Not far from the Checkpoint, Naofumi and his party were transported there by Fitoria, the current Fiolial queen. A few days prior, Naofumi and the others had quite the experience. They were running from Myne and the other heroes, encountered a person who caused great trouble to Raphtalia in her past, also fighting a dragon that the previous Heroes sealed away, and that led them to Fitoria.

During their time with Fitoria, Filo had peaked the interest of the Fiolial Queen, and after a battle, she determined that Filo was fit to become the next Fiolial Queen, so she made her the heir to it. That process involved giving Filo a cowlick, which she despised. Everyone else thought it looked cute on her, but with her being navie and stubborn, which was traits that resembled someone she knew, she continued to pull the piece of hair off.

"So a hero is nearby?" Naofumi asked Fitoria, she had mentioned earlier that she was transport them to a place near a hero, so Naofumi could try to get everyone on the same page again.

"Yes, I must leave now, remember your promise Shield Hero. If one hero dies, then fighting the wave becomes near impossible." She then vanished right in front of their eyes.

"Couldn't have told us which hero it was?" Naofumi sighed. "Come on, let's head for the checkpoint. If it is Ren or Itsuki, then maybe we have a good chance of getting through to either one of them"

At the checkpoint, there were multiple soldiers across the walk away of the wall. One of them was looking out into the distance and noticed some movement. He did his best to narrow his vision down. He gasped in disbelief in what he saw coming over the hill, so he quickly ran to let the hero know who was coming.

Naofumi and everyone else were pretty close to the checkpoint. He had his eyes fixated on the entrance at the checkpoint. Raphtalia and Melty looked at the shield hero in worry, but they trusted him with what he chooses to do. The only other person they could trust in this situation would be Y/n, and all them had him and his party in their prayers.

Upon arriving to the checkpoint, Naofumi was met by no other than Motoyasu, the Spear hero. A mental groan ran through Naofumi's mind, but he needed to make him listen. So, Naofumi got off the carriage, that was given by Fitoria, and headed to speak with Motoyasu.

"Motoyasu, let us through, I wish to not fight you." Naofumi stated. Motoyasu clenched his spear in anger.

"Is that all you have to say?"

"Huh?" Naofumi was confused. He didn't know what Motoyasu was talking about.

"Is that all you have to say?!? Traitor!" Motoyasu yelled and darted at Naofumi, attacking the shield hero. "Devil of the Shield!" He tried to use more force, but Naofumi held his ground.

"Wait a minute Motoyasu. Let's talk through this!" Naofumi pleaded. 'He's really trying to kill me' He thought while defending himself.

"Master Naofumi!" Raphtalia yelled with worry filling her voice. Naofumi put a hand up to signal that everything was okay so far.

"Why should I listen to you!?! You and that brain washing shield!?! After what you did to Ren, Itsuki, and even Y/n! You tricked us! You said that we needed to work together and you betrayed us!" Motoyasu yelled while continuing his attack. Naofumi tried his best to talk while blocking his attacks.

"What are you talking Motoyasu!?"

"You're even more heartless than I thought! Pitiful! I finally know my reason why I was summoned here. It is to defeat you once and for all, MURDER!" Motoyasu yelled, this caused Naofumi and his party to stare in shock. Naofumi was able to force him off and create see distance between the two.

"Murder? Ren, Itsuki, and Y/n are dead?" Melty covered her mouth in shock and fear. "No, how could this be?"

"No... The other heroes, Sistine, Toothless..." Raphtalia muttered thinking about the others.

Naofumi initial shock started to settle down a bit, once he started to think about it more. "Okay Motoyasu, I need you to really listen to me here"

"Why should I?" Motoyasu retorted back while preparing to attack Naofumi once again.

"Let me ask you this, did you see the bodies yourself Motoyasu?" Naofumi asked him, this made Motoyasu actually think.

"N-no, I didn't" he muttered out.

"Okay, so if you didn't see them, then why should you believe they are dead?" Naofumi continued, he began to think he could get somewhere with him now, but that all changed when someone else had made their presence.

