Disclaimer: I do not own Overlord or any other intellectual property used in this story intentional or otherwise.
Note: Be warned Implied sexual hints ahead.
(Sounds)
"Talking"
'Thinking'
-Messages
Special Item Name
"Special voice"
[Spoken Spell/Ability]
{Wordless Spell/Ability}
'-I've been betrayed!' Was all I could think of after I saw the arms appear, it was already over.
'I can't believe I'm about to die. If I die here, then I basically just lied and lead those six into a slaughterhouse they can't escape from. Not only that, but I'm going to die before I even learn what happened, why I was transported into my avatar's body for real. Why all the NPC's suddenly came to life or why my creations were trying to kill me. Now everything I've done will be pointless because I'm about to die.' The two arms snaked closer to my neck.
'If Kall's bow and apology were anything to go on then he's part of this too. If he wasn't then he would have given me more than an apology, but instead a warning or rather some form of assistance. Against the two of them the odds are pretty bleak, With Anima's ability to act as a raw damage dealer and Kall's absurd defense stat we're fucked. Even if Barthandelus was helping us it would be a near impossible. If he wasn't then the situation was entirely unwinnable.' Now the arms were loosely touching the flesh on my neck.
'The only thing I can't figure out is why Kall would betray me? Unless all their behaviors weren't what I had set them as in the game, but if that were true then why did Barthandelus obey me? He could have easily fought back if that were true, yet he didn't.' The arms came closer to my skin, now covering my whole neck.
'So why were these two the ones to kill me? If anything the only one to want that would be Barthandelus after what I threatened to do. Maybe this was the plan, to get my hopes up and then crush them into dust. If that was the plan I have to say is rather devious, but I have to give them credit for pulling it off so well. Either way it didn't matter. I was now second's way from dying and I can't do anything, but accept it. Even if did get out of this hold then what? I face 2-3 raid level bosses with nothing, but level five offensive magic and a few regular NPC's. I was done for…' I momentarily stopped thinking of escape routes and simply felt the hands grow tighter and tighter until… they stopped?
'What? Had she reconsidered on how to kill me or was she only meant to hold me in place for the real attack.' I looked over at the other to Guardians. Barthandelus seemed to have taken the seat farthest to me as expected after our exchange, he seemed unaffected by my predicament. Kall had yet to move from his spot and if anything was now bowing deeper than before. The five guest in the room were all looking at me like I was an idiot and strangely also seemed unaffected by the situation.
'What, were they in on this too? I know they have a right to be pissed, but they literally had no time to plan this with the other three. Unless they all somehow devised this while it was all still a game to me, yes that must be it. Why else would they look at me like tha-' Halve way through my thinking a loud shriek assaulted my ear. I believe it sounded like something along the lines of. "THANK YOU ERDRICK-SAMA" But I couldn't be too sure on account of my busted ear drums.
At this point the sound had shocked me into taking control of my limbs again. The first thing I did was cover my ears off instinct and then shout out the first spell that came to mind.
[Bind]
Quickly a familiar ripple in space formed in front of me and eight chains burst from it. The chains flew around my form and latched onto the figure behind me. Once the arms around me were pulled off by the chains and I made my next move. I let one of the hands on my ears leave and with it reached into my inventory to pull out the first weapon I could think of, that weapon being Monsters Blight.
'Not the best, but it'll have to do.' I finished by turning around. It seemed the spell also knew how to do something I simply think of. The chains had tied themselves around the figures four main limbs, two around each.
The figure that had destroyed my eardrums was definitely Anima. She wore the standard Summoner's attire, a primarily purple kimono with an outline of dark ocean blue in contrast to my shadow green one. The sash that came with the Summoner's costume was also present as it stretched across and in between the girl's considerable bust. Long and unkempt brown hair mired her face, chocolate brown eyes and a pair of thin lips spread across here simple face. She sported a look rather similar to my own and with good reason. She was supposed to be my sister in game after all.
