"Forget it!" Naofumi snapped as he was informed that Fireteam Osiris had reached the queen and learnt of an envoy to the king where they would discuss details between Naofumi and the King.
"You will talk to him, and we will be there" Buck said
"Still I have no want to talk with the king, his daughter framed me, he barely acknowledges me and they think that I'm some kind of monster" Naofumi grunted as he lounged back as they took a pelican to their next location
"I could make it an order" Buck said
"Shit" Naofumi groaned
"Thought so" Buck said as he frowned reading the latest mission packet "Shit
"What is it Buck?" Dutch asked
"We're escort HAZOP" Buck said
"Hazop?" Filo asked
"Hazardous Operations" Buck said
"Basically if it's too dangerous for those with normal armour to go in we send them" Dutch
"We're going to some biohazard site?" Romeo asked
"Yeah" Buck said looking at Naofumi "The site of a battle the Sword hero did"
"Ren" Naofumi growled.
"So he just left the body there to rot?" Bernie asked
"Yeah, he probably thinks we're in some damn game' Naofumi said.
"Son of a bitch" Dutch said as they reached the dragon corpse with several HAZOP soldiers were already there
"I'm seeing decaying bio-matter and rancid blood soaking into the ground causing mass contaminates" Bernie said
"We're getting samples ma'am" a HAZOP tech said
"Understood" Buck said
"Something is not right here Master" Filo said
"What do you mean?" Naofumi asked
"GAAAAAAAAAAH!" a HAZOP Tech shouted as the dragon came alive and bit his leg off "ITS ALIVE!"
"BURN IT, GO FOR THE HEAD, BLOW IT UP" several of them shouted
"On it" Dutch said pulling out a rocket launcher and firing two rounds off, destroying its wings making sure it wouldn't fly. Filo jumped and kicked it in its eye
"FILO!" Naofumi said
"COVER THE FILOLIAL!" Buck ordered
"SIR!" they all shouted as the opened fired on the beast, Filo jumping around the rocky area trying to get a good advantage to strike again
"FILO GET BACK HERE!" Naofumi said as Filo looked back mid jump, only for her to be eaten by the Dragon Zombie
"FILO!" Raphtalia cried out.
"No Filo" Naofumi said as the dragon zombie aimed at him, only for Buck to push him out of the way at the last second
"NAOFUMI! HEY NAOFUMI!" Buck shouted shaking the Shield hero "WAKE UP!" he shouted slapping him
"Filo" Raphtalia whimpered as she watched the dragon force the large bird down its neck
"GET ITS BELLY OPENED!" Dutch ordered as he met the dragon's flames with a flamethrower
"ROMEO FIND OUT HOW IT CAME BACK TO LIFE!" Buck roared as he rolled out of the way of a tail slam, once he stood up he noticed the gem on Naofumi's shield was red and it was darkening 'it just like at the arena' he thought
"What's happening to Naofumi?" Bernie asked as a black haze flowed from the gem
"Something really bad" Buck said
"What do you mean?" Bernie asked as the HAZOP soldiers stepped back
"I think he's unlocking something dangerous." Buck said as Naomfumi unleashed a roar "Very dangerous" he said gulping
"NO!" Naofumi shouted as images of those he saw before came back, the Covenant glassing Harvest, the defeat of Reach, the attack on Earth, the death of Sgt Johnson, the night of his false accusation and trial, Raphtalia being held captive and now joining them was Filo being eaten "WHY! WHY! WHY!" he shouted "IS EVERYTHING GOING TO BE TAKEN FROM ME AGAIN!"
"Use your anger, let your enemies feel flames of your wrath"
"My Wrath?" Naofumi asked as he noticed his shield looked different and that there was a pattern on there, almost as if the pattern was glowing due to flames "Yes, none shall escape it" he sadistically chuckled "And when I'm done, I'll burn this fucking country into blood, ash and cinders!" he laughed loudly making a spire of flames explode from him body as his eyes turned red and weird red marking covers his body as a message flashed up
'SHIELD OF WRATH Lvl 1 UNLOCKED!'
