Chapter 16: The Last Stand

Night had fallen. The party stood upon a nearby building, overlooking the cathedral in all its supposed glory. It indeed was guarded as Naofumi expected. Knights patrolled the area, along with a few deacons wandering around inside, doing who knows what.

"My world had a lot of places like this. They're most likely keeping him in the basement."

"Were your world's churches this cruel as well?" Raphtalia asked.

"It depends." Naofumi scoffed. "So what's the plan? Did you even come up with a plan?"

"Sakura did," Sakura grumbled. "We're going to sneak through the back entrance. Once we defeat the guards and take one in for questioning, we'll move through with Raphtalia's illusion magic."

"And if all else fails?" Naofumi squinted his eyes.

"Guns blazing."

Sigh. "This is a bad idea on so many levels."

"By the way, what happened to Keel?"

"Well, we didn't want to bring him, so we left him with Fitoria just in case," Raphtalia answered.

"Fitoria? Is she really the best babysitter for a level one?"

/~/

"Fitoria! Get them off me!" Keel shouted.

"If you can't handle balloons, how do you plan on handling the waves?" Fitoria insulted him as she bit into a dragon's tail.

/~/

"He'll be fine." Sakura waved her hand, brushing off Keel's suffering.

"If you say so." Naofumi groaned, rolling his eyes.

/~/

"... so did you hear? The Shield Hero beat the Spear Hero in a three-on-three."

"Expected. Have you seen half of his party? So many nobles, I'm surprised one of them isn't pregnant yet." The priest scoffed, "Don't tell anyone I said this, but the same applies to the princess. She's a pretty shitty mage."

"Careful man. This is the princess we're talking about."

"I speak the truth. If that's so bad, then the Shield Hero himself can drag my soul to he-"

The priest yelped as a pink blur crashed into him.

"What the fu—"

"Don't move, don't speak…" Raphtalia threatened the priest as she held her sword to his neck.

The priest nodded his head violently as Naofumi walked into view.

"Speak only when asked. Now. I heard a knight was recently taken into your captivity. I want to know where he is."

"Downstairs, the second room on the left is guarded by 2 shadows, both level 54. His captain is also inside, probably "re-educating" right now, so you might want to hurry." The priest blurted out.

"...Yeah, he's telling the truth." Sakura nodded.

"That makes things easier then. Knock them out and hide them."

"Wait. Before that happens, I have one last thing to say… the angel is hot."

Bracing himself for the hit, the priest was swiftly knocked out, alongside his friend.

"...Well, he's not wrong."

"Not the time. Raphtalia."

With a nod, Raphtalia chanted a spell and made the three of them invisible. Thankfully, her spell held as they got inside, allowing them to wander the halls more easily. It took a few minutes to find the entrance they needed, and once they quickly found the room Ake was being held in, they prepared to move inside. But the door suddenly burst open.

"This is a waste of time, Lord Balmus; we should just kill him already." The sister grumbled.

"There's nothing we can do about it. The shield hero is already stronger than the shield hero. According to the knight, even stronger after gaining his so-called "methods." The pope scoffed with air quotes. "Chances are, even our elite men won't be enough."

"We can still try. The citizens and nobility are stunned by this loss; we can't just sweep it under the rug!"

"Relax, Angela. If things go as planned, he should come right to us. Isn't that right… Shield Hero." The Pope grinned.

Naofumi flinched but didn't panic and remained silent.

"You've done that twice already," Angela grumbled.

"It was worth the shot. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to meet up with the captain and his security detail."

"Understood, my lord." The pope walked past them, thankfully not realizing their presence. This only left Angela as the sole guard of the room, an opportunity Sakura immediately took advantage of by pinning her to the wall, a sword pressed against her throat.

"I hate that he was correct, and it makes me angry." Taking out his tool kit, Naofumi began picking the lock.

"Ahh, so you did arrive. It seems my lord's divine prophecy was correct." Angela boasted.

So that is what we have to deal with. Naofumi scoffed.

"Sakura, tie up her mouth."

"Sakura thought she was making the plans." Sakura pouted.

"Just do it." Tossing her a hem of rope, she relented and began tying up "God chosen."

Meanwhile, Naofumi continued picking the lock, finally getting through after a bit of time passed. He regretted opening the door, however. The smell of blood and rotting flesh made him sick to his stomach. And in the middle of it all was a heavily injured knight, just barely hanging on as a sister forced water down his throat.

