The Dude's Bucket of Ideas (Writings and Snippets)

[adudefromthesea]

So, I had this account for a while and I've never used for anything other than keep track of the stories I like, so well I decided to change that by crossposting some of my snippets here, because why not (Pus it's more exposure and I like new feedback)

Now those whose how know me will now that I'm a primary QQ writer, and that means that most of the things I written have sex one way on another. This site's rules allow for sex, but it does not allow for pornography, which I interpreted as "It's ok for a story to have tasteful sex if the plot demands it or/and make sense, but it's not ok to have a story primary focused on sex," basically more plot with smut rather then smut with plot. To make the lives of the mods easier (which i think is another rule, I think) I decided to steer away from most of the intense stuff and keep this thread fairly SFW, this may change in the future but I'll try my best to keep within SV rules.

Anyway, I hope you like the following snippets, any feedback in highly appreciated, but be warned that while none will have explicit scenes for now, they are all indented to be read by a mature audience, with the specific warnings tagged before the read as per SV rules (I never tagged my stories before so I'm probably bad at it, sorry for the inconvenience.)

if you interested in more of my work, check me up on the NSFW session of QQ forum.

 

[adudefromthesea]

Chapter 01







The bow creaked as the tension of the string pulled back its wooden curve; there was a brief quiver on the muscles of my arms and back, confessing hours of tireless practice.

The metal of the arrowhead met the middle of my middle finger while the index stayed pointed on the targeted. Three breaths I took to gauge the distance and speed of the wind, and then I moved my aim upwards and released the arrow.

It only made a sound when it left the bow, cutting the air in a shrill chirp then continue its way in utter silence. Its blur disappeared against the orange of the late afternoon skies as it reached the apex of its arc, only to appear again on a distant mountain hundreds of meters away, where the target line was set.

With my keep eyes, I could see it piercing straw circle right at the very edge of it, joining its brothers and sisters on the area furthest away from the bullseye.

Another failure, I groaned my frustration loud out and tightened the grip of my bow, just why can't I…

The sounds of muffled giggled drew my attention.

"Salarian, Cynthia!" I shouted at my littlest of cousins who were once again laughing at my shame. "What have I told you!?"

I snap one of the last arrows out my quiver, making a show of settling it against my bow that had the desired effect of making the children let out giggling squeaks and haste away.

Before I could pursue, however, I noticed the unmoving form of the tall man standing nearby.

"Ah, uncle!" I said, quickly putting my bow away. What must he be thinking!? An aspiring ranger about to engage in a childish squabble. I tried to control the warmth spreading across my face. "Er- What… What brings you here?"

He pays no attention to me for a few moments; his eyes were draped over the horizon.

Finally, he says.

"At least you are hitting the target now."

…I closed my eyes and tried to rein back the anger, I am not the same man I was years ago, I'll not going to snap for something so small as one of uncle's backhand insults.

"Still trying to be a ranger?"

"I will be a ranger," I said, a bit firmer than I should.

"Hum." He trailed his slightly glowing eyes away from the distant mountain and settled on me. I took a breath and stared back at them.

"Your mother calls…"

---​

A gasp echoed as I awoke, it was sharp and gurgling, a dreadful ode to sickness itself. I lay there amidst what appeared to be hazy light, colors, and a ringing sound, my mind just starting to clear enough for me to make sense of things. Then the pain exploded over my chest, making my entire body churl and provoking another gasp.

I realized then that the gasps were coming from me.

---​

"You called for me, mother?"

The officer was at the very peak of the spire. She sat on the high table illuminated by the afternoon sunlight that pierced through the western and northern windows. This is and has always been a very airy room; it's an arcane wonder how the piles of document stayed on the table with the amount of wind that steadily blew past the glassless window. Her vermilion armor gleamed in the light, molding against her chest, shoulders, and arms, leaving her midriff bare only to continue downward to cover her legs. One would wonder with she is wearing it now when her days of battle were relics of the past. One would also be very foolish to wonder that if they knew the life she had lived.

My mother laid the writing feather over the unfinished document and directed her attention at me. I saw her lips curving upwards slightly. The action alone almost made me let out a deep sigh of relief; it means I'm not in trouble at the very least.

"At easy." She said with a hint of laughter, and this was what allowed me to relax the rest of the way.

This wasn't intentional of her, or at least I don't believe it was, but a Ranger-General of Silvermoon, even a retired one, carries a presence that made you straighten up to attention no matter who you are. And my mother, being who she is, found that highly amusing.

She gestured me to approach and I did so, climbing the steps to put me at level with the high table. When I stood before her, she slid what appeared to letter towards me.

"What is it?" I said, picking up the letter.

"A letter of recommendation from Quenan Heartbirth. The talents you demonstrated in the last Everspring festival had finally been recognized. He offers his guidance and invites you to the capital if you chose to accept it."

My mother's words were background noise to my ears; the moment I hear the term 'talents' and 'been recognized' was the moment everything else stopped mattering, and I began devouring the letter with undying fervor.

However, it quickly became clear who Quenan Heartbirth was.

"Royal… minstrel!?"

Of course, I hadn't picked up a bow at the last Everspring festival. Instead, I went with my pipes and my lute… How could I've been so foolish?

"What is this tone of voice?" Mother inquired, her brow furrowing. "Quenan Heartbirth is recognized as the best songster over the last ten centuries, his tunes and lyric reach the ears of king Anasterian Sunstrider himself first before they are released to the wider public. His words can move nations and shape history, my son. To be acknowledged by him is a great honor."

"Acknowledged as a songster!" I argued.

"And rightfully so, as anyone that hear your voice would add."

My slap my hands over the table in a loud thud. "You know I want to be a ranger!"

One look from my mother's eyes and I knew I'd gone too far. I quickly straightened my back and took a step back. "My apologies."

She signed, ignoring my insolence. "We are all born with gifts to give this sunlit world. Archery is not one of yours, my son."

I clenched my jaw and looked down, my leather glove creaking by the tightening of my fist. I knew what they thought. I knew what they all thought; I had this exact conversation with many of my family, both in long rants and short occasional comments. This shouldn't be affecting me like this.

"Even Vereesa managed…"

There was a soft rustle as mother stood from her chair and circled around the table. She laid her hand on my shoulders.

"Lirath, you don't have to prove anything…"

It was the way her words trailed off that made me focus on her again just as I was starting to roll my eyes. I noticed she had tilted her head, her expression betraying no emotion as her eyes steeled on something behind me.

"What?" I said, looking back as she quickly moved past me and to one of the windows.

It didn't even take three steps to reveal the approaching warships.

"…They have come for Quel'Thalas."

---​

"Garhh!" I groaned, trying to shift my stiff body over the surface I was laying on. My arms feel like great bounders, impossible to lift, my legs moved with the awkwardness of a toddle, and my chest, my chest blasted with piercing spears of agony each time I moved, it would have yanked a few screams from me had my throat not been so sore and dry.

I blinked firmly, desperately trying to push through the haziness and figure would where I was and what was happening. Pain came in each gurgling breath, sweat came with the pain, and the world was a shifting nightmare of blues and white that my mind couldn't make sense of.

A form appeared on my vision, an amalgamation of white and gold and blue that thankfully seems to converge in the shape of a quel'dorei woman. I took solace on the familiar sight, and my mind finally concentrated enough to recognize the white of a healer's robes.

A healer, I'm in a healer's tent, why?-

A deep, watery cough broke its way across my throat and left, and the following agony left a metallic taste in my mouth.

The healer started to fret over me.

---​

"Uncle!" I shouted, releasing the arrow with an almost instinctual aim. It flew across the courtyard and through uncles' blonde locks before lodging itself deep in the neck of the green monstrosity that was lunging towards him.

Without pause, he finished the chanting and unleashed a ray of pure fire over the encouraging monsters, scorching their skins and melting their armor to their bodies as they scream and retreat.

My uncle spared a look and a nod on my direction before going back to chant the next spell.

My chest swelled with pride.

I was pulling the next arrow and hoisting it against my bow when a rough pull disturbed my balance. Panic prevented me from leash out, but instead of the weapon of the enemy, I was met with the hard eyes of my Aunt.

"You have done enough. Evacuate."

No further explanation… But then again, this was Aunt Sedrise.

"Right." I start following after her. "We have to clean the west side, call uncle Farris back and-"

"Not us. You."

"What!" I stopped on my track, but Aunt Sedrise kept walking. "Wait, what do you mean!?"

There was a pulse of magic and flash of light, and cousin Sarina stepped out a portal on my side.

"Lirath, to me."

---​

There are several healers over me now; I could feel the warmth of the Light washing over my body. It helped to soothe the pain but little else. My breaths are still coming rattled, my limbs still heavy like mountains, my chest still basted in agony. So much so that it was hard to keep track of everything happening around me.

One blink and there was three healers with their shining hands hovering over me, another and there was one changing bloody bandages and two talking in the background. Yet, another and I was alone in the tent with the place noticeably darker. This continued for an endless period of time.

Somewhere along the way, the white robes of the healer were replaced by green and brow ranger armor with golden lining.

I raised my way-too-heavy hand towards the blurry imaged that was quickly forming into a familiar face.

"Alleria?" My voice was small and raspy; I barely realized it was mine.

---​

"No…NO!" I shouted, shaking Sarina's hold off my arm. "I won't abandon them! I'll stay and fight!"

She reaches out and grips my arm tighter, "This is not the time, you fool! They've taken the beach, lady Alelianna and the others are doing everything they can to buy us time to escape! We have to go, Lirath. The Windrunner spire has fallen."

"Not while I draw breath!" I roared. "If these filthy invaders they can just come here and-"

"Stop trying to be a hero and think! We can't afford to-"

A powerful pulse of heat and pressure was projected by the portal and knocked my cousin aside, making the spell flicker off.

"Sarina!" I shouted, starting to make my way to her downed form before I heard Uncle Varlemar's howl.

"Get down!"

The world turned into a whirlpool of image and sound for a moment.

When I came to be, my vision was clouded with blood that poured from my forehead, and my whole body was aching in places I didn't even know existed.

After wiping the blood the best I could, I raised my eyes. And found myself among the debris of my home, facing a green-skinned horde as they marched forward.

Fear poured down my soul and crawled over my bones; my body was paralyzed for a few moments before a sense of resignation and duty washed over. Pushing back the fear, I rose to my feet, leaving my crushed bow behind, and reach out for the light of the Sunwell that was connected to my very soul. I'm not the most talented user of its energies, but I'm not defenseless either, no true quel'dorei are.

I'll make sure these green-skinned monsters, these orcs, know that.

My hands lit out with raw arcane energy as I strode towards the laughing horde, I would make sure they'd pay for this-

A bestial roar echoed, I turn around just in time to see the enormous orc bring a cursed axe downwards.

---​

"Oh, little sun," Alleria said as she gently cradled my raised hand and brought it to her tearstained cheek, it was a surreal experience to hear Alleria Windrunner, the mightiest and most steadfast of us all speak in such, small, broken voice.

At that moment, I knew what had happened, the confusion of these last few days cleaning instantly by the harsh realization brought by my older sister.

I was going to die.

"Did… did we win?" I managed to ask before a series of bloody coughs engulfed my breaths and made my chest throb painfully.

"By the Light Lirath, don't… Don't speak." She placed a hand on the uninjured side of my chest, looking helpless.

"I…" I rasped out, ignoring her plead, "I got them… With my bow…" I grinned through bloody teeth. "I'm… I'm a ranger."

Alleria let out a grief-stricken sob. "Yes you are, little sun, yes you are."

My sister's tearful face was the last thing I saw as my eyelids became too heavy. Her heartfelt sobs were the last thing I heard.

Then, through the deeping dark, somewhere, somewhen, someone let out a surprised gasp.

And I plunged into death.

-0-0-0-​

Death was remarkably like the post-injury haze I've been experiencing over my last days, a whirlpool of light and colors rolling away in an endless fall.

There are some differences; the overwhelming smell of strawberries was a particularly confusing one, as are the flickering specks of light that jutted over the shifting mass of colors like tiny fireflies in a tall grove.

There is no pain here. In fact, all of my senses appeared to not be working properly. I could feel the general shape of my body, my limbs, my torso, my head, but I couldn't see it, nor did it feel like something concrete. Time here was very hard to perceive; the only thing that seems to matter was the endless fall across the pit of colors.

I thought I had been absolved by the Light, that I've done my duty upon the mortal world, and now I'd be rewarded with the Light's embrace. For a few moments and a few eons, I lamented the fact that the afterlife was not, in fact, a concrete paradise where we could meet those we lost, but instead, it was an experience that transcends physical understanding that turns us into part of the holy force.

But eventually and immediately, I found comfort at the inevitability of my fate.

Just as I was preparing myself to surrender my consciousness to it. The… discomfort started.

It wasn't something I could put into exact words; 'discomfort' was the closest I could get. It didn't encroach me from the shifting the lights like a maleficent entity, nor did it gnaw at my thoughts or anything similar, it just… appeared, one day, or year, or instant, I suddenly stop feeling comfortable here, and I wanted to get out.

'Wanting to get out', this feeling, no, this urge only grew. As the endless mass of colors became more and more uncomfortable, more and more it made me want to get out.

Because of this urge, I learned to move across this space, and as my every thought and reason melt way into a singular notion of 'getting the hell out' I focused on one of the specs of light. And reach out.

For one moment, I felt the whole new cosmos.

Then it sucked me in.

-0-0-0-​

The cold made my body tremble before I even woke up.

The first thing I did was to pull a deep, loud breath following some primordial instinct that demanded me to breathe and live; no gurgling this time, part of my brain noticed.

The second was to jump away from the bone-chilling surface and curl over myself for the coldness in general.

"Merciful sun!" I cried and wished hard for it, hugging my shirtless body and rubbing my hands over my arms to try to produce some semblance of warmth.

I was never formally trained in the military arts, but coming from a family known for its adventurers and rangers, I'd picked up some useful teachings over the years. And after this moment of confusion, I started to properly situate myself and look for a weapon and an escape route.

I was in a… burrow of some kind made from ice and… metal. Icy blocks of all shapes and sizes had been stacked over each to form a poorly put together dome of unmentionable shape. There was metal everywhere also, some part of the walls and ceiling, some littered around the place in unknown contraptions and half-broken compartments. My mind briefly traveled to a book I once read on a visit to Silvermoon's grand library about the many races of the world, more precisely, the diminutive race of the gnomes and their affinity metal trinkets.

Is this a gnome nest?

All questions faded away when I saw what appeared to be a lager metal boiler in the middle of the room.

Fire!

I stumbled forward with a speed I didn't know I had, my naked feet scratching the ice and metal along the way. I practically threw myself on my knees before the fire, letting its blessed warmth bring some feeling back to my limbs.

"Oh blessed sun, thank you," I said when the clicking of my jaw became more manageable; I brought myself as close as I could get without touching the red-hot surface.

With the matter of the cold momentarily dealt with, I turn my attention to more pressing issues.

'What happened' was at the forefront, but nothing I came up with, came even close to break the mist of confusion that surrounded the question, so I left it alone for know.

What happened to my body was another pressing one that was just as unexplainable as the first. I quite visibly remember having my chest cleaved by an unreasonably large cursed axe, yet instead of the long gash that had given me unending agony over these last few days, there was a long, gaggled scar running from my right shoulder to my hip. It didn't hurt or impede my movements in any way. It wasn't even ugly, just a long, discolored line across my skin like it had decades or even centuries to heal.

This too, was fairly difficult to answer.

What it wasn't difficult to answer, were the corpses.

Right beside me, going unnoticed until now, there were two half-frozen human corpses. They didn't wear any recognizable armor, and it was impossible to determinate how long they've been dead without magical means, but the fact is; they are dead, there were dead bodies in this unknown nest, and it was most likely work of the one that lives here.

Finding a weapon became an even greater priority after that.

… And of course, given how my luck was running lately, I came face to face with two figures that appeared in the mouth of a hallway at the farthest end of the room.

"Sorry about the mess! Everything Jack kills, he dumps here -- bandits, Vault Hunters, CL4P-TL units… If I sound please about this, it's because my programmers made this my default tone of voice! I'm actually quite depressed!"

The one beaming in an obnoxious cheerful voice was a… thing, a metal thing with a wheel at its base and spidery metal arms, the glowing, circular lens focused on me were uncannily like an eye.

Following close behind it was a human woman of blue hair and blue lips. She wore a yellow and black armor that hugged her womanly form like those of the Silvermoon's rangers, but her right arm was left free to show the sky blue lines of a tribal tattoo that stretched around the entire limb.

Later, I would admonish myself for missing their voices as it bounced across the hall, and for not reacting to their presence like I proper ranger should. Part of me wanted to blame this on the series of shocking events that had surely shaken my spirit, but the fact remains that I was caught by surprise, and stood there like a deer on torchlight.

"A stranger!" The odd metallic creature announced in its extremely obnoxious voice.

That broke the spell over me, and I tensed my muscles, ready to throw myself to cover. The surge of arcane light from the woman's tattoo gave me pause, however.

"Wow there, pretty boy. I like myself a shirtless hunk as much as the next gal, but I had a really shitty day so far, so no sudden movements, m'kay?"

Her words were punctuated by a dark blue orb of the oddest arcane energy I'd ever felt manifesting over her palm. I narrowed my eyes at her implied threat.

"OH BOY, a stranger with funny eyebrows has appeared in my lair! what an unexpected twist!" The Metallic creature chirped, throwing his hands in the air. "I wonder what will happen next!"

Just who are these people?

 

[adudefromthesea]

This was a rewrite from my first story ever, a horrible thing form when my english was worse than now.

Warning: implicit torture.

-0-0-0-​

Chapter 01









The afterlife is a complete assault on the senses. There is nothing but multicolored sounds and singing colors; there are also a mindboggling number of stars in the far distance, and everything was filled with a thick strawberry smell for some reason.

"Well fuck," I said to the incredible sight. "I'm dead."

Am I dead right? I mean; I was walking down the street after having bought some beer from a convenience store near my house, and all of a sudden there was a speeding truck heading towards me.

Well, at least I didn't feel the impact.

…

Now what?

After waiting a couple of seconds, with no angel or devil coming to pick me up. I sat down on… whatever I was standing, and grab a beer can out of the plastic bag.

"…Damn!" I said after a few snips, "Those damn internet memes were totally wrong! Truck-kun didn't throw me into a new world!"

I chortled from my own lame joke.

Then I chuckled from it, and then I laughed so hard my belly began to hurt.

Funny…

"GODDAMNIT!" I screamed at the infinity, hurling the beer can with all my strength, the fucking thing disappeared as soon as it left my hand. "IS THIS SOME KIND OF A JOKE!? IS THAT IT!? KILLED BECAUSE OF FUCKING BEER!? FUCK YOU!!!"

My throat contracted painfully in a choke, killing my angry rant right there. I put my hand over my burning eyes.

"…I don't want to fucking die." I said between tear.

I don't know how long I stayed there, feeling the weird dimension washing over me, letting out all my anger and frustrations over this fucking bullshit. Trying to deal with the fact that all my dreams and aspirations were gone, and all the effort I put on my life was meanness in the end.

I felt surprisingly better after it; I guess that 'good cry' thing holds trust even after death.

That good feeling lasted until I swiped my tears, then I noticed how uncomfortable I felt.

It was very, very weird; I was feeling some kind of discomfort that I couldn't really put into words, it was an odd type of oppression I never felt before; like a physical pressure mixed with mental uneasiness.

Well, fuck, now what's happening?

After a few moments of just feeling the discomfort persists, I moved to grab my bag again. If I have to deal with weird afterlife bullshit, at the very least, I want to be drunk.

The bag wasn't there, what the hell- Oh, I let go during my crying fit didn't I? Great, more bullshit.

I rose to my feet- and the feeling intensified- fuck now is getting very hard to ignore.

Okay, what can I do here?

I have my wallet… and my phone- no signal of course, but its kind of hilarious that still work; maybe I should place a game…Hehehe, Candy crush in the afterlife-

The discomfort intensified again, this time it almost brought me to my knees; it's starting to hurt a little.

The entire place felt different than before. Visually, it's still the same, but the pressure was making it… tighter somehow, like a giant, physics-defiant cage.

I have to get out… I blinked at the almost instinctive thought that crossed my mind.

Can I get out?

I don't see anything that could be an exit maybe- WOAW!

A single step, I only took a single step, and the whole place seems to bend around me, it was like the Star Wars' hyperspace effect, the stars and colors spread across my vision in an extreme impression of speed, and a single step took me light-years away from where I was.

