Okay, here is the next chapter.
First things first though, I'm going to answer a couple of reviews:
Firstly, to everyone talking about how Caladbolg damages things and how it negates durability, all I have to say is "Disgaea doesn't care". In Disgaea, there are attacks that warp space to inflict damage, there are attacks that throw people into stars, there are attacks that cut dimensions... none of it matters because in Disgaea, everything is cosmetic. That is why I decided it was easier to simply put the Nasuverse in the Disgaeaverse instead of the other way around, because as far as Disgaea is concerned it can all pretty much just be summed up as "who cares about consistency, we're pretty much just actors in a game anyway".
In simple terms, Rules are Flexible.
Now onto specific reviews:
salomjesus3: Yes, all the characters before the 'endgame' will be OC's... I know there are people who probably won't like that but that's the way it goes.
Masterx01: I did specify 'casual' planet buster. If you want to include such things as DarkDeathEvilman wiping out half a galaxy with a single attack then feel free, I was just pointing out that the destructive level of Disgaea is much higher than the Nasuverse.
EddyQ: I decided to post this as its own fic because I already had this chapter written and decided that I would make this on official story instead of just a first chapter in my WIP collection.
Tama Saga: What do you expect? Disgaea is full of Genre Savvyness and 4 wall Awareness/breaking... and it's only going to get worse in this chapter.
0-0 b: Shirou couldn't copy the Onyx Blade, mainly because Gigs is a person first and a sword second. As for Zetta, I prefer him as a humanoid... especially when Petta is around for him to worry about.
duskrider: I will admit, that D2 is one of the games I haven't played. Mainly because my ps3 died before it came out and I haven't subscribed to PSNow since it as released on there... thinking of changing that but I have plenty of other things to finish anyway.
Anyway... now that that is over... let's just get on with the fic.
Emiya Shirou braced himself as he continued to watch his new foe.
He didn't know if he could possibly defeat this creature, after all, if she could shrug off Caladbolg like it was nothing then he didn't know if he had anything in his Reality Marble that had the power to inflict any real damage on her.
Holding the Black and White Swords in his hands, he prepared himself to defend himself as soon as this demonic girl moved.
He wasn't a fool, he may have been reckless and have practically zero sense of self-preservation when it came to saving people but he wasn't an idiot.
He knew that he was no match for a normal servant, he knew that despite looking like a teenage girl, this demon was likely not far off one hundred times older than him and significantly more powerful.
However, none of that mattered when the lives of others were on the line and with Adari in the area, he was not going to retreat even if it cost him his life.
"Emiya-kun, you really shouldn't be here," the very same plant demon spoke up with a shocking lack of concern over the situation as a whole.
"Adari-san… get out of here," he said with complete seriousness in his tone as he refused to take his eyes of the foe before him.
He was almost distracted by the sigh of exasperation that came from the plant demon.
"Emiya-kun... she's so far beyond your level that I'm impressed you could even scratch her," he found himself swallowing nervously at that reminder but refused to do anything more than steel himself for the upcoming confrontation.
"I know," he admitted without preamble as he started to wonder why the enemy wasn't attacking yet.
He almost blinked in surprise when she proceeded to look rather condescendingly at her watch before releasing a sigh and looking at them.
"Are you two quite finished chatting yet?" Lotsa Plotz proceeded to call out with irritation clear in her tone, "I'm on a deadline here."
"Yeah yeah," Adari responded with a rather dismissive gesture before moving in his direction and moving past him, "well Emiya-kun, let's just hope you've got some serious plot armour… because you're gonna need it."
He found himself blinking at that claim.
What did Adari even mean by that?
He soon found the plant-like demon leaving the area while the gun toting girl did nothing to try and stop it.
"Now, are you quite finished?" he found himself frowning once more as he got into a defensive posture.
"Why are you even asking that?" he honestly couldn't fathom why events turned out the way they did.
"Because I'm beginning to get really annoyed that you keep wasting my time like this!" once again, Shirou found himself frowning in confusion at the demon princess's complaint.
"But why are you waiting for me in the first place?" it was something he just couldn't understand, didn't pragmatism dictate that you attacked your foe when they were least expecting it?
"Because unlike you," she seemed to make certain she spat out the 'you' in a very accusatory manner, "some of us are not so uncouth as to interrupt an expository scene."
