This is a fan fiction of Shield Hero, with elements and characters from Aesthetics of a Rogue Hero and World Break, aria of cursed for a holy swordsman.
It is a mess, it will be quite chaotic, and it was a request from my Beta reader. So if you end up not liking it, remember you have been warned.
Other Franchises will be included.
Naofumi at the end of his life saw that everything went horribly wrong, everything in his heroic adventure or life was a nightmare no matter how anyone looks at it, the people he came to know and once considered his friends initially turned against him for petty reasons, manipulated by a princess who was nothing more than a puppet for the real villain that was causing the danger to countless worlds.
In the end he and by then his again three friends received a bone-chilling bit of knowledge, this is not the first time they had done this and to make matters worse since this is the first time all four survived they would each get to make a single wish, one wish per person.
The one thing they couldn't wish is that a single person was the only hero and he had all cardinal weapons and items in existence, that simply would not happen it would destroy any chance for any of the gods watching all this, as this was one of their main sources of entertainment. Ren, Naofumi, and even Motoyasu couldn't help but to laugh like they heard the best joke they ever heard in their entire lives.
"Look guys, we only managed to make it through all that crap because we worked together and we were not selfish a-holes, so the chances that any of us would use that wish to screw anyone else is simply a joke. That is not going to happen. Like I would betray the guy who I call my future father-in-law."
Naofumi glared at Motoyasu and told him yet again, that he would never give him any sort of blessing to date Filo at all, much less even consider marrying him, in fact considering what he did to his past girlfriends no father alive would want him to be anywhere near their daughters at all.
Ren smiled at how overprotective he was of the Filolial queen who he raised and basically calls his daughter, "As funny as watching you and Motoyasu have your little family arguments is, we need to focus because if I understand this correctly once we make these wishes, we will be sent back in time before any of this ever happened and we will have to start all this over again, with little to no idea what the hell is going on, so we might end up causing the same damn problems all over again."
Itsuki couldn't help but nod as what Ren said made absolute sense, they need to focus on the wish they each had, and how to use them to help them do something to prevent all those problems they went through before, he still had to live with the guilt of helping those rebellions that ended up causing the death of so many people, Motoyasu and Ren were no different, Motoyasu and that stupid seed, and Ren causing a plague by thinking this fucking place was a game and not properly disposing of a dragon corpse that ended up causing a plague.
Naofumi's main problem is that he was essentially summoned by a person whose faith and church labeled him the devil, which means almost every single person in that country was raised to hate and despise him, that would be like if say a nation like Israel, needed a hero and they summoned someone they hated as much or even more than Adolf Hitler, it would not be easy to be a hero to save that country, thanks to the King and one of his daughters it was nearly impossible by the design of the actual villain.
Naofumi was the first to speak, "Look every single one of you bitched and moaned that I had slaves as members of my party, even though I couldn't get any person to work with me in any other way, and I only had a shield, that is no weapon, it's armor, so you want me not to need to do that, fine, my wish is that these restrictions on our weapons and how we work together be removed immediately, if we want to form a party and work together, we should be able to do so, none of this shit that we can't level when we are close together, work together or ever use weapons that are not our designated cardinal weapon. If I must use a shield, then I want to be able to use a fucking sword, spear, or mace, damn it."
Motoyasu could see where Naofumi intended with his, "I see where you are coming from, that sounds like a good idea, but I got one better, we keep all our knowledge, experience, and skills from every single time we had to do this, if we know what is going on, then we have a better chance not to make the same fuck ups." Ren did mention having all those memories and skills would be quite beneficial and knowledge essentially was power.
Ren looked at them and smiled, "My wish however is that we don't get reborn as strangers again, makes trusting each other a bit too much of a pain in the ass, instead I say we are all born in the same Japan, and to make matters worse be childhood friends like we were supposed to be. It was the whole idea that we came from different versions of Japan and that we didn't know each other that made it easier for her to manipulate us against each other."
Itsuki had a point, if they had known that they were friends, and they could trust each other, many of the problems could have been avoided and many of the needless deaths could have been prevented. Itsuki having interrupted Ren told him to make his wish, "We all going to be summoned to Melromarc we all know that, so I want to make my wish to make our time and dealing with that nation a hell of a lot easier and better, we know that Goddess of Calamity is going to send fragments of her soul to possess key important people in the many universes. so here is what I wish, if one of those fragments is to be born from the same family as the person who she initially possessed, let her be born a good version of herself, meaning that person is not born as an evil or bad person with that tainted soul, but rather a good or decent person. That should keep the fucking bitch from complaining, and I know you will since I know you are still listening you backstabbing whore!"
