Minutes after the Heroes and most of the court exited the throne room, Aultcray sighed loudly. He never felt so stressed since the days he went to war against Siltvelt as the Staff Hero. They demanded less than expected but at the same time, more. They're smart, especially that Gene Starwind.
"Congratulations, Your Majesty. We have all the Heroes in our hands." his Prime Minister praised.
"I wouldn't be so sure." Aultcray said in a grave voice. "These Heroes are not what we expected. Tell me, what do you think about them?"
"Hmm, the Bow Hero acted and looked like a mercenary, the Sword Hero resembles someone from nobility and the Spear Hero is obviously a soldier. The Shield Devil…" At that point, the Minister couldn't think of more words "Actually, I have no idea about him, he seems to be a weakling teenager."
"Exactly." Aultcray "It was written in Faubrey's records that the Heroes were actually from a relatively excluded social branch from their worlds known as "otaku" or "gamers", due to works of fiction there coincidentally showing parts of our world and its mechanics, and their race "asian", which is characterized by their slanted eyes. They also showed a pattern: they'd abandon their previous lives to wholeheartedly dedicate themselves to hedonism due to a belief that being chosen by their Weapons or "cheats", free of their societies' chains, would make them feel as gods from the power high, which from a point of view, they are. Essentially, they were all civilians with no goal in life that were handled a worthy destiny and the power necessary to accomplish it for free." Aultcray's frowned in slight glory "This isn't the case. Only one of them was asian and while they demonstrated familiarity or talent with the functionality of status magic, only the Sword Hero implied to come from a world with its own equivalent though it was alien enough to encounter problems with ours."
"But the most worrying of all: they're not naive commoners that could be easily swayed with promises of riches, lands or harems. They may have been caught surprised and misinformed from the situation but acted with experience. I bet that damned Demon of the Shield is like the rest!" Aultcray's fist hit the armrest in fury "He must be biding his time, waiting until his villainous side can be out! Just like those traitorous demi-humans he represents!" Aultcray's face was full of fury now.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty. We will have the Shield under surveillance, so any crimes he may commit, they will be recorded so he won't escape his due punishment. We even have the Church support in this."
"Urgh." Aultcray facepalmed "Please, not bring the Church into this. We both may hate the Shield and the demi-humans but the zeal they demonstrate, I feel it…" Aultcray shuddered "... excessive. Not even Faubrey was that fanatic. Besides, they've been pestering me to give them more power, which I would be a fool if I were to concede it, my wife would agree with me too." He sighed tiredly, as if he aged suddenly "Let's hope she doesn't kill me. This summoning wasn't dictated in any international treaty, so I may have given her a lot of work to avoid war. At least, that will give us time."
"R-right, Your Majesty."
What no one knew, was that an invisible figure was observing them. Once it heard enough, it flew away, passing through the wall like the ghost it was.
Four Heroes Saga
"Sorry for the wait, but the meatloaf that my parents prepared for lunch acted on its own, if you catch my drift." Danny entered the bedroom alongside Tomoe.
On the way to their rooms, Danny asked to go to the toilet for an "emergency". Tomoe also took the opportunity to go to the toilets as well as dequip her armor. Without it, her white, red, and dark blue kimono was fully exposed, especially the brown sash that nicely hugged her stomach, as well as her baggy pants, which were slightly opened at the sides, showing a bit of her toned yet lithe legs. The Oni headband was also gone, substituted by a cord that tied up her long (now less dirty) hair into a ponytail.
Truly, her beauty is literally otherworldly.
"Urk. Too much information." Noire's grimaced in disgust at Danny's comment about his lunch.
"Anyways, I think it's time for a group meeting." Gene clapped his hand, bringing everyone's attention to him "But first, I think we must make some "preparations"."
Soundlessly, Noire summoned her Sword and stabbed the door, eliciting shrieks and shouts of panic as well as frantic footsteps that moved away from the door. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Or killed, for that matter."
Tomoe exited towards the balcony. Taking full attention into her surroundings, she summoned her weapon too, and performed a deadly and skilled dance with her Spear, taking special note in slicing every cubic meter of air that her spear could reach without damaging the castle.
Previously concealed figures jumped away before they were sliced up by the Spear, fusing in the shadows of the night.
"Invisibility magecraft." Tomoe affirmed her suspicions "So they have it here too."
