Chapter 7: The Wave: Part One
"Is that all of them?" One of the knights said as he took down the goblin he was facing. The other knight looked around to confirm if that was all the villagers. While he looked, a random goblin came out from a corner and tried to sneak attack him. Under normal circumstances, the goblin would have the advantage and the highest opportunity to kill this knight yet after the hellish training he had endured, he was able to protect himself.
"Nice try but after the hellish days I endured! I won't die with just a swing of your sword."
As the knight said this, he completely overwhelmed the goblin before killing it with just a couple of hits. Once this happened, he turned towards the knight that had asked him a question in order to respond with,
"We have them all round up. It's up to us now. We need to kill all these monsters!"
"Agreed."
The two knights both stood back to back as a horde of goblins surrounded the pair.
"Well...this is going to be a pain."
"Don't think like that! We will survive this!"
Just as the shorter knight of the two said this, a lizard man appeared behind one of the groups of goblins.
"... Are you sure about surviving this? Just saying."
"Oh shut up!"
Although they had tried extremely hard, the two knights know that they are extremely outclassed. The two stood still as the goblins and the lizard man began their move. As this happened, Garfiel quickly swoopt in and started to take on the goblins and the lizard man on his own, managing to prove his strength by being able to one shot the goblins while giving the lizard man a beatdown. The two knights were in complete shock when they saw this.
"Damn...that demi human boy is pretty strong..."
"Yeah—hey! watch out!"
The taller knight blocked off an attack from one of the goblins trying to attack them while they were focused on what Garfiel was doing.
"We can't let ourselves be distracted. We are still in the middle of a fight!"
"Right!"
The two knights quickly teamed up and used their combined strengths and skills to make a dent on the group of goblins facing them. As the two were fighting with everything they got, Garfiel finished off the lizard man with a powerful hit to the forehead, managing to destroy the head in the process.
"Whoops. Wasn't tryna break yer head."
As Garfiel said this, the lizard man's body fell to the ground lifeless, indicating that Garfiel had managed to kill it. He turned towards the two knights to see if they needed his assistance. As he looked towards them, he saw that although they were outnumbered, the two don't really need his help at this point. Seeing their training paying off by facing impossible odds was enough for Garfiel to turn around and deal with the even more stronger creatures from the current wave.
While Garfiel left to check on the others and the two knights were holding their own, Naofumi looked around to see that the knight and mages that stayed with him were making sure all the villagers were safe before returning to the action with the Shield Hero and his party. The knight charged on a goblin approaching the Shield Hero, easily taking it out with a simple swing of his sword.
'These guys are already doing better than I thought.' Naofumi thought to himself, a hint of pride in his ability to teach and train people.
"Naofumi-Sama, The north side of the village is clear of monsters, they are coming this way now." Raphtalia reported as she got off of Filo's back once the two returned.
"Have you heard back from Ren and his party?"
"No, not yet. It's been three hours. what's taking them so long."
Prior to the wave starting:
In front of the blacksmith shop, both parties of the Shield and Sword Hero waited for the end of the countdown. Naofumi looked over his wagon, taking a full stock of everything he had.
"It's a lot and still feels like it's not enough." He commented.
"If you carry too much, it could become dead weight." Ren commented.
Naofumi scowled at his friend but had to agree he was right. The two of them have spent their last day before the wave getting all the supplies they will need.
"So what's the plan? I would think you would want to come fight the main boss of the wave as well."
Naofumi shook his head. "Protecting people is my main concern. But the faster you and the other two defeat the boss, the easier my job will be. I don't think they would want me around anyways.. and I kind of don't want to be around those two."
Ren knew his reasons, Mai had become not just a hindrance to them, but also dangerous as she was willing to turn a market place into a war zone because of her own hatred towards Naofumi. And with Motoyasu in her pocket, as well as his own desires to not speak with Itsuke since he refuses to take accountability for his own actions.
"I'll make sure we get it done swiftly. But if we do take too long, go on and come help us."
"It's been way too damn long for Sword guys and the other two asshats to be messing around with some monster!" Garfield was fired up since fighting these weaker monsters was childs play at this point.
Naofumi thought about it for a moment. "Raphtalia, Filo, Garfield, we're going to go and help Ren. The rest of you, do you think you can handle protecting this village?"
As he asked, the sounds of fighting caught everyone's attention. They turned to see three goblies just being pulverized by this old woman.
