Disclaimer
The following is a fan-based Fiction.
Rising of the Shield Hero belongs to Aneko Yusagi
Please support the official release
Warning this chapter includes themes of Attempted Suicide.
Kindness
"Why isn't this working?" Motoyasu mutters in worry. He looks at the poor child groaning in pain. He tried everything, health potions, status ailment potion, and yet nothing worked, the damn plant is sapping the kid's life!
Now that Motoyasu has a closer look with the kid. Isn't this the same child he decided to play football with after planting the seed?
"Spear Hero, want to play with us?"
The Spear Hero's stomach turns at the memory, the child looked so happy a few days earlier when they played and now…
"All of this… Is my fault…" Motoyasu mutters, his voice filled with guilt.
All because he thought the miracle seed would be like what he knew in Emerald online. In hindsight he should have figured out there would be some inconsistency due to recent events.
But Myne read the text next to the chest and said it was fine! Why would she say that? Maybe she misread-
"Lord Motoyasu, if the plant is causing this… What if we destroy it?" Rino offers unintentionally breaking the Spear Hero's thoughts
Motoyasu's eyes widened, it could work! He walks over to the healers, handing them a box of health potions. "Keep them alive, I'll take out the plant that caused this mess, it might be the only way to save them."
"Alright, Godspeed Spear Hero." The healer says while bowing.
Motoyasu mutters, "Thank you." and quickly walks out of the tent but Rino follows him close behind.
"Lord Motoyasu!" Rino yells, getting the Spear Hero's attention.
"What is it?"
"I'm coming with you." Rino says firmly.
"But-"
"No! I am not going to stand in the back, unlike those backstabbing lazy bitches, I joined to actually fight alongside you. There's no way you can take on all those plant parasites and those enhanced infected monsters while fighting the boss plant!" Rino argues, staring directly into Motoyasu's eyes.
Motoyasu frowns and sighs. "Okay…" Rino's eyes shine at his answer "Just say close to me." He orders.
Rino nods. "Let's do this."
"Open the gates!" A villager yells from the other side of the village, stopping the Spear Hero and the Mage.
They turn around seeing the wooden gates open and a carriage with two familiar large filolials pulling it.
Motoyasu's eyes widened. It can't be…
A familiar messy black haired man in a green cloak hops out.
It is.
After an tense awkward reunion and some parasite cleansing on the people in the infirmary tents, Naofumi asked the villagers and the Spear Hero about the situation in the village.
"You knew the legends but didn't doubt Motoyasu just because he's a hero?" Naofumi points out, making the villagers and Motoyasu wince.
"Oi, I made the mistake, not them. I'll buy the herbicide potions and solve this issue, I… You don't have to clean up my mess. You can heal the children and other people with the plants." Motoyasu says, surprising Naofumi that the guy is willing to take the blame instead of accusing someone else.
Motoyasu hands Naofumi a bag filled with silvers and some gold coins. "Here, this is for the herbicide and to pay for your service to heal the people here. I'll take care of that plant. Come on Rino." Motoyasu says, turning around to grab the box of herbicide.
But Naofumi grabs Motoyasu's shoulder, stopping him. "Hero or not, two people going against plant monsters is going to be difficult. Besides, do you even have a spear that can enhance the herbicides effects like my Shield?"
Motoyasu turns his head, partially facing Naofumi. "No…" He says gritting his teeth.
Naofumi shakes his head. "Without the enhancement from the shield, you would only waste time and herbicide potions. We'll deal with the plant together, that way the problem can be dealt with quicker."
Motoyasu glances at Naofumi's party and sighs. "Okay."
The two heroes and their companions walk out of the small wooden fortress, Naofumi's book shield changes to the Chimera Viper Shield, shocking the villagers.
The Savior of the Two Heavenly Fowls is the Shield Hero?
And he is working together with the Spear Hero?!
The two Heroes, despite their recent conflicts, work surprisingly well. Motoyasu takes the front of the charge, helping Naofumi's party in combat, while the Mage girl, Rino is at the back providing support magic fire, effectively destroying the plants.
They take a little break inside a house after cleansing it from the plants and roots. While Motoyasu rests his eyes sitting on a chair, Naofumi speaks to Rino about the Spear Hero's mental state.
"He didn't get much sleep, I've been afraid of bringing up the topic about that day." Rino whispers, afraid of breaking the temporary peace of mind from the horrible Princess.