Motoyasu's only complaint was that was no way to speak about a lady who couldn't even defend herself, to which Naofumi's only accusation is that he thinks that the woman in question is hot and the only reason he is complaining is that doing so Motoyasu thinks he will gain her appreciation and will be willing to sleep with him. "Naofumi honestly after knowing me for this long, why do you always think of me as a horndog? I have expressed to you many times that I have no interest in those pigs, while I expressed quite loudly how much I honestly love your daughter. Honestly Naofumi, I promise I will make Filo the happiest little angel that ever lived should you give us your blessing to tie the knot."
Naofumi told him that is never going to happen since he had plenty of reasons to think he hasn't changed at all, people seldom change, and considering how a certain bitch had him tied around her little paw, well that didn't leave Naofumi the best impression of him.
Ren then asked him, if he knew how exactly they got transported to this world in the first place, Naofumi closed his eyes for a second trying to remember this very thing, and after a few minutes of thinking he mentioned it, Naofumi got transported via a book, Itsuki was hit by a truck as he walked across the street, Ren died while playing a game, and Motoyasu was dating two women, one of them was actually pregnant with his child, she, of course, refused to do the abortion of the child, upon the other lover finding this out, they argued when it was clear this was not going to end peacefully, the lover that was pregnant pulled a dagger and Motoyasu thought she was going to stab the other woman, but he was wrong, the one she stabbed was Motoyasu's back and as this happened the other woman stabbed him through his chest and through the heart.
"So we need to be careful of those instances if we wish to prevent such tragedies from happening to us, Ren will have to spend time with friends, Itsuki will do the same, and Motoyasu will have to control his hormones and not cheat on every single woman whom he has a relationship with, in other words, they would essentially form a reading club and would spend time together with Naofumi since he was the only person who got transported in a non-violent way.
As they finished making plans their wishes finally were granted and they began to disappear from where they were, in fact, two of them worried if they will meet the others again or if this was just a giant trick by an uncaring deity who simply consider the four of them nothing more than their plaything.
As both Motoyasu and Naofumi appeared in another place, a place they knew rather well, they took the form they often took as servants of their goddess, she was still seated on her armchair, but she was glaring at both of them. "Hiro, Hector, I brought you back so I can have a little talk with you since you two need some things clarified, you know as well as I do that dimension you were in is, in fact, one of the merged dimensions, you wouldn't be sent into it otherwise. The main villain in that universe is someone you know as the Black Dragon, both of you have fought against it a few times, and if you are wondering why I am upset, you called my little sister a whore of all things, she was in tears when she heard you, how could I not be upset?"
She seemed to be so upset that Hector knew that he was not going to get a hug or anything as tender, "So lay off the name calling, my sister is not the cause of those damnable waves of monsters at least in this dimension, so try to keep your blasphemy within reason, I don't like it when someone hurts my siblings, especially when they are my people, almost makes me feel like I am picking on members of my own family."
Hector couldn't help but laugh as he realized something, they will have to go back to that world and help deal with the threat of the waves, and possibly find and stop the heroes from other worlds from trying to doom that world to do something that they think would save their own, which of course it is ridiculous, at best it delays the destruction.
"Alright, I have to tell you that the goddess of calamity, your sister was the main villain of the original world, and considering that the one we are being sent back in, it means we will have to rely heavily on our knowledge from when we were Otaku, so it is not going to be a pleasant situation in the least, at least we have all the abilities we learned and masters, including our gamer powers. This however does not make it easy, especially since we will be facing the black dragon of doom."
Hector laughed and looked at Hiro, "What did you honestly expect? That we get all those wishes, make the situation better for us, without somehow fate reshuffling things to make things even more challenging? Honest, what did you expect? A new game plus where we are overpowered, where you could unlock a secret true ending or some perk like that?"
Hiro glared at his friend and told him, no, but while they are on the subject, how many times must he tell him that the planet where they are going was never or would ever be just a game, Hector looked at him and began to shake his head as he told him he understands that better than a dork that gets so easily flustered or has a temper tantrum because things didn't go his way. Hiro was quick to remark if he was a dork, then Hector was a nerd, as the two argued with each other the goddess got up and walked between them putting her hands on their shoulders as she screamed for them to stop their bickering.
"Technically you will be going back to Earth, but not one that you or the others might recognize since things have happened there that are quite unique, the phenomenon of what they called Reincarnation Heroes and is divided into Shirogane (White Iron) and Kuroma (Black Magic) and Isekai or Spirited Away has become more commonplace and is understood, these people who get powers for being reincarnated and those who get summoned to other dimensions much like you learn or obtain skills, abilities or powers depending on where they end up, and once they returned, more and more the world felt like these people first needed to be studied, but eventually formed a system of schools to educate and train these people in the use of their powers. the organization for the returnees it's called Babel and the reincarnated Heroes organization is called COCOON They would then be considered the people who would save those weaker than themselves in case of natural and unnatural disasters, the saviors of mankind as it were, hence these people with powers are often called saviors."
She looked at Hector and Hiro and began to smile an almost sad smile, "You two unlike many of the people in that world however have the memories of not one but several of your past lives, which granted you access to skills most people are not even aware they exist, which tends to worry me, since they might consider you so much powerful that they will either try to use you, manipulate you or eliminate you. I don't like it, Hiro having been reborn several times you have the memories of being a hero, and an anti-hero, Hector on the other hand has the memories of being a warrior and in some aspects a killer. These people don't know who is going to appear in their world, but they shouldn't mess with you if they knew what you are capable of doing."
Hector looked at her and smiled trying to calm down the goddess from her obvious anxiety, "That is true that I was in my past life an assassin, and probably the worst life as a Spartan, but honestly you have very little to worry about me, I lived a rather ethical life in both times, not that Hiro is any better, honestly he was a prince who was forced to fight in a war, a rather cruel mage, and the worst of it, a Viking of all things. Even after all that he still thinks he lived a moral and modest life, mister I raid for the fun of it said that."
Hiro glared at Hector as he mentioned that last part, "Being a Viking was just a job, but being an assassin, yea, right, you were a bloody pirate, and friends with Edward Teach, Blackbeard of all things, and you dare to say you were ethical? You got no right to criticize me." Hector was angry upon hearing Hiro say that and told him that he lived by the ethics and rules of the Creed, unlike most Vikings who raided for either fun or profit.
Hiro looked at him and began to laugh, "You know damn well we follow the teaching passed down by the belief and teachings of the Allfather and his pantheon. We may be Vikings, but we were not without mercy, honor, or self-control." Hector couldn't help but laugh as he mentioned that the person who just said this is also the person who ransacked and raided the city that once a day would be called the French Capital, and nearly caused Paris to be burned to the ground. "You know damn well that it was the order that caused the most damage to get the people to turn against us, we may have taken things from other settlements or cities, but it was not without reason, it was to obtain things we either couldn't buy or couldn't make ourselves that were vital for the survival of our community."
As they began to disappear Hiro could only hear his friend only say one word, Semantics. As the two friends soon appeared in their world again, but this time back before they ever got summoned to that world, Naofumi knew exactly what was going to happen and every single stupid mistake he ever made, so instead of goofing off, he decided to make sure none of that happened and this time he was going to be ready.
Motoyasu woke up in his apartment and soon realized that he was younger than he remembered, meaning he probably was in his late teens again, which gave him the idea of preventing his most horrible mistakes, one of which was two-timing his lovers, he simply told them that he wanted to form a harem, because this would be most beneficial for them. The fact that he had more women to sleep with and help him was not something that was misunderstood by the two women, but they quickly saw that indeed this was not such a bad deal for them. They simply decided to take things in a much more serious manner by both of them developing a dating schedule and both of them would consider adding more women should Motoyasu find any who are worthwhile.
It was the first day at the new school where they finally met, and much to their shock Ren and Itsuki were the same age as they were, as Ren remarked that it was not only their ages, but they apparently also going to be in the same classroom, apparently the people in charge of the world wanted to make people who gained powers from being sent into another world or people that awakened powers from a previous life to be properly trained.
"So essentially college, with a bit of superhero training academy mixed in, this is not unheard of concept in manga, anime, or even video games, but it has been used so much it is practically a cliche. So from now on we are going to study and train together, we all know what we will be facing so might as well get to know each other while this train takes us where we are supposed to be."
As the train was finally slowing down, they heard an announcement, Akane Academy was the next stop on the train route, which made the four friends realize that this is the place where they were headed. Motoyasu hoped that they didn't arrive late for their orientation, being that they are considered transfer students from their last school. The place was too at least Ren and Itsuki weird, to say the least, the very walkways and the very buildings were practically brimming with magical power, and the plants and trees were nothing like anyone would expect anywhere else in the world.
The thing is these plants actually some of them could actually talk and help students when they were lost, it seems Dryads were part of the staff that took care of the academy grounds. Naofumi had some experience with these sentient plants and secretly he hoped that they didn't end up like the ones he once met, who were so focused on finding a good mate that they would immediately grab the first person whom they felt met their requirements be in physically or in magic ability. One of the girls that he was currently dating was the daughter of a dryad, and to many, she was often a rather cold and distant person, but to Motoyasu she was only shy, and after he got closer to her, they started dating, Pamela was actually very knowledgeable about botany, considering whom her mother was it was not a major surprise.
As the friends were looking around Motoyasu walked over to a nearby tree and touched it, trying to get her attention, as soon as she started to giggle she came out taking a humanoid form, and looked at him, asking what exactly did he require from her that he felt like it was alright to tickle her like that, "Sorry, my and my friends just transferred to this Academy, and we don't want to be late for the orientation, but we don't seem to know where we are supposed to go? Sensing you within this tree, I felt like I should ask you since you probably know this place better than most people."
She laughed as she heard him and upon hearing the end of his explanation he began to nod her head in appreciation of him acknowledging that she knew so much about the Academy, "Orientation is done in the large building over there, the place is also a place where people take classes, physical skills, and biology classes, it also is the place where the Academy clinic is at, which is where they do orientations it is on the second floor, you can hardly miss it."
As she said this Ren decided to get involved in the conversation by thanking her for giving them directions, but not without trying to get even with Motoyasu for ignoring the others who had been trying to figure out where they were supposed to go, "Now that you are done flirting with her, maybe we can finally get to the orientation, honestly, do you hit on anything that even looks female? First, it was that princess who pretty much lied about her name, then that dragon you rode in that race, and finally that Chocobo that you flirted with her the most, you went as far as to call Naofumi your father-in-law."
Motoyasu was not going to take this from him, "Hey you leave Filo out of this you sick bastard, it's not my fucking fault that you have the mindset of first kill anything that moves and try to figure what the hell is going on later, that dragon that you senselessly butchered and left her corpse to rot, she probably would have been a very nice girlfriend for you, but no kill first ask question later."
The path was made from stone that somehow had been changed into tiles, but not by crushing or cutting but rather each stone fit perfectly, as they could tell as they heard their footsteps walking towards the center of the academy, the building where they were going looked like a massive tree with many branches on the sides that connected to the nearby building creating paths for people in the other buildings to reach it speedily and efficiently, it was the clinic, in case of an emergency these paths could mean the difference between life and death, building that seems to have been grown, made from metal and glass.
From an architectural sense, the buildings were a marvel, they could easily rival the castles in the world where they had been summoned as heroes or more than likely will be summoned yet again. As they stepped in the receptionist asked them if she could help them in any way, Itsuki told her that they were new transfer students and needed to go to attend a supposed orientation. She seemed to smile as he finished saying that and she immediately walked towards them, "Good, I have been waiting for you to arrive, please follow me, and do not mind the odd scream and moan."
Naofumi asked her what does she mean by that, "This school was initially a place where people who were summoned to other worlds and returned were taken to be tested for possible diseases they might have unintentionally brought back with them, these people who we call returnees taught many the knowledge and skills they learned in those other worlds so the very notion of Magic became real, and as such many students decide to play around with it or try to do some rather reckless things with it, hence many do end up getting injured, that is why this clinic is this large after all."
As they stepped into what seemed to be a gymnasium, they began to see that other students had apparently just enrolled, they each were stepping near what seemed to be a rather strange crow that was in a glass container, Ren guessed it was because somehow this crow was smoking a cigar. she finally saw a young woman standing nearby and smiled, "Perfect, this is going to be your class representative, Yunko Hattori, Junko please explain to these four students what they need to do, I am going to be the teacher in charge of your class, Mitsuko Tori, seeing that you are in capable hands, I can return to my other duties because I also happen to be the doctor for this academy."