Reviews:
calderoneric758: Yeah, I know it's coming out this year (and soon at that) but I still have no idea if I'll have to take time to plan out events for season 2, since I kinda need to know for how I'm setting up some plot points. Also, yes Naofumi did die, that's how he got the massive facial scar that covers his eye. I won't say how yet though.
SentinalSlice: And then there's being dangerously stupid.
flamegod310: Well there's two explanations: the first is that Itsuki is a spoiled brat who considers other people's special powers cheating because he has no way to access them, even though he has powers of his own, as weak as they may be. The second is I forgot that Itsuki had those when I started writing this story. Guess we'll never know which one is the truth. Oh well.
D3lph0xL0v3r: Took a bit of a detour from the church crap, but I think it fits well into the story, so you'll have to wonder how they win (if they win at all) for a little longer :)
RedKnight21: Yeah, unlocking shields are really weird cause any random shield can have critical abilities. It's kinda like a pokemon nuzlocke now that I think about it. Also, consider the following: Stand Stats are absolute bullshit. Empress has a C in Power and has displayed similar abilities all while Silver Chariot has a C in power and is able to not only go toe-to-toe with Star platinum but genuinely threaten it. There's a lot of bull that goes into stand stats, so I kinda rank them to my own system with E being weaker than a normal human, D being on par with a normal human, C being sightly stronger than a normal human, B being much stronger than a normal human, and A being really fucking strong.
Guest: I'm sorry, what? And sorry to disappoint you, but I won't be inputting any OCs (other than one of mine occasionally to spice things up) for two reasons. The first of which is that would get kind of chaotic REALLY quickly. The second being I have no idea how this character is supposed to act 100%. You could describe them to me for hours and I could write it exactly to your specifications and it still wouldn't be exactly what you wanted for your character. So, sorry, but no.
Azure Star Dragon: I did not consider that. Now I need to try and think of a way to naturally get that conversation in there. Well, I'll try and work that in next chapter.
A Shield's Stand
Chapter 17: Curse of a Hero
They had been making incredible progress in the few weeks since they met with the informant and Trish. Abbacchio, Giorno, and Fugo had managed to get the key they needed and now they had their next destination to learn where to take Trish to meet with the one and only boss of Passione. Of course, they weren't without their hiccups. The group retrieval of the key hadn't been without a battle, but Giorno's Gold Experience, Abbacchio's Moody Jazz, and Fugo's Purple Haze had defeated a stand user that travelled between a mirror world and the real world.
Then there was the apparent battle Narancia had with another of the hitman team when they were resupplying in the vineyard. But he came out of that fight fairly unharmed so Naofumi could ignore the chaos coming from the aftermath of the stand battle.
To summarize, they're doing great.
Naofumi had done everything he could to try and form some sort of connection with Trish and break through the walls she had formed to protect herself from the insanity brought on by her connection to her father. So far, he hadn't seen too much success but every so often he managed to get her to laugh from some kind of joke, a sure sign that she was slowly lowering those walls, so he counted that as a win.
"Oi Naofumi," Trish's voice called out from her spot on the sofa. Naofumi turned around to meet her gaze, "Grab me a cola."
Several of the others frowned at the lame treatment of their older brother figure, Narancia opened his mouth to shout at the girl they were escorting but Naofumi beat him to it.
"Sure thing Trish," he grabbed the soda and a juice for himself. He wasn't a fan of fizzy drinks. "Anyone else want anything?"
Narancia wasn't happy at Naofumi's obvious message to just let it go, but he accepted it nonetheless. No one else answered Naofumi's offer so the man closed the fridge and gave the soda to Trish before sitting down on his own spot on the sofa inside of the turtle. Stands are weird.
While it surely looked strange to see members of his group phase in and out of a turtle, it worked really well for inconspicuous movement, which was exactly what they needed right now. They were travelling to another city by train and the last thing they needed was a big group dressed in strange clothing to call out for attention. Naofumi knew they dressed weirdly but that was their sense of fashion, dammit.
Naofumi took a sip of his apple juice, sighing contentedly at the refreshing liquid. He looked over to see Narancia and Mista bickering about something meaningless just like always before Naranica grumbled to himself and walked over to a nearby chair. He grabbed a banana and began to peel it, coughing as he did. It was when he started coughing something out of his mouth that Naofumi got worried.