Wasting no time, Raphtalia rushed into the room and knocked the sister out in a single punch. She then swiped one of theirs and began freeing Ake from his shackles.

"As the source of thy power, the shield hero orders thee. Let the way of all things be revealed, and heal my new ally. [Drefach Heal I]"

Using the highest tier of magic, he also had a chance to test out his method, to a satisfying result. The wave of healing was much more potent than before, even patching together scars like they were nothing. Not every wound was gone; however, in fact, there was still a lot more. But it was a start.

"He's out cold. Figures."

"But he's alright… right?"

"Should be. Nothing too life-threatening."

"Thank the lord." Sakura sighed in relief.

Angela nodded in agreement, most likely attempting to spout some random BS about God or something. That, however, got her a swift punch to the face by Sakura, who was less than pleased with him.

"Alright, we got our guy. Let's extract immediately."

"And as for the cardinal?" Raphtalia asked as the group began to move.

"We keep her as a hostage. It'll be useful in the off chance we're— Naofumi opened the door to the basement, only to find a congregation of priests and knights above. "Caught." Naofumi covered his mouth. Thankfully, they haven't spotted him yet. Ironically, they were being briefed on what to do if the shield hero broke in, and he was ready to use this moment.

Opening the door slowly. Naofumi and the party climbed out and began sneaking their way over to the door. It would be some time before Raphtalia could turn them invisible, so if they could leave now, it would be a blessing.

That was his sentiment until one of the guards just so happened to look back and spot them, right as they reached the cathedral's doors.

"It's the shield hero! Stop him!" The guard shouted out.

Naofumi paid them no mind and reached to open the door. But a slab of earth rose from the ground, stopping him in his tracks.

"Mother fu-"

"Do not swear in the lord's house. We don't need any more devils here." The pope ordered, his voice echoing throughout the cathedral.

"I can care less about the commandments of God." Naofumi scoffed. "We have your cardinal. Allow us to leave, or it's her head. You can choose." Naofumi threatened.

"We don't make deals with the devil; kill them."

"[Zweite Holy!]" A group chanted.

Naofumi covered his party in a shield prison, as Angela was engulfed by the holy light, slowly being cooked by its radiant energy.

"He just killed his own priest. Who does that!?"

"An absolute psycho, Raphtalia."

"Sakura, find us a way out. Raphtalia, with me."

"Yes, master."

As the shield prison ended, Naofumi stepped out first. Deploying his Erst Shield. He defended himself against another volley of fireballs, allowing Raphtalia to leap out and attack the mages.

She was swift, knocking two of them down with her scabbard before moving to attack a third. Another priest, however, intercepted the attack and retaliated. Raphtalia narrowly dodged the attack, a bit of her hair getting cut. She then attacked back, knocking the priest out and leaping away as the rest came.

Naofumi stepped in front of her, blocking one sword while catching the other. Using a snake bite on the one he blocked, the priest quickly fell to the ground, the venom entering his system almost immediately.

Naofumi then disarmed the other with a simple pull and casually pushed him aside to take on the other approaching him. With his new methods, however, he effortlessly defended against them all.

Sure, it was a bit difficult attempting to fight so many people at once. But he was virtually invincible. Most attacks would only give him a slight cut, but that only applied to the knights in the room. The priest could only watch on in horror as their blades just bounced off him.

They couldn't even focus on Raphtalia, with how much of a nightmare it was to wrangle the hero down. There was nothing they could do, so they shifted their sights onto the undefended Sakura.

Breaking away from the team, the remaining priest rushes Sakura and Ake, but they were wrong to suspect her to be any easier to take down compared to the other two. As soon as they entered her range, a violent storm of wind blew most of them back.

Hitting the ground hard, one of the priests got up, only to be kicked right back into the ground. It was pretty funny, but that wasn't her goal. Using High Quick. She barreled through the priest and landed in the middle of the congregation of mages and blasted all of them away with a flurry of winds.

"Exit, exit. Damn it!" Sakura swore as she tried the back door, only for it to be blocked off as well.

"Fine! Plan C!" Thinking quickly, Sakura grabbed one of the knights and tossed them out of the way of the windows. Grabbing Raphtalia and Naofumi on the way out, she went through, only to regret it immediately.

"Fire!" A volley of arrows came her way, and she quickly turned around, taking a few to the back, before crashing to the ground.

