Chapter Twelve: The Spirit Tortoise’s Heart
“Are you alright?!” Rishia came running over to meet us with the troops.
“We found the heart.”
“Oh!” the troops exclaimed in unison.
They hadn’t yet realized the problem. How were we supposed to get them to it?
We weren’t going to have much luck if we just tried to march them down the tunnel.
“How are you all holding up back here?”
“Monsters attacked nine times while you were away. There have been a few casualties.”
“The troops will have to come with us. The monsters’ attacks are only going to get stronger, so make sure you’re prepared for that. I can’t protect everyone all of the time. I’ll do what I can, but make sure you can protect yourselves!”
The group of troops cheered and nodded.
Now, although their strength didn’t exactly fill me with confidence, I had to take them down to battle the heart. How many of them was I about to lose?
A variety of anxieties ran through my mind as I led the troops toward the underground tunnel we’d found earlier. On the way there, I told them about how the heart had attacked us and about the different attacks it had used. I told them that I would use Shooting Star Shield, Air Strike Shield, and Second Shield to defend them and that I wanted them to wait for a break in the barrage before they tried to counter-attack.
“I wouldn’t have expected any less from you, Shield Hero. Thank you for planning this strategy to protect as many of us as possible.”
“Yeah, well . . .”
If I was going to protect them, I had to assume that the heart would retaliate with stronger attacks than I had yet seen. I just wanted to make sure they were prepared to face it.
“There were also a lot of white clumps that seemed to be monsters, too. We didn’t have time to figure out how they attack, so be on the lookout.”
“Roger!” the troops shouted.
We ran into plenty of familiars on the way, but we were able to handle them with the combined strength of Raphtalia, Filo, Ost, Eclair, the old lady, Rishia, and the queen and her troops.
When we’d progressed to the point that the walls of stone were replaced with pulsing flesh, the troops were noticeably repulsed. And when the sound of the thumping became more obvious, they all grew grave and serious.
We made it to the series of doors that opened and closed with red and blue sinews. The troops never really figured out what they were supposed to do about the doors, but we pressed on and made it through anyway. Raphtalia and Filo watched the rear of the line and defended it from any monsters that attacked from behind.
The biggest problem we ran into was when the parasite-like monsters suddenly appeared by tearing through the walls of flesh. They were on us in a flash, and we weren’t able to respond as quickly as I would have liked. We lost a few troops, and the morale of the survivors suffered for it.
A terrible fate awaited anyone caught in one of the immune system’s monster attacks. People were sucked up and melted down right before their friends’ eyes. Some of the troops with weaker stomachs threw up when they saw it.
“Keep moving! If you stop here, you’ll end up as feed for these things! Your fallen friends wouldn’t want that!”
I protected the troops while Raphtalia and Filo took care of the monsters.
Finally, we made it to the last door, where I’d posted a shadow on the other side.
“Hey!” I shouted, and the door opened. “Have any trouble while we were gone?”
“If I had, I couldn’t have opened thiz door for you.”
“Good point.”
They were very good at hiding and hadn’t gotten into any trouble while we were gone.
“Alright, listen up! The heart is just over there. Are you ready to cast the sealing spell?”
“Yes. But you’ll have to weaken the heart if the spell is to be effective.”
I guess that made sense. Raphtalia and Filo were strong enough to have defeated it once before, and now we had more people with us. I didn’t expect too much trouble. And with Rishia, the queen, and all the troops working on the spell, I felt like it had a chance of working.
“Once we begin the incantation, it will take a little while until the spell can be cast.”
“I’ll keep the heart busy.”
Another battle of attrition. How wonderful.
“Is there any way you can prepare for the spell ahead of time?”
“Unfortunately not. The spell is only effective over a certain range, and we are not able to move once we begin the incantation.”
So we had no choice. Fine—I had my shield, and this is what it was made for. “I’ll protect the troops while you perform the incantation ceremony. The rest of you kill any monsters that appear to attack us. Raphtalia, Filo, you two focus on weakening the heart.”
“Understood!”
“Okaaay!”
“Roger that!”
Rishia peeped out from the hood of her kigurumi. “What should I do?”
