AuthorNCS: Well... I kept my promises. It is now time to begin this jounery from the very start, join me as we travel down this long path in a much more serious manner. One that will leave a much more emotional impacts and one that will have no plot holes.
This story is Beta Edited by champcuute
Chapter 1: Summoned by a Zero
Conception. An apocalyptic event of a world being destroyed and recreated, done through the very will of the Universe. It is an inhuman process that exchanges countless lives' rights to exist in their own way and rules for a single individual's will. During the Conception, beings "chosen" will compete for the agreement of their "reasons". Each chosen being, backed by hundreds of demons and sometimes angels with similar motives, is supported by a Demonic Sponsor; Old gods with immense power, the only ones that can affect the overseers of this catastrophe, Kagutsuchi. Depending on the reason presented, any worlds are possible; A world of complete silence, a world of individual solitude, or even a world where only the strong rule.
Sometimes one wonders; what does it feel like to survive something as unimaginable as this, even saving the very world being recreated?
... Fine, probably no one will ever think of such ideas for no particular rhyme or reason.
But I know the answers all too well.
I look towards the one who is currently holding my hand; an eighty-six years old man on his dying breath. I sit by helplessly as Death calls him impatiently down toward the afterlife.
"... Kash...?" I hear the weak moan through my inhuman ears. My human heart feels sadness, but my demon side refuses to show it. Regrettably, crying tears was an ability long ago lost to me. So I continue to look at him through my illusionary human disguise.
"I... guess this is... goodbye... huh...?" My old friend asks through his weak voice. I soberly nod, not knowing if it even registered in his already blurring vision. I doubted it did.
He gives out one last cackle as his life comes to an end. "Catch... you next... life..." His last breath of life fades off, leaving only a shell of flesh. In my eyes, I see his soul leave his body and travel for the nearest invisible flow of Magatsuhi. Floating to where his soul shall await the judgment from the cycle of rebirth.
I truly wished for a stream of tears to flow from my eyes then. "Farewell, Isamu." Sorrow escapes only as a sigh past my lips.
"Cheer up, Naoki~kun. He lived a pretty full life for a human, getting to eighty-six is impressive enough as it is."
A small, redheaded humanoid creature, no taller than six inches, tried her best to comfort her summoner/partner/lover. Dressed in a one piece outfit of fabric and wearing elbow length gloves and thigh high stockings, all coloured blue, the creature's four beautiful, butterfly-like wings flap slowly, keeping her in the air while she holds a small, white jar; the only remains of the human being that was once known as Isamu Nitta.
The Demi-fiend didn't say much while taking the small jar from the Fairy race demon and placing it into a box. He then proceeded to put the box into a cabinet that housed a framed photograph of Isamu. Honestly, if Isamu didn't have such disrespectful descendents, he wouldn't have to keep his ashes.
Naoki Kashima thought of how he should be used to things like this; seven decades had passed since he survived through the Conception, beating through countless demons and angels in the Vortex World so he could acquire the right to recreate the destroyed world, and then being cursed as a half-demon for eternity by Kagutsuchi for choosing to return the world back to the way it was.
Unfortunately, as of yet, he still hadn't gotten used to outliving his family and friends.
His partner, Pixie, looked distastefully at the memorial stand and then back to her partner. "Think of the bright side! At least he is the last friend that you will have to endure seeing die. Now you are free of any human social connection, Naoki~kun!" She suddenly shut her mouth at the realization of her words' imapct. "Oops... sorry."
The Demi-Fiend's eyes narrowed at Pixie's attempts to cheer him up; well, he thought, at least she tried.
Deciding to get a fresh breath of air (Not that he needed it, seeing as demons don't need air), he walked slowly over to look outside the window. Tokyo had an insane technological advancement over the past seventy years. While it didn't come close to anything similar to what most early 2000's Sic-fi stories had envisioned, it was still impressive enough on its own to shock many old fashioned demons. The self-destructing future in Kagutsuchi's prediction was nowhere to be found, this world being pretty well off on its own.
Too well off, in fact.
"So Naoki~kun? Are there any jobs posted?" Pixies asked.
His small detective agency had done its job of keeping the underground network peaceful too efficiently. The days were now just too quiet.
He checked his laptop. "None." He said, not at all surprised.
"Poo... Again? I'm beginning to regret taking out that underground drug network." Pixie groaned. "We should've taken them out slowly. At least then, the fun would have lasted longer." She smiled as she recalled the feeling of seeing the grunts yelling in terror, their guns rendering useless under her might.
