Reviews:
TetsuChris: Yup, you were right, that was genuinely awful. I already PM'd you but I still want to put it here for context. Originally in chapter 24, I had written it so that Rifana unintentionally gave away a lot of information on stands to Therese basically out of the blue. That was obviously poorly thought out and poorly implemented because it made no sense even in the context given. So I changed it. I think it works a lot better now and frankly I think its a massive improvement. Sorry for that.
D3lph0xL0v3r: Yup, Motoyasu, as per the usual, is the means to an end. One would think he would learn by now, but nope. That's just his canon character (basically).
A Shield's Stand
Chapter 25: Welcome L'arc and Therese! (Part Two)
The past two days have been… strange, to say the least. Raphtalia turns to subtly look at the rest of her family behind her, seeing Rifana and Silver talking animatedly about whatever topic of interest swayed them this time, but that wasn't too out of the norm. What was, however, was Naofumi. Her father in all but blood had been quiet for the past two days, ever since he had his talk with L'arc, and that worried her. Even his awful bitter mood would be preferable to his almost complete silence towards them all, but maybe this is what he needed to come to terms with everything.
I just hope he's okay, Raphtalia worries.
Well the last two days have been productive, at the very least. Killing monsters in the exp activation field, while mind numbingly easy and boring, was doing wonders for their levels and stats. Already she felt far stronger than she had just four days earlier, and if she was being honest, she felt like she was on a high she couldn't come down from. It felt that good. But she digresses.
She looked towards the sky, seeing that the amount of sunlight they had left was getting fairly low. "It's getting late guys, we should set up camp for the night."
Rifana nodded but Silver pouted, "Why can't we go to the inn? Their beds are so soft…" her attention drifts off at the mention of a bed's warm embrace, a bit of drool trailing down her chin.
"Heading to the inn just to come back in the morning would waste a lot of time tomorrow, especially since we've come out pretty far," Raphtalia explained to the silver haired girl. Silver begrudgingly accepted and ran off to get some firewood (read: knocking down whole trees and shattering them).
Without wasting much time, the group of four soon had a campsite set up, a bright warm fire lighting up the site. Rifana and Silver lazed about on the ground, Raphtalia leaned up against a smooth rock, and Naofumi sitting atop a felled tree. Raphtalia sighed as she warmed up by the fire, a girl could get used to this.
"Hey… can I talk to you guys for a bit?" Raphtalia's neck snaps towards Naofumi, who is looking away abashedly, "I want to unload if that's alright." He looks back to the group, surprised to see that all three girls were sitting patiently before him in a line, their attention solely on him. Getting over his momentary shock, he sighs.
"Is everything alright, 'Fumi?" Rifana asks.
Naofumi takes a moment to gather his words, "No, it isn't." He looks towards the three, a bit of his old fire returning to his eyes, "I wanted to apologize for how I've been treating you three ever since… since Elina passed." Only the sounds of the crackling fire filled the campsite, the surrounding woods completely silent.
Raphtalia stood and sat next to him, resting her hand on his shoulder, "Naofumi, it's ok. You were grieving. We all were. We understand."
Naofumi growls, frustrated with himself, "But it's not ok. I treated all three of you so… coldly. I forced myself to be a stranger to you three, all because I was scared you would leave me too." The girls look between themselves, a bit confused. Naofumi chuckles mirthfully, "Isn't that the most messed up part? I was so angry that I thought Elina left us, left me, on purpose."
Rifana joined them on the tree, sidling up to him, "You know that's not true 'Fumi," she said softly. "No matter how much of an asshole Elina was sometimes, she wouldn't do that. She cared about us, she cared about you."
Naofumi sighed, rubbing his hands on his face, "I know that, I really do, but it still felt like she did." It was all he could think about after she had died. That look of resigned acceptance, her apology, her expressionless eyes, once so full of sadistic laughter. Once single attack and it was all gone. She had left him, no matter the circumstances surrounding her departure, she had left him. Naofumi squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his hands, balling his pants up in his fists. He was shaking, "I thought you all would too."
Silver jumped into her Daddy's lap, squeezing her arms around his waist and burying her face into his chest, "We won't ever leave you, Daddy. I'll say it until you believe it!" Was it a childish way of thinking? Yes, it was. Everyone had to leave at one point, whether through death or some other life changing event, everyone left eventually, but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy his time with them before then.
