Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading the chapter, and providing feed backs.
As always, I will blabber some more in my end note.
Cross posted on AO3, for anyone who prefer that site.
The Battle of Stormwind, southern front, Melromarc's right wing vanguard.
The brief pause of Leonister's lancer knights, and the quick leadership change didn't bring Astaroth's army respite. Their charge continued after their quick adjustment, and the army of the Mirror Demon didn't manage to organize a better defense in the few minutes they paused their attack. In fact, the attack of the Leonisters became more relentless now their lord has left the front of their army formation, and they no longer have to worry for his safety.
Sir Finn didn't let his guard down as he led his fellow lance knights drilling into the enemy formation. As the most traditional kind of cavalier, Leonister lancer knights rely most on their speed and momentum to smash their enemy apart, which means they are especially vulnerable to a well-formed pike formation. Right now, their enemy is too disorganized to put up a proper defense thanks to General Anderson's charge, but the situation could easily change if they have a competent leader who can reform their men. And suddenly, the veteran knight feels the hair on his back stand on its end as a sense of danger flares in his mind. He realizes the sun is no longer glaring down his head and looks up, seeing something dark and large (and presumably very heavy) falling towards his head. His body reacts by instinct as Brave Spear thrust upwards, sewing multiple deadly blossoms over his head at the indescribable objects falling towards his head. The sound of metal tearing into metal is followed by a large boom landing right beside Leonister's Prayer Knight, briefly forcing him to pull to the side to avoid a collision with both the unidentified falling object, and his allies behind him.
The dark lump rumbles from underneath the crater its impact created. And it slowly stands up to reveal some kind of a beastman with a fish-like head, and a long finned tail running down its spine. It's huge for a humanoid monster, easily standing over Sir Finn at full length even if he's riding on top of a steed, and twice as wide with bulging muscles over its gray body. The creature pulls its hand up, dragging a cleaver that could easily saw a tree clean in half as it looks at Sir Finn. "You are the enemy Astaroth told me to kill, huh? Alright, alright. Let's get this over with."
Chapter 50: The Seven
Kyo blows a yawn into the back of his own hand as he trails behind the left wing vanguard of the Medea natives. Just like he thought, they are a bunch of brutes, fighting without any sense of finesse. Kicking up dust leaves body parts and blood flying in their path. It reminds him of the subordinates of that crude Katana Hero, and makes him feeling somewhat nostalgic about his home. Things used to make sense before these two maniacs (The Mirror Demon and the Katana Hero) came in, and started a war with everyone else.
He suddenly feels a familiar, yet different pulse of magic energy. The Book Hero of Malach narrows his eyes and looks towards the front of the moving wheel formation he's following behind. And sure enough, the movement of these Medea natives have slowed down and he can easily tell why. The fireball floating in front of them while glowing like a small sun should be pretty intimidating to these uncultured fools. "That attack... Could it be Ludope? Why is he working with that sniveling coward Astaroth?"
The Book Hero immediately casts a few haste spells on his feet, as he begins moving towards the frontline. He doesn't run. It wouldn't do for a king to run like a scared peasant even if he no longer has a kingdom to rule. But the spell he casted on himself would allow him to move as fast as these raptor riders even when he preserves his graceful posture. He arrives just in time as the fireball is tossed towards his allies, and he probably should have done something to help them since they have a common enemy. But he doesn't care about these Medea natives, not compared to the white, diminished looking figure standing not too far from him. Kyo narrows his eyes when he realizes that it is indeed Ludope, even if the midget archmage is wearing something way too uncouth for his usual standard. Kyo asks, more to himself than anyone else. "What happened to you?"
Ludope didn't answer Kyo's question. The Book Hero is standing too far away from his target for the diminished archmage to notice. And Kyo wonders if he is mentally sound enough to even recognize someone from his past. The fireball leaves the tip of Ludope's mace and falls towards the group of raptor riders. A blue haired man leaps off his steed, pulls out a sword... and tries to cut the magic attack in half. Kyo's scoff is only stopped by the fact that the man somehow succeeded. Although he quickly recognizes it's thanks to the special property of his sword rather than the man's own power or skill as he can feel the pulsing energy of a dragon aspect from the sword. Ludope also narrows his eyes, confused but unconcerned by his opponent's action. He holds his spiked mace forward, as a white mist begins to release from the head of his weapon. The trail of mist begins to spread around the Medea natives, slowly taking the shape of a nebula. Kyo's eyes open wide as he recognizes what his old... acquaintance is trying to do. And this time, he is prompted to act as he opens both of his hands up, his hero weapon floats above his head as the grimoire quickly begins to flip through its pages. "STOP!"