He once again blinked in disbelief.
"I… I'm sorry… but did you just say that you didn't attack because it would be impolite?" he couldn't wrap his head around that… she was a demon so why did it matter if she was impolite or not?
"Are you ready or not already?!" she shouted at him with her face taking on a rather red hue at his questioning and he found himself deciding to do something that could prove rather underhanded given this girl's current methodology.
"Uh… no?" he lied, wondering if she would take that at face value and wait for him some more or if she'd just lose it and attack him regardless.
"THEN HURRY UP!" her frustration was clear to him and he found himself silently thanking whatever deity was listening for her to be so gullible.
He quickly found himself searching his reality marble for weapons that could potentially harm the girl in front of him and he found himself internally frowning as even the most powerful blades he possessed would likely do little more than scratch her if a Broken Caladbolg could barely do anything.
However he soon picked out one blade in particular, one that he had probably gotten from his brief period spent inside Archer's own version of Unlimited Blade Works.
Hopefully this would be capable of cutting the girl at the very least.
So he prepared his Magic Circuits in preparation to call forth the blade before charging at the demon princess.
She seemed to blink in response to his charge before scowling and raising her gun, prompting him to cross Kanshou and Byakuya in front of him as he continued his charge.
He had only one shot at this after all.
There was a thundering shot as the demon girl pulled the trigger and Shirou immediately regretted trying to block the attack.
Kanshou and Byakuya may have only been C- rank Noble Phantasms but they were noble phantasms none the less.
And they had been shattered like nothing by whatever bullet struck them.
To make matters even worse for him, the force of the strike had numbed his arms and enough force had made its way past his defence to nearly crush his ribcage and knock him back several feet.
"… is that it?" the demonic girl sounded almost disappointed in how little he managed to do before her.
He gritted his teeth as he considered the cost of his Reality Marble's limitations.
If he had known how powerful that weapon was then he would've dodged it or at the very least used a shield instead of his swords.
At least he had managed to give Adari a chance to run away.
But what did that chance really mean in the grand scheme of things? How far could Adari get before it was caught again?
Shirou once again gritted his teeth as he forced himself to get up despite the pain he was currently in… he had to at the very least stop this foe.
"Oh? Getting up?" the gun wielder seemed almost amused by his attempt at standing before levelling her gun at him once again, "we'll soon fix that."
Shirou found himself immediately pulling Rho Aias from his reality marble and using it to block the next shot, cringing in pain as the first three petals were shattered in an instant.
It honestly made him wonder just how he managed to survive the first strike.
"Eh?" his ears caught the sound of the demon girl and he looked towards her to see her staring at his shield with… were those sparkles in her eyes?
"You! What is your name?!" the Purple dressed girl demanded of him.
"E… Emiya, Shirou," he gritted out through the pain, silently wondering if he'd have any chance of surviving this encounter or if this was as far as he could go against demons.
"Hmm… can you fix that pink thing?" her question made him frown… did she mean Rho Aias? "well? Can you or can't you?"
"D-do you mean Rho Aias?" he tried to clarify, earning a confused stare from the horned girl.
"Is that what you call the pink thing that blocked my shot?" okay, so she definitely meant Rho Aias.
"Y… yes," he admitted to her, causing her to nod before frowning.
"Wait… did you mean yes that is what you call it or yes you can fix it?" it was actually rather disturbing to be in this situation… she held the clear advantage and seemed to have no intention of finishing him off.
"And what do you think you're doing young lady?" a new voice cut through the air and Shirou found himself gritting his teeth yet again as the girl proceeded to let out an 'eep' as someone appeared behind her before Shirou could even process the stranger's sudden appearance.
The fact that the demonic girl looked absolutely terrified of this stranger only made Shirou even more nervous at their sudden appearance.
"S-S-Sebastian?!" she seemed shocked to see him and due to her moving to face the stranger, Shirou finally managed to get a good look at them.
They were surprisingly short, only being about five foot if his estimate was right, however the stranger definitely had a more mature complexion, nothing that would indicate he was out of his prime but more than enough to indicate he wasn't young.
Beyond that, he wore what appeared to be a relatively standard butler uniform while his red hair was slicked back.
