Virtue of the Shield Hero

by Allen Blaster

According to Newton's Third Law, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Unfortunately, Naofumi and co will find this to be especially true after returning from their Otherworld trip. Rest of Summary inside. The third installment is here. Multiple pairings. Covers Season Three Territory and beyond. Arc 10: Chapters Thirteen: Part One: Death Match

34. 34: Naofumi vs Bitch, Part One, Hope

Quick note. At this point in the story, this was when the Covid pandemic started. Just so you all realize how long ago this was originally written out.

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Chapter Thirty-Four: Naofumi vs Bitch, Part One, Hope

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…

...

...

"Ha… hahahaha!" Bitch started to laugh, albeit, a little nervously into the back of her hand after a long silence.

Some of the knights started to chuckle along just as nervously. This had to be a joke, right?

"I don't think there's really any reason for me to accept a challenge from a weak criminal such as yourself-" Malty started to say in her all high and mighty tone.

"What's the matter? Scared you'll lose to a stupid shielder?" Naofumi asked. "If you want to go so low as to claim I'm capable of brainwashing people with this shield, then I'll show everyone here I don't need such a stupid cheat to beat a weak and fat pig like you!"

…

There was a short pause as his insult sunk in… and then Malty's face twisted with rage. "How dare you!"

"What's the matter?" Naofumi asked, feeling a lot more confident than before, seeing that he was getting under Bitch's skin at last. "Afraid you'll lose to the useless Shield Hero you ugly sow?! Or am I wrong about you being a pig?" He made chicken arms and even had the nerve to "Buckaw" mockingly at her several times.

Most of Naofumi's party was stunned behind him. As were many of the knights behind Bitch and Motoyasu.

Bitch steadily looked more and more indignant the more Naofumi spoke. "Oh wait, I know what it is! You're so afraid you'll embarrass yourself in front of all your loyal Knights that you're shaking in your boots to face me?! Not that I'd blame you of course! It'd be really embarrassing to lose to someone that has absolutely no attack stat whatsoever in front of all your loyal subjects!

"But I guess if you'd rather save face than admit you're too afraid to fight the Devil of the Shield, then that's your own damn fault! Nothing I can do to help with that, unfortunately!"

Bitch growled. She looked absolutely bat &^%$ insane with how angry she was. And Naofumi smirked at having gotten such a great reaction from her.

He didn't think Bitch could do anything at this point that would please him other than to drop dead. But she was proving him wrong. Her look of hatred was, besides the hug he and Raphtalia had shared after being separated for two days, the most cathartic feeling in the entire world.

"Give us space!" Bitch finally ordered the knights behind her.

"Wait. B-But Myne-" Motoyasu tried to say.

She directed a glare at him, causing him to gulp, stay quiet, and back away.

"Give, us, space." She said each word as if they were barbed with venom.

'So it is possible to rile a Bitch up. You just have to do it properly.' Naofumi looked satisfied. He hadn't been sure if it would work or not since she preferred manipulating people from the shadows.

But it turned out, if you prodded the snake enough, it'd bare its fangs and strike.

"First Princess! What are you saying?! We can't-" One of the knights tried to yell at her.

"Fast Fireball!" Naofumi hadn't even heard the chant beforehand. A fireball launched from Myne's hand, slamming against the knight's chest. He was launched back by the force of the explosion into some of the Knights behind him.

"I'll do as I please! Now, give us space! NOW!" She fiercely ordered the rest of the knights.

Seeing the crazy red-haired Bitch not even flinch to attack one of her own knights, the rest quickly backpedaled. Almost tripping over their armor or companions in the rush to back away.

'This is going even better than I could have imagined.' Naofumi watched it all triumphantly.

Now with the threat of being immediately killed or thrown into prison again out of the way, it gave him time to think.

...

Naofumi felt a warm hand on his shoulder, and he turned. Raphtalia was standing behind him with a worried look on her face. "Are you sure you want to do this?" She asked.

She'd given him her glove, knowing full well what he'd intended to do. But she had to check to make sure he'd thought everything through.

"Yes." He whispered back. Malty was still busy shooing the knights and Motoyasu. Giving the two of them time to talk. Filo, Melty, and Eclair quietly watched from in front of the gate. "It's likely she's going to try and pull something during the duel to kill us. So I need you to climb up into that tower and open the gates so we can all escape before that happens."

"But, but what if there are knights waiting outside for us?" Raphtalia quietly asked.

"Motoyasu would be more of a problem. But as long as he stays here, Filo's wind magic should be enough to blast anyone who'd be hiding out there out of the way. And your illusion magic should be enough to fill any of the gaps in between to protect everyone else."

"... and what about you?" Raphtalia asked. "What will you do?"

"... I'll be fine… I'm not staying behind again. I'll come up with something." He said seriously as he glanced behind him at Bitch. The hatred in his eyes burned as brightly as his determination. "And I'll beat her into the ground while I come up with it."

...

Raphtalia was afraid this battle would send the Naofumi she knew and loved to that place in his mind where he could disappear forever... But she also knew that he needed to do this. She understood where he was coming from.

This pig had tried to ruin his life the day she joined his party. She had tried to ruin his life after surviving the Last Wave... Based on what Naofumi had told her about Eclair's predicament, she had been trying to ruin his life before he'd even been summoned. And now, she was continuing to try and ruin his life along with the lives of so many others. And she wanted to try and kill her little sister.

She wouldn't stand aside and let her continue to do as she pleased, just like Naofumi. And now, he actually had a chance to finally get revenge on Bitch for everything she'd done to them up to this point. And he wasn't going to pass it up.

He had to take it while he had the chance.

Raphtalia sighed. Had she been in his shoes, she knew she would have done the exact same thing. So she didn't try to dissuade him from the coming fight.

"Okay… If you're going to fight, then you'll need these." She said, pulling out Naofumi's Barbarian Armor from her pack. Along with several more Magic Healing Waters, Soul Healing Potions, and Healing Potions she'd pocketed from the wagon.

As Naofumi grabbed the armor, he noticed it looked different than before. It was like the light metal breastplate had been polished over, and the Pikyu Feathers that'd been stuffed between the porcupine hides had been replaced with a different material. One that felt strangely soft and warm.

Barbarian Armor 1.5: Effects: Defense Up. Wind Resistance (Small). HP Recovery (Slight)

"What's this?" Naofumi asked Raphtalia.

She lightly blushed. "We stayed with Elhart last night. We were planning on going out today to find out where you were, but he wanted to stay up all night to make some quick upgrades to your armor."

Naofumi was astounded. The anger left his mind as he looked at the improved armor in awe. "I provided some of the materials I had on hand to upgrade its stats, and Filo provided some of her feathers to replace the Pikyu feathers so you'd have the Wind Resistance and recovery effects. Elhart said to treat it as a gift this time around."

Naofumi looked in awe at Filo. His daughter waved happily to him. Then he chuckled. "That damn old man really wants to keep me as a customer, huh?"

A smile appeared on his face again, and he gladly took the items from Raphtalia. Who still looked nervous at how Naofumi would react to his armor being changed without his permission. But he slipped the familiar armor on without complaint. "Thank you."

He felt feelings other than hatred bubbling inside him now. It helped to clear his head, and let him realize what he was fighting for. He wasn't just dueling Bitch for the sake of revenge now. He was dueling to protect Eclair, Melty, Filo, Raphtalia, Elhart, the people of Lute, and everyone else this Bitch had ever tried to hurt and/or kill.

As the Shield Hero, that was his job. That was his goal and desire. To protect those he trusted and cared about more than anything else with his very life.

Once he was finished putting the last piece of armor in place and pocketed the vials, he placed a kiss on Raphtalia's cheek. "Now, go, make sure the others are ready to book it. I'm trusting you." He said, his face serious again before he turned to face Bitch. All arrayed in his glorious Barbarian Armor once more.

It might have made him look like a bandit chief. But damn, Raphtalia was right when she said he looked cool in it.

Raphtalia was shocked. Her hand moved up to where Naofumi had kissed her cheek. She retrieved her glove from the ground, and almost in a daze walked back to where Filo, Melty, and Eclair were waiting. Still holding a hand to her cheek where Naofumi had kissed her.

"Is everything alright mommy?" Filo asked.

"Yeah… Mommy just needs a moment sweetie." Raphtalia said quietly.

'Oh nooooooooo! Now I really want to kiss Master Naofumi badly now!' The pecks on the cheek made her feel like she was on fire, but in a good way! It only made her wonder if she'd explode with feelings if he tried to kiss her on the lips. But was the risk of getting pregnant really worth it?

Actually, was an indirect kiss on the cheek enough to do that?!

Then again, Naofumi kissed her on the cheek after the duel. And she certainly didn't feel pregnant from that...

She wasn't pregnant, right?

"Did Sir Naofumi tell you anything, Miss Raphtalia?" Eclair asked. Trying her best to sound formal and serious instead of sad and hurt.

