Thank you to those reviewers that were helpful and uplifting. Your comments kept my motivation to write up despite the difficulty of writing this section during Finals Week while also preparing to move out. I hope this turned out well.
Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Spirit Tortoise
After having no choice but to force their dragons to fly throughout most of the night by any means necessary, Naofumi and co were still trying to catch up to the Guardian Beast.
The Spirit Tortoise had gone northwest after its awakening. As they followed its trail, an easy task for obvious reasons, they passed over the remains of several destroyed cities. Castles that laid in ruins. Forts that were torn down and surrounded by the bodies of dead men. The very landscape itself had transformed into a hellish wasteland straight out of a nightmare.
Countless fissures had opened in the ground, swallowing entire sections of towns. At the same time, massive parts of the ground had been displaced and elevated, forming spires, crags, and plateaus that ripped the land apart.
Entire forests were leveled. Clouds of dust remained in areas where the wind didn't pick them up.
Many, many people had died. Despite how long their journey was taking them, the Heroes hadn't encountered even a single survivor directly in the path of destruction. Not even the monsters were spared.
Motoyasu had been right after all. Despite them wiping out the familiars plaguing Melromarc and the nearby countries, the Spirit Tortoise had already killed many more people after its awakening. And it was continuing to do so somewhere up ahead.
"He wouldn't have been stupid enough to wake the Spirit Tortoise himself, would he?" Ren asked for what felt like the hundredth time since yesterday.
"Knowing him, who knows?" Itsuki narrowed his eyes in disgust.
Naofumi remained silent, guiding his dragon over the endless trail of death and destruction. They hadn't gotten any word from Mirellia or her Shadows since this whole incident had started. They were literally flying in blind.
Naofumi scowled and shook his head. Based on all the destruction that he was seeing, Motoyasu had been right. An army wouldn't stand a chance against this thing.
If only Naofumi had listened to the blonde this one time… if he'd only agreed to at least go with Motoyasu to check things out. He wanted to think that Motoyasu had been stupid and woken the turtle up himself, but Ren had a point. Would the current Spear Hero be dumb enough to actually risk that?
The question was thrown into the back of the Shield Hero's mind, as they hadn't found any sign of Motoyasu yet. And with all this destruction that Naofumi was seeing… the odds of Motoyasu being alive seemed dismal at best.
If he'd only listened to him...
As the sun reached its zenith in the sky above them, the Heroes took a small break on the ground to allow their mounts to recuperate. Surrounded by so much destruction, however, they couldn't afford to tarry for long. They spent only enough time to eat lunch in silence, and to allow their mounts to recuperate from all the flying that they'd been doing before they continued on.
As the day slowly passed by, the distant mountain range that they noticed some time ago finally started to get closer. Naofumi found this to be odd. He would have thought they'd get to it by now. And it looked like it was going to be in the path of destruction too…
"Hold on… don't tell me…" Naofumi spoke after a moment, a horrible realization dawning on him.
Itsuki looked on ahead with a hollow expression. "Yes. Say hello to the backside of the Spirit Tortoise."
They were still at least over a dozen miles away and flying almost a thousand feet up in the air on the backs of dragons. Yet they could barely grasp the sheer size and volume of what stood ahead of them.
"Was it… was it that big in your games?" Naofumi swallowed nervously.
"Yes, but not when I faced it." Itsuki shook his head. "The cut scenes made it look that big, but you'd need a military grade rig to render something this massive with that much detail for actual gameplay."
"It was around that size in my game." Ren muttered.
The advantages of more advanced technology.
As they got closer and lowered in altitude, Naofumi found more and more details about the overwhelming monstrosity. Each of its legs looked to be about as thick as an entire forest's worth of trees crammed together. A large tortoise tail extended from its backside. Even this far away, each step it took made the very air around them tremble.
They could see the earth around it shake and start to visibly crack. Massive plumes of dirt, sand and dust erupted into the air around it's legs every time it put one of its appendages down to continue to move forward. A flock of familiars flew around the mountain peaks on its back like a swarm of angry gnats.
Just its backside alone was downright terrifying. How were they supposed to stop a creature like that?!
Naofumi shook his head. He'd managed to stop the last Wave Boss dead in its tracks in the water despite it being much larger than him. He had to remember that stats were the prime force in this world and not normal physics! If his defense stat was higher, then he should be able to hold it in place.
Unless, of course, this was when the world said screw you and went back to physics again. But that would just be mean.
"This thing is still classified as a monster, right?!" He yelled back at the other two just to make sure.
"Well, yea, obviously." Itsuki blinked in confusion.
"That means it has stats, and that means we have a chance!" Naofumi tried to sound optimistic as he said it.
However, his optimism wasn't quite what it was before. And as they finally began to fly alongside it. Naofumi's doubts began to creep in again.
The Beast itself wasn't just wide, but long. Miles long. It was able to house the remains of a destroyed city in the middle of the mountains on its back.
Flying alongside it, it really did look like its back formed a tortoiseshell. A tortoiseshell carrying an entire biome on it. Itsuki fired off a skill at the shell, but the arrow bounced off harmlessly.
"Well that wasn't very reassuring." Naofumi snarked to hide his fear. "Any other ideas?"
"If it's still like our games, then we could also try to strike at its head-" Itsuki began to say.
"Wait, guys, quick! Check your statuses!" Ren frantically pointed out.
They opened up their HUD's at his request. At first, Naofumi wasn't sure what the swordsman was referring to. Then, his eyes widened as he looked at his SP bar.
It was going down.
"This wasn't an ability the Spirit Tortoise had in my game!" Ren began freaking out.
They had as of yet to even face the damn thing, and they were already losing. Looking at his mount on his HUD, Naofumi found that its MP bar was slowly going down as well. It was like the monster was draining their bars, and...
Thinking quickly about what was causing it, Naofumi switched to the Soul Eater Shield. Immediately, his SP bar stopped draining. The MP on his mount continued to drop, however.
Oh well, it wasn't like their mounts needed to use magic anyway.
"It looks like it has an AoE drain ability!" Naofumi yelled to the others, he then showed his current Shield. "Do your Soul Eater weapons have drain nullification too?!"
The two other Heroes quickly switched weapons as well. Ren equipped his Soul Eater Sword, a ghostish white blade with a red grin on the hilt. And Itsuki switched to his Soul Eater Bow, a pale white bow with red string. Just like with Naofumi, the drain nullification of the weapons kicked in, protecting the two Heroes.
However, their mounts continued to lose MP.
"Let's fall back a bit! I don't like the feeling I'm getting from this!" Itsuki shouted, looking down in worry at his yellow-scaled dragon.
"No! We already came this far to fight the damn thing! We're not running away now when we're this close!" Naofumi yelled back.
After another minute, Soul Eater weapons equipped, they finally came around to the front of the large beast.