Naofumi wrapped an arm around Silver and his other hand atop her silver haired head, embracing the girl fully. Raphtalia and Rifana joined in, bringing the family into an impromptu family hug.
"Thank you." Simple words often held deep emotions.
"Anytime, Naofumi. We'll be there whenever you need us," Raphtalia answered without hesitation.
"I thought that would be obvious, Raph," Rifana snarked.
"Yeah! Daddy deserves it!" Silver cheers.
Raphtalia sighed, "Honestly, what am I going to do with you two?"
Naofumi couldn't hold it, he burst into laughter. Not a small chuckle or smirk, but his genuine, raucous laughter that the three had missed so much, the other three joining quickly after. This was how it was supposed to be. They had their Naofumi back.
It took a little bit for the group to calm down, only separating after Naofumi asked them to.
"Alright, I know you guys say you already forgive me-" "We do" "-but even still I wanted to give a gift as an apology present," Naofumi tells them.
Rifana snorted, "Apology present? C'mon 'Fumi, that just sounds so nerdy. Besides, I'm pretty sure I speak for all three of us when I say we don't need some stupid present for us to forgive you, right?"
"Yeah!/She's right, Naofumi."
Naofumi scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Yeah, but even still, I want to offer it at the least."
Rifana sighed dramatically, "Fiiiiine, if you must. What is it?"
"The arrow is charged," Naofumi revealed.
It took a second, and then they blew up.
"WHAAAT? ARE YOU FOR REAL?" Rifana screeched excitedly.
Silver cheered as well.
Raphtalia sprang up on him, grabbing fistfuls of his shirt, "You're not joking, right? Please tell me you're not joking!"
Naofumi took hold of her hands and gently lowered them from his collar, "Nope, it's ready," he told her with a gentle smile.
"Woohoo! We get to see a new stand!" Rifana whooped before stopping, "But who's going to get it?"
"I was going to let them decide. It wouldn't be fair for me to force it on someone if they're not ready or they don't want it." Naofumi said resolutely with a firm nod.
Rifana sweatdropped, Yeah, I don't think either of them would ever pass up a stand.
Raphtalia sulked momentarily before reminding herself that she was the older sister, so she had to sacrifice what she could for the sake of her younger siblings. It would be hard, but it would be worth it to know Silver could better protect herself, and besides, she would get one later, so it would only be another two or three months of waiting. She could do this.
She straightened up, "I want Silver to-"
"Big sis 'Talia is getting it," Silver cut her off.
"Eh?" Was Raphtalia's eloquent response. "Huh?" Was her eloquent follow-up.
Rifana decided spared Raphtalia, "You sure Silver? Passing this up is a big deal, you realize that, right?" Naofumi remained silent, but he held a proud smile at the girl's decision.
Silver nodded, "I do, but I think Raphtalia should get it." She started twiddling her fingers, a little nervous, "She always does so much for us. She helped me learn how to fight, she takes care of me when Daddy can't, she stopped getting sick on the cart, and a million other things! And even if she gets really mean sometimes, I know it's just because she doesn't want me getting hurt or hurting someone else!"
Raphtalia was speechless, small tears forming in the corners of her eyes, "Silver…"
"But that's not even the best thing she did! She helped Daddy so much! I didn't know how to make him laugh, but Raphtalia just said it would take time and love, and she was right! She did so much work just for all of us, she deserves it the most."
Raphtalia kneeled down and hugged the small silver haired girl, "Thank you Silver, not just for giving up on a stand, but for everything you said." She sniffled, "It means more to me than you would ever know."
"Raphtalia is the best big sister ever!" Silver threw her arms and started crushing Raphtalia.
"And Silver is the best little sister ever," Raphtalia wheezed out. Were her lungs getting squished into pulp, a little yeah, but her little sister was the one doing so, so she could tough it out for a little longer.
The other two watched for a bit before Naofumi decided Raphtalia needed to breathe, "Alright, alright. It's getting late so why don't we get this finished and we can go to sleep, that sound good?" Silver turned her attention to him, loosening her hold on Raphtalia, allowing her to breathe properly.
