Chapter 22: Cardinal Heroes vs Three Heroes Church: Part 2
"The Shield Demon, walking straight into the church. That's quite the boldness from you."
"..." Naofumi remained silent as he was walking towards the center of the church, observing his surroundings while remaining calm.
"You have surprised me, who would've thought that you wouldn't walk into our territory in such a manner. Have you come for repentance? To harm? Or do you truly just believe you can enter wherever you like?"
"..." Naofumi continued to stay silent as he observed the movements of the Priest, having a feeling that something's off with him.
"I suppose that you feel superior enough that you don't need to answer such simple questions. That's fine. Silence can be an answer as well." He turns towards some of his followers and gives a nod before turning back towards the Shield Hero. "With God on our side, we will stop you before you harm anyone else."
Naofumi notices a few civilians approaching him in an attempt to attack him on his back side while he's facing the Priest. Right before they attempted to, Naofumi in a cold tone said:
"If any of you choose to attack, you will die."
With a simple turn towards those that had the idea to attack him, he gave them a dangerous glare that gave them a warning if they wanted to still breath. As they step back, Naofumi turns towards the Priest once again though was caught off guard when a sudden light was heading right towards him.
"Shield Prison!"
As he shouted this, a barrier surrounded him to protect him from the light heading right towards him. As the light touched his barrier, it immediately started to cause the barrier to crack very fast, causing him to slightly panic.
'What is this attack?'
He was sure that if he stayed standing where he is any longer, he would most likely get killed...however, if he moves out of the way, then those behind him would not only get caught by this sudden attack but obliterated.
This annoyed him since he isn't obligated to save any of them, considering that they are here to kill him, though something in him is not just letting him allow them get wiped out by whatever the Priest had done.
He turned around for a moment to see what he could do in order to prevent anyone from being killed, with his thoughts being on using an air strike shield in order to buy himself some time to get people out of the way...though that plan falls apart when he realizes they are most likely not going to listen.
'Damn it all.'
Right before it seemed like the barrier from his shield prison was about to break, his mind drifted towards a thought on Garfiel's shield. When he had absorbed the piece of the shield into his legendary weapon, it gave him a boost in physical attack.
This had allowed him to at least be able to take down some lowest level monsters with a few punches now rather than how long it took back in his first few days in this world.
What made his mind go towards thinking of Garfiel's shield now is that he remembered the shield had some sub-sections of abilities aside from increasing his offensive and defensive stats.
Knowing that he has little time to act, he made the bold choice to change into the twin shield right as the light breaks through the shield prison. With the entire thing collapsing, Naofumi takes a gamble and uses the twin shield to block away the light.
This was indeed something that would've nearly overpower him only for a new ability to be unlocked.
'Hm?'
He observed the new ability that suddenly came out from attempting to push back the attack.
Ability: Beastial Guardian
Type: Active Skill
Cooldown: 10 minutes
Effect: Temporarily enhances strength and defense by 20%
'Beastial Guardian.'
He was a bit caught off guard with this ability name, though he's not complaining as he did feel his strength increase and his ability to hold back the light attack from completely overpowering him.
He continued to hold his ground until the light faded away though once that happened, he began to breathe heavily since this took so much strength from him.
"Hm. I'm a little surprised by this, surviving an attack from this weapon." As the Priest said this, Naofumi looked up and was shocked to see the golden staff the Priest was holding looking exactly like the legendary Staff Motoyasu wields.
"That weapon...that's..."
"Although that was a lower class multi-caster ritual magic, this next attack shall purify with Holy Judgment on your unholy existence."
Right as he moved the golden staff up, it suddenly changed into a sword similar to Ren's Legendary Sword. Naofumi caught on to this and immediately figured that this weapon is one that replicates the cardinal weapons.
"Why'd you summon the heroes if you had a weapon like that?" This question caught the interest of the Priest.
