Author's Note: Okay so first off, Happy Late Canada day everyone! Please Read, Review, Favourite and Enjoy!
Chapter 14: The Sword Hero's Sadism
Kuro is a petty and perverted sadist.
A bunch of grown men sneaking into her room in the dead of night while she was trying on new underwear and while she was about to start playing with herself, they should be lucky if the extent of her revenge was just limited to her using their mana reserves to copy more Noble Phantasms into her legendary sword. After about twenty or so of the Phantasms were copied however.
'Conditions Met. Sword of Chastity unlocked. Main Bonus: Quiet Mind. Guillotine.'
"Chastity?" Kuro questioned looking down at herself and the outfit that by all means made her look like either a prostitute or a lingerie model. "Where did that come from?" Suddenly part of Kuro's Menu opened by itself, the monster book she got from feeding balloons outside of the castle town into the sword, which then led her to the section on the newest blade she unlocked.
'Sword of Chastity. One of the Virtue Series, unlocked by a legendary weapon gaining self awareness.'
And then using that same self awareness the blade went to a different section and picked out the one detailing a couple of old friends.
'Kanshou and Bakuya. There is a legend in another world about a blacksmith commissioned to create a blade to reach the gods less he lose his head. His loving wife choose to sacrifice herself, and so the blade named Bakuya in her honour was born, while it's twin absorbed the divine impurities of the casting and refined them into something more powerful, Kanshou.'
"The first Noble Phantasm I fed to the legendary sword?" Kuro crossed her legs while fake ears twitched in thought. "So that became the basis of your personality eh?" Then a horrifying train of thought entered Kuro's mind with the memory of the weapons she gave Tanya and Katarina. "Oh no." A cursed spear and the favoured bow of a broken hero who became so mad with grief that he tried to travel back in time and kill himself. That wasn't good.
'The Virtue Series does not threaten the lives of the heroes.'
The weapon notified simply.
"You haven't met those people." Kuro stated glaring at the sword. "Each and every Heroic Spirit is fundamentally broken in some way or another and those two are no exceptions!" Remain calm Kuro and think, as long as they don't unlock anymore noble phantasms then their weapons shouldn't suddenly turn into self aware homi- "YEOUCH!" Kuro did not remember trying to wield a weapon that wasn't the Legendary sword, so that was just uncalled for.
'The Legendary weapon does not threaten it's wielder.'
"Oh really?" Kuro asked choosing not to point out the hypocrisy of that statement considering the electroshock therapy session they just had. "What about after I tried casting all that water through the Unlimited Blade Works?"
'The sword Cannot be held responsible for improperly cast magic backfiring on the Hero.'
"What does that mean?" Kuro asked glaring at the sword.
'You skipped over important steps in the process which forced the magic to compensate by absorbing your KP.'
"What is KP!?" Kuro snapped not remembering seeing that in her status menu.
'Insufficient data.'
"Ugh!" Kuro's tendency to do things half baked was starting to bite her hard in the ass and instead she fell into the back of her bed. "I'm going to have a awful lot of work to do aren't I?"
Kuro turned to glare at the men who attempted to kidnap her. Kuro is a petty and perverted sadist. And as such when she is in a bad mood she wants to make people suffer and feel humiliated.
There were few maids who could be trusted to see Kuro in the morning where it was possible to see her without the accessories she had been using day and night to hide her humanity, less scandal fall through Siltvelt.
"GAH!"
Of course when she opened the door she found scandal anywhere, twenty grown men kneeling on the floor tied up, butt naked with the exception of the blindfolds and gags they had all been wearing, white fluids had been scattered across the room while words had been tattooed across their torso's.
'I Broke into a 10 year old girl's bed room where I attempted to rape and kidnap a child. I was subsequently overpowered by said child and now find myself here in this state. If you are reading this then you are sleeping with a paedophile.'
