Chapter 24: Cardinal Heroes vs Three Heroes Church: Part 4
Ren and Motoyasu charged at the Priest, being the offense while Naofumi awaited his moment to strike since the Wrath Shield had some pretty destructive abilities that would surely do some serious damage to the Priest, though the usage from these abilities would cost him a heavy price.
While Naofumi was remaining on the back, Ren and Motoyasu were giving it their all in attempting to land a hit onto the Priest as he was blocking their attacks with the Replica weapon's Spear variation.
As the two were doing this, Ren wielded his Blessed Series Sword, moving with blinding speed despite the injuries he had suffered from days of torture.
However, his critical flaw remained—any hit, no matter how minor, could leave him vulnerable and potentially lead to his death.
Despite this problem, the Sword Hero pushes forward relentlessly, determined to keep the Priest under pressure and prevent him from unleashing further destruction upon the city or on any of his allies.
Motoyasu combined close-quarters combat with calculated ranged attacks, shifting between the two with precision to keep the Priest off-balance while also providing Ren some back up depending on what he needs.
Together, their barrage of strikes forced the Priest to divert his focus from trying to kill Naofumi first towards the two, with his irritation growing with every blow deflected.
As their weapons clashed a good amount of times, the Priest began to waver slightly under their combined onslaught.
This kind of pressure nearly gave Naofumi an opening to take him down only for the Priest to grip his replica weapon tightly before swinging with explosive force, aiming to drive the two cardinal heroes back.
The ground beneath them cracked from the impact of the Priest's attack, sending shockwaves through the air which reminded the three cardinal heroes of the overwhelming power they're dealing with.
Motoyasu barely managed to leap back in order to avoid being caught on the Priest's attack though he did end up crashing into a building unintentionally.
Ren, on the other hand, slid back several feet, his senses having picked up right since this attack would've for sure killed him if he had attempted to block it.
As this attack forced the two back, he swapped the Spear Replica into the Bow Replica version in order to attack Ren since Motoyasu crashed into a building which made attacking him be a waste of an attack.
Ren saw this and prepared to do his best to avoid the attacks only for Naofumi to get in between the two in order to block away the Priest's attacks.
The shield collided with the glowing projectile arrows, scattering them into harmless shards of light.
The Priest was a bit annoyed by this, seeing Naofumi jump in and block away his holy attacks. Ren was also surprised but also appreciating Naofumi's assistance before preparing to go on the offensive again.
The Priest changes the Replica weapon once again from the bow to the sword before using all of his strength to attack Naofumi, having the blade of the Replica Sword clash against the Wrath Shield.
As the Replica Sword clashed onto the Wrath Shield, the power from the two cardinal weapons were causing the air around them to ripple violently, a deafening shockwave blasting outward.
Ren knew that he needed to gain some distance to avoid losing all of his strength due to how strong these shockwaves were.
While he gained some distance swiftly, Naofumi was barely able to push back the Priest's attack, leaving him shocked for a moment that his opponent was as strong as he was.
Regardless of the strength his opponent was showing, he was still standing and hadn't wavered in defeating him.
"Is that all you've got?" Naofumi growled, his voice steady despite the immense pressure.
Sparks flew as the two clashed again, the Priest seemingly increasing his strength, his expression remaining the same calm manner with a smile though Naofumi can tell that there's a hidden anger behind that facade.
Ren and Motoyasu looked at the clash between the two, prompting the pair to help Naofumi by charging right towards their position before swinging their respective weapons at their shared opponent.
The Priest noticed this and quickly began to be frustrated with this back and forth between him and his opponents.
He jumped back as two of his fighters jumped from the shadows to protect him all the while he gained some distance in order to use a special ability he had been saving.
The three heroes were caught off guard by these two random civilians that were preparing to give up their lives all for the sake of The Priest.
Without hesitation, Motoyasu and Ren were able to speed blitz the two civilian fighters and easily knock them out without hurting them too much with a single strike.
