The chapter title is inspired by a book that coined the term. I guess some people call it Red Wedding due to "Game of Thrones". However, I'm inspired by the older stuff.

For those who didn't know, I originally wrote for the Teen Titans fandom before this. Garfield and Rachel are based on my favorite ship from that fandom. So they're not another manga or anime (though an argument could be made that it's an American anime). They're one of the few western references I'll openly use.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Blood Wedding

"DAD!" Rachel screamed.

The older man tottered where he stood. His mouth hung open, shock clearly written on his face as he stared at the spike protruding out of his chest.

"Hisssssss!"

A blood-chilling sound came from behind him as something pulled its ugly head over the old man's shoulder, revealing a nightmarish visage of a one-eyed bat with a shell on its back. With a screech and a sickening crunch, it spread its wings out and ripped its stinger-like tail out of its prey. The bride's father collapsed lifelessly onto the ground like a rag doll right after.

"Zweite Dark Slash!" Rachel quickly killed the creature with a spell, but her Father laid unmoving in a growing pool of blood. His glassy eyes stared vacantly at the sky, reflecting the horde of winged monsters coming down from above.

"Monsters!" A person shouted while pointing up past the white streamers stretched from building to building.

The sky over the forest and town was completely filled with similar creatures. There were so many that they blotted out the moon. Before anyone could do so much as scream, the monsters descended upon the crowds of defenseless party goers, tearing through the decorations with their claws and teeth. To make matters worse, it was revealed that they possessed ranged attacks as well since a few of them began firing beams of heat from their eyes.

Everything descended into chaos.

"Father! No, Father! Help! Somebody help!" Rachel screamed. However, there was nothing anyone could do to help. The monster's attack had shredded his heart in an instant.

Right now, the priority was to make sure that everyone who was still alive would stay that way.

"Ahhhhh!" One of the villagers screamed as one of the demon bats latched on his arm.

Ren's eyes were wide, the confession of his feelings now far from his mind. He let go of Wyndia's hand and jumped into action, slicing the bat monster off the person a split second before it reached his throat. The person held their wounded arm close with a whimper.

"Everyone who can't fight, find shelter, now! The rest of you, grab what you can and fight!" Ren immediately began to organize the villager's capable fighters while helping those who couldn't fight to hide from the sudden monster invasion.

Silently, still shocked at what was happening, Wyndia continued to stand still. Thankfully, the bats flew past her, attacking others and not her.

'Why… why is this happening… where did all these monsters come from? Why are they attacking the village…?'

After a moment, she finally shook her head and began to chant. She could cuss out fate for dealing them a cruel hand later.

Right now, there were people in need of help.

"Black Fire Explosion!"

An explosion of fire crossed the Shield Hero's vision. But he didn't even twitch or look in the direction of its source.

No, his gaze was focused entirely on Rachel and the still form of her Father. On the sudden death that had just happened right in front of him.

Rachel was openly bawling now. It looked like the Bow Hero and her husband had rushed up to her and were telling her something, but Naofumi barely registered them.

Others around him were screaming in terror and pain as they got wounded or killed by the heat beams that tore through them.

He tried to move his tongue, to summon any sort of skill to protect those around him, but he felt paralyzed. He couldn't even say anything. He was frozen in place.

'No, not now! PLEASE NOT NOW!' Naofumi thought desperately as he tried to suppress the sensation of what was coming.

But he couldn't. His breathing had sped up. His heart began to race. His eyes hyper-focused on Rachel's Father. On his cold, ungazing eyes.

His death was his fault.

Another sound started to fill his ears. That sound…

"Ahahahahaha!"

That taunting laughter.

Darkness surrounded his vision, blotting out everything else. Naofumi's hands moved to clutch the sides of his head. 'No, not now! Get out of my mind! Get out!'

"Why are you talking to yourself, Shield Hero? Shouldn't you be protecting everyone else?" Her voice haughtily asked.

"I SAID GET OUT!" Naofumi screamed. Desperately trying to force the oncoming panic attack down.

"Look at you, trying to force me back inside once again. It's almost cute."

The darkness around him thickened. "Get back Bitch! You won't take anything else from me ever again!"

"Aha! If only I was her, but you already know what's really going on, don't you?" Myne's voice went through his head. 'You know that's not what I really am.'

He grit his teeth together. But he couldn't stop the images flowing past his mind.

It was all of his past failures. The Two-Headed Dog. The Sacred Duel. The fight in the Capital.

But there were more besides that.

"Hey, Shield Kiddo!" L'Arc's annoying voice rang through his mind.

