AN: Okay, just to give you guys the heads-up, there will be no new chapters in December. But the stories will resume on...January 11th? Yeah, let's go with that. Thank you for your understanding.

While I'm at it, glad to hear it JGResidentEvil. Although, I'm actually planning to have Reprise of the Spear Hero canon in this story. So expect some adorable Filolial monarchs in the future. Although, hope that the second season doesn't come out until later 2021. I need a break from this story for at least a month or two.

Chapter 22: Conspiracies Revealed

In the underground library of the cathedral, an army of priests have gathered in organized rows as a priest makes a speech.

"This is it." the priest says to his fellow devotees, "The time is upon us. At long last, our deepest desire will finally be fulfilled."

The Pope smiles as the time to kill Arthur has finally arrived.

Somewhere in a clearing, Fitoria uses her powers to bring Arthur and his party out from her sanctuary along with a new wagon in a golden light. Filo adores the new wagon as she is glad to pull something again with her wings flapping up and down in excitement.

"Thank you so much for the ride, Fitoria." Raphtalia thanks the queen and bows her head, "We appreciate it."

"And thanks for giving us the new wagon as well." Melty also thanks Fitoria for the new wagon.

"Yeah, Filo really seem to enjoy pulling them."

"It's only natural since Filolials are mainly used for mounts and carrying goods and people." Gwen states.

Yet Fitoria looks worried as she looks at Filo. Raphtalia notices and looks at Filo. Filo stops adoring the wagon when she notices that Raphtalia and Fitoria are looking at her.

Fitoria jumps down as she tries to protect the wagon, "No take backs! It's mine, okay?!" and she transforms.

Yet Fitoria wasn't worried about the wagon or Filo, it's something else.

"She gave it to all of us Filo." Arthur says as the three girls chuckle. Arthur looks at Fitoria, "I'm guessing you sense another hero close by. It might be Motoyasu."

Fitoria looks back at Arthur, "Very close in fact. But how do you know it's the Spear Hero?"

Gwen pops up from Arthur's left shoulder, "I thought he already told you."

Fitoria looks a little down, "Sorry, but it is hard for me to comprehend the whole...what do you call it?"

"Multiverse theory." Gwen answers.

"What is that?" Melty asks. "I never heard of it."

"Me neither." Raphtalia has no idea what they are talking about either.

"Gwen and I can explain along the way." Arthur says, "In the meantime, thank you for everything."

Fitoria looks at Filo, who is back to adoring her new wagon, "Shield Hero. Please take good care of her. And don't forget, about the others."

Arthur's party boarded the wagon and Filo starts pulling. Everyone says good by to Fitoria as Raphtalia and Melty wave goodbye at her as Fitoria waves back.

Along the way, Gwen tries her best to explain about what the multiversal theory is to everyone. She went into detail about one reality can be divided depending on the choices they make or an outcome of something with chance like a coin toss. Although Filo isn't listening as she happily hums and pulls the wagon. Melty does understand the basics, yet Raphtalia is still trying to comprehend it. Gwen even goes further by saying even something fictional like a story can become an alternate reality.

While Gwen does her lessons, they slowly approach the border walls where Motoyasu is...somewhere. The party looks over from a ridge as they try to formulate a plan to break down the gate and they'll be home free.

Raphtalia states, "If we could get past that wall, we could be on the other side of the border." She looks over the map to see what they can do.

"Are there any other routes we can take, Raphtalia?" Melty asks.

Raphtalia looks over at the map to see what they can do. "We could take a detour, but if we do, it'll cost us a few more days on the road."

"But Motoyasu is around." Arthur says as he looks at the gate with his binoculars. Yet he lowers them while making a grouchy face, "However, something tells me that he might be brainwashed again by that damnable sister of yours like last time." Then he put his binoculars back on, "But yet again, there might be a way to persuade him if the idiot isn't mind controlled."

"That's well and good." Melty says, "But what if it doesn't work?"

"Don't know. But I wish I had Pendragon right now so we can fly over."

"Pendragon?" the two girls say.

Gwen explains, "It's a flying machine that were commonly used before the apocalypse. Think of it as a carriage that isn't powered by horses yet able to fly with special mechanical parts."

