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The Nightstalker's Bow by LoganMidnight
 Destiny & Rising of the Shield Hero/盾の勇者の成り上がり XoverRated: T, English, Adventure & Fantasy, Ghost, Guardian, Naofumi I., Raphtalia, Words: 86k+, Favs: 589, Follows: 752, Published: Dec 31, 2019 Updated: Jul 8 223Chapter 5
Disclaimer - I do not own the Destiny franchise or The Rising of the Shield Hero
I also want to say that this chapter was hard for me to write and it might not be my best work.
Chapter 5 - The Slave Girl
Snap
Lance looked to the motion radar. His left, close by.
He crouched with bow in hand and snuck in close, moving to the detected movement and snapped twig. It led him to a tree, the radar saying something was behind it.
He spun around the tree and drew back an arrow made of yellow light from the Legendary Bow, only to stop at what he saw.
It was a girl, small and frail. Her hair was a very light brown, cropped short at the shoulders and her eyes were a shade of light gold. They were dull and lifeless as she cowered in front of the hero. All she wore were rags, not even close to what would be considered clothes. On her head were a set of animal ears. Weasel if the hunter was right.
There was something on her chest though, an intriget purple rune painted on with ink.
The girl whimpered and held herself tighter, causing Lance to snap out of his surprised state.
The arrow disappeared and he set the bow down in the grass next to him. He then knelt down in the grass in front of the girl causing her to stiffen, "Don't worry, it's ok. I'm not going to hurt you." The hunter said this in a voice so soft that the girl couldn't help but relax. Only a little though.
"My name is Lance. Can you tell me your's?" He continued, his voice still soft. She didn't answer though, choosing to stay silent in the presence of the hunter.
His eyes drifted to her exposed limbs and noticed the purple tinge when compared to the color of her skin. The harshest of these wounds were on her wrists, obvious from the amount of scarring on them.
'She's been bound.' Shade said in a monotone voice, stating the obvious.
'Not to mention beaten.' The hunter added in the same mental tone, 'You getting anything on that… rune on her chest?'
'... Yeah.' The ghost answered, 'It seems to be made out of magic. At least, that's what I can tell from here. I would need an actual scan if I wanted to get rid of it, and we do want to get rid of it. The faster the better.'
'While I agree with that,' The hunter stated, 'Why does it need to come off so fast?'
'Simply put, the rune seems to be connected to her life force.' Shade stated, 'It has the possibility to kill her at any time.'
'Let's not waste any time then.' Lance stated before softly talking to the girl again, "I'm about to do something to get rid of that rune on you, so please don't freak out."
Fortunately for the hunter, the girl perked up a little at the mention of getting rid of the rune, "... You can do that?" She finally spoke, her voice barely audible but hopeful nonetheless.
The hunter showed an unseen smile, "Yeah," He replied softly, "All I ask you is to stay still." The girl nodded slowly at his words, and Lance brought his left hand up, palm up.
Just before Shade could appear though, the small girl's weasel ears twitched and her eyes went wide. She curled back up and whimpered again. The hunter found out why a second later.
"... couldn't have gone far, so shut up and keep looking!" An irritated, angry voice of a man was heard a fair distance away, on the edge of the motion traker's capabilities.
The voice of another man responded, this one sounding more annoyed than angry, "There's no way the girl survived out here. Let's just go and tell that trader the girl died on the way here. She was going to die from sickness anyway."
The first man sighed, "As much as I would love to do that, this," Lance could hear an object, most likely wooden in material, being tapped, "Says that her slave crest is still active, meaning she's still alive."
The second man grumbled, "This better be worth the payout."
Slave crest. Is that what Lance heard? To the hunter, the concept of slavery wasn't unheared of in the Last City. You'd be surprised what people will do when they feel safe from the Darkness that roamed the outside of the walls. Lance has even seen some cases of slavery and other sex crimes when he would help the police force in the city.
It was never a pleasant sight.
