Redemption of the Gunslinger

Arthur Morgan lay on his back, turning his head to witness his final sunrise after succumbing to a disease that had both ravaged his lungs and body. Many would view this as divine retribution for his past sins of lying, cheating, stealing, and killing. As the darkness closed in on his vision, he couldn't help but reflect on everything: those who were closest to him, the newfound friends who had become dear to him, and all that had been lost due to Dutch's madness. "If... *cough* If... I... could... have... another... chance... I... *cough*... I would be better than what I am now." He coughed and wheezed, the words barely escaping his lips before unconsciousness overtook him, plunging him into the depths of his mind. He saw his life flash before his eyes, but only recent events had led him to this moment of darkness.

Despite his fading consciousness, Arthur could still feel his heart beating and his lungs filling with air. He sensed the warmth and light press against his closed eyes, and when he finally opened them, he found himself in an almost cathedral-like chamber with three young individuals who appeared to be a decade or two younger than himself. He noticed their lack of chin hair and realized they were likely too young to grow facial hair. They also possessed Asian features, though not necessarily Chinese, as indicated by their eyes and other facial characteristics.

"Oh, brave heroes, will you save our world from the waves of destruction?" cried out the priest, who knelt before the four heroes, his hands folded in prayer. His gaze shifted between all four of them.

After hearing the priest's words, Arthur almost considered making a witty remark about being referred to as a hero. It reminded him of the few instances when he portrayed a respectable lawman in his past. However, he refrained from speaking, instead observing the priest's eyes darting among the armed boys and himself. It was only when the priest looked at the young man next to Arthur that his demeanor shifted from humble and grateful to spiteful and disgusted. Following the priest's gaze, Arthur realized it wasn't the young man standing beside him that elicited such a reaction but rather the shield itself, adorned with a white, silver, and green jewel hexagonal design. Familiar with the judgmental looks accompanying his colored and Native friends, he could only hope this was an isolated incident rather than a shared opinion towards the shield.

The young man wielding a sword stepped forward and demanded, "What do you mean to save the world? What exactly is going on here?" As soon as the sword-wielder spoke, the priest's attitude immediately switched back to humble and grateful.

"A great tragedy has befallen our world; waves of calamity threaten its sanctity. That is why we have summoned you here to save us," the priest explained, providing only a partial explanation, knowing the king would elaborate further.

With an arrogant smirk, the spear-wielder chuckled, "Really? And why should we help you? I would hate to do all this work and receive nothing in return. Who's to say we won't become enemies once we complete the task? What's stopping us from doing just that?" He raised his chin, looking down at the priest with an air of superiority.

For some reason, Arthur felt the urge to punch the pretty boy standing next to him, who spoke as if he were the king of the world and everyone should cater to his desires. He suppressed the impulse and focused on the object in his left hand, realizing it was an ornate bow that may have belonged to one of the wealthy people he used to steal from as a young street boy, before he broke free from his father's influence. He glanced towards his right hip, relieved to find his Old Faithful revolver still intact despite dropping it during his fight with Micah.

A loud cough could be heard in the chamber enough to get everyone's attention and direct it straight to a finely Dressed Man who had sharp features, almost like an aristocrat. From the moment that Arthur had seen this man, he immediately was on guard, despite the well-dressed appearance of what was a butler or at least a high-level servant of some kind. He immediately recognized the type of eyes the man possessed. Sharp and calculating, his slight smile also set him on edge. After dealing with all the crap he had dealt with when he was once a member of the Van der Linde gang, he immediately knew what a con man looked like, or someone who would most likely tell you that you made a tremendous deal before stabbing you in the back or putting you in a position where you have to do things that would feel like you sold your soul to the devil.

The Royal advisor and confidant of King Aultcray stepped a little closer to the heroes with his hands extended outwards in a friendly manner. "Do not worry, heroes, you will be fairly compensated by the King. If you would all please follow me, he will explain further details about your duties and the rewards that will be granted. However, we must not waste any more time; the King awaits and desires to see those chosen to save our world." He brought his hands behind his back, turned, and started walking towards an opening that led out of the cathedral-like chamber.

Arthur was not too eager to follow this man, but the other three who had been brought here didn't seem to mind following the shadowy man. Muttering a curse under his breath, he followed the three to wherever the finely dressed man was leading them. All the while, he kept his hand on his revolver and his trigger finger twitching, just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The quartet followed the butler fellow who was leading the way through a serpent's passageway that led into a large hole, which would also lead to the audience chamber of the castle. Both Naofumi and Arthur glanced briefly at a window that overlooked the entire city just outside the castle.

"This feels like a whole different world," Naofumi said with the same enthusiasm as an excitable child getting the opportunity to visit the countryside for the first time.

The weather was different compared to what Arthur was used to. The idea that this was another world was a bit of a stretch, even for him, especially after he thought he had passed away when Micah left him for dead. "This reminds me of at least a few places I've been when I was traveling across the West," he commented. Sure enough, the other two boys chimed in with their own experiences of similar weather.

The comments of the other summoned heroes dampened the shielder's smile, seeing how they weren't as excited about seeing a new world. Additionally, their greater experience in travel compared to him made him feel even more out of place. The furthest he had ever gone from his hometown was to the Royal Farm areas of the Countryside when he was just 10 years old.

Now Arthur felt terrible for bringing the boy's mood down. He approached him and patted him on the shoulder. "It's alright that you're not as well-traveled as we are. It doesn't mean you can't be excited for us," he reassured.

The shielder's mood brightened slightly. "I'm just a little excited. I was hoping others would be just as excited as I am," he simply said, as he resumed walking with the others while Arthur followed closely behind.

