This is me fixing the stupidity inherent in the original Mordhau and getting everything to work the way I want to. As of right now, there will be no planned pairing for Cain, but that doesn't mean that something won't happen to change that.

My name is Cain.

Truth be told, I can't quite recall my original surname, but such is life. I also don't find it within me to care to much at the moment. So, just call me Cain. Everyone else does.

This isn't my world, the Earth I grew up on. For one, there are no gods. Greek, Egyptian, Norse, Chinese, Japanese, none of these gods exist. Or if they do, I haven't found any evidence to suggest it. But there are monsters. Many live among humans, acting out the role of being a human. These monsters travel down every walk of life. Some are criminals, others are law-enforcement. Some are politicians, and some are cashiers. Some are fabulously wealthy, and yet others are homeless. These monsters have adapted to living with humans and it shows. Yet others are feral. Aggressive, seeking to reinstate the law of the jungle, of kill or be killed. The kind family that hosts me are blissfully unaware of the conflicts that rage around them and the city that they call home. Well, those monsters can smell me, smell my divine heritage. They don't seem to understand why, but I must be quite the appealing target.

Well, I guess it doesn't matter. I have to get ready for tomorrow. The Midori-ya won't run itself, you know. There are no gods, but there are monsters that threaten us every now and again. Nothing particularity dangerous is close to the city, but even the weakest monsters can get lucky. There is no magical rule that states that a lower power is incapable of harming a greater power. Now, if the greater power has some form of protection, the weaker power will first have to break through. And even then, no shield is perfect. No defense can stop everything. There is always some error that cannot be corrected for, no matter how much time and effort is spent. All you can do is compensate for reality as best you can. My charmspeak can allow me to talk my way out of almost anything, but that's the weakness. I have to speak and the other party has to be able to hear me. If I'm ever gagged or the other party happens to be deaf, I'm out of luck. It also does not work on machines. Perhaps a true A.I. would be an exception, but an unfeeling mass of steel will never be affected. Invisibility also has its downsides. Unless you have powerful magic, such as the Helm of Darkness, true invisibility is impossible. Or, rather, it is possible, but you would be completely blind and would still make noise and monsters could still smell you. People would still bump into you. So, in order to see, you would have to leave you eyes visible. Most magical forms of invisibility only cover the visible spectrum, which is usually good enough, and translates infrared and ultraviolet light into visible light so the user isn't flying blind.

My attempts to keep my new housemates safe usually begins and end with charmspeak. Such a useful, underrated ability; it's almost a Jedi Mind-Trick. Speaking of, I actually used charmspeak to reenact that routine. Very entertaining. Still, when the uninvited guest is feeling particularly obnoxious, I use my special little gift. I take control of their heart. Now, once again, would be useless against robots, but I managed to compensate for those individuals. More on that later. I can't unleash the wrath of god in the form of lightning. I can't drown my enemies under a crushing flood. I can't scorch the earth with my fury. Nope, I can't do anything so dramatic. No great blasts of power, nothing to suggest that I did anything. All that this humble, low-born child of Aphrodite can do is control hearts. I need eye-contact, but even when I take complete control I can't make them do anything that charmspeak wouldn't be able to do easier.

It just so happens that the heart is fairly important with many vital functions all wrapped up it one delightful little word. Heartbeat. If you happen to have a cerebrovascular accident or myocardial infarction, sad day for you. Oh, right. The common names for these ailments are stroke and heart attack.

My mother controls the hearts of mortals through her beauty and words, causing them to fall in love without their consent. I control hearts through my eyes, and I make you die. I can also restart a heart or keep the attack from happening. I think I can also undo the damage of a heart attack and I know that I can fix Arrhythmia. Irregular heartbeat for those that don't know. Anyway, these powers are especially useful when most monsters know that I have them, but don't know the mechanics that enable them. Nothing quite like the imminent threat of immediate death to prevent violence, right? I'm no murderer, but if the other guy tries to kill me, well... no one could prove that it was me specifically.

"Cain-kun, please wake up!" Oh dear. It seems as though I wasted to much time.

Magic. Someone was using magic in the house. Our mage can't be one of the Takamachi's.

Transformation magic? A monster?

"Just a moment." The youngest member of my host family greets me with a ferret in hand. An injured ferret, but being cared for. "Good morning. A little early, wouldn't you say?"

"Sorry about this, but I need your help."

"Oh?"

"Yuuno-kun, would you explain?"

"So, you're the one using the transformation magic then? What are you, Yuuno? A nue? A kappa, perhaps? Amanojaku? You're no gashadokuro, of that I can be certain."

"Well, I'm an Archeologist. Not a mythical monster of this planet. I hail from a planet known as Midchilda."

"Mythical? Well, Yuuno, I'm a demigod, born of the union between the Greek Goddess of Love, Aphrodite, and a mortal man."

"Nanoha, I do believe this person is insane."

"Umm..."

Well, time for magic. "You don't think that I'm insane." And fun, can't forget that.

"I don't think that you're insane." The voice of the poor ferret was flat, dead.

"I am the child of a goddess."

"You are the child of a goddess." Poor Nanoha's head started to steam. I think I might have just fried her brain.

Now for fun. "These are not the droids you are looking for."

"These are not the droids I am looking for.

"Move along."

"Move along. Move along."

"What was that?"

"That, my cute little housemate, is called a Jedi Mind Trick." Her cheeks puffed out in frustration. "No? Well, it's charmspeaking. Some of the only magic that I can use."

"So you don't need a device to use magic?"