Naofumi can't blame Rino for that. Motoyasu's attitude right now is certainly a step up. But it might be temporary, making the wrong move might make him revert back to his nonsensical personality and any hope for reasoning could disappear.
Naofumi frowns, thinking about what Misato told him and his theory of the Heroes' delusions.
Ren and Itsuki's delusions and behavior makes sense but Motoyasu does not, his stupid stubborn belief in Malty despite the amount of evidence of her true personality has very little connection to the idea of Motoyasu coping that the world is a game.
Every video game always has a villain with their own twists and in a game setting, Malty would obviously be the villainess of the story. So with what Misato has shown Motoyasu recently, he should be able to connect the dots and yet… It's like he chooses not to believe him.
"It can't just be Motoyasu being a biased idiot, there must be something that makes Motoyasu like this, it must go deeper than his trauma from his death, something else must have happened that made him like this." Naofumi theorizes.
Naofumi sighs, he's worried, he's not like Misato, he's not as understanding or perceptive as the Gun Hero. But once the plant has been dealt with, he needs to speak to Motoyasu before the bitch or any Church Follower with a decent face appears.
"Wherever those Shinobi people are, I hope they are doing something about that bitch."
Meanwhile in the Royal Castle…
A blue haired young woman sneezes.
After some brief skirmishes, the Spear and Shield parties reach the main plant.
Filo rushes the plant, crushing its eye, only for it to quickly regenerate. Motoyasu tries to burn it with the skill lightning spear but like before it only recovers quickly, binding the Spear Hero.
"Damn plant!" Motoyasu yells, trying to free himself, his arm holding the spear is in a bind, he can't maneuver the weapon in the right angle to cut free!
"Lord Motoyasu!" Rino yells, raising her staff, aiming, unaware of the vines sneaking behind her.
Motoyasu gasps "Rino behind you!" He yells.
Rino shrieks seeing the vines, but suddenly someone pushes her to the side. The mage falls onto the ground. She looks up to see the Shield Hero trapped in the vines instead of her.
"Naofumi-sama!" Raphtalia yells, raising her sword to cut Naofumi free only for the vines to suddenly implode.
What kind of skill is that? Motoyasu wonders. How did he make those vines explode from just touching him?
"Cool…" Sakura comments.
"You're amazing Naofumi-sama!" Filo compliments.
Naofumi wordlessly walks over to the plant, pouring the herbicide on its roots, causing the plant to somehow scream in pain, releasing Motoyasu. Naofumi grabs another bottle but a vine lashes out smacking the Shield Hero aside.
"Naofumi!" Raphtalia cries out, ducking the plant's attack and slicing its vines. She runs over to him, helping him stand.
"I'm okay!" Naofumi assures, the vine only pushed him, it didn't actually hurt. He looks back at the plant, seeing Motoyasu struggling to fight the plant with Rino, Filo and Sakura, but their attacks aren't doing anything, only the herbicide worked.
An idea clicks in Naofumi's mind.
"Motoyasu!" Naofumi says getting the Spear Hero attention. "Pour the herbicide into your Spear!" He yells throwing the bottle.
"Eh but why?" Motoyasu questions, awkwardly catching the bottle with two hands, juggling a little, nearly dropping the bottle.
"You might get a Spear that can take this thing out!"
Motoyasu's eyes widen, and he pours the herbicide into the gemstone.
Herbicide Spear
+90% Damage to plant based monsters
"Aim for the eye!" Naofumi yells "Zweit Power!"
Green light encompasses the Spear hero's body, increasing his attack stats. Motoyasu, feeling rejuvenated, roars, raising the Spear over his head with one hand. The Plant raises its vines, protecting its eye.
"Airstrike Javelin!"
The Herbicide Spear flies in the air, cutting and burning through the vines like it's made of butter. It pierces the Plant's eye and purple liquid gushes out like a geyser.
The plant lets out a pitiful wail and shrivels, then it falls apart.
Raphtalia moves to grab a seed, but another hand grabs it first. She looks up to see Filo in her human form.
The swordswoman frowns. "Filo I was going to get that."
"Filo got it first." Filo says, pouting.
"I was reaching it, you could have grabbed any other seed."
"But Filo has this one before big sis!"
The two delve deeply into a petty argument over the seed while Sakura is also in her human form, wearing a green and white dress, absentmindedly picking seeds nearby.
