The Raven Invader

by Pretty Lazy

AU. Ren, Itsuki, Motoyasu, and Naofumi have successfully defended against the third wave, but a mysterious entity known as Glass shows up before any victories could be assured. A fight for their survival and a fight of desolation begins.

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The Raven Invader

AU. Ren, Itsuki, Motoyasu, and Naofumi have successfully defended against the third wave, but a mysterious entity known as Glass shows up before any victories could be assured. A fight for their survival and a fight of desolation begins.

Foreword

Yes, episode twelve has the same name. It's not a coincidence.

I kept thinking about how most writers usually make Itsuki, Motoyasu, and Ren are natural enemies of Naofumi or the inserted character of their decision. Nothing wrong with that, there are still a ton of ideas that could be expanded on that. However, what I give here is an alternate take on another well-known scene other than the Naofumi's trial.

The scene where the three Heroes get absolutely destroyed by Glass, only for Naofumi to saved their asses. Now, I marked this as AU since I had to make some alterations that would cause potential problems, since at this point of the story, there was no way I could get the four Heroes to fight together in a proper united team without bullshit reasoning. I am aware of the High Priest fight, but Naofumi carried that fight. I felt that united stand was very platonic, since in the midst of the fight, Naofumi was lashing out on Motoyasu for his bullshit. I'm pretty sure the only use Itsuki and Ren had was more man power and getting through the barrier.

I wouldn't call that a good unified team.

["The four Heroes are finally fighting together!"]? Really? Please, Naofumi carried y'all.

Another factor that influenced this one-shot was simply rereading Aneko Yusagi's writing for this scene. As the first entity to beat the shit out all of the Heroes and make Naofumi have a rough time, it really doesn't feel like there's any desperation. Rather, it felt like it gave Naofumi one more feat over the rest because his team held his own against Glass somewhat, while everyone else got one-shotted.

This one-shot attempts to revamp the fight with Glass to give it more tension in the air.

I'll try to cover the differences within the one-shot, but understand that the pathway of this universe's story won't be one-to-one with the original canon. Events may switch places on the timeline, or removed entirely. The only thing I'll tell you is that I setted up the background of each Hero such that they came from the same world, and they were all friends before the summoning. You know, like the typical isekai manga.

Will it be weird to some readers? Probably. Who cares? I just wanted to write a fight scene.

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[TL:DR, this is the first Glass encounter written like a shonen fight as if the four Heroes were friends and allies. I wish it was as badass as I made it out to be.]

Warning, this is fight scene heavy. If fight scenes aren't enjoyable to you, don't force yourselves. Or do, I can't tell you what to do. Maybe you're as masochistic as me.

Note, rereading this made me realize how much emphasis I put on Itsuki and Ren, instead of all four. Recourse of the Bow Hero favouritism, tee hee. So, like a sane person, I doubled down. Whoops.

I'll leave you to the reading now. Have fun, because I know I did while writing this.

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"[Circle Dance Zero — Reverse Snow Moon Flower]."

A powerful force sent out by a red streak sliced through the air with ease, accelerating faster towards its target. Naofumi held up his shield in anticipation, intercepting the full impact. It crashed against the surface, but the attack had kept becoming heavier as the seconds rolled by. He bent his knees to keep the incoming blast in control, but he was quick to realize that the kinetic energy was too much for him to handle. His arm felt like they were collapsing on themselves, even though a barrier stood and mitigated some of the power. He didn't know how strong the wooden planks below his feet were, but all he knew that it was not a regular ship that they were aboard. His legs would have broken through the floor if that was the case.

There were too many factors to consider, but his mind was losing its touch with any of the subjects. Pain crawled up steadily, something that he wasn't accustomed to ever since his role of the Shield Hero was forced onto him. The muscles in his arms started to rip, and he could see the draining health bar in the corner of his vision. The shield started to shake, and as did his entire body.

A ending stretch ended, and the attack exploded in a final bout. The area of effect sent Naofumi flying backwards, bouncing his body along the ground like a stone skipping on a lake. The power behind that attack was too strong, even for someone with a high defense like him. Most attacks would have simply bounced off like a ball, but this was the first time something managed to surpass his stats. His eyesight started to waver, flickering light and darkness, as he as he found his face to be flat against the wood. Shivering in pain, he peered up to their opponent; an unbelievable sight that none of them had ever expected from the waves.

A woman stood in front of him, gazing at him unimpressed.

An abyssal black kimono held her body loosely, as the silver embroidery gave light to her clothing. Dark midnight hair danced along to the wind's silent melody, as she stared at him, burning a hole through his soul with glaring, red eyes. Her skin was too pale to be human, but perhaps it was fit to be a ghost. She was already seeming to be semi-transparent from his angle, but in those blanched hands, she held fan in each of them, fitting for her colour scheme. Though, they looked more like blades than something that one would use on a warm day.

Behind her, the fearsome monsters known as the Soul Eater laid dead. One of the monsters that they could barely fight against by the hairs of their body was killed quickly at full health by this woman, who wanted no intrusions in their fight. The light from its red eyes were long gone, and its fish-like body had slumped over.

"Was that all you could take?" she mocked him. "To think, the Cardinal Hero known for his defenses couldn't take on a single attack like that. Truly disappointing."

She raised her fan once more, causing Naofumi to strain his eyes. She was about to send out another attack! Naofumi needed to stand up, and do his job as a shield-class character, but his body refused to collaborate with his mind. Even though he still had some health left in his bar, he couldn't move even a finger. The dread of fear sunk deeper than he thought, scaring even his unconsciousness to pieces.

"[Circle Dance One — Crossing Lunar Rise]."

The attack was similar to the first one, only that it came in a cross shape projectile rather than the single streaming arc. Dammit, he needed to stand up! He was becoming frustrated at his own weakness to protect who he needed to protect! Even if he didn't decide to shield the attack, the width and height had covered enough that his body would be taken in. He didn't know how much damage he would take on a head-on collision.

He closed his eyes, tensing up and preparing to receive the attack, praying that he didn't die here.

"Naofumi!"

His body became light, as he felt an arm wrap around his stomach. Momentaily, he was lifted up from the floor, and a reckless leap went over to a safe area outside of the skill's range. His eyes caught the red hues passing his eyes, as he barely avoided the attack. No—they avoided the attack. There was no way he could have dodged by himself.

They crashed, rolling until their bodies collided with the boat's guardrails. His back landed directly against the wood, stunning his body further from movement, but it was surely better than dying. His savior groaned, standing immediately back up, aiming his weapon at their new opponent. He was glad that his voice still worked.

"Thanks, Ren…!"

The black-haired swordsman didn't bother to gaze bewards to the downed Shield Hero, as his blue scarf danced violently behind him. His black attire made the gleaming blue eyes only clearer, as his coat was all ruffled up. Even the white section along the bottom had caught some of his blood, yet he still had the capacity to move his deftly. However, it was painfully obvious that he was pushing himself.

"Don't thank me just yet," he growled, though it wasn't directed at Naofumi. "This atmosphere is nothing like I've ever felt before. Just her presence is enough for me to tell. She's ridiculously strong!"

"Dammit!" Naofumi clicked his tongue. Sense in his fingers had started to return. "Is there really nothing we could do?"

"None of our attacks seem to faze her. She brushes off everything we send towards her direction. It would be better to think that this was a scripted event that the heroes would need to lose to progress the story, but…"

"This isn't a game. Not even close."

Their aching wounds and bruises were the defining proof of that. The blood that they draw onto others and the blood they spilled themselves were defining proof of that. It would take an idiot to believe that this world was happy-go-lucky and catered to all of the Heroes' needs, simply because they were the apparent protagonists of the legends.

"Like you said. If we die, it's over. No respawning like Brave Star Online." The hair along Ren's neck had been standing up, as he kept his eyes on the woman. "We need to do something and fast, or else we get entirely wiped out. She has to be beatable. Any ideas, 'tactician'?"

Naofumi switched his gaze from Ren towards the woman that stood quietly at the other end of the ship. She was aware that they were discussing something, and she definitely had enough power to make another follow-up attack. At this point, it was like she was playing with her food.

"I can't seem to see any possible openings on her. Maybe if I—Gah!"

Naofumi tried to stand back up on his feet, only to fall back onto the ground. The pain was too severe in his legs for him to stand properly. Without any healing, there was no way that he could stand again during this fight.

"Naofumi! You have to stay down! You can't be moving!"

"Dammit, dammit!" Naofumi clenched his fist, pounding it against the floor. "What can we do? Think, Naofumi! What options do we have!?"

Ren silently looked over to the other end of the ship. There, two others were holding their positions.

"Itsuki! Motoyasu! Group up!" Ren shouted.

"On it!" Motoyasu replied in a similar tone, while Itsuki kept quiet. His eyes were too focused on the woman for any sudden movements. His bow had an arrow pulled back, as he steadily sidestepped over towards the Sword Hero and Shield Hero. On the other side, Motoyasu immediately ran over to Naofumi without caring about the possibility of being flanked by an attack.