"Ugh. Damn it, why does it hurt so much!" Sakura whined.

"It was laced with acid, strong enough to melt through steel." Ake's captain boasted.

"What sane person puts acid on a crossbow!"

"We're dealing with the church. That means that none of them are sane." Naofumi grumbled as he faced the captain.

"You think you can transform?" Naofumi whispered.

"Y-yeah. Just give me a bit, and Sakura will be—Sakura winced as she pulled out a bolt. "F-fine."

"Just be ready." Naofum cleared his throat and lowered his shield.

"Alright then. I'm— Naofumi raised his hand, catching it going for his head. Snapping the bolt in two, he cleared his throat once again."

"As I was saying. I shall yield for now. What are your terms of surrender?"

"I already told you, Shield. We do not negotiate with the enemy." The pope said once more, walking onto the scene. In his hand was a gilded sword that looked eerily similar to Ren's.

"You're quite lucky. Right now, this weapon isn't fully prepared. At most, I can only bring out a fraction of its true power. Even still, this should be enough to deal with you promptly." The crowd behind the pope began to pray. And in a similar display, magic began to flow from them and into the sword.

I have a bad feeling about this.

"Raph, I'll buy us some time. So start chanting." Naofumi ordered with a whisper as he stepped forward.

"Be careful. That weapon feels off."

"I'll be fine." Naofumi brushed off Raphtalia's concern.

"Before we start, might I ask? Is that a lesser weapon?" Naofumi asked.

"Curious, I see. Then allow me to introduce you to the holy replica. A copy of the three greatest weapons to ever grace Melromarc.

Dick. Naofumi scoffed. Then again, he didn't like the shield as well. Maybe if he had a bit of attack, his opinion on it would improve. But it didn't, so he still hates it.

"Also, you think you were clever, stalling for time as your companions catch their breath. But we have been preparing your doom from the very start." The pope pointed his weapon into the air, and Naofumi looked up to a massive circle of light from above him.

"You idiot. This is a town! Are you planning on blowing up your cathedral as well!?"

"Whatever do you mean? The shield hero just broke into the cathedral, killed our head cardinal, and resisted arrest when confronted by the Knights Order. Our self-defense is completely justified."

The pope brought his sword down, pointing it at the party.

"Sing praises, as the revelation of the heavens, sing for the death of the shield hero and his companions. Rejoice, for our retribution is nigh!" The pope chanted.

"[Erst Shield!]" Naofumi called out, summoning his shield into the air. But he knew it wasn't enough.

"Raphtalia, Sakura! Now or never!"

"Right."

"As the source of our power, we order thee! Let the way shine through, gather up, and fall. Unleash the wrath of the heavens upon these great sinners! Ceremonial Magic: Judgement!"

"[Shield Prison!]"

The church collectively brought down their hands and launched the spell, calling down a beam of light that crashed into Nafoumi's shield. The Erst Shield didn't last long, quickly breaking under the power of the heavenly light. The Shield Prison didn't fare much better, only lasting a bit longer before cracking under the pressure as well.

Now was the moment of truth. There was no time to escape, so he had to be the one to protect them all. If there was any moment in time to see how powerful these methods made him. Now was the moment.

Chimera Viper Shield (awakened) 7/30 R 2

equip bonus: antidote compounding up, poison resistance (medium), skill: "Change Shield" equip effect: poison snake fang (large), long hook

mastery level: 5

Item enchant lvl 7: piercing resistance 11%

Status enchantment: magic defense 28

Raising his shield high, the light crashed into him, the strength and speed of the spell forcing him to his knees. The members of the church laughed, awaiting the shield hero's destruction. But Naofumi didn't waver. Forcing himself back to his feet, he defiantly stood with a shout, holding out until the light expanded, blinding all the clergymen, before finally dissipating.

Once the smoke cleared they readjusted. The priest and knights began to cheer, as the shield hero was gone, the only thing left being a few pink feathers from his companions.

The destruction may have been great, with their temple being significantly damaged by the attack, along with a scorched crater in the ground. No one cared and celebrated the shield hero's death.

Everyone except one person. Prideful or not, it didn't take a genius to realize the implications of this disappearance. One option is they did successfully kill the shield hero and obliterated him with no traces left. Though as much as he wanted it to be the case. It was very unlikely.

The other option is he escaped while everyone wasn't looking.

