by Aneko Yusagi
He screamed. It was definitely harder work than using the staff. Maybe because I wasn’t using the shield, which was better suited to effectively activating Point of Focus.
“This is for the queen you killed! For the villagers you killed! For the coalition members you killed!” With that, I released the catch on the handle. Just like the Phoenix having turned out to be two birds, the Phoenix Sword was a scissors sword, allowing it to split into two blades like a large pair of scissors. So I wondered what happened if it was split into two while it was stabbed into someone. The blade was even sparkling red, burning Takt’s flesh black.
His terrible cry was music to my ears. That said, I’d never fought with two blades before and had zero confidence in my ability to do so now. So I crossed them like scissors and slashed at Takt as though cutting his chest from the inside.
“And this—” I returned it to a single blade.
“—is for Atla!” Fohl finished for me, and together we proceeded to shred into Takt. His clothing was torn into tatters now, his whole body covered in blood. This was the ultimate seven star hero? Hah, that was a good joke.
It was time to finish this.
“Drifa Decay! Have a taste of . . . Decay Blade!” I shouted. The Phoenix Sword slashing into Takt had both magic and life force imbued into it as well as decay magic.
“Dragon Slaying Conflagration Fist!” Fohl backed me up with a series of blows faster than the eye could see. Then we both landed synchronized final attacks.
Takt’s screaming seemed well suited to the punishment—it was as though the wounds I was causing were festering on the spot. It was pretty gross, to be honest, but that also meant it was pretty strong. I had poured my entire mastery of Hengen Muso Style into it—an attack as close as possible to the limits of a regular guy and most suited to a true hero. The same could be said for Fohl’s attack, which was a re-creation of one of his gauntlet skills. It was the same attack he’d used to kill the dragon.
Takt groaned, defeated by the double attack from Fohl and me.
“Phew. That really . . . doesn’t make me feel any better at all,” I spat, kicking at the collapsed Takt.
“Me neither. I’m really feeling like just finishing him off,” Fohl said.
“Don’t be like that. He’s not getting off this lightly for killing Atla, the queen, and everyone from the village,” I replied.
“I know, brother,” Fohl agreed. Then I took a moment to check in on everyone else.
First, I looked in the direction that was still sparking with intermittent lightning and peals of thunder.
“Hey! I’m not feeling satisfied at all yet. Hello?” Sadeena was continuing to attack her target, who was being kept up in the air by lightning and looked like . . . well, a fried fish by now. I wasn’t one to talk after everything I’d done to Takt, but she was probably taking things a bit far. Maybe she was channeling some of my own rage, but I still felt like I was getting a glimpse of the former miko priestess to the water dragon and executioner. Her opponent . . . looked like she was already dead, surely. I certainly wouldn’t enjoy getting electrocuted to death.
“Little Naofumi, I’ve still got so much more rage to give,” Sadeena said.
“Enough. Change back, please,” I told her. “Just how much of my magic are you planning on using up?”
“Oh dear, now I’ve made you all mad with me!” At my command, Sadeena ended her beast transformation and returned to her killer whale therianthrope form. She was messing about, striking a silly pose at being called out by me, but I knew what she was doing. “I was feeling quite vexed, thinking about little Atla, and you, little Naofumi, but now I feel a bit better.” Just for good measure, she pointed her harpoon at Takt and shocked him a bit too. From her words, it sounded like she was just letting off a bit of steam, relieving some stress. But I could tell how angry she really was. She was the type who kept things light and breezy on her face but was raging deep inside.
It made sense. She was one of the oldest in the village, making her like a big sister to everyone. She had to be livid at what had happened to Atla. Then Sadeena turned her harpoon on the women that S’yne was holding back.
“I don’t like picking on the weak—” S’yne started.
“My proclivities do not extend to bringing harm to the weak, but I wish they would bring an end to their pointless resistance,” her familiar said, filling in the blanks.
