Volume 2 / Chapter 16 / The Descending of Four Heroes
Itsuki was down.
Ren was trapped.
Motoyasu was still likely tired from his consecutive fights.
Although they had the numbers advantage on paper, it was really down to Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Eclair to deal with the threat before them. Appearances were deceiving, but Naofumi was sure that if Aldrecht had enough confidence that he could kill the Cardinal Heroes, he was strong enough to do so.
Given the fact that he couldn't attack, added with the fact that he and Raphtalia only learned how to fight under a month ago, Eclair was really the only best shot they had at beating Aldrecht if it had to come down to it. He thought it would be wiser to avoid this battle and do all that they could do to escape, but before he could call out to Motoyasu, Aldrecht already made his move.
"While it may be much easier for me to fight the heroes in isolated clusters, I cannot risk the possibility of losing you four." With the air becoming colder, Aldrecht brought his staff with a few mutters and held it against the ground. Ice started to freeze over the surface underneath him. "[Ice Cage]."
The frozen ground spread out like a wildfire, even reaching past Naofumi's feet. He backed up in trying to avoid it, but it ended up going right past him. It stopped at the perimeter of the garden and suddenly, the ice rose into a solid wall. It wasn't simply behind him either, seeing all four sides of the garden were closed off with the top being exposed to the darkened skies.
So much for his initial thought process.
"What is this?" Raphtalia looked around in bewilderment.
"It looks like an adaptation of a device called the Lightning Cage," Eclair explained. "Usually, the knights hold that in stock, just in case if we have to deal with rogue mages and whatnot, but this is clearly different. I've heard that Lord Aldrecht had a variety of skills and spells from his time in the war, so perhaps this is one of them."
"In fact, it was inspired by the Lightning Cage and we developed this skill during the Siltvelt War," Aldrecht explained, stroking his beard a bit too pleasantly. "It was rather effective at trapping our opponents on the battlefield, but we believed it was too effective. It was much better to reserve them for the enemy magicians, after all. At the time, we had limited access to much Lightning Cages we could use, so I helped in creating this new skill. Unfortunately, it still retains a few flaws due to the hastiness of development and the lack of usage once the war passed—"
Aldrecht stopped, shaking his head. He must have realized what he was about to say.
"What am I doing? Rambling about that instead of focusing on the task at hand. If I hadn't caught myself, I would have talked further on to the topic of its theory and all. This surely isn't the time to do so, nor do I have the time to speak on such tangents."
It was a shame. Naofumi would have liked to hear Aldrecht's explanation on the thing he didn't know about, especially when the other option was to fight him. He would have liked to know a bit more about these flaws in order to have some type of leverage in their situation. Aldrecht didn't seem like a bad person, so Naofumi could only blame whatever is making him do such a thing.
Nevertheless, they needed a plan.
"Eclair, I don't want to impose much onto you. I need you to be able to match Aldrecht in his strength, whatever it may be. As a former knight, have any ideas if you can do it or not?"
"Lord Aldrecht is a veteran of the Siltvelt War. With that in mind, he also holds himself as having one of the higher levels in the capital. It is not impossible, given that he is a mage lacking any serious defenses, but it will still stand to be a difficult task if we cannot beat his spellcasting."
"Then can the cage be broken in any way?"
"I'm not exactly sure. Usually, Lightning Cages can be unlocked by using the key that comes with the device. However, I fear that the only way to escape this version of the cage will be to break through it. I'm not sure that I can do that, but if we had a mage who can dispel ice, it would be theoretically possible."
They didn't have any of those things and if Eclair is their only shot at surviving this encounter, Naofumi didn't exactly appreciate their chances. While looking the part of a resolute knight, Eclair's hand was trembling at the thought of going against the king's retainer. It must have been on an equal level to be fighting the captain of the knights, something Naofumi has already once experienced, even for a short moment.
"Naofumi! Motoyasu!" Ren's calls for attention drew over the heads of the two heroes, as well as Raphtalia's. Eclair remained to watch Aldrecht's possible movements. "Get me out of this stupid ice! I can still fight!" He made a few meaningless tugs, but he demonstrated the energy that was still bellowing in his chest.
"You're back to normal?" Motoyasu couldn't stop himself from smiling. "You're truly back to normal?"
"Yeah. Thanks to a certain someone."
As Ren's eyes glanced over to the fallen Itsuki, their comrade was still conscious despite what they assumed. Naofumi was surprised at the friend's resilience, especially seeing him throw a thumbs-up into the air. It wasn't hard to imagine a satisfied smirk on his face.
"T-Thank goodness…" Motoyasu's voice was quaking, with tears of happiness welling up in his eyes, but Ren was quick to disarm that emotion.
"Never mind that right now! We can catch up later! You have to free me from here!"
"R-Right! I almost forgot!" Motoyasu wiped his tears and ran over to Ren's side. With his spear, he started trying to chip away at the ice, but it was starting to be obvious that it wasn't going to break easily. With a few [Flame Thrust] skills, it still wasn't budging by much, so he turned over to Naofumi. "Hey, do you think you can buy me some time here!?"
This scenario was certainly better than what he was trying to think of, but frankly, anything with a clear objective would have been better than the vague direction of needing to beat Aldrecht through a miracle. Ren's strength just be what they needed in order to turn the tides of this fight, so if they could last until then, their chances might grow to an acceptable amount.
"There's no need to ask. I would have done it regardless."
Naofumi lifted up his shield as Eclair and Raphtalia got ready for battle. His eyes narrowed onto
"Eclair. Raphtalia. Are you ready?"
"Even if I'm not ready, there is no time to prepare one's self here. We'll have to put in one hundred and ten percent into everything we do here."
"I'll follow your movements, Master Naofumi. You can count on me."
Seeing the Shield Hero still stand before him with any evidence of faltering, Aldrecht could only sigh. Whether it was out of pity or disbelief, Naofumi couldn't tell. However, there had been a sorrowful gaze nested in his eyes.
"Are you sure you wish to resist? I could ensure that your deaths will be quick and painless."
"You want to kill my friends," Naofumi growled. "That's all the reason I need to fight back."
"I suppose I would be a fool to assume anything else. I suspect that I would be in the same position if the king was in a similar situation as yourselves." Aldrecht lifted his staff, casting with magic circles being charged up. "Hold any grudges you wish to have against me. I'll bear those burdens to my grave."
Naofami immediately fell to a defensive stance, taking a step forwards in front of the other two.
"[Zweite Icicle Needle]."
"[Air Strike Shield]!"
Going through that interaction once more, Naofumi grew his suspicions as everyone stayed behind the transparent shield during the onslaught of ice. Thinking that Aldrecht wouldn't have done the same thing twice, his fears were realized as he watched Aldrecht pointed his staff to the ground next.
"[Zweite Frost Ground]."
Magic imbued into the ground and travelled right underneath the shield as the last ice shard collided, just like a groundhog burrowing its way through the earth. After it went past his defense, it leapt up from the surface with a roaring frost shard. It felt like it had enough magic pressure to knock him out in one fell swoop if he didn't do anything about it.
"[Shooting Star Shield]!"
With his new skill, he covered himself with a barrier before the ice could get through, smashing itself onto its protection. It wasn't enough to mitigate all of the damage, noticing that it was still managing to push him back and knock off some of his health.
While Aldrecht was focused on pushing the Shield Hero away, Eclair and Raphtalia were already dashing over to meet the mage in close combat. Eclair quickly outpaced Raphtalia and brought herself to their target first, unleashing a powerful thrust. However, an [Faust Ice Layer] spell activated before it could make contact, forcing her to pull back her hit and bounce away for another direction.
No matter how much she moved, the screen would constantly follow her like it was a type of automatic orbiter around Aldrecht, but there could only be one of them at a single time. Raphtalia took advantage of that, coming in from the opposite side. It would take time to cast up another magic spell, so she closed in with a wide slash.
She didn't notice that [Zweite Frost Ground] was still in play. It didn't simply disappear when it sank back into the ground after it attempted to claim Naofumi. Instead, it travelled back to its caster and leapt up to intercept Raphtalia's attack. It was like it had a mind of its own, but it was probably being controlled by Aldrecht himself.
