Fanfic / Rise of the Sword and the Shield

Art by AlineSM

She thought this was the end, that she would die in battle against Orochi. But, fate would later grant her a second chance at life as the Cardinal Sword Hero. She and the Shield Hero will rise from disgrace and face the future.

Rise of the Sword and the Shield is an ongoing crossover fanfiction between Senran Kagura and The Rising of the Shield Hero, in which Asuka becomes the Cardinal Sword Hero in place of Ren Amaki.

Instead of defeating Orochi, Asuka and her friends perish in the fight against the giant Yoma. Now in the world of Shield Hero, Asuka becomes acquainted with her fellow Cardinal Heroes, Motoyasu, Itsuki, and Naofumi, and things would have gone smoothly in the fight against the Waves of Catastrophe, had a certain red-haired princess and her father the King not framed Naofumi for attempted rape.

After trying to defend him, Asuka now has to contend with her own struggles in Melromarc being disparaged by a Fake Hero and looked down upon by her peers.

It can be read here on FanFiction.Net. It can now also be read on Wattpad. This story is also a rewrite. For the original version, see here. Has nothing to do with Pokémon Sword and Shield.

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Rise of the Sword and the Shield contains examples of:

• Actually Pretty Funny: In chapter 21, Mirellia is naturally stressed over the terrible events in her country, but it doesn't stop her from laughing at the duel's outcome, where Asuka tricked Motoyasu into destroying Myne's armor and then Asuka destroying Motoyasu's completely.
• Abhorrent Admirer: Following chapter 03's trial, Asuka voices her contempt at Motoyasu for his lechery. He doesn't get the message, due to believing she's under the effects of a drug and he still pursues her. Asuka even goes out of her way to avoid him as much as possible. Even King Aultcray finds it disgusting.
• Adaptation Expansion: Cerberus was the First Wave boss, but it was never revealed what happened to it after the First Wave of Catastrophe ended. Here, it is an Arc-Villain, and Asuka is pitted against it in a fight to the death. Cerberus was also given a personality; in addition to being bloodthirsty, it also held the Might Makes Right mentality and was a Blood Knight.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Itsuki shows his more negative personality traits early on, due to jealousy towards Asuka’s abilities. He believes she’s cheating somehow so she can perform the absurd feats of strength and agility, refusing to believe that she can do it naturally.
• Adaptational Wimp: Sort of, as unlike in canon, Naofumi has yet to unlock any of the cursed series.
• All for Nothing: One of the things Malty wanted to have done to Asuka if she lost her match against Motoyasu was to have a slave crest forcibly placed upon her. Not only does Motoyasu lose handily against Asuka (and Naofumi), but later Asuka reveals to everyone that slave crests and mind control don't work on the Four Heroes to begin with. This means that even if Asuka had lost, Malty would never have been able to make Asuka a slave like she so desperately wanted.
• Arch-Enemy: Myne naturally to Naofumi, but more so to Asuka.
• Big Bad: Like in canon, Malty quickly establishes herself as the main antagonist of the story.
• Bullying a Dragon: Much like in canon, Malty doesn't have the best sense of when not to poke the bear due to her inflated ego and bratty nature and so doesn't think it's a bad idea to try and slap a Curse of Wrath affected Asuka, who had practically teleported behind her several seconds ago AND effortlessly lifted Motoyasu off the ground with a single-handed neck grab almost a minute ago. Somewhat justified as she had previously managed to slap Asuka without much trouble, but still highly inadvisable.
• Break the Cutie: Asuka's death in her old world affects her more than she lets on.
• Bring My Brown Pants: After Asuka is taken over by the Curse of Wrath series during the post-Second Wave celebration, Motoyasu pisses himself when she smiles at him.
• Character Exaggeration: Motoyasu's lechery is turned up to make him look worse than he already was in canon.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Subverted by Motoyasu. He tries to paint himself as one to Asuka, but she isn't fooled.
