Two worlds, one shield

Chapter 24: Cardinal Heroes vs Three Heroes Church: Part 4

Ren and Motoyasu charged at the Priest, being the offense while Naofumi awaited his moment to strike since the Wrath Shield had some pretty destructive abilities that would surely do some serious damage to the Priest, though the usage from these abilities would cost him a heavy price. 

While Naofumi was remaining on the back, Ren and Motoyasu were giving it their all in attempting to land a hit onto the Priest as he was blocking their attacks with the Replica weapon's Spear variation. 

As the two were doing this, Ren wielded his Blessed Series Sword, moving with blinding speed despite the injuries he had suffered from days of torture. 

However, his critical flaw remained—any hit, no matter how minor, could leave him vulnerable and potentially lead to his death. 

Despite this problem, the Sword Hero pushes forward relentlessly, determined to keep the Priest under pressure and prevent him from unleashing further destruction upon the city or on any of his allies. 

Motoyasu combined close-quarters combat with calculated ranged attacks, shifting between the two with precision to keep the Priest off-balance while also providing Ren some back up depending on what he needs. 

Together, their barrage of strikes forced the Priest to divert his focus from trying to kill Naofumi first towards the two, with his irritation growing with every blow deflected. 

As their weapons clashed a good amount of times, the Priest began to waver slightly under their combined onslaught. 

This kind of pressure nearly gave Naofumi an opening to take him down only for the Priest to grip his replica weapon tightly before swinging with explosive force, aiming to drive the two cardinal heroes back. 

The ground beneath them cracked from the impact of the Priest's attack, sending shockwaves through the air which reminded the three cardinal heroes of the overwhelming power they're dealing with. 

Motoyasu barely managed to leap back in order to avoid being caught on the Priest's attack though he did end up crashing into a building unintentionally. 

Ren, on the other hand, slid back several feet, his senses having picked up right since this attack would've for sure killed him if he had attempted to block it. 

As this attack forced the two back, he swapped the Spear Replica into the Bow Replica version in order to attack Ren since Motoyasu crashed into a building which made attacking him be a waste of an attack. 

Ren saw this and prepared to do his best to avoid the attacks only for Naofumi to get in between the two in order to block away the Priest's attacks. 

The shield collided with the glowing projectile arrows, scattering them into harmless shards of light. 

The Priest was a bit annoyed by this, seeing Naofumi jump in and block away his holy attacks. Ren was also surprised but also appreciating Naofumi's assistance before preparing to go on the offensive again. 

The Priest changes the Replica weapon once again from the bow to the sword before using all of his strength to attack Naofumi, having the blade of the Replica Sword clash against the Wrath Shield. 

As the Replica Sword clashed onto the Wrath Shield, the power from the two cardinal weapons were causing the air around them to ripple violently, a deafening shockwave blasting outward. 

Ren knew that he needed to gain some distance to avoid losing all of his strength due to how strong these shockwaves were. 

While he gained some distance swiftly, Naofumi was barely able to push back the Priest's attack, leaving him shocked for a moment that his opponent was as strong as he was.