"Don't worry about this place, Shield Hero, Me and these wippersnappers can handle these small fry. This body still has a lot of fight in it thanks to you and this is nothing compared to what I faced as an adventurer when I was younger." She boasted proudly.
"...Dang Grandma…" Garfield said
Naofumi almost fell to the ground from the sight of this old woman fighting these monsters.
'What did I give her…?' He pondered to himself before letting that issue come up another day.
"Let's get going." He said to his main team as they started to make their way towards Ren and the other heroes' location. As they were making their way towards the heroes' location, Garfiel took note of the entire situation since the start of the wave, noticing how these monsters were extremely powerful.
'They aren't too strong th't would put my amazin' self in danger...but they're dangerous fer sure.'
As the group were closing in, Raphtalia was the first to notice something.
"Naofumi-sama!"
"Hm?"
Naofumi looked at Raphtalia for a moment before turning towards the direction she was looking. Garfiel also looked in the direction to see a large boat floating in the air with a couple of tentacles coming out of that ship.
"What a big ship!" Both Filo and Garfiel said in unison. The group looked for a moment before noticing a couple of shots, causing some damage on the ship. Naofumi's group noticed the attacks, prompting them to quickly head towards the one who fired the shots. As they were closing in, they noticed that it was Itsuki's group.
"Where are the others?"
Itsuki looked at Noafumi's direction as he heard the question while he was preparing to fire an arrow. He was indifferent at the moment when seeing the Shield Hero yet the second he saw Garfiel Tinsel, anger coursed through his veins.
The sight of the boy boiled his blood for having punched not only him but one of his party members as well while acting all high and mighty.
Although he wishes to put the boy in his place for that, he knew that the current priority is to deal with the threat at hand, that being the monsters that spawn when the wave is created.
He looks back on the ship as he responds to Naofumi's question,
"They're on the ship. I told them attacking that statue and spawning the Soul Eater came first, but nope...how irresponsible can they be?"
Without any warning, Filo while carrying Naofumi and Raphtlaia, jumped up onto the ship with Garfiel also managing to catch up with his own high jump.
As Naofumi's party arrived on the ship, they noticed Motoyasu was struggling against the Kraken while Ren and his group were managing to take on the Skull Captain.
Although the Spear Hero wasn't doing much against the kraken, Ren and his group were able to coordinate enough to take down the Skull captain ten times over.
"Seems like th't trainin' paid off, don't ya think Shield guy?" Garfiel spoke with an impressed tone of voice, intrigued by the way Ren and his party were coordinating attacks and managing to take down their opponent in several different ways due to how it kept re-spawning after each defeat.
Naofumi noticed this, making him realize that something was wrong. As the Shield Hero had realized that something was wrong, Ren and his group all gained their distance from the Skull Captain with Tersia being the one to say,
"Why does this monster keep coming back?! This is so frustrating!"
"Maybe we aren't doing it right." Welt said as he was preparing his knives for battle.
"What do ya think, leader?" Farrie asked as he blocked off the Skull Captain's attack with his axe. Ren thought for a moment.
'This isn't like the games I know...but this isn't a game either.' Ren's thoughts quickly turned towards the village that suffered a horrible disease because of his ignorance.
"Ren, what's going on?" Naofumi called down. Ren turned towards the Shield Hero with a bit of a questioning look.
"Naofumi? Were you able to defeat all the monsters coming to that village?"
"No, I left the Knights there to defend it while I come to see what's going on with you guys."
Motoyasu wasn't having it. Naofumi was there and Ren was already distracted by him. But his party members were able to pick up the slack no problem.
"What the hell are you doing here!? We don't need your sorry ass here!" He hissed towards Naofumi.
"Why don't you shut up and keep playing with the Kraken!" Ren snapped back towards him. "And don't you dare speak to Naofumi like that." His own mind was on when Motoyasu attacked them in the middle of town.
"Ren, it's fine." Naofumi spoke in a calm manner. Ren noticed this and just simply nodded. Garfiel looked at the Kraken that Motoyasu and his party were having trouble dealing with. He was curious on how his strength compared to the kraken, prompting him to quickly go off and assist Motoyasu.
"Garfiel!" Naofumi shouted, not liking that Garfiel just suddenly ran off to do his own thing. Garfiel turned towards the Shield Hero for a moment, giving him a confident smile before looking forward. Motoyasu was in the middle of an attack when he suddenly felt Garfiel run past him.