• Clothing Damage: Asuka somewhat invokes this by offering Motoyasu a chance to attack her chest and rip her top during the duel to distract him, then it actually happens to both Myne (who gets her top destroyed) and Motoyasu (who ends up completely naked) by the end of the duel.
• Complaining About Rescues They Don't Like: Asuka rightfully calls out Motoyasu, Itsuki, Myne, and Aultcray for treating her like a helpless victim to incriminate Naofumi as a rapist.
• Cool Old Guy: Erhard the blacksmith. He helps both Asuka and Naofumi when they need it.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: A Wrath Possessed Asuka and Naofumi hand Motoyasu his ass during the duel, and later, Asuka beats Itsuki in one blow.
• Darker and Edgier: Downplayed, but the world of Senran Kagura is a lot darker due to the beginning showing all of our main characters having been killed in various awful ways by Orochi, ending with Asuka being burned to death. As mentioned above in Break the Cutie, this ends up leaving Asuka with PTSD and plagued by nightmares of the monster that killed her. The Shield Hero world, however, is just as bad as it was before.
• Death Glare: After Malty slaps Rino for talking back to her, Asuka gives her one so potent that everyone within the surrounding area is left terrified, with Motoyasu practically pissing himself in fear due to memories of the women that murdered him in the first place.
• Disproportionate Retribution: At first, Malty is determined to make sure that Motoyasu fights Naofumi so she can take away Raphtalia and tries to stop Asuka from taking Naofumi’s place in the fight. But then she outright demands that Motoyasu fight Asuka after a Wrath Sword possessed Asuka catches Malty’s wrist mid-slap and holds it hard enough to leave some bruises.
• Double Agent: Asuka allows Elena to join the party as one to fool Myne.
• Energy Absorption: Asuka's Sloth Sword has the ability to Life Drain those she cuts with it. This heals any injury she might have sustained and temporally boosts her strength.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Chapter 09: For all of his corruption, Aultcray makes it clear he does not approve of the Three Heroes bickering amongst themselves, especially when it led to Asuka going into hiding after she was harassed and laughed at by Motoyasu and Itsuki. In the same chapter, both he and Pope Balmus are shocked by Malty's suggestion to enslave Asuka after they cheat in the duel, and also express genuine disgust with Motoyasu's lecherous behaviour towards Asuka (to the point that Aultcray warns him that he's on the road to becoming as bad as they claim Naofumi is) and annoyance at his continued belief that her rejections are due to being drugged, with Balmus outright telling Motoyasu that the "drug" Naofumi has supposedly given her does not exist, nor does any drug that could affect someone's personality to such a degree, pointing out that, even if it did, it would not affect a Cardinal Hero, and asking if Motoyasu has ever seen it or even bothered to look for any evidence that it exists.
  • Chapter 19: Aultcray may think poorly of Asuka for continuously refusing to play ball and supporting Naofumi, but he furiously scolds Malty, whom he usually dotes upon, when she insults Asuka’s dead teammates and her inability to save them.
• Everyone Has Standards: Asuka hates Myne and the rest of Motoyasu's party, but when she sees their desperation at the thought of eating Motoyasu's cooking again, she actually feels sympathetic towards them.
• Evil Is Petty: Naturally, Malty and Aultcray fall under this. This is especially the case with Malty because she can't stand Asuka. All because she reminded her of Melty and has bigger breasts.
  • Mald holds a petty grudge against Asuka because she disbanded her party at the beginning, forcing him to go to Itsuki.
  • After the duel, Aultcray tries to have Asuka and Naofumi's payment revoked after they won the contest fairly. He was intent on forcing Asuka to pay for the damages to Myne and Motoyasu's armor, claiming her conduct was dishonorable. This is despite going back on his word to stop the duel should Myne interfere. Aultcray was also willing to extort Naofumi's payment for supposedly dragging the Sword Hero along with him to defend a measly village like Lute, forgetting that it was the duty of Heroes to protect civilians. He's forced to relent when Asuka threatens to abstain from future fights against the Waves.
• Evil Counterpart: Malty to Asuka.