"Because a reliable source from the church saw their bodies. All signs pointed that you, The Devil of the Shield, killed the other heroes." Princess Myne answered while her and the other party members of the Spear Hero stood behind him in support.

"Well damn, this just made everything more difficult" Naofumi muttered.

As the trio made their way to the current location of the Queen, they passed many soldiers on the way there. It wasn't too far from where Y/n almost lost his life along with Ren and Itsuki, but after a few minutes, they found their way to a hillside that had multiple tents set up. A symbol to show that these people were getting ready for war.

"Follow me, her majesty is up this way" the shadow gestured to you three.

"Well I'll be damned, she didn't say 'I dare say" Y/n talked to himself. Sistine overheard him and had a small laugh escape her body.

"Is there a problem? I dare say" The Shadow asked.

"Shietttttttt. I thought we were getting somewhere too with this 'I dare say" Y/n groaned at the Shadow's reply. The Shadow looked at him for a few seconds, but decided to not continue on with that conversation. She quickly turned around and continued to lead the way to the Queen.

"Maybe she got the hint" Y/n whispered to Sistine. She rolled her eyes at the Cowboy.

"Don't be mean"

"It's just annoying at times. That's all" Y/n continued on. He then started to notice a few soldiers giving him a salute, he waved them off though, he wasn't the person to revive that gesture.

"No reason for that, unless you want to clean my boots off, then I'll make that exception." He joked with them. They didn't know how to answer that, they gave the Gunslinger a look a bewilderment. Toothless decided to scare them as well, he walked over to them and gave them a playful smile, but quickly showed his teeth, causing them to jump back.

"Sheesh, get the stick outta your ass will ya?" Y/n sighed, he whistled for the dragon to return to their side. Sistine heard this and hit his arm.

"I said don't be mean! I'm even more surprised that you're acting this way, what happened to the act from earlier?" She questioned.

"Can't say no to the Queen" Y/n mumbled lowly, "Act all tough and mighty, but at the end of the day, probably wouldn't be where I am if she hasn't helped me from the get go with the money. Plus, maybe she'll tell me I don't have hold back on the Pope and her daughter"

"Wait... You're planning to kill them?" Sistine asked, she was starting to get worried about Y/n, so was Toothless.

"They're no better than that damn Gaku, they tried to kill us, they're still trying to kill us. So, better to end the problem before it gets worse." Y/n narrowed his eyes.

"Y/n..." Sistine started to speak, her memory of seeing him hurt after his fight against Gaku started to flood her mind. She didn't see it completely, but Y/n was injured badly, and she never wanted to see that again.

"Yes sweetheart?"

Sistine's face redden hearing that, "you know this battle is nothing like the one with Gaku, right?"

"Yeah, that's pretty obvious."

"Well," she hesitated, "with that powerful weapon, do you think you can kill the pope still?"

"Darlin, he'll never see it coming" Y/n answered confidently. He was going to continue, but the shadow interrupted the conversation.

"We are here, I dare say. Her majesty already requested a private conversation with you, alone" she pointed at the entrance to the tent.

"You and that damn, "I dare say", Y/n huffed while he walked into the tent. He was quickly met by assistants putting armor on the Queen. They were almost finished already, putting on the chest plate was the final piece and checking things over with her armor. The armor protecting her arms, chest, hips and shins. It also had a purple fabric that resembled a dress on the lower part of the armor. There were Ruby gems on the armor as well, two on the knee caps and wrist guards, three going in a straight line from her chest. It was the same Ruby that was on her crown and necklace.

'Aint gonna deny, she looks very pretty' Y/n thought while staring at the Queen.

"Y/n Black, I'm very grateful that you're still alive"

"Yeah, s'pose I need to thank you once again." Y/n sighed.

"No need to. This wouldn't have happened if I returned quicker, but unfortunately we are in this situation now." She held her head in disappointment.

"I like to say, shit happens. They're evil bastards out there in every world; yours, mine, the other heroes, and so on. I didn't have the ability to fix that in my world, but I do have that ability now."