Needless to say, Raphtalia had to back off in the fear of the counter, but the spell didn't trigger a retaliation like [Faust Ice Layer]. Eclair was forced to do the same, as Naofumi recovered and brought himself back into the fray.
[Faust Ice Layer] shattered by itself, likely due to it being out for too long. The old man glanced at the three opponents, humming as he stroked his beard. His body language looked like he was taking them lightly, but a closer inspection to his narrowed eyes suggest otherwise.
"The current generation surely has much energy to spare," the old man spoke aloud to himself. "If it were a feat of physical strength, I would certainly be at a loss right now. Ever since the king and the queen brought upon us a new era of peace, there was no further need to hone combat skills. I can only hope that my magic capabilities and my mana capacity haven't dwindled much in their power."
"Lord Aldrecht!" Eclair shouted, intervening in his gracious analysis. "Why are you doing this!? Please explain yourself!"
"It is not your liberty to know." Aldrecht sighed a heavy breath. "Merely understand that I don't want to claim the innocent lives of the Cardinal Heroes, but in order to keep our peace, this must be done."
"That's ridiculous!" Naofumi spat. "How could killing us bring peace to Melromarc!? Weren't we summoned here, precisely to fight the waves of destruction and protect this world's peace!?"
"Unfortunately, that is not how the public perceives you."
News of Naofumi's trial and Ren's crimes must have already spread out, while Itsuki's deeds at the noble's mansion must have been catching up with him. If the public's perception of the heroes were not good, taking the time to summon another group of heroes was similar to a soft reset of the entire mess. That was what Aldrecht was probably aiming for.
Though, he felt like something was off about that explanation. His shield slightly lowered from being somewhat distracted by his thoughts, not being able to put his finger on it.
"Although there may be a way to wrap this up nicely, I suspect that time is of the essence. With such an opportunity coming into my hands, I had to take my own risk in these plans."
"And yet, you could have waited for the Queen." Eclair answered. "You could have kept supporting the Cardinal Heroes in however methods that you can from the shadows and waited for the Queen to fix everything concerning the heroes. Surely, she would be able to—"
"If it had been one hero being pulled down to that level, I would have certainly waited. The Queen may have sharp negotiation skills and her diplomatic abilities know of no bounds, but she is only human. It does not take a genius researcher to understand that her arm is tied behind her back with her legs folded in right now."
"I'm sure the Queen could figure out something out of—!"
Aldrecht tapped his staff onto the ground with frustration, interrupting Eclair's pleads. Naofumi wasn't sure where that frustration was directed to, but the face of the old man suckered up, grimacing with sourness.
"Leverage. That was the only card I could see her use against the other countries. They've done their fair share of questionable things, especially when it came to the heroes of the past, but none of that could surpass the events we are experiencing right now. I would have wished to know what was happening at the Queen's conference as of the moment, but..."
"Y-You don't know what's happening?"
"Communication has been scarce. Lord Noches had been trying to look into it for a while, but it's certain that some third party has been interfering with our network. If it weren't for that consistent intervention, we would be able to have a better grasp of the situation. Alas—"
Aldrecht, once again, caught himself rambling on about what was happening. It seemed like there was a lot more to the background that Naofumi, and perhaps the others, weren't aware about. However, that one thought of having people know about the bigger picture sparked the gears into full rotation in his mind.
He knew it felt odd.
"If the objective is to kill us to summon new heroes, why hasn't anyone else known about what you're trying to do? Haven't you… told anyone else about what you're doing?"
Naofumi was evidently talking about the apparent princess and her words on the matter. Added to that, none of the knights looked aware of what it was that they should have been doing, hiding behind the reason that the Shield Demon has brainwashed the other heroes into their bidding. It would have given more context to the [Ice Cage] that surrounded them.
What if the [Ice Cage]'s purpose wasn't simply to lock them in?
What if it was also meant to keep people out?
Why exactly was Aldrecht hiding his intentions to kill the Cardinal Heroes? It wasn't difficult to see that Aldrecht was an old man with a good heart. Naofumi couldn't wrap his head around that.
"I've talked too much. Forget about the ramblings of this old man." Aldrecht's shifted back into his combat mindset, casting magic circles at the group. "Words should be reserved for academic research, not for a battlefield."
Shards of ice formed from the circles and flung themselves into Raphtalia's direction. Without hesitation, Naofumi leapt to block the spell with his shield. The poundings against his arms were noticeable and even through the metal, Naofumi was able to feel its coldness.
"Why can't we just talk things out, Aldrecht!?" Naofumi exclaimed, pleading as he stood his ground. "I know you're a good man; we just need some time to clear everything up! All of this was a misunderstanding!"
"Oh, I am fully aware."
Naofumi widened his eyes in surprise, but the old man's words weren't the only things he had to take a step back from. More icicles came crashing against Naofumi's shield, pushing him back ever so slightly. However, his focus was entirely placed onto the Shield Hero.
"Miss Raphtalia!"
Eclair's calls prompted Raphtalia to follow with her in closing the distance simultaneously, unleashing their blades to force Aldrecht to pick a side to defend. He didn't have [Zweite Frost Ground] to protect the blindspot of [Faust Ice Layer] anymore, but he didn't need to make that choice.
"[Faust Ice Armour]." He casted a spell that summoned a full barrier around him, letting their blades meet nothing except the conjured ice. It didn't take long for it to shatter, suggesting it was one of those reactive spells, but Aldrecht was already chanting for his next one. "[Faust Ice Layer]. [Faust Icicle Needle]."
He set up that pattern again, leaving the barrier towards Eclair and giving the others his offensive option. There might have been some strategy in keeping his constant defense against their strongest party member and focusing on the weaker ones first, but all his attacks were primarily directed to Naofumi. He couldn't exactly do much while the shards kept pelting him.
It left Raphtalia without any pressure, giving her another shot to strike.
The mage, although in his elder years, accepted the attack using his staff. It obviously looked like he was struggling, but the technique he used was perfect. With one flick and a mutter under his breath, he staggered Raphtalia backwards and spun his staff to thrust her backwards.
Naofumi wasn't going to let that happen.
He threw himself forcefully out of the hailing magic, rolling to his knee. An [Air Strike Shield] was enough to easily block the mage's physical attack. He ran up into range in order to activate [Rope Trap], hoping that it might hinder Aldrecht's movements for a bit.
If they could get Aldrecht to listen to them, and in turn for them to hear his circumstances, that was probably the best case scenario that they could pull off right now. He certainly had more things to talk about, so it was up to them to make sure that he spits out what's going on.
Unfortunately, Aldrecht tore through the incoming [Rope Trap] easily with magic. It still gave him enough time to reach Raphtalia who tried once more after [Air Strike Shield] deactivated. [Faust Ice Layer] was forcefully moved over to her, triggering its counter in kind. Raphtalia backed up, but the pursuing shards were fast.
Naofumi was quick enough, jumping in to push Raphtalia out of the way. They fell beside each other, but Aldrecht's focus had to drastically shift back to Eclair. Her speed was incredible, beating out the mage's chants. It would have been a good hit to disable Aldrecht for a bit if she hadn't stopped.
It wasn't as if she wanted to stop.
Ice caught her leg, freezing her in place before her rapier could reach his shoulder. Apparently, [Faust Frost Ground] was still activated. Though, it was likely that he casted a new one to refresh its duration.
"W-When…?"
"As a mage, I do not perform physical attacks for nothing. It's typically to buy time to cast for myself. I may not be able to keep up your movements, but my magic certainly can."
Aldrecht aimed his staff at Eclair.
"[Zweite Icicle Needle]."
"[Shooting Star Shield]!"
Before the ices could penetrate through Eclair, Naofumi casted a barrier around her to better defend herself. However, the interaction played out just as with himself, pushing her out of her restraints and sending her backwards. The pain would have been greater, especially considering it would have been a direct attack otherwise.
She was still standing though and that was enough for Naofumi to turn his attention to Raphtalia. Helping himself up, he then pulled Raphtalia back onto her feet before turning his shield towards Aldrecht.
"Everyone is holding up fine?"
Raphtalia merely nodded.
"Somehow. I appreciate the assistance, Sir Naofumi." Eclair staggered, shaking herself back to shape. "We won't be able to break through Aldrecht's defensive measure if this keeps up. He wasn't a part of the Siltvelt War for nothing, especially while he was still supporting the king back then."