"What the?!"
"Stupid demi human!" The bitch herself said as she noticed the demi human boy charging towards the kraken. Garfiel didn't care at all when he heard her speak, keeping his focus on the kraken. He jumped high to avoid one of its attacks before managing to land a powerful blow with one punch.
"Ha! Ya ain't strong!"
As Garfiel said this, the kraken hit the ground for a moment, looking dead until something white surrounded it for a moment before disappearing. As the white illusion disappeared, the kraken had gotten up with another move to attack the demi human boy. Garfiel smiled since he was happy to have a small challenge on his hands. While he took on the kraken with Motoyasu and his party just standing around and watching, Naofumi just shook his head for a moment before turning towards Ren.
"Any ideas?"
"So far nothing. I have killed the skeleton many times over now. Motoyasu hasn't made much progress with the Kraken either so Garfiel won't get that far either. There is something we are missing…"
Ren paused to look around once more. This was driving him crazy. He couldn't figure out what was going on for the life of him.
"I'm not seeing anything special about either of them." Naofumi commented as he inspected the Skeleton himself. Ren took another look at it… Something caught his eyes.
"Raphtalia… Would you happen to know any light magic?"
"Umm… I do, why do you ask?" She questioned him as Ren grabbed his sword, getting ready.
"Cast something on my mark." He said. Naofumi saw it as well now, the way the Shadow moved wasn't natural. It was connected to both the Kraken and the Skeleton.
"Do as Ren says." Naofumi added.
Raphtaila nodded as she held out her hand.
"As Source of thy power, I order thee, decipher the laws around me and illuminate my surroundings… FAST LIGHT!"
The Spell went off as the Shadows began to stop moving. Ren ran towards the Skeleton Captain, stabbing the shadow on the floor.
"Get the Kraken!" He called to Raphtaila. She was a bit far away from it when she cast the spell.
"Garf! Catch!" She shouted before tossing her sword towards him.
The demi human boy noticed this and swiftly caught it with his right hand while blocking an attack with his left. As he was grabbing the grip of the sword, he felt a bit weird for a moment since weapons were his thing yet he knew what he had to do.
He stabbed the shadow on the ground, causing something white from the ground to burst out of the shadow.
"Th'fuck?!"
Garfiel jumped back while holding Raphtalia's sword, completely wary of what seemed to be soul firing itself up into the sky.
"Well now what are we going to do?" Motoyasu questioned as he noticed a couple of soul eaters were starting to spawn.
"Soul eaters are spawning all around the ship." Itsuki said as he started to arrive at the scene with one of his party members. The other three heroes noticed what he said for a moment before all four of them noticed a soul eater spawning on top of them, looking extremely menacing. Garfiel looked at the soul eater with a serious facial expression before turning it into a more confident one.
"So th't's what we gotta beat? Ha! Doesn't look tough."
As the demi human boy said this, he quickly returned Raphtalia her sword before preparing to charge at the soul eater.
"Hold on Garf, wait for Naofumi-sama to tell us what we need to do."
"I know but we don't got time. Th't village needs us th'finish th's'n fast! So my amazin' self'll hold it off as long's possible." As he said this to Raphtalia, he turned his attention to the Shield Hero. "Ya better come up with a good plan, Shield guy. I'm countin' on ya with th't."
Naofumi was caught off guard by what Garfiel had said yet he knew that he was the one capable of making a plan that would work. He gave the boy a nod, which prompted the demo human boy to return the nod before he charged at the soul eater.
While Garfiel was taking on the soul eater by himself, Ren and his party approached Naofumi and his.
"Are you all alright?" The Sword Hero asked.
"Yes, we are Ren-san." Raphtalia said, appreciating the concern from the Sword Hero.
"Okay then...Naofumi, is there any plan you have that we can use against the soul eater?" Ren said, wanting to get straight to the point. Naofumi looked up and paid close attention to how Garfiel was holding his own against the soul eater.
The demi human boy was jumping high enough to reach it, managing to punch away some of the soul eater's attacks with the assistance of his shields on his arms.
As Garfiel's punches and kicks were landing on the soul eater, his current level seemed to be barely enough to do some damage. He thought and thought before he turned towards Filo to tell her,
"Filo! Go and assist Garfiel."
"Okay! High quick it is!" As Filo yells this, a yellow aura can be seen around her for a brief moment before having a mirage of herself, showing that she's going super fast.
