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The following is a fan-based Fiction.
Rising of the Shield Hero belongs to Aneko Yusagi
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Actions Speak Louder Than Words
A church soldier swung their halberd at Keel but she was too close for its length, the swing was telegraphed, she ducked it with ease, slamming her handaxe into their torso and punched their forehead with her buckler. A rain of arrows flew down to her, Keel kneeled and raised her buckler, blocking the arrows but one hit her leg.
Keel yelped as Sadeena, Ace and Rifana plowed through the row of archers. Melty walked over to her. "Are you alright? Do you need healing?" Keel shook her head and pulled the arrow out, inspecting the projectile, making sure she wouldn't die of poisoning.
"No, I-I'm alright." Keel replied, seeing her wound close up almost immediately. "It's weird how it didn't hurt, it felt like I just got poked by a stick." She commented.
"Right." Melty nodded, remembering a few key details. "I nearly forgot that the Legacy Series also affects us, giving us incredible health regeneration and pain negation it seems." But why does it have those effects in particular?
Keel turned, seeing the groups of soldiers and knights they had to get through before reaching the Mages and Priests charging the Cardinal Replica. "Are we certain Misato is facing the majority of the Holy Guard?" She asked, recalling the plan.
They are surrounded by Fitoria's field magic, cutting off potential enemy reinforcements, the idea was to have Misato alone take on the majority of the Pope's Holy Guard, drawing the leader's attention, meanwhile his party takes on the supporters and the soldiers obstructing their objective, they have to take out at most, half of the supporters or at least one third. However, these guards have been rather inconvenient for the Gun Hero's party for the first few minutes and there are a lot of supporters they have to kill.
She and Melty turned to see Misato in the distance spinning upside down in the air, dual wield firing SMGs into a much larger group of knights and soldiers, shooting his enemies like a rainstorm. He disappeared right before a gold colored explosion appeared where he was. No doubt the explosion was from the Pope's attempt to remove the Gun Hero.
"Nevermind…"
"You're just an insane blasphemer lying to everyone and yourself!" Misato taunted, avoiding a blast of gold light.
Misato raised the Gun-spear, blocking the axe from one of the Church knights before slamming the butt end of the spear with one hand on the knight's head and spun the spearhead back, slashing through the knight's throat. Misato continued spinning his weapon like a Bo-staff, switching it to his other hand, back swinging the spear's shaft into another soldier without looking, and knocked them out. Misato turned to see the third soldier thrusted their sword but he leaped over it, and landed smacking the Gun-Spear into the soldier, cracking his bones, slamming the soldier into the ground.
A soldier swung their sword, Misato deflected it with a lever action shotgun, he kicked their knee, meanwhile another soldier moved to stab with a knife on his flank, Misato fully planted his boot onto the swordsman's chest, kicking them back, and fired his shotgun over his shoulder, killing the flanker with only a glance, all in one move.
A knight tried to punch them with their spiked gauntlet, only for Misato to parry it with his hand, and with two glowing fingers, he pierced the crystal orb on his chest with ease. The knight almost fell back but Misato grabbed them by the shoulders, pulling them upright, he transformed the Legendary Gun to the Viper pistol in a reverse grip, slashing the knife attachment through the chest plate, drawing blood, then stabbed them, jumped and flipped over their body, blasting the Goat Revolver mid air into the knight's back, launching the knight into a group of three.
Misato moved to attack the disoriented group but a sudden gust of wind blew, Misato braced with a Gun-Shield, but the strength of the wind was too much, he stumbled back, and spun, however both of his hands glowed with small green tornados encompassing his forearms. He faced the source of the gust, releasing his own wind magic, extending his arms out, splitting the gust of wind and launching his enemies further back, creating a semi-circle in the middle of the army. Misato's glowing eyes glared at the Pope, the one who blasted him with wind.
The Pope smirked, raising the Cardinal Replica in its spear form, it glowed brightly. "So long, Heretic! May this sacred light purge everything, Broniac! " The Pope announced proudly as he pointed it at Misato, and a beam of white light shot out, much larger than the Spear Vanguard's. Misato backflipped to dodge the beam but it followed him so he raised the Siderite Rifle, willing his weapon to fire Meteor Pierce, intercepting the beam. The star piercing bullet and the white beam of light dispersed, canceling each other out.
"Even if you are a follower of the Shield Demon and maybe are a Star Weapon wielder, I am surprised you can cancel out the Replica's full powered attack" The Pope admitted. "But it's no matter, you are but one man blessed by a heinous being, holy and blessed beings such as myself will always prevail." The Pope's condescending words gave Misato some deja vu.
"And you're a single man who succumbed to their mortal sins and deluded yourself into thinking you're above that." Misato jabbed and the Pope scowled in response. Misato took a breath as the knights charged in a row with spears in front of the Pope. Misato's left arm pointed straight out at them with an open palm and his right arm pulled back, his hand clenched into a fist. Fire sparked from his right hand and he thrusted his forward.
Two pillars of fire twirled around each other before fusing, becoming a large pillar of fire. Incinerating the knights and soldiers, the fire flew right to Balmus. He gasped at the sight, he panicked for a split second before raising his hand.
"Castle Wall!" The Pope casted, creating a thicker looking barrier around himself and the flames crashed into it. But some of the fire went around the barrier, hitting the closest supporters. The mages and Priests scrambled back from the intense flames.
"What is this power?!" The Pope shouted in confusion, the fire felt almost as hot as Broniac! Star Hero, or not, it's impossible for this renegade to truly be this powerful alone! Such flames would require many mages to work together.
The ceremonial spell broke right as the flames dispersed and a lightning bolt suddenly struck the Pope. "This is Power you would never have!" Misato shouted, dashing towards the Pope.
The Pope grunted, swinging the Replica in its sword form, sending a shockwave but Misato fired his gun, launching himself over the wave, with the Siderite Rifle, he fired an armor-piercing bullet, smashing a barrier, and he raised the mini-teleport gun.
Bang!
The Gun Hero appeared right in front of the Pope.
"Power you would fear!" Misato said, smacking the Pope's sword upwards, breaking his guard, he willed the weapon to appear in his other arm as a shotgun and fired it. The Pope coughed from the shot chipping his armor, he stumbled back and turned with Cardinal Replica in its spear form, ready to stab Misato.
