Sword and Shield

Civil War 2

Filo came to a screeching halt in front of the Von Reichnott's estate. Naofumi faulted from her back and rammed shoulder first into the large double doors leading into the governor's home, busting his way in none too gently. With a mystical noise, Filo assumed her human form and ran in behind him.

The two rushed through the winding hallways inside without saying a word, turning several corners in rapid succession, and then up a set of stairs. In no time at all, they'd reached their destination: the meeting room where they had discussed strategy not long ago.

The heavy oaken doors leading into the room were on the floor, in pieces and smoking. Judging from their position on the floor, the doors hadn't been busted in, but blown open from the inside by what was probably a stray magical attack of some sort.

Shield first, Naofumi ran into the room, Filo hot on his heels.

"Is everyone alright!?"

The words leapt from his mouth almost on reflex. The Shield Hero surveyed the inside of the room in an instant.

The large table they had sat at not long ago was a ruin, having been sliced in two. Several men in knightly armer were sitting in the far corner, bereft of weapons and their hands tightly bound behind their backs. Another bunch of knights surrounded the bound men, keeping an eye on them. In other corner, as far away from the bound men as possible, stood Von Reichnott, pale faced but whole and healthy. Though he was clearly disturbed, Von Reichnott's lips were still in their ever present smile.

And beside him stood…

"Naofumi-sama!"

"Naofumi. It's good to see you."

Raphtalia and Melty. The Shield Hero was relieved to see that both of them were completely fine as well. Unlike Von Reichnott, both of them seemed to be completely at ease.

"Raphtalia-onee-chan! Mel-chan!" Filo greeted the two cheerfully as she skipped around Naofumi.

After asserting that there was no danger, Naofumi lowered his shield. "It seems that our guess on the enemy's movements was on the money."

"It makes sense that, as the governor, they would target Von Reichnott," Melty said with a shrug.

"I'm glad you guys saw this coming," Von Reichnott chuckled weakly. "If you hadn't, I would not be so sure if I'd still be around right now."

And that is exactly why Raphtalia and Melty had stayed with the governor. Hidden underneath an illusion curtesy of Raphtalia, the two had remained in the shadows of the room where Von Reichnott had remined behind after Eclair's army had set out to meet the invading forces.

Shortly after said army had left, a spy in the governor's security detail had let in a bunch of enemy knights that had been hidden away somewhere and led them straight to Von Reichnott. It had been a rapid assault that they could not have countered if they hadn't seen it coming in advance.

The moment the enemy knights had burst into the room and had engaged Von Reichnott's men, Raphtalia and Melty had acted from underneath Raphtalia's illusion. Through the use of Raphtalia's sword and Melty's magic, the two had blindsided the enemy infiltrators. Working together with Von Reichnott's men, they'd managed to subdue the would be assassins with relatively little trouble.

"What about the others?" Raphtalia suddenly asked. "Have you heard anything from them yet?"

"Nothing yet," Naofumi shook his head.

"Their battle probably only just started," Melty added, looking a little troubled…


Up north, through the thick woods that made up the border of Von Reichnott's lands, men in knightly garb were using the forest's cover to launch another attack. The assault from the east was to be the out and proud battering ram that would hopefully draw all the attention of the enemy, and if it worked as intended, said attack would leave the enemy's flank and homebase wide open for a direct assault.

With their spies lopping off the head of the snake, their dual pronged attack should cause the enemy to fold in short order and crush any inkling of resistance from the peasantry. It was a plan of attack that left little to chance.

That was, if everything worked out as intended. Ignorant of the fact that their plan of attack had long since already fallen to pieces, 150 plus knights marched through the thick woods.

As there was no path, man-made or otherwise, the knights had been forced to break up into small squads no bigger than eight men a piece to get through the thick overgrowth. This made it even more difficult to spot the invaders, but conversely, if they were found, it would be far easier to take care of them piecemeal.

And unfortunately for them, their plan of attack had been laid bare by the Queen's Shadows.

A squad of knights, one of many sneaking through the woods, rounded a large tree. There were only six of them, and were unremarkable as far as knights went.

Blip!

With a noise even fainter then a leaf falling to the ground, Elrasla appeared in the midst of the squad of knights. The eyes of the knights behind her widened and they opened their mouths to shout in equal parts alarm and warning.

Elrasla did not give them a chance to do so. Her hands whipped out blindingly fast, like bullets from a gun, her pointer finger jamming deep into their throats. Those facing away from her were jabbed in the back of their necks. Before any of them could even raise their voices and give away her presence, their eyes lost focused and they went limp, collapsing to the ground with nary a noise.

And that makes three, she thought to herself in satisfaction. That was the third such squad she had taken out in the forest.

CLINK!

Elrasla's ears twitched as a tinkling noise reached her. Turning her head, she saw what appeared to be some kind of gem rolling out from a bag strapped to the side of one of the collapsed knights. The flap of the bag had fallen open as the knight had collapsed.

Curious, Elrasla reached out a picked up the gem in the shape of a cone. She studied it for a moment. It didn't take long for the extremely experienced woman to figure out what she was holding.

"A Summoning Crystal, huh?" she grumbled.

It was just like it sounded. A Summoning Crystal could be used to dematerialize and trap monsters after the beasts have been subdued. Moreover, the Summoning Crystals had a brand of compulsion magic woven into it. After smashing the crystal, which was how one releases the captured monster, said compulsion magic was activated, which would force the monster to obey the commands of the one who had released it. For a time, at least. `

Summoning Crystals are a more economical manner with which one could make use of monsters that were to be used and then discarded. If one wanted to make use of a monster long term, a Slave Crest would be more suitable. But that was neither here nor there right now.

What was relevant at the moment, however, was the mere presence of a Summoning Crystal. With a sinking feeling, Elrasla rummaged in the bags of all the other knights as well.

What she found…

"All of them have Summoning Crystals, huh?" Elrasla scowled. In her open palm were eight Summoning Crystals in total. If the collapsed knights around her all had these, then it stood to reason that every single knight she had taken out so far had them as well, as would all the knights she hadn't yet taken care of.

Without another word, Elrasla jammed the Summoning Crystals in her pocket and kicked off against the ground, making a beeline towards the nearest squad of enemy knights.

The threat here is greater than anticipated, Elrasla thought to herself, expression grim. I better pick up the pace…

With her thoughts focused on that goal, the martial artist vanished into the woods once more.


The wind blew from the west, ruffling Shirou's bone white locks and making his raccoon ears twitch. He eyed the soon to be field of battle.

A thick, almost impenetrable forest was in front of him. Behind him was a long stretch of grasslands. Enemy forces were slowly but surely making their way through the forest, while Elrasla had launched a spoiling attack, aiming to take out as many enemy combatants as possible before the battle could be joined in earnest.

While that was going on, they were making preparations of their own.

"Zweite Earth Hole! Zweite Earth Hole! Zweite Earth Hole! Zweite Earthen Trap!"

Rishia was casting magic in a constant stream, hands placed on the ground in front of her. A long pit had opened up in the earth, stretching wide in both directions and cordoning off the forest. Hidden underneath the placid looking soil, pit traps had been magicked into existence in their dozens.

"Ha…ha…" panting in exertion, Rishia wiped the sweat from her brow.

Wordlessly, Shirou handed her some Magic Water. As he did so, he imbued his Magical Energy into the concoction and Blessed it, raising its efficacy.

"Thank you," Rishia gratefully accepted and chugged the magical liquid down. A faint glow enveloped her body as the Magic Water did its work and relieved the strain on her Magic Circuits.

"Don't mention it. You're doing great by the way," Shirou noted, smiling at her. Though not powerful in the most strict sense, the sheer volume of spells Rishia had access to gave her a lot of options in battle. Chances were that if a particular set of spells were ideal for a given situation that Rishia would be able to use those spells and exploit said situation to the hilt. In a sense, her versatility was her power, and they were making use of it now.

Blushing faintly, Rishia accepted the praise. With her Magic Circuits once more ready for use, she had placed her hands on the ground and started casting again.

This state of affairs continued for a while, with Rishia preparing the battlefield while the rest stood at the ready in a tense silence.

"Shirou-sama," Atla eventually spoke up.

"Yes?"

"Do you really think we will be able to stop the enemy advance?" she asked.

"Atla has a point," Fohl muttered beside her. "I mean, we don't even know how many enemies we'll be facing, and there are just five of us. Isn't this a little…reckless?"

"You'd be right, Fohl, if the only outcomes were to either stop the enemy advance or die," Shirou declared. "Like we discussed before, if we can't, we will simply take out as many enemies as possible, retreat and slow them down as much as we can."

After all, there were still many people willing and able to defend Von Reichnott's lands back in town. As they couldn't leave said town undefended, said people had remained behind while Shirou and co. went out to either halt the enemy sneak attack or blunt it as much as possible.

"And if we do, what about teacher?" Atla asked.

"There's a reason why we sent Elrasla out ahead and not anyone else, and it isn't only because she's the best person for the job," Shirou responded. "Out of all of us, if there's anyone that can take care of herself, it's Elrasla."

"That's true," Fohl admitted. "I guess I'm just a little-"

"AAARGH!"

Fohl never got to finish that sentence as a piercing shriek echoed from the forest. It didn't sound that far off, either.

"I guess teacher has been made," Atla frowned and shifted into a combat ready stance.

"And from how close that sounded…" Fohl similarly raised his fists.

"Rishia," Shirou reached for the Elite Power Bow on his back and pulled out an Amethyst arrow from his Magical Quiver.

"I'm done," she said and rose back to her feet. "Just one last thing."

Rishia raised her hands above her head.

"All Zweite Power!"

A brief flash of red magical energy flashed out and settled over them all. Their Attack Stat rose by a respectable 20%.

"Let's do this thing," Fohl psyched himself up, his words underscored by the sound of Shirou nocking his arrow and pulling the bowstring taut.

The next moment, as the last echoes of the previous scream died off, there was a cacophony of noise as panicked voices and the sound of stampeding feet suddenly came from the forest. A solitary voice rose above the clamor.

