Written by: Last Arcanni

Proofread by: PervySageChuck (Fishing expert and Master Baiter)

Chapter 1

In Jotunheim there was a guild which was famous for its power in PVP. They had become so feared that there were stories of guilds that conceded defeat before the fight. Alas, no one had heard of the guild for the last three years.

The truth is the guild had shattered and almost all of their members had left. Now the guildmaster stood alone in his castle waiting for the day his comrades would return.

Shogun's Realm was the name of the guild and its master was the Shogun Osamu Takeo (warrior ruler) a warrior without equal. Clad in bright red samurai armor with a masked helmet that covered his face and gave him an even more oppressive aura. He had four weapons, a katana, a wakizashi, a naginata and a bow. All of his items were top class but his main strength lay in the naginata and was followed closely by the blades. The bow served as a support weapon to use while the enemy closed on him, didn't deal much damage but it was helpful. He was an oni demon and as such was around 2 and a half meters tall with red skin and two small horns in his forehead which blended with his helmet, he had big canines but otherwise he was quite human looking with his black curly hair.

The guild owned a castle in Jotunheim, Tetsu no Shiro, (Iron Castle) it was a typical Japanese castle and that was the guild's theme, all things Sengoku Jidai. From the spawns to the NPCs. The castle had even been inspired by a real castle, the Himeji castle, except it was even bigger and had what you'd call a small merchant town inside the walls. It had a huge garrison and a relatively big "civilian" population.

For NPCs, they had all the Sengoku Jidai legends, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin and Hattori Hanzō to name a few.

The truth was that the guild had been shattered from within.

The first members of the guild had been Takeo, his brother, Katsuo Hideo, and a friend of theirs, his brother's girlfriend, Atsuko Aimi.

Things had started very well and over time they had grown and become powerful, but one day Takeo confessed to a friend in the guild that he liked Aimi. Next thing he knew, his brother had punched him and the guild was breaking apart. He never saw them again. Not even in real life. Part of his family even started ignoring him in favor of Hideo.

Takeo felt responsible for what had happened and over the years hadn't done much.

But now, as the game came to an end, he had sent out messages to everyone saying he wanted to meet one final time.

Nobody had shown up.

There were about 20 minutes before the end of the game and nobody had shown up.

Takeo took a glance around the throne room. It had wooden beams serving as supports on the sides and between each beam there was a retainer seated. The shogun was seated at the end of the room in the traditional Japanese manner. Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin and Hattori Hanzō, alongside the shogun's guard, the seven horo-shu were seated before him.

Player Atsuko Aimi is online.

"What?" Takeo was surprised. Aimi was one of the last people he had expected to show up.

Aimi appeared before him. She was an angel with half her points into the healer class and the rest into the archer's class. Her avatar was that of a beautiful red-haired woman with huge wings. She was covered in white and grey samurai armor and had a huge bow on her back.

"Aimi-san?" Takeo asked shocked.

"Hello Takeo." Aimi answered him a bit coldly and a bit sadly. "Hideo wanted to see you one last time."

"Hideo is coming too?"

Player Katsuo Hideo is online.

Hideo appeared before them garbed in his ninja outfit. He was a True Vampire but had used items to change his appearance to look like a charming man.

The truth was that Takeo was afraid of his brother. Like his avatar he was a monster with the cover of a charming man, but it took the guild's end for Takeo to notice it. He was also pretty sure that Aimi was a bit afraid of his brother.

"Hello, brother." Hideo said.

"Hideo-san. Good to see you." Takeo welcomed him.

"So the castle still stands, eh? Did not expect that." Hideo said looking around.

"Thank you for coming." Takeo said bowing.

"I didn't come for you." Hideo said with hate. "I came to take one last look at the game. Same with Aimi. You are nothing to us."

Takeo stole a glance at Aimi but she seemed very interested in the NPCs in the hall and avoided looking at Takeo.

"I remember when we created them. It took a lot of effort to get their stories right, remember?" Takeo asked Aimi nostalgically.

Aimi nodded. In the future a lot of knowledge had been lost and the Sengoku Jidai was more of a legend now, they had gone to great efforts to get their stories right and do the required adaptations for them to be the loyal retainers of the shogun.

Takeo looked at them, the Daimyos, level 100 and the strongest beings in the castle, and the horo-shu level 90 NPCs who served as last line of defense.

"Will you stay until the game ends?" Takeo asked.

"Yes." Hideo told him. "Get lost."