Both his red cape and blonde ponytail bounced forwards as he crouched down to Naofumi. He attempted to stab his spear tip into the ship, intending for it to stand upright by itself, but the ship didn't budge a single dent. As the spear flopped onto its side, Naofumi noticed the state that Motoyasu was in. His armoured leggings were all scratched up, and his handsome face was slandered by a bleeding cut on his cheek. However, his red eyes showed more concern for the fallen Shield Hero. He stuck out his arm at Naofumi's body, as a dim light arose from the palm.

"Where does it hurt, Naofumi?"

"... Everywhere."

"Not exactly a very bright question to give someone who who took on a full impact attack for us."

"Just tell me where to heal!" Motoyasu whined.

"I can't feel my legs, other than the pain gnawing at them. Start there."

"Got it!"

The dim light became brighter as Motoyasu shifted its direction towards the requested area. Naofumi silently thanked the heavens for allowing someone among the Heroes to have affinity in healing spells.

"[Tsuvait Recovery Aid]!"

"How's Naofumi holding up?"

Itsuki finally made his way over, but like Ren, his weapon was still pointed at the woman. At point, he didn't care why she was allowing them this moment to recollect themselves, but he was grateful for it. With the main tank down from a single hit, he could only imagine what a single hit would do to them.

He wasn't well armoured compared to everyone else since he opted for equipment that gave him more agility. His steel defenses consisted only of a shoulder pad and a hip guard, both only protecting his left side. His curly hair was wavering in the high winds, as his golden eyes narrowed onto the woman. Since he fights from afar, he had less wounds, but the ones that he did take were larger in intensity in comparison.

"He's too hurt for me to recover him in a few seconds, but it shouldn't be anything fatal."

"How long do you need, Motoyasu?"

Itsuki looked over towards Ren, as his face was clearly distressed. He absolutely knew what Ren wanted to do. "Hey, hey. You can't be serious. If she was able to pierce through Naofumi's defenses, then we need a better course of action."

Ren peered over to match Itsuki's glance. "Do you have any brighter ideas?"

"No, but—"

"Then, shut up."

"A few minutes of constant healing, added in the time I need to regain my SP for another take. Potions affect the health bar, but not his physical condition." Motoyasu pondered, as he watched his SP continue to go go with every consecutive silent use of the magic. "Maybe four to five minutes until he can stand again?"

"Itsuki, you think you can buy that time alongside me? Think of it as trying to protect the weak. That sounds nice on the resume, doesn't it?"

Itsuki groaned. However, as Ren stepped forwards away from the wounded and the healer, Itsuki took the same steps. "Don't think that you don't owe me for this, even if it's for a good cause."

The woman noticed their advances and allowed them to walk forwards. Even with ruthless attacks, it seemed like she had the respect to adhere to their silently-calling wishes, as she directed all animosity that she directed onto Naofumi and Motoyasu onto Ren and Itsuki. The invisible weight on their shoulders grew in intensity, but they gritted through the gravitational-like force. They were frightened, but they were not scared.

Ren shouted towards the woman.

"Your name was Glass, wasn't it!? We're going to be your opponents, now!"

Itsuki tried to grin for intimidation.

"Even if the world turned their back on us Heroes, our justice will still prevail. Your evil ways die here."

Glass chuckled, but her mouth did not smirk.

"Such inexperience and patheticness. I feel bad for your Holy Weapons. The essence of those weapons must be crying right now. It does not matter if two or four of you attack me at once. The results will be the same."

"Hey, Ren? Itsuki?" Motoyasu called out to the two fighting Heroes, without budging his sights off of Naofumi. However, his eyes were strained with anger. "Give her hell. No one calls my friends pathetic, so go prove her wrong, but save some for me. Even if she's beautiful, I'm not going to let this slide."

"I'll be watching the fight carefully for an chances that we could use," Naofumi muttered, "but don't kill yourselves in the process. Just… be careful."

"Well, you heard them, Itsuki. Let's do this."

"I already know, Ren. We'll be the ones that come out on top."

Naofumi and Motoyasu watched as Ren and Itsuki ran forwards towards Glass, prepared to fight tooth and nail and prepared to fight for their very lives.

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"Let's see how much you struggle, Heroes."

Itsuki stopped hard on his left foot, and aimed the sights on onto the female target. His arrow ignited into a bright light, as he released the end.

"[Shooting Star Arrow]!"

The projectile flew rapidly towards Glass, picking up speed and power as it ran through the air. However, Glass knocked it away with her fan to her side, causing it to hit the boat's hull. The fact that she did it with ease completely frustrated Itsuki, but he understood that such a simple straightforward attack wouldn't do much.

Ren followed up closely to her deflection, drawing his sword into an upwards diagonal arc. Water flowed along the nimble movements, emerging from seemingly nowhere. It compacted into one continuous surge, devouring and trailing his blade.

"[Water Art — Pressurized Stream]!"

The water exploded on impact, but it was all sent backwards from the intentions. Glass had blocked that attack with her fan, pushing the directional slash over to the side, treating it more of a nuisance than a danger. The unstable tide was discharged into splashing droplets, scattering over Ren's clothes.

The retaliation pushed Ren back, but Glass raised her fan and swung it in his direction. A heavy gale ripped through, sweeping him off his feet and onto the ground.

The arrows that Itsuki were trying to sneak in during Ren's approach had faltered in the wind's presence. He knew that the arrows wouldn't reach Glass' body though. The moment that the arrow's trajectory changed, they exploded in their own spherical gale, acting like a influxed barrier. Ren's body stopped moving backwards, allowing him to get back on him feet.

The wind died down, as Ren stepped forwards once more. Itsuki started to circle around the enemy, rapid-firing his wind-infused arrows to provide him the opportunity needed to close in.

Ren knew that a strong frontal strike wouldn't do much now, but he still needed to find a way through her defenses. He took a single breath and held it. The moment, he disappeared alongside the wind. Glass watched carefully, though not with her eyes.

Ren flashed an afterimage to her left, her right, behind her, above her, in front of her, and anywhere that he thought of and could think of, but he couldn't commit to a single strike, even with Glass defending herself from Itsuki's barrage. Everywhere he went, he still felt the tenseness in his shoulder, as if his body was preventing him from making another mistake, whether it be fatal or not.

He shouldn't hesitate if he didn't know for sure.

As Ren's afterimages started to increase in speed, he started wailing weaker, but quicker, attacks. Every second, he managed to unleash a total of eight strikes, each at a different position. Nevertheless, Glass managed to parry them with her fan or a wind-like barrier blocked his blade from proceeding. For some of them, she didn't even need to look.

"Not bad," she said. "However, it is also not enough."

In the midst of his flurry, Glass closed her fan, and jabbed the end of it into Ren's stomach. His breath was released, alongside pieces of saliva. His body went flying over to Itsuki, who caught him with his chest unwillingly. The two collapsed onto the planks, with Itsuki forcefully pushing Ren off after recovering from his daze.

Glass watched seeing the two Heroes on the ground, groaning. "If you truly mean to hurt me with such a useless technique, you're better off simply surrendering your lives. It'll be easier for both you and I."

"Ren! Itsuki!" Motoyasu shouted. He stopped Naofumi's healing temporary and sent a healing spell over to the fighters, one spell each, before returning to Naofumi. His muscles felt better, but Naofumi was still on the ground, silently grimaced in seeing their fall.

"We're fine… Somehow…" Itsuki grunted, slowly standing up.

Ren pushed himself up with his arms, and strained himself to get back on his feet. "Dammit... I can't do a single thing. There wasn't even a single opening I could use effectively. She's entirely covered."

"I have this really weird feeling though."

"Itsuki, what is it?"

"It might not be much or even useful information, but her winds doesn't feel like normal wind magic."

"You can tell?"

Itsuki shook his head. "I'm not sure, but from what I've learned about wind magic, it's suppose be calling the air as your weapon, but… Something about that doesn't feel right."

"... You're right. That wasn't useful."

"You could at least ease the bluntness, you know." Itsuki narrowed his eyes at Ren, before turning to watch Glass' possible movements. His hands tugged on the bowstring nervously. "If we keep throwing out attacks, we're eventually going to run ourselves out. If her defenses are too high for us to pierce, we can't take her down."

"She's all talk. We can take her."

Itsuki turned to Ren in a confusion. "Ren, if we can't even come close to hurting her, then you couldn't expect all four of us to come close to to defeating her."

"Maybe not with pure skill, but…" Ren raised his sword over to Itsuki. The shape of the blade started to brightened and molded by its will, changing into a dark, blacken blade with a sleek edge. "There has to be a way. We're going to have to pull some strings."

[Sword Hero Command]
[Legendary Sword Base Form ==) Shadow Sword]

The Bow Hero sighed at the determination of his friend. "If this goes wrong, then I'm blaming you." Itsuki's bows shined brilliantly, mending its shape to a different form. Compared to Ren's thematics, his weapon had a more rustic vibe to it, with chains tangling from the frame.

[Bow Hero Command]
[Gale Bow ==) Chained Bow]

Glass mocked them, as they stood side by side proudly. "Try as you might, but you will not triumph."

"Itsuki! Now!"

"Got it!"

Itsuki threw down his hand towards the floor, erupting a fissure of light that expanded greatly towards Glass. Ren sharpened his senses, darting alongside the brightened path.

"[Deceiving Light]!"

