"Filo! Now!" he shouted, and even as he said it, he and the other three moved, while Filo herself raised her hand above her head.

"Kay!" she shouted, and suddenly she exploded, like a huge cloud of smoke blasted out of her, making me hop backwards, thinking this was some kind of attack, but before I could process it, Filo, in her filolial form, with Raphtalia, Melty, and Naofumi on her back came bursting out of it, rushing towards us for a moment, before turning sharply towards the outcropping that hung off the nearby ledge.

"Air Strike Shield!" he cried out, and one of them appeared horizontally in the air just before them, Filo leaping onto it, using the property that made it resist physical damage by reflecting part of the attack to literally trampoline off it, towards the rockface, and then using the momentum to dive towards why I thought was a large drop, but turned out to be a small path between the two sides of the canyon.

It was an impressive display, and Naofumi was even smiling as they sailed upside down over our heads, looking, for just a moment, like he thought he would get away. To be fair, against a normal group of knights, mounted on normal horses, filolials, or dragons, it was a good move. We couldn't have made the leap he was going to safely, and the far wall was just that bit too smooth for us to hope to make it up quickly.

"Not so fast!" shouted Motoyasu, and I turned in time to see him literally pull something out of his Spear, the gem part glowing as it disgorged a purple glowing object, that my display told me was some kind of magical device called an 'Manacle of the Prisoner', which he tossed towards them. It was obviously magical in its aim, given he had lobbed the thing, but it went straight for Filo, the purple glow giving way to hard iron as it struck her leg, causing her to cry out.

Suddenly, even more cries echoed, as a puff of smoke came from the bird, who became the little girl once again, her body being dragged towards the cliff edge, while the others dropped over it, falling a few meters, and landing heavily on the rocks. Luckily, they all had levels, otherwise I could only guess at how injured they would be. Filo, meanwhile, was crying out as she lay on the ground, literally clawing at the thing on her ankle.

That all took only a few seconds, and still shocked, Ren and I did little, as Myne walked past my party and I, and then held up her hand, glowing with light for a moment, before she shot an orb into the sky, the thing lighting it up, and revealing the stern face of Raphtalia below, already having drawn her sword and standing protectively between us and the other two, while Naofumi and Melty were still on the ground, looking confused.

"I've called for backup, so it's too late for you to escape," she declared to them, and I saw Ren make for the cliff, climbing down a bit more carefully, I motioned for Ray and Lucia to join him, while I stood there, looking down, hoping that I wouldn't have to do too much else. Then Filo screamed, and I saw Motoyasu standing over her, making a face that just screamed bad vibes and speaking to her like she was a possession/unruly child.

"You're finally mine, Filo!" he shouted for everyone to hear, and I legitimately facepalmed, as Filo tried to push him away, saying that all her power was gone, and that fit the description of the Manacle I had seen in my status window. He said he had the royal alchemists make the thing…which was even more bad vibes as I could only guess what he'd have done with the thing normally.

"Stop being creepy and stand up, you blonde idiot!" I shouted, ignoring everyone else and stalking over to him, before I made it, however, I heard something from below, and Lucia cried out, causing me to stop, mere inches from getting my head slice off by some kind of water spell, which hit the tree on the outcropping…which then did the anime thing of taking a moment to fall off, cleanly cut.

"I…I'm not going to miss next time! Let her go!" demanded the Princess, while Lucia and Ray looked up towards me, obviously asking permission to act, but I rubbed the bridge of my nose, recognizing that she'd fired that without realizing I was about to be in the way…but still, her expression wavered only slightly, telling me she was very serious.

"Zwiet Hellfire! Zwiet Fire Arrow!" shouted Myne's voice, as she literally shoved me out of the way, nearly knocking me off the cliff. Meanwhile, her hands glowed again, and this time several versions of fire leapt from them, shooting right towards Melty, though Naofumi smoothly moved forward and blocked each shot.

This time I didn't hesitate, grabbing the hands of the Princess, who looked at me, smirked, and then pushed one of her hands towards me, the fire spell she'd already loaded blasting off right into my chest, making me cry out in surprise and some pain, as I was literally blown backwards, slamming into Motoyasu, who caught me, and then looked towards Myne questioningly.

"Hey! Don't shoot the Heroes! Are you trying to kill him?" he demanded, and she scoffed, as I patted myself, my armor having held up against the attack, given I hadn't dropped my guard to let it take me, but still, I was smoking, as she faced us.

"He got in the way of my shot!" she said, looking angry. Motoyasu, meanwhile, turned back towards Filo, as she tried to crawl away, and I was left standing there, staring at Myne.

"The one you were trying to kill your sister with?" I asked, and she gritted her teeth again, before turning down, and firing blasts again, even pausing for a moment to down a potion, one I recognized as being from Naofumi's cart, causing her body to glow with a golden aura, before she resumed firing.

