by Aneko Yusagi
“Second Shield.”
Right before she could jump away, I sent out another shield, and it appeared in midair just behind her knees.
“Huh ?! ”
“Dritte Shield.”
Yomogi could hardly stay on her feet, so just to finish her off, I sent a third shield flying at her, and it appeared in the air by her chest. She had to twist herself into an unnatural position to avoid the shields. She wouldn’t be able to hold it for long, unless she was a professional contortionist or something.
Her knees were bent back over the shield behind her, and she couldn’t stand up to avoid it, because of the shield in front of her. She was stuck.
“You coward!”
She hadn’t fallen yet, but it seemed to take all of her energy to avoid collapsing.
“I’m impressed you’re still standing up.”
“L’Arc told me about when you did that to him. He said it was really hard to fight back,’ Glass said.
“That’s the Shield Hero for you,” added Kizuna.
“I appreciate the commentary, but will you please contribute to the fight now ?! ”
“Here I go!”
“Me tooo!”
“Feh . . . Should I help too?”
Raphtalia dashed forward to take advantage of Yomogi’s instability, while Filo started to chant an incantation.
Rishia was fumbling with an ofuda and getting ready to throw it.
I was reaching for Yomogi’s sword, just to make sure, but I wasn’t going to make it in time. So there was only one thing to do.
“Chain Shield!”
A chain appeared and linked the shields all together.
Because of their position, Yomogi found herself entangled in the chain. Then the shields began to spin and rotate around her.
“Ugh . . .”
It was a good combo. Perfect, really. I’d wrap her up and try to wring information about Kyo out of her.
“Ha!”
Yomogi thrust her sword into the ground. With an eruption of sparks the chain shattered, and all the shields vanished.
That was a mighty fine sword she had. If only a certain Sword Hero I knew was half as good with his sword . . .
. . . Not that this was the time or place to bring that up.
“You’re pretty good. But I’m not going to lose!” Yomogi shouted.
But Raphtalia was already flying at her. Kizuna used her Bait Lure attack—it would double the effect of the following attack.
“Instant Blade: Mist!”
With any luck, this should end the battle.
Raphtalia, with blinding speed, swung her sword across, right at Yomogi, ending the . . .
“Take this! Dragon Point Technique!”
Yomogi vanished in a flash, leaving behind an afterimage before appearing on the other side of Raphtalia’s attack, her sword drawn.
“Wha . . .”
Their swords clashed and showered the ground with sparks.
“Not yet!”
“Ugh!”
Yomogi parried Raphtalia’s katana to the side and thrust forward at the opening.
Not on my watch!
“Shooting Star Shield!”
The barrier appeared instantly. Yomogi’s sword clattered against it, protecting Raphtalia and repelling Yomogi. Filo rushed to counterattack.
“Zweite Wind Cutter!”
Filo flapped her arms and blade after blade of wind shot at Yomogi, who used her sword to defend herself from each one.
“Wow! Master! This lady is tough!”
“I know. Stay focused!”
“A strange attack indeed! Truly a style from another world!”
“Ha! I could say the same thing!”
“Naofumi, don’t you think there’s something odd about her sword?” Kizuna shouted.
I took another hard look at it.
There was a gemstone set in the handle, but now it looked more like an eyeball.
It was swiveling and turning in its socket. What was that thing?
“More! More power! Kyo made this weapon, and I am worthy to wield it!”
The blade flashed red and seemed to sizzle with heat before crescent moons shot from its tip and flew at me.
“Ugh . . .” Even with the Shooting Star Shield barrier in place, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to block it.
I readied my shield just as the barrier shattered all around me. The sickles of light kept coming, and they slammed into my shield. Hard.
“Argh!”
I pressed forward with all my might and deflected the attack, sending it soaring off to the right.
It ripped right through the wall of the house and flew off into the sky.
I’d just been mocking the parrying ability of this shield, and now it had saved my life. Oh the irony!
“I’m amazed you survived that. Congratulations. But I will not allow myself to lose to villains like you!”
Was she going to use the same attack again?
Then I noticed something strange. A piece of the shattered barrier was still floating in the air. The barrier itself had shattered, but one of the pieces was still there, hovering in the air. Why? Did it have something to do with my new accessory? Is that all it did?
I didn’t have time to wonder too long, because the floating piece of the barrier suddenly accelerated and shot towards Yomogi.
“What ?! ”
Yomogi snapped to attention and used her sword to block the incoming barrier piece. She was able to stop it, but she left herself wide open.
I guess the accessory made it so that my shattered barrier would turn itself into a flying attack.
“First the strange attacks. Now it’s an attack that turns your defensive barrier into an offensive missile. You certainly are a strange one.”
There had to be a good way to put this new ability to use.
The best things about Shooting Star Shield were its short cool down time and its efficient SP use. And now it would turn itself into an attack after it broke—which was all the more useful, because my current shield didn’t have any counter abilities. I liked the sound of that!
But this battle was starting to stress me out. I was worried about Filo, but at the same time, I was also ready to use the Shield of Wrath to burn this girl to ash.
