by Aneko Yusagi
For a long time, I ’d thought that only L’Arc and the others would come at me with a defense rating attack, so I hadn’t been on my toes. The White Tiger Shield had a parry attack that would mitigate some of the risk. Switching to it would be a good idea.
But I didn ’t want to lose my support effects. There must have been a reason he hadn’t used those attacks against Raphtalia and the others too.
“So here’s the real issue. I pay careful attention to information, you know? So, did you think I didn’t know the power-up methods you and your vassal weapon friends have used? Who do you think defeated Albert, the mirror vassal weapon holder, right from the start?” he said, flipping open his book and showing me a page from it.
“I only learned about the Hunting Hero’s methods relatively recently. I’ll have to add it to the list.”
I knew what he was trying to say.
Kyo knew the power-up methods used by Kizuna, Glass, L ’Arc, Ethnobalt, and Raphtalia. He knew how they’d improved their weapons. He had a vassal weapon himself, and he knew how Albert’s had worked too.
Glass had said that power-ups worked best on holy weapons.
The vassal weapons didn ’t respond quite as well, but still, if he had combined knowledge of the holy weapons and the six vassal weapons’ power-up methods, I couldn’t even guess how much power he would wield.
But then how had we managed to corner him like this?
The only thing I could think of was , and it was just a guess, but based on the how Glass and the others had reacted . . .
“Quit bluffing. The vassal weapons despise you. You think you can command their power?” I shouted, jabbing my finger at him.
He gritted his teeth and said, “Think what you want! Come try me!”
I was right—I knew it. The book of the vassal weapons despised the man that held it.
I didn ’t know how he managed to maintain control of it given the circumstances, but it didn’t look like he had perfect control over all of its power. Now he was trying to make us think that he’d been holding back this whole time. So how was he supposed to suddenly get stronger? He’d have to find some way to boost his powers with some kind of external input. And if that was his plan, he’d try to fill himself with the Spirit Tortoise energy.
“Rishia,”
“Yes! What is it ?! ”
She was still a bit nervous, but she was filled with a burning need for justice and ready to fight.
“Can you pull off the attack that the old lady taught you?”
The old lady could use defense-rating attacks without breaking a sweat. I had a feeling it would do wonders.
“I’ll do my best!”
“Raphtalia, how are you doing?”
“Ready to use a skill!”
“What about meee?” Filo chirped.
“Get ready to attack. You’re more than strong enough.”
“Okaaaay!” Filo shouted. She went on humming a song that raised all of our abilities. Now that she was both a filolial and a humming fairy, she was serving mostly as battle support.
We had plenty of surprises up our sleeves, too.
I couldn ’t use the Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield at the moment, and our movement was impeded a bit with the gravity field that Kyo was using. But, we’d received a big level boost, so we could at least move a bit. Now we had to find a way to defeat Kyo, who was high on Spirit Tortoise energy and knew about every power-up method we’d ever used.
We were out of time.
“Die!”
“Air Strike Shield!”
Kyo lashed out with a stat-based attack, but I blocked it with Air Strike Shield. The shield shattered under the weight of the attack, but it stopped it. At least the shields were strong enough to stop an attack.
“Damn! A decent block. You impudent fool!”
“Here I go!”
“Yes!”
Raphtalia drew both her swords at once.
The haikuikku move that activated was twice as powerful as usual, and she dashed around the room at a blinding speed. Pages from Kyo ’s book flapped about the room to block her attacks, but Raphtalia slipped between them easily and dashed forward for her own attack.
“Attack Support!”
I knew that I wasn ’t going to make it in time, but I threw the dart as fast as I could anyway. Rishia dashed off after it, tearing through any pages that got in her way with rating-based attacks.
“Haikuikku!”
Filo shot off behind Rishia.
“Pathetic! Weak!” Kyo thrust his hands out before him, and the pages of his book flapped furiously.
What was he doing ?!
“You’ve already fallen into my trap! Libraria!” he shouted and the room turned black and white, and the sound of a book slamming shut echoed in my ears. “Ahahaha! See how you like this space compression restraint skill!”
Kyo vanished from before our eyes.
But something was strange about it.
We had been in his underground laboratory this whole time, but now we appeared to be in a white room.
Kyo ’s skill had produced attacks that swirled all around us. Birds made of flame and lightning, tornadoes, massive boulders, and a huge particle beam like the Spirit Tortoise had used.
“Ahaha! Take that! Can you block them all at once? Any one of them will kill you! Better dodge what you can!”
Damn it . His skill trapped us in a confined space and bombarded us with attacks. What were we supposed to do?
“Shooting Star Shield!”
The barrier stopped some of the attacks, then shattered, but its jagged pieces remained floating in the air.
The target, I guess, was the whole room.
While waiting for the barrier fragments to shoot off, I blocked attacks with my shield, dodging whenever I could.
It was very difficult to do in such a confined space, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.
I took the bioplant out of my shield and forced it to germinate.
It grew unbelievably quickly, and soon it would break the space itself .
“Like I’d let that happen ?! ” Kyo sent a skill hurdling at the bioplant, destroying it instantly. “You know I wondered how you managed to get out of the labyrinth. Now I know. Thanks.”