Naofumi's eyes widened in horror. "No…"

"I'm sorry, but for the sake of our world, you must die." L'Arc's voice, sounding more serious than ever, rang through the air as a scythe was leveled towards Naofumi.

A look of horror grew on the Shield Hero's face.

"Please, we want more food, Bubba Shield!" Keel's voice rang alongside a chorus of other kids.

"No, stop, please stop!" Naofumi screamed.

But the cacophony of voices only got louder.

"Filo's hungry, Daddy!" Filo's voice whined from the darkness.

"Hmph! You're so rude!" Melty pouted nearby.

"JUST JOIN ME AND ADMIT YOU'RE WRONG!" Itsuki's curse-warped voice sounded next.

"Are you thinking something rude again?" Raphtalia asked, her voice laced with disappointment.

"URGH!" Naofumi punched the ground beneath him, but an audible Clang! rang back from the action. His anger spiked up with that, but he tried desperately to force it down.

"No, Fitoria told me not to get angry. She told me not to…" Naofumi tried to focus on the giant bird. But…

"Fitoria also asked you to be constantly diligent, Shield Hero… based on my observations through Filo, I'm not very impressed."

His fists became taut. His breathing was heavy. Who did that loli bitch think she was to tell him that? Did she have any idea about the #$%^ he'd had to go through since coming to this world? Did she know what it was like to never be able to raise his attack stat no matter what he tried?! To have to hide his face whenever he went out in public because his reputation couldn't be fixed until that Bitch was captured?!

Hell, did she have any idea how unbelievably hard it was to drop his hatred towards L'Arc, to actually talk down a fight instead of just pulling out his Cursed Shield and murdering the lot of them, and yet she hadn't appeared to CONGRATULATE HIM FOR EVEN DOING-

Naofumi gasped and clutched at the sides of his head harder than ever. "NO! I don't want to be angry! I don't want this!"

"It's not a matter of you wanting this or not, Naofumi." Myne's voice… no, his voice, spoke again. "You know what's happening. You know what pushing down your anger has led you towards."

"You say you want to become a good friend. You say you want to help others. But you let them walk over you like a used rug. You take their words and lock them deep inside you, not willing to address them out of fear of ruining your friendship with them."

"No, I… I…!" Naofumi struggled to speak.

"You have taken Fitoria's advice too literally, Naofumi. By pushing down your annoyance, your anger, your emotions, you have only made it worse. You know how unhealthy it is to not be yourself, right?" His own voice laughed mockingly. "And what's this, you're still trying to push it down? How crude."

The darkness around Naofumi thickened.

"Just know, whatever happens next, it's on you for not releasing your anger when it would have been healthy to do so. Hell, just think, you're talking to yourself right now."

"How crazy is that?"

Meanwhile, in the real world, Itsuki pulled back the string of his bow once again. "Erst Arrow!"

An arrow went into a bat's chest. It let out a dying screech as it fell beside a cowering woman. "Quick, run for the Church!" Itsuki ordered her.

The young woman quickly got up and ran, not even pausing to say thanks. Itsuki didn't focus on that, however, as others around him were being attacked by more monsters. And many more were still flying around in the sky.

A stray heat beam hit his arm, barely leaving a burn. But the same heat beam hit someone else, badly burning their back, causing them to scream in pain.

"Damn it, where's Naofumi?! Why isn't he summoning any shields to protect everyone?!" It was made worse by the fact that no one was in any sort of armor. Not even the Heroes. They were sitting ducks out in the open!

Itsuki yelled in frustration as he released another arrow at the creature that fired the heat beam. He'd thought it was flying towards him. However, he'd misjudged the bat's target as it flew past him and attacked the man its heat beam had hit, biting into his shoulder.

That wasn't typical monster behavior at all. He could have sworn it was heading right for him!

He quickly fired off another arrow, hitting the creature this time. But as he ran up to help, a swarm of bats pounced on the man.

"NO!" Itsuki screamed. Firing arrow after arrow.

However, by the time he finally cleared the swarm away, the man's screams had stopped. He laid on the ground, his body turned into a visceral pile of gore.

Itsuki's fist tightened on his bow. However, screams from elsewhere inevitably drew his attention. And he was forced to focus on the battle once again.

"Crimson Thrust!"

"Crimson Blade!"

Motoyasu and Ren both unleashed fiery skills. Motoyasu managed to kill one monster, getting it's carcass off someone else while Ren's attack sliced several clean in two.

But there were still more.

"Everyone who can't fight, get into the Church!" Motoyasu began twirling his spear over his head. "Rino, Elena, help fortify everyone inside!"

"Got it." "Will do." His two girls ran off to do what he'd asked.

"What, what are they Spear Hero?!"

"Why are we being attacked?!"

