30 Chapter 30 The first wave..

(Posting a chapter today because it's my b-day!)

A week and a half passed since the cave incident. Issei and Raphtalia leveled up quite a bit and he unlocked more shields that he even lost count of.

He unlocked a new skill called shield prison that traps an enemy in a green looking ball made of a bunch of shields which are wrapped into green chains. Issei has used shadow chains too to reinforce the shield prison and it worked perfectly.

Right now they both are at the same good old weaponry shop.

"Wow! I hardly recognized you. You turned into a young pretty lady" Said Agil.

"Hmmm?" Issei let out a confused sound as he looked at Raphtalia.

"You haven't come here in a while what have you been up to?" Asked Agil.

"We hunted some monsters and leveled up and made medicine, we sometimes train in the mornings too like doing jogs push-ups and stuff" Said Raphtalia as she lifted her arm to show some muscle growth.

"Huh, I see you really grew up, earlier you used to be a peep-squek" Said Agil with a chuckle but Raphtalia pouted. It seemed cute to Issei.

"Actually I'm surprised how fast she's growing" Said Issei.

"Demi-humas age differently from humans. They age as they level up so by now I'm eighteen" Explained Raphtalia.

"That's interesting" Said Issei.

"Alright that's enough, we came here to buy issei some armor maybe you have some recommendations?" Said Raphtalia.

"Wait, we are here to get you some equipment" Said Issei.

"I'm glad that you worry about me Ise, but you need some protection too or you might die" Said Raphtalia as she took out a sword and pointed at Issei.

'But I have my armor' Thought issei about his balance breaker

"This sword is really sharp" Said Raphtalia.

"It's made from magic iron, like it?" Said Agil.

"What kind of discount could you give us?" Asked Raphtalia.

"Don't worry about that, anything for the young lady" Said Agil.

"We can spend about two hundred silver" Said Raphtalia.

"Alright so how about this?" Asked Agil as he showed a full knight armor.

"Ehhh, it's not really my style" Said Issei.

"Then I can make a special order by making something with whatever I got I may finish by tomorrow" Said Agil.

Raphtalia then grabbed Agil's hands and looked at him with puppy eyes.

"Please, please do!" Pleaded Raphtalia.

.....IN THE INN.....

"Wasn't it nice for him to give us a discount on this sword and your custom armor?" Asked Raphtalia while holding the sharp sword while walking behind Issei.

"Sure" Said Issei as they both sat down and the waiter came up to them.

"Ready to order?" Asked the waiter.

"I'll have the cheapest lunch and she will have children's launch" Said Issei but Raphtalia stood up with a pout and slammed her hands on the table.

"Ise! I'm not a kid anymore! That's the last I wanna hear about! So I'll have the cheapest lunch too and make it quick!" Shouted Raphtalia.

"R-right" Answered the waiter and left.

'That's right, I forgot that she said she's eighteen by now' Thought Issei.

"You are really cute when you are angry" Said Issei as he chuckled.

"Don't say stuff like that!" Shouted Raphtalia with a blush.

The next day Issei and Raphtalia came back to the weaponry shop for issei's armor.

"This may not be bad" Said Issei as he looked at himself.

"So cool" Said Raphtalia.

"I call this Dragons scale" Said Agil.

The armour was made with black leather and black armor plates that had red carvings, he wore a black cape too with a red dragon on the back.

Suddenly near their location a bunch of warriors, and adventurers, were traveling somewhere with horses.

"The town is on edge" Said Raphtalia.

"Well the wave will begin soon so people are scared" Said Issei.

"If only I knew where the wave would begin I could come up with some kind of plan" Said Issei as he scratched his head.

"Don't tell me no one told you about the clock?" Said Agil with his arms crossed.

"Near the castle there's a church where a dragon hourglass is being held, when the last drop of sand falls the wave starts and the heroes and their parties are sent to the wave's location" Explained Agil.

'Now that I think about it the king mentioned something about it' Thought Issei for a moment before deciding to go there.

..... CHURCH.....

Raphtalia and Issei walked into the church to check out the hourglass.

A nun led them straight to it. They reached the hourglass which had some spinning parts and red gems a bunch of sand and golden frames it was pretty big.

"Wow so this is the dragon hourglass that the king was talking about" Said Issei.

Suddenly a beam of green shot from issei's shield's gem into the hourglass and a screen popped up showing the time left until the wave. Everything went fine until issei heard something unpleasant behind him.

"Is that issei I see?" Asked Motoyasu with a mocking smirk.

Issei turned around and saw Motoyasu, Myne and the rest of his party as well as Itsuki and Ren with their parties a bit further behind.

"Hey, what's this, you still aren't fighting with flimsy equipment are ya?" Asked Motoyasu.

"Ise, who are these people?" Asked Raphtalia confused by this situation.

Issei just scoffed and started to walk off but got stopped by Myne and two figures in front of him.

"Hey! Sir Motoyasu is talking with you!" Shouted Myne. Issei stopped and looked up and saw Ren and Itsuki standing there.

Issei gritted his teeth. Issei didn't care if he had to do things alone but it did anger and hurt him the betrayals and how people look at him with disgust and fear because of a fake rumor, he rather have his enemies scared of him.

"Hey, my name is Motoyasu and I'm a Spear hero" Introduced Motoyasu to Raphtalia.

"You are a hero?" Asked Raphtalia.

"Wow, your cute" Said Motoyasu.

"Sir Motoyasu why are you talking with that demi-human?" Asked irritated and jealous Myne.

"A cute girl like you shouldn't wield a sword allow me to protect you from now on" Said Motoyasu as he held Raphtalia's hands. Issei was getting so pissed off by his actions.

"No I can't, I'm issei's sword and it's my duty to be by his side" Replied Raphtalia as she glared at Motoyasu.

"What? but you'll be in danger if you stay with him" Said Motoyasu.

"I'll never leave him, I'm ready to die for him so please mind your own business" Said irritated Raphtalia because he thought that she would abandon Issei that easily.

Issei looked at Raphtalia with a shock filled face.

He was glad to hear her words it really put him at peace.

"We're leaving now so please move aside" Said Raphtalia as she grabbed issei's hand and led him out.

"Didn't you hear any rumors about him?" Asked Motoyasu.

"Rumors?" Whispered Raphtalia.

Issei gritted his teeth as he walked past Ren and Itsuki.

"Cya when the wave hits" Said Itsuki.

"Just stay out of our way" Said Ren.

Issei and Raphtalia left the church. Night came. They rented a room.

Issei was making medicine while Raphtalia just sat on the bed.

"Ise, did something happen between you and the other heroes?" Asked Raphtalia.

"Maybe" Answered Issei.

"What rumors are they talking about?" Asked Raphtalia.

"Have you noticed how a lot of people get scared or disgusted when they see me?" Asked Issei.

"Well yeah I saw some but why is that?" Asked Raphtalia.

"Because I almost violated the girl you saw earlier with Spear hero" Said Issei.

"Wh-what? that can't be! I don't believe that you would do something like that!" Said Raphtalia shocked.

"Well you'll be glad to hear that it's a lie" Said Issei.

Now Raphtalia was confused but relieved at the same time.

"The king let the people of this kingdom believe that I did something like that...even though I had proof they didn't believe me at all..." Said Issei emotionlessly.

"Well I believe in you! and I'll always will no matter what! even if the whole world is against you I'll always be by your side" Said Raphtalia with a kind smile and soothing voice as she hugged Issei.

"I'm glad that at least two people believe me in this world" Said Issei refering to Raphtalia and Ddraig.

"Then I'll turn in for the night. Good night Ise" Said Raphtalia as she went to sleep after she released him from a hug.

"Night" Replied Issei.

'What a night' Thought Issei.

The day of the wave came, everyone were outside waiting.

"Issei, I wanted to thank you for everything you have done for me, you allowed me to eat warm meals, sleep comfortably and trained how to fight and showed how to live" Said Raphtalia.

"So I swear that I'll be your sword forever!" Shouted determined Raphtalia.

"Wherever you go I'll be there with you" Said Raphtalia.

"Oh yeah? then allow me to be your shield and protect you every step of our journey" Replied Issei as he looked at her with a toothy grin as he gave her a thumbs up.

The wave started as the last seconds went by and Issei and Raphtalia got teleported in golden light to the location and when they got there the first thing they saw was that the sky turned red and some kind of dark pink looking like a wave greenish circles.

"There it is, the wave of catastrophe" Said Issei out loud. Suddenly a bunch of monsters started to fly out of it straight to the ground.

Issei and Raphtalia have been standing on a cliff and they saw the three heroes running below them to the boss location.

"C'mon Raphtalia, let's go" Said Issei as he was about to follow them but Raphtalia stopped him.

"Ise looks at the village of Lute" Said Raphtalia as she pointed towards the village where monsters started to invade.

"Did they Evacuate?" Asked Issei.

Then he saw a flare.

"A flare? the knights won't have enough time to come over here and the village will be wiped out" Said Issei.

"Alright, we're going to Lute village" Said Issei as he started to run towards the village.

"Right" Said Raphtalia as she ran behind him with her sword in hands.

As they came to the village they were met with a bunch of monsters like giant bees or skeletons with armor and swords and some people still not evacuated.

One monster was about to slash a man with its sword but Issei blocked it with his shield just in time and Raphtalia killed the monster with her incredible swordman skills that Issei taught her.

'She's even better than me with a sword now even tho she just started using it, good thing I learned some good moves from Arthur, because of that I was able to teach Raphtalia some' Thought Issei as he was grateful to Arthur.

"Raphtalia, help the people here evacuate" Said Issei.

"Alright, but what about you?" Asked Raphtalia worried.

"I'll be fine, just help the others" Said Issei.

With a nod Raphtalia helped the man to stand up and led him to the evacuation site.

As Issei ran he gathered the attention of monsters and the people.

"Look! it's the shield hero! he came to save us!" Shouted people.

"Everyone listed up! I'll gather the attention of the monsters and you evacuate!" Shouted Issei as he ran off with a herd of monsters behind him.

As he was running he helped the people from monster attacks by using an airstrike shield or shield prison to protect them.

'This is just great, I'm risking my life for total strangers' thought Issei.

'You always did that' Said Ddraig mentally.

'yeah maybe' replied Issei as he continued to run.

Issei got cornered by the monsters.

"Haah, this is annoying, I have to minimize the damage to the village hopefully this won't destroy everything" Said Issei as a small red orb gathered in his palm when he summoned boosted gear.

"DRAGON SHOT!" Roared out Issei and Ddraig at the same time and the monsters were obliterated by the red beam.

"Well it didn't destroy the village but it definitely did destroy the monsters and some of the forest" Said Issei out loud.

But then he saw even more monsters and people against the wall with their swords out trying to fight them off.

"Damn there's no end to these monsters" Said Issei as an idea struck him as he saw a tower with a bell on top.

He ran up to the tower and climbed the leader as he reached the top he rang the bell and gathered all the attention of the monsters and they started to climb up too.

Issei didn't wait for too long and used Ddraig's flames to light up the tower while he jumped out and used his wings to fly down.

"That should do it" Said Issei.

"Sir Shield hero!" Shouted a man.

"What are you doing here? you can't stay here just evacuate and return to your families I will deal with these" Said Issei as large monsters come up.

"Run!" Shouted Issei. The people did as he said while Issei blocked the monster

"Issei!" He heard Raphtalia's voice.

"Deal with this" Said Issei as he punched the large monster in the face with his shield while Raphtalia cut him up in an instant and the giant fell down dead.

"Nice work Raphtalia" Said Issei and received a nod from her.

"Why do they keep coming?" Asked Issei as he looked at another herd of monsters.

Suddenly something flew in the sky that looked like a firework but when it exploded a bunch of fireballs started to fall onto the village.

"Watch out!" Said Issei as he covered Raphtalia under his cape and used the shield to protect themselves.

The whole village started to burn.

Then they heard a lot of laughter.

They looked at the source and found a group of royal knights walking.

"Hahah we burned them all to death in a single strike" Said one knight while laughing.

"Hm? oh! the shield hero, you're pretty tough" Said the knight.

"Tch, they didn't even care about us" Said Issei. Raphtalia's eyes widened from the rage and she sprinted out of issei's cape with her sword out and striked the knight but got blocked.

"Did you know that Issei was here! answer me or I'll have your head!" Shouted Raphtalia.

"Draw your swords" Said the knight commander.

Everyone now were standing with swords.

"So you are with the shield hero, how dare you raise a sword against the royal knights!" Shouted the knight.

"What kind of knights are neglecting their own people!" Shouted Raphtalia.

"Raphtalia, stand down" Said Issei calmly.

"But-" Raphtalia tried to say something but decided to listen to him.

"Alright then, I think it's better to watch as monsters eat you alive, yeah I think it's way better" Said Issei as everyone saw the sinister smile he had.

The knights turned around and saw a monster ready to attack but before that could happen a bunch of black chains wrapped around the monster.

"Raphtalia now!" Ordered Issei and Raphtalia sliced up the monster with ease.

"We will buy you some time to get into formation

and let's attack the monsters together" Said Issei

"Raphtalia let's go" Said Issei as both of them went straight towards the monsters while Issei was blocking their every attack Raphtalia killed them with her sword with ease.

"Leave it to the shield we need to aid the three heroes" Said the commander.

While the rest left the others hesitated but left too nonetheless.

Issei and Raphtalia got surrounded by many monsters.

"Hey we need-" Issei tried to call out to the knights but saw that they disappeared.

"Those damn pigs" Said Issei irritated suddenly Raphtalia couldn't keep up anymore and she was about to get injured really badly but Issei used shield prison to protect her.

"So they left us Huh?..... then I guess I'll have to do everything here myself" Said Issei as his wings popped out and his eyes glowed emerald green full of rage after turning to slits.

With a roar his aura manifested and every monster disintegrated from its pressure.

Issei released Raphtalia from the shield prison.

"You alright Raphtalia?" Asked Issei concerned.

"Yes I'm fine, but what happened here?" Asked Raphtalia.

"I killed all the monsters, and look at the sky, it's returning to normal" Said Issei as the wave ended.

After some time everyone returned to the village they were treating the wounded ones and stuff like that.

Issei was just looking around the village and not in the best mood after what the knights did.

"Issei" Called out Raphtalia from behind. Issei turned to look at her.

"There aren't any monsters left we killed them all" Said Raphtalia.

"Alright" replied Issei and suddenly a bunch of people came up to them.

"Sir hero thank you please accept our gratitude we couldn't have survived without you" Spoke a man.

"If it wasn't for you we wouldn't have pushed the monsters away and a bunch of people would've died if not for you" Said another one.

"We will never forget what you've done for us" Said the third.

"Yeah sure" Said Issei as he turned away and the people left.

"They looked truly grateful Issei" Said Raphtalia.

"Yeah I guess so" Said Issei.

"I've killed so many monsters" Said Raphtalia with her voice cracking. Issei came up to her and gave her a warm hug and she broke down completely.

With that the day ended for Issei and Raphtalia.