Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 21 - Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: Confusion Target

“Raphtalia!” I said, signaling her with my eyes.

“I know!” she replied amid the growls of the children. We needed to knock them out without getting too . . . fatal. Raphtalia swung her Katana at the first of the incoming therianthropes. “I’m sorry about this. It might hurt a little!” She slashed out with her blade at incredible speed, heading directly for the lead attackers. But the shusaku-like kid skillfully dodged her attempts to hit them. Then they descended upon Raphtalia in a flurry of violence.

“Air Strike Shield!” I shouted, blocking the attacks coming for Raphtalia.

“No way!” Raphtalia was still processing them dodging her attack. Speed-wise, Raphtalia definitely looked like she had moved faster, and yet they had managed to dodge her attack. I wondered if this was due to enhanced physical abilities over reliance on status. Something built into the enhanced therianthropes, perhaps.

“They moved liked Sadeena and Atla do,” Raphtalia said.

“Yeah, they do that exact same thing,” I replied. Sadeena spent a lot of time honing her skills, but it was still impressive when she dodged attacks in her bulky killer whale therianthrope form.

“But it didn’t look as beautiful as when Sadeena does it or Atla did it,” Raphtalia added.

“The shusaku can sense wind and fire instinctually, sister!” Fohl shouted. That actually made sense—they were sensitive to the movements of the air and so detected the changes in air pressure caused by Raphtalia’s sword and dodged accordingly. That was superhuman for sure. They really shouldn’t be pulling stuff like that.

“Over here! Don’t forget about me! Scissor Shock!” R’yne shouted, coming at my Shooting Star Shield with one of Mamoru’s chirping familiars. A loud noise rang out. R’yne then dropped back, the epitome of hit-and-run tactics. She unleashed a flurry of feathers from her spread wings that also hammered into my barriers. Those wings seemed pretty useful. I’d been hoping S’yne would pick them up before something like this happened.

Fohl was having a hard time of it too, a look of pain on his face as he fought the incoming kids. He didn’t seem to be putting his back into it though, as the kids he did send flying quickly recovered and came back at him.

“Air Strike Shield! Second Shield! Dritte Shield!” Mamoru launched his own succession of skills at Fohl, who had stepped out of the protective range of Shooting Star Shield. Shields appeared at Fohl’s arms, back, and legs, trying to box him in.

“Hey, are you forgetting I’m the Shield Hero too? Second Shield, Dritte Shield!” I said. I moved in my float shields to give Fohl some protection, watching out for interference from something like Change Shield. With a grunt, Fohl leapt to the side, trying to get away from the enemy shields. In the same moment, Mamoru started to cast some magic.

“Spirits! World! The Shield Hero makes his plea. Entwine together my opposing magic and the power of the hero. As the source of your power, the Shield Hero implores you. Lend these others unbreakable strength!” Mamoru commanded. I’d never heard this incantation before. Mamoru incanted so quickly, and it included phrases I was unfamiliar with, meaning I couldn’t block it with Way of the Dragon Vein. It still felt similar to the magic I’d used in the past, but the way he incanted it was totally different.

Something I’d read once in a magic book passed through my mind. Long ago in this world, there had been a category of magic called “ancient magic.” It was one of those tropes in which a powerful technique had been lost to history rather than passed down.

“My turn!” said the Demon Dragon’s voice in my head, and in the same moment a breakdown of the magic Mamoru had used was displayed in my field of vision. The Demon Dragon was super annoying, like an unwanted parasite dwelling in my shield, but I had to admit, she could also really help out at times. The Demon Dragon’s analysis was that Mamoru had used a direction aura magic that boosted all stats, Liberation-class hero magic. I couldn’t let that stand without some kind of reply.

“I, the Shield Hero, order heaven and earth. Cut free the bonds of truth, reconnect them, and spout forth pus. Power of the Dragon Vein, I form power by fusing magic and the power of the hero. The source of your power, the Shield Hero, now orders you. Reconsider the state of all things once more and provide my intended targets with everything. All Liberation Aura! All Emancipation Power Aura!” Now we had both cast auras across all of our allies.

“Oh, look at that. You cast your magic after Mamoru, but it triggered at the same time, meaning you must be the better magician,” R’yne quipped lightly, snipping away with her scissors. Powerful shock waves started to batter my Shooting Star Shield.

“I might have a few magic tricks,” I said deprecatingly. Magic tricks like a strange onboard personality that popped up and helped out. But I wasn’t going to reveal that. I didn’t want to keep relying on it, but when it came to reducing magic casting speed, there seemed no reason not to.

“Shield Boomerang!” Mamoru unleashed his fallback physical attack. Raphtalia slashed down with a sword, attempting to send the shield flying away. Then I noticed Mamoru smiling.

“Raphtalia! Don’t!” I shouted. She made a puzzled noise. At the same time I shouted “Shooting Star Wall,” Mamoru shouted “Change Shield!” I put up a Shooting Star Wall and caught the incoming boomerang. It immediately turned into something like my rope shield and bounced off. The flying shield was also fixed with a sphere containing a mysterious liquid, which splashed over the barrier and hardened. Mamoru made an annoyed noise.

“We’re both Shield Heroes, right? Did you think I wouldn’t see through that?” I asked him. I had some Change Shield tricks up my own sleeve as well, but I’d only performed them using Air Strike Shield, and I didn’t even have Shield Boomerang. So I couldn’t do the exact same thing.

