Ben 10: Rising of the Shield Hero

by Chris Chronos

The Story about Ben Tennyson, the Omnitrix Wielder, being summoned to the world of the "Rising of the Shield Hero" with Ben as the Shield Hero. Diverged from the original storyline at a point. After Ben has saved his own universe several times, will he successfully save this world, too? (Ben Tennyson after the events of "New Dawn", with a complete Omnitrix.)

5. Chapter 5: Truth, Lies and the Mask

BEN 10: RISING OF THE SHIELD HERO

CHAPTER 5: THE TRUTH, THE LIES, AND THE MASK

Thanks for your reviews of the previous chapter. I took some more time to write on this one… mainly because I want to focus not just on the story but on writing, too. People usually don't mind, and I also really don't feel anything about it. But I put some more effort into this.

I just found out that Naofumi got married to Melty! So what do you think of Ben/Melty? Not much age difference.

Ren will not be a part of Three Idiots, so it will just be two idiots. At first, I just wrote his cameos for fillers but gradually I came to wanna make an arc protagonist out of him. He is a swordsman, so his power-up may be… a huge long blade. (Ben isn't giving a power-up item to Ren, anyway.)

Mr. Brambila is seen rushing in the hall with his face all sweaty and uneasy, by his wife but the mistress never was the one to ask him what happened, so even now she just ignores him. Her mind is too busy to wander her eyes in the hall one more time as she has to meet with her daughter's new tutor in the afternoon today. The tutor comes from a village far away from their manor, but as he is stated to be skilled and outstanding in teaching, she decided to call him to their manor, give him a room and let them live here.

And then there are the chef of the manor and his three assistants busy in the kitchen. When they work, their speed is impressive – no, that's not the word – Monstrous is more suitable. The chef is quite skilled in his field. He can finish a dish that would normally take an hour, in five minutes. No one in the manor, left for his three assistants, don't know how he does it, rather they don't care.

Mr. Brambila has a dark secret, which only the chef of the mansion mysteriously knows. But no one knows he knows it, and no one knows what Mr. Brambila's secret is. Actually, they don't even know Mr. Brambila has hidden things. The chef is as mysterious as the master of the mansion.

But in different ways.

"Excuse me, Chris. Got a minute here?"

"Yes, Mistress. What do you need from me?" says Chris the chef as he shakes the water off his hand in a basin. Mrs. Brambila looks anxious but having an employee like Chris makes the work much easier.

"You know Salazar?"

Chris nods as he answers positively. "Yes, he is the new tutor, right?"

Mrs. smiles in return as she sees his genuine expression.

"We need you to make dinner for him. As for the dish, I don't know, to be honest. Can I just leave the decision to you?"

"Yes, Mistress Brambila. I know perfectly well what a young man likes. How about I make some addict–"

The Mistress desperately shakes her head. This chef has a great power of influencing people with his dishes thus making them unnecessarily addicted to his delicious food.

"Don't work to that extent, Chris. I don't want my daughter's tutor falling in love with food like the previous victims. Just do fine enough, ok? And some tea and snacks… speaking of which, where is she?"

Chris turns around and sees one of his three assistants is missing. His attendants are all girls.

"Perhaps she goes out plucking some tea leaves."

"Well…"

The missing girl has an imposing skill in making tea therefore it's apparently essential to have her in the kitchen on this important day. But she can't do anything, can she?

"Charm?" she calls out to one of Chris' disciples.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Please help me out here. Go bring Wiz back as fast as possible."

Mrs. Brambila sighs as she sees Wiz leave the house. But she doesn't know one darkest biggest secret of the mansion.

The routine of waking up early and getting ready really fast has already been a habit for Ben in just two or three days since he started living outside of the capital. Today, he has to visit Lurolona, a seaside village that suffered from the first wave. He is sad that he can't do anything… but hearing the news just made him more furious.

A rumor is that a group of nobles and guards assaulted the village right after the tragedy to take the lands of the previous noble as their own. The people who lived there were demi-humans. Poor demi-humans were helpless against the armed guards and many of them were captured by nobles, as slaves.

He has to admit that this world has a group of rotten "high-class" people who are far worse than anyone he has ever seen before. He believes that even the great alien warlord named Vilgax had more reasonable and respectable morals than those nobles.

He saved a girl from a noble family yesterday. He has nothing to regret… He will never let someone die in his presence. And that girl… that particular girl acts arrogant yet innocent deep down in her heart.

The crazed abuse of powers is similar to a disease. This happens to "nobles" that can get anything in their favor. Ben despises the system, and the humans who let their greed and ego get the better of them.

Well…

His signature green jacket is long finished in the laundry. He used NRG to iron the clothes.

The weather is also fine today. Ben puts the jacket on and scrolls the omnitrix dial to find the right alien.

"JETRAY!"

The red stingray creature flies high in the sky and notices a big circus-themed tent in the town.

"Wait, what's that?" he wonders and starts searching for the information on the map.

"A slave merchant…" The aerophibian frowns as he descends to the roof.

"BIG CHILL~"

The now necrofriggian phases through the roof into the building and sees countless cages in the hall. He looks into the cages and first… sees monsters of various shapes and sizes. And then demi-humans.

What the hell.

He sighs, calms himself down, and resumes examining around.

As much as he wants to set free all of them, he can't make a ruckus out of nowhere. Otherwise, the Church and the King could brand him a criminal and the public would not trust him anymore. Because the beliefs of people are not so thoughtful. Demi-humans are lower than themselves… this is what the people of Melromarc believe. and what the King and the Church of Three Heroes want people to believe.

