Chapter Thirteen: Who Pulls the Strings
The stairs went on forever. We’d been descending a dark, fleshy hallway for about 10 minutes when the tunnel began to level out. Finally, I saw light at the end of the tunnel. Something felt strange about it all. It was like my shield was pulsing in my hands.
I looked at Ost for confirmation. She was gazing at the light, determined.
If we didn’t defeat whoever was at the end of the hallway, then we wouldn’t be able to stop the Spirit Tortoise. But if we did defeat the tortoise, then Ost would die too. Everyone knew it, and they trudged on in silence.
I pinched my cheek to bring myself back to reality. We had to keep our priorities in mind.
“Everyone! This is it! Don’t give up!”
“Alright!”
“Yup! Imma do my best!”
“Feh . . . We’ll get out of this alive!”
“That’s the spirit! There’s no better time to put your training to use!”
“That’s right!”
Ost nodded. “It’s time to stop my true body! Shield Hero, everyone, let’s go!”
“Yeah!”
We ran for the light, and when we reached it, we found ourselves in a large room—much larger than I’d expected. The walls were solid, yet they seemed somehow alive. I couldn’t put my finger on it. It was like they were made of marble, but they was pulsing. When my eyes adjusted, I couldn’t believe what I saw.
“What the . . .”
The first thing I saw was a strange object hovering in the air. It must have been the core. It was a giant shining green crystal, and it spun very slowly on its axis. The light it gave off must have been the collected souls of those who had lost their lives in the rampage.
But I couldn’t look at the core forever. Something behind it drew my attention. There were three large transparent crystals set in the far wall, and locked inside of them were . . . the three missing heroes!
“Sh . . .”
“Ugggg . . .”
“Uhhhh . . .”
They seemed to be unconscious, but they all had pained expressions on their faces and were muttering in agony.
“What is this?”
“Master Itsuki!” Rishia ran to the crystal where Itsuki slept, but something fluttered down and knocked her away before she could get close.
“Ahh!”
It was . . . a sheet of paper!
The paper was covered in electric sparks of some kind. It had knocked Rishia to the ground.
“I can’t believe my eyes! To think you would make it this far—not that I ever doubted you. Nice work!”
That voice. I felt like I’d heard it before, when we were searching for the heroes.
I searched for the source and found it. A man stood before the faceted green crystal.
He was about as tall as me.
His hair looked . . . white? But it also seemed to have a sheen to it. Maybe it was silver. It was long and shaggy and hung around his white face. His face itself wasn’t so bad looking.
But meeting him for the first time, I immediately knew that we weren’t going to be friends. It was his eyes that made me feel that way. They were stagnant, rotten—like the eyes of a dead fish. The air around him was dark and gloomy.
He reminded me of the sort of person you never wanted in your group of friends—the sort of person who only thought of themselves. He felt like the sort of person who talked nonstop about what they liked but never contributed to anyone else’s conversation, all the while telling themselves it was because they were smarter than everyone. His face looked very self-satisfied.
He wore a long coat, which made him look a bit like a scientist. He wore a strange belt around his chest that almost looked like it was made of test tubes. It’s hard to find the right word to describe him, but he sort of looked like an alchemist. Not that I really knew what an alchemist looked like—I’d only seen them in anime.
He wore leather gloves and shoes and seemed to be the kind of guy that worried incessantly about his appearance. I’d learned a bit about medicine formulation since I arrived in this world, but I still didn’t know anything about alchemy. I’d seen books and tools related to it in stores though, and I could tell that the person standing in front of us was the real deal.
I couldn’t ignore the evil look in his eyes or the strange book he gripped in one hand. A gemstone was affixed to the cover, one that I’d seen somewhere before. I didn’t like the look of it.
“When you first blew this thing’s head off, I have to say I was a little nervous. But then you just went on your way without even looking for this place! I had to laugh at that. You heroes are so stupid.”
“. . .”
He was probably trying to piss me off, so I didn’t pay him the courtesy of responding. I didn’t have to listen to everything he said to know that he was not a nice person.
“Welcome to the deepest part of the Spirit Tortoise. What do you think?”
“Master Itsuki!” Rishia said, climbing back to her feet.
“Oh, you know those guys? I was a little freaked out when the four heroes tried to get in here—but they were so weak it was funny! Ha! Are all the heroes from your world this dumb?”
“What are they doing here?” I asked, pointing at the three heroes.