I could do something similar using my Frisbee Shield, but that was a little demeaning. I mainly used that to play with Gaelion and others from the village—now that was some extreme Frisbee action. But it couldn’t be used with Change Shield anyway.

“You wanted to shut Raphtalia down, but you’ll have to do better than that,” I quipped. Mamoru scoffed. Even if the sakura stone of destiny erased any incoming skills, he had clearly been hoping to pin Raphtalia down using that hardening liquid. It wasn’t going to be that easy.

“Then we’ll just pile on!” Mamoru exclaimed. His familiars all moved up into a protective formation and he started to incant some magic.

“Spirits! World! The Shield Hero makes his plea to break these chains. Oh, hear our plea! Entwine together my opposing magic and the power of the hero. As the source of your power, the Shield Hero implores you. Tear these others apart with blades of pure air!” Mamoru shouted. His familiars were chirping.

“Raph, raph, raph!” said Raph-chan.

“Dafu, dafu!” added Dafu-chan. The two of them started up with their own magic. A request for cooperative magic promptly came over to me. Since I started using Liberation, I’d had cases of not being able to use cooperative magic all the time.

“I see. That’s an issue with the output of those you are collaborating with, surely. This is where I come in!” the Demon Dragon said inside my head, offering an explanation I didn’t ask for and then supporting my incanting. It felt like something that hadn’t been working for some unknown reason had suddenly clicked into place.

“Take two powers and imbue them with illusions to confuse all foes, turning a destiny of defeat into a future of victory . . . Dragon Vein! Hear our petition and grant it! As the source of your power, we implore you! Let the true way be revealed once more! Show our enemies illusions to confound them!” I shouted.

“Raph, raph, raph!” joined in Raph-chan. In the instant we finished the incantation, a wind whipped up around us. The Demon Dragon’s parasitic personality was letting us know that it thought Mamoru’s familiars were trying to use some wind attack magic.

“Mamoru! Please, stop it!” Cian grabbed onto Mamoru from behind in an attempt to stop him, but it did not sway him and he unleashed the combination magic.

“Tornado Corridor!” Mamoru shouted. His familiars instantly unleashed countless small tornados.

“Sister! Watch out! Air Strike Tornado Blow X!” Fohl shouted in response.

“Hah! Swallow Fall!” Raphtalia responded with a skill of her own, the two of them smashing the tornados down, avoiding them. They were capably handling both the highly mobile tornados and the wild attacks from the children.

The magic was actually weaker than I expected. It seemed that Mamoru’s main magic was more about impeding the movements of his enemies than causing damage. We were both Shield Heroes, after all—there was no getting away from certain things. The next issue he was going to face, however, was a fundamental flaw in his selection of magic.

“Emptiness Is Form: Hollow!” I shouted.

“Raph!” added Raph-chan. We completed our own combination magic and unleashed it. I could tell this was a powered-up version of the Emptiness Is Form we had used before. We directed it at Mamoru’s allies, the children, and R’yne.

“Ah, uwah . . . Naofumi, you’re playing dirty . . .” R’yne put her hand to her forehead and moaned.

“Unfortunately for you guys, I can’t use attack magic thanks to this shield. Even my combination magic tends to turn out like this,” I replied. It might not be all that effective against other heroes, but it was still combination magic imbued with the power of the Raph-chans and myself. It was going to have a certain degree of effect.

“Mamoru can attack, can’t he?” R’yne managed. She was still harping on that. We were both the Shield Hero, so I had no idea why I couldn’t fight too—at least a little.

The kids seemed to have lost their target and were now growling and rampaging around on their own. What had actually happened was that they were still seeing their targets—us—but just a massive number of us. This was the illusory power of the Raph-chans.

“I’m not finished yet! Cian! Get off!” Mamoru barked. Cian cried out and then weakly called Mamoru’s name as he tossed her aside. “You all only know a Shield Hero specialized entirely for defense! So now I’ll show you a fighting style you’ve never seen before!” Mamoru changed the shield on his arm to a jet-black one. I’d never seen one like it. It was cross-shaped, like a black version of the Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield. I could feel something nasty from it though—something similar to rage. I had a really bad feeling about this. It definitely wasn’t your ordinary shield!

“Mamoru! You really are getting serious,” R’yne said, bracing herself. “Naofumi, you might want to make a run for it.” She didn’t seem able to move herself, perhaps still caught up in the illusions. She didn’t know which ones were the real us and was basing her actions on what Mamoru was doing, seeing as he was unaffected.

“Guardian Shield! Hate Reaction!” Mamoru activated another skill. Raphtalia and Fohl were affected by the Hate Reaction and started to shake their heads over and over to try and escape it.

“It really is unpleasant to have your skills used against us, Mr. Naofumi,” Raphtalia said.

“Hate Reaction is a skill that draws enemy attention, right? What happens when it affects you?” I asked.

“It actually increases attack a little while lowering defense. It also makes it harder for you to look away from someone,” Raphtalia said. I hadn’t known any of that, but I could tell that any difference it was making was only minor.

“It can also interrupt magic casting,” the Demon Dragon offered inside my head. I could use fewer interruptions like that!