Naoki had fulfilled his promise to Lord Masakado of protecting Tokyo, but to his demon side, he had done perhaps a too good of a job at it. He, in the simplest sense, was bored. Humans were not beings that could adapt to a lifespan of a near immortal easily. Even if they had a companion to spend it with.
"Whatever Naoki, I'm going to check on my strawberry cupcakes." The fairy flew into the kitchen, checking its equipped, portable TV on the way. "Oh goodie! The new episode of Love of the Seven Sea is on!"
Why am I a Zero?
Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière would often question herself that, but never discovered the answer. Her mother was the strongest Wind Mage ever, known as Karin of the Heavy Wind. And her father was the duke of her kingdom. How did she turn out like this?
She tried everything to not be a Zero. From time to time she spent all night studying on her lessons and spell casting techniques, memorizing them to the point she could recite them backwards.
In the end, however, her efforts just never paid off. She could follow the method of her spells down to the last possible, physical point, yet they still blew up in her face. No elements ever worked in her favor and probably none ever would.
Today was her last chance though, the Springtime Summoning Ritual. The ritual where young mages in their second year of education would summon their familiar, a being that would aid them throughout their life. If she failed even this ritual, then she truly was an unsalvageable Zero. She would be nothing more than a commoner in the eyes of the aristocrats.
She had studied the summoning spell countless times last night. She would make this last chance count, she had too!
"You said that you could summon something greater than this bad boy, right Louise?" Taunts from Kirche continued endlessly, Louise's greatest rival smiling smugly while patting her new salamander familiar on the head. Louise could do nothing but ignore her.
''Miss Vallière, please step forward and perform the ritual.'' Her teacher, Professor Colbert, said, signaling her turn.
Louise griped her wand tightly as she was momentarily overwhelmed by uneasiness. Her familiar could be anything for all she cared; a cat, a mouse, just something, anything, to prove to herself that she was not a Zero!
"I beg of you… My slave who lives somewhere in the universe! Oh sacred, beautiful and strong familiar spirit! I desire and here I plead from my heart! Answer to my guidance!"
And her wish brought the usual reaction; an explosion.
Naoki was just thinking about dusting Isamu's photo frame when a strange circle of green light appeared before his eyes. He didn't even react, didn't get time to, before the massive energy consumed him and vanished.
Pixie didn't hear her partner's disappearance, way too immersed in the TV melodrama.
"NNNNNOOOOOOO! You stupid Kraken! How dare you eat the Captain?!" Pixie cried, while biting into her freshly baked cupcakes. "He was the best character in the series!"
The fairy would eventually realize the Hitoshura's disappearance, of course, but for now, she would be dragged into a world herself, full of sea monsters and sexy sailors in deep love.
Hitoshura felt weird.
The transportation of the strange portal felt like using an Amala Terminal, but instead of the usual smooth travel, it was unbelievably chaotic. For these few seconds, he no longer wondered what it felt like being tossed around in a hamster ball.
Eventually though, he hit solid ground, his destination.
The first thing his senses registered was the unexpected magic density. The magic in the air around him was far richer than Tokyo could ever hope to be.
His second discovery was finding himself in a massive dust cloud, although it hardly hindered his demonic vision. He caught sight of a group of people, dressed in uniforms of some kind, a particular pink haired girl staring at him in confusion.
Louise coughed through the powdery fog as she stumbled to her feet. The blast had left the field in ruin as well as sending her tumbling onto her back. She looked at the ruined ground in fear. Had she failed? Oh please, Founder no!
The dirt cloud began to settle. She stared towards the figure in the middle of the lowering fog, the one she had called forth.
"This is my beautiful and strong familiar spirit?" It was... a commoner with black hair, dressed in a greenish hue of weird clothing. Granted, she had specifically said anything, but she didn't think founder would be so cruel as to send the lowest being to her!
Her teacher walked up beside her.
Jean Colbert, rune title: the Flame Snake, was once a solider, a captain, an experienced Triangle class mage. He had done his fair share of murder on the battle field; both of foes and innocents. The killing was the very reason why he retired and became a teacher.
His arguably, for the lack of a nicer term, incompetent student had just summoned a human as her familiar, a young man that looked probably only a few years older than Louise.
Never the less. He walked up to Louise, preparing to instruct her on the process of contracting a familiar.
Then, his instinct as a mage captain were raised, causing every hair, whether it existed or not, on his body to stand up. A feeling of dread quivered down his back.
The source? Louise's new familiar.
Louise turned to her teacher, preparing her words wisely. "Mr. Colbert, this has to be some kind of mistake-! Professor?!" The older man didn't reply.