“You can . . .” I had to be careful about what I entrusted her with. She was more useful than the troops were, but I couldn’t ask her to team up with Raphtalia either. She moved faster than she used to, and she was a better attacker too, but I still didn’t feel comfortable putting her on the front lines. Her nonstop whimpering didn’t help. “You can help with support spells from the back lines. Don’t come to the front. The most important thing you can do is keep an eye on the battle and let me know when anything unexpected happens.”
“Oh, um . . . Alright.”
That was all I could think of for the time being.
We found the hourglass a little further down the tunnel. The troops didn’t know what to make of it. They were clearly scared of it.
Huh? It looked like it had a little less sand in it than it had the last time we saw it. Maybe I was just imagining things. The tunnel was shaking, so some of the sand had probably just shifted and settled.
Enough. It was time to finish this.
“That’s . . . that’s the heart.” The troops were speechless when they saw it. It was a pretty terrifying sight to behold, after all.
The heart noticed our arrival and filled the chamber with an enraged roar. The eyes opened wide, and the whole heart began to beat harder. It must have remembered us.
Good. We’d be the last people it ever saw. We weren’t retreating this time.
“Let’s go!” I shouted. The troops shouted back and immediately began to prepare the ceremonial sealing spell. Filo and Raphtalia dashed to the front line and started to attack the heart. The non-wizard troops pulled out their weapons and fought off familiars that got too close to the others.
I kept on eye on the incantation and used Hate Reaction, Air Strike Shield, and Second Shield to protect the troops from the swarms of familiars. Sometimes I used Change Shield when the familiars got too close.
I was using a lot of SP, but I was able to keep my head above water by using Soul Eat from time to time. The SP recovery (small) effect didn’t do a lot, but it helped. The heart let lose a massive volley of heat beams. That meant that it was time to switch to the Whale Magic Core Shield.
“Mr. Naofumi! There are too many familiars!”
“I know! They aren’t letting up!”
The last time we’d fought the heart, we’d only traded a couple of attacks, so the whole thing ended very quickly. Because of that, we hadn’t had time to judge the amount of support the heart was getting from the familiars. They came swarming from every direction. From the floor, the ceiling, the walls—everywhere! At the same time, the heart was busy blasting us with heat beams. There were too many things I had to block at once.
The heart’s eyes shot over to the wizards deep in their ceremonial magic preparations. It glared at them.
What now? Was it going to blast them with a heat beam?
The floor underneath the heart changed color, and I quickly realized it was the same mandala-like pattern from before. It was about to use its gravity attack! The pattern started to spin rapidly.
No!
I ran over to stand before the wizards and I readied my shield. Just in time—the eyes opened and emitted a huge heat beam.
“Ugh!”
A few people were caught in the blast, and they instantly vanished, leaving no trace. I caught the brunt of the blast with my shield, and the force of it pushed me back a few paces.
“Ugh.”
The beam was huge. If this were a game, it would have been a special finishing attack. It was the strongest attack the heart had used yet. Luckily, it was still considerably weaker than any of the Spirit Tortoise’s attacks we’d faced outside. But you’d be a goner if it hit you directly.
I hoped it wouldn’t go on forever, like the mimic monster’s attack had.
“AARRGH!” I changed the angle of my shield and forced the beam upward. The heat beam seared the fleshy ceiling of the chamber, and a spray of blood rained down on us.
We were inside the body of our enemy, and that was a fact I had to take advantage of. Still, it would only be a few moments before the flesh regenerated and made it as if nothing had happened.
“Mr. Naofumi!”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
The attacks we’d suffered outside of the body were stronger. The heart’s attacks were nothing I couldn’t handle.
“Are you ready to cast the sealing spell yet?”
“We need a little more time!”
“Alright! Anyone who still has fight in them, attack the heart and weaken it! Remember, we aren’t trying to kill it!”
“Okay!”
“Okaaaay!”
Raphtalia and Filo had been waiting for my signal to use their special attacks.
“Ying-Yang Sword!”
“Puchikuikku!”
With the damage the beam had done to the ceiling and the weight of Filo and Raphtalia’s attacks to deal with, everything started to shake violently.
Weren’t they ready yet?
The monster was so full of life energy that it restored itself almost instantaneously. How were we supposed to “weaken” a monster like that? All I could do was have everyone focus on attacking it. But I was starting to get a bad feeling.
“How’s that?”
“Take this!”
Raphtalia and Filo flew forward and sliced through a number of the sinews that were connected to the heart.
“. . . ?!”