Walking around the hall and phasing into several cages, he has known that this place isn't healthy for the demi-humans.

"Hey, bald man."

Erhard is startled by the sudden appearance of Ben behind him. The teenage boy has a serious expression which makes even the muscular man shiver.

"Oh, it's you, kid. Don't be rude, my name is Erhard, you."

"And you call me kid, don't you? How is your work? The armor made of my crystals, is that finished?" Ben mumbles.

Erhard opens the door and invites Ben into the shop.

"It's just finished. I even decorated a sword with extra crystals. Wanna see?"

"Gladly."

Ben stares at the armor though he doesn't understand the stats, but his mind is on something else.

"Hey, Mr. Erhard."

"Yea. What do you need?"

Erhard walks to Ben from the counter.

"Tell me about slaves. Especially demi-humans."

Ben doesn't know if there were any beastmen at the slave market, which he could easily wrong with monsters.

Erhard rubs the back of his neck feeling uneasy. He has seen Ben exploding at the court, related to demi-human slavery.

"Uh… you see how the society thinks. When they own a slave, they make a slave crest on their slave's body. It's done by slave ritual magic and can be used for enslaving other people, too. But… enslaving humans is illegal, you know."

Ben does not change his expression, which makes Erhard feel uneasy.

"Is there any way to remove the slave crests? And how do slave crests affect them?"

"I don't know but I think there is. Slave crests make the slaves suffer when they don't listen to their master's orders."

Erhard can't help but think this kid is gonna do something crazy, as he did at the castle.

He grabs the shoulders of the teen and turns him to a face-to-face position with him.

"Listen here, kid. I don't know why you are asking these questions and I don't understand politics. I know you are strong but better don't do something stupid. Even the Queen can't change the people's mind… but I know you are not giving up your beliefs."

Ben looks up at the shopkeeper.

"Thank you. I have to go somewhere –"

And he points at a shield next to the crystal armor.

" – and can you sell me that shield?"

After leaving the shop, he shakes off the gloomy feelings and walks to the magic shop where he wants to ask the witch about slave rituals.

Only for the magic shop owner to tell him that there are instructions included in the magic book he bought the days before.

He walks around the slave market again, but as a human. A short, creepy man that looks like the ringmaster of a circus, approaches Ben as he comes out of the tent.

"Hello there, sir Hero, do you want any slave to accompany you on your journey? You seem like you are alone."

"Yea. I am alone. But I am not good with… slaves. I despise slavery."

Ben responds rather frankly as he is not feeling well though he understands that man is responsible for the slave trade.

"You are interesting, sir Hero. As the rumors say."

Ben couldn't care less about whatever rumors in the town. He just ignores the merchant and walks away before his urge to punch that man overwhelms him.

Is he a villain?

Is anyone enslaving the demi-humans a villain?

Walking in a valley he senses a presence so voluntarily turns into Fasttrack under the ID Mask.

A shadow watching over him is utterly surprised by Ben, who suddenly reaches him without warning.

"Who are you?"

Ben grabs the shadow's cape and holds him into the air.

"I am asking you. WHO ARE YOU? WHO HIRED YOU?"

The shadow realizes that they are no longer in the castle town. He doesn't know what happened but now they both are floating in the air above a lake, apparently outside the town.

"I … I can't answer–"

Ben's eyes glow green brightly as a shock of electricity passes through the shadow's body.

"AHH~"

"Alright, I understand."

Ben drops the unconscious man onto the ground and transforms himself to Ghostfreak.

Another one… This one is fast. He follows us from downtown to the lake.

The shadow hiding behind the tree sees Ben disappear into thin air, frightened.

But when he is sure Ben is not around anymore, he jumps out of the bush and runs towards the unconsious man lying beside the lake and carries him on his shoulder.

"Damn…"

Biscas T. Balmus, the Pope of the Church of Three Heroes is disappointed seeing how miserably his spies failed. The Shield Devil sure has senses sharper than average people. But his shadow spies aren't average humans. They are trained for years and experienced. But that devil found one of his spies and evaded another one with ease.

The Shield Devil has made people swayed by his words at the trial because the plan by the King to disgrace the Devil by live broadcast, backfired. So his propaganda and ordering loyal priests of his to remind everyone of the Devil's nature are… useless, only the people loyal and faithful to the Church believe it.

The Pope sighs as he looks at his disciples trying to wake the unconscious shadow. When he wakes up, his face is overwhelmed by fear.

The other spy told him to believe that the Devil has ghostly powers.

To be honest, Pope Balmus doesn't understand how the Devil makes his body sometimes hard as diamond and sometimes intangible as a phantom. After seeing the live broadcast, he orders his shadows to assassinate when they have an opportunity.

The Devil's existence is threatening and too powerful to let him live in this world.

"You, explain how the Devil found you now."

"I was shadowing over him from a distance on the roof. He walks into a secluded alley and disappears. And suddenly reappeared before me. He asked me who I am and who hired me, but I refused to answer. I think he used some kind of electric magic to shock me and I became unconscious."

Pope Balmus knows the Devil is capable of more than beating people unconscious. His power… if not for restraints… can easily kill someone.

"And you. What did you see exactly?"

"Your Holiness, forgive me. I was watching him from a roof far away. He suddenly appeared in front of my subordinate and grabbed him, flying into the air and taking him to the lake. I didn't see any ritual or hear any spell he used… but after he descended to put the conscious man down, he disappeared into the thin air."

