Chapter 39 – End of Lespax's Third Wave
With Lola in the sky fighting the Broadsword Hero, Reina and her party were left down below to deal with the Sai Hero. A hero from another world, who came here to kill her and somehow save their own world.
It didn't make any sense. Not at all. Reina hadn't heard anything about other worlds or heroes that came from them or anything! If the churches knew this, they should have told her. That, of course, assumed they knew about this at all.
"How will killing me save your world?" Reina didn't want to fight another hero, even if they came from another world.
"Sorry, kid. I don't really want to talk this out. It'll just make it that much harder for me, even if you are working with those people." Barnabas said, his two sai held out at his sides. "Just know that killing the Holy Hero of another world will save the one on the other side of the Wave, while also dooming this one."
That just gave Reina more questions. Still, at the very least, it told her why the Demon Lord was so interested in protecting her during the Wave…
He knew. Derdir knew what would happen if she died during the Wave. He knew that…what, the Waves were connecting worlds together? Both Barnabas and that woman, Gespia, came out of the Wave crack.
"Boss." Maria grabbed Reina's shoulder.
"Right." There wasn't time to consider all of this. Right now, she had to stay alive. Not just for herself, but Maria, Vyrdrun, Grim, Kuromo, and everyone in this world.
"Forge Spirit!" Reina resummoned her flaming zombie spirt and had it Charge at Barnabas.
"Interesting." The Sai Hero held up his weapons as the spirit closed in. With a heavy downward swing, the spirit's flaming claws clashed with the two sai above the man's head.
Just like that, the spirit stopped. It couldn't push down any further. Barnabas didn't even seem to be struggling to hold back the flaming arm.
"I was wondering how someone so young could last as a hero. No offense." Barnabas slid to the side, allowing the spirit's force to lead its clawed fist into the ground.
As he was about to plunge his sai into the spirit's back, Grim was upon him. With a two-handed swing of his cleaver, Grim forced the Sai Hero the jump back, right into Vyrdrun's range. The heavy metal club was brought down, but Barnabas once again stopped the attack with crossed sai.
Grim didn't just stand still. He followed after Barnabas and swung again. One sai remained against Vyrdrun's weapon while the other was positioned to intercept Grim's strike. There was a clash of metal, and then both sai were holding back a different weapon.
That, however, left Barnabas surrounded. To his two sides were Vyrdrun and Grim. Behind him was the zombie spirit, which just got into position above him and ready to strike. And to his front were Reina, Maria, and Kuromo. This would have been a very disadvantageous position for him…except they couldn't really capitalize on it.
With two of her party members so close, Maria could risk using any big spells. The same was true for Kuromo with his breath attack. Given his size, he couldn't join in the melee either without interfering with the others. Reina could get in there, but she was the goal of these heroes. Barnabas might go right for her, and he was showing much more skill with a weapon than what she learned from Grim.
The flaming zombie threw another punch at the occupied Sai Hero. If she couldn't get in close herself, she'd just do what she had been until then.
"Riposte Strike!" The two sai glowed red for a moment before both Vyrdrun and Grim skid back. That freed Barnabas to block the attack from her spirit, making the same thing happen to it.
"Web!" Reina launched her skill at the suddenly open hero, only for him to spin around and tear through the forming webbing with a swift swipe from each of his sai.
Reina could see Barnabas's eyes shifting all around, watching everything around him. He was clearly an experienced hero. Finding a target in Grim, he lunged forward with his sai as Grim took a defensive stance.
"Sundering Strike!" His sai vibrated as they connected with Grim's swung cleaver. Metallic screeching echoed around them as sparks flew from the impact. The two men stood before one another, their weapons locked together. "Huh. That's a pretty good sword."
"One of the best!" Grim grunted, pushing forward and shoving Barnabas back.
The Sai Hero used the momentum to go after Vyrdrun. The Gromnar swung his club in a wide arc. Barnabas, instead of ducking under it, held up his sai to it.
"Disarming Strike!" The second the club connected, it shot out from Vyrdrun's hands. It soared through the air, passing over Reina and landing several dozen feet behind her.
Suddenly without a weapon, Vyrdrun opted to use his fist, only for Barnabas to sidestep him and plunge his sai into Vyrdrun's stomach, causing him to yell out in pain.
