Chapter Thirteen: Beast Transformation of Rage
That shout did jog something in my memory.
“Fragarach Custom X!” the Projectile Hero shouted, launching a skill with the same name as the deadly weapons.
“Air Strike Shield! Second Shield! Dritte Shield! Change Shield!” I shouted, rattling off my own skills. “Everyone, stay back!” I deployed plenty of shields alongside my floating ones and then turned them all into my sakura stone of destiny shield and readied another skill. A moment later the thrown sword hit the gemstone and multiplied into countless weapons before raining down on us. My shields started to absorb the impacts, cracking and breaking as they did so. These shields should have had incredible effects against a hero’s weapon. Our enemies clearly knew something of pacifier techniques. Their holy weapon hero was being held captive. They weren’t going to listen to anything our pacifiers had to say anyway—or they had already been conditioned not to.
With a grunt, I stepped forward to take as many of the flying swords on my own body as I could. I wanted to keep the damage from Raphtalia and the others as much as possible. My defenses were quickly shredded and I started to take cuts into my body. It really hurt, and it was only a matter of time before I got torn to pieces. They were crafty, coming up with an attack like this. I recalled how Trash had used a skill called Magic Prism as part of a skill combination, allowing him to reflect magic exactly as he desired and use it to attack. It looked like their target might have been me all along, because the flying swords were still focusing entirely on me. I wasn’t going to let them get away with it!
I used the life force Gather the best I could, activating Hate Reaction and increasing its accuracy.
“Mr. Naofumi!” Raphtalia exclaimed.
“Shield Hero!” said Ruft.
“Bubba!” shouted Keel.
“Don’t worry about me! Go!” I shouted back.
“I can’t!” Raphtalia cried out.
“Don’t worry! You guys focus on attacking! While they hit me, you hit them!” I replied through gritted teeth. I didn’t know how long this weapon-reflecting skill was going to last, but I wasn’t going to last much longer myself if we didn’t take our attackers out!
“—got this!” S’yne was the first, flying right for the Piensa forces and the Staff and Projectile Heroes.
“Optical Wings! Give me more . . . more power!” S’yne shouted. Her wings glowed even brighter and she hit the lead Projectile Hero with an incredible impact. It was easy to imagine how the Projectile Hero would fight based on what we’d seen Rishia do. It wasn’t a weapon especially suited to close combat.
“Raphtalia, keep up! This is no time to hesitate!” S’yne called back.
“But Mr. Naofumi! Those swords!” Raphtalia shouted.
“Don’t worry! Just end this fight as quickly as you can!” Ruft told her.
“That’z right! If we don’t defeat theze enemiez, the Zhield Hero will fall! Attack with everything you’ve got, right now!” Shadow shouted.
“Raph!” Raph Shadow shouted. All three of them were telling Raphtalia to get her head back in the game. But she continued to watch me, stunned into inactivity.
“Bubba . . . I’m going to do it . . . I’ve decided! I’m going to become stronger to help you all out!” Keel snapped back to herself with a roar and started flipping in the air. The icon to confirm beast transformation support popped up in my field of vision. Directions for Change Shield also appeared along with it. I’d seen this pattern before, but it still took me a moment to realize . . . this was for Keel! It seemed other magic could increase the variations of available transformations. I took a moment to consider who else could collaborate on this. Raphtalia and the Raphs could offer light and dark, which might be interesting, but I couldn’t be sure that would make it any stronger. They could use illusions already, so we didn’t need that. The same went for Shadow. S’yne . . . I wasn’t sure about. As for my healing and support magic . . . I wasn’t sure they would help. I just didn’t want Keel to push herself too hard. If things took a wrong turn, I would just end it.
“Change Shield!” I activated beast transformation support along with Change Shield at the same time. The two float shields changed into the black and white Shield of Compassion and Shield of Wrath. Keel’s body thumped, jerked, and her fur turned red and black. She gave a louder roar as she morphed into a four-legged form that was wreathed in black fire. Then she rushed forward. At that speed, she could actually match S’yne and Raphtalia.
