The 5th Hero

Chapter 25: The Endgame

There we were standing in crater after surviving the judgement attack from the grand priest waiting for an explanation. The pope complimented us for surviving the attack but I knew he was being sarcastic after that he called Naofumi and I the devil shield and staff demon. The pope went to talk about the sins of the heros that we were misleading the people of the nation while the other heroes caused havoc everywhere for those problems to be fixed by Naofumi who by their religion is the devil. Soon the pope glared at us " to fix all of this you will be purified in God's name" the pope said this surprised Malty she scolded the pope for his treachery "so she was with them all this time" I whispered. The pope went on to explain that the church had it's own agenda to overthrow the royal family and rule Melromarc with a new government. The pope went on to talk about how royalty are a pestilence who abuse their power and mistreat the church while I didn't like the pope he wasn't exactly wrong. The pope went on to call us heroes fake saying that the heroes cause harm everywhere and causing damage to the people's faith so judgement rained down upon us as it did to Ren and Itsuki for their investigation against the church. This was big and I knew it I just wanted to kill him now "that's a completely twisted sense of logic" Melty said "so Naofumi and Y/N are innocent they didn't kill Ren and Itsuki" Motoyasu said "yeah numb nuts that's we've been trying to tell you" I said. The pope began to laugh maniacally as one of his followers handed him a sword that was golden sword that looked exactly like Ren's I saw the look on Melty's face it was terror. The pope charged up an attack and sent the attack at Naofumi I felt how strong the attack was "Naofumi block it I'll hold ya!" I yelled "you better" Naofumi said raising his shield I jumped behind him and infused him with my protection magic and enhanced his defense. It worked but the judgment attack caused both of our hands to go numb "damn that hurt" I said "barely stopped it" Naofumi said "you both are very tough for a devil and a demon" the pope said sarcastically "look how the demon servant helps his devil master" the pope added "I am no servant you heretic" I said that clearly pissed the pope off "that attack was just a test shot you better be ready for the next one" the pope said as his weapon took the shape of Motoyasu's spear. "That's the Cardinal weapon replica" Melty said "what's that?" I asked "it was designed to replicate all five weapons of the Cardinal Heroes into one powerful weapon but it had remained lost after it's creation" Melty answered "it was kept a secret by the church which fabricated it's disappearance" Melty added. Hearing that pissed both me and Naofumi off "then why the hell did you need the five heroes to begin with?" Naofumi asked "I want to know too why bring us here if there's a weapon like that" I said "well the weapon itself uses to much mana with each usage" Melty said. I saw the confusion on Malty's face she had no idea of anything the pope congratulated Melty on her knowledge and insulted Malty on her lack of discipline. The pope began to laugh "this is a holy crusade of God against the fake spear hero, the shield devil and the staff demon!" the pope yelled soon his devotes started a prayer which created a barrier golden magic energy. Now we were traped in cage "can you dispel the barrier?" Naofumi asked Melty "no I can't I don't have the power" Melty answered suddenly Motoyasu stood up "time to be a hero" he said Luna and the other girls sighed at his hero complex Motoyasu fired an electric attack at the barrier but it did nothing. Realizing that solo work wouldn't do anything Motoyasu decided to finally accept our help and joined us now with some new vigor we all readied our weapons. Malty and the rest of Motoyasu's party combined fire spells into Motoyasu's lance to create burst flare lance which also did nothing I noticed that some of the Pope's followers had fainted "all of your power levels are to weak to stop me" the pope taunted he then began to cast another judgement spell "shit I don't think my barriers will stop this one even if my MP regenerates" I said "I don't even think my shield can stop this one" Naofumi said suddenly two attacks appeared the hundred swords and meteor shot those attacks shattered the Pope's barrier. We looked around to see who sent those attacks to find to very familiar faces it was Ren and Itsuki they were both alive "I FUCKING KNEW IT!" I yelled Ren casted another hundred swords attack the pope commanded half his followers to focus the barrier and the other to charge his weapon. "What's going on I thought you two were dead" Motoyasu said "well you see we didn't trust the church so Itsuki and I conducted a secret investigation we found a secret file which was supposed to lead us to the barriel site of the Cardinal weapon replica but it was a really a trap to kill us, if it weren't for queen  Mirellia's shadows" Ren explained Itsuki went on to claim that Naofumi was also framed for taking his reward I could see the irritation on Naofumi's face. I could tell that Motoyasu was beginning to empathize with us soon Ren and Itsuki attacked the pope again but this time he couldn't stop them this time the pope was very irritated by this the pope as his weapon was deactivated due to low mana. The pope was still persistent in his attempts to have his "holy crusade" so the queen meant nothing to him quickly his followers got ready to attack again now with all of us together we readied ourselves in a circle formation it felt like we were a team for once like a movie of epic proportions like it took years to put together "you know it's like that movie" I said "what movie?" Ren asked "yeah there's no team up movies were I'm from" Motoyasu said figures "wait I know what movie he's talking about" Naofumi said "I think I know what he's talking about" Itsuki said "quit your babbling you fools!" the pope yelled "you know what guys let's do this let's assemble" I said. The pope angered by us actually teaming up instead of fighting and pointing out our flaws which we probably would after everything was over he then fired a cleansing attack at us so I used a shade spell to eat the attack. "You disgust me, not only do you use your power for profits but so do the heroes" Naofumi said "heeeeey" Motoyasu complained before Ren and Itsuki could say anything "he's not wrong you guys did some very greedy things in this world that hurt others" I said the guys looked down in shame "we'll talk about this later but I will only team up for now" Naofumi said "so much for the assemble thing" I said "fine then we are going to avenge the wrongs done by this asshat, so one more time ASSEMBLE!" I said the last part having more power to "now everyone" I said "ASSEMBLE!" all five of us said. Quickly the pope and his followers casted another spell this time it was cathedral "welcome to my cathedral were all of you will die" the pope said then he gave us a maniacal laugh.