"Second Spirit!" The spirit materialized where Reina indicated, right next to Barnabas. The Sai Hero jumped back, but Reina didn't direct her spirit to attack. Instead, it applied Healing Touch to Vyrdrun's wound.
It was then that Maria stepped forward and extended her hand. "Incinerate!" With no one immediately next to Barnabas, Maria was free to unleash the strongest spell Reina had seen her use.
The lance of fire sped right at him. He looked back with a calm expression, his sai up and ready. "Disrupting Strike." And with one swift motion, the fire spell was cut in half and dissolved.
"No way…" Maria murmured.
Reina, likewise, was having a hard time believing what she was seeing. Barnabas didn't seem to be exerting himself too heavily. He was calm and collected despite being outnumbered. She also couldn't get a read on how his stats were spread.
From what she knew, people's stats were allocated in certain directions, which led them to pursue certain roles if they became adventurers. Agility was good for mobile fighters, as well as archers. Defensive people with good strength wore heavy armor to act as tanks. Her own stats were a bit out of the ordinary, being mostly even with a slight increase in magic.
Barnabas, however, didn't seem to lean any particular way. Heroes could have more even stats, but that didn't seem right here. She'd heard how the Cleaver Hero was incredibly powerful and able to kill things with ease, so her attack had to be high. Likewise, a sai wasn't really an offensive weapon. It was used to block, disarm, and break weapons, like Barnabas tried to do with Grim's cleaver.
There was another explanation, one that Reina didn't want to think about. Barnabas was just a much higher-level person than any of them.
She didn't want to admit it, but she could really use Lola's help right now.
~Forging Legends~
"I will kill thee, demon! Overpowering Strike!" The broadsword was charged with energy as she slammed it onto Lola's waiting shortsword. The impact caused Lola to dive in the air.
With a few heavy beats of her wings, Lola righted herself. "Fire Bolt!" The flaming projectile shot out from her extended hand toward the angel woman, who easily evaded the spell.
Of all the possibilities of what could happen during the Wave, this was the worst one. If another fake Demon Lord came by, Lola would have just killed them. Instead, they had to be invaded by another world's hero, and from the same weapon as last time!
From what Lola saw from above, Big Sis and her party were holding off the other hero, but who knew how long that would last. She needed to finish off this woman and go help.
"Boundless Blade!" The broadsword grew in length, easily longer than the distance between the two of them. Gespia swung it down at her with great speed, forcing Lola to catch the blade with her own. "Thou will die, and then thine evil world shall perish as well!"
The angel woman really liked to hear herself talk all high and mighty. She reminded her too much of those templars. Fitting, since she was going to kill this woman.
The extended blade began to retract. Thinking quickly, Lola grabbed hold of it with her free hand. She was dragged through the air, quickly closing the distance between the two of them.
The Broadsword Hero clearly wasn't expecting that, but she must have known what was coming next. Lola reeled her head back and spat a beam of acid at the woman. It ended with a less-than-fair trade of damage. The otherworld hero twisted her weapon, making Lola's hand bleed for keeping its grip. In exchange, the woman wasn't able to completely avoid the acid, letting part of her arm be coated in it.
"Why don't you just leave?" Lola asked as she flew under her own power again. "You people started this fight, so you don't get to complain about revenge."
Gespia snarled. "I saw thine monster brother kill mine! I will never forget how he smiled while doing it!"
Lola could only smirk at that. "Brother Gau smiled? I'm glad. He doesn't do that often, so I'm happy he had some fun butchering your brother."
Fast, enraged slashes came from the Broadsword Hero, clearly provoked by Lola's words. "Murderers!" She screamed.
Lola barely suppressed a laugh at the woman's backwards thinking as she deflected the attacks. "Brother Gau was there to defend, to fight the Wave. If your brother died, it was because he didn't leave when he should have, or said something stupid to make my brother mad."
Metal against metal rang out as Gespia pushed on with her assault. "Thou weren't there! Thou didn't see what happened! I saw him chase down mine brother and murder him!"
"I know my brother better than anyone. If that's really what happened, then it was because your brother refused to quit when Brother Gau gave him the chance. And if you and your brother were so worried about dying, you shouldn't have come here at all."
