Chapter 13: Sword and Shield vs Spear and Bow
"There's nowhere to run. You're all surrounded." The Bow Hero spoke with a calm composure, surprising Garfiel and Naofumi.
"Yes. Now hand over the princess and that monster."
"I ain't no monster!"
As Garfiel shouted this, a sudden arrow was shot right near his face. He was stunned for a second before he gave an aggravated expression.
"Ya really wanna throw down!"
"That was a warning. Any other movements and you will be put down, mut."
Garfiel gave a death stare to Itsuki, wanting to punch the ever living shit out of him. As he stood still, Motoyasu pointed his spear directly towards Ren.
"You damn traitor! How could you side with this scoundrel!"
"Don't disrespect Naofumi-sama!" Raphtalia shouted as she prepared to pull out her sword only for Ren to stop her. As he did this, he turned towards the Spear hero to respond to what he said with:
"Look, I don't know what you were told but—"
"Told? We saw those knights!" Motoyasu shouted, interrupting the Sword Hero. "They are lucky to even be alive! That damn monster needs to pay for his crimes!"
"I agree. What was done to those knights, that boy needs to atone for such acts."
Motoyasu and Itsuki spoke with anger and a sense of justice, both wanting to bring Garfiel Tinsel to justice for his actions. Ren and Naofumi turned towards each other for a second before turning back to the two heroes.
"Doesn't matter when they were trying to kill the second princess." Ren said, knowing that they'll listen to him. Motoyasu and Itsuki were silent for a moment, processing what was told to them.
"Don't lie to us. Why would those knights try to kill Melty-sama?" Itsuki questioned.
"It's the truth." Melty said, wanting to help Ren and the others out. This drew the attention of all the knights in the area as well as Motoyasu and Itsuki.
"Wait, seriously?" The Spear Hero questioned.
"Yes. Garfiel Tinsel protected me from them."
"Even if it's true Melty-sama, what he did was too far."
Garfiel looks down since he does agree with what Itsuki had just said, something he dislikes. Melty thought back to Garfiel's beatdown on the knights, recalling that it was indeed brutal.
She couldn't rebuttal Itsuki's comment which was something Itsuki and Motoyasu noticed. Before they could say anything to have more about having Garfiel punished, Naofumi stepped into the conversation.
"Those knights deserved it."
"What?" Ren and Melty were taken aback by this.
"Of course you would say that."
"If anybody thinks harming a child is okay, then they deserve death. What Garfiel did to those knights was mercy. If it were up to me, I would make them beg for death."
"That is nothing more than just cruel." Itsuki said as he pointed his bow and arrow right at his face. "That's why you aren't to be trusted, because you are nothing more than a sadistic man."
"At least I didn't cause a whole village to lose their homes. Or messed up a whole country by playing Robin Hood."
"Hey! I overthrew a dictator, like it or not!"
With tension growing among the Shield Hero and Bow Hero, the Sword Hero once again stepped in between to calm everyone down.
"Look, accusing each other isn't going to change the fact that Garfiel did what he needed to protect Melty."
"It's still too far!"
Ren looked at Motoyasu, seeing that he still felt that butchering the knights was overkill. Although he understands what they are trying to say, he knows that Garfiel had good intentions despite the anger he displayed that day.
"Let me ask you something, Motoyasu, Itsuki. What would you do if you were in Garfiel's position?"
"Make them pay."
"Bring them to justice."
Ren expected these answers from both heroes, having a better understanding of them compared to Naofumi. He continued,
"Okay but what does that look like in this scenario? Would you go easy on those trying to kill Melty-sama, knowing that she's not only the second princess but also a child?"
"I...eh..."
Both Spear and Bow heroes were silent when this was asked since realistically they wouldn't show mercy for anybody that would harm a child.
Itsuki would see it justified to harm the person since they know they are harming someone that can't protect themselves. Motoyasu would feel almost the same since he wouldn't allow someone like that to live.
As the tension seems to be dying down, another voice spoke out to get everyone's intention:
"You mustn't listen to them!"
This voice caught everyone's attention with Naofumi and Garfiel being the main ones that were angered by it. As they all turn, it is revealed to be Mai. She was approaching the heroes while giving a serious expression.
'Th's damn bitch.'