The air around everyone begins to darken as if night has fallen over them. But the nebula shaped smoke released by Ludope begins to grow brighter and brighter until it finally bursts into a blinding field of light. Kyo can feel his own body burn, and then freezes up. Both from the poison he took out of curiosity, and from pushing himself to the limit to fight back Ludope's strongest attack. He finally releases a breath of relief as both the dark shadow, and the white mist clears up. And his allies are unharmed by Ludope's attack other than looking confused, or screaming about the bright light.
"...Who? Who stood between my vengeance and I?" Ludope looks around, eyes red with bloodlust. For a brief moment, Kyo feels a brief tinge of sadness wash over him to see Ludope acting so unlike his old self. The diminished mage turns his head around till his bloodshot eyes slowly fall on Kyo, and his eyes seem to lose their focus. For a brief moment, the Book Hero wonders if Ludope recognized him, until the small archmage begins to mumble under his breath as his eyes seem to gleam with a brutal light. "Useless... useless... vengeance is DEATH!"
"What has he done to you, Ludope?" Kyo narrows his eyes as he slowly splits apart his legs, keeping his center of gravity low. The vassal book is an envious weapon and it refuses to let him touch another weapon, but it's barely a drawback for a master of the arcane mystery. Dark, purple colored vortices appear in both of Kyo's hands, a pair of blades made of pure magical energy emerge from them as the remaining weapon begins to wash over him, leaving a layer of protective energy covering his entire body. He turns to look at the natives of this world. "Get away from here if you don't want to get hurt. I'm not going to bother keeping any of you safe."
Dio feels the air around him grow more charged and immediately takes two steps back, and a large meteor crash lands on the ground he was standing on, kicking up a cloud of dust that completely obstructs his vision. He didn't let his temporary blindness stop himself from putting up a defense, as he can feel the strong, pulsating life energy in front of him. Telling the Gauntlet Hero that what fell on him wasn't a mere attack, but some kind of attacker. Just as he thought, a metal fist coated in white energy flies through the debris towards him, colliding with his arms. Knocking his body back even as he already braced for impact. His enlarged feet digs two trenches through the earth as he slides back. A familiar, if somewhat muffled voice comes from the metal construct that looks like a giant demon. "Is it just me, or have you gotten slower in this form, Gauntlet Hero? You had me at a disadvantage the first time, and now it's time for Round two!"
Dio knew the weakness of his Dynamax form when he learnt the technique from Master Ravana, of course. The expanded out Ki that makes his enlarged body would dull out a part of his senses, making himself slower. That's why this technique should only be used against an army of low level fodder to clean them up quickly, or against a relatively slow giant monster. But right now, he's both surprised and caught off guard against his opponent. The voice inside the metal golem suit was clearly the red haired man he fought on the Spirit Tortoise's back. The golem increased the power of his punches and kicks by a few fold, yet doesn't seem to decrease his speed like the contraption should. Something that's only achieved through Astaroth's special demon power, or something that could be copied by anyone? It could be a big help if they somehow could recover and study it to use it against The Burning Legion (or that reaper thing the renegade Shiltfreeden commander talked about, he's not going to write any potential threat off).
"You talk too much." Dio concentrates all of his attention on his opponent, and the world around him disappears into a void. The golem suit in front of him slows down in Dio's eyes, but it's only a result of his own increase in speed. This technique is dangerous to use in an open battlefield since he could be attacked by someone else. But he's going to trust his back to his allies.
