Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 17 - Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve: A Falling Out 

“Glass! Take Chris and go on ahead!” I said. 
“But . . .” she started. 
“Don’t forget what we are here to do! Get moving!” I repeated. The most frightening thing right now was having Kizuna be held hostage. That fact alone could turn the entire situation against us. 
“Very well. Naofumi, I’ll leave the rest of this to you,” Glass said. 
“Go get Kizuna back!” I told her. 
“We will!” Glass said. 
“Pen!” Chris chimed in. Following my instructions, Glass put the shikigami on her shoulder and charged toward Miyaji and Armor. 
“You think we’ll let you through?!” Miyaji said. 
“No escape!” Armor yelled. 
“I’m going to let them through. Like this!” I said. I proceeded to use the Way of the Dragon Vein to activate the magic in the gemstone on the scabbard of Raphtalia’s katana. She had a scabbard that could activate Filo’s Haikuikku. I wasn’t sure if it would activate or not, but I just had to hope that Dragon Vein could activate it. I could feel something like intent from the gemstone on the scabbard, but unlike Therese, I couldn’t hear what it wanted to say. I could just tell it wanted to help me. It was hard for me to reach for the magic, but the scabbard gemstone was reaching out for me. 
The puzzle that appeared was the same as for the Way of the Dragon Vein. I knew how to handle it, so I activated it at once. The magic was assembled. 
 
Now! Just for a moment! Please, lend me your power! 
“Jewel High Speed!” I shouted. The support magic flew toward Glass and accelerated her just for a moment. She was already pretty quick, and that instantly sent her around and behind Miyaji. I confirmed that she had scattered his women and made it through the door at the back of the chamber. 
“No! Wait!” a woman shouted. Three of Miyaji’s women chased off after her. 
“Guwaaah!” Armor bellowed. Hah, Glass had left Armor with a parting gift too—a quick attack. He was roaring and writhing in pain. 
“Well, well, well, this is most disappointing. Allowing someone to escape, are we?” the moron woman spat at Miyaji. 
“Not at all! Dear Hidemasa, you just need to bring more power to bear! You’ve got this, I’m sure of it!” Witch told him. She was looking to earn some points of her own perhaps, because she was only saying nice stuff. Her eyes looked cold and dead, however. 
“Boosted Mirror Fragments,” I said. Sharp pieces of what looked like glass flew at Miyaji. 
“Don’t forget about me!” Armor was up again, finally seeming to have overcome Raph-chan’s illusions. He smashed the fragments out of the air. He had more dexterity than I’d given him credit for. 
“Don’t underestimate me! Without all this interference, I am clearly the strongest here!” Miyaji shouted. He proceeded to turn his musical instrument into a piano and then started to play like some crazy virtuoso. Itsuki continued to impede the magic with his own grass playing—but it activated anyway. I guess there’s a limit to how much you can do with a blade of grass. 
 
“Hero’s Melody!” Some kind of magic went out to Miyaji’s allies. “Now go!” he shouted. 
“Okay!” his women responded. Miyaji, flanked by his women, attacked at twice the speed they had been moving at before. 
“Stardust Mirror!” I shouted. 
“I’ll destroy your flimsy mirror in an instant!” he shouted back. My protective walls were quickly shattered, and the women came pouring in. Relying on strength in numbers . . . I didn’t hate it as a tactic, but I also didn’t really want to be on the receiving end of it. 
“This is just another way to use my weapon! Reflect this, if you can!” Miyaji yelled and turned his musical instrument into the gaudy-looking guitar and swung it at me. I already knew this was a cursed weapon. 
“Die! Shield Demon King!” Armor was still harping on that. Talk about a paper-thin character! 
“Please don’t think we were just standing around doing nothing for all that time!” Raphtalia said. 
“Raph!” Raph-chan was with her, leaping forward and casting some magic. Her tail was all fluffed up. 
“Dream Illusion: Shadow Single Strike!” It was a combination attack, bringing together Raph-chan’s and Raphtalia’s magic. The chamber was suddenly filled with countless copies of Raphtalia, making it impossible to tell which was the real one. 