"This feels good" he smirked
"Ah Red Flag" Mickey said as Naofumi now had spike pauldrons, a flaming shield, red cracks over his visor and red symbols covering his body
"Not good" Dutch said as he blasted the zombie dragon with red flames reducing some of its wing to ash before it was absorbed into the shield
"The more he destroys that the more he gathers" Buck shouted
"And the more he unlocks" Romeo said
"TAKE IT DOWN BEFORE HE DOES!" Buck ordered
"Raphtalia sweetheart, we have to move now" Bernie said trying to make her move
"But Filo" Raphtalia whimpered
"It's not safe honey" Bernie said
"POISON BREATH INCOMING!" Romeo shouted as he covered his mouth
"We have Hazop gear on" Dutch said as he fired the rocket launcher
"Oh yeah" Romeo said picking up a DMR and sniping the eyes of the beast
"I hate it all" Noafumi said as the fames grew hotter and the red deepens as he burnt more of the zombie dragon to ash, this time its front leg and lower jaw were incinerated "DIE YOU MONSTER DIE!"
"MASTER NAOFUMI!" Raphtalia cried
"alright I'm going to get in its blind spot and give it a spicy surprise" Chip said
"EVERYONE ON THE DRAGION'S SIX NOW!" Buck ordered as everyone got behind it
"GRENADES OUT!" Dutch ordered as the group lobbed the handheld bombs at it while Naofumi reduced more of it to ashes
"Kill, burn, incinerate them all" he said as flashes of the things that drove him to hatred in his mind "Suffer" he darkly smirked as he imagined Myne burning up
"On your feet soldier" a voice said as Naofumi was no longer in a burning abyss of red and black but on the observation deck of a ship
"What?" he asked
"On your feet" the voice said again as the green shadow from last time stood there, this time illuminated to be a SPARTAN
"Where am I?" Naofumi said as he was helped up, a tri of numbers entering his eyeline "you're"
"You had everyone worried" the spartan said
"I did?" Naofumi asked
"Indeed. Rage, Grief, hatred are powerfully dark emotions" the SPARTAN said "They can make one do things that they never thought possible"
"But why me?" Naofumi asked "I have been through so much, before coming here I thought I could withstand it; but then that night with the king, Myne, the other heroes it was"
"A Nightmare, one where you thought that you could or shouldn't wake up right?" the spartan said "And when you did it was reality, you couldn't believe that it happened, that tragedy followed you from world to world"
"Yes, and then I found bright sparks" Naofumi said breaking down into tears, but it seems like every time I find some the darkness around me want to take it away and make me suffer"
"Maybe it isn't trying to make you" the Spartan said "maybe it is trying to make you stronger, Reach and Harvest there were the first time you entered the fray" he said as the surface became that of Reach "Then you fought on Earth to save your home and you won those fights. Now the darkness here might be testing you to make sure you are ready"
"Ready for what?" Naofumi asked
"I do not know" the spartan said "But you will be ready for it" he said as the something warm touched his hand "Raphtalia"
"I believe in you Master Naofumi, I will always be your sword" she softly said as Noafumi snapped to his sense. "I know that I can trust you, I can trust in the great Shield Hero and his friends, in a world where it can be hard to trust"
"What was I doing?" Naofumi asked
"Master Naofumi, I'm so glad you're back to normal" she cough as black burns marred her body
"RAPHTALIA!" he shouted as he caught her "Did I...no I did this"
"HEY" Buck said getting his attention "SNAP OUT OF IT!" Buck shouted as he punched Naofumi "Look that weird dark shield of your is helping but we got to put this thing down hard
"Right" Naofumi said as the dark red flames flickered like the normal ones of a fire, Raphtalai smiled as the golden image flickered in her head once again
"What is all this, what the hell" Naofumi said "As the shield hero, by source of thy power I order thee: decipher the laws of nature and heal my target FAST HEAL!" Naofumi said as the dragon tried to attack "GET AWAY FROM HER" he shouted as the dragon struck it and burnt the claws "If I lose focus I will lose control what can I do?" he asked as the dragon writhed in pain
"TIMBER!" Chips shouted
"What happened?" Buck asked
"Who?" Dutch asked
"RAPHTALIA!" Naofumi shouted catching the demihuman
"I'm fine, I'm glad we defeated the dragon" she weakly smiled
"Are you okay?" Naofumi panicked
"I'm fine your healing work" she said as Bernie looked her over
Suddenly bursting out of the side of the dead dragon was a familiar boulder of pink and white feathers.
"Filo?" the Helljumpers exclaimed in surprise
"That was icky...what happened?" she asked
"Filo you're alive" Raphtalia
"Yep took me awhile to get HEY!" she shouted as the HAZOP division moved in and started to hose her down "that's cold" she whined
"Sorry" one of them said adjusting the temperature of the water "better?"