The fissure reached below Glass and chains started to emerge from every inch of the light source, all converging towards the target. Ren danced his way around the skill. The namesake reason of this bow aimed their sharp edges to wrap around Glass' limbs as the lighting disappeared, but she easily shook them and shattered them into fragments.

However, Ren's Shadow Sword's passive had triggered. When a light source died around him, dimming the arena, he could trigger a certain skill.

"[Phantom Force]!"

He slashed through with a single step, closing the distance the second Glass broke her restraints. He phased through the woman, leaving behind a vivid outline of a cut. Phantom Force allowed him to dash forwards in any direction, dealing damage to anybody in its pathway. It should have made Glass flinch, at least slightly since he felt the attack connect, but when he turned around, a violent storm shredded his clothing, pushing him towards the corpse of the Soul Eater. The ship swayed slightly from the rushing movements.

"What…!?"

Meanwhile, Itsuki hadn't faltered, aiming his bow around Glass' perimeter and firing arrows of light. A total of six made their mark, pausing themselves around her, as Itsuki extended his hand forwards.

"[Deceiving Light]!"

The five arrows triggered, forming a small fissure-shape luminosity in the air and each sent a chain towards Glass. The winds around her blew them away before they could even come close.

"Is this your idea of a second attempt?"

Itsuki watched as Glass raised her fan to swing in a familiar arc with a familiar red trail. His body immediately tensed up, remembering how Naofumi took the attack. The skill was too wide for him to avoid it, and he couldn't forcibly take on the entirety of the attack like the Shield Hero, literally and hypothetically. There was only one thing he thought of.

[Bow Hero Command]
[Chained Bow ==) Terra Bow]

"[Earth Formation]!"

Itsuki pulled back his magic-infused arrows all at once, shooting him into the air quickly. The six arrows flew up, each ascending higher than the other until all six hit different vertices. Then, all arrows aimed downwards and fell between the area of Glass and himself. Luckily, he managed to trigger this in time.

"[Circle Dance Zero — Reverse Snow Moon Flower]."

As the powerful arc sped it way over to Itsuki, the arrows erupted into a boulder and took the attack, but it didn't stop it. The energy slowed down with every boulder it crushed, but it wasn't enough to stop it. The attack slashed through Itsuki, leaving a red streak across from his right shoulder to his left. There was no physical wound there, but the pain was enough for real blood to be coughed up upon impact. The force sent him flying backwards, bouncing him against the floor and separating him from his weapon, sliding alongside him. He came to a stop on his stomach, struggling to move his arm.

Dark energy collected itself around Glass, looking at Itsuki's body like some sort of treat. "Don't try to struggle, as I said. It will only make the pain more excruciating."

He struggled to reach his bow as Glass slowly walked up. His voice had become rasped. "You think I'm going to give up… to someone evil like you...?"

"So be it." Glass raised her fan, preparing to command the energy to devour its prey. "Know that after your death, your fellow Heroes will soon follow in your steps."

"So, it really is the end…?" Itsuki's hand stopped shaking, dropping just before his bow. He burrowed his eyes in his arms.

"I suppose so."

Itsuki muffled a single chuckle. "Do you really think so lowly of us? Think again."

Ren rose up from behind Glass, pulling his sword over his shoulder, looking to slash down on her back. Blood had been dripping down from his forehead, and he certainly had a concussion from the attack he took, but the adrenaline in his body must have been pumping in overdrive. The bloodlusted look in his eyes were proof.

Glass turned her head slightly to see Ren's ascent from the corners of her eyes. "It's not very good to diminish the effect of your surprise attacks. That defeats the purpose of such a feeble attempt."

She readied to turn her fan towards Ren, which would direct the direction of the dark energy towards him, but Itsuki wasn't about to let it happen. His hand twitched onwards, grabbing the bow the immediate moment she took her eyes off him.

"I couldn't agree more."

[Bow Hero Command]
[Terra Bow ==) Chained Bow]

"[Deceiving Light]."

Itsuki never triggered all six arrows from his prior skill, and Glass noticed the final arrow too late. He managed to slip an arrow behind her, and drew her attention using the other five arrows to prevent her from noticing the sixth. Ever since, it's been collecting strength.

The arrow behind Ren shattered and multiple chains came from it this time. They curved themselves around Ren, tightening themselves around Glass' limbs. She widened her eyes, seeing that she needed to put more effort to break apart these ones, but Ren was already in the vicinity.

He didn't care if it wasn't empowered by a skill. They needed to ensure that they could at least make a scratch on her.

"Take this!"

Ren's feet caught the ground, as his body shifted downwards with the strike. This attack definitely connected. Ren grinned, out of the preemptive success to taking their first—

"Was that all you could do?"

There was not an ounce of emotion on her face. It was simply stale, but it held a single word.

Disappointment.

Glass blew Ren off of his feet with a spell, pushing him into the distance. The chains were as easily broken off as the first ones. The dark energy was released and that all tracked down his body. The strength from a single one felt strong, as Ren looked at his opponent in disbelief. There wasn't even a mark left by his blade on her. His memory rushed back when he used Phantom Force on her, but he had no time to think.

The spherical attacks came closer at an alarming rate.

"Grahh!" With his weakened strength, Naofumi broke out of Motoyasu's healing spell and extended his shield to Ren's direction.

"Naofumi, you can't be—!"

[Shield Hero Command]
[Armoured Shield ==) Rope Shield]

"[Air Strike Shield]!"

A transparent shield appeared in front of Ren's body, covering his entire surface area in the nick of time. The dark energy smashed against the barrier, one after the other, cracking the clear surface. Naofumi didn't know it it was going to hold for much longer, but it managed to shatter on the final sphere. He was lucky that it lasted for the right amount, but the muscle in his arm was starting to knot, causing him to sprawl in agony.

[Bow Hero Command]
[Chained Bow ==) Gale Bow]

In the meanwhile, Itsuki propelled himself backwards with a wind-powered shot that sent his body closer to the stern, to get distance away from Glass. Sure, it may have hurted to land onto his back again, but it was better than risking his life to stand nearby Glass' most dangerous range. There, he felt safe to stagger himself back to his feet.

Itsuki was more bothered with the fact that Motoyasu requested them to hold Glass busy for about four minutes. They couldn't hold her off for half that amount. Only two minutes passed, and Naofumi forced himself to shield Ren. That mere fact was gnawing at his mind.

"Naofumi! I told you not to move! You're still not in the proper condition!"

"Is Ren alright!?"

Ren managed to land on his feet, staggering slightly to his left. He positioned his blade back towards Glass, while leering to Naofumi from the corner of his eyes. His voice was silent, and his glare was deadly. Regardless, Naofumi sighed of a relief to see Ren standing.

"Thank goodness…"

Somehow, Naofumi managed to hold onto his consciousness and powered through his pain. His body was shaking but he forced himself to stand back up. Motoyasu's healing didn't finish up in its entirety, but Naofumi didn't care much.

"Motoyasu, we need to get into this fight! It's not like I don't believe in them, but it'll go south quickly if they keep pushing her like this. We don't have the proper means to defeat her. Not at our state."

"What do you mean?"

"Ren's blade—it definitely connected, but it phased through her body both times. I'm certain it interacted with her though, but everytime, she had enough room to move back for only the tip to sink in. The speed of the sword briefly slowed down as it passed through."

"What else could she be? A ghost?" Motoyasu jested half-heartedly.

"She's not human or a monster, but that doesn't really narrow things down for us when we don't know what exist and what doesn't in this world. One thing is certain though. She's more intelligent and tougher than anything we fought so far put together. We can't fight her head-on."

"Looks like we have no other choice." Motoyasu stood up, grabbing his fallen spear. He ignited the tip to a flame, burning the air around it with a simple thought. "What a shame. She really is quite a woman, but I won't forgive anyone who hurted my friends."

"Wait, Motoyasu. I have a plan, but it's going to be really iffy." Naofumi nudged the Spear Hero who tried to step forwards, beckoning him to look onwards, but the internal wounds screamed, forcing Naofumi to grit his teeth instinctively.

"Naofumi, you're not healed up fully yet!" Motoyasu, as if he completely forgot that he was in the midst of healing him before Naofumi broke out, held out his hand to heal him once again. "We can't be having a tank who can't even move or take attacks! If you die, then who's going to cook for us!?"

That brought a gentle smile to Naofumi. "Thanks, Motoyasu. How much can you do in our limited time?"

"Even if I wanted to get to to a better stance on your health bar and physical condition, there's no way Ren and Itsuki can buy me enough time for a proper heal." Motoyasu paused, rethinking about what he said. "N-Not that I don't believe in them, but they're getting completely stomped!"

"Then, don't worry about me! We won't have a chance if we don't fight together—!" Naofumi's spine shivered when he caught their expressions and posture.

Itsuki's eyes had the underlying tone of red underneath his golden pupils.

Ren's fangs shone in the shape of his sword.

Even with the conditions set for them, and the limits they were pushing against their bodies, it was clear that their minds were not longer listening to reason anymore. All that remained from the shouts of their souls were unstoppable adrenaline, stripping down any additional words Naofumi wanted to say.

""Stay out of this!""

Naofumi was taken back at their screams of interruption.

"That's… not good," Motoyasu mumbled.

"... Ren and Itsuki both know that she's been playing with us, and it's getting to their prides."

