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

111. 48: Showdown, Part Two: The Awakening

Just got to say, I'm not normally so easily impressed. But coming up with the nickname "Male-ty" for Kyo is pretty downright genius. Well done Delphox for coming up with that nickname.

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Chapter Forty-Eight: Showdown, Part Two: The Awakening

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Compared to the start of the fight when Kyo was trampling them and making the group look like utter fools, it was now beginning to look like a real battle this time.

It was still stacked in the Book Hero's favor, but at least the Heroes didn't feel like they were on the receiving end of a curbstomp anymore.

"Second Shield!" Naofumi's shield blocked the Book Hero's attack against Aksel and L'Arc, who were charging forward simultaneously with their large melee weapons.

"Huah!" The ax and Scythe slammed into Kyo's barrier together, shattering it. Naofumi quickly followed up with his own shield, protecting them as they quickly retreated and were replaced by Raphtalia and Maya, who tag teamed the Book Hero while his barrier was still down. Three pages blocked their sword and dagger strikes.

"Annoying insects!" He unleashed a fresh torrent of pages from his book at them, only for the attack to be blocked by Naofumi again!

Raphtalia backed off, but Maya quickly dashed in, one of her daggers leaving a small gash in Kyo's side, making the Book Hero grunt. The vassal book's pages tried to surround her, but by then, the raccoon girl was out of reach.

Naofumi's defense wasn't only higher thanks to Motoyasu. His agility and strength were higher too. This was definitely a change of pace compared to before.

"Damn it! Stop getting in my way!" Male Bitch screeched at the Shield Hero when another page tornado failed to move him.

"Ok." Naofumi curtly replied before jumping out of the way as his daughter and Tersia finished chanting.

Yes, since he could now effectively protect everyone and take up Kyo's attention, the mages were able to use their spells now. It definitely wasn't the Book Hero's day.

"Drifa Tornado!"

A whirlwind appeared around the Book Hero to blow him away. But Kyo was quick to recover by simply strapping his feet to the ground with pages. His barrier then reappeared around him, protecting him from the rest of the attack.

Naofumi grimaced. He'd give it to the Bitch. He definitely wasn't a pushover.

"If that's all that this power-up of yours amounts to then this is just pathetic! Composition of Flame!" A demon made of roaring fire appeared in front of Kyo. With a roar, it charged forward.

"Dritte Shield!" The skill was shattered, and Naofumi took the rest of the hit on his shield.

Crap! Those skills were powerful! The boost that Naofumi got from weapon mastery was well-timed indeed. The bitch was hitting him even harder than the spirit tortoise had during their first round against it!

"Arrow Rain!" Itsuki sent another bombardment down on Kyo. But he simply moved pages from around him up above to protect him.

"You know, some people call it the definition of insanity to try the same thing over and over again and expect a different result." Kyo sneered. "But to me it always seemed like the proof of their stupidity more than anything. Let me spell it out for you slowly: Your. Spread. Skills. Are. Too. Weak!"

The Bow Hero grimaced. Even with his increase in stats, his area of effect skills weren't very good at drawing their enemy's attention. Those same pages moved after blocking Itsuki's attack to pummel Glass and Therese, who were thankfully protected by another one of Naofumi's shields.

From his elevated position in the back, Kyo was putting up a pretty solid fight both on the defense and offense fronts. His multiple pages allowed him to attack several different targets at the same time in addition to the skills he could fire off.

But those pages were part of his basic attack. Naofumi could defend against them easily enough, and if they were careful, their friends could also destroy the pages without getting hurt. The fan wielder proved this was possible when she slashed the pages to pieces with her fans.

"Drifa Fireball!" Farrie's spell scorched a page, but didn't burn it away. Kyo smirked at her lack of power.

"Bejeweled Ruby Blaze!" Therese's, on the other hand, burned a small group of pages out of the air. Causing him to scowl.

"Flame Shot!" Taking Kyo's advice to heart, Itsuki's next skill scorched through the pages flying around the rogue Book Hero and impacted against his barrier, cracking it. The bitch scowled deeper as Glass then rushed forward, no pages remaining to obstruct her path. Her fans flashed in her hands.

"Circle Dance Cutting Formation: Instant!"

She suddenly disappeared in front of Kyo. But he recognized the move. He turned around as Glass reappeared to attack him from behind.

"You fool! Did you really think that I would fall for this trick!? I was there when you found the weapon form that unlocked it!" Composition Four: Constriction!" A cage snapped out from the pages of Kyo's book to ensnare her. But for some reason, Glass was drinking something-

She suddenly moved a lot faster, and not only did she avoid Kyos trap, but she managed to shatter his barrier single handedly. "W-What the hell was that?! Your weapon is supposed to be really low leveled here!" The Book Hero angrily demanded.

L'Arc smirked. "She's a spirit person. This world has Soul Healing Water. Do the math, genius."

Realization dawned on the rogue hero, followed by annoyance at being outsmarted. He angrily sent another attack at the redhead. But Naofumi got in the way and blocked it once again.

That shield was so annoying! And there were so many of them too! Just how many other dirty tricks had these idiots kept hidden from him?

"Shining Stones: Thunder Rain!" Therese cast the spell towards L'Arc again.

"Flying Circle! Combo Skill: Thunder Rain Flying Circle!" L'Arc's skill and Therese's spell combined once more before he launched the attack at the Book Hero.

"Again with the long wind up!?" Kyo's pages had already moved into position to block it. However, that left his side open.

"Eagle Piercing Shot!" Itsuki fired his defense ignoring skill. Kyo's barrier came up automatically again to block it.

However, to the Book Hero's shock, the attack passed right through the barrier like it wasn't even there, and embedded itself into his shoulder. "Gah!" He cried out in pain and surprise.

"Haha, good one, Bow Kiddo!" L'Arc commented.

"I was aiming for his face." The Bow Hero frowned. The defense ignoring skill passed through the barrier alright. But it definitely hadn't gotten through it in a straight path. He made a mental note to adjust for it for the next shot.

Still, he was glad he'd saved this skill for now instead of wasting it before on the heart's barrier.

The Book Hero pulled the arrow out. He looked down at it and the small gash on his side with a dark look under his eyes. "I didn't think you had it in you, I guess your group can land glancing blows at least."

He glared at the cockroaches that were surrounding him. But… was it just him or were there less insects than before?

It didn't take him long to connect the dots. "Ha!" Turning to the side, he sent a swarm of pages at Rishia, Wyndia, Eclair, Dou-Lon, and Rino who'd been going along the side of the room. He'd wondered why that tall swordswoman hadn't been attacking him alongside that mangy catman of hers!

"Incoming!" Dou-Lon cried out as the group immediately hopped into action, defending themselves from the paper onslaught. But they hadn't been ready.

Naofumi growled in annoyance. He could have sworn they'd gotten Kyo to focus on them that time. "Shield Prison!" He surrounded his allies in the barrier of shields to protect them from further injury.

"Trying to rescue your heroes, eh? Like I'd let you! Have fun with these guys instead!" Kyo spat out and made a wide motion with his hand.

The Heroes behind him were shocked again. From the walls beside them, large, hulking figures began to step out.

Spirit Tortoise Familiar (Neo-Guardian type)

They were around two and a half meters tall and were dressed from head to toe in armor that looked to be made from the same material as the Spirit Tortoise's shell. Only a single red eye could be seen through the vizors of the new familiar type's helmets. There were about a dozen in total. Six holding a sword and six holding a spear.

It didn't take a genius to figure out why they were holding those particular weapons. "And you didn't start with this sooner because…?" Naofumi asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Oh? Are you mad about me taking away your privilege of being the only ones allowed to pull things out of their %^&? Too bad." Kyo smirked smugly. "I have a bag of tricks of my own. Now enjoy the company of the strongest minions that I have designed!" The Book Hero laughed as the neo guardians charged forward to battle.

"Erst Arrow!" Itsuki's skill slammed through the vizor into the eye of one of the spear wielders. It immediately crashed into the ground with a loud thunk! Dead as a doornail.

The others paused to look down at their dead comrade.

…

Naofumi felt a drop of sweat travel down the back of his head. Was he going crazy again? He could have sworn that he just heard the sound of a record scratch coming from somewhere.

Kyo's left eye twitched again.

Itsuki was smiling smugly as he lowered his bow. "Your strongest minions, huh? I think your bag of tricks might have a hole in it."

"Expanding Composition Form Six: Invigorate!" Kyo threw another vial at the ground in front of the familiars.

The explosion of green fog that resulted not only made them stronger, but the familiar Itsuki had just killed also got back up with the hypothetical boss music resuming its flow.

"Yes. My strongest and near immortal minions." Kyo spat out coldly.

Itsuki paled. That wasn't what he'd expected in retaliation.

"Nice one, Itsuki." Naofumi said in a dry, sarcastic voice.

As the Shield Prison disappeared, the strengthened familiars crashed into Eclair's group. It immediately didn't look good for them.

"&%$#! Everyone, help them out!" Naofumi ordered.

