Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading the chapter.
A belated special thanks to my long time reader, consultant Commissar Gaunt for helping me plan around Act III's overall plot.
We'll have two interlude chapters after this chapter, showing what the three weapon heroes are up to, and how Raphtalia is holding herself and Firo.
As always, I will blabber some more in my end note.
Mein is taken aback by how quickly Captain Alderic was killed. The man was a complete brute, and not exactly smart, but he's also a capable warrior judging by how he fought for her earlier. To be fair, the champion of Graile was clearly caught off guard by how quickly the leader of his lord's army turned against her. Mein probably made sure of that by doing too good a job convincing him that the Three Heroes' Church was the enemy.
But from how clean the way Alderic's head severed from his neck, the attacker was very fast with her blade. She clearly had no hesitation killing one of her father's assets, and had the actual strength and skill to back it up.
"Captain Alderic is killed!" The guards taking control of the gate house screams out in dismay. "The Mad Dog of El Bridget killed Captain Alderic!"
The Mad Dog of House El Bridget? Wasn't that bitch studying abroad in Faubley's Hero Academy?
Chapter 95: Breakthrough
After the Great War, the relationship between the two strongest human nations, glorious Melromarc and noble Faubley isn't as good as the officials pretend. Faubley's Hero Academy, despite being the most prestigious academy on Medea soil, would see a sharp decline of Melromarc noble scions' enrollment, especially female scions. The Pig King of Faubley was rumored to be as bad, if not worse than the King of Rape when it comes to his treatment of women after all, and most parents would rather have their daughters homeschooled rather than risk them being taken and tortured to death by King Egbert. Even if most of his… hedonistic exploitation is most likely wildly an exaggerated fabrication.
Satellizer El Bridget isn't one of them. In fact, considering the bitch in lady's clothes has a confirmed (unlike the Pig King) reputation of immediately pulling out a sword and gutting anyone who dares to even touch her. It is widely considered that the Pig King should be the one who stays as far away from her, not the other way around. Even if the daughter of El Bridget committing regicide would have arguably much worse consequences.
Apparently the Chief God does have a sense of divine comedy. Because this psychotic bitch is the one who now blocks Mein's path to freedom.
"Don't let the MAD DOG of House Le Bridget get through the gate!" Mein immediately shakes Minami's hand free from her. The action might have been a bit impulsive, as she nearly falls down to her knees again instead of looking more heroic without the wolf demi-human girl's support. But she manages to get her message out. "That crazy butcher will hunt us down, and kill us ALL!"
Her words had some effect on Alderic's remaining men. Instead of scattering and running for their lives, they seem to somewhat organize themselves trying to block the now fully open northern gate of Graile. But the mad dog was much quicker than a bunch of auxiliary troops who haven't yet reached level 20. She picks up something that looks less like a weapon and more like a sharpened stone monument, and charges through the arch of Graile gate. The psycho's movement is so fast, she looks as if she's flying rather than running.
That's fine. She didn't expect the soldiers around her to be able to block the cunt outside the wall of Graile. Especially not with the gate already down. And luckily, the Okami warriors seem to read between the lines and get what she's saying. They need to block the army that came with El Bridget outside the gate, or else they'll be run over. The remnant warriors quickly surges forward with their weapons drawn, forming a line outside the arch of the gate too.
"This one's mine!" Ken rushes right towards the mad dog, seemingly gliding on top of the ground just like his foe. His clawed hand seems to reflect light as he brings it down towards the oversized weapon Satellizer is holding. "It'll be no different than rotten paper!"
With a loud clunk, Ken's hand actually bounces away from the giant cleaver. The man wolf lets out a surprised scoff, as he moves both hands up this time to block a heavy swing from his foe. A flash of red flows out from Ken's hands like flower petals.
"Don't try to break her weapon! That's [Great Sparrow]. One of the most powerful artifact of the Vermillion Sparrow clan of Siltvelt we taken during The Great War!" Uranus' warning was a bit too late for Ken to avoid injuries. To be frank, Mein still doesn't understand the significance. She's a bit surprised this oversized stone tablet comes from the Vermillion Sparrow clan, which is most well known for their preference of sleek, elegant designs. She thought it might belong to the Ebony Turtle, or the White Tiger clan.
"[Great Sparrow] huh? Tisk. Least it'll be a fair fight." Ken slides back a couple of paces on the ground as he leans his body down. Touching the ground with one hand. The wolf boy's body suddenly seems to disappear after a brief pause, same for his foe. The next time they appear, they are both in the air, exchanging multiple blows faster than Mein can observe. More gushes of blood spill out of their hurricane-like dance. Both of their clothes tear up, indicating Ken isn't the only one receiving injuries in their fast exchange.
"RARGH!" The princess nearly falls over again when she hears a high pitched, beastly howl. She turns her head, and is surprised to see Saya, of all people, is holding his hands forward, and something is glowing a verdant green color on his chest. With a closer inspection, it appears to be some kind of green gem. The color is too cloudy to be an emerald. A piece of green jade perhaps? Its shape is that of a smoothed water drop, and it's being hung by his neck like the pendant of a necklace. The sound of rumbling by the gate makes Mein look forward again, and sees what seems to be a giant wall of tree roots now covers the hole of the gate, leaving only a small detachment of El Bridget men to have followed their lady into Graile, and the rest blocked outside. The ability to control plants? A rather unique set of abilities.