Mista noticed as well, calling out his worry. "Narancia, what the hell is hanging from your mouth? This is a good joke but it's still freaking me out so I can't really laugh," Mista's voice tried to keep a normal tone but worry and fear seeped through noticeably.
"What did you say Mista?" Narancia looked up, wrinkles covering his face, a tooth hanging from his lips by quickly deteriorating gums and his hair rapidly turning white. Mista cried out in alarm as he took a step back. "I'm saying I can't eat this banana, it's so hard and crumbly."
Naofumi stood from his seat, rushing to Narancia's side. He ignored the ramblings of a now old man. "Mista, what's going on?!" Naofumi asked. He couldn't do anything to help. His family was crumbling away in front of him and he couldn't do a thing.
"Who… who the hell is this?" Narancia spoke in a raspy voice as he caught sight of himself in the reflection of the mirror. "My… my hands… they're crumbling."
Giorno rumbled from his spot on the couch, "Is something going on? Why are you all making so much noise?" All the normal aged members turned and saw the aging wasn't just affecting Narancia, but Fugo, Giorno, and Abbacchio as well.
"It's a stand attack! It's making everyone age!" Naofumi cried out. He reached up to his own face but was surprised to see a distinct lack of wrinkles on his own face. But why?
"We need to kill these bastards! We don't have any time!" Mista scrambled towards the center of the room, reaching for the gem to exit the turtle. He would've rushed out had it not been for old man Giorno.
"Wait… it's too early…" Giorno rasped out.
Mista looked at the man with indignation, "Too early?! We don't have time to wait! You're all aging to the point where you decompose! We need to go now!" Naofumi placed a hand on Mista's shoulder, nodding passively at the rightfully worried man. Bruno agreed with him as he asked Giorno what he wanted to say.
"Why are we all aging at a different rate than Bucciarati and Naofumi? Both of their symptoms are light, and Trish's are even less so," Giorno explained.
"And since they don't know where we are, they must be attacking indiscriminately," Naofumi added.
Giorno nodded, "There's some kind of prerequisite to how the enemy is attacking. I'll tell you what I think. The enemy is attacking based on slight differences in body temperature. I read somewhere that women have more fat reserves in their bodies, that means they're less susceptible to temperature fluctuations. Apparently, women also age better and live longer. The enemy is differentiating aging speeds based on slight differences in body temperature."
Mista raised a finger, his eyebrows turning gray, "Yeah, that sounds about right, but why are you and I aging at different speeds then?"
"The drinks," Naofumi said. "We're aging slower because we had something cold to drink, which lowered our body temperatures just enough." He looked around the room, "We all had something cold to drink just now, Mista had something not too long ago, and none of you had anything to drink at all."
Trish grabbed an ice cube from her cola and tentatively placed it on Narancia's face, as she did so the wrinkles melted away, leaving nothing but smooth and young skin. Mista's eyes widened as he ran for the fridge. "Giorno was right! Cool everyone down! Cool everyone down with ice!"
"Hold it Mista," Bruno ordered, "You're going to have to take that ice with you!"
Mista looked at the tray he held, seeing that only two ice cubes remained. "Th-This is all that's left?"
Naofumi slapped a hand on Mista's shoulder, "It'll be enough for us." He turned to Bucciarati, "We'll head out to take care of the enemy, cool everyone down with the drinks while we're gone." Gone was Naofumi's ever present carefree smile, in its place was a furious scowl, reserved only for those who threatened his family.
Bucciarati nodded before the two exited the turtle. They crawled out from underneath the driver's seat and stood up. They saw the strange aura floating in the air, a clear indicator of the stand's presence. Mista took out his revolver and checked the bullets. A full cartridge. He checked the hallway before spotting the air conditioner beside the door.
"Naofumi, with this we could slow down everyone's aging!" Mista pressed the button without hesitation, but came to regret it as a fishhook embedded itself in his palm. "What?! A fishing hook? There are two stands!"
Wireframe appeared and placed its hand on Mista's back, phasing the hook out of his hand. "Then that makes this a two on two fight," Naofumi said, a careful neutral tone masking his fury, "Let's go."
Elsewhere on the train, a man with no neck stared at the fishing rod in his hands in utter shock. "They… they removed my Beach Boy?" Pesci muttered to himself as his hands began to shake. This was bad. This was very bad. Every member of Bucciarati's group had a dangerous stand in their own right, but Naofumi's Wireframe was simply the most dangerous one of the group, by far.