As they entered an empty chamber, two members of the group glanced at a stairwell that connected different floors of the castle. On the wall, they noticed a royal family portrait featuring a beautiful woman with purple hair, her two daughters—the eldest with red hair and the youngest with blue hair—and an elderly King in a prominent corner. Though it was an interesting distraction, the two summoned individuals quickly rejoined the group and continued until they reached the audience chamber.

In the audience chamber, guards and several aristocrats stood on a nearby balcony, observing from their advantageous position. At the end of the chamber sat a King, occupying the right side of an empty throne. This sight raised questions in both the shielder's and the bowman's minds. They wondered whether the queen had passed away or simply wasn't available to greet the summoned ones in this new world.

For some reason, Arthur got an odd feeling from the king-like figure that sat on the throne, and his keen sense of hearing picked up on a few words from the aristocrats on the balcony.

"Finally, we have our heroes to take care of the ways of catastrophe, but did they need to summon the shield too?" one voice said, accompanied by the muffled whispers of others.

"I know. What is the shield even doing in this Kingdom? Perhaps the king will send him to the dungeons or have the other heroes kill him to prove themselves worthy of our champions," more voices spoke out, deriding the shield.

Arthur concluded that there was a shared biased belief towards the shield and those who bore it. One thing he didn't want to deal with was some form of racism that he had unfortunately witnessed several times before, often powerless to stop it. But not this time. He would inform his fellow summon about the shared biased belief he had noticed from the people towards the type of object attached to him. However, until then, he would have to keep his mouth shut and observe more.

Meanwhile, King Aultcray, sitting on the throne, looked at the four heroes that were summoned. The spear and sword-wielders gave off the vibe that was expected from chosen Cardinal Heroes, but the presence of the bow-wielder was unexpected. A man, probably close to his age, stood next to the Shield, looking rather rugged, like the type of men he had fought with in many battles before assuming his position as the queen's Royal consort. For a brief moment, their eyes met, and King Aultcray started feeling the pressure he hadn't felt in a long time, not since retiring from his position as general of Melromarc's Army. The two engaged in a subtle power struggle, locked in a silent battle of wills, until a cough from the king's advisor broke their gaze, bringing him back to the present.

"Your Majesty, the heroes are here and await your greetings," whispered his advisor, leaning in close to his ear to inform him that he had remained silent for too long.

The king blinked a few times before refocusing on the four heroes standing before him. "Forgive my extended silence. This is the land of Melromarc, and I am her ruler, King Melromarc XXXII. It has been a trying time since the ways of calamity. I wish to ask for your names and ages," he spoke with the power and wisdom expected from a king of his stature and what any good king should possess when addressing those who stood before royalty.

The spear-wielder, dressed in bright colors of red and gold, was the first to speak, twirling his weapon with a flourish before settling it on his shoulder. "My name is Motoyasu Kitamura, a 21-year-old college student," he announced, adding a bit of dramatic flair as he gestured towards the next hero in line, the sword-wielder.

The sword-wielder, dressed in blues and blacks, presented himself with much less pomp than the spear-wielder. "I am Ren Amaki, a 16-year-old high school student," he said, bowing slightly before the king before returning to his position with the other heroes.

Arthur noticed the king's gaze now on him and followed suit, stepping forward. His mismatched outfit consisted of light tan leather with glimpses of blue cloth peeking through and a dusty pair of jeans, perfectly suiting the old western theme. "Arthur Morgan, former outlaw, 36 years old," he announced boldly. The mention of his previous profession caused a stir, with even the king taken aback by the revelation.

"This can't be right, heroes can't be outlaws," Kitamura stated as he walked towards Arthur, a hint of condescension in his tone. "And I'm assuming you're just cosplaying as an old Western character, right? Are you an American in the middle of some sort of reenactment before being summoned here?"

Narrowing his eyes and keeping his hand on his revolver, he stared down at the boy. "Son, I have no idea what you're saying. Those words of yours are as foreign to me as a different language."

"Oh geez, I love the accent, sounding like a true cowboy. But for all our sakes, why not drop the act? We are in a fantasy world, you see, and..." Before he could finish his sentence, Arthur pulled out his revolver and pistol-whipped the pretty boy who had gotten too close to his personal space and started spouting nonsense.

As the boy fell onto his back, clutching his broken nose, Arthur simply stared down at him. "I don't know what you've been chewing, eating, or smoking, but I ain't acting like anything other than what I am. You, on the other hand, are acting like a simpleton who just escaped the asylum," he said coldly and roughly to the blonde-haired boy, who was trying and failing to stop the blood flowing from his nostrils.

Meanwhile, Ren was examining the older man and realized that the spear-wielder did not. "You are a real cowboy!" he nearly shouted, his eyes wide with excitement and a childlike enthusiasm breaking through his cool facade. However, he quickly returned to his usual demeanor, though his cheeks were slightly flushed with the remnants of his childhood innocence.

On the throne, the king was quite shocked by the sudden unprovoked act of violence between the bow and spear heroes, As he thought back to it, the bow and spear often clashed in the past According to some legends, they even went to war with each other, with the spear usually instigating those conflicts. Seeing the spear bleeding on the floor, he raised his hand and began muttering an enchantment, sending out a minor healing spell to the spear wielder. Just like that, his broken nose was mended with a loud popping sound of bones being reset and healed, followed by the last burst of blood coming out of his nostrils. "Heroes, please, there is no reason to be violent with one another. You are all here to work together to fight against the waves of calamity, not each other," he said, using the authoritative voice he had used to greet the cardinal heroes.

Glancing up from the quickly healed spear wielder and towards the king, then back to the spear wielder who was now crawling away from him and heading towards his previous spot, away from his direction, Arthur looked back up to the king and gave him a slow nod, stepping back into his previous position.