As the two did this, Naofumi charged right towards the Priest in order to try and stop him from doing anything.
The priest smiled as one more of his followers jumped right in front of him to protect him from the Shield Demon.
"Die, Devil!"
"Tsk."
The Shield Hero was pretty annoyed by this as the follower of the Three Heroes Church swung his blade right towards his direction.
Naofumi was able to easily block the attack though before he made a counterattack, Ren and Motoyasu reached him and both attacked the follower, knocking him out.
This small distraction was enough for the Priest to cast his awaited ability. He smiled as he spoke the words:
"High-Level Multi-Caster Defense Magic: Cathedral!"
Right as he cast this ability, a resonant bell echoed through the battlefield as radiant light engulfed them.
When the brilliance subsided, a towering cathedral of shimmering mana surrounded them, its walls pulsating with divine energy.
The three heroes were all on guard upon seeing this, knowing that they are trapped in the Priest's little prison he created for them.
"Be on your guard." Naofumi says as he prepares his defenses for whatever the Priest throws at him.
Ren and Motoyasu were silent and still for a moment before the two instinctively attacked the Priest with long range attacks.
"Lightning Spear!"
"Thunderbolt Slash!"
Both attacks were swiftly moving right at the Priest's direction though before both could reach him, he changed his Replica weapon into the Sword variation cardinal type.
Once he did this, he swung the Sword Replica to cancel out the attack from the two heroes before turning at the three with a calm expression.
"Motoyasu." Naofumi spoke, grabbing the Spear Hero's attention. "Attack me when we get close to the Priest."
"What?"
Before Motoyasu could question Naofumi's plan, Naofumi started to run right towards the Priest's direction. Motoyasu hesitated, his grip tightening on the spear.
The idea of striking an ally didn't sit well, but knowing Naofumi to have some sort of plan as well as showing his unwavering determination left him to reluctantly charge forward.
As the two were closing in right at the Priest's location, Naofumi yells at the Spear Hero:
"Motoyasu, now!"
The Spear Hero ran in front of the Shield Hero before swiftly turning around while also swinging his spear weapon right towards him.
Naofumi blocked the attack which triggered the ability of the Wrath shield by causing its flames to increase within seconds.
Naofumi used this to first jump high enough in order to throw these flames directly towards the Priest.
As the flames hit the Priest, he was engulfed in said flames for a moment with Naofumi giving a confident smile as he landed a direct hit.
This smile faded away once the fire had faded away, revealing the Priest to have been unscathed by the attack.
Naofumi's smile had gone away and turned into a serious expression, seeing that his attack had done nothing despite knowing that the attack was capable of doing serious damage.
'Considering how Garfiel took some serious damage when facing me with this shield, it should've worked...though then again...'
He scanned his surroundings once again, realizing that the mana surrounding him and the other two heroes was holy magic.
'The Curse Series is probably treated as demonic power, so it makes sense that it's useless against someone relying on holy magic. That must be why my attack didn't even faze him.'
With this in mind, he was annoyed and felt a bit of frustration for a brief moment before remaining steadfast as well as preparing the Wrath Shield from an incoming attack from the Priest as he changes the replica weapon into the bow variation and points it right towards him.
"Such demonic power, fitting for a demon that's attempting to defy their fate God has set in motion through I, his faithful follower."
"Tsk." Naofumi didn't have a comeback comment to what his opponent just said, if anything it annoyed him all the while he blocked away the attack directed towards him.
Right as it seemed like the Priest's attack was about to break through his Wrath Shield due to the holy magic being a counter to the curse series weapon, Ren and Motoyasu swiftly moved to assist in blocking away the attacks before performing their own counterattacks onto their shared opponent.
The Priest quickly managed to counter the counter attacks from the two cardinal heroes by firing powerful projectiles at their attacks, causing them to get neutralized.
As this happened, Naofumi looked at his two allies as they were both ready to try and close the distance with their shared opponent.