Only to find the spear head digging into the ground with Misato stepping on top of the shaft. "Power you would envy!" Misato yelled, throwing a punch, using the butt end of a sniper rifle on his arm to extend his reach into Balmus's forehead, disorienting him from Misato's next attack.
"This is power YOU would NEVER allow a Hero to REACH!" The Gun Hero finished with his two fingers piercing the crystal orb on Balmus's chestplate, shattering the enhancements. Balmus rolled back onto his stomach with a groan before shaking his head and glaring at Misato.
"How dare you accuse me of such a thing-AGH!"
Misato interrupted the Pope with a gunshot on the center of his chest. "NO how dare you!" Misato interrupted. "You manipulated the King to summon the Cardinal Heroes and endanger his family. And for what? To gain more support with the masses to take control of Melromarc? Even if you succeeded you would have been facing EVERY NATION across the world!"
"God guaranteed victory for the blessed!" The Pope replied, his deluded response only infuriated Misato over the Pope's insane stupidity. Misato leaned his head to the side, avoiding the telegraphed spear thrust to the head and turned, slamming the butt of his musket rifle into the Pope's knee.
As expected, the Pope is less challenging in weapon technique compared to the Vanguards. Take the magic power away, a rookie soldier like Ake has good chances of taking the Pope on in a sword only fight.
"Melromarc was the only nation that prayed to Three Specific Heroes, you have no nation that could be your ally! All these people in this nation are in danger because of your stupidity!" Misato shouted, firing a gun at the end of his elbow, using the recoil to increase the force of his punch into the Pope's cheek, knocking out a tooth. "Even if you got your supposed god heroes to work with you, you think you have defeated the entire world? You couldn't even wipe out a quarter of Melromarc's Royal army with your power, because you are facing ALL the Cardinal Heroes!"
The Gun Hero caught a golden arrow from Balmus, he raised a revolver and fired twice, breaking the new barrier that appeared in front of him. Another revolver appeared in his hand, fully loaded, he dropped the arrow and the Gun Hero fanned the revolver, rapidly firing all six bullets, cracking Balmus's armor. The kinetic force of all six bullets carried through, inflicting Balmus with great pain.
"The so-called 'False' Heroes can still take on your best attacks! And right now you can't even take down one single heretic!" Misato taunted as the Pope groaned in pain.
A knight charged at Misato's flank but was avoided with ease and stabbed them in the neck, killing them. Two more knights swung their swords, Misato ducked their slashes, dual wielding swords, he struck their legs, and stabbed deep into their chests through the crystal orbs.
A large armored arm wrapped around Misato's throat but it was stopped by the Legendary Gun placed against his chin, stopping the knight from choking Misato from behind. Misato grasped the knight's helmet, lifted his legs forward and the Dragon chain gun appeared on his legs. The weight of the gun and the momentum of his movement allowed Misato to throw the knight over his body.
The Gun Hero moved to stand but three soldiers tackled him into the ground, he fired his guns and killed two, but before the hero could overpower the last one, a squadron of knights grabbed him, each holding his limbs. The Gun Hero fired his armor piercing weapons on his body by mental command taking out a few knights but for each knight he took down two more seemed to suddenly take their place.
One third of the Pope's army desperately tries to contain Misato in their dog pile, a pile that was slowly dying as each suppressed gunshot sent a shockwave through the mass of bodies. "Hurry your holiness! Attack while the heretic is vulnerable!" A soldier pleaded as they joined in the dog pile.
The Pope raised the spear and the supporters charged the weapon. "God thanks you for your sacrifice." He said with a solemn nod.
Misato managed to free his hand out of the pile but two soldiers clung on to his free limb, struggling to hold his hand down. The free hand clenched into a fist.
"Armor Inheritance…" Misato said with gritted teeth, a flash of white appeared on his body, blinding those who could see him and now his fingerless gloved hand had been replaced by a dark gray metal gauntlet.
"RAHHHHHH!" Misato screamed as a blast of intense wind broke the pile, blasting with his arms and legs pointed out, reminiscent of a sci-fi video game character. He paused, taking a breath for a few seconds before Misato faced the sky, his armor glowed gold and he roared. "RAaaaGGGGGHHHHH!" Unleashing every type of magic Misato had an affinity with, he summoned tornados, lightning bolts, fire pillars, light beams and dark orbs, ruthlessly pelting on the Holy Guard like an endless storm. All elements burning and incinerating one third of the army.
The spell stopped, Misato stood alone, surrounded by partially melted metal and burnt bones of those who were near him. Misato was wearing strange armor, armor that can only be created by precise machinery or a Hero's weapon, armor so perfect that even the greatest craftsmen in the world have little hope to replicate without such tools, only with time and great patience.
On his torso is a large dark gray metal vest with a partially covered golden orb on the center of the vest encased in glass, on his back is a jetpack. His limbs are encased almost entirely of dark gray metal except for his elbows and knees. Underneath the metal plating is a black skin tight suit made of unknown metal threads like the ones S'yne created.
A metal helmet completely encased his head, in place of his eyes was a dark gray almost glass like visor with two bright yellow orbs emitting a mist of energy that looked like golden flames were burning over the visor. Dark almost-blackened blue fabric wrapped over the helmet, forming a hood and a short half cape that billowed in the wind.
Wisps of fire and lightning were seen on his body, combined with his helmet's 'flaming glare', the sight sent chills to the entire army.
"I-it… It can't be…" Balmus's second in command, The Bishop, stuttered.
"The Black storm is r-real…" A soldier muttered recognizing the armor Misato was wearing, similar to the drawings in the most ancient historical textbooks. Even the ignorant church soldiers stared at him in awe and fear.
"Fear not! He is merely a foolish heretic playing pretend! A mere storm won't stop God's holy light!" The Pope tried to reassure but after witnessing Misato's devastating attack and the sudden appearance of his armor, the Pope's words did little to raise everyone's morale.
"You want to test that?..." Misato growled, were it not for the mask, they would have seen how surprised Misato looked with his own voice, sounding almost robotic, likely because the helmet had a modulator. A few soldiers nearly dropped their weapon from the sound of his voice, the voice modulator made him sound inhuman and demonic.
