Chapter 27 / Strength or Justice


Ren wasn't too sure what had happened.

His last memory was of the forest he had brought Itsuki to, only to be ambushed by a mysterious man with a dead body in the back of his truck.

The sharp pain against his head started to ease itself. It was as if all of his energy escaped from him in a single stroke, but he found his movements were limited. His arms are tied to a vertical pipe by some rope and the restraints had been too tight.

He looked at his surroundings to get a better understanding of where he was, but it was dark. He didn't know where he was, having a foul scent in the air. It was still rather spacious, but on the other side of the area, he could see Itsuki tied up similarly to him

"Itsuki… Hey, Itsuki…"

Ren tried to whisper as loud as he could to get his friend's attention, but Itsuki didn't move. His friend was still unconscious, but there was a voice coming down from the room.

"What? You can't get me a quote on children's organs…?"

It sounded frustrated, retaining as much composure as possible. Ren glanced down to see who had been talking, noticing that there had been a man pacing himself near a table. A stray lightbulb hung over him, providing enough light for Ren to recognize that this was the man that encountered.

"I suppose it isn't all too common, is it? I can wait for you to talk with the others to see if there's anything you can do for me.

It looked as if the man had been on the phone with someone.

As he looked somewhat distracted, Ren tried yanking on the ropes, but that accidentally caused the pipe to dent. Needless to say, it was very noisy.

"... I'm going to have to call back. Something came up and I have to deal with it."

The man turned off his phone and placed it on the nearby table. Sweat broke out on Ren's forehead as the man walked over to him and crouched down. He had a scary smile to his face, one that was masking the true evils behind his actions.

"You woke up quicker than I expected. I must have swung lighter on the second shot than the first. I suppose you might be wondering what's going on here."

Ren's spine shivered. All he wanted to do was look away and bury his face into his curled up legs, but the stare of the man was so frightening, Ren felt like a deer in front of headlights.

"I suppose that children wouldn't know there are folks disappearing occasionally throughout the city. If you kept to your own business, there wouldn't have been this problem."

A wicked smile, pure of malice, extended itself.

"And now, I'm looking to see if I can salvage something out of this. I'm no professional when it comes to dealing with children, but everything should be more-or-less the same inside of you as an adult."

"Wh-what… What are you…?"

"The police have not been any closer to finding out what the cause of the disappearances is. It's because there's nothing to find anymore, especially after I'm done with them. Do you know something called the black market?"

Confusion struck Ren slowly.

"Of course you wouldn't. It's where you can buy anything you might want, but can't get through normal means. As for me, I'm quite the seller on those markets. Some people might need organs and I provide it to them, but it's quite difficult to get my hands on them."

The realization started to sink in for the child. There was one way that he could think of how this man was supplying his organs to begin with, and it caused his face to pale in sickness. Ren tried to look away, as if that could solve the problem.

"You know, there are some people that would call me a serial killer, but I prefer to be called a man of business and opportunity. And wouldn't you know it? A prime opportunity presented itself to me. Never had to deal with children's organs before, but I suppose there's a first time for everything."

The man's hand had suddenly struck Ren across the face. He managed to hang on to his consciousness, but his body wouldn't listen to him and slumped over.

"I'll deal with your little friend first. I don't usually keep two people down here at once, so I would rather get this over with quickly. For being such a good boy, I'll make sure it won't hurt as much."

"..."

The man turned around and undid Itsuki's restraints, carrying him over to the table, but as he was taking out his tools, his phone rang again. Sounding bothered, he took his phone to the side and left Itsuki tied to the table by himself.

If Ren did nothing here, surely the both of them would find themselves to die soon, so his adrenaline settled in. The heroes of Dimension Force wouldn't sit around and do nothing.

He struggled to break himself free to find out that his second attempt was more successful.

The dent he made in the pipe was the infrastructure breaking apart. The bolts on it were old, so even a slight tug from a child was enough to break it, allowing Ren to slide himself right off.

However, his hands were still tied behind him with the rope. As he kept a wary eye on the man's return to the table, hearing his voice echoing down the room, he pulled himself over to the metal pipe again to try and use its edges to cut his restraints apart.

In the darkness, it was already difficult to see, so with a brief motion, Ren managed to cut himself free. In his haste, he accidentally dug the edge into his skin.

Being careful not to make another sound, he crept over to the table. Ren looked around to see if he could find anything that would free Itsuki, noticing the tools the man left out.

On it, Ren saw a sharp knife. There was some weight to it and the slight of the blade sent shivers down his spine. Nevertheless, Ren swallowed down his fears and turned back to cut Itsuki out from—

"Probably shouldn't have tied you up to that old pipe in the first place, I suppose."

Ren glanced back to see the man sighing while closing his phone. Within his other hand, there was another knife. The man hastily struck down on Ren, slashing open a painful wound from his shoulder to his waist. If he hadn't had the reaction to step back, the attack might have been deeper. However, he tripped over his own foot from the surprise and the man leaned forwards to stab him right in the abdomen.

"ARGH!"

"Lucky for me, those things don't go for much on the black market. Unfortunately, I'll probably have to change the first body I work on. If you wanted to be killed first, you could have simply told me.."

Something warm had been spilling out from Ren's mouth, coughing it up a bit, but his fears didn't allow him to figure out what it had been. The man picked up the knife Ren dropped and placed it on the table before pulling up the child by the head. With his hand covering Ren's mouth, he was hard to fight back, especially when his body had been screaming in pain.

As the man was about to lift him off the ground, Ren reacted by biting the man's hand. The man yelped, growling in pain as Ren was dropped back to the ground.

