Reluctant Hero | Amaki Ren

Chapter 22 | Her Pillars

"You get what you deserve, I always say."

Sakura hates it when things are getting good, then something pops up to ruin it all. It just annoys her. For some reason, it feels as if the heavens don't want her to experience an ounce of happiness in this wretched world.

Well, wherever she is right now, the heavens must still hate her for not letting her rest.

"It seems you were up to something, but everything is ready now." The Pope lets out a small smirk, raising the replica of the Cardinal Sword above his head. It glows violently, connecting itself somehow to the cathedral that began to change in color. "This is goodbye, Devil of the Shield."

He then points the sword towards them, shooting a beam of light directly to Naofumi's shield. The raven did a great job at protecting the rest behind him, including the rest of the heroes and Motoyasu's party members. However, Sakura noticed how difficult it was for him to keep his shield up and deflect the attack.

Naofumi has been doing more than he needs to do to save them since the very beginning. She can't just let him do all the work.

"Even if you're the Devil of the Shield, I'm amazed you could stop the Cathedral's full-power attack."

"This Cathedral," Sakura looks around her, "We need to break out of here, but that means we'll have to defeat the Pope. Good stars, why do we have to end up here?"

"Immense power always comes at a price," Naofumi says, "and if your divine power comes at the cost of your disciples, your life alone won't be enough to pay for it!"

Sakura unsheathed her daggers, twirling them around her palms as she got into an offensive stance.

"Let's go!"

With Itsuki's Thunder Shot, Ren and Sakura disappeared into thin air to follow the plan Naofumi had for them. Raphtalia and Filo were the first ones to get close to the Pope, having Melty and the mages help them from deflecting the Pope's attacks.

Once she was close, Raphtalia launched herself towards the Pope with her sword prepared to plunge through him. "He won't fall for the same tricks. Raphtalia will serve as the decoy." was what Sakura said when they were planning.

And just as predicted, the Pope was able to block her blade. "I won't fall for this twice!"

"We were just decoys!"

Ren and Sakura appeared behind the Pope, blades glowing their own color as they casted one of their techniques.

"Meteor Sword!"

"Air Strike Slice!"

They slid past him, effectively weakening his guard and opening the perfect opportunity for Motoyasu to throw his spear right towards the distracted Pope.

With their roles done and successful, they left the final strike to Naofumi who was soaring through the sky with Filo. He activates his shield's power and reflected back the flame dragon that the Pope casted towards him.

The Pope was engulfed in flames completely. "He did it!" Motoyasu exclaims.

"Let's finish this!"

"Right!"

Sakura followed the four heroes charging towards the Pope. As she was about to activate another skill, she felt shivers down her spine that warned her of what's to come. She looks ahead, finding the Pope rising from the flames unconsciously. "Wait," she mutters, "something's wrong."

"Chaos Spear!" Her warning was too late. Motoyasu came rushing towards the Pope already.

"State of Emptiness." Their opponent changes his replica into a spear, deflecting all of Motoyasu's Spear thrusts.