Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 13 - Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen: Sakura Stone of Destiny 

We left the samurai residence and headed toward the lighthouse as one big group, charging through the entrance when we arrived. 
“Who goes there?! This is a sacred place under governmental control by authority of the Heavenly Emperor!” announced a guard. 
As soon as we entered, a group of enemy soldiers rushed over with weapons in hand. Did they really think telling a group of insurgents something like that would make any difference? 
“Heavenly Emperor, you say?! Nonsense! This is the true Heavenly Empress! Your emperor is but a fraud from the branch family! Do you not understand the difference?!” Raluva shouted. 
He pointed at Raphtalia as he spoke. The aura of power surrounding Raphtalia in her miko outfit—and the attractiveness of it—must have had a powerful effect, because the enemy demi-humans and therianthropes all began whispering amongst themselves. 
“Do not waver! Surely the child of a false emperor, who abandoned our country, cannot be called the true Heavenly Emperor! Cut them down at once!” shouted some high-and-mighty frog therianthrope. 
On our way to the lighthouse, I’d seen several rabbit-types and a whole variety of different races of demi-humans and therianthropes. And it occurred to me that this place was like a scene straight out of the Scrolls of Frolicking Animals from Kozan-ji Temple in Kyoto. 
“Mr. Naofumi, please focus on the battle!” Raphtalia snapped. 
She scolded me just as things were about to blow up. 
“Attack! Take the rebels’ heads off! And don’t forget we have a holder of a spirit implement here! Use the proper weapons!” 
There was that wording again! The people opposing us in this country definitely had anti-hero weapons! 
“Permission granted to attack all hostiles! That includes the false god from a foreign land!” 
“Shooting Star Shield!” I shouted. 
One of the enemies charged forward and thrust his spear at us. My Shooting Star Shield barrier activated and blocked the attack, but just as I suspected, the effectiveness of my skills was reduced against these enemies— the barrier shattered instantly. 
 
I hope they didn’t expect me to just be content with having my barrier shattered every time. I figured this might happen, so I’d spent some time making some new accessories while I was in Siltvelt. Fortunately, Rat had a good idea of how to tinker with their effects, since she was an alchemist. 
As soon as Shooting Star Shield shattered, bright flashes of light began shooting out of the fragments. 
“Gah!” 
“Wh-what is that?!” 
“Now!” I shouted. 
I focused and cast Zweite Aura on Raphtalia. 
“You’ve got this, little Raphtalia! Remember what we did in training!” Sadeena exclaimed. 
“I will!” 
Raphtalia crouched down and prepared to unleash a quick-draw attack. In a flash, she cut down the enemy standing in front of me and then charged toward the other soldiers without so much as a pause. 
“Everyone! Do not falter! It doesn’t matter how many enemies there are! Only one of them is our true target!” the frog shouted. 
“Come now, do you really think I’ll just let you ignore me?” I taunted. 
“I can’t have you forgetting about me either!” Sadeena exclaimed. 
She began casting a spell while helping protect Raphtalia. 
I knew that one of the first things they did when they attacked the village was to try to size up me and Sadeena. Surely they didn’t think I wouldn’t take that into consideration. They might’ve had ways to deal with the heroes, but Sadeena was just plain strong. They would be forced to fight her like a normal enemy. Judging from the assassins we’d faced so far, they only had a handful of comparable fighters, at best. And I could tell straight away that none of them were here. 
“Hyaaaa!” 
Raluva’s son drew his katana and cut down an approaching enemy, determined not to be left behind. He handled himself better than I’d expected. Maybe the demi-humans and therianthropes born in Q’ten Lo were naturally strong fighters. 
“I didn’t know you could do that,” Raphtalia whispered. 
She was observing and analyzing Raluva’s katana technique. His stance was slightly different than the one Sadeena had taught her. It was probably just a different style. 
 