That statement caused the Queen to smile again, she rose her head and turned to the Gunslinger. "Well, with you saying that, it makes me even more grateful that it was you who was summoned. Y/n, we will get through this and I will restore order to Melromarc when this is over with. The crimes of the Pope with the Three Heroes Church and Malty S. Melromarc against you and the Shield Hero, as well as the effort to kill the others, will be atoned."

"Well that can't happen unless I start heading there now." Y/n answered quickly. He was waiting for her to say one specific sentence then he was on his way to help the others.

"Before you leave, I have a request" she look at the Gunslinger in his eyes. It was clearly a hard question to ask because in this moment, she was being a mother and not the Queen.

"Yes ma'am"

"I ask you to spare my daughter's life. This is a request from me being her mother, not the Queen. I would like to handle matters with her myself. As for the Pope, that can be your decision"

"Well, I'll tell you right now that the bastard doesn't deserve to live. If he is doing this in all of the act of God, might as well send him to his maker" Y/n replied while walking towards the opening of the tent.

"I see" Mirellia understood his answer. "I will be there as quickly as possible. Please, keep the heroes safe, if any of them dies, the Wave becomes near impossible to defeat."

"Well, as long as Motoyasu doesn't say anything stupid to me, I'll do just that. They're waiting for your orders, your majesty" Y/n replied walking out of the tent.

"Please, be safe Y/n. You're more needed than you think. Don't do anything irrational" Mirellia sighed and grabbed her crown. She put it on and adjusted it to the comfortable fit. She then took a deep breath and walked towards the opening of the tent. Entering the view of every solider and shadow, they all have a salute or kneeled for her. They all were awaiting her command.

"Today we go to war against Pope Biscas T. Balmus and the three heroes church. He is a traitor to our country and we will put an end to him and his followers. We leave immediately, cavalry head out!" She ordered the soldiers they all saluted once more and began to head to the battle.

"Your majesty, are you ready?" One of her shadows asked.

"Yes, we need to get there as soon as possible" she answered. She then turned and looked to the sky and thought to herself once last thing before heading to the checkpoint herself,

'Shield Hero, please stay alive long enough for Y/n to get there. I will be there as soon as I can.'

After taking a huge attack from the Pope. Naofumi and his party, along with Motoyasu and his group, found themselves in a crater that was caused by the attack. Thus giving the Pope the high ground

While the plan was revealed to Naofumi that everything was being set up, Motoyasu leanred that Myne was playing him all along. Unfortunately for his stubbornness, he still refused to listen to that at the moment.

Motoyasu fired off a powerful attack, that was a combination spell from his party, at the Pope, in hopes of defeating him, but to his surprise, it was blocked by a defense spell. After witnessing the capability of the power, an explanation was made from Melty about the replica weapon, Naofumi began to think of strategies on how to beat it once he understood more of it.

"Such foolishness, you're a false hero! You will be killed alongside the Devil of the Shield!" Balmus yelled at the group. He then sent another attack at them, but was deflected by Naofumi's shield.

"Don't you know that the waves are basically impossible when a cardinal hero is killed?!?" Naofumi yelled at the Pope.

"We shall summon new ones when you are all killed. And the only person to blame is you, Devil of the Shield. Once we do that and overthrow the Queen! This country will have righteousness order!"

"This isn't good, they have an endless pool of mana powering that weapon. There has to be a way to defeat him" Naofumi muttered. While he was thinking of a plan, two familiar attacks came into the area.

"Meteor Shot!"

"Hundred Swords!"

A combination of the attacks went straight for the Pope, he quickly formed a barrier. The barrier was able to withstand most of the attack, but it ended up breaking and causing a recoil to knock the pope down to one knee.

"Your holiness!" One of the followers came to his side to help him to his feet again.

"Looks like we got here just in time" Ituski stated, he and Ren were on top of the terrain on the other side of the crater. They jumped off the edge and slid down the terrain. They both quickly made their way over to the others.

"Ren, Itsuki.. you're alive!?" Motoyasu was stunned. So was Naofumi, but he started to think that there was a better chance that Y/n was still alive.

"Yes" Ren answered Motoyasu.

