I do not own Rising of the Shield Hero or any of the characters.
Travel
As Fenris and the others rode toward Shieldfreeden, Shadow rose from Fenris's shadow, flying along beside him.
"Does it cost any mana to use him?" Sofia asked.
"Nope," Fenris said. "He's completely self-sustaining. Once he gets a few more forms, he'll kind of be like a living Legendary Weapon."
"That's awesome!" Naomi said. "What's his name?"
"Shadow," Fenris said.
"Shadow, can you turn into a puppy for me?" Naomi asked.
"Of course not!" Shadow snapped. "I'm not a pet!"
"He'd have to kill the puppy first," Fenris said.
"Oh, nevermind then," Naomi said.
"Tell her she's a retard!" Shadow said.
"Isn't there a way for you to tell her that yourself?" Fenris asked.
"Only if I manage to kill an elder dragon," Shadow said. "One of the big ones."
"Figures," Fenris sighed. "We'll get there someday."
"Where?" Eileen asked.
"Eventually he has to kill a big dragon," Fenris said. "It'll give him the ability to speak to everyone, instead of just me."
"What about a Voice Gengar?" Eileen asked. "They csn speak."
Fenris looked to Shadow who was silent for a moment before grunting.
"Worth a shot," Shadow said.
Fenris chuckled. "If she's right, you know you're going to owe her."
Shadow rolled his eyes. They continued to ride in silence, the moon beginning to rise. They reached a forest and Fenris felt the hairs on his arm stand on end. He drew his sword, Noomi doing the same as Eileen drew her bow, knocking an arrow.
"Be ready Shadow," Fenris said. "You might be about to get an upgrade."
Shadow nodded just as a pitch black wolf leapt out of the trees at Fenris. Fenris leaned to the side and slashed, but his sword passed completley through the wolf. He swore, leaning upright again and glancing back at it.
"What is that thing?" Fenris asked.
"Hellhound," Shadow said. "I want it. You need a mana sword."
Fenris nodded, looking back again as the hellhound circled around a tree and shot across the ground after them, easily out-pacing the horses. "Fuck it's fast!"
He glanced at his sword, the web of alternate forms flashing through his vision before stopping on a mana sword. The sword flashed, everyone else staring at it, before the light faded, leaving it as a jian handle with a gold devil-themed guard, mirrored on both sides, with fangs sticking up away from the handle for an inch and a pair of horns sicking down outside of the grip on the outside of his thumb and fingers, then a pair of pointed ears for the actual guard. Coming out from the teeth of the devil faces was a glowing blue energy blade about four feet long, and the usual black sphere decorated the pommel.
Fenris twisted as the hellhound leapt at him again and slashed it across the face, knocking it to the side. He yanked on the his horse's reins and it skidded to a stop, turning to face the hellhound as it charged again. Fenris spurred his horse forward and the hellhound roared, sounding like a much larger monster than it was. Then, it jumped, body thinning and elongating, transforming into a spinning, curved blade. Fenris swore and dove off of his horse just as the hellhound split it nearly in half. It screamed as it collapsed and Shadow shot down at it, into its wound, before the horse spasmed and screamed on last time before falling still. Then, Shadow grew from its shadow, this time as a shadowy horse.
"That works," Fenris said, turning back to the hellhound just in time to deflect a spike of darkness extended from its body where its head should be.
He charged, but the hellhound sent out another spike, even as the first shrunk. The spike tore a gash in Fenris's side before he dropped into a slide under a third, then stood, slashing upward in an arc, a trail of dark goo spraying out of the hellhound as he slashed it. The hellhound yelped, sounding like a hurt dog, which sent a pang of guilt through him, before leaping at him, fangs extedning as its entire head and neck opened into a gigantic mouth. Fenris shouted in fear and surprise, leaping backward and slashing downward, splitting the hellhound's upper and lower jaw.
Its jaws snapped closed just shy of him and Shadow's back hooves crashed into the hellhound's side, sending it crashing into a lunged, stsbbing it through the side behind its front legs then turned, ripping his sword out through its front. Instantly, Shadow shot over as a bird, transforming into shadow and burrowing into the hellhound. The hellhound roared, thrashing and snarling, frothing darkness at the mouth. Then, it yelped and collapsed, melting away into shadow, leaving a glowing orange crystal the size of an apple. It had flat sides, was a ball, more or less, and when he picked it up, it was thrumming with the hellhound's heartbeat and was hot to the touch.
"That's th hellhound's heart," Shadow ssid, rising from the puddle as a hellhound himself. "That's an incredibly rare thing to find, even when a hellhound dies."
"What's it do?" Fenris asked, shifting his sword back to its black form.
"A lot," Shadow said. "In a suit of armor, it'll grant complete darkness and fire immunity, and will give you a healing factor, so yiu regenerate any wounds you receive in a matter of hours, at most. If you put that thing in your weapon, it'll unlock the hellhound sword, I'll bet. No idea what it does, but it could be useful."
Fenris hummed thoughtfully. "Can you generate a hellhound heart?"