The heart immediately began to have trouble beating. You could tell with a single glance. That ought to give the wizards enough time to cast their spell.
“We’re ready!”
“Great! Do it!”
“Roger!”
The wizards all shouted in unison. “We are the source of all power, and we command you. Hear this truth and heed it. Drive a wedge to stop the Spirit Tortoise, one of the four spirits of destruction!”
Did it work?
The heart began to twitch. White blobs covered the surface and then shot out in all directions!
“High ceremonial magic?”
The blobs flew through the air. There was no time! I quickly cast Shooting Star Shield, Shield Prison, Air Strike Shield, and Second Shield to protect the wizards.
“Ugh!”
“Ahhh!”
“Damn!”
I wasn’t fast enough to save them all. Some of the blobs made it past me.
I kept my shield up and turned to survey the damage. It was worse than I’d expected.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m sorry, we failed . . .” one of the wizards said, his head hanging.
“There’s still time! Report!”
“We’ve lost some men! I’ll report back when I know more!”
How were the front lines doing? I turned back to find Raphtalia and Filo clearly exhausted. Their shoulders were heaving with heavy breathing. They found a break in the fight and came running back to me, their faces pale.
“Are you alright?!”
“Raphtalia! What happened?!”
Eclair ran to Raphtalia’s side to support her, and they both shuffled over to me. In contrast, Filo looked like she was doing better. The old lady must have dodged the attack completely.
“I’m . . . alright . . . but I . . . My magic power is . . .”
“Yeah, um . . . That thing stole our magic power!”
Damn. This was not going well. The heart had the same draining attacks that the head had.
The report from the wizards was ready.
“A number of men have died after losing their magic power!”
“Can we still hold the line?”
“Yes. Thanks to you, we can still use the sealing spell.
“Good.”
The drain negation effect was proving more useful than I’d expected. We were suffering losses, but we were still able to hold our own. We didn’t have to retreat just yet.
“I know it’s tough, but get the next spell ready!”
“Roger that!”
If the heart attacked with any sort of pattern, it would use its heat beams next. Sure enough, it started to charge up for the attack.
I ran to protect the wizards and prepared to deflect the beam again.
“. . . !”
“Damn.”
The attack was even stronger than it had been the last time! I was still able to endure the brunt of it with the Whale Magic Core Shield, but this newest attack was by far the strongest yet. I could feel the skin on my hands starting to singe. It felt terrible.
The white blobs had returned to the heart, and they seemed to be driving the increase in power of its heat beam. The shield was holding out, but it was so hot that it was starting to hurt me. I began taking damage.
“Ughhhh.”
I struggled to deflect the beam upwards. With all the additional power behind it, it was proving difficult. I was afraid that I couldn’t control it. It reminded me of trying to open an umbrella in a powerful windstorm. If I couldn’t control the angle, I might end up vaporizing the troops!
“Hey! Don’t you hurt master with the energy you stole from me!” Filo barked and prepared to suck magic power back into herself.
“Everyone keep the monsters away from Filo!”
“Alright!”
“Understood!”
“Oh . . . Okay!”
Raphtalia and Eclair, along with Rishia and the old lady, all ran over to form a circle around Filo. They killed any monster that got close.
“Schwooooooooop!”
Filo started sucking in a lot of air, so much of it that I could feel the wind she was causing on my skin. Any white blobs that were trying to return to the heart stopped in mid-air and switch directions. Filo was pulling them all in, and they couldn’t get back to the heart.
Finally, the intensity of the heat wave began to weaken.
“Oh! The holy saint’s monster is very impressive! I did not think that she would have mastered aspects of Hengen Muso in secret!”
It was no time to stand around feeling impressed!
“Hey, old lady, if you can do that too, do it already!”
“Very well!”
The old lady began to suck in air just like Filo was doing.
Huh? The more air she pulled in, the more the old lady’s skin started to change. She looked like she was getting younger.
“Nice job, you two!” I shouted. Filo, now round as a ball, was waving at me.
“Take it back!” Filo shouted. She sharply exhaled in the direction of the heart, and something that looked like a concentrated ball of air shot through the room.
“Hengen Muso Technique! Full Moon!”
The old woman spun her arms in circles before pulling her palms together in a pose that I’d seen plenty of times in fighting games. A ball of magic formed between her hands, then shot across the room at the heart.
To be more specific, it was just like that move you get when you hit down, right diagonal, and right on the controller.
