Protoshield
The raising of the Virulent Shield
A [Prototype] x Tate no Yuusha crossover
Greetings, welcome back, I hope you enjoyed all of my previous fan fictions that I have written over the times.
This is L33t Horo, AKA Tsuki Haseo on Twitch and YouTube. I am a fanfiction writer and a Vtuber, I stream daily and upload the VODs on YouTube, please do look and subscribe if you like my work!
Also I'm asking for help unfortunately due to medical expenses I couldn't and forgot to pay the city taxes, that is why I am asking for your help if you're able and or willing please consider donating You can find the link in my description on the channel on Twitch and on my newest videos on YouTube, the reason as to why I am asking is due to my bank account got hit with an embargo and thus I am unable to access any of my money to pay, so I may be able to unlock it once the taxes are paid.
I got the idea for this fan fiction out of nowhere so please enjoy and leave comments on this and previous works of mine thank you and have a nice day.
Chapter 6 Aesthetics of Evil
After slaughtering the Pope's forces the whole group collapsed, adrenaline high no longer carrying them, many bodies where strewn around. Ren, Motoyasu and Itsuki collapsed, their arms and legs screaming in protest.
Alex made his way back, thinking how to explain all this to them. Raphtalia already knew the truth, Firo… she was too young and prone to slip-ups so she had to be kept away from the truth.
He decided to be creative… twist it enough to not be a lie, but enough to hide his secret.
He finally managed to reach where the others were, they were laying on the floor, gasping for air with water canteens around.
A few potions were here and there, but their mental power and emotional strength had already fallen, they needed to rest.
And, if he was honest with himself, so did Alex.
What he learned from the pope sickened him, however there was a bigger puppet master behind all of this.
Faubrey.
So far the web of intrigue had told him that this demi-human hatred felt… artificial.
Not only that, but the lore of the Demi humans and history of this world either felt that it had been heavily edited out… or outright destroyed. As if someone had been intentionally targeting information and twisting it.
He had also seen, thanks to the web of intrigue, that there had been manipulation if the course of history of this world. However the pope, shocking as it was, was low in the totem of the people who were controlling the path this world was in.
The maximum power of a religion… a mere pawn in a game of chess.
Who could have enough power to play kingmaker on a global scale?
Alex knew some in his world… but those had generation over generation… and it was a collective. This felt like the work of a SINGLE entity.
There was too much missing.
The history, the conflict between humans and demis… the hero system.
Everything felt… artificial…padded in. Even the waves, they said it was a phenomenon that occured since times immemorial, however little to no documentation on it could be found, just the bare bone explanation, such a thing made no sense.
As if…
" Someone was using the summoned people's knowledge of games… and setting it as a psychological trap to ensnare them making them think this was a game that they played, thus reducing their overall effectiveness due to the competitiveness in games" Alex theorized.
If he extrapolated from that, it made sense how the personality of the other 3 heroes made sense, they wanted to feel superior using their knowledge of the game that they played in their respective worlds… however that was also a trap, as they would not share any secrets with each other, not until Alex forced co-operation between them all. He also showed them that their respective power-up methods were freely usable between them all, and by using them all they would grow both faster and stronger. The fact he managed to do that would have put a serious wrench in that nebulous entity that was trying to control this world's history.
However, Alex had a method that he COULD NOT share, as it was intrinsic to himself due to what he is.
Due to his nature as a sentient virus, he is also capable of evolution in order to adapt to the stressors… the last fight with the Pope's forces had cause quite a lot, which managed to stimulate the Viral Shield II to evolve into its III series by forcing it to happen.
He was in a situation were his own existence was in danger, thus he did as his nature would do… and thus adapted and evolved.
Thanks to consuming the pope Alex had gained a myriad of magic abilities, such as high ranking healing magic and the high-class synthesis magic Judgment.
That magic was quite literally a magic nuclear attack, without radiation, just pure holy power.
Alex's viral makeup began to adapt to it, as he had survived a nuke before. In doing so he had enhanced his regeneration powers, now absorbing biomass would be more efficient.