Any attempts to go on the offensive was met with harsh results. It seemed like the only way to go about going against Aldrecht was to take a defensive stance for now. He shouldn't be forgetting what they were trying to do either; that is, they needed to buy time for Motoyasu to get Ren out of the ice.
That being said, Naofumi couldn't grasp the time that process still needed. He quickly turned his head over to the trapped friend to see Motoyasu trying to help Itsuki onto his feet. The ice formation, on the other hand, had no signs of his friend.
"Wait, where's—?"
"[Falling Eagle Blade]!"
Ren, looking like he fell from the skies, soared down onto Aldrecht so suddenly with a blade. It was sheathed in a brilliant white light and it was especially unyielding to those in his path. Aldrecht looked up and allowed his [Faust Frost Ground] to leap up into the air to intercept the skill, but he sorely underestimated Ren's might.
He tore through the ice, shattering it to pieces, while using that ice to leap over Aldrecht and land right behind him. Aldrecht flinched and acted immediately, casting a [Faust Ice Layer] to dissuade Ren from going any further.
Ren didn't care.
"[Destruction Sword]!"
With the blade bursting into flames, Ren broke the magic barrier and activated its counter. The difference between the instances of him and everyone else was that Ren didn't flinch. He took the attack while ignoring the pain that drove into his body, just so that his sword could hit Aldrecht.
And it did.
Aldrecht braced himself, being flung across the garden from the powerful and heavy attack. He didn't have the same acrobatics and agility as they did, so he didn't have a chance of landing on his feet. From that one attack, the old man struggled to get back on his feet. It wasn't difficult to imagine that wouldn't have been able to do so without his staff.
However, the damage from [Faust Ice Layer] kicked in for Ren, causing him to take a knee while wincing. Naofumi quickly came to his friend's side, seeing that the spell managed to make him bleed all over his body.
"Ren! That's was stupid! Why did you just go through that spell!?"
"Hey, I got a hit on him," Ren chuckled as he breathed heavily. "After coming up behind us like that against us, I was warranted to at least push the damn guy down off his feet."
Eclair quickly regrouped with everyone. Raphtalia came up to check Ren as well, out of her own worries. Seeing the hero smile, even through all that pain, must have been a relief for her. Naofumi knew it was for him, despite how much he wanted to lecture the friend about pulling a stunt like that.
"So the Sword Hero isn't our enemy anymore?" Eclair pondered aloud. "That's good to hear."
"Mister Ren is really back to normal. I'm glad."
"Yeah, I'm…" Ren gazed at Raphtalia with high eyebrows. Naofumi didn't realize what the issue was, only to remember when their last meeting was. "R-Raphtalia?"
"Yep, that's her."
"... I think I need an explanation after this." Ren stood up back, groaning his soreness out and readying his body for the ensuing fight. "We can put that aside for now. You said you wanted answers from Aldrecht during the battle. Am I right?"
"He likely has the answers we want and the help that we need," Eclair answered for him. "I believe we just need to subdue him and use that time to convince him to pull back on this crazy plan of his, whatever it may be."
"It's as she says, Ren."
"Then count me in, not that I have another choice in the matter. Hopefully, you've gotten better in fighting while we were apart from each other," Ren said, sliding in that playful comment. His head beckoned attention over to the other two. "Motoyasu is going to be out for a bit, trying to take care of Itsuki."
"Should you be the one sitting out? You just fought Motoyasu and Itsuki, back-to-back. Not to mention you just took one of his spells head-on!"
"I won't lie to you. My body is screaming at me right now, but my voice in my head is louder and it's still angry as to what messed up situation we're in." His grip on his sword got tighter, as he swung it into position. "It won't be satisfied until everything is put to its end."
Raphtalia and Eclair glanced at Naofumi, certainly worried that the Sword Hero was pushing himself too far. However, Naofumi's response ended up with a sigh, knowing that he really couldn't do anything at this point. "I guess we can't put you down. You've always been quite the stubborn guy."
Ren smirked. "Right back at you."
As Aldrecht got back on his feet, his hoarse coughing was showing signs of his weakness coming out. As much as a high defensive measure he had, if they could get another good attack off, they would be able to defeat him with their victory conditions intact. Though, it was going to be easier said than done.
"It appears I'll have to push myself to my limits. I've taken far too much time in dealing with everyone at my normal pace. A few calculations were off, but the theory is still present and alive."
Another magic circle was casted, but it looked much more complicated than the ones Aldrecht had been using so far. Like it was exerting magic merely from its preparation, he surmised a chant for it.
"I am the source of my power. Hear my words and heed them. Encapsulate all my enemies in sheer cold and leave nothing behind in your wake. Devour them all in an everlasting frost and let them know the true power of absolution.."
From its slight instance, it was obvious that it was going to launch an attack on the entire field. He could certainly cast [Air Strike Shield] and call everyone to hop in behind it, but it was going to leave Motoyasu and Itsuki without any sort of protection. While [Shooting Star Shield] would have rectified the problem of having two groups, he didn't have confidence that it could stand up against that spell.
Frankly, he didn't even know if [Air Strike Shield] was going to survive against that, but it was too far for anybody to stop him thanks to Ren's knockback. It must have been one of the reasons he felt safe to cast such a long chant.
However, Ren was already running forwards.
"Ren!? What are you—!?"
"[Drifa—]"
Out of the corner of his eye, a blinding arrow flew right by. His head turned around to see Itsuki who had just fired it off in his pain. His hands were blackened with some type of burn, but he still persisted in lending his assistance. Motoyasu, on the other hand, was already chasing after the arrow.
Itsuki must have told Motoyasu to ignore him, prioritizing their victory in this fight over everything else.
The arrow reached Aldrecht in time, causing him to stop his spell and with his staff to knock the projectile away. There was no time to restart it, especially with two heroes hot on the trail. He started chanting for other spells instead, pulling up his defensive measures in greater strength.
"[Zweite Ice Layer]. [Zweite Ice Wall]."
In this attempt, Aldrecht grew an ice structure behind him to cover his rear blindspots while keeping the retaliatory spell tracked onto the heroes. He immediately transitioned into his next chant which took a bit longer to pull off.
"On my mark!"
"Got it!" Motoyasu affirmed. "You're the boss here!"
"[Hundred Sword]!"
Light, shaping themselves into blades around Ren, launched themselves towards the [Ice Layer]. In doing so, it prematurely prompted the counter, launching the ice shards outwards. It was still nothing to scoff at, considering how fast they were coming to them.
"[Hundred Spear]!"
Motoyasu boosted forwards with a bursting sprint and held back his spear. As the shards came, Motoyasu unleashed a furious assault to smash all of them in the rapidfire skill. For Naofumi, it was incredible to see his friends and their prowess in these fights.
Finishing up, Motoyasu kept his momentum as he leapt into the air. His spear was charging with flames as he came back down, right onto Aldrecht.
"[Flaming Thrust]!"
"[Drifa Ice Layer]."
Another barrier arose between Motoyasu and Aldrecht, but the magic pressure being exerted by this one in particular was staggering. Naofumi could feel it from a distance, but Motoyasu persisted and struck forwards. The flames collided with the barrier in a frivolous manner as the magic spell treated his offensive capabilities as child's play.
Instead of ice shards, a full blizzard escaped its reflective surface, pushing him backwards in a great force. Naofumi acted, running over to catch the friend out of instinct. He did so without recognizing the momentum he would be keeping, so Motoyasu crashed right into his friend, leaving both of them groaning in pain.
"U-Ugh… Naofumi, I didn't squish or anything…?"
"Not anything… I've noticed yet…"
His head turned over to Raphtalia and Eclair, seeing that they were already running after Ren to provide him support. Naofumi did his best to get back on his feet, watching the actions unfold in the meantime.
As Motoyasu was being flung away, Ren was slashing away at the rear barriers, testing to see how strong they were. After quick deliberation, he thought that they were too strong to deal with, shifting courses and coming straight for the opening Aldrecht left to fire off spells at them.
He swerved around, dragging up his blade.
"[Onslaught Blade]!"
A ice pillar rose up to block the attack and while the initial strike didn't do much, the seven subsequent afterimage slashes were enough to break the pillar down. Aldrecht's follow-up cast of [Zweite Icicle Needle] was enough to push him back, but his blindside protection started to collapse. That was the perfect opportunity for Raphtalia and Eclair to launch a synchronized attack.
