Dreams of a King Chapter 2, an overlord/オーバーロード fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Overlord or any other intellectual property used in this story intentional or otherwise.

Note: Warning Unexpected Crossover Ahead! You have been warned.

(Sounds)

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Special voice"

Special Item Name

[Spoken Spell/Ability]

{Wordless Spell/Ability}

White and metallic, those were the only two ways one could describe the current room. The only other discernable feature of the room was the massive gateway shrouded in a foggy mist at the edge of the barren room. That and the seven figures shrouded in darkness who stood at its center.

"Such pitiful creatures, is this all it took to break you this time? In the end you may not even be a worthy sacrifices for the maker. I suppose I'll just have to try again and hope next time will be enough." Spoke the largest of the seven figures. Raising its hand high above the other six it readied to end their existences.

"Do not worry L'Cie, this will end the day he is reborn." The hand flew down rapidly. Its intentions clear.

"BARTHANDELUS I command you to stop!" The shout was absolutely dripping with both malice and hatred. The words seem hit the creature, now known as Barthandelus, like an electric shock, stopping his movements completely.

"Maker, I-is that yo-"

{Multi Cast}

{Fire Bolt}

{Blink}

Once again the behemoth was cut off, but this time it was by a barrage of fire balls exploding across the creatures exposed face. As it recoiled from the attack, the assailant seamlessly warped in front of the six fallen figures. Shielding them from the explosions.

'What am I doing!?'

"Why Creator? Why would you-agh." It spoke while grasped its face in pain. Now illuminated by the flames the black and gold form of being known as Barthandelus is revealed. The being stood several feet higher than all others in the room and yet the one with the greatest presence in the room stood before him.

"Barthandelus you seem to have forgotten you purpose, you seem to have forgotten your focus." My words echoed with a scorn I could hardly contain.

'What am I saying?! I shouldn't be here yet!?'

"My Focus?" His words were both unsure and laced with a hint of fear.

'Why would I be so careless?!'

"Yes your focus, to make these six the strongest assault force of the guild. You were to make the strongest deployable force of the Summoner's Guild and this is what you do to your charge!" I gestured to the six figures laying prone across the ground. All their eyes held nothing, no life, no fire, they had all been broken down by something Barthandelus had done. As their conditions became apparent so too did the strange pressure that had begun to fill the room.

'Oh, right. They're why.' I thought as I began to have flashes of when I had first created Barthandelus all those years ago.

I had created Barthandelus and the six L'Cie as a tribute to a game that had recently gotten a reboot on the dive system.

The idea had been for Barthandelus to constantly fight the six of them and for them to slowly learn how to cooperate as a team. It was a program I had "barrowed" from another game that slowly learned how people fought and translated that into workable strategies for later. Though with a few minor hitches here and there. But considering I was a solo player, I found this to have been a much more viable system than actually trying to work out how proper teamwork would work without ever having been part of an actual team.

They had been meant to run endlessly until they were strong enough to become real Guardians. A sort of deployable fighting force of the guild. I wasn't sure what I'd use it for, but I had clearly liked the idea enough to go through with it regardless.

Yet as I stood here now all I could think of was how such a simple idea had turned into such an atrocious situation. I understood on a conceptual level that I could never have known that things would turn out like this, but it did little to curve my self-loathing in that moment. I clenched my teeth, but held my impassive visage nonetheless.

"It's just been so long since you last appeared, I thought you had abandoned us. I believed I would never again gaze upon your magnificence. So I sought for a way to summon you back. Thus I decided to offer up these L'Cie as tribute to bring about your rebirth. After all why else would they be allowed to return no matter how any times they fell? I found no other explanation for such a power, but that they were meant to be used as such?" His movements became more pronounced the longer he spoke, now seeming more like an over confident zealot rather than the impassive god he was supposed to be.

My teeth clenched again at his line of thinking. The Summoner's guild, true to its name was one focused on summoning and Guardians were no exception to that rule. The L'Cie had there Eidolons, Kall with his creation and Barthandelus, among other things, had the L'Cie themselves.