“We need to get Mamoru under control first. Raphtalia, Fohl!” I shouted. They responded affirmatively and leapt forward, beginning to attack Mamoru with each of their weapons. They were using life force and wielding weapons made from the sakura stone of destiny, so it was likely to do more than just sting a little. They’d keep it to just knocking him out, I was sure.

“Spirit Blade! Soul Slice!” That was Raphtalia’s offering.

“Air Strike Stun Blow V!” added Fohl. Mamoru took Raphtalia’s Katana on an unbreakable shield and then grabbed Fohl’s arm and tossed him away. I blinked, unsure what had just happened. “I’m not done yet! Sorry, but I’m not giving up this chance! Afterimage Palm VI!” Fohl shouted as he recovered at once, going into his own therianthrope form and charging forward. He had formed semitransparent clones who fought alongside him. They seemed to offer physical attacks. The two additional ghost-Fohls matched Fohl’s movements and struck with follow-ups at Mamoru. That was a pretty convenient-looking attack. I hadn’t expected much from him recently, but maybe I had to rethink that. Mamoru defended against all the attacks, but with heavy impact noises. He was letting his life force flow out from his feet. Those techniques were the same as the ones we used.

“My turn! Eight Trigrams Blade of Destiny Combination! Formation One! Formation Two! Formation Three!” Raphtalia was right there, following up seamlessly behind Fohl. Her selection was a three-strike, vastly powered-up edition of her Eight Trigrams Blade of Destiny. A very surprising attack. The combination almost looked like too much, but Mamoru took Raphtalia’s attacks on his shield while letting Fohl’s hit him in the body.

He did grunt at that though, and some blood spilled from his mouth. Perhaps hesitating a little at that reaction, Raphtalia and Fohl leapt back. I watched things unfold, kind of hoping—somewhat naively—that this would take Mamoru down. But apart from the blood, nothing else changed.

“That’s it? That’s the best you’ve got? If you want to stop me, you’d better try and kill me!” he raged, taunting us further. I took a mental step back and looked at Mamoru’s shield. It had a large gemstone in the middle, like the Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield. But I noticed it had a suspicious purple light flickering there. I didn’t like that much either. The damage we had caused to Mamoru was gradually being healed. I didn’t know if it was an effect of the shield or some physical modification he had performed on himself in this strange facility, but it was definitely going to be a pain to fight it.

We’d started fighting, but I’d also made a promise to Cian; we couldn’t afford to kill Mamoru. I’d been hoping to just knock him out, but when I thought about the enemies we had fought in the past . . . it was going to be hard to hold back. He wasn’t someone we could incapacitate by taking his weapon away, like we had with Takt. And while the sakura stone of destiny weapons could nullify his attacks to a certain extent, they couldn’t actually cut through his shield. We might be able to nullify his power boost, but Mamoru didn’t seem that picky about magic in that regard, so it would create an opening for him to exploit.

“If you can’t do better than this, we’re finished here! Confusion Target!” Mamoru shouted, unleashing his skill to command the rampaging children again—perhaps finally losing patience with us completely. But rather than attack us, the growling kids started attacking him! The confused kids were still suffering from the illusions we had unleashed on them, seeing copies of us all around them. And so he’d ordered them to attack himself—their ally! They crowded all over him, but he withstood all of their attacks.

They might have lost all reason, or they might have understood what they were doing, because the kids had tears streaming down their faces as they attacked Mamoru. I looked on with my allies, each of us aghast at what was unfolding here.

“What’s he even thinking?” Raphtalia asked. I was analyzing his actions too, and it was starting to dawn on me. This was something that perhaps only the Shield Hero could understand.

“Even if you are the Shield Hero from the future, there’s no way . . . you know about this shield! With all your sarcasm, you underestimate the weight of being Shield Hero. You will never reach these heights! Now face its power!” Mamoru ranted. The light around the crystal in Mamoru’s shield was sparkling brightly now, even as the kids continued to beat on him. That was the moment when my patience finally shattered.

“You’ve got a bigger mouth than I thought!” I shouted. He made it sound like I was some casual lightweight who made fun of everything. I might have started to think maybe I didn’t have it so bad compared to what Raphtalia, Keel, and Imiya had been through. But I’d still been through my fair share. My irritation started to peak, and I lost the desire to hold back against Mamoru. Thinking about it, I realized Cian had shown us here and we’d witnessed the negative side of Mamoru. That was all that had happened. Yet it had now blown up into a whole big thing.

We need to prioritize working out what Mamoru was planning on doing. I’d been something of a gamer myself back in Japan, and so multiple options came to mind. I was also the Shield Hero myself. So that provided me with more possible attack patterns he might be using—if certain shields that I personally didn’t have access to existed.

“Raphtalia, Fohl. Get back!” I shouted. Raphtalia sounded surprised.

“Brother, we should press the attack,” Fohl said.

“Piling onto him won’t work now. Just drop back!” I told them. When I gave that order, Mamoru unleashed an evil aura with a raging shout. The aura sent the kids tumbling away from him and also cancelled their targeting commands. As the kids started to chase around all the illusions we had created for them again, Mamoru dashed forward to defend R’yne. Then he pointed his eerily glittering shield in our direction.

It looked like one of my hunches had been right.

“Fimonoa!” Mamoru shouted. His bird-like familiars all chirped again, including the girl called Fitoria. She turned into her bird form. They all moved over to Mamoru and spread their wings. Then the birds’ wings started to sparkle too, scattering a sparkling barrier around themselves—almost like they were acting to discharge the heat coming from Mamoru. It looked like he was using the discharged energy to reduce the damage to his allies. That could be convenient.