When she had finished weezing, Raphtalia spoke up, "Yeah, it does." She was shaking in total excitement. Finally, after so long waiting, she was going to get a stand of her own! She had been fascinated by Wireframe ever since the stand first showed itself. But to be fair to her, who wouldn't? An unheard of ability originating from another world entirely? Who wouldn't be at the very least intrigued by such a thing?
"Alright, we all know what happened last time, so let's take it slow and careful. I don't want to have to bleach another horrible sight from my eyes, so I'm going to aim for something non-vital." Naofumi called to her, "You have any preference, Raphtalia?"
Rifana cringed at the reminder, deciding to throw her own input in, "Raph, this is going to hurt like hell. When the arrow hit me, it was like it had a mind of its own, it travelled on its own course through my body and it only stopped when I pulled it out. So be ready to do exactly that, alright?"
Raphtalia nodded, "Ok, I'll make sure to watch it carefully. And if I had a choice, I would prefer it hit my left arm, if it stays injured, I don't want my swordsmanship to be impeded."
Rifana sighed, "It would be really convenient if you could just prick someone with the arrow and that would be it, 'Fumi, but of course your shield had to make it launch like a crossbow."
Without any further delay, and with a great amount of excitement from everyone, they all took their places. Raphtalia stood about twenty feet from Naofumi, her left arm held towards Naofumi. The man himself stood posed and ready to fire, just waiting for the all clear from his adopted daughter.
Rifana and Silver stood off to the side, Silver papped the side of Rifana's leg, wanting to do the announcement herself. Rifana let her with a smile.
"Ready 'Talia?" Raphtalia gave a thumbs up in response, "Ready Daddy?" Naofumi nodded. "Ready…" Silver began, the group tensing every so slightly. This would be a big moment for all of them and would provide a massive boost in strength to the entire party. "Aim…" With everyone focused on the event, they all failed to notice the slight rustling of the nearby foliage, a pair of crimson eyes emerging from within the leaves. The owner had waited two long days for this. Two days of foregoing some critical grinding in favor of gaining this ability. It couldn't afford to miss its chance. "FIRE!" Silver shouted with gusto.
"Stand Arrow!" Naofumi shouted, his shield changing forms to the Otherworldly Shield as the arrow adorning it launched from its resting place. The arrow travelled quickly, covering the meager amount of feet between the two in a fraction of a second, coming inches from piercing Raphtalia's arm… before a gloved hand snatched the arrow from its course as it flew past them, skidding to a stop with the arrow in its possession.
Stunned into inaction, the group could do nothing but look on as L'arc Berg stood, his scythe in one hand, the arrow in another as he placed the arrow inside his weapons ornately crafted gem. The scythe glowed, changing its form with a flash of light before it finalized, presenting itself to the people before it with glory. There was little change to the scythe's size, but its material was that of silver and gold, with lavish decorations and swirls adorning the blade. The handle was entirely golden, small golden bugs taking their places along the handle all the way to the hilt, each one an exact replica of the one found on the arrow. At the tip of the blade, the arrow could be seen peeking out from a small hole. A small trigger was nestled in the crook between the two pieces of the scythe.
"What… the fuck." Rifana cut through the tension with three words.
"Hey kiddo… no, you deserve better… Hey Naofumi, you got a really good thing going here, you got some good people to protect, and for that… I'm sorry. But my world needs this more than yours." With his apology, L'arc departed from the site, racing as fast as he could into the foliage and through the woods.
Silver transformed into her filolial form, Naofumi and Raphtalia climbing atop her efficiently. Rifana opted to charge after him herself on foot, her agility stat being the highest of the group. The group was quick to charge after the man, questions racing through their minds as they passed tree after tree, frantically looking for the crimson haired man.
'His world? What the hell does that mean?'
'His scythe changed! I thought only the heroes could do that!'
'He knows about the arrow and what it could do! How did he find out?'
'He stole from us! That was for Raph!'
Their thoughts raced, questions without answers plagued them. But one thing for sure was…
'We need to get that arrow back.'
They ran themselves ragged, chasing after any sound of a twig snapping, leaves rustling, or any other indication of where L'arc could be. But no matter where they ran or where they searched, L'arc was gone. Eventually, they ran themselves to the coast of their island, the calm lapping of the waves on the beach contrasting their heavy and ragged breathing. By then, the sun had long since set, plunging their vision into the dark.