“I won’t allow that!” Armor shouted. “What?!” When he actually attacked one though, the fake vanished in a puff of smoke. Armor and Miyaji’s women had no idea which one was the real Raphtalia, allowing her to successfully perform her attack. Two slices appeared in the side of the room from her sword stroke. 
“You mock me! Taste the hammer of justice!” Armor raged on. He swung his axe. The armor from which I had given him his clever name was now covered with blood. I caught his axe on a mirror and turned it aside, eliciting an annoyed grunt. 
With a boing sound, Miyaji and his women were protected by that same mysterious barrier from before. Itsuki’s magic must have landed between castings. While Miyaji was actively performing, we couldn’t hope to get that lucky again. 
“You’re tough . . . but there’s more I can do!” Raphtalia responded. 
This “Hero’s Melody” had an innocuous name for all the trouble it was causing. Repelling such a powerful attack from Raphtalia was another—in this case unwanted—example of the power of support magic. In this case, it appeared to boost stats and provide the defensive covering. 
“What . . . what’s this?” someone spluttered. “My insides!” Wow, wonderful! So Raphtalia had woven in a Point of Focus to perform a defense rating attack! The defensive covering had seemed to stop her attack at first, but it had been unable to prevent the follow-up effect. 

Maybe it was magic that reduced the damage by a certain amount, rather than simply a wall like Shooting Star Shield that stopped it. 

I had to wonder why these kinds of opponents always seemed so ill-prepared. That said, immediately after being summoned, heroes were generally pretty ill-prepared—me included. Mistakenly thinking that everything would go their way was how situations like this one came about. 
“Dammit!” Miyaji wasn’t giving up yet. He fired off another skill. “Demon’s Melody!” Countless notes were ripped forth and came flying toward us. 
“Futile!” Raphtalia really needed to work on her putdowns. “Stardust Blade!” She unleashed the skill Stardust Blade, which launched a scattering of stars, repelling the incoming horde of notes. It was starting to look like the musical instrument vassal weapon was mainly based in performance magic, and vassal weapons like the katana had the edge when it came to skill attacks. 
Any notes that Raphtalia missed just hit the Stardust Mirror and vanished. I would have still liked to enhance it a little more, but with some added life force, I was achieving sufficient output to get by. 
“Everyone! Stand fast! Listen to my performance!” Now he was riffing on the lines of a pilot who saved the world through song! Miyaji summoned giant speakers and started to perform even harder. 
Meanwhile, Raphtalia and Armor were clashing, weapons locked. His attacks had been powerful enough even to damage Glass—and in that moment, Armor gave an unsettling grin. He was about to launch the exact same attack. 

“Formation One: Glass Shield!” I had been waiting for that very moment and made a mirror appear to protect Raphtalia. With a shattering sound, the mirror broke and its pieces embedded themselves into Armor. 

“Gah!” Armor grunted. “All you can do is fall back on petty tricks!” 
“I’ve got tricks even pettier than this. Formation Two! Formation Three: Glass Shield!” I put out additional mirrors in front of and behind him. If he tried anything, they would shatter and stick him—in fact, he could barely move at all. The shards weren’t all that powerful, but it would help keep him in place. 
“As the source of your power, the next queen commands you! Let the way of all things be revealed once more! Blazing flames of hell! Drifa Hellfire!” Witch incanted, trying her magic again. 
“Get off my back, Witch! If you think piling on will let your magic work, you are mistaken! Anti Drifa Hellfire!” I shouted. I had a reading now on all of Witch’s quirks when she unleashed magic. Stopping her would be easy under all but the most stressful circumstances. Even if it hit us, I knew it wasn’t going to hurt. That was how low Witch’s and Armor’s levels were. I didn’t know how long they had been here and what their levels were, but they should have been able to overwhelm us under these conditions. It was the vassal weapon holder Miyaji who had the most powerful attacks in this group. 
“Gah! Stop making those cowardly shields!” Armor raged. 
“Everything is cowardly if it stops you, right? How old are you, ten?” I retorted. He had no right to complain if all it took to hem him in was two shields. I’d fought a woman once who had been surrounded by no less than three shields, and she had still avoided them and turned them against me. 
 