They were designed to be re-summoned on a timer after they all died in order to keep the team training going, now regrettably that mechanic had backfired in ways I could never have foreseen. The simple fact that I had CREATED the system that lead to this situation sickened me beyond words.

'And I sure as hell not going to let it continue.'

"Return them to how they were before you did this Barthandelus." He seemed to hesitate.

"Now Barthandelus!" The command left no room for arguing. The larger creature could only find himself stumbling with his words at the order.

"I'm afraid I can't do that master. Only death will revert their minds." I grimace knowing he was right. I had made it so they return without any detrimental status effects once revived, even things like [Zombie] and [Stop] didn't persist. I had just never expected it to be used like this.

'They had been through enough already. Why didn't I install some sort of reset button?'

"If it would lease you Master I could be the one to deal with them." Strangely the words held no spite, but rather an unsettling eagerness to help in any way possible. Considering the situation, the tone left a chill down my spine. But my face betrayed my feeling.

'We will not falter. Not here, not now.'

"No, you have done enough. I'll do it." I grimaced at my words, but readied to make this as painless as possible.

I reached into my inventory and pulled out a simple looking wooden staff, that in reality was a remodeled legacy-class item called Monsters Blight, a weapon that increased the chances of applying status effects when used on regular enemies, pets or summons. The last of which was what the group currently fell under. I brought out the staff to make sure what I did next would succeed. The staff stood stationary on the ground as I called out the magic I somehow knew I had.

[Potency]

[Boost Magic]

[Penetrate Magic]

[Multi Cast]

'And now'

[Death]

With the final spell spoken the room turn black and white for a second, before reverting back as the bodies of the six stricken L'Cie shifted to ash and were blown away by a nonexistent wind.

"It's done, they will return soon, it should give us just enough time to talk." My voice was now devoid of all emotion for I knew letting them control me now would be detrimental at best, suicidal at worst.

"Yes, may we finally speak after so very long my master?" I could tell that he felt nothing towards their deaths, but then how could he. He had been killing them since his creation.

"I must know, why and when did you forgo your focus and decide that killing them was a way to bring me back?" I had to know exactly how long this had been going on. The pressure in the air rose slightly higher.

He seemed to wince a little before he spoke. "As of today it has been three years and 223 days since your last visit, so I concluded you may have been killed or more likely sealed by some blasphemous individuals. Unfortunately I could not leave this room for it has no exit. So I devised the idea that by using the power released through killing L'Cie it could act as an offering to help you escape or revive. As of now it has been about one year and three days since I began the sacrifices. And thanks to my diligent work you have finally been reborn. He seemed sad at how long I had been gone before he shifted to pride over what he believed he had done.

'He wasn't entirely in the wrong though. It's been well over three and a half years since I had last visited the treasury, one year less than he's been alive. Since I usually never came to visit the treasury, I tended to just deposit my earnings and loot through the menu system in the game.

It also seemed that even though he was based on the original Barthandelus, this version was far more susceptible to time, unlike the real one who had lived for centuries. My version had been alone for more than 80% of his life.' The pressure dropped slightly.

'No wonder he's gone so mad. Even so, to resort to such means is unacceptable and I am going to be dealing out a harsh punishment for such an act having been carried out, much less in my name.' The thought of that made my stomach churn. The pressure now began to skyrocket.

"Barthandelus you have gravely disappointed me. Not only did you abandon your task, but you also managed to cause what may be permanent damage to your charge!" At the words Barthandelus began to shrink back under the strange pressure. Before I could continue my rant was cut off by a pair of chocked sobs behind me and with them the odd force that had been layering the large room vanished.

At the sound I froze. 'No, they can't be that far gone. They are all strong in their own right, for them to cry at this point would require something devastating.' Although I didn't want to see them in this state I knew I had to try and fix what he had done, even if all I could do was offer my condolences. What I saw when I turned around was worse than I could have imagined.

Snow, The forever optimistic hero of the group was on his knees arms to the side and completely lost to the situation.

