Yuya Sakaki, Rise of the Duelist Shield Hero(s)

by cmbasher7

6 years after the 2nd defeat of Z-Arc, Yuya Sakaki, alongside the spirits of Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri, are living a good life in Paradise City, when one visit to the library transports our heroes into another world alongside 3 other people wielding a Sword, a Spear, a Bow, and with Yuya wielding… a Shield? Can Yuya Sakaki save the world with 3 spirits, a slave, and a shield? Find out!

1. Welcome Shield Hero, Yuya Sakaki

Hey guys and gals, CMBasher7 here with a new fanfic made just for you guys. I know I haven't updated my other works often but don't worry, I am working on the 3rd chapter to Httyd Theatre. I'm just taking a very long Hiatus to let my mind cool down.

So just to give you some heads up, which you already know, I don't own any of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V or The Rising of The Shield Hero characters at all and all pieces of work, music, and other things belong to their respective creators and artists. I will also be taking some Shield Ideas from Family of the Shield fanfic by Javetts, go check him out if you like.

Anyways, with that out of the way now, let's start the first chapter of Yuya Sakaki, Rise of the Dueling Shield Hero(s).

---

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]

---

???, ???...

We start our story in the middle what looks like a wasteland, the only sound being the wind blowing above and the waves crashing below against the rocky face of a cliff's edge.

The sounds of some avian's screech high above as they soar through the air, one such avian falls behind it's flock and is quickly snatched up by some sort of strange prehistoric bird-like avian.

We cut to a figure sitting on top of a cliff overlooking the endless sea of clouds as some mountains breach the sky's cloudy waves.

The figure appears to be male in his early 20's, he is wearing a gold and red lined white jacket over his shoulders like a cape. His face, while hard to make out, appears to be upset as his purple, greenish-blue, and grey eyes gives him a cruel and sadistic, but also a steel-hardened and short-tempered aura. His dual-colored green and crimson hair of average length stick out in a downward pointing spikes around his head. On his right arm, is a small, metal shield with a crystal orb that was a color combination of black, white, and purple. And on his left arm, was a red device with a screen and inside was a deck of cards.

He was seen fiddling with a blue crystal pendant around his neck.

Suddenly, an orange ball bounces it's way to the male figure before stopping right as it hit's the man's right foot.

Another figure approaches, a feminine one at that, she is wearing a red dress with brown at the sides, it appears she has a some sort of tail that looks similar to that of a raccoon. She has brown hair with a pair of tanuki ears.

The male figure looks at the female figure as his eyes suddenly changes color from purple, greenish-blue, and grey to crimson, as his aura changes from sadistic, short-tempered, and steel-hardened to a more goofy and friendly aura, and the crystal orb changes to a soothing green color. He smiles warmly at the female figure like her presence here has just calmed him down.

He gets up from his position and hands her the orange ball to the female figure as she reaches out to grab it and as soon as she touches it, the area changes to the two of them being in a forest on top of some rocks with moss.

The scene shines brightly on the two, too bright in fact that the only color there is, is the color white, a raven flies above the white scenery.

---

Paradise City...

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.

After he gets dressed, he sits down on his bed and leaves himself in his thoughts about his dream last night.

"What a weird dream." The 20 year old boy says, as he scratches his dual-colored green and crimson hair. His voice is full of energy and fun, but right now he is confused.

My name is Yuya Sakaki, I'm 20 years old, I'm a Duelist Champion and a College Sophmore with slight otaku tendencies.

"You can say that again, Yuya." A voice calls out to Yuya, but there is no one there in the room or at the door. In fact, the only person in the room is Yuya himself. The voice sounded serious and cold.

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.

"It's probably nothing to worry about, I think." Another voice says, this time it sounds rough and somewhat vulgar comparable to that of a delinquent.

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.

"Of course you wouldn't take that dream as a sign, Slowgo." Another male voice spoke out, this time to Yugo. The voice sounded posher and vulgar with a tone of mocking at Yugo.

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.

"It's been 6 years!? How many times do I have to say this!? My name is YUGO!" Yugo shouted at Yuri, who was just smiling.

"Not to me it isn't, Yogurt." Yuri smiles at Yugo's anger. Yugo growls angrily at Yuri.

Now, some of you may be wondering, why are there 3 people in my room that are see-through and look exactly like me? Well, that's because these 3, plus me, were once all the reincarnations of one of the strongest duelist's in the world, Z-Arc, after his worlds, known as the Original Dimension, was split apart into 4 Dimensions after Z-Arc became psychotic from his/now our Dragon's belligerence, and the pressure of his audience's selfishness and greed for more violent duels.

But before we get to that last part, let me tell you about the Duel Monsters part. Duel Monsters is a popular card game in all four Dimensions, the game required players to have not only good strategy but a strong deck as well that revolved around that person's play style, using Monsters, Spells, and Trap Cards to help further the players goal of beating their opponents.

Now each Dimension from Z-Arc's first defeat was split into four, they were all named after the Four Extra Deck Summoning methods, that being; Standard, Fusion, Synchro, and Xyz.

But Z-Arc wasn't completely defeated as he and a girl by the name of Ray Akaba, another duelist who defeated him the first time, were both splitted into four people and inhabited one of the Four Dimensions that were created from the Original Dimension, and each counterpart wielded one Dimension Dragon that Z-Arc once owned before his first defeat.

Lulu Obsidian was Ray Akaba's Reincarnation for the Xyz Dimension, with "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon" being wielded by Yuto, who was Z-Arc's Reincarnation of his Vengeance in the Xyz Dimension.

Rin was Ray Akaba's Reincarnation for the Synchro Dimension, with "Clear Wing Synchro Dragon" being wielded by Yugo, who was Z-Arc's Reincarnation of his Passion in the Synchro Dimension.

Celina was Ray Akaba's Reincarnation for the Fusion Dimension, with "Starving Venom Fusion Dragon" being wielded by Yuri, who was Z-Arc's Reincarnation for Power in the Fusion Dimension.

And finally, Zuzu Boyle were from the Standard Dimension, with "Odd-Eyes Dragon" being wielded by yours truly, Yuya Sakaki, who was Z-Arc's Reincarnation of his Entertaining Spirit in the Standard Dimension.

But one day, during a match between me and The Sledgehammer, a duelist who became champion after my Dad, Yusho Sakaki, the inventor of the popular way of dueling called "Dueltaining", didn't show up and was called a coward nine years ago.

But 5 years ago, when I was 14 and was battling against the Sledgehammer to reclaim my dad's honor, I had created a new summoning method known as Pendulum Summoning, and that summoning method transformed "Odd-Eyes Dragon" into "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon".

And after a series of adventures, I discovered that me and my other 3 counterparts were the reincarnations of Z-Arc by Leo Akaba, a man who wanted to bring his daughter and the 4 dimensions back as one after he had recovered his memories. And the way to do that was by turning everyone into cards and destroy Z-Arc's reincarnations and combine Ray's reincarnations back into one, effectively killing the 4 reincarnations of Ray Akaba.

But after my dad challenged Yuri, who had defeated Yugo and absorbed his Synchro reincarnation and taken "Clearwing Synchro Dragon" to a Duel and lost, Myself, along with Yuto who was absorbed into me after his defeated against Yugo who was looking for Rin, broke down as we started to succumb to Z-Arc's will to reunite ourselves as one.

After a fierce duel, I had finally defeated Yuri and absorbed both his Fusion and Synchro counterparts, but I was suddenly transformed into a demonic version of Z-Arc, who had from what I'm told had my hair as I was the last counterpart remaining. Z-Arc then revealed to Declan, the son of the new Standard Dimension Leo Akaba and leader of a resistance group known as The Lancers, that he was the true founder of Pendulum Summoning.

He defeated every ally I had made along my way across the four Dimensions; Gong Strong, Sylvio Sawatari, Declan Akaba, Sora Perse, Shay Obsidian, Crow Hogan, Jack Atlas, Kite Tenjo, Aster Phoenix, and Leo Akaba, all without losing a single Life Point.Even destroying the thing that split him and his dimension the firsttime.

But Z-Arc was defeated by Riley Akaba, adopted younger sister of Declan Akaba in the Standard Dimension with Ray Akaba's spirit controlling her body and sealing Z-Arc within Riley, who after defeating Z-Arc was reverted back into a baby who couldn't stop crying because of Z-Arc's influence, and the only way to truly get rid of him was for me to make Riley smile, which is a lot easier said than done and would would also revive Zuzu.

But after so many duels, I was finally able to make Riley smile as Zuzu was brought back into the newly named Pendulum Dimension.

But now, 6 years later, me and Zuzu have both decided that is was best that we remained friends, even if the universe was trying to get us either together or apart. Which made both Yuto and Yugo upset that they won't be able to see Lulu and Rin, but Yuri remained indifferent as he and Celina never had any romantic feelings for one another, which didn't bother them.

Yuya grabs 4 other devices that looked similar to the device strapped around his left arm off the nightstand next to his bed and places them inside his backpack that he had now just placed around his left shoulder, this was a Duel Disk, a device made to duel other duelists. And 3 of the Duel Disks were made the same way that Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri had when they had their bodies, but had different colors compared to their originals.

Yuto's Duel Disk looked like a Tamagotchi from that anime Yuya watched called "Datamon" and it was the color black.

Yugo's new Duel Disk looked almost like a wheel from a steering wheel or a car's wheel and was colored white.

Yuri's new Duel Disk looked like a small purple shield.

There was also another Duel Disk and Deck, this one belonged to no one and was instead a gift by another duelist named Battle Beast, or BB for short, a powerful duelist from the Fusion Dimension who gave him the Duel Disk and his Deck after Yuya had made Riley smile and as a thank-you for freeing him from Sanders control after being declared to powerful to control and threatened to be sealed into a card in the Predator Jungle Battle Royal. He even gave Yuya a new Gladiator Beast card named, "Gladiator Beast Cestus".

The Duel Disk looked like a brown and teal red raccoon/tanuki curled up and ready to go to sleep as a fuzzy ball.

Yuya then walks over to his computer and logs out of the game he was playing and shuts his screen off. He then walks over to the blinds and opens it a bit but winces when the sunlight hits his eye.

"Bright one today, huh?" Yuya says tiredly as he looks outside.

"You can say that again." Yuri says as he walks over the the window before wincing at the sun's bright light.

Yuya walks out of his room as Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all walk behind him and stretch themselves despite also having no bones due to being spirits, but that didn't stop them.

I had bought this apartment after saving enough money and getting a the prize money for winning the Battle Royal, 6 years ago. Of course, had I known before that I would be living with my other 3 counterparts, I would have probably gone insane from loneliness and boredom, I do still get some allowance from my Mom and Dad of course, so their's that.

Yuya and his other 3 counterparts head outside to get something to eat and read.

---

Streets of Paradise City...

With no need for a part-time job, being only to train new students in the art of Dueltaining and Action Duels. I got to indulge my Otaku side at times with the guys.

Yuya is seen walking the streets of Paradise City as Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all follow behind Yuya as some people walk through them, the three counterparts not being disturbed by this at all.

A girl accidentally walks into Yuya as he quickly apologizes to the girl who apologizes back and catches up with her friends.

Yuya looks at the three females who were talking to one another about him.

"Oh, hi!"

"Did you see that guy over there?"

"He is so cute!"

"You really got to get yourself a girlfriend, Yuya." Yugo said with a cheeky smile as he stood right next to the Duelist Champion.

"I would, but all the girls I meet are usually not my type." Yuya told Yugo, which to everyone else they didn't see anything but Yuya talking to himself.

"Good point." Yugo agrees with Yuya.

"The oaf has a brain, it must be the end of the world." Yuri taunts Yugo, a smile on his face.

"Why I outta!" Yugo growls angrily at Yuri's taunting.

"Cut it out you two. Let's get something to eat and then head to the library." The Xyz counterparts says smacking both the Fusion counterpart and Synchro counterpart across the back of their heads.

That said, I certainly wasn't one of those so-called shut ins.

---

Paradise City Library...

We cut to a library as we see many people and workers in here either placing books back where they belong or reading those said books either where they got them, on the tables, or checking them out to read at home. Some were seen playing Duel Monsters at the tables without using their duel disks, some even put up challenges for one another, like whoever makes the most noise and is kicked out of the library is the loser.

Yuya is seen entering the building as he quietly greets the Librarians and people inside the Library, they too also quietly greeting him.

When my spending money ran out, I went to the library after Breakfast every morning to browse through any light novels that could catch me and the other guys eyes.

Yuya is seen browsing through one of the aisle of light novels, Yuri is looking through an aisle full of horror stories, Yugo is browsing through the books looking for books about race cars, and Yuto is just leaning against the book shelf, all 3 of them are trying to stay near Yuya, not like they got much of a choice they follow where ever Yuya goes.

I was a completely normal, but fun-loving person that was willing to make anyone smile and a good normal life...

Yuya sees a book and grabs it just as Yugo, Yuto, and Yuri all walk towards him with many workers and readers walking through them as the 3 made their way to Yuya.

The book Yuya was trying to grab was being difficult to pull out, so he pulled harder and accidentally made the other books that surrounded it, fall out of their shelf and onto Yuya's head.

Yuya rubbed his head, trying to soothe the pain in his skull as quickly notices the books that fell, one of them being a red book.

"Damn." Yuya winces as he rubs his head and begins to pick up the books. "What the hell?"

"What is it, Yuya?" Yuto asks Yuya what was wrong as he, Yuto, and Yuri were all behind Yuya.

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.

...That is, until I picked up that book.

"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?"

"Did you say Weapons?" Yuri asks intrigued when Yuya said "Weapons".

"Really, THAT'S the first thing that gets your attention?" Yuto asks with disbelief at the Sadistic Personality of Z-Arc.

Yuri just sticks his tongue out and pulls his lower eyelid down at Yuto mockingly.

"Well, don't keep us waiting. Read it!" Yugo demanded Yuya to read it, like a child wanting a cool toy.

Yuya opens the book and begins to read it's contents, but before he does he notices that there is no inside text or name of the author inside the book's cover. Yuya doesn't take caution to this and begins to read the book.

"Huh, Let's see..." Yuya begins to read the book.

"In order to save the world from the Waves of Apocalyptic Catastrophe, Four Heroes will be summoned from another world." Yuya reads the book's prologue lore. "Sounds like something out of an Isekai or something, not that I don't mind."

"Seems like the standard light novel stuff you would normally find." Yuto says as Yuri agrees, Yugo just looks like a kid in a candy store having already been enthralled into the prologue of the story.

"Ssh, I wanna know what happens next!" Yugo tells Yuto to be quiet as he listens to the story.

Yuya chuckles at Yugo's fascination with this book's lore, he then turns the page and continues reading.

"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.

"One of these things are not like the others." Yuri says confused about the Shield.

"A shield is meant to protect, not attack so why call that out?" Yuto said confused as well.

"I'm pretty sure a Shield isn't a weapon, but is more like armor." Yugo adds in his comment as he rest his arm on Yuya's shoulder, causing it to drop a bit from Yugo's arm being on his shoulder.

Thankfully due to Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri being spirits that have no physical form, it also means that they can't be heard by anyone and/or interact with anything from the physical plane except Yuya.

"Oh yeah, tell that to Gong and his Superheavy Samurai's." Yuya tells his Xyz, Synchro, and Fusion counterparts.

"Touché." Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all said at the same time.

"Anyways, where is the heroine in this tale?" Yuya asks himself as he regains the attentions of his other counterparts, Yuri looks over Yuya's shoulder and notices a picture of a princess in the book.

"I doubt it's that princess, she seem's kinda bitchy. I like it, makes her look... cute." Yuri smiles at seeing the drawing of what appears to be a princess.

"You seriously cannot tell me that is your type of woman?" Yuto deadpans at Yuri's calling something cute.

"No, my kind of woman is the kind that isn't afraid to put poison in my food or manipulate others to do her bidding." Yuri corrects Yuto with a smile still on his face.

"You are unbelievable, you know that?" Yuto says keeping his deadpanned expression on Yuri.

"Yeah, well these Hero guys seem pretty damn cool and impressive." Yuya says getting Yuto and Yuri's attention back onto the book. "I guess all four of them are the main protagonist."

He then turns the pages inside the book and notices that there are spotlight information about each hero.

"There are even spotlights on the Sword, Spear and Bow Heroes." Yuya says as he turns the page to the Shield Hero's page.

"The Hero of the Bow has a strong sense of Justice. His arrow would strike down those who have done wrong to the innocent." Yuto read the page about the Bow Hero.

"The Hero of the Spear was the most Loyalest of them. His spear would always be pointing true to those who he could trust the most." Yugo read the page about the Spear Hero.

"The Hero of The Sword was the most strongest by far. His sword could strike down even the toughest of foes." Yuri read the page about the Sword Hero.

"Hey, even the Shield Hero get's one. Let's see; and the Hero of the Shield was considered to be the most..." Yuya says as he turns the page on the Shield Hero.

"Huh?!"

But when he turned that page, he noticed that it was blank, like whoever wrote it just suddenly stopped at the Shield Hero, or better yet, whoever the Shield Hero was, was trying to write their own story in this book, but never got to finish it.

"Where are the words?" Yugo asks confused about the missing info on the Shield Hero.

"Why put a book in the library if you're not even going to finish writing it?" Yuto asks confused as well about the missing info on the Shield Hero.

"Something doesn't feel right." Yuri says on edge about the blank page of The Shield Hero.

"Where's the rest of it?" Yuya asks confused and on edge about the blank page of the Shield Hero.

Suddenly a yellow light emits from the blank pages getting all four incarnations of Z-Arc's attention.

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.

---

???

Yuya suddenly slams down onto the floor. HARD. He groans out in pain.

'Yuto? Yugo? Yuri? If you guys are still alive, say "Aaaaaaauuuuugh..." on the count of three.

One...

Two...

Three!' Yuya thinks as he talks to his 3 counterparts in his mind.

"Aaaaaaauuuuugh..." Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all groan at once in pain as they all raised a hand into the air.

'Okay, we're all here...' Yuya gives a mental relieved sigh.

"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.

"What?" Yuya says along with three other voices that Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, or Yuri don't recognize.

Yuya and the other three counterparts look and see that there are three other people next to Yuya, all of them wielding a distinct weapon in their hands.

The closest to Yuya was a man who has long blond hair that is held back in a ponytail with bangs hanging on the left side of his forehead and bright orange eyes. He wears a white shirt underneath an open red jacket with a metal pendant around his neck and a pair of khaki pants. In his hands was a white spear with gold accents and a red orb.

The 2nd farthest was another boy who has short black hair that falls flat on his head and is seen wearing a blue shirt with a black shirt underneath and is also wearing a pair of black pants. In his hand was a white sword with gold accents and a blue orb.

And the furthest away from Yuya was a well-kept young boy wearing a green university uniform that Yuya, Yuto, or Yuri don't recognize from any of their dimensions. He has short light brown curly hair. And finally, in his hands was a white bow with gold accents and a yellow orb.

'A Sword, A Spear, And A Bow? But wait, that would mean...' Yuya thought to himself as his 3 other counterparts heard Yuya's thoughts and looked at his arm.

And when Yuya had looked at his right arm, he noticed something that definitely WASN'T there before. It was a silver shield with black accents and a green orb. Thankfully, his crimson Duel Disk was still on his left arm.

A lot of things were going through Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri's minds at once. 'Does that mean that book was real? Where the hell are we? What is going on?'

"What the hell?!" Yuya shouted in confusion at the Shield on his arm. "A Shield?"

"Please, O Brave Heroes! Our world is in dire need of saving." The robed man begged the 4 of them (technically, 7).

"Is this for real?" Yuya asked still confused about this as the young boy wielding the Bow, probably the Bow Hero, pulled the string of his bow back to test it's elasticity.

"What do you mean it's in need of saving?" The Bow Hero asks the robed man.

"The story behind it all is long and complicated, but sufficient to say that you are the Four Cardinal Heroes and you were summoned here using an ancient ritual." The robed man explains the them.

'Cardinal, huh?' Yuya thought to himself.

"Looks like we're going to have to save the world... again." Yuri deadpans to Yuya but no one heard him, just as no one could see him or the other two with Yuya.

"So these guys think that Yuya and these other three are legendary heroes?" Yugo asks scratching the back of his head in confusion.

"It appears so, Yugo." Yuto says to Yugo with a raised curious eyebrow.

"Our world is in a most fragile state. And teeters on the brink of destruction." The Robed Man tells the Four Cardinal Heroes. "So we beg you, O brave heroes, please lend us your aid." He desperately begs the four heroes as he along with the other 4 robed people behind him bowed as well.

"Oh, I could get use to this." Yuri says with a devious and sadistic smile on his face.

'Don't even think about it, Yuri.' Yuya mentally tells Yuri as he looks at his Fusion Counterpart.

"Hmph, You never let me have any fun." Yuri huffs with displease.

"No, We don't let you have any SADISTIC fun." Yuto tells Yuri with a glare.

Yuri sticks his tongue out at Yuto upset at not abusing this power they are given.

"Real mature, Yuri." Yugo says with a bland expression.

"Thank you, YuSlow." Yuri says with a taunting smile at Yugo.

"IT'S YU-GO!?" Yugo shouted at Yuri for getting his name wrong, again.

'Guy's! Focus!' Yuya mentally shouts at the two spirits.

"Sure, I'm always happy to help someone out." Yuya said with a determined smile on his face.

The robed man was slightly relieved by this, but for some reason a few of the other robed people seemed like they didn't like Yuya agreeing to help them.

Yuya hoped that with him agreeing to help these people, the other Cardinal Heroes would also agree as well.

...

...

...

"Forget it." The Sword Hero said.

"Huh?/Huh?" Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and even Yuri, all said at once in confusion.

"I also refuse." The Bow Hero said.

"You can send us back to our Home World, right? Do that and maybe we'll talk." The Spear Hero said.

The Sword Hero then points his sword at the robed people, it looks like he was intent on getting back home.

"You brought the four of us here without our consent, don't you feel the least bit guilty about it?" The Sword Hero said.

"Not to mention, if you throw us out as soon as we restore peace, we'd have done all that work for nothing." The Bow Hero explained.

'And they call these guys Heroes?' Yuya thought to himself, stunned by what he was hearing from the three other heroes.

"They sure don't act like Heroes." Yuto said stunned as well.

"Though that Bow Hero does brings up a very good point." Yuri said as he kinda agreed with The Bow Hero. "If we do restore peace to this land and are sent back with nothing, it'll have been for nothing."

'Not true, we would save so many innocent lives when we restore peace.' Yuya mentally counters Yuri's agreement with the Bow Hero.