"We've been made! Charge! Charge! Forwards!"

The sound of panicked voices and stampeding feet on fallen leaves quickly grew closer, and-

CRUNCH!

Shirou's eyes sharpened as the first enemy knight burst from the forest. With the sound of crunching steel, the bowstring was released and the Amethyst arrow was launched forwards like a shell from a railgun under the power of the Elite Power Bow's Speed Enchantment.

BOOM!

His arrow punched clean through the knight, armor and all, and the Explosion Enchantment applied by his Magical Quiver triggered. The rest of the knight's squad that had been following in his wake were unceremoniously blown to smithereens by the extraordinary powerful explosion that had sent trees toppling and created a five foot deep crater in the ground.

As a matter of fact, Shirou himself was surprised by the sheer explosive force he'd released, though he really shouldn't have been. The power of an Enchantment works off the user's Stats. It had been a hot minute since he had used his bow, and he had grown stronger in the meantime. It only made sense that his explosive arrows had a bit more oomph to them now.

Off to the far right, another squad of enemy knights erupted out of the forest. Though surprised, the human turned demi-human had not stopped moving, and his next arrow was already nocked, ready and waiting.

CRUNCH!-BOOM!

As the second squad of knights met the same end as the first, squads in their dozens suddenly came pouring out across the entire length of the tree line. The forerunners had been wiped out and now the main host of the enemy forces was upon them.

Or, to be more precise, they were upon the fortifications that Rishia had set up.

"Huh-AH!"

More than a few disappeared into the pit traps hidden underneath the placid looking soil. With their heavy plate armor, it would be difficult to claw their way back out, even if the fall didn't break any of their bones.

"Look! The enemy is up there! Attack-"

"Hengen Musou, Hidden Technique: Bullet!"

Moving in unison, the Hakuko siblings threw punch after punch into the air in front of them. Ripples of Life Force in a wide spread pounded the enemy frontline, and even though neither sibling were at a high Level, the Defense ignoring properties of Hengen Musou techniques allowed them to do respectable damage regardless.

Arrows and a precious few spells came spearing back at them.

"Zweite Light Shield!"

Rishia clapped her hands together, casting a defensive light elemental spell. A see through barrier of hardened light manifested in front of them, just wide and tall enough to cover them all.

As far as barriers went, the Light Shield wasn't all that sturdy. However, in exchange, it shared a few features with a certain Skill of the Shield Hero. To be precise, the Meteor Shield.

CRUNCH!-BOOM!

Releasing another arrow, Shirou blew up a third enemy squad. Then he unceremoniously let the Elite Power Bow drop to the ground and he drew his Magic Amethyst Longsword.

"Hidden Light Slash! Hidden Light Slash! Hidden Light Slash!"

With wide swings, Shirou launched several crossing Hidden Light Slashes that had the broadest area of effect that he could muster. This substantially lowered their cutting power, but that was alright. At the moment, to block attacks, a large surface area was preferable to anything else.

Just like the Meteor Shield, the attack from the user themselves or an ally of said user could pass through the Light Shield. The Hidden Light Slashes did just that, and crossed paths with the spells and arrows launched by the enemy.

A good majority of said attacks either exploded prematurely or were deflected, but a quarter of them remained on course. They struck the Light Shield with a staccato of noise.

With the sound of shattering glass, the Light Shield gave up the ghost and dissipated. Though it shared some properties with the Meteor Shield, it wasn't anywhere near as sturdy as the Skill from the Shield Hero. However, as the Light Shield was a spell and not a Skill, it had one distinct advantage.

"Zweite Light Shield!"

It had no cooldown, and it could be cast again as quickly as the caster's skill allowed.

This second Light Shield proved sufficient to stop the barrage cold in its tracks. Magic washed around the shield, but didn't punch through it, and the few remaining arrows bounced off it.

"Hengen Musou, Hidden Technique: Large Caliber Piercing Bullet!"

Mixing it up, Atla clenched her right fist tight and packed a large amount of Life Force into said fist. The limb lit up with focused energy, and when she punched the air once more, she released a brightly oscillating sphere of compacted Life Force towards a large cluster of enemy knights.

The resulting explosion and screams from the enemy were rather satisfying to Atla. Though she was a young girl, she was also an Hakuko. Her race was known to take delight in combat and fighting in general, and she was no exception in that regard.

With the large ditch created by Rishia impeding their forward progress, the enemy knights tried yet another long range attack with more arrows and magic, but the second attempt was met with exactly the same result as the first. Shirou countered most of it with his own magic, and what managed to make it through would be blocked by Rishia through judicious use of her Light Shield spell.

All the while, Atla and Fohl were continuing to unleash 'bullet' after 'bullet' into the enemy ranks in a nonstop rhythm. Whenever given the chance, Shirou would join them, making use of his wide variety of spells and abilities to add to the enemy's grieve.

"Again!? This isn't working!"

After the failure of a third such an attempt, the enemy decided to get desperate.

"Quick! Release the monsters! Throw them over!"

Every single enemy knight that was still standing pulled out a Summoning Crystal.

"Those are..!" Rishia gasped. She recognized the crystals, and she'd heard what a commander in the throng had shouted.

Well over a hundred Summoning Crystals were thrown over the ditch Rishia had created. If it was not for the clear threat that they represented, the dozens upon dozens of twinkling crystals arcing through the air could have been considered beautiful.

With a cacophony of tinkling noises, the Summoning Crystals fell to the earth and shattered. Wherever the shards fell, light swelled up extremely quickly, almost explosively so, before dissipating into nothingness.

A small army of monsters had suddenly blinked into existence.

Shirou recognized many of them. It was an eclectic swarm of monsters that he'd fought once before, native to Melromarc. Balloons of every color. Loomush. Eggugs. Usapils. Warrior Wasps. Giant Slugs. Swamp Frogs. Salamanders. Black Bats. Shadow Bats. Red Borbatusks. Green Fire Worker and Soldier Ants. Forest Ratkin. Forest Wolfs. All that and more had manifested directly in front of them.

The entire situation had changed on a dime. As it was won't to do in war.

"Atla! Fohl! Target the monsters! Buy me some time!"

Nonetheless, Shirou reacted with startling acuity and decisiveness.

"Rishia, defend us! Use everything you have! We just need to hold out for a moment!"

"O-Okay!" Rishia raised her hands and started spamming the Light Shield spell.

Meanwhile, Atla and Fohl had foregone the knights and were now targeting the monsters with their 'bullets'. Said monsters were storming towards them in a mad dash, unheeding of the clear danger in front of them, the Compulsion Magic of the Summoning Crystals having done its work.

For anyone that was not intimately familiar with fighting monsters, the sight of a small army of them running towards you – roaring and chittering madly in clear mindless bloodlust – would be horrifying.

As that was going on some enemy knights were continuing to bombard them with long range attacks, while others were using the respite they had gained to cross the ditch hewn out by Rishia's magic.

Arrows and elements rained down on the spot they were standing, but by continuously placing down Light Shields and replacing those that broke, Rishia managed to keep them save from harm.

"Shirou!" however, the strain was abundantly evident in Rishia's voice and from the sweat pouring down her face.

She couldn't keep this up for long, and she was fast approaching her limit. She did not have the time required to down some Magic Water. The moment she slowed down just a little, they'd get a face full of arrows and magic.

Shirou was leaning forwards, the Magic Amethyst Longswords back in its sheath. His right hand was closed tight around the pommel of his sword. Sweat beaded on Shirou's brow as he prepared the use his most powerful technique by far.

"Half a minute! I just need half a minute more!"

Even as he said that, however, the monsters were rapidly approaching.

Said monsters weren't all that strong, which meant that Atla's and Fohl's Defence ignoring attacks were rather effective. The siblings had slain a number of them and had slowed down the advance of the monster's, but that's all. At this rate, the monster's would be upon them before Shirou was ready.

"Atla!"

Atla immediately understood what her brother wanted to do.

"Yes, Onii-sama! Let's do it!"

Abruptly, the Hakuko siblings stopped laying down their barrage of Defence ignoring 'bullets'.

"What are you both..!" Rishia gasped in both bewilderment and exhaustion.

The frontline of the monsters, now no longer being waylaid, was abruptly much closer. The monsters were clearly chomping at the bit to tear them to pieces.

"Hengen Musou!"

Moving in synchronization, Atla and Fohl had reared back their right fists. Light surged around said fists as Life Force was compressed at a rapid clip. In unison, they took a thundering step forwards and in concert threw a picture perfect straight punch.

"Hidden Technique: Large Caliber Piercing Bullet!"

Two large, rapidly oscillating spheres of tightly compressed Life Force were launched in intersecting paths. Mere inches in front of the monster frontline, the Large Caliber Piercing Bullets met with an indescribable noise, seemed to flow into each other, and swelled massively in size.

BOOM!

And then the unstable mix of Life Force exploded with a deafening noise. A shockwave of massive proportions rippled outwards, carrying along smoke, dust, and shrapnel that abruptly swallowed up the charging army of monsters and their maddened roars and cries.

Unseen, the shockwave had sent the monsters sprawling backwards. Some had limbs blown clean off or had holes punched through them, but all of them had been sent flying back, buying Shirou the precious seconds needed to finish his preparations.

"May divine light…"

Shirou leaned forwards even further, and deepened his stance. Excess magical energy swirled around him and set the wind and his hair fluttering.

"…Scour all impurities…"

With a clear sound, the Magic Amethyst Longsword was pulled from its sheath.

"…Before me…!"

Light, pure and alle encompassing, surged into existence. It swelled up rapidly, gathering in a massive concentration of energy that was focused around and followed the motions of Shirou's sword. The light was so bright that anyone that had the misfortune to be looking directly at it the moment that it manifested was rendered blind.

As if it was fate, in that moment, a harsh wind blew in from the west. The smoke that had been kicked up by Atla's and Fohl's combination attack was abruptly scattered, allowing their opponents to see what was going on.