Most of his allies moved to fight the servants that Kyo had summoned. "All Zweite Down!" Itsuki's spell helped to somewhat even things back out. But the guardians were still a pain to deal with, especially as they kept getting back up after dying again and again.

"Damn it! Stop getting in the way!" Rino screeched as her blade interlocked with one of the swordsman familiars. She was overwhelmed though, and sent flying back through the air into Rishia who had barely been defending against a spearman familiar before the rude interruption.

"Four Cross!" Eclair's sword sped in the air in its familiar cross pattern, forcing a spear wielder back from her. But it was quickly replaced by two sword wielders that both swung at her.

"Ha!" Wyndia deflected one of the blades as Eclair's sword flowed into a parry against the other. As the familiars tried to surround them, Dou-Lon grabbed one from behind and threw it into its comrades. He then barely dodged a blow from another.

Fortunately, L'Arc and Glass then blazed in with their own attacks, followed by everyone else to assist the group before they were overwhelmed.

The problem was, they had to be destroyed completely in order to permanently stop them. And even when that happened, the Book Hero simply summoned more at the expense of the trapped Heroes. And then they went through the lingering green fog and got strengthened. And then Itsuki had to debuff the new ones.

Overall, it was just a giant mess that they were forced to deal with on that side while Naofumi's group took on the Book Hero.

Naofumi blocked another attack from Kyo as Ost finished chanting. "Earth Pillar!"

A pillar of rock came down from the ceiling over Kyo. It impacted against the top of his barrier, cracking it, but then pages from his book went up and slashed the rest of the earth attack to bits. Kyo looked down at the oriental looking woman with annoyance. "You know, I was kind of wary of you after seeing you turn my pet's spikes back at it, but you really aren't living up to the hype, whoever the hell you are!"

Ost frowned, but then began to chant once again. "The source of all strength commands you! Read and comprehend all that is under the sun and show your power to me!"

"Gravity Field! Extreme Gravity!" A familiar black ball appeared in Ost's hands, and she launched it at the Book Hero.

As she was given a break from fighting two sword guardians thanks to L'Arc occupying their attention, Wyndia finished chanting her own spell to launch at the Book Hero. She was beyond furious at him for obstructing their path to the Sword Hero yet again, and she poured that fury into shaping the spell she used.

"Emerald Dragon's Fury!" A breath of green flames spewed from the air in front of her, raining down on the Book Hero at the same time as Ost's attack.

Kyo's pages lined themselves up though just like how Naofumi would line up his shields. The two powerful spells from different directions were both blocked, though plenty of pages were destroyed in the process.

"Annoying gnat!" More guardians came from the walls, and Wyndia was forced to fight them once again.

This sucked. This really, really sucked. Since she couldn't land a hit on him, she took her fury out on the neo guardians instead.

"Hmmm…" Ost looked deep in thought.

"What is it?" Naofumi asked.

"I found it strange before. But I think I understand now." She stated plainly, looking at the glowing lines on the floor and walls. "He is using the soul energy in this room to power both himself and the barrier around him."

"It took you that long to realize this?" Ost shuddered in surprise at the voice calling out to her and looked up at its source. "I mean come on, did you think that I just had some weird thing going with glowy alien aesthetics in my interior decorating or something?" Kyo asked mockingly.

"I wouldn't put it past you, after seeing the way you dress." Naofumi pointed out dryly.

"THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH MY OUTFIT!" Kyo screeched while sending a barrage of pages down at the shield hero.

"Naofumi, dear, keep holding his attention for a little while longer." Raphtalia said from behind the Shield Hero. She was holding her sword, her tail raised up behind her in agitation. It looked like she wanted to charge up her special move.

"As if I'll allow you to do that!" Kyo launched another attack as well as directing two new minions to charge them.

Ost rushed forward though, intercepting the two guardians. "I'll handle them, go." She stated calmly.

"Meteor Shield!" The barrier cracked but blocked Kyo's attack. "Got it. Filo, I want you to give Male Bitch there hell!" Naofumi said.

"Ok daddy!" Filo transformed into her little girl form and rushed forward.

Kyo scowled as the beautiful qipao-wearing woman began taking on the sword and spear guardians simultaneously. Worse yet, that other bird brat was charging him now!

"You gave up your stronger form to attack me! How stupid can you be?!" Kyo announced smugly.

"Book idiot is really annoying Filo! Does Book Idiot not know how to fight?" Filo's eyes glinted as green ethereal claws appeared over her hands.

At the nickname, Kyo's eye twitched again and he sent a horde of paper sheets at the little girl.

Naofumi didn't really have to worry though. He instead summoned some of his shields to help protect his other allies who were fighting the Guardians instead.

Filo was harder to hit in her small form. Not only that, she'd really gotten a lot better at fighting in it after Fitoria's training.

Her clawed hands slashed many pages to shreds. She closed the distance between herself and Kyo surprisingly easily, her magical claws slamming into the barrier and cracking it.

"Gah! Get off!" Kyo surrounded the barrier with pages, and Filo was forced back to avoid injury. But then she charged in again, and again, and again. Leaving cracks that Kyo was forced to repair whilst attacking her and summoning more Guardians. The fact that she kept on slashing up pages at random as they flew past her didn't help matters either.

"You're just tiring yourself out! You can't break through this barrier and my supply of attacks is limitless!" Kyo eventually yelled in annoyance as he realized the dumb bird was too stupid to try and attack the same crack to try and shatter the barrier.

"Filo wasn't trying to do that! Filo was only distracting Book Idiot!" With that, the girl quickly jumped back out of the battle.

She'd bought mommy enough time. The tanuki girl's being was now glowing with magic power.

Naofumi smirked with pride at how well his daughter had held the bitch's attention, and Raphtalia finished chanting her spell as she charged forward.

"Drifa Illusion!" Kyo stumbled as Raphtalia's spell washed over him. The rest of the fight was going on as normal in his vision, but there were now six Raphtalia's rushing towards him across what looked like an endless expanse that contracted and lengthened at random.

He scowled. "You think such cheap tricks will work on me?!" He sent a wave of pages forward. All of the Raphtalia's simultaneously dodged though. It was hard to judge how close they were.

"Rgh!" Kyo attacked again and again in repeated succession. Sending waves of pages forward in all directions. He only managed to succeed in making four of the Raphtalias disappear though. The last two encircled him, their swords shining bright with energy as they closed in on his barrier.

However, it was more than obvious to him where she was going to strike. He'd deliberately left one part of his barrier cracked on purpose just to lure her there! Her illusion magic was good, but she couldn't get past his hard earned genius!

"Yin Yang Thrust!" Sure enough, the 'real' Raphtalia stabbed through the cracked part of his barrier.

"You're finished!" Kyo launched a stream of pages at the tanuki girl. Completely confident it was the real one.

Which came as a total surprise when the pages went through the illusion, making it disappear.

"Yes, you are finished." Raphtalia said behind him, where the barrier had been completely fine.

That bitch-!

Raphtalia's sword, which had pierced through the barrier behind Kyo, sent off a burst of shadow and light energy that tore through the Book Hero's back and out his front in a brilliant explosion of energy.

"GAHHHHHHHHH!" Kyo immediately collapsed, holding a hand to the gaping hole in his gut.

"Hell yeah! Take that Male Bitch!" Naofumi cheered. Ha! What a hit! What a glorious move his girlfriend had just pulled off! It was beyond awesome! He could kiss her even though they were in the middle of a battle! It was that amazing!

Raphtalia immediately retreated back to Naofumi, but there was no way the Bitch was going to get up again after that attack. He was as good as-

"...ha...ahaha..! Ahahahahahaha!" However, to everyone's shock and horror, Kyo slowly stood back up again. The hole in his stomach closed with a weird gushing noise, as did the wounds in his shoulder and side.

"I didn't think that any of you would actually manage to seriously hurt me! I must say, I'm impressed!" He continued to cackle while clapping with his double-gloved hands.

No way, was this some kind of sick joke?! There was no way someone could just heal themselves like that so quickly! Not even Yggdrasil's Elixir worked that fast!

Naofumi forced the thought aside and scowled. "I doubt you'd be laughing right now if that attack had hit your head! Don't get so cocky just because you healed from that!"

Raphtalia, though looking tired, prepared to charge up her trump card again.

"Ah, the cockroach is trying to talk smack again? Don't feel bad though, I won't be needing to use that healing ability again for the rest of this battle! There's no way I'd allow you to get this close again!" The barrier reappeared around Kyo. Followed by another one. And another. And another. Until he was layered within at least a dozen barriers.

Naofumi stared agape.

Alright. That was just pure cheating. He shook his head and scowled at the Book Hero. "You that scared of getting hit again, Male Bitch?" Naofumi dryly asked.

"Say whatever you wish!" Kyo pushed his spectacles up his nose with his middle finger. "The only thing that matters is the result! Your pathetic attempts at taunting me won't wor-!"

"Eagle Piercing Shot!" Itsuki's skill went through all the various barriers. Impacting against Kyo's side.

"Gah!" The Book Hero cried out in pain.

"You're right, words are cheap, so how about we get back to beating you up, huh?" Itsuki said with a dark look.

Heh. Naofumi chuckled internally at the Bow Hero's remark.

