Chapter 3: Landfall

The air around the starship burned, the hull of the craft cut through the atmosphere as we flew towards the planet below us. Overall it was an unassuming looking world, mostly covered in water, with three notable continents. From what I had read of it, this world was very, odd, to say the least.

The data package Fate had sent us painted a strange picture, supposedly this world was populated by humans, nothing odd there as we seemed to be a favorite of the multiverse. The oddities started with the second species, monsters or monster girls, sometimes humanoid with animal traits seemingly from almost any species. Even more incredible were the more mythical monsters, dragons, vampires, succubi, slimes, all of them seemingly coexisting with one another.

While all the monsters seemed to get along relatively well, humanity and monsterkind seemed to be at odds with each other. This stemmed from the fact that in order to thrive, monsters needed the energy of men, found in their semen, and lacking their own, sought out humans.

Finally there were the angels, a species seldom seen on the planet, instead living almost entirely in a heaven of sorts. Led by a strangely powerful light elemental, the goddess Ilias, these angels and their god served as the main religion for humans.

From what I could tell, an equally powerful darkness elemental, serving as the goddess of the monsters, used to live within this universe as well. Though she was sealed along with the six original monsters, the six ancestors, after a war against Ilias.

As usual we were provided this information prior to our mission, though we were not told the future that would occur. Even conceptual forces like Fate had a set of rules that bound them from causing problems.

Pulling the joystick backwards, the ship leveled out, soaring above the clouds I could see a landmass ahead of us, Illias continent, it was just slightly larger than the northernmost land mass Hellgondo. Given the name I could assume it would be the most religious of the three.

Punching through the sound barrier, we flew across the ocean, the mass of rock, dirt and trees ahead of us coming clearer into view.

"Mmm, that was quick… I barely got any sleep." A tired Nine yawned from behind me. In truth it had been a short trip, taking only five hours to travel the many universes in between the Void and M-198. While this was more than enough sleep for myself, Nine did not seem to take it quite so well.

"We'll be landing within three minutes, I suggest you get ready." Currently Nine was in her typical outfit, during our time on this world we would both need to wear clothes and use weapons from the current technological level. If we didn't we would risk powerful forces finding out what we were.

Stepping away and out of the cockpit, Nine went to get dressed. I had already done so, as I wouldn't have the time between landing the ship and leaving. My current outfit was simple, however effective as it needed to be. My overcoat stayed on, however my shirt below it was simple, similar to the garb a soldier would wear, my pants were similar, having numerous pockets and pouches to store extra equipment, a red bandana could cover my mouth and nose, however it was currently resting around my neck.

As for weapons, I was using the same setup from Nine and I's spar, crossbow and cleaver strapped to my back, arming sword on my waist, knife stored in a sheathe on my arm, and throwing daggers in two pockets on my pants.

When I finally found a place to land it was just past the tree line of a rather large forest, setting the ship down, I shut down everything and then engaged a cloaking module. While the ship could be replaced, we couldn't risk altering this world's history with the advanced technology onboard.

From the cockpit I could see a dirt path, going from the forest out through a few rolling hills. We would not have much of the typical assistance many agents came to rely upon for tracking deviants, there was too much risk involved to use any of that technology this time. Instead we would have to track them through word of mouth from the local population.

Speaking of our target, David Stone was a caucasian man just under 5'8, he had blonde hair, blue eyes, and a fairly average facial structure, all in all, a person you wouldn't think twice if you saw in the street. Yet, while on the planet he had the capability to destroy this universe, simply by existing.

Walking down the ramp I smelled the air, most worlds where humanity has taken over carry polluted air from factories and machinery, so I had learned to savor every moment on one without the fumes.

"You too huh? I always loved the smell of the air on planets without polluted air." Apparently Nine had the same idea.

I nodded, "Yes, I've always admired how far our species could reach with our inventions, but there's something calming about a world untouched by the consequences."

Like myself Nine had chosen an outfit to better blend into the current time period, similar to the one worn during our spar, armor plates still covering parts of her body, though certainly not giving anything to the imagination.

Stepping forward onto the trail we both started walking away from the treeline and toward the hills in the distance. Pulling out a paper map I had taken with us, I looked at where we should have been heading.

"Ilias Village. Do they name everything here after her?" I'd seen religious fanatics before, but this was a bit new even to me.

"Maybe, could be this Ilias has an overinflated ego as well. There are a lot of "gods" who do that." Nine said matter of factly. "It's been a while since I've been out like this." she laughed to herself, "I'll admit it's exciting!"

I didn't share her enthusiasm, but then again I did jobs like this nearly once a month. From what I knew, Nine specialized more in toppling corrupt empires instead of hunting singular targets. It would be a great help having her expertise in the political field, as it was a skill I sorely lacked.