Garfiel quickly got into a fighting stance as he got in front of Melty to protect her. Mai noticed this but ignored it for now since she needed to make a 'point'.
Once she was close to the Bow and Spear heroes as well as having everyone's attention, she spoke out:
"The devil possesses a brainwashing shield. That accursed shield lets him take over one's mind just by talking to them."
"Th'fuck?!"
"That's nonsense!"
"That's not true!"
"Wha...Who would believe such a lie?"
Mai crossed her arms as she confidently continued speaking, ignoring Raphtalia's question:
"The Three Heroes Church has found that heretics who worship the Shield have started popping up in the past month."
"Those guys again?" Naofumi questioned, having been a second time since hearing the church mentioned outside his and Ren's party members. Mai turned towards the Shield Hero while also pointing right at him:
"The Devil of the Shield called himself 'The Savior of the Heavenly Fowl' and went around brainwashing innocent people!"
"Sister?"
"Melty, you poor thing. I see the Devil of the Shield has already brainwashed you."
"What kind of bullshit's th's!" Garfiel shouted as he slowly approached the bitch with these wild accusations. " 'f th'Shield guy had some kind 'f crap like th't, then he wouldn't need t'be runnin' from th'likes 'f ya!"
"Yes, like Garfiel said. It wouldn't make sense for Naofumi to be on the run if he had access to such an ability."
"It makes total sense." Mai once again opened her mouth. "Make everybody believe he's a misunderstood guy only to secretly build a cult of his own to eventually take control."
"That's crazy!" Naofumi shouted, having had enough of the bitch's bullshit. "If I had an ability like that, we wouldn't be arguing like this at all."
"Then prove it. Prove that you can't do that." Mai said as she smiled statistically.
This only pissed him off since he hated that smile, causing his emotions to start reaching the point where the curse series could activate once again.
Itsuki and Motoyasu both were on guard when they saw Naofumi starting to lose his temper, prompting their respective party members as well as the knights behind them to also get themselves ready for a fight.
Ren, who didn't want a fight to break out, quickly thought of something that could end in this being peaceful.
"Why don't we all head back to the capital together? We can speak with the king and tell him the situation. I'm sure he would understand that Garfiel only harmed those knights to protect his daughter. That way we can avoid a fight all together."
Motoyasu and Itsuki turned towards each other, seeing this idea from Ren...not problematic.
Although neither wanted to deal with Naofumi, especially in Motoyasu's case, they were willing to give this a chance.
They lowered their weapons with Itsuki being the one to speak:
"That's actually not a bad idea. If that criminal is willing to comply, then we can end this peacefully."
"Naofumi?" Ren asked, knowing that this isn't the ideal situation for him. Naofumi looked at Ren, a little pissed that he chose this way but he can acknowledge that he's trying to get them out of a fight.
"Sure."
If it means he can get this over with and get back to going around as the 'Heavenly Fowl' with his party.
Motoyasu and Itsuki looked at him with a serious expression before turning towards the knights, giving the signal that they could stand down.
Just as it seemed like things were finally going their way, Naofumi and Garfiel noticed that Mai was smiling in a very off way.
Garfiel doesn't trust this since it reminds him of The Bowel Hunter. For Naofumi, he's seen that smile before, when he was convicted for crimes he never committed that horrible second day in this world.
As he and the demi human boy were suspicious of this now, Melty approached Naofumi to get his attention by pulling his arm. This caught his interest as the next thing she said was:
"I think...I think that they will kill us..." The way Melty spoke was one of a scared girl. She was pale and she was shaking, which made him confirm his thoughts.
'Of course, have the second princess go to a mage to get rid of 'the brainwashing' only to have some 'curse' kill her and pin it on me. Not only that but also screw Ren over since he's been advocating for me.'
He knows that Melty dying will also result in both him and Garfiel being killed.
'Just as things were about to go easily.'
"Hey Ren, I'm sorry about this but it seems like we'll need to do things the hard way."
"What are you—?"
"Air Strike Shield!"
As Naofumi summoned a floating shield, he sent it straight towards Motoyasu's direction, managing to hit him and send him flying into a few rocks.
Once knocking the dangerous one out of the two, Garfiel immediately took his chance to knock Itsuki out of the fight by charging at him and managing to land a punch on his face.
As he sent the Bow Hero flying, Mai quickly ran away to give the knights around a chance to protect her.