As the creature's massive head finally came into view, Naofumi took note of what he saw.
They were several hundred feet above the ground, nearly on the same level as the turtle's head. It extended out from the tortoise shell behind it like an ugly tumor. Its skin was a pale grey, with bits of green moss clinging to it. Its mouth was large enough to easily swallow a dragon whole. And from this side, Naofumi was only able to make eye contact with one of its large, black, beady eyes on its head.
The eyeball slowly turned around in it's eye socket toward him. Naofumi has grown accustomed by this point to the mindless violence and aggression towards him that monsters usually held in their eyes. So it was all the more baffling when the gaze of the guardian beast held none of it.
If he didn't know any better, he would have sworn that its eye was full of regret and resignation.
It was such a bizarre sight that he didn't even take notice of the blinding light descending from the sky until it struck the top of the turtle's head.
"█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █"
An indescribable noise full of anger and pain erupted from the turtle's maw along with an ear splitting crackle akin to thunder and a blinding flash of light.
With it came a massive shock wave that sent the flying dragons tumbling back through the air. The heroes had barely managed to stay in their saddles throughout it all, and with a great deal of effort they finally reeled the terrified dragons in and made them face their adversary again.
"What the hell?" Itsuki muttered while looking at the massive smoke cloud that now surrounded the spirit turtle's head. "Was that what I think it was?"
"Judgement." Ren recognized Balamus' favored ritual spell as well. "But who-"
"There!" Itsuki pointed ahead, beyond the smoke veil in front of the Spirit Tortoise.
Now that the heroes were finally near the front of the guardian beast, the dust clouds thinned to reveal an army of people standing directly in its path. They were all spread out. It looked like knights were on horseback fighting the Tortoise's familiars while the mages in the back were casting spells. They were spread all across the plains in front of the Spirit Tortoise, holding almost no noticeable formation whatsoever.
"Is that Mirellia's army?! She should know better than to try and attack this thing!" Ren shouted.
"No, we're too far away still, and they're not donning Melromarc's colors!" Itsuki shook his head. Looking ahead, he could see a large town built into the side of a mountain. The Spirit Tortoise was heading directly towards it. "They must be trying to protect that city over there!" He pointed out.
Maybe it was a good thing for Naofumi to suggest that they should fight it here and now. It was only because they were this close that they could see the fight going on.
The Spirit Tortoise shook its large head, making the rest of the smoke cloud dissipate. It didn't look like the ritual spell had even left a mark where it'd struck.
"Geeze, talk about power creep." Itsuki clicked his tongue in frustration. "It feels like that spell meant certain death for us just yesterday and now it's just an annoyance."
"To be fair, the Spirit Turtle was closer to endgame content." Ren swallowed hard after observing the spell's lack of effectiveness as well. "Sure, there were ways to cheese it early in my game, but somehow I doubt that you can stack multiple damage over time effects on it and then go hide while it dies from them here."
The turtle continued to move forward.
Its next step cracked the earth, sending a whole battalion of knights flying just from the shockwave of the impact. But it didn't look like it had meant to attack the knights at all. Its eyes were focused only on the city ahead.
"Damn it!" Naofumi cursed. The army was just being a hindrance by standing this close to it!
The Shield Hero swerved his mount, angling the dragon towards the turtle's head. He could think about what he saw in its eye later. Right now, they had to stop it.
"Air Strike Shield!"
The green ethereal shield appeared directly in front of the living mountain. Unfortunately, when its head rammed into it, the skill shattered instantly.
But it did grab the Tortoise's attention.
The beast moved its head slightly to look up at Naofumi, who'd just finished chanting a spell.
"All Zweite Aura!"
"Explosion Shot!" "Meteor Slash!"
The two skills from the buffed Bow and Sword Heroes slammed into the creature's head and exploded in a glorious display of power.
The colossal beast let out another cry of agony and stopped moving again. The army fighting below paused, looking up in surprise.
"Who's attacking the Guardian Beast!?"
"Is that-"
"It is! The Heroes of Legend have come to aid us!"
The knights began to cheer loudly but weren't able to celebrate for long, as their immediate attention was brought back to the familiars. But now, they began to fight with renewed vigor, inspired by the appearance of their world's saviors.
As the smoke cleared from its head again, the Heroes and their dragon mounts stared down the Guardian beast. Naofumi was a little worried about how easily it'd destroyed his skill, but he thought that with the level of power that the two attacks the Heroes had just unleashed, the colossal beast would definitely be dealing with some serious injuries.
When the smoke cleared completely, there were two bleeding craters on top of its head. Though when compared to the rest of it, they weren't that big. Still, this meant that they could hurt it!
Which meant that they could kill it!
Itsuki pulled his bow back to fire again. "Eagle Piercing Shot!"
The arrow traveled through the air, letting out a screech before it impaled directly under the Tortoise's right eye. It let out another loud roar as it shook its head from side to side. Ren jumped off his mount, holding his sword above him.
"Thunderbolt Slash!" His electrified sword dug into the flesh of the Tortoise's cheek. However, he grimaced as the weapon didn't quite sink in all the way.
This thing really had some serious defense to it. As he pulled out the sword and fell, his dragon swooped in, catching him on its back as they flew from its snapping mouth.
"Second Shield! Dritte Shield!" Naofumi summoned the two shields in succession to protect Ren. The Tortoise smashed through both, barely slowing down enough for Ren to get away. His dragon let out a roar towards the Guardian Beast even as Itsuki finished chanting his own spell.
"Zweite Down!" A golden glow appeared over the surface of the Tortoise's skin as the debuff spell took effect.
"One Hundred Swords!" Ren's next skill launched from the back of his dragon impaled the right cheek of the Tortoise over and over again.
However, even with Itsuki's debuff, the attack really didn't do all that much damage. If he'd only had the accessory still…
"Shield Prison!" Naofumi tried summoning the skill in front of the monster's head since trying to wrap the entire damn thing in it would have been impossible, yet the stronger ball of shields was destroyed easily too. His dragon clawed at the side of the giant's head before swerving away.
Another blast of Judgment came down from the sky, striking the Spirit Tortoise. At seeing the ritual spell, an idea came to Ren's mind and he pointed his sword towards the magic attack.
"As Sword Hero, source of thy power I order thee, decipher the laws of nature and enchant my weapon with the magic around me! Zweite Magic Enchant!"
As Judgment began to peeter out, part of the light magic was absorbed into his sword. His sword began to glow brightly, and a new skill appeared on his HUD. He lined his dragon up sideways where the turtle's neck was exposed before he unleashed it. "Light's Edge!"
Slashing forward, a slash of light similar to the ones that Raphtalia used, but stronger, streaked out. It looked pretty powerful too. This might actually be a critical blow!
But in his rush to attack, he hadn't realized that the Tortoise was moving again. It jerked its body forward and the attack not only slammed into the shell instead of its neck, doing absolutely no damage whatsoever, but the Tortoise itself slammed into his dragon, drastically lowering its HP and sending Ren reeling.