"Yep" she smiled enjoying the water
"But how did you survive?" Dutch asked
"And the blood?" Mickey asked
"Oh that was all that fruit I ate, the dragon made me spit it back up" she said as a HAZOP scanned it
"Confirmed as Sedran red fruit juice sir" the HAZOP said
"You threw up your snack?" Naofumi laughed
"Thank you master for worrying about me" the bird smiled
"Who's worried" Naofumi said
"I am" Bernie said
"So wait Filo you killed the dragon as well?" Filo asked
"Yep, and you know what as I was tearing at its belly I found this big purple crystal" Filo said
"A crystal, so that must have been its power source, but what did you do with it?" Naofumi asked before Filo belched making the crystal glow "YOU ATE IT!" he shouted making the group laugh before Raphtalia fainted
"We doused the bandages in whatever holy water they had on hand" Bernie said as she and Dr Halsey were looking over Raphtalia's vitals on the Infinity
"And this new shield was the cause?" Halsey asked
"Yes ma'am" Bernie said
"I see, that could be a dangerous weapon if he uses it wrong"
"I don't disagree" Bernie said
"That's why the shield of wrath is being labelled as a Last Resort" Halsey said
"Ma'am?" Bernie asked
"while it is a double edged weapon it is powerful so Naofumi will be only authorised to use it in the event that no other choice can be taken" Halsey said
"Yes ma'am" Bernie said
"Now what of the core in the Filolial?" Halsey asked
"We're unable to get access to it, but there was a couple of smaller shards scattered around the area the corpse which our lab is looking at." Bernie said
"Very well" Halsey said as the looked on the sleeping demihuman
"Where am I?" Raphtalia asked as she looked to be in a shadowed canyon "HELLO!" she shouted as the canyon became the same gold colour as the image she kept seeing in her head "This way?" she asked
"Over here young one" a wizened voice said as Raphtalia looked around only to see a figure in gold armour sitting beside a campfire in the middle of a hollowed out section of the wall.
"Who are you?" Raphtalia asked
"A wise one, a judge...an Arbiter" Arbiter said "Are those from a curse?"
"They are, one used by my master" Raphtalia said
"A slave? but you have a warrior's crest on your arm" Arbiter said as his eyes narrowed under his elaborate helm. "He received a new shield that uses one's own anger, and that is how I received these cursed burns" Raphtalia sighed
"I see" Arbiter said as he looked out "For ages our races were at war, the humans and us as a part of a covenant of false hoods" he said before producing his weapon revealing an energy sword "But now we are free to make our own choices
"That weapon" Raphtalia said "What is it?
"An Energy blade created by plasma in a containment field" Arbiter said "This one is called Prophet's Bane, but the traditional one is blue unlike this white blade
"Is there a golden one?" Raphtalia asked
"You mean the one on you hip?" Arbiter asked making Raphtalia shocked to see it, picking it up she turned it one and sure enough the blade was golden at the base before fading into white near the tips of the blade "Solar radiance" he said as Raphtalia swung the blade
"Its light" she said before a sparkle left her arm, soon all of her burns were fading away as particles of star light
"Interesting" Arbiter said before he turned to the rising sun "It was good to meet you" he said as Raphtalia's vision faded to white.
Groaning Raphtalia sat up and then stretched automatically she noticed two things, one was that she now had the sword from her dream and two she felt lighter. Unwrapping her bandages she gasped in surprise as where the burns were suppose to be there were none. Locking the door she quickly striped off before looking at herself in the mirror all of the burns on her body were gone. She went to the cupboard and got dressed.
"Right" she said before walking down to the gym; once there she pulled out the hilt of Solar Radiance and activated it, smiling as she felt a magical warmth from it, only for it to flicker out, turning off "what?"
"Raphtalia?" Bernie asked
"oh good morning" she smiled
"What was that and why are you out of bed?"
"It's a long story" Raphtalia said before Bernie escorted her to the medical bay.
G'day Guys Grizz here, so hands up who though the Arbiter would be in this fic...no one besides me, well I wanted to do something different then the holy water and him dealing with the church so soon, they will meet but not now, another thing I wanted to do again was have taht SPARTAN shadow come back and help calm him down with Raphtalia. We will find out who he is but for now he's a secret. Plus teh stuff with the Rage Shield being mostly in canon except a few small things here and there
so until next time I'll catch you on the flipside