After a second or two, she reaches the soul eater and starts to land her own kicks on the monster, giving it a bit of damage.
Garfiel was surprised for a second before quickly heading towards the ship, landing only to jump high up towards the soul eater's location to land another couple of hits of his own.
Naofumi paid close attention towards the health of the soul eater, seeing that it is going down with the combined efforts of Filo and Garfiel yet it isn't enough.
'This strategy would kill it eventually but if we take too long, the village will be destroyed.'
Upon seeing the look on Naofumi's face, Ren looked at the health of the Soul Eater, seeing it was absorbing too much of the damage.
"Master Ren!" He turned to his party members who were standing by, finally recovering shock of spawning.
"That thing isn't going to go down that way!"
"You're right. Naofumi, we need to cause a lot damage? We need to combine our parties to take it on." Ren suggested.
Naofumi thought for a moment. It might restrict some movement of his group, but this was why they all trained together.
"Filo! Garfiel! Find a way to lower that thing!"
"On it!"
Garfiel turned towards Filo to ask her,
"Throw me above th't thing!"
"Okay!"
As Garfiel was about to fall to the ground, the filolial manages to grab onto his arm before flying above the soul eater. Once the two were at the top, Garfiel asks her to let him go.
She listened and let Garfiel go, allowing him to drop towards the soul eater. As the monster was preparing to attack the demi human boy, he took off his right shield before transforming his arm into its beast form.
Motoyasu, Itsuki, and their respective parties all noticed this, surprising them. Garfiel used all the strength on his arm to slash on the soul eater before managing to slam the soul eater to the ship.
Naofumi and Ren both noticed that Garfiel's current attack had done damage. Once the soul eater was on the same floor as them, Ren's party and Raphtalia all five charged at the soul eater and began to do their own damage on the monster.
Individually, it wouldn't be much but together they were able to make some progress. Filo eventually joined in and started to land multiple of her own attacks, adding more to the progress. Garfiel would join the six of them yet he almost collapsed.
"Garfiel, what's wrong?" Ren said, having noticed the demi human boy looking worn out.
"I'm fine...just overusing my beast strength a bit..."
"Beast strength? You mean that transformation?"
"Yea, I can transform if I wanna but it takes a toll on my body. Plus my amazin' self doesn't have enough control on it, so we might wanna avoid th't fer now."
"A good idea. The last thing we need is for you to become a problem." Naofumi said, which slightly annoyed Garfiel. The three turned towards the soul eater, seeing that their progress is going well but it is still slow. "Are you out for the count, Garfiel?"
"Not yet!"
As Garfiel shouted this, he charged right into battle, using his human form's strength to take on the soul eater along with the others. With the seven of them continuously attacking in some coordination, the Shield Hero and the Sword Hero saw that the monster was reaching half of its health.
"So far so good." Naofumi commented.
"Even at this rate, we still won't be able to kill it quick enough."
Ren and Naofumi thought for a moment, this pissed off the other two Heroes.
"Who died and made you Leader?" Motoryasu asked, glaring at Naofumi.
"I didn't see you coming up with some ideas besides just standing there like a deer in headlights."
"Oh shut up Savoir of the Heavenly Fowl." Itsuki retorted, which slightly shocked Ren since he is normally on better terms with him. "Not like you both are doing much, letting your underlings do most of the fighting."
This is where it struck him. He was right, He and Ren would do just as much, if not more damage than their parties combined.
"Ren… Follow my lead." He said.
"NOW, SHIELD PRISON!" Naofumi locked the Soul Eater in the prison before moving some of the plates that created it to create openings big enough for weapons to be pushed through it.
It took Ren a moment before he realized what Naofumi wanted him to do. Without a second thought, he quickly moved around the shield prison containing Soul Eater, using his sword to stab the creature on the openings Naofumi had left him.
As he was doing this rapidly, the health of the monster was lowering down though it would still take a bit before Ren would be able to finish it off this way. Raphtalia joined in and with her speed, she was able to do some damage as well.
Although Ren was doing more damage between the two due to his speed, Raphtalia's contribution did help. Motoyasu and Itsuki both look from the sidelines, annoyed that they haven't done anything except stand around.
As much as either of them dislike Naofumi, they need to contribute to something. Itsuki prepared his bow before firing arrows at the ones Raphtalia or Ren weren't using while Motoyasu with the strength he can contribute started to assist Ren and Raphtalia in stabbing the monster on the openings left by Naofumi.