However, their attempts were thwarted when he backed up and casted another set of ice projectiles at them. They moved out of the way to dodge them all, but Naofumi couldn't exactly stand around and do nothing here.
Motoyasu dusted himself off as well as they watched the three sword wielders try to get in through the mage's strong defense. And if the only way to do that was to take a hit like Ren did, Naofumi knew what he had to do.
"I have a plan! Follow my lead!"
Without any further explanations, Motoyasu blindly did as he was told, running after the shieldbearer closely. Ren, Eclair, and Raphtalia were still doing their best, trying to get through to Aldrecht, but when Naofumi made his approach evident, they bought more time to distract their opponent to ensure that the Shield Hero could get as close as he could.
Aldrecht was still mindful and casted [Faust Ice Layer] to cover his options.
Seeing Ren, taking on Aldrecht without any fear—that should have been what he was doing the entire time. He had been the one with the high defense, so he should have been the one running head-first into Aldrecht, no matter what type of magic was thrown his way.
Perhaps Ren got tired of watching Naofumi's novice fighting style and decided to show him how it was done. That was a likely course of events that he could imagine to be real, since he was certain that he was still far from the ideal frontliner that his friends needed him to be.
If he wanted to protect those he loved, there had to be no room for hesitation.
All this time, he had only been using [Air Strike Shield] as a form of defense. Casting the green shield before him, he pushed it forwards to clash with Aldrecht's own defense and its retaliation effects were broken up the moment they left the surface. He stiffened, noticing the issue at hand as NAofumi kept pushing forwards.
While his [Faust Ice Layer] dissipated without doing anything else, [Air Strike Shield] persisted for a little longer and continued moving forwards. When it disappeared, Naofumi threw his shield to push Aldrecht away to stagger him and Motoyasu leapt over his friend, triggering a skill devoured by electricity.
"We got you this time! [Lightning Thrust]!"
Aldrecht did his best to quickly cast another defensive measure for himself, but Motoyasu's spear was quicker. It reached out before the ice could form and caused a minor explosion. Motoyasu got sent flying backwards, as did Naofumi, but Aldrecht was the one on the ground once the thin layer of mist cleared up.
He tried to stand back up, but he was met with swords at the neck from Ren and Eclair. He muttered something under his breath, likely grievances for himself.
"It's over, Lord Aldrecht. Cease this insanity at once."
"The moment this battle dragged out against multiple people, I was already at a disadvantage. I am not exactly as youthful or as powerful as I once was in my prime. All this era of peace must have dwindled my energy by quite an amount to the point where I cannot keep up with the current generation."
A bitter smile covered his expression as Naofumi and Motoyasu walked up from their knockbacked position. Raphtalia had also come up, sheathing her sword with the belief that the fighting was over. With his eyes glancing about them, he released a heavy sigh.
"Will you kill me now?"
"Far from it," Naofumi answered. "We were looking for answers. You kept tying your tongue, just as you were getting to the good parts that we needed to know. What's going on, Aldrecht? Why are you trying to kill us?"
"Does it have to do anything with the fact that the Sword Hero came to kill the king?" Raphtalia asked. "If so, I think he's been brought back from that state of mind. Isn't that right, Mister Ren?"
Ren scoffed. "For now, at least."
"That's… not a very helpful answer," Naofumi groaned, berating the younger friend with a stern stare. "Anyways, we're not here to hurt the king. That was never our intention, even of what he might have done to us. He is still a king, looking after his people, so it wasn't difficult to understand his decision on the trials."
"As I mentioned before, I am aware."
"What do you mean by that? That you've been aware?" Motoyasu asked. "Obviously, you would have known about Ren's intrusion if you tried to take me out of the equation beforehand."
"I had a feeling that the crimes you've apparently committed had another side to it. It only seemed suspicious that the Cardinal Heroes were summoned, simply to commit crimes before their first wave was met. However, it's unfortunate that not everyone would have thought the same."
Aldrecht tried to stand up to get his focus back, but a stern blade from Ren prevented him from doing so. His friend was insistent that they kept on the higher ground, even if Aldrecht was knelt down on a rather uncomfortable position. Whether it was intentional, the old man softly glanced over to the hero.
"Even if the Sword Hero had those intentions, I was assured that he would have been stopped."
"Hold on. You knocked me out! If you thought he was going to be stopped, you must have realized that I could have been the one that was being mentioned!" Motoyasu exclaimed, but he fell to a realization. He spoke up once more, trying to get some clarity. "If you're talking about assuration, you must mean that Zellus was really the one to tell you, right?"
With a nod to the second question, Aldrecht addressed the first. "Zellus told me that the Shield Hero and the Bow Hero would be coming to stop you. I was to do what I wanted with the Spear Hero, whether that was to let him join or not. I decided to incapacitate you, in order to return after dealing with the Sword Hero."
"Couldn't you just have killed Motoyasu, right then and there?" Ren asked.
"Not in the scenario that I fail which seems to be the current one. It was either to kill all of the heroes in one move, or to not kill any of them at all. There is no inbetween."
"You still dodge the original concern, Lord Aldrecht." Eclair looked like she absolutely hated putting Aldrecht at bladepoint, but her resilience kept her in. In fact, her rapier got closer to his neck. "Why is it that you wished to kill the Cardinal Heroes?"
"They may not intend to hurt the King, but if this situation continues where the heroes are seen as criminals to the land, we will certainly find ourselves within warfare against the other countries, as with the Siltvelt War. Only this time, everyone's opponent will be Melromarc. I cannot think of another way that would hurt Aultcray and Mirella more than destroying what they worked hard to protect."
Eclair thought for a moment, lowering her blade slightly. Ren noticed the faltering and without words, he chose to do her side of the work, bringing his own sword closer to Aldrecht's neck.
"Of course. Siltvelt, Faulbrey and all the other countries would be led to believe that Melromarc has lost control of their heroes. Since all four were summoned here, they would blame Melromarc for single-handedly dooming them all and look to seek retribution. Even a knight, as little knowledgeable in politics as me, could see that outline."
"That's why we need another group of heroes. It is the simplest option compared to forcing everything onto the Queen and if we could get another group of heroes, I'll be sure to have Lothringen keep a steady eye on all of them to ensure that nothing like this would happen again. Adversely, the heroes could be properly summoned accordingly as the original intention. One per country that's being represented at the conference the Queen is at currently."
"And the only way to get another set of heroes is…" Naofumi grimaced, remembering what was told at his trial when Motoyasu spoke up about getting a new Shield Hero. "It's by killing the current set."
Aldrecht nodded.
Everything started to piece together for Naofumi, but there were still a few questions were remained to be unanswered. At this point, he could somewhat understand the drastic measures that the old man had taken, not that he would agree with any of it though. He was certain that given enough thought and patience, there would have been a better answer than outright killing them.
But still—
"Why didn't you tell anyone of your intentions? Why were you planning to kill the Cardinal Heroes by yourself. Surely, if Lothringen and the knights were informed, they would have enough strength to take us down."
"Do you really believe that the captain of the knights would accept such conditions? Criminals as you may be, Lothringen still holds the heroes in high regard. He believes in second chances."
Naofumi felt like there was more to it than that, but he didn't have the words to grasp his displeasure over what was wrong with that response. Ren, however, scoffed at Aldrecht's explanation without compassion.
"Well, you're going to have to abandon those plans now. You've lost and with whatever shenanigans that was pulled here, I don't think any of us would want to come back here if you begged. We would be idiots to not cut ties right now with Melromarc." Ren glanced at his friends with the corner of his eye. "I'm going to knock him out now."
"Wait! I still have questions!" Ren lifted his sword, intending to strike Aldrecht hard at the back of his neck only for Motoyasu to step in. "We still don't know what Zellus is up to. It's obvious that he was the one stringing everyone along here."
"Mister Zellus had been the one to send us the message," Raphtalia pondered. "Without it, Master Naofumi, Mister Itsuki and I wouldn't have thought about coming to the capital. Was it the same with you, Mister Motoyasu?"
"In hindsight, you could say Zellus guided me along to make the decision. That's why I don't think we could rest all of the blame with Aldrecht here." Motoyasu crouched down to meet the old man at eye level. "If Zellus is really up to something, you have to tell us. Either that, or we're done here."