"Filo, Sakura!" Naofumi whispers loudly, gathering the attention of the two Filolials. "Change back!" He says, worried about Motoyasu's reaction to them, while the Spear Hero seems okay, he remembers what Misato told him about the Spear Hero in the anime. The character has fetish towards angel girls, and with how obsessed Motoyasu was with Fitoria, trying to get her attention all of the time, it doesn't paint a good picture for Filo and Sakura.
"But it's harder for Filo to pick the seeds up for master!" Filo says while Sakura nods
"Hard to grab with no hands." Sakura adds, opening and closing her palm to emphasize their point.
Naofumi clicks his tongue and turns to Motoyasu who is… Plucking the seeds with Rino at a different area.
Wait…
What?
Motoyasu is not paying attention to girls. Were it not for the Shield compass, Naofumi would wonder if he is talking to the Spear Hero and not someone else, especially after how cooperative they have been all day. It's a stark contrast from Motoyasu's initial personality.
"Maybe Misato is right, without that bitch causing stupid shit, Motoyasu is actually decent and not brain dead…" Naofumi thought to himself.
No, wait. Naofumi squinted his eyes, now seeing Motoyasu's small dark bags under his eyes.
Rino did say he didn't sleep well. Could Motoyasu actually be working himself to the bone to not think about what he heard from that bitch?
It makes sense, because Naofumi did the same thing after THAT day, throwing himself to fight the balloons all day for a minuscule amount of EXP. It helped him keep his thoughts off of Bitch and trash for a bit. But he personally knows doing that is only temporary. Misato did say if given enough time surrounded by the wrong people it's possible Motoyasu might regress to his old habits, and that cannot happen.
Naofumi frowns, walking over to the Spear Hero.
"Here goes nothing…" Naofumi thinks to himself, placing his hand on Motoyasu's shoulder.
Motoyasu stops and glances at the Shield Hero.
"Motoyasu-san… We need to talk."
Naofumi and Motoyasu, the only two heroes who have had conflicts with each other and argued the most, sit across from each other on the small table, silently staring at each other.
Due to their last conflicts, the atmosphere is now so tense, Raphtalia would say she could probably cut it if she is in there too.
Naofumi sighs, like Misato said, he has to bridge the gap. "I… I heard about what happened the day before yesterday."
Motoyasu flinches but remains silent, perhaps he's too afraid to bring the topic up.
Naofumi clenches his fist. "Then again, I'm afraid of bringing it up too… Come on, I got to do this!"
"Do you believe Rino is a liar?" Naofumi says.
"N-no. Of course not." Motoyasu scoffs.
"Then that means what Rino said about Malty is true." Naofumi says, hoping the logic would come through.
Motoyasu gives Naofumi a conflicted expression.
"B-But M-myne is supposed to be just like J… Jessica from Emerald Online! A character who starts out bad but gets the best development!" Motoyasu says, jumping to Malty's defense.
Seeing this, normally Naofumi would give up, express his disappointment over Motoyasu and leave but... For some reason Naofumi doesn't feel like condemning the Spear Hero.
His chest feels tight, but the feeling is oddly familiar to Naofumi.
The Shield Hero remembers first meeting Raphtalia. The sight of the poor girl when they first met.
Why is he remembering this now?
Naofumi blinks and looks at Motoyasu's current state.
Seeing the guy right now, Motoyasu clearly had little sleep, his hair and armor were a mess even before they went off to fight the parasite plant. The way he came to Malty's defense was flimsy, he was stuttering earlier.
Naofumi looks at Motoyasu's eyes and gasps.
Oh…
Those eyes, it reminds Naofumi of Raphtalia, of the villagers during the Waves and more importantly, the look in Motyasu's eyes, reminds Naofumi, of himself… The look of despair, desperation and fragile hope against the undeniable truth.
The Shield Hero exhales. There are no options left, dancing around the issue isn't going to do it, he has to rip out the band aid.
"Alright, say it."
Motoyasu blinks, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Say what?"
Naofumi slams his hands on the table, standing up. Startling the Spear Hero.
"Say that this world is just a game. Say that the people here who suffered from your actions were scripted from someone who wrote it on some paper for this to happen. Say that Rino is some bits of data made on a computer, say that her existence is not real! Say that she is simply a character with no real soul!" Naofumi yells.
This is Naofumi's last attempt, if this doesn't work, he'll have to settle with telling Motoyasu that the game is in hardcore so the idiot could stay alive.
Motoyasu frowns and opens his mouth "It's… You… I…"
But nothing comes out.
Why?
"Why can't I say anything?" Motoyasu wonders.