… But still in the same goddamn dimension, with the same damn pain growing on my extremities. Only the stars were in a different position- there is one right beside my face!

I gazed incredulously at the speck of light, realizing now that they weren't distant stars like I'd imagined, but tiny dots of lights that spread across infinity, like an endless sea of fireflies.

And the pain increased again.

"Ouch! Owowowowow!" What was once an easily ignored pickle was now a constant stab over my entire body. I had to fight through it to focus once again.

Ok! Tiny dot it is! Is not like I have anything to lose.

I grab the dot with my finger- And they were sucked in!

My eyes widen as my hand, and arm quickly followed behind.

Oh, Fuck-

-0-0-0-​

I open my eyes to see the blue sky and the soft waves of the sea. A gentle breeze hit my face bringing a salty smell with this, at a distance, I could hear the distinctive cries of seagulls dancing in the air.

It took a few seconds to process this, a few seconds of just feeling the world and hearing my heartbeats thumping on my ears. Soon a gasps came from my mouth, and the realization dawned.

"…I'm alive," I whispered to the wind, more and more the world became clearer, more and more everything felt more real. "I'm alive!!!" This time, it was a shout.

Fuck this emotional rollercoaster! Who cares if I don't live anywhere near the sea, or that it was suddenly daytime for some reason. I'm here! I'm back! I'm alive!!!

There was a crashing sound of something heavy hitting the ground behind me.

…Hm?

I turn to see a dock of some kind, it was built in what it seems to be a rocky cove, and there was a lot of weirdly dressed people around, all looking directly at me.

"Hum…" I pass my eyes over them; everyone looked like they came straight of a cosplayer competition if the theme were stylish wizards. I focused on the one closest to me, a heavy set guy who had apparently let the crater he was carrying fall off, revealing a collection of…Books?

"Hello?"

There was a blur-

And the entire left side of my body explodes in pain.

The world twisted and turned on itself; I could felt my feet escape the ground as my body flew in a twisting arc. Everything abruptly stopped when my back crashed on something, turning my vision into black.

A solid object brought me back to reality as it slammed violently on my chest, pressing me against the wall. With the world slowly coming to a halt, the pain finally catches up t my brain, prompting the best scream I could make with my lungs pressed like that. Another solid thing wrapped my limbs as soon as they began to trash.

Focusing was very difficult after that, but I was able to control my breaths somewhat, and the blur in my vision began to disappear- I did everything I could to not freak out when I noticed that I was held against the walls by a freaking stone pillar.

Seriously what the fuck is that!? Where the fuck this thing came from!?

Wait. Sounds! The ringing in my ears is fading.

"…I said. How did you get there?"

"What-" I gasped dumbly at the brown-skinned man striding towards to me, not because of his weird wizard cosplay that somehow didn't look stupid, but at the freaking book floating beside him.

I watched that transgression of the natural law for a couple of moment; then, my eyes drooped to the stone monument that had appeared out of nowhere and pinned me against the wall.

And the dots connected.

Oh fuck, OH FUCK!

That fucking truck really did send me to another world!!

"Why are you wasting time talking to him, brother?" A second man approached, he also had a book floating beside him. "He's clearly a spy from the Kingdom, just kill him and be done with it." I never had someone snarl so hatefully at me before.

"He somehow passed through all the island defenses without raising any alarm." The first man explained emotionlessly, "This indicates a breath in the force fields."

"So? We'll be out of this hellhole by nightfall anyway, what difference would knowing that make? Better to kill him than wasting effort trying to get the information out."

"…Very well."

"W-WAIT-" I tried, but my voice was cut by the sudden pressure.

My bones rasped against one another; my body jerked in agony. I tried desperately to get out of my binds, but the cracking sounds send my mind into frantic despair.

And suddenly, the bounds loosen, making me gurgle in relief and spit a glob of blood over the pillar that was still pinning me. I could hear a faint conversation on the background, but I was busy trying to breathe without lighting my chest in agony.

I barely noticed when the stone pillar retreated, but I definitely feel my body falling the short distance to the ground.

"GUH!" My face hit the ground. The impact made me remember that while my chest was killing me, the left side of my body wasn't great either. I groaned over the wooden floor, trying to turn my fat-ass to a less painful position.

A pair of delicate hands gripped my torso and turned me to my back with no apparent difficulty, soon after, I felt my head being laid on something extremely soft.

"Oh you poor thing, I'm sorry about that, my men are just so jumpy sometimes."

My head was lying on the lap of the most beautiful woman I ever saw. I gawked stupidly at her vision; her features were gentle and inviting, her hair a healthy brown, tied into a thick branch, her green eyes showed nothing but love and kindness, and from the touch on my cheek and the direction my eyes inevitably went to, I noticed something more on her that was particularly blessed.

She giggled when she noticed where I was gazing; I blushed under the angelic sound.

"Ah, you're one of the naughty ones hm?" She actually pushes more of the wonderful softness against my face. "Do you feeling better now, darling?"

Oh yes, having a pair like these pressed on your face can make anyone feel better, I can't even feel the pain anymore… I actually can't feel the pain anymore.

"I'm- Yeah." I tried to keep my voice from squeaking. "I'm feeling better, thank you."

"Oh, it was nothing darling, nothing." Her smile lifted my entire world. "Now, can you do something for me?"

"Yes ma'am, anything." Anything for her.

"Close your eyes darling, and relax."

I did so; it was very easy to relax under her touch.

"Now let me in darling,"

Let her in? What does that mean?

…Whatever, I was too comfortable and too tired for everything to care about that right now. I just want to sleep.

"Yes darling, sleep now, you deserve it."

I did, by god I did, I never fell asleep so fast before, and never felt my sleep coming like that either…

"You're doing fine darling, now show me."

I begin to dream. Soft dreams full of warmth and peace, dreams that carried the impression of the woman I had fallen in love.

"Yes darling they all do eventually, but that isn't what I'm looking for."

The dream burst and I fell into an underwater stream that took me for a ride. I enjoyed the sensation of speed for a few moments before a series of scenes began to project over the water, scenes of my earliest memories.

"Already? Oh, darling, you have a remarkably open mind, I love it!"

Within the water current, I watched my life played out, scenes from my toddler years and my childhood, where I learned more about the world around me.

"Oh my…"

I saw my adolescence pass by, years where I wasn't burdened by my adult responsibilities, years where I could fully enjoy what I loved most in life. My friends, my family, my books, my video games, my anime and manga…

"Interesting, very, very interesting!"

I watched as I bumbled away into adulthood, making many silly mistakes that could have been avoided but thankfully could be fixed, meeting people and having experiences that shaped who I'm today. Then came the truck.

And I dreamed of that mysterious afterlife.

A land of shifting colors and dancing songs, where infinite tiny stars resided and smelled like strawberries

An image of it appeared clearly in my mind.

"GHYAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

I woke up on the cold wooden floor with a shrill wail punishing my poor ears. I snap my head in the direction of the sound.

There was a woman trashing violently on the ground, screaming her heart out, a group of cosplayers was surrounding her, trying to help her somehow-Oh God, she is trying to gouge her eyes out.

What that fuck is happening?

With a grunt of effort, I push myself with my right arm to sit against the wall. Trying to pierce my thought back together, thankfully the massive headache I was feeling was quickly fading.

Okay, what that fuck is happening right now, I remember being hit by a truck- well, not hit, more like dying and going to the afterlife…Not, I was able to get out right? By that dot of light, and then…

And then…

"You…" A voiced growled out from beside me, so full of hatred it sends a chill down my spine. I turned to a blonde man dressed as a wizard- Is that book flying beside him!?

Oh… wait…Oh shit!

That woman! She was-

…Oh god.

"You dare hurt our beloved Lady," I remembered the guy and- OH FUCK there are swords forming over his shoulders! "I'll punish you for what you did!"

…Mommy.

-0-0-0-​

It hurts.

Everything hurts; it was the first thing I noticed as I became aware again before I even opened my eyes. My entire body ached in places I didn't even know existed.

Slowly I began to test out my limbs. They cracked and popped back to place, but thankful I could still move them.

A small miracle considering what I've been through.

I bite back a choke. I had already cried and screamed enough over the last few… hours? God, it feels so long ago… I already let enough tears to last a lifetime.

Better hold on to the little pride I have left.

I managed to craw to the nearest wall, leaning my back against it. Every movement brought an explosion of pain to my nerves. Every centimeter made me bite back a scream.

And when I finally manage to focus on other things besides the pain, I had to bite back a scream for a different reason.

Corpses, slashed, burned, melted corpses. They're all around me, crowding the small cell I was thrown into, and the corridor outside, the smell of death was overpowering.

I'd have thrown up if I hadn't emptied my stomach before… and again, when they made me eat it-

Don't think about it…. Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!

"FUCK!" I shouted, surprising myself with the strength I managed to muster, " WHAT THAT FUCK DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS?! I JUST WENT TO BUY BEER! FUCKING BEER!!!"

I kicked a nearby corpse to the side to emphasize my point; the movement sent a stab of pain up to my keen.

"Gah!" I pulled my leg back and tried to massage my pain away.

Fuck, even when angry I'm pathetic-

"Hey, Fatso."

I did not squeak by the sudden voice- it was a manly grunt of surprise!

I raised my head and my eyes focused on the other live figure on this fuck up dungeon.

It was a man; a bloodied, bruised man chained to the walls, but despite the injuries, he still exalted an aura of power and danger. He was only wearing leather pants, showing an upper body built in a way that would leave Spartans envy, he had messed black hair that spiked its way down his neck, his face was blooded and boated, but the only eyes he could open spoke of Asian heritage. He was looking directly at me with a weird intensity.

"…What?" I asked, trying to ignore the fact that he most likely had seen my freak out.

His good eye moved a little to the side. "Over there."

I turn to the direction he was looking and took a deep breath when I saw the dead body sitting beside me. I drop my gaze to its hand… and saw carton of cigarettes.

"Throw this to me will you."

…Seriously?

Fuck it.

I grab the carton, still surprised that my arm wasn't broken, and throw it to him; he snatched from the air with his chained hands.

"Thanks." The chains forced him to bend to grab a cigarette with his lips; the tip lighted on its own when he sat back.

Another reminder that this isn't my world.

The silence between us dragged on for a couple of minutes after that.

"So." He buffed eventually. "Shitty day huh? Want to talk about it?"

…I don't know if it was the casual way he asked or the impossibility of the situation we're in or even if this was the last straw that broke my mind. But I began to laugh.

I laughed long and hard, filling my eyes water once again and giving my voice a frenetically edge.

"You know what?" I choke out; swiping the few tears that escaped- these ones don't count "Yes I do."

And I told him everything; it was a short, depressing tale, I noticed. Even if it carried some interesting parts. And yeah, I also told him about my other world situation, because if some mindraping witch managed to rip it out from me, what the worst it could happen in letting this random ass stranger know.

"Damn," He said after I ended my tale. "That's rough buddy."

I almost said 'fuck you' for meming in a situation like this, but he couldn't have known.

"So you believe me?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Sure, another world; it's the kind of weird shit I have to deal with on daily bases. It's almost part of the job prescription." He shifted, rolling his shoulder as much as the chains allowed. "What is your name anyway?"

"Anthony." I lean my head back on the back. I feel better now that I let it all out. "And yours?"

"I'm Yami, magicknight of the Clover Kingdom… Though you must have no idea of this means." The living fictional character let out a heavy trail of smoke from his nostrils, then he smiled. "Nice to meet ya!"

 

[adudefromthesea]

Chapter 02











Black Clover.

Why not? A manga that I only occasionally had a look at, with an anime adaptation that I left my ears bleeding. This is just what I needed to complete this crazy day.

I'm not going to try to delusion myself claiming that this is a dream, because what I've been through pretty much throw that prospect out of the water. So, I'm just going to sit down and accept it.

And Yami has been pretty useful to take my mind off this situation; we've been exchanging stories about our respective worlds for the past few hours or so. It got to the point that I could almost ignore the horrible smells and the bodies around.

Plus, it has been useful to make sense of things.

"So its like, a magical civil war?" I asked, trying to process the events he told me about. There was nothing about that in the manga, that's for sure.

"Hah! Hardly; a laughable attempt of a coup is more like it." Yami laughed, trying to preserve the last cigarette for as long he could. "The bitch you meet upstairs tried to overthrow the Magic Emperor, it ended badly for her and her little cult. They've been fighting a retreating battle since this whole thing started three months ago."

"I think is a little more serious than that, going by what you said. Wasn't she like, mind-controlled three captains and an entire magicknight squad to her side?"

"Meh, the White Swans are all talk and no bite anyway, and the big guns she managed to get…" He sends me a knowing smile. "Let's just say she choose the wrong generation to pull that shit. Plenty of strong guys to replace the ones she has taken."

Well, that's something at the very least, but I still have no idea when this is in relation to the 'canon'. The only tip I have is Yami… and speaking about Yami, he's always been portrayed as an unstoppable powerhouse back in the manga, as far as I remember he never actually lost a fight, so to see him in this beat up state…

"What happened to you anyway? Did you lost a battle and got captu-"

"Reconnaissance mission." He cuts in quickly.

"…Seriously?"

"Yep! Got a problem with that, you fat alien bastard?" His single good eye bore a hole through my skull.

"…Whatever you say, man."

A neutral silence stretched after that; nothing really happened besides Yami looking forlorn to the last remains of his cigarette, and the working sounds echoing from a distance.

The more the silence stretched, the more my mind went back to the shittiness of before, the torture I've received. It made my wounds flare back in pain, and a wave a panic threaten to take over my mind.

Okay! Talks! Happy conversations keep the bad things away.

"So!" I called a little peppier than I'd like. "The guys upstairs said that they're leaving tonight if it isn't night already. Do you know anything about that?"

Yami grumped at my words, looks like I interrupted some thoughts process he was having, but he answered anyway. "Yeah, they holed themselves in this island and made it pretty much undetectable for the outside. They also raided a Grimoire Tower on their way here; I think they plan to buy their way into Heart Kingdom with the merchandise, that place is always starved for Grimoires." He shifted his body again, making the chains clang ominously. "And us… My bet is starving to death if they don't just collapse this cave over our heads."

A chill went down my spine, making me gulp. "That's bad."

"Eh, it's life."

"What the hell kind of answer is that!?" I began looking for a way out of my cell; luckily, I wasn't chained like Yami.

Seeming what I was doing, he adds his two cents. "Try the door. They didn't lock it."

"What!"

With painful movements I raised myself to my feet, my legs shaking beneath my weight. Slowly, with my arm against the wall, I maneuvered my way to the door, setting over the bodies along the way. And like he said, the door was open.

What the fuck!?

…And now what?

Escape? How? It has been made pretty clear that we're on an island, I have no idea of how to sail a boat, even if I somehow manage to steal one, and that's not even considering the army of battle mages that stood on my way.

F-Fuck! Things aren't looking pretty good.

That's right, Yami!

"Hey, um, hold on, I'm going to get you out of there." Then, you will get me out of here.

I tried his door; it was locked.

"Eh, don't bother it will all be over soon anyway."

"What the hell kind of talk is that!" I snapped over his casual words. "They're going to kill us!" Key, I have to find a key. "You can't just give up," I shouted one last time before turning to search for the key.

No luck, there is nothing here but blood and dead bodies.

"Oi, fatso," Yami called in a, frankly, sinister tone. "Who that hell said anything about giving up?"

I turned to him again, opening my mouth to ask-

*Booom*

The entire place shook violently, making my already unbalanced legs collapse. A bit a rumble fell out from the ceiling with the muffled sounds of a battle growing from outside.

"See! I told you, it will all be over soon! Haha!" He laughed hysterically of my expression before flexing all the muscles of his body. The chain didn't last long after that.

I was trying to stand back up as he kicked his door open, the lock bursting with a loud sound. He strode close and pulled me up by what was left of my shirt.

"You had an army waiting," I concluded, recovering my balance.

"Nah, I just hoped for the best. This is usually the part where someone shows up to save my ass anyway." His logic didn't make any sense. "Now, let's talk about you. What are you going to do?"

Did he really ask me that? "What can I do? I'm from another world remember!? And the closest things I had from a fight were schoolyard bullshit. I don't even know if I have magic!"

Yami opened his mouth to respond, but the door on the end of the corridor burst open before he could say anything. It may or may not have made me yelp. Yami just tensed and looked at the new arrival.

It was a heavy-set man with a thug's face, wearing an elaborate wizard costume with a heavy looking cape displaying that I now knew to be the White Swan's symbol. He paled at the sight of the bodies, but when his eyes focused on us, he let out a girly squeak and fell on his ass.

"E-Eh, you're out! B-but…" My eyes widened when I noticed what he was carrying; a black tone with blue clouds pattern, and a katana. Is that?

"Ohhhh, it's you! The guy who has been smuggling food to me all week! So you are on our side after all!" Yami grinned at the guy.

"Y-Yes, sir. Um, W-What my squad has done is unforgivable, if only I… I-I'm a Magicknight of Clover Kingdom, sir! We're supposed to protect the innocent, not do this." His eyes turned to the bodies again, and he bit his lips in disgust. "I can never-AhhHHH!"

I had to blink from the way he suddenly screamed for seemingly no reason. His eyes were almost bulging out- wait- he was looking at me!?

"H-h-how are you alive!!!?" He points an accusatory finger.

"Er, what? Why I wouldn't be alive."

"I was about to get to that." Yami commented, approaching the fallen guy, "Why do you think they didn't bother locking you up? And the way you are now, it looks like you receive a pretty bad beating, but it doesn't seem like the torture you told me." He grabbed his sword and grimoire, hoisting it high. "When you arrived… you were a limbless, bloody, mess of wounds; I honestly thought you were another corpse. So, imagine my surprise when you started to move, and then your limbs started to grow back from your stumps. Grossest thing I've ever seen let me tell you."

The White Swan guy had let another yelp of terror at Yami's words; meanwhile, I tried to make sense of what he said.

"…What?" My mouth finally moved, "Y-You can't be serious…"

"Beats me, maybe is your magic acting, you certainly have the mana for it." He casually dropped another bombshell, leaving me even more confused, then he turned to the other guy. "You! What's your name."

"Ahh, I-I'm Grey sir!"

"Okay here is the deal Grey, see this guy there. He's a civilian, that means it's our job to protect his ass at all cost, and we can't do that in the middle of this battlefield of an island, don't you agree, Grey? So what do we do?" Yami threw a menacing glare and the smaller man.

"Ah, um, I-I don't know sir."

"We get him out of the island." Yami leaned in, towering over Grey's fallen form. "That is your job, do you understand soldier?"

"Y-Y-Yes, sir!!!"

"Great!" He straightened himself with a cheerful smile, "Now, if you excuse me, I got traitors to beat up, and a cunt to kill. Xiao bitches."

And he moved to leave.

What the- I can't-

"Wait!" I called, and thankfully, he looked back. I had a lot of questions, but this simply isn't the time for it, so I asked the one that would be the most useful for this situation. "You said I have mana; that means I can use magic right!? So how do I use it!?"

Yami sighed and scratched his neck "Ah fuck, I'm not good with these kinds of things, just… Look within yourself or some shit, try meditating a little!" He turned back, waving his hand. "Or get angry, that works too."

And just like that, he was gone.

I almost collapsed under the weight of these new revelations, having to grab a rusty metal bar just to keep my balance.

Seriously? I spent hours talking to that guy, and he only told me something this important now!? The fuck is he thinking!?

Whatever! The important thing is that I can use magic, that's good, that's great! It means I'm not so defenseless like I thought I was, I actually got something out of this otherworld bullshit… But the first thing he said.

I was… limbless?

"Awhahahahahaha what's wrong pig! Squeal for me more! My blades aren't satisfied yet!"

I shivered once again. My stomach burned trying to expel food that wasn't there. I put my hand over it to hold…

My shirt… it was cut to shreds, drenched by blood and vomit, the fabric was barely holding together. And yet, beneath all that, there were only ugly purple bruises over the light-brown skin of my protruding belly… no slash or stab wounds in sight.

Yes, I healed myself somehow, I... I g-grew my limbs back.

"Um... Mister?" I raised my head to see that Grey had reluctantly approached me, "Hum, w-we have to get out of here, they are fighting really close, and the structure could collapse, so, um…"

And he looked at the ground and started to shyly play with his fingers. Really? The guy looked like someone Batman would beat up out of principle! Seeming him acting all shy and reserved was really fucking weird.

"Yeah, I know. Let's get out of here."

-0-0-0-​

The island, or at least a great part of it, was at war.

I always thought the best thing about the Black Clover manga was its art style, the characters and backgrounds were pretty good and detailed, but they paled in comparison to its depiction of magic.

