Virtue of the Shield Hero

by Allen Blaster

According to Newton's Third Law, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Unfortunately, Naofumi and co will find this to be especially true after returning from their Otherworld trip. Rest of Summary inside. The third installment is here. Multiple pairings. Covers Season Three Territory and beyond. Arc 10: Chapters Thirteen: Part One: Death Match

9. 9: Lute Wave of Catastrophe

Chapter Nine: Lute Wave of Catastrophe

---

Naofumi looked around himself from under his hood. After all this time, he'd never thought he'd see the other heroes like this.

Motoyasu and his harem of girls were to his left, and for some reason, the Spear Hero had heavy bags under his eyes. Was he too anxious to sleep before the Wave? Either way, his party members didn't appear to be talking strategy or anything useful really, rather they were just oohing and awing over him; telling him how great he was going to be in the oncoming waves, and so on.

The simp looked so braindead around his party. He could be called an idiot by them and he'd still think it was praise being heaped on him.

Especially if it was from Malty... Myne, Bitch, whatever her face was that hung off him. Her breasts were pressed up against his arm like a common whore.

'What the hell did I ever see in her.' Naofumi's face twisted in disgust. Fortunately, they were walking into a building. He forced his gaze elsewhere.

Ren was calm and composed, as was the rest of his party. Just like on the day of his summoning. Just one look as they walked by and Naofumi could tell that he had a quiet aura of calm and charisma coming off him. Even though his first words to his party had been along the lines of them being worthless to him if they couldn't keep up, his party members trusted him with their lives.

Yet at the same time, there was something off about the youngest of the four Heroes. Did he see himself not only as one of the best swordsmen in the world but the best out of the four Cardinal heroes? He couldn't tell what it was, but Naofumi didn't like him either.

Maybe it was because Ren's whole look and attitude seemed so fake to him. Then again, that could have been because of the experiences he'd gone through so far in this world.

And then there was Itsuki, happily waving to the people around him. Out of everyone, he definitely looked like he was trying to play and act as the common folks' hero. The Robin Hood of the group. Naofumi hadn't heard as much about Itsuki as he had about the other heroes' activities while on the run. What little he had heard didn't sit well in Naofumi's stomach.

Itsuki was definitely like Robin Hood. Taking from the rich and helping the poor based on his own personal sense of judgment to tell who was corrupt or not. And as admirable as that was, Naofumi couldn't help but judge the blonde boy. It was like he was showing off his arrogance that suggested that he was always right and the criminal was always wrong. And right now, Naofumi was unfortunately that criminal.

So Naofumi continued to stand by an empty carriage on the side of the square, with his hood draped over his head. Staying out of view of the other heroes and the people around him. Not talking to any of them.

Based on his short observations of the other Heroes, he now knew that he was screwed. And so was the world.

"Alright, the wave should be starting in twenty minutes and twenty-two seconds," Itsuki said nearby to his party. "Let's make sure that we're the first ones to take down the boss monster.

"Right!" The rest of his group responded simultaneously.

'They even have it down to the seconds, huh? I wonder why he's able to see the timer when I can't.' Was that something else that the world was doing to screw him over?

He'd read something about that in his help guide that morning. He hadn't found where it explained how the heroes got the timer, but apparently, when some timer notification hit zero, all the heroes and their parties would be teleported to the sight of the wave. He just… didn't have that timer for some reason.

Probably meddling from the trash King or the Church, he was sure.

...

Suddenly, because he was either feeling really brave, stupid, a mixture of the two, or maybe because of a lack of interest from everyone else, he dropped his hood. Even if he was recognized now, it wouldn't be long before he and Raphtalia were teleported to the site of the wave. They wouldn't be able to do anything about it. His eyes continued to calmly look around to gauge everyone's reactions.

At that moment, Itsuki looked and noticed Naofumi standing by the carriage. "Wait, is that…"

"Master Naofumi."

Naofumi glanced to the side at Raphtalia. She was facing away. She sat on the back of the empty wagon with her own hood drawn up. "Why did you pull down your hood?"

"Stay facing away from me for now Raphtalia. Just in case." He whispered to her. It didn't answer her question, but she didn't press it for the moment.

"Well, I'm surprised you're even here Naofumi," Itsuki said as he approached, his voice not exactly cold, but not welcoming either.

Naofumi glanced up at him. His own face was a mask of indifference. "I was summoned as the Shield Hero. It's supposed to be my job to fight the waves too." He responded dryly.

"And you're saying a hero is allowed to commit any crime he wants?" Itsuki asked. "Don't you realize that the King wants to imprison you in his dungeon when he catches you?"

"Oh, so that's the punishment that piece of trash and his bitch daughter decided on because I 'bailed' out. Funny, I could have sworn Myne told a nun that the King would make me an outcast for what she was going to accuse me of. Guess she was wrong." Naofumi replied indifferently.

Itsuki looked confused, but his scowl didn't disappear. "Why are you even here Naofumi? You disrespected the king, you disrespected his daughter, heck you even tried to-" Naofumi glared up at him. Something in Naofumi's glare caused Itsuki to shut up.

"I will say this once, and only once." He said darkly. "I didn't do any of what I am being accused of. None of it." He stated blatantly, a snarl in his tone. "I didn't do anything to her. I didn't do anything to those people outside Lute. I did nothing. You can choose whether to believe me or not. Either way, I'm disappearing again after this wave until the next one hits. Unlike you, the people here couldn't give two craps about what happens to me." Naofumi said, before looking straight ahead.

…

"Maybe they'd care a little more if you turned yourself in and told the King yourself what happened," Itsuki suggested.

"... If you really believed any of what I just said, you wouldn't tell me to do that," Naofumi said sarcastically. 'Because the King is likely to believe his own daughter over me.'

"It'd be the just thing to do though," Itsuki said back quickly.

Naofumi chuckled dryly. "Yeah, and I'm sure I'd say the same thing to you if you were in my shoes. Living a life on the run, framed for something you didn't do, wondering if you'll wake up every morning, and then waking up, wondering if you were going to survive the day. Knowing you couldn't do a damn thing about it because the people already hated your guts before you got here."

...

Itsuki frowned. "You'll never know if you don't try." He said. When Naofumi didn't respond, Itsuki walked away to rejoin his party.

'Yeah, you keep on thinking that Itsuki. There are only two other people I care about in this world, and you aren't one of them.'

...

"Do the other heroes really not believe you about what happened Master Naofumi?" Raphtalia asked.

"... You heard what he said," Naofumi replied dryly. "They just think of me as a common criminal. No, worse than a criminal. They think of me as the devil. Just like everyone else."

"... If you knew that would happen, then why did you expose yourself?" The girl asked.

"Maybe I just wanted to confirm how the others would respond." Naofumi shrugged. "Or maybe it's because this is my personal way of making fun of the king. You know, I managed to sneak back into the Capital without him realizing it, and now it's too late for him to do something about it." He replied. "I mean it's not like we're coming back after this wave."

He knew he'd promised Elhart that he'd come back to get Raphtalia's armor, but the blacksmith probably knew that wasn't happening. There was no way he'd be welcomed back here.

"Is it just because you were made a wanted man?" Raphtalia asked, glancing back at him.

"Not only that… Look at the people around us, Raphtalia." He said, gesturing at the people on the streets that were finally beginning to notice that the Shield Hero was there. Some started to point at him, others whispered amongst themselves, a few looked afraid while others appeared angry. The rest tried to discreetly move away from his area of the street.

"They obviously don't want me here. None of them do. They think I'm lower than the dirt beneath their feet." He let out a sigh at that. "None of them will ever believe me, no matter what I tell them. Even if I'm a hero today during the waves, they'll still hate me."

…

"I wouldn't," Raphtalia whispered so quietly, Naofumi didn't hear what she said. He only heard a slight mumbling from the Tanuki girl.

"Was there something else on your mind?"

...

"Well." Raphtalia looked nervous. "I, I just, I wanted to say…" She took in a deep calming breath. "I'm truly grateful, and honored to have met you Shield Hero."

He turned to face her then. Damn what any of the other citizens thought of him talking to a hooded demi-human. "Why would you be grateful to have met me?" He asked. His voice was dripping with self-loathing. He'd bought her as a child, and forced her to live like a vagabond while simultaneously fighting monsters.

He'd stolen her childhood from her...

"Because… you treated my wounds and cured my illness. You made me warm meals even though you couldn't taste them. You made my toys and clothes even when we were tight on money... you showed care for me when I thought no one in the world thought that I mattered anymore Master Naofumi…"

She had tears at the edge of her eyes. "Most importantly, you taught me how to live."

