Reviews:
SomeCallMeDrunk: I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! It was by far my favorite to write. I had been planning the Stand Arrow for a while now, and I think I implemented it well. The others won't be getting stands quite yet because plot development and also I don't want a number of overpowered characters destroying any semblance of canon I have left. I'll also check out AniNews for the refresher, thanks for the recommendation!
Guest: Yeah I did make them all female... didn't I... oops. Well, I don't want to force in another party member, especially when writing and keeping track of five characters while trying to keep all five relevant in each chapter is a little difficult, so I'm sorry, but for now, no hyena man :(
calderoneric758: Rifana's third eye is from her stand, Naofumi cannot give joke stands (resource limit babyyyyy) and I'm sorry if I'm responding to something you weren't asking but the way you typed it was a hard to pick apart. Also, I've started including stand stats below the normal stats for each party member because I found a semi-neat way to arrange it.
Guest: Ren... might get a stand? I'll be honest, I'm a little at a loss for what to do with Ren. One one hand, I want him to progress as a character without being given random boosts in power to keep him relevant. On the other hand, I don't want him to be completely useless in the story... meh, I'll figure it out eventually.
Everyone: I'm terribly sorry you feel that way. I understand this story isn't for everyone (haha funny pun) but thank you for the time you did spend reading my silly little story. But, if you still read this chapter, please PM me to let me know why the story disappointed you. I would like to try and improve my writing and your input could help with that. Sorry if this sounds like a sales pitch, but really, thank you for reading as long as you did. (Also, thank you for comparing this to Total Command, with the exception of the lemon, I really love that fic)
Auren02: HAHAHAHA, FOOL! I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING, SO YOU WON'T EITHER! Nah for real, he can give others stands but it will be SEVERELY limited.
Slackboy101: Ah, if I can find a way to add them in naturally without forcing it, I might do that. But I sincerely doubt I'll ever ad them in as permanent characters, sorry man.
R-king 93: Well played sir... well played.
D3lph0xL0v3r: So many questions... :)
Axel The Moon: It had been immortalized, my friend. Immortalized in the name of MEMEDOM!
gaming is served: yes. yes she was. and so was Naofumi. :)
Noahjustwantstoread: Thank you! I try to think of really good ones but they end up being so obscure I can't even follow them sometimes haha.
Seimika: ...maybe.
Takia5683: I'm sure I've seen something resembling Riza at some point in my life and I ended up subconsciously drawing from that, but I did not intentionally design Riza after any pre-existing character. Though, if you find something that matches her, let me know so I can bask in nostalgia.
A Shield's Stand
Chapter 14: To See All
"I know you've just taken over for Polpo, but he had left one job unfinished," the creepy old man with the lazy eye spoke. "Of course, you'll be taking on any jobs that Polpo had, Bucciarati. Are you okay with that?"
Bucciarati hummed, "A job that Polpo left unfinished?"
The man spoke once more, "It's a direct order from the boss."
A chill flew through every member of the group. Being a part of the organization had meant they would be taking orders from those above them, but to take one from the boss himself? It was simply unheard of.
"The… boss?" Bucciarati uttered.
"The boss…" Abbacchio murmured.
"The boss no one's ever met?" Mista said.
"An order… directly from him?" Narancia finished.
"Correct. I'll tell you right here and now," the old man cut in once more, "You'll be guarding the boss's daughter, and risking your lives doing so… that is all."
The gang members froze in shock. The boss of the organization that practically ran all of Italy had a daughter? And they were tasked with defending her?
"This is insane…" Naofumi said with a sigh.
Ignoring Naofumi's disbelief, the old man continued to speak, "You'll start guarding her right now. I've handed her over to you."
Giorno stiffened as he connected the dots. Naofumi stepped forward towards the man standing behind the old man and flashed a bright smile.
"It's always a pleasure to meet new people, my name is Naofumi Iwatani, may I ask for your's?" Naofumi said with his smile. The boss's daughter's eyes widened a fraction before resettling as she turned to the old man.
"Do you mind if I go to the bathroom?" She asked.
"That's fine, Trish," the old man responded.
The now named Trish stepped around Naofumi and passed the rest of the gang before entering the women's washroom. Abbacchio stormed up to Naofumi and grabbed him by the collar, shaking him around in sheer fury and terror.