She definitely knew it now. This girl held a special place in Naofumi's heart. The knight truly would be better off if she just let go of her fanciful childhood fantasies and instead supported Sir Naofumi, Miss Raphtalia, and their strange little daughter Filo in their future endeavors.

Raphtalia snapped out of her daydream. "Right." She brought the other girls in close and started to tell them the plan.

"So, before we start, will there be cowardly interference in this duel Bitch, or will you fight the Devil of the Shield by yourself?!" Naofumi asked.

Bitch scowled. "As if I'd need someone to interfere so I could defeat the Devil of the Shield!" She said arrogantly.

The Knights and Motoyasu had all backed up until there were three hundred feet between them and Naofumi's party. Bitch and Naofumi themselves were only a couple of dozen feet apart in the center of the makeshift square duel arena. Which made up the open area in between the outer wall of Melromarc, and the buildings of the city.

The Royal Commander growled to himself. 'The damn first Princess…' He whispered orders to his soldiers. If she was going to be foolish enough to take on the Shield Demon by herself, then he wasn't going to allow her foolishness to cost her the duel.

Naofumi switched to his Light Metal Shield and took a ready pose. 'This time, I'm going to make sure I get to punch her in the face.'

Nothing would stop him from accomplishing his task this time.

Come hell or high water, he was going to make her pay. And he was going to make sure his party was able to get away safely by the time this duel was over.

Bitch started the duel with a quick chant and a spell.

"Fast Fire Arrows!"

---

The start of the fight disappointed Naofumi.

For once, he was wishing something would happen similar to a few of the mangas he'd read back in his world. His strong emotions would help him discover some hidden ability or cool power he hadn't known about before. He'd launch a mega attack that would blow Bitch off the map. The duel would end. The other soldiers and Motoyasu would be too terrified to follow. He'd get to leave with his party, satisfied that he had taken care of the red-haired witch. And everyone would get to live happily ever after despite the interference of an annoying trope making things uninteresting.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your perspective that didn't happen.

Clang!

As he ran forward, Naofumi ducked the volley of magical fire arrows Bitch had launched at him before jumping up and delivering the perfect uppercut to Bitch's jaw.

It would have been perfect... if it wasn't for the stupid familiar Clang! sound that filled his ears. The sound of his attack stat causing absolutely, positively, no freaking damage whatsoever.

Bitch stumbled back from the pitifully weak attack. More out of surprise at how quickly Naofumi had closed the distance between them instead of from the actual hit.

'Are you kidding me?!' It was then that he remembered this was real life. And his strong emotions wouldn't just connect with his attack stat to unlock some great power that could blow Bitch to kingdom come. Still, the fact that he couldn't hurt Bitch with a punch to the face angered him. 'Seriously Shield? I finally get the chance to punch Bitch in the face and you still won't help me cause damage?!' Naofumi thought beratedly to his Shield.

His Shield didn't respond... since Shields can't talk or read minds...

He did, however, remember that unless he used his counters, got creative with the environment around him, or manipulated other people's attacks against each other or themselves, he was absolutely worthless in terms of damage. And since they were in the middle of a wide-open area doing a one on one fight, he didn't have much in the means of environment or opportunity around him to use against Bitch. Which meant the main thing he could use were counters.

The knights behind Bitch started to laugh. Even they could tell that Naofumi's surprise attack had caused no damage. "That's why no one fights with a shield!" One knight yelled out of the group.

Bitch started to smirk. "This is going to be easier than I thought." She said haughtily.

"You won't do much damage to her, Naofumi! She's level 66 right now!" Motoyasu yelled in the background.

Wait, she was level 66!?

He was only level 42...

'Maybe it's not just because my attack stat is nonexistent...' He might have been a hero, and Bitch might be only a hero's companion. But a level 66 Hero's Companion was still not someone you wanted to duel at level 42.

"Now that that is out of the way." Malty said after she finished chanting.

"Fast Hellfire!"

'&^%$!'

Naofumi blocked the closeup baseball-sized ball of fire with the Light Metal Shield.

As a quick side note, that was also the third strike against him. He didn't have any shield counterattacks that he could use against ranged attacks. They only activated against melee strikes against certain shields. His defense varied on all of those shields too, meaning equipping the wrong shield could have an attack do more damage to him.

How did the saying go? Three strikes and you're out?

"Fast Hellfire!" As Bitch finished chanting again, Naofumi really hoped that wasn't the situation here.

He jumped back to avoid the ball of hellfire that hit the ground where he'd been standing.

Bitch continued to chant quickly. Casting one spell after another. "Fast Hellfire! Fast Fire Arrows! Fast Fireball!"

"Air Strike Shield!" Naofumi's skill shield formed in front of him, blocking the barrage of fire spells. 'Damn it! Why did I think this was a good idea!?' The anger he had against Bitch had most likely been part of the reasoning process.

Having a one-on-one duel with her made perfect sense at the time.

The fire faded on the other side of the shield right as Bitch jumped over it. She had a sword gripped in her hands. The blade was a pale black with a gold hilt, and a Ruby was attached to the pommel. "Hua!" Naofumi barely raised his Light Metal Shield in time to protect his head from the overhead strike.

He'd almost forgotten that the redhead didn't just fight with magic.

Bitch followed it up with several slashes one after the other, trying to knock Naofumi's shield to the side the way Motoyasu had done during their Sacred Duel so she could stab at him. Her agility and strength had definitely received an increase thanks to her leveling and probably from enchantments to her armor and sword, but she wasn't as fast as when Motoyasu had used the skill Chaos Thrust, and Naofumi had gotten much better at blocking, so he managed to block each of her strikes.

While the strikes didn't make his arm go numb, his HP bar dropped slightly each time her sword struck against his shield. His appraisal skill activated again as he used it on Myne's new sword. All he got was its name.

Magic Dragon Steel Sword

The term Magic meant it was enchanted. Since he'd never heard of Dragon Steel before, that likely meant it was an expensive material. And since he couldn't appraise it, that likely meant it was a high-level item with enchantments better than what Raphtalia's Magic Silver Sword had.

That goes to show you should never underestimate a rich and royal Bitch.

"Chimera Viper Shield!" His shield changed to his best physical defense shield. Bitch's sword slammed into it, causing no damage to Naofumi. Then the counter, Snake Venom Fang (Medium) activated. One of the gold vipers came alive, biting down on one of Bitch's shoulders.

"Augh!" Bitch immediately jumped back to get away from the biting viper. Only to hit against Naofumi's still active Air Strike Shield.

"Lasso!" Rope appeared from the Air Strike Shield, binding Bitch to it. She struggled against the new bonds that had appeared around her gut while cursing under her breath.

'Perfect!' All he had to do was use his Shield Prison and Bee Needle Shield combo and he'd be able to-

"Fast Fire Arrows!" Several fire arrows appeared around Myne after she'd finished chanting, burning through the ropes binding her to the shield like they were nothing.

"Shield Prison!"

The ball of chains and plates appeared, but Bitch was freed and jumped out of the way in time to avoid being trapped. 'Damn it!'

That whole combo had been a waste of SP. 'That was the only way I thought I could get an advantage! Now I won't be able to try and paralyze her for a while!' His Air Strike Shield and Shield Prison disappeared. He wouldn't be able to use either again until their cooldowns expired.

Some of the knights laughed again at Naofumi's plan failing. "Did you really think I'd fall for such a simple trap Shield Demon?" Bitch asked haughtily. She remembered how Naofumi had used that against Motoyasu during the last duel. She got in a throwing position again. "As the future Queen of Melromarc I order thee! Decipher the laws of nature and summon a huge flame to burn my target to ash! Zweite Hellfire!"

A ball of fire, larger than a basketball, blasted from her hands towards him. He raised his shield and blocked it, and while the majority of the blast bounced away from the shield, some of the flames licked at his sides. His HP bar dropped again.

Why the hell was this Bitch using others to do her dirty work if she was already this capable by herself?! Did she take pleasure in manipulating people, or was she just that lazy?!

"You know, I didn't appreciate Father having me train my magic abilities over the last month after Sir Motoyasu went into exile! He's never forced me to do that &^%$ before!" Naofumi quickly switched back to his Light Metal Shield and dodged a barrage of Fire Arrows before blocking another large fireball. "But now I'm kind of glad I had to endure all that stupidity! Because it'll make roasting you alive all the sweeter!"

That explained why her magic was stronger compared to the blast of wind he blocked at the Sacred Duel. It was likely swordsmanship had also been part of that training.

Bitch continued to laugh as she sent more fire spells at him. Forcing Naofumi to dodge and block. A couple of her fire spells weren't powerful enough to cause damage. But the rest caused slight damage even with his best magic defense shield equipped.

'She can switch between physical attacks and magical attacks. She's at a much higher level than me. Oh, and I have no attack magic to counter her with.' At this rate, he wasn't even going to make it through the duel.

He was going to be turned into barbequed shish kebab.