“Oh, you don’t know?”
Their weapons glowed faintly, as if they were trying to . . . resist something?
But no. That wasn’t it.
“You’re stealing their power.”
“Bingo! You might be an idiot, but you must be the smartest of the bunch! Ahaha!”
He broke into peels of vulgar laughter. It bothered me. I guess from his perspective, we did seem stupid. We’d defeated the tortoise once, only to let it reawaken and go on another rampage. Our ignorance had cost thousands of lives.
How was I supposed to know? I didn’t know anything about this world, much less how to defeat the Spirit Tortoise.
I was just the Shield Hero—all I could do was defend!
“You should have seen the way I caught them. The Sword Hero kept right on attacking me after all of his party was dead! He was like a boar! And the Spear Hero took off running the minute his support started to fail. I just had to chase him down and scoop him up! And the Bow Hero—he had a falling out with his friends. They tied him up and left him alone! Ahahaha!” He went on laughing like a hyena.
That was why we couldn’t find any trace of the heroes. He’d captured them all. Worse yet, they were the reason that the Spirit Tortoise was stronger after its reawakening—the tortoise was feeding off the power of their weapons. The heroes might not have known how to use them, but their weapons still contained a great deal of power.
I knew how powerful their weapons were because of how powerful my shield was—I’d just survived attacks from the Spirit Tortoise, even when it was blasting me with the strength of the other heroes’ weapons.
“What do you want!?” Eclair yelled, stepping forward.
I wanted to know too. How could he have possibly benefited from all of this? Wasn’t the Spirit Tortoise supposed to protect the world?
It might have to do that at the expense of the people living on it, but that didn’t mean it was out for destruction for its own sake. But this man was using it to kill as many people as possible. To what end?
“Hm? Oh, it has nothing to do with you people—not to you residents of this dying world.”
“So you’re not going to answer me?” I asked.
He just laughed and nodded.
The audacity! Nothing to do with us? He was killing us!
I had to calm down. Getting upset here wasn’t going to help.
He called us residents of this dying world. That had a strange ring to it, didn’t it?
“Though I have to say I’m impressed. You were doing such a great job of slowing my progress, and then you brought out that crazy monster.”
Everything that the Spirit Tortoise saw through its eyes was projected onto the wall of the chamber. At the moment, it showed Fitoria fighting against the Spirit Tortoise’s many heads. I’d had a hard enough time holding my own against one head. Fitoria was really powerful. I had to agree with him—she really was a crazy monster.
But she was on our side.
She was amazing, but I could tell that she was starting to tire. She was doing all she could to buy us time. It was time to get things moving.
“That damn thing is in my way! I can’t get any more energy! It’s starting to get on my nerves!” the man said, flipping open his book and glaring at me. “But I’ll have a better chance with all four of the heroes behind me. I was wondering where I was going to find you. Luckily, you showed up when you did! Ahahaha!”
The creep broke into another fit of laughter. What was wrong with him?
“You’ll have to get through me,” Ost said.
“Oh. Who do we have here? You . . . Who knew you could do that? These protective beasts are so stubborn. Why can’t you just do as you’re told?!”
“What good is a protective spirit that cannot carry out its duty? None at all! That is why I have decided to help he who holds the holy shield. That is the bond that connects the spirit of the shield to the Spirit Tortoise!”
“Uh-huh. So that’s why the familiar attacks didn’t work against the
Shield Hero. I was wondering what was going on.”
What were they talking about? There was a connection between my shield and the Spirit Tortoise? Sure, they were both pretty focused on defense, but they made it sound like there was a deeper connection.
“I would have invited you here once you were a bit weaker, but there’s no fighting fate, is there? You’ve brought all these pretty ladies with you, too! I’ll brainwash them and keep them as souvenirs or something—so don’t worry about them.” He flipped through his book and a number of pages came loose and flew through the room—straight at me! “Die!”
I deployed the Shooting Star Shield barrier and defended. But the barrier shattered the moment the pages touched it. He must have been very powerful.
“Hya!”
“Tya!”
Raphtalia and Filo dashed to attack the pages.
It was a very large room, but Filo turned into her human form to match her new enemy.
Their attacks produced showers of sparks, but they weren’t powerful enough to do any damage to the pages. They must have taken some of the momentum away from the other pages, because I was able to defend against them without taking any damage.
“Ha!”