"Hey! Flame, what are you doing?! Let me go!" Her rival's shouts sounded behind her, making Louise turn to find the Germanian's new lizard familiar pulling at her cape. It seemed to be trying to get its master to leave.
She then found everyone's familiar doing the same thing; those capable of carrying their master fleeing as quickly as they could. Those that couldn't instead urgently signaled for their master to leave. She had no clue why. Was this commoner some kind of barbarian talented in making animals scamper in terror through sheer presence?
Louise looked back at her new familiar, who had now gotten to his feet. His head turned almost noticeably left and right in confusion. "Where am I?" He asked in some weird tongue she could not understand.
"Where am I?" Naoki asked. Judging from his surroundings, he guessed in some kind of field. A school field perhaps?
The pink haired girl walked up to him along with a balding man, notably carrying a staff. The girl stared at him with an equally confused expression, while the man's expression was nervous and guarded.
"... Professor?!" The pink head asked the adult beside her, surprised.
"French?" Recognition of the language caused his mind to blink, making him groan. Of all the foreign languages he had picked up during his free time, French was not one of them. The main reason was because Pixie could already speak it, she would translate for him if he ever required it.
The man beside the girl cleared his throat and had a more serious expression as he turned to her. "... Alright, Miss. Vallière can you please contract your familiar?"
"Wha- Mr. Colbert! There has to be some kind of mistake!" The girl begged. "Please let me redo the ritual again!"
The elder man looked to her and shook his head. "I am afraid not, the Springtime Summoning Ritual is a sacred rite that is crucial to a mage's life. Your familiar has already been summoned; an attempt to redo the ritual would be a sacrilege against the ceremony itself."
"But look at him!" The girl pointed to the demon in disguise. "All the others familiars fled in terror when he showed up! He could be some kind of barbarian hunter, a savage! And on top of that, I've never even heard of taking a commoner as a familiar!"
"Commoner or not, I am afraid there will be no exceptions. Now, Miss Vallière, if you would please complete the contract...?" The older man said to her.
Naoki had no idea of the topic of their conversation. He made a mental note to learn the language when he returned home. He looked at the girl, as she suddenly stepped up closer with her... was that a wand?... raised. Her cheeks blushed embarrassingly for some reason or another. The pink head then waved her wooden stick.
"By the pentagram that holds the five elements, bless this one, and yield this as my familiar…" Her lips muttered out words, and through his eyes he could see magic dances around her wand. She was casting a spell of some sort, but why did he not see any Mana (a term for life force) being exchanged?
His instincts acted up and he signaled to Masakados, the most powerful of the Magatamas. The worm shaped artifact inside his flesh synchronized with his body, granting him protection to all elements aside from Meigdo (Or "Almighty" as may would simply call it). It was not necessary in the slightest, but his demon side decided it was better safe now than sorry later.
However, he didn't expect the girl to push her head forwards, her lips visible and her blushing face coming closer.
"You'd better be grateful. You'd normally never get this from a noble."
She was going to kiss him.
And Pixie's voice echoed in his mind, "Naoki~kun... I will kill you."
He barely had enough time to turn his head before she could kiss him on the lips.
The girl's eyes snapped open when she realized her kiss had landed on his left cheek instead. "How dare you commoner!" She shouted in anger.
"That was too close..." The Hitoshura thought. "Pixie would have my ass if she learned I kissed her on the lips!"
Just as he finished reassuring himself that he was not going to die to a Megidolaon from an angry Fairy, a tingling sensation could be felt on the back of his left hand. It was burning, painfully. A normal human would have been yelling in pain by now, but thankfully, to him the pain felt like a newborn infant's harmless scratching. He raised the now smoking limb to see a section of growing symbols engraved on his skin, visible even through the dark tattoos of his true form and his illusion of a human form (For some reason).
"What." That was the only word he could think of.
"Looks like the Contract with the familiar succeeded on the first try, Miss Vallière. Well done." The balding man told the flustered girl. He took out a notebook, filling its page with a... quill? What was he writing, Naoki did not know, but the man seemed to be eyeing his hand's new marks. "The class is dismissed."
The pink haired girl puffed up her cheeks, and the next thing the demon knew he was being dragged off by his right arm. "Come with me! Familiar!"
He could've easily broken out of the girl's pathetic hold (along with breaking every bone in her hand), but he was too puzzled to do much else than follow to the girl's room.
Jean Colbert left all of his students and headed into the library, keeping his expression as calm as possible.
Unfortunately, he was not an actor; far from it. His mask cracked when he found a chair to sit on, now panting for his dear life. "By the Founder... What was that?"