"Are you an idiot, Naofumi?!" Abbacchio whisper-shouted at the fool in his arms. "Are you trying to get us all killed?"
Naofumi took a bit to shake himself back into it, "Of course not, you know I would never put us all in danger willingly. I just thought that she looked so sad, so she could use some friends."
Abbacchio closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "ARE YOU INSANE?! Naofumi, if she really is the boss's daughter, which im 99% positive she is, then she has all of our lives dancing in the palms of her hands! If we do anything she doesn't like, she could have us killed!"
Naofumi took Abbacchio's hands into his own, a mild glare aimed at Abbacchio. Abbacchio flinched at the sight of a glare on Naofumi's face. "Listen, I know what I'm doing, and I'm not stepping over any of her boundaries. I can tell. Now, if your whole life was spent traveling with different groups of older men with strange and unexplained abilities fighting in literal gang wars, don't you think you would want some semblance of normality?" Abbacchio lessened his hold on Naofumi's collar, "I sure as hell would so I'm going to give that to her."
Naofumi pulled Abbacchio's hands from him and made his way for the door of the washroom. Looking off to the side, he saw the old man leaving, apparently Bucciarati and Giorno finished their conversation while the rest of them interacted somewhat with Trish. As he approached, he saw Trish exiting the washroom, now wearing dramatically different clothing.
Trish walks up to Naofumi as he tries his damn hardest not to stare at all, "Could you… no, nevermind," she turns to Fugo, "Could you take off your jacket?"
The group sweatdropped at the sudden request, "My… jacket?" Fugo asked confusedly.
"Yes, but it's not because I want to see you shirtless."
Fugo did as she asked, presenting his jacket to her. Trish didn't hesitate to dig through his jacket pockets, "I don't have a handkerchief, so go buy one for me, also some stocking and Givenchy Blush No. 2. The stockings need to be reinforced at the thighs. Get the latest issue of Italian Vogue, too, and some mineral water. I'd rather die than not drink one from France, though. When you're done gawking at the scenery, go buy that stuff for me."
The group was stunned into silence as Trish walked away. Naofumi was the quickest to shake off the shock before he hurried to follow her, not only to defend her as his job as her bodyguard, but also to hopefully sow the seeds of friendship between her and the group.
Lord knows they would need it in the days to come.
Rifana groaned as she regained consciousness. Slowly she rose up from the bed rubbing her hands on her aching temple. Everything hurt, yet it didn't at the same time. Lord, why did she feel like this? She put more force to her head, trying to soothe the ever present pain that just wouldn't go away. It was she touched something that shouldn't be there. Rifana blinked her eyes in confusion, realizing that even though her eyes were closed, she could still see. She brought her hands to the strange thing on her forehead before absentmindedly thinking,
'Oh, I have three eyes now.'
'...'
"WHAT?!"
The throbbing pain could be ignored for right now as she scrambled out of the bed, looking for anything that would let her see herself right now. Unfortunately for Rifana, her legs couldn't quite support her yet and with her first step she collapsed to the ground. Groaning as a new set of pain washed over her, Rifana tried to struggle to her feet. The door to her room was thrust open, and Rifana saw her entire party looking through the room for any sort of threat, their weapons drawn and Wireframe floating beside Naofumi, ready for battle.
"So that's what Wireframe looks like," Rifana noted from her spot on the floor.
People would think Rifana's voice was heavenly based on how it caused the rest of the party to focus in on her before practically dogpiling her (avoiding injuring her of course) and worriedly checking her over. Rifana looked between them all; Raphtalia was fretting over her as usual but sported no injuries, Silver just looked happy to see her big sister awake, Elina for once wasn't wearing her armor and was instead mummified in bandages and wearing a sling on her right arm, and Naofumi was asking about five questions at once while sending Wireframe off to get some water for her.
Yup, they really were a family. All of them. And being a family meant she got the entire family treatment, including the scolding for leaving her bed.
"I can't believe you, Rifana!" Raphtalia dug her pointer finger into the top of Rifana's head, making the girl wince at the discomfort, "You wake up with bandages everywhere and your first thought is to get out of bed? Don't you know how injured you are?"
Rifana looked at herself, seeing the bandages along her left side for the first time, "Huh. I guess I am bandaged everywhere. Ouch."
