I do not own Rising of the Shield Hero or any of the characters.
A.N.: All of Fenris's alternate swords are based off of something from a game or show I liked. I've already used the Kokiri Sword from Legend of Zelda Occarina of Time, and the Razor Sword from Majora's Mask, and maybe a couple others. I'll try to say what theey are in the future, but I might forget. Dragon Soul Sword is the Dragon Buster from Legend of Dragoon, except it's blue.
Rescue
Fenris smirked as he walked toward the soldiers. A hundred of them, and his only rule was to not kill or seriously hurt. Well, it would still be a little fun, even if he had to let them live. After all, what good is a distraction if it just killed everyone it was supposed to distract? In truth, Fenris would argue an excellent one, but Naofumi begged to differ, so here he was. Alone.
He had sent the girls with Filo, Naofumi, and Raphtalia, keeping only Shadow with him. This way he could still have fun while doing his job. He drew his swordb holding it out to the side as his eyes flared red and Shadow formed over his other shoulder as a bird.
"Check this out Boss, that Nue gave me an upgrade," Shadow said.
Then, a bolt of pitpitch black lightning exploded out of his mouth, blasting a group of soldiers and sending them flying, all unconscious.
"No killing," Fenris said.
"You got it Boss," Shadow said.
"Go."
Shadow shot flrward, transforming into his hellhound form and tearing into the troops. Fenris streaked forward as well and the soldiers that moved to meet him began to drop rapidly. He was careful to disable and incapacitate only, but it was almost harder than normal fighting. One soldier slashed at him from one side as another stabbed and Fenris flipped into the air, slamming a kick into one's face before Shadow rammed into the other, knocking him to the ground before Fenris crashed down on his chest, slamming the pommel of his sword into the man's face.
Another lunged at Fenris and Fenris slammed the flat of his blade into the man's groin, dropping him. Two moved to attack, only for a massive pillar of darkness with a sphere on the end to crash into one, slamming him into the other and sending both crashing along the ground. Then, Fenris dropped into a squat as Shadow spun in a circle, dropping all of the remaining guards in one go. Fenris huffed.
"Too easy," Fenris said. "I want a challenge."
"Careful what you wish for Boss," Shadow warned.
Just then, Idol fell from a window, screaming in fear until he crashed to the ground. Fenris sighed.
"Well, I guess I don't get to kill him after all," Fenris said.
After a minute, Naofumi and the others walked out with Melty and Reichnott. They headed to a set of stairs off to one side and Fenris followed, dismissing Shadow on the way. Fenris brought up the rear on the way down the steps, feeling shiver crawl up and down his spine the whole way. It felt like he was walking into one of his nightmares.
"Idol imprisoned his demi-human slaves underground, and tortured them," Raphtalia said.
"How do you know that?" Reichnott asked.
"I know because...because I was lucky enough to live," Raphtalia said.
She led the way in silence. Fenris felt his nerves grow worse. It was exactly as he remembered the dungeon all those years ago. Dark, cold, the stench of death and sick. Piss and shit. An air of fear, despair, and hopelessness hanging in the air. Then, as they were passing through a gate into the cells, there was the coppery smell of blood.
Melty covered her nose and tried not to gag, and Riley and Sofia ran back up the stairs to vomit. He couldn't blame them. It smelled awful.
Raphtalia stopped at one of the cells, an empty one, and was lost in memory, so Fenris continued on. Three cells laterb he stopped. There was a living prisoner.
Survivor!" Fenris shouted.
The others sprinted over and Fenris turned, striding along the hallway quickly. Where there was one living slave...
"Another here!" Fenris reported as he found anotherb then another two cells later. "And here!"
The others had joined the search by now and they began to rapidly gather the survivors for Eileen, Naophumi, and Melty to heal. Fenris walked until he reached the last cell and the last survivor, a white-haired girl with rabbit ears and a rabbit tail. Except, she had a knife in her side and was bleeding out around it. He slashed the cell open instantlyb then cut her shackles free of the wall and caught her, sprinting to the others with her. Naofumi and Eileen instantly moved to save her, Fenris pulling the knife out once they were ready, allowing them to heal her. She healed slowly, however, and both had to cast their spell twice. Finally, she was healed and stirred, staring up at the three of them, smiling weakly after a moment.