Miss Vallière had summoned a human familiar, something that occurred only once before, during the time of the Founder Brimir. But that was not his main concern.
The sheer amount of killing instincts coming from that young man... It was suffocating to sit through. The students, all of whom had never walked on a battle field or seen the infinite slaughters, obviously could not sense the intensity in the air. It was heavy enough to even scare away the familiars, even the powerful dragon Miss. Tabitha summoned scurried off in a hurry.
The presence couldn't be human. This was unbelievable to the fire mage, who had seen countless numbers of deadly creatures in his life. From enemy dragons to forest wild beasts, none could match the aura the young man was emitting. That person was, could only be described as, a natural predator, one that had killed more than he could count and survived more battles than he could remember. He couldn't hide such an aura even if he tried. Despite what the commoner may seemed. He deeply believed it is only a matter of time before danger is upon his students.
He recovered his breath and pulled out his notebook. And what were these runes? He had never seen anything like them before.
Research of unbelievable amounts would have to be done, if he wanted to ensure his students' safety. He will need evidence to convince the Headmaster into taking some form of measure.
Hitoshura was puzzled.
Beyond puzzled.
As far as communications went though, he was helpless. He picked out one or two words occasionally he could understand, French having a few similar words to English, the two shared the same root after all, but it was not enough to free him from this annoying body language guessing game with his summoner.
The pink head then spoke something in French again and did some signs with her hands.
He only shook his head. "Again, I do not understand you." Naoki replied in English; his accented English.
The girl groaned loudly, flaring her arms in irritation.
His demon side had long been begging him to kill this child in the most gruesome manner possible. But of course, his human heart prevented it as many times as it was asked, if not more. He was not stupid; he knew he needed her intact if he wanted to determine his location. Frankly, his senses could do little more than recognize this was not Earth.
Louise was furious.
Livid really.
"Why Founder?... Why must I get a familiar that does not even speak my own tongue?!" She growled to herself. She had spent at least two hours now, playing charades with her familiar and still no results had surfaced. At one point, the commoner even switched to a different language, and she managed to understand a few words from the new language. But it wasn't much more than a start.
It was already dark outside, and she really didn't want to waste her precious sleeping time anymore; just yesterday she had pulled an all-nighter. She wanted to at least give out a basic order to her familiar before she went to bed.
An idea popped into her head; maybe she could try a spell? She recalled seeing a particular one when she had been studying. In a few seconds, a translation spell surfaced to her mind.
"Here goes nothing." She picked up her wand. She knew painfully well it would most likely blow up in her face, again, but when considering the alternative of continuing the guessing game, she was ready to take the non-existent chance.
She whispered out the incantations and watched as it unsurprisingly exploded; the only plus being the explosion had been milder than the usual. Just enough dust to momentarily fill her room.
Naoki was just thinking about possible alternatives to his problems, when his summoner picked up her wooden wand. The pink haired girl then started chanting.
Undetectable to her, Naoki saw her Magic being focused into a shape through her wand, but then he noticed a repulsing reaction. The next thing he knew the small concentration of energy exploded.
The force slammed into him, and the demon felt that.
Granted, it didn't do much more than a child tapping him would. He was still standing tall, but the last time he checked Masakados was still active. This meant the spell was, although weak, Almighty based...
The room was now dusty from the explosion, and slowly the pink head emerged from the dirt cloud, coughing and waving her hand to clear her vision. "... Ah... It failed again..."
Japanese... Sweet Japanese. How?
"I understood you." Naoki replied in his own native language.
"Don't interrupt me- Eh?" The young mage gasped. "I can too! The spell worked!"
"What spell?" Naoki asked, an eyebrow raised.
"A translation spell I read once. It exploded, but it seems to have worked at least." She said, not very proudly. "Maybe I'm not a zero after all..."
"Translation spell, huh?" He raised his eyebrow. This girl had just bypassed the barrier of language like Forneus of the Fallen, despite the spell blowing up no less.
The child raised her head, trying her best to look mighty. "Now that you understand me, I can finally instruct you on your new task as my new familiar, commoner!" What arrogant orders.
"Familiar? As in a magic user's animal sidekick?" He questioned unimpressed.
"Animal sidekick?" The girl eyed him perplexedly. "... I guess you can put it that way. I was going to summon a familiar and got you instead, commoner!"
That sentence had so many flaws in it, but before he got to them... "Where am I? What is this land's name?"
The girl paused and stared at him shocked. "What?! How can you not know the country you're in?"
