Hero And Fighter

by strike445x

Certainly, getting summoned with 3 other Japanese young adults was a surprising thing... but the main question was, why did he keep encountering things that reminded him of the main game he played? (Standard Harem Warning)

27. From Shadows To Chains

A/N: (Note/Disclaimer) All recognizable characters belong to their respective owners. Such as Neopeople for Dungeon Fighter Online(Also known as Dungeon & Fighter) and Aneko Yusga for The Rising Of The Shield Hero

Note 2:

("Human/Speech")

("Thoughts")

(Attacks/Weapon names)

(Other/Foreign/ Speech & Text/Book/Scroll)

(Actions/POV)

(Titles/Flashback/Time/Dates/Place)

(Narration & Everything else)

('Demonic Speech')

("Demonic Thoughts")

Hero And Fighter Chapter 27

Ifrit Hotspring Inn: Private Female's Bath 15

6/21/0000: 1800

Third Person: Omni

Senka somehow still hid her face from the others, silently watching everyone from her side of the spring. Her short black hair had been growing as of recent, though it was not like it was all that visible when she wore her clothes, which included a hood to cover her in shadows.

She propped her chin on her fist as she sat at the border of water and land. She gave off the feeling of unapproachability, a cold woman. Years of indoctrination were surprisingly light when it came to interacting with her liege, but the training in suppressing emotions till it became instinct had taken its toll on her expressiveness.

She took a glance at her body once more, pale skin cut apart by even paler scars, relics of torture training using actual torture. The Church Of Three Heroes gave not an ounce of kindness, it was extremely sadistic in her training. Every day she was expected to serve as one of the sisters when interacting with the others, never letting anyone notice the signs of her training.

For the amount of resources and time put into her training, she was thrown away incredibly quickly. Perhaps, it was truly the best mission that she could ever fail at, especially now that she was with Naofumi. It has only been a short amount of time, but her loyalty to him far outstripped whatever amount she had once held with the church once upon a time.

What a fat lot being the most promising new shadow had done for her, the most emotionless, the most ruthless, the most devoted… only to just get thrown aside due to the church's obsession. It made her think of just how she got here.

Church Of The Three Heroes

5/14/0000: 0000

Stained glass stood behind the empty desk, the blackened sky of the new day caused the color to come forth from the warm light of the candlelight. It was not as grandiose as the stained glass that faced the populous on the main floor, yet the craftsmanship was still incredible.

The creak of the door showcased a kindly man stepping into the office. His robes were dyed crimson, with black embroidery cutting up the solid color. The lining was also black, but with gold at the cuffs cutting off the shift in coloration. A black four-sided cap rests atop his head.

His footsteps were heavy as he walks across the stained wooden floors. He quickly took his place behind the desk, not yet sitting atop the chair that it was paired with. The entire desk was empty, its flat face mirroring him like a mirror as the candlelight created a gentle look.

"Shadow, into the light." His tone was stern yet gentle, but his eyes were cold as he looked forward. From the gentle flicker of the lights, the black cloak of a church shadow revealed itself to his eyes. Not a sound came from her, not even her breath disturbed the air of the office.

"Your Eminrence." She kneeled, one hand over her chest and the other with knuckles to the ground. A mask on her face and the shadows of her hood kept her identity hidden, even to the head of the shadows of the church.

"Rise." He commands before sitting himself. She slowly rose, keeping her arm parallel to her chest as she does so, her cloak only revealing a small part of her black uniform underneath.

"Your command?" She asked about the start of the briefing, for a cardinal to be sending orders, much less the head of the church shadows, it was something that did not happen often.

"You have quite the track record… several almost suicidal missions finished to perfection Shadow." He comments as he pulls a sheaf of papers from his sleeve. Whatever those orders were, it was extremely confidential, enough that no other person could hold it for the risks that it posed to the security of the mission.

"The pope has assigned this mission to our most promising shadows, one that would lead to becoming part of his personal guard." The cardinal states, his stern tone and kind demeanor did nothing to detract from the seriousness of his words. To become a shadow with direct contact and missions from the pope was the highest honor, right alongside fighting beside the three heroes.