Pesci and Prosciutto had hoped dearly that Naofumi would be one of the group to fall to The Grateful Dead's aging ability as neither of them had any way to bypass Wireframe's complete immunity to any and all physical attacks. If the escape from his trap meant anything, it was that Naofumi was on his way right now to kick the crap out of both of them.
"S-Shit! Big Bro! We got a situation!" Pesci called out. Prosciutto raced in, anger clear on his face.
"You idiot! Calling out like that will let them know we're here! Now what the hell are you blabbering on about?!" He scolded.
"It's Naofumi, he escaped the ability!" Pesci informed his older brother of the increasingly dangerous situation.
A shadow fell over Prosciutto's eyes, hiding his emotions from his little brother. He looked up with a sharpness in his eyes, "Destroy the ice. All of it."
It was a risk, but it made sense. Neither of them stood any sort of chance against Wireframe in a straight on fight but Naofumi couldn't escape The Grateful Dead's ability. Without any ice, he would fall to the ability. The only issue was… "B-but what about me? I'll age too!"
"If it scares you that much, then take three or four ice cubes for yourself, but break the rest of it. We need to wait him out. If he catches us, we're dead. If he gets that ice, we're dead. So break it! Do you hear me Pesci?!" Prosciutto scolded his brother. How someone so timid was chosen to be on the hitman team was beyond him.
Pesci wisely chose not to speak, quickly taking some ice for himself before shattering the rest into little bits that quickly melted away. They left the room, hiding within one of the cabins. Prosciutto's ability did have a range limit after all and they wanted to cover the whole damn train.
"Dammit! Where the hell are they?!" Mista growled out in frustration as they charged down the hallways of each car. Already their ice cubes had lost half of their original size, they were running out of time.
They reached another door, Mista leaning against the wall before peeking in, his revolver at the ready. He failed to spot any enemies and entered the room, Naofumi trailing behind him. The current room was apparently the bar car. Mista brightened at the thought of resupplying their ice, but Naofumi was quick to snuff that out, much to his displeasure.
"They were here. There's an empty cup on the counter and there's fresh condensation on the sides," he pointed out. "If they're smart, they would've taken ice for themselves before breaking the rest." A quick glance at the floor proved him right, a small ice chunk was on the floor, quickly melting away. "They're trying to wait us out."
"Shit." Mista cursed, "We can't wait forever. We have to find them before everyone turns to dust!"
Naofumi huffed, "Mista, I'm charging ahead, try to follow me and take out the fisherman. I'm going to take the age-er off the train."
Wireframe phased out of Naofumi's body. Naofumi jumped up, clasping onto Wireframe's open hand and the two floated through the walls of the train cars. Mista wasn't one to waste time, charging after the two using more normal means. It didn't take long before he heard the sounds of a fight break out.
Mista slammed the door of a random cabin open, seeing Naofumi grappling with a blond haired man in a suit and a green haired man trembling in the corner, a fishing rod in his hand. Mista aimed his revolver and fired, only just missing the man as a stand with no legs shoved him out of the bullet's path.
Naofumi used the opportunity for Wireframe to grab the man by the waist and shoulder tackle him through the next wall, Naofumi following soon after. Mista took aim again at the man with no neck. He couldn't quite point it out, but something was different with the man this time around.
"Don't hurt my brother!" Pesci cried out as he threw his fishing rod towards Mista. Mista tried to dodge the hook, but it seemed to follow him wherever he went, eventually catching him in the thigh and quickly travelling up his waist towards his heart.
Mista fired the rest of his chamber, the first being blocked by a section of the line that blocked and reflected the damage back at him. The second shot ricocheted behind Pesci courtesy of number five, but the fishing line once again blocked the bullet. The third, fourth, and fifth shot followed suit, each one attacking from a different angle but being unable to get past Beach Boy's line. Mista coughed up blood as the damage piled up.
The sixth bullet travelled behind Pesci where number two ricocheted the bullet to Pesci's left calf. Number seven shot it to the left, number five shot it straight down where number three shot it behind Pesci to number six. Number six hit it directly above Pesci where number one was waiting, slamming the bullet directly down. Beach Boy's line followed the bullet's path, succeeding in blocking the final shot.
Pesci opened his mouth to taunt the gunsman, but found he couldn't talk. However, to say he couldn't talk wouldn't be quite right. He couldn't get any air to talk with. Looking down at his body, he realized he was tied up in his own stand's fishing line.