"Huah!" Rishia, with Aksel and Dou-Lon holding a Spear Guardian in place, sent a life force attack into it that blew it up completely.

"Shooting Star Form!" L'Arc slashed, and a wave of shooting stars came off his weapon and impacted against the two guardians in front of him. Glass followed behind his attack, slashing them both to bits.

"That's it! We're almost through!" Rino yelled. They'd managed to push the familiars back. Only a little more and they'd break.

Wyndia pushed ahead alongside Eclair. This was it. They would reach Ren. They just had to-

"Oh hell no! Not a chance! That's it! I'm done going easy on you guys!" Kyo yelled.

"Would you make up your mind? I thought you said you were taking us seriously earlier-" Naofumi began to respond in annoyance.

However, Kyo reached out to the spinning core in the center of the room, ignoring the Shield Hero's taunt this time.

The room suddenly felt a lot heavier. Naofumi grunted as it became harder to stand.

"Gah!" Eclair suddenly collapsed against the ground. She struggled to move, but could hardly move a muscle.

"Ah!" Wyndia also became similarly trapped besides her. In fact, everyone besides the heroes, Ost, and Rishia fell to the ground, unable to get back up.

"Raphtalia! Filo!" The two girls next to Naofumi couldn't move anymore either. Raphtalia strained but could hardly move at all.

"Daddy, what's happening?! Filo can't move!" The girl cried out in fear.

Kyo was laughing like a maniac now. "I'm going to use my pet's best moves against you now! Consider yourselves lucky to be deserving of it!"

"Meteor Shield!" Naofumi tried summoning the barrier to protect the two girls from the unseen attack.

However, despite its boosted stats from his Blessed Shield and Motoyasu's method, it shattered instantly.

"This is an offensive gravity field! Your barriers won't work here, idiot!" Unfortunately, Kyo and his Guardians weren't affected by the increased gravity. One of them used the blunt end of their spear to knock Dou-Lon back through the air.

"Gah!" The hakuko impacted against the wall and fell harshly to the ground. He tried to force himself up as another Guardian moved towards the downed Eclair and Wyndia. He was only able to get onto one knee though before the increased gravity forced him down again.

Crap. Most of their allies were defenseless. And Naofumi couldn't protect them. He had to run to them, and-

"Tortoise Shell Cracker!" Glass's attack, fortunately, blasted a hole straight through one of the monster's chests. Though it was difficult, she was still up and fighting. The familiar focused its attention on the fan wielder and L'Arc, who were still able to move forward, albeit, a bit more slowly than before.

"Full Moon Army!" The Scythe Hero swung his enlarged scythe, knocking the neo guardian away as Rishia dragged the two girls back from the other Guardians charging forward.

"Erst Arrow! Second Arrow! Dritte Arrow!" Itsuki, forced down on one knee, provided support to the two Otherworld Heroes and Rishia.

"Naofumi!" The Shield Hero turned his head away from the Otherworld Heroes. In the time he'd been distracted by them, it looked like Ost had put up some sort of barrier in the area around her. "Get everyone in here!"

Naofumi nodded and dragged Raphtalia and Filo inside. Immediately, they felt the overwhelming pressure disappear and they were able to stand again, but they couldn't leave the bubble. Rishia, Naofumi, and Itsuki then had to help move the rest of their allies inside while L'Arc and Glass distracted the guardians. Glass downed another Soul Healing Water and continued fighting.

Kyo stayed in his protective series of bubbles. Smirking at them as they struggled.

"Damn him." Wyndia balled her fists angrily as she stood up inside Ost's barrier of protection.

Ren and Motoyasu were shocked again as more Neo Guardians came out. Her fists tightened even more as she saw Ren writhing in pain.

His health bar was hovering around ¼ at this point. He was right there. Yet she couldn't do anything to save him! That smug bastard in the way was like an insurmountable obstacle between them!

"So you do have a counter to this." Kyo spoke out loud thoughtfully after everyone had gathered around Ost. "Though I wonder how long you can keep it up for."

The tortoise lady was visibly straining. A tired out L'Arc retreated within the safety of the barrier, and they were forced to take on the Guardians once again. Glass was sweating from exertion as she was forced to rest beside Naofumi, who blocked the sword of one of the guardians.

"Oh? What's this Fan Hero?" Kyo looked down at the raven haired woman with disdain. "You're taking a break while your new 'friends' are fighting for their lives? Although, why am I even getting surprised at this point? It's what I should expect from a disgraced failure such as yourself."

…

A look of fury covered Glass's face. She made to step forward, but Naofumi stopped her. "Do not. This is something-" Glass began to say furiously.

"I know." Naofumi said. He hadn't done it to stop her. In fact, he did it just so he could hand her a Soul Healing Water from his shield. "This is the highest quality one I have."

Glass stared at Naofumi. The fury was replaced only for a moment as she gave him a nod of respect. "You have my thanks, Hero Naofumi."

She drank it, and a look of fury covered her face once more. "Glassy, wait, let's team up on him!" L'Arc tried to move forward, but Glass, charged up on the high quality spirit water, shot out towards Kyo, swatting the Guardians out of her way with her fans like they were flies.

Naofumi's handmade high quality soul healing water definitely had a greater effect than what she and her allies had made with their weapons. Power flowed off the spirit woman in waves.

"Hoho. That's more like it. Come on then, you yokai bitch. Let's see what you've got." Kyo said snidely. The fact that he wasn't even concerned made Naofumi start to worry.

Glass reached his barriers and began shattering them one after the other. She was still fighting and pushing Neo Guardians out of her way the whole while.

At first. She was making decent headway. Naofumi legitly thought she'd actually shatter every single barrier on her own and reach the Male Bitch.

However, the power increase began to fade. Her attacks became more sluggish in the gravity field. They now began cracking the barriers instead of breaking them.

"See, Casper? That's your problem. The spirit people just aren't built for endurance." Kyo shook his head in disappointment. To think his former ally would be stupid enough to throw away her life like this. Though she'd definitely made more progress than what he'd expected from her.

But she didn't have the energy to break through all of his barriers by herself.

"Air Strike Shield!" Naofumi summoned a shield to block one of the Neo Guardian's attacks targeting Glass. However, the gravity field shattered it right after it appeared, and the spirit woman was hit.

Despite that, she knocked the guardian aside and pressed on towards Kyo. Who watched with the biggest crap eating grin on his face as the Spirit woman struggled in vain to try and get closer to him.

Naofumi scowled. Itsuki was providing back up alongside the mages in trying to pin down some of the guardians. But the spirit woman was close to being overwhelmed. And Ost…

She looked exhausted from keeping the barrier up. If it fell, then their friends wouldn't be able to help again. And then even the heroes would tire out under the increased gravity, just like Glass.

But he didn't have a counter for this kind of gravity attack. His skills shattered almost immediately whenever he summoned them. They needed something to turn the tables again. But what?

The Heroes were still standing thanks to their high stats. But Aura wasn't enough to help bridge the gap for their other allies. Could Itsuki possibly debuff the gravity field with Down?

"Naofumi-kun, come here." Ost strained out.

"Huh?" Naofumi immediately looked down at her kneeling form.

"Please, I have an idea. But it'll require your aid." Ost explained.

Naofumi pulled back from the front line and Filo took his place against the Neo Guardians. When he was next to Ost, she shakily raised her hand and put it on his shield before resting her weight against him. It must have really taken a lot of her energy to keep this barrier going.

"What's the idea?" Naofumi asked, sounding desperate.

The human familiar didn't answer immediately, taking several labored breaths instead. "Ost, whatever it is, we need it now, or else-" The Shield Hero tried asking again.

And then… it was like the sound of battle faded from around them...

...

"Lend me your power." It was Ost's voice. Yet, her mouth hadn't moved. His eyes moved around, but it was like his body was submerged in water. Actually, it was like everything around him had begun to move slower.

"As the Shield Hero, lend us that magic power. Let us move in this gravity field. Let us shatter the barriers."

He nearly recoiled. The voice, it was like it was speaking directly to his soul. Was this Ost channeling the Spirit Tortoise right now? It was different from a human voice, but it was speaking to him.

He didn't have time to question it right now. He had to go along with it.

'How?' He thought.

"Imagine yourself casting the most powerful form of magic you know." Ost answered.

Naofumi imagined himself casting Zweite Aura.

"No, that isn't enough to overcome this."

'But I don't know any spells better than it!'

"It's ok. Think of that spell. Imagine yourself spinning the highest form of magic together with it." She then continued before he could interrupt. "One of your shields has magic assistance properties. Switch to it and concentrate. I can help you from there."

Naofumi looked down at the Shield of Hope II. He had approximately one minute of equip time left for it. It was not the shield he needed right now. He wondered what she meant, and then, another shield came to his mind.

He switched to the Whale Magic Core Shield. It had an effect called magic assistance, but he'd never given it much thought since he wasn't sure how it assisted with magic. He definitely hadn't noticed any differences when casting Aura with it equipped.

But somehow, Ost seemed to know exactly what it did. Did that mean she could see everything about him? All the stats and abilities of his various shields?