The fire barrage blinding Naofumi stopped, and he prepared to launch an Air Strike Shield at where Bitch had been last when she dashed in right behind her flames, slashing at Naofumi's off shield side with her sword. She had caught him so off guard with the tactic that he was only able to instinctively raise his arm to block the strike to his head. Her sword dug slightly into his skin, leaving a light cut behind.

Bitch didn't let up. She struck at him with her sword again and again, forcing Naofumi to block with his Shield. His HP bar slowly dropped again.

He jumped back and changed to the Chimera Viper Shield to try and get some space and gain some time to think of a plan. But she finished chanting and sent more fire magic his way. He was forced back to the Light Metal Shield to protect against the attack. Then, almost immediately after she closed the gap and forced him on the defensive again using her sword. Attacking with a ferocity that only her tongue had displayed before in its verbal treatment of everyone around her.

'Damn, I need to block one of her avenues of attack so I don't have to change shields constantly to avoid damage. But what is there-' He wanted to facepalm. He didn't know attack magic, but he knew some magic! He just needed to cast it.

He blocked another strike from Bitch. Then, when she moved to strike him with an overhead slash, he changed to the Two-Headed Dog Shield right before she struck it.

Not only did it have a better defense that prevented him from taking damage, but it also had a nice counter that activated when her sword struck against it.

"Augh!" Myne jumped back as the two heads' eye's glowed and came alive. Extending out from Naofumi's shield and biting at her. She tried to swipe at one, and the other bit down on her arm. It didn't cause any damage because the counter's attack stat was the same as Naofumi's, but it kept her distracted.

Naofumi quickly took the time to cast two spells. "As source of thy power I order thee, decipher the laws of nature, and protect my target! Fast Guard! And heal my target! Fast Heal!" Naofumi used the two spells on himself. A green aura covered him. The two spells increased his defense and healed the minor cuts and burns he'd suffered so far. Putting him back at 100% health.

"Ha!" The two dog heads were burned by one of Bitch's spells. They retreated back into Naofumi's shield to escape the scorching flames. "Is that all you have Shield Demon! Those annoying tricks won't help you win!" Bitch sent another ball of fire at Naofumi which he blocked by changing to the Light Metal Shield, and she followed right behind her flames to slash at his off shield arm again.

Clang!

This time, however, the high-end sword bounced off his arm like it was made of metal.

"What?!" She looked shocked.

"Is that the best you've got Bitch?" Naofumi said back mockingly. "You'll have to do better than that if you want to win," Naofumi said as his shield changed again. Back to his Chimera Viper Shield.

Before Bitch could react, the counter activated and the viper extended out again, biting her other shoulder.

"Gah!" She hastily retreated from Naofumi. She looked pissed. But he wasn't going to stop there. Now that his cooldown timers were done.

"Air Strike Shield!" He sent a green shield flying into Bitch's gut. She bent over from the force of the impact. It didn't cause any damage HP wise, but it knocked her off balance.

"Shield Prison!" Bitch became encased in a ball of green chains and plates.

"Let me out! Does the Devil of the Shield think he can just-"

"Change Shield! Bee Needle Paralysis Shield! Change Shield! Bee Needle Poison Shield!"

Needles extended out inside the ball of chains and plates as well as the Air Strike Shield inside. Impaling the Bitch all over.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Hell yeah! That's what the Shield Hero wanted to hear!

None of the knights were laughing now. A few stared in shock at Naofumi. A few nodded their heads, having thought this would happen since they'd either fought by his side in Lute or had watched his duel with Motoyasu from the stands before.

The majority murmured amongst themselves. Wondering what they were supposed to do if the Shield Hero won the duel.

"The Shield Devil can't use a support spell on himself! That's cheating! We have to help the First Princess-" The Knight Commander started to rush forward when Motoyasu grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. "What are you doing Spear Hero?!"

Motoyasu grimaced as if in indecision... but then he firmly pushed the Commander back behind him. "Myne said she would handle this by herself. So I'm going to trust her. And since Myne's using magic, I see no reason to prohibit Naofumi from doing the same."

He turned back to the duel to watch.

He wanted to make sure this didn't escalate into a large fight that could hurt Myne's little sister. That was definitely something that couldn't be allowed to happen. Having a duel between Myne and Naofumi was the perfect way of making sure this didn't escalate into a full-out battle. And, if Myne was right about Naofumi being able to brainwash people, it'd give the castle and church mages enough time to free Naofumi's party of their brainwashing.

Besides, it was Naofumi, how much damage could he possibly do?

The Knight Commander scowled, but he sheathed his sword and backed away from Motoyasu and the duel. However, he wasn't going to take this lying down. If the Shield Demon could use support magic on himself, he'd level the playing field.

He started whispering to one of his captains. "Get one of your squads into that side alleyway. I want them casting..."

The Captain who'd informed the Commander about the situation before glanced at him. He couldn't tell all that was being said, but he overheard enough. He scowled. 'He's ordering us to interfere, even though the Spear Hero told him not to?'

He started whispering to one of the knights under him that he trusted. A fellow from Lute Village. "Go, warn the Shield Hero's party about..."

---

Naofumi quickly looked behind himself while Bitch was trapped. Melty was standing next to Filo. Worriedly petting her feathers as she watched the duel. Eclair was also watching, giving Naofumi an approving nod. She then looked above her at the guard tower, and back to Naofumi before giving him another nod.

Raphtalia was nowhere in sight. That brought a smirk to his face. The battle was so absorbing that even Filo hadn't noticed her mother had disappeared despite Raphtalia telling them the plan. 'Good, that'll make Raphtalia's job of opening the gates even easier.' He faced the ball of chains and plates again. If no one had noticed Raphtalia leave, then they'd be caught off guard when the gates opened. Which meant they'd have a few extra seconds at most to run away before anyone tried to follow. This could be enough time for Filo to use a spell before carrying everyone out and across the bridge before Motoyasu tried to react.

As long as she remembered what to do as soon as she heard the sound of the gate opening that is.

The ball of plates and chains finally disappeared. Besides a few holes in her clothes beneath her armor, Myne still looked okay. However, she was scowling deeply at him. Her hair was a mess. Bruises were appearing on her shoulders where she'd been bitten.

She looked so crazy that she could have belonged in a mental asylum.

It was absolutely freaking glorious. He was the one smirking as she looked at him with rage written on her face. It felt oddly satisfying that she was angry with him, instead of vice versa. And he decided he was going to continue pressing that button. "What's the matter Bitch? Are my annoying tricks getting to you?" He snidely asked.

An angry growl escaped Bitch's throat. There, that was more like it.

Bitch's HP bar was actually starting to slowly drop due to the Chimera Viper Poison she'd been injected with. And her movements were more sluggish. Naofumi was an absolute wall that couldn't deal damage normally. So Status Effects were the way to go.

'With her paralyzed, I'll be able to wait her out and play the long game. I'll be able to dodge her spells more easily and exhaust her MP until she's forced to attack me with that sword. Then I can poison her again and again with my Chimera Viper Shield until Raphtalia-'

His thoughts of his possible victory were interrupted as Bitch pulled out a vial from her pocket. 'Wait, what is that-' She uncorked it, and downed its contents.

Her body started to glow as the unfamiliar potion took effect. The bruises on her shoulders gradually disappeared. On Naofumi's screen, Bitch's poison status and paralysis statuses disappeared, and her HP and MP bars refilled.

Whatever it was she'd drunk had restored her to perfect condition.

Of course, the Bitch was royalty. She not only had access to the best equipment, but also the best damn potions in the world.

Where was the potion that gave your attack stat a boost?! He'd pay top dollar for that!

"I'm just getting warmed up!" She raised her hands in front of her again.

"And help our target to achieve a victory. Nature's Blessing."

"And hear our command to slow our target. Speed Down."

The glowing effect from the elixir she'd drunk disappeared, but then a light green glow covered Bitch's body. At the same time, a light purple glow appeared around Naofumi before it disappeared. "As source of thy power and as the next Queen I order thee! Decipher the laws of nature, summon a fiery inferno that'll consume everything in its wake! Burn my target to ash and let nothing remain!"

You know, even though he felt the battle scaling up... he couldn't help but think how pretentious it was that Bitch called herself the next Queen in her chants.

"Drifa Fire Blast!"

Did she say Drifa before that spell?

A large, star-shaped blast of fire came from Bitch. Naofumi stopped thinking and barely changed to his Light Metal Shield in time to block it. The familiar blue barrier appeared around him, but then the barrier shattered. The heat of the blast slammed into him and his Shield. He dug his feet into the ground to keep from being blown away by the power of the spell.

His HP Bar felt the heat too as it dropped. And it wasn't the small little dips he'd been receiving from Bitch so far. This was almost 20% of his health! 'Even with my strongest magic defense shield! What the hell is that kind of power?!…'

The fire dispersed, and a raging Myne followed right behind. "Ahhhhhh!" Naofumi blocked with the Light Metal Shield, but the sword strike caused damage again!

Naofumi quickly switched to the Chimera Viper Shield again for the higher defense and to activate the counter for Bitch's next strike. However, while that did happen, he tried to use a skill shield to knock her back only to find he was out of SP.