Mista opened his chamber and slid in another bullet, "Nice try, but next time, just go for the kill." Mista walked up and fired the seventh shot into Pesci's forehead, shattering his skull and ending his life with a clean bullet to the brain.
The fishing rod fizzled out of existence as the body fell to the floor. Mista fell to the floor, breathing heavily, "Jeez, that was way too close."
Before Mista could even stand up, Prosciutto and Naofumi (both carried by Wireframe) phased through the wall and Prosciutto was thrown into the floor of the room. The Grateful Dead appeared once more to try and fight but the punches just passed through Naofumi as they usually do. Wireframe grabbed hold of The Grateful Dead's arms and tilted it's head towards Mista.
Getting the silent message, Mista aimed his revolver at Prosciutto. Seeming to understand just how dire his situation was, Prosciutto stopped struggling. If he was going to die, he was going to die with dignity goddamn it. Prosciutto sent a heated glare at the two, made even more heated by the sight of his younger brother's corpse just a few feet from his own soon to be.
"I'll see you both in hell," Prosciutto spoke calmly but fiercely. A dignified set of last words for the hitman.
The bullet went cleanly through his head, ending his life and bringing an end to the miasma that permeated the entire train. Looking at their hands, Mista and Naofumi saw that the wrinkles began to return to smooth and healthy skin. Mista laid a hand on Naofumi's shoulder, knowing that the younger man despised killing, the tears streaming silently down his face being more than enough evidence. Mista knew Naofumi was a peaceful man, one who would never start a fight on his own. But if he needed to, Naofumi would end a life without hesitation.
That was simply the kind of man Naofumi Iwatani was. Peaceful, loyal, and unbelievably protective.
As they got closer to Lerno village, the knight patrols searching for them got thinner and thinner between. While that made it much easier to travel without being detected, it also painted an increasingly worrying picture that the knights and the king knew that the entire village had been completely overrun and spared no effort to even try to save them. Naofumi didn't know if that was because they over relied on the heroes to just solve everything for them or because they truly didn't care. Neither option was ideal in the slightest.
"Oi Shieldy," Elina's voice pulled Naofumi from his thoughts. Currently they were hiding behind a number of trees, waiting for the latest patrol to pass. The last time they had seen one prior was more than four hours ago. "You done daydreaming? It's time to go." Brushing through the foliage proved Elina right. With his nod, the five of them jumped out from the foliage and resumed their trek to Lerno.
"If I'm right, we should come up to Lerno within the hour," Raphtalia called as she overlooked the map.
"Finally! My feet are starting to get sore from all this moving around," Rifana complained dramatically. Silver chopped the top of her head.
"This won't be a regular rest stop. We have no idea just how badly this place is overrun, if it even is at all still. We have to be ready to fight," Naofumi said.
"Shieldy is right. But I have been itching for a good fight for a while, so it doesn't really matter to me," Elina lazily spoke.
Ignoring the resident adrenaline junkie, Rifana, Raphtalia, and Silver all nodded their heads at Naofumi's words of caution. There was no point in lowering their guard now. The group travelled for ten more minutes, talking to pass the time, but keeping their attention on their surroundings for any hint of an ambush. It wasn't until Rifana stopped and paled that the group stopped and readied their weapons.
"What is it, Rifana? What are you seeing?" Raphtalia asked quickly. Her Demi-Human Hearing wasn't picking up any worrying sounds in the nearby area, so it had to be something out of a normal human/demi-human's field of view.
"I found the village."
The sentence was simple, but it was enough to worry the group. They steeled their nerves and continued forward, another five minutes passed before they saw it. Where Lerno was supposed to be, a massive jungle stood in its place, not a speck of the village visible beyond the massive vines and green trees that formed somewhat of a dome around the area.
Even Elina was unnerved at the sight, "Y'know, I don't think overrun was quite the right word. I think buried would be more accurate."
Raphtalia pulled her sword from its sheath and sped towards the jungle. "We don't know how long Lerno has been like this. If we're quick enough, we might be able to save the people inside!" She sliced through the first set of vines, creating an opening in the dome. The rest of the party wasted no time, Naofumi and Silver taking the lead, the rest following behind them.
The inside of the dome let through a little light, but not enough for the group to see too far ahead of them. "Daddy, I can't see, it's too dark in here," Silver strained her eyes trying to see into the dark. Elina nudged Raphtalia, who was already preparing to cast a spell.
