The Dark Knight of the Shield

by Pezil the Brazilian Writer

The world of Shield hero is full of individuals with evil intent of many kinds with corruption and abuse of political power being the norm. But what would happen when the world's greatest detective is choosen to be the shield hero? The criminals will soon regret chosing a life of crime (don't expect frequent uploads, working on other projects at the moment)

"Are the preparations ready?" a man cloaked with a dark robe and a priest's hat asked another man, they were in a barely lit room with grey stones all around the room

"yes they are... but I'm still reluctant that we should summon that Devil to our country" the other man replied, he didn't like the idea of summoning their worst enemy to the center of their country. The shield hero was demonized by the church for his betrayal of the human race in favor of helping the demi human scum, the three heroes church was founded over this betrayal as in their eyes the shield hero was the cause of all conflict on Melromarc, he created and founded Siltvelt which is Melromarc's greatest enemy as it practices demi human supremacy, it was a twisted mirror to Melromarc's own and much more righteous human supremacy. There was a reason unholy freaks like the demi humans were enslaved as they didn't age like normal humans and could transform into monstrous beasts, the shield hero freed this beasts because of compassion but the church believes that it was to form a monstrous army, why would they summon such a dangerous individual?

"I understand you're doubt my brother, however it is best to have the shield hero in our country instead of Siltvelt, we can manage the shield and make sure he isn't a nuisance to us but if he is brought to his unholy servants, we would have a problem at our hands" the cloaked priest said as although the thought of letting the shield hero live here in their country was grinding his teeth, it was a order of the great pope Balmus and he had already made a plan to ensure that the shield will not be able to match the other heroes in strength, if they can keep the shield hero from going stronger than they would be safe from his wicked ways and more importantly they could make the three holy heroes stronger than the devil of the shield. If needed they could even use their secret weapon to make sure that the church's power stays strong

"you are right, bring them here" the cloaked man said as three other cloaked individuals came to the room with stone sculptures of a sword, a bow, a spear and finally a shield. each with a black gem engraved into each of them, they were placed inside a seal draw with chalk in the middle of the room

"We call upon you! heroes of legend! Warriors from lands beyond our own!" the leader of the cloaked men began chatting while motioning his hands with a faint glow

"We call upon you to rid our realm of these Waves of Calamity! We beseech thee for guidance through these dark times! we ask of you, Legendary Heroes of lands beyond,come forth! come forth and bring us salvation!" The other cloaked men joins in as the circle begins to shine stronger. The four weapons rose into the air as the seal on the ground began to shine with a white glow, the sword was the first to have it's gem change color as it started to glow blue, followed by the spear that had it's gem turn red, the third was the bow with the gem glowing in a bright green and lastly was the shield as it had the gem glow in a black light before turning yellow. the stone weapons began to crack as light came from inside them before the stone exploded as from the fading glow revealed weapons made of steel with black and gold details now stood with only the gems remaining like they were. As white human silhouettes began to form, all the robed man grew a smile in their face

"Yes! it's working!" the front priest said as the figures fall to the ground and their glow begins to stop

"the summoning was a success!" the robed priest overjoyed by this prospect, they had been able to summon the four heroes without a small single problem and this would mean great things for the country but more importantly the church of the three heroes

"O brave heroes please save our world!" the priest shouted as he looked to the summoned heroes, he looks at the sword, spear and bow wielder for a moment as a grin of pride appears in his face. when he looked at the shield hero however that grin quickly faded away as he saw a tall black figure with completely white eyes and tiny horns look back at him, the only human aspect to his appearance was his chin that was only visible thanks to the white glow from the seal which quickly disappeared

"You can forget it" a blond teen with a ponytail and red eyes, on one hand he held a long spear with a red jewel that seemed to glimmer under the dull rays of the sun that barely illuminated the room they were in.

"I also refuse myself" spoke the other young blonde haired kid, he had a bow and used a school uniform of some high caliber institute

"You brought us here without our consent, don't you feel the least guilty about that?" The one with a sword and black hair said, he pointed his weapon to the robed man as if to threaten them

"Not to mention, if you throw us out as soon as we restore peace we would've done all that work for nothing" the bow wielder added.

"How willing are you going to accommodate our requests?" The spear wielder asked, however none of the robed men in the room were looking at them instead they seemed to be focused to the left

"What are you guys looking- Jesus Christ!" The spear wielder jumped as he saw the one holding the shield, the bow also had a scared face when looking at the shield hero with only the sword wielder remaining calm, despite being just as scared internally. The shield hero looks at the three others for a moment before turning his attention to their summoners which scared the robed man

"What is this place" he asked with his face expressing a seemingly blank and unsurprised look, it didn't feel like he was asking a question out of confusion but rather to get confirmation of some kind. None of the summoners could read his expression in any way, some were avoiding eye contact due to his intimidating appearance

"How have you brought us here" he asked again with his face remaining in a neutral expression, even the other three heroes that were summoned by his side were getting a chill in their spine, the Batman was just the person with the most presence in the room and everyone there felt intimidated by his over all vibe

"O-our king will a-answer your questions and y-your demands, i-if you four c-could follow me" the leader of the robed man stuttered while motioning them to follow, they had to follow the original plan for now as none of the robed man had strength to kill these heroes and restart the summoning.

"..." the dark knight didn't respond, this only made the summoners more scared but in reality Bruce was thinking and analysing the situation at hand, it would be best to follow them for now and get answers but he was prepared to make a escape route as soon as he notice any killing intent towards him, more importantly he was curious about this shield that seemed bound to his arm

"fine I guess" the sword hero said seemly not bothered by the presence of the dark knight, internally however he was trying his best to not get into a panic attack or at least not show that to the others

"well... we could see what they have to offer" the bow agreed although he was still uncomfortable by the shield hero's appearance but he couldn't deny that he looked cool

"yeah...right..." the spear hero agreed still scared from the presence of the shield hero by his side, the four followed the robed priest through the corridors and a flight of stairs, while the three admired the view, the dark knight kept quiet to himself

"that guy is a freak" the spear wielder whispered to the bow hero as they continued up the stairs

"tell me about, why is he wearing that?" the bow wielder responded whispering too, unknown to them the batman could hear them but was focused on understanding the window he had opened once he looked to a small cube in his vision

[Notice: this window is called status]

[Notice: you have met all the requirements to revoke the 1 attack debuff]

[name: Bruce Alan Wayne/ Batman]

[LV 1]

[race: human]

[Class: Shield hero]

[Equipment: legendary shield (locked), otherworldly cowl, otherworldly suit, otherworldly armor, otherworldly utility belt, otherworldly communication device]

[HP: 150]

[MP: 20]

[SP: 20]

[ATK: 11]

[MAG: 14]

[DEF: 29]

[MDEF: 14]

[AGI: 36]

he analyzed the screen for as much as he could and ran the numbers on the screen, before closing it as they arrived at a large door

"Now entering the cardinal heroes!" a voice from the other side called out as the large doors of the throne room opened and the four entered, all eyes were in the shield hero as his cape hid most of his body as it dragged across the ground. Looks of shock, disgust and fear could be seen across the entire room with the three heroes analysing the place all the while batman stared to the throne and the man sitting on it

"So... these are the summoned legendary heroes?" the voice of an older man speaks, catching the attention of the three heroes as they looked at the direction of the throne "Very well... I'm king Aultcray Melromarc XXXI" The king was donned in robes of cream and navy blue with detailing and trim of gold. Over that was an elegant cloak of a rich purple, his grey hair reached down to his shoulders with a trimmed grey beard, each of his fingers except for the pointer fingers was a gold ring with only the right index finger sporting a gem, purple in color. Upon his head was a gold crown with a lone purple gem on the center of it.

"Now, could the heroes name yourselves." He spoke while looking at them from his throne, his tone was very dominant and commanding as a king of a nation would have

The first was the sword hero, he said "I am Amaki Ren, age 16, a high schooler" as he held his sword with his left hand.

The spear hero went next. Taking a step forward and placing his spear on his shoulders "I'm kitamura Motoyasu, 21 years old, college student

"Guess I'm next, huh? Kawasume Itsuki, 17, high schooler as well" The bow hero went next as he raised his bow to inspect the object, the king nodded and looked at the shield hero waiting for his response

"I'm Batman" the dark knight spoke in a tone most would find intimidating or raspy, there was a silence afterwards as people in the court showed confused and irritated glares at the shield hero

"Could you say more about yourself, shield hero?" the king asked as this was barely anything, he just said that he was 'Batman' and that would hardly count as anything for the court, this was getting Aultcray irritated as he shouldn't have shown this form of disrespect in front of the crow and from the shield none the less but he kept his level headed look as the other heroes was watching him. The three teens all thought he was using his username or character name, in their eyes there was no way he wasn't roleplaying right?