Ren turned for a moment towards Naofumi all the while saying:
"The three of us together can beat him."
Naofumi nodded at what he said, agreeing with the Sword Hero's words before the three charge right at the Priest, with Motoyasu and Ren taking offense while Naofumi focused on defense for the three of them.
While the battle raged on elsewhere, Raphtalia found herself caught off guard by the towering cathedral of shimmering mana enveloping the area.
This was something she wasn't expecting though she knew right away that it was the Priest's doing due to the mana she was feeling from this kind of ability.
This feeling had shifted into being concerned for her master, worried that the Priest could have some edge on the Shield Hero.
She turned towards the direction she came from, only having Naofumi in her mind.
'Please be careful, Naofumi-sama.'
She knows that she can trust Naofumi, knowing that he's not someone to be easily taken down.
Her worry is that she may not see him again.
As this feeling was beginning to grow, she shook her head, remembering what she needed to do.
She needs to find Filo and Garfiel, especially Garfiel with the injury he had received.
Remembering this caused the feelings of concern and worry to shift from Naofumi to Garfiel since the injury he currently has was definitely fatal.
Right before she started to run to search for the two, she sensed a threat nearby which caused her to unsheathe her sword and to be on high alert.
She observes her surroundings before noticing a fireball being sent right towards her direction.
Without hesitation, she jumped high enough to completely avoid the attack.
She turned to see who sent that attack and within a few seconds, she locked eyes with the one person that's caused so much pain to her idol and master.
"You."
"..."
The two were not happy to see the other, with Raphtalia touching her chest as she still remembers nearly being killed by Mai back in the previous wave.
Mai on the other hand viewed Raphtalia as a failure of hers, since she wasn't able to kill her back in the first wave.
Seeing an opportunity to advance her goal in harming the Shield Hero, she smiles sinisterly before telling the demi human girl:
"Are you lost, little raccoon? Looking for your master?"
"..." Raphtalia remained silent, keeping a calm composure though remaining steadfast as she had her sword ready for combat. Mai took note of that, prompting her to say:
"What? Mute all of a sudden?" Mai sneered. "Unable to speak up like the lowlife scum you are? Or do you need your master to hold your hand?"
"..."
Raphtalia continued to remain silent, not letting this bitch get to her which was actually getting Mai to start losing her cool.
"What? You think you are better than me, you peasant?! Better than the future queen?!"
"...You are pathetic."
Mai gave an angry expression upon hearing what Raphtalia had said, prompting her to prematurely start a fight by throwing a fireball towards her.
Raphtalia was prepared for this as she was able to avoid the attack before charging right at Malty, preparing to land a hit on her.
Mai saw this and quickly threw another fireball right towards Raphtalia, to which the raccoon girl managed to dodge this attack before closing the gap between the two.
She swung her sword in an attempt to land a hit on her chest area, trying to end this in one hit though Mai was barely able to avoid the attack.
Right as she barely managed to do this, she quickly used her ability of Wing Blow, a wind based attack to send her opponent flying as well as build some distance between the two.
Upon pulling this off, she goes off into a building nearby in order to gain some distance from her as well as change the tide of this fight between the two.
She had underestimated Raphtalia once before; she wouldn't make the same mistake.
After her earlier encounter with Filo, she knew that direct confrontations with Naofumi's allies could prove disastrous.
The building ahead was shrouded in darkness, its interior cloaked in shadows that Mai could use to her advantage since she wants to kill Rapthalia for both disrespecting her and to make sure that Naofumi loses someone close to him.
Having noticed that the building was completely dark, which would give her a chance to gain the advantage with the darkness, prompted her to run towards the building. Raphtalia noticed this and knew that she was being lured into a trap by Mai since the building was completely dark.
Despite having this knowledge as well as how futile for Mai's case in going to a building of darkness when she can see in the dark to an extent, she knew that even if she decided to ignore her and attempts to try to get to Garfiel and Filo, Mai wasn't going to just let her go in peace.