Nothing about his appearance screamed threatening but Shirou found himself unable to do anything but stare as he was confronted by a pressure that made him wish he was facing down Berserker alone and without magecraft.
"Your father expressly stated that you were to return on the hour," the butler stated firmly, "it is currently over three minutes past the hour and you still have not returned."
Three minutes?
This monster showed up because she was a mere three minutes late?
Shirou suddenly found himself feeling completely inconsequential as he considered how powerful this 'Vile Plotz' person must be to have a monster like this working for him.
"B-but!" the purple dressed girl stated only to be cut off the stranger.
"It is obvious that you do not grant your father the respect he deserves," the redheaded butler stated with closed eyes before opening them to reveal orbs of scarlet on black, "you are to return immediately to face a punishment deemed suitable by your father."
"Y… yes Sebastian," the gun wielding girl deflated as the stranger grabbed a hold of her and vanished in an instant.
Shirou could do little more than grit his teeth as he finally allowed Rho Aias to disperse… he had managed to survive thanks to pure luck and the timely intervention of an even more powerful enemy.
He needed to find a way to get stronger and quickly at that.
But right now, he needed to get back to Trey and get healed before he died of internal bleeding.
XXX THE FATE OF A HERO COMPLEX OVERLORD XXX
Shirou could do little more than grimace as he was finally healed up by the boy that had taken him in when he had first appeared in this world.
Despite everything, he had been pretty much completely useless against Lotsa Plotz and she was clearly outclassed by that Sebastian person.
The worst part however, was probably the whole fact that he didn't know of any way that could allow him to even come close to those monsters even with the rest of his life to train.
"What's wrong Emiya-kun?" he found his attention drawn towards the familiar face of Adari as the plant demon spoke up.
He had been somewhat surprised to discover that it had decided to take refuge at Trey's house but it was a rather nice sight that reminded him that his pain hadn't been for nothing.
"Sorry," he decided to apologize, "I guess I'm just not strong enough to face those guys."
He felt his depression return full force.
He honestly couldn't think of a way to stop Vile Plotz army, not when it had such immensely powerful monsters like that amongst its members.
"So what?" he found himself blinking at Adari's question, "you survived your last encounter."
"Because of pure luck," he pointed out bluntly, causing Adari to snort in amusement.
"It's called plot armour," the flower like creature stated easily, "it just means you're a main character."
Shirou couldn't stop himself.
He just stared at Adari blankly as he tried to comprehend just how distorted someone has to be to believe such a thing.
"Adari… plot armour isn't real," he once again spoke bluntly, earning an amused smirk off the demon.
"If you say so," the way the plant like creature said that was probably one of the most condescending tones he had ever heard… and given that he had been friends with Shinji, that was really saying something.
"So, what are you planning on doing now?" Shirou found his attention drawn back to Trey as the little medic stood there with an amused smile on his lips as well.
"… I don't know," he honestly didn't know what he could do right now.
He definitely wanted to fight the Overlords army but he had just learned that he wasn't even remotely close to anyone important when it came to power despite being pretty certain that the typical foot soldiers weren't any real threat to the world given how easily he had dispatched some of them.
So what use was he really?
Once again he found himself trapped in a situation where he was massively outclassed and would have to rely on another achieve his goal of saving as many lives as possible.
"I want to help fight this guy… but…" he trailed off as he made that admission, despite how hard he had worked, despite having a reality marble filled with legendary weapons that he could use effectively… he was still powerless before these enemies.
"You don't stand at chance at your current level," Trey stated easily and he nodded in acknowledgement, "well we'll just have to fix that won't we."
Shirou found himself looking at the healer in disbelief.
Did Trey really think he could get strong enough to stand against those monsters?
"And how am I supposed to get strong enough to face them?" he asked cautiously, earning a grin off the healer.
"By forcibly reincarnating you of course," the boy answered with amusement clear in his tone.
Shirou for his part could only stare at him in confusion.
"Wouldn't that mean killing me?" he asked bluntly, earning a sigh of dismay from the other boy.
"No, it just means dismantling your body and rebuilding it around your soul," the blood soaked healer answered easily, "though we'll probably have to do it a few times to get you a good base."
Okay, now Trey had completely lost him.
"Why does getting reincarnated multiple times matter?" surely reincarnation was meant to reset his existence each time.