And what they saw was a mass of burning light baring down on them. All of them, enemy knights and monsters, had to avert their gaze as the harsh light burned their retinas.

Shirou reversed the grip on his sword. The light of Heavenrend followed the motion with a smoothness that looked unnatural of something of that size to do. Having moved into position Shirou swung his sword vertically, not too dissimilar from when he used Hidden Light Slash. When the slash leaped from his blade, it abruptly swelled in size even more.

"HEAVENREND!"

The result wasn't all that dissimilar either. A crescent of cutting, burning light. There were two marked differences, however. One, a Hidden Light Slash was a deep yellow in color. Heavenrend was a pure, almost holy white.

And the second difference? The cutting crescent released by Heavenrend was incomparably massive. For the knights and the monsters, the horizon in the distance was no longer visible. A wall of burning light, approaching rapidly, was all that they could see.

The knights and the monsters did not get the chance to properly process what was happening, much less react.

WROOOOOM!

The wall of light swallowed all of them up, not so much cutting them, but burning them until not even cinders remained. Heavenrend continued on blasting through trees and greenery like they were but dry and brittle kindling.

As it continued on, the burning light slowly but surely lost power. For those watching the spectacle in hushed awe, it took a long while, however. Once it was finished wreaking havoc, it took an equally long moment to process and come to terms with the devastation laid out in front of them.

"…"

Atla, Fohl, and Rishia just stared silently at the devastation. From Shirou's feet onward, the grass had been burned and the top layer of the soil had been blown away, leaving the ground black and barren. Said scene continued on, expanding outwards in gradually expanding radius. The forest had suffered a similar fate. The trees that had been in Heavenrend's path just weren't there anymore, just ashes in the wind, and the earth they'd stood on was blackened and beyond any hope of recovery.

The enemy knights and monsters had vanished. As if they had just been an unpleasant dream, swept away with a single swing of Shirou's sword.

"Dude," Fohl said slowly. "Why didn't you do that, like, immediately?"

Shirou answered his question by almost keeling over. Sweat poured from his every pore, his breath came fast and labored, and his legs trembled from the strain to keep himself upright. He stabbed his sword into the ground in order to use it as an improvised crutch.

All things considered, it was an improvement. The last two times he had used it, Shirou had collapsed and needed a long moment to breath to get back on his feet.

"Shirou-sama!" Atla immediately moved to support him. "Are you alright-"

Atla suddenly choked on her words. A series of numbers and notifications rapidly fired off in her field of view. Just like it did for everyone else.

[+512 EXP] [+536 EXP] [+528 EXP] [+504 EXP] [+516 EXP] [+522 EXP] [+543 EXP] [+536 EXP]…

This went on for a while.

…It wasn't just EXP from the monsters he had slain en mass with Heavenrend, either. Every knight that had been incinerated by his attack had also resulted in a juice chunk of EXP. Shirou had already become aware of this distasteful phenomena, that killing humans gave EXP, thanks to the battle with the Bow Hero not too long ago. He and Filo had killed many faithful followers of the church in that battle.

The same had occurred in the main battle between the invading forces and Eclair's army. Naofumi and Filo had supported Eclair in that fight, but had received a mere pittance of EXP for their troubles. It was the unfortunate result of having fought alongside several hundred soldiers and having the mass of EXP be divided amongst all of them.

Here, there was no such issue. The entire mass of EXP gained from the entire battle flowed into but a mere four people.

Shirou Lv: 62
Rishia Lv: 58

For Shirou and Rishia, it resulted in them gaining a few Levels. This was a significant increase, but compared to Atla and Fohl…

Atla Lv: 28
Fohl Lv: 28

They had suddenly shot up from below Level 10 to Level 28. That, combined with the Stat Growth adjustment ability of the Legendary Shield gave them Stats similar to someone in the upper fifties. All of a sudden, Atla and Fohl were an order of magnitude stronger.

"…Distasteful, but a boon, I guess," Shirou mused.

"Uhm," Rishia hesitantly raised her voice. "Do we know if Elrasla is…alright? I mean, she was in the forest…"

"Hah!"

A bark of a laugh came behind her.

"FEH!"

Letting out a strange noise, Rishia wheeled around. Much to her surprise, Elrasla was standing there, whole and unharmed.

"You'd do well to not underestimate my battle instinct, young lady, honed as they are by decades of combat experience!" Elrasla crowed, a grin of exhilaration on her face. "I got out of the firing line long before Shirou launched that bonkers technique of his."

"And I'm glad that you did," Shirou confessed. Having recovered his breath, he pulled his sword from the ground and stood solidly on his feet again. "I'd guessed that you had already gotten to safety, but I didn't have much time to think about it."

Elrasla gave him a wink and a thumbs up.

"Seeing how it exhausted you, I guess I understand why you didn't use that technique immediately," Fohl admitted. "But, did you really have no other choice but to use it? I mean, didn't you just say that retreat was valid option?"

"…I might have panicked a little when all those monsters were released and acted rashly," Shirou said, a note of shame to his voice.

"Strong though you are, when it comes to war, you and everyone else here but me is still wet behind the ears," Elrasla snorted. "You may have panicked, but you still acted decisively. The worst thing that you can do in a do or die battle is to freeze with indecision, to not counter the movements of the enemy. Even if your actions were rash, I'd still give you a passing grade."

"Thanks, I guess," Shirou sighed. "I still don't feel great about it, though."

"That's fine. Just give it a few battles. Actual experience in war is invaluable," Elrasla assured.

"Speaking about battles, I wonder how Naofumi and Filo's battle went," Rishia interjected.

"I'm not too worried about them," Shirou admitted. Naofumi and Filo were strong and capable. He was sure that both of them had pulled through just fine. "I am more concerned about Von Reichnott. I mean, we did assume that he would be targeted."

"Raphtalia and Melty should have taken care of that," Atla smiled at him.

After a short discussion, the group left the battlefield behind, returning to Von Reichnott's mansion.

"…"

Before they did so, however, Shirou gave a brief forlorn look out over the wrecked battlefield. It was such a brief moment that no one should have seen his turmoil, and indeed, no had seen it. However, that did not mean his tumultuous emotions had gone unnoticed entirely.


With the onset of the civil war conflict had, for a brief moment, been the order of the day throughout the entirety of Melromarc. You would be hard pressed to find a place, be it a city, village, or town, where some kind of fight hadn't broken out.

However, for most places, that had been a temporary state of affairs. The influence of the pro-demi-human faction or the anti-demi-human faction would, in surprisingly little time, win out and the conflict within those communities would die out as quickly as it came, with the village or city under the control of whichever faction that had won.

This wasn't always true, but it usually played out like that.

After all, influence of the pro-demi-human faction and the anti-demi-human faction was distributed in a rather lopsided manner. In the hinterlands, the pro-demi-human faction normally had the advantage, while the same held true for the anti-demi-human faction in highly populated areas like cities.

The same held true for the major Regions of Melromarc. The general rule was that the farther a community or Region was removed from the seat of power of the Church of the Three Heroes, the stronger the grip on power the pro-demi-human faction had and, in turn, the less influence the anti-demi-human faction possessed.

When one thinks about it, it made sense. The hatred and disdain towards demi-humans was mostly prefaced on the religious teachings of the church. And the Church of the Three Heroes has much less of a presence in out of the way and far flung places.

As a consequence, the second phase of the civil war had begun. Battle lines have been drawn between communities and Regions where one faction had won out of the other. Now, it had become a sort of game which faction could exert control over the other.

There was one Region that was an exception, however: the Khoth Region.

The Khoth Region was a medium sized region between the Emantla and Igreja Regions. The Region was mostly rural, with far more villages than cities. The influence of the church in the Khoth Region is more prevalent that in the farther flung regions, but because it was mostly rural, said influence was still far less than one would initially expect.

However, through a series of events, the influence of the Church of the Three Heroes had seen a wild roller-coaster ride in these lands in recent times. Because of the actions of one man, it had dropped considerably, but then it had jumped back up even higher than before.

And who was that man? The Sword Hero, of course.

"Ren-sama. We'll be back in the village in about ten minutes."

The reason? The Khoth Region was where the Sword Hero had defeated a dragon, but failed to dispose of its remains properly. This led to the dragon reanimating and becoming a Zombie Dragon that terrorized the Region until it eventually left and it was slain on the fields outside the capital by the combined efforts of the Sword Hero and the Shield Hero.

This led to a plummeting of the church's standing. After all, one of its apostles had failed abysmally in his duties.

"Ren-sama?"

However, after the Zombie Dragon had been slain, the Sword Hero had returned to the Region to make amends for his mistake. He provided resources, aided however he could in reconstruction of all that the Zombie Dragon had destroyed, and offered his services as a fighter wherever it was needed. Free of charge.

It didn't take long for the Sword Hero's reputation to recover and soar even higher than it had previously. And as the Hero was affiliated with the church, said institution's reputation had found its flagging influence in the Region to recover and strengthen as well.

And that was exactly the problem. Because the influence of the Church of the Three Heroes had seen a wild fall and subsequent rise in recent times, it was impossible to predict which faction had the upper hand. Ren dearly hoped that his actions had not led to the church seizing control in the Khoth Region.

"Ren-sama!"

With a sudden start, the Sword Hero was broken from his dark thoughts.

"Sorry, Isaac. I was lost in thought," Ren apologized.

"Evidently," the golden haired young man, one of his party members, snorted.

"Anyway, what were you saying?"

"We're almost back, Ren-sama," Isaac repeated.

"Ah," Ren made a noise of understanding, and his eyes hardened.

"I hope that the village is still okay…"

It had been about four days since the civil war had broken out. At that time, Ren and his party had been on an expedition deep into the massive forest that laid at the center of the Khoth Region. It had been one of many such expeditions they had undertaken.

When the Zombie Dragon had made the forest its stomping ground for a time, the poison it had spat and perpetually emanated from its body had twisted the local monsters. It mutated said monsters in such a way that all of them gained the ability to use poison attacks, and made them far more aggressive.