"Ahh! Naofumi! Why weren't you holding its attention?!" Ren screamed at the Shield Hero when he managed to get his dragon back under control.
"My skills are still on cooldown!" Naofumi shouted back in frustration as the Bow Hero launched another attack and flew his dragon out of range of the Tortoise's mouth. "Air Strike Shield!" He summoned the skill again now that he could use it, but just like before, the Tortoise easily smashed it.
Ren wanted to scream in frustration, however, he could hear his dragon struggling to breathe beneath him. Quickly looking over the side on its chest where it'd been struck, he realized that several of its ribs had broken.
"As Sword Hero, source of thy power I order thee. Decipher the laws of nature, heal my target with the power of a cooling river. Zweite Aqua Heal." The area of scales his hand hovered over glowed blue. After a few seconds, the dragon's breathing sounded less labored, and he rubbed the top of its head. "I'm sorry Sapphire, just hold out for a few more minutes while we fight this thing."
The Dragon let out another roar, and Ren flew back into the fight.
For the next few minutes that felt like an eternity, they continued to pepper the guardian beast with various attacks. Naofumi moved to grab its attention every now and again, trying skills like Hate Reaction to try and make it focus on him. However, nothing he did ever really worked for very long. He also had to take a quick pause to tell the soldiers below to move away so they'd be out of range of any area of effect skills that Itsuki or Ren used.
This was possibly the most chaotic battlefield that Naofumi had ever seen. It didn't help that Bats would swarm at them every now and then. Fortunately, with his vantage point, Itsuki was able to clear them out pretty easily. And the army was holding the vast attention of the other familiars for the most part too.
But they were being too slow in moving further away. The tortoise was still smashing them like ants under its gargantuan feet.
"Meteor Shield!" Naofumi got in front of the Spirit Tortoise as it tried to take another step forward. It slammed into the bright blue shield, his strongest skill, and shattered it instantly.
"Damn it!" Out of desperation, he tried to grab its snout with his own two hands so he could hold it back through sheer strength.
However, when it hit him, he and his dragon were sent flying. "Ahhhhh!" Naofumi held his arms close while his dragon screeched in terror, trying to right itself in the air. It was like his shoulders had nearly been wrenched out of their sockets.
Had it actually happened?! Had the world finally said that stats were meaningless here?!
But when Naofumi checked his HUD, he found that even with how high his defense was, that simple attack by the Spirit Tortoise had hurt him. His buff spell and Itsuki's debuff spell were still active too.
This monster… its attack stat was actually higher than his defense stat.
Naofumi felt fear pump through his veins. He hadn't felt like this since their first fight with Glass.
Just… just how strong was this thing?!
And the other Hero's attacks. They were hurting the beast, but they looked nowhere close to killing it. Not only was its attack stat impressive, but it's defense stat was also pretty damn scary. Anything that hit its tortoise shell did no harm whatsoever.
He realized he needed a much stronger shield than the Soul Eater Shield equipped if he wanted to stand a chance against this thing.
"Zweite Heal!" After using the healing spell on himself and his dragon, he switched to the Shield of Hope II. After using his strengthening methods on it, it had the highest defense out of all his shields.
However, not only did his SP start to go down again, but a timer appeared in the corner of his HUD.
00:30
'Only thirty seconds?!' He hadn't even been using this Shield lately! Was this an effect of him upgrading it with the strengthening methods?!
Then again, he didn't even have the Robe of Michael around him like usual. Was it because the timer was so low?
Well, it didn't matter. He quickly downed a Soul Healing Water.
"Guys, switch to your strongest weapons and hit it with your strongest attacks! I'll try to hold it in place!" Naofumi called out to the others.
Hardly wanting to question it since Naofumi had finally pulled out his Blessed Shield, they nodded and quickly did so. Itsuki's bow turned a bright orange as Ren's sword changed to a sky-blue blade with a familiar feather crown as the hilt. Both downed Soul Healing Waters as Naofumi unleashed an array of shields.
"Air Strike Shield! Second Shield! Dritte Shield!" Naofumi summoned all three Shields around the Tortoise's head to trap it in place.
This time, slamming into the shields, they didn't immediately shatter. All three cracked, but the Tortoise was momentarily stuck, much to its surprise.
"Meteor Shot!"
"Meteor Slash!"
Their weapons, glowing brightly from the power of their skills, blew up between the gaps of Naofumi's shields. The shockwave of the resulting explosions sent their dragons flying back through the air again.
That had been far, far stronger than any blast of Judgment they'd seen thus far. Damn, their power levels really were impressive compared to when they were in the Capital all those months ago. The fact that Naofumi's beefed up skills had stopped a mountain sized monster in its tracks was equally as impressive.
A part of the army paused below at the loud explosion, looking up at the Heroes as they tried to settle their dragons.
Naofumi quickly switched to the Soul Eater Shield again, and his compatriots did the same. "Did that do it?" Naofumi asked.
They stared at the cloud of smoke around the Tortoise's head. The battle began to rage below them once again as the familiars kept up their assault, but for the moment, the Tortoise itself wasn't moving.
…
Then, one of the legs started to raise again.
"No way…" Itsuki breathed out.
The head moved out of the cloud of smoke back into view. Itsuki could have sworn their combined attacks would have at least blown out a large portion of the Tortoise's cheeks. But the smoking craters didn't look that deep.
In fact, it was like…
Quickly checking the rest of the head over, Itsuki realized something. Something none of them had pointed out before.
"What happened to all of its previous injuries?!"
Indeed, the two original craters they'd left on top of its head weren't even there anymore. Almost all of their other attacks had already been healed over too. What Naofumi had mistaken for an extremely high defense stat, while true, wasn't the only thing at play here.
"That's… that's not fair…" Ren muttered, staring at the large head in shock. "It has regeneration too?" That definitely hadn't been in their games.
Stacking damage over time effects definitely wouldn't have worked on this thing.
The Tortoise wasn't even looking at them anymore. Its eyes were focused on the city once again.
Naofumi growled in anger. Even after everything they'd done to get stronger...
He prepared to fly his mount forward. Damn the consequences, if it could regenerate, he'd like to see it regenerate the cursed burns he could inflict-
But before he could finish that thought his dragon suddenly went limp and began to fall.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Naofumi screamed in absolute surprise and terror at the action. He tried to pull hard on the reins, but his dragon didn't respond.
"Naof-" Ren started to call out, but then his dragon began falling as well. He let out a scream of his own.
Itsuki looked down at their falling forms in surprise, and then kicked his dragon into gear.
His yellow scaled dragon dove down, bringing its wings incredibly close to its body. With one claw, it managed to grab Ren, and with the other, it grabbed Naofumi out of their saddles.
