Chapter 23: Cardinal Heroes vs Three Heroes Church: Part 3
Garfiel felt a pain in his chest as he was preparing to land a hit to break the Priest's shield, though before he had reached the shield, he had been hit by an attack.
This was something he should've sensed and yet he made the fatal mistake of being hyper focused on taking on the priest.
As he was falling towards the ground, he had lost all of his strength while his mind was beginning to blank out.
'What th'fuck...happened?'
Garfiel tried to use his remaining strength to turn to see who it was that had landed the attack on him though in the attempt, his mind nearly blanked out.
'I...I...ain't dyin'...here...'
Right as he attempted to land on his feet, he felt himself being caught by someone. He wasn't sure who it was at first though by the sound of his name from this person, he was able to tell immediately that it was Filo.
"Garf!"
Garfiel had trouble feeling anything as he could only feel coldness, though he was able to slightly move his head towards his right side to see a figure that resembled Filo in her filolial form.
'Filo.'
Although things were foggy, he was able to tell that she was in distress from his injury.
'I'm sorry…'
Despite still believing that his life won't end here, he still feels completely guilty knowing that Filo and the others aren't happy with him being injured.
Right before his mind had seemingly completely blank out, he looked up at the sky and was shocked when he saw her.
"Garfiel Tinsel. Do you plan to die here?"
"…"
"Because that would be shameful, dying to such an attack. Though, seeing you here like this, makes me love you, Garfiel Tinsel."
"S-Sh…Sh-Shut up…!" Although he shouted this, the only one who seemed to have heard him was her. All she did was giggled at Garfiel's anger before saying,
"Sweet dreams."
The second she said this, Garfiel had lost consciousness. Right as that happened, Naofumi was having an internal conflict as he suddenly felt this fire preparing to burst out of him.
Seeing any of his party members get hurt, especially from that bitch, it leaves him with nothing more than the desire to kill her even more than it was before.
This was amplified when she had done this to Raphtalia during the previous wave, and now she dares to do this again with Garfiel now all the while they are dealing with the priest and his nutjob cultists.
Before he could act upon what bitch had done or do something to the priest, he felt himself in what seemed like another dimension.
"Huh?"
He was confused at first though that feeling of confusion swiftly faded away as his body felt immense pain, as if he was burning alive. While this feeling was completely overwhelming him, he heard a strong voice speak to him.
"You made the right choice, breaking me free once again."
"..."
"The anger from before, when you first unlocked this power, was amazing to see. Watching you burn everything down."
"..."
"And now, you've set me free once again to once again create the fire that was sparked out before by that boy."
As the voice finished his sentence, Naofumi began to scream with pure pain and hatred as his body was covered by red circles and lines.
"Let the anger take you over, and you won't suffer. Allow the fire to burn everything to the ground!"
The power of this wrath of the curse series had started to nearly overtake him by reminding him of everything he hates of this world along with this world itself.
He remembered how he was hated for something he was framed for, he was shunned by the other three heroes at the beginning of their adventure in this world, he was challenged because they wanted to take away Raphtalia from him, Raphtalia getting hurt by Bitch's actions, Garfiel being found injured from his time being captive, and Garfiel being fatally wounded by Bitch.
Mainly Bitch is the one that just increases that rage, to the point that a part of Naofumi's mind wants to allow him to let the anger take control for the reasons of wanting to take down the Priest but to also try and burn her down as well. Though...
"I...refuse!" Naofumi shouts, using all of his mental strength to push back the anger that's nearly consuming him. Though after a second of saying this, the pain amplified while also his armor was slowly transforming. "I won't let your anger overtake me!"
"It isn't simply my anger, the anger of a dragon. It wells up from within your heart."
The voice starts to replay all of the pain that had caused Naofumi's anger to increase within his heart.
"Your anger at being set up. Your anger at the shame and humiliation they tried to put you through. Your anger at being continually persecuted, no matter what you do for them. It is all your own."
Naofumi hearing this had him reflect on everything the voice said, knowing that this was the same anger that had caused him to lose control before.