"I enchanted that piece of magical gem myself while everyone was busy! I didn't skip all my Okami priestess training!" Minami holds her back straighter with her proud exclamation. "I call it 'Jade of the Verdant Demon'."
Even with Lord El Bridget's army cut into two, they are still much more than what the auxiliary city garrison can handle. The few dozen of Lord El Bridget's men cut down twice the number of garrison troops left by Captain Alderic without suffering any loss of their own. The rest of the garrison troops quickly lose spirit and run away without their overzealous champion leading them, despite the fool leading them straight into a trap earlier. Thankfully, they managed to buy enough time for the House Okami warriors to close in on Lord El Bridget's men, and the battle became more evenly matched.
While the majority of reinforcements from House El Bridget are blocked from them thanks to Graile's gate, and the magical pendant, it does also give them another problem. They are once again boxed inside the walls of Graile, their location are known to their enemies, and most of the forces of Graile garrison she managed to swing to their side have run off due to Captain Alderic's death and Lord El Bridget's army detachment. Not to mention Sister Amelia also ran off and is currently at large thanks to Captain Felix springing his trap on them. If she managed to bring the remaining Three Heroes' Church force on them and hit them from behind… there's still a good chance they'll all be killed.
The fugitive princess flexes her finger around the Star Wand. She can still feel pain shooting up and down her arm. In her current condition, she can't even cast a spell like [Ikarios Flight] to take Naofumi and herself to 'fly' over the wall and to safety even if she's willing to abandon their circumstantial allies. With nothing else to do, she refocuses her attention on the battle between Ken and Satellizer. Like it or not, the result, and the speed of this duel result itself will likely determine the outcome of her little revolt now.
Both Ken and Satellizer have now fallen back on the ground as they continue to exchange blows at each other. The sheer speed of their movement is still too fast for the fugitive princess to make out who has the upper hand. Amongst the ribbons of cut fabrics, and drops of red blood, a strand of golden hair suddenly blown away from the heat of battle.
Ken's hair was dark brown and short, which seems to point towards the Mad Dog of House El Bridget is the one who had an impromptu haircut. But the coloration and length also matches his new form. Mein bites her nails, feeling her heart pound even heavier with the anticipation of who managed to gain advantage.
The golden wolf and the mad dog suddenly split apart, mutually pushing each other back, their tattered cloth and free flowing hair blowing in the night wind. Aside from showing more skin with wounds visibility knitting back, he doesn't look much different. Satellizer on the other hand is definitely missing half of her golden hair on her back. Despite standing behind the wolf boy, Mein can practically hear the smirk in his voice. "That's your first death."
Was he… was he playing with the Mad Dog of House El Bridget? Doesn't he realize that he can't afford to fuck around with how precarious their situation still is? Sure, it could be that Ken genuinely missed his chance at taking Satellizer's head off in the strike that cut her hair, and he's playing mind games to make El Bridget lose her cool. But if not, he's dumber than what his action suggested. "Don't play around with your enemy, damn it! We aren't out of danger yet! Kill her and be done with it!"
"ARGH~!" The Mad Dog of House El Bridget is clearly aware of what Ken was taunting her for, and she's not amused. Letting out a howl that's more beastly than her half-canine opponent, she swings [Great Sparrow] towards Ken with renewed vigor, clearly intending to ripen him in half, maybe even bath in his blood or feast on his carcass afterwards.
"Now you died a second time." Giant blades and hardened claws strike at each other, sparks fly between their clashes. With the sound of a teeth grinding groan, El Bridget's armor shatters and her clothes rip apart as she's pushed back.
"YOU DIE! DIE! DIE!" Satellizer lets out an even more animalistic howl at Ken's taunt, clearly being driven mad by the young wolfman's cutting words. Her swing becomes even more sporadic, easier to spot and more unbalanced than her previous swings. Satellizer's strikes are still no less deadly even in her state, as Mein is sure she wouldn't be able to survive facing the Mad Dog of El Bridget even in her best conditions. But if Ken isn't simply playing around with her and is using his missed kill opportunity to further destabilize her mind, the tactic is clearly working. The Mad Dog of House El Bridget lumbers forward like a wounded beast, while the actual half wolf man dances circles around her and parries her strike with the elegance of a professional duelist.
With the loud crack of trees being felled, the net of roots erected by Saya finally comes down, and the rest of House El Bridget's reinforcements manage to link up with the less than a handful of their comrades still left standing. Naofumi takes a step forward, his arms crossed over his chest as he faces the archway of Graile's northern gate. "[FORCE]!"
House El Bridget's soldiers clearly weren't prepared for Naofumi's action, as they were blown back out of the gate like fallen leaves. With Lord El Bridget's men piled up on Saya's root barrier, this would have been the perfect opportunity to take most of them out if she can still cast [Unstoppable Force] on Naofumi. Sadly with her current condition, throwing them back out of the gate will have to suffice for now.
While the crisis at the gate is temporarily stopped thanks to the Shield Hero, the duel between Ken and Satellizer is about to conclude as well. The werewolf manages to use his left hand to grab the Great Sparrow thanks to an over-extended hack from the mad dog, leaving her fully exposed. The fingers, and more importantly his sword sharp nails on his right hand fully extend into a hand blade and lunge straight at Satellizer's head. "This time you die for real!"