“Glass, if you don’t get into gear and end this thing, I’ll end it for you. But, I might take the house out with me.”
“Mr. Naofumi, you don’t mean . . .”
“That’s exactly what I mean. I don’t know what it will do to Filo though, so we better keep an eye on her.”
“I’ll do my best!” Filo chirped.
“Don’t do it!” Glass shouted, understanding what I meant, “Would you destroy the house that Kizuna and I built ?! ”
“If that’s what it takes to end this fight! Our attacks aren’t bothering her one bit!”
Hadn’t they been watching? She’d blocked every attack we’d thrown at her.
If Rishia didn’t watch out, she was going to get herself killed. And this girl might have had attacks that even I couldn’t block. To top it all off, Kizuna wasn’t any use in a battle against another human.
If the battle went on any longer, we’d probably draw the attention of the authorities, and maybe the castle would send backup.
Everyone was in the middle of scaling up for battle anyway. To jump into a situation like this wasn’t very smart.
Whatever happened, we were going to need an attack powerful enough to get rid of this stupid idiot.
Or . . .
“Raphtalia, can you use Illusion Sword?”
“I should be able to, but I’m sure she’ll notice.”
Raphtalia had about as much attack power as Filo had had in the previous world.
She’d been using a lot of skills, but none of them had been strong enough to end the match. Had she lost the ability to use those attacks she used to know?”
“What about Ying-Yang Sword, or Directional Blade of Heaven? Can you stil
l use those?”
“Yes, I can.”
“Good. I’ll buy us some time. You slice this girl up.”
“Ah . . . Very well,” Raphtalia said, turning her blade horizontal and charging her magic power.
“An opening!” Yomogi yelled, thrusting.
“That’s not an opening, that’s charging up for an attack. I’ll be taking over until she’s ready.”
“Then I’ll just have to take care of you first!”
“Heh, what’s a weakling like you going to do?” I said condescendingly, trying to get her riled up.
Yomogi’s face turned bright red and she tightened her grip on her sword and said, “What did you say ?! ”
Yes. It was working. As long as she was paying more attention to me than to Raphtalia, my plan would work. I wasn’t relying entirely on Raphtalia’s attack. Filo and Glass and Kizuna all had attacks too.
I just had to make sure that this crazy woman’s attacks didn’t reach any of my teammates. I’d have to provoke her. I needed all her attention on me.
That’s when I came up with it. I laughed condescendingly and looked at Yomogi.
“What’s so funny?”
“Huh? Oh nothing. I was just thinking about how stupid Kyo looked. It made me laugh, that’s all.”
“How dare you!”
“How is that gloomy guy? He sure talked himself up, but if he sent you to take us out, he must be too scared to come himself. How did he ask you to come after us? ‘I’m too scared. Hewp mweeeee pweeease?’ Ahahaha!”
“You bastard!”
It worked! Her face went red with anger, and she glared at me spitefully. In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to come after me.
“Naofumi, you sure are good at that sort of thing.”
“Yes, Kizuna, but it is also helpful,” Raphtalia offered.
“Yeah, I know.”
I wanted to yell, “Enough with the chit-chat already!” But I didn’t get a chance to before Yomogi thrust her sword at me and I blocked it with my shield. For a moment, we were locked in place, my shield against her sword, neither of us overpowering the other.
I suddenly realized that I had never tried to change my shield in a situation like that. It was as good a time as ever to try it. I decided to switch to a shield with a counter effect, so I chose a shield that I’d unlocked from the boss monster that Kizuna had fought during the last wave battle: the Demon Elephant Shield.
Of course, I had already leveled it up. Glass and the others had helped me gather the materials I needed to level it up, so the process had gone quickly.
Demon Elephant Shield C
abilities locked: equip bonus: defense 30: shadow defense up while mounted: rickshaw skill up 4: abilities increase while carrying (medium): special effect: Demon Elephant Tusk (critical)
My filolial series had an ability adjustment while mounted (high) effect, so in order not to overlap that shield, this shield offered a defense boost instead.
I didn’t know anything about the other effects. Was I supposed to pull a rickshaw? I don’t think so! It might have meant that anyone I carried would get an ability boost, but I wasn’t going to carry anyone, so I guess I’ll never find out.
Was I supposed to carry Raphtalia on my shoulders in a battle? Ha!
I was distracted, imagining the absurdity for a second, but I quickly snapped back to the battle at hand, and I had just changed to a new shield.
The new shield appeared instantly in the place of the old one, and as Yomogi’s sword clattered against it, the counter effect Demon Elephant Tusk (critical) activated.
“What ?! ”
The elephant tusk relief on the exterior of the shield began to glow. It then fired a sphere of black light at Yomogi.
“Ugh! But . . . You haven’t got me yet.”
She’d been too close to dodge the attack, maybe because her sword was locked up against my shield. The effect activated a couple more times. The dark spheres of light slammed into her with satisfying power and sound.
“Ugh . . .”
Yomogi tried to thrust at me again, but she failed and was forced to jump back to get some distance. She was breathing hard, holding the shoulder that had been hit by the spheres of light. Had I managed to do some real damage?
“That was some trick. You managed to hurt me.”