"Grr!" Kuro groaned as she languidly stretch in her Hakuko Kigurumi and shot the maid a cheesy grin as said maid started to realise she'd have to clean this all up. While she did that Kuro was getting herself ready for the day in the bathroom while the mess she made was being seen to, which was a good thing because she was talking to her sword again. "So aside from making people think I'm crazy, what else do you do?" Kuro asked as she proceeded to brush her teeth.
'The Virtue Series can manage all of the weapon transformations of the Legendary sword.'
"Why are you calling yourself that? I mean your personality is supposed to be based on Byakuya right? Why don't I just call you that right?"
'The Legendary Sword does not need another name.'
"Byakuya it is. GAH!" Kuro's sass was rewarded with a zap.
'The Legendary Sword can also manage the proficiency of the various weapon transformations.'
"Proficiency?" The legendary sword led Kuro through the help Menu and to the section on reinforcement. "So the longer I have a weapon out the more powerful it gets." Perhaps Kuro should have read the manual for this thing when she got it.
'Proficiency transfer can also be used to unlock new equip bonuses.' The Sword intoned helpfully.
"Patoo!" Kuro finished with her teeth and so opted to being brushing out her hair. "What kinds of equip bonuses have I got on this thing to unlock?" She recently consumed a mountain of materials, it might be good to check.
'Fire Slash, Water Slash, Wind Slash, Stone Slash, Meteor Slash, Charging Stab, Poison Slash. Various Stat bonuses. Crafting Bonus. Cooking Bonus. Potion Bonus. HP Regeneration. MP Regeneration. SP Regeneration. Total number of Equip Bonuses to unlock 627.'
Well, between all the weapons she took from Erhard, been feeding from the Unlimited Blade Works, all the monsters she drowned out in Siltvelt, along with the various trees and plants, all the potions that the blade made using those ingredients and Kuro had quite a few bonuses left to unlock.
"Wait crafting Bonuses? I wonder if that affects my projections with Unlimited Blade Works?" Kuro suddenly pondered while washing her face. "Better not try it, I can't get the good stuff as it is without them suddenly jumping in quality." Having made a perfectly sound and logical conclusion Kuro then proceeded to have her hopes and dreams dashed.
'Proficiency Transfer complete.'
"Wait what?" Kuro's stats jumped up by about a quarter though not because the sword had unlocked any equip bonuses that contributes directly to boosting stats, it was because all the blades that she had whose equip bonuses that boosted her stats just got upgraded. "Byakuya why...?"
'The legendary Sword wanted it.'
Double checking the Noble Phantasms that she already fed to the damned thing she discovered they had all jumped twenty levels.
"Well I hope you're happy, you just delayed me unlocking you by like two month's or something." There was only so many places thick with monsters in the world that she could drown using the UBW.
'The more equip bonuses that are unlocked the faster proficiency builds.'
"Huu. Fine go ahead." Kuro could only let out a defeated sigh as she watched her stats shoot up, that said she noticed one going up faster then the others. "Why is my magic so high Byakuya? Do you expect me to feed you more Noble Phantasms after the way that you've been treating me today?" Kuro asked looking at the sword deeply annoyed.
'Yes.'
"And why is that?" More electrocution was Kuro's answer. "Sword of Chastity my ass. Did I feed you too much Gilgamesh or something?" And even more electrocution was the sword's response. After Kuro and her sword stopped bickering with each other they finished getting dressed in Kuro's new armour and left the room to be greet the old Turtle who had been acting like her sponsor around here.
"You've seem to have had a busy night young lady." The Genmu stated eyeing the stains left in the 300 year old hard wood floor when the little philistine decided to act out some S&M fantasy on the people who had broken in here on Jaralis's behalf.
"They deserved it!" Kuro countered false tail swishing back and forth as she glared at the old turtle before her.
"Not the point." The old Turtle stated noting that Kuro was both appropriately dressed and wearing her ears and tail. "Come on, I have someone for you to meet." The old Turtle led Kuro away as he began his explanation. "What do you know about the Seven Star weapons?"