With a grumble. The pope handed the replica back to the priest and sent them home for the night. The livelihood of the shield hero would be the least of their concerns at the moment. The citizens, knights, and later kings would most certainly want to know what the hell happened. Falsifying evidence is a very difficult process. But thankfully, they had what they needed already.

"May the lord guide your soul to paradise, Angela. You've done very well."

/~/

Extra Story: Ren's huge mistake

"[Dark Flame Pallet!]"

"[Lightning Retribution!]"

Lightning and plasma clashed with each other, spiraling into a pillar of elemental energy that lit up the sky. Both dragons let out a mighty roar, with Draco swooping down, grabbing the dragon by its neck, and pinning it to the ground.

In a last-ditch attempt, the dragon opened its mouth, unleashing a breath of black flames. But Draco countered with her own, unleashing a stream of lightning that held back the drakes.

"I'll finish this off with one strike." Ren leaped off a set of rocks, his blade bursting into flames in the shape of a dragon. "[Dragon Buster!]"

Driving his blade into the dragon's head, it roared out in pain one final time. The breath of black flames slowly died out, with its body finally falling limp shortly afterward. The dragon had been slain.

"We did it!" Draco cheered before falling to the ground. She's a mage, but she could act as a tank if needed thanks to her resilient scales. She would have to admit that wrestling down a much larger dragon to keep the aggro off Ren was very difficult. But it was all worth it to keep him safe.

"It seems you're getting a lot stronger. This new sword."

Companion Sword I C (Awakened)

Equip Bonus: Ally Malturation Adjustment (Small), Ally Stat Adjustment (Small)

Mastery: 100

Paired with his newest sword, alongside the monster user series of weapons that had a similar effect. Draco had been improving faster than most. It also helped that as a pure dragon, her stats are already naturally high.

"Of course I did. I'm a top-grade dragon after all." Draco leaped back to her feet and rushed over to the corpse.

"Draco, what are you doing?"

"It's core. It's calling out to me."

"Core?"

"That purple crystal you absorbed into your weapon. I'm calling dibs on this one." Draco grinned.

"Guess I did absorb it." Ren pondered. It gave him the Dragon User Shield I and II. It also had a similar effect to the monster user shield, only increasing the amount of power Draco gains on a level. If the crystal had a similar effect, then it would be best if she had it personally.

Agreeing to her terms, Draco continued to dig while he absorbed some of the dragons for himself. It didn't give anything important, much to Ren's annoyance. Draco, however, was overjoyed as she finally found what she was after. It was pretty large. About the size of a large rock compared to his pebble-sized shard. Perhaps it held more power in comparison to his. That's usually how it goes in games.

"I guess we can make it into a necklace or something to account for its si-" Before Ren could finish, Draco transformed, tossing the crystal into the air before swallowing it in a single gulp.

"Never mind." Draco… Draco?" Ren snapped his fingers, but he got no response. After a bit, however, she finally came back to her senses.

"Huh, what?"

"You suddenly went silent? Is everything good?

"Yeah, just... a lot of info. Dragon Vein, and a… dog. Speaking of which, we need to move." Draco flew off in a hurry, almost as if she was concerned about something.

"Hey, don't just run off alone!"

Wrapping onto her tail with his rope sword. He hung on for dear life until she reached her desired location. This wasn't the first time they did this; Draco is usually hyperactive like this. What he didn't expect, however, was the location she took him to.

It was the dragon's cave. And compared to other drakes, he couldn't fathom what he saw. There were no mountains of treasure, no ash of the fallen adventures. It was just furniture. Tables, chairs, and, for some reason, a couch were all inside. Over in the corner, he went through piles of clothing and only stopped once he found a pile of female undergarments as well.

"Draco, you sure this is the dragon's cave and not some hobo's place?" Ren blushed.

"It's complicated. The memories are jumbled and mixed, but I feel as if there's something here to protect." Draco clutched her head a bit before finally locking onto a wall. Placing her hand on the wall, it began to glow before finally opening itself up.

"Secret passage. And over here is." Draco did something similar to the wall next to her, opening the vault of the stash of gold in the drake's possession. "Jackpot… no, that's not it."

"Eh? That's not it?"

"No… his memory. There's more." Running through the halls, Ren followed his dragon before finally finding a door. Sliding it open, the two were shocked to find the dragon's true treasure.

Only to find a dog girl holding a chubby dragon, with two other dragon eggs around her.

"Aww fuck."