Mein squeezes her hands tight. It seems like their desperate plan to escape Graile is about to come to fruition with the death of the young El Bridget. But Ken's body suddenly seized up, almost like he was suffering from an unexpected cramp. Before the fugitive princess understands what's going on, Satellizer swings her giant blade back, and runs it right through Ken's unprotected body in a sudden twist of irony.
"Big Brother! NO!" Minami's horrified exclamation is understandable, but it brings the mad dog's attention over to her… and more importantly, to Mein herself. The princess turned fugitive briefly wonders if Satellizer would recognize her, and if she would be willing to spare her life if the daughter of House El Bridget knows who she is.
She has no close ties to the De Gallia noble house. The bad blood between Mother and Prince Joseph made sure of that. But the head of House El Bridget still shows proper decorum, and attends all the public events hosted by mother and father with his family. So while Mein herself has never spared a single glance to the infamous bitch, Satellizer should still know she's raising her weapon against a princess of the royal family.
But judging with Satellizer's wrathful face that's practically foaming at the mouth, she either doesn't care to remember Mein's face, or to spare her life. The mad dog swings her blade to the side and lets Ken's body drop on the ground, and charges towards Minami and Mein while screaming murder. "DIE!"
"How dare you raise your blade against your princess!" Oersted steps over and blocks Satellizer's path, intercepting her weapon with a crossguard of his own weapon. The blade of his standardized castleforge steel cross sword snaps with barely a struggle, and for a split second it looks like the mad dog is going to add Sir Oersted's head to her collection alongside Ken's. But then, a pair of golden colored hands made of light seems to materialize over Oersted's head, catching the edge of Great Sparrow with its slender, graceful fingers.
It seems even the mad dog herself is surprised by this sudden development, as her body pauses for a brief second just like Ken did earlier. This brief respite for Oersted proves to be what's needed to save his life, as a pair of limbs suddenly grabs Satellizer from behind, locking her arms in place. The dark armor, and the horn like ornament behind El Bridget's head reveals the identity of her new assailant: Naofumi clearly noticed Mein's peril and doubled back from the gate to restrict Satellizer with his own body.
The mad dog of El Bridget howls, and flails her restricted body around. But she is unable to break out of Naofumi's hold. He might have lost his shield, but due to his DEF focused growth and the armor lent to him by Nagumo, he's still a walking juggernaut that's impossible to get away when he has someone restricted. The whole scene looks rather disturbing, considering how Ken ripped through Satellizer's armor and most of her clothes, and she's being held back to Naofumi's limbs. No doubt, by tomorrow the rumor of the Shield Hero being a rapist would spread once again around the nation.
While Satellizer struggles uselessly against the Shield Hero's vice grip, what's only a pair of hands is now fully formed into a glowing body. More specifically, the body of Princess Alethea. Sir Oersted shouts to Naofumi in urgent desperation. "Get away, Master Shield Hero! I can't hold back [Saint Alethea] much longer!"
"Just do it!" The Shield Hero shouts right back with equally grim determination. A pair of angelic wings spread out from behind light construct Alethea's back as the princess opens her eyes. Her body turns into a pillar of light, as the wave of miracle slams into both Satellizer and Naofumi, sending them flying backwards right into the wall of Graile. The stone bricks of the fortress crack behind them from the force of the impact. As Oersted's miracle spell slowly grows thin and eventually fades out, they slide down the wall and drop on the ground, smoke slowly rising up from their bodies. Besides them, the now reorganized men from House El Bridget manage to finally push back the House Okami warriors as they take control of the ground in front of the gate once again.
Among the fully armored and armed men is a single, young raccoon boy. Around the same age, maybe slightly younger than Raphtalia's grown up body. He has neither weapon or armor on him, only a plain tunic on his thin frame. While everyone else is busy exchanging blows with their weapons, he follows behind the soldiers and waves his head left and right. "Satellizer!"
The raccoon boy found his target after a few moments of searching. He quickly skips his way over, helping the now twitching and grunting mad dog to her foot again. Standing over the still and crumpled form of Naofumi at the foot of the wall, the raccoon boy begins to… pointing his finger at Naofumi to berate and scold him. "How can you call yourself a Hero when you ganged up on Satellizer?! She didn't have to hurt anyone, if you didn't start a revolt!?"
Is the little shit for real? He's bad mouthing Naofumi for putting himself in risk to fight the mad dog, when the psychopathic bitch was the one who is trying to kill everyone? But more importantly, while he is rambling utter verbal diarrhea at the Shield Hero, said bitch picks up her dropped weapon and jumps over at the Shield Hero, the tip of her blade pointing at his gut. The Mad Dog of House El Bridget is clearly ready to murder one of the four summoned Cardinal Heroes.
"Screw you all! [RISING HEAT]!" Mein grits her teeth as she fights through the pain in her chest, she points her fingers up and forces her spell through. The mix of fire and water explodes out of the ground, pushing back both the little shit, and his airborne psycho lady friend away from Naofumi. She feels most of her strength leave her as she falls forward, nearly crushing her nose onto the cobblestone street if Minami didn't manage to catch her at the last second. She definitely pushed herself too far with that last spell.
But even with these two fucks nowhere near her Naofumi, he is still not safe. Not when a wall of armored House El Bridget fighters stand between him and the rest of the people fighting to escape Graile.
"Get… Shield Hero!" Mein raises her head up, trying to look at the direction where Naofumi is to see if he is still okay. A normal action which barely costs any effort feels like a quest to slay a dragon with her current body. But she did manage to make out two forms running past her.