"Ah yes, the ignorance of the Shield Demon. Allow me to correct your ignorant mind, this weapon indeed can copy the four cardinal weapons, however there's a mana requirement with this legendary weapon." As he said this, the weapon he was holding was prepared to send another attack right at Naofumi. "Now, this shall end you for good, Devil of the Shield."
Right before he swung his weapon, Naofumi quickly pointed towards the ceiling all the while he shouted:
"Air Strike Shield!"
A floating shield had been created right above him before he sent that shield directly towards the ceiling.
The floating shield was sent straight towards the ceiling which was able to destroy a portion of it with the broken pieces falling right towards him.
Everyone around him started to run away to avoid being caught, which was a part of Naofumi's plan to keep everyone away as well as allowing him to find an opening to get out of there.
Once the pieces of the ceiling fell around him and created dust around the altar.
The Priest looked with a calm expression as he realized what the Shield Demon had done.
"Hm. Well played, Devil of the Shield. Running away like the serpent you are."
The Priest spoke to just himself, unhappy that Naofumi managed to escape though not worried since he holds all the cards right now. As the Priest turned towards one of his followers, having noticed him approaching him, this follower spoke:
"I'm sorry Father, he got away."
"Don't worry yourself, child of God, there's still a chance to stop the Devil of the Shield." As the Priest said this with a calm expression, he swapped his weapon back into the spear all the while he began to walk outside.
Meanwhile, Naofumi had barely managed to escape though that was due to luck and quickly tried to make his distance from the church while he wasn't being chased by anybody or being attacked.
Once he was able to keep a distance, he had managed to find a shady alleyway to hide in for now. As he took this chance to catch his breath, he suddenly heard an explosion nearby.
'What was that?'
This explosion was out of place, which prompted him to put on a cloak he happened to see nearby on the ground before going to investigate. While he heads off to check on this explosion, he thinks on whether Garfiel and Raphtalia had managed to proceed with the plan without him.
He has some trust in Garfiel Tinsel in regards to a fight, but otherwise he trusts that Raphtalia can handle it.
Once he was close to what smells like smoke, he heard another explosion close by.
A third explosion happened a few seconds later, prompting Naofumi to look up at the sky and notice beams of lights firing all over the kingdom.
'What is he up to?' Naofumi thought to himself with a bit of an annoyed expression, knowing that the Priest isn't just attacking the capital for no reason. He thought of the different possibilities as to why the Priest would do this only to realize it upon a few seconds of thinking.
'This bastard! He's going to pin this on me and my party!'
Immediately seeing the problem, he runs back towards the church to stop The Priest from causing any more damage.
Although running away isn't something he normally does or attempting to save the city where he was accused of serious crimes, he knew that staying in the church any longer would've gotten him killed and that being blamed for this would put a target not only on his head, but also those associated with him.
'Damn him!'
("The Shield Hero entered my room and knocked me down!")
("What?!")
("He tore my clothes as he said "the night is still young"! I barely managed to flee and asked for help from Motoyasu-sama who was in the same inn.")
("What the hell is that?!")
'Damn her!'
("When he's cornered, he starts to say meaningless nonsense.")
("That's right. We should not have any mercy.")
("It was a mistake to have summoned the four.")
("That's right. There was no need to bring the shield hero.")
("I never thought the shield would be so useless.")
'Damn them all!'
Naofumi's anger was slowly building up once again as he was reminded of the day he was accused of a crime by Mai, the bitch herself.
That day is not just the worst day of his life, but the day his kind hearted nature died.
A dark aura was briefly appearing around him, the same one that had appeared before he unlocked the Wrath Shield.
Even with the help of Raphtalia, Filo, Garfiel to an extent, and Melty helping bring back that side of him, remembering this day just brings the darkness in his heart all over again.
He stopped on his tracks for a moment to allow his mind to cool down first before confronting the Priest. As he was taking a few deep breaths to calm his hatred, the aura around him disappeared.
It took more than just a few deep breaths for that to happen, he thought on the first few days with Raphtalia when she was very young.