"Your guess… is as good as mine," Aldrecht sighed. "He offered to provide a scenario in which I could use to eliminate the Cardinal Heroes, but he never requested anything in return. I did hold reservations in thinking that he was taking something of his own volition, but I cannot give you a proper response."
"Then the only thing we could do is find Zellus, as I thought."
"We don't even know where Sir Zellus even went," Eclair said. "After splitting up with us at the dungeons, there hadn't been any sign of him since then. He didn't say what he was doing afterwards."
"Do we have the time to find him?" Raphtalia asked. "At this point, I would think that the knights are starting to organize themselves properly to finish dealing with the chaos on their hands."
Motoyasu grimaced, crossing his arms in deep thought. Every second they wasted here, it was another second lost in trying to find Zellus. To be frank, they were already really lucky to come across Aldrecht and get some of the explanation from him. Not only would they have to continue riding that luck, but they would likely have to beat the answers out of the mysterious knight. It had to be done all within the allotted time limit that was hidden from them.
Naofumi didn't like the chances of that scenario.
"I think we need to cut our losses here and get out. We got mostly what we came for, that being Ren. The answers can wait for another day." Naofumi nodded to Ren, prompting the friend to lift his sword once more. He turned to Aldrecht, giving him one last sigh. "Sorry, Aldrecht. Thanks for answering our questions though."
"No. I should thank you instead for buying me time. Magic is hard to control when you're keeping it hidden, after all." Naofumi widened his eyes, not realizing what Aldrecht was going on about until—
"GRAH!"
Itsuki's scream emerged behind them, prompting everyone to turn their heads in surprise. Itsuki was attacked by a [Frost Ground] spell, pushing him onto the ground and leaving blood stains where his body bounced upon. The ice hadn't been finished yet, lifting itself into the air to crush the hero underneath its pressured weight.
"Itsuki!" As expected, Ren was the first to abandon Aldrecht in favour of helping his friend.
Naofumi did likewise, aiming a [Air Strike Shield] to stop the assault. However, the spell was much stronger than he expected, having the skill be shattered after holding it off for a bit. Ren's speed was able to beat the ice while it was being pushed back, jumping over Itsuki's body and throwing out his sword to keep the ice away.
He could see the weight be pushing Ren's feet into the pavement.
However, Naofumi only realized then that everyone had turned their heads. Aldrecht was being freed from any of their pressure and once he turned around, a frigid spell blasted all of them away from him. The distance was great in which they fell back without consent, being quite the range and the power behind it.
Naofumi's body grinded to a halt as he tried standing back up, but it seemed like his defense was the only thing that kept him up. Motoyasu, Eclair, and Raphtalia were all struggling to get back on their feet from that redirection flank, but none of them could get back up properly.
Had Aldrecht been waiting this entire time for a perfect moment to unleash his strongest spells?
As Aldrecht stood back up, he launched his arm in the direction of the ice Ren was pushing against and grasped the air in his palm. In that moment, the ice exploded into chunks in all directions and dug themselves into Ren, launching him back further away. Everyone else was caught in the effects, keeping them down for longer.
Naofumi ended up the only one that could stand on his two feet and even then, he was struggling to do so. Aldrecht's strongest magic was nothing to be trifled with if this little exposure to it dropped the entire squad in a single swoop.
"I'm going to be persistent in this decision, Cardinal Heroes. As ridiculous as you might believe this plan is to be, I'm going to ensure that the aftermath of your deaths will be guided where this doesn't happen again. I'm going to ensure that all of this can be put behind history and ensure that the peace can be protected, not just from the waves of destruction, but from the threat of the other countries as well."
"A-Aldrecht…! D-Damn it…!"
"I am the source of my power."
The air dropped down to new levels of cold as the magic pressured the entire field from the mere wordings of chant. Unlike the previous one, Aldrecht must have been putting everything he had into this final attack.
"Hear my words and heed them."
Naofumi grunted, perhaps both in fear and frustration. He was the only one between Aldrecht and his friends that could stand to do something about it, but how intense the atmosphere felt, he knew that if he took the attack, he wasn't going to be walking away from it.
"Encapsulate all my enemies in sheer cold and leave nothing behind in your wake."
Glancing at his resources, he had enough SP for one skill left. He had been using his skills all over the place without any regard for tracking the meter, so he had to make this one count. Though, the [Frost Ground] spell was able to shatter right through [Air Strike Shield], so he wasn't sure what he could do against this.
"Devour them all in an everlasting frost and let them know the true power of absolution."
"N-Naofumi…?" Motoyasu groaned as he tried to get up quickly, failing to do so. "W-What are you…? Don't tell me you're going to try and take that attack!?"
"That incantation, it's definitely… one of Lord Aldrecht's strongest spells…!" Eclair grunted, fighting her injuries desperately. "Even as the Shield Hero, I don't think you can…!"
"Master Naofumi…!" He could feel Raphtalia's worried gaze watching his back. "P-Please…!"
Even so, Naofumi raised his shield. If he costs him his life to protect the people he loved, he would definitely hesitate, but he would know that he would end up making the same decision by the end of it. Taking the best stance that he could, he braced himself.
"[Drifa Absolute Zero]."
"[Air Strike Shield]!"
A great blizzard formed from Aldrecht's magic circle and roared as it flew across the garden, crashing into his shield. The transparent green shield was immediately pushed back, staggering in its strong opposition and found its way against Naofumi's real shield. He could feel the frigid power collapsed through his skill, layering a pained numbness to his arms.
It took a few seconds for his body to end up losing its senses. Despite that, Naofumi hung onto what little sense he had left and did his best to push against it. His feet, however, were being dragged backwards, leaving holes in the ground where he once stood.
He could already see [Air Strike Shield] cracking through the white storm that blocked his sights of Aldrecht. He could already hear his body screaming out while his health bar was dropping drastically, merely on migration effects alone. Once that shield disappeared, he was as good as dead.
Some fantasy adventure this had been. He thought that this would have been a pleasant time, journeying the lands in order to protect the world alongside his friends. Even if they couldn't be right by his side all the time, he wouldn't have minded it as long as they saw each other from time to time to catch up.
That was all a fleeting dream now and what they were given was a spiraling nightmare instead. It was a nightmare that had resulted in their deaths, tearing him apart more than anything else. There wasn't anything else he could have done though.
His body was starting to give up in this hopelessness, but just as his arms started to fall—
"Come on, Naofumi!" A hand threw itself out to keep Naofumi's shield up. Specifically, he grabbed his hands in order to not get zapped by the holy weapon's rule. "If we're going done, we're not going down without a fight! Hang in there!"
"R-Ren…?"
Another set of hands landed onto top of his own. "We can't give up now! We just need to push a little further! We don't think we can get through this, we're already as good as dead!"
"Motoyasu…"
One more set latched on weakly, but it was covered in black burns. Even so, the hands grabbed on much tighter than how Naofumi was holding his shield. He could feel the blood's heat, dripping right next to him as he turned to see Itsuki in his injured state, struggling to move.
"Keep… fighting…" he raspfully growled. "Keep… pushing… forwards…!"
"Itsuki!"
Raphtalia and Eclair could only watch, speechless in what they were witnessing as of the moment. Even though the skill was on the edge of cracking, none of the heroes were standing down and they all stood together in unison. The stories and legends never really foretold such instances, so to them, it was likely a once-in-a-lifetime sight to behold.
"You're not in this one alone, Naofumi!"
"You got our strength right next to you!"
"Take… it all…! As much as… you need it!"
Naofumi's shield started to feel lighter, like power was surging through his friends into his own strength. His status magic acted as if it was responding to this unusual phenomenon, but it wasn't something he was unfamiliar with. Back when he fought Zellus, he had felt the same warmth in his chest as it screamed out its unyielding might.
His vision started to change, flickering from its screen to reality.
