Chapter 16: The Black Ghost Invader

Where we last left off, Glass, a woman from ANOTHER another world, show up and killed the second Interdimensional Soul Eater. Now she sets her sights on Arthur...and ready to kill him.

She approaches, "I'm flattered that you know my name."

Arthur has his arms crossed while giving a serious look, "Don't be, Fan Hero. Because you want to consider yourself our enemy."

Itsuki asks, "Hey, uh, Arthur? How do you know this woman?"

Ren asks, "She's a hero, too?"

Motoyasu just say, "How about we forget about that and focus on the fact she killed the Soul Eater in one hit!?"

Raphtalia trembles a little, "I can't stop trembling."

Gwen has her katanas out, "If she refuses to listen to reason, I'll fight."

Filo is ready to fight along with all the others.

Glass is being smugged, "You should learn to keep your servants under control."

Motoyasu gets upset, "Servants!?"

Ren aims his sword, "Like hell!"

Itsuki prepares to fire his bow, "You're asking for it!"

Motoyasu strikes first, "Meteor thrust!"

Then Ren follows, "Meteor slash!"

Then Itsuki, "Meteor shot!"

The three blue colored attacks strike at Glass but she manages to evade them in some sort of fan dance and moves at very high speed.

"What the-?" Arthur says out loud. 'I don't remember her doing something like that. She usually deflects them, not avoid them. What is going on here?'

Motoyasu states, "Our attacks didn't work!"

"She manages to dodge our strongest attacks!" Itsuki pointed out.

"My turn now." Glass proclaims that it is her turn to attack.

Arthur realizes what is gonna happen as he shouts, "GET BEHIND ME!"

Gwen, Filo and Raphtalia get behind as Arthur prepares to shield the others.

Arthur's shield transform into the [Galahad Shield]. A shield from the Fate series as he cries out, "|Lord Camelot|!"

From his shield, some sort of bright blue and white shield-like projection comes out as some sort of castle with white walls and castle walls with blue banners appear.

Glass continues with her attack, "Zero Stance Rondo: Reverse Four Seasons!"

She unleashes a gust of wind with golden-colored sharp energy projectiles are fired for every time she swings her fans. Everyone, except for Arthur's party, get hit and knocked out by her attack. While everyone gets knocked out, a soul soothing potion pops out of Ren's pocket.

"Not bad." Arthur's defense skill disappears in blue lights as the castle and its walls disappear. "I was expecting that." Arthur grabs the soul soothing potion and drinks it. After drinking, he tosses the empty flask. "Yet this fight is pointless."

"Hmm?" Glass seems confused.

Arthur explains, "Listen here: If one hero dies in the Wave of Catastrophe, the more frequent the Waves will be. Not just the world where the hero has fallen, but all worlds. Yours and this one."

"Is that true!?" Raphtalia asks.

"Yep." Arthur

Gwen also nods, "Mmm-hmm."

Glass chuckles and smiles as she unfolds her fans. "Nice try, but I'm not buying it." She is not convinced, "Sorry, but if a hero that represents that particular world, the Waves will occur more frequently in the world they represent. Not all."

Arthur sighs in disappointment, "I was hoping to avoid this, but oh well." Arthur has his guard up along with his shield, "Guess I have to teach you a lesson. [Soul Eater Shield]!"

His shield transforms into the [Soul Eater Shield] which causes Glass to jump back into the poop deck of the ship midair. When she saw that, she got startled. However, it is a ploy when Arthur is close to her face as Arthur's shield transforms into some sort of gauntlet-shaped weapon that is red with the green orb on the back of the hand.

"Gotcha'!" Arthur then throws an uppercut, "|Saitama Punch|!"

Glass cross her folded fans to block the attack yet she is having a hard time trying to deflect the attack. Yet the force of Arthur's punch sends her flying back into the Wave to her own world with the poop deck, the captain's quarters and everything below where he punched gets blown away from the force of his punch. That and the kraken died.

Raphtalia has her jaw dropped along with Gwen in astonishment when they saw this new power.

Filo really likes it, "Wow! That was amazing, Big Bro!"

Arthur smiles as his gauntlet turns into a shield, "Thanks, Filo! I've been working on it!"

Gwen shakes it off, "But what the hell was that?! When did you do something like that!?"

Arthur explains, "I've been doing some mental training!"

"That was amazing." Raphtalia says while still in awe, "I didn't know the Shield Hero is capable of such power."