“What now?!” the puma exclaimed.
“A beast transformation!” the fox shouted.
“No more hurting Bubba!” Keel growled. As she dashed forward, she left afterimages behind. She turned into the form of a cerberus amid the black fire and threw herself boldly at the Piensa soldiers.
“I can’t let Keel do all the work!” Raphtalia said. “This power is a marker for illusions! True magic that lays waste to all, illusions that confound our foes! The Heavenly Emperor orders you! Sink my enemies into an ocean of illusion! Demon Emperor: Illusory Layers!” Raphtalia promptly launched her own magic, sinking all our foes into deep and complex illusions.
“More trouble!” the fox exclaimed. “This is powerful illusion magic . . . I know these are illusions and I can’t get rid of them! What kind of monster is she?!”
“Even the staff vassal weapon can’t analyze this spell,” the Staff Hero reported. “This is how strong you need to be to defeat our true enemy?”
“We can’t just give up!” the Projectile Hero replied. “If we can’t tell where they are, we should attack in all directions at once!”
“Okay!” the Staff Hero agreed. The two of them raised their weapons and started firing off skills.
“Skill Prism V . . . Shooting Star Cannon!” the Staff Hero shouted. A reflecting gemstone rose up into the air and started to fire in all directions, targeting everything other than the Staff Hero’s own allies. They were playing it safe after learning I could reflect magic.
“Shooting Star Shot X!” the Projectile Hero shouted. He tossed out what looked like countless grenades across the vicinity and then stars scattered out from those in every direction. I was taking heavy damage. My field of view slowly was turning red, but I could still tell what these were—the shooting star skills from the Staff and Projectile weapons.
“I’m not backing off!” S’yne yelled, taking damage but sticking to the Projectile Hero.
“She’s willing to give her life for this!” the Projectile Hero exclaimed. “Of course she is! I have to fight back at full strength!” He was still under the influence of the illusions, but the Projectile Hero at least managed to respond to S’yne’s attacks. He was taking a lot of hits, but there was no sign of defeating him yet.
Then the fox demi-human used some kind of spray across the general area.
“Thanks! That’s a useful item that removes illusions!” the Projectile Hero said. “Sorry, but I’m not losing to you,” he shouted at S’yne.
“And I’m not losing to you either!” S’yne shouted back.
With a growl, Keel clamped onto one of the tails of the fox demi-human and started to shake it in her jaws.
“That burns!” the fox cried with a scream. “Get off me!” Keel took the incoming blows from the fox, but her teeth remained locked in place. The fox was being burned by her fiery bite.
“Don’t forget about me!” the eagle therianthrope said, dropping down in front of S’yne to protect the Projectile Hero without a moment’s hesitation. These two might not be the best of friends, but they still had to fight together.
With a shout, Raphtalia rushed in, smashing everything down with her katana while Ruft and the two Shadows came up the rear.
“I can’t hold anything back!” Raphtalia shouted. “Please, let us defeat you!” She swung her katana down at the Staff Hero, but the puma therianthrope circled in between them, catching the blade on what looked like a piece of cloth. Raphtalia’s sword slid off to the side and I heard a weird sound.
“This feels like—” Raphtalia started. Then her own blade appeared from the air behind her and stabbed her in the back. Some kind of twisting of space was going on there! Exactly like the special defensive walls we had seen the ones who assume the name of god use and the force that S’yne’s sister belonged to.
“Wow! This is the real thing,” the puma exclaimed. “I didn’t actually expect to catch such a powerful attack with something so flimsy. It doesn’t matter how strong their attacks are! We can still win!”
“No, you can’t! Not like that!” Raphtalia replied. She grabbed her katana for another attack but changed it to Katana 0 first. The cloth was cut to shreds with a single strike. The puma grunted.
“The illusions have ended! You can fall back!” the Staff Hero shouted, stepping bravely in front of the puma alongside the Projectile Hero. “This is our chance! While the Shield Hero can’t move!”
“Time to drop the hammer! Mjolnir X!” the Projectile Hero exclaimed.