"As a companion of the Shield Hero, I order thee, cast away the veil of darkness that blinds us, Faust Light!"
A little orb of light formed at the tip of Raphtalia's sword, illuminating the space around them. The ground was covered entirely in moss, whatever existed before completely hidden underneath the furry layer. Masses of vines grouped together into what looked like trees, the vines trailing everywhere and overlapping each other in several spots.
'We'll have to watch our step,' Naofumi thought.
"Ewwwww! What is that thing, Daddy?" Silver cried out. Naofumi threw his head in her direction, following her line of sight until he saw a blood red eye peering at them from inside one of the vine trees.
Naofumi held himself back from doing anything rash. They didn't know anything about what the village had become, what the eye was doing, and least of what the hell the eye even was. For all he knew, it could release toxic gas if it's attacked. The stare down eventually ended when the eye shut itself, melding back into the vines seamlessly.
"This is getting way too creepy," Rifana said from her spot in the back.
The rest of them felt similarly unnerved, but they pushed forward. For the next hour, the group travelled through the forest, coming across a strange type of monster none of them, Elina included, had ever seen before. It had a short and plump body with small stumps for arms and legs. Its neck was far longer than it had any right to be and at the top sat a bulbous red veiny eye.
When the monster caught sight of them, it charged at them, its knobby arms wiggling behind it, giving it a harmless impression, but that was before the 'skin' of its body ripped open to reveal a set of grotesque teeth that looked like it could bite through the strongest of metals. Elina acted first, her war axe cleanly cutting down the horrific monster. Not one to waste an opportunity, Naofumi absorbed it.
Bioplant Soldier Grunt Shield
DEF: +1
MDEF: +1
The grunts are pretty adorable when they're not trying to blow you up with sticky grenades
"Bioplant? Is that what this is?" Naofumi murmured as he looked up at the dome. All of this was a plant? What kind of plant would do something this damaging? Naofumi silently prayed it didn't exist back in his world.
They moved on, deciding the monsters weren't worth fighting in the bulk they had shown themselves to be. They did their best to sneak by them, taking out the ones that managed to see them before they could call for others of its kind. It took a while, but eventually they came across something they hoped stood for a good sign.
Before them was a small wooden gate and stone wall, both completely covered in vines. A little further off stood a lone shack, the vines conveniently parting ways to allow them a look through the glass.
"The inside… there isn't a single vine at all!" Rifana said with excitement. What she said was true.
While the entire outside of the shack was encased in vines, the inside still looked pristine, save for the dust that had begun to form over the untouched surfaces. If the bioplant failed to breach this weak shack, that meant there was a chance it couldn't breach the stronger houses farther in and the people would be safe from the bioplant's monsters.
Moving farther in, the party began to find a number of stronger variations of the same grunts they had fought in the outer edges of the bioplant jungle. They weren't much harder to kill, proving to be just as frail under Elina, Rifana, Raphtalia, and Silver's assaults as the grunts had been, but that just made Naofumi worry more. If its defense wasn't any higher, that just indicated that its other stats were raised far more to compensate. With Raphtalia's lowering magic reserves and the darkness that gave the bioplant soldiers a clear advantage over them, it brought up the question, what would happen if they got hit?
Naofumi shook his head, throwing away his worries. He would just have to shield them all from harm. Just as he always does.
Bioplant Soldier Shield
DEF: +2
MDEF: +2
Aaaawubadugh!
Bioplant Tanker Shield
DEF: +3
MDEF: +1
Arthur get out of the tank
The closer to the apparent center of the dome they got, the more traces of what used to be Lerno Village popped up. A row of houses, crushed under debris or completely covered in vines with no one inside, a well with water that no one really wanted to drink, and a stable, the animals it once held gone without a trace. When coupled with the increasing amounts of the bioplant's stronger monsters, it made the town all the more distressing to scour.
Eventually they passed through, managing to avoid a large group of tankers that were loitering around the village's main road. They were following the vines, which grew thicker as they exited the main area of Lerno square. The vines had started, being only as thick as the flat side of Raphtalia's sword, but now, they had become thicker than Naofumi's body, coming quickly to Elina's own bulk.
They stopped. A wall of vines completely blocked their path and a quick check with Rifana's speed showed that this wall went around in a small circle, most likely an emergency shelter thrown up when the bioplant took over the main village square. Cutting away the vines proved them right, frail planks of wood lying just under the vines.