 
“The style I taught you is from where I grew up. It’s called Form of the Sea God,” Sadeena said. 
She watched Raluva carefully for a moment as he swung his katana. 
“That style is called the Blossom of Q’ten. It’s worth paying attention to,” she continued. 
Raluva channeled magic power into his blade and closed in on his opponent rapidly. He swiftly passed under the opponent’s arm as he delivered his attack, ending up behind him. 
“Gah . . .” 
Raluva shook the blood from his blade, and the droplets transformed into cherry blossom petals and floated away on the wind. Now that was impressive. But I seemed to remember Raphtalia having a similar skill. 
“That reminds me of your Powder Snow skill, Raphtalia,” I said. 
“It does look similar. You’ll be pretty formidable if you learn that style along with the one I taught you, little Raphtalia,” Sadeena replied. 
I guess she’d seen Raphtalia’s Powder Snow skill too. Now that I thought about it, I did seem to remember them firing off skills during their training. 
“Add the Hengen Muso style to that and you’ll be unbeatable,” I said. 
“According to Eclair and the master, Hengen Muso techniques are meant to be applied to other attacks, so it’s actually better to learn another style,” Raphtalia replied. 
Yeah, I remembered the old lady mentioning that. She said the good thing about the Hengen Muso style was that it could be applied to any school or style of fighting. 
“Umm, like this? And then . . .” Raphtalia mumbled to herself. 
She was trying to mimic Raluva’s movements. He turned and bowed to her. 
“If you so desire, I would be happy to teach you the style, Miss Raphtalia,” he said. 
“Oh, umm . . . Please do. I’m sure it would help in future battles,” she replied. 
Just then, a bear therianthrope who seemed to be the frog’s boss came out from somewhere further within the lighthouse. 
“How long are you all going to fool around?! You still haven’t eliminated the false empress! And you call yourselves warriors of Q’ten Lo?!” he roared. 
 
 
He launched at us with a winged spear in hand. He was fast. At the very least, he handled himself better than any of the other enemies in the room. 
“Gah!” 
He thrust his spear into one of our nearby men and sent him flying before I could even react. The injury didn’t seem to be fatal, though. I caught the man and then held my shield up while I cast healing magic on him. 
“You pathetic god of Siltvelt with your spirit implement! You have a lot of nerve bringing the false empress here! It’s time for you to experience the power of the true Heavenly Emperor’s blessing!” the bear roared. 
He thrust the winged spear into the ground and began reciting some kind of incantation. Something like a big cage formed, enclosing the lighthouse and the surrounding area. It was the same shade of pink as the cherry blossoms. It covered a rather large area—perhaps 100 meters across. 
“This barrier . . . That’s a sakura stone of destiny barrier! Are they really going to use that here?!” Raluva exclaimed with a horrified look on his face. 
“What’s that?” I asked. 
Now that I thought about it, the assassins had mentioned those before when they attacked the village. Something about not bringing any with them. Sadeena didn’t know what they were either, apparently. 
“The sakura stones of destiny are special items that weaken spirit implements while also maximally raising the abilities of anyone who has received the Heavenly Emperor’s blessing. Please be careful!” Raluva replied. 
Before he’d even finished speaking, something like a pink force field sped by, combing the whole area. 
“Wh-what was that?” I said. 
Oh damn. My shield sparked. I felt a sensation like an electrical shock shoot from my shield into my body and radiate outward from head to toe. My body suddenly felt heavy. 
“Th-this is . . .” Raphtalia’s voice trailed off. 
She must have been feeling something similar, because the weight of her katana seemed to be pulling her to the side ever so slightly. 
“Aww . . . It looks like the boosts you gave us have ceased functioning, little Naofumi,” said Sadeena. 
“What?!” 
I checked Sadeena’s stats. They were quite a bit lower than I remembered them being. That really complicated things. 
 