Granny's mind absently controls her giant energy construct to devastate the enemy's soldiers, but her mind has long since wandered away. She feels it the moment that one stepped into their world. A sword, sharpened through hundreds of battles and bright as the first ray of sunlight in total darkness. She doesn't know what the ninth Sword Hero, the defeat seeker, was like. But she imagines him as someone like this invader. Living a life fully dedicated to perfect his own craft. And sure enough, it begins to move towards her not too long afterwards. Someone dedicated in the way of a martial to test herself, just like that certain, old, promiscuous crow. It'll be good to test herself against someone like this. She just wishes he wasn't working for someone so callous and lacking empathy for other living beings. They would probably go find a quiet place and a barrel of good liquor after they test each other in their own pursuit of their art. As of now, she'll have to focus on snapping this intrepid sword in half, because she doubts anyone else around her other than perhaps the new Gauntlet Hero could match it.
She didn't stop her own acts of attacking the enemy's archer formation, even if she's cautious about the sword master of her enemy. The more men she takes down now, the less people the heroes and their retinue will have to worry about in this war. But she also feels other powerful energy among the sword user who caught her attention. It seems like the Mirror Demon has lost enough of his own troops, and decided to bring forth his own powerful fighters into this battle. She doesn't have to wait long when she feels the swordsman's power signature disappear off the Spirit Tortoise's back, and then she feels more than sees a ray of crescent shaped beam shooting at her, more sharp than any sword.
She could dodge out of the way, but then the attack would continue without obstruction towards the heroes and their retinue behind her. So Granny quickly pushes both of her balled up fists forward, as the giant energy idol behind her slams two of its hundred arms down in front of her, creating a makeshift shield out of its fist. The flash of her enemy's sword strike collides with the hand of her energy idol, and she feels the skin on the back of her own hands split apart, blood spilling out of her wound. The feedback on her energy idol was enough to harm her own body. From a purely rational perspective, she knew it would be a bad thing to put away her guard. But Granny wants to see the master swordsman who is able to wound her on their first confrontation. So she slowly raises the two fists from her energy constructs to get a better look at her opponent.
He is an old man, maybe a few decades younger than her, or maybe someone who shares her venerated age yet looking younger than his actual age. His mixed gray and black hair is neatly tied up by a metal headband, and flows behind his head in a ponytail. A well-trimmed beard runs down his sharp face. He doesn't wear any armor, but wears a set of clothes that resembles some kind of military uniform than a martial artist's clothing. He is holding a nodachi with a serrated blade in his hand, no doubt the weapon that fired off his attack. "Hmm... my attack barely phased you. That is impressive. You are also a seeker of the martial arts?"
"I'm sure my way is different. I certainly wouldn't find myself being the henchmen of some power hungry fool invading another world." Granny can't help but feel a bit nostalgic about the words leaving her mouth. They look completely different, but this conversation reminded her of an argument she had with a certain annoying crow woman whose muscle probably got bulked up into her own skulls. Ravana would probably find more common ground with the old man standing before her.
"The conqueror promised me of advisories who I can sharpen my own blade against, help me perfect my art so I may find the ultimate perfection to my sword. And in return, I cut down his enemies for him." The old swordsman states his intention without emotion behind it, a mere narration of facts, rather than trying to excuse his actions. "You think you can face the conqueror? Then come forth, and see if you have what it takes."
Without cannonballs constantly blowing up around them, the situation is getting better for Naofumi to stop, and think. He steals a look at Kou, and sees sweat falling down from his hair while steam seems to rise up from his body. Malty had told him that this was a sign that a mage is about to become completely exhausted using their magic reserves. And if that happens, they'll have to go back to putting up barriers over their heads, or try to think of something else. Would they scatter their entire group work? But Astaroth has a lot of cannons, and not all of their group are one man army power houses like Granny or the heroes. It might cause a lot of death if they get caught by an explosion, or a large group of enemy troops. He had tried to hit the kaiju turtle's back where Astaroth's cannons were, but they were too far away for his [Force, or [Lightning Spear] miracles.
"Someone has to throw me up there in the sky, I can't get a good angle shooting at the turtle's back staying down here." Itsuki had one of his shoulders bandaged up. His face is pale, and cold sweat is coming down even if he's just standing still. The arrow he took has hooked barbs, and it did a number on his shoulder when it went in, or when one of their healers was removing it. And apparently healing magic and magic potion can only do so much to one's messed up body even if they fill one's HP back up.