She tightened her grip on her sword before slowly making her way towards the building, seeing that said building was in complete darkness.
Once inside she keeps her guard up all the while walking with caution.
While walking around, her thoughts returned towards her master, still worried for Naofumi's sake.
Although she was sure that the Shield Hero will beat the Priest, especially since the Sword Hero and the Spear Hero are by his side, she's more concerned about this fight she's in.
She understands that if she loses here, Naofumi will suffer as well as Filo and Garfiel.
She closed her eyes and thought of them for a moment, thinking of all her memories with them for a moment before opening her eyes.
'I won't fail you, Naofumi-sama, Filo, Garf.'
As she was motivated to win her fight, she stepped lightly all the while her ears twitched at every faint sound that echoed through the main hall she was walking through.
Although she could still see her surroundings despite how dark it is for any normal human, she continued to hold tight onto her sword, remaining steadfast.
She continued to use her senses to try and detect any sign for Mai.
As she walks deeper into the darkness of the building, she eventually heard her opponent speak from said darkness:
"Surprised you were stupid enough to actually follow me here, stubborn rodent!"
"..." Raphtalia remained silent, not wanting to give away her position as well as trying to find where precisely her opponent was located.
She looked at her surroundings and could see that at the very least Mai was able to hide pretty well.
"Do you think you stand a chance against me here?" Mai spoke with anger when saying this, frustrated that Raphtalia isn't saying anything back to her. "You are nothing but worthless and dead weight, even if the useless Shield Hero was here to protect you."
Raphtalia remains silent despite of Mai's insults being hurled at her, not letting simple words get to her.
After a few steps forward, she halted as her senses indicated danger was heading her way.
Trusting that she can do this without her vision, she closed her eyes and waited for a moment before quickly moving out of the way as she felt the wind approaching her at a quick pace.
As she was able to avoid said attack, she picked up some footsteps heading towards her direction, allowing her to move out of the way from what seemed like a close range attack.
Once managing to avoid the attack, she swung her weapon in the direction she felt Mai was at, however it seemed like she missed since her sword hit nothing but air.
Upon realizing this, she opened her eyes and was able to catch Mai as she attempted once again to try and stab her.
Under those who couldn't see in the dark, this would be a dire situation...though fortunately for Raphtalia, she isn't one of those that would fall under this category.
She was prepared to use her main sword to counter the attack, she recalled the gift the store owner gave her through Naofumi.
The two didn't really know how the "sword" worked though upon the distance being closed between her and her current opponent, she could feel the sword's power.
This prompted her to grab that sword and to use that instead of her main one.
The second she pointed the hilt right towards Mai, it began to create a mana based blade that pierced through the bitch's chest.
This left her stunned for a bit as all of her mana as well as energy had depleted at that very moment.
As she was stunned for a moment, Mai looked at Raphtalia's direction with intense disdain before saying with whatever energy she can muster:
"Wh-What...th-th-the...hell did you...do to...me?"
"..."
Raphtalia remained silent as she pulled the mana sword out of Mai's chest, which caused her to collapse onto the ground.
As she was barely conscious, Raphtalia was preparing to kill Mai though she felt that doing this will only cause trouble for Naofumi.
Despite her being the source of majority of his problems, her being killed without his name being cleared would complicate things.
Not only that but she pitied her situation, unable to move and left in a dark place all alone.
She sheathed her sword and just gave her a glare before making her way out of the building, feeling nothing by this fight other than concern of Garfiel's condition.
'I wasted enough time. I need to get to him.'
She starts to make her way out of the building though right before she had left, Mai using the last of her energy had one last thing to say to her:
"You think...you won...but no matter...what that fool or you do...he'll never...live a normal life...not while the world knows the truth...of what he did..."
Raphtalia paused upon hearing this, knowing that there's some truth to this bitch's words.