Next was the boy in green and black. He took a deep breath, but before he could say anything, he was immediately skipped over as the king was no longer looking at him but toward the others.

"Excellent. If you would all please check your statuses, we can continue," the king requested of all the heroes present.

"Hey, before you make demands, at least treat the rest of us with the same level of respect, as you have shown the few of us here," Arthur spoke out, waving his hand towards the shield wielder next to him. "If you want all four of us to work together, then you should treat us all with an equal amount of respect," he defended the shield hero, causing more murmuring to come from the few aristocrats that were here that Arthur chose to ignore, knowing that nothing good would come from listening to their idle gossip in the background.

The other two heroes were surprised that one of them would jump to the defense of the other. The same could be said for the shield wielder, who simply stared at Arthur for a brief moment before smiling at him for speaking on his behalf regarding the king's lack of respect.

Once again, the King was shocked by the actions of the bow wielder. He recovered from his shocked expression as he was forced to look towards the Shield and waited for the hero to identify himself. "Forgive me, Shield wielder. Stress and my age may have left my mind a little idle of late. Please forgive me," he cringed internally as he bowed his head in apology, despite the man wanting to do nothing of the sort, especially to the Shield.

Thinking nothing of it, the bearer of The Shield recomposed himself and prepared to introduce himself. "I am Naofumi Iwatani, age 20, and a college student," he introduced himself with a smile.

"As I was saying a moment ago before I had lost my senses for that brief moment, would you all kindly check your statuses to confirm your positions as Heroes?" the King had requested of all before Cardinal Heroes.

Only three of them didn't know how to do that, except for the one who is glaring at the three with annoyance. "It's just in the corner of all of your vision. Just focus on it and then relax your eyes, and you'll open the status menu," he informed his fellow Heroes with annoyance.

Arthur had done as the young teen had advised and found something at the corner of his vision and did as suggested. Immediately, a screen appeared before him. It listed off many things that he couldn't wrap his head around, from HP to MP and SP. None of it made any sense to him. There was also something else on the status screen.

Special title Wielder of the legendary bow, wielder of the legendary gun. No sooner had he silently read the title of Wielder gun, the legendary gun His revolver flashed bright enough to break his focus. From the status screen, he looked at his right hip, and immediately it turned from a simple standard Cattleman Revolver into something similar to the bow, which was ornate, shiny, and had a red and white gem at the bud of the gun.

All those present watched the display of lights and the changing of Arthur's weapon. The western cowboy had pulled out his revolver and examined it. The other is doing much the same, as they had just looked at the few changes they could see.

"It seems that I am a Bow wielder and a Gun wielder," Arthur answered the unspoken question right after he started to pistol-twirl his new legendary weapon before holstering it.

Ren was delighted to see the little pistol twirl from the cowboy; he may consider himself a traditional fantasy gamer, but there was something about playing games that featured the old west with gunslingers that seemed similar to that Mythic Ronin wondering from place to place, following their code and morals, and holding a form of Honor Above All Else. But there was one thing missing from the Western bow wielder: the hat. He didn't have it, maybe he had lost it before being summoned. it didn't matter he just can't wait to have the opportunity to speak with him and perhaps even get hints of what type of adventures Arthur may have gone through before being summoned.

The surprises never seem to cease. A hero of the legendary Cardinal Heroes having another title other than what was expected of him was unprecedented, especially towards the king. He had brought his hand underneath his chin and begun stroking the little Beard he had. "This is very unprecedented, sir Arthur; never have the Legends foretold that one of the Cardinal Heroes would have been granted the power of another legendary weapon, one of which is unknown to us," he commented towards Arthur, then he glanced over to the Shadows that were hiding within the crowd of aristocrats and with a single glance met between himself and his agents signaled them to leave and do whatever research is required to unravel this mystery that just presented itself before him and to the kingdom at Large.

The rest of the Cardinal Heroes were given the status of their hero titles as the individual wielders of the weapons they had. Only the sphere welder was disappointed that he didn't get a secondary weapon like Arthur, but he didn't voice his dismay, not wanting to have another altercation with the cowboy.

After that, the king explained at the initial start of the ways of calamity how their Kingdom barely was able to defeat the first wave on their own in an entire village, and a noble house was wiped out by the monsters that had poured out of the rift that had appeared within the countryside. The king also went into detail, saying that they, the heroes, will have to level up their weapons and Gain experience to come back against the ways of calamity lest their world be destroyed. In exchange for their aid, the king has informed all four cardinal heroes that they will receive gold and titles only after they have stopped one wave after another.

Then the question of joining forces as a party came up, only for the king to shoot it down by informing all of them that they could not pair together as their weapons would hamper the development of each other. something that Arthur had to check immediately as soon as he learned that he would not be able to team up with the other boys despite his dislike for the spear wielder.

He brought up the status screen that he had learned how to close earlier when he was listening to the backstory of this kingdom's troubles, and immediately he looked for anything that would tell him what the king had informed them about forming a little Posse with each other. Soon enough, he found the information he was looking for, and to his annoyance, the King was right: both of his weapons would not develop, nor would they gain anything when close to the other Heroes. This is not the first time I have to go at it alone, he thought to himself as he closed the status screen and listened to More To The King.

"I shall personally send forth those who would go into the guild Halls and look for adventurers that will be agreeable to pair up with all four of you to help you gain the power necessary to combat against the ways of calamity. Until then, you four should rest, eat, and prepare yourselves for the next day," the king said, dismissing the quartet of Heroes.