• Foil:
  • Asuka and Malty. Both girls are related to older men, but they were raised differently. Whereas Asuka's grandfather Hanzo taught her right from wrong and had a genuine bond with her, Aultcray spoiled his daughter rotten, resulting in Malty manipulating him. Asuka grew up to be a compassionate person and became a positive influence on anyone she met. Malty, on the other hand, grew up to become a sociopath and a negative influence on those she interacts with.
  • In a similar vein, Hanzo and Aultcray. Hanzo always strived for peace and believes good and evil cannot exist without one another, therefore, he has no extreme hatred of Evil Shinobi, unlike Aultcray, who doesn't have a clear goal of maintaining peace for Melromarc but is entirely fixated on his hatred of demi-humans and the Shield Hero. Hanzo has a loving relationship with Asuka, and they both trust each other. While he loves her deeply, Aultcray is easily manipulated by Malty, so there's hardly any love on her part.
  • Motoyasu to Katsuragi. Both are open-skirt chasers, but while Katsuragi genuinely cares about her friends and her harassment is played off as harmless fun, Motoyasu ignores the feelings of the girls he's interested in, which includes Asuka, and his flirting comes off as annoying, to the point where even Aultcray is disgusted by it.
• For Want Of A Nail: In the canon story of Shield Hero, no one came to Naofumi’s defense during his False Rape Accusation, but here, Asuka quickly realizes something was wrong with Myne's claims and uses rational thinking to disprove them. However, In Spite of a Nail ensues when Myne lies about Naofumi plotting to rape her as well, which seals the deal in the eyes of the King, Motoyasu, Itsuki, and pretty much everyone else besides Asuka.
  • Instead of Naofumi being forced to fight Motoyasu in a duel for Raphtalia, Asuka and Motoyasu are promised to fight a sacred duel that takes place after the Second Wave. If Asuka wins, Naofumi’s name is cleared of the accusations against him, and if Motoyasu wins, Asuka must serve the royal family. Later this nearly gets subverted when Myne attempts to force a duel between Motoyasu and Naofumi so he'd lose Raphtalia anyway, but through a series of events including Asuka unlocking the Wrath Sword and terrifying Motoyasu into nearly refusing to fight, it becomes double subverted as a fight is set up with Naofumi and Asuka fighting against Motoyasu and Itsuki.
  • In canon, Rino is sold as a slave and later seen in the far future after she manages to trick her way into Malty's party again and literally stabs her in the back. Here, she gets sold in front of Asuka, who is quick to rescue her from the slavers. This results in her joining Asuka's party as her very first party member.
  • In canon, Naofumi is the first one to unlock one of the Cursed series weapons. In this story, Asuka is the first one to unlock one when she receives the Sloth Sword, then later gets the Wrath Sword as well, while Naofumi still hasn't unlocked any.
  • In canon, Motoyasu "beats" Naofumi due to Malty's cheating, but he still gets to keep Raphtalia when she refuses to leave his side. In this story, Asuka and Naofumi not only beat Motoyasu together, but Asuka singlehandedly takes down Itsuki and causes Motoyasu to publicly humiliate Malty by accidentally destroying her top and paralyzing her in one attack.
  • In canon, only Naofumi gets his payment revoked because of Aultcray's petty excuses, but has it reinstated after the Sword and Bow Heroes argue how unfair it is. In this story, both Naofumi and Asuka have their payment revoked after Aultcray gets mad at them for winning the duel and, due to Itsuki's dislike of Asuka, Asuka has to convince Aultcray on her own to pay them fairly. This has a trickledown effect that causes her to refuse to accept future payments from the King since she feels he's too petty to trust.
• Gone Horribly Right: Malty hated Asuka’s heroic and hopeful attitude and wanted nothing more than to break her. While she briefly broke down in tears from everything she was forced to admit AND Malty’s absolutely vile taunting, she unlocks her Curse of Wrath series shortly after. While she’s in no way heroic at this point, she is so filled with hate that she becomes absolutely determined to see the people who brought her nothing but misery brought to justice.
• Handsome Lech: Motoyasu, big surprise. To make it more awkward, he flirts with Asuka, who doesn't appreciate it.