"Can't do that, dear brother, a shogun must face the end in his position of power." Takeo answered mockingly.

"Then do not bother us. I should have been the shogun."

"You lost, remember?" Takeo reminded him.

Hideo clicked his tongue. When they were deciding on the position of guildmaster there had been several spars between members and Hideo had lost to Takeo in the final battle.

"Only because my level was lower." Hideo rebuked him.

Hideo was constantly getting killed and so his level was always around the nineties. Even now he was ninety three compared to Takeo's and Aimi's 100.

"Sure. If you say so." Takeo thought. The fact was that Hideo wasn't very strong and against a warrior like Takeo his chances were pretty bad.

23:59:45

"Was there any other way for this to have ended?" Takeo asked looking at the ceiling.

"No." Hideo answered him. "There wasn't."

23:59:59

00:00:00

"Wait, what?" Three voices exclaimed in surprise.

Before they could act an NPC burst into the room, it was a Spawn NPC, Yari Ashigaru.

"I'm sorry to intrude, but we are under attack. The castle outer walls are being attacked by undead." He shouted bowing before the shogun.

The other NPCs in the room sprang into action with the guard forming before Takeo and the Daimyos discussing what to do.

"Shingen, take the cavalry and flank the enemy. Take out any mages and long range fighters. Kenshin, get two units of monks and join the fight on the walls. Hideyoshi, make sure we aren't being attacked on other walls. Ieyasu, gather as many units as you can and put them on standby. Hanzō, get your shadows ready." Nobunaga ordered.

"How strong are the undead?" Kenshin asked the Ashigaru.

"They seem to be low level skeletons and zombies but there might be more." The Ashigaru stated, obviously afraid of being in front of his lords.

"My Lord." Nobunaga shouted bowing before Takeo. "I ask for your blessing and await your commands."

Takeo was in shock and had been staring at the NPCs talking but snapped back to answer Nobunaga.

"Go. Cleanse these vermin who dare attack our castle." He ordered trying to sound convincing. Then he had an idea. "Nobunaga; I will leave overall command to you. Horo-shu, follow me."

As Takeo got up he thought about how he would equip his naginata and stretched his hand into the air. A hole appeared and he pulled his pole-arm from it. Now he felt better.

The daimyos tried to convince him of the dangers but he told them he had absolute confidence in them.

Flanked by his guards Takeo set out from the keep towards the walls.

Along the way he was surprised by many things, the "life", for lack of a better word, in the NPCs, their emotions, the way that everything seemed real, the facial expressions, the mouth movements and most of all their dedication to him.

Every time they came across someone they would bow to him and give him his best regards and wishes. When they came across a unit that was being sent to the combat Takeo could feel their morale skyrocketing when he told them he would join them. And he also noticed that they seemed a bit downcast when they heard that Hideo would probably join them, but they brightened at the mention of Aimi.

"So they like me and Aimi but not Hideo. Good to know." Takeo thought.

The path to the main gate, the place under attack, was long but Takeo and the soldiers hurried and arrived there quickly.

Heading to the walls, Takeo came across another one of his daimyos, Hōjō Ujiyasu.

"My shogun! I did not expect you to take the field." He exclaimed as he bowed. "This incompetent one begs your pardon for having to come here."

"Rise Ujiyasu-dono, you have done nothing wrong. I merely wish to observe. I have total confidence in your abilities." Takeo reassured him. "Show me your abilities and drive these invaders off!"

"Yes my shogun!" Ujiyasu said filled with conviction.

"You lot. The shogun graces us with his most august presence. Do not fail him." Ujiyasu shouted to the men.

The men roared with energy and determination and the archers opened fire on the undead.

Takeo took a look at the mass of corpses that tried to cross the bridge which joined the castle and the rest of the world. Below it there was a moat filled with water. The undead were indeed low tier, just normal skeletons and zombies and one or two liches.

Takeo pulled out his bow and sniped the strongest undead but even those were no threat to the castle.

Just then the monks arrived and a good percentage of the undead were destroyed by their firepower. With them came Hideo and Aimi who had become a bit more used to this world. Takeo looked at them and they nodded. They felt it too; this had become the real world.

The undead were destroyed and Kenshin received orders from Nobunaga to clear out any possible undead in the surroundings and Shingen was told to take a detachment of 100 cavalrymen and scout further out and search for signs of life.

Takeo returned to the throne room followed by his ever present guard, Aimi, Hideo and the other daimyos, this time with Ujiyasu.