"Dammit! I knew that bastard was up to something!" Rifana kicked at the sand, venting her frustrations, "I should've just kicked their asses the second they started acting suspicious! Fuck!"
"Well… at least we still have the arrow," Naofumi chirped up.
"But, L'arc took it, didn't he?" Silver questioned her rider.
Naofumi sighed, running a hand through his hair, "Yeah, he did, but we're lucky that was just a skill activation and not the real deal." He changed his shield to the Otherworldly Shield to show it, and just as he said, the arrow was resting on his shield. "He left us with a lot of questions. Let's hope nothing too bad comes of this and head back to camp."
"So we're just going to let him get away?" Raphtalia was more than a little pissed. L'arc just swung in and stole her chance at a stand. Hell, he probably watched their whole make-up moment with Naofumi and her bonding moment with Silver! The next time she sees him, she's going to pummel him.
"It's our only choice. We lost him… somehow." And that is the question isn't it. Why did he take the arrow and where did he go?
After a quick check, Naofumi let a small smile show itself, " Well, at least the charge wasn't reset."
Raphtalia froze at that, her head snapping towards Naofumi with a giant smile plastered on her face, "I still get a stand?"
Naofumi laughed, "Yup, you still get a stand. Let's head back to camp."
A quick trek back and the party was set up once more. Only they were far more alert this time. "Ready…" Silver called out, "Aim… FIRE!"
Just like last time, Naofumi activated Stand Arrow, the aforementioned arrow launching itself at Raphtalia and lodging itself into her left arm. Raphtalia held back a hiss of pain. The party of four watched as the arrow wriggled as if it had a mind of its own, burying itself into Raphtalia's arm and crawling its way up it. They knew they would get healed from any injuries from the arrow and they had a surplus of healing potions and some healing magic, but it was still nerve wracking when the arrow shot itself out of her shoulder and into her neck. Raphtalia grabbed the arrow shaft and pulled it out, the holes in her body healing and sealing themselves completely.
The arrow dissipated and an aura began to surround the tanuki-girl. Raphtalia stared at her hands in awe, "Woah…"
"Alright, Raph, you're gonna wanna try to draw your stand out. Think of it as wanting to attack an enemy. That's how it works for me," Rifana instructed.
"You could also envision it as wanting to defend someone you're close to, that's usually how I summon Wireframe," Naofumi added. The stand named appeared and wrapped its arms around Naofumi's neck.
Raphtalia closed her eyes and focused, her amber aura spiking before fading completely. From her back, a large figure emerged, revealing itself to the world for the first time. It was big, standing almost twice as tall as Raphtalia and was feminine in its body type, its proportions mimicking those of its user. The bottom half of the stand was covered in a darker grey fur, hooves replacing the stand's feet. It's top half was dressed in ruby colored knightly armor, the type originating from that of the Holy Roman Empire with slits for its face shield. The armor was entirely covered in sharp and jagged spikes, forming a thorny sort of defense. Behind its face shield, a single grey eye gazed upon the others ready to fight. In its hands were a massive claymore and a kite shield, both colored the same ruby hue as the armor.
Rifana and Naofumi stood agape at the sheer size of this unit. For some reason, Naofumi felt as though this was one of the biggest stands he'd seen, ever.
"Holy…" Naofumi started.
"Shit!" Rifana finished. "Raph, it's huge!"
Raphtalia turned around to view her own stand, her jaw dropping at the sight. "It's… my stand…" She turned to the two other stand wielders, "How should I name it?"
"Well, the name kinda just comes to you, at least it did for me. Naofumi?" Rifana supplied.
"Same here," Naofumi provided.
"Oh! Oh!" Silver jumped in her spot, "Name it Shield Wing! Yeah, yeah! That would be so cool!"
Raphtalia chuckled at the girl's antics, looking back towards her stand. "Hmmm… I think I'll name it… Blood Drain."
"Jeez, way to make it sound violent, Raph," Rifana cut in, her joking tone breaking Raphtalia from her thoughts.
"Wha-what?! No, no, no I swear it just sounds right! Please believe me!" She pleaded.
Silver picked up on Rifana's plan, "Okay, 'Talia, it sure does."