"Is it necessary" Batman replied back which by itself would be considered an act of insubordination in front of the crown, the king showed slightly frustration at this but tried to remain as calm and collective as he could in front of the four heroes but he was seriously considering ordering his knights to pit the shield hero in his knees, just so he knew his place.

"Just your name, age and profession will be enough" The king responded as although he would like to know more about this weird and intriguing shield hero, they had just so much time they could spend on the court. Besides Aultcray didn't want to know more about the shield hero for any reason other than to understand his attire and attitude

"Jack Spencer, 45 years old, I work closely with the Gotham City Police Department or GCPD for sort along with commissioner Gordon in the capture of criminally insane individuals" Batman revealed to the court, of course he wasn't using his real name. There was no reason to use his real one and this three other kids could reveal his secret identity to the world once they are sent home, if they are to be sent home after completing whatever task was to be thrust upon them, it was too much of a gamble right now and he needed to acquire more information or learn if the three boys are trust worth, but they were probably not...

'Is he a super police trooper or something? and what does he mean by criminally insane?' Motoyasu was finding himself confused by everything about this guy but he couldn't really care a lot about it, all he wanted was to fight cool monster and pick up some attractive chicks so he shouldn't worry about a guy dressing weird, but this cold attitude full of seriousness was kind of bothering him

'He sounds like a vigilant... I don't know if I should be jealous or not' Itsuki was certainly jealous to some degree as it was his dream to be a hero of justice and this shielder seemed to have that sort of life, of course he also works with some type of police force to do it but he had a cool suit and went after what Itsuki could only assume was cases too difficult for normal police to hand. He would make sure that he was better than this when it came to heroism as his ideals of justice were much better than anyone else's or at least that's what he thought of himself

'Is that suit just aesthetic or does it actually give him better stats? I hope it isn't the latter...' Ren was only caring about the possibility of the shield hero starting off with better gear than the others, he didn't care much about the shield hero's profession as especial police troops weren't unheard of in his world, but they were rare and he never heard of one's that dressed like a giant bat

"Now I expect that you have some explanations to do" Batman said with his eyes focused solely on the king to see if he would lie or not as Bruce could tell if someone was lying by just a subtle change in their expression, the king show distain for this comment and batman could see he was holding in more anger than he would like to show but the king sighted as to indicate his collaboration

"Right... I suppose it's the minimum I can do. My country of Melromarc is in grave danger of a threat known as the waves." He gave a description of the Waves were. They could happen anywhere at any time, lasting for multiple hours or until the boss is killed. During that time monsters would continue to pour out of the wave and even after it stopped, any monster already here would remain until slain. It sounded similar to how Darksied would invade worlds, sending parademons through motherbox portals in large amounts to over take the world with the most destructive and powerful of his tactics been reserved to planets thatwere able to fend off his initial invasion, like Earth.

"The waves are said to become stronger over time. They last longer, the wave bosses and all under them will be stronger. There are even written accounts of waves with more than one wave boss..." the king said as these accounts were rare but no unheard of, two wave bosses are a bigger problem than that of a normal wave and it would require too much strength of his army to beat it, that was a strength he didn't have.

"This weapons are responsible for our arrival in this world, I suppose they have the ability to send us back as well should we end this waves" The dark knight commented as it was the logical assumption, the summoning process could very well be the case but the weapon seemed stuck to him and it's likely powerful status amongst this world's people would mean that they have capabilities that could be in high levels of power. Maybe they were similar to doctor fate's helmet or something like a mother box? whatever the case may be, it was certain that these magical weapons were powerful enough to deal with the interdimensional threat of the Waves

"Yes, it is said that once the waves are finished the four legendary weapons will give you the ability to return to your world but the waves are devastatingly strong later on so it is best to summon you four now, when the waves are weak to give you time to strengthen yourselves to stay ahead of the wave's growing threat" the king finished

"Strengthen ourselves? Are we not legendary heroes? are these not legendary weapons?" Ren spoke and although he wasn't wrong to assume these weapons were all powerful, it was very likely that their true power was sealed away or was connected to their own individual strength

"Ah, yes" The king responded "You are legendary heroes and those weapons are the 4 greatest weapons in this world..., but not right now" They all looked at him confused with the exception of Bruce.

"It gains strength alongside you heroes and it can even absorb the power of the fallen to become steonger" the king briefly explained and the four heroes received a notification on their status magic, this was what Bruce saw:

[Notice: The cardinal shield can absorb objects and monster parts to unlock new forms, new forms provide stat increases, as well as abilities. Fully mastering a weapon form provides its bonuses permanently, allowing most skills and abilities to be used with another weapon form in use]

"As for you yourselves, could you activate your status magic?" the king asked, immediately both Ren and Batman had activated their menu's

"What? status?" Itsuki said confused, he clearly hadn't found how to open it or even what it was and he wasn't the only one as Motoyasu also didn't know how to open it but didn't want to show to the court

"look at the corner of your eye, it should have a small white square, focus on it until it opens the status window" Batman guides the bow hero on how to open the status window, with Motoyasu and Itsuki now being able to use it. While the three heroes looked at their stats, batman focused on the class system and clicked on his Shield Hero class

[shield hero class]

[You will gain more health and defense as you level up while receiving less attack points, any shield forms you unlock will prioritize giving you more resistances and defense if possible.]

batman took notice of this, due to the shield's inherited nature it would always make him more defensive which would be efficient for him to withstand the waves power, he had been notified that the shield's 1 attack limitation had been lifted due to him meeting a certain requirement that he wasn't told what was. It would be helpful none the less as his offensive power would grow with his levels, although in a weaker pace than his defensive capabilities, but that was for the better. A strong defense could easily become a strong offense if used properly and with the right tools

he also went to check his shield list, to see how this weapon's system worked and to his surprise, he had already three shields unlocked

[you have met the requirements to unlock the blessed series]

[Blessed Shield of Justice unlocked] (locked: Higher level required)

[Unique Ability Oath of Justice: Boosts the strength of you and people around you as long as they fight for true and unbiased justice, injustice individuals will have their magic heavily weakened when this shield is equipped]

[Unique Skill Armor of Justice: Upon casting you can create an armor around your body that heavily increases all stats in exchange for not being able to use other shield skills while this is active]

[Blessed Shield of Bravery Unlocked] (locked: Higher level required)

[Unique Ability The Fearless Knight: You have conquered Fear and can now use it as a tool, criminals and enemies will become weaker the more your reputation grows and the more fear they have of you, intimidation tactics are useless against you]

[Unique Skill Brave and Bold: Upon casting all allies and party members will receive a massive increase in stats, you will have all stats aside from defense heavily lowered for 30 minutes after casting this skill however]

[Blessed Shield of Determination Unlocked] (locked: Higher level required)

[Unique Ability the Man amongst Gods: no matter the strength of the opponent or the mortal danger in front of you, your resolve is stronger and unshakeable. Attacks against your mind or soul that would seek to destroy or take control of you can be fought off with your determination]

[Unique Skill Do You Bleed?: once you activate this during the course of a battle, your power will increase and your opponent's power will decrease if they think that you are stronger than them]

this was momentarily surprising, but Bruce remained with his calm and collective expression in front of the entire court. The shield's blessed series seemed to be a reward for Bruce's morals, it gave him powerful shields based on his strongest features as a Hero. Bruce would hope that the other three had at least one of this blessed series as well but it was more than apparent that none of the three had this, they made demands as soon as they got here and should attitudes that would be considered unheroic to some, the three were relatively young and likely inexperienced on how to be heroes but that was only a excuse for now, they would have to show if they truly deserve this title sooner or else he might need to start making contingency plans for the three legendary heroes

"This is less than ideal..." Ren commented as he was unsatisfied with the stats he had, the sword hero didn't like that he was stuck on level one and that he would have to grind up a bunch of levels, he wished that he would had been summoned as his game avatar with all the skills and levels from his character but it seemed he didn't get that type of Isekai luck

"Being level 1 means we are at the bottom of the barrel in terms of strength right now" Motoyasu complained as grinding up to what he thought the wave level was would be hard, he had game knowledge to help but it wouldn't be enough for him to get as strong as possible by the time this second wave hit

"We are going to need to do a lot of grinding and we haven't discussed any compensation..." Itsuki said, wanting for them to be rewarded by their work as the four would have a lot of battles to do and he didn't want to be scammed by these people