Shadow was silent for a moment. "Nope."
"I see," Fenris nodded. "I'll hang onto it for now."
He slipped the heart into his pack and Shadow transformed into a horse for him, Fenris riding over to the others before they continued. They made it the rest of the way through the forest without a problem and started across a prairie. The rolling hills were covered in grass, and monsters were roaming here and there. There were balloons, birds, bulls. All low-level, and none eith any abilities that interested Shadow, or any loot worth killing them for, so they continued on and mostly ignored them. A couple tried to fight them, but Eileen killed them before they could get close.
"There's a Nue's nest up ahead," Fenris said to Melty. "We're going to take a minute to kill it."
Melty glared at him. "We don't have time."
"We have plenty," Fenris said. "Naofumi will be taking his time and enjoying his time away from royalty and the other douche bag heroes."
"Speaking of which," Melty said. "Care to explain your sword?"
"Some guy I found during the last wave gave it to me," Fenris shrugged. "He said it's called the Vassel Blade."
"I see," Melty nodded. "It works like a Legendary Weapon."
"I agree, but I don't think that's what it is," Fenris said. "Anyway, this is ouour stop."
Shadow walked over to a cave, and Fenris dropped to the ground, before Shadow transformed into a bird and landed on his shoulder. "I can't wait to have a Nue form."
"It better be worth it," Fenris said.
"If nothing else, the loot should be," Shadow said.
Fenris nodded, walking into the cave, Naomi and Sofia following, Eileen and Riley staying to protect Melty. After a few minutes, they reached the end of the tunnel, a massive cavern with a Nue laying in front of a pile of gold and weapons on a bed of skeletons. The Nue was about two feet taller than Fenris when it stood up on all fours, had a babboon's face, which snarled angrily at them, ringed by a mane of straight white hair, a coat of yellow fur with horizontal black stripes on its back with a single vertical one running then length of its spine, tiger paws, which it leapt off of at Fenris and the others, long, curved claws that were sharp on the bottoms and tops, like blades, which Very newrly took Fenris's head off, if Sofia hadn't blasted the Nue out of the air with a fireball, and a long green snake for a tail, which shot out and tried to take a bite out of Sofia, only for Naomi to remove it.
Fenris sprinted forward, leaping into the air, the Nue watching him. Then, Shadow drove a spike into its torso out of his face, now in his hellhound form. The Nue roared, lightning beginning to fly over its body before exploding outwaoutward, blasting everything around it, including Shadow. Shadow shouted in pain, spike retracting as he flew backward.
The lightning ended just before Fenris reached it and he sighed in relief, slashing the Nue down the front before darting forward, splitting its side open as well. It roared, beginning to turn but Shadow drove a spike into it again, thistime using the spike to invade the Nue's body. Then, more spikes exploded from inside of the Nue and it collapsed. The spikes retracted and Shadow rose from the Nue's corpse as a black Nue, complete with an intact blue snake tail, blue face, and blue paws, then turned back into his hellhound form.
"Nice," Fenris smirked, picking up the Nue's tail and feeting it to his sword's gemstone before pressing it to the NuNue's body.
The Nue's body began to get sucked in as well, transforming into red energy as it was, and after a moment, two new weapons were unlocked. First was a Nue serpent kusarigama. The second was called the "Nue Blade" and looked like a crossed sword and axe.
"Alright, now let's loot this place," Naomi said.
Fenris nodded in agreement and they began to collect any money and weapons they could, Fenris copying anything with a blade, just for shits and giggles. After a bit, he found a shield with a mirror on the front and stoppedb staring at his reflection. His irises had changed. Instead of their usual gold, they were blood red around his pupils and black around the outside.
"Shadow, why are my eyes different?" Fenris asked.
"It's a side effect of Familiar Magic," Shadow said. "It'll go away when you dismiss me."
Fenris nodded. "Alright."
He tucked the mirror shield away with Erhard's and continued collecting loot. As they were walking out of the cavern, however, he stopped, seeing a blue sphere. He picked it up and turned it over and over. Then, he shrugged and fed it to his sword. The weapons web appeared and a new one appeared. Dragon Soul Sword. High fire damage, medium additional phisical damage, and massive addition damage to dragons.
"Sweet," Fenris smirked, walking out of the cave and climbing on Shadow, who was once again a black horse. "Alright. That'll do for the time being."
"Good," Melty said. "Now can we please catch up to Naofumi?"
"Calm down," Fenris said. "We'll find him."
They all rode off again, this time not stopping for anything. As they rose, the sun rose, then set, then rose again. Melty was getting impatient, and sore from riding too long, but when Fenris suggested they stop, she refused. So, they continued. Finally, early that afternoon, they spotted Naofumi and the others.
"Hey, Naofumi!" Fenris called out. "I have a special delivery!"
Naofumi raised an eyebrow, until Melty rode out from behind Fenris. Then, he was scowling.
"Oh yeah, and she payed me five gold to escort her to you," Fenris said, slowing to a stop beside Naofumi. "Here. This is from Erhard, and has a five silver delivery fee. This one is one I found, and has a fifty silver fee."