"What's a Seven Star weapon?" Kuro asked cocking a suspicious brow at the turtle and giving out the sum total of her knowledge on the subject.
"Subordinate type units to you legendary Heroes. Unlike your weapons they jump from owner to owner carrying all the power that that person unlocked through the weapon from one person to another." The Old Turtle explained as he walked along the path.
"So this Seven Star is stronger than me?" Kuro asked looking at the Turtle suspiciously.
"For the time being yes, but your power will vastly exceed his when you have reached your peak, where as the majority of his growth has taken place before he was even born." The old Turtle stated as he led Kuro through the palace.
"Then why bother trading out new Seven Star Heroes on the first place?" Kuro stated with something smelling distinctly fishy.
"Perhaps you should save your comments for until after you've met the man." The Old Turtle stated as Kuro was led to the man in question.
A Wanui, or dog type Demi-human waited for them in the room led he led them to, something was fishy here. Oh sure his armour was pretty solid, of course Kuro's magical vision told her that said armour was made out of silks whereas according to her more mundane eyes this man was clearly wearing metal and armour.
"Geezer, who is this person?" Kuro asked causing said person to quickly lose his temper.
"You little brat!" The dog held up the clawed gauntlet he was wearing and Kuro watched as it shifted forms between them, each giving the exact same result to her magical vision as the last which screamed at her that there was nothing there to begin with. "I am the Hero of the Claw, Lucas Talbot."
"No you are not." The Sword Hero concluded as she already began thinking about how to take this one apart.
"I've come to deal with the wave. As I understand it you are suppose to be the Hero of the sword Child." The Self Proclaimed Claw Hero stated watching Kuro with some kind of magic eye, Kuro responded by shifting the forms of the two butterfly swords on her waist into several different forms. "Weak low level forms. Then you're only good as a means of transportation then."
"And I take offence to that." Kuro stated smiles all teeth and malice as she got her swords ready to stab the man in front of her repeatedly.
"I didn't bring you two here so that you can kill each other!" The Old Turtle snapped glaring both of the heroes into submission. "Kuro we have the rest of your party waiting in the next room, go join them now please, after you've added the claw hero to your party."
And so Kuro did so, joining with Welt and the others, Chem was there too, well if you go through the trouble of breeding a monster to beat all the other monsters then you put it to use when the stops come out.
"What the hell have you been doing!?" Welt asked wearing armour to make himself look like a Shukaku. "Yesterday while we were all out shopping we suddenly gained three levels. The maids were growling at us about some mass orgy you held. And now you've come in here all worked up."
Welt ranted as he could only describe this situation as madness. When he and the others were first introduced to the four heroes he thought they were going to wind up as a bunch of baby sitters but now he was starting to realise that this girl doesn't need a baby sitter, she needs a slave seal, or something to the like that will keep her from destroying everything in her path.
"I am acting as a 'Hero' should." Kuro knew, Kuro knew better than anyone. She saw the history of the Noble Phantasms Kanshou and Byakuya. She saw her brother tricked and roped into playing executioner over and over again for the will of the world itself with no hope of escaping the endless hell he had ended up building around himself. A 'Hero' was instrument that slaughters everything in their path until there was nothing left to threaten. "There once was a man in my world, we'll call him Shirou. He wanted to be a hero when he grew up." Kuro picked up a spear from the nearby wrack and began playing with it. "So he became one. When he was roughly my age he learned what his 'power' would be. When he was roughly yours he learned how to use that to turn himself into a monster." Suddenly the spear cracked, twisted, grew gutting spikes, and became a ruinous pile of scrap that Kuro threw onto the ground. "Do you want to know what his biggest regret was before he died? He became someone who ultimately killed more people than he saved."
"That doesn't sound very heroic." Welt stated observing the weapon that he suspected served as metaphor for this man.