"You make... a valid point, Yuya." Yuri begrudgingly agreed with Yuya as he thought about Yuya's words.

"How willing are you to accommodate our requests? Depending on your answer we may end up as your enemies instead of your allies." The Spear Hero threatens the group of robed people.

'What's with these guys? Their not only taking this opportunity to be Heroes with stride, but also demanding respect and rewards.' Yuya thinks to himself as he looks at The Sword Hero, Spear Hero, and Bow Hero with disbelief on them acting nothing like the book he read.

"G-Good sirs, before I say anymore we'd like you to have with the king of Melromarc." The robed man said as he walked to the 4 Heroes (and 3 spirits). "You can negotiate rewards with him directly. So please." He tells them.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

"Alright fine." The Sword Hero says as he lowers the sword away from the robed man.

"I suppose we'll consider their offer." The Bow Hero said

"Sure, doesn't matter who we talk to, our demands won't change." The Spear Hero said as he joins with behind the Sword and Bow Heroes.

"Yeesh. Can they be any more smug?" Yuri said with annoyance at the Sword, Spear, and Bow Hero's attitude. Yuya nods his head in agreement with Yuri.

"O-oh, and w-what do you request, Sir Shield Hero?" The robed man said as he stuttered nervously, but held a calm smile.

That regain's Yuya's attention as he blushes nervously a bit at the sudden attention towards him.

"O-Oh, uh, I don't want anything, I just want people to smile knowing someone is there to protect them." Yuya says with a sweat drop and a nervous smile as he scratches the back of his head.

This stunned the robed man as well as the other four robed people, this Hero wanted nothing in return but to have people smiling unlike the other three.

Yuya, along with Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri, quickly caught up with The Sword Hero, The Spear Hero, and the Bow Hero as they climbed the flight of curving stairs.

One by one the four Heroes all looked out the window to see the world for themselves as they walked up the steps.

"Wow, look, this really is another world." The Bow Hero said as he passes the window.

"Sure is." The Spear Hero agreed with The Bow Hero.

When Yuya got to the window he as well as his 3 other dimensional counterparts looked outside in awe of the beauty of the town of known as Melromarc.

Yuya took a deep breath in of this new world's air and smiled.

"Even the air feels different." Yuya says with a smile.

"You can say that again." Yuto says with a calm, almost relaxed smile, this place reminded him of Heartland City before the Fusion Dimension Invasion.

"This view beats the Tops society in New Domino City by a mile." Yugo says with an grin.

"It almost does have it's own beauty in a way, almost." Yuri said also looking out the window, but if you looked closely you could see a smile smirk on his face.

"You got that right." Yuya quietly agrees with Yuri, Yuto, and Yugo. "It's like something you would see described in a travel brochure." He says.

"So does that mean you never traveled outside of Japan before?" The Bow Hero asks as the Sword Hero and Spear Hero look at Yuya.

"Uh, technically not." Yuya half-lied, it wasn't false as he did travel outside of HIS Dimension's Japan, but also into did travel into other dimension's Japan with his time during the Fusion Dimension Invasion.

"Judging by the breeze, I'd say this place has a fairly standard Mediterranean climate." The Sword Hero said.

"Uh, yeah sure that's what I meant." Yuya says rubbing the back of his head."I just couldn't remember the words."

"Nice save." Yugo says with a thumbs up and a wide grin at Yuya.

"He's is quite smart. Must be in high school to know that." Yuri analyze The Sword Hero's by looking at him, slightly impressed by his knowledge on different climates.

"L-Let's keep going, yeah? Pretty sure the King doesn't want us to keep him waiting." Yuya says as the Four Cardinal Heroes and the 3 spirits of Z-Arc made their way up the stairs.

---

Courtyard...

The Four Heroes (and 3 spirits) all made their way into an open courtyard as someone was watching the Four Heroes walk out of the stairs and into the courtyard.

While we cannot see what this person looks like, it is fairly sure that it is a female hiding by the feminine looks of face and body. She is wearing a purple dress with expensive looking earrings. She also has long red hair.

While she watches the Four Heroes walk through the courtyard, she focus her attention mainly on the Yuya Sakaki who is looking at the area like a child at the circus.

With Yuya and the other 3 reincarnations, Yuri feels like somebody is watching them and looks up and sees a figure with red hair and wearing a purple dress, but he cannot see the figures face from this distance, but he knows someone is there looking at them.

He decides to keep this information to himself for now.

---

Throne Room...

The Bow Hero, Sword Hero, The Spear Hero, and Yuya Sakaki (along with Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri) all made their way into the throne room.

The Throne Room was large with a red carpet going from the door into/out of the Throne Room to the two Thrones where the King sat on the the left throne. Above them, there was 6 chandeliers with candles lighting the room a bit as two rows of guards wielding spears covered both sides along with a group of men in black suits on the left and a group of maids on the right.

"I wonder how they get them cleaned?" Yugo asks curiously as he looks at the ceiling.

"It's called ladders and brushes." Yuri says with a roll of his eyes.

"They must have some really tall ladders then." Yugo said with awe as he, Yuto, and Yuri all look around the Throne Room. Yuri just rolls his eyes at Yugo's comment.

"So... you young men are the Four Cardinal Heroes of ancient legends?" The King said intrigued by the Four Heroes, but he looked at Yuya like he was carrying the plague.

The King appears to be a middle-aged man with the first trace of wrinkles forming on his face. He has a short grey beard, but no moustache and long shoulder-length grey hair. He appears to be taller than The Sword (5'2") and Bow (5'08") Heroes, but shorter than the Spear Hero (5'6") and Yuya (5'11"). He has maintained a well-groomed appearance befitting of a monarch. He wears fancy purple gold-trimmed robes, to match his eyes, adorned with expensive golden buttons. Beneath this, he wears white underclothes. And many rings adorn his fingers, he also wears a golden livery collar and an ornate bejewelled crown is seen rested upon his head.

"This is the land of Melromarc and I am her King." The King says introducing himself to the Heroes. "I am Aultcray Melromarc XXXII (the 32nd). Welcome, Brave Heroes. Please identify yourselves."

The Sword Hero is the first to step up towards King Aultcray.

"Ren Amaki, I'm a High-School Student, I'm 16 years old." The Hero of the Sword, now known as Ren, introduces himself to the King.

Yuri smiles proudly that he knew that Ren was probably a High-School student.

The Spear Hero walks up to the King next and introduces himself.

"I'm Motoyasu Kitamura, College Student, 21." The Hero of the Spear, now known as Motoyasu, introduces himself to the King with a friendly smile.

"I like this guy. Even if he tried to threaten some people." Yugo says with a smile.

The Bow Hero in the 3rd to step up as he introduces himself to the King.

"I suppose I'm up next, Itsuki Kawasumi, still in High School, and I'm 17." The Hero of the Bow, now known as Itsuki, introduces himself.

Yuto saw how Itsuki held the bow close to his chest and felt a great amount of Justice within the boy.

"Guess that leaves me." Yuya says with a smile as he steps up to the King to introduce himself. "My name is-"

"Good." King Aultcray XXXII says, completely interrupting Yuya's introduction without a single care.

"Well, that was rude of him." Yuri said with a glare at the King.

"Must be going senile in his old age." Yugo suggests also glaring at the King.

"Still rude to do that." Yuto says with a glare at the King.

"Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki?" King Aultcray XXXII says intrigued by the Sword, Spear, and Bow Heroes and not Yuya.

Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri were upset, but then an idea flashed in their heads at the same time as they all grinned mischievously at one another.

"My country of Melromarc is in-" The King says looking at Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu.

But he was suddenly interrupted when Yuya started to raise his voice as he stretch out his arms on both sides as his googles were placed over his eyes, this gained everyone's attention in the room, including the king, the king's advisor, the servants, the guards and Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, CAN I PLEASE HAVE A MOMENT OF YOUR TIME!!" Yuya shouted in the throne room.

'What is this guy doing?' Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki all thought at the same time confused by the sudden action of their fourth compatriot.

"IT SEEMS TO ME THAT HIS MAJESTY HAS GLOSSED OVER ME WITHOUT LETTING ME EVEN INTRODUCE MYSELF TO MY BELOVED AUDIENCE!" Yuya shouted with a wide grin on his face.

'Beloved... Audience?' Now the three Heroes and everyone in the throne room were confused and curious by Yuya's choice of words, like he was putting on a performance.

"SO, LET'S GIVE A ROUND OF APPLAUSE TO THE MASTER OF LAUGHTER! THE KING OF COMEDY! THE JOKESTER OF JOY! THE ONE AND ONLY, YUYA SAKAKI!" Yuya introduces himself as he sticks his tongue out in a goofy manner and stood on one foot that was made to make other people laugh.

The action alone made many of the servants and maids as well as the guards, even Motoyasu joined in, to start snickering or chuckling at the action made by Yuya, but Yuya didn't mind, I mean, that is what he always wants to do, make people smile.

He gave the crowd inside the Throne Room a bow to both sides happy to make people smile.

"Thank You! Thank You!" Yuya says as he gives the crowd a bow to both sides.

While many of the people in the Throne Room were smiling and laughing, King Aultcray XXXII and his advisors were not so easily amused by this action caused by the boy.

When Yuya took off his googles and looked at the King, he notices that the King wasn't laughing and frowned, upset that he couldn't make the King laugh or even grin.

"Man, that guy is a tough nut to crack." Yugo says shocked that King Aultcray XXXII and his advisors didn't laugh.

"Forget the nut, that man is a brick wall." Yuri said also surprised by King Aultcray XXXII not laughing at or with Yuya.

"What is wrong with you? You can't just do that in front of royalty. You got to show a little respect." Itsuki whispered to Yuya.

"So? He didn't introduce me, so I thought to do it myself." Yuya said. "You want me to say your highness?"

"That might be too formal." Yuto says to Yuya.

King Aultcray XXXII clears his throat, regaining the attention of the Four Cardinal Heroes. "King is fine."

"Alright, sorry about that, I just like to make people smile is all." Yuya apologizes to King Aultcray XXXII. "Let me introduce myself properly this time." Yuya says as he gives a bow to the King with one arm outstretched.

"I'm Yuya Sakaki, I'm 20 years old, a College Sophomore and a Duelist Champion." Yuya introduces himself as he leaves his bow.

Yuya hoped that with his proper introduction, they King would recognize him.

"Now then-" King Aultcray XXXII says ignoring Yuya's introduction.

"I suppose I need to explain why we brought you here." King Aultcray XXXII begins to explain to The Four Cardinal Heroes.

Yuya shoulders drop when King Aultcray XXXII gave his introduction a pass, like he didn't even matter in the kings' eyes.

'Did he seriously just ignore me... again?' Yuya thought to his other reincarnations.

"What a dick." Yuri bluntly said at the King ignoring Yuya again.

"I don't like him, he's worse than Jean-Michel Roget." Yugo huffed at the King ignoring Yuya.

"At least Dennis had regrets after he betrayed the Xyz Dimension. Though, now that I say his name, I wonder how his teaching is going with his students back home?" Yuto says before thinking about how Dennis McField was doing teaching the students of Heartland City in the Xyz Dimension.

"My beloved country of Melromarc and the entire world's surrounding are heading to a path of certain ruin." King Aultcray XXXII explained to the Four Heroes.

I was still kinda pissed about how crabby the King was treating me. But here's the story in a nutshell for you folks...

---

Yuya's Narration...

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.

---

Throne Room...

"We underestimated the potency of the Waves, once we actually experienced the First and barely survived, we realized that only the Four Cardinal Heroes could counter them." King Aultcray XXXII told the Four Heroes (and 3 Z-Arc reincarnation spirits), his hand tightly gripped his throne, like he lost something important during the First Wave. Only Yuto notice King Aultcray XXXII tightly gripping his chair.

"So we followed the legend and summoned you Four. Now, we have no time to lose." King Aultcray told the Four Heroes.

'Wait a second, isn't this the exact same story as in that book?' Yuya thought to Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri.

"I thought we already made that connection when we saw that shield on your right arm?" Yuri confusingly asked Yuya.

Suddenly, Ren swung his sword blade onto the red carpet. Yuya looked at Ren and saw that Motoyasu, Itsuki, and Ren himself all looked pretty calm about the situation their in despite wanting to go back home.

"Okay, I think we get the gist of it. Anyway, I'm sure you didn't bring us here thinking any of us would save you for free." Ren said coldly and with almost no emotion.

"Uh, I'd like to save them for free." Yugo said with his hand raised, but no one could see him as he was a spirit.

'Me too.' Yuya agreed with Yugo.

"I would also like to save these people for free." Yuto said agreeing with Yugo and Yuya.

"Well, I can't do anything unless I take control of Yuya's body and even then I'm outnumbered 3 to 1, so I'll save this world for free as well." Yuri said as he begrudgingly accepts to help save the world for free.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this, but apparently Yuto, Yugo, or Yuri can take control of my body, which results in my personality my eye color, and my voice to change to their eye color, personality, and voice. Of course that also means that I too become a spirit when this happens, but I can easily regain control of my body when that happens and at times the two, three, or even all four of us can take control of my body at once, but the last one causes the skin around my eyes to crack like little plates made of rocks.

"Of course not. Once you repel all the Waves, I can assure you we shall reward you most handsomely." The King's Advisor told Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki.

"Yeah, well it would seem we have no choice but to take you at your word." Motoyasu said agreeing to help save the world.

"As long as you don't renege we'll work with you." Ren said agreeing to help save the world. "But don't think for a moment that you can tame us."

"Exactly. We won't put up with you looking down on us." Itsuki said agreeing to help save the world and agreeing with Ren's words.

"Oh Great Winged Dragon of Ra, are these guys full of themselves." Yuri retorts with an eye roll at the other Three Cardinal Heroes.

"Er, right, but I'll help anyone out either way! I'll make sure everyone can keep on smiling even if all hope seems lost." Yuya says with a powerful grin that seems to radiate an aura that just wants to make everyone happy.

Those words made nearly everyone in the Throne Room, smile as Yuya seemed to really want to help everyone and make sure they can keep on smiling even during these "Waves".

"If I can trust that we have reached an agreeable arrangement, I would ask you Brave Heroes to now check your Status." King Aultcray XXXII told the Four Heroes.

"Wait, what's a Status?" Yuya said confused along with Yuto, Yugo, Yuri, Itsuki, and Motoyasu.

"Umm, yeah?" Itsuki said confused what a Status is.

"I don't see anything?" Motoyasu said confused on where to find his Status.

"Are you guys dense?" Ren asked/insulted the Yuya, Motoyasu, and Itsuki's intelligence. "It should've been the very first thing you'd notice when you got here."

"Oh, put a sock in it." Yuri said annoyed by Ren's insults, that's his thing.

"He really should stop acting like he knows everything." Yugo said agreeing with his Fusion Dimension counterpart.

"Don't you see the icon on the lower right corner of your vision?" Ren explained to Motoyasu, Yuya, and Itsuki.

"Huh?" Yuya said as he noticed something in his lower right corner of his eyes.

It was a small green circle inside a box with white edges and inside the circle was three white dots.

'Now I do.' Yuya thought to himself.

"Try focusing your attention on it." Ren explained to the group.

Yuya began to put his attention on the green circle trying to see if what Ren was saying was true.

'Like this?' Yuya thought to himself confused.

Suddenly, appearing right in front of him was a info box full of things about Yuya's character.

[Name: Yuya Sakaki]

[Age: 20]

[Gender: Male]

[Class: Shield Hero]

[Equipment: Otherworldly Clothes, Roller Boots (Red), Backpack, Phone, Duel Disk (Black), Duel Disk (White), Duel Disk (Purple), Duel Disk (Brown), The Phantom Knights Decks, Speedroid Decks, Predaplants Decks, Gladiator Beast Decks]

[Equipped: Legendary Shield (Small Shield) (Locked) (Right Arm), Duel Disk (Crimson) and Performapal Decks (Left Arm)]

[Hp: 142]

[MP: 36]

[SP: 40]

[ATK: 1]

[MAG: 10]

[DEF: 17]

[MDEF: 17]

[AGI: 14]

[Level: 1]

'It seems that I am more built around defense and agility, both of those make sense as I am wielding a defense oriented weapon and I was trained to be agile in Action Duel by both as my dad and when we were once Z-Arc.' Yuya thought to himself and his other 3 dimensional counterparts.

"Yes, but that ATK is horrendous, you're probably incapable of killing a fly." Yuri said as he was appalled by the Attack stat.

"Well, it wouldn't be called a Legendary Weapon if it didn't have some sort of effect of some kind, right?" Yugo added his opinion to the matter.

"Only Level 1? Well, that's really disconcerting, isn't it?" Itsuki said to Ren and Motoyasu.

"Yeah, no kidding. Who can even tell if we can fight like this?" Motoyasu said as he looked at his stats.

"What is all this exactly?" Yuya asked curiously.

"It's called Status Magic, an ability exclusive to the Heroes." The King's Advisor explained to them.

"So where do we go?" Ren asks the King's Advisor. "What's the first step?"

"You must set out on an adventure to develop and upgrade these legendary weapons you have been equipped with." The King's Advisor explains to them on what they must do.

"You mean these things don't have their true potential unlocked already when we got them?" Yuya said looking at his Legendary Shield.

"And yours is technically not a weapon." Yugo adds himself in.

'Yugo, Gong, Remember?' Yuya mentally says to Yugo who blushes in embarrassment and groans.

"Stop reminding me." Yugo groans.

Motoyasu then checks out his Legendary Spear as he begins to question on why they can't wield any other weapons.

"Can't we just wield other weapons until these are usable?" Motoyasu asks before he twirls the Legendary Spear like a baton before striking a pose with the weapon.

"I suppose we'll have to figure that out as we go." Ren said. "Regardless, it looks like we'll have a lot of training ahead of us." It seemed like he wanted to form a party with Himself, Motoyasu, Itsuki, and Yuya together.

"We'll just have to level up hard and fast." Itsuki agrees with Ren, hoping to join forces with the other Cardinal Heroes.

"And then once the four of us feel like we're ready, we can form a party and-" Yuya spoke, liking the idea of the Four Heroes and his Three counterparts joining forces together.

But Yuya is then interrupted by the King's Advisor who gives some information about one of the drawback to the Legendary Weapons.

"One moment, Brave Heroes." The King's Advisor interrupts Yuya and gaining the attention of all Four Heroes and 3 dimensional spirits.

"Huh?"/"Huh?" Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, Yuri, Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki all said confused when the King's Advisor spoke as they look at him.

"I neglected to mention, you must each recruit allies and adventure separately." The King's Advisor explains to them.

"And... why is that?" Itsuki asks confused on why they can't work together.

"It is said that by their very nature, the Legendary Weapons repel one another, if you try to work together it will apparently hinder their development." The King's Advisor told them.

Yuya, Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki were all confused until a notification appeared in their field of view.

[Notice]

[Help Menu]

[When two or more wielders of the legendary weapons operate together, it causes an adverse reaction in the weapons. Working separately is highly advised.]

"Well, there goes that idea of working together with one another." Yuto said as he, Yugo, Yuri, and Yuya figured there was some drawbacks to these weapons.

'Thankfully that doesn't mean you three can join me since you guys aren't capable of wielding any Legendary weapons.' Yuya mentally told Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri.

"Looks like he is telling the truth." Yuya says to the other Cardinal Heroes.

"And it seems that these weapons are translating all the verbal and visual information into Japanese for us." Yuri says as he looks at the notification.

"Since the sun is about to set. Rest here for the night and begin your quest tomorrow." King Aultcray XXXII said. "In the meantime, we'll gather the best of the best to form your parties."

"Thank you, King Aultcray Melromarc XXXII. We'll try not to be a bother to you or the staff." Yuya says as he gives a polite bow to the King, who looks at Yuya with silent disgust in his eyes.

A maid walks up to the Four Heroes to direct them to where they will be sleeping for tonight.

"We have quarters prepared for you all, please sirs, right this way." The Maid said as he directs them to a hallway.

The Three Heroes make their way as Yuya gives a warm smile warmly at the maid and kindly thanks her, who takes the thank you kindly.

---

Somewhere in the streets of Melromarc...

It's nighttime and the only sound is the crackling of fire in torches and the sounds of nocturnal monsters and animals roaming the land for warmth and/or food.

"I hear the Four Cardinal Heroes have been summoned." A voice says.

"All four in Melromarc? Are they sure about this?" Another voice asks.

"Then that means The Shield Hero is here too." A 3rd voice says with excitement about the Shield Hero.

---

With the Four Cardinal Heroes...

The Four Cardinal Heroes are living the best life as they are relaxing on the in their quarters. There is a bed, 3 chairs, a couch, a single chandelier above, a dresser with a mirror and a balcony.

"I guess when you're Heroes of legends, you get special treatment." Motoyasu said as he stretches his limbs. "The girl who showed us here was cute too."

Ren, Itsuki, Yuya, Yuri, Yugo, and Yuto all look at Motoyasu with an expression that said 'Really, dude? Are you serious?' towards the Hero of the Spear.

"And though this food does taste unusual, our dinner was quite sumptuous." Itsuki compliments the food.

Ren is leaning against the dresser with Yuto, who he doesn't see. Yugo is sleeping on the couch with his arms crossed behind him head and snoring with a bubble in his nose. Yuri is outside looking out of the balcony at the courtyard and the castle windows.

Yuya is sitting with Itsuki at the table looking through his stats.

"Doesn't this seem kinda like a Video Game?" Yuya asks the other three Cardinal Heroes.

"That's cuz it is a Video Game." Motoyasu says to Yuya. "It's exactly like my game, Emerald Online."

Yuya has never heard of this Emerald Online before, even with his fair share of playing video games after Duel Academy's Invasion. Even Ren and Itsuki never heard of it.

"Uh, Never heard of it? What's it about?" Yuya asks curiously.

"Huh?" Motoyasu says confused, it was the most popular online game in Japan. "Seriously? It's Huge."

"What are you talking about?" Itsuki asked confused why Motoyasu would think this is an online game. "This isn't some online game. It's a new console game I've been playing, called Dimension Web."

"I've never heard of that either? It actually sounds interesting." Yuya says confused and intrigued.

"You're both wrong." Ren adds. "Everything about this place is identical to a VRMMO called Brave Star Online." He says.

"VRMMO? I'm pretty sure the Leo Duel School was already done with that technology since the Augmented Reality Combat System was built." Yuya says confusing Motoyasu, Itsuki, and Ren greatly.

"Leo Duel School?" Motoyasu said confused.

"Augmented Reality...?" Itsuki said confused.