Frustrated by the kid, the man grabbed the knife on the table, thinking of stabbing the child once again, only to look back to see that he completely disappeared. Bewildered, the man raised his eyebrow. The man glanced around, trying to see if Ren scurried off somewhere else, but that was his mistake.

Ren quickly hid himself behind the table, having the man's back turned to him.

The heroes within Dimension Force would always try to make the villains see the errors of their ways before striking them now, such that they would understand what led to their defeat, but with blood running out of him quickly, he didn't care if that was what made someone a hero of justice.

There was something more important than justice here.

He grabbed the knife lodged in his abdomen, covering his mouth to muffle his pain and grabbed onto the handle tightly. He could already feel his consciousness wavering, but if he went down right now, he would die.

And Itsuki would die.

There was one person in the way of their survival and there was one thing Ren could do.

He was scared. His body was shaking at the thought, but if it was the thought that he was scared about, he simply had to stop thinking about it.

There hadn't been another way around it. He simply had to do it.

Ren grabbed onto the table and heaved himself onto the counter.

"What…!?"

He could see the man slowly turning around to widen his eyes, being caught off guard by Ren's flank. His fangs were exposed for the man to see. Although the rest of his memories after that had been vague and blurry, all that he remembered was how it started.

An idealistic justice built on meaningless strength.

A hardened strength emerging from empty justice.

A blade swinging downwards, cutting down all who try to hurt his friend.

-/IV/-

Thud! Thud!

Ren's blade was as heavy as Naofumi expected, if not heavier. A slam came falling down onto Naofumi, forcing him to pull up his shield, but the force behind their contact shattered the floor tiles beneath his feet. Before Naofumi could think about next steps, Ren already took his.

His friend swung his foot forward. It knocked Naofumi backwards, making him lose his balance, before Ren followed up with a spin of his blade. Naofumi was barely able to block that, but unable to stop the strength behind it, causing Naofumi to skid along the floor until his back collided with a pillar.

Eclair kept up the pressure, jumping right in with a retaliation.

Her blade soared, striking Ren in order to keep him down, but he was avoiding her attacks diligently. He blocked a few before using one of the strikes to counter with a nimble thrust. Eclair parried, but it wasn't enough to turn it around.

Her sword grinded up against Ren's blade, letting sparks fly as the assailant turned his body around to push the respondent out of her intended path. He spun back around to slam a heavy swing onto Eclair, just as she had been intending to do the same.

The collision sent both backwards, but neither tripped up from their feet.

Their glares at each other spoke more words than they would rather speak to each other. Steadily watching the other person's movements, not yielding even a moment for the other to take advantage of.

Naofumi wanted to believe that Eclair had what it took to hold Ren down, but that wasn't the objective here. The more time they wasted dealing with Ren, the likelier the governor would die by Itsuki's hands. Eclair needed to be able to hold Ren down fast enough.

Naofumi groaned as he pulled himself out from the pillar, trying to position himself to properly support Eclair. No matter how he divided the situation, it was still two versus one in their favor. Although, he wasn't all too familiar with fighting alongside Eclair.

Eclair needed to be covered as much as possible, so Naofumi raised his arm to Eclair.

"I am the source of my power! Hear my words and—"

"[Air Strike Sword]!"

In the middle of his casting, Ren launched his projectile skill at Naofumi.

It forced him to interrupt himself in order to block it, but it gave Eclair the opportunity to close the gap. She opened up with a thrust, narrowly skewering Ren's chest, before he returned a swing of his own. Their blades furiously collided without stopping before they backed off after ten seconds.

Even then, those ten seconds had them moving far more than what Naofumi could follow. As Eclair retreated, Ren bounced back abruptly with his sword igniting in a bright light.

"[Severing Slash]!"

"[Air Strike Shield]!"

The barrier appeared between Eclair and Ren as the skill was unleashed. It held him back for merely a second, maybe less, before Naofumi's shield shattered into pieces, but that was enough to allow Eclair to launch a flurry of thrusts in its wake.

Ren responded in kind, transitioning his prior skill with a shift of his sword.

"[Change Sword]! [Crimson Sword]!"

With his transformed blade emitting a red aura, Ren's movements of his multi-hit skill evenly matched Eclair's forward assault. However, Eclair's blade was knocked away with the final moves of [Crimson Sword]. Ren twisted his sword, transitioning to swing up his feet to kick Eclair backwards.

"[Shield Prison]!"

Targeting Eclair, he managed to time it perfectly to have the barrier protect Eclair. Ren used its surface to kick himself backwards, but Naofumi pressed on. He rushed forwards to try his luck at pushing back against Ren. As little damage as he could do, it was more than enough to keep up the pressure against him, but his movements were easily read.

Ren reversed Naofumi's swinging arm to cause him to stagger and with a swift roundhouse kick, Naofumi quickly found himself falling back on the ground as Eclair came out from [Shield Prison].

"[Air Strike Sword]!"

Ren launched another bladed projectile after Naofumi, but Eclair leapt into the path, parrying the skill and causing it to stray into a nearby pillar.

"Thanks, Eclair…"

"Please don't think much of it."

Naofumi slowly got back up on his feet.

"The fact of the matter is that Ren's covering the difference in our abilities with his sheer force effectively," Eclair muttered. "If we let up for a single moment, we'll find ourselves defeated in no time."

Naofumi clicked his tongue. Even though it was the same person he came to trust over the last few years, he could hardly recognize the cold expression on his face.

"We can talk things out, Ren."

"I'm not exactly in the talking mood."