In the distance of the Royal Army's battle, the sight of Misato in that armor filled Fitoria with nostalgia. "Forrest's armor…" Fitoria whispered in awe, seeing Misato through the mist.
Misato dashed forward in a blink, his hood fell off, simply being pulled by the increased speed of his movement like the half short cape.
Misato's party regrouped with their leader, they accomplished their task of removing half of the supporters, they were quite surprised to see Misato's new gear.
"Woah Misato?" Rifana asked and Misato nodded. "Where did that come from?"
"It's a Legacy Skill, I think I'm wearing Forrest's armor." Misato explained, firing his gun at a lightning bolt, breaking the spell.
"Misato sounds so cool!" Ace commented with his eyes shining, noticing Misato's voice change.
"You look identical to the drawings of the Black Storm!" Melty pointed out, firing an aqua shot at a nearby fireball, extinguishing the fire mid-air.
"Cool!" Misato replied nonchalantly, focused on firing his gun at a knight, allowing Sadeena to pierce the crystal orb and their chest. "If you're here, then it's time for phase four!" Misato announced.
"Time to beat the shit out of the Pope…" Keel growled, staring at said man with an eager grin.
Misato fired the chain gun, killing rows of knights and soldiers, the rest fled from the barrage of metal. The Pope raised their bow but Rifana, Ace and Sadeena attacked his barriers with their magic, distracting him from Misato shattering a barrier and teleporting on his flank.
"State of Selflessness!" The Pope yelled but Misato stopped, letting the skill imitation effect wear off.
The light faded from the spear and Misato made his move. "What did you hope to gain by starting all of this conflict?! For all of this lying and scheming?!" Misato roared, doing two straight right jabs and a painful left hook to the side of Balmus's skull.
"To follow God's will and do what is RIGHT!" The Pope said. "To fight and cleanse this world of its filthy heretics and demi-humans! To create a perfect holy world!" He roared, swinging the Cardinal Replica sword, sending a shockwave, but Misato and S'yne teleported away, Ace grabbed Rifana and Keel leaping away, Sadeena disappeared using lightning speed grabbing Melty.
'How can they teleport even with mages casting the jamming spell?!' The Pope wondered, frustrated by Misato and S'yne disappearance. Right one cue, Misato reappeared jumping to the Pope, kicking both legs onto him, knocking him back to the remaining half of his supporters.
"Why won't your 'God' say it to us?! If they were so mighty! Why won't they condemn us with their voice? So the foolish people could see the 'truth'?! Because, what you have started was never about what's holy, what's right, or whatever your supposed god wanted. This is what you wanted. This was all about what you desire!" Misato shouted, calling out Balmus's deepest desire.
"Blasphemy! I am the Pope, the holiest of all!" Balmus rebuked, forming new magic barriers but Misato, kneeling with a rocket launcher, fired the projectile explosive at the barriers, shattering them in an instant. He transformed his weapon to another rocket launcher, firing again into Balmus, who barely managed to form a small barrier to negate some of the damage.
The Pope stumbled from the explosion, turning, facing Rifana with her spear raised to swing but he was too disoriented to defend himself. Unaware of Misato already swinging the flat side of the great gun-sword behind the Pope's back.
"SHUT UP!" Rifana screamed, brutally slamming her spear over Pope's throat. Rifana and Misato smashed the Pope on both sides with their weapons with righteous rage. The hit broke the shaft of the spear, whether it broke due to Rifana's rage or due to colliding with the force of the Legendary Gun was unknown.
"You are not holy at all! You are just a self proclaimed holy man who used his status to take advantage of others to gain power! Hiding your true nature because you are a slimy bastard!" Rifana shouted as Balmus coughed and wheezed from the brutal throat hit. Rifana then punched him straight on the jaw.
"Drifa Heal!" A priest casted. Healing the Pope, especially his throat.
"I need more mana! Even at the cost of your lives! This is the ultimate battle between God and the Devil! Perishing as martyrs here is the greatest honor for the Disciples of our God to have!" The Pope demanded, coughing.
"Quick, provide him mana!" The Bishop urged. The particles of mana thicken, flowing to the Pope.
Bang!
Misato suddenly appeared between the Pope and the supporters, raising his hands at the mana particles, waving his arms, moving the flow of mana particles to Melty.
"" "WHAT?!""" The Supporters roared in confusion and outrage as Melty's mana bar exceeded the maximum amount, going beyond the limit.
"You endangered me and mother! You manipulated my father! You purposely raise tensions for Melromarc with the other nations to create conflict! To START a WAR. You're willing to sacrifice so many lives for your horrible ambitions, falsely claiming it was for a greater will when it was only YOURS!" Melty shouted, raising the Vassal Staff, its pink gemstone shining brightly. "As source of thy power, I order thee, decipher the laws of creation, and bring forth water that can carve through mountains! Drifa Aqua Blast!"
The Pope raised the spear. " May this sacred light purge everything! Broniac!"
The beam of light and the pressurized blast of water collided. The Pope seemingly gained the upper hand as the size of the beam of light increased, pushing the water back but a small beam of light appeared from the Legendary Gun, hitting the Vassal Staff. The Pink Gemstone turns bright blue and highlights Melty's body.
A row of fifty supporters died from using all of their energy providing the Pope power he needed when Misato redirected the majority of the others' magical energy to Melty.
Only for their efforts to be in vain…
Feeling invigorated by the sudden boost of energy from the fifth cardinal weapon, Melty screamed with all her might. "AAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" The water became larger than the Broniac, breaking through the beam of light, blasting and ripped away all the armor on the Pope's torso, tearing up his robes and leaving a nasty gash on his chest. The Pope rolled over his back and stood up, immediately smacked by a small round shield.
Keel wailed on the Pope with her hand axe and buckler. "You and your followers tortured innocent people, just because they were born or thought differently from what you believed! Demi-human or not! You RUINED INNOCENT LIVES!" Keel shouted, slamming the axe into the Pope's shoulder, and pulled, yanking a chunk of his flesh out with the axe. She immediately followed up the attack by back handing the Pope's nose with her buckler, and a loud crack echoed, Keel broke the Pope's nose.