“Hah! Great Tornado III!” Armor proceeded to launch a skill that created a tornado centered on him, smashing the mirrors using a power attack. The shattered glass fragments proceeded to whirl up in the wind and rip into Armor. He gave a pleasing roar of pain. There seemed to be more fragments than just breaking them would have created. 
Still, the countereffect wasn’t all that strong, and Armor didn’t seem too badly hurt—more was the pity. He also seemed to have just the positive effects of the curse weapon active, meaning his wounds were gradually healing. 
A number of Miyaji’s women were sent flying by the still-swirling tornado. They screamed as they were blasted across the chamber and then passed out. Protecting himself by attacking his own allies! What a dumbass. 
“What are you doing to my women?!” Miyaji shouted. 
“It’s their fault for getting too close!” Armor responded. What impeccable logic! Did he have any understanding of working as a team? “Anyway . . .” The black aura around Armor became thicker and more enhanced. He started to cackle. “I’m getting a handle on this now. Things aren’t going to go your way again! Jason Murder IV!” Armor put on a hockey mask that suddenly appeared in the air and started to swing his axe wildly. 
“Raphtalia! Itsuki! Get down!” I shouted, grabbing their shoulders and dragging them down. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, but it quickly turned out to be the right one. A moment later, a massive attack smashed through the barriers. It happened right in the position where our heads had been. It had come right through the Stardust Mirror! If it had landed, it would likely have caused serious damage. 
 
“See, you can do it if you try!” Miyaji managed, regaining his footing. “Right. I’ll cast Hero’s Melody on you too.” Now he seemed pretty sure of his victory, praising Armor—however, he was still coming from a position of arrogance. It was quite a departure from his rage at his women getting blown away. 
“Hah! Play the theme of our justice, then! You worthless fiddler!” Armor growled. 
“What! Don’t get too full of yourself just yet. A ‘please’ or two would be nice!” Miyaji fired back. These guys really didn’t get along. 
In any case, Armor was starting to master his seven star weapon. After I sent Glass on ahead, that left us with Raphtalia and Raph-chan handling attacks. That could make things difficult. Miyaji and his women still posed a threat, and Armor’s attacks were gradually increasing, even as he unleashed them without thinking of his allies. Witch wasn’t part of the equation. If she closed in, then I was planning to order Raphtalia to take her head. But at a distance, all she could do was keep trying to cast the same magic, and it would keep getting nullified. 
S’yne maybe presented the greatest risk. 
If she was defeated, that one development alone would turn the dangerous moron woman on us. Perhaps the only saving grace in the situation was Miyaji’s attacks not really being that potent. Itsuki’s contribution from the rear was definitely having an impact. 
 
I hoped Glass would save Kizuna soon . . . but not much time had passed since she left. As I was thinking about all of this, Miyaji turned a murderous gaze on Armor. 
“If you don’t stop this, I’m going to have to kill you,” he rasped. 
“Give it a try, if you think you are capable. That will be the moment in which our justice judges you,” Armor replied. 
“Hurry up and defeat the shield! You can bicker once the demon king is dead!” Witch cut in. 
“Of course,” Armor responded. I cursed to myself. Even with the mirror, I didn’t think I could stop Armor’s attacks at my current level of defense. Even if I could draw out more of its potential, it wouldn’t be enough. 
This situation had been more than a possibility once Aura X was sealed. Not to mention, Miyaji could use performance support. If they kept working together like this, they would overwhelm us before too long. 
“I’m focusing on killing these losers now, but once this is done, you too will pay the price for your deeds here!” Miyaji shouted. And with that, Miyaji started to play Hero’s Melody again. Itsuki was playing interference from the rear again. 
“Now learn that your tricks mean nothing to our justice!” Armor shouted, launching a relentless series of attacks toward us. 
“Formation One. Formation Two: Glass Shield. Chain Binding Mirror!” I shouted. 