But the ship starts to rumble as Arthur notices that the timer has run out. He quickly gets everyone together with his party as quickly as he can before the Wave disappears and the ship crash lands. The shell and the rest of the kraken is scattered with pieces of the ship. Arthur and his party managed to rescue everyone that was on the ship while close to the shipwreck.

"That was too close." Arthur says in relief. 'But the time expired too quickly. It should have lasted longer. Just what is going on? Things have gone off script too much.'

"Guh." Motoyasu wakes up. "Dang it." he starts to sit up, "Just what was that?" The looks around and noticed the Wave is over already.

Everyone else starts to wake up with Itsuki asking, "What happened?"

Ren looks around, "The Wave is over?"

Malty says, "I can't believe the Shield Hero rescued me. Now I want a bath to get rid of his stench."

Motoyasu karate chops the top of Malty's head. "Myne." he sounds serious, "You should be thankful that he rescued you."

Malty whines, "Oh come on, Motoyasu!"

Itsuki asks, "But what happened to that Glass lady?"

Raphtalia explains what happened as Arthur tries to think about everything that has happened.

The young mutant ponders on everything that has happened up to this point that wasn't going like in The Rising of the Shield Hero. 'Is there something else at work? Because this isn't like the anime, I know that for sure. If so, guess I have to be on my toes.'

Nephalem says, 'Guessing that it may have to do with my presence. Or it could be your presence. I think.'

Arthur responds, 'Well whatever the case, best be prepared for everything. Kinda like the main character of Cautious Hero. But that would be overkill by my standards.'

Raphtalia finishes explaining, "And that's what happened. Arthur had his shield transform into a gauntlet and punched Raven back to whatever world she came from."

"Damn!" Motoyasu says in amazement, "I didn't know the shield can do that!"

"Might be a cheat." Ren speaks, "Because that is nothing like the game."

Itsuki nods, "Too true." But he remembers something, "Hang on! We need to head back and quarantine the Gila Dragon's corpse right away."

"Huh?" some of the people went.

"Oh yeah, we need to do that." Raphtalia agrees.

"Oh yeah." Gwen does that fist on hand thing, "I forgot about that thing."

Everyone headed over to the corpse of the Gila Dragon and see its rotting carcass that is leaking radioactive blood that is killing the grass.

"What the hell is this?" one of Ren's party members asked.

"This is a Gila Dragon." Arthur says as he stares at the dead beast. "And this creature is from my world."

Some gasp when they hear that.

"Wait a minute," Motoyasu speaks, "this thing is from your world?"

"Yeah." Arthur nod. "I fought a Gila Dragon before and survived." Arthur is referring to his past when he rescued people from a Japanese-style warlord when he was on a rampage as stated in one of the earlier chapters. "But I never got to do anything with it."

Ren asks, "So how can we clean this up?" He lowers his head a little, "I don't want to make the same mistake as last time."

Itsuki says to Ren, "Don't worry, I'm sure we can clean this up to prevent plagues."

But Motoyasu points out, "But didn't you say this thing has radioactive blood? How are we supposed to clean up this up without turning into ghouls?"

"EW!" Malty is disgusted by such a thought. "I don't wanna end up like some undead freak!"

Some of the women in everyone's party are freaked out by the thought of being turned into disgusting, rotting ghouls.

Filo, in her Filolial form, asks, "How about I eat it?"

"That's a bad idea." Motoyasu says to Filo, "You'll end up dead."

"Hmm." Arthur thinks about something. "Let me try something." He approaches it and taps it with the jewel on his shield.

The shield emits a green light as the corpse of the Gila Dragon gets absorbed along with all of its blood. Everyone watch as the Gila Dragon gets absorbed.

When it is done, Arthur goes, "Oh hey, that worked." He seems pleased that it worked. Yet when he checked to see his new Gila Dragon Series, that's when his glee stops. "Ah man. I can only use it when I'm at level 75. What a rip-off!"

For those that don't know, in the manga/novel series, Naofumi obtained the Bless Series by absorbing the body of one of his companions, Atlas. I think so, but things on the Shield Hero wiki keeps on changing around too much so I can't remember much and cannot double check my sources.

Raphtalia is impressed, "I didn't know you can use your shield like that. Amazing."

Filo says, "Your shield has a bigger stomach than I do."

Gwen says to Filo, "I thought you're stomach is a bottomless pit."

"HEY!" Filo then starts to pout.

Everyone (except for Malty) laugh for a bit.