With more enraged swings, Lola was easily able to parry the longer sword. This wasn't a tactic she thought she'd have to use, but was glad Daddy had taught her. If a skilled opponent had a weakness, exploit it. This angel woman wanted revenge. Lola could understand that, even empathize. That also meant there was an easy way to get under her skin.
"Strike, Act I! Strike, Act II! Strike, Act III!" The problem was that Lola was fighting a hero, and a foreign one at that. The heavy skills were harder to block, the three in succession feeling like they got heavier as they went.
"Blade Performance!" The broadsword came in a flurry of swings, forcing Lola to fly back. She didn't escape unscathed, the blade glancing off her armor a few times and leaving a shallow cut on her face, plus a few on her exposed claws.
Enough time had passed for Lola to build up her acid again. This time, she blew it out in a wide cone, hoping to overcome her opponent's agility.
The near-mist of her breath obscured her vision, a drawback to spreading it so thin. She didn't even know if it would damage her opponent like this, but it was worth a try.
"Concussive Blast!" A bead of magic came through the mist right at Lola. Without time to dodge, she slashed it with her shortsword. The resulting explosion knocked her around in the air, making her fall.
That was the worst of the damage she received from the hero yet. As she saw the angel flying down after her, it wouldn't be the last of it.
"GAU!" A massive roar erupted a little below her, followed by a beam of acid firing up. Gespia only barely managed to veer off course, some of the acid spraying her wing in the process.
Her feathers burned as she beat her wings, the acid coming off in globs. The damage wasn't enough to drop her from the sky, but her mobility would be more limited.
Lola righted herself as she saw her help arrive. Kuromo banked around her and continued on, keeping a large berth between him and the angel.
"Heh." Lola gave a glance to the battle down below. "I hope this means you're doing fine, Big Sis. I'm going to give you a big hug when this is over."
~Forging Legends~
Things were not going fine. Not fine at all.
No matter the tactics they tried, they couldn't land a solid hit on the man. Every attack, every skill, every spell, all of it was countered, blocked, or evaded. Nothing they did could hurt him, except for one.
After using the advanced doll spirit to divert Barnabas's attention from Grim, Reina focused solely on her zombie spirit. With it, she activated two forge abilities: Absolute Senses and Rapid Fists. With Absolute Senses, time slowed to a crawl, allowing her to aim her strikes with her spirit. Rapid Fists then sped up those attacks, making them almost the same speed outside of the time slow. Using both, she could pinpoint exactly where to strike, avoiding his sai.
Except…she couldn't. She couldn't land a single strike. His movements were slowed, yes, but not quite as slow as everyone else. And his reflexes, able to accurately predict where every claw swipe would end up, where every thrust would strike. Not all the attacks were blocked, but none of them hit him straight on, always at least partially deflected. It was like watching a choreographed fight in slow motion.
Soon enough, Reina had to end the effects, else she'd run out of SP. In that moment, Barnabas lunged at her flaming zombie spirit, skewering it and destroying its form. That's what caused the damage. Death Pact activated. If Reina doubted it before, what she saw next completely dispelled her doubt.
Barnabas had spat out blood. He coughed a few times, leaving himself open. Grim rushed it with a chop, only for his cleaver to be caught in a sai and halted. After that…Barnabas seemed completely fine. However much HP he had, whatever training he went through, it was more than enough for them.
He was a monster, and not his creature type. They couldn't beat him.
That was why Reina sent Kuromo up a little earlier to help Lola, and she knew it was the right call. Out of all of them, Kuromo was the least agile. In the air, he turned like a large warship. On the ground, he wasn't anywhere close to nimble. The only thing he'd be able to do was breathe out a beam of acid breath, and Reina didn't think that would even hit Barnabas.
Thus, Kuromo was sent to the sky. Reina instructed him to help Lola, but to be careful and only support her. If they could take that woman out of the fight, Lola would be free to help down below. And, really, they needed the help.
"That was a nice trick." Barnabas commented, readying his sai to attack Grim next. He was the only one with a good weapon, Vyrdrun now resorting to his backup spear.