Magic in Black Clover was a visual expectable, the battles of the series weren't well-thought-out or even that much tactical, but they were damn cool to look at. I mean, the artist could have just drawn formless elemental magic for the attacks, like what happens in Fairy Tail, but instead, most of the attacks were drawn in exotics and highly detailed forms, seemly to fuck an enemy up in the most stylish way possible. Why have a simple fireball hit an enemy, when it can be a flaming rhino charging toward someone at breakneck speeds, the result will still be the same, but one would be a hell lot more stimulating to the eyes.

But if you translate that kind of magic into the real world, with all its over-the-topness intact, and you have a bright, explosive, and terrifyingly chaotic battlefield.

"Get down mister Anthony!" Grey tacked me to a trench that was formed on the beach, above us, something passes that considerably lessened the temperature of the air, and threw sand all over us.

"This is crazy!" I shouted. "Are you sure we're going the right way!?"

"Yes!" Grey pooped his head from the edge to the trench but soon brought it down as something shining and explosive passed. "The docks are on a dove under a pit! We have to circle this bleach and enter a cave at the forest edge! We're almost there!"

"That's what you said before!"

"It's because you keep asking!" He pooped his head again, and when nothing came, he jumped. "Come on, mister Anthony! We can't lose this chance!"

"Oh Fuck!" I curse, but threw myself back in the fray anyway, because he seemed to know what he was doing. And by god, I'd follow anyone that knew what they were doing in this situation.

After living through the same experience that of soldiers running through a bombardment zone, we somehow made it past the beach. We didn't see any direct combat in the Forest, but the sounds and impacts were everywhere making the entire vegetation shake as if we're in the middle of a giant storm, even though there was nothing above but a clear, late evening sky. A few minutes of ominous run through the woods later, we reached the damn cave.

"Wait!" Gray pulled me to the side before I could enter it. "Look, I'm not feeling any agitation on the ambient mana, so the attack probably hasn't reached here yet." Seeing my blank look, he continued. "That means whoever we meet from here on are going to be unengaged and in high alert."

My eyes widened, it was clear even for me that we only manage to slip past that many people because they were busy dealing with the Clover Kingdom's fighting force.

"So what do we do?" I asked.

"Hold on." He produced a light blue grimoire out of nowhere; I admit I jumped a little for having another one of those magic books near my face. "Transformation magic: bashful disguise!"

A wave of light scintillated over my form; what came next was a weird experience, in one moment everything was completely normal, and in the other, my point of view changed, the ever-presence burthen on my front disappeared, and I could feel the touch of elaborated clothes I had never worn before appear over me, including the weight of the distinctive robe all White Swan's magicknights were wearing.

"Wh-" I started only to almost bite my tongue due to the new position of my teeth, but luckily, it was easy to adapt "Holy shit that's amazing!" I exclaimed. Pulling my new sleeves to check my new toned muscles and pale skin.

"Pl-Please, don't talk too much," Gray said, his expression laced in concentration. "And don't wander too far for me either. I'm not good at transforming another person, so I have to focus to keep the spell together. If…if someone stops us, let me do the talk, okay?"

After that we crossed the last part of our journey to freedom; it was nerve wrecking. We had to keep a slow pace to avoid disturbing the disguise spells, and the long, dark, cavernous corridors of the cave tunnel didn't help. The white Swan clearly wasn't worried about illumination when they made this tunnel, and it showed; there were long stretched completely engulfed in darkness, with tiny lanterns only appearing on the places where the path divided, there was literally no way of saying who would we meet in the next turn.

Grey commented something about mages making their own lights, and apologized for not manage to do that and keeping the spell at the same time. I just wanted to be out of this place.

Thankfully, very thankfully, Grey knew the shortest route to the docks. So we quickly arrived at the wooden construction basked by the last lights of the day, I almost cried when I saw the three ships still docked.

But my path was interrupted once again my Grey pulling my robe, right outside the cave's exit.

"What!" I snapped, wanting to get in the ships as fast as possible.

"Something is strange mister Anthony!" He walked past me and leaned on the wooden railing, seeing most of the docks below. "We didn't meet any patrols on the tunnels. And there is still crates left to me embarked, yet there is no one here."

"Shit, do you think this is a trap?"

"I…Maybe? I'm nothing detecting anyone-"

"The crates!"

We both went, very, very still.

I, in particular, fell my stomach drop to the deepest part of my being.

"Well my friends, all the important ones containing the grimoires, were alright properly loaded, the rest are just scrolls or lesser magical items we can afford to leave behind. After all, the safety of our beloved Lady is much more important than such trivialities."

…The laughter that is all I remember; the laughter and blades, peeling the skin away… nerves exposed, organs spilling out, twisting stabs, blood, cuts, cuts, cuts, cuts, cuts…

I didn't need to turn around to know that the slender blonde man was approaching from the cave we just been through.

"A-Ah, C-Captain Vess sir. We were just-"

"And so! After finishing with the loading, all available personnel has been moved to deal with the hateful invaders, having the holy mission of stalling them for as long as possible, for Lady Elenoir and her chosen few make her way here, to continue her mission."

His voice echoed through my head like war horns. Past and present sensations started to flare all over my body. My breathing devolved to little gulps of air; sweat began to drench my clothes.

At the far distance, someone murmured something to me in a hushed tone, taking my arm in a tight grip, I barely noticed; his voice was just so loud.

"And I stay behind to wait! 'Wait here my beloved Vess' she said magnanimously, even after she was left in such state by that wretched pig! ... And her orders are wise as always, for if the kingdom's scorn reach here first, then I would be able to keep them from destroying the ships, but if my beloved Lady is the one who does, then I'd be able to join them as we continue the righteous mission to change the world!... anyone other who reach here… means that they're not fulfilling their holy duty…"

The metallic sound came, it came and it overtook all my thoughts. There was nothing left of me but future agony.

"And there is only one answer to that."

A weight pushed my body forward, beyond the railing, to the docks below. Behind us, there is a hush of wind, which was followed by a sharp metallic storm as a barrage of blades annihilated the platform we stood before.

The full impact of my body hit the ground brought less pain that I was expecting.

"Mister Anthony, please snap out!" A firm grip on my shoulders brought me to my feet, and I was practically dragged along to the nearest cover, as falling swords exploded the ground behind us.

"Too slow!!"

Suddenly, I was in the air again, meeting the ground with a thud and rolling a to a stop.

"Aw, you guys are so boring, I thought you'd at least be of so-Eh? What the- Piggy!?"

I trembled by his following laughter. I didn't need to see it, to feel that my body was back in its original form.

"HA HA! So you're not dead Piggy! That's a fucking achievement! I'll have to thank however healed you." An anguished cry escaped my mouth as his boot stomp over my hand. "Oh man, maybe this won't be so boring after all."

The metallic sounds are back, louder, closer than before- Oh Fuck!

"Transformation magic: Magical Conversion!"

Instead of the sharp pain I've become acutely familiar with, a collection of soft, pushy feeling poked my arms and legs.

Soon after, someone pulled me up with surprising strength, carrying me at a fast pace.

The terrible laughter still persisted,

"Yes! RUN, Piggy! Try to hide from my blades! I'll give you and your little friend twenty seconds!"

I choke my tears away. Why does this have to happen to me!?

"Mister Anthony!" Grey shouted as he dragged me behind a container. "You have to pull yourself back together! We can't afford that now!"

"One~."

A flying sword came zipping through the air and blow the top part of the container we were using as cover. It lodged itself in front of us and glinted in an almost malignant light- Oh god does that means he'll-

"Twwwo~."

Two swords came this time; they destroyed more of the container, showering us with the content.

"Oh my fucking god!" My voice finally decided to show up; I turned to Grey before it could disappear again "C-C-Can you win against him!?"

Gray looked at me, mortified, "He is Vess Andreas, the old captain of the Praying Mantis Squad, I wouldn't last a second!"

"Threeee~."

Our cover became smaller once again.

"W-We have to get out of here!" I managed to squeak out.

"Y-Yes let's-" Grey began to move, but something near his foot caught his attention. "A blinding item!"

"A what!?" I asked but was forced to duck as four swords flew past dangerously close.

My head rose just in time to see Grey pulling a pin from the grenade-looking thing and pressing on his forehead. He threw the grenade to the sky soon after.

I saw the thing open before my vision was filled with whiteness, and a deep ringing overtook my hearing.

I felt myself being pulled, and stumbled over my steps in the direction of the grip, after an impossible to define time; I was pushed against something once again. And a cold metallic object was pressed against my forehead.

The world came back in a rush; I blinked at the sight of Grey frightened expression and the sounds of pandemonium behind us.

"He is throwing spells at random!" Grey explained, he had to shout over the sounds of obscenities and explosions. "You have to go!"

I realized that we were steps away from the ships. "Right! We got to-"

"No." He placed a hand over my chest. "You have to go." With a distortion of light, his form changed; he gained a few centimeters, his skin darkened, his face and belly swelled, and his clothes changed to torn and dirty rags. "The blind will fade in a couple of seconds. I'll distract him."

I send a moment looking at my own face, seeming its bloodshot eyes and cracked lips. Fuck I look like shit.

"I-I don't know how to sail a ship." I babbled

"You don't have to." He smiled with my face. "In this world, magic is everything, these type of ship have auxiliary spells to help you sail them, you just need to activate the item beside the wheel, and the ship will move on its own, after that it's just a matter of pointing to the coast."

"What about y-"

"Now you've done it Piggy! No more mister nice guy!!!"

I choke my words back, hugging my arms toward my chest.

Grey, pushed me, "Go, now. Go!"

I wanted to say something, but the voice of my terror approaching made me bolt.

I left Grey alone, alone with him. God fucking damnit, I knew I'd never forgive myself for it, but I just…can't, against people with magic- against him – I can't do anything.

I try to convince myself of that as I ran up the ramp and into the ship.

The deck was what I had expected, a confusing land of wood and ropes that gave me a headache trying to figure out what they were for, there were some crates hastily tied together to the rails, which told of a hushed and careless job. These crates are different than the ones on the docks, they were taller than me for one and looked a hell lot more fortified.

I have no idea of where things are in a magical pseudo-medieval ship, but I knew from playing Black Flag that the wheel stays in the bottom part of the vessel, just up the stairs. From there I just have to power the magical item…

Hold on…

Powering the magical item… HOW THE FUCK DO I DO THAT!!!

Why the hell Grey told me that if- Oh fuck! He doesn't know I'm from another world!

What do I do now!?

I can't just…

What do I do!?

Before the panic could properly setter, a figure flew past me at high speed, hitting one of the craters nearby. My eyes were inadvertently drawn to it, and when I saw what it was, the panic began to give away to despair.

"G-Grey?" I whispered, watching my protector blooded form slid to the floor. He had three different swords sticking out from his torso and dozens of little slashes all over his form; it looked extra horrifying given that that form looked exactly like me. "O-Oh fuck, this looks bad." I knelt down next to him, but had absolutely no idea of what to do, the only thing I knew about medicine was a half-forgotten first aid course I took back in school.

"Really? Do you think a mere blinding item would slow me down? Who the hell do you think I am!?" OH FUCK! "I'm the Sword Maker Vess you lowly scum. You better remember that!" His face twisted into a perverse smile, it was much, much worse seeing him directly. "But you hopeful expression was marvelous, little Piggy! But I'm afraid the fairy tale is over." The horrible, horrible sound came back, and swords manifested over his shoulders again. Tears began to blur my vision- Oh God, Please no, no, not again!

"Woh? That is interesting."

Something soft involved my trembling palm, and somehow, this was enough to draw my eyes away from the living nightmare. What I found was countless specks of light breaking away from the fallen form next to me, revealing a short, blue-haired girl with a slender body. I could only gasp at the sight.

She was holding my hand, her pale lips curling with a weak, bloody smile.

"I'm…I'm sorry mister Anthony."

Holy crap is that…

"Grey," I called, "D-Don't talk, Y-You have to preserve your strength."

The newly revealed girl continued despite my pleas.

"I was… too afraid to do anything… when they're hurting you." That made me stop. "I just… closed my eyes… and wished to be in somewhere else… That's when I knew, what we were doing was wrong." Tears started to fall from her ashen-colored eyes. "When I saw that you were alive… I was so surprised… and happy… I wanted to…I wanted to do right by you… so I could redeem myself… But I couldn't even do that… Some magicknight that I am…"

"No! Y-You're wonderful. You saved my ass more times that I can count on our way here! You're a fucking great Magicknight!"

"I'm… happy…That you…think so…" Her voice gradually became weaker; more blood began to come out of her mouth, and her breaths began to slow down. "Mister Anthony… please…live."

Her hand fell limp under my grip, her head tilted down, and her entire body seems to slump against my arms.

…She is dead.

Grey is dead.

She is dead because of me.

"Awww that was sooo touching~ and also very disappointing. Really Piggy, you should have told me she was your little girlfriend all along, I'd definitely kept her alive for much longer if I knew!!"

No… Not because of me.

"Ah, man such lost opportunity! Now I can only imagine what your screams would be like if I had cut her down in from of you. Or I could have given you both the same treatment! Hehehe, I would have called it; Captain Vess' love-love special HAH!"

That's right… I'm not the one who killed her, even if I played a part in her death. The one who killed her was standing next to me.

"OI Piggy! I'm talking to you, you sad sack of fucks, don't you dare ignore me!!" I felt him pull my hair to his direction. He growled by what he saw "Oi Piggy, have you forgotten who you're dealing with!? What the fuck kind of look is that!!!?"

What did Yami say about magic again?... Oh yeah, get angry…

I'm feeling pretty fucking angry right now.

"What the-" Vess, or whatever the fuck his name is, raise his head to see the enormous crate behind us, quake.

Then, all the crates on the ship followed suit.

-0-0-0-​

Leorio Vasputin, ex-captain of the Purple Orca squad of the Clover Kingdom' Magicknight growled under his breath. He was quick to return to his stoic demeanor however, as it was his duty to keep the image of strength in such trying times.

He led the small group of subordinated through the dark and went corridors of the tunnels that lead to the docks, the group wasn't much at first glance, but they carried among themselves an elegant palanquin that housed their weakened Lady, and that alone made them the most important group on the island.

"This group should have been much bigger," Leorio thought darkly, "If only these filthy dogs hadn't interfered."

The last few hours have been nothing sort of disastrous. No one would have imagined that the kingdom would be capable of gathering an assault force so big, and in such short time, and have them led by the young captain of the Crimson Lions no less.

Leorio had to begrudgingly give the young man his respect; he led the assault with ruthless efficiency, entering the battle himself in many instances, showing an awe-expiring mastery of Fire magic that could be comparable to the continent's best sorcerers. His presence alone made the assault several times more dangerous, but if that wasn't enough, that unsophisticated foreigner, who dare to call himself a magicknight, escaped from his cell, and made the whole thing a lot messier.

Leorio wanted to growl again; he was in favor of eliminating the worm when they manage to capture him. But his Lady wanted him to be part of their new world and is not his place to questioning the Lady.

There was a sharp cut in his magical connection, incanting that one of his Stone golems was fallen in battle. He had left five golems behind with Hector Melendez, the ex-captain of the Golden Dawn squad, to help hold back the attack. Hector will give his life to make sure the Lady escaped, he was sure of it, he didn't know how long he would last without backup, especially against the opponents he was facing.

It meant, he must take his Lady to safety at once.

Leorio looked back at the curtains that separated his Lady's beautiful from his eyes and trying to not notice the occasional painful moans that came from it.

Out of all of the disasters this day had brought; the invading force, the promising young captain, even the filthy foreigner, none of them has been so grave as the incident of this morning. To think the Kingdom had another person capable of countering his Lady's magic, and not only that but to lay such a crippling blow... Not even his Lady's own traitorous brother was capable of that.

But no matter, Leorio had made sure to erase that dangerous magic from the world with his own hand, after he let the spy suffer in Vess' tender care of course.

That damn spy, if it hadn't for him, his Lady would be able to fight alongside them, and the battle would surely turn out much different, after all; this was the woman that made the Magic Emperor kneel, and if it hadn't for the traitor…

He turned to the last set of corridors calling for an increase in the pace of the progression; they must not fail this task-

On that moment, Leorio Vasputin felt the weight of the world drop on his shoulders, his knees collapsed under his body, his thoughts turned to mush, and all his efforts turned inside, to somehow endure the mighty pressure.

Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone, but it's impression still evident. While he took a second to calm his breaths and expand his senses once again, he noticed that the faraway battle had stopped too, showing that the pressure has spread even to the other side of the island.

There are very few people in the world that are able to conjure this amount of mana, and there is only one that Leorio knew, only one that could be interested in this island.

"This is the nightmare scenario!" He shouted to his subordinates, the few still conscious at least. "The docks are compromised, we have to take Lady Elenoir to-"

"Leorio." The small whisper came from inside the palanquin. His body fell to his knees immediately. He took immense joy for having such obedient body. "We must not let this opportunity pass." Her voice was rough and raspy, but still the most beautiful sound he ever heard.

"B-But my Lady." Every instinct berated him for questioning her decision even for a second, but his worries spoke in greater tones. "In your condition, it wouldn't be wise."

"DO NOT!..." The sharp hateful tone was like a whip to the soul. "…Are you doubting me, sweetie?" Her tone of voice would've been sweet once, but now it was a twitched and unbalanced cadence. Her hand moved the curtain to the side, and Leorio had a look at the woman he loved.

Her once rich brown hair has turned bone white as the day progressed, her face was wrapped in bloody bandages from the wounds she inflicted on herself, her bulged eyes were red and swollen, still forming a connection after being reattached.

Leorio felt his eyes filling with tears, once again her perfection has blown him away. How could a woman be so beautiful? She must be more than an ordinary woman, yes, she is an angel, no- a Goddess! Leorio could look at her forever.

"Do not doubt my abilities, captain." Her expression changed in an artistically display, the blood dripping to her teeth made him want to kiss her. "I must not let him escape from me again. He must be mine, do you understand. MINE!!!! No one else! Mine, mine, mine, YES, yes, his power! His body! His love! All mine!!!..." She suddenly slumps back to her chair, the cruel curtains blocking her vision once again. Leorio heard her trying to control her breathing; the sound was like a graceful orchestra to his ears. Finally, he heard her voice; it opened the pathway to his destiny. "Go my sweet captain. You know what to do."

"Yes my Lady!" he answered vigorously, not a single doubt his mind this time.

Leorio matched forward on the twisting corridors, crossing the distance to the docks with determinate steps. He arrived sooner than anticipated- no, he realized; the exit of the tunnel has been blown apart.

And in the center of the rubble, laid a carbonized figure deeply embedded within the rocks.

"Oh Vess," Leorio lamented, crouching beside his fallen brother, he could barely recognize him by the remains of his face, but who else could it be? "You died fulfilling your holy duty, my Brother." It was the death he always wanted.

Then, Leorio turned to face his fate.

"…What is the meaning of this?" The ex-captain couldn't help it but gasp at the impossibility happening before his very eyes.

He was prepared to face the Magic Emperor himself; he massive mana from earlier and the present mana filling the room now only helped in his assertion. Yet, instead of a deceivably normal-looking man dressed in royal garbs, he came face to face with something that was impossible to exist. Dozen, nay hundreds, nay thousands of grimories flying around the area like a flock of birds, they were following the overpowering flow of the mana twisting across, this wouldn't be weird if he were face to face with an army of magicknight, but, somehow, against everything he knew about magic, his senses were telling him they're all tied on a single being.

The crouched man slowly stood from where he was on the smoky remains of a ship, a visible aura of mana cloaked his form, it was so dense that it looked almost physical. The man finally turned toward the ex-captain, and he found himself staring at the face of dead man.

He remembered this ugly, round face. He hated this face when the owner injured his beloved Lady, he enjoyed seeing it contorting in pain and terror as it received its righteous punishment, and by the end of it all he crushed it under his grip and twisted its owner neck to make sure he would never again pollute the world with his hideous presence.

This man was not supposed to be alive.

…But it made no difference.

Leorio pushed all his questions to the back of his mind. He professionally quelled all his growing instincts to run rather than face something with so much mana. He started to summon his own mana forward, and his tome leaping forward, dutifully following his will.

It made no difference, for Leorio had a mission to fulfill, and he would not fail his beloved Lady.

 

[adudefromthesea]

Prologue.





I woke up and immediately realized that I got laid last night.

It hasn't really hard to figure that out, given that I could feel the bed sheets rubbing against my naked skin, and I never slept naked, useless something like that happens. Not only that, but I was also feeling the characteristic serenity that came after a satisfying night of passion, and going by the slight soreness of my dick, the night was not only satisfying but intense too.