"Get to the Shield Hero, brat! Don't let anyone harm him." "Don't die yourself, old man!" Yagumo and Biggo charge forward. The older master stands over Satellizer as the mad dog stands up once again, clearly not intent to let her harm anyone else other than Ken. His young apprentice charges forward and ditches the more defensive style he used against the slaves. The young man punches, kicks, and strikes the soldiers of House El Bridget down with his elbows and knees, leaving dents in their steel armor as they hit the ground.
"So much anger and hate in you. If I didn't know better, I'd assume you were also possessed by the Scarlet Ruby." Nagumo catches Satellizer's hand, twists her around and makes her fall on the floor. "I refuse to let you hurt anyone else tonight."
"Satellizer! NO!" The raccoon boy flips up and sees Nagumo tripping his psycho lady friend around like a doll. He opens his hand, and points towards Nagumo's direction. And the body of the older raccoon man also freezes up like Ken. "Why do you all hurt Satellizer?! I will not let anyone bully her!"
"Kill the animals, heretics and traitors! Don't let any of them escape!" A familiar voice screeches behind Mein. The fugitive princess doesn't need to turn her head back to know that Sister Amelia has returned. Unlike the first time when she didn't know what she was getting into and only had a small personal escort, or the second time where she grabbed whatever she had available to help Captain Felix (may he rest in pieces!) spring his trap. This time, she has likely brought all the forces Three Heroes Church had left to muster. The earth shaking steps certainly suggest a hundredth, if not thousands of men marching towards them.
The noncombatant demi-humans began to panic. A rather natural reaction when they are caught between the well armed men of House El Bridget on one side, and legions of slaves pushed forward by the templars. Between the demi-human running around like scared baby filorial chicks, one person runs south against the chaotic current of bodies. Oersted has a new sword in hand, likely picked up from one of the Graile garrison forces he scavenged off the ground. "Stay behind me! They'll have to get through me to get to any of you!"
A brave and noble, if somewhat idiotic action. Unless he's vastly out-leveled compared to the incoming army and has some skill that can damage a massive area, one man isn't going to last long against an entire legion.
"Streibough! What are you doing? Get behind me!" Oersted's voice is suddenly filled with more worry than before. Mein turns around, and sees the apprentice of Lady Sheffield walking by his lonesome towards the incoming Three Heroes' Church army. His long, purple hair blown in the wind like a cape over his red robe.
DAMNATIONS! In all the chaos, she lost sight of the mudblood. And now, he is going to sell out everyone to the church to save his own skin!
"I. will. Not… End… As Someone ELSE'S FOOTNOTE!" Streibough raises his sun shaped staff high over his shoulder. Earth starts to literally shake, cracks form in the cobblestone paved streets from underneath the mage's feet, and start spreading outwards like the web spun from a spider. It climbs up to the walls, and roofs of the building on the side of the street. And then, the ground finally gives way under his feet, as earth opens up to the ancient catacomb dug underneath the fortress city.
Sister Amelia lets out an ear-piercing shriek as she drops down with her templar bodyguards. Their well-forged, and blessed armor and weapon offer them no divine protection when the very earth beneath their feet gives away. Unlike the two previous times, the screeching harpy of a priestess charged in the front of her group, rather than hiding behind waves of slaves. Perhaps she thought with what fighting men remained of House Okami remnant would be too busy engaging Lord El Bridget's soldiers at the northern gate, and what's left behind are the unprotected demi-human. A correct assessment that became her undoing as she's caught in the radius of Streibough's last spell.
Did… did the apprentice of Sheffield just sacrifice himself to stop the last wave of the Three Heroes' Church from killing everyone? She… didn't expect (Ihim of all people to be the self-sacrificing type. She was probably being too hard on him, thinking him as nothing more than a social climbing mudblood. The princess turned fugitive doesn't know why she only thought about it till now, but she's belatedly reminded how Donald, one of the founders of Shiltfreeden and supposedly the greatest demi-human sorcerer, was also known more for his short temper than his magical prowess.
"Our masters have sunken into the earth!" The enslaved Graile people look at the newly formed hole in the street. They let out one thunderous cheer, and ran away towards every direction except north where there are still people fighting against each other.
"Streibough! No… NO!" By contrast, Oersted's body is frozen as kneels down on the edge of the giant sinkhole, one arm still stretched towards where his short tempered was standing a brief moment ago. He stands up from the ground, legs shaking and looks further down towards the sinkhole, almost like he wants to jump after his friend when he's pulled from behind by Uranus.
"Don't think about throwing your own life away, Oersted!" The elderly priest drags the distraught young knight away from the edge of the giant sinkhole, so he wouldn't fall down either willingly, or through an accident. "There's nothing you can do for Streibough. And we still have our own mission to complete!"
"I know! I'm just… How could something like this just happen to Streibough…" The young knight, who was staring into the face of his would-be killers a few moments earlier can barely control his voice. His body shakes violently, his face pale as if all the heat of his body has been sucked away. The elderly priest pulls him into a hug, trying his best to calm down the inexperienced knight.