His magic power was low, but he figured he could supplement what was missing by using biomass until his Magic power whent to a level he could use it. He also took the Holy Weapon Replica and stored it in his storage function of the shield. That weapon was too dangerous. He wondered if it could be possible for his RNA to duplicate the function of the holy weapons, more power is always a welcomed thing, and the ability to further evolve is precious, the more things he is resistant or immune to, the better, after all, one never knows when he could get backstabbed.
They had rested for a couple of hours, they were surrounded by soldiers, however Alex noted that they had no malicious intent and looked shocked at the many bodies around the group.
"Sir heroes… you are ok?" A knight asked as he dismounted their Filolial.
This knight had the sense to put his hands up in a non-threatening action, however he did not have to, as none in the group, save for Alex himself, could really move.
"The queen ordered a couple centurions to come and back you up, however we had to fight some of the church of the 3 Holies to get them off the Sword and Bow heroes back, I apologize that we have taken so long and had you all fight with such lopsided odds, however I am impressed that you are still alive, your station as heroes is not ill deserved it seems" the knight said as he called the healers from their unit.
They wanted to do some healing to Alex, but he refused, as he had already healed himself. "Tend to the others, they need it more than me" he excused himself.
Still after the adrenaline rush had run its course the 3 heroes had many questions for Alex.
He decided he would oblige them, but only an edited version of it.
It took a week for all of them to fully recover, the 3 heroes had way too much lactic acid in their muscles and created a LOT of pain, they had to rest, they also found their companions, including the spear hero's.
There was a feast to be made but first… someone had to put order in her own home.
A woman who was cold and calculating… a woman of ice, yet she was like a storm.
The Queen of Melromak had arrived and sat besides Raphtalia. She was rending to her wounds, a leader of a country caring for a slave…
Alex's impression of the queen rose a few notches.
"You must be this generation's Shield hero, are you not? Alex Mercer?" She asked.
Alex nodded "And you must be the real queen, it is a pleasure to finally meet you in the flesh your majesty" Alex said as he bowed to her.
"It seems my stupid eldest daughter and my king consort has caused you undue grief, not to mention that sect… the chruch of the 3 Holies" The queen said looking to the side.
"Has it been resolved?" Alex asked.
"It is a work in progress… but we lack intelligence however, as they were rather crafty in hidding themselves and positioning themselves in seats of power and stuck there as the parasites that they are" she said.
"Well, I got all their names and locations of anything they have that they used to blackmail or intimidate people, as well as the locations of their safe houses" Alex said, "however… I wish to get 40 percent of everything confiscated, I got plans to help the Demi-human population, but first the first step is to get back the old village as well as to find the inhabitants that were scattered as slaves… the money will be used to restore the village, provide monetary compensation and help them learn trades and be able to protect themselves as well as being self sufficient." Alex said.
The queen was shocked, she smiled at him. "How I wish my eldest had a drop of your acumen, I blame her father really for spoiling her too much… she always had such nasty personality… I tried, believe me, but she just keeps disappointing me, treating people's lives like disposable toys" she said as she covered her face in shame.
Alex sighed "I rather not, if she did then, can you imagine the sheer amount of damage she could have further caused?"
"Praise be for small mercies… as they say?" The queen said.
Alex then asked for parchment and quills, the Queen's Shadows nearly immediately provided it as Alex began to write down all the information on EVERYTHING that the church of the 3 Holies had done, all their secrets and hideouts of their ill gotten treasure and information that they used to blackmail and/or intimidate honest Nobels.
The first thing that was done was the liberation of the daughter of the previous lord of Raphtalia's village… Eclair Saetto.
Her father died in a previous wave and with that slavers took that as an opportunity to hunt down and kill any demi-humans who resisted. When Eclair heard what had happened in her absence, she came and punished the slavers… however some of them were sons or connected to Nobels and the church used that to incarcerate her to prevent her from being a thorn in their side.
However with all the information Alex had given them, the church would be unable to ever come back, their leader had been dealt with and consumed, all his knowledge was now his and he would destroy even the most insignificant of them to prevent any fires to start once more, as a single spark could set a forest ablaze.
However the queen looked concerned by Faubrey's involvement… concerned, but not surprised.
"It seems that you were expecting that, your highness" Alex half asked and half stated.
She then told him about the current king's and his… disposition on women.
