Hey there! Azure here, and I just want to take some time to say a few things. To those of you still reading… what are you doing here!? There are waaaay better (fanfic) writers out in the world! XD

Self deprecation aside, I'd like to thank you and I hope that, should you stay… well I hope you enjoy.

On that note, this next segment might get a little confusing and dicey. I really hope it's not pushing the envelope too far.

To those of you who would like or need clarification, feel free to PM me either here or on my Discord. On that note. I'm gonna be winging it from here on in as Shield Hero kinda mainly focuses on The Shield Hero (who knew?) and I may or may not need future assistance plotting a timeline…

ANYWAY! Back to the story!

The mages as they were called had brought me back into the room from where the others and I had risen from, a fresh circle had been painted on the stone floor.

"Ah, Sword Hero, I was told that you would require our service," The lead mage spoke as a guard had walked in with the handmaiden from before.

Her body had seemed tense and rigid, but her eyes spoke of an impending dread as they widened every so slightly.

"Remember, you agreed to this," The guard whispered into her ear audibly enough for the words to carry in the empty chamber. She had been pushed along with some force as it became clear that she did not want this. It may have been wrong of me… but no sacrifice was too great.

She looked up at me as she stood in the center of the circle, her eyes dimming as she accepted her fate, "I should have known it would be you… my own fault I suppose."

"You have much to be admired," I replied, "It will be an honor."

"Would you like to do the honors, Sir Sword Hero?" Another mage had asked as he motioned to the handmaiden, the woman having closed her eyes. The honors? What did they mean by this? "Of course," The mage added as he caught onto my confusion, "Would you like to disrobe her?"

"Will that serve a purpose?" I asked as I drew closer.

"It will help in establishing your new standing as Master and Servant," The lead mage replied.

Master and Servant. A prince and his vassal then? "So be it," She did not flinch as I drew near. This was a good sign, there was little that needed to be done then. Even as my clawed hands undid her blouse's strings, she made neither fuss nor twitch as her skin had been exposed… A rune upon her chest greeting me.

"Undoing a Slave Seal is a very short process," The mage explained as he poured a white powder upon the rune, the mark fading away, "But applying a fresh seal under a new Master, it is quite the painful process for the slave,"

The handmaiden had been placed upon her knees, the guard in charge of her pushing her down with his boot. Again, she showed no discomfort, however her breathing had become harrowed as she was pushed lower and lower.

"Now, to begin, we will require a drop of your blood," The mage explained as he presented me with a ceremonial short Nail. A drop of my blood. A simple thing had I blood to speak of… The Void within was all I truly had. Had my father warned of such a thing? To mix Void with the living? It was what made us vessels… it was what hollowed us.

The mages began to worry as I stared at the small Nail, only to relinquish it in regards for a fragment of my own. Even shattered, the once glorious Nail retained its sharpened edge. With the direction to 'bleed' upon the circle just outside of it, the ritual began as a blackened glow erupted from the floor.

The handmaiden screamed of course, I was told this would be painful. The mages themselves screamed as well however, but not in pain; shock. This was not the normal reaction it seemed, and yet as quickly as it began, so too had it ceased. The handmaiden had now been lying on the floor, convulsing as she attempted to grind her face into the stone… a new slave seal shining brightly upon her chest.

"What… is this?" One mage asked as he took sight of floating concentrated Void Essence. The bubble fell apart upon contact, as if a sphere of dust to no negative repercussions.

"Collect it! Quickly!" The lead mage ordered of his acolytes. Collect? Yes, it might have done well to collect such a powerful thing. Looking upon my still open hand, I placed the still flowing wound upon my new Nail's crystal core.

[WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

MALICIOUS SUBSTANCE DETECTED! MALI-

VOID NAIL UNLOCKED]

Void Nail. Had this replaced my Hallowed Nail? A quick search along my new Nail's 'interface' had shown me that the two Nails were very different and could be equipped separately. However, the Void Nail had a 'level' requirement I had yet to meet.

I could not ponder this query further as the handmaiden had finally settled, her hands struggling to hold herself. The guard in charge of her had snarled and had moved to grasp her, but I stopped him from doing so, "If she is to stand, then she shall do so of her own volition. That is my will."

The guard leered gleefully, taking pleasure at watching the maiden struggle and fall, even going so far as to kick dirt onto her. It wasn't long until she finally rose, the Slave Seal upon her sporting several 'cracks' crawling along her chest.

As she rose, she stared into my eyes, the once colored cores of her eyes had blackened considerably. In fact, much of her form had been tinted by the void. The fur within her horns… no… ears. The fur along her ears. Along her body, her tail…

I have been marred… I heard her voice echo within me. You. You did this to me. Why?

Why. I saw something within her. Saw myself. Broken. Hollow. Hollow. Like you. Like your… Kin. My brother. My brothers. Am I now- I do not know.

"Sir Sword Hero?" The lead mage called out, "You've both been staring at each other for quite some time now. Was there a complication with the ritual?"

"We shall be taking our leave now," I replied, my handmaiden, Fera following closely. It was strange, It was as if our thoughts were as one. When I thought, I listened. I am a part of you now, as I am you…

We walked through the halls of the castle in silence. She knew its many intricacies and passages and so I had no need for direction. There were those who looked at us with fear and disdain, fools each and every one.

Fools. More and more I feel as if I understand. You know things. Dark and spiteful secrets. The king is a monster. He plans to harm the Shell Bearer. The Shield Hero. He is a saint within your land. A land I was stolen from. Sold for profit. For pleasure.

We cannot aid him. I wanted to of course but, it would draw unnecessary attention. Attention we cannot afford. From the shadows then. I will need arms. Vestments. A Blacksmith as you call them. A Nailsmith in your tongue.

The world outside the castle was bright and blue. The sun's blinding light engulfing all that one saw. Do not stare into the sun for too long, it will eventually blind you. I would have sought to understand her words better had it not been for the Needle Bearer to shout.

"Hey! Hollow! DADDY ISSUES!" Motoyasu yelled as he rushed to me, Needle drawn and an entourage of women at his back, "Don't think I didn't hear about what you did! Is that her!?" He pointed at Fera, the maiden doing nothing to acknowledge the obnoxious Bearer.

He speaks of me, why? I am certain he will tell us sooner rather than later, and lo, I had been correct in my assumption as he swung his Needle and shouted once more, grunting as we clashed.

"I don't care how messed up your world is! Don't you dare think I'll just let you walk away with enslaving a beautiful woman like her!" He did his best to push his Needle further only to gasp as I took his head in my free hand.

He called me beautiful, Fera had thought. Was she? Am I? We would ponder this later, for now, the Needle Bearer had begun to flail about as some of the women in his entourage had begun to charge magic.

It would be imperative we dodge or allow the Spear Hero some respite. Then I shall do so. I allowed him to fall upon his backside as his entourage rushed to his aid. He had surprisingly pawed them away, instead choosing to regain his footing on his own.

"I'm not done yet!" Motoyasu growled out, "I mean look at her! You have her practically parading herself in public!"

What did he mean by this? You have not ordered me to conceal my Slave Seal. Why would I do such a thing? Why not display such a mark of pride? Do not say such a thing should we find ourselves in Siltvelt. Your head would be put upon a pike for all to see.

I began to ponder this as I side swiped Motoyasu, the Needle Bearer having attempted a lunge only to earn a smack upon his back.

"We are done here," I said as I began to walk away, the currently kneeling Bearer cursing himself as he watched hopeless, the object of his ire leaving with me.

"THIS ISN'T OVER DADDY ISSUES! I'M GOING TO GET STRONGER! STRONG ENOUGH TO BEAT YOU AND FREE THAT SLAVE!" Motoyasu shouted as the many women in his entourage began to heal and comfort him.

It was of no consequence, he had very little to offer as he currently was and I needed to arm Fera. Many blacksmiths exist within this kingdom, though subjective, the best of the many lives here in the capitol.

The walk was short and uneventful despite the spite and ire of the town's dire faced citizenry. Many spat upon us as we walked, others cowered… I believe a group of children started throwing stones. If only they knew…

"Hollow?" We heard Naofumi call out, waving at us as we seemingly approached the same destination, "So, she's your new party member?" He asked awkwardly, a red haired woman by his smirking at Fera and myself.

Malty S. Melromarc, the kingdom's first daughter. Be weary of her, my master.

"Sir Hollow!~" Malty cheered with a saccharine sweet tone, "What a pleasure to finally meet another of the Legendary Heroes!"

"Oh! That's right," Naofumi spoke, "You never got a chance to… talk to any of the other adventurers."

"A needless distraction… as is she," I stated while looking towards the princess, "One I implore you to abandon," Malty seemed hurt by these words… No, not hurt. Enraged, but it was of no consequence to us.

"Come on, Hollow, you shouldn't talk like that," He refuted, "Especially not when you… well… I mean you kind of have a woman on display."

Everyone seems fixated upon your Slave Seal, Fera. They are more fixated upon what hangs below it, my master.

"Anyway," The Shell Bearer continued, "This is Myne, she was the only person to give me a shot, so would it kill you to… you know? Be nice?"

"I have neither ability nor time to feel such wasteful emotions," I replied before taking note of his armored garb.

Blinking, Naofumi followed my gaze to his armor, "Oh, right! Me and Myne did some shopping before we go off to grind the monsters around town. You two should probably buy something too… you know, to… cover up maybe?"

Throughout his small tirade, Naofumi had made passing eye contact with 'Myne', the woman's facial expressions quickly changing to something more pleasing before morphing into its disgusted glare when he was no longer looking. The two give their farewells, as Fera opened the door to the 'Blacksmith'.

"Two customers in a row, must be my lucky day!" The Smith exclaimed before taking on a surprised expression, "Now I don't want any trouble…" He muttered as he reached below himself, his wooden counter obscuring his lower body, "May I ask your business?"

"I seek armor for my vassal," I explained and motioned my arm to present her, "As you can see, she is lacking proper protection."

"Lacking a lot of other things too…" He whispered absentmindedly as he brought his hand back into view, "I notice you only have one sword with you, would it be safe to assume ya need a weapon for your… servant?"

We spared a moment to look at the other, our silent conversation leading to the same conclusion, "My previous weapon has… shattered. It is my hope that you may have skill sufficient to reforge the blade," I believe he felt offense at my request, you attacked his pride afterall. His expression changed however once I placed the six Nail Fragments before him.

"This metal… Shield Boy had something just like this…" He quickly took note of my hanging Nail, eyes narrowing at its gemstone, "Well I'll be, you must be the Sword Hero. Was told you were tall, but you are a lot taller than I expected,"

He soon retrieved various ores from within his counter, weighing the many glistening and darkened ores before pairing a select few with my shattered Nail.

"I'm not gonna lie to you, Sword Hero," The Smith said as he stored the remaining ore, "You're asking me to forge a weapon out of a foreign material that may or may not be worth more than every piece in this shop twice over…"

"Is there a complication with the request?" I asked, to which he crossed his arms and sighed.

"Besides the time it'll take to reforge this thing? You're already giving me materials and a brand new challenge… but I can't stop thinking about how much this'll end up costing you and you haven't even picked out armor for your lady yet!"

"Do you require additional material?"

"No I do- actually you know what? Yes, I think I will need additional material," He had thusly began an explanation of the plains and lands surrounding the castle town of Melromarc. Reforging my nail would cost me a hefty sum of gold, to offset this, he has offered to accept twenty of any monster hide and will 'shave off' the cost depending on the quality of material as well as the multiples of twenty.

As an added bonus, he would allow my vassal use of a simple 'stock' blade and would fit her with new armor… however…

"Now do you really want her Slave Seal on display?" The Smith asked, "Don't get me wrong, I'm all for adding a little flair and detail to armor, but don't you think that's kind of…"

"So my master wills it, so must it be," Fera replied as the Smith sighed once more.