The Rising of the Shield Hero

The Shadow of the Shield

Chapter 1

The Wave

Turning to his party, Naofumi looked at his party with a serious gaze, "Alright, here's how we are going to do this. Once we are transported, we will first check the surrounding area to see if there are any towns or villages nearby. If there is, we will make protecting them our priority before heading out to the main forces. We will assist and aid all that need it, even help with the main boss if we have to."

"Not happening, Naofumi."

He rolled his eyes, turning to scowl at the blonde who was now standing right behind him, "Sorry, I was talking to my party and the last time I checked, you were not one of them. Did you need something?"

Motoyasu leaned in close to Naofumi, his spear resting on his shoulder as he smiled, "I couldn't help but overhear that you were going to help with the main boss. Don't even think about getting in my way Naofumi. That boss kill is mine."

"You said you were going to be the one to kill the boss?"

The two boys turned towards the voice, seeing both the Bow and Sword Heroes, Itsuki and Ren, standing there.

Ren folded his arms, "If you don't mind, I am going to be the one who will be killing the boss."

Itsuki side-eyed Ren, "Definitely not."

Motoyasu stood up straight, "All I have to say is that you all better stay out of my way out there."

Itsuki nodded at him, "At least we can agree on that. Everyone will stay out of each other's way. Is everyone in agreement with that?"

Motoyasu and Ren both looked at each other, nodding in agreement.

Itsuki turned to Naofumi, "What about you?" He stopped when he noticed that Naofumi had turned back to them, talking to his team once more.

Motoyasu scowled and started walking towards him, "Were you even listening to a word we said? Well, do you agree with us or not?"

He closed his eyes, "You guys go and agree on whatever you want. I would rather spend this time planning with my team."

Motoyasu shook his head as he turned on his heels and walked away with the other Heroes, "Lost cause..."

Raphtalia gasped and stepped forward as if to say something, but stopped when Naofumi opened his eyes and put his hand out to her, shaking his head, "They're not worth it, Raphtalia. Let's just continue to prepare for the wave." He glanced at the timer which was positioned at the top of his HUD, seeing that were was only one minute left until the wave started. He rummaged through a pouch, handing out little glass bottles to each member of his team, Raphtalia, Filo and Melty. He watched them drink the vials.

After drinking her vial, Filo changed into her Filolian form and looked at Naofumi.

Naofumi nodded to her and then focused on the timer once more, only a couple of seconds left, "Get ready."

As the timer went to zero, a gold light glowed around all of them.

When Naofumi opened his eyes, he found himself standing in a grassy area at the bottom of a hill. After further inspection, the area looked like it could have been an old lake or a crater of some kind. He looked up at the sky as it turned red, the monsters starting to fall from the sky. Taking a step forward, he went to say something but then froze, his HUD started shaking a little bit, cutting in and out a few times before returning to normal. His eyes widened, "What in the hell was that?"

Raphtalia turned her gaze from the sky to Naofumi, "Is everything alright, Naofumi?"

"Yeah, everything is fine. Let's go!" He started running up the hill towards the monsters which were pouring out of the sky. The three girls followed him, getting ready to attack the monsters.

Naofumi turned his head towards the crater once more, his eyes widened, but he shook his head and continued running.

...

As she slowly opened her light blue eyes, she found herself on the grassy floor, looking up at the red sky. She closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath and she gasped, sitting upright with her eyes wide open. She frantically scanned the area, her breathing rapid as she tried to make sense of everything. As she started to calm down, she looked down at the shield on her arm, it was round and silver with green and blue leaves all around the edge. Placing her hand on it and frowned deeply.

"Wh-where am I..." She muttered quietly as she stood up. She wore a slightly tattered and burnt brown and forest green dress which was form-fitting to her figure, there was a black underdress underneath it, sticking out below the hem on the overdress and had a slight turtleneck collar to it. Both dresses were short-sleeved, revealing her arms. She wore armoured gloves that came up to the elbows, they were made with brown leather with fur trim and were heavily burnt. His right arm carried her shield. Over her dress, he had a silver chest plate and a brown belt with pouches, they were all empty. She wore thigh-high black socks with knee-high boots which were a combination of dark and light brown fur trim. Over the top of her outfit, she had a cloak, this cloak was almost black from being burnt heavily with fire. A few patches showed close to their original colour, dark green. Pulling the hood over her long, slightly wavey brown hair. She started walking up the grassy hill.

...

A large almost skeletal monster stood up straight, large claws stained in blood, its body, scorched charcoal in colour. Its cold dead eyes spotted its next target, it began walking and then broke into a run.

In a flash of silver, the monster's body squirted with a thick, black blood-like substance, hitting the ground. A sword-wielding figure stood over the monster. With a swift flicking motion, the blood on the blade splattered on the floor, the blade ready for the next monster.

"Good job, Raphtalia!"

Raphtalia turned to smile at Naofumi, then turned to move towards the next monster, slicing through the next monster with just as much ease as the last.

Another monster landed behind her but it was instantly kicked out of the area by the Filo, she turned and looked at her, "Are you ok, Raphtalia?"

Raphtalia nodded as she smiled at him, "I am okay, thank you, Filo!"

"As source of thy power, I order thee! Decipher the laws of nature and slice through my target like a blade of water. Zweit Aqua Slash!"

Three monsters coming up from behind Filo and Raphtalia were sliced by a large of water, they both turned and looked at Melty.

Naofumi looked at them as he blocked the attack from a monster, knocking it to the side so Raphtalia could finish it off with her sword. He nodded to her and then looked towards where the main fight was. Something didn't feel right. He took a step forward, but his HUD started to shake again, his HUD cutting in and out, feeling disorientated by it. He shook his head and began running towards where the main boss was.

