The Church of the Three Heroes stood proud with its symbol proudly displayed on the front. He had learned about it from Banner, who thank to being a spirit was able to overhear many conversations and secrets. So as Jaden walked into the church, he expected to be met with hostility not silence. Looking Jaden saw a decreased number of nuns and worshipers around. "What happened here?" Raphtalia asked aloud.
"His holy pope left with all the followers of the Three Heroes to do battle with the Three Vile Demon." One of the nuns answered bravely stepped forward. "He took with him the sacred relic, a few still wait for his return." The nun looked at them like vile creatures. "So, what has brought you here?"
"We are just here to clear a few things up." Jaden said waving his hand around gathering everyone's attention. "First the worship of the Three Hero's is no longer the main faith in this country." This caused a small ripple of rage to go through various people. "Next we will be launching a full investigation into various members of the Three Heroes faith."
"What!" The nun in front of him shouted stepping forward. "What are you investigating!"
"Treason." Jaden said flatly causing a chill to run down almost everyone's spine.
"Wait Jaden-sama, what do you mean?" Raphtalia asked shocked as the nun took slow steps back. Jaden held up Eclair's file which now had various parts underlined and circled.
"Yubel noticed this while we were waiting and looking over the file again. This lays out a plan between the church and the king about summoning the four heroes." A braver sister walked forward and glanced at the file which Jaden handed over to Eclair who was on his left. "Now this on its own is no crime due to the waves but on the second page it has plans for falsely imprisoning various individuals who would, 'Stand in their way.'"
In truth Yubel had been the one to do most of the work, seeing as how they were alive during a war time. Though both of them found it quite shocking that they would hide it in prison files. He could hear the rustling of papers as Eclair no doubt checked to see what he had said. "Now onto the next matter of business." The nuns who proudly wore the symbol of the Three Heroes seemed to be talking to each other and ignoring him. As he went to continue one of the guards stationed there charged forward with a drawn sword.
With a thought he felt the five cards flash into his mind while Kuriboh flew in front of him. Unfortunately for the man he was stopped on his path by Raphtalia's sword hitting his side. The blow on its own didn't do much damage due to the man's armor but it did knock him towards Eclair who was quick to kick the blade under a pew and point her own sword at his throat. "Stand down and remove any more weapons on your person this instant!"
Turning forward Jaden let out a sigh as he saw more guards with hands on their blades. "Eclair knock him out, we have more foes to fight." With a pulse he drew yet another card but found a small smile on his face when he turned toward the head nun. "So, are you a part of this rebellion?"
"To think you would be such a nuisance!" As she said this the guards drew their swords and started marching forward. "Come my fellow believers! The Shield Demon has shown his true colors yesterday! We cannot let him live, we have a chance now that his demons are not here!" A few other nuns gathered around her with triumph sneers on their faces. "For the betterment of this world we shall end you!"
"If it is a fight you want then I shall grant you that!" Jaden thrusted his hand forward as he pulled the spell card from his hand. While he was doing this the other guards charged forward causing Eclair to jump near her new king taking up a defensive stance next to Raphtalia who drew her blade. "I cast the spell Polymerization," almost everything stopped as a swirling portal opened before him before hovering up to the top. The portal was a swirling mass of orange and blue with burst of electricity sparking around it. "With it I fuse Elemental Hero Clayman and Elemental Hero Sparkman!" The same clay golem appeared along with a new figure, this one being more humanoid wearing a blue jumpsuit with yellow armor attached to him. Both of them were gone before they could see anymore as they were absorbed by the magic portal.
From the portal descended a true giant with its upper chest covered in bright yellow armor with a bright blue orb in the center, purple spandex underneath leading towards yellow boots and a white futuristic helmet on its head leaving only the chin exposed. "I am Elemental Hero Thunder Giant, and I have come forth to write wrongs!" It proclaimed stopping whatever Jaden was about to say while lightning danced around him while he pulled his arms back while puffing his chest out. "Now lay down your weapons and we may not have to fight!"
The guards seemed to hesitate before one of them let out a laugh, "You call yourself a hero yet you work with that filthy Shield Demon!" This seemed to cause some courage to pass through the ranks which only circled around to pump him up more. "Besides even with a weak hero you fools are outnumbered!" Jaden felt Thunder Giant pull on him so with a quick toss he sent one of his cards to the graveyard as more electricity gathered around the Hero.