“Acho!”
Eclair jabbed at the pages with the point of her blade, and the old lady tried to bat them out of the air with a roundhouse kick. Rishia chased down pages that Eclair and the old lady had missed and attacked them to try and rob them of their power.
“Shield Hero!” Ost shouted. She began to cast a spell
“Well, well. Look how desperate they are to protect you! As the Shield Hero, aren’t you embarrassed to have all these protectors?”
Incensed at his stupid insults, I stepped forward. I had to assume that he was trying to taunt me, because his battle strategy was flawed.
“I’ll show you what a Shield Hero’s attack can do.”
Everyone seemed to think that all I was capable of was defense. But I was going to show this creep that there were other ways to hurt someone besides attacking them.
“Raphtalia! Filo! Don’t worry about me. Focus on attacking him!”
“Okay!”
“Understood!”
I’d used this strategy once before—during the battle with L’Arc.
“Air Strike Shield! Second Shield!”
I summoned one shield behind him and another one directly in front of his torso. Now, he couldn’t move forwards or backwards, and that left him wide open.
“Ohh! Damn!” When he realized what was happening, his face twisted in shock, but he used the pages of his book to block Raphtalia and Filo’s attacks. How long could he hope to keep up something like that?
To be honest, I was starting to like this strategy I’d come up with.
The air around him was filled with flutter pages, flitting back and forth between offensive and defensive maneuvers. With Raphtalia and Filo determined to get at his throat, it would only be a matter of time before they broke through.
“Hya!”
“Tya!”
Book pages flew around behind him and broke the Air Strike Shield.
“Too bad. Dritte Shield!”
I quickly summoned a third shield to take its place. Raphtalia and Filo were attacking him from both sides, and I used a third shield to cover the loss of the first one. I kept an eye on him—if he tried to escape by jumping up and over the obstacles, I’d use Shield Prison.
I don’t want to pat myself on the back, but it was a pretty good plan. I felt good about it.
Maybe I was born to irritate people like this. It was inherent in my personality. And I like it that way.
“Ha! Too bad I already know how many shields you can make! You can only use three shields at once—how pathetic!”
Raphtalia and Filo only needed a few more seconds.
But the enemy turned to break my shields. He wanted to shatter my pride.
He must have been watching me through the eyes of the tortoise the whole time I’d been fighting it. He’d probably been watching ever since I first started fighting the familiars. That made me want to use a skill that he’d never seen before.
“Change Shield!”
I quickly turned the shields into versions of the Whale Magic Core Shield, which had a counter effect called Heat Beam Shield (medium).
When the fluttering pages attacked the shields, they responded by targeting the main enemy and firing laser-like heat beams at him. And they were right on top of him!
And yet . . . yes! It looked like the counter-attack even activated when they were hit with a ranged attack.
The heat beams slammed into the enemy, filling the room with a deafening roar.
“Damn!” the man spat and shot a hate-filled glare at me.
At the same time the last pages fell, Raphtalia and Filo finally slammed into him.
Vween! A transparent shell appeared around him, and their attacks clattered against it, useless.
“Well, you got me to use my barrier very quickly.”
“That’s . . .” Ost stopped casting her spell and muttered to herself in disbelief.
“You think you’ll get control of the battle that easily? Ha! Composition Form One! Bird of Flame!”
Pages from the book flapped and gathered in one spot before transforming into a flaming bird that flew straight at Ost.
“Watch out!” I shouted, and I was in front of her in a flash, stopping the bird with my shield.
Damn. It was more powerful than I liked.
I was using the Whale Magic Core Shield, which had fire-resistant properties, and the attack was still hurting me.
This guy was really strong. No wonder he’d managed to destroy so much.
But that didn’t mean he was going to win. We were really strong, too.
What was that barrier that had blocked Raphtalia and Filo’s attacks?
I looked to Ost for an explanation, and she turned her eyes away. What was she looking at? I followed her gaze. I thought it would be the enemy, but I was wrong.
Now I see. That’s what she was after.
“He . . . He’s using the Spirit Tortoise’s energy to produce his defensive barrier. Breaking through it will require an enormously powerful attack.”
“Right. Raphtalia! Filo—”
“Ha! You think it will be that easy? Don’t you have any other ideas? Only fools try the same thing twice!” the crazy man shouted, holding out his hands to the crystal core. It started to glow, and the heroes encased in crystal behind him writhed in pain.