“Mr. Naofumi, is this . . . what I think it is?!” Raphtalia asked.

“Yeah, Mamoru is going to use some kind of special attack. Get back!” I said again. We didn’t know what kind of powerful strike he was going to unleash, so trying to avoid it would be risky. There wasn’t much room to move around inside the narrow chamber anyway, so Mamoru could simply redirect the attack even if we tried to get out of the way.

I was presuming the skill or attack that Mamoru was attempting to unleash involved accumulating power through the attacks he had taken on the shield and then unleashing it after building up a certain amount of energy—a powerful special attack. I was feeling jealous again. In terms of attacks I could use, among those without severe repercussions, Iron Maiden was pretty much my only choice, and that was hardly worth it. I could never sustain combat while using something like Blood Sacrifice.

In regard to the Shield of Wrath, the curse on it was too powerful; I could use it as float shield, perhaps, but if I brought the actual shield up, I knew I’d get swallowed by the anger. My only option there would be to change to the Shield of Compassion before I sank into a complete rampage. That was how dangerous the Shield of Wrath was after being enhanced by the Demon Dragon, even if I used enhancements to purposefully lower its stats.

I took a look to see that an item sealed by the Shield of Compassion was active again thanks to the Demon Dragon—or maybe the Shield of Compassion itself. I’d failed to overcome my wrath completely, meaning I’d been unable to completely unlock the power of compassion. That might make sense. The Shield of Wrath had the powerful counter-effect called Dark Curse Burning, but that could only be triggered by being attacked.

My jealousy surged again. We were both the same Shield Hero, and yet he had access to all sorts of attack shields.

“Sorry, but I’m not joining your pity party!” I shouted. “Change Shield!” I sent my two float shields toward Mamoru and his minions, turning them into the Shield of Wrath and the Shield of Compassion. I’d pulled this off before because the Demon Dragon was around, so I couldn’t be sure it would work again, but it had to be worth a try.

“Raph!” said Raph-chan.

“Dafu!” added Dafu-chan. They were up on my shoulders again, and I felt something similar to when I’d done this with the Demon Dragon. Raph-chans really could pull out all sorts of tricks!

“This will finish you off! Karmic Overload!” Mamoru retorted. Black flames blazed up from his shield, forming a single flickering black line that came right for us. I lifted my Sakura Stone of Destiny Shield and brought together my Shield of Wrath and Shield of Compassion float shields in order to try and block the attack. I immediately grunted as the brunt of it hit me—it was powerful! I’d been hoping to redirect it off to the side, but it was too powerful to do that easily. I’d caught the attack on the shields of compassion, wrath, and sakura stone of destiny, and yet light was still flickering around the edges to burn my skin. This was while I was using the Sakura Stone of Destiny Shield, with its boosted effects against heroes. The raw power of this attack was not to be underestimated.

“Mr. Naofumi!” Raphtalia shouted.

“Brother!” Fohl cried out.

“Stay behind me!” I told them. An attack of this power, the heat radiating from it, it reminded me of a moment from the past—the moment when the Phoenix self-destructed. The moment I stepped forward, to protect everyone, and then when Atla had stepped in just when I realized I wasn’t going to be enough.

I let out a roar through clenched teeth, begging the Shield of Wrath and Shield of Compassion to be enough. I couldn’t suffer such a defeat, such a trampling again. I would defend those behind me, no matter what. I was stronger than I was back then . . . and I’d sworn to protect everyone. I’d overcome whatever trials I had to face in order to achieve that. If what the Demon Dragon had said was true, that failing to overcome my wrath was holding back my strength, then I’d overcome that too.

The two emotions seemed at complete odds with each other—to forgive someone, while being anger with them, and to bring wrath upon an enemy who had to be defeated, with no room for compassion. Yet if they would let me protect everyone, that was what I would use!

I continued my roar, and the Shield of Wrath and Shield of Compassion started to spin around together. Black and white . . . as they spun, they drew closer to the design of the Sakura Stone of Destiny Shield and its yin-yang stylings. I used the resulting shield to take the full brunt of the attack. Still shouting, I saw my Shield of Wrath and Shield of Compassion float shields were finally able to shred Mamoru’s attack to pieces.

“What? Impossible! How were you able to block that?!” Mamoru seethed. The black light he emitted finally dissipated away.

“Hey, predecessor . . .” I growled, breathing hard as the smoke cleared. “You’d better not underestimate me! What do you mean, the weight of the Shield Hero? Pathetic! If you think you’ve got it hard, then you’ve no idea how hard things can get!” He was worse than Ren! If he was going to go on about how hard it was to be a hero, he wasn’t going to make it very far into the future. He had no idea of the volume of shit I’d been forced to wade through. I’d lost track of it myself. There were more stars in the sky than moments of pain I had suffered. But I carried the pain of the Shield Hero, for Raphtalia, for Atla, for everyone. I didn’t need to take out my own cursed weapon and take part in some pity party!

“Mamoru, when you say it’s the end, what do you mean? What’s the problem here? You need to stop judging other people so quickly. Just take a look around. Come on!” I raged. Right behind him there was Cian, desperately trying to control her therianthrope transformation, and then around him there were the rampaging kids and R’yne. There were loads of other people in this underground facility too.