Motoyasu looked back to Naofumi, astonished. "She is!?"

"Think about it, Motoyasu. She easily broke through my defenses, and she clearly sees you trying to heal me back up while Ren and Itsuki keep her busy. With all those blocks, parries, and retaliations, I don't think it's out of the question for her to be able to strike the defenseless down while the main fighters are stunned. If her objective is to kill us, like she says, then wouldn't we be dead by now?"

Motoyasu's light bulb had flicked briefly, enough to understand. Staring at Glass, he mumbled defeatly. "She really is playing with us. Does this mean we don't have a chance?"

"I got an idea. The stronger the material's level, the stronger the weapon that we unlock, right? That's what my plan centers around, but for now, I need you to heal me up enough to be able to take a few more attacks from Glass."

"Are you sure that Glass won't attack us?"

"... She's too preoccupied playing with Ren and Itsuki, but that fire in their eyes. I've never seen them be this heated before, but it's almost like they've been through a similar emotion before. It's controlled."

"Ren… Itsuki…"

ነነነነ

Their fists collided with each other's body, sending the two boys staggering behind themselves. The rain pouring only made the wounds and bruises hurt more, as their uniforms became more soaked as time passed on. They never thought about being in a real-world fight like this nor did they ever prepare themselves for one, but here they were—smacking each other with the language of the fist.

It was painful, they thought. It ached all over the place, they thought. However, never once during their fight did they ask themselves why they were fighting to start with.

The once curly hair that one of the students had was now reduced to somewhat curly, as the rain brought weight onto the tip of each strand. His shoes were flooded,and his socks were chilled, as he stepped into a deep puddle once more without a single care. He gasped for air, as emotion overwhelmed his soul.

"Why don't you understand!? If I'm your childhood friend, then why don't you just leave me alone!? You think you're so cool, trying to help me! But you're wrong! You only make things worse for me!"

The opposing student weighted his body forwards, prevent himself from collapsing into the flooded ground. His black hair was completely covering his eyes from the rain, and he had to push it to the side once again to give himself a clear vision of the fellow student. The buttons of his uniform blazer popped off during the first few exchanges of the fight, as the white shirt underneath took in the water.

"Zip it. Your attitude has been pissing me off since day one!"

The black-haired boy started running towards his opponent, throwing out a left jab. It was evaded and was retaliated with a right hook to the chest. It wasn't at all strong, but after dealing the same attack to the same place, it was bound to eventually start hurting.

However, he didn't let himself flinch for too long. As he pulled back his left arm, he used the movement to aide the momentum of his right uppercut, nailing the student underneath his chin. The student quickly grabbed onto the boy's right arm, and pulled back, forcing his body to follow. The student took a breath and slammed his skull into the incoming boy, knocking the both of them further away from each other.

Both of them held their heads in grimacing pain.

"... How much long are you going to let anyone dictate your life…? How much longer are you going to let them step all over you…!?"

"... You're not in my position…! You couldn't possibly know how it feels to live a life like my own!"

The black-haired boy wiped the spit from the corners of his mouth. "Just keep talking like that, Itsuki. You won't be able to talk after I'm through with you. This is the result of the justice you seek. If you keep waiting endlessly, nothing is going to change!"

The curly-haired student shivered his hand, as he resolved the problem by clenching it firmly. "Shut…" Itsuki darted forwards, pulling back a fist. "Shut the hell up, Ren! You're the last person I want to hear mockeries from!"

Ren matched Itsuki's speed and force with the exact same movements. Their knuckles crashed together, cracking in the process. The recoil sent both hands in reverse, but Ren reacted first. His other hand took the swaying momentum to grab Itsuki's collar and slam him against the wall. The wall caught his spine, as his head knocked against it, and Ren winded up another punch across the face.

Itsuki tilted his neck quickly to dodge his attack, and kicked Ren in the gut without holding anything back. The dirtied footprint was marked on his shirt as he fell into the puddle that was welling up.

"For you, it's easy to talk like that!" Itsuki attempted to stomp on Ren's leg, but he rolled out of his daze. "You have parents that love you! You have peers that respect you! You're naturally skilled that the things you care about!"

Itsuki followed up, intending to kick up Ren's body like a soccer ball, but Ren narrowly avoided and grabbed Itsuki's foot as it passed him. Ren tugged at his foot, causing his other to slip against the wet surface as he collapsed hard onto the ground. He rolled away, wobbling onto his four limbs.

"What the hell do I have?" Itsuki continued, coughing up the rainwater that landed in his mouth. At the same time as Ren, the two boys stood back up, faltering in their postures. A broken bone or two was a given. "I have a life where my parents never give me any attention. I have a life where my peers either beats me up or believes that I don't exist! Everything I do, no matter how great it is, gets ignored! I could literally be the first ranked in my class for grades, and no one would even care!"

"... Where do I land then?"

"Underneath the peers that beat me up," Itsuki begrudgingly answer in an audacious manner.

"... You're wrong. This is the karmic justice you've been wishing for, Itsuki."

"This is far from justice."

"Then, what the hell is the justice you desire!? Do you just want to be saved!?"

Water dripped down from Itsuki's face, but wasn't from the rain. It was hard to tell them apart, but the twisting of his expression had told Ren that he was tearing up. The pain of his body and the pain of his heart was finally sinking in.

"I do want to be saved… Saved from this terrible life!"

"Then, I'm doing that right now! I'm saving you from yourself!"

"I'm telling you!" His screams strained the chords of his voice. "You don't understand a single thing about my life!"

"Yeah, I don't!" Ren's exclamation surprised Itsuki and froze in his stature. He looked to his black-haired friend in a blanked disbelief. "I don't understand who are you and how you live! I do understand that you're my childhood friend! I do understand that I hate it when you're all down! I do understand that I get pissed off when you smiled a fake smile, and say that everything is alright! You are your own downfall, Itsuki! If you don't understand that yourself, then I'm going to have to show you!"

"... Just shut up already." Itsuki's weakened grip closed once more. "I'm tired of listening to you ramble."

"You're an idiot, Itsuki." Ren did the same, and used his remaining strength to force his bruised hand to make a fist. He only had enough energy to make one final exchange.

The two of them ran up to each, screaming their souls out, and unleashed their fists towards each other. Not only was it their attacks that went through, but their emotions, their hearts, their pains, their sensations, and their voices.

One clear sound resounded through the heavy pattering of the rain.

Two fist landed on two seperate faces, as the knockback sent both students falling to the ground. They put their everything into that strike, and none of them could move a single muscle afterwards. The cold rain persisted, landing every drop articulately onto their bodies. Out of breath, his lungs scratched their throats for air as the two students simply laid there, watching the gray clouds above them.

"... There's a new game I think you would like."

"... What's this all about? You beat me up, then recommend a game?"

"... Action RPG. No need to wait for turns. Allegedly, it has a good story. I think you would like it."

Itsuki watched the moving clouds, but slowly closed his eyes. He quietly laughed.

"... Now, who's the idiot?"

ነነነነ

This world was rough. The story was clearly laid out for them to become the protagonists of the world, but life doesn't mold according to what was thought to be laid out. There was always the phrase that life was unfair, to convince those that these bad times of their lives were simply part of the course to prove that they truly exist as living creatures. It was nothing short of an excuse to keep these terrible events as part of the experience of truly living.

No matter what happened, they always found a way out into the light. Even when most of the country sees them as false heroes and regards them as renegades that should be killed immediately to summon a new batch of heroes, they trudged on. They had no other choice. They had to grow strong to defend themselves from the forces that wanted them dead.

What happens when that light is nowhere to be seen?

What happens when that strength isn't enough?

Desperation occurs. Desperation breaths.

ነነነነ

[Sword Hero Command]
[Shadow Sword ==) Fanged Sword]

Ren pushed his legs outwards, almost gliding across the wooden planks and smashed his jagged blade against Glass, who blocked using her fans. The wounded bruises released more blood upon the impact, grazing past his body. However, Ren was only focused on the fans.

He thrusted his body to score another attempt, slashing in a spinning attack. Once again, it was blocked before he could make a full circle.

This was too slow, he thought. I needed to go faster. Fast enough that she can't possibly block any of my attacks!

Perhaps if he made a deeper wound on his opponent, then a mark would arise and Glass would become injured. He kept telling himself that, but he wasn't satisfied thinking it was a possibility.

Ren's slashes began to pick up velocity, aiming from every single possible direction he could think of. Over his shoulder, dragging upwards, a straight thrust, a horizontal arc; all attacks he lashed out in his heated fury was promptly taken care of by Glass—

Ren caught one of Glass' fans within the jagged indents of the Fanged Sword.

"Hrah!" Ren twisted the grip on his sword, causing Glass to lose her handling, and he tossed his sword into the air, bringing the fan along for the ride. Armless for armaments it seems, but Ren clenched his fist tightly, and threw it out towards Glass' face. The speed was unmatched, and there was no way that Glass could defend herself of the unexpected move.

His punch landed a solid hit on her face, but Ren looked at her in horror. There was no knockback or any flinching. She literally took the attack on purpose, as she stood there, looking with an unimpressed expression.

"Meaningless."

The wind blew him backwards once more, as the fan returned to Glass. His own sword did not, as the winds pushed it backwards, over to Itsuki's direction.