'No! Why am I already out- DAMN IT! I forgot to use a potion to recover all the SP I used before the duel!'

Bitch started to slash again and again. Even with his best Physical defense shield equipped, and despite the poison viper biting her again and again, he was still taking small amounts of damage! This actually caused a small amount of fear to gather in Naofumi. The movements with her sword were also faster than before.

Why the &^%$ was she so much stronger now?!

Was her own hate for him powering her up like he'd wanted to happen to him earlier!?... but then that'd mean-

'DAMN IT WORLD! THAT WASN'T WHAT I MEANT WHEN I SAID TO HAVE THAT TROPE PLAY OUT!' He was supposed to be the recipient of divine assistance! Not Bitch!

Seeing how blocking wasn't working and since she was barely reacting to being poisoned over and over again, he went to dodging Bitch's attacks. But, again, her movement speed compared to before was phenomenal. He didn't even have time to pull out a Soul Healing Water with how ferociously Myne was moving. And he was still having to block some of her strikes despite trying to dodge.

'Wait. What if it isn't Bitch that's moving quickly.' He pulled up his HUD, and, sure enough, he found out he'd been targeted by a debuff spell. 'How the hell did she cast it on me without me noticing!... or maybe it was because of...'

Filo, Eclair, and Melty all looked worried now on the sidelines. "What's happening?" Melty asked Eclair. "I thought Sir Naofumi was doing well earlier, but now he's getting beat up!"

"Princess Melty!"

Eclair and the others looked to the side. A single knight had snuck around the perimeter of the battle and was calling out to them from behind a wagon. It was the same knight the Captain had been whispering orders to earlier. "My Captain told me to inform you that the Commander is having knights interfere with the duel using support and debuff magic! He can't put a stop to it without being accused of treason!"

A fiery explosion rocked the battlefield as Myne unleashed another powerful spell. "He doesn't believe you're being brainwashed! And fears for your safety Second Princess! So please, help the Shield Hero to win-" The Knight quickly retreated into the cover of the buildings thanks to the distraction of the fight before another stray fire spell hit the wagon he'd been hiding behind.

"Fast Aqua Storm." Melty quickly chanted and cast a spell. Putting out the fire her older sister had accidentally caused. "Some of them still trust me..." Melty's face hardened. "Find where those traitorous knights are!" She ordered Eclair.

It took Eclair a few seconds of observing the opposite side of the duel… "There!" Eclair pointed to a group of knights to the side of the main group. They were hidden in an alleyway. "I think they're the ones using Support magic on the First Princess."

They had their hands up in front of them. And their hands either glowed a light green or a light purple.

Naofumi realized it at the same time when, in between one of Bitch's magic spells, he saw the knights that were interfering from the same alleyway. Their hands were glowing just like Bitch's had when she cast that wind spell of hers back at the Sacred Duel. The cowardly bastards! They'd interfered the moment things had looked South for their Princess!

But of course, what else could he have expected from the royal Bitch.

Naofumi blocked another fire spell. He gave a quick indication with his head at the knights, and then immediately went back to blocking another onslaught from Myne.

"I guess that means he's allowing us to interfere too," Eclair said, drawing her sword the littlest bit out of her sheath.

"Yeah, let's take them down," Melty said as prepared to cast magic.

However, before either of them could act, Filo started to chant. Thinking Naofumi had been gesturing to her. "As source of thy power I order thee, decipher the laws of nature, and blow the baddies targeting Daddy away!" She pointed her wings at the group of knights. "Zweite Gust!"

The Knights who'd been so focused on providing support for the First Princess and slowing down Naofumi never saw the gust of wind that came from the opposite end of the field. Not until it slammed into them all at once. "Ahhhhhhh!" They were carried so far down the alleyway that they slammed into the wall at the end of it. They slumped to the ground unconscious.

The Commander looked at the dust kicked up from the alleyway in shock. "They, they just attacked our knights during a duel!" The Commander yelled in indignation.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Eclair yelled seriously. "I didn't see any of us make a move." Indeed, as Myne had shown at the Sacred Duel before, Wind Magic could be very hard to detect with the naked eye.

"Filo... why didn't you tell me you could use Zweite Magic already?" Melty asked.

"Cause Filo doesn't cast it too often." She said happily.

"Who taught you how to cast spells that powerful?" Eclair asked curiously.

"Nobody! Filo learned just from observing Mommy and others doing it!"

Melty and Eclair both stared at the big bird...

Filo thought it was supposed to be normal to learn higher-tiered magic just by observing someone else doing it. The way MP flowed around them at least seemed to indicate that.

'Sir Naofumi definitely has one strange daughter.' Eclair thought to herself.

"SO COOL!" And of course, Melty was all starry-eyed again at the fact that Filo was even more awesome than ever before.

---

Within seconds of the knights being knocked out, the green glow from earlier left Myne. She didn't take notice as she managed to strike Naofumi's shield again with her sword. However, Naofumi noticed how the impact didn't cause any damage this time. He also noticed that his movements weren't sluggish anymore. Whatever spells those knights had been using had been broken the moment they were knocked out.

It must have been different from the Fast Guard spell he used which had a continuous effect. Maybe they'd cast some form of group magic that could be broken the moment they were attacked?

Either way, their interference was gone. And he was much happier because of that. 'Finally!' He jumped away again. Then he jumped in a different direction. Bitch's sword struck against the street. It felt so good to be moving quickly again.

"Stop, dodging!" Bitch jumped for him again, but her movements looked normal again. Naofumi sidestepped, grabbed her by her sword arm, and threw her a dozen feet away from him. She rolled against the ground. While she struggled to get back up, Naofumi pulled out a vial of Soul Healing Water and drank it down. His SP bar refilled on his HUD.

Bitch cast several more Zweite-level fire spells at Naofumi. All of which he blocked. Then she charged in behind her flames again. Going to strike at Naofumi's offside. "Ha!"

She'd repeated that same type of attack several times already. So Naofumi had been prepared.

Instead of striking at his arm, head, or side, Bitch's sword once more slammed into his Chimera Viper Shield. Which he'd switched to his left arm while he'd been covered in flames.

Cue Snake Fang Venom (Medium) activating again.

The viper bit Bitch's arm again before she had time to be surprised.

"Ahhhh!" She jumped back again, gripping her arm. It was only then she seemed to realize how sluggish she was becoming due to all the times she'd been poisoned.

She scowled as she pulled out another potion and drank it down. Again, her poison status disappeared, and her HP and MP gauges were refilled.

"As source of thy power and as the next queen I order thee, decipher the laws of nature, and turn this pathetic little peon in front of me into a burnt fiery crisp!"

While she chanted, Naofumi did the same. "As source of thy power, I order thee, decipher the laws of nature and heal my target! Fast Heal!"

"Drifa Inferno!" A circular vortex of fire roared from Bitch at Naofumi.

"And heal my target!" Naofumi timed a short second chant to finish right as he was tanking the powerful spell. "Fast Heal!" He healed himself once again.

Bitch wasn't the only one who could heal herself repeatedly.

"Aughhhh!" Bitch yelled as she charged at Naofumi again. Her attacks were becoming more random and reckless because of her anger towards him. She was putting in all this effort, and yet he wasn't going down!?

"Just die already!" She slashed at Naofumi's face, and he blocked with his Chimera Viper Shield.

Again, the counter activated, biting Bitch's arm again.

"Hook!" The viper then extended out and wrapped around Bitch before she could jump back and use a potion again. Naofumi started to spin, similar to what he'd done to Motoyasu during the duel. Unlike Lasso, Hook could only extend about six feet away from his Shield. Which meant the revolutions in the air came much more quickly.

"Stop this! Let me go this instant!" Bitch yelled in rage.

"Alright, you asked for it!" With one last spin, Naofumi released the Bitch and sent her flying. She flew so far that she slammed into the wall of a building near her own knights!

The stubborn Bitch, however, quickly got back up. Of course it did no damage. It'd barely disoriented her! "Zweite Fireball! Zweite Fire Arrows! Zweite Hellfire! Zweite Firestorm! Zweite Fire Blast! Zweite…" It was one Zweite Fire spell after the other after that. She didn't stop chanting as she 'fired' at Naofumi. Not even taking time to pause for breath between each spell's chant.

It was kind of impressive how quickly she was managing to get them off. But because of the distance between them, Naofumi was able to easily dodge her attacks. He just walked in a random direction, and the spells hit all around him. He even yawned into his hand to make a show of being bored!

Naofumi finally turned to Bitch after her barrage had stopped. She was breathing heavily after casting so many spells simultaneously. While he was still in good shape from the two healing spells.

"Nice shot, princess! Maybe next time you'll work on your aim!" He taunted.

She glared at him with absolute hatred burning in her eyes.

Part of him wondered why Raphtalia hadn't opened the gates yet.

"You… you're…" She started charging at Naofumi again. "You're a Devillllll!"