Lance stood up and faced the direction of the men coming in his direction, but he didn't go to them for two reasons. One, he didn't want to leave the girl alone, even if she was alone. Secondly, the hunter wanted more information from the men.
They continued to talk to themselves, "It should be," The first man answered the second's question, "The trader said she was chosen by someone else, like that racoon demi we brought in the other day."
The second hummed, "If the payout was like last time, then it should definitely be worth-"
"Shhh-shh." The first man shussed the other, "The mark is glowing brighter, she should just be up here."
The hunter looked back at the girl and noticed no change, leading him to believe that the men had some kind of mark of their own. Maybe on a seperate object they have.
A smoke bomb appeared in the hunter's right hand. He placed it upside down in front of the girl before activating it, making her 'eep' as she turned invisible. It wasn't loud enough for the men tracking her to hear, but the hunter put a finger over where his mouth would be. The universal signal for quiet.
Her signal on the motion tracker did not disappear with her turning invisible, but instead it turned into a blue dot, marking her as an ally.
The two searchers finally stumbled into the clearing, stopping when they saw the hunter. They looked kind of, well, normal. No distinct features, no fancy or rundown clothing. They both had brown hair, one had blue eyes while the other had green. They wore simple brown tunics and grey pants with simple leather shoes. The one with blue eyes was taller than his friend though. The shorter man had a small wooden plaque in his hand, on top of it was a purple rune.
Lance was the first to speak, "Hello."
He didn't say much.
The two snapped out of their trance, "Oh, um, hello to you." The green eyed man said in confusion, "May I ask, who are you?"
"My name is Lance." His answer was short.
"That's a rather peculiar name…" The taller man mumbled.
Once the shorter man heard his name though, he looked over the hunter's armor and bow. His eyes widened in realization, "Lance? As in the Bow Hero, Lance Nightshade?"
The hunter's eyes widened for a second before he spoke, "You mean to tell me word travels that fast around here? It's only been a day since I got here."
"So you really are one of the heroes?" The tall man asked in awe.
"Yes," The hunter answered, "May I ask who you two are?"
The shorter man spoke first, "Oh yes, sorry for not introducing ourselves sir hero. My name is Meishu Burazazu, and this is my brother Shinja Burazazu."
Lance nodded, "A pleasure to meet you, but, what are you doing out here?" The hunter already knew the answer, "It's dangerous to be out here alone with monsters running about."
The taller brother suddenly looked nervous, but Meishu's composure didn't change, "We're looking for my friend's daughter." He lied through his teeth, "You see, he has fallen ill and we have been looking after his daughter in his absence."
Shinja nodded along, "Yeah, she doesn't like us though so she ran into the forest here while we were going into the city."
Lance had to admit, Meishu could come up with a story pretty fast. That, at least, was a little respectable, "What's that then? Some kind of tracker or something?" The hunter pointed at the wooden plaque in the shorter man's hand.
The said man looked at it in his hand, almost like he had forgotten it was there, " Yeah, actually." He went along with it, "She can use magic, so it's tracking that. It says that she's nearby actually."
"Hmm," The hunter hummed, "It looks more like a slave crest to me."
The brothers froze at his words, looking at Lance. Meishu recovered quickly though, "I don't know what you mean sir he-"
"Look, I'm going to cut to the chase. Stop looking for the girl and move on." The hunter bluntly stated.
The shorter man sighed after a second, "We can't just do that. We've signed a contract for this job, a magically binding one. We have to complete it."
"Besides," Shinja opened his mouth, "She's just a demi. You may not know, coming from a different world and all, but demis are lower than trash."
"Shut up!" Meishu hissed to his brother, only for him not to listen.
"Being slaves is their best use." The taller brother continued, "That's just the tru-" He wasn't able to continue.
A black armored fist slammed into his stomach, but it didn't stop there. Purple fire spread from the point of impact developing his body before it disappeared, taking his body with it. All that was left was a fine purple mist, and even that faded after a second.