A serving girl has stepped out of the side, bowing before the Heroes, saying, "If you would please follow me, I will take all of you to a place where you can both rest, eat, and commune in privacy." She said this rather humbly as she turned her back on the heroes and began to leave them for their quarters.

an hour later

For some reason, everyone had decided to convene in Arthur's room, despite it being the largest out of the three Heroes that were summoned. Arthur wasn't too much of a complainer; rather, he was enjoying the luxury of staying in a place that would be considered high-end where he was from.

Both the spear and shield were having a conversation about how useless The Shield class was, which earlier he didn't quite understand nor care to understand. He honestly didn't see the actual point and was trying to understand the blonde, but Ren didn't join in the conversation and was staring at him for too long. He immediately grunted at the boy.

"Anyone else that you would stare that long at, I would either think that you're in love with me or you're wanting to steal from me," Arthur smirked at Ren's immediate blush. It almost drove him to laugh at the boy as he sputtered words that only got jumbled up.

Managing to recompose himself, Ren straightened himself and forced his mental control to restore his emotional equilibrium after his embarrassed display. "It's just that you're a cowboy. When I was a kid, I always loved listening to stories and seeing them act so honorably," he said to Arthur as his youthful innocence sparkled in his eyes. "I've spoken with a cowboy."

It would have hurt Arthur to reveal that he wasn't a cowboy per se; he couldn't allow the boy to think something that he wasn't. "It pains me to say this, but I'm not a cowboy. Sure, I probably walk and talk like one, but I was an outlaw, and I wouldn't say that I was completely honorable. But I'm not completely dishonorable either," he honestly said. To his surprise, it didn't seem to dampen the boy's enthusiasm.

"You're definitely like the Ronin Warriors; not all of them are law-abiding; some of them even fight against the law, which would be considered unfair. I have no doubt you have done things that would be considered questionable, but I doubt you were, as most would say, actual criminals," Ren replied to Arthur's slight dismissal of being a cowboy.

For some reason, Arthur couldn't help but smile just as widely as the boy in front of him. He then stood up from the chair that he was sitting in when he first got into the room, following after the three boys who had decided to visit him. He walked over to Ren. The boy was confused at his sudden approach as Arthur reached over for his legendary revolver, pulled it out, and did a few pistol twists for a brief moment before pointing the handle towards the sword wielder.

without thinking, Ren reached over and grabbed hold of the weapon. He felt a sudden shock of pain when grabbing hold of the weapon as the status screen popped up on his weapon restriction, but he didn't want to wield it as a weapon; he just wanted to hold something that belonged to an actual cowboy or western Gunslinger. Holding it was equivalent to holding an ancient katana that was used by some legendary Ronin that he had heard about when he was a child. He then attempted to do that pistol twirling, only to have the gun fall out of his hand onto the ground.

A chuckle escaped Arthur's lips as he reached down and grabbed hold of the gun and did what the boy attempted to do, twirling the pistol around. "It took me several years before I was able to perfect that trick. A few of my friends had a much more interesting way of playing with their pistols, but be mindful unless you want to have a hole through your foot," he said, his words seeming to brighten the boy's disappointment of not being able to perform the pistol twirling trick.

"It still stinks that you got a gun, and we're supposed to be in a fantasy world where guns shouldn't exist," complained Motoyasu as he watched the interaction between Ren and Arthur.

Naofumi agreed with the blonde, finding it a little unfair that Arthur managed to score not just one but two weapons. "I wouldn't say fantasy worlds are without guns; there are at least a few games that have some historical references. After all, the Chinese had invented gunpowder soon after the Dark Ages," he commented on the possibilities that a fantasy world could have weapons like what Arthur owned. But as soon as he mentioned something historical, he received confused glances from Motoyasu and Ren.

"What are you talking about? The Chinese did not invente gunpowder; the Roman Empire did; they practically invented most of everything in this day and age," Motoyasu tried to correct Naofumi's information on the most significant object since the discovery of fire.

Ren stepped closer between the two boys and was about to correct both of them. "You're both wrong; gunpowder was created by the natives of South America and not truly utilized until centuries later, once the Britannian kingdom expanded their territories in that part of the world."

All three began arguing amongst themselves about who was right and who was wrong, but it got to the point that Arthur was getting rather annoyed by their little childish bantering. He took in a deep breath, put two fingers into his mouth, and made the loudest whistle sound he was capable of doing.

All three of them covered their ears at the sudden loud noise and switched their attention from each other to Arthur. "While you three were arguing, I listened closely to what all three of you know, and only one of you I'm familiar with as a form of knowledge in regards to gunpowder or black powder if you want to be more technical with it. Before we argue again, let's compare notes on what is known and what is unknown between you three," he suggested to the three boys, with whom every one of them agreed, and they began comparing general information about their homelands.

Again, Arthur listened in and made mental notes of everything that was said, making sure to note anyone who may be lying. Fortunately, no one seemed to be lying.

"Yeah, I thought the two of you were just from different eras within Japan, but in reality, we are from different worlds," Naofumi said, slightly hoping that these individuals were from the same world and found similar things to relate to other than the fantasy genre.

Ren was the only one who agreed with Naofumi. In his original world, he didn't have many friends other than one that he had saved from a serial killer who was running around stabbing people. He just hoped that his one friend back in his original world was alright.

All three of them switched their attention from each other to Arthur, who was just sitting there silently, watching and waiting for his insight into this multi-earth or alternate-history world between the three boys.

"Well, I don't know much about Japan other than I've only heard about it once from a drunkard who was complaining about them as they were immigrating to California and then making inroads to the Midwest. As for my general knowledge, I don't know much other than the year 1899. As far as I know, I couldn't tell you what month it was. A lot of things were going on during that last year before I got summoned," Arthur informed the three boys, who had their undivided attention. When he revealed what year it was, their eyes almost looked like they were about to pop out of their heads.