"The kids! Someone needs to go and protect the kids!"

"I thought the knights were with them?! Is the whole village under attack?!"

"Get back, I say!"

Some people already laid on the ground. Their lifeless eyes staring into nothing as blood soaked the wood and stone beneath them red. Others were scrambling around in panic, eyes wide with terror, putting pressure on bleeding wounds, hiding under tables, or looking for anything that could be used as a weapon.

"Naofumi! Naofumi!" Raphtalia shook her boyfriend, who was standing motionless in the center of it all.

"Naofumi! NAOFUMI!" Raphtalia kept on shaking the Shield Hero, but nothing was working. A monster soared through the air near them.

"High Quick!" Filo in her Queen form appeared, quickly striking it and several others in a blaze of speed. Her attack left nothing but bloody fragments that fell to the ground around them.

"What's going on?! Why isn't Daddy moving?!" Filo asked worriedly.

"I-I don't know! He's-"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Both went silent as Naofumi began to scream. He fell to his knees, hands clutching at the sides of his head.

"Naofumi, Naofumi!" Raphtalia screamed as well, horror growing inside her at the sight.

"DADDY!" Filo cried loudly, but nothing grabbed the Shield Hero's attention. It was like he couldn't even see them anymore.

She recognized the look in his eyes then. She'd seen it several times before. Once back at the Sacred Duel. Another time when Idol Rabier had freed the terror Rex.

She felt tears of frustration leaking from her eyes. What was triggering it now?! She didn't see anything except the monsters that could have set him off. Did this mean that they had to deal with all the monsters before Naofumi would be free of the nightmare that he was currently trapped in?!

She quickly stood up, pulling her sword out of its sheath. Even if she was in a dress, she hadn't left herself unarmed. "We have to protect him until he comes out of it! Kill every monster that comes this way, Filo!"

"Got it, Mommy!"

The two girls jumped all around Naofumi, slicing at every bat that came within their reach.

Nearby, Aksel yelled as he threw the rope he'd been using for tug of war around one of the monsters. It screeched as its trapped form was sent hurtling to the ground.

He then ran and grabbed one of the violins thrown away by the band earlier, and he swung it with all his might at one of the creatures, throwing it off the person trapped under it. "Hurry, get to the Church!" The tank pushed the hurt man towards safety.

"You okay man?!" Aksel asked Karn as he ducked under another bat.

"Oh, just got tackled by a weird nameless monster. Couldn't be better." The swordsman said sarcastically. "Of all the damn times to not have my sword on hand!"

One of the nearby monsters screeched. On their HUDs, it appeared as - Familiar (bat-type). It freed the original monster that Aksel had tied up with the rope in an uncanny display of intelligence.

But instead of retaliating against the two men, they flew off towards the man that Aksel had just saved.

"What the- why aren't my aggroing efforts working?!" Aksel bellowed loudly as he grabbed a chair and, in an impressive display of speed, caught up to and brought it down on one of the bat monsters with enough force to make the improv weapon explode into splinters.

There was hardly anything left of the freakish creature after that hit.

The other bat familiar was punched away by Bakta. "I have no idea bro. None of my aggroing methods are working on them either. It's like they're purposefully going for those who're weak."

As Ren's tank said that, they noticed Keel leading some of the kids against the familiars. They were attacking with the cutlery knives provided for the feast. Nearby, other kids stood alongside the Witch, hurling spells into the fray. Hell, even Granny was unleashing some cool moves of her own. But the bat familiars didn't pay them any attention. They were instead going after other adults and kids.

Those who, they realized, didn't have the Hero Service Crest, or who had it but weren't very high leveled.

Those that were the weakest.

Aksel's face became grim. "These aren't normal monsters, are they?"

Bakta ripped two wooden planks forming the dance stage beneath him and tossed one of them to his fellow tank. "No kidding. Right now, we should protect those who aren't strong enough to take their attacks."

"Yeah," The two tanks held up their improvised weapons and ran back screaming into the fray.

Karn merely shook his head from side to side. "Do what you want. I'm going to grab my damn sword so I don't get myself killed." He ran off towards Itsuki's house to grab his gear.

Dou-Lon, still dressed in his fancy suit, punched another bat familiar away. He then turned, striking down another with a well-placed kick. The force behind it was enough to crack the tortoiseshell on its back in two.

"OW! OW OW OW OW OW!"

It was still hard though, so the Hakuko started jumping on one leg. Holding his hurt foot in his hands.

"This is why I said you have to be careful with your strikes!" Eclair told him as she thrust the butter knife she was holding through a particularly large bat.

However, the tip of the blade got stuck in its shell in the process. Eclair tried to push the familiar off in vain as others swarmed around the pair to attack those that they were trying to protect.