"Wow." Danny said impressed "Remind me not to make you two angry. Do you think they'll remain gone?"
"We're the VIPs here. Of course we'd have extra surveillance." Gene remarked tiredly.
"While we may not be able to drive them away completely, we've told them we're aware of them. They won't be able to spy on us that easily." Noire said before a thought struck her "Though what if they have long surveillance methods?"
"I think the best we can do is to not reveal important information, like our weaknesses." Tomoe took a seat on the bed, noting its fluffiness "Though I don't think discussing about our weapons and worlds would be extremely important to them. At the moment."
"Well, I am not anyone special." Danny began "Unless, you count my parents being ghost hunters."
"Ghosts?" Everyone blinked.
"Actually, they're scientists but are so obsessed with ghosts that they invented ghost trapping gadgets like this." He took out a high-tech looking thermos.
""It's a thermos."" Noire and Gene deadpanned.
"True. But the Fenton Thermos can suck in any ghost it is pointed at. Though there's no ghost near to demonstrate. And yes, it also works like a normal thermos. Sometimes, my parents' designs aren't the most clever. Heck, they built a portal that leads to the Ghost Zone, the world that all ghosts live in!"
"Uh…" Tomoe sweatdropped "For all the skill you say they have at building those machines, I think they lacked the wisdom when opening a gate to the Underworld itself."
"Yeah… A lot of ghosts came from the Other Side, causing problems to my city but at least they're solved quickly. Though even if the portal was deactivated, there's also the one an ex-friend of my family built." Danny sneered.
"Let me guess, he's evil?" Noire asked.
"With a capital E. He's been obsessed with my mother for decades, hates my father with a passion, though dad never gets it, and he tried to clone me to have the perfect son!"
Everyone in the room recoiled.
"Wow, just, wow." Gene trembled "I met many stalkers but that was creepy. Haven't you done anything to arrest him or something?"
"Problem is he's rich. And he's now mayor, so he's in charge of the city for four years, though may be longer if he rigs the elections again. Fortunately, he's a bit of a coward and he cares too much about the public opinion and that of my mother to risk it all in something that may oust him when it blows up. Heh, that and he hates being called a fruit loop."
"I cannot believe it!" Noire exploded "And you let him do as he pleases?! He needs to be arrested!"
"Noire." Tomoe put a hand on her shoulder "If that man is that powerful, it's probable that Danny cannot do anything. Someone like him would take great care of maintaining its position. Much more if those activities are secretive."
"You seem to know about that a lot. As expected of a noble's wife." Gene said.
"Oh, that's nothing." Tomoe shyly answered "I may have dedicated my life to battle but I learned some things about politics. Fuyuhime and Yamabuki may know more."
"Who?" Danny asked.
"Lord Yoshinaka's other wives."
"Wait, did he divorce?"
"Uh? No."
If this was an anime, a sound of broken glass could be heard. The awkwardness that could be felt in the room was complemented by Noire, Danny and Gene's reddening faces from the implications.
"You mean, you three are married to the same guy?" Danny couldn't help but ask.
"Huh, yes?" Tomoe quirked an eyebrow. Did she say something wrong?
"And you don't have a problem with it?" Gene asked.
"Oh!" Tomoe's face lightened up in realization "For a time, I felt that I wasn't an equal to the other wives as well as worthy of Lord Yoshinaka's love but we actually get along just fine. We all love Lord Yoshinaka faithfully just like he loves us as well."
"G-good for you." Noire let out, not wanting to be the one to tell that they aren't used to the idea of polygamies. "A-anyways, what about you?" She pointed at Gene.
"Oh, well." Gene shrugged "I'm just a guy who does odd jobs to make out a living: fixing machines, escorting, bounty hunting and even the occasional treasure hunt."
"Like, finding a map, sailing the seas and then searching for the treasure in an island or the depths of the ocean?" Danny asked.
"Yes and no." Gene did a so-so gesture "I mean, I was once contracted to extract some valuable cargo from a ship that was destroyed in a planet whose atmosphere was so dense it resembled water and there was another place that had us going across all the galaxy trying to find it, not to talk about all those pirates trying to kill us."
Danny and Noire blinked.
""YOU TRAVELED TO OTHER PLANETS?!"" they yelled at the Outlaw in awe and disbelief.