Yet Ren looks at the ground where the Gila Dragon was, "Still though. Wish I knew something like that earlier so that village wouldn't suffer from my mistake."

"Not really." Arthur says to Ren, "The trick is that the size has to be depends on the level you are at. The higher the level, the bigger the corpse you can absorb rather than taking out pieces."

Motoyasu looks at his spear, "I wonder if I can do it with my spear. Seems like a good idea. But I won't get much of a meal if I do that."

Akel runs towards the heroes, "SIR SHIELD HERO!" Ake stops when he is in front of Arthur, "Sir Shield Hero, the king wants you to report to the palace at once with the captain escorting you!"

Malty starts to smirk a little because she knows what is gonna happen. Although Arthur knows what is gonna happen as well.

Arthur just say, "No."

Everyone is shocked to hear that.

Motoyasu places one hand on Arthur's right shoulder, "Oh come on man. I bet he's just curious on what happened."

Arthur grumbles at Motoyasu as he just backs away.

Akel pulls on Arthur's duster, "Please, Sir Hero, I beg of you!" He begs Arthur to go, but he doesn't want to. "I know how you feel. Believe me, I understand. But please, go with the captain."

Back at the castle, the king watches through the crystal ball to see the battle between Arthur and the Soul Eater. He watches on how he used three skills in a combo. The king's left eye twitched as he sees yet refused to believe that the Shield Hero has defeated the boss.

"I have seen enough." Aultcray, I mean, Luge looks away as he orders the mage to put the crystal ball away. He reluctantly has no choice put to congratulate him. "I saw what happened through the crystal ball. You did well to quell the Wave, as much as I hate to admit it."

Arthur still has a grumpy look on his face when he was begged to go. 'Just wrap this up. I have more pressing matters to do. Like how things are more different than the anime. The wyverns, the time difference when I met Melty, the appearance of a Gila Dragon and the Wave ended too quickly when it did. I already know that my Rage Shield doesn't have the berserker effects thanks to Nephalem. But I wonder if there is something else that might change. So just hurry the hell up with this farce.' Arthur sighs.

"I have a question for you, Hero. I want to exactly know how you obtain such incredible strength. You possess powers unbecoming of the Shield Hero. It is your duty to reveal the secret behind it." Sounds more like a demand. "It's time to spit it out! And don't you even think about lying to me."

Arthur just yawns and stretches as he cracks his neck. Once he is done, he replies, "Sorry, but I can't."

Luge gets upset, "You can't!?"

"Let's just say that there are people here that want that information that want to start a coup. If they get a hold of this information, then they will try to use it to assassinate your wife and daughters."

"WHAT?!" Luge grips his throne tightly when he heard that.

One or two of the people there started to sweat a little.

Luge slams one of his right fist on the arm of his throne, "Are you saying that someone is plotting to overthrow my wife and seize control of this country!?"

Arthur nod, "Yep."

Luge is so upset that you can see some veins bulging in his head, "YOU LIE! If there are conspirators, I want to know who they are!"

"I'm afraid I can't. Because you and Malty are their puppets. If I revealed them to you, they will kill you right here and now and then Malty. After that, they will kill Melty and your wife."

Luge grits his teeth in frustration. He wants to press Arthur for more information, but if he does, he and his family are gonna die right here and now. Luge clams down and realize he has no choice. "Take your reward and go."

A bit of a ballsy move on Arthur's part, but a good one. Arthur tells the king that he is nothing more than a pawn for some coup d'etat which will cause him to doubt some of the people of his court. With holding the name of the conspirators is a good idea. Telling Luge that the conspirators are the Three Heroes Church will make him look more like a fool, Luge will accuse him of lying, and would make Arthur look like a fool. With that done, Arthur takes his reward and leaves.

Arthur walks down the stairs after taking his reward and plant the thought of people planning to kill Luge and his family into the king's head. When he reaches to the bottom of the stairs, he passes a woman in pink and has brown hair as she tries to make it upstairs.

The woman says to Arthur, "You did well this time. I dare say, Shield Hero. I dare say."

Arthur smirks as he just face forward without looking at the woman. "I know who you are. I dare say, you are one of the queen's shadows. Don't worry, we're alone."

The woman chuckles a little. "I dare say, what gives you that idea?"

"We don't have much time. The Three Heroes Church are gonna plot their move against Melty. But don't worry, I'll protect her with my life if need be." Yet he turns around and extends his left hand, "Oh, can I please have one of those amulets that you got from the church? I may need it to convince some of the other heroes that their lives are in danger as well."