Mamoru still looked stunned that I’d withstood his special attack. If he didn’t start to show some decorum, I’d order Raphtalia to attack the precious-looking tank stored in the back.

“What kind of hero are you?” I asked. “Bow? Sword? Spear? Is this the best way for you to fight?” Mamoru gave a moan. We were both shield heroes, and there was a difference in the way we fought, but I still couldn’t believe this situation was the best for Mamoru. If it was, then I’d overestimated him considerably. If that did turn out to be the case, I’d have to report him to Natalia.

“Okay . . . we’re all played out,” R’yne said. She seemed to have recovered from the illusion’s effects and sat down on the spot with her hands up.

“R’yne, don’t give up!” Mamoru said.

“Mamoru, can’t you see? Naofumi is taking care not to destroy those things precious to you,” R’yne replied. She pointed down at the cultivation tank at the back.

“Please, Mamoru . . . please. No more fighting . . .” Cian managed, still collapsed on the ground but reaching toward him nonetheless.

“But . . . but . . .” Mamoru stammered, but he also dropped his fighting stance and changed his shield. It looked like the fighting was over, at least for now.

“Brother believed in you . . . and he still wants to,” Fohl said. Mamoru didn’t reply. “Please, tell us what’s going on. We’ll do whatever we can to help.” Fohl looked over at the floating Shield of Compassion as he spoke. If Atla’s brother was willing to go so far, I guess I could negotiate a little, in the name of the Shield of Compassion.

“Let’s get some details then,” I said. “How have you changed? What’s been eating you so badly? Don’t waste what Cian tried to do here,” I told him.

“Mr. Naofumi, don’t be like that,” Raphtalia chided me.

“Brother . . . can’t you be a little gentler?” Fohl added. I was going to have to take that under advisement; this seemed about the right level for me. I was still under the effects of the Shield of Wrath too.

“Hah!” I scoffed. “I’m just a sardonic semi-hero who takes my responsibilities too lightly, right? So what do you expect?”

“If I had to choose one, right now you are the Mirror Hero, Mr. Naofumi,” Raphtalia said gently.

“So you do get it?” I replied. Raphtalia knew how to handle me, I’d give her that. I knew I was acting like a moody child. But that was just my personality. I couldn’t sit still unless I got to put the boot in, at least a little. I needed to say my piece.

“Okay . . . R’yne, Cian, everyone . . . I’m sorry,” Mamoru said. Then he started to treat each of the children in turn. Whatever he was doing reversed the therianthrope transformation, turning them back to normal, but they were still unconscious. Then he returned each child to their own empty cultivation tank. “Please, can you help?” Mamoru asked. “If we don’t put them back into the tanks, it will take longer for them to recover.”

“Okay,” I finally said. Tending to wounds and recovering physical strength were two different things. Liberation Heal could treat wounds, not stamina. Other magic could be more useful in that regard, but it would also increase the burden on me. The kids had been in the middle of being modified too, which meant giving them the wrong treatment could simply mess them up. It would be for the best if Mamoru could heal them with whatever technology he had here. So we helped to carry each of the collapsed kids back to their cultivation tanks.

“Keel’s . . . Shield Hero . . .” Cian moaned as I lifted her up.

“I’m here,” I replied.

“Mamoru . . . isn’t a bad person . . . Forgive him . . .” Cian managed to say. “I’m sorry for attacking you . . . Please, forgive him . . .”

“We’re the ones . . . at fault . . .” said another kid. Each one of them, barely conscious, was saying the same kind of thing. It hit me hard. The kids were clearly the victims here, but all of them were still trying to protect Mamoru. That not only told me how likable Mamoru was—or had been at one point—but also how the kids still trusted him, even after this outburst. It almost reminded me of the women Kyo and Takt had kept around, but there was a fundamental difference.

Those bitches had given orders. These kids pleaded and begged.

Takt’s women had ordered us to stop beating him. These kids were asking us, begging us, not to punish Mamoru. We had to approach this from a place of discussion. That was what Cian had wanted too.

“Mr. Naofumi. . .” said Raphtalia.

“Brother . . .” said Fohl. The two of them were also helping take care of the kids while looking at me with concern on their faces.

“Raph!” said Raph-chan.

“Dafu!” said Dafu-chan. The two cuties seemed to understand the gravity of the situation as well, with troubled looks.

“Mamoru . . .” Cian turned back from her therianthrope form and looked over at Mamoru.

“Cian, we need to treat you too,” Mamoru said, but Cian shook her head.

“I’m fine . . . no need.” Cian had used her powerful mental capacity to prevent herself from going on a rampage. All the other kids had lost it completely, but not her. That was proof enough of her incredible mental fortitude.

“One last thing, then . . .” Mamoru operated a terminal and the tanks containing the kids filled up with liquid. The kids’ suffering quickly seemed to be eased, and they floated in each of their tanks as though simply sleeping. All the pain from moments before was gone.

“Now that that’s handled,” I said pointedly, turning back to the two people who hadn’t been put into that goop. “Let’s hear it. Mamoru. R’yne.”

“You finally finished asking questions?” I turned around at the voice to see Holn coming in, like it was the most natural thing ever. “Oh, don’t worry about little old me. I’ve no intention of fighting you.” She raised both hands to prove her point.

“Why aren’t I surprised to see you here? You knew about all this?” I asked. She’d given me that leaf accessory because she’d expected this to happen.