The loud crashing sound from north brings Mein's attention away. With Sister Amelia's latest failed attack, she completely forgot the danger Yagumo was in. To the utter surprise of the fugitive princess, it appears that the old raccoon warrior was not the one in peril. In fact, despite his body now moving sluggish as if drunk, he is tossing Satellizer left and right into the side of the street. A grapple to catch the young woman's wrist, or an extended leg to trip over her clumsy footwork to make her eat dirt appearing moving just in time to make the mad dog look like an incompetent first day cadet falling all over herself.
"Your fast and furious attack meant nothing, if your spirit isn't properly aligned." Nagumo pulls his arm closer to his body, and casually states to the fallen scion of El Bridget.
"Why do you keep hurting Satellizer!? She didn't have to fight and hurt anyone, if all of you didn't start a rebellion in Graile." Besides the two of them, the little raccoon shit continues his endless mewling while waving his hands at Nagumo. Whatever foul sorcery he is using clearly isn't having much effect on Nagumo, if restricting people's movement is his only option, and Nagumo is easily tossing Satellizer around even with his slow movement. Regardless, Mein just had enough of his filorial dung.
"Shut… UP! YOU LITTLE BITCH!" Now knowing who is the culprit behind Ken's gruesome fate, Mein opens her left hand towards the trash rodent. Sealing his body inside a [Hydro Sphere] to stop his incessant whining. Replacing it with a drowning gurgle that's music to her ears.
"Kazuya!" The mad dog gets up from another fall. She looks up, and her eyes grow large at the water bubble encasing her… servant? Attendant? Slave? Satellizer runs over, and starts to slash and punch at Mein's water spell, trying to get the little shit out with the same level of desperation as Mein when she fired her [Rising Heat] a moment ago. Apparently, the mad dog does have more emotions besides angry and violently angry.
While the mad dog's concern is understandable, Mein can't exactly let Satellizer get what she wants. Especially since it would free the little raccoon trash from using his strange sorcery, and more importantly… start a new cycle of his mental pollution when he runs his mouth again. With one final tug of her fingers, and her magic, she pulls the water prison flying from Satellizer's grasp and towards her own direction. "GET OVER HERE!"
It's after she commits to her action that the fugitive princess belatedly realizes that she has no plan with what to do with this Kazuya once she throws him over to her feet. Since her chest feels like they are quickly locking up, she wouldn't be able to muster up the strength for another spell… or shut the little shit up the old fashioned way even if she changes the Star Wand into a sword wand now.
"-AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH-" With Mein's control of her spell quickly waning, the watery prison holding the little raccoon trash hostage starts to break apart. Unfortunately for Mein, the first part to fall apart was around Kazuya's head. Which means he's now both free to breathe… and also free to assault Mein's mind once again with his ear piercing shrieks. Thankfully, four flashes of blades swipe through the little shit as he flies through air, cutting his body into pieces, and stops his squealing while he is still flying through the air.
Unfortunately for Mein. It means by the time the little shit lands on her feet, he's now in pieces with blood, bile, and many other unspeakable things spilling out of his now broken carcass and pouring right over Mein's shoes. Minami lets out a horrified scream as she jumps back, nearly tripping the fugitive princess onto the ground. With everything that's happening so far and the stress put on her body, the princess turned fugitive finally loses the content in her stomach and a mouthful of blood of her own, and pukes all over the little raccoon trash's broken body.
"That's for locking my body up, you sniveling little trash." Ken slowly stands up on shaking feet. The hole in his stomach all sewed back up, and the only evidence to show that Satellizer did run him through a massive blade is the massive hole on his cloth.
"KAZUYA! NO~!" The mad dog of House El Bridget's eyes have now turned red, seeing how her little honey boy gets torn to pieces by Ken. She brandishes her oversized blade up, and charges at Nagumo, but her eyes are not even focused on the older warrior anymore. "I'll kill you- I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!"
"I'm sorry, little one. But you need to stay down." Nagumo seemingly goes on offense this time, rather than his usual defensive fighting style that focuses on tossing, and tripping people onto the ground. His wrist twists, pressing his palm on the middle of Satellizer's chest. An action that would have normally seem rather lecherous considering he is an old man at least in his late fifties while she is a very… unprotected young woman. But the way blood spewing out of the mad dog's mouth leaves nothing lewd to the imagination.
Nagumo seemingly isn't done yet, as his other hand moves up and… pinches Satellizer on her nose. With a loud crunch, her nose seemingly shatters, as blood once again spills out of her broken nose. The mad dog, who had got up time and time again during his fight with Ken and Nagumo, fell face down onto the ground like a marionette with her strings snapped.
"KEN! Open the way with me!" With the Mad Dog of House El Bridget taken care of, Nagumo runs north alongside Ken, who by now seems to heal enough to once again move like one of mother's shadows than a wounded man who recently had his stomach opened. Lord El Bridget's men don't last long with the two of them, especially freshly healed Ken joining the battle at the gate. Soon, all of the riders who came with Satellizer crumbled unconsciously on the ground, or turned into barely recognizable chunks of meat wrapped inside metal armor. And thankfully, with this last obstacle cleared, both the House Okami remnant, and Mein herself is now free to finally leave this wretched prison of a city.
Before she steps out of the gate, something compels the fugitive princess to give one last look behind her. Casting her gaze first at the giant sinkhole that completely remodeled this fortress city, courtesy of Streibough's last act of defiance. She didn't think someone like Streibough had it in him to go out with such a loud bang… and for a noble reason no less.