The woman smiles and hands him the amulet, "Understood. But I will have to inform the queen about this, I dare say."

Arthur smiles as he place the amulet in his pocket. "I know."

Back in the throne room, Melty approaches her father.

Luge is happy to see her, "Ah-ha, Melty." He stands up, "What can I do for you?"

Melty stops, "I was told that you and the Shield Hero had a conversation just now. Is that right, father?"

Luge smile fades away as he looks dumbfounded with his right eye doing a little twitch.

Melty continues, "And I was also told that the conversation ended in a very hostile manner."

The king sits down and looks tired.

"Father. If you remains at odds with the Shield Hero, we may loose our only means of fighting the Waves, which could threaten the safety of our entire country. Please try to reconcile with him?!"

Luge takes a deep breath through his nose as he tells Melty something, "I'm not sure. He told me that our lives are in danger. Yours. Mine. Your mother and sister. He also stated that I am a puppet for the conspirators. I...I don't want to lose my family again. The Shield Hero told me that there are conspirators that want to overthrow our family."

After hearing that, Melty formulates an idea. "So it is true then? From the rumors I have been hearing? There is someone that threatens our family."

Luge looks at Melty and is surprised. "Rumors? Are you saying that there is a coup?"

"I believe so."

Melty's idea seem to be working, which is good. But that is when Malty enters the room.

"Oh please." she says with a haughty attitude, "Like anyone would ever defy our family. If they would, we have the three heroes protecting us, minus the Shield Hero." Malty continues to walk pass her sister and be by her father's side, "Not to mention we have the backing of all the nobles and the Three Heroes Church."

When Malty mentions the Three Heroes Church, that is what Melty realizes something. She did read the report about her father being related to the Faubley Family and both the Three Heroes Church and her father have a deep hatred for the Shield Hero and the demi-humans. Melty put it all together and realizes that the Three Heroes Church are pulling her father's strings and plot to kill her and her family. But thanks to the warning about her life, she realizes that the church made a false deal with Malty.

Malty continues to talk, "Anyone that tries to defy our father will have the wrath of our nation hounding them down. With the queen being absent, father is in charge and his word is law."

Melty turns around and walks away.

"Melty?" Luge is wondering what is Melty doing.

"As the crowned princess and future queen, I have something important to do." Yet she turns her head and smiles at Malty, "Unlike a certain someone in our family."

Malty gets pissed off when Melty says that. It completely infuriates her that her younger sister gets to be queen and not her.

"I'll see you later." She turns around, bow, and walks out of the throne room.

As she exited the throne room, the same woman in pink is there with her. Yet unbeknownst to Melty, there is someone keeping an eye on her and he and his compatriots are gonna kill her.

Over at Erhard's shop, Erhard gives Arthur a new duster with some armoring on it. There is some armor on the chest area, shoulders and elbows. The armor is made of some sort of material that cannot be found in this world, or in Arthur's but it's composition is kept secret. Plus if you look closer, you can see the tiny dragon scales that act as the first layer of armor. Inside is the mithril shirt that acts as another layer of armoring. Yet the dragon zombie core is replaced with some sort of duplicate that is green in color that matches with the color of the outfit. Not only that, he gives Raphtalia a mana sword, which is a sword that is only a hilt yet the blade appears with enough mana channeled through it.

"That should be everything." Erhard says as he puts the items on the counter. "I was lucky to get this done with no problem."

Arthur takes the items, "Thanks."

Raphtalia takes the mana sword, "Are you sure I might need this? Because my sword seems fine."

Arthur says to Raphtalia, "Trust me, you'll know when you'll need it."

Erhard smiles, "You sure about this trip?"

Arthur responds, "Definitely. Right now, Shieldfreeden is the only place where I would be safe from the king of this country. Plus, I always prefer democracy."

Erhard gives a light chuckle, "Alright then. Just make sure you have a safe trip."

"Will do." Arthur says as he is about to head out the door.

Raphtalia says, "Thank you for everything."

"Take care now." Erhard waves goodbye as Arthur and Raphtalia leave.

Outside is the wagon with Filo and Gwen waiting for them. Gwen is leaning against the wagon as Filo kicks her feet up and down in the back.

"All set?" Gwen asks.

"I believe so." Arthur says as he heads in the wagon. "But I need to switch out my outfit first."

Filo transforms into her Filolial form so Gwen can get the reigns hooked up.

"Now I'm ready." Arthur sits up front with his sister as Raphtalia gets in through the back.