Naofumi prepared to receive her charge. The distance gave him a few seconds to prepare. However, right before Myne came within striking distance, she raised one of her hands up as she finished chanting under her breath. "Zweite Gust!"

Wind magic whipped up from under Naofumi, throwing the cloak he wore over his armor up into his face, obscuring his sight. The spell didn't cause damage, but he was blinded!

'&^%$!' He tried desperately to get his cloak out of his face.

"And support our target, that she may achieve a victory against evil. Earth Assist!"

"Ha!"

A brown glow surrounded Bitch, right before she thrust her sword through Naofumi's gut.

"Guh!" Blood spurted out from Naofumi's mouth.

---

"Ugh…" The last knight in the room fell to the ground unconscious.

Raphtalia looked around. Making sure there were no other guards to deal with. Her ears flicked on her head, listening to the sounds around her. 'I think that's the last of them.'

She'd managed to use her invisibility magic to hide while scaling the wall. Because of the MP she'd used earlier, she'd run out of it shortly after she managed to fit herself into a window of the guard tower. Forcing her to have to deal with all the knights inside face to face instead of from the shadows.

They hadn't been expecting a demi-human to sneak her way in though. So she'd been able to defeat all of them with somewhat relative ease.

She moved back down to the bottom level of the Guard Tower. There were two wood doors on opposite ends of the walls leading out to the wall around the Capital. A stone passageway led down into the open portion of wall between the gates. A few knights lay on the ground here and there where they'd been knocked out. And the large wood levers for the gates were connected to the ground near the left wall of the room.

She walked over to the levers that managed the gates. 'Okay, after I start opening the outside gate, Master Naofumi will abandon the duel.' She started going over the plan in her mind to make sure she remembered everything. 'Filo will then summon a large tornado between us and the knights as I open the inside gate. Master Naofumi, Eclair, and Melty will escape on Filo's back. And I'll join them using the passageway between the gates. Then Filo's speed should be enough to outrun the Spear Hero and the other knights long enough to get back to our wagon near the South Gate.'

It was a solid plan. 'Filo should be able to carry all of us to the wagon and have the energy to spare to pull all of us after that. As long as there are no complications, this should be as good as-'

Raphtalia's ears flicked on her head. 'What is that?' She could hear the noise of the duel happening outside down below. But she was starting to hear another noise. A calamity of noises actually. On the other side of the wall.

Raphtalia abandoned the levers and ran back up to the higher level of the Guardtower. She looked out of one of an observation window to look outside. She couldn't tell what she was hearing at first when she looked South, but when she looked North.

Her eyes widened drastically.

Outside on this section of wall, there was a strip of land along the outside. And behind that was a wide moat that surrounded most of the Capital's walls except the southern portion. Providing another layer of defense. A stone bridge about five dozen feet wide and a hundred feet long spanned the moat. And distantly in the north, running along the outer edge of the moat she saw an army of knights on horseback charging towards the bridge. A few of them held up banners. They depicted the rosary of the Three Heroes Church.

They still looked to be a half-mile out. But it looked like they had only minutes before they got to the gate.

And leading them was-

"Onward! We must cut off any chance of escape so we can purge the world of the Shield Demon!" Altara the nun yelled fiercely to the large cohort of what had to be Church Knights behind her.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!" They all cheered in unison like an army going to war.

It looked like there were hundreds of them. Maybe even a thousand. 'Filo and I can't take out that many!' Raphtalia thought frantically. And they were close to cutting off their planned escape route!

She ran to an observation window that looked out over the duel taking place. She looked out to call Eclair about what she'd seen outside, only to stare down in greater horror.

Naofumi did not look good at all.

---

"Augh!" Naofumi gasped in pain and knocked Bitch's sword away with his shield so he could cover his latest injury. A good-sized cut on his arm. His lips were stained with his own blood. Quickly looking down, he found he was bleeding from several different gashes. Including the stab wound to his abdomen.

The Shield's resistance to pain was astounding. Naofumi was still able to stand and fight even after being stabbed in the gut.

However, it still hurt, a lot. And his blood was starting to drip onto the stones.

She continued slashing at him in a blood-fury frenzy. As Naofumi worked on blocking each of her lightning-quick strikes, again and again, he noticed that his HP bar was dropping!

There were times fighting felt like a game. And then there were times like this where it was definitely real!

The counter on his Chimera Viper Shield activated again and again and again as Myne struck at him. Both vipers bit down on her repeatedly, and yet she wasn't stopping. Hell, it was like she barely felt it and pressed on.

"And heal my target-" Naofumi tried to chant, but then Myne angrily slashed up at his face. The attack was so quick that he barely blocked it in time. And then she followed it up with another thrust to his gut which he had to move to block again. She wasn't giving him any time to focus on healing!

"Eclair! Do something!" He yelled back.

"Where are they supporting the First Princess from this time?" Eclair asked.

Melty, from on top of Filo, was looking over the crowd of knights. Trying to find the knights that were interfering with Naofumi's duel now. "They're near the back of the crowd." She finally said as she saw a group of knights huddled together, their hands raised towards the First Princess.

There were several rings of knights surrounding them, however.

"Hmmm. Those bad guys are really trying to protect them this time." Filo said sadly. "Filo won't be able to blow away those bad guys with everyone in the way," Filo said worriedly.

"Don't worry Filo. I'll think of something." Melty said while petting the large Filolial.

"Then how about we interfere with some support magic ourselves." Eclair raised her hands towards Naofumi. "I order thee, decipher the law's nature, and embrace my target in a shielding warmth and protect him from all harm. Guiding Light's Protection."

A light, almost indistinguishable glow surrounded Naofumi. Slightly boosting his defense.

It was barely anything compared to his Fast Guard spell, but the slight increase in defense helped a little bit.

"Hey, stop helping the Shield Demon!" The Commander yelled on the opposite side of the field indignantly.

Eclair dropped her hands and glared at her former commander. "Then stop helping the First Princess!"

"Ha, as if I'd need to do that. The Shield Demon is weak, pathetic, useless!"

Eclair fumed. But then she heard Melty start chanting next to her. "As source of thy power I order thee, decipher the laws of nature, and form a pit for my targets." She lowered her hands towards the ground from on top of Filo. "Earth Hole."

"Aughhhhhh!" In the back of the group of knights, the ones that had been using support magic on Bitch suddenly fell into a pit that appeared beneath them.

Eclair had almost forgotten. The first princess had affinities for Fire and Wind. The Second Princess had affinities for Water and Earth. Her own affinities were for Light and Support.

The brown glow that had entered Bitch came off her like the green glow. And immediately after, her movements slowed, and her attacks lost the oomph they had before.

"Stop brainwashing the Second Princess into helping you!" The Commander yelled angrily at Naofumi.

Naofumi didn't even acknowledge the stuck-up bastard. This time, when the viper bit Bitch again, she screamed as if she was finally feeling the pain of all the poison in her system.

She backed away, gripping at her arms which were bruised and covered in bites.

"And heal my target! Fash Heal!" Naofumi finally finished his healing chant, healing some of the cuts he had received. Since he had time, he also drank a Healing Potion to help with his gut stab wound. He looked back to Eclair and Melty. Melty looked exhausted again from her last spell.

"Keep it up! I want no more interference from those pathetic bastards!" He yelled before he faced Myne. 'Damn it! Why hasn't Raphtalia opened those gates yet!' He didn't know how much longer he could keep the duel up with the knights choosing to interfere again and again! He charged Bitch with his shield up in front of him to slam into her as she was about to drink another vial of the elixir she was drinking.

Filo helped by pointing out the groups of knights that tried to gather to cast more magic. Another group of knights tried to interfere, but Melty sent them falling into another Earth Hole spell to stop them.

Myne, on instinct, dodged to the side and attacked his shield again. Which, again, activated the Counter Snake Venom Fang (Medium) against her. "Aughhhhhhhhhh!" She screamed in pain.

"Air Strike Shield!"

Bitch dodged to the side, barely avoiding the flying shield.

"Shield Prison!" Bitch again barely avoided being encased in the ball of green plates and chains again.

"Ahhh!" Naofumi once more tried to punch her in the face.

Clang!

Only to get the same damn sound he'd gotten before. His attack stat was still too low to damage her.

"Zweite Fire Blast!" Bitch didn't even stumble back. She countered by finishing her chant and throwing both her hands up into Naofumi's gut as she cast one of her stronger Zweite Tier Spells point-blank.

Boom!

Naofumi was blasted back by the force of the explosion. Bitch was also blasted backward into a building and damaged by her own spell.

Naofumi groaned as he got back up. Despite his healing spells and the HP potion he'd taken, his gut still felt sore. The spell exploding on his gut also hadn't helped. He checked his wounds, and though his armor was smoking, cut in places, and stained with his blood, his gut was fine. Except for a scar and some burns.

"Fast Heal." A green glow covered him. The burns faded away, but the scar remained.

There was likely a similar scar on his back where Bitch's sword had exited him.

