~Y/n pov~

Ren's party had teamed up with ours again, Itsuki and Ren for along quite well.

I didn't really talk much to Ren but we had a good relationship, he wasn't much of a talker anyways.

We heard legend of this item being kept in the dungeon so here we were.

There were no monsters or anything really in the dungeon something seemed off.

~*~

It was all a trap and we almost died, we survived all thanks to our magic users.

Our parties told us to go, they would deal with it, we had something else to do.

~*~

Itsuki's arrow struck the priests yellow shield, catching him off guard.

Me, Ren and Itsuki looked down the crater at Naofumi and Motoyasu's parties .

"Looks like we arrived just in time." Itsuki smirked .

Everyone looked surprised to see us.

We slid down the crater, to greet them.

"You came back from the dead?" Motoyasu asked genuinely confused .

I scoffed , "Nice to see nothing's changed, still dumb as ever."

"Don't go killing us off just yet." Ren retorted , he stabbed his sword into the ground, summoning small blue swords that flew towards their target.

Of course it only hit the shield.

"Dedicate half of our mages to keep the barrier active to hold off their attacks." The priest ordered.

It made me sick, taking humans naivety and need to believe in a God and fooling them.

They probably believed they were doing the right thing but most of them were probably going to die here .

"Are you sure that's wise? That will decrease the mana going into the weapon." The man behind his pointed out.

The priest ignored him, "Do it. Our enemies need time, time to recognise their sins."

It may be true some of us did bad things but they've been fixed and he's doing something much worse , killing all those believers .

How ignorant .

Itsuki took aim and shot a barrage of arrows , only for them to be blocked by many shields.

"That force field is annoying."  Itsuki complained.

"Wait how are you guys even here? I thought you were dead." Motoyasu exclaimed.

"Well clearly we didn't die so that's how we are here." I frowned , "Keep up you blonde man whore!"

"Such harsh words!" Motoyasu smirked, "Stop acting so Tsundere , you want this." He winked .

I fake gagged as Itsuki protectively wrapped his arms around my waist from behind, placing his head on mine.

He glared at the blonde, pouting childishly, "She's mine."

Motoyasu scoffed , looking away.

Ren ignored the whole thing and answered Motoyasu's question, "We nearly were dead, luckily we had a good party, they're currently fighting off the threat they should be fine ."

I leaned into Itsuki's chest as they conversed .

"What happened ?" Motoyasu asked.

Ren sighed, "We were suspicious of the church so we went into the library and found this hidden archive about this dungeon so we went to go check it out . It was said to contain a replica of the cardinal weapon but the whole thing was a trap."

"The dungeon collapsed on us and we were lucky to make it out, then some giant , bloodthirsty wolves appeared, they could've been attracted by someone's injury or the noise. Regardless, our party took care of it and we got here as quick as possible." I continued .

"Ren let's do this." Itsuki released me from his comforting embrace, and faced the enemy.

"Right." Ren and Itsuki performed their combined attacked they had developed over the course of us going on adventures together.

Itsuki's attack managed to break through all of the shields but dispersed after the last one, but that wasn't the end of the attack.

Ren used the smoke as a cover and jumped from above, bringing his sword down on the priest .

Fortunately for the priest, he noticed and managed to block with his own weapon.

While he was still recovering from the attack, I shot a fireball at him but he managed to deflect it.

However, I noticed I had managed to burn his hands, if this continued , we would definitely win.

His weapon stopped glowing, "I've depleted too much mana."

"The Queen and her reinforcements should be here soon." Ren stated.

Some of the followers started panicking , "T-the Queen!?"

"Mothers coming?" Melty asked.

I had almost forgot she was there .

"Everyone is a traitor to the crown." Itsuki yelled at the followers .

I continued, "Surrender now and I'm sure the Queen will forgive you."

Their mumbling turned louder as they started debating their options, unsure of whether we were bluffing or not.

"Do not loose your faith." The priest spoke over them, effectively silencing them, "This is a battle between God and the Devil. We knew it would be difficult from the beginning, but do not despair, for no matter the cost , our victory is inevitable."

He continued to ramble on, this dude must be bat shit crazy to be spewing this nonsense and actually believe he's in the right .

"We won't lose, because God has given his blessing to all of us. We've no reason to be afraid, we can overcome the forces the Queen brings to us."

He continues to somehow convince everyone he's right.

The heroes started arguing among themselves while I just quietly observed the chaos unfold .

~*~

The priest cut into the argument , "You're fighting among yourselves in the face of death? Nothing could better exemplify the fact that our so called heroes are utterly disgraceful . Purifying you immediately is all too appropriate . Fortunately, your squabble has given us enough time to recharge our mana."

At this point, we were no longer arguing and instead glaring at the priest.

He started charging up an attack, "Farewell false heroes , goodbye and good riddance to you, devil of the shield!"

A big beam of light was fired at us but luckily, Naofumi formed a shield to try and protect us.

"It's not like I forgive you but I made a promise ." Naofumi scoffs.

Itsuki smiles , "The five cardinal heroes finally stand together."

"Just try not to get in my way." Motoyasu smirked cockily.

"Yeah right." I retorted , looking away from his dumbass face, scared his idiocy was contagious.

"Fighting with the devil of the shield." The priest mocked with his annoying voice, " A foolish decision befitting such unworthy heroes such as yourselves. The only fate you deserve is to be purged, completely and no trace of any of you shall remain."

