Chapter Fifteen: Sakura Sphere of Influence
Weapon copy system activated.
Sakura Stone of Destiny Shield conditions unlocked!
Sakura Stone of Destiny Shield 0/ 100 C
<abilities locked> equip bonus: spirit binding limited release 1, sealing resistance (weak), skill “Sakura Sphere of Influence”
special equip effect: spirit blessing, status chain, blossom blaze
mastery level: 0
The shield in my hand was the most intricate and finely crafted shield I’d ever seen. It was round, with a design that resembled the yin-yang symbol. Decorative cherry blossoms were inscribed along the edges and there was a jewel set in the center, like the one on my legendary shield. A large cherry blossom hovered faintly over the jewel like a hologram. It was strangely beautiful. I could only imagine there was something magical about the jewel and I wondered if perhaps it was one of the sakura stones of destiny.
Just holding the shield, I could already tell that its basic stats were high. How strange. I’d never felt anything like that before. From my own legendary shield, perhaps, but not from an original shield used to make a copy. When the copy completed, a list of categories appeared.
skills
magic
stat bonuses
growth adjustments
mastery level
rarity
refinement
spirit enchants
status enchants
reinforcement
item enchants
job level
remaining: 4
The categories were all grayed out. I selected “skills” and the category lit up and “remaining: 4” dropped to “3.” There was no doubt about it. This was an ability that could cancel out restrictions on the heroes’ weapons made by the sakura stones of destiny. It must have been the “spirit binding limited release 1” equip effect.
It wasn’t easy to decide, but I selected “skills,” “magic,” “stat bonuses,” and “growth adjustments” and then confirmed the selection. My shield sparked again, and I felt power flood back into my body. The only problem was that the shield’s abilities were locked, so I couldn’t switch to another shield.
I checked my status screen again and noticed that the stats of the shield itself had changed too. Maybe that had something to do with the “status chain” special equip effect. It didn’t look like I had any materials on-hand that I could use to power the shield up, but that ability was still sealed off anyway.
“You bastard!” the bear growled.
There was an expression of surprise on his face as he looked at the person who had just shown up and tossed us the weapons. It was the same bastard that tried to hit on Raphtalia! What the hell? But aside from the shield and katana he’d thrown at me and Raphtalia, he was passing out all kinds of equipment to everyone in our group.
“If you use those, your stats should get a boost even inside of the sakura stone of destiny barrier,” he said.
“I-I see!” one of the men replied.
The men gripped their new weapons and prepared to attack the bear therianthrope. Raphtalia did the same. But even if I could copy weapons, my legendary shield wouldn’t allow me to equip the original, so I threw the shield I’d caught to a nearby ally.
“I should be able to put up a bit of a fight now. Let’s try this again!” Raphtalia exclaimed.
“Oh? I’m suddenly feeling a bit feisty,” Sadeena said.
“Yes, it seems the effects of the growth adjustments have been partially restored,” Gaelion replied.
We still hadn’t defeated the enemy, but there was no doubt that our situation had taken a turn for the better. Now to use this momentum to pressure the enemy!
“Bastard! You dare betray us?!” the bear growled angrily at the skirt-chaser scumbag.
“Betray? Oh, come now. You misunderstand. It’s true that I made those weapons. I needed the money, so I accepted the order. But I’m no patriot,” he replied.
“And why are you helping this false god of another country and the false empress?! Answer carefully or face certain death!” the bear thundered.
His incredible bloodlust was palpable as he glared threateningly at the skirt chaser standing behind us. But the skirt chaser just shrugged and responded casually.
“You really don’t know? Come on, think about it,” he said.
He then stomped his foot down, clenched his hand into a fist, and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“If I have to pick between a whiny little brat and a beautiful young lady to be the Heavenly Emperor or Empress I worship, you bet your ass I’m going to pick the beautiful young lady!”
His voice echoed throughout the area. An awkward silence followed, and everyone just stared at the skirt chaser. Was he really that dense? And what the hell kind of proclamation was that, anyway?