Bitch stumbled back up out of the building she'd crashed into. Laughing a little too crazily as she pulled out another elixir from her armor. 'Come on! How many of those does she have?!' Naofumi thought irritably.

She drank it down, and, once again, her HP bar, which had dropped to half because of all the Chimera Viper Venom as well as her own spell, refilled to full. Her poison status effect disappeared again. And, you guessed it, her MP was also fully recharged. Which meant-

"This time! I'm going to destroy you!" Bitch yelled crazily. It was time for another Drifa spell. "As source of thy power and as the next Queen I order thee!"

Naofumi started to look through his list of skills. He was running low on MP, so he quickly drank a Magic Healing Water.

He was burning through his potions like crazy. And he didn't want to try and tank another Drifa level spell. He needed something he could defend himself with!

'Come on! What is there to use! What is THERE TO USE?!' His main skills were still on cooldown. And he wasn't a high enough level yet to use Meteor Shield. 'Lasso, no! Dog Bite, no! Hook, no!' None of his available counters weren't meant to be used to block this type of spell.

As he desperately scrolled through his list of options, a skill appeared on his HUD.

"Royal Shield!"

A gold barrier with the crest of a crown appeared five feet in front of him. He grimaced as Myne continued to chant. "Decipher the laws of nature. Burn my target with a ball of fire so great as to leave nothing but ash in its wake! Burn everything in your path, and leave none standing!"

Because of all the previous instances where this skill had basically done nothing against royal monsters or royal knights, Naofumi wasn't too optimistic. He held up his Light Metal Shield. Just in case the skill proved to be useless once again.

Bitch finished her incantation. "Drifa Fireball!"

The biggest ball of fire Naofumi had ever seen came blasting through the air at him. This thing was huge! The fast fireballs were like the size of baseballs. The Zweite fireballs were the size of exercise balls. This thing was the size of half a carriage!

He dug his feet into the ground. Preparing to tank the spell if he had to.

Who was he kidding? This spell was going to fail. He was going to get hurt again. And then he'd have to come up with another way to buy time as his potion supplies ran out and-

And then, the impossible happened.

The spell slammed into the gold-colored barrier, and instead of it shattering like it had every other damn time he'd tried to use it for defense, the crown crest that was in the center of the barrier activated! Glowing an even brighter gold!

That had never happened before.

"What, what sort of devilry is this-" Bitch was saying in confusion. In her mind, his barrier should have shattered instantly after being hit by a spell that powerful.

Suddenly, the fireball disappeared into the crown like a sponge absorbing water. Then, in a blaze of glory, another fireball just as large came out of the barrier towards Bitch.

Bitch, in complete and utter astonishment at what had just happened, didn't even think to dodge as her own spell flew back and slammed into her.

"Ah! AHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed in pure pain.

The spell had been weakened by the barrier. But a half damage Drifa level spell still hurt much more than the average Zweite spell! And it was way more than what anyone could hope from an attackless Naofumi.

'Yes... YES! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!' Naofumi was ecstatic!

He wanted to sing! He wanted to do a victory dance! He wanted to run up to Raphtalia and kiss her on the lips. Because he'd finally done it! He'd finally done major damage against an opponent!

And even better, it was freaking BITCH he'd managed to do it too! It was amazing! It was a miracle! This skill had finally shown its true worth in battle!

And boy was it a game-changer for his mind.

'Why am I thinking about running from this duel early?! I'm not stopping here!' With new confidence and hope surging through his veins, Naofumi rushed towards Bitch. She was still trying to recover from being hit by her own powerful spell.

Pow!

It got even better. His Royal Shield Barrier, which was still up, slammed into Bitch like a battering ram. It didn't damage her since it was still a defense-based skill. But it still sent her flying like a rag doll through the air.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!" She screamed.

The cooldown for another skill was finally done. "Air Strike Shield!"

Bitch slammed into a green Shield with a groan. "Lasso!"

She was bound to the Shield by the rope that appeared from it.

"Fast Fire-" Before she could finish chanting for the spell, Naofumi slammed his Chimera Viper Shield into Bitch's face. Its counter activated once more, biting her forehead. "AHHHHHH!" She screamed in pain.

She was not going to escape this combo this time. "Change Shield!" Almost as if on instinct, Naofumi jumped back and drank his last Soul Healing Water.

It was as if he'd realized what he needed, no, wanted more at this moment than anything else.

His Chimera Viper Shield changed to the Light Metal Shield. And then the Light Metal Shield changed. Becoming translucent, and releasing a blue glow that bathed him in light.

Shield of Hope I Unlocked!

"No way!"

"What's happening!"

"What is this!"

The knights who'd still been trying to follow their Commander's orders to interfere despite the Second Princess's interference went wide-eyed at the new shield. Motoyasu himself went wide-eyed, but it was because he'd seen that same shield himself once before.

Raphtalia finally jumped down from the wall of the Tower. She would have come down immediately, but when she'd run down to the level with the levers, another group of knights had charged into the room that she had to deal with. They'd taken too much of her time defeating them. And she looked out of breath.

"Miss Raphtalia? What's going on with Sir Naofumi!" Eclair asked her in bewilderment.

Raphtalia looked in fear at the duel. Fearing that Bitch had hurt him even more badly than before. But then her face changed from fear to puzzlement. And then from puzzlement to glee. Her tail started to wag erratically. "Master Naofumi... he's..." Raphtalia said, sounding excited to finally see the Shield that hadn't appeared for over a month.

Naofumi wasn't badly injured anymore. In fact, he was just about to win. Because he was now wielding the Shield of Hope I.

Myne struggled against her binds. Because of the Chimera Viper Poison in her face, she started screaming and launching more fire at Naofumi himself. Yet an even greater translucent blue barrier appeared around him, protecting him from the fire attacks. The new Shield of Hope I had a much greater magic defense than the Light Metal Shield. So he took no damage at all from the desperate onslaught.

"FOOLISH MORTAL!" Naofumi screamed the text that came onto his status screen that came with the skill. "YOU STAND CONDEMNED FOR YOUR UNRIGHTEOUS JUDGEMENTS HERE TODAY! I DISPENSE MY JUSTICE ON YOU, AND STRIP YOU OF THAT WHICH PROTECTS YOU MOST! I CAST MY WORDS TO THE HEAVENS!" The skill shield and binds started to glow bright green in response to his words.

"No! NO! STOP THIS! PLEASE!" Bitch suddenly started to beg. Tears, crocodile tears, fell from her wicked eyes as she tried to give the best fearful and remorseful face that she could to Naofumi.

Yet he could see through it. He could see into her soul. It was dark, vile, evil, just like her. It was the same eyes that had stared at her little sister. The same eyes that had looked down on him in the arena. The same eyes that had planned on condemning him the day she'd joined his party. She was always the same. She'd never change her ways.

He didn't even hesitate as he closed his fist. "NOW SUFFER! HOPE! ASUNDERRRRRRR!" Naofumi's scream echoed throughout the Capital.

"NO! NOOOOOOOOO-"

Kch!

And then it happened.

Bitch's armor, the expensive armor she'd been wearing ever since the day she'd joined Naofumi's party, the armor she'd fooled him into buying for her… the armor she'd had special enchantments applied to, the armor she'd spent so much money improving because of how great it looked on her… her royal, expensive armor finally shattered.

It disappeared into a haze of green particles. The nice flirty woman, the kindness she'd shown, everything that had been connected to that day in his mind disappeared. All that was left was the girl who'd been hiding underneath it all along.

The vile, dark-hearted, evil Bitch who cared only about herself.

Motoyasu and the knights stared in shock.

Eclair, Melty, and Filo looked confused. This being the first time any of them had seen the skill in action.

And Raphtalia... she looked like she was going to explode with happiness. 'He did it! Naofumi finally unlocked the Shield from the Duel Arena!'

And boy did it look good on him.

And who was he to think that this would be such a stupid trope?

Myne fell to the ground. She was dressed in clothes she'd worn underneath that armor. But even if she'd been naked, Naofumi saw nothing appealing about her. And now, there was nothing to protect her.

Nothing anymore.

Naofumi had activated the other effect of Hope Asunder to make sure of it. It left him with barely any SP left. But he wouldn't be using any SP for what he was about to do next.

Bitch coughed as she tried to get back up. To continue fighting. To put the Shield Hero in his pathetic little place. "If you think that stupid shield of yours is going to stop me, then-" She was yelling.

Pow!

When, to her complete and utter surprise, as well as everyone else's, Naofumi punched her in the face, shutting her up.

Unlike before, this time, her skin gave way to the force of his meager attack stat. His fist slammed into her teeth. And she fell back down to the ground from the force of the impact.

It had caused her damage. Equal to the amount of Naofumi's extremely low attack stat. It was low… but it appeared even a weak and pathetic shield hero could cause damage if the target's defense stat was low enough.

After all, how do you defend against damage when your own defense is currently a big, fat, ugly, low-rotten 0!