"So like those automobiles in Faubley?" Melty does know what an automobile is since Faubley has a more steampunk/industrial theme to it.

"Exactly, but can fly."

"What kind of world has flying automobiles?"

"Sush!" Arthur tells everyone to be quiet, "Someone's coming out."

The girls come over to look at the gate entrance. Coming out is Motoyasu and his party.

"The Spear Hero?" Melty sees Motoyasu but turn her attention towards Arthur, "I can't believe how right you are. How did you know the Spear Hero and my sister will be here?"

Through his binoculars, Arthur sees Motoyasu looking serious as if he is pissed about something. From the look of things, he is free from brainwashing. Yet he can see Malty grinning behind him as if she made some move. That is probably because she told Motoyasu that Ren and Itsuki are dead because of Arthur, just like in the anime. However, Arthur is prepared for that too.

'Guess everything is going to plan, eh?' Nephalem speaks via telepathy to Arthur.

'Yeah. Best to make our move.'

Arthur and his party ride out as a man on the wall notices them coming. He runs out and blows the horn.

"Alright." Arthur says, "Allow me to deal with them."

They stop as Motoyasu and his party are blocking the gate. Many soldiers are there as they stand behind Motoyasu. They all get down from the wagon and Filo transforms into her humanoid form. The two heroes approach each other until they stand ten feet apart.

"Hello, Motoyasu." Arthur gives an emotionless greeting. "Before you say anything; no, I had nothing to do with the explosion. As a matter of fact, they are still alive and are on their way here."

"Is that so?" Motoyasu is gripping his spear on his back with his right arm. "What proof do you have?" Motoyasu looks like he is about to lose it.

"Allow me."

Arthur pulls something from his shield that cause all the other soldiers to place their hand on their weapons. However, what Arthur pulls out is a radio.

We flashback to when Arthur parted ways with Itsuki and Ren after giving them the rosary and Arthur was being chased.

"Just what the hell is going on?!" Itsuki asks.

"I don't get it myself." reply Ren, "But we should be more cautious from this point on." Yet Ren notices something.

He turns the rosary over and sees some sort of capsule tapped on the back. He pulls it out, presses it, and tosses it into the air. What happens next is that it does some sort of BOOM! effect with purplish clouds. And yes, there were words that said 'BOOM!' on the explosion. Just like the Dyano Caps from Dragon Ball. A radio comes out and lands into Ren's hands.

"A radio?" Itsuki tilted his head.

Ren notices a sticky note, "Looks like there is a note here too."

Getting back to present day, Arthur tosses the radio over to Motoyasu and he catches it.

"A radio?" Motoyasu asks.

"Don't fall for it!" Malty shouts from the back, "It could be a way for him to-*gag*!"

Something was tossed into Malty's mouth and down her throat. What is was was some sort of lilac-colored, transparent jelly that went down her gullet. She was forced to swallow it and tries to yell. However, no words came out of her mouth. Almost as if she no longer has a voice. She tries to yell and scream, but nothing is coming out.

"There, much better." Arthur smirks.

"What did you do?!" Elena freaks-out.

"Some special jelly I made that keeps her quiet and prevents her from casting spells. But it's only temporary."

Malty has her jaw drops at what she heard.

"Hurry up and use the radio already!" Arthur is getting impatient.

Motoyasu presses a button and says, "Hello?"

"Motoyasu?! Is that you?!" Itsuki's voice is heard from the radio, much to Motoyasu's surprise. "Why do you have- Nevermind! Motoyasu, listen! The Three Heroes Church is trying to kill us! Arthur was right! There is a conspiracy! They're even planning to overthrow the royal family!"

When Malty heard that, she tries to yell and scream with all her anger, but nothing is coming out. Yet her rage cannot be quelled.

"Be careful! Some of them have guards watching over you AND the princess!"

"Wait," Motoyasu finds it suspicious, "how do I know this isn't some recording?"

Then Ren shouts over the radio, "Because it's not, you moron! We'll be over in two minutes!"

"Okay, that's definitely Ren." Motoyasu's suspicions have been dropped.