Raphtalia and I were staring at him in disbelief, when all of a sudden he turned to us with a really smug look on his face . . . Hm? That was the same face Motoyasu had made when he first met Raphtalia. The skirt chaser strolled up to Raphtalia and kissed her on the hand.
“We met earlier, didn’t we, little miss? You seemed to be in a bind, so I thought I would loan you some equipment to help out. Please use these weapons to slay that tyrannical government lapdog,” he said.
He probably thought he was acting like a gentleman, but his complete lack of refinement shined through clearly. “Please slay him”? Was that supposed to be classy?
“Umm, okay . . .” she muttered.
This bastard really pissed me off. But he had helped us in a really big way, so I couldn’t complain. Oh, hell yes, I could!
“Who do you think you are?!” I shouted.
“Oh! And you must be the other young lady from earlier. You’re just as beautiful in your therianthrope form,” he continued.
“Oh?” Sadeena replied.
Wow. He was hitting on Sadeena in her therianthrope form. Even Motoyasu hadn’t tried to flirt with Filo in her filolial form before he went nuts. They were like two models of the same product, and this one was an even more pathetic version.
After standing there flabbergasted for a few moments, the bear therianthrope began shaking with anger. His face turned a bright shade of red and he screamed out.
“You blundering fool!”
He charged straight for Raphtalia and the skirt chaser like a battle tank at full throttle. I stepped between them and held my shield up. And then I tried a little something.
“Air Strike Shield!” I shouted.
The skill hadn’t functioned before because of the sakura stone of destiny barrier. But now my Air Strike Shield appeared in front of my eyes.
“Hmph!”
The bear sliced through my Air Strike Shield like it was a toy. But it hadn’t been completely effortless like before. I knew that because sparks flew when his spear made contact. The shield had simply been destroyed because my stats were too low at the moment. In that case, there was only one thing left to do.
“Second Shield! Dritte Shield! Chain Shield! E Float Shield!”
I produced two more shields and linked them with chains to restrict the bear’s movement. Then I used E Float Shield to obstruct his vision.
“Pathetic!” he shouted.
As soon as I restricted him, he jerked on the chains and tore them to pieces. But his movements seemed too slow. I wondered if status chain had something to do with that.
“The Heavenly Empress is relying on us! Don’t waste this chance!” Raluva shouted.
He and the other men all simultaneously began firing off their magic and skills at the bear. Several of them used spells to reduce his stats and ice magic to restrict his movement. His strategy had backfired. We could all focus our attacks on a single fighter. The bear’s men had already been removed from the fight and couldn’t even provide backup.
“Raphtalia,” I said.
“What is it?” she replied.
“We know of skills and techniques that are even more effective against an enemy with increased stats, right? Can you use any of those yet?” I asked.
Those attacks were Atla’s specialty and I was still in the middle of learning how to deal with them. But Raphtalia had been sparring with Atla a lot recently, so I was sure she had at least been dabbling with such techniques.
“Yes. I can’t do anything like Atla or the master, but I can use one,” she said.
I told her to get ready and she began preparing to attack.
“Alright!” I shouted.
Now we just needed to boost her stats, pure and simple. I motioned for Sadeena to come over to me and we began casting our cooperative magic. I’d become fairly proficient with the Way of the Dragon, so I could do the incantation rather quickly now.
“You help too, Gaelion. I know you can give an extra boost,” I said.
“You do, do you? I guess I’ll just have to pitch in then,” he replied.
The straw rope that Gaelion was wearing as a collar began to glow. The magical puzzle pieces faded into sight and we all began linking them together at incredible speed. But we each still had to do a lot of the work on our own too.
“Hmph!” grunted the bear.
He overpowered the interfering magic with brute force, brandished his spear, and went charging forward at Raphtalia and the skirt chaser behind her. I finished my part of the cooperative magic incantation and jumped in front of Raphtalia to protect her. She seemed to be channeling life force into her katana.
“Die! False god, false empress, and filthy traitor—all of you!” he roared.
“Shooting Star Shield!”
“Whoa! Why me?!” the skirt chaser shrieked.