“You bet. That’s why I caused the ruckus in your village, of course. That was all about the trauma Mamoru carries around with him too. That’s also why I gave you that leaf accessory.” Considering how similar this had all been to that time, I had thought they were related. “I expected this confrontation, so I wanted to train you for it. Now, future Shield Hero, listen to what Mamoru has to say.” I shook my head. She was a master manipulator. Mamoru furrowed his brow at Holn’s attitude but took a deep breath and started to speak.

“Why have we strayed so far from the path . . .” he muttered before starting to share what were clearly painful memories. “The beginning was . . . when Filolia died, I guess.”

“Filolia?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he replied. That name gave me pause too—it was only one letter off “filolial.” Maybe it was the name of the one floating in the tank at the back of the room. Maybe they’d taken a page from Rat’s playbook. Mamoru’s familiars, now turned into small birds, gathered on his shoulders, chirping. Mamoru stroked them gently with obvious tender care.

“I didn’t make the introductions yet, did I? These are my familiars, Fimonoa, Fijia, and Fitoria. Filolia is the one who named them. They are familiars derived from her,” Mamoru explained.

“Raph!” said Raph-chan.

“Dafu!” said Dafu-chan.

“Although they don’t have the same level of awareness, they might be like those familiars you love so much, Naofumi,” Mamoru said. Raph-chan climbed down from my shoulder and went over to greet Fimonoa and the others. That made sense. Just like I’d made Raph-chan as a familiar from Raphtalia’s hair, Mamoru had created these familiars from one of his allies. Mamoru was still stroking his familiars, smiling . . . but with a sad look on his face.

“I see,” Raphtalia said, accepting that situation.

“Filolia was quite something,” Mamoru continued. “She was summoned here as the Claw Hero from the same world that R’yne comes from.”

It was the story of the dead user of the Claw vassal weapon and how Mamoru had lost someone impossible to replace. After Mamoru was summoned here as the Shield Hero, he started his activities in Siltran and then met with Filolia, who had also been summoned here to be the Claw Hero. Filolia had at first been bewildered at being summoned to another world, but she adapted quickly and had soon become Mamoru’s right hand in fighting. Fighting for such a small and weak nation as Siltran, Mamoru had lacked other allies. He had made it through those trying times by combining his strength with that of the girl called Filolia.

“I met up with Mamoru when I came looking for my missing sister,” R’yne said. “It was pretty crazy for me too. My precious little sis suddenly vanished, and when I worked out where she’d been taken to . . . she was the Claw Hero in a completely different world.” Filolia was also the connection that brought R’yne and Mamoru together. Filolia had been summoned here from another world to be the Claw Hero. The world she had come from was R’yne’s world, and Filolia’s sister was R’yne . . . Kind of a complex relationship. It was similar to the situation Shildina was in, perhaps. It seemed likely that she hadn’t originally been summoned because she’d been in Q’ten Lo, and once she left, she had been summoned to Kizuna’s world as the Ofuda Hero.

“We fought for Filolia’s attention for a while, didn’t we, R’yne?” Mamoru reminisced.

“That takes me back,” R’yne replied. “We didn’t really get off on the right foot.” Both of them seemed to be enjoying this trip down memory lane. It was an interesting development for sure. They hadn’t looked like a happy couple, exactly. Now I knew why R’yne was hanging around in this world—to take her sister home. Maybe she was even going back and forth, popping in to see her sister sometimes.

“Back then . . . things were hard, but we all truly believed that by working together we could overcome anything,” Mamoru continued. The change had come when they fought Suzaku, one of the guardian beasts. “The battle took place close to the Siltran castle town itself. We were desperate to hold our enemy back, but it wasn’t going well for us . . . and Suzaku was about to attack some of our allies who couldn’t get away in time.” Mamoru had stepped up to defend the people of Siltran but had been unable to stop the raging attack from Suzaku, and those people were about to be killed.

“That was when Filolia stepped forward and defended everyone . . .” R’yne said.

“It was our fault,” Cian said. “We wanted to support Mamoru, so we’d sneaked out and hid to watch the battle.” It sounded like this girl called Filolia had used her body to shield Cian and the other kids from the rage of Suzaku. “Filolia knocked us aside as hard as she could toward Mamoru . . . and then, right in front of our eyes . . .” Cian could barely finish, eventually managing to say that Filolia had been hit by the blazing fire from Suzaku and simply turned to ash.

“After that,” Mamoru said, his voice shaking with memories he didn’t want to relive, “somehow, we managed to defeat Suzaku . . .” He paused. “I was in love with her. She and I managed to win R’yne over, and after the battle with Suzaku, we were planning to hold a wedding.”

“Just a little longer and I would have got to see my sister on her wedding day,” R’yne said. Happiness found on the battlefield had then turned to despair. It reminded me so much of Atla it made my head ache for a moment.

“Sadness wasn’t going to end the battle though. It wasn’t going to end the waves,” Mamoru continued. “I couldn’t allow there to be another Filolia. I couldn’t afford to remain so weak! That’s why . . . I started seeking further strength.” It sounded like he was pretty aware that he’d stepped off the path, but also that he never wanted to lose anyone again—no matter what it took. I’d had similar feelings after losing Atla and the others. “No matter what it took, no matter what would rain down on me, I didn’t care. In order to not lose anyone again, to defend everyone, to stop anyone else from dying . . . I needed strength. Holn started teaching me all sorts of things . . . and I started using alchemy to modify everyone.”