"Raphtalia, I'm sorry, but your parents aren't coming back. But we can prevent other kids from going through what you experienced.

"You helped me to get through the darkest time in my life, and gave me a reason to live... to fight. To fight the waves. To protect others from going through what I did. And, and that's why..."

She took a proud stance. "I swear to be your sword forever." She pulled her sword out and held it to her side for emphasis. "Wherever you go, I'll be there with you... Even if everyone else hates you, I will never hate you, Naofumi Iwatani." She whispered the last part. "I believe in you."

...

Naofumi's eyes widened at her words. She was saying the words that he'd wanted to hear from someone for so long... He looked off to the side, his eyes now appearing distant. He couldn't think about it now. She might just be saying that right now because of how nervous she is about the coming wave.

"Let's survive this wave first, and then we'll see what happens." He whispered to her.

If Raphtalia was disappointed in his reaction, she hid it well. However, this wouldn't be the last time she'd bring it up to her master. She'd figured out in part why her master wasn't trusting of others. And she was going to figure out the rest of it so she could get through to him. No matter what it took.

...

Itsuki finished talking to Ren, sighed, and approached once more.

"Naofumi."

Naofumi looked up. He hadn't noticed Itsuki approaching. He looked conflicted with himself for a second, but then, the next thing he knew, he'd received a party invitation from Itsuki to be a squad leader.

"What's this for?" Naofumi asked. 'Has Itsuki lost his mind?'

"You need to be with someone who is registered at the dragon hourglass to teleport to the wave. Since it's obvious that you haven't registered at the hourglass…" Itsuki looked away and grimaced. "I'll allow you to come along with me, so you can help out. Regardless of whether you mean what you're saying or not, it wouldn't be right to leave you behind when you're expected to fight in the Wave."

Naofumi stared at Itsuki, allowing his words to sink in. "You're saying you need to be registered to fight in the wave?" The Shield Hero asked.

"Yes. It was even written in the help guide. You have read it, right?" Itsuki asked condescendingly.

Yep, he was still a jerk. An arrogant, self-righteous jerk.

Naofumi didn't respond as he quickly pulled up his help menu and looked at the section on fighting the waves. His eyes slightly widened when he saw that Itsuki was right. Had that information been there before? He could have sworn that he had combed over every inch of the guide multiple times. And yet, he'd never noticed this section earlier. 'You mean, unless we're registered or partying up with someone who's registered, we won't teleport to the wave?!'

...

"Well, Naofumi?" Itsuki asked.

Naofumi barely heard him. He was thinking to himself at that moment. Itsuki's words had made several realizations come to his mind. 'We aren't going to be forced to teleport there. That means, technically, we aren't required to fight in any of these waves. We could just walk away from all this and cut ties with everyone here… we could run away and never look back… besides, I'm sure the three other heroes could handle themselves just fine...'

He glanced from Itsuki and saw Raphtalia, who was staring away from him down the street.

His thoughts about running away, which had seemed so confident before, burned away. Inside, he felt something constrict in his chest. 'But if I were to do that, then I'd risk more people having to go through what Raphtalia went through… and I'd have to face the guilt of letting those innocent people die when I could have helped... and after Raphtalia went through so much during these last few weeks so she could prevent a repeat of what had happened to her village... am I really that evil to be okay with that?'

...

He realized, not only in his mind but in his heart that he couldn't do that. Even if most people would rather treat him like crap for being the Shield Hero. He couldn't stand by and let innocent people die. After all, good had to start somewhere. And if they weren't willing to take that step because they thought he was the devil, then he'd have to take that step himself to prove them wrong.

"How long is it until the wave?" Naofumi asked.

Itsuki became confused. "About fifteen minutes." He said.

'I could accept Itsuki's invite and teleport with his squad… but he obviously doesn't trust me. But the Church is five minutes away, and they already hate me for no reason…'

Naofumi refused the party invitation and turned to walk away. Not in the direction of the exit of the town, but towards the Three Heroes Church.

Raphtalia, already having a feeling what her Master was planning, followed behind him. She was smiling a little, feeling proud of her Master for deciding to fight. 'I'm not going off the back of one of these losers. If I'm going to fight in the wave, I'm going to fight under my rules, not theirs.'

It took a few seconds for Itsuki to overcome his shock at Naofumi rejecting a chance to join him in fighting the Wave of Catastrophe. "Naofumi, what are you doing?!" He angrily asked. "Are you really being a coward now!"

"It's simple, really. I'm going to fight the Wave." Naofumi dryly responded.

"And how are you going to do that?!" Itsuki demanded the answer.

"I'm registering at the Church's Dragon Hourglass, whether they want me to or not," Naofumi responded back dryly. 'Even if they hate me, they won't stop me from helping out in the wave, right?'

"Pay close attention to those bastards in the future. One day, they might be the ones targeting you."

---

The two robed priests backed away from the locked doors. Looks of fear were on their faces. Surely this would hold the Shield Hero back, right?

"Air Strike Shield!"

A green translucent shield slammed into the doors, bursting them wide open. The Barbarian Armor-clad Naofumi stood in front of the open doors, his hand still extended out in front of him.

"You monster! These ornamented doors are priceless!" One of the priests cried. Indeed, with how much wealth the Church had accumulated over the centuries, even their doors were made of the best materials. Inlaid with the finest cut gems.

Some of which had been cracked by the force of the Air Strike Shield.

"It's all your fault for trying to lock me out and for keeping me from registering at the Dragon Hourglass to fight the wave," Naofumi said blandly.

"We'll stop you Shield Demon! You might have decided to attack us right as most of our Knights were preparing for the wave! But we'll allow no devil to step foot on the ground of this Holy Sanctuary!" One of the priests yelled. Naofumi got the impression that they were still ignoring what he'd been trying to tell them the whole blasted time.

Were they really that ignorant? Geez, he was starting to hate these religious fanatics.

The priests turned around, both of them raising their hands at the double doorway behind them. "As source of thy power-" They started to chant. Preparing to use magic to lock the doors like the last one.

'I guess they won't listen.' He figured he didn't have a choice.

"Shield Prison!"

"Augh!" The set of priests found themselves encased in a green-plated green chain ball.

"Change Shield! Animal Needle Paralysis Shield!"

A series of thin spikes appeared out of the walls inside the Shield. The screams of the two priests were quickly cut off. A second later the Shield Prison disappeared, and they fell on the ground, small holes poked into their robes. Both of them twitched, but couldn't move because of the paralysis status effect they were under.

'I still can't do damage… but that shield's definitely going to come in handy.' At least some good came from that damn porcupine quill. Not only did it allow him to use SP to add needles to the inside of Shield Prison, but for an extra SP cost, he could add a status effect to the needles too. Though he only had paralysis and poison unlocked so far. Naofumi walked past the two downed priests.

"Master Naofumi, did you have to do that to them?" A hooded Raphtalia asked as she caught up to him. She'd finished leading away one of the knight squads that the two of them had run into earlier.

"They kept on locking every door in between me and them. I got annoyed with it." Naofumi replied dryly.

Raphtalia pursed his lips but decided not to press it. "Besides, the Church already hates me for being the Shield Hero." His shield on his arm changed to its default form. "Might as well give them an excuse!"

Naofumi slammed the shield into the doors, damaging them while throwing them open. On the other side was a large dome-like room. On both sides, arranged in columns, nuns and priests who'd been in the middle of some prayer session turned to look at the source of the noise that had interrupted them. There had to be dozens of them.

'Aw hell, I wasn't expecting there to be this many-' However, before he could think of anything else, they all stood up and began to scramble away in fear.

"The devil of the Shield is in the Dragon Hourglass Sanctuary!"

"Our Gods have failed to protect us!"

"Run, run for your lives!"

They all yelled various things as they rushed for the exits to the room. Naofumi stood in stunned silence for several seconds.

'I never thought that being feared as the Shield Demon could have its upsides.' He almost wanted to start pretending that he was a demon right here and now to see how scared he could really make these low leveled nuns and priests. Bow! BOW BEFORE THE DEVIL OF THE SHIELD IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIFE! BUWHAHAHAHAHAHA!

...

He got the feeling that Raphtalia wouldn't approve for some reason.

"Master Naofumi, up there!" Raphtalia pointed up.

Naofumi looked up above. He saw the Dragon Hourglass from below for the first time. However, he didn't have the time to try and examine it right now. It had taken him slightly longer to go through the Church than he'd expected thanks to those two priests, and he could see that the sand was almost depleted in the top portion of the hourglass.