"Release every last drop of your pent-up anger and hatred again, let yourself be consumed by that once again."
"..."
"You had once allowed yourself to be consumed, you were unstoppable. You can still be unstoppable."
"...no."
"No? Are you sure? I can give you unimaginable power, power that can crush all your enemies."
Naofumi felt a surge of power, something he didn't feel the previous time both due to the fact that he had lost his mind but also because the power was just his pure rage.
Right now, the power he has is beyond even what the priest had shown so far.
Before his mind had chosen to take this power, he snapped out of the power trip he got momentarily.
"No! I can't fall for his words! This power..."
"It tasted sweet, did it not?"
"..." Naofumi remained silent.
"With the power of the cursed flame, you could make your foes submit and walk all over them. It was pleasant, was it not? You felt fulfilled, did you not?"
As the voice speaks of this, Naofumi reflects on when he was consumed by the curse series, how it felt letting that deep anger take control.
"Show your rage! Seek more power! And burn everything in your path!"
"Burn…" Naofumi said as this power was taking over the majority of his mind. "I'll burn...everything...!"
As he said this, his attire had changed into a dark like armor covering his body while also a fire aura was beginning to surround him as well.
The Priest noticed this and knew that if he doesn't take action now, the Shield Hero will become much more difficult to take down.
Right as he prepared to attack him, Raphtalia quickly closed the gap between him and herself in order to try and land a hit on him.
He barely noticed her in time, prompting him to quickly block away her sword attack that was directed towards his neck.
She quickly was able to avoid the Priest's counterattack before preparing for another attack.
"Poor girl, you are a lost soul. I will make this quick—"
"I'm not lost! I know what I'm doing, trusting and fighting for Naofumi-sama!"
"It is a shame to strike such an innocent soul, but you are past the point of being safe in this world. Allow God to guide your soul to him in the afterlife."
Once this was said, the two swung their weapons and ended up in a blade lock of sorts since the Priest had changed his weapon from the staff to the sword.
As this was going on, Naofumi slowly began to approach the Priest's location, with his eyes glowing red and a powerful fire-like aura surrounding him.
Although both Raphtalia and the Priest were doing their best to win the blade lock they were in, both sensed the immense aura of hatred that was coming from Naofumi which caused the two to be distracted.
"Naofumi-sama..." She was deeply worried for her master's sake since the last time he had used the power of the Wrath Shield, he lost control of himself and allowed that dark hatred to take over. The priest remained with a smile on his face, taking the chance to turn towards Raphtalia to tell her:
"Do you see that right there? That's the true form of the one you follow. Are you still willing to follow a Devil? Someone who only wants to watch your home, your world burn?"
"..." She didn't want to respond to the priest's questions since she knows deep down that Naofumi is no demon or devil.
She quickly broke the blade lock by jumping away to gain some distance from her opponent.
Once in a good amount of distance away, she turned towards her master with a concerned expression.
She was about to go towards him to help snap him out from the blinding hatred he's in only to be stopped by someone grabbing her arm.
This caused her to prepare to attack whoever's behind her only to see that it was Motoyasu.
"Spear Hero?"
While Raphtalia was distracted by the Spear Hero, Naofumi continued to walk towards the Priest all the while the Priest began to tell him:
"Look at you, a mindless monster filled with nothing but pure hate, wanting to destroy all of God's creation. I, God's tool and faithful follower, shall put an end to you, Devil of the Shield."
Naofumi ignored everything the Priest was saying since he was in his mind filled with the power given from the cursed series. This was prompting him to say to himself:
"I'll burn everything. If I burn it all down, it'll be over. I can let my anger take over and destroy everything. I have the power to do that now. I'll use it to..."
His voice stopped as he heard a voice say to him:
"Is this really what you want to do, Naofumi?"
"Hm?" He stopped on his tracks when hearing this unrecognizable voice at first, though after a moment of processing he realized that it was Ren Amaki, the Sword Shield.