Batman didn't show but he was disappointed, these three were truly unprepared kids taking this as a sort of game or fantasy scenario, these three aren't considering the dangers or the importance of anything aside from superficial level and that would be a problem for him. Bruce would have to pick up the slack for these three immature way of thinking and he would likely need to do this as soon as he leaves the castle, he could try talking with the teens but it wouldn't will any results, at the end of the day it was up to him to save this world and it's people while the three play pretend as important heroes of legends

"You will be all rewarded not just at the end, but after each wave you fight" the king assures the demands of the three heroes, either out of gratitude or fear of them retaliating against him. Either way meant he was willing to go along with any demands of the three heroes if it was for his country but Batman could tell he was hiding something, there was some more information that the king was keeping from them and he didn't like that

"Good, now we should probably form a party as the four of us-"

"Excuse me spear hero but I believe that won't be possible" the advisor by the side of the king intervened before motoyasu could finish

"It is said that the legendary weapons dampen each others power's when close to one another" the advisor revealed to the four and just as he finished saying that, a notification on the status magic appeared to confirm his claim

[Notice: The four holy weapons dampen one another's power while within close quarters. Distance is advised whenever possible]

"Then we will need individual parties for each of us" Ren commented and the other two heroes agreed with him as it would significantly boost their strength and the power of their allies by a long shot, Bruce just remained quiet

"I will gather the best adventurers to join you heroes, for now you must all rest for the big journey ahead" The king said before motioning a maid to guide them away from the court, they would have legal and political matters that weren't of worry to the heroes. They were taken to a dining hall with a large rectangular table filled with plates of different meats, vegetables, some soup and rice. the other heroes ate it without a care in the world but Batman was still focusing on his status menu, checking its other tables to learn the entire function of this shield. The help menu was useful to learn what he was capable of doing with the shield like how it's mastering system worked by just having a shield equipped on him for enough time or by just using it a lot, the most interesting was his strengthing methods however

[Strengthing methods: you currently have only one strengthening method available]

[Sharing(core): Share the power-up methods from other legendary weapons and vassal weapons as long as you believe that the strengthening method is true. While this works without knowing the power-up method, knowing that this is the Shield's power-up method greatly magnifies the effect of shared power-up methods]

Bruce only had one strengthening method, sharing allowed him and likely the other heroes to gain each other's strengthening methods as long as they believed that the strengthening method was true, it meant that he would need the other heroes to tell him their strengthening methods for him to be able to increase his shield's power. It wouldn't be hard, these three were young and naive so making them reveal their strengthening methods without him having to tell his would be easy. After dinner a maid that had cat ears on top of her head led them to a room for them to relax and talk

"..." there was silence in the room as the three heroes stared down at Bruce, not out of malice but most likely curiosity and intrigue. After all he was the most different out of the four and they clearly wanted some answers, about his choice of clothing in particular

"So... what's with the costume?" Ren asked as it was bugging him, mostly because it could give good stats but he couldn't deny how odd it was and all

"It's my uniform, I used it when I'm at work" Batman said bluntly and shortly, there was no need to get into details of his armor or profession with these three, they were only asking because he stood out amongst them.

"Any particular reason for it to have a bat motif?" Motoyasu also asked as the suit was black, with point horns or ears on top, a bat symbol on the guy's chest and a cap for some reason. If he truly was a super cop then why go for a bat theme?

"It strikes fear into criminals" he replied again and this was true, in the beginning of his career it didn't do much but as soon as his reputation grew in the underworld of Gotham, his appearance began to strike fear into low life thugs and even some of the corrupt police officers

'Doubt it' the sword hero thought as the suit looked a bit too silly for intimidation to work but maybe it was much better in the dark suburban streets than in the light of day

"I have a question" Batman said while leaning forward a little bit, it was time for him to get information out of these three kids and he wasn't after superficial level things. He already knew that they were from different versions of Earth as their reaction and behavior seemed off, the fact none of them recognized him was the first hint but the small details also gave this away, granted he didn't know if they were all from different Earth's or if he was the only one but it didn't matter all that much now

"yeah?" Itsuki replied, he didn't know what this 'bat person' was going to ask but it sounded serious, although everything he said so far has been on a serious tone

"What is your weapons strengthening method?" Bruce asked and just as expected, the three started an argument about which of their strengthening methods was better than the other and while each tried to justify their own strengthening method, Batman just kept listening to the specifics of those strengthening methods and as expected he got all of the ones the three heroes talked

[you have unlocked the cardinal sword's strengthening methods]

[Level Link(core): As the Hero levels up, all weapon forms will grow stronger alongside them]

[Mastery: Using the same weapon would improve its stats up until it is fully mastered]

[Energy Transfer: When you have gained mastery in using a weapon, you could reset its mastery level and release the amount of energy you had invested in it. Finally, any items that you had absorbed into the weapon could also be turned into energy]

[Rarity Up: By imbuing a weapon with energy gained from resetting mastery levels, you can increase its rarity level and the weapon's abilities. A weapon's rarity can be repeatedly increased starting at common (C), then uncommon (UC), and so on]

[you have unlocked the cardinal spear's strengthening methods]

[Weapon Mastery(core): By growing more and more accustomed to one weapon form, you will find its strength starting to increase]

[Smelting: The user can power up a piece of equipment using ores. While there is no limit to this method, there is a chance of failure which increases as it is used and failure would result in resetting the strength of the weapon, forcing you to reapply it all over again]

[Spirit Enchantment: Pieces of monsters' souls that have been absorbed into a weapon can be used to imbue the weapon with special powers. This has no chance of failure, unless the monster's soul itself is incomplete]

[Status Enchantment: Stats can also be increased by absorbing items dropped from monsters. The more rare the item is, the bigger its stat increase]

[you have unlocked the cardinal bow's strengthening methods]

[Weapon Rarity (core): The rarer a weapon is, the stronger it is. A weapon made from rarer materials will be stronger than a weapon of equal quality but more common materials, for example]

[Ore Equip: The power of a weapon can be raised by equipping it with certain ores. This never fails]

[Item Enchantment: Items that have been absorbed into a weapon can be turned into energy, and that can be used to raise the percentage of various stats. Success is based on probability, decreasing with each successive enchantment. Upon failure, the item enchantment level is reset to 0]

[Job Level: You can increase specific stats by using the energy contained in absorbed monsters or items. Upon filling the level gauge for the desired stat, the stat is increased and the level gauge is reset with a cool down timer]

"You guys are all wrong, none of those methods were in Emerald Online" Motoyasu couldn't believe what they were saying, on one hand his jealous of some of those strengthening methods as they do seem easier than his spear's line up of strengthening methods but on the other hand he was angry at the fact he only had four and that there were more that he couldn't get for some reason

"Isn't it obvious? our weapons are different and so are their strengthening methods" Ren came in with an answer that made sense to them, their weapons were very different from each other and it would make sense that they grow in a different way compared to each other.

"makes sense, they are different types of weapon" Itsuki agreed as that logic was reasonable and truly made sense if their weapons were unique to them, it would be nice to have those strengthening methods but he was alright with the ones he got

"What about your strengthening method" Motoyasu asked Bruce as he kept himself very quiet during their whole conversation so far, it seemed normal for the guy but the spear hero didn't care as long as he got to know what loser type of strengthening method the shield had

"I haven't unlocked mine, that's why I asked the three of you" Batman lied as it was best for them to not know about his sharing strengthening method, these three were not trustworthy enough for them to gain more strengthening methods nor were they intelligent enough to use them efficiently

"I guess a shielder wouldn't have any good one, I don't remember if it had something unique but it wouldn't help you any way" Ren said seemly not surprised by this, shields were very bad in Brave Star Online as they were bad from the start of the game's life, there was a time when one shield in particular was overpowered but after the patch that had a major rebalance of poison damage, it became just as useless as the other shields

"You think the shield is bad?" Bruce was slightly surprised by his statement, while a shield isn't really made with the intent of being a weapon that didn't mean it couldn't be used for combat, there were shields made with combat in mind and they often had the capabilities to cause severe damage or even mortal blows if used correctly

"It has always been the worst weapon type" Itsuki comments as in Dimension Wave which was a hack and slash with RPG elements, using a shield was fundamentally god awful and none of the variants were good at all. He felt sad that this guy was stuck with that but at least he got one of the top five weapons of the game and not the bottom of the barrel tier

"In my game and likely the games from these two as well, you're unfortunately stuck as the loser class" Motoyasu said in a almost mocking way, despite this guy's attitude and all he was stuck as a shielder which meant he was a dead weight in the whole fighting off the waves and even just basic adventure stuff

"..." Bruce didn't respond, these three were overestimating their weapons strength in comparison to his, they talked as if this was all a game and while there were similarities to one it didn't mean it was one to one. He had been trained to turn anything into a deadly weapon under the right circumstances and a shield wasn't as limited as one would think, Bruce was by far more experienced than the three combined and he had access to all their strengthening methods while they didn't. He was the strongest person in this room and even if he had the 1 attack restriction on himself, the dark knight could subdue the three heroes before they could make him drop a single spill of his blood, the three "heroes" just keep staring Batman back until they got tired of his attitude

"I'm going to my room, we get our party's tomorrow" Ren says as he exited the room, he was going to use his game knowledge to grind as many levels and unlock as many strong swords as possible in the time they had

"Yeah I'm hoping to score some chicks in mine" Motoyasu said excited while exiting the room, he wasn't thinking of the world ending threat like an actual danger but as a catalyst to adventure out into the world to have fun and find some beautiful woman.