"What do you believe you were doing Anima? You know it's against guild rules to attack a fellow guild member, let alone the leader." I was now pointing the staff at her in what I hoped was a threatening matter. I heard a slight shift of armor behind me, removing the hand from my other ear I pointed to were the sound came from without turning around.
"Don't move another inch Kall or you'll be next." I heard what sounded like armor seizing up behind me at the command.
'It seems like he's still listening to orders, if he's not with her then why apologize. Must mean she somehow forced him to give her the ring, but how? She has no illusion based magic like Barthandelus so how did she trick him.' Anima seemed rather unimpressed with the situation she was in.
"Answer me Anima, what have you done?" I knew she could escape the unenhanced [Bind] spell if she wanted too, so why hadn't she?
She began to make a dejected face before she spoke. "Why do you have to be so mean Erdrick-sama, all I wanted was a little hug?" Tears threatened to leave her eyes, but I wasn't fooled. They were fake. I stayed stock and unaffected by her display.
Once she saw I was unaffected she dropped the act and decided to give me a strange smile instead. At this I mentally ordered the ripples were the chains came from to move next to her rather than being next to me. If she moved to attack I needed them to be ready for another go.
"I just wanted to say thank you for the ring, but it's rather rude to have another man to propose to a girl for you. I guess I'm not one to judge because I decide to come and say thank you anyways. But when I do, you decided to start the fun early and in front of everyone no less. Not that I'm against the idea just would have liked a warning, would have given me time to get ready if you were so eager." She seemed to wiggle her body suggestively with the statement.
.
.
.
The declaration left the room silent and me with the most stone like face I could muster. Before anyone could recover I raised my free hand and snapped my fingers. The four chains that held the assailant's arms left the rippling portal and wrapped themselves around the girl's hands, binding them behind her back. The effect was instantaneous as the laws of physics took over and the brunet's face slammed into the ground, upper body no longer kept in place by the chains.
'Yea, that's Anima for sure.' I thought as I turned back to the rest of the room. Previous tension forgotten.
"You're so mean Erdrick-sama." I knew the stunt dealt no real damage, but she played off others sympathy well judging by the looks the six humans were giving me. They wanted an explanation over what had just happened no doubt.
"This here is Anima, one of the Guild Guardians and…"
'Should I say that? I mean it's technically true now, but it just feels weird saying it. Bah, they'll find out soon enough anyway.'
"…my sister." I said turning my back to said girl and motioning for the chains to dispel off her. Almost immediately after I felt the spell fade she jumped up on to her feet and stood next to me. The situation from a second ago completely forgotten.
"Older sister I might add, can't let junior here mislead you now can I." She seemed rather proud at the fact that she was older.
'Now for some real payback.'
"All that means is you're a few years closer to being old than I am." I had decided she wouldn't be a danger anymore and decide to take my seat. She seemed to disinflation at the rebuttal and gave a pouting expression. I simply motioned for her to take the big chair to the left. She gave up on the look, but decided to give me a quick embrace before she left.
I sighed." You know I hate those."
"That's way I do them, I am a big sister after all." Even though the comment was meant to annoy me I couldn't help, but feel relieved over the gesture.
'Glad to see I was just overreacting and the betrayal plot was just in my head after all. What an idiot I've been, seeing how he acted earlier I doubt Kall could betray me even if he wanted to. Speaking of him where is he? I told him to stop, but I don't see him anywhere?" I decide to just call out to him.
"Kall where are you?" It was at this moment that I realized I could hear a small raddling emanating from somewhere in the room, but I could not figure out from were exactly.
"Here my lord, behind one of the royal thrones." The raddling grew louder. Everyone was staring in his direction, even I who had no direct line of sight to him, still looked on at the chair blocking my vison. Strangely they all had faces of barely restrained chuckles and giggles.
'Weird'
"Well I'm done with the… incident concerning Anima, so you may come out and take you seat." The raddling had now grown excessively loud.
'Okay, were the fuck is that coming from!?'
"Thank you Erdrick-sama." The praise seemed to strangely carry something like a small plea with it, I would have questioned the plea... Had it not been for the booming sound of metal boots slamming into marble flooring? The sound seemed to have been loud enough to scare away that infuriating sound from earlier.