The pope raises a brow at his spy's explanation. The Devil is none to underestimate… his calculations and predictions were wrong.

Then he simply orders the failures before him to commit suicide and leaves the room.

The two shadows take out knives and hold up to slit their throats, closing their eyes.

But the blades never come in contact with their skin.

They open their eyes and see the shattered blades with only handles left in their eyes.

And before them is a green-jacket Shield Devil with a grin on his face.

"Thanks for your information, Mr. Pope."

Ben has seen through the peaceful, equitable, and fair facade of the Pope.

The two surviving shadows look up at Ben in amazement.

"Now you two… run away from the capital. You are no more… you have died. Live your new lives and forget everything."

Ben is standing at the edge of a cliff, facing towards the endless sea with his attention not in the view but thinking of tragedies. Right behind him are the remains of a village. If not for the rubbles piled up here and there, no one would know a village once existed here. Now not a trace of anyone still living here has yet to be found.

Ben is snapped back to reality by the sound of footsteps directed to where he stands. He turns around to see a familiar face, much to his surprise.

"Oh my God! Is that you, Rex?"

The cause is a boy with black hair, seemingly older than Ben. His clothing is that of a scholar from the nobility. A white attire underneath an orange cape with yellow stripes.

"I am Rex. But how do you know my name? Who are you?"

The brown-haired boy is confused staring at Rex, his smile is fading. But in a moment, he puts the front up again and…

"Don't you remember? We met about a year ago when I was dropped into your dimension."

"Sorry, not a bit."

"We fought Alpha together and– Wait, no?"

Rex stretches the back of his neck with a confused look.

"Yes, the last time I was in my dimension, I was a criminal."

This just makes the conversation more confusing.

Anyway, the scene skips for some minutes and both Rex and Ben are found sitting on the boulder somewhere in the village.

"As the saying goes, a man dies and it's a tragedy. When many people die it's static."

Rex murmurs looking back into the village, forcing a smile on his face. Ben is acting no less the same.

"So how are you doing here, Rex?"

Ben tries to start a conversation. He has learned that this Rex is from a universe other than the one he visited a year ago. Rex was a criminal and one day when he was casually walking in a valley, a blue portal appeared before him and sucked him in. For a year, he traveled across the Melromarc with the hope of finding someone who could send him home. But he has already given up. It's been about 6 years and he is used to the environment of this world. He revealed to Ben that a noble who lived in Lurolona took him in but he's gone now.

Well, Ben was relieved when Rex said that noble was one of the few people who looked after the demi-humans, and the Queen specifically selected him for the right job.

"Life is good. I've been working as a tutor for magical engineering for some time. It's been years since I used nanites… laughable, huh?"

"You look… maturer… I have to admit."

Rex smiles.

"Is that so? Well, today I have to travel to a town a little far away, to work as a tutor of a noble's daughter. Possibly… I have to leave this place for a while."

Ben recalls some bad news.

"Were you here when the first wave assaulted the village?"

Rex shows a regretful expression.

"Sadly no, I was not here. I had to visit my master's family, instead of him, because he was busy with something he didn't tell me. I have a glimpse of that… some person from a high authority forced him to do a pile of jobs and he couldn't return home."

"I guess so."

"Huh?"

"The King might have made some moves and your master couldn't concentrate on the more important issues."

Rex becomes serious when he hears Ben's theory.

"It's like I should practice my nanites to work properly again. Let's prepare, buddy."

"Prepare for what?"

Rex gets up from the boulder and begins to walk away.

"Revolution? Hah! We have to save other people so that they won't suffer like the people of the village, hmm?"

Ben looks at the village again.

"Az– Partner… sorry."

"Such a bad name to remember, umm?"

The hologram of Azmuth appears on the screen that pops up as soon as Ben calls out.

"What's the possibility of Aria's father being a psycho?"

The AI Azmuth cups his chin and rubs the tentacle hanging from it.

"About what that raccoon girl says?"

"Yea. She said about Idol Rabier… his identity is Mr. Brambila."

In the throne room, the King, Pope Balmus, Malty, and Mr. Brambila are seen.

"What do you mean the Devil has more than abilities we have seen?" asks Pope Balmus.

The pope isn't usually the one to discuss this kind of thing with the King. Maybe he will meet in secret with the first princess. But the threat is growing… so the King sent his guards to invite him to the castle.

"He is becoming more annoying every second he breathes. Now, what's new?" remarks Malty with an anxious tone.

"He came to my territory yesterday but not in his human form."

"A devil form?" asks the King furiously. "I knew he would one day reveal his fangs! That little fiend!"

Brambila is unsettled by the King's fury.

"We–Well, he was… all red. He had two golden horns and all-green eyes. Overall he looked like a big stingray. And he can fly."

"We know he can fly. Wait, how do you know that thing is him?"

"The shield. The shield was with him."

The King and the Pope look at each other.

'Shield Devil' is just a title to represent Shield Hero in spreading rumors and propaganda. It doesn't mean it,... and the King calls him by that name out of hatred. Malty doesn't have a grasp of why her father and Pope Balmus look pale as if they just saw their fathers returning from dead.

The name is just exaggerating and… it becomes real? No way, none of the previous shield heroes was a 'devil'. The King silent ponders on the throne.

"Are you sure it was his shield? Not a random monster?" roars the King.

Brambila takes a deep breath.

"B-but, what kind of monster will attach a shield to the arm while flying?"

Logically yes.

"Ah… Your Highness, also he had a strange symbol on his chest. On a silver disc, I suppose."

The King stands up in surprise.

"What symbol? Answer me."