"Considering I did not speak your language, it should be obvious that I'm not from your land. Perhaps you can enlighten me of my location?" The demon in disguise replied in a sarcastic tone. "Or better yet, how about we start from the beginning with an introduction?"
The pink haired girl groaned but cleared her throat nonetheless. "Very well then, listen to me, familiar! You are in Tristain Academy of Magic, on the continent of Halkegnia! I, Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière, the daughter of the duke, am the one who summoned you! Be proud of being chosen to serve me!" This was a long and formal introduction for a girl who apparently couldn't do much more with her spells than cause explosions.
Halkegnia? There was no continent that bared that name anywhere on planet Earth. Tristain Academy of Magic? He knew of one Magic Academy in London, but that one was for witches and wizards. This girl was clearly not someone who flew on a broom of all things.
His demon side sneered at her high class attitude. She was spoiled, and unbelievably so, but for now he found her tolerable. For now.
"So now that I have introduced myself. How about you commoner? I do need some sort of name to address you by."
"... My name is Naoki Kashima." The demon told Louise. "I do not believe my name holds any significance in this land." Or reality.
"Nao-ki-Kash-ima?" The girl tried unsuccessfully to pronounce the name. Apparently her translation spell did not account for accents. "That is a strange name..."
"Your translation spell does not seem to cover some of the tones in my language." Naoki told Louise. "I notice you call me a commoner... May I ask why?"
The pink head blinked in irritation. "Are you a mage? Can you use magic?"
Naoki tilted his head; Should he reply yes? This girl, Louise, seemed to not quite realize what she had truly summoned. His inner trickster smirked mercilessly.
"... Not exactly." He answered, a perfect embodiment of poker faces. It is not exactly a lie as he personally prefers physical combat most of the time, and his magic wasn't technically casted by his own knowledge.
"Then there you go. All nobility can use magic, and all commoners can't, simple as that." She replied distastefully. "If you are not the first, than you must be a commoner, it is common sense."
A system of aristocracy, huh? Interesting. "I see."
Louise looked at him once more before sighing. "Why must the founder be so cruel?! Why couldn't I have summoned a great dragon or a strong griffin? I had to summon a commoner of all things, one that can't even help me if I'm ever in trouble! I mean what could you possibly do?"
The demon's poker face almost cracked in a smirk at the understatement of the century. "I'm pretty confident in my ability at combat."
Louise looked at him, unimpressed. She shook her head. "But you can't beat a mage. No commoner can, the Founder said so."
His demon side sneered again. Such arrogant beliefs this country had. What kind of religion was it anyway?
"I see."
Now for his set of questions.
"So Louise, may I ask you a few terms? Please answer them honestly for me." He stated. Let's see the situation as of now.
Louise snapped out of her sulking and raised an eyebrow. "Very well. Ask away familiar, but this better not be an attempt to humiliate me."
"It's not. Any Mana here?"
"Huh? What is that?" Louise replied in bewilderment.
"They can cast magic but do not have knowledge of Mana?" Naoki thought, shocked under his poker face. A magic user with no knowledge of Mana was the equivalent of a farmer with no knowledge of what he had to use for plants to grow. Perhaps they are using a much simpler system of magic?
He picked another term. "Devils?"
"Wha- Why would I have anything to do with monsters?!" The pink head cried with anger, thinking her new familiar was taunting her.
Great, just as he had thought; she was not a Devil Summoner. So was his summoning all an accident? Done by a young teenager no less?
Louise glared at him, her irritation level ever increasing. "Why are you so quiet all of a sudden? Are you done with your strange questions?" She huffed at him.
Naoki knew the look on the pink head, his past experience with tutoring rich, spoiled children told him he would regret it if he didn't watch his words. "... I am done, thank you."
"Good, familiar." The pink head turned away and started... stripping off her uniform?
If Naoki had still been a young human, he would have undoubtedly blushed and shouted at her display of shameless undressing. But the current him? He couldn't even flinch in an ocean of naked and horny women. One reason was because nudity had no effect on devil kinds. Good numbers of Angels, Goddesses, and Demons walked and flew around naked 24/7. He had seen enough flesh to last a human lifetime.
... Well, another reason was that surprise attack from the three naked, hungry Succubuses in the Assembly of Nihilo, back in the Vortex World long ago. That, unfortunately, left a long lasting impact to his idea of nudity.
So the Demi-Fiend watched apathetically as his new master undressed and then changed into a nightgown. As she did so, she randomly tossed her discarded clothing at him. He caught her panties before they hit his face.
Naoki stretched the fabric between his fingers. "Cotton underwear? It's almost modern quality too." This did not feel right to him, this item was almost twenty-first century store quality. This reality seemed to be more advanced then he had first thought... or did the method of making this come from elsewhere?