"Yeah, I have a spaceship." Gene poked his ears, hoping that he didn't lose hearing "You don't have interstellar travel where you come from?"
"The most we've ever accomplished in Gamindustri was bringing people to our moon." Noire confessed in a deflated tone.
"In my world we're in the same tone but multiple national and private organizations are already planning unmanned missions to Mars." Danny excitedly explained "Granted, while tripulated ships going there are still implausible for many reasons, one of them being money." He grumbled that last part, why does the government waste all that money in other less useful things like the military? "At least, we have an investigation base orbiting our planet, so that's something."
"You seem to know a lot about this subject." Tomoe wasn't able to understand the conversation but she knew how passionate Danny was about it.
"Well, I've always wanted to become an astronaut."
"Mars... " Gene mused "What is the year?"
"2005."
Gene's eyes opened like saucers "And you haven't already contacted other life in the Sol System? Ever discovered Dragonite? What about Juji Godoh and the Fixed and Toward Star Eras?!"
"Just what are you talking about?" Danny asked, completely confused.
"Shit." Gene put a hand on his face "I don't know if you can understand but I was also born on Earth but centuries after him. Even in his time, Earth should have already made contact with the civilizations from around the Sol System. And that was before discovering the Dragonite meteorite that allowed us to improve our already existent Ether Reactors into the Munchausen Drive in order to go towards the stars." Gene sighed "Juji Godoh was a famous space explorer from the 20th century, who inherited the Fortuner ship from his grandfather, Roger Fortune, who came from an alternate dimension, its Ether Engine schematics being what revolutionized the second of the three Grand Space Races."
"I may not be an A+ student at History, but I'm sure that I would know about it."
"Alternate dimension…" Noire mused "What if all of you came from alternate dimensions?"
Everyone turned to her "I mean, discounting the fact that Gene may be from the future, the past of his world is different to Danny's despite sharing similarities, the differing point being the advancement of space exploration, with Gene's dimension developing earlier than Danny's."
"The Kaleidoscope." Tomoe entered the conversation "I am not an expert but I met several mages who claimed it was an extremely powerful magic that allowed travelling between worlds, even between differing points of time."
Everyone became silent. At least, three of them not only probably came from very different periods but also that each of their timelines may be different enough to be considered alien to each other.
"And what about you?" asked Gene, curious and at the same time changing subject "Your planet isn't called Earth, right?"
"Of course not. My world is named Gamindustri."
Gene and Danny snorted.
"What? Did I say something funny?"
""Oh, no. Nothing like that."" Gene and Danny denied at the same time.
"Was that a pun?" "Yes, I'm sure that was a pun." The two boys whispered among themselves. Though it seemed they weren't successful in being cautious (or maybe it was intentional) for Tomoe was sighing with a hand on her face and Noire's eye was twitching alongside an annoyed expression.
"Ehem." Noire fake coughed "Gamindustri is a world governed by four CPU Goddesses each in charge of a country: the Land of Purple Progress, Planeptune, ruled by Purple Heart; the Land of White Serenity, Lowee, ruled by White Heart; the Land of Green Pastures, Leanbox, ruled by Green Heart. And last but not least important: the Land of Black Regality, Lastation!" Noire exclaimed proudly at the last one "Governed by the wisest, strongest and most capable (as well as sane) CPU in History, Black Heart!" One could even see sparkles radiating out of her.
""Uh-huh.""
However, the boys weren't impressed by it.
"Okay, that's it. What's your problem?" Noire demanded, pissed off.
"In first place, Gamindustri? CPU? The only things that come to my mind are computers and videogames." Gene deadpanned.
"Yeah, and three of those countries have nearly the same name as videogame consoles. And the name of the Goddesses? No offense, but they remind me of a Magical Girls clique."
"And either you're from Lastation or are a huge devout of that Black Heart chick. Or both, it was that obvious."
"Don't call her a chick!" Noire shouted with a red face "Also, CPU means Console Patron Unit, not Central Processing Unit. Though I'll admit that some of our game platforms are named like our countries. And now that I think about it, the Goddesses kinda look… like…" Noire's face turned extra pale at the revelation.
Tomoe had to console a depressed, crying Noire while reprimanding the boys, who were profusely apologizing, both out of guilt as well as fear of an Oni beating them senseless.
Four Heroes Saga
After dinner, they continued discussing things, this time about the Weapons themselves, thanks to the manuals they came with.
