Party Crash

Chapter 14: Party Crashed

"What made you think throwing these things into buildings was a good call!" Naofumi Exclaimed. He closely inspected the buildings and helped out with some repairs of the area, he noticed that many buildings had holes in the wall.

"Shattered glass, holes in the wall, damage to the foundation. What exactly were you doing when I sent you to escort everyone?"

"Oh you know. Killing every monster Sakura came across."

"What did I say about using tornadoes in small spaces?"

"Technically, it was a hurricane."

"I told you not to use Typhoons as well!"

"But, Sakura used a hurricane!"

"It is literally the same thing!"

"Really!?"

"Ugh!" Naofumi hit his face out of pure annoyance. "Lets just hope no one tries to sue us for damages."

"Sakura thinks people will be gracious for, you know, saving their lives."

"You'll be surprised by the amount of people who would rather have their possessions saved as well. Just go help out the locals however you can."

"Roger that!" Sakura backfliped away and started to pull a heavy rock cart with one hand.

Naofumi went back to his status screen and started to check all the energy he got for the thunder dragon's shields, but the sound of metal clanking diverted his attention. Looking over, he saw the knight Sakura kicked into the ground?

"Oh, footstool boy!"

"Footstool!?"

"Yeah, what's the issue?"

"My name is Ake sir hero! And I'm here to thank you for defending my village."

"Is that all? No beam of light?" Naofumi asked as he continued to scroll through his menu.

"Sorry about that, we were forced to by the commander, but I'm actually here to deliver a message from the king."

"Oh, then tell him to fuck off for me okay."

"What, no I can't do that. I'll be executed or worse."

"You can figure that out. I'm not trying to listen to his bullshit anymore."

"But sir, it's a request for all four heroes. A celebration for the waves being driven away."

"I'll pass."

"But what should I tell him about your monthly payment?"

"Well… daughter of a bastard, fine. But you're coming with me."

"M-me!"

"Yeah. I'm going to need more information about your boss. Something seemed off."

/~/

"Damn it!" Naofumi yelled.

"What, something happened?"

"I just failed my rank up to R. This entire system is rigged!" Naofumi complained. "Whatever, Ake, tell me what the hell was up with your squad."

"Oh, is this the knight boy? Sakura couldn't tell."

"Yeah, your master is trying to force state secrets out of me."

"And I'm going to need them right now!" Naofumi threatened.

"Well to keep it so that the shadows don't assassinate me. A couple days ago, the captain and vice captain got into a heated argument. And when the vice captain was quit, the captain brought in several unknown people into the squad. When the wave happened, we were deployed to the area immediately and-."

"Yeah I know the rest. That does seem like an odd set of events though."

"Do you at least know the names of who joined?"

"Um, no ms… umm."

"Raphtalia."

"Ms. Raphtalia. What I do know is that all of them were followers of the three heroes church."

"Called it! No wonder he said smite, they were trying to kill me. All for some sand though, seems a bit overkill."

"Naofumi, what did you do?"

"Don't condemn me Sakura, I didn't expect that plan to go so out of proportion."

"Oh Sakura will definitely hold this over you. At least when she causes problems, she doesn't get people trying to assassinate her." Sakura taunted.

"You shouldn't be causing problems in the first place!" Naofumi argues as Sakura makes her way through the streets and into the castle grounds. The knights there tried to refuse them entry, but Ake was able to use the letter from earlier to get the guard to begrudgingly let them inside.

/~/

Making their way into the inside. Sakura's mouth immediately watered as soon as she smelled the aroma of food. Raphtalia's eyes also sparkled in awe, as she has never been to a place so fancy before.

"So this is the noble's party!?"

"Don't get too excited. Parties of high society are usually pretty shit."

"As long as the food is great, Sakura will not complain."

"Hold it." Sakura tried to run off but Naofumi pulled her back by her collar.

"Fine. Sakura won't break anything."

"Annnd!?"

"And she won't cause chaos. Can Sakura go now?"

"Since you know what to do for sure." Naofumi lets go of Sakura's collar, allowing her to go to the buffet section of the party. He then turned to Raphtalia with the same tone.

"Same applies to you."

"Come on, what did I do!?"

"You punched a guy through a house."

"It was once! Don't need to hold it over me forever." Raphtalia complained as she stormed off.

Naofumi then turned over to Ake who was still near him.

"And you, don't reveal anything we talked about today. If you do, I will find you" Naofumi demanded, leaving the intimidated knight alone.

Naofumi later walked over to a table in the back to ignore everyone, but two people interrupted his menu reading as they pulled out a chair.

"Ren, Itsuki."

"Naofumi."

Everyone stared at each other for a bit before Itsuki decided to speak first.

"So, I heard everything from Ren, and to be honest it sounds pretty sketchy. I mean, a circus tent in an alleyway who's ran by a slave trader doesn't sound like the best source."

"It's not like I was desperately looking for your approval, but if the facts are there and still remain, why don't you go check yourself. Who knows, maybe you might get a good pet out of that visit as well."

"What do you mean?"

"He means-"

"Allow me Ren. Now Itsuki, believe me or not I don't care. I'm just allowing you to sit here so we can do a trade."

"For what exactly?"

"Special information I've gathered on this land. For your power up method."

"What are you talking about, didn't Ren already tell you the method?"

"He did. But I've recently found some information that may surprise you, if you're willing to trade for it?"

"And what are you giving me specifically?"

"Oh you know, properties of monsters, info about the waves, you know, classic rpg stuff."

"Well I already know mostly everything. So if something in there does surprise me, I'll confirm it and then tell you."

"What, you still don't trust me?"

"You're still under suspicion. Justice has not declared you innocent just yet."

"Well it doesn't matter then. I have my proof ready." Naofumi opened his menu. "So let's start off with some of the boring stuff, the waves are happening everywhere with a dragon hourglass, so almost every major country is being affected by it."

"You told me this before, you said a bird queen told it to you?" Ren asked.

"Her name is Fitoria, she's basically an unbeatable boss who guides you."

"I did hear some chatter about waves in the other area, and I guess some stuff about this bird, but I'm gonna need a bit more."

"Then how about this? When a hero raises a monster, it'll gain the ability to transform into a human. Now this isn't tested on every monster, but both Ren and I have discovered this result."

"Wait, so that's why Draco has been able to transform!"

"Indeed. Even one of mine can transform."

"The angel right?"

"Correct."

"Then that's probably one I can give a try."

"Don't be hasty, we still have one more. There are multiple power up methods."

Ren and Itsuki look at Naofumi for a second and then burst into laughter.

"Seriously, have you hit your head, of course there's multiple."

"Yeah, 4 to be specific. Did Ren not tell you?"

"I did tell him, but I didn't think he was ignoring me."

"Well I wasn't because that's not what I meant. Itsuki and Ren, read your methods at the same time."

"O…kay then."

Itsuki and Ren both open their menus and start to speak about their methods. But they immediately stopped and stared at each other after hearing the other saying something different entirely.

"Bullshit, it's Rarity up!"

"Um, not bullshit, it's definitely more equipment." Both Itsuki and Ren argue for a bit before Naofumi calms them down.

"Perhaps you two should continue, compare each and every one."

"Fine." Both of them agreed. They each read out their power up methods, with both of them getting aggravated as they continued.

"See what I mean, it's all different for each-"

"No, Ren is just lying to you!" Itsuki interrupted.

"I'm lying, Naofumi has already said my method worked, so you're the one who's lying!"

"Shut up and let me explain!" Naofumi yelled, silencing the two once again. "As I was saying, each hero has their own set of four."

"And you didn't notice yours until now why?"

"Because I didn't know. You guys played your games, so the methods are clear to you. While I haven't, making me not have any knowledge about it. But now that I do know, I can utilize it like so."

Naofumi explains the effects of growth revision, including Rens and Itsuki methods they just explained almost perfectly. He even mentioned the icons that the weapon gets when the method is a success.

"That's impossible!"

"You're seeing it here first. At least nine different methods explained in fine detail, you guys can't believe this isn't true."

"It's not that I don't believe you. It's just that-."

"It's hard to believe. None of these were ever in my game."

"Then perhaps you should consider that this world isn't a game. You treat your partners like npcs when they all have their own dreams, aspirations and fears. That is why I have a better connection with my team. And why I'm doing better in the powering up department."

"I highly doubt that."

"Me and my party took out several platoons of monsters of all kinds. And there were only three of us. Compare that to you guys, which took half an hour to defeat the boss together. This is legit, and you need to start using it."

"I'm just going to need time to comprehend this. None of this is normal."

"Sure, let's just ignore the explanation I just gave. But when you're struggling, you know what to do. Anyways, now that I got that info out of the way, I'm low on coins so let's swap to something more fun." Naofumi reaches for his bag and pulls out a deck of cards.

"Oh, bring it on."

/~/

"Why am I here again?" Ake asked.

"Because you're the one of the only people in this country who doesn't want Naofumi dead. That's a cause for celebration!" Sakura cheered. "Hey, you're a knight, why don't you join us. We'll have so much fun together!"

"I can't just quit. I have a duty to the people of Melromarc."

"And you can still do that. We're heroes, killing monsters is our thing." Sakura drank her mug full of a red liquid, which Ake could only guess was rucola fruit alcohol. But hey, Sakura sorry for landing on you today, she thought you were a monster and... What was she saying again?"

"You were apologizing."

"Right. Anyways you got a good look right, consider that revenge."

"What, ye- I mean, no but, I didn't try to."

"Ha ha." Sakura laughed. "Oh you're so cute when you're embarrassed. Who knew shorts could get that reaction."

"C-c-cute!" Ake's face became red as a cherry. "Sakura, how many drinks have you had?"

"Oh, Sakura doesn't know...umm, Eight?"

"Okay I think you had enough." Ake started to reach for Sakura's mug.

"Nooo~, don't take Sakura's drink!" Sakura cried meekly.

/~/

"Sorry for Sakura, this is the first time she's ever been drunk before."

"It's nothing. At least no damage was caused."

"Thanks again." Raphtalia replied, letting Sakura rest her head on the table. She was getting kind of bored of the uneventful party and didn't plan to drink herself after Naofumi told her not to, so she spent the rest of her time at the table reading her book, until a shadow blocked the pages. Looking up, she recognizes the spear he was holding, and concludes that it was the spear hero.

"I've seen you before at the wave but we haven't formally met. I'm one of the heroes summoned to this world, they call me, Motoyasu."

"I'm well aware. What do you need?"

"Well, I just wanted to ask your name, and perhaps a couple other things."

"It's Raphtalia and no."

"No it's not that. It's just, why work with Naofumi. Surely you've heard the rumors of what he did."

"That's exactly what it is, rumors. I've been with Naofumi for a while and he hasn't even come close to any attempt."

"But he's still dangerous and unstable. He's been rumored to have been causing all sorts of-."

"You know, a lot of this seems to be about rumors, and not actual evidence."

"Then perhaps him buying a slave will get you to change your mind. Just a few hours ago, we found out he has a slave on pre order."

"And that's a surprise why?"

"What do you mean? Wait, are you?"

"Yes, what off it."

"That explains your loyalty, he dare commands you to follow him."

"What are you talking about, I follow Naofumi myself."

"That can't be it. Myne was right about brainwashing." Motoyasu got up from his table and started to walk off.

/~/

"I'm all in." Naofumi said. Sliding all his coins across the table.

"Again, there's no way!"

"The only way to find out is to go all by yourself. Either way, I'm winning the gold."

"I'm going to fold. I have no chance." Ren complained, dropping his bad hand on the table.

Itsuki on his end only got intimidated even more. A few drops of sweat started to slide down from his face as he tried to think of the next move.

"You need a napkin, it seems the room is getting a bit hot." Naofumi taunted.

"Fine, I concede." Itsuki relented after a minute of trying to read Naofumi. The shield hero laughed as he threw down his hand consisting of a jack, 2, 5, 6 and 8. Making Itsuki furious that he got bluffed.

"So, who's up for another-" Naofumi stopped his taunting midway through and deflected a spear heading towards the table into one of the castle stone walls. Naofumi turned to who threw the spear, only to see a glove land at his feet.

"Hey, what the hell. I was about to play another game."

"Don't act dumb. You own a slaves!" The nobles in the ballroom all went into a chatter at the accusation. Several of them even sling insults at the shield hero.

"I have one of those? Wait, I have two of those."

"Actually, you have three!" Malty, who was in the corner, called in a couple of knights carrying a demi human. He was rags, dirty all over, and had dog ears and a tail.

"K-KEEL!" Raphtalia shouted, running towards the knights. But they blocked her from entering.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about him."

"Don't make that sound so casual!"

"Well slavery is legal in this country. So I'm not breaking the rules there."

"W- what about your morality. You think it's okay to own another person because it's legal!"

"Absolutely. Glad we were able to clear up that misconception."

Motoyasu clenched his spear more and stepped towards Naofumi. "That doesn't make things better. Supporting the business is just going to make it grow more!" Motoyasu pointed his spear at Naofumi's face. "I challenge you to a duel. If I win, you release your slaves."

"Cool. I refuse." Naofumi replied. But when he tried to walk away his path was blocked by several guards.

"I can't allow that, sir hero. I decree that this duel between the spear and shield shall happen. For the right to own these slaves."

"And if I win?"

"You get to keep your slaves?"

"That's not a fair deal of terms though." Ren interrupted. If you want a fair and legal duel, then both parties need an equal bet in return."

"I also say it's an unfair advantage for Motoyasu since Naofumi can't attack. So a 1 on 1 duel won't solve anything."

"I suggest a 3 vs 3 between our strongest members. Motoyasu will have the numbers advantage since two of his teammates can attack. While also giving Naofumi a fight."

"But we can't. It must be a battle between only the spear and shield." The king rebutted.

"What, are you saying that Motoyasu couldn't win against Naofumi's team?."

"Bullshit, I can beat any team of his."

"But I can't allow that. Even if it's a team match, the shield hero could still be forcing his party members to fight via slave crest."

"Then how about we make her decide herself." Raphtalia's slave crest started to glow as Naofumi pointed at her.

"You better not."

"Calm down, it won't hurt if you follow orders."

"What the hell are you doing!" Mototyasu demanded as Ren held him back.

"Giving her a choice. Raphtalia, as your master. I order you to choose either your desired partner to fight with."

"Oh, so that's your plan." Raphtalia calmed down and walked towards Naofumi, her slave crest not activating as she thouched his should."

"I-impossible. There has to be some sort of trick!"

"Not at all, Raphtalia has chosen under slave crest orders. Now there's no reason for the 3 vs 3 to be denied."

"That only means she fears you, I will not allow this!"

"But you have too, the king decreed it himself. Oh and for my bet, I'll take half- no, all your gold."

"What, no!"

"I agreed to my side, so if you refuse. I win by default. You don't want that to happen, ya." Naofumi taunted.

"Fine. It doesn't matter how many tricks you employ. I'm still stronger, and I'll free Raphtalia from whatever control you have over her."

"I'd like to see you try."

/~/

"You need to take this seriously Naofumi!" Raphtalia exclaimed. She had been watching Naofumi check out the quality of the swords for 20 minutes now."

"Don't worry, we got this."

"Don't worry? Sakura is drunk on the ground, and you can't attack, none of this is fair."

"Oh, I thought she was just sleeping. Also, I'm pretty sure we have the means to beat them."

Naofumi raised his hand over Sakura. "As the source of my power, I order thee. Decipher the laws of nature and cure my target of their ailment. [Zweite Cure.]"

A wave of green energy washed over Sakura. When Naofumi thought the healing was done, he shook Sakura awake.

"Ughh, headache!"

"Wake up. We gotta fight."

"But we… were at a party, what happened?"

"Doesn't matter, get up."

"Fine." Sakura relented. Grumbling about her headache as she got up.

"Still think we can win?"

"If I was alone then I would have lost. But with your boost you should be on par with Motoyasu by a bit, so stick to this plan and we could possibly succeed." Naofumi brought his party into a huddle and told them the plan.

Raphtalia and Sakura smirk at the idea, before being interrupted by a knight telling them to enter the arena.

"Remember. This part requires precision, so don't mess it up Sakura."

"Well next time, you don't get into fights when Sakura is having fun."

"I literally did nothing to cause this."

The guard banged on the chamber door once again. "The battle starts now, one more minute and that's a disqualification."

"Fine, we're moving. Quickly, grab every sword you guys can so we can sell it."

"On it."

"No."

/~/

The gate opened. As the party walks into an angry crowd, everyone booed them, as well as tossed food and other items at them as well. On the other hand, Everyone cheered at the arrival of the spear heroes party. Several shouts of, "Beat the spear demon!" and "Take the demon out!" Were all being shouted at him.

By his side were his two chosen party members. The first being Malty, who Naofumi was fuming at the second she came in. And the other being another red haired party member that Naofumi didn't know the name of, so he decided to dub her bitch II until further notice.

"Silence." A random knight shouted as he walked up to the stand. The whole crowd went silent, muttering a bit.

"Welcome to the match up of the shield vs spear. Approved by the king and church, both heroes will battle for the ownership of the shield heroes party, and this poor child. The winner will be decided by a knockout. If someone is on the ground for more than 10 seconds, then they are disqualified! Any outside help is banned, and any use of items other than your weapon are also banned. Do you all understand!"

Everyone shakes their head at the knight. While he was doing this, Naofumi noticed that Malty didn't shake hers, immediately putting suspicion on the girl.

"Then at the drop of this flag, you shall begin!" The knight tossed the flag high up into the air, and quickly ran off the field to avoid the incoming battle. Sakura and Raphtalia are heard muttering a bit, but both of their voices are being blocked out by the crowd.

"Surrender now, and you won't get the beat down of a lifetime Motoyasu."

"Not a chance. I promise this spear will go through your shoulder. I'll save your heart for last."

The flag hit the ground and Motoyasu immediately started running. Sakura stepped forward, and called the winds to her hand before releasing it.

"[Zweite Sandstorm!]'' The tornado released from Sakura, picked up the sand and dirt in the area, and blew them into a storm. Motoyasu could barely see his surroundings as he tried to fight back the strong winds. Soon enough, the winds stopped, and Motoyasu rubbed the dust out his eyes. But no matter how hard he looked, Naofumi and his party were gone.

The crowd started to cheer for their disqualification as Motoyasu continued to look in confusion, but as soon as they put their guard down, they reappeared. Sakura appeared in front of Malty and kicked her in the face. Sending her far away from Motoyasu. Raphtalia also appeared and stabbed her sword into Motoyasu's shoulder.

Motoyasu yelps in pain at the sudden attack. He attempts to hit Raphtalia with the butt end of his spear, but stops midway through.

"P-please, don't hurt me, spear."

Motoyasu couldn't continue his attack, as he didn't want to hurt the raccoon, but Raphtalia took advantage and stabbed his leg. Another yelp of pain called out as Motoyasu called out to Myne for help, but she herself is having her own situation.

She clashed blades with Sakura who was still disoriented by the hangover. Her first few attacks do well, cutting up Sakura's shoulders and arms. But when she swung a killing blow against Sakura's neck, the bird limboed under the blade and tripped Malty with her foot. Before Malty could hit the ground, she has a fist firmly planting into her nose, sending her flying into the walls of the arena.

"That one… is for Naofumi."

"You damn demi, you dare lay your hands on the princess." Malty raged as blood dripped from her nose.

"Ha, what's a princess to a queen."

"Don't mock me! [Zweite Fire Squall!] Getting back up, Malty released a giant ball of flames into the air. When it got to a certain height, the flames exploded and launched small balls of fire at Sakura.

Sakura jumped away from the flame area and stabbed her sword into the ground, releasing a mist in the area that blinded Malty. When the princess tried to escape, another punch came to her face, but when she struck back, there was no one there.

Then another strike came, this time, hitting her leg, then more and more came as Malty was continually assaulted by this hidden enemy.

"[First wind!]" Malty shouted, clearing the area of fog when she finally got a moment to breathe. As soon as she cleared it, she saw Sakura coming back for another one, so she swung her sword in hopes to catch the bird off guard. But before it can hit, Sakura becomes a blur and completely disappears from sight.

Thinking it's another illusion, she discreetly signaled someone in the crowd to deal with the magic, but she had a voice in her ear.

"It's not an illusion." Getting startled, Malty attempts another killing blow, but before she can even swing, she is kicked in the gut, sending all the wind out of her. But Instead of flying away this time, Malty is held in place by Sakura's wind magic. Malty then looked on in horror as Sakura cracked her knuckles.

The princess gets pummeled by the bird, getting punched and kicked everywhere multiple times, and at the end of the beat down, she is released from her binds and is kicked into the air.

"[Zweite Wild Wind Kick!]" As Malty fell back down to the ground. Sakura leaped into the air, and kicked her in the face with the power of wind. Sending her flying into the stadium wall.

"MALTY!"

"Myne!"

"Pay attention." Raphtalia swung her sword at Motoyasu. The spear hero blocked it with his spear and jumped back, his spear glowing with a red aura.

"Sorry for this, but I have to fight back. [Chaos Spear!]" Motoyasu sends a barrage of spear strikes at Raphtalia, but Naofumi quickly encases her in a shield prison to defend against the attack.

The prison withstood the hit, and when Raphtalia came out, she dashed at Motoyasu.

Motoyasu thrust his spear into Raphtalia's leg, but when it hit, Raphtalia fizzled away.

"An illusion." Motoyasu tried to get in a defensive stance, but the real Raphtalia appeared and punched him in the face, she then followed up by hitting Motoyasu in the head with her sword's which had been scabbard.

But Motoyasu stood tall and attempted to strike back. But a floating green shield blocked his strike.

"Contendent Lesty has been eliminated." Ake yelled. He forced himself onto the platform, and replaced the original knight when he didn't call Lesty out.

"What?" Motoyasu looks behind him, and sees Lesty tied up in a rope on the ground, unable to escape.

"Oh, so you finally noticed."

"You bastard!" Motoyasu ignored Raphtalia and went straight for Naofumi.

"[METEOR THRUST!]" Using one of his strongest skills, Motoyasu thrusted his spear at Naofumi's face. Naofumi raised his shield to block the hit, but it wasn't enough as the spear broke his posture and rams through his chest. A burst of pain runs throughout Naofumi's body. Before he could defend again, Motoyasu's spear came again, and hit him in the face. This one knocked him to the ground.

"NAOFUMI!" Raphtalia attacked from behind to rescue Naofumi, Motoyasu blocked her sword with his spear, and kicked her back. "I don't want to fight you Raphtalia. If you can resist your control for a moment, I can finish off your captor."

"Can you stop being an idiot, and listen for once. I am not being controlled." Raphtalia holds her sword in front of her, as it starts to get enveloped in a light. "You see Sakura do this all the time, just focus." Raphtalia took a deep breath as the energy from her sword glowed brighter and brighter. Motoyasu tried to stop her from whatever she was doing, but Sakura came down from the sky and blocked the strike to knock her out.

"Sakura." Raphtalia swirled her finger, and Sakura nodded.

"Got it." [Haikuikku!]" Sakura disappeared in a blur once more, and forced Motoyasu on the defenses, as he tried to block Sakura's strikes from all sides.

Raphtalia disappeared and started to chant. "As the source of your power, a normal demi human asks of you. Let the way of all things be revealed, and enchant my blade in a heavenly light." Raphtalia rushed forward at Motoyasu who held Sakura on the ground. He prepared his spear for an attack, but Raphtalia started to split into a line of several clones.

"That won't trick me this time, [Chaos spear!]"

"[Fast tornado!]" A gust of wind appears from Sakura's hand, blowing Motoyasu and his skill away from Raphtalia. Her clones all start to circle the spear hero. Not knowing which one is the real one anymore, Motoyasu is forced to guess and stabs at the closest one, but his guess was incorrect. Every Raphtalia started to laugh, and all converged on Motoyasu, but when they all swung their sword, none of them did anything. Confused, he quickly noticed that they were all illusions, and looked around for the real one, but it was already too late. The real Raphtalia reappeared in the sky, having used Sakura's tornado as a boost, and came down with a slash across Motoyasu's chest, she then quickly turned back around followed up with another slash across his chest, leaving a cross of light there.

"[Dreifach Cross Slash!]" The cross of light flared up, sending Motoyasu through excruciating pain.

The crowd that was going wild at Motoyasu's potential victory, suddenly went silent as he fell to the ground. Everyone looked on in shock as the spear hero not only fell to the shield devils party, but also to a filthy raccoon. Outrage surged from the crowd as the knight on the ground was scared to finish the count, but another knight took his place, and announced to the crowd.

"The shield and spear hero have been eliminated. Leaving this match as a 2 vs 1!" Ake announced. This announcement had seemingly calmed down the crowd, as they remembered they still have someone left.

Malty on the other side of the ring had gotten up. Somehow fully healed and with another high quality sword. Sakura, being the only one on the team that's semi- fatigued, immediately went over to clash with the princess.

Malty seemed to be much stronger than before as well, as she is now able to keep up with Sakura's quick speeds, but it isn't enough, as Sakura was also able to compete with her attacks that were going on.

Raphtalia, who was breathing heavily after casting dreifach class magic, looks on as the previously one sided match turned into a clash of equal strength. She was sure that her and Sakura's stat boost were much higher than Mynes, but here she was, competing with Sakura.

"Ms. Raphtalia, the crowd." Ake whispered. Raphtalia nodded and looked into the crowd, and sure enough, there was someone near the gate entrance hidden by illusion magic, currently casting boost magic on Malty.

Finding the cheat. Raphtalia used her last of her energy, and blasted at the wall with a First Holy. Collapsing to the ground as soon as she hit the mage, exposing him to the world.

Everyone ignored the mages existence, but watched on in horror as Malty starts to get over powered by the bird. Getting kicked into the wall, Malty tries to cast another spell, but her mouth is covered by Sakura's hand.

"Want to go for a joyride." Orbs of energy all start to flow into Sakura. Being empowered, Sakura threw Malty into the sky, and jumped after her. As Malty started to fall back down, Sakura drilled her fist into Malty's gut, and grabbed her by her torso.

"[Spiral Strike!]" Spinning faster and faster. The Sakura piledrived Malty into the ground, creating a large cloud of dust that blocked everyone's vision. Leaving the cloud first, Sakura walks out a bit dizzy from the fall, but ultimately was fine. Malty however did not take the fall well, and was immediately rendered unconscious.

The crowd is once again stunned by the display of events. No one in the crowd said a word until Ake grabbed Keel, and made a final declaration.

"By knockout, and cheating on the spear heroes side. The shield heroes team is declared the winner!"

Sakura cheered as the crowd went rabid. Almost everyone calls out that the shield must have cheated as well, and a rematch must be done. The knights did their best to calm the crowd as the medics stormed into the area, and took Motoyasu's team away. Leaving Naofumi and Raphtalia on the ground.

/~/

Kicking open the door. Sakura lays Naofumi and Raphtalia on their respective beds. Ake, who was carrying Keel, placed him with Raphtalia, and immediately started to tend to Naofumi's chest wound.

"Good news, he'll be fine. Just a chest wound, no major organs were damaged."

"Sakura… is… relieved." Sakura immediately fell to the ground, and started to breathe heavily.

"Will you be okay?"

"Sakura… is fine. Just a headache… and…and." Sakura started to snore as she fell asleep.

Ake decided to close the door and sat down in one of the chairs in the room to keep watch of Naofumi.

"Welp. Looks like I'm past the point of no return."

Bonus Story: Duel?

"I challenge you to a puzzle duel Naofumi!"

"You really want to do this. I'll have you know I'm ranked grand master in the puzzle league!" Naofumi emitted a green aura from his body.

"Jokes on you. I'm also a grand master in my respective world's puzzle league!" Motoyasu emitted a red aura from his body. Both of them flaring up as they got closer.

"You're on. Puyo Puyo battle!"

"Tetris Battle!"

Both looked at each other with a blank stare.

"The hell is Puyo Puyo!"

"The hell is Tetris!"