Naofumi payed him for both and started with the mirror shield. "Magic reflection? Half the damage of any magic attack aimed at the weilder is reflected at the weilder's target. Helpful." He copied the other shield. "What the hell!? Offensive stats!?"
"Erhard worked hard to make you that," Fenris said.
"Offensive stats?" Raphtalia asked.
"It's got magic enchantments that increase offensive power," Naofumi said. "It evens out to...about the average soldier's damage."
"So...you can fight for yourself, now," Raphtalia said, sounding depressed.
"Not really," Naofumi said. "The average soldier can't do shit for damage. I'll still need you to fight for me. It's just that now I can help you fight, in addition to defending you."
Raphtalia smiled and nodded. "Alright."
"Now, what do you want?" Naofumi asked, turning to Melty.
"I-"
"Princess Melty!" a voice shouted, everyone turning to look just as a dozen or so guards rode toward them on horses, the leader of the group stopping beside Melty. "You shouldn't travel with such...unsavory people. It's not safe. Who knows what he might do to you."
"Protect her successfully, for one thing," Fenris said.
"Fenris alone is a more capable fighter than all of you," Melty said. "And I'll travel which whomever I choose." She turned back to Naofumi. "As I was saying, I have a request. Please return to the castle and speak with King Aultcray again."
"Not a chance," Naofumi said.
Melty was taken aback for a moment before trying again. "I want you to apologize for your conduct and reconcile."
"Forget it!" Naofumi snapped.
"Why should Naofumi apologize?" Fenris asked. "All the King has done since Naofumi arrived is wrongly accuse him of rape, force Naofumi into a duel, ignor Naofumi's opponent blatantly cheating, order the nobles to remain sisilent about said cheating, deny Naofumi any kind of financial support besides the monthky allowance, and then most recently accuse Naofumi of having a power he doesn't deserve just because Naofumi has a shield that beat the Soul Eater. Then as soon as he got done accusing Naofumi of having a power he didn't deserve, he demanded Naofumi tell him how the other Heroes could get similar power, and when Naofumi refused, your father threatened Raphtalia and Filo. Naofumi has nothing to apologize for."
"He...what?" Melty asked, staring at Fenris. "That...that can't be right."
"It's true," Naofumi said. "I've been wrongly persecuted for things I didn't do the entire time I've been here"
Melty was silent for a long while. "I...I'll have to tell Mother about this. If this is true...She's going to be so mad at Father when she gets home."
Just then, one of the soldiers behind Melty, one of whom was holding a crystal ball, charged, drawing his sword and attacking Melty. However, before he could kill her, Naofumi blocked the blade. Then, Fenris split the soldier in half across the diaphragm. As he collapsed, Fenris stepped in between Melty and the soldiers.
"Murderer!" Another guard shouted.
"They're taking the princess hostage!" a second shouted. "Fellow knights! Justice is ours! Destroy the Devil of the Shield and his hired thugs!"
"Don't call Sofia a thug!" Fenris said, blocking a sword. "She's much more skilled than that." He shoved the soldier back and raised his sword only for Naofumi to caugh his arm and Raphtalia to kick the soldier.
"No killing!" Naofumi said. "It already looks bad enough!"
Fenris nodded and they began to rapidly beat the soldiers down, none of them wounding the soldiers. However, the one with the crystal ball simply stood there, grinning wickedly and watching. Suddenly, someone Raphtalia hkt with the blunt of her blade clutched at his throat, making gagging sounds as he collapsed. Fenris snarled in rage.
"They're recording," Fenris said. "They're going to make it look like we killed all of the soldiers."
"Shit!" Naofumi swore. "Let's get out of here!"
"Full retreat!" one of the guards shouted, all of them scrambling away, getting on their horses and fleeing.
"Mother fuckers," Fenris swore. "Game, set, match."
"We'll deal with it later," Naofumi said. "Are you hurt Princess?"
"No, I'm fine," Melty said, looking at the dead guard. "Why would they do this?"
Fenris walked over to the corpse and pulled the Three Heroes Church pendant from around his neck. "Either under orders of your sister, or under orders of the pope." He held up the pendant. "They've always taught that the Shield Hero is a devil to be scourned and hated. Maybe they don't like Naofumi getting popular by being a good person and by beating a Wave Boss."
"Great," Naofumi sighed. "Let's get going. If we csn make it to Shieldfreeden we should be safe."
"You know they won't allow that to happen," Fenris said as he dismissed Shadow. "They'll alter the imaged to make it seem like a massacreb then spread it to every town and village in Melromarc. Then they'll lock down all the borders and have mandatory searches. We'll have to either sneak through, or break through."
"We'll see," Naofumi said. "And since you're in the images too, I'm not paying you while you're with us."
"Fine by me," Fenris said. "I'll just take everything the Pope or Mty owns whenever this is over."
He climbed into the carriage with Melty and Raohtalia as Naofumi hooked Filo up to it, the others all getting on their horses. Then, they set off for the border again, moving faster this time.
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