The first time hearing Garfiel and how he not only didn't read the room, but was cheering for him during his match with Motoyasu.
When he along with Raphtalia and Garfiel took care of Filo prior to her turning into a human girl.
Even some moments with Melty and Ren allowed his heart to find some joy rather than rage.
Although, Ren's still iffy for him since he was still one of the many people that badmouthed him back in that day...though he can admit that the Sword Hero has grown into a genuine hero since those first few days.
Once he was back to a stable mind, he continued to run towards the direction of the church though right before he could arrive, he was suddenly stopped by a sense he got.
It took him a second before realizing that this sense of his was warning him of an attack directed towards him, which prompted him to create a shield barrier around him.
'Shield Prison!'
As the barrier was up, the attack that was sent towards his direction was blocked away though at the same time the shield barrier broke for having tanked said attack.
Naofumi turned towards the direction the attack came from.
Once he saw who was the one that attacked him, he was annoyed since this wasn't an issue he needed to be dealing with as well as the Three Heroes Church.
"What the hell do you want, Itsuki?"
The Bow Hero looked at the Shield Hero with a determined look before preparing to fire another powerful arrow at him. Naofumi swapped to the Chimera Viper variation shield in preparation to face off against the Bow Hero.
Although this is a waste of time, he can tell from Ituski's look that words would be a waste of time as well as a murder intent coming from the Bow Hero's eyes.
Right before he attacked Itsuki, he heard footsteps heading towards his right side.
He turned and noticed that it was the one wearing armor was swinging his axe in an attempt to get him while he was distracted by Itsuki.
He was prepared to block away this attack though he noticed that behind the one with the axe was a magician preparing to attack him as well.
He felt that someone was on his left side, also preparing to attack him.
His mind quickly thought of the different things he could do to get himself out of this situation, eventually coming up with combining two different defensive abilities together. First:
"Shield Prison!"
Right as he did this, the shield barrier started to appear around him though as this happened, Itsuki fired the arrow he had ready right towards him.
He accounted for this and quickly moved his hand towards Itsuki's direction while shouting:
"Air Strike Shield!"
A floating shield was created in an attempt to block Itsuki's attack right before it can land on the shield barrier he has around him. Unfortunately, Itsuki's attack was a second too fast before Naofumi's floating shield could appear.
He realized this and quickly swapped shields to the twin variation shield as he prepared to block away the knight's axe attack first.
Right as he was about to do this, he noticed from his back side another member from Itsuki's group holding an axe as well, about to land a hit on him.
Under normal circumstances he would've tanked it, however, he can feel that these attacks would kill him if he's careless.
Right before any attack could hit them, a cocky voice spoke out:
"We ain't lettin' ya get hurt, Shield Boss."
As this voice said this, Naofumi saw that right in front of him was Garfiel Tinsel as the demi human boy punched away the knight's axe.
Right as this happened, he could hear Garfiel say:
"Told ya th's would work!"
This comment had no context for Naofumi, to which annoyed him for the cockyness Garfiel was displaying for only a second before a second later, he noticed Filo in her filolial form managing to land a kick on the magician's face.
After that happened, a second later he heard the clash of blades from his back side, attracting his attention. Once turned around, he can see that it's Raphtalia protecting him.
"I won't let anyone harm Naofumi-sama!"
As she said this, she was able to push back her opponent, prompting the two to fight. Naofumi was impressed to see his party members in action though he turned towards Itsuki's direction, noticing that he was unhappy with how the situation is folding.
He prepared to fire a powerful arrow at him only for an explosion to suddenly occur on the building he was in.
"!"
"Th'hell?!"
"What was that?"
"Itsuki-sama!"
Everyone stopped fighting when the explosion happened in the direction the Bow Hero was in.
As they turn to see what had happened, Itsuki's party members are extremely worried for their Bow Hero's sake.
The Shield Hero and his party members lowered their guards as the party members were at a loss at what happened.
Naofumi was angry at this since he knew it'd be a problem if Itsuki died.
'Damn that Priest.'
