"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.
And we are blessed in that we do not realize what once existed and what lies dormant in the unknown lurking places on Earth and beyond."
Prologue:
War never changed. And so did the result.
Whenever a fight between two sided ended, it would always be the same. The sound of weapons and magic as well as the shouting of soldiers were hushed, paving a way for silence to take the reign until the next fight broke out in the same place or somewhere else. The No Man's Land, the once chaotic playground of Ares, now laid quiet, becoming a graveyard for the unburied as once proud soldiers now were nothing but corpses and food for the the birds. Even though the pale light of the sun continued to provide its warm feeling to every being living under it, it would never enough to chase away the feeling of death lingering in the air.
And in that No Man's Land, one could see a small humanoid figure sat on top of some random corpses. The bang of his dirty and messy bow-cut hair slightly covered his right eye as the other eye held a gaze of uninterest. His legs were swinging uncaringly following the rotten scent of corpse in the wind. A rifle leaned against his left shoulder while a combat knife hanged loosely on his waist, dried blood gave the handle a horrid crimson shade. The loud, hoarse and gravelly caw of the surrounding ravens, he didn't pay attention to the in the slightest as his mouth continued to chew on the meal he had just scavenged from a corpse.
"Only a demon could eat peacefully while being surrounded by so many corpses like you are now..."
The sudden appearance of a new voice wasn't enough to gain the attention of the child. The phantom voices echoed after the end of the battle wasn't something unfamiliar to the little boy. He had heard them shouting, crying, cursing and even begging. What difference one more voice could make?
"... But to be honest, you seem too adorable to be a demon, you know?"
The child never expected a firm hand gently patted his head in as a hint of amusement could be detected in the new voice. Instinctively, the child smacked the hand off his head and rolled away, the rifle now returned to his hand with the barrel aimed at the owner of the unknown hand
"Cute." commented the man in black suit, the shadow of his fedora hat couldn't hide the black color of his hair as his eye held a mirthful and amused look "You found that among the corpses as well, didn't you?"
Silence was the answer the man received as the child gave him a cautious look, his finger was ready to pull the trigger and empty the rifle's mag.
"Hiding here alone among the corpses... Is that the mean you protect yourself?" the pleasant tone of the man in suit indicated that he wasn't intimidated in the slightest as he briefly eyed the crows around him before directing the gaze back to the child "I must say... I'm impressed... However..."
A strange coiled sword appeared in the man's' right hand as the child visibly tensed at the sudden appearance of said sword. Was it magic, the child wondered.
"... You are not using that weapon correctly..." the man nodded his head at the rifle "... Beside, your hand is shaking..."
Flinching slightly, the kid didn't lower the rifle as he took in a breath to calm himself down and try to get his shaking under control only to fail. There was something about this man that made the child's skin crawl.
"There's no meaning in wielding a weapon if it's just to scare others or protect yourself, you know?"
The man continued to talk despite he hadn't received any answer from the child, though this time his tone carry a strange sense of wisdom that the child couldn't help but lower his gun, albeit only a little bit.
"Here."
Suddenly, the man in suit flung the coiled sword toward the child, making the child stepped back a little bit as the strange sword embed into the bloody ground
"That is one of my favorite swords. Go on and take it." said the man before he turned away "If you're interested in learning more about it, follow me."
Hesitantly, the child inspected the strange sword before drawing it from the ground. Despite its size, the sword was surprising light that even a child like him could hold it with both his hands with only a small balance trouble due to the sword's length.
"However, from now on you must understand." the man's tone now became much more serious "A weapon is not to vanquish your enemies nor destroy your weakness."
Casting a small glance at the rifle, the child dropped it to the ground before he followed the footstep of the man in suit while dragging the coiled sword with his hand.
"A weapon isn't meant to protect your own body." the man stopped briefly to give the child a chance to catch up with him "It is meant to protect your soul."
The clanking sound made the man turned around to see the coiled sword had been dropped on the ground as the child was trying to get up from the ground, his teeth gritted tightly as the pained expression could be seen clearly on his face despite the child's obvious attempt to not show it.
"Dear oh dear. You twisted your ankle" said the man with a frown as he crouched down "Let me help..."
The little hand knocked away the man's offered hand before the child reached toward the coiled sword and used it as if it was a crutch to stand up. The action made the man in suit rose his eyebrows a little bit before a small gentle smile made its way to his face
"Relax, little one." the man pushed the child back to the ground as he inspected the now swelling ankle. Before the child could do anything to protest, the man swiftly returned the ankle back to its position, earning a painful grunt from the child.
"Sorry, my wife will put a Quicksilver Bullet between my groin if she know I bring you home without healing that injury" a light chuckle escaped the man's throat before he lifted the child up and gave him a piggyback ride while ignoring the protesting struggle of the child "And more importantly, there is nothing shameful to accept help from other. And even if there was, so what?"
The man looked at the clear sky with a faraway look, as if he was reminiscing
"After all, a life that gets a little bit dirty is the most worthy life to live."
The struggle gradually died down as the quiet child slowly relaxed as his arms hesitantly held around the man's neck
"Do you have a name, little one?"
It took a few shakes of his head to make the child remembered that the man couldn't see him
"... No." The man's lips morphed into a small smile after hearing the child's first vocal response to him.
"I will give you a name then. Hmm..." a thoughtful look appeared in the man's eyes "... How about Kenshi? It's the name of my best friend as well as my favorite musician and that hair of yours reminds me much about him. And don't worry. He already passed away and I know he will be happy knowing you will bear his name from now on"
"... Not a bad name, I suppose."
"Okay then. From now on, you're Kenshi, little one. And my name is Keto. Watarimono Keto."
Author's note: What would you do when your update hit a writer block when it was about 75% complete, the summer version of Granblue Fantasy's Jeanne D'Arc literally flooded your newsfeed, Dark Souls's and Bloodborne's lore theories keep giving you headache? The solution is simple. Very simple...
YOU COMBINE ALL OF THOSE AND WRITE ANOTHER VERSION OF YOUR STORY! MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ψ(｀∇´)ψ
As I said in the summary, this story will loosely follow True Magic with Kenshi's OPness being 'a little bit' lower compared to Yuuto's OPness in True Magic as well as less 'chaotic' . Also, Kenshi will be a little bit more... 'considerate' given his background and the ones live with him. However, keep it mind that this story may spoil you you for the original fanfic Lord of Souls
Most of the spots of the harem, which is smaller than True Magic's harem, are already decided:
Jeanne and Joan D'Arc (Granblue and FGO respectively), Miyuki, Mayumi and Sayaka.
Only one spot remain and I am torn between Mari and Angelina (gonna be quite a hard hit on both USNC as well as the Kudou). Any suggestions are welcomed.
Finally, please read and review! And if the overall reaction is 'positive', the first chapter will be uploaded (yep, already finish it)