The world currently views Naofumi as a monster, though that is thanks to Malty's lies.
If she wants her master to have a better life in this world and to no longer have people distrust him because of the lies Malty had spread out, she will need to find a way to undo the lies.
With that in mind, she leaves Mai alone as she finds her way out of the building right in the way she came in before quickly attempting to leave the cathedral that surrounds a large portion of the city.
As Raphtalia attempts to find a way out, Melty and Filo just barely manage to reach the castle with a few of the King's men guarding the gates to the castle while also letting civilians in.
Upon seeing Melty riding onto Filo and approaching them, one of the guards quickly ran towards Filo and Melty's direction, closing the distance between the two swiftly.
Once he was close to them with Filo stopping on her tracks, the only words the soldier could say at first was:
"Melty-sama? What are you doing here? You need to get into the castle now."
"I know, but we need your help. We need to take him to a healer."
Although she would try to use her own healing abilities to try and help Garfiel, her current state of mana isn't enough for the injury that the demi human boy has.
The soldier turned towards Garfiel's direction and lucky for the demi human boy, Filo, and Melty that the soldier didn't recognize him and was more concerned by the amount of blood he was losing by the second.
He quickly approached Garfiel and checked on him, finding that he's still alive despite the amount of blood he had lost. He turns towards Melty to tell her:
"Alright, let's get him inside quickly."
"Thank you."
As Melty said this, the soldier nodded before having Filo follow him into the castle.
The other soldier noticed this and was going to help though considering that there aren't a lot of them at the front monitoring as well as making sure nothing happens to the civilians heading inside, he remains in his post.
While reaching the inside of the castle, Melty turned towards Garfiel while holding his hand, wanting to do her best to comfort him as he's fighting for his life.
'Hang in there Garfiel, you'll be healed soon. I won't let you die.'
As her hopes remain high that they'll be able to save him, the battle continues to rage on with Naofumi and the other two cardinal heroes beside him.
Despite the three managing to somehow be pushing the Priest into a corner, magic from not only his faithful followers but also some citizens from the capital that worship the Three Heroes Church were feeding him mana whether it was intentional or not.
This posed a problem since it kept the Priest from seemingly running out of resources to counter the three, prompting the three to have to be reserved with their attacks and avoid spending all their magic against the Priest until they know for sure that he's vulnerable and can no longer sustain his mana reserves.
Each attack needed to count, forcing them to carefully balance between offense and defense while waiting for the opportune moment to strike decisively.
"Commendable for a demon to hold out this long against the one chosen by God himself. It is commendable, if not futile."
As he said this to Naofumi, he turned towards Ren as he noticed him closing in on him. He swapped his Replica Weapon from the Bow variation into the Sword variation before clashing with him.
"It is shameful that you have fallen down the wrong path, Sword Hero. You looked like you had so much potential to be the greatest hero. Unfortunate on how you decided to side with the devil himself, especially after saving a village from a plague."
"A plague I had caused." Ren corrected as he reflected on that moment where he had returned to that village and found it in near ruin for having been careless. "If it wasn't for Naofumi, I don't think I would've learned what I did wrong. I'm not sure if I would've been the hero I am now without him or his party. That's why I chose to side with Naofumi, because despite how cold he acts, how the world rejects him and treats him worse than dirt, he still embodies what it means to be a hero!"
With Ren saying this, Naofumi remained expressionless as he didn't want to show any emotion at this though he was grateful for Ren's words.
Ren managed to push the Priest back with his newfound strength before managing to land a definite hit on his chest, giving him an injury.
Motoyasu and Naofumi were surprised when this happened before Motoyasu cheered on for his friend before charging towards the Priest to back Ren up.
Once he closed the distance, he swung his spear in an attempt to try and land his own attack only for the Priest to barely manage to block away the attack.
Motoyasu was surprised by this for a moment before jumping away from the Priest, gaining some distance as he noticed that his wound received from Ren was slowly healing.