“Not this time!” Armor retorted. I had launched Chain Binding Mirror, the modified version of Chain Shield, but it was unable to stop Armor’s raging attack! We needed something decisive! 

Itsuki was still desperately playing interference, but he couldn’t stop the magic completely. 
“Hero’s Melody! Come on! Finish them off!” Miyaji shouted. The completed skill was finally cast on Armor and Witch, further increasing the power of Armor’s attacks. 
“Moon Katana: Crescent!” Raphtalia launched a skill at Armor’s arm from a Draw Slice stance, but it couldn’t penetrate the aura from the cursed axe and the protection from Hero’s Melody. 
“Raph!” Raph-chan tried some illusion magic, but it was scattered by a tornado skill from Armor. Miyaji’s women sensed the threat and fell back, so they didn’t take any further damage. They sought to interfere from the back, with performances, magic, arrows, and ofuda. 
“This is the end! Jason Murder IV!” In the moment he was about to unleash that skill at us— 
“Air Strike Throw X! Second Throw X! Torrid Throw X! Tornado Throw X!” Three projectiles suddenly hit Armor, and a tornado formed around him. He gave a roar of pain. I recognized the skills at once and turned in the direction of the voice that shouted them to see Rishia smashing in through the wall. 
“I’ve finally found you!” she said. 
“Rishia!” I exclaimed. I should have expected this from her. Her “main character” quality was still in full effect. She appeared at just the right moment to save her allies. She hadn’t waited and picked this moment, had she? That seemed unlikely, based on her personality. 
 
“The book vassal weapon just appeared and led me here. It seems I made it in time,” she explained. So the book had guided Rishia in! That was something to be grateful for. 
Good! It looked like the moron woman had been right and seven star weapons could still be used. The holy weapons had been sealed. So the seven star weapons could still be used. 
“Rishia,” said Itsuki. 
“Itsuki! Are you okay?” she asked. 
“Yes, I am fine. Thanks to you, Rishia,” he responded. After Rishia had confirmed Itsuki’s safety, she looked around the room and then glared at Armor. 
“Well, well. If it isn’t Rishia, the woman who ran off to join the shield demon king,” Armor snarled. He was completely dismissive of Rishia. Does a piece of trash like you really think you can defeat our own shining main character, Rishia? But no, giving it a little more thought, this guy had no idea about the new, awakened Rishia. He probably thought of her as little more than that girl who’d pulled off that move with the barrel of rucolu fruit at the Cal Mira islands. 
“Mald?! What are you doing here?” she said. Then Rishia looked over at Witch, and her expression hardened. 
“What do you think? We are fighting the good fight. We shall defeat the shield demon king here in this other world, bring peace to our own world, and display the light of justice to the people,” Armor replied to Rishia. 
 
“Naofumi hasn’t done anything wrong. Even Itsuki acknowledges that,” Rishia replied. Itsuki said nothing. He just stared at Rishia. That was super suspicious. One interpretation was that he was only going along with me because of the curse. 
“Hah. What does the approval of a false hero mean? If you don’t get a clue, Rishia, then I will have to turn my hammer of justice on your weakling face as well. I suggest you surrender at once and hand over that weapon.” Armor really was just a pathetic bully. 
“He’s right, he’s right! Then that weapon will come to me!” Witch chimed in. 
“What’s with all these annoying reinforcements you keep receiving? I’ve had enough!” Miyaji exclaimed. He was one to talk! How many women had he brought into the chamber? The trap had split us up, but these were just our friends coming to try and help their allies in peril. What was so strange about them coming to save us?! 
 