With how she has been snubbing him as Sophia of Totela, pilgrim of Saint Brimir and berating him as Mein of Samphor, companion of the Shield Hero, he would certainly not have done it for her. Maybe he did value his friendship with Oersted more than he let out, and there was a reason for the young knight to place his trust in the apprentice of Sheffield? In his own smug way, he did warn Oersted about the danger of leaving his princess lady friend and go on the quest with her. It makes her wonder once again that if the time comes, she would have the courage to do it for Naofumi.
Her gaze cast down to Satellizer El Bridget next, among the messy ground filled with unconscious, and dead bodies. She has now slowly crawled over to the broken pieces of what was once her raccoon honey boy. Trembling hands reaching out, trying to put him back together, perhaps?
The fugitive princess shakes her head, giving her another wave of dizziness. Mein knew how much the little shit meant to Satellizer El Bridget. Yet in the head of the moment, she still chose to kill the raccoon demi-human when he was barely causing them any threat judging by how easy Nagumo was handling her. Simply because the little shit annoyed her. Perhaps something doesn't change after all.
Seemingly noticed Mein's gaze, Satellizer slowly turns her face towards the direction of the fugitive princess. With hatred in her eyes that threaten to release the full fury of the Wave of Catastrophe upon Mein. The princess shudders, turns around and does her best to catch up to the rest of the escaping House Okami remnant with Minami's help.
"You can put me down now, Oersted. I can walk on my own now, I think…" A short distance from them, Naofumi softly asks the young knight. The previously talkative boy pauses in silence, gives a slow nod and wordlessly bends his knees to let the feet of the Shield Hero touch the ground. Naofumi stumbles on his first step, and Oersted quickly reaches a hand out to stop the Shield Hero's body from falling down.
Naofumi reaches over, stays still in the air for a brief moment before letting his hand fall on Oersted's shoulder. The young knight looks over at the Shield Hero for a brief moment, and wordlessly nods back to him to let Naofumi know he appreciates the comforting gesture.
"What'll happen to the people enslaved in Graile?" Naofumi gives one last look at Graile's location.
"Some might escape out of the city, before whoever left in charge can put things together." The fugitive princess stops her steps, knowing what Naofumi is likely thinking.
"Will they survive without food, shelter? And with the wild monsters?"
"A few lucky ones might." Mein looks away from the Shield Hero, not want to see the look of disappointment, or sense of guilt in his eyes. "If Captain Alderic wasn't killed, he might be able to help keep them alive. But with him gone and the Graile garrison ran off… there's nothing we can do for them. We can barely keep ourselves safe."
Naofumi doesn't say anything back. He slowly moves away from the clearly traumatized knight and walks over to Mein and Minami. He quietly helps Mein leaning her arm over his shoulder and tells the teenage Okami priestess. "I got Mein."
"Okay, thanks! I knew you were the strongest, big brother! OW!" Minami skips her steps over to Ken, who has dropped his wolf-like transformation. She receives a knock on her head. "What did you do that for, Big Brother Ken?"
"It should have been you who used the Moonstone of the Fang King. The only reason I used it was because you didn't train yourself properly." Ken takes the choker with the round, polished moonstone off his neck, and hands it back to Minami. "We are in the middle of a Wave of Catastrophe now. I might not be with you forever. From tomorrow, I'm fast tracking your training to be the proper high warrior priestess of House Okami. Don't think I'll go easy on you like when you were a kid."
"Meep!" Minami lets out a squeak, as she quickly tries to run away from her elder brother. A hand clenching her head from Ken stops her attempted escape.
"What will all of you do now, Nagumo? No doubt, both the Three Heroes' Church, and House El Bridget would be looking for you after that… unpleasantness in Graile, if His Highness Prince Joseph doesn't join their manhunt." On the other side of their group, walking behind the retreating forms of the non-combatant House Okami remnants are both the elderly priest, and the old martial master.
"We'll change course, and double back south once we put some distance behind Graile. The mountain, and the forest around Wind Valley will allow us to hide ourselves, while not worrying about our rations getting cut by our pursuers." Nagumo lets his arms freely hang around his sides, looking like a carefree grandfather going on a normal evening walk, not a warrior who just went through a bloody battle to escape a closed-off city. "What about you? Going to continue escorting Master Shield Hero?"
"When we started our journey, we thought we were going on the pilgrimage of Saint Brimir for Miss Sophia. I guess… our quest is even more important now, even if we are down to two. As long as we draw breath, we can't let the Shield Hero come to harm or all is lost." Uranus casts his eyes over to Naofumi and Mein, there is steel behind his normally relaxed eyes to show that he is the retired leader of the battle priest of Gallia city's Four Heroes' Church. He looks over to Brother Demetrius next. "What will you do now, Brother Demetrius?"
"I'm going south with Master Nagumo's group for now. I need to get to Gallia city, and inform Vicar Mozgus, his inquisitors, and his escort Captain Farnese what happened in Graile. Whatever happens to this nation, the Three Heroes' Church can't be allowed to get away with murdering Father Gordon, and the rest of my brothers and sisters without punishment." The knuckles of the normally soft looking Romalian acolyte begins to crack as he balls his hand into a fist.
"Wait, before you go." Naofumi helps Mein sit on the ground, and starts taking off his helmet. "Take your family armor back. It did its job back in that battle. Probably saved my life when I got hit by Oersted's attack together with that madwoman. But it's time for me to return it to you."