Kall made his way into his chair without paying heed to what he had clearly created. The rest of the room wasn't so kind. Fang, Snow, Hope, and Anima were all clearly laughing at what had happened. Even Lightning was trying to stifle a laugh alongside Sazh, who was doing a much worse job at it. The only ones not in on it were Barthandelus and myself.
'What was so funny? All he did was slam his foot, perhaps he tripped and had to prevent himself from falling over by doing so. So then why did they look like they wanted laugh before that. All he did before that was stop when I told him to after I caught Anima and I heard him move… O my god.' The realization set me off as well. The action itself may not have been hilarious to me, but the fact that he would go to such extremes to serve me did leave me all giddy inside. Together we all enjoyed ourselves at the knight's expense.
Once we all calmed down I decided it was time to speak up. "I must say Kall, you've done well to lighten all our moods and for that I must commend you."
He seemed a little shocked, but replied swiftly. "I thank you for your kind word sir."
"As do I, now on to the reason were all here." All those present sat up straight, intent on hearing what I had to say. The mood shifted back to a more serious state, but one with a less depressing tone.
"The guild from now until given further orders you will all act as if we are in a world-class threat." The Guardians seemed shocked by this. This was the first time since the invasion of the World-Beast to the realm back in Yggdrasil, that a world-class threat was issued. The order meant that everyone, including me, is to be fully equipped at all times, regardless of rank. First to speak up was Anima.
"Why so urgent? Are we to be attacked soon?" Her personality now more in line with the situation at hand.
"No, but as of…"
00:40:00
"… Forty minutes ago I sensed a change throughout the whole guild and I believe it is worthy of a world-class threat." I let the statement hang and once it was clear nobody had questions I continued, I looked over to my left.
"Anima I know you have the ability to see the first two levels in their entirety, including the immediate area around the guild, right?" She gave a nod.
"I want you to check the outside and see if were still were we're supposed to be." She gave another nod and closed her eyes. The only note that she was doing anything being the small purple shine underneath her eyelids. While she did that I looked at the five around me and they all seemed to want the same answer.
"Guilds usually have multiple floors guarded by any number of means. Anima over there is host to the first. Being host to said floor gives her the ability to see the outside of the structure from anywhere. The reason I had her check is because the guild is normally stationed in a flat open plane so it's easy to spot even in a storm. If we are still there then things may not be as bad as I believed. If not, well we'll see." This seemed to sate there curiosity and killed just enough time for Anima finish her peek outside.
She opened her eyes and spoke. "You were right Erdrick-sama, The Summoner's Guild is no longer in its usual spot. We seem to have been transported in the middle of a large plot of forest."
"Could you see any discerning features around us?" I needed to know if I could find my way back if necessary.
"No, but the forest seems to stretch farther to the south and give way to grass planes further north if the sun is to be believed." Anima spoke not knowing of the internal battle in my head.
'No, so close to the grasslands, just a few more degrees north.(Sigh) I guess the trees do add a good stealth element to the guild, but I just wish we got the same terrane as in Yggdrasil.' Somewhere in the strange land a powerful skeleton suddenly sneezed.
"Is that all you can see?"
"Sorry Erdrick-sama the trees are blocking most of my vision." Apologized Anima.
"Its fine Anima, but we need to know where we are and what we're up against in order to react to it properly." The idea was simple. We needed information.
"What do you suggest we do then Erdrick-sama?" asked Kall.
"Well that's simple. We go out and check." The effect of the announcement was instant. A resounding outcry from all three Guardians.
"Erdrick-sama I cannot condone you leaving the premises of the guild under such dangerous circumstances." First to speak was Barthandelus.
"As your faithful knight Erdrick-sama I too cannot allow you leap into danger like that." Next was Kall. That only left one Guardian to go.
"Absolutely not! You are not leaving this guild until I say it's safe to do so! I will not allow our leader, much less my little brother, to get killed in an unknown land by some unknown beast." The final outburst was from Anima who seemed rather against the idea.