"It's going to be faster to try and get past him through our own power than it is to be peaceful, whether we like it or not. I suggest that we—"

Naofumi screamed out, interrupting Eclair's words.

"What made you think that this was a good idea!?"

Despite Eclair's recommendation, Naofumi was still persistent. He took one step to Ren, as if he wanted Ren to see the tearing anguish on his face. He might have been depressed, but he was more angry about his own failings.

"I thought you were wanting to keep us on the right track! We needed to go meet the queen as quickly and quietly as possible, but this is the completely opposite of what I thought you wanted! I don't understand! I don't understand any of this, Ren!"

"What good would telling you the reason be?"

Naofumi clenched his fist. "Are you seriously asking that question!?"

Ren glared back at Naofumi. "What are you going to do with that information once I tell you? You're already intending to stop us. What does more knowledge do for you here?"

"So I can understand how you can do this without hesitating…!"

Ren silently lifted his sword once again, but Naofumi took his action as his response.

"I know it's bad to simply ignore these people while they're under their governor's rule, but I don't know how many times I have to tell you that we're not in such an easy position to be doing such things here! If you do anything as drastic as this, you're going to make things more difficult for us!"

"You're suggesting that we let this continue?"

"I… don't want to say that, but it's dangerous for us to do it right now!"

"Once we meet up with the queen," Eclair continued, "we can tell her what has been happening in this territory and she will do something about it! I've explained this before, did I not!? And yet, you still persisted in this foolish plan!"

Naofumi pleaded. "Think through this again, Ren!"

All that remained in the next few seconds were the echoes that Naofumi's shout created. He could feel his heavy breaths, just simply from being exasperated with their friends' decisions, but when he looked back up to Ren, there was a grimacing expression drawn all over his face.

"... I know that Itsuki told you about how he was bullied before, right?"

"Huh…?" Naofumi flinched. He didn't realize that Ren was awake before his interruption the night that Itsuki described his background for him. "What about it?"

"It took fourteen months."

Ren's voice had been carrying weight to it.

"That's the time it took for me to figure out that Itsuki was being bullied that entire time, not counting the months he endured before he met me. And during that time, I felt powerless to see that my friend was suffering, never being able to grasp any answers for myself.."

A soft laughter came over him, one that felt bittersweet.

"I was such an idiot. If I didn't do anything now, then wishing that someone else would act before me had been nothing except a fool's dream. You could wait, but it might get worse. There are no promises when things are left to fate like that, left to other people. To take matters into my own hands to protect what is dear to me, that's what I believe in."

With a raised sword and reignited stance, Ren aimed his sword.

"I want to protect Itsuki's dream. If that means making sure that his dreams of being an ally of justice remains alive through some chaotic approach like this, then so be it. All those months of suffering in my presence will remind me of that goal as retribution."

Naofumi was wrong.

Ren's reasoning had been relying on Itsuki's footsteps. If that was the case, there was no way that Naofumi could ever imagine talking Ren down from his stance, but there was something unstable about Ren's voice. As if he himself had his own doubts as well.

"Even if you'll be digging a deeper hole for all of us, killing all these people?"

Ren flinched, but his blade remained straightened.

"Shut up…! This is for Itsuki's sake…!"

If he allowed things to slide here, who knows what that would mean for the future. Naofumi needed to dig his heels into the ground and ensure that his message was sent for them to hear clearly.

"Sorry. I can't let this happen. You want to protect Itsuki, but I want to protect everyone here from danger. If that means I have to stop you guys, even by force, fine by me."

"I…" Ren gritted his teeth, stiffening his handle on his blade. "I won't falter then…!"

Ren leapt off, dragging his sword forwards through the air.

It caused Naofumi to flinch, but Eclair was on her toes, standing before him to block the attack. They both unleashed rapid strikes against each other, but this time, Eclair was the one to break right through. She took a large step forwards in the midst of the dancing blades and slammed her shoulder into the Sword Hero.

Ren responded by using the knockback to his advantage, jumping backwards to retreat.

"[Air Strike Sword]!"

"[Air Strike Shield]!"

A collision between the transparent weapons caused them to cancel each other out, disappearing without a trace. Dashing through, Eclair was chasing after Ren, preparing for another flurry of thrusts.

"Sir Naofumi! Provide me with some support!"

"On it!"

As Eclair kept Ren busy, Naofumi was given the chance to properly cast his magic.

"I am the source of my power! Hear my words and understand them! Protect her!"

"[Faust Guard]!"

The protective spell veiled Eclair in a thin light for a brief moment before taking full effect. It would raise her defensive ratings, allowing her to take a few extra attacks from Ren and considering the pressure she was up against, Naofumi figured she would appreciate a bit of leeway.

"[Crimson Sword]!"

Using the multi-hit skill again, Eclair was instantly put on the defensive. She took only two hits from the initial pivot, but even that dealt decent damage onto her. She was able to brace herself for the remainder of the skill though and as it wrapped up, Eclair pulled up for a slash.

However, Ren blocked it and not only that, his sword changed forms as it made contact.

Before they set off deep into their travels together, the group shared whatever materials they had on themselves if it would be able to unlock more weapons for them. As such, Naofumi provided the ores he collected at Riyute to Motoyasu and Ren.

"Eclair! Look away!"

"[Change Sword]! [Light Sword]!"

"Aah…!"

It was too late for Eclair as she got hit with the brilliant blinding light of Ren's sword. Naofumi had already started looking away before he shouted out to Eclair, but the former knight was left wide open. He immediately acted, even as the flashing lights were still going.

"[Shield Prison]!"

