BEN 10: RISING OF THE SHIELD HERO
CHAPTER 27: HE DOESN'T HAVE A GIRLFRIEND
I tried to draw a Spirit Tortoise Vs Way Big/ Magnus Avis/ Dragknight fanart but I am not much of an artist. So after a week, I gave up, maybe I will retry at a later time.
I add a brief explanation in my other fanfics. No one really questions the abilities of Deejay Emcee (Pugnavore) but I think I ought to explain about him to the readers. Sit tight and listen: also, it's Ben Tennyson's POV.
Deejay Emcee became one of my powerhouses after it had been unlocked on the Omnitrix. The main reason is that this form is versatile. BUT it is not really suited for combat.
Deejay Emcee is notably one of the energy-related alien forms in my playlist. He, Feedback, and Chromastone have unique ways of manipulating different forms of energy. I shall elaborate on the subject.
Chromastone: The entire body is an energy absorber and even conductor BUT only when he is conscious and willingly activates the property of his body. It means if someone attacks him while he is unconscious or not using his absorbing/ receiving power, he can still be harmed by the likes of electricity, though his body will be durable enough to withstand most of the attacks.
Ah, being durable and tough doesn't mean I can't feel the pain, though.
On that note, Chromastone is the member of the rarest species of energy-related aliens on the list, the only other member being Sugilite.
Feedback: This guy is my favorite. His species is also rare because of its immense power. Conductoids are so powerful, therefore they can even die an explosive death just being other conductoids.
Unlike Chromastone, Feedback can only absorb electricity or other forms of energy through his fingertips, bolts, antennae, and tail. But he can just attract the energy and redirect it into his fingertips or antennae.
On that note, there also are other electric-related aliens who can absorb electrical energy but I shall drop that topic for now.
Deejay Emcee: He is a member of pugnavores. Pugnavores are also rare but unlike Conductoids, they don't have double-edged powers. Pugnavores don't feed on energy though. So they don't absorb the energy.
Regardless, Deejay Emcee can just manipulate the energy on the outside or inside of his body and change its state. Unlike Chromastone or Feedback, while his energy manipulation can't nullify the unnecessary energy, he doesn't need to touch the source.
The thing about pugnavores is that they have psychic abilities and they feed on the emotions of other beings. The more they are fed and full, the more effective their powers are. A well-fed pugnavore (like Charles Zenith) can even manipulate the energy inside the Omnitrix and detransform the user.
I used this ability as Deejay Emcee while curing Keel.
Again, Deejay Emcee isn't suited for combat. He isn't durable and is still affected by physical or psychological attacks — though his abilities make him look like a mini-god. His other notable abilities are teleportation and object creation. He can teleport himself or something/ someone across the galaxy if he is well-fed. He can create an object out of thin air using the energy of himself and his surroundings.
(A/N: I am confident that I am prepared for questions the readers throw at me so please don't hesitate to ask.)
-(STORY)-
(A/N: As a change of pace, I decided to write the new chapter from the main heroine, Aria's perspective.)
Our— My Shield Hero. I don't really understand him even after working together for nearly half a year. But I know one thing for sure. He is... So cool! I am confident that people in the entire world will never find a boyfriend such as him— we are not a couple, yet.
Transforming into monstrous heroes! I don't know what technology it is but it is also so cool. It is, like, trolling the whole common sense of people regarding the monsters! He is cool in many ways.
Still, he sometimes does absurd and reckless things I don't comprehend. But I believe in him that he can accomplish the job and keep everyone safe.
Our first encounter was… in the forest. I was almost eaten by a seven-headed serpent hydra. It was not a simple monster — a high-level regenerative monster! And then he suddenly appeared before me and defeated the serpent! Well, back then, I mistreated him.
When he found I was hurt, he would tear my skirt, much to my surprise. To wipe the blood off my leg. He also carried me back home. Sir Ben was such an amazing person, even before I became his party member.
Starting that day, I trained to keep up with him. I… wanted the place beside him, and to achieve that, I must be strong. So when he trained my gunner skills, I would actively cooperate and try to break my limits. Only when I became a rather skillful gunner, I could sigh, relieved. I want to keep this place beside him.
Whenever he says "Good Job," to me, I feel warm inside. But I'd rather not show my emotions. I've always been conflicted… if I should make advances on him, or not. I mean, he is a man who always keeps himself busy much to my disappointment. I always hesitate whenever I try to say an "I love you," because I hate it when he feels distracted. I don't care if he doesn't pay me a mind but again, I want to be selfish. Occasionally, I try to flirt with him BUT I have to ignore his dense ignorant response every time. Even so, I don't want to lose my place. I don't want to be replaced. To preserve this place next to him, I mastered the pistols and rifles he gave me. And I will continue to support him from his side.