  • Goes to exaggerated levels during the duel when Asuka offers him the chance to get a free attack on her...to her chest and tells him that would shred her top and expose her breasts. From there, Motoyasu becomes so focused on trying to do just that he ignores all warnings and demands to stop from his allies.
• Hate at First Sight: Malty immediately hates Asuka, for reminding her of Melty, and out of envy of her bigger breasts. Malty is a Proud Beauty, so seeing this little upstart upsets her greatly.
• Hate Sink: Myne, Motoyasu, and Itsuki, more so in than canon. Myne because of how she goes out of her way to antagonize Asuka out of petty jealousy, and Motoyasu for his delusional obsession with Asuka. Itsuki antagonizes her, due to his jealousy of Asuka.
• Helpful Hallucination: A dark variation, as the phantoms Asuka hallucinates tell her to take vengeance on her enemies during the duel.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Naofumi due to the false rape charge placed on him, and Asuka for trying to stand up for him and speaking out against the slavery of demi-humans.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: After she is harassed, mocked, and pestered by Motoyasu, Itsuki, and Myne at the Adventurer’s Guild, Asuka goes into hiding by disguising herself with her shinobi arts. She uses this to gather information, keep an eye on Naofumi and Raphtalia, and eventually travel with Motoyasu and his team so she can beat them to the punch in killing a monster that would give Motoyasu an edge during their future duel.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: Myne's dogged insistence that Motoyasu get a specific monster part that would give his spear a paralyzing attack ends up biting her after he accidentally uses it on her during the duel, which both leaves her lying in the middle of the arena, unable to move, and topless for extra humiliation.
  • Myne's refusal to play fair during the duel ends up being used to force her father to pay Naofumi and Asuka fairly since it became so obvious that Motoyasu verbally acknowledged it.
• Humiliation Conga: Chapter 20 features one hell of one delivered to Motoyasu, Itsuki, and Myne, with some extra carrying over to Aultcray and Pope Balmus.
  • For Motoyasu, he is mopped across the floor by both Asuka and Naofumi, is offered a "handicap" by Asuka to hit her in the chest to expose her breasts that he takes with shameful eagerness, accidentally hits Myne with an attack, and is finally knocked out and stripped by Asuka to win the match.
  • For Itsuki, he is barely able to help out Motoyasu due to Naofumi blocking all his attacks with his shield techniques, when he finally fights Asuka he nearly gets a hit on her only to learn that the one he attacked was a clone, he is brought down in one strike from Asuka's Sloth Sword draining his vitality, and stays conscious while watching Motoyasu humiliate himself, praying that no one would associate him with Motoyasu's pervertedness.
  • For Myne, all her efforts to cheat in the match end up wasted as she spent it healing Motoyasu (who, as mentioned, barely stood a chance against either one of his opponents) and attempting to hit Asuka with her wind magic, which was so obvious even Motoyasu saw what she did, Motoyasu tells her that he'd rather see Asuka's breasts than win the match, the attack that Motoyasu hit Myne with destroyed her top and paralyzed her, and Asuka got a happy ending despite her best efforts.
  • Both Aultcray and Pope Balmus had to suffer the humiliation of their heroes getting thoroughly trounced by Asuka and Naofumi, having Motoyasu openly show what a shameless pervert he is for all to see, and for Aultcray he had his own daughter get exposed by his favored hero in front of all the people of his country before being forced to acknowledge Asuka and Naofumi as the victors.
  • The humiliation continues in chapter 21, where Asuka forces Aultcray to fairly pay her and Naofumi for their services during the Second Wave. This after he tried to extort them for the repairs for Myne and Motoyasu's armor. She also casually reveals that slave crests don't work on Cardinal Heroes, rendering Myne's efforts completely pointless.
  • Motoyasu himself is still fearful of provoking Asuka after losing horribly to her, and when he tries to persuade Raphtalia to leave Naofumi, she calls him a pervert who lies and cheats and denounces his efforts to defend Myne and Aultcray's desire to free her from her servitude, calling all three of them bad people for what they did. Naofumi has also taken a potshot at the Spear Hero’s groin.