Vanille, The happy, yet odd, ball of joy sat with her knees to her chest crying quietly.

Sazh, both a witty and comedic person, now sat at the edge of the room as one of the few to actually be looking at me. Eyes sharp and worn, none of those previous traits present within them.

Fang and Hope, Originally polar opposites now stood as the only two shields left in the group. Weapons drawn and still ready to fight, difference being that Fang's eyes held a hard edge to them while Hope's hade one of wariness.

'He's grown a lot though this hell.' With that thought in mind I caught sight of the last member. One Claire Farron, aka Lightning, lay on the ground, she seemed to be hugging herself and quietly released a few small sobs.

My teeth were roughly grinding together now that I could see the full scope of the damage Barthandelus had caused. 'For even Lightning to be like this… Barthandelus better hope this doesn't get worse or it will be his head.' The force from before retuned two-fold.

"Who are you, another of Barthandelus's tricks?" The question was from Hope and strangely was said without the hesitation I remember hearing from him in the games.

'Tricks? Ah, I see now. Barthandelus' illusions are to blame for this.' I frown at the idea of what he could have done with those.

"No, I'm not" As I finished I put my staff back into the subspace that was my inventory. 'I have to play this carefully. There all in a fragile state and to introduce myself as even slightly hostile may ruin my chances of saving them.'

"Yea right, that's what they all say. Raines, Serah, lebreau, Nora, Dajh they were all fake and every time we fell for one we would all lose a bit of hope about getting out of this hell. Well guess what, we ain't fallin' fer' it again." Spoke the Defiant Fang.

"I will say this though, he's never used someone we didn't know. Points for originality at least." Fang brandished here weapon in my direction as she stopped talking.

'Strange to see that sense of humor in such a depressing situation.' But, before she could start her attack both she and Hope jumped back several feet and got into their fighting stances.

"You pitiful L'Cie dare point your feeble weapons at the maker. You shall be punished dearly for this insolence. Like the last time you believed yourself victorious I shall crush your hopes and make this death as painful as that time." Barthandelus lumbered over to the group as he spoke in a semi rushed matter, the voice held a strange sense of desperation in it. Before he could get too far I placed one hand on his jet black plates as a gesture for him to stop.

{Teleport}

The spell sent us out of ear shot of the six other entities in the room. "Barthandelus, stop this right now or I'll be forced to destroy you." In a way the threat was empty, I knew if I was to survive the fact that I was now in a real Yggdrasil I'd would need all the help I could get. As good as Kall was to have I knew the situation could turn bad if Anima were to rebel, in that sense I would need Barthandelus' help.

Yet, I was angry enough with him that I may just decide to fight him if he decides to continue his current action, consequences be dammed. My patience was at its limit and if he pushed me on this I would be forced to get rid of him. The strange pressure now saturated my every word.

"Return to your human form and cease your actions against the L'Cie or I shall be forced to count you as a hazard towards the guild." He seemed rather alarmed by this and reverted back to his Elder form immediately. Fear was etched across his face, whether it was for angering his creator or my actual threat, I didn't know nor did I care at the moment.

"Good, now take this go to the outer end of the treasury and warp to the throne room in…" I checked my internal clock to see how much time had passed.

00:12:58

00:12:59

00:13:00

"…seventeen minutes. Not a moment before or I will make good on my promise. Am I understood?" Unknowingly I had reverted to the kingly persona I had used on Kall not to long ago.

"But master is this not a guild ring meant only for Tru-"

"Don't question me on this Barthandelus, I am in no mood for to arguing you. Now, am-I-Understood?!" The threat was clear, this was his last chance to listen. At this point the old man was sweating bullets.

He wordlessly bowed, slipped the ring on and warped to the fog like door that gave way under his presence. Not waiting a moment, for fear of angering his creator further, he exited through the gate.

Once he was out the room I decided it was a good enough time as any to return to the six I had left behind. Unknown to me the aura I had been exuding had vanished and was replaced with a more subdued one.