"She attacked us, or did either of you notice!? If she's not holding back, then the brainwashing is already too deep. I will grant her freedom the only way possible! With DEATH!" she cried out, and then everything seemed to pause, as she stared down towards the others. As if on cue, the knights we'd had searching with us, as well as others, including some with robes marking them as mages, all came to the cliff face.

"Now, Shield Hero, face justice for the crimes you have committed against my kingdom, myself, and the future that is rightfully MINE!" she screamed the last part, and raised her arms up, as she gathered up a massive ball of flames. As if in counter, Naofumi's shield shifted to the (Rage Shield) form, burning as well, and protecting him and Melty from arrows and some other spells fired at him.

It was only as I looked down, in the harsh rays of the fireball that I realized Raphtalia wasn't down there, and decided to end this stupidity myself. Focusing, I used (Blink) to get down to where Lucia and Ray were standing with Ren, and motioned for them to follow, Naofumi, focused as he was on those above, shifted his gaze towards us, realizing he was locked into position now. If he wanted to protect Metly, he couldn't move, but if he didn't we would grab her.

Again, a cry split the night, causing the others to stop and turn towards it. The tone was Myne's, which meant Raphtalia had snuck up to her, as one would expect, but I ignored it as the cry echoed, and the ball of fire above was snuffed out. Instead, using (Blink) again, I crossed the distance between myself and Melty, appearing behind Naofumi, and then tackling her, hard to the ground, causing her to start to struggle, and making me probably look not unlike Motoyasu, who screamed out into the night for some reason.

"I'm afraid I can't let you leave, Princess!" I shouted, and then made to (Blink) back up to the cliff face. Before I could, I heard an unholy noise behind me, and rather than turn towards it, I tried to simply (Blink) away with the Princess. However, I found my MP score emptying out, and with a shocked expression, I turned to find a face staring at me that looked horrifyingly familiar.

"When the heck did you go back to put the (Soul Eater) into your Shield?!" I demanded, as the thing opened its maw wide, the terrible grin shimmering as it drained me of MP and SP, leaving me feeling weaker than ever. When that was done, Naofumi turned back towards the others, and with a flourish, he changed his Shield back into the (Rage Shield) form, literally screaming as the power he'd stolen seemed to surge through him, and he let out a tremendous burst of magic, like nothing I'd yet seen.

It was like watching an explosion of red light in slow motion, as it tore through the ground, collapsing the small land bridge before us. The blast was blinding in its intensity, if not its glare. The stuff was literally ripping apart the landbridge between the two sides of the canyon, tossing stones into the air, and sending them sailing away, probably kilometers, which made me hope he wasn't hurting anyone with that sort of fallout.

If he'd hit someone directly with that, it would have killed them, the other Heroes couldn't have taken that sort of blast head on, even if I boosted them, which was humbling to realize. However, it was taking its toll on his body, I could see his legs wobbling as he tried to keep standing against the kickback from it, his teeth grit so hard that I was surprised none had popped out of his jaw yet.

Better, the blast's explosive force drove us to the ground behind him, with me laying protectively over Princess Melty, while in front, I watched as several of the knights went flying, and even Motoyasu and Myne were knocked back, the former being smashed into by the latter, and slammed into the large rock up above the land bridge, their bodies twitching in the wind, showing one or both of them had been knocked out.

Luckily for Lucia and Ren, Ray was standing with them, and she drew her blades, jamming them into the ground, and then casting some kind of shield spell that I honestly didn't recognize. A glowing barrier kept them all safe, and even became the limit of how far the blast reached, as Naofumi finally ran out of steam, and the attack faded, leaving him standing there, looking exhausted.

At some point, and somehow I couldn't see, Raphtalia literally swung into view beside me, her strong arms trying to pull me off the Princess, and making my instincts kick in…so I bit her hand, hard, causing her to yowl in shock and surprise more than pain. Pulling back, she stared down at me, shaking her hand to get feeling back in it, as I kept my limbs wrapped around the Princess, preventing her from rising off the ground.

When it was over, Naofumi looked about to collapse himself, wavering on his feet until Raphtalia, seeing I wasn't about to let go of the Princess, rushed to his side. The Princess was also proving unable to break my grip either, despite wriggling and squirming beneath it. Still, the end result was me on one side of a broken land bridge, just that bit too far to jump, and all of the knights and others down, only Lucia, Ray, and Ren staring at us from across the large gap.

"We…we have to go," he said, stumbling away, as the three started shouting after him. Since I refused to let go, and they couldn't quite dislodge me, Raphtalia literally hefted both myself and the Princess up, proving once again how cheap this world was, as she carried us away without any difficulty at all, even given we massed more than her whole body and should have unbalanced her at least.

The way she held us, over her shoulder, allowed me one final look back at the others, as Lucia looked ready to jump the gap, only for Ray and Ren to hold her back. She shouted something, but the Shield Hero's party was moving quickly, as Naofumi held Filo in his arms, recovering himself enough to start running, and leaving me to stare sympathetically into her eyes, before we entered the trees and lost sight of each other.