"..." She was silent, not showing an ounce of emotions to the huge upgrade in position that was possible with this mission. There were other shadows that would gladly take this chance with a fervent voice, but the cardinal smiled. The silence that she showcased showed just what he needed in this mission, the zealots would be too emotional.

"We have been able to convince the king to proceed with the hero summoning in 3 days. You are to sabotage the shield hero that will be summoned." His kindly demeanor shifts, a slight smile comes to his face as he states the mission in earnest. Despite his own training to be as emotionless as possible, he had an appearance to keep that thawed his emotions.

The shadow herself did not speak, not even moving at the new information of the summoning of the four heroes happening in Melromark. It would be announced tomorrow, only a day before the summoning itself, despite the very grand nature of the event.

If she were someone else, she would have made a wisecrack remark about the stupidity of such a thing, but she was not that and already had all of her emotions frozen up to the point where you would think she had an affinity for ice magic.

The shadow could only mentally shake her head, no use in thinking about her anymore, especially now that she is dead. No, the person here now is not the one who died, and there was no reality that would change due to it. Especially now that she had been stripped of that name and life.

"We have been hearing reports of strange adventures across the land, so our schedule has been compressed significantly as to stay safe from random factors."

"Just recently, a new mage was accepted into the church, not for her faith, but for her magical ability. She would be one of the summoners of the heroes. She was already enough of a random factor to warrant this secrecy."

"She is an incredible flight risk that we wish to minimize in order to have the Devil Of The Shield brought down to his knees." The cardinal was slowly shedding his act due to them being the only two within these walls that were talking about their plans.

"We have the support of the king and the princess… we will be framing him for rape. You are to prepare for this immediately." The cardinal states, his emotions going cold once more, his fervent expressiveness now gone, he had noticed that he was giving too much away when talking about the shield of the four.

"As you bid your Eminrence." She states, bowing once more and disappearing from sight. The only sign she was there was the slow closing of the door, not even creaking like when he came in. Showcasing that he had not trained in stealth for a long period of time.

Church Of The Three Heroes: Hidden Conference Room

5/20/0000: 0000

"You have failed!" The maddened cardinal yells aloud, the other top brass of the church had not arrived yet, so the leader of the shadows sat at his place on the table. The shadow was stripped bare of her cloak and regular clothing, standing nude on a stage infront of the stands that held the leadership. A sack over her head covered her face and eyes, the only solace to the piercing gases of the zealots at the head of the table.

"You have failed at my orders, and you have failed the church. You would be lucky to have a swift death for your failure!" He screamed out, all of his calmness front the night of her assignment was gone. His kindly demeanor was gone in favor of that of a mad old man.

"Now now Charles, there is no need to be like that." Another person speaks as they arrived in the room. Another cardinal had arrived during the Shadow Cardinal's rage-fueled vocalizations.

"Especially since you will not be demoted." Another voice speaks after the first. Due to the darkness enshrouding her vision, she could not see their appearances, but she knew that she could feel the hardened gases of the other two cardinals.

"What do you mean?" The cardinal was snapped out of his yelling by the new arrivals, they were only waiting on the pope now. He did not even register the advice to calm down by the first unknown voice.

"It was due to Cassandra that our plan failed by having that mage be one of the summoners… So she has been disposed of her position as a cardinal." The first unknown voice remarks, much to the surprise of Cardinal Charels.

"Why was I not notified of the trial?" He demanded to know about just why he was not included, for someone of his position, it would usually need the other cardinals to impeach a cardinal or add another to their ranks. It was against protocol to have one missing during the trial.

"We were still deliberating on having you impeached as well. But it was dropped in favor the impeachment of Cassandra… as to where she is right now after her punishment… I believe she was forced to be a sister in one of the backwater villages." Commenced the first cardinal's voice.

"As for what will be done with the failure of a shadow, we will be deciding today when his Holiness arrives." The second cardinal spoke as the doors opened once more, causing all three of them to quiet, they were doing something after that from what the shadow's instincts could tell.