The shorter brother stepped back in fear while Lance looked at his hand, inspecting it.
"W-what did you do to him?" Meishu asked in a shaky voice, causing Lance to turn to him.
"He's dead," The hunter replied, "At least, I believe he is. I really didn't expect him to disintegrate in one hit though, it was just supposed to knock him down." He murmured the last part mostly to himself.
The green eyed man took a step back, "Why d-did you kill him?" He once again asked in fear.
The hunter gave him a hard look, "He was suggesting that the girl was less than human, and I didn't mean to kill him. Now, just leave and stop looking for the girl."
The man thought for a second before steeling himself, "I can't do that, I'm bound by magical contract. If I fail to bring her, then I will die."
"And you're willing to risk death by me to complete that contract?" The hunter asked.
"Yes." Was his answer.
Lance sighed at his answer, "So be it."
Meishu made the first move, "Decipher the laws of nat-" His chant was cut short as an arrow made of light slammed into him.
Slammed, not pierced.
Strangely the arrow did not peirce the man. Maybe it was because the man disintegrated into particles of light as soon as the arrow made contact with his skin.
'... Why did that happen again?' Shade asked, 'People aren't supposed to be weak enough to die like that.'
'I… don't know.' The hunter responded, 'It might have something to do with my Guardian stat-' A scream cut him short.
Lance turned and saw the girl, uncloaked from her invisibility, seizing on the ground with pain. He ran to her, Shade coming out and floating above the girl.
"What's happening to her?" The hunter asked the ghost in a tone of seriousness.
"The rune on her chest," The ghost responded quickly, "It's draining her life force."
Lance cursed, "Can you turn it off?"
"Already on it." Shade said, a beam of light already connected to the girl. Not even a second later, the rune seemed to shatter before fading. The girl went silent.
The hunter was silent.
"She's alive, just asleep, so don't worry." The ghost said, causing Lance to sigh in relief, "I suggest setting up a proper camp for now, we can do more for her when she wakes up."
(Rifana)
Rifana didn't know what to think.
This morning she was harshly woken up, like normal, but instead of being strung up by chains to be tortured, she was thrown into a caged cart and taken away. The people taking her said something about how she was going to be given the same fate as Raphtalia, or the racoon in their words.
She didn't know what that meant, but it didn't sound pleasant.
The men stopped to rest part way through their journey. So while they were distracted, she slipped through the bars that were too wide for her frail body and ran.
They gave chase.
She managed to lose them in the forest, but she knew it was only a matter of time with her slave crest. She wasn't even able to run for long, her legs were just too frail and she was still sick.
She had collapsed on a tree, unable to go on, and didn't notice the snap of a stick she sat on. She did notice the man with the bow though. Especially when he pointed said bow at her.
He quickly moved it though, setting the bow down and telling her he wasn't going to hurt her. She didn't know why, but she believed him. Only a little though.
He said his name was Lance, but when he asked her for her name, she didn't want to say. It wouldn't matter anyway.
He then told her that he could take the slave crest off of her. She became hopeful, even if in the back of her mind she knew it was impossible. That's when she, and Lance apparently, heard them. The men transporting her had caught up.
She wanted to run, but she couldn't move. Her body was too sore. Lance moved though, placing a weird grey disk in front of her. It released smoke, but she didn't cough when she inhaled it. Instead, she turned translucent, causing her to 'eep' in surprise.
Lance stood up, bow in hand, and started talking to the men when they entered the clearing. She couldn't believe it when she heard it, but they called Lance the Bow Hero.
The Legendary Bow Hero. The one from the storybooks her mother used to read to her. She never thought she would meet one, not after she became a slave.
When they mentioned her though, she thought that the Bow Hero was going to give her up, but he didn't mention her. He continued to talk to the men as if he had never met her.
The men didn't leave though. Not even when the Bow Hero told them to stop looking for her. The tall one even said that demi-humans like her were lower than trash. After he said that though, he disappeared in a purple mist.