Malty keeps on trying to shout, yell and scream as her face is all red from trying to make a sound along with her eyes being bloodshot. Frustrated, Malty stomps the ground. Her friends back away. While Ren and Itsuki try to warn Motoyasu about the conspiracy, many of the soldiers loyal to their faith try to sneak away as the time of 'penance to the Devil of the Shield' is close at hand. The guards on the walls also try to slip away as they try to get away before they the two heroes and their parties start to wise up.

One of the soldiers whispers to another on the way out, "Crap! The Bishop's not here not to put these heretics down!"

"Shush!" the soldier whispers back, "We need to get out of here."

"It's alright," another whispers, "the Pope is here."

So much for a fight between Motoyasu and Arthur. Yet Arthur heard with his mutant ears that the Bishop had arrived earlier than expected. Going off script again. Yet as he realizes that, Filo and Raphtalia hear something coming from above.

Melty notices that Filo is reacting to something, "What is it, Filo?"

Arthur yells out, "EVERYONE! GATHER AROUND ME, QUICK!"

"What's going on?!" Motoyasu asks.

"NO TIME TO EXPLAIN! MOVE!"

Malty refuses to move from her spot, so Filo transforms and kicked her and the other companions of Motoyasu's party to Arthur. Gwen grabs Melty by her hand and gets close to Raphtalia and Arthur.

Arthur raises his shield, "|Shield Prison|!" They are cased in the metal plates and chains, yet Arthur use more skills, "|Air Strike Shield x3|!" Then three green shield appear above that lay on top of another.

"What's going on?" one of the soldiers asks.

Another is starting to panic, "You don't think that-"

"RUN!"

Some of the soldiers look up and see the giant beam of light barring down where both parties are at. This devastating yellow and white beam wipes out everything in the adjacent vicinity, including the soldiers, the gate and part of the border wall. Arthur is trying to stand his ground as one |Air Strike Shield| gets destroyed. The second one is starting to crack and hold its ground. Everyone in the |Shield Prison| brace for the impact as the ground continues to rumble. The second shield finally gave way and the third shield starts to give way as well until the beam hits the |Shield Prison|. Arthur quickly switches over to his [Black Clover Shield] as the |Shield Prison| started to crack. The beam bursts through as Arthur uses his shield to try to negate the beam, and it worked right before the |Shield Prison| turned to dust.

After the light fades, they find themselves in a large, smoldering crater as they ground they stand on didn't get burnt. It looks like they're in some part of a volcano as molten debris started to look like lava. None of the soldiers have survived as their bodies have been reduced to ash and their metal pieces melted to molten slag.

Arthur lowers his shield, "Holy shit, that was close!" He looks at his party, "Is everyone alright?!"

Melty waves her left hand yet looks scared, "We're fine!" Filo, Melty, Gwen and Raphtalia are okay.

Yet everyone in Motoyasu's party, including himself, are confused on what just happened.

Motoyasu looks at Malty, "Myne, do you know what happened?"

"That power couldn't possibly have come from- Oh! I can speak again."

"Ah shit." Arthur swears under his breath.

"But what happened?!" Motoyasu asks again.

Arthur points his finger at the edge of the crater, "How about you ask the bishop over there? Since he is the one that attacked us."

Everyone looked at the direction Arthur is pointing at and sees Pope Biscas T. Balmus doing a slow clap at them.

"Truly remarkable. You just took judgment head on. An exceedingly powerful group ritual. And yet, here you stand. Not to mention that you managed to figure it out that it was I who launch the attack. I expect nothing less from the Shield Hero."

"It really is the Pope!?" Melty says in disbelief, "Arthur is right about the conspiracy against my family!"

Arthur looks serious, "Drop the fucking pleasantries, you holy bastard. You are nothing more than a twisted zealot with an overpowered weapon."

"My, my. You seem to know a lot. A zealot I maybe, but I am not twisted as you proclaim."

"Says the guy with a god complex."

"A god? Me?" he laughs in amusement, "No, I am not. For it is-"

"Blah, blah, blah." Arthur is really getting ticked off, "Just get to the fucking point."

"Direct, eh? But first, you must know of your sins. The biggest one is you deceiving the people and have them turn against their own country. You must be puni-"

Arthur groans to stop Biscas' religious ramblings, "Just tell them about ho-"

"How dare you, Pope Balmus!" Malty angrily speaks to the zealot, "Did you just realize what you just done!? You barely killed the next queen with that attack, and the Spear Hero as well!"

