I do not own Rising of the Shield Hero or any of the characters.
Of Devils And Popes
Fenris leapt onto the side of the crater, then up at Balmus just in time for a rope to wrap around his waist and rapidly pull him back behind Naofumi, a massive wall of golden energy chasing him. Then, Naofumi's shield flashed and the blast slammed into it for a solid minute before ending and a slightly smaller one to explode out of the Mirror Shield at Balmus. A golden barrier appeared in the way, blocking the blast, barely, and dading once it had. Naofumi began to pant instantly, sinking to one knee.
"Rage Shield, Naofumi," Fenris said. "We'll handle the damage."
Naofumi nodded, swapping shields, and Fenris quickly scanned his weapons menu. No light immunity. However, he did have fifty percent total passive light resistance. He looked up at Balmus again just as the sword began to change, growing into a spear. Fenris's gut dropped. It was a replica of the Cardinal Weapons. It could be any of them. However, Fenris could hear voices chanting a d praying behind Balmus. hundreds of them. He out two and two together quickly. Balmus was using them like batteries. And after the blast and barrier, a startling number of voices had gone quiet.
"His followers are providing mana for that weapon of his," Fenris said. "So long as they're awake, he'll keep being able to attack us. But a lot stopped after that attack. It probably requires insane amounts of power to use. We might be able to win in a war of attrition, if you can hang in there."
Naofumi nodded. "Get him to defend as much as you can. That barrier spell can't be easy either."
"My thoughts exactly," Fenris nodded. "Motoyasu, feel like giving me a hand? We're breaking through that barrier of his."
"I would love to see yiu try," Balmus invited.
"Alright," Motoyasu nodded. "Let's see what that sword of yours can do."
Fenris grinned, a list of attack skills flashing in front of his eyes. "Let's go."
"Lightning Spear!" Motoyasu shouted, a bolt of lightning forming between his spearhead'a two blades befor firing. At the same time, Shadow formed, launching a bolt of black lightning and Fenris slashed.
"Lightning Slash!" Fenris shouted.
The three attacks exploded against a barrier and did nothing. Balmus laughed, grinning as though he had already won, totally ignoring the twelve more followers that had collapsed.
"Now!" Motoyasu shouted.
Mein and Motoyasu's other party member used the same combo skill as before.
"This is the end for you!" Motoyasu shouted. "Airburst Flare Lance!"
The explosion rocked the crater, but once again failed to get through the barrier.
"You're all a disgrace," Balmus said. "You all refuse to accept God's merciful judgement and continue your futile resistance. Then again, no mercy shall be given to a devil."
"We'll see how futile our resistance really is!" Motoyasu shouted, spinning his spear and forming a blue circle beside his spear, them moving his spear like he was throwing it, the blue circle turning into a blast of blue energy. "Meteor Thrust!"
The blast shattered against a barrier.
"Apparently completely futile," Fenris said.
"Even that wasn't powerful enough!?" Motoyasu growled.
"You idiot!" Fenris snapped. "You failed with a combo skill possessing the sum total of three people's power, so you tried only your own power instead and you thought you'd do better? You're an idiot. Watch this. This is how it's done. Start a Meteor Thrust but don't fire."
Motoyasu began the attack as Fenris spun his sword in a circle on one side, then the other, forming a pair of blue circles of his own. As soon as Motoyasu had his spear held correctly, Fenris spun, his sword blade bringing both atttacks with him as energy blasts before hitting the back ot Motoyasu's spear. Motoyasu instantly hurled his own, all three blasts flying together.
"Meteor Strike, Triple Shot!" Fenris shouted.
"How the hell did you learn to do that!?" Motoyasu demanded, just as the three blasts met Balmus's barrier in an enormous explosion, part of the crater below him crumbling, nearly bringing him with it.
As the dust cleared, Balmus brushed himself off and wiped a little blood from the cor er of his lip. Fenris and Motoyasu grinned.
"Got you," Fenris grinned.
"My turn," Balmus snarled, swiping the spear.
Instantly, a massive wave of flame flew down at them. Fenris shoved Motoyasu out of the way, switching on his fire resistance buffs, all of them, then shouted in pain as the explosion sent him flying backward. He crashed down between Eileen and Melty and both began to heal him as quickly as they could.
"How did you like that?" Balmus smirked. "All it takes is a simple flick of the wrist."
"Honestly, not a fan," Fenris groaned.
"It's time," Balmus said. "We must bestow God's merciful Judgement upon the wicked."
"Hundred Swords!" Ren's voice shouted.