However, it was only strong enough to grab those two. It pulled up with them, just before their original mounts crashed into the ground below with a pair of sickening crunches.
"No… Sapphire…" Ren said sadly, looking back at the bloody smear his dragon had left on the ground.
Almost immediately, the nearby familiars on that section of ground swarmed over the two dead dragons.
"Never mind that, we have to-" Itsuki began to speak.
And then, his dragon began to fall out of the sky too.
"AHHHHH-" Him and Ren both started to scream as the knights and familiars below them came into focus.
"Shield Prison!" Thinking quickly, Naofumi cast the skill around them and the dragon. They impacted against the ground, rolling and rolling together.
Thankfully though, they came to a stop, and the prison disappeared from around them, showing the desperate fighting going on around them.
"Heroes, are you alright?!" A man on horseback approached.
"W-We're fine." Itsuki immediately began checking on his dragon. He found that it was still breathing, but it'd fallen asleep for some reason. Had that been what happened to their dragons too?!
Why was this happening?! This was going from bad to worse faster than the Heroes could even process!
"Please, stop the Guardian Beast, it's going to destroy our city!" The rider pleaded.
Nearby, a group of knights passed out on their mounts. Almost soon after, the Familiars swarmed over them.
"Focus on your own men! Hate Reaction!" Naofumi immediately used the aggro skill, drawing the familiars all around him towards himself.
"One Hundred Swords!" Ren's follow-up skill cut through the familiars swarming Naofumi. But there were so many. He tried to hold their attention, but they were quickly losing interest and going after the passed out knights again.
"Air Strike Shield! Second Shield!" Naofumi summoned another pair of shields over them. Running into the midst of the Familiars to better protect the downed knights. "Shield Prison!" He and several of the other knights around him were encompassed by the ball of shields.
While Itsuki worked on trying to wake his dragon, he found its MP bar was empty. Looking at the knights Naofumi and Ren were trying to protect, he found their MP bars were also empty. Looking around him, he noticed other knights passing out like their mounts. But it only happened when their MP bars emptied.
Was that the secret of this attack? Perhaps if he could fill its MP bar again…
He pulled a Magic Healing Water from his Bow, and began forcing the dragon to drink it.
"Air Strike Bash! Second Bash! Dritte Bash!" Ren thrust forward three separate times, sending three large bursts of wind into the familiars around him. Even with this being among his weakest skills, it was enough to kill the bats.
As the Shield Prison dropped, Ren finished off the last of the nearby familiars. "Naofumi, are you ok-" Ren started to ask.
"Of course I'm fine! These little ^%$#ers can't scratch me!" Naofumi snapped back at him. "I'm more worried about these idiots-" He said, turning to look down at those around him who he'd managed to protect.
His words stuck in his throat.
None of them were breathing anymore.
"What the… what the hell…" Naofumi started to breathe rapidly.
No, it couldn't be, he'd managed to protect them from every hit. Hadn't he? How were they dead?
How?!
WHY?!
"Guys!" Itsuki called out from his dragon. The yellow beast had woken back up and let out a tired roar. Its MP bar was halfway filled. But being this close to the Tortoise, it was dropping again already. However, the fact that it'd woken up after having its MP restored brought a startling realization.
"The Spirit Tortoise… just being near it kills you." Ren spoke, his voice filled with horror.
And the full implication of its area of effect drain ability finally came to fruition in their minds.
The closer you were, the faster the drain effect worked. Once your MP bar was empty, you passed out. If the familiars didn't kill you, if the Tortoise itself didn't kill you... the drain effect did. And the mages… it'd been a while since a magic attack had been directed at the Spirit Tortoise...
Now it made sense why the Heroes hadn't encountered any survivors on the way here. Literally no one in the world but them was safe near this thing. Any army that couldn't inflict damage faster than the guardian beast's regeneration could heal it, or one that attacked without proper preparations and a vast amount of Magic Healing Waters on hand, would meet a complete and total annihilation.
And throughout it all the Tortoise was still advancing towards the city. The earth around them cracked and tore with each slow step it took towards the inevitable.
"You!" Ren immediately ran up to and stopped a knight that looked important based on how regal his armor was. "You need to order everyone to get away from here right now!"
"B-But we can't, Sword Hero! We're still trying to evacuate our people-"
"THIS ISN'T THE TIME FOR DEBATES!" Ren screamed at the man. "UNLESS YOU WANT EVERYONE HERE TO DIE, THEN GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"
"We'll buy you some more time for the city's evacuation if you need it!" Itsuki quickly affirmed. The Bow Hero had sent his dragon flying away from the fight. The last thing they needed was for their mount to pass out again and die.
"But… can't… can't you Heroes kill the beast?" The knight asked in disbelief.
All three heroes shook their heads. "It doesn't look like it." Naofumi grimly spoke. "We can only stall it at best."
"Oh… Oh Gods… if even the Cardinal Heroes can't stop it…" The officer turned around with an expression of pure horror on his face.. "ALL FORCES, FALL BACK! FALL BACK NOW!"
He began charging through his army, his loud commanding tone sounding even over the throes of battle.
However, they were still engaged with the familiars. And many were already low on MP from being so close to the Spirit Tortoise. Even if they could disengage and pull back, many of them would still pass out before they would get out of the drain effect's range. Just how wide was the range of this thing? It could be several miles, and they hadn't even realized it until they checked their HUD's.
It was a disaster. But they had to try and flee anyway.
With the army finally trying frantically to pull out, Naofumi, Ren, and Itsuki ran towards the Spirit Tortoise and began their desperate and futile last stand to try and hold back against the inevitable.
"Eagle Piercing Shot! Meteor Shot! Explosion Shot!"
"Meteor Slash! One Hundred Swords! Thunderbolt Slash!"
The two Heroes kept on using their most powerful skills against the Beast from down on the ground. They were damaging it, but since they were stuck with their weaker Soul Eater weapons, the damage wasn't that great.
"Air Strike Shield! Second Shield! Dritte Shield! Meteor Shield! Shield Prison!" Naofumi kept on summoning one skill after another. Trying to at least delay the Tortoise in its tracks. But even with the support of all his skills, it was futile. Even when he reused his buff spells and Itsuki used his Down spell, it was still hopeless.
The difference between their stats was too great. If they'd only brought their parties along. The addition of their strength might have been enough to turn the tide.
"Urgh, I wish I'd had more time to train with Life Force!" Itsuki screamed in frustration. Even he was frustrated with how their stats weren't high enough. And he had the highest attack stat of the four heroes!
Trying to hold onto the foot of the Spirit Tortoise to keep it from moving only sent Naofumi flying. Using all of his skills in tandem was only enough to buy a few seconds for the other Heroes to move back out of the way of its next step. Naofumi kept on healing himself over and over again, taking its attacks the best he could while drinking Magic Healing Waters and Soul Healing Potions like a man who had been stranded in a desert with no water for days.