Arthur says to Malty, "I was gonna have him tell the plans to turn Melromarc into a theocratic nation, thank you."

Biscus continues to smile, "The Spear Hero and his party, including the princess, were murdered by the Devil of the Shield. At least that's the story the world will be told. As far as god is concern, you are all dead already."

Yet Motoyasu is even more confuse, "What is this? Myne, can you explain what the hell he's talking about?"

Biscus explains himself, "And as for the lives who have been marked for death, will finally come to an end, all is right in the world. Everything will be exactly as god desires it to be."

Arthur whispers to Nephalem, "Hey, you got that thing ready yet? You know, what we talked about?"

Nephalem uses telepathy to answer, 'Almost. Just need a few more minutes.'

Raphtalia states the fact, "This man is completely insane."

"No duh." Gwen says.

"And Arthur is right again, his logic is twisted." Melty looks at her sister, "Remind me of someone."

Biscus continues, "Oh, but don't worry."

Arthur interrupts, "You have a plan to establish a new theocratic government ruled by you after murdering every member of the Melromarc Family."

Biscus smiles a little wider, "It seems you know everything."

"What?!" Malty doesn't like that, "The royal family have always rule this country! There's no way that-"

"Abuse your power and disrespect the church? Look down upon the apostles of god himself!? Not anymore. This country doesn't need such blasphemy. Royalty? You're a pestilence. And the same applies to you 'Heroes'. We worshiped those who saved the world and it's people from the Waves, but this bunch has done more harm than good. For example: the Spear Hero released a sealed monster upon the world. The Sword Hero caused an epidemic, and the Bow Hero ignored his duties, choosing instead to serve himself." Biscus' smile dropped, "Heroes that bring such devastation to the country and damaged the people's beliefs are truly nothing more than imposters."

Motoyasu is devastated by what he did, "But...I, uh...I only did that 'cause I wanted to help! We all wanted to help! And you think we're all imposters!?"

"Actually," Arthur says, "you were manipulated by the head in your pants again and not with the one on your shoulders."

"It matters not. Your arrogance and foolishness speak volumes, just as theirs did when they decided to investigate matters far beyond their station."

"But they're still alive." Arthur says.

"Therefore, they received-... What?" Biscus became confuse on what Arthur just said, but before he knows it, lighting arrows and glowing blue swords are being launched at him.

Biscus' followers supply mana for his defensive spell, Castle Walls, to protect him from the attack.

"ARTHUR! MOTOYASU!" Itsuki shouts from one end of the crater.

Itsuki and Ren jump down and slide to the center to join the others.

Ren points his sword at the pope, "Looks like we got here just in time."

"Yeah." Itsuki looks like he's about to fire his bow, "Can't believe that the Church of the Three Heroes are behind it, but you're right."

Motoyasu stands up. He smirks, "Glad you guys are okay. I'm having a hard time that Arthur is able to predict crap that came true." Motoyasu swings his spear and points at Biscas, "Then again, Arthur's a mutant so it is possible for him to have some form of clairvoyancey."

Arthur stands ready as he looks at Biscas, "Alright, Bisc-ass, time for you to face your own judgment!"

"Hmm..." Biscas sees the four heroes before him, "As expected. These false heroes have allied themselves with the Devil of the Shield. Then it is high time to for me to deliver the lord's justice on these Fallen Heroes and summon forth new ones. Allow me to summon forth god's mercy as you fall into the pits of hell."

"Oh shut up with your piety." Arthur isn't impress, "Just fight us already so we can destroy that weapon, use its pieces and able to use any weapon we want."

Ren, Itsuki and Motoyasu look at Arthur and go, "Wait, what?"

'IT'S READY!' Nephalem says through telepathy.

'Perfect! Once he set his cathedral up, time for the two of us to unleash the ultimate power that I've always wanted to try.'

'Seriously? You had me compile a bunch of crap so you can use it for a dramatic moment? Why not use it now, you moron? Save us some time.'

'No. I want to use it when the time is right. Plus, also to look cool.'

'For fuck's sake.'

What is this ultimate power that Arthur is talking about and why use it as a dramatic moment? Wait until the next chapter!