Still, if Barnabas was this strong, it made Reina wonder why he didn't end the fight already. He could have broken away from Grim, Vyrdrun, and her advanced doll spirit to attack her. But, he didn't. He stayed in the melee, whittling away at her allies and remaining spirit.
Perhaps it was for Gespia. He said she wanted revenge for Goalith killing her brother. If they killed Reina and destroyed the world…it wouldn't be personal. Maybe Barnabas would have done that already if not for Gespia. It was a dark thought, but maybe it was a good thing Goalith killed Gespia's brother. Things might have gone differently otherwise.
"Force Darts!" Maria threw out her spell, the small missiles swarming Barnabas, only to be struck out of the air by the two sai. "Any ideas, Boss?"
"Yeah." Reina raised her sword-form weapon into the air. "Return Spirit Locus!"
This battle wasn't going their way, and they had no reason to keep fighting beyond survival. The best bet was to simply leave.
However, nothing happened.
"Was that a teleport skill, girl? Those don't work during the Waves." Barnabas easily avoided a swift slash from Grim, giving out a light stab of his own.
"Damn it…" Reina shook her head. "Keep fighting, and hope Lola beats her opponent soon."
That was all they really could do now. Once again, Reina couldn't do anything herself to get them out of this situation. Once again, she had to rely on people who had plans for her, who wanted to use her. She hated it. She hated feeling helpless.
If their goal wasn't to kill her specifically, she'd be right up there with the others, fighting along her spirit, like she wanted to. They were her party, it was fine to rely on them. That she couldn't seem to return the favor left a bitter taste in her mouth.
~Forging Legends~
"A single dragon has made little difference, demon!" Gespia yelled, charging through the air at Lola.
Their back and forth had changed a little with Kuromo in the mix. When he came around, Gespia had to back up or get doused in acid. While not exactly immune to it, Lola was sufficiently resistant to acid thanks to what Daddy did to her body. She could just push on through the beam of acid and stab the angel woman, like she did the first time Kuromo swung around while they were engaged.
That was a good, solid hit Lola landed on the woman, with the reoccurring ones being glancing blows. Still, it was a sound strategy. If Gespia tried to go after Big Sis's dragon, Lola would attack her from behind. The angel woman learned that lesson quick, suffering a few more acidic burns for her trouble.
"Is that why you still can't beat me?" Lola mocked. "I thought you two came here to kill a hero. Don't you know how strong they can get?"
"Silence!" Gespia swung her blade down, the momentum stopped by Lola's shortsword and dagger. "Thou art nothing to me!"
The hits Lola was able to land on Gespia were almost as good as the ones she received.
But it wasn't enough.
According to Daddy, the Wave wouldn't last too long after the boss was killed. If time ran out, the angel woman might try to go for Big Sis before she left. Lola didn't want to risk that. What she needed was a decisive strike, to kill this woman or at least take her out of the fight.
Luckily, she had an idea.
Kuromo was just coming around for another pass of acid breath. That would be the perfect opening. Lola pushed back against Gespia, giving herself some room. The dragon flew above them, spewing acid at Gespia. The woman was more than familiar with the pattern by now and had no problem avoiding it.
Then, Lola made her move. She charged through the air, shortsword forward to pierce the woman's chest. Gespia saw that coming and deflected the blade to the side, kicking out and striking one of Lola's wings. Her shortsword fell from her grasp as she spun.
The draconic girl then started to fall from the sky, wings flapping to slow herself. Gespia soared right after her. With her back to the ground, Lola wouldn't be able to slow down properly, and changing direction would leave herself open.
But Gespia came in fast. She capitalized on Lola's position, thrusting her broadsword forward. With Lola's body spread out to try and slow her descent, it allowed Gespia to pierce the center of Lola's torso, right into her stomach. The blade punched right through the sturdy armor with immense force. With the length of the blade, she was able to cut into Lola's wing through the webbing, making it tear more when it flapped.
But that was fine. The pain was intense, but it was well worth it. Lola had her right where she wanted her. She jutted out her claws, grabbing hold of Gespia's wings as they were about to flap. "Got you~!"
With her claws fiercely gripping feathery wings, Lola threw her arms back.