“. . . !”
The heart formed a force field around itself to block the attacks. At the same time, all the familiars in the room turned and flew at the ball of magic, trying to stop it before it could reach the heart. But they weren’t strong enough. The ball ripped them to pieces without even slowing down.
For a minute, all the powers in the room were focused on the ball of magic, locked in a draw. If the wizards were going to use the sealing spell, now was the time.
“Do it now!”
“Alright!”
“We are the source of all power, and we command you. Hear this truth and heed it. Drive a wedge to stop the Spirit Tortoise, one of the four spirits of destruction!”
An enormous mandala of light appeared in the air surrounding the heart. It had been so focused on dealing with the old lady and Filo’s attacks that it was shocked to find itself surrounded by swirling patterns of magic.
“High ceremonial magic: Seal!”
The mandala multiplied until there were many layers stacked on one another, then finally contracted around the heart.
“ . . . ?!”
Thump . . . Thump . . . Th . . . ump . . . th . . .
The heart beat slower and slower. Then it stopped all together.
“Yes!”
The whole room erupted in cheers.
“We did it!”
Whew . . . but it was disappointing. Ost seemed to feel the same way, and the queen wasn’t able to hide the worry written all over her face.
If we’d bought ourselves some time here, then at least we could focus on finding the core.
“I’ll give these back, big sis!”
“What? No! Filo! I don’t want them!”
The white blobs flew out of Filo’s body and slammed into Raphtalia.
When they hit her, color began to return to her pale face. But Raphtalia didn’t look happy about it. She squirmed, like a bunch of bugs had crawled up into her clothes.
She’d shoot them at Eclair next.
“Unnecessary! None of my magic was stolen. Give it to someone else!” Eclair shouted. But Filo wasn’t listening, and she shot more of the white blobs at her.
Raphtalia threw one of the white blobs to the floor and started angrily chasing Filo around the room.
“Hey! Filo! I won’t forgive you for this!”
“Uh oh! She’s gonna get me!”
“Ha ha ha!”
Whew . . . Well, we’d finally managed to imprison the heart.
As far as I understood what Ost had said, the real seal had never been properly broken, so I guess it was safe to say we’d pulled it off.”
“So we’re safe for a little while?”
“It’s hard to say,” the queen said, hiding her mouth behind a fan.
She was right. Besides, Ost looked very grim.
“Filo, has Fitoria said anything yet?”
“Um . . . It sounds like the tortoise has stopped moving outside.”
So I guess we . . . won?
I didn’t even have time to finish the thought.
“Master?!” Filo stopped running and shouted at me. She looked scared.
Thump! Thump!
The heart started to beat again.
A sickening, shattering sound filled the room and the seal around the heart broke. The heart’s eyes opened wide and immediately shot a huge heat beam at us.
I ran to block it before it could hit the troops.
“What a sore loser!”
“Yeah!”
“It didn’t work?!”
“The spell was successful, but the heart was able to break free somehow!”
Damn!”
What were we supposed to do? We destroyed the heart and head at the same time and it didn’t work. We used a sealing spell on the heart, and it didn’t work.
There had to be another way. I couldn’t give up.
Think! What else could we do?
We had already tried everything that the reports had suggested. There was only one other thing we hadn’t tried—finding the core.
“Ost! Are you sure you don’t know where the core is?!”
“When the sealing spell restrained the heart, I felt a glimmer of . . . something. It may show us the way.”
“What?! Where is it?!”
“Beneath the chamber we are in now, there is another. The core can be found there.”
It was underneath the heart!
“Do you think I can punch a hole in the floor if I deflect the heat beam downward?”
“I don’t think that will work. The core will not be so easy to reach.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?”
Ost closed her eyes, then opened them again, with a look of determination. She pointed at the heart. “Shield Hero, friends, troops, I have an idea!”
“What is it?!”
Why did she have to drag this out for so long?! I was getting tired of blocking the heat beam.
“Destroy the heart and head at the same time, then use the sealing spell on the dying heart. If you do both, the path to the core will open.”
“Are you sure?!”
“Yes. It will work.”
I wasn’t sure I believed her—but I didn’t have a choice.
“Alright, let’s do it! Filo, tell Fitoria what we’re doing! Make sure she’s ready to crush the head! Raphtalia, get ready!”
“Okay!”
“Alright!”