"Because we're talking about forced reincarnation, not natural reincarnation," that made him frown, "natural reincarnation is meant to reset you… forced reincarnation is meant to use your current power to empower your base."
Wait… using his current power to improve his base?
"So… if I did this… how strong would I be?" he asked nervously, earning a shrug off the duo.
"Probably a little weaker than you are right now," Adari admitted easily, "but you'd soon grow stronger."
Okay, so weaker in the short term, stronger in the long term.
There wasn't really a choice to be made here.
"All right," he looked at the little cleric with resolve clear in his eyes, "let's do it."
XXX THE FATE OF A HERO COMPLEX OVERLORD XXX
Shirou couldn't stop himself from frowning at his new body.
It didn't look any different to how it did before but something felt… off.
"Something feels wrong," he admitted with a frown, earning a small chuckle off the plant like Adari.
"That's probably because of your level limit being removed," Trey answered with a shrug, "before you were near your limit, so getting used to having it raised is going to be weird for you to start with."
Shirou once again found himself staring blankly at the other boy, it was almost like he thought this was some sort of video game with the way he was talking.
"That makes no sense," he stated bluntly, earning a shrug off the boy.
"Well it makes sense to me," the demonic boy responded without hesitation, "just because you have no idea what we're talking about doesn't mean we're not right."
Shirou honestly didn't know how to respond to that. It wasn't like he could disprove that claim and he had no idea of what was happening to him so he was just going to have to accept it.
It still made no sense however.
"Okay, fine," he conceded before deciding to ask an important question, "so how long will it take to train myself for the upcoming battles?"
"Dunno," he had to blink at that. He had no idea how long it would take to get back up to his previous level and that was completely powerless before that Lotsa Plotz girl who was clearly below that Sebastian character.
And if he was right, then Lord Vile Plotz was likely to be on an even higher level than Sebastian.
He definitely had his work cut out for him right now.
"Fine, then I guess I'll start my training," he said before looking at the current area and nodding to himself as he proceeded to let himself fall into a prone position, where he immediately started to perform push-ups.
"… what are you doing?" Adari asked with clear confusion in its tone.
"Training," he responded bluntly.
"How is that training?" the plant demon asked him with a frown.
"I'm working my muscles," he pointed out with confusion at the fact the demon didn't know what he was doing.
"... does that even work?" the plant asked with even more confusion.
"Well how else would I get stronger?" he pointed out easily.
"By fighting," he had to blink at that claim.
"What?" it didn't make sense to him that such a claim would be made.
"Well, it's normal for a demon to get stronger by fighting," Adari stated with a tilt of its head.
He had to blink at that claim.
"Well, I'm not a demon," he pointed out easily.
"Yes you are," Trey piped in and he found himself freezing at that.
"… what?" that was all he could say in response to that claim.
"You're a demon," Shirou couldn't stop himself from staring at the healer.
"What do you mean I'm a demon? I'm a human," he stated easily.
"Not anymore," that claim made him frown… until he realised why such a statement could be true.
"Wait… do you mean you reincarnated me as a demon instead of a human?" he asked with uncertainty in his tone.
"Yep," the ease with which Trey admitted that made him frown, "after all, your old body was restricted by the limits set by your native universe... so turning you into a demon removed those limits."
Shirou found himself lost for words.
On one hand, he had been turned into a demon without any warning… on the other hand, since he wasn't human anymore he'd be more than capable of becoming stronger and more capable of saving people.
There wasn't really any question as to which was more important to him.
"Fine," he let the matter drop before making his next comment, "so then how am I supposed to get stronger?"
"Simple, you fight, fight and fight some more," Adari stated with an amused grin.
For his part, Shirou felt himself frown at that explanation… he wasn't used to the idea of improving because of fighting, even if he had grown immensely back when he fought both Archer and Gilgamesh.
Which actually made him frown.
Those fights were already proof that it was possible to improve over the course of a battle so why was he dismissing this explanation just because he wasn't going to have any ground breaking revelations mid fight?
"All right then, I'll give it a shot," he conceded earning a nod of agreement from the duo.
"First things first though," Trey started before throwing something at him, "gotta give you this."
Shirou caught the offending object easily before noticing it was necklace with some type of crest hanging from it.
"Uh… what's the deal with this?" he asked, earning a sigh off the duo.