"Alright, Raphtalia-"

"There he is! Stop him!"

Naofumi turned around and saw that a squad of Knights was running down the hallway, heading for him. It was the original squad that Raphtalia had distracted so Naofumi could get into the Church. Raphtalia thought that she'd lost them, but they must have figured out what Naofumi's target was and found them.

Still, it was too late. Just before the Knights could charge through the double doorway, the hooded Raphtalia slammed the doors shut on them. She then held them closed against the squad of Knights that cursed and pushed on the other side. Their strength wasn't a match compared to Raphtalia. "Master Naofumi! Hurry!" She yelled to him.

Naofumi wasted no time in taking the steps three at a time. He wanted to suggest for them to run, but the Tanuki girl came up with an even better plan. 'Thank you, Raphtalia!'

On the opposite side of Raphtalia, another group of Church knights burst through a different set of double doors. These had been called in by the fleeing priests and nuns. "Up there! Stop that devil!" The knight upfront, who must have been their superior, ordered.

Naofumi booked it up the last flight of stairs to stand on the balcony in front of the Dragon Hourglass. Here, the Dragon hourglass looked much more magnificent. On both sides, gold dragons looked to be taking flight, staring away from the Dragon Hourglass itself. Two red gems shaped like eyes looked back at Naofumi from the center of the hourglass.

"We've got you now Shield Demon-" The second squad of knights was running up the opposite set of stairs.

"Air Strike Shield!"

A green shield was thrust out from his palm and down into the squad of Knights. The zealots, who hadn't expected the Shield Demon to have such a skill, were hit by it with the force of a sledgehammer. Sending most of them falling backward back down the stairs.

'Now that they're out of the way, according to what I read in the Help Guide on the way here, I'm supposed to simply…' He revealed his Shield from under his cloak and approached the Dragon Hourglass. He hoped that it really was that simple, otherwise, he and Raphtalia were about to be in for a world of trouble.

A green beam of light came out from his Shield, hitting the center of the Dragon Hourglass. Had there been any priests or nuns remaining in the room, they would have found the scene blasphemous. The Dragon Hourglass was allowing the devil's Shield to interact with it.

After a second, the beam stopped. Then, finally, a purple hourglass symbol timer appeared in Naofumi's vision.

00:00:15

'Ha, just in time!'

"That does it!"

Naofumi boredly looked down again at the squad of knights that finally came running onto the same platform as him. Raphtalia watched with concern from down below, still trying her best to hold the doors back. "We've got you now Devil!" The Church Knight yelled.

Naofumi was silent for a few seconds, and then he smiled widely. Unnerving a few of the knights. "Do you now?" He asked.

00:00:00

Behind him, the sand finished emptying into the bottom of the hourglass, and a bell sound rang loudly through the air. The Knights looked around in surprise, and then light started to surround Naofumi and Raphtalia down below. Outside, the sky turned a strange blood-red color. Naofumi made a rude gesture at the Knights with his middle finger.

"Better luck next time, losers."

"No, stop him!" The Knights charged forward. But Naofumi and Raphtalia disappeared into the light right as the knights tackled the ground where Naofumi had been standing. It was like watching a heap of metal cussing at itself in front of the Dragon Hourglass.

Down below, the other squad of Church Knights came charging in, looking confusedly around for the demi-human and Shield Hero that had disappeared.

"Curse you Shield DEMON!" The Church Knight yelled to the air.

---

"Al-Altara?"

The middle-aged nun sighed to herself as she closed the volume that she'd been reading from. Today was the day of the wave, and she'd just been about to finish her studies and head down to the Dragon Hourglass Sanctuary to pray with the other nuns and priests for the success of the heroes during the wave when she'd been interrupted. "What is it, Alice?" She asked.

"Um, well, I was sent to inform you, that, um…"

Altara sighed again and opened the door on her surprised and clearly nervous acolyte. "Just spit it out already. I don't have all day, child."

The blonde-haired girl nervously gulped and moved a hand through her hair. "The, the Shield Hero just broke into the Church and registered at the Dragon Hourglass, my lady. The knights and Shadows didn't see him coming until it was too late." She muttered quietly.

…

Altara's left eyebrow twitched angrily. Alice quickly turned around and ran away. Not wanting to face the middle-aged nun's wrath. 'You mean, not only is that devil still alive, but he also broke into our holy Sanctuary, and-'

"Am I surrounded by imbeciles!?" Altara's angry scream echoed throughout the Church. "How could you let that devil roam our halls like he was God himself!? Idiots, the lot of you!"

Soon after, she slammed her door shut behind her. Those who had been outside nearby trembled in fear.

'I can't believe this! It's like every human left here is an imbecile!' The Holy Sanctuary had obviously been defiled, so she'd pray, alone, in her holy room.

She'd pray that the other heroes would fend off the wave. That none of them would be hurt. She'd pray for the husband and children she lost long ago to help her and the others to remain steadfast.

And she'd pray that God, in his infinite mercy, would smite the Shield Demon for daring to not only live but step foot in and defile the holiest of places to her in this world.

---

Naofumi and Raphtalia came out of the light onto the top of a hill. All around down below them was a forest. "I still can't believe you thought breaking into the Three Heroes Church was a good idea, Master Naofumi," Raphtalia said.

"Yeah, well it's their fault their priests didn't want me to register for the wave. Now, where are we Raphtalia?" Naofumi asked, looking around. It seemed familiar, but he didn't know why.

"Master Naofumi?!" Raphtalia gasped in shock, looking up to the sky. Naofumi looked up as well, and his face became flat.

Several swirling masses of purple moved across the sky in front of them. Each mass connected by a pink comet-like trail. The Wave of Catastrophe.

'It looks… bigger than I imagined it being.' He understood why it was a world-ending event now. This thing was massive. He then looked over at Raphtalia and saw that she was shaking while looking up at the wave.

He understood why. The last time she'd seen a Wave of Catastrophe, it had killed her parents and destroyed her home. "We're not allowing the same thing to happen again."

She looked at him, and her shaking stopped. She nodded, and they looked back up in time to see hundreds of different monsters come flying out of the purple masses in the sky and down towards the forest below. 'So, they're a lot like portals, huh?' He was shocked at just how many there were. 'This is definitely not a game. This is real.'

He suddenly heard a rockfall below him and looked down to see Motoyasu and the other heroes with their parties running through the forest towards the oncoming wave. "Let's move Raphtalia!" He said to her.

He began to move forward, determined to show how strong he and Raphtalia had become. However, the girl looked to the side and gasped at what she saw. She realized why the area looked familiar. "Look over there! The village of Lute!" She yelled in worry.

Naofumi's original thought process stopped. He realized why he could recognize the area now. Hell, he could recognize the cliffs in the distance as easily as the village near the base of them. "The hell!?" Naofumi quickly reined in his shock. "Was everyone evacuated?" He asked worriedly.

A loud pop sounded, and a flare started to rise into the air outside the village. 'Damn it! How can they evacuate?! The wave just started, and they had no idea where it'd hit!'

He saw more undead creatures starting to fall inside and around the village, making craters wherever they landed. "The castle isn't far away, but by the time the knights get here the village will be wiped out."

Naofumi gritted his teeth. 'Urgh… I can't just leave them defenseless! Some of them might not like me, but some of them helped me and Raphtalia! They don't deserve to die!'

"We're going!" Naofumi ordered. Raphtalia looked at him in surprise because of his tone. "To Lute Village!" He ran towards the village.

"Right!" Raphtalia said confidently as she grabbed her sword.

Instead of chasing after the other heroes, the two ran with all the speed they could muster towards Lute.

---

The village was crawling with all sorts of undead. Undead dimensional zombies. Undead dimensional bees. Undead dimensional skeletons. You named a monster you saw, it was likely to be A. Undead B. From another dimension. C. Rotting. And D. Very likely trying to kill anything living.

"Ahhhh!" A young villager screamed in fear as a skeleton armed with a sword raised its sword overhead.

Right as the monster brought down its sword, Naofumi got in the way, blocking it with his shield. Before the zombie could register the new threat, another sword sliced its head off. Raphtalia got her sword at the ready position as more monsters approached. "Sir, are you alright?!"

The man grunted an affirmative, he looked to be in pain from some wound. Naofumi quickly bandaged the man up while Raphtalia dispatched the other dimensional skeletons that approached them. A short while later, Naofumi was done, and no other monsters were nearby.

"Raphtalia, help this man and any other villagers you find to evacuate!" Naofumi ordered her.