"No, it was very 'Heroic' of him. He did more than anyone could have dreamed possible and no one ever knew, and the people who did know treated him like garbage." Kuro seemed to disagree on the definition though not the end result. "His mistake though was in his mindset. You're the chosen one. You're not really human. Save the World. Those sentences destroyed him, but me?" Kuro indicated herself with her hands as she made her point. "You're no one special. You're only human. Protect who you love." Kuro's eyes had a madness and glee in them. "I don't love you people. Don't get me wrong getting yanked here to save this planet saved my butt so I'll give it a college try. But I can't fight alongside people that I don't know." There was the crux of the situation. It was faster for her to just cut loose and rampage then it was to form a plan with the rest of them so she didn't bother.
"Are you opposed to learning?" Welt asked looking at Kuro with curiosity.
"Why not." Kuro just shrugged her arms to the side. "I've got time to kill."
Welt was a fist fighter, which was another way to say that when he started adventuring he was too poor to even buy a weapon. Most days it was just a matter of having enough to eat at the end of the day, but as he got stronger he got smarter, learned more about the world around him, knowledge became his power so for that reason he mostly worked as a adventurer mentor. It wasn't hard to figure out why the king hired him. Berkia was a sword and board warrior, the kingdom's open disdain towards shields made working with the army a lot harder then it needed to be. Instead he ended up working with a group of Demi-human mercenaries who needed a human to interact with the more racist elements in Melromarc, and in exchange he got training with shield and sword, he was probably expected to join up with Maple but like his companions was too darn scared of the notion of getting caught in the kingdom's wrath, which Kuro would scold him for but as it turns out he was justified in that notion. Farrie was a mage, born in a poor district she grew up with a weak constitution so magic had to be the equaliser, which was difficult as that required information and studying which also meant magic. She worked as a pack mule for other adventurers stealing glances at their books until she was able to start learning magic, albeit self taught, and perhaps because of that was qualified to teach others too. Tersia came from a noble family, albeit a poor one, still she knew a fair bit about swimming with sharks and how to read a room, weak as she might be she is still more than a match for some people that she can think of, and knows enough about tactics to put some hits in too.
"I don't think the Claw Hero is who they say they are." Kuro stated manifesting a knife to start peeling a apple.
"How'd you do that?" Farrie asked recognising magic when she sees it.
"Magic of my world." Apple peeled Kuro dismissed the knife. "So believe me when I say that I have magic that while it let's me know the person I saw wasn't what everyone believes them to be."
"Makes sense." Welt stated hand on his chin.
"If he wants to kill me and thought himself powerful enough to take on the army then he would have taken a swing by now. So instead he wants me alone, surrounded on all sides by critters ready and willing to dispose of my corpse." Kuro bite into the apple letting the otherwise silent air be filled by obvious conclusions.
"The wave." Farrie stated as Kuro pointed at her and smirked.
"As a rule assassin types are weak in a direct fight so we stack the odds in our favour." Kuro used Tracing and projection to create more of her unique spider silk Graphene armour, complete with helmets, and fitted it over the group. "This is the strongest material I can create and still work within your strength parameters." Kuro admitted as she watched the others put the armour on. "Unfortunately, this world and this sword more specifically is rejecting all the good stuff."
'Suggestion. Combine the Reality Marble with the Legendary sword.'
"I'm going to need a minute." Kuro took the Legendary sword out and indicated for it to continue. It responded by opening up the help menu and more specifically the section for Skills.
'Magic can be combined with skills to mutually enhance their effectiveness.'
"That's only half the battle. The good stuff still needs a absurd amount of mana." Kuro stated pointedly remembering her attempt to trace Kanshou and Byakuya, her most used weapons precisely for their ridiculously low mana cost in comparison to other Noble Phantasms, well it was low.
'Suggestion: Mana drain. The Hero has demonstrated the ability to suck the mana from others, the wave will not be short on potential targets to make use of.'