"A green symbol… in the shape of a… hourglass I think. A-and the background is black. Green hourglass in black."

"Hourglass" is one of the infamous features of the chest. It's… green and… surrounded by black…. Then…

"I know that symbol. Sir Itsuki said he saw it on that scum's wrist."

Malty says casually unknowing what is happening exactly.

"He… he is the ENEMY OF THE CHURCH!"

The pope drops his facade and suddenly yells.

"Yea-YEAH We should capture and execute him at once!" adds the King.

Brimbila looks up at the duo and smirks while… Malty in the back… what's up with these idiots? Whatever, it helps my ambition anyway.

And so, Ben is gonna be branded the wanted criminal and the enemy of the national religion.

"Order the guards to exterminate any monster with that symbol at sight!"

"We won't fail you, Your Majesty!" roars the royal guard commander who leaves the throne room at once to notice his brigade.

At the same time, Ben sneezes two or three times for no reason, while he is reading a magic book, sitting under a tree.

"Seems like the pollen– *squeezes* uh… for the love of Alien-X."

Ben has memorized the step-by-step instructions of producing a healing potion. This is not really level magic, yet. But Ben is rather lazy.

"Hey, Partner, are you there?"

AI Azmuth doesn't appear but his voice is heard.

"OK, what do you need again?"

Ben yawns.

"Er… I wish to know if you can copy and input all of these and… on the screen you know. It may come to be very useful."

"Just because you are lazy, DON'T ASK ME FOR EVERYTHING, YOU MORON!"

"Oh… yeah, sorry, never mind."

Just so Ben continues to read the magic book.

Rex walks in the corridors of the mansion as the housekeeper takes him into the dining room for a meal. Actually, the purpose of coming here is to tutor a teenager but now he is going for dinner first. The woman who works as the housekeeper is so nice, he thinks as his stomach lets out a faint growl.

He has never seen the girl he has to teach, well, but her mother seems nice too. She is the successor of Brambila family, too. Save the details, now is…

"Chris, have you finished it yet?" says the housekeeper lady out loud in the direction of where the kitchen is supposed to be.

"Who do you think you are talking to? Hah!" A random male voice shouts back and simultaneously a girl in white walks out of the kitchen with some appetizers in her hand.

Rex is watching in awe as the girl places the plates on the table.

"I'm gonna love it!"

The woman turns to look at Rex with her widened eyes as she thinks This young man is gonna fall for Chris' trap like those victims, poor young man. That Chris! Never holds back his cooking skills and ever shows off! I should make some scolding later.

Chris' brilliant cooking is appreciated, and after the dinner, the woman takes him to the room he is supposed to live in for the next three years… or more.

"Hello, Salazar. Nice to meet you again."

The mistress says greetings to Rex as he enters the living room.

"Thanks, Mrs. Brambila. How are you doing?"

"I am fine. Well, I am a little anxious because of… my work. And… She is-"

The lady points at her daughter.

" - my daughter, Aria. She is turning 16 this year."

"Oh, glad to meet you Aria."

Rex quickly grabs the unwelcome hand of Aria and shakes it actively.

"And he is Rex Salazar, your tutor for the next three years."

"Uh… Yeah, yes. Glad… to learn from you, Mr. Salazar."

"I haven't taught you anything yet."

Rex laughs off the bloomy expression of hers. This girl is quite a handful… No wonder her previous tutors ran away.

"Hey, Mister Erhard."

Again, Ben suddenly appears behind Erhard while he is preparing to open the shop. Erhard almost jumps…

"Oh, don't freak me out like that. I know you are special already and don't show off please."

The bald shopkeeper sighs as he receives a bag of crystals from Ben.

"I found a little more today. Going on a short trip to mine ores very well reduced my anxiety!"

Erhard is glad to see Ben's normal active expression.

In fact, Ben turned all his stress into energy and exerted more effort in mining crystals using Diamondhead's abilities. It's not that Diamond created them… he had to manipulate and pull out the high-density crystals from beneath the ground.

Erhard then notices the bags under Ben's eyes as he yawns.

"Kid, what did you do last night?"

"*yawns* er… I read a book. It was… interesting. The power of the books is amazing that they kept me awake 3 or 4 hours into midnight."

"Oh never mind about that."

Erhard is mostly not the one to start a conversation but staring at a cheerful Ben boy who is examining the crystal armor, he remembers the latest news swirling in the town like fog.

"Hey, kiddo."

"Yeah?" Ben doesn't look up but seems to be paying attention so the man continues.

"I heard people in the town talking about the Church announcing something important and it's related to a devil, as they say."

"Devil… hmmm."

Every time Ben hears that name, he can't help but respond as if the name is only meant for him.

"Yes, kiddo. That devil can apparently take the form of various monsters and he can speak while in monster form."

"Whoa…"

Ben acts like he doesn't care but deep inside he quietly understands "monster" means him. A new title was obtained!

"And the only unchanged feature of his is a dragon hourglass symbol in green and black. This is obviously opposing the Church's dragon hourglass, isn't it?"

Ben chuckles as he finds it funny when people theorize what the meaning of this symbol is. Now, his alien forms are… announced as a single devil.

"Of course. No matter how much a person hates the Church, he shouldn't do that. The Church is scary, you know."

Erhard nods in agreement. He is usually neutral in such matters.

"Erhard?"

"Yeah?"

"Is there any town around here worth visiting? I am a little bored."

Erhard notices that it's unusual for the shield hero to get bored… but the bald man has to admit it's better than getting into trouble because of Ben's nature.