In an effort to clean up the mess that he'd caused Ren and his party had, in between helping the local populace, been periodically culling the mutated monster population in the forest. It was just bad luck that they'd been deep in the forest, days away from civilization, when the civil war broke out.

If it hadn't been for the Queen contacting them via Crystal Ball they would not even have been aware of what was going on in wider Melromarc.

Still, it had taken them days to get back. The forest was massive and too overgrown to make the use of mounts feasible. In the back of his mind, Ren cursed the fact that he'd not recorded the village or a place nearby the village where he could teleport to. As he wanted to make sure that said village was okay first, it had cost them a ton of time to get back.

So, they had to go back on foot, and with the distances involved it had taken far too long to make the return journey.

"I'm sure the village is okay, Ren-sama," another party member of his said. Said party member was a young woman with long bright blue hair, that had been gathered in ponytail, that reached all the way down to her hips. "The villagers were exceptionally kind to us, despite the damage our actions have caused them. No matter what, I can't imagine that those villagers would lash out at each other in the name of religion."

The village in question was one of many that had been attacked by the Zombie Dragon that Ren and his party had unwittingly unleashed. Thankfully, there had been no deaths. Still, the property damage had been atrocious, and the produce of their fields had been ruined.

Even still, the villagers had received them warmly when they arrived. Maybe because the good deeds of the Sword Hero had spread far and wide in the Khoth Region. The warmth and care that the villagers had shown them had only increased as Ren did as he was won't to do nowadays: provide a ton of resources, helped to rebuilt in what he had been instrumental in destroying, and otherwise he offered his services as a Hero.

"You're right, Mia," Ren said. He couldn't imagine those kind villagers fighting amongst themselves, no matter how fierce the disagreement between them. That said, he still didn't look relieved. "But to be honest, that is not what I am worried about."

Walking beside him, a giant of young man, a head and a half taller than Ren himself, perked up. His spiked red hair bristled in the wind as he grimaced. "Ren-sama has a point. That village was rather on the small side. If anyone came to cause trouble…"

"Exactly, Garett," Ren nodded in agreement.

"Then we better make haste," the Sword Hero's last party member decided. He was a rather petite young man, obviously the youngest of the group. His hair was blond, just like Isaac, though in a more subdued color. "If for no other reason than to put our own fears to rest."

"I can definitely agree to that, Ivan. Everyone?" Ren asked the group in general.

A series of acknowledgement and agreement came from the entire party. They all already know what Ren was suggesting.

With no further prompting, Ivan raised his hands and casted a spell.

"All Zweite Agility!"

Their Speed buffed, the Sword Hero's party took off in a sudden quick run. Before, they'd have reach the village in about ten minutes tops. Now, they would arrive in no more then three.

Less then a minute in, however, just as the village stared coming into view…

"Is that smoke!?"

They saw smoke, black and thick, rise from the rough direction the village was in. All of a sudden, Ren and his party went from running to flat out sprinting.

"Where is everyone?" Mai asked. They had just entered the village, but they could see no one walking the roads or tending to their homes. This village was rather small, with maybe 300 people calling it home, but it was still the middle of the day. There should have been someone around.

"The smoke is coming from the village square," Isaac identified.

"Than let's head there!" Ren decided.

His party gave a chorus of agreement. They made several rapid turns as they followed the dirt roads towards the village center. The dark feeling of worry in their guts grew heavier with every street they ran down without encountering anybody.

Finally, they reached the village center.

Ren immediately became sick to his stomach, and outrage set his heart ablaze.

"What the hell is going on here!"

The Sword Hero's enraged scream eclipsed any other noise.

The proceedings in the village center came to an abrupt halt. Dozens of faces turned to stare at him. Most of said faces displayed a combination of helplessness and horror.

"Sword Hero-sama! I'd heard that you were in the area, but I hadn't dared to hope!"

Those words were spoken by a man in priestly robes standing in the center of the village square, and his face lit up as the Sword Hero made his presence known. Said words were happy and genuine. Normally, the priest's mannerisms and kind words would have put Ren at ease. However…

On either side of the priest stood a fully armored knight. Behind the priest, villagers were tied down to wooden crosses, that were elevated on wooden beams high into the air, with ropes. Beneath said crosses was kindling, piled up high and thick. Of to the side was an already lit bonfire, the source of the smoke they had seen, though thankfully no villagers were anywhere near said inferno.

Of to the side were the rest of the villagers, the fast majority of the village's population, in fact. If he was to hazard a guess, about fifty villagers had been tied down to the crosses, while the rest were standing off to the side. No matter their position, though, all the villagers looked aghast and horrified at what was taking place.

For those villagers of to the side, helplessness was present in copious amount as well. The reason for this was obvious. Several dozen knights had surrounded the town's folk, hands on the pommels of their swords, but not yet having drawn said weapon. The fact that these knights were there to ensure that the unbound villagers could not interfere was blatantly obvious.

…To put it lightly, the scene behind and around the priest was completely at odds with the man's words and expression.

After a moment, it penetrated the priest's mind that Sword Hero didn't sound or look pleased at what was going on.

"Ah, I see," the Priest nodded to himself. "Sword Hero-sama, forgive me for presuming, but are you by any chance not aware of the current state of affairs in Melromarc?"

"…No," Ren lied. "I haven't been in any populated areas for about four days."

It took a massive effort of will to remain calm and stamp down on the impulse to attack immediately. With the villagers in the line of fire as they were, going off half-cocked would do more harm than good. He had to approach this as calmly as possible, play along, and when the opportunity inevitably presents itself…

"That explains your reaction, Sword Hero-sama!" the Priest smiled at his realization. "Without context, this situation must look rather…grim."

No matter the context, grim would be an understatement, Ren thought, barely holding back the urge to glare.

Even as his thoughts were going a mile a minute, he and his party approached the Priest at his almost casual prompting. Their hands remained off their weapons as they did so. Clearly, his party members had deduced his intentions and his thoughts, so they acted in perfect concert with him.

"To tell the truth, Sword Hero-sama, Melromarc has been plunged into a civil war," the Priest began.

"What?" Ren effected surprise, widening his eyes and coming to a sudden halt in front of the Priest. He hoped that his impromptu performance would fool the man. "Can you run that by me again? I do not mean to doubt a priest of the Church of the Three Heroes, but when I set out on my expedition four days ago, there were no rumblings of such a thing going around. How could a civil war suddenly just erupt with no forewarning whatsoever?"

The Priest inclined his head in apparent sorrow, while his eyes narrowed with understated anger. "I'd think that would obvious, Sword Hero-sama. The blame for this situation can be laid at the feet of the root of all that's wrong and evil in this world: the Devil of the Shield."

For a zealot, the Priest had a way with words. As a modern day man, he would never be comfortable or condone burning someone at the stake, but if Ren hadn't been made aware about the situation in advance (and the fact that he was on Naofumi's side now), there might have been a chance that he would have believed what was coming out of the Priest's mouth.

"Naofumi?" Ren muttered, playing along. "That man is scum through and through, but how could he have caused a civil war?"

The Priest's face tightened in disgust as he sneered. "The Devil of the Shield has the power to brainwash unsuspecting victims. He kidnapped crown princess Melty, brainwashed people in position of power, and used them to sow discord everywhere. His influence has pervaded so far through the country like a file poison, that when the people were shown a recording of the Devil of the Shield and his followers kidnapping the crown princess, plenty of people had the gale to disbelief it!"

Ren leaned back a little from the rage the Priest was displaying. Thankfully, the man didn't notice the reaction, and continued on with his rant.

"They're actually saying that it was the church that kidnapped the crown princes," he spat. "And that we merely used the Devil of the Shield as a scapegoat to suit our own ends. Hah! What nonsense, nonsense that only the unclean and heretical would believe!"

"And that was enough to cause a civil war?" Ren raised a brow, making a show of his 'skepticism'.

"As much as it pains me to say it, the influence of that devil has permeated deeply into this country," the Priest spat again.

"Then the people here..?" Ren asked leadingly, looking up at the villagers that were to be burnt at the stake.

Said villagers looked back at him, pleading him with their eyes to help them. Once again, Ren had to hold back from acting immediately. Hold on a little longer, he thought in the back of his mind. I'll save you for sure!

"Heretics and non-believers," the Priest glared at an unseen enemy. "I and my cohort here were sent to test the faith of the people of this village. Those that have been found wanting will burn. May god have mercy on their ill begotten souls, because we will not."

"You rotten bastard!"

The sudden yell didn't come from Ren or his party members. No, it came from direction where the villagers were being held back by the knights. Said yell conveyed a sense of rage and despair, and was so, so very young.

"Carnas, don't!"

Turning to look, they saw a boy at the very front of crowd desperately trying to run towards them. An middle aged woman was holding him back, obviously the boy's mother. But, while the woman could physically hold her son back, she couldn't stop him from voicing his grievances.

"Let them go, you pieces of shit!" the knights closest to the boy slid their swords out of their sheaths just an inch. "Just because they didn't respond like you wanted them to, or didn't answer your questions fast enough, does not give you the right to kill them! What kind of god gives you that right, huh?!"

"Divine providence gives us that right, boy, not to mention justice," the Priest sneered yet again and even fiercer then before. "Just for that, you'll be joining the rest of the filth in the pyre soon enough."

With a snap of his fingers, the Priest made the knights on either side of him move away towards the bonfire. They'd picked up the long torches laid out on the ground and stuck them into the fire. As the torches caught fire, the knights slowly walked over towards the stakes.

The Priest turned back towards the Sword Hero, who was gritting his teeth and hoping that the Priest did not notice that fact.

"Sword Hero-sama, we would be delighted if you gave the command."

Ren cocked his head, barely holding back the urge to gut the man where he stood.

"We are the faithful of the church," the Priest elaborated. "That said, we also realize that what we are about to is a dark deed, necessary though it is. If one of our apostles gives the command, all of us here will be assured that we acted righteously, and that we have no need to feel any guilt for following through on our sacred duties."