'And here I thought I was the guild master.'
(Sigh) "Don't worry, it was never my intention to be the one to leave, at least not yet." They all let out a sigh in relief.
"Although it is my job as Final-King to stand both for and with my people, I am at the moment unsure I am able to do even that properly." I now had my elbows on the table and my hands clamped together.
'This is professional looking, right?'
"What do you mean Erdrick-sama? Is something wrong with your magic? Have you also been affected by the event?!" Yelled Kall.
"I am not sure how the event has affected me, but it may have caused a disturbance with my more iconic abilities. And once the meeting is concluded I would like to head to the guild arena to make sure I am not handicapped for what's to come." I was trying to play it off, but the prospect of my prime means of spell casting being cut off in this new world was rather… concerning to say the least.
"If you believe the situation was so dire why wait to have it resolved. Should you not have seen to it first?" Questioned Barthandelus, a slight edge to his words.
"There were more important things to deal with before I could worry about myself." I did not waver under Barthandelus' gaze.
"And what could me more important than our creators life! Had an enemy sent assassins, you may as well be left defenseless and at their mercy!" He and the other Guardians rose out of their seats in agreement with him.
'Looks like they really don't like the idea of me dying. I gotta say it makes me happy to know that. Even so this next line is going to sound straight out of a cheap anime, regardless of how true it is.' I stood to add credit to what I was about to say.
"I refuse, as the only King of this guild, to allow my people to die when I could have saved them. I knew I may be walking into danger by not confirming my abilities, but I was not about to allow my people to perish if they were also affected." I stopped my speech for a second as I saw the guardians visibly recoil at my words.
'Good, a weakness.' I pushed harder.
"You ask me what's more important than my life. What else than all of yours, for what is a king without his people? What is a man without the ones he holds dear? I would gladly give my life if it meant making sure yours were safe." At that part Kall seemed to gain back his voice.
"But you mustn't think like that my lord, we as your subjects should be the only ones giving up our lives! We are worthless if we can't protect the man who gave us life, so please do not think yourself expendable for us!" My temper seemed to only rise at his words.
"Are you an idiot?! What point is there in giving your life for somebody who isn't willing to do the same? I refuse to be a king that uses his people as pawns! People aren't simply tools to be tossed away once used, they are individuals that should be treated as such!" At this point I had fallen deep into my persona.
"A king is supposed to stand for his people not on top of them! I will NEVER be the kind of king that simply uses others for their own gains. I would rather die than be that type of scum!" It wasn't until I stopped that I realized I had been shouting. It also seemed like the rest of the Guardians had taken their seats and hung their heads down in shame.
'Perhaps I went a little overboard there, but for some reason what Kall said just set my blood on fire. I know I never liked for people to die without a good reason, but that outburst was far more than what I'm used to. Also what was all that about being a king? Mabey I've been changed more that I previously believed.' I retook my seat now that the atmosphere had cooled down. I thought of continuing the meeting, but Anima beat me to it.
"Is that how you really feel Erdrick-sama?" Her gaze did not rise from the table.
"One hundred percent." I gave no room for doubt in my response. All their heads looked at each other before giving a positive nod to Anima.
Anima then began to speak again, but this time I could see a fire in her eyes. "If that's true, then we must also strive to do the same if we are to be worthy of your life Erdrick-sama." She gave me a fist pump as the rest gave an approving nod.
'I seem to have lit a fire within them by accident with that speech.'
"There is one condition though." She held up one finger as she spoke.
'A condition?' My eyebrow rose questioningly.
"You mustn't risk your life without one of us there. If we aren't given the chance to do the same, then we would also be scum." Her eyes held small tears in them when she spoke, but tried to keep up a strong front, that made my eyes widen.
'They would really go so far for me? To forever be ready to die for me?' I fought the urge to let my persona drop and held my head up high.
"Truly I thank all of you for your concern and as such I must say I am sorry, but I cannot comply with your request…"
"But Erdrick-sama-" I raised my hand to stop her.