On the shell of the tortoise.
"Sir Ben, here! We found the corpses."
When I said that, he instantly looked saddened. It certainly was a punch in the guts to me and made me feel guilty.
But there was no monster corpse sadly. The townspeople didn't have the strength to protect themselves.
"Maybe I should let them know. The survivors of Reiki."
"As you wish, Ben," duke Rex volunteers to relay this information and flies off. Sir Ben snaps himself out of sad thoughts and transforms into a big rocky creature calling out "Gravattack." He silently collects the corpses of the people who once lived in this town, with the help of Horai. The town of Reiki isn't that big but most of the buildings collapsed, most likely because of the familiars of the spirit tortoise.
"We can't help it, Aria," he quietly says. Filo is helping Rishia who vomits at the sight of the unsightly dead bodies. He then orders, "let's wait for them. We don't know how to make their traditional memorial ceremony."
"Shield Hero," Horai alerts him. "There are people in the houses."
"People" in the houses are also obviously dead. Sir Ben blinks and gives her a nod before cleaning the rubble and taking the corpses out.
Me? I stand there silently as I emotionally witness this painful view. I am glad I became someone who doesn't show her expression.
I should search for some hints around the town instead of dazing off here. So I decided to walk away from them. Maybe I should cook Sir Ben some food after work. I am sure he will be tired.
I can just imagine that there was a disaster in the town. As I wander in the streets, I find nothing but blood, destroyed houses and properties, and dead bodies. The smell is so disturbing I want to run away. I choose to not turn back but proceed with my investigation. I can help Sir Ben that way. But there isn't much to investigate in the streets.
At the time, I see a glimpse of a tall red building at the edge of the town. It stands on a small hill and looks like a temple. Hmm, we can probably find some clues here.
I should first let Sir Ben know that.
I ran down the hill into the town again to look for Sir Ben.
"Sir Ben, I found a temple on the hill."
"A temple?"
"Maybe we can find the path to the heart of the tortoise there," Ost Horai suggests but she suddenly falls on her knees, seemingly suffering from a headache. "I… think that's the case. My memories are reacting to it."
I kneel next to her to help her up and ease her suffering. With a flash of green light, Sir Ben becomes a familiar green-skinned human— Deejay Emcee. He merely places a hand on her head… and her pain suddenly disappears.
"Oh, thank you, Shield Hero."
"Hmm," I don't know what sir Ben can do in this form but he does quite amazing things. But this time he looks like he had a peek at something he shouldn't see. But he quickly changes his expression. "You are welcome, Miss Horai."
And without another word, he leaves for the temple. Deep in my heart, I somehow knew something was off but since Sir Ben chose to not say anything, I decided to shut my mouth and quietly follow him from behind.
It is astonishing just to imagine why this temple isn't down. It's almost completely dark inside without any light source. But the room is filled with rubble though the building hasn't collapsed yet.
"Just in case… CHROMASTONE!"
Oh, by the way, he tends to shout the names out when he transforms.
No sooner does he transform than the hall is lightened up by the glowing horn on his head. As I said before, he could do amazing things. He is a one-man army!
"There is nothing but rubble here and there, what a mess," Rex remarks.
"Yeah, I hope we can find something here," Ben says.
"Ah! Master, look at that!"
The enthusiastic bird girl sees something on the other end of the room. It's a mural depicting the Spirit Tortoise.
"Let's go see it, Filo," he leads us toward the painting. And then we also find writing on the wall. It is written in a language I don't understand. Sir Ben raises an eyebrow at the scene but he doesn't seem to understand it.
Rex leans forward and takes a closer look at the writing. "Hmm, isn't this… Japanese?"
"... Japanese, huh…" Ben brings his wrist near his face and whispers to it— "Partner, can you translate it for me?"
No response comes back from Omnitrix. But Ben somehow comes to understand the writing. He turns toward us and explains—
"Uh, it's just a warning to not break the seal. And the only way to defeat the tortoise is… Eight– something."
(A/N: For readers who haven't read the LN, this is what it reads—
Those summoned from Japan – – – If you can read these words – – – Know – – – Please . . . . . . Monster very dangerous . . . After the seal . . . Seventh . . . Destroyed . . . After looking into it . . . The goal . . . Of the world . . . Please . . . Intent . . . Do not break the seal. Those that sacrifice all do so for the world. Their sacrifice will be rewarded. Yet pride . . . no . . . Can read these words . . . Then . . . You must for . . . defeat. . . The way to defeat it is . . . Eight . . . Hero . . . —Keichi)
"Sir Ben, do you understand those symbols?" When I ask him, he shrugs his shoulders.