"NO! You have to rest, Master Itsuki! How will you safely come down if someone throws you up there?" Rishia immediately jumps forward. Her arms extended, looking ready to grab Itsuki's shoulders, but she abruptly stopped herself, almost tripping and falling in the process. And then she carefully reaches out to grab his hand, the side of his shoulder where he isn't hurt. "And even if you can come down safely, you'll end up destroying your shoulder if you try to use any powerful bow weapon arts. There are other powerful, unhurt fighters among us. Let them do something this time."
"Kael'thas,.you can fly with your fellow bird transformers. You three go up and blow up the cannons." Naofumi turns his head to look at one of his Siltvelt followers. He doesn't like asking his allies to do something dangerous. But when the situation is bad enough for Itsuki to want someone to throw him into the sky, it makes more sense to ask someone who can actually fly to do the task instead.
Kael'thas quickly exchanged a few glances with the other two birds. There's no words said out loud between them, but Naofumi could still feel the anxiousness between them. He knew the task was risky for them, of course, so he can understand their hesitation. After a few moments, Kael'thas finally speaks up. "Our most important task is to keep you safe, my king."
"And you can do this best if you stop the enemy cannons. How safe do you think I'll be if I can get blown to pieces by the Mirror Demon any moment?" Naofumi really doesn't like how his own voice sounds. It's the kind of words Malty's mother would use when she's trying to have someone else do something, so he quickly added. "I'll go with you three if you think it's too dangerous. I can put barriers up for you."
"NO! That won't be necessary. The most important thing is for you to be safe, my king." All three Siltvelt princes shake their bodies, and transform into their respective bird forms and take into the sky. Their lack of hesitation makes Naofumi wonder if he was wrong about them. Rather than worried about the possible danger, maybe Kael'thas truly was worried about him instead, and his words have pushed some of his most loyal followers into a harm's way no different than Malty's mother. But now Kael'thas and his fellow companions had already taken to the sky, it's too late to change anything.
"To think I, the Whip Hero and Prince of Faubley is resorting to taking out the trash." Tact continues to snarl underneath his breath in front of everyone. But the black snakes he transformed into easily chased away the soldiers who were trying to attack them while they were being pinned down by cannon firing. Now that Kou's magic has pushed the explosive range of the Mirror Demon's cannons way above everyone's head, some of the fighters with them have scattered away from the main group into much smaller squads. They charge head first into the retreating enemies, biting into them like packs of wolves and leaving dead bodies in their wake thanks to Dio and Granny taking away everyone's attention. All of sudden, Tact seems to have felt something as he holds his hand up without looking back at them. "You amateurs, back off! Someone's coming."
Naofumi didn't have time to react when his world seems to suddenly grow dark, like his body has been trapped into some kind of void. He looks around, but can't see anything, or anyone around him. There is no sense of sound, or smell either. But soon, his confusion melts away when indescribable pain takes hold of him, like his blood is boiling him from the inside. He doesn't know if he has screamed out loud. And then, something metaphorically 'hit' him on the head, like a whip, chasing away the sense of pain almost like it's only an illusion that only existed in his own head. He looks to the side, and sees his bodyguard Yatsuhashi is also kneeling on the ground like he is. Further away, Motoyasu and his friends look the same, and Itsuki barely has his eyes open, like he's on the verge of passing out.
"Attacking a few young up starts' mind when they don't know how to defend against it? Such a dirty trick, like your boss." Tact has pulled back his whip, and the tip of his weapon is striking at the ground with a certain rhythm like a drum stick. Naofumi realizes if not for the Whip Hero, they probably would have all been taken out by this one attack. In front of Tact stands four figures. Two of them are young females, with similar looking faces that's probably related by blood. A slightly older looking man whose light brown hair tied into a short tail behind him, and a... the last figure is best described as a white-furred cat with very long and pointy ears, and four arms instead of two. Right now, the four-armed cat man is pointing the tip of his brass-colored spear forward at all of them, the weapon itself is glowing with a golden light. Indicating that he was the one that nearly brought everyone down if not for the Whip Hero.