"Meteor Shot!" Itsuki's shouted.
The two attacks, an arrow shining with golden energy and a cloud of glowing blue sword sikhouettes, exploded into Balmus's barrier and Fenris cheered, pushing himself up as he finished regenerating.
"I told you they were alive!" Fenris grinned. "Ren, let me copy your swords real quick!"
"Twenty gold," Ren said as he and Itsuki slid down into the crater.
"Deal," Fenris nodded.
Ren accepted the money as Itsuki explained about them investigating the church, being caught off guard by an explosion trap, and then about the queen's Shadows saving them. Fenris accepted the Cardinal Sword, but the only one his would copy was the basic sword. Even when Ren transformed it, it wouldn't copy them.
"What a rip off," Fenris said, checking his new sword, whistling. "Just kidding. One hundred persent light resistance bonus and all base stats boosted. I'll take it. Plus it looks cool."
"Don't you have other things to worry about besides your swords looking cool?" Ren asked as Fenris shifted back to his usual sword.
"Oh, don't worry," Fenris said. "This fucker's going to burn. In three...two...one...action."
Fireballs began to fall around Balmus like rain, all of them hitting his barrier. After a few seconds, Fenris sprinted forward again, activating his health drain ability for that sword.
"Time to die, Balmus!" Fenris snarled.
He leapt off of the crater, then stepped off of the barrier. However, Balmus merely grinned wickedly.
"It's over," Balmus said, then turned back to the front.
Fenris's eyes flashed to the spear, then followed it's aim. "Sofia!"
A blade-shaped light projectile flashed out of the spearheadb flashing passed Ren, who was charging Balmus as well, past Itsuki, just as he fired a Meteor Shot, and past Naofumi's shield, scraping the edge of it as he moved to protect her. Then, the spike drilled through Sofia's abdomen, exploding into the ground behind her.
"Sofia!" Fenris shrieked, sorintinng past Balmus, leaping into the crater and forming his armor into a pair of wings to slow his descent just enough to not be hurt landing beside her.
Eileen, Melty, and Naofumi were already hard at work trying to heal her, but the attack had grazed her spinal cord. It was a coin toss whether they could. Sofia was sobbing, staring at her stomach, but as he landed, she looked up at him.
"Our...child..." Sofia choked out past her own blood.
"Sofia, hang on!" Fenris pleaded. "Please hang in there!"
"Our...child..." Sofia repeated.
"I know," Fenris said, tears flooding down his face. "Please! I can't lose you both! Please stay with me!"
Sofia's eyes began to dull. "I...wanted...a...family."
"We still can!" Fenris sobbed. "Please! We can try again! Just hang on!"
Sofia smiled weakly before her eyes slipped closed and her head fell to the side. Fenris felt something snap inside of him. A cold feeling filled him, wiping away all else. Then, there was a feeling. A pain. A pressure. He felt it bubbling up from inside, growing more powerful rapidly as it rose until it all but exploded out of him in a scream. A roar. Equal parts despair, heart break, and bloodlust. His sword exploded into flames, which enveloped him as he stood, turning to Balmus. Metal, pitch black and on fire began to form over his arms and torso, even covering his normal armor, a massive black gem in the chest, a red light glowing deep inside of it. Then, Fenris opened his fists and the metal juat reaching his hands continued to the fingers, forming into long, straight claws, sharp inside and out. Fenris roared again, pure hatred and bloodlust this time.
"I'll kill you!" Fenris roared, exploding forward in a blur, streaking past Ren, who was at the top of the crater, then jumped, slashing at Balmus.
His claws exploded into a barrier, and fought against it for several seconds before the barrier shattered. Fenris landed on his feet as Balmus swore loudly, shifting to a massive gold shield, blocking Fenris's claws again and again, barely fending him off.
"How the fuck is he so strong all of a sudden!?" Motoyasu demanded.
"That armor and claws, it's like Naofumi's cheat shield," Itsuki said.
"It's not a cheat shield," Naofumi said, staring at his shield. "It's a Rage Shield. Born of pure, uncontrolled anger, and powered by it. And right now, Fenris's girlfriend is dead, along with his unborn child."
"She's not dead!" Eileen said. "She passed out, but she's still alive. She's healing."
"If that shield of yours is all rage, that explains your lack of control," Ren said. "And Fenris?"
"Is completely berserk," Naofumi said.
"We need him to calm down," Itsuki said.
"Do we?" Motoyasu asked just as a barrier formed between Balmus and Fenris, only for the latter to explode through it instantly and slash Balmus across the stomach shallowly. "He's winning. If we let him fight, he'll definitely beat the Pope."