Naofumi trailed his hand over the wood. It didn't look like it was that old, so maybe it hasn't been too long since this whole thing started? "Alright now, where's the entran-"
Elina threw her war axe, completely demolishing a section of the wall and the vines on the other side. The group flinched at the noise, looking around them for any hint of incoming enemies. It seemed luck was on their side for now, as no monsters tried to attack them.
"Found the gate," Elina said as she waltzed in.
Raphtalia bit back her rant, knowing getting into an argument here would only put them and anyone still inside in greater danger. Still, that was reckless.
WARNING:
The following scene contains disturbing content depicting the death of humans, including children, as well as mentions of suicide. Please skip if you are not comfortable reading about those topics.
The five walked into the encampment, finding nothing that they hadn't already seen. Though they did manage to find a much larger version of the bioplant's earlier grunts. And unlike the grunts they first fought, this one seemed to have more… human-ish proportions. It's neck was shorter, the arms and legs were longer and more defined, and its body was slightly less plump. It caught sight of them and charged, throwing its longer arms forward. Rifana swung her axe without hesitation, cutting off the creature's arms. What they hadn't expected was the blood that gushed out of the wound and covered Rifana's axe.
"W...what the…" Raphtalia uttered in shock. She raised the light, displaying the creatures face and to their horror, it wasn't one of the bioplant's monsters in the slightest.
A middle aged man's head sat at the top of the mass of vines, his skin horribly pale with thick vines running under it and exiting through the man's eyes, sprouting into budding flowers. The man's eyes had no pupils and his pale skin was taking on a green hue due to the vines running under it. The man didn't seem to display any pain from the sudden loss of two arms so it was safe to say he had already died, and long ago at that.
"muh… RRRAH!" The mummified man shouted as he made another attempt to attack. It wasn't before long that the man found he lost his head.
Elina pulled her war axe back and laid it to rest on her shoulder. Her expression was one of fierce determination, one of a hunter. "We got an answer for what happened to the people here, now let's make sure none of them suffer any longer than they have to."
The rest of the encampment was similarly filled with the plant-ified villagers of Lerno, none of them showing any hint of basic thought other than 'kill the intruders'. Naofumi guessed this is what he got for hoping for something unreasonable. They had no idea how long the plant had been here before they even got here. And with the monsters walking around, no regular villager would or adventurer would ever manage to escape this hell.
The five made sure to make their kills as quick and painless as possible, unsure as to whether or not the people controlled could still feel pain, even though they failed to ever show it. The worst was when they got to the kids and had to kill them as well. The bioplant evidently didn't discriminate age.
Eventually, they exterminated every single plant-ified villager inside the encampment, leaving only the houses to explore. Most of them had their doors or windows busted open, but a few managed to hold when they tried to open them. Those who weren't plant-ified must have tried to keep the others out for their own survival. Wireframe touched the door of the last house and phased it through its bolts and the boards holding it, leaving it to fall to the ground.
Naofumi lost his breath, his eyes turned to pinpricks, unable to look away from the scene before him.
Inside the house were the corpses of a mother and two children, all untouched by the bioplant's vines. They all looked thin, emaciated even, but the mother looked the worst of the three. She looked as if she couldn't weigh more than fifty pounds at the most. The children at her side had their wrists slit, an attempt to spare them from crippling hunger or whatever horror would befall them if their undead neighbors managed to break in. The mother held on to her two children, even in death refusing to let go.
Above the three, a final message from the deceased was written in blood.
'Curse of a Hero'
SCENE ENDS HERE, ANY WHO SKIPPED READ AGAIN STARTING FROM THIS POINT
Naofumi couldn't look away. This is why he was summoned here. To protect the people, but he failed. Such a horrible tragedy befell these people, killing every single one in ways one couldn't even imagine. But to know that one of the heroes caused this? All of this pain and suffering and death?
He didn't want to believe it, yet it was right in front of him.
This was the weight of the responsibility they all bore. He could feel tears streaming down his face, but he didn't bother to wipe them away.
"Oi Shieldy, the other houses were all… empty…" Elina said as she walked in the house, taking in the sight before her just as he had. She tore her eyes away and softly placed her hands on Naofumi shoulders, leading him out and away from the house. She let go for a moment to put the door back as a way to respect the privacy of the dead. "I'll take the others someplace else, give you some time to calm down. Ok Shieldy?" Her voice was soft, so unlike the loud and boisterous voice that you could practically hear from blocks away.