Cresting one of the larger hills, Nine walked up behind me and pointed into the distance. "There, Ilias village I assume." Her eyes were much better than mine I guessed, I could barely make out some smoke rising above the trees far ahead of us.

Zooming in with my right eye, I could finally see what she was talking about. It was a wooden gate, a guard posted just outside the wall, beyond it seemed to be a small town, though I couldn't make out any more than that.

"Perfect, we'll be able to get some answers soon then." Speeding up into a light jog we continued onward down the path. Passing by several large fallen trees and a large boulder.

Suddenly a voice called out to us, it was gruff and masculine, sounding to me like someone had taught a rock to speak. "You two, hands in the air! Give us everything you have and you won't get hurt!" Me and Nine shared a glance before turning around, hands up. "Just like that, yeah."

The man was big, not the largest I'd seen, but well built and easily over six and a half feet tall, in his hands he carried a massive claymore, and on his back was a bear skin cloak. A bandit then. A thought that was confirmed when several other men of varying shape and size stepped out from their hiding places. All of them had some form of weapon, bows, axes, even a sharpened shovel.

"Look. We don't want any trouble." I spoke, lowering my hands to my waist. "You don't want any either, trust me." I warned him, a hand drifting toward the arming sword on my belt.

"Oh? We got a hero here everyone. Now how about I tell you what I want?" The man grinned before continuing, obviously trying to intimidate us. "I, and these men around you, would like for you to hand over all your possessions," He smiled lecherously, staring at Nine as he did, "and your girlfriend there, I bet we could show her a good time. What do you say sweetie?"

Nine looked toward him, before turning her attention to me. "Hmmm, I take the ones in front? You can handle the ones behind us right?", she whispered, I nodded, as if she didn't know the answer already. "Perfect," She looked back toward the bandit leader one last time, the man growing impatient at our lack of answer. "I'm afraid that you wouldn't have the ability to help a lady like me." A foot slid back in preparation, "How about you give me a demonstration?"

Blurring forward, the bandit barely had time to raise his sword into position before Nine's fist smashed into, and through the steel blade. A cry of surprise coming from him as the shards of metal flew into his chest, a few managing to pierce the leather armor he wore.

I didn't give myself the chance to see more, unslinging my crossbow and leveling it at a bandit behind me. Charging forward, the man was not ready for a steel bolt to come flying into him, a steel bolt with the weight and speed capable of shattering whole trees.

The Man's back blew open, exposing his internal organs, spine and ribcage to the outside air. Guts, flesh and bone fragments falling out onto the ground. His face in plain agony as he fell forward onto his face, bleeding out quickly.

The others stood there, shocked, as the sounds of violence continued behind me, apparently Nine wasn't allowing mercy. Two of the men ran, a sensible action, the three still there all readied themselves. A bowstring was drawn back, swords were raised. I slung my crossbow back over my shoulder, drawing my knife out in a smooth motion as two of them charged at me.

As they drew closer, one raised his sword above his shoulder, preparing to swing at me. Stepping to the side as the blade came down I plunged the blade toward his exposed throat, however a quick turn of his shoulder blocked the titanium with a steel paldron.

Suddenly a second sword came at me, a thrust this time. Hopping backwards I avoided the other man's blade, looking back at the archer just in time to see him let loose an arrow. The iron tipped projectile flew over my shoulder as I ducked, avoiding any damage it might have done.

Speeding up my perception I thought through my options. It would be best to get rid of the archer first, a throwing dagger held in my right hand flew out as time resumed its speed. The black blade stabbing into the bowman's throat with such speed it pierced the back of his neck. Leaving him to choke on steel and blood I turned my attention back toward the swordsmen, both of them grimaced.

"You can leave, you know, I won't stop you." If I could avoid unnecessary deaths I would, even if they were criminals, history would be changed all the same.

Both men looked at each other before raising their weapons toward me, it seemed they were resolute. I pulled out my arming sword, holding my knife in my left hand, ready to use whichever I needed.

I began walking toward them, it would be favorable if I could provoke them into attacking first. One of the bandits ran forward, the one with the steel pauldron. Almost throwing himself at me in an attempt to injure me, I sidestepped the attack, following up with a kick into his left leg, forcing him to fall to the right. My sword sliced down, piercing his clothes and digging into his back, pressing down harder, I felt the blade cleave through his spine, paralyzing him.

Stepping away I saw the other one watching me, he was frightened, I could tell. I had given them the chance to leave earlier, not taking it was their own fault.

Time slowed, more than just my perception this time, swiftly walking toward the man, I ducked a swipe from his sword as though it were moving through thick syrup. Bringing my knife up, I dragged it across his throat, blood flowing out in slow motion.