"Yes, but he'll lose whatever humanity he still has to the rage, and he'll become a monster that we have to manage to take down," Naofumi said.
"Alright, so what do we do?" Itsuki asked.
"When I lost control, Raphtalia had to calm me down," Naofumi said, glancing at her. "But the only person who can talk him out of it is currently the one dying."
"Then we stop him the hard way and hope he snaps out of it when we knock him out," Ren decided.
Just then, Fenris's claws crashed into Balmus's shield directly, blood bursting from Fenris's forearm in between his armor's splints. He ignored it and spun around Balmus, slashing him across the back. Balmus spun, raising the shield again in time to block the other arm, more blood spraying out of that arm as well.
"Jesus, he's killing himself!" Motoyasu gasped.
"We're stopping this now!" Naofumi said.
Just as he did, light flashed from Balmus's shield, blasting Fenris backward. As soon as he landed, he shot forward, only to flip over Ren's blade. He flipped, slashing at him but Naofumi blocked the claws in a shower of sparks.
"Stay the hell out of my way!" Fenris snarled, landing on his feet and charging again, only for Shadow to fly into his path. "Move!" He swiped at the bird.
"Boss!" Shadow shouted. "It's okay! Sofia's-"
Fenris roared, batting Shadow aside as his flames grew larger. However, Shado had slowed Fenris just enough for Naofumi to step in front of him. He stabbed at Naofumi, who blocked it with his Rage Shield, then switched to his Mirror Shield.
"Look at yourself!" Naofumi shouted, Fenris's eyes darting to his reflection. "Look at what you've become! Is this what you want to be? Is this what she would want you to be?"
He tilted the shield so that Fenris could see Sofia in its mirror. Fenris froze, still shoving against Naofumi and making it hard for him to hold him back, but not as hard as before.
"She's still alive!" Naofumi shouted. "She needs you! You need to calm down and look at yourself!" He tilted the mirror back to face Fenris again. "Would Sofia want you to turn into this!?"
Fenris was silent for a moment before the dark armor and claws exploded off of him and he fell to his knees. He took a shaky breath before looking to Sofia and beginning to sob, scrambling over to her.
"You did it," Ren sighed. "Well done."
"I have experience with anger," Naofumi said. "Now, for this guy."
Just then, Balmus begsn to laugh. "Well done, stopping that monster's rampage. I should thsnk you. Things weren't looking good for a moment there." Fury filled his expression. "That fucking bastard even forced me to stoop so low as to sully my hands using this holy relic's shield form." His smile became cocky and self-glorified once again. "However, that little squable of yours gave us all the time we needed. Time to die."
"We pray to our God, the source of our power," Balmus's followers chanted. "Decipher the laws od nature. Bring about a miracle and protect the blessed ones!"
"And now for group defense magic of the highest level," Balmus sneered. "Cathedral!"
A bell tolled and darkness formed a cloud over Balmus before a black sphere ringed by red shot up into the air over the crater. Once it was in place, the red light shone like a sun's rays around a moon during a solar eclipsd, and a barrier spread from itb forming into a domed roof, then transitioning to walls and pillars, forming a complete building around the top of the crater.
"Welcome to my cathedral sanctuary," Balmus sneered. "Time to make your peace with God because it will be your final resting place."
"What do we do?" Ren asked.
"Melty will support you with magic," Naofumi said, completely ignoring the other three heroes.
"Right," Filo and Raphtalia both nodded.
"Hey, this is no time for your lone wolf act!" Motoyasu snapped.
"I'm not working with you idiots," Naofumi said. "It's all your fault we're in this mess at all! Mein takes most of the blame, for compounding the Three Heroes Church's schemes with her own, but the three of you certainly didn't help! Ren, you killed a dragon and left the corlse to rot, causing a plague that nearly wioed out the whole village! In a video game, bodies don't lay around to rot, but this isn'ta game, I would have thought you were smart enough to realize that. And Itsuki, your vigilantism left those villagers in abject poverty!"
"I had to teach that ruler a lesson or those people would have suffered under a tyrant forever!" Itsuki argued.
"A hero can't solve every problem with brute force!" Naofumi snapped. "Gou should have used your standing as a hero to pressure the leader to change thing. If you had used your head a bit things might have been different!"
"Naofumi's right," Motoyasu agreed. "You two are partly responsible for the church being able to complete its schemes."