"Gladly," Ren answered immediately, the word feeling like ash on his lips. This Priest…there was no other way to put it: he was sick in the head.

Ren briefly made eye contact with his party members, who gave imperceptible nods back. Isaac was the one he gave the most attention to. The golden haired young man's eyes sharpened, and he readied his magic.

Having done that, the Sword Hero stepped forwards. The two knights with the lit torches were now in front of the villagers that were to be burned at the stake, the kindling piled up high, ready to go up in a blaze of wretched glory.

Ren drew the Legendary Sword, eliciting an eyebrow from the Priest. When Ren brought the Legendary Sword up high above his head as if he was about to swing it down and behead a convicted criminal, the Priest gave a nod. Giving the order while swinging down the Legendary Sword would be an appropriate gesture and image.

As soon as Ren raised the Legendary Sword, however…

"I thought that you were a cool Hero!" from behind him, the boy, Carnas, screamed at Ren with such raw emotion in his voice that the Sword Hero damn near winced. "Aren't Heroes supposed to fight for the people!? To protect them!?"

As the boy screamed at him the villagers under guard grew more and more agitated, looking angered to the point that they might try and attack the knights in spite of their clear disadvantage. The knights, seeing this, drew their swords, which made the villagers tense up and quiet down.

But that was only for a moment.

"Please Sword Hero, don't do this!"

"Help us!"

"Didn't the Zombie Dragon fiasco teach you anything!?"

"Don't kill our friends and family!"

"This isn't what a Hero is supposed to do!"

"Scum! Scum! No matter how you justify it, there will be no forgiveness for this!"

The people screamed at him, the priest and the knights. Priest frowned thunderously and turned to look away from Ren, setting his murderous gaze on the rowdy crowd of villagers.

"I see that I was too lenient in my judgement," the Priest said in a deadly whisper. "After these lot are nothing but ash I'll have the rest of you put to the sword. Heretics like you scum…have no right to live."

Unnoticed by the Priest and his knights, Isaac was quietly and quickly chanting a spell underneath his breath.

"I command the origin of power. I have read, deciphered and augmented a law of nature. May the soil part before me and create a pit."

Ren's eyes narrowed and his sword armed tensed to swing down.

"Sword Hero, I beg you, please don't do th-!"

With the sound of cutting air, the Legendary Sword was brought down.

And he activated a Skill.

"Wyvern Slash!"

Cutting air, just barely visible to the naked eye, was launched ahead with a whistling noise. The two torch wielding knights did not get the chance to process what had happened, nor the chaos that was to follow. The upper half of their bodies slid off with a squelch, while their lower halves collapsed in the other direction. Their lit torches, impotent and unused, fell to the ground with a thud and hiss as the fire made contact with the soil.

"What!?" the Priest snapped back around, widening eyes focusing on the Sword Hero.

"Dritte Earth Hole!"

At that very moment Isaac completed his spell. In clear contradiction to his chant, the hole in the earth did not open up before him, but suddenly materialized directly underneath the rowdy crowd of villagers. As a third tier spell, the hole that opened up was just large enough to swallow up the entire tightly packed crowd.

With cries of shock and panic, several hundred villagers fell into the hole. Isaac had taken special care so that the hole wouldn't be all that deep, but even if a few of the villagers were to be injured by their sudden fall it would be worth it. To get the villagers away from the knights and ensure that they could not be used as hostages, that was what counted.

Not to mention, getting them out of the line of fire.

TAC!

The Sword Hero turned around, his left foot coming down with a sharp sound. The Legendary Sword was raised and bared towards the wretched faithful.

Any further words died in the Priest's mouth.

Ren looked beyond furious.

For the Priest, time seemed to slow down as the Legendary Sword was reared back.

On either side of the Sword Hero, his party members had their hands raised and pointed at the knights and the lone Priest. Said hands were alit with swirling magical energy, a deluge of preprepared spells ready to rain down retribution.

The knights and the Priest were caught completely flatfooted.

There was no time to react.

"Zweite Stone Spire!" Isaac yelled.

"Zweite Icicles!" Mai screamed.

"Zweite Mini Fireballs!" Garett snarled.

"Zweite Sonic Slash!" Ivan thundered.

"One Thousand Swords!" Ren used the upgraded version of the One Hundred Sword Skill he had just recently obtained.

Earth spires the size and width of a grown man erupted out of the ground in a wide area. Small, but highly sharpened icy spikes rained down. Highly maneuverable fireballs in their dozens homed in on their targets. Faintly purple sickles of cutting air sliced through the air. And on top of all that ghostly, blue outlined swords, a thousand to be exact, bombarded the ground indiscriminately.

The only areas that were safe was behind the Hero's party, and the hole where the villagers had just fallen into.

Suffice it to say, the Priest and his knights did not make it out alive.


The sound of several hundred men on horseback thundering down a dirt road, a dozen men wide, was loud in more ways than one. To be fair, though, at this point, the noise had become little more than background noise for Naofumi and his party.

"How you holding up, Filo!?" the Shield Hero called from the driver's seat of their carriage.

"Don't worry about me, Master! I'm fine!" Filo, hooked up to the carriage in her Queen form, saluted him over her shoulder with one of her wings.

At the moment, they were in the very center of the formation, with plate armor garbed men on horseback both in front and behind them. Should anything happen anywhere in the formation, this position would allow them to respond with minimal time loss.

"And the rest of you!?" Naofumi called out with turning to look around.

"We're good!" Shirou reported after sharing a look with everyone inside the carriage.

"A little exhausted, though," Raphtalia sighed.

"That goes without saying, lass. Only a machine would not be tired at this point," Elrasla snorted.

They had set out from Von Reichnott's lands three days ago. And those three days had consisted of three things: traveling, fighting, and resting.

After they'd repelled the attack from the anti-demi-human faction, their forces, under the command of Eclair, had launched a counter attack against the noble and lands from which said attack had come. With the enemy forces significantly diminished, it had been an easy battle by all accounts, especially with the Shield Hero and his companions rendering their aid.

So, they had taken said land from the control of the anti-demi-human faction. But, their offensive had not stopped there. As soon as they had destroyed the remaining enemy forces and captured the anti-demi-human noble, they continued on to the next enemy territory.

"Where are we going to hit next?" Fohl asked.

Rishia turned her eyes towards the map on the floor of the carriage. It was a detailed map of a single particular Region in Melromarc: the Igreja Region.

"That one," she said, tracing their path on the map towards a certain territory ahead of them.

"Do we know anything about this place?" Melty asked, brow furrowed.

"Nothing much, only that its ruling noble has thrown in his lot with the anti-demi-human faction," Atla shrugged.

"Going in blind, huh?" Melty sighed.

"Just like every other battle we've participated in since setting out. It hasn't stopped us before," Atla smiled a battle hungry smile that was very much out of place on the face of a young and petite girl.

In the Igreja Region, the anti-demi-human faction has the upper hand. For every territory that was under the control of the pro-demi-human faction, there were four territories that had fallen into the hands of their enemy.

Their first goal had been to make it too the closest territory under the control of a friendly pro-demi-human noble. To get there they had to bust through three hostile territories, but they managed to do so thanks without casualties thanks to the Shield Hero.

After every battle a few knights that had been part of the enemy forces that had nonetheless been sympathetic to their cause threw in their lot with the pro-demi-human faction. Before they had even reached friendly territory, their ranks had already been swelling.

And once they did, said ranks swelled even more. Luckily, just like what had happened in Von Reichnott's lands, people and knights opposed to the anti-demi-human faction had flocked to said territory. As a consequence, their army had doubled in size.

That took into account the knights that had to stay behind to safeguard the friendly territory.

Though not quite the same it would not be wrong to call the approach to battle they had chosen this: blitzkrieg.

They would strike enemy territory with overwhelming force, giving little to no time for the opposing forces to react. The Shield Hero's companions, far strong then the norm, would act like shock troops leading the charge. The Shield Hero himself used his overpowered magic and unique Skills to enhance their regular forces immensely and keep them save from harm.

This approach had been so successful that ever battle so far had been resounding victory. Even more impressive was the fact that they had barely suffered any casualties to get this far.

Like this, they could weaken the hold of the anti-demi-human faction, and increase the strength of their own fighting forces. When they were to strike at the ultimate goal of this campaign, they would need all the men they could get.

In the not so far off distance, a loud sound echoed: a horn, blown on the command of Eclair.

"That's our cue," Shirou muttered.

"The next battle. I'm looking forward to it," Atla grinned.

"Do be careful, Atla…" Fohl rolled his eyes.

The knights in front of them seamlessly directed their horses, the formation parting like the Red Sea before Moses. Without pause, Filo suddenly sped up and rushed through the newly created gap. In no time whatsoever, their carriage reached the very tip of the formation.

Right beside them was Eclair on horseback, leading her army from the front.

"Our scouts just returned!" Eclair hollered over the sound of hooves in their dozens pounding the dirt. "Enemy forces have barricaded the road ahead! Enemy troop totals are inconclusive, but at least a few hundred!"

"Any traps!?" Shirou poked his head out of the carriage.

"The Shadows haven't reported any! But, they can't get too close to the enemy fortifications without risking being seen!"

It went without saying that Shadows were tailing them unseen and checking the road ahead for any possible traps. They had encountered traps and ambushes very rarely so far. That was the advantage of using a blitzkrieg approach to war: you gave the opposition little to no time to prepare.

The fact that the enemy had a barricade ready and waiting was beyond the norm as it was.

"Shield Hero-sama! The usual, please!" Eclair requested.

"Will do!" Noafumi agreed. His Circuits spun up and he pulled a Magic Water potion out of his Apothecary bag.

"All Zweite Grow Heal X! All Zweite Guard X!"

Two waves of magical energy, one green and the other blue, washed over the Shield Hero, his party members, Eclair, the knights and their horses. Just like anything else in this world, horses possess Stats of their own, so the Enhancement magic worked on horses just as well as anything else.