Bruce was finally alone in the room, he could finally start to experiment with the shield's properties like its power to absorb objects to gain power. He would begin with one batarang, then move on to electronic devices that he would likely be unable to recharge, then some combat focused gadgets and then more diverse types of items he carries in his utility belt

[Batarang Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 4 attack 6 agility]

[Ability Throwing: you can throw this shield as a projectile that will reappear in your arm after hitting a target]

[Unique Ability Batarang Throw: You gain 5 batarangs that can be used to temporarily stagger opponents, though it will not do damage unless thrown in combat. If an enemy is hit without being aware of your presence, they will be knocked down and stunned]

[Remote Control Batarang Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 4 attack 5 agility]

[Unique Ability Remote Batarang: After being thrown, the user will become able to control the Batarang to navigate around corners and attack multiple foes at once. Once throw, this ability will need to recharge for 5 seconds before it can be used again. You can also change the speed of the Batarang to either accelerate, break or make a turn in the opposite direction. If sent through an electrical current, the Remote Control Batarang will become electrically charged which heavily increases it's damage]

[Explosive Batarang Shield LV 1 unlocked] (locked: Higher level required)

[equip bonus 10 attack 10 impact resistance 5 fire resistance]

[Ability Explosive Batarang: this projectile is highly explosive and will detonate once it makes contact with a target, causing a small to medium explosion]

[Sonic Batarang Shield LV 1 unlocked] (locked: Higher level required)

[equip bonus 3 attack 5 agility 10 sound resistance]

[Unique Ability Sonic Batarang: When thrown, the sonic batarang will emit a high pitched noise which could attract a single or multiple enemies towards its position. By spending SP you can detonate the sonic batarang to knock out any enemies close to it's detonation radius]

[Grapple Gun Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 5 defense 10 agility]

[Ability Hook: pull things from 5 feet from you closer]

[Unique Ability Batclaw Hook: allows you to pull enemies and objects towards yourself from over 15 feet from you with great force]

[Unique Ability Grapple Hook Gun: allows you to ascend to ledges and areas out of climbing distance. The grapple can also be used to swing between vantage points and even do "Inverted Takedowns" that you can detach the rope to hang enemies from vantage points]

[Smoke Bomb Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 1 defense 5 impact resistance]

[Ability Smoke Bomb: generate small smoke grenades on your hand that can be used in a get-away attempt, to disorientate or distract opponents]

[Bat Knuckle Duster Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 8 attack 3 defense 3 blunt resistance]

[Ability Knuckles Ready: when equipped, create a pair of knuckle dusters on your hands that you can use in combat]

[Cryptographic Sequencer LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 5 defense 15 hacking resistance]

[Unique Ability Decoding: allows you to remotely access secure computer terminals and bypass digital security measures. This shield can also be used to access and listen into secure radio frequencies, allowing you to monitor communications]

[Signal Jammer Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 10 hacking resistance]

[Unique Ability Signal Disruption: stops video recording and communication devices to work close to you once active, it can also be used to disturb sensory receptors of enemies close by if you spend high amounts of SP and MP]

[Explosive Gel Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 5 explosive resistance 10 impact resistance]

[Unique Ability Explosive Gel: apply an explosive gel in any surface close to you, this can be detonated to incapacitate enemies or destroy structurally weak walls. you can only apply it three times before having to detonate the charges for you to apply a new one]

[Line Launcher Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip effect 10 agility]

[Unique Ability Line Launcher: when this shield is equipped it can shoot steel cables out from both sides. You can use it to repel across large gaps]

[Acetylene Torch Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 5 agility 10 magic 10 fire resistance]

[Ability Laser Cutter: once active, a small and thin laser will be shot off from the shield's face until deactivated]

[Bat-Heater Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 10 fire resistance 20 ice resistance]

[Ability Heating: you can heat up objects close to your shield, additionally you will have an easier time melting ice around you]

[Batlight Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 10 dark resistance]

[Ability Diminutive Light: generate a small ball of light in the front of the shield that can illuminate a small area]

[Unique Ability Light Tunnel: create a strong line of light in front of your shield that illuminates a large area in front of you and a small amount around yourself. The further it is from hitting a target, the weakest the light becomes when hitting said target]

[Bat-Saw Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 2 attack 4 defense 6 agility]

[Unique Ability Spin: Causes the saw blade to spin, this causes structural damage and can damage armor. Speed of the spin and therefore damage of the saw scales with Agility]

[Ultrasonic Bat-Beacon LV 1 unlocked] (locked: Higher level required)

[Unique Ability Bat-Beacon: summon any close by bats to your location in a 100 km radius around you to form a bat storm. If there are no bats close to you when it is activated, your MP bar will be used to create them]

[EMP Grenade LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 10 lightning resistance]

[Unique ability EMP Bomb: generate a emp bomb in your hand or belt that can be detonated to disable any electronics close to you, this can also cause damage and paralyze enemies if made direct contact to them]

[Bat-Cuffs LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 4 agility 5 binding resistance]

[Ability Cuffed: generate bat cuffs on a desired target, they will be unable to cast any spell or skill for 20 seconds]

[Rebreather LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 5 water resistance]

[Ability Water Respirator: you can breathe underwater for 30 minutes plus 5 seconds for each of your levels]

[Ability Air Flow: a 1 centimeter field will cover your entire body making the air around you always be pure]

[Kryptonite Ring Shield LV 1 unlocked] (locked: Higher level required)

[equip bonus 10 defense 10 blunt resistance 50 radiation resistance]

[Unique Ability Kryptonian Radiation: when this shield is equipped, you cause harmful effects to kryptonians close to you. other races will also be affected to much lesser amounts depending on their exposure to this shield]

[Thermite Grenade Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 1 defense 10 fire resistance]

[Unique Ability Thermate Boom: create a small flammable grenade that you can throw and upon impact will burn obstacles close to it's impact area]

[Bat-Tracer Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 3 MP 4 hacking resistance]

[Unique Ability Spy Tracer: you can create up to five trackers plus one for every 5 levels you have, these can be placed on people or infused to objects which will allow you to hear conversations and track down their location using your [Mini map] or [World Map] ability. These individuals have channels that can be given different priorities and you can replay any of those conversations in your status menu]

[Bat-Gas Mask Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 3 defense 15 poison resistance]

[Ability Gas Mask: protect you from any poison, germ or polluted substance in the air]

[Lock Pick Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 5 binding resistance]

[Ability Lock Picker: unlock any chains or lock currently binding you or your party members]

[Master Bat-Key Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 1 defense 5 binding resistance]

[Ability Master Skull Key: unlock or lock any door in a 5 meter radius around you]

[Prototype Energy Deflector Shield LV 1 unlocked] (locked: Higher level required)

[equip bonus 10 magic defense 20 light resistance 10 lighting resistance 10 impact resistance]

[Ability Energy Deflector: deflects energy base attacks with a parry or simple block, you can only do this three times before this ability enters a cool down of 30 minutes]

[Oceanic Repellent Bat-spray Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 5 water resistance 6 agility]

[Unique Ability Fish Repel: oceanic creatures will be repel against you depending on your level difference]

[First-Aid Kit Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 4 defense 10 HP]

[Ability Heal Order: healing magic is 10% more effective and efficient]

[Ability Health Care: wounds and disease treated by you will heal faster, depending on the amount of MP you use in any healing magic its effect is greatly increased]

[Reinforced Casing Shield LV 1 unlocked] (locked: Higher level required)

[equip bonus 20 defense 10 impact resistance]

[Titanium Shield LV 1 unlocked] (locked: Higher level required)

[equip bonus: 30 defense 30 impact resistance 30 blunt resistance]