“Jormungandr X!” the Staff Hero added. A massive hammer flickering with lightning was joined by the staff that was glowing with purple light. Then both were readied to throw at Raphtalia and S’yne.
I’d heard the name of the projectile skill before—the famous weapon of the god of thunder. I could see how that would become a skill. For the staff skill, Jormungandr was an interesting counterpoint to Fenrir Force, which I had used with the staff myself. Jormungandr was the name of one of the older siblings of the god-eating wolf Fenrir. Those were the kinds of skills found in the staff.
Raphtalia imbued life force into the katana in her hands, instantly expanded a magic circle on the ground, and then sliced downward.
“You will not hurt Mr. Naofumi any more than this!” Raphtalia shouted. “Divine Clash of the Five Practices!” I could tell she was pushing herself hard, because blood erupted from her shoulder. It stained her jacket red, finally giving her the “red jacket” I had also been contemplating for her.
“The magic is binding me . . . I can’t move!” the Staff Hero complained.
“I’ll help, Raphtalia!” S’yne shouted. She caught up the incoming lightning hammer with a bundle of threads as she turned her scissors back into one weapon and slashed at the Projectile Hero. Out of the two of them . . . the Staff Hero was a bigger threat than the Projectile Hero in this situation.
“Divine Clash of the Five Practices, and then . . .” Raphtalia said, cancelling out the incoming attack with big techniques of her own. Then she drew the second katana at her hip, going into her accelerated state and unleashing another skill.
“Bubba! Things might get hot, but just hang in there!” Keel exclaimed. She tossed the fox demi-human away, still using just her mouth, and then it opened wide and expelled a torrent of black fire. It did look really hot, but I didn’t feel any heat at all. Maybe because the source of her current power was a link to my own rage. The fire Keel was blowing all around me wiped away the countless flying swords. I knew they would be back quickly, but I needed to use this moment to help Raphtalia.
“Attack . . . Support,” I managed to get out, launching some spikes at the Staff Hero. They weaved between the countless deadly weapons and struck the Staff Hero full-on. I saw Raphtalia glance my way, just for a moment. There were tears in her eyes. I’d probably get in trouble again later.
“Spirit Blade! Soul Slice!” Raphtalia said, using the opening I had created.
“What?” the Staff Hero exclaimed. Then he screamed as Raphtalia’s katana landed. All of the Staff Hero’s SP drained away as she toppled over and fainted.
“Are you okay? Hey!” the Projectile Hero roared, dashing over to the collapsed Staff Hero and lifting her up. But she wasn’t moving at all. In the next moment, the countless swords flying around me vanished into a mist, leaving just the original four circling and attacking.
“Shooting Star Shield,” I said, creating another barrier to hold them off. I’d been chopped up so badly it was hard to locate all the individual injuries.
“For the Shield Hero!” Ruft shouted, smashing down with his axe.
“I’m here too!” Shadow added, joined by Raph Shadow, who unleashed a quick series of slashing attacks, pushing back the fox demi-human and puma therianthrope.
“Me too!” Keel shook her head, as though dispelling a dizzy spell. Then she sucked in a deep breath before unleashing a torrent of fire toward the enemies. The fox barely managed to take what looked like three claws from inside her clothing and catch Ruft’s axe with them. She was still sent flying away. The puma therianthrope was cut into by the two Shadows while also getting burned by the black fire.
“Keep the prezzure on! Blood Drain!” Shadow commanded.
“Raph!” said Raph Shadow.
“My blood . . . is being sucked out? What now?!” the puma exclaimed, roaring.
“Let’z zee how you enjoy experiencing the pain of woundz that cannot be healed,” Shadow said. He worked with Raph Shadow to draw the blood from the cuts on the puma therianthrope and then turned to attack the eagle that S’yne was still tussling with. “Blood Rain!”
“Huh? Is this . . . blood?” the eagle said, then started screaming himself.
“That’s my opening!” S’yne didn’t miss her chance, chopping into the eagle.
