by Aneko Yusagi
“He got away.”
“Yes. That is my one regret,” Ost said, nodding.
“I tried to follow him through the portal, but it wouldn’t let me through. Do you know why?”
“The holy heroes must protect this world. They are not allowed to invade other worlds. That is the role of the vassal weapons.”
Were the vassal weapons for invading? That didn’t sound like anything I’d heard before. Weren’t the vassal weapons supposed to lend power to the holy weapons?
“Ost, it doesn’t look like we have much time.”
“That’s correct. We are almost out of time. I know it is impossible, but can I ask you to take care of the enemy?”
“If I can find him, then yes. If it’s within my power, I won’t let anyone that abused you walk free.”
“That’s just like you, Naofumi. You’re a kind person.”
“Yes, he is,” Raphtalia agreed.
Ost continued. “If you can find a way to reclaim the energy that man stole from us, then you may be able to produce a barrier to buy yourself time in the next wave.”
“Is that really possible?”
“Yes, it was originally energy that I created. You will be able to absorb it with your holy shield.”
The Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield responded while she spoke.
If we could get the energy back, we could create the barrier that the Spirit Tortoise was originally trying to make.
“The hourglass wasn’t full, so I do not know how much time it will buy you, but it should extend the time until the wave comes.”
“That’s not a bad idea.”
“And when I die, the seal on the next benevolent creature—the Phoenix—will break.”
“Really?”
“Yes. The Phoenix is an even more powerful guardian than I was. If the heroes are worn down, I do not know if they will be able to survive the encounter.”
That didn’t sound good.
How were we supposed to fight a monster like that? The Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield gave me access to the energy beam attack, which was certainly powerful. But I didn’t know if it was possible to shoot more than one beam in a row.
“Therefore, I will try to keep word of my death from reaching the Phoenix. That may buy you additional time.”
“Thank you.”
“Do not thank me. All of this is my fault. I never should have allowed myself to be taken over by that man.”
“First things first. We’ll try to get back the stolen energy—that will buy us some time, right?”
Ost nodded and reached out to touch my shield.
“The Spirit Tortoise requests special approval. Allow the Shield Hero to pass through the portal to another world.”
My shield reacted, and a flashing icon appeared in my field of vision.
Special request approved.
The holy heroes may now conditionally invade other worlds.
“Now you should be able to chase after him.”
“Thanks. I’ll see to it that your wish is fulfilled. That guy won’t know what hit him!”
“Kiddo! That gate is connected to our world now!”
“Oh yeah?”
“We’re going after that guy. And when we find him, we’ll take back the energy he stole from this world’s guardian beast.”
“This is all we can do to demonstrate our sincerity. Please, wait for our return.”
L’Arc and Glass were speaking to me from the entrance to the portal.
But I couldn’t leave it like that. “Wait. We’re coming too. It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s that I want to do it myself.”
I knew that L’Arc and Glass were powerful enough to follow through.
They were my enemies, but I’d had enough experiences with them to know that they were trustworthy.
I knew they were powerful, but I didn’t know if they were powerful enough to take on that insane man and win. So there was only one thing left for me to do—I had to go with them.
“I don’t like anything about that guy. I don’t like what he’s done, how he talks, how he thinks. I want to make him pay for what he’s done to this world. That’s not all though. I’m going to take back the energy he stole from you, and I’m going to use it to buy us more time, before the next wave comes.”
“Thank you. Really. Thank you.”
Ost was holding my hand, but suddenly, I wasn’t able to feel her. I looked down to find that her legs were already vanishing, dissolving into light.
We were out of time.
“Ms. Ost!” Raphtalia shouted.
Rishia heard Raphtalia’s shout and came running over.
“Ost! Feh . . . no!”
There was no time.
Ost smiled. She looked happy. “Perhaps it isn’t fair, but I’m a little . . . glad.”
“Glad that you’re leaving us?”
“No. I was fated to destroy life, to be hated and scorned. People were to cheer when I died, and yet here you are, sad to see me go. I cannot help but feel joyful.”
Her eyes brimmed with tears.
Mine did too. Maybe I was just tired.
Filo understood what was happening, too. She wiped at her eyes with balled fists.
“So please understand that this was all I could have hoped for. I was a scourge on the earth, but here you stand, crying for me. It’s . . . I . . .”
Ost—the Spirit Tortoise—dissolved into beads of light, leaving us with only her words: “If I had another chance at life, I . . . would spend it . . . with you.”
She vanished, leaving nothing behind.
And that was the end of the Spirit Tortoise. It was extinguished along with the tortoise’s own heart, with its soul.
“. . .”
There was nothing I could do. I just stood there, watching the light filter in from outside, through the hole I’d made using the energy blast.
The world asked for sacrifices from everyone. It was a terrible place.
It summoned heroes to save its people from the waves of destruction, and then it forced them to fight.