The three noticed this and knew that it was due to one of the possible followers that's nearby healing the Priest.
Seeing this as a problem, Ren turns towards Motoyasu and signals him to try and look for the healer.
Motoyasu caught on to this and quickly backed off from the fight against the Priest in order to search for the healer.
While he did this, Ren quickly closed the gap in order to have the Priest's attention.
Once he was able to get the attention of the Priest, he started to throw a barrage of offensive attacks, trying to land another hit onto him.
As Ren was doing this, Naofumi observed the way the Priest was holding his own.
This annoyed him as well as made him skeptical of the Priest's ability to hold his own against someone like Ren.
Although all of them weren't necessarily skilled fighters, however, he questions how a priest is able to fight this good.
There were two explanations, with the sound one being that they were still amateurs, though his mind was more on the second explanation being that he'd been training to use the Replica Weapon.
His reason for this being how he's holding his own against Ren, who has gotten stronger and is definitely on a higher level than him when he's using the Blessed Series.
This causes him to conclude that the Priest with at least the other three heroes that he was waiting for the right moment before him and his followers try to take over since their first target was the castle where the trash king was located.
Perhaps it was to take them out, that is a possibility however he has a feeling that the King and his family was also a target.
Regardless, his observations are telling him that this Priest shouldn't be underestimated under any circumstances, which prompted him to charge at the Priest and to block away one of the attacks that would've landed onto Ren.
As he was able to block off the attack, the counterattack of the Wrath shield once again was activated which prompted Naofumi to once again try and land some damage by throwing the flames right towards his opponent.
Once the flames landed onto the Priest's direction, it exploded which bought both heroes enough time to gain some distance from him.
As they did this, Naofumi told Ren:
"You need to be careful. That one hit would've gotten you killed."
"Apologies. He's a lot tougher than expected."
"Yeah...that's suspicious that he can hold his own like this."
"Do you think it could be from his followers?"
"That's a possibility, but I think he's been preparing for something like this."
"Maybe...but we need to do something about him and fast. Any longer and he might pull out some kind of ultimate move. I don't think I have the strength to handle any possible strong attacks."
"I know." Naofumi said with an annoyed tone as he was strategizing on what they can do to finally gain the advantage on their shared opponent.
While he was thinking of different possible combo attacks, the Priest slowly walked out of the smoke from Naofumi's attack all the while saying:
"If that attack hadn't worked the first time, why did you think it would work a second time?"
"..."
The Priest looked at the two heroes, seeing that they looked desperate as well as a bit of fatigueness from mainly Ren.
"I did not wish for things to have gotten out of hand. If only you had accepted our generous offer, Fallen Sword. Maybe in death will you be forgiven by God." As he said this in a 'generous' tone before turning his attention towards Naofumi. "As for you, Demon Shield, it pains me to say but you are a skilled warrior. How unfortunate that those skills are to a Devil rather than with someone that follows the path of God."
"Don't speak like you follow God when you attack the city, possibly killing innocent civilians in the process."
"Sacrifices needed in order to achieve the ultimate goal, to eliminate the Devil of the Shield and his followers. To free this kingdom from the foolish Queen and her family that are all selfish, unfit to lead the kingdom."
As he said this, he was preparing to charge a powerful attack, one that he was confident that Naofumi or Ren won't be able to block or dodge.
The two heroes saw this and knew immediately that they needed to do something fast.
Right as the pair were starting to make a move, a couple of arrow-like projectiles were fired directly at the Priest which interrupted him from casting his powerful attack.
Not only that but these projectiles landed onto him with one causing serious damage to him.
Naofumi and Ren were caught off guard by this for a moment before turning towards the direction where the projectiles came from.
Upon looking at the direction they came, they saw that it was from Itsuki.
The Bow Hero had arrived and was continuing to fire more arrow projectiles until he reached Naofumi and Ren's location.
