! Stop!" I yelled as I jumped out of the way. 

"Die! Die! I am absolute! I am power! I am destruction! You will all fall to my darkness!!!" My master yelled as she raised her axe straight up into the air. The end of her axe began to glow black as she used her next attack. 

A huge pillar of black light shot down from the sky and struck me. I dropped to my knees as I was stuck inside the pillar. I could feel my energy being drained from me and my body was unable to move. I could do nothing but scream. 

"Die!!!!" Naofumi wailed as he came into view, striking my master with the end of his shield. It caused her to stop her assault on me but I still sat there, near motionless. Both my master and Naofumi now looked like they were going to clash. 

"DIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" They both roared as they smashed their weapons against each other. A massive shock wave of fire and black energy emerged from their strikes and the entire ground was shaking. It was like they were causing an earthquake. 

"Neela, we need to do something! They're going to kill each other!" Raphtalia said as she ran to my side, helping me stand. 

"What can we do though? They're both out of control, there's no stopping them!" I said as we watched them clash once again. 

"Malicious Dark Dragon!" My master shouted as she created an all black dragon from her axe. It charged Naofumi, spewing black flames at him. 

"Rage Chains!" Naofumi cried as bloody chains shot out of the ground, wrapping around the dragon until they completely crushed it. 

"I know that somewhere deep inside them, they're trying to fight this darkness in their hearts. We have to free them!" Raphtalia said as we began to walk in between our masters. 

"I'll handle my master.... you take care of yours. Just, please.... be careful..." Raphtalia said to me as we let go of each other. I was able to just barely walk. 

"Ayuma, please listen to me! This isn't you! You're not the kind of person who would act like this! You wouldn't kill!" I pleaded to her but she didn't seem to listen. 

"All who oppose me will suffer and perish!" She yelled as she struck me with that same attack from before. But this time, I stayed standing and I used every ounce of my strength to walk over to her. 

"You are my master, Ayuma Saruwatari! You are the axe hero! And I am your faithful companion, Neela Brenstar! You are my mother! We vowed to protect each other! You've helped me grow into the person I am today because of your help and care for me, so now I will return the favor and do the same for you! So please, let me help you!!!" I shouted but she still didn't seem to listen. I was now within reach of her. 

"I'll send you all to the depths of hell! Now.... DDDIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!" My master roared as she raised her axe up, preparing to strike me down. 

"Nothing's working. Then if this really is the end.... I only have one thing to say to you. Mother.... I thank you for all you've done for me! I have no regrets. I love you, mommy!!!" I cried as I hugged her. 

And as I latched onto her, everything went silent. It's as if the whole world stopped at that very second. 

"What.... happened....?" My master quietly asked as I looked up to her face. Her eyes were normal again, as were her teeth, no longer in the shape of fangs. Her hair changed back to its normal brown colour and her armor and axe returned to their original state as well. 

"It's over. Thank.... god...." I happily said as I let go of my master and fainted.

-So that marks the end of this chapter, but it's not entirely over in terms of content. There's still a little more that I want to show off. Look below for that surprise I mentioned before. Also, with my new upload schedule, don't expect a new chapter for the 5th Hero for a little while. Just a warning in case anyone starts wondering where the next chapter is. It comes when it comes. Anyways, enjoy!

All work done here is by PrefHerna on Wattpad. They really did an outstanding job bringing Ayuma and Neela to life. This artwork is just mind blowing! Thanks as always! Lookin' forward to your next wonderful creation!