Louise yawned lightly. "I'm exhausted from the summoning, familiar. So I'm going to bed. Wash my uniform for me and be sure to wake me up tomorrow morning for class!"
"Where do I sleep?" He asked.
Louise fell onto the bed, only raising her arm to point to where a pile of straw laid as his answer. She quickly pulled her limb back into the warm covers. In seconds, she was whispering into her dreams.
Naoki sighed. This girl should be thankful that she had summoned him. Not even the kindest of Jack Frosts would take this kind of disrespect. She needed to learn her manners. Good thing she was still young and could change for the better.
The Demi-Fiend looked around the dark bedroom. He scanned the interior with his inhuman eye to avoid turning on the light. The room was plain, and the only thing that sparked his interest was Louise's work desk. On top of the wooden furniture were two mountains of paperwork.
He walked over to pick up a sheet of paper from the pile of study notes. His eyes widened when he tried to read it. "This is not French...?"
The letters were definitely not French. They looked more like some kind of long forgotten ancient writing, something that only old forgotten Gods would write. He just didn't understand why these people would even be speaking French, if their writing was something like this.
Naoki sighed the second time tonight and put down the paper. This well organized table filled with papers reminded him of his studying for his college exam...
An idea suddenly hit him about his summoner.
He randomly grabbed one of the books off of the shelf. He shuffled through the pages.
Almost every page that seemed of importance had been marked by the young girl's writing. Bookmarks littered the reading material and edges of the sheets had been flipped to their limits. This book must have been read literally over a hundred times. He returned the book to its proper place and proceeded to check on the other ones; all had been met with the same treatments.
"Interesting, this girl must have been studying every chance she got," thought Naoki, "I believe this is why she was so unsatisfied, I would too if I studied my whole life in a magic school and all I could summon seemed to be a mere human."
But he wasn't a mere human, and this girl did not know how impossibly lucky she was to have summoned him. She did something a thousand humans could not even hope to accomplish; She had called and contracted a being of his level as a familiar.
"Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière." Naoki whispered under his breath. "Just how well can you bare the responsibilities? Perhaps you will show me the meaning of being human again." He mused to himself the cliché line. Is this how being in Lucifer's mastermind role felt like? He guessed he could stick around for now.
He gathered up all of Louise's laundry and walked out of the room, deciding that he would explore the building. And along the way, maybe think of a way to return back to his reality.
While he had always been decent with house chores, the fact that he had to complete the task the old fashioned way, before the invention of the washing machine, did not amuse him. In the end, the demon just dropped the dirty clothing onto some servants he met. He then spent an hour exploring the building entirely and mapping out the area, avoiding people as he did.
Now with knowledge about his surroundings, Naoki shifted back to his main focus.
He walked to the base of the tallest structure available. The demon then made sure it was devoid of people. He took a strong leap and scaled up the wall in illuminating darkness with incredible speed, easily reaching the top of the castle tower in seconds.
He needed his bird's eye view, because of what was in the sky.
Two moons and a completely different star pattern.
Naoki stared upward to the blue and red planetary satellites while standing on top of the academy building. It was indisputable now, there was no way in hell this planet was Earth.
He sighed for the third time tonight and planted his butt on the roof tiles. There was no doubt that he had been summoned to not just an alternate Earth, where magic flourished, but rather most likely an entirely different planet that just happened to be similar to Earth. YHVH be damned for such a coincidence.
Conclusions to multiple evidences about this world came together in his head, as he tried to analyze the law of this reality; Peoples here spoke French but did not write in anything remotely similar to French. Mage nobles "enslave" non-mage peasants for the simple reason that they had access to magic. He couldn't seem to identify any demon activities, for the moment anyway.
His summoner was a young child that had yet to grow up, and she almost kissed him on the lips.
If Pixie was here she would mostly likely nuke him for the kiss part; but other than that, she would burst into happiness for being the first demon (probably) to access such an interesting reality.
Pixie...
He closed his eyes, trying to feel any presence of a flow of Magatsuhi in this land. Magatsuhi was a kind of subsistence naturally formed from human emotions; like suffering and anger. And each pool's amount was, of course, determined by the population living in the land of its source. If he could locate the flow, then he may be able to return back to his reality since all Magatsuhi eventually return to the Amala Network, which itself is universal and connects to all time and space.
...
...
...
Oh bel, he didn't expect this amount. It was thicker than the current Tokyo as well as a similar match to currents in poor regions of South Africa or India. Then again, he shouldn't be surprised. A monarchy system is running the government after all, there was bound to be poor farmers begging for their taxes to be lowered and greedy nobles feasting on their misery.