She didn't even realize that the Bow Hero did it until the remaining man said so. That man refused to leave as well. The Bow Hero shot him with his bow, making him disappear in a white light instead.
That's when the pain started.
A searing, agonizing pain erupted from her chest, causing her to scream out in pain. The world around her turned black, but not before she saw the Bow Hero run up to her followed by a flash of light and a floating black object.
.
.
.
She woke up to a dark sky. Not nighttime, but almost. The clearing wasn't as dark though.
There was a campfire in the center of the clearing a few feet away from her. It was a raging fire, it's blaze warmer than she had felt in a long time. She moved closer for this reason.
It was then that she noticed the blanket on top of her. It wasn't big, but it was more than enough to cover her small body and keep it warm. Looking around her, she noticed some other things.
One was that she was still in the same clothes as before, that is to say rags, but next to her on another blanket was a set of new clothes. A short sleeved shirt, pants, socks, and even a new pair of what looked like shoes. They were all black.
Weirdly enough, they looked like they would fit her.
Another thing she noticed was the lack of anyone else. Well, anyone that she could see. Something told her she was being watched, but she couldn't tell what it was. She was used to the feeling though, she was never really alone when she was a slave to Lord Idol.
That thought made her look to her slave crest, only to gasp when she saw that it was gone.
It was actually gone.
Before she could think more about it, someone walked into the clearing. She tensed up before relaxing slightly. It was the man from earlier, still wearing his strange armor and wielding the white and gold bow.
'The Bow Hero.' Rifana reminded herself.
He noticed her sitting up and walked her way. She didn't move, watching him approach. He didn't seem threatening in the way he walked, but that didn't make her any less nervous.
He stopped in front of her and crouched down to her level, "Are you feeling alright?" he asked in his soft voice, a voice that made her still tense muscles completely relax.
"... A bit." She responded softly after a second. He seemed happy with her reply, though it was hard to tell with the helmet on.
"That's good." The Bow Hero continued, "Do you want something to eat?"
She didn't voice an answer, but her growling stomach did.
He stood up, laughing softly, while Rifana blushed in embarrassment, "I'll get you something to eat. Why don't you put those on?" He said pointing to the pile of clothes she saw earlier, "I resized them, so they should fit you."
Rifana nodded, causing him to turn away and move to the fire. She looked at the clothes and moved to them. After a second's hesitation, she picked up the shirt and immediately noticed how soft it was. It was softer than anything she had felt before.
She slowly put it back down, relishing the softness, before glancing back at the Bow Hero. He was doing something at the fire, not looking at her. After a moment's hesitation, she removed the rags covering her body and put the soft clothes on. They all fit perfectly. There was even a pair of underwear for her, something she didn't expect.
The shoes were confusing to her though, she had never seen anything like them. The bottom and toe of the shoe were made of a hard material, and the leather making the rest of the shoe was also hard, making them look uncomfortable to wear. They were tall enough to cover her ankles and string laces were strung all of the way up them.
Surprisingly though, the insides of the shoes were… fluffy, like a pillow. That was the best way Rifana could describe it. When she put them on her feet, she couldn't believe how comfortable they were.
She couldn't figure out the laces though, so she left them untied and stuffed them in the shoes with her feet.
Rifana turned her attention back to the Bow Hero just in time to see him coming over to her, a bowl in his hand. She sniffed the air and her mouth started to water involuntarily, whatever he had smelled good.
He sat down in front of her and held the wooden bowl out to her. She took it slowly, but when it was in her hands she didn't hesitate to grab the spoon in the bowl and eat it like a hungry animal. It tasted as good as it smelled.
After she was done, the Bow Hero spoke, "Can you tell me your name?"
She hesitated, "... It's Rifana."
"That's a lovely name, Rifana." The hero replied, "My name is Lance."
"I remember," She spoke, "You told me before the men showed up." She paused for a moment, "Is… is what they said true?"
"About what?" Lance asked in a hesitant tone.