"Well now that has potential." Kuro stated smirking knowingly. "I think we just figured out a hack." Kuro explained her proposal for dealing the the assassin, how much damage the weapon that she'd create would depend entirely on the power of the monsters set to emerge during the wave but she planned to do some damage, let that fact be known loud and clear.
"You've been draining mana from people to make these 'Noble Phantasms?'" Farrie asked eyes alight with a pure curiosity.
"Hence the orgy back in my room." Kuro stated smirking knowingly.
"Reproduction takes a lot of mana, so when the seed starts flying mana fills up the area. A fitting punishment for people who intended to kidnap me to use in a super breeding program."
"What are you talking about?" Welt asked looking surprised.
"Ask him." Kuro stated indicating the patch work child who was sitting on the couch next to them. "Or did you think that all of that happened by itself?"
"Are you going to kill my grandfather?" Chem asked looking at Kuro with about as much intent as he could.
"Jaralis the guy who was responsible for whatever program someone thought was a good idea to make you?" Kuro asked balancing the legendary sword on her finger. "He doesn't deserve death, but sadly I don't have the time to give him the punishment that I think he deserves, so I'll have to settle for it."
"Are you sure you should be telling him that?" Berkia asked looking between the two of them nervously. "That illusionist isn't the only one who was planning to take advantage of the wave." Kuro stated smirking knowingly at the party. "After the wave beat me up you were suppose to take me to the compound where you were born weren't you?"
"..." Chem said nothing which said everything.
"Then we'll deal with that during the wave." Kuro stated smiles, and teeth, and malice. The materials collected from the people of Siltvelt arrived for Kuro later that evening and proceeded to suck it inside her sword bringing the number of swords she's got swimming around inside of that thing to the quadruple digits and with it a new milestone was reached and with it the skill '1000 Swords.' More interesting though was what happened when she went diving into the Unlimited Blade Works, namely that it wasn't anything of the sort. The giant mountain of weapons that use to be here was dispersed, the weapons floating through a endless vast ocean.
"Byakuya." Kuro called and the Legendary sword appeared from the corner of her vision. "You've been redecorating."
'The Legendary weapons override the natural affinities of the legendary Hero. Yours is deeply ingrained, and useful besides.'
Rather than a Unlimited Blade Works this was more of a Infinite Sea of Blades, Infinite Blade Sea.
"Don't decide things on your own." Kuro had been wondering why it was so easy to create water using the blade works, and why the sword was letting her get away with it.
Kuro returned to reality and watched the clock count down in the corner of her vision, it would not be long now before the wave looses it's payload. The gong sounded and the world around them shattered, the seven people fell down the hole through reality and were spat out in a field, looking up the night sky was filled with various holes which were now dumping monsters into the area. Though they became the least of their concerns as the area was soon filled with a fog, acting to separate themselves from the area.
"Ah the expected Betrayal. Which one are you? Chem or 'Luke?'" Kuro asked even as she took a head count of the area and was left wanting.
"Legendary Sword Hero?" A Noble woman's voice stated in a snort of derision. "You don't look all that special."
"Chem doesn't look like a lady, so I assume that you're the one who was using illusions to impersonate the Claw hero." Kuro stated as she had a look around for where she saw that familiar reading of silk where it had no business being.
"Oh you think you're clever eh? But your ability to see through illusions is not my problem. No my problem is that I only need you but I've got five tag alongs along for the ride as well." The mirages swelled and then struck, like a magnifying glass the light bending illusions concentrated and pull light before firing, laser beams being shot through the heads of Kuro's companions.
'Warning: Cursed weapon attempting to form.' That's what they were even if only now, Kuro always did have hard time opening up, slow to trust, the botched nature of her birth combined with resentment of being suppressed and cynicism of the people who had contributed their essence to the process.
'Warning: Curse Series Detected! Cannot suppress. Cannot Delete. Compiling data...'