"I have no idea what kind of device would let you use magic, but having divine heritage really helps on that end. Most monsters can use it as well."

"Monsters are real?"

"Our neighbor is a succubus. I take full responsibility for that one, though."

"Why?"

"Succubi are European demons that feed of of sexual desire and the act of sex itself. Being the child of a goddess of love means that the sexual energy and desire of the local population is increased, allowing her to feed regularly."

"Oh." She doesn't know or understand the cultural significance of the paired sex demons from the Middle Ages, and the fear associated with them from that time.

"There is also the western Dragon that nests on the roof. She seems to like you."

"Aren't western dragons associated with evil?"

"Indeed. But dragons from the west are mostly amoral from a human perspective, mostly being animals in the case of drakes and wyverns while true dragons are capable of human speech and morals that can be understood by humanity. Of course, being dragons, those morals might not make sense to us anymore than our morals make sense to them. Anyway, you needed help?"

"Right!"

"It's still really early, Nanoha-chan. Please be considerate. Please, come in."

"Well, now that we are somewhat comfortable, what do you need help with? Did you possibly save our little transformed friend and become a magical girl with the goal of saving the city from macguffins and a rival appeared, defeating you and stealing one for reasons that you don't quite understand. Stop me if I ever get it wrong."

"Pretty much."

"Well, what do you need me to do?"

Well, now I am going to be covering for Nanoha whenever she is out doing her magical girl club activities. Is it dangerous? Yes, but I am in no position to tell her that, as I also go out at night to fight things that would happily kill me and my hosts. Fun stuff. So, yeah; I couldn't tell her no on account of it being extremely dangerous without becoming a massive hypocrite. So I cover for her and help her if this Fate character appears once again and help her in the sealing of these Jewel Seeds. Just another day (night) in the life of a demigod. Please enjoy your stay.

"One last thing, Nanoha-chan."

"Yes?"

"If you want to wake me at one in the morning, don't make it a habit so that when we are older, I won't have any reason to believe that you have anything less than the purest of intentions. Your parents may just decide to have some fun with it."

"You think way to far ahead at times."

"One of us has to. Think, that is."

"You little!" The ensuing scuffle wakes up everybody else at an ungodly hour. Yeah, they are none happy with us. Mostly Nanoha, but they did find me straddling her, wrists pinned above her head. Yeah.

"Do I want to know?"

"It seems as though your daughter had less than pure intentions with my person and tackled me in order to declare her eternal love and devotion to me. I put her in this position in order to allow her to cool off from whatever affected her in such a way and to protect my own innocence. That said, I would not mind becoming an actual member of the family if you would not object." A perfectly straight face seems to have sealed the deal.

"Well, I think that the two of you would make each other very happy, and we would all be overjoyed to properly welcome you into our family, provided that you are willing. We will need to find the perfect dress for her and make sure that everything is perfect for my little girl." This is why I love these guys; they just like to have fun and are perfectly willing to play along to mess with each other. All in good fun, of course.

Let's see, that's the father that agrees with my offer.

"My little girl is growing up so fast!" How Momoko-san managed to teleport Nanoha into her arms for a bone-breaking hug is completely unknown to me. That and the sudden surge of crocodile tears soaking her poor daughter.

"Well, I guess that your the first man I have to threaten away from my little sister, but I can't find it in me to do so for some reason. This Kyoya Takamachi approves of this suitor." The impenetrable barrier that is the protective older brother has been surmounted.

"Such a strong endorsement. Well, I also see no problems with him. He can cook, clean, sing, dance, and bakes amazing cakes. He also doesn't mind living with us, so welcome aboard." And the older sister has fallen.

"My little girl won't be anything but the perfect wife!" And there is the mother.

"Well, I guess that means we're hitched. Should we start getting to know each other as husband and wife rather than as friends?" Oh, she's seeming to be rather limp. Oh dear, this may be a problem. "Would you all be so kind as to excuse us, for a moment." The four members of the Takamachi family do as I ask, and erupt into laughter when I close the door. "Yuuno, do you happen to have a surname?"

"Scrya. My name is Yuuno Scrya."

"Nice to meet you. My name is Cain, son of Aphrodite-Goddess of Love."

"Would you permit me to perform an experiment?"

"Oh?"

"Yes, I would like to test if a demigod, an existence that was not known to exist as far as the TSAB was concerned until I found you, has the ability to use a Device."

"Ah, I assume that a device is some form of focus?"

"Yes. In essence, it interfaces with the Linker Core of a mage and uses complex formulae to perform actions that are colloquially known as magic. Nanoha has a massive Linker Core, but is of poor quality. The size of a Linker Core is inversely proportional to the quality of the mana that it stores as well as the quality of the core itself."

"To use RPG terminology, the two extremes at the beginning are having a large MP bar that regens slowly and having a small MP bar that regens quickly. Most people tend to fall in between these two points on a bell curve."

"Correct. Now, if you would, please take the Intelligent Device Raising Heart and attempt to interface with her. I made sure to secure her agreement before I proposed this experiment."

"I understand. Raising Heart, please take care of me."

"I will, so don't worry. I will guide you through the process of interfacing. Now, follow my lead."

The experiment concluded with the realization that Cain does not have a Linker Core, but his blood acts as a substitute, and an effective one at that. The quality of his 'Linker Core' completely outstrips Nanoha, to the point that he could possibly be used as a Device. His mana was refined to the point that Raising Heart simply couldn't do anything to refine it further for spellwork. All that she could do was run it through the spell formula and enact the spell.