[Attention][Attention][Attention]
[Ṕ̵̱͖̙̑̋̔̃̑̓̕͝L̶͉͚͓̖̤̳̱̒͑̏͆͊̓͝A̶͎͇͆̒̈́̽͗̆̅C̴̛͔̝̪̠̾̑̑̃́ͅĘ̵̰̺̻͚͔̈́̓̈́͗̊̕͠Ḧ̶̼̩͖͕̑͝Ò̵͗̉̋̚͜͝Ĺ̴̩̭̥͂͠Ḍ̷̤̬̥͛̽͗̈́E̸̡̧̙̥̎̎̆̋̾̃͘̕Ŕ̴̨͍͖̤̰̰̬̞͋ ̷̯̟̳͂̇̏́̋̄̉́̋Ť̸̢̘̙̭͓͑ͅȄ̴̻̂̈̌̂̃͝X̶͓̞̘̪͖̦̩͍͌̅̿̓͑T̷̗̭͍̰̳͍͇͛͛̓̂̍̈́̍̔͊ ̴̼̞̃̌̅U̸̡̢͙̥̖̘͆̂͠Ń̵͖̩̩̭̙͚͎̏̎͋̈̏͜K̵̥̐Ņ̶̟͚̖͙̾̄́̈́̾̐̈̎͘O̵͈̱̯̓̌̋͆̓̈̈̏͝Ẅ̶̥́͐̅̾N̶̛͉͕̙̮̠̖͠ ̶̢̛̯̙̯͉̰̻̪̩̀͒̑͗͘Ö̴̪́͒̏̐̓͠U̷̘̥̞̖͔̔̅͘̕͝T̸̡̢͙̥̪͈͍̈̏̇͐́͗̂̑͠ͅͅP̴̳͙̮̠͔̪̳͕̰̆̈Ų̸̻̗̳̠͓͆͗̇T̴̩̦͗̐͂͆]
[Ṕ̵̱͖̙̑̋̔̃̑̓̕͝L̶͉͚͓̖̤̳̱̒͑̏͆͊̓͝A̶͎͇͆̒̈́̽͗̆̅C̴̛͔̝̪̠̾̑̑̃́ͅĘ̵̰̺̻͚͔̈́̓̈́͗̊̕͠Ḧ̶̼̩͖͕̑͝Ò̵͗̉̋̚͜͝Ĺ̴̩̭̥͂͠Ḍ̷̤̬̥͛̽͗̈́E̸̡̧̙̥̎̎̆̋̾̃͘̕Ŕ̴̨͍͖̤̰̰̬̞͋ ̷̯̟̳͂̇̏́̋̄̉́̋Ť̸̢̘̙̭͓͑ͅȄ̴̻̂̈̌̂̃͝X̶͓̞̘̪͖̦̩͍͌̅̿̓͑T̷̗̭͍̰̳͍͇͛͛̓̂̍̈́̍̔͊ ̴̼̞̃̌̅U̸̡̢͙̥̖̘͆̂͠Ń̵͖̩̩̭̙͚͎̏̎͋̈̏͜K̵̥̐Ņ̶̟͚̖͙̾̄́̈́̾̐̈̎͘O̵͈̱̯̓̌̋͆̓̈̈̏͝Ẅ̶̥́͐̅̾N̶̛͉͕̙̮̠̖͠ ̶̢̛̯̙̯͉̰̻̪̩̀͒̑͗͘Ö̴̪́͒̏̐̓͠U̷̘̥̞̖͔̔̅͘̕͝T̸̡̢͙̥̪͈͍̈̏̇͐́͗̂̑͠ͅͅP̴̳͙̮̠͔̪̳͕̰̆̈Ų̸̻̗̳̠͓͆͗̇T̴̩̦͗̐͂͆]
[Ṕ̵̱͖̙̑̋̔̃̑̓̕͝L̶͉͚͓̖̤̳̱̒͑̏͆͊̓͝A̶͎͇͆̒̈́̽͗̆̅C̴̛͔̝̪̠̾̑̑̃́ͅĘ̵̰̺̻͚͔̈́̓̈́͗̊̕͠Ḧ̶̼̩͖͕̑͝Ò̵͗̉̋̚͜͝Ĺ̴̩̭̥͂͠Ḍ̷̤̬̥͛̽͗̈́E̸̡̧̙̥̎̎̆̋̾̃͘̕Ŕ̴̨͍͖̤̰̰̬̞͋ ̷̯̟̳͂̇̏́̋̄̉́̋Ť̸̢̘̙̭͓͑ͅȄ̴̻̂̈̌̂̃͝X̶͓̞̘̪͖̦̩͍͌̅̿̓͑T̷̗̭͍̰̳͍͇͛͛̓̂̍̈́̍̔͊ ̴̼̞̃̌̅U̸̡̢͙̥̖̘͆̂͠Ń̵͖̩̩̭̙͚͎̏̎͋̈̏͜K̵̥̐Ņ̶̟͚̖͙̾̄́̈́̾̐̈̎͘O̵͈̱̯̓̌̋͆̓̈̈̏͝Ẅ̶̥́͐̅̾N̶̛͉͕̙̮̠̖͠ ̶̢̛̯̙̯͉̰̻̪̩̀͒̑͗͘Ö̴̪́͒̏̐̓͠U̷̘̥̞̖͔̔̅͘̕͝T̸̡̢͙̥̪͈͍̈̏̇͐́͗̂̑͠ͅͅP̴̳͙̮̠͔̪̳͕̰̆̈Ų̸̻̗̳̠͓͆͗̇T̴̩̦͗̐͂͆]
[Attention][Attention][Attention]
And from the status magic, a burst of power came to his side.
Unusual that it still may be, he started to understand where this energy may have been coming from.
[Naofumi Iwatani]
[Class] : Shield Hero LV 19
[Subclass] : Sword Hero LV 29
[Subclass] : Spear Hero LV 30
[Subclass] : Bow Hero LV 27
[Conditions temporarily met.]
[Weapon temporarily unlocked.]
His shield started transforming by itself. From his angle, he couldn't tell what it looked like on the front, but the back formed a shape that grew its size. The center remained a shield, but there were accents given to it that made it look like an entirely different armament. A shape of a bow looked to strike across horizontally while a sword and a spear were overlaid on top of each other along the vertical axis.
Inside Naofumi's mind, something told him that this was no longer a shield.
[UNKNOWN WEAPON + X] X/X - ?
(Equip Bonus) : UNKNOWN
(Special Effect) : UNKNOWN
This was the cultivation and accumulation of the strength of him and his friends. To that extent, Naofumi didn't have the luxury of surrendering here. Feeling the warmth of his friends holding onto him, he screamed out as he started walking forwards, beating [Drifa Absolute Zero] out of sheer desire to protect.
The [Air Shield Strike] finally snapped under the pressure, but in its place, Naofumi casted a brand new skill. Just as the blizzard reached out to claim their lives, light shined through from the weapon to stop it.
"[Tetra Ultimata]! [Shield Stance]!"
A golden shield, greater and stronger than anything [Air Strike Shield] could imagine it could be, was summoned before them, defending itself from [Drifa Absolute Zero] with ease. The pounding against its surface kept ranging to Naofumi's ears as he kept moving forwards, pushing back the magic power.
Aldrecht widened his eyes, not understanding what it was he was seeing.
"What power… is this…?"
That withering thought caused the spell to falter and through that, Naofumi's shield was able to survive through its cold onslaught. His body was still on fire inside, as he noticed his friends collapsing from losing their energy. He glanced at them in worry, but they gave their smirks.
Their power, along with their hopes and ideals, were inside of him right now and he was damned to not use it to their fullest extent. As the golden shield faded away, Naofumi clawed the ground and started running at Aldrecht to make sure that this fight was going to end here.
The old man staggered backwards, seeing how quick Naofumi was approaching him, and he did his best to move out of the attack that was coming his way. Unfortunately, Naofumi's new speed was simply too much for him.
"[Tetra Ultimata]! [Spear Stance]!"
Shaping itself into a spear, Naofumi lunged the weapon right into Aldrecht's shoulder. Even with what he did, he wasn't keen on killing the old man, but disabling him such that Aldrecht will no longer be able to chase after them or track them down.
With the finale in sight, his friend who were on the ground trying to recover their own energy, shouted out to him. As if their hands were still on the weapon he held, they combined their might and Naofumi thrusted forwards.
"Take him down, Naofumi!"
"Finish all of this right now, Naofumi!"
"Show him…! No mercy…! Naofumi!"
"It ends here, Aldrecht! GO TO HELL!"