If his defense stat was the only thing keeping him alive, then one hit to the other Heroes would definitely kill them. He had to take its attacks so they could continue to damage it.
But the Tortoise kept moving. With each step, the Heroes struggled to remain upright on the cracking, trembling, shaking ground. With each step, they had to backpedal more and more towards the city they were trying to protect.
Things only went from worse to hell when, as the survivors of the army finally began to pull away, the Familiars began to swarm the three Heroes instead.
"Ack! There's so many!" Ren screamed.
"They're barely hurting us, keep fighting!" Itsuki tried to encourage him. But even he was having problems trying to launch any sort of powerful skill at the Tortoise now. "Bunker Shot!"
The skill, meant to hit the Tortoise below its chin, instead got intercepted by the swarm of bats in the way.
"It's stepping again!" Naofumi warned them as he summoned an array of skills to soften the blow, before using his legendary Shield as the last step, sending him flying once again.
This was hell. This was literally hell. Naofumi felt like he was getting beat by a hammer over and over again. Just how many times had it felt like the bones in his arms had fractured? How many times had he healed the damage over, only to step back into the fight and break them again. And all for what?! So a few people in a city they knew nothing about could escape?!
Or did he think he deserved this? Every time he was beat down, he was reminded of how he'd beat down those he cared about. Every time he healed his injuries, he had the thought of how he should be healing the injuries of others. And yet every time he ran forward again, stubborn determination to not let the world walk all over him, quite literally, this time, again… and again… and again.
And every time he could feel himself getting slower while the pain remained. This damage was something that neither magic nor potions could keep up with anymore.
The shield hero raised a shaking hand holding a healing potion to his lips one more time when a particularly large spike of agonizing pain shook his whole body as he felt something give inside. The vial slipped out of his hand, shattering on the ground and Naofumi himself doubled over, vomiting blood.
"It's no use! We have to fall back or we'll die too!" Itsuki finally yelled out after seeing the state that the shield hero was in. Not that he or Ren were doing any better. The sword hero's hands were trembling from the fatigue and he was completely out of breath while Itsuki's fingers were all lacerated and cut up from being forced to shoot his bow nonstop. He was also having trouble focusing his eyes as his vision started swimming.
"But, but the city-" Naofumi barely managed to speak as he straightened out again, his body wavering and struggling to stand.
Ren grabbed his arm with a gasp, sweat running down his dust covered face. "Naofumi, we've done all we could. We're already on our last legs. If we stay here, we'll die!"
"No, let go of me! All we need is one more attacker!" Finally, driven by pure desperation, Naofumi tried to pull up his HUD to equip the Shield of Rage.
"No, don't you dare equip that shield!" Itsuki screamed, grabbing onto his other arm as he instantly realized what Naofumi was referring to.
"I have to! You idiots are too weak! If I don't use it, then everything we've done will be for nothing!" Naofumi screamed at them.
He'd tried using the Whale Core Shield for its higher defense stat against the Tortoise since he couldn't equip the Shield of Hope anymore, but its defense still wasn't high enough, and his SP drained with it equipped. When his SP hit zero, his MP started to go down. Meaning they were just as susceptible to the Guardian Beast's deadly drain attack as normal people.
"Please! Just let me go and run away! I don't want to kill you when I equip this Shield!" Naofumi screamed again and finally began to cry in complete and utter despair. Despite everything, he still cared about the other two heroes. He didn't want his last act to end with their deaths. But he had to use this Shield. He had to-
Itsuki suddenly let go of Naofumi's arm, leaving a bloody handprint on it and instead grabbed him by his cloak's collar to forcibly yank him down so they could speak on the same eye level. "You think that I haven't thought of using the Cursed Series myself you self righteous martyr wannabe?!"
...
Naofumi hesitated, taken aback by the look of righteous indignation in the bow hero's eyes as well as the sight of blood dripping between his fingers while he held onto the Shield Hero's collar. "I..." He couldn't speak at the glare Itsuki leveled at him.
"Even if we do, do you really think that it'll be enough?! After all you've seen here?! You won't kill it on your own! You'll only die trying! And I refuse to let one of my best friends die again!" Itsuki screamed.
"…" Naofumi went speechless. Best friend… again…
Itsuki shoved him back. Trauma was painted on his features, but for now, the Bow Hero was forcing it down to address him. "You've been acting like a real piece of ^%$# for the last few days, and I'm still mad at you for everything you said that night, but I'm not going to just stand here and watch you commit suicide this way! Does your dumb, inconsiderate egotistical %^& even realize what will happen if you do!? How do you think everyone will react when I tell them that I left you here to die!? How will Eclair react!? How will Melty!? What about Raphtalia and Filo!? Everyone would be devastated!"
Naofumi's face tightened in pain. "No, please don't…" Don't use his former friends. Don't use the family he didn't deserve against him.
"Naofumi." Ren quietly muttered behind him and let go of his arm as well, putting a hand on his shoulder instead. "Please. If you die, the waves will only get harder. And even if that wasn't the case, despite everything, there are still people who care about you and would be saddened if you were gone. Including me."
"I… I can accept dying to save a friend. But I can't accept letting a good friend die because I wasn't strong enough to help them."
"You guys..." Naofumi grimaced from the wrenching feeling of guilt in his chest. And then, he hung his head in defeat. "Alright, let's-"
"Oh crap!" Itsuki suddenly glanced up and spat out.
The Spirit Tortoise's large foot was right over them.
The Heroes blanched. Having a little heart to heart in the middle of a life or death battle was a very, very bad idea.
A list of shields went through Naofumi's mind. But all of them were meaningless. None of them were strong enough to take an attack from this monster, as he'd discovered over the course of the battle. And it was obvious that no matter how hard they ran they wouldn't escape the stomp's range in time
There was no hope left.
Because of his stubbornness, his friends were going to die.
In these final, mind numbing moments Naofumi had an array of thoughts traveling through his mind. It felt like his life was flashing before his eyes.
'Melty… I'm sorry I told you that you were never loved. That was a lie of an angry fool blindly lashing out at those around him. I hope Raphtalia and the Queen can show you just how wrong I was.'
'Eclair, you were right, The person you met in that prison cell died and was replaced by this worthless piece of &^%$ pretending to be a Hero. I hope you take good care of Melty. She probably doesn't need it with how responsible she is but please make sure she doesn't work herself too hard running the village.'
'Filo, you were right to get away from me. I'm truly sorry for everything I've said and done to hurt you. I failed you as a Father. I failed you as your Caretaker.'
'Fitoria, thank you for rescuing Filo from me. I don't think I could repay you for that, even if I lived a thousand lifetimes. I know these words will sound hollow after everything I've said but I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not being a better Father, a better Boyfriend, a better Comrade, a better Hero. I hope one day you will meet heroes better than any others you've met that are worthy of your trust and respect. I'm sorry I let you down when you had such high hopes for me.'