"Just put it on," Trey said with a frown on his face.
Shirou didn't know what the deal with this object was but he did as he was told.
Almost immediately, he felt power flowing into him, making his eyes widen in shock at the power he now felt flowing through his body… it was clear that this object had made him stronger just by being worn but at the same time, he felt lethargic due to it.
He was about to question the tiredness he felt when the blonde boy proceeded to point his staff at him and he felt his lethargy vanish as if it had never been there.
His mind worked slowly to try and figure out what had just happened.
"An imperial seal grants you power but it doesn't reinvigorate you," the plant demon stated easily, obviously seeing his confusion at the situation.
"Ah, thanks Adari-san," was the only response he could make before clearing his head, "okay, so now I've got to find someone to fight against."
He felt more confident than he would've before, mainly due to the fact that this imperial seal was granting him enough strength that he was certain he surpassed his pre-reincarnation self in every area.
"Well, you could always find one of Vile Plotz's units and kill them," Trey offered easily.
Shirou found himself frowning at that statement.
"But what if I come across a good person being forced to fight for him?" he asked without hesitation.
"… you really don't get what these generic evil armies are like do you?" Trey asked with a sweatdrop of disbelief.
"There's no such thing as a 'generic evil army', everyone has something to fight for," Shirou pointed out without missing a beat, honestly the mere fact that the boy thought such a thing was ludicrous.
"Perhaps in a more morally complex setting, but in a place like this, there definitely are generic evil armies," the healer responded to him easily, "sure the higher ups might have more complex motivations but the grunts tend to just be puppy kicking evil."
Shirou honestly didn't know what to think of that line of thought.
Did Trey honestly think that such a situation was even remotely rational?
In the end, all he could do was stare at the guy who casually dismissed an entire army as being nothing more than a bunch of murderous psychopaths.
"… fine then," the boy relented with clear frustration, "if you see anyone that's being forced to fight against their will, feel free to try and recruit them."
He nodded in agreement.
Recruiting was fine so he wasn't going to argue with that idea.
That was when he stalled.
"What do you mean 'recruit them'?" he asked in confusion, earning a blank stare off the healer.
"If you're going to try and take down Vile Plotz, you're going to need an army," the blonde boy stated bluntly, "so recruiting his own minions into your ranks wouldn't hurt… well, as long as they're not going to turn on you as soon as it's convenient."
An army.
Such an idea had never occurred to Shirou and he found himself frowning at it.
He didn't want an army, if he was leading an army then there was more chance for the people he's supposed to be protecting to die.
"No," he stated bluntly, "I'm doing this because I want to save as many people as I can, putting them in harms way is only going to risk them unnecessarily."
"And if you fail, they're going to die anyway," Trey said with amusement in his tone, "so let them decide for themselves if they're going to risk their lives for this war."
Shirou couldn't stop himself from freezing at that statement.
While it was true, it didn't change the fact that he didn't like the idea of risking others when he could simply risk himself.
"I don't like it," he admitted.
"Well tough, you're not going to defeat Vile Plotz without help," the blonde demon stated firmly, "so either get yourself an army or fail miserably."
He could do little more than frown at that.
"I've fought his forces already, they're pretty weak so as long as I can grow strong enough to fight him then I should be fine," he pointed out without hesitation.
"… Seriously?" Adari sounded unconvinced, "haven't you ever heard of The Sorting Algorithm Of Evil?"
"The what?" there was nothing else he could say in response to that question.
"The Sorting Algorithm of Evil," the healer of the group spoke up again, "the guy's you fought were the weakest of the weak, the guys that you'll be fighting when you reach Plotz will probably be several times stronger than his daughter."
Shirou found himself unsure what to think.
It sounded a bit too contrived but at the same time, the idea that Plotz would keep his strongest minions close by made sense.
But he still didn't want to risk the lives of others in this conflict.
"I just don't like the idea of risking others," he said once again.
"You're beginning to sound like a broken record," Trey pointed out with a frown, "just get it through your thick skull that this is bigger than you and demons are entitled to fight for themselves."
"If you don't accept this… then I'll tie you up and keep you safe and warm inside my bulb," Adari stated with a grin.
"F-fine!" he may have hated the idea of risking others… but the idea of being tied up, trapped inside a person and unable to fight wasn't something he felt even remotely comfortable with.