[Copper Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus: 5 defense 3 agility 5 lightning resistance]

[Copper Wire Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 3 defense 5 magical defense 10 lighting resistance]

[Ability Conductivity: allows you to channel medium levels of electricity through your body]

[Clock Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 1 magic 1 magical defense 2 agility]

[Ability Second Hand: All positive effects induced by or to self last 10% longer]

[Clock Shield LV 2 unlocked] (locked: Higher level required)

[equip bonus 1 magic 1 defense 3 agility]

[Ability Minute Hand: All abilities with a cool down have it reduced by 5 seconds to a minimum of 10 seconds]

[Bat-Communicator Shield LV 2 unlocked]

[equip bonus 1 SP]

[Unique Ability Phone Call: allows you to call other phones via satellite]

[Satellite Shield LV 1 unlocked] (locked: Higher level required)

[equip bonus 4 magic 2 magical defense]

[Unique Ability Tele-communications: Allows voiced communication between party members and electronic communication devices]

[Super Computer Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 10 magic 5 defense 5 magical defense]

[Ability Menu Plus: Status magic is now enhanced. Allowing generally better information, as well as having more answers for its wielder]

[Ability Calculator: Can do simple calculations upon request]

[Super Computer Shield LV 2 unlocked] (locked: Higher level required)

[equip bonus 15 magic 5 defense 10 magical defense]

[Unique Ability Data Log: you can store and create logs of information from your memory, character profiles on enemies or individuals will be automatically made once you use (inspect) on them. These files can be altered by you manually or when new information is learned]

[Bat-tery Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 3 MP 1 magical defense 2 lightning resistance]

[Ability Universal Battery: Gain an amount of energy per day equal to the level you possess. May use as SP, MP, stamina or to charge electronic devices]

[Bat-tery Shield LV 2 unlocked] (locked: Higher level required)

[equip bonus 10 MP 2 magical defense 5 lightning resistance]

[Ability Rechargeable Battery: Gain some energy to (Universal Battery) whenever an attack made by SP or MP is fully blocked. Amount gained based on amount used in fully blocked attack. Cannot exceed the maximum capacity of the battery]

[Bat-Camera Shield]

[equip bonus 1 defense 1 magical defense 5 dark resistance]

[Ability Photograph: Capture images and save them. Can save 5 photos for each level you possess]

[Bat-Camera Shield LV 2 unlocked] (locked: Higher level required)

[equip bonus 1 defense 1 magical defense 10 dark resistance]

[Ability Recorder: Record up to 1 minute of video and audio for each level you possess]

[Bat Tape Recorder Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 5 defense 10 sound resistance]

[Unique Ability Tape Recorder: allows you to replay any recording made by you or conversations recorded by the [bat-tracer shield] out loud. By spending MP or SP you can also edit recorded audio]

[Reenforced Glass Lens Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 10 defense]

[Ability Bulletproof: you take 50% less damage from small projectiles]

[Ability Inspect: Gain information on a given target. Information includes their Level, Stats, Class, Name, Weight, Value, Rarity, etc. If a target has a higher level than yourself less information will be revealed, with even less information given based on the difference in level]

[Digital Map System Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 1 defense 5 hacking resistance]

[Unique Ability World Map: Can display a map revealing all terrain and structure data that the user has already explored. Can place down a location flag for each level you possess]

[Ability Mini Map: Continuous status magic that adds a mini map of 10 meters around the user. Can be manually toggled off and on]

those were all the shields he got from absorbing most of the contents of his utility belt, it was plenty for sure but most of the strong ones were locked due to his level not being high enough for him to use, it was a easily solvable problem as he would already need to grow stronger to fight off the Waves. The first step was to master the shields he could already use, second would be to gain more levels so he could use the shields that were locked, third step would be to gather information about this world's history and political environment, fourth would be to get more shields.

the night went as follows: Bruce sat on the room's table and used the help menu to learn more of the shield's capabilities and limitations, equipping the [reinforced glass lens shield] to have it mastered as quick as possible, next he would go to the small bookshelf on the room and read the books in it, after an hour and a half he had learned the Melromarc written language thanks to a dictionary in the bookshelf with the other books being a much faster read afterwards, he went to the balcony for one hour and stared at the city and fields as to analyze their structure and geology. He took one minute of every hour to look at the corner of the wall and sometimes the ceiling, why? because someone was watching him.

Bruce had felt the presence of two individuals spying on him during the night, the first one was the maid that had lead them to this room but she only stayed while the other three heroes were with him on the room and she was ear dropping on their conversation in a amateur way, no doubt she was send by the king to learn more about the four to use this information against them for the future. But the second one was doing a much better job, Batman didn't need the [Mini map] ability to know someone was close by as he had been trained to use this same tactics and had even surpassed some of them, it was clearly a form of ninja or assassin sent to keep a eye on him, Bruce didn't know who send it but he knew to keep his guard up. No matter where this shadow moved, batman would always look in the direction it was hiding which actually made the shadow worried but it kept to its mission and observed the shield hero until dawn, that's when this mysterious shadow left the dark knight's room

"Shield hero, the... oh you're already awake" the maid said surprised, she had come to wake him up but it seemed that the shield hero was a early bird, although his almost unchanging expression made it hard to tell if he was sleepy, energetic or anything really

"Breakfast has been made and the king wants to see the four of you as soon as possible" She notified him in the formal way she was told to do. Bruce didn't respond, he just kept observing her with his cold and unmoving expression as his gaze was like looking at a wall. A very threatening and dangerous wall at that, the both keep staring at each other for a good minute before the maid begins getting extremely uncomfortable by how unnerving the shield hero was

"... I'll tell the other heroes" She said before quickly leaving the room, taking a breath of relief as the tension in the room was breath taking, the shield hero alone made her feel uneasy by how he looked and acted. It was almost like he was analysing her to try and see if she was lying about something, his gaze put so much pressure on her back that she didn't understood why, whatever the shield hero was it certainly wasn't normal and not even weird, he was enigmatic like a spectre and it was impossible to tell what he was actually like under that mask, both in the figurative and literal sense

they were led to the banquet hall from yesterday, this time there were fruits, coffee, eggs and baked food. The three heroes ate the breakfast without a care while bruce just ate a simple eggs and bacon with a slice of toast, he also sneaked in some of the table's food to absorb them and see what sort of shield ability he would get and like expected he got abilities that boost his cooking, the most interesting one was the [coffee shield] as it's ability would allow him to stay awake for a undefined amount of time but with a big drawback that would only become bigger the more time he had this shield equipped. It could be useful if he found a way to counter it's negative effects, maybe different types of teas and coffees could help in making this ability less draining to the body once deactivated, eventually he used the [inspect] ability on the three other heroes, this was the reason he mastered the [reenforced glass lens shield] in the first place as he and the other heroes were the same level so he should be granted a good amount of information about them

[Name: Ren Amaki]

[LV 1]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 17]

[Class: Sword Hero]

[Overall Stats: 301](click to see details)

--

[Name: Motoyasu Kitamura]

[LV 1]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 21]

[Class: Spear Hero]

[Overall Stats: 297] (click to see details)

--

[Name: Itsuki Kawasume]

[LV 1]

[Race: Human ESPER]

[age:16]

[Class: Bow hero]

[Overall Stats: 285] (click to see details)

Batman took notice of this, Itsuki was labeled a human esper which meant he was either a psychic or he was something similar to a metahuman. Either way made him the most dangerous of these three other heroes and he would be the one to keep on observation until his power was shown and fully cataloged

'He is still using that?' the other three heroes all thought to themselves as they glanced at him for a moment, they were weird out by how the shield hero kept looking at them as if doing an analysis but they assumed he was just being weird, ever since getting here this guy has been weird in their eyes. Arriving in the throne room the four are met with a line of 12 people standing in front of the throne, these were likely their party members that the king talked about. None of them looked much on their own but they could have the potential to be of great help to them

"Ah great heroes! I have gathered these brave adventurers to join you in your battle against the wave and your long journey" the king greeted them once his eyes meet the four, a brief look of anger was thrown at Batman however and the dark knight could presume that the king had something against him, either because of his own actions or something related to the shield itself

"Are we going to choose them or are they the ones who will choose us" Motoyasu asked as it would change drastically how their teams are built. Bruce would rather have the ability to choose who will follow him through this journey, it would allow him to cover any potential weakness and make sure they worked well from one another. Despite preferring to go solo in most missions, he was still a founding member of the justice league and has worked together with other heroes many times

"The latter, now our future champions it's time to begin your journey!" as the king said this all the adventurers moved behind the hero of their choosing, Motoyasu had 4, Ren had 5, Itsuki had 3 and Batman had no one