Damn it. If I didn ’t find a way out we’d be pummeled to death by Kyo’s attacks.
“Hya!”
“Ho!”
“Rafuuu!”
Rishia, Filo, and Raph-chan all tried attacking the walls, but they were only able to make small cracks, which repaired themselves instantly.
Skills and attacks rained down on us the whole time.
I continued to use the sequence of Air Strike Shield, Second Shield, Dritte Shield, Shield Prison, and Shooting Star Shield. It was working, but I couldn ’t keep it up forever.
There must be a limit on how much the space itself can endure. If we could just break through it, we could escape.
The problem was that Kyo continued to reform the walls and send a barrage of attacks at us the whole time. It seemed to me the book pages were producing the attacks, and the walls of the room must have been equivalent to Kyo ’s field of view.
“Raph-chan! Cover that wall with a curtain of smoke!”
“Rafuuu!”
She knew what I meant, and she used her illusion magic to cover the room in smoke . Then she also snuck a hallucination into the center of the wall of smoke.
“You think you can hide? Think again!”
A howling wind blew through the room and took all of the smoke away with it, but the hallucination she snuck into the smoke remained, and for a moment, all the skills rained down on the wrong place.
“Damn! But I’m not done yet,” pretending to be hurt, I signaled to Raphtalia and Rishia with my hand.
I clapped a hand over Filo’s mouth to keep her quiet.
I pointed to my shield, and then I wrote “wrath” in the air with my finger.
Raphtalia ’s eyes grew wide. Rish
ia was so surprised she audibly gasped.
I was going to burn this whole place down with Dark Curse Burning S, the strongest attack I had, one that left a curse behind to make recovery difficult.
I had to try it.
Raphtalia was shaking her head—she knew how dangerous it was. But I had survived it a few times before.
If I encased everyone in Shield Prison, I was hoping we could all survive. Just to account for the worst possible outcome, I could probably have a protection skill cast on Raphtalia too.
Realizing that I had made up my mind, Raphtalia gave up and signaled to Filo, Rishia, and Raph-chan to follow her and get as much distance as possible from me.
What was the big deal? I ’d done this plenty of times. Just like every other time, I just needed to survive my own attack.
“. . .”
How many times had I let myself use this attack?
It was a cursed shield that I was forced to rely on in my lowest moments—and I was about to rely on its power again.
I wrapped my fingers tightly around the shield grip, closed my eyes, steadied my breathing and changed shields.
Due to the increased amount of dragon core stone, the shield had become more powerful!
Shield of Wrath IV (awakened) +7 50/70 SR
abilities locked : equip bonus: skill Change Shield (attack),
Iron Maiden, Blood Sacrifice, Megiddo Burst,
special effect : Dark Curse Burning S, Strength Up, Dragon Rage, Roar, Vassal Berserk, Magic Power Share, Robe of Rage (large), Demon Dragon magic power.
Mastery level 0
I’d had a vague feeling of dread about using this shield, but I hadn’t expected it to become so powerful!
The appearance of the shield had changed too, growing somehow even more ominous and brutal. It was so large that it was nearly impossible to support with one arm. I think shields like this were called tower shields.
My heart was filled with powerful rage and hate, far more furious than before. And yet my relationships with my friends, my trust in them, my desire to protect them from harm . . . those emotions had grown stronger too. They were strong enough to keep me from losing control over myself.
I didn ’t know what the last two special effects were about, but I was sure they referenced some type of power I’d yet to see—something that might also be more dangerous than anything I’d yet to see.
As for Megiddo Burst, I didn ’t even want to try it out. I wasn’t sure I’d survive a single use.
“Ugh . . .” Filo moaned. Her arms and legs were engulfed in roaring black flames. She was doing all she could to keep control over herself.
But the hatred swirling inside of me was too strong. It was so strong I was going to lose consciousness!
“Rafuuu!”
Raph-chan jumped up on Filo ’s head and started nibbling at her cowlick. Just then, black flames burst from her puffy tail.
“Me too!” Raphtalia placed her hands on Raph-chan and Filo, and closed her eyes in concentration.
I felt the weight of the hatred and rage lessen just a little. They were accepting some of my burden. Just when I ’d thought the flames would consume me, they doused water on my heart.
It felt amazing. Like crystal clear water seeping into a parched throat.
Yes , I could go on.
“Let’s go! Shield Prison!”
A cage of shields appeared in the air around Raphtalia and the others, protecting them from Kyo ’s rain of skills.
The shield suddenly weighed on me heavily, like it had doubled in size. A warped, twisted light emanated from its surface.
“Arrrhhhhhh!”
“What ?! ”
Cursed flames roared and leapt from the shield, burning everything in sight and instantly destroying the space that Kyo had trapped us in. There was a burst and a hiss and we found ourselves back in the underground laboratory.
I turned and was happy to see that the Shield Prison had survived unscathed.
“You broke through my skill. I’m impressed.”
“Of course you are. We tricked you.”
We had time to pull off the attack because he ’d been tricked into attacking the hallucination that Raph-chan made.