"Good," Trey spoke up with a grin, "now, I've got stuff to get sorted, so why not go and pick a fight with some grunts."
And with a wave of the healers hand, a dimensional portal opened up before him, causing him to take a deep breath as he jumped through in preparation of facing whoever was on the other side.
XXX THE FATE OF A HERO COMPLEX OVERLORD XXX
Shirou couldn't stop himself from frowning as he returned through the dimensional gate.
He had thought Trey was exaggerating or stereotyping the type of demons that worked for Vile Plotz.
But no, these people actually were kicking a puppy for no better reason than to prove themselves as being heartless monsters and completely evil… they even told him that was why they were doing it.
Honestly, he found it hard to believe such a way of thinking even existed.
"So…" Trey spoke up with amusement clear in his voice, "how did it go?"
"…" he remained silent as he walked past the healer while trying to suppress the previous encounter from his mind.
"Well come on," the blond healer spoke up again, "was I right or was I right?"
"… yes," he hated to admit it but the healer was right, this particular batch of grunts was generically evil.
"Told you so," the grin that was worn by the bleeding boy definitely fit the words he said, "anyway, we've still got to wait until Rosen Queen is set up before you can buy equipment… but at least I've managed to get someone to hire for you."
Shirou froze at that statement.
"What do you mean hire?" he asked in confusion before Trey pointed towards something and he followed it until his gaze landed upon what he was certain the healer was directing him to.
It was a male demon that looked like a stereotypical, cloak wearing cowboy from the old Western movies… with the exception of the missing shirt under the cloak that is.
"Who's that?" he asked, earning a snort of amusement off the demonic boy.
"The recruiter," it was a simple answer and Shirou found himself staring at the boy blankly once again, "what? That's his name."
Shirou seriously doubted that statement.
But it was unlikely that Trey would tell him the truth so he decided to just drop the matter and meet with the new person.
"Hello," he called out to the gunslinger who simply nodded in greeting, "I'm Emiya Shirou it's nice to meet you mister…"
"Not mister," the stranger said firmly, "I am The Recruiter."
The red haired Magus once again found himself frozen in disbelief.
"T-that can't really be your name can it?" he asked in disbelief, earning a blank expression from the demon.
"Of course it can," the response was clearly annoyed but the stranger proceeded to continue with what he was saying regardless, "now are you going to recruit some one? Since it's your first time that kid over there is going to pay for it."
Shirou couldn't stop himself from staring blankly at the recruiter… he had honestly not expected to ever have such a conversation with anyone but then again, he hadn't expected to show up in a Demon Infested Netherworld that looked surprisingly normal.
"Uh… why is Trey going to pay?" he asked before realising that he hadn't actually made anything since he came to this world.
"Ask him yourself," the response wasn't something he had been expecting, "now are you going to see about recruiting someone or not?"
Shirou honestly didn't know what to do.
Recruiting demons did make some sense but once again, his desire to not put others at risk was rearing its head.
"Just get him a ranged support unit," he almost jumped upon hearing Adari behind him, "the idiot won't hire anyone unless you make him."
Turning to face the Alraune, he opened his mouth to deny that allegation but was cut off by The Recruiter.
"How does a level one blue mage named Trinity sound?" the gunner asked earning a nod of agreement off the plant demon, "all right then, I'll let her know you're going to hire her."
Shirou turned to the man as he pressed something on what he could only assume was a tablet PC.
Honestly it was actually rather weird seeing such a thing in this setting.
"Done, she should arrive in a few seconds," Shirou didn't understand what the guy meant by that… until a portal opened before him and someone stepped out.
"Hello there, you must be my new boss!" the stranger was a young girl wearing a dark blue robe and possessing vibrant blue hair and light blue eyes, "thank you for hiring me, I can't wait to die for you!"
"…"
Silence reigned at that claim.
It was at that point that Shirou decided that he was going to have a harder time saving people than he had initially expected.
And that is all for now.
Also... just to make it clear, Lotsa Plotz is actually pretty weak... more along the lines of Second Boss level as opposed to even Mid Boss Level. On top of that, she was half assing the 'fight'.
On top of that, yes, Shirou has plot armor.
What else did you expect?
Anyway, Shadow out.