'Raphtalia...I'm so, so sorry, You were the best person to come into my life and THIS is how I repaid you? This is how I leave you? With no reconciliation, No last happy memories to look back on?'
'I wish I could tell you one last time how much I love you. How much you just being next to me MADE me want to be better for you! But these last few days I've become nothing but another monster to you and the others. I was no better than Idol… no, I'm worse than that bastard. He at least didn't make his slaves love him.'
'I hope one day you find someone who treats you with all the love and respect you deserve...'
Looking down from his impending doom, he could see Ren and Itsuki still standing by his side. The world was moving as if in slow motion. Ren was swinging his sword and Itsuki was pulling back on the string of his bow to try and unleash some skill. They weren't making any move to run and save their own lives, they realized the futility of it as well. But they weren't simply accepting their fate either. They were facing it with their weapons drawn, ready to bite, scratch and scream down to their last breaths if it meant even a sliver of a chance that they would survive. The whole world and all of its people stood behind them and they would fall next if they failed.
And yet Naofumi felt nothing. He could make no move himself to try and save them. In the end, he was too weak...
'Motoyasu, Itsuki, Ren, I've been nothing but a complete jerk. I should have realized you were all struggling with your own issues and shouldn't have thrown them in your faces to make myself feel better about my own.'
'I led us all to this. I wish I could take it back. I wish I could take it all back but I know I'm not that lucky. I wish... I wish I had had the chance to actually get to know you guys better and be a real friend…'
'I'm sorry everyone...I failed you as a Hero and as a friend. Please look after each other and live happy lives after I'm gone...' Naofumi closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable.
…
One last remaining thought passed through his mind. One that suddenly made him open his eyes again. How unjust it all was. To have the mistakes of the last few days be what decides their fates in the end.
...
"No." A single, decisive word escaped his mouth.
No matter how impossible the odds were, even though one of their own was still missing, even though they were still hurting, Itsuki and Ren weren't giving up. And as he stood next to them and looked at the shield on his arm, he felt the emotion that he had been so desperate to restrain rising in him again.
Anger.
Righteous anger began to rapidly fill every ounce of Naofumi's being. This time, he made no attempt to hold it back.
No! He couldn't let it end like this! He didn't care about his own life. After all he did and said, his soul would be better off shredded and devoured by a soul worm like the pope's was.
But these two people who still stood by him. These two who'd had his back almost from the start and did their best despite their own faults and failures. These two who still considered him their friend. They didn't deserve this fate. They were the real heroes and he couldn't allow their efforts to be in vain.
And maybe... if they could forgive him then there was hope after all. Hope that his other friends would forgive him as well. Hope that he could rebuild those connections he'd burned down, no matter how long it took.
There was hope that he would see Filo again. Hope that he would change and show Melty the love a daughter like her deserved. Hope that he'd live long enough to tell Raphtalia how much he loved her again.
Hope that he could become a hero she would be proud of again.
But before that. He would need to survive first and overcome this seemingly impossible obstacle standing over him. For the first time in a long while his anger was directed entirely at something that deserved it.
Without Naofumi noticing, the gem on his shield slowly turned blue again and the timer that stood at zero before began to count up in the corner of his vision.
The shield hero put his hand up above him. "Air Strike Shield!"
It formed above them as the turtle's foot came crashing down. The time around him began to flow normally again.
"METEOR SLASH!"
"METEOR SHOT!"
Ren and Itsuki roared in defiance. The skills exploded against the sole of the turtle's foot, shredding it apart and making its blood rain down on them.
The turtle grunted in pain, briefly hesitating before forcing its foot down.
Ren's and Itsuki's best was not enough in the end. But they were not alone and the few precious seconds they bought were not going to be wasted.
They wouldn't be dying today. Not on Naofumi's watch. Despite the danger of what he was about to do, he felt unusually tranquil in his fury.
There was no hesitation in his heart as he clasped his hand into a fist with an indignant frown.
"Change Shield! Shield of Rage II!"
The skill glowed brightly, and then the Cursed Shield appeared in place of the Air Strike Shield just as the turtle's foot came crashing down.
From a distance. You wouldn't have been sure what the casual observer was seeing. There was the Spirit Tortoise of course, preparing to destroy a city that crowds of people were fleeing from. There was the billowing dust cloud that surrounded its large form.
Then, from seemingly out of nowhere, a ball of black cursed fire sprang up the Tortoise's leg.
"█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █!" And the unspeakable roar of pain that accompanied it shook everyone within a dozen miles down to their very cores.
Down below where the Heroes stood, the ground shook from the intensity of the Tortoise's pained scream. The massive beast visibly staggered and reeled its leg back in agony as the cursed flames surged into the fresh wounds that Ren and Itsuki had opened up seconds before.
The Shield of Rage looked heavily cracked, but it'd held. Miraculously, it had held, and they were saved.
"What-" Ren and Itsuki were both looking up in shock.
"RUN!" Naofumi grabbed the two of them and forced them to start running. He had the Shield of Hope II equipped on his arm while the Cursed Shield floated in the air above them.
Even with the Cursed Shield out, Naofumi was somehow still sane. In fact, it was like his mind was clearer than ever. And a quick glance down at himself revealed that he was donned in the Robe of Michael once more. While it didn't cancel out the drain effect entirely, it's SP regeneration slowed it down considerably.
He would question why this was happening later. Right now, he had to get these two to safety.
As the three Heroes bolted, cursed fire along with boiling blood rained down from the hurt monster above them. Only a quick use of Meteor Shield kept them from being touched by the Cursed flames.
"Air Strike Bash! Second Bash! Dritte Bash!" Ren, finally getting some semblance of sense back, put his sword behind him, sending blasts of wind that sent him and the other two Heroes, who were holding on to him tightly, flying through the air.
"Naofumi! Shield Prison us!" Itsuki shouted as a menacing red ring sprouted on his bow while he pointed it directly under himself at an angle.
Without any hesitation, Naofumi conjured the armored ball around them and a fraction of a second before it closed up completely Itsuki let go of his skill.
"Explosion Shot!"
The red blast of destruction slithered through the rapidly closing cracks between the shields like a snake and impacted against the ground as the prison closed up completely.
With a loud roar, the Spirit Tortoise brought its blackened foot down on the Cursed Shield again. This time, it shattered completely and the colossal foot flew past it to smash into the ground.
But before it did, the shield prison carrying the heroes shot out from underneath the crashing tortoise foot like cannonball.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" The Three Heroes screamed as they continued flying through the air by the force of the massive explosion that had propelled them. Naofumi's Meteor Shield and Shield Prison protected them from the initial blast, but both shattered completely as they hit the ground.