"I, the Spirit Tortoise, command the heavens, command the earth, defy all reason, join, and spit up blood. Oh, great strength…" As Ost spoke, it felt like power in the room began to gather around them.

Kyo's eyes narrowed. That woman… what was she doing?

Naofumi thought Ost was using her unique form of magic. Yet for some reason, it felt like the power from it was flowing into him.

"I'm sure one day, you'll be able to cast this on your own. But for now, I want you to remember this feeling." Ost continued to speak.

Naofumi slowly nodded.

Suddenly, a puzzle appeared in his mind. At least, Naofumi assumed that's what it was. It was strange. Many of the pieces were fuzzy and hard to make out. But some of them looked like they could fit together.

Was this what Wyndia meant when she said she used puzzles to structure the spells she cast? That meant different spells could result from the way he structured these pieces. But how was he seeing this now? This wasn't standard magic. Unless…

"The Spirit Tortoise… it, you, gave me its blessing?" Naofumi asked in disbelief.

Only those with a blessing from a dragon, or another being of great power with access to the energy of the earth, could give their blessing to humans to use this branch of magic. The Spirit Tortoise, being a Guardian Beast, had the ability to do that.

Ost nodded, concentrating as hard as he was. She helped to arrange the puzzle in his mind. Indicating where pieces needed to go. But moving them felt like trying to grab butter. Every time he was off by even a little bit, the piece vanished from his mind, only to reappear moments later thanks to Ost. When the piece assembled the wrong way to the spell's structure, Ost reversed the process so he could try again.

Naofumi almost felt like laughing. There was no way any sane person could possibly get this on their first try. Not without the kind of help Naofumi was receiving. This went beyond basic swedish furniture assembly instructions. If he tried to do this during any other battle, he would have died long before he cast it due to the amount of concentration it required. And he never would have gotten it off since it was likely those pieces that were lost or assembled wrong would have been impossible to reverse on his own.

As the pieces came together into a fuzzy picture, Naofumi saw his MP and SP bars begin to fall. Ost was feeding the spell with her own energy too. This was unlike any other spell that Naofumi had tried to cast before. Instead of learning to read a new language, this felt more like math. The pieces were different numbers that'd produce a different result depending on how they came together. It was-

"It's not actually that complicated."

An unfamiliar, gentle male voice began to speak from somewhere. Ost looked only briefly surprised, but then she began to smile.

"Anyone who wields a world weapon can do it. Watch." Someone's hands reached out to hold them over Ost's and Naofumi's, helping to arrange the moving pieces.

"The key to it is balance."

The ghostly hands pulled back as everything clicked into place.

"See? Now, the rest is up to you two. Good luck."

"Thank you, Keichi." The Spirit Tortoise whispered back, and suddenly, Naofumi felt his mouth move on it's own before he knew what was happening..

"I, the Shield Hero, borrow the strength of the Spirit Tortoise to command the heavens, command the earth, defy all reason, join and spit up blood. Oh great strength of the dragons, join the power of the heroes with magic. The source of power that is the Shield Hero commands you! Read and comprehend all that is under the sun, and show your power to me! I command you, give them everything!"

Wyndia stared at the Shield Hero in shock. Was he… using Earth Vein? But more than that, he was-

"All Liberation Aura!"

-using it for a standard magic spell.

The field of effect… was all of Naofumi's allies!

'Liberation… isn't that the spell tier Fitoria uses?' As the spell activated, the Shield Hero's SP and MP bars drastically dropped. He felt faint for a second, but it was nothing compared to Ost, who nearly fell to the ground as she'd supplied the vitality needed for the spell.

"Ost! Are you okay?!" Naofumi asked with concern.

"Yes, I… I can stand." The human familiar managed to straighten up again as energy refilled her being. And the two got to observe the effects of the new powerful spell.

"Ha!" Glass rushed forward with renewed vigor. She broke through the last of Kyo's barriers and began slashing at him with her fans.

The Book Hero looked panicked as he blocked her attacks. "What the hell! You're a dirty cheater hiding a move like that up your sleeve!" He yelled in Naofumi's direction.

He was calling him a cheater?! Bitch please, what the hell did he call the &%$& that he kept on pulling out of his butt before now?! What did he call taking control of a freaking Guardian Beast?!

How was nearly doubling the stats of all his allies considered cheating compared to that?! Because that's what the spell did. Everyone's stats were far, far higher now compared to before. And the duration of the buff was far longer than the Zweite tier.

"Everyone, hurry and attack! You should be able to move freely within the gravity field now!" Ost yelled as she dropped her barrier.

The gravity field had no effect on them any longer. It hardly slowed anyone down, actually.

"Hooooooo yeahhhhhhhhhh!" Dou-Lon cheered as he crashed forward into the line of Neo Guardians with his gauntlets. His fists were moving very quickly, but Naofumi was still able to track him!

Therese fired balls of flame one after the other at the endless supply of regenerating neo guardians, charring them where they stood. Eclair and Rino followed behind with their swords, chopping through their armor like they were made of butter.

"Now this is more like it!" Farrie yelled after she finished chanting. "Drifa Fireball!"

Despite not having a slave crest, the explosion caused by the spell was immense. Finally, the free spirited mage had a taste of the power output Tersia had gotten used to over the last month or so.

"Drifa Earth Shot!" However, it still paled in comparison to the hunks of earth her sister could now summon to crush the familiars.

Wyndia just continued to stare. Somehow, Naofumi had combined Earth Vein with standard magic to produce an even more powerful spell.

But… that was impossible! Mixing them was like mixing oil and water! There was no way it was supposed to work! Yet… he'd done it, somehow. The only question was how?

"Fue! Wyndia! Now's our chance!" Rishia told her.

Wyndia mentally slapped herself. She could think about it later. Right now, they finally had a path to Ren! "Got it!"

The two girls ran into the guardians' mist. Rishia's rapier and Wyndia's katana sliced through them just as easily as Eclair and Rino's blades. They fell like flies before their might.

Finally, they were pressing closer towards Ren! They were going to save the Sword Hero!

Kyo was helpless as he fell back. Glass, alongside L'Arc, Filo, Raphtalia, Rachel, Aksel, and Maya, were breaking his barriers as they appeared. Closing in for the kill.

Naofumi felt odd sitting back watching as everyone fought. But they didn't need his help anymore. The buff spell had drastically turned the tables. The others were finishing off the other Neo Guardians, and Wyndia and Rishia were closing in on the crystal prisons. They'd all but won.

He was also left to wonder. Had the spirit of some past hero actually manifested to assist him and Ost with that spell?

"You've lost Kyo! Please, give up! We don't want to kill you!" L'Arc yelled.

"I haven't lost yet!" Kyo screeched back.

The redhead lowered his head and sighed. "Alright, if that's how it has to be, I won't hold back." He then rushed in, scythe glowing for the kill.

Kyo smirked.

Naofumi instantly had a bad feeling. "L'Arc, watch-"

But Kyo didn't attack. Instead, a barrier like Naofumi's Meteor Shield appeared around him. It shattered under L'Arc's attack, but reformed almost instantaneously.

"No holding back, huh?" Kyo smiled in a strange, wistful way as he watched the fragments of his barrier disappear. "Sure. Why not?" Naofumi felt his skin crawl at the book hero's tone of voice.

"I will show you my true strength as well then. Be grateful! It will be a spectacle that few will ever have the privilege to see! Behold! The supreme, absolute power! Power that is grand enough to defy the will of the gods themselves!"

Naofumi felt anger and disgust flow through him. Seriously, what was wrong with this guy?! Kyo opened his hand and reached towards the Spirit Tortoise's core. Energy from it and the room around them began to gather at his fingertips.

&%$#! Maybe it wasn't an empty boast after all! "Don't let him do whatever he's doing!" Naofumi screamed at the others.

Raphtalia and the others immediately began attacking his barrier over and over again. Wyndia and Rishia were almost through the last of the Neo Guardians.

"No." Kyo commanded and cords of light suddenly sprouted from the ground, wrapping around the two girl's arms.

"Huh-" Before they could say anything else, Wyndia and Rishia were thrown through the air. Impacting against the wall behind Naofumi.

"&%$#!" Naofumi immediately moved to help them. Rishia looked fine as she stood up almost immediately, but Wyndia took longer to stand.

"Are you ok?" Naofumi asked.

"No, we were so close." She whispered. Tears were forcing their way out of her amber eyes.

Again. Even though they were so much stronger now. Again, the bastard had snatched him out of reach. Like a twisted game of fetch.

The others continued attacking the barrier. Destroying it again and again trying to get at Kyo. Wyndia though, collapsed to her knees. Crying into her hands at being unable to do anything to save Ren or hurt the bastard holding him hostage.

"That's right! Cry as you realize how futile it is to stand against me!" Kyo openly laughed at the dog girl's misery and despair.

"Eagle Piercing Shot!" Itsuki used his skill again to try and go straight through the line of barriers. But this time, Kyo simply swatted it away with the book he was holding. "No. No more games. As amusing as it's been to play footsies and exchange banter with you troglodytes, I'm starting to grow tired of it. So let's wrap things up, shall we? Hmhmhmhm." The Book Hero chuckled at the end.