Aldrecht had no way to defend against it. A quick spell cast of [Faust Ice Armour] was activated for a barrier, but his spear crushed all of it in the same instance that it appeared. NAofumi screamed out as the spear found its target, engulfing the collision in a single explosion.
"ARGHHHHHHHHH!"
The others were forced to watch from the distance,experiencing the cold wind that picked up from the blast radius. Even the [Ice Cage] around them started to crack from merely being in the same vicinity as the force. Smoke ended up covering Aldrecht and Naofumi, preventing them to see the result of that mysterious skill and when it cleared up—
…
…
"W-Why…?"
Naofumi didn't understand it. The attack had hit Aldrecht and it ended up stirring such a shockwave around them. In such a sense, it would have been believed that the spear was able to beat Aldrecht's defenses, but Naofumi was left stunned at what really happened. In fact, Aldrecht himself was surprised at what really happened, freezing in place to understand it.
His spear landed.
And yet, it didn't pierce through Aldrecht.
It acted as if the spear couldn't punctured through Aldrecht's clothes.
What was he missing here?
Why couldn't he hurt Aldrecht?
As his mind muddled in those thoughts, he started to remember about the attribute of the Shield Hero through his adrenaline-fueled moment. He thought it was ridiculous to even consider that as an answer, but there was no other explanation for it.
Even with all of this power, he wondered.
Was the Shield Hero still not allowed to attack?
Then…? How was he able to hurt Zellus before…?
"I thought that was the end of me. You surely gave me a fright."
A magic spell flung point-blank at Naofumi and pushed him away. It wasn't enough to knock him off his feet, but the distance he covered was far enough that Aldrecht started to create his magic circles again.
"If this was any other situation, I would have appreciated investigating what type of phenomena that you've unleashed here. No historians would be able to explain what you have done, suddenly having a Shield Hero who can wield a spear. I do not ever recall any stories of the heroes' legends that speak of such abilities."
Naofumi was still in shock. His friends provided him with all their power and he failed to use it properly. He couldn't even tell what Aldrecht was saying, only being able to slowly glance at his direction with a dropped jaw. Even with the unknown spear in his hand, his body started to shake.
"Sadly, that does not change what I must do here."
Once again, the spell started to cast once more.
"I am the source of my power. Hear my words and heed them. Encapsulate all my enemies in sheer cold and leave nothing behind in your wake. Devour them all in an everlasting frost and let them know the true power of absolution."
"Naofumi!" Ren shouted from behind, trying to get on his feet. Without much feeling in his legs, he merely fell flat on his stomach. "Wake up! He's coming back with the same spell!"
"I-I…"
Instead, Raphtalia got up and ran out to her master. She grabbed his hand, trying to use a more direct approach. He widened his eyes once she got into his narrowed field of vision. He stood in the way, as if she was going to take the attack if Naofumi wasn't going to do anything about it.
"Master Naofumi! Snap out of it!"
"R-Right…! The shield form, I can still—Huh?"
[Warning : Unstable Weapon.]
With the notification of the status magic and a simple phrase, the spear sparked and practically exploded, returning back to the normal shield on his arm. He panicked, trying to look through his weapons list to put it back out, but it wasn't there. It was as if the unknown weapon had never existed in its reality or perhaps it was too much, being deleted because it wasn't supposed to be there in the first place.
He returned to having no SP left in his meter, but the spell was finished charging up. With Raphtalia in the way, he grabbed her so suddenly and pulled her to his chest, turning the demi-human away from experiencing the full force. He intended to use himself as the shield this time.
"Damn it! Naofumi!"
It was too late for any more regrets.
"[Drifa—]!"
However, Aldrecht suddenly stopped in the middle of his spell.
Naofumi didn't know why, so loosening his grip on Raphtalia, he slowly turned his head around to see something he never expected. His eyes couldn't tell him what happened, but it was clear as day as to what unfolded that stopped Aldrecht from casting his spell.
…
…
There was a spear right through his heart.
And behind him, the enigmatic knight stood there.
"Z-Zellus…?" Blood spurted out from both chest and mouth, letting Aldrecht slowly look over his shoulder to his killer. "W-What… are you… doing…?"
"If the Shield Hero was allowed to do damage, this would have been your loss, Aldrecht. I'm merely making things right and rectifying the results to their proper ending, but I already thought this might happen. This was the trap I was truly aiming for in the end."
Zellus pulled out the spear and pushed Aldrecht's limp body onto the body. Blood poured out from the wound as Aldrecht showed no more signs of moving around. His hands dropped his staff in the pool of his blood. A bit of twitching in the fingers and groaning escaping from his mouth, Aldrecht was starting to take his final breaths.
"Lord Aldrecht!"
Eclair rose up, trying to get to the old man, but Ren threw out his arm to stop her. He didn't need words to convey the fact that approaching Zellus' range was a bad idea, especially when he was exerting so much bloodlust. Eclair quickly understood this, holding herself back in emotional pain.
"Wasn't this what you wanted anyways?" Zellus walked over and placed his foot on Aldrecht's head, rolling it a bit back and forth like he was a toy. "Isn't this the result that you wanted for executing that plan of yours?"
"The result?" Naofumi asked.
"I guess he didn't tell you. Though, Aldrecht didn't tell anyone about his plans because he wanted to take all of the blame for summoning the four heroes here. He was going to put himself into a position where the Queen could probably use him and exchange his life for peace. A king's retainer that went mad, pushing to summon the Cardinal Heroes and once they were acting out of his intentions, he wanted to kill them and redo it once more for heroes that were easier to control."
Zellus threw out a shrug.
"Quite the fabricated story, right? Makes you wonder if the other countries would buy it or not, but that was his intention. He was the one that made the summoning of the heroes happen after all."
Naofumi flinched, remembering how Aldrecht within the summoning room as they came to this world for the first time. Being a mage himself, he wasn't hard to figure out the lines in between those dots.
"He was going to give his life and pretend to be the villain in order to protect the peace. It's a bit insane when you think about it, but I wouldn't expect anything else from this old man."
Eclair stomped forwards in anger. She seemed to have enough of listening to Zellus' rambles. "Why…!? Why did you kill him!? Why did you kill Lord Aldrecht!?"
"Because you guys were fighting him."
"What does that…?"
Interrupting Motoyasu's confusion, he pulled out an orb of some type. Eclair flinched, making it seem like she knew what was going on, but for those unaware, they had to wait until images started showing up on the orb. To that, Naofumi started to understand Eclair's line of thoughts.
They were images taken during their battle with Aldrecht from above. Zellus was watching the entire fight for the entire duration of it, likely enjoying the front-row seats.
"I get this handed over to the king. He discovers that Aldrecht, his friend and his retainer, has died so suddenly. He's going to connect the dots for himself and assume the Cardinal Heroes did it. Bonus points since you came across a few knights in the castle and had the great idea to leave them alive as witnesses."
Zellus made the orb disappear from his hands. Now that Naofumi got a good sight of that anomaly, he thought it actually looked like the item box mechanic that the Cardinal Heroes had access to. The mystery as to Zellus' identity merely thickened, but he was quick to push away from that with the dilemma they were facing.
"It's not difficult to see that the king will brand you all as true criminals, dangerous to be left alive. Holding an evil deep in their hearts, word will spread much quickly than ever before and soon, everyone will hear of your despicable actions."
With a smirk, one that Naofumi wanted to wipe off his face, Zellus held out his arms in a dramatic fashion. He gave quite the laugh, just as a villain would.
"That was my plan for pulling people along! It was all for this moment, to see the world plunge into chaos in thinking that the Cardinal Heroes have gone truly rogue against them! Don't you think it would be fun!?"
"Don't think… you can be… so conniving like this…" Aldrecht struggled to get his last words out to ensure that Zellus' actions weren't escaping without consequences. "The shadows will surely…"
"Oh? Do you not think I took your little informational network into account?"
Aldrecht must have flinched, breathing in a gasp of realization.
"I was working here for ten years now. I have a good amount of money to spend and considering the moment I couldn't miss out on, I dropped as much as I could to have all of your information be intercepted. Not only that, I have to pay quite the sum to keep the Queen's shadows off from here. I even had to get dirty myself and kill a few of them to prevent them from reporting as to what was going on."
Zellus felt like he was putting a bit more strength into suppressing Aldrecht's face.