“That’s right,” Holn stepped in. “I’ve been teaching him various things.” All of this would have been hard for Mamoru to do alone. But I wondered if that meant he was doing it all himself, just within the range Holn taught to him, or if Holn was just helping to cover Mamoru’s mistakes.

“So you’ve been modifying the Siltran people so that they can survive any possible battle?” I asked.

“That’s right,” Mamoru eventually admitted. “I didn’t want to lose anyone else. I wanted them to be able to face any possible danger.” His voice was trembling.

“We feel responsible too . . . so we asked Mamoru to do this. We wanted to do whatever we could to help him . . . wanted to cheer him up, however we could,” Cian added.

“That explains why you’ve been modifying Cian,” I said. “But you didn’t hold back, did you?”

“We discovered that the materials from the guardian beasts—Byakko, Suzaku, Genbu, and Seiryu—including some we received from R’yne and other worlds—would provide incredible modifications. So we started embedding them into the kids. It took a little time for them to get used to the changes, but they were reborn as new races. Bringing in the beast transformation process, which only a few races have access to, should make them even stronger.”

“Future Shield Hero,” Holn said, offering additional explanation. “When I saw Keel’s factors, I understood what was going on. You have all sorts of races in the future with access to therianthrope transformations, correct? I think most of them are probably the result of the work Mamoru and little old me did back here.”

“Which means . . . everyone in this world who can turn into a therianthrope have the factors that you and Mamoru introduced, and those factors will then be passed down to their children, creating all the therianthropes in the future?” I asked.

“That’s likely the case. That’s why I said it wasn’t any fun,” Holn replied. So this was what she meant when she talked about a pain in her brain at realizing something she simply had to do. It was like the results of her own research coming from the future to meet her. Some people might be further motivated by knowing the results, but for Holn . . . she wanted to take on the unknown, something with no idea of success or failure, and so that was why she didn’t like it.

It was like gambling for her. A game you were definitely going to win might be fun for a while, but just winning all the time would eventually become boring. For someone who lived for the pleasure of winning or losing, that would be very dull.

“There are other things too, but we can’t afford to pack too much in. Let’s keep the discussion moving,” Holn suggested.

“What about that, then?” I pointed down to the back of the room, to the tank that was separate from the ones with the kids inside.

“That . . . is my attempt, by whatever means . . . to get back my lost Filolia . . .” Mamoru said. Another trope reared its head, but I could understand this one too.

“So while researching your experiments on the kids and people of Siltran, you were also looking for ways to bring someone back,” I said.

“That’s right. But it’s not easy. Filolia was killed by one of the guardian beasts, Suzaku . . . which means normally Suzaku would absorb her soul and use it in the barrier that protects the world,” Mamoru explained. I remembered Ost saying that the Spirit Tortoise had similar properties—that those killed by the guardian beasts went on to protect the world. “But I couldn’t give up. I was able to obtain a part of Suzaku . . . a part with Filolia’s soul inside it, before it melted back into the world.” It sounded like he’d obtained the power of the barrier. That was something sure to make the Shield Spirit mad—maybe that was even why Natalia had been called in. If we had access to that technique S’yne’s sworn enemies used—being able to bring someone back so long as you had their soul—we might have been able to resolve Mamoru’s problem. Still, even that might be tricky if part of the soul had been absorbed. “So I’ve been analyzing the factors of the Suzaku and gradually working on how to bring Filolia back before her absorbed soul is blended into the world completely. Luckily, we have some of Filolia’s genetic material here . . . in the form of Fimonoa and the others,” Mamoru continued. I couldn’t help but click my tongue in annoyance and frustration.

“Brother . . .” Fohl said. This was all making me feel awful. It was like this was some shared fate of the Shield Hero, some horrible rite of passage we all had to go through. Losing a precious companion to a guardian beast! It was like the world was mocking us.

“It’s so similar. It seems like some sick joke,” I said. “A horrible coincidence.” History repeating. None of us needed that. “Cian,” I said, managing to push down my irritation.

“What is it?” she asked.

“This really is such a strange fate,” I mused. Cian was probably Atla and Fohl’s ancestor. Cian had seen the pain in my own heart and had asked me to help convince Mamoru to stop.

Things might still have been better for me. Atla had been hit by the Phoenix’s attack, but she hadn’t died right away. I’d been able to put her inside my shield, preventing the Phoenix from taking her and providing me with a chance to see her again. But I couldn’t be sure I wouldn’t have taken the same route as Mamoru if my circumstances had been different, if someone else, someone like Raphtalia, had simply been erased from existence by a guardian beast in an act of self-sacrifice like Filolia. It reminded me of when Takt first got the jump on us. If Raphtalia really had been killed then . . . It made my spine shudder. Even though we were here from the future, we had no way of knowing if Mamoru would finally succeed in reviving his lost love. Taking that a step further, we had no idea if Cian’s wish could come true and Mamoru could return to his old self. But that wasn’t going to stop me from trying. Cian had come to me because Mamoru was so lost.