Spent stamina was replenished, depleted as it was by the rigors of constant battles, and the Defence Stat of the entire formation jumped massively.

"WHOOOOOOOOOO!"

As soon as it happened, their army released a war cry that made one's bones rattle in their flesh.

Morale was sky high, buoyed up by success after success and a lack of casualties. Before every battle, the Shield Hero would always cast his uniquely powerful magic on them, allowing them to fight at full capacity no matter how tired they were and making them almost completely invulnerable to the enemy.

Said boon from the Shield Hero always signified a battle to come. With morale as high as it was, it was only natural that their knights would react like this as the soothingly familiar magic of the Shield Hero washed over them.

"Glug," Naofumi downed the Magic Water in a single gulp, sighing in relief as his glowing hot Circuits cooled down instantly. Their army had grown in size to a little over 900 men. Tally op all their horses, and the number of beings he had applied Enhancement to doubled to a little over 1800.

It went without saying that it took an enormous amount of magical energy to do that. If it was not for the fact that he was a Hero with multiple means to Enhance his Stats, his Magic Stat included, achieving such a feat would've been impossible for a single man. In war, entire retinues of mages had to work together to achieve similar results.

"The barricade is around the next bend in the road!" Eclair hollered loud enough that everyone could hear her. For a slender lady, she sure had a commanding voice when needed. "We will bust our way through! Prepare for contact!"

Shirou swung himself atop their carriage. Even as he kneeled on the roof of the rapidly bouncing and moving carriage, he readied his Elite Power Bow and pulled out an Amethyst arrow.

"All Zweite Power X!" this Enhancement spell was much more manageable, as Naofumi limited it to his party and Eclair. The threat of saboteurs having mixed in with the new additions to their forces was still a very real possibility.

And then, there was no more time to prepare. With the sound of hooves pounding the dirt road and men at arms raising their voices, they rounded the bend.

As he nocked his arrow, Shirou took in the scene.

The road ahead was the same as it had been: an unremarkable dirt path with thick trees lining both sides. In the distance, a wall made out of massive 15 meter tall and 1,5 meter wide logs suddenly cut their path ahead off, the logs running from one end of the path to the other. The way that these logs suddenly just appeared almost made it look as if they had spontaneously erupted out of the ground.

Ahead of said wall, strange contraptions pockmarked the rest of the path. These contraptions were made out of wood, and consisted of a central log with smaller wooden spears running through at the cross section. These wooden spears kept the log aloft while their sharpened ends pointed outwards, presenting a secondary razor sharp obstacle.

Shirou recognized them from a history book he had once read. Cheval de fries, a medieval defensive anti-cavalry measure consisting of a portable frame and sharpened wooden spikes or spears. For a horse at full gallop, running into those spikes would be…unpleasant, just as it would for its rider.

To be fair, their buffed Defence Stat would more than likely then not ensure that the horses would not be injured, but the cheval de fries still represented obstacles they couldn't just bust through. The horses simply didn't have enough mass to accomplish such a feat.

Moreover, something was off. The cheval de fries – there were dozens – were placed in such a way that a path forward remained. In other words, there were gaps between the contraptions that they could take to still advance.

That made no sense. If it were him, he would have placed the cheval de fries in rows that ran the entire width of the path, forcing invaders to bust their way through and lose precious time doing so. As it was, they could take the available openings, which would bunch up their men and make them easier targets, yes, but that would still allow them to advance unobstructed.

Suffice it to say, Shirou was suspicious of this set up.

As these thoughts went through his mind in the blink of an eye, the defenders attacked.

Archers, about a hundred or so, stood on a raised wooden platform attached to and behind the wall. Before they had even rounded the bend in the round, their bows had been drawn and their arrows nocked. With a unified sound of a hundred bowstrings being released, a storm of arrows were fired in a straight line to meet them.

Shirou ignored said arrows. Because…

"Meteor Shield!"

…They weren't a threat.

With a staccato of noise, the arrows bounced off the forcefield of the Meteor Shield. They fell to the ground in impotence, having failed to stop their advance.

Again, Shirou barely paid this any mind. Instead, he was still focusing on the gaps in the cheval de fries. His eyes were narrowed in suspicion with a knowing glint in his eyes.

TWANG!

He let lose his arrow, but didn't target the enemy. Instead, he targeted the nearest gap in the cheval de fries. Said arrow had a visible slipstream around it, making it look like it was fired by a railgun.

But when it struck the dirt, the arrow didn't explode like it usually did, as he had elected not to apply the Explosion Enchantment for once. Instead, the Amethyst arrow punched through the dirt as if it was but fragile glass. The dirt fell away in a rapidly widening area, revealing a dark hole in the ground that had been a hidden under the thin layer of concealing dirt.

"Pit trap!" Eclair spat in realization.

Like Shirou had thought, the few remaining paths forward were riddled with traps. In the context of a battle, it made total sense for the enemy to do this. And because it made sense, Shirou had smelled a rat in advance.

At a gesture from Eclair to a man riding to the left and a little behind her, the knight in question raised a horn to his lips. The sound of the horn being blown reverberated over the battlefield in spite of the overwhelming clamor of said battlefield.

In response, their formation slowed down considerably and shifted, Filo and themselves included. The frontline was switched out, another batch of knights coming to the fore. Though they wore plate armor and didn't look any different, these knights had one thing that separated them from the rest: they were mages. Specifically, they were mages with the capability to use earth magic.

Good fortune smiled at them. Ever since setting out from Von Reichnott's lands, precious few mages had joined their ranks. Several dozen, a dozen of which were capable of earth magic.

"Shield Hero-sama! Lend us a hand!" one of the mages shouted as he came up beside their carriage.

"Raphtalia, take the reins!"

"Yes, Naofumi-sama!" the raccoon demi-human came up and took the reins from Naofumi. The Shield Hero himself stood up and held onto the side of the carriage to remain balanced.

TWANG!

Trusting that his allies had the situation well in hand, Shirou focused on the wall in the distance and the enemies peeking over it. His arrow exploded forwards, the Enchantments of Explosion and Speed applied to it.

With a clear sound, a screen of hardened light – a Light Shield – snapped into existence right in front of his arrow's path. As a spell that Rishia had used profusely not all that long ago, he recognized it on sight.

Shirou's eyes widened. His arrow struck the Light Shield and, instead of ripping through it like he had briefly hoped, detonated on contact. The resulting explosion was massive and destroyed the Light Shield, but besides ruffling some hair and making a few people duck down, said explosion did nothing to the enemy or their fortification.

That confirmed the presence of enemy mages, at least. That fact was underscored when, as the next volley of enemy arrows came, a few fire and water spells were mixed in with the throng.

Again, however, Shirou paid it little mind. The arrows and enemy spell fire washed over the Meteor Shield and did little more than briefly obscure their vision.

Their formation shifted again, becoming narrower, narrow enough so that they could fit through the first gap in the cheval de fries. Incidentally, this was the gap where Shirou had revealed the pit trap just a moment ago.

As they came into range, Naofumi acted.

"Zweite Earth Fill!"

The ground at the very bottom of the pit trap trembled and started to rapidly rise, as if it was water filling up a tub. In no time at all, the pit trap was filled in.

Their forces thundered over the freshly risen soil a moment later.

Shirou let lose another arrow. From just inside the carriage Elrasla, Atla and Fohl had taken on ready stances.

"Hengen Musou, Hidden Technique: Large Caliber Piercing Bullet!"

Three large, oscillating spheres of compacted Life Force followed in the wake of said arrow.

"Zweite Water Shot!"

"Zweite Thunderbolt!"

Water erupted from Melty's raised hands, palms aimed outwards, as if it was fired out of a firehose. She stood beside the Hengen Musou practitioners, a harsh expression on her face.

With blue lightning coiled around Rishia's right hand and wrist, her pointer finger targeted the wall in the distance. The lightning condensed rapidly, then lashed out when she announced the spell, the energy spluttering and cracking as it jumped forwards in an zigzagging arc.

In response, several Light Shields snapped into existence at once. The Light Shields covered the entire enemy fortification and were placed to be three rows thick.

Shirou's arrow struck the very center of these barriers, and the resulting detonation made a giant hole in the first row and did critical damage to a small area of the second. The Large Caliber Piercing Bullet, Defence rating attacks that they were, punched through the damaged second row with ease, and also managed to pierce through the third.

However, the Large Caliber Piercing Bullets had lost quite a bit of momentum and power doing so. As enemy mages massed their spell fire – projectiles made out of water, fire, and wind – they managed to destroy the Hengen Musou technique.

Melty's Water Shot and Rishia's Thunderbolt were similarly deflected, an answering stream of water stalemating with the magic of the princess as a midsized boulder met the lightning in midair and grounded the energy.

Unbidden, Shirou felt his lips quirk. They had used the same tactics to defend themselves against the sneak attack back in Von Reichnott's lands a few days ago. It was ironic that said tactic was being turned back on them now.

Arrows and magic speared back at them a moment later, but…

"Air Strike Shield! Second Shield! Dritte Shield!"

But once again bounced off impotently against the Shield Hero's barriers, this time a trio of ethereal shields lined up in a row.

"Meteor Shield!"

As that happened, Naofumi quickly refreshed the Meteor Shield.

"Zweite Earth Scattershot!"

Several of the mages on horseback casted their magic with evident ease. Small chunks of hardened rock erupted from their outwardly aimed palms, like an oversized shotgun, and liberally peppered the area in front of them. This revealed more and more pit traps as the scattershot caused the thin layer of concealing dirt atop said pit traps to collapse and fall away.

Moreover…

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Several explosions went off, triggered by the scattershot hitting devices buried underneath the soil.

"Don't falter!" Eclair thundered. "You all have experienced this before! Charge! Charge! Charge! So long as we finish this battle before the Shield Hero's Enhancement magic wears off, we have nothing to fear from explosives!"

An answering roar of approval came from behind the commander.

"Zweite Earth Fill!"

