by Aneko Yusagi
Of course the real enemy was the high priest himself, but he was surrounded by so many people it was hard to get a hit in.
It was easy enough to take one or two of them down, but the second a hit connected, another person was there to cast recovery spells on them.
Had this been a game, it would have been enough just to defeat them. But this wasn’t a game.
Of course I didn’t have some moral reason to avoid killing them. I WANTED to kill them, but it took time to do so.
“I’ll run into the crowd. Then one of you needs to attack me. Think of how much you hate me. Then attack. My counterattack will flare up and hit everyone, so make sure you’re not in the area. Keep your distance.”
Self curse burning was my only real chance to attack. I’d have to rush into the crowd and try and interfere with their casting of Judgment.
If I was in a good spot when it happened, I could take a lot of them out with self curse burning.
“Okay.”
“Okay, I’m going in!”
I told everyone that could use magic to focus on support. Anyone else who remained and wasn’t a good melee fighter was supposed to stay back and use magic to protect the supporters.
The heroes were the attackers; the supporters were the magic users, and everyone else was to focus on defense. Yeah… I didn’t have a ton of faith in the plan.
“Here we go!”
I took the lead and ran for the crowd of disciples.
I wasn’t able to attack, so if I wanted to deal any damage, I only had one option.
“Naofumi!”
Motoyasu swung his spear into my shield, and self curse burning activated.
“AAARRRRHHHHHH!”
Any disciples that weren’t summoning Judgment turned to use holy magic to counter my self curse burning. But they weren’t able to nullify it completely, and the dark flames consumed a good number of them.
“AAAARRRRRHHHHHH!”
The cursed flames would also delay any recovery spells they cast. If we got our attacks in before they recovered, we might stand a chance.
I used Air Strike Shield and then Change Shield to call up the Rope Shield. Then I used the grappling hook to swing back to where the other heroes were.
The hook had a special effect that produced a string I could manipulate. I wrapped it around my arm and used it to pull me back to everyone else—and it worked well.
“Thunder Sword!”
“Thunder Shoot!”
At the same time, the other heroes all used their strongest skills against the crowd of disciples.
All the skills looked like they were formed from lightning.
A bolt of lightning shot straight through the high priest before exploding in the midst of the disciples gathered behind him.
“AAARRRRHHHHHHH!”
The disciples went flying like leaves from a tree, but the high priest himself didn’t seem to have suffered any severe damage.
How strong was this guy? How powerful was his weapon?
“That’s enough toying around.”
A smile spread over his face, very victorious, and the high priest leveled his spear at us.
“Everyone get together! Wait! Everyone use Naofumi as a shield!”
In an instant everyone was clumped together behind me. Did they have a meeting about all this beforehand or something?
“That skill he’s about to use covers a very wide area. It splits into thousands of spears and pierces through crowds of enemies. If you want to defend against it, it’s better to gather in one spot.”
“Uh huh…”
“Well, if you really know how to use it, you can set the number of targets…”
It was sounding like the sort of skill that could lock on to its enemies. That could be pretty annoying.
“Brionac!”
The high priest’s skill activated and came flying for us.
A blazing white light filled the area and drew near.
“We can take this!”
“Yes!”
“Everyone, help me!”
“Shooting Star Sword!”
“Shooting Star Bow!”
“Shooting Star Spear!”
Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu all sent out flashing skills.
Their three shining skills converged and merged into a large beam of light.
Their party members all used their attack magic too in an attempt to raise the power of the attack.
“Filo! Melty! You two help too!”
“Okay!”
“Naofumi! You should help too!”
“All I can do is defend! What do you want from me?! What about Raphtalia?!”
“I, um… I still don’t know any attack magic!”
Raphtalia nodded apologetically.
That was the problem with having an unconventional skill set. All I could do was defend. Raphtalia’s magic was only good for manipulating light and shadow. Melty’s face was scrunched up in annoyance, but she added her attack power to the heroes’.
“Here it comes!”
There was a loud crackling sound as the energy forms slammed into each other.
“Here we gooooooooo!”
“ARRRhhhhh!”
“Hiyaaaaaaaa!”
The huge beam formed from the heroes’ skills held against the high priest’s attack.
The support magic started flowing in too, and slowly, slowly, the beam appeared to overpower the high priest’s skill.
“Heh… Is that all you’ve got?”
The high priest was still smiling.
Was he holding back?
“You idiot! We’re not beaten yet!”
“Yeah! We’re still going strong!”
“Yes, everyone—more power!”
The three heroes all focused and gave all their power to the attack beam.
I could barely tell, but it looked like the beam grew a little stronger. Was it pushing back the high priest’s attack?
And yet… What was this feeling I had? I felt something… ominous.
“All right. Here I come.”
The high priest spoke calmly then began to focus.
When he closed his eyes, his weapon turned black, then white, then began to slowly flicker.
