"Talking"

"Thinking"

[Status Magic or other reference to a system or power]

"RRRRAAAAKKKKSSSS!" The now all too familiar roar echoed.

"It's been less than 30 minutes!?" Teal exclaimed.

"Has the time shrunk that much?" Monti questioned.

"It might never stay down!" Raphtalia said full of doubt.

Naofumi eyed the enemy again. "We'll buy what time we can to invade the back. Even if it stays down for even 30 seconds, we just need an opportunity." Naofumi rallied everyone.

They would fight the beast one final time before taking it to the next arena. Will they be given the time to make it there though?

.

"I am the source of all power. The Shield Hero commands you. He has understood this inscription. Support them!" [All Zweite Aura X]

Naofumi had finished casting his spell even before the Spirit Tortoise could get to its feet. His targets were his party members. With what he now understood about what the gap in power really was and everyone having had time to prepare, Naofumi knew things would be different.

"Then I wanna try! Mom!" Teal seemed ready to act.

"Understood, I'll support you." Raphtalia said, already beginning to chant.

Teal began to glow, but not with magic. "I wasn't a lot of help last time. It made me feel useless. I should have the most options and yet I was lacking. I suck at magic, but with this ability mom helped me come up with…" Teal's arm grew into a large hollow tree trunk. Light began to gather inside, revealing itself to be a cannon.

[Cannon Solaris]!

Teal had found a way to condense her [Sunburst] into something that had more range and in concentrating the attack, it became far more destructive. A pillar of light erupted from her arm that challenged the sun itself. Though it was powerful and cut through the Spirit Tortoise's neck, it wasn't a direct hit, nor was it large enough to sever the whole thing.

But Teal knew that.

"Here goes." Raphtalia used her light affinity to help shape the pillar of light, turning it into a blade.

"Now take the real attack!" [Sabre Solaris]!

Teal hitting only the corner of the target was intentional, as she brought down the blade of light to carve the head of the Spirit Tortoise off.

"Hell yeah!" Monti cheered.

"10 out of 10, best not-a-spell I've seen." Leon granted.

"Stop talking and move. We have to get everyone onto its back as quickly as possible." Naofumi told them all.

"I want to come too…" Wyndia spoke.

Naofumi just looked at her for a moment.

"I can be useful… Then when this is done, we can all go help Ren, right?" Wyndia made her intentions clear.

Naofumi went to reply, but- "RRRRAAAAKKKKSSSS!" There truly was no window of time left.

"Liviccic, hit it!" Naofumi directed as Leon took the first group towards the Spirit Tortoise. Liviccic was able to kill it again, but it was up soon enough. Leon unloaded the first group and felt left out.

"Y'know, Filo and I are also buffed, right?" Leon prompted.

"Right!" Filo began gathering power.

Leon used his willpower to manifest his favorite blue flames, but he didn't gather them up into concentrated orbs. Instead, Filo leapt through the fire as she spun using her [Spiral Strike]. The [Family Crest Series] granted Filo immunity to Leon's spell allowing them both to only focus on power and output.

[Azure Nexus]!

A blue blazing twister tore the Spirit Tortoise's head and neck to pieces.

"Huh!? Filo thought we agreed the attack would be called Blazing Filo!" Filo was upset.

"Nah, that name sucks. [Azure Nexus]... What was it dad called it? It slaps. It definitely slaps." Leon argued.

"It does, now stop talking and fly the next group up." Naofumi directed them. Naofumi relented to Wyndia's request and asked her to join the next group going up.

This was going to work in the short term. They had the power to keep the Spirit Tortoise down, but no means of keeping it there.

Monti was next. After taking a few people up to the Spirit Tortoise's back, he flew higher. Then he came crashing down with [Living Lightning]. Despite attacking it alone and his target resisting lightning attacks, Monti still had enough physical force to punch a hole through it and sever the head himself.

Before long, half the people they planned to take to the Spirit Tortoise's back had been ferried by Leon and Monti. The kids were getting tired, putting everything they had into each and every attack they made. Naofumi knew that he couldn't keep things going this way.