Silver giggled, Elina deadpanned, and Raphtalia and Naofumi sighed, "Let's just get you back in bed, Rifana," Naofumi said as he picked up the weasel girl, placing her on the bed. The rest of the party chose not to acknowledge the third eye Rifana had that closed and disappeared when she managed to calm down.
"So do you guys mind filling me in on what happened at the end of the fight?" Rifana asked unabashedly, "I felt a really bad pain in my chest and then everything kind of blacked out."
Elina and Raphtalia shared an uncomfortable and difficult to place look while Naofumi's face sagged at her words. They all were trying to gather their words but Silver was the first to speak of them all.
"We were all fighting the bad church people. Big sis Elina was too hurt to fight and we were losing. Then Daddy shot an arrow at the Spear man but he hit it away and it hit you really bad, Rifana. It went right through you and blood was going everywhere. It looked like it really hurt and I was so scared, Rifana." Silver got more and more teary as her explanation went on before Raphtalia pulled her into a tight hug. Rifana looked a little struck by the answer and looked towards Naofumi. The man in question refused to meet her eyes.
Elina cut in before anything else could be said, "You pulled it out completely. We all thought you were dead right there but the wound was just gone like that. When you got up you had some weird third eye and the rest of the Spear Hero's lackeys started dropping like balloons. Then you bolt off faster than I've ever seen you run and smack away that idiot like he wasn't even worth your time. After that you just kind of… collapsed."
"We ended the fight right there and ran you and Elina to Lute as fast as we could. They didn't have much, but they gave us everything they could to help you heal," Naofumi's eyebags lay prominently on his exhausted visage. He hadn't slept since Rifana was being treated.
"So how long was I out?" Rifana questioned worriedly. She knew the third Melromarcian wave was right around the corner and she desperately hoped she didn't cause any problems with their preparations.
"You were out for five days," Raphtalia answered, "And don't worry, there's still two more days until the next wave. We have enough time for you to heal, granted we'll need some potions, and for you to figure out whatever new ability you have," Raphtalia looked tired too, but nowhere near as tired as Naofumi. He probably forced her to sleep at some point.
'Stupid hypocrite,' Rifana internally sighed. "Hey you guys, can I talk to Naofumi alone for a sec? And try to get some sleep alright? I'm ok now." With some more words, Elina and Raphtalia made their way out with Silver who was still a little teary eyed from her recounting of events. As they closed the door behind them, Rifana sighed as she lay back down in her bed. "You really need to work on not being so readable Naofumi," Rifana said with a small smile. "If you were at the very bottom of the king's dungeons and I was at the top of the sky, I would still be able to tell you feel guilty," Naofumi flinched a little at that. Rifana sighed, "But being such an open book is one of the things that makes you so great Naofumi. You're always so honest and kind with everyone that it makes it really hard to just be annoyed at you, and trust me, I'm plenty annoyed right now."
"Rifana, I never wanted to-" Naofumi was cut off.
"You haven't been sleeping at all, have you?" Rifana asked with plenty of frustration lacing her tone. Naofumi gawked at her, "And I know you know how important getting sleep is since you probably sent Raphtalia to sleep at some point AND you have lectured us I don't even know how many times to get some sleep when we were smaller. So right after we finish with this conversation, and maybe a little bit of figuring out what that arrow did to me, then you are going to sleep for the rest of the day, do you hear me?"
"But… but I-" Naofumi tried.
"Do. You. Hear. Me?" Rifana upped the intensity. Naofumi closed his mouth with a smile and a fond shake of his head. She has always been headstrong when it came to the rest of their family. Well he was the one who basically raised her so he guessed that was his fault.
"Yes, I'll make sure to take a nice long nap after we finish with everything today." And with that, Rifana's familiar smile came right back.
The rest of the day was spent getting Elina and Rifana anything they needed and trying to get them healed up. The process was made much easier when the villager whom they had given money to for healing potions finally came back from their trip. They would have gotten them themselves and much earlier but, y'know… they're kind of wanted criminals right now. Better not to take risks when they aren't necessary.
By the end of the day, Elina was out of her sling, fully healed up and Rifana was able to move around on her own. She wasn't at 100% quite yet but she was getting there steadily. That just left exploring Rifana's new ability the skill somehow managed to give her.