"You could keep it with you, Master Shield Hero." Nagumo turns back to look at the Shield Hero. "You, and your lady friend did help us break through Graile's gate. Consider it your payment."
Mein feels her face heat up at Nagumo's assumption. Naofumi on the other hand… probably didn't pay attention to Nagumo's words, or doesn't understand the implication. "Yeah, but I still don't have my shield back, and I'm still a wanted man. It's best if I go back pretending to be a village girl, then walk around in full armor while people look for the Shield Hero."
"That… is probably true." Nagumo nods his head at Naofumi's concern. A few less injured Okami warriors walk over to help strip Naofumi off the House Nagumo armor. And after passing some traveling rations to them, their group parted ways with House Okami remnants. It's hard to know where their journey will take them, since they lost their mounts, and exposed their trail in Graile and they are down another member of their group. But whatever happens next, they can only keep going.
Because there's no way she'd simply lie down and wait for death to take her.
Omake: Endurance of the Stoic Housecarl
"PFFT! BLARGH! This bread is dry, and hard!" Dagny spits out the hard bread she's given out of her mouth and onto the ground. Yatsuhashi tries to not pay any attention to the spoiled only daughter of Jarl Balgruuf while he forces the ration down his own throat. They don't taste good especially after he was spoiled by his thane's own cooking, but it'll give him the energy when he needs to fight off their pursuers with the Jarl's remaining escort. "I'm cold, hungry, and there's only dry and cold rations! I hate it, I HATE IT HERE! I should have stayed behind, like Nelkir!"
"Here, have some honeyed water, princess." Gaston passes a water skin over to the tantrum throwing girl. She immediately snatches the container out of the hunter's hand, not paying much attention to Gaston's teasing. "Don't drink all in one go. That's the last honeyed water I have."
"Think of this as training for the hardships you will face as my scions, children." Jarl Balgruuf eats his ration with much more grace than his spoiled children while sitting atop of a rock. Unlike his young, and pampered sons and daughter, he himself did live through the Great War and isn't a stranger to the hard life of marching with an army. He turns to Gaston next. "You have my thanks, noble hunter. Admittedly, I don't know if I'll get my hold back after this betrayal of the Three Heroes' Church. But I will make sure you are properly rewarded if I do.``
"Ah, a thanks isn't needed, my lord. I was just trying to save my own skin. The church cunts were looking for anyone associated with shield boy. It's kind of hard to hide my involvement, when a country pumpkin like myself got a monarch filorial with me." Gaston reaches his hand over, and ruffles the head feathers of his cooing filorial. He turns his face to his old friend with diminished stature next. "Sorry you got caught in this mess, Lefou."
"No need to apologize to me, Gaston. I got to look out for my oldest, and best friend. And I had to warn my lord of the Church's act of treason, of course." The innkeeper looks down at his feet next. "Shame it wasn't fast enough, and they took Trumpet anyway."
"I have the two of you to thank for the lives of my family, and myself. I have no doubt what those fanatics will do to my family, after what they already did to my Thane, the Shield Hero." Jarl Balgruuf's hand slowly falls to his leg, the bread in his hand twists, and crumbles from his tight grip. After a few deep breaths, Jarl Whiterun turns to Yatsuhashi next. "You don't have to stay and protect myself, or my family, Yatsuhashi. You have your own Thane to watch over, and he needs all the help he can get right now."
"Thank you for your concern, my Jarl. But… I don't even know where Master Naofumi is." Yatsuhashi turns to look at his Jarl, and former master. "I will fly to him as soon as I hear his whereabouts. But for now, I will do my duty and protect your family."
Jarl Balgruuf looks like he wants to say more. But Irileth, the rabbit demi-human Housecarl of Jarl Balgruuf, suddenly swings him off his rock while pulling her sword out of its sheath. "My Jarl, WATCH OUT!"
Yatsuhashi feels the air suddenly grow cold as Irileth slashes her sword towards a direction where a group of their escorts should be away acting as their look out. His battle instinct still isn't as honed as the veteran yet, especially thanks to her enhanced sense for being a demi-human. Her [Vacuum Cut] meets halfway with the same technique from another person, and Irileth's own lime shaped attack shatters against the enemy's attack, but it's just enough to alter its direction to avoid hitting any of Jarl Balgruuf's family.
It would have taken one of Lefou's legs off, but Gaston managed to tackle his friend away before that happened. Gaston has his large hunting knife in hand, while Lefou brandishes his wood chopping ax. He himself also gets into a battle stance with Father's trusty Fulcrum, and Jarl Balgruuf's men stand in a circle, protecting his now cowing and screaming children.
Their enemy is upon them, and has clearly taken their look out without alerting them. That means they are likely surrounded. Soon, the reason became clear how they were able to do that. For a group of large eared bat demi-human emerge from the foliage, wearing the holy triangle that belonged to the Three Heroes' Church. Standing before any of them is a bat demi-human with long black hair in a suit of green tunic, wearing golden gilded silvery armor, while holding a long, twin forked glaive.
"Turel of the Seraph brothers. I thought you answer only to Pope Balmus." Jarl Balgruuf stands back up and narrows his eyes at the demi-human warrior. "Wasn't his eminence quite indisposed of? Have you decided to wag your tail to a new master now?"
"Head Confessor Cromwell is taking command in father's absence. And my duty is to serve the faith to the best of my abilities for father. Even in his absence." Turel didn't seem to raise up to Jarl Balgruuf's taunt.