Another mage quickly filled up the next pit trap in their path, and their forces once again cleared the hurdle.

Like this, they quickly closed the distance with the enemy's bulwark. The two sides exchanged fire in a constant stream as they did so, but the judicious use of barriers on both sides made it an odd spectacle, as no one had yet to be struck or killed in spite of the furious exchange.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Many explosives were triggered before making direct contact, thanks to area of effect magic. There was no way to prematurely detonate all of said explosives, however.

"WHOA!"

Filo let out a shriek as an explosion went off underneath her feet. For a very brief moment, she was disoriented, and the carriage behind her rocked in disconcerting manner. But she took no damage at all from the explosion, and in about a second, she had recovered her bearings.

The Shield Hero's party continued to rush ahead, unimpeded.

Having crouched down and held on for dear life to not be sent flying from the carriage's roof, Shirou rose back up. The bowstring made a clear noise as he nocked yet another arrow.

"Raphtalia!"

Sat in the driver's seat with the reins in her hands, Raphtalia's head tilted and one of her raccoon ears swiveled to point at him.

"Illusion! A standard one!"

Not bothering to ask what he was planning, Raphtalia wordlessly switched on her Circuits. They had long ago discussed a set of terms for illusions that her allies could request. This way, they could make said request, and if the enemy was in earshot, they could do so without immediately giving away what they were doing.

"All Zweite Illusion!" she whispered underneath her breath, and her Circuits pulsed in response.

TWANG!

The enemy soldiers saw Shirou fire one of his overpowered explosive arrows straight towards them. As he was one of the most powerful combatants on the battlefield that they were directly trading blows with, a lot of attention was being devoted solely to him. As a matter of fact, he was one of the main targets that had to be taken out ASAP. Unfortunately, those damned barriers of the Shield Hero had made all their attempts futile so far.

That meant that there was no way that Shirou could do anything, standing out in the open as he was, and not have it be noticed and getting at least an attempted counter for his troubles.

Acting in practiced concert, enemy mages deployed a new batch of Light Shields. With a series of clear noises, the three rows thick barrier of Light Shields was replenished to full strength and further reinforced.

In the wake of Shirou's arrow followed several Large Caliber Piercing Bullets, a blast of pressurized water and an arc of coruscating lightning. Raphtalia joined in as well, launching a Hidden Light Slash from where she was sat in the driver's seat.

Said attacks crashed through the Light Shields, shattering the barriers one after the other, sending broken pieces of hardened light arcing through the air. However, it ended just like last time. The attacks that made it through the bunched up Light Shields, weakened and having lost momentum, were countered by massed spell fire, causing said attacks to detonate before they could reach the enemy's fortification.

Having successfully repelled yet another attack, a brief sense of relief washed over the defenders. The enemy was mighty, and their attacks immensely destructive. A direct hit from any of them would be catastrophic.

However, in that brief relief, there was also confusion and a slowly dawning sense of trepidation. Through the chaotic mess of attacks, none of the defenders had been able to make out the explosion caused by an Enchanted arrow.

They had seen it clearly. Like before, a demi-human had fired it straight at them.

But there had been no answering explosion.

WHISTLE

The sound of an arrow cutting through the air. In all the noise of an active battlefield, no one, not even the few demi-humans present with their sharp sense of hearing, could make it out. And if they could not, the human defenders had no hope of hearing the sound.

Much less reacting.

THUNK-BOOM!

A ball of fire and immense explosive force suddenly sprouted atop the fortification, right in the middle of the defenders. Dozens were killed on the spot, many were sent flying and an equal number were thrown down and off the wall.

Suffice it to say, in the sudden chaos, not one of them had the time to question, much less ponder on how the explosive arrow had breached their defenses.

It was simplicity itself, really. Raphtalia's illusion had made it appear as if Shirou had fired straight like before, but in actuality, he had fired in an arc over the Light Shields. By fooling their sight, Raphtalia had taken away the enemy's chance to respond towards Shirou's change in approach, and had sealed their doom in the process.

"Now!" Eclair suddenly thundered, and the knight beside her once again made his horn resound over the battlefield.

Their formation sped up, their horses thundering forwards. Enemy fire had suddenly slackened to all but nothing, and with the traps more or less nullified – not to mention the Shield Hero's barriers keeping them save – there was no longer any reason to fight conservatively. With a spirited roar and ever more soaring zeal, they rushed to meet the enemy.

Cheval de fries were avoided, pit traps were filled in, and explosions were weathered. In one breath to next, they were at the base of the enemy's fortification.

"Hidden Light Slash!"

Raphtalia didn't so much shout the name of the technique as she declared it. The cutting crescent of searing light sliced through the thick, cumbersome logs as if they weren't even there.

Unseen by the rest of his party, Shirou jumped from the carriage's roof. The sheer height he gained doing so showcased how high his Stats had gotten, as he literally flew up until he was in the air above the burning bulwark.

Over half of the enemies that had been peeking over said wall had either been killed or thrown clean of. Those that remained and had been in the process of picking themselves back up looked up at him, their faces going ashen white.

Clenched between Shirou's fingers were four arrows, all of which were already nocked to his bow.

"Hengen Musou, Hidden Technique: Large Caliber Piercing Bullet!"

Down below, the large, oscillating spheres of compacted Life Force punched clean through the wood, the structural integrity of the fortification weakening even more.

"High Quick!"

BWOOOM!

Speeding up and leaving the rest of the formation in the dust, Filo rammed into and through the wall with a hard to describe noise. Wood and splinters were sent flying, and briefly obscured their vision.

THUNK!-THUNK!-THUNK!-THUNK!

Four Enchanted arrows buried themselves into fortification, then-

BOOM!-BOOM!-BOOM!-BOOM!

What little remained of the fortification and the men upon it was consumed in fire and a shockwave of terrific explosive force. With a groaning sound, the bulwark started to collapse into little more but burning tinder.

On the other side, the Shield Hero, his carriage and his party sans Shirou came to a screeching halt. The heat and shockwave of Shirou's explosive arrows washed over them, but with their buffed Stats, it did little to face them.

The other people present were of a different mind. More enemy soldiers were behind the now wrecked wall, at least double than what had been atop said wall. The sudden explosions had knocked many on their asses. When they realized what had happened and that the enemy was now right in their face after having made a mockery of the defences they had painstakingly set up…

It was hard to describe what they felt in that bone chilling moment. Horror was one way. Sentence of death was another.

"…"

Without a word, Raphtalia let the reins drop and sprang forwards with blistering speed. Elrasla, Atla and Fohl followed in her wake. Filo cut herself lose and spread her wings wide. From behind, Melty and Rishia raised their hands, magical energy surging. Making up the rear, Naofumi readied his magic and Skills.

Less than 15 minutes, the battle came to an ignominious end. By the time that the rest of their army joined them there was little but devastation to be seen.


After that battle, they had gone on to the territory proper of the anti-demi-human noble. As the battle on the road had constituted the majority of the enemy forces, their conquest of said territory amounted to but a few short skirmishes and mop up work.

The anti-demi-human noble was captured and his forces were forced to submit. Having done that, they had moved on as quickly as they had come. Their strategy and the circumstances of the civil war forced them to keep up a lightning fast conquest. As soon as a territory was captured – or liberated, if you prefer – they would head over to the nearest enemy territory and repeat the process.

However, no matter how powerful the magic of the Shield Hero was, they could not keep moving without pause. As flesh and blood, the men had to rest, and as night fell, they made camp. They did so deep in a forest, with wards and earth magic being used to place an early warning system and create an easy defensible position.

After all of that had been taken care of, however…

"Raphtalia-san? Have you seen Shirou-sama?"

Raphtalia blinked and looked up from her grimoire at the sudden question. Her studies had her so engrossed that she hadn't noticed the Hakuko girl entering their carriage. Raphtalia had been at it for a solid half hour already, and she hadn't been disturbed as everyone had gone off on their own after they had finished their various tasks.

"Shirou?" she muttered, thinking. "I saw him last about an hour ago, I think. We'd been handing out food and Energy Pills to the knights. After that…I'm not sure."

It was kind of odd, actually, as Shirou was the only one she was not quite sure where he had gone off to. Naofumi, Melty and Eclair were mingling with the troops in the regular exercise of maintaining morale (a task that the Shield Hero wasn't all that fond of). Elrasla had dragged off Rishia to get some quick Hengen Musou training in. Earlier, Atla had gone out into the camp with Fohl on her heels the entire time.

But Shirou…she couldn't remember where he had gone. He must have left without informing anyone, which was odd in and of itself.

"By the way, where's Fohl? Wasn't he with you?" Raphtalia asked, suddenly noticing the conspicuous absence of Atla's elder brother.

Atla shrugged at the question. "Onii-sama did not approve of me seeking out Shirou-sama, saying that I should get some rest instead. So I caused a scene in which Onii-sama got caught up in. I slipped away in the chaos."

Raphtalia sweatdropped at that explanation, and consciously decided not to ask exactly what she had done. Atla doesn't do anything by half measures. Whatever 'situation' she had caused, she would bet a lot of money that it would be better to remain entirely ignorant of it.

"Do you have any idea where Shirou-sama might have gone?" Atla asked.

Raphtalia bit her bottom lip in thought. "If he is not in here, and seeing that you didn't find him in the camp...I'd guess that he wanted to be alone for a little while…" that was the only reason she could think of why he would suddenly up and disappear like this. "He's probably out in the forest, in a clearing where you can see the stars…"

She had noticed that Shirou, if given the chance, would gladly sit underneath an open sky with a field of stars twinkling away up above. Their companion seemed to take comfort from the sight somehow.

"I see. Thanks for the tip, Raphtalia-san," Atla turned to leave.

"Wait a moment," Raphtalia called after her. "If Shirou wants to be alone, don't you think it be better if you wait for him to come back on his own?"

"Normally, I'd agree with you, Raphtalia-san," Atla answered. "But considering what I felt earlier, I do not think letting Shirou-sama stew in his own thoughts and feelings right now would do him any favors. I'm going to him."