"I was going to send my eldest as to be his bride, a fate worse than death, however she managed to escape it for a time while she was in school, however with what she has done so far…" the queen said as she gripped her folding fan with a lot of pressure, her knuckles turning white.
"Uhmm… I have an idea…" Alex said as he whispered to the Queen's ear.
"You are quite a devious sir hero Alex" the queen said with a smile.
Once all the heroes and their party members (minus the spear hero's one, for obvious reasons) had recuperated they followed the Queen to the royal audience hall.
As soon as the doors opened the king smiled at seeing his wife "Oh! You finally returned Myrrelia…" however he saw Alex entering the room…
"WHAT?! THE SHIELD?! IMMEDIATE EXECUTI-" before he could say a word he was frozen from the neck down with a wave of her fan.
The sheer power and brutality of it all shocked the other 3 heroes.
"Why are you doing this Myrrelia? Ah! It can't be? Have you been brainwashed by the shield demon?!" He said.
She finished freezing him up.
"Let me make this clear, the shield hero has no such power, how foolish can you be? Now then, once more… I am the Queen of the kingdom of Melromak Myrrilla Q. Melromark, that man over there is my husband but… he is only a proxy king, so let us not suffer his foolishness" she said as she sat down on her throne. The 3 heroes were shocked by her strength of character and forceful manner of dealing with problems.
It was then when a young girl with dark hair entered the room.
"Greetings mother, it seems you came earlier than expected" she said.
"Malty, it is good to see you, it seems I was right to trust those soldiers to accompany you, it also helped that the church and your sister were rather… busy" the queen said.
"Busy uh? I been swamped in parchments, looking at all their misdeeds, it is a logistical nightmare, I really want to cry" she said.
"I am sorry, I am remiss on introducing you to our steamed guests, sir heroes and companions, this here is my youngest, princess Malty, she is the one whom I have chosen to inherit the throne" she said with a proud smile.
Said princess gave a curtsy and thanked the heroes and apologiesed as well for the treatment that one in particular received from the crown.
"With that said, we have certain things to make amends for, please bring the criminals posthaste" she ordered as the soldiers brought Mein, who was chained, her chest had a high rank slave seal… next to her was Itsuki's old companion, Mald, who was stripped of his armor and wore just a shirt and tunic… he also had a high ranking slave seal.
The king was also unfrozen and forced to wear manacles and chains.
She glared at Alex with all the fury she could muster "I WILL KILL YOU YOU BASTARD!!" She yelled as she fought against the soldiers "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME! I AM STILL THE PRINCESS! I WILL HAVE YOU ALL HUNG FOR THIS!" She threatened.
Alex walked up to her and lifted her face up.
*SMACK*
Motoyasu put all the strength he could muster and slapped her so hard she fell to the ground, hit her head and bounced twice more.
"After all the shit you pulled you have the GALLS to act as if you are a victim?!" Motoyasu yelled.
"Of course I am! How is it my fault that stupid people don't know their place" she said while looking at them with hatred.
This woman…
She was rotten from the core…
The king glared at Motoyasu, he had placed his hopes on him on marrying his favorite daughter, as he had blood from one of the previous spear hero… however now he had unbridled fury and rage as he broke from his bindings in order to protect his angel.
"YOUUUU!!!" he yelled with anger.
Only for his face to be grabbed by Alex and slammed into the floor making a huge indentation and knocking him out.
A few minutes passed and the king recovered, with stronger chains this time.
In front of them all were all 4 heroes looking down on them.
Itsuki had gone and asked everywhere he had done quests for who had claimed the rewards and found that Mald had been taking it and bullying the rest of his team into silent compliance due to his station in nobility.
He had stolen from the heroes, and then there was the first princess and the brain-addled king.
And the princess had quite a mouth!
"You think people will join you?! You committed papicide! You killed a major political and spiritual leader, you will live with fear of being assassinated… and when you die I will be there to relish it" she said with venom in her voice.
Alex decided to deal another blow to her imaginary perfect plan.
He turned into a perfect copy of the pope.
"So what? People will know you are a fake" she said with a vicious smirk.
And then Alex began to talk… and said all the plans they spoke about, how she was going to assassinate her sister as she did with her other sibling, how she asked him to use some of his shadows to plant evidence of the shield hero kidnapping her and murdering her.