Upon arrival I heard the striking sound of metal hitting the floor behind me. Turning around I realized it was both Fang and Hope's weapons that had hit the ground, but for two different reasons. Fang had let the tip of her spear fall to the floor in exhaustion and Hope had completely dropped his boomerang in favor of helping keep Fang standing by draping her arm over himself. I took a single step before Fang tried in vain to raise her spear in an intimidating fashion towards me. It wobbled and shook in her grasp, yet she was determined to keep me at bay with all she had left, even in her exhausted state.

"Not anotha' step or I'll kill you were ya' stand." The words were as shaky and uncertain as her spear yet still held a firm resolve to them.

'Looks like fatigue was not something the revival accounts for.'

"Fang don't. You can barely stand and if you keep fighting like this you'll…" Hope said before being blown off by Fang.

"I'll what, Die? So what, wouldn't be the first time its happen today that's for sure. An' if it means helping kill this Fal'Cie puppet, then it'll be worth it." She began to stand on her own having gained her resolve.

'I had written the lore of the game into their bio's so it's no wonder they would assume I was somehow related to events of their world. I just wonder how much that fake past will affect them.'

"And who says I'm a puppet of any Fal'Cie?" I raise an eyebrow at the allegation.

"I do, why else would you be so chummy with mister high and mighty." She points to where we had been talking.

"He's gone now so what's it mean to you if we talked?" The response was cool and calm so as to not trigger any adverse responses from them.

"This wouldn't be the first times he's supposedly left, so I'm keeping my basses covered." She said it with a cocky smile, but the fact she was shaking was easy to see,

"Regardless of what you believe I am no illusion. I simply came here for answers." Hope now began to make his way to his weapon. I made no action to stop him.

"So what, you here to get answers outa us. Pshh, as if we would give you anything." Now she was in her full fighting stance.

"Yes I do need answers, but not for what you think." I said.

'I need to know how bad the damage is… After that I'll decide what to do with this whole situation.'

"Yea, Then what kind of answers do you want. You looking for our secret to immortality, cus' I'll save ya' the trouble and tell you it ain't what you're looking for." By now Hope had also recovered his weapon and was standing behind me ready to attack at a moment's notice.

'So they still have the memory of each death. I don't remember making mention of that back in the game. I guess the system or whatever created the situation I'm in, decided to fill in that little plot hole itself.' I internally frowned at the idea, but kept up my poker face.

"No, I have no need for such knowledge. After all I already know it." The revelation left the two sanding humans frozen, eyes wide and hands now clenched around their weapons.

The statement was meant to shock the party for two reasons. 'First, make it so they were willing to listen to what I had to say in hope of me being able to lift the curse they were under. Second-'

On instinct I threw myself back and then dodged to the left in a successful attempt to evade not only a sword strike from lightning and a haymaker from snow, but also a pair of shots from Sazh. 'I definitely did not have those senses back in my old body.' I thought as I regained my stance.

'Regardless of that, it's nice to know they've stopped mopping around and have shown me they still have some fight left in them. What's more, the anger raging in your eyes showed me all I needed to know, you still aren't completely lost.'

"How? How could you possibly know that? Unless you were the one that created t-this curse!" It was strange hearing such unbridled emotions from the usually stock Lightning, but a rather welcome change compared to how she was a moment ago.

'Now to finish pulling them out of their despair. After all them being mad at me is far preferred than wallowing in despair.'

"Yes I created not only the system that keeps you from dying at Barthandelus' hand, but also Barthandelus himself is my creation." The sentence left the five facing me stunned, for a few seconds before a harsh blast of wind threw them all past me. The burst was strong enough to have me cover my eyes and only once it had it died down was I able to see the entity now towering over me.

'Hecatoncheir'

One of the six eidolons I had gifted the L'Cie to fight alongside them now stood ahead of me in its gestalt mode. The summon was essentially a walking magic shotgun once it transformed and held no restraint when it readied to release its payload.

Looking up I stared into the barrels of the creature, its unrestricted power caused the air around us to hum in agitation.