"AAAAHHH!" The angel woman cried out, the bulk of one wing falling away and the other completely torn from the socket. She began to plummet, spiraling on the way down.
~Forging Legends~
"AAAAHHH!" Reina looked up as the scream was heard all around them.
Gespia was falling. It was immediately apparent why as one of her wings glided through the air away from them. With no way to steady herself in time, Gespia slammed against and rolled along the ground, her remaining wing letting out a sickening snap along the way. She came to a stop a few seconds later, laying on her back and broken wing.
"Gespia!" Barnabas called out, breaking away from Vyrdrun and Grim.
Lola slammed into the ground a couple dozen yards away from the angel woman. Her legs took the impact well. The small crater she created wasn't enough to even hide her boots. Slowly, she rose to a stand, breathing heavily. Blood coated her teeth as she breathed in and out, a ferocious grin on her face.
"It's time to leave, invader heroes!" Lola yelled, blood dripping from her mouth. "If you don't, at least one of you will be dying today!"
The girl looked like she could barely stand. What she said wasn't a bluff, not entirely. Reina didn't think Lola would be able to keep fighting, but she didn't need to. As good as Barnabas was, he wouldn't be able to fight and keep Gespia alive.
"I think you're right." The Sai Hero nodded, walking over to Gespia. It seemed like he came to the same conclusion. "It's time to go."
"N-No…!" Gespia ground out, desperately clawing at the ground. "We still…have to kill…"
"It's a stalemate." Barnabas told her. "You couldn't kill the girl, so we're leaving."
Gespia looked up at him as he lifted her off the ground, her arm over his shoulder. "Thou…should have killed the hero when thou had the chance!"
Barnabas sighed. "You didn't want me to." He then began guiding her to the Wave rift.
"I never asked!" She yelled, though any physical struggle was muted by her injuries.
"You didn't need to."
Without needing to tell them, no one in Reina's party made a move to stop them. They knew the same thing she did. If they tried, they could kill the woman, but then they'd die as well.
"Good luck to you, Holy Hero." Barnabas said, turning as they reached the rift. "I pray we don't meet again."
With that, the pair disappeared.
The sky slowly began to change. The red swirls ceased to be and the cracks began to close. The red sky changed to blue. The Wave was over.
"Hah…" Lola breathed out a sigh. "It's done. Time…to…" And then, she fell to the ground.
"Lola!" Reina yelled, rushing over to the girl. A pool of blood was already forming underneath her.
With her spirit still out, Reina brought it over and had it begin healing Lola. There was so much blood already. The fact that she was still in Reina's party meant she wasn't dead, but Reina didn't know how bad the damage was.
"Boss." Maria approached, looking over Lola's form.
"Something's wrong." Reina said. Her MP continued to decline, but the wound at the hole in Lola's armor wasn't mending. She switched to her Azure Star Amulet for the boost in healing, on top of the already active Healing Aura from her spirit. Still, nothing happened. "Maria, help!"
The older woman crouched down next to Lola. "Healing Hands!" A second wave of healing energy spread out over Lola. Just like before, her large wound wasn't affected.
"Boss, this is…" Maria's unspoken words frightened Reina.
"No, we're going to help her!" Reina pulled a potion from her weapon's gem. "Help me turn her over."
She wasn't going to let Lola die, not after she just saved them. Reina wasn't even worried about the Demon Lord's wrath if she let his 'daughter' die. She just wasn't going to let this manipulated child die.
~Forging Legends~
Goalith stood above the dead man. This mishappen thing tried to get into one of the previously guarded spirit locations. The wings of a red dragon, the head of a giant lion, a long stinger out of his back, and only two spider legs where normal human ones should have been. This fake Demon Lord was clearly mad. Whatever his plans for this evil spirit were, they couldn't have been good.
Something tickled at the back of his head. Goalith looked to the west, a feeling of uncertainty coming over him.
"Sister…" Something happened. He could just feel it.
Author's Notes:
Yeah, still kinda suck at combat scenes. But I think this one flowed a little better.
Also, quick side note, I decided to bump up the rating to 'M' on this story. Mostly because I don't know how graphic I'll be with injuries going forward, and other things. Felt like I was pushing it for a while, so I just went ahead and changed it.