Raphtalia looked towards Naofumi, her one last remaining hope, who looked at the stand with an unidentifiable emotion. After a long silence, he speaks, "Anyway," he claps his hands and moves on, "I'm sure Blood Drain likes its name, right?" A loud hum sounds from within the armored stand, almost seeming like a growl. "Alright, Raphtalia, I'm sure you're exhausted so let's all head to sleep and worry about things tomorrow, ok?"
Raphtalia hadn't noticed it earlier, but yes. She was ridiculously exhausted. She managed to take one step before passing out while standing, light snores coming from her body as Blood Drain watched over her.
The others tried to get her to a more comfortable position, but that was made difficult by Blood Drain's warning growls and sharp claymore. Eventually they got her to bed and went to sleep themselves, Naofumi taking the first watch for monsters.
Raphtalia was the last to wake up, the tanuki-girl stretching and letting out a satisfied groan as she felt her bones pop and crack. She summoned Blood Drain as soon as she was able to, solely to feel the euphoria of finally having a stand to call her own. She was so thrilled just by looking at it, that she didn't notice the others looking at her with goofy smiles. Blood Drain hummed, telling Raphtalia to turn around and she saw Naofumi stretching.
"Blood Drain's size is impressive in its own right, but I think it's a good idea if we find out what it's ability is before we enter a real fight," Naofumi explained.
"Right, it's good to be prepared in a fight," Raphtalia summarized. "So how should we find out?"
"Well, like with a lot of stuff with stands, the ability is mostly instinctual, so I was thinking we have a little spar between stands to see if we can draw it out," Naofumi proposed.
"A spar between stands?" She spared a glance towards Blood Drain before nodding, "Alright. I'm ready."
Rifana picked up Silver and brought her to the side, prepared to entertain the young girl who would likely get bored from seeing nothing for what could be a long fight.
Naofumi took initiative, his experience being a stand user prompting his attack. Wireframe flew from his body and charged for a straight lunge. The blow landed harmlessly against Blood Drain's kite shield but the stands counterattack whiffed as Wireframe pulled back. Could Naofumi win by sinking the stand into solid ground? Probably, but they were here to find out more about Blood Drain, not just beat it.
Wireframe stepped back as Blood Drain dashed forward, swinging its claymore in a wide arc to cover as much space as possible. The blade missed but Blood Drain spun around for another slash. The slash was once again avoided but was followed up by a shield bash. Naofumi opted to block the blow, feeling the much larger stand's strength was very much comparable to its size. Wireframe skid back along the ground, sparing a glance towards Naofumi, who felt a light stinging in his forearms.
'No hint of an ability yet,' he thought, 'let's turn it up a bit.'
Wireframe sank into the ground, Blood Drain taking up a defensive stance and keeping careful watch of its surroundings. If Raphtalia knew Naofumi, which at this point she most definitely did, then he would opt to surprise the opponent from behind with a blow to a vital area, mainly to stun or knock out an enemy. The tanuki demi-human was right, Wireframe popping out of the ground, its fists raised. Blood Drain pivoted on its heels, driving its kite shield towards its enemy only for it to phase through and amount to nothing as Wireframe drove its fist into Blood Drain's stomach, between the spikes. Wireframe followed the gut punch up with a left hook and roundhouse kick, driving in the blows to the abdomen.
Raphtalia coughed up spit from sudden pain in her stomach. It wasn't terribly painful, but more than enough to notice. Naofumi immediately stopped the fight. "Raphtalia! What happened?" He yelled out in worry as he ran to her.
"Yeah, just some stomach pain. It's not too bad," she responded, easing his worries a bit.
"Stomach pain?" Rifana wondered. They didn't know a lot about stands, with the only things they did know being that they're from Naofumi's world and the arrow is capable of giving them to those it pierces. 'Actually, now that I think about it, didn't Naofumi's neck jerk when Glass hit Wireframe?'
Rifana was brought from her thoughts when Naofumi was sent flying past her, blood leaking from an open cut on his chest. Apparently, while she had been lost in her thoughts, the two had resumed and had resumed their spar. He crashed to the ground and slid… only to begin sliding towards Blood Drain who was idly waiting, arms open and ready to crush Naofumi and Wireframe in a spiky, pain-filled hold.