"…Unless you also promise to listen to my orders when I give them, I would prefer not to lose a comrade over something foolish as a pointless sacrifice." They seemed stunned before a resounding "Yes" echoed in the room.
"Good now on to the next piece of business." I gave a moment for everyone to settle down and as I felt a small metaphysical wire in the back of my mind snap.
'It seems to have worn off, faster than I had expected, but this gives me a perfect excuse to talk about that.'
"The business of what to do with what is to be our newest Guardians." I gesture to the five seated around me, including the one laying on the floating platform. All eyes were on them and it showed that they were not used to it.
"Uh, hi" Was the only response from the group.
'Wow, they suck under pressure. Probably should help them out and get on with the introductions.' I brought my hand up to my mouth to start.
"Ahum, if you would all listen, I would like for everyone to give proper introductions to our future guild members. They have already meet the requirements to be Guardians and are simply waiting on their final member to wake before they decide. So it's for the best that they learn who you are and what you do before they join. Since they already know enough about Barthandelus I suggest you go first Anima." I gave a quick glare to Barthandelus before looking over to Anima who seemed a little too happy to be up first.
"Hello, as you may have already heard I'm Anima, Guardian of the first two floors of the Summoner's guild. I have over six hundred confirmed kills and hold the title of strongest Guardian." Her beaming smile gave the whole thing a cynical feel to it.
A question from Hope stopped the energetic girl's introduction. "Wait, I thought a Guardian could only be mediator of one floor?"
"Not necessarily, although it is normal to have one Guardian per floor, there are exceptions for particularly powerful ones. As you just heard Anima is the strongest of the three."
'Although true, all guardians here hold a title that coincides with their attributes.'
"There are only four Guardians to the gods? Is it really that hard to be made one?" This time it was Sazh.
I look over to the other Guardians and send them a {Message} simply saying.
-I'll explain late.
"Yes and no, while it is very hard to become a Guardian we also have a limit to how many we can have, so we can only choose the best."
"What like a size limit?" re-spoke Sazh.
"More like a point limit. We as a guild are given a limited number of points to distribute amongst any number of Guardians, but with diminishing returns." I was now just straight up telling them the guilds level system.
"So big-shot, how many you packing. It's has be a lot considering you only used three." Sazh asked with a cheerful tone.
'I can't say I have 700 or it'll sound gamey and weird…'
"It's not as simple as giving each guardian one but rather how many each Guardian Is trusted with. All three of your seniors are rank ten Guardians, each are capable of destroying an entire nation." I had begun to become more exited talking about the games mechanics.
'At least I'd assume they are national threat level if they have all their abilities.'
"So what yar' sayn' is we almost took down one of your most powerful Guardians by ourselves?" Fang seemed rather pleased with her conclusion. One that was about to be crushed.
"Pitiful L'Cie, you think I was fighting you seriously? I had only used a fraction of my true strength, even you yourselves were at your peak." The condescending attitude came from the resident Fal'Cie.
"Oh, that's a lode of crap and you know it." Before Snow could continue I placed my staff in front of him.
"As much as you don't want to hear it, it's true. Even with your Eidolons you still only reached around a rank three guardian." It was a harsh reality they had to deal with now rather than later were it could kill them. Snow fell back into his seat looking rather glum.
"I'm also sorry to say I do not have the appropriate points necessary to make you all rank ten." They had to deal with not being the biggest fish in the sea if there to deal with this new world. They all gave me betrayed expressions.
'Time for the curveball'
"But then again you were never meant to be rank ten powerhouses. No I wanted you six to be a well-oiled machine, you are supposed to be an assault force not a defensive one." They seemed to perk up at my words.
"The original reason of leaving you with Barthandelus was to improve your teamwork so you could be formidable even without the rank ten abilities. That's why I agreed to let you postpone your decision, the choice needed to be made by all of you initially. Together you all will be a Guardian." They all gave me a rather hopeful look now.
'Looks like motivating people is easier than I thought.'
"That's not to say you'll be individually weak, you'll still get six Guardian ranks each. No small number to sneeze at. So stop being so upset and think of how powerful you'll be together rather than how much weaker you are than a single rank ten. Am I understood?" They all seemed pleased now and loudly announced a ""Yes"".
