I do not own Rising of the Shield Hero or any of the characters.
On the Run
Fenris glared at Naofumi's back. His feet hurt, his legs hurt, and now they were heading to Siltvelt. Shieldfreeden he was all for, but Siltvelt, no way. An entire country of demi-humans, where he would be accepted, but any humans with them, such as Melty, or Fenris's entire harem, would be discriminated against to the point of being in danger. And as if that wasn't bad enough, it was the most heavily blockaded. And to top it off, they had ditched the wagon and horses in favor of taking a hard-to-climb ridge line, resulting in all of them being tired and sore. Fenris had already lightened his armor as much as he could, without making it disappear into the gemstones entirely, and it was still starting to feel heavy.
"We'll rest here," Naofumi said suddenly, standing by a cave.
"Thank fuck!" Fenris groaned, collapsing inside and letting his armor return to its normal weight and strength.
"I can't walk anymore," Naomi complained.
"You'll be alright, Naomi," Sofia smiled. "It can't be that much further."
"Guess again," Fenris grumbled. "We're only a quarter of the way through the mountain range."
All of his girls groaned. He chuckled, then sighed, pulling out the hellhound heart he had been carrying with him, staring at it as its beating thrummed along at an even pace in his hand.
"What is that?" Naofumi asked.
"Mine," Fenris said. "I'm going to have my armor upgraded with it, I think."
"Jeez, I'm not going to steal it," Naofumi said. "I just asked what it is."
"It's a hellhound heart," Fenris said.
"Really?" Naofumi asked. "Nice find."
"Thanks," Fenris said, putting it away. "I'm going to take a nap, now. Wake me when we have to leave."
Naofumi nodded and Fenris closed his eyes. However, what felt like seconds later, his ears stood up as he heard metal scrape on stone and a hissed curse. Not nearby, but too close for comfort. He sat bolt upright, noticing it was night already, and Naofumi glanced at him.
"We need to leave, now!" Fenris whispered.
Naofumi nodded, shaking Filo awake as Fenris woke his harem and they all left the cave quickly, making it about a thousand meters before the birds in the trees near where they had been scattered. Fenris summoned Shadow, who took his Nue form, everyone climbing on, then took off at a run, holding his tail up along his back to hold everyone in place, as well as partially hide their light-colored clothes. However, as they continue, groups of gusrds continuously beat them to whichever psth they are taking. Finally, Fenris stops Shadow and they all climb down at a thin tral along a cliff face.
"Shadow, I'll need you as a bird," Fenris whispered. "If anyone falls, catch them."
Shadow agreed, and transformed, standing at the edge of the cliff as they all started across. However, as they neared the road further on, guards began to arrive from a path there further up on the cliff.
"They've blocked this route off too," Naofumi growled. "We'll have to find another way around."
"We can always just break through," Fenris suggested.
"No," Naofumi said. "No violence."
Fenris sighed and nodded. They started back the other way, only for a chunk of stone to break free under Melty's foot. She screamed, but Naofumi caught her before Shadow could even take flight. He lifted her back up just as the soldiers above them announced their location.
"Everyone run!" Fenris said.
Tbey all turned, sprinting along the thin path, Shadow flyflying alongside them. They reached the road and headed for a fork, taking the right path only to skid to a stop as they found it dead-ended at a cliff. Fenris swore, turning back, only to swear again. They were boxed in. And not just by soldiers. The other three heroes were present as well.
"It's over, You're surrounded," Itsuki said. "There's nowhere left to run. Even you have to admit that."
Shadow landed in front of them and tranformed into his hellhound form.
"You see!" a sdier shouted. "He is a devil! He summoned a hellhound!"
"Actually, the hellhound is my familiar," Fenris corrected them. "Shadow, heel."
Shadow sat down. "I'm not a pet, dick."
"Realease the princess at once!" Itsuki ordered.
"What's with all this release business?" Naofumi asked. "It's not like I have her tied up or anything."
"Quit your lying," Motoyasu smirked. "We have all the proof we need now."
"Please Sir Heroes," Melty pleaded. "I'm fine, as you can well see! The Shield Hero and Fenris kept watch over me, making sure I was safe!"
"Wait a minute, this whole thing is happening because Naofumi abducted you," Ren said.
"No, this whole thing is happening because her soldiers attacked her and we defended her," Fenris said. "Then when we did, the soldiers recorded the fight and altered the images to make it look like we killed them all. To be fair, I did kill the first one who tried to kill Melty from behind, but after that the worst we did was bruise a few people."
The three heroes looked around at each other.