"..." Batman didn't react to this, he imagined something like this would happen and it wasn't like he was not prepared for this, he had enough shields for him to adventure alone for a good while and he could find party members on his own later. The question was why no one joined him, it could be his appearance or attitude but his detective mindset told him there was something or someone else pulling strings here

"Seems like someone got the short end of the stick" Motoyasu comments in a somewhat mocking way, it was clear that he would be the least popular one as he looked so menacing but for no one to choose him was kind of funny

'Even he had to expect this result right?' Ren thinks as for most people they would go to choose someone they see as more friendly or relatable, this guy has been acting cold and silent the whole time, even more than Ren himself did

'He doesn't look like a hero so I guess this makes sense' Itsuki assumed that his somewhat villainous appearance in comparison to their more normal and by extension heroic one was the cause of this, Itsuki didn't see Batman as a villain but he certainly looked like one with those white eyes and overall dark costume

"Curious, I didn't expect this result" the king said before his advisor came to whisper something in his ear

"Ah I see... so there are rumors" the king had a sigh of relief in his expression when he said that and Batman didn't let that pass, rumors about him could have spread to the people int the castle but not outside of it since he was summoned yesterday, the advisor or the king himself must have spread this rumors of not told the adventurers to deliberately not join him

'I can imagine what type of rumor' the three other heroes thought as a person like the dark knight could have only one type of rumor right now

"It seems that rumors of the shield hero's menacing appearance and cold attitude has been spread around" The king told they and the three heroes all thought the same thing, this was the obvious result in their minds as Bruce was quite attention grabbing and not in a good way. Batman didn't complain, he was ready to leave the castle until...

"If I may?" a feminine voice from behind the spear hero spoke up as a beautiful red head with green eyes and a short purple skirt of sorts raised her hand

"I could join the shield hero's party, if that's okay with you sir spear hero" she said which surprised most in the court while only making batman look at her with suspicion

"N-no it's fine, but are you sure about this?" Motoyasu asked her as she was the most beautiful girl from his party and he didn't want her to follow around... a creepy guy in a bat costume

"Certainly" she responded with a look of commitment, with the spear hero sighing before letting her go

"Alright then" Motoyasu couldn't force the girl to stay at his party, if she wanted to join that guy it was her choice to do it. He just hoped that this 'man bat' would treat her right and not be a weirdo like he has been the whole time 'you better take good care of her'

"My name is Myne Sophia, it's a pleasure to meet you" the red head introduced herself to Bruce and offered a hand shake, he shook her hand back but didn't show any facial expression other than his usual neutral one

"Anyone else would like to join the shield hero's party?" the king asked to the court but no one responded, either they had too much disgust of the shield hero or they were intimidated by his attitude and general vibe, everyone present aside from the other three heroes was uncomfortable with him just because he was unnervingly terrifying in their eyes, his presence was so dominant it was rivalling the king's own presence and some might say it was surpassing it

"Well, it looks like the shield hero will have to find more party members in his travels and so to help him, he will receive a bigger amount of money this time" as the king said that four servants came to deliver four bags of silver coins, Batman's had 800 while the others had 600 which didn't bother them much

"I wish you all luck in your journey heroes, our lives are relying on your strength" The king gave his goodbyes to the heroes before guards escorted them out of the castle and into the bridge, the four heroes went their separate ways

"We should go to a blacksmith sir shield hero, I know the best one in town!" Myne says as she and the shield hero walked out of the castle's bridge, she knew a blacksmith with some good weapons and armors that-

"No need" he responded bluntly as they march through the city, citizens made audible gasp and had looks of terror in their faces when they saw him, some did looks of disgust once they saw his shield which was only confirming to Batman that something about the shield was being kept from him. King Aultcray was keeping something about his position as the shield hero away and it was likely because the other three were with him the whole time, maybe the shield hero of ancient times did something that made people hate the shield? he needed to find a library or somewhere with archives of the previous legendary heroes

"But wouldn't you want to get some better armor? your's doesn't look like it can stand much" Myne comments as his otherworldly clothes didn't look like much, she could maybe see them having some form of defense but other than that it just looked weird in her eyes

"It is enough, there are other places that I wish to go before testing the strength of the monsters outside the city's walls" Batman responds, he wouldn't get rid of his arm yet. Bruce knew that it would have to be replaced once more damage had been done to it but right now it was in perfect state and could take more hits before he needed to repair it

"Alright..." She was weird out by this but kept following him, Bruce eventually asked her to lead him to a bookshop and she agreed despite not understanding why, the dark knight used [Inspect] on Myne to get more information on her

[Name: Malty Melromarc/ Myne Sophia]

[LV 20]

Bruce rationalized this, due to the difference in level between the two of them, He couldn't see any information aside from her name and level. But that was enough to start building a profile for Malty, she had used a fake name to hide her real one as she was likely connected to king Aultcray, she was probably his daughter and was sent to either spy on him or sabotage Bruce through his journey, she would likely want him to go in this blacksmith shop to make him buy a weaker armor and get rid of his tactical suit. She couldn't be trusted but she could be mislead, gaslight her of Bruce's intentions and eventually he could build a case against her to take her out of his party by legal means, but since the king likely had a hand in her inclusion then he would stop any attempts of his daughter going to jail even if it was treason against the country. They must have a reason to spy on him and more importantly to limit his strength, he didn't get choose by the other adventurers for no reason, it was planned and coordinated to make him have the least amount of allies and the only one that joined him was a spy send to sabotage his development, the king thought he had the upper hand but Batman was one move ahead, he just needed the right pawns to be in place so the golden opportunity to come his way.

Their first stop was a magic shop, Bruce wanted to know what the magic was like in this world and how many types of magic it had. The shop owner was nice and polite enough, she offered to check his magic affinity for free with the result revealing he had a strong healing and support affinity, no doubt the effect of his but she also commented that there was a much weaker dark affinity in him too, probably his own magic affinity while the other two were the shield's affinities being passed down to him. He brought books of both beginner and intermediary levels for his two most prominent affinities, his party member seemed confused by this but Bruce knew she was hiding her frustration over this turn of events

the second stop was an accessory shop, the owner here was much more rude and clearly wanted to scam Batman of his money, he could try. Bruce used [Inspect] on the many accessories to see their quality, equip bonuses, special effects and possible drawbacks. This revealed to him that the shop owner was hiding the best ones for himself, there was a box hiding under the ring display that hid a pair of bracelets and a ring, those items were much better in every way to the rest of the items in exhibition, he could take the box away and no one would notice but it was best just take what he could afford and move on, Bruce could always come back at night and take it if it was necessary, he payed for three rings and left the establishment but he absorbed one of the rings

[Ring Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 1 defense 1 magic]

[Ability Ring Look: when this shield is equipped, it will shrink down to the size of a normal ring and be placed in your index finger. Making it look like a normal ring]

their last stop before exiting the city's walls was a tailor, Bruce had brought magic silk from the magic shop due to it's special properties, he had brought enough for two suits that he would need for later on and the shop owner was very excited to work on luxurious bat themed suits for the dark knight, but Bruce gave her clear orders and a model sheet of what he wanted the suits to have but more importantly how they would look like, the tailor was a bit letdown for having her inspiration limited but none the last she applied and promised to follow the given instructions, Myne was confused at all the Batman's actions up until this point and more importantly to her how much he was spending of his money for this stuff

the two finally arrived to the fields where many orange balls were jumping around, a couple of large rabbits could be seen amongst the trees of the greater Melromarc forest

"Alright Shield hero you should try and fight off those balloons over there. They are the weakest type of monster in the world so it shouldn't be a big problem for you" Malty gave him a brief explanation before encouraging him to try his hands on fighting

"you should fight them" Batman told her while looking through his status magic, trying to see the specific level he needed to be in order to use some of his shields

"What?! Why?" Malty asked completely caught off guard by that, the legendary hero should be the one to fight off those weak balloons as to get a hand in fighting and all that, she was just supposed to watch him do it

"You're going to accompany me during this journey aren't you? I need to see your strength, your capabilities, your limitations and techniques in battle to see if you're up to standard" Batman spoke his reason, he wanted to see what his 'party member' was capable of and more importantly he weakness. Bruce didn't trust Malty but he wanted to see what sort of person or more specifically what type of fighter she was

"B-but shouldn't you test your strength against them instead?" Malty asked as she wasn't the summoned person from another that had to learn to fight, the shield hero should still be level 1 so he could only really fight those balloons. Why ask her to fight them instead, it's not like he knew of the party system because if he did them the dark knight would have already made her join his party by the status magic