The Shooting Star Shield barrier activated and repelled him and the bear both, giving us a few more seconds to prepare. At the same time, Sadeena and Gaelion finished their incantations and our cooperative magic activated.
“Descent of the Thunder God!”
Of course I selected Raphtalia as the target.
“Here I go!” she shouted.
With the borrowed katana in hand, Raphtalia charged at the bear therianthrope, who was still rubbing his eyes and trying to recover from the bright flashes of light created by the pieces of the shattered Shooting Star Shield barrier.
“Hengen Muso Technique . . . Point of Focus!”
The attack pierced cleanly through the bear’s protective barrier and the life force she had channeled into her blade poured into his body.
“Ugh . . . It will take more than that to stop me!” he roared.
He was a tough bastard! I guess that much was to be expected of Q’ten Lo’s warrior elite. The country was practically full of Sadeena-level fighters. Blood sprayed out of the mouths of the men who had lent the bear their power.
“I can’t have you forgetting about me!” Sadeena exclaimed.
She leapt up nimbly into the air and called lightning down from the clouds that had formed from Descent of the Thunder God. The lightning jumped to the spear she’d been given by the skirt chaser.
“Lightning Strike Harpoon!”
The electrically charged spear shot forward, slithering like a snake, straight into the bear.
“Gahhh!”
But he still didn’t fall. Sparks of lightning jumped from his skin as he pointed his spear at Raphtalia.
“I’m not finished!” she shouted.
She blurred, as if using haikuikku, and swung her katana down at the bear.
“I’m going to try a new skill!” she said.
“I can’t let you have all the fun!” I shouted.
I called out the name of the new skill I’d gotten from the shield.
“Sakura Sphere of Influence!”
A magic circle shaped like a big cherry blossom appeared under my feet. Was that all? Nothing else had happened. I guess the skill was useless. Oh well.
“Attack Support!”
I supported Raphtalia by firing off my Attack Support skill, which would double the damage of her next attack. But the instant I threw the Attack Support dart, it split into five cherry blossom petals and they all smashed into the bear.
“Ugh! Wh-what?!”
Aha! So Sakura Sphere of Influence must have been a skill that formed a magic circle that would alter other skills. That made using it well a real pain!
The cherry blossom petals wrapped around the bear’s body and restricted his movement, just like Chain Shield had before he destroyed it. On top of that, the petals came together to form a single cherry blossom while continuing to restrict the bear. To think that I could use Attack Support to restrict an opponent too—now that was convenient!
“Here I go! Kagura Dance of the Sakura! First Formation! Blossom!”
Raphtalia slashed at the bear powerfully as she sped past him. The cherry blossom restricting his movements shattered and faded away. And then, with a bright flash, a flurry of cherry blossoms rose up around the bear. At the same time, a magic circle appeared below him with the same pattern as the one made by Raphtalia’s Eight Trigrams Blade of Destiny attack.
“Wha—Ugh! Gahhh! No! Not yet! I will not be defeated!”
“Damn, he’s tough!” I said.
Was he really going to refuse to fall, even after a string of such fierce attacks?!
“You’re finished, false empress!” he roared.
He swung his spear down at Raphtalia.
“Not happening!” I shouted.
I leapt forward and blocked the spear. The attack wasn’t as heavy as before. I could withstand this! I was certain of it! And then a beam of light shot out of my shield.
“Gah!”
That must have been blossom blaze, one of the special equip effects of the Sakura Stone of Destiny Shield. All of a sudden, I felt more energized than before.
“What is this? I suddenly feel like I have another attack in me, Mr. Naofumi!” Raphtalia exclaimed.
“Go for it!” I replied.
She sheathed her katana and moved into her quick-draw stance.
“Amazing. Thanks to that magic circle of yours and that light just now, I can use another finishing move immediately,” she said.
“Argh! How long do you plan on resisting?!” the bear growled.
“Hmph. It looks like these effects have managed to increase our own power while weakening yours,” I said.
I’d finally been able to subdue that immense power of his.
“You better not forget about me and Gaelion or the rest of our soldiers!” Sadeena exclaimed.
Determined not to be outdone, she and Gaelion began casting their own cooperative magic.