"He's right," Melty said. "I asked them to take me with them to protect me."
"Their protecting you?" Ren scoffed. "Come on!"
"What advantage could the Shield Hero possibly stand to gain by abducting me?" Melty asked, Naofumi nodding in agreement. The Queen told me, this is the time for all of us to stsnd together. It's the only way to thwart the catastrophies. Our world can't stand any more of these pointless, senseless conglicts. Put your weapons away and join me!"
"Like she says, this whole thing was a setup since the beginning," Naofumi said. "I have no secrets, I'll tell you everything I know. I-"
"I command you not to listen to him!" Mein snapped. "That devil possesses a brainwashing shield! It allows him to take over your mind by simply talking to you. It's the most dangerous weapon he has."
"Do you even hear how stupid you sound?" Fenris asked, raising an eyebrow. "A brainwashing shield? Really?"
"Lkke anyone's going to listen to an obvious devil who has glowing red eyes and controls a hellhound," Mein said.
"Touché," Fenris said. "That's actually a fair point. Except that he's not a hellhound, he's a Shadow-type Familiar. Any creature he kills, he can transform into."
"Silence devil!" Mein snapped. "We won't listen to anything either of you has to say!"
"What else is new?" Fenris snorted. "You all hate Naofu.i for shit he didn't do, and you've never once listened to his side of the story. The rape allegations by Mein, the duel over Raphtalia, suggested by Mein, the cheating during the duel, by Mein. Are you all really going to listen to Mein again without even hearing Naofumi out?"
"If what I'm saying is a lie, how do you explain the heretics that worship the Shield which the Three Heroes Church have discovered all over the kingdom in the past month, claiming that he calls himself the Savior of the Heavenly Fowl?" Mein challenged.
"Heretics?" Fenris asked. "You mean the people that Naofumi gave medicine and food to? The ones he saved from a rotting dragon's plague, or a monster plant? The ones he gave food to after their new goverment drove them away with ridiculous taxes and left them in this cou try with nothingb or how about the people Naofumi protected during the last two waves, people that the Melromarc soldiers tried to burn to death in one wave and then simply abandoned in the next, aside from a small group of them, who volunteered to help Naofumi since he was the only one who cared about those people. Are those the heretics you mean? The thankful people of Melromarc that would have died without Naofumi's help?"
Mein glared at Fenris.
"I...did leave a dragon's corpse to rot, and Naofumi did get rid of both it, and a plague it caused," Ren said.
"And I may have pla ted a seed that grew into a monster," Motoyasu admitted. "Which Naofumi claims to have stopped."
"Well I took down a tyrant, and I saw no evide ce of the government that replaced him being even more corrupt," Itsuki said. "Although, Naofumi definitely did spend the last two waves defending villages, and because of him there wasn't a single casualty during the last wave."
"Don't listen to them!" Mein snapped. "You see? The brainwashing's already begun! And as for the other demon and his pet monster-"
"Familiar," Fenris corrected.
"They should both be killed right now!" Mein continued.
"Sister, you're mad," Melty said.
"Melty, my dear little derranged creature," Melty said, trying to seem sweet. "It's obvious that the Devil of the Shield has already brainwashed you."
"That explains everything," Motoyasu said. "That means Raphtalia and Filo were brainwashed by Naofumi too."
"No you're wrong!" Raphtalia shouted. "Master Naofumi hasn't brainwashed anyone!"
"And here we go again with Motoyasu being wrapped around Mein's finger and not listening to anything Naoufumi says," Fenris sighed.
"If my shield really had the ability to do that, we wouldn't be in this damn situation in the first place!" Naofumi snapped.
"Do we have a guarantee that it can't?" Ren asked.
"Do you have enough of a brain to see that Mein's a manipulative cunt wbo csn't be trusted?" Fenris countered.
"Shut up you freak!" Mein spat. "You don't get to talk anymore! You're not human, and without you tail you're barely even demi-human."
"You bitch!" Fenris snarled, Sofia taking his hand.
"Enough!" Ren said. "This is about Melty, not Fenris's species. Hand over the princess right now and no one will get hurt. I promise you she won't be harmed in any way."
"You know, if we can avoid all this fighting, it might be for the best," Naofumi said, glancing at the edge of the cliff.
"You are absolutely right, Ren," Mein gushed dramatically, pressing herself into his chest and lifting on leg. "I'm so glad we can agree thag Melty's safety comes first."