Naofumi used [All Zweite Aura X] on Glass, L'arc, Therese, Sophia, and the bull therianthrope while he had the chance. They and Liviccic would need to cover for the kids while they ferried everyone else. Aultcray, the Siltvelt council, and the leaders of the remains of the lesser nations' military forces were already pulling away. They knew that after Naofumi's plan went off, they'd be chased again by a creature they couldn't do anything about. So they tried gaining a lead on the creature while they could.

"Naofumi, this spell helps, but if you have any of that soul-healing water, I can hold the monster back better." Glass requested.

Naofumi was against a wall and had little room but to agree with her request, pulling a dozen potions from his shield and tossing them at her. She drank one and the boost from it was at least twice as great as the boost from Naofumi's spell. Glass was currently about as strong as she was during the wave, if not a bit stronger. She was able to push the Spirit Tortoise back and puncture its skull with [Tortoise Cracker] as much as she liked.

While she was clearly powerful, Raphtalia seemed confused. She fought Glass during the wave and yet with Naofumi's spell boosting her, she wasn't leagues stronger than she was before. She had to wonder why Glass was stronger before without these enhancements compared to now. Either way, Glass' current strength changed things. She could not hold off the Spirit Tortoise forever, but with just those 12 soul-healing waters she was able to hold off the Spirit Tortoise for nearly 10 minutes.

This gave everyone else time to retreat with the main forces or join the infiltration team atop the enemy. It was more than Naofumi could have asked for. He thought that everyone could maybe have bought half that time if they used everything they had and drained all their resources. Naofumi had to admit it, Itsuki and Ren pulled off something incredible in getting Glass to stop being their enemy. He knew Ren was suffering and Itsuki was missing, but he'd give them some praise when the situation allowed it.

"Maybe not Itsuki though." Naofumi thought for a moment.

The hardest person to bring up was Ost. She was feeling the pain of death over and over again. She did what she could to endure it, but everyone had their limits. She squirmed and screamed the whole time as Monti struggled to hold onto her as he carried her up. "Please… hold on just a bit longer." Monti said, full of concern.

After all the men were moved, Glass used her skill, [Circle Dance: Aloof Clam, Betrayal]. Letting the Spirit Tortoise stomp to death what it thought was Glass, while the real one flew up to the others.

"Nice one Glassy." L'arc offered.

"It was all thanks to those potions… Do you have more?" Glass asked, still trying to catch her breath

Naofumi briefly checked. "You used most of my stock. Liviccic?" Naofumi had given Liviccic a lot and hoped he still had some.

"I am also running low… What stops the Spirit Tortoise from using ranged attacks on the army?" Liviccic brought up what he considered a more immediate concern.

Naofumi only thought of one answer. "...I guess, you." Naofumi said through gritted teeth.

Liviccic deflated. "...Well fuck." Liviccic hoped Naofumi had a plan for that. He usually did. "Then I guess I'll stay out here to deal with that."

Naofumi nodded in agreement. "And we'll take care of this for real… Ost, where do we go?"

Everyone turned to Ost for direction. "...We need to move through the capital. Head… that way." Ost said with less than stellar confidence. She still looked weak. Which made sense. She just felt the pain of death dozens of times.

"You don't sound very sure." Raphtalia said in observation.

"I am not… but the closer I get the clearer my head is getting." Ost said with a downcast face.

"Take care of him." Teal told Sophia in regard to Liviccic as the two groups separated.

"We will." Sophia said, she and Silvius staying behind with Liviccic.

Naofumi surveyed who he had to work with. He had his family, his allies that gained the title of lord, Wyndia, Sophia, Silvius, Liviccic's huge haunted armor, Chloe, Walter, Glass' group, some of the more outstanding Siltveltians like Werner and the bull therianthrope, The Siltveltian royal guards, and lastly the queen and some of her shadows.

"I suggest we proceed quickly." The queen said. No one disagreed as they went towards the capital.