 
“Now then, let’s do this!” the bear roared. 
He deftly swung the winged spear up overhead and charged at us at an incredible speed. Shit! I was going to block the attack with my shield, but my gut reaction was to hop to the side and dodge instead. Instantly, I realized that had been the right move. First of all, the bear therianthrope was now moving about three times faster than before. Second, his attack power must have increased too, because his spear split the floor open and caused a small explosion. Just how much had his stats gone up?! 
“Zweite Aura!” 
I tried buffing myself to help make up for my reduced stats, but the spell didn’t activate. Did that mean those stones even prevented heroes from using magic?! Just to be sure, I tried casting Guard. 
“Zweite Guard!” 
That one worked without a problem. No way! I guess the barrier prevented the use of any type of magic that only heroes could use. If that were the case, it would be iffy whether I could even use cooperative magic! Not that I actually had the leeway to even try casting any at the moment. 
“Hurry up and finish off these traitors!” the bear shouted. 
Their objective was to kill Raphtalia. I held my shield up to protect her. The enemies unleashed a chorus of battle cries. Damnit! What was I supposed to do in a situation like this? 
“Little Naofumi!” Sadeena shouted. 
The bear therianthrope and his men rushed at me, brandishing their anti-hero weapons. And then Sadeena finished reciting her incantation. 
“As the source of your power, I command you! Let the true way be revealed once more! Lightning! Strike down and penetrate those before me!” 
“All Drifa Chain Lightning!” 
A bolt of high-voltage lightning pierced through all of the enemies in front of me. 
“Gahhhh!” 
“What?!” growled the bear. 
He diverted the lightning with his spear and leapt at Sadeena. 
“I don’t care who you are! I’ll protect little Raphtalia and little Naofumi no matter what!” she exclaimed. 
“I can’t have everyone forgetting about me,” Gaelion said. 
While holding on to Sadeena from behind, he unleashed a breath attack that looked like a highly condensed heat-ray. The attack caught the bear off guard and hit him directly in the face. 
 
 
“Gah! That was just dirty!” the bear growled. 
“Dirty is my specialty. I usually just talk dirty, but I can play dirty too,” Sadeena replied with a wink. 
She began transforming into her therianthrope form. The bear watched, speechless, as her body ballooned up. 
“Now then, how about you and I have a little showdown? It’s been more than ten years since I left this country. I’m looking forward to seeing what its best warriors have to offer these days!” she exclaimed. 
“You’re the priestess of carnage! Do you dare oppose us with those defiled hands of yours?!” the bear growled. 
“Oh, but I do. And I think I’ll start by giving you a taste of that carnage,” Sadeena replied. 
She glanced over at me and Raphtalia. She was trying to tell us this was our chance to figure something out. It was a bit depressing to think that I could tell what Sadeena wanted to say from a single glance now. 
I tried to think of what our most effective attack in a situation like this would be. They’d put up some kind of barrier around us, our weapons weren’t functioning, and we couldn’t use our skills. In that case, we’d just have to rely on normal techniques and strategy. 

“Can you keep going, Raphtalia?” I asked. 
“Fighting is no problem,” she replied. 
Raluva and his men, along with Sadeena and Gaelion, were managing to hold the enemy back, but that didn’t change the fact we were at a disadvantage. They were after Raphtalia’s life and my shield had completely ceased functioning. It wasn’t that I couldn’t fight, but all I could do was defend and now I couldn’t even use my skills. I couldn’t use a good portion of my magic either. There wasn’t really much that I could do in a situation like this. 
“Die, false empress!” screamed one of the enemies. 
“Not on my watch!” I shouted. 
The enemy swung his katana and I parried it with my shield. I grabbed him by the collar and Raphtalia sliced into him instantly, as if by reflex. 
My Demon Dragon Shield had a counterattack effect called “C demon bullet” and it seemed to be activating, but the effect was negligible now. Countering would be difficult, I guess. And relying on the Shield of Wrath was too dangerous. In the end, my fighting style depended almost completely on my shields. 
 