"Good. Now, I'm sorry I took so much of your time, Anima would you kindly continue." I had actually spoken far more than I wanted to on the topic because of how much I liked to talk about the game.
"No, harm done Erdrick-sama, I do oh so, love watching you be passionate." She threw a small wink at me.
"Sigh, do you have to make everything sexual." I asked annoyed.
"Yup, now back to my job here at the guild." She said while using her thumb to point to herself.
"I am to be the guilds first line of defense against invaders. And In my six years of service, less than two dozen intruders have made it passed me." She had her arms up in a flexing manner. I face palmed at her display and drowned out the next part of her introduction.
'I know I wrote into her flavor text to be an energetic, perverted older sister, but I never put a limit to how far she would go with that. To see it taken to this level is just embarrassing. I may not have a sister in my old world, but this sure feels like what I would expect an embarrassing older sister to act.' My thoughts were pried away by Anima's next words.
"Oh right, I almost forgot didn't I? I haven't shown you any of my abilities have I?' The five gave a weary shake of their heads at her question.
'Anima's personality is rather energetic considering she's talking about killing, so their reactions are expected. Even I'm a little off put by it.'
"Then I how's about I show you. Can't have you in the dark about my abilities if we're going to be partners now can I." She jumped on top of the large table and unveiled her hand wraps.
'Wait, she isn't actually going to do it now is she?' I felt a small hole in the pit of my stomach grow in anxiety.
"First, although I may not look like it I'm actually a boxer." She got inter her brawler stance. She threw a few quick punches and kicks that each blew strong gusts of wind wherever they were aimed.
'Okay, it's just her standard abilities. I was worried for a second there.'
"Wait, then why wear the robe? Why not wear something more suited to your fighting style?" Asked the blond of the group.
'I guess he would know what a brawler needs to fight.'
"Well Erdrick-sama says it's because it catches people off guard when they plan to fight me, but I'm pretty sure it's because he has a thing for this outfit." She gives a small twirl that ended in a seductive pose.
I stay impassive at the statement. 'I do not have a kimono fetish, dammit.' The piercing stares from the females of the group finally got to me.
"The outfit is entirely strategic. After all how many people scouted the guild and came back prepared to fight a pure Summoner, only for you to crush them in close combat?" She pouted at that.
"Spoil sport. Well whatever, even if they come back again I still have my trump card if they make it passed the first floor." She stood up and chest out, clearly proud of her statement.
"Trump card? You mean your summon?" It was Lightning's turn to ask.
"Yup" Just like that the girl smashed her fist together and the room grew cold.
'Shit, she should know that doing that now is a terrible idea!' I began to rise in hopes of stopping her, but was too late, the spell had already started.
[Come and I shall share your pain, come and we shall feel together, ANIMA]
The room grew colder and the lights in the room dimmed as Anima's shadow seemed to expand across the table. Almost as if the shadow itself was drinking in the light and twisting it into an impregnable darkness.
'What is this? This isn't how it worked in the game! Shit I have to work fast!'
The shadow had now starched across the entire table. Except unlike before, were it had been endless, now give way to an image underneath. Within the now reflective darkness the L'Cie could now see what they could only describe as a demon. It figure seemed to act as if it were Anima's reflection, but rather than the sweet girl above, below the threshold was a creature of hell.
The head of the creature was like that of a screaming mummy dried of all fluids, its teeth were like fangs and set as a row of teeth ready to shred. The horn like protrusions on its head, right below some sort of crown, gave the creature an oddly regal, yet primal feel. Emptied sockets were its eyes were supposed to be are barely covered by small bands running across them. Old gray hair that reached passed the things body flew in contrast to gravity, for rather than down the hair seemed to levitate upwards towards the group. The being's hands held razor sharp points to them that looked like they were made to puncture and kill pray. In all it was a terribly horrifying sight to witness such a fiend brought to life.
