the night was cold, the streets were barely lit and the source of light was from the very few houses that still had people awake inside them, guards patrol the streets slowly and uncaring as they wished they were doing something else with their time. But the criminals? they thrive in the cloak of the night sky, this is when they come out of hiding to do what they please or see fit. vandalizing property, shaking off money from any poor soul that happens to cross their path and breaking in to steal goods are all things they do during the night with barely any concern about getting caught, they picked the right place at the right time to make sure no guard would catch them and even if some did, well they would be willing to turn a blind eye for the right amount, criminals never had to fear anything during the night... but they would soon do.
"Can you go a little faster, I want to get home before the sun comes out" a tall man wearing dirty clothes holding a lantern asked a man who was hutch over trying to open a door. him and another two man wearing heavy leather jackets were trying to break into the back of a shop in the middle of the night, this place was barely guarded and the owner lived in a house from another street so no one would hear them entering
"Are you the lockpick expert? because this is the fastest I can do in such a rush job" the other criminal said as he moved his tools, anyone could just burst open a door but you needed skill to pick a lock and open it. He was a good lock picker, having learned it on the streets with his uncle but he still had difficulty with the more complex ones
"Whatever man, once we grab the stuff inside we are golden" the tall thug said rather smugly to his companion, the man was assured that this store had enough valuables to make them rich for a while. At the very least each of them would have 15 gold which was a lot for such a small time operation like theirs, he would make sure that his part was the biggest if possible, after all he found this place and basically planned the whole thing
"What is this place even carrying by the way?" the lock picker asked as he didn't get a lot of detail for the job they were pulling, only that it was a low risk but high reward one
"The owner got some merchandise straight from Zeltobe, so it's good stuff" the tall man said as anything from the country of merchants and mercenaries was more valuable and of higher quality than anything made in Melromarc
"That explains the security of this place, it has some sort of double lock mechanism with reinforced spring-locks" the lock picker said as he now understood why such a relatively small shop would have such high security
"Just hurry it up already" another of the thugs said as he stayed on the lookout for any approaching individual
shush
"Uh?" the third of the crooks with blonde hair heard something to his left, walking to see what it was. After turning the corner he found something odd that might be the cause of the sound
"What the heck is this?" the thug asked as he observed the item, it was a black bat symbol of sorts made of metal that seemed thin but it was quite resistant. It had hit an empty bottle and was completely broken. But the blonde crook was confused as to how it got here and where it came from, he didn't notice however the tall shadow over him and when he did, it was too late for him to scream out to his colleagues...
"Can you call Manley to come here and help me? I need him to hold this part of the door" the lock picker asked and the tall thug sniffed annoyed at receiving orders when he was supposed to be the leader
"If it will make things go faster than I can hold it better than that pot head could" the tall thug responded since he really wanted to get out before anyone showed up, especially a guard or another criminal gang
"Your hands are too big, besides he can follow even the simplest orders to mild success" the lock picker replied as although Manley was a bit of a airhead, he had the blessing of small and delicate hands that were perfect for many criminal activities like this one
"Hey Manley come here!" the tall man called out and waited for the response before realizing that their fellow thug but he was nowhere to be found
"Manley? where is that mother fucker" the tall man said as he looked around but found no one there, he questioned if their fellow criminal had gone to take a piss
"Probably smoking in the corner" the lock picker said as he pointed to the small alleyway that was a few meters away, the tall man left the lantern with the Lock picker before going to see if their fellow thug was getting high
"Manley, show your lazy ass up" the tall man said as he walked into the alley with a dead end just to find nothing, he was about to go away when he noticed something on the floor
"What in the..." the bald criminal picks up a fallen tooth that had blood and spit on it but that wasn't the odd part, it was kinda common seeing this sort of thing in this part of the capital. But this was fresh, like it had just gotten punched out of someone's mouth and before he could call the other crook, a drop of blood fell on his head and he slowly looked up to see Manley tied up, unconscious and with more than one tooth missing in his mouth.
"What the he-" before he could finish, an elbow slammed his head against the wall and then he received a punch right at the upper abdomen, the crook got turned around and tried to do a sequence of punch's but a cape passed through his head and disoriented him, before he could regain his view of the attacker, a furious sequence of punches hit him in the head until ending with a knee right at the middle of his nose.
"Have you found him yet? Bob?" the lock picker asked as he was still needing help with the lock, but after a few more seconds of no response he was getting a little spooked. He could understand Manley not responding at first but Bob was the type of guy to always shout back when someone asked for him, the lock picker gulped before picking up the lantern and began looking for the other two men despite how much he was scared. The man was regretting doing this job as now he had to wander the barely illuminated streets with the sensation of something watching him, the feeling of dread growing within his body as it feeds from his fear and th terrifying atmosphere only improving the development of said fear
"Aaah!" the lock picker screamed and jumped back as something had fallen in the ground, he looked at it closer after a few seconds and illuminated it with the lantern. It was Bob but he was completely beat up and had a broken nose, that was scary on its own but then something flew through the lantern and took out the fire, leaving the lock picker alone in the dark with only his knife and his lock picking tools
"Whoever is there! show yourself!" he shouted while holding the knife out, his hands were shaking and he was scared out of his life. He was in the dark with some sort of night predator and he had to fight it off, Bob and even that lazy Manley were better at street fighting than him as the lock picker only got in a bar fight once and he didn't even win. He hears the sound of something landing and turns around to see the attacker but what he saw froze him in place, the figure was darker than the night sky and the only thing he could see was it's completely white eyes, it's little horns and the piercing gaze made the crook thing he was seeing a demon of the night, that scared the life out of him.
"Ah!" he swung his knife towards the figure but it just dodged every single swipe before grabbing his arm and throwing the lock picker over the air and into the ground, finalizing with a slam punch to the lock picker once he hit the ground. The lock picker was tied up with the other two and left to be found by the authorities
Batman used the [grapple hook gun shield] ability and got up on the roof, he began jumping from roof to roof as he moved through the city. He had begun patrol for 2 hours now and had stopped a couple of small crimes, his [bat-tery shield] was equipped for it to be mastered as soon as possible, so far it was just two attempts at breaking and entering along with an attempt at mugging, nothing out of the ordinary for the dark knight. The guards patrolled the city at a terribly slow pace and some where ignoring the lower income parts of the town, this wasn't surprising to Bruce nor was it surprising to see a group of criminals cornering an old man
"Alright old man here is how things are gonna roll" one of the criminals said pointing a knife with a purple tint on her point
"You gonna give us all you got right now and then maybe we will let you go with no harm" the leader of the crooks said as he spun his knife carelessly but without hurting himself, over confidence spilling out of his head
"Why you..." The old man said while backed into the corner he thought of what he could do but his old age wouldn't allow him to fight these hooligans, his levels were average since he never took up adventuring and only fought a balloon or two while collecting herbs, his magic wouldn't help either since he only knew healing magic
"Come on we know you have some money with you, after all you got that little business selling potions" the criminal with a mustache said as he cracked his knuckles, a sadistic smile on his face as he wanted to beat up the man for fun
"Yeah you old apothecary, just hand it all over if you want to get out alive to continue your business" the skinnier crook said, they new that the old fart didn't had much but it was just too fun to take things from defenseless people, especially more when they tried to put up a fight
"I will not... I... oh god..." the old man is at a loss of words for what he saw coming, above them all was a dark... bat thing gliding into their direction, he never saw something like that and the creature's white eyes along with it's unnatural look on made the old man paralyzed from fear
"Look at you all scared up, now brin-" the crook is hit at the back of his head with force by a diving kick of Batman's which knock him out cold and alerts the other criminals of the dark knight presence
"What the fuck is that!?" the skinnier crook asked in pure confusion and fright, none of them had ever stumbled or heard of anything that looked like that. It was like a man wearing a dead bat over his head like a cowl but it was more than that, he just flew in and knocked out one of them like it was nothing 'What are we supposed to do!?'
"Kill it!" the leader of the criminals ordered and all of them went to gang up on the dark knight, that was the only possible way for them to win realistically speaking. All the bandits try to jump him at once with their knives but the batman just dodges their swings coming from every single direction that a bandit was, they end up hitting themselves or their fellow criminals as they can't fully stop the moment of their knife swings. Some get bad cuts on the arms but the real problem was the poisoning dagger that one of the bandits carried as it would mean certain death if the wound wasn't treated within two hours, this made them try to dodge whenever his specific dagger was getting close but he is pushed away by one of his companions who told him to stop using the damn knife and to instead cast magic in the fight. Even that change wouldn't help them, the Batman was hitting them with force and speed that they never saw before along with his knowledge of martial arts giving the dark knight a clear advantage against the entire group of thugs, some are knocked out by him and others passed out due to knife wounds that along with strategic points hit by Batman, made them collapse to the ground until there was only one thug left
"Die!" the last criminal shouts as he throws a poisoned dagger at the Batman, the criminal had a good throwing hand and he was aiming at the only place that seemed to have no armor, the chin. He was hopeful it would work but... the Batman just catches the dagger mid air and throws it to the side, that was intimidating on its own but when he caught the dagger with is left hand, it revealed his shield and the crook could see the yellow gem on it with that changing how he saw the shield hero. Now it wasn't just a bizarre and scary man bat, it was the unholy devil of the shield walking in the skin of a bat and that thought alone made him more scared than he had ever been before in his life
"That... Shield Devil! Shield Devil!!!" the crook screamed out in fearful anger as he began to run away for his life while almost tripping on himself, Bruce threw a batarang at his head and one at his knee to immobilize him. He turns around to the old man who looked more terrified at his savior over his muggers
"P-please... spare m-my soul... I d-don't..." he stumbles on his feet and falls to the ground, his body shaking in fear as the old man puts his hands in front of his face praying while expecting the worst to come. Batman looked at him for a moment before using his grapple hook to go back on the rooftops and continue his patrol, the old man tries to calm down once the dark knight leaves, he decided that day to never leave his house or shop during the night not only because of the muggers but also because of the 'Man- bat' he saw that night
Bruce kept his patrol and thought of the interaction, the old man's behavior was to be expected but it was the last crook's words that were the intriguing part. He called him shield devil as soon as his eyes laid upon Bruce's shield, it was something rather specific to say the least and it actually explained some of the things he has noticed, people look with either hate or disgust once they see his shield and the king himself seemed to have the same sentiment. Could it be that this shield was seen as a bad omen by these people? could it be that a previous shield hero has done something to deserve such a long lasting reputation as a devil? he needed more answers rather than more questions at the moment, hopefully he would be able to gather everything he needs before another problem rose his way. He made sharp turns and moved through roofs with an excellence in parkour that very few could achieve, he did this because of the person following him. Once again that same ninja was keeping an eye on him and it was trying to catch up to Bruce and go wherever he went, the dark knight dives down into the streets but when the shadow goes to look at him, it can't find the Batman no matter where it looks despite having followed his every move perfectly. The shadow keeps looking for him for a few more minutes before stopping at a rooftop of a large building
'Where could he have gone to?' the shadow asked itself as it couldn't understand how it had lost track of the dark knight, a shadow such as themselves was trained to be able to locate any target their master wants them to find and it should be impossible for someone to evade them. But this target wasn't common to begin with, he had noticed the shadow's presence in his first night and his display of fighting against those criminals showed a highly capable fighter, the way he lures them to the right spot for each to be silently taken down is better than some shadows out there 'could he have gone back to his inn or-'
"Who sent you?" Batman asked right behind the shadow and instinctively it turns and tries to land a punch at him but the dark knight counters it, they exchange blows as the shadow tries to attack him and he counters all it's attacks with him eventually delivering a punch to the shadow's abdomen that sends it back a couple of feet and gives some distance between the two, Batman enters a battle position and the shadow holds it's abdomen for a few seconds before deciding to stop any possible conflict
"I am not your enemy shield hero" the shadow said as it went on a relaxed posture and even dropped its hidden blade away to try to show the dark knight that it meant no harm, but Bruce wasn't buying it. The ninja could just be trying to lure him into a false sense of security and try to make him open his guard for even a split second, he could very well use this opportunity to get information out of this shadow so Batman would play along for now, using [inspect] only told that the Ninja's level was 60 and nothing else due to their level difference. Batman began theorizing that the shadow could have killed him if it went all out, but the orders of it's mission must stop it from doing so and Bruce could use this information in his favor
"My master has sent me to look after you and keep track of all the legendary heroes, but you have been the most intriguing one" the shadow wanted to reassure the shield hero that it meant no harm towards him or that he shouldn't worry about it, this wasn't the pattern for a shadow to do but considering that the shield hero was not only able to notice it's presence since the first day, but he was also able to caught a shadow off guard with his own evasive tactics. A truly remarkable feat as never have a queen's shadow being caught so easily, did he plan this ever since the first day? had him discovered the shadow's identity without the shadow itself realizing? what more could he know?
"Who is your master and why would they want to keep an eye on me" he said with his fist down while still having his guard up and ready for a counter attack, he wanted to see how much information this shadow would reveal to him and the dark knight would make sure to analyze even the tiniest of changes in her body language to detect a lie or withholding of information
"Me and my organization don't wish harm upon any of you heroes, we only want to make sure that all of you can fight against the wave, but since you four possess capability for infinite growth in power compared to any living creature in this world, it is important to have a eye on you four to guarantee that none trail a dark path" The shadow had the mission to only watch the four heroes actions and to not intervene unless their lives was act the bring of death or in the case of a assassin tried to kill them, only the four heroes are capable to fend off the waves but they can still be killed while their strength is weak. Bruce could already deduct this was the case as they were summoned to this world with the explicit motive of protecting it from the invasion of the waves, their status as legendary heroes made it unlikely for anyone to try and kill them directly but Batman knew that people will do the most gruesome and imoral of actions for the sake of personal gain, if any of them irritated the wrong people enough it could mean being hunted down and be killed
"However there is another group who wishes to cause you harm and hardships in your journey" the shadow says as it was sure that would be of interest for the shield hero
"King Aultcray Melromarc the XXXII" Bruce said as he had been his first suspect from pretty much the beginning, the king had shown resentment and distant for the shield hero ever since the summoning, Bruce had correctly guessed that the king was plotting against him as Aultcray wanted the shield hero to be weak in comparison to the other three. It would be a fair guess for anyone to assume he was plotting something with all the evidence Bruce had gathered
"He is just an unaware pawn in their plans, easily manipulated by their words of manipulation. Some of his advisors and close friends are part of this group... the Church of the Three Heroes" the shadow explained, Batman could tell that what she said had truth, it was equally possible that Aultcray was simply a smaller piece of this conspiracy rather than the head honcho
"You must have already noticed their influence, people in Melromarc have been indoctrinated into seeing the legendary shield as the symbol for the devil of their religion. They have grown in both military and political power over the years, they have purposely summoned all four heroes here to keep a close eye on them and shape the other three to their ideals while making sure you don't pose a threat to their control over the country" the shadow explained, in the past thirty years the church had taken many steps to grow their power, and although the general public couldn't see or believe that the church was planning something, it was obvious once a few questions were asked, why would a church want to be more present in world-wide politics? why would they have a personal military force in the form of their paladins if they are just a church? why does the pope has so many connections with powerful nobles? this and many other questions that the population didn't care to ask clearly painted the image of the church as a suspicious organization
"The Church will try to keep you down and likely send assassins your way if you become a problem to their operation" the shadow said as just from what she observed in the two days with the shield hero, he already posed a very high threat to the church just from how skillful he was
"They can try" Batman responds to the shadow, he had fought the court of owls and the leagues of assassins before so this church should be no different. It might be a mixture of both but its strength would depend on how their organization is structured, the plans of their head figure and the overall capabilities of their own assassins. The Church was dangerous for sure, but their organization likely had flaws just like any other group, he would find their strength and plans while exploiting their weakness to their fullest extent. They wanted to target the dark knight? they were welcome to try, but the church would find out that this task was harder than anything they have ever prepared for
"It is foolish to-"the shadow realizes that Batman was gone, it had looked away for a mere second and the shield hero had vanished without her noticing it, the shadow had to admit that it was impressed by the dark knight's skill and the ninja itself had been humbled by his feats. But now the shadow was to return to the queen of Melromarc and inform her of this development as fast as possible
Bruce returned to the inn and slept 2 hours, it wasn't much for the average individual but it was enough for Batman for at least today, he could find more time to sleep later as now Bruce had to make sure his preparations were in motion and that new ones were set in motion. The church could strike at any moment and he needed to prepare for whatever method they chose to do so, they could attack him physically with assassins or more remote elimination methods but there were also the political ways they could try to harm him, Bruce had already something prepared for this but it would depend on how clever or cunning was the church's plan against him, suddenly Bruce hears footsteps coming to his room
"Open the door shield hero!" the muffled voice of a guard came from the other side of the door and he didn't sound friendly in the slightest
"What is it" Batman said as he opened the door and looked down directly to the eyes of the short guard that had been banging the door, some of the knights flinched at the sight of the dark knight but the short guard in the front didn't move at all and keep his angered look
"The king has ordered your appearance at the castle immediately" the short guard said as he looked up to meet Bruce's eyes, the dark knight didn't know what the king wanted but he knew it wasn't anything good. This could be the set up of a trap and he would be a fool to walk in unprepared, but on the other hand it could be something else that didn't pose a threat to him and if he didn't come to the castle then new problems could arrive, Bruce could take every single one of this guards on easily and escape from the capital before they could do anything to find him. But would that be the best option? going to the enemy trap isn't ideal, however he could definitely make an escape route on the spot and there is the prospect of discovering new information during this interaction, he would just going to keep his guard up during the entire time which was something he was accustomed to
"Alright" Bruce responded and he was escorted by the guards to the castle, however he felt that something was off about this like they saw him as criminal or something, they were purposefully moving at a slow pace so that everyone could see and shun him which wasn't a good sign. There was more than just the king wanting to see him, obviously some sort of trap was in place and he had to comply with him to know the extent of it, he prepared a smoke bomb in his hand just in case the dark knight would need it for a getaway plan. Once they finally arrived at the castle, the guards all gave him death stares and Bruce prepared himself for their attack but they all just ordered him to get in the throne room, it was odd as if they were ordered to not kill him but since he is one of the most important people in the world as a legendary hero, maybe there was a law that stopped people from killing him. Likely because Melromarc would be treated as an enemy by other countries of the world if there are more countries that he wasn't told about, he could however read the guards lips and they were wishing that they could kill him
he went through the door of the throne room, Bruce read the room and could see people throwing insults at him as well as everyone giving him a glare of disappointement, he could see that Myne was there too crying to the side of an enraged Motoyasu. He knew what was going on now and this situation wouldn't be complicated as long as the king wasn't a biased idiot
"I hereby start the trial of the shield hero!" the king said and the doors behind Batman were closed very aggressively as to stop him to leave, but the dark knight didn't flinch in the slightest compared to the other people there
"Myne my dear, I hope it isn't too to ask but could you tell the court what you told me and the spear hero?" Aultcray asked softly as he leaned down on his throne to look at the girl, he was acting similar to how a parent would talk with their young child after they got injured or were saddened
"Oh, i-it was horrible, the shield hero burst into my room last night, he seemed… drunk and kept t-telling me, "oh the night is still young", he then grabbed me, and… f-f-forced me down and-" she stops speaking and starts to cry, Bruce could tell they were fake tears from a mile and he was very well aware of Malty's intentions for doing this. She was playing the victim very well and she has likely practiced this before on other men, the first princess devilish acting was convincing everyone in the court, aside from the dark knight.
"He ripped off my clothing, tried to *sob* pin me down... I managed to escape and went to ask the help of the *sob* spear hero while wearing nothing but a *sob* blanket to cover myself" Malty just finished giving her false testimony regarding Bruce and huddled in Motoyasu's arms. He had been the obvious remaining choice, while the Bow Hero was cute and she could probably use this whole justice thing of his in her favor not to mention that the Sword hero was too cold for her as she didn't want a repeat of the insufferable time she spent with the shield hero, it only made sense to go for the Spear Hero as he was more gullible and she could easily win him over with her charm. the shield hero could try and protest as she knew he would, but it did him no good. Men believed women in this country. That was what made it so easy to disgrace them. It wasn't like they didn't have it coming for one reason or another. They were to blame, always messing things up and being stupid, complaining about using reason to make decisions and being… well men.
"Now bring in the central piece of evidence" the king ordered with two knights entering the room with a woman's lingerie that Malty looks away embarrassed, Bruce knew she was faking that reaction and he was honestly disappointed that none of the other heroes seemed to notice her sudden chance in attitude
"This was found in her room this morning, proving her testimony. What do you have to say for yourself scum?" Aultcray asked ironically as he didn't care what the shield hero said, the king only wanted to see what sort of half hazard and pathetic excuse the shield hero would try to come up with
"Myne Sophia has lied about everything," Batman responded and the court falls silent at this, none of the knights or nobles could expect him to show such attitude in front of the king in this situation, most if not all men would be begging in their knees for forgiveness while others would become enraged for being on trial. But the shield hero didn't seem bothered by it, did he think that his status as a legendary hero would allow him to escape unpunished? did he have a trick up his sleeve? was he bluffing? no one there could tell
"She stated that I invaded her bed chambers, ripped her nightgown off, attempted to molest her in a drunken stupor, she escaped and then ran to the Spear Hero's room. There are a number of issues with that story" he said bluntly and without a single change in his tone or expression as he said that, the atmosphere of the room became more intense but whether that was due to Batman's statement or the King's enraged expression was anyone's guess.
"Like what you demon?! I can't see any problem with her testimony" Aultcray shouted back angered beyond what the court has ever seen of him in years, the king wouldn't let a criminal just go defaming his dear daughter and specially a creature as devilish as the shield hero
"Would you like me to list them down?" the Batman asked and the court was once again shocked by his attitude, how could he be so sure of his in front of the king and the evidence at hand? now they were certain that he had some sort of trick up his sleeve but none of them knew what it could be to get him out of this situation, the answer that none of them thought was logical thinking
"Why you... Fine! let's see if you can try and prove your non existing innocence, but I will only give you one minute to do so. If you can't prove anything then you're guilty!" the king would entertain the shield hero's absurd idea just for him to dismantle all of his useless excuses, Aultcray didn't believe that his daughter would lie to him and he was certainly not going to believe in whatever false arguments the shield would come up with
"One minute is plenty" he said in a confident way as if he was prepared for it since the beginning, the nobles were curious to see the shield hero would defend himself against such allegations with Malty in particular being the most intrigued but also terrified of the possibility
"The first issue is the tear in the nightgown. It's not sufficient to have the garment in question ripped from a body as the tear is only down the front and barely makes it halfway down. It would have remained on her person when she escaped from the attack in question. However it is a perfect tear for someone not wearing it to make it appear they had been attacked" he said in a analytical way while motioning his hand in the direction of the nightgown as to show what he meant, the king and the nobles didn't think much of this point as it wasn't substantial proof that he didn't commit the crime but rather a small detail that only made him look slightly better but not alt right innocent
"There is also the statement she was wrapped in a blanket when going to Motoyasu's room. Anyone escaping from a potential rapist would hardly have taken the time to remove a blanket as they fled. Likewise there's the question of why an adventurer of Sophia's level would be so easily overpowered by a drunken low-level hero who barely knows his passive weapon for a day. Even with surprise, once freed from 'my' clutches, it would have been a simple matter to burn me down with a spell." He said that and small chatter amongst the nobles as he had a good point, those did seem like big contradictions on her testimony but then again why would she like about such thing? the nobles couldn't really pick a side to lean more towards as one was the the first princess of Melromarc's royal family while the other was a stranger from another world caring with him one of the most powerful items in the world, Malty didn't like this sort of attention or how the people seemed to believe what he was saying
"How dare you! I-"
"Your flesh is unmarked." Batman interrupted her and the room was confused by what he meant
"What?" Malty was confused and so was the rest of the court, what did that had anything to do with the crime? did he once again notice something they didn't? did he really had such a eye for detail or were they just that unaware of important information?
"Your flesh is unmarked from your supposed attack, usually the neck or your arm would have a bruise mark if you had been raped as forcefully as you said. We can have ladies in the court examine you without your clothing of course, but I already know. You're far too vain and lazy to have bothered with physical disfigurement to add veracity to your inept claims." the court was in shock at not only the fact that Bruce humiliated the first princess in such a way with his statement, but also because he was right they kind of hated that fact due to it making them look like fools for not noticing those details
"You can go to-"
"The king gave me permission to determine if I'm guilty or not. You do not have the right to prevent my proving it." Batman shut her down bluntly and straight forward, Malty was getting scared. She couldn't get a read on this guy nor could she put a fake facade in front of him because he could see right through to her and that thought scared her
"I never said such a thing!" Aultcray lashed out against the dark knight at such a statement as he never... the king realized he actually gave the shield hero such permission, he was so angry at the moment due to the sheer audacity from Batman that Aultcray didn't hear what he was actually saying and thus gave him permission to prosecute on court. The king hated that severely but he couldn't do anything without making himself look bad or injustice, not to mention that in Aultcray's eyes he could very well enter a argument he can't win as there was a chance that the shield hero had already prepared various counter points for the king in case he tried to shut down the dark knight
"Is his Majesty implying I was only given permission to prove I wasn't guilty but not who was the guilty party?" Batman asked in his usual cold demeanor with the king only able to grind his teeth and accept this at silent, this alone surprised the court as Aultcray was always vocal when he was displeased and would act with intense anger towards the people that made him mad, to say he was outshining the king would be a understatement
"Also there's the matter of the delay in reporting the crime. By her own admission Sophia was able to relate the story to the Spear Hero, yet inexplicably urged a delay which would serve no useful purpose. Unless I the Shield Hero drank nothing that night and therefore would have been completely sober when confronted. Also I would have to be asleep as for the nightgown to be planted, and time was needed for that. Then there's the question of why she would seek out the Spear Hero's particular room rather than the authorities. One man from another world just tried to rape her. Why would she seek the questionable safety of another otherworldly whom she had no reason to believe is any different from the others? It would have made more sense to go to the authorities whom she knew she could trust, especially since she's the daughter of the king" the dark knight once again said and the court could only be jaw dropped by his reasoning, was he a prosecutor back in his old world? that was the only way for him to be so meticulous about this trial, every time he spoke it seemed the case became closer and closer to being shut down in his favor rather than the first princess. Malty's eyes were basically horrified by the prospect of not only losing but being exposed as a liar in front of the other heroes and her father, she was only good at lying and seducing people but if she was revealed as a liar to the court then she would lose so much influence, even the other heroes would ignore and avoid speaking to her if she was labeled as a liar
"Daughter of the King?" the three heroes all said in unison surprised as they looked at Myne and then the king as they were not very similar in anyway except that they both wore purple
"Myne Sophia is just a cover up name while in reality she is the first daughter of the king, Malty Melromarc. If you go to the castle's library you will see a portrait of Malty, her sister and her parents" he explained and this only made the first princess sweat cold, Malty's only saving grace now was her father's blind trust in her and his passionate hate for the shield hero. The court was amazed and slightly infuriated by the shield hero's display of wisdom, some didn't like how he was making them look like incompetent idiots for not noticing or even questioning the testimony of the first princess, while others had to admit that dark knight possessed a knowledge worth of a noble or even that of the queen of Melromarc, as much as it hurt their pride... none could say that the shield hero was a fool despite what they had been told all their lives.
'I didn't know she was a princess, that changes a lot and- wait that's no time to think of that! I gotta prove this rapist is a lying fuck!' Motoyasu was buying what Batman said, he believed in Myne's every word without a single drop of doubt and so he just convinced himself that Batman was trying to lie his way out of his crime
'Everything he said sounded very legit' Ren mentally thought as he was caught off guard by how this turned out, he was at first weird out by this whole trial since he found weird for someone that felt like such a loner would do that in the first day they get a companion, he was lead to believe it in a bit by the possibility that it was because he was drunk, but with all the points that the Batman had brought up to question, this all felt very fake in a way but he couldn't understand Myne's/Malty's motive for doing this and the best assumption he could make is that this was a scripted scene of the game
'Those are good points but... He could be using his knowledge in law to waive his way out' Itsuki said to himself as although he saw that those points were true and made him innocent, it would also mean Batman had noticed something he didn't and not only that but it would mean that the useless shielder was better than him, if that was the case then all of this would be a setup and that some villain was planning something against Batman... which would mean he is the protagonist of the story, not Itsuki. He wasn't going to accept this, the bow hero was going to ignore and flat out refuse to acknowledge this because he couldn't believe that the world didn't revolve around himself
"Enough of your lies! those things aren't even true evidence! Is just speculation!" the king exclaimed enraged as he couldn't stand anymore of the shield hero defaming his dear daughter and trying to make him look like a fool, the attitude the devil of the shield was making him want to strangle the life out of him
"Is it? or are you tossing the truth aside because of your blind trust in your daughter?" Batman said as he sent a piercing gaze upon Aultcray, the king gritted his teeth as he couldn't handle anymore of the shield hero's disrespect and audacity, he was trying to say that his daughter was lying? that she had faked a rape accusation for no reason? he was beyond pissed, more than he ever has been in years and he just wanted to rip the heart out of the shield hero's chest
"That's enough! your crime has already been told to citizens all across the land! you will never be able to live a normal life for as long as you live! I can't execute you or put you in jail as you are a cardinal hero, but there's another thing I can do..." the king menacingly said as he snapped his fingers and a total of 12 guards surrounded the shield hero in a circle while pointing their spears at him
"Guards, strip the shield hero of his armor and possessions! they will be used better by the other heroes rather than this devil" the king ordered with a look of anger that could be mistaken for smugness, Malty was excited to see the shield hero struggle while the guards take away all of his possessions and she would enjoy every moment of it, Malty would rather have him be tortured for all the embarrassment he made her feel, she was just as happy to see him be treated like scum. The other heroes were kind of happy for this outcome with Ren in particular being interested in it the most, as he could finally see if that armor gave good stats and even if it didn't fit him, he could sell for a high price or modify it to fit his build. The guards began to approach Bruce with their spears ready and a hateful look in their eyes, Batman began to raise his hands above his head as if he was surrending which only made the guards feel pride and smugness, that soon faded when he opened his hand and three small smoke bombs fell to the ground, creating a thick smoke cloud that almost covered the entire court
"Where *cough* did he go?" one of the knights said as he struggles to see and breathe with the smoke cloud that was beginning to spread more and more to the room
zip!
"Over there by the window!" a guard said as he pointed to one of the large immaculate glass windows in the side of the walls as Batman used the grapple hook to launch himself at rapid speed towards a window, using his feet to break the glass
"He jumped!?" another guard said as he, the three heroes and others in the room all moved to see what fate had occurred to the shield hero
"That criminal just killed himself! why did he even try-" the guard is interrupted by the sight of a black mantle flying upwards rapidly as he falls to the ground, the three heroes go to look out at the window and see the silhouette of a bat gliding down into the city
"... that's why he had a bat motif" Ren comments without realizing he was thinking out loud, that explained the whole man bat theme that the shield hero had, if his cape allowed him to glide than why not go with a menacing bat appearance instead of one of a flying squirrel or just a normal tactical suit, he was still angry that he couldn't get that suit as now Ren really wanted to use it or to see what it could do. Itsuki was frustrated that a criminal escaped despite making a good case for his innocence but the only thing he really cared about was how the Batman made such a cool and imposing exit truly worth of a vigilant, that was something Itsuki didn't like because it wasn't he who did it and now he had beef with Batman solely because he was stepping into his territory when in reality the bow hero felling that his position as future vigilant of justice was being threatened. Motoyasu was pissed a rapist got away from his punishment
"Damnit..." the king cursed as he laid back on his throne frustrated, not only had the devil of the shield raped his innocent daughter but he had also escaped from his punishment, Aultcray didn't believe a single one of the points the shield hero made as in his eyes it was all lies of a sniveling coward trying to get away with raping the king's daughter. He knew that his wife would be mad once she returned but Aultcray was determined to bring the Batman down for his evil