“Me too. How about I help you keep this gaggle under control, little S’yne?” Sadeena gave a meaningful look at the woman she had just charred to a crisp, then looked at the other women. She’d gone overboard in order to set an example, I guess. “Keep causing trouble and you’ll end up just like her! So stop it!” The women all cried out together at this command. Seeing what happened when you messed with Sadeena was enough to shut them up.
I mean, we had Takt looking like warmed-over crud on the floor, the aotatsu getting her head blown off, and then another of their allies getting shocked to death. If I was in their shoes, I probably wouldn’t be doing much moving around either.
Just then I heard some loud shouts coming from Ren and Gaelion. I looked up just in time to see the massive Dragon Emperor crashing down in front of the fortress. Gaelion had his jaws lodged in the throat of the Dragon Emperor, while Ren had his sword in her forehead. The impact on the ground resonated all the way back up to us.
Gaelion gave a snarl through his mouthful of flesh.
“Y-you are joking! Give you my Dragon Emperor fragment?! How can a pathetic little fragment like you, who needed the help of a hero to defeat me, dare speak such words?!” The Dragon Emperor almost looked like she might start another rampage, but Ren pushed his sword in deeper, causing a mighty roar. The battle was over, that much was for sure. “You can kill me. I still won’t give it to you!”
Gaelion made a different sound, and I realized he had changed to father Gaelion. During the battle he had likely switched between his two personalities multiple times while he cooperated with Ren. Now he had made a final declaration to the defeated Dragon Emperor.
A snapping sound rang out—the sound of Gaelion snapping the Dragon Emperor’s neck. She gave a final gasp, twitched, and then died. Ren pulled his sword free and used the fortress walls to climb back up to where we were.
“You finished here?” he asked.
“Pretty much,” I replied. What was Gaelion doing, anyway? Ah, it looked like he was enjoying a hearty meal. Amid fountains of blood, Gaelion was chomping his way through the corpse of the Dragon Emperor. I’d seen Filo eating wild monsters before, but this was even more grotesque. Ren looked over and then covered his mouth. He was clearly holding in his vomit.
“W-what’s he doing?” Ren managed to ask.
“The enemy dragon was talking about Dragon Emperor fragments and calling him things like a pathetic fragment, right?” I said.
“Yeah,” Ren replied.
“A Dragon Emperor ascends after thousands of scattered fragments are collected to form a single Dragon Emperor. Memories of the past and things like that, all coming together,” I explained.
“I’m not sure what you’re getting at, but it sounds like Gaelion has one of those fragments, and he’s also trying to get some from that massive dragon?” Ren said.
“Looks like it. The enemy wouldn’t hand them over, so he killed the dragon to take them,” I said. For all his talk about their base nature, trying to come together to face down the danger to the world, I’d been surprised when no dragons had shown up to fight Gaelion. It was likely that Takt’s dragon had been mopping them up first.
Gaelion was chewing his way around the heart of the Dragon Emperor. I wondered if that was where the fragments were concentrated.
“I’m guessing that he learned the level-100-cap-breaking technique from the Dragon Emperor. If things go well, Gaelion should be able to provide the same service,” I hypothesized.
“I see! Everyone from the village and the country can get stronger!” Ren said.
“Just a possibility at the moment,” I replied. That was another reason why we couldn’t kill Takt yet. If I couldn’t find out from him how he had passed level 100, the future looked bleak indeed.
I looked up into the sky to see Filo still fighting the griffon.
“You’re pretty good,” the griffon said.
“I’m not losing to you!” Filo squawked back. I could tell at a glance which of them had the upper hand, however. Filo had the sharper moves. The griffon had been injured by her in numerous places, and the fight would soon be over.
“Now—” Filo yelled.
“It’s over. Everything is ready,” Shildina shouted.
“What?!” the griffon exclaimed.
“Waah!” Filo was blown back by a strong gust of wind and forced to take some distance. Then layers of wind appeared and surrounded the griffon. It was a magic cage Shildina cast down on the ground. The wind appeared to be . . . conducting electricity too.
“Oh my! My lightning,” Sadeena commented.