“I won’t lose to you!” the bird replied. “Any wounds caused by this will never heal! You’d better not—” But S’yne just carried on, taking the thrust of his scythe into her body. “Such . . . noble determination . . .” the eagle managed and then plummeted down to the ground with a crunch. S’yne landed with the scythe still jabbed into her. She turned off her wings and came over toward me. At the same time, Raphtalia had her katana at the throat of the Projectile Hero. If he moved a muscle, he was dead.
“This fire has an effect to delay healing!” Keel crowed, doing a pretty good impression of me. “How does it feel to get a taste of your own sick medicine?”
“This is . . . going badly,” the fox said. The four swords the fox and puma threw returned to them for a moment. They then deployed two of them again, but against Raphtalia. As she dealt with the two swords, the Projectile Hero took that opening to drag the Staff Hero away. “We have to fall back. Their Shield Hero will surely die from those wounds anyway.”
“Yeah,” the puma agreed. “A shame, almost, seeing as how strong he was.”
“These are orders from our nation . . . from Piensa royalty. All’s fair in love and war. Your own strength was what led to you being targeted,” the eagle said.
“I won’t apologize for anything,” the Projectile Hero said. “We did this to save our own world.” The Staff Hero was still knocked out, but I guessed she would have had something to say too. Each of the enemies nodded at the fox’s command, but they left us with a nice parting message. The two swords around Raphtalia also returned to their owners’ hands. The fox took out what looked like a piece of cloth and placed it over all of them. By the time it reached the ground, they had vanished. There was no sign of the cloth either.
“Have they hidden themselvez?” Shadow asked.
“No. It doesn’t feel like that,” Ruft replied.
“They aren’t here,” Raphtalia confirmed. “They must have run far away.” It was some kind of way to travel between dimensions, maybe. They had selected retreat. They knew how their weapons worked, after all. Considering the beating they had given me, they probably didn’t expect me to last very long. They could have tried to hold on a little longer, but they knew when it was best to give up. I felt the inescapable dragon Sanctuary end too. They had really covered their tracks.
“Mr. Naofumi!” Raphtalia exclaimed, rushing over to me as I breathed hard.
“Bubba!” Keel shouted and then grunted as I ended the Shield of Wrath Change Shield. The beast transformation ended and Keel collapsed on the spot. The power of the Shield of Wrath had helped to somewhat reduce the damage caused by their deadly weapons, but I was reaching my limit too.
“I can’t believe . . . using your power is this rough, Bubba,” Keel managed.
“You saved us, Keel,” Raphtalia told her.
“But . . . I couldn’t do half as much as I’d have liked. I need to get . . . much stronger than this,” Keel said, managing to drag herself into a sitting position.
“Zhield Hero! Are you okay?” Shadow asked.
“Do I look okay?” I replied. I had bloody cuts all over my body! I was lightheaded from the blood loss. But if I collapsed here, I was going to die, no doubt about it. Pure force of will was keeping me standing.
“Raphtalia, make sure they don’t double back. S’yne—” I started.
“Forget about—” S’yne cut me off.
“Ms. S’yne says that you should worry about yourself first,” her familiar translated.
“Okay. Give me some support,” I said. I took some magic water out from my shield and then started to incant some magic. It wasn’t easy to use such difficult magic when I was so low on blood. This definitely wasn’t something I could ever use in battle.
“First Heal Zero,” I said listlessly, starting by removing the incurable wounds that had been caused to my own body.
0 territory: 5%
That text passed through my mind and then my magic dropped to zero and I almost passed out.
“Mr. Naofumi!” Raphtalia’s shout dragged me back to consciousness and I chugged the magic water. After that, it was up to the Demon Dragon.
“My time to shine!” said that voice. “Liberation Heal!” My wounds closed up without further ado, but I had lost so much blood that physically I wasn’t completely recovered yet. My head was still spinning . . . but S’yne needed healing too.
“S’yne, you next,” I said.
“I can hold on,” she replied.
“No, you can’t. Ruft, hold her,” I said. I wondered what she was talking about, saying she could “hold on” with a weapon sticking out of her. She tried to back away but Ruft held her—gently but firmly—in place, and I cast the magic. My consciousness blurred again.