Ren was the only one who had a wide smile as fantasies of cowboys and dueling sparkled in his mind's eye, especially on the final year before marking the end of the cowboy era. The others were just staring at Arthur with pure shock.

"That can't be right! You're from back then? That's almost 121 years ago," Motoyasu sputtered out, unable to even imagine someone from that far back being put into what was essentially a high-magic medieval fantasy world with modern gaming mechanics.

Naofumi couldn't even imagine life back then. As far as he knew historically, Japan was barely even industrialized. If anything, there was still feudalism going on between a few factions that wanted to preserve the old way of the samurai lifestyle, while others were trying to modernize into the Industrial Age.

Listening to the blonde's retort about how long ago the year Arthur was from didn't seem to surprise him much, especially when he had already encountered someone who literally came from the future. The stark contrast between the babe of France Sinclair and his adult version further solidified this belief. "I would be shocked and surprised if I came from an era that long ago, yet I am no stranger to strange things happening since I woke up here," he replied, regretting his words as the three boys locked their attention on him. Mentally slapping himself on the head, he began to regale them with tales of his misadventures and the mysterious and wondrous things he had encountered.

This continued throughout the night as Arthur shared stories of the various creatures he had killed, briefly mentioning a run-in with a wannabe vampire in the act of sucking someone's blood. The boys cringed at the idea of a real-life bloodsucker, only to be relieved when the gunslinger gunned down the vile fiend.

As the first rays of sunlight entered Arthur's room, all three boys, including himself, felt exhausted from the sleepless night. Fortunately, the former outlaw still had his traveling pack and reached into it, pulling out a can filled with ungrounded coffee beans. He made a simple request to a serving girl for a kettle of hot water and a thick cloth, then utilized his own pestle and mortar to make a cup of instant Arthur's finest coffee.

"Can I have a bullet?" Ren asked Arthur, explaining that he wanted to feed it to his sword in the hopes of unlocking a cool weapon he had seen in an old video game from before he was born.

Raising an eyebrow, Arthur reached for his bullet belt and pulled out a single bullet, handing it to the boy in blue. He watched as Ren carefully took it from his hand, briefly examining it before bringing it to the jewel on his sword.

Immediately, Ren could see new blades being unlocked and began reading out the stats, only to frown when he realized that he didn't have the required level or skill to wield the weapons that were now unlocked.

Name: GunBlade

Abilities:

- Melee Attack: Deals 180% of the user's base physical damage.

- Ranged Attack: Fires a charged bullet that deals 220% of the user's base physical damage.

- Elemental Burst: Can channel elemental energy into the gunblade, unleashing a devastating area-of-effect attack based on the user's magic stat.

- Quick Reload: Allows for a faster reload time, reducing the downtime between ranged attacks.

- Level Requirement: Requires a minimum level of 80 to equip.

- Ammo Use: Holds a maximum of 6 bullets per reload.

- Damage:

- Melee Attack Damage: 900 base physical damage.

- Ranged Attack Damage: 1100 base physical damage.

- Elemental Burst Damage: Deals 400% of the user's base magic damage to all enemies in a wide area.

- Limitations: The Gunblade requires specialized ammunition, which can only be crafted or obtained through challenging quests. Additionally, the gunblade's ammo capacity limits the number of ranged attacks before needing to reload.

Name: Blast Sword

Abilities:

- Explosive Slash: Unleashes a powerful slash that deals 250% of the user's base physical damage and causes a small explosion upon impact.

- Burst Shot: Fires a concentrated blast of energy that deals 300% of the user's base physical damage and has a chance to stun the target.

- Inferno Burst: Channels intense fire magic into the sword, creating a massive explosion that deals area-of-effect damage based on the user's magic stat.

- Limited Uses: The Blast Sword has a limited number of uses before it requires recharging or repair. It can be recharged by consuming special materials or through the assistance of skilled blacksmiths.

Level Requirement: Requires a minimum level of 100 to equip.

Usage Limit: The Blast Sword can be used for a maximum of 5 powerful attacks before it needs to be recharged or repaired.

Damage:

- Explosive Slash Damage: 1200 base physical damage, with a small explosion.

- Burst Shot Damage: 1500 base physical damage, with a chance to stun the target.

- Inferno Burst Damage: Deals 600% of the user's base magic damage to all enemies in a wide area.

Special Ability: "Nova Blast" - Once per battle, the user can unleash a devastating explosion of energy, dealing 800% of the user's base magic damage to all enemies in a massive area.

Limitations: The Blast Sword's limited uses require careful management and strategic decision-making. Additionally, the sword's power and high level requirement make it accessible only to experienced and advanced players or characters.

Name: Sonic Sword

Abilities:

Sonic Slash: Unleashes a swift and powerful slash that cuts through the air with incredible speed, creating a sonic boom that damages enemies in its path.

Lightning Strike: Channels the power of lightning into the sword, electrifying the blade and enhancing its damage. This ability can stun enemies upon impact, leaving them vulnerable to follow-up attacks.

Wind Dance: Allows the Sword Hero to move with enhanced speed and agility, making them difficult to track and increasing their evasive capabilities. This ability can be used both offensively and defensively, enabling the user to dodge attacks effortlessly.

Cyclone Whirlwind: Creates a whirlwind of wind and lightning around the Sword Hero, deflecting incoming projectiles and damaging nearby enemies. The whirlwind can also be used to launch the Sword Hero into the air, enabling aerial attacks.

Flash Step: Enables the Sword Hero to teleport short distances in an instant, granting them superior mobility and the element of surprise in combat.