The question now was; could he take advantage of this?
Gathering Mana between his closing hands, he tried a summoning of his own. This was a skill he often used back in the Vortex World when he and his demon allies were separated by great distances. This spell would normally take very minimal costs in terms of energy for a being his level, but the Hitoshura had never tried using it across a time and space of this magnitude.
I call upon thee...
This was the only demon he was going to risk summoning. The one that had been with him ever since the very beginning and had the strongest bond with him. The one that would have no chance of ending up as a disgusting outcome like it had happened to Mara.
... the Fairy blessed by the depth of Amala...
He threw his right arm upward and unleashed the call.
... Pixie!
Pixie was pissed.
But in reality, under that façade, she was actually concerned and anxious.
She had stupidly thought her lover had stepped out of the office for a breather, but after waiting for half an hour and consuming her freshly baked treats waiting for his return, she realized he had disappeared without first informing her! The nerve he had!
Now she was flying like a moth out of hell all over Tokyo, searching, had been doing so for four hours straight. She had almost wasted 1% of her near limitless stamina by now. At this rate she might have to expand this game of peek-a-boo to Makai. Something she would like to push off doing since the rumor of Hitoshura's disappearance would most likely be discovered by the other demons, causing hell.
"Damn it, Naoki~kun! Where did you go?!" The Fairy race demon puffed up her cheeks like a young child asking for candy, looking over the city on top of the Tokyo Tower as she tried to clear her mind for clues.
Just where was Naoki Kashima? Pixie wondered the possibilities:
Dead somewhere? She laughed at the very idea of it: 1) because she could still feel their connection as summoner and summonee, and 2) it was beyond the realm of possibility.
Kidnapped? Pff, dream on. She may have to give that possibility a second chance though.
Ran off somewhere...?
Pixie dismissed the idea instantly; Naoki loved her, a lot. And she had been with him ever since the beginning! What was the point of cheating? (But if this really was the case than he would be paying with his life...) Besides, she knew him like the back of her hand; he wasn't that type of person.
Her head looked up to the dark sky, which was unfortunately not-at-all dark due to light pollution from the city. It was amazing how much the humans could screw up a new moon night of star gazing. "Naoki~kun..."
Speak of the devil, she suddenly felt a call; A summoning to be exact. Immediately, Pixie's eyes brightened delightfully. There was only one contact who could summon her in the universe. And that lucky person was none other than her Naoki~kun! It seemed she was just worrying over nothing, and she would totally still be at home if she had foreseen this.
"Gee... You could have called earlier." The blue clothed fairy muttered crossly. She didn't know why he didn't just appear and instead used the hard way by summoning her, but whatever. All that matters was he wanted her at his side and she would answer, then scold him by his side.
With that note, she vanished from this reality, with little difficulty bypassing the laws of time and space to get to her partner's side.
The summoning from this world costed almost the amount of Mana an average human body generated per day. It was easy for him as he have Mana Aid and Mana Surge to minimize the cost, but for that young girl it was flat out suicide. She should've fainted for even trying; no matter how knowledgeable she was. Now the mystery of the case just deepened.
After a small flash of black light...
"NAOKI-KUN, WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN-?!"
Cursing why he dismissed Masakados earlier. He switched to the next best thing, Gaia, immediately, just in time to take the physical assort from the angry Pixie with his right forearm. He could have used some other one, with Null, Absorb, or Repel Phys, but he wouldn't have been able to access their ability quickly enough.
And even with Gaia, the attack caused him slight pain. He was glad though, that his partner didn't try to pierce his resistance or else his arm would have broken or worse from her harmless looking punch.
"Pixie... You're here."
"You bet you rear I am! You should be glad I'm here! Do you know how worried I was!? You made me spend the entire evening flying everywhere looking for you! You jerk...!" The blue fairy ranted on, but became silent when she was pulled into the Demi-fiend's chest for a hug.
Both demons remained like that for a few seconds before parting. Pixie blushed embarrassingly. "Whatever... I'll forgive you this time, Naoki~kun..."
Naoki made a mental note of the hug's success; this technique surely come in handy every time.
Pixie was about to open her mouth and ask where the heck they were when she noticed the dense amount of magic in the air. Her instincts told her to look up.
She caught the sight of two moons, and turned to Naoki with her mouth hanging open.
The Demi-fiend shrugged. "Before you begin shouting your list of questions, let's go check on the one who summoned me into this reality first, then you can scream."