'Hmm, rather ironic if you think about it. I gave them this power to protect me and the guild, yet now it's doing the exact opposite of that.' My musing was cut off by a high pitched voice from atop the cannon.

"So it WAS you. I didn't want to believe anyone would be horrible enough to do what you did, but now if what you said is true then I can finally get revenge for what you did to my friends, my family!" The statement was accompanied by the whirling sound of Hecatoncheir charging its most powerful attack [Gaian Salvo].

"Do us all a favor and Die!" Words were spoken though red teary eyes now full of nothing, but an uncontrolled rage.

'So this hell has turned even sweet old Vanille into a warrior of vengeance. I'm sorry Vanille, I never meant for all of you to suffer so much because of my laziness. But unfortunately I can't let you take your revenge, even if you deserve the chance.' I closed my eyes and let the room be filled with a blindingly white explosion and a deafeningly loud sonic boom.

((()))

(())

()

…

Now that the blast had died down Hecatoncheir gave its equivalent to a bow before vanishing to its own dimension. The smoking crater being the only testament that it had ever existed. The instigator of said crater stood at its edge, her head held down. A few silent moments passed before a symphony of footsteps filled the void and stationed themselves behind the girl. Once they stopped the space was filled with the unique ring of a sword cutting air and the sound of a gun being loaded.

"You know what you've just done don't you Vanille" The voice was cold and rather unforgiving given the fact that her sword now lay an inch away from the girls head.

"Yes" The response was followed by the girl's hands being clasped together in what seemed like a form of prayer.

"Then you also know that now we'll never get to leave this place, Right?" The words were still cold, but were spoken by the sharpshooter of the group.

"Yes" Another quick and simple answer.

(Shhhing)

This time it was Fang that had her weapon up to the girl's throat. "Then why act so careless and kill what could've been the one person capable of freeing us from this hell?!" As her anger rose so did her spear, now lightly cutting the girls neck, barely deep enough to draw blood.

A tears rolled down the girl's eyes and her hands clamped harder as she spoke up. "You all tried so hard, every time we came back everyone would give it their all in order to win. Each time you guys would look for a new way to beat him. Even if we kept dying, none of you gave up because we knew that one win was all we needed. Time after time we fought with everything we had, but after he started using people we love against us… After that time, we began to lose. One by one we lost, first Sazh, then snow, Lightning was next and who knows how long you and Hope would have lasted! I had to do it! If he was who he said he was, then he caused it all. I wanted to kill him, I wanted revenge for everything he put you all through!" She was now shouting in anger, tears flowing faster than ever.

"If that's how you feel then you better make peace with yourself cuz' yur' going to be the first to go after what you did." Fang now had lost her ire and was now as cold as her two other companions. A nod was all the girl could give as she shut her eyes waiting for the spear that now slowly dug deeper into her flesh to kill her.

"Well isn't this a rather somber situation." In the blink of an eye all five of the L'Cie were off Vanille and in their combat stances. Swords, fists, projectiles, guns and spears were all now fully trained on the figure that was walking out of the smoking crater. All traces of their previous dilemma had vanished in favor of facing this new foe.

"And here I thought you were all stronger than this." Truthfully I could understand why they felt so betrayed by the girl's actions. I could not however condone their actions in response.

'I will not let you fall so low again.'

"How are you still alive, Vanille's Eidolon has the strongest attack of all of us and we saw you get hit by it?!" The comment was from an angry lightning who had taken to holding her weapon in gun form rather than its default sword. Though through the shaking of the weapon I could tell the anger was just a well disguised fear.

'Looks like the level discrepancy between us is not something so easily seen, though I do suppose that is partially my fault.'

I held up a finger to illustrate a point. "Although it is true that Vanille's [Gaian Salvo] is powerful and could have seriously hurt me had it struck a fully exposed me. I did not simply stand by and let it hit me. I used Gaian Salvo's exceptionally long charge up time to cast several defensive spells before the blast actually hit. Thus I was left relatively unharmed by the attack."