Stats:

- Level Requirement: 60

- Damage Output: Moderate

- Attack Speed: Fast

- Critical Hit Chance: Average

- Weight: Moderate

Despite the level requirements, Ren was pretty happy that he had some seriously overpowered weapons just waiting for him to unlock. He couldn't wait to get out into the field and grind enough XP to test out these new weapons. He just hoped that he had enough crafting materials to meet the ammo requirements for two of his swords.

Unable to help but notice Ren's wide smile as he looked over his invisible stats, Motoyasu approached the Sword Hero. "Hey, why don't you tell me what you got from that bullet? Help a fellow hero out," the blonde tried to give off a cool older brother vibe to the youngest of their group.

Arthur grunted, causing the blonde to jump back and gulp instinctively. He saw the same glare that he had received in the throne room before his nose was broken. "Leave the boy alone. Can't you see he's enjoying himself? If you want a bullet, why don't you ask politely and find out what you get," Arthur said unkindly to the blonde, waiting for him to say anything. His hand was already on his revolver, itching to pistol whip the boy on the nose again, but this time he would make sure that the king wouldn't heal him.

Nervously swallowing, Motoyasu nodded his head and slowly approached the temperamental Gunslinger. "May I have a bullet for my spear?" he asked very politely, avoiding direct eye contact with Arthur, afraid that even a glance into the American gunslinger's eyes would provoke an attack.

Considering the request, Arthur could easily deny him, but that would be unfair and unsportsmanlike. Despite not following conventional rules himself, he didn't want to become like those stuck-up individuals who would give something to one person and deny everyone else. So, with great reluctance, he grabbed another bullet from his belt and handed it over to the blonde. Motoyasu immediately caught it, but somehow fumbled and dropped the bullet on the ground. He quickly picked it up, only to fumble it again before finally managing to feed it to his spear.

Similar to Ren, Motoyasu's expression was a mixture of happy excitement and mild frustration and disappointment due to the level cap requirement for his new spears. He couldn't wait to use them once he reached higher levels.

Turning to face the Shield Hero, Arthur handed over a bullet without even being asked for it. He was surprised when Naofumi raised his hands, almost refusing to take the bullet from him. "Everyone's doing it, so you might as well go ahead and take it," Arthur said, tossing the bullet at the boy in green. Surprisingly, Naofumi caught the bullet in mid-air. "Nice catch. Maybe if you weren't bound to that shield, you might make a mighty good juggler hero," Arthur joked, causing the boy to chuckle.

After that little exchange, a new servant entered the room and was surprised to see all four of the Cardinal Heroes already up and looking as fresh as when they had first arrived. "Excuse me, sirs. His Majesty is expecting you in the throne room this morning to inform you who will be assigned to each of your individual parties," she informed the heroes of her purpose. She turned her back and waited for all of them to start following her into the throne room, as was expected.

All three of the boys were excited to see who would be assigned to them, except for Arthur. He briefly scratched the scruff underneath his chin at the thought of being assigned to someone, reminiscent of Pearson whenever he felt like discussing his Navy days and having a bunk buddy or someone to look after him, and vice versa. As he thought along those lines, he couldn't help but notice the blonde muttering under his breath. The two other boys couldn't hear him, but Arthur caught snippets of his longing desire to have only cute yet beautiful girls in his party. There was also a word he didn't quite understand: "Just what the hell is an angel loli?" He would have to question the blonde about that at some point, and if he didn't like the results of his questioning. The boy would definitely receive a broken nose or a swift kick to the groin this time.

Just like last time, the aristocrats stood on the balcony, overseeing the throne room. The King sat on his throne, and the same guard stood in the same position, as if they were part of a play with assigned roles. It felt like the main actors had just stepped onto the stage when Arthur lined up with the others in front of the king. The exception to this audience was a group of individuals who looked like they had been exploring places most people wouldn't or doing things others wouldn't consider, as long as there was enough money involved. In other words, bounty hunters, mercenaries, and cutthroats. They were the type of individuals Arthur didn't want to associate himself with.

"Welcome back, my heroes. Here stands before you the finest of Melromarc adventurers, ready and willing to join the individual heroes they desire to be with. Now, adventurers, choose whom you will follow against the waves of calamity," the king announced to the heroes and the adventurers.

Once the king finished speaking, the adventurers began breaking off and stepping forth to the heroes they wished to serve. In the end, everyone had adventurers standing behind them, except for Naofumi. To everyone's shock and surprise, except for the king who tried to feign surprise, something that Arthur immediately caught on to.

"Oh, come on, everyone! Why am I the only one without anyone wanting to team up with me?" Naofumi exclaimed. As soon as the Shield Hero said that, everyone began huddling and holding tightly behind the heroes they wanted to be with.

With an annoyed growl, Arthur stabbed his elbow into the gut of the person who was holding tightly onto his leather jacket. The man behind him grunted and backed off, creating a domino effect as everyone started backing off or stumbling, nearly tripping over each other. Some of them were about to complain about his unnecessary shove, but his stern glare silenced them all. He didn't even have to threaten them with the same treatment he had given the blonde the last time he was here.

"It would seem that the rumor about the Shield Hero has truly spread," the king spoke, recalling the rumor that his spies within the heroes' quarters had informed him of. He had spread the word to guilds not affiliated with the hero's church to deter them from joining the Shield Hero's party. The only exception was a few demi-humans who were legally free but had been secretly detained for alleged crimes against Melromarc, only to be sold into slavery.

Three of the heroes were confused, except for the blonde who didn't seem fazed by the fact that no one wanted to join the Shield Hero. He looked back at the lineup of beauties giggling and blushing at the sight of him. "My wildest dreams have truly come true. All these nice girls, and I'm going to protect them, and they are going to..." He couldn't even finish that thought as he blushed brightly. He just hoped he could have some fun other than battling monsters alongside his girl squad.