"Raphtalia! Call off your stand!" Rifana cried out as she grabbed on to Naofumi, stopping him from sliding any further. Blood Drain faded away as its user recalled the stand. Raphtalia rushed up to the two and pulled out her emergency healing potion, cautiously feeding it to Naofumi. The gash on his chest sealed itself well, not even a scar remaining.
"What happened?" Silver inspected her Daddy from head to toe, looking for any potential threat, despite the man trying to assure her he was ok.
"Blood Drain landed a blow on Wireframe and Naofumi was thrown back. I don't understand! How did he get hurt," Raphtalia wondered if this was her ability, but shook that thought off immediately. It was too specific to be a stand ability, for her to transfer damage from stand to user.
"Stands can hurt other stands," Rifana says, "And any damage given to the stand is given to the user, and the other way around too probably."
"You think so?" Naofumi asks as Silver hangs off him.
"I'm no expert, none of us are really, but Glass could see and hit Wireframe and you were hit too, even though you didn't take any damage from it, so it makes sense to me at least."
Raphtalia huffed, "But that doesn't explain why Glass could see or attack Wireframe."
"That's a puzzle for a different day, but I think Rifana is right," Naofumi concludes. "That's why you felt stomach pain, Wireframe hit Blood Drain in the stomach and you felt the damage."
"But your defense should have stopped any meaningful damage. Why did you get so hurt?"
Naofumi thinks for a moment, "Stands weren't built for this world. They weren't supposed to exist here, so they probably don't pair well with this world's laws." He shrugs, "Hitting a stand probably negates any bonuses or defects the system gives us. So we'll have to be careful." The two nodded.
"Did you guys see Talia's ability?" Silver asked.
That… was a good question. There wasn't anything that really stood out… except for Naofumi sliding back towards Blood Drain after he had been hit. Now that he thought about it, Naofumi did feel a light pull back when he blocked the first kite shield blow, but it wasn't anything special. So maybe it stacked with every hit?
"It might be the ability to draw-in opponents after hitting them," Naofumi says. "It's really the only thing that stood out to me in that fight as an ability."
"That's… kind of simple," Rifana points out.
"Sometimes simple abilities are the most useful," Naofumi finishes.
"Are we gonna fight something now? Watching you fight is cool but I can't see anything!" Silver whined.
Naofumi sighed, "Ok, let's find something to fight." He turned towards Raphtalia, "Raphtalia, let's take Blood Drain for a test drive."
"...I don't know what a test drive is, but I'm up for a fight!" She smiled widely.
The other girls began to pack up camp, cleaning up whatever meager supplies they took with them as Naofumi stood still, completely stumped.
"...she's got a point. What the hell even is a test drive?" The amnesia ridden man wondered, "Oh well. No point thinking on it now." He went to help out.
They watched the group of monsters from the safety of the foliage. In the clearing stood a number of smaller penguin looking monsters, none of them looking particularly tough or dangerous. In the center of the masses was a much larger variant of the same penguin monsters. With their weapons, stats, and stands, the boss would prove little challenge, but it would be rather annoying if the fodder were to interrupt them while they fought. So when they rushed out from their cover, they did so with a plan.
Naofumi charged them all alone. Screaming a war cry as he garnered as much attention as he could. The fodder all turned towards him and screeched as they went to attack. Their pecks and claws did little to his defence, even with Wireframe phasing most of the blows through him and retaliating with quick jabs every once in a while.
"Now Rifana!" Wireframe grabbed hold of Naofumi as he sank into the ground entirely, avoiding the surge of lightning that chained from one penguin to another, roasting them all and killing them in a quick blow.
Naofumi re-emerged atop a pile of smoking penguin corpses. He plugged his nose at the smell, trying not to throw up. "Jeez, these things do not roast well. I'll keep that in mind…"
Meanwhile, Raphtalia and Silver charged the boss, Silver tackling the beast in her filolial form while the tanuki demi-human summoned Blood Drain, the stand cleaving its claymore at the exposed chest of the boss. The blade struck, sinking into the flesh but failing to cleanly bisect the beast. The penguin boss was thrust backwards violently, crashing into a nearby tree and cratering it entirely. The boss tried to stand back up, blood gushing from its wounds and its beak.