The cords of light around the room began creeping towards the group of heroes. Naofumi held up his shield, getting ready to defend everyone.

But the cords of light passed over everyone's heads.

Everyone attacking Kyo wasn't his target. Then who-

The cords twisted sharply in the air and then suddenly shot out somewhere to the side.

Oh no. "Air Strike-" But it was over before Naofumi could even finish the incantation. Ost let out an audible gasp as she was suddenly bound by the bizarre looking tentacle constructs and pulled away from the rest of the group. Within seconds, she was forced down on her knees next to Kyo inside his barrier and completely bound up.

And immediately after that, the barrier grew thicker. The other fighters had a hard time breaking through it.

"Ost!" Naofumi yelled.

"Ahhh, now this is a pretty prize!" Kyo leered as the light cords held Ost up beside him.

L'Arc's next furious attack broke the barrier, but Ost grimaced as a small cry of pain escaped her.

The others immediately paused in their attacks, staring at her.

"Oh, you finally realized it, didn't you?" Kyo smiled condescendingly. "She was doing well trying to hide it. But every time you broke this barrier, she was getting hurt. Wanna know why?"

Naofumi scowled. With the different color this particular barrier of Kyo's was exhibiting, he had a good guess. "You made that barrier from the Spirit Tortoise's soul, didn't you?"

…

"Oh, so you did know who this bitch was! Well that's embarrassing! I can't believe it took me up till now to figure it out!" Kyo scowled, but then he went back to grinning. "But you're right! Maybe you're not as dumb as you look! Though again, maybe you are, since you were knowingly working alongside the very being that is destiny-bound to destroy your world!"

"I was wondering how she could use gravity magic and all that! But I never thought my pet would manifest in this way to try and oppose me! Not after I cut out its control from itself! Guess some things can still escape the scope of my genius!"

Ost looked at them all. But with her life on the line, there was hesitation in the eyes of everyone there.

"Re-remember what I said before." Ost said calmly, a smile gracing her lips to tell them that everything would be alright.

Right, no hesitation. Fight to defeat this bastard once and for all.

Everyone nodded their heads, and prepared to attack once again.

"Ooh, you'll attack even knowing that you could kill her? How delightfully heartless of you!" Kyo cackled. "But you'll have to find another way to sate your bloodthirsty urges. I have something that I need to harvest from her myself!"

The cords of light holding Ost up began to glow as energy came out of her. At the same time, a translucent blue ball began to appear in Kyo's hand.

Naofumi recognized that color. It was the same color as the sand in the dragon hourglass on their HUDs. "Itsuki!"

"On it!" Itsuki's bow began to glow as he charged up a skill. But it was over before he could even charge it up.

"Isn't it pretty?" Kyo asked as the light cords discarded Ost to the side like a useless rag doll. "It's the rest of the energy that the Spirit Tortoise had gathered! I knew something was off! The numbers weren't matching at all! Ohoho, but now…!"

The ball became transparent before melting into his hands.

The air in the chamber began to vibrate as the rogue Book Hero started to glow. Naofumi felt dread settle in his stomach.

… this was like that moment in anime and manga when the enemy's power skyrocketed at the end of a major battle, wasn't it?

Damn you tropes for sticking your head out now of all times. You just couldn't have made it easy on them?

---

"Ahahaha! Amazing! I'm so much stronger now!" Kyo laughed hysterically. Magic energy was swirling around him like a vortex.

This was bad. This was really, really bad.

"Explosion-" Itsuki tried to release his skill.

"Nope!" Kyo suddenly appeared in front of the Bow Hero. He'd moved so quickly neither of them had been able to track his speed even with Liberation Aura!

Itsuki didn't even have time to cry out as pages from Kyo's book slammed into his chest. The Bow Hero was sent rocketing back into the wall, where he crashed into it with his arms and legs splayed out. Blood burst from his mouth.

"Itsuki!" Rishia screamed.

The Bow Hero sagged against the ground. Almost looking like he was lifeless.

"You, you son of a bitch!" Naofumi screamed. If it wasn't for Itsuki's HP bar not being empty on his HUD, he would have likely unlocked another rank of wrath right there on the spot.

"Wow, my most basic composition form is that powerful! Amazing! I wonder what'd happen if I just whacked people with this thing!" Kyo laughed while holding his book up and marveling at it, not caring that he might have just murdered the Bow Hero.

Naofumi saw red in his vision.

He charged forward to attack Kyo himself. His Shield switched back to the Shield of Hope II.

"Nuh uh uh." Kyo suddenly appeared in front of him, and it was only by pure instinct that Naofumi raised his shield to block in time. Even with that though, he was sent flying back by the power of the attack.

"Naofumi!" Raphtalia screamed this time.

"Urgh!" Naofumi managed to get his feet underneath him just in time. His arms felt like they'd nearly been ripped out of their sockets by that attack though. Even with his strongest shield equipped.

"Oh, still standing? Perfect! You'll make for a nice target to see what I can really do now!" Pages began coming out of Kyo's book at an immense rate. They went all over the room, attacking everyone without mercy.

"Ack!" Aksel went down almost immediately. Followed by L'Arc.

"No!" Therese and Maya immediately moved and blasted away the pages attacking them. Even though they saved the two men, they were left pretty hurt.

In fact, just about everyone in the room was now in shambles besides a few. Wyndia, who was still crying to herself near the back. Farrie, who hadn't been targeted at all. And Rishia, who somehow managed to get through the page barrage unscathed.

It seemed Kyo was still not killing any of them. Probably for his brainwashing experiments or whatever he'd mentioned before. It was only thanks to the hard work of the girls that the guys were still alive.

"Raphtalia, Filo!" Naofumi screamed when he saw both of them on the ground. The two looked in pretty bad shape. He'd summoned skills to try and protect them since that'd been all the time he had, but Kyo had still shredded the skills like wet paper.

"Oh yea baby! Now this is the good &^%$ there! This is how I like my battles! Let the enemy think they have a chance to win before wham! You crush them like a grape and see the looks of despair on their faces! What could possibly be better?!" The Book Hero continued laughing like a maniac.

"We haven't lost yet!" Raphtalia shouted in anger despite looking so banged up. She managed to get up on one knee.

"Oh please. I know you thought you had a chance earlier, but it's inevitable at this point. You have no way to defeat me-" Kyo began to refute.

"N-Naofumi!" To everyone's surprise, Ost was still alive. She sagged herself up against the crystalline structure holding the core.

"I figured it out. The lines in the room are a decoy! The Book Hero is using the core itself to channel soul energy into himself! That's why he was able to create those barriers and heal himself! Destroy it and he'll lose every advantage he has right now!" She said tiredly, but confidently.

"You freaking stubborn bitch!" Kyo immediately sent a swarm of pages at her, knocking her down again.

Naofumi wanted to cry out. But it was useless to do so at that point. Kyo then turned to maniacally grin at everyone. "Bah! Whatever! I'd like to see you try and do that!" He taunted. He pointed a hand at the core, which immediately had a series of barriers form around it.

"Tortoise Shell-" Glass tried to attack right away only for pages from Kyo's book to slap her across the room.

"Nuh uh! I know that's definitely a defense ignoring move! No way I'm having you cheat like that again!" Kyo shouted. "Not that it'd destroy the core anyway. That thing would need a direct hit from a powerful attack to have a chance at being destroyed thanks to all the reinforcement I did on it!"

The others began preparing to attack again despite their various injuries. Naofumi worried if they'd even be able to help with the state they were all in. If he only had a bit of time to heal everyone, then maybe-

"But just to be on the safe side, in case you have even more ludicrous power ups in store or some stupid ridiculous power of friendship bull^%$# planned out..." The Book Hero snapped his fingers, and the heroes behind him began screaming as they were shocked again.

"One more step. And they die." Kyo set his ultimatum in a cold, firm tone.

…

Everyone immediately halted. Their weapons slowly lowered to their sides.

Wyndia became more of a sobbing mess. Ren's health bar was drastically low. They… she, couldn't save him.

Glass glared at him in fury. "You coward! You dare to hide beyond your hostages instead of facing us!"

Crap! Naofumi had to think quickly. Otherwise, his two hero brothers were going to die! He couldn't allow that to happen, no matter what!

"Oh please! As if you actually cared about them!" Kyo laughed. "Don't tell me the thought of killing them hasn't crossed your mind at least once, murderer!"

Glass scowled as she held up her fans threateningly and stepped forward. "I admit I hold no ties to the one with the Spear. But Hero Ren spared my life once before! It would be a disservice if I allowed him to die right now at your hands!"

Kyo growled. "Don't act so high and mighty with me! I'll kill them-"

"And what will you do then exactly?" Naofumi interrupted the rogue book hero. He'd finally thrown together a shoddy, desperate plan, but it was the only thing he could think of. "Didn't you say they were the source of your power?"

"Are you stupid?! I don't need them anymore!" Kyo screamed. "I can do everything I want with the power that I have at my disposal already! And I can just replace them with you two afterwar-""

"Really? And how long will that take, I wonder? Long enough for that scary giant bird outside to get here, maybe?" Naofumi asked, pointing to the wall.