The L'Cie that could pry their eyes from the sight looked up to see Anima had also changed slightly. Her posture was now slightly hunched over and rather than having her hair as an unkempt mess, it now flowed silkily over the front of her face. But what was truly stunning was how it covered both her eyes, yet every now and then, it gave way to the burning red orb below the locks. The look sent an unfiltered felling of pain, which seemed to be the creature bellow's natural state, to anyone who looked directly into it. Together the duo had left the five L'Cie stricken with fear.
'This is far worse than the game could ever have recreated. I have to put a stop to this right now.'
{~}
"Anima cease this now and return to your base form immediately." I tried my best to keep my voice steady.
She did not reply, but instead gave me a questioning turn of her head. I did not flinch as her lone red eye bore into mine. She conceded and closed her lone eye. After doing so swung her head back and let her face phase through her locks. Just like that the room returned to its former state. The transformation had been so sudden that my eyes took a second to readjust to the newly lit room.
"Was something wrong Erdrick-sama? Was the resonance between me and [Anima] not up to your standards? Should the room perhaps been entirely consumed by our domain? I wasn't too sure if I should have gone so far given how long it's been since I've last done so."
'Jesus Christ, that wasn't even full power! And I was thinking of fighting that not too long ago!'
"No Anima, the resonance was fine, but perhaps using that form was just a tad to shocking for our guest." I gestured over to the frozen Heroes. They all sat stiff in their chairs eyes wide, ether facing Anima or the table were her dark counterpart had resided.
"See what I mean? They only just got out of their hell with Barthandelus and you decide it's a good idea to show them that." I raise an eyebrow at her. Once the full weight of what she had done hit her she began to panic.
"I-I didn't mean to scare them Erdrick-sama, It was only to show them what I could do. Oh, nononono this is bad. What if they got too scared and their brains broke! What if they do survive, but they never want to talk to me again! What if they see me as some sort of dark deity now? I can't handle that kind of pressure! What do I do Erdrick-sama?!" She was now freely bawling about what she had done.
'Hmm, maybe I should stop leading her on now.' I mentally smirked at how well things had actually gone considering how unprepared I had been.
"Don't worry Anima, after realizing what you were doing I prepared a set of [Wipe Memory], [Sleep] and [Stop] spells to keep them looking shocked. Although they won't last long dew to the short notice." She seemed lost for a second before she sighed in relief.
"Why let me worry so much Erdrick-sama, I almost had a heart attack after that." She had now begun to just lay flat on the table in emotional exhaustion.
"If I had told you from the start what would you have learned? You still almost mentally scarred them, regardless of it actually happening, you didn't take time to think about your actions." I gave her a glair to add to my point. She turned away with a bashful expression on her face.
"I suppose your right… So what do I do to make up for it?" she asked.
"That's up for them to decide, but for now all you can do is take them to a bed and let them sleep comfortably until they awaken tomorrow. We'll just have to wait till then and after that get an answer on whether they want to be Guardians or not." I decided it was now time for the final member of this group to get in on the conversation.
"It's the best we can do for now… wouldn't you say, Vanille?" I looked behind me to see the pale girl sitting at the edge of the floating platform. Her eyes were steadfast even having seen what Anima could do.
'She really has gotten stronger, to see that and be unfazed. Impressive.' Now we both stood still gazing at each other like a pair of fierce rivals. Anima seemed rather lost at the stare down between her creator and the stern, yet delicate, looking individual starring up at him.
A/N: For those who didn't get it. Kall literally stopped when told to. That means he stopped mid step and kept shaking from the stress, creating that rattling sound. Also yes, the figure reflected in the shadow is the Overdrive of Anima from FF10 and don't worry I will have a reason for that. As bullshit as that reason is, but hey I wanted to have its so I did.
Upcoming chapter discussions. Next everyone finally gets to see what my "Super subtle not at all hinted at" abilities are. Also what will be Vanille's answer to becoming a guardian be? Will she accept working alongside her most hated tormentor? And why has Erdrick refused to use his full abilities yet? Find out next time on Dreams of a king, maybe I don't know I'm kind of just winging this shit.
Till next time Readers.