• Hypocrite: In Naofumi's trial, Motoyasu condemns him for supposedly attempting to rape Myne. Asuka calls him out and rightly accuses him of hugging her earlier just to get a feel of her breasts. He continues to believe the false rape accusations and insult Naofumi for it, all while showing no respect for Asuka's boundaries, ignoring her repeated refusals (even after both Aultcray and Pope Balmus spell out that the "drug" Myne claimed Naofumi used on Asuka doesn't exist, and that Asuka really does want nothing to do with him), and generally harrassing the poor girl, made worse by him being twenty-one years old to her sixteen.
• Idiot Hero: Motoyasu and Itsuki are this, similar to canon. They believe their current world is a game and do as they please. When Asuka tries to convince them to take the reality they're in seriously, they laugh in her face.
• I Lied: After she tricks Motoyasu into destroying Myne's armor, Asuka reveals that she lied to him about wanting to be cured, before skewering his armor and leaving him completely naked.
• In Spite of a Nail: Although Asuka was initially supposed to fight against Motoyasu after the Second Wave, Malty, much like in canon, convinces Motoyasu to challenge Naofumi to a duel in order to "free" Raphtalia. This doesn't last long as Asuka, under the effects of the Curse of Wrath, intimidates King Aultcray into allowing her to fight in Naofumi's stead, then gets further subverted when Motoyasu's reluctance to fight Asuka gives Itsuki a chance to suggest a fight of Naofumi and Asuka vs Motoyasu and Itsuki.
• I Reject Your Reality: Motoyasu refuses to believe that Asuka genuinely hates him. He wholeheartedly believes it's a drug that makes her hate him and not Naofumi. He doesn't even question its existence, he believes it because Myne told him. He continues to do so after the King and the Pope spell it out to him that the drug doesn't exist.
• Jerkass Realization: During the fight against the two-headed dog, through Raphtalia’s panic attack, Naofumi comes to realize that not only has Asuka suffered PTSD much like Raphtalia, but that he has been treating her unfairly this whole time and trying to deny it while she had tried her best to help him.
  • He gets hit with this even harder upon hearing exactly how rough Asuka has had it before and even after being summoned to Melromarc, to the point that he comes to feel she has suffered far worse than he ever did.
• Kangaroo Court: As you would expect from the Shield Hero canon, chapter 03 features the infamous trial, but with the added bonus of Asuka taking part and trying to defend Naofumi. However, despite her best efforts, Asuka was unable to save Naofumi from being framed by Myne for Attempted Rape. Myne and Aultcray even went so far as to peg Asuka as a victim as well, stating through Crocodile Tears that Naofumi was going to rape Asuka next in an effort to make the false charges stick. Asuka does not handle being treated like a potential victim well. Naturally, Motoyasu and Itsuki were no help at all, since they believed Myne's lie over Asuka's defense.
• Meido: Asuka disguises herself as a maid to infiltrate the castle. Her maid act easily fools Motoyasu, though Malty can't help but think something is odd (and annoying) about her, even if she doesn't know what it is exactly.
• My God, You Are Serious!: When Asuka explains to the Four Heroes how she had fought and killed the Three-Headed Cerberus wave boss, Itsuki and Motoyasu immediately laugh at how ridiculous (they think) that sounds. Then when Motoyasu jokes that she'll next tell them she nearly died fighting it, seeing Asuka's humorless expression causes them both to realize that she wasn't kidding as well as connect the dots on why their respective relics glowed dimly a while ago.
• The Mole: Elena reveals herself immediately to be one as soon as Asuka deduces her real intentions in approaching her. However, Elena had already decided to cut ties with Motoyasu's party by then, so her plea to join Asuka's party is genuine. Asuka only allows her join as a slave (at Elena's suggestion) and figured using her as Double Agent for both sides would be advantageous. It also helps that Asuka knows what Myne does to girls who fail her, and isn't thrilled with the idea of letting that happen to someone.