"What are you doing here? You're the one who caused this mess!" A bitter man says, along with other villagers of Lerno, blaming Motoyasu for the overgrown plants.
"I…" Motoyasu flinches, seeing some plant infecting some of the people in the angry group.
"Lord Motoyasu still solved the famine problem you all had and now he's here to help you again! You can't be angry when he is here to fix the problem he caused! He's taking responsibility!" Rino yelled, coming to his defense.
"The young lady is right, with the Spear Hero here, he can help us again." The kind elder man says, calming the group.
"Rino." Motoyasu mutters to the Mage, uncertain what to say.
Rino gives Motoyasu a small smile.
"You made a mistake, but you're still a good person, not a bad one. Just learn from it and be better. At least, that's what my dad would say."
Motoyasu's mind flashes again.
He remembers Rino grabbing his hand "Come on. We need to find shelter quickly-"
He remembers the thankful look she had after saving her from slavery.
"Thank you for saving me…"
Motoyasu's heart aches too much to say it. Because he knows deep down in his heart. He knows this is real. Saying Rino is some NPC, some fake imitation of a human being…
Is wrong.
"You can't say it can you?" Naofumi 'asks'
"No… Naofumi-san, this… This isn't a game, is it?" Motoyasu asks, even though he knows the answer.
"No, it's not, as much as I wish it is… The moment I was accused of this crime…" Naofumi grits his teeth at the memory. "I knew it was all real."
Motoyasu sighs, the weight of reality finally crashing down on him, he leans against the chair, exhausted.
"About saying that Malty is like Jessica in your favorite game, you were just grasping straws weren't you?" Naofumi inquires.
"Yeah… That character was nowhere near as bad as Myne…" Motoyasu answers, Jessica in Emerald Online was bratty but not heartless when it came to serious matters or helping people. Myne however…
"So knowing that and despite what Misato told you… Why did you not accept the truth about Malty's personality? Even if you were still thinking this is a Video Game, how does that relate to you still believing in Malty?"
The Spear Hero flinches, most likely from a bad memory. "I… I don't want to say."
Naofumi looks at Motoyasu with empathy. "I won't push."
Motoyasu gives Naofumi an appreciative look. "Thanks… And don't worry, I accept that Myne is a terrible person. I'm sorry for not believing you that day."
Naofumi blinks in surprise. "I… I a-accept your apology, just don't make the same mistake and be more careful…"
"I will."
"And remember, you're… You're not alone." Naofumi says, placing his hand on Motoyasu's shoulder.
Afterwards, the Two heroes exchange information. Naofumi talked about the strengthening methods, pointing out why the Heroes would be from different versions of Earth. So each Hero could provide a different strengthening method to share.
Motoyasu was initially doubtful but after some thinking and the fact that the world has proved to him that he is NOT in Emerald Online. The Spear Hero finally opens his mind.
10 Strengthening Methods unlocked!
Each of them unlocked a weapon hybrid series, however for some reason, Naofumi and Motoyasu didn't get any pair up skills.
However they still got beneficial permanent stat rate boosts, so they head back to the wooden fort, greeted with many cheers. Praising both the Spear and Shield for saving them.
In the following morning, Naofumi places an edited bioplant into the ground. Growing a much more safe plant. After some negotiating, while ignoring looks of disapproval from Raphtalia, Motoyasu and Rino.
Naofumi's party packs several boxes of delicious juicy fruit and sets up the carriage to go trade them. Of course Naofumi could have placed them inside his seemingly infinite inventory, but he is still trying to play the role of a Merchant, because who knows who is spying on him and his party. He can't show all of his cards.
"Motoyasu-san, are you going to come along?" Naofumi asks, as he doesn't like the idea of leaving the Spear Hero alone, especially if that bitch finds him here.
"Naofumi-san… I'm going to stay at Lerno Village for a few days and help them rebuild." Motoyasu declares unaware the gemstone on his Spear is glowing.
Naofumi's eyes widened, while Raphtalia gasps, what's with this guy doing unexpected things today?
"Really?" Naofumi asks and Motoyasu firmly nods.
"But why?" Raphtalia adds, unintentionally asking the same question in Naofumi's mind.
"Well, the plant I released caused some collateral damage to their homes and who knows how many monsters this plant scared off, they might come back and…"
"The village is currently vulnerable to monster attacks." Naofumi deduces with a nod. "Alright then. Just don't slouch on leveling up, those robed assholes might do something soon. Let's teleport to this location in case and have you mark it in case you need to run with Rino."
"Okay."
"Naofumi-san, are you certain the Spear Hero has changed for the better? What if someone tricks him again like the Princess?" Raphtalia asks.
"He's aware of the Church and the Bitch's true personality, besides, some honest hard work wouldn't hurt him, maybe even humble him." Naofumi dismisses.
Surprisingly, Motoyasu did have some budding suspicions on the Church, or maybe getting his eyes open to the truth finally got the guy to use his damn head for once. Although Naofumi chose not to tell Motoyasu about Misato's true identity and the secret weapon, just in case Motoyasu reverts back to his stupid self.
"Ah, I see." Raphtalia smiles but then frowns. "The Spear Hero needs time to recover doesn't he…?"
Naofumi sighs, he can't hide anything from this girl. "Ya… He needs a little mental break from that bitch. He's sort of in shock of Malty's personality reveal, I think." Misato would probably agree. The Gun Hero isn't a therapist but they both know people just need some time to rest.
"I hope he recovers well." Raphtalia says, no longer seeing Motoyasu as a bad hero but rather as a good person who has been through pain like herself. His eyes were just like Naofumi, Misato, her friends and herself…
"Me too…" Naofumi agrees.
The Shield Party continues their journey, leaving Lerno Village in the hands of the Spear Hero.
Motoyasu sits underneath a tree, hiding from the sunlight. He takes a breath, letting the mental barrier break and lets the memories flood through.
He clenches his fist and shakes his head, resisting the temptation to ignore it.
He needs to do this…
So finally, Motoyasu… Remembers.
There was a nice girl that helped him once, with long blonde hair and green eyes by the name of Melissa. They met during Middle School.
One day, Melissa was rumored to be bullying a poor student. Melissa insisted she didn't bully him, but no one believed her.
Motoyasu didn't stand up for Melissa he… He just kept his head down. Didn't want any trouble in school, besides there was evidence. There were photos of horrible things done to the poor guy and video footage but looking back, the footage was fuzzy and had poor quality. The photos could have been digitally edited.
Motoyasu didn't pay much attention to that, only that many people believed Melissa did it especially when seeing the evidence, so like a sheep, he thought Melissa was lying like many other students.
One day, she jumped at the highest point of the school…
She survived but she was in a coma.
Motoyasu then heard about what happened to Melissa after the rumors spun. Melissa was harassed and bullied everyday as some form of 'payback' for the horrible things she did to the boy. It didn't help that she was a foreigner too, accusing her of many horrible things for her appearance. Writings on her desk, missing school supplies, her locker kept getting broken in and ruined. Pushing her to do… That.
The shock of the horrifying attempt roused the bullied victim to say the truth on the news and called out the true culprits, the same people who tormented Melissa and people in the staff who pulled some strings. Apparently, Melissa just accidentally offended the bully by accident, she stood her ground against the bully's overreaction and that is why they picked on her. Over a petty little incident. Other girls joined in, jealous of her exotic looks and initial popularity with the boys.
Many people across Japan were outraged, the bullies and their accomplices were ruined for life, justice was served. But it was not enough for some people, Melissa's parents blamed the entire school, all the staff and every single student for not standing up for their daughter.
Afterwards, to avoid the drama and attention, Motoyasu's family moved away, and he hadn't heard of Melissa ever since.
Due to this experience, Motoyasu changed, always helping any girl whenever he can. Not wanting any girl to cry like Melissa did. Vowing to protect and help all girls. If there was a fight, he would take the girl's side of the matter.
His mother tried to warn him about his overcorrected behavior, but he didn't listen.
It's why he couldn't answer two particular girls' feelings when they confessed to him, afraid to hurt them, hoping they would move on like the many other girls who grew to admire him. But…
They didn't.
His failure to Melissa is why he believed in Myne so deeply, why he insisted that the evidence was not true. Even though he suppressed those memories in his mind. His heart could not forget that guilt, it's what urged Motoyasu to hold on to Myne, to not fail like he did with Melissa.
It's why he struggled so hard to believe in either Rino or Myne, unable to accept one side, knowing one girl would be upset in the end… So, he held on to hope, hope for something that can make both girls happy. Hope that with enough time, a solution to the problem will appear, and both girls will be happy.
But he was wrong and nearly paid the price.
Again…
"... Motoyasu?" A voice interrupts getting the Spear Hero's attention. Motoyasu gasps, seeing Melissa but he blinks and sees Rino instead.
Now looking closely, the Mage's green eyes remind him so much of Melissa's eyes…
"Uh…" Rino murmurs, lightly blushing from the Spear Hero's intense look.
"Oh! Um… Y-yes?"
"A-are you a-alright?"
Motoyasu nods and rubs the back of his head. "Ya, I'm just… Remembering something."
"Remembering what?"
Motoyasu shakes his head. "Nothing much, um… Rino-san."
"Yes?"
"Did you mean what you said earlier? About the villagers and me fixing this problem? Without Naofumi-san and his party, I wouldn't have been able to solve this problem."
"You would have figured something out. You wouldn't abandon them." Rino says with certainty.
"But… What if I messed up again and made things worse?"
"If you do, then… I will help you learn from your mistakes and if things seem bad, I will help you stand up and become better than you were before." Rino promises, grasping Motoyasu's hand. "Because I know you are not a bad person, but you are human, not some great god the church claims you to be."
Rino smiles, remembering how Motoyasu decided to play a little game with the kids here with the rubber ball after they first planted the miracle seed.
The looks of joy on everyone's faces. How could anyone say he is a bad person from seeing such a wondering thing?
Rino recalls her conversation with Misato.
"If you were somehow the Staff Hero and if the waves were to happen in a town what would you do?"
"I would try to protect the people and fight the monsters as best I can."
"Once the Waves stopped, people would have died and the survivors would blame you for not protecting them."
Rino frowns. "That's unfair! How could they expect me to be perfect? I've just learned how to use magic effectively."
Misato gives Rino a pointed look.
"Oh…"
"Yeah…"
Misato is right, perhaps too many people put the Heroes on a pedestal and were wrong, they are humans too, good humans but still fallible as anyone else.
Motoyasu's eyes shine at the promise and he smiles. He stands up, letting go of Rino's hand. He rotates his shoulders and cracks his neck.
"Let's get to work!" Motoyasu says, walking down to Lerno Village.
"Right!" Rino says, trailing behind the Spear Hero.
While this wasn't the adventure Rino was expecting, being here, helping people. It's nice…
Rino squinted her eyes, noticing something odd on Motoyasu's back.
For some reason the Legendary Spear looks…
Shinier.
"What is going on with this quest?" Ren mutters to himself.
First was the weird random storm appearing, making the mountains to Mirso Village difficult to travel to. Ren chalked it up to the game telling him he is not ready to face the Dragon there and decided to fight mini bosses in neighboring lands.
But then accidents keep happening. The wagons he and his party ride on keeps breaking, so much Ren almost suspects sabotage, it can't be his team or the driver because he was watching them when the wheel fell.
Then there was a herd of giant birds who decided to rest in the middle of the road, even the driver said it was odd for those birds to rest for so long at that one spot, they never did before. Apparently, the totally not-Chocobos are pretty active creatures that don't often rest, and when they did, they would rest on the grass, not on the road.
Now… Ren and his team are pushing a big boulder out of the way for the carriage to go through because there was a rockslide earlier! What the hell is this luck? For a moment Ren thought he saw someone up at the mountains earlier from where the rocks rolled.
"This quest better be worth it… I hope something really good comes out of this when I talk to the dragon like Misato said…" Ren mentally grumbles.
Misato takes cover behind a tree, and a burst of lightning hits it, the force of the hit pushes Misato, leaning forward from the hit. "You shall pay you heretic bastard!" An old man yells.
Misato changes his gun to a pump action shotgun with a strange coal colored sawed off barrel and some ember-like light around it, he blind fires behind the tree, blasting the group of Church soldiers with a widespread, setting them on fire.
"Mages!" Rifana yells, quickly stabbing a soldier with her spear and taking cover.
"Soldiers on our right!" Keel yells, stuck on preparing to block the Mages' attack or to fight against the soldiers approaching.
Sadeena steps forward to the group of mages preparing their spells but Misato raises his hand in front of her. "I got this!" He says changing his weapon to a blue flare gun. Sadeena nods, stepping back into cover behind a rock.
"Zweite Fireball"
"Faust Wind shot!"
"Zweite Lighting bolt!"
The Mages fire their spells and Misato shoots a blue flare right at a nearby group of soldiers charging at their flanks.
Suddenly the spells the Church Mages launched flew towards the blue flare instead of Misato's party.
The spells hit the soldiers in a multi-colored elemental explosion, breaking their formation, allowing Ace, Keel and Sadeena to take them down in the confusion.
"Behind you!" Dusk yells and Misato turns around seeing two Church assassins.
A knife hits one of the assassins and Ace tackles them. The other assassin lashes out with their knife but Misato leans back, dodging the swipe and cuts the assassin's arm with the Chimera Viper Pistol knives.
The assassin lets out a cry, dropping the knife. Misato thrusts the pistol to stab the assassin in the gut, but they catch his arm with both hands. With no angle to shoot, Misato raises his left hand.
The Legendary Gun appears, and he stabs the Assassin's throat. Seeing their health in the red, Misato fires the gun before slashing their throat, killing the enemy Shadow.
"Is this it?" Misato says.
The fight was almost too easy. He glances at this team's status.
Misato Morgan: Archer (Gun Hero) Level 74
Ace: Royal Filolial Level 70
Keel: Axewoman Level 70
Rifana: Spearwoman Level 69
Sadeena: Guardian Level 76
"Ya…" Keel frowns. "Weird, after fighting the Old bastard, Rikert, I expected more of a tough time, I mean it was stressful but still." She says wiping off the blood on her axe.
"Mhm…" Rifana mumbles, resting against her spear.
"Or perhaps we became too strong for any of the Church's soldiers to handle us. It was only about two platoons. I heard Rikert had personal soldiers and knights, above average from the typical soldier." Sadeena suggests, fiddling her trident.
"Ya they were above average so it might explain the little difficulty we had here and our recent level ups." Misato agrees, grabbing a Church Shadow's mask and absorbing it into his Gun.
A black pistol with a silencer, its model is identical to Agent 47's iconic gun.
Shadow Pistol Unlocked!
Increased damage to stealth attacks.
Your illusion magic is now more potent.
Skill: Complete Silence
When this skill is activated, your gun will make absolutely no sound for 5 minutes.
Note: Bullet impact will make sounds.
New Blueprints available!
This silenced pistol is better than his silenced crafted sniper rifle…
Misato facepalms.
He needs to remember to absorb more unusual items to his gun. Misato forgot to do this because he focused too much on customizing and creating modern tactical guns. Absorbing materials for a new Gun form gives him more stats than a crafted gun would.
The two shadows, Dawn and Dusk appear.
"Misato, our agents and the filolial scouts cannot delay the Sword Hero any longer, we must hurry." Dawn urges.
Misato frowns, remembering the information they got from the spies and filolial scouts in Mirso Village.
Apparently, the dragon is a father, protecting a demi-human girl he adopted. The village requested the dragon to be killed so they use his corpse as a tourist attraction and to loot its home.
Dawn and Dusk theorize that the Church is concerned for the girl's potential ability in Dragon Magic, a rare type of magic that even the King, the Vassal Staff Hero, doesn't know.
Then again, the King probably didn't even bother trying. Considering how the guy seems incredibly lazy or willfully idiotic handling certain matters.
In summary, Ren is being tricked and needs to be stopped. The idea of letting the dragon die because of some selfish people and dropping the poor dragon's daughter into the hands of the church is unacceptable…
They will find another way to break Ren's delusions.
Right now, Misato needs to focus on preventing the death of another family.
Unmentioned Gun Form/Series Information:
Charcoal Shotgun:
Will shoot a shotgun fire blast in a widespread.
Note: Spread is wider than any shotgun in your arsenal
Modified Skill unlocked: Fire Shrapnel.
Magic Flare Gun:
Firing a flare will attract nearby spells to it.
Esper Power Series Locked:
Processing: 20% Complete
Welcome to the end of this (relatively) Short chapter. At least compared to the recent ones.
Sorry if the chapter seems lackluster, I wasn't exactly excited to write a lot on this chapter. Only Motoyasu getting redemption or an "awakening" and Naofumi having that moment where he can actually connect with one of the Heroes that doesn't involve Misato explaining things directly in person or being the mediator were my favorite parts to write.
The Esper Power Series is something Misato unlocked from Itsuki's tears. In between chapters/off screen because fans pointed out Itsuki might manifest something for the Legendary Weapons to use. Giving each hero unique powers, however, due to its unique nature, that's going to take some time.
This chapter was mainly about Naofumi and Motoyasu becoming better people and Heroes.
In this case Naofumi's capability to become empathic for Motoyasu, finally opens up at this moment. Instead of Naofumi giving up and condemning Motoyasu's stubborn mindset, he tries to break Motoyasu's delusions again genuinely wanting to help him because Naofumi saw himself in Motoyasu's eyes… Empathizing with Motoyasu to a certain extent.
I noticed with Anime Naofumi (I didn't compare it to the light novel or manga yet). Naofumi has a tendency to simply leave the area if he believes the conversation with a difficult person or group is hopeless. But in hindsight there are some situations I believe he could have done better.
Especially Season 3, I can think of a few ways Naofumi could have taken care of the bitch and not ruined any form of trust with Ren but he didn't…
Or maybe what happened in the scene in Season 3 just bothered me a lot. And generally, that's why I made this fanfic in the first place. To prevent that bullshit.
There might be omake chapter in The Gun Hero's Alternate Takes, about what Misato would have done in that episode.
I'm not saying it's bad writing, I'm saying, Naofumi's tendency DOES fit his character, his portrayal in the anime at least. It's a fitting flaw but logically speaking, it doesn't really help a lot when it comes to trying to bridge the gap of understanding to each other and forming alliances. Not forming convenient "alliances" like the politicians the Queen have to deal with.
So, in this chapter, Naofumi actually does NOT do that, he doesn't walk away or give up after being denied by Motoyasu, we have Naofumi actually attempting to help Motoyasu again. He goes straight to the point of the problem. His time with Misato helped him understand and sympathize with the Three Heroes to see they are in need of help.
That is why this chapter is called Kindness, as Naofumi becomes more kindhearted, inching closer to who he was before the False Trial (But still reasonably wary), and tries to help Motoyasu face the truth. For Naofumi to become more proactive at uniting the Heroes thanks to Misato's knowledge and third person perspective of the Heroes. Rather than be motivated by Fitoria "Kindly" asking and other implications that makes Naofumi sympathize with the poor Bird Queen.
Here Naofumi gets his time to shine and helps Motoyasu see the truth.
(X)
As for Motoyasu's past. Frankly, from what I gathered in canon, Motoyasu's death doesn't make sense in regard to his actions to Malty after the trial…
Since he died to psychopaths, it sort of works for him to cope by remaining delusional to ignore what happened to him and acting like the world is a perfect fantasy to live in. But his incorrigible loyalty to MALTY of all people?!
WHY?
That makes absolutely no sense after all the things Malty was finally exposed for! The way he dies or how lived his life, has no connection to his INANE faith in BITCH!
Unless I missed something, please do explain.
Is that why the author decided to have Motoyasu get his mind broken because the author saw no "realistic" way to redeem Motoyasu without going permanently insane at that point in Season 3?
How the hell did the Spear Spirit think this guy was a good back up candidate? Seriously, does anyone have an answer to that? It just doesn't make sense to me…
So that's why I decided to write my own backstory for Motoyasu that extends further beyond his college years. Something that would hopefully make sense and connect to ALL of his actions. Mainly why Motoyasu would stubbornly believe in Malty in spite of the CLEAR evidence.
If not please do give me advice and I might re edit the back story a bit.
In summary, Motoyasu skirt chasing behavior is the gamer mindset in play, to pursue many beautiful girls into his team, I mean come on admit it, some of us have done some things like: Scrolling to the flirtation dialogue and having our character romance with another character or more. IF that is an option, look at what happened in Persona 5…
Motoyasu being loyal to Malty was because of his guilt for Melissa. Because it's the only thing that makes sense to me.
Without a backstory like that, this happens:
ghostofhalo. exe is now broken.
(X)
Okay, yes everyone has a lot of good points for Sadeena, and over time, rewatching clips involving Sadeena, I changed my mind but writing Misato having more than one romantic partner is likely tricky for me to picture or write. Then again based on my current plans, any romance happening during the "Season 1" Book/Arc is likely not to happen. Maybe tiny hints of budding romance or some normal attraction to each other's appearances and physique, especially in Cal Mira… aka
The Obligated Anime Fanfic Beach Chapter
Because at this point Misato wouldn't know Sadeena and S'yne well enough to have any potential romance, they could easily become friends, but love interests are on a different level and I want to take my time on that.
Same with Fitoria, as their relationship could be like siblings, especially with her current appearance.
(X)
Here's something to think about.
What do you think is Misato's name in Japanese Kanji, and why do you think that is his name?
But to be clear, his name in Japanese is NOT connected to the Gun Hero's general main trait of heroism, it's something else. It's my fault for that, forgetting to add more hints of the Gun Hero's main trait.
But you are welcome to guess. It's not obvious though because a lot of other heroic traits mix in with Misato. I'll give out a hint next chapter.
Thank you all for your patience and understanding.
Have a great day!