It looked like the Demon Elephant Tusk (critical) made critical hits from time to time.
“Hey Master! I think I can do something!”
“Rafu!”
Raph-chan and Filo, in her humming falcon form, hopped up onto my shoulders and started chanting incantations.
“Imma do it! Raph-chan, do it with me!”
“Rafu!”
They chanted so quickly! What were they doing?
I didn’t have time to wonder. They combined their powers for a new spell.
“Joint Magic! Pinwheel!”
When Filo and Raph-chan cast their spell all the lights around us started flashing on and off, and then the room was plunged into darkness. The light was so blinding I had trouble adjusting my eyes.
Then four blades made of wind, like throwing stars, shot at Yomogi from all directions.
“Fascinating! I’ve never heard of such an attack!” Yomogi shouted.
Was she enjoying herself?
“Glass! Hope you’re ready to help us out here!”
“Yes I am!” she shouted, opening her fan and dancing in the darkness, once again triggering Circle Dance Attack Formation: Flower Wind. Yomogi could hardly keep up. She was forced further back.
“You think you’ve got me, is that it ?! ” Yomogi yelled, thrusting her blade into the ground. Was she going to use that attack again?
No, she had other plans.
The eyeball-like decoration on the hilt of her sword opened its eyelid and shot a beam of light at us. I rushed forward to block the beam before it could hit anyone.
“Ready?”
“Yes, I’m ready!” Raphtalia shouted, jumping out from the shadows and slashing horizontally with her katana.
She looked really cool when she did it, appearing from the darkness behind Yomogi and brandishing her sword like that.
“Directional Blade of Heaven!”
Ying-yang patterned circles appeared around her. The swirling black and white pattern grew increasingly intricate and complex, then the spheres split in two. I hadn’t realized there were so many intricate details before. Had the attack changed? Or was this some kind of effect of the vassal weapon?
“Ya!”
Did she miss?
No—Yomogi used her sword to block the attack, filling the air around her with showers of sparks.
“Ugh . . . I’m not giving up so easily! If I give up now, I’ll never be able to face Kyo again!”
“Ew! Why would you even want to?”
“I’ll not have you insult Kyo!”
“Mr. Naofumi!”
Yomogi had been about to go after Raphtalia in retaliation, but my new insult had upset her so much that she turned to me instead, slicing at me with her sword. Of course, I blocked it with my shield, but something about her attacks felt different than last time.
“Hey, that sword of yours . . .”
The eyeball-like gemstone looked different than before. The eye was wide open. It looked wicked. I’m not saying that I had the abilities of a master craftsman, but something was definitely wrong. I felt like something terrible was coming, that we’d all be in serious trouble if we didn’t get rid of that sword as soon as possible.
“Your sword is going crazy! Get rid of it!”
“What? You suggest there are faults with Kyo’s masterful creation?”
I felt it when the blade was locked against my shield. It felt like a heartbeat. Was I imagining it? What was worse was it seemed to be speeding up. Faster and faster. It was like it was counting down to an explosion.
“I’m telling you—let that sword go!”
I didn’t care what happened to Yomogi,
I just didn’t want to get caught up in an explosion.
“How stupid do you think I am? Put down my weapon when faced with enemies ?! ”
She was determined. She whipped around to dash at Raphtalia, ready to strike a killing blow. But then . . .
An ofuda flew across the room and hit her hand. Yomogi and I both looked down at it, then scanned the room to see where it had come from.
“Oh, I didn’t miss!”
Yes—Way to go Rishia! She sure was a good shot!
“What ?! ”
The ofuda stuck to her hand and burst into flames, forcing her to drop the sword.
Yomogi yelped, but it was too late. I ran to kick it across the room, but I was too late.
Something like a vine shot from the sword and wrapped itself around Yomogi’s arm.
“What the!” she shouted in shock, terrified, as if she hadn’t realized how strange her weapon had been until that very moment.
“Ughhhhh.”
The vine wrapped tighter around her wrist. It seemed to be sucking something out of her. Was it . . . Blood ? It must have been stealing her magic power too, and maybe even poisoning her as it did.
Yomogi glanced at me with bloodshot eyes, then hoisted the sword high over her head. “My body! It’s moving on its own!”
I raised my shield to block the attack, but she brought the blade down with so much power that the impact sent me sliding backwards.
Luckily, I was able to keep my footing, but if I hadn’t been lucky, she’d be slamming me into the ground by now.
The glowing light in the hilt of her sword was growing stronger.
“Drop it! Drop the sword!”
Realizing the danger, she used her free hand to try and pry her fingers from the handle. But the vines shot out and gripped her even tighter.
“Ugh . . .”
I didn’t like the look of this. It looked like it might explode at any minute.
I readied my shield to protect everyone from the coming blast. I thought about Yomogi too, but I couldn’t see a way to save her from what was coming. The only thing I could do was to protect my friends and try to limit the damage.
“Bait Lure!”
Kizuna hit the glowing sword with her lure and said, “Don’t give up yet!” as she turned her weapon into the tuna knife and prepared to attack.
“Blood Flower Strike!”