As my senses began to craw back from the sleepiness, I noticed that the room had a familiar smell, like I needed more proof.

So yeah, I got laid last night.

Too bad I don't remember anything about it.

Grumping a little for my confusion, I push myself to a sitting position, rubbing the last trances of drowsiness from my eyes to check out what I was going to have to deal with.

I was alone in the bed, which was good, because it gave me more time to gather my memories and try to make sense of what happened, but left me a by anxious to find out who I slept with.

It would be fine if it were with some of my female friends, not fine if it was with some of my female friends who were in a relationship, and it would be weird if it was with a stranger woman that I never seen before. But nothing I couldn't handle or hadn't handled before.

It doesn't help that I didn't have any memory of whom I was going out last night. My recollection stopped when I arrived home after a day of work and started to catch up my Game of Thornes episodes, nothing really special about it. I guess somewhere along the line a friend must have called me to get shit face drunk to commemorate the Friday. Nothing new, except the worrisome amount of missing memories, and general confusion.

The room didn't give me any clues either; it was a spartan room made primarily out of wood, with a dull wardrobe, a simple bed, a nightstand- with a weird staff thingy with a big, blues sphere on the head leaning against it. The things stood up immensely against the blandness of its surrounding and instantly draw my attention. I mean; it's a magic staff, that's obvious, and a really well made one too, it looked like something you would see in a cosplay competition, but it wasn't something I'd expect to find in the world blandest room.

Wait, cosplay? Did I sleep with a cosplayer? Was I in a convention?

Shaking my head from that line of thoughts, because the only served to confuse me even more as the next Anime convention was months away.

I noticed an open window to the side, letting in soft sunlight and a slightly chilly breeze. Seeing something that could help me direct myself I made my way-

This is not my body.

There was no mistaking it. At the moment I took out the sheet and saw a pale, well build, much younger form, everything I was feeling but hasn't registering fell on my senses like I wrecking ball. The lightness provided from the lack of the layers of fat that had accompanied me for most of my life, the sheer strength of the taut muscles that coiled over my new form, the new distance that everything seems to have by my new smaller perspective, and the…the vast energy flowing just beneath my skin.

I'm a grown adult, I experienced many scary situations in my life, from something simple like being late from meeting that you can't afford to lose, to something more serious like staring at the barrel of a gun while being mugged. But I can say for certainty that nothing came close to the sheerterror that came with waking up in a body that wasn't my own.

I didn't scream, something that preserved my pride a little if I cared about that. Instead, I tensed my new body, brought was arm closer to me, the other finding something that helps give me focus, my legs spread to shoulder distance, and my eyes dashed around the room, searching for anything that might- a battle stance, I just entered in battle stance and didn't even notice it; a stance that I couldn't possibly know about!

The shock unbalanced me. I had to prompt an arm on the nightstand to keep me standing. I raise my other arm- that was holding the fucking magic staff- and tried to pry my tense fingers from the thing.

A few seconds later [The Arrogant Water Dragon King] fell to the floor.

The Arrogant- what!? The thing has a name!? A name that jumped to my mind just now that I was sure was referring to the staff, and what that kind of name is that!?

My ordeal was steadily making more sense to me, even if the things happening were only increasing my panic. Things were starting to seem familiar, not because I experienced this before, more like I read about this before.

But that shouldn't make any sense! That was a literary concept, a freaking fanfic setting for cry out loud! People don't just- People don't just wake up in another world!

Still unconsciously bracing myself against any possible enemies. I struggled to control my panicked breaths, trying to remember some of the half-forgotten meditation lessons I pulled from Youtube some years ago. My Mana was also agitated by my panic; it kept pulsing and twisting inside my body, ready to be used at any moment- FUCKING MANA!

I had mana! I have fucking magical energy flowing inside me! I can do magic!

Fuck, I know how to do magic, I know how Magic works, I know how to shape mana and cast spells, many, many spells.

How that fuck I know that!?

This time I couldn't hold the fearful whimper from escaping from my throat. I stumble forward finally losing my balance. My instincts take over on the last second, pushing myself to fall on the bed instead of the hard floor.

I'm a mage, ever though I can't remember even studying magic before. I can cast a high number of spells as if I'd studied the subject all my life; I have a mana reserve to act as a fuel, a massive one apparently. I know how to sing countless incantations to make the spells automatically, and I know how to mentally shape my mana in the ways which the incantations would shape them, to cast the spell silently if I chose.

Someone put this knowledge in my head. And I can't describe how scared that makes me feel.

It took a few minutes for me to gather myself. I think realizing that your mind has been messed with, is enough to fill anyone with disorienting dread, and make them take a few minutes to put their thoughts in orders.

Okay…I have been Robbed, as clique was that sound. I'm much younger than I was before, I'm probably in another world, and I'm a mage now. I'm also still male, thank god for that.

After finally managing to push the panic to the back of my mind, reaching some semblance of calmness. I examined the room once more, trying to find something to cover myself that wasn't the bed sheets.

Soon, I found the letters.

They were on top of the nightstand; two pieces of paper and a small black object that looked suspiciously like an inked block used to place a stamp on something.

I snatched the two papers, looking for anything that would help make sense of my situation.

The first one was small, more like a note than a letter really; it only had one sentence in it, written in barely comprehensible chickenscratch:

'Right now, Rudeus and I don't match up together. I'm going off on a journey.'

…I stayed a few seconds just looking at it, trying to not let the fact that I could understand this completely unknown alphabet perfectly bring forward my suppressed panic.

The wording itself don't mean anything to me, expect the name, Rudeus, Is my- no, the boy I reincarnated into's- name Rudeus? It… Sounded familiar by I never heard that name before, but it sounded like a name of a Japanese RPG protagonist. Is that what I am now, an RPG protagonist?

Its better than a light novel one- or worse in this case; if I had to reincarnate somewhere, I'd definably choose a shitty light novel world which bends over to suck the protagonist dick than a long JRPG one that forcer the protagonist to struggle to survive. It would make for a boring story for sure, but it was excellent if I had to live in it. Better to live an overpowered live in comfort, than face many trials for the sake of entertaining some invisible audience.

I laugh softly of my own lame joke, trying to not let the different voice get to me. Humor, that's good, that normal for someone in high stress, that help me alleviate some of the dread.

The second letter was bigger; it was folded to be at rightly the same size as the first one. I unfolded the paper carefully.

"FUCKING ROB!" I screamed when I noticed the first few lines, which instead of the weird alphabet that I somehow could read, were written in Portuguese.

My impression of "A Letter from ROB" vanished quickly as I read the rest of the content:



'Dear tiny me.



I'm writing this letter to avoid a time paradox- which are a bitch to solve believe me on that –and to fulfill that old promise that you made to yourself on your teenager years; so yes you would definably help your younger self if you managed to crack down time travel. Good job!

In all seriousness, I know you must be freaking out right now, this letter will explain something to you and hopefully make the situation more bearable.

Now, as you already figured out, you are in another world. More precisely, you are in Mushoku Tensei - Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu, search on your memories, its that light novel you read back in 2014, which you actually thought was good. You should remember easily enough.

You are now Rudeus Greyrat the main character of the story. I have no idea what happened to the Japanese guy who was piloting the body until now; my guess is that we killed him when we crash landed, better not to think about it too much. Now that you know that, you should be able to make sense of things.

I'm not gonna lie to you. Yes, you just lost everyone that you ever knew, and you will not be capable of tearing the fabric of the multiverse to go back to Earth anytime soon, so my advise for you is to try and build something on this new life, make some new friends, new lovers, new family. You always had the right idea about what to do in a Self-insert situation; it's pointless to be depressed on what you lost, especially after gaining so much with this opportunity. I know it will sound cold for you now, but take it for me; it was worth it.

Now, I'd love to give you a super Grimoire telling you exactly what you need to do to become an uber mage, but I can't. The problem is Time Paradoxes, they are not what you think they are, but they are very fucking troublesome to deal with, I can take the heat, but you can't. So we better avoid it as much as we can.

Yes, I know that left you more curious, so I will throw you a bone; the problem is that the knowledge was to be acquired and complicated at some point, if we become an uber mage by creating a time circle of exchanging grimoire, then it will become a Schrödinger Grimoire- and fuck Schrödinger, you will learn is a few years that anything with that name means trouble.

But I can give you some valuable pieces of advice to help you in your new life, and when I said valuable, I mean really valuable, just knowing that some of these things are possible will make a big difference.

• First, it's not advice, more like an explanation: You do have Rudeus' memories and knowledge. They stay in mental vault inside your head, you can reach them fairly easily with a bit on meditation. However, the memories of Sword and Magic are deeply integrated to you being, you are now at the same level of Rudeus in term of magic and sword mastery, in a few days, it will feel like the knowledge is fully yours. It's up to you to grow from there.

• On to the good stuff: Ok, burn this in your mind; MAGIC IS OMNIPOTENT. If you need things clearer; you can do anything with magic. There is simply no limits on that shit. Oh, it will certainly feel like it have, but any 'limit' can be broken with a little bit of dedication and ingenuity. Nothing is impossible when it comes to magic, from the most overpowered, to the most ridiculous things, never forget that, and be careful with who you teach that.

• Because Magic is Omnipotent it means that any ANY CURSE IS REVERSIBLE, it doesn't mean its easily reversible though, or that will happen soon. But there is always hope, remember that. Also, the effects can be softened until the resolution is discovered, I suggest training Mental Magic, if you know what I mean.

• Touki, Fighting Spirit, Ki, Spiral Energy, whatever the fuck you calls it. It's the life energy inherited on every living being and some dead ones, it's used in martial arts on this world. You CAN use it, it will take some effort but you can. One more thing: TOUKI IS ALSO OMNIPOTENT… in theory anyway. It takes longer to do, and a lot more effort to accomplish something, and you have to do it in the form of a martial technique. I know that sounds dumb, but when I managed to cut an ice cream into existence, I knew I could go full Solar Exalted if I wanted.

• There is an stamp beside the letters; it's a magical stamp that will place a magical tattoo on your body. Just place against your skin and think about the design and the place you want to mark. It will make you invisible to Hitogami's eyes until you manage to do it by yourself. Yes, the existence of the stamp had caused a small paradox, but nothing too serious, and I already dealt with the worst of it, you're welcome. Just destroy the thing after you use it and it should be fine.

And that's it I guess, I wish I could give you more details, but I will do fine with this. Just, life your life was you want to, and don't forget to have fun along the way.


Stay awesome dude, good luck!



XXXXXXX now known as Rudeus Greyrat, Magic God, 1st of Seven Major World Powers.

P.s: I don't have to tell you to send a letter back in time when you crack down time travel do I?

P.s.s: Hitogami is shitpantly afraid of us, use that information wisely.'


Wut?

Just… It is too much to process.

Am I Rudeus Greyrat?

Did I just received a letter to myself from the future!?

With my mind more calmed I picked put [The Arrogant Water King] from the floor. Consciously Accessing the strange feeling and impression for the first time.

The mana surged with an unnerving familiarity, shaping the two unformed spell into reality.

They weren't spells per say, just a bolt of raw mana to manipulate the elements.

Slowing, a rock foundation was conjured into existence, rising to my height and making a circular plate right in from of me. The second element sprung into existence filling the plate and forming a reflective water surface.

I saw me, the new me. A young boy just entering teenagerhood, with pretty, noble features, light brown hair starting to past his shoulders, and attractive greenish eyes, one in a lighter tone than the other.

I am Rudeus Greyrat, the protagonist of one of the few decent isekai light novel out there.

Well fuck. What now?

…First, let's see about that tattoo.

 

[adudefromthesea]

This is the first snippets were I use a (as far as I'm aware) exclusive QQ cyoa, the Essence cyoa, it's basically a very simplified version of a cyoa, where you just choose a essence get powers and start. More details at the end.

This snippets also uses a NSFW cyoa named eronomicon, but nothing explicit in shown in the chapter.

-0-0-0-
​

Chapter 01









It's a veil… maybe a mantle? It was covering the entire world, like an ever-present yet invisible smoke scream made of magic. I had gained the ability to feel it a week ago, together with all my other perks and powers. But now, outside my house, it felt thicker than usual.

It was actually very distracting.

"Hey kiddo, are you there?"

I heard my dad asking and turned my attention back to him.

"Yeah." I croaked out, trying to remember what the conversation was about, "I'm fine, everything is fine, I'm not distracted at all."

He stared blankly at me, "That might as well be a confession."

I shrugged, feeling a little guilty for not being all there for our hang up. Dad's works long hours, so it's actually quite rare for us to go out to dinner like that.

"You've been like that all week…" He commented, "Anything troubling you? Schoolwork? Friends?... Girls?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Dad, come on!" I shouted embarrassed. Thankfully, ever since my changes, I don't blush as easily anymore.

"Hey, I'm only asking." He said, raising his hands. "You know you can tell me anything right?"

"… Yeah dad, I know."

But not about this… never about this…

How could I begin to tell him I have the memories of a grown ass man inside my head and that they had messed with my sense of self enough that I'm still having trouble figuring out who am I, even if I'm very good at faking it? How can I tell him that I'm not human anymore, that this body is just a shell to house something so profane and unholy and would make Satan tremble? How can I tell him that his love and faith in me are now sustaining and empowering me like some kind of metaphysical super snack?

These aren't something you bring up in polite conversations. So I kept my mouth shut.

Something seems to cross dad's mind, he became a little more serious and started to lean forward.

But he got interrupted before he could say anything.

"Good evening, sorry for the delay. My name is Cindy. I'm here to take your orders." Said the waitress, cheerfully.

I noticed the reason for the 'delay', immediately. I had seen this girl when we arrived at the restaurant, but now her face was marked by a flesh layer of makeup, her apron, that before had a ketchup mark on it, now was clean, and the chest area of her uniform now was one button lower.

Looking back on my life with my new perspective, this was actually a pretty common sight. You see, my dad was actually a pretty attractive guy; standing 6,2 feet tall, with a well built body and a masculine face, he look like someone who could have the leading role in a superhero movie if he wanted to, so it was pretty common for him to get hit on by multiple women when we go out.

Another thing was also pretty common…

"Yeah, I'll have this Shrimp Napoli of number 13 with extra tomato," Dad said, pointing to the menu and completely ignoring the cleavage practically being shoved on his face. "Annnd, how about you kiddo? Pepperoni pizza?"

I'd like to say that I chuckled at dad's dense anime protagonist display, but my cracking voice made it sound more like a giggle. "Pepperoni sounds good."

The girl took our orders and left a little dejected. I silently sent her a mental cheer.

"Adam," Dad called me after a few seconds in a quiet tone; he leaned forward a bit with a serious look in his eyes, and spoke even quieter. "Is it them?"

… I heard that question before; he had asked me a number of times… when I didn't have the courage to talk to him like I usually did. I knew that if I answered with a 'yes' we would be in a moving truck next week, fast on our way to the next small town, and ready to rebuild our lives once again.

It's a little irresponsible for a parent to believe in their child so unconditionally, but dad never once doubted me about the things I see, and always treat them with the utmost seriousness. Him asking that question still made me want to hug him.

But things are different now… And we lived here for almost two years; dad has friends here, and a job that he likes. Hell, even I got people to talk to in the school this time around.

I'm done running.

"No, dad," I said with a smile… My eyes flickering to the side for just a moment, to the window behind my dad; where a dark figure was standing in the rain, looking fixedly at me. "It's not them."

His shoulders skunked in relief, and he relaxed back on the chair.

"So…" He nodded sagely. "It is girls after all."

"Dad!"

We laughed and talked until the waitress came back with our food, I giggled again as her redouble efforts failed to do anything against the brick wall of denseness that was my dad. She'd have to be fully naked and twerking on his lap for him to notice anything.

And the figure wasn't in the window anymore.

"I have to go to the restroom," I said suddenly.

"Hum," Dad mumbled, taking his eyes from the dish. "Oh, don't take to long, they'll grow cold."

I rolled my eyes "You can start without me if you want." I saw his shoulder drop in relief once again.

Shaking my head in amusement, I went to the restroom.

It was a simple mid-class restaurant restroom; there was a row of blue stalls to the side, two urinals beside it, and a row of sinks facing a long mirror.

I made sure to check every stall to see the place was deserted first. Then, I raided my hand.

The Book was already on my palm; a non-descriptive, middle-size book with a leather cover, looking as normal as a book can be as if it wasn't suddenly appeared in my hand from nowhere.

I opened randomly in the exact page I wanted, and once again read the words. To my persistent amazement, they stayed in a perfectly straight and wonderfully comprehensive line, instead of dancing all across the paper like the usual.

This was the only book where this phenomenon happens, the novelty of reading something unaffected by my pesky dyslexia still fascinates me, I must have read this book from front to cover a dozen times now, the sentences were all but memorized, but I knew from experience that holding the book in my hand, and having the words flesh in my mind would increase the efficiency of what I was about to do.

My finger rose and circled in the air like a magical wand. On my new senses, I felt the touch leaving traces on the surface of the magical veil that covers the world.

"Yfilamron" I chanted in a clear and firm voice, the word and my gestures suddenly caused a pulse to traverse around the veil. To the 'normal' senses it felt like a brief current of air has passed across the room.

To the other senses… It was difficult to describe; it was like the area of the veil that encompassed this room, suddenly gained a yellowish tinge.

The spell is complete; I didn't skip any step on the progress to make sure the end result would be the strongest iteration of it as possible, I never used this spell in such crowded place, after all. I need to make it would do its job.

Hopefully, it'd keep the people outside of this room from noticing anything weird happing inside. The spell won't muffle any sound, but it will make anything that happens inside sound perfectly normal to the outside, no matter if it were a mad scream or a cry for help, nothing that happens in this room would appear to be out of ordinary until tomorrow morning.

Sighing, I lay the book beside one of the sinks, and soon after, I placed my jacket over it.

Finally, my eye met the ones of the boy in the mirror.

Pretty, that's the word I'd used to describe myself. Perhaps 'gorgeous' or devilish handsome' would fit in a few years, but for now, I was a very pretty thirteen years old boy, who is entering manhood in the best way possible.

I had some of my dad on me; my vibrant red hair and entrancing forest green eyes were the same as his. There were fewer trances of him on my face, but they were there; a little bit on the jaw, and the shape of the eyebrows… these are actually my less attractive features, and that's saying something considering how handsome he is.

Dad once said I looked a lot like my mother... I don't know much about her besides the fact she left us when I was very young, so I can only imagine how gorgeous she must have been to improve my dad's genes.

Turning the sink on, I gathered some water on my hands and leaned down to clean my face.

When I rose, the figure was standing right behind me in the mirror.

I calmly shook the water from my hands and turned to face it.

The figure was wearing a long trench coat that covered its entire body, I had to strain my neck to see its face, but I could barely make any detail under the shadows cast by its long hat.

I have been terrified of things like him for as long as I could remember… Now though.

"You look human-ish enough, unlike the other two," I commented, thinking about the giant dog and the scorpion-like thing I found prowling around my neighborhood. "Can you speak-"

A big, paw-like hand covered my face before I could finish, sausage size fingers curled around my head in a crushing grip. I felt my body being suspended in the air and shoved against the wall, my back shattering the glass mirror in the process.

*CRACK!*

The monster let out a loud roar that twisted into a curse before stumbling three steps backward. His left hand went to hold the right one, which now had three fingers twisted in the wrong direction.

"Oh, is that a curse I heard?" I said mockingly, feeling the pain and hatred he was feeling empowering me, it made me smile even more. "It means you can talk."

The thing swung its powerful arm with a roar; I quickly ducked under it and dug my foot into its knee.

With a distinct snapping sound, the joint bent backward. The bones popped from the skin and clothes in a shower of blood, and the monster fell to the side with a pained wail.

"My entire life you've staked me," I said, shivering in pleasure by the sight of blood and circling the downed form. "No matter where I went, no matter where I ran, you and your ugly friends were always there, always pursuing, always lurking…" The thing attempted to grab me. I dug my foot on its elbow this time, giving it the same treatment of its knee. "Now, its time for answers!" I crouched down and grabbed the monster by its fat throat, my hand was too small to grasp the entire front, but my grip was firm enough.

"What are you?" I asked in a steel tone.

The thing's single eye look at me with burning hatred, noticing how its mouth moved, I lay down a brutal slap on his cheek that broke most of its front teeth before he could spit.

"What. Are. You?" I demanded once again.

"Go suck Arges' balls." He grunted I didn't even notice that he had spoken in a different language, before years of fears and frustrations explode outwards.