"You're the worst one!" Naofumi snapped. "As Fenris and I have said repeatedly! You were so busy wrapping yoursemf around your little girlfriend's finger that you never once stopped to think for yourself about anything!"
"There's nothing wrong with me trusting a teammate!" Motoyasu defended himself.
"Trusting doesn't mean doing whatever they say without even thinking about it first!" Naofumi snapped. "Like the time you tried to impose such heavy taxes on that village I saved the first wave that they'd have to pay more to pass through the village than to live there for three months! Or how about the time you planted a seed that had been sealed away for centuries because it was a monster? That entire village was completely overrun by its vines! The town even had a legend about how dangerous it was!"
"Exactly!" Motoyasu agreed. "So it's their fault for not being more careful!"
"Which should tell you just how high their regard for heroes is!" Naofumi snapped. "And it's still your fault! All three of you let your Hero's Welcome go to your head and didn't care who your actions hurt! As far as I'm concerned, the three of you and the Pope are all the same! You all use your power for your own gain, regardless of who gets hurt, and you don't even see a problem with it! But more than that, you're constsntly trying to take away the things that matter to me! Especially you, Motoyasu!
"You heard Mein say that I was forcing Raphtalia to fight for me, so instead of asking me about it, you force me into a duel! Then when Mein cheats, you deny it and force Raphtalia's contract to be voided! You never once asked if I had forced her to do anything! Hell, when she told you she was there willingly, you accused me of forcing her to say it just to justify your actions! Then when you found out I had Filo you tried to do the same damn thing! And then, just because I beat the wave and helped people, I was framed for a crime that was the exact opposite of what happened! But when I tried to explain myself, you accused me of having some bullshit brainwashing shield, and once again accused me of forcing Raphtalia and Filo to serve me! All without even once asking if it were true or listening when I said it wasn't! I will never forgive you! Ever!" He took a deep breath, calming himself. "However, I made a promise to Fitoria to work with you, so I will. But don't you ever accuse me of something without asking me about it first, any of you. And you, Motoyasu, will never be my friend. If you ever try to take something I care about again, I'll kill you myself. I'm sure the next Spear Hero will be a million times more useful just for being at least as intelligent as a kindergardener."
Motoyasu groed in rage, but Ren rested a hand on his shoulder.
"He's right," Ren said. "We caused problems, he cleaned up after us. This is the consequence of treating him unfairly. We need to focus on the Pope. Together."
"Just don't get in my way," Motoyasu growled.
"I was about to say the same," Ren said.
"The four Cardinal heroes working together," Itsuki said. "Finally."
"I thank you, Devil of the Shield," Balmus said. "Your little speech gave us all the time we needed to gather mana. Now you all die."
He held his sword out in front of him and a besm of golden energy exploded out of it. Naofumi roared in rage as he allowed his rage to boil over for power. His shield grewb the design on the face becoming more cclearly defigned as a dragon. His armor turned dark and jaggedb with a spiked sleeve down each arm, clawed gloves, a d armor covering both legs this time. Flames erupted to life over his entire body. When the blast hit his shield, it parted around it easily, Naofumi barely having to work to fend it off. Then, the blast ended.
"Burn it," Naofumi snarled. "I'm going to burn it all away. All of it. I hate them! I hate them all!"
"Master Naofumi!" Raphtalia gasped, stepping in front of him. "Please, snap out of it!"
"I'll burn every last one of you!" Naofumi snarled, still walking forward.
Raphtalia took a deep breath and stepped forward, cupping Naofumi's face and kissing him, ignoring the burns the flames caused. However, after a moment, the flames went out and Raphtalia pulled away, smiling.
"Raphtalia..."
"I'm so glad you're okay," Raphtalia smiled.
Sofia smiled softly, having stirred just in time to see the kiss. She looked up at Fenris and her smile saddened. She reached up, cupping his cheek.
"Sofia!" Fenris gasped. "You're alive!"
"I'm not going anywhere yet," Sofia smiled. "You can't let Naofumi use that shield. He needs your help. Eileen can manage."
Fenris hesitated before nodding and kissed her. "I'll be right back."
Sofia smiled and nodded. Fenris walked over to stand beside Naofumi, who nodded once.
"Switch to the one Erhard gave you," Fenris said. "He's recharging now, so its defense should be high enough, and it'll catch this fucker off guard."
Naofumi nodded and his black armor vanished as his shield switched to his offensive shield. Fenris stepped forward and readied himself, glaring daggers at Balmus.
"On your cue," Ren said.
Fenris nodded and took a breath before stabbing his sword at Balmus. "Lightning Shot!"