The five of them stood in the central plaza of Lute (they had used the land where the watchtower had been previously in a creative way), two volunteers at the ready to help test her ability out. Naofumi had Wireframe out behind the volunteers in case any mishaps happened.
"Hey Naofumi?" Rifana called out as Naofumi was talking to Raphtalia about what they still needed to do for the wave.
Naofumi turned to face both demi-humans, "Yeah Rifana? Is anything wrong?"
"Not really, but I was just curious, the skill you… used on me… how did you get it?"
Naofumi nodded sagely, it was a good question. If they were ever going to understand how this new ability works, understanding the source of it would definitely be a good place to start. "I got it after absorbing an arrow I had in my pocket when I was first summoned." Raphtalia's eyes widened as she looked between the pair. Rifana had also figured out what was happening, if her gigantic grin was any indicator.
Raphtalia sputtered beside Naofumi, "No way… y-you mean that's how it happens?!"
Naofumi raised an eyebrow in confusion, "How what happens? I only said I had the arrow… when I was… summoned."
Silver looked between her Daddy and her two big sisters, who were all frozen with very different emotions shining on their faces. Rifana had an incalculable amount of joy shining through her beaming smile. Raphtalia had shock written on her face, the turn of developments coming out of left field for the otherworld enthusiast. Naofumi had one hand wrapped around his chin, thinking to himself.
He clapped his hands together, snapping the other two out of their own trances and drawing the attention of the others. "Rifana, can you see Wireframe right now? If you can, tell me what he's doing." Wireframe gave the two volunteers bunny ears over their heads. Rifana sputtered out a laugh to the other's confusion.
Naofumi knew how to help her now. "Alright, to the rest who don't know what's going on right now, Rifana has developed a stand." He waited for Elina's surprised shout of 'WHAT?!' to end before continuing. He changed his shield to the now named Stand Shield. Interestingly enough, the only remaining trace of the arrow was a small portion of the fletching. "The arrow I was summoned with has the ability to give others stands if they are struck with it. I don't know if it has to be a vital hit or it could be as small as a nick, but I really don't want to test that out. Even if I wanted to, the skill needs to recharge. I don't know what it needs, but we'll figure that out later."
Raphtalia tried to suppress her disappointment at the speech. She knew why he was so against testing it out, seeing Rifana ripping an arrow out from her heart is an image that will never truly cease to haunt her mind, but ever since she learned of Wireframe's existence, she had steeled herself to find a way to bring Naofumi's incredible power to their world.
"Alright Rifana, are you ready to summon your stand?" Naofumi's voice cracked her from her inner thoughts.
"Yes Sir!" Rifana stood at attention and gave a salute. The rest present all sweatdropped at the display. Regardless, Naofumi began to talk again.
"When I summon Wireframe, it isn't I force out like you would with an attack from a weapon. Your stand is a piece of you, it isn't something you should be forcing out. So close your eyes and try to bring it out slowly." The instructions were somewhat lacking, but this wasn't exactly a normal subject one could teach. It was very much based on personal feeling and there wasn't much of a science to it.
Regardless, Rifana did as she was told, closing her eyes and taking calming breaths. The rest waited patiently for the weasel girl and it wasn't long before a slit appeared on her forehead, opening itself to reveal a third yellow and red eye. The two volunteers gasped in surprise at the admittedly demonic sight.
Silver cheered out, "You did it Rifana, you did it!" She ran up to the girl whose eyes were still sealed shut. Even so, she turned around and caught Silver perfectly.
'So the eye isn't just related to her power, but it actually grants her a third eye to see out of? That's strange,' Naofumi thought.
Rifana opened her eyes after, the stand produced eye remaining even with her eyes opened. Having three eyes was weird. She could look left, right, and up at the same time and still see everything around her. Well, it would definitely be useful at least with her incredible eyesight. But that wasn't what she really wanted to try out…
"Nice job, Rifana, now let's get to work on your stand's ability and its strengths," Naofumi said with pride in his voice.
Raphtalia was definitely not jealous at all.
Silver hopped up again, her excitement at the situation being too much to keep still. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, do your poem again!"
Rifana quirked a brow at the child, "A poem?"