He protected Eclair once more, but it wasn't simply to shield her from any follow-ups from Ren. Since Eclair was in between him and Ren, it doubled as a cover from seeing the zenith of the light. Naofumi ran and dashed around [Shield Prison], extending his arm out to try and catch Ren by surprise. He closed his eyes to avoid the light as he changed his shield.

"[Change Shield]! [Rope]!"

A piece of rope shot outwards to where he thought Ren might have been standing, but he was surprised that it wasn't able to latch onto anything. In fact, there hadn't been a target behind [Shield Prison] for the skill to wrap itself. He opened his eyes again as [Shield Prison] dissipated, releasing Eclair behind him, Naofumi looked around in confusion.

(Where did Ren go?)

Before he could relax, Eclair shouted behind him. He quickly turned around to see that Ren had kicked Eclair and sent her flying off to the side. Eclair managed to land on her feet, but she clicked her tongue as she staggered onto a knee.

In a flash, Ren brought his blade onto Naofumi.

Naofumi couldn't think about where the quick attacks were going, simply acting on instinct. He wasn't as good as Eclair since half of the attacks were getting through, chipping away at his health.

(Crap! I have to do something!)

Naofumi brought up his shield, switching quickly. Being given little choice, he brought out the [Two-Headed Dog Shield].

"[Dog Bite Counter]!"

As useful as it was to lock Ren down, he quickly realized the weakness of his counter skills. They could only activate if the opponent attacked the shield. Ren stopped his frontal attacks just before he made contact and jumped right over the shield. Naofumi couldn't turn around in time before he felt Ren's foot nailing him in the back, launching him away.

Ren leapt back to reset his position, giving Naofumi and Eclair a chance to get back up again.

He then started casting his own magic, but that took some time. This was probably the only chance Naofumi could do this, so he raised his hand as well.

""I am the source of my power!""

""Hear my words and understand them!""

"Speed myself up!" / "Heal her!"

"[Faust Quickness!]" / "[Faust Heal]!"

In exchange for dealing with a faster Ren, which by itself increased the difficulty, he sent over to Eclair a restoration of her health, bringing her back to basically full health. Energy started returning to the former knight as she took her stance as soon as she could.

However, Ren started taking advantage of his new speed, almost instantly closing the gap between them and launching his foot to Naofumi. With his heel digging right into Naofumi's shield barely being pulled up in defense, he could feel his body wanting to fly away from the force.

However, Naofumi pushed against that feeling and held on against Ren's attack.

"Underestimating me a bit, aren't you…!?"

He grabbed Ren's leg and used his momentum in his favor. With a quick spin, he blindly tossed Ren over to a nearby pillar. He looked over, only to see Ren landing on its surface, shattering its marble under his weight before bouncing right back to Naofumi.

This time, Naofumi wasn't able to hold back, instantly getting slammed backwards. He rolled right up against a wall. It didn't take too much out of his health, but the shock left him a little dazed. When he glanced around to gather his bearings, he jolted up a bit to see one of the defeated guards nearby.

Now that he looked up close, the blood spilled from the man was unnerving.

He wasn't sure how Ren was able to take a life so easily like that. From the wounded cuts, the bloodied uniform, and the twitching… finger…?

Naofumi widened his eyes. This man had still been alive! Naofumi's instincts kicked in before he had a chance to even think about what he was doing.

Quickly turning his head, he could see Eclair leaping back into the battle. She was launching a series of slashes at Ren, still being able to keep up with Ren's buff. Even without any spells improving her movement, it was as if her adrenaline was enough to close the distance that the spell created, but she wasn't securing any of her heavy attacks.

Ren was preoccupied though.

"[Faust Heal]!"

Casting his magic onto the guard, the breathing in the man's chest started to be more visible to Naofumi. He was starting to groan as Naofumi hastily pulled out some bandages. He would have to apologize to Eclair for holding out for longer than needed later, but his hands were fast on the wrapping. And it wasn't as if Eclair had been letting her guard down anytime soon.

"Cough… Cough…"

"Are you alright!?"

"Wh-Where…" The man's eyes started opening back up, but he couldn't see properly yet. "The last I remember… That… That adventurer just…"

"We're still dealing with that situation. It's better if you stay down until it's cleared up."

Understanding his position, Naofumi fed him one of the health potions in his inventory. While it might have restored the guard back up to a safe threshold, the fatigue and stress on his body did not leave him so quickly. His eyes closed back on itself, but Naofumi could still confirm his breathing was better.

Naofumi came over to another nearby guard and the story was the same. They were still on the hinge of life. Naofumi naturally did the same for this guard as he did for the previous, but the third one right next to him hadn't been so lucky. In fact, the wounds on the third guard looked deeper, intentionally so. He was already dead before Naofumi came into the manor.

It was as if Ren was picking and choosing the ones that would die upon impact against the ones that would escape with a hair off their life.

But now that he knew Ren didn't kill them all, he was split on a decision. He could try and heal up whoever survived Ren's onslaught, reducing the amount of victims that would result from this incident, but that would mean the chances that Itsuki kills the governor will be more likely.

Eclair and Ren pushed themselves once more as heavy breaths were starting to overtake them.

"Sir Naofumi! Why are you pausing in the backlines!?"

Naofumi slowly stood up from the back, glancing at Ren.

"Did you leave some of these guys alive on purpose?"

"Huh?" Eclair stammered. "There are some that are still alive…?"

Ren's blade lowered slightly.

"I only killed those that wanted to hurt Itsuki and I. There were some guards that were hesitant. I figured who had been who in the heat of the moment, but it was pretty obvious which folks had been which. The way they swung their weapons and how hard they struck against my sword said much about their convictions, so I picked them off accordingly."