Dou-Lon, however, grabbed one by the tip of its wing and spun it around, knocking the rest away. He then knelt down and helped Eclair to pull the butter knife out of her latest victim while the villagers around them ran for the safety of the Church. Their path to safety was kept clear by the Spear Hero and the Bow Hero.

"So, how many did you get there Bakako?" Eclair asked with a twinge of sarcasm, trying to ignore the mistake she'd just made.

"Miss Seaetto, I shouldn't have to say this, but I don't think now is a good time for one of our little spats," Dou-Lon replied tensely while holding out the knife that he'd retrieved handle first.

"No, I suppose not." She frowned while taking the butter knife back.

A nearby scream made both of them turn around simultaneously. The demi-human florist along with several other people were hiding behind upturned tables on the ground, arms over their heads, and Welt and Crystal were trying to fight off a particularly large crowd of familiars that was attacking the group.

"Why are they trying so hard to get at the people instead of focusing on us?!" Welt asked fearfully.

"I-I don't know! Just keep hitting them!" Crystal shouted back, desperately trying to fight back the overflowing horde coming down from the sky with nothing but a broken chair leg.

Of all the times to not have her spear on hand!

"Dou-Lon! Throw me up there, now!" Eclair shouted while brandishing her knife.

The Hakuko, to his credit, did not hesitate or question this for even a second. He'd already picked her up while she was in the middle of her sentence, and by the time she finished it, the rose-haired knight was flying forward at an angle right into the center of the horde.

"What the-" Welt looked up at the display in shock.

"Grand Cross!" The butter knife that Eclair was holding glowed with light, and with a quick strike, she buried it into the closest bat's chest.

A large cross of light sprang out from it, slamming into the other familiars. They screeched as they rained down on the ground, stunned by the AOE sword technique. It rapidly depleted Eclair's MP bar, and she also burned her arms from being this close to it, but she fought through the pain and deactivated it just before she hit the ground in the middle of the cowering group of people.

"Huahhh!" Dou-Lon, not wasting any time, transformed into his therianthrope form and picked up a nearby table before smashing it into the stunned familiars over and over again, bashing their skulls in with a brutish display of power until they were reduced to mere smears on the ground and the table fell apart in his claws.

When it was all said and done, Crystal and Welt ran up to the pair, their own improvised weapons in hand. "Wow! You two should argue less often! That was incredible!" Crystal said in awe as she impaled another bat Dou-Lon had missed with her broken chair fragment.

"Yeah, how about we get everyone into the Church. It should be easier to protect them there." Welt stated nervously, though he managed to hit away another stray bat familiar as he said that.

"Of course, that's what we were trying to do anyway. Right, Miss Seaetto?" Dou-Lon asked as he picked up two of the cowering people off the ground, placing them over his shoulders.

"Urgh, don't get cocky Bakako." Eclair picked up the florist.

Dou-Lon smirked. The pair ran off towards the Church together.

Crystal and Welt helped the last two people up and worked on getting over to the Church while fending off the attacks of other bat familiars.

At this point, Itsuki now stood on top of the Church, releasing one skill after another.

"Dritte Arrow! Arrow Squall! Air Strike Spread! Saint Arrow's Rain!"

It was only thanks to his rapid-fire skills that any dent was even being made on the monster horde. It was surprising how many of them there were. It was like they were forced into a wave of destruction without any of the usual forewarning and preparations. The unorthodox attack patterns that these monsters employed didn't make it any easier. He couldn't use his more powerful skills either because they took too long to charge up.

"Damn it, why hasn't Naofumi summoned any of his Shields!" Motoyasu whacked one of the monster familiars away from one of the villagers and impaled it, finishing it off. He checked the person's pulse, and after finding that they were still alive, he began to drag them inside the Church. Rino quickly appeared to help him out so he could fight off another familiar from the doors.

"Quick, get inside!" Ren yelled to several others who were still panicking as his sword slashed another bat familiar in two. His next strike barely missed another as it went under his guard to attack those behind him. It was only thanks to one of Itsuki's arrows that they were kept from suffering anymore hurt.

Raphtalia hadn't moved an inch from her position yet, however. At least, not until she heard crying coming from nearby.

The half-raccoon girl turned her head, seeing two kids surrounded by bat familiars. They were hugging each other under a table, crying out for help.

She instinctively took a step towards them but then stopped immediately, looking back at Naofumi's screaming form on the ground.

If she left him in this state, what would happen to the Shield Hero? No, she… she had to stay close. She had to protect him. She had to-

"AHHHHHHHH!" The kids screamed as the familiars turned the table over and swarmed them.