"Lute Village? It's one of the nearest towns to the capital."

Ben rubs his hair and smirks.

"And where can I buy some metal?"

Last night, after reading the magic book, Ben couldn't really sleep. He got up from bed after lying there for like 30 minutes. So he used Galvan DNA to draw a blueprint of his new weapon.

He has been wishing to test if guns are compatible with the shield… The legendary weapon doesn't let him equip any other weapon class, but guns which are not common or perhaps not developed yet in this era… hopefully he might be able to use them.

"What is the possibility of success, Partner?"

"Why are you asking me? And please talk to me through mind CONCENTRATION!"

The hologram doesn't appear but the scolding of Azmuth's voice is… well heard.

Ben walks into the village and wanders his eyes in the bazaar.

He rarely cooked himself for his meal last week. The forest is full of monsters and it's guaranteed even if he went hunting animals, he'd get nothing. So the brown-haired thought twice to choose the inn, although he had to avoid Motoyasu. He thinks Motoyasu has already left the capital for his own adventures.

"This village is nice…"

"Are you one of the legendary heroes?"

A middle-aged man with a muscular body suddenly appears before Ben and speaks with a modest tone.

"Yes, I am one. What do you need from me?"

"Please save my father. Please."

The teen rolls his eyes and checks the surroundings. Asking a legendary hero to save his father... I hope nothing political.

"I thought my father caught a cold a week before but it wasn't a normal illness. I don't know what to do. He's dying… Please help."

Oh, I'm relieved.

"I'm… I'm not a doctor but I'll try… Take me there."

Ben follows the man after hearing his father is dying.

He looks at the patient lying on the bed.

Partner, can you please analyze the patient?

"Already done kid. Here…"

A screen pops up and a medical document is displayed.

"Poison… Did he eat a random mushroom?" Ben mutters as he readies his potions.

"Alright, you know how to improve the potency of your potions, right? Enchanting, I mean." AI advised.

Ben holds up one of the vials and uses the power of legendary weapon on the potion, effectively enhancing the effects of the potion inside.

Then Ben makes the old man drink the potion slowly.

After a moment,...

The muscular man looks in awe at his father as he gets out of the bed and hits his son for not going to work.

"What are you doing here? I am perfectly healthy, now get to the work! Don't be lazy, my son."

"Thanks for your cure, O' shield hero."

Ben refuses the pay, however.

"You see, I am FAIRLY rich! I appreciate your thanks. But now get to work before grandpa scolds you again."

It's not a lie. Ben is rich.

The people of this village are nice, and there is seemingly no noble family around. The village is led by the elders.

"Light metal, huh? I don't know what it means *yawns* but possibly some kind of metal. Maybe I can use it in my project."

He still wonders if the news and rumors from the capital reach here. The propaganda of the Church is still spread like fogs here and there in the castle town but he doesn't know how it works in the village. But the villagers seem to rely on him, nonetheless, they ask him for help occasionally during his walk.

Probably even if they knew the false identity of the Shield, they would just struggle with their own life and not care about what had been happening in higher society.

"Hey, you… yes you with the shield!"

"Me?" Ben asks to the village elder who calls him, pointing to himself.

"Yes, you, I've been hearing about a doctor with a shield wandering around the town and cures my folks. I'd like to thank you, whoever you are."

"I appreciate your thanks, mister. Uh… but I am not exactly a doctor. Well, it's true I cure people but it's not ability. It's potions and I just strengthen their potency."

The old man laughs at the reply of Ben.

"Hah! Well, as long as you are making people feel better, you are as good as a doctor! Isn't it true, huh? I just remember the brothels I visited when I was young."

It's not something good enough to bring up in a conversation, mister.

"Oh, anyway, sorry for that. My old habits… uh… quite difficult to drop. Anyway, I want you to visit the pharmacy in the castle town. There is someone I know there, and he will help you understand potions better than you have done. I can guarantee that! And you can also sell herbs, too. Just advising, please don't regard this old man annoying."

Ben smiles at the old man as he brings out two vials of potions.

"Thanks, I appreciate your advice, mister. Uh… here I got two potions… handmade by myself. High potency… for you as a gift. Please accept these."

The old man laughs as he receives the potions.

"Thanks, and this old man is more than happy to polish a precious diamond. Er… but the diamonds just glows naturally, aren't they?"

Ben is silent for seconds.

"Yes, but without light they are good as charcoal." he replies.

And Ben leaves the laughing elder behind and goes back into the town as he decided to accomplish his new lessons at once.

"ASTRODACTYL…"

For no reason. He has been using Jetray for all previous days for transportation, so he goes for a change.

The pterosaur-like creature with a long beak and red skin, who wears a jetpack on his back, shoots off into the sky… with trails of green energy left behind. His eyes are green as always.

Of course, Jetray can fly at hyperspeed… his fastest speed is faster than light.

"Alright! Raak! Let's fly… at a lower speed, whatever."

Rex walks out of his room to take a shower and prepare for his work. His new pupil is at least 5 years younger.

When Rex Salazar stepped into this world for the first time, he was a nobody with no money in this world, his life was even more difficult than the criminal life in his previous world where he had to run away from the government.

But here he knew no one. However, on that day he met a man who was on a journey across the country. The man understood his condition quite easily and took him in as his disciple and brought him to his home.

For everyone else, that man was the only person who knew Rex's secrets and past life. But he seemed not to care much.

But Rex wasn't an average human. He was quite a fast learner and the things the man passed on to him were all dissolved into Rex's heart in no time.