[Sword Hero Auto-Command]
[Holy Weapon Separation — Legendary Sword will revert to base form.]

It wasn't to say Itsuki hadn't been doing nothing during Ren's attack. The moment Ren left her vicinity, Itsuki snapped his fingers.

"[Gale Storm]!"

Itsuki prepared wind arrows around the fight, and his trigger caused the multiple surrounding projectiles to converge onto Glass. However, she simply spun her body around and knocked all of them away, ending by turning to him.

"You should learn how yielding works, Bow Hero. This applies to the Sword Hero as well. Surely, you have seen the clear difference between our strengths. You cannot defeat me as a poor excuse for a Hero."

[Bow Hero Command]
[Gale Bow ==) Gunpowder Bow]

"And you still try regardless."

Itsuki silently aimed straight ahead, shooting out the formed arrow. Her winds prevented any further progress, but the plan wasn't to hit her with the attack. The arrow exploded, leaving a black smokescreen in between Itsuki and Glass.

Itsuki dashed over to the side, as his eyes were locked onto Ren's sword. He reached for it, grabbeding the hilt, but the brutal reminder of the Holy Weapons played into effect in the shock of his hand and the game-like screen popping up in the corner of his eyes.

[Attention]
[Cardinal Heroes cannot use weapons other than the respective Holy Weapon they are assigned.]

Itsuki didn't care. His hand rebounded and grabbed the handle of the sword. A bigger shock was sent through his arm. The system really didn't want him touching other weapons. His ears were beginning to ring and his nerves felt like they were going to be fried. The blood from his wounds burned, scalding like a melting sun.

[Attention]
[Cardinal Heroes cannot use weapons other than the respective Holy Weapon they are assigned.]

Itsuki bit down on his teeth, taking in the full impact of this lingering pain. His arm felt like it was going to shatter into millions of pieces, to the point where it was almost becoming numb. A sick joke that the system held for them; to have the pain go just before the breaking point where the damage was so great that a person couldn't feel it.

Nevertheless, Itsuki lifted the sword, gripping onto the handle.

[Attention]
[Cardinal Heroes cannot use weapons other than—]

"Shut up! I don't know the meaning of yield! Why!? Because we are the ones of justice! The light will always conquer the darkness! On our righteous path, we won't falter!"

[Bow Hero Command]
[Gunpowder Bow ==) Legendary Bow Base Form]

"DROP DEAD!"

Through his pain-driven tears, he pulled the sword back along the string. The sword ignited in a light in a similar way his arrows did. A swift aim through the smokescreen, and he fired. Releasing the sword freed his arm from the constant strain, but if mental damages transferred over to physical body, his entire arm would be charred.

The clouded darkness was coiled around the incoming ammunition, running past to reach Glass who was on the other side. The cylindrical hole grew bigger, breaking the smokescreen.

Glass widened her eyes to see the sword flying at her, but she barely avoided it by shifting her head to the side. As it passed her, she couldn't comprehend it. She didn't think the Bow Hero would do something ridiculous towards his own body—

"Well said, Itsuki."

Glass turned her head to find Ren in the air behind her once again. The persistence of the Sword Hero was starting to lay down on her nerves, but he was much too quicker this time and she detected his presence too late. His spirit was dying and diminishing, but he unknowingly used that to his advantage. He caught the sword in a backhand grip, shattering the light into trailing fragments, and lunged forwards with the attack. The light transformed into a vicious water stream seamlessly.

"[Water Art — Dance of the Dragon]."

A skill that allowed eight quick slashes, empowered greatly. Ren struck downwards once, but Glass narrowly avoided it. Flipping the sword back to a normal grip, he swung as if it was a rhythmic dance. Pushing Glass away to the distance, but being unable to land any of the remaining seven strikes, he noticed something different. There was no following counterattack from her, and Ren stood back upwards with a lunatical smile on his face. He brought back his sword in a normal grip.

"Is that fear in your face, Glass!?" Ren hysterically laughed.

"It is the expression of annoyance," she answered sharply. "I never thought that the Heroes here were akin to bugs, but the similarities just keep appearing. You may have some tricks up your sleeves, but there are nothing more than tricks. Simple actions worth a little more than a festivity."

Itsuki came forwards to Ren's side. Ren leered over to see that his left arm had been teetering on the boundaries of unusable, and the only thing convincing him of otherwise was the twitching in the fingers Itsuki was doing on purpose to keep it from falling asleep.

The last time he saw Itsuki be beaten up this badly was their own fight back in their world, but the flames Ren saw in Itsuki's eyes were much brighter.

Their minds wanted to keep fighting until they came out on top, but their bodies wouldn't allow for any excessive exchanges. They were on the verge of collapse, and their health bar was unspeakable. It was blurred in their vision, but they shouldn't have too much left. The same goes for their SP, since they were using skills whenever possible.

"This has gone on for long enough." The aura behind Glass turned a grim shade of orange as she prepared her fans. "Die."

"[Zero Stance Rondo — Reversal of Four Seasons]."

Not one wide arc, not two arcs crossing at the midpoint, but multiple slashes formed and shot out like a gatling gun. For every one slash she formed, five more followed at different angles.

Ren and Itsuki braced for impact.

[Shield Hero Command]
[Rope Shield ==) Legendary Shield Base Form]

"[Shield Prison]!"

A iron sphere formed around the two Heroes, as the attacks crashed against the surface. It shook the interior violently, but once the skill ended, Glass' skill ran out of projectiles.

[Spear Hero Command]
[Recovery Spear ==) Flamerock Spear]

"[Burning Assault]!"

Motoyasu leapt from the side, smashing his flaming spear onto Glass in a multi-hit combination attack, who blocked all of them without looking at him. A frustration was building up on her face, as she pushed Motoyasu's spear to the side, and knocked him towards Ren and Itsuki with the other fan. He took a few bounced, but grinded to a halt by dragging the tip against the unbreakable planks.

"I thought we told you to—!"

"Naofumi has a plan," Motoyasu stated.

Naofumi ran up to meet the other Heroes, side by side. "There's a small shot that we could stand a chance against her, but we need to be on board with it. This includes buying more time."

"I think we bought enough time for you," Itsuki mumbled. "We're practically walking blood bags now."

"One more minute. I promise."

The blood rushed quickly throughout his mind, somehow toning down his emotions with Naofumi's reason."... Fine." Ren nodded, raising up his sword. Between the Sword Hero and Bow Hero, their irises started to fade back in.. "One last bout. Our lives depend on this one."

"Our bodies can only commit one last bout." Itsuki brought his bow forwards, as if to shoot, but he allowed his left arm to rest.

"Then leave it to Naofumi and I. The plan's pretty cool." Motoyasu stood back up, spinning his spear to a warrior's stance. "Just follow Naofumi's lead."

"I'm betting our already low chances of survival on this one." Naofumi stood in front of the three Heroes and brought his shield forwards to face Glass. "But no matter what, I want all of us to live. You three believed in me when the kingdom conspired against me, and fell by my side when the world scorned me. Even if Motoyasu had his doubts, you eventually turned around. Even if it was better for Ren to keep quiet, you still spoke up against the injustice. Even if Itsuki didn't want to be looked down anymore, you still became a criminal with us. You are truly my friends, and I'll use this shield to protect you!"

The coloured orbs on each weapons started to ignite to a bright light, with each colour turning to white.

[Requirement Fulfilled]
[Time-Limited Parameters Initialed]

[Shield Hero Auto-Command]
[Legendary Shield Base Form ==) United Legendary Shield]
[Current Soul — Legendary Shield Base Form ]

[Sword Hero Auto-Command]
[Legendary Sword Base Form ==) United Legendary Sword]
[Current Soul — Legendary Sword Base Form ]

[Bow Hero Auto-Command]
[Legendary Bow Base Form ==) United Legendary Bow]
[Current Soul — Legendary Bow Base Form ]

[Spear Hero Auto-Command]
[Flamerock Spear ==) United Legendary Spear]
[Current Soul — Legendary Spear Base Form ]

[Holy Weapons are now linked and strengthened.]

"This again?"

"Is this where our comeback starts?"

"Hell yeah! I'm ready for this!"

The three Heroes stood by Naofumi's side, aiming their weapons all at Glass. Naofumi took one last good breath, the final one that he'll get for the remainder of this fight.

"Let's do this, you three!"

ነነነነ

"Do you sincerely believe that you can success?"

Ren and Motoyasu dashed past Glass at opposite sides, baring their weapons for a simultaneous strike. Naofumi rushed down the center, while Itsuki supplied with as many arrows as his arm would allow him.

The two flankers unleashed their attacks, devouring their weapons in water and fire respectively.

"[Water Art — Dance of the Dragon]!"

"[Flame Assault]!"

The fans stopped the skills from getting any further than a single hit. She forcefully pushed the two Heroes away as Naofumi came for a frontal charge. His free hand clenched into a fist, as he threw it wildly at Glass. Like it was hard as a rock, the attack collided with Glass' chest, and he twisted his body to perform an uppercut, knocking Glass' head backwards.

"Was that supposed to hurt, Shield Hero?"

Without bringing her head back, she closed both of her fans towards Naofumi, who guarded it in time with his shield. The impact pushed his feet to grind against the wooden planks, but he quickly recovered his posture.