Monti and Teal had to help Ost along as she was still in so much pain. The kids gave their father a look that made him pause. He used [Drifa Heal X] on Ost to get them to stop staring at him, but it didn't help as much as any of them would like.

They had struggled to make progress with the Spirit Tortoise in motion. Liviccic did what he could to interrupt any ranged attack the Spirit Tortoise tried, but that caused only more explosions and debris going everywhere. If all that wasn't bad enough, the Spirit Tortoise's back still had plenty of familiars. With enemies abound and experiencing something greater than any earthquake beneath their feet, all while stones rained down made it feel like they were walking in an apocalypse.

During this, the kids made sure to bring the most intact familiars to Ost so she could absorb them. That helped her more, but Liviccic was still attacking the Spirit Tortoise's head elsewhere, which meant she could be brought to her knees in pain at any moment. This slowed everyone down even more.

"This is too much. My queen, you might want to consider retreat." A shadow suggested.

"I cannot. Aultcray is in danger on the ground. The only thing I can do for him, and all my men, is to stop this at its source." Mirellia dismissed their advice.

Mirellia knew her weakness, so she decided to align her personal and professional goals, to avoid her from hesitating.

"Do you think the armies can stay ahead of the Spirit Tortoise?" Fitts asked.

"We can't even consider them at this point." Walter said, dismissing all those on the ground.

"That's pretty harsh." Monti didn't agree.

"Imagine the four possibilities. They are safe and we know, they are not safe and we know, they are safe and we don't know, they aren't safe and we don't know. If we retreat to check or retreat to help, we can't win. So we can only focus on doing our part to end the threat. No matter the situation, retreating is the worst choice." Walter told him.

"It's as he says. The only way to protect them is to ignore them and slay the enemy." Mirellia agreed.

They could now see the ruined building in the distance. The remains of the capital city that was built upon the back of the Spirit Tortoise. They would have cover soon as they searched for a way inside the monster. These familiars were taxing their stamina.

Back with Liviccic

"Dammit! It keeps catching up to the armies!" Sophia shouted in panic.

"You need to down it completely again!" Silvius suggested.

"I can't. If it falls it could send everyone up here flying off…" Liviccic argued.

"Then do we stand here and watch as this thing kills all our allies?" Sophia asked.

Liviccic went to speak but was interrupted. "No we-"

The Spirit Tortoise slowed. It felt it was now close enough to the armies to land a significant hit. It began to charge up its powerful lightning cannon again.

"Lord! Can you do something about this!?" Silvius begged.

"I can… Only once." Liviccic stepped forward and removed the animated body of the late Lord Langiva.

"I was hoping to get more out of you, but it seems I'll lose you here. Go!" Liviccic commanded his undead to charge to his death and he did. Langiva's speed in life was now even further enhanced as it leapt from the edge of the Spirit Tortoise's shell over its head.

"Will that be enough?" Silvius asked doubtfully.

"It will. When I first gained the vassal staff, I found myself with abilities I didn't care for. What was the point in being able to wield all the elements when my cursed magic still seemed stronger and I was far more familiar with it? But then I realized that by being granted all affinities by the vassal staff there was something I could do with my undead now that I couldn't before. I can use their bodies to cast spells with my power as long as it matches the body's affinity." Liviccic explained.

Aultcray and the others were in retreat, but the light shining from behind them was unmistakable. He looked back to see where the monster was aiming. He'd need to dodge the attack. Outrunning it in a straight line was suicide. But what Aultcray saw sank his heart. He saw Langiva's corpse leaping in front of the attack. A dead friend's body dancing around felt so wrong to him, but he had to stomach it.

"Now then." [Drifa Lightning Rod V]!

The Spirit Tortoise unleashed its attack but it did not go in a straight line. The moment it struck the figure in front of it, the beam was directed upward by Langiva's glaive, splitting the sky. The attack completely erased Langiva's body without a single trace of flesh, bone, or armor remaining. However, the glaive stayed strangely pristine, suspended in the air until the beam stopped firing, then fell unceremoniously to the ground.

It had permanently cost Liviccic one of his best undead to thwart a single attack that Naofumi could block dozens of without any meaningful losses.