"Fen...ris," she smiled, Fenris's heart nearly stopping as he stared at her one green eye and one blue.
"No," Fenris breathed. "You're...but..."
"Do you know her?" Naofumi asked.
"She's...my friend," Fenris breathed. "Hana."
She raised her hand and he caught it as tears rolled down his face.
"I'm so sorry," he said. "I should have found you. I...I should have saved you."
Hana shook her head. "You...did."
He couldn't help but smile, nodding, then looked up at Eileen. "Can you heal her anymore?"
"Not right now," Eileen said. "Her body still need to rest snd recover. I can speed the process up, but not completely skip it."
Fenris nodded, lifting her into his arms. "I'm getting her out of here."
"We'll be right up," Naomi promised.
Fenris nodded and headed for the stairs, Sofia and Riley waiting at the bottom of them, both covering their noses. Sofia glanced over at Fe ris and then at the girl and hurried over.
"Is she alive?" Sofia asked.
"Yes," Fenris nodded. "This is Hana, my childhood friend."
Sofia nodded. "I'll help get the othere out."
"No," Fenris said. "You don't need to see that. Stay with me."
Sofia nodded and Fenris walked upstairs with her and Riley, then summoned Shadow as a Nue, laying Hana on his back gently. Riley and Sofia glanced to the side as purple lightning flashed, hitting an obelisk in the center of the courtyard and both gasped, Riley reaching for her sword, only for Fenris to set a hand on their shoulders, stopping them.
"Children first," Fenris said.
Both hesitated, then nodded. As the others brought the other three survivors up, they placed them with Hana, Shadow using his tail to hold them on his back.
"Get them somewhere safe, Shadow," Fenris said.
"I'm going too," Riley said.
"And me," Eileen said.
Fenris nodded and both girls gave him a quick kiss before climbing on. Then, Shadow sprinted out of the mansion's grounds.
"What do you mean safe?" Naofumi asked, just as Fendis drew his sword.
"Simple," Fenris said. "I should have made sure that fat fucker was actually dead."
The others stared at him as he turned his head. They all followed his line of sight and instsntly drew their weapons, Fenris not stopping them this time. Off to the side, kneeling in front of an obelisk in the center of the courtyard and praying, was Idol.
"What a pain," Naofumi grumbled. "How is he still alive?"
"Supreme God, grant me the power to rend the devil asunder!" Idol shouted.
"That dumbass," Fenris grumbled as a magic circle appeared around the obelisk. "That's a sealing spell, and a powerful one. Whatever is sealed away there is incredibly dangerous."
"You're right," Reichnott said. "The heroes of the past created that stone monument to seal a monster away forever."
Just then, the seals vanished and the ground began to crack, light shining from underneath.
"Yes, you're free now!" Idol shouted. "Go and destroy everything! You're liberated from your prison!"
"I suppose no prison ever actually lasts forever," Fenris said. "So, Naofumi, you thinking dragon or plant?"
"Personally, I hope it's a giant chunk of candy and it was sealed away because everyone was getting fat," Naofumi said.
"One can only hope," Fenris snorted as the light grew brighter.
Then, a massive T-Rex-looking dragon-type monster erupted out of the ground, roaring. ait had black skin with red under its stomach, and blue spikes running down its back in two trails, plus a bone-like grown on its face in an "X" with the two upper arms being empty diamonds, like a sort of crown.
"Draon it is," Fenris said.
"No one can withstand me now!" Idol laughed. "If I can kill the Devil of the Shieldb I will be eternally blessed by God!"
He began to laugh but it was cut short by the dragon stomping on him.
"I guess that takes care of that," Fenris said, raising his sword. "Dragon Soul Sword!"