Arrows flew from behind Naofumi and curved their way around him. Glass merely smacked them all out of the air like flies, but the pressure that they were placing onto her gave enough time for Ren and Motoyasu to recover and rebound another set of attacks.

The two Heroes thrusted forwards, but Glass guided the weapons' tips around her, causing both of them to wobble. The two reacted instantly, as Motoyasu transitioned his stab into a spin, and Ren likewise as he drops to a knee to avoid being in Motoyasu's range.

"Try to escape this!" Motoyasu screamed.

"... If you wish."

With her mocking reply, Glass stopped the two weapons from gathering with what seemed to be a barrier, and shoved the two wielders away. Once again, they were driven back from her powers in the makeshift game of reverse tug-of-war. However, this allowed Itsuki to release his skill without hesitation.

A shining arrow expanded in luminosity and size, as a green magic circle appeared directly in front of its pathway. He released his finger from the nock, and his shoulder felt the recoil.

"[Grand Hurricane]!"

As the arrow passed through the circle, it alit and on the other side, a savage whirlwind raged in a linear direction. If the environment was interactable, it wouldn't be out of the question if the attack ripped up the wooden floorboards in its wake.

Glass twisted both of her fans, and timed a perfect cross slash as the skill came within her radius, dispelling the entirety of the attack. In the meanwhile, she noticed Naofumi in the corner of her eyes, holding out his shield arm.

"[Shield Prison]!"

The skill wasn't to protect his allies this time, but he used the skill to imprison Glass within a confined space. The strength of it was no match for her, as the force used behind Shield Prison was weaker in comparison. Naofumi knew it was a given that Glass would be able to break out of it easily, but once she did, Naofumi had leapt and was already falling towards her with his shield crashing down.

Glass prepared to knock Naofumi out of the air—

[Shield Hero Command]
[United Legendary Shield — Soul Changed to "Gunpowder Bow"]

—but he was ready.

The moment Glass' fan clashed with Naofumi's shield an explosion occurred, but it didn't hurt those within the blast radius. It surprised Glass however, as the shield itself didn't change shapes, throwing her guard off. The additional effect of using the Gunpowder Bow as the soul triggered. The blast sent Naofumi backwards, but ten arrows automatically fired at Glass' general area from the shield. The smokescreen size increased with every detonation.

Naofumi ran back into the cloud to where Glass should have been, and started bashing his shield against her. His speed wasn't as fast as Ren's disappearing trick, but he more than made up for it by having a fearless frontal assault. He couldn't land against flesh, only bladed fan.

He kept an eye on his SP, seeing how low it was, but he had enough to hold her there for long enough.

"[Shield Prison]!"

Using enough SP for a strong-willed Shield Prison and to leave him with one more skill use, he imprisoned Glass within the sphere-like cage. As he thought, it took a few seconds for her to shatter the container, which had also dispersed the smoke from her surroundings, but he bought enough time.

Itsuki and Ren weren't being idle through the time he got for them.

With his heavily-damaged arm, he casted a wind spell in the shape of a uncontrollable gust, and held it against Ren's blade. The charging water took the spell from its own, as if it was absorbing it into the surface. With how busy Naofumi kept her, she didn't realize what they were doing.

Ren's trailing pseudo-blade of water violently expanded into a mixture of a water sprout. The combination ruffled Itsuki's clothing aggressively, as Ren's eyes locked on the target.

"Do it now!"

In one fluid motion, Ren took a step forwards, causing Itsuki to stagger backwards from the sheer acceleration. A hurricane formed a straight path towards Glass at an increasing velocity that Ren had never shown until now.

"Combination Skill!" he shouted. "[Pressurized Gale]!"

The blade collided with immerse force, roaring with clang against the fans. Ren screamed his heart out, pushing his shoulders inwards. Glass tried to hold her place, but the unyielding momentum was too much to handle, even for her. It must have been doing a number on the Sword Hero himself though, but the conviction written in his deafening howl showed no fear.

Ren was able to push Glass' feet a few meters apart her original position, until Ren's body couldn't handle the pressure anymore and broke away from the powerful collision. His arms felt limp, having enough feeling to have a manageable grip on his sword, as Naofumi swooped in to catch Ren before he crashed into the ground.

Glass didn't show any differing signs, but they were certainly making progress. However, she acted as if she took the attack on purpose though, brushing off the dust on her kimono.

Ren got back on his feet after thanking Naofumi quietly, and Itsuki stumbled his way to their side. The three Heroes stood together—

"The Spear Hero—!?"

Glass had noticed where the remaining Hero was, but she was in disbelief.

Motoyasu had been falling down quickly from the heavens above with the spearhead pointed downwards in being engulfed in fire, just like a meteorite. However, that wasn't what she was surprised about. She knew that the Spear Hero's presence leapt upwards when the smokescreen occurred in the attempts of possibly attacking fast from above, but from the angle she looked at him, there was no possible way that he could ever hope to land onto her.

Just what were they thinking?

"[Air Strike Shield]!"

Naofumi threw the rest of his SP to make a barrier between them and their opponent, as Itsuki prepared to consume the remainder of his own SP, watching the Spear Hero's descent carefully.

"[Ignition Meteor]!"

As Motoyasu landed behind them, the entire boat began to shake, affecting Naofumi's and Ren's standing. However, as Motoyasu kept pushing downwards on his spear, Itsuki leapt high enough to land on his skyward-facing feet and held his bow in the same direction. The flames burnt him slightly, but he was resolute in his actions.

A magic circle pointed up, and the remaining two Heroes quickly ran to hold on to the guardrails.

"[Grand Hurricane]!"

The skill spilled out as he shot what seemed to be his final arrow, and the winds became uncontrollable. It kicked up a stir, but most importantly to the plan, the law of physics began to play their role.

The ship started to move down.

Fast.

Glass leaped up before the ship could move out of instinctive nature, as she watched the floating ship plummet to the earth below them—as Naofumi did with her.

She had been floating, a confirmation of information for Naofumi.

And the ship came to a loud crashing noise, resonating through the land. The bodies of the Heroes were nothing more than mere ants from her perspective.

"They brought down the entire ship with them," Glass muttered to herself, still in shock. Their struggles came to such a point of absurdity that it was worth a chuckle. "Perhaps they are not true Heroes, but they certainly have the makings of one."

ነነነነ

Motoyasu and Itsuki collapsed on one another; the former had been panting, while the latter had looked like he had just died and came back temporary. He was coughing raspily, and vomit had choked him up before coming out in a subtle manner. Ren had stayed sitting down, catching his breath; a much deserved one that that, as his lungs were scraping his insides repeatedly. In the meanwhile, Naofumi walked over to the corpses of the Soul Eaters that fell down with them with gravity's assistance.

"Man, that was insane!" Motoyasu shouted, completely astounded by what he had just done. "I don't know how that worked, but it worked!"

"Don't let your guard down, Motoyasu," Naofumi turned his head towards the floating woman in the sky, continuing his paces. She was staring directly at them. "She might not be done with us yet."

"So she uses some sort of spiritual magic. Explains why she's floating up there." Ren said, gasping for air in between batches of words. "I guess Itsuki's insight of that unnatural wind magic was related after all."

"Somehow." Itsuki managed to croak the single word as he laid flat on the floor.

"That's like our own SP, right?" Motoyasu commented. "Then, this plan should work if she chooses to pursue us."

"... Maybe. I can't exactly guarantee it."

Before the battle with Glass kicked off, they were having massive difficulty in fighting the Soul Eater, what they believed to be the boss of the wave at the time. The main reason was that it kept mitigating magic-based attacks and absorbed SP whenever they attacked with a physical attack. It was lucky of them that they chose to recover their SP with potions in between the fights when they had the chance.

Naofumi crouched down and used the edges of the shield to help him tear a piece of the Soul Eater's flesh. The texture of its skin was tougher than he assumed, as he had to dig his shield in further to separate an acceptable size for the shield to take in. As he was slicing it off, he kept thinking about how easily Glass had defeated the extra one that showed up in after the first Soul Eater fight. One activated skill of that Four Seasons attack was all she took to completely kill off the monster.

However, something didn't sit right with him. If she was another entity produced by the waves, this would mean that she would be allies with the monster. However, she hesitated at nothing to remove the Soul eater, which had been untouched until then. Certainly, if she simply left it alive to fight alongside her, casualties would be certain. He had confidence that she was intelligent enough to realize this.

Was there any other reasons why she would do that?

"U-Uh, Naofumi?"

Successfully placing the Soul Eater's flesh piece next to the orb, it took in and absorbed the material and unlocked a new shield for him. He couldn't exactly see the new physical state since it was currently undergoing its united form, but the system interface had alerted him of a new unlockable. It'll revert to whatever the Soul Eater Shield looked like once the time limit ran out.

[Soul Eater Shield Unlocked]
[Requirements Met]
[Equip Bonus : Spirit Resistance (medium), Spirit Attack Resistance (medium), maximum SP increase (medium)]
[Special Effect : Soul Devourer]

"H-Hey, Naofumi…?"