"...Combat System?" Ren finishes Itsuki's sentence with confusion.

Yuya looks at Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki and sees the confusion on their faces. Yuya and Yuto looks at the three with confusion and curiosity respectively.

"D-Don't you guys have Duel Monsters in Japan? Or Yu-Gi-Oh in America, I think it's called?" Yuya asked confused on why their confused.

"Duel Monsters?" Motoyasu, Itsuki, and Ren all said confused.

"Let's sort this out." Motoyasu said as he gets up off of the bed, waking Yugo up as Yuri walks in from the balcony through the doors, without opening them.

"What happened?" Yugo asked confused on what's happening right now.

"You're guess is as good as mine." Yuto said curious about this situation.

"First off, Ren, do you really mean an actual, literal, VRMMO?" Motoyasu asks Ren.

"Yeah." Ren agreed.

"You guys do get what he means by that too, right?" Motoyasu asks Yuya and Itsuki.

"A sci-fi game I'm familiar with explored the concept." Itsuki says.

"I mean, Leo Akaba and my dad, Yusho Sakaki, founded and created the ARC, uh, that's the Augmented Reality Combat System's as an acronym, for the general public, so it's not outside the realm of possibility for it to be able to set up some video games in the system." Yuya said getting the interest and confusion of Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki.

"Now to be sure, let's compare general knowledge." Motoyasu said. "Whose face is on the 1000 yen bill? Ready and..."

"Yawara Gotaro." Motoyasu responded.

"Yuda Masato." Ren responded.

"Kodaka Enichi." Itsuki responded.

"Furio Sawatari." Yuya responded.

Yuya, Motoyasu, Itsuki, Ren, Yuri, Yugo, and Yuto's eyes all widen in shock when they all heard each other's answers.

"WAIT, WHO?!?!?!"

They all quickly began asking each other questions.

"Buzzword of the Year last year?!"

"Favorite voice actors?"

"Which countries won World War 2?"

"Who is the Prime Minister?"

---

Later...

After asking many, many, many, MANY questions to each other Yuya (with Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri behind him), Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki were standing around the table.

Itsuki sits down as he looks at Yuya, Ren, and Motoyasu.

"It appears there is only one explanation, we're all from different versions of Japan." Itsuki explains to the other Three Cardinal Heroes.

"Right? And they pretty much don't sound anything alike at all." Ren said agreeing with Itsuki.

"So there are multiple universes where there are also multiple versions of Japan?" Yuya said as he sat on the couch. He had his share of Dimensional travel, but this is Multi-universal.

"I thought we might just be from different eras of Japan." Motoyasu said. "But it would seem not."

"I can't believe all three of you guys don't have Duel Monsters." Yuya said sadden by the fact that these guys don't have Duel Monsters.

"What is Duel Monster's exactly, you mentioned that you were a Duelist Champion, does that mean you battle against monsters in your world and that you are a Pro at it?" Itsuki asks Yuya curious on what Duel Monsters is.

"Yeah, I'm kinda curious what this Duel Monster is." Motoyasu said with a smile.

"I'll bite." Ren said as he was also intrigued.

"Huh? Oh, well, first of all, Duel Monster is a Trading Card Game. Where both players have decks filled with at least 20-30 cards for a short game or 40-60 cards for a longer game. One players flips a coin and decides if they want to go first or second, then once both players make their choice they each draw 5 cards from the top of their decks." Yuya explained to the other Cardinal Heroes. He then pulled out Yuri's Predaplant Deck.

"The player who goes first can Normal Summon or Special Summon. Normal Summon means you can only summon one monster per turn while Special Summon allows you to summon monsters any time but both you and your opponent have a field that is 5 cards across and 2 cards down." He then pulls out "Predaplant Byblisp" from Yuri's Deck and shows it to them. "You can only have up to three copies of the same card, but in some cases you can only have two or one card in your deck."

"You can place a monster on the Field in ATK position or Set it in Face-Down DEF Position, or at times Special Summon a Monster in Face-Up ATK/DEF position. Now during the First turn, the player who goes first is not allowed to attack until their next turn, and there is also different Phases, 1st is the Standby Phase, then there's the Draw Phase, then the Battle Phase, then there's the 2nd Standby Phase, and finally there's the End Phase. During the Battle Phase, a monster can only attack once per turn, but you may have cards or monsters that can make your monster attack multiple times." Yuya explained as he put "Predaplant Byblisp" away in Yuri's Deck. "When a monster is destroyed or discarded they get sent to what's called the Graveyard, it's where cards usually go if something was to happen to them."

"Each card has a unique effect that is different to one another and some have effects that work with a certain series of cards, the latter we call Archetypes." Yuya explained as he grabbed Yugo's Deck and pulls out "Speedroid Ohajikid" from the Deck and shows them the card.

"There are different types of cards, but the main ones there are, is the Monster Cards, Spell Cards, and Trap Cards. These cards can act as support as well as obstacles in your way to defeat your opponent. And the way to do that is to either make your opponent use up all their cards or take out their Life Points by destroying ATK position monsters or having your monsters attack your opponent directly." Yuya explained as he put "Speedroid Ohajikid" away in Yugo's Deck. "And before I forget there is also Tributing, where you remove one or more monsters on the field to bring out a higher level monster onto the field, those higher levels being Levels 5,6,7,8,9,10,11, and 12."

"Now there is also 3 unique summoning methods in my world." Yuya explained, as he grabbed Yuto's Deck. He also didn't mention there was a fourth one as he didn't want to ruin the surprise when he does show them.

"The first is Fusion Summoning, which requires you to combine certain monsters on the field or in your hand or sometimes, your Graveyard. This summoning method usually requires you to use the Spell Card Polymerization, but there have been other Fusion Spell Cards since then." Yuya explained, this summoning method intrigued Ren. "Fusion Monsters have a Purple border instead of the normal light brown color." Yuya pulled out "Starving Venom Fusion Dragon" from Yuri's Deck.

"The next is Synchro Summoning, which requires you to use the levels of a monster or monsters and a unique monster called a Tuner monster. Note; It's better to have the Non-Tuner monsters on the field before as some Tuner monster's aren't strong by themselves. Synchro Monsters have a White border around them." Yuya explained as he pulled out "Clear Wing Synchro Dragon" from Yugo's Deck as Motoyasu looked at the dragon in awe.

"The third one is Xyz summoning, which unlike Fusion and Synchro which requires you to have send the monsters of those summoning methods to the Graveyard, you overlay the levels of two or more monsters on the field and summon them, these monsters effects activate by removing what's called an overlay unit, which requires you to send a monster from the Xyz monster to the Graveyard to activate the effect. Xyz Monsters have a Black border around them." Yuya explained as he pulled out "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon" from Yuri's Deck as Itsuki looks at the dragon with interest. "And a little fact, Xyz monsters don't have Levels, they instead have what's called Ranks, so if you were to use cards that affect a monsters Level, Xyz monsters will not be affected."

"And that concludes my explanation of Duel Monsters." Yuya said as the Three Cardinal Heroes shake their heads, not expecting to be so drawn in by the world of Duel Monsters. "Now back to the matter at hand, why have all three of you played Video Games so much like this world? Why am I the only one not familiar with it?"

Knowing that Yuya is right about that, they attempt to come up with an idea, they then look at Yuya's Shield.

Yuya notices the other Cardinal Heroes looking at his shield, he is greatly confused.

"Uh, what are you guys looking at?" Yuya asked confused.

"Oh nothing. I just assumed it was because you're the Shield Hero." Itsuki said.

"Huh? You too?" Motoyasu asked genuinely surprised that Itsuki was thinking the same thing as him.

"Well, yeah, I mean it only makes sense." Ren agreed with Motoyasu and Itsuki.

"Huh? Is there something wrong with the shield?" Yuya asked as to what was wrong with the shield.

"I don't know, Yuya. But I don't think you're gonna like it." Yugo said as he had a feeling that they will not like what they hear next.

"Calm down, as the oldest one here. Let me bring you up to speed on the basics." Motoyasu said to Yuya. "As far as I've ever seen, Shielder Class that specialize in the Shield..."

"Yeah, what about it?" Yuya asked.

"... is for losers, because no true gamers ever played them." Motoyasu told Yuya plain and simple.

"What about in your world?" Yuya asks Ren and Itsuki, not bothered that Motoyasu just insulted the DEF position monsters.

"Sorry man." Ren agreed.

"Shielders suck." Itsuki agreed.

"Well then, that cannot be true, my best friend Gong Strong and his Deck of Superheavy Samurai's are all about Defense, he even has what's known as "The Heavy-Strong Style" in which where he will not move to get the advantage of a Spell or Trap Card." Yuya counters Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki's argument against Defense.

"Oh yeah? And what good has that done him? Hmm?" Motoyasu asked curiously in a taunting manner.

"It has done him a great service, his Deck is full of nothing but monsters that have a lot of high Defense points that allows them to take on Monsters with Higher ATK points that other monsters might not be able to break through and also protects him from being dealt battle damage as the only way to deal damage to a defense position monster is to have a card with a piercing effect. And even then, while monsters normally can't attack in DEF position, Gong's Ace Monster, "Superheavy Samurai Big Benki", as well as his other Synchro monsters have effects that allow them to attack even IN DEF position, turning their Defense point into battle damage against ATK position monsters." Yuya counters Motoyasu insult to Shielders and Gong with a fierce glare.

"And also, as a side note, when a monster with lower attack points attacks a monster in Defense position or a Face-Down Set monster with higher defense points, that player who's monster attacked the DEF position monster gets dealt the battle damage instead." Yuya grins as he looks at Motoyasu in the eyes.

Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki were surprised when Yuya defended his terrible Shielder Class and his best friend's choice of battle position monsters, Ren and Itsuki were actually impressed by the information thinking that this Gong person played a Deck that revolved around having a good defense than a better offense like most people would rely on.

"S-So what's the terrain like here?" Motoyasu suddenly asks out of no where.

"Not sure. But it looks very similar to what I'm used to." Ren responded to Motoyasu.

"Each weapon has it's own ideal hunting ground, if we spread out..." Itsuki said before being blocked out by Yuya.

'Whatever, if I'm too weak, I can just rely on my party.' Yuya thought to himself. 'And if I'm lucky, I might get a girlfriend while I'm at it.'

Yuya walks out of the room and out to the balcony as he looks over the village below.

'The shield's role should be to defend the party and thwart enemy attacks, right? And while my love life back home was lacking, here, I might just meet the one.' Yuya thinks to himself. 'It'll be fine. After all, I was chosen for this. Our success is all but assured.'

"LOOK OUT I'M COMING WORLD!" Yuya says with a joyous smile plastered on his face.

"That's the way to go, don't let them get you down." Yugo said as he pumped his fist in excitement. "Show them you're not gonna slow down and be left in the dust!"

"Wow, that was very touching, GoSlow." Yuri taunts Yugo with a smile.

"Grrr... It's YUGO!!" Yugo shouted at Yuri who just laughs.

"Ugh, can't you too keep quiet?" Yuto asks the Synchro and Fusion counterparts.

"All right then, we start questing tomorrow." Motoyasu said. "Let's head back to our rooms and get a good night sleep."

"Do you think they have bathrooms here?" Itsuki asks.

"Outdoor one's. If any at all." Motoyasu replied.

'Hell yeah! Our grand adventure begins tomorrow morning, guys!' Yuya mentally says to Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri before he looks at the shield with a determined smile.

'I'm going to find out your secrets shield, even if it takes me all night to figure it out. I won't stop until I prove everyone wrong on how bad the shield is.' Yuya thinks to himself as he wants to prove Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki wrong about defense.

The green crystal orb on the Shield glowed a bright green, happy to hear those thoughts from Yuya.

---

Later that night...

Whilst everyone was asleep in there own rooms, but Yuya was the only one up looking at his Shield, trying to figure out how to get stronger with it now attached to his left arm. He looked around the shield trying to figure something out, even went through the Help Menu which only gave him notifications on what he already knows about this world now.

'Is it some kind of secret password? A hidden item? What is it?' Yuya thinks to himself. 'Ugh, being up this late is making my head dizzy.' He thinks to himself as he puts his right arm on his head, he closes the Help Menu before looking at his right arm placed on his head, or more specifically the Shield.

"What is your secret?" Yuya asks as he places his right hand on top of his Crimson Duel Disk. As his eyes begin to slowly drift to sleep.

[Beginning Analysis]

[Analyzing]

[Analyzing]

[Analyzing]

Suddenly a notification popped up over his eyes, startling and waking Yuya up from his sleep.

"H-Huh?" Yuya asks as a green light covers his right arm.

[Analysis Complete]

[Weapon Copy Unlocked]

"Weapon... Copy?" Yuya asks tiredly as he rubs his eye.

Suddenly, the shield on his left arm begins to transform before his very eyes, his looks at the light and widens in shock as the Legendary Shield transforms before his eyes.

It took the shape of his crimson Duel Disk, but with the black with yellow and white outline of the Standard Pendulum Dimension Duel Disk field fully out and the green orb from the shield taking the spot of where the Duel Disk screen would normally be.

[Duel Disk (Crimson) Shield]

plus 10 DEF, plus 10 MDEF

Mastery: 0

[Ability: Duel Monsters] Summon monster(s), Spell, or Trap Card(s) from your Deck or Extra Deck; monsters, spell, and traps cards do not count as a weapons but instead as temporary party members (Max. 10; 5 Monsters Zone's and 5 Spells/Traps Zones with one red and blue Pendulum Zones) until you decided to remove or return cards from the battlefield to your hand or are destroyed by battle or used for a Fusion, Synchro, or Xyz.

"Woah..." Yuya gasps in awe. Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri started to wake up due to the bright light emitted from Yuya.

"What? What's going on?" Yugo asked tiredly as he looked at Yuya, he then notices Yuya's Right arm. "Whoa, what happened to the shield?"

"Well, I was trying to figure out how this shield works. And when I started to go to sleep my hand touched my duel disk and then suddenly, I got a notification on my eyes saying I had unlocked something called a [Weapon Copy] and then my shield turned into this." Yuya explained what happened as he showed Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri the [Duel Disk (Crimson) Shield].

"Hmm." Yuri hummed as he looked closer at the shield. "I don't think that's the only ability it has." He said.

"You think so?" Yuya asks.

"I don't think, I know." Yuri said as he looked around and noticed a book of some sorts. "Try putting that book into the shield, Yuya."

"H-Huh! Okay?" Yuya said confused on what Yuri is trying to do. So he walks over quietly to the book picks it up and puts it over the shield.

The Book was suddenly absorbed into the Shield's orb as it gave a faint glow as the book then faded to dust.

The [Duel Disk (Crimson)] Shield] transformed back into the [Legendary Shield (Small)] as a skill tree appeared over Yuya's vision revealing The Legendary Shield in the center as well as the Duel Disk Shield above it, one line suddenly branched out from the small shield's left, it looked like a book but in the form of a shield with the green orb in the middle.

[Book Shield]

Plus 1 Mag, plus 2 Def

Mastery: 0

Mana efficiency (small)

"Woooah!" Yuya quietly exclaimed in awe at the Legendary Shield's power.

"So I was right, not only does this shield have the ability to copy anything you touch, but also has the ability to absorb anything you feed to that green orb to as well to unlock more shields." Yuri explained as he rubbed his chin with curiosity.

"But that does beg the question, how many shields will we unlock as we go along?" Yuto asks as Yuya, Yugo, Yuri, and Yuto all thought about the different shields.

That was when Yuya's Deck suddenly glowed and let out a roar that only Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri could hear.

Yuya pulled his deck out and saw that "Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon" was glowing brightly, like it was telling them something.

"What is Odd-Eyes doing right now?" Yuya asked his counterparts.

"I don't know, maybe it wants the Shield to scan it to help you out?" Yugo suggested.

"Yugo, that may be the dumbest, smartest thing you've said in 6 years." Yuto said with disbelief in his voice.

"Well, here's to hoping I don't lose Odd-Eyes." Yuya said as he places Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon over the green orb.

The orb on the shield transformed back to it's basic form and started to scan the Pendulum Monster.

[Beginning Analysis]

[Analyzing]

[Analyzing]

[Analyzing]

[Analysis Completed]

[New Shield Unlocked]

The shield transformed before Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri's eyes as the Shield took on the appearance of Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon's face with the green orb of the Shield rested on a red crest between the black and whiteish-peach triangular pattern above the large blue orb between the dragon's odd red and green eyes. It's mouth was open as it showed off it's ferocious teeth's from it's peach lower jaw and the yellow mask covering most of the dragon's right side of it's face and little of it's left side. Two massive whiteish peach horns jutted out above the eyes.

[Odd-Eyes (Pen.) Dragon Shield (Unlock at Lv. 2)]

Plus 20 DEF, Plus 25 MDEF, plus 25% Agi.

Mastery: 0

[Unique Effect: Spiral Flame Strike] (Requires: Shield Bash) The user launched a beam of scarlet spiraling fire at the opponent, dealing damage equal to the user's current DEF and MDEF combined, times 2.

Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon stopped glowing as Yuya put his Ace Dragon back into his Performapal deck. Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all looked at [Odd-Eyes (Pen.) Dragon Shield] in awe before it quickly transformed back into it's original form.

"Guess I can't use that shield without leveling up. Thankfully, I don't have to level up too much." Yuya said with a relieved sigh that he doesn't have to level up much.

"Yes, but with that abysmal attack stat, we may be out there defeating low level monsters for a while. And we also need to use another skill called [Shield Bash] to use that Unique Ability." Yuri explained to Yuya.

'We might unlock [Shield Bash] as we go along so we don't have to worry about that then.' Yuya told Yuri.

"I agree, while that Unique Ability is very powerful if we keep getting higher and higher Defense. We may be out there for a while to reach Level 2." Yuto says agreeing with Yuri before he leans against the dresser in the room.

"Though I do wonder what Mastery does. Does it mean that the more I use a certain shield, the more that shield's ability and stats stays permanent on me and allows me to use that shields effects with other shields?" Yuya questions the Mastery function.

"Guess we'll just have to find out once we get a shield to 100 percent Mastery." Yugo said with a grin.

"I wonder if there's a way to change shields from one to another?" Yuya says as he looks at the shield curiously.

"Test that out tomorrow morning. *yaaaawwwn* I'm tired and I would like to go to bed." Yuri said with a yawn.

"You going to close your eyes, Yuto?" Yugo asks as he yawns and looks at Yuto who is leaning against the dresser with his eyes open.

...

...

...

"*snoooooore*" Yuto is fast asleep with his eyes open.

"Never mind." Yugo says as he goes to sleep.

"*chuckle* All right, all right. Goodnight you guys." Yuya gives Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri a goodnight as he chuckles at Yugo's response.

"Night." Yugo and Yuri say as they drift off to sleep.

Yuya walks over and lays down on the couch and begins to drift off to sleep waiting for tomorrow. He pulls out his phone and looks at the Photo of him, Sylvio, Gong, Sora, Aster, Crow, Alexis, Jack, Zuzu, Kite, Shay, and Declan as well as his parents; his dad, Yusho Sakaki and his mom, Yoko Sakaki from 6 years ago.

'I miss you guys. Hmm, I wonder if I can ask someone to paint a picture of this to let me treasure it longer.' Yuya thinks to himself as he turns off his phone to save it's battery so he can show a painter tomorrow.

'I wonder who'll join my party tomorrow?' Yuya thinks to himself as Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all fade into Yuya's subconscious for tonight.

---

Tomorrow Morning...

The sun has risen up over the land in the country of Melromarc. It's bright rays seep into every open crevices in the village below and the castle. The flags outside blow as the wind flaps their cloth against them.

A series of carriages pulled by horses and what seems like giant chicken are seen outside with many of the people from yesterday outside.

In another room, a familiar purple dress is laid over a very expensive looking chair.

---

Throne Room...

The Throne Room is filled with people above the main area as they await to see the Cardinal Heroes gain their party members today.

Awaiting in front of King Aultcray XXXII, is a group of 12 adventures. There appears to be 6 females and 6 males all lined up ready to join the Heroes, one of the 6 females has red hair.

The door to the Throne Room opens up as Yuya, Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki (along with Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri who are surrounding Yuya) all enter and stand with Motoyasu on the far right and Itsuki on the far left leaving Yuya and Ren at the center right and left respectively.

"We've gathered the greatest warriors in the land." King Aultcray XXXII explained to the Cardinal Heroes. "These brave souls will fight the Waves alongside you."

As the Four Cardinal Heroes approach the party Members, Yuya decides it would be best to introduce himself to any of his future party members.

"Nice to meet you adventurers, as you've probably heard, I'm Yuya Sakaki. What's your names?" Yuya asked the adventurers what their names are.

Many adventurers didn't respond to Yuya, but then the large, plain man wielding a double-sided axe stepped forward. He has a piece of chest armor strapped around his chest over a tight brown T-shirt and green cloak around his waist with a pair of dark green pants.

"I'm Rojeel." The Man, now known as Rojeel, introduced himself.

Another person stepped forward, this one a mage wearing an oversized green wizard's hat with a red band. She also wears a green dress on top of a white undershirt with large sleeves. She also wields a staff in her hands.

"I'm Rino. Pleasure to make you're acquaintance, Sir Shield Hero." The young mage, now known as Rino, introduces herself with a polite bow.

A girl next to Rino steps forward. She has brownish-blonde, medium-length hair and wears a black dress with yellow accents and a orangish yellow bow around her collar. At her side is a sword.

"Names Elena Haven." The girl, now known as Elena Haven, wielding a sword introduces herself.

After a couple of minutes of silence, no one else introduced themselves to Yuya or the other Cardinal Heroes.

'I wonder how this works? Do we take turn picking them for our parties?' Yuya wondered as he looked over the adventures who would help them fight the ways.

Yuri looked over the adventures before his eyes stopped on a girl with red hair and green eyes. He didn't know why, but he felt his heart beat when he laid eyes on her, he could also feel that something was familiar about her, like he sensed her yesterday despite them meeting for the first time.

"Dang, there's a real looker there, huh, Yuri?" Yugo said as he put his shoulder on Yuri and grinned as he looked at the red hair girl with green eyes.

"H-Huh? O-Oh! Yeah, sure." Yuri stuttered as his face blushed in embarrassment before looking away from the girl with red hair but not before looking back at her with a soft smile on his face.

The red hair girl noticed Yuya looking at her and looked at him and smile. While Yuya didn't blush with nervousness, Yuri sure did.

Yugo looked between the red-haired girl and Yuri many times with a curious glare, before he finally noticed Yuri's blushing face.