Ren narrowed his eyes.

"How about this? I'd say it's also in your favor to heal up as many of the guards here as you can. I'd say about twenty or thirty percent of these guys were only forced to fight because of their job."

"You merely want us to waste time."

Eclair however grimaced, looking back at the few guards who might have still been alive.

"And if you don't help them, they might end up bleeding out.."

"You're bluffing."

Naofumi stood up from the deceased guard, glaring over to Ren who raised his eyebrow.

"What…?"

"They won't die if they're left unattended. That's not what I believe my friend would do."

Naofumi raised up his shield once more, stepping over to Eclair.

"I won't hold back anymore." Naofumi glanced at Eclair in the corner of his eyes."Ren must be tired out from his clashes with you, so I'm thinking that I'll provide you with an opening, if possible."

"I might be able to do something in that case. I still have a trick up my sleeve that might close out this fight, but I can't be using it too recklessly. Give me a clean chance and I'll end this."

"Leave it to me."

Naofumi dashed forwards first this time, leaving Ren to respond. He swung his blade to stop his approach, but he wasn't planning on matching Ren's assault so evenly.

First and foremost, he needed to make Ren slower.

He swapped over to the [Animal Needle Shield] before Ren could get themselves deep in the assault. Ren flinched, seeing the new shield reveal itself, bearing needles on its surface, but considering how he didn't see Naofumi prepare a counterskill, he proceeded with his attack.

However, Naofumi didn't need to do that. Once the first attack landed against the shield, the needles shot outwards and stuck themselves onto Ren in the middle of his strikes.

"What…?"

"[Animal Needle Shield] might not have an active counter skill, but it does have a passive one! It's called [Needle Shield] and it reacts by itself once an attack lands! And by doing so—!"

An extra icon appeared in Ren's vision.

"Paralysis…!?"

Usually, it would simply do a small amount of damage, but upgrading [Animal Needle Shield] provides a bonus to its skill.

Even with the status ailment inflicted onto his friend though, he was still pushing himself to move through it. The paralysis effect hadn't been so detrimental to corner Ren, but it was likely enough to cancel out [Faust Quickness].

Ren backed off and fired off [Air Strike Sword] to push Naofumi off. A magic light surrounded Ren as he chanted a spell to remove his debuff.

"I am the source of my power! Cleanse me of my—!"

"Not so fast!" Naofumi swapped his shield back to the [Two-Headed Dog Shield] and it prepared a mighty howl. "[Howling Shield]!"

Ren's spells immediately broke off, giving Naofumi the chance to close the distance.

He launched out a few pushes, but Ren quickly overtook the offensive and fired back a few slashes of his own. However, that was what Naofumi wanted.

He was trying to bait Ren into attacking against [Light Counter], but the moment he switched his shield, Ren started to feint his attacks. Naofumi couldn't figure out which attacks would be the one to land and one bad guess would leave him suffering the recoil.

"[Light Counter]!"

He took his shot, timing it as one swing came closer to the shield, but Ren reacted perfectly, stopping his sword before it could collide. However, Naofumi pushed himself outwards, moving forwards at the same time to ensure that the attack would land.

"Grr…!"

Ren closed his eyes, trying to ease the blindness, as Naofumi pushed his friend away.

"[Shield Prison]!"

As Ren heard the skill be unleashed, he kicked himself out quickly to avoid being trapped. [Shield Prison] missed, but Naofumi hadn't been done yet.

"[Air Strike Shield]!"

Instead of using the skill to protect someone, he used it right up against [Shield Prison] and the combination caused the cage to be sent flying towards Ren. With his vision returning to him, Ren timed his skill to the approach of the cage in order to slice it in half.

"[Severing Slash]!"

With one heave, Ren slashed forwards, but there was another light emerging from behind it. He widened his eyes to see Eclair quickly approaching him. It even surprised Naofumi what she was still capable of, but when she said that she still had a trick up her sleeve, nowhere did he ever expect this.

Her sword had been glowing a bright light, extended outwards as if it was a wide lance. Her speed broke right through the disappearing pieces of the cage. Before Ren knew it, she was already right up against him, still in the swinging aftermath of his skill.

Eclair launched her attack.

"Sir Ren! Try and block this one!"

"[Crimson—]!"

Ren tried to pull his sword back up to defend against Eclair's burst, but his skill wasn't activating.

"What!?"

He'd fought Naofumi and Eclair right after fighting the guards, so he had no SP left to use. Considering he wasted his chance to dodge in order to whiff a skill activation, he was too slow to follow up with anything else.

The shining lance smashed right into Ren, launching him through one of the pillars.

"Grah!"

Dust and debris covered the area around his landing, making it difficult to see how Ren landed. After seeing that, Naofumi had to be nervous for his friend, instinctively stepping forward to check up on Ren, but Eclair held her arm out.

"Don't worry about Sir Ren! Head up the stairs and find Sir Itsuki as quickly as possible!"

"What about you!?"

"Since I know Sir Ren will be standing back up soon, I'll hold him back here."

"Got it! Thanks, Eclair!"

Trusting in Eclair, Naofumi started his ascension up to the top floor, but a voice interrupted him.

"Not so fast, Naofumi!"

Naofumi couldn't help himself to look back once he landed on the third floor, preparing to run up to the fourth. As the dust cleared up, he could even hear Ren's heavy breathing from above.

Ren's sword raised itself up, but it wasn't pointing to Naofumi or Eclair.

When the dust settled, Ren was pointing it to one of the guards. He slowly got back up from his knees, standing firmly on the ground with his sword held tightly.