"…I see," Raphtalia said and let it go. It was blatantly obvious that there was no talking Atla down at this point. "How are you going to find him, though?"

She might have given Atla some tips, but it wasn't much to go on.

Atla shrugged without concern. "Through Life Force and logical thinking."

With that, Atla was off, leaving Raphtalia alone again.

Shaking her head, Raphtalia turned her eyes back to the grimoire in her lap. Briefly, she wondered what Atla had felt from Shirou that had her concerned, but if it was something that they'd needed to know, they would hear about it eventually from Shirou himself, she was sure.

Pushing the unnecessary thoughts from her mind, Raphtalia picked up where she left off and-

"Atla?!"

Startled, Raphtalia's eyes darted back up.

In the entrance of the carriage stood Fohl, panting heavily. His clothes and body were smeared with some kind of sauce and leftovers. His hair wasn't spared either, as the white and black locks were barely even visible under the thick and chunky brown sauce. A red hand print stood out prominently against the pale skin of his left cheek.

"…You just missed her," Raphtalia deadpanned.

"Where did she go?!"

"She went to find Shirou," Raphtalia found herself answering without much thought. "You might want to-"

"She still going on about that?!" without another word, Fohl rushed off.

"-Clean yourself up first," Raphtalia finished, sighing and shaking her head in fond exasperation.

Their party certainly had gotten a lot more lively in recent days, hadn't it?


The stars twinkled away merrily up above. The moon was not full, but damn close, and even though the summer night air was warm to the point of it being almost cloying, a refreshing breeze that made the leaves on the trees rustle a soothing refrain made the atmosphere comfortable.

But even though the stars and the moon usually managed to put him in a good mood, Shirou realized that there was no peace to be found in his heart.

Sat in the center of a clearing in the forest just a little ways away from their camp, the human turned demi-human was sitting cross legged. With a whetstone resting in his lap, Shirou was busy methodically sharpening the Magic Amethyst Longsword. The subtle grinding noise evoked by the act should have been enough on its own to keep his mind from wandering.

Shirou's endless thousand yard stare was a dead giveaway that this was not the case.

In his mind eye, scene after scene played out again and again, as if it were a broken record player.

A battle with the Bow Hero inside a miniature castle.

Stopping a sneak attack in its tracks, his holy light incinerating both monster and man.

A burning fortification collapsing with a thunderous noise.

The circumstances behind each battle were different, but the result was the same. Hundreds of people, not monsters, but people – husbands, fathers, wives, mothers, and providers – dead at his hands.

Oh, sure, he could rationalize it all away by thinking that those people were the enemy that believed in oppressing demi-humans. But, in all likelihood, those people that had died at his hands were just ordinary folk that had fallen into the anti-demi-human faction because of circumstances. After all, the majority of those people, those knights, had not been priests and nuns, the zealots, of the church.

Well, maybe some of them were zealots. There was no getting around the fact that they'd been born and raised in the human supremacist nation of Melromarc. But Shirou would bet his life that at the very least half of the people that had died at his hand were just ordinary people living their lives.

And he had killed them all, indiscriminately. All because of goddamned circumstances.

That was the cold hearted fact of the matter. No one, not even god, could save everyone. In the end, no matter what you did, you could only save the ones who you sided with. And that's why he had hardened his heart, so that he would not hesitate to cut down the people who opposed the one's he chosen to aid, the one's who he fought alongside with.

Than why does it still hurt so much?

Asking himself that amounted to little more than sophistry. He knew why. He wanted to be a hero that could save everyone without fail. To live up to the promise he had made to his father on the day he died. But, this world, in all its realism and cruelty, had shown him repeatedly that it just wasn't possible. And admitting to that amounted to spitting on his dream and the promise he had made to Kiritsugu.

But if he wanted to continue to pursue said dream and promise – pursue his happiness – then he had no other choice but to do so.

Mentally, he was well aware of this. But emotionally, he could not come to terms with it. And that's why he was constantly replaying the scenes of battle in his head, trying to find something, anything, that would have allowed him to save everyone.

Of course, there was no such golden path to be found. In the end, he was just randomly going around in circles without truly getting anywhere.

"Ah, there you are, Shirou-sama," a voice echoed.

Startled, Shirou looked up.

Atla came walking out of the underbrush. The rays of the moon illuminated the entire clearing, so the moment she emerged from the tree line, she was readily visible to him.

In the moonlight, she looked ethereal, almost like a dream.

"Atla," Shirou responded, stopping the rhythmic motions of sharpening his blade. "How did you find me?"

"That's not really important, now is it?" Atla said as she came to a halt in front of him.

Actually, combined with Raphtalia's tip, it was just a matter of logical thinking and sensing Shirou's Life Force. Given the situation, even if he wanted to be alone for a bit, Shirou would not go far away. By limiting her search to the clearings in the forest around the immediate vicinity of their camp while trying to sense his Life Force, she succeeded in finding him. It took some doing, but she managed it.

But like she said, that wasn't important right now. Because…

"You're troubled, Shirou-sama," Atla stated without preamble.

"…Now what give you that idea?" Shirou smiled. "I'm fine…"

"Shirou-sama," though she spoke lightly, there was reproach in Atla's voice. "You know how my Life Force sensing ability works. You can't lie to me. Not about this."

At that, Shirou's smile dropped away. In the heat of the moment he had forgotten. As a natural born user of Life Force, Atla could, amongst other things, sense the emotions of others. This made lying to her damn near impossible.

Trying to lie to her was a fools errand. And not just because she would see through such a lie without exception.

Shirou's expression became pinched. "You know how I have been feeling for a while now, haven't you?"

The moment his emotions had become troubled, Atla, with the virtue of her ability had to have felt it immediately. There had been no point in trying to hide it from her.

"Really, Shirou-sama," Atla smiled ruefully at him. "You need not hide your troubles. Especially not from me. I realize that you want to take care of your burdens on your own simply because you don't like troubling other people, but you are going about it the wrong way. If we realize that there's something wrong, but you do not come to us for help, we just get more worried. You do realize that, right?"

"…You really don't sound like a ten year old, at all," Shirou blurted out the first thought that came to his mind.

Atla giggled at that. "I can say the same about you. You're only a little older than me, but you both do not look or act your age. All of us…have grown up quickly."

Perhaps a little too quickly.

The moment of levity lingered, the two just idly enjoying each other's company and the comfortable warmth of the night. The moment passed, however, and Atla's expression grew serious again.

"Shirou-sama, what's wrong?"

There was a long moment of silence. Shirou opened his mouth and closed it again, but not because he did not want to answer. He had already realized that Atla wasn't going to let this go. He just wasn't sure how to explain it to Atla in a succinct manner.

In the end, all he said was…

"I feel like I am betraying myself and everyone else."

After that, he stalled out, but he didn't need to explain himself any further. Atla's response took him completely off guard.

"Of course you do, Shirou-sama," she said.

At his gobsmacked expression, Atla smiled, leaned over and poked him on the nose.

"I know how you work, Shirou-sama," she said. "Helping others, making other people happy, that is what makes you happy in turn, doesn't it? That's what brings you true joy," Atla shook your head. "Killing someone, even if you do so to help someone else, isn't something you'd ever be comfortable with. Especially not if you are killing people in their hundreds. Because you are making other people miserable in order to make the ones who you have chosen to side with happy."

Though her eyes were closed like always, there was no missing the sympathetic look on her face.

"A hero that wants to make everyone happy…it's an impossibility," Atla said. "But, you can't change your course if you want to continue pursuing that dream. In order to pursue your dream, you have to do things that contradict said dream. It's only natural that you feel like you are betraying yourself, and the people who become your enemy in the process, as you do so."

Shirou's thousand yard stare had returned as he listened to Atla plainly laying out the issue. Noticing this, Atla flicked him in the forehead. As awareness returned to Shirou's eyes, she poked him on the nose again.

"In other words, you're too kind for your own good, Shirou-sama," Atla summed up his problem in a few neat words.

Silence briefly fell, only broken by the sound of distant insects.

"Then, what do I do?" for the first time since he could remember, Shirou asked for help. For once, he looked truly vulnerable.

Atla's expression crumbled, becoming sorrowful.

"That I do not know, Shirou-sama," she said, looking despondent. "I wish I had answer for you, but I don't have a solution. I think…no one but yourself can solve this problem. You will have to find that solution on your own."

Getting those words out hurt. Shirou had saved her, giving her a chance at life, but now she was unable to help him resolve the contradiction he was faced with. Admitting to that, even as Shirou looked at her imploringly…there's no way to describe how much it pained her.

However, in spite of that, Atla unexpectedly smiled.

Without another word she walked around Shirou and placed her hands on his back.

"Atla?" Shirou asked, bewildered, only to gasp as her hands pressed down and Life Force was gently forced into his body. The understated tension he was under immediately lessened, the Life Force pushing deep into his muscles and working out the knots and tension with incredible effectiveness.

"I do not have an answer for you, Shirou-sama," Atla repeated, her hands continuing to knead his back. "You'll have to find that answer yourself, but…as you search for that answer, I will be there for you. If you want to talk. If you want to have some mindless fun. If you want a shoulder to cry on. You can always come to me. I will support you all the way, I promise."

As Atla continued to massage him, Shirou felt as if his mind was drifting away as her firm, methodical movements released all the tension in his body and wordless pleasure replaced it. His worries and troubles floated away, not gone, but momentarily forgotten. But, even as entered a trance like state, he nonetheless clearly heard Atla's words.

"Atla, thank you."

"I'm happy to help, Shirou-sama."


Hey, guys. Here is the next chapter. I hope you all liked it. Just a heads-up. The next few chapters are going to be combat heavy.

And, uh, sorry that this update took 2 months. I have a legitimate excuse this time, though. I won't be going into details, but the cliff notes version has these words: dad, hospital, long recovery period. Suffice it to say, I have had a lot on my mind lately.

Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter.