4 days passed. Reito and Ahri have been putting in some work. And I mean a lot of work. The amount of skills and levels they were able to achieve in a few days is staggering.
Name: Reito Takahashi.
Class: Samurai.
Lvl: 21
HP: 1084.
Mana: 769.
Exp until next level: 274
Name Ahri.
Level: 18.
HP: 823.
Mana: 1268.
EXP until next level: 392.
Reito: I still can't believe we managed to gain this much strength. Killing monsters and clearing dungeons have their perks. I managed to acquire new styles and abilities.
One of Reito's favorite abilities he's managed to acquire from his battle is weapon duplication. It creates another version of the weapon he has equipped and combines the dual-wielding ability to give him an edge in power and speed. There's one thing he isn't fond of when using the ability though. It's a chain. When he uses this ability with his main katana, a chain connects the two from beneath the pummel. It limits his movements and flow of striking. But he's yet to use it in a real battle.
Ahri: My magic power has also increased. I'm able to cast more spells with higher damage.
Reito: The wave's going to be hitting soon. Let's head to the church and see this dragon hourglass Queen Mirellia told me about.
They walk back into the city and see the church from the central square. When they get a good look at it, Reito noticed something strange.
Reito: There are three.
Ahri: What do you mean three?
Reito: Look at the top. There are three weapons. A spear, a bow, and a sword. Where's the shield? To add, its name is the "Three Heroes Church." I guess they don't like the Shield hero that much. C'mon, let's head inside.
They walk inside and travel through a series of hallways before standing before the hourglass. It took Reito's breath away.
Reito: This is huge!
Reito: I don't even want to imagine the budget the church had to spend on this. This looks like it would cost millions where I'm from.
As Reito walked closer, his scabbard began to give off a red glow. A red beam traveled toward the hourglass as another notification appeared in his vision.
14:29:37
Reito: No way.
Ahri: What? Is there something wrong?
Reito: I can see when the next wave will hit. We only have 14 hours. I thought we had more time.
Ahri: We shouldn't have anything to worry about. The skills and abilities we've acquired will be more than enough.
Reito: I guess you're right. We got the information we need. Let's get out of here.
They turn around and begin to walk, but couldn't go far. Reito's small smile vanished as he put on an annoyed look.
Reito: Oh you've got to be shittin' me.
A group of people was walking toward him. He saw two, in particular, he didn't want to see.
Motoyasu: That damn Shield Hero. He won't get away with what he's done.
Myne: You're so brave, Sir Motoyasu!
They said while looking at each other.
Reito: (He knows about the Shield Hero. I could ask him, but I doubt he'd give me the information I want.)
He taps Ahri's hand as a sign.
Reito: Let's head for the city. They don't seem to notice-
Myne: Criminal!
Reito: I retract my statement. Stay behind me.
Ahri: I can stand up for myself.
Both Motoyasu and Reito stood a few inches away. Starring as if it was a UFC faceoff.
Reito: Been a while.
Motoyasu: Last time we met, we agreed that we'd fight.
Reito: I remember that.
Myne: Surround him and the demi-human!
Their party members equipped their weapons and circled both of them. Ahri clung to Reito as she stood behind him.
Reito: Are we going to do this again after what happened last time?
Motoyasu: What are you doing here?
Reito: I thought it was obvious. I'm getting ready to fight the wave.
This left Motoyasu and Myne confused. Myne ordered the party members to step back and withdraw.
Motoyasu: You're fighting the wave, too?
Reito: Duh! Why do you think I have my weapons? There's more to this than you think. I think having our dual before the wave hits would be a major problem. We can have our dual when it's over. That I promise you.
Myne: And why would we let you get away? You got lucky the last time from being in public!
Reito: I know my position. I'm not in the wrong and neither is she. We're just two friends trying to survive in this accursed world. The only ones in the wrong here are you and your pet of a hero.
Motoyasu: Hey!
Reito: Your knights started the beef without me giving me a chance. I'm going to defend myself and those I care for. I don't give a damn about who you are!
Myne: How dare you! I'm Princess Myne of Melromarc! I'll have your head for that!
Motoyasu: Enough!
Myne: What? But sir Motoyasu...
Motoyasu: We can get revenge on him anytime we want. The wave will be arriving soon. We don't need to waste our precious time with someone who's not a Cardinal Hero.
Reito: (If only he knew. That time will come soon enough.)
Myne: Very well. You got lucky yet again! But don't think we'll forget this.
Motoyasu: When this wave's over, will fight on sight. Be ready.
Reito: I'm ready now. But, you're right, the wave's nearly here. That's something we can both agree on. Let's go, Ahri!
Ahri: O-of course!
He bumps Motoyasu's shoulder as he walks passed him.
Motoyasu: Just don't get in our way.
Reito: I could say the same thing about you. Later.
The duo exits the church and goes to an inn and rents out a room for the rest of the night. Ahri was sitting on her bed while Reito had his armor on a stand and sitting down, polishing his weapon.
Ahri: You seem on edge.
Reito: Can you blame me? The wave's only 12 hours away. I've never dealt with anything like this. I'm as jumpy as spit on a hot skillet.
He says as he sheaths his katana and goes to sit on his bed.
Reito: But I guess it won't be too bad. I have you to back me up if the situation goes south.
AHri: You don't have to worry so much. You're not alone in this fight.
Reito: That calms me down a bit. We should get some sleep. We have a long day of fighting tomorrow.
Ahri: Goodnight.
Reito: Goodnight.
He blows out the candle as the room goes dark. His eyes close as he enters a state of relaxation.
THE NEXT DAY
The next day came. The wave was three minutes away. Reito and Ahri were sitting in the courtyard of the city, patiently waiting. He was expecting to see the other heroes but only saw the knights moving through. Some did mention the Shield Hero.
Ahri: What is it with these people talking about the Shield Hero?
Reito: This world has a social standing. When you're a royal or a noble with high ranking status, everyone will believe you. The princess made a false accusation about the Shield Hero and the entire country believed her.
Ahri: That's just awful!
Reito: It's obvious she has a grudge against the Shield Hero. I want to know what it is.
She looked to the ground. She's been nearly hiding her whole life. She expected humans to be nice and tend to care, but she couldn't understand this situation. As they waited, the three minutes shortened to only seconds.
Reito: One more thing, Ahri.
Ahri: What?
Reito: I've said this a thousand times and I'll say it again. You don't owe me anything. I'm not forcing you to fight. If you wanna leave, I won't blame you.
10
9
8
7
6
Ahri: No. I want to do this. I'm not going to run away if I can do something that can help the situation.
Reito: Very well.
5
4
3
Reito: You ready?
Ahri: Yes!
Reito: Let's do this!
2
1
With the last grain of sand falling in the hourglass, the atmosphere began to change. Both of their bodies began to give off yellow light as they were teleported. They looked around and saw themselves on a hill.
AHri: Reito, look at the sky!
He looks up as he widens his eyes.
Reito: What the hell?
Reito: That's not how a sky should look.
Within mere moments, things began to swarm around and went to a nearby village. He saw a flare shoot up into the sky.
Reito: The village wasn't fully evacuated? We're close. We should go.
Ahri: Right.
He pulls up his face mask and makes his helmet reappear on his head, completing his armor.
They descend the hill and run through the forest, slaying monsters along the way. Zombies are normal and big. Not only that, but they had to deal with giant wasps. Reito took care of the zombies while Ahri used her long-range spells to focus on the wasps. Reito was mad they were being held back and he thought they were. When they reached the village, he was upset. Buildings were partially destroyed or caught fire. He only saw a few bodies of villagers as he walked further into the village. Placing his thumb on his tsuba, he was waiting for any attacks.
Reito: Okay, we go in, kill the monsters, and go out. Got it?
Ahri: Got it.
Reito: Have some of your magic ready. The monsters here seem stronger than the ones we've dealt with in the past.
???: Airstrike shield!
Reito: Who was that?
Ahri: It came from over there in the center of the village.
Reito: And he mentioned a shield attack. That may be our guy. Let's go!
In the center of the village a man with dark hair, wearing a green coat, and a shield on his arm was using his shield abilities. Protecting the people and punching a zombie in the face, saving another.
???: You need to get out of here!
Running and gaining every single zombie's attention made his protection job slightly easier. As he was running, he saw a mother hugging her child as a zombie was about to strike them.
???: Shield prison!
He shouted as his shield gave off a slight glow. A giant ball with chains wrapped around it engulfed the mother and child as it protected them from attacks. He kept running until he came across a watchtower. He climbed to the top, with the zombies climbing on top of each other after him. He grabbed some oil and a lantern.
???: Take this, you bastards!
He pours the oil on the zombies and the floor before grabbing the lantern. He goes near a loose rope before slamming the lantern down the tower glows up in flames. He grabs the rope and swings down and into the rubble as the tower collapses.
???: That was unpleasant. Raphtalia!
Raphtalia: Yes?
???: Are the villagers evacuated?
Raphtalia: Yes. Except for the ones that wanted to fight.
???: That's fine.
Raphtalia: Master Naofumi! Look out!
He looks over to his side and sees a zombie getting ready to strike.
Naofumi: (Not enough time! Raphtalia's too far away. Dammit!)
The zombie went to strike down as Naofumi went to shield himself. As he did, he heard the clank of metal clashing. He looked up and saw that someone had blocked the strike. He wore samurai armor. He moved the blade away before swiftly slicing off the zombie's head as it fell to the ground.
Reito: Get off your ass and on your feet.
He lowers his hands Naofumi takes it, lifting him up. A giant wasp was flying in from behind but was hit with a ray of blue fire, burning it to a crisp. Ahri came out from the side.
Reito: I take it you're the Shield Hero. I've been looking for you. Glad I finally found you.
Naofumi: What do you want with me? Are you looking for a fight?
Reito: God no! I think we can get into that after the wave's finished. Sound good?
Naofumi: Fine.
Reito: Good. Let's kill 'em all!
They separate and go to fight off the many zombies in the village. A zombie was towering over a villager who had lost their weapon. He was shaking as the zombie lifted its sword.
Reito: You won't lay a finger on him!
The zombie turns and sees Reito standing with his left hand grabbing underneath the tsuba.
Reito: If you want to stain the ground with the blood of the innocent...
He grabs his katana as it begins to change. As he draws his sword, flames ignite as the entire weapon transforms. A black blade with flame-like patterns, a flame-shaped tsuba, and a white-clothed handle.
Reito: I will see your bones turned to ash with my blade of fire!
The zombie slowly runs towards Reito as he takes a stance with the blade to his right.
Reito: (Flame style first form: Unknowing fire!)
He charges in at high speed towards the zombie and does a singular slash across the zombie's torso, cutting it in half. The zombies' body parts begin to expand before exploding with flaming blood flying and fading away.
He moves on through the village, slaying zombies and helping injured villagers that stayed to fight.
Reito: Wow! You're a big one.
He said as he looked up to a giant zombie that was armored and equipped with an axe. The zombie slash, which Reito ducks to avoid.
Reito: (Flame style second form: Rising scorching sun!)
He draws his sword from his hip in an upward movement, creating an arc of flames.
The strike melts right through the giant zombies' armor and flesh as it falls to the ground. He keeps fighting before running back up with Naofumi.
Reito: I got to hand it to you. For a Shield user, you know how to deal damage with that thing. Nice!
Naofumi: You can give compliments later! Raphtalia, I want you to evacuate the remaining villagers! They no longer need to be here.
Raphtalia: Right!
Reito: Ahri, go assist her! We'll handle things around here.
Ahri: Okay. Be careful!
The two leave as they escort the villagers out and into the mountains. Reito and Naofumi stayed, killing monsters until Raphtalia and Ahri returned.
Ahri: All of the villagers are evacuated.
Reito: Good.
Naofumi: That just leaves us with these undead freaks. We can finally fight full strength, now that there are not any innocent people around.
Reito: I couldn't agree more.
As they went to go fight, they were stopped. They looked up to see multiple balls of fire raining down from the sky.
Naofumi: Get down!
He grabbed Raphtalia and formed a shield above them. Ahri joined them, but Reito stayed out.
Naofumi: What are you doing?!
Reito: Giving us some extra protection. (Flame style fourth form: Blooming flame undulation!)
He swings his flame katana in a circular motion as a circle of flame appears over Naofumi's shield, adding extra protection.
The fireballs break when hitting both of Reito's and Naofumi's defenses. Feeling the ground beneath them shake from the impacts around them, they had to stay down. Even Reito had to stab the ground and kneel to stabilize himself. When the smoke cleared, the gang stood back up and saw that the monsters were annihilated. Reito saw a group of knights walking into the village.
Knight leader: Look at that, we killed them all. The Shield Hero? And whose that?
Naofumi: Bastards didn't care that we were here!
In an instant, Raphtalia burst out from Naofumi's coat, striking the knight leader. Her attack was blocked by the Vice-captain.
Raphtalia: Did you know that Master Naofumi and the others were here?!
Vice-captain: Draw swords!
The other knights drew their weapons as Raphtalia jumped back.
Raphtalia: What kind of knight neglects the people he's supposed to protect?
Naofumi: Raphtalia, let it go!
Raphtalia: But master Naofumi...
Reito: He's right. We've got better things to focus on right now. It's not the time for a grudge.
Knight leader: Excellent advice. If you stay out of our way, we won't be forced to make any mistakes. Wait a minute...
He looks at Reito and examines his armor and weapons. He put two and two together.
Knight leader: It's you! You're the one the princess and the Spear Hero have been after!
Knight: If we capture them, we might get a reward from the king!
They started running after Reito before being stopped by a blue fireball from Ahri.
Reito: I suggest you stay back. We're more than a match for you. If you want to come at us, by all means, go right ahead. But if you do, I won't hesitate to take any of your lives! Your call.
He spits back at the knights. The knight leader scoffs.
Knight leader: Let's go. They're not worth the time. They have this area under control. Let's go offer assistance to the other heroes.
He waves his hand as the knights rally back to him and walk out of the village.
Naofumi: You have trouble with Motoyasu and Myne?
Reito: Yeah. An entertaining story.
Naofumi: That's something we have in common.
Reito: That went well.
Ahri: Reito, look at the sky!
They all look up and see the sky reverting back to normal. The monsters vanished and the sky returned back to its blue color with white clouds.
Reito: I guess that's the first wave done. Hey, Naofumi.
Naofumi: What do you want?
Reito: Calm down, I'm not here to fight. This is Ahri and I'm Reito Takahashi, the fifth hero of this world.
He stuck his hand out.
Naofumi: A fifth hero, huh? The book I read didn't mention anything like that.
He lowered his arm with the shield but didn't shake Reito's hand.
Reito: Not one for formalities, are you? Well, neither am I. Anyway, I was transported here from the book I was reading. It mentioned something about a fifth hero. Weapons and armor are different from this world. From what I read, the fifth hero was only to be summoned if the four heroes can't work together.
Naofumi: *Laughs* Good luck with that. All three of them are total idiots who don't know any better.
Reito: So I've been told. That's why I wanted to seek you out first. I know about the false charges against you. While looking for you, I ended up running into the Spear Hero first and the little princess who tried attacking me for no reason, she's an absolute bitch.
That made Naofumi laugh even harder. He ended up coughing a few times.
Naofumi: Motoyasu and princess Myne, huh? They're so full of themselves. You can't get me to work with them, no matter what. They can have what's coming to them!
Reito: I completely agree with you. How about you and I work together? From what I can see, we have the same problem with Motoyasu and Myne.
Naofumi: No thanks. I don't work too well in groups. But I won't treat you as hostile.
He tries walking away but Reito places his hand on his shoulder.
Reito: Listen to me-
Naofumi: My answer is no!
He flicks Reito's hand off. Reito takes down his face mask and takes off his helmet.
Reito: Do you know how to get back home? If we defeat all four of the waves, we can go home. But each wave gets stronger than the last. If we die, I don't know what will happen to us. But if we can find a way to get all of the heroes to work together, we can get this done faster. This isn't just a game, it's real life. You're going to have to deal with that. This is bigger than all of us. Whether you like it or not.
Naofumi: I'll keep that in mind. Let's go, Raphtalia.
Raphtalia: Right. Thanks again for the help!
She waves back as they begin to leave the village.
Ahri: How did you expect that to go?
Reito: About like that?
Ahri: He really hates the other heroes, huh?
Reito: Can you blame him? He was falsely accused. It's not my business, so I won't venture far into the matter.
Ahri: He heard what your role as the fifth hero is. Do you think he'll listen and work with the other heroes?
Reito: He's a stubborn guy with trust issues. He'll do it. He just needs some time. Let's go help out the villagers.
They ran back to help get the villagers settled back into their village. With some buildings destroyed, they're going to have to start repairs soon. Despite finishing the wave, Reito knew they were going to get harder. he had to gain strength fast. With the way things are now, there's no telling what can happen.