"Right before the church members collapsed you recited a poem," Raphtalia explained to the confused weasel girl. "Basically you were asking your stand to steal the enemy's strength and add it to your own."
Rifana looked over to Elina for confirmation. "Don't look at me, I wasn't close enough to hear your weird poem," Elina deflected the attention.
She looked at (tried to) her third eye in wonder. 'Does it work with anything else?' Rifana rubbed at her chin, trying to think up another poem on the fly. 'What rhymes with forever? Never? How can I use that in a poem? Ah geez this is going to be hard.' Well she would just have to work at it until she could think them up quickly. If she wanted to make the most of her stand, it would be best if she didn't have to spend half her concentration on thinking up rhymes.
The rest of the group looked at the steam coming from the girl's ears blankly.
"Hey Rifana, why don't you keep it simple to start?" Elina called out.
Rifana sheepishly rubbed the back of her head (Naofumi cried out at the theft of his habit) and nodded determinedly.
It took a while (Rifana really needed to work on the poems) but they learned some important details about I've Been A Fool, and it's ability which they decided to call Transference.
Firstly, Rifana was not limited to just stealing the strength of opponents, nor was she limited by a specific amount of strength to steal. She could choose other attributes and transfer them to herself.
Secondly, she was not limited to just transferring attributes from others to herself. She could also give some of her attributes to others in a bind or if the situation called for it.
Thirdly, she could transfer from the target to others beside herself as well as multiple people at once. However, if she does, the effect is lessened.
Fourthly, there is a time limit on the transfer. Any and all transfers are returned at the end of the hour.
Finally, and most importantly, if attributes are transferred from others to her, the ratio of transference is 1:1, which is to say she receives every bit she takes with no loss of energy. However, if she transfers from herself to others, the ratio is 3:2, which is to say the effects are more from normal. For example, if Rifana transferred forty points of attack from another person to herself, she would have forty points of attack added to her own. Alternatively if she transferred forty points of her own attack to another person, said person would receive sixty points of attack added to their own.
There were also some random little tidbits of info they learned from further testing. Rifana, now able to see Wireframe was able to affect it and even damage it lightly in a test, which led to direct damage on Naofumi which even bypassed his defence! That of course led to the theory that only stands can damage other stands. Other than that, they learned that Rifana was no stronger physically with I've Been A Fool activated compared to deactivated, nor were any of her other abilities boosted. However, she did receive a rather strange bonus to defense…
"Alright, we won't do anything serious, Silver here, is just going to try to poke it. Let us know if it hurts at all and we'll stop, ok Rifana?" Naofumi asked worriedly. Rifana managed a shaky nod. They had already trained and tested her stand extensively and she was starting to feel the effects of that.
"Sorry if this hurts, Rifana…" Silver apologized preemptively. She knew how bad it hurt to have something hit your eye ever since she kicked a rock which ricocheted against a wall and straight into her eye. Her high defense did its job to protect her, but it still hurt.
"It's alright Silver, it's for science!" Rifana put on a silly voice making Silver giggle.
Silver reached forward to poke Rifana's stand eye but before it made contact, a series of strange glowing hexagons formed around Rifana. They disappeared quickly but left behind a roman gladiator style helmet colored a dark blood red with shining yellow for the frills coming from the top of the helmet.
…
"Huh… neat."
The rest of the days passed by as they planned for the wave. Interestingly enough, there were some knights who hailed from Lute who wanted to accompany the party on the wave as an extra bolster to their manpower. Naofumi accepted the help thankfully. The Sheildfreeden wave had done well to teach the group that every bit of manpower was both appreciated and useful. By the end of it, they had five well equipped soldiers efficiently fighting side by side with the Shield Hero's party.
Which left the party standing strong with ten members. Naofumi and the three knights on defense and interception, Silver on transport, Elina, Rifana, and Raphtalia on combat and zone-clearance, and the two mages supporting wherever need be. It was a solid build and they would have to hope it was enough.
When the wave began, all ten were teleported away from Lute, the whole town offering well wishes and prayers for victory. They opened their eyes to see they had arrived in yet another village, this one unfamiliar to the Shield Hero and his party. They would have to act quickly with evacuations then.