These knights targeted Ren first, viewing him as a threat.
Ren shook his head since he's a little annoyed that the peaceful option was thrown out the window...however, he does trust that Naofumi has his reasons to not trust them.
He blocks away their attacks with low effort since these aren't very tough opponents however he knows that they aren't here in bad faith.
He continued to be on the defensive until he noticed Mai trying to harm Melty with one of her fireballs.
'I will not allow that!'
Ren quickly pushed the knights back before swiftly moving towards Melty's direction to protect her from Mai's attack. Once there, he used all of his strength to deflect off the fireball before pointing his sword towards the first princess.
"You say you are here to save your sister and yet you were trying to harm her."
"Tsk. What do you know, brainwashed fool."
"..."
Ren remained silent as he prepared for whatever Mai was about to throw at them only to notice Motoyasu charging right at him.
'He's recovered already?'
He was both surprised but impressed, seeing that Motoyasu had gotten stronger...then again both him and Naofumi hadn't had a chance to see Itsuki and Motoyasu at their strongest thanks to Glass. He got himself into his fighting stance as he prepared to clash with the Spear hero.
'Ready.'
Just as it looked like Motoyasu was going to attack him, he saw him suddenly pass by him and aim right towards Naofumi.
"Naofumi!"
The Shield Hero heard the Sword Hero, prompting him to turn towards his direction only to see Motoyasu gunning it towards him.
Ren tried to stop Motoyasu only to sense a few arrows fired directly towards him.
He blocked these attacks away in order to see that Itsuki had recovered and was targeting him.
As Ren was put in the position to face off against Itsuki, Naofumi changed his shield to its strongest form before managing to parry the Spear Hero's attack.
As he blocked Motoyasu's attack, he quickly pushed him away while saying:
"Back off!"
"No! I won't let you get away with brainwashing Filo!"
"Tsk!"
He looked annoyed as he began to block away the Spear Hero's barrage of attacks, trying to avoid getting hit by his opponent. While he continued on the defense, Garfiel eventually jumped in and started to deflect Motoyasu's attacks.
"The hell are you doing here!?"
"Helpin' ya. Now go protect th'princess!"
As Garfiel said this, he barely was able to dodge one of Motoyasu's attacks before going for a punch. To both heroes' surprise, the demi human boy was able to land a hit which stunned the Spear Hero.
Naofumi didn't like that Garfiel interrupted his fight but considering that the opponent that's actively trying to harm the second princess is the same person that made his life a living hell, he can't help but want some form of payback.
He ran from this fight, allowing Garfiel to take control of the battle.
"Where do you think your goi—?!"
Motoyasu was interrupted as Garfiel threw a flurry of punches towards the Spear Hero, getting his attention.
"Yer opponent's me, the Shield of the Sanctuary!"
Motoyasu looked extremely annoyed at Garfiel, changing his focus onto the demi human boy due to being forced on the defensive.
"Piss off! Can't you see you are helping the one who's brainwashed you!"
"Are ya th't stupid? My amazin' self can't be brainwashed 'f I can act on my own. Thought yer smarter than th't."
"Don't you think yourself smarter than me!" As he shouted this, he quickly attempted to stab the boy in the chest.
Right before it managed to hit, the demi human boy was able to knock the attack away before trying to land a kick onto him.
Motoyasu manages to evade this quickly before landing a hit to his opponent's face with the shaft part of the spear.
This hit was strong enough to send Garfiel flying a few feet away.
"You cocky bastard. Don't underestimate me!" Motoyasu spoke with a stern tone. "I wasn't trying this entire time but since you refuse to listen, I'll just have to kill you."
Right when he was about to attack, he was suddenly kicked in the back, which stunned him for a bit before turning towards his back side.
"Who did that?!"
As he saw who it was that had kicked him, his anger had disappeared since it was the one person he didn't wish to harm.
"Filo..."
He paused for a moment all the while Filo looked at him with an angered expression.
"Leave Garf alone!"
As she said this, she transforms into her filolial form before charging right at him.
The Spear Hero was able to block these attacks reluctantly, not really wanting to battle her.
"I...I don't wish to fight you, Filo—"
"Then go away!" Filo continued to attack the Spear Hero, forcing him to throw something right towards Filo's leg.