"Are… are you really the Bow Hero?" She asked, this time in a hopeful tone.
Lance chuckled before nodding, "Yes I am. Me and the other heroes were summoned the other day."
She didn't have to look in a mirror to tell that there were stars in her eyes. It was her dream to meet one of the Legendary Heroes, more so the Shield Hero, but the Bow Hero was cool too. The storybooks always said that the Bow Hero fought for justice, so it made sense for him to save her from the slave traders.
Speaking of slave traders, "Um," She started, making Lance look at her, "How did you get the slave crest off of me? Was it that black, floaty thing?" She said the last part after suddenly remembering it from before.
At first he looked alarmed at the mention of it, making Rifana regret mentioning it, but a flash of light caught both of their attention.
Next to Lance was the black object from before, but she had a better view of it now. It was made of metal, that much she could tell, but the rest was a mystery to her. It had what looked like an eye in the center of it, that was glowing blue.
"Shade!" The Bow Hero said in a hissed tone, "Why are you-"
"Relax." 'Shade' said, "She's already seen me." The small construct turned to Rifana, "Hello! My name is Shade. I'm a Ghost, Lance's Ghost to be specific."
Rifana blinked, "Lance's ghost? Does that mean he's dead?"
They were silent for a second before Shade laughed, "No, he's not dead. A Ghost is just what things like me are called. I, as a Ghost, help Lance keep his head straight."
"Hey!" The said hero retorted, causing Rifana to laugh. The hero sighed, "To answer you question Rifana, yes, it was Shade that took the slave crest off."
"I also made the medicine that cured your Tuberculosis." The Ghost budded in.
A confused look covered her face, "What's Tuberculosis?"
"I was the sickness infecting your lungs," Lance answered, "It almost killed you."
That, Rifana understood. She couldn't believe she forgot she was sick. She bowed her head, "Thank you, for saving me."
The Bow Hero chuckled, "You don't need to thank me for that. Any hero worth the name would have done it."
The hero went silent for a second before continuing, "We are going to set out in the morning and I need to ask this. Is there anywhere you want me to take you? People you can stay with?"
Rifana looked down, a sad look on her face, "I… see." Lance said in response.
He suddenly looked to the Ghost, they seemed to be having a conversation with each other even if no words were spoken. They seemed to come to an agreement.
The hero turned back to Rifana, "Rifana, would you like to travel with me? At least until you have a place to st-"
"I would love to travel with you!" She cut him off in an excited voice. She could hardly believe it. One of the Legendary Heroes was offering her a spot on their team. She would get to travel with him, spend time with him, and get to know him better than anyone else.
Who knows, maybe they would fall in love and get married. The thought made her blush.
Lance seemed taken aback by the sudden acceptance, but quickly recovered, "Well then, welcome to the team."
As he said it, text appeared in front of her. It read, 'You have been added to Lance Nightshade's party'. Along with this, in the top left corner of her vision her name and his name appeared. Below each was a red bar, a green bar, and a blue bar. Next to their names were their levels. There was a 1 next to Rifana's name, and next to Lance's there was…
Rifana smiled. That confirmed it, Lance was a Legendary Hero.
Who else could reach level 240.
(End)
Before you all run away, this isn't a 'Oh I'm sooooo overpowered, I'll just stop the waves by myself story. Just stick with me.
As for why it's that high, that will be explained in a different chapter. Just know that it has to do with Lance's Light Level being so high.
I also wanted to say that Rifana's sickness was not as bad in this version of the world, and that was only so she could survive to this point.
I also got some comments about the deactivated Ghost in their possession. All I wanted to say about that is, not yet.
That you all for your awesome support so far. I mean, 4 chapters but already more than 200 follows. That's insane. All of your reviews are appreciated and loved, so keep them coming.
Who knows, maybe one or two of your ideas will be put in to the story. But I digress.
Have a wonderful evening and see you all next time.
Chapter 6 - The Hound of Hades - March 9th
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