"I thought you guys were dead!?!"

"Well, we almost were. Things happened and that's it" Ren continued on.

"What exactly happened?"

"Well," Ren started, "Itsuki and myself had suspicions about the Church, ended up teaming up with Y/n"

"So... He's alive?" Naofumi interrupted him.

"Yes, though we don't know what he did after we headed here. He's either shortly behind us or just bailed out on us"

"No he wouldn't do that" Naofumi replied, "I personally asked him to look into all of this, no way he would betray us like this. He'll be here."

"Anyways, we found a secret file that led us to a shrine of the replica, turned out to be a fake. It was all a trap set up by the Three Heroes Church, luckily we were saved"

"We were saved by these people called the Shadows, they were working for the Queen" Itsuki added. "We know now that you were framed Naofumi." He then turned to the Pope, "The Queen is heading here with reinforcements, so you all should surrender now! You're a traitor to the country!"

That statement made all of the followers behind Pope Balmus start to fear that they will lose this battle now. The Pope began to explain this is what they signed up for and if they don't end this now, this act for God will be a disgrace to them all.

"Dedicate half the mana to a force field and the other to the weapon" he commanded one of his followers.

"Sir, if we do that, it will take much longer to power the weapon and we are losing people. Lives are at stake now sir!"

"Do you not follow the will of God? This is all for him and you're questioning everything we are doing for him!?!" The Pope replied back with annoyance in his tone. The follower hung his head low to that.

"No sir I am not questioning, it's all for the sake of our Lord and savior"

"Good, now it looks like they're wasting time, enough for us to power this weapon" the Pope prepared to launch another attack.

"Right" the follower answered, he then turned to the group of people and began to command them to make half the people use their magic for making a barrier and the others to provide aid to the weapon.

While that was happening, Naofumi was hearing out the other heroes. They weren't apologizing for their actions, but they were willing to help each other out in this mess.

"The Four Cardinal heroes, all working together" Itsuki sighed, "never thought I'd see that day happening"

"Yeah, definitely a surprise. Say Naofumi, what plan do you have thought of?" Motoyasu asked while looking to the Shield Hero. Naofumi was strategizing his plan with his party, instead planning out without the other cardinal heroes.

"Hey man, no need to act like the lone wolf in this situation."

"I'm not working with you three. I'll figure this out myself with my party. Just because you figured out that I have not been in the wrong, doesn't mean I'm going to forgive you that easily." Naofumi gave the three a look of disgust.

"We need you in this situation. We can't win if you aren't helping us." Itsuki replied.

"You three aren't even good heroes, overthrowing someone in a civilization that worsened when the new leader was placed in. Ren, killing that dragon and leaving the carcass to rot nearly killed a village! It isn't a game where the corps just disappears. And don't get me started on Motoyasu"

"I was trying to help!" Motoyasu yelled at Naofumi.

"By giving them a seed that was cursed and it grew over a town? Your actions have put us in this situation, and I'm the one who had to constantly clean them up! Motoyasu, even after Y/n kicking your ass every time you wanted to fight, you refused to use a signed ounce of your brain. If ya did that, maybe we wouldn't be here clinging onto life right now."

"He's right you know, you're wrapped around your girlfriend's finger over there" Ren pointed to Myne.

"A-anyways" Motoyasu stammered, "look Naofumi, can we just put that behind us now? We need to defeat the Pope, we can't do that unless we work together"

Naofumi stayed silent for a few seconds after thinking over the situation more. Motoyasu wasn't wrong, but he didn't like the idea. However, he still needed to keep a promise he made to Fitoria.

"Fine, I'll work with you this one time. Not for the sake of having a clean slate with you three. I have a promise to uphold with Fitoria" Naofumi replied while looking at his party. The eyes of Raphtalia, Melty, and Filo brightened immensely. They all cheered in happiness that Naofumi was working with the others liked he promised.

"Already said it before, but the four cardinal heroes working together, let's take this traitor down" Itsuki smiled while looking at the others.

While all that was happening, there was enough mana built up within the replica to fire off an attack. However, the Pope had a different plan of action.