in the city below, Batman hid from the citizens below in the streets by staying on the rooftops, he analyzed the situation that had just transpired and it's meaning
"An attack against my public image and labeling me a criminal to the whole country... I didn't expect something of this sort so early on" Bruce said as this wasn't unexpected to him, it was a possibility he saw coming but he didn't expect it would happen the day after he left the castle. Normally they would try and collect dirt or create incriminating evidence for this attempt to happen, but a false rape accusation could be easier and more effective on a country like this, were women have more power and authority over men. His suspicions about Malty were all accurate as she truly was sent to sabotage him, but was the king on it too? or was he so trusting of his daughter to the point of refusing to believe she could ever lie? it could be both, but the second option was very likely considering that the church is manipulating him and gaslighting his decisions, even his own daughter could be working with the church
"Doesn't matter, I already have my preparations in motion" Bruce didn't need the help of the crown or even a good reputation for the plan to work, it could benefit him in some ways if he played his cards right. He was now labeled a criminal to the entire country for a crime he didn't commit and yet Bruce remained calm, any lesser man would throw a fit or become a revenge driven hypocrite if they were in the same situation, but Batman? he has been throughout the worst and if Melromarc wanted to make him their enemy then they better be prepared for the dark knight
[author's notes]
Today is my birthday, to commemorate this occasion here is a second chapter for the batman fanfic. Hope you all liked it and leave a comment as it helps a lot
I hope the direction of the trial went well, I didn't want it to go like the original but I also can't change the results as it is a fundamental part of the shield hero story, I did however make Batman point out the flaws in the accusation and even had him escape from the castle. Now it is up to the three other heroes to see if Batman is innocent or not... they likely ignore all of it though
Batman might come off as hyper aggressive against the criminals but it all leads more to his predator of the night aspect, plus it might be what the criminals of Melromarc need to realize that crime doesn't pay off
to zanzara: sorry but I don't think I'll do that with Rifana, I feel she would drag the story if she survived and she will never have a chance or get the attention of Batman on a romantic level, she just doesn't have a place in this fanfic. The anti-Slave seals are a nice idea but I don't know how likely it would be for Batman to create it, as the origins of the slave marks are never told to us, it will likely not appear in this fanfic
to Guest: Here is more, don't expect frequent updates though
to Guest 2: I have been leaning towards the comic book batman but I guess he is also very similar to the Arkham Batman, I don't intend on this Batman being any specific version of batman but I guess those two are the ones this version is more similar to (sorry if this part was hard to understand)
to Poppyseed121: really? I didn't really get that impression when I wrote it but I guess it was my longest fanfic simply because I went into detail about everything including the inner monologue
to Batmite: absolutely, but in the world of Shield Hero he might not have a choice. In the case of raphtalia she would need to learn how to protect herself since Batman couldn't be with her 24/7 and on the other hand it will be near impossible to find someone willing to take care of her since she doesn't have her village to go back to along with her parents being dead, the only other way for him to keep her safe from the dangers of the ROTSH world would be to lock her up in a safe bunker against her will, but wouldn't that be it's own sort of enslavement at that point?
to NarutoSkywalker: that's the main reason he already got the blessed series, Batman wouldn't really change emotionally or morally in the story since... well he is Batman, he has already went through a lot of character development over the years so if I tried to do something like that it might ruin the fanfic
to TheRealD3lph0xL0v3r: glad you liked it, Batman can be just as op as superman according to power scalers if given "prep time" but on his own he is just a mortal man, but he is still able to stand amongst gods (Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, etc) due to his humanity and intelligence.
to AnimeFan13579: I don't believe he would use the slave system, Batman would see the situation of the slaves and either beat the slave owner until he was hospitalized or free the slaves. Even if there are more benefits for owning a slave, Batman wouldn't even attempt to use the system simply because it would be evil and hypocritical, how could he call himself a hero if he took away someone's freedom just to force them to help him? he has taken down human traffickers multiple times before but just because it's legal in this other world, he would use it? what sort of example would the legendary hero meant to save the world be setting up if he practiced and encouraged the practice of slavery? for those reasons I strongly think that Batman would never use the slave system of shield hero
to Talyson: nossa! legal ver outro brasileiro no site, é muito difícil achar fanfics em português Brasil no fanfiction net e elas geralmente não tem muito seguidores ou curtidas (eu escrevi uma fanfic na minha língua nativa e por causa disso, ninguém leu em comparação com as outras fanfics que escrevi em inglês)