Once this contraption caught onto the filolial's leg, she was suddenly turned into her human form.
"What?"
Filo tried to transform again into her filolial's form only for nothing to happen.
"What's going on?"
"Sorry Filo but I need you to stay out of this fight." As he said this, he turned back towards Garfiel. He noticed the demi human boy was not only back up but he took off what's left of his shirt while giving a stern look at him.
"Yer gonna pay fer th't."
As he cleaned off the blood from his face, he got himself into his fighting stance, preparing for whatever Motoyasu was going to throw at him.
After a few seconds, their battle began with the Spear Hero going on the offensive.
Garfiel observed the way his opponent was thrusting his spear, the speed and strength he put behind each attack.
Once he had an idea on how his opponent fights, he began to dodge all of the attacks thrown towards him with precision.
Motoyasu took notice of this, prompting him to shout:
"Is dodging all you can do?!"
"Yer a tough bastard, I'll give ya th't. But yer also a cocky bastard, which is why yer gonna lose!"
As Garfiel responded with these words, he managed to close the distance between the two and landed a punch onto the Spear Hero.
This punch was with all the force he could muster, wanting to knock him out of the fight.
Motoyasu was sent back a few inches, taking the impact of the hit and coughing a bit of blood before looking at him with a serious expression while breathing heavily.
"...I must say, you are pretty tough. But lucky me I had equipped strong armor in the case something like this happened."
He got back into his fighting pose as he had one last thing to say to Garfiel before continuing their battle:
"I have been underestimating you. You are indeed a capable fighter, but you are nowhere near my level."
The moment he said this, he began to glow as he prepared to use an ability on the demi human boy, acknowledging Garfiel Tinsel's strength by doing this.
"Shooting Star Spear!"
As he shouts his ability, his spear begins to glow before firing an energy beam which splits into multiple energy beams.
Garfiel was shocked when this happened, prompting him to quickly jump back in hopes of avoiding these energy beams.
As he was jumping all around as fast as possible to avoid getting caught by the energy beams, Filo looked at the battle between the two.
She hated feeling helpless, watching everyone fight except for her.
She turned towards Melty's direction to see that the first princess was trying to attack her once again.
Before Mai's attack could hit Melty, Naofumi shouted:
"Ait Strike Shield!"
A shield appeared in front of the second princess, countering Mai's flame projectile attack.
Once this happened, the Shield Hero appeared in front of Melty to be her guardian.
Him and Mai glare at each other, prompting the atmosphere around them to have a large amount of hostility.
The silence between the two break when Naofumi says:
"You are just born scum."
"And you are just as foolish as ever. Now die!"
Mai continued to throw more fire energy projectiles towards the Shield hero and her sister's direction, wanting to kill both of them.
Naofumi continued to block away these attacks, giving it his all to protect not only himself but also the second princess.
Although these attacks won't pressure him anytime soon, he does find this scenario insane.
'She's such a crazy bitch if she also wants to kill her own sister.'
While he continued to block, Mai continued to attack with everything she had only to suddenly be hit in the head by a random rock.
"What the? Who threw this?!"
She looked at the direction the rock was thrown, seeing that it was Garfiel. He looked at her with a smug look before returning his focus onto his battle with the Spear Hero.
"How dare you attack her while she's distracted?!"
Garfiel just ignored what Motoyasu had said before returning to focus on dodging the Spear Hero's attacks.
Mai looked annoyed but before she could retaliate, Naofumi quickly summoned a projectile shield and sent it towards her direction.
She noticed this attack but right when it hit her stomach area, sending her flying back. A couple knights saw this, prompting them to go and target Naofumi.
Motoyasu also saw this and was immediately infuriated, prompting him to abandon his fight with Garfiel to go teach the Shield Hero a lesson.
"Oy! Where ya think yer goin'?!" Garfiel shouted as he gave chase, trying to block Motoyasu from reaching Naofumi. As Motoyasu was about to reach Naofumi, Raphtalia suddenly appeared and clashed with him.
"What?!"
"You won't hurt Naofumi-sama!"
Determined to protect her master, she went on an aggressive offense on the Spear Hero.
He didn't really want to fight against her, but he knew that he wasn't going to reach Naofumi at this rate if he doesn't beat her.
He blocked all of the attacks to the best of his ability, waiting for the right moment to strike back.