And then 10 new enemies appeared from the wall. They were familiars, and they were wearing full suits of armor.
Spirit Tortoise familiar (neo guardian type)
Ugh. They looked really strong. They each had a single eye that was visible through the slits in their helmets, and they were carrying all different kinds of weapons.
I counted swords, spears, bows . . . It was immediately clear where each of them were getting their energy.
They came stomping at us from across the room, their armor clattering loudly.
“It’ll take you some time to prepare for those special attacks you like, won’t it? Then I won’t let you have that time.”
“It’s not that much time.”
“We can take care of you!”
“Fehhh!”
Eclair, the old lady, and Rishia all ran to meet the approaching familiars. Eclair and Rishia each took on one, while the old lady managed to hold her own against two. They were at their limit dealing with four. Rishia couldn’t handle one of them—she was on the verge of Eclair saving her when Ost cast a spell in the nick of time.
The remaining six familiars were still heading straight for us. Could I hold them off? I didn’t have a choice! I stopped a neo guardian type with my shield. There was a loud clang when it slammed against me.
They weren’t too strong for me. I could stop them, but I couldn’t do it without getting hurt in the process. They must have been the most powerful familiars that the tortoise could make.
Shit! Two of the familiars had gotten behind me. They raised their bows and fired lightning shots at me. Crap! I immediately switched to the Soul Eater Shield and blocked the shots. If I could get the timing right, the Whale Magic Core Shield would be more useful. I’d have to stay on my toes.
The enemy burst into laughter when he saw how I’d been caught off guard.
“Ahahaha! How much more of this can you take? Come on! Use that brain of yours! Let’s have some fun!”
Damn. The odds weren’t looking good!
To make matters worse, more book pages flew around the room and tried to disrupt Raphtalia and Filo’s preparations. With all the chaos in the room, with all the threats coming from every direction, there was no way they were going to be able to use their attacks.
Unless we used our most powerful attacks, we’d never make it through the barrier.
This guy wasn’t the sort of enemy that we could beat if we just leveled up a little more. But that didn’t mean we were out of options yet.
I could use the Shield of Wrath to burn everything in sight. Maybe Raphtalia and the others could retreat to the stairwell to survive it.
I already used the Shield of Wrath when I was fighting the Spirit Tortoise, so the enemy knew that I had that option available. There was always the chance that he could survive the attack. Besides, the other three heroes were stuck in the room.
They looked very weak, and I didn’t want to accidentally kill them with an overzealous attack. This guy had important hostages.
The other option was Blood Sacrifice.
The problem with that was that I’d have to score a direct hit, and I wouldn’t be able to defend myself in the meantime. He could kill me while I prepared to use it. How could I get enough time?
I could use Shield Prison and Shooting Star Shield to defend myself while I charged up for the attack. But no, he’d already broken through the Shooting Star Shield barrier, so I knew I couldn’t count on it.
I was starting to run out of ideas.
How were we supposed to punch through his barrier?
What if I charged up all my rage into the Shield of Wrath and then Ost used it as a base for an attack spell?
That might work, but it would take just as much time to prepare. Still, I felt like it was the most realistic option I’d come up with yet.
Ost had her hands full supporting Eclair and Rishia in their battles with the familiars. If I had Raphtalia and Filo take over with the familiars, then he’d know what I was planning.
I looked over at Ost to see what she thought, but the man saw me and started laughing.
“Aha! That’s not a very good idea. Don’t you care what happens to the other heroes?”
“Ugh . . . these guys are . . . strong!” Eclair and the old lady were beginning to lose ground. Rishia could barely manage to stay alive. And the enemy had the other heroes as hostages.
How were we supposed to win this fight?
Damn it! Things kept getting worse!
If we had no choice but to accept a slow massacre, then I might as well use the Shield of Wrath now.
Yes. I made up my mind. But then . . .
“Flying Circle Disk!”
A blinding disk of light flew past my face.
A shining arrow followed it a split second later.
“Circle Dance, Destruction Form. Tortoise Shell Split!”
An enormous crackling ball of fire flew straight for me. I flipped up my shield to deflect it, and it didn’t hurt me at all.
Those flames . . . I’d felt them on my shield before. It flew past me and set the neo guardian types ablaze.
I turned to see where the attacks came from. I could hardly believe my eyes.
It was L’Arc, Glass, and Therese.
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