A/N: I'm baaaack! More Ariete things! More lolitalia being adorable! More child gladiators! More- wait that last one didn't sound right.

Haha. I'm having fun here.

Another thing, if you check out the fic…

We have a cover! Illustrated by the great Mego from the Shield Hero Discord (from which I am now banned cause of unrelated reasons)

Check out their deviantart profile at dark1worlds.

Dorian was milder than I had expected to be honest. Just a few gusts and some rain. Pray for the Bahamas, but it didn't live up to the scare here in Florida.

Enjoyyy!

I awoke to clattering cups and a curse. I opened my eyes. My master was holding his foot and a tray and some empty cups and plates were on the floor.

"Ehhh?" I said.

He looked over to me.

"Oh, you're awake. I was wondering how long you'd be out."

"What?"

He picked up the dinnerware and continued. "Some kid hit you in the back if the head with a pan. Your sister got him in the family jewels with her boot." He winced as his eyebrows furrowed.

Wait… Raphtalia kicked a boy in the-

"Ariete!?" Raphtalia's voice called out. By the door, she stood. Her eyes were wide open.

She dove on top of me and did what I can only describe as a rock-crushing hug. "Oi! Oi! I can't breathe!"

She didn't let up.

She didn't loosen her grip for a while. Is this how I die? Death by hugging? I started making choking noises. She let out an "eep!" and let go.

I coughed as air returned into my lungs.

"So, What's this about you kicking a boy?"

She flushed. "Well… he… uh… he hit you!"

I nodded. "And you kicked him in the nethers?"

Her blush deepened. "Well, I- uh… he…." I laughed as she tried to come up with a good selfless reasoning behind it.

"It's okay, Raphtalia. You did it to protect someone, that someone being me, and that's all the justification you need."

She nodded and I took her hand. I smiled at her. She replied with her own.

.

"Alright, time to go to the fields again." Our master tugged on his earlobe in embarrassment as he looked away from the two of us. I do guess two adorable girls together can make even a scarred man like him blush. His lips were in a flat line.

-xXx-

The fields were less intimidating now, and Raphtalia wasn't scared of them anymore. We encountered only a few balloons and one usapiru during our trip. Our master kept going through the forest until the trees and ground broke, giving way to open air. He looked over the cliffside at a small town. On one side, there was a rocky plain with a shed by a large outcrop.

When we entered the town it was deserted and bare, unlike the bustling city we had gotten used to. There were only two market stalls, one of which had a skinny man asleep on a stool, face on the table.

I tapped Raphtalia on the shoulder and motioned for us to wait by a wall. Our Master went to a stall meanwhile I confronted Raphtalia.

When we got to the wall, I started looking Raphtalia over. "He didn't hurt you or anything, right? I swear if he laid a finger on you, I'll tear off his arms."

"Uh…" Raphtalia looked at me half in fear and half impressed. "He didn't do anything, Ariete."

"Are you sure?" I rolled up her sleeves and checked her arms. They were fine. I checked on her neck and ran my hand across her back. Nothing other than scars. I checked her face.

"He didn't touch you in weird places or anything right? He didn't-"

"Ariete, he didn't do anything. Stop worrying. He's a good man." Raphtalia said. I stared at her.

"Sorry, my hearing must be off. Did you just say our Master is a good man?" She looked at me as if it were the most obvious thing ever.

"Haven't you seen what he's done? He's given us food, a toy, and freedom. We're cleaner, wearing real clothes and having a life!"

"Freedom!? He's our owner! Raphtalia, I know you're naive, you're like my little sister, but I thought you at least had common sense! Just because he's done one or two nice things doesn't mean he doesn't have worse intentions for us!" I mentally kicked myself. Of course. I should've told Raphtalia my suspicions earlier, she still has that innocence of our time in the village.

"Ariete, you need to trust him. He's not like the others. You heard him yesterday."

I let out a bitter chuckle. "That's what I told myself when the slim man started feeding us and giving us so-called 'toys'" She flinched. "Plus, what if he planned to say that? I bet he's not even the Shield Hero, he's just a guy who can't grasp how to use a sword so he has us do the killing for him." I sighed. I knew I should've told Raphtalia this earlier, but the man was standing right in front of us the whole way to town.

"But-"

"He's coming. Think about what I said." I returned to leaning against the wall next to Raphtalia. Our Master approached us.

"Ready to go?" He said. I nodded for the both of us.

He led us to a shed near the rocky outcrop I saw from the cliff. It turned out to be a mine. He handed me a lantern and grabbed a pickaxe. Also, he brought some rope to his shield. Fascination filled me as it glowed, then disappeared into dust, which went into the gem of his shield. It transformed into a loop of rope around a buckler, the center of which was a small green gemstone.

Raphtalia pulled me outside the shed. "See!? He is the Shield Hero!"

I tightened my grip on the lantern in my hand. Raphtalia was really frustrating today. "It could be magic or enchantment. All I know is that our parents told us the Shield Hero was a nice, caring man to demi-humans and our advocate. Said Shield Hero would never buy us as slaves!"

"He is nice and caring! You just ignore it!"

I put my face in my hand. She latched onto him like royalty to their thrones. "Would a nice and caring man own us as slaves and mislead you?"

"I'm not misled!"

I heard a knock. I whipped around. Our Master looked at us. "Is there a problem?"

We shook our heads. He nodded. "Let's go into the cave, then."

He held the lantern I had lit. I used a fingertip as a candle. The cave was dark, and my boots made splashing noises against the floor. Eventually, it opened up into a large aquifer. A ravine ran down the center, a river running through it. Spiky stalagmites reached down from the ceiling, dripping water every so often. A few more narrow passages branched out on the other side of the ravine. Blue ores twinkled along the walls.

"Wow…" Raphtalia looked up in wonder. It looked as if someone had copied a piece of the night sky into the cavern.

Our Master looked with us, but he broke his gaze away early and went to a glowing chunk near the floor of the cavern. The clang of the pickaxe against the rock rang loud and clear. I watched as he cut the glistening crystal from its rocky prison. It was freed, and he picked it up and studied it. It was like a mirror, I could see my face, tinted blue.

"Raphtalia! Come look!" I waved. No response. "Raphtalia?"

I looked behind me, where Raphtalia had a terrified look. The same one she has whenever she drifts off to sleep and the nightmares we share entangle us with fear.

I followed her eyes to a two-headed dog. Its eyes bored holes into my skull and I heard a bloodcurdling scream, followed by another. The first was mine.

Images of my mother and father flashed before me. It killed them.

Its eyes were trained on Raphtalia, drool dripping from its mouth. No. I'm not letting you take another from me. Not a single one more.

When it leaped across the ravine, I started covering the distance to Raphtalia. Even at my fastest sprint, two strokes of its legs brought it right in front of us. I resorted to a falling shove, using my entire weight to push Raphtalia to the side. The dog caught my hair, and pulled me upwards. I cried out as I felt my scalp scream to my brain, "What the hell are you doing!?"

Memories started to flood my brain. Mother giving us little cakes and tea, playing with the others around town, and then the day it came.

I clenched my open hand into a fist, gritted my teeth and bent my body. I planted my leg firmly on the dog's snout and pushed. I ignored the loud protests from my head as hair started to pull away. I bent my ankle and shoved my foot into the dog's nostril. It opened its mouth to roar and I pushed with my leg away from its mouth.

It roared so loud, my skull shook. I began chanting as I flipped through the air.

"I am the one who controls the power of the flames, let me summon them now to destroy my target! Zveite Fireball!"

A ball, similar in size to the one our Master had given us appeared in my hands. It was made of flames rather than balloon skin. Even with the shielding on my hands, I felt it singe my palms.

"Haaaaaaa!"

I flung the ball at the second head. It hot, bursting into a shower of fire. Both heads roared.

As I flipped through the air once again, a brown shape caught my eye.

"RAPHTALIA!"

Time seemed to slow as I fell through the air. Raphtalia was flying through the cave, crimson red splattered against her clothes. A trail of blood followed her.

The moment the ground was in reach of my legs, I wrenched myself forwards, catching Raphtalia and sliding across the stone floor.

Warmth trickled onto my cloak as she settled in my arms, limp. Her face was twisted up in pain.

I opened up her shirt. A ring of cuts centered around her side. I took off my cloak and wrapped it tightly around the bleeding flesh. Nearly immediately, it was soaked through.

"Raphtalia! Raphtalia!"

I gently tapped her cheek. Her eyes slowly opened, barely letting in light.

"Look at me, okay? Look at me. You are going to be okay. You are going to heal. You-" I couldn't finish. A voice from every part of my body screamed at me.

You failed.

I shook my head, and wiped my tears. I picked up Raphtalia in my arms and started to run. I heard the pounding of paws behind me, and tried to move my legs faster than the top speed they were at.

I could feel the warm breath of the dog behind me, but then I heard a crack.

I quickly glanced over my shoulder. A translucent green shield blocked the dog's path. The feral beast chomped at it, pure hatred and greed filling its eyes as it looked towards me and Raphtalia.

I realised as I slid to a stop we were on the wrong side of the ravine. The exit laid across an eight to ten foot canyon.

I turned around. The dog had caught up, one of its heads mangled and burnt from my fireball. Drool streamed down from its muzzle.

Suddenly, our master slid in from the side, holding up his shield.

"Run!" he yelled. I looked down into the ravine.

Yes, I would if I could.

Cornered, I felt dread creep up my spine. This situation was bad, and it could only get much, much worse.

A/N: I've been hooked on Demon Slayer in the past weeks. Nezuko is the best imouto.

Secondly, a little update on my life. I've been slowly improving myself (I hope) and have stopped complaining without doing anything. If I'm lucky, I'm on the right track. Next is getting my life back in order.

Another thing, I've decided to stray from canon with the magic system such that it is more uniform. In canon, use of chants, magic levels and mana are rarely if at all explained. Therefore, I'm taking the system of Shield hero and combining it with a magic system which while not concrete, is consistent. It's the system from Youjo Senki, or The Saga of Tanya the Evil. Its system of magical formulas and mana exhaustion makes sense to me, so I'll be combining it with Shield Hero's to hopefully make a better one. It'll come out as the story is written.

Thinking back on it… didn't dragon pulse magic work with formulas also? Ah, well it can be fixed later.

And obviously…

Sorry for a two month delay between chapters. I've been really busy juggling school, family and other things as well as trying to keep a healthy social sphere.

I couldn't come up with an Omake for this chapter, but some of you may have seen…

I have a new angsty and sad one-shot on my page now! Woo! I guess that can substitute for now.

Until next chapter, Bye-Bye!