He wondered what the special effect could be. The system was helpful in aiding their navigation through the menus, and explained the mechanics in great detail, but it was never great at explaining what the special effects are or what the special skills did. It was practically trial and error when it came to it, and what they learned from experimentation is what they would bring into the next battle.

From previous knowledge though, he could probably infer what the special skill was. Most of their weapons with special effects replicated the monster's own special ability. In the Soul Eater's case, he believed that Soul Devourer referred to the monster's ability to take attacks and be able to sap SP from opponent, though those of this world did not possess the subbars of SP. That was something exclusive to the Heroes. In exchange, a normal person that uses an SP potion can only raise their concentration.

Though, the multiple spirit resistances did look interesting for this moment. If Glass did use spiritual magic, then this might be a good counter to her skills. However, if this was the case, the Soul Eater wouldn't have died in a single skill execution.

"Naofumi, we got massive trouble!"

With Motoyasu's shout finally breaking through, Naofumi looked straight upwards at where Glass should have been, and there wasn't simply the woman that they were fighting. One of her fans had been raised up in the air, and above it, a giant sphere of dark energy had been collecting. Judging the combination of the size and their injuries, there was no dodging this one without risking their health and life.

Naofumi dashed towards the rest of the Heroes, and turned to face his shield towards Glass. He was praying that this was going to work effectively, though he couldn't say anything to be sure. Honestly speaking, if he simply ran off now, he could probably escape the detonation range of the attack, but that would definitely leave Ren and Itsuki to die in its wake.

He wasn't going to let that happen.

Her voice vibrated through the air, sounding like a microphone to a speaker.

"I applaud your efforts, Heroes. However, I must end things here."

She swung down her fan and the sphere slowly fell in its guiding direction.

He didn't have any extra SP to intercept the full attack, and the mere presence of the sphere implied that he wouldn't survive a straight up attack without the help of a skill. No, even with a skill, his chances of dying were still quite high.

Even so, he raised his shield up high.

He wasn't going to leave his friends behind. They were the reasons why he didn't mind this type of lifestyle too much, even when the soldiers of a countries are out for his blood and even when the country's religion slanders their names are mere traitors to the world.

Death was not on the agenda. Death was not what they wanted to experience. They had people that still stood by their sides, even though their reputation was at the lowest. They still had to return to their allies that were back in the village! He didn't want to die. They didn't want to die!

[Requirement Fulfilled]
[Source of a Hero's Heart Activated]

"Wh-What?"

His shield's orb started to glow in a bright light, and he peered out of his corners to see if the others had been seeing the same thing. However, their attention wasn't on him. The orbs from their own weapons had been glowing in a similar fashion.

Naofumi suddenly felt a surge of energy, rushing from his feet and travelled upwards towards the shield. It was a lightweight sensation, as he checked his current heads-up display. Both health bars and SP bars were completely filled with a blinding white. However, he noticed that Motoyasu was getting weaker. Not only him, but Ren had looked paler and Itsuki's movements had diminished.

The shield sapping his friend's strengths. He didn't know how to stop it without causing mayhem, but Motoyasu raised his hand to stop Naofumi's worries.

"It's fine," he muttered. "I may be clueless at times, but you're the one doing this, right? That much, I can tell. It's completely fine, Naofumi. Take the energy of the big brother, and use it to ensure our lives."

"Oh?" Ren chuckled, struggling to move his body. "I thought it's times like these that you would be complaining about having your strength being taken by Naofumi, but I suppose being faced with the possibility of death can make a person a little nicer. Though Naofumi, you better save us if you're going to be sapping our strength like this. It's a pretty uncomfortable feeling."

Itsuki's body was twitching, but Naofumi noticed him using the last piece of his might to force a thumbs up, indicating that he was on the same page as Motoyasu and Ren.

"""Do it."""

Naofumi took a deep breath, calming his heart down as his friends gave him their consent. The shield felt different, holding the essence of his friends within. With a newfound conviction, he raised his shield as high as it could go.

The sphere dropped out of the sky and aimed to land directly on the surface, but words, like a long-forgotten lullaby, wrote themselves across his mind. The skill that he'll use to save them all.

He supposed that was the entire point of his job after all.

"[Shield of the Four Holy Weapons]!"

A giant barrier in the shape of a shield appeared a few meters above the weapon itself. It glared a brilliant light through the darken skies, as if it was the light of the cave they were travelling through for much too long. It was similar to [Air Strike Shield], but the quality use much greater. It was almost a sin to even compare the two skills.

The sphere crashed onto the barrier, and tried to force its way through. His existence felt like it was going to be shattered into pieces. Naofumi could hear the bones cracking in his arms and legs, but he didn't feel like they would give in. They couldn't give in.

He pushed his arms further skyward, screaming to ease the pain possessing his consciousness. Even if the sphere desperately tried to break the shield, he wouldn't budge. The emotions and pain that he felt were real, and they were laid down to protect those he cared about. As long as he had that feeling within his heart—

"I won't ever lose!"

The sphere exploded into shattering dark energy particles, but Naofumi saw a figure drop downwards through the sparkles of the broken attack. Glass had rushed in for her own physical strike, and Naofumi was prepared to handle her attempt with the new skill—

One swing shattered the barrier.

Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki watched in horror, as Glass winded up her second fan to strike Naofumi's physical shield. He gulped, but the light within his eyes didn't die. He was prepared to take the attack head-on, and roared as Glass struck the shield directly—

She backed off without leaving a single ounce of pressure on the shield.

She floated back to the boat's opposite end, where the Soul Eater's corpses were, clicking her tongue. She looked distressed for some reason.

There wasn't a single Hero that wasn't confused, and Naofumi expected his arms to break in that theoretical exchange. However, Naofumi kept his calm, and bluffed his state of emotions that he was still willing to fight. He watched Glass carefully, in case this was a trick of some type.

However, the timer countdown had changed. This had been Naofumi's first time seeing it, since they never had to timeout the wave before.

"That was rather sooner than I thought…" She spoke to herself, pondering upwards towards the skies. Even if Naofumi had a means of attack, it would be foolhardy to try and attempt something now. She didn't even look like she had broken a single sweat during the whole fight with them.

She turned back to Naofumi and the three fallen Heroes, who faced their heads towards her direction. A giant rift had appeared behind her, as Naofumi tensed up.

"It's quite disappointing, but I seem to be out of time. Do not misunderstand. You were simply lucky this time. However, your deaths are certain by our hands. It is only a matter of time and how long you can struggle for." She turned around and started walking into the void. They couldn't see past the opaque nature of the rift. As she took a step in, she utter one last phrase.

"Do not forget. We will be the ones to come out victorious."

And with that, her body entered the rift, which closed up.

The heavy atmosphere surrounding the Heroes had disappeared and Naofumi collapsed onto his knees. The nightmarish fight sent directly from hell had finally came to a close, as skies returned back to the normal colour that they were used to seeing, and the blood-soaked moon had disappeared alongside Glass.

His head turned over to the side, seeing their four companions rush over in the distance with a horrified look to their faces. The overhead angle made it easier to spot them, but seeing them again was a blessing to each one of them. Never did they think that escaping from one of the waves of destruction was a dream come true until the idea was fleeting away from them.

Ren crawled over towards the limp Itsuki, seeing that his body was still. Of course, he was worried, but the moment he placed his ear on Itsuki's chest, he heard a beating rhythm. Itsuki was only unconscious, as Ren started to laugh deliriously, holding onto Itsuki's ripped-up clothing. Even the cold swordsman had started to cry out of relief. Motoyasu joined in with the fragile emotions, seeing that his friends were all breathing.

Naofumi looked up to the blue skies, welling up his tears.

"It's… It's over. We're alive. We all made it out alive."

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"Master Naofumi, the casualties were kept to the minimum, as you told us to maintain."

The racoon demi-human was helping to tend Naofumi's wounds. The medicine had stung as much as he expected, but it didn't stop himself from winching in pain.

"Thanks, Raphtalia."

With his shield placed to the side of the chair he sat in, he looked outside the nearby window to the villagers who were cleaning up the broken debris of the houses and buildings. It was a complete mess, but there was little blood spilled onto the environment. The villagers were grateful enough to allow the four Heroes and their companions to stay in one of the inn rooms for free, as thanks for their aide. Of course, they knew this wasn't amounting to much as they saw the four companions literally drag their bodies back to the nearby village. When Rishia came across Itsuki's body, she was completely horrified seeing her original savior in such a state. He was lucky that Filo could transform into a filorial, pacted with a fluffy exterior. As much as her master just wanted to soak up in her feathers, Motoyasu had to give way to his unconscious friend. Ren still had enough energy to stutter around, but he needed Eclair who provided him support on the way back.

"... Master Naofumi. Can you listen to my one selfish request?"

Compared to himself, Raphtalia and the others were in a good state. They left the job of protecting and evaluating the citizens of the village into safety, as the monsters of the waves were lured into this location. It was then that Ren noticed the odd ghost-like flying ship in the distance, and the four Heroes left to investigate, thinking that the boss wouldn't come to them this time around. In the meantime, Raphtalia, Filo, Rishia, and Eclair were assigned to continue the job. He didn't expect it to end up like this, and certainly, neither did any of the girls.

"... What is it?"

"Don't do anything dangerous like that if you don't need to. Please."

Her hands shivered, holding onto Naofumi's hand tightly.