After a year, he became a tutor to teach young people like his master did with him. At first, he taught the demi-human kids in the village.

He doesn't even remember how he became famous over the years.

Rex's specialty is Magical Engineering, but not very complicated.

After breakfast, he runs upstairs and enters a big hall with a table in the middle and practically nothing else. Aria is seen sitting at the table with some books and equipment needed for practical demonstrations. To say, magical engineering isn't anything like Chemistry or Physics.

In a rather empty room, nothing is present to distract Aria from her private lectures.

Rex tries to greet Aria but she doesn't talk back. The sweat drips when she acts like she doesn't care about Rex's whole existence.

"Hey, Aria, how is your mother?"

Not the best question to ask, but it slipped out of Rex.

"She's good."

"Oh, great. Hmmm, let's begin our… Class. Yes, class. Uh… let's begin with… the basics of magic."

Rex has to teach her not just Magical Engineering but Alchemy, and other life lessons. She is… able to read and write, of course. But, the subjects like the history of Melromarc or the nature of the calamity which was an ancient history of this world, aren't available for every lecturer as a reference. Rexis an exception, as his master was a trusted subordinate of the Queen, he got his hands on forbidden knowledge.

Well, this doesn't do for everyone. So, the only ones he has to teach TRUE history of Melromarc, which isn't like the fake ones displayed at the library, are the children of the nobility.

But as much as Rex dislikes nobility other than his own master, he keeps on doing his job for the history to pass on to other generations.

"Alright. How do you understand magic?"

After Ben visited the herbal shop, Ben was flying in the sky of Melromarc as Jetray.

"Hey… uh… Partner?"

"What do you need again, Tennyson?"

"About that?"

"About that?"

"Yes."

They don't say anymore about "that" but they silently understand each other.

"If what that raccoon girl said is true, we should progress our mission as quickly as possible."

While the holographic Azmuth can rub his chin, the aerophibian is flying so he can't do the same as AI.

Ben is determined at that very moment.

"OK, Partner. Let's do it!"

Meanwhile Rex has already finished a chapter… of a romance novel that Aria forced him to read. Life isn't always easy, he murmurs. Aria is just before him.

"This… book is amazing. Hmmm… the two deuteragonists fall in love with each other… just at the beginning."

Aria doesn't understand if he is praising.

"... But what the hell did I just read? Falling in love with a… dragon? And I am guessing these two are gonna set off for a journey to find a human body for the dragon!"

Rex doesn't want to look stupid, especially in front of his pupil. But…

"So what? A creative story… isn't it impressive?"

This girl is… oblivious or something? Creative…?

"Uh… Excuse me, teacher?"

It's not Aria, it's an older Brambila.

"Yes. Mrs."

He turns to see Mrs. Brambila at the entrance of the study hall as she takes a glance at her daughter.

"Aria, can I borrow your teacher?"

"Gladly." The teen coldly answers.

Rex follows Mrs. Brambila out of the hall.

"What do you want to talk about, Mrs. Brambila?"

The woman looks around to ensure no one is near them.

"Rex… I know you are not from this world."

A familiar blue monkey with 4 arms and 6 eyes is crawling on a wall of the mansion.

Partner, what's the results?

The holographic figure doesn't appear but the voice is heard.

"I have scanned the whole building and there is no room with metal bars. You should check in the yard too."

The arachnichimp nods and jumps off the wall.

"BIG CHILL~"

The necrofriggian phases through the ground in the yard of the Brambila mansion.

Some flashbacks here.

Ben as Big Chill was walking between the cages that were placed in lines.

In a cage, he saw a pair of red faint eyes in the dark. Her clothes were torn and dirty. Her eyes didn't have a meaning of living anymore.

Big Chill phased through the metal bars and checked her closely.

She was a demi-human with raccoon characteristics. She had furry ears among her brown hair.

Big Chill took a step back in horror.

Her limbs were hurt… and full of scars.

What the hell!

"Hey… kid"

She saw a human… who suddenly appeared in her cage. She was surprised but acting to her instincts, she ran towards him immediately to bite him down. She hated humans.

"Oh… take it easy. Shu… don't make any noise. I am not a human. I am not a human, OK, see?"

Ben took off the materialized ID mask from his face and showed the wolf-like face.

"Are… y-you… a beastman?"

The girl asked. Her voice was so weak and faint and every word of hers hit his heart. But the loboan had enhanced hearing.

"Of– Of course." he lied.

She stared at the wolfman and started rubbing his fur on the legs.

"You… are not in pain, right?" she weakly asked.

"I am… totally fine."

For some minutes, he let the raccoon girl to rub his fur.

"It must be… nice. But you oughtn't come here. Reality is cruel."

She regarded him as a being from her dreams.

She took some steps back to see the wolfman more clearly.

"Can I put my mask on?"

"Sure…"

Green light surrounded the wolfman and when the light died down, it revealed a brown-haired teenaged boy with a small shield attached to one of his forearms and a bracelet on the other. The girl looked at him in awe.

"Look, I can cure your cuts and scars."

She stared at Ben and hugged his legs.

"You must be a fairy."

Ben wore a fake smile.

"Tell me who did these."

He whispered into her ears.

"I don't know."

Tears had begun to flow from her eyes down her cheeks.

"Sorry. I'm sorry."

Ben kneeled down and hugged her back. He understood to not remind someone of her trauma.

"Now please take some steps back. I will make sure you are OK."

The raccoon girl nodded and walked backwards away from him.

A green ray was emitted from his hands into her body, and in the process, her body glowed green as the cuts and scare slowly disappeared.