"Alright Blood Drain, draw it in!" Raphtalia commanded as she threw her hand forward. Blood Drain stomped its foot down, the color of its eye flashing purple as the penguin was pulled from its spot rapidly towards the stand. Try as it might, the boss couldn't prevent its death as it was flung into the waiting arms of Blood Drain who crushed it in its hold, the spikes piercing its hide and crushing its internal organs. The stand dropped the now dead boss to the ground before fading back into Raphtalia, who looked utterly ecstatic at her success.
"...did you really have to throw your hand out all dramatically like that?" Rifana teased.
Raphtalia quickly blushed and tried to deflect, "N-Naofumi does it sometimes too!" Naofumi just shrugs. "A-anyway, I think that went pretty well."
Naofumi nodded, "Your stand's ability seems fairly basic, at least compared to ours, but its strength far outclasses ours. You did a good job, Raphtalia." He patted her head before Silver got jealous and demanded pats from him as well.
After that finished up, Naofumi got to absorbing some of the monsters for some shields and materials.
Penguin Shield
DEF: +1
AGI: +1
Penguin sledding is a great way to bond with the person who freed you from an iceberg
Penguin Boss Shield
DEF: +2
MDEF: +1
AGI: +2
A gluttonous king wielding a powerful hammer is regularly chosen as just the first boss
"Hey, Daddy? What's this?" Silver asked as she hobbled up to the man carrying a strange suit. Naofumi took it from her, looking at the weird drop in confusion.
"It's… a penguin suit?" He said questionably. A stat window popped up, showing him the stats the suit provided… including a particular ability the suit granted, that being the power to breathe indefinitely underwater… somehow. Whatever, he stopped questioning things like this a while ago.
Rifana called out, "There's a couple others here too!" And just as she said, there were three other copies of the suit just laying there.
Silver gave one a harsh pull, the fabric (what is it even made out of?) managing to survive under the incredible strain. Silver was turning red from the effort. Her muscles gave out first, the suit slipping from her grasp as she fell onto her back with a gasp, "It's so strong!"
"Weird…" Naofumi muttered. He checked the xp they gained from the fight, disappointed to see how low the numbers were compared to before. It seems as though the field has a curve to it and they were beginning to reach it. He sighed, "Alright, let's take these back and see if they're worth anything, I think we should finish fighting for the day. We've worked hard for a couple days straight and I think we've earned a break. What do you guys say?"
"Beach! Day! Beach! Day!" Silver popped off the ground chanting her activity of choice.
Naofumi chuckled, "Alright, alright. We can have a beach day. It is an island after all, it would suck to not at least relax on the beach a little bit." Rifana did a fist pump while Raphtalia went about grabbing the suits.
In the end, they decided to hold on to the suits for a bit, the vendors at the market being unable to accurately identify a price for the strange items. So, if they ever needed to go underwater for whatever reason, they had a way to do exactly that. With that out of the way, the group headed towards the beach, after picking up some beach supplies from the market of course.
Naofumi opted for a very long pair of dark green and grey swimming trunks, the sleeves reaching down to mid calf, and a button down shirt which he cut the bottom of the shirt into strange tassel like ribbons. Even on vacation his bizarre fashion sense shines through.
Raphtalia dressed herself in a gorgeous two piece navy swimsuit, ribbons of fabric decorating her body and accentuating her natural charm. She looked flustered at showing off so much skin and the attention from men, human and demi-human alike wasn't helping with that embarrassment. A quick glare from Naofumi shut that down real quick.
Rifana opted for a swimsuit that revealed a fair bit more skin, essentially being a piece of silver band of fabric that wrapped around her chest and protected her modesty while revealing a bit of cleavage and a regular bottom piece of women's swimwear, also colored silver. Unlike Raphtalia she seemed to enjoy stripping down. That didn't mean the men who ogled her weren't struck down by Naofumi's protective glare though.
Silver was dressed far more appropriately, in a simple ruby one piece swimsuit. Thankfully, no one ogled the little girl.
The family of four spent some time relaxing on the beach in the sun before Silver eventually got bored of just waiting around and started playing in the sand. Sensing her boredom, Naofumi suggested she play in the water. Silver lit up at the idea as normally her metal feathers made swimming practically impossible for her, but with the Penguin Kigurimi, he wouldn't have to worry about her swimming all that much since she could just walk back to the beach when she was finished without fear of drowning.