The Pope spun from the hit, Keel threw her handaxe, slamming it into the side of his ribs, he let out a gut wrenching scream and Misato flew to the Pope with his jet pack. A Gun-Shield appeared on Misato's knee, he grabbed the Pope's good shoulder and neck, then he slammed his shield-reinforced knee into the handaxe, using the momentum of the jet pack to push the weapon further into his ribs. This time, the Pope couldn't scream as the blow also knocked the wind out of his lungs.
"You framed the Shield Hero of a horrid crime to gain support, to LIE to the masses and claim that your religion was right!" Misato casted illumination like a flashbang in the Pope's eyes, blinding him. Misato raised two pistols, holding them by the barrels with electricity flowing on the guns. He pistol whipped the Pope, swinging the pistols like they were claw hammers infused with electricity, tasing and smacking Balmus with brutal force. Misato kept hitting Balmus so much it was almost like an endless loop.
"Deep down you KNEW if you DID NOT frame the Shield Hero, your religion would look FALSE! You consciously denied… THE TRUTH!" Misato roared, finishing his electric onslaught with a back flip kick to the chin, a small golden ring of light appeared at the tip of his boot and the Pope flew high above.
Misato landed on his back, firing his pistols, pushing the Pope further into the air. He does a perfect kip up to his feet, Ace in his humanoid form hugged Misato tightly and using the jetpack, they flew up above the Pope.
Misato grabbed Ace's hands, and flipped, throwing Ace down to the Pope. "You don't care for anyone but YOURSELF!" Ace yelled, transforming to his Filolial form, kicking the Pope, he used his weight to slam the Pope down hard into the ground. The impact made the Pope's stomach take the full weight of a Royal filolial, as Ace bounced away, the Pope vomited, lungs burning as he hasn't been able to properly breath since Keel attacked him.
Balmus took a shallow breath and stumbled up, seeing Sadeena charge, he transformed his weapon into a bow. " Mirage-"
A web-like substance grasped his other hand, preventing him from shooting, he looked up to see Misato falling down with the Web Gun. Misato landed yanking Balmus back, exposing him to Sadeena's trident stab into his gut.
"There will always be bastards like you! People who should never have great power!" Sadeena yelled "Faust Thunderbolt!" The thunder bolt hit Balmus point blank, Balmus screamed as he got electrocuted and felt the trident was pulled painfully out of his body. But mid-scream a metal gauntlet interrupts him, striking the side of his jaw, and Misato uppercuts him into the air.
"Drifa Lightning Speed!" Sadeena roared, she and Misato both turned into a blurs of lightning, dashing through the Pope right as he fell, slashing through him, they both turned and striked the Pope again right as he landed, making him spin into the ground. The Pope whimpered, unable to move, watching Misato and Sadeena approach him.
An explosion of fire cut the two of them off and they dispersed as a platoon of knights approached the Pope with priests healing him. The Pope for once was able to breathe with the handaxe removed, slowly recovering.
But Misato raised his hands and a red magic circle appeared. A stream of smoke flew into the knights, Misato dashed through, flashes of light were seen through the smoke, screams of pain and gunshots echoed in the battlefield.
A mage casted a wind spell, clearing the smoke, revealing that all the knights' crystal orbs were broken, at the center of the knights is S'yne and Misato. S'yne was holding a ball of string with Misato's hand hovering above hers with lightning coursing over his gauntlet. They held hands and the lightning revealed the string attached to every knight, electrocuting the entire platoon.
The Pope raised his glowing spear, but a gunshot to the weapon knocked his limb back and felt his torso being pulled by hair-thin string. S'yne pulled herself to the Pope with her string, striking her elbow into the sternum, he fell back from the hit.
A metal claw pierced and clasped onto the flesh of his good shoulder, yanking the Pope upright and was pulled into Misato who jumped, spinning his body parallel to the ground. He completed the spin with an armored kick to the Pope's neck and shoulder. The Pope wheezed as he fell back but felt his entire upper body constricted by thick metal wires and hair-like string, pulling him upright again.
"People like you deny their Heroism, deny what was right for the sake of all!" Misato roared as he and S'yne both pulled the Pope to them, their fists touching as their knuckles slammed into his face. His words unintentionally voicing the same sentiment S'yne had.
"People like you are always there when Heroes are summoned! Always there to mentally cripple them to be easier to control! Ruining their potential!" Misato raised his gun-sword to his head, pointing downwards on his flank, deflecting a magic enhanced clumsy sword slash from the Pope, smacking the Cardinal Replica aside, and pointed his sword at the Pope's throat.
Analysis of Biscas Balmus: 25% Complete
"People like you murder Heroes for your selfish convenience at the cost of the world! Killing them off before they could obtain power to provide salvation for millions!" Balmus scowled as Misato mocked his lack of skill before pushing the gun-sword aside with magic enhancing his weapon, changing the Replica into the Spear form, and thrusted the weapon. Using the momentum of the Pope's push, Misato transformed his weapon into the Gun-Spear, placing it on the back of his neck and shoulders.
He turned, ducking the mana charged thrust and slapped the Cardinal Replica aside, he swung the Gun-spear into the Pope's wounded shoulder like a Bo staff, the metallic shaft striked painfully into the wound Keel made. The Gun-Spear reappeared on Misato's other hand and he fired, letting the recoil of the weapon launch itself into the Pope, who blocked it with his spear by luck and fell back. Now on his back, the Pope raised the Cardinal Replica in its Bow form and drew a bright golden arrow.
Analysis of Biscas Balmus: 50% Complete
The Gun-spear flipped in the air, returning to Misato's palm perfectly and transformed into a Crossbow, glowing bright gold as well. The Pope roughly fired an arrow, but Misato's perfect single handed bolt shot smashed the magic arrow to pieces and pierced the Pope's gut.
Analysis of Biscas Balmus: 75% Complete
Balmus scrambled upright as Misato slowly approached him, he swung downward with the Replica in its sword form with mana enhancing its power but Misato slapped it aside with his Shielded Shotgun, the attack missed him by a large margin, exploding into the ground nearby, and Misato fired the Shielded Shotgun point blank into Balmus's stomach, launching him backwards in the air.