A partial lie to be sure. Although I had been able to cast defensive spells they had been wordless and thus less powerful than I had expected. I had lost a fair bit more health than I had expected to from someone of her level. Whatever she had done had elevated the attack far beyond its limits back in the game. With that explained I lowered my hand and placed it behind my back in another gesture to show none hostility.

"Truth is I didn't even need to do that. The thing is that as you are now you still have a lot to learn before you can kill me. Though I must praise the attempt nonetheless Vanille." Being the only one that didn't jump back to fight, Vanille was the one closest to me. Although it was not out of courage, bravery, or anger, but rather in fear. After having seen me she had fallen back down to her knees clutching her staff as if she had seen a ghost. Her eyes showed a primal fear to them only ever present in cornered pray.

"Y-You can't be alive, I put everything I had into that attack. I won't even be able to summon Hecatoncheir for another three days because of it." At this point her skin had gone pale and her knuckles were white from how tightly she was holding her staff. She began kicking her feet in a pitiful attempt to push herself farther away from me. She was so scared she didn't even notice she had bumped into Hope's feet and just kept kicking.

"Vanille get a hold of yourself, if he survived your attack then we can't afford to protect you and still win!" Unfortunately Vanille showed no signs of having heard the silver haired boy's plea.

'Damnit, not the reaction I was hoping to get. I have to stop her before she gets any worse… I'm not that scary, am I?'

{Sleep}

And just like that the girl's eyes drooped before here whole body fell back onto her companions legs.

""Vanille""

The room reverberated with the sound of the girl's name being called out by her conscious party members. Faster than the others could react the spear wielder of the group charged towards me, intent on getting the revenge for whatever I had done. But, I had no intention of wasting time on a long drawn out battle against the five.

[Expand Magic]

[Extend Magic]

[Flash Prison]

The attack had been stopped before it could really begin as a box comprised of eighteen cylindrical bars formed from what seemed like light itself. The cage shone with a light blue tint to it and surrounded all six of the people present. Almost immediately they all began to beat on the bars in an attempt to escape.

"Don't bother, those are made to hold far stronger than you and trust me when I say that." I was just about done with them jumping to conclusions. I understood that they had been through a lot, but if I didn't put my foot down now then I was sure I wouldn't get through to them at all.

"And why should we trust anything you say, Hell if what you say is true you're the reason we're in this mess in the first place." This came from the oldest member in the group… "Peew"… and his chocobo.

"Because since I got here I've done nothing that could count as a threat. I have tried my best to seem as none hostile as possible, even after taking an Eidolon blast to the face I still refused to attack. Only using my abilities to protect myself and to help you. I mean seriously, do you think Vanille was dealing with the situation well? Putting her to sleep was the only choice I had, unless you wanted her to start having a heart attack." True to my words Vanille gave a light snore from here position in the cage. They all seemed relieved so I took it as an okay to continue.

"I made Barthandelus leave because I saw what he had been doing and wanted to talk to you about it without his presence changing what you say." My comment seemed to draw out a response from Snow.

"You mean what you did to us." The intent of his words were clear. 'This is your fault'

"It was never supposed to be like this, it was never intended end up like this." Now it was my turn to have my head down.

Once again it was Sazh that spoke. "Oh, then pray tell big shot, how was it supposed to go down? Were we supposed to die after the first time or maybe we weren't meant to even make it off that purge train?"

"No, the goal from the start was for you to be strong enough to defeat Barthandelus. After that I would return and then..." I once again checked the time to see how much I had left.

00:25:49

'Shit, I've spent more time here than intended, but I can't just take them with me by force or else they'll never trust me.'

"Then what? You come back and kill us for destroying your toy?" Now it was Fangs turn to speak.

"Once I returned I was to crown you as fellow Guardians alongside those like Barthandelus, Anima and Kall. It is the one of the guild's highest honors." They all looked at each other questioningly.

""Guild?"" They all asked.

'Shit, how do I explain this quickly…? Got it!'

"The guild is the name of the defense force to the realm of gods. Once proven capable, an individual or individuals is given the chance to ascend to Guardian status." I may be confident on the outside, but on the inside…

'Wow, this is some Grade-A anime level bullshit I'm just dropping right now. They'll never believe this.' It was now back to lightning's turn

"So you're saying that we can become like the Fal'Cie?" She seemed unsure of what I was offering.