When they sat in the throne room Nobunaga began giving orders to confirm the well-being of the entire castle and its population while the others discussed amongst themselves what had happened.

After a few hours of discussion they received a [Message] from Shingen informing them that he had seen a big walled city and that he was currently further north where a village was under attack and its villagers being slaughtered by knights, he wanted to know what actions to take.

"We must help them!" Aimi shouted. "We can't let innocent people be murdered."

The other daimyos agreed with Aimi with different levels of conviction.

"Very well then, Shingen-dono, I hereby order you to drive the invaders off and to protect the villagers." Takeo ordered.

"Kenshin-dono, prepare an expeditionary force and join our cavalry. Be sure to take enough healers."

"Yes my shogun." Kenshin answered with conviction.

"Aimi-san, do you wish to join them?" Takeo asked. "After all, you are the one who wishes to protect them."

Aimi looked at Takeo and nodded.

"Kenshin, prepare Aimi-san's Great Guard unit and depart with her." Takeo ordered.

Kenshin and Aimi departed and Hideo left for his chambers.

About thirty minutes lather Aimi contacted them again and told them she had driven out the knights and had finished healing the wounded and was wondering if she should resurrect the dead. Kenshin also gave a report on everything he had learnt from the village chief including information on the surrounding nations and had a few prisoners who were sent to the dungeons for questioning.

Takeo decided to give Kenshin overall command of the expeditionary force and asked for the details on the group's constitution.

"My shogun; Takeda-dono took 30 melee cavalry, 30 shock cavalry, 30 bow cavalry and 10 mounted mages. Uesugi-dono took Atsuko-sama's great guard of 10 warriors; 200 warrior monks, 100 of them ranged and the others wielding naginatas and a support force of 300 ashigarus, 200 of them being yari wielders, 50 bowmen and the others using different weapons. Aside from Atsuko-sama's great guard, the strongest unit is the warrior monks at level 50. The rest belong to our levy forces and are replaceable." Nobunaga informed him reading from a paper.

"By levies he must mean spawn NPCs." Takeo thought.

"Very well then, I leave the decisions in their care. Tell them to try and build friendly relationships as much as possible." Takeo ordered.

Takeo decided to call Hideo but the guard that went to summon him said that Hideo did not wish to be disturbed, only to be informed of Aimi's arrival.

Takeo ordered his men to leave Hideo alone. If he did not wish for company he wouldn't get it.

As time passed Takeo and the other daimyos discussed their course of action and future decisions.

A monk requested an audience with the shogun and Takeo allowed him in.

"Shogun-sama, we, the monks, have been investigating the land where we seem to have been transported to and have discovered it is filled with negative energy." He said after prostrating before Takeo.

Takeo was a bit taken aback by his attitude but let it slide. It was all part of the programming.

"What does that mean?" He asked the monk.

"Shogun-sama, it means that more undead will keep rising."

The undead hadn't been very strong but Takeo didn't want to deal with them all the time.

"Can you cleanse this land?" He asked the monk.

"But of course Shogun-sama! It will take some time and a lot of work but we should be able to cleanse this land."

"Very well then. Cleanse the land of this negative energy and turn it into a place where our subjects may work."

The monk bowed once again and Takeo dismissed him.

Hideyoshi proposed to open trade with the surrounding nations and Nobunaga suggested that farms be created in the cleansed land.

By now, Takeo was becoming very tired and told his daimyos that he wished to rest and that they would continue the following morning.

Takeo left the throne room and headed for his chambers, escorted by his horo-shu.

In his chambers, which were pretty darn big, he found his personal retainer, a geisha and a concubine.

After a long talk explaining that he had no need for any of them they finally left and he remembered that they were a bonus of sorts for being shogun, a gift from a friend, he had just forgotten about them. He shuddered for a moment considering the implications of their existence before removing his equipment and putting on something more casual, a sea blue kimono and laying down on his bed promptly falling asleep.

It had been one long day and he was exhausted from the act that he had to put up. Luckily Aimi would be alright and come back soon and tomorrow they could come up with plan for their situation.

With these thoughts Takeo fell asleep, not even noticing the ninjas that Hanzō had assigned to be his bodyguard.

CHAPTER END

A/N: This is just somethig that was on my mind. If you want I will expand upon it.

You can also give an idea for the next Sengoku Jidai legend to show up. For now it's just Myamoto Musashi. ;)