The ground around them cracked and buckled under the force of the Spirit Tortoise's massive step as they tumbled for a while in a mess of limbs, They barely avoided the fissures in the ground and the earth walls that sprouted up. The entire face of the landscape around them changed, and only blind luck kept them from becoming bloody spots on the changing landscape.
Finally, after what felt like forever in the space of a few seconds, they came to a stop a fair distance away from the beast.
"Owwwww… maybe that wasn't such a good idea." Itsuki moaned in pain.
"Are… are you two okay?" Naofumi asked worriedly.
"I've… I've felt better…" Ren groaned as he sat up, holding his side. Itsuki and Ren were covered in cuts from all the rocks they'd hit against as well as their original injuries, but Naofumi himself was unharmed.
Naofumi began to use healing magic on the two. The efficacy of it was boosted by his current shield.
"What… what did you do back there…" Ren murmured, looking at the Shield Hero and the Blessed Shield on his arm.
"I… I honestly don't know." Naofumi muttered. He didn't know why he'd tried bringing that Cursed Shield of his out. Yet, somehow, it worked. He'd remained sane despite that. And looking back at the Tortoise's leg now, he saw his cursed flames had done quite a bit of damage along its whole length.
It was so odd. Unlike before, there hadn't been any boiling anger. No sense of losing control. He had been angry, yes, but it felt like it'd had… purpose to it?
Ugh. The memory of what he'd felt at the time was so unclear. And the more he tried to think about it, the more tired he realized he was.
When had been the last time that he'd had a decent night's sleep?
…
It ended up not mattering anyways. Because just like the rest of the damage that the turtle had taken, the Cursed burns gradually began to heal over. The Tortoise paused for only a few minutes to let itself recover. During that time it stared at the Three Heroes, as if to see if they'd try to attack it again.
And then, when they made no move to do so, and with its injuries healed, it began heading towards the city only a short distance away once again.
"Even… even that wasn't… enough…" Naofumi moaned tiredly. He switched from his Blessed shield back to the Soul Eater Shield again.
They could do nothing but sit and watch as the Spirit Tortoise rammed through the great city walls like a sledgehammer. Even from this distance, they could hear the sounds of destruction overlapping with the screams of terror and pain bellowed by the citizens who were still trapped inside.
"No… I thought that was enough time…" Itsuki said in horror.
Ren was silent. Fists clenched at their sides as the Cardinal Heroes could do nothing but watch as the large beast decimated the grand city that'd likely taken a century to build within a matter of minutes.
The destruction was complete and total. Even the mountain it had been situated on was destroyed. The three could only stare in stunned horror. Not even the bombs of their former worlds could compare to the destruction unleashed here.
They then watched as the guardian beast continued on. A flock of familiars staying behind to pick off any survivors left wandering the ruined streets around the once grand city and the rubble that had been its mountain stronghold.
Itsuki took this time to switch to another weapon. And he recorded how far away the Spirit Tortoise was when his SP finally stopped going down. It was the only useful thing they could do.
"..." The Heroes could say nothing as they stared at the sight of their loss.
Despite the sun being low in the evening sky, the Spirit Tortoise didn't pause to rest. It continued on, not eating, not sleeping, just leaving a trail of destruction in its wake until it was too far for the Heroes to see any longer.
This was it. This was the power that threatened their world now.
A force not even they were strong enough to stop by themselves.
...
Eventually, Itsuki's dragon came back for them. Wordlessly, the three hopped onto its back. They said nothing as they flew up into the air. They could see the remains of the army and those they'd managed to save flee from the city towards the west in the twilight sky.
Their actions had saved a part of a nation. But there were still so many who'd died. So, so many… and the Spirit Tortoise was going on to kill many, many more.
It was too much.
Naofumi finally passed out. Unable, and unwilling to stay awake any longer.
There was nothing but blackness.
Naofumi looked around at the black void all around him.
No doppelganger of himself came out. No Bitch stepped out from the darkness. Not even a voice was heard.
There was nothing. Absolutely nothing around him.
"Filo!" Naofumi shouted.
Nothing.
"Eclair, Melty!" Naofumi tried.
Nothing.
"Itsuki, Ren, Motoyasu!"
Nothing…
For a while after that, Naofumi shouted the names of others. Elhart. Mirellia. Aultcray. Keel. Granny.
Nothing.
Tears entered his eyes.
"RAPHTALIAAAAAAA!" Naofumi screamed into the void.
…
…
But nobody came.
…
...
Naofumi stood there in stunned shock. He… he really was…
He fell to his knees and began to softly cry in the lonely, dark void.
The void which he'd created all for himself.
"Please… just let me go…"
He wished he could disappear forever in this darkness. And the darkness moved in at last, his only companion, ready to consume him.
"I don't want this anymore…" He held out the Shield. "I can't have this… please… give it to someone who deserves it… just let me go… just let me go."
And he waited. Waited to finally be absorbed from this lonely, cursed world.
And then, the darkness consumed him.
…
…
…
…
…
He opened his eyes.
The darkness was gone.
He stood on an island of light. In front of him was a figure bathed in light. So blinding that he had to raise a hand to cover his eyes.
"Who… who are you?"
They didn't speak. Instead, they approached him, getting down to his level before wrapping their arms around him.
Something… stirred within him. Something… familiar…
"Who are you?" Naofumi repeated with tears in his eyes again despite already knowing the answer.
The figure didn't speak. But the words he heard were crystal clear.
"I swear to be your sword forever. Wherever you go, I'll be there with you... Even if everyone else hates you, I will never hate you, Naofumi Iwatani."
As he looked up, her face finally came into focus. Her smile was as beautiful as ever, even as everything around them was absorbed by light.
"I believe in you."
"Naofumi, wake up."
"H-Huh?" Naofumi opened his eyes. To his surprise, he found they were in the middle of a large camp. People who'd been busy doing things all around them had paused at the sight of the Cardinal Heroes riding a dragon mount.
How long had he been asleep for? It looked like the sun was beginning to rise in the early morning sky. Had they flown through the night? And that dream…
A wave of fresh guilt washed over Naofumi.
How could he have treated Raphtalia so horribly… how could he have done that and forgotten the promise she made to him that day...
Itsuki stopped shaking the Shield Hero's shoulders. He got off the dragon as a familiar figure approached them.
"Heroes, thank goodness, my Shadows have been looking all over for you." Mirellia spoke out, struggling to contain the worry in her voice. Upon seeing Naofumi, however, a less than pleasant look crossed her features. She put a fan over the lower half of her face before she continued speaking. "We'll need your help if we want to face the Spirit Tortoise-"
"We already did that, Your Majesty." Itsuki said in a tired tone.
…
...
"You… what?" Mirellia asked, unable to hide her surprise.
"We tried to stop it… but we weren't strong enough." Itsuki hung his head. "We're sorry."
…
Mirellia glanced around. Everyone present was staring at the Heroes in wide eyed horror.