The three girls all exchanged looks and followed him, cutting through the monsters as they went.

Just as Naofumi arrived at the boss, it was clear that the other Heroes had been struggling. Motoyasu, Ren and Itsuki had all taken quite the beating and their teams had all been rendered unconscious or close to it. None of them looked like they could continue fighting the boss, a large black dragon with deep purple eyes and large metallic claws.

When Motoyasu noticed Naofumi, he scowled and walked towards him, pointing his spear at him, "Didn't I tell you to stay out of the way!?" As he turned his back to the boss, the dragon sent him flying with one swipe of its claws, causing him to hit a wall and knock him out.

Ren and Itsuki simply hobbled out of the way, giving Naofumi and his party room.

Stepping in front of everyone, locking eyes with the dragon, "Raphtalia! Filo! Melty!"

Raphtalia ran forward, sword at the ready. The dragon swiped at her, but the attack was halted by a piercing shot of water from Melty, Raphtalia followed Melty's attack with a direct hit with her sword. Filo ran forward and jumped high up into the sky, using the bladed claws on her talons to slice into the beast, the dragon staggered back slightly, shook off the attack and stood back up as if nothing had happened, no marking or cuts could be seen.

Naofumi looked at his HUD, everyone had been fighting for way too long by this point and if the wave continued, it would just cause more issues. Everyone was getting close to their limits and he knew he had to make a decision now. He closed his eyes, holding his shield out in front of him, "Come forth." He spoke in a demanding tone.

Raphtalia gasped, instantly turning to him, "Master Naofumi!"

He opened his eyes, "Rage Shield!" The green gem in the middle of his shield burst into red flames, engulfing his shield and changing its shape. He looked at the dragon, yelling out as he began shooting fire at the shield.

Are you sure using that Shield is really worth it, Naofumi?

Pain ripped through his head as if the claws from the dragon had gotten a hold of him. The flames from the shield dimmed out as he put his hand to his head, "What in the hell..." He bowed his head, gasping for breath.

Raphtalia took a step towards him, "Master!"

As the dragon was not being hit by fire anymore, his attention instantly changed back to Raphtalia, swiping at her.

Naofumi's eyes widened, "Raphtalia!" He moved forward but wasn't fast enough. "No!" He gasped as a figure darted past him.

Raphtalia opened her eyes to see a cloaked figure standing in front of her, stopping the attack from the dragon with a shield. For a moment, it seemed like it was Naofumi, but then she quickly realised it wasn't him, it was someone else. The figure pushed the shield forward with a large amount of force, unbalancing the beast with ease.

Naofumi stepped forward in awe of how much strength this mysterious shield user had. His eyes widened when the shield user turned their head slightly towards him.

The dragon let out a terrifying roar, causing everyone to place their hands over their ears, but the figure didn't seem to flinch at all, they turned back to the dragon, their shield at the ready. The beast swiped its claws at the figure again, being blocked once more, the hood of the cloak fell back, revealing long wavey brown hair. The girl just stood there, digging their back foot into the dirt beneath her, pushing the beast back with more force this time, jumping away from it.

"Now!" She yelled out.

Naofumi gasped and nodded, seeing this as the perfect opportunity, closing his eyes as the shield burnt brighter this time, he raised the shield up into the air, "Shield Prison!"

The ball-like shield formed around the beast, chains covering the ball. The dragon could do nothing but thrash about inside it.

"Change Shield!"

Spikes filled the inside of the ball and the cries of the beast were all that could be heard now.

The girl bowed her head, holding her right arm tightly behind her shield.

Naofumi bowed his head, his voice turned demonic as he spoke, "Within this virgin of cold ore, who shall swallow even your screams with her embrace, suffer in anguish as your entire body is stabbed and skewered! Iron Maiden!" The Red Gem of the shield as the iron doll floated down from the sky, the chamber of spikes opened up and the ball raised towards it, the chamber closed, struggling against the ball. Naofumi clenched his fist and the maiden's chamber shut instantly and then disappeared in a glow of green, leaving the corpse of the beast to fall to the ground.

Naofumi exhaled in relief, then cried out as the fire from the shield burst into action once more, his eyes turned red as he yelled out while the rage started to take over.

Raphtalia ran towards him, "Master Naofumi!"

The girl turned and ran towards Naofumi, she pulled her shield off her right arm and threw it to the ground. She stopped in front of him, "Not now!" She reached her right hand out and touched the gem on the shield. The flames seemed to react to her, engulfing her hand and climbing up her arm rapidly. She flinched in pain, her light blue eyes turned red.

Don't let it take over, Naofumi. It is not worth losing everything...

Naofumi's eyes instantly reverted to normal, he looked at the girl who stood in front of him as his shield returned to normal.

Her eyes changed from red to the same colour green as the gem on his shield. When she moved her hand off his shield, her eyes faded to light blue. She smiled, "It looks like I made it just in time..." She exhaled as if her whole body relaxed, but her legs gave way as she fell unconscious, hitting the floor.

Disclaimer:

I do no own anything to do with The Rising of the Shield Hero.

Things have been altered to fit my fanfic. The outcome in this fanfic may contain spoilers in the story The Rising of the Shield Hero depending on where this story goes.

Some scenes have been cut or altered for the purpose of this fanfic. Some of the scenes which will be cut are no longer needed or are long-winded or tedius and don't work with how the story is being written. Certain scenes which have been cut will get a mention and an explanation.

Enjoy!