However, he didn't realize until now that Raphtalia was as strong and as fast as her.
This pissed him off since he's heard from those in the kingdom that the cardinal heroes are supposed to be the strongest of them all.
'How the hell did she reach my level?'
Motoyasu gave a serious expression as he quickly jumped back, trying to gain a distance before charging in to gain the upper hand.
Rapthalia saw this and quickly managed to counter this, throwing a barrage of strikes right towards the Spear Hero.
This forced him to be on the defensive once again.
As he was being pushed back, he was suddenly grabbed from his back side before being tossed towards a rock a few feet away.
"Got ya!"
As he shouted this, he checked on Raphtalia first.
"Ya okay, Talia?"
"Yes, Garf."
"Good."
He nodded at her before the two went to give Naofumi some assistance.
Mai continued to use powerful fire spells to try and kill her sister, not wanting to get close since she knows she can't do much with Naofumi in the way.
The Shield Hero continued to block, preparing to create a counter-attack only to notice both Garfiel and Raphtalia approaching.
The two were eager to assist Naofumi, especially if it involved facing the one that did the most damage to him.
"Tsk." She gave a pissed off expression when seeing the two demi humans by the Shield Hero's side, seeing that Motoyasu failed once again.
She was contemplating on whether she should make a run for it or even try to kill both demi humans first before attempting to kill her sister.
Before she made a choice, she noticed a sudden large rock to be thrown towards her.
"What the?!"
"How do ya like th't?!" Garfiel shouted proudly.
Before the rock could hit her, an arrow was fired at the rock.
The moment the arrow landed on the rock, it exploded which saved Malty from receiving damage.
Malty, Garfiel, Naofumi, Melty, Raphtalia, and Filo all turned to see that Itsuki had managed to fire an arrow before returning his focus on fighting Ren.
Although in terms of strength, Ren is stronger, he still can't get careless against Itsuki.
He continued to block away all of his attacks, trying to close the gap between the two.
Itsuki continued to jump back to continue to be on the offensive while beginning to shout:
"Get up, Motoyasu. This is no time to mess around."
"...y-yeah, yeah." Motoyasu said as he slowly got back up, pissed off at Garfiel for throwing him into a rock.
"Man, you are a pain in the ass."
He began to charge his spear to send a powerful projectile attack onto Garfiel's location.
Once his attack was ready, he thrusted the spear right towards the demi human boy's direction while shouting:
"Burst Lance!"
On the tip of his spear, a red energy was fired right towards Garfiel Tinsel's direction.
The moment this happened, Malty took the chance to also fire another powerful projectile at the group while commanding the few knights at appeared right by her side:
"Take them down!"
"Yes, princess." One of the knights responded as they got their bows and arrows out. As everyone fired right towards Naofumi, Garfiel, and Raphtalia's direction, the shield hero quickly moved his right hand up while shouting:
"Get close, all of you!"
Garfiel, Raphtalia, and Filo nodded at what Naofumi shouted before listening to his command.
Once they were close to their leader, Naofumi shouts:
"Shield Prison!"
A cage of shields was formed around them the second he said this with a second later, all the attacks hit this cage of shields.
While all the attacks were being countered by Naofumi's cage of shields, he turns towards Melty to ask her:
"Are you okay?"
"...yes. Thank you."
"Don't thank me just yet, second princess. We aren't out of this yet."
As he said this, he turned towards forward while speaking to his party members:
"Garfiel, Raphtalia, get ready to get Melty out of here."
The two nodded and waited for the exact moment the cage broke to grab Melty and Filo before making a run for it.
The goal of the situation as never really been to beat the Spear hero and Bow hero's respective parties along with them, but to protect the second princess Melty Q Melromarc.
As the pair were successful in getting the two little girls to safety, Naofumi didn't hesitate to first turn his attention to Malty.
After all the crap he and his trusted party members have to deal with thanks to her has been boiling his blood for some time.
Now that he has some excuse to attack her, he didn't hesitate to take it.
He created a green shield projectile before having it be sent right towards the first princess's direction.
Malty noticed this and quickly jumped back in order to avoid this attack, leaving her pissed that the shield hero even dared to attack her.
Right as this happened, Motoyasu looked at Naofumi with anger.
"How dare you attack Mai!"