"I know the pain we caused you still weighs on your heart—pain that fool of a princess had inflicted on you, the pain that I contributed to by turning a blind eye.
We were fools, Naofumi—gullible, selfish fools and I can never undo the damage we caused by failing to believe in you, by believing everything we were told.
I can only speak for myself and my own inactions to allow an innocent man to get falsely accused of something terrible.
I accept full responsibility for my part in pushing you into this darkness, regardless if we have been getting along as of recently. However, you're stronger than the pure hatred that's controlling you.
You're more than the pain we caused, more than the anger consuming you now. Right now, we need you—not just as the Shield Hero, but the person who protects others, Naofumi Iwatani.
I'm aware that I'm asking for a lot, and I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I'm begging you to stand with us.
Not with the person that can only see red, but as the one who overcame all the things this world threw at him.
The one person that Raphtalia, Filo, and Garfiel believe in."
As those words were said from the Sword Hero, Naofumi looked up at the sky and saw that a bright light was shining over the dark void he was in with the ones he could see in said light were Raphtalia in the middle, Filo beside her in her right side, Garfiel being on her left and beside him was Ren and beside Filo was Melty.
All of these people had helped him in overcoming the overwhelming hatred he had for this world.
Although in the case of Ren, it was definitely one of the main causes of that hate, he's at this point forgiven him and considers him an ally.
Right as the light behind them shined bright to the point of blinding him, he looked around and realized that he was back in the real world.
"What...is going on?"
Right as he asked this, he turned towards his back to see that the Sword Hero was holding onto his right arm with his left arm which was covered in burns.
"What happened?"
"Let's just say those flames of yours actually hurt." Ren responded with a smile on his face, not fazed by the pain he's in from Naofumi's flames.
"What are you even doing here? You shouldn't be on the battlefield, especially right now after getting hurt again."
"I'll be fine." Ren spoke with confidence as he prepared to join in the fight against the Priest. "We all need to pull our weight if we want to stop him. Plus, this is also atonement for all of my screw ups ever since coming to this world."
As the Sword Hero said this, he slowly walked towards the Priest despite how he's really in no condition to fight. While he was not afraid to face off against him, Naofumi grabbed Ren's arm while telling him:
"Don't be stupid, you'll just get yourself killed if you fight him in this condition."
"That's what I've been trying to tell him." A voice spoke out from behind the two, prompting the two heroes to turn around to see that it was Motoyasu.
The Spear Hero was approaching the two heroes with Raphtalia by his side as she was concerned for her master's sake.
Naofumi had noticed her though his attention was drawn towards the Spear Hero since he was the one that spoke out.
He was pretty annoyed by just seeing the Spear hero's face.
"Shouldn't you be taking care of Ren?" He asked with an annoyed expression.
"I was, but Ren insisted."
"Still, it's your responsibility to take care of him. Especially in the state he's in."
"It's fine, Naofumi." Ren said, "We have bigger problems to deal with. Once this is all done, I'll make sure to rest up."
Naofumi looked at Ren, knowing that what he's saying is both foolish and reckless.
Not only had he received damage from being close to him when he was allowing his anger to take control but he's barely had any chance to recover from the torture he received from those in the Three Heroes Church.
To have Ren fight is absurd though it does remind him of Garfiel and his attitude on things like that, how stubborn one would be in one's choice.
Seeing that same stubbornness on Ren's face made him sigh before saying:
"Fine. If you get killed, it ain't our fault."
As Naofumi spoke with a serious and annoyed expression, Ren could tell that Naofumi within the annoyed tone portion was that the Shield Hero was concerned for his sake which prompted a smile before the three stood side by side as they prepared for a fight against the Priest. The Priest looked at the two heroes with his calm expression and smile though his voice had a hint of anger:
"This is disappointing. I had hoped we could save the Sword Hero. How far you've fallen, Fallen Sword."
"Tsk. You speak like you are in the moral right when in reality, you all attempted to break my mind, my body, and my soul. Unfortunately, my party and I were just stronger than you thought."