It was too late to save them.

Raphtalia grit her teeth and turned away, continuing to stand her ground next to the Shield Hero and Filo.

"All Zweite Aqua Shot!" Many balls of water appeared around Melty on the roof. She waved her hand forward, and they all went flying, impacting against one creature after another. Many of them still missed, however, and those that hit the shells of the creatures merely knocked them out of the air instead of killing them outright.

The Second Princess scowled. "How are there so many of these things?"

"I don't…" Itsuki was about to answer when he finally noticed the duo protecting the Shield Hero, whose hands were pressed against his head. "What's happening to Naofumi?!"

Motoyasu, after dragging another person to the safety of the Church, took a closer look at one of the nearby dead familiars. A look of realization finally crossed his face. "There's... There's no way…"

"Air's Torrent!" Wyndia unleashed another Dragon Vein spell, sending a lot of the remaining decoration streamers, and monsters flying away from her area.

"Zweite Tornado!" Rishia unleashed a tornado infused with life force. Despite her weak stats, the tornado had a surprising amount of power behind it, launching several of the monsters into nearby buildings.

But this wasn't enough to kill them. The unknown familiars just pulled themselves back up and continued to fight. But they'd been damaged by the spell and appeared to be dazed and weakened.

"Zweite Air Cutter!" Multiple slashes of air sent by Filo's spell finished them off.

"You two, get to the Church." Ren pointed behind him.

"Got it. Come on Rishia, we're needed elsewhere." Wyndia led the green-haired girl assisting her back towards where everyone else was.

As Ren began to charge up a skill for another part of the swarm, Granny appeared in the midst of the bats. She was swinging a broken chair fragment herself, yet each strike from it brought down one bat after another. One particular strike hit the shell of one of the familiars, but then the chest underneath exploded outwards, killing it instantly.

"Ha! Is that the best these small fry can do?!" The old lady stood up proudly. Behind her were the Apothecarian and several others whom she was protecting all on her own.

"Granny, where's Naofumi?" Ren asked.

"I'm not certain. I believe he was on the stage when the fight started. You should check there." Granny pointed at where the monster swarm was beginning to thin.

Ren nodded and ran off. The thinning monster swarm began to fly towards Granny and the rest.

"Alright, move it people! These old bones don't got all day!" Granny positioned herself to take on the latest threat while those with her continued moving towards safety.

"Urgh!" Aksel swung the wooden plank in his hand like a bat in front of him, protecting Keel and two of his friends who'd been separated by the familiars. "Maya, get them to the Church!"

"Already on it." The Raccoon girl leaped into action, helping one of Keel's injured friends up. She escorted the group to safety while Aksel raged around like a bull.

"Tersia! Farrie!" Bakta yelled, still trying to find the two mages in the midst of all the chaos.

"We're over here!" Tersia yelled.

"Drifa HellFire!" At Farrie's scream, flames enveloped the air in front of her. The familiars flying through it screeched and moved away from the group the two mage girls had been protecting.

"We're gathering everyone at the Church. They're only targeting those that are weak!" Bakta hastily informed the two.

"Yeah, we noticed." Tersia showed how she and her sister were unharmed. But several of those behind her weren't looking too good.

"Focus on getting them to safety, I'll handle any bats that get too close." Bakta held up his slab of wood determinedly.

Farrie felt something rise in her, seeing the tank standing tall to protect them. It was only reinforced when he quickly moved, blocking a heat beam with his body. "Come on, go!" He slammed his plank into the same bat, sending it flying into a table.

"You heard him, let's go while we have the chance!" Tersia said as she helped two people to stand.

Farrie shook her head. Now wasn't the time to be distracted by knights in shining armor. She helped a person to stand as well, and the two mages led the people to the Church under Bakta's vigilant protection.

"Naofumi! Naofumi!" Ren, after slicing through several more familiars, finally located the Shield Hero in the center of the dance stage, being protected by Raphtalia and Filo. He tried to grab his attention but to no avail. "What's going on with him?!"

"He's…" Raphtalia looked unsure for a moment. Naofumi didn't want anyone else to know about this. And she'd thought that he'd gotten over it after his change of mood during the last few days.

But now she understood this hadn't been the case at all. He'd clearly gotten worse and was just hiding it from everyone. "I think he's having a panic attack! He's been having these for a long while, but I've never seen it be this bad before!" She finally admitted.

Ren didn't have much time to be stunned by that revelation. The horde of Familiars above them wasn't thinning out at all even with how many they'd killed. Even Itsuki with all of his AoE skills was having a hard time trying to hold them off. He was running low on SP too, but if he took even a single break, everyone would get swarmed instantly.