'Okay? They seriously aren't going to question that? Whatever, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.'

"Yes and No, Fal'Cie are but one of many forms you may take once you ascend to Guardian status. You may even choose to keep your human forms, it makes little difference what you choose." Now I was down to only a three minutes to return to the throne room.

"What about our focus? If we become Guardians what will happen to our brands?" The question came from Hope who was holding up his brand to show off how close it was to full.

Looking at it I remembered that the brands were actually a neat trick I had found in the games system. By using a point of connection between a Guardian with infinite magic, being inside the guild and all, I could perpetually keep them tied to that Guardian without having to manually come back and summon them after every death. Once they became full Guardians the brand would vanish because they would no longer be counted as Barthandelus's summons.

'This may actually be the perfect opportunity to get them to come with me willingly. Now I'll just have to make an offer they can't refuse.'

"Gone, once you join the ranks of Guardians your brands will vanish and you'll be free of your never ending battle with Barthandelus." I had now changed my posture to a more relaxed one in hopes that they would take it as a sign that I wasn't lying.

"What about cocoon? What about Serah or Dajh? Will we ever get to see any of them or our homes again?!" Spoke the Blond of the group.

'Shit, I'm not even sure how I'm supposed to answer that. Damnit, looks like I'm going to have to lie even more now.'

"Unfortunately no, you can no longer return to your homes…" They seemed displeased with that fact.

"…but rather you are to protect them from afar. With orphan safe and Barthandelus no longer able to return to cocoon, I ask you to fight and defend your world from threats beyond the reach of your world." I had my hand out as a gesture to take the deal.

'Kill me, this is so corny it hurts.' I internally struggled to not lose my composer at the B-rate plot I was spewing out.

"Power, Freedom, status, and we don't have to be puppets of a Fal'Cie. Sounds too good to be true, wouldn't you guys agree." They all gave a quick nod to the brunet and spoke again together.

""What's the catch?""

'This is working well, a little too well if you ask me. After everything they've been through this should be harder to swallow, but they seem to want to trust me. I wonder why?'

"Your right, this offer isn't free. Like all Guardians there are certain things that are expected of you. First is skill, you must be tested by another Guardian and deemed as strong if not stronger than said Guardian. A prerequisite Vanille proved to me when she attacked earlier and if any of you are capable of even a fifth of that then you qualify. Next is the ability to summon a powerful creature to help you fight, something I know you all have right." They gave a quick nod before I continued on.

"And finally is…"

'I really have a flare for the dramatic don't I?'

They all leaned forward in anticipation of what the final necessity was. "…A Guardian must always be willing to protect not just the guild, but there fellow Guardians as well." Contemplation had now rooted its way into all their faces as they digested what I had just said.

'I'd love to give you all the chance to think it over, but we unfortunately don't have the time for that so…'

"Also" All their heads perked up at the word I'd left hanging. "Although it's not an option regularly used, Guardians are allowed to fight each other in the arena to test their skills against one another." They all gave me questioning looks, as if asking why I would bring up such a strange point.

"Oh and did I forget to mention? Since Guardians can be resurrected, fights between them can be to the death."

"I don't get it, what's so great about that?" Questioned Snow.

'Of course he's the one who doesn't see the big picture here.' Thankfully it was Lightning that illuminated Snow as to what I meant by that.

"You idiot, it means we can get our revenge on Barthandelus if we take the deal." Having gotten the picture now Snow's eyes widened and he griped onto the bars of the cage.

"Is that true? Can we really get payback for what that bastard's done?" He seemed rather desperate at this point.

"Not unless you say yes to being made into Guardians." Two minute left on the clock.

They all huddled around Vanille and began to chat amongst themselves. 'You know, up to now it hasn't really sunk in, but looking at them all talk it's begun to click. I was actually having a conversation with people who thirty minutes ago weren't real. From what I've seen they are as real as physically possible to the originals and I'm interacting with them.' The thought was moments away from having me lose my composer before I pulled myself back and stored the information away for later.