“Bah! Stay out of this,” the griffon objected.
“I’ve always been in this,” Shildina retorted. “The bird god and I have been a pair from the start. You just lacked the perception to see it.”
“This cage of wind is no match for me! I’ll escape in a second!” the griffon blustered.
“No you won’t. Goodbye.” Shildina raised her hands toward the griffon and tightly closed her fists. The cage of wind started to gradually get smaller, closing in on the griffon. The flying creature gave a protracted roar of pain and was then sliced into tiny chunks, a brilliant red flower blossoming in the air.
“This is how the newest priestess of carnage handles her business. Well? More beautiful than Sadeena, I bet,” Shildina boasted, proudly standing with her hands on her hips while a rain of blood started falling behind her.
“Oh my!” Sadeena made another comment. The sliced-and-diced corpse of the griffon plunged down and landed right on top of the electricity-fried fish, piling the two of them up. It did make the colors more vivid, perhaps, but it didn’t look any more appetizing.
“That was nasty, Shildina!” Filo floated down and landed on top of Shildina. What a crazy combination attack that had been.
The only one left was the past Heavenly Emperor. I looked over at her avoiding a barrage of attacks from the fox woman, seemingly communicating with Raph-chan using her eyes.
“Raph! Raph, raph!” Raph-chan was gesturing at the sword in my hands, asking me to throw it over. I guess she wanted a bit more firepower. Raph-chan really was maturing. Very well, I’d join in this battle of illusions.
“Here you go!” I threw the Phoenix Sword to Raph-chan.
“Raph!” Raph-chan leapt into the air and caught the sword I threw.
“So you’re the real one!” the fox woman yelled and attacked again. But Raph-chan used her newly acquired sword to block the attack. The fox chuckled anyway. “You ugly raccoon! You think such petty illusions are enough to fool me—ugah?!” Just as the fox woman started smiling, the past Heavenly Emperor’s hammer came down on her from behind. She’d clearly been completely fooled—guess that proved the old Japanese debate about which was better at trickery, the fox or the tanuki.
“You’ve been completely fooled, eh,” said the past Heavenly Emperor.
“Raph!” Raph-chan agreed.
“Impossible . . . illusions that have physical form? But why does it even smell the same?!” the fox asked.
“Why would I reveal the secret to you? This is why you are tricked, eh,” the past Heavenly Emperor replied.
“That would explain how that ugly raccoon . . . used illusions to sneak past the Dragon Emperor and griffon . . .” the fox asked. It sounded like Takt’s people thought Raphtalia had used Sanctuary to escape. They’d been tricking the one who was strongest against illusions, so it made sense they thought Raphtalia was the same type. Raph-chan had been created using her DNA, and it sounded like she even smelled the same. Their voice and feel when touched were different though. I’d have to investigate more later.
“Bad luck for you. Here we go, eh,” the past Heavenly Emperor said.
“Raph,” said Raph-chan. Then the pair of them pinned the fox woman between them and launched further attacks from each side. One acted as a decoy while the other exploited an opening.
“Do keep up, eh. Let’s give her a proper beating,” the past Heavenly Emperor said.
“Raph!” Raph-chan agreed. The past Heavenly Emperor proceeded to deploy five balls, Raph-chan deployed five of her own corresponding balls, and then the two of them started to unleash a high-speed combination attack against the fox woman.
A strike, swipe, massive impact, kick, Five Practices Destiny Split, Wood Defeats Earth, Earth Defeats Water, Water Defeats Fire, Fire Defeats Metal, and Metal Defeats Wood were then all unleashed in sequence. All of them were techniques the past Heavenly Emperor had used against Raphtalia. Raph-chan performed the same moves, as though she was a reflection of the past Heavenly Emperor. It was like a famous special attack from a versus fighting game—the one performed by that sexy Scottish succubus. The two of them finished by slashing their swords from bottom to top before turning their backs on the fox woman and wiping the blood from their blades.
“Illusory Mirror!” the past Heavenly Emperor said.