Louise was dreaming very hazily that night. She was experiencing the memories of her familiar.
... A beautiful civilization, reduced to an enclosed sphere of barren wasteland in a matter of few days...
... Almost 120 million people had their lives forcefully taken, their very essences converted into fuel for the making of a new world...
... All because of a madman who dreamt of a world of silence...
... The only survivors from the catastrophe were...
... A woman who lost her way in life and had forsaken the world for its self-destructive life style...
... A man who carried a sin from his previous life...
... A rich, young girl who wished to be the strongest, so only the beautiful can exist in the world...
... A young man who wished to have his own personal world of safety...
... And lastly, a young man that only wanted to see the world return to the way it once was. But it was he that was forced into choosing one of the ideals...
... A world of absolute silence... A world which only the strong survived... A world of individual solitude...
... Which one would he choose? Or did he have another choice?...
... A blonde old man on a wheelchair grinned behind him...
AuthorNCS: Yay! I got this optimized! This rewrite could have been updated faster if it wasn't for the fact that I broke my right hand.
This rewrite got lucky, because P4U and P4G got released during the delay. Both games gave me a lot to work with. Things may come and go when SMT4 is release.
I had so much fun recycling usable things from the original. But seriously, I should've gone and asked some other writers on this site and ask for approval for using some of their starting dialogue. The summoning scenes are usually very similar for each crossover anyway. (Wait actually... I think I did.)
Now the return of the trivial!
Trivial:
1. In Anime Saimoe Tournament, Louise managed to enter the top 8 positions 3 times; rank #5 in 2007, #7 in 2009, and recently #6 in 2012.
2. The over all of Louise's character bares similarity to a certain blond ninja wannabe.
-Both are school outcasts. Social as well as Grade wise.
-Have done incredible amounts of hard work behind the scenes.
-Eager to prove themselves that they're not useless.
-Have some kind of hidden skill that make them a power house.
But the good thing is that, unlike the blond moron, Louise is actually competent with knowledge and isn't annoying.
3. For the reason noted above, she is actually a really workable character in crossovers. Her possibility of summoning anything helps too. Louise actually worked much better then that annoyance, story wise.
4. For those of you who don't know, the author of Zero no Tsukaima also wrote Strike Witches.
*Surprisingly, these series are the few non-hentai work Noboru Yamaguchi has done. But the "perversity" elements are still clearly there.*
5. Louise bears extreme similarity to Reo Kawamura from Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke o yuri series. Both characters have similar appearance and hair style. Both are Tsunderes to their love interest, lolis, raised in a rich family, and have very little understanding of common life. There's also them having breast issues with other females.
6. Number one running cliché is that Louise will dream of her familiar's life during crossovers. This seems to have started from The Hill of Swords by gabriel blessing.
7. The "demons don't need to breathe" thing came from Disgaea 4.
8. In Nocturne, it is incredibly easy to max out Ultra-Pixie's stats. Just fuse her with 8 Mitamas and she will get the maximum 40 for each stats. She can then hit as hard as any physical attacker.
9. Technically, if Pixie had gotten herself more dialogues in Nocturne, then she would have been the ONLY ally character that didn't fail/betray Hitoshura in one way or another.
10. Love of the Seven Sea is my cousin's running gag. (It works like the Featherman Live Action Show in Persona, unfortunately, none of you will ever get a laugh out of this.)
11. A LOT of new players died in Nocturne due to a surprised attack from Succubus during the Assembly of Nihilo dungeon. Getting the worst of luck with the Dormina+Eternal Rest combo.
12. It's highly questionable whether or not the Conception affected the entire planet or just to Japan. Judging from the vortex world map, only Japanese locations shown up. It seems that Kagutsuchi had only forged its crust out of the three islands. It is possible people outside of Japan are aware of the sudden disappearance of the land of the raising sun.
*Personally, they seem to suggest the world's time had been stopped during the catastrophe. So it doesn't matter in the long run until the recreation of the world.*
13. Masakados got altered again in this story, it will now block EVERYTHING that isn't Almighty. Even Gun, Tera, and Aqua, which are elements that does not exist in Nocturne.
Now speaking of reviews, since the start of my other co-write story. I came to hate all reviews with the tone of "good stoy bro", "thanks for the update" (I am looking at you, bakapervert. You are a cool reader, but your reviews are annoying.) , and "I hope you don't drop this story." Any anonymous reviews with those pointless words will be removed. If you have a plot question, review with your account so I can PM your answers! Please!
On a side note, go read The Attendant of Zero by formerly just a watcher, and flood it with reviews! I want that to update on time, darn it!
See ya all next time!