"It's a network, after all. All you need to do is to replace a shadow with your own hired one and provide them with the appropriate confirmation documents to insist that they've worked for the Queen, the King—or even you, Aldrecht. Slip in some false information, and no one else is any of the wiser."
"T-Then you're the reason…?"
"That being said, I'm planning on letting nature take its course now," Zellus chuckled mischievously. "I wonder what the Queen would believe when everything that happened so far suddenly all dropped onto her laps? What would she think of it?"
"No way we're that happen!" Ren shouted. "We're not letting you get away!"
"Hmm. Quite the loud idiots, you are."
Zellus took his foot off of Aldrecht, but followed that up with a spear strike to his downed body. Blood spilled out and not before long, the old man was no longer moving. His fingers fell flat onto the ground and there were no more signs of a struggling soul.
Aldrecht was killed right before their own eyes.
Naofumi couldn't help himself, but to hold his breath in disbelief.
"I would love a fight right now; I've been itching for one, but I think I'll let you guys simmer up a bit, especially since I hate taking other people's leftovers if I don't have to." He licked his lips, as if he was craving for a delicious meal, but Naofumi didn't like that his eyes were firmly set on them. "With what I just saw, you all still have quite the potential and a summit you haven't reached yet. I'm looking forward to what type of power you can bring out from within yourselves."
"You're kidding me, right!? We can still—!"
"Not in the time you have left. That clash caused quite the ruckus and the knights are probably already on their way to find out what happened here. That being said, I have no intentions on keeping you here. A hunt on a wild animal is better than a captured one."
Zellus raised his hand into the air, burning his arm in a fiery light of flames.
"I, who exist beyond the boundary of this world, call on your power. Hear my unrepentant words and heed them to the end. Let the flames of destruction create a new beginning, all for the sake for their entertainment. Give me that power to burn it all away!"
Zellus aimed his hand over to the left.
"[Apocalypse]!"
The small flame flung itself over to the edge of the [Ice Cage] and once it hit its mark, a large explosion blasted through not only the ice's surface. It was actually strong enough to break down the entire castle wall out towards the moat, leaving a giant hole in the castle's infrastructure. The wind stirring up from the force was almost enough to push him off his feet and he couldn't precisely watch the spell go off, covering his eyes with his arms.
"Scurry away." Zellus chuckled, resting the spear on his shoulder. "You have to live if you are to grow stronger. Make your choice. [Ice Cage] won't hold on for much longer, now that its caster is dead."
"I don't see why we shouldn't stay here to deal with Zellus!" Ren growled. "If he's the cause of all of this, we have to end his miserable life right here and now!"
"Are we even strong enough to do so…?" Naofumi grimaced, remembering their last clash.
"Hey, if the knights find us fighting Zellus and Aldrecht dead on the ground, we might be able to turn the situation, such that they can put their own doubts on him instead," Motoyasu suggested. "He's known to be strong, right? So if they find Zellus uncovered in injuries while Aldrecht is dead, they might think something is wrong here."
"I see your point, Sir Motoyasu," Eclair nodded. "It would appear weird to an ordinary knight that Sir Zellus was unable to protect Lord Aldrecht, despite being unbruised. It would be assumed that Zellus wanted him to die and that in itself would launch an investigation into him."
"Oh? Is that it? I thought your plan would be greater than that, but..."
Zellus spun his spear, aiming the tip to his target—
—and he punctured a hole through his own chest. It wasn't fatal since he easily pulled it out with hesitation and thrusted his next attack into his right leg. There weren't any screams of pain, but that bled out onto the ground was real. His heavy breaths and cold sweat was proof enough that he was truly insane to attack himself like that.
He knelt down, trying to retain his balance while laughing like a maniac.
"There goes your plan! They find us here! And I'll drop down to the ground just in time! I would love to see you all explain yourselves out of that one!"
"If he weakened himself, then we could—!"
"No, that won't work! Remember how he was still fighting, even with a giant slash across his chest!?"
Ren clicked his tongue, but Raphtalia's ears started to twitch. She turned to everyone with a frightened expression. "There's a large amount of people coming our way!"
"Damn it! Already!?"
Ren was struggling to decide what to do, but from Nafumi's angle, the option was already clear-cut. If they wanted to find safety, even if it was temporary, they needed to flee as far away from the capital as possible. If they didn't, their freedom and their lives would be in danger. The misunderstanding of the knights and Zellus' general manipulations would raise those stakes to unfavourable levels.
"Motoyasu! Grab Itsuki! We're leaving!"
"Already on it!"
Motoyasu threw Itsuki's arm over his shoulder as Naofumi pulled Raphtalia over to the opening. She could probably run by herself, but Naofumi's mind was in such a panic, he stopped consciously thinking. Motoyasu was right behind him.
"Eclair! Ren! Hurry!" Naofumi shouted back to the sword wielders. "We have to get out of here!"
Ren gritted his teeth, glaring at the fallen knight. A mere smirk broke off from the enemy, as if he was taunting him to try and attack him while he was in this state. From the looks of it, Zellus acted as if he would win either way, so there weren't any benefits to dealing an attack to him other than for the sake of it. Swallowing down that pride and frustration, Ren turned as Eclair followed him.
Naofumi ran through the collapsed rubble and glanced down. It was a far drop down to the moat, but knowing what Erhart was saying before when they were trying to escape with Ren, the moat was a way out of the capital. With a deep breath inwards, he glanced to Raphtalia.
"Hang on."
With those words and having her hold tightly to him, he leapt from the castle and fell straight down into the water. He saw Motoyasu follow him without hesitation while he kept his hand holding onto his passenger. Ren, on the other hand, hesitated once he got to the edge. For a moment, Naofumi thought he wasn't going to jump, but Eclair had pushed him off without any warning.
A few profanities followed, but that was the last thing he could hear before hitting the water in a large splash. Everyone else followed one after the other, but the current was much stronger than he expected; perhaps it was because they were all weakened from their fight with Aldrecht that it simply felt strong, but he found himself being swept away underneath the water.
His consciousness was starting to fade, suspended in the water's might. He tried to hold on, looking to surface before it disappeared from his grip, but all of it fought against him. It was all slipping away from him and before he knew it, all he could remember was how easily his body surrendered in its tired state—
"So long, Cardinal Heroes," Zellus muttered under his breath. "The next time we meet, that won't be what everyone will be calling you. Not anymore, so grow stronger until you can face me once more. Be strong enough to seize your stolen future from my hands."
—wishing it was all a nightmare.
-/IV/-
…
…
He didn't know where he was.
His mind was all foggy, but his body felt drenched all over the place. However, it wasn't as if he was still sinking to the bottom of a river. Part of his clothes felt like it was being dragged up onto land, but his eyes were too heavy to figure out what was happening.
A few moments later, Naofumi found himself against the ground. It was cold, wet and dirt was starting to stick onto his clothes as he remained there. His mind pivoted to his friends and allies, but his head was not as quick to react. Eventually, his eyes managed to open a slight bit.
To his left, Raphtalia and Itsuki were unconscious, falling to a similar state to himself. He suspected that the others were around somewhere along the shore, but that was all of the vision that he could muster.
However, an odd sight came to him before his eyes fell to darkness once more.
A girl with white hair had been standing, looking like she had recently pulled up Itsuki from the waters. He didn't know who she was, nor had he ever seen her before, but she didn't seem hostile. In fact, it looked as if she had saved them from being endlessly carried with the current.
He wanted to thank her, but his voice didn't work.
She gave him a silent stare, as if she knew he was somewhat awake, but seeing that her work was done, she turned around and started walking away. Almost as if the wind had been her friend, it blew around her like a spell, allowing her to fade right out of existence.
Was she a ghost? Though, ghosts wouldn't be able to touch them, right?
Then some type of spirit perhaps? Whatever she was, Naofumi couldn't think straight anymore. His face started to be buried into the ground with eyes closing right up. It wasn't until he heard a soft voice, perhaps coming from the disappearing girl, that ambiguously spoke up.
"Leave things to fate and you will surely fall. Will you be able to stand up and take control of that future, for the sake of protecting those of strong bonds? I look forward to watching the rest of your journey."
Naofumi closed his eyes.
There was so much that happened and for now—
—he didn't think it was so bad to rest for a bit.
...
...