 
“Mald, I’ve got lots of things I want to ask about how you manipulated Itsuki in Zeltoble. Like where you ran off to afterward,” Rishia said and looked around the chamber, glared at Armor with contempt, and then prepared to fight. “This situation, and that weapon . . . I clearly can’t underestimate this. Even the weapons in this world are telling us that you are mistaken,” Rishia said. She was drawing in life force from the vicinity and starting to weave it. “I use my power for the justice that I believe in.” Rishia gripped her projectile weapon and stood to defend Itsuki. Good, she was awakened. This all turned the tide back a little in our favor. After all, once Rishia knew what evil was, she got very emotional about dealing with it. Armor had clearly done something cowardly, deceiving Itsuki and then running away. Witch being here was just the cherry on top when determining who was in the wrong. Even better, Rishia was completely awakened due to completing her training. She could make complete use of her weapon! 
“So many people thinking they are justified! I’ll show you who holds the real justice here.” Miyaji was as arrogant as ever. Rishia crept forward a little, and a little more, closing in with Armor . . . and then she dashed forward. 
“You dare turn your weapon on me, Rishia? Weakling! Pathetic! Now you will die in the name of justice! Jason Murder IV!” Armor unleashed his previously interrupted skill at Rishia. Rishia turned her projectile weapon into a short dagger, applied some life force, and then deflected the attack— deflected that powerful strike from Armor! 
 
“Bolas Blast X!” Immediately afterward, Rishia turned the projectile weapon into a bolas—a thrown weapon with heavy weights attached to multiple ropes—and threw it. The bolas wrapped around Armor’s body, then immediately exploded and started to burn. It was a skill she had obtained from the bolas that had been created by modifying Filo’s morning star. 
“Curse you!” Armor managed amid his roars of pain. “You dare oppose me, Rishia! You weakling!” He was blown backward by the explosion but managed to land safely and then roared again while charging at Rishia. 
“Haah! Knife Rain V!” Rishia immediately leapt backward, turning the vassal weapon into a short dagger and throwing it forward. The knife proceeded to divide up into many more knives, creating a rain of blades much like the Hundred Sword skill that Ren had used in the past. Armor roared in response. 
“Power Break III!” Armor smashed through the rain of daggers, like some boar charging forward, and struck at Rishia; Rishia placed a hand on Armor’s wrist and flipped backward, then used his back as another stepping stone to leap through the air. 
“Shadow Bind IV!” Rishia proceeded to throw a short dagger at Armor’s shadow. 
“Gah . . . I can’t move! I see what you did there! Shine Axe Burst III!” Armor immediately realized that his shadow had been pinned and used a skill that made his axe light up, freeing himself. 
I was just impressed by how incredible Rishia was in action. 
“Look at you, flipping around! So these are the cowardly human modifications you’ve been put through by the shield demon king?” Armor snarled. He hadn’t learned a thing. He was still using a cursed weapon himself. 
 
“There’s nothing cowardly about this. This is how I use the power that Naofumi, my master, and so many others have taught me!” she replied. I recalled everything that Rishia had done since we discovered she had a talent for Hengen Muso Style. 
“Can you afford to get distracted?” Miyaji taunted Itsuki. 
“I’m not.” Itsuki was indeed continuing to interfere with Miyaji’s attempts to enhance his women and Armor. 
“You are such a pain in the neck!” Miyaji whined. 
“That’s my line. I won’t overlook you trying to interfere with Rishia’s duel,” Itsuki replied. He was involved in his own full-on performance duel with Miyaji. Raphtalia and I were taking out the skills that came flying in from Miyaji, while Raphtalia’s skills and techniques and Raph-chan’s support were dealing with his women and their attacks. 
If we had just one or two more people on our side, we could turn the tide. If someone else would show up, like Rishia did, we could start to push them back. Either that or if Glass finally saved Kizuna. That would work too. 
Then I noticed that the dull, dead-looking gemstone on the musical instrument vassal weapon Miyaji was holding had started to glow with a faint light. Itsuki appeared to have noticed it too, because he was looking back and forth between Rishia and Miyaji. 