 
Was there really nothing else I could do? Not being able to use my skills had suddenly exposed my own shortcomings. This was an issue I would need to address. 
“Take this, false empress and holder of the evil spirit implement!” shouted the frog. 
He and one of his men fired off their magic at me and Raphtalia. 
“Drifa Aqua Slash!” 
“Drifa Rock Blast!” 
A highly condensed stream of water and mass of boulders both came flying straight at us simultaneously. I suddenly recalled the time Melty had surprised me with an unexpected magical attack. I was confident my shield wasn’t going to break, even if an attack was so powerful that it pierced the shield and managed to injure me. I tried to remember how exactly I’d parried Melty’s magic. 
“Not happening!” I shouted. 
I held my shield up. I then focused my attention and . . . I still didn’t completely understand life force, but I did my best to channel it into the shield. And then I swung the shield up as hard as I could. The magic hit my shield and went flying off in a different direction. I needed to adjust the angle! I intensified my concentration and managed to send the attacks flying toward the bear therianthrope, who was engaged in mortal combat with Sadeena. 
“Hell yeah!” I shouted. 
“What?! Damn you!” the bear growled. 
“Oh, no you don’t!” Sadeena exclaimed. 
The bear tried to dodge, but Sadeena held him in place and used him as a shield against the magic. 
“Gahhh!” 
That probably hurt at least a little bit. 
“Ha! You come up with the strangest ideas, little Naofumi,” Sadeena said. 
“I figured I could pull it off, and I guess I did,” I replied. 
“You parried their magic and used it against me?!” the bear growled. 
But he wasn’t ready to give up. He shoved Sadeena away. 
“Hmph! I’m impressed that you managed to put up any fight at all. That was unexpected,” he said. 
 
 
He was smiling, but I could tell he was upset. He must have been up to something. 
“I wonder if you outsiders are familiar with this technique. It’s a secret technique whose use is permitted only for those who can draw power from the sakura stones of destiny,” he continued. 
Raluva looked at the bear therianthrope and turned as white as a sheet. 
“Impossible! Have you really been permitted to go that far?! Miss Raphtalia! Shield Hero! You must leave at once!” he exclaimed. 
“It’s too late!” the bear roared. 
Several of his men had been reciting incantations and as soon as he finished speaking they placed their palms together, as if praying. 
“Heavenly Emperor, we act on your behalf as pacifiers! Let our whole beings become our blade! We combine our power with yours to bestow upon the foolish a fate of destruction!” 
“Astral Enchant!” 
I could see something flowing from their bodies into the bear’s winged spear. In return, they began to fall over limp, one after the other. 
“Wh-what the . . .” I mumbled. 
“Hmph! This battle is as good as over! Take this!” the bear shouted. 
As soon as he finished speaking, he seemed to blur as he came speeding toward us. My shield may not have been functioning like usual, but he wasn’t moving so fast that I couldn’t react! I read his movements and prepared to block the attack. Fortunately, my shield was able to block his winged spear successfully. I grabbed the shaft of his spear and gripped it as tightly as I possibly could, determined to keep hold of it no matter what. 
“Is that all you’ve got?!” the bear thundered. 
His strength must have increased exponentially, because he swung the spear up into the air with ease. I was jerked off the ground and went smashing into the wall, but I wasn’t going to let go! Just how powerful had this bastard become, though?! He probably could’ve defeated the Spirit Tortoise on his own now! 
“Mr. Naofumi!” Raphtalia called out. 
“Don’t worry about me! Just be ready to attack!” I shouted. 
“U-understood!” 
Raphtalia gripped her katana and prepared to attack. I was glad she always responded so quickly. 
“I don’t like being ignored!” said Sadeena. 
 