The battle was still going on. Naofumi wasn't even keeping track of how many heads the Guardian Beast had at this point. But Fitoria was still putting up a good fight.

She was sweating. And she had burns on her wings and head. But she was still fighting. And she was still fighting hard.

"I don't know about you. But I think it'd be pretty stupid if you killed the only thing making it so she can't get in here." The Shield Hero said pointedly.

"Ha, you think she'd actually be smart enough to know-" Kyo began to haughtily respond.

"She doesn't have to. My daughter here can tell her right now." He smirked. "Isn't that right, Filo?"

"Mmhmm!" Filo nodded happily.

"What!? Y-You're bluffing!" Kyo yelled. Even with all his power, there was fear in his voice.

"How else do you think we timed our attack on the heart and head at the same time?" Naofumi asked. "Do you really think it just came down to pure luck?"

…

Kyo scowled deeply. Naofumi felt some satisfaction at that. "Regardless, you kill those Heroes, and we'll tell that giant bird out there to come in here." Naofumi stated. "And if you try to kill Filo, that'll just make her come here even faster. Regardless of if she knows you killed the Heroes or not."

"But then she'll leave the people-" Kyo tried to protest.

"You think she cares about the people of this world?" Naofumi laughed. "She's only helping because of us. Because of them." He pointed at Ren and Motoyasu. "You kill them. And she won't give a damn about the people anymore. She'll race right here and rip you apart piece by piece herself."

"She'll probably kill us too afterward. But eh, its whatever. Better we all die so a new batch of Heroes could be summoned than have just me and Itsuki defend waves much harder than the previous ones. She knows about that too, you know. Since she's a Hero like us." Naofumi smirked.

…

…

Kyo began laughing. "Ha, for a moment, you almost got me there, you actually expect me to believe-"

An arrow pierced his shoulder, knocking Kyo off balance.

"Urgh, damn it, I should have drunk more of that potion before taking that shot." Itsuki groaned as blood leaked from his lips. One of his eyes had blood dripping into it from a cut on his forehead. "I was trying to aim for his heart there."

Rishia gasped. Tears appeared in her eyes and she looked beyond relieved.

"Yea, talk about a fumble at the last second." Naofumi dryly pointed out as he moved in front of Itsuki to protect him. "I was trying to buy you time for that attack, you know. Did you really have to waste it like that?"

"It was only because of my aim correction ability that attack even hit him. Sue me." Itsuki sighed tiredly. Oh well. It looked like they'd at least managed to get Kyo's attention off the two trapped heroes as their shock treatments stopped. Both were at 1/10 health now.

"You, you peon!" Kyo screeched. "Even now, you still dare to defy me!"

"Yep." Itsuki coughed. "Until the bitter end. &%$&%$#."

This… went beyond infuriating! Kyo's face turned red as another swarm of pages appeared around him.

"Fine, I'll make sure to kill you this time! Screw turning you into my batteries! I'll show you what happens to cockroaches that step above their station!"

"No!" Everyone tried to move to attack Kyo, but he swatted them all out of the way. Naofumi's and Itsuki's allies landed against the ground, too injured to move anymore.

"Meteor Shield! Shield Prison!" Naofumi summoned the barriers around him to protect himself and Itsuki. However, they were immediately destroyed, and Naofumi was knocked aside, leaving the Bow Hero defenseless.

Rishia stared in horror. Aksel, Maya, Rachel, all her friends were now groaning on the ground. Yet her feet were stuck to the floor in terror.

"Hahahahaha! This time, I'll end you! Enjoy your last moments of life, idiot!" Kyo cackled.

Rishia balled her fists up. Come on, she had to move! Itsuki's life was on the line!

But she was so weak! If she were to fight this monster by herself… she wouldn't be able to do anything! Itsuki would die! She would die!

Itsuki, however, raised his bow in open defiance of his impending death. Just like when they'd fought the Spirit Tortoise. He began to charge up another skill, his eyes bearing only determination even now.

Rishia saw the resolve in the Bow Hero's eyes. And… it resonated with her soul.

…

'I can't do anything to save him… how long am I going to tell myself that? How long am I going to continue living under that lie?'

She'd done plenty of things before now. She'd moved to save Itsuki from his Cursed Series once before when everyone else had been preparing to fight him. She'd fought by his side in the Cal Mira Wave. She'd then worked hard under Granny to master a way of fighting she'd had no idea she was capable of using and bled and cried alongside everyone else to reach this spot.

'I didn't have the strength to fight before, but… Itsuki still trusted me to fight beside him! He helped me to reach this spot! And now…'

Granny wasn't with her to help this time. Her other friends were down for the count. But Itsuki had still trusted her enough to bring her along! Her old master had trusted that she could handle whatever was ahead on her own!

"There's nothing like growing while fighting a hard fought battle with your own strength! I've kept you in the frying pan for long enough! You are much stronger than you realize! Now go into the fire and make this old lady proud!"

Fue! Itsuki needed her help! Everyone here needed her help! She couldn't afford to be a coward right now! They needed her!

The fear disappeared from her eyes. The grip on her blade strengthened.

"Die! Die like the filth you are-" Kyo cackled as he brought his book down on the Bow Hero.

CLANG!

...

"What the f-" Kyo's eyes widened in disbelief as a figure suddenly popped in front of him and blocked his downward swing intended to pulverize the bow hero's skull.

And not only that, but the mysterious interloper had also done so in a way to redirect the blow away and make Kyo stumble, leaving him completely exposed.

"Ha!" Rishia's rapier impacted Kyo's side.

"Gaaaargh!" Kyo lurched away in surprise. The blade hadn't broken his skin, but he coughed up blood in response all the same.

That attack….? It… it had actually damaged him! But how?! With all this power, nobody should have been able to land a hit on him!

"I…" Rishia was standing in front of Kyo now, between him and the Bow Hero. Her face looked towards the ground, casting it in shadow.

Itsuki blinked. Not sure if he was seeing things correctly. The skill he'd been charging up faded away. "R-Rishia?"

...

"I… am so tired, of hearing you speak." She said, her words directed at the Book Hero.

"G-Get out of my way!" Kyo sent a swarm of pages at Rishia. A scream came to Itsuki's lips as he tried to tell the girl to move. That she wouldn't stand a chance against Kyo.

However, her rapier flashed in front of her. The pages Kyo had sent at her were all torn apart in an instant and fell around the green-haired girl like flakes of snow before fading away.

...

"Okay, time out. WHAT THE ^&*% IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!?" Kyo screamed in protest.

Itsuki stared with his mouth agape. Rishia… she was…!

"You, are a coward!" Rishia looked up at last. Her green eyes glared with passion and anger at the rogue Book Hero. Her braided hair behind her flew around her as if wind was coming off her body.

But it wasn't wind. It was life force. An obscene, downright unreal, and terrifying amount of life force that only Itsuki was able to see thanks to his training alongside Granny!

Had this been what the old lady meant when she called Rishia a prodigy with endless potential?! This, this went beyond anything Itsuki had thought someone to be capable of!

"THAT WASN'T A RHETORICAL QUESTION BY THE WAY! I MEAN IT! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Kyo screamed again in confusion.

Rishia didn't respond and instead rushed forward, her rapier shining as it pierced through the air. Kyo tried to attack her again, but she swiftly weaved through the pages. Her weapon slammed into his chest this time.

"Gah!" Kyo stumbled back as more blood burst out from his mouth. He immediately regenerated from that damage, but there was genuine fear in his eyes now.

The girl hadn't said anything. Yet she'd managed to hit him with a defense-piercing attack. Was her weapon enchanted with such an ability?! But that was impossible! He'd thought it was the old lady pulling out those moves, not her!

"W-Who are you?!" Kyo screamed.

"I am Rishia Ivyred! I am the weakest of the Bow Hero's party! And I am the blade that fights on behalf of his justice!" Rishia readied the rapier in her hand. "I will not allow you to lay another finger on him or my friends as long as I'm alive!"

"Y-You think you can take me on?!" Kyo yelled incredulously. "I don't know what bull^&*% trick you're pulling here but it won't save you again! Ha!" Kyo summoned more pages from his book and launched them at her.

"You truly are pathetic." Rishia easily sliced the pages up as they came within reach. They were moving so fast that Itsuki could hardly track them, yet the girl was handling them just fine!

She must have been using life force to enhance both her reflexes and her vision. That was the only explanation Itsuki could come up with.

"Pathetic?! I am a genius! A prodigy! The weak little girl in front of me is the one that's pathetic!" Kyo launched even more pages than before, but the true prodigy in the room was undeterred as she walked forward.

She dodged many of the pages, skewering those she couldn't dodge on the end of her blade. There were no unnecessary movements. No flashy theatrics. She just flowed like water amongst Kyo's attacks and hit him once again.

"Don't you realize that we've all come here prepared to fight for our futures? For our very lives?" Rishia asked as she readied her rapier again. "Ost came here knowing she'd die. But she was willing to sacrifice herself if it meant the rest of us could be happy. Itsuki is here as well to fight for everyone's happiness!"