"They're gathering on the Church!" Filo cried out.

Indeed, with everyone being gathered inside the Church now, the familiars had begun to focus their attacks on the structure. They weren't spreading out, attacking the whole area like normal monsters. No, they were attacking the doors and windows to get inside. This whole while, they'd been ignoring homes, decorations, and other such things, only trying to attack people.

But they hadn't attacked Ren at all. They were attacking everyone around him. Those who were much weaker, who were...

"Oh no." Ren's eyes widened in realization at what they were facing.

"What do you mean?" Raphtalia asked.

His eyes focused on one of the Familiars up above. This whole while, he'd had a sense of deja vu seeing these monsters. But it was now that he wasn't fighting or busy protecting others that his brain finally made the connection of where he'd seen these monsters before.

"Ren, Raphtalia, we need your help over here!" Motoyasu called from the Church doors. It was hard to make out the Spear Hero with the wall of bats in the way.

The familiars began breaking down the windows and forcing their way inside. It was only because of Eclair, Dou-Lon, Welt, Maya, Wyndia, Rishia, and their other party members waiting to receive them that the familiars weren't overrunning the inside yet. But that could change at any moment.

Ren looked pained. Knowing what they were facing, he almost didn't want to use this skill. If things went from bad to worse, it'd be sorely needed down the road.

But if he didn't use it here, more people would die. More people would get wounded, and that would definitely lead to them dying. The Heroes and their friends would survive, but everyone else...

"Naofumi, please snap out of it!" Raphtalia begged the Shield Hero, who was crying into his hands now. He was still stuck in his waking nightmare.

If only the Shield Hero wasn't going through this! He could have used his shields to cover the windows, to trap the familiars so it'd be easier to kill them! But they couldn't even have that! It was either kill them now or scratch at them until they killed everyone else!

"Okay, screw this!" Ren spat out while roughly grabbing Naofumi's crying form by the scruff of his suit jacket before beginning to drag him away.

"W-what are you doing?!" Raphtalia almost screeched. "Stop! Can't you see he's in pain!?"

"I don't care what pain he's in right now but let me tell you, he will be feeling a hell of a lot more of it if he stays here when I nuke this entire area with Thousand Swords, so stop standing around and gawking like an idiot and help me get him into the church before more people die!" Ren angrily spat out.

"I-" Raphtalia opened her mouth, suddenly at a loss for words.

"Filo will help Sword Guy!" The large bird quickly left her mother's side to pick up her daddy and hastily carry him to the church. She had to fight her way through quite a few bats to do so, but she was able to do it.

Raphtalia watched the forms of her daughter and lover enter the building. She then looked down at the weapon in her hands and then at the massacre surrounding her in a slow, horrifying realization.

"Why are you still standing here!? MOVE!" Ren angrily yelled again.

Raphtalia shuddered, startled from the sword hero's sudden shout and shakily nodded before following after Filo.

"Meteor Slash!" Ren's skill cleared the way just long enough for her to get inside.

Ren scanned the battlefield again to make sure that no one else was left outside besides him and the other two heroes.

'Alright.' He took a deep breath and shouted again. "Itsuki! Motoyasu! Get inside and keep the doors shut! I'm going to use my accessory again!"

Motoyasu was confused, but Itsuki quickly understood and yelled down to the Spear Hero. "Trust me, we don't want to be caught in the line of fire of that!"

Itsuki closed the balcony doors on the roof with a resounding thud. Down below, with Motoyasu jabbing at the bats that tried to fly in after him, Wyndia and Rishia pulled the large main doors closed with a loud boom!

Ren nodded, bent down, and jumped up in an impressive display of strength, landing on the roof of the Church. One more jump and he stood on the peak of its belltower. There, he knelt down into position. He looked over the town. Swarming hordes could be seen all around him.

'I really hope I'm not making a mistake using this now.' Ren closed his eyes tight. And...

"One Thousand Swords!"

Just like when he used it before, time seemed to briefly stop.

The blue swords came crashing down like an angry swarm from the sky above. The monsters, so intent on focusing on their prey, didn't even consider looking up.

The swords flew around the town. Slashing, chopping, stabbing, and grinding the invading horde into mush.

Ren stayed kneeling, focusing all of his attention on making sure that the swords did exactly what he wanted. He couldn't let collateral damage pile up far enough that the buildings would start collapsing, killing whoever was taking cover inside. He had to use all of his mental capacity to make sure that his swords would only strike the monsters outside.

For over a minute, the swords fell down from the sky again and again like a meteor shower without fail. Yet the monster familiars didn't even consider retreat, let alone giving up on their task. Every last one of them kept on attacking the Church and the swarm of blades surrounding it.