"Nah, it's not from my country. But I use a little trick to read it."
"You have a solution for anything after all," Rex compliments. "So what are we gonna do?"
Sir Ben's green cycloptic eye moves as he scans the hall. "Let's leave this building first!" He sounds worried. "It is going to collapse—"
His prediction is correct. A big stone falls from above to the ground, followed by a small quake that, however, shakes all of us. The building has begun to collapse.
"Get outta here!" He shouts at us and then flies toward me and grabs her waist. It causes me to blush slightly, though I hastily suppress my embarrassment. Rex carries Ost Horai and flies out of the temple, followed by a flying Filo carrying Rishia. Sir Ben as Chromastone protects me with his body as the stones fall upon his back.
"Grr! HUMUNGOUSAUR!"
As he embraces me in his arms, his body becomes larger and larger, emerging out of the rubble.
"Ben!" "Master! Are you okay?"
"This much is nothing for me," he replies with a confident smile and jumps out of the piles of stones with me in his arms. His skin is tough and cold-blooded as the first time I met him. "Are you hurt, Aria?"
He sounds like a mature man in this form. "Y-yes, I am fine," I answer. He then puts me down on the ground.
"In the end, what are "eight" things we need?" Rex asks.
Humungousaur doesn't answer Rex. He looks around and points at a castle-like building. "Let's explore that place."
"A castle?" (Rex)
"Mm, we will definitely find something there," the lizard man shoots a glance at Horai before setting off leaving us behind. Hmm, he must have known something related to Horai. It doesn't matter, I believe in him. But his smile… looks too confident. No, I shouldn't suspect him.
He cancels the transformation and leads us to the castle.
When we arrive at the castle, we encounter the army of survivors of Reiki there.
"Hey, uh," it is awkward when Ben doesn't know what to say anymore.
"Sir Shield Hero, what's the matter?" A man who I think is the general approaches us and questions.
"We want to investigate this place to find hints to slay the tortoise," Ben answers looking around. "You must be busy here."
"Uh, yeah, we are collecting the usable materials in the town so that we can distribute them to the people who need them. The soldiers didn't like the idea when Her Majesty recommended it. But I gave them a nice scolding."
"Oh…" Ben mutters. "It's quite complicated."
"If you want to investigate, feel free to do so. You are our savior, Sir Hero."
When the man says that with a straight face, Ben laughs awkwardly along with him. Then he gestures at us to enter the area.
"Hope we don't run into any ghosts or undead monsters," Rex mutters walking after him.
"Ghosts? What are ghosts, master?" Filo runs up to her master and asks him.
"They are scary creatures."
"Oh… so Aria is a ghost?"
Alright, there are moments in life we want to skip.
The castle is nothing weird. But it is Ben who is acting weird. He walks to and fro in the castle as if he is searching for something. When we ask him, he doesn't answer.
"Damn it… if this goes on, we won't find it in time," he curses.
"Sir Ben, may I know what you are looking for?" I can't stand watching him so I straight-up question him.
He is desperate. "The Spirit Tortoise is going to reawaken."
"How do you know?" Rex asks, holding an antique bowl he found in the castle.
"Just a hunch. Before it happens, we need to find a way inside. If I am not wrong…"
After a flash of green light, he is replaced by a yellow metallic-armored creature. It is Armodrillo.
"I don't know what you are talking about–" (Rex)
"Take them outside, Rex. I'm going to destroy the whole building."
"Huh? I'm sure they won't like it," Rex nervously replies. I also don't know what Ben is trying to do anymore.
"Just take them away… This is an order."
"Uh, whatever…" Rex can't go against Ben's serious order — I have never seen him like this before. What happened to him? Is that… related to that Ost Horai woman?
"But Sir Hero…" Rishia also seems to disagree with the idea. I pat her shoulders.
"Let's trust Sir Ben, Rishia."
She thinks for a while and reluctantly comes with us to the outside. Then Rex prevents all the Reiki soldiers from entering the castle.
"What is happening, Sir Salazar?" The commander-general asks. Rex hangs his head silently.
I look back at the castle as I lean against the gate. A small quake expectedly occurs and brings the whole building down to rubble in a minute. I can hear screams of the Reiki soldiers but the general narrows his eyes at the destroyed castle, standing silently.
"A castle without a master is just useless…" he remarks, encouraging the soldiers. At the time, a cave appears among the rubble.
Now I remember it. Sir Ben has a weird trait of solving things through strength and violence despite his intelligence and kindness. I didn't understand him at all because I never figured out the reason… rather, I never tried to. I always justified his actions and believed in him whatever he did without trying to understand him. Therefore, I never understood him.
He is the type who rather punches the crap out of a villain than kill the bad guys off for good.
"This is… the entrance into the insides of the Spirit Tortoise," he declares.
We don't understand it all. I mean, he suddenly started acting like a detective and blew up a castle, then a cave suddenly appeared under the rubble! Then he said without hesitation that that cave is the entrance that connects to the insides of the creature! It leaves a question: who is the insane one among us, Sir Ben or just us?
"Just like I thought, he always has a solution for anything he encounters," Rex mutters. The rest of us, except Filo, are speechless. For Filo, she runs toward the cave quite eagerly and curiously only to be grabbed and stopped by Sir Ben as Armodrillo.
"Don't just go off like that!" Sir Ben scolds his daughter who sulks at the father. "Wait for others."
Duke Rex laughs and Rishia giggles at the comedic scene. Ost Horai smiles slightly at the sight but it seems that she can't just let her guard down. She is intense and I suppose she has her worries.
"Miss Horai, don't worry. Sir Ben will sure win this battle."
When Sir Ben overhears me, his smile disappears, unnoticed by the rest. He quickly spins around to face the entrance of the cave. "Let's go, guys!"
"I know. Even so…" she smiles at me. "I can't help but worry. Because Ben is so strong. I know he is strong enough to just erase us. But… I don't understand why he doesn't do that."
Hmm, perhaps I judged Horai wrongly. But even so… I believe Sir Ben has his own principles we shouldn't criticize. He accomplished many things by following his belief.
"Because he thinks it's better to not do that," the words come out of my unsealed lips without my consent. When I realize that, I nervously cover my mouth. "Sorry. I thought out loud."
"You are interesting…" she doesn't laugh like a teenage girl who giggles when her friends talk of love.
No, Ost Horai. It's you who is interesting. You are so interesting and mysterious, beautiful and curvy. I am even afraid Sir Ben would take a liking to her.
"Miss Brambila?" I hear Ost calling my name.
"Yes!" Damn, I nodded off for a bit.
"Let's go after them."
"Mm, okay."
The cave is all dark, and we can see something only after Sir Ben gives us metallic torches. He has now transformed into Deejay Emcee.
Horai encourages Rishia who shakingly holds her torch. Rex and Filo are just after Sir Ben and I am in the middle of the group. I don't know where we are going but the smell here is really awful.
"Ah…" Horai again suffers from headaches. Before she drops to the ground, Rishia supports her. Sir Ben rushes toward Horai and places his hand on her head, somehow nullifying the headache at once. "Thanks," Horai is up again.
Sir Ben (as Deejay Emcee) narrows his eyes at Horai. But I know his glare isn't supposed for her. It's like he's knowing what causes her headaches. But I'd better not ask.
"Let's proceed," he keeps it short and walks away from us. Filo also runs after her master.
"What's up with this guy?" Rex murmurs looking at his back.
"Are you okay, now, Miss Horai?" When I ask her, she smiles.
"Don't you regain your memories?" Rishia asks, interrupting us. "No," Horai replies, holding her forehead. "If I regained them, I might be of help to your guys, but… I feel like my memories are sealed away. By someone."
"It's okay if you don't know," I encourage her. "We have Sir Ben. He will solve this problem no matter what."
"Mm, thanks, Aria," she replies. And so we proceed with our search.
When we go on, we find several monster corpses scattered in the cave. But these monsters are freshly and mercilessly killed. Not with a sword, or other weapons. This is… I come to a realization at the moment of discovery. This is Sir Ben's doing.
"What happened here?" Rex says, transforming his arm into a big sword cautiously.
We may have lost Sir Ben and Filo. They have gone too far away for us to follow.
"This is a cave in the shell of the tortoise," I give them a logical explanation. "So this cave must be a nest of the familiars."
"Hmm, it's possible," Horai says, kneeling on the ground to examine the corpses. "But someone so powerful killed them without any visible injury on the monsters. — Um, Rishia!?"
The green-haired girl is puking again. I pat her back. "This must tire you out," I murmur.
"Yeah…" she receives a bottle of water from Rex. "It's tiring. Let's go."
Our group isn't really okay. Rishia is scared of darkness and occasionally throws up at the scene of dead monsters. Horai's headaches never surface again after Sir Ben's cure.
"Who are you guys?" It's Sir Ben's voice. When we run up to them, we find Sir Ben (as Deejay Emcee) and Filo with a group of three adventurers standing atop a pile of bat monsters.
"Sir Ben!" I call out to him. "What happened?"
"Uh, nothing serious, but… these guys here. How did they sneak into here?"
The three adventurers. One is a man in heavy armor holding a spear. The second one is a pale girl with pigtails. Her eyes are sharp and cautious, turning away from us suspiciously. The third one is a wizard lady with red short bob hair. She looks very sophisticated like she came from a good family or something. She looks like a wizard with a royal bearing.
All in all, it is a pretty odd-looking group of people.
"We mean no harm. I mean, you are even shadier than us," the spear guy sarcastically says as he points at Sir Ben who asked the question. Look at Sir Ben — his skin is green with two antennae sticking out of his forehead — a creature you will find nowhere else. I couldn't agree more that Sir Ben is the shadiest person here.
"And you," the spear guy points at Duke Rex. "Your arm is a sword. You are even weirder."
Rex immediately retracts his sword and reverts it to his arm, embarrassed.
Oops, now we are the odd-looking group. We've got a green man, a man who has a sword for his arm, and a girl in white with wings that emerged from her back! If Rishia wore her strange costume, we'd be even weirder.
They use a reverse card on us.
"Hmm, have you ever heard of Shield Devil?" Sir Ben proudly says as he raises his right hand, showing the green shield. "You might be after fame and fortune, but I strongly suggest you get out of here as quickly as possible."
"Oh, um . . . Understood."
They walk past us. We can't really defy Sir Ben's decision and it's better for these adventurers to quit this thing. So we'll let them off the hook—
Rex whispers to Ben. "Is it really the right decision."
Sir Ben doesn't answer. Only when the three have walked past us, does he stop them…
"I mean…" the three adventurers flinch at his words. "Only if you guys are adventurers."
He snaps his fingers and wooden walls suddenly appear in front of the adventurers, preventing them from getting away. Ost Horai blinks at the scene. Rex jaw-drops and Rishia is shocked.
"What are you doing?" The girl with red hair says.
"Nah, it's my question. "What are you doing, L'Arc, Therese, and Glass?" Did you seriously think you could fool me?" Sir Ben confidently claims with a smirk, much to our surprise.
"Huh? How did you— Ouch…" The redhead elbows the complaining spear guy.
"I can do much as read your minds."
"Th-that is cheating!"
Sir Ben snaps his fingers again with a wry smirk. Suddenly, the bodies of the trio glow brightly and when the light vanishes, it causes us to lose words. They actually are L'Arc, Therese, and Glass.
. It was hard to ignore the massive scythe he carried. A woman stood behind him. Her skin was white like a ghost, and long black hair fell over her shoulders. She carried a set of folding fans. Another woman stood behind them both. Her hair was as blue as the sea, and a gemstone shone from where it sat at the center of her forehead. She wore bangles on her arms—bangles that I had given her. I'd never forget their faces. They were our enemies, and we had to defeat them.
L'Arc's spear is revealed to be a massive scythe. He stands at the front. He seems nice and dependable. And Therese's hair is blue. Her hair is as blue as the sea, and a gemstone shines from where it sits at the center of her forehead. She wears bangles on her arms. And Glass… however, actually has her black hair styled in pigtails. Her skin is white like a ghost, and long black hair falls over her shoulders. She carries a set of folding fans.
I draw my pistols in a split second and aim at the trio. Rex also turns his hands into large orange metallic fists. Filo also enters the ready stance. The only one who is oddly composed is the overconfident Sir Ben. Ost Horai and Rishia don't seem to know them.
"Hold up!" Ben stops us. "They are not here to fight us. They are responsible and interesting people from another world, who came here to clean up the mess from their world. Aren't they?"
Sir Ben says, looking at the trio. When he acts like this, I think his acting is cringeworthy.
I lower my weapon. Rex and Filo also retract their fists.
"There is no way we can trick you, huh, kiddo," L'Arc says with a friendly smile. Though we are "enemies," he looks unbelievably friendly around Sir Ben.
Sir Ben cancels his transformation and reveals his human form. "Don't worry," he declares with a smile. "I didn't look into your memories. I just read what you think."
"I trust you, haha," L'Arc leans toward Ben and then whispers. "Don't reveal my fantasies, though. Therese won't like it."
"Don't worry. I won't tell anyone."
The blue-haired girl facepalms. Glass is still intense. She is normally a serious woman. And it's really odd to see her in her normal clothes. The other two wear their adventurer outfits but Glass wears a rather casual one. Her hair is pulled into pigtails, and she is wearing a set of light armor.
"L'Arc, you knew it." (Therese)
"After all the precautions we took . . ." (Glass)
They look depressed. In fact, my Sir Ben didn't do anything special. It was so unfortunate for them to encounter him at the moment he was Deejay Emcee. He once told me that Deejay Emcee can casually read the mind of a living being. It was an unfortunate coincidence.
If I have to give a personal opinion of them, I hate them. I mean, it's normal, right? They are enemies of my Sir Ben, the master I serve. But Sir Ben himself is so overconfident of himself that he never pays a mind to his enemies.
Glass suddenly readies her weapon. We are shocked and raise our weapons but we quickly realize what is happening.
"Glass, this isn't the place—" But before L'Arc can finish his sentence, a hole opens in the wall beside us and a Spirit Tortoise familiar appeared. Then it keeps happening. In a flash, the wall is covered in holes, and they quickly fill with squirming familiars. The eyes blink and then start to shoot heat beams at us. To make matters worse, they seem to be ignoring Glass and her cohorts. They only focus their attacks on us.
We are surrounded by the swarm of monsters. They are also continuously attacking us. But greenish-blue crystal walls appear around us and protect us from their heat beams and other attacks. "Us" includes the trio from another wall. When I look back at Sir Ben, he has already transformed into Diamondhead — the greenish-blue crystal creature in his arsenal.
"What are we gonna do?" Rex says transforming his arms into "Smack" hands.
"What are we gonna do? Fight our way out, of course!"
L'Arc laughs at Ben and raises his scythe. "Kiddo is right."
Glass opens her fans and Therese also readies her jewels.
It seems we've got no choice. Filo also assumes her colonial form. Rishia draws her sword. I also take out my pistol to back up the combatants from behind. Ost Horai is in the center of the group.
"Guys," Ben alerts us. "Go after the walls are removed!"
"Roger!"
Diamond Head smirks and holds out his hands to retract the walls. As the walls vanish, Horai, Therese, and I stay behind. Theresa starts casting her magic and I begin firing plasma blasts at the heatbeams of the monsters, redirecting them away.
Sir Ben lets out a battle cry and leaps into the air, deflecting the beams that are directed at him. As he lands on the ground, he punches the floor of the cave to summon crystal spikes that destroy the monsters leaving a grotesque crime scene. A flying Rex hops on the spikes with his enlarged metallic legs and punches the monsters that escape the holes in the wall.
L'Arc charges at the monsters with his scythe pulled back and then swipes the weapon at the monsters, slicing them into two parts. Glass and Therese also cast their spells to back up L'Arc.
"Circle Dance Zero Formation, Reverse Snow Moon Flower."
"Wind Blade!"
Filo and Rishia join their forces to stop the monsters.
I look back at the trio. I am worried why Sir Ben is welcoming those people. Judging the timing, it's almost like these monsters are summoned by them. But that's not the case — they are also actively slaying the monsters. But even so... The monsters are not attacking them but only us.
Then what's on Ben's mind?
I pull the triggers of the pistols to eliminate another batch of monsters.
"Glass! Look out!" "Madam!"
When I look back at Glass as I hear the screams of Therese and L'Arc, I see the monsters charge at her. I quickly spin around and aim the barrels at the monsters, firing three rounds of plasma blasts to slay them. Though the monsters aren't attacking them, it's like Therese and L'Arc are protecting Glass whose attacks are considerably weaker than normal.
"I thought something's not right," I say, aiming my pistol at the trio. "Are you behind the awakening of the spirit tortoise?"
The trio doesn't answer yet. The trio and I stop fighting monsters as others protect me and the monsters aren't really attacking them.
It certainly seemed likely. The familiars were only attacking us, after all — what else was I supposed to make of that?
"Shield Hero!" Ost shouts. She has been doing all that she can to halt the motion of the ever-increasing hordes of familiars.
"What?"
"I cannot affect the motion or the energy fields of these monsters! They are being directly controlled by someone!"
"Makes sense to me!"
Glass and the others must have been using the familiars to attack us for them.
"But we don't have time for this!"
L'Arc and Therese flash their weapons and look like they are concentrating.
They are about to use attack skills on us!
And I can't let this happen. I keep on pointing my barrels at them.
"Don't move! I can hit two moving targets at the same time," I am not bluffing.
The trio halts their spells. Rex and Ben also notice we are conflicting. Ben shoots crystals at the monsters and yells at us.
"Aria! Leave them alone. I said they are not here to attack us, right?"
"But..."
"This is an order!"
And it is the second time I heard his order today. I blink and spin my pistols, shooting the bullets at the monsters behind the otherworldly trio.
"Fine."
L'Arc laughs and charges his weapon again. "It's like he knows what we think."
"I know what you thought," Ben corrects him.
Theresa and Glass also join L'Arc. In the end, L'Arc, Glass, and Therese's skills go off without a hitch and hit their targets, filling the tunnel with streams of sparks. But the targets aren't us, it's the monsters. I can hear the monsters dying and screaming.
After that, before we can let our guard down, a familiar appears on the ceiling above us. It opens its eye and prepares to shoot a heat beam at us—
I spin my pistols and blast plasma bullets at the eye, destroying it instantly. "What a pain."
L'Arc gives me a thumb-up. "I'd expect no less from shield lad's teammate."
The battle continues. But the tunnel is too narrow for heavy hitters like Diamondhead and Rex to use their strongest attacks.
"You guys, stay back," Sir Ben says, his hand reaching the Omnitrix. "I will stop them once and for all. HEATBLAST!"
Sir Ben now becomes a fiery creature and unleashes the powerful flames that reduce the monsters in the tunnel as far as I can see to ash. Again, a rocky fiery hoverboard forms under his feet and floats around, unleashing the torrents of flames at the familiars of the spirit tortoise. And then, nothing is left after Ben absorbs all the flames.
"Oh, nice, you didn't even leave some for us," L'Arc jokingly says.
Sir Ben cancels his transformation and lands on the floor. "Let's proceed."
"Wait, what about them?" I ask Ben, pointing at the trio.
"Hmm, they are joining us."
"""Huh?"""
"But…"
He looks at L'Arc who returns him a nod. Sir Ben says, "it's okay. They are here to stop the one who caused the awakening of the tortoise. So no harm to join forces with them."
"You are too lax, Ben," Rex looks worried. We have been seeing a different Ben today. I can't help but notice it.
"The guy who unsealed the tortoise is from their world," Sir Ben reveals. "So it's beneficial for us to have them follow us."
"How do you know? And we haven't said we will accept join you—" (Glass)
"He can read minds. That's the shield devil," L'Arc interrupts Glass. "You can't just defy his will or hide your secrets from him, Glass," he jokingly says.
"Uh, whatever. Do as you wish. I have to cooperate with you after all." (Glass)
"Isn't it good, Aria?" When Therese asks me, I ignore her and walk away toward Ben.
"Let's go, Sir Ben."
"O-oh… Okay, let us go," Ben stammers when I suddenly take away his leader position.
"Sir Hero!" Rishia shouts. Damn, what happens again? When I look back, she is seen supporting Ost Horai who is again suffering from a headache. "She is…"
"It will be alright," he walks up to Ost, transforms himself into Deejay Emcee again, and holds a hand above her head, unsurprisingly curing her in a short time. "I am here."
I don't know what it means. I don't understand how he cures her.
"Are you okay now, right?"
Ost nods at him and stands up. "Thanks, Shield Hero."
Ben returns a smile and restores his human form.
L'Arc whispers to Filo. "Could he just transform himself as he wishes?"
"Filo isn't answering her enemies obviously," is her reply. Good job, Filo.
After that, we continued exploring the cave until…
-(SKIP)-
We stop proceeding when we find two tunnels. It's where the cave splits into two paths and none of us can decide which one is directed to the room of the tortoise's heart—
"Let's go with this one," Sir Ben points at the one on the right. He sounds so confident it creeps us out.
"How do you know?" Horai asks, confused. It seems that even the servant of the tortoise doesn't know the way.
"You are being so decisive lately," Rex points out. Sir Ben smiles and shrugs his shoulders.
"I kind of know the answer to put an end to it all…"
"Are you sure we can trust your choice?" L'Arc says.
"Yes," Ben proudly answers.
"If you say so."
Glass narrows her eyes at Ost Horai and Ben. But she doesn't say anything.
And we enter the tunnel on our right.
"I didn't ask because I believed Ben knew his things, but…" Rex whispers to L'Arc. "I can't help but wonder about the one who unsealed the tortoise, what kind of person are they?"
"Whoever they are, they are tricky people and dangerous, even more poisonous than your party leader."
Ben sneaks a peek at the chattering duo and smiles slightly.
"The thing is, Ben isn't poisonous at all," Duke Rex defends his leader. "He is a friendly guy, well, until you find out how much of a slave driver he is."
"Hmm, anyway," Glass enters their conversation. "He is trying to control the Guardian Beasts across the several worlds, and make their power his own."
"It is a man, huh…" Rex cups his chin. "I don't know about the guardian beasts."
"I read somewhere about it," Rishia answers his question. "Guardian beasts are the ones who protect the worlds from waves."
"What is the point of stopping the waves like that if it means giving up many lives?" Rex complains. "And so… How is he exactly taking worlds over? I mean, size doesn't really matter. That is what I learned from Ben. He taught us that the true strength doesn't lie in size."
"It may be correct for him but not for us. He just transcends our common sense. He is just a misfit for our worlds," Glass looks annoyed by Rex's excessive compliments. Sir Ben struggles to hold back his laughter.
"Ahem, using the power of guardian beasts to obtain power is against the laws of the worlds," she continues.
"I admit," L'Arc says. "We want to kill your Ben and the holy heroes of this world for the sake of our world. But… He is different. He is willing to make a mess of things in this world in his own personal greed."
He looked serious and determined when he said it.
Therese takes over. "And in the end, this will bring misery and destruction to our world, too."
"So he must be stopped. Our vassal weapons whisper this to us." (Glass)
"Personal greed or not…" Sir Ben who has been quiet all this time speaks up. "There is no good coming from greed. Seriously, you guys also need to learn to do things without killing the heroes of this world. As I said before, I will never be killed unless I wish to die."
The trio of vassal wielders cringes at Ben's awkward declaration. It is Rex who breaks the awkwardness with humor.
"It's not yours to say! You are also so greedy when it comes to work and seriously, don't slave-drive us, learn how to decrease the workload, man."
Ben laughs off the feedback of his subordinate. "Well, it's not like you always have to do."
"Master once said that it's not bad to work hard every once in a while," Filo defends her master.
"Uh, what a good quote." (L'Arc)
As we proceed, Ost Horai occasionally feels headaches and Ben always cures her when it happens. Her memories don't seem to be returning.
After a while, we reach a place where there is an hourglass with blue magical sand in the lower portion.
"So this is related to the blue hourglass I've been seeing for a while," Ben murmurs, staring at the hourglass.
"What is with this hourglass, Master?" Filo asks.
"This shows the number of souls it has gathered," his voice becomes dark. "Normally, if the conditions are met, a barrier has to be made to protect the world from the waves. But..."
"Someone interrupted the process, you mean?" Rex says.
"Yeah."
Ost Horai falls to the floor because of a headache. Ben again transforms into Deejay Emcee and cures her. We are already used to it by now. It is like a routine to hold back the effects of pain in Ost Horai's head.
"For some reason, I don't remember anything about it," she claims.
"It's for your good," Sir Ben replies and faces away. There must be a meaning behind his words.
And so we continued exploring the cave until… we find a weird exit way.
END OF THE CHAPTER (27).
WHAT HAPPENED TO NAOFUMI IWATANI?
(A/N: I remember Naofumi and Hajime Nagumo from Arifureta remained in the original worlds because Ben 2040 and Bad Ben took over their roles. So I decided to give each of both a role in my other story. Well, it also works as promoting it because it hasn't got many readers.)
Deneb, Altair, and Vega. The summer triangle of the night sky. Wait, no, they are the names of the armored forms of Kamen Rider Zeronos.
I was sitting at the table by the window of the train that is going across a desert as I wait for Deneb who is brewing coffee for me. The view is filled with nothing but sand. This is the sand of time — pretty confusing, right?
How did it happen? I earned a title called "Kamen Rider" after meeting a person who claimed to be my future self. He was similar to me but had thin facial hair and his personality was pretty much crappy. I dislike him but I had no choice other than to accept him as my future counterpart. As I traveled across the different points in time, I vowed to myself to not become a crappy person like him — well, my future self. He forced me to receive some "gifts" from him.
Deneb is one of the "gifts" I obtained from him. It is an imagin that gained a physical form after making a contract with myself. This train, I've been riding, is also one of the said gifts. The train is called ZeroLiner.
"Sir, your coffee is here."
Deneb puts a coffee cup on my table.
"Oh, you have my thanks. But please don't address me like that," I try to touch the cup but I retract my hand immediately. "It's hot."
"S-sorry, sir, maybe I made it too h-hot—" Deneb is a clumsy guy. I don't know if he is being respectful.
"It's okay, Deneb."
When I asked Deneb for the reason he is serving me as a butler, he said it's because I am kind. It's not like I understand him.
After finishing my coffee, I get up from my seat.
"Now… let's go greet our new friend, Deneb."
"As you wish, Naofumi."
"Mm… it's about right. Cool to hear your name without any honorifics, right?"
"Er, yeah… I don't know."
Our new friend is a new singularity point in time. I am not a singularity point sadly for various reasons. But this guy is also different from the average singularity points I encountered.
He calls himself Kamen Rider Omni-X. He came from a universe outside ours. He is a shady person who is sneaking around the different points in time of different worlds for various purposes. I am quite eager to meet such an interesting individual.
Oh, there is another reason I want to meet him. There is this old friend of mine, namely Okuma Tanukichi. He is believed to be an acquaintance of that Omni-X person. Two singularity points meeting at a certain point in time… No, it's THREE people if I count that Mei girl in.
I don't know what will happen. For now, I guess I will be piloting the train of time for a while.
THANKS FOR READING AND WRITING REVIEWS.
I was a little busy so I was late to update this story. Sorry about that.
CHRISTOPHER PARADOX CHRONOS.