He raised his hands above his head as a ball of electricity built up within them. With a thrust he sent the wave of electricity forward and hit the captain who went down. "Numbers mean nothing when faced against my strength!" The giant spoke as the nearest guard brought their blade down on his armor. The blade passed the electricity that was being generated by the spark in his chest causing him to drop the sword with a yelp. Jaden was startled from his watching by the clang of steel from his side as Raphtalia blocked an attack from one of the other guards while a glance to the side showed Eclair having a time fighting a group of paladins. Looking forward past the Elemental Hero he saw the three nuns chanting but didn't get to think much longer as a pull on his armor caused Jaden to hop backwards and barley avoid the arrow.
"Thanks buddy," Jaden said patting Kuriboh as his eyes trailed upwards toward the upper area where the shadows loyal to the church dashed around. "Damn didn't think it would be this bad." When he came, he expected that like the rumor said most of the church had followed the pope to help the other heroes. While less numbers it seemed that the ones who remained were still enough to cause trouble. With a pull he drew another card while falling behind one of the pews that was hit by another arrow. Things were getting bad now and he needed a plan, he needed another hero on the field to help him, or at least another monster capable to fight.
Rolling to the side Jaden slid to the side while a card into the spell trap zone. While getting out of the way he felt a new card find its way into his hand. Not getting a chance to check the card Jaden saw a pew that remained undestroyed. Hopping behind it he checked the card and felt a smile before holding up his hand, "Come forth Neo-Spacian Dark Panther!" With a ripple of space, a roar fills the area as a pitch-black panther wearing a black cloak with a red underside appeared.
"Ahh, Jaden it is good to see you again." The Neo-Spacian said as he walked forward only to twitch and dodge an arrow hit where he previously was. "I see you didn't summon me to have a relaxing day with." DP said before a dark aura surrounded them. "Maybe once I have finished those assassins, we can have some fun." A small timer appeared over his card while they ran before disappearing like the archers.
Feeling another pull from Thunder Giant Jaden threw another card into the graveyard as another crack of lightning was heard. As Jaden checked around the pew, he saw some commotion above while Kuriboh dove around annoying enemies, Thunder Giant was in the middle of a large pile of Paladins fighting alongside Eclair, and then looked around for a second Jaden saw Raphtalia dealing with the nuns. Two of the nuns were chanting causing a barrier to be projected that was keeping the demi-human out, the third nun was chanting with a growing smile on their face.
Feeling a pit of dread form in his stomach Jaden ran from behind the pew toward his friends, "Guys get near Thunder Giant!" The Shield Hero shouted as he saw the nun raise her hands with a satisfied smile. Hearing Jaden's command the two companions broke from their fight and rushed toward the electric hero who tossed a paladin toward a group of others.
"I call down Judgement!" The nun yelled as a beam of light seemed to fall in slow motion toward Jaden and the others. The few remaining in the church felt the power of the attack. "God has smite them for their evil." The head nun said as she felt her MP empty itself. Her body was becoming heavy and staying awake was becoming hard. The others that had helped had smiles come to their faces when with a yell an armored yellow hand swept away the cloud of dirt while the sound of steel being shattered was heard.
"Wow, that was a strong attack!" The demon shield said with a smile. As more of the smoke cleared it revealed a spinning device, "Thankfully Hero Barrier was able to take care of most of it while Shield Prison took the rest."
"To take God's Judgement, how can he still be alive!" One of the paladins said shocked.
"I shall ask once more, lay down and surrender yourself! I can't guarantee your safety otherwise." Thunder Giant said again stepping forward more electricity surging off them.
"Yes, please surrender!" Eclair said standing up seeing to stand just as tall as the hero. Raphtalia raised her weapon alongside them and while she said nothing, they all felt her intention. The nun pushed started to push herself to her feet when something fell before them showing the last shadow employed by the Church as a black panther appeared mid leap landing gracefully beside the Shield Demon who patted its head.
"No really do try and resist, I'm sure it will go over great." The Demon mocked while another light settled down on his repulsive weapon. The nun watched with heated eyes as the weaker of faith were quick to lay or throw down their weapons, even the most loyal of them seemed to waver. She expected this, the High Priest had taken the most loyal of them with him when he had gone to help the three Nobel Heroes.
Looking around she saw that most of her men laid around unconcise, most likely. "What should we do?" One of her sisters in faith asked her. While she would love to answer she already felt the drain of Judgement wear down on her. Even now she saw the darkness crawling across her vision. Was this how it ended? Taken down by the very devil her faith opposed? It seemed she would not know, as the darkness claimed her and her body lost its fight.
Jaden gave a nod as he watched one the knights Eclair vouched for lead of the remnants of the Three Church away. After the head nun had collapsed the rest had either surrendered or were quickly disposed of. Turning back Jaden once again headed for the church which now held much fewer people. With a sigh he made his way toward the Dragon Hourglass. As he arrived, he saw the now flipped huge hourglass that told how long till the next wave. "Now how do I get the sand out?" Hearing a cry, he turned and saw Winged Kuriboh float up to him before flying up to the hourglass. With a push the hairball was somehow able to get inside the Dragon Hourglass and put it into a bag it brought with it.