"It is unfortunate since we were attempting to save you from the clutches of the devil, we just didn't think you were that far gone, especially for a hero. It pains me that you will be another victim in the Shield Demon's attempts to destroy God's creations."
Both Ren and Naofumi felt anger towards the Priest, more on how he was speaking which prompted the two to prepare for a full on confrontation with the leader of the Three Heroes Church.
Though right as the battle was about to start, suddenly Naofumi remembered what had triggered him into his rage state, recalling that Garfiel was seriously hurt which prompted him to look around to see where Filo had taken Garfiel.
While looking around for a second, he spotted Raphtalia approaching him.
"Where's Filo? Where did she take Garfiel?"
"Filo's safe, but from what I saw, Garfiel was really hurt."
Naofumi kept his anger in control, though he was pretty angry by what bitch had done.
"Damn that scumbag...when this is over—"
"We will deal with her then, but right now we need you focused, Naofumi."
"..." Naofumi knew that Ren had a point, prompting him to tell Raphtalia, "Take care of Garfiel and Filo."
"B-But what about—"
"I'm entrusting you with them, Raphtalia."
As he said this, he along with Ren and Motoyasu prepared to attack the Priest with Motoyasu changing his Spear into its strongest variation and Ren changing the Sword into one of the two blessed series versions, Temperance Sword.
Naofumi looked at his Wrath Shield, reflecting on everything that had happened when he unlocked the cursed series for the first time before turning his attention back to the Priest.
"I'll make sure you regret picking a fight with my party and I."
While those events were transpiring, Filo managed to cover some distance from all the fighting with the Priest in order to take Garfiel somewhere safe where he won't be in harm's way.
Once this had happened, she returned into her human form as she checked on him.
As she was close to him, she saw that he wasn't conscious anymore though he was still bleeding from his chest.
Seeing this and the amount of blood that was coming out of the demi-human boy's wound started to cause the filolial to panic.
"Garf! Please don't die! Please!"
There was no response from Garfiel, causing her to panic even more since she was attempting to do anything to get him to wake up.
As she tried to move Garfiel around, she was also panicking of the blood that was covering her hands, seeing that all her efforts were going to be in vain.
"Don't die Garfiel! You can't die! Please!"
As she said this, her senses went crazy as she felt someone approaching the two. She turned around to see that it was the bitch herself, approaching the two in a threatening manner.
"Well Well, if it isn't the pathetic pipsqueak. What are you doing here?"
Filo gave Mai a sharp look at her, knowing that she had to do with Garfiel's current condition.
Mai was preparing to say something on Filo's expression only to notice the bleeding Garfiel Tinsel.
"Hm. Did that waste of life finally die?"
"Shut up!"
Filo shouted with anger in her tone, preparing herself for another fight with the bitch her master hates.
Mai looks at Filo and just laughs this response off, finding it amusing and pathetic from the filolial to think they actually have a chance against her.
"You still think you have a chance against me, pathetic little girl?"
"I won't let you get away with hurting Garfiel!"
"Is that so?"
She pointed her hand right towards Filo before a powerful fireball was being created. Her cocky expression turned into a more menacing look.
"You can try to block this, but this will kill you upon impact. And if you decide to avoid it, then your sorry excuse of a fighter will burn to a crisp. So tell me, will you sacrifice yourself for a dead corpse of a useless demi-human scumbag? Or are you delusional enough to think yourself strong enough to handle this?"
"..."
Filo was hesitant though not from the threat Mai was giving since she was confident enough to punch away any attack she throws at her. Her concern is the new presence of people around them that want to do harm to either her or the unconscious Garfiel.
She knows that she can't divide her focus in protecting Garfiel and in dealing with Mai and her shenanigans.
Filo continued to stay on high alert which caught Mai's attention, angering her since she can tell that she's being ignored.
Without saying much, she fired her fireball.
She sensed this and prepared to punch the fireball right back at her only for the second she made her move, she sensed those evil people attempting to make their chance in assuring her and Garfiel are killed.