He nodded and she left as promised, giving him all the time in the world to calm himself down. Breathing exercises and thinking of his loved ones, never failed to bring him out of his slumps. Naofumi wiped his eyes of the tears and took a final breath. They may have failed to stop this tragedy, but they wouldn't be too late to stop another.
He met back up with the rest of his party, if they noticed the dried tear tracks and his puffy red eyes, they didn't say anything about it, and he appreciated that. With the remains of Lerno Village taken care of, all that was left was to take care of was the Bioplant that started this all.
They exited the encampment and followed the vines until they came to the source. A giant collection of vines forming a simply massive tree, three red eyes glaring at the party from the middle of the tree's trunk. It raised a seemingly unending amount of vines to strike and an army of the monsters they had fought through the get to this point surrounded them. But Naofumi couldn't find it in him to care about all that at the moment.
Instead, all he said was, "Don't show mercy."
From there, a total slaughter occurred, Silver and Elina effectively mauling through the hordes of bioplant soldiers, Wireframe covering them with its phasing ability anytime they found themselves threatened by the bite of the monsters. Meanwhile, Rifana and I've Been A Fool crippled the bioplant's strength, giving herself and Raphtalia more than enough strength to cut through the entire base of the trunk in only a couple swings. The eyes visibly panicked at the sheer strength the demi-humans possessed, yet none of its vines managed to strike them because of Naofumi's diligence and determination in protecting them.
It was a massacre.
With the bioplant's death, the trunk of the killer plant began to shrivel up, turning to dust within seconds. The vines along the ground and the dome covering the entire area quickly followed suit, exposing the group of five to the light of the moon. The only evidence that indicated the cause behind the demise of Lerno was the plant-ified villagers and the harrowing message left behind behind the last surviving mother and her kids.
None of the group were religious, especially with the chaos caused by the Three Heroes Church, but they prayed the villagers of Lerno found peace wherever they were now.
Camping out in the forest, it was Naofumi's turn for nightwatch, though he doubted he could sleep through the night considering what he'd seen. It seemed that Elina had anticipated this issue as she stayed up beside him, silently providing him a source of reassurance and comfort. She could be sweet when she wanted.
Eventually, she spoke up, "I've seen plenty of people die before. People say it never gets easier, but it does. Eventually you just get used to it. But that first time is always the worst."
Naofumi nodded, an exhausted look in his eyes, "It really is."
Elina gave him a soft look that looked so out of place on Elina's face when the norm was a bold and proud smirk or a deep set scowl. "Shieldy, are you ok?"
He gave her a smile, as small and tired as it was, "I think I will be. But… it's just a reminder of what's been given to us. So many are relying on us that… it hurts to think I've let them down."
Elina huffed and let out a quiet chuckle, "Of course, you go through all that and you're most worried about others. Only you, Shieldy, only you. I swear you could die and you would still be more worried about others than yourself."
They fell into a comfortable silence, the crackling of the fire the only sound filling the air. It was nice to have a peaceful night after so much happened. Her smile slowly fell from her face, the light from the fire casting her face and perfectly framing her face. Her thin nose, her bright pink hair, her slightly thick lips, and the scar over her eye.
"Back then, when we fought the bioplant, you reminded me of myself," Elina cut through the silence.
Naofumi spared her a glance, but didn't turn his head, "What do you mean by that?"
Elina's jaw tensed and her brows furrowed. Naofumi looked back towards the sky, she gave him the time he needed, so he would do the same for her. It took a while. Naofumi doesn't know how long for sure, but it was at least an hour before either of them spoke again.
"Before I… joined the adventurer's guild as a receptionist, I was an adventurer myself," Elina started. Naofumi knew that much, she had told them before every so often, but they could never get much else out of her. "I was in a party. There were eight of us. We weren't the greatest adventurers around, but we got the job done, and we never got too injured doing it." Elina's eyes grew heavy, the beginnings of water beginning to build up behind them. "We did pretty much everything together. We were like our own family since most of the others didn't have parents of their own, I guess I was lucky in that regard. Even though she was a hag, my mom always did her best for me."