"Dammit Naofumi! I can't keep this up!"

Back with Naofumi

Naofumi and the others reached the city, but looked back in fear at the beam that cut all the clouds away. "You're doing great. You must have felt it too, right Liviccic? When that trash king was stripped of the staff, it was reluctant to let him go, for whatever reason. It almost seemed upset. If Aultcray was less shit, the staff would have probably told me to go fuck myself. I can't just take the lesser hero weapons away from worthy owners. And if I can't do that, I doubt I'd be able to recommend someone unworthy. You have the qualities of a hero. You have the means to stall this out." Naofumi thought.

"That's odd…" Renair perked up and looked in a different direction.

"You sense it too?" Monti asked.

"Yeah. It's…" Renair tried focusing more.

"Two." Walter said allowed, answering her unspoken question.

"...Yeah, two people are alive up here. Over there." She pointed.

"Let's head there." Naofumi decided.

"Do we have the time to worry about this?" Werner asked.

"If they are natives, they might know where the entrance to go deeper is." Raphtalia already understood Naofumi's reasoning.

And it made sense. They continued following Naofumi's lead through the city. The buildings were mostly burnt to the ground. Likely from the flying familiar's heat beams. There were skeletons split in half all over the place. The flesh was not rotting away, there was none to be found. Likely these people were among the very first victims and were infected. Their flesh became the familiars they'd been fighting all this time. Leon could sense a lot of treasure here, but he had a disheartened Wyndia and dying Ost to worry about.

As they made it to the building, they saw dozens of familiars outside it, looking for ways in. It was an old building made of strong stone. If it were made of wood, it would have already been burned to the ground.

Without needing to give the order, many people rushed forward and dealt with the familiars. Before Naofumi could look for a way in, he heard a sound that was unmistakable.

"Fuee! Who's there!?" A girl asked in a panicked voice.

"There's no way… Filo." Naofumi barely had time to call her name and point at a wall before it was kicked through.

"Hya!" Filo ran through the wall as she did so, nearly running over the two people inside.

"I knew it." Naofumi said aloud. Inside were two people that Naofumi knew. Rishia, the green-haired teammate of Itsuki that stayed by his side after he hit rock bottom. And even stranger, the [Hengen Muso] master whom Naofumi had now met several times. Her name was long and escaped his memory.

One look told Naofumi quite a bit. Rishia struggled to remain standing while the older woman had bandages covering her hands. They both looked like they needed food and water.

"What happened to you two? Why are you two here?" Teal ran to the pair, offering water and dried meat.

They both grabbed the water without delay, drinking deeply. The old lady was the first to come up for air. "We were following the bow hero, of course. He managed to take out the Spirit Tortoise's head and the three of us came here. He said you needed to go inside the creature to finish it."

"Then where is Itsuki?" Naofumi asked.

"Sir Itsuki only got caught because of me. He-" Rishia went to make excuses for Itsuki and blame herself, as she always did. She stopped talking when she caught sight of Glass.

"What do you mean 'caught'?" Glass asked.

"We traveled inside the creature, but we were ambushed. The bow hero ultimately lost, but gave us time to escape." The old lady answered.

"He'd have won if I wasn't there." Rishia said while looking at the ground in shame.

"You are still saying that? Your absence would have changed nothing." The old woman scolded her. She sounded like she wanted to yell, but lacked the strength.

From there, the pair explained how exactly they got there. Itsuki led them onto the Spirit Tortoise and killed it before invading it. They found the entrance in the mountains just beyond the capital and went in. Itsuki guided them using his game knowledge. However, not everything was as Itsuki's game. Soon they were attacked when they reached deep within.

"Some bastard with a book. He somehow made illusions of ourselves and used all kinds of abilities we couldn't make heads or tails of. Had I been able to place my hands around his neck, it would have been settled there." The old lady told them.

Rishia tried to argue in favor of Itsuki. "Itsuki would have won, but I got in the way and-"

The old lady cut off her blaming herself. "No. We had a chance before that bow hero used some sort of ability that covered him in gold. He told us to run and then it was like his mind shut down. Next thing either of us knew, we were running away while feeling immense power colliding."