As Alex, now in the Pope's form, kept talking you could see Men's skin color turn paler by the second. All her plots, all the conniving, subterfuge, Siblicide… among many others
"What's wrong… oh future queen… you don't look so well" Alex said, still in the form of the Pope.
Everyone in the audience gave the first princess a look of utter contempt and disgust.
She was NOT a human being, and instead of pleading for mercy she blamed everyone else and called the pope a traitor.
"Ah… you seem to be mistaken, as part of the Melromark Royalty you were also a hindrance, I was going to send an assassin to silently kill you and replace the ruler with a puppet one, you see, I NEVER was your ally to begin with, so I never did ANY betrayal." Alex said as the pope. After saying his piece he turned back into his default looks.
Mein was gritting her teeth with such force you could hear them slowly cracking.
"Is all what was said true?" Her mother asked.
"Of course no-..." before she could say a word she was shocked.
"U...uh? What is this?!" Mein yelled.
"The slave seal is set so you may NOT speak any falsehood, now again, is what he said the absolute truth?"
"Obviously he is lyin-" and once more she was shocked, she continued to lie and deny, she even tried to be smart for once and say half-truths, but even that was taken into account.
Everyone looked at her with even more askance. All she could do was lie and lie.
Then she began to cry "mother… this is so cruel" she said as she sobbed.
"Are those fake tears?" The queen asked.
Her reply was another lie and was shocked.
Thus the queen gave her verdict, even if those 2 were family she had the obligation to serve justice… if she was lenient because of her family ties people would exploit it, and she also had to set an example as well.
"From hence force my husband and first daughter are irrevocably stripped of their titles as nobles, that also includes that of the bow hero's former companion Mald, who also stands accused for colluding, aiding and abetting the church of 3 Heroes illegal activities, from now on they shall also had their names changed… anyone using their old names shall be punished by flogging in the square plaza, the names shall be selected by the shield hero, as he was the one who suggested this, to be honest I wanted to go for execution myself… but his idea was rather good" the queen said with a smirk.
"ARE YOU SANE?! IF YOU DO THAT THE PEOPLE, THE MINISTERS, THE OTHER COUNTRIES WILL NOT STAY SILENT'' the king said.
"Preparations have already been made, no one will move nor say a thing, you are just now an old criminal" the queen said.
"IF YOU REMOVE ME FROM THE ROYAL FAMILY WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN TO THIS COUNTRY?!!!" Malty yelled.
"There shall be no loss, allow me to say this clearly so you two may understand the gravitas of this situation… you two… are scum of this country, and due to all you tried to do, it will be the shield who will deliver punishment" she said with a smirk.
Alex walked and squatted down to meet their gazes.
"Hello you two, since day one you had hostile intentions towards me, both of you and the now defunct church of the 3 heroes tried (and failed), to make my life miserable and tried to set me to fight my fellow heroes… so now I wish to share with you the hell you ATTEMPTED (and failed) to send me, and know that you have only yourselves to blame." Alex said with a smirk, "The former first princess name shall be Bitch… and, in case she wants to go and use her adventurer name, I will change that into Slut, a fitting name for a woman who is so loose with men, how I weep for her poor mother, that girl surely couldn't bring her mother's expectations of her any lower… and yet she proves us wrong here today… and you… oh former wise king, your hatred has addled you, unable to see what was in front of you, blaming someone who never even heard of you, let alone had anything to do with what happened to you… I will NOT be your punching bag, the actions you have taken, the deals you done, represent your name quite well… Trash" Alex said as the king had veins popping on his head, he wanted to stand up but the soldiers had their spears by his neck and was forced down.
"I would like to say we are done… I would truly wish it so, but Bitch has another serious crime to atone for… please bring them in '' the queen said as Bitch's face twisted into further horror.
All the girls that she had eliminated due to trying to be a positive influence on Motoyasu and undermine her by selling them to slavers were here, she didn't understand how…
Until she looked at Motoyasu.
He looked at her with sheer disgust and anger.
With each girl retelling their own story on how it went, the bullying, the beatings, the intimidation and subsequent selling to the slavers… the people in the audience looked with further disgust at the former princess, who still had the gall to play the victim.
"None of that would have happened if they had listened, it is not my fault they ignored my warnings" she said.