"He taught me the value of justice and the price it takes to help everyone be happy!" Rishia said determinedly. "I will not allow you to trample on it any longer with your unjust words!"

"Justice? Please, give me a break! Such a meaningless, worthless concept to trick sheep like you into blind obedience to the status quo! The only thing that matters in this world is power! The history is written by the victors who had the most of it! They are the ones who decide what justice is! Do you want justice? I am justice!" Kyo shouted back and threw a slew of skills forward that Rishia easily sidestepped or destroyed.

"No, you are not justice. You are just a pathetic worm, crying out into the void for attention." Rishia spat out. "You will not be the victor! You will be left as nothing more than a footnote in a history book a hundred years from now. An idiot destined to be long forgotten by the world that you tried to destroy. Just like Balamus. Just like Idol Rabier. Just like Altara the nun."

"You dare!? I am the strongest one here!" Kyo screamed.

"And yet you have no idea how to use your power. A power that you stole from Ost." Rishia shook her head. "Power without purpose is worthless! You are truly pathetic!"

Kyo screamed as he rushed forward to attack.

The ground in front of Rishia glowed, and she raised a fist forward.

"Swords of Ice!" Blades of ice erupted from the ground in front of Kyo, each one hitting him with a defense rating attack.

Defense piercing attacks ignored a target's defense. Defense rating attacks damaged an enemy based on their defense. With how high Kyo's defense was now, the moves were extra effective on him.

"Gah!" He coughed up blood even as his wounds regenerated. Rishia was already moving into her next move, however. A familiar series of kicks formed a half-crescent in front of her.

"Full Moon!" The burst of energy encased Kyo, who screamed in pain.

Rishia nodded as she continued forward, calmly pressing on with her attack.

"Urgh." Naofumi groaned as he got back up. His head really hurt for some reason, and he was covered in cuts.

"Naofumi, thank the Gods!" Raphtalia said with relief. Despite their injuries, she and Filo had moved to try and wake him up.

"What happened?" He asked groggily. "Is everyone still alive?"

"Yes, look!" Naofumi did, and he blinked his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

Almost everyone was injured, but they were still breathing. More than that, Rishia was kicking Male Bitch's butt!

"Your attacks are nothing but an empty show of force, only capable to strike fear in people's hearts. But I am not afraid of you anymore." Rishia said calmly as a white blade of energy flew from her hand, instantly shattering the barrier Kyo summoned to protect himself and piercing his side.

"Gah! Shut up!" A vein bulged on the Book Hero's head. "Let's see you dodge this empty show you pigtails bitch! Composition of Flame!" Unlike before, this demon was larger and looked more powerful. With a bellow, it moved to strike at her. "Die!"

With a flash of her blade, Rishia cut the skill in two. Swords of ice then appeared above the two halves, nailing the demon to the floor on both sides of her as she continued past it.

"You might think you're smart. But you always attack the same way. Your eyes tell me exactly what you're going to do!" Rishia kept pressing on, completely unyielding.

Kyo furiously used another skill. But Rishia cut through it as well. Then she followed up with another attack that slashed the air around Kyo. He immediately put up barriers around himself again to protect himself. But all of them shattered.

"I have my hostages! I'll-" Kyo tried to yell. But Rishia closed the distance between them again as her blade impacted against his chest for another defense rating attack.

Itsuki kept staring. Awed at what he was seeing from the green-haired girl.

"When you realize that you can't win, you threaten to harm the weak." Rishia spoke angrily. "If that doesn't prove how weak you are then nothing will."

This new persona… was this what Rishia was truly like under that unconfident shell she portrayed? Was this what she would have been like if she hadn't grown up in fear of those around her?

"I might not be as good as the heroes. My friends might be stronger than me." She glared with determination at Kyo. "But I, I can beat you! No, I WILL BEAT you! I WILL BEAT YOU!" She shouted as she attacked again.

"In your dreams!" Kyo yelled as he summoned more pages to fight for him. However, Rishia continued pressing her attack. Her blade moved to attack him again and again, and Kyo raised his book to block. Sparks flew as the weapons interlocked. The two glared with hatred at each other.

It was like… she'd become the protagonist of her own story…

Naofumi didn't know why. But he could tell the Book Hero wasn't going to bother them anytime soon. So he immediately began healing Raphtalia and Filo. He then moved to the rest of their allies so he could treat all their injuries too.

Two of them, however, were still unharmed. And they were able to make a move.

"Psst. Wyndia."

The dog girl shakily looked up at Farrie. The younger mage girl was giving her a determined look.

"It's time to save Ren."

Wyndia looked from the battle to where Ren was hanging in his prison. "But… what if that bastard stops me again…" She muttered.

"Can't you tell? He thinks we're too pathetic to do anything on our own right now. We're going to prove him wrong." Farrie told her honestly. And really, it was the truth.

A girl who'd had her hopes crushed so many times that she'd been reduced to a crying mess in the middle of a battle. Another girl who could barely scorch Kyo's papers without assistance from the Hero's powerful support spells. Really, why would anyone ever give the two of them much thought while battling an opponent like Rishia?

"But… but…" They could have a chance to save Ren. But… what if it wasn't enough? What if she wasn't enough?

"Wyndia." Farrie rested a hand on her shoulder, recognizing the look of doubt in her eyes. "Whether you think you can or not, I'm using my wind magic to blast you over there."

"I lost the man I cared about before I had the chance to tell him how I felt. I refuse to let you go through that same pain. If you don't have faith in yourself, then know that we have plenty of damn faith in you."

"We all agreed if it came down to it, you should be the one to try and save Ren. Because you're the most stubborn girl of us all. If there's anyone that'll reach through to him, it'd be you. You got it?" It wasn't just Farrie. Eclair, Therese, and Tersia limped over, giving the dog girl firm nods and determined eyes. Rachel, covered in bruises and cuts, limped over as well.

"Rishia's giving her all right now. She's making sure that he won't get in your way again." She stated tiredly, but with purpose. "Don't waste this opportunity she's giving you."

…

…

"Alright." Wyndia nodded. She breathed in and a resolute look appeared on her features. "Do it."

Farrie nodded in return. She began chanting as Wyndia readied herself. Sheathing her katana as Therese handed her the sack of gemstones she carried on her person.

"Treat my friends well." Therese gently told her.

This could go wrong in so many ways. Kyo could notice her and block her attack before she got it off. He could possibly even kill her, or Ren.

But… she had to try! Just like that morning when despite feeling so destroyed, she tried to visit his tent to help him! She had to try now!

Rishia had had her awakening and was valiantly fighting Kyo! If that scared small girl could find the courage to fight right now, why couldn't she too?!

As for Farrie, she really couldn't do much in a battle like this. In fact, she hadn't been able to do much of anything ever since the Spirit Tortoise had awakened thanks to her low stats. She'd been forced to piggyback off of Tersia and the others time and time again so it'd look like she was contributing something meaningful.

But the truth was, she was far weaker than the others. Even with how much she'd trained and studied following Bakta's death, she was still weak. When she'd broken down and began lashing out at everyone, she was forced to acknowledge a single, striking fact.

She'd made a mistake choosing to not have a Hero Service Seal applied to her. If she'd taken it back then, she would have definitely been able to fight alongside everyone else. Maybe… she could have been able to save Bakta's life.

Or maybe not. She was just one person. One person that wasn't very strong compared to her peers.

"Drifa Gust!" Farrie finished.

But perhaps, that'd been to her benefit in the end. After all, Kyo saw her as being too weak to give any attention to her. So maybe, if only this moment could happen… she could finally be of use to her friends. To her Hero.

The strong blast of wind sent Wyndia flying through the air. It hardly damaged the dog girl with her increased stats, but it was enough to propel her quickly towards the Hero's crystal prisons.

"Ren, I'm coming." Wyndia began to chant in a low, quiet voice.

Kyo sent more pages at Rishia, who lithely dodged them as she sent a slash of energy at him. It destroyed the barrier and left a gash on his face from the defense piercing attack.

"Gah, you bitch!" He tried to attack again, only for Rishia to mess him up yet again.

Honestly, Rishia could have freed the Heroes by this point thanks to her abilities. But she wasn't going to.

She knew someone else in the room that needed to do it far more than she did. For now, all she needed to do was hold the Book Hero in check.

Wyndia continued to chant. The hero's crystal prisons came closer and closer. She gripped a sapphire in her hands tightly. Ren's scarf framed the sides of her face.

'Ren, I don't know if I can save you or not. I don't know if a girl like me is the one for you.'

'I'm not the best person in this room. I'm only here now because my friends helped me to get this far… I don't know what'll happen after this is over.'

'But I promise! No matter what! I'll help you! I'm here for you!' She finished chanting, reaching forward with her hand. "Ren!"

"Huh-" Kyo immediately turned at the yell, and his eyes widened in shock. "NO!" He moved his arm to send an attack her way, but Rishia took the opening to slash along his eyes, briefly blinding Kyo. "GAH!" He clutched at his face in agony.