"Motoyasu." Ren said, having just noticed him join in. Motoyasu looked at the Sword Hero for a moment before continuing on the stabbing.
"I'm only here to help because this monster needs to be taken down. I'm not doing it for his sake."
"Regardless, much appreciate the assist."
The Spear Hero nodded at this as he along with the Sword Hero, Bow Hero, and Raphtalia continued on their efforts until the Soul Eater was down to the last of its health. The monster looked weak yet it was managing to break out the shield prison.
"Don't let it escape!"
As Naofumi shouted this, Garfiel quickly jumped in and transformed both his arms into their beast forms to keep the shield prison together. As he was doing this, he turned towards the others to tell them,
"My amazin' self's got th's! Now finish th's bastard off!"
Ren and Raphtalia took note of what Garfiel had said, prompting the two to quickly charge at the shield prison and to deliver the finishing blow in unison.
As both the Sword Hero and The Shield Hero's sword had pulled this final blow, the soul eater screamed in pain before collapsing to the ground with the shield prison collapsing as well. Garfiel reverted his arms back into human form while almost losing consciousness.
Naofumi noticed this, prompting him to approach the demi human boy to hand him over a bottle.
"Here, take this. It'll give you back some energy."
"...thanks Shield guy."
Garfiel drank it and immediately he felt his strength returning to him. Motoyasu and Itsuki both joined Ren as they congratulated him for delivering the finishing blow to the soul eater, reluctantly.
"Good job, Ren. Seems like this time you are the mvp of this wave."
"I guess but I can't take all the credit. It was a team effort." As Ren says this, he turns towards his party members, knowing that it's thanks to them along with Naofumi and his group that they were able to make it out alive. Motoyasu looked at Naofumi with anger as he began to say,
"You can bet that things will be different next time."
As he spoke in an annoyed tone of voice, Filo changed from her filolial form to her human form before quickly approaching the Spear Hero, having noticed what he said.
"Hey. Don't tell me you're a sore loser." As Filo speaks in a confident voice and facial expression. Motoyasu's expression and attitude completely changed in the presence of Filo herself.
"Th-Th-That's not it, Filo! I mean—I could've one shot that thing if I had gotten serious, you know what I mean? It's a no brainer."
"Oh really?"
"Um, oh yeah, Motoyasu never lies."
"Then why didn't you?"
Ren and Itsuki both find this scenario amusing while Naofumi and Garfiel both look proudly at Filo, watching her mess with Motoyasu. Before anything else could be said, all four cardinal heroes felt something was wrong.
"Did you feel that?" Naofumi questioned but before any of the other three heroes could answer him, everyone noticed a large head of another soul eater appear from the ship itself.
"Another one?!"
"Ya gotta be fuckin' kiddin' me!"
Everyone got their guards up as they prepared for another harsh fight ahead of them.
'Great, just as one issue is taken care of, another decides to show its ugly head.'
The new and more deadly soul eater started to roar at them all, Garfiel put back his shields onto his arms, preparing himself for the fight ahead. Before anything could be done, a random barrage of lasers were shot at it, easily overwhelming the new soul eater and killing it in the process.
"What th'hell?!"
Everyone was surprised when they saw this, not expecting something to take out the soul eater with such ease. Before any of them could process what was happening, someone spoke out,
"How very disappointing."
A woman with long black hair and a black kimono jumped from the top of the ship, rapidly moving down all the way towards the dead soul eater she had killed. Once she landed on the soul eater, a burst of dust surrounded her for a brief moment before showing her fully with the soul eater having disappeared.
"You actually have trouble with weaklings like these. Are you really the heroes holding the world's fate in their hands?"
Naofumi, Ren, Itsuki, Motoyasu, and their respective party members all looked at this woman with uncertainty, unsure on what she's trying to get at yet they all agree that she's a threat at the moment. She slowly approached the group of heroes and their allies while continuing to speak in a calm yet confident tone,
"The only ones that can barely be worthy of the title hero are you two." She pointed her fans towards both Ren and Naofumi. "And what are your names?"
"How about you introduce yourself before asking someone's name."
Naofumi responded with a stern voice. This caught the attention of the woman, prompting her to respond with,
"Oh, pardon me. Whatever happened to my manners? I'm called Glass, and that's all you need to know from me. Feel free to consider me your enemy."