Everyone who hadn't known about his sword gaped at him as it shone and transformed. As the light faded, the hilt had become a dark blue dragon's head with a section missing from the undersideb allowing for the grip to be placed in it, just long enough for one hand. The dragon had a single row of spikes running from between its eyes backward, with the onyx sphere in the center of its forehead, between two spikes. The blade was a sky-blue flame extending from the dragon's mouth and reaching outward four feet before curling backward to a point, except that the flame was constsntly shooting outward to the point rapidly, raging and roaring like the dragon head were still alive.
"What the hell is that!?" Naofumi demanded.
"It's called the Vassel Blade," Fenris said. "It's like a Legendary Weapon, only mine works with any weapon that has a blade."
Naofumi shook his head in disbelief as the dragon roared, turning to them. Fenris stepped forward, raising his sword and narrowing his eyes. They couldn't kill it. Not realistically.
"We won't beat this thing," Fenris said. "We need a way to lure it out of the town."
Naofumi nodded just as the dragon's chest began to glow, as well as Filo's stomach, Filo now in her bird form.
"Filo, did you eat a Dragon Soul Stone?" Fenris asked.
"I don't know what that is, but I ate this purple rock inside of a zombie dragon once," Filo said.
"That's the one," Fenris said as the dragon turned to glare at her. "Naofumi, Raphtalia, take Filo and get out of the town. He'll chase Filo."
"You sure?" Naofumi asked.
Just then, the dragon roaredb lunging and snapping at them all, all of them avoiding it before the dragon turned after Filo.
"Positive," Fenris said. "I'll distract him, you lead him away."
Naofumi nodded a d Fenris took a deep breath.
"I hope this armor's as good as you say, Erhard," Fenris said, concentrating.
A pair of metal-feathered wings grew from the armor's back, spreading out and flexing befor flapping once, Fenris shooting into the air. He cheeredb then flipped and shot forward, slashing the dragon as he passed. The blade of his sword carved an inch-deep scratch along its side, doing basically nothing, but the dragon roared angrily and tried to catch him, only to miss. He flipped, shoting toward it again and slashed at its eye, only for the sword to fail to cut any deeper through its eyelid, then skip off of its bone crown completely harmlessly. He swore, flipping past the bone and avoided another bite before Filo's foot crashed into the side of its head, allowing her to jump off of it and take off while drawing its attention. It roared, charging after her, and Fenris followed.
They left the town in seconds, entering a forest. Fenris made a couple of attempts to hurt the dragon, but had no such luck. Finally, they reached a gigantic lake where Filo and the others were waiting for the dragon. It roaredb charging at themb only to hit an Airstrike Shield, halting for a second before shattering it. Then, Fenris slashed it across the snout, not harming it but angering it and making it leave Naofumi alone.
"I thought that sword was for fighting Dragons!" Naofumi shouted as Filo and Raphtalia futilely attacked the dragon.
"It is!" Fenris shouted. "It's not my fault this thing's level ten fucking million!"
Just then, Filo's foot crashed into the dragon's stomach and sank into its flesh a little. It still did nothing, but it was clearly softer.
"Hello weak point!" Fenris grinned, streaking forward.
The dragon roared, snapping at him but missed by a hair before he slashed its underside from chest to legs, blood spraying out behind him as the dragon roared.
"That's it!" Naofumi shouted. "Raphtalia, hit it!"
Raphtalia shot forward and leapt onto the dragon's leg, then up to the stomach, slashing a relaticely small gash into its flesh. As she la ded, the dragon stomped, Shattering the ground, though Fenris managed to pull Raphtalia out of the way.
"Filo!" Fenris shoutedb hurling Raphtalia at her.