'4rE Y0u 3nV1oU$?' Oh Kuro knows what envy was, what it was like to want to be someone else so bad that you're willing to flay them alive and make a suit out of the skin. 'A73 yOU 1u5FU1l?' Kuro was familiar with that too, born shoved into a body just hitting puberty, advance knowledge of sex based magic shoved into her head and the understanding that she'd never live long enough to properly make use of it, rosie palms were the only salve for her despair for many month's since her 'birth.' 'Do Y0U W&n+ Wh^T +H3y H^Ve?' Yes, and if no one is willing to give it to her, then she'll just take it! 'Sword of Lust and Envy Unlocked.'
"Lady..." Kuro had a deranged smile on her features as the two blades on her person transformed into a pair of sickly white and green blades. The white blade was, without hyperbole, was shaped like a penis, it's handle and guard shaped like a scorpion, the other, literally green with envy, was a wavy blade with a scale pattern ending with the head of a hissing cobra. "...you woke up the wrong dog!" Kuro had no right to be angry, she never treated them like friends after all. But since when not having the right ever stopped her? But speaking of being a Envious and Lustful little brat. "I, The Demon of the Sword, have read and understood the origin of power! Blood is my Water and Bone is my Steel! I have quenched 1000 swords!" The skill was called out and one thousand of the green glowing blades were summoned.
"Neither your skills or your magic can hurt what you can't find!" The woman was throwing her voice in the opposite direction of where she actually was, unless she had managed to strip naked which was unlikely since she shouldn't know about Kuro's abilities. Like for instance the sheer mass of mana that was flooding in to the area thanks to the monsters of the wave, this woman didn't know what was causing it, only laughing as she used it to add to her foggy illusions.
"I summon the Bloody Orphan of London!" The Blades started to change shape as the Infinite Sword sea started to fill them up, a child's wails filling the air as the blades turned into a set of bloodied butcher's tools. "Maria the Ripper!" As far as Noble Phantasms go Jack the Ripper's butcher knives were pretty weak, only D ranked, and designed to target a single person at a time at that. However if that person met three conditions, being female, being shrouded in fog and being attacked at night, then those knives became the most hideously lethal weapons that you have ever seen. As the one casting the illusion magic was learning the hard way.
"Ah... ah... ah..." A fox woman, though it was hard to tell with serrated butcher's knives sticking out of every inch of her body, collapsed as the illusions dissipated, revealing a massive hoard of monsters so drained of Mana that they couldn't even stand up any more. Then Kuro collapsed too.
Author's Note:
RonaldM40196867: There's or ours? Either way the answer is yes.
Captain Imaginat: I know right? While I do understand that this is a topic that you are very passionate about, I don't watch Re:Zero, and this story has nothing to do with it, please don't write long winded rants about unrelated topics in my review box. Anyone would be uncomfortable with that level of punishment being taken, but that was the bare minimal amount needed to keep her from escaping from the farm. And yes don't worry, when she is introduced to our cute Heroes Melty is going to get along with them swimmingly.
setokayba2n: Credit where do: Malty is nothing if not resilient, like a cockroach.
reinDank: We all tired of Malty BS.
drmcgraw186: Which was a failure. It's not a hard assumption to make, and has some disturbing implications for Katarina down the line. True, but Elena's life could be different this time, and if she already knows Malty then that also means that she's gotten a dose of her 'wonderful personality' already. As for the Queen you should take a few things into account: Malty looks to be in her early twenties, late teens if you're willing to stretch it but I'm not, and the Queen looks like she's in her early thirties assuming she hasn't been generously applying youth restoring potions. Now take into account her insistence that Melty, a ten year old, is old enough to be giving birth to children. I humbly submit that the Queen also gave birth to Malty when she was a ten year old, and lacking the emotional or mental maturity to properly look after her she has likely concluded that was one of the biggest reasons why Malty turned out the way that she did. Don't worry, I got plans for Takt and no there will not be any harem hijacking or Takt redemption arc.