"You said yourself that those are the weakest type of monster in the region, you should be high enough of a level to the point of them posing little to no threat" Batman told her his reasoning, he wanted to see her strength mostly to prepare in the case she would try to stab him in the back but if she wasn't them it would be good to know what her strength was compared to his

"I see..." Malty was embarrassed that her own logic and statement was used against her, it was something she rarely if ever experienced

"There is a group of five balloons there, fight them and I'll judge your performance" Bruce pointed her to the monsters bouncing around down the hill they were in, they should be enough for this test

"Okay..." Malty walked over to the group of balloons a bit reluctantly, not really expecting to do such a thing on the first day

'What's up with this creepy shield hero! why is he bossing me around and trying to test me? ugh I can't wait for him to get what he deserves' She thought before taking her short sword out and attacking the five insignificant balloons, they are quickly killed by the red head

"So how did I do? pretty good hum?" she asked while using a bit of charm, she didn't fight a lot and she hated it in fact but Malty was still capable of defending herself if necessary, despite preferring to use her charm or authority over people instead

"sloppy" batman responded with a blank expression

"Excuse me?" Malty was shocked by what the dark knight said as he... told her she was sloppy, this nerve happened before aside from her mother's criticism towards her

"You performed under the expectations I had" Bruce said as he expected more from the red head, she was likely sent by the king to spy on him and yet she was a worse fighter than he would imagine. She was most likely just a dead weight to slow him down rather than an actual assassin sent to kill him, maybe she was faking it, but that would have been up to him to find out

"But I defeated the balloons didn't I?" Malty was confused as to why she would have failed, she went there and killed the balloons like he said, there was no way she could have screwed that up

"Your sword stance is sloppy, you let yourself open too often and a adventurer like you should had finished them all in 3 seconds but instead you took 10 extra seconds to finish them" Bruce pointed out all her flaws during that combat, she might have been overconfident since those are the weakest creature in the world in her eyes but if she was to be in a more dangerous fight and made similar mistakes, then she shouldn't be fighting monsters in the first place. Overconfidence in your abilities can be the downfall of many and underestimating their opponents is even worse, Malty wasn't born for combat nor was she trained to do it in an efficient way, she was a pretty face with charm and that doesn't win the real battles in life

"What did you expect me to do?!" The red head was starting to lose her temper, all the things he said were details so small no one would care about it, except for perfectionist freaks like this guy or her mother but even her didn't make such a fuss about small mistakes. This shield hero thought of himself too highly and like he was smarter than anyone else, Malty didn't like to be the one being treated as incompetent, she usually saw herself as smarter than everyone else because they were easy to manipulate and fall for her charm

"You could have killed all five in a single sword motion if you had aimed your sword at the correct angle, not to mention you didn't take your surroundings so you could have been swarmed by other balloons as your focus was in the wrong place" Batman began listing down her mistakes to even the smallest ones, Malty didn't expect to be roasted by someone ever in her life

"B-but..." Malty didn't know what to say, she didn't like to receive critiques of any kind and the shield hero was making a fuss over just some simple balloons, She wanted him to be punished for saying such a thing to her but right now she couldn't do much and she would have to just take his criticism despite not liking it

"I can deal with the monsters in this region by myself, you can rest on that tree for the time being, I'll call you once I'm done" Batman orders as he knew Malty wouldn't help him in any way and she would most likely just sabotage him, it was best for him to deal with the dangers of this place by himself than relying on her help

'I can't believe this! who cares about all that stuff?! he is even more strict than my dumb mom! he's gonna pay...' Malty cursed the dark knight as she went to the tree, he didn't want her help? Fine! it's not like she even wanted to help him in the first place, she was there to be a wrench on his gears but it seemed he was the one messing with her. He had spent 600 silver in his first day already and she didn't have a say in any of their purchases, he gave her a ring but it didn't compensate for all the frustration he was causing her

Batman went on the field to fight the balloon monsters and he equips the [bat knuckle duster shield] for its increase of attack and ability, in just one minute he is able to kill enough balloons to level up but this wasn't enough for the dark knight. He goes deeper in the forest not only to fight stronger monsters but also to test as many of his shields as he could before dawn, Bruce was able to test out all his possible options in combat within 3 hours of testing. He absorbed the dead monster remains into the shield and keep experimenting with them, he even built simplistic traps to capture and kill some of the usapil rabbits, it seemed like he wouldn't be able to get experience from monsters killed by traps that weren't generated by a shield ability, it was possible to unlock a shield that would make any trap he built count like a kill made by him but that would be for future testing. Using [inspect] on the woodenly monsters allowed the Batman to know all their stats and possible special attacks, he was even able to kill a large black bear thanks to the aid of traps and two of his shields, the [thermite grenade shield] greatly damaged the bear while the [bat-saw shield] finished the beast off along with helping on the dissection of his parts. By the end of the afternoon the dark knight was at level 17 and had unlocked even more shields

[Orange Balloon Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 1 defense]

[Yellow Balloon Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 1 defense 2 blunt resistance]

[Ability Rubber Feel: once equipped, you are able to bounce on any surface for a short distance. Additionally will projectiles off once they hit this shield, although you will take extra damage from sharp objects when this shield is equipped]

[Red Balloon Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 1 defense 2 blunt resistance 2 impact resistance]

[Ability Bounce: weak projectiles will bounce off your shield when blocked, additionally you can spend some MP to send them back at the attacker]

[Usapil Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 1 defense 2 agility]

[Usapil Foot Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 4 agility]

[Ability Quick Foot: your base speed is increased when you're barefoot]

[Unique Ability Lucky Foot: increase item drop rate (small)]

[Usapil Horn Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 1 attack 2 agility 1 magic]

[Ability Mystic Horn: once this shield is equipped, a horn will appear on your head and all your stats will be boosted by 2 points]

[Leaf shield LV 1 unlocked]

[Equip bonus 1 defense 1 plant resistance]

[Ability Absorption I: quality and effects of plant based items are increased by a small amount if put on your inventory for 24 hours]

[Fish shield LV 1 unlocked]

[Equip bonus 1 defense 2 water resistance]

[Ability Fishing I: your skills at fishing are increased (small)]

[Wood shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 2 defense 3 plant resistance]

[Small poison shield LV 1 unlocked]

[Equip bonus 3 poison resistance]

[Ability Poison Detector: detects any weak poisonous substance close to your mouth or nose]

[Mush shield LV 1 unlocked]

[Equip bonus 1 defense 1 plant resistance]

[Ability Plant Appraisal I: plants you collect have their quality increased (small)]

[Blue mush shield LV 1 unlocked]

[Equip bonus 1 defense 2 plant resistance]

[Ability Simple Recipe I: you unlocked 50 new simple recipes] (click to see all)

[Green mush shield LV 1 unlocked]

[Equip bonus 1 defense 3 plant resistance]

[Ability Apprenticeship Compounding I: potions made by you have their quality increased (small)]

[Feather shield LV 1 unlocked]

[Equip bonus 3 agility]

[Bear shield LV 1 unlocked]

[Equip bonus 1 attack 5 defense]

[Ability Salmon Fisher: your ability of fishing with your hands is increased, better chances at catching salmon's]

[Black bear shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 3 attack 6 defense]

[Ability Nose of the Forest: your sense of smell is highly more adapted when this shield is equipped, allows you to smell and locate animals, only effective on forests]

[Black Bear Claw shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 8 attack]

[Ability Bear-factor: when this shield is equipped animals will see a menacing bear aura coming from you]

[Black Bear Teeth Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip bonus 2 attack 3 defense]

[Ability Teething: Your teeth are 5% stronger and more durable]

[Ability Fish Enjoyer: you can now eat raw fish meat]

[Black Bear Foot Shield LV 1 unlocked]

[equip Bonus 3 defense 2 agility]

[Ability Feet of the Forest: when this shield is equipped, you will run faster inside any forest you're in]

It was a decent first day, he had even mastered the [batarang shield] , [grapple gun shield] and [smoke bomb shield] for good measure. Now he had the bare minimum of tools from his arsenal ready to be used at any time without having to equip their respective shields which would allow him to master more shields, for now he would focus on the Mush series of shields as to enhance his medicine and possibly potion making capabilities. Moving out of the forest he could see that Malty was still waiting in the tree, looking at her finger nails with a bothered expression

"You're done getting levels?" Malty said clearly uninterestedly if he got any levels or not while frowning at batman, but the dark knight didn't care about her opinion of him

"Yes" he responded brief and shortly, he could have stayed more to test out other shields but it was best to go into the city for the time being, he could still experiment with the shield's abilities inside the city walls and if it was necessary he could us the [grapple gun shield] ability to climb up the wall and return to the forest

"Okay, then let's go to a inn" Malty says while cleaning her clothes from a bit of grass and dirt, she conducted the dark knight to a admittedly run down inn and after paying for two rooms and a meal, the dark knight only had 50 silver on his person which infuriates his red head companion but Bruce himself doesn't care, he was already preparing plans to make back all this money and even make more but it would have to wait for when more shields were were mastered

"I brought you a drink sir shield hero" Malty said as she came back to their table with two wooden mugs with beer, the inn they were staying in was pretty beaten and didn't look like much but it was cheap. The red head had originally planned to take the shield hero here because it would allow her to steal more money from him but now, it was the only one they could afford without spending all their silver, she couldn't understand why the shield hero would spend so much money on his first day like this, sure she would have spend double that amount just to buy a pair of boots but this wasn't normal behavior for a hero or adventurer to do, was he a compulsive buyer or did he had something in mind? but why should she care? it was more likely that the stupid shield hero was bad at finance because he is stupid.