Suddenly, Fitoria appeared where the Pope was falling. "People like you are not worth saving…" she said, punching the Pope, sending him back to Misato, and disappeared in a blink of an eye.
Balmus landed on the ground, his body caked in dirt and blood, he groaned, spitting out a broken tooth. "Damn, you guys really beat the shit out of him." Naofumi commented, seeing how much of a mess the Pope looked with the other Cardinal Heroes and their parties observing what the Gun Hero's party did.
"Impossible… Y-you defeated the Vanguards…" The Bishop stuttered, seeing the Vanguard replicas in their hands, many conscious supporters gasped at the sight.
"But aren't they supposed to be false heroes?" A Church soldier questioned their peers.
"How could the Vanguards lose?" Another soldier wondered
The Pope scowled seeing the weapons in their hands.
"If this almighty god was truly on your side! They are doing a shit job at doing it, letting us kill the Vanguards!" Naofumi shouted, poking through their fanatical logic.
Raphtalia walked over to Rifana with a wide smile. "Here." She said tossing her friend the Spear Replica.
"Yessssss…" Rifana whispers, her eyes shining as she inspects the Spear Replica.
Misato grasped Balmus's arm holding the Cardinal Replica and his neck, pulling him upright.
The copy of Forrest's helmet disappeared and Misato's hateful glowing golden eyes stared directly into Balmus. "You believe you are 'right' in spite of your horrendous actions, hypocrisy and narrow minded view… The truth is, you are too egotistical to accept how wrong you are, you are selfish… People like you are the worst kind of evil in existence… People like you… Are the reasons why Heroes lose to the Waves…"
Misato lets go of the Pope's throat, grabbing the Cardinal Replica, it flashed transforming and Misato spartan kicked the Pope in the stomach, knocking him back hard.
"NOW!" Misato roared, the helmet returned and the Queen's shadows appeared, each holding a crystal orb at the very end of the mist field on almost every angle.
The Pope groaned, slowly standing up, he blinked and looked at the Cardinal Replica, but instead of a sword, it was a gold and white shield…
"What?..." The Pope gasped.
"You said this was a holy weapon of the Three Heroes, how could there be a shield form?" The Bishop questioned, his eyes widening at the sight of their holy leader wielding a forbidden weapon. Many mages and priests stopped channeling mana, staring at the Pope in shock.
Balmus desperately willed the Cardinal Replica to change from this form, but it didn't work. WHY?! Balmus looked at the inside of the shield, seeing a familiar metal disc attached to it.
No…
Earlier, back in the meeting room in Reichnott's town.
"Misato, I worry you might become too focused on calling out the Pope's sins. Balmus is likely too insane to care for them no matter how intelligent and truthful you are. Unlike Malty and my husband, you might not have a clear advantage over the Pope for you to verbally beat him down. It's tactically risky to rely on the Legacy series alone for you to do your speech." The Queen said through the crystal orb, voicing her concerns over Misato's flawed, but admitally satisfying, tendencies to verbally hurt someone while in a fight.
Naofumi reluctantly and secretly agreed with the Queen. While Misato's intelligent roasts are satisfying, it's kind of a waste of breath on an insane maniac like the Pope. It worked for Malty since she clearly took pride in her ability to bullshit and lie, until Misato called out how her achievements were mostly luck and not from her sharp tongue, even tanking her fireballs to emphasize that point.
The King claimed he did this stupid crap to help his wife but with the Vassal Staff shocking it stupid wielder, Misato pointed out that the King did it out of petty revenge over the Shield Hero who had nothing to do with his personal grief like a stupid brat. Nearly damning his wife and youngest daughter to scheming cutthroat bastards. Which emotionally hurt the King a lot and Naofumi liked it, but the Pope is too crazy for that.
"I know…" Misato admitted. "But in the end, I really, really want the Pope to be hurt, in some fashion, something that he would not be able to mentally bear… Something he considered precious other than victory in a fight…" He looked at the notes at what everyone gathered and remembered something. A sadistic grin appeared on Misato's face. "If this works, I got an idea, something that could potentially ruin the Balmus's reputation for centuries…" Misato then explained, Naofumi and the Queen returned Misato's grin in kind, sending chills to almost everyone in the room.
The perfect revenge for Naofumi, the Pope got Naofumi framed and made his life hell, so it's only fitting for the Pope's reputation to be done by framing as well.
"F-Fret NOT It is-" A thrown gun-spear interrupted the Pope, hitting the Cardinal Replica Shield
Clang!
The Pope stumbled back from the hit. Ren swung but the Pope clumsily ducked the attack. "It's a tric-agh!" An arrow from Itsuki pierced his leg interrupting him, Motoyasu slammed the shaft of his spear into the Pope's throat and the old man coughed. He thrusted the spear, but the Pope blocked it with the shield. Misato kicked the back of his knees, allowing Naofumi to clothesline him with a large shield.
The Five Heroes worked together in perfect synch, not letting the Pope explain. Letting his actions speak to his followers as he blocked each attack.
While the Heroes kept the Pope from speaking, within each major town of Melromarc, a single shadow showed a live recording of the fight, witnessing the Leader of the Three Heroes Church use a shield, defending himself against the Cardinal Heroes he claimed to be false. Near Castle Town, both armies stopped fighting and watched the live recordings.
"Behold! Biscas Balmus's true nature! A man who only used the Church of the Three Heroes to meet his selfish agendas, to take over the kingdom using lies and deceit!" The Queen proclaimed out loud in the battlefield "You have been tricked into following a blasphemer! Surrender while our Gods can still forgive you!"
With the news of the Vanguards' demise, the significant casualties of the Church army, the sight of the Pope using the forbidden shield to protect himself was the final nail to the coffin, their morale was shattered to pieces.
"You murdered hundreds to gain strength and power and claimed it was for a justified goal! But NO, you did it because you were only Gluttonous for power!" Ren yelled, slamming his sword into the Cardinal Replica shield.
"Ren's right! You act as if you are faithful, but you are not! After what you did, you betrayed your religion's values and lied, manipulating those who trusted you! You hurt so many people, all because you Lusted for more!" Motoyasu roared, thrusting his spear against the shield, knocking the Pope back.