It looked like he was ready to use a powerful attack.
“Watch out!”
Shit! If they all died, I’d be in trouble!
Couldn’t we have all teamed up some other time? Did we have to try this now?
I pushed the other heroes to the ground, canceling their skill, and I ran to the front.
A beam of light shot thorough my body. Along with the pain came a roaring, unbelievably loud sound. I thought I’d go crazy.
The beam did not make it through me. I’d protected everyone.
“Huff… Huff…”
“Mr. Naofumi!”
“Naofumi…”
Ren looked down at me, speechless. The other heroes and their party members were silent too.
“Ha… I never expected you to survive that. You really are the Shield Demon.”
The high priest pompously spun his spear as he spoke.”
“Are you all… okay?”
My eyes were blurry, but I turned around. I saw a huge “V” cut into the ground around me. If I hadn’t blocked the attack, people would have died. Luckily everyone had been able to get behind me in time.
“Zweite Heal!”
They cast strong restorative magic on me, and my wounds healed before my eyes.
To think he’d been able to use such a powerful skill while taking the brunt of the heroes’ attacks… How powerful was he?
“Ugh… My SP…”
“Me too.”
“And me.”
The three of them had used all their SP and were reaching for bottles of Soul Healing Water to replenish it.
It would take a little while to recover enough SP to use another attack.
I heard shouting. Just as Ren had said, support troops were showing up behind us.
A large crowd was forming. With any luck, they’d take care of the high priest’s disciples.
“I suppose I’ll just have to deal with them too.”
“Stay back!!”
Ren shouted, but it was too late. The high priest turned his spear into a sword and stuck it into the ground.
A huge earthquake occurred, and the ground split apart here and there. Behind us, where the support troops were gathering, the ground split and magma came rushing out.
“AAAAAAHHHHHH!!”
Nearly all of the support troops were on fire, flying through the air.
That must have been most of them. The high priest was too powerful.
“Ahahaha! Well, that was simple. As long as I have this weapon, I’m just like God. If I am God, who needs the Heroes?! I am God! Everyone! Let us judge those who oppose me here and now!”
“YES!”
And I thought that our situation was improving. With the support troops defeated, it seemed like nothing had changed at all.
The blade of the high priest’s sword began to turn and warp before reforming into the shape of a phoenix.
I bet he was about to use a skill even more powerful than Brionac.
This wasn’t good. The surviving support troops probably had no idea that the high priest was so powerful.
If we weren’t careful, he’d kill them all with one shot.
“Are we ready with Judgment? Let’s go together.”
The high priest indicated that he wanted to use his skill at the same time as the Judgment spell.
It seemed like we’d gained a second or two to collect ourselves, but who knew what sort of attack he was preparing?
“Is this it?”
The other heroes were looking very pale. I guess we had a chance at winning, but it was too late… We were too reckless…
Or I should say that if Ren and Itsuki hadn’t shown up, Motoyasu and I would have already died. From that perspective, it was reasonable to say that we’d done our best.
But had I done MY best? Was there anything I could still do?
If I used the Shield of Rage… Wasn’t there still some way out of this?
Fitoria had warned me time and time again… but what choice did I have? If we didn’t make it out of this fight, there was nothing left for us. We’d all die here. If that were true, then why hold back?
“Ren, get over here.”
“What? You have a plan?”
I asked him to come over, and so he did—but he was suspicious.
I felt the shield throbbing. It was shaking.
I’d intentionally sealed it away, but inside the Shield of Rage lay the core of the dragon that Ren killed.
My vision was filled with its memories, with its desires… It had found its enemy, and it begged for slaughter.
That’s it… More. Explode with rage!
I’d been restraining the power of the shield for Raphtalia. Now I tried to draw out all of its power.
“Raphtalia… Your hand…”
“Yes.”
I took Raphtalia’s hand, and then held my shield arm out towards Ren.
Then I looked over at Bitch and Motoyasu and called for all the rage within me that I’d spent these months learning to control.
I hated everything, I forgot everything. My vision tunneled and went black. I was filled with black emotion.
Released emotions have triggered its strength!
Curse Series, Shield of Rage abilities up! Transforming into Wrath Shield!
Wrath Shield III: abilities locked: equip bonus: skill “Change Shield (attack),” “Iron Maiden,” “Blood Sacrifice”: equip effect: dark curse burning: power up: dragon rage: roar: familial violence: magic sharing rage robe (medium)
In an instant, I was filled to the brim with darkness.
Chapter Ten: Shield of Wrath
“!!”
I turned to the sky and screamed, but no noise came from my throat.
I hate it! What did I hate? The whole world! Everything!
I hated everything so much I thought I was going to lose my mind.
Everything was red and black, and everything I looked at caused more hatred to bubble up from within.
“!”
