Ball of Nothing

"So I just have to find the library?" Zero asked and Truen looked around. The fallen city was very much a labyrinth with obstacles everywhere in the form of broken bridges, rusted machinery and abandoned buildings. The small raiding party took their time to slowly map out the area as they move along, Jermine with her vibration sensing, Zero with his map and Truen with his arrows.

The master of Gnaway was nervous. Ever since they entered the city, not a single trap had been triggered. In fact, they've been swiftly dodged, avoided or disarmed. Frustrated that they were progressing too quickly, the ruin master decided to spice it up. If they won't trigger the traps, he would bring it to them. Zero wanted to prove his sincerity and worth so this much should be alright.

The clatter of metal and low grinding sound of rocks made Jermine perk up alertly. She couldn't tell what these things were nor sensed any dangerous magic but there was an unsettling feeling.

"Um... did anyone hear that?"

Zero was still casually studying the map and trying to decide the best course of action. Even without Jermine's prompt, the red dots were already starting to appear within the map. They were surrounded.

Truen didn't need to be told what to do. If there was a threat, he would deal with it. The friends shared a single glance before nodding. The archer quickly fired a few arrows in the air and left like the wind.

Zero smiled and turned to the blind girl. "Shall we continue? It's just your imagination."

Jermine wanted to ask why Zero thought she would believe such an obvious lie. There was clearly trouble if Truen had to leave. Why wasn't Zero worried at all? Then again, she remembered that Zero was a doctor and he probably wasn't very aware of Truen's deeds behind his back even if they were friends. Of the two elves, Zero was more innocent. Hence, she decided to not question it and follow him.

Zero was silently communicating with Mii in his mindscape. He didn't want the poor child behind him to be caught up in the violent mess so he allowed Truen to silently take care of the problems but the archer wasn't fast enough. The red dots might be taken out on the corners but new ones kept appearing.

Not knowing any better about the nature of their enemies, Zero had to make a choice. There was no way he was going to be able to avoid battle so he had to leave Jermine somewhere safe while he fought them.

"Jermine, can you do me a favour?" Zero asked.

The mole girl nodded and Zero passed him his sling bag that was covered in overpowering magical enchantments. This should be good enough to keep her safe while he takes care of the problem.

"I need to go to the loo, please watch my belongings. The bag is very important, if you lose this we won't have dinner from now on. Stay in this house and don't get out until I return, alright?"

Without a chance to protest, Jermine found herself locked in a random building that was partially collapsed. She didn't know why Zero thought this was a good time for a bathroom break but she didn't question it. More importantly, was it really alright to entrust her with their food supply? There were many enemies at large, what if one of them found her? She wasn't strong enough to protect their food supply!

Thinking fast, the mole girl decided to do what she did best. She slung the sling bag around her shoulder and started digging. If they didn't see her, chances were that they wouldn't attack her.

Zero piled enhancement spells and barriers, unsure of what enough meant. He didn't want to implicate an innocent girl in their mess. This was a trial for him and Jermine shouldn't be involved. Her family will cry for her if they knew how much she had suffered and would most likely curse Zero if further harm should befall their daughter.

Truen, on the other hand, was given the privilege of sharing his burden seeing as they made an agreement to go adventuring together after the two years of training. They won't ever be apart after this now that they were strong enough to not be bullied.

The red dots were gathered outside of the house so Zero placed on last enchantment - noise cancellation. He didn't want Jermine to be scared of them after witnessing such violent acts. Children should grow up not seeing and hearing the cruel world for as long as possible. Jermine experienced too many bad things, from now on he only wanted to give her good memories. Good food, good adventures and good company.

The red dots turned out to be the golems that the ruin master warned them about. This was slightly disturbing. They paid very careful attention to not trigger any traps so why were these noisy golems awakened? Someone must have triggered them to sabotage their smooth success.

Some of them were metal that didn't rust and others were made from stone with symbols that Zero recognised. They were alchemy golems similar to Robo Mike but with a less advanced program. Zero didn't need long to read the alchemy codes to know what these golems were capable of doing. Compared to his Talia and Melissa golems, they were inferior in speed, logic and processing even if they had massive firepower.

"Assuming that the gnomes made them, I should probably try not to destroy them too badly. Is there a way I can disable them without destroying the structure too much?"

The bronze golem started charging its cannon arm and Zero frowned. Trying to destroy the city? Not on his watch!

With a suave kick to the ground, Zero leapt into the air and brought out his YY Tonfas. The golems were confused when their target suddenly vanished. Slow to react, they gave Zero the opening he needed to charge his tonfas with lighting spells as he swooped down on the five metal golems.

Stunning them with electricity and ruining their internal circuitry, Zero confirmed that these golems were slightly different from Talia and Melissa. They were not as advanced as Robo Mike in terms of alchemy but Zero was certain that a little of Steve Job's innovations could be seen in these creations.

Slumping onto the ground in a heap of motionless metal, Zero turned to focus on the remaining three golems. Wii was already prepared for this moment.

"Now!" Zero instructed and transformed YY Tonfas into a wand. Light from the wand split into three different directions like homing laser beams and hit the alchemy array in the centre of the stone golems' chest.

Zero watched as the alchemy array started to deconstruct, turning the golems into a pile of useless stone without the spell holding them together. Compared to the metal golems, the stone golems were easier to deal with. Now that his job was done here, Zero checked the map again. Truen was struggling against the new wave so the doctor took one last glance at the building before running off to assist his best friend.