She looked at her body in amazement.

"Amazing. Thank you, Mr. Doggie."

The raccoon girl again approached Ben and rubbed his hair.

Ben put one of his hands on the girl's head.

"Can you tell me who did these?"

The girl shook her head softly.

"I don't know. All I know is a rich noble bought me and my friends and enslaved us. I was… forget it. Can you please save friends from him? They would… probably… die if…"

Ben put up a smile as genuine as possible.

"I will save your friends, so rest assured. Now I have to save you–"

"No, I want my friends free first. Please. I am OK here. I mean… no one tortures me at least. Their lives…"

"Alrighty!"

Ben held her small shoulders.

"Believe in me…. But do you have anymore information?"

The little girl looked down and thought deeply for a moment.

She had been traumatized… is it OK for her to review those memories?

"I remember a name. Only a name. I know nothing else."

"What's that?"

"The man who tortured me and my friends said… he had a daughter. Her name is Aria."

Ben was surprised to hear that and then narrowed his eyes in disgust.

"Alrighty!" he smiled again at the girl.

"I will be back in two days. Please endure… these two days, OK?"

The little girl nodded as he winked at her.

Flashback ends.

Why do people have to suffer in this dimension?

Ben thinks. He has found a ladder that is connected to an underground facility.

"Maybe because it is necessary." answers the holographic Azmuth.

What's necessary?!

Ben angrily asks. The hologram calmly rubs his chins and answers.

"This world isn't normal, you see? I am suspecting those demi-humans are nothing related to humans. And beastmen… possibly not related to animals."

What are you talking about?

Azmuth looks up at Ben.

"There are aliens that look like animals on earth… but they weren't evolved from animals. Like Appoplexians that look like tigers, or maybe Vaxasaurians… that look like dinosaurs. But not close, they aren't even from earth. Having an appearance and features similar to earth creatures doesn't just mean they are from earth. Understand?"

The moth man feels annoyed at Azmuth's explanation.

Wait, I hear something.

Azmuth doesn't say anything anymore as the invisible necrofriggian flies into an underground corridors.

After a while he begins to see several chambers enclosed with metal bars on the both sides of the corridors.

His eyes widens as he sees countless bodies dead, unconscious or suffering, all of them are bound or tied by chains and cuffs. In some chambers there are skeletons. And in some, piles of corpses.

The moth man angrily looks around as he hears a whipping sound.

From a place several chambers away.

Brambila has a dark secret.

Or maybe a skill.

Even the King who he is loyal to, doesn't know his secret.

That when he is stressed out he tortures the low-life demi-humans to reduce stress.

In fact, he doesn't really have a work.

He was married off to the successor of Brambila family.

He thought he could overwhelm his wife so he revealed his kinky thoughts to her.

Only for her to reject his dirty ideas at once.

But he built an underground facility while his wife and daughter were away.

No one but only a person knows his secret, but Brambila himself failed to notice that.

Sometimes, Mr. Brambila disappeared to nowhere. His wife searched for him to discuss politics but he wasn't there so she had to solve the problems herself.

Regardless, he is in good terms with His Majesty so why should he care?

During a wave of calamity, he bought a good number of demi-humans from a slave trader.

It's convenient to take his stress out on them… because no one cares about them.

"Huu… it should do the job."

Brambila glances at the nearly unconscious girl bound to the wall by chains and puts down the whip. He takes a bottle of water from a table within his reach and enjoys a sip. Then he turns at the girl and holds up the mouth of the bottle close to her lips.

Most water just flows down her chin although the girl desperately struggles to drink it.

He chuckles as he looks at the girl as her effort is miserably wasted.

"Hah!"

When the water flows on the open cuts, she feels stings and struggles again.

"I would never get used to the new girls' rea–"

"New girls what?"

A freaky phantomic voice is heard over his shoulders.

Then he jumps as he sees a phantom-like blue moth-man in a hooded robe.

"Who–WHO ARE YOU?"

"Who am I?"

Says Big Chill as he takes a short look at the girl on the wall, whose eyes are weakly opening themselves to see him.

" – Maybe I am a human… who's not a human."

The freaky voice sends shivers through Brambila's spine.

Ben has never seen cruelty like this sh** back in his homeworld. So he honestly doesn't know how to punish an extreme torture fetish psycho.

"I– I will also— capture and torture you good! Y–you will love it." the fat man stuttered.

"I won't love any crap like that. I am too used to pain, but not a masochist, sorry."

His sense of humor still faintly tries to flourish his sentence.

But every time he sees the girl in the back, he wants to punch the fat sadist hard in his chubby belly.

The robe suddenly unfolds and extends into four wings revealing an omnitrix symbol on the torso and a snowflake-shaped shield on his right forearm.

Brambila immediately recognizes the symbol. And the shield supports his idea.

"You… you are that shield devil."

The moth man opens his mouth to let out some cold mist but very little.

"Oh, you found out? Am I supposed to be surprised at that?"

Big Chill is wearing an attitude.

Brambila grits his teeth.

"You MONSTER!"

"Oh your daughter called me a monster, too. The tone is different, though."

The teasing tone of Big Chill makes the fat man to grab his whip again and threaten the "monster".

"See yourself, monster. I will arrest you and torture you. Then I will hand you to His Majesty for the good of the NATION!"

The whip flies towards the target but it just goes through his body, casually as if he isn't there.

"You… YOU COWARD!"

"I got a lot of that since I came to this world. Now… it's rich coming from a man who restrains and tortures people."