"Not another step or else I'll start killing the remaining guards."

Eclair tried to take a step forwards to stop him, but Ren's sword merely came closer to the man's neck. Naofumi turned around in horror, trying to convince himself that Ren was entirely bluffing.

"You wouldn't!"

"You're not giving me much choice in the matter."

"You're not going to do it!"

"Then take another step to see if I'm bluffing!"

Naofumi was tempted to go right ahead, but his body was quivering. The determined seriousness in Ren's voice sounded like desperation. Even Eclair was afraid of moving in on Ren, clicking her tongue. She could try and use that technique once again, but since it takes time to cast her magic before applying it on her sword, Ren would already act before she was finished.

It wasn't as if he could communicate anything to Eclair. There was a floor separating Naofumi and Eclair and any movements towards each other might prompt Ren to act as well. He was intending to keep them here as long as possible, even if that meant his blade was right up against the guard's neck.

"You don't want to resort to these types of tactics, Sir Ren," Eclair growled.

"Clearly, I should since it's work—"

"I won't let it happen!"

A hand suddenly emerged from thin air right behind Ren.

No, it wasn't that they came into existence. It was more like a cloak was quickly being unveiled, starting at a person's hands. With a tight grab onto Ren's sword hand, the newcomer to the battle finally made herself present, surprising everyone in the room.

"Raphtalia!?"

"Lady Raphtalia!?"

"Of all the things—!?"

Naofumi immediately remembered what Raphtalia's magic had been. [Faust Hide Mirage] allowed her to cloak herself in invisibility, so that must have been what she used to get right up to Ren without him realizing until it was too late.

Raphtalia tried to pull Ren's arm away from the guard, latching onto Ren to restrict his movements. She wildly hung on, forcing Ren to try and shake her off.

"Damn it, Raphtalia! Let go!"

"Not with what I've been seeing here! If Master Naofumi doesn't want you to go through with this, it's my job to help him out as much as possible! Besides, I don't want to see you threatening people's lives so casually either!"

Although Ren was visually agitated, he could have easily spun his sword around to stab her in order to make her let go. However, Naofumi noticed that Ren was trying his best not to do that. It took some struggling to fling Raphtalia off from him, tossing her aside very roughly, but the time that she bought for Eclair, she was able to prepare another magic strike.

"Crap…!"

With the same silver lance covering his sword, he closed the gap in an instant and slammed it against Ren as Raphtalia fell to the ground. Ren's body flew into the wall, creating a crater against the surface and for extra security, Naofumi extended his arm.

"[Air Strike Shield]!"

With the transparent shield pressing Ren up against the wall, he effectively couldn't move.

Ren couldn't use his sword to break through as Raphtalia got back up with Eclair's help. With a brief gesture, Eclair gestured Raphtalia to head off with Naofumi as she ran up the stairs to meet up with him as Eclair glanced up to the trapped Sword Hero.

"When did you get here!?"

His confusion caused that to be the first thing said to her.

"I heard the explosion as well. I looked out the window to see what was happening and I saw you and Miss Eclair running down the streets. I already had a feeling you were heading over to the site of the explosion, so I followed you two."

He could assume that Raphtalia was almost out of MP, considering how tired she looked. She must have been hanging around the battlefield, trying to see if her involvement would hinder or help with the fight and needless to say, it worked out in their favor.

"Never mind that right now. You said that we need to find Mister Itsuki, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. Come on, Raphtalia!"

As Eclair stood guard, looking up to Ren's distress, Naofumi and Raphtalia ran up to the fourth floor, hoping that they weren't too late to stop the ensuing madness. [Air Strike Shield] broke off, leaving Ren to fall back onto the ground, leaving Eclair a bit surprised. She was certain that Ren could have landed on his feet if he desired to, but all he did was slowly get up from his fall sluggishly.

Even so, Eclair was prepared, brandishing her sword.

"Don't bother," Ren sighed. "It's already over."

"... What?"

"I've lost, but…" Ren dusted off his clothes. "Maybe it's already too late…"

"Too late?" Eclair frowned, but Ren started walking away. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'll be back at the inn before we leave tomorrow morning. My job here is already done."

Ren glanced back up to where the fourth floor had been with a heavy sigh, but when he got a better look at Ren, his fingers had been shaking. His gaze disappeared from the scene as he turned around slowly, almost as if his body and mind were crashing.

"Sir Ren?"

Without another word, Ren left the building, as well as leaving a bitter taste in Eclair's mouth.

She sheathed her sword as she glanced over to the guard he held his sword at out of curiosity, only to figure out that the guard was already dead. Even at such a dire moment, Ren was still bluffing, but Eclair wondered who he had been bluffing to.

Was it towards her and Naofumi? Or was it to himself?

-/IV/-

How much longer did he have to walk?

The pain on his body was starting to affect his ability to even move, but he kept pushing himself. If he couldn't find anyone for them to call for help, his efforts would be as good as nothing. His vision was already starting to be blurry; it had been for a while, but he wasn't sure what else to do. Even if it hurts to keep moving forwards, it was something he needed to do.

His blood dripped onto the streets behind him, escaping from the countless wounds he received in the skirmish. His friend, unconscious, was being carried on his back. He didn't even realize that he could be like a wild animal when he came down to it, rabid and violent, but he was grateful. At least, he could get his friend back underneath the starry skies.

How long has he been walking for?

The streets all looked the same to him, but not a single building in sight. He couldn't tell. Time was starting to blend together for him, dyed in a red shade. He staggered to the left, collapsing onto his knees and accidentally letting his friend roll off his back and onto the ground. He murmured, apologizing the best he could before reaching out, but that was all he could do.