Itsuki, Ren, and Motoyasu were all three surprised by this, not expecting someone to just announce themselves as the enemy just like that. Naofumi continues to look at Glass with a serious facial expression.
"I'm Naofumi."
"Naofumi. Well, Well. What about you?" She turned towards the Sword Hero's location.
"I'm Ren."
"Naofumi and Ren. Interesting." As she was saying this, she had one of her fans open up before pointing it up towards the sky. "Then may I suggest that we begin."
"Begin with wh't?!" Garfiel questioned as he didn't like what was going on. Glass took note of the question, prompting her to point her fan directly towards Naofumi.
"The only battle of this wave worthy of the name."
Everyone stood still, the four cardinal heroes trying to figure out what exactly is their opponent only to see their level not wanting to appear.
'Hm. It's similar to Garfiel, how the level doesn't want to properly show up.'
Naofumi thought as he remembered back during his first encounter, Garfiel didn't show a level number.
'Maybe she is from another world as well.'
These thoughts had to be pushed back to be asked for later. Right now, they had to figure this woman out.
"She's stronger than she looks, I can say that for sure." Ren commented under his breath, prompting Naofumi to nod in agreement.
"Well, are you going to attack brave heroes?" Glass began to goad them.
"Or maybe you can call upon those other two… servants to make the first move." She had a sly smile on her face hidden by one of her fans. She relished the look on the Bow and Spear heroes faces as their expressions began to twist and form into ones of hate and rage.
"DID YOU JUST CALL US-!"
"-NAOFUMI'S SERVANTS?"
"SCREW YOU!"
Both of them roared before charging forward, along with their parties, and circling her.
"IDIOTS WAIT! SHE'S TRYING TO-." Naofumi began.
"SHUT UP!" Both of them called back to him. It was a lost cause to stop them.
"Meteor Shot!"
"Meteor Thrust!"
Both of them unleashed their strongest attacks at her. but, as they hit their marks, Naofumi noticed she didn't even move an inch. Impact from the two attacks created a blinding light… Only for the light to dim to reveal Glass not only didn't move at all, in her stance and place, but also she didn't have much of a mark on her.
"Is that all you have to show? Such weaklings you are, so yes, you are no more than mere servants to Sword and Shield in my eye."
She then outstretched her arms, holding her fans out. While doing this, she started to glow an orange like aura around her.
"Zero Stance Rondo: Reverse Four Seasons."
She began to move her fans all around with increasing speed, causing a barrage of wind attacks to get thrown around towards Motoyasu, Itsuki, and their respective groups. Naofumi, Ren, and their respective party members all looked shocked with wind hitting them. As the Spear and Bow heroes and their parties were down, Glass looked down with a satisfied smile while saying,
"As I was saying before, mere servants."
Itsuki and Motoyasu both were on the ground, struggling to even move.
"H-How does she do that?" The bow hero questioned while he was in pain. Ren and Naofumi both looked at the situation with a careful attitude, understanding that their new opponent is a lot stronger than any enemy they have currently faced.
"Do try to entertain me, Naofumi, Ren."
Both Naofumi and Ren prepared themselves for a fight only to see Garfiel suddenly charge in towards Glass. Glass looked at Garfiel with a blank facial expression, having no expectations from the demo human boy.
"Yer goin' down now, crazy fan woman!"
"..."
She stood silent as she easily blocked away all of the boy's attacks.
"Garfiel! Stand back!"
"My amazin' self's got th's, Shield Guy!"
'Damn it! Like always, he acts without thinking!'
Naofumi turned towards Raphtalia and Filo to tell them to assist Garfiel, knowing that the boy wasn't going to last very long. Both girls nod before going off to help out Garfiel all the while Garfiel continues to throw a barrage of punches, each one stronger than the last.
"Hm. You are strong, I'll give you that."
She taps Garfiel's chest area just as the boy tries to land another punch. This caused Garfiel to be sent flying towards Naofumi and Ren's direction. As this happened, Raphtalia was the first to reach Glass and start her attack.
She swung her sword with everything she had only for all of the attacks to be parried by Glass's fan. Filo tried to assist Raphtalia by attempting to land a kick only for Glass to step out of the way with ease.
The moment she did this, she prepared to take out Raphtalia only for Garfiel to suddenly appear in front of her and try to connect his left fist with her face. She blocked the attack all the while a bit surprised that he was able to get up despite the brutal hit he had received from her.