"They ARE LOWLIVES. I can't torture humans but I can do whatever I want to them. No HUMAN will complain… hah! Because THEY DON'T CARE. You know how many years I have been doing this and that to these LOWLIVES, HUH?"

Another slash of the whip goes through the phantom's body again.

Big Chill silently stares at the man as he imagines how long it'd have been.

But no more. Not after this.

He will clear this game without any continuation.

The man trembles as Big Chill walks closer to the man.

"No, DON'T COME HERE, I WILL KILL YOU!"

Big Chill looks at the girl once more while the whip phases through his body several times.

The girl's eyes are… gradually closed… as her energy runs out.

Alright…. Let's do this.

"Look, I got some cold hands."

Big Chill grabs the whip, freezes and shatters it instantly.

"What did you–"

"Chill, dude. Don't let your–"

As he talks, the cold mist again escapes his mouth and freezes the sadist's body effectively.

" – anger takes over your mind…. That got you bound… like the ones you… torture."

Big Chill places one of his cold palms on the sadist face.

"AHHH! NOOOOO."

"I thought you liked it cold. Oh, don't worry. I am not freezing you. This is nothing compared to what you did to those poor beings. You failed to know this… it's Karma, you a**hole."

Then Big Chill leaves the frozen and unconscious Brambila and walks to the the girl, activating the ID Mask to not freak out the girl.

"Hey, beauty."

The girl weakly opens her eyes and sees a boy in green jacket. She notices the small shield he is holding up at the first glance.

But she is… too weak to answer.

"It's okay, now. I am here."

Ben deactivated the ID Mask to reveal his large golden body with a circular transparent piece of green glass on his chest displaying the gears inside him. A green-black hourglass symbol is situated on the centre of the glass. The shield has now transformed into the shape of a circular clock with a core in the centre and green hands emerging from under the core.

"CLOCKWORK… Oh sorry. Here I go!"

He emitted the time ray into the body of the girl, effectively reverting the cuts to unharmed state. Then he touches the cuffs and chains restraining her body, making then disintegrate quickly and disappear as dust into the air.

"It's OK, it's OK,..."

Assuring her safe, he catches the fragile little body of the girl.

"Oh sorry."

The green light appears and when it dies down, reveals Ben carrying a little demi-human girl in his arms.

Her hair is pink and there are a pair of pink weasel ears on her head. She is small like a little child.

Oh crap, I forgot to ask that raccoon girl's name.

"Hey,..."

The little girl opens her eyes slowly to see Ben's face which is being too close to her face.

"Do you happen to know a raccoon girl?"

She nods immediately. Though it isn't sure, Ben wants to believe it is her friend.

"Alright, where is your friend? I want to free all here but your friend comes first. The raccoon girls requested me, you know."

The girl points her index finger to a direction.

"OK, let's go."

He puts her down onto the floor in front of a chamber.

"Keel!"

Ben realizes and transforms into Rath, activating his ID Mask function.

"Let me tell ya something you metal– Oh it is bent… easily."

The girl can't even laugh at Ben's dumbfounded face as she rushes towards her friend in the chamber.

"Keel… you OK?"

Keel… a boy with dog-like features. He is lying on the ground in the chamber, probably unconscious. Ben feels uneasy. He quickly transforms back into himself to conserve. But when he sees the boy isn't tied or bound, he leaves them by themselves and walks away to other chambers to set free other slaves.

"Keel!"

The boy opens his eyes but he can't make an expression though he is utterly glad to see her.

Ben didn't know that that dog-boy is a girl.

Using time-rays of clockwork drained a good amount of his energy… he can't barely stand on his own feet but his determination drives him good.

"Well…"

He breathes heavily. He has broken 4 chambers but it doesn't seem to end here. The conscious of the slaves slowly follows him while helping the weaker ones to walk along with them.

"This… this makes it 7… I think this is all… you guys… please… carry them… and follow me… SWAMPFIRE!"

The people look at the transformed teen in horror, at first.

"Oh sorry, it's me. It's OK. I feel less fatigue in this form."

Ben wears a smile and leaves them behind, entering the chamber of Keel.

"Hey, you two, are you done?"

The two girls look up at Swampfire and cover their noses.

"You smell bad."

"Yes, I know, I know."

"Who's that?"

The weasel girl recognizes the omnitrix symbol and the shield, which is made of green vines now, and thus answers the dog-girl's question.

"He's our savior."

"Oh, thanks. My name is Ben Tennyson. I am the hero of the shield."

Since he thinks the demi-humans like the shield hero, he openly reveals to them.

The weasel girl's eyes widen and blushes appear on her cheek.

"The legendary hero of the shield?"

"Of course."

Even the unconscious demi-humans wake up, surprised. Keel has noticed her best friend's eyes checking on the swampy shield hero.

Though… it's quite… not a human…

"Thanks, Sir Shield Hero. I am Rifana."

She cheerfully greets him and hugs his swampy legs.

"Oh… yeah. I… OK… here."

He kneels down and gives her a warm hug… though it is a little stinky.

So what? It's the Shield Hero of her dreams.

CHAPTER (5) ENDS HERE.

I have to admit that the shield hero is overpowered :3 I mean in this story. So I had to mess with the chronology and rush the story a bit. I almost wrote a second duel between Ben and Motoyasu because I forgot the chronology of original novel.

If anyone knows about Ascension, please explain me. I can't find any info on it. I rushed Ben to level 35, totally forgetting Ascension thing. How it works?

Thanks for reading.

Christopher Paradox Chronos.