Kris was having a rough week.

First, a nasty cold from his already sick sister, though not as bad as the recently immunocompromised college student.

Rather, actually first, it had been a rough month and the halfway point had only just been reached- people at work dropping like flies to go to greener pastures (or however those sayings went), a new dog that literally only one person in the house wanted, a cold leading to a sore throat.

And then on the ride home from work, his car's driver side door decided it no longer enjoyed being closed, which had been nerve wracking.

All that on top of the stress of handling millions of dollars a day meant he felt like shit.

After a mercifully short day thanks to being Good Friday (god, was it already Easter? Wasn't it just Christmas?), and driving home in his younger sister's much too small car, Kris had freshened up and prepared to talk with friends for a bit to draw something good out of the day.

Only for no one to be online.

Reminding Kris his friends had other priorities, like their fiances or households or sleeping due to being in different time zones.

So with a sigh, Kris decided to do something he hadn't done since he'd graduated and begun working a 9-5.

He went for a walk.

Phone in pocket, wired earbuds in ear listening to some horrid musical abomination, and naught else on his person but a silver crucifix necklace (and clothes, of course), he set out for a walk.

As he walked, he couldn't help but close his eyes and get lost in the music, the motion of walking, and the beauty of nature. There was even a nice breeze that felt good on his bare arms.

He walked and walked inside of his own little world, so occupied he didn't notice the pink and purple portal that appeared before him, which he then walked into.

What was noticed was the hard sidewalk underfoot turning to soft grass.

"Whoops, veering off the-" Kris's eyes opened then opened wide as he looked around and saw not his neighborhood but a full on forest full of thick trees the likes of which he'd never seen in rural Pennsylvania. "What the fuck?" He breathed as he whirled around, trying to figure out how he got there.

And he saw something pink and purple swirl into nothing, leaving only the trees to be seen along with the rest of the forest's shrubbery, rock, and other smaller trees.

"...Eh?" Kris asked in shock as the music continued to play, before with a press it was stopped.

He looked up.

It looked to be about high noon.

Which was bad.

Considering it had just been 5:00 less than a minute ago.

Idly, he checked his phone.

No signal whatsoever, clock still saying what he thought it should say, but the sun overhead gave a different impression.

"...Okay." Kris said as he took out his earbuds, put them in his pocket, and took a deep breath before choosing a random direction and beginning to trudge along. "This week's already been weird enough so you know what, why not?"

He walked along, taking in as much of the area as he could for signs of civilization.

"Ooh, a stick."

And sticks.

Though to be fair, it was a very nice stick, not too heavy but not too flimsy, and just the right length to use as a walking stick.

Regardless, he walked.

He walked, and he walked, the slightly obscured rays of the sun bathing down on him, thankfully it was not very heated sunlight, it was a nice comfortable spring temperature, not too cold, not too hot.

Perfect weather for shorts and a tank top.

Though Kris came to a stop when he heard the sound of humming, humming that was not coming from his phone.

"Hello?" Kris called out.

The rather loud humming continued.

He couldn't tell where it was precisely coming from, the sound was thrown off course by the trees.

"Hello?" Kris tried again, louder. Not quite a shout with how sore his throat already was, but he had a very naturally loud voice to begin with.

The humming stopped.

"Who is there?" A very light female voice asked, the direction of it much easier to parse than the humming.

"Hi, I'm really, really lost right now, could you maybe help me out?" Kris asked as he began moving towards the source.

"Of course I am happy to help," The female voice responded, much closer now.

"Thank you, you're very kind." Kris said as he found a small clearing in the trees, seeing the back of an easel with a canvas on it. "I've been walking for a while now and I only feel more lost."

"How did you end up all the way out here in the first place…" The voice spoke as from around the canvas came not a person, but what looked to be a fairy floating about five feet of the ground. And she stopped speaking when her eyes landed on Kris.

"...You know, I had no clue but now I think I might have walked into a fairy ring!" Kris said, rising in pitch, at the very obvious fairy after having been fucking teleported.

The fairy blinked in confusion, as she spun around in the air. "Nooooo, this isn't a fairy circle," She said in confusion.

Kris pointed back where he came from. "Well, I started off about an hour in that direction. Though I could just be using the wrong words for something I don't know how it works because oh god I've been kidnapped by the fae haven't I?"

"No this isn't a Fairy Realm, silly human…" She gave Kris a scrutinized look. "Man?"

"I don't identify as one but I was born that way, yes."

"Huh?" She said not in confusion, but more in 'huh that is neat' tone.

"Soooo…" Kris said. "Uh. Can I ask for your name?"

"Oh the name is Lily, what is your name ma'am?" Lily asked.

"Oh, I'm Kr…wait, you're not gonna enslave me using my name or something right?" Kris asked to be sure- Lily had freely given her name, which implied otherwise, but Kris did not like taking chances with these sorts of things.

Lily responded by blinking a few times, before tilting her head. Kris swearing he had seen a question mark appear over her head for a brief second.

"Sorry, sorry, unlearning some folktales." Kris apologized. "You can call me Kris."

"Nice to meet you Kris, and yeah you humans make up strange stuff about us," Lily replied, still fluttering in the air on dragonfly-esque wings as she spun a rather large brush (for her size) around.

"Eheh, yeah…" Kris said awkwardly. "So, uh… can you help me, Lily?"

"Yeah, I can Kris, there is a little village nearby, and from there you can find your way to one of the big cities you came from," Lily said.

Kris immediately perked up. "Oh, there are ways back to Pennsylvania from here?"

"Pennsylvania? I haven't heard of that city before," Lily said, causing something in Kris's chest to drop in realization. "But I think you can."

"Uh…" Kris stalled. "Hey, for no particular reason, what year is it?"

"Uhhh, well I think it's 100 P.S.A," Lily answered.

"Oh dear sweet merciful Lord in Heaven I've been isekai'd." Kris breathed in realization as the final nail in that coffin was struck.

"Isn't that supposed to be Lady in Heaven for you humans, and isekai? That sounds like a Zipangu word?" Lily asked in confusion.

Kris's thought process at that moment was mostly internal screaming, because Zipangu was the Chinese reading of Nippon, and Lady in Heaven meant a very different world.

"...Uhhh, Krissy, you, okay?" Lily asked as she flew up in front of his face and snapped her fingers.

"I'm fine!" Kris said, voice at a very high pitch. "I just realized I've been torn from everything I know and love because I'm in a different world."

"...Different world…?" Lily asked. "So does that mean you're not from this one?"

"Presumably!" Kris said with a wide 'smile' born not of happiness but of panic. "Do you know what electronics are? Or indoor plumbing?"

"I don't really know what the first one means, but some of the big human cities have that, the village I live in only has outhouses," Lily said.

"Okay, nevermind, not worth it, killing myself now." Kris said, completely on autopilot and defaulting to her friend's normal sort of humor.

"WHAT! NO, I WON'T LET YOU!" Lily shouted as she flew and began smacking him with her brush. "BAD THOUGHTS, BAD THOUGHTS! OUT! OUT!"

"Tseeseesee, stop that it tickles." Kris snickered, lightly pushing the brush away.

"So no bad thoughts?" She asked.

"No bad thoughts." Kris assