Hey guys and gals, CMBasher7 back, bringing you another chapter in Yuya Sakaki, Rise of the Duelist Shield Hero(s) again, I really like doing this fanfic, and I know that you like reading this as well.
As you all know, I don't own anything related to Yugioh Arc-V or Rising of the Shield Hero at all except for my own creations and pieces of my work and all original works and characters belong to their respective creators.
This Crossover Fanfic and any Yugioh related crossovers on this website will all be in memory of Kazuki Takahashi.
Anyways, with that out of the way let's start the 3rd Chapter of Yuya Sakaki, Rise of the Duelist Shield Hero(s), The Slave Girl.
Talking = "It's Time To Swing Into Action!"
Narration/Thoughts/Talking = 'This was rigged from the start.'
Shouting/ Info/ Attacks/ Actions ="ODD-EYES PENDULUM DRAGON!" or [Shield Bash]
Previously on Chapter 2...
An crimson eye suddenly opens up revealing it to have been all but just a dream. The figure in the bed is a man. He appears to be living in his own apartment.
The Man has dual-colored green and crimson hair of average length and crimson eyes. He is also seen wearing grey pajama shirt and pants.
As he gets up from his bed and heads off to his closet, he puts on a red shirt over his torso and a pair of dark-ish yellow goggles with a blue star on the right lens. He puts a neck belt and a blue crystal pendant around his neck. He then puts on a pair of green pants with very large pockets on both the left and right sides. He then wraps a belt around his pants to hold them up and puts his socks on as well as a pair of red and orange boots with yellow highlights at the heel and grey at the heel and toe of the boots. He slides on a pair of red wrists bands on both his wrists and places a white jacket that is red and gold lined.
He then slides a red device with a blank screen onto his left arm and grabs what appears to be a decks of cards that were sitting right next to bed and as inserted them into what can only be assumed as a deck holster and he places one of the decks into the red device that he wrapped around his left arm.
My name is Yuya Sakaki, I'm 20 years old, I'm a Duelist Champion and a College Sophmore with slight otaku tendencies.
Suddenly, someone appears next to Yuya and sits right next to Yuya. His face looks exactly like Yuya's. His hair is a close palette swap of Yuya's hair, but is instead black in the back and light purple in the front, but, unlike Yuya, his hair is swept upwards and to the right side of his head. He is dressed in a punk-style outfit, with a dull green formal shirt and dark blue tie, as well as a black cape-like garment with ripped sleeves and edges plus dark blue pants and black boot-like shoes. Like Yuya, he also wears a choker and wristbands, although his bands are a matching set—black with silver studs. He also wears a belt that also has two Deck Holster's on both sides of his pants like Yuya's. He also appears to be... see-through? Like a ghost or a spirit.
That there is Yuto Sakaki, 20 years old as well.
Another figure appears resting his left arm on top of Yuto's hair. His face looks exactly like Yuya's and Yuto's faces. And just like the other two, his hair is also dual-colored, with yellow bangs swept to the right up front and blue in the back. He has greenish-blue eyes. He wears a white jacket with red borders and yellow stripes on the sleeves, along with a white jumpsuit that has red, blue, and yellow stripes that meet in the center in a chevron pattern, white gloves, shoulder, elbow and knee pads, and white, red, and gray boots. He is also see-through like Yuto.
The hot-shot over here is Yugo Sakaki, he's also 20 years old.
A 3rd figure appeared to the right of Yuya with his arms crossed and looking at Yugo. Like the other three, his face also looks exactly like Yuya, Yuto, and Yugo. He has very short, thick, pink eyebrows and purple eyes. Like the other three, his hair is dual-colored, in his case being uniformly violet with pink underneath - his fringes extending to frame his face, with two pointing upwards. His outfit appears to be an officer's uniform of sorts, consisting of a purple and light blue waistcoat, pink cravat, a two-part cape of red and purple that resembles Yuya's coat, a purple abbreviated coat with thick cuffs and gold shoulder bands with an amber-colored setting, fastened at the collar bone, and light blue pants tucked into silver-tinted leather boots. Like Yuto and Yugo, he is also see-through.
And rounding out the gang is Yuri Sakaki, Crown Prince of being Ruthless and Sadistic. Also 20 years old, loves to get Yugo's name wrong.
...
Yuya notices the strange red book on the floor that he was certain was never there before ever since he first entered the Library, must have been placed in here since last night.
"The Four Cardinal Weapons?" Yuya reads the title, intrigued by the title. "Such a simple name for an old book... maybe it's a fairy tale of some sorts?"
"Each Hero wields a distinctive weapon; A Sword, A Spear, A Bow, or... A Shield?" Yuya reads the book, before stopping as he reads the last weapon.
Yuya skims through the book and notices that all of the pages after the Shield Hero are blank, empty, but as he does so the light from the pages glows brighter and brighter before it engulfs all four of them.
"Wh-What's happening?!" Yuto shouts as the yellow light grows bigger and bigger.
"I don't know?!" Yugo shouted in fear as the light grows bigger.
"We should have never opened that book!" Yuri screams as the light keeps on getting bigger.
The book selves suddenly seem to grow taller and taller, or better yet; Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri are falling in the tunnel of yellow light.
Yuya felt like he was being lifted by some unseen force. And for a moment he lets go of the book. The light continued to brighten as the wind raged. He couldn't tell what was up and what was down. Somehow, he made it on the floor, but even still Yuya's world was still spinning.
"This doesn't even make seeeeeeeeeennnnnseee!" Yuya pleads to no one in particular.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all scream in fear as they fall in and through the yellow tunnel of light.
Yuya closes his eyes hopping that if he ever stops falling right now, he doesn't feel the pain as it happens.
...
"Fantastic! The summoning was a success!"
That wasn't Yuto, Yugo, or Yuri voice, heck that wasn't even Yuya's voice. The 4 reincarnations eyes all widen at once as the 4 of them quickly got up (really, it was only Yuya that needed to get up), but as they did so, they noticed that after the brightness was gone there was a group of people in front of them, dressed in robes.
"What the...?" Yuya says confused about the whole ordeal right about now. 'Are we in a cult or something?'
"Brave Heroes, won't you please save our world from pure evil?" The man who spoke before pleads with Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri.
...
There is an old apocalyptic prophecy on this world, it speaks of a series of incursions of destructive forces these have come to be known as... "Waves". If the calamities wrought by the Waves are not stopped, the world will meet it's end.
Every country here has in it's possession an Ancient Dragon Hourglass, these devices can predict each Waves arrival.
The First Wave washed over this country not long before we were summoned.
Between the local knights and traveling adventurers, they somehow managed to fend it off.
However, the subsequent Waves will become increasingly more powerful than the last. The sands in the Hourglass will trickle as long as the Waves keep coming.
The Second will arrive in less than a month.
...
"I-It happened last night, the Shield Hero forced his way into my room, he was stinking drunk, he grabbed me and pinned me down!" Myne told the King her testimony as she clenched her fists onto Motoyasu, wanting him to comfort her.
"He said something like, "the night is still young.", and then the next thing I knew, he was tearing all my clothes off!" Myne said as she started to cry.
...
Yuya puts on his armored red shirt back on as well as his green pants now with armored leggings that stop just right above his crimson roller boots. He puts on the two crimson red and black fingerless glove-like gauntlets, having to take his crimson Duel Disk off and move his shield from his right arm to his left and then back onto his right arm as he picks up his Duel Disk and places it back onto his left arm. He places the blue crystal pendant around his neck and straps two belts around his waists and one around his neck. He places the two red wristbands behind his crimson red and black fingerless gloves. He then places his googles on over his eyes and slings his new white cloak that's lined with red and gold colors at the base and puts his original jacket into his backpack and slings it over his cloak.
...
"I'll try to make this not hurt, much." Yuya said with a vicious grin. "SCORCH EVERYTHING YOU SEE! [SPIRAL FLAME STRIKE]!" He shouted as he activated his Shield's effect.
Suddenly, both of [Odd-Eyes (Pen.) Dragon Shield]'s red and green colored eyes flashed a quick red and green light before it's mouth began to open up and upon it fully opening it's mouth, it released a powerful stream of spiraling scarlet red and black fire at the three crooks, the force of the attack was strong enough to slide Yuya back a bit against the stone floor and made a linear crater in the ground.
...
"*cough* ... *cough*" A series of painful coughs was heard in Yuya's ears, which catches his attention, as he looks to where he heard the coughing, which sounded the coughs were coming from were young like a child.
Curious and worried about the coughing child, he slowly walks over to a lonesome cage all by itself as the coughing gets louder and more frequent the more he steps closer to the cage, which was half covered by a tarp and all by itself.
Yuya slowly pulls the curtain back to not frighten whoever was inside this cage and looks inside.
Inside the cage, handcuffed by a rusty chain and shivering, was a young little girl who looked to be no older than 10 years old, sitting on her knees and calves. She is dressed in brown and red tattered rags. She has long reddish-brown hair with a pair of fluffy red tanuki ears on top and a bushy tail. But watch catches Yuya's attention the most were not her ears and tails, but her eyes, during his time as a Dueltainer he saw the eyes of many of the kids who watched his performances all be full of joy and happiness, but here, her Tea Red eyes look like they just want to stop living and make this painful life of hers go away now.
Yuya looked at the girl with extreme pity and a familiar sense like he had seen her before despite this being the first time they ever met. Heck, despite how much her eyes look like Myne, they actually somehow managed to calm him down.
But when they did, that was when his eyes widen as he suddenly realized why this little girl looked so familiar to him despite meeting for the first time. He gives a soft shocked gasp.
'It's her...'
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
'... the girl from my dreams.'
Inside Beloukas Tent after Chapter 1...
Yuya was staring at the Tanuki/Raccoon Demi-Human girl in shocked awe that he saw the girl from his dream, granted she appeared much older in his dreams, but Yuya could tell it was the same girl just by looking at her Tea Red eyes.
Yuya just looked at her in shock and worry, even his cold heart couldn't find it's way to hate this poor little girl.
"Hey, Yuya! What you fi-OH MY CRIMSON DRAGON!" Yugo happily, but fearfully said before looking to his right and seeing the poor Tanuki-Raccoon Demi-Human girl.
"What's wrong Yug-SWEET NUMERON CODE!" The cold-hearted Yuto said before looking at where Yugo was looking and even he couldn't help himself but shout.
"What are you two going on about?" Yuri said as he cleaned his ear out and walk over to Yuya, Yugo, and Yuto, they all just pointed at the cage in front of them with fear and worry. "Hmm?" Yuri hummed, he looked at the cage with a raised eyebrow.
Yuya, Yuto, and Yugo all looked at their Fusion counterpart incredulously.
"What? Sanders had tortured Battle Beast back then in the Fusion Dimension, what's new?" Yuri asked with a raised eyebrow like this was nothing new to him, which it kinda was.
'She's a child, Yuri. That is what's new.' Yuya mentally told his sadistic Fusion counterpart.
"And? Is that suppose to mean something to me?" Yuri asked with another raised eyebrow at his Pendulum counterpart.
The little Tanuki/Raccoon Demi-Human girl's ears twitched in three different directions, moving as she heard 3 more voices right in front of her, but they all sounded muffled. She didn't even look up to see who was there or where they came from.
"Sir, over here." Beloukas called out to Yuya, getting the four dimensional counterparts attentions. "I recommend this for a high-class gent such as yourself."
Just as Yuya was about to go over to Beloukas, he looked behind him at the caged little Demi-Human girl with sadden pity and left.
Beloukas was standing next to another cage, this one being larger and with a massive tarp covering it.
Beloukas moved the tarp as soon as Yuya was next to him and looking at the cage.
Inside the cage, was a large chained Wolf Beast-Man that looked like a werewolf. He snarled as he leapt at the cage trying to get out, but couldn't.
Yuya was about to use his [Inspect] ability on the Wolf Beast-Man to see it's level and stats, he was able to tell it was an Enemy, but it's Level just read as Level: ??, guess it's level was too high for [Inspect] to fully give him information.
"It's at level 75." Beloukas told Yuya the Wolf Beast-Man's level.
'That's almost 20 times my own level.' Yuya thought to himself as he realized how powerful this Beast-Man is.
"How much do you want for... it?" Yuya asked Beloukas, having to sadly pause when he had to say it instead him.
"Well, it is highly capable in battle and fairly rare..." Beloukas pondered the thought out loud. "How does 15 gold pieces sound?" He knew what he was doing, and he was good at it.
Yuya knew what Beloukas was doing, he was showing him his most expensive slave to him probably knowing that he doesn't have the money to afford or purchase a slave for that much.
"You're showing me your most expensive slave right out of the box knowing full well that I may or may not be able to afford it?" Yuya told Beloukas, he was clearly not wanting nothing to do with this but he has to of he's ever going to defeat the on-coming Waves.
"Indeed. You're gonna become one of my best customers. I got a nose of these things." Beloukas told Yuya, impressed that he was able to figure out his strategy out so quickly.
"Well, when your friends with the second chief executive officer of one of the most largest corporation known to mankind in your world, you tend to pick up a few things about how business works from them." Yuya said, silently thanking Declan Akaba for those studies and visits about how the world of business works.
"Quite true. I have to make sure you develop a keen eye, if you catch my drift, good sir." Beloukas agreed and told Yuya.
Yuya just gives a huff in response to Beloukas.
"Well, now. Since you've seen my best, lemme ask you a question." Beloukas says to Yuya. "Exactly what kind of slave are you in the market for?"
Yuya knew he had to be careful about his option now, he wanted someone who he could always trust and be at his side no matter what, he also wanted to make sure, as much as it pains him to think this, it's cheap and affordable, probably 30 silver at best. He also wanted a party member who is capable of sneaking into small places that he himself couldn't fit through. So after careful consideration, he told Beloukas what he wanted.
"I want one that's cheap, obedient, easy for me to train into something that can fight." Yuya told Beloukas what he wanted, he wanted to throw up when he told him that.
Yuya looked back at the cage with the little tanuki/raccoon demi-human girl with a sadden expression, he knew what he wanted and who he wanted already.
"In other words, a demi-human, if I understand right?" Beloukas asks Yuya if he understood his request right, his glasses shimmered by the fire as he lowers his head.
"These aren't much suited for combat or manual labor." Beloukas told Yuya as he walks past him to his cheapest offers.
"It won't matter. If I need them in a battle to survive, I'll train them." Yuya said with a hardened glare.
"Ha! That's an amusing response, when even you don't believe in people." Beloukas laughed at Yuya's response.
"Yeah, but a person are not people." Yuya countered back as he followed him. "A person is rational, people are not."
"Ha, ha! Well, you got me there, that's for sure!" Beloukas chuckles from Yuya's response of what a person and what people are.
"These are the cheapest slaves I can offer you. Other than the dead ones, of course." Beloukas says to Yuya, muttering the last one to himself.
In front of Yuya was the cage with the little girl, now being surrounded by two other cages, guess Beloukas has workers here that are quick and efficient.
To the left was a Rabbit Beast-Man with a deformed arm and to the right was a Lizard Beast-Man.
"On the left I have--" Beloukas began to speak, but was interrupted by Yuya.
"Raise your head." Yuya's voice while strict and cold, gave off an aura of trust and compassion.
"Huh?" Beloukas said raising his head at Yuya in confusion, but then noticed that his customer wasn't looking at him, but at the little Tanuki/Raccoon Demi-human girl in front of him.
"*cough, *cough, *cough* *cough*..." the little girl coughs as she covers her mouth with her hand as she keeps her head down not wanting to anger both Beloukas and this man.
She slowly looks up at Yuya for the first time and sees his face for the first time, which, while stern and mean-looking actually gave off the impression of worried compassion for her from his crimson red eyes alone, which looked at her far more worried for her health than what she had gone through to get here.
"That half-raccoon's is sick as a dog and has a mental disorder." Beloukas sadly chuckles at his little joke. "I'm having a helluva time with her myself."
The little Demi-human girl backs away in fear of the man, worried that his compassion for her is just a lying ruse to torture her more like her last owner. She began to tear up in fear as she clenches herself tighter into a ball.
"You see, her previous owner loved his torture." Beloukas explained to Yuya what happened to her. His voice sounded angry when he said that her previous owner loved to torture her.
Yuya didn't say a word but his angered expression and his clenched fist told anyone who could see that he was furious, furious that anyone in their damn minds would find joy in not only causing pain to others, but also in torturing a poor innocent girl like her, just for being a different sentient species.
"She's not going to last long for this world. I'd suggest something else." Beloukas tells Yuya, he sounded like he pity the poor demi-human girl.
"I've already decided." Yuya tells Beloukas, his eyes never leaving the girl.
"Eh?" Beloukas questioned with curiosity.
"She'll do, I'll take her." Yuya told him, he hated to make anyone become a slave, especially to a girl so young.
The little half-Tanuki, half-Raccoon Demi-Human girl gasped in fear, her eyes widen, afraid that she'll just be experienced to more torture just like her last slave owner from this man.
("RISE" - MADKID)
We start the intro with Yuya, Motoyasu, Itsuki, and Ren being first summoned to Melromarc, but they all wore their own armors as Yuya flicked his white cloak away revealing Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri's spirits standing right behind him.
The Legendary Sword's blue orb glows in Ren's hand.
The Legendary Bow's yellow orb glows in Itsuki's hand.
The Legendary Spear's red orb glows in Motoyasu's hand.
The Legendary Shield's green orb glows as Yuya opens his eyes revealing the skin around his eyes cracked and having a combination of crimson red, grey, blueish-green, and purple color in both eyes.
We get a bird's eye-view of Castle Town as we pan across the main castle of Melromarc.
We cut to Yuya covering his eyes with his Shield as Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all stand behind him with Yugo grinning happily, Yuto is giving a smirk, and Yuri just rolls his eyes as they all look out on top of a cliff.
Yuya, along with Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri are walking along side a bridge. We then transition to the little half-Tanuki, half-Raccoon demi-human girl with cuffs around her wrist and a crest on her chest as she walks pasts cell bars. She runs towards the bars and reaches a hand out, like she was trying to find someone to help her escape.
We cut to Ren landing, before getting back up and striking a pose as Starving Venom Fusion Dragon appears behind Ren with Ren's party members.
We cut again to Itsuki entering a dive roll before pulling back an arrow as Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon appears and is charging in the same direction as the bow alongside Itsuki's party members.
We cut again to Motoyasu running along as Myne runs past him, he stops and strikes a pose as Clear Wing Synchro Dragon appears high above and is looking down at the reader with Motoyasu's party members appearing on both his left and right side.
We cut one more time to Yuya as Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all surround Yuya as Yugo gives him a noogie, Yuto just has an arm on his shoulder and a warm smile, while Yuto is just slightly far away from them with a smirk on his face as Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon runs towards Yuya as he smiles and jumps up and rides on the back of his Ace Pendulum Monster.
We cut to Myne leaning against the Throne with King Aultcray sitting in his throne. Myne smiles evilly as she grabs the camera before cutting to Yuya walking away.
We cut to Yuya falling down some stairs as he slams his back against some cell bars.
The little half-Tanuki, half-Raccoon demi-Human girl's crest begins to glow purple gaining both her and Yuya's attention.
We cut to a massive and ornate gold with red crystals hourglass as sands falls between each of the hourglasses glass, but when the last one fell a powerful and massive golden light was emitted from the hourglass.
We cut to a hoard of viscous monsters as the sky turns a frightening blood red color as swirls appear above the clouds.
A female figure appears standing on top of the mast of a boat, looking down watching and analyzing the Heroes.
Yuya and the little Demi-human girl both reach out between the bars to try and grab each other. We catch a glimpse of the Legendary Shield's Skill tree.
The cells keeping Yuya and the Demi-Human girl apart breaks as the little Demi-Human girl suddenly ages up, despite Yuya not aging a single bit.
Ren slices a monster in half with the help of his Sword, his Party Members, and Yuri's Predaplants, who were consuming weaker monsters from left to right.
Itsuki dodges a volley of arrows as he runs up a cliff with the help of Yuto's Phantom Knights and Itsuki's party members acting as covering fire to help support him as he fires arrows at multiple opposing monsters.
Motoyasu leaps into the air as he uses the Legendary Spear to stab a series of monsters before he lands on top of Hi-Speedroid Clear Wing Rider and drives off to kill more monsters with Myne and Yugo's Speedroids.
We cut Erhard, Beloukas, and many other people we have never even met yet in Melromarc as a cloak figure watches from behind and in the shadow, there was a sudden golden light that emanated from around his torso.
Before we cut to 2 women who look of royalty, a young girl with blue hair tied in pigtails and an older woman with purple hair who's face looks suspiciously like Myne's but at the same time isn't. Behind them are a series of people wearing Domino masks and black hoods.
We cut to the Demi-Human Girl pulling a sword out as Yuya holds back a monster as his Performapals who help both him and the Demi-Human girl out-maneuver many monsters attacks or even lower or switch their opponents stats or strengthen their own, as Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon bites down on a monster that was about to attack it's master from behind. Yuya and the Demi-Human girl are working amazingly well, covering each other's weaknesses and using each other's strength to help one another. We can even see what can only be seen as large animal gladiators fighting alongside the Performapals, Yuya, The Demi-Human Girl, and Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon.
Yuya blocks another monster's attack as a little girl with blonde hair and wings rushes out into the battlefield, she flies up and transforms into a large bird and takes down a series of monsters with wind attacks and kicks.
A hand opens up a fan and unleashes a series of attacks at Yuya, the bird, and the Demi-Human girl as Yuya pulls his shield up to block the attacks.
As Yuya lowers it slightly to look, he transforms his shield into [Odd-Eyes (Pen.) Dragon Shield] as he and Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, both unleash a devastating combined "Spiral Flame Strike" attack together at both the floating woman with fans and the wave of monsters at once.
The screen goes white as we slowly cut back to Yuya, Yugo, Yuri, and Yuto walking along a path as the little Demi-Human girl walks way behind them.
They all look behind them, except Yuri, and motion for her to pick up the pace and join them. She smiles happily and runs to give Yuya a hug, who graciously takes it, before quickly cutting back to the Demi-Human girl holding onto Yuya's arm as he has tears forming in his eyes.
Yuto, Yugo, Yuri all appear behind Yuya as they, the Demi-Human girl, and the large bird hold onto him as Yuya unleashes a more stronger variant of [Spiral Flame Strike] at his opponent.
We see the title, which has the Legendary Weapons at the NorthEast, NorthWest, SouthEast, and SouthWest corners with the Four Dimensional Dragons surrounding the North, East, South and West directions.
"YUYA SAKAKI, RISE OF THE DUELIST SHEILD HERO(S)"
Back at Beloukas Tent...
We cut back to Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, Yuri, Beloukas, and the little Demi-Human girl as they are now inside what can only be assumed by the former four as Beloukas's office.
Beloukas had explained the process of how the slave crest works, saying that the crest will only activate to it's master by putting the owner's own blood inside the paint which would allow the slave crest to listen to and only to the owner's own blood. He handed Yuya a knife for him to use. He also told Yuya that he can choose how high he can have the Slave Crests settings on.
Yuya asked for the Slave Crest to be on the lowest setting possible so he doesn't accidentally kill this little girl when he gives an order intentional or by accident.
Before Yuya could cut his thumb and add his blood to the seal's paint, he looked at the young Demi-human who was huddled up in a corner of the office trying to stay as far away from him as possible in fear.
Yuya let's out an exhausted and shameful sigh at what he is about to do next, he grabs the knife and cuts his thumb, somehow the knife was capable of being both picked up by him without electrocuting himself and was able to pierce his high DEF, Yuya at first thought it was Magical, but Beloukas said it was just a normal knife, so there goes that idea.
He hovers his thumb over the small paint bowl and 2 drops of his own blood seeps off his thumb and into the paint.
"Let's begin." Beloukas said as he walks over to the girl.l with the bowl and paint brush.
The little demi-human whimpers and clutches herself tightly in fear.
Beloukas moved her hands away from her chest with ease as she tried to fight him, but due to her being so weak, it doesn't do much at all against his strength, revealing a pale purple slave crest on her chest.
The little Demi-human girl was already whimpering, like the process of placing a Slave Crest to an owner would cause immense pain as Beloukas begins to dab the paint brush into the bowl.
Beloukas then paints a circle on the little Demi-Human girls' pale purple Slave Crest and after he does so a dark purplish-red aura was emitted from the crest before being engulfed in purple flames as the crest began to sear itself onto her skin.
"Aaah!" The little Demi-Human girl groaned out in pain as tears are already forming in her eyes. Yuya, Yuto, and Yugo winced at her screams, Yuri gave a tiny flinch from the sound alone.
"Hey, What's going on?" Yuya demanded answers from Beloukas, he was ready to jump in and give Beloukas a piece of his mind for hurting the little Demi-human.
"Worry not. The pain will dissipate soon. This is just a side effect." Beloukas told Yuya what was happening. "That slave crest branded on her chest makes it impossible for her to defy you."
A notification appeared in Yuya's Status Magic..
[Contract]
[Acquired Slave A.]
He then gained everything about the little Demi-Human girl, from her Lv, her Exp, her HP, her Max MP and SP, everything. Her health bar, MP and SP appeared underneath his own.
[Name: Slave A]
[Race: Half Raccoon / Half Tanuki Demi-Human]
[Gender: Female]
[Age: 10]
[Class: Undecided]
[Equipment]
[Rags]
[Hp: 37]
[Max MP: 19]
[Max SP: 0]
[Atk: 6]
[Mag: 6]
[Def: 4]
[Mdef: 5]
[Agi: 7]
[Level: 1]
Violation Conditions:
Refuse Order
Attack Master
Party Member Settings:
Violation Damage Lv.7
Speech Allowed
Auto Attack
Yuya was not alarmed by her stats, of course they would be low for someone who had been tortured for who knows how long. If he could get her to regain her strength and get rid of her coughing.. maybe decent. He was impressed by her ATK, since she had more than he could ever have, that was excluding [Odd-Eyes (Pen.) Dragon Shield]'s effect with his upgraded clothes. He then noticed something as he looked over the Violation Conditions and Party Member Settings, the second one he hadn't seen when Myne was his party member.
"Huh? "Party Member Settings"?" Yuya questioned curiously and wondered why that didn't show up when Myne joined his party.
"There you go, good sir. She's all yours." Beloukas says to Yuya, who is now the owner of a slave.
"Thirty silvers, right?" Yuya asked Beloukas if he remembered correctly how much she was worth. He left a small bag of 31 silvers on the desk in front of Beloukas before walking towards the little girl.
But as he, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri approached her, she wasn't looking at him and she was still shivering in fear and pain.
"There's one extra in here." Beloukas tells Yuya as he has counted the coins and notice that there was an extra coin.
"That's your commission. You were going to wring it out of me anyways, now weren't you?" Yuya asked Beloukas as he figured that the slave trader would do that. "Besides, I may come back soon."
"Well, you certainly know your stuff!" Beloukas said impressed that Yuya figured he would do that. "And I always love returning customers as well."
Yuya then looked at the little Demi-Human girl and was going to ask for her name.
"Well, I guess I should know your name?" Yuya said, before he crouched down to the little Demi-human girl's level to make himself seem less threatening to her.
The little Demi-Human girl coughs vigorously in pain, making Yuya wince harder, guess he'll have to make some medicine for her after they both leave this awful place.
"Can you tell me your name, please?" Yuya calmly and quietly asks her in the softest tone he could ever get. "I would really like to know who you are."
The little Demi-Human looked at Yuya, her eyes shaking just like her body, but after a couple of minutes she answers him in a quiet tone hoping that she doesn't get punished by him.
"R-Raph-*cough*-talia..." The little Demi-Human girl coughs and whimpers in pain.
"Raphtalia, huh? That's a very pretty name." Yuya said with a soft smile that he hasn't felt since before Myne betrayed him.
A notification appeared in Yuya's Vision as Raphtalia's name changed from [Slave A.] to [Raphtalia] in a couple of seconds after he learned of her name.
Yuya was overcome with great pity and sadness for what he has now done. 'I own a person... Just like that?... What an awful world this is.' Yuya thought to himself.
"Yes, but it was the only way, even some of the great presidents in America owned Slaves back then from what I learned." Yuri said, his voice was cold, but logical.
'Still doesn't make it right or better.' Yuya mentally told Yuri.
With their introduction to each other finished, Yuya got back up to his feet and walked closer to the girl, but she shrank back as if hoping that he somehow wouldn't find her. But he continued walking towards her, he grabbed her under each arm and gently picked her up. When he held her, his heart sank as he did so, because she weighed almost nothing. Yuya felt like a bastard, but he knew that he'll have to have her avoid any physical activities until she eats. He'll even stop leveling up until she receives a full night's rest as well. And although he hated to lose time like this as it meant the Waves would come closer, he had to take the risk of him living to take priority over her comfort.
"Come on, let's go." Yuya said with a calm tone of voice as he picked her up.
To Raphtalia, she was greatly confused by her new owner's gently action towards her. He actually seemed to care and worry for her unlike so many of the other slave owners, and actually looked like he felt guilty for owning her. It left mixed signals about him in her mind, wanting her to hope, but scared that this was all a ruse to hurt her more. And while she didn't mean to, she began to cry softly as she remembered her owner who tortured her, it sent her into another coughing fit again. And she was afraid that her new master would quickly lose his patience with her. So she closed her eyes awaiting the pain.
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But, it never came to her.
She then felt a soft and warm hand pat her head. It was warm. The same warmth as her papa's arms and she felt herself quickly fall asleep in his arms as he carried her away, hopefully to a better place.
"I look forward to your next visit." Beloukas says his goodbye to Yuya and a sleeping Raphtalia. "We're always open!" He chuckles.
'So they really did choose her.' Beloukas thought to himself as we get his point of view.
We see through Beloukas glasses that he can see other 3 figures walking behind or alongside Yuya, all 3 were just one single colored human figures but he could make distinct differences, such as the hairs; the 1st was Black, 2nd was White, and the 3rd was Purple. Yuya was the same, but his color was split down the middle with two different colors; Blue (Yuya's left) and Red (Yuya's right).
'I'm getting goosebumps just thinkin' about it.' Beloukas chuckles to himself as his four new patrons leave with their new slave.
???, Melromarc, Tommorow Morning, Raphtalia POV...
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"Raphtalia..."
Raphtalia heard her name spoken in a soft tone. She was quickly trying to place whose voice it belonged to. It sounded worried for her.
"Is she still alive?"
Another voice spoke out, this one was male and sounded rough and a bit vulgar, but sounded like a voice she heard yesterday just deeper.
"Of course she's still alive, YuSlow."
A 3rd voice responded to the 2nd Voice, You...Slow? This voice was also male, but it sounds like the 1st voice just posher and spoiled.
"Yuri, stop messing around with Yugo, you know he hates it when you mess his name up."
A 4th voice told the 3rd Voice, Yeur...E, what a weird name, to the 2nd Voice, who was actually called You..Go?, another weird name. It sounds like the 1st voice, only cold, serious, stoic, yet also calm and collected.
Raphtalia slowly opens up her eyes to look at who was talking to her.
"Guys, she's waking up!" You-Go calls out to Yeur-E, the 2nd Voice and 1st Voice.
As she fully opens her eyes, she sees that she is in some kind of rented lodging. She then looks up and sees her Master's crimson red eyes with 3 people behind him all looking at her, with the grey-eyes man and the blue and yellow hair man looking at her with relief and the purple haired and eyes man standing far away, but looking at her with a small smile, the strange thing was that their faces all looked exactly.
'Are they... triplets? Quad-drew-plet's? I think Mama told me they were called?' Raphtalia questioned in her minds by the 4 identical looking people. She fought against her own tears when she thought about her mom.
"Good, I hope you had a good sleep. We can-" Her Master have a relieved sigh.
Raphtalia quickly tried to stand up. "I'm sorry master, I didn't mean to sleep! It won't happen again!" She fearfully says whimpering in fear.
"Woah! Woah! Woah!" She froze at her Master's voice. "Calm down, you still haven't eaten anything. I don't want you to burn what little energy you have left remaining." Her Master told her with widen eyes at her nervousness, before he calmly chuckled and smiled at her warmly.
She remained still and quiet. Unsure of what action to take to make her master happy. He just made no sense to her. He looked angry, but he hadn't hit her yet. What could she do to make sure that didn't happen?
"Hey." Her Master greeted her with his soft and calm voice of before to her. She met his crimson eyes, hoping that she would offend him in some way. "We both have things to do, so I want you to choose..."
'He's asking me to choose, already?! Is one good and the other bad? Or if I pick the wrong on will I...' Raphtalia's mind was rushing through all possible questions.
"We both need to eat and you need to take a bath. Which one do you want first?" Her Master asked her, placing a hand on her head, which calmed her down.
'w-what...?' Raphtalia sure wasn't thinking of choosing to eat or take a bath, that's for sure. He just HAD to be tempting her with these nice things then snatch them away..., but those soft hands of his... they somehow managed to get rid of all her nervousness.
"Food first master, if *cough* t-that's okay." She coughs as her tail sways behind her. She had decided to say food because the bath would only be for her, but the food was presented as for the both of them, so she had to be as agreeable as possible with her new master.
That was when her Slave Crest suddenly shocked her with purple electricity.
"Uggrrhh!" Raphtalia groans in pain, even on the lowest setting if still hurted her. This alarmed her Master and his other triplets too.
"I see. You had said food, but you really wanted a bath first? Guess lies like those count too?" Her Master said as he opened his screen, which Raphtalia could see due to being her Master's party member, and altered the settings.
"Sorry about that. There, now you can tell lies without getting hurt, just as long as it's not detrimental to me." He paused. "But since you wanted a bath first, I'll go get the tub ready. Sorry I couldn't find any clothes your size so easily, you'll just have to put those rags back on afterwards until I can get you something better to wear after we eat." He tells her as he entered the connected bathroom
Raphtalia just couldn't make heads or tails of her Master or the 3 other people in the room who looked EXACTLY like her Master, so she just simply nodded and stood there, leaving her with the 3 other people in the room with her, who don't seem to have taken notice of her yet.
After a couple of minutes, Her Master returns back from the bathroom and into the bedroom.
"Okay, the tub is ready, just make sure to keep it under 20 minutes, you can indulge later tonight if you want." Her Master tells her.
She flinches. "Y-Yes, Master." She says as she enters the bathroom, closes the door, undresses, and takes her bath without another word.
With Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri outside the bathroom...
Yuya watches as Raphtalia enters and closes the door to the bathroom. He lets out a sorrow filled sigh as he walks over to the bed and sits down on it, thinking about what he has done as he puts his hands on his head.
'Well, it's clear she doesn't trust me yet, but with enough time she will.' He thinks to himself as Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri don't say anything to him.
Yuya then opened up his stats and had discovered during the Trial that if either himself, Yuto, Yugo, or Yuri are in control of the former's body, their stats and Levels do not change, but their name does change or if two, three or all four are in control at the same time then all of their names appear.
He looked through the shields he had unlocked as he waited for Raphtalia to wake up. He had feed his shield a stone and a stick of wood, obtaining two new forms, on his way here.
The former shield looked like a rock in the shape of a heavy shield with the green orb of the Shield in the middle.
[Stone Shield]
Mastery: 0
plus 2 DEF
[Ability: Bedrock] Upon activation your total weight triples as long as this ability remains active (You do not feel the difference yourself).
And the latter shield looked like it was a large piece of bark ripped straight off of a tree with the green orb of the shield in the middle.
[Wood Shield]
Mastery: 0
plus 1 DEF
[Ability: Collection Skill] When collecting material. Receive 5% more quantity.
Neither of the two shields even gave Yuya any more offensive capabilities to help him, but he couldn't complain, he would find one that gave him more ATK, eventually.
After 20 minutes of waiting for Raphtalia to finish taking her bath and talking with Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri, the door to the bathroom opened up and Raphtalia walked out wearing her ragged and tattered clothes she had on before.
"M-Master, I'm done. I tried not to *cough* take too long." Raphtalia said to Yuya, her head was looking down not wanting to meet Yuya in the eyes again yet.
When Yuya looked at her, he saw that her hair was a lot better than before, but not by much. She looked a lot better than before that's for sure.
"Come on, Raphtalia, let's get you something to eat and then after we're done, I'll take you to Erhard's shop." Yuya said getting off the bed and looking at her with a warm smile, before walking off.
Raphtalia had noticed that her Master had used her name, instead of 'slave' or 'girl'. She actually kinda liked that. But then a though crossed her mind.
'I wonder what's Master's name?' Raphtalia asked in her mind as she quickly follow to catch up with her Master.
At a Tavern...
Yuya and Raphtalia had made their way to a Tavern to get something to eat. Raphtalia was behind as she saw Her Master's other brothers walking alongside him, with Yeur-E and You-Go fighting with one another, and the grey-eyed one, called You-tow, breaking up their fights. Yuya entered through the Tavern's entrance with You-tow, You-Go, and Yeur-E, but Raphtalia stopped right at the entrance and noticed a sign that read as followed;
"We Don't Serve Demi-Humans."
"U-Uh, sir?" Raphtalia called out to her Master, which caught his attention.
"What is it, Raphtalia?" Yuya asked curious as he walks
"This place doesn't serve... Demi-Humans." Raphtalia nervously said pointing at the sign outside. "It says so on the sign."
"Really?" Yuya said with a curious look as he walked out and looked at the sign.
Just when Raphtalia was thinking that Her Master would just leave her out her, letting her starve as he came back full of food and would give her the tiniest of left-overs, Her Master suddenly and casually picks up the sign and tosses it away with a care-free smile on his face as he did so.
"What sign? I don't see one, do you?" Yuya asked Raphtalia in a calm and jokingly funny tone, she looked and saw Yeur-E rolling his eyes, You-Tow giving a small chuckle, and You-Go laughing at Her Master's antics.
Raphtalia was silent for a few minutes before she started to chuckle, she covered her mouth as she almost let out a laugh out loud.
"If the owners are going to worry about their being some Demi-Human in their business, then they'll just have to deal with me first." Yuya said with a grin and a thumb pointing at his chest. "Let's go on in, Ladies first." He said with a polite bow to Raphtalia, allowing her first to enter.
Raphtalia found her new Master to be very funny and comical, way better that her old Master. She gave her Master a hesitated bow before entering as her Master followed behind her.
"Welcome to the Inn!" A waiter said holding a tray of wooden mugs and cups. He then realized who just entered his business. "Ugh. The Shield Hero." He said in disgust.
"Is he the rapist?" A Patron quietly asked.
"Shut up! Do you..." A 2nd Patron quietly told the 1st Patron.
Raphtalia was prepared to be looked at in disgust, but instead the looks of disgust inside the Tavern weren't directed at her but towards her Master.
Yuya and Raphtalia took a seat that was closest to the wall, so that Yuya wouldn't be disturbed by the patrons.
Yuya sat closest to the wall with Yuto leaning against the wall next to him and was looking out at the Patrons and Workers of the Tavern. Raphtalia sat down with You-Go sitting next to her right side and Yeur-E laying with his arms behind his back on her left side.
"Can we get somethin' to eat here?" Yuya asked for a waiter so he and Raphtalia could eat.
"Huh? Yeah, be right there." The Waiter said with no politeness, not wanting to piss of the Shield Hero, but also not wanting to serve the Shield Hero, but he has to do the second option for the Tavern's safety.
"Look, it's a demi-human." A 3rd Patron whispered as he noticed Raphtalia.
The waiter walks to Yuya and Raphtalia's table as Yuya orders for both him and Raphtalia.
"What do you want?" The Waiter said with no politeness towards Yuya.
"Give me the cheapest lunch that you got here, for one." Yuya said, his personality taking a sour tone from the Patron's response to both him and Raphtalia.
He looks at another table just 1 table across and notices a family eating, he sees the family's son eating what can only be assumed as a kid's meal.
"And, uh, she'll have whatever that kid over there is having." Yuya tells as he points at the kid happily eating his food.
"Huh?" Raphtalia says with confusion, she was worried that Her Master would just have eaten for himself and left her with nothing. But he didn't.
"That'll be 9 coppers." The Waiter tells Yuya, with a hateful tone towards him.
"Yeah... fine. Here you go." Yuya said as he grabs the bag that The Painter gave him and hands him the payment for food. "Would have liked if you gave our service with a smile and a better attitude." He mutters to himself that only he, Raphtalia, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri could hear.
Yugo gave out a hearty laugh out loud.
Yuri gave a small chuckle as he agreed with Yuya.
And Yuto also gave a chuckle as well, as he rolled his eyes with a small smile.
Raphtalia looked at the 3 identical, possibly, brothers of her Master worried that they will all be thrown out of the Tavern, but as she looked around she noticed that no one seemed to be paying attention to the three, or really even notice or acknowledge them.
The Waiter gives a sigh as he takes the money and leaves to get their food.
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"W-Why, sir?" Raphtalia asks her Master.
"Hmm?" Yuya hums curiously. "Why what? Is that not what you want to eat?" He asks her calmly and wondering what she means.
Raphtalia just shakes her head, signifying to him that wasn't what she meant.
"N-No, sir. Why are you doing these things for me?" Raphtalia asked, ever since her Master bought her, he has shown nothing but kindness and compassion to her, letting her take a bath, and right now is buying her food for her to eat. She just doesn't understand why he is doing these things just for someone like her.
She was expecting her Master to give an elaborate explanation from him telling her why he is doing this just for her, for a Demi-Human no less.
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"Why not?" Yuya told her, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
That... was not it.
"H-Huh?" Raphtalia said looking at her Master with confusion and awe that he would answer so simply.
"People can be cruel, I know that, but if you live you're life thinking everyone is the same, you'd miss out on those that need help the most." Yuya explains to her as Raphtalia let her Master's words sink into her thoughts.
'Even if the only people I trust in this world has gone down to just to Erhard, Beloukas, the Painter, and you.' Yuya thought to himself as he looks at Raphtalia.
After a couple of minutes, The Waiter returns with Yuya's and Raphtalia's food.
"All right, here's your food." The Waiter said as he leaves them with their food.
Raphtalia gasps in awe at how delicious the food looks, even if it's only a simple kids meal.
"You going to save it for later?" Yuya asked jokingly.
"It's all for me?" Raphtalia asked her Master, shocked that he would still do this, her tail slowly swayed side-to-side.
Yuya smiled warmly and nodded his head.
Raphtalia took the white flag off and just looks at it, it reminds her of terrible times. Yuya notices her looking at the food and became curious, but didn't say anything as if she wanted to tell him what it was she would.
Raphtalia then lowered the tiny white flag and grabbed a small piece of food and ate it. She slowly started to cry tears of joy and began to dig in more and more.
Yuya gave a soft smile and ate his food, but when he took a bite, his warm smile turned into a displease frown, he could barely taste anything from the food and had to stop himself from physically recoiling in disgust.
'Damn, I can barely taste anything, well, at least I can taste something again, but how long will this last?.' Yuya thought to himself, he hated how he cannot taste anything. Even the training that he had gotten from the famous young chef and Cooking Duel Prince, Reed Pepper, had taught him didn't taste good, and he tasted it before. What's weirder was that he could swore he tasted something from his meal before it quickly became stale, just as he made Raphtalia happy.
Raphtalia then suddenly stopped, having a piece of food in her throat from eating so quickly.
Yuya pushes a cup of water for his partner to drink.
"Here. Drink this." Yuya said as he gave his cup of water to Raphtalia who grabbed it and gulped it down. "Try and take slower bites next time, okay?"
Raphtalia nodded to her Master before she grabbed her wooden fork and began to eat.
"How's the food?" Yuya calmly asked her.
"Hm?" Raphtalia questioned as she looked at Yuya, she then nodded her head, enjoying the food she has been given.
Yuya smiled, happy that she likes the food as he began to eat his food, despite how bland it tasted in his mouth, but he needed substance if he was to ever survive.
"U-Um, Master." Yuya looked at Raphtalia with a curious raised brow. "C-Can I ask you a question?"
"Yeah? What is it?" Yuya asked her wondering what she wanted.
He just wanted no more surprises right now, having been accused of sexual assault from his party member, losing his 3 duel disks along with the 3 other dimensional dragons inside which didn't want to come back to him, Yuto, Yugo, or Yuri, and now having to resort to owning a slave so he could have a party member he can trust and have them fight with him during the Waves. What else can surprise him now, come on universe, show him what you got now?
"Why are there three people that look like you following us?" Raphtalia asked her question in a nervous quiet tone that he, Yugo, Yuto, and Yuri could hear.
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'I hate you, universe...' Yuya thought to himself as he looks at Raphtalia with open wide eyes as do Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri with surprised expressions.
"What do you mean, Raphtalia?" Yuya slowly asked, hoping that what she means isn't Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri. "Do they have any distinct features?" Yuya mentally smacked his forehead, she said that they all looked like him so of course she would know what was distinct about them.
"U-um... one has grey eyes, another h-has blue and yellow hair, and the third one has purple hair and bright purple-red eyes." Raphtalia nervously tells Her Master.
Yuya, Yuto, and Yugo all looked at each other in shocked surprise that Raphtalia was capable of seeing them. Yuri just scoffs, thinking that she could only see them not hear them.
"So she can see us, big deal. It's not like she can HEAR us." Yuri said trying to calm down Yuya, Yuto, and Yugo.
"U-Um, Mr. Yeur-E, I-I-I can hear everything you say." Raphtalia stuttered in fear that she will be punished.
Yuri just slowly looks at her with his eyes slowly widening in shocked surprise that she could hear him and actually RESPONDED to him.
Yugo just fainted and phased through the table behind him, Yuri, and Raphtalia. This frightened the girl a lot, but she quickly covered her mouth to keep herself from screaming.
Yuya looked around the Tavern to see if anyone noticed Raphtalia say that, thankfully no one did as he leans towards her and puts his right hand over his mouth.
"We'll talk about this when we leave, I don't trust the people here to tell you about them." Yuya whispered to Raphtalia.
Raphtalia was confused, but understood, the two ate their food as Yeur-E, You-Go, and You-Tow, were talking amongst themselves.
Outside the Tavern...
After Yuya and Raphtalia had finished their meals, even if the surprise announcement to Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri that Raphtalia could both see and hear the 3 spirits, which confused the little Demi-human girl greatly, was no one else able to see or hear them like she could?
"Okay, while we head off to meet up with Erhard, I want you to tell me how you are able to see and hear Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri." Yuya asked confused as to how Raphtalia could see the three as the 5 left and headed to Erhard.
"I-I don't know, is no one able to see or hear them like I do, Master?" Raphtalia stuttered and coughed a bit.
"Okay, 1st please don't call me Master, I don't like being called that." Yuya tells Raphtalia.
"Oh... then what is your name?" Raphtalia asked her Master.
Yuya stopped walking and smacked his forehead, now realizing that he didn't even tell Raphtalia his name.
"You can't blame us, that's on you." Yuto tells Yuya that this was his fault for not telling her his name.
Yuya just gives Yuto a glare telling him to be quiet. Yuto just shrugs his shoulders.
"My name is Yuya, Yuya Sakaki." Yuya introduces himself to Raphtalia.
"Guess we should introduce ourselves then." Yuto said as he walks to Raphtalia. "I'm Yuto."
"Sup! I'm Yugo." Yugo said walking over to Raphtalia and giving her a big toothy smile. "Pleased to meet someone else who can talk with us besides Yuya, Yuto, and Yuri."
"Yuri." Yuri said, she flinched at how regal his voice sounded but also how unsettling his smile was. "...charmed." He rolls his eyes.
"Now that introductions are out of the way let's head on over to Erhard." Yuya said, happy that Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri (despite not showing it) can now have someone to talk to besides himself and the others. "And also try and figure out how you can see them."
"W-What are they?" Raphtalia asked curious but afraid that she shouldn't ask that.
"Their... well, Their spirits is the best way I can describe them." Yuya said thinking about what Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri were.
"B-But why do they look like you? A-Are they your brothers? D-Do they want something from you?" Raphtalia questioned curiously and a bit scared that the three were spirits.
"No, not anymore really, they just... stuck around, never bothered me, except when Yuri messes up Yugo's name from time to time." Yuya tells her. "And in a way, they are like my brothers, but at the same time their not. It's confusing."
Raphtalia agreed with Master Yuya, she was confused when he said that the four of them were and were not brothers, how can that be? She just tilts her head to the side, confused by his words.
"I have a theory about how she is able to see us, if I might add." Yuri spoke out, the four others looked at him waiting for an answer. "This is just a theory, but I believe that the reason she is able to see us, might be because of her Slave Crest. When you added your blood to the bowl, it probably not only tied her to you but to us as well." Yuri hypothesized, they all thought about it (except for Raphtalia and Yugo, who didn't understand) and agreed it makes the most sense right now.
And when she did, she noticed a strange red device on his left arm that she didn't notice before. How didn't she notice it when she was walking on his left side, she guessed it was hidden under his white cloak.
"What's that?" Raphtalia asked Master Yuya, pointing at the red device.
"Hmm?" Yuya hummed before looking at where Raphtalia pointed to. "Oh, this is my Duel Disk."
"Duel... Disk?" She asked confused and curious.
"Yeah, I'll show you what it can do after we leave Erhard's shop." Yuya tells her. "But I can give you a little bit of information about it, if you want."
Raphtalia nodded her head, curiosity was behind the wheel and she was going to let it ride until she got her answer.
"Well, it allows me the ability to summon Monsters, cast Spells, and even set Traps against another person." Yuya said giving a tone of alluring mystery.
Raphtalia was in awe that Master Yuya had something like that on his arm, capable of summoning monsters, performing magic, and setting traps against someone was amazing and scary in her young 10 year old mind. But then her mind gave her a question that made her grow more fearful of Master Yuya, thinking the worst things possible.
"W-What kind of m-m-monsters can you call upon?" Raphtalia asked, afraid that he could summon something vicious and blood-thirsty.
"Well, I have monsters that look like they come from the circus, that's what. And the good funny kind, not Beloukas's kind." Yuya tells her about his Performapals, without saying what they looked like, which wasn't true and wasn't false.
"Maybe I could show you one of them when we head out." Yuya tells her with a smile.
Raphtalia nodded her head as the five of them went their way to Erhard's Blacksmith shop.
Erhard's Blacksmith...
As the five of them arrived to Erhard's Blacksmith store, Yuya opened the door as he, Yuto, Yugo, Yuri and Raphtalia saw Erhard behind the counter looking displeased about something.
"Hey, Old Man! How ya doing?" Yuya calls out to Erhard with a joking smile.
"Listen here, I am- Yuya!" Erhard angrily said not looking at Yuya before her turned around and saw at Yuya, he gave a smile, happy to see him still alive.
"Nice to meet you again, Erhard." Yuya said happy that Erhard forgot his Old Man comment from earlier. "So what's new, I saw that you looked displeased about something, what is it?"
"You saw, huh? Well, no use beating around the bush, after I got a new shipment, those three heroes came by and asked if they could look at the new merchandise. Apparently, what that entailed was that they would copy my new gear for free and not pay a single copper for any of the stuff that they copied from me." Erhard growled angry that Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki all just conned him out of his new shipment.
"I'm not surprised, since the Three Cardinal Idiots have taken my other three Duel Disks and the Decks with them." Yuya said, rolling his eyes at the mention of Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki, just being reminded of them put a bad taste in his mouth.
"Oh yeah, I did notice that they each had that Duel Disk thingy on each of their arms like your's yesterday morning." Erhard said with a nod that he did see them with the Duel Disks.
"Well it's good to hear that they didn't just throw them out." Yuya rolls his eyes as he would have liked if they did, since it would have made getting them back so much easier, not anymore since the [Duel Disk Shield]'s requires a Duel Monsters Deck.
"Are you okay, Master Yuya?" Raphtalia asked her master is everything was alright, moving to the side to make her presence known.
Erhard didn't miss her saying that. "Master? Kid, you didn't-"
"I had no choice, Erhard." Yuya cuts him off. "I have no allies right now and only 1 ATK stat. I had to buy a slave, as much as I hate saying it, I had no other choice. I want to live as much as anyone else, and I can't apologize for that."
"Hmm, but for one so young... was she all you could afford?" Erhard asks him.
"No, I could probably afford better..." Yuya said before looking at Raphtalia and their eyes met again.
'Maybe it's because fate wanted me to get her. Maybe I just couldn't let myself see someone else be even more depressed than me. But If she can make it... that gives me hope that I can too... because If I can't get her to smile, That doesn't mean I have no right not to as well.' Yuya thinks to himself as his counterparts stay quiet listening in on Yuya's thoughts but not saying a word.
"But I choose her and that's that." Yuya tells Erhard, with a determined look in his eyes.
Erhard smiled at the kid's determination. "Ha! So, what can I get for you?"
"Well, it's not for me as much as it's for her. I need some armor for her to use and a light weapon she can pick up and wield." Yuya tells him. "Something under 6 silvers, all right?"
Raphtalia looked at him with a hint of fear. "Why would I need a w-weapon?" She spoke in almost a whisper.
"Because we're going to kill some monsters later." Master Yuya-sama tells Raphtalia.
If Raphtalia had future sight or any precognitive abilities, the alarms for them would be blaring in her mind right about now.
"P-please no... *cough* I. I can't face those things. I'm *cough* weak! I'll die! I don't wanna die! I- *cough cough*" Raphtalia pleaded as her coughing got worse.
Yuya bent to a knee. And put his hands on her shoulders. He knew this would happen, but better here than in front of a monster. "Listen Raphtalia" He began in his softest voice. She couldn't help but pay attention. He brought up his shield.
"You see this shield? This shield means that I am the Shield Hero." Yuya tells her in his softest voice.
She was immediately entranced by the shield, by the revealing of Master Yuya's hero status and by the softness in which he spoke.
"It also means that I'm a slave, just like you." Yuya tells her. Raphtalia flinched and looked at him confused. Erhard listened to the conversation behind his counter.
"I was taken from my home, my friends and family. This shield was forced upon me like your crest. And because of it, there are things that I can do and things I can't do, no matter what I want." Yuya tells her trying to give her an easy understanding that her and him are one in the same.
Erhard never considered this, but it was completely true. Besides the respect that they're given, the Four Cardinal Heroes were basically, in a nutshell, just really strong slaves with magic weapons. Raphtalia found herself sympathizing with Master Yuya. She was also taken from her home just like him.
"But the rules for my crest?" Yuya said while pointing to his shield. "Is that I have to fight against the Waves. But I can't use any other weapons, just this Shield and my Duel Disk. I have the lowest attack stat possible... And now because of some other things that happened before I met you, I am hated by nearly everyone, with a few exceptions. I have to do this until either the Waves end or I die..." He paused making sure she was getting what he was saying.
"I want to live, Raphtalia. I want to live. To win. To be set free. Just like you. I'm sure you can understand?" She nodded. She knew that feeling all too well.
"I know it's not fair for me to pull you in like this, but I promise this... If you help me defeat our enemies, I will defend you with everything that I have." Yuya tells her. "Defending people is my job and making sure that other people are alive and smiling is all I have... ... ... so I need you, to fight with me, to face monsters with me. I'm sorry, but that I will not change." Yuya says to her with a determined look into her eyes.
Raphtalia thought about it. Here was her Master, saying that he was the legendary shield hero. Someone even her parents looked up to... was begging for her help.
'Sure, not really begging because he can order me, but...' She felt weird. 'Master Yuya says he's also a slave and it sounds like he is. That he really gets me. And that I'm the only one who can help him. And that he'll help me in turn. That we'll basically watch out for each other. Even if it's just for now... I'll trust him.' She thought as she looked at Master Yuya-sama's in the eyes.
"I-I'll try." Her voice was quiet and shaky, but Yuya heard it as he smiled.
After a moment, Erhard left after Yuya and Raphtalia's conversation and returned with a handful of clothes in hand.
"Here ya go, little one." Erhard said returning with a hand full of clothes big enough for Raphtalia.
"Thank you, now go behind that curtain and put these on, me and Erhard will be waiting for you, once you're done." Yuya tells her as she nods her head and walks off behind the curtain.
After she closed the curtain cloth, Yuya and Erhard looked at one another in the eyes, neither one backing off or looking away, apparently Erhard wanted answers about Yuya's three other duel disks.
"So, What's dangerous about those Duel Disky-Thingy's anyway?" Erhard asked curiously to Yuya how dangerous the Duel Disks that the Cardinal Heroes now posses.
Yuya gave a tired sigh, and told Erhard everything about Duel Monsters and what had happened yesterday.
"In my world, we have this game we call Duel Monsters. And those Duel Disks that Motoyasu, Itsuki, and Ren have strapped around their arm contains very dangerous power. Power that could and would be able to destroy the world with no sweat." Yuya says to Erhard looking at him in the eyes.
"Seriously?" Erhard asked in shock.
"Yeah." Yuya nodded his head. Yuya then motions for Erhard to come closer as he does and leans in close as Yuya whispers in his ear so anyone who's watching or listening doesn't hear them.
"It actually happened once in my world, by a Duelist named Zarc, he was considered to be the strongest and toughest duelist in the world, then after years of his fans asking for more violent duels he snapped and destroyed the entire world." Yuya whispers to Erhard with a cupped hand over his mouth. "And you want to know what's worse?"
"What?" Erhard quietly asked, he regretted asking that.
"Zarc used only four unique Dragons to do it, the same four that I had in my other Duel Disks and this one that the Cardinal Idiots now have, thankfully I still have my Dragon, Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon." Yuya tells Erhard as he pulls out Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon and looks at it.
Erhard looked at Yuya in shock and at the card in the kid's hand in fear, this Shield Hero kid was wielding one of four dragons that could destroy the world, right here in his very shop.
"Don't worry, the Dragons can't use their powers or do anything without a Duel Disk to summon them." Yuya calms Erhard down. "But, before you ask, I tried to recall the Three other Dragons back into MY Duel Deck, but for some strange reason, they don't want to listen to me or my Duel Disk at all. It's like they have found all new owners." He puts his Odd-Eyes back into his Deck.
"Anything else I should know?" Erhard asked Yuya in a quieter tone.
"Yeah, Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki not only stole my Duel Disks, but they also scanned them with their weapons like I did the first night at the castle." Yuya whispers to the blacksmith, anger in his eyes.
"Wait, you were able to scan that thing?" Erhard asked amazed and shocked by what he heard, this kid was able to scan that Duel Disk-thingy and gained a new shield from it.
"Yeah, I only scanned my Duel Disk by accident, my first Weapon Copy scan, that shield allows me to summon Duel Monsters as Temporary Party Members that are the same Lvl as me. And even allow me to place Spell and Trap cards." Yuya quietly explains his [Duel Disk (Crimson) Shield] ability to Erhard. "And I was able to scan my Odd-Eyes on the first night as well."
"Really? What can that shield do?" Erhard asked amazed and curious but also afraid of what he can now do with that shield.
"It turns my Defense and Magic Defense into Battle Damage when I use it's special Ability [Spiral Flame Strike] with [Shield Bash]." Yuya tells him, Erhard eyes widen in shock by what he just heard.
I mean, A shield that can turn the user's DEF and MDEF into Battle Damage is insanely powerful, especially to someone like The Shield Hero, who is known to have the highest DEF and MDEF of any of the other Four Cardinal Heroes.
"Unfortunately, both shields take a very long time to Master, but that's okay, just means I have to train more with the two." Yuya whispers to him with a small smile, but the smile went away quickly. "But, I have no doubts that those Cardinal Morons have already scanned Clear Wing, Starving Venom, and Dark Rebellion into their weapons, which is even bigger bad news to this world." Yuya whispers as the three Dragons were very difficult opponents.
Dark Rebellion's effect allowed it to take half of an opposing Monster's ATK and add it to it's own, Clear Wing's effect allowed it to negate and destroy Monster effects, and Starving Venom's effect allowed it copy an opponents monster. And Yuya's Odd-Eyes's effect allows it to double it's Damage when it attacks.
"Well, how are you going to get them back?" Erhard quietly asks Yuya.
"That's the problem, I don't know..." Yuya tells Erhard his eyes hardening. "The other 3 Dragons were given to me by their previous Duelists when I beaten them, but now with Three Cardinal Heroes against me they might not hand them over willingly."
"Well then, you got a lot on your plate then, buddy." Erhard tells him, crossing his arms and looking at Yuya feeling sorry for the kid as this will be a challenge for the boy.
The curtain pulled back as Yuya and Erhard look and saw Raphtalia step out and wearing clothes that looked better than what she wore before.
Raphtalia now wore a black dress with red down the middle, underneath that she wore a grayish-tan long-sleeved tunic. Around her shoulder is a leather strap with a sheath large enough for a knife.
"You sure took you're time." Yuya said in a kind joking manner.
"I'm-I'm sorry, sir." Raphtalia apologized, clearly she didn't think what Yuya said was a joke.
"It's okay, really." Yuya said scratching the back of his head. "Now, I want you to draw your knife."
"Huh?" Raphtalia said in a confused tone at Master Yuya's command.
Yuya then pulled his white cloak back, revealing an Orange Balloon gnawing at his waist, but he didn't seem to flinch one bit. He just found it a tad bit annoying with how many wanted to bite him.
Raphtalia flinched back at seeing the Orange Balloon. Even Erhard flinched at seeing the Balloon in his shop.
"Are you crazy kid?! You had that underneath your cloak the whole time!?" Erhard questioned Yuya's sanity.
"Yes, it doesn't even hurt me since it can't pierce my high Defense stat." Yuya tells Erhard as he grabs the Orange Balloon biting his waist and aims it at Raphtalia's direction.
"I want you to stab this thing, okay?" Yuya tells Raphtalia what she will have to do.
Raphtalia just slowly back away in fear away from the Orange Balloon, not wanting to injure the monster.
Suddenly, Raphtalia's Slave Crest glowed purple which could be seen from underneath her new clothes. She was then electrocuted by the crest as she tears up and drops to her knees in pain.
'Shit!' Yuya cursed and winced at seeing Raphtalia be electrocuted once again, he should have seen that coming. "Please, Raphtalia, you're hurting yourself more by refusing, I hate to see this happen to you. Just do this and the pain will go away quicker." Yuya pleads to Raphtalia, he wanted her pain to stop, but also wanting her to fight. "Now do it!"
Raphtalia drew her knife from it's sheath, she closed her eyes and quickly ran towards the Orange Balloon, as soon as she drew her weapon her Slave Crest stopped electrocuting her.
"Aah!" Raphtalia tells as she blindly charges in.
She stabs the Orange Balloon in the mouth pushing Yuya's arms back just a bit. But it wasn't enough.
"That was too weak. I want you to put some more muscle into your next strike." Yuya tells her, trying to be serious and coaching her on how to wield a weapon.
Raphtalia gave a small, frightened nod as she closed her eyes again and ran right towards the Orange Balloon, stabbing in underneath it's jaw. Turning the creature into orange confetti and launching her back onto the wooden floor.
A yellow notification of EXP appeared above Raphtalia and in front of Yuya.
[EXP 15]
"Huh? I got experience points, too?" Yuya questions as he sees his Level grow from Level 2 to Level 3, his Defense, Magical Defense, and Agility all went up. Raphtalia also leveled up to Level 2 as her ATK and AGI stats were now just a bit higher than her Level 1 stats.
"Probably because when you formed the pact, you set her as a companion." Erhard tells him, giving his idea on the matter. Yuya just looks at him with confused curiosity as does Yuya's counterparts. "Oh, now wait a minute, don't tell me you didn't do that with that lady who was in here before, right?"
Yuya scoffs at the mention of Myne, quickly realizing that he and Myne didn't actually form a party.
"That damn woman..." Yuya curses under his breath.
"She's good." Yuri says with a tone that sounded impressed by Myne's sneaky smarts.
Yuya turns to look at Raphtalia, he crouched down on his knees, lowering himself to her eye level.
"Listen up. From here on out, I expect you to fight monsters with me, is that clear?" Yuya asked Raphtalia, sure she would mainly do the fighting for him, but he can't just like a kid like her do all the work, he'll have to keep her safe as well.
Raphtalia looked up at Yuya, and gave her master a firm but shivering nod.
"Y'know what, kid? I think you're not gonna die a painless death." Erhard tells Yuya as he puts his hands on his hips.
"That's good to hear, means we won't die so easily." Yuya tells the blacksmith. Yuya then gently picked Raphtalia back up to her feet and gave her back her knife which she sheathed back into it's sheath, placed 6 silvers on Erhard's table, plus an extra 30 coppers for the knife as the Shield Hero, The Demi-Human, and the 3 spirits leave the shop.
"Oh, boy..." Erhard said to himself as he puts a hand on his head. "I don't know whether the country's going to the dogs or if the kid's just been corrupted."
The Blacksmith could see how much that Raccoon/Tanuki Demi-Human kid means to Yuya, but he could also see the two become much closer in a few of their own adventures especially with the one unique traits all Demi-Humans have that make them hated in Melromarc.
With Yuya and Raphtalia...
Yuya grabbed his bag of money given to him by The Painter yesterday that he put into his backpack, which still had his other Performapal Cards and Decks as well as the Brown Duel Disk and Gladiator Beast cards and Decks. and counted them. He had 5 gold coins, 3 silver coins, and 211 copper coins.
"Well, it's good to know that I have more copper coins than last time. But I only got 3 Silver coins left." Yuya sighs as he puts his bag of coins back into his backpack as Raphtalia caught up to her Master.
"Hey! Get a move on!" A Merchant calls out, gaining Yuya attention.
"Huh?" Yuya looks to the voice and notices something that makes his heart sick.
He sees a merchant with two Demi-Human slaves, both seem to be siblings with the oldest wearing a pale purple dress and the youngest wearing a tattered blue tunic and beige shorts, both were seen carrying bags of fruits onto a cart that was strapped to, not to a horse... but, you know what, I'll let Yugo say it.
"Is that an adult-sized brown Sonic Chick I'm looking at?" Yugo comments confused at seeing a creature that looks almost similar to the Pink Level 1 Earth-Attribute Winged-Beast monster from the Synchro Dimension, just bigger.
"Move your butts, you stinkin' demis!" The Merchant orders the two kids, in his hands is a riding crop.
Raphtalia then, without looking, bumped her head into Yuya.
The young brother accidentally trips and drops the bag onto the stone floor as his older sister puts her bag into the cart.
"I don't have all day, you little brat!" The Merchant yells at the younger brother.
Yuya just looks at the scene and clenches his fist in anger.
"I'm sorry!" The little Demi-human boy cried out not wanting to be punished as the Merchant raised his crop.
Suddenly, something came over Yuya, like a voice calling out to him to help the two Demi-Human siblings, Yuya changed his shield from it's base form into [Duel Disk (Crimson) Shield], he then drew a card from his Deck and placed it on his shield, just as the whip was about to strike down the little boy.
Whoooooosh
CHLING
...
...
...
The little boy opened his eyes, he was expecting there to be the sting of the whip on his back, but there wasn't, slowly the little Demi-Human boy looked up to see him and his sister's savior.
Standing over the Demi-Human boy and blocking the Merchant's whip, was a Male Humanoid-looking figure with yellow eyes and wild lion or wolf-like black hair, with two red horn headbands that looked to be in his teens wearing scarlet red and gold samurai armor with black leather underneath, blue leather was seen wrapped around the wrists, waist, knees, and toes. In his right hand was a long katana with a black handle and blue leather he was seen holding it backwards, blocking the crop. On it's back was a white jacket that was lined with gold and had a yellow star with a gold outline in the middle.
[Performapal Handsamuraiger]
Level 4/ EARTH/ Beast-Warrior/ Effect
[Lv. 3]
[HP: 400]
[ATK: 180]
[DEF: 40]
[MDEF: 40]
Party Member Effect: When this monster attacks/defeats an opponent, add a Level 5 or higher Pendulum Monster from your Deck to your hand.
Monster Effect: When this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle and sends it to the GY: You can add 1 Level 5 or Higher Pendulum Monster from your Deck to your hand. You can only use this effect of "Performapal Handsamuraiger" once per turn.
"What do you think you're doing?!" The Merchant questioned Handsamuraiger, but the Monster didn't say a word only narrowing it's eyes at him which conveyed all the words that it needed to say.
Performapal Handsamuraiger pushed it's katana forward, and disarmed the Merchant from his whip as the Beast-Warrior samurai then sliced the whip in pieces with his blade.
"Who do you think you are?!" The Merchant questioned the Monster, who just looked at him with the siblings behind the creature who had it's weapon pointed at him.
"Just someone who hates bullies." Yuya spoke up, walking towards Performapal Handsamuraiger and the kids with Raphtalia behind him, trying to make herself not be seen by the Merchant.
The Merchant gave Yuya a look of disgust before leaving him, Raphtalia, and the Demi-Human siblings alone, since he didn't own the two siblings as slaves. The Merchant muttered to himself as he left saying, "Damn Shield Hero siding with those freaks."
Yuya then looks at the two Demi-Human siblings, both of them covering in fear, but not as much, thanks to him getting rid of the Merchant.
"Hey, are you two okay?" Yuya asks them. The two siblings nodded. "Do you know where you're parents are, or any relatives you have nearby?"
"Y-Yes, our Aunt lives in Lute Village just South-West of here." The Older sister said to Yuya.
"That's good to hear, find yourself a transport or something that can take you there and make sure you stay away from any danger, you hear?" Yuy tells them, wanting to make sure these two would make it back to their Aunt safely.
The two siblings nodded again and headed off to Lute Village. Leaving Raphtalia, Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, Yuri, and Handsamuraiger by themselves in the empty street.
"Thanks, Handsamuraiger. You can return now." Yuya tells Performapal Handsamuraiger as he gives him a bow.
Performapal Handsamuraiger turned to Yuya and gives him a bow with an open palm and a fist together over his head as Yuya takes Handsamuraiger's card off of his [Duel Disk (Crimson) Shield] as the Monster disappears as soon as he did that. Yuya changed his shield back to it's base form.
Raphtalia watched the whole scene in awe, amazed by seeing Master Yuya summon a red and gold knight and block the Merchant's whip with it's curved sword.
Raphtalia was left speechless.
"Who... was that?" Raphtalia asked in shock and confusion.
"Oh, well, remember when I said I have the ability to summon Monsters?" Yuya said as he rubbed the back of his head shyly. "That was that ability."
Yuya takes his head off of his head and looks around, seeing the few citizens here looking at him and Raphtalia in disgust, mainly to the former.
"Come on, let's go before we cause more of a scene." Yuya tells Raphtalia, as she quickly follows behind him and outside the City gates.
At the Meadows...
Yuya and Raphtalia made their way to the meadows as the former was looking for any Monsters to slay and gain experience points from.
They were attacked by a small pack of Red Balloons, which were a bit stronger than Orange Balloons, but they still couldn't pierce Yuya's DEF and seemed to have the same stats as Orange Balloons.
"Raphtalia! Here's another one!" Yuya calls out to his partner as he grabs a Red Balloon that was biting his shoulder blade.
"Y-Yes!" Raphtalia answered Yuya as she quickly made her way to the Red Balloon, her eyes wide open now.
Yuya grabs the Red Balloon off of his shoulder and aims it directly to where Raphtalia can easily stab the monster.
"HYAAAAH!" Raphtalia yells as she pops the Red Balloon.
Yuya gained 5 EXP and Raphtalia gained 7 EXP.
Yuya and Raphtalia traveled further down the meadows into the forest and encountered a troop of mushroom-like monsters that almost seemed similar to Balloons, if it wasn't for their Mushroom-like shape. Their were 3 variants; A White Mushroom, A Blue Mushroom, and a Pale Green Mushroom. They also seem to shave very big tongues.
Yuya then scanned the 3 monsters with [Inspect] all at once.
[Name: Nameless]
[Race: Mush (White Mush, Blue Mush, and Green Mush)]
[Level: 3]
[HP: 29]
[Mp: 8]
[ATK: 17]
[MAGIC: 5]
[DEF: 12]
[MDEF: 11]
[AGI: 14]
[Number killed: 0]
Considered to be the Weakest of Monsters, just behind Balloons, Mush's are more commonly found around forests and come in a variety of colors, mainly consisting of white, blue, and green. White Mush are the most common and are sometimes called Loomush, there are some arguments that demand that the people should start calling White Mush's as quote, unquote "Red Mush's", you can clearly see why this argument has not won since then.
They all pounced towards Yuya, but he blocked their headbutts with his shield, lining them up to be sliced into diced Mushrooms.
"Attack now!" Yuya tells Raphtalia to attack them.
Raphtalia charged in and sliced all three of them at once with no problem. It seems she was getting better and better at wielding a sword as they fought monsters.
Raphtalia gained 17 EXP and Yuya gained 11 EXP from slaying those Mush's all together. Raphtalia levels upto Level 3 and Yuya leveled up from Level 3 to Level 5.
"We should stop and take a break, Raphtalia." Yuya tells her to stop for today. "I'll catch us some fish for us to eat."
"Ok, Master Yuya." Raphtalia nodded, agreeing to stop for today.
By a River Bank...
Yuya and Raphtalia were seen sitting by a river bank as Yuya started up a small campfire and caught some fishes for the two of them to eat together. Yuya then walked over to Raphtalia with 4 skewered cooked fish on a stick in his hands.
Yuya was able to get at least 4 fishes in one cast, which was thanks to Trout's teaching, which despite the guy's lazy, arrogant, and greedy nature... was an excellent teacher in the arts of Fishing.
"Here ya go." Yuya says handing Raphtalia two cooked fishes on a stick.
"Thank you, Master Yuya." Raphtalia thanked her Master, she then took a bite, she hummed in delight at how delicious the food was, despite being just a simple skewered cooked fish. "Mmm! Dis iz delizus, Masta Yuya." She gave her compliments to the chef.
"Thanks, I learned how to cook from a friend of mine, he's very popular back home, especially with my mom. And learning how to fish was from another friend of mine." Yuya tells Raphtalia about the Cookpal Duelist and the Legendary Fisherman Duelist, Reed and Trout, both of who became friends during the Arc League Championship.
As Yuya sat down to eat his fish, he looked at the 5 shields he had just unlocked from defeating the Red Balloon's and the three Mushes, as well as a random Yellow Balloon.
The Red and Yellow Balloon Shield looked like the Orange Balloon Shield just with a palette swap. They offered the same stat as the first one, but a bit higher in the DEF and M.DEF.
The three Mush Shield just looked like a mushrooms, but with only one color swap from each other. The Mush Shield was Red, the Blue Mush Shield was Blue, and the Green Mush Shield was Green.
[Mush Shield]
Mastery: 0
Equip Bonus: plus 1 plant appraisal
[Blue Mush Shield]
Mastery: 0
Equip Bonus: simple recipe 1
[Green Mush Shield]
Mastery: 0
Equip Bonus: apprenticeship compounding
"A Blending ability, huh?" Yuya said curious about the last ability. "That's something that might come in handy."
"Master Yuya? Sir?" Raphtalia called out to her Master. Yuya looked at at Raphtalia. "Back at the Blacksmith, you said you were the Shield Hero... like the Four Cardinal Heroes... is that true?" She asks him, wanting proof that he really was the Shield Hero, and not some fake just wielding a shield and calling themselves the Shield Hero.
"Uh-huh?" Yuya confirms. "Like I said I am the Shield Hero, you may not believe me and that's fine, you can believe whatever you choose to believe, Raphtalia, it's your choice."
Raphtalia now looked at her Master Yuya like he was the Messiah or some kind of mythical legend passed down from generation to generation and was brought back to life.
'Raphtalia...' Her father's voice echoed in her mind.
Flashback, Raphtalia P.O.V...
We flashback to Raphtalia when she was back home, there was a fireplace inside a brick chimney. The warmth of the fire kept the people inside the house nice and warm from the coldness of the outside world.
"Do you know of the Four Legendary Heroes?" Raphtalia's Father asked his daughter.
"Mm-hm. The ones with the sword, the bow, the spear, and then, um..." Raphtalia answered her father, but she was having difficulty trying to name the last weapon.
'Is it axe? No..., Mace? That isn't right?' Raphtalia thought to herself, she was having a tough time naming the last Legendary Weapon.
"Here's a hint... the last one wields a weapon that defends and protects." Raphtalia's father chuckled and gave her a hint.
"Oh! And then the last one is the Hero with the shield, right!" Raphtalia answered with a happy smile.
"That's right!" Raphtalia's father cheered his daughter as his wife and Raphtalia's mother was knitting next to her husband.
"The Shield Hero, out of all the Cardinal Heroes, he treated us Demi-Humans very well and we were very grateful to him. They say that he could summon an army to fight alongside him and his party." Raphtalia's father tells her.
"He can?" Raphtalia asked in awe at hearing the power of the Shield Hero. "Then I for sure wanna meet him, Daddy."
"If you're a good girl, one day I'm sure you will." Raphtalia's mother tells her.
Raphtalia giggles happily as her father gives her a pat on her head.
Flashback ends...
Yuya is seen mashing some leaves against a pair of rocks. As he does this, Raphtalia gave a soft gasp in shock and she now knows that he truly is the Shield Hero.
"You really are the Shield Hero..." Raphtalia said with awe in her voice.
"Hmm? Yeah, that's what I said, isn't it?" Yuya asked confused as he looks up at her. "Why? What's wrong with that?"
"N-Nothing." Raphtalia said wanting to dismiss the subject, but seeing Yuya take care of her, give her a bath and food, protecting those children, and summon that red-armored, black-haired knight out of nowhere, she just couldn't forget it.
Raphtalia suddenly let out a series of painful coughs as Yuya hands her a leaf cup with liquid inside, it seems to be medicine just for her coughs.
"Here you go, drink this." Yuya says handing her medicine. "It's a medicine that I blended. Apparently, it can cure light colds. And just a word of caution, it has a bitter taste, but it will help you get better."
Raphtalia slowly grabs the medicine from his hand and drinks it. She tries her hardest not to spit it out from how bitter the medicine is on her taste buds, but she fails and spits it out on the ground.
"It's so bitter!" Raphtalia whimpers at the horrid taste.
"I did give you a word of caution. But good medicine is suppose to taste bitter." Yuya tells her, before he suddenly forms an idea.
"Here, how about we do this." Yuya tells her as he makes another two medicine. "I'll count us down and once I say "Now", we both drink the medicine at the same time, okay?" He says handing her medicine and he keeps the second one in his hand.
Raphtalia nodded her head, agreeing with Yuya wanting to go through this compromise with her.
"Okay, in Three..." Yuya started, as he and Raphtalia raised the medicine up.
"Two..." Both of their medicine was nearing their mouths.
"One. NOW!" The two downed the Medicine at the same time.
In an instant the two of them reacted poorly to it, but held it in for as long as possible. They both slowly swallowed the medicine as it went down their esophagus and into their stomachs.
After this, Yuya immediately ran over to the river once he and Raphtalia swallowed the medicine. He then dropped to his knees and dunked his entire face into the river.
"Blllegh! That really WAS bitter!" Yuya said as he was taking deep breathes from dunking his entire face into the river.
Raphtalia stuck her tounge out in disgust of how bitter the medicine was but after seeing Master Yuya dunk his entire face in the river, she couldn't help but chuckle at his personality.
"I somehow expected Yugo to make this plan, but never Yuya... either way, I am greatly amused by what has transpired." Yuri said with a smile.
"Glad to see you're enjoying my pain, Yuri." Yuya deadpanned at Yuri enjoying his pain.
"You're very welcomed." Yuri said with a smile and closed eyes.
Yuya then looked at the medicine in his hand, seeing that there was a little bit left, he decided to see what would happen if he poured a liquid object into the Shield. He did so and now had unlocked a new shield.
The new shield looked like an Aspis shield (Greek Shield) with folded out wings with two snakes intertwined in the middle around a pole at the center with the green orb in the middle. Yuya thought it looked kinda like the Caduceus symbol just more like shield than a spear, which would fit Motoyasu's Legendary Spear better design-wise than as a shield.
[Small Medicine Shield]
Mastery: 0
plus 1 MDEF
[Ability: Medicine Efficiency] Medicine used by you are 10% stronger.
'So I guess I'll be able to make better medicine that what I was able to now.' Yuya guessed to himself in thought.
He also fed his shield one herb.
[Herbal Shield]
Mastery: 0
plus 1 MDEF
[Ability: Apothecary] Crafted concoctions will be 5% better.
"I think you should get some sleep for tonight, Raphtalia." Yuya tells her as he looks up and sees the sun slowly beginning to set for tonight to let the Moon watch over them.
Later that Night...
Yuya was carving some more leaves against a rock so he could make more medicine to sell to Doctors to gain more coins by the fire. Raphtalia was sleeping a few steps away from him wrapped in Yuya's gold and red lined white cloak as a sleeping bag. Yuya swapped his shield to the [Blue Mush Shield] to use it's simple recipe bonus.
Unbeknownst to him, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri, Raphtalia appeared to be tightening her eyes, a clear but hidden sign that she was either experiencing a nightmare or worst, some trauma from her past before being a slave. Her fist clenched tighter around the cloak.
Inside Raphtalia's Mind...
Raphtalia's Father and Mother are running away from something as the sky give off a menacing scarlet red and purple color, with her Father carrying her in his arms as they flee their home.
Raphtalia looks back and sees that there are violet and white portals opening up in the sky as swarms of monstrous dimensional bats fly out of the portals and towards Raphtalia's village.
Anyone here would know what was happening right now,
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
This was the First Wave.
Raphtalia's Mother and Father are stop running as soon as they reach a cliff, with no where left to go but towards the monsters all coining down onto their village.
Slowly following behind Raphtalia's family is a Three-Headed Dog-like Monster with long sabertooth fangs, long ears and the middle head having a horn on it's forehead. It's fur was pitch black. This was a Cerberus.
Raphtalia looked at the three-headed beast in fear, her Father and Mother stood in front of her, trying to protect her from this vicious Wave monster.
"I'm sorry, Raphtalia." Raphtalia's Father says to her.
"Raphtalia. We only wanted to make sure you survived. Please find it in your heart to forgive us for our selfishness if you can!" Raphtalia's Mother tells her.
The Cerberus continued slowly walking towards Raphtalia's family, hunger clear in each of the beast's eyes.
The way to two parents spoke, it sounded like this was their last time together as a family.
They then pushed Raphtalia off of the cliff and into the water below, just as the Cerberus pounced and tore into her parents and ripped them to shreds, wanting to make sure that nothing remained, not even bones to bury in the aftermath.
Back in the Real World...
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!" Raphtalia screamed at the top of her lungs as her whole body lunged out of the white blanket with tears in her eyes, trying to reach out to her parents, but it was all pointless.
"Huh?!" Yuya shouted, his eyes fully awake as he, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all look at Raphtalia with worry and fear. Worry for her safety and Fear for something that might hear her and come over to check it out.
"They're dead! They're dead!" Raphtalia cried out her eyes closed and weeping with tears.
Yuya immediately responded and rushed over to Raphtalia to try and figure out what was wrong with her.
"What's wrong?!" Yuya asked concerned for Raphtalia's "Just calm down. Everything is going to be okay." He said trying to calm her down before a Monster hears her.
"Papa...! No! Mama...!" Raphtalia then hugged Yuya tightly as Yuya shocked by this, slowly hugs her back and comforts her.
"Don't cry..." Yuya says in a calm soothing tone as he rubs her hair gently to calm her down.
"... they're both gone!" Raphtalia cried out.
When Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri heard Raphtalia say that, they slowly realized that Raphtalia was probably a survivor of the First Wave, and her parents sacrificed themselves to save her from whatever monster killed them, leaving her as an orphan.
Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all joined in to comfort Raphtalia with Yuya as the three of them never had parents when they were reincarnated from Z-Arc's first defeat and before they all realized that they were Z-Arc's reincarnations, they had always thought that their parents either died in childbirth, were killed off, or just they left them to die.
"It's going to be all right, Raphtalia." Yuya quietly says to her, cradling her until her crying stopped, he held her for a moment longer before releasing her from his grasp, but still held her hand in hope of preventing her having another traumatic event like that.
It is quiet in the forest, with the only sound being the river's water splashing, the campfire crackling, and the tears of Raphtalia's crying, not a single creature right now dares interrupt them in the little Demi-Human time of need.
"It'll be all right..."
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The Next Morning, at a Herbalist Shop...
After the sun had risen, Yuya and Raphtalia woke up early and quickly got ready to depart back into Castle Town. Neither said a word to each other. Once they entered through the gates, they made their way to a herbalist.
"Wait out here, please? This won't take long." Yuya tells Raphtalia to wait outside.
"Okay." Raphtalia nodded her head and went to sit on top of a barrel next to the Herbalist.
Yuya smiled and headed inside the Herbalist shop to sell more herbs, as well as figure out if he should sell Herbs or Medicine.
"Hmm. Very impressive, if I do say so myself." The Herbalist said, complimenting the medicine being sold to him. "Are you well versed in making medicines, Sir Hero?"
"No. Yesterday was my first try, actually." Yuya admitted.
"Really?" The Herbalist said with intrigue.
"So which one is more profitable, selling herbs or selling medicine?" Yuya asked the Herbalist what he should sell.
"Hmm." The Herbalist hummed in thought, before giving his answer. "Due to the Wave's impact, medicine have been flying off the shelves lately, so rather than herbs, I'd pay more for your medicine."
"I see." Yuya said. "For how much?" He asks, wanting to know how much his medicine right now would sell in total. He looked around the shop at the tools.
"In total, this is worth... 4 Silvers." The Herbalist answers Yuya.
"Listen, you wouldn't happen to have any tools that you don't use or extra's here, right?" Yuya asked the Herbalist, coming up with an interesting idea.
The Herbalist looked at Yuya with a confused, but curious expression on why the Shield Hero would ask that question.
Outside with Raphtalia...
Raphtalia watched as she saw a group of kids playing games with each other, usually being Hide-N'-Seek, Tag, or playing with a Balloon Ball.
"Here we go!" A kid shouted, it sounded like they were playing with their Balloon Ball.
"Okay! One, two..." Another Kid counted, apparently they were trying to see who could get the most points bouncing the ball back and forth between each other.
Yuya walked towards Raphtalia, having unlocked 3 new shields from the Herbalist and gaining some more silver.
[Mortar Shield]
Mastery: 0
[Equip Bonus: Solid Compounding Bonus] Increase quality of solid compounds made by 10%.
[Beaker Shield]
Mastery: 0
[Equip Bonus: Liquid Compounding Bonus] Increase quality of liquid compounds by 10%.
[Druggist's Mortar Shield]
Mastery: 0
[Equip Bonus: Collecting Skill II] When collection materials. Receive 10% more materials.
Each of the three shield were useful in making more medicine to help not only him and Raphtalia, but everyone they would meet along their journey to stop the Waves.
"Raphtalia." Yuya called out to Raphtalia. Yuya looked at the two kids playing with their toy ball. He looked at at Raphtalia, her focus not on the kids, but on the ball, like a dog wanting to play fetch.
"Do you want a ball like that?" Yuya asked curiously towards Raphtalia.
"Ha!" Raphtalia gasped in surprise. "N-No, I don't!" She denies wanting a ball. "I'd never want a ball, not at all!"
Raphtalia's tail was waggling rapidly behind her, clearly it wanted a ball. Yuya silently chuckled at this.
'It seems your tail thinks otherwise...' Yuya thought to himself with a warm smile and a soft chuckle.
"Come with me." Yuya tells Raphtalia as he walks over to the kids and asked them where they got their ball from.
Thankfully, they gave him directions and Yuya thanked the two boys before he and Raphtalia followed their directions to the person who sells Balloon toy balls.
"Huh?" Raphtalia said confused, Yuya had an Orange Balloon Toy Ball in his hand, presented fully to her. She slowly walks towards the ball and Yuya hands it to her.
"Once we're done with work for today, you can play with it as much as you like." Yuya tells Raphtalia, laying some ground rules with her and the ball.
Raphtalia looked and gave a big, wide, and happy smile that seemed to warmed up his heart greatly. He was happy to see her smile.
"Of course!" Raphtalia said happy that Master Yuya did this for her.
At an Inn, Sunset...
Yuya and Raphtalia headed out to do some more Monster slaying, after a couple of hours, the sun was beginning to set. They returned back to Castle Town, Yuya sold some more Monster Parts and Herbs and Raphtalia was having fun playing with her new toy ball.
They made their way to an Inn to stay for the night. Yuya rang the bell a couple of times, hoping to get some service.
"I'm coming! Uh!" The Inn-Keeper said before he opened his eyes and realized it was the Shield Hero. "The Shield Hero's here."
"I'd like to rent a room, please." Yuya says to the Inn-Keeper. "My companion here tends to scream at night, though." He says, not thinking about his choice of words and his reputation here.
The Inn-Keeper groaned and looked at Yuya with disgust, guess those crimes were true was what went thru the Inn-Keeper's mind.
Yuya then looked at the Inn-Keeper's face before blushing in embarrassment. "I MEAN SHE HAS NIGHTMARES!" He yells in anger and embarrassment.
"O-Oh! M-My apologizes, Shield Hero." The Inn-Keeper said, he really thought he was a rapist like the crimes said he was. "I'll prepare your room at once!" He said getting Yuya's and Raphtalia's room ready.
"Good." Yuya said with a firm nod and a pair of flustered cheeks on his face.
Yuya looks to his right and notices a poster on the wall, he was still unable to read or understand the written language here.
'We have to find a way to survive before the next Wave of Catastrophe hits.' Yuya thinks to himself.
The Next Morning, Montage of Yuya and Raphtalia...
The sun has risen once again and Yuya and Raphtalia headed out of the Inn, as they made their way the people of Castle Town looked at Yuya with disgust and fear. They passed by a couple of stands, Raphtalia drooling at how delicious the smell was as they hit her nose and Yuya buying her one just for him to see her smile.
Yuya and Raphtalia the headed on over to a barbershop so that the latter could get a haircut. (Un)Fortunately, No one wanted to serve Yuya so he had to cut Raphtalia's hair, silently thanking his mother and Zuzu's teaching him how to cut hair properly.
Afterwards, Raphtalia admired her new haircut in the mirror as Yuya absorbed her hair into his shield.
The new shield looked like a if a raccoon's face was a shield.
[Raccoon Shield]
Mastery: 0
Passive Abilities: Climbing efficiency (small), and night vision
Yuya had to admit that the two passive abilities the shield gave were impressive, especially the night vision.
The two then went to get some food, Raphtalia enjoyed the meal given to her, but Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri could barely taste anything at all. Though that didn't take stop them from continue to eat so that they don't starve to death. Yuya noticed that Raphtalia had a smudge of food on her cheek so he cleaned it off for her.
Later that day, at another Inn, Yuya was making some more medicine to sell whilst also checking up on Raphtalia in case she has anymore nightmares. Unfortunately, she did and the next morning, the two noticed a large wet spot on the bed, Raphtalia was apologizing to Yuya whilst the latter sighed, knowing this is going to cost him.
Yuya slowly placed his hand on Raphtalia's head and rubbed her hair gently, calming the little Demi-Human down enough to stop crying.
After Yuya payed for the wet mattress, Yuya and Raphtalia made their way to the Herbalist to sell the medicine that the former had just made last night.
They both made their way to get something to eat again, ordering the same food like last time, but this time Yuya noticed something different about Raphtalia, that didn't go unnoticed by Yuto, Yugo, or Yuri.
'Did she get taller or am I hallucinating?' Yuya questioned in thought, he thought he noticed Raphtalia seemed to be a bit taller than last time, looking like she was now 12 years old instead of being 10 years old.
Back outside in the Forest...
Raphtalia slashed two Mush's with her knife, gaining some EXP for her and Yuya.
"Okay. I think we both can go a little deeper into the forest now." Yuya said, then something rustled in the bushes to Yuya's right and Raphtalia's left.
Hopping and running out of the bushes was a pair of monsters, the first was a white hare-like monster with a round shaped body and large ears. The second was a cute and fluffy yellow bird-like monster with pink tips with an equally round body shape, it had large eye-brow-like feathers that curled inwards around half of it's whole body.
"An enemy... bunny and chicken?" Yuto said with a confused expression on his face.
Yuya immediately used the [Inspect] ability to scan the two monsters.
[Name: Nameless]
[Race: Usapil]
[level: 4]
[Hp: 55]
[Mp: 23]
[Atk: 19]
[Mag: 14]
[Def: 11]
[Mdef: 12]
[Agi: 27]
[Number killed: 0]
Known to come in two colors White and Brown, these creatures are commonly found in the forest around Melromarc. When killed, these monsters drop are more commonly to be meat and fur. Their fur can be sold for a considerable high price compared to Balloons and Eggug drops, especially their feets, which has been known to be lucky from time-to-time. The meat is very edible and can be eaten when cooked.
'A Level 3 with 27 Agility?! How has this thing not run into us or better yet how have we not run into it?' Yuya thought to himself.
"I guess it wants to test it's luck against us?" Yugo suggested to Yuya.
"Well it took it's time then, huh?" Yuya joked with a small chuckle.
"And what about chicken thighs over there?" Yuri questioned looking at the round yellow with pink feather bird.
[Name: Nameless]
[Race: PikyuPikyu]
[level: 3]
[Hp: 52]
[Mp: 26]
[Atk: 23]
[Mag: 12]
[Def: 11]
[Mdef: 12]
[Agi: 29]
[Number killed: 0]
Generally described as being cute and cuddly, these monsters are light on their feet and are sometimes known to fight alongside Balloons and Eggug from time to times, many people believe that PikyuPikyu's are hatched Eggug's, though proof of this theory is limited. When killed, these monsters drop Feathers and Pikyu Thighs, which are edible and can be eaten when cooked. The adults are often confused with young Filolas hatchling and are known to lay their eggs within wild Filolas nests.
"Hmm, looks like we're having fried chicken tonight, huh?" Yuri joked looking at the PikyuPikyu.
The two monsters quickly leaped towards Raphtalia, both hoping to get a quick meal from the little Demi-Human.
"Look out!" Yuya warned Raphtalia the moment the Usapil and PikyuPikyu launched themselves towards the two.
Yuya immediately stood in-front of Raphtalia as he grabbed the two orb-shaped monsters with his hands, the two not taking their opponent grabbing them likely, bite and peck at Yuya.
"Alright, Raphtalia! Quickly, take them down while I still have them!" Yuya grunted as he felt a bit of pain from the two monsters bites and pecks.
But Raphtalia hadn't moved forward, no, she took a step back in fear. She let out a terrified whimper from her mouth, afraid that if she does it will bleed.
"Raphtalia?" Yuya behind him at Raphtalia, seeing the terrified expression on her face. It seems that Raphtalia has Hemophobia, an abnormal, but very specific fear of blood.
"But I can't." Raphtalia told Yuya why she could kill the Usapil and PikyuPikyu. "It'll bleed if I stab it."
"Are you kidding me?!" Yuya shouted, he hated doing that to a kid, no matter what they had done, but he needed to do this so that she could be brave and fight on her own. "We are going to be fighting the Waves, YOU will be fighting in the Waves, there's going to be blood!" Yuya stopped himself, and taking a deep breath, he lowered his voice. Back to the voice she liked.
"Raphtalia, in life, no one get's to tell how you live your life. Sometimes people throughout history will try their best to make sure you're forgotten. You don't get the option of who gets to live, who gets to die, or who even tells your story to future generations." These words felt so wrong in her ears, but they held so much weight on them like it was the truth.
"If we kill monsters, we get to live another day and they die, we don't and they get to live and we die. Do you want your story to be that you were afraid? Or do you want history to remember your name so that things that had happen to you, will NEVER happen to someone else again?!" Yuya shouted, it was a simple question, fight or flee. But the way her Master said it, it made the decision that much more impactful.
She ready her sword at the two monsters, took one step forward and gripped the handle tightly.
'That 3-headed freak killed my parents will bleed too... but I want it to be by my hands!' She gripped her weapon harder and charged at the monsters.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" Raphtalia screamed with tears in her eyes and an enraged expression on her face. She then thrusted her knife into the PikyuPikyu, before pulling it out and stabbing the Usapil.
Their blood went everywhere coating both Yuya and Raphtalia in the monsters bloods in a violent display.
During the twin blood geysers, Raphtalia kept on crying as her tears washed some of the blood off of her face. She tried to catch her breathe, noticing that her coughs were gone now for good, And looked up at Yuya-Sama and locked eyes with him.
Yuya felt like he pushed her a little too far and felt like a damn villain, like Z-Arc was when he first combined with the Four Dimensional Dragons. He slowly walked over to her, wanting to say something, but the moment she locked eyes with him. He stopped.
Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, Yuri, and Raphtalia all looked at each other, but it was mainly Raphtalia and Yuya looking at each other. Raphtalia then slowly forced a teary smile and spoke.
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"I... I want to live too, Yuya-Sama."
And that's the end of Chapter 2, so how did you guys think of it? Leave any good comments in the comment section and if you have any negative comments, please just don't comment on them, okay? I already had a bad morning today, I don't need anymore negative criticism.
Anyways, I also figured out how to add percent signs into this website (Thank the Gods). Still don't know about plus signs, though.
This is CMBasher7, signing out.