"Oh! Ohohoho! You like that red-haired girl don't you, Yuri?" Yugo said now having some ammunition to fire back at Yuri when he messes up his name again.

"N-No, I don't! You're eyes are on backwards, YuBlow!" Yuri stuttered before messing up Yugo's name.

"You can't fool me, Yuri! You're in love~." Yugo said with a cheeky grin.

Yuri just punched Yugo in the face in response.

"Our future champions the time has come to begin your journey!" King Aultcray announced to the adventures in front of him.

They all began to walk forwards, ready for them to pick their Cardinal Hero that they will fight alongside with. This action surprised Yuya, Yugo, Yuri, and Yuto as they thought they would choose their partners not them.

'What?! They're the ones who gets to choose?!' Yuya thought to himself in shock, he hoped he would get some party members. He closes his eyes, hoping that someone would pick him.

Yugo, Yuto, and Yuri all saw the aftermath before them and decided to stand right behind Yuya to support him.

When Yuya opened his eyes he looked around at Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki and what he saw shocked him greatly.

"Huh?!" Yuya shouted in shock.

Motoyasu had 4 girls, three of which were Rino, Elena, and the red-haired girl and one who looked like a fighter.

Ren had 5 people in total, with 2 girl who had green hair and was dressed like a Chinese Fighter, and the other was dressed like a rouge. He also had 3 guys, one had blonde hair and had a green scarf, one had silver hair and wore an all black over sized shirt that covered his hands, and the last one was dressed like a royal knight.

Itsuki had 3 people in his party, one was a girl who wielded a spear, the second was a guy who looked like a rouge, and the last was Rojeel.

Yuya looked behind him and saw Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all behind him.

'Thanks guys, but still.' Yuya mentally thanked his alternate counterparts for doing this.

"Uh, King Aultcray, how is this fair, Motoyasu has 4, Ren has 5, and Itsuki has 3. I have no one." Yuya wanted answers as he was confused on why no one joined him, despite being friendly and asking their names.

The people standing above overlooking the Throne Room whisper to one another about Yuya's behavior.

"I'm loathed to admit it, but even I was not expecting this." King Aultcray said, though he didn't sound upset.

"No volunteers?" The King's Advisor asks. "He must have zero charisma."

Yuya was taken aback when the King's Advisor said that. That can't be right, he was the most kindest, most friendliest person in his world, heck, he even won an award that said "To the Most Kindest, Most Friendliest Person in the World, Yuya Sakaki".

Suddenly, a man next to the king with a bowler hair cut, whispers something in the King's ear.

"Ugh." King Aultcray sighs. "I've been aware of an unsettling rumor."

'Rumor?'/ "Rumor?" Yuya thought as Yuto, Yugo, Yuri all questioned at the same time.

"Has something happened sir?" The man next to King Aultcray asked.

"Not exactly." King Aultcray said. "The rumor that is quickly spreading around town is that the so-called Shield Hero is ignorant of this world."

"WHAT?!"/"WHAT?!" Yuya and his other counterparts all shouted in shock.

"Legends tells us that the Heroes arrive with a firm understanding of our lands, and the townspeople seem to think you don't meet that criteria." The King explained to Yuya.

"Wh-How?" Yuya stutters trying to figure out what caused that rumor.

"Someone must have been eavesdropping on our discussion last night?" Motoyasu whispers to Yuya.

"You don't say." Yuya whispers back upset.

All cause of a rumor, sure, I may not know much about video games like these or even understand this world's laws, but still...

"Regardless, you do not need five members, why not give one or two of them to me?" Yuya asks Ren, angered by this rumor and the excess number of people he has in his party.

"I'm a loner, you're right. I don't need them. Whoever cannot cut it gets left in the dust." Ren told his party member if they want to join Yuya.

But Ren's party stays in place, not wanting to join the shield hero's party.

"Motoyasu, won't you help me out? Don't you think this is unfair?" Yuya desperately asks Motoyasu to have one party member from his team.

"Uh, yeah, I'm surprised my party is full of girls too." Motoyasu says as he rubs the back of his head.

"That's only because they heard your comment about the maid last night, Moto-yahoo!" Yuri says insulting Motoyasu's name, but he couldn't hear it as Yuri was a spirit.

'Clearly he's super broken up about it, jerk.' Yuya thinks as he glared at Motoyasu.

Itsuki steps up and tries to calm Yuya down.

"It might seem to be the most fair if we split them up 3-a-piece, but if we try to force the issue it could destroy everybody's morale." Itsuki tried to diffuse the situation.

The Rogue and the Spear Girl stood behind Itsuki and gave a firm nod of agreement.

"So what?! You're telling me I have to just go at it alone?" Yuya shouted in anger. 'No offense guys.' Yuya tells his counterparts with his mind.

"No problem." "I really don't care." "I would be in the same boat as you if I didn't lose my body." Yuto, Yuri, and Yugo all said to Yuya not offended.

"You guys know that I'm a Shielder, the class you guys said were for losers, without a party, how am I suppose to grow any stronger!?" Yuya asks as his voice went higher and angrier.

Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki began to feel bad for Yuya, while yes, in their games Shielders suck, but when Yuya explained his plight just now as well as how strong Gong was able to use a Defense oriented Deck and style of fighting back in Yuya's world, they couldn't help but feel sorry of the crimson and green haired 20 year old Duelist Champion.

When they were about to comfort Yuya, a hand was suddenly raised up to the sky.

"Sir Hero." A female voice calls out, getting Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, Yuri, Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki's attention.

Yuya looks at who spoke as Motoyasu turns around to see who spoke.

"Huh?" Motoyasu says curious about who said that.

"It's her..." Yuri says as he gasps for air at seeing the woman who was capable of making him flustered.

The voice who called out and is making Yuri's heart go bump, is a lovely looking girl with wavy semi-long crimson hair that is tied up in a ponytail with chest-length hair strands hanging on either side, emerald-green eyes, a pretty cute and youthful facial features. She wears a white medieval dress underneath a leather chest plate and shoulder pad. On both her arms are two arm guards. She is also wearing a purple skirt with two belts and a leather plating on the right side of her hip.

"Would you kindly allow me to switch parties and join the Shield Hero?" The red-haired girl asked Motoyasu.

Motoyasu is shocked, but allows it, willing to help out Yuya gain a party member.

"A-Are you sure?" Motoyasu asks as while he is the most friendliest person around, he's also doesn't trust Yuya due to just meeting him yesterday.

"I am." The red-haired girl said joyfully.

'For real? She's actually going to join our party? That's great!' Yuya thinks to himself and Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri.

The King gives a worried huff when the red-haired girl agreed to join the Shield Hero's party. He glares at Yuya, like a father trying to protect their daughter from being injured.

Above the Throne Room, there are robed people holding what appears to be a crest of a Sword, Spear, and Bow in their hands.

"Are there any others who would be willing to join Master Sakaki on his quest?" King Aultcray asked the audience of people.

The room is silent, no one is responding or willing to join Yuya's party. Seeing this as the answer now, King Aultcray continues speaking.

"Ah, well, So be it. We shall have to take other measures then." King Aultcray says as he looks at Yuya. "Master Sakaki, you will have to recruit for your party yourself." He tells him.

'Recruit? Does that mean I can get other people to join my party on my journey here?' Yuya questions in his mind.

"It seems to make the most sense, keep your allies close, and your enemies closer, I say." Yuto said with a nod of his head.

'Isn't it just keep your friends close and your enemies closer?' Yuya questions Yuto's wording.

"Does it matter? There the same thing." Yuto retorts.

The red-haired girl walks up next to Yuya, walking through (literally) Yugo, Yuto, and Yuri and hugs Yuya's slightly muscular arm which he trained to be as strong due to his Dueltaining career.

"Uh..." Yuya said looking at King Aultcray. He then notices his red-haired party member and flinches from how close she is to him. "Right! Thank you, your majesty!"

The King then explains an important factor for at the end of the month.

"Every month, we shall provide each Hero with the funds they require. This ONE time, however, Master Sakaki payment will be higher than the others due to him not having any party members." The King explained.

"O-Oh, thank you, you're too kind, your highness." Yuya said as he gives a respective bow to King Aultcray.

"Here are your initial war chests, accept them with our thanks." King Aultcray said as four servants appeared carrying bags of coins.

"The Shield Hero will receive 800 silver coins, while the rest of you each receives 600 silver." The King's Advisor tells them. "100 copper coins gets you 1 silver coin, and 100 silver coins gets you 1 gold coin."

"Procure all necessary equipment and set forth." The King ordered the Cardinal Heroes.

"Sir!" Yuya, Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki all said at once.

---

The Castle Gates...

The gates that lead to thetown opens up as Yuya tosses his bag of coins into the air and expertly catches it by the strings hoop. The red-haired girl follows behind him as they head up the stairs to the gate.

"Later, Yuya!" Motoyasu called out to Yuya as he, his three other counterparts, and the red-haired girl all look at Motoyasu and his party leaving the gates. "Take good care of her now, ya hear me!"

"They said we can't help you directly, but I can at least wish you best of luck with your recruiting." Itsuki said.

"Until next time, so long." Ren said keeping it short and to the point as they made their way up to their parties.

"Oh, uh, bye you guys! See you guys soon someday!" Yuya called out to Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu.

"I beg your pardon, Shield Hero Sir. Let me introduce myself, I'm Myne Sophia, it's an honor to fight with you." The red-haired girl, now known as Myne, introduces herself.

"Well, it's always nice to meet and make new friends like you, Myne." Yuya says with a smile. "So do you know any painters in town?" He asks.

"Painters? Sure, why?" Myne asks curiously as to why Yuya asked that.

Yuya then pulls out his phone and shows Myne a picture of Yuya and his friends and his parents back home from 6 years ago. "I want to make a request to have a painting of this photo taken so I can always remember my friends and family back home." He tells her.

"Oh! Uh, the painter should probably be around the Tailor Shop. I could show you where he lives." Myne says wanting to help Yuya as he puts his phone in his pocket, before he quickly realizes something.

"Oh, where are my manners, oh! They're right here!" Yuya says as he smacks his forehead before digging into his backpack and pulls out a piece of paper that has the words "Manners" written on it.

This action causes Myne to chuckle at Yuya's quirky nature as he puts the piece of paper in his backpack and looks at Myne. "I'm Yuya Sakaki!" He says with a thumb pointing at his chest. "Nice to meet you."

"My pleasure." Myne said holding her right hand out for him to shake.

Yuya puts his left hand out and shakes Myne's hand.

'She's so friendly, open and warm.' Yuya mentally tells Yuri, Yuto, and Yugo.

"I mean, she did choose to join you when no one else would." Yugo said with a big grin as he gives Yuya a noogie, rustling his hair.

Myne notices the top of Yuya's hair has parted ways like a fist on someone's head was rubbing against it as she raises an eyebrow in confusion as there was no heavy wind right now unlike this morning.

"Make sure you keep her safe, no matter what." Yuri said looking at Yuya and Yugo as Yuri stands next to Myne, Yuto seems to be carefully watching Myne with a analyzing glare.

"Guess we should get going, huh?" Yuya said. "Right, Miss Myne?"

"Yes!" Myne agrees with Yuya. "Sir Hero."

---

Castle Town...

"To start, I'll show you around the village." Myne said to Yuya. "This is Castle Town, the Capital of Melromarc."

It has a number of residents and shops of various sizes and of various businesses. The capital is surrounded by a leveling ground and rivers which is probably filled with monsters and fishes. Yuya and Myne are walking through the market place as Yuya looks at the inhabitants.

"I caught a glimpse last night, but seeing it up close really drives how different this world is to mine." Yuya says as he sees people riding on the backs of wingless, raptor-like Dragons being pulled along by a human with animal features.

Yuya looks to his left and notices a mage behind a nest full of red eggs as she begins to cast magic causing all the eggs to hatch into adult birds as they fly away.

"Well, Sir Hero, what shall we do next?" Myne asks Yuya.

"Hmm, let's see here, first place I want to go is the painter to get my family and friends portrait, then we'll head on to the blacksmith to get some weapons and armor." Yuya suggested.

"Won't the painting take a long time, it'll be night time by the time it's finished." Myne asks Yuya.

"Not unless I give the painter my phone to have reference, it won't survive long here without a power outlet to recharge so it's would be best to leave it there with the painter and come back once the portrait is complete and dry." Yuya explained to Myne.

"That makes sense." Myne said as she walked in front of Yuya and congratulated him. "With all that silver you can buy yourself some nice stuff. I'll take you to a shop I trust after we go to the painter's store."

Yuya smiles warmly. "Well then, to the painter we go!" He says as he heads off leaving Myne in the dust.

"H-hey! You don't know where to go!" Myne called out as she chases after Yuya.

"You're right! But where's the fun of being told where something is at instead of going at it by trial and error!" Yuya counters with a goofy smile.

"Haaa." Yuri sighs. "That's Yuya alright, no doubt about that." He says as he follows behind.

"Can't really blame the guy, he IS Z-Arc's spirit of entertainment, you know?" Yuto says with a chuckle as he follows Yuya.

"If we're racing, then I'll be sure to win first place!" Yugo said as he races against Yuya.

"W-Wait up! Sir Hero!" Myne calls out as she chases after Yuya.

---

The Painter's Store...

Yuya was the first to arrive to the store as he gives a big winning smile as he wipes away some sweat off his forehead. What can he say, being a Dueltainer meant increased endurance and agility.

"Haaa! Haaa! You... you can really run when you want to, you know that?" Myne said as she catches her breathe not expecting the Shield Hero to be so agile.

"Well we made it, but it seems like the Owner is not here right now, guess we'll just have to go to the blacksmiths then." Myne said as she begins to head to the blacksmith, but Yuya doesn't follow along with her.

"Well then, I'll just leave a note for them when they come back." Yuya said with a determined smile as he pulls out the paper that read "Manners" and a pencil and hands it over to Myne.

"Wh-Why are you giving me these things?" Myne asked confused.

"Because I figured that on my way here, I can't read any of your world's language, which must be the shield's ability to translate my language into your language, but not anything written. So I need you to be my pencil and write down everything on my note exactly." Yuya explained to Myne.

"O-Okay?" Myne said confused as she placed the pencil on the paper against the glass window.

"So here's what I want you to write down; "Dear Painter(s) of this establishment, I would like to request a picture of my friends and family when you have the time or when you return, I already have something for you to paint and I would pay however much you would like. From, Yuya Sakaki." Yuya told Myne as she wrote down what Yuya told her.

"I got it." Myne said handing it to Yuya.

"Thank you, now I'll leave my phone here with the picture open for them and we'll be on our way to the Blacksmith." Yuya said as he puts his phone on top of the paper and 40 silver for payment. "Race you!" He said before he took of.

"Not again!" Myne cried out as she chases after him again.

They both didn't notice someone arriving just as they left and heard everything Yuya said, they picked up Yuya's phone and the cash before looking at the photo Yuya wanted a painting of before entering the building to start their work, they also tore apart the paper which Myne wrote, and glared at the red-haired girl like they knew who she was.

---

At Blacksmith's Shop...

"Well... here... we... are..." Myne huffed as she went to catch her breath, again. "This place... should have... everything... you need."

"Alright, that sounds great!" Yuya said, unbothered by the sweat dripping from his forehead as he still wore his signature smile.

"...Good." Myne said as she weakly gave him a thumbs up. After a moment, she was finally able to catch her breath. "Follow me inside." She said happily as she entered the Blacksmiths.

"So cute." Yuri said with a warm smile as he looked at Myne.

Yuya and Myne enter the Blacksmiths shop as Yuya sees that the stone walls are lined with wooden support beams with a variety of shields hung up. There were weapon racks hanging up carrying their merchandise along with two desks on both the left and right showing armor and more weapons.

"This place gets my highest recommendation." Myne told Yuya as she opened the door for him.

"The craftsmanship is impressive, even for this era." Yuri said impressed by the qualities of the weapons.

"Wow, a real life weapons shop. Museums would probably go nuts seeing how good these weapons look." Yuya complimented the blacksmith's work.

A man walks up and stands behind the counter. He is a middle-aged (or older) Caucasian male whose well-built body, notably face and arms, is full of old scars. He has a shaved head, Amish-style beard without a mustache, brown or black eyes, and partially darker skin. He wears an off-white undershirt with medium-length sleeves beneath a beige overalls-like forger apron (with a brown pouch-like bag on the waistline) hung only by the left shoulder, black gloves, dark brown pants, and brown-beige upturned boots.

"Welcome good sir." The Blacksmith greets Yuya, his voice is openly cheerful and he appears like a nice person. "So, first time in a weapons shop is it? Well, you already know how to pick the best one." He says talking about Yuya picking his store.

"Thank you, but really, she brought me here." Yuya said as he moved out of the way of Myne.

The Blacksmith looked closer at Myne, feeling like he knows her from somewhere but can't remember where.

"Hmm? You do look familiar, miss? Have we met before?" The Blacksmith asked Myne, wondering why she looked so familiar to him.

Myne hugs Yuya's right shoulder as she gives him a smile. "Sure, I've been in here before. Your shop is rather renowned after all."

"Aww, how sweet of you to say so." The Blacksmith said happy that someone would say that. "Anyhow, who's your companion here with the funny hair and outfit." He asks.

"I'll take that as a compliment!" Yuya said taking The Blacksmith's words about his hair and clothes being funny with a smile.

"Do you mean you can't tell, sir?" Myne asks the Blacksmith.

The Blacksmith looks up and down at Yuya before he stops at Yuya's right arm and notices the shield with the green orb.

"No, are you trying to tell me he's one of them Heroes?" The Blacksmith asks Myne with disbelief in his voice. He crouches down to get a better look at the Small Legendary Shield. "A Shield? So guess that means you must be the dud?"

"Ehehehe. Well, I mean, every Hero has to have a bad start to their journey, right?" Yuya asks with a nervous chuckle.

'Why are these rumors about me spreading so fast like wildfire?' Yuya thought to himself.

"That's the point of rumors, Yuya. They're meant to spread, otherwise where would the fun be if everyone didn't spread rumors?" Yuri bluntly tells Yuya as he looks at his fingernails.

'Whatever, I won't let that get me down.' Yuya retorted as he looks at the Blacksmith with a determined look in his eyes.

"I am indeed the Shield Hero, Yuya Sakaki. Pleased to make your acquaintance." Yuya introduces himself to The Blacksmith as he takes a bow.

"Yuya, huh? Well if you become a regular of mine, I won't give two hoots what you wield." The Blacksmith said with a grin, liking this kid's determination. "All right kid, good to meet ya."

"I think I'm going to like him a lot." Yugo says with a grin.

"Now that that's out of the way, could you provide Sir Hero here with his equipment needs?" Myne asked the Blacksmith as she hugs Yuya's back, pressing her breasts against his spine. "Our budget is around 250 silver."

The Blacksmith nodded his head and grabbed all the swords he sold here that were either exactly on the budget, near the budget, or less than the budget.

"Left to right; that's Iron, Magic Iron, Magic Steel, and Silver Iron in ascending order of price all quality swords guaranteed." The Blacksmith listed out the swords.

"Quick Question: what's the Difference between Iron and Magic Iron?" Yuya asked curious as to what the difference was between the two. The Blacksmith and Myne raised an eyebrow at him. "Because in my world, folklores usually say that anything magical or supernatural could be harmed by anything made of Iron because it was a man-made invention instead of an invention of nature. So something being called magic Iron with there also being iron seems to be kinda redundant. No offense."

The Blacksmith thinks for a moment to ponder Yuya's question as well as the information given to him. He then tells Yuya the difference between the two.

"Well Iron is just Iron as you say, but Magic Iron, as well as Magic Steel, both provide the ability to cast magic as an attack and are capable of being used as both a sword and a wand." The Blacksmith explained.

"Thank you, I think I'll take the Magic Steel. Just to see how it feels in my hand. I mean with one of these, even I could-" Yuya says as he picks up the weapon, but he was suddenly given a powerful electrical shock from his hand the moment he picked it up.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Yuya hollered out in pain as his entire skeleton flashed in-between his skin and the bones inside him.

The Blacksmith and Myne looked at Yuya with shocked expression at what they saw when he picked up the sword.

Somehow, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all felt it too even though they were nowhere near the weapon nor capable of picking it up, but no one could see the lighting as they screamed out in pain.

Yuya quickly tossed the Magic Steel Sword to the ground and as the electricity stopped the moment Yuya let go of the sword as he was left gasping for air.

...

...

...

...

"what The FUCK!?!? Just happened?!" Yuri cursed as he wiggled his fingers to make sure he didn't lose any feeling in them.

"If this is what prisoners on death row for the electric chair go through, this probably has nothing on that." Yuto said as he held his hand and twirled his wrist.

"Now I know what it's like to be zapped by 100 Sector Security Officers wielding tasers set on HIGH, Ow." Yugo wined as he looked at his hand and poked it, it stung, but there was no mark.

"What the?!" Yuya shouted as he looked at the sword. "Is that one of it's magical properties?" He asked with wide eyes.

"N-No! The Magic is only determined by the person, not the sword, the swords are only suppose to act like a lightning rod, only directing where the magic should go not..." The Blacksmith then flailed his arms around wildly before directing back at the sword. "THAT!"

"Then what the heck is going on?" Yuya asks confused and shocked on what just happened.

"I have no idea." The Blacksmith said shocked by what he saw.

"It looked liked the swords didn't like you holding them." Myne said shocked by what she saw.

Then Yuya has a moment of clarity as he looks at the Legendary Shield.

"Or maybe, the Shield didn't like me holding them." Yuya said looking at the shield. "But why?"

Suddenly a notification appeared in Yuya's vision that he, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri could see.

[Caution]

[Legendary Weapon Rule Violation: Holding non-assigned weapon]

"Rule Violation?" Yuya asked questioning what rule he violated and why did the rule mention him holding the weapon not assigned to him.

"What the Hell?!" Yuya shouted in shock.

"What is it, Sir Hero?" Myne asked.

[Help]

[A hero may not hold, with intent to fight, any weapon other than their assigned legendary weapon]

"I can't wield any other weapons, but this shield." Yuya explained to Myne.

"What about that thing on your left arm, Hmm?" The Blacksmith asked.

"Oh, you mean my Duel Disk? Well it doesn't really count as a weapon, but it does block my face and can be used as a way to hurt someone due to this piece being made of metal as well, so I guess it counts as a sort of weapon, even though it's technically not." Yuya explained as he tapped the crimson red metal of his Duel Disk. "So, really, I can only use this shield and my Duel Disk."