"Geez will you shut up?" I complained , "You talk too much and your voice is annoying."

He growled, "You asked for it."

All of the followers chanted a spell .

"And now for magic of the highest level." The priest grinned , "Cathedral!"

He spread his arms out wide, as church bells resounded.

A weird dark object appeared behind him and seemed to expand , a huge dome or Cathedral, encased us.

Now, we were trapped inside of the crater, what are we supposed to do?

It seems the Priest was also in here.

Despite our relentless attacks, it seemed like nothing would work.

~*~
"He's building up a lot of mana, if they keep praying that light with reach the top of the cathedral." Melty pointed out.

"That's probably when he'll launch a big attack." Itsuki noted.

Motoyasu turned to Naofumi, "Hey why don't you put that shield to use can't it do something ."

"It's a shield genius it's does exactly what you'd think it does, block and deflect attacks." I mocked.

"I mean it seems kinda overpowered ." Motoyasu ignored me.

Naofumi deadpanned , "Are you serious? How stupid are you? Wait don't answer that."

"Compared to us you are underleveled but seem to be able to keep up." Itsuki thought out loud.

I thought for a minute , "Oh yeah that's true."

"My weapon isn't overpowered , you just don't know how to use yours." He sighed.

Ren approached us, "Do you have any special skills that might help?"

"If I did wouldn't you think it'd.." Naofumi cut himself off, his eyes widened in shock.

Suddenly, he hunched over and grunted . Was he in pain, what happened ?

"What's happening?" The shield hero stared at his hands in confusion.

He coughed slightly before standing up straight, "This might be a gamble, but if we're lucky it'll work."

Motoyasu grinned, "That's what I like to hear!"

His appearance changed again, just like it did that time on the ship. I think I know what this is, it's some sort of curse and he loses control.

Let's hope nothing bad happens, worst case scenario we all die .

From my experience with games and curses, they normally have dire consequences.

I hope Naofumi will be ok.

~*~

Naofumi is not okay! He had lost all control and had lost himself .

If someone didn't do something to stop him, he could be badly injured and try to kill us all.

Raphtalia ran up to Naofumi before anyone could stop her , and clung to his waist .

"Master Naofumi!" She desperately yelled his name a few times.

This caused him to stop for a moment , she was reaching him.

Naofumi struggled, "You're so annoying don't try to stop me."

Filo tranformed to her human form and also clung to Naofumi, tears leaking down her face, "You don't really mean that do you?"

"Who are you?" He asked confused .

"We're your friends Master Naofumi , doesn't that mean anything to you?" Tears gathered in Raphtalia's eyes.

My friends?

"In the beginning I was terrified , I thought you were going to treat me like an object like everyone else always did." She smiled sadly , "But instead you were nice to me, you cared for me, you protected me and taught me right from wrong . That's why I want to always stand with you."

"And as for me," Filo joined in, "You hatched me and raised me from the very first day of my life! You gave me the wagon I like to pull so much, and my clothes. And all sorts of fun stuff! Pretty much everything I love in this world , I got from you."

Melty stepped up and stood in front of Naofumi.

"You were always very stubborn and kept making fun of me. Yet you kept your promise to keep me safe , knowing that I was more than just a princess , you treated me like a real person and became a true friend." Melty clutched her shirt where her heart is.

"You care about us very much, and we care about you."

"Uh-huh I love you a whole bunch Master! And I'm gonna eat up all your bad feelings , so you don't have to feel them anymore ."

"I'll share your pain, whatever you need I'll be there."

"I'll cut through your sorrow , that's what I'm here for , after all , I promised that I'd always be your sword."

Tears trickled down Naofumi's cheeks as he came back to his senses , the flames disappearing.

~*~

Everyone in his party was glad he was back, I didn't want to ruin the moment but we don't have time for this.

"Sorry to ruin the moment but we don't have time for this, we need a plan or we might die." I cut in.

Itsuki nodded , "She's right."

"I'm gonna need your help." Naofumi turned to us and bowed, "Please."

My face flushed bright red in embarrassment, "Ah no need to beg I'll help just please stop bowing." I waved my hands in front of my face.

Naofumi stopped bowing but still stared at the others waiting for an answer.

Itsuki laughed at my embarrassed state.

"D-don't laugh!" I pouted.

"Sorry , sorry." He wrapped his arms around my shoulders then turned his gaze to Naofumi who was awaiting an answer, "Of course."

"I don't know." Motoyasu hesitated, "alright fine whatever you need, let's prove the bonds of friendship always prevail."

I burst into laughter holding my stomach, "What is this my little pony?!"

A tick mark appeared on his head, "S-shut up!"

Everyone else started laughing .

Wiping a tear from my eye, I became serious, "What's the plan?"

~*~

The plan was put into action, all of our attacks synchronising and working simultaneously.

Just when we thought it was all over, the priest got up and somehow he didn't have a scratch on him.

The walls pattern shifted and we were getting fired at from all angles.

Luckily Naofumi blocked them and we were able to deflect quite a few of them.

Ice suddenly encased the Priest, and he was unable to move or escape.

Just who had done that?

The cathedral slowly dispersed, turning into light and fading away.

The Queen had arrived, and saved us.

~*~

________________________________
2125 words

A/n tried to get a bit of banter in :) chapters are finally back up to 2000+ words