0 territory: 7%
“Now to heal you,” I stammered.
“Mr. Naofumi . . .” Raphtalia sympathized, joined by the others. Healing my wounds hadn’t replaced all that lost blood. I’d concocted some medicine later that would promote blood production. It was a dangerous medicine to use, even in this world.
“Everyone, be ready for more fighting,” I told them. “If they came here for us, it’s safe to assume they’ve gone for Ren and the others too.” I checked the red wound on Raphtalia’s miko outfit. It was pretty deep. It was a very strange situation to literally stab yourself in the back. “All Liberation Heal,” I incanted. I cast healing magic on everyone there, and then I needed another magic water . . . but that was too much hassle. I took out a rucolu fruit, which I kept for emergencies, and stuffed my cheeks with it. It recovered my magic and SP at the same time . . . but did nothing for how lethargic I felt. I wondered if there was nothing I could do about how much magic this new technique used. The magic composition itself was overly difficult. Liberation was a walk in the park in comparison. There was no way I’d ever be using this healing magic in battle.
Raphtalia had been hurt the deepest. I breathed a sigh of relief after healing her wounds. My armor had been slashed up and was covered in blood too . . . That was going to take some repair work. More crap to deal with.
“We’d better get back to Ren and Fohl,” I said. “Smash this cage.”
“Okay!” Raphtalia said.
“I’ve got this!” S’yne added with a nod.
“Why not juzt releaze it?” Shadow asked.
“If you can do that, be my guest,” I told him.
“I have learned zome zuch techniquez,” he replied. He walked around the cage, observing it carefully. “But in thiz caze, I’m not zure how to proceed. Zmazhing it will be fazter,” he concluded.
“You heard Shadow,” I told the girls.
“Okay! It might have a counterattack function, so stay back a little!” Raphtalia imbued life force and magic into her katana and then unleased a skill. “Instant Blade! Mist!” she shouted. Sparks erupted from the cage. Lightning and fire flickered out as the counterattack she had predicted, but she slashed them away too. She had managed to cut it, but not all the way.
“Those counterattacks will be a pain if we let anyone else try,” I pondered. “It’s too small a target to really hit Attack Support . . . not impossible.” Keel hadn’t recovered from her beast transformation yet. It had really taken it out of her. The Demon Dragon had pulled it off with no trouble, so I’d thought Keel could take it . . . but she wasn’t quite at the same level. She’d been a big help, but we’d better not rely on her doing that too often.
The Attack Support thorns thudded into the cage, and Raphtalia cut it again to shatter the prison around us. If it recovered from that, then we’d have to think of another way to handle it, but that seemed to have done the trick. There was a gap big enough for people to pass through safely.
“I’ll put a Shooting Star Shield up just in case . . . Now let’s get out of here,” I suggested. The remaining cage sections were still sparking with electricity and I protected everyone with Shooting Star Shield as we passed through the gap.
“Great! Let’s get to Ren.” I turned to Keel. “You can—” But she cut me off with a moan.
“Bubba, why am I so pathetic? I can’t even keep up with Ruft,” Keel said. She had both hands covering her face, trying to hide her bitter tears from me.
“You bet you can keep up! You saved us all. If you still think that’s not enough, then just get stronger. That’s all you need to do,” I told her.
“I do want to be stronger,” she replied. “That way I can help you all out, Bubba.” She sniffled, still trying to keep her tears in. “Raphtalia, can you send me somewhere safe? I’m only going to hold you back like this.”
“Oh, Keel,” Raphtalia said sympathetically.
“Please . . . I can hardly move. I don’t want to hold you back,” she said.
“Okay. Scroll of Return,” Raphtalia said, using a skill that would send Keel back to the dragon hourglass in Siltran. I silently thanked Keel for everything she had done. I joked around with her a lot, but I wasn’t going to let her powerful determination go to waste.
After treating ourselves on the spot, we headed in the direction where Ren and his party were also fighting monsters.
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