"You claim that you are righteous, but you are not! You were only Prideful! Too proud to accept that you were wrong!" Itsuki shouted, firing his arrows, scratching the Pope's body and striking his shield loudly.
"You act as if you were great, that by killing so many people, you were expressing God's mercy, expressing 'kindness' to their souls in the afterlife, to your enemies! But deep down I bet you were only Wrathful to those who opposed you, Human or not!" Naofumi yelled, parrying the shield smack from the Pope and immediately returned it. "Kinetic Strike!"
Balmus wailed as the Shield Hero slammed his own damage into his body, sliding across the dirt. He coughed, forcing himself to stand, struggling to rip the suppression disc off the Cardinal Replica. But then he noticed his weapon stopped glowing and he cannot sense any magical energy in his body. He turned to see his remaining supporters no longer praying.
"NO! What are you doing?!" Balmus yelled.
"You betrayed us…" The Bishop said with a heartbroken expression.
"YOU DARE BETRAY MY WILL?!" Balmus cried out, but his response was a mistake, only further proving Misato's point.
"So, it's true…" The Bishop replied. "You are a blasphemer…" Some nearby priests and mages dropped their rosary, slouching in fatigue and shame. "You lied to us…"
"NO, I-"
Misato's armored boot interrupted Balmus
"It's over Balmus…" Misato declared proudly, pointedly using the man's last name and not his title. Raising his Gun-sword to decapitate him.
Balmus spat out another broken tooth, looking at his surroundings, the mist field was gone, he saw his army surrendering, many soldiers stared at him, some looked emotionally hurt and some glared hatefully at him.
'Why? Why is this happening to me?! I am God's apostle! The Pope! The holiest of all! The extension of God's will!' The deluded man wondered to himself.
But then he had an epiphany…
Misato swung his Gun-sword, but he hits a barrier that surprisingly doesn't crack under his enhanced strength from the Legacy Series. Biscas Balmus then let out an insane laugh, sending chills to everyone's spines.
"Force!" Balmus roared, activating the Shield Form's imitation skill for the first time, launching Misato into his fellow Cardinal Heroes. Naofumi and Motoyasu caught him.
"Misato!" Itsuki cried out in concern
"I'm okay, it didn't hurt!" Misato reassured everyone, they all turned at the Pope, seeing magical energy flow to his body like a river but from a different source.
Everyone turned, seeing magical energy particles from within Castle Town flowing to the four large crystals on the corner of the town's walls. The crystals let out beams of light, connecting at the center, and flying over to the Pope.
"All of you are Traitors! Heretics! Liars! Blasphemers! Monsters in human skin! As the one and true human, I, God's Chosen TRUE HERO, shall create a grand holy world!" The Former Pope manically exclaimed, laughing.
Misato got an alert from his communication gun and projected the screen, revealing a shadow leaning on a stone wall.
"The crystals are…" The Shadow takes a shallow breath. "Draining the ENTIRE town!" They managed to say before losing connection.
"Take it down!" Naofumi urged.
Misato, Itsuki, Ren and Motoyasu immediately looked at the nearest crystal, raising their weapons.
"Thunder Arrow!"
"Lightning Spear!"
"Thunder Slash!"
'Lightning rocket!'
All four lightning skills combined, swirling around each other like a helix, flying towards the crystal.
"Castle Wall!" Balmus yelled and a barrier intercepted their shots with no sign of damage. A dome made of barriers appeared surrounding the Heroes and their parties.
Meanwhile in the battlefield, a group of mages chanted their magic, enhancing Queen Mirellia.
Above her is a gigantic sword made of ice.
"Drifa Icicle Sword!" The Queen roared, releasing the icicle blade into the crystal only for it to shatter ineffectively against a barrier right in front of it. The Queen clicked her tongue, looking at the heroes fighting the Disgraced Pope. "The barriers Balmus created on the crystals are too strong! The Heroes must kill him now!"
"Eagle Piercing Arrow!"
"Eagle Blade!"
'Wind Pierce!'
"Impenetrable Will!" Balmus roared triumphantly and a small transparent golden fortress surrounded Balmus. The three defense ignoring attacks shattered upon impact with the fortress.
"What?!" Itsuki blurted out.
"I know that skill!" Ren yelled, recalling his time playing in PvP "It's a Shield skill where defense ignoring attacks has no effect for a minute!"
"Can normal offensive skills do anything?" Misato asked.
"Yeah! The skill shouldn't have any effect on those!
"Let him have it!" Misato ordered, transforming his weapon to a grenade launcher and fired it. The grenade exploded at a barrier in front of Balmus, only cracking the surface but Misato didn't stop firing. Ren and Itsuki followed his example by launching normal offensive skills at the barriers, trying to break through but the barriers were layered.
"Ace, Rino, Rifana, let's do that combo skill like we practiced!" Motoyasu said and the three nodded.
Everyone else threw everything they had at the barriers with the Heroes, magic spells, weapons and even rocks, but for every barrier they managed to shatter, a split second later another took its place.
"Air Burst Flare Lance!" Motoyasu roared, releasing the combo skill, shattering a good chunk of the barriers but they were quickly replaced.
"Damn it, he has too much magical energy, he keeps making barriers faster than we can break them and that shield likely enhances them!" Misato shouted, glaring at the Pope, infuriated by the maniac's grin.
"How pitiful, you truly believe you defy me? God's chosen… No, I am more than that! I am GOD ITSELF!" Balmus exclaimed.
Misato's head pounded painfully as another man's face flashed in front of the Pope's for a brief second.
Analysis of Bicas Balmus: 100% Complete!
Unstoppable Bullet is unlocked!
A petite hand clasped his hand and Misato turned to see Fitoria.
"You all fought well, I am proud of what you've all done together, but it's clear that I must intervene and remove this disease…" Fitoria stated but Misato grabbed her hand tightly.
"Wait." Misato pleaded and observed the new skill.
Unstoppable Bullet - After Target has been analyzed you can fire a special bullet that is designed to accomplish your goals for your target.
"I got a plan, but if it fails, crush his skull and heart." Misato said and Fitoria nodded.