What was Miyaji doing? Storing up the energy to attack? I was also concerned by the presence of that accessory that looked like the one Takt had. Was that the reason why Armor even had the axe? It seemed worth a try.
 
“Raphtalia, can you destroy that accessory?” I asked. 
“I’ll try,” she replied. At that, the moron woman looked over with surprise on her face. 
“Well, well, well. Hidemasa, you had better be careful. If you don’t protect the accessory I gave you, the vassal weapon will be released and leave your control. The vassal weapon is being energized by the presence of someone more suited to be its owner than you,” she explained. 
“What?!” Miyaji exclaimed. 
“Hey! Why are you telling them that?!” Witch accused. As soon as I heard her mention his accessory, I looked at the suspicious purple thing on Miyaji’s musical instrument. That was the same as the one that had been on Rishia’s seven star weapon that we’d taken from Takt. I’d used the power of the four holies to forcibly strip it off, which had likely sent the seven star weapons flying into their hands. 
“Well, well, well, even if I didn’t tell them, a random attack might hit it and knock it off. They were about to target it anyway,” she said, covering herself. But she couldn’t cover the fact that she’d made it totally clear what we were meant to do. Moron. 
“So it was already pretty suspicious as to whether you were worthy, and now there’s someone here who’s definitely more worthy,” I said. I looked over at Itsuki, who was still resisting Miyaji with his leaf playing. In terms of strength, technique, and pretty much everything, Itsuki definitely seemed better suited. I was already using the mirror vassal weapon myself, so it wouldn’t come as a surprise if Itsuki ended up using the musical instrument vassal weapon. “So that accessory is what completes their hold over the weapon,” I announced. An excellent piece of information. “Rishia! You target Armor’s accessory!” 
 
“Bah! Targeting my weak spot? Shield Demon King! Another cowardly strategy!” Armor exclaimed. I’d had more than enough of them lecturing me about being a coward! 
“I’m not allowing that! This weapon is mine! I’m the one most suited to it! Everyone! Bathe in my incredible music!” Miyaji jabbered. Regardless of Itsuki sealing it or not, he was still planning on playing some more. What he should really be doing was closing in or using some skills, but I didn’t feel like telling him that. If the rules of magic were similar to those I knew, Itsuki wouldn’t be able to interfere with cooperative magic. But if they tried to pull off anything time-consuming, Raphtalia would surely finish off the women. They had to be aware that they didn’t have time for that. 
“How much longer are you going to be playing with your sister? Get over here and join in the real battle!” Witch rasped, realizing the tide was turning and seeking aid from the moron woman. 
“I’m having too much fun playing with S’yne. I can’t be worrying about you too. Do you want me to unleash S’yne on you?” the moron answered, pointing at Miyaji and Armor. “S’yne is skilled at capturing her foes. With your half-assed weapons, forget performances! You’ll just be sitting ducks.” 
“That’s when you show us how strong you are!” Witch countered. 
 
“Right! Time to prove you’re strong enough to give us orders!” Armor added. They were such a whiney bunch! As soon as they started losing, this was what happened? Likely feeling much the same as me, the moron woman gave a sigh. 
“You poor fools. What is there for you if you can’t overcome this? Might is right, correct? Can relying on someone else when you get into trouble truly be called strength?” the moron continued. I wasn’t really down with that way of saying things—but this was coming from one who had to rely on others all the time! 
“You worthless woman! I’ll make you pay for this later!” Miyaji spat, all theatricality gone from his voice. So this was the real Miyaji. It wasn’t like he’d done a good job of hiding it. “Time to play my true trump card! Hero’s Melody has nothing on this! Come on!” 
“Of course! All for Master Hidemasa!” one of his women said, then turned into a semitransparent spirit and covered Miyaji. 
“I really didn’t want to have to do this,” Miyaji commented. A strange pressure filled the chamber. They were about to unleash something. “You rabble surely don’t know the correct way to use a spirit, so now I’m going to tell you. This is the correct way to use the power of a spirit and a human!” Miyaji said triumphantly . . . and then lightning rained down around him.