"How does that work?" The Blacksmith questioned as he pulls out a magnifier and uses some appraisal Magic to scan the shield, he didn't ask what a Duel Disk is as that would probably be a long story. "Hmm."

"At a glance, it's like any other small shield. Does this thing not come off ya?" The Blacksmith questions as he tries to pull of the shield to see if he can study it further.

"I'm pretty sure I could move it around if I remove my Duel Disk,but I don't feel like removing it." Yuya theorizes. "But other than that, I can't find a way to remove it."

"That's strange, I can sense a great amount of power in here. But my appraisal magic doesn't really tell me much more." The Blacksmith said as he taps the green orb.

"Uhh, thanks anyways." Yuya thanked the Blacksmith.

"No, thank you for showing me something interesting anyway." The Blacksmith thanked Yuya. "What to buy some armor?"

"Uh, sure, but can I have it be light and allow me freedom of movement, preferably around my arms and legs, but doesn't show off too much of my skin?" Yuya asks the Blacksmith.

"I'll see what I can find." The Blacksmith said with a chuckle.

---

Later...

After a couple of hours, and many, many, many tries to see what fit and what gave Yuya the best freedom of movement. The Blacksmith and Myne checked inside the as soon as Yuya was done getting his armor on.

"Hey! Now you're starting to look the part at least." The Blacksmith complimented.

Yuya now wore a blackish brown leather-like chainmail armor that had no sleeves around the shoulder with a yellow shirt underneath and a pair of black pants that stopped just pass his knees reaching halfway to his calves. His backpack was on hanging off his back carrying his other Duel Disks and Decks inside.

[Chain Mail]

[ATK: 0]

[MAG: 0]

[DEF: plus 11 - 28]

[MDEF: plus 4 - 21]

[AGI: plus 13 - 27]

[Weight: 11]

[Quality: 2 Stars]

[Unlock Requirements: Humanoid Lv. 1]

Slash Resistance (Small)

"Well, it's not much but it does offer as a good starting armor for us." Yuri said as he read the stats of the Chain Mail armor.

"How much do you want for it?" Myne asks the Blacksmith.

"Heroes discount, 120 silver." The Blacksmith offered.

"And the buyback price?" Myne asks.

"Well, let's see if it's mostly still in mint-condition, I'd offer you 100 silver." The Blacksmith said.

"Buyback price?" Yuya asks wondering what that is.

"Once you grow strong enough. You really won't need this armor anymore. You really don't want to get ripped off when you come to sell it back." Myne explained.

"Makes sense I guess." Yuya said thinking about it.

"A way for the customer to not only get armor but also to get money back depending on how good the armor still is? That's some pretty good business dealing, even if it has some of flaws to it." Yuri said with a hand on his chin.

"All right, we'll take it." Myne said happily.

"Excellent! I'll throw in some inner wear to show my thanks." The Blacksmith said with a thumbs up.

"I'll go get myself some gear and then we'll be on our way to do battle." Myne said taking Yuya's coins. "Does that sound alright to you?"

"Uh, sure, yeah." Yuya said with a nod.

Myne smiled as she left Yuya and the Blacksmith alone with each other. Yuya watches Myne leave before looking back at the Blacksmith.

"Uh, hey can you hold onto my clothes for me until tomorrow? I feel like might be need them for some reason, but I don't know why." Yuya asked the Blacksmith.

"Sure, kid." The Blacksmith said with a smile.

"Thanks. It's the only things I have left of home, and it would be pretty weird to show up home wearing some armor that no one back home would be familiar with, right?" Yuya says to the Blacksmith.

"You make a good point kid." The Blacksmith said, he stuck his hand out awaiting a hand shake. "The names Erhard." The Blacksmith, now known as Erhard, introduced himself.

Yuya smiled before taking Erhard hand and shaking it. "Nice to meet ya, Erhard."

"Alright, I got what I need." Myne called out.

"Coming!" Yuya called out to Myne. 'It's time to Level Up! Our adventure finally starts to begin!' Yuya thought to himself.

"Yeah! Let's start saving the world!" Yugo cheered Yuya on.

---

The Meadows outside of Melromarc...

Yuya and Myne (along with Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri) all made their way outside Castle Town and into a wide open meadow full of tall grass, which reminded Yuya about another game he's heard called, "Catch'em-Mon's".

"Whoa..." Yuya gasps in awe at the beauty of the Fields outside of Castle Town.

Yuya sees Myne hiding underneath a tree how gives him the "Let's Do This" fist pump, which Yuya nods to as he goes into his back pack and pulls out Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri's deck while putting his Deck in a secret compartment with the Gladiator Beasts Deck and the brown Duel Disk.

'I do want to try out the Duel Disk Shield see how it functions as well as see if it's possible to change shields.' Yuya thinks to himself as he looks around.

"So then whose deck are you going to use then? Since you obviously don't want to use your Performapals, I assume." Yuri asks Yuya.

"It's gotta be me, it just gotta be!" Yugo said excited for Yuya to use his Speedroids and Clear Wing Synchro Dragon.

'Not yet, guys, I don't think Myne would be ready to hear about Duel Monsters, even if people heard our conversation last night.' Yuya mentally told Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri. 'Besides, I want to see how good I can do on my own.'

As Yuya is searching for something to fight, he and his other counterparts heart the sound of grass shuffling which catches his other counterparts attention. They all get a bunch of red triangles that appear to be on top of something, nine in total, approaching him/them, fast. The four counterparts all just looked at each other and smiled.

Whatever was in the grass just kept on coming towards Yuya, so he ran trying to lure them closer out of the grass.

Jumping out of the grass and into the air, was a group of inorganic orange balls with very angry faces with sharp teeth.

The orange balls kept jumping closer and closer to Yuya before they opened their mouth's and tried to bite down on Yuya.

Yuya reared his Shielded fist back and punched one of the orange balls in the face, dealing only 1 DMG.

[Ability Unlocked]

[Shield Bash (Offensive Ability): Knock back enemies, has a low percent chance of inducing unconsciousness onto them.]

'Well then, we can scratch, obtain [Shield Bash], off our list.' Yuya though to his other counterparts. 'It's ability to cause unconsciousness, even though it's percent is low, is still useful.'

"Now all we need to do is just reach Level 2." Yuto said knowing that this might take a while.

The orange balls continue attacking as all 5 of them bite down on Yuya, who closed his eyes awaiting the pain of their sharp teeth. But when he opened his eyes, he looked at the orange balls, there was 2 biting on the legs, 1 biting his waist, and 2 biting on his arms, but he didn't feel a thing due to his high defense stat.

Yuya smiled and was actually impressed that he couldn't feel a thing due to the shield and his DEF stat. He continue trying to hit the orange balls, he did miss some, but also hit some as well due to his agility and clever thinking.

He eventually was able to keep up the the orange balls and actually managed to uppercut one and destroyed it, turning the creature into a puff of orange confetti.

A notification appeared in his vision, this one being gold and yellow.

[1 Exp]

He put his hand on his knees as he catches his breath, not thinking it would be so difficult with just 1 ATK point, but thankfully his agility made up for that allowing him to hit more often than not as well as avoid attacks.

Yuya looked over the hill behind him and saw Ren doing much better than him as he saw Ren slash away at 3 of those Orange Ball's with ease.

Myne walked up next to Yuya and pulled out her sword, ready to fight along side him and gain EXP as well as encourage him to keep going.

---

Later that day at Dusk...

After defeating many of those orange balls, which were a species of creatures known as Orange Balloons. Yuya was still not at Level 2, in fact, he only had gained 7 EXP.

Right now Yuya and Myne are underneath a tree as Yuya absorbs the Orange slime's material's into the shield.

"Wow. There's no limit to how much it can absorb." Myne said in awe of the Legendary Shield's power.

[Absorbed Orange Balloon x4]

The skill tree suddenly appeared within Yuya's vision, showing off 8 branching paths surrounding the main shield. With his Duel Disk (Crimson) Shield on the top right with the Odd-Eyes (Pen.) Dragon Shield after that with the symbol of a lock with what level Yuya needs to unlock. The Book Shield was branched to the left.

The middle right opened revealing a new Shield ready to be unlocked for Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri as well how much it needs to be completely unlocked.

[Orange Balloon Shield (4/5)]

"This must be the power of a legendary weapon." Myne said as she held her hands out for Yuya to grab more Orange Balloon material.

"Yeah. I actually discovered this ability last night when I absorbed a book." Yuya explained to Myne. "But it also may be why I didn't feel any pain when those Balloons had bitten on me. But before I can upgrade to a better shield, it looks like I need to collect a lot more fodder." Yuya explained.

"Oh, I see." Myne said understanding what Yuya meant.

"Speaking of which, are these Orange Balloon fragments worth anything? Like is there a person who can trade any monster parts in town?" Yuya asks Myne if there was a monster parts seller.

"Yes, but these can only get you one copper coin each at best." Myne said as she hands Yuya another orange balloon fragment for him to let his shield absorb.

'Seeing at how Ren had easily defeated them, these must be the weakest monsters here for now. But they do provide a good distraction and are an excellent use of causing people to provoke or even threaten someone.' Yuya thinks to himself as he looks at some jumping Orange Balloons in the distance chasing after their next meal. He puts the last Orange Balloon fragment in the Shield.

[Orange Balloon Fragment x1]

[Orange Balloon Shield (5/5)]

The Legendary Shield began to transform before Yuya and Myne eyes as it's shape changed form from it's normal state to the size of small Legendary Shield, but it now had a face of the Orange Balloon with the Green Orb between the angry eyes. It looked really adorable actually.

[Shield Unlocked]

[Orange Balloon Shield Unlocked]

Mastery: 0

plus 1 DEF

"That should be enough shield fodder for now." Yuya told Myne as he gets up from his position and looks at Myne. "The nice thing is, as I level up my shield should evolve, too."

"Let's call it a day then and head back to the weapon shop." Myne suggested. "And while we are heading there, why don't you tell me about your Duel Disk and what it can do, Hmm? If we can buy some new equipment for me, we'll get even farther tomorrow."

"Sounds fair enough." Yuya said.

"About that Duel Disk?" Myne asks Yuya, who just rolls his eyes at her with a smile.

"Okay, So before I tell you about my Duel Disk, I have to tell you about Duel Monsters." He told Myne as the two made their way back into the city.

---

Erhard's Blacksmith...

"Gear for the lady? Hm?" Erhard asks Yuya curiously. "You'll certainly be much stronger decked out with some good equipment."

Myne is looking through the gear and weapons as Yuya and Erhard watches Myne.

"Right?" Myne agreed with Erhard as she pulls out a sword.

"Now hold on, This might get expensive, Myne. So I suppose I should start haggling now." Yuya said with a confident smirk that he can haggle this old man in no time.

"Oh, no. Here we go again." Yuri groaned.

"Oh, yes! Here we go again!" Yugo cheered.

"Why did Sylvio have to teach Yuya how to haggle money? Why?" Yuto groaned in agony as ever since Z-Arc's 2nd defeat, Sylvio had taught Yuya how to not only use his money right, but also how to haggle someone.

Unfortunately, for Sylvio, Yuya was just too good at haggling someone even for a beginner, heck, he was so good, he could haggle Slyvio and his dad at the same time and they would never even notice they were haggled.

"Really? Seems our Hero fancy's himself as a Comedian." Erhard said ready to take on Yuya's challenge.

"Eighty percent off." Yuya started the haggle-off.

"Don't! Twenty extra!" Erhard counters.

"Why is it going up?!" Yuya asks. "Eighty-NINE percent off!" Yuya offers.

"Anyone who tries to haggle before even seeing the goods deserves to pay double." Erhard counters.

"Yeah, yeah. Ninety percent off!" Yuya counters with a smile.

"Grrr! Twenty-Nine percent MORE!" Erhard counters.

"Oh, you're good, but I'll break ya! A HUNDRED PERCENT OFF!" Yuya counters with a grin.

"THEN I'M JUST GIVING IT AWAY!" Erhard counters Yuya's offer.

"Free works for me!" Yuya says with a cheeky smile.

"Go! go! go! go!" Yugo chants with a powerful grin at seeing the greatest haggle-off he's ever seen.

"Who do you think will win?" Yuto asks Yuri and Yugo.

"My money's on Erhard." Yugo says with a happy expression.

"I think Yuya will win this." Yuto says with a smirk.

"I'm with no-one, leave me out of your childish games." Yuri said with a huff.

Yuya Sakaki and Erhard's haggle-off is cut off by Myne placing her selected equipment on the counter.

"Hup." Myne huffed as she places her order on the counter, gaining the attention of the two guys and 3 spirits.

Myne had grabbed a metal breastplate, some arm and shoulder guards, a pair of leg guards, and a expensive looking sword.

"So how much is all that at Sixty percent off?" Yuya asked Erhard.

"480 Silver with the discount. That's the best I can offer." Erhard tells Yuya with a winning smirk at winning the haggle-off.

"That will only leave us with 160 silver." Yuto said having already done the math. "Change it to 440 so we can have 200 silver left, maybe even add a silver coin and the bag into the shield afterwards."

'Good idea.' Yuya thought to Yuto. "Make it 440, and it's a deal." Yuya offers Erhard another deal.

"Why go 40 silver lower?" Erhard asks curiously on Yuya's offer.

"Well, I don't know how much Inns and other expenses cost here yet, so it's would be best to have at least have 200 silver left if needs be." Yuya tells Erhard.

"We'll be fine, Sir Hero." Myne said reassuring Yuya. "The stronger I am, the more loot we can collect from monsters, right?" She asks him with a question of her own as she walks over to him. "This'll keep us going." She said as she pushes her breasts against Yuya's arm.

"I-I don't know, Myne. I-I just think it would be best to have some silver, j-just in case." Yuya said with a nervous blush on his face.

Yuya shook his head to get rid of his blush before looking at Erhard.

"So, Old Man, do we have a deal?" Yuya asks with a grin as he stretches out an open hand.

"Don't call me Old Man, kid. And yeah, sure I'll take that deal." Erhard said taking the hand and giving it a firm shake.

"Pleasure doing buisness with you." Yuya smiled as he gave Erhard a thankful nod, he went into his bag and grabbed out 440 silvers.

"I gotta say, you got a real nose for good deals." Erhard said with a smile.

"Thank you, Sir Hero." Myne said as she hugs Yuya.

Yuya then grabs the bag full of Orange Balloon fragments and places them on the counter as he pulls a fragment out.

"Hey, do you know any places around town that'll buy these fragments?" Yuya asked Erhard if he knew anyone who would sell these fragments.

"There are shops that specialize in monster goods." Erhard answers Yuya's question. "They'll buy most of those off of ya."

"Great, thank you." Yuya thanks Erhard as he puts the fragment back in the bag.

---

At a Pub...

Yuya and Myne made their way to a Pub as the sun started to set and the moon began to rise. They both ordered some food and each other a room to sleep in for tonight. The two both sat down and ate their dinner as Yuya and Myne both has a glasses of wine. They both had ordered food with chicken, carrots, broccoli, and biscuits.

"Oh, Man! The Food at the castle was delicious too, but this Pub food is even better, nothing beats the simpler things, am I right?" Yuya asked Myne as he ate his chicken. "This is where you can taste REAL other world cuisine."

"Even though we cannot taste it without inhabiting your body, the smell is just so good that even we can smell it as spirits." Yugo said with a drooling mouth at smelling the delicious Pub food.

"I'm so glad you're enjoying your meal." Myne said with a soft chuckle.

Yuya then pulled out a map of Melromarc and looked at it.

"The meadow we fought today was over here, right?" Yuya asks Myne as he points at the map.

"Yep. Tomorrow we'll be heading to Lafan Village." Myne said pointing at a Village to the west. "Which lies beyond this map."

"What's in Lafan Village?" Yuya asked curiously.

"Well, pass Lafan Village is a dungeon that's perfect for rookie adventurers like ourselves." Myne replied.

"A dungeon? Isn't that a bit too early for us to do with how low our levels are?" Yuya asked curiously as he was still Level 1, he didn't even know what Myne's level was.

"Yes, and we won't make much money there. But, it's an excellent spot for leveling up." Myne said with a happy tone.

"Interesting." Yuya said intrigued.

"Now that I have new equipment, and with you defending me, it should be a walk in the park." Myne said as she clasps her hands joyously.

"Thank you, Myne. You have been a wealth of information and good friend to me today, I'm sure my friends would love to meet you back home, especially Sylvio, given how he's trying to find a girlfriend now." Yuya said with a warm smile and a chuckle at remembering one of his friends, Sylvio Sawatari, who was trying to find a girlfriend but he always fail at due to his own inflated ego, but he always supports Sylvio to keep trying to find the one.

"No problem." Myne said, she then picked up her glass of wine. "Uh, by the way Sir Hero. We have all this wine here, aren't you going to drink some?"

"Eh, I'm not into alcohol, really." Yuya said with a nervous smile.

"Oh, that's too bad. This is really fantastic vintage." Myne said looking down at the Wine in her glass, she then drank her wine, and let out a seductive moan afterwards. "After the long day we had, I'd love to share it with you."

She then pushes her glass of wine until she had hit Yuya's glass. Yuya gave a nervous blush from her action and wording.

"Wow. All of a sudden she's twice as seductive. I'm impressed." Yuri said with a impressed smirk at Myne and what seems to be redness on his face.

"I'm sorry, but I really just don't care for it." Yuya declined the offer.

"Is that so? Well, too bad." Myne said, but she didn't sound upset.

"Eh..." Yuya looked at Myne with a nervous expression.

"Well, that's a Hero for you I suppose." Myne said like she figured Yuya would decline her offer.

This caught the attention of Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri as they looked at her.

"Uh, what do you mean?" Yuya asked curious on what Myne meant by that.

"This country's a matriarchy, No man's who from here would ever turn down a drink offered by a woman." Myne explained to Yuya.

'But wouldn't that mean that if this country IS a matriarchy, then the Queen would be the one in charge, not Aultcray, right?' Yuya questioned in his thoughts to Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri who caught on as well

"You would be correct, but that begs the question." Yuto started off as he agreed with Yuya.

"Where is the Queen right now?" Yuri finished as he looks at Myne with a suspicious glare.

"Is she? You know, KRRRRK!" Yugo said as he moves his thumb across his neck and limps his head to the side as he sticks his tongue out.

'I don't know, I smell something suspicious going on here.' Yuya told his other dimensional counterparts with his mind.

Yuya decided to not ask his question to Myne as he was growing weary of the King right now, and of her as well right now. So he continued explaining why he doesn't drink alcohol.

"Really? Guess I'm not really good at picking up on this kind of stuff." Yuya told Myne as he looks around the Pub.

"Oh, don't worry, you'll learn." Myne told Yuya with a warm smile.

"I'm glad we got to discuss our plans for tomorrow. I think I'll turn in early tonight." Yuya told Myne as he wanted to head off to sleep. "Is that okay?" He asks.

"Of course." Myne said. "I'll head on up after I finish your wine." She told him as Yuya got up from his seat. "Although drinking alone gets so lonely."

"Uh, hey, Myne?" Yuya asked as she looks at him as he was heading upstairs.

"Hmm?" She hums.

"Thanks again, for joining up with me even though I can't fight. I apologize for declining you tonight, but I swear to make it up to you someday." Yuya said with a grin. "I hope we both can make sure the people here can keep on smiling even during these Waves." He declares with a powerful smile that would make anyone smile with him at his declaration.

Myne looked at Yuya, actually looked at him in shock by the Duelist's declaration to have everyone smile during these catastrophic series of destructive Waves. Myne gave Yuya a smile, that didn't seem forced or fake.

"I-It's totally fine, I mean it." Myne stuttered with a blush. "I'll see you in the morning, Sir Hero. Pleasant dreams."

"Yeah, Goodnight!" Yuya said his goodnight's to Myne.

Myne watches as Yuya head on upstairs to sleep as he doesn't see her giving him a silent grin that seem to hold more malicious intentions.

---

With Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri upstairs...

Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all made their way into the Pub's room. Yuya had removed his Chain Mail Armor and placed it on top of the chair as he took his bag of coins and looked at the remaining Silver Coins he had left.

"200 Silver coins left, two rooms, a Thirty Copper each per night and meals for two, at Five Coppers each. That leaves a little over 199 silver." Yuya said as he grabs 31 silver coins and sits down on the bed to try and find a place to put them for now.

Yuya had already took his Duel Disk and had place both his and the Brown Duel Disk (with the Gladiator Beasts Decks already inserted into the Duel Disk) underneath his bed, which was up against a corner, so only he could reach them and no one else could. He left his backpack out along with Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri's Duel Disk and their Decks inside as well as the remaining bag of coins he had left.

Yuya only had on was the yellow shirt and black pants that was underneath the armor after he had taken it off.

Yuya then noticed a compartment for him to store his remaining Silver coins underneath his shield.

"Look at me, stashing money like a stereotypical Japanese tourist." Yuya said with a chuckle as he puts 30 silver coins underneath between his right arm and the shield.

Yuya then places the last coin over the shield and let the shield absorb the coin and as he does, he unlocks two new shields at once.

The shield begins it's transformation as it turns into a circular shield with the Silver currency symbol on the front and the green orb in the middle.

[Silver Coin Shield]

Mastery: 0

plus 1 DEF, plus 1 MDEF, plus Item drop rate increase (small)

[Unique Ability: Silver Safe] Can store and retrieve silver coins. Max. 250 Silver Coins plus 3 for each level you possess.

"Well then, guess we don't have to worry about where our money goes for a while." Yuri says intrigued.

"It also seems that only monsters are the ones that need more than one piece to unlock new shields as we saw before." Yuto added.

"It seems so. But, item drop rate? Does that means we'll be getting more items than we normally get?" Yuya asks himself.

The [Silver Coin Shield] then transforms again this time into a semi-large medieval-looking shield made of silver. The green orb of the Legendary shield was in the middle.

[Silver Shield]

Mastery: 0

plus 1 DEF, plus 1 MDEF, plus 1 AGI

Additional defense against fiends, plus 3.

The [Silver Shield] transformed back into the Legendary Shield.

"Not the worst, but I want to see how we can swap shields. Do we think of the shield we want or can we just say it? Or is it both?" Yuya questioned curiously.

"I think it might be both, why have it one or the other?" Yuto tells Yuya on what he thinks.

"You may be right. Let's try the verbal approach first." Yuya said he raised the shield in front of him.

"Come forth, [Book Shield]!" Yuya called out.

The Shield transformed into the [Book Shield] when Yuya announced what he wanted.

"Okay, verbal approach works, let's try mental now." Yuya said as he closed his eyes.