Raphtalia looked to Naofumi in surprise. "But what about you?" She asked.

"Don't worry, I'll lure these meatheads away from anyone else. Join me again once the villagers have been cleared out!" Naofumi ordered.

"Right!" She replied. He ran off while Raphtalia escorted the hurt villager away. She killed another skeleton that tried to get in her way while doing that.

Up the street, he saw a large group of people surrounded by monsters. They were armed with pitchforks, pickaxes, and any other equipment they had on hand before the wave hit. However, most of them didn't look like fighters. Besides a couple of town guards and adventurers. And almost all of them looked afraid of the monsters slowly moving in to kill them all off.

As Naofumi approached, some of the villagers noticed him. "Huh, one of the heroes is here!"

"Which hero is it?!" Another asked.

"It's the Shield Hero! He's come to save us!"

"You mean the rapist Shield demon?" Someone asked more quietly.

Naofumi ran with his shield covering his head. Dimensional Bees slammed off of it as he charged forward. "Aaaahhhhhhhh!" With a guttural yell, he punched one of the skeletons.

Clang!

The attack did no damage, but it knocked it away from the villager, grabbing it and all the other zombie's attention. "Listen up everybody! Get out while you can! I'll distract the monsters for you!" He yelled, running between the large group of zombies away from the villagers. He punched several more as he went along. Getting more clangs as he did so.

It worked, the zombies started to follow Naofumi. The villagers who had been surrounded before sighed in relief.

"I don't care if he's called the rapist demon or not. That was a selfless thing to do, saving our lives." An old lady protected in the back of the group said.

One of the town guards looked to the villager who pointed out Naofumi as the Rapist Hero. "She has a point."

---

"Huah!" Raphtalia cut down another zombie standing in her way.

"Th-thank you." The latest almost victim joined the group of villagers that she was escorting.

"This way!" She continued to lead the initial person she and her Master had rescued, along with at least a half a dozen others towards the mines. As they were devoid of monsters, it'd provide not only shelter from the Wave but a decent chokepoint for the villagers to protect themselves.

The initial villager also mentioned that the Lord had weapons stored there. Just in case their village was struck by a Wave. They were glad the Lord had the foresight to prepare the village just in case this scenario happened.

Raphtalia cut down several more of the undead. Then, when they finally reached the perimeter of the village, another zombie shambled out towards them. She prepared to charge at it when it was suddenly cut down from behind, revealing a fully armed town guard escorting another group that was evacuating. The town guard quickly looked over Raphtalia and the other group of evacuees. "Is that everyone from that section of the village?"

"I, I'm not sure," Raphtalia answered. "I've been trying to save everyone I could find. My Master's going through the village, finding others that need help."

The guard frowned, but then several of his compatriots reappeared. "We've cleared a path to the mines. We don't know how long it'll stay safe though. Will got pretty hurt by a skeleton."

"Alright, let's get our people there first, then we'll-" The first guard that Raphtalia had run into replied when her attention was suddenly taken away by the sound of screaming somewhere. It sounded like a child's scream.

"I'll be right back!" Raphtalia quickly dashed out of the village.

"Wait, it's dangerous to go alone-" Raphtalia didn't listen. Her superior hearing helped to lead her away from the destroyed village. She ran uphill, darting around trees, cutting down the monsters that appeared in her path.

"Mommy! Daddy!"

The screaming got louder and louder. It was definitely a child's voice. It sounded familiar. It wasn't until after reaching a clearing in the woods that she found its source.

A boy stood next to a collapsed, burning house surrounded by a bunch of dimensional bees, zombies, and skeletons. The fire was in the back, and slowly moving towards the front. The kid was at the base of the house, trying to pull his parents out from underneath the collapsed wood beams. They were still alive. Raphtalia would have immediately rushed in to help, but she paused as she noticed the screaming kid was the same one who had beaned her with a ball as a child.

"Run, save yourself, son." The boy's father said.

"No, I'm not leaving you!" The son tried pulling with all his strength. But he was small, weak, unable to do a thing for his trapped parents.

"Please, get out of here. Before the monsters-" The mom coughed. "- the monsters get you too."

The boy looked behind him. He saw many skeletons, zombies, and bees approaching them. His body shook with fear. "But… but I can't leave you two." Thick, fat tears fell from his face.

"Your uncle will take care of you. You'll still have him-" The dad tried to say.

"No! It's because of Uncle that the other kids hate me! I don't want to be with him! I want to be with you!" He yelled at his parents.

"Son-"

"You hear that you stupid monsters! You can't have them! None of you can!" The kid stood up and defiantly, yet stupidly faced the horde of monsters.

It was that move that finally snapped Raphtalia out of her stupor. Even if he'd been a bully. Even if he hated her for being a different race. She understood better than anyone what it was like to lose her parents!

The monsters approached. The kid still stood tall, but he shook with fear. "Son, please, get away before it's too late-" The mom begged.

"No! I'm not leaving without you two!-" The boy was interrupted by the sound of a sword slashing through the air. He quickly turned around and his eyes widened in surprise.

An adventurer was slashing through the monsters left and right. She moved so quickly that, at first, he couldn't tell who she was, or what she was. The monsters quickly turned to face the new threat, but they never stood a chance. Having taken too much time to feast on the boy's sorrow and the parent's fear, they were unable to react to the Tanuki's surprise attack and she quickly wiped them all out.

Raphtalia finally stopped, sheathing her sword when all the monsters were killed. The boy's eyes widened in shock when he saw her ears and tail. Without saying a word to him, she ran up to where the boy's parents were buried, squatted down, and strained to lift the massive weight of the wooden beam and the rooftop debris that they were trapped under.

"Urghhhhh!" It was heavy, very much so.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" The boy finally yelled in shock.

"I, know what it's like to lose your parents," Raphtalia said through gritted teeth while straining all the muscles in her body. "That's why I promised, to never allow any child to go through what I went through, ever!" Her voice became a growl, and with all the strength she could muster, she was able to raise the collapsed wood beams just enough.

The boy, stunned by what was happening, almost didn't move to help his parents. However, he managed to come to just in time and helped to pull both of them out, just before Raphtalia's strength gave out and the wood beams collapsed. The rest of the house followed suit, and the fire that had begun out back finally spread to the front, consuming the rest of the wood.

"Why did you run off- holy hell!" Several of the guards from before reappeared. They stopped, however, seeing the dead monsters all around, as well as the crying boy hugging his hurt, but safe parents.

"I dealt with the monsters here. I'm going to try and find anyone else that needs help." Raphtalia said. Her voice sounded numb, but her eyes were determined.

The first town guard nodded. "Blake, help her out. The rest of you, we have another family to escort!"

The guard, Blake, quickly followed Raphtalia towards the village. She could hear more screams already. The rest of them helped the parents to get up, and with the boy in tow, made a beeline towards the mines.

---

Naofumi continued running down a small side street, looking around for people who were still alive.

"Ah! Aughhhhh!"

"Air Strike Shield!"

A shield appeared between another screaming villager and a skeleton, protecting the villager from the skeleton's sword. "Run, get out of here!" Naofumi yelled to the guy while he continued to run. The skeleton turned to chase Naofumi.

A swarm of dimensional bees flew past Naofumi, and he saw their target in front of him. A little girl and her mom were crying out in fear. "Mommy!" The girl screamed in fear.

"Shield Prison!"

Right before the dimensional bees could attack the two, a green ball of chains and plates surrounded the two. Deflecting the onslaught of bees. Naofumi ran past with the rest of the dimensional bees following him. "When that disappears, run away as fast as you can!" Naofumi yelled back.

Once more, he found himself punching another skeleton to get its attention off a small terrified family of two kids and their father. It did no damage, but the undead monster turned around to run after the Shield Hero. "Go, get out of here!" Naofumi yelled, running off so the zombies and other monsters chased after him.

One of his hands gripped his side. He felt an ache developing in it from running so strenuously. "Damn it." He muttered. 'I'm attracting them alright. But I don't have any way of getting rid of them!'

He ran towards a collapsed building that was on fire, sliding under a burning wooden beam to find if anyone was inside or not. The dimensional bees that had been closely pursuing him paused outside the fire, waiting for Naofumi to come out.

After a couple of seconds, Naofumi jumped back out. Wielding a fiery torch in one hand. The dimensional bees scattered when the fire got too close, but began to circle around Naofumi again. He was really glad that his shield wasn't counting the torch as a weapon, otherwise, he'd be a lot worse off than he was now. 'Good thing no one was inside.' The other monsters surrounded him.