A brief look around offered them some more information on the situation. Ren and Riza were together and were just making their way towards them, Motoyasu was back with his party of cheerleaders and was ignoring the village in obvious danger, and most worrying was Itsuki, still under the influence of… whatever his bow had done to him who ran off into the surrounding woods before anyone could interact with him.
As much as they didn't like it, they had to leave him for now. They had a village to defend.
Ren and Riza joined up with them, and the twelve of them rushed to the village's defence. As planned, the knights and Naofumi rushed through the village rescuing any civilians in immediate danger and stalling long enough for other members to eliminate the threat. Elina, Rifana, and Raphtalia all completed their roles perfectly, clearing out entire portions of the village cleanly, giving civilians time to gather for evacuation by way of a terrifying Silver joyride.
The whole operation went smoothly, but one villager had issues moving his sickly mother, who could not afford to be transported anywhere in her condition. Naofumi was quick in a solution, asking the man if any of her medicine was still there. Luckily, the man had two more bottles in stock. Naofumi took one, and quickly poured it into his shield.
Medicine Shield
DEF: +1
MDEF: +1
Skill [ Potion Enhance Lv 1 ] Learned
Skill [ Disease Resist (Small) ] Learned
Proceeds to explain the lore of how 200 years of time travel nazi science led to the creation of a soda that makes you reload your weapon faster
He took the next bottle, used Potion Enhance and gave the medicine to the woman immediately. The mother roused from her fever-like state and thanked the Shield Hero before evacuating with her son.
With the exception of that small hiccup, the battle went smoothly.
Shadow Goblin Shield
DEF: +2
MDEF: +1
He will crash through J. Jonah Jameson's window
Shadow Lizardman Shield
DEF: +2
MDEF: +2
Generic enemy knocks at your door. What do you do?
"What the hell is Motoyasu doing?!" Ren cried out in frustration as he ended another monster with an upwards slice.
Of all the Hero's Motoyasu had been the only one to head towards the flying pirate ship where Naofumi assumed where the boss was. While Naofumi had little confidence in his cheerleaders, he had to admit, with the equipment Motoyasu had somehow gotten his hands on, he was incredibly tough. Then there was the question of Itsuki. He had run off at the start of the wave, and he hadn't been seen since.
Those defending the village could continue to do so for a while longer but they would much rather end the damn thing now than have to fight for another two hours against an endless sea of monsters. Rifana had done well to keep them energized, I've Been A Fool's higher outgoing rate made their energy reserves last a decent amount longer, but there was only so much she could do.
Naofumi grunted as he shoved back three lizardmen and Wireframe trapped them in the ground. If they wanted this to end, they would have to do it themselves.
"Silver!" Naofumi called. The silver filolial made her way over to her Dad within an instant, any monsters between her and her daddy turned to mush from the literal moving wall of steel. "We need to help Motoyasu take down the boss. If we can do that, the wave will end and we can end the fighting!"
"Ok Daddy!"
It wasn't long before Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Rifana were on Silver's back and Elina and Ren were on Riza's back, charging towards the floating pirate ship, leaving the knights to defend the village.
As they climbed over the rail of the decrepit ship, they came to a shocking sight. Princess Malty was actually fighting a battle! Motoyasu had taken to fending off a series of tentacles in a frankly one sided massacre while Malty and the rest of Motoyasu's crew were attacking a skeleton pirate captain.
"Elina, Raphtalia! You two are on the captain. Rifana! We need to hold off those tentacles!" Naofumi's orders were concise and easily understood. They all dismounted and tackled their individual opponents while Naofumi and Ren approached Motoyasu.
"What's the situation here?" Ren asked, Riza standing behind him giving the spear hero a death glare.
Motoyasu scoffed at the two, "So you finally show up huh? I've been trying to summon the Soul Eater by killing the kraken but every time they go down, they come back at full health! Malty and the girls have been holding off the captain for now but he's just a distraction."
Ren hummed in thought, "In my world, we had to end the captain for the soul eater to spawn," he turned to Naofumi, "Maybe we have to do some sort of combination of them all for the Soul Eater to appear, assuming that is what we're trying to summon."
Naofumi glanced over just as Elina and Raphtlia ended the skeleton captain, only for lavender flames to ignite on the pile of bones and for the enemy to reanimate. Though he did manage to catch the shadow of the captain darken as it lit up, rather than disappear in the presence of the flames. A look towards the kraken showed the same story.