The [Book Shield] suddenly transformed into the [Duel Disk (Crimson) Shield] without Yuya saying a word as he opened his eyes and looked at the shield.

"Guess both options work out, so you can switch shields on the fly in a matter of seconds, it seems." Yuri said as he scratched his chin with interest.

'Which was a good we did this, since we'll probably be facing off against stronger opponents as we go along.' Yuya mentally told Yuri.

"My point exactly, Yuya." Yuri said with a nod.

"But holy crap, what a day." Yuya said as he laid down on his bed. 'I wonder how it truly feels to defeat a monster? Today, I just ran around popping balloons, but still, I can't believe we're in another world.'

"What about us?" Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri asked offended.

Yuya sat up on his bed and looked at the three with a 'really?' look. 'Those were another DIMENSIONS, not worlds.'

Yuya then heard Motoyasu and Itsuki's voices from outside his room.

"Hey, I leveled up quite a bit today." Motoyasu voice said.

"Yeah, me too. I won't let you outdo me twice." Itsuki voice said.

"Ha Ha, we'll see about that." Motoyasu laughed and challenged Itsuki.

"Is that Motoyasu and Itsuki? I'll talk to them tomorrow morning, right now it's time for bed." Yuya said as he got up to get underneath the sheets.

"Already?" Yugo asks curious. "But it's like, I don't know 9, 11 o'clock or whatever the measurement of time is here?"

"I got to get off to an early start and all." Yuya responded to Yugo.

"Makes sense." Yuto said with an agreeable nod.

"Night guys, see you tomorrow." Yuya said to Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri.

"Night." Yugo, Yuto, and Yuri all said as they all faded away into Yuya's subconscious to sleep for tonight.

'Here's to hoping for another good day of training.' Yuya said with a smile before he slowly started to drift off to sleep.

He blew out the candle atop his bed and went to sleep hoping that tomorrow will be a good day like today.

---

The Next Morning, Castle Town, Melromarc...

It's the next morning in Castle Town, the sun has already stated to begin it's rise. It's peaceful, almost. Like nothing bad could ever ruin this perfect morning day.

CLANK

CLANK

CLANK

Suddenly, the sounds of metal hitting against the stone floor is heard along the streets as guards seem to be trying to quickly hurry their way over to somewhere in the city. Two carriages are pulled through the castle gates and into Castle Town, like they were on a mission to catch someone.

---

With Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri...

"*yaaaaawwn*" Yuya yawns as he gets up from his bed, he goes underneath his bed and puts his duel disk back on his left arm and places the brown duel disk into his backpack and slings it over his shoulder, which strangely felt lighter for some reason to Yuya, but he paid it no mind.

Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri are already starting to fade into Yuya's view now that he was awake.

"Okay, downstairs for some breakfast and then we'll head out." Yuya said with a smile.

He walks over to the chair that he put his Chain Mail Armor on last night back onto his person, but he notices that his armor not there anymore.

"Huh?" Yuya questions on where his armor is. "I was sure I put my armor there."

That's when Yuya's eyes slowly started to widen in fear as he quickly took off his backpack and opened the zipper to see if what he realized wasn't true. But as he did so, he let out a gasp of shock and worry.

"No, no no no no no! No! Where are they?! T-This can't be happening, this is just a bad dream I'm in right now!" Yuya shouted with worry as he looked through his backpack.

"Yuya, what's wrong?" Yuto asked worried for his Pendulum Dimension counterpart.

"What are you looking for?" Yuri asked, actually sounding worried about what was going on with Yuya.

"Did something happen?" Yugo asks Yuya curious and worried for the Pendulum Dimension Duelist Champion.

Yuya looked up at his Xyz, Synchro, and Fusion Dimension counterparts with a fearful worried expression written on his face.

"It's gone! There gone! The other 3 Duel Disks, the Decks, and our silver! Someone robbed us last night!" Yuya shouted at Yuto, Yuri, and Yugo with worry.

Yuya just couldn't find Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri's Duel Disks or their respective Decks in his backpack at all, not even the remaining coins he had in his bag that he put in there was stolen as well.

"Wait, WHAT?!" Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all shouted out in shock that someone stole from them last night.

Missing armor was one thing, but to steal not only the Duel Disks but also the Decks as well, which had "Dark Rebellion Xyz Dragon", "Clear Wing Synchro Dragon", and "Starving Venom Fusion Dragon" in them, which only meant bad news to everyone in this world.

"No way." Yugo said with a worried expression that whoever stole the Dragons and Duel Disks, now had 3 of Z-Arc's strongest monsters in their hands. Which let me remind you, destroyed ALL of the Original Dimension and was capable of wiping out military forces with ease.

"Let's go get Myne and try and see if we can catch the thief, if we're not too late." Yuya said as he quickly ran out of his room and towards Myne's door.

---

Outside of the Pub...

...

The two carriages have just stopped themselves and are now right outside the Pub, having arrived at their destination and were awaiting the rest of the guards and back up to arrive here.

---

Back with Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri...

Yuya was right outside of Myne's door and was banging on her door to have her quickly get up and see if the two of them could be able to catch the thief with the help of the castle guards.

"MYNE, OPEN UP! MY OTHER 3 DUEL DISKS AND DECKS AS WELL AS OUR MONEY HAS BEEN STOLEN!" Yuya shouted Myne to wake up, but she wasn't responding, thinking she was still asleep.

---

With the Guards...

The Guards have finally arrived and were now storming inside the Pub their armored boots hitting the stone floor as they quickly made their way inside the Pub.

---

Back with Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri...

"ARE YOU STILL ASLEEP IN THERE?!" Yuya shouted as he tried to open the door, but it just wouldn't open no matter what he did. "WAKE UP! WE'RE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE!"

"That's it! I'm going in there! Women privacy be damned!" Yuri shouted as he had enough right now, seeing as how Myne wasn't waking up right now, he then phased through Myne's door to see if Myne was really asleep inside her room right now.

But when Yuri entered, he didn't see Myne anywhere, there was also no broken glass, no signs of a stuggle, no furniture broken or moved, it was just like no one was in here, like Myne never really slept in here last night or ever slept in her room at all.

Yuri went back to Yuya, Yuto, and Yugo as they all looked at him with a concerned expression to know what he saw in Myne's room. Yuri looks at the three with an enraged and almost worried glare.

"Myne's not in her room, hell, it looks like no one was in there in the first place." Yuri told his other counterparts, shocking them.

"what...?" Yuya said with shock and worry that Myne was taken in her sleep, but that didn't add up she would have failed her arms around in her bed.

This thought also brought up another question in Yuya's mind, why target them specifically? What did he and Myne do, really? The only thing they did was go to The Painter, then went to Erhard's workshop, then went to level up, then back to Erhard, went to get dinner, then went to sleep, there was no reason for someone to steal from Yuya or take Myne either. So why, Why choose to target them?

The Guards have arrived upstairs as Yuya heard their metal clanking and looked at them with hope.

"You guys are Knights from the castle, right? I'm really glad you're here. I need some help." Yuya said with a hopeful smile as he walked towards them.

"Listen, I-" Yuya was about to explain his situation, but was suddenly interrupted.

"You're the Shield Hero, yes?" A Knight asked Yuya from behind him, confusion the 20 year old and the 3 spirits.

"Y-Yeah, that's right?" Yuya asked as his hopeful smile turned to one of confusion and worry.

The Knight alongside two others walk up closer to Yuya, blocking his path.

"The king has issued a summons with you, boy. You are to come with us no questions asked." The Knight told Yuya with a glare.

"W-Why? Is there something that needs us four? We're not strong enough as-" Yuya explained but the Knight once again cut him off once again.

And what he said, shocked not only Yuya Sakaki, but also Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri as well.

"No, you're under arrest." The Knight told Yuya.

...

...

...

...

...

"...w-what?"/ "...w-what?" Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all said at the same time with widen eyes in shock and confusion.

---

Melromarc's Castle, Throne Room...

Yuya was forcibly shoved into King Aultcray's XXXII Throne Room as he was confused and shocked by what was happening right now as he, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri were also in the same boat as him, why was Yuya being placed under arrest? What is going on?

"Ow, Geez." Yuya groaned as he was pushed to the ground and had hit his head. Yuya rubbed his skull hoping to alleviate the pain.

"Are you alright ,Yuya?" Yugo asks worried for Yuya as Yuto and Yuri looked at Yuya with worry for the Performapal Duelist.

'I'm fine, Yugo. Thank you for asking.' Yuya mentally told Yugo with a soft smile at his Synchro counterpart worried for him.

Yuya was then suddenly surrounded by Knights wielding spears all directed and pointing right at him from all sides, like whatever he may do, he will get stabbed by them.

"What the hell is going on here?" Yuya asked confused and angry that he was being arrested for something he doesn't even know about.

Yuya looks up and notices Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki all looking at him with disgust and rage. He then notices a familiar figure next to Motoyasu.

"Huh? M-Myne, you're okay!" He cheerfully says with a smile to his companion.

But she quickly and suddenly hides behind Motoyasu.

"W-What's wrong?" Yuya asked confused by this sudden change in behavior from Myne.

"Yuya, take a look at what's on Motoyasu's, Ren's, and Itsuki's right arms." Yuri told Yuya looking at the three other Cardinal Heroes.

When Yuri told him that, Yuya looked up as he took notice of three familiar devices on Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki's right arms that was stolen from his backpack.

On Motoyasu's right arm, was a white circular device that looked like a wheel with a screen.

On Ren's right arm, was a purple shield-like device with a screen.

And on Itsuki's right arm, was a black Tamagachi-like device with a screen.

He also noticed that Motoyasu was wearing a familiar looking Chain Mail Armor that was in his room last night before he went to sleep.

"H-Hey! You found my armor and Duel Disks!" Yuya said with a happy smile towards Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu.

But then, a single thought crossed his mind as he was prepared to ask them how they found them, his face slowly turned from joy to one of confusion. "Wait a minute, ...why ...Why do you have MY Duel Disks? And why do you have my armor, Motoyasu?" Yuya slowly asked them.

Yuya then looked at King Aultcray with a worried and confused expression, hoping that the King could explain why the other Three Cardinal Heroes had his Duel Disks with the Decks installed on them.

"E-Excuse me, your majesty? While I was sleeping all the money and equipment I had other than this shield and two of my Duel Disks were stolen from my room. But as I can see, Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu have them. Can you ple-" Yuya explained, but as he was about to ask the King why the three Cardinal Heroes had his stuff...

"SILENCE, YOU FILTH!" King Aultcray shouted at Yuya with a tone matching his regal authority.

"What's this about?" Yuto asked as he was slowly getting an unsettling feeling.

"I don't know, but I don't like where this might go." Yuri said as Yugo silently agreed with the Predaplant Fusion Duelist.

"Wh-What's this all about?" Yuya asked the King in a stunned fear by King Aultcray's tone towards him.

King Aultcray gave a sigh as he put a hand to his scalp. "Myne, I'm sorry to ask you of this, my dear, but would you mind repeating your testimony for us again?" He asks Myne.

"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.

"H-Huh?!" Yuya asked in complete shock as he stood up as Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all looked at Myne with shock and confused expressions.

"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.

"What?" Yuya asked in stunned confusion, he would never do that to any woman.

If he did, Zuzu would smack him on the back of the head with her infamous paper fan, kill him, find a way to bring him back from the dead, smack him, and then kill him twenty times over again.

"Somehow, I managed to escape, I ran down the hall for help and found Sir Motoyasu who happened to be staying at the same Inn!" Myne explained at Motoyasu glared at Yuya with rage.

'What the hell?!' Yuya thought with a gaping jaw.

"If she hadn't asked me to wait until dawn and call the Knights, I would have gladly cut you down myself." Motoyasu seethed with an angry glare at Yuya.

"What are you talking about?! I went straight to bed after dinner last night and I never drink!" Yuya shouted getting more and more angrier the more he heard. "And I won't repeat myself again, why do YOU have my Chain Mail armor on and my Duel Disks?! YOU THIEVING BASTARDS GIVE THEM BACK!" He shouted with rage, his eyes glowed red for a bit as his dual-colored hair started to stand up by itself, as Yuto and Yugo held him back from attacking Motoyasu.

You see at times when Yuya is very angry, Yuri is the one who would mainly inhabit Yuya's body with Yuya still inside, and it was up to Yuto and Yugo to try and get Yuya to calm down and get Yuri out.

"Yuri, calm down, get out of Yuya!" Yugo called out to Yuri inside of Yuya.

"We don't want to get into more trouble, Yuri!" Yuto told Yuri.

...

...

...

"Guys..." Yuri's voice called out from BEHIND Yuto and Yugo.

Yuto and Yugo stopped what they were doing and looked behind and saw Yuri still standing there with wide eyes as he looked at Yuya.

"... that's not me." Yuri told them, stunned.

"Who are you calling a thief? Myne gave me this armor as well as these Duel Disks to us as a special gift to us when we arrived at the castle this morning." Motoyasu told Yuya. "She even told us that you were already able to scan your Duel Disk, so we all decided to do it right in front of you during your trial, right guys?" He says looking at Ren and Itsuki for confirmation.

"As much as I'd like to disagree with Motoyasu, it's true, we did decide to scan these Duel Disks during your trial." Itsuki said with his eyes still angrily on Yuya.

Ren didn't say a word, but just nodded his head at Yuya.

"W-Wait! You guys don't know what they could do!" Yuya tried to warn them. "You don't know the disaster Duel Monsters could bring if they fall into the wrong hands!"

"There better than your hands, that's for sure." Motoyasu said. "Ready?" He said looking at Ren and Itsuki if they were ready.

Ren and Itsuki both kept looking at Yuya before nodding their heads in agreement with Motoyasu, ready to scan the 3 Duel Disks.

"Alright then, let the new weapons unlocking commence!" Motoyasu said as he placed the Legendary Spear's red orb above Yugo's new White Duel Disk and started to scan it.

[Beginning Analysis]

[Analyzing]

[Analyzing]

[Analyzing]

[Analysis Completed]

[New Spear Unlocked]

The Legendary Spear began to transform before the eyes of everyone in the Throne Room as a bright red light engulfed the room.

The Spear had now gained a new white and blue color as the handle changed shape, now having a wheel shape and the red orb of the Spear being where the Duel Disk screen would go now in the middle. A handle that looked like a motorcycle handle formed in Motoyasu's hand as he grabbed the handle, the head of the spear changed to a black with green and white outline of the standard Synchro Dimension Duel Disks.

[Duel Disk (White) Spear]

plus 10 ATK, plus 10 AGI

Mastery: 0

[Ability: Duel Monsters] Summon monster(s), Spell, or Trap Card(s) from your Deck or Extra Deck; monsters, spell, and traps cards do not count as a weapons but instead as temporary party members (Max. 10; 5 Monsters Zone's and 5 Spells/Traps Zones) until you decided to remove or return cards from the battlefield to your hand or are destroyed by battle or used for a Fusion, Synchro, or Xyz.

Itsuki decided he was next as he placed the yellow orb of the bow above Yuto's new Duel Disk and started to scan the device.

[Beginning Analysis]

[Analyzing]

[Analyzing]

[Analyzing]

[Analysis Completed]

[New Bow Unlocked]

The Legendary Bow began to transform before the eyes of everyone in the Throne Room as a bright yellow light engulfed the room.

The Bow had now gained a new black and dark purple color as a black with a purple and white outline appeared behind the bow's limbs and handle that looked standard to the Xyz Dimension Duel Disks with Yuto's Duel Disk now looking like a Gauntlet that Itsuki could easily slid his arm through and still grip the second handle as the yellow orb moved and was now where the Duel Disk's screen would normally be.

[Duel Disk (Black) Bow]

plus 10 ATK, plus 10 MAG

Mastery: 0

[Ability: Duel Monsters] Summon monster(s), Spell, or Trap Card(s) from your Deck or Extra Deck; monsters, spell, and traps cards do not count as a weapons but instead as temporary party members (Max. 10; 5 Monsters Zone's and 5 Spells/Traps Zones) until you decided to remove or return cards from the battlefield to your hand or are destroyed by battle or used for a Fusion, Synchro, or Xyz.

Ren was the last one as he placed the blue orb of the Legendary Sword on top of Yuri's Duel Disk and began to scan the device.

[Beginning Analysis]

[Analyzing]

[Analyzing]

[Analyzing]

[Analysis Completed]

[New Sword Unlocked]

The Legendary Sword began to transform before the eyes of everyone in the Throne Room as a bright blue light engulfed the room.

The Sword's had transformed into a black blade with a purple and white outline that looked like the standard Fusion Dimension Duel Disks as the hilt of the sword transformed into a Purple shield with the blue orb of the sword being in the middle of where the Duel Disk's screen would be.

[Duel Disk (Purple) Sword]

plus 10 ATK, plus 10 MDEF

Mastery: 0

[Ability: Duel Monsters] Summon monster(s), Spell, or Trap Card(s) from your Deck or Extra Deck; monsters, spell, and traps cards do not count as a weapons but instead as temporary party members (Max. 10; 5 Monsters Zone's and 5 Spells/Traps Zones) until you decided to remove or return cards from the battlefield to your hand or are destroyed by battle or used for a Fusion, Synchro, or Xyz.

Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all looked at the new forms that the Legendary Spear, Legendary Bow, and Legendary Sword have now taken as Motoyasu gave a wide smile, knowing that he, Ren, and Itsuki now have a fighting edge against Yuya's [Duel Disk (Crimson) Shield] now. They all turned their weapons back into their base forms.

"Now then, with that out of the way, to think the Cardinal Shield Hero would commit the greatest sin in this country." King Aultcray said as he stood up from his throne.

"Sin?!" Yuya growled with a glowing red-eye glare at the so-called "King".

"In Melromarc, even attempted sexual assault on a woman is punishable by death." The King's Advisor explained to Yuya without looking at him.

"If you weren't a Hero, YOU WOULD BE EXECUTED AT ONCE!!!" Kings Aultcray shouted at Yuya as he told him what would have happened if he wasn't the Shield Hero.

"EXECUTED!?!?!"/ "EXECUTED!?!?!" Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all shouted in shock.

"I'm telling you! I'm the one being wronged here! Not her! I didn't do it! And if you're so convinced that I DID, then show me some proof!" Yuya demanded to have proof since he didn't do anything.

Suddenly, another knight walked up to the King and kneeled before him.

"When we performed a search of the Shield Hero's room." A Knight told the King. "We, um, we found this, sir, strewn across his bed." The Knight said, flustered, as he showed the court what they found.

It was a lacy purple lingerie nightgown, it had no holes in it, but that didn't matter as the court was slowly and already becoming convinced that Yuya sexual assaulted Myne.

Myne let out a shrilled scream as she ran away and covered her face in fear.

"YOU ANIMAL!" Motoyasu yelled at Yuya as he stood in front of Myne with his arms outstretched to protect her from the Pendulum Duelist.

"The proof seems rather undeniable!" King Aultcray announced and angry at Yuya.

Everyone looked shocked at the evidence, many couldn't believe that a kind-hearted boy like Yuya would do that, even the maid that directed Yuya and the 3 Cardinal Heroes to their quarters couldn't believe that Yuya would do such a thing, given how kind and thankful he was to her two days ago.

"H-HOW IS THAT ANY EVIDENCE! THEY COULD HAVE GOTTEN THAT FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE AND SAY THAT THEY FOUND IT ON MY BED!" Yuya shouted with rage as his eyes glowed red and his hair started to stand up more, he looked like a demon from your worst nightmares all rolled into one.

"What a terrible shame, I worried something bad might happen but hoped you knew better." Itsuki said angered and upset at Yuya as he seemed like a really nice guy, was it all a lie?

"Guess he thinks a hero can do whatever the hell he wants and get away with it!" Ren said as he also believed Yuya to be a good person, guess he was wrong as well.

"That's not even the least bit true, I swear!" Yuya said angered that no one is believing him.

"This world is not some consequence-free playground for you to play in." Motoyasu said as he aimed his spear at Yuya, intent on killing him. "Know your place, scoundrel!"

Yuya gave a silent gasp as his eyes stopped glowing red and his hair returned to it's natural state. He almost lost his footing as he looked at the King, Motoyasu, Ren, Itsuki, and Myne with shock, wondering what the hell was going on right now.

'Why is happening to me? Myne, why?' Yuya looked at Myne wondering why is she telling a false story, he then looks down and begins to tear up. 'Why would she lie like that, we're suppose to be friends?'

"I don't know, Yuya." Yuto said trying to comfort Yuya as Yugo rubbed his back in comfort.

Yuri just kept his eyes on Myne, that's when he saw Myne move her hands from her face revealing a cheeky smile.

'You clever evil woman. You were playing us from the start.' Yuri thought to himself, making sure that Yuya, Yugo, and Yuto wouldn't and couldn't hear him.

"Yuya." Yuri said his voice cold and emotionless. Yuya looked up at his sadistic Fusion counterpart. "Don't say I didn't warn you, but don't look."

Yuya, Yuto, and Yugo were confused on why Yuri would say that to the former, they all then looked into Yuri's eyes and looked at what he was looking at, or more specifically, who he was looking at.

It was Myne, she was looking at Yuya with a smile as she then pulls her left eye down and stick out her tongue. Yuya now realizes what is going on now.

'I see, joining me was just a ruse so she could get my guard down and destroy me right here. It was all a lie, when she smiled at me or acted kind, they were all FAKE!!!' Yuya thought as his already bubbling rage, acting like a wild savage beast locked in a small and cramped enclosure with no food or water or any proper care, finally broke free.

Yuto and Yugo who had heard Yuya's thought also realized this as they growled as well, angered that Myne would trick all of them like little pets that you could control.

Yuya gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in rage. His pupils completely disappeared leaving only the crimson color of his eyes as his hair stood up wildly, like a powerful sharp force of wind was holding it in place and only in his hair.

"You damn fucking liar." Yuya growled as he felt rage he has never felt since the Doctor put a "Fusion Parasite" into Zuzu whilst in the Fusion Dimension against a mind-controlled Lulu and Celina.

"You tricked us." Yuya growled not caring anymore that anyone would now know about Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri. "IT WAS A GODDAMN SETUP FROM THE VERY BEGINNING!"

Only Ren and Itsuki took notice that Yuya said "us" instead of "me", they almost wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but they were interuppted by Myne crying out in fear.

"I'm scared, Sir Motoyasu!" Myne cried out as she hugged Motoyasu.

"Shut your mouth, you criminal!" Motoyasu shouted at Yuya.