"All set here." Raphtalia tells everyone she is ready.

Filo extends her wings out of delight, "Ready! Hurray!" Then she pulls the wagon and they're off.

As they are on the road, Raphtalia states about Erhard, "Erhard is so fast and organized, isn't he? We wouldn't be able to leave so quickly otherwise."

"Yep." Arthur agrees as he looks at the supplies in the wagon. "Plus we have enough to last us for the whole trip."

Gwen makes a joke, "Assuming that Filo doesn't eat it all first."

"Hey!" Filo takes offense at that.

Everyone laughs but Filo is still a little upset.

She keeps her eyes on the road while mumbling, "I don't eat all the time."

Arthur reach into a bag and pulls out a note from Erhard. It reads: 'Just thought I put some gifts for the road, kids. Use them if you like. They may prove useful on your journey. For you, Arthur, a shield accessory. It can analyze any shield besides doing a ton of other useful stuff. For Gwen, I got her something based on the boots you had me make. You know, the ones with the wheels that can pop out at the bottom? Thought that might come in handy as well. For Raphtalia, I got her an extra sword. Its the same make as her sword if it breaks. Nothing like an old friend to help you out. And if god forbid if the kiddo couldn't pull the wagon anymore, this little item will come in handy.'

They made a pit stop near a river where Filo and Raphtalia try to catch some fish while Gwen and Arthur continue to read the note while Arthur is holding a pair of blue gloves.

'If she put these on, she'll have the strength of a hundred men. Even you can draw the wagon, kid.'

After fishing, Filo puts on her new gloves and she loves them.

The sun is setting as our four heroes stop for a dinner break. Filo tries drinking coffee but doesn't like it. Arthur looks up at the sky and sees one of those strange birds.

Arthur thinks to himself, 'I really miss The Pendragon. I really miss traveling in the sky. Pendragon, I miss you babe. Traveling on the ground is alright and does give one freedom. But traveling through the air, that is true freedom.'

But his melancholy is interrupted by a familiar voice, "Found you!"

Everyone looked and see Princess Melty and her royal escort.

Filo says in excitement, "It's Mel!" She stands up and wave her arms, "Hey there, Mel! So good to see you!"

Gwen puts her mug down, "Right on cue. At least this time."

Arthur stands up, "Hopefully things will turn out like in the anime this time."

Raphtalia stands up, "I don't fully understand but I'll do my part."

The princess' escort stop as Melty approaches the heroes to discuss something.

"Sir Shield Hero, I have a request." Melty speaks, "Please return to the capital and speak with King Aultcray again."

"I can't." Arthur responds.

Melty is a little annoyed but maintains her composure, "Please return? I would like to know about this coup. The one that wish to overthrow my family."

Melty's escort start to sweat a little when they hear that the church's plans are being revealed as Melty keeps on asking about it. Arthur gives a menacing gaze at the escort as he notices one of them has a crystal ball. One of the soldiers didn't waste any time and immediately spring into action. He charges at Melty with his sword being drawn.

Arthur shouts out, "NOW!"

Raphtalia raises her left hand and cast a spell, "FLASH OF LIGHT!"

A huge flash of light shined from her hand as the soldiers become blinded. As everyone becomes blinded, a sound of something crashing down and the sound of men screaming as if they are being crushed along with a sword hitting against metal. Then a series of punches and kicks were followed as the flash dissipates. When everything is cleared, there is a giant golden block where the carriage, horses and soldiers were with blood on the ground as some more blood seeps from the bottom of the block. One of the soldiers that was going to kill Melty lies on the ground bruised and wounded. Melty gasps at the sight.

"Looks like it was worth it." Gwen says as there is some green light at the tip of her right index finger. "That transmutation spell may have cost me a lot of mana, but worth killing those zealots."

Melty looks at Gwen and goes, "Wait, what!?"

Arthur says as he drags the soldier to the princess, "The conspirators are the Three Heroes Church. You should choose your soldiers more carefully." He throws the unconscious soldier onto the ground close to Filo. "Because you may never know when someone is more dedicated to their religion rather than the crown."

Filo turns into her Filolial form and stomps the guy to make sure he doesn't escape.

And the rest is to be continued.

AN: Hey everyone. Hope you guys are doing alright because of the whole Corona Virus outbreak. Hopefully better then what I experienced. I felt some of the aftershocks of an earthquake in the morning and afternoon. Stay safe, stay healthy and good luck. Until then, see you next time!