"Right, because you definitely don't sound manipulative at all right now," Fenris said, rolling his eyes. "If it's safety you want, she's better off with us. One of us is a shield-user, and one of us is a skilled fighter. Meanwhile, one of you is a puppet on a stri g, and one of you is a manipulative whore who makes said puppet dance to whatever beat she sees fit. I'll grant that Ren and Itsuki are skilled and powerful fighters, but you're not good at defending anything. You both fight exclusively to destroy."
"I'm going to have to agree with Fenris," Naofumi said. "Your offer is generous, Ren, but I do not trust that woman with the princess."
"What are you saying?" Ren asked.
"What's that devil talking about now?" Mein demanded. "Melty is my dear little sister. I wouldn't dream of-"
"Ome off it, Lady!" Naofumi snapped. "You want to be crown princess so badly you'd kill your own sister! You'll say you're undoing the brainwashing and then kill her when nobody's looking! I'll bet that's exactly what you're planning! Don't forget, I promised to keep you safe. Filo now!"
"Kay!" Filo smiled, then transformed into her bird form as Shadow grew into a Nue.
Fenris and his girls all jumped onto Shadow as Naofumi, Melty, and Raphtalia climbed onto Filo. Then, she took off, jumping off of an Airstrike Shield onto a massive rock beside them, then from there toward a path below the cliff. Shadow moved to take a more direct route, numping off just as Motoyasu attached a glowing purple shackle to Filo's leg, transforming her back into her human form. Naofumi and the others crashed down on the path below the cliff.
Fenris dropped to the ground beside them with the others and stood between them and the other three heroes as Ren and Itsuki jumped down to their level using several stones. Fenris and his companions drew their weapons just as Mein send a sphere of purple light into the air to summon reinforcements.
"Shadow, save Filo," Fenris ordered.
"Right!" Shadow nodded, shifting into a bird and taking off.
Itsuki fired an arrow at him, but Eileen shot it out of the air with one of her own. "Impressive shooting. You're good."
"Ren, we don't have to do this," Fenris said as Raphtalia stepped up beside him. "You don't have to dance to her song like Motoyasu."
"I-"
He was cut off by a blast of fire exploding into Naofumi's shield, Mein's hand glowing.
"Mein, wait a sec!" Itsuki shouted. "Are you trying to kill your sister Melty!?"
"Naofumi, Mirror Shield!" Fenris shouted.
Naofumi switched to it and glared at Mein.
"Zweit Fire arrow!" Mein shouted, firing two fire blasts at Naofumi and Melty.
Both hit the shield, then rolled back on themselves before exploding back up at her as a single blast. Mein shouted in surprise and fear, diving to the side as the cliff top where she had been exploded.
"I dare you to try that again!" Naofumi invited. "This shield reflects half the damage of any magic attacks it blocks."
Mein drank a mana potion and hurled the bottle aside.
"Mein, stop this now!" Ren shouted.
"To save her from Naofumi's brainwashing shs must die!" Mein shouted.
Then, she unleashed a barrage of fireblasts at Naofumi, which all exploded into his shield. Then, a massive barrage of fireballs shot back at her. The explosions were weaker, but she didn't dodge these as well, aand was sent bouncing away.
"I warned you," Naofumi said.
"Mein!" Motoyasu shouted. "You bastard! Lightning Spear!"
He stabbed down at Naofumi just as Shadow reached Filo and whisked her away as a bird. Fenris stepped in front of Naofumi, grinning as he double checked his Nue Blade's lightning immunity upgrade, which extended to all weapons, unless they had a different elemental buff, which he could switch to at will with other weapons. Fenris slashed, his blade crashing into the lightning bolt Motoyasu had fired.
For a moment, they fought against one another before Fenris dicverted his sword upward, sending Motoyasu's attack into the sky. It narrowly missed a gigantic fireball that was forming over Melty, courtesy of Mein, and Naofumi shouted jn surprise, oushing Melty down and standing over her with his mirror shield raised. Then, Raphtalia appeared behind Mein and stabbed her her through the heart with a sword that had an orange mana blade, completely draining Mein's mana supply and ending her spell.
As soon as it had, Raphtalia leapt to Naofumi and Fenris retrated back to him as well. Then, Naofumi activated his Rage Shield and a blinding explosion of red light and fire shot out, obliterating a dozen meters of the path between ththem and Ren and the others.
"Ren, I know you'll be able to figure it out," Naofumi called back to him. "What's really going on!"
He hurled the Three Heroes Church pendant Fenris had taken from the corpse before and they turned, leaving quickly on Shadow. After a ways, they stopped in a small clearing in the forest they had reached to rest. Naofumi began to work at freeing the shackle from Filo's leg and Fenris sent Shadow into the air as a bird to keep watch.
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