"UP YOURS, PRETTY BOY!" Yuya shouted with rage completely in his eyes. "YOU DID ALL OF THIS TO STEAL NOT ONLY MY MONEY AND EQUIPMENT, BUT ALSO MY OTHER DUEL DISKS AND MY DECKS. I BET YOU TWO PLANNED IT TOGETHER!" He shouted, his eyes glowing red.

"Yeah, The only thing Myne ever called you was Sir Hero or Sir Shield Hero." Yuto growled as his eyes glowed grayish-black.

"But she's calling Motoyasu by name." Yugo growled as his eyes glowed white.

"If that's not proof that they were in it together, I don't know what is." Yuri said as his eyes glowed purple.

"Refusing to admit he's guilty and making nonsensical accusations?" Ren said to Itsuki.

"I know what you're thinking and you're right, he doesn't deserve a shred of mercy." Itsuki agreed with Ren.

"I knew it was a mistake to summon all four Heroes at once." King Aultcray said.

"Exactly! They shouldn't have summoned the Shield Hero at all!" A voice agreed with the King.

"But who could have known he'd be such scum?" Another voice agreed.

'Again, it's just about this damn shield. Has to be, because I'm the Shield Hero, because I'm weak. They're trying to knock me down like some crazy attempt to make themselves look better." Yuya mentally growled as he realizes that they are pushing him down because he is the Shield Hero.

"Disgusting, these people are all filthy, disgusting trash." Yugo agreed with Yuya with a growl as that's how it was in New Domino City, The Topps Society always looked down on the Commons back in the Synchro Dimension.

"This country's people don't believe in us either. So why should we raise a finger to help them?" Yuri asked with a growl as back in his youth when he wanted to help people, everyone looked at him with fear, and years later, he just began to stop caring about them all together and just started caring about himself.

"Fine. I don't even care anymore. And why should I?! Just send me back to Paradise City, to my own world! Summon some other goddamn Shield Hero or whatever you want! I'm out!" Yuya said as he just wanted to go back home to his friends and family, who treated him better than this place.

"Screw this world! Seriously, why did I get ripped away from my home just to go through this shit!" Yuya demanded to go back home, to his friends, to his family.

"So you're gonna run away as soon as things start to get tough? You really are scum!" Ren called Yuya out about him running away.

"After all, you've done, how could you even think about abandoning your job?" Itsuki calls Yuya out as well.

"If it means going back to my home where I have friends who care for me and a family who love and worry about me? Then, yeah, I really am a piece of shit!" Yuya said with a growl at Ren.

"And I didn't ask for this, Shitsuki!" Yuya adds looking at Itsuki with a glare. "Before, I would have gladly helped these assholes out, but now, forget it."

"I say let the coward run on home, who wants to fight alongside a rapist?" Motoyasu asked the court. "Good rida-"

"SHUT UP!!!" Yuya shouted at Motoyasu stopping him from talking. "NOW, GIVE ME BACK MY DECKS AND DUEL DISKS AND SEND ME BACK TO MY WORLD THIS INSTANT!"

King Aultcray XXXII sits back down on his throne as he gives a sigh, one that sounded like he gladly would like to send him home, but just can't.

"Believe me, I would like nothing more than to kick you out, but legend says that no new Heroes may be summoned... until all Four of the original Cardinal Heroes die." King Aultcray tells Yuya, Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki, shocking all three.

Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu all look at the king in shock about this information that they were given.

"Huh?!" Itsuki gasped and looks at the King in shock.

"What'd he say?!" Ren questions in shock.

"That's insane!" Motoyasu said with wide eyes.

Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all just glare at the King with anger from this information.

"So you're telling me, I can't even go back home?" Yuya growled getting more and more angrier.

"Not yet. But there is only one way you may return home." King Aultcray says as he reveals the only option for Yuya to return home. "Fight off ALL the incoming Waves."

"But your majesty, doesn't that mean we'll have to fight alongside a criminal like him?" Motoyasu asked with anger that the only way to get rid of Yuya was to defeat the Waves.

"SCREW YOU GUYS!" Yuya shouted at Motoyasu, the guards were all holding Yuya back. "WHO NEEDS YOU?! I'LL FIGURE OUT HOW TO HANDLE THE WAVES MY WAY!"

Yuya then shows shows the two guards blocking his front out of his way as the rest back away from him.

"Don't move!" A Knight yells as they try to surround Yuya again.

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM US!" Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all scream at the same time as their eyes glows a bright blood red.

A sudden blue light pushes all the guards away from Yuya as he pants heavily in anger.

"WHAT'LL IT BE, KING...?! ARE YOU GONNA HAVE ME ROT IN JAIL BETWEEN EVERY WAVE, FIGHTING MONSTERS UNTIL I DIE?!" Yuya shouted his blood red eyes never even leaving the King's eyes.

"There's no more time before the next wave, so I won't be imprisoning you." King Aultcray told Yuya. "Scum or not, you're still a hero and one of the only four beings left who can fight them all off. But news of your crimes are already spreading among the people, THAT is your punishment. You should never expected to be allowed to lead a decent life in this country." He tells Yuya.

"Yeah, clearly." Yuya angrily and sarcastically tells the King as he and the other 3 begin to make their way out. But before he goes, he pulls 6 of the 30 silver coins out that he had placed underneath his shield and puts them in his hand.

He then looks at Myne with rage and anger. "This is what you wanted, right?" Yuya angrily tells Myne. "THEN SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS!" He shouts tossing his 6 silver coins at Myne.

Motoyasu growled before rushing towards Yuya. "HEY, WAIT ONE SECOND!" He shouts before grabbing onto Yuya's arm.

But Yuya does nothing but glare at Motoyasu in anger. Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri also look at Motoyasu with the same expression as Yuya.

"I'm the weak one remember? I don't have a single second to waste." Yuya told Motoyasu, before leaving the castle.

Hiding in the Throne Room above, hiding behind a pillar is a black-cloaked figure wearing a domino mask. She knows no one has saw her, but she feels like someone was watching her, someone with a lot of Vengeance in their heart.

Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all walk out of the Castle gates and into Castle Town knowing that once they entered they will be ridiculed and tormented by the citizens for something he didn't even commit.

And just like that, all my cards, my money, my respect, and my trust was gone... just. like. that. I lost everything.

The Gates to the castle closes behind the four reincarnations of Z-Arc, never allowing them to renter the castle until they were either brought their by the King or after they received their monthly pay.

---

Castle Town...

Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri are all walking down the streets of Castle Town as all the citizens looks at Yuya with faces of disgust, anger, and a combination of the two. They all moved out of his way, avoiding him like a vicious animal that could attack them all at any moment. But Yuya didn't care, not anymore, they won't believe or trust his words at all anyway.

"Hey! Shield bro!" A familiar voice calls out to Yuya, gaining him and the other 3 spirits attention, suddenly Yuya is grabbed by the scruff of his collar and pulled into an alleyway.

Yuya looks up and sees that it's Erhard that has him as he has a fist reared back ready to punch Yuya into the wall behind him.

"So I heard what you did to that girl you were with." Erhard says looking at Yuya with a face that could probably make a dragon whimper. "I had punch you in the face for that!"

Yuya just looks away from Erhard, before looking back at him.

"You're against me too?" Yuya questioned Erhard, his voice no longer full of joy or cheer like it once had yesterday.

"Huh?!" Erhard said shocked by the tone Yuya is giving him now, a far cry from how he originally was.

Erhard looks at Yuya in the eyes, and he realizes that Yuya would never commit any of those crimes, he also saw how much that trial had changed him since yesterday. So, he let's go of Yuya's collar.

"What gives? Thought you were all ready to punch me?" Yuya questions Erhard decision to let him go.

"I changed my mind." Erhard says to Yuya.

"Good. You were about to lose your life there." Yuya says as he fixes up his shirt and leaves.

"Hold up a second." Erhard says stopping Yuya. "I got something for you. Just wait here."

Yuya looks behind him at Erhard, wondering what the blacksmith wanted to give him, so he just waits in the alleyway, awaiting for Erhard to come back.

After a couple of minutes, Erhard arrives back to Yuya carrying all of his original clothes with some upgrades as well as a bag full of coins with a note attached to it.

Yuya looks at Erhard suspiciously with a questioning glare that reads 'why are you doing this?'

"You won't make it far dressed like that, consider it my parting gift, I gave your old clothes some armor around the chest, shoulder, forearms, and legs. I'm also giving you a pair of gauntlet gloves and I also got you a cloak similar to your jacket, but I have the original right here with me." Erhard explains to Yuya what he did with his clothes.

"And what about the bag and note?" Yuya asks him.

"Don't know, just appeared in my store, didn't even hear the anyone enter, I just received a note saying I would have to give it to you tomorrow." Erhard says to Yuya as he takes the bag of coins with the note.

Yuya opened the note and began to read it as Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri were all behind him.

"Dear Yuya Sakaki,

I am sorry for what has happened to you during your trial, I know you have been wrongly convicted. So I have given you a bag of coins that will help you out, it's not much, only 6 gold coins, 40 silver, and 101 copper coins inside. And thank you for the 40 silver payment, but I would have done your family and friends portrait anyways. I also left you a magnifier glass you could use to unlock a new shield.

From, and hopes to having a better journey in the future,

The Painter"

P.S., There is a certain man in Castle Town you can meet who can find you a party member that can you can always trust, no matter what, he calls himself, Beloukas.

Yuya looked inside the bag and saw 6 gold coins, 40 silver, and 101 copper coins as well as said magnifier glass inside, looks like The Painter wasn't lying, he felt kinda glad about that.

Yuya grabbed one gold coin, one copper coin and the magnifier glass and placed them over the shield's green orb and allowed it to absorb them. He then unlocked 5 new shields.

The first shield looked like a large copper coin of this world.

[Copper Coin Shield]

Mastery: 0

plus 1 DEF, plus item drop rate increase (low)

Additional defense against lightning, plus 1

[Unique Ability: Copper Coffers] Can store and retrieve Copper coins. Limit 600 Copper coins plus 5 for each level you possess.

The second shield look like a buckler shield made of copper.

[Copper Shield]

Mastery: 0

plus 1 DEF, plus 1 MDEF

Additional defense against lightning, plus 1

The third shield looked like a large gold coin of this world.

[Gold Coin Shield]

Mastery: 0

plus 1 STR, plus 1 MAG, plus 1 DEF, plus 1 MDEF, plus 1 AGI, plus item drop rate increase (small)

[Unique Ability: Golden Bank] Can store and retrieve Gold coins. Limit 10 Gold coins plus 1 for each level you possess.

[Ability: Gamble] May remove the last damage a target received. Can only target someone else. There is also a 50 Percent chance you will receive that damage.

The fourth looked like a tower shield made of gold.

[Gold Shield]

Mastery: 0

plus 2 DEF, plus 3 MDEF

Additional Magical Defense against Fire, plus 2

And the last shield looked like a shield with a magnifier glass on top.

[Magnifier Glass Shield]

Mastery: 0

[Unique Ability: Inspect (Passive Ability)] Gain information on any given target. Information includes: Levels/Lvls/Rank, Stats, Class, Name, Weight, Value, Rarity, etc. If the target has a higher level than yourself, less information will be revealed, with less information given based on the difference in levels between the two.

'Those are some good shields, especially that Magnifier Glass Shield, but why is Level mentioned twice? Does it mean that when I summon my Duel Monsters as party members, they have these Lvls instead of Level?' Yuya thought over to Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri.

"It could mean that when you summon a Duel Monster as a party member they retain their Monster Level, but also gain a Lvl that could be based on your current level at the time." Yuri theorized about the Levels and Lvls.

"How much?" Yuya asked with seriousness in his voice.

"Doesn't matter since you're broke, but let's call it clearance sale and say... 5 copper." Erhard said, being generous to the poor boy.

"Yeah, fine." Yuya said as he grabbed his clothes and put them back on.

He 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.

[Other-Worldly Clothes - Dueltainer Clothes I (Upgraded)]

[ATK: 0]

[MAGIC: 0]

[DEF: 17 - 34]

[MDEF: 17 - 34]

[AGI: 24 - 38]

[Weight: 8]

[Quality: 1 star - 3 stars]

[Unlock Requirements: Humanoid Lv. 1]

Slash resistance (small), Weather Protection (small), Acrobatics (medium), Durability (medium)

"I'll come pay you someday." Yuya coldly said as he left with Erhard now better equipped for this world and what it has to throw at him.

Erhard watches as Yuya leaves him without saying another word, hoping the boy could finally be able to trust someone in this world again.

"Sure kid, just don't die." Erhard says to Yuya as he leaves, hoping the Shield Hero Duel Monsters Champion doesn't die out there.

---

The Meadows outside of Castle Town...

Thunder rumbles across the greying clouds as it seems that it is about to rain. We see Yuya outside of Castle Town in the same place he and Myne trained at yesterday. Now it was just him and the other 3 spirits with him.

He walks through the fields as orange balloons jump at him and try to bite him, but he can't feel a thing, and neither can his clothes. He's just angry, he can never trust a single living being without being on edge now thanks to that heartless bitch.

He already has scanned with [Inspect] on one of the Orange Balloons, there was nothing special about them, but I'll put up the info anyway for you guys.

[Name: Nameless]

[Race: Orange Balloon]

[level: 1]

[Hp: 21]

[Mp: 11]

[Atk: 8]

[Magic: 4]

[Def: 6]

[Mdef: 7]

[Agi: 10]

[Number killed: 7]

A common series of inorganic genderless monsters that mainly come in 3 colors; orange, yellow, and red. With the color Orange being the most common of Balloons. They all follow under a rule of leadership of 'whoever is the biggest is our ruler'.

When killed, they drop balloon skin fragments which are commonly sold by Traders for one copper for two slimes.

Their stretchy skins can also be stitched up and then be used as a toy ball to be sold again later for children. And despite having an overall weak defense, they have been known to pack a strong nasty bite.

Depending on the color of the balloon, their overall strength is increased, Orange Balloons are known to be the weakest amongst the species with Red Balloons being the strongest. But despite the difference in strength, each species grants only grants around 1-15 EXP.

Yuya, being sick and tired of the gnawing jaws of Orange Balloons that he cannot even feel, grabs the one biting his shoulder blade and throws it at another Orange Balloon in mid-air, which bounces off of it and back to Yuya.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Yuya screams as he punches the Orange Balloon in rage before he transforms his shield from it's base form into it's [Duel Disk (Crimson) Shield] form.

"SLICE AND DICE, PERFORMAPAL SWORD FISH!" Yuya shouted as he draw "Performapal Sword Fish" and placed it on the black with yellow and white outline blade of his shield.

Appearing in a cartoony puff of smoke, was a literal blue swordfish, well it's front half and hair, where it's tail-fin would be was a sword hilt, it's hair looked as sharp as a sword. The blue Fish monster wore a pink and white polka-dotted bow-tie and a pair of orange and brown spotted sunglasses with pink tinted glass. It also seemed happy despite the large red cartoony tick mark on it's head.

An info bar containing Sword Fish appeared in Yuya's status magic.

[Performapal Sword Fish]

Level 2/ WATER/ Fish/ Effect

[Lvl. 1]

[HP: 600]

[ATK: 60]

[DEF: 60]

[MDEF: 60]

Party Member Effect: Your opponent's loses ATK, DEF, and MDEF equal to your current level times 10 (Max. 600). Cooldown: 3 minutes.

Monster Effect: If this card is Normal or Special Summoned: All monsters your opponent currently controls lose 600 ATK and DEF. If you Special Summon a monster(s) while you control this card: All monsters your opponent currently controls lose 600 ATK and DEF.

"Guess your theory about Levels and Lvls being different was right, Yuri." Yuya said to Yuri. "It seems that Levels and Lvls are different, there's even a Party Member effect that works almost similar to it's normal Effect.

"It's always good to be right, I'm just glad we we're finally able to use that shield." Yuri said in a bored tone.

Yuya gave a smile to Yuri before looking at Performapal Sword Fish, seeing the Level 3 Cartoony WATER-Attribute Fish-Type monster reminded Yuya of the good old days when he was 14 years old. But that only lasted for a moment as he was quickly reminded of what happened today, it pissed him off real quick.

"Sword Fish, activate your effect!" Yuya told his Performapal Sword Fish.

Performapal Sword Fish then summoned out a school of itself from nowhere, but these Performapal Sword Fish's had a yellow aura surrounding them, they all launched themselves at the Orange Balloon's before their heads struck the ground.

The Orange Balloons suddenly felt a lot weaker than they usually do, like some of their attack, defense, and magical defense was suddenly sapped out by these strange sword-like fishes.

But that didn't stop them from being annoying pests as they continued making their way to Yuya.

Yuya punched another Orange Balloon as Performapal Sword Fish slashed 3 Orange Ballons at once.

This went on until it became noon, but as Yuya and his Performapals had continued fighting the onslaughts of many Balloons after many Balloons finally stopped, but even with 5 Duel Monsters at his beck and call, he just couldn't Level Up quick enough, he only kept getting 1 Exp every time.

"Return to me. You guys did well." Yuya sighed with an angered upset tone as all of his cards returned back into his deck as he transformed his [Duel Disk (Crimson) Shield] back into it's original base form.

A droplet of water fell from the heavens above, Yuya looked up and headed off into the forest.

---

Later in the Forest...

Yuya was seen sitting with Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri, the three of them had decided to watch as they could do almost nothing without Yuya's body but just interact with him or possess him. The rain had just arrived as Yuya took cover underneath a tree.

In front of him was a large pile of Orange Balloon fragments.

An Orange Balloon had tried to attack him from behind, but he just punched it in the face, killing it. He then finally received a notification after having killed that one Orange Balloon.

[Level Up]

[Level 1 to Level 2]

[EXP: 7/28]

[HP: 167]

[Max MP: 47]

[Max SP: 51]

[ATK: 1]

[MAGIC: 11-16 -17]

[DEF: 34 - 51]

[MDEF: 34 - 48]

[AGI: 38 - 42]

[Odd-Eyes (Pen.) Dragon Shield is now Available]

"Good. I hit Level 2, finally. But I had to fight all night." Yuya said with no emotion of joy or happiness, but he was glad to now have unlocked the [Odd-Eyes (Pen.) Dragon Shield] now, since he now do real damage using his own DEF and MDEF.

"No doubt that Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki have scanned and unlocked Clear Wing, Starving Venom, and Dark Rebellion when I had left." Yuya growled at the mention of the three Cardinal Heroes names.

He was only 1/4th of the way done with Mastering his [Duel Disk (Crimson) Shield] when he was fighting against the hoard of Orange Balloons.

He also mastered the [Book Shield], [Orange Balloon Shield], and [Magnifier Glass Shield] during his time trying to get to level 2 and fighting those Balloons.

"Good to also know that my theory was correct, again." Yuri said with nothing but a quick small smirk. "Mastering abilities does allow us to keep them even after you upgrade to another one."

'That too.' Yuya agreed with no emotion.

He then heard the sound of growling next to him. He looked to his right and notice a bunch of Orange Balloons as well as a new type of monsters. Curious about this new species, He used his [Insepct] ability to gain info about these strange new monsters.

The new monsters were about as tall as the Orange Balloons, Yuya almost considered these monsters to be some sort of sub-species of them. But that was where the similarities between the two quickly ended, as instead of looking like a slime. This one looked like a blue bird egg, with an egg yolk acting as it's tongue. It had two holes for eyes and cracks all around it's shell.

[Name: Nameless]

[Race: Blue Eggug]

[Level: 2]

[HP: 35]

[Mp: 12]

[ATK: 13]

[MAGIC: 4]

[DEF: 15]

[MDEF: 11]

[AGI: 10]

[Number killed: 0]

An inorganic monster that are commonly mistaken as fallen bird eggs, they are also considered to be one of, if not, the weakest monsters along side the Balloons species in Melromarc.

Commonly found in the forest around Melromarc, these monsters only come in two colors, Blue (Blue Eggug) and White (Sky Eggug).

When killed, they drop eggshells and at rarer times, Yolk, these two items can be sold for at a higher price compared to balloon skins at any local trader or any Inn, though it's unclear what these Eggug egg yolks have any use for by the latter.

Yuya just gives a tired sigh as Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all watch Yuya pop all of the Balloons and smash all of the Eggugs by himself and his monsters.

After Yuya was done, he absorbed the 5 out of 25 Eggug eggshells, this was thanks to the [Gold Coin Shield] drop rate increase effect. He also obtained at least 5 Eggug egg yolk and 2 new shields.

The first shield looked like an eggshell with the green orb in the middle.

[Egg Shield]

Mastery: 0

plus 1 Cooking, plus 1 Appraisal, Simple Cooking Recipes

The second one just looked like the first but looked like a Blue Eggug's face, drooling egg yolk included.

[Blue Egg Shield]

Mastery: 0

plus 1 Cooking, plus 1 Appraisal, Simple Cooking Recipes

Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri waited until the rain stopped so they could make their way back to Castle Town to sell the loot.

---

Back in Castle Town...

The rain had stopped after a while, leaving only puddles of rain water behind, Yuya slowly walked his way through the front gates with Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri behind him, but the guards couldn't see the three of them.

Yuya made his way to a merchant to sell the monster parts he had collected, his own way.

"Let's see for these little things, how does 1 Copper for every pair sound?" The Merchant asked and offered a customer.

"Yeah, sure, you got yourself a deal." The customer agreed with The Merchant's deal about selling Orange Balloon skins.

"Hehe, Splendid." The Merchant chuckled as he took the pair of Orange Balloon skins and handed his customer 1 copper.

"Thanks, come again!" The Merchant said as his customer began to leave.

But as the customer looks up he sees Yuya glaring at him, telling him "get the hell out of my way or else...".

Thankfully the message was understood as he moved out of the way of Yuya in fear, before walking away hoping to avoid Yuya's wrath.

"Welcome, Sir." The Merchant said to Yuya, The Merchant quickly realized it was The Shield Hero.

Yuya didn't utter a word, and instead just grabbed a ball of Orange Balloon skins and a handful Eggug eggshells and set them on the counter.

The Merchant looked at the ball of Orange Balloon skin and Eggug eggshells in shock at the amount. Before looking up at and as he saw Yuya's face.

"How much for all of these?" Yuya said, but it didn't sound like a question, but more like a demand.

"Oh..." The Merchant said as he inspected the Orange Balloons and Eggug eggshells. "These are Orange Balloons skins and Eggug shells aren't they?" He asks Yuya.

"Looks to be about... hmm, 20 Orange Balloons and Eggug shells by my count." The Merchant said. "How does 1 copper sound for the entire lot?" He was planning to rip Yuya off.