I heard someone speaking to me. For a second, it felt like I’d been doused with water. But even that was meaningless.
“!”
Everything I touched was irritating. I wanted to burn it all!
“Master, do you really hate everything?”
“Everything tried to trick me, to hurt me, to kill me! I hate everything!”
“Really? Really? Do you really mean it?”
Yeah… so what?!
“Did you hate all the time you spent with me and Raphtalia?”
I… remembered that voice.
I remembered a young girl that stayed by my side through everything. She was loyal through everything. She protected me even when she was hurt. It filled my mind.
There was one that hatched from an egg, grew up, and said that she loved me.
“That…”
“I knew you didn’t. I knew you didn’t because, Master, you always tried to do things for us!”
The black and red were giving way. Everything was clearing.
It was like they’d thrown water on the fire. I felt the water seeping into my heart.
“So, Master, I’ll eat your anger! I’ll eat your hatred!”
Suddenly everything was clear. I looked around.
“Mr. Naofumi!”
“Are you okay?!”
It looked like only a few seconds had passed since I screamed at the sky.
Raphtalia was speaking to me. She was worried. Ren put his hand on my shoulder.
“Master, are you okay?”
“You… You held me back?”
“Yup. It was hard on you, wasn’t it?”
Filo was in her Filolial Queen form. She hugged me from behind. Her wings and legs were burned. They were black. She must not have been able to endure the power of the shield once it grew stronger. It must have been very painful. And yet… And yet she was worried about me.
“I’m… Raphtalia and I… and Mel, and everyone! We all believe in you. We believe in you, so… do your best!”
“…Yeah. You’re right… You’re right.”
I couldn’t afford to be swallowed by hatred.
All I had to do was crush the source of my pain. If I could just kill him, what happened later didn’t matter.
I’d… for Melty, for the heroes… I’d kill him!
“…I’m going.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to use my strongest shield’s strongest skill.”
“What’s with that Shield? It’s always been ominous, but it looks even worse now.”
The Shield of Rage II had an angry dragon shape on it, but when it became the Shield of Wrath it looked even scarier. The dragon’s face had twisted into a demon’s, and its corners were bent and warped.
“It’s a skill I’ll probably use on you some day. Attack him and give me a chance to use it.”
“You… Oh well. I guess we don’t have any choice but to rely on you.”
“That’s correct. You’re a hard guy to trust, but it’s our only chance.”
“Whatever.”
“We’ll use our magic to support you.”
The heroes all nodded and turned to face the high priest.
“Now, now… What a useless resistance. Let’s end this. Our preparations are complete. Your end is at hand.”
The air seemed to be filled with magic. The sky was filled with light, growing denser, ready to fall on us at any moment.
“Let’s go!”
When I shouted, all the heroes ran towards the high priest.
“Filo, put me on your back and fly!”
“Ooo-kay!”
Filo flipped me onto her back and leapt high into the air.
“High-level ceremonial magic, Judgment!”
&nbs
p; The baptismal light in the sky came shooting down!
“Goooooo!”
I held my shield up.
A sound like breaking glass filled my ears, and the light fell on me.
But it wasn’t powerful enough to break through the Shield of Wrath III. Not a single photon made it past me.
“He’s not hurt by Judgment?! Could it be?!”
The high priest was shocked. Half of his smile melted away.
I’d paid a heavy price to use that shield. I hoped it was as powerful as it felt.
“You fool! You won’t survive this!”
The high priest raised his sword and brought it down in my direction.
“Phoenix Blade!”
A bird made of fire erupted from the blade and flew straight for me.
“I don’t think so!”
I readied my shield. Filo was chanting a spell, forming some kind of connection with me. I suddenly knew what to do.
The words appeared in my head. Rage Robe (medium) activation requirements?
“The Shield Hero and his tribe are the source of power. Hear my words and heed them. Turn these flames into strength!”
“Wrath Fire!”
My rage would be my power.
The bird of fire flew straight into me. The flames spread to try and burn me, but all the fire turned into power for me.
“What?! He ate my skill?!”
The attacks of the heroes and Filo’s powerful kicks cracked and then destroyed the high priest’s force field.
“Here I come!”
Filo used her best attack!
She was in her Filolial Queen form, but she was moving her wings in the same way as she had when she’d attacked Fitoria.
She had enough power to use it now, in a real battle. She was moving towards the high priest very quickly.
The high priest turned his weapon into a spear and readied it to block her.
He started to spin the spear in front of him. I was getting a bad feeling.
“State of Selflessness!?”
Motoyasu shouted in surprise. It must have been a powerful spear skill.
“You cannot resist the will of God! I am God himself!”
Everything but Filo’s attack flew back. The spear was filled with light.
“Ugh!”
“Ouch!”
The light from the spear reached me. It felt like it was trying to rip me open from the inside. It was very painful.