“Raph!” With a popping sound, Raph-chan returned to tanuki mode.
“I’m not . . . defeated . . . yet,” the collapsed fox woman managed to say, though she was covered in blood. I thought for a moment that it certainly looked like she was defeated . . . and then the fox woman started to gradually change shape. It was like some sort of concealing transformation coming to an end: she proceeded to shift into a massive fox monster. They were probably going to need my help with this one.
Chapter Eleven: The Shield Hero Now Orders You
“Huh?” I turned back to look at Takt.
“I’m not . . . finished yet.” He had regained consciousness and was standing up. “I’ve not been defeated yet!” Standing on unsteady legs, he turned his hostile intent toward us. Looking around, he sent out a dark aura. I wondered if it was the power of the curse series. We had killed a whole bunch of his women as part of our revenge. It wouldn’t be surprising if he got infected by a curse.
“I’ll never forgive you for today! You’ve killed Ellie, Nelshen, Shate, Leludia, and Ashil! I am the ultimate hero . . . and I swear, I will end you!” Then Takt turned his attention to Ren. He was likely thinking that stealing the holy sword would give him a chance of winning. It might have been thanks to the seven star weapons that he was still capable of standing after taking such a beating. Or maybe there was some element of his own resilience involved. It was almost impressive, but it was also time for him to give up. Time for him to realize that he couldn’t hope to defeat us, no matter how hard he tried.
“You still want to continue this charade? Hero in name only, who can’t even defeat two regular guys. This is the end of the line for you!” I shouted.
“You’re joking! I’m telling you . . . I’m not defeated yet! So long as I have these seven star and this four holy weapon! If I need more power, I’ll just have to steal it!” he shouted.
“Takt! Hang in there!” The women started providing some enthusiastic support. If Takt was the good guy in this situation, things would probably be starting to look bleak for me. Some kind of miracle would happen, like his awakening to some brand-new superpower.
“I see, I see. Your awareness of yourself as the legendary hero is deeply rooted in the motivation for your actions,” I analyzed. This had been expected too. Which was why I was going to steal that final hope from him too. “I hate to say it, but you’re in no shape to defeat Ren at the moment.”
“I won’t know unless I try!” Takt changed to the claws and prepared to unleash Wahnsinn Claw toward Ren.
“Face the truth. The seven stars can’t defeat the four holies. Ren won’t allow it—indeed, I won’t allow it.
” I placed my hand where the shield had been and focused my awareness. “The source of your power, a regular guy—and now the Shield Hero again—orders you.” Like the body and the soul were a pair, like the hero and his weapon were a pair, we had once been connected by a thread. I now passed a needle through that broken connection, using a stronger force than the normally impossible separation. This was a soul created for a body and a body created for a soul. “Reconsider the state of all things once more and return my shield to me.”
With a metallic sound, a ball of light left Takt and returned to my hands. A brilliant light enveloped our surroundings, dazzling everyone. Then the “shield” option appeared in my field of vision again. I almost got nostalgic. Just as before, my attack dropped almost to nothing, and all my other stats increased. My defense, in particular, saw an incomparable increase. When I thought about how my attacking abilities were all gone again now, it did get me down a bit. But Atla and Ost were drawing out plenty of additional power. There was no way this guy could beat me now. No way in hell.
“I-impossible!” Takt raged, changing the target of the Wahnsinn Claw to me. I raised my shield in order to take the attack head-on.
“Hah!” My shield deflected his favorite special attack skill, nullifying it completely. My connection with the shield was now even stronger than before, meaning this barely rated as an attack. The return of my shield had also restored my status . . . indeed, to even higher levels than before. All apart from my attacking ability, of course.
“Well? What happened with your stealing ability?” I mocked.
“Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! How can you steal the shield back from me?!” Takt raged.
“Like I already said. You can’t defeat me. You’ve already hit a dead end,” I explained. Takt’s mouth opened and closed like a fish; he was simply unable to believe what he was seeing. And yet . . . he still seemed to want to fight. “I simply have to see your face painted with despair,” I told him.
