DISCLAIMER: I do not own JoJo's bizarre adventure or Rising of the shield hero

The sky continued to twist more violently, allowing more monsters to invade, a sense of dread filling all who witnessed this. This included the Cardinal heroes, who were currently being ambushed by a pride of seven Chimeras.

"They've completely surrounded us."

Ren Amaki pointed out the harsh reality of their situation, his entire party slaughtered.

"I can see that!"

Motoyasu Kitamura shouted in frustration, most of his members killed.

"It's your fault!"

Itsuki Kawasumi pinned the blame on their self-appointed leader. Rishia Ivyred being the only one left in his party.

"I didn't expect it to get this bad!"

The spear hero attempted to defend himself.

"You were too weak! And you slowed us down!"

Ren spoke sternly as his grip on his sword faltered.

"Don't blame him! This is your fault! You didn't protect us!"

None other than Malty Melromarc, better known as Myne, defended her boy toy. It was somewhat true, the heroes lacked the proper ability to coordinate their attacks, and thus, could not defend against the ambush or contain the collateral damage. It was almost as if they were missing an integral part of the Cardinal heroes, like a hero meant for defense and support.

"I'm growing tired of your constant boot licking."

Ren cut a Chimera's head off, his subtle rage could be heard from his voice.

"If you can just shut up about Motoyasu, hey, maybe we can survive this!"

Itsuki shot four arrows through the heads of the wounded Chimera, his annoyance with the princess clear as day.

"How dare yoー"

"No...he's right."

Motoyasu gave Malty his most serious look since he came here. She shut her mouth immediately, fearing this side of the tall blonde.

"I am sorry, all of you, I failed you guys as a friend and hero."

Everyone was stunned by his words, not only because he was acting his age and taking responsibility, but because he spoke as if they were his last words. Motoyasu being the strongest, this gave everyone a feeling of absolute terror and helplessness. However, the blonde was not going to let it end here.

"Malty! Focus on helping Elena! I can take care of myself!"

Motoyasu commanded, his two remaining companions very much impressed by his more dominant nature.

"I won't die for making the same mistake twice! That's the death of an idiot!"

The spear hero motivated himself, remembering how he got here in first place: ignorance.

"Ren, Itsuki! We need to make an opening. I can remember training somewhere near here to avoid that DIO guy. There is a coal mine not too far, we can settle there!"

Ren and Itsuki were reluctant to take orders, but Ren felt some respect towards Motoyasu.

"He admit his weakness? And yet, he appears stronger for it."

While Ren was hesitant to take orders from someone 'weaker' than him, he felt intrigued by his partner's evolution, perhaps weakness was the key to great potential. Ren was doubtful of this, but was curious to find out.

"Itsuki, he knows what he is talking about. I say we follow his lead, this time, together."

The bow hero was persuaded by his new found friend. Trusting his judgement, although he did wish to be the one saving them. Itsuki looked to his lone companion, and mentally scoffed.

"I must be cursed to have her be the only one."

"Itsuki, help that girl in your party keep them off of our blind spots. Ren and Elena will take out any following us, Malty will clear the path, and I'll lead! Try to keep up!"

"Great, now our lives depend on her."

The three heroes and their party members got into position, keeping enough distance between each other for better mobility. As they moved deeper in the forestation, the Chimeras used their fire breath to burn the greenery, but Malty quickly put out the flames with wind magic. The beasts then utilized their feline abilities to hide in the bushes and attempt to pounce on their prey.

*POUNCE!*

A Chimera jumped at Itsuki, him not being observant enough to see it coming. It was shot back however, by Rishia who could see these things from a mile away. This gave the hero of the bow the chance to kill it with a more powerful shot.

ARROW SQUALL

This was a quick convenient way of dealing with the multiple heads with only one arrow needed. Itsuki turned to Rishia and wished to thank her, but quickly looked away.

"No, don't allow her to see you like that."

Ren and Elena slashed away at the Chimeras, keeping them back from everyone else, specifically Malty who was defending all of them from the flames and creating room as they progressed. The problem was however, that Ren did not work with Elena, leading her to be bit by a snake tail which injected a potent poison into her body. Ren saw this and cut down the creature very quickly.

CRIMSON SWORD

The many slashes destroyed the monster. Ren burst out in a fit of rage at the woman.

"Don't slow me down!"

"Hey, you're the one in my way!"

Motoyasu heard this quarrel and reprimanded Ren.

"Ren! Work with her!"

Ren was intimidated by the spear hero and backed down without resistance.

"What is this! She is clearly the one to blame! There is no way that...I was the problem."

Ren found it insulting, but calmed himself. He'll play along for the sake of survival. With more cooperation between everyone, they were able to gain some space to breathe as they reached the coal mines, the remaining four Chimeras scared to follow them to that area because of two more fearsome beings there.

"We got out...in one piece."

Motoyasu said between deep pants and breathes. Malty collapsed as they stopped, her mana completely depleted.

"Myne!"

Motoyasu caught her as she fell. Ren and Itsuki watched on with scorn, Motoyasu and Myne were kind of the MVPs of this situation. Rishia was tired as well, but remained firm to impress Itsuki, but he took this as an insult to his own abilities.

"Aren't you energetic. Makes sense, you did handle those Chimeras quite well, too well. Its almost like you're hiding some special abilities that could have saved your fellow members."

Rishia was shocked to hear this, all she did was spot the Chimeras before they could attack, she didn't even kill a single one!

"W-what? Why would I do that?"

"Don't play dumb with me! You were likely waiting for everyone else to die so you could have the glory all to yourself."

"Itsuki! Don't be crazy! That girl saved your life!"

Motoyasu jumped in, feeling obliged to defend the woman's honor.

"He's right. If she really wanted glory, she would have saved everyone from the start, no?"

Ren tried to reason with his friend, seeing him as being irrational and stupid. The bow hero would not allow himself to be ganged up on so he compromised.

"Fine, but she is no longer invited in my party."

This broke the girl's heart and she ran off in shame.

"Wait!"

Ren shouted to her, wishing to recruit her as he could clearly see her potential.

"Let her go, Ren. I've dealt with girls like her before and...let's just say it won't end well."

Motoyasu informed Ren, to which the black-haired swordsmen took his word.

"I suppose when it comes to girls, you know better than me."

"Damn straight! If you ever need a wingman, call me up!'

Motoyasu returned to his more childish and boisterous nature.

"AHHH!"

Elena screamed as she keeled over, the pain from the poison taking its toll on her. Motoyasu gently placed Myne down and ran over to Elena. Myne's unconscious form instinctively grimaced at this.

"What's wrong!"

"She was poisoned."

Ren answered Motoyasu's question.

"And you didn't help her!"

"She should take care of herself."

"Ren, you're a HERO, act like it!"

Motoyasu examined Elena's arm and saw it had turned purple, the poison spreading rapidly. It would seem it had reached up to halfway up her upper arm, and with no medical supplies or healing capabilities (they thought they wouldn't need any because of their parties), Motoyasu knew what he had to do. He sighed, not wanting anymore deaths.

"Ren, come fix your mess."

Motoyasu gave the sword hero a death glare and held Elena down. Everyone present quickly figured out what he wanted to do.

"Wait! Hold on!"

Elena protested, struggling against Motoyasu.

"It's the only way!"

Ren looked stunned to see the spear hero make such a decision. He didn't have the resolve to go through with this and tried to get out of it.

"Can't you just suck it out."

"First off, if anyone would do that it would be you, and second, the poison is too strong for that."

Ren froze, unsure how to respond. Itsuki was equally shocked, he felt sorry for his friend, but knew there was nothing he could do about it. He is the BOW hero, after all.

"Hurry up before it gets worse!"

"No, don't do it, please!"

Ren was sweating bullets, but so was Motoyasu, he too did not wish to go through with this, but knew there was no other option, the idea of someone else dying on his watch, especially someone he knew, frightened him more.

"Ren, if you don't do it, her death is on your hands!"

"My...hands."

Ren recalled the death of his entire party, and how, perhaps he was to blame. That was enough to push Ren to do it, he picked up his blade, holding it over his head. Elena saw this and began hyperventilating, her heart racing, and her body frozen. She screamed louder than she ever had in her life, begging the man not to go through with it. She turned to Motoyasu with fear in her eyes as tears began to form.

"I'm sorry, Elena."

He closed his eyes, and increased his grip on her, a single tear rolling down his cheek.

*SLASH!*

Ren stepped back, his face turned to stone. Motoyasu ripped a piece of his cape and wrapped it around what was still attached. Elena had passed out from shock. Motoyasu picked her up and handed her over to Ren.

"You saved her. Thank you."

Ren felt a bit better after hearing that, taking Elena from Motoyasu.

"We need to find any knights in the area."

Motoyasu picked up Myne again and the three heroes went on their way. Unknown to them, the Chimeras they killed were evenly distributed among them, replenishing their mana and health. They'd leveled up significantly from such an experience, and they were lucky they were strong enough to survive to begin with. Since DIO's arrival, the king had pressured the heroes to train and he provided them with only the best. However, they're increased power meant another world suffered immensely.

Spear Hero: Motoyasu Kitamura

Level: 33

Sword Hero: Ren Amaki

Level: 30

Bow Hero: Itsuki Kawasumi

Level: 29

As they journeyed, they felt a powerful rumble nearby.

"What was that!?" Motoyasu became on guard.

"An earthquake?" Itsuki guessed.

"Seems unlikely." Ren scanned the area.

The three heroes slowly advanced further, hoping not to encounter what ever caused that, but they do, obviously. The heroes stumbled upon the scene, Motoyasu in the front caught a glimpse of a tall man holding someone and a female next to him.

"Hide."

Motoyasu quickly ducked behind a boulder, the other heroes following.

"What is it?"

Itsuki, who was right behind him, asked.

"People."

"What's wrong, then? They might be useful."

Ren asked, hasty to help Elena.

"I felt...an aura or something. It hit me hard like strong perfume."

"Let me see."

Ren moved from the boulder and checked it out, but as he looked he laid eyes upon the eyes of DIO piercing his soul before...nothing. The man disappeared just as Ren looked at his eyes. But Ren could swear he saw Him with a green haired girl. He stood stunned, and the other heroes took notice.

"Ren? Ren!? Ren!"

They called to him, snapping him out of his trance. He had felt as though he was floating, waiting for something to drag him back down with authority over him, whether that be gravity or a person, but the process was incomplete.

"What happened? What did you see?"

"I saw...Him."

"Who?"

"DIO!"