• Never My Fault: Both Motoyasu and Itsuki are quick to blame one another after Asuka leaves the Adventurer's Guild due to their combined mockery and pestering. Even after being scolded by King Aultcray and Pope Balmus, Itsuki readily blames her disappearance on Motoyasu. He even insists Asuka is "blowing things out of proportion".
• Obliviously Evil: Downplayed from evil to jerkass, but Motoyasu doesn't realize how utterly annoying his constant flirting, touching, posturing, and white knighting is to the thoroughly capable and unimpressed Asuka.
• Oh, Crap!: Malty has one upon the revelation that Asuka managed to kill the Three-Headed Cerberus. A part of this, however, seems to come with knowing that this means Rino, who she had sold to slavers that got killed by the beast, possibly survived.
  • In Chapter 21, after receiving payments for fighting in the Second Wave, Asuka reveals her knowledge of several things to everyone, resulting in several of these from King Aultcray. Among them are:
    • That she knows Malty has a sister who is the true next in line to become Queen, much to Aultcray's dismay.
    • That she knows about the Queen, which makes Aultcray go pale.
    • That she knows Malty, King Aultcray, and Pope Balmus had planned to try and enslave her, at which point Aultcray can't even bring himself to look at Asuka.
• Only Sane Man:
  • Naofumi, weirdly even more so than in canon, as due to Asuka being the one to unlock her own cursed series first while Naofumi still hasn't unlocked his own, now he's left trying to calm down and rein in Asuka when she is getting too vengeful and angry for her own good. Asuka's continued defence of him at great personal cost, and him realising that Asuka did this despite being traumatised by the deaths of her friends, also helps him shed some of his bitterness and trust issues.
  • Elena is this to Motoyasu's groupies. She barely believes any of Myne's claims, is fully aware of how horrible she is, and doesn't really like Motoyasu, only going along with them for the perks and an easy life of luxury. She even figured out that Felecia the maid was actually Asuka, though didn't bother revealing this to the party because she didn't care.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Motoyasu being absolutely certain that a Wrath Sword possessed Asuka couldn’t possibly be the result of the made-up drug Malty told him was making her support Naofumi leaves everyone who heard him so shocked that he’s actually accepting reality that they see it as a dire situation.
• Psychological Projection: The people of Melromarc project their views onto Asuka and the Cardinal Heroes, expecting her to act in certain ways, only to get angry that she isn't, because she refuses to stop standing up for the Shield Hero or showing sympathy to Demi-humans.
• Psychopathic Woman Child: While this is a constant for Malty, chapter 21 takes it to new heights when upon learning her plan to put a slave crest on Asuka was doomed from the start, Malty ends up having a literal stomping, screaming temper tantrum out of sheer frustration and hatred of Asuka.
• Rage Breaking Point: Asuka hits this point during the celebratory dinner after the Second Wave when Malty forces her to reveal to everyone how she lost her friends and family before she died and then mercilessly mocks her for it. This on top of all the other mistreatment that she had to endure at the hands of the other heroes and the people of Melromarc results in her unlocking the Wrath Sword.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • In chapter 03, Asuka gives one out to Motoyasu, Itsuki, Malty, and Aultcray following the trial. She lambasts everyone for the deplorable treatment of Naofumi, before attacking them individually: First, Motoyasu for his perverted personality, Myne for her true lying sadistic nature, Itsuki for not being sincere, and King Aultcray for his deceit and wasting time on a Kangaroo Court fueled by his hatred for the Shield Hero.
  • In Chapter 20, Asuka gives another one to Motoyasu as the duel reaches its climax about how easily distracted he is by pretty girls and how easy it is to take advantage of him.
  • In chapter 21, Asuka roasts Aultcray and Myne for trying to extort her and Naofumi and for their rigging and cheating in the duel. She also berates Aultcray for his half-ass handling of the Waves and threatens to abstain from the fight if he doesn't give her the promised money.
  • In the same chapter, Aultcray snaps at Motoyasu for his idiocy when the latter tries to offer to pay for Myne's armor since he destroyed it by accident.