"Well, shall we get this trial started?" The leader of the Church Of Three Heroes, Pope Biscas T. Balmus. She could hear the shuffling of everyone, the scrapes of three chairs as footsteps slowly got closer to the highest chair of the court. She knew that only 4 of the 5 chairs were filled as of current.

"The former rank one shadow, the failure that had let the shield hero escape with his reputation mostly intact, what shall we do to you now that you have failed your task?" She could imagine the pope's smile as the first cardinal spoke. She did not know the other cardinals, their names were not needed in her mind as she would never interact with them.

"Now now, it is not fully her fault as to her failure." The second voice was far more kind to her plight. She could imagine them watching her, stripped bare of everything, like her former name and life, to the uniform that denoted her advanced rank in the shadows of the church. And now she was to be stripped of something even more precious than all others.

"Indeed, it would not be due to punishing her for acts of another causing a mission failure." The pope spoke up, stoping any outbursts from cardinal Charles. She could hear the shuffling of cloth as the others nodded along in understanding and respect to the pope.

"Bue she did fail in her mission, by the rules, she should be executed no matter the circumstances due to a mission of this magnitude." The first cardinal spoke his thoughts on the matter. Indeed, once a shadow failed a mission due to any circumstance, it was usually a punishment equal to the value of the mission's importance.

"But we can still salvage the situation by spreading rumors all over the kingdom. He already has the reputation of rapist in the general populous's mind still. Even when it will be greatly weakened in the reveal of the trial." They had a point, she had already started the smear campaign of the reputation of the shield hero.

"But her life should not be ended just due to that, she is human after all… not one of those beasts." The first commented the shadow knew that Cardinal Charles had to keep silent during the preceding, never voicing out. Even if he would not be punished, he was still in hot waters.

"Indeed, most of the cost that she would have to pay due to the mission's value has already been taken by the demotion of Cassandra… so execution has already been stricken from the list." The pope states, thinking over any punishments, though he might already be leading the cardinals down his thought process. Indeed, they could not immediately kill her, execution would take time and too severe for the amount of debt…

"Indeed, but we can not let her off, her debt is too high for that." The second cardinal states, voicing the thought process that the pope had decided to guide them along. She could already feel the terrifying manipulation of the pope in the voiced thoughts of the cardinals.

"Debt huh… we could recoup by selling her as a slave… I hear that human slaves have gone up in price." The first spoke, any false pretense of kindness now stripped from the first cardinal. If it were any other time and situation, the cardinal would have denounced selling their own into slavery… though everyone in the room knew that they did just that all the time. Such was the hypocrisy of the Chruch Of Three Heroes.

"Then we are in agreement, selling her to the slave trade after resetting her level. It would not be due to having others find out that she is a former shadow" The pope states with a gentle power. What the other cardinals did not think of, but something that the pope surely caught was her condition. It would be hard for her to sell due to her stunted emotional status.

Beloukas's Market: Castle Town

5/20/0000: 0000

She was starving despite it only being a scant few hours since her selling into slavery. But it was only natural, she had not eaten since her level reset, to all of her vitality had been dropped, alongside the regular con that resetting levels had, burning through a lot of energy and nutrients. And that was on top of not eating, or sleeping for days to prepare for the mission.

She was literally on the brink of death, and the sickening conditions she was kept in, even under the care of the church's slavery team had been the cause for disease festering within her body. The sudden shock of having a much weaker vitality had caused her to be at death's door.

"Will I be joining you soon?" This nameless knew that she would die soon, but even the pain of her body could not force a reaction out of her. And the white-hot pain of fever and starvation could make her think about her past anyway.

She could hear the footsteps… no two sets of them. That was strange, the slave merchant would not usually show customers this side of the storage. She could only watch as a young man walked past the slave merchant. His face was set coldly, but to her experienced eyes, she could tell that it was forced.

She could not talk, the pain had prevented her from doing so, but she could still watch. He took note of her, she had learned that look a long time ago. But it was not enough, he already walked past.

Only a few minutes later she could hear him being told her story… or at least the one manufactured by the church's slavery team… something she did not know that they had.

She looked at him with steel, readying herself for death again now that she could see him a third time. It was instinctive, not wanting to die here, especially infront of the one who caused her to be like this.

"These two then." The hero spoke and pointed at her… and another. It was strange, why was he picking her to be his slave? Some kind of sadistic pleasure to torture her? She knew it was not like that, she knew that he did not know who she was, and what she had done to him. But stray thoughts due to the starvation and disease still filled her mind.

Everything was a blur, she had started coughing again. She could not tell what was happening anymore. All she could feel was his strong arms carrying her now that her sense of time had been shot, was it a few minutes since he started negotiations with the slave trader? Or was it hours? Maybe even seconds?

She could feel his warmth, something was helping her body, keeping it from totally shutting down. She could hear him ask for a name. But she had no name, not anymore. So she spoke that thought of hers, slipping up and going back to her traditional manners.

Number of Words: ~2900 Word

Date Completed: 12/6/2021

Note: Here you guys go, another chapter for Hero And Fighter. And it is Senka's chapter that I decided to do this time. I decided to play on the idea of the top brass of the church has more than the pope since it should not just be the pope that had come and faced the heroes, it should have been one of the cardinals instead. Hope you all enjoyed it. On another note… this is the start of my final prep week for finals next week.

Comment Cove:

FFN:

Drcaus: So is Melina and Senka are part of Naofumi party.

So will someone like Cain of Fatality, Isys-Freye of the Blue Sky and Kasijas the Conqueror will be on The Shield Hero. And what if the Cardinal Heroes and Vassal Heroes isekai'd to a world called Pandemonium along with the Heroes from Arad also called the Adventurers from Dungeon Fighters Online and what will happened If The Shield Hero Naofumi Iwantani interact with Hilda friends Dungeon Fighters Online.

Response: Melina and Senka are part of the party. As for the opposite side, I haven't really made a layout for it yet, I still have a lot on my plate for the Shield Hero's continuity. As for any interactions, I would rather have that be hidden for when exactly I write the opposite side.

Shadow55: Please please update

Response: Your prayers have been answered.

D3lph0xL0v3r: (Insert comments here, there were a lot of them, from chapters 1 to 9. I don't have enough in me to go over all of these and it would inflate the count too much.)

Response: Glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for sticking on the ride.

AO3:

Havefeith: Sorry if this sounds rude, but were you tired when you wrote this chapter? It's the only way I can see such weird spelling errors having occurred so early on in the chapter. You swapped around some of the letters like you were typing to fast, or, again, were tired while writing this chapter. You were fine for the rest of the chapter until the AN on this chapter where you spelled "early" as something like "leary", or something like that.

(I did a response here but here is the response to my response)

That's fine, I just thought I'd ask. Usually it comes out slightly better than this. There were only 3 or so words that had letters swapped around, so you still did a pretty good job.

Response: *Since I don't know when exactly I will post another chapter, I may as well reply now." I was writing quickly and didn't do my usual quality of proofreading, (Which is saying a lot when I barely proofread at all.). I have had a lot going on this month and decided that the small spelling mistakes were small enough that it wouldn't put a huge damper on the experience. Rather, I thought it would be better to get a chapter out instead of waiting for another few weeks to finish it.

Glad you enjoyed it… this is mostly unpolished and uncut when it comes to quality. But it was definitely not as good as usual for chapter 25.

Phara_mine: My lack of knowledge about DFO is catching up, I honestly can't keep up with all the characters from it.

So Nao just agreed to clean up yet another mess, hope he'll be smart enough to ask for a right reward when the queen comes back.

Yay flashback for Eclair join the party moment.

How do you feel about that 4 out of 5 META ships are carriers? I'm honestly annoyed, don't hate carriers or anything but why? Hope we'll get more DIFFERENT META ships in the future.

Response: Yeah, I hope to rectify that with the non-DFO audience with some flashbacks during Melina's chapter.

As for the payment… well, he is a merchant now.

Glad you like the flashback.

And for the nonstory stuff… well, art imitates life considering that carriers became the head of any navy after the second world war. But now we have other meta ships from the cruise missions.

Dolsky: Hmm

Response: Glad you read it.