Once he reached them, he lowered his bow down all the while asking the two:
"What have I missed? Where's Motoyasu?"
"He's currently finding any of the Priest's healers that could be around the area. As for what you missed—"
"What are you doing here?" Naofumi questioned with a sharp tone, not happy to see him here. "Aren't you too busy playing the hero?"
"I was looking to hunt you down, you ungrateful piece of..." Itsuki paused himself before letting his anger get to him, recalling the promise he had made with Melty.
He sighed before turning his attention towards the Priest.
"Hate me all you want, scumbag, but for now we need to stop the Priest."
"Ah yes, because I'll just easily trust you after all the trouble you caused for me and my party."
"..." Itsuki remained silent for a moment before pointing his bow right towards the Priest, preparing it for an attack.
"Have you fallen as well, Bow Hero?"
"I have not. I'm the embodiment of a hero, a true hero."
"A delusional one." The Priest swiftly commented.
"Tsk. He's at least not a fraud compared to you." Naofumi said, hating the Priest acting all high and mighty more than the delusional Bow Hero.
Ren and Itsuki were a bit taken aback by Naofumi's comment all the while the Priest remained smiling, as if unphased by the comment.
"As a Devil, you have no concept of what it means to be a hero. As for the two fallen heroes, they had potential, however they've made their choice and have rejected God." As the Priest says this, he lifts the Replica weapon up at the sky as he prepares to cast an attack on the three.
The three noticed this and quickly prepared to fight back.
"I, Itsuki Kawasumi, the Bow Hero, shall stop you here, villain."
"We won't let you get away with this." Ren spoke with confidence.
Naofumi was the only one that remained silent, not needing words to describe how determined he is to put an end to the Priest bastard.
Right as the Priest makes a slight movement, the battle resumes with Itsuki having joined.
While all of this was transpiring, the soldier managed to get Garfiel into the healing chamber, where other wounded civilians were being treated.
The room was filled with the sounds of pained groans and hurried footsteps as healers did their best to tend to the injured.
The sight was overwhelming, both Melty and Filo could only stare in horror at the sheer number of people who had suffered due to the actions of the Three Heroes Church.
"It's worse than I imagined," Melty murmured, her voice heavy with sorrow.
She clenched her fists, trying to maintain her composure, though her heart ached for her people. Filo, standing beside her friend, was just as shaken, though her focus remained solely on Garfiel.
She grabbed onto his hand to stay by his side, hoping that this helps in keeping him alive.
While she did this, Melty prepared to look around in order to check on her people only for one of the soldiers to approach her.
She was uncertain what to think of this soldier at first, knowing that her sister would probably hire some assassin to kill her through being disguised as a soldier.
This hesitation would be taken away when the soldier said:
"Melty-sama, your father is looking for you."
Melty paused for a second before responding with:
"I see."
She figured it was a matter of time before her father started to have her men search for her.
At first she was preparing to decline the soldier since she wishes to help her people though something told her that she should check on her father first.
After all, the Priest had targeted the castle with a massive attack, so her father could've been hurt by the attack.
Once she made up her mind, she turned towards Filo to tell her friend, "I'll be right back, Filo-chan. Wait right here for me."
"Okay." Filo said with a calm tone before also nodding.
Melty nodded back before following the soldier out of the room.
As the soldier and Melty leave the room, Filo turns her attention back to Garfiel.
She tightened her grip on his hand, bringing it close to her chest. "Please, Garf, don't die. We need you."
As she said this, she leaned right onto him, wanting to see him back up on his feet, back in the fight since she's also worried for her master's sake.
While her worry of both Naofumi and Garfiel was running through her mind, she suddenly felt a twitch, a faint twitch from Garfiel's right hand.
Author's note:
Apologies for how long this took, honestly I got sick and it made it hard to write as well as how this was supposed to be the last part of the battle against the Priest though I feel like one more chapter is needed to make the conclusion good in my opinion. Otherwise, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.