  • Again in the same chapter, Raphtalia, Naofumi, and Asuka also read Motoyasu the riot act for his participation in Myne and Aultcray's scheme and his inability to care for a slave, preferring to follow Myne's orders.
• Religion of Evil: The Three Heroes Church teaches its followers (as in almost everyone in the country) to hate the Shield Hero and the demi-humans who worship him.
• Resign in Protest: Asuka announces that she won't receive any more funding from Aultcray, due to his biased rewarding of payment to the Cardinal Heroes and trying to extort her and Naofumi.
• Sadist:
  • Naturally, Myne gets off on the suffering of others, Naofumi, Asuka, and Rino being prime examples of her sadism.
  • While under the influence of the Curse of Wrath, Asuka's wrath takes the form of vengeful sadism, as she torments Motoyasu emotionally and later beats him silly in the duel before completely humiliating him.
• Seven Deadly Sins: Much like canon, the Cursed Series follows this. Asuka unlocks the Sloth Sword, which grants her the ability to drain energy from anything she cuts, though at the cost of suppressing her emotions to the point of apathy, and it makes her see hallucinations of her deceased friends.
  • Later on, during the party that occurs after the Second Wave, Asuka unlocks the Wrath Sword after Malty pressures Asuka into telling everyone about the deaths of her friends and herself which caused her to be summoned to begin with.
• Skewed Priorities: Motoyasu stops Myne when she tries to cheat in the middle of his duel...because he'd rather see Asuka's breasts get exposed than win the match.
• Shout-Out: Chapter 20 shouts out to classic Scooby-Doo, as Motoyasu chants the same "I gotta be brave" mantra Shaggy did in episode 16.
• Take a Third Option: Initially, Asuka challenges Motoyasu to a fight after the Second Wave in order to try and clear Naofumi of the false rape charges levied against him by Malty. However, when the time comes, Malty attempts to further screw over Naofumi by getting Motoyasu to challenge him to a fight due to him owning Raphtalia as a slave. Asuka insists on fighting Motoyasu and eventually is allowed the chance to after intimidating King Aultcray into allowing it while under the effects of the Curse of Wrath. However, due to Motoyasu refusing to fight Asuka, Itsuki offers one last option... that Naofumi and Asuka fight against Motoyasu and Itsuki, 2 on 2.
• Too Dumb to Live: Motoyasu voluntarily fell into Asuka's obvious trap because he wanted to see her boobs, something she capitalizes on to humiliate him in front of a crowd before knocking him out.
  • In the next chapter, Aultcray believes that relaying entirely the Three Heroes to defend Melromarc is good enough against the Waves of Catastrophe. This is despite how dysfunctional they are as a team, something Asuka acknowledges.
• Tranquil Fury: Once Asuka unlocks the Curse of Wrath series for her sword, she is completely calm the entire time, even cracking small jokes as she speaks. But a single look at Motoyasu causes him to wet himself and afterward he can only say that her gaze contained absolutely nothing but hate for him.
  • Asuka is capable of being intimidating without completely giving to the Wrath Curse, as she threatens to resign from the fight against the Waves of Catastrophe and let a hellhole like Melromarc be destroyed, should Aultcray choose to not give her and Naofumi their monthly funding.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Downplayed, but Motoyasu actually noticing and calling out Malty cheating with wind spells during the match ends up being used to force King Aultcray to pay Asuka and Naofumi fairly after he attempts to cheat them out of their money.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • In Chapter 07, Evelyn, one of the receptionists at the Adventurer's Guild, calls out Motoyasu and Itsuki for how they treated Asuka and caused her to leave the guild.
  • In chapter 08, Erhard gives Naofumi a tongue-lashing for believing Asuka was faking her friendship with him.
  • In chapter 09, King Aultcray and Pope Balmus lecture Motoyasu and Itsuki for causing Asuka to leave the Adventurer's Guild by laughing at and denouncing her training methods and belief that the current world they inhabit is real.
• Wham Shot: The end of chapter 22 reveals that Hien, Ikaruga's sword, is in the world of Shield Hero.

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