And all of them perished for it, like moths charging into the open flames.

Kch!

The accessory attached to Ren's sword shattered into many small pieces.

He gathered the pieces in his hands, sad Naofumi's gift to him was gone but grateful he'd been able to put it to one last good use.

He only hoped it hadn't been a mistake to use it now.

There were still a few - Familiars (bat-type) flying around in the air. But there were less than a dozen of them left if even that. The town was safe... for now.

"Holy…" Motoyasu breathed out.

Itsuki said nothing, pushing the doors open again instead and sniping the last few remaining familiars himself. With that, the town was finally clear.

A deathly silence had set in. A few lingering fires still burned in the square from the use of fire magic but the town itself was unharmed aside from numerous craters littering the roads where Ren's skill had impacted while striking down the monster horde. Doors began to slowly creak open, revealing startled-looking people who chose to hide inside their homes instead of the Church.

"F-Fueh! Is… is it over?" Rishia slowly walked over to Itsuki.

"I think so, yes." The Bow Hero nodded after a pause.

"Let's not take any chances." Ren jumped down next to him from the belltower, looking out of breath. "We better check around the town to be sure."

"You two go! I'll work on healing everyone here!" Motoyasu yelled to the other two Heroes.

The Bow and Sword Heroes nodded as they jumped to the ground. Most of their party members ran to their homes to grab their weapons. Wyndia and the other mages, however, followed behind their heroes as they ran out.

With the familiars finally gone, Raphtalia and Filo moved to hug Naofumi between them. His head was lowered, and his body was trembling horribly. His hands clutched at the carpeted church floor beneath him.

"Naofumi, it's ok, the monsters are gone now, please, calm down…" Raphtalia hugged him close.

"Daddy, please be okay." Filo whimpered, burying her face in his chest.

The sounds of pain still continued around them. Screams of people being 'healed' by Motoyasu. She thought she heard Keel scream too, but couldn't bring herself to leave Naofumi's side. It was like she was being torn in two.

"Stop, Spear Hero, can't you see how much you're hurting them-" Melty started to scream at Motoyasu.

"Damn it, if I don't pour this on their wounds, they're just going to spawn more of those damn creatures Princess Melty!" Motoyasu screamed at her.

"... what?" The Second Princess paled, looking shocked.

"Listen, everyone! I know this will hurt and it'll hurt a lot, but unless you want to die from having these monsters breed inside you, then you better not hide any wounds these monsters gave you!" Motoyasu yelled at the others.

They looked shocked at that, and Motoyasu yelled one last time. "Do you think I'd willingly put you through this much pain if it wasn't to save your lives?!"

"If the Spear Hero says so, then listen to him." The Apothecarian spoke. "A little pain is far better than losing one's life."

Almost reluctantly, those who were hurt trusted the Spear Hero. The incident with the Three Heroes Church remnant had done wonders for his reputation among the smallfolk.

Melty, still shaking, looked out at those who laid unmoving on the ground in the square. "And… and what about them?" She asked. "Do they… can they still…"

Motoyasu nodded his head solemnly. "Yes. We need to cremate the bodies as quickly as possible… it's the only way to honor their memories and keep them from breeding more monsters…"

"What… what kind of horrible monster would do such a thing?" Melty sat on a pew, face twisted in horror. She then put her face in her hands and started to cry.

If Filo hadn't been so busy helping Mommy to help out Daddy, she would have gone to her best friend to hug her.

Actually, mommy was nodding at her to go. Filo raced over to her best friend and hugged the crying girl to her shoulder in an effort to comfort her.

Eventually, everyone who was still alive got treated and the moans and screams of pain stopped. But it was another five minutes before Naofumi finally stopped shaking. When his breathing finally evened out.

"Ra… Raphtalia?..."

He sounded so hurt. So scared. She cried as she hugged him close. He cried too.

Those who were unhurt slowly began to walk out, looking over the area in shock. The decorations, the tables, the entire town square looked like a warzone.

Eventually, Itsuki and Ren came back, followed by their party members.

"Guys, are the townspeople okay?!" Motoyasu asked worriedly. He'd finally finished helping out the last person who'd been wounded by the monsters.

Slowly, the two nodded their heads. "They're all safe," Ren said. "Our knights… had the foresight to direct everyone caught outside to hunker down inside their homes before taking on the familiars themselves so they couldn't get in."

"Oh, thank God…" The Spear Hero hung his head in relief. But then, he noticed the sad looks on their faces. "Wait, if everyone is safe, then why…"

The Spear Hero suddenly realized who wasn't with them.

"Where… where are the knights? Didn't you say they helped to protect everyone?" He asked.