He turned towards the sky and could see that another beam of light was fired once again.
This only caused more chaos to brew in the capital.
'Damn it.'
He feels responsible for all of this, if he'd been a tad bit stronger, he might've been able to beat him on his own.
The Curse Series's Wrath Shield was a possible way to win, though that also came with the risk of losing control and ending up the monster The Three Heroes Church already paints him out to be.
He clenches his fist as he prepares to command his party that they must go to stop the Priest now though a voice spoke to him, directly asking:
"What did you do, scum? What did you do to the great Itsuki-sama?!"
This voice came from the one wearing knight armor, Mald.
He was enraged at what happened to the Bow Hero and is preparing to retaliate.
Right before he attempted to attack Naofumi, Garfiel Tinsel saw this and swiftly prepared to protect The Shield Hero.
He was able to block Mald's attack before managing to land a powerful punch onto his opponent's stomach area, knocking the wind out of him.
Although this did stunned Mald for a brief moment, he was able to provide a counter attack that did some damage to Garfiel's face.
As he took the kick head on, he was a bit surprised by how much that hurt, giving Mald a chance to recover and to try and slice his head off with the axe once again.
Garfiel sensed this and was easily able to not only recover but also avoid getting caught by Mald's attack.
"T'slow, jackass."
"Shut it, scum!"
Mald continues to swing his axe towards the Shield of the Sanctuary with everything he had, trying to land a hit.
Garfiel Tinsel gave a confident smile all the while avoiding all attacks thrown towards him though before he could provide a counter to Mald, an arrow was fired in between them to get their attention.
This halted the two and turned towards the direction the arrow was fired, seeing that it's Itsuki.
"Bow Hero-sama!"
"Itsuki-sama!"
Although he looked badly wounded from the building collapsing onto him, he was able to get out of the rubble pretty quick.
His focus shifted from the two to Naofumi, his expression changing into one of pure anger.
"Enough!" Itsuki said as he approached Naofumi, his anger coming from the explosion that could've killed him.
Once within a few feet away from the Shield Hero, he shoved him all the while yelling:
"What the hell is wrong with you?! Have you no shame?!"
"The hell are you on—?"
"You know what I'm talking about!" Itsuki said as he pointed his bow right on Naofumi's face.
This nearly prompted Raphtalia, Filo, and Garfiel to attack him in order to protect Naofumi until he gave a signal to them to halt.
They were a bit hesitant on that though they trust that the Shield Hero knows what he's doing.
As he saw his party members restraining themselves, he turned towards Itsuki once again.
"If you are referring to the explosions going on, are you not paying attention to the sky?"
"The hell are you on about?"
"Look at the sky!"
"…" He was silent for a second before responding to Naofumi's comment with, "Doesn't matter. I have you in my sights."
"Are you stupid? I'm not the one responsible for all of this!"
"I don't care." The Bow Hero says as a small hint of red ish aura started to surround him. Naofumi was alarmed by this aura, making him think that perhaps Itsuki is under the influence of the curse series.
'Could he be under the curse series?'
He thought back to when he was under the influence of the Wrath Shield in the previous wave, recalling that there was a sinister aura when using that series.
Seeing Itsuki using a similar looking aura around him makes him think that perhaps at some point he had unlocked the curse series.
If that's the case, then he knows that things have gotten way more complicated than he wants the situation to be.
'I don't have time for this.'
He prepared to react in self defense, the others from both heroes' parties were on edge as they weren't sure what to feel on this.
The Bow Hero's party members were excited to see their hero having a shot at eliminating the Shield Hero.
Garfiel, Raphtalia, and Filo looked at Naofumi and Itsuki with a serious expression, the three not liking how close the Bow Hero was pointing his weapon to their leader.
Just as it seems like things are about to go all wrong, Itsuki notices something and quickly points his bow above him and fires a powerful arrow at the light attack that was heading towards them.
Naofumi turned towards the attack and quickly created a floating shield to block the light attack, knowing that Itsuki's attack wasn't going to do much.