He once again charged his spear before sending another red energy right towards Naofumi's direction.
The Shield Hero noticed this and quickly created a floating green shield projectile to be used as a counter to Motoyasu's attack.
As Naofumi's defense was enough to counter Motoyasu's attack, he prepared to use Air Strike Shield only for Ren to suddenly try to attack the spear hero while he's not paying attention to him.
"What the hell?!" Motoyasu shouted as he barely had enough time to react to Ren's attack.
"Naofumi, get Princess Melty out of here!"
"What are you doing? I have this perfectly under control!"
"We can't afford to waste any time. My party and I will handle this, get yours out of here!"
As he said this, he quickly blocked one of Ituski's fire arrow attacks before grabbing Motoyasu's hair to get his attention.
"Ow! Hey! What the hell?! Don't just pull another guy's hair—ouch!"
Ren didn't really care what Motoyasu had said and just continued to keep the attention all towards him.
Naofumi didn't want to leave Ren behind since he and his party members would for sure be in trouble for helping them escape.
However, none of this would matter if Malty manages to find some way in killing her own sister.
Given everything that's going on, he knows that the smart thing would be to take Melty to safety.
Before giving the order to retreat, he had something to say to Ren.
"Don't you dare lose."
"Not planning to."
As Ren said this with a smile, confident in his abilities to hold off against Itsuki and Motoyasu.
While he was keeping them distracted, the Shield Hero turned around to tell his party members:
"Let's get out of here, now!"
"Oi, wait. What 'bout—?"
"We should get going, now!"
As Noafumi said this, Raphtalia noticed the contraption on Filo's leg.
She didn't hesitate in destroying it, allowing Filo to turn into a filolial once again.
"Yay! I can transform again!"
"Filo! Focus! We need to get Melty out of here!"
"Understood."
Filo waited as Melty, Naofumi, and Raphtalia got on her back.
"Get on, Garf." Raphtalia shouted with Garfiel responding,
"Just go, I'll follow behind ya'll!"
Naofumi was in no mood to waste any more time, he turned towards Filo to tell her to start moving.
Filo understood and quickly started to run towards the forest in order to get her friend and the others out of there.
As she was making her way into the forest, Malty quickly tried to attack.
"I won't let you get away!"
"And yer not doin' shit!" Garfiel shouted to Malty's response, having managed to hear it from a distance.
She looked up and saw a random large tree tossed towards her direction, prompting her to jump out of the way.
As this happened, Garfiel smiled as he stomped his right foot with all the force he could muster in order to destroy part of the mountain in order to buy them time to escape since their opponents would have to go around to try and catch them.
'Th't should hold them off fer now.'
As Garfiel thought this, he looked at Ren.
He was worried for his sake since the Sword Hero and his party are stalling to buy Naofumi and the others time to take Melty to safety.
He didn't wish to leave them behind though he was shocked when he suddenly heard Ren shout:
"Go Garfiel!"
"Yeah, get out of here!"
"We can handle ourselves!"
"Just make sure to protect Princess Melty!"
"Now go!"
Ren and his party members all shouted one after another, wanting to reassure the demi human boy that they'll be fine.
Garfiel understood and quickly ran into the forest to join up with Naofumi and the others. While he did this, Ren jumped back as he looked at both Motoyasu and Itsuki.
"I won't let you reach Naofumi or his party."
"You do realize you are helping someone evading justice, right?"
"Not only that but you do realize it's two of us against one of you."
Ren was silent for a moment, not really wishing to fight the Bow and Spear heroes since they have a duty to work together against the waves.
"What? No words?" Motoyasu questioned.
"Do you think you are better than us?" Itsuki remarked as he prepared to fire the arrow at him. Ren looked with a serious expression before responding with:
"No, it's nothing like that. I don't want to fight either of you, but for the sake of Princess Melty and for Naofumi, I won't back down."
As he said this, he charged at the two heroes, confident in his skills.
Author's note:
GreenWarrior291 here, so a few things ended up happening that made not only this story halt but the others as well. For one, my co-writer and I have decided that I continue this story on my own so it'll just be me from here on out. The other was losing the family dog recently, that sort of made it hard to write. Since Shield Hero Season 3 has had three episodes out and I've had time to get my motivation to write back, I'll do my best for the next chapters to not take as long.