 
“I can’t have you forgetting me either!” Gaelion added. 
Our whole group was doing their best to restrain the bear, but they couldn’t stop him. I’d avoided any serious injuries so far, thanks to my shield, but I had no idea how long I could last like this. 
“What the hell is with this guy?! Is this because of that magic they cast?” I asked. 
“Yes. That was Astral Enchant. It’s specialized protective combat magic that allows one or more casters who have been blessed to imbue all of their stats upon someone who has received a high-level blessing from the Heavenly Emperor,” Raluva explained. 
That was not what I wanted to hear. 
“I never would have imagined he’d received such a high-level blessing,” Raluva continued. 
But what he said reminded me of something. It sounded a lot like the buff I’d given Fohl just recently. 
“Here I go! Hold him for me, little Naofumi!” Sadeena said. 
“Got it!” 
I planted my feet on the ground and crouched down low, holding the bear in place. But twenty or thirty seconds was probably my limit. After that he’d start swinging me around like a ragdoll. 
“You just don’t know when to give up!” he roared. 
Sadeena charged her harpoon with electricity and lunged forward powerfully, thrusting the harpoon at the bear. There was a heavy thud as it smashed directly into him—or so I thought, but it had crashed into a thin protective barrier similar to that of my Shooting Star Shield skill. 
“Ugh . . . That thing sure is tough,” Sadeena said. 
Just as her attack landed, blood began oozing out of the mouths of the enemy soldiers lying limp on the ground around us. 
“How dare you injure my men!” the bear growled. 
I guess that meant they were sharing their very life force with him. Combining the full abilities of multiple men would indeed make for an impressive soldier. 
And then Raphtalia finished channeling magic power into her katana. 
“Eight Trigrams . . .” 
Huh? A magic circle formed around her and began sparking, as if attempting to obstruct the skill. 
“Everything okay?” I asked. 
 
 
“Yes. Something is trying to interfere—probably the power of the sakura stone of destiny,” she replied. 
“Are you going to be alright? Don’t overdo it,” I said. 
“It’s not a problem. That won’t stop me! Watch out everyone! Blade of Destiny!” 
She unsheathed her katana in quick-draw fashion and a rippling beam of light shot out of the blade, slicing through all of the enemies in the area. 
“Like I’d let that hit me! You take it, spirit implement holder!” the bear thundered. 
He swung his spear in an attempt to use me as a shield against Raphtalia’s attack. 
“No thanks,” I said. 
I let go of the spear and jumped behind the dumbfounded bear. I held him in a full nelson and forced him to take the full brunt of the attack. 
“Ugh . . .” 
Aside from myself, everyone else in our group crouched down and avoided the attack. 
“You squirrelly little bastard!” the bear growled. 
I’d managed to withstand the attack since I was behind the bear, but it definitely hurt. Taking it head-on would’ve killed me. 
I was putting all of my past experience—and my training with Atla, in particular—into play now. I could dodge if the bear tried to attack me, and I could drag him down to interfere if he tried to attack Raphtalia. But how the hell was I supposed to stop this monster? The thought of there being even more powerful enemies to come made my head spin. 
And then, all of a sudden, the same pattern produced by Raphtalia’s Eight Trigrams Blade of Destiny attack appeared on the trunk of the sakura lumina. 
“Could it be?! Little Gaelion! Touch the sakura lumina!” Sadeena shouted. 
She grabbed Gaelion, who had been perched on her back providing combat support, and hurled him at the tree. 
“Watch how you treat me!” he grumbled. 
Gaelion flew straight to the pattern on the sakura lumina. 
“Ah, now I see. Like this,” he said. 
The straw rope around his neck began to glow, and whatever power had enveloped the bear therianthrope seemed to weaken. 
 
 
“What?! The power of the sakura stone of destiny is dissipating?!” he said. 
I guess that was one more thing the sakura lumina could do. By seizing control of the tree, we had successfully weakened the opponent. 
“It looks like I managed to weaken that nifty power of theirs,” Gaelion said. 
He continued to access the sakura lumina. 
“I’ve just disabled the barrier to the outside world. I’ve also made it so that the tree cannot be accessed for a short period of time. All that’s left is to finish the enemy off,” he continued. 
Was that supposed to be good news? We’d completed our original objective, but we still hadn’t defeated this monster. And then . . . 
“Use these!” 
Several objects came flying at us from behind. Without hesitation, I caught the one coming at me. And when I did, my shield sparked again.