"And lowly, brutish creatures such as you are those who dares to challenge my master. I'd say that makes us even." The white cat takes a step forward. Holding both of his spears only with their upper arms while his lower arms cross in front of his chest. "Master was being redundant for sending four of us forward. It's clear that I, Snievan the Magnificent, alone is enough to defeat all of you ugly worms. At least show me some beauty in your death."
"You have a bigger ego than I do. This isn't going to fly here. Back off like I told you, amateurs, this kitty cat is mine." Naofumi can only see Tact's backside, but from the cold way he speaks, he easily gets the feeling that the flippant smirk on the Faubley prince's face has disappeared. He charges forward, his weapon begins to move like a living thing in his hand. Quick and cunning like a snake, yet each strike carries the power of a dragon as it splits air around it, leaving trenches in the dirt.
"So easily provoked? You are boorish indeed! Hmph, at least your combat bears some beauty." Snievan isn't intimidated by Tact's advance. He also charges forward, meeting the Whip Hero in the middle. His brass colored twin spears spin around both sides of his body, like a pair of shields covering him on both sides. The four-armed cat man clearly knows how to use his extra arms, and he wields his two polar arms with even greater speed and ease than Motoyasu uses his single one. There is always one of his weapons that manages to aim at the tip of Tact's whip, almost like he's pinning down a snake's heart, to stop the Faubley prince's attack from landing on his body. The spear on his other side would seek at Tact's neck, ready to kill him with a single attack.
"Hey! Aren't you youngsters forgetting about us? We aren't here to be Snievan's background!" A cold wave of wind blows towards Naofumi's face, like a storm of knives. His eyes turn away from Tact's battle, and towards the gust of ice that's assaulting him and sees the brown-haired man bringing the great cleaver towards him. But instead of blades, the giant executioner cleaver is made of jagged ice that could completely freeze one's body from the inside out. "You shouldn't let your mind freely wander, hero boy. Well, too late! Next stop is six feet under!"
With a few loud clunks, Yatsuhashi and Nazgrel both step up and cross their blade in front of Naofumi to block out his opponent's attack. If only barely. Both of their bodies wave underneath their enemy's push, but manages to hold on and forms into a wall in front of Naofumi to keep him safe. The man's smirk grows large enough to split his face as his hands... let go of his weapon's handle and let his giant cleaver begin to fall towards ground. Now both hands and feet are free, he moves faster than a cat, punches and kicks going through Yatsuhashi and Nazgrel's defenses, hitting them in their body's weak points to knock them back down. As they fall backwards, the man reaches out for the handle of his great cleaver with his right hand, grabbing it in the air while its heavier head just hits the ground as he brings the blade back up into a diagonal cut, seemingly not aiming at anything but air. But perhaps empty air is exactly what he's striking, as Naofumi notices a cold, blue wave begin to form around him, spinning like the start of a mighty tornado that not only engulfed himself, but his friends around him.
Everything around him slows down to a crawl. The man's movement of his shoulders and his arms begin to look like a slideshow, and Naofumi could see the slow trail of icy wind around him as it spins around. Yet, he can't think of anything to stop the men's attempt to harm himself and his friend. The cold air has already permeated the area all around, so all of his shield abilities are useless here. So are his miracles for that matter, since they also work like a wall to block out an attack. Not much help when the attack itself is the air itself which slips through every crack and seam. The only miracle he knows that fully fills the space is [Wrath of the Gods, which is a kinetic explosion that pushes everyone and everything away from him. But if he can change it from a concussive blast to a heat wave... perhaps.
The speed around Naofumi seems to resume back to normal, and he has no time for hesitation. Multiple people have commented that he is extremely talented at learning, and casting miracles almost as if he is the gods' favored. So he's going to put it to the test. Just as the man shouts out the name of his attack [Hailstorm, Naofumi pushes both of his arms sideways as he wills the miracle from the irresponsible gods of this world. "Let there be WARMTH!"
Naofumi never imagined himself as a worshiper of any gods, especially after he learnt more about the pantheon of this world from the demi-gods. But at the moment, he truly hopes these obsessive, selfish gods would do something to protect the people who have more faith in them than he does. And for a brief moment, he wonders if he's going to die, literally frozen in a final disappointment. But then his vision is saturated by a warm, orange glow as the blue tornado is ripped apart from the mild glimmer of his newly created [Warmth of the Gods] miracle. He even pushed the sword-wielding man away from him.