Apart from the counterproductive 'Heroes cannot work together or they won't gain EXP' rule, there was also another one saying that they cannot equip other weapons other than the Legendary ones, making them upset, especially Gene and Tomoe who are used to multiple weapons to fight. Danny and Noire also complained, if only because their only means to protect themselves have crappy stats, especially Danny's Shield, which didn't even have Attack capabilities.
Fortunately, they also discovered the Weapon Transformation system which, like the name suggests, transforms the Weapons into other variations of themselves with different stats as well as abilities that can be potentially usable even with a completely different form when unlocked by use. The only thing needed was to absorb items into the Weapon's cores or just let them near a weapon similar to themselves to copy them.
Once reading it, Gene didn't waste time trying to copy all the guns he had on him: a handgun, a double-barreled shotgun, a revolver and a tacky hand cannon that he called Caster. He succeeded. He also thought that if any projectile weapon could be copied by the Bow, what about the ammunition, the most important resource that made that kind of weaponry useful?
He tried it with one of the shells of the Caster and again, it worked. Strangely enough, he shouted in joy. He explained that in his universe, magic was so scarce that it needed to be encapsulated in gun shells to be useful though it didn't stop the decay of mana and nowadays, Casters and their shells become extremely rare and expensive so the fact that he now has a renewable source of the magical ammo solved many problems for him. However, any type of ammo generated by the Bow, be it bullet or arrow, costs a certain quantity of mana or MP to be created, much more when it was enchanted. And it seemed the Caster shells were still very expensive for Gene to generate though it was nothing leveling up couldn't solve.
However, they discovered a very useful ability when Danny absorbed one of his family's Fenton Phones that he always keeps on him.
Fenton Phone Shield
Equip bonus: Chat
Special effect: Undead resistance, Spirit resistance, Sound resistance
The Chat function allowed for one to communicate with others either in manner similar to telepathy or with text messages as long as the receiver is on their party or registered in a list of Chat users.
A way to talk with fellow Heroes or their party members when far away of each other? That was genius!
Fortunately, Danny had enough Fenton Phones to share with the others though they weren't necessary when someone asked where the one absorbed by the Shield went. Turned out it ended up in Danny's Inventory, intact. So they weren't in risk of losing the materials for the Weapons.
They also took advantage of it to absorb the Fenton Thermos in order to have their Weapons able to capture ghosts or any other spirits. Just in case.
Next morning, their adventure truly began… though not completely as planned.
AN: Well, Aultcray was supposed to be a genius strategist and tactician from the country that was most influenced by Heroes, they would have some exclusive knowledge about them after all those Heroes that were. Of course, most, if not all of those Heroes were your typical Japanese otaku, salaryman or student everyman/woman in a cliched power fantasy, though there were aversions to the trope that weren't as well recorded than the others.
For those who don't know what Gene was talking about when explaining his world, it's actually about a previous manga of Takehiko Ito, the creator of Outlaw Star, which is called Uchuu Eiyuu Monogatari (Future-Retro Hero Story) or Space Hero Tales in the wiki, which is supposed to be in the same universe as Outlaw Star. It's a somewhat obscure piece of lore, not only because of lack of articles but also because there's only a complete volume and part of the second translated from eight volumes of the manga that I could find on the net. It's… entertaining. However, don't expect an space epic from the get go like Outlaw Star or Edens Zero. The pacing is… somewhat screwed and has a lot of slapstick to be considered serious, believe me.
By the way, from what I read of ROTSH ballistics, I theorise projectile weapons damage depends on both the weapon's stats as well as the ammunition used, just like any RPG-style shooter. The Legendary Bow works the same, though it can create its own ammo (seriously, I asked myself where did Itsuki carry those arrows) though it costs MP: the more exotic and or powerful the ammo, the more MP cost expensive it will be. At least, normal arrows and bullets MP expenditure is minimal while Caster shells are among the most expensive. The Bow's skills still cost SP though most ammo is compatible with them, allowing the projectile stats to add to those of the skill itself, allowing for interesting attack combinations like a rain of armor-piercing bullets. By the way, guns recharge ammo simply by ejecting spent shells, if they have those. For example, magazine or belt fed guns don't need to recharge for the shells eject themselves, allowing for new space for bullets to be generated. Meanwhile, most revolver cylinders need to have the shells or the cylinder itself ejected. Most primitive black powder (wheellock, flint, matchlock) firearms don't have shells so they ironically have semi automatic properties. Caster guns when fired also don't leave any shell behind so Gene doesn't need to open the copy version. Caster shells' effects are dependant on Magic Attack stats so he could go for a Magic Gunner build once he levels up more.