His face was thrown to the side by the strength of my punch; I could feel his flesh straining under my grip, "TELL." Another punch, this time his face went to the other side. "ME." Another, blood spilled forward, coating my fist with a layer of red, "WHAT." Bone cracked under my fingers. "YOU." I was raining punches now, letting out all that was in my chest, damned the consequences. "ARE!?" I finished my sentence in a tone so commanding that I swear it even made the magical veil shake.

"I'm a cyclops." The bloody piece of boated meat answered immediately, almost too fast for something with most of its face crushed.

Its answer made me see red.

"OF FUCKING COURSE YOU ARE A CYCLOPS!" I shouted, throwing his body to the side, utterly destroying the stalls in the process.

"Do you think I'm stupid or something!?" I stomped over his prone form, "Big, ugly, single eye. I figured you were a cyclops on the moment I saw you." I grabbed the back of his coat and pulled. "I'm asking what you and your monster friends are! Why are you chasing me!? What the hell do you want!?"

His head… just dangled downward, with blood and crushed eye fluid dripping from it.

"Hey, are you listening?" I shook him once again. "Hey!"

His head fell from his neck, it hit the wooden splinters below and seems to mold around it for a moment before busting in a cloud on golden dust.

"Ah fuck." I cursed, seeing the rest of the body doing the same thing, leaving only the oversize clothes behind.

I was too rough with him.

"Goddamn it, I thought Cyclopes were supposed to be super tough or something," I grumbled, kicking some broken wood in frustration.

There it goes the best chance of knowing what the fuck is going on with my life. Besides the whole "get adult memories, overpowered powers, and spell book" thing, I always knew I wasn't normal, the incident from a week ago only proved it. I thought I could use my new power to unveil the deeper mysteries about myself.

Whatever, it's not like this fucker was the only human-like monster that I ever saw. There will be other; there are always others. They will come, I'll make them squeal, it's only a matter of time.

Sighing, I made my way to the sinks, trying to avoid the growing puddle on the floor. Grabbing my jacket, I pulled it over my form to hide the cuts the broken glass has made on the back of my shirt; dad would freak out if he sees those.

Then, I slid The Book into the way too small pocket of my jeans. It didn't really matter if I leave it here or take it with me, as The Book will materialize on my hand whenever I need it.

Is that everything? Oh! Blood on my fist- No, no that already slide off long ago. Nothing that I considered dirt cling on my body or my clothes for too long if I don't want to…

I guess I'm good to go.

"Ah hell!" I said as I raised my eyes to the shattered mirror for one last checkup. "Almost fuck up."

There was a pair of long, black horns sprouting from my forehead; I guess I got a little too emotional there.

"Dad would go mental…" I commented, closing my eyes and flexing muscles no human should have. When I opened them again, the horns were nowhere to be seen. "There we go."

Perfect, not a sight of struggle on me, just a boy going back from a trip to the restroom.

I rest my forehead against the shattered glass and thought about what had just happened for one last time.

I haven't been able to figure out anything from the monster… But I killed it; I killed it easily.

A small smile formed on my lips.

No more running.

For now… Pepperoni pizza.

-0-0-0-

a/n: here is the Essences:

Essence of the Demon Emperor

• You gain the form of a demon emperor, ruler of Hell with a design generally up to you. This form is supernaturally powerful and outstrips almost any mortal or immortal for that matter in raw attributes and a host of other abilities up to you based on the form you take. Regardless you could beat gods to a bloody pulp as you are now.
• Perfect memory with infinite storage as well as agelessness.
• Gain dominion over the seven deadly sins, can use them in a variety of ways including conceptually.
• You are a font of pure corruption, a walking source of impurity, disease, pain, misery, all the evils of the world are at your disposal. You are able to twist, corrupt, taint, and pervert anything you get your claws into to your hearts content. As a side effect you are immune to corrupting or purifying effects.
• Able to create and summon all sorts of demons to serve you, whether they be Imps to the lords of hell themselves. These demons are oathbound to be loyal. You can corrupt others into demons and resurrect the dead into demons. Other demons and demon like creatures will see you as something of profane divinity on an instinctual level.

Essence of Apotheosis

• The ichor of the divine flows through your veins. By consuming this essence you have ascended to godhood.
• You have the mind body and soul of divinity and exist beyond the frailties of mortals. Your memory is infinite with perfect recall. your body, skills, and abilities will never degrade even if you languish for eons. Even without using any of your powers your body is a weapon of mass destruction on its own, enough to slay lesser gods just using your raw strength. Your soul is eternal and will eventually reform you whole should you ever somehow be killed.
• There are a number of domains that fall under your purview, these could be classic ones like the Sky, Earth, Death, or others. You can manipulate these domains as befitting one of your station bordering on the conceptual. Regardless you can perform miracles that have the themes of your domains, acts that defy convention and even fate, such as burning out the illness of the faithful or killing their fear in times of desperation.
• Can hear the prayers of any of those who worship you or any calling out for intervention. Similarly you can empower mortals who worship you with abilities based on your own domains. These powers can be revoked or restored as you see fit.
• You can create a personal afterlife for you worshipers any yourself to serve as a home it can be one realm or multiple depending on your tastes. Any faithful or those you claim that die will automatically have their soul sent to it.
• By expending some of your might you can raise up mortals to divinity either as fully fledge gods or weaker but still mighty demigods.
• Able to create servants whose form and function are up to you whether they be humanoid angels or terrifying chimera that punish sinners. These servants are utterly loyal to your will.

 

[adudefromthesea]

Warning: Attempted rape
-0-0-0-

Chapter 1









A dull impact brought keen awareness on its wake.

I was laying on something hard and cold, my hearing was overtaken by a distracting ringing, my vision held nothing but darkness, and my body felt strange; it was tingling all over, and it felt… more constricting I want to say, but I lack a reference.

It was a confusing experience.

I think I supposed to be scared in a situation like this, but I wasn't for some reason. Perhaps because of how good I was feeling.

It was like waking up from a nice nap, feeling your energy completely replenished and your worries far away. I would be stretching my joins if I could move-

Oh wait, I can move my limbs, they felt heavy and sluggish now, but that's quickly changing. As the seconds passed, I was becoming more and more comfortable with my body, and it was becoming lighter and easier to move.

I opened my eyes, feeling a little dumb for not noticing they were closed before and saw my hand… my hand?

It looks… spider-ish, like my skin was stretched to its limits on top of the bone. Was I always been this skinny? Or… pale?

The opening and closing of fingers confirmed that it was indeed my hand, and looking the arm attached to it; I concluded that I was dangerously skinny, like, on the level of being a problem.

Which contracted to how good I felt, I don't think I should be feeling this strong if I was anorexic, yet my eyes showed evidence of the contrary.

Pushing that to the back of my head, I raised my eyes to see where I was.

The name 'hospital room' immediately jumps on my mind when I saw the soft colors and nondescript furniture, the fallen I.V. pole was also a very telling sign.

I was in a hospital. That made sense. Have I fallen from my bed?

Raising myself carefully and turning my head slightly, I noticed the toppled bed lying horizontally beside me.

Right, I fell from the bed.

Gripping the side of the bed, I used it as leverage to raise myself the rest of the way… and was shocked by what was happening behind the bed, a shock so great that it kick-started my hearing and made the world stop moving in slow motion.

"LET ME GO YOU FUCKING COCKSUCKER-ARG!!!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP BITCH! Hold her fucking down man!!"

"BITCHASS MOTHERFUCKERS, FUCK YOU AND YOUR FAGGOTS FUCKBUDDIES! THIS IS THE ONLY WAY YOU EVER GET- GRAH!"

"I SAY SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!"

"LET ME GO, LET ME GO LET ME GO LET ME GOOO! AHHHH!!!"

Tree guys were fighting to hold down a nurse, she was trashing mighty and cursing every single one of them until the one on the right literally sticks a sock deep inside her mouth, but it only made her growl and thrash some more.

A-A rape scene? Holy shit they're trying to rape her! W-Wha am I suppose to do in this situation!? I-I don't have a phone to call the police, Should I call someone?

She lets out a muffled scream as the men managed to tear always her uniform's shirt. With a burst of laughter, the one in the middle tried to catch her kicking legs to do the same with the pants while the two other roughly started to massage her breast through the bra.

Seeing that, I knew I had to do something.

"H-Hey!" I called, instantly regretting it. DUMBASS! What that fuck my skinny ass could do against three grown men, I should have sneaked out of the room and called somebody!

Too late, four pairs of eyes turned to me. The men regarded me for a second, and then they burst out laughing.

"Oh, that's fucking rich!" One of the men said between laughs. "Hey Mark, you literally knock the kid awake!"

"I know right! I can cure the sick by pushing now! It's my cape power!" The other bellowed.

They keep laughing until the nurse kicked the one in the middle in the balls and tried to escape, after that they quickly turned their attention back to her.

"R-Rape!" I shouted to the door, my eyes still mostly on the scene. Part of me knew that I should go get someone personally, but it was difficult to turn my back to the scene knowing what was about to happen to the nurse; it felt wrong. "There is a rape! Please help!"

I thought the guys would be annoyed at that, but two didn't even bother to react, while the third just laughed at my face.

What! Aren't they worried about being found out? We are in a hospital it shouldn't be too long now before… Then I heard, the sound outside of the room, I didn't notice before because I was focused on the horrible sounds inside of the room, but out there, I could hear shouts of terror, glass breaking, hushing of bodies, shots being fired…

There was something very wrong going on, I don't know what it was, but it became clear that help isn't coming.

There was another muffled scream followed by a victorious one as the man in the middle managed to break the waist belt of her pants, and pulled it down to her knees, the right side of her purple underwear was dragged to the middle of her thigh by the movement.

"H-Hey, Stop this-"

"Fuck off kid!" A guy snarled, his voice promising a world of hurt.

I almost did; I mean, a fully grow muscular man dressing and acting like a thug could make many people back off, this isn't the kind of person someone could brother without a genuine threat of danger, but what he was doing, and the way the nurse's eyes grew increasable more desperate, made impossible for me to not do something.

"I-I say; stop!" I shouted, grabbing his shoulder.

And his flesh molded under my grip.

It was like grabbing a pizza dough filled with extremely brittle cookies, expect it was an overly muscular male shoulder. My spidery hand closed almost completely feeling almost no resistance. Shattered bones immediately jugged from the flesh between my fingers, blood followed.

It was an incredibly shocking sight.

"Ah?" The man looked at his right arm, which fell useless to the side, held together only by skin. His other hand going to his destroyed shoulder. "Ah?! AH!! AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

He fell to the side screaming incoherently and contorting in pain. My wide eyes moved between my hand and his thrashing body.

What in the fuck just happened!?

"What… The hell…" I heard someone uttering from beside me. I turn my head to- Baseball bat!!

The world suddenly slowed down to a crawl. I could see every inch of the opportunist man that was swinging the bat. He was clearing aiming for my head and looked like he was putting all his strength in it too, his face buffing with air, his waist bent widely to the side, his muscles tensing by effort.

I blinked… then noticed I could move just fine even if the rest of the world was in slow motion.

Pushing the many, many incredulous questions about what was happening to a time where I didn't have a baseball bat being swung to my head. I entered inside his guard, put my hand on his chest and pushed him, looking to throw his balance off.

He shot backward like a bullet, his body exploding through the window.

"The fuck!?" The last man standing gave voice to my feelings; I looked at him and noticed that he had a knife. He noticed that too, and it fell to the floor a moment later. "H-Hey man, I ain't looking for trouble, j-just following orders knowwhatImean? GUH!" There was a distinctive sound, then his rolled back, and he fell forward. The half-naked nurse was behind him, holding a fire extinguisher.

She then walked to the one trashing on the floor and hurled the extinguisher with a loud howl. The guy stopped moving.

What followed was a few minutes of silence, with the nurse leaning on the extinguisher with her head dipped down trying to calm her breaths. I didn't know how to proceed from there.

"Hum, are you ok?" I tried.

She jerked up suddenly, making me flinch.

"I'm fine." She said in a voice of someone how isn't fine. Her hand moving to push her breast back to the cups of her bra; I felt my ears warming by the sight, they were… very sizable. "More importantly how are you? You shouldn't be able to move."

"What-" I tried to speak, but she cut me again.

"No no, that level of atrophy." She mumbled, feeling my arm, from up close I could see how deeply exhausted she was, both her green eyes had noticeable dark circles under them, her light brown hair was folded back in a matter that could only be described as messy, and her skin was sickly pale. "Are you feeling any pain? Dizziness? You should lie down while I grab my equipment… Ah fuck, the bed."

"M-Ma'am." I pushed her back lightly, thankfully no herculean strength this time. "I'm alright, we should worry about you!" I gulped when I saw her wide, fixated eyes roaming around; her breathing has not calmed down, I noticed. "I think you're having a panic attack or something."

"You feel too warm, let me get the thermometer." She ignored me and turned to look around the room. "Damn, where did I put it…"

Okay, she is definitely not fine. She must be having a breakdown or something because that's not normal. I… I don't know what I should do in this situation, how can I help her?

Something 'clicked' inside my head, but not in a way where you suddenly figure something out or have an idea, there was a literal 'click' inside my very being, a… thing embedding itself into my very core, I would be freaking out if it didn't feel so natural.

And I suddenly knew what I should do.

I step closer to the nurse, my hand going to her naked shoulder, and I release the energy I had gathered on my fingers.

It crashed through her like a wave, passing through every inch of her body, utterly destroying any stress accumulated, loosening any overly tensed muscles, calming any overwhelming worry. It was like she received the mother of all messages in a second.

She moaned loudly, not a sexual moan though there were some traces of it, but a relieved moan, the one a person lets out after they pop their back in the right way. Her weakening knees collapsed under her. I held most of her weight before slowly lowering her to the floor.

There was a long moment of silence where we just looked at each other, her eyes blinking dumbly as she managed to think clearly for the first time. Then she lowered her head to my shoulder.

It was my turn to blink dumbly, not understanding what had happened… but then the shaking began, followed by the quiet sobs.

I did my best to comfort her, trying to not let the feeling of a soft, half-naked woman get to my head too much. I also shot her with the relaxing energy a few more times, when I felt she truly needed it.

Eventually, she calmed down, leaning away from my embrace and sitting on her ankles.

"Thank you. " She said quietly, not meeting my eyes. Is she embarrassed? That's kinda cute.

"You're welcome."

She cleaned her eyes, her other hand reaching for something on the floor close to us; a pair of rectangular glasses.

"You're a parahuman." She said, putting it on, there was a crack on the right lens

"I'm a what?"

"You have powers." She said, bringing a lot of questions to the forefront of my mind, "You don't know what that is? What can you remember?"

…What can I remember?

What can you remember that questions felt like a hurricane to me, in one moment I felt relieved for understanding more about my situation, then growing terror as I failed to remember anything substantial about myself.

"I…I don't know." I mouthed, breathing more rapidly as I totted on the edge of a freak-out, but never quite lose my ability to think. "I don't remember anything," I said to her and to myself, contrary to what I was expecting, I actually felt calmer after that.

But not calm enough to show on the outside, as the nurse quickly pulled my apparently panicky form to her pillowed bosom. My blush must be showing over my entire body.

"Shh, it's alright, it's alright." Now she is the one confronting me; I felt kind of guilty for only being able to think on how soft she felt. "This is common for cases like yours. I'm sure you'll remember after a few days of rest."

"Mmm," I just shut up and enjoy her warmth, the polite thing for me to do you have been to offer her something to cover herself, but I only had that hideous hospital gown, and the cold floor on my ass told me how much I was wearing underneath.

Then, there was an explosion somewhere, and the room shook.

The nurse immediately grabs my shoulders and pushed me, "Michael listen, we need to leave this place now. I need you to follow me ok, follow me and keep close."

"Michael? Is that my name? What is going on?"

"No time to exclaim, we have to go!"

-0-0-0-​

The guy dressed like a gangster pointed his sub-machine gun at me and pulled the trigger with a scream. I let out my own scream, fighting the fear of being on the wrong barrel of a gun; I ran through the rail of bullets, they feel like raindrops.

I body slammed the guy on a wall, feeling his ribs cracking against my arms. When I stepped back, he fell to the floor, unconscious.

Not gonna lie; having powers is kinda cool.

"Good work," Angelica said, following behind me. She's still uncertain about letting me act as a shield, having let out a scream the first time I caught a bullet for her. But there was just too many of these guys, the only way we could move was facing them directly, and I was the one bulletproof.

Running through a hospital while it's being attacked by gangsters was a dizzying experience. Three men trying to rape a woman was simple, I knew what I should do then, but people panicking, running around screaming, men and women with guns shutting anyone that got close, people fighting, getting hurt, dying, all around me, it was…difficult.

Angelica maintained her focus thankfully, she was the one pulling me along and not letting me get distracted by the violence around us. We didn't run to the exit like I had imagined, first, we made a stop of the dressing room to get some new clothes, and more importantly, a car key, then we moved to the hospital garage, gathering as many supplies we could along the way.

"Get down," She ordered as we reached the garage door at the end of the stairs, "If we're lucky, they'll still be fighting."

I kept my question inside and peeked through the door as she opened it.

"Fuck." She cursed, and I noticed that unlike the rest of the place; there was no fighting.

Instead, there were gangsters everywhere, laughing and talking among themselves as they loot the bodies… is that the police?

"We have to get to that big ambulance right there," She pointed to the vehicle at the corner, "But with them around…" She bit her lower lip, looking at me with conflicted eyes.

I picked up what she meant. "You want me to distract them. That's what I've done over these last minutes right? What the difference now?"

She kept staring me for a few seconds, and then pointed at the garage again, more precisely to one particular man, he was wearing only pants showing his heavily tattered, and on his face there was a stylized hockey mask.

"That's Musclebound; he was a famous supervillain before… before the city fell."

"Supervillain? You mean like the comics!"

"Shhh! Keep your voice down." She said closing the door a little. "My point is, he is very dangerous… I… I can't send you to fight him." She let go of the door, turning back. "Let's find another way."

"The building is on fire," I reminded her. "That crazy guy was throwing around Molotov's," And when I say crazy; I mean really crazy, like foaming in the month crazy, it was terrifying facing a genuinely crazy person for the first time, especially when he was dressed like a nurse. "We don't know how much the flames spread."

I could see her seriously considering the options, her tired eyes growing wearier, "Michel, he… he killed superheroes before. And you're just gaining your powers, what if there is a limit you don't know? Something that he can use against you, you could die." She glances at me up and down. "Christ, you shouldn't even be up, you just waken up for a long coma."

"We really have to talk after all of this," I shook my head, "Just get to the ambulance ok?"

"Wait!" She tried, but it was clear that there was only one option there.

Perhaps it was the fact that I spent the last few minutes tanking bullets and breaking bones, but I felt deep inside that I could take him… Or perhaps it's my teenager arrogance speaking.

"Hey! Hey you! Musclefreak!" I shouted, striding confidently through the garage.

All the eyes were on me, good. There was laughter because a skeletally thin boy wearing too big clothes that made him look a homeless person insulting a badass super villain was bound to get some laughs. There was also some guns pointed at me, and insults thrown, but that was expected. The villain in question just stopped kicking the body of a police officer and glared at me.

"Is this a joke?" He asked, his voice muffled by the mask.

Then I punched him.

He flew in a twisting arch, hitting a parked car in a denting impact; the car's alarm went off.

There was no more laughter.

The villain stood, the pieces of his fragmented mask falling from his face, he turned to the side and spat a couple of teeth, all while trying to evaporate me with his glare.

I raise my arms in a boxing stance, not the most intimidating visage, but I made my point.

"Alright kid, you have my attention." He said darkly, taking a step forward… And then falling to his knees.

I blinked. "Oh… What's wrong?" The words came from a place I didn't know, but they felt right. "Perhaps you dropped a coin or something?"

Musclebound let out a drain out, almost animalistic growl, his body beginning to bulge grotesquely, his skin stretching to the breaking point and then beyond, from the new tears on the surface I could see red muscle pulsing. "I'm going to murder you." He stated simply. I got a feeling it was a promise.

He dashed forward; his new grotesque form was like a moving train. It made me take a step back almost instinctively.

I managed to avoid the uppercut, but his next move was faster then I predicted, sending me flying.

I destroyed a car on my landing, and some of the gangsters were quick to get out of the way. Then I rolled to the side to avoid his dropkick.

As he was tangled in the remains of the car I took the opportunity to punch him in the ribs.

It… didn't send him flying; instead, the impact his made his bulking muscles jiggle a little.

Soon after, he bitchslapped me to the side.