"Get your injured away, Shield Hero. This one's mine." A dark shadow jumps over Naofumi, and he sees a man not much older than himself, wearing a completely black dress cloak. It's the Faubley lord that reminded him a lot of Ren, supposedly the descendent of Kirito. He didn't waste any time as he ran forward, both swords in his hand strikes forward in an attempt to cut the ice cleaver wielding man down.
Naofumi didn't hesitate. Ren's lookalike has his own companions, and they won't let him get into danger. He is immediately kneeling down by Yatsuhashi and Nazgrel to cast healing miracles on them to make sure they will be okay. Thankfully, their injuries are not fatal, since the ice cleaver user was obviously trying to catch everyone with his [Hailstorm] attack. Naofumi turns back and screams at Rishia. "Take Itsuki back where he'll be safe, Rishia! That Astaroth will try to kill him like Ren if he has a chance!"
"Ri-RIGHT!" Rishia's body shakes out of her paralysis, and she quickly begins to pull Itsuki back with both arms. Naofumi's friend makes a few struggles against her, obviously doesn't want to leave everyone else to fight while he hides in the back. But with his injury worsened by that mind attack done by the four-armed white cat man currently fighting Tact, he really doesn't have a choice. Itsuki is barely staying awake by this point. So even someone who isn't physically strong like Rishia was able to easily overpowers him, as she drags her back into the gathered crowd.
"And where are you looking, little boys? Snievan and Young aren't your only opponents!" The cackling laughter of a woman launches over at them with the impression of a very thin and sharp blade. Naofumi hasn't found nearly enough time to practice his fight, or his energy sense with Granny like Raphtalia. But even he can feel the edge shaped malice aiming at them. He quickly takes a few steps forward, and holds his shield up with his instinct rather than his sight. With a loud clunk, the force coming from his shield arm tells him that he managed to stop his enemy's attack. But the razor sharp wind that seems to split the hair on top of his head apart seems to tell him that he didn't fully stop his enemy.
He isn't using his Saiga form [Crown Shield] at the moment. Because that form drains his stamina too fast, and everyone agrees that this battle against the Mirror Demon and the attempt to take down the Spirit Tortoise will be a long battle of attrition. So his ability to counter his enemy once blocking them is much more limited. But he does have one ability that would fit this situation. "[Dog Bite - Five Stars]!"
Between the two wave battles they had after the initial one, his friends were able to collect enough of the Wave Hound corpses for him to fully limit break his shield form and get him the strongest version of this skill. Now instead of one, he can release a small pack of dog heads against anyone who tries to attack him from close range. They still can't do much damage due to his low ATK rating, but they can hold someone (multiple someone, probably. Although he hasn't had the chance to find out yet) firmly in place as they maul his attacker. Giving his allies a chance to catch them while they are vulnerable. And just as he expected, the young woman is completely caught off guard by his counter play, as she lets out confused yelp between a few grunt of pain. Just like Yuzus, his dog skill can't cause much damage, but they can still cause pain to his enemy to further erode their battle concentration.
Another blow of sharp wind comes at him, from the side rather than the front this time. Yet Naofumi knew it wasn't aiming at his body but at his... shield. With a quick succession of howl that sounds like one, he feels the weight on his shield lighten, and realizes this new attacker has cut off the heads summoned out of his shield to free their ally. He puts his arms down, lowering his shield just enough for him to see what's happening in front of him, but not fully put down his guard. Sure enough, both women are glaring at him, the one with the pale white hair more furious than the one with raven hair. And judging from her tattered clothes, it's easy to know why. The dark haired woman turns to look at her companion. "Are you alright, Hinnah?"
"That hurt like a bitch, Hannah! Hey! FUCKO! Hasn't anyone told you that you shouldn't hurt a lady?!" The now named white-haired woman Hinnah turns her attention away from her dark haired sister and snarls. Naofumi could see something reflecting light from the corner of her eyes. She's... not crying over the pain his shield ability caused her, is she?