They went on to explain that the two fought off the familiars as best they could, but their numbers were so great days ago that it was overwhelming. That led to them seeking shelter. Since then, they've been losing strength with little to eat or drink.

Glass turned to L'arc and Therese. "Book? That tells us who it is then."

"Huh?" Chloe wanted more information.

"Please share any needed information." Mirellia prompted more directly.

"One of our world's vassal weapons is the Vassal Book." Therese answered.

"The book hero should be that Kyo guy. The one that stopped cooperating the moment our holy heroes gave up. Never met the guy. Supposedly some genius inventor." L'arc said.

"L'arc, you have met him. He visited Kizuna before, remember." Glass tried correcting him.

L'arc shrugged. He didn't remember the man. "Must not have left much of an impression."

"Wait, your holy heroes gave up? How the hell do you give up?" Teal asked.

"We've spoken long enough. We know where we are heading. Should we not take their information and head towards the entrance?" Werner proposed.

"We need to see them safely rescued. They've spent days without food and water." Monti suggested.

"Only a day. The Spear hero gave us something to eat and drink two days ago." Rishia said.

Everyone grew quiet and Naofumi's face grew serious. "He took the Spirit Tortoise down and went inside too, didn't he?"

Rishia nodded in confirmation. Everyone stopped for a moment.

"Goddammit. What was Motoyasu thinking? If Itsuki lost with teammates, what was he going to do alone?" Naofumi turned back at those with him. He had dozens of allies with a myriad of abilities. Someone who beat those two is not a threat to them as a whole.

"We move. You two need to take care of yourselves until this is over." Naofumi told them all.

"Wait! Please let me go with you. I have to rescue Sir Itsuki." Rishia begged.

"No. We can't afford to accommodate anyone else. Hundreds could be killed at any time. Let's move." Naofumi would not slow down for her.

Ost saw the concern on Monti's face in leaving these two here when they were so weak they couldn't defend themselves. "A moment, Shield Hero." Ost piped up.

She began casting a spell. Something unfamiliar to them. At the end of the casting, the floor of the building began glowing faintly. "That'll keep you safe for a few hours. The other familiars will not wish to enter such a place." She told them.

"Maybe you should refrain from casting spells. Your health is… you're unwell." Monti warned her.

"...Understood." Ost put up little resistance.

Everyone noticed that Naofumi waited for Ost to finish, even after he made it clear that he'd wait for no one. When she was done, they left in a hurry, rushing for the entrance they were now aware of.

After several minutes of racing exactly where Rishia informed them to go, with Ost able to provide better information as they approached, they found it. The cave entrance they were looking for! While the battle wasn't over, they were seeing a chance to win.

All they'd need is for the Spirit Tortoise to not kill the armies below. Liviccic used every skill and spell he knew, used his undead, and Sophia, and Silvius helped however they could, but their options were running low. Liviccic had been keeping the Spirit Tortoise unable to fire ranged abilities by using a skill called [Courtly Bind] which materialized a rope of magical energy. Normally that alone would mean little, but Liviccic also had his haunted suit of armor with him, Vasteel. With Vasteel's inhuman strength, it was able to bind the head of the Spirit Tortoise upwards. With the help of Sophia, Silvius, and Liviccic's remaining undead, they managed to bind it. It prevented the creature from firing its lightning beam, which was great, but even the mortars were failing to land since the monster could no longer see ahead of itself.

The skill made the binding not break by expending SP instead. This meant Liviccic would have to run out of SP before it would break. Liviccic also tried using his MP by using strong spells to injure the neck. The Spirit Tortoise would just regenerate from this, but it still meant Liviccic could buy reprieve from his SP drain by spending MP. He had drunk nearly a dozen soul-healing waters and was now out. His stomach was full of the SP replenishing drink and his body was being put through the wringer. He wanted to vomit, but if he did, he'd likely lose the SP the drinks granted to him.