"Your Majesty, what do you mean by rumors? I don't think we've been here long enough for rumors to develop," Ren honestly said. He didn't remember speaking with anyone about their fellow hero, nor did he plan on doing so. Despite his reservations against the Shielder class being the weakest among the more combative classes like the bow, sword, and spear, he wouldn't join the ladies' man who was being distracted by the giggling girls, who were close to peppering him with kisses. He also didn't want to disappoint or show dishonor in front of Arthur.

Stepping up towards the throne and ignoring the party lined up perfectly behind him, Arthur stared into the king's eyes with his piercing glare. "Just how and what is the rumor that has spread?" he asked with a cold tone in his voice. His own glare was met with that of the king's, to the point that if anyone said anything, sparks would almost clash between the distance of their eyes.

"The rumor is that the Shield Hero lacks certain knowledge of our world. The Cardinal Heroes who are summoned into this world have at least a baseline of information about our world, its various customs, magics, and other systems that have been in place since the beginning," the king explained to the bow hero, still maintaining the staring match with him.

Narrowing his eyes even more and intensifying his glare, Arthur quickly turned towards the adventurers. "Half of you better go ahead and join the hero, or a lot of you can leave now. Don't heed my words, and I'm going to put a bullet in all of you," he said, grabbing his revolver and pulling back the silver hammer. The three heroes were shocked by his actions, while everyone else was confused. None of them had any idea about firearms, other than hearing stories about a few countries that had them. They doubted that the bow hero would actually kill his own party members just because they didn't listen to him.

Letting out a frustrated growl, Arthur pointed his gun at the roof and pulled the trigger. A magical explosion followed, with a projectile flying at the speed of sound and hitting the ceiling. The sudden noise and flash shocked everyone, followed by falling dust and debris hitting the Gunslinger's shoulder. "I'm not going to say it again. After this, join the Shield or get the hell out of here, you yellow-bellied imbeciles!" he yelled at the belligerent group. They looked at the shield hero, then at the bow hero, and finally nodded in agreement.

Just like that, all the adventurers who were supposed to join the bow hero turned their backs and left. Now, there were two heroes without a party to assist them in leveling up themselves and their weapons. However, the Gunslinger didn't seem to care or mind much. He simply flipped the gun around in his hand before holstering it.

Naofumi was shocked by Arthur's actions, but he couldn't help but feel thankful that someone was backing him up. The Cowboy may be out of place in this high fantasy world, but he was definitely someone Naofumi would love to hang out with in the countryside and hear old tales, just like the ones he had heard the night before.

Shaking his head, Motoyasu thought it was stupid to send his party away just because they didn't want to join the Shield. Unlike himself, he didn't feel the need to force any of his girls to join the "lame" Shield or the hyper-violent bow.

Unlike the spear hero, Ren's eyes were filled with stars at witnessing true badassery. Though he preferred playing solo, the way Arthur dismissed his party like that was something that was now ingrained in his mind. He hoped he could measure up to the coolness of this Gunslinger who had wandered into their fantasy world, the world they were all summoned into.

The king of Melromarc was enraged by the bow's actions, but even "enraged" was too soft of a word. No, he was furious. If he didn't have the common sense to keep his rage in check, he would have stood up and called out the guards to send this belligerent man to the dungeons, where he would spend a good couple of days with a lack of food and water, just enough to remind him of his place in this world. Alternatively, he would have him sent to the stocks to be pelted with stones, rotten produce, and various other forms of punishment.

It wasn't just because the bow had dismissed his party. It was the fact that the king had spent a great deal of coins and time to get the appropriate adventurers to join the bow, to monitor him and keep him in check. He had even gone as far as to inform the adventurers to guide the bow towards causes that would weaken other kingdoms, amidst the rising tensions of rebellion in the various kingdoms surrounding Melromarc's borders. Now, all of his time and effort had been wasted. And this was all planned before he had even summoned the heroes. Perhaps the Shield had somehow contaminated the bow, but that was an impossibility. The man was from a different era, possibly even from a different world altogether, according to the information gathered by his Shadows about the four Heroes.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, the king stood up. "It is most unfortunate, Sir Arthur, but your party refused to heed your request, even in the face of your Divine weapon. I will see if the other Heroes' party members would like to join the Shield's party."

Despite the bow's actions, hearing her father's words was the signal for her to join the Shield. It was an opportunity for her to weave an intricate web that would lead to his doom, possibly causing the bow to strike at the Shield. What a pleasure it would be to watch the savage man kill the Devil Shield. She could already feel a stirring in her own loins just at the thought of the despair she would see on the Shield's face once everything was said and done on her part.

Just as she had rehearsed to herself many times, as soon as the shield demon had arrived, she raised her hand in the air, took a deep breath, and spoke loudly, "I'm more than willing to join The Shield hero if he is without any party members." The redhead announced it to everyone, even the dismayed blonde, who didn't like the idea of having one of his female party members transfer herself to someone who was, game mechanic-wise, very weak.

Internally, the King was smiling at the fact that his daughter was about to go ahead and discredit and ruin the reputation of shield wielders more so than just the shield itself. "Are you certain, my dear, that you truly wish to align yourself with someone who lacks knowledge of our land?" The King had spoken out of fake concern for the redhead adventurer.

Nodding her head as she stepped out of the lineup behind the spear wielder, she stepped forth and yielded before the king. "I, Malty, express my desire to serve the shield hero and his perilous journey in his fight against the waves. This I pledge," she says with her fist over her heart and her head dipping down a little lower where the red bangs of her hair hide the amusement on her face.