“Mamoru. You’re forgetting something important,” I told him. “What’s the power-up method for the shield holy weapon? Trust, right? The people of Siltran believe in you. That’s why they’re offering up their bodies and seeking further strength. What’s going to happen if you repay that by showing hesitation and concern?” The Shield Hero got stronger by believing in people and having them believe in him. By taking on the expectations of others and fighting alongside them. I thought it was kind of corny myself, but I wasn’t going to hide behind that now.

I’d decided to defeat everyone who wanted to harm me or my friends and to protect the world. I might not be the Demon Dragon, but I was still willing to aim powerful rage at my enemies.

Cian began to speak. “Filolia said it was strange that Mamoru was always on the front lines. That her own world was suffering under the waves, and so we couldn’t leave it just to the heroes. But we were weak . . . so all we could do was run from the fighting,” Cian said. That was why she had sought this new strength. Siltran was a small nation that had always been picked on. It raised up Mamoru as their hero and decided to fight alongside him. “But even after we raised our levels and abilities . . . we still couldn’t hope to hold our own against the fighters the Bow Hero and Piensa raised.”

“Really?” I asked. Back in our time, it wasn’t just limited to the villagers—pretty much anyone could become strong with some training.

“No matter how much you raise someone’s level, ultimately their innate nature is going to come shining through. Do you know what I’m talking about, future Shield Hero?” Holn asked. I thought for a moment. I decided it was best to refer to Sadeena as an example here, as she had the most honed combat instincts of my allies. In terms of performance in battle, she was at least five times stronger than anyone at the same level. If she fought with Raphtalia at the same level . . . I was sure Sadeena would win. No question. Raphtalia and Sadeena had trained together before we came to this world, and Sadeena had hardly broken a sweat fending off a powerful flurry of attacks from Raphtalia. The old Hengen Muso lady had said that apart from using Hengen Muso Style to control life force, she had nothing to teach Sadeena.

And this was against Raphtalia, one chosen as the Katana vassal weapon holder and excellent in battle. Keel and Imiya simply wouldn’t stand a chance against her under any circumstances I could imagine. No matter how hard they worked to reach that same level, there would always be a gap between them.

In the case of Siltran, we were looking at herbivore-type citizens with almost no combat sensibilities. My villagers were making gains because I was raising them from the ground up, but I couldn’t vouch for what would happen if they fought people enhanced in the same way Mamoru was doing.

“Even if we use my Whip power-up method, it’s difficult to catch up with those who have already been enhanced over a long period of time. Even worse, such enhancements are hardly passed down at all and will completely vanish after maybe three generations,” Holn added. So the first generation was enhanced by the hero and obtained powerful strength. The second generation was trained and raised by the first, reaching a reasonable level of strength. But by the third generation, we reached a point where they didn’t even know the struggles of the first. “Wealth only lasts three generations,” they say. But who wouldn’t want an age of peace to last longer? I could see why Mamoru had been modifying everyone to make them stronger, including his desire for peace in his actions.

“Mamoru, I’ve been keeping this quiet, but let me fill you in. Getting my answers from the future is really, really boring. But I can tell you that they are going to stabilize very soon. They won’t need permanent supervision anymore,” Holn said.

“I see,” Mamoru finally replied. It sounded like it wasn’t going to be long before the four primary races of Siltvelt showed their faces to the world.

“Mamoru. What would your precious Filolia say if she could see you now? Shouldn’t you be trying to be the kind of person who would make her proud?” I asked him.

“That’s rich, coming from you, Mr. Naofumi. Look what you’ve done to poor Ruft!” Raphtalia said.

“Sister, please, read the room,” Fohl interjected. It was true though; I probably wasn’t making Raphtalia especially proud of me.

“That said . . . I do think Mr. Naofumi has what it takes to lead us all as the Shield Hero. Look at the way he searched for Keel,” Raphtalia continued.

“He can be a little too forward-focused,” Fohl said. “Cautioning him is hard work.” I looked over at the cultivation tanks and the kids floating inside them. They all looked like they were peacefully sleeping.

“Ethically speaking, I think you don’t really have a leg to stand on,” I said, “but in light of the future, this is the only possible choice. If you have to eat poison, why not eat the whole plate?” The people of Siltran had asked this of Mamoru, seeking to create the foundations for a lasting era of peace. They had already made the choice to be more than collateral to be protected.

I was impressed. The hangers-on around the resurrected tended to not do much for themselves, from what I’d seen of them. A bunch of irresponsible losers. They also used the power and authority given to them by the resurrected to try and make things always go their way, which was why there was no reasoning with them. Kizuna had struggled with them in her world too. At least in Mamoru’s situation the people of his nation were willing to sacrifice something of themselves.

“Hey, Mamoru. We’re going to keep doing our best. You’re not going to suffer like that again, I promise. So even if you can’t smile like you used to . . . you can lean on us, a little more than you do now . . .” Cian said. Mamoru looked down. She made a good point. Mamoru might have thought he was trusting them, believing in them, but really, he wasn’t. “Maybe I can’t be as strong as Filolia was, but . . . until she comes back to us, I’ll do everything I can to help you. I want to be . . . your fangs, Mamoru.” I wasn’t sure what that would mean to Mamoru. Raphtalia had said she wanted to be my sword, and Atla had said she wanted to be my shield. Cian, meanwhile, wanted to be Mamoru’s fangs—at least until this Filolia girl was resurrected.

“Everyone . . . I don’t know what to say . . .” Mamoru fell to his knees, sobbing, and then Cian hugged him and started to cry herself.