A sword silhouette made of lightning shot outward, exploding against a barrier and creating a dust cloud. A moment later, the other three offensive heroes' Meteor skills exploded through Balmus's barrier, one of them scratching his cheek. He swore, pulling his sword back, only for Naofu.i to land in front of him and slash upward with his shield as he stood, splitting Balmus's torso open. Balmus shouted in surprise and pain as Fenris flipped over Naofumi, slashing at Balmus, only for him to deflect it, then the next. Thebb Naofumi was there again, stepling around Fenris and slashing rapidly with his shield, Balmus deflecting it off of his blade again and again.
"What kind of shield is that to give you offensive power!? Balmus demanded.
"Exactly that kind," Naofumi said, just as Balmus stabbed at him, his sword slamming into Naofumi's shield and an explosion of light energy going off, hurling Naofumi away, barely hurt. Then, Fenris stepped out of the explosion, the sword he had copied from Ren in his hands and his body barely burned at all from the explosion he had passed through. He slashed and Balmus deflected it, leaping backward.
"Hundred Swords!" Ren shouted.
"Rapid Shot!" Itsuki shouted.
A gloud of sword silhouettes and glowing gold arrows exploded into a barrier beside Balmus before shattering it.
"Lightning Spear!" Motoyasu shouted, his attack punching through Balmus's right shoulder.
Balmus crashed down and rolled to the bottom of the craterb where Fenris landed over him, black sword once again in his hand.
"Look at med" Fenris snarled.
Balmus raised his headb then slashed, only for his hand to go spinning away, Fenris catching Balmus's sword by its handle. His weapon tree expanded, the sword and spear cersions of the weapon being added, though the level requirement was set to eighty five. They did, however, give him a huge stat boost each, cross-weapon light immunity, a list of new skills, and increased all of his other weapons skills, such as the health drain ability he had active, making that particular ability strong enough to absorb double the health points the actual attack would deal.
"You won't need this anymore," Fenris said over Balmus's screams, tossing the weapon to Ren, so that he could do what Fenris had done, which he did before passing it to Motoyasu next. "You tried to kill the love of my life." He stomped on one of Balmus's fingers and crushed it. "You did kill my unborn child." Another finger. "I should torture you until you die of old age!" He drove his sword down into Balmus's hand and Balmus screamed in pain before collapsing. "But I won't. Consider yourself lucky. You die quickly today."
Then, he drove his sword down into Balmus's head, all of his wounds sealing instantly. He ripped the sword out, sheathing it, and ran back over to Sofia, kneeling beside her as the Cathedral began to fade.
"I knew you...could do it," Sofia smiled.
"Is she going to be okay?" Fenris asked.
"She's going to be fine," Eileen said. "Physically. I...I don't know about your child. I don't think..."
"I know," Fenris said. "Do what you can for Sofia."
Eileen nodded, looking past him. "The Queen's here."
Fenris looked up at the top of the crater to see a woman who looked like an older Mein staring down at Balmus. Off to the side, Naofumi was copying the weapon's shield form. Then, he tossed the thing aside. Fenris stood.
"I'll be back," Fenris said.
Eileen and Sofia both nodded and Fenris sprinted forward, scrambling up the side of the crater and landing in a kneeling position in front of the Queen.
"Your Highness..." he swallowed hard. "I...I'm not...I'm not one of the heroes...but..."
"You're Fenris," she said. "The mercenary friend of the Shield Hero, and weilder of a Vassel Weapon, correct?"
"Yes, Your Highness," Fenris said.
"Then what may I do for you, Vassel Hero?" she asked.
"My girlfriend...she was stabbed through the stomach," Fenris said, glancing at Sofia, the queen doing the same. "We were able to save her, but...she was pregnant."
The Queen cursed loudly and shouted for someone. A moment later, three Shadows appeared around Sofia, one shoving Eileen aside instantly before all three began to chant, their bands glowing green.
"Can they..."
"We'll see," the Queen said seriously. "She will need continued treatment, assuming we can do anything at all. I'll take you all to the royal family's private clinic. The best healers in the country are there."
"Thank you, Your Highness," Fenris said.
The Queen nodded. "Heroes, please follow me. There is much we must discuss, and many miles to travel."
The others all nodded and climbed out of the crater, the Sahdows taking Sofia to a wagon, the rest of Fenris's girls all riding on Shadow's Nue form. A few minutes later, Fenris was at her side, ignoring the Shadows arguments that he should leave her with them. Eventually they gave up and returned their focus to Sofia and the Queen gave the signal to move out.
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