I turned to face Eclair, Rishia, and the old lady.
“Eclair and Rishia—you two keep the familiars away from the heart. We can’t have them interfering. Old lady, if the heart tries to drain our magic power, you stop it.”
“Understood!”
“I’ll do my best!”
“I won’t disappoint you, holy saint!”
Last but not least, the hardest problem remained.
“Queen, you and the wizards get ready to cast the spell again. We’ll have to get the timing just right, so make sure you’re ready!”
“As you command, Mr. Iwatani.”
Everyone accepted their orders, but they looked exhausted.
I was exhausted too. I needed a break—we’d been fighting all day. But it wasn’t time to relax yet. The fight wasn’t over.
We had to finish it.
Raphtalia and Filo prepared to use their special attacks. I kept holding my shield against the brunt of the heat beam and then turned to check on the wizards.
The familiars were swarming, and Eclair and Rishia were keeping them away. The heart shot out hundreds of those white clumps, but the old lady used her skills to keep them from hitting any of us. The wizards and the queen were furiously chanting incantations.
Filo had been focusing with her eyes closed, but now she opened them and shouted, “Raphtalia! Big sis!”
“I know!” Raphtalia said. She filled her sword with magic and jumped up onto Filo’s back. “Let’s end this. Ready, Filo? Directional Thrust of Heaven!”
“Spiral Strike!”
Filo raised her wings and charged at the heart. Raphtalia sat on her back, her sword leveled in front of them both. They shot through the chamber like a bullet and pierced the heart. Even with all the powered-up stats I had, they moved so quickly I couldn’t see them.
Filo landed on the other side of the room with a deafening crash. Raphtalia flicked blood from her blade. The white blobs in the room all exploded and rained down on everyone like snow. The heart split open and sprayed everything with blood.
It was an awesome sight, but the Spirit Tortoise wasn’t dead yet.
When the heart split open and sprayed the room with blood, the wizards had just finished their preparations. The queen stepped forward and shouted, “We are the source of all power, and we command you. Hear this truth and heed it. Drive a wedge to stop the Spirit Tortoise, one of the four spirits of destruction!”
“High ceremonial magic: Seal!”
The heart was trying desperately to regenerate itself when the sealing spell activated. Wrapped in the swirling magic, the regeneration began to slow.
“Ost!”
“I, Ost Horai, command the heavens, command the earth, defy all reason, join, and spit up blood. Oh self, I command you. Open the oath to my depths!”
Her hands were stretched out to the heart, and then, as if it were trying to swallow her, a square hole opened in the floor in front of the heart. Stairs filled the hole with a loud thunk!
“This . . . This must be the path to the core.”
“Great! Let’s go!”
“Wait just a moment,” Ost said, hesitating at the entrance.
“What is it?”
“Whoever has taken control of the Spirit Tortoise is down these steps. Anyone who cannot command an exceptional amount of strength will only slow us down in the battle to come.”
“I know what you mean, but am I supposed to just send them back?”
“No. But . . . Shield Hero, I do not believe we will be able to protect everyone from this point on. Please understand.”
Her eyes were serious, imploring. It was the same look she’d had the first time she appeared to me. She truly wanted to end all this. She was telling me that it wouldn’t help to bring the troops. She was trying to save them.
Maybe she was right. Whoever was down there, they were strong enough to take control of the Spirit Tortoise. Most of the troops with us could barely defeat a familiar. What hope did they have against this new enemy?
“Alright.”
“Shield Hero?!” the troops shouted in disbelief.
“Troops, retreat to a place where there are no enemies and wait for us to return. As for your protection . . .”
I would need Raphtalia and Filo for sure. And obviously, Ost had to come. Should I have Eclair, the old lady, and Rishia protect the troops?
“Mr. Iwatani, leave the rest up to me,” the queen said. “Your priority must be to stop the Spirit Tortoise as soon as possible. You do not need to concern yourself with the rest of us.”
“Okay.”
Honestly, I sort of wanted to leave Rishia behind. But thanks to the Filo kigurumi, she was proving herself more useful than she had in the past. And she’d been studying Hengen Muso tactics, too. Maybe she could offer an attack when we needed it most.
There was no need to split us up any more than necessary.
“Alright, everyone! Let’s get going!”
“Okay!”
There, before the slowly regenerating heart, we split into two parties and went our separate ways.
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