"Attack the shadows! We need to get them all at once, everyone!" Naofumi ordered as he rose his shield up, "Airstrike Shield! Bullrush!"
The familiar glowing translucent shield appeared just as Naofumi's physical shield was thrown into it, creating a spark bright enough to show devilish creatures hiding within the shadows of the kraken and the skeleton captain. Raphtalia stabbed the captain's shadow while Silver struck at the kraken's own. As they did so, dozens of soul eaters flew out from the shadows destroyed and began to surround the ship.
Motoyasu backed up in shock, "This… this isn't how it's supposed to happen!"
Ren tapped his shoulder, a disappointed glare on his face, "Yeah, get used to it. This isn't a game."
The soul eaters all joined together to form one giant soul eater hovering over the floating ship. The boss screeched an ear rupturing wail before engaging its foes.
Interdimensional Soul Eater
Level 42
Those present on the ship scattered from the boss's dive. Motoyasu and his party rushed to attack the boss without any sort of plan. Riza was quick to rejoin with Ren while Naofumi's party was quick to rejoin with him.
"Shieldy, that thing looks tough. I think we should engage it together. Splitting up would only weaken our attack strength," Elina suggested.
"Sounds good to me, Eli," Rifana responded.
"Don't call me that."
With that, the group of five charged together towards the boss, Naofumi went first, intercepting an attack headed toward a downed Motoyasu. Naofumi braced as he slid back across the deck, Wireframe appeared soon after, grappling the extended tail of the soul eater. Raphtalia rushed ahead as she slashed at the Soul Eater's eyes, temporarily blinding the creature. Elina sidestepped the boss's flailing body and sent an upward strike of her axe towards the boss as Silver leaped above the Soul Eater, landing against the mast of the ship and rocketing down on top of it. The force of Silver's kick sent the Soul Eater careening into Elina strike, cleanly cleaving the head in two. Unfortunately for them, their enemy was a spirit and what would end the life of a normal monster in a rather brutal fashion would only aggravate the body of a spirit.
Ren and Riza joined in the assault, launching their own attacks and skills in an effort to bring down the boss with Naofumi's own coordinated party.
Rifana held back, clenching her axe in concentration. She focused and her third eye opened slowly. She began her chant.
The ability I wield,
The power I hold.
Take the life of that monster,
Transfer it to those who are bold!
Her eye glowed fiercely as Transference went into effect, the Soul Eater's health now steadily draining and the small injuries the seven defenders had taken being washed away without a hint of ever existing.
Naofumi smirked with relief. At the rate they were going, it would have taken hours to whittle down the health of the Soul Eater, but with I've Been A Fool at play, it would end in ten minutes at the most.
"Don't you think you're forgetting someone?" A giggle voice sounded from behind the shielder. Naofumi whirled around to face the man who had ended the lives of hundreds of people on a whim. "Looks like you gave your cheats to that disgusting weasel too, huh? Jeez Naofumi, I thought you learned your lesson."
Itsuki waltzed up, his bow drawn with the same powerful flaming arrows that had consumed Castle Town. The others were too busy fighting the Soul Eater so he was alone with the Bow Hero for the moment.
"What do you want, Itsuki?" Naofumi asked tensely.
"What do I want? Why I only want to be a hero of justice, Naofumi." Itsuki answered, his eyes blown wide open as they stared Naofumi down. "So if you wouldn't mind, I'll be joining the fight now." He released his fire arrow towards the boss, just barely missing Elina's head by centimeters. The arrow lodged itself in the chest of the Soul Eater, its health draining even faster with the flames tearing it apart inside and out.
From there it only took a minute for the last of the boss's health to drain away, its glowing red eyes dimming as its life was snuffed out. Ren, Riza, Naofumi, Raphtalia, Rifana, Elina, Silver, and surprisingly enough, Malty all stared at Itsuki cautiously. Motoyasu, however, had no such caution against the dangerous hero.
"Itsuki! It's been so long since I last saw you!" He clapped the shorter hero on the back, "What happened to you, man? After the Castle Town fire, no one could find you anywhere!"
"That's a story for another time Motoyasu. It seems we have another enemy at hand." Itsuki spoke the truth. Another Soul Eater had risen from the ship.