"Stop! Stop it-" Myne tried to get back up again. But Naofumi again calmly punched her in the face, sending her back into the ground. Then he jumped knees first onto her gut, knocking the breath out of her. He grabbed her by the sleeve of her shirt. And started to punch her in the face again, and again, and again. Each punch landed, and each one hurt.

"Augh!-" Myne angrily swiped at Naofumi with her fancy sword, but he grabbed her wrist with the hand formerly holding her up and then headbutted her face. The action caused her head to hit the ground and she dropped her sword. His face was a mask of calm as he continued with his calm, calculated assault on her precious, manipulative face.

Hope Asunder's other effect, which could be used to drop a target's defense by one point for every point of SP he used and deliver the target half the damage, would only last for a few minutes. She had already taken damage from her own spell along with the effects of Hope Asunder. And he wasn't going to stop.

Not now. Not when he had her at his mercy.

And so, for the next couple of minutes, he continued to punch her. He didn't even give Myne time to speak anymore. He just treated her like a punching bag, punching, repetitively, without pause, without a smile. Without a thought.

Bitch went from screaming in anger, to begging for her life, to moaning in pain, and then to plain submission, as the beating continued.

The Knights, the Commander, and Motoyasu watched on in horror. And while Raphtalia, Eclair, Filo, and Melty had been watching with bright eyes at first when Naofumi had unleashed his skill and started the beating, now they were starting to look horrified too. Especially Raphtalia.

'No…' The bright blue that had been surrounding Naofumi because of the Shield of Hope I was beginning to fade away. Being replaced by a darker aura. The Shield was losing its glow. 'Please... not now…' She internally begged. 'Not when he's finally won... Please, don't take him away from me!'

Naofumi finally paused. Bitch's HP bar on his HUD was almost empty. It'd only take a few more punches.

He could do it. He could finally end this pathetic Bitch's life.

The dark aura inside him was intensifying. Calling out for her blood. Calling out for her death.

Naofumi began to raise a fist. A dark smile on his face.

"Master Naofumi!"

Naofumi suddenly snapped back to himself at Raphtalia's voice. 'What the hell?!'

"Please! Don't let her destroy you like this!" Raphtalia cried pleadingly.

He looked at his fists, covered in blood. He then looked down and saw Myne beneath him.

Her face was all beat up. Bruises were appearing on her arms, shoulders, chest, and gut. Her face had taken the majority of the beating.

Somehow, without having meant to, he'd beaten her within an inch of her life. His hatred for the Bitch had shone so strongly through all the Hope that had carried him to her defeat and had made him lose control. The glow that had been surrounding him before was almost entirely gone. His Shield was giving way to something much more sinister.

He took in a deep breath to calm himself. He hated the Bitch. He hated her a lot… But he wasn't going to just kill her.

No, death would be too easy. He'd rather she suffer. Knowing her defeat had come at his hands. And with how bad she looked now, no amount of healing would prevent scarring from happening. She'd be constantly reminded of who had beaten her after today.

He switched from the Shield of Hope I back to the Chimera Viper Shield. The remainder of the blue glow around him disappeared, and his shield's gemstone went back to normal.

He got back up. Wiping Bitch's blood off on his cloak. "Well well, so this is what the Bitch Princess is capable of without her pathetic schemes or loyal henchmen to back her up." He said down to her mockingly.

The Commander finally sputtered back to life. "You, you devil!" He tried to charge past a stunned Motoyasu but was held back by his own Captains. After seeing what they had, they did not want to lose their Commander too.

"What's the matter?! Too afraid to take on the Shield Devil!?" Naofumi yelled at the knights. Almost all of them backed away in fear.

Raphtalia sighed in relief. The dark aura she'd sensed from him before had already faded away.

Seeing that no one else wanted to run forward to interfere, Naofumi looked back down at the pathetic Bitch. "You know, I say if you want something done right, it's better to do it yourself. But I don't think you're capable of that since you can't beat someone with a ZERO ATTACK STAT!" He emphasized at the end.

Myne moved, rolling over onto her hands and knees. Blood fell from her bloody nose onto the ground. She spat out a tooth he had managed to dislodge from her mouth. If she was saying anything in spite, he couldn't tell.

"The funny thing here is that I don't even need to continue this duel anymore because I already won! Your pride has been shattered to pieces, that stupid armor you fooled me into buying for you that day is destroyed, and I've pretty much humiliated you in front of your knights and pole boy over there in every way imaginable!"

Myne was definitely mumbling something under her breath. But he didn't even take note. She looked so pathetic that she might have been cursing his grave for all he cared. She was a joke. To think he'd been afraid of this whore, this trash, this freaking Bitch. "Hell! You were so damn sure of yourself just because you were "royalty" that you never thought anyone could put you in your place… especially the "weak and pathetic shield demon" you tried so hard to put down! But hey, I guess you finally know what it feels like to lose at your own game you pathetic whore!"

Myne was still muttering under her breath. Her words sounded clearer now but weren't loud enough for him to pick them up. He bent down low. "And let me assure you, I'm done with you trying to ruin my life and the lives of those I care about the most… if I ever find out that you are trying to cause more bull crap to me or my friends again...I'll find you. And I won't hesitate to kill you."

Myne's muttering finally stopped. He took that as meaning she had been sufficiently scared. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got important things to do. So if you'd just go back and cry to your trash father or throw some other tantrum when I'm gone; I-"

Before he could stand up, Myne suddenly reached out, gripping the metal of his chest plate. His eyes widened at how quick the action had been. 'What the-'

She looked up at last. Her face was mostly healed. An empty vial of elixir laid on the ground beneath her. He hadn't even noticed her pulling it out. Hell, he should have seen this coming.

He'd destroyed the armor, but she still had cleavage to hide the vials in! And that mumbling sound she'd been making. "Did you really think I'd just let you end it here like this?!" She shouted at him, fury coating her every word.

Before he could even react, Myne jumped back from him, pushing him away in the process. He didn't realize it, but she was putting as much distance in between them as possible. Because the spell she was about to unleash this close would have hurt way more than a point-blank Zweite spell. And, fortunately for her, Naofumi didn't realize until it was too late that what she had been muttering under her breath had been-

What Bitch had mumbled during Naofumi's 'Victory' Speech: "As source of thy power... I order thee... decipher the laws of nature... bring up from the fiery depths... raise up hate unquenchable... a fire ever burning... make the pathetic peon pay... make it so he'll never rise again... exact the toll from his life and more..."

"Go! Drifa Fire Dragon's Roar!"

- AN INCANTATION!

A large blaze of fire burst out from Myne's hands at him. Taking on the shape of a roaring Dragon's head. "Royal-" Naofumi didn't have time. His Hope Asunder skill had drained almost all of his SP. And the strong spell was slamming into him before he could finish saying the name of the skill.

His off-balance, the wrong shield being equipped and to the side, the soreness he felt from the injuries Myne had inflicted on him, all of this combined together for Naofumi to be bit down maximum power by Myne's strongest fire spell.

BOOM!

There was a big explosion. Naofumi was launched across the square so quickly, he didn't even have time to brace himself.

BOOM!

His body slammed into the outer wall. Leaving a smoking indent of himself in the stone. With a groan, he collapsed onto the ground.

His HP bar had dropped to a quarter of his health because of the powerful attack.

"MASTER NAOFUMI!" Raphtalia tried to rush to where he lay to help him. But Eclair stopped her. "Eclair, let me go, Master Naofumi is hurt-" She tried to tell the knight off.

"I know! I see it too!" Eclair yelled over the frantic Raphtalia. "But he's still in the middle of a duel! We can help with magic since the enemy did so! But if we try to step in to interfere ourselves, then it'll be an all-out battle!" Which meant there'd be nothing left to hold the knights and Motoyasu back from attacking them.

"But… but Eclair-" Raphtalia was crying. She looked extremely guilty. She couldn't bear that her kind Naofumi had been about to kill someone, and had thus cried out for him to have mercy. And now, his mercy was going to cost him his life.

Bitch approached the downed Naofumi, who was slowly getting onto his knees. Yet pain, exhaustion, burns, hunger, fatigue, and other factors made him fall back down again. It simply hurt too much to try and get back up. Even thinking hurt by this point.

The sight made her smirk evilly. She'd pulled another elixir from her boot and drank it. While her health bar was filled, there were still some scarring from Naofumi's punches to her face.

She was going to need some specialty medicine to heal those scars. But she was still going to hate him for the rest of her life for the blemish on her 'beauty'.

"It's too bad. It looks like this will be the pitiful end of the Devil of the Shield. Who failed to save his 'friends' from being brought to justice alongside him." She said in her classic bitch tone. Any sign that Naofumi had angered her to the point of murderous intent was gone. Like it had all been an act for him to drop his guard for precisely this moment.

Not that she was really that smart. She was just good at planning and taking advantage of things in the heat of the moment.

Naofumi groaned again, trying again to get back up. But Myne placed a foot roughly onto his back, digging him back into the ground. He weakly punched at her other foot.

Clang.

Her defense was back to normal. Even if she wasn't wearing armor, his pathetic punch did nothing.

