Things were far from ideal.
For several days straight now, Naofumi and his party had been constantly on the move, running across all of Melromarc. The Church had made its move — officially branding him an enemy of the entire country.
First came a slew of minor, fabricated accusations. Then a direct confrontation with the king. And a few days later, a kingdom-wide broadcast — recorded via a special artifact — showing the "Demon of the Shield attacking the King of Melromarc."
How am I even supposed to attack anyone? This is insane! Naofumi fumed to himself.
Even now, at level 51, it still took him a few minutes to beat a miserable Yellow Ball — the weakest monster in the kingdom. And with stats like that, he was supposed to be a threat to the king?
When he first heard about the Shield Hero's status in the demi-human countries, Naofumi decided to head there. But of course, he wasn't the only one aware of that little fact — so the borders with Siltvelt and Shieldfreeden were now more heavily guarded than anywhere else. No one wanted to let the Shield Hero slip out of Melromarc.
Through sheer effort — and with help from a few old allies he'd once saved — Naofumi finally managed to cross the border and reach the outskirts of Zeltoble.
And just when he thought the worst was behind him, just when he was starting to settle into this new city… he saw that.
BOOOOOM
Deep in the poorest district of the country, Naofumi became one of many witnesses to the explosion — a blast of golden light that lit up the slums.
As usual, he loudly voiced his desire to stay the hell out of anything that didn't concern him. But in the end… the Shield Hero ran toward the epicenter anyway. This time, the excuse he gave himself was "maybe I can sell some potions to the injured."
But everyone around him already knew — that was just a mask. A hollow excuse.
"Naofumi-sama, that's…" Raphtalia stared wide-eyed at the scene unfolding before them — at the figure standing at its center.
"Yeah… but what's he doing here? And who the hell is that with him?"
By the time Naofumi's party reached the scene, they found Nott already on the ground, burns covering his entire body, shielding two girls behind him. One of them was familiar — Night, a Filolial just like Filo, though for some reason also in human form. But the second one… a blue-haired girl… was a stranger.
Nott noticed their arrival but didn't seem to care much. And from that moment on, everything began spiraling out of control.
It started with what looked like an ordinary wooden box. But what was inside…
"Oh…" Raphtalia clapped one hand over her mouth and reached out with the other to shield Filo's eyes, making sure the girl couldn't get a good look at what the Archbishop had just dumped from the box.
"This is… awful."
But the one who reacted the strongest was Nott.
The moment he saw the young girl's severed head roll out of the box, he froze. Completely. His eyes went glassy, unmoving, fixed on that head rolling across the ground.
And the Shield Hero felt a chill crawl up his spine.
"Nott?"
"Master?"
And it wasn't just him. Night's normally emotionless face was now drawn with clear concern. She grabbed at the Scythe Hero's clothes, tugging — but there was no response.
"This is your fault. Her blood is on your hands. Repent, Demon," the Archbishop sneered, still pressing his advantage.
And that's supposed to be a man of God? What filth…
"Naofumi-sama," Raphtalia called out suddenly.
"Hm?"
"Something… something's wrong."
There was a strange look on her face. Alarmed, not entirely conscious of her own actions, she had drawn her sword and was holding it out defensively. Her raccoon-like tail was puffed up, standing rigid.
Naofumi glanced at Filo. Even she looked unusually serious — though not quite ready to fight.
"What the hell is—" he started, but his words were cut off by a sudden breath.
"Ha-a-a..." A blissful sigh, like that of a wanderer in the desert finally tasting water. "Yeah... It's about time you all died. Okay?" Nott smiled, threw his head back, and ran a hand through his hair.
And then—
SHLCK
With the sound of tearing flesh, black horns slowly pierced through the skin of his forehead, streaks of blood running down his face. Nott, however, didn't even flinch.
"A d-demon… I was right! The Scythe Hero really is a demon! Hahahaha!" the old Archbishop laughed loudly, his eyes wide as he watched the scene.
"Yeah, old man. This time, you were unlucky enough to be right," Nott stretched out his hand, and a moment later, the Scythe formed in it — similar to the one he usually wielded, but this one… looked far more sinister. "Well then, time to die," the Scythe Hero grinned again — and vanished.
"You won't get away, Demon!" The Legendary Bow replica in the Archbishop's hands began to glow again as the string pulled taut, forming an arrow.
As for the Scythe Hero — he was found thanks to the screams of pain erupting from a completely different direction.
"A-a-aah!"
"Save us, Your Eminence!"
"Punish the Demon!"
The Archbishop, watching as his followers were cut to pieces one by one, simply scoffed.
"Hmph. Demons are deceitful. The Lord shall grant you all salvation," he said, laughing as he loosed the glowing arrow.
"What the hell?!"
As it flew, the radiant arrow swelled in size, threatening to wipe out not only the Scythe Hero, but all the nearby clergy as well. Not that the Archbishop seemed to care.
"You bastard! You're even killing your own people?!" Naofumi shouted, leaping in front of the arrow and surrounding himself with a wall of shields and barriers to absorb the hit. Even so — "Ghh!"
The impact was so strong that even the Shield Hero barely managed to withstand it. One by one, the barriers in the arrow's path were shattered, eventually collapsing entirely. But they'd done their job — at least partially. The damage Naofumi took in the end was drastically reduced, allowing him not only to stay on his feet, but even come out of it relatively unscathed.
"Tch. I was hoping to rid this world of both of you at once. But enough games — begin the Recital of Judgment!"
"Yes, Your Eminence!"
All the church clergy simultaneously pressed their palms together and began chanting some kind of spell, instantly giving Naofumi a bad feeling.
"Nott! We have to stop them!"
"Stay out of this, Shield," Nott snapped, snapping a priest's neck with one hand and shooting a scornful glance at him. "Just stand aside. I'll handle this myself."
"Are you insane?! There are nearly a hundred of them — they'll overwhelm you!"
"Don't make me repeat myself, Shield Hero," his smile faded this time, replaced with clear irritation. "Stay out of it, or you'll die too. They… haven't suffered enough yet."
"You're insane. Did those horns grow straight through your brain?"
But Nott didn't respond anymore. He simply kept cutting down every priest who got in his way, wielding a pair of strange one-handed scythes. Naofumi didn't even know it was possible to dual-wield Legendary Weapons…
Some were killed instantly. Others had their limbs sliced off. A few were crippled with bare hands before being finished off. No one was left alive.
"Hey, Shield Hero!" Pale and clearly shaken by the bloodshed, but managing to regain her composure, the princess of Melromarc raised her voice. "That's a replica of a Legendary Weapon!" she pointed directly at the bow in the Archbishop's hands. "It doesn't have the full power of the original, and every attack costs a ton of energy! He can't keep firing like that forever!"
"A replica?" Naofumi stared at the weapon in disbelief. "But it pierces all my shields like nothing!"
"Tch. I didn't want to waste too much energy, but it seems I'll have to show you the true power of a Legendary Weapon! Witness, Demon, the wrath of God!"
The bow in the Archbishop's hands lit up once more — and behind him, a whole array of bows appeared, each glowing with a different hue, reflecting the wide variety of skills being summoned.
"You've got to be kidding me…"
"Naofumi-sama! This isn't the time to be surprised!" Raftalia shouted as she deflected an incoming strike from one of the church followers.
"Masterrrr, that attack looks super scary!" Filo added while kicking away another wave of enemies closing in on them.
"Damn it! Raftalia, Filo, stop that old man! I'll take care of the defense!" Realizing there was no relying on the Scythe Hero, Naofumi jumped into action himself.
"Understood!"
Both of his allies immediately dashed toward the Archbishop — who only responded with a smug grin.
"Scattering like ants… makes it harder to crush you all at once."
Naofumi abandoned all further preparations and rushed forward, gathering every defensive skill he knew and layering them above his head as he ran.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that blue-haired girl still standing within the blast zone. But the man who'd been with her wasn't doing anything to help. Just watching.
"Damn it!" Cursing internally, Naofumi scooped her up mid-sprint and activated every defensive skill he had, shielding his entire party with a glowing dome of protection.
And then—
A blinding flash of light engulfed them.
"Behold, cursed Demons, the might of Holy Judgment! The power of all true believers of our Lord!"
The massive spell slammed down on the Shield Hero, pinning him to the ground. He could feel the heat searing his skin, his lungs choking on molten air. His arms felt like they were being roasted alive. But… barely — just barely — he managed to survive the attack again.
"Hm? As expected of the Demon of the Shield… to survive even the Judgment spell. But this is the end," the Archbishop sneered as the wall of Bows behind him completed charging its next attack.
"Damn… most of my skills are still on cooldown. Can I survive another hit like that? No… there's still one last option."
There was no time left. It was all or nothing now. His final trump card — the one he'd sworn not to use ever again after the first time. But now… he had no other choice.
"Raftalia."
"Naofumi-sama?" She looked at him, immediately understanding. "I understand. But please… come back."
"Yeah."
Focusing his power and placing a hand on his Shield, Naofumi suddenly began to transform. His armor took on a more aggressive shape, and the Shield itself sharpened, wreathed in black flames that scorched the air around him. Knowing what might come next, Raftalia had already pulled the blue-haired girl — whom Naofumi had just shielded — to a safer distance.
Melty, completely lost at this point, no longer even tried to resist.
Raftalia, still eyeing the raging Scythe Hero with concern, took a deep breath and turned back. She gently placed her hand over Naofumi's.
"I'm starting."
"Yeah!"
"I have passed judgment, and the name of divine punishment for this worthless sinner shall be wails, fit only for a sacrifice unto the God!'" the Shield Hero began to chant, but—
"I told you, Naofumi — stay out of this." A kick slammed into Naofumi's side with such force that even the Judgment spell seemed tame in comparison.
"Ghagh!" The air was knocked out of him as he was sent flying, tumbling across the ground.
"Master!"
"Naofumi-sama!" Filo and Raftalia shouted in unison. "What's gotten into you, Nott-sama?!"
"I warned him." The Scythe Hero only shrugged with indifference, not even glancing toward his former comrade.
"Pwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!" the Archbishop burst into laughter. "Demons can't even work together! As expected from such sinful creatures! Taste the judgment of our Lord, Demon!"
"Oh no…"
The attack the Archbishop had spent so long preparing was ready. With a blinding flash, each of the conjured Bows fired its own elemental skill, forming a storm of magic.
But the Scythe Hero's expression didn't change in the slightest. Still wearing that carefree smile, he dropped low to the ground, one hand planted in the dirt. With his other, he drew his Scythe back behind him — and as the storm of glowing arrows tore through the air toward him—
"Reaper Stance: Crimson Dawn."
For a heartbeat, it felt like the very sky turned blood-red. A flash, no more than an instant — but in that instant, the world itself seemed to shift. Raftalia blinked once… and the illusion vanished.
The Scythe Hero had disappeared, only to reappear a split second later in a crouch, right in front of the Archbishop.
And the dozens of flaming arrows that had been screaming toward him — simply dissolved into shimmering mist.
"What? Just like that… you nullified an attack from my Divine Weapon?"
"Oh, you've got such a hilarious look on your face, old man. Makes me want to stare at it a little longer…"
The Archbishop's expression at that moment was one of sheer shock and disbelief. It was as if a veil had suddenly lifted from his eyes. Looking straight ahead, he finally saw… a demon. The very same one he had hunted, the one he had sicced others on. And yet… only now did realization dawn.
Deathly pale skin. Deep violet eyes. A grin lined with pointed fangs. Black horns sprouting from his forehead, with dried streaks of blood trailing down from the base.
"You vile demon… The Lord's power will shield me from your Evil!" The old man jumped back and switched weapons to a sword, immediately driving it into the ground. "Face it, wretched spawn — the power of God!"
The earth split open at once, spewing up streams of molten lava. If not for the relatively small scale, one might've truly mistaken this attack for divine wrath. And yet—
"You foolish, foolish old man. Ice Field."
With a stomp, a wave of cold burst outward from the Scythe Hero, instantly freezing every drop of emerging magma. Absurd as it seemed, such was the difference in power between a fake and a true Legendary Weapon.
"No… This can't be happening!" Once again switching weapons — as if that could change anything — the Archbishop lashed out with a spear, launching a thin golden beam of light toward Nott.
"That won't work either," Nott said, still smiling like a parent humoring a child lost in their own little game. He sank into a low stance, close to the ground. "Reaper Stance: Lunar Glint."
A blazing vertical slash shot forth as his scythe shifted form into something akin to a spear, cleaving straight through the oncoming attack.
"Impossible… That's just not possible! One more—"
"Enough. I'm getting tired of this. Time to play a different game."
"Stay back, demon! Come on, someone support me—"
But the moment he turned toward what he believed to be his remaining forces, he saw the truth: no one was left. Only streaks of blood smeared across the ground in one area — and a heap of corpses in another.
"They gave a pretty good yield of experience. The harvest went well, huh?"
And only now did the Archbishop begin to feel real fear.
"So then… shall we start with the legs?"
"W-what are you—"
The Scythe Demon vanished from his sight. And then the clergyman realized… he was falling.
'What?' flashed through his mind as the only coherent thought before his consciousness drowned in agony.
A scream rang out. His eyes caught sight of his own legs, lying some distance away from the rest of him.
"AGHH-AAAH!"
"Come on now, it's only just beginning, Your Excellency. Where do you think you're going?" Still wearing that same 'cheerful' smile, the Scythe Hero pinned both of the old man's palms to the ground with his twin scythes, drawing another howl of pain.
"Stop it, Nott!" Naofumi, now back on his feet and mostly recovered, raised his shield. "Shield Prison!" A protective cocoon formed around the Scythe Hero, cutting him off from the man below.
But a second later, a dispassionate voice came from within the barrier.
"Ice Shards."
The barrier burst open with a bloom of ice spears erupting from the ground, spreading outward like a flower in full bloom, encircling the one who had summoned them.
"I warned you, Naofumi." Standing nearby, Raphtalia noticed how different Nott's voice became when addressing Naofumi.
'But… why? Did that incident during the Wave really affect him that much?'
The Scythe Hero had played a part, albeit a smaller one than the Shield Hero, in Raphtalia's growth and upbringing. For a little girl who had so recently been a slave, even the smallest kindness had felt like an ocean.
And that was exactly why the images of the past and the present refused to fit together in her mind. But what happened next...
"Don't go anywhere, alright? I'll be quick." Yanking the scythes out of the Archbishop's hands, drawing yet another scream, Nott turned toward Naofumi. "Well then, I guess I'll have to push myself a little, but this world can handle the loss of one Hero. Die, Shield Hero."
"What are you—ggh!" The Shield Hero barely got a word out before he spat out all the air from his lungs — this time mixed with blood.
Right in front of Raphtalia, and with Filo screaming somewhere in the background, Nott was seriously trying to kill the Shield Hero.
Clenching her teeth, Raphtalia forced herself to act. Rising to her feet, she drew one of the swords gifted to her by Uncle Weapon Shop - an edgeless sword.
Its function wasn't meant to inflict real physical harm, making it perfect for Raphtalia, who even now didn't want to truly hurt the now-hostile Scythe Hero.
Gathering strength in her legs, she launched into an attack aimed straight at Nott's back. He didn't react at all. But then—
"What?! Kha!" She was knocked aside, coughing from a blow to her ribs.
Lifting her head, Raphtalia's face twisted in shock when she saw who had struck her—someone she hadn't expected at all. Someone she'd already forgotten…
Standing there, just behind Nott, was a small girl - maybe a little taller than Filo - with black hair and an utterly blank expression.
"N-Night?"
Saying nothing, Night looked at her master for only a brief moment, then assumed a battle stance, ready to fight.
Watching the whole scene unfold, the Scythe Hero's grin returned.