Time resumed its natural course, the bandit dropping to his knees, hand desperately trying to cover the slit across his throat. It was no use, however in a quick motion I brought my knife up above and plunged it down into his skull, killing him quickly without the pain.

Retrieving my throwing dagger from the archer's corpse, I turned behind me to see what Nine had done. Bodies were destroyed, broken at odd angles, it seemed like she'd just used her natural strength as I didn't see any burns or signs of elemental damage. The Bandit leader, it turned out, was still alive. Nine had preferred to make him watch his men die in increasingly brutal ways. I walked by a body that had been torn in half, vertically, the internals a mess all over the ground.

"P-pl-please! Have mercy!" He was shouting at her as she walked back toward him. The leader's body was broken, I was surprised he could still live, much less talk. "I-I'll give you anything! Gold! Food! Whatever you want! Ju-just don't kill me, please!"

Nine scoffed, "Mercy? Now why would I do that? After all weren't you just about to rob us, and if I'm remembering correctly, you even threatened to rape me." Nine laughed, "pathetic, you can't even stand by what you claimed earlier."

Nine walked forward, crouching down. Suddenly her arm shot forward, wrapping around his shoulder joint, pulling him closer she whispered something in his ear. The bandits face went pale, at least more so than it was before. Opening his mouth to scream something, nothing came out, Nine's right forearm inside his chest probably made that difficult. Suddenly he gasped and then went still, Nine having done something that killed him.

I may be capable of extreme violence, but even I froze a bit at what I saw. In Nine's hand was a pulsating ball of light blue energy surrounding a darker purple core of energy. A soul, the bandit's soul. Nine stared at it for a moment, before sniffing it.

"Mmm, he was a particularly bad one, I suppose this is probably better than he deserves, all things considered." With that, she turned away from me and pulled a part of her mask up, bringing her hand up to her mouth. I saw her bring her mask back down. Turning back towards me, I saw her throat move, a light move down it.

"There, all done, let's get going Eleven." Looking at the bandits corpse, and thinking about what I had just witnessed, I fell in behind Nine as we continued walking toward Ilias village. Little did I know, another person had been watching us, running away in the opposite direction.

Ilias Village was smaller than I'd expected, at least for a place bearing the name of a god. The largest building there looked to be a church, at least that made sense. Walking up to the gate a guard stepped toward us.

"Halt! What is your business here?" With that I stepped forward, holding up something in my left hand.

"We were just traveling sir, and a bunch of bandits attacked us." The object in my hand happened to be one of the aforementioned bandits' heads.

The guard's eyebrows shot up in surprise, and he looked toward us with a scrutinizing gaze. "So you're heroes then, those bandits have been terrorizing the roads for the last two months, and the village even put up a bounty on them. Good to see someone finally dealt with it." He smiled at us, genuinely seeming to be happier than a moment before.

"Come on in, the church will probably be happy to see you, and you'll probably be happy to see all the gold waiting for you to collect." With that he walked in through the gate, me and Nine seeing no reason to refute him, money was something we didn't need to worry about anymore I supposed.

"So these bandits have been causing trouble for your village recently?" I asked, seeing as there wasn't much else to talk about as we walked toward the large building in the center of the town. Oddly enough, there didn't seem to be all that many people out and about here, only one or two walking around a market.

"Aye, their leader, a former hero, decided that crime would serve him better. He and his crew were causing all sorts of trouble with merchants, not just here either, apparently he's been seen in places as far away as Iliasport, fuckin' despicable." We arrived at the massive doors of the church, already open to welcome in anyone who came by.

"Hey! Alex! Get out here, someone finally dealt with those bandits!" Yelled the guard.

From where we were I could hear the clatter of something falling over, then muttering, finally a door down a hallway opened up. Out came an old man in the robes of a priest. Looking toward each of us, he saw the head in my hand. "Really now? And I don't suppose they have old Rodrick's head with them do they?"

I guessed that Rodrick was probably the leader of the bandits, the ex-hero. "No, but if you wish to see for yourself then you can go toward the hills to the east, the bodies will be there." I explained to him.

"Hmmm," The old man stared at me, "No, I believe you. Wait a moment here, I'll be back."

Walking back into what I assumed was an office, we heard more muttering, and then a squeak of metal on wood. Out came the priest again, this time with a covered cart on wheels, just bigger than the average wheelbarrow, only on four wheels instead of two.

The Guard stepped up and pulled the cloth off of the top, Inside was more gold than I had ever seen In one place. The coins nearly reached the top of the cart.

"So, I guess money won't be an issue?" Nine smirked, "for the rest of our lives I imagine."