Misato turned to the shadows, still recording the situation live. He activated his communication gun. "Get half of the shadows to stop recording and tell the others to focus on the Heroes and keep me out of sight!" He ordered and looked, seeing half of the shadows stopped using the crystal orbs.
The Gun Hero turned to the other Cardinal Heroes "Combine your Meteor skills on Itsuki!" He ordered.
"But that Meteor Combo skill might not be enough!" Itsuki argued.
"Trust me I got something special! Charge it up and fire after I release my skill!" Misato commanded, the Four Cardinal Heroes looked at each other and nodded.
Ren, Motoyasu and Naofumi pointed the gemstones of their weapons to Itsuki's and three beams of light touched the Legendary Bow. The Queen's shadows recorded them combining their powers.
Misato moved further away from them to the side, out of sight of the crystal orbs recording them live. The light on Misato's body changed, what was gold is now pure white, the Legendary Gun transformed into a strange spear like weapon with a bamboo tube attached to it.
The Gun Form of the Legacy Series…
The Fire Lance.
The First 'Gun' in history…
"By the will of my predecessors, your fate has been Determined!"
"No obstacle shall stand in my path!"
"Unstoppable Bullet!"
Misato roared with multiple unknown voices speaking the same words and a bright white bullet flew from the bamboo barrel
"Combo Skill: Devastating Meteor Arrow IV!" Itsuki yelled
A gigantic arrow with a star as its head flew from the bow.
The white bullet shattered the barriers like glass, Balmus spat out blood, feeling incredible pain each time the bullet broke a barrier, finding himself unable to reproduce them, unable to stop the blue arrow from approaching right behind the bullet.
The white bullet shattered the magic fortress, Balmus raised the Cardinal Replica Shield, but the bullet changed trajectory with impossible speed, avoiding the shield, and hit his shoulder, the bullet pierced through, ripping off his entire arm holding the shield. "What?" He muttered as the bullet quickly faded, accomplishing the task it was designed for.
Balmus screamed as the gigantic arrow pierced his heart right before he was torn apart in a large explosion of blue light and smoke.
The crystals on the castle walls stopped glowing, no longer activated with Balmus dead, the civilians inside the town desperately took big gulps of air.
Meanwhile outside the walls,
"... D-did W-we win?..." Naofumi stuttered.
Everyone stared as the blue smoke slowly fade away, expecting to find the maniac somehow still alive, but when the smoke was finally blown away, they only found the Cardinal Replica in its shield form with a skeletal arm next to it on the ground, nearby a house size crater where Balmus once stood.
""" WE WON!""" Everyone roared triumphantly.
Motoyasu cheered, lifting Rino off of her feet, much to the mage's cute embarrassment.
Ren openly laughed, his voice filled with joy together with his party. Glad for everyone to be alive and well.
Itsuki cheered and hugged Matilda, smiling widely.
"We did it!" Naofumi cheered and hugged Raphtalia.
Raphtalia hugged back tightly, suddenly kissing him on the cheek, stunning the Shield Hero, until Sakura and Filo in their humanoid forms dived on top of the two, dog piling Naofumi.
In the live recording across Melromarc, the Queen appeared, pointing at the Cardinal Heroes. "This was the power of all Cardinal Heroes combined! Power that Balmus dared to try to erase! Power that can save our country and the entire world! To the FOUR Heroes!" The Queen cheered along with the Royal Army,
Meanwhile in every major town of the nation, everyone was celebrating their victory, some towns even created a large campfire, burning rosaries and holy books of the Three Heroes belief.
"Wait, where's Misato?" Itsuki wondered, noticing that the Gun Hero was missing.
Raphtalia frowned, finding her childhood friends missing. Filo and Sakura were curious as to where their fellow Filolials went.
Naofumi walked over to Melty, the only member of the Gun Hero's Party remaining. "Where did they go?" He asked.
"Misato told me to enjoy the parade and that they will meet us in the Royal Dining room for our victory meal." Melty explained with a slight frown, feeling sad for the Gun Hero Party, unable to be officially recognized for their efforts.
"Wait, what did he mean by parade-" Naofumi tried to ask until the Royal Army suddenly marched up to him and the other Cardinal Heroes, lifting them up over the crowd's heads.
"Hip hip!" The army said.
"Put me down!"
"HURRAY!" The Royal soldiers cheered, tossing the Cardinal Heroes up into the air, ignoring Naofumi's protests.
The Heroes, their parties, the princess and the queen get cheered and praised as they march through Castle Town, heading straight to the Royal Castle. The Shadow duo, Dawn and Dusk greeted them with a bow, they explained that half of Misato's party was in the dining room, while Misato, Sadeena, S'yne and Fitoria were in the kitchen, making their food.
After changing out of their armor and into more comfortable clothing, they entered the dining room and were greeted with Rifana, Keel and Ace sitting patiently on their seats.
"Hey guys!" Keel said with a smile and a hand wave.
"Keel, Rifana!" Raphtalia smiled back, marching over to her friends and hugging them tightly. "Why did you all disappear so suddenly?" She asked.
"I mean we are trying to avoid gathering too much attention or at least, not get anymore after the Pope was finally killed, so with Misato's illusion magic and Fitoria's help, we snuck into the castle." Rifana explained.
"Then Misato broke into the kitchen and supply room with the others." Keel said with a mischievous grin.
"Kind of hard to avoid attention when Misato wore armor identical to the Black Storm." Melty pointed out with a sigh, recalling Misato suddenly wearing intimidating armor.
"Do not worry Melty, we'll manage." Mirellia reassured her daughter, taking a seat. "For now, relax and take a seat, enjoy the meal they are preparing for all of us."
On cue the door slammed open with Misato, S'yne, Sadeena and Fitoria carrying large plates with their armor removed. Misato's eyes were no longer glowing and the replica of Forrest's armor was gone.
"Oh, just in time!" Misato said. "Welcome back, how was the parade?"
"Exhausting and loud, didn't help that you ditched us." Naofumi rolled his eyes, Melty's eyes widened at Naofumi's rude comment, and Raphtalia sighed, already used to Naofumi's behavior, Misato simply chuckled.