Yuya just gave a cold hearted stare at The Merchant, his eyes suddenly became a combination of Crimson and Purple. His aura changed to a being cold-hearted and power hungry aura.

"We heard you offered the last guy 1 copper for every two Orange Balloons skins. And Eggug shells sell a lot more than Orange Balloon skins." Yuya/Yuri said, their voices interweaving with one another, but The Merchant thought it was just his imagination.

"Really, huh? I don't seem to recall saying or hearing about that. You must understand that I do have a business to run here." The Merchant told Yuya, he really wanted to give Yuya the worst deal imaginable for him.

"Really? Is that so." Yuya/Yuri said, before they grabbed The Merchant by his suit's collar and opened up his white cloak to reveal 3 Orange Balloons underneath all chomping away at them, but they couldn't feel a thing, but The Merchant on the other hand, he would feel it.

"We can assume these will fetch a far better price, then?" Yuya/Yuri asked, threatening to have The Merchant receive a nasty bite from these weak monsters.

"Hhrrr!" The Merchant whimpered in fear of feeling Orange Balloons bitting on him.

"Their quite lively. I think they would sell more." Yuya/Yuri said with a ruthless grin.

Yuya had changed from that trial, if he wanted something, he would easily obtain it, but if someone wasn't being cooperative with him, well he'll just have to force them to be. The people here want to treat him like he was a bad guy, well now he's gonna act like one.

"GAH!" The Orange Balloon biting Yuya's waist roared finding another prey to bite it's fangs upon.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" The Merchant cried out in pain and fear catching the attention of many of the people nearby.

Yuya/Yuri quickly covered The Merchant's head with their cloak, muffling his painful screams and cries to be let go. But they didn't let him go as they wanted him to listen to what they have to say.

"S-Stop it! Please!" The Merchant cries out in pain as he kicks his legs. "Let me go!"

Yuya's eyes go from a combination of Red and Purple to their original crimson red color. As his aura changed back to just his cold-hearted aura.

"Look, I'm not trying to rip you off here. All I'm asking of you is a fair market price, is that too much to ask? I mean, it is personal? Is there maybe some reason you might have for hating me for some reason?" Yuya asked with a ruthless grin, despite Yuri no longer in control alongside his own body.

"Okay, F-Fine! I get it! I give up! Whatever you want!" The Merchant gives in to Yuya's demand for a better deal. "Just get these things off of me!" He pleads.

Yuya opens his cloak, letting all the Orange Balloons fall out, but he quickly grips onto the scruff of The Merchant suit's collar.

"Sounds like we have a deal then, huh?" Yuya said glad that they now have come to an understanding. "If you buy from me consistently, I'll even give you a small discount better than trying to fleece me, right?" He asks with a grin, the Orange Balloons that fell out quickly hopped back inside and tried to gnaw at the Shield Hero.

"R-Right! Consider it done, sir!" The Merchant agreed with a stutter, Yuya lets him go. "And as much as I'd like to refuse the exchange of money for goods from you, it has nothing to do with any crimes you may or may not have committed." He says, handing Yuya 10 copper coins for the 20 Orange Balloons and 20 copper coins for every four Eggug shell sold.

Yuya already sold the Blue Eggug egg yolk to a restaurant for 50 copper for the every one Eggug egg yolk sold, they were more cooperative than The Merchant. And before you ask, he used the eggshells to carry them.

'So, their hatred of me isn't because of my crimes, then what is it?' Yuya questioned in his thoughts.

"I don't know but if we continue, I think we may find our answer." Yuto told Yuya as he wanted answers as to why they hated The Shield Hero.

'Or more questions.' Yuya mentally tells Yuto.

Yuya then decided to make sure that if any merchants try to rip him off again, he'll make sure to leave a little message to them all.

"And one more thing, you need to spread the word around to all of the other merchants. Tell them, that any trader who decides to mess with me, will get covered in bite marks." Yuya told The Merchant his message.

"Don't you worry, I'll tell everybody." The Merchant said looking at Yuya with a small bit of fear.

"Good, you better. To a fruitful relationship." Yuya says as he, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri leave The Merchant.

As Yuya is making his way to, wherever, he stops and sees an building with plants to his right, but he cannot read the writing. He looks through the glass and sees an assortment of plants, one of them being a bundle of leaves. He looks at the small amount of copper in his hand and heads off.

---

At Erhard's Blacksmith...

It's beginning to turn into night as Erhard is bringing in a chest, as he enters the main area, he notices 5 copper coins on the counter.

"Hmm?" Erhard hums.

He then looks around, but gives a knowing soft smile, knowing who left these 5 Copper coins.

'Glad to see you're still there, kid.' Erhard thinks to himself with a smile as he looks outside his shop, only to stop the corner of a white cloak that is lined with colors of red and gold.

---

Outside of Castle Town...

Yuya is seen laying outside of Castle Town, resting his body up against a tree for shade and the leaves as his mattress. Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri are also laying with him as they four of them look up at the sky and sees the stars high above.

Yuya turns to his side and goes to sleep, as Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri fade into his subconscious, but not fully as Yuya is trying to keep one eye open now ever since today.

---

The Next Morning, The Forest...

Yuya is traveling through the forest with Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri. It's calm and peaceful, but it no longer makes Yuya smile with joy like he use to do back home.

He notices some plants underneath a tree, ones that look very familiar to the ones he saw in the building with plants.

"Huh, Aren't these?" Yuya questions as he remembers the plants from the building he saw yesterday.

He picks a leaf and feeds it to his shield as it unlocks a new form. Which unlocks another path in his shield skill tree.

"[Leaf Shield], Go!" Yuya announced as his shield transformed into a leaf-like shield with light green stem-like accents.

[Leaf Shield]

Mastery: 0

[Ability: Forage] When collecting material. Receive 5 Percent better quality.

Yuya then picked up one of the plant as it began to glow with a soothing green color as it then became a more better quality than before.

"It can improve the quality of plants? That could be useful in selling medicine to apothecary's." Yuya said with an impressed look on his face. Even when he was accused of a crime he didn't commit and treated like shit, he still would like to help people, it would just be wrong to not help sick innocent people, even if they treat him like shit afterwards.

Yuya then collected a steady sample of these plants, which became a better quality and quickly mastered [Leaf Shield] in a few moments just by collecting plants and turning them into a better quality.

---

At the Apothecary, In Castle Town...

Yuya had made his way back to Castle Town to sell these plants. Many of the crowd avoided him, whilst many of the kids were either pulled away by their parents or threw rocks and fruits at him to gain their parents approval, but Yuya couldn't be mad at the children, they didn't know better, they were just curious beings like any normal human.

"Wow, this is really good stuff. Where did you find these?" The Pharmacist asked Yuya as he examined the quality of these plants, impressed by how good in quality they were.

"In the forest right outside the castle." Yuya responded with a soft voice. "Didn't you know?" He questions him, no threat in his voice.

"Sure, but I've never seen anything like these of such a high quality. I was certain it was much more average." The Pharmacist said as he handed Yuya 40 copper coins and one silver coin as payment.

---

At the Pub...

Yuya quietly made his way to the Pub in which Myne betrayed his trust and ordered the most cheapest meal they got. Just something so he didn't have to be reminded of that bitch or any of the regular patrons here that could recognize him. Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri sat either next to him or in front of him at the table.

He, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri were all swapping control of Yuya's body to share the taste of food with each other quietly, but no matter how good the food was cook, they just couldn't taste a single thing, it was like it was the most blandest and tasteless food ever created in their opinions, well except for Yuri who didn't seem to care.

Since that day, nothing we could ate had any flavor.

"Oh great Shield Hero~" A Voice calls out in a sing-song tone.

Yuya/Yuto's combined crimson red and grey eyes look back to stop three men walking towards them. The men look like either bandits or just common adult trouble makers, but worse than Yuya.

Yuto left his body, returning Yuya's dual colored crimson red and grey eyes back to their original crimson red eyes.

"We'll join your party if you want." A guy, who Yuya called Larry, who looked like a typical bandit said, it was obvious they just wanted to kick them down.

"Yeah, that's right. Thank your lucky stars." The big guy, who Yuya called "Curly", said agreeing with Larry.

"Your very welcome." The third guy, Yuya just called "Moe", who looked very lanky for someone his age, agreed with Larry and Curly.

Yuya quietly used his [Inspect] ability and saw that they were at least Level 12, 6 times stronger than his own Level, but that wouldn't matter to him.

Moe then placed an arm around his neck, reminding him of Myne, which, while he didn't show it to them, it pissed the Dueltainer off greatly.

"Okay... but how about we go ahead and discuss the terms up front?" Yuya said, his voice reeking of rage and anger.

"Hehehe, Sure thing!" Curly chuckled and agreed with Yuya.

"Your pay will be entirely performance-based, do you know what that means?" Yuya told them the deals of his terms if they were to be a part of his team.

"No, not a clue!" Larry said as he really had no clue.

"Hahahahahaha!" Larry, Curly, and Moe all laughed at once, but Yuya wasn't laughing, not anymore.

"It means you'll be paid according to the loot we get on our quests, and since I'm the leader, I'll be keeping at least 40 Percent." Yuya explained to The Three Stooges.

The Three Stooges didn't like what they heard from Yuya's offer, not one bit.

"I'll split up the rest among you guys at my discretion, if you do nothing of value then you can expect to be paid nothing." Yuya finish telling them.

"What the hell?! That means if you get a wild hair up your ass you could end up keeping it all for yourself!" Larry angrily questioned Yuya's decision.

"I promise to pay you if you do your job." Yuya said as he got up from his seat. "Assuming you can." He said heading out of the Pub.

"Hmmm..." Larry, Curly, and Moe all huffed in anger at the deal they were offered.

---

Outside the Pub...

Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, Yuri, Larry, Curly, and Moe all walked outside the Pub and into an alleyway, The Three Stooges were planning on getting some gear.

"Let's go get us some equipment, boss man." Curly said with a chuckle, like the three were planning to steal his money and weren't being discreet about it.

"Buy your own equipments. I have nothing to gain by doing that for you." Yuya said as his dreadful experience with Myne taught him that if he gets someone else equipment and he will get nothing in return.

"WHAT?!" Curly shouted in rage.

"Forget the party crap and just hand over your money." Larry said with a vicious smirk, guess they were planning to rob him.

"Now see, if you'd only said that to begin with you could've have saved us all a whole bunch of time." Yuya said as he reaches into his white cloak to grab something, The Three Stooges didn't see him reach inside his cloak.

"Y-Yeah, right." Curly chuckled. "Who knew it'd be so easy to-"

That was when Yuya suddenly pushes Curly's arm away and threw an Orange Balloon that was inside his cloak at Curly, which bit down on his arm as soon as it got close, which while it couldn't do much damage, it hurt like a motherfucker.

Larry pulled out a knife and quickly tried to stab Yuya while his attention wasn't focused on him.

Yuya eyes glowed red for a bit before he switched his shield from it's base form into it's [Odd-Eyes (Pen.) Dragon Shield] and blocked the attack coming from Larry and his knife.

Yuya then used his [Shield Bash] skill against Larry, which only dealt 1 DMG. Larry, Curly (who had finally ripped the Orange Balloon off his arm with the help of Moe), and Moe all stood in front of Yuya weapons drawn, ready to attack the Shield Hero.

"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, and true to Yuya's word he made sure to not make it sure as much otherwise it would have done a total 198 Damage from his shield's ability, and that was with his [Dueltainer Clothes I (Upgraded)] armor, leaving them only with at least a couple 20-ish HP left remaining afterwards, but not killing them.

Smoke billowed out of both sides of the Shield's gaping jaws as it's eyes seemingly looked like they were locked back onto his target, just wanting them to try and attack its wielder.

"Shit!" Moe cursed at seeing the power of a Level 2 Yuya Sakaki and the power of the [Odd-Eyes (Pen.) Dragon Shield] at once.

"Let's get out of here!" Curly agreed with Moe as he and Larry.

The three crooks got the message and ran off in fear of being dealt by that powerful attack again. All three wishing they took up comedy class instead of becoming bandits. Leaving Yuya, all alone again with Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri.

Yuya transformed his shield back into it's base form as the Orange Balloon that Yuya threw at Curly rolled back, Yuya stomped on top of it's head as it tried to bite down on him.

"I have real good defense, but not many offensive abilities, without it I can't defeat monsters and because of that I can't farm experience points. And since I can't farm, I can never raise my offensive abilities." Yuya said his thoughts out loud, frustrated that he can't get higher EXP points due to him only having 2 offensive abilities.

'I'm stuck in a loop.' Yuya mentally thinks to himself in anger that he is now stuck in an endless loop.

"DAMNIT!" Yuya shouted as he kicks the Orange Balloon his foot was on away from him.

Yuya was heavily breathing in anger and rage at his current predicament and he didn't have a single solution to help him.

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That is until someone spoke up from behind them.

"Looks like you could use some help?" A joyous but sinister voice calls out behind Yuya.

Yuya looks behind him and sees someone hiding in the shadows wearing a joyous grin.

The voice belongs to a short, creepy-looking little man who wears a traditional circus ringmaster's tuxedo, glasses with a small chain attached, white alchemist gloves, long top hat, and a red bow tie with a small diamond brooch in its center. He has a small, old-fashioned handlebar mustache and wears a somewhat sinister, omnipresent grin on his face. He also wields a purple cane with gold at the end and a red crystal at the top.

The grin on his face looked too human to be real, but not too demonic to be untrustworthy, just skeptical.

"Hehehe..." He creepily chuckles as he makes his way to Yuya.

Yuya turned around, figuring this man would like to steal from him as well like all the rest, except Erhard. He begins to leave with Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri, not wanting to deal with any more bullshit from anyone right now.

"It's clear you don't have any." The man says, stopping Yuya as he, Yugo, Yuto, and Yuri all look at the man with skepticism. "What luck, I have exactly what you need."

"If you're offering me party members I'll pass." Yuya says as party members can't be trusted in Yuya's eyes.

"Party members? No, no, what I'm offering you is a service I believe you'll find far more convenient." The man says walking closer to Yuya, intriguing the Duelist.

"And what would that be?" Yuya said, trying not to sound interested in this man's offer.

"Interested, I see are we?" The Man says, clearly able to see right through Yuya.

"Leave me alone." Yuya says.

"AH ha ha ha ha!" The man laughs at Yuya's response joyously. "You've got that look in your eyes that I just adore. You're every bit the man the rumors say you'd be." He said.

"Rumors, huh? So then you know who I am?" Yuya asks the man curious that he knows him.

"Of course I do, Brave Shield Hero Sir, you're Yuya Sakaki, the Duelist Champion of a place called, Paradise City. I saw you and those strange monsters of yours fight against those swarms of Orange Balloons outside this afternoon." The man explained to Yuya how he knows him as well as him seeing Yuya and "Performapals" fight.

"Hmm? I didn't see anyone while I was out there." Yuya responded.

"I like to work in the shadows of course." The man tells Yuya with an unsettling smile. "Now then, if my offer interests you, follow me. We can discuss it further." He gives Yuya a polite bow.

"I got a bad feeling about this, Yuya." Yuto said to Yuya, and he didn't know why but he knew it didn't feel good.

"But if what he offer is any good to us, we'll have to take him up on his deal." Yuri countered Yuto's unease with a response of his own that could benefit them greatly.

"I just hope it's nothing terrible." Yugo prayed, oh our sweet Turbo Dueling summer child.

"Lead the way then." Yuya agreed as the man chuckles and leads Yuya towards somewhere, probably his business.

---

A couple of minutes later...

The man leads Yuya past a tunnel with a set of stairs underneath a bridge and around a corner between two buildings. And when they turn the corner, Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri couldn't believe their eyes at what they saw.

It was a massive series of circus tents, how he didn't see the top of the tent yesterday or today he had no clue. It did give off an aura of intrigue and fore-warning to the 4 incarnations of Z-Arc and they didn't like that at all.

"A-A circus?" Yugo said with awe and skepticism, normally he would be excited like Yuya back then at seeing a Circus, but this circus tent didn't give off the feeling of joy or laughter.

Yuya and the Man (along with Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri) walked closer and closer to the entrance of this strange circus tent.

"Right this way." The man instructs Yuya as he moves a cloth doorway into his business.

As the two enter inside Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all widen their eyes in shock by what they see before them.

Within the circus tent, is an endless sea of steel and bars, there are so many cages inside the tent that it feels like no matter where you look it's endless inside. The only thing that doesn't look like a cage is a smaller tent inside the circus tent and some crates with tarps.

As Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri walk past the cells they notice that there is something inside them. Inside the cells can only be described by the 4 counterparts as Animals with Human features and Humans with Animal features. Their crying sound of agony is all that fills the room's air.

But as Yuya walks past them, The Animals with Human features and Humans with Animal features could smell 3 other beings with him, but they cannot see them.

"So, what exactly are you offering me here?" Yuya questions as he looks uneased by the sounds of agony.

"I got a bad feeling we won't like what he says." Yugo says as he shakes in fear.

"I'm inclined to agree with you, Yugo." Yuri said agreeing with Yugo.

"Me as well." Yuto agreed with Yugo and Yuri.

There it was again, this time they could hear something talking, but it sounded muffled, but they couldn't see where the voices were coming from.

"Hehehe. Can't you tell by just looking?" The Man chuckled as he asks Yuya with a question of his own.

What the man says next, however, makes Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and even Yuri look at this man with shocked fear.

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"They're slaves, my boy." The Man responded with that way too human grin.

"S-Slaves..." Yuya stuttered, he couldn't believe what he heard, this man was selling slaves to people. Why would anyone want to buy a slave, that is just wrong and goes against Yuya's morals.

"He's selling SLAVES?!" Yugo, Yuto, and Yuri all screamed out in shock from what they heard.

"No way." Yuya said with a stunned tone in his voice.

The Man turns around to look at Yuya as he stretches his arms out wide, like he was showing them the biggest attraction ever.

"Yes way!" The Man laughs joyously. "I run a slave trading business." He tells them as many of Animals with Human features inside some of the cages growl as their eyes glow red between the bars.

"What would make you think I'd want to own slaves?!" Yuya angrily questioned this Man's line of business, ready to switch to his [Odd-Eyes (Pen.) Dragon Shield] and blast this man away.

"Oh, I don't know? The fact that they could neither lie or betray their master?" The Man said shocking Yuya, as he remembered the note The Painter said.

"Y-You're Beloukas, you're who The Painter told me to meet if I wanted a partner who could never lie or betray my trust." Yuya said with shock.

"Hmm? I never met this The Painter before, but I have to say they sure know how to pick the best of the best." The Man, now known as Beloukas, said with a smile.

"So how do you make sure that happens?" Yuya asked, he felt sick when he did.

"We make sure to keep all our slaves in line by placing them under the effects of a curse." Beloukas told Yuya. "A strong seal-based curse, if they misbehave it can take their very lives!" He told him as he draw a circle in the dirt with his cane. "What do you say?"

Yuya thought it over, he knows that if he does get a slave, he would not only get a member that could never betray him or lie to him and would have a permanent source to help him farm EXP and deal attacks to any opponents that can or could survive [Spiral Flame Strike], but he would also be ostracized by everyone back home once he defeats all the Waves. But on the other hand, if he doesn't he can't go home, he won't be able to defeat the Waves, and he will still be weak by the time the 2nd Wave comes.

Yuya then makes his decision, he looks at Beloukas in the eyes and says.

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"All right, show me what you got." Yuya said, agreeing to get a slave.

Beloukas smiled happily towards Yuya.

"I knew you had exactly what it takes to be your most wonderful patron." Beloukas said with a smile, as he turns around and shows Yuya his goods.

As Yuya follows Beloukas around his tent, he notices that many of the Humans with Animal features are bloody and seem to be on the verge of dying from starvation, thirst, enduring of torture, or given up on life. It makes Yuya want to help them, but he had to keep his price range cheep if he wanted not only him and the 3 spirits, but also his chosen slave to survive the on-coming Waves.

The many Animals with Human features clawed at the floor, hoping to get vengeance or even a quick meal or a way out of their cell.

"Why do some of them have animal features or look like animals?" Yuya cautiously asked Beloukas.

"I can assure you they still, technically." Beloukas answers Yuya's question.

"Technically?" Yuya asks as he quickly avoided an bird's claw from an Humanoid-like feathered creature. "Tell me more? I don't know much about this world as you probably heard."

"Creatures that look mostly humans, but aren't, are what we refer to as Demi-Humans." Beloukas explained as he and Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all pass by a Demi-Human with orange fox-like ears and tail. "They're mostly used as servants or manual labour." He explains what Demi-Humans are.

Yuto looks at her with worry as her ears and nose twitch, sensing something looking right at here, but she doesn't see a thing.

"Beast-Men are Demi-Humans whose appearances leans more towards the animal side." Beloukas explained what Beast-Men are to Yuya as they pass by a Monkey Beast-Man. "They're often used as bodyguards or gambled on as participants in Death Matches."

"I-I see, but they both fall under the same category?" Yuya stutters and asked him, looking at the Beast-Men and Demi-Humans with pity.

"Indeed. And since this country practiced human supremacy and Demi-Humans are thought to be closer to monsters. Life can be quite hard for them here, as such, they're treated as slaves." Beloukas explained to Yuya that Melromarc uses slaves, even his voice sounded like he pity them at the end.

Yuya, Yuto, Yugo, and Yuri all look around the area, both stunned and angry that Melromarc actually allows slaves to be used. And in shock by how many Demi-Humans and Beast-Men there are in Beloukas's Tent.

...

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"*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...'

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'... the girl from my dreams.'

---

And that's the end of the First Chapter to Yuya Sakaki, Rise of the Dueling Shield Hero(s). What did you guys think of this? I really wanted to do my other chapters but my brain just wasn't feeling it so I decided to write this.

If your wondering why Motoyasu, Itsuki, and Ren don't have Pendulum Zones, remember the weapons are based on the belief of one another's strengthening methods, there's no reason not to believe it would work the same way of Yuya did or didn't tell them about Pendulum Summoning.

Anyways, I'll try to keep a somewhat steady update to these and the other chapters I make along the way, just know that I really do mean it when I said I am working on my other Fanfics their just taking a long time for me due to my ADHD and Asperger Syndrome.

I apologize for seemingly making Yuya act like Naofumi, but he will only act like him when around the other Cardinal Heroes, Malty, King Aultcray, or anyone who pisses him and his other dimensional counterparts off.

If you liked this fanfic, please leave a comment on your opinion (only good opinions please) and also Like or Favorite if you want.

Anyways, This is CMBasher7 signing out, for now...