“Little Gaelion, you’re borrowing power from the water dragon, right? Use it well!” she said.
“Hmph. I don’t like having to work, but I suppose this is the final push. In that case, let’s do this!” he exclaimed.
“Like pure flowing waters, let our intentions wash away hatred, resentment, and the curse upon this land. Let our desire to save the world manifest as strength! Dragon Vein! Grant us a miracle!”
“I, Gaelion, command the heavens and earth! Transect the way of the universe and rejoin it again to expel the pus from within! Power of mine! Awaken the strength to terminate the foolish adherents before me!”
Sadeena and Gaelion each completed their respective incantations and the cooperative magic activated.
“Blossomlight Maelstrom of the Water Dragon!”
Gaelion transformed into what looked like a small tornado made out of water and started spitting out highly concentrated streams of water in all directions. Sadeena jumped onto the tornado and the two of them took on the form of the water dragon as they went charging toward the bear. Of course that meant they were charging at me too, but Sadeena snatched me out of the way at the moment of impact.
“Gahhhh!”
The tornado of water swallowed up the bear and began crushing him within. Even he couldn’t withstand a powerful tornado made of such highly concentrated water.
“Here I go. This skill combines the Hengen Muso style and the style that Sadeena taught me,” Raphtalia said.
She leapt at the bear and sliced into the tornado with a powerful thrust.
“Supreme Ultimate . . . Slash of Destiny!”
Her blade slid cleanly through the tornado and into the bear. The swirling water of the tornado burst outward with a splash and dissolved into the air.
“Huh?”
The bear landed on the ground, unharmed. He let out a sigh of relief and smirked at Raphtalia.
“Such an impressive skill. To think that it would end in failure! You’ve forfeited any right to call yourself the Heavenly Empress,” he growled.
“You’re wrong,” Raphtalia replied.
She was standing still, facing away from the bear. He took aim at her back and brandished his spear.
“I cut the flow of magic that was supplying your power. Trying to muster up any more . . . would be suicide,” she continued.
“Don’t make me laugh! Take thi—”
And then, just as the bear stomped his foot down, it happened. A yin-yang symbol appeared on his chest and extended outward, wrapping around his entire body!
“Gaaaahhhh!”
“That’s the outside power clashing with your own power. They will discharge shortly,” Raphtalia said.
The effect lasted around ten seconds. When it wore off, the yin-yang symbol enveloping the bear dissolved, and the bear dropped his spear to the ground heavily before catching himself and leaning on it like a cane.
“Impossible! Astral Enchant and the sakura stone of destiny blessing are gone?!” he exclaimed.
“Yes. I could see their power flowing to you, so I wound the flows together and severed them both. The blessing you were given is no more,” Raphtalia replied.
“A-amazing. She is indeed the true Heavenly Empress,” whispered Raluva as he watched on.
“I will never accept such a thing!” the bear roared.
He was determined not to give up. He brandished his spear, but his movements completely lacked the sharpness they’d shown before.
“We’ve won this battle. The result is clear,” Raphtalia said.
“Ugh . . . It’s not over yet! Even if you do defeat me, the government will never forgive you! You’re as good as finished!” the bear roared.
“Sorry, but putting an end to a rotten lot like you and your government is kind of our thing. And since your government asked for it, crushing it is exactly what I’ll do!” I declared loudly.
With an angry look on his face, the bear therianthrope crumpled forward onto the ground. Immediately after, cheers filled the air. They were the shouts of victory from the men who’d joined us to help overthrow their government.
“We won!”
“This may be one small step for the resistance, but it’s one giant leap for us resisters!”
“We’ve finally delivered a blow to the rotten government and their foolish laws!” they cried out, filling the air with their triumphant cheers.
We’d managed to win somehow. But the enemies had been some of the most unconventional and difficult to deal with yet. They concentrated all of their power into a single fighter to boost that person’s stats, and they had the ability to seal off the power of the heroes. Talk about overpowered! I was going to cry if that bear therianthrope wasn’t some elite race, like the ones they had in Siltvelt’s leadership. It was looking like we might be in for a rough ride.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login