"Now you want to be a lady..." Hannah slowly pries her eyes off her lighter haired sister and turns to look at Naofumi. Her empty hand slightly rises up, almost like she wants to wipe her own face. But she quickly catches herself and resettles into her fighting stance. "I'm sorry, heroes of Medea. But I will not let any of you hurt my sister while I still stand."
"I'm sorry too. Because as the Shield Hero I don't want anyone to get hurt. But your master has invaded this world, taken control of a giant monster that's meant to harvest people's souls, and will kill anyone who doesn't lie down and let him walk all over them. We are kind of beyond the 'don't get anyone hurt' stage now. Unless you want to talk, or negotiate about something." Naofumi carefully shifts his arms, putting his arms further to lower his show of hostility, but still able to raise his guard back up at a moment if the two sisters try to run him over. Out of the two male lackeys and her-white haired sister, this Hannah seems to be more willing to speak than fight. He doesn't expect them to go back to diplomacy, but if he could keep her going... maybe they can learn more about Astaroth, and The Burning Legion.
"You are talking too much! Let's GO~!" Hannah's lips move, like she's about to say something. But her white haired sister Hinnah suddenly charged straight at Naofumi. Stopping whatever his sister might want to say cold. Hannah immediately follows her sister, also brandishing her weapon. Naofumi gets ready to raise his shield up, but a spear lunges straight at Hinnah, forcing her to twist her body and dodge out of the way instead of continuing her attack. Hannah slashes her own katana out, trying to force Motoyasu away from her sister more than trying to harm him. He takes a step back, swings his spear back and blocks Hannah's strike with the shaft.
"I got this, Naofumi! You stay back and use your shield skill and miracles to help our friends!" Motoyasu takes a step towards Naofumi, ironically shielding the Shield Hero behind his back, forcing the two sisters to have to beat him first, or risk exposing their backs to him. Katarina and Bertia both step forward, hanging half a step behind Motoyasu, and flanking him on both of his sides. The glowing, ethereal looking chain connecting their waist to Motoyasu.
Naofumi doesn't like how he's hiding behind one of his friends, when he was supposed to be the Shield Hero who stands at the front taking damage. But he knows that Motoyasu is right this time. His spear wielding friend has mostly been training himself as a fighter, always sparring with Iris' grandfather whenever he has a chance. So he's much better suited to fight against a skilled enemy warrior who is tasked to take out a single, strong target. And his own shield abilities, and miracles are comparatively better suited at protecting a large group of allies. So he takes a few steps backwards, and pulls his own attention away from the various fighters who are dueling each other in front of him.
Now that the Shield Hero took a step back, he could easily see that the situation of their entire group had grown much more perilous. Kou and his siblings are all on their knees by now, the lightning storm they previously conjured which would make Emperor Palpatine jealous has now dwindled down into a small trickle of lightning, and most of the cannon balls are falling on everyone's head once again, forcing everyone to put up barriers to defend against them. He looks at the sky, and sees three large birds colored red, white and black are trying to approach the back of the giant turtle, blowing storms of their respective colored flame at the monster. But they are being stopped by lines of light shooting up at them. Some kind of anti-air gun? It seems like Astaroth also prepared for an eventual air raid like Itsuki has done the last time. And cannon firing isn't the only thing their allies need to defend against, as the arrows from the army that Astaroth sent to attack them have also started falling once again. Not as much as before, but it's a sure sign that someone also went after Dio, and Granny. Naofumi quickly adds his own shield ability and miracle barriers on top of everyone else's defense.
"Getting tired already? Don't tell me your silver spear heads were actually made of wax?" The white-haired Miss Hinnah lets loose a fury of quick slashes, all which Motoyasu manages to block with the spinning of his spear shaft. The way her tongue pokes in and out of her mouth like a snake coupled with her crazy laugh makes him wonder if she wants to cut him down to pieces, or take him into a bedroom like his friends Ikuyo and Mimoji. While he's distracted, Miss Hinnah pressed the blade of her katana against the shaft of his spear and slashed down. It would have taken his fingers off if Bertia didn't step in and intercepted the attack with her small shield. He takes a quick breath to calm himself, and refocus his effort in the ensuing fight. He can think about the friends he left behind in his world when people aren't trying to kill him.