“You haven’t come close to seeing the attacks I’m capable of!”
Should I use Blood Sacrifice on him?
No . If I failed in the casting, it would all be for nothing.
It wasn ’t time for that. No, not yet.
Kyo unleashed another attack and the Shield Prison shattered . Raphtalia and the others leapt free and brandished their weapons at Kyo, dashing forward to attack.
“Brave Blade! Mist!”
Using both of her swords she traced a cross in the air and it shot across the room, tearing through the swirling book pages that Kyo sent to stop it.
“Ha!”
Rishia was furiously unleashing the defense-rating attacks that she ’d learned from the old lady.
“Ha!” Filo barked, darting across the room with a spiral kick.
“That old attack? Again ?! You never learn, do you? Constriction: Composition Four!”
Kyo ’s book snapped open and a cage emerged from its pages that enclosed Raphtalia and the others.
He could use his skills so quickly!
“Continuation! False Ceiling!”
Needles grew from the ceiling of their cage and rained down on everyone inside.
“Not so fast! Air Strike Shield! Second Shield! Dritte Shield!”
Three shields materialized in the air over their heads to protect them from the rain of needles.
“Haaa!” Raphtalia shouted, quickly drawing her sword and slicing through the cage that enclosed her. She leapt free again and ran for Kyo.
That ’s right. We were stronger than we had been.
We can defeat Kyo. Even without Kizuna!
“You think that will work? You telegraph your moves so far in advance!”
Kyo had boosted his abilities too, and Raphtalia wasn ’t quite fast enough to hit him before he could evade her attack.
We just weren ’t fast enough. The words “attacks don’t matter if they don’t connect” kept running through my mind.
If my friends could charge up their speed attacks, we could probably catch up to him . But, if they did that, while they charged, he’d have time to encase us in that confined space again.
Of course, if he did, I might be able to get us out by using the cursed flames again, but that wasn ’t the sort of plan that would work forever. Just to make things even more annoying, we’d occasionally have to fend off a rogue holy beast copy. And, the neo-guardians that we defeated were regenerating and getting back on their feet.
“Take this! Composition Eight: Divine Punishment!”
The pages of his book flapped wildly when he called the skill ’s name. Then lightning erupted from them and fired straight at us.
It chased us when we tried to evade it! It was homing lightning! It looked like an attack that could be pulled off with magic, which made me think, was there some other aspect to it we hadn ’t seen yet?
“Air Strike Shield!”
“Hah!”
The lightning quickly changed course and avoided the shield that materialized in front of it.
Damn it! What was I supposed to do about an attack I couldn ’t block?
“Shooting Star Shield!”
Raphtalia and the others were doing all they could to avoid the lightning attack. So I quickly deployed Shooting Star Shield to protect them and stop the crackling bolts. Because Wrath Shield IV was so powerful, the barrier was able to stop the attack without shattering.
It didn ’t shatter, but it crackled, and started to glow with heat.
What . . . What was going on?
The barrier itself suddenly shot out glowing orbs of dark flame. They slammed into the fluttering pages from Kyo ’s book, burning them to ash instantaneously.
I was very happy to see Kyo ’s attacks fail one by one.
The orbs were bouncing around, burning everything they touched. The bodies of the fallen holy beast copies, the homunculi, the bodies of Trash #2 and Albert, were all reduced to piles of ash.
“You’re so obnoxious! I’ve had enough! Take this!”
He flipped through his book and something appeared in the air before us. Something that looked just like the head of the Spirit Tortoise.
“Too bad it takes so much time! But you better be grateful! Not many people get to see this attack!”
He was playing it up—it must have been a special finishing move.
Could I block it and survive? I honestly didn ’t know.
“I don’t think so!” Raphtalia shouted.
She dashed at Kyo with Filo and Raph-chan at her side, but he quickly deployed layers upon layers of barriers to protect himself.
Rishia and Raphtalia ’s defense-rating attacks shattered the barriers very quickly, but it wasn’t enough to break all the way through.
And that gravity field was still slowing us down. How did we solve this problem the last time, when Ost was with us?
Could I do it? Could I pull it off?
There was no reason for me to stand there like a stick in the mud. I had time to try . I had to use it.
Sure, I was alone. And sure, I didn ’t really know how to use it, but I forcefully called out the Way of the Dragon Vein incantation.
I concentrated as well as I could, and tried to recall what it had felt like.
Therese had shown me how to guide my power, so I tried to do that the best I could. The shield was the medium and the power was mine. I called for the energy of the Spirit Tortoise, in the air all about us, to help me.
. . . But it wasn’t working.
I felt the shield respond, ever so slightly. I could feel the Spirit Tortoise energy in the room gathering in it.
Maybe there wasn ’t enough power, but I had to try. I called to mind the incantation for All Liberation Aura.
Before I spoke the words, I felt a strong jolt surge up my spine—something I had never felt before. It was like the voice I sometimes heard when using the Shield of Wrath, only different. I couldn’t tell what it was. But I knew there was something deep inside of me—something terrifying.
—You are trying to cast the ancient magic, are you not?