"Well, well, well… What do we have here? Some left over Norks, protected by what remained of his guards and an animal whore." Yet, even one of Pope Balmus' favorite sons isn't even the leader of their pursuers. A man, much slender build than Turel with the telltale blue marking like scales around his eyes to show his azure dragon lineage steps out behind Turel. He points his equally slender ninjato towards them. "I wonder how long can all of you last."
Yatsuhashi tighters his fingers around his sword. If the church has dispatched some of their best hunter killer demi-human slaves trained since birth against Jarl Balgruuf… whoever is given the command, be it Pope Balmus himself or a radicalized sycophant, clearly wants to isolate the Shield Hero. Leaving him without a powerful ally to call upon.
I might not be able to assist… or even see my Thane again after all.
Before he can push down the gnawing sense of despair and face down the church's force in what's likely one final battle, the loud sound of a boom of firearm comes from south. Three Turelims instantly fall on the ground, dead. While two emerald beams shoot out from the trees towards Turel and the unnamed azure dragon assassin.
Turel leans his body down, smashing his blessed glaive into the incoming beam, knocking it into a nearby tree. The dragon demi-human on the other hand dances away from the spell, letting it hit one of the bat demi-human behind him. The man instantly falls onto the ground in a heap, dead.
"The killing curse? This is not a wizardry spell developed in Melromarc!" The azure dragon flips back to his feet as he shouts to the direction the spell came from. "Show yourself! Cowardly Fau-pigs!"
"Have no fear, Count Balgruuf! We have come to repay all the riches we 'asked' for your people and local travelers by providing you a service." The boisterous cheer of a large man with gray hair and mustache cut through the grimness of their situation. But despite the leader of 'One Bag Bandit' showing himself with his men, Jarl Balgruuf's attention is focused on two other figures among them. Someone who wears long, hooded robes that make them look like simple monks, or hermits. Yet, the green energy still dancing around the wand in their hands indicates that they are very much, not harmless like their appearance suggests.
"Rudolphus, Bellatrix. Your timing couldn't be better." Jarl Balgruuf smiles as he shakes his head towards the two 'hermits' standing amongst Porter's recently reformed bandit group. "Guess I can always count on you to help me and my people. Just like back in The Great War."
"Well. So much for our disguise." One of the hermit pulls his hood down, revealing a sculptured face that's already past middle age, yet still handsome enough to make women half his age swoon over him. "That's a dirty move after we came to save you behind, Balgruuf. We are still wanted by Faubley authorities for supposedly 'creating the Plague of the Wailing Death', you know? What do you say, love? Should we make a big enough mess to make little Micah shake her head?"
"I have been on my best behavior for our daughter's career for far too long." Bellatrix also pulls her hood back as she cracks her neck. "Time to have some fun for myself and cut loose! These church dogs will be a good warm up."
End Note:
Well, this conclude the whole Graile revolt arc. Malty's impromptu revolution ends up both in success at getting herself and Naofumi out of the prison city... and complete failure in that they made the situation in Graile for anyone not them THAT much worse. And I think it's a fitting conclusion. As even if I didn't plan this to be Naofumi's version of Itsuki's mistake back in Act II, it still effectly works the same way.
Very much like the direction change of this entire story since chapter 3... originally, Act III would have worked much differently than how it played so far. Mostly, because I was still using RotSH's canon plot as a basic blue print and building my story on top of it where 3HC tries to murder Melty. Commissar Gaunt was the one who told me that it doesn't make much sense if I play beat for beat like canon, because neither Malty and Pope Balmus are complete idiot. He pointed out that with Malty being smarter, AND a decade older than Melty, it would make much more sense for Balmus to push Malty to the side, while control Melty as the face of whatever goal he's trying to accomplish.
After thinking over the point he raised, I realized it made much more sense than my original plan (mostly because I didn't put too much thought into it). So yeah, originally Janne's role belonged to Velvet Scarlatina (spoiler, she's the rabbit assassin that almost killed Motoyasu in their encounter) and she was on Balmus' order to kill Melty. But since that plan doesn't make much sense... Velvet is now retcon'ed to have worked for someone else in Melty's attempted assassination, and her role as Balmus' favorite demi-human 'son' is now filled by Janne.
I will speak more about the discussion I had with the good commissar... and what my original plan for Act III was as it becomes relevent to the plot happening.
And yes, the omake did tease Turel from Legacy of Kain plus Kai Leng from Mass Effect VS Peter Port from RWBY with Rudopholus and Bellatrix from Harry Potter. Because I'm a pop culture fetish whore.
On a more serious note, I totally didn't plan to have Gaston as involved with the story's plot as he is now. Originally, he's just a named reference that appear in his initial scene and never to appear again. But he just ends up getting more and more entangled into the plot, because you can't keep Gaston down even if you throw him down a cliff. Jokes aside, Gaston's backstory of being a ranger in Melromarc army just lands him in a rather perfect role to both be a scout/guide for a party, and to have him do something on his own to affect the plot. And there's no good reason for me to invent another character when he's readily available, especially since he's my top 3 favorite Disney villain with Scar and Jafar.
Also, it is now officially canon that Fluffball13's SI character Micah is the daughter of Rudopholus and Bellatrix Lestrange. I asked for her permission before including this bit of reference, and she liked the idea enough to help me elaborate on their backstory (connecting them with the Plague of Wailing Death was actually her idea).