Seeing himself in a half-dead state might have scared Raphtalia greatly. She was someone who lost her parents to these waves, and as someone who had her childhood friend die within her grasp, she didn't want to lose anymore people that were dear to her. Naofumi understood her intentions quickly.

With his other hand, he caressed Raphtalia's beautiful, brown hair. Her ears twitched as the palm stroked past them. He met her somber expression with a gentle smile.

"I'll try my hardest not to, Raphtalia. For everyone's sake. Nobody wants to see the other die, and I intend on making that a reality."

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Ren held his sword and allowed his eyes to dangle their sights onto the blade. His other hand was caught within a bandaged suit, practically unusable. Though, Itsuki's left arm was in a worse condition from forcing himself to hold the Legendary Sword, then exerting more pressure onto it with the two [Grand Hurricane] skills afterwards. It was estimated that he would be bedridden just from that combination, and that still didn't account for the other injuries he sustained. That is, when he wakes up. Potions and recovery magic could only do so much for a fighter until they needed to have the wounds properly treated. Compared to that, Ren got off easy since he freely move around, though in a limited fashion.

As he sat underneath the clear night skies, he could only feel frustrated from the results of the third wave. It was such a long durated battle with Glass that felt like it was going on forever, only for it to end up the way that it did.

He knew he should be glad that everyone managed to survive Glass' onslaught and that the others were able to keep casualties to a minimum, and he was. He was absolutely happy that no one in that battle died, but his fight tormented him as he was smacked around by their opponent. He kept replaying the fight between them and Glass over and over again in his mind. Her strength and abilities were much greater than she let on. The fact that she hadn't been putting out the full display of her power and dared to even play with the targets that she wanted to kill was disheartening, and this was with the help of Naofumi, Motoyasu, and primarily, Itsuki.

If he were to hypothetically fight Glass alone, he would get completely destroyed.

That meant that he didn't have the strength to protect his allies.

His sore muscles were starting the strain once again.

He hated that idea.

He hated the idea that he was weak.

That idea made his stomach twist and turn tighter than anything that Glass could do to him.

Glass said that they will surely die the next time she meets them, but Ren's blood was boiling at her final words. He wasn't going to let that happen. The next time they meet, he was going to be the one that defeat Glass because he will be stronger than her.

Power.

He needed power.

No matter what, he wanted to see Glass dead by his own hands.

Weakness means death. Strength is everything.

I am not weak, he thought. I will not be defeated like this again, he thought.

I will have Glass acknowledge my power.

I need to grow stronger. Stronger than anything she has ever known.

His sword, as if it was responding to his soul, pulsated along the beating of his heart. As if it was absorbing the essence of his emotions, a hidden menu that went unseen from Ren appeared before him.

Glass will die by my hands.

[Curse Series Conditions have been fulfilled.]

"Ren?"

At the sound of his companion's voice, he snapped out of his trance. He turned around, as the gentle wind exposed the heavily wrapped forehead underneath his bangs. The bandage patches on his cheeks were unavoidable to see.

"Oh. It's just you, Eclair. What's up?"

"Everyone was wondering where you went."

"I must have been worrying them, but it can't be helped. Alongside Itsuki, we're pretty much unable to do anything for the next few days. Sorry about pushing our jobs onto you all."

"Don't be sorry." Eclair slowly walked to Ren, brushing her strawberry-blonde hair to the side. She looked upwards to see what Ren had been gazing at, or what she thought he was gazing at. "You fought past your limits as a Hero, and no one can take that feat away from you. Your injuries are proof of that."

Ren turned his head down, facing towards the grassy terrain. "Glass still won though, even if the results technically ended in our victory. Whenever she wanted to, she could have killed us at anytime."

"Be happy that you still have your life," Eclair tried to comfort. "Even if the kingdom of Melromarc turned against you, you're still a Hero. The people from the nearby village we evacuated were thankful for your appearances, and without your work, more people might have died."

"And Melromarc still wants us dead. This is all types of messed up."

"... That's right," Eclair sighed. She couldn't possibly perceive what the King was thinking. Surely, the Queen must have heard about the terrible events, but until she returns, this type of lifestyle persisted. "What type of king disregards the very Heroes they summon? We need to find the truth and tell the Queen somehow. Surely, she would help us after hearing our accomplishments."

"Well, I'm not too worried about discovering the truth. You're free to do that whenever you get the chance, but all I'm concerned about is our levels. It's basically our small escapade of eight against the army of Melromarc and the waves of destructions until the undefined end in the future. And now, we have Glass to worry about. Survive first, knowledge second."

As if on cue, Ren's stomach started to growled, and Eclair laughed.

"Would surviving include eating?"

Ren's mouth turned into a grin by the corners. "Look who's the smart-mouth now."

"You did say yourself that you were a bad influence."

"Can't argue with that." Ren nodded. "Is Naofumi cooking again tonight?"

"His injuries aren't preventing him from making a full course meal for everyone, and he was happy to do it for a job well done. Raphtalia and Rishia are helping him out too as extra hands."

Ren chuckled. "Good. After all of this," he turned back to their site for the night with Eclair following his close behind, "I really need to settle down with one of Naofumi's speciality dishes."

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Rising of the Four Heroes ED 1
Just Awake - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
(Original : Hunter x Hunter ED 1)

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Audio Track Unlocked
United Until The Bitter End / Four Heroes Theme
(Original : Tales of Xillia 2 - If It's For You)
(Final Boss Theme)

Audio Track Unlocked
Our Desperation
(Original : Fate Grand/Order - Challenging)
(EoR Grand Battle Theme)

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Afterword

I… I don't...

Why is the one-shot over 15k words? Why is the one-shot over 15k words? Why is the one-shot over 15k words? Why is the one-shot over 15k words? Why is the one-shot over 15k words? Why is the one-shot over 15k words? Why is the one-shot over 15k words? Why is the one-shot over 15k words? Why is the one-shot over 15k words? Why is the one-shot over 15k words? Why is the one-shot over 15k words? Why is the one-shot over 15k words? Why is the one-shot over 15k words? Why is the one-shot over 15k words? Why is the one-shot over 15k words? Why is the one-shot over 15k words? Why is the one-shot over 15k words? Why is the one-shot over 15k words?

I'm sorry. I really am. I never intended this to surpass five thousand words, but then I casually triple it. I don't even understand this phenomenon myself.

For your information, the foreword and afterword comes approximately 1.2k words.

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This AU where Naofumi, Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki are friends in the former world has its own headcanon that I like to piece together for random fragments of the plot.

I might return to this AU for a story segment that happens before the Glass fight. A multi-chapter one-shot, if you will.

If anybody is interested to what it would be, it returns back to Castle Town and sets up the scenario with Ren being imprisoned to get Naofumi, Itsuki, and Raphtalia away from trouble, while Motoyasu is still believing in Myne's words. When a former party member of Ren's group tells them in secret that Ren is going to be executed, Naofumi convinces Itsuki to join him in breaking Ren out of prison and wants to convince Motoyasu of his innocence, in turn saving him as well since if they decided to kill one of the Heroes, they were planning to kill all of the Heroes.

However, this means sieging the castle and stepping their foot within real crimes against the capitol. It's either that, or have their friend possibly executed.

Meanwhile, Ren manages to escape on his own accordance, and breaks out Eclair of her own prison cell because he needs her to get out of the castle grounds, despite her pleads to confront the king for the truth. However, he encounters Motoyasu who is still convinced that Naofumi is a bad person, and Ren and Itsuki are just as terrible people to trying to take his side. Sending Eclair to find the Shield Hero and Bow Hero, the Sword Hero and Spear Hero begin their fight.

The main focus of this hypothetical one-shot is Ren versus Motoyasu, while the two man siege (since Young Raphtalia would be a liability at this point of the story) occurs as the secondary focus.

… I swear to God, Ren isn't the protagonist in this headcanon. It's just all the interesting fights occur with him. Must be the Kirito soul he has in his character.

I do have an idea to create an elite group of five soldiers that follow the will of Melromarc, to which Eclair was once a part of before her imprisonment. This could give more excellent fights between the four Heroes and the four remaining elites. But I digress, I've gone way off topic.

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As everything, let me know how you feel about this one-shot. This will actually directly influence "Recourse of the Bow Hero", if you're wondering.

Yes, "Recourse of the Bow Hero" is not dead. I have things I want to write outside of Recourse too, you know. Though, if you really want to, the possibility of dropping Recourse is always on the table — [*angry mob noises*] — I'm sorry, that was a bad joke.

[I haven't started typing up the chapter yet, but I'm really burnt out from this one-shot. I might go finish Tales of Berseria first before starting Chapter 5 of Recourse. Tee hee.]

If anyone wants to start their hand at an AU where the four Heroes aren't complete assholes to the Shield Hero, then I highly encourage it. I'll put my money's worth that it'll be a good read, given you put in the effort.

Anyways, I've been writing for way too long now. I'm heading to sleep.

Note for clarity, I'm currently not interested in writing a full fledged fanfiction for this due to my priorities to finishing Recourse of the Bow Hero as of the uploading of this one-shot. The fantasy fight scenes are too good to pass up. That's it. However, the idea might be brought back onto the table if I somehow manage to finish Recourse one day.