As the floating shield managed to just barely counter the light beam, Itsuki pointed his bow right back at Naofumi.
"What the hell was that?"
"An attack from the Priest."
"The Priest?! The hell are you on about?!" Itsuki questioned with an angered tone. "Why the hell would the Priest attack his own city?!"
"Because he's setting me up!" Naofumi shouted in response, annoyed with Itsuki and with this whole situation. "You are wasting everyone's time with this pointless fighting! It's annoying!"
As he said this, he shoved Ituski back before turning towards his party members.
"We need to get going, now!"
"I'm not letting you leave!" The Bow Hero proclaimed as he prepared his weapon once again, this time changing it from its default variant into one that looks much more powerful. "After all you've done, I can't just let you walk free."
"And what exactly have I done?" Naofumi questioned as he stopped on his tracks and turned to see Itsuki, his expression more irritated by the second.
Itsuki hated seeing that face, reminding him of something he would rather suppress. Before he had the chance to respond, a different voice spoke out:
"We don't have time for this!"
Everyone turned towards the voice to see that it was Melty Q Melromarc herself with Eclair standing by her side as her bodyguard.
As the two approached Itsuki, Naofumi noticed Motoyasu assisting Ren in walking.
This caught the Shield Hero's attention, seeing that Ren was most likely tortured.
He would want to check on the Sword Hero but seeing that he's in okay company at best, he knows that he'll be fine.
He turned towards Raphtalia and the others to tell them:
"We need to go, now."
Raphtalia, Filo, and Garfiel nodded and prepared to follow him into danger.
Right before leaving, Naofumi looked at Eclair and at first he wasn't sure what to think of her though considering that Melty looks comfortable with the female warrior, all he did was tell her:
"Make sure to keep him in check."
Eclair nodded and watched as Naofumi and his party members headed off to the source of all the destruction going on.
"Wait! I'm not done with you—!"
Before Itsuki could do anything else, he was shocked when he felt a sword right on his neck.
He turned towards the one responsible for this and was shocked to see it was Eclair.
She had managed to swiftly move from where she was standing next to Melty and reach him within a few seconds without him noticing.
"I don't wish to bring harm to you, Bow Hero; however, I must ask you to stand down, now."
"..." Itsuki was very displeased with Eclair's threat, though seeing that there isn't much he can do at this moment if he wants to live, he lowers his weapon.
As he does this, he notices Mald and the others preparing to attack Eclair only for him to say:
"Stand down."
"What? Are you sure, Itsuki-sama?"
"Yes."
They were hesitant on this, though trusting on their leader, they listened and stood down.
"Good." Eclair said before turning towards Melty, seeing that she has something to say to Itsuki.
She moved her sword away from the Bow Hero's neck and held it in a ready position in case anyone tries anything.
While Eclair remains on guard, Melty approaches him and notices that he was unhappy with this entire situation though the second the two lock eyes, his attitude changes.
"Bow Hero, why are you going after the Shield Hero?"
"Because he's a criminal."
"And what crimes make him a criminal?"
"What she did to your sister, kidnap you—"
"Let me correct you there." Melty interrupted Itsuki as she spoke in a sharp tone, "Naofumi and Garfiel protected me from those trying to kill me. What didn't help was my sister trying to kill me too."
"..."
Itsuki remained silent for a second as he looked to the side, hearing what Melty was saying.
"Okay, perhaps that's the case with you, but it doesn't justify—"
"Instead of trying to justify your actions, you should be helping the Shield Hero! The Three Heroes Church is trying to take over, trying to harm my family! We need your help!"
Naofumi, Raphtalia, Filo, and Garfiel all four continue to run towards the source of the destruction through the city. Right before reaching the Priest, Naofumi turned to Raphtalia to ask her:
"How did you all find me?"
"It was Garfiel's idea that worked in finding you, Naofumi-sama."
"Really?" Naofumi was surprised by this, prompting him to turn towards the demi human boy to ask him, "And what idea was that?"