It was as if she was completely unable to see any fault in her actions, rather than accept her punishment she further bemoaned about how unfair it wasand that it want her fault.
Did she not understand what she had done?
Could there be such a self centered, self deluded person?
The answer is yes, and they were looking at her. She raged and cursed at her victims, promising pain beyond what they could possibly imagine, the girls were terrified and were escorted by the royal knights.
"More and more it seems you show that my decision to leave the throne to Melty was the correct choice, and rather than to accept your errors and seek penance you grow defiant and blame others for what is clearly your own actions, you are a failure of a human being" the Queen said.
Mein's face twisted in anger and rage rather than shame.
"Send them both to the dungeon where they placed all their victims" she said with a wave.
"And the rest of the former Spear Hero's companions, have them all work in forced labor in the mines until they eared 10gold each per victim"
The soldiers pushed them both out as they put up resistance, it was useless due to being chained up.
"With that horrible thing out of the way… let us enjoy this feast to congratulate the heroes and their companions for liberating Melromark from the grasp of the church of the 3 heroes, from now on the official religion will become the church of the 4 heroes, as all 4 are important in defending this world, this is my royal decree" she said with a smile.
Alex was smirking, that woman was truly an ideal ruler.
"Is something the matter?" Raphtalia asked
"No, just thinking she really is an ideal ruler, this kingdom is lucky to have her at the helm, could you imagine if Mein had inherited the throne?" Alex said.
"I rather not imagine such bleak what-if please" she said looking ill at the prospect.
Firo, ever the glutton, was having a blast with all the food, she met with princess Melty and once she found she was a Filolial they hit it off and became rather close.
Alex smiled at it " that is how it should be with children" he said feeling happy that Firo had made a friend.
With everything over and Mald having his level reset to 1 and forced to do hard labor for 3 years, much to his anger… the Queen gave the 4 heroes a special room to discuss Alex's… battle. She even allowed the room to be completely empty of any listening magic and Shadows.
The 4 heroes sat at a round table, until Itsuki decided to ask the question.
"Alex… I wish to know… How did you do… THAT?" Itsuki phrased it that way in order to be more polite.
"I told you I was in the military… But not in what capacity, in my world I was a virologist, I and other fellow scientists created a virus… It was an evolutionary chimeric mutation-causing infectious agent that can reproduce only inside the living cells of other biological organisms. The virus "plugs in" and activates the 'junk' DNA in its victim, resulting in several biological changes that create (and recreate) sentience within the infected creature's cellular makeup. It acts by affecting the protein encoding regions of the promoter introns in each cell. As a retrovirus, it contains both RNA and the reverse transcriptase enzyme, allowing it to insert its own genetic codes into the host's cells. It enters, re-purposes and changes the cell, replicating previously dormant non-coding segments of the organism's DNA. More often than not, these changes are too drastic and 99.99% of all infected organisms die from massive organ failure and cell saturation… myself and my fellow scientists did not know that it was going to be weaponized, we thought it was going to be a cure for cancer or other global diseases… I had a sample of it and gave the remaining of it to the shield and thus… THAT. Due to my knowledge as a virologist I am able to control and evolve this shield series, however for it to grow it requires Biomass, the shield absorbs the enemy and consumes it, and I gain all their knowledge and abilities plus the biomass, before you ask I don't have any more of the sample and even if I did you 3 wouldn't be able to handle it as it is VERY dangerous… one wrong move and you could potentially release a global pandemic with a near 100 percent mortality rate." He said.
The 3 heroes were shocked to hear that, they understood now why Alex acted the way he did, there were a few more questions.
Alex answers them, the 3 heroes thanked him very much for saving their collective asses and giving them a much needed reality check.
"I should also thank you all for protecting my teammates, thank you" Alex said sincerely.
After it was all said and done, they exited the room and left for their quarters, they needed to rest, it had been an emotional rollercoaster.
Another good set of news was that the victims of Mein's rotten acts were excused from paying any taxes for up to 2 years as well as further monetary compensation and the queens own heartfelt apologies"
Now they had to deal with the remnants of the church.
There was a noble who was in dire need of getting his just desserts.
Chapter end.
Author notes:
Sorry for the grammatical errors… I am writing this on a smartphone while walking.