He spun just as an Airstrike Shield above and below him blocked the dragon's jaws for half a second, just long enough for Fenris to shot forwardb k to the dragon's throat. He drove his blade into the side of the dragon's trachea, he hoped, aiming to find the lungs. He flew downward, splitting the tube wide open as he did before finally reaching a forked path too small for him to take either side. Not that his current tube was much bigger. He couldn't even flip over. And there was blood flooding down on him rapidly, drowning him. He slashed below himself rapidly as he retracted his wings, shredding the dragon's bronchial paths before quickly cutting his way out of the flooding tube, only for more blood to greet him. He felt his lungs burning, screaming for oxygen. He fought harder, desperately trying to find an exit. Then, his sword hit something solid and all but stopped, only cutting an inch deep. His heart dropped. The back. He had tried to go the wrong way. He felt tears begin to mix with the blood he was drowning in. He didn't want to die. He wanted to live.
He slashed and sawed at the dragon's hardened flesh rapidly, desperate to be free. Then, he was flying. He forced his eyes open, seeing the dragon falling to the ground, massive gashes covering its body and spraying blood everywhere. Then, he saw his rescuer. A Filolial even bigger than the dragon. The Filolial Queen. The queen caught him on her back and looked back at him.
"You did very well," the queen said. "I'll give you the experience for the kill, as you would have killed it anyway, though you likely would have drowned in the attempt."
Suddenly, he gained an experience reward with six digits after the one, none of the digits being a zero. As a result, he jumped from level thirty two to level fourty. His mouth fell open just as Shadow drove himself into the dragon, a few seconda too late to steal the kill. After a moment, he came back out as a Nue, carving his way out through the stomach. His tail set a pair of gemstones down, one a black sphere like the blue one Fenris had found, a Dragon Soul Stone, which, thinking back on it, he really didn't want to know how the original Nue got it. The other stone was a purple crystal the size of Fenris's forearm. Though, given the fact that the Filolial Queen reached into the dragon's remains and removed a chunk about the same size as her entire wing, he supposed Shadow only got a part of it.
Fenris formed himself a set of wings again and flew down to the two stones, retracting the wings and picking them both up, tossing Naofumi the soul stone and giving his sword the purple one, unlocking a massive variety of dragon weapons, however, all were locked for level requirements. He sighed. Typical.
"You are the Shield Hero," Fitoria said. "I would like to speak with you, however, this form is not appropriate. One moment, please."
Suddenly, she began to glow blue and shrank, transforming into a girl roughly Filo's size with shoulder-length silver hair with three locks sticking up on top, each turning gold at the ends, a pair of large white-feathered wings, and a white and ded dress.
"Allow me to introduce myself," she said. "I am the queen of all the Filolials. My name is Fitoria."
Fenris stared at her for a moment before turning to Shadow. "Can you go pick up the girls?" Fenris asked.
"Sure thing Boss," Shadow said. "Oh, and that Hana chick made me bring her back with me, Tits, and Riley, so she's with Sofia right now."
"Okay," Fenris nodded. "Bring them here for me."
Shadow nodded and flew away. As he did, Fitoria ssked them all to accompany her and a Filolial brought a very fancy carriage into the clearing, everyone but Fenris and Naofumi climbing in, Naofumi arguing with Fitoria about him using parts of the dragon for his shield, and Fenris waiting for Shadow. When he arrived, the girls all climbed i to the carriage, Fenris following with Hana as he dismissed Shadow. Then, Naofumi got in after dinally absorbing a bit of the dragon.
"Portal," Fitoria said, a blinding light shining around them, leaving a completwly different view out the window when it faded a moment later.
"What was that?" Raphtalia asked, stepping out of the carriage. "What just happened?"
"Some kind of instant travel magic," Melty said.
"Useful," Fenris mused, carrying Hana out of the carriage to a spot of soft grass and setting her down. "You alright Hana?"
"Yes," she smiled. "Thanks to all of you."
Fenris smiled and nodded, then smiled up at Sofia as she sat beside him, leaning on his shoulder.
"Why don't you all rest here for the time being?" Fitoria was saying to the others.
"Excellent idea," Fenris said. "It'll take a couple days before Hana can travel anyway."
"Then I suppose it's decided," Naofumi sighed. "I'll tart making dinner."
Everyone agreed and within a handful of minutes, Naofumi was hard at work, Fenris sighing and settling in to wait.
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