"This is the thanks that Ilias village gives in response to you dealing with the bandits." explained the priest, "just a little over fifty thousand gold coins in this cart, please do not spend it all in one place." The man looked like this was something he had to tell someone before.

"We won't trust me." I figured now would be as good of a time as any to start asking questions, "We're actually traveling through right now, looking for someone who could be causing trouble."

"Really? And who is this troublemaker?"

"He's an average height man with light skin and blonde hair, named David Stone. Have you seen him around here?" If we could find out the general direction the deviant went, then our job would become ten times easier.

The guard and priest shared a look, they had seen him then, just then the guard replied, "yeah, we've seen 'im around here, left with one of the villagers looking' to become a hero. You think he might put the boy in danger?" He looked concerned, I suppose in a village this small everyone would know each other.

"That's a possibility, because of that we need to know where they were heading, any information you can give is useful." If we could find David quickly, then the effect he would have on this world would be minimized, less of a butterfly effect.

"Iliasburgh, it's the closest town from here, directly north of here. When you leave the village there's a road leading there." Explained the guard, "when will you be leaving?"

"Now would be best, we don't want to waste any time.", at which the guard nodded, then looked toward the cart of gold, "Just leave the gold with us, we have a way to move it all without a horse."

"Aye, safe travels to the both of you." leaving through the church's front door, only the priest was left.

He looked at us, "Luka, the boy that went to become a hero, he's a good kid. Please do what you can to make sure he's safe. The world's dangerous enough without adding this David fellow into the mix."

"Of course, we'll do what we can. First we'll have to find them though." With my part said, the priest nodded and stepped back into the office, me and Nine alone with the cart of gold.

"I'm surprised they didn't ask for our names." Nine said, stepping toward the gold. That was true, neither the guard nor priest had done that, I wasn't sure if that was a testament to how much they needed the bandit problem dealt with, or just a lack of common sense. For all they knew we could have been criminals in our own right.

"I know you have the ability to store objects in pocket dimensions, it would be best if we did so with the gold." Nine, unlike me, wasn't limited to a single ability, instead she used magic that could do many different things, dimensional storage just one.

With a bright flash all the gold in the cart simply disappeared. "Done, we should get going now, I don't think we'll find much else here."

Leaving the church and walking down the path toward the gate, as we walked out of Ilias village, the guard we had talked with waved at us as we went. When we had landed I would have guessed it was midday, now it seemed to be closer to six judging by the sun.

We walked well into the middle of the night, during that time we hadn't met any other people on the road, human or otherwise. It was almost midnight when we decided we should rest for the next day. Setting up two tents across from each other, we made a small fire in between them. Heating up a food ration, I asked what had been on my mind since earlier.

"Nine, what was that, back when we fought the bandits." I was fairly certain I knew the answer already, but there's a difference between somewhat, and completely certain.

Nine looked up at me, and cocked her head to one side. "What do you think it was?", when I didn't answer she sighed, "Yes, I ate someone's soul, he was dying anyway, besides I wouldn't have thought you'd be so adverse to it."

"Why? What do you need a soul for?" Most beings that consumed souls typically did so because there was no other source of energy that provided them with enough life force to survive. Nine, I was pretty certain, wasn't one of those creatures.

"Magic of course, we'll be here for a while so I need something I can burn to fuel my magic. Souls are by far the most dense form of natural energy, so they last longer than most other forms." Explained Nine. While it made sense, there was still something unnerving about it.

"How often will you need to do this?" The less the better, but we'd be here for a while it seemed.

"Mmm, once every week most likely. I'm not a natural conduit for magic, so I burn more energy when I use it." A second passed before she seemed to remember something. "By the way, we need actual names, you know, I doubt most people will be willing to help us if we don't give something as simple as that."

She was right, not giving out names, or going by our designations, would send the wrong message, hindering our search. Of course neither of us would use our real names, there was a reason that we were given numbers after all. "In that case." I thought for a moment, then remembered an old nickname I had been called during the time before joining Fate. "You can call me Zeph."

Nine laughed at that, "That sounds like a name a little kid would come up with. It's Mai by the way." It was, in fact, just that. Zeph had been something that one of the children from my hometown had called me.

Done eating, I walked over toward the fire and smothered it with dirt. Both of us walked to each of our tents, ready to turn in for the night.

"Hey Nine. Don't wake up half asleep tomorrow, we've got a lot of walking to do."

I heard a chuckle from her tent, "Of course, goodnight Eleven."

I closed my eyes after that, drifting off into sleep.

Author's Note

I suppose I should clear up some stuff, seeing as at least one person was confused about it. Just in case it wasn't obvious, there are two characters who we'll see the POVs of, Jack and David. The ratio of chapters from one's POV to the other won't be entirely consistent, as I need to set up certain events, though the story will be following Jack most of the time.