Katarina swings her ax forward, aiming at the head of Miss Hinnah with more strength behind it than Motoyasu expected. With her blade locked against Bertia's shield and his own spear, the white-haired miss couldn't defend herself. But her black-haired sister manages to stop Katarina's attack, not budging even with her weapon being much lighter than the ax Katarina took from Fuckboy. "Stop playing around and take the fight seriously, Hinnah! You nearly got yourself hurt!"
"Damn it. Don't treat me like a child, Hannah!" Miss Hinnah leaps back, and tosses a small round sphere at Motoyasu and his friends. Some kind of bomb? He immediately spins his spear around, batting it away with the butt end, and a strand of dark mist leaves Kuro (the fox, not his little dark angel boy)'s mouth and wraps around them. A bright light comes out of the explosion, which would likely blind them for a brief time if not for Kuro's dark magic. He looks up, and sees Miss Hinnah and Miss Hannah standing back to back a short distance ahead of them. The two of them hold their arms up, white, cold air and petals of snow begin to rise from under their feet. Miss Hinnah and Miss Hannah speak in perfect unison as their body moves apart from one another. "[Twin Snowpetal]."
Katarina runs at both of them, but darkness suddenly falls as she's about to reach them, and their bodies disappear from the ground where they stood on previously just. Only the cold snowflakes that's appeared below Miss Hinnah and Miss Hannah's feat continue to blow around them like a hurricane. Motoyasu immediately has a bad feeling about it, so he yanks on the ethereal chain, pulling Katarina right back to him. While the two of them are still confused at where Miss Hinnah and Miss Hannah disappeared to, Bertia suddenly points her finger above them. "Look out - Above!"
Motoyasu raises his head like Bertia asked, and the first thing he sees is a round, yellow colored move seemingly hanging just above their heads. And then he suddenly realized it's not a moon, it's the reflection from both Miss Hinnah and Miss Hannah's swords shining down at them as they dive down towards them. He quickly brings his spear above, spinning it fast enough to create a small tornado twisting towards them in an attempt to stop their combined attack. He manages to separate the sisters as they fall on opposite sides. They both land on their feet, and slash their swords at him with a series of fast cuts, the edge of their katanas coated in red light like the petals of a flower. Katarina spins on her heels, with the head of her ax pointing outwards, blocking the attack of their swords with a series of fast, loud clunks.
"You held through our ultimate attack? Not bad." Miss Hinnah smirks at him, looking a little surprised, but more excited at him surviving their attack. She points her finger at him. "But what are you going to do now that you are frozen?"
What?! Motoyasu looks down, and realizes there's a thick layer of ice on the ground. His feet and legs are frozen solid with the ground, same as Katarina and Bertia. Miss Hinnah and Miss Hannah didn't wait for them to recover, or to get help from their friends. They immediately charged back at them. But something suddenly falls on the ground between them, it knocks back both sisters, and the shockwave itself smashed the ice holding Motoyasu and his friends, also sending them flying back as well. He feels his head grow light and the world spinning. But he can still hear in the distance, the loud click of clawed feet on the ground as a horde of filorial birds with people riding on their back charging at their location.
End Note:
In case anyone is curious, most of the subordinate dispatched by Astaroth to fight the Medea natives are character from [The Last Remnant], since my chief editor Ace-Triad asked if the old guy fighting Granny was wolf from Sekirou (who WILL be in this story, but he'll appear in Siltvelt portion). This chapter's title 'The Seven' was their collective title from the game.
As I'm pretty sure I mentioned it before, I really, REALLY hope [The Last Remnant] either get a direct second title, or some kind of spiritual successor one of these days, because I consider it THE MOST UNDERRATED Square Enix title. Yeah, the game has so much jank and rough edges, and the second portion of the game was either the dev team ran out of money/time or phoning it in. But it's honestly one of Square Enix's most creative JRPG title with its squad based combat system. If it has more titles or spirit successors to work out the rough part, I honestly would like to see it start a new subgenre of JRPG where multiple characters work together as a single 'unit' as a bridge between traditional JRPG and Strategy RPG.