"You are a persistent one, aren't you?" She questioned as he began throwing a barrage of punches once again, this time with a lot more speed and strength behind each punch.
"Yea! Cap'n told my amazin' self once th't so long's we're still standin', we shouldn't give up!"
As Garfiel says this, he begins to use some of the techniques he had learned from a book he read during his time in the Sanctuary. These fighting techniques allowed him to avoid some of Glass's attacks with a lot of effort from his part.
He dodged a few of the attacks while also attempting to land either a punch or a kick on his opponent. Raphtalia and Filo were both impressed by this, motivating the two to join in and assist their friend in pushing back Glass. As the three started to work together, coordinating like in their training, Ren and Naofumi took note of this.
"Seems like training was the right call." Ren said as he could see that the three were putting everything they got into their fight against Glass.
"Yeah...but not for long..." Naofumi said with a serious tone, knowing that their shared opponent isn't going all out.
Glass was a bit intrigued by the team work the three party members of the Shield Hero were showing and yet...
"You three are pretty good...for mere servants."
Without warning, she manages to tap Filo on her stomach, sending her flying past Ren and Naofumi. Garfiel was surprised by this yet he kept on going, knowing full well that his current opponent is much stronger than him.
He attempted to land a kick only for that attack to be blocked off which resulted in Glass finding an opening to knock the boy out of the fight.
She tapped the boy's chest with her fan once again though this time she added a bit more force to make sure he ends up knocked out for a bit.
He was sent flying past Ren and Naofumi as well, completely stunned for a bit while in pain from the attack.
Raphtalia was left stunned, leaving her open for one of Glass's wind attacks.
Naofumi noticed this and quickly ran towards her, wanting to make sure he could protect her.
As he got in between the two just in the nick of time, he changed his shield to the viper shield in order to block off the attack with his current strongest shield.
As he blocked away Glass's attack, the viper shield's counterattack was triggered which caused the three snakes to appear and start biting Glass.
Although it looked painful from a certain perspective, Glass kept a serious facial expression as she was unfazed by the attack.
"You didn't think that would work, did you?"
As Glass questioned his counterattack, Naofumi stepped back while shouting,
"Ren!"
"On it!"
Ren got his strongest sword variation out before charging at Glass, fully confident that he and Naofumi together will beat Glass.
He swiftly approached her and began to swing his sword.
Unlike with Raphtalia, Glass noted that Ren was a lot stronger than the spear and bow hero.
She blocked all of Ren's attacks with ease, finding the fight completely one sided to her favor only for Garfiel to suddenly appear next to Ren to provide some assistance.
"My amazin' self's not done yet!"
"Garfiel." Ren said with a surprised tone, not expecting him to get up after the injury he had sustained. Before anything else could be said, Raphtalia stood to his left side, also wanting to join in on the fight.
"Together we can beat her!"
"Hell yea we can!"
Raphtalia and Garfiel shouted as they threw their attacks at Glass. Ren was caught off guard for a moment before smiling, seeing that they will need to work together if they wish to beat their current opponent.
Naofumi was surprised that Garfiel had gotten up despite looking like he was down for the count.
'...you really are just a stubborn boy.'
He couldn't help but chuckle at this, seeing how this trait fits with Garfiel.
Despite how badly the odds are, the demi human boy doesn't give up.
He turned towards Filo to see that she was also getting up despite having little to no energy left to fight.
Once Filo was back on her feet, she looked at Glass with a serious face before charging in to assist Ren, Garfiel, and Raphtalia.
Ren's party saw this which also motivated them to join in on the fight, with Farrie, Welt, and Tersia as offense and Bakta as support from a distance.
With everyone putting their all against Glass, Naofumi looked as Glass eventually started to use techniques that pushed everyone but Ren away.
"Zero Stance Rondo: Reverse Four Seasons."
Ren's party members were all sent towards the edge of the ship, Raphtalia and Filo were both flown past Naofumi with Filo protecting Raphtalia from landing harshly, and lastly Garfiel remained standing only to receive the most violent of blows.
"I have to say, I didn't expect you to still be standing after taking such blows."
"..."
Garfiel stood silent as he was breathing heavily, knowing that he's reaching the end of his strength. Glass prepared to knock the boy out of the fight fully only for Ren to get in front of the boy, ready to give it his all to protect him.