She shook her head, realizing she was beginning to go on a tangent, and focused herself, "One day, we took a job. There was a monster living in the forest near a defenceless village, and they wanted someone to take care of it. So, we did. We thought we could handle it, all of us were strong, in the level 30s, and we could work together without a single mistake. But… it turned out that wasn't enough." She paused,
"The village was wrong. They thought there was one monster attacking them, but they were wrong. There were five and before we knew it, Tiln was dead, his head taken off… just like that. We tried to fight back, but one after another they just died. Elonia, Frankie, and Marigold were the first three to go. They were all magic casters, not an ounce of muscle on any of them. Without any space, they didn't stand a chance. Morner was next. He couldn't block a hit and it cost him his arm, and down an arm, he didn't put up much more of a fight. Magellan was the last to go. He was a shielder, like you. He knew we were going to lose, so he gave us a chance. He used a taunting skill, he brought all the monsters to him, he gave us a chance to live… and they tore him apart."
"Me and Pila were the last two left, and we ran. We ran so far, but they were catching up. So…" tears were streaming down Elina's face, "So she stopped and she wished me a happy life. She said goodbye and hit me with a wind spell before running back into those damned woods. I was the only one to survive that fight and I got this damn scar as a reminder."
Naofumi shifted over, making sure not to wake up Silver, who was sleeping leaned up against him as she always was, and hugged Elina. The giant didn't react as the warmth of his embrace seeped into her.
"I think the scar you have is beautiful." Elina stiffened at his words. "They mean you survived and came out a better person."
"Am I a better person though?" She asked, "Am I better than Tiln? Am I better than Elonia? Frankie? Morner, Magellan, and Marigold?" She smiled somberly, "Pila?"
Naofumi let go of the hug, giving her the space she needed at the moment, "I have no idea. I've never met any of them." Elina frowned at the reminder, "But," he cut her off, "I think you're pretty damn great."
"And do forget, you have us for a family now," he reminded her, "You have Rifana and Silver to mess around with, you have Raphtalia to argue with, and whenever you're feeling bad about your scar, just come talk to me. We can be scar buddies." He said in a cheering voice, nudging his arm into hers.
"Scar buddies? Seriously?" She laughed mirthlessly, "I'm really bad at this cheering up thing, aren't I?"
Naofumi laughed at the small joke, "The worst."
Naofumi Iwatani
Class: Shield Hero
Level 48
Legendary Shield,「Wireframe」
Bizarre Otherworldly Clothing
ATK: 59
DEF: 426
MATK: 50
MDEF: 334
DEX: 129
AGI: 185
Raphtalia
Class: Demi-Human Knight
Level 45
Magic Iron Sword
Swordswoman's Dress
ATK: 163
DEF: 101
MATK: 146
MDEF: 54
DEX: 102
AGI: 193
Rifana
Class: Demi-Human Rampager
Level 45
Steel Dagger,「I've Been A Fool」
Short Furred Covering
ATK: 206
DEF: 95
MATK: 62
MDEF: 56
DEX: 205
AGI: 252
Elina Poli
Class: Human Thrasher
Level 46
Magic Iron War Axe
Plate Armor
ATK: 296
DEF: 124
MATK: 47
MDEF: 43
DEX: 96
AGI: 99
Silver
Class: Adult Filolial Guard
Level 46
Steel Wings
ATK: 176
DEF: 222
MATK: 178
MDEF: 269
DEX: 71
AGI: 172
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:
A lot of stuff to go over:
1) Yes, Lerno village is dead, utterly and completely and in a rather horrifying fashion (at least to me). This makes sense to me, because after only around a week of Motoyasu planting that seed, the bioplant got as large as it did in the anime, so it wouldn't bee to farfetched to say that given much more time (around a month or so) it would get MUCH larger. Also, when you consider the plant is parasitic, mind controlling those it infects isn't too far off either. And when your mind controlled neighbors try to rope you into the mind control as well, you're probably going to try and board yourself and anyone else you love in to try and survive, which after a month will lead to starvation and desperation. So to me that makes sense.
2) I included Lerno village in this chapter because I wanted Naofumi and the crew to realize just how much responsibility they care so they can better shape their future encounters with the other heroes (and also because Motoyasu could have potentially doomed the world by planting that seed btw, if they gave it enough time that thing would overrun everything without Naofumi)
3) Elina's backstory came out. Yeah, it's kind of generic when you look at other OCs that exist, but I think it fits her character really well. Also, if I wanted to make you sad for Elina, there's nothing you can do to stop me from doing exactly that.
Also, I miss SomeCallMeDrunk. I'm so used to responding to their reviews that seeing them not there feels weird.
Anyway, next week we return to our regularly scheduled programming of canon RotSH (whats left of it by this point at least) so look forward to that :)
- RandomA99