'Now is not the time to be fan-girling over people. Now is the time for serious contemplation of the situation I've ended up in.' Shaking my head I regained my composer and spoke up.

"Sorry to say this, but I'll need your answer rather soon." Now I was beginning to worry about the time again. I couldn't afford to show up late to the remaining Guardians after making such a fuss over how soon the meeting needed to be.

'Why am I so hung up on that promise? How odd.'

They finally broke the talk and turned to me.

'Finally, you guys were cutting it close.' Their representative seemed to be fang.

"We can't make that decision-"

'God Dammit!'

"-until Vanille wakes up. Something that important needs to be made by all of us." They all showed no signs of compromise for that decision.

"Fine, but you will be coming with me to the guild meeting, no exceptions." 60 seconds left.

"Why would we need to do that? We're not even Guardians yet." It was Hope who choose to speak up.

"Because when you do become Guardians I don't want to waste time explaining the situation again." I gave a pause at my own words. "That and you've already spent enough time down here for one lifetime." My words were softer at that part.

"Don't you mean multiple lifetimes" I looked away at Sazh's statement.

"Yeah… Now let's go." They all gave a nod in confirmation.

[Teleport: Throne Room]

Once we appeared I took a second to appreciate the room we had moved to. Unlike the last one this one had a far more vibrant theme to it. I had originally planned for the room to convey royalty and power so as to symbolize the guilds max rank of True-King. That being why the room was lined with purple and gold. Its walls were draped with expensive looking rugs and sheets that looked like they were made of silk. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, bathing the whole room in a white light.

The table in the center drew the eye towards it, just as designed. Looking like a giant round glass table it stretched over almost the entire room, still leaving enough room between it and the walls for three people to comfortably walk through. The table was surrounded by sixteen chairs all of which held rather unimpressive designs compared to the room. Their only defining features being that they were white and tall, they seemed rather boring in comparison to the rest of the room. The only variation being in the four that sat at each corner of the table being about twice as large as the rest.

Yet none of that compared to the object floating above the table. It seemed to be a giant crown embroiled with several complex designs lining its gold exterior that showed a carved dragon eating the massive green gem embedded at its center. The crown also let out a large corona of golden energy that seemed to evaporate into the ceiling and walls wherever they touched.

The item was the guilds true pride and joy. It was also our guild weapon to boot, the crown of the Final-King Ouroboros,a name derived from the World-class item that made up the circlet of the headpiece. It was technically a weapon, but considering it was the guilds center it was never truly meant to be used and thus it sat here, mostly to just look impressive.

'In hindsight this room would have been a waste of time too if it weren't for the current situation. Now it was flawless, the four big chairs for me and the current Guardians. Small chairs for the rest, it's perfect.'

I look back and thankfully the cage had teleported with me. I lazily wove my hand through the air trying something out and sure enough one light swing later the front of the cage vanished leaving a large opening in the spell just as I had hoped.

'Cool, looks like I am capable of modifying the spells I cast in ways the game version wouldn't allow, I'll have to experiment with that later.'

"Take your seats, preferably the five closest to me." 30 seconds left.

"You wana' make sure we can't run too far? And what of Vanille? She's still in the cage." Fang was now the one talking.

"First, she will stay in the cage so I can easily move her for when it's needed because I doubt any of you can carry her with how you look right now." It was true, all of them looked worn out and exhaust from there nonstop fighting. They didn't seem pleased with that answer so I threw by hand back up in a strange gesture. After doing so the bars of the cage vanished and only left the glowing floor hanging in the air. They seemed slightly pleased at the action so I continued.

"And second, Barthandelus will be seated across from me. So unless you want to be next to him I suggest you take my advice." Fang seemed like she wanted to argue, but instead looked back at what seemed like a pleading group before she walked over to the table and took the seat closest to mine. I let out an internal sigh at having won that argument and watched as the remaining four also took their spots around mine.