"..." Bruce didn't respond as he just kept eating his meal, he didn't trust Malty and as such he wouldn't just drink any drink she brought to him. It could have poison or another type of substance that would harm his body, it may even have a sleeping agent to help her in stealing his money or gear, so he just wouldn't drink anything that wasn't something he knew was safe like the water bottle in his utility belt.

"...Aren't you going to drink it?" She asked, obviously expecting a response from the dark knight. Batman just ignores her, gently cutting the broccoli on his plate before biting it. the vegetable sauce tasted very well as it was by far the best part of this meal, having ordered a steak with a side of broccoli he expected it to be bland but the meal was surprisingly good for it's price and the state of this establishment. It did feel slightly rushed and part of the steak was undercooked, but it serves it's purpose well

"You know as a matriarch it's very rude to refuse a drink given to you by a woman" Malty says in a taunting way while doing a wink, trying to make him drink it by using her charm but it has no effect. The dark knight looks at her briefly and then looks at the mug before resuming his dinner as if nothing happened, he just cut the last bit of steak on his plate and chewed it. This meal had a rather rubber texture to it that was as if preservatives were put on it but it was much likely that the meat was cooked in such a way to not be crispy or soft to the mouth feel, almost like it had been reheated in a microwave of sorts. But what she said was interesting, if this country truly was a matriarch then why would a king be in charge? a couple of theories came to mind, the queen had either died without leaving any daughters to step in her absence or the queen was not in the country a d her husband took in the responsibility while she was out, both seemed possible but more information was needed until it Batman could truly understand how the political sphere was like at this moment

'Oh for the love of... Say something!' Malty was getting tired of this silent treatment, the stoic shield hero seemed to have been tailor made to piss her off and she would kill him right now if she could. But that wasn't the plan and she would rather make him suffer slowly for the rest of his life than to end it so quickly before she could get some sort of amusement out of it

"I'm not thirsty" his bland reply almost made Malty scream in frustration, but Bruce wouldn't take a sip of such drink especially since Malty could have poisoned it with a substance without smell or taste, his ability to detect poisons made on this world was undeveloped and he didn't had enough poison resistance to survive a lethal dose of even the weak levels of poison right now, he would just lie to his party member for now as the red head could be easily manipulated despite being a manipulator herself

"... I'm going to bed" Malty said with a defeated tone in her voice, she couldn't stand the shield hero for a single more minute and to her it would be best to start the plan as soon as she could, he didn't had a bag full of silver to steal and the chances of him taking that otherworldly armor of his body were less likely than her mom and sister to stop liking filolians. She would just wait until after midnight to start everything in motion and luckily make the shield hero's life a living hell, she didn't like the shield hero even before he and the others were summoned but now she just wants to see his cool and silent persona crumble under her feet along with making him miserable, tonight was the last day that the shield hero would be able to walk freely in all of Melromarc and she knew the plan would work

Batman stayed in the lobby area of the inn for 30 minutes before going up to his room, not to sleep like someone would usually do but instead... he jumped out of his own window, activating the [grapple gun shield] ability to get up on a rooftop. Bruce looked at the night sky and the view of the city, it was a long day but it was only the start for the dark knight as he could tell that crime wouldn't sleep and neither would he, Bruce would use the night to learn of the criminals of this country and to master even more shields

Batman is a individual to be feared and soon... the scum of Melromarc would learn that the hard way.

[author's notes]

By extremely popular request, here it is the Batman x Shield hero crossover! I hope you all liked it and leave a comment as your feedback helps a lot in motivating my writing most of the time, also hope the writing is good as my English isn't really the greatest

hacking resistance is pretty useless in a medieval setting but who knows when it will come in hand

I can already see some people saying that Batman is too overpowered in this first chapter alone but... isn't that the point? everyone was talking about how Batman would be overpowered because of his mentality and the shit ton amount of shields he would unlock. Some likely have a problem with the three blessed series I gave him but it felt right to introduce them this early on as Batman wouldn't change much if the story were to continue, it is a reward for his righteous morals and conquest over his emotions but I made sure that they were locked under level requirements as to not instantly break the fanfic (to be honest I think only the cursed series shouldn't have a level requirement as it wants their users to be at their most vulnerable and make them abuse this power at the risk of their minds or souls. Also I might as well throw this here but in S stands for Shield, Clark didn't unlock any blessed series in his first day because the shield didn't feel it was necessary, allowing Clark to use his kryptonian powers is already busted as is so the shield decided he could have those instead of various blessed series)

We have also to keep in mind that the shield blocked Naofumi access to many of it's powers just because of how awful of a guy he was getting and still is, Naofumi alone created 3 new cursed series because of his selfish and borderline evil actions despite some having good intentions at mind, the cursed series of slavery was born out of his overuse of the slave marks and because he owned so many slaves. Point is, it's reasonable to believe that someone with great heroic traits right at the start of the series would be rewarded for them and removing the 1 attack debuff is a good way of showing that. There is also the fact that I wanted to do something different and not be as restricted in this fanfic as it by itself can generate new and interesting scenarios without having to follow the original story beat to beat, I know that the writer only made a retcon to the series original ending because of a massive negative backlash from the fans but in hindsight it was clear that it's original ending wasn't going to work (the author literally invented those 3 cursed series just so he could retcon the original ending of the web novel, apparently Naofumi going full dictator and try to take over the world was supposed to be the original "happy" ending)

I hope Batman is in character here, I don't intend on this being any particular version of batman. He is supposed to be what I think Batman is going to act and be but hey it isn't like that's gonna stop people from debating that in the comments

this is one of my longest ever made chapters so I really hope everyone can enjoy the effort I put into this and I will be going back to writing for the motherly hero and S stands for Shield for the time being, I don't intend on continuing this story (not right now at least) as I have more projects and chapters of existing fanfics to write for. Feel free to use this as a base for your own fanfic of Batman and shield hero fanfic I just hope you can keep it consistent with what I have established here (if you don't follow it one to one is fine, but some plot beats in this chapter are important to keep in mind. Also it wouldn't hurt to credit me in the description if you do use this first chapter as a base, you don't have to if you make a completely original first chapter)

What do you all think of the shields in this chapter? the blessed series and the ones based on batman's many gadgets in particular, took some time making them and I would like to know if their abilities are good. The blessed series might be the most mixed but I can't stress enough how the original series has left so many details vague or ignored, the only blessed series we see in the whole series so far has the ability of casting iron maiden without using the wrath shield, that's pretty much it. Maybe it was because Naofumi unlocked the cursed one first so it affected the blessed counterpart's own ability? but again the series never gives us a drop of explanation on the blessed series so it's mostly head canon.

Also I want to ask batman fans that never saw or read shield hero, would Batman buy a child slave? It's one of the most vital points of shield hero and I for the most part don't usually have the characters own slaves in my other shield hero fanfics, but there has been a couple of people saying that batman would buy a slave for the efficiency and extra help but this wouldn't be necessary for this fanfic since batman can cause damage and would likely focus more time mastering shields than training a slave to fight for him.

This fanfic will stay as a One-shot for a long while if not forever, I just can't over load myself with more fanfics right now and I have other projects to do like remastering the rise of the cardinal turtles, make more chapters of the motherly hero, make more chapters of S stands for Shield while keeping it in good quality and there is still another long One-shot that I have to finish writing but can't for the life of me. Over all I hope you all enjoy the chapter and can understand if I don't update this one, maybe once I have gotten more things done and when one of my fanfics goes on hiatus but until then... have a nice day