As the Kuriboh escaped it was quick to pour the few bits of sand onto the small shield. The tree appeared before opening up the Portal Shield. Looking over it Jaden nodded, "Looks like I'll have to set one of the rooms in the castle to teleport into." Turning the Shield back to its base small form he walked out of the church. "Well now that the church is done, I suppose it is time to finish everything up before heading out." Hearing a noise, he saw Kuriboh pulling out a scroll and pen. "Thanks buddy."
XXXXX
Raphtalia gave a happy hum as she finished packing her bag. Despite the huge changes that had happened things were getting back to normal. Her and Jaden-sama were heading back into the world. Yeah, they now had two extra, Winged Kuriboh and Filo, but they didn't count. "Seems your having fun." A voice said behind her. Looking back, she saw Banner and Eclair walking into the room she was borrowing. "I hope your all ready to head out." Walking over he walked toward her bag before nodding. "Looks like you have quite a few things packed."
"And quite professionally," Eclair said giving a nod. "I know quite a few knights who could learn a lesson from you. Though I must ask why you packed so much in the bag when you have a wagon?" Turning she saw Raphtalia giving her a confused look. "Wait you didn't hear about what happened with Filo?"
A load chirp was heard before the door was thrusted further open as an average sized filolia walked in. "Yes, it seems that due to the large influx of experience points you received from the church fight was enough to have the chick develop, not that much unlike the one you experienced." Banner said while the larger Filo wandered around the room pecking at different things. "She gave the kitchen staff quite a scare when they found her eating anything she could grab."
"Talking about shock, well not to sound rude... "Turning away from the large bird Banner gave Raphtalia a pleasant smile of understanding.
"If you are wondering how I have a body again that is quite easy to explain." Walking over to a clear section of wall the once professor pulled out a marker. "Now as you know when dueling monsters once defeated are sent to the Graveyard." With a few quick strokes he had drawn a basic board. "Life is very much the same, with a few exceptions of course. But once Jaden arrived here and awakened the Shadow Game Shield, or as we prefer to call it, the Dueling Shield, those lines became blurred." Moving he pointed at the GY space while getting a far-off look. "Now normally reviving a soul should be impossible but as you are aware there are many ways to bring monsters back from the Graveyard space." Turning he saw Raphtalia nod while Eclair just stared forward as if trying to memorize the board, and Filo just tilted her head confused.
"Now when Jaden revived me it would only last as long as the duel that card was used during so in order to keep me in the world longer, he had to give me a real body." Moving over a bit he started drawing on a new section of the wall. "Now as you may have figured, while not of the Divine classification, the Three Phantasmal Beasts are very powerful creatures." Within a few moments Banner had drawn a rough depiction of their cards while turning into Jaden. "So, using their power we were able to make me a body and give me the ability to do this."
Eclair looked like she wanted a piece of paper to write on while Raphtalia slowly raised her hand. "Um, how did they make the body?" The demi-human asked slowly, as if unsure if she should.
"Ahh, a nice question with a simple answer." Walking back toward the drawing of the dual field Banner pointed at it. "Now if you remember when we were talking about the play zone there are certain restrictions? Such as monsters being limited to their special effect?" Seeing a nod Banner continued. "Well turns out those restrictions are much looser when summoned by the Dueling Shield." At this he walked over to the Phantasmal cards. "So, with these looser restrictions the beasts were able to force enough magic and power to make this body, even though it isn't in any of their effects."
"So, are you saying there is some way to permanently keep a creature in this world?" Eclair asked looking at Banner who took a moment to think.
"As far as we know… No such method exists at-," Whatever he was about to say was lost as a beam of light struck down in the courtyard. "Now what was that, and why do I feel as if Jaden is responsible?" Giving him no answer Raphtalia charged straight out of the room followed by Filo hot on her heels. "Ah, now I remember what it was like to teach."
Entering the courtyard Raphtalia was met with the site of knights surrounding Jaden who stood before a beautiful circle that in the middle now stood a tall figure donned head to toe in what looked like golden armor with a horned helmet, three green circles descending from his head, and two sharp looking blades on his arms. "I am the hero of the earth, Bladedge!" With a quick twirl that showed off his well-polished armor. "It is my pleasure to meet you all!"
Looking back Jaden saw Raphtalia staring at him in shock. "Oh hey, guess what I did." The new king let out a chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head unintentionally showing off his empty shield.