"Follow th' Bow hero."
("Follow him? Why?" Motoyasu questioned.)
("Cause, we know fer sure th't he's after Shield guy. Plus, should he happen t'find him, we can prevent th'bastard from gettin' th'jump on him.")
("That may be, but we should still split up our groups, just in case Naofumi is not found by Itsuki." Ren spoke, wanting to be sure that there's another group looking for Naofumi as well.)
"Sword guy sent his friends t'look fer ya in case th'Bow idiot didn't find ya."
Naofumi was silent as he thought about what Garfiel had just told him, seeing that Garfiel's plan was a fifty-fifty chance of working. He was a bit impressed by the quick thinking, despite the risk of the plan falling apart.
"What're we in for?" Garfiel said, wanting to know what they are getting themselves into. Naofumi and Raphtalia noted Garfiel changing subjects. The Shield Hero was silent for a second before looking forward while also responding to the demi human boy's question:
"The priest. He has a weapon that can copy the cardinal weapons."
"Ah, th'Replica weapon th'lil'princess told us 'bout."
"Replica?" Naofumi caught on to what Garfiel had said. "What are you on about?"
"Melty-sama explained that a weapon like that can rival any of the cardinal weapons, but it isn't something that can be used freely like the four cardinal weapons. It needs to accumulate a large amount of people's magic over the course of a long time and mass production."
"I see..."
Armed with this information, he realizes now why the Priest was attacking his own city.
'He's trying to get the people in the city to start praying for God, inadvertently powering his Replica Weapon.'
This infuriates him since he's not only going to be blamed for all of this, but the Priest will use this as a chance to look like the so-called hero.
He started to speed up in his running, knowing that any longer of allowing the Priest to cause chaos might cost them.
After a minute, they arrive at the front of the church with the Priest standing on the top of the church with many followers gathering, praying.
"Th'hell's goin' on?"
"Hm?" The Priest looked down and managed to see that Naofumi had returned with his party members by his side. "Ah, have you returned to face God's judgement in grace?"
"Hell no." Naofumi spoke with a serious expression as he prepared for whatever the Priest does. As he does this, the others notice this which prompts them to get into their fighting stance. Right as they were doing this, each of them wished to tell Naofumi Iwatani that they have his back. The first one to speak was:
"No matter what happens, we have your back, Naofumi-sama." Raphtalia said as she's ready to protect her master with everything she has. "Your sword is ready for battle."
"Filo is here for you, master." Filo spoke in confidence as she turned into her filolial form once again.
"Ya got back up th's time, Shield Boss. Th's bastard's gonna regret messin' with ya." Garfiel spoke confidently as he bumped his fists together before having himself in a fighting stance.
Naofumi looked at each of his party members before nodding at them, feeling confident that the Priest and his followers are screwed now.
As they were preparing to attack first, Filo had immediately sensed something off which prompted her to quickly gather everyone together.
"What are you doing, Filo?"
"The Shield, Master. The Strongest Shield!"
As she said this, Garfiel also started to sense an imminent danger.
"Oi, Shield Boss, somethin's headin' towards us from above!"
"!" Naofumi knew that this had to be the Priest's doing. Without hesitation he swapped to the twin shield, being the strongest shield he has at the moment, before shouting: "Shield Prison!"
As he shouted this, a large shield barrier covered his entire party including himself though he wasn't satisfied with just that as defense.
"Air Strike Shield!" Naofumi created a floating shield above the barrier shield surrounding them.
"Second Shield!" A second floating shield appeared right above the first floating shield, being a protective measure.
Right before he could summon a third for assurance, a powerful beam of light fell from the sky.
Everyone started to run away from the area all the while the priest remained standing in the church, confident that nothing will happen to him.
After a second of appearing, the powerful beam of light immediately hit Naofumi's second floating shield first.
The intensity of this power was nearly overpowering the Shield Hero, with the second floating shield shattering within ten seconds upon making contact with the beam of light.