All three were buying what the redhead was selling except for Arthur, as he found it quite strange that someone who looked very content in the party of Motoyasu suddenly decided to switch at the last minute. As soon as the girl was done kneeling and having a brief conversation with the blonde, he and the girl had a brief glance at one another. That's when his eyes immediately widened as he recognized the young woman. A slight flashback of a younger redhead with her family in a family portrait came to mind. He didn't even need to imagine what would happen if something happened to the daughter of this kingdom's royal family, or for that matter, what her father would do. One thing was for sure: he wasn't going to allow Naofumi to get caught up in something the boy wasn't prepared for, or for that matter, have an escape plan when the situation truly becomes dangerous. "Go back to the blonde's team, girl," Arthur yelled loudly enough to get everyone's attention.

Naofumi was shocked at Arthur telling the one girl who looked quite pretty to go back to team Motoyasu. "Arthur, why are you sending her away? I need party members," he shouted at Arthur, but his shout didn't seem to faze the old gunslinger.

"I'll tell you once we get out of this castle something I've been meaning to tell you but wasn't able to last night. For the time being, I think you should be without any party members until you are able to truly see who is your friend and who is your enemy," Arthur subtly said to Naofumi, causing confusion among all three heroes, but not the king or the princess, whose body seemed to stiffen at his words towards her.

Turning to look at the bow hero and keeping that false smile on her face, she spread out her arms and hands in a friendly gesture. "Sir Arthur, I am truly genuine in my desire to serve and aid the Shield hero, no matter what you may think of me as an adventurer. I'm quite skilled at what I'm capable of doing. You'll need my help with my offensive abilities," she tried to reason and use a bit of logic to convince the bow that she was necessary for the shield's progress.

He shook his head, and his hand went back to the revolver; he hadn't drawn it, but he had pulled back the hammer. "Little lady, I'm not above shooting you to get you to do as I wish, even if the shot won't be considered a permanent injury. Give him the fact that I saw that old man on the throne there heal Mr. Ladies Man when I had broken his nose," Arthur glanced over at the blonde, who immediately placed his hand over his nose in remembrance of what happened yesterday.

"Hold up, what are you accusing Malty of? She hasn't done anything to warrant your suspicion towards her. If anything, we should all be suspicious about you and your reasoning why you don't want her on team Naofumi," Motoyasu countered Arthur's words while also preparing himself to use the spear if necessary to defend Malty's honor, even if he did get a broken nose again or be shot by Arthur's magical weapon.

Sensing a brewing argument between the heroes, the king stood up and took a deep breath. "Enough!" he yelled loud enough for his voice to echo and reverberate throughout the throne room, bringing everyone's attention back to the king. "Sir Arthur, it is not up to you to decide who is and who isn't part of someone's party. If you continue with this disregard of our traditions and force your will upon others, then I will have very little choice but to declare you a renegade hero. This means all the various services that the Cardinal Heroes would receive and benefits of the land will be denied to you, even visitation to the dragon Hourglass in the Three Heroes Church will be denied to you, and more," he informed Arthur, though the king really wanted to just declare the bow hero a renegade already and have him excommunicated throughout the kingdom. However, he needed all three of the Cardinal Heroes to defend this kingdom at all costs, even if he had to find a means to keep Arthur in line. How he would do that was beyond him at the present moment.

For the third time since the two had first met, Arthur stared into the eyes of the king, and the king stared back at the gunslinger. They silently communicated with each other, daring each other to do something rash that would cause harm to one or the other. Their deadlock was immediately broken as Naofumi literally stood in between both the king and Arthur's gaze.

"Enough of this. I know you're just trying to help, but let me have this one chance, please, Arthur," Naofumi pleaded with his dark eyes meeting Arthur's blue ones.

Arthur's hostile and hard glare towards the king immediately softened at the pleading and almost begging look in Naofumi's eyes. "Alright, boy, it's your show. Though I'll be there for you when the shitshow truly reveals itself," he said with his cryptic tongue. He undid the hammer that was pulled back on his revolver so he wouldn't misfire in his holster and stood there, waiting for whatever needed to be said or given.

After that, Naofumi shook hands with his new redhead companion, and there was an exchange of coins as the king had given everyone their starter money to begin their journey. As luck would have it, Arthur received the largest amount, being alone in comparison to everyone else. Then, everyone was dismissed to explore outside the castle, into the city, and eventually into the wilderness once they had obtained the appropriate gear.

-chapter bonus-

Itsuki woke up in the hospital bed with bandages over his eyes and a loss of feeling in his lower extremities. The only thing he could remember was a truck honking before the inevitable darkness that soon followed. During that state of unconsciousness, he dreamed of a world with multiple bows floating around, along with other individuals going through a selection process. He could vaguely remember the whispers talking about another world and another opportunity for him to live and bring out his own ideals of justice. However, the bow that he was about to grab slipped from his fingers and went to another person, a cowboy-looking fellow. As he continued to listen through the whispers in this strange realm of spirits, their words caused his blood to boil when he heard that some old man was considered more worthy than him. Like any young child, he cried out about the unfairness of it all, which only prompted the spirits to reject him from the realm and bring him back into the darkness of his consciousness. He later woke up in a world filled with pain and the loss of feeling in his lower body. "I refuse to accept this injustice! I refuse!" he yelled out as he tried to thrash out of his bed and fell to the floor. He crawled towards the exit using only his arms, notifying the hospital nurses to walk into an enraged and crazed teen muttering about being summoned, bows, and other ramblings that the hospital staff didn't understand.

Like any other difficult patient, they brought out a sedative, injected the crippled boy into submission, and brought him back onto the bed One of the nurses made a note to contact the doctor to put the boy under psychological evaluation.

BTC