"Don't worry Garfiel, I can take her on. Just get yourself to safety."
"...hold up, I can—"
"You should listen to him, Garfiel Tinsel."
"Hm?"
Garfiel turned towards his backside to see that it was Naofumi speaking to him. He walked past him while also tossing him a bottle.
"Drink up and rest."
"..."
Garfiel wanted to fight more, feeling that he can still keep going yet he understood that he needs to rest up at least for now.
He nodded and went to check on the others while Naofumi and Ren both looked at Glass with a serious facial expression.
"Now then shall you entertain me, heroes?"
Naofumi and Ren looked at her with a serious facial expression before starting their 2 on 1 fight against Glass.
Ren charged at her and went on the offense while Naofumi was on defense to protect not only himself but also Ren.
As the two were coordinating well, Glass continued to block each of Ren's attacks effortlessly yet when it came down to her attacks, Naofumi was barely able to push off her attacks despite having his viper shield.
'This is getting us nowhere…'
His mind raced around. Even together, both of them weren't nearly as strong as they needed to be here. She was just overwhelming them and clearly holding back.
On the flip side, Ren's own frustrations were getting the best of him. His strikes were getting sloppy, almost downright missing at times.
"Are you even trying anymore, Ren?" Glass asked teasingly, getting a parry off him and with a mere touch of her fan, he was launched right into Naofumi, who caught him.
"We can't even leave a mark on her." Ren noted as in the corner of his eyes he can see the wave only had another 10 or so minutes left.
"Should we just wait out the time?" He suggested.
Naofumi didn't have time to speak before he blocked another attack from Glass, which finally made her own expression change.
"Rupture Stance Rondo: Tortoise Shell Cracker!" She called out as a bolt of light streaked across the ship. Before it hit Naofumi however…
"Gah! I got… It…Ah!"
Garfiel jumped in the way before the attack could hit, blocking it with his own shields, but the power behind the attack was too much that his shield on his left arm shattered within seconds, leaving Naofumi to quickly take on the attack.
He uses his Viper shield to block off the attack, with the attack almost breaking it as well despite how much strength it required to push the attack back.
"Hmm, I was hoping that would be enough to bring you down, even with that child taking the brunt of the attack."
"YOU SHUT UP!" Naofumi hissed at the woman, catching her off by his tone. His attention was fixed onto Garfiel, whose arm was bleeding right where her attack struck his shields. No matter how angry he's been with him in the last few days, Naofumi can't deny that he still cares about him.
"Garf, you alright?"
"...Yeah, I'll be fine...hurts like hell though...focus on th'fight Naofumi!" Garf more waved him off while still being in pain.
"Here Garf, I have some bandages and healing potions!" Raphatila was quick to his side, ready to begin healing him, which put a bit of relief on Naofumi.
"Naofumi, we need to end this now!" Ren called to him as he locked himself in close combat with Glass once more.
"Agreed!" Naofumi charged forward, ready to do his part in the battle until something shot by him, causing himself, Ren, and even Glass, just as bewildered by the move, to look and follow its trajectory.
"Gah!"
A female voice shouted in pain as a thud was heard.
'No…'
Their eyes followed the path seeing it going towards Garf and Raphatalia.
'No…No…'
He noticed blood on the ground as their eyes drew closer.
'NoNoNo…'
The look on Garf's face, one of pure shock, said it all. The blood wasn't his would, but it was Raphatalia's
It felt like something shattered inside of him, like all the hope he had, everything he fights for… fell from him.
The world around him became black as he could only see himself and Raphatalia's limp body on the ground.
'No… This… can't…'
His mind thought back when he thought the zombie dragon killed Filo… Back to seeing Garfied poised and cursed by its breath. Back to facing that bastard of a king… back to…
His eyes traced back to where Garfiel was looking, behind him… Myne had her arm extended out, clearly from attacking someone. It was clear that she wasn't aiming for Glass… She was Aiming for Naofumi but missed… And she…
"RUGHAAAAA!"
The rage inside of him boiled over, his eyes were seeing red, but also seeing all these new skill trees began to open up. They were glitching his sight as he looked at them.
"Kill them."
A voice… His voice with another said.
"Kill them!"
It said it with more force this time.
"KILL HER!"
Flames began to consume Naofumi, unleashing his hate onto this world. Ones that he's been wanting to burn for a long time.