Once the beam started to hit the first floating shield, the beam was instantly overpowering the shield which caused it to start shattering.
Naofumi was starting to slightly panic as he noticed the beam of light closing in with the first floating shield breaking and now having his shield prison barrier taking on the full force of the Replica Weapon.
Naofumi looked at the Twin Shield variation he was currently using, uncertain if this would work in blocking off this dangerous attack.
Right before he made up his mind, he could hear Garfiel say:
"We might need t'risk ya usin' th't dangerous shield."
"You don't say." Naofumi spoke with a serious expression as he heard Garfiel's suggestion.
"Look, it's just a suggestion. My shield's strong...but not sure 'f it'll handle th't."
As Garfiel said that, the two noticed the shield barrier starting to break.
Due to little time, The Shield Hero had to place his chances on Garfiel's shield variation to do the job.
Right the beam of light breaks the last shield defense, he uses the Twin Shield variation to try and block the attack.
Although this was starting to completely overwhelm him, Raphtalia used her sword to try and help her master to push back the attack as well.
"You aren't alone, Naofumi-sama! Your sword is here to help!"
As he looked at her, seeing that she's confident and happy to be here to help him out, he noticed Filo go back into her human form and provide her own assistance in trying to push the attack back with the power gloves.
"I'm here to help, master!"
As she said this, Naofumi noticed Garfiel's right arm glowing.
"I ain't gotta fancy weapon t'help properly, however, as th' Shield of th'Sanctuary, nothin'll stop me from protectin' ya'll!"
Knowing that this will hurt, Garfiel transformed his right arm into its beast form and went for an uppercut to try and punch the attack away as this is what he can contribute with the others.
Despite the pain, he along with the others were able to assist Naofumi in pushing the attack back long enough to survive the overall attack from the Replica Weapon.
Once the light had passed, Naofumi and his party members looked around to see that they were in a crater. As Naofumi sees that they survived, he first looked at Raphtalia and Filo to make sure that they are okay.
Once he confirmed this, he along with Filo and Raphtalia turned their attention to Garfiel, noticing that the demi human boy's right hand was bleeding.
"Garf!"
"Tis 's fine, I'll live." As he says this, he uses his left hand to slowly heal his damaged right hand. "I won't slow ya down, Shield Boss."
Naofumi looked at Garfiel's determination and just simply nodded, acknowledging it before turning his attention to the Priest, who remained on the top of the Three Heroes Church.
"Your attack failed." He spoke in a calm expression as he prepared for a counterattack. The priest remained calm as he continued to smile away.
"My, how wonderful. Surviving a high-class multi-caster ritual magic, Judgment, head-on and remain standing? You continue to impress, Devil of the Shield."
As he said this, he changed the Replica Weapon from the spear hero's weapon into the sword hero's weapon. Naofumi and the others got themselves ready for whatever the Priest was preparing to do.
"It's time for purification!"
As he pointed the replica weapon at the Shield Hero and his party, it fired a powerful beam of light. Unlike the last attack, this one was slightly weaker though Naofumi doesn't want to risk blocking away this attack since they are all overwhelmed from the last one.
"Filo, get us out of here!"
Filo nodded and quickly transformed into her filolial form before grabbing both her master and Raphtalia all the while Garfiel was able to get out of the beam's pathway on his own.
Right as they were out of the beam of light's path, Naofumi created another floating shield though this one was targeted to the Priest's direction. As the floating shield was sent towards him, the Priest looked at this and easily was able to destroy said floating shield with his Replica weapon. Once destroying this attack,Garfiel grabbed a broken piece of a building and was able to toss it directly at the church.
"Let's see ya handle th's, ya bastard!"
The Priest spotted this, turning his attention from trying to attack Naofumi to countering Garfiel's attack.
"You shall not harm the house of God!"
He threw another powerful light beam right at the building piece Garfiel Tinsel had tossed at the church but also directed that attack to also try to hit the demi human boy.