"This way you stupid zombies! What's the matter, can't hold the pace?!" He taunted the undead around him, before running off again. The dimensional bees and skeleton zombies continued their pursuit.

He felt a sword strike at his armor, but his high defense made it glance off. A bee tried to sting him in the face, only for its stinger to break. He was truly the definition of a tank right now. He didn't have to worry about protecting himself. Right now, he was the Shield for everyone around him.

"Air Strike Shield!"

Another shield appeared, protecting a little girl for long enough that she could scramble away.

"Shield Prison!" He yelled again, trapping a group of zombies so an old lady could be helped out of the rubble by her son.

"Lasso!" He switched to the Rope Shield and trapped several dimensional bees together so another small group of villagers could escape the burning building they had been hiding in.

'Why am I risking my life to defend total strangers?' He breathed in and out heavily from the exertion. 'Most of them have done nothing for me, and I have nothing to gain from helping them.' He waved his torch in front of him, blocking a swarm of what looked like undead locusts from hitting him. He continued running for the next villager in the distance. One he couldn't even recognize from his brief time in Lute.

His tired face twisted into a scowl. 'I'm such a fool. But I have to help them in whatever way I can!'

He wouldn't let another tragedy like what happened to Raphtalia's village happen here too. It was the least he could do for these people.

"Air Strike Shield!"

---

"Everyone! Come this way! Hurry!" Raphtalia shouted to the villagers, directing them towards the rest station she and Naofumi had visited outside the coal mines. Some of the villagers went inside where others were huddled in fear. They gasped in relief when they were reunited with family, friends, and other loved ones.

"But, but the village was overrun-" A husband who worked as a miner thought he'd lost his wife and kids forever and was thus shocked and overjoyed at being reunited with them.

"It was the Shield Hero. He saved us by drawing the monster's attention from us." The wife said, still crying tears of joy at being alive and well.

Most of the villagers remaining outside had turned to face back towards the burning village. Where the Shield Hero who had helped most of them to escape was still at.

"Do you think he'll be okay, momma?" The little girl who was saved before by Naofumi's first Shield Prison asked.

"I don't know sweetheart. All we can do is pray for the Shield Hero." Her mom told her gently, trying to hold her fear at bay.

"I can't believe that the Devil of the Shield protected me." A man said in disbelief to his wife and kid, who held onto him tightly. "If it wasn't for him, I'd be… I'd..."

"Devil or not, he's the only hero I've seen in the village trying to save our lives." The villager who had first called Naofumi the rapist demon was now defending his name to his friends and fellow believers of the Three other Heroes. "And somebody who'd risk his life for people like us is no demon to me." The old lady who'd been saved with him looked at the young man approvingly.

Raphtalia looked towards the village. Not only worried about the villagers that were still left there, but also for Naofumi. 'He's already saved so many… but he must be getting so tired…'

"Raphtalia, right?" A deep voice asked.

Raphtalia turned around and saw the familiar heavy-set town guard from before. "Me and the rest of my men can set up defenses here. Right now, the Shield Hero needs your help." He said.

Raphtalia gave him a nod. "Thank you." She said gratefully. She turned and ran off back towards the village.

"Alright, men! Let's prepare to defend this area if we must!" The guard yelled to his men that had managed to evacuate because of Naofumi.

"Yes, sir!" They shouted in unison. Getting to work to make sure they could make the area defensible should the monsters of the Wave leak out to their location.

---

Naofumi breathed in and out heavily. His side was aching something terrible, even with his shield's powers. "This won't work. There are too many of these guys."

All around him, most of the monsters who had been initially interested in him had moved on, looking for prey with lower defense. Even the dimensional bees were ignoring him now. At the rate the monsters were losing interest in him, the village would be destroyed before he could gather them all away. It didn't help that he didn't have any solid offensive capabilities to use against them.

"I can't draw them away. I've got to minimize the damage to the village somehow."

Looking ahead, he saw a wooden guard watchtower poking up above the houses of the village. Having an idea come to mind, he ran for the tower. 'It'll cause a little bit of damage, but it should prevent a lot more if it works.'

"Air Strike Shield!"

He made another diagonal shield in front of the only zombie in the way and used it as a stepping stone to jump over the zombie. With the path now clear, he ran for the ladder of the guard tower. Still holding tightly to his torch since it'd be an essential part of his plan now.

"Get the hell out of here. Just stay back!" Two of the town guards, who had been caught off guard and didn't have the time to put on their armor, yelled at the monsters surrounding them. They brandished their swords threateningly at the undead that had them cornered. There were so many though, and the guard sounded more scared than confident when he yelled at them.

"Get away from me!" The other yelled, definitely in a scared voice. "Stay away, you hear what I said-"

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

At that moment, the guard tower's warning bell started to ring loudly again and again. At the sound of it, all the monsters in the area turned away from their targets and looked to the tower.

'Well, that part worked…' Naofumi looked down below at the monsters approaching from all around. Then he looked up at the sky that was still full of the swirling wave masses, releasing hordes of more monsters to fight. 'Why hasn't the wave stopped yet?' A look of frustration came onto his face. 'What are those guys doing? Aren't they supposed to take down the boss?! What the hell could they possibly be waiting for-'

The rest of his thoughts were cut off as the guard tower shook violently. He grimaced and looked down below, where zombie skeletons were climbing on top of each other. Trying to get up the ladder to reach him. Dimensional bees flew all around the Tower, trying to discover where the source of the noise had come from.

'Alright, I hope my Shield allows me to do this.' He dropped a bottle of oil he'd gotten for his lantern from a shop in Mirso Village a few days ago onto the floor and onto the ladder down into the face of the closest zombie. Hoping his own plan didn't kill him, he dropped the torch to the floor, immediately igniting the highly flammable liquid.

He didn't have an attack stat, but this wasn't him attacking. This was him setting fire to the environment.

The fire quickly traveled down the ladder to the zombies, which lit up even better than the dried tinder of the tower.

He jumped through the rapidly spreading flames. Gravity took its hold to bring him to what would be a painful landing with the ground down below. His Air Strike Shield still needed a moment to recharge, but luckily the other part of his shield was still usable. "Lasso!" The Rope Shield on his arm unraveled. Gripping it with both hands, he used the rope to try and catch himself onto a burning wooden beam. However, while it did slow him down, he had misjudged the beam's strength, and it broke almost immediately after catching himself on it with the rope. The rest of the building collapsed around him in a heap of rubble.

Naofumi groaned as he pulled himself out of it. 'At least I'm alive.' He looked back at the burning guard tower. All the zombies that had been around it were being consumed by the flames. The guard tower itself collapsed into the town square, squashing swarms of dimensional bees and more zombies under it. Yes, environmental damage did work!

But even though the monsters were dying, he got no EXP for it. It made sense, since it was the fire or building killing them and not himself.

Still, despite all the monsters that were killed, more zombies began to appear from different streets. The remaining dimensional bees were being joined by more of their brothers and sisters coming out of the portals up above. 'I don't have any more ideas. There's nothing I can do-'

"Hahhhhhh!"

Raphtalia appeared from behind the skeletons. Beheading the whole group in one smooth motion. "Master Naofumi!" She called, running towards the pile of rubble that he was buried in.

"Raphtalia?!" Naofumi was surprised. "But, but the villagers!- *Cough* *Cough*" Naofumi tried to say before he started to choke on the dust particles around him.

"Lute's town guards are setting up defenses for them at the coal mine. I found the last group and convinced them to evacuate. Right now you need me more." She said determinedly, refusing to leave as she pulled him from the rubble. After she'd pulled him out, she handed him a glass bottle filled with a liquid.

"What is this?" He asked, not recognizing it.

"It's a high-quality healing potion. I helped the monster part shop owner to evacuate on my way here and he told me to give this to you." Raphtalia quickly explained.

Now that she said it, it looked familiar to what Elhart had packed in his pack. Naofumi drank it and sighed in relief as he felt the pain of the injuries that he'd received during his fall numbing and then starting to disappear. Even the one that he'd acquired in his shoulder from the porcupine a couple of days ago healed over.

He was more than happy to accept this freebie. Even basic health potions were well outside his budget because the waves were making their price soar. He briefly wondered if his compounding skill would eventually allow him to brew such potions as well. They could bring in quite a lot of money. Questions for later, he supposed.

"Alright, but stay close." He ordered, as more zombies and dimensional bees appeared around them. 'I didn't want her in the main fighting since she doesn't have any armor, but I guess I have no choice if we want to deal with these things.'

"Got it!" Raphtalia replied.

For the next few minutes, all Naofumi saw was fighting. He punched, he defended with his shield, he took the enemies' attention away so that Raphtalia could sneak in and dispatch them with one slice of her deadly sword. Without having to worry about the safety of the villagers anymore, the two were finally able to fight, focusing on protecting each other and the properties of the villagers around them.

Naofumi could be angry about not having a usable attack stat all he wanted. But his skillset made him perfectly capable of defending Raphtalia from these simple monsters so she could easily dispatch them. Unlike earlier, now, experience notifications flooded across his vision thanks to his companion.

"Shield Prison!" Naofumi yelled. He was being more careful using his skills. His SP bar slowly recharged as they fought, but not fast enough for him to use his skills left and right.

The familiar green plate and chain shield wrapped around a large zombie, leaving only the head visible. It struggled in vain to try and get its body below its neck to escape in time. "Hahhhh!" Raphtalia jumped over it, slicing her sword through the center of its head in the process. She then used its body to jump high into the air and slice through a swarm of dimensional bees.

Naofumi turned to the side, seeing another group of zombies approaching. "Air Strike Shield!"

The green shield thrust outwards from his open palm and went flying towards the zombies. It impacted the center of each one, sending them flying back. "Now, Raphtalia!" Naofumi ordered.

Raphtalia quickly ran back from the group of monsters that she had been turning into her latest victims. Cleanly slicing off their heads before they could get back up from the ground whilst running by.

Naofumi punched away another bee and then saw a large zombie bringing its massive arm down towards him. He barely raised his shield in time, blocking the oncoming blow from it. It still pushed him down onto one knee, and his HP bar dropped slightly.

Before the massive zombie could raise its fist up again for another strike, a series of gashes appeared on its body all at once. Blood burst out simultaneously from all of them, and then Raphtalia landed on the ground next to him. "Are you alright Master Naofumi?" She asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Good job Raphtalia." He said as the large zombie fell away. He looked back up around them. They had already increased two levels and were close to another level up from fighting all these monsters, but more were still appearing all around them.

"Lasso!" His shield let out a length of rope, and it wrapped around another group of zombie skeletons. Immobilizing them for long enough that Raphtalia was able to dispatch all of them. He then charged in and jumped into a large zombie warrior's face, allowing Raphtalia to come in from the side and dispatch it in a series of quick slashes.

"Their numbers aren't diminishing." Raphtalia was heavily breathing.

"Guess that means we'll have to keep on fighting," Naofumi muttered just as tiredly. Seeing the waves of monsters in front of them not slowing down.

Before the two could charge forward, Naofumi heard a series of loud sounds and looked up to see several streaks of yellow light shooting into the air from outside the village. "What's that?" Naofumi asked, shocked by its appearance.

The lights met up far above and then coalesced into a bright yellow ball that exploded soon after and rained down arrows of light around them. Naofumi's eyes widened at it.

"Look out!" He quickly grabbed Raphtalia and put his shield above them both. It changed into his light metal shield, and a blue dome of protective magical energy appeared over them. The arrows hit against it and the ground and buildings all around. Raphtalia could do nothing but watch in wide-eyed shock from underneath Naofumi's cloak at what was happening outside their dome of protection. The monsters were all killed, but buildings, carts, and anything else outside his immediate area was also hit by the arrows. Damaging, or in some cases, completely destroying whatever they touched in the process.

'What the hell. That did more damage to the village than the monsters!' Naofumi looked furious. 'Just who would be stupid enough to do something like-!'

"Well now, this is a surprise."

A group of knights walked out from the wall of smoke that surrounded the area now. "The Shield Hero here? I knew we were dispatched to take out the monsters, but I didn't think I'd get lucky enough to get a shot at you too after hearing that you broke into the Three Heroes Church." A mustached knight said smugly.

"Are you &^%$#!# kidding me, are they trying to kill us while we're fighting the Wave for them?" Naofumi muttered to himself.

Raphtalia's eyes shone with righteous fury. A growl escaped her lips. Before Naofumi could do anything, she flew right out from under his cloak and tried to strike at the knight.

Unfortunately, one of the knights beside him got in front of his officer just in time to deflect the blade. However, the look on the mustached knight's face was priceless at how he'd almost been beheaded. "Did you know Master Naofumi was here?!" She asked threateningly. "Answer me or I'll have your head!"

The knight looked back at the others. "Draw swords." He ordered his comrades.

Raphtalia backed away as the other knights took out their swords. "What's this demi-human doing with the Shield Hero?" The mustached knight asked, recomposing himself to be the brave and fearless leader again. "I thought he ran away from the Capital alone."

"I am Master Naofumi's sword." She said in a calm angry tone. "Anyone against him has to go through me!"

"Damn demi. How dare you point your blade at the royal knights alongside that piece of filth!" The mustached knight responded in the same condescending tone. It sounded familiar.

'Wait, it can't be. Isn't that the guy who tried to capture me when I was escaping the Capital?' Naofumi groaned.

Raphtalia's lips curled, and she looked ready to kill the knight if she had to. "What type of knight neglects the people that he's supposed to defend!? What person would release a powerful attack to try and kill one of the Cardinal Heroes!?" She asked.

She recognized who this knight was too. She remembered his voice over the many others from that scary night after she'd been bought. But even more than that, she remembered his face. From the day when her village had been raided by the white-robed nun.

"... Raphtalia, forget it." The Shield Hero said as he approached beside her.

"But, I-" She tried to respond.

"Just let it go. It's not worth it." Naofumi responded blandly, gripping one of her shoulders to let her know he was being serious.

"Excellent advice Shield Hero. If you stay out of our way, we'll even make sure to not beat you too much on our way to see his Majesty for breaking into the Three Heroes Church, alongside your other crimes." The Royal Knight Commander said with a smug smile.

"I guess you're right," Naofumi said, much to the knight's surprise. "I guess it does look like I broke into the Three Heroes Church since I couldn't register for the wave anywhere else." He pointed out. "So if you'd rather not have me fight, then I suppose I could just sit back, and watch the zombies munch on all you morons." His face took on an evil look.

"Which wouldn't be the worst idea for scum like you!"

At that moment, the knights finally realized that a large zombie with reinforcements had appeared right behind them. The mustached knight turned around, and his face took on a look of fear. "Hold your ground, get into formation!" He ordered the other knights quickly. However, the large zombie was already striking down at him with its large arm. He came so close to screaming like a girl.

Ksch!

A loud sound emitted as Naofumi blocked the strike with his shield, and the knight fell back onto the ground in shock. 'Did they really think that I was so evil that I would stand back and do nothing? This knight's opinion of me must be as low as the King's.' "So, do you still want me to stand off to the side and do nothing, you idiot?!" He sarcastically asked the knight on the ground. "Now Raphtalia!" He ordered.

Raphtalia jumped over Naofumi onto the zombie's arm. And then jumped forward, slicing through its head and chest. The large zombie fell on the ground dead. Raphtalia landed next to Naofumi, and both of them faced the horde of monsters approaching them.

"I didn't break into the Church to cause trouble! I only did it so I could do my job and fight off this wave! If any of you believe me, then listen up! We're going to buy you time! Use it to get into formation so we can protect the village together!" Naofumi yelled, not looking away from the monsters. "Raphtalia, take off!" He ordered.

"Got it!" Raphtalia yelled, running forward to slice another zombie's head off. She succeeded, and Naofumi took her place, blocking a revenge strike aimed for her by another skeleton. Then Raphtalia took his place, killing the monster that had tried to strike at Naofumi. The two kept on working together in this way, taking down monster after monster. Even the other large zombie of the group didn't stand a chance, with Raphtalia jumping onto its head and stabbing down into it. It fell to the ground, revealing a knight who stood there in awe, watching the Shield Hero and his companion work.

"Let the Shield handle this!" The Royal Knight Commander yelled. "We'll let them exhaust themselves, and then take them captive after the wave ends!" He walked away as he ordered the rest of the knights to fall back.

However, the vice-captain who'd originally blocked Raphtalia's strike stood in his spot. He and a few of the other knights looked uncertain about doing this to the Shield Hero. Especially since that put the village at an even bigger risk. "Get over here! That's an order!" The Commander yelled at them.

Naofumi blocked another strike with his shield, and then Raphtalia took his place dispatching the zombie. The vice-captain stared hard at them both as if he was having an internal conflict within himself. Seeing the burning buildings around him though, knowing that the fires had been caused by their own foolishness, he finally made his decision.

"All Knights! Support the Shield Hero! Phalanx Formation!"

Ake and the other knights looked surprised but then smiled widely. They quickly gathered in front of the Vice-Captain in two rows, their swords, and shields at the ready. "Phalanx formation!" They all yelled enthusiastically.

The captain pointed his sword forward. "Charge!"

The group of young knights charged forward, screaming as their formation cut into the ranks of the monsters. The knights easily dispatched the zombies and dimensional bees left and right with a bloodthirsty excitement that was marvelous to behold.

"Master Naofumi!" Raphtalia yelled to a tired Naofumi. "Look at the knights!"

Naofumi stared in surprise at the knights that were supporting him and Raphtalia. 'They actually decided to help us'

The Royal Commander grimaced. "Those idiots." He muttered to himself, however, he and the two other knights with him didn't walk away.

Naofumi finally smiled a small smile. 'I think we'll be able to hold them off now.' He saw another large zombie burst from a wall to the right of the knight's formation.

"Shield Prison!" He yelled again.

Just like the previous one he used the skill on, this one was encased up to its neck before it could strike down at the surprised blonde knight, Ake. Ake, in turn, looked at Naofumi. "Is this the same Shield Hero I saw that one night?" He murmured to himself out loud.

He remembered that night well. How the Shield Hero at only level one had burst through a shield wall he and the other knights had set up. Destroying all their shields and armor in the process. He had been told like all the other knights that he was a threat and needed to be captured.

"But he just saved our lives." He muttered to himself.

"Hah!" Raphtalia appeared from behind the trapped large zombie and sliced up its back through its head. When the Shield Prison disappeared, it fell forward. Blood oozing from out the large cut.

"Air Strike Shield!" It was the last of his SP.

Naofumi had already turned, forming another shield in the air below Raphtalia. She landed on it and used it as a springboard to jump onto the roof of a building. She ran across it before jumping back down. Bringing her sword down in a horizontal arc that sliced off the heads of two large zombies and several dimensional bees.

Naofumi appeared beside her, blocking an attack to her head with his shield again. All around them the knights pressed at the ranks of the monsters. Destroying many, and pushing the rest farther and farther away. "Come on! Their numbers are starting to thin!" Naofumi said excitedly. He and the knights continued to fight against the monsters.

After some time, as they finally reached the perimeter of the village, Raphtalia felt a change in the air. The same thing that had happened when the three-headed Cerberus dog was killed in her village. She looked up, realizing what it was. "Master Naofumi. The sky."

Naofumi looked up. At that moment, the swirling portals of the wave up in the sky glowed brightly. Then, after the brightness faded, it revealed a normal blue sky, with the sun closer to the western horizon than it had been before.

"We, we actually did it," Naofumi muttered to himself.

It had taken almost half of the day. But the wave of Catastrophe had finally ended.

As if on cue, the remaining zombies that stood in front of them shrieked in pain at the appearance of the sun. The dimensional bees fled into the forest outside the village, suddenly looking a lot weaker than they had been before. The skeleton zombies and large zombie warriors started to fall into heaps of armor and bones onto the ground. The remaining knights that were still standing looked around themselves happily.

"We did it!" One of them yelled.

"We fought off the monsters!"

"Woohoo!"

The knights gathered together, basking in the victory they had obtained by protecting Lute Village. Naofumi looked towards them, his face as calm as ever. 'As much as I don't like them, at least they helped us...'

"Master Naofumi."

Naofumi turned, and Raphtalia approached with some of the monster materials and corpses that had been lying on the ground. "I can go through the rest of the village to make sure there are no more monsters while grabbing these." She said.

Naofumi took the materials from her. He was oddly reminded of the days when he first trained her to gather monster materials after the fighting was done. "Go ahead. Make sure the villagers know that it's safe to come back. And check the forest for more monsters while you're at it." Naofumi ordered her. He was already absorbing some of the monster corpses into his shield while placing the monster materials in his backpack.

Raphtalia gave him a nod and then ran off to do as he said.

"So, the Shield Hero doesn't keep a leash on his demi-human."

Naofumi turned from where Raphtalia had run off to face the smirking Royal Knight Commander. "That's too bad since it would have been better to bring you both in before his Majesty." He said. "I guess we'll have to settle with stripping you of everything and throwing you into the dungeons in the name of the King." Naofumi noticed the Knight Commander had at least dropped breaking into the Church off his list.

Naofumi glared at the guy. "Do you want to make me regret saving your life earlier?" He asked, his tone filled with venom.

The knight laughed at him. "I don't care how many times you save my life Demon, I'm supposed to bring you before the King. And I'm going to do just that." He said.

Naofumi glared at him and the other knights and was about to say something when the vice-captain stepped forward. "We won't be bringing the Shield Hero in on arrest charges, nor will we be stripping him of his equipment. Rather he'll be invited as a guest for the celebration the King has prepared for the Cardinal Heroes."

The Commander looked at his subordinate. "What?!" He yelled down at him as if he'd gone mad.

The vice-captain coldly glared up at his superior officer. "He is one of the four Cardinal Heroes, who helped to protect one of our Kingdom's villages, unlike you, sir. Whatever his misdeeds were in the past, he can be forgiven for this one night of celebration in the face of your blunder, can he not? If I recall, he also saved your life. You owe him a debt of gratitude." The man sounded smug as he crossed his arms.

His superior gave him a look of menace The vice-captain's cold face only became colder. "Or would you rather have me tell the Queen about how her cowardly commander tried to destroy the village instead of fighting the monsters?" He calmly asked.

The Commander gritted his teeth. "Are you threatening me-"

"If that isn't enough, I guess I could just stand aside and let the demi-human have at you when she learns you tried to arrest the Shield Hero." The vice-captain added, looking down at his gauntlets boredly as if examining them was more interesting than protecting his superior.

...

A look of fear came over the Knight Commander. If he was being honest, he had never felt more scared of anything before in his entire life. The look of hatred that had been on that girl's face... And if his knights wouldn't protect him…

The Commander huffed. "Fine, for this one night, I swear on my honor as the Royal Knight Commander that the Shield Hero and his demi-human will be allowed inside the Capital and granted immunity from arrest for their previous crimes. But I make no promises for what his Majesty might do during that time!" He walked off with his two subordinates to find the other heroes.

Naofumi looked from the three to the vice-captain. "What was that?" He asked.

The vice-captain looked at him coldly as well, before sighing and looking away. "You saved our village. No matter your past misdeeds, you deserve a reward like the other Cardinal Heroes. So, if you choose, feel free to join the celebration at the palace." He said calmly.

"Okay. Sure, and I think the King would love to have me there." Naofumi responded sarcastically. Why return when he could just take off with Raphtalia after they were done with the cleanup?

"Our commander swore on his title that no soldier there would touch you. Being the Royal Commander of all of Melromarc's forces, not even the King can write a royal decree to try and break such an oath. It's a promise that for at least one night you will have diplomatic immunity inside of Castle Town." The Captain explained. "Breaking that oath will mean he'll lose his head."

...

Naofumi thought to himself calmly. 'If I go, the King might still try to pull something off on me… but I'd be able to stop by Elhart's shop to get Raphtalia's armor. And maybe the apothecary to learn how to make better medicines and those Healing Potions if I have time…' Plus, if that bastard did break his oath, hmmm...

Naofumi nodded. He was seeing more pros than cons from this.

Plus, he was oddly tempted by the idea of flaunting his diplomatic immunity at the King's party and watching the man glare at him while being unable to do anything. That last part seemed particularly appealing to him. Surely that would be reward enough? "I'll come then," Naofumi responded.

The vice-captain gave him a curt nod and looked at his fellow knights. "Let's go back and inform his Majesty of what happened here." He ordered them. "And by that, I mean all of us. And not our fame stealing Commander."

"Sir yes sir!" And with that, the Captain and the rest of the knights left to return to the Capital. Leaving Naofumi to ponder over the decision he'd made.

---

A couple of hours later

Naofumi stood at the entrance of the village, looking out towards the road leading to the Capital. Behind him, various villagers who'd come back from the coal mines were hard at work cleaning up the place. A couple of them were still being bandaged. A few stood over several graves. The few that Naofumi had failed to save.

He looked down at the ground in shame. 'Damn it! I tried so hard to keep everyone alive and I still failed!'

That had been the worst part of the last couple of hours. Seeing the bodies of those he'd failed to save being lowered down into the ground. He almost swore that he recognized two of them. Not from his past time being in Lute, but because he had used a skill or a fist or, or something to save them from a skeleton. A swarm of bees. Then he'd run away hoping they'd known how to get out of there as there were more to save...

He'd tried looking towards the graves, but seeing a daughter and her father crying over where their dead mother and wife had been buried brought tears to his eyes. He faced away so nobody would see them. The woman had been one of the two he recognized. And now he'd failed her family in keeping her alive.

'DAMN IT!' He wanted so badly to just punch something and for that punch to do something.

...

"Master Naofumi…"

...

"What is it Raphtalia?" Naofumi asked tiredly.

"There aren't any more monsters here. I killed them all." She said. Her voice, for once, wasn't filled with emotion. Rather, it seemed she was still in a state of shock.

...

"That's good," Naofumi responded tiredly.

"I guess it is… but did we win?" She asked.

Naofumi glanced back at the fresh graves from before. There had to be at least half a dozen that had been buried in the town's graveyard. 'I don't know if this was a win if I'm being honest…' He was sad. It seemed like so many people. Especially when a couple of them had been ones he tried to save...

"Sir Hero!" A voice called out behind him.

"Hmmm?" Naofumi turned at the voice.

The Lord of Lute and many more of the townspeople stood behind him. The Lord was bowing to Naofumi. "Thank you very much. Please accept our gratitude, there's no way we ever could have survived without your help and courage."

Naofumi was caught off guard by the Lord's statement. "Well it wasn't me, we were lucky," Naofumi responded.

"No, if you and your friend hadn't been here, we would have never been able to push those monsters back all on our own." A younger villager who had been fighting the monsters said.

"Our homes would have been destroyed." A woman holding a little girl said. "We'd have nothing. But thanks to you, we still have something."

"We'll never forget what you've done for us." A big burly town guard said. All the villagers bowed with their lord.

"None of us will." The villager who'd called Naofumi the Rapist demon before said determinedly.

...

"Yeah, whatever," Naofumi said while turning around. Again, he felt tears pricking at his eyes. 'Damn them!' People had died, yes, but many more had survived because of him and Raphtalia. He might have failed those people, but he had managed to save their friends and loved ones.

That had to count for something… right?

The villagers eventually turned away and walked back towards their various homes.

"Master Naofumi, they looked truly grateful," Raphtalia said more happily to him. Her eyes were focused on one of the villagers holding a little sleeping girl lovingly to her shoulder.

"I… I guess," Naofumi said tiredly.

"Well, one thing's for sure at least." She looked down at the ground. "We did save some kids from going through what I did…"

"... yeah. We did…"

…

"... Master Naofumi… …" Raphtalia sniffled. The bout of happiness had finally pulled her out of her shock. Now, the emotions that had been held back by it were unleashed. "I killed, so many monsters." She said, holding back tears from her eyes.

Naofumi turned to look at her. His eyes, though tired, were sad as well. 'I wonder how much she had to fight against her memories of the wave that destroyed her town during today…' He felt guilty that she had to go through it to protect him...

"Come here." He said, embracing her in a hug. One of his hands moving to rub calming circles on the back of her head. She finally let the tears start falling onto his shoulder as she cried.

Had he noticed, he would have realized it should have been impossible for her tears to reach that high since the top of her head barely reached his shoulder. But he didn't.

"I killed so many… but the pain from watching my village getting destroyed isn't gone." She cried harder.

"It's okay Raphtalia. I'm proud of you." He told her quietly, trusting her with being this close even out in the open where everyone could see them. "You helped the people here Raphtalia. We won today. Because of you."

Raphtalia sniffed again, and one of her hands moved to wipe some of her tears away.

He backed away a little bit, wiping away the rest of her tears. The action caught Raphtalia off guard. "I'm sure your parents would be proud of you for what you did today."

She looked surprised, and then four familiar children ran up to them.

"Hey, miss! You're the one that saved us from those monsters earlier, right?!"

"Oh, um, I-" Raphtalia wasn't sure what to say.

"We never got to thank you for saving our lives! So thank you for saving us, Nice Warrior Lady!"

"You're really strong! I want to be strong just like you and Mister there when I grow up!" The third kid said excitedly.

It took a moment of confusion on his part, but Naofumi eventually recognized the kids. They were the same ones that played with Raphtalia only a few weeks ago. Did they not recognize her anymore since she was a young adult?

He also recognized the fourth kid. He glared at him. He was the bully who had formerly beaned Raphtalia in the head as a child.

The other three kids looked at the bully, who looked oddly shy now. "Come on. You promised you'd do it." The third kid said to him.

The bully balled his small hands, but then he lowered his head. "Um… for a demi… … … y-you're pretty cool, Warrior Lady."

The other three continued to look at him expectantly. "And, um… thanks for saving me and my parents! I'll never forget what you did for us!" He quickly turned around and ran off, crying big fat tears of shame.

"Hey, come back!" The other three kids immediately chased after the bully. "You didn't even try to shake her hand!"

"Shut up!"

Naofumi smirked as they disappeared into the village. Maybe this whole experience would help that kid down the line. Hopefully, the next time he saw a demi-child, he'd try to be friends first instead of a jerk.

"Thank you."

Raphtalia's words dragged him out of his thoughts. "For what?" He asked as he looked at her again.

Her head was bowed. But when she looked up, she was smiling. The tears running down her face though were no longer tears of sadness and heartache for her lost village. "You were right. I kept those kids from having to go through what I went through… my parents would be proud. Thank you for reminding me of that, Master Naofumi."

Naofumi patted her head between her ears. Her head lowered again, this time in enjoyment. She didn't look ashamed in the slightest to be enjoying it despite being a grown-up. Did this mean he was finally seeing her as more than just a young adult?...

Naofumi looked up at the sun that was nearing the western horizon. Even though the day had been a dark one, it looked to be ending for the better.

"Let's go. Apparently, we're being allowed in the Capital for tonight to celebrate." Naofumi said. "Let's take advantage of it while we can."

---

Hero Clips!

---

It's Treason Then!

---

"Or would you rather have me tell the King of how his cowardly commander tried to destroy the village instead of fighting the monsters?"

The Royal Knight Commander glared at Naofumi, the vice-captain, and the group of knights behind him. They stood in the middle of the Commander's office at the Castle. The Commander gritted his teeth. "Are you threatening me, Master Jedi?"

Naofumi was wondering how the hell they'd gotten there, when the vice-captain stepped forward, activating a purple lightsaber. The other knights with him activated lightsabers as well. Since when did they have those? And why were they in robes instead of armor?!

Wait, he was in robes too?! What the hell had happened to his armor?!

"Commander, I place you under arrest by order of the Melromarc Jedi Council." The vice-captain said.

Jedi Council!?

"... So, it's treason then!"

Naofumi looked down at his Shield. It looked… very different.

What the hell was going on?!

The commander let out an unholy shriek and spun forward through the air while simultaneously activating a red lightsaber. Naofumi quickly stepped in front, blocking with a green Lightsaber Shield. The others quickly surrounded the Commander, striking at him from all directions. Naofumi kept on having to move around to protect the Jedi Masters from being massacred.

How did such a shield even exist?! He didn't care! It was actually going very well! Maybe he could actually attack with it and-

He tried, but the Lightsaber Shield bounced off the Commander with a familiar Clang!

'... YOU'RE KIDDING ME?! IT'S A FREAKING LIGHTSABER! HOW DOES THAT NOT WORK!?'

Words appeared on his HUD.

In this world, your attacks are determined by your ATT stat. Not by physics or biology, idiot.

Did it have to add that insult at the end?!

Seriously, what kind of bull$#%! was this-

"HAH!" He'd been so distracted that the Royal Commander's red lightsaber got under his guard and attempted to penetrate his gut.

However, to everyone's surprise, it bounced off with an ineffectual Clang! as well.

The Commander looked at Naofumi, who looked at him. Okay, that wasn't normal at all.

Likewise, opponents cannot damage you if their ATT stat doesn't outrank your DEF stat. Meaning not even lightsabers will pierce you.

...

Okay, that was still kind of bull%$#!, but it was the good kind. That more than made up for not being able to attack.

This experience also helped him realize that he probably shouldn't use his world's common sense in a fantasy world where the laws of physics gave way to game mechanics.

"You, what kind of monster-"

"HUAH!" A blue blade sprouted from the Commander's chest. A look of shock plastered onto his face, and then he fell, revealing Raphtalia. She was donned in the robes of a Jedi Knight. "I did it, did you see that Master Naofumi!"

…

Welp, common sense or not, at least he had his strong, faithful Lightsaber to kill people for him. He never had to worry as long as he had her by his side to attack for him.

Take that, Stupid Shield.

---

Till Next Time

Allen