Silver excitedly donned the suit and charged into the water, vanishing underneath the waves. The beach was calm, most people still out fighting monsters for the bonus field, leaving them alone to destress from everything. And if a certain spear wielding womanizer was directed away from the beach by a particular sword wielding teen, then who was to say it didn't go perfectly?
"Daddy?" Silver's voice reached Naofumi's ears. He opened his eyes and looked towards his bird daughter.
"Yeah? What's up Silver?" He asked. "Do you need help taking off the suit?" He didn't even need to see her face to know she was blushing a bit.
"No… I just wanted to tell you I found a cool building underneath the ocean," Silver announced.
"A building?" Raphtalia wanted to be sure she heard right.
Silver nodded, "Yeah, it's big and has a bunch of smaller broken buildings around it."
Rifana stretched, unintentionally (or maybe intentionally, you never know with her) causing some nosebleeds from the few other men around. "Well, I've had enough relaxing for now. Why don't we check it out? We don't have anything better to do."
Raphtalia pouted, "But the sun is so nice and warm…"
"C'mon Raph, we've been here for two hours just laying down, we gotta move around, get some exercise, y'know?" Rifana tried to convince her friend.
"Rifana, we literally exercise for a living," Raphtalia shot her friend down, "But if you really want to, we can go."
"Alright then, let's check it out. It could be interesting."
That was exactly how the four found themselves standing before another dragon hourglass, only two days before the beginning of the next wave.
Naofumi Iwatani
Class: Shield Hero
Level 72
Legendary Shield,「Wireframe」
Bizarre Otherworldly Clothing
ATK: 83
DEF: 631
MATK: 74
MDEF: 484
DEX: 201
AGI: 285
Stand Arrow Charge: 4%
Raphtalia
Class: Demi-Human Knight
Level 71
Magic Iron Sword, 「Blood Drain」
Swordswoman's Dress
ATK: 293
DEF: 173
MATK: 250
MDEF: 106
DEX: 180
AGI: 293
Rifana
Class: Demi-Human Rampager
Level 71
Steel Dagger,「I've Been A Fool」
Short Furred Covering
ATK: 336
DEF: 147
MATK: 114
MDEF: 108
DEX: 309
AGI: 408
Silver
Class: Adult Filolial Queen
Level 71
Steel Wings
ATK: 296
DEF: 367
MATK: 298
MDEF: 439
DEX: 141
AGI: 292
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
Fahrenheit
Power:
A
Speed:
A
Range:
D
Durability:
C
Precision:
C
Development Potential:
C
Blood Drain
Power:
B
Speed:
B
Range:
B
Durability:
B
Precision:
C
Development Potential:
E
Notes:
Heyo! I'm back only one week later as promised, with a whole lot of information and combat to boot!
Firstly and most importantly, yes, L'arc now has his own copy of the Stand Arrow ability, I think you can see where that plotline is going. It wouldn't be a proper JoJo crossover without some good old fashioned stand fights... even if those fights are twenty five chapters in. He won't be able to just give stands whenever he wants, he also has to abide by the charge rule, but at the very least, the otherworlders will be in the possession of one stand.
Speaking of stand fights, Raphtalia finally gets her own stand, Blood Drain! It's ability, Draw-in, is incredibly simple, just allowing the stand to apply a pull to an enemy after landing a blow, with the degree of the effect depending on the location and severity of the blow. This effect can also stack so multiple hits will practically guarantee a spiky hug. I wanted the ability to be simple solely so I could focus on writing some straightforward stand fights. Sure, abilities are often integral to fights but some of the best are just two strong stands absolutely beating the shit out of each other. To compensate for her weak ability, Blood Drain's stats are ridiculous compared to the others. To put it simply, its essentially the terminator, if the terminator could force you to approach it after hitting you even once.
Finally, we reach the final wave of Season 1! After next chapter, the main story will go on hiatus until the release of Season 2, but as I mentioned earlier, I will still post stand fight specials from time to time to fill in the gap with any requested fights from Parts 3, 4, or 5. It doesn't have to be canon, and it doesn't have to make sense. Want to see Wireframe fight Star Platinum, aight, I can do that.
Anyway, that's all I have for now. Please leave me a review letting me know what you thought of the chapter and I'll see you next week!
- RandomA99