"Just as I suspected." Misato replied, placing the plate down on the center of the dining table, along with everyone else carrying the food. "You had no idea how hungry I felt after the Legacy Series wore off, I thought I could eat a portion a filolial normally eats."
"So what did you make?" Motoyasu asked, curious what is under the plate covers.
Misato gave Motoyasu a small smile. "For us Summoned Heroes… A little taste of home…" He pulled off the covers, revealing…
"Fried rice?!" Itsuki gasped out loud.
"No way!" Motoyasu said.
"How…" Naofumi muttered, staring at Misato, who shrugged with a grin.
"Since Q'ten Lo is similar to Asian Culture from Earth, so were their food, and since they traded with Zeltoble, I decided to buy a bag of rice when my party was in that nation." Misato answered as everyone took their portions.
"I secretly steamed it at Reichnott's main town before the final battle, and kept it in my inventory ever since. When I got into the kitchen, I cooked fried rice." Misato's smile twitched. "Although it's not quite like the one I usually make on Earth, the meat is from Melromarc, so they might not have the same taste you usually get." Misato explained with a small frown.
"But I thought it would be nice victory food, especially for us..." Misato said with a grin.
"Thanks Misato, honestly… I missed this a lot." Itsuki admitted, eating the fried rice.
"Yeah, it feels like it's been forever since I had something like this." Motoyasu said.
"Thank you." Ren simply said.
"It's good." Naofumi said with a small smile.
To the people native to this world, it was a pleasant surprise.
"I already wish for more." Fitoria said, refilling her plate.
"It's really good!" Raphtalia complimented with her eyes shining like her childhood friends.
"Wow!" Melty gasped in amazement.
Misato grinned, wiping away a tear.
'Everyone, I hope you are proud of what I did here today…' Misato mentally prayed to his deceased friends and family before chowing down with everyone, enjoying the meal he worked hard to make.
Unmentioned skills:
Lightning Rocket: Release an explosion of lightning into your target.
Unmentioned Magic spells:
Affinity Storm: Unleash every type magic the user has an affinity within the form of a chaotic storm.
Legacy of the Gun Hero Skills:
Full Combat Enhancement - Utilize the skills and experience of all Previous Gun Heroes.
Extreme Combat Assistance Level
Stats are doubled (Stacks with buffs)
Skills and Magic don't require verbal command
Pain Suppression: Extreme
HP Regeneration: Extreme.
MP Regeneration: Excellent
SP Regeneration: Excellent
EP Regeneration: Excellent
(Pain suppression and regeneration also affects party members.)
Armor Inheritance- Form a replica of your predcessor's best armor
Double your current stats.
Strength is tripled
Defense is tripled
Total MP, SP, HP, EP has temporarily doubled
Duration: 3 minutes.
(Stacks with Combat Enhancement and additional buffs.)
(Verbal Activation)
(Wearing the real armor of your predecessor with this skill will triple your stats, STR and DEF will be quadrupled, Duration will extend to 5 minutes)
Unstoppable Bullet - After Target has been analyzed you can fire a special bullet that is designed to accomplish your goals for your target.
( "By the will of my predecessors, your fate has been Determined! No obstacle shall stand in my path! " )
(Verbal Activation)
(Can only be activated when your in Full Combat Enhancement)
(Warning: It will be ineffective against anyone else that isn't your target.)
Author's Notes
Welcome to the end of the chapter! I wrote the majority of this chapter within a single day, because notes in regards to how each character in Misato's team roasted the Pope were so detailed that I just had to copy and paste mostly. Plus I was playing all the opening songs of Rotsh and this chapter was really awesome to make. I felt sooo hyped.
At first when making this chapter, other than framing the Pope (The perfect downfall) I was worried if the roasting and the call outs on the Pope weren't going to be good as Malty and the King because unlike them in season 1 of the anime, Malty and the King were consistently the most infuriating and annoying antagonists. Meanwhile the Pope was an annoying but short enemy for a few episodes, my rage and annoyance with him wasn't as large as it was with Malty and the King.
Plus like it was mentioned in this chapter, the Pope is too crazy to acknowledge how trash he was, acting as if he was perfect and godly, words would be a waste but damn was it cathartic and I even surprised myself when I got around to writing it. Especially having Misato call out the Pope's true personality. Like "People like you…" and "Power you would never allow a hero to reach"
Speaking of which, I want you readers to try and break down why each character said their statements to the Pope in particular and how true they might be. Especially Misato.
Anyways, yeah, the Pope is frankly pathetic in non magical fighting. Yes he was dangerous in Season 1 but Naofumi was weaker and so were the heroes being ignorant and also arrogant of their levels and stats. Here, they didn't have such limitations and with the Legacy Series giving Misato an incredible boost in power and skills from countless Previous Gun Heroes, the Pope stood no chance. The Vanguards were more of a challenge for him and Forrest.
Pit a Vanguard against the Pope with an equal amount of magic energy charging their replicas, the Spear or Sword Vanguard actually has a higher chance of taking down the Pope. The Bow Vanguard would struggle more though.
Now about the Gun Legacy Series, a neat thing about this series is that the power and effects it has, Reflects on the Weapon's main virtue. The Gun is all about Determination, that's why Misato has extreme levels of HP Regen and pain negation, so he can keep going with no worry or pain from his enemy's attacks.
That's why the Unstoppable bullet got through the Pope's defense in spite of the fuck ton of Mana he gathered. After he was analyzed, The Unstoppable bullet was designed to literally disarm the Pope because that was Misato's goal, to take out the barriers and give some of the thunder to the Cardinal Heroes for the live recording. It had an effect similar to Kiritsugu Emiya's origin bullets (Fate/Zero You should watch) The Unstoppable Bullet inflicted damage on the Pope when it smashed his barriers and stopped him from producing more.
It was the perfect Noble Phantasm-I mean Skill for the Legacy of the Gun Hero Series. To create a bullet that can accomplish the Gun Hero's goals. It can adapt and overcome any obstacle. Although it might struggle on anything not his target.
So, you can imagine what powers the other Heroes might have when they unlock their own Legacy Series and how it reflects on their main virtue of heroism.
Anyways have a wonderful day, thank you all for reading!