'I have to protect Garfiel! He can't die!'
As she was trying to think on what she could do, a familiar voice shouted at her:
"Filo, duck!"
"Huh?"
She was confused by this command though because it was coming from a trustful voice she recognized, she did as asked and ducked.
Right as she does that, a water ball had been shot right at the fireball which countered it though at the same time a barrage of arrows were fired right at the threats that had appeared from the shadows and had weapons aimed for both Filo and Garfiel.
These arrows were able to send the ones attempting to kill the two flying in all different directions though for sure away from their targets.
Filo turned towards the direction these projectiles and attacks came from and to her surprise it was both the Bow Hero and Melty side by side. Itsuki had his focus on protecting Filo and Garfiel from what looks like assassins all the while Melty had her role as stopping whatever her older sister was up to.
Mai turned to see the two, which made her angry since she'd expected the Three Heroes Church to have already taken care of her little sister since she was a threat to them from what she heard from some of the deeper members.
"What are you doing here?" She questioned with an annoyed expression.
"I should be asking you the same question, sister." Melty sharply responded. "If anything, it seems like you are siding with the Three Heroes Church by attacking party members of the Shield Hero."
"Tsk." Mai looked at her sister with her expression shifting more towards the angry route, disliking the accusation she was thrown.
Although she does agree with the Three Heroes Church in eliminating the Shield Hero and those that side with him, she also became aware of their little plot to overthrow her family.
She cares nothing for her parents or her sister, however they would still pose a threat to her chances in becoming Queen.
"Little Melty, are you accusing me of siding with the Three Heroes Church?"
"Your actions speak louder than you think, sister."
As Melty said this, she along with Itsuki started to approach Filo with Itsuki having his bow ready for anything. Filo didn't hesitate to run at Melty and hug her.
"You're okay, Mel-chan!"
"I'm glad you are safe too, Filo." Melty said with a calm tone before she along with Itsuki noticed Garfiel's body and all the blood that he had lost. "Garfiel!"
Melty ran along with Filo to check on Garfiel, noticing that he's lost so much blood at this point.
"Can you save him? Please?" Filo spoke as she was tearing up, not wanting Garfiel to die. Melty was silent for a moment before responding to Filo's plea with:
"We need to get him to the castle now, or we'll lose him to the cold embrace of death."
"Understood!" Filo replied, already beginning to transform into her filolial form.
Once fully transformed, she managed to lift both Garfiel and Melty onto her back. Just before taking off, she turned toward Itsuki.
The Bow Hero immediately understood what her gaze was telling him.
He gave her a firm nod, silently assuring her he would honor his promise.
Reassured, she took off toward the castle with Filo, determined to save Garfiel Tinsel from death's grip.
As they disappeared into the distance, Itsuki watched them briefly before turning toward the source of the explosions.
His expression hardened as he prepared to head into the fray, but before he left, he turned back to Mai and spoke with urgency:
"Get to safety. I don't know how bad it's going to get, but if you stay here, you'll be killed."
As Itsuki strode toward the source of the explosions, Mai watched him with a blank expression, seemingly indifferent to his warning.
Her mind, however, was elsewhere, focused entirely on how to deal with Naofumi.
While the Priest of the Three Heroes Church might pose a threat to her status of becoming a Queen, the Bow Hero was also the perfect tool for her to use.
A sinister smile spread across her lips as she waited for Itsuki to be far enough ahead before slipping into the shadows to follow him.
She would use him, just like everyone else, to achieve her goal.
'Today that fool of the Shield Hero will die.'
Author's Note:
So yeah, it's been a bit since I've posted and I will say I've read some of the critics and I agree that there are a few things that need to be improved with the story. That being said, for this particular battle, I wanted to give you all a chapter with part 4 being for sure the conclusion of this battle. Once we move out of this arc, I will start setting things up to have one Re:Zero character to also arrive to this world. Until then, I'll make this next chapter be as epic as I can make it.
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and to have an early Happy New Year. May 2025 be an amazing year for you all.