Garfiel smiled as he was easily able to avoid this attack though right as this happened, he noticed the attack having caused some serious damage to a portion of the city.
'Shit!'
He realizes that if they continue to avoid the priest's attacks, he'll not only cause more damage to the city but also possibly kill someone with Naofumi being blamed for the whole ordeal.
As Garfiel landed on the ground, he immediately started to run right towards the church. The Priest took notice of this, prompting him to swap his replica weapon from the cardinal sword into the cardinal bow.
"You are quite the brashing boy, one misguided to have sided with a devil. It is a shame that you couldn't be saved as I had hoped, but at the very least I can relieve you of your sins by purifying you."
"Don't think I'll be bested by some nutjob! Th' Shield 'f'th Sanctuary won't break!"
"Brave final words, boy."
As the priest commented on Garfiel's words with a calm voice and expression, he fired a barrage of projectiles similar to how Itsuki would with his cardinal weapon.
As a multitude of projectiles were rapidly approaching the demi human boy, he smiled as he began to increase his running speed which allowed him to avoid a few of the attacks.
For the others, he needed to be a bit creative to avoid being hit, prompting him to jump around and also kick the ground hard enough to create a wall to protect him from some of the projectiles.
As he's closing the gap, the priest prepares to send another barrage of projectiles at the demi human boy though his senses told him to return focus to the Shield Demon.
Once he does this, he sees Naofumi and his other two party members closing in on him.
Filo threw Naofumi and Raphtalia right towards the Priest's direction.
As they were in the air, Naofumi creates a floating shield for Raphtalia to land onto before creating a second that would allow her to push herself right towards the priest with greater speed and momentum.
Right as she does this, she nearly closes the gap between herself and her target, prompting her to pull out her sword and to prepare for a powerful attack.
Just as her sword was about to land onto the priest's neck, a powerful invisible shield managed to block said attack.
"What?"
"Now young girl, that's not very ladylike. You should be repenting rather than assisting the devil himself. Another poor soul corrupted by the Devil himself. Allow me to take away your burden from this world, sinner."
The Priest had the replica weapon to switch into a sword all the while powering it up for a low level attack though one that Raphtalia wouldn't be able to survive upon getting hit in point blank range.
"Raphtalia!" Naofumi shouted as he was concerned of her getting hit by the priest's legendary weapon right in close range, knowing that she would be killed if he didn't act now.
"Air Str—!"
"Oi, Priest! Yer not gonna lay a finger on Talia!"
Having shouted this, Garfiel used all of his strength on his legs to push himself to reach the priest fast enough to prevent him from harming Raphtalia.
Right as he managed to reach the Priest's position within a few seconds, Garfiel prepared to use his left arm to try and break the shield protecting him.
Right as his arm had changed into a beast form, he swung his arm towards the invisible shield only for him to suddenly be coughing blood.
"Huh?"
"What?"
"Hm?"
Everyone, even the Priest, was shocked when a sudden attack had not only landed on Garfiel out of nowhere but also this attack had caused him to have a hole on his chest.
"Garf!" Filo shouts as she quickly runs towards Garfiel before he lands onto the ground.
Naofumi was shocked for a moment before looking at the direction the attack came from, at first confused before finding the source. Upon laying his eyes on the one responsible, his anger starts to overflow him with a dark red aura starting to be created around him.
"That bitch!"
As he spotted her, the red haired bitch was breathing heavily as it took nearly all of her energy to throw that attack towards Garfiel. She turns her eyes and manages to spot Naofumi, seeing him seeth with intense anger. This only made her smile with satisfaction. She stuck her tongue out before saying,
"Got you."
Author's note:
Apologies for the long update. Life, work, and school had sorta made things a bit overwhelming to write not just this story but also the other three. Also, YouTube channel is kicking off pretty well so I'm also doing a lot to make the videos be the best they can be. That being said, I want to say that a Re:Zero character will be joining the world after the next arc. We are reaching the end of the Three Heroes church arc. But anyway, hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter.