Well.... that was certainly a.... interesting last chapter, to say the very least. Neela made her grand return in the most explosive way possible(pun intended), then her and Ayu had a tearful break up, Ayu went full demon again and de-stroyed Glass, and then everything fell apart from there. I honestly feel like I have no soul after what I did to Ayu. My god, I can't believe I just gave her away to Myne and the king, and now I made them hand her over to a slave lord. What the f*** am I doing!? I wanna die! But, anyways, Ayu is currently on a nice.... "vacation," and will be back in future chapters. For now, we'll see Neela's side of things. Enjoy!

-PoV: Neela-

One day had passed since the wave had ended. And during that time, miss Ayuma did not return. I was so worried for her, not knowing what happened during her fight with that Glass woman. She used her demonic axe again.... I can only imagine what occurred when they clashed. 

Shortly after I left miss Ayuma on the ship to fight, I met with Seamus who had cleared out the remaining monsters in the village. We stayed there until the wave cleared up. We then left and found Naofumi and his party at the base of the mountain. They all looked exhausted from their battle with Glass.

I told him what miss Ayuma told me and he let us stay with them for the time being. We stayed in an inn within Melromarc for the night and the next morning, we would be off on another journey. Naofumi said he was looking to head to another country to use their dragon hourglass to perform class upgrades for himself and his party. 

However, as the morning came around, Naofumi received a summons from the king. He reluctantly agreed to go and discuss with the king but before he left, I asked him if he could ask just one question for me. And that was if my master.... my mother, was alight and safe. He said he'd ask for me as he left and headed off to the castle. 

He was gone for only an hour and he said his negotiations went as he expected. Which meant he and the king were at each others throats again. 

"Hey, Neela. I did ask the king for you, about Ayuma. You may not want to hear what I've been told." He said to me as I felt a heavy sadness grow within my heart. 

"Please, tell me. What has happened to miss Ayuma?" I asked him as he took a very deep breath. 

"The king informed me that she was able withstand the power of Glass and force her to retreat when the wave ended. But, when everything was over, the power from the axe Ayuma was using caused her to suffer from a severe heart attack. She.... passed away shortly after." He explained to me as I began to cry. I walked over to him and I slapped his face. He barely flinched from it though. 

"You're lying! Miss Ayuma will never die! She'll live on and i'll see her again! We'll keep on fighting the waves together!" I shouted to his face as he let out a heavy sigh. 

"Just listen to me! There's even proof that she didn't survive! Here! Take a look for yourself!" Naofumi said as he moved his cloak aside and revealed miss Ayuma's axe which was strapped to his back.

"At first I thought this was some sort of trick or a fake, but after examining it with my status magic, it really is her axe. But even after seeing this, I still didn't want to believe it. I thought they were fooling me and took her prisoner because they said she tried to kill the king before. But they showed me through all of their dungeons, torture chambers, and execution rooms. She wasn't in any of them." Naofumi explained as I collapsed to my knees. 

"No.... this can't be.... it can't..... she's actually..." I began to say as Naofumi crouched down and put his right hand on my shoulder. 

"I'm sorry, Neela. But she really is gone. I'll miss her just as much as you will." Naofumi said as I hugged him. 

"No..... why did it have to be her? Why couldn't it have been me?" I questioned as Naofumi hugged me back. 

"Please, don't blame yourself. She sacrificed herself so that you could live on and keep on fighting. So that all of us could keep moving forward, getting stronger and defeating all of the waves." Naofumi said as we let go of each other. I wiped away the tears and took some shaky deep breaths. 

"Yeah.... you're right. It's what she would want, right? So, let's go. Me and Seamus are gonna stay by your side for now, is that alright?" I asked him as he gave me a nod. 

"Why not just join my party instead? It'll make things easier." Naofumi suggested as I agreed with his idea. Naofumi then used his status magic and registered myself and Seamus as new members of his party.

"Alright, now that that's settled, I think it's time we leave the kingdom. If we make it to one of the other countries, then i'll be able to get you and Seamus some class upgrades as well. We'll become stronger together." Naofumi said as I gave him a smile and a nod. 

The five of us then packed up the carriage with all the supplies we'd need for this journey. Healing potions, food, extra weapons, and so on. Erhard even supplied Raphtalia and Filo with some special orders. Raphtalia obtained a mana sword which is used to slay enemies with no physical body. And Filo received some sort of gloves that would increase the strength of her child form by 10.

Everyone seemed ready to get going so we headed off to the western countries. Our journey would take us over a month but, Erhard says if Filo's pulling our carriage, that we might even get there sooner. That would honestly be pretty nice since that would give us extra time to prepare for the next wave. 

After a few hours of traveling, the sun was just beginning to set. We decided to stop on the side of the road to have dinner. There was a nearby stream that had some fish in it so we would be eating good tonight. Only.... nothing would be the same as miss Ayuma's cooking. I really will miss her. 

I helped Naofumi and Raphtalia prepare dinner as Seamus and Filo helped build a fire to boil some water. But as we were prepping our food, something unexpected occurred. 

"Found you!" A girls voice sounded as we turned and saw a squad of royal knights on horses and a carriage coming up the road. They stopped about 30 feet away from us and two people got out of the carriage. One was a little girl with blue hair and a beautiful looking blue and white dress. The other was an older boy with blonde hair, glasses, a green suit and black pants. 

"Do you know these two?" I asked Raphtalia and Naofumi. 

"Oh, that's right. You were still affected by the death magic when we met these two so I guess you never met them. They're both part of the Melromarc royal family. The little girl is named Melty and her older brother there is Alex." Raphtalia explained to me as they boh walked up to all of us. 

"Sir shield hero, we have a request. Please return to the captial and speak with king Altcray again." Alex asked. 

"Not a chance." Naofumi replied. 

"Please, we want you to apologize for your misconduct and reconcile." Melty said but Naofumi still wasn't budging. 

"Forget it!" He shouted to them. 

"But we need your help, sir hero. With the loss of the axe hero, we can't stop the waves without you. Besides, you'd be nowhere without the king's financial help. Don't you understand?" Melty said to him as Naofumi just began to laugh. 

"What financial help? I'm the one who's graciously working with you guys. Only until all the waves are gone, that is." Naofumi said to them as they both just lowered their heads. 

"Then why.... why do both you and our father have to act this way? It's completely absurd! A hero and a king cannot fight amongst themselves, absolutely not!" Alex said but Naofumi still was not budging.

"Don't you agree with this, Filo? Isn't this silly?" Melty asked her but Filo just looked confused. 

"Look, just apologize to our father, just this once! Otherwise, mother's going to yell at him when she gets back!" Melty explained but Naofumi almost seemed to ignore her. 

"You listen to me when I'm talking to you!" Malty yelled to him but he still seemed to ignore every word she and her brother said. But then he started looking forward, not at Melty or Alex, but past them, at the squad of royal knights. I looked two. They were all gathered together and one of them was holding a viewing type crystal ball. 

And then, one of the knights began to run straight for Melty and Alex. He took out his sword and prepared to attack. 

"Move, now!" I yelled as me and Naofumi pulled the two of them closer to us and blocked the knights sword with our weapons.

"He was trying to murder them both! But.... why!?" I thought to myself as me and Naofumi shoved the knight away. The rest of them except for the one holding the crystal ball then charged, each pulling out their blades and looking to kill each and every one of us.

"Everyone, protect the royals!" Naofumi ordered as the end of my staff burst into flames. 

"Scorching Inferno!" I shouted as I blasted a stream of flames from my staff, drawing a line of fire in the ground that separated us from the knights. 

"That'll give us some distance! Now let 'em have it!" I yelled as I started firing purple beams from my staff. The knights were easy enough to hit, almost like they weren't trying to actually fight us. My attacks weren't that strong either but the knights that I hit began to act like they were dying. 

"Something strange is going on. They're not putting up a fight at all. Why are these knights letting themselves be defeated so easily?" I began to wonder as I lost focus for a second. 

"Watch your right!" I heard Alex yelled as a small mass of silver goo flew past my face. I looked to my right and saw the goo latch onto a night that made his way around to me. 

"Now, harden." Alex said as he clenched his fist, making the goo harden into pure iron and immobilizing the knight. 

"Metal magic, eh? I guess all of the royal family members can use some sort of magic element." I thought as two more magic knights approached me. 

"As source of thy power, I order thee! Decipher the laws of nature and speed up thine's time! Flash Forward!" I said as my body began to glow with a gold outline. The knights went to hit me but all they touched was my afterimage. I rushed directly behind them both and struck them in their heads with my staff. I was able to knock them both out with one shot. 

And right after I KO'd those two knights, I looked around and saw everyone else was finished fighting as well. Even the strange knight that held the crystal ball was defeated. All the knights proceeded to make a full retreat and ran away. I wanted to follow and catch some of them but Naofumi said to just let them go. 

"Mel, are you okay?" Filo asked her as Melty sat on her knees. 

"I don't understand. Why would those knights try to kill you both?" Naofumi asked as Alex walked up to him. 

"I have a theory but this locations isn't exactly ideal for chatting. I believe it would be best for us to find a more..... Hidden location." He said as Naofumi gave him a nod. We all packed up our supplies and got inside the carriage as we took off. 

It took us a few hours but we finally found a dense forest area which just so happened to be near a small village. We hunkered down in the forest for the night, thinking it was safer then trying to stay in the village in case more royal knights roamed through its streets. Raphtalia was sent to scout out the village while we set up camp. She didn't stay out for long though. Raphtalia returned pretty fast and she only carried terrible news. 

"That knight who was holding the crystal ball, he was recording us. He recorded our whole encounter with the knights and they're showing it to people in this village and most likely others now too. And what's worse, they altered the recording, making it seem like we killed all those men, slaying them with every attack." Raphtalia explained. 

"Looks like we can't go into any towns or villages then. It'll be too risky. And, i'm sure this is one of the king's hair brained ideas. And thanks to the stupidity of their father, we're stuck here with nowhere to go." Naofumi said as Melty got up from her seat and faced him. 

"Our father can be behind this!" She shouted. 

"Yeah right. And who else could've ordered something like that?" Naofumi asked. 

"The source of my theory. Our older sister, Malty." Alex said as Naofumijust let out a sigh like he wasn't surprised. 

"So she's trying to kill you both and secure her position as crown princess, is that what you're saying?" Naofumi asked as they both gave him a nod. 

"But I know those knights that attacked us are under the king's direct control. It'd be natural to assume he's in the middle of everything. And if i'm right, those guys, they'd like nothing more than to frame the mythical devil of the shield for this whole thing." Naofumi said which confused me a bit. 

"Devil of the shield? Where's this coming from?" I asked him. 

"One of the knights I fought called me that. Guess I upgraded from being a low-life to the devil now." Naofumi explained. 

"No, our father would never stoop to something so low." Alex said to him. 

"What makes either of you so sure? Honestly, I don't know how any of you can stand up for him. That scumbag." Naofumi said as Melty began to cry. 

"But you're wrong! You're wrong! Why can't either of you understand!? We don't have time to fight each other, there are problems before us we need to solve together! So please, talk to father one more time, I beg you!" Melty pleaded but Naofumi just ignored her and walked away. 

"He's.... he's just going to ignore our pleads?" Melty questioned as she sat down and began to bawl. I walked over and sat down next to her and comforted her. 

"It's okay, it's okay.... it's just that with everything that's happened to him, plus the loss of miss Ayuma, it's taken it's toll on him. On all of us. Just give him some time. Maybe he'll change his mind." I said to her as she stopped crying. 

"I hope you're right. Those two need to work together or this chaos will only continue." Melty said as Naofumi quickly returned, sounding out of breath. 

"We have to leave, right now!" He said as we all became worried. 

"Why!? What's wrong!?" Raphtalia asked him. 

"A squadron of royal knights is headed this way! We're gonna have to leave the carriage and run on foot! Everyone, go now!" Naofumi said as we all got up and ran through the dense forest. 

"I see them! After them!" We heard the knights yelling. They were quickly catching up. They were probably riding horses through the forest. 

After a few minutes of running, we came to a clearing that quickly turned into a dead end. We had to stop as we came face-to-face with a chasm too large for us to cross. But to our left was a path that dropped off and continued deeper into the forest. But before we could start to head in that direction, we were stopped when the knights finally caught up to us. 

"That's it. You've got nowhere left to run." Itsuki said as he and the other two heroes made their way through the crowd of knights. 

"You're surrounded, even you have to know that. Cease your resistance and release princess Melty and Prince Alexander, at once!" Itsuki demanded. 

"What's with this release business? It's not like I have them tied up or anything." Naofumi replied to them. 

"Quit lying to us. We have all the proof we need now." Motoyasu said to him. 

"Please, sir heroes. We're both perfect fine as you can well see. The shield hero kept watch over us, making sure that we were safe." Melty explained to them. 

"Wait a minute. This whole thing is happening because Naofumi abducted you two." Ren said. 

"Look, this is all a misunderstanding. You see, someone is plotting to have us both killed. And so, we asked him to take us with him, to protect our lives. Tell me, what advantage could the shield hero gain by abducting us? The queen told us "this is the time for all of us to work together. It's the only way to thwart the catastrophes." Our world cannot withstand any more of these ridiculous, pointless conflicts. So put your weapons away, please." Alex explained as they all slowly began to lower their weapons. 

"Like they said, this whole thing was a set up from the very beginning. I have no secrets, i'll tell you everything I know. And then if-" Naofumi began to say but someone cut him off. 

"I command you not to listen!" Someone shouted as they made their way through the crowd of knights. 

"That lying devil possesses a brainwashing shield! It allows him to take over your mind by simply talking to you. It's the most dangerous weapon he has!" Myne said as she stood next to Motoyasu. 

"Terrific. Can't we just have one encounter with the other heroes where this scheming bitch doesn't show up?" I thought to myself. 

"What? Who would believe something so stupid and silly?" Raphtalia questioned. 

"The church has discovered that heratics who worship the shield have started popping up all over the kingdom in the past month. The devil of the shield has been going around and is brainwashing the innocent!" Myne explained. 

"Sister, I knew you were crazy but now you have just become plain mad." Alex said to her. 

"Dear brother and sister, you've become such deranged little creatures. It's obvious that the devil of the shield has already brainwashed you." Myne said to us. 

"I see now. That means Raphtalia, Filo and all the others were brainwashed by Naofumi too." Motoyasu said as I raised my staff up. I knew where all this was going. 

"You are mistaken. He hasn't brainwashed any of us and I am certain that he does not possess any such shield of the type." I said to them. 

"If my shield really had the ability to do that, we wouldn't be in this damn situation in the first place." Naofumi explained but the other heroes didn't budge. 

"Do we have a guarantee that it can't? What kind of proof can you give to convince us that you're not lying? So Naofumi, please, hand over the princess and prince, and no one will get hurt. I promise you they won't be harmed in any way." Ren said as I looked to Naofumi. He was clearly thinking about what was being offered. 

"You know, if we can avoid all this fighting, I guess it might be for the best." Naofumi said which surprised me a bit. Would he really give up Melty and Alex so that he could simply run away?

"You are absolutely right, sir Ren. I'm so glad we agree that Melty and Alex's safety come first." Myne said as I saw Melty began to clutch Naofumi's cloak. He noticed too and it was obvious that she did not want to be handed over. Alex took a step back too, now standing behind Naofumi. He wasn't going to be handed over either. 

"No.... If we go.... then we'll be killed." I heard Melty quietly say. 

"Please, sir hero. Please help us." Alex said as Naofumi walked forward a bit. 

"You know, Ren, your offer is generous. But I just do not trust that woman with either the princess or the prince." Naofumi said. 

"What are you suggesting?" Ren asked him. Naofumi then looked to me and Raphtalia and he gave us a nod. We did the same, knowing what he was getting at. 

"What's that devil talking about now? Melty and Alexander are my dearest little brother and sister, I wouldn't dream of anyth-" Myne began to say but Naofumi interrupted her. 

"Come off it, lady! You're not fooling anyone! You wanna be crown princess so badly you'd kill your own brother and sister! You'll say your undoing the brainwashing and then kill them while nobody's looking! I'll bet that exactly what you were planning! So, i'm sorry, but I will not be handing either of them over to you! Neela, now!" Naofumi ordered as I set the end of my staff ablaze. I then created a line of fire in between us and the other heroes. 

"Filo!" Naofumi called out as she changed to her bird form. Thankfully she was large enough for all of us to climb on and we too off. Filo jumped off the cliff, aiming for the path that headed back into the forest. Luckily, it wasn't that far away. 

"Not so fast!" Motoyasu yelled as he threw a cuff at Filo. It latched onto one of her legs and she reverted back to her child form. We all began to fall with everyone but me and Filo landing safely on the path. Me and Filo kept on falling though so I grabbed onto her hand and then jammed an end of my staff into the cliff, slowing our fall. 

"Filo.... you need to climb up me...." I struggled to say as my grip was loosening on my staff. She crawled up me and reached for the edge of the cliff where Naofumi pulled her up. He then reached down and grabbed my hand, pulling me up as well. But in all this time, the other heroes and Myne were able to catch up to us. 

"As source of thy power, I order thee! Decipher the laws of nature..." Melty and Alex began to say as they began to charge up some of their own magic attacks. Melty was making a ball of water in between her hands and Alex took out a small iron ball from his pocket, making it float in midair as he reshaped it. 

"Slice through my target like a blade of water! Pierce my target like an unstoppable arrow! Zweit Aqua Slash! Shining Drill Shot!" They both called out as they launched their attacks. Melty fired a high pressured stream of water and Alex formed his iron ball into an arrow. They both fired at Myne but she was able to dodge their attacks. 

"We won't miss again, dear sister, and you know it. Now, let us go free." Alex said as Myne fired her own magic attack. She launched a large ball of flames at her brother and sister but luckily, Naofumi got in the way and blocked her attack with his shield. 

"Myne, wait a sec! Are you trying to your sister and brother!?" Itsuki questioned her. 

"I have to defend myself since they attacked first! Zweit Hellfire!" Myne yelled as she launched another attack at her brother and sister. But yet again, Naofumi blocked her attack. 

"Naofumi, i'm gonna hold her and the rest of the heroes off. I'll guarantee that we'll all get away safely." I said as Naofumi looked at me with a surprised expression on his face. 

"Are you sure? Can you actually do it?" He asked me as I gave him a nod. 

"Just start running. I'll be right behind you." I said as I began to cast my own spell. 

"As source of thy power, I order thee! Decipher the laws of nature and grant me the power of flight! Tempest Wings!" I called out as two large wings made of wind appeared on my back. 

"Everyone, run! Now!" I said as I took off into the air, heading straight for Myne. 

"You want your brother and sister so badly!? Well you'll have to go through me first!" I said as I fired an enormous channel of flames from my staff at Myne. But before I could strike her, Ren got in the way and slashed right through my flames. I landed in front of him and we clashed weapons. 

"Why do you follow this insane woman? She's obviously trying to kill her brother and sister. You saw it yourself just now." I said to him as I shoved him away. 

"She wasn't trying to actually hit them. She purposely aimed at them because she knew Naofumi or one of you would defend them and possibly become injured. Now, step aside and let us pass." Ren said but I didn't budge. 

"Tell me..... When the second wave ended..... did you try and save miss Ayuma before she died?" I asked all the heroes as they became confused. 

"Try and save her? You kidding!? She became a monster even more dangerous than that Glass lady. She went insane if she didn't die after the wave, she might've killed us too." Motoyasu explained to me as I clutched my weapon in my hands. 

"I see..... so then I will do to you as you all did to her. Show no mercy!" I shouted as I fired off a lightning bolt, aiming it at Ren. 

"It's no use! Thunderbolt slash!" He yelled as his sword began to produce electricity through it. He slashed through my attack and cut my staff in two. It was useless now. 

"Give up, now! You're defenseless." Ren said as he held his weapon up to my neck. But I reached up and grabbed the blade, feeling it tear into the skin of my hand. 

"Miss Ayuma was a brave woman who gave up everything just to be with the ones she cared about. And because of that, she had to work so much harder than all of you. I trained with her, day and night endlessly. If I was restricted to only using magic through that staff, then I would've been of no use to her at all!" I explained as my hands burst into flames. 

"Form of the fire fist! Ignite!" I shouted as I pulled on Ren's sword, bringing him close enough to me so I could punch him in the face. He fell backwards a few feet away and Motoyasu came after me next. 

"Miss Ayuma despised you the most out of any of the other heroes. I will deal with you in a way that would make her proud." I said as I reached my right hand straight up into the sky. 

"As source of thy power, I order thee! Decipher the laws of nature and grant me the strength of the thunder god himself! Heaven's Bolt Blade!" I cried as lightning came down and struck my hand. It formed into a sword and I used it to attack Motoyasu. We clashed weapons and entered a shoving match which he was winning.

"You're just as crazy as she was! Maybe I should rejoin you two!" Motoyasu said as he was pushing me near the edge of the cliff. 

"Like hell you will! I'll keep her legacy alive! Nothing's gonna stop me! Not you! Not the other heroes! Not even the entire royal army!" I shouted as I spit into his eyes. I blinded him for the moment as he stepped back a bit. 

"Now take this!" I roared as I stabbed him with my lightning sword. He was electrocuted and sent flying backwards. However, if was far from enough to kill him and he was slowly getting back onto his feet like Ren was. 

"Looks like it's my turn next." Itsuki said as I turned to see him drawing back an arrow, aiming it at me. 

"The only other hero miss Ayuma didn't really have anything against. I will let you off easy, so long as you withdraw your arrow." I said to him as he fired at me. I dodged to my left as his arrow flew threw my hair. 

"A sad mistake you have just made. I gave you my mercy, but now, just like the others, it's run out. Before me and miss Ayuma parted ways for the final time on that ship, she gave me a gift. Sometime before, she used that demonic power to defeat an undead dragon, but I was caught in the crossfire and was effected by her magic. It put me into a state of death but she was able to heal me. However, when I was struck by her magic, it also gave me something. A piece of her strongest ability. And now, you will all feel it's destructive nature." I said as my hands ignited into black flames.

"Deathly Black Light!" I said as I launched a black fireball from my hands at Itsuki. He rolled out of the way and fired another arrow at me. But I simply reached one of my hands up to block it. The instant his arrow touched the black fire, it burned away into ashes.

"Your attempts to stop me is now useless. But I do not wish to harm any of you. Except...." I began to say as I turned to face Myne. 

"....You!" I said as I began to march over to her. 

"Stay away from me you witch of a demi-human! Zweit Fire Arrow!" She shouted as she fired a flaming arrow from her hands. But I countered by using my magic to freeze the arrow in midair. 

"Have you forgotten already, you bitch? I have the abilities of pyromancy as well. Your magic is useless against me." I said as my black flames formed around her arrow, turning it to ashes. 

"No, please! Stay away from me!" Myne said as she started walking backwards. But she fell over and allowed me to walk right up to her. I extinguished the black flames on my hands and held up my right hand in the air, making a fist. 

"Miss Ayuma hated you the most out of anyone. She wanted nothing more but to punch you just once in the face. But..... I am not miss Ayuma." I said as I threw a punch at Myne's face. She closed her eyes in fear but I stopped mere inches before I made contact. She opened her eyes and looked confused as I opened up my hand and touched her forehead with my index finger. 

"You're lucky she taught me not to kill." I said as I backed away from Myne. She stood up and regrouped with the other heroes. 

"That was a big mistake, letting me go! You still have yet to defeat me, the other heroes and our entire squadron of knights!" Myne said as I began to smile and giggle. 

"I won't have to. Because you're about to let me go. You're gonna let all of us go." I said as Myne just began to laugh. 

"And why would I just let you go when you have my brother and sister?" She asked me. 

"Because if you follow us.... then you'll die." I explained as she began to look afraid. 

"Before when I touched your forehead, I imbued you with an explosion spell. So, if you choose to follow us, i'll set it off and then that's bye, bye Myne." I explained as Motoyasu stepped forward and held his spear up to me. 

"You're lying. You're not capable of such a spell." He said to me as I raised my right index finger up and created tiny explosions from it. 

"Try me." I said to him as he lowered his weapon. 

"That's what I thought. When i'm far enough, i'll release you from the spell. If I see any sign that you're following us, i'll end your life with a simple snap, got it?" I said as Myne gave me a nod. 

"Sorry, I didn't hear that. Care to say it a little louder?" I said to her as she clenched her fists. 

"Fine! We promise we will not follow you, okay!?" She said as I nodded. 

"That's just what I like to hear. Now, goodbye." I said as I took off down the path, hoping I could find Naofumi and everyone else quickly. I took a look behind me as I was leaving to see if anyone was coming after me. But they all remained still. My bluff worked.