…

Ren and Itsuki hung their heads.

"No… no!" Motoyasu ran off in the direction of the town. "Gelford! Mack! Tommy!"

He shouted the names of those who helped him govern the town while he was in charge. Those who'd helped him protect it against the three heroes church remnants and even rode with him toward their stronghold, but there was no response.

...

A moment later, Motoyasu's heartrending scream split the air.

What he'd discovered was twenty grown men, all without their armor, all wielding various makeshift weapons that they'd had on hand when the familiars launched their surprise ambush.

All of them laid dead around the village in various states of evisceration.

All twenty had given up their lives to protect the civilian populace.

"We were… too late to save them." Ren's fists clenched at his sides.

After a full headcount and numerous search efforts, another dozen bodies were recovered and lined up at the town square alongside the brave knights. Rachel, who'd been forced to focus on the battle, was now crying over her Father's corpse, her husband doing her best to console her.

Anya, Yelena, and the other older kids were crying over the corpses of their two friends who'd been killed. The two children that Raphtalia had failed to even try and rescue.

They'd been celebrating only thirty minutes ago, hadn't they? How… how had all this loss happened so quickly? Where had the spirit of celebration gone to be replaced by grief?

"How… how did this happen?" Naofumi finally asked the two Heroes. "Who was it that attacked us?"

Itsuki and Ren remained quiet, fists clenched at their sides. Both of them felt the urge to blame Naofumi. If he'd summoned his shields to protect the others, no one in the square would have died!

But neither voiced it out loud. Clearly, the Shield Hero had been suffering, but they hadn't paid enough attention to their fellow Hero to see it.

It was as much their fault as it was his. If only they'd taken Motoyasu's advice more seriously...

…

Suddenly, in the middle of the bleak atmosphere, Mirellia's Shadow materialized in front of the Heroes.

"Sir Heroes, Her Majesty requests your aid!" Her breathing sounded fast like she'd gotten there as quickly as possible.

"What? But we just…" Itsuki trailed off, already realizing it. "No, of course, they wouldn't just attack here."

"Where?" Ren asked grimly.

"Mirso Village is being hit. So are some of the towns to the north. Our allies in neighboring countries are reporting attacks as well." The Shadow informed them. "Her Majesty is struggling to bring her forces to bear. I daresay, we need the Hero's aid, now!"

Ren nodded. "We'll get our parties ready immediately."

"Naofumi," Itsuki addressed the older Hero, making him shudder. "I'm sorry, I don't know what's going on with you right now, but you need to put it aside for now and help us. This isn't something we can do on our own."

"Just… please tell me what we're facing?" Naofumi asked. "Is it Bitch?"

"I wish it was her... but this is something far bigger and far worse." Motoyasu slowly walked over to the three of them, having returned from the town with a dead-eyed expression.

"Yeah." Ren nodded slightly before addressing Naofumi. "What we're facing are the familiars of the Spirit Tortoise. One of the four guardian beasts of this world."

Author's Notes:

I have to say, the majority of the guesses I saw for those who attacked were... disappointing. I guess I hyped her up too much before, so I'm going to put my foot down on this to rectify that mistake. My language will be blunt and clear so no one can misinterpret it.

Bitch didn't attack the village. She has nothing to do with the monsters that attacked the village. She has nothing to do with what Naofumi has been going through. Yes, I'll confirm that outright. What Naofumi has been suffering from has been a result of him bottling up his negative emotions (thank you for pointing that out DJman, I'm glad somebody guessed correctly what Naofumi has been experiencing). Bitch wasn't casting any magic or anything like that. She can only cast Wind or Fire magic, nothing else.

In fact, short disclaimer, that THOT isn't appearing for a while. A very, VERY long while. This might come as a shock, but there are actually threats greater than her in the world (like the one now) and she literally threw all her manpower away trying to get at Motoyasu, so she's not going to be acting anytime soon.

Seriously, I do not want to hear anything about her or her cronies for at least the next thirty or so chapters, this includes you Delphox. She's in no position to act right now. Period. DO NOT BRING HER UP.

Now, for those who haven't read the LN or manga, this is the introduction to one of the most powerful monsters I've ever seen in any series. I do not recommend reading the Wiki to gather information on it. I checked, and it is still full of inaccuracies. To be frank, its power is downplayed in the manga since they had to rush through that Arc quickly. If you want the most accurate information, either ask in shield-light-novel on Discord, stay tuned for an omake I'll post in a later chapter, or read Light Novels 6 and 7 (though 7 drags on a good bit). I'd say wait for the anime, but since that has been delayed till April, I'll likely finish writing what Season two will cover before it even begins airing.

Till Next Time

Allen