It actually surprised me but apparently in medieval Japan, at least in the Heian period, existed poligamy. I don't know for how long, I didn't study Japanese History for that long though from what I read in Chinese wuxia, I guess that practice was also common in most of Asia, at least the nobles and the rich. The names of Yoshinaka's other wives came from Fate Grand Order so take those with a grain of salt unless you're expert Japanese historians. Tomoe's Servant self has a skill called Lineage Excitation which she had from when she was alive. It's some form of unconscious self-suggestion that allows her to tap into her Oni powers, amplifying them. At A rank, it seemed to me that Tomoe had incredible control over her demon side, up to the point of hiding her horns, though at the costs of limiting her abilities while unleashing it all makes her horns adopt magma like patterns as well as make her pupils slit and glowing yellow like in her 3rd and 4th Ascensions. Think of that as a skill that allows for self debuffing and buffing though for now she'll be at her weakest form to not be discovered as a demon. Unless she uses her headband to disguise the horns. I'm also aware that there is a half-demon Japanese spearwoman in another fic "The Legendary Heroes" from Brandon Storm. Send you my regards! Though seriously, I didn't know many spear users in media that I would easily write so the Demonic Spear coincidence came to my head rereading that fic though they're actually very different in powers and personality so no problem!
Poor Noire, while she knew that most elements and terms on her world are videogame/anime/computer references, she wasn't aware that the CPUs' Divine Names and HDD were actually Magical Girl powers. At least, Mama Tomoe was able to give her a hug. Some mechanics of the Neptunia games and lore will be translated here like the most Shares (faith) a CPU possesses, the higher the stat boost, even more in HDD, though the 20% SP cost is still there. Noire's skills in the games are also present and they cost SP, not MP, like her Weapon skills. EXE and Combination Skills just cost more SP to compensate for the lack of EXE meter. HDD stats are based on the CPU's human stats, the Processor Units stats and the Shares available though Noire won't have access to other Processor Units than the basic ones in this story. HDD skill boosts are also applied here. With no Hyper Share Crystal, it will be a while until Noire gets access to her overpowered Next Form. With faith on the Heroes being widespread through most of that world, Noire will have a considerable amount of Shares available due to her Hero status, even if they don't know her being a CPU. Wonder how everyone will react when Noire reveals her divine powers and nature? As well as Danny's and Tomoe's hybrid sides: The Devil Shield is actually a Ghost while the Spear was instead the Demon from the group while an actual Goddess is one of the Heroes, with no relationship whatsoever to the local faiths' God that supposedly created the Weapons. I'm more of the opinion a Nasuverse-like Counter Force system was what made the Weapons though we're still not sure if actual Gods are still in the background of the Light Novel. We need more information.
Hope you liked what happened at the end of the king's scene, hehehe. Also, props for you if you recognize the meatloaf reference. Anyways, while Danny's powers as game mechanics were partially explained in the previous chapter, that wasn't the end of the analysis. Like Noire, Danny's stats vary between human and ghost forms, with the exception of MP and SP that he shares between the two forms. As ghost, he has a major boost stat, including Attack and Magic Attack, as well as the full range of his ghost powers though performance is dependant on the account of SP he has left, with SP restorative items having a reinvigorating effect, somewhat similar to Glass' race but no by much. And human form Danny is still weakest Danny, despite having the Shield as well as a portion of his ghost powers though in that form he wouldn't be affected by his ghost weaknesses. To clarify, Light/Holy/Healing elements aren't actually very effective against him, only SPECIFIC anti-undead/spirit/ghost attacks like exorcisms can deal heavy damage against him: he may conceptually be a ghost but his ectoplasm make-up is actually alien to that world so it makes sense that some typical fantasy undead weaknesses wouldn't affect him while others still would.
The Chat option was also planned since the beginning, both to separate this fic from the other ROTSH stories and to give more sense of camaraderie to the group even if they're separated. Not to say that would disrupt some carefully built plans by simple wireless communication, XD.