He held the Spirit Tortoise back for quite some time. It was commendable. But unfortunately, it wasn't enough. He wasn't enough. He reached his limit and the skill broke as his SP was drained. In that moment, he collapsed, vomiting heavily as Sophia and Silvius tried their best to help him.

At the entrance to the cave, Filo's tuft of hair twitched like an antenna.

"Um, everyone should grab something right now." Filo warned.

"Huh?" Leon asked, everyone finding her abrupt advice to be jarring.

"RRRRAAAAKKKKSSS-" The Spirit Tortoise went to roar and attack the army below, but it was cut short. Nothing had managed to do that so far. Appearing alongside a twister of wind was none other than Fitoria herself. She landed in her full form in front of the Spirit Tortoise and kicked it for being too loud. The head was crushed and the creature faulted a moment before being healed.

"RRRRAA-" Again it tried to roar and again Fitoria kicked the creature. This time striking the main body, sending it backwards. More than anything else, this was showing Fitoria's full strength. She sent the Spirit Tortoise back further than Naofumi had with his spell and skill combined, and she did so with a simple kick.

Liviccic, Silvius, and Vasteel would have been thrown off the creature, but Sophia used her webbing to anchor them to the creature. Meanwhile, Naofumi's group was violently thrown around with the exception of Filo, Leon, Ost, and Monti. Filo because she firmly grabbed the nearby wall as per her warning. Leon and Monti took flight for a moment to avoid the turbulence, while Ost rode Monti.

"What the fuck was that!?" Naofumi yelled.

"Like Filo was saying, you should have grabbed something. Fitoria is here."

"What? Fitoria specifically said that she wouldn't help and only agreed to help find Ren."

Filo's tuft again twitched as she waited a moment. "Fitoria said that finding the sword guy would be annoying. So she will help us, then we have to help her find him."

"She has an army of high-speed filolials. She doesn't need our help." Leon argued.

Filo's tuft twitched again. "Fitoria says shut up stupid lizard."

Naofumi paused a moment. "She has options, so she doesn't need us. She also said she wouldn't help us. Yet she is here. Wait, she's here, but we're in the middle of nowhere."

"Fitoria, you can hear me through Filo, right? There are no dragon hourglasses or travel save points anywhere close to here, right? So that means you'd have needed to be traveling here for quite some time, right?" Naofumi asked with a smirk.

Filo's tuft twitched again. "Fitoria says that this was just the easiest way of doing things and to not misunderstand Fitoria."

"I see. Thanks for the save." Naofumi said, refocusing on moving forward.

Filo's tuft twitched fast and endlessly as she flooded Filo's head with shouting about how they were misunderstanding her and how she was just doing this for her own benefit and to stop thanking her.

Aultcray and the others turned at Fitoria's arrival and saw that a beast capable of battling the Spirit Tortoise on equal footing had appeared. With this, the stage was now set. Fitoria could stall the Spirit Tortoise for far longer than Liviccic or even Naofumi himself. The infiltration team had reached the cave and began their descent to put an end to this madness with Ost there to guide them rightly the whole way. They had made incredible progress and were fast approaching what they saw as the end of this raid.

.

[Author's Notes]

So they have successfully invaded the Spirit Tortoise. They were surprised to find Rishia and the old lady in the former capital city upon its back. Confirming that Itsuki and Motoyasu had slain the Spirit Tortoise before and invaded.

This means that Naofumi isn't any closer to winning than either of those two were. But unlike them, he has an entire military force at his back. But this new enemy took out Itsuki and Motoyasu, so clearly they are a foe to be worried about. (Do I really need to keep acting like no one knows who Kyo is? The greatest vanguard in the series! Cope Takt fans.)

Fitoria shows up to help even though she told Naofumi she wouldn't help. Clearly, he didn't consider that as a kuudere, Fitoria just be lying sometimes. Of course, it could be that she heard something that made her want to help. Such as searching for Ren or saving Itsuki and Motoyasu.

Do you like some of the kids' new moves?

Next time prepare for some chaos.

Sorry for being slow AF.