Soon, he collapsed as well.

He was losing too much blood, all while his friend wasn't spilling any of his own. Some of the child's blood was painted onto his friend's clothes as he walked down the road. His eyes were starting to be heavy, having his last sight of the night be the sleeping expression of his friend.

Almost at peace.

"At least… I was able… to save you…"

The child closed his eyes, not knowing that there was a car coming down the road and seeing the injured children. It stopped immediately to see what was happening and out came its two uniformed passengers.

Voices were coming from their radios as one of them leaned in it, responding with a firm voice. A report of two children, found in the vicinity of a criminal they had leads on. One with head trauma, the other in critical condition. Both of which had been sent to the hospital as soon as they got an ambulance over to them.

Later that night, another report was sent in.

The person they were tracking down had been lying in a pool of their own blood in the basement of a lone building, hidden in the grove of a forest.

Multiple stab wounds scattered throughout the body. Cuts and slashes haphazardly made. Chest area appeared to hold the deepest wound.

Announced dead upon arrival.

-/IV/-

"I… I didn't do anything wrong, so—!"

"Are you seriously still saying that!? Even with proof right before our eyes!?"

"Grah!"

Bloodied. Beaten. Bruised. Down onto his knees.

Itsuki didn't understand.

He did whatever he could to force the governor to listen to his demands of change, but the governor refused to listen, even when Itsuki struck him down to such a compromising state.

The governor couldn't even stand up properly anymore with how much Itsuki attacked him. Knowing that it might have been over if he hit him too much, Itsuki kept feeding him health potions to restore his vitality before beating it right back out of him.

Over and over again. Rinsing and repeating.

Even with the governor crying for his life to end, Itsuki refused to deal the final blow. The governor hadn't learned that his actions were those against justice and as such, Itsuki was determined to make sure that the governor would see the way that he did no matter what.

No matter how many times he had to pierce him with arrows.

No matter how many times Itsuki struck him down with a heavy fist.

He was tired of attacking the governor as the man stumbled onto a knee with a spinning head, unable to grasp the punishment Itsuki was dishing out here. The lone girl, Rishia, had still been behind one of the couches, waiting for everything to end as Itsuki suggested she should do. She had hid herself away very quickly and for good reason.

The mere sight of the beaten governor would have turned any normal person's stomach to how battered he looked, but she was still able to hear what Itsuki had been saying.

"You can't seriously believe that bullying the weak isn't wrong! You took advantage of the governors of the Ivyred territory and manipulated the situation to benefit yourself in a strictly monetary position! Good people being kicked down by the bad!? How twisted is your head!?"

"Good people? They've been helping out those demon folks, aren't they!?"

"Demon folks…? You don't mean to say demi-humans, right?"

"Whatever they called! Like I care!"

Itsuki looked over his shoulder to where Rishia was hiding.

"Your parents helped out demi-humans before?"

A squirming voice emerged from the couch. "Th-they don't discriminate… T-They just want everyone in our t-territory to be h-happy…"

"Did you hear that!? How dare they put resources from the rightful people of that land into the demon folks that don't even deserve it! I'm doing the right thing, making sure that they—!?"

Itsuki kicked him across the face before the governor could even finish his question.

The man collapsed onto the ground, struggling to remain conscious.

"They suffer as much as humans can. Simply because they're different, it doesn't mean they don't experience the same level of pain and hardships that others do! In a world of justice, they would be treated the same way as anyone else. They've got hopes and dreams of their own as well!"

Itsuki dragged the governor up, pulling him by the collar. "You're a villain, through and through. How can you live with yourself like this, thinking that you're the one who's righteous!?"

"I… I don't answer to the likes of—"

"JUST SHUT UP WITH THAT SHIT ALREADY!"

With a heave, he threw the governor over to his bookshelf, almost causing the furniture to fall on top of him. Itsuki quickly pulled out his bow and shot an arrow to pin both the man and the bookshelf against the wall, leaving behind the curling scream of the governor's impaled shoulder.

"Wh-what the hell even is that bow!?"

As Itsuki glared back at the man, the answers started forming by itself.

"Wait, I remember hearing about the rogue Cardinal Heroes… If that's the case, then… you would have to be that accursed Bow Demon, aren't you? It all makes sense now…"

From his pain, he started to laugh.

"What's so funny?!" Itsuki snarled.

"Even if I die here, you're not getting away with thi—"

Not even a single moment to finish his sentence again. Itsuki stepped forwards and swung his fist, smashing it against the governor's head. His face was enraged in red with his anger boiling.

"You can see how things will play out if you keep dismissing me like this!"I tsuki slammed his bow, swinging it like a club across the governor's face "How much of an idiot do you have to be!?".

Rishia almost wanted to cover her ears, hearing the violent outburst.

"If you claim that you're doing the right thing against the governors of the Ivyred territory, how do you explain the heightened taxes on your people!? The people that you're supposed to protect with ideals, compassion, and justice!?"

Itsuki took heavy breaths, waiting for a response, but all the governor did was spit on him. Mixed in with his own blood, the governor started shaking his head.

"I won't waste my breath on a demon like you! The real Bow Hero will smite you for what you have done! All I'm doing is work for the Church, as they requested for me! And that was all that was required for them to secure me a place in heaven!"

Nothing was working.

There was no way that this governor would seek his ways as wrongdoings, being brainwashed by the church in such a manner. Being a fool until the absolute end, Itsuki decided that he had enough. He pulled the governor off from the bookshelf and threw him down to the ground.

"Secure a place in heaven? No need."