Those present braced themselves for another fight but before another battle could begin, a voice sounded from above.
"You actually have trouble with weaklings such as these? Pitiful." A rain of glowing blades impaled the Soul Eater, ending its life in an instant. All present, even Itsuki were surprised at the ease the boss was dispatched with. Moments later, a dark haired woman in a purple kimono floated down from the sky, landing on the wooden boards of the ship softly. "Greetings hero of this world. My name is Glass, and you can all consider me your enemy."
Naofumi wasted no time launching an attack. That amount of firepower was worrying to say the least and he had doubts they could stand up to her without serious injury.
"Lion's Roar! Bullrush!" Naofumi called out as he sent Wireframe through the boards, appearing behind the woman.
The two skills sounded off, the AoE stun skill being brushed off easily by Glass before she held out her hands and blocked Naofumi's Bullrush with one hand...
…and Wireframe's punch with the other.
Naofumi Iwatani
Class: Shield Hero
Level 47
Legendary Shield,「Wireframe」
Bizarre Otherworldly Clothing
ATK: 58
DEF: 405
MATK: 49
MDEF: 314
DEX: 126
AGI: 181
ACTIVE SKILLS:
Stand Arrow
Stand Arrow Lv 2 (Locked)
Bullrush
Tether
Air Strike Shield
Dog Bite
Shield Prison
Lion's Roar
Iron Will
Minor Illusion
Potion Enhance Lv 1
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Herbal Enhancement
Good Cook Lv 2
Demi-Human Growth
Friend of Demi-Humans
Mining Boost
Chopping Boost
Fire Resistance (Small)
Fishing Proficiency
Monster Maturation Adjustment (Small)
Monster Status Adjustment (Small)
Quick Swim (Small)
Burn Resistance (Small)
Disease Resistance (Small)
Raphtalia
Class: Demi-Human Knight
Level 42
Magic Iron Sword
Swordswoman's Dress
ATK: 178
DEF: 92
MATK: 134
MDEF: 48
DEX: 93
AGI: 178
ACTIVE SKILLS:
Crescent Slash
Formation
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Demi-Human Hearing
Undying Loyalty
Parry Profession
Rifana
Class: Demi-Human Rampager
Level 42
Steel Dagger, Magic Iron Axe,「I've Been A Fool」
Short Furred Covering
ATK: 191
DEF: 89
MATK: 56
MDEF: 50
DEX: 190
AGI: 234
ACTIVE SKILLS:
Blind Rage
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Demi-Human Eyesight
Undying Loyalty
Blood Rush
Elina Poli
Class: Human Thrasher
Level 42
Magic Iron War Axe
Plate Armor
ATK: 266
DEF: 108
MATK: 39
MDEF: 35
DEX: 84
AGI: 87
ACTIVE SKILLS:
Bloody Sunday
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Hard Headed
Stubborn
Adrenaline Rush
Armor Crush
Silver
Class: Adult Filolial Guard
Level 42
Steel Wings
ATK: 160
DEF: 202
MATK: 162
MDEF: 245
DEX: 63
AGI: 156
ACTIVE SKILLS:
Steel Wall
PASSIVE SKILLS:
Endless Hunger
Cart Puller
Undying Loyalty
Wireframe
Power:
D
Speed:
C
Range:
C
Durability:
E
Precision:
C
Development Potential:
A
I've Been A Fool
Power:
C
Speed:
E
Range:
C
Durability:
C
Precision:
A
Development Potential:
C
Notes:
I'm back as promised (A little late in the day, but who's really keeping watch?)! It took a little longer than I would have liked and you all can blame that on the little section where Rifana first summons I've Been A Fool because how the hell do you write that? "You have to feel a part of yourself" like nah bruh, that's hella wack. I couldn't write it well enough to be satisfied with it so after a decent amount of re-writes, this is what I give to you.
In other news, the story is ramping up everybody! The first stand has been granted, Glass has made her appearance, and Itsuki is back at it again with the Cursed Bow! The next chapter will be interesting to say the least. (wink wink)
And again, like I said in the SS, thank you so much to those who wished my family well and for giving me time to help my family. I appreciate it a lot and it's nice to know others are willing to give me a break if I ever need it :)
I'll see you all next week!
- RandomA99