This was it. Wyndia could see Ren's downcast face clearly as the remaining distance between them closed. She could do it! She was the one who had to do it!

"Free them! Sapphire Dragon's Blow!"

Her fist, glowing a bright blue from the gem spell, impacted against the crystal prison.

Kch!

With a loud shattering sound, the crystal encasing both Heroes shattered into many, many pieces.

---

Ren was surrounded by darkness.

He was sitting in the midst of a dark black void. His head held between his knees. Dry tear tracks ran down the sides of his face. His eyes were empty.

He had no idea how long he'd been here. He only knew that his tears had dried up long ago. Now, he only felt empty inside.

This was it.

This was the end.

In the corner of his vision, he saw his health bar drop again.

It looked like that Book Guy was finally killing him off. He could feel it briefly as a massive shock went through his body. But his mind had numbed to the pain. After all, it was nothing compared to the emotional pain he'd been enduring since…

He realized he didn't know how long it'd been since that night. When he'd been told that he'd killed his friends. That he'd killed everyone he'd come to cherish in this gods forsaken world.

"Ren!"

"You're hurting them!"

Sometimes, he imagined he could hear their voices in the darkness. Naofumi. Itsuki. Welt. Bakta. Eclair. Farrie. Tersia. Wyndia…

He'd heard them for so long… but they were only his memories. There to torment him as eternity passed on by at a slow, grueling pace.

They were dead. Every last one of them were dead by his hands.

He couldn't remember everything because of the curse. But he'd been able to picture a few thanks to his time here.

Itsuki, the life leaving his eyes as a look of shock plastered his face from being betrayed by a close friend.

Eclair. Sliced clean in two while trying to fight him off to protect everyone else.

Naofumi. Body burned beyond recognition. Succumbing to his wounds as he tried in vain to stop Ren from harming his friends.

And Wyndia… amber eyes staring pleadingly at him. Tears flowing as a blade of execution came down on her neck.

Amber eyes still looking at him even after her head rolled from her body, the last tears escaping as life left their eyes.

Every single person he cared about. Dead… by his hand.

It was utterly hopeless. Even if he were saved from here by some miracle, he would just fall into his Cursed Series again. He'd go and kill more people. And garner even more power. And…

No. It was better this way. It was better for him to die. Here. Where he couldn't equip that blade. Where he wouldn't have to worry about killing anyone else. Where he'd be able to pay for everyone he'd murdered with his actions and mistakes.

And he was finally being given that mercy. The cage shocked him again, and his HP bar dropped to 1/10.

It wouldn't be long now. He could finally leave this world behind and die. Just like he should have when he tried to protect his best friend.

His only regret... well, he didn't know if there was an afterlife or not… but if there was, he definitely wouldn't see those he loved there. Not a murderer like him.

So his only regret… was that he would never be able to see his friends smiling faces ever again.

…

…

...

"Ren!"

Odd. Maybe it was because he was about to die. But Wyndia's voice sounded crystal clear at that moment.

She'd always looked so amazing. So confident and powerful. He'd been beyond lucky to fight alongside someone like her. To have her forgive him for his previous mistakes. To fight alongside her and so many other amazing people. People he'd never have the chance to see again…

One last time, he allowed himself to picture her. Smiling at him on the shore of that beach in Cal Mira. When she'd praised him for being able to use magic.

He'd known it before. But after that, he resolved to do whatever it took to see that smile again. No matter what.

The pure happiness that'd been in her eyes. The warmth that'd filled his heart. He could never forget that, even this deep in his despair.

Maybe… in another life, in another story, things might have worked out for them. For another him, for another her, perhaps.

But not him. Not now. He would never see, nor deserve that smile of hers or their friends ever again.

He allowed a final tear to escape his eye. Then, he closed them, awaiting for his health bar to hit-

"Ren!" Her voice sounded, as if outside-

"Free them! Sapphire Dragon's Blow!"

Kch!

Ren's eyes opened.

The darkness, and the prison around him shattered like glass.

He was freefalling in a large, white room from the crystal cage that'd held him bound. And there was another figure there. Someone who'd reached out to him and hugged him as they fell.

His eyes widened drastically. 'No… she's… but, she's dead!'

But she wasn't.

Wyndia was there in the flesh, a determined look on her features, even though her armor was all banged up from the series of fights she'd gone through in order to reach him. His scarf was wrapped around her neck, the two ends billowing between them. And her eyes were staring directly into his own.

"I'm here for you! We're all here for you! You hear me Ren?!"

"I'll love you, no matter what, even if you can't love yourself! So don't you dare die on me now!"

---

Author's Notes:

Man, long chapter, and so much has happened, but what a cut-off point.

I'll be seeing you all next week. For now, enjoy another omake.

---

Hero Clips!

---

Somebody, Call the Fashion Police

---

"Alright, I've pointed out just how ridiculous Kyo's outfit looked before in previous chapters." Allen sighed as he sat back, looking at the frozen scene of Kyo getting his butt whooped by Rishia in front of him. "But I think there are some noteworthy things that deserve to be pointed out here. Things that have me going, holy cow, what the hell was this idiot thinking?"

"For one." Allen stood up and walked up next to the frozen Book Hero. "The dude's wearing two collared jackets. The inner one has a straight up collar around his neck. It'd look nice on some people, if not for the other jacket. Which, by the way, has a collar that's puffed up like a Doctor Strange wannabe." The author rolled his eyes.

"Brilliant fashion sense there bastard, I give that strike one. I might as well add strike two and three just for that alone. Don't worry though, I won't stop just because you struck out already. Since you look so ridiculously stupid, I'll keep going, just for you." Allen smirked.

"Next up, we have these dumb belts you're wearing all over your jackets. Like, seriously." Allen slowly pointed out one, then two, than three, hell, he lost count trying to find them all. It was possible he even had a couple hidden under his outfit.

"You see, this one over your left breast at least makes some sense since it's holding some vials up. But these lower ones? Why are they sticking out of the bottom of your jacket? I can see you're using them to hold pouches on your sides with more vials and the like, but you couldn't have just used a regular belt around the waist for the same thing?"

"Actually, now that I'm looking, I can't even tell if you're wearing a belt around your waist or not. So you're literally using something for anything besides its intended purpose. Gosh. And I thought the comments section in reddit could be dumb."

"Oh yeah, I should point this out, just how many vials do you have tucked away in that stupid get up of yours?" Allen asked, poking around at the pouches on Kyo's side, the vials visible on his chest, the vials tucked away under his outer jacket like some sketchy salesman selling pocket watches on a street corner.

"I get you're trying to pull off the alchemist look. Or the scientist look. Really, I can't exactly tell because of how stupid you look. Either way, outside of that one buffing move, I haven't seen you use any of these vials for anything I'd call useful. My guess is it's just your way of overcompensating or whatever." Allen rolled his eyes in exaggeration.

"Must I even point this out?" Looking down, Kyo's double wearing boots still looked as tacky as ever.

If the vials weren't a form of overcompensation, the double boots definitely were. Perhaps it was wrong to say he was the same height as Naofumi. He was very likely a few inches shorter without those large things on.

"And I know this isn't part of your outfit, but your eyes man. Seriously, your eyes are like a dead fish. Stagnant and rotten. You couldn't at least try to make it look like you have a soul in there?"

"I know you do. It might not match your body and be even more pathetic than your current outfit, but I know you have a soul in there dude. Ever think of using it?"

It was a good thing this moment was frozen in time. Though Kyo would come out of this feeling very offended for some weird reason.

"Oh, and last but not least." Allen looked at the weird double gloves Kyo had going on. At least, he assumed they were double gloves. They looked ridiculously large for the Book Hero. "If the overcompensating joke is true, making your hands bigger will only make your small problem down there even worse. Gosh, and you call everyone else stupid, dumb^%$."

"Alright, I'm done making fun of this loser's outfit. Norin, if you have anything else to add, feel free to make some departing comments or whatever. I'm off to bed." Allen saluted the screen, and walked towards the exit.

"Too lazy to finish your own damn omake, huh?" A shadowy figure walked up to the Book hero next and shook his head in exasperation . "I swear, this is so meta that it hurts. Should have went with making fun of Motoyasu again instead. It's always a safe bet."

"Well, he covered pretty much all of Kyo's terrible fashion choice elements I think, but there is one thing that'd been wondering about." The figure reached out and plucked the gilded spectacles from the book hero's face before poking his index finger through the circular openings, revealing that they were empty.

"Yup, I knew it. Even if he did have bad eyesight at some point, he had long since fixed it and is now just wearing empty frames to look smarter. God, what a dweeb." Norin clicked his tongue in annoyance and put Kyo's 'glasses' back on his face.

"Okay, people back on track, we still have two chapters left of this arc, get to it." Norin clapped his hands and walked away from the scene as well.

Soon after, time resumed and things progressed as normal.

However, Kyo felt very angry for some reason. And not just because some trash girl with awesome green braided hair was kicking his loser ^%$.

Good thing he was too stupid to ever figure out the fashion police had given his outfit a solid F for Failure.

Seriously, get a change of outfit before the anime premiere dude. Your double boots will be memed before you know it.

---

Till Next Time

Allen