With the man breathing raspily, holding on to the last bits of his life, Itsuki aimed his next arrow right at the man's head. He wasn't going to hold back anymore, charging up a skill in order to make sure that nothing remained of that empty skull.

"The only thing you've secured is a place in hell."

"Itsuki! Stop it!"

Itsuki widened his eyes and looked over to the door. Naofumi, at the last moment, barged right into the room alongside Raphtalia. They both ran to the governor's office as quickly as they could, but Naofumi didn't stop at the mere entranceway like Raphtalia did. He ran up to grab Itsuki's bow, making sure the arrow couldn't be launched at the governor.

Frozen in confusion, Itsuki stuttered.

"Wh-what… the hell are you guys doing here!?"

"We could ask the same thing!"

Itsuki clicked his tongue.

"I can't overlook this, Naofumi! I can't stand to know that people are suffering and I can do something about it!"

Itsuki clenched his bow, ripping it off from Naofumi's grip.

"Who cares if killing this bastard compromises us!? We're the Cardinal Heroes! We can take on anything that comes our way, even if it's going to be the world!"

"Are you even listening to what you're saying, Itsuki!?"

Naofumi extended his arms, trying to stop Itsuki from taking the shot. When he glanced backwards at what his friend had done, Naofumi grimaced. The whimpering governor was beaten down so hard that Naofumi couldn't recognize how his face was supposed to be like before.

"Take a step back and see what you've done."

"I was about to complete my justice. That's what I see."

Itsuki's fingers tightened around his bow.

"Even if we leave now, it's better if I finish the job. He already knows about us as the Cardinal Heroes. Ren and I already committed to wrapping things up here and we're not backing out. We've already saved the daughter of the couple and now, all we have to do is take care of the governor."

Raphtalia found Rishia hiding behind the couch and came over to help her out. She was slightly squeamish when she saw what Itsuki had done to the governor, but Raphtalia brought her outside the room. It was probably for the best that happened.

"The end doesn't justify the means, Itsuki," Naofumi said.

"What are you saying…?"

"Is this really how you want to show people your justice? To make sure people listen to you out of fear instead of respect? This pain and carnage that is being caused here, that's only going to villainize us more, like how the Church wants us to be. I don't think this is the right way to go about things if you want to bring justice to this land. It's not the right thing to do if you want to be a hero of justice."

"...!"

Itsuki's gaze dropped to the ground as he gritted his teeth.

"It's not like I want to kill! What else can I do to make them listen to me!?"

"We can figure that out once we meet with the queen. I'm sure she has all the answers that you want. And besides, this doesn't feel like you're only pursuing this for justice. I take one look at the governor and all I see is someone being tortured to death."

"I..."

"We'll leave as soon as we can and besides, I think you've beaten down the governor enough that even if he won't listen to you, some of the guards might think twice about following his orders."

After a silence, Itsuki started leaving the room. He didn't say anything else, but Naofumi was relieved that he was going to depart from the situation before it could get worse.

However, as much as the governor might have been evil as seen by his friend, Naofumi thought no one should be left in such a sorry state. He pulled out a potion behind Itsuki's back and gave it to the governor, to give him enough energy to not outright die.

"I still hope you've learned something out of this," Naofumi whispered as he fed the potion to the governor. "You might not be so lucky if there's a next time to be had."

He left the man leaning against his table, but all of that was a mistake on Naofumi's behalf.

The governor raised his arm at them with what energy he healed up.

It was weak, but it was still firm. He had heard a glimpse of the conversation, discovering that this black-haired individual that walked in had been the Shield Demon himself and to pass up the chance to kill him right here had been too tempting.

A magic circle emerged before his hand, igniting it with his final blaze.

With a quiet chant of his spell, fire started roaring, causing Naofumi to look back.

"Die, Shield Demon! [Drifa Flame Burst]!"

"What!?"

Not expecting the backside spell, Naofumi extended his arm out.

"[Air Strike Shield]!"

His transparent shield handled the magic spell with relative ease, defecting the flames away from his friends, but from what it looked like, the governor put the last of his energy into that spell. He looked like he was about to pass out after that, which might give them enough time to leave in the morning if he becomes unconscious until then.

With a sigh of relief, he turned over to Itsuki, Raphtalia and Rishia.

"Is everyone all—!?"

Something soared right by Naofumi, following the sound of a hit.

When he looked back, Itsuki had been in the stance of firing an arrow—no. It wasn't that he was preparing to fire one.

It was that he had already shot one out.

"Justice is one thing," Itsuki calmly said. "Attacking my friend is another."

Without even thinking twice about it, Itsuki glanced over to Rishia who had been lucky to not have seen what happened. Though, she wasn't as oblivious as to not make an educated guess.

"C'mon, Rishia. Now that we're done here, let's bring you back to your parents. Your family, alongside the people of your territory, won't have anything to worry about concerning that fool."

Itsuki reached out for Rishia gently, contrasting how he was acting before. She had still been shaking, but she slowly took his hand. There was certainly something more calming about this side of Itsuki than before and with that, Itsuki glanced over to Naofumi.

"Are you coming, Naofumi?"

"... Go ahead first."

Naofumi was still dazed at what just happened as Itsuki led Rishia out from the manor. Raphtalia stayed by his side. She looked into the room, seeing that Itsuki's arrow was lodged between the eyes of the governor and while it was a gruesome sight, she was more worried about Naofumi.

"Your face is pale, Master Naofumi."

"He called me Shield Demon," he pondered aloud. "If that was the case, he must have been with the Church of Three Heroes as well."

Naofumi's body shook a bit as he grimaced.

"I think our situation just got a whole lot complicated."


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