He tried to move his Shield so its counter would activate. But his arm barely budged. Not like it would have mattered, since the poison wasn't capable of killing her fast enough to change anything.

"Eclair, please, we have to help him!" Raphtalia begged Eclair. She couldn't stand by and let this pig hurt Naofumi anymore!

"But then-" Eclair turned her head to the side. Her eyes widened. "What's going on out there!"

Raphtalia looked to the side, and her eyes widened at what she'd forgotten to inform Eclair about. The knights she'd seen on horseback before were already dismounting on the bridge. Some were pulling out ladders to set against it so they could climb to the guard tower.

"Hurry up! We will not allow the Shield Demon nor his party to escape!" Altara yelled from on top of her horse. She was still dressed in the robes of a nun. Even the top of her head was still covered with the hood of her robes.

She looked like she should have been completely out of place in such attire. But she held a commanding presence that inspired the knights under her to obey her wishes.

"Miss Raphtalia, why didn't you tell us our escape route was being cut off!" Eclair asked Raphtalia.

Melty was clinging to Filo. Who was also clinging to her. Both of them looked scared. "I, I was going to, but then I saw Master Naofumi's battle. And then-" Raphtalia looked really nervous and scared. Their entire plan to escape was falling apart! It couldn't have been any worse!

Myne got on one knee next to Naofumi and whispered so softly that only he was able to hear. Not even Raphtalia, who had tears coming from her eyes, trying to explain what had happened to Eclair, could hear what she was saying.

"If I'm being honest, I'm glad you survived the assassination attempt in the dungeon… I want you dead, don't get me wrong. It's just, after all the pain you've caused me, Naofumi, I want to be able to return the favor before you die."

It was, in his memory, the first time the Bitch had ever called him by his name. It was like acid dripping off her tongue. It held none of the love and affection he heard whenever Raphtalia said his name and only his name. Without the title of master with it.

He tried to grab weakly at her foot with Shield arm. But then Myne hit the unshielded and unarmored skin with her sword hilt. She must have had another attack boost before that he hadn't noticed, because the force of the hit broke his arm. "Ahhhhhhhhhh!" Naofumi screamed.

Raphtalia immediately turned away from Eclair, looking at Naofumi in horror. "No… Naofumi…" Raphtalia whispered.

Eclair looked from Naofumi to the gate and back again. Now she was unsure if holding back and not involving themselves would matter anymore. Since, at any minute, the Church Knights would open up the gate, and then they'd be surrounded.

"I know. I think I'll start with your companions." Myne whispered while Naofumi moaned in pain. Trying to reach into his armor so he could pull out another Healing Potion to stop the pain.

"Specifically... the demi-human and the fat bird," Myne said as if she was contemplating an evil thought.

...

Naofumi's blood ran cold. He no longer tried to grab a potion. "What... do you mean?"

"They're important to you... so I'm thinking about selling them off to that one noble. What was his name… I know I've met him before ... Idol… ... Idol Rabier?"

...

Naofumi finally looked afraid. 'No… how could she know that facet of Raphtalia's past…'

"Yes, that's the one. The one who pays for the chance to torture demi-humans." She said with a bitch like chuckle, before leaning down closer to Naofumi. "I'll pay him top dollar to come to the Capital just so he can torture them in front of you. And I'll pay him to use more than his personal whip. No, I'll have him use methods that will leave you with nightmares for the rest of your life as you are left with no choice but to watch. Unable to help as those who showed an ounce of care towards you are tortured before your eyes.

"And I won't let him stop. I'll pay him to finish the job he started, and torture that poor demi-human girlfriend and that bird monster of yours until they die, crying out your name like the pathetic scum they are." She whispered the last part spitefully. "And then, when you're broken beyond all repair, I'll finally come down, and remove one of the last obstacles in my way of becoming the next Queen of Melromarc."

Naofumi went stock still.

Myne got back up, laughing into her hand bitchily. Oh, how she liked to stomp on those who got in her way of becoming Queen. And judging by the noises she was hearing from the other side of the gate. The Church reinforcements had finally arrived. "Yes, that's what I think I'll do. Since none of you will be escaping today. Not even my precious little sister and the annoying knight."

Naofumi was still stock still as Bitch laughed.

"Daddy, no," Filo said, anguish in her tone. Even she could tell that Naofumi was badly hurting at that moment.

"Eclair," Raphtalia begged Eclair.

"We can't just stand to the side here and let this happen," Melty said. "Even if we have to fight off all the Knights in the Capital, we have to help!"

Eclair looked at all three of them. She then looked at Motoyasu and the knights who were still standing in their original spots. Some watching what had happened were stupefied, others were on the verge of cheering as they were coming to realize how Myne had come around and was about to win.

"Alright-" Eclair was saying. Their original plan to escape was toast anyway. As minuscule as the chance was, the only way they were going to escape now was if they knocked Bitch out themselves and-

"And now, it's time I won this duel and saved my precious little sister from your clutches, Devil of the Shield!"

Myne raised her sword up high and then brought the sword hilt down to impact with Naofumi's head. One final knock out that would lead to her victory.

"No!"

"Fast Tor-" Filo started to chant.

"Fast Aqua-"

She laughed bitchilly one last time.

---

Hero Clips!

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20 Portraits of Bitch On The Wall

---

"Now I know some of you must be wondering, how was I able to hurt the Shield Demon? Well never fear you worthless peons! Malty is here to tell you it's all because of my fancy new sword!"

The other four heroes sat. Three of them were dumbfounded, wondering why they were watching Myne give a presentation about some random sword she'd used to slice the crap out of Naofumi.

"Do you know what's going on?" Naofumi asked the others.

"Nope." "Beats me." Ren and Itsuki both said.

"Quiet! Myne's trying to tell us about how she used her awesome sword to kick your butt Naofumi!" Motoyasu said excitedly.

"Don't remind me about it," Naofumi said lowly while rubbing the new scar on his gut.

"You see, this sword was made by one of the finest blacksmiths in the world. A man currently living in Q'Ten Lo! It was painstakingly crafted using the perfect mixture of iron and ground dragon bone. And enchanted with the boosts Magic Up (Medium) and Attack Up (Medium). That's how I was able to hurt the devil Naofumi! Not to mention, of course, the ruby in the pommel that matches so wonderfully with my hair!" Myne said, showing off her hair to Motoyasu.

"Ugh…" Naofumi, Ren, and Itsuki fake vomited to the side. Who was this Bitch trying to fool?

"Yeah! You're so hot, Myne!" Motoyasu yelled encouragingly.

"Thank you Sir Motoyasu." Myne bowed gleefully to the naive Spear Hero. Apparently, she was fooling Motoyasu.

"Where did you even get a sword like that?" Ren muttered to himself. He was trying not to eye it too jealously.

"That's the best part, I was able to win this for a cheap price at an auction in Zeltoble!" Myne said cheerily. "I saw it, and I knew it and me were meant to be!"

"Okay... How much was it?" Ren curiously asked. "10 Gold Pieces? 15 Gold Pieces?" He could really use a sword like this in his arsenal of copied swords. Who knows, it might even unlock another awesome dragon skill for him to use.

Myne thought to herself for a moment. "If I remember… I won it for around…" She smiled broadly. "2500 Gold Pieces!"

"... ... ... WHAT?!" Ren, Naofumi, and Itsuki all stood up in shock. "2500 GOLD PIECES!?" That was way more than what any of them had ever had up to this point.

"Yes, not like you hopeless peons could ever hope to afford it. I was only able to buy it using the royal funds!"

"The... royal funds?" All three asked confusedly.

"Yes, the funds that exist to make me and Sir Motoyasu's party as happy as can be!" Myne said happily.

---

Over in Faubley

"SHE DID WHAT?!"

The Shadow stayed respectfully on one knee in front of the shocked Queen. "I daresay, I'm afraid that I recently learned your daughter wasted 2500 Gold pieces on a sword that was only worth around 5 Gold Pieces. Because, as I heard, she wanted to see how much money she could waste in a single day."

The Queen looked enraged. It was one thing for her daughter to be a problem child. It was another for her daughter to be working with the Three Heroes Church to have several of the Cardinal Heroes killed off. But for her to blow that much of the royal treasury on one, damn sword!?"

"BRING ME MORE PORTRAITS OF MY FIRST DAUGHTER!" She yelled to her maids, who were already carrying them in as they'd seen this coming the moment the Shadow had said she had news about the Queen's daughter.

Actually, the maids were so used to it by this point, they'd made up a song up to pass the time. One which all of them started to hum at the same time while the Queen chanted.

"20 portraits of Bitch on the wall, 20 portraits of Bitch."

"-decipher the laws of nature, and turn my targets to ash! Leave nothing to remain!-"

"You take some down, burn them around."

"DRIFA INFERNO!"

One of the maids counted five of the portraits being burned at the same time. When she was sure that was the number being burned by that spell, she indicated the number to the rest.

"15 portraits of Bitch left on the wall."

Just another normal day in paradise.

---

Till Next Time

Allen