I felt the air rushing around my body was I crashed through several vehicles and a support pillar, only rolling to a stop when I reach the wall on the other side of the garage.

Well fuck; I thought this fight would be easier… at least I'm not hurt.

…Oh yeah, his strikes are sending me flying, but not hurting me, that good to know.

I got up, and watch the villain growl as he began to walk to my direction-Wow he is big, like three or four times bigger than before, but he's rapidly shirking.

For some reason he's not dashing like before but walking to me instead, I took advantage of that and rush to attack him myself. My fists making his muscles jiggle again.

Alright, I get it; physical attack won't work.

A big red hand evolved most of my arm. And suddenly my perspective was shifting violently as I was being slammed in the floor like Hulk did to Loki.

Hulk and Loki where the hell did that come from?

Being slammed on the floor was getting annoying, so I twisted myself free from his grip and rolled away to create some space- He is even bigger now! His head is scrapping on the ceiling.

Man, powers are freaking weird, I wonder how his work.

Suddenly there was a 'click' inside of my very being and- 389 muscles are contracting, 279 are relaxing, his waist is twisting, his weight is being shifted, his next attack are coming from the left.

After that, he couldn't hit me anymore.

I watched his power work as I danced around his firsts; his body can absorb any direct impact and use it to empower his muscles, making him grow in size, strength, and durability, but sacrificing speed, but its only temporary, his strength gradually goes back to normal if he does not get hit again. He doesn't have control of the absorption, and his body has a limit of how much it can handle, two punches from me took him to the edge of his limits.

That is neat! Is it one of my powers!?

No… More, I can decide each power I have, I have something… Slots! I have slots inside me that can be filled with powers! Currently, only two are filled... Wait two?... My strength is a power independent to this one!

Holy fuck that's overpowered!

"Stay. Still!" Musclebound growled, reminding me that he was there.

"How about this!" I punched him again. Taking him past his limits.

There was a mighty hush of air and a sound like an explosion as the grotesque form of Musclebound, for a lack of a better word, popped like a balloon.

Thankfully, there was less blood and guts involved that one would expect, though there was some blood.

"…You." Musclebound mumbled horrified. He was back on his human form, but with bloody remains of giant muscle fibers connected to his normal ones. I could see that he took less damage than it looked, but the absorption aspect of his power needed a few minutes to restart.

I opened my mouth to let a witty or dry comment, but he was suddenly run over by an ambulance, the passenger door opening in front of me.

"Come on!" Angelica shouted. "Before they start shooting!"

I didn't need to be told twice.

Soon, we were racing through the garage on top speed, leaving a series of shocked gangsters behind.

"Are you alright!?" Angelica shouted, she was doing her best to look and me and on the road at the same time. "God, he slapped you around so much!" She lamented, her knuckles turning white around the steering wheel.

I glance at her - terrified of losing me, excited to see me winning against a villain, exhausted for overworking, in her mid-twenties, heavy smoker, hadn't taken a bath in more than two days, about to menstruate. I closed my eyes and 'unclicked' my second power out of me. Now, I know how Tattletale feels…

Wait, who?

"Michael, MICHAEL!"

"I'm alright!" I quickly opened my eyes and looked into her terrified ones. "It didn't even hurt. Seriously, I'm super strong now."

"Oh." She leaned back focusing. Slowly a smiled formed on her face. "You fought Musclebound." She stated.

"I did." I also leaned back on the chair.

"And you won." There was… something in her voice, I couldn't figure out what.

"Yeah."

For one moment, I thought I could sleep on that chair, to finally rest after a crazy day. But then… we left the garage.

… It was like the inside the hospital, only worse.

There was some kind of encampment in front of the hospital, rows of tents neatly lined beside each other, with a modest fortification around it. And everything was on fire.

There are people there, some crying and running for their lives, others trying to fight the armed gangsters, a few policemen trying to provide support, but they're being massacred, but the worst of them, whose numbers seen to be increasing on each second; were the crazy ones.

They were dancing naked in the fire, fucking in the middle of the hail of bullets, eating their own flesh in a mad, deliriously glee. One of the crazies had powers, from his hands came powerful streams of fire that burned everything around him, there was a decapitated head hanging on his dick.

It was a vision of hell.

"Don't look," Angelica said quietly, as she runs over one of the crazy ones.

I tried not to look at the blood on the windshield.

"What happened here?" I asked breathlessly.

She kept a hard look ahead of her, preparing to break through the feeble fortifications.

"Simurgh."




Worm Cyoa: Ver 1

Choices:
Reincarnation

Mode: World Breaker (+12 p)(All the Power start off twice as strong)

Power: Kaleidoscope, Eidolon, Alexandria (-6 p)

Perks: Bank, Shattered Limiter, Invictus, Inspiration, First Impressions, Manpower.(-6 p)

 

[adudefromthesea]

Chapter 01






Once you find yourself trapped inside an out of control crazy train, all you can do is enjoy the ride. That was the sentiment that was carrying me throughout the day.

"Ahh, where is it? I swear I put it somewhere around…"

The small, porky vice-principal was rummaging through his messy officer desk in search of my application. He looked as unprepared to deal with me as I was to deal with my day… almost if my and my family's entire existence was suddenly inserted into this new reality, and now the innocent people just following their ordinary fates were getting confused as fuck every time I get too close.

Oh, and of course, just to crown things out, there were words flouting above his balding head.

Ishiyama Daisuke
Furinkan High's overworked vice principal.
Level: 08

Gamer powers, because why not?

"Meehh, there it is, ah, Ōe-kun." He says, reading from some documents I'm sure didn't exist until today, "I'm so very sorry for the delay. You have come in an awfully busy time I'm afraid, haha." He tried to laugh it off.

By the state of his office, I reckon every day is an 'awfully busy day' for this guy…

I sighed, halting this thought process, no use taking on a guy who was just trying to do his job.

"Yes, Ishiyama-vice principal, I understand and apologize for my family's unreasonable request," I say, letting the instinctual Japanese politeness that came packed in this new body slip through.

"No, no, it was no problem at all! In fact, everything seems to be in order." He places down the documents without more than a passing glance, but I was expecting something like this. It was for the same reason the vice presided himself was greeting me; the Ōes, this mysterious family I was now part of, were apparently filthy rich. "Now, now Ōe-kun, I'm happy to inform you your application has been accepted. Welcome to the Furinkan family!"

"Thank you very much, Ishiyama-vice principal."

He smiled at my politeness, probably thinking I would be no trouble at all. Boy, he could not be more wrong; I am a Gamer sponsored by a ROB and now a resident of Tokyo's Nerima ward of anime Japan in the early nineties. I dread to think about the amount of trouble I'll cause by merely existing.

Nevertheless, it doesn't hurt being polite. Vice-principal certainly seems to think so by the way he enthusiastically bounced up from his chair.

"Wonderful! Now, if you would follow me, I'll escort to your classroom."

And quietly explain my presence to the confuse teacher, no doubt.

We were about a few steps into the corridor when he abruptly stops, the back of his neck suddenly dripping beads of sweat, body paralyzed mid-stride, and looking as tense as he could ever get. As if he has just remembered something horrible and has also just fuck something up.

And that was about the time the distant shouts started.

"TENDO AKANE! PLEASE GO OUT WITH ME!"

"LET'S US MAKE A STRIKE OF LOVE!"

"LET'S DANCE THE BOULEVARD OF PASSION!"

The shouts continued, but now they were accompanied by the sorrowful noise of flesh bruising, bone-breaking, and hearts shattering.

I lean into the window, watching the admittedly impressive sight of a short, blue-haired girl mowing down an entire crowd of fit guys like she was the star of a bad kung fu flick.

"… Ah." There is nothing to say. I was suspecting something like that would happen ever since I figure out where I was, but to see it first hand was… an experience. "She's good?" I commented, also catching the distant sight of the boy in a red chinese shirt gopnik squatting on the wall. Of course, he would be there too. "Does this happen often?"

"Ahhnn." He moaned nasally, Japanese bowing in my way. "I'm so so very sorry."

Then Tatewaki Kuno appeared, the sky darkened, and the world became a little crazier.

I got a feeling I'll be saying that a lot.

-0-0-0-​

There was something to be said about this reincarnation. I mean, I'm a squishy human now, but with the Gamer that could easily change, yet there is no… overall thread I would need the gamer to deal with. This might feel presumptuous, but I think being the Gamer in a universe that was basically a slapstick comedy was kind of a waste.

The students of Class 1-F stared at us, probably marveling at the oddity of not one but two transfer students getting in their class at the same time… or marveling at Ranma Saotome's muscles. Say what you will about the boy, but he was built like a lean warmachine, and it showed.

I wanted to sigh. My poor inferior muscles, I was so happy you were at least there this morning. Outclassed by the protagonist.

"It seems we have two new students today." The forgettable teacher stated in case there's still any doubt. "Their names are Saotome Ranma-kun and Ōe Hiroshi-kun, and it seems that Ranma has just returned from a trip to China, so let's all be sure to give him a big 'Nihao' now." He laughed at his own joke without even changing the tone of his voice.

Every single person in this room, including Ranma and me, engaged in the obligatory reaction to any and all teachers joke: staring blankly ahead until he finished laughing and making us sad.

"Hehehehehe…Ahn, well, maybe be not…" You think? "Be that as it may, it doesn't excuse the fact that he and Akane were late, so go stand in the hall you two. Ah, Ōe-kun, you may sit at the free seat near the window."

It was easy to see who Akane was, even among Anime Japan's more diverse hair colors blue still stand out a lot, that and the fact that she was one of the most attractive girls in the class. I could her features trembling in anger, but it quickly disappeared as she reins her feelings back in. Ranma just shrugged; in fact, he even seems happy for not having to stay in a classroom.

I sat on my protagonist chair and let my thoughts wander off from the protagonists for a bit, mostly because I had… other things to worry about.

My eyes slid to the right.

Fujimori Yuka
Yakuza Princess
Level: 05

Himiko Kenji
Vegan Werewolf
Level: 09

Tomo Sakura
Budding witch
Level: 08

Gosunkugi Hikaru
Voodoo enthusiast
Level: 02

My eyes slid forward.

Katagiri Sayuri
Closed Masochist
Level: 05

Kuroba Daisuke
Aspiring Superhero
Level: 07

Koba Satoru
Evil Genius
Level: 07

Koike Miiko
Murderous Yandere
Level: 10

Finally, I sneak a look at the chubby boy sitting behind me.

Onigiri Kouki
Furry
Level: 01

Dear god…

There isn't anyone in this class that isn't a freak in some way!

New Quest: Memories of youth.
Your class is full of new and interesting people. Get involved in their lives and make precious memories along the way.
Reward:

• 100.000 exp.
• Increase relationship with every member of class 1-F.

Failure:

• Become a social outcast.

Deadline: Until next the school year.
Accept/Refuse.

So there you are quest system, where were you when I was doing the dishes or cleaning the apartment, you know, easy shit to start the game with! But noooo, fuck tutorial! Let's give this fucker a year-long quest that requires him to dive headfirst into Nerima madness, and let's tempt him with a shit load of exp to his level 01 ass while at it.

Whatever, the exp is not that tempting.

… I'm in control, damn it!

Quest accepted!

Don't judge me!

"Ranma Saotome!" A strong, prideful voice could be heard from the corridor, hell, it could be heard from the other side of the school even. It was easily able to overtake the droning lecture from the teacher. "I won't allow it!"

"This engagement of your to Tendo Akane. I, TATEWAKI KUNO, SHALL NEVER, EVER ALLOW IT!!!"

There was a moment of silence so the appropriate pin could drop. Then a stampede of hormonal, drama-deprived, Japanese teenagers trampled their way to the classroom's windows and partially tore it open to woe, curse and generally shout at the new couple and the crazy samurai outside.

"Ahh! C-Calm down, Calm down, we're still in class!" The teacher tried to plead to the crowd, but his monotonous voice was lost in the screaming commotion.

The only ones not by the windows were me, who was still sitting on my chair, and Gosunkugi Hikaru, who was twitching on the ground after being trampled half to death.

I sighed.

Gosunkugi twitched.

Well, at least Ramna is doing a good job keeping the budding Nerima bullshit from spilling out on me.

… And of course, that was the time my body decided to shiver as a sensation I'd never felt before drew my attention to a specific direction.

Skill created: Spiritual Senses, level 01.
A skill shared by people sensitive to exoteric energy, allows you to detect supernatural creatures and phenomenon in your vicinity.

The fuck?

New Quest: Like, onmyoji and shit…
A mischievous Yokai has entered the premises, do something about it!
Rewards:

• 500 exp.

Failure:

• A wave of misfortune cast over Furinkan High's student population.
• Possible injury or death.
• Three girls traumatized for life.

Deadline: Until the end of the school day.
Accept/Refuse.

I slowly placed a hand over my face and groaned. Of course, even thinking like that would provoke the universe; this is goddamn Nerima after all.

Fine! Ok! I'm already ass deep in bullshit anyway, what a few more centimeters gonna do.

-0-0-0-​

It was easy to sneak away while the whole school was distracted with Ranma ½ shenanigans, it was even easier to find the equipment shed and help myself in. Soon I was exiting it with a nice aluminum baseball bat, and a bulky nailgun.

The rest was simply following this new… sense. It was like a little bird chirping in the back of your head, or an annoying bee buzzing in your ear, I couldn't shut it down, and it was distracting as fuck, but at least I had a general feel of where to go.

Spiritual Senses leveled up!

Yeah yeah.

My new skill led me to a fire staircase discretely positioned beside the building, away from the front entrance and a short distance from where Ranma and Kuno were going at it if the giant pillar of water was any indication. There was a bubble of distorted reality in the middle.

Seriously, it was like a giant, man-sized glass ball that was distorting the light around it, the images of a continuing stairway contracting and expanding inside its transparent form. I poked it with my baseball bat, causing ripples of distortion to softly traverse the surface.

Alright then, here it goes nothing.

You have entered an Illusion Barrier.

The first thing that was apparent was the sound, or rather, the lack of it. People really take for granted the small sounds that make up the background noise of their life. The chirps of birds, buzzing of insects, breathing of other people, even the distant urban noises of a moving city were all components of what people would consider an average hearing experience. Pieces so familiar that they fell out of conscious thought in favor of more immediate noise.

But take that away, and it's impossible not to notice. It was unnatural, unbalancing, and just plain creepy.

I stood on the next step of the stair I would have taken in the 'real' world. Existing on a Furinkan high school of another, empty, reality. With my new annoying senses bearing down on me from every direction.

I had to grab the rails of the stair for support, trying to steady my unbalancing legs, my eyes closed as I pushed the wrongness of the lack of noise to the side while I tried to make sense of the new storm that was my supernatural senses.

It's twigging like mad because I'm inside a supernatural phenomenon, but it can't help me like this.

I spend a few minutes just focusing on breathing, calming the body and mind just enough so I could function.

Spiritual Senses leveled up!

Spiritual Senses leveled up!

That's better.

Pushing through the wave, I took my first steps and made my way through the empty school.

Not so empty school apparently, but not in any way that would lessen the creepy factor. There were… images? Impressions? Ghost of students walking through the corridors, talking animatedly in voices only they could hear, conglomerating on the windows to watch the fight, or make sense of the aftermath now.
It was on the first floor, the third years' floor for some reason, that I found the 'yokai'.

"Kiki! Ki ki KI!" The tiny creature cried enthusiastically as it knuckled it's way behind a female image and looked up her skirt.

Whatever I was expecting from the yokai, it wasn't this. Hell, it looked more like an ugly pokemon than it did a monster of Japanese legend, and it also wore a white buddhist monk uniform for some reason.

Infant Satori
Vagrant Yokai
Level 05

You got to be kidding me, right? The thing's the size of a rat. It's a hairy monkey the size of a rat! Fuck, I thought it would be a tiger monster or something.

The creature, a Satori apparently, followed behind the class as they got into their seats, for a moment I was creeped out by the vision of a ghostly classroom before focusing back on the little creature.

I followed behind the Satori as it flipped beneath the desks and made a few ghostly images flinch.

That makes me raise an eyebrow. It can interact with the ghost? I can't do that.

"Fuck." I cursed as I lost sight of the thing in one of its dashes, now I have to crouch and look beneath each desk.

I did that… and frankly, I don't understand what the monkey's excitement was all about, it just looked like a blue-ish outline between the girl's legs for me, like the kind you'd find in a naked Barbie doll or something. But then again, I don't understand the japaneses' obsession with panties in general. I was always much more interested in what they hid.

Thankfully, it didn't take long to find the…

The ghost of the girl was slowly curling over herself, her notebook raised to hide the expression she was making, and by the hand on her mouth, the sounds she was letting out. Her other hand was crunching her skirt, trying to set it down while the monkey creature lodged it's head deep between her legs.

Ok, that's just not right.

"Hey! Cut that out!" I said harshly, maneuvering my baseball bat through the girl's ghostly hips and peeled the thing out of her.

"KiKI! KikikiKIIII!!" It screeched loudly as it fell to the floor and started to throw a tantrum. I was about to kick it in annoyance when it suddenly snapped a murderous glare in my direction.

Hoh, it wants a go?

I tightened my grip and readied my bat, let's do this!

-0-0-0-​

"THIS IS NOT HOW IT SUPPOSE TO GO!"

"KIKIKIIIIIII!!!"

I ran/hopped away from the little devil. Reaching and throwing my body hard against a window, it promptly shattered all over me and left fun little wounds as I made a bad landing on the other side, I didn't care about that as I force myself to my feet and continued to run.

Humans can ignore an amazing amount of pain when they are trying to stay alive, but I've got to say the wound in my inner thigh, where a piece of me has been bitten off was really starting to bug me.

I have Gamer body, why the fuck I'm getting all bloody-UFF!

"KIKI!" Screeched the hairy cannonball as it threw us to the floor and sank its fangs in my shoulder

"AH!" I screamed as I practically hear the flesh tearing more than I felt, probably shook and adrenaline working its magic. I twisted, trying to pin the monster with my weight only to cry out as it crawled away, making me brush my new wound on the dirt.

I moved, thrashing about was the creature roamed all over me like a squirrel hooked on caffeine, biting and scratching and making me bleed.

Like with the baseball bat, it managed to slip around every single one of my strikes like it was reading my damn mind, my every attempt to get rid of it was met only with blood and pain.

Only my quick thinking kept me alive, and by that, I mean I blocked its access to my neck with my arm and hand, but it left practically everything else the open.

"GET OFF!"

"KIKIKIIII!"

I can't. I couldn't.

We rolled around like crazy, each moment the monkey causing more painful injuries sinking its fangs a bit deeper.

"NONONO!!"

It wasn't supposed to be this way. I was the goddamn gamer! I'm a Gamer in a possible self-insert story! I can't-

"KIKIIII!!"

I can die like this-ITS IN MY FACE GODDAMN IT'S IN MY FACE!!

I shook my head madly, the monkey screamed and thrashed with me. Overwhelming pain exploded from my left side; I could feel the blood dripping down madly over my cheek and ear, it's metallic scent mixing with the monkey's reek.

I screamed.

It was hurting me. It was killing me. It was freaking eating me!

"NO NO FUCK GET ME AWAY FROM IT HELP HELP GET ME AWAY!"

Skill created: Illusion barrier escape lvl 01.
Allow you to escape from Illusion Barriers that are empty or only have low-level monsters.

And suddenly, it was no more. I lay there, on Furikan high's grass field, catching my breaths and looking at the blue sky with a single eye, my ears blasting with the wonderful noise of the world in full movement.

It felt like an eternity before I moved again, slowly raising my arm towards my mangled face and over my eye.

… I didn't cry, I just… gather my bearing for a while…

Skill created: Meditation lvl 01.
Raises your mental focus and increase your Hp and Mp regeneration as long as you don't move.

-0-0-0-​

Turn out I did have the fucking Gamer Body. I mean, I knew that as I had read it before, but only now it decided to appear.

In all seriousness, it seems I have a more 'realistic' version of the Gamer body; my health is regulated by my HP, but my 'apparent damage' is also tied to it, meaning I would really experience every wound as it dipped by HP down, and feel every pain that it entails.

It was not all glom and doom; it was still The Gamer Body, so it was still bullshit: All my fatigue utterly vanished after a short rest, and my HP regenerated from red to full health in about twenty minutes. And because my 'apparent damage' is tied to my HP, I was now good as new, complete with a brand new eye and everything.

So, slightly less bullshit than the usual Gamer, but still Bullshit.

I used my baseball bat to prompt me up, how I managed to keep a hold of the thing only god knew. I had dropped the nailgun though, but it was bulky and heavy and practically useless when your target is a tiny monkey that could move like a pinball.