If not even the Cardinal Heroes were powerful enough to stop it…
"Come with me, quickly, and tell me everything." Mirellia ordered, staring sternly down at the three Heroes.
Like little lost puppies, they obeyed, following the Queen into her tent. Leaving the lone surviving dragon to be taken to the stables where it could mourn the loss of its two brothers in peace.
Author's Notes:
Thank you Vongola Ninja for giving me permission to use parts of your review and PM for this chapter. That was actually helpful and fit what Naofumi's mindset would be for that moment.
This omake is going to be more subdued than usual. In fact, I'm not sure if I should even call this an omake since it isn't funny whatsoever. I tried to think of a way to do it that'd be funny, but after this chapter and some of the comments I've read, well… I don't think humor would be appropriate here.
Hero Clips!
The Spirit Tortoise
Naofumi stood in a teacher's outfit at the front of a classroom. Itsuki and Ren sat in their chairs. The usual funniness that normally accompanied these clips was nowhere to be found.
The Shield Hero actually had a serious look on his face. "Guys, I finally got our info on the Spirit Tortoise…"
"... how screwed are we?" Itsuki asked solemnly.
"Well, do you want the good news first, or the bad news?" Naofumi asked.
"After the last few chapters… let's go for the good news." Ren suggested. He looked sad that Motoyasu was nowhere to be found. Was Motoyasu okay? They hadn't seen any sign of him whatsoever.
"Well, the good news is that this is the weakened version of the Spirit Tortoise that we're fighting." Naofumi started. "Apparently, whoever woke it up did it improperly, so the Spirit Tortoise isn't fighting at full power right now."
"Wasn't Motoyasu the one who woke it up?" Itsuki asked.
"I asked Allen about it, but he refused to give me a definitive answer. Said it'd be too spoilery if he gave it here." Naofumi looked over the papers he'd been given with a grimace. "Also, that's the only piece of good news he gave me."
The two stayed quiet as Naofumi took the small sheet off the top of a large pile. He cleared his throat, looking at them nervously.
"We fought the weakened version of the Spirit Tortoise in this chapter… but we haven't seen the full strength of its current form yet." Naofumi said in a voice of dread.
"I did think it was missing a few of its signature attacks." Ren grimaced. "Like its gravity magic and electric breath."
"It had that in your game too then." Itsuki slouched in his chair. "Why didn't it fight us at full strength?"
"Because we weren't seen as enough of a threat for it to use those attacks on us." Naofumi said bitterly. "Maybe at the end there, when it was looking at us, but for the majority of that fight, we were hardly more than a couple of annoying gnats in its eyes." It made him imagine how the fight would have gone down if it had been woken at full strength, and made him somewhat grateful that whoever did wake it up made it easier to fight. Yet if it was this hard to fight its weakened form...
He then continued. "The regeneration and area of effect drain abilities it showcased in this chapter are also part of its power set. Both of these abilities are, as far as Allen is aware, not part of the Tortoise's repertoire in the other Hero's gaming knowledge. Hence, why you two didn't know about them and were unprepared to deal with them." Naofumi said grimly.
"As for its size, that also wasn't exaggerated as far as Allen knows. There aren't any definitive measurements given by Aneko besides the fact that it carries a mountain range and a city on its back. The anime only has one concept art of its size, that size being massive. And there are few concept arts from the light novels that showcase its true size. He'd reference the manga, but with how badly it butchered that arc, and because they can't draw such a massive beast to scale from panel to panel, he won't be using that."
"The measurements he gave are based on my description of how long it took to get from one section of it to the other in the light novel. One of those measurements being how it took us a good while to walk from its heart to its core." Naofumi's face fell more with that.
"As for why we couldn't beat it…" Naofumi's shoulders sagged. "The way I acted and rushed things didn't help. But even if we'd been more united, we wouldn't have beaten it because I'm not strong enough to block its attacks by myself."
"But… but your defense is so high." Itsuki said, his voice shocked.
"It is high… but at this point, I'm weaker than my canon self for multiple reasons." Naofumi dropped the paper in his hands. "The main reason being that Motoyasu never shared his methods with me."
"I've been using your guys' methods longer than my canon self, which detracts from the downside of not having his methods, but not entirely. Without Motoyasu's methods, especially his main one, my defense stat is lower than canon. Apparently, it was around the end of Cal Mira after the Wave when I reached the point that I stopped being stronger than canon." Naofumi sighed.
"You guys were actually able to damage the Tortoise because your stats are higher than your canon selves. But between me not being strong enough to hold the Spirit Tortoise's attention and blocking its attacks and not preparing a bunch of Soul Healing Waters so you could have your stronger weapons equipped, you guys couldn't focus on dealing enough damage to kill it." His shoulders sank. "Some tank I am…"
"Would… would it be that much different if we had Motoyasu's methods?" Itsuki asked.
"Well, if we had them, we wouldn't need everyone else to defeat it. My defense would be more than enough to block its attacks. And your attack stats would be high enough that you might have a chance to kill it by yourselves."
Their heads all sunk. "I wish Motoyasu was here." Ren finally said.
"If we weren't there to fight it in canon, who killed it?" Itsuki asked.
"Raphtalia and Filo." Naofumi answered. "Those two are around the same power level that they were in canon, actually."
"So if we brought them along-" Ren started to ask hopefully.
"However…" Naofumi read on. "Raphtalia hasn't taken time to learn new magic sword techniques from Eclair, and only has what she managed to teach herself. Meaning she doesn't have the move she used with Filo to cut off its head… they were also only able to use that move because I was holding the Spirit Tortoise's attention long enough for them to charge it up and use it."
Naofumi set the papers down. "That is what it comes down to. Unless we had a quick charge powerful series of moves we could use, we can't win in a normal fight. Because my Defense stat isn't high enough, I can't hold the Spirit Tortoise's attention long enough for you guys to think up and prepare a super powerful attack. And because some of your stronger skills require time to charge too, keeping you from spamming them left and right..."
"With the way we are now. We have no hope of winning…"
...
"This is the last thing Allen says: stop whining and complaining about your issues, work together to overcome what you've been suffering from the last few arcs, or don't, and make me throw out everything this story has stood for and end it on a tragic note."
…
The mood of the room was nothing but gloom and doom.
"I could really use a dumb joke right now." Ren shook in his chair.
But the end of the world was not a time to joke.
Allen, like his readers, like his proofreader, had grown sick of their complacent attitudes. He'd grown sick of their refusal to directly deal with problems affecting them because that was part of their characters. He'd especially grown sick of their lack of effort to even try and talk to Naofumi about his issues until they were suddenly thrust to the forefront as plot relevant.
They had no choice. They could either grow up, resolve some of their issues for the time being, and work together to defeat the Spirit Tortoise... or die.
Nothing like the end of the world to make a few boys realize just how much they'd screwed up in life.
Till Next Time
Allen