If it meant saving itself from the waves, the world would sacrifice all its life to the Spirit Tortoise. And so to protect the lives of the people, we had to take the life of the tortoise.
The tortoise even begged us to kill it. The world begged the heroes to save it from the waves. The world would sacrifice anything to save itself. It would sacrifice its life to the tortoise or its heroes to the waves. Wasn’t there any other way to save it?
I wanted to turn on it, to scream at it, to yell that it wasn’t fair. But I knew it wouldn’t help. I knew that I had to face the reality of what we’d done.
I didn’t want to sacrifice myself for anything. I didn’t want to ask anyone else to sacrifice themselves either.
That’s what heroes were for—fighting. What did I know about people like Trash, who sat back in safety while other people fought on their behalf?
The Spirit Tortoise fought for the world. So did everyone who fought against the tortoise. Everyone was fighting for what they believed in.
And I wasn’t going to forget it.
“Kiddo!”
“We will soon close the portal to our world. You must hurry!”
Glass and L’Arc yelled.
Eclair shouted back, “If we don’t get the heroes to a hospital soon, I cannot guarantee they will survive!”
What should we do?
“We’re going after him! Eclair, old lady—you two take the heroes to the closest hospital!”
“Understood! I will tell the queen what has happened here!”
“Do so! Also, tell her I’m sorry to leave her with all the clean-up.”
“Understood, Mr. Iwatani. I expect to see you again, safe and sound.”
“You will. Oh, and make sure you look after Keel too, okay?”
“Yes. He’ll be a decent warrior by the time you return.”
I turned to Raphtalia and Filo. They would have to serve as my attack squa
d.
“Mr. Naofumi, we’re going, aren’t we?”
“Yeah. You’re coming, right?”
“Of course! I’ll always follow you!”
“I’m coming toooooo! Imma kick that guy good—for the turtle lady!”
I liked Filo’s enthusiasm.
“Alright! Let’s get going!”
“Just a minute!” shouted Rishia. “Please, take me with you.”
“I thought you would want to watch over Itsuki’s recovery.”
“As you say, there is a part of me that wants to remain and watch over Master Itsuki’s recovery. But the sense of justice he instilled in me will not allow me to let that man go! I must see to his punishment!”
Her emotions were probably overpowering her judgment, and I wasn’t sure if she was strong enough to make it back alive. But I wasn’t going to tell her she couldn’t come.
“I have to leave Master Itsuki to bring justice to that man. I have to!”
Rishia had a power that still slept within her, and she’d used it to get us out of a pinch in the last battle. She might prove useful again. And besides, I’d promised her that I’d help her get stronger. I couldn’t turn my back on her now.
“I get it. Rishia—you come too.”
“Alright!”
“How long are you going to keep us waiting? Hurry up!”
“We’re coming! Everyone, goodbye!”
And so we joined forces with L’Arc and the others to chase after Kyo, in hopes that we might recover the energy he stole from our world.
We were about to enter the portal connected to the world that Glass was from.
What would be waiting for us on the other side?
What were the waves?
What was this other world?
I didn’t know the answers, but I knew the name of my enemy.
I knew his face. I knew his voice. I knew what he’d done.
I knew what to do.
There was only one thing to do—I had to kill him.
I was the Shield Hero, so I couldn’t do it on my own. But I wasn’t alone.
If I couldn’t swing my fist, one of my friends would step in on my behalf—and I would be there to protect them.
In the end, we were coming back with everything he stole from the Spirit Tortoise—with everything he stole from my friend Ost!
We slipped through the portal to take back what was ours and entered a new world.
“Naofumi Iwatani, the possessor of the holy shield . . . and of a kind heart . . .”
A spirit floated in the air above where the Spirit Tortoise’s body lay.
“Please save the lives of this world, just as you saved mine.”
The queen of the filolials stood back to watch it.
A small rift to another world opened, became a pillar of light, and flew away.
Fitoria, the queen of the filolials, clasped her hands in prayer and watched it sail away. The soul of the Spirit Tortoise watched with her.
“I hope the Shield Hero’s destination is a fortunate one.”
“Thank you, Naofumi, the Shield Hero. Had I the opportunity, I’d protect you with this world. For what it’s worth . . . someday . . . together.”
Extra Chapter: Searching for Soul-Healing Water
“You call this soul-healing water?”
“That’s right.”
I was asking L’Arc about the mysteriously effective liquid he had sprinkled on me.
“Glass?”
“I’ll say this: I was irritated when you said you wanted to learn more about the world of our enemies. But finding something like this almost makes it worth it.
Soul-healing water. The mystery liquid dramatically increased all of my abilities. But even with my abilities improved, I hadn’t been able to defeat Naofumi, that holy hero of the enemy world.
What would have happened if I’d been forced to fight them without L’Arc’s help?
There’s a significant chance I might have lost.
L’Arc tells me that Naofumi focuses on defense, because he is the Shield Hero. If that were the case, then I wouldn’t expect him to be a very capable attacker. It makes me wonder—if I had to face any of the other holy heroes in battle, would I survive the encounter?
I looked at my fans. They existed to protect the world, and they were special. We called them vassal weapons. They could gain new abilities by absorbing materials and parts of defeated monsters.
They also had the ability to take monster parts and transform them into various useful materials and items. A hero that had been summoned to my world long ago named it “the drop function.”
At the moment, we were back at our base of operations, in the middle of a meeting. We were trying to get to the bottom of what had gone wrong.
The first problem was Naofumi himself. He had grown so powerful in such a short time that it was hard to believe.
The waves were a battle between worlds and when I met Naofumi, he said that only two weeks had passed in their world since the appearance of the previous wave. It had only been two weeks, but he had grown dramatically.
The last time I’d seen the heroes, he was the only one of the four that was strong enough to deserve the title. He was powerful back then, but he wasn’t so powerful that I couldn’t overcome him. He held a cursed, ominous shield in his hands, which told me he was strong enough to maintain control.
He was strong. It’s true. I knew that I would defeat him the next time we met. That is truly what I thought. I thought I knew exactly how strong he was. Realizing I couldn’t win at the time, I decided to run, knowing that I would have to put an end to him the next time I saw him.
But two weeks passed—or should I say, I gave him those two weeks—and when we met again, I realized I’d underestimated him. That holy hero from another world, Naofumi, had grown unbelievably powerful. I realized we were in trouble when we met in battle.
I had another move up my sleeve, but L’Arc stopped me from using it. Once again, the battle ended without a decisive victory.
“Right? We don’t have anything like it in our world, so I was pretty thrilled to find it,” L’Arc clipped, clearly pleased with himself. He spun the bottle in his hands.
“But how did you know? How did you know it would affect me like that?”
“Didn’t I already tell you about that, Glass-chan? The only way to restore soul power is by waiting for it to naturally replenish itself, by draining it from an enemy, or by receiving a portion of it from an ally.”
“That’s true, but . . .”
“And so, when I saw them use a draining attack on you, and your energy started to vanish, I realized it was because soul-people’s energy must actually be soul power.”
L’Arc, because he had teamed up with me, knew about what energy really was.
Soul power. Only those who held a vassal weapon could discern it. But I was a soul-person, so I was able to use my vassal weapon through other means.
When a human used a vassal weapon, they became aware of this soul power, but because I was a soul-person, that very same power was just normal energy for me.
“I understand, in theory. But do you see the problem with this?”
“Hm? Oh, you mean how it started to leak out after hitting an upper limit?”
“Yes.”
It was true that the liquid had greatly enhanced my abilities.
For us soul-people—they call us spirits—our strength is tied to our energy.
For humans and other creatures like them, their strength is most directly related to something called their “level.”
Energy is much like stamina for us, and when we use up our energy we grow weaker. In a short battle that can be decided quickly, we are unparalleled in a fight.
And while humans gain levels as they defeat monsters, spirits like me only regain a small portion of their energy. If we are forced to battle powerful monsters for a long time, we can use up all of our energy. However, our energy levels also restore themselves natur
ally over time—a small amount each second. If nothing interferes, our energy levels will rise to a certain level on their own.
We grow stronger over time by using our energy to acquire various abilities, and . . . well, perhaps I will save the specifics for another time.
L’Arc and his friends must have known all of these things, too. Among them all, the overall energy capacity we command is most directly linked with our strength. This “capacity” refers to the amount of energy we are capable of collecting at one time. The capacity cannot be enlarged by any simple everyday exercises.
My vassal weapon helped me to enlarge my capacity beyond that of the average spirit, but to gain more power than I already had, it would require a great deal of additional time.
“The amount of energy I received from the soul-healing water greatly exceeded my capacity to store it. So I was only able to use that energy for a short time.”
If only there were some way that I could extend that time limit, I might have a chance to defeat Naofumi.
I’ll be honest. With how strong he has become, I won’t be able to defeat him. If nothing changes, then I will be forced to use my final option the next time I see him. I’ll have to trade my life for victory.
“So we could beat him if you had more capacity?”
“In theory, yes.”
L’Arc was an easy-going accomplice of mine. He also held a vassal weapon.
I do not deny that he fights sincerely for the good of the world, but sometimes I feel that he lacks drive. I often found myself lecturing him.
He was an idealist, through and through.
There was so little time left until the next wave that any attempts we made to “level,” as the humans say, would be mostly meaningless.
I could easily accept monster parts and materials from my friends, and it would increase my strength slightly. But if I’ve already reached the limit of my capacity, what else could I do?
“Let’s use the next wave to move over to the other world.”
“What are you saying?”
“Glass, I swear. You have to learn to loosen up a bit. You’re too stuck in your ways.”