My uniform was bloody and in tatters, even if the body beneath was clean and pristine. I looked over the gaps in the fabric and the bloody scratch holes and trembled.

Something tried to eat me. There was a sort of primordial fear in that.

It's time to… retreat.

No way I'm fighting that thing again. No, I shouldn't have been fighting it in the first place. I mean, I just got into a fight a genuine monster with a baseball bat and no training, just… what the fuck was I thinking!? The difference in levels alone should have been enough to tell me how much of a bad idea it was… Yeah, No, just no, I'll search for something to kill that is more around my level, get stronger first before throwing myself into crazy shit like that again.

With this resolve in mind, I start walking, no use going back to class with my uniform in this state, I'll just have to bear with the teachers' disappointment for now.

As I walked, I started to… recall the 'fight', I was doing good really, just with one or two fearful shudders, nothing to write home about, but yeah, not putting myself in a situation like that ever again.

But then I remember… the text about the consequences of failure… and what the monkey was doing with the girl.

I stopped — the wind rustling like a dramatic scene from an overacted Japanese soap opera.

Fuck… I… I don't really have a choice, do I?

"CHE! 'Go find water on your own!' Why!? All I did was give her some pointers! Tsk, that… uncute tomboy!"

And just like that, a raspy but not at all unpleasant to hear female voice echoed in the distance, getting closer.

I sighed, surrendering to this destiny with the corner of my mouth curling just a tiny bit. I should have known…

I looked up and saw the very attractive red-hair walking and grumbling on the path opposite to mine. Her red Chinese shirt was damp and molding over an impressive bust that looked even bigger due to her short stature. She had her pants draped over her shoulder for some reason, leaving her gleaming, sculptured legs free to all leering eyes. Bits of male underwear showed itself from under the hem of her shirt in each step.

Saotome Ranma
Cursed martial artist
Level: 25

She, He?... fuck it, she paused when our ways inevitably crossed, her eyebrows raising at the state of my uniform. "The hell happened to you?" Were her first words to me.

"I'm having a really, really shitty day." I explained slowly, and that earned me a sympathetic snort; "You're Saotome Ranma, right?"

"Yeah-I mean!" The martial artist suddenly twisted her body into an innocent stance, her big blue eyes blinking in adorable confusion. "Saotome Ranma? I don't know who that is, mister~."

I shook my head. "I'm familiar with magic, kinda. And I saw what happened after you fell in that pool earlier." Well, not personally, but I had seen this very event on my tv about seventeen years ago.

She held on to the façade for a few more seconds before she clicked her tongue annoyingly. "Agh! If I'd know I was already busted to the whole school I'd have kicked that damn samurai way harder."

"To be fair, I don't think people made the connection yet." I shifted my weight between my feet, resting my baseball bat on my shoulder. "Say… are you up to hunting a yokai that's haunting the school?"

Because if siccing the highest-level person in the region on the monkey's ass didn't work, I don't know what would.

"Eh? Yokai?" She blinked.

"You know, like the legends-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know what a Yokai is. Just never fought one before." Then she smiled and whoa, I could see why so many characters became smitten by this form. "Tell you what! You get me some warm water, and I'll help you out."

-0-0-0-​

"This is fun!" Saotome Ranma, now a handsome teenage boy wearing pants, punched the thick wall of concrete, drilling his entire arm into it. Then, with an additional effort, he purposefully yanked his arm to the side, increasing the gap of destruction even more before pulling out.

I couldn't do anything but gawk at the martial artist's propensity for destruction, in a way it was a fascinating thing to see; the way a solid, unmoving object just crumbled away under the power of pure human strength, and how deep and fast the cracks could spread out across a construction. In another, it was really worrying that Ranma's first instinct after realizing he was in a pocket dimension was to 'test it out' by trying to bring down the school.

"Hey, Hiroshi!" The Japanese part of my brain frowned by the free use of first names. The rest didn't give a fuck. "You're sure nothing that happens to this school is going to happen to the real one, right!?" He asked for the third time.

"Pretty sure, I broke a few chairs and windows last time I was here, nothing was translated to the order side."

All and all, Ranma was taking this whole 'whisk away to a pocket dimension' remarkably well… maybe a little too much to be honest.

I sighed.

"Hey Ranma, I don't want like a stick in the mud here, but we really need to get going, the yokai monster still around!"

"Right! Sorry sorry." He twisted and delivered one last kick at some of the still-standing debris, completing the structural damage he has caused on the main school building. It looked like what would happen if a truck invaded the school and isekai'ed an entire classroom, or if a wrecking ball decided to visit, or both.

"So, how we're gonna do this." He says, loosening his shoulders.

I closed my eyes, focusing on activating my new senses to discern between-

OH SHIT!

"ABOVE!" I shouted suddenly, fear gripping my heart as I threw myself to the side and out of the trajectory of that damn Satori.

"KIKIKIIIIIII!!!"

Not gonna lie, that sound almost made me lose control of my bowels.

But suddenly, the monkey noise from hell ended in a gurgling gasp and a meaty smack. I snapped my head from my new position on the ground, watching the tiny yokai bounce on the concrete floor in the distance and crash against the school's front gate.

"Is that the thing that was giving you so much trouble?" Ranma had his right leg casually raised in a 180-degree angle. "Man, you're kind of a wimp, you know that?"

I don't want to hear this from you, mister level 25.

"K…i…Ki…KIKI!" The tiny monkey yokai jumped back to its feet with a cry, spat a gobble of blood to the side, and entered in an honest-to-god kung fu stance. "Kiki." It declared with a deep resolute-sounding tone.

"Ooh, it still wants to fight," Ranma answered by entering a stance of his own.

For the second time today, I bore witness to a scene right out of a kung-fu movie, only this time it was closer, faster, and a whole lot more impressive.

Seriously, I had always thought that those Chinese wuxia flicks where the actors hang by a rope to 'fly' around and fight looked silly as hell. But Ranma and the monkey yokai taught me what true areal combat looked like; I had no other word to describe it other than awesome.

"HYAHH!!"

"KIKIIII!!"

Still, even for me, it was clear who was winning; the Satori has received a direct hit from Ranma early and has apparently decided it wants nothing to do with that again; it was weaving and dodging his attacks while desperately trying to land one of its own. To its credit, it was doing an impressive job at that, especially against someone 20 levels above it. But it was clear it couldn't handle another hit.

"Stay still you freaking chimp!"

"KIKIIII!"

However, I could see how it was using Ranma's impatience against him.

The battle moved close to the school building, now the combatants weren't even touching the ground, preferring to meet in the air and somehow hop on the side of the building to keep altitude, concrete was cracking and glass was shattering everywhere.

I continued to watch all of that and progressively felt more and more useless.

I mean, is that what I wanted to do with myself? Watch by the sideline? It was a silly thought I know, and part of me wanted to blame on my new teenage brain but I knew better. I was doing the logical thing, hell the right thing even, but… Fuck, I didn't think my gamer adventure would start by me cheering on the sideline while the hero saved the day.

It… pissed me off a little.

So much so that I didn't even realize when my legs started to move and only came back to myself when I crossed the last steps of the school stairs, getting closer to the fight form inside the building.

What was I doing!? Fuck, I don't know, I don't know but…

"Ranma!" I stick my head out of the window and shouted. The really close, really dangerous fight continued, of course- no it changed slightly, I don't know how but I can kinda follow…

Skill created: Battle eye lvl:01.
Lets you seen the pattern of a fight and increase your field awareness.

I see it! Ranma was leading it here!

My bat rose horizontally, I kept it in a 90-degree angle, both of my hands tightened around the handle and my back muscles tensed in preparation. My eyes never left the fighters; their movements were a blur, but the direction they were moving…

Battle eye leveled up!

Five seconds!

Four.

Three.

My bat trembled by the tension.

Two.

ONE!

"ARGHHH!" I shouted as I swung the bat with all my strength. It's aluminum length flew past the window frame in the apex of its arch, perfectly meeting the back of the furry form that happened to be leaping back on that exact moment. The yokai let out a yelp of pain that was so damn satisfying to hear and was launched forwards like a furry ball, only to have its ugly mutt squashed by Ranma's knee.

That brought it down.

I stood that breathing hard as Ranma finally stop edging gravity and let it do its work. Now alone in the corridor, I couldn't help but grin at the trembling waves that were assaulting my arms and the drops of blood that now painted my baseball bat.

Hot damn, that was a rush!

Remembering where I was, I wiped down some sweat over my brow and proceeded to rush back down the stairs.

Ranma was gopnik squatting in the middle of the courtyard when I emerged from the school building.

"Did you finish it?" I asked, rushing over… and finding the thing.

The Satori was… thrashing on the ground screeching and screaming madly, like it was having an epileptic attack. I could see droplets of blood spilling from the wound of its head, and for a moment I wondered if I knocked something important there.

"What's happening?" I asked out loud, Ranma shrugged on the side.

Then the noise it was making started to quiet down, and I don't mean it was stopping, I meant the volume of the screams was literally lowering. And then its body started fading away until it was gone.

It… left something behind.

"The hell?" Ranma comment as I walked closer to see what it was.

A sharp little fang with a cord tied to it, mean to be used as a collar, and 2.500 yen.

Heh, my monsters leave loot.

"Is that cash!?" Exclaimed the martial artist, seeing the notes in my hand, "Do yokais leave cash!?"

"Don't know, this was the first yokai I've seen."

"Wait, seriously?"

I looked at the loot, easily reaching a decision.

I pocked the collar and handed Ranma the money. Wasn't really scrapping for money right now and knowing the bullshit that Ranma goes through, or will go through, he needs it more than me.

"Here."

"Sweeeet."

He didn't even question… I guess his father raised him well?

"Thanks for the help," I say.

"Hum?" He looked up from money and blinked. It took a few seconds for him to process what I had said. "Oh! Sure man, you're welcome." He beamed. "It was fun!"

Chuckling at the guy's simple joy, I directed my attention to the pop-ups that were clogging my vision.

Quest completed: +500 exp.

Level up!

You damn right I did.

Unable to contain my curiosity, I pulled up another mental command and thanked the gods my version of the Gamer could be interacted mentally; otherwise, I would look like a crazy person.

Ōe Hiroshi
The Gamer
Level 02
Hp: 110/110.
Mp: 360/360
Str: 07
End: 09
Dex: 13
Agi: 09
Int: 05 (+30)
Wis: 05 (+30)
Cha: 19 (+20)
Points available: 10
Core Trait: Reincarnated soul.

Hum, ok, so leveling up work on base 10. I get 10 new points to spend and 10 more points on HP and MP, that's… actually sounds pretty good escalation-wise. I could, for example, suddenly increase a particular stat 10 points if I'm in a pinch. But I'd prefer if I had a point of reference for the stats before I declare anything.

"Hey, Hiroshi."

"Hum?" I looked at the martial artist.

"Do you know how we get out of this place?" He grinned and waved the money he earned. "I'm up for some Takoyaki, what do you say?"

Was he inviting me? I smiled. "We still have classes, you know?"

"Ugh! Then let's stay here. Hey, wanna bet how quickly I can bring this building down?"

I chuckled, fumbling around with the felling of my Illusion barrier escape skill.

Skill created: Illusion Barrier Erase.
Lets you erase Illusion Barriers that are empty or have monsters that have lower levels than you.

-0-0-0-​

Thankfully, the rest of my fragmented school day went pretty normally. I even managed to dick around with some game system like Inventory and Equipment, and managed to figure out that I could mentally use the two to change clothes in a flash. Now I was walking back across the darkening streets of Nerima on the way to my new apartment.

The apartment I've woke up in and had the biggest freak out of my life. At the start of the day, I was dreading doing just about anything, but now I only wanted to go back there, marinate in the small tub for a while, and go to fucking sleep. Funny how things change in a single day.

It was nothing to write home about, definitely not a big ten plus stores building with large apartments or anything, just a well put together two stores building with exposed metal staircases, run by a kind, near deaf old woman who lived in the number one. Not at all where people would imagine the direct heir of a wealthy family would live.

Well, the Ōes, which I still know nothing about, apparently had a 'rite of passage' of short: An Ōe child is to spend their high school years fending for themselves, with only tangential support from the family wealth and connections. It's supposed to be a rite of manhood or something I wasn't paying attention to the call I got from the head of the family lawyer team. I got to admit this is not a bad custom to have, putting a kid against the world young to make him grow up faster and tougher, but still, I would like some more parent involvement rather than a mother shopping in Paris and an eccentric father doing god know what in god knows where.

It works for me. In fact, it's ingenious; I get a place to stay, some support but not too much, parents too rich to bother with their child, and a family tradition that put some distance between me and the Japanese elites' social tango for a couple of years. Perfect place to be inserted into, eh ROB?

I sighed, climbing the metal stair to the second floor.

Gamer powers, Ranma 1/2, freaking Nerima, it still feels unreal, and not without reason. But what I've experienced today was terrible… and awesome.

I'm… kinda glad this is happening, I wanna see how far can I go with this, and this is a fun universe to live in, even if I don't remember much about the show.

But all that rumination wouldn't fill my stomach or take care of my tired bones, so warm bath and food here I goooo…

Of course Nerima wouldn't let my day end peacefully.

There was something- no, someone lying on the ground right in front of the door to my apartment. They were a tangle of limbs awkwardly sprawling out in uncomfortable directions hidden under layers of thick, puffy clothes that made them look like a homeless person. Their extremely long, straight black hair was tangled all over their prone body like a horror movie, and their face was lying in a puddle of vomit.

To complete the picture there was a discarded bottle of hard sake close by, because the universe thought I've never seen a drunk person before and wanted to make sure.

I sighed, getting close… and deciding that the figure was either a woman or a trap because her hips were comically stuck high in the air and the thick fabric of the long skirt was molding over an ass so magnificent I refuse to believe it was attached to a man.

Now, the gamer power gives me another form of identification…

…

…What?

Uehara Rin
The Sparkling Taimanin
Level: ??

Tai… Taimanin!?

What!?

New quest: Taking care of the depressed Taimanin.
A smoking hot woman is at your door, drunk, miserable, unconscious, and all-around vulnerable; you know what to do.... Be a captain save a hoe a gentleman and take care of her for the night.
Rewards:

• 200 exp.
• Vastly increase closeness with Uehara Rin
• ????????????????
• ????????????????

Failure:

• Uehara Rin becomes suicidal
• ??????????????
• ?????????????

Accept/Refuse.

WHAT!?

 

[adudefromthesea]

Chapter 02





Uehara Rin stirred with the first sunlight and the cries of the morning birds.

"You're awake," I said, sending a tentative side look to where she was. "Before you freak out. Yes, I took out your clothes, they were too dirty to stay on. And no, I didn't do anything to you." Other than wash the vomit from your skin, but I'm not sure it'd be a good idea to bring that up now.

She didn't move at first, just stared at the ceiling while it was slowly brightened by the sunlight that leaked from the half-drawn curtains.

I held my gaze for a few seconds, deciding that a 'suddenly finding herself naked' freak out that was expected from this universe wasn't going to happen, plus if she wanted to kill me there isn't much I could do to about it. So I look away from her and back to the pan, frying in the tiny stove.

"Your clothes are beside you if you hadn't seen them. They are a little damp. I hadn't had the time to dry them." Flipping the Omelet one last time, I transferred it to the plate on the side, adding the bacon soon after.

Finally movement. I heard the fabric of the blanket rustling over her form.

"I found you last night at my doorstep. This is the 15's. You missed your place by one." I've checked that with the landlady early, and yep, she was my next-door neighbor, because fate works like that apparently.

Placing the plates, glasses, and cutlery on the trays, I picked up the two in my hands and turned.

… Of course She wouldn't bother to cover herself, what was I thinking. The blanket had fallen to her lap, giving me a full view of her mammoth-sized breasts clad in an equally large lace bra and her creamy-white, slender back whose sides sloped into impressive childbearing hips, all hugged a panty that was a bit too small to be considered decent. A vision that has tormented my thoughts throughout the entire night, and would undoubtedly send many teenage boys into a frenzy.

Me? I just pause for a second and continued on.

"Here," I said, setting the breakfast on her side, and sitting close by. Not much space in the apartment, just a bathroom, a kitchenette, and a living room with a tiny balcony attached to it. We would stay close no matter where I sat. "I only know how to do western style. Hope you don't mind."

Bacon, eggs, sausages, orange juice: a very standard hangover breakfast. And touching on the subject, I really got to learn Japanese cooking, the ingredients to make western are too expensive around here.

More controlled movements, the shape of her long legs curled under the blanket until she was kneeling. I tried hard not to look, but it was hard; this woman was hypnotically gorgeous. Even her hair was beautifully messed, a trait that few women could achieve, and especially impressive considering the length of it.

Her eyes didn't move around a lot, nor did they change from the serene look. They did focus on the food though, and with slow, endearingly unfamiliar movements she began to eat.

By that point, I remembered my own food and yanked my eyes out of the Yamato Nadeshiko in the room.

Goddamn, are all taimanins this beautiful? It makes things even more tragic knowing their usual fates…Yes, their fates which are tied to a hentai franchise set in a futuristic setting that shouldn't have anything to do with nineties Japan, or Ranma freaking ½ in the first place.

No. Let it go, I stayed up the whole night freaking out about the possibilities and implications of what this could mean, and it's not like me, a completely random stranger, could ask a freaking demon slayer ninja about things I shouldn't have knowledge about, I can't see how this would end well for me.

And frankly, I'm tired of freaking out.

We eat in silence, her movements with fork and knife becoming steadier by the second. I'd like to say she was copying me, but I wasn't sure she looked at me even once

She finished around the same time I did, then gently pushed the tray away and fully turned towards me. I gulped, she did all of that in her underwear and even now made no effort to cover herself, it was… stimulating, in a very awkward way.

Damn teenage body with no self-control!

"Uehara Rin." She introduced herself in a polite tone. Her voice fit the rest of her; a melodic, feminine cadence that blends nicely to the background, yet it was distinct enough to linger.

… I coughed, realizing I let the silence go on for a bit more than necessary. Goddamn distracting sexy ninjas.

"Ōe Hiroshi, it's a pleasure to met you."

"Ōe Hiroshi-sama." She leans in, her hands sliding forward until the tip of her fingers were touching the tatami floor, and her back was in a perfect 30-degree angle, a flawless respectful bow, only… she was in her underwear, meaning the pose showed me the mother of all cleavages. "Thank you for your kindness and hospitality. This one vow to one day returns it to you in kind."

"Ah, you're welcome?" I said, a little taken aback by the odd way she phrased. Now if I could only stop ogling her so blatantly…

"Then," She straightens herself, "I must take my leave." She briefly bowed one last time, before rising to her feet. And boy, that was an experience; all the right things in her jiggled, even confined as they were. I watched her as she gathered her clothes and left. For not a single moment she lost control of her movements or her eyes stopped looking serene.

I sighed, letting my shoulders slump. That's it, I guess.

Quest completed:

• +200
• Your closeness with Uehara Rin has vastly increased.
• ????????????
• ????????????

Yeah yeah, you say that but it certainly doesn't feel like it. I mean, it could have gone a lot worse, but I feel it could have gone a lot better also.

And was she really depressed? She didn't look depressed to me.

"Ah." I breathed, catching the number on the electronic clock. I've better get started if I wanted to get some things done before school.

…Wait a second… did she just go out in her underwear?

-0-0-0-​

There was a taimanin in Nerima.

I'm arrogant enough to believe I know everything there is to know about Ranma 1/2 's universe from the show alone, but I'm fairly certain it didn't have the plot of Taimanin Asagi running alongside it, mainly due to the difference in time period, or differences in world-building.

Yet I can't deny the existence of Uehara Rin simply because I didn't want her to exist. I must accept the fact that this isn't the Ranma world I'm familiar with and react appropriately.

Nevertheless, my objective still the same, and it's the same objective of every other person with The Gamer out in the multiverse; get stronger to increase survivability. This is more vital than ever now, considering there are Taimanins running around, which meant there are rape demons and worse.

I shivered at this thought. Much much worse; got to watch out for news about Edwin Black.

Quest completed.

• +10 exp

"Thank you young man. My back isn't what it used to be." Said the old lady I've just helped set up her stop.

Quest completed.

• +20 exp

"Oh thank you, thank you so much!" Said the mother who I just helped reunite with her child.

Quest completed.

• +10 exp

"Here you go boyo, for the trip. You really save my hide there, hahaha!" Said the honest-to-god kettle seller, as I finished fixing his kettle cart. So many kettles… and I now have one…

I jogged across the narrow streets and low houses of Nerima, doing random quests that popped up along the way.

Today, I'm planning to continue testing out the gamer system; some vital things I'll have to try after school, because I wanted peace and concentration, but it doesn't mean that I couldn't test out some smaller things on the short time I have before school.

I continued to jog, feeling my heart racing on my chest, my breaths quickening due to the effort, my legs swing fast and rhythmically, the wind flapping against my tracksuit. I felt a grin marking my features. My body has never felt this light before, nor was I ever able to run this fast, for this long.

+ 1 End

I gasped and almost tripped over my feet, when I managed to get my equilibrium back I threw my arms up and cheered.

"HELL YEAH, IT WORKS!" I was so happy I couldn't keep it inside.

I was worried as fuck about this. The game system I'm stuck with is very schizophrenic; some things are easy as hell to achieve while others are hard as fuck. For example, it took me minutes to figure out my Illusion Barrier Erase skill, but even now I can't see to crack the classic 'Observe' skill and that's just watching things.

I was worried I didn't have the 'gain stats through effort' thingy, but thankfully I was wrong. This opens a lot of possibilities and pretty much lock my usage of free points for a while, I don't know if it becomes hard to gain extra points when my stats are high level but I don't want to try, better to get as much extra stats while they're still low and…

… I just realized this is the path of more effort because as it means I have to work for the stats rather than gain them through level-ups… ah well.

Suddenly, there was a loud snapping of something distinctly mentality. Followed by a sharp "Shit!" the universal reaction for something going terribly wrong.

I jerk my head to the side and saw an open garage a short distance away, a quick jog forward and I could make out a red sport car and legs kicking beneath it.

My eyes widened, oh shit.

New quest: Small action, big consequences.
A stranger just got into an unfortunate accident nearby, save her life or help her avoid any serious injuries.
Reward:

• +100 exp.
• ??????????
• ??????????

Failure:

• Possible end of the world.
• ??????????
• ??????????

Accept/Refuse

OH SHIT!

I ran into the garage.

"Are you ok!? What happened!?" I asked the flapping legs of the girl whose dead or injury would trigger the end of the world, quickly asserting the situation while at it.

The fucking car jack had snapped, it was obvious to see that. But thankfully it had not snapped all the way, just enough to painfully press the vehicle on the girl's abdomen rather than crushing it. Fuck, can't pull her out like this, and the busted jack is starting to creak ominously.

"The drawer!" She called out breathlessly. "The big drawer next to the worktable, hurry! Arh!"

Following her instructions, I nearly yanked the drawer out of its hinges, but I found an extra car jack among the heavy tools. Picking it up, I slid close to the car and jammed the thing next to the busted one. It a lot of grunting and my full weight to get the lever of the damn, outdated thing to move, but eventually, I managed to raise the car enough for the girl to roll out. She crashed on the shelves and fell from the board, curling over herself on the ground.

I pulled away the busted jack just in case and directed my attention to her.

"You're ok?"

"Y-Yeah." She spoke in a high-pitched cough, her breathing still affected by the near-death experience. "Give me a moment."

I stood close and let her gather her composure, meanwhile having a look at the girl that was apparently vital to the safety of the world. She was wearing a bulky overall that covers most of her body with a grimy white shirt under it, she has dirty blonde hair but in anime japan this isn't really unusual, and kept it in a low ponytail that reaches just below her shoulders. Her face was locked in a shaky expression of concentration as she tried to rein in the pain and her breathing, I could see she has rather striking features; thought more 'handsome' than 'pretty'.

I… don't recognize her, but her floating tag was visible now.

Tenou Haruka
Closet Lesbian
Level: 10

… I'm reasonably sure I should recognize that name, and it is familiar. Like, it was sitting in the back of my mind but I can get it for the life of me… Urg, I don't remember her in the Nerima's wrecking crew. Is she from Taimanin?

"Ah." Her hand gripped the side of the garage's worktable and she starts pulling herself up. "Thank you, if you hadn't come. Urg!" She barely managed to stand before a wave of pain made her curl again.

"We need to get you to a hospital." I looked at the side door that led to the house. "Are you parent home? We have to warn-"

"No!" She cuts in. "No parents, no hospital." She leans into the table for support. "I just need to lay down for a bit."

"Girl… you just had a car fall on top of you." As if my words were a reminder she grunted and held her abdomen. "See, it agrees with me."

"…What? My injury? I don't-" She started but I cut her off by poking her sweaty forehead.

"Twas a joke don't worry about." I smiled a bit and crossed my arms to lay my ultimatum. "But as things stand, I ain't going to leave until your injury gets treated, and I'm don't know anything about medicine, so it got to be someone else."

She frowned a little bit. "That's a bit unreasonable don't you think?"

"I can't help it, I've come to this world to meddled and help, this way I can get experience points and level up!"

Aha! I got a tiny smile.

"That's a bizarre logic." She decides.

"It's the truth, now how are we gonna do this?"

She rubbed the injured area of her abdomen and tried to briefly straighten her back, only to jerk back to curling again. Finally, she sighed.

"There is a clinic just down the street. We could go there."

"Great!" I step closer. "Here lean on me."

She passed her arm over my shoulders and I circled mine over her waist. It was quite awkward because she was on the taller end for a girl; we were nearly the same height.

She managed three steps with my help before yelping in pain and folding.

"Humm… It seems we got no choice."

She snapped a look at me.

"Not my parents-"

"I'll have to carry you."

She blinked, her lips chewing on my words before she raised an incredible eyebrow.

"Don't actually do that."

"I'm gonna do it."

Saying that I carefully lowered myself and passed my arm over the back of her knees and gently pulled her up, slowly as to not aggravate her injury.

She was heavy, not enough for me to struggle to carry her around but I'm thankfully for this new, stronger body. This says something about my old one because strength is my weakest stat.

"See, better now, right?" I grinned.

"Mm." The noise she made with her throat was kinda agreeable. She didn't blush like a girl of her age would at being carried like that; she just cradled her abdomen and rolled her eyes.

Then she smiled; it made her look cool.

"You might be the oddest person I'd ever met…" A deliberate pause.

"Ōe Hiroshi, and you ain't seen nothing yet."

"Hooh. Tenou Haruka, I'm intrigued to see if you can back that up."

Quest Completed

• +100 exp.
• Your closeness with Tenou Haruka has increased
• ??????????

Oh yeah, there was a quest.

-0-0-0-​

Japan and the Japanese people will always hold the trophy of 'weirdest inventions integrated into society', no matter if it's normal Japan or an alternative anime version of it.

I held the bread to my face. Sniffed it. Tasted its texture. Then took a bite.

… I don't know who has the bright idea to put yakisoba in a bread, but I shall find him… and I'll kiss him.

"Mmmmm!" My moan of overwhelming pleasure didn't go unnoticed by the class, a few chairs got pushed away from me, and a few judging stares were thrown in my direction.

I don't actually care all that much, but I actually made a pretty bad first impression to my peers. There are a pretty strict set of rules that regulates Japanese society, in fact, there are so many rules that each niche of a person life has their own; like, to the point you have to use slightly different languages to address various people of various social hierarchies in various social situations. These rules are hammed into a Japanese child on the moment they are born until they become second nature to them and the child turns into a good little nail to serve the shogun/daimyo/emperor/politician and continue the way of glorious Nippon.

Yesterday I broke several of these rules by blatantly skipping most of my classes, on my first day no less, and having the audacity to turn up to the last period like nothing had happened.

That firmly set me as a 'problem child' in their eyes, and nobody wanted to be associated with the problem child.

"Hey, Hiroshi." Ramna dropped his desk and chair in front of mine and sat on it. "You got any more yokais to fight man. I'm bored."

Oh yeah, Ranma was right there with me yesterday, but he wasn't being ostracized for some reason. Hum, now that I think about it; a lot of kids in this school should be shunned by the Japanese spirit grinding system, but aren't. Kuno get a pass cuz he's rich and the principal son, but the boys assaulting Akane everyday? Yeah, that's not proper Japanese nail behavior.

Maybe is because I'm not eccentric enough? Do all sufficiently weird people get a pass? That would explain a lot.

Ranma squinted his eyes as I kept slowly chewing on my delicious bread and staring blankly at him, once he realized I was fucking with him I swallowed and smiled.

"Sorry man, I'm not getting anything today."

"Really? Not a single hint?"

"It's not something I can do it on demand."

Yet. If Illusion Barrier Escape and Illusion Barrier Erase are a thing, then Illusion Barrier Create is only a powerflex away. It's one of the things I'm planning to work on once I find a barren terrain for me to train.

"You can always fight Kuno if you have an itch," I suggested.

"I'm going to do that later," He takes a folded paper from his pocket. "Got a challenge letter and everything, only…" He leans in, putting a hand beside his mouth to whisper conspiratorially. "Is for my other form."

"Ah." What happens during these times again? My clearest memories of Ranma ½ are from when the whole cast is present. The beginnings are quite murky. But I know for sure Kuno has a crush on girl Ranma, maybe this is when it starts. "Why would he want to fight you like that?"

He grinned arrogantly. "Heh! Cuz I kicked his ass in that form before. He got a bruised ego and wants revenge, I know the type!"

Pretty sure you are the type.

"And how does that work exactly, your whole…" I gesture to his body with a half-eaten piece of bread.

"Che." He leans back with a little frown but answered anyway. "Cold water turns me into… you know. Warm water gets me back to normal. Ruined my life." He grumbled.

Yeah, I'm not going to argue with him on that, at least not now. He wouldn't respond well no matter the argument. Instead, I moved in another direction.

"Right, but do you know the details?" I tapped my chin. "Like how hot or cold the water has to be to change you. Or how much water can provoke a change, and how much of your body has to touch it. Like, can you change by submerging only the tip of your finger in water? Or what about sweat and saliva? Can they provoke a change?"

Ranma blinked rapidly, his shoulders tensing a little bit. "I dunno man. Why are you asking me this?"

I shrugged and waved my bread around. "Curiosity, knowledge, understanding. Understanding a problem is the first step towards solving it?" I finished by taking a bite.

"Oh, that's ok." He relaxed and opened a smile. "Sound's great even! I don't know any of that you asked but I can't try out a few things."

I nodded.

"And what 'bout you? Your thing's magic right? Like when you took us to that weird mirror world thing."

"Eh, kinda, I think it's a bit too soon to say that magic is my thing exactly. My situation is kinda…" Now how to explain it in a way he'd get it. I doubt Ranma would comprehend the full extent of the Gamer power, and I don't think is wise to spread around knowledge about my true ability. "Alright, to put it in simple terms;

I'm awakened to the mystic side of things only recently, and yeah I got some magical ability out of it, but no deep understanding on how it works, I was just another high school boy until a few days ago, so I'm still pretty green about all of this."

"Oh." His eyes flashed in disappointment for a moment but he carries on. "So that really was the first yokai you ever saw. Then, not bad at all, totally didn't look like your first time."

"Thank you." Though I can't say you are being genuine or patronizing me with that tone.

Ranma grinned. "But you can use some magic, right? You said so. What you can do?"

"Well…" I looked around, it didn't look like anybody was paying attention, excerpt for Akane on the other side of the room which was occasionally sending us some curious stares.

Ah, fuck it.

I brought up my inventory screen, and thank the gods once again for the highly interactive system I had. Most Gamers could only summon their screens by voice command and they were only static holograms that had to be touched physically.

With me? I could do everything with a thought, without raising a single hand, and my screens moved pretty much everywhere I wanted as long it was around me.

I made the inventory screen fly horizontally until it was hovering over the desk; Ranma was, of course, none of the wise, until I raised my hand that's it. Then he closely followed my flashy movements

"Give me… bread!" I declared and poked the screen for above, ejecting the extra bread I had bought in case I didn't like the Yakisoba one. It landed on the desk with a thud.

"Bread!" Ranma exclaimed loudly, drawing some attention to us. "Awesome! It came out of nowhere!" He reaches out and picks it up. "Ohh, I can touch it and everything."

I laughed at his amusing reaction. "It's real… help yourself if you want."

"Reashy, sweeesh!" Ranma already had his mouth full of melon bread. "Thansh Hiroshi!"

I nodded and finished the rest of my own meal.

Then I took another one from the inventory immediately after it.

These funny tasting breads are the shit!

-0-0-0-​

The clerk stared me with an exhausted look in his eyes, he kept trailing from my smiling face to the pile I presented to him.

I didn't have to vocalize it, but I didn't it anyway. It'd be funnier.

"I would like to purchase these, please."

He aged ten years at that exact moment. Yes, that was the face of someone experienced with teenagers coming into his bookstore, buying a few Kung Fu manuals to aid the fate as the next coming of Bruce Lee, only to whine and threaten to sue when their dreams crash and burn before the horrible requirements of effort and dedication.

Still, he indulged me, and I exited the store a few yens poorer, but with a modest collection of how to hit people in hard and flashy ways.

This was a regular bookstore, not an ancient, magical one I have no doubt exist around here. The reason I went to the former was because I don't know where the later is yet. If it doesn't actually exist I would be very disappointed with Ranma ½ and anime japan in general.

The books I had purchased went along the lines of 'Martial art for dummies', 'Self defense for beginners', 'The principle of so on and so on style. I had about twenty of them.

Now, I know that you can't really learn martial art by reading about it in a book, but I had the Gamer so I imagine I have an edge on most people.

I drop the sack of books on a bench in an isolated part of the local park. Picking the book on the top of the pile and admittedly the one I wanted to know most about.

It was a smallish white book with big black letters saying Jeet Kune Do in the cover.

Now, if I am the Gamer it probably means…

I opened the book in the middle.

You have encountered a book! Do you wish to integrate the information?
Accept/Refuse.

The pop up came, and a shit-eating grin split my face. I never hit Accept so fast in my life, even physically raising my hand to do so.

A strangled breath broke its way through my throat as I flinched back and sagged downwards, my vision fading for a second while the weight of information assaulted my mind. It didn't hurt, not exactly, but suddenly knowing the position of every letter, the meaning of every paragraph, and the vision of every print and illustration inside the book made for quite the overwhelming experience.

I gasped, instinctually grasping the edge of the bench to keep myself from falling to the ground face first. I found myself on my knees, my head aching slightly from the new imprint.

Alllllright, that was not quite what I was imagining, gotcha remembers my version of the Gamer is more… painful than normal. Upsides and downsides I guess.

I pull myself on the bench and waited for my head to stop aching. Fifteen minutes later it was like it never hurt in the first place, and I realize something.

I know kung fu.

Well, what the book had to teach about kung fu at least. I, quite literally, have the book on my head, can recall everything and anything in it, and understand everything it wanted to convey.

I laughed in jubilant glee, now I know how freaking Bruce Lee fights, how many people can say that!?

And I wasn't finished.

Fishing another book, this time one titled in Chinese, with a Japanese translation saying 'Bājíquán' beneath.

I grinned and absorbed it, bracing for the pain and confusion.

It was only after I've eaten almost all of the books I realize something important.

I wasn't getting skills.

-0-0-0-​

My body moved slowly and deliberated, going through several of the now hundreds of stances archived in my head.

Have you ever watched a really good kung fu movie… Oh, who am I kidding, have you ever watched Ip Man, got so excited about the prospect of martial arts, and bought a book after so you could 'try it out' to see if it was your thing, and in that book, there were various illustration? Yes? Now answer me, what happens when you try it out?

That was my problem.

No one ever learned martial art from a book. The books can show you images, they can tell you how to do it, and how it works, but they can't tell you how to do it properly, they can't stop and tell you if you are right or wrong, if you have a bad habit that's getting away of a stance, or even how to move from one stance to another.

Book gives you the information, it does not teach you the skill.

And that frustrated the fuck out of me. Now I know about martial arts, but I don't know martial arts. Oh, I'm doing better than the most, having the ability to perfectly recall pages of the book gets rid the necessity of stopping to look what the next move was, but still, I'm only mirroring, not doing it.

I sighed.

Ok, the ability to absorb the information of a book and perfect recall them, that's good, overpowered even, and undoubtedly useful. But it can't give me skills on a subject if it isn't an academic one. I'm ok with that.

I kicked some dirt that was at my feet.

All right, next thing, one that I'm confident about because it came easily to me before.

I sat down, wiped my blow and set off to concentrate on the feelings of my skills, unintentionally setting off 'Meditation' while at it.

It helped. The noise of the world fade away into a dim muffle, there was only my thoughts, the beating of my heart, the little contract of muscles there and there. I was focused like few times before.

…It was a type of energy, I knew that, but it didn't feel like one. It felt like mundane reactions, albeit in unusual sharpness and malleability. The frustration I felt at the early stunt surged from my chest, increasing the beating of my heart. The underline pain I tried to hide chilled its way through my veins to join it, the throbbing excitement climb up to enter the mix, and more, happiness, trepidation, anger, disgust, and many others, feeling both good and bad reflected outward, shaping an energy that was so utterly me it was blinding.

And it was that energy that moves when I activate some of my skills.

Now it's moving again to the rhythm of two of my skills, while adding experimental twists and turns as I try to shape it into something different but similar. In my experiment I did something, and then I realize that it was my intent and will joining the mix and sending everything into a wonderfully violent chemical reaction.

It exploded and I could feel my MP dropping.

Skill created lvl 01: Illusion Barrier Creation.

A pulse of the energy… Mana? Prana? Raw magic, I don't know, but a pulse was expelled from my body, rapidly shaping and connecting and… I lost track.

When I opened my eyes out of meditation. The world was silent and dark.

Night? It has been this long…

Regardless, I'm back at the silent, grayed world with the ghost of people, this time one of my own creation.

I've got what I came for.

Skill created lvl 01: Illusion Barrier creation.
Let's you create Illusion Barriers in the area around you, the deepness of barrier as well as the content inside changes according to the level.

• Level 01: Empty.

I let out a breath. This changes everything.

This is the essential skill that would allow me to get stronger, the one skill every Gamer should have, the skill that gives you a mobile grinding zone and source of income. I cannot convey the sheer usefulness of this; hell, depending on the level I could have my very own hyperbolic time chamber.

This deserves a cheer of its own, the biggest of the day, for the sheer effect it would have in my future.

Yet…

*Yawn*

I don't feel like overreacting, in fact, I was fairly chill, and very relaxed.

So I just sat back in my own little world.

… and skunk back into the wonders of my Magic.

-0-0-0-​

I was still yawning as I made my way up the stairs to my apartment.

It was very late, an hour that no respectable Japanese youth would want to be found out. I had taken a nap in the park, then I waked up and took another nap; directly feeling magic is a very trippy experience.

This was a very productive day, It could have been more if I had ground my ID create skill or at least try experimenting with my magic rather then just chilling inside it, but I was happy. There wasn't really anything urgent that required me to get stronger fast, it doesn't mean I plan to be sloth about it, but it means that times like this, where I just get distracted and chill out won't make me lose my sleep.

I stretched my arms once I managed to work my tired legs through the steps. Ready to get a good night's sleep.

There was a homeless person curled into a pathetic ball at my doorsteps.

Really? That's the second time… Goddamn Nerima.

I got closer to the tight ball of bulky coats and scarfs, and kick it lightly.

"Hey, you are in my way, get out please," I said as gently as I could manage through my irritation. Politeness, my Japanese self cried, politeness to the bitter end!

"Guuuuuuu." Was the draw out, feminine sounding noise that it produced in response- Wait a second.

The figure unfolded, head rising up to me wearing a puffy hat that would fit on Oliver the hungry orphan and a pair of large circular glasses with the lens so opaque it was practically white, there were also images of a silly spiral on them for some ungodly reason.

However, the few skin I managed to make out from that horror of fabric was smooth and unblemished, and the traces of the face told something remarkably feminine.

…There was also snot dripping from that feminine nose.

"Ō-Ō-Ō-Ōe Hiroshi-sama! Ah!" The figure threw herself at my feet, doing its best imitation of a frog. "T-This one is so, so sorry for bothering you so soon."

...It can't be, no, no way there are things in this world that just aren't possible… Oh, how am I kidding?

"Uehara…san?" I tried.

"H-Hai!" The woman who looked nothing like the one I've met this morning reflexively jerked up at the sound of her own name. "Ō-Ōe-sama remembers! Ah, this one is so happy~ guh!"

She freezes… and then promptly falls rigid to the side.

A motorboat roared inside the corridor at that very same moment.

"G-guuuu, so hungry~" Uehara Rin, the Sparking Taimanin, the woman whose level was so high I can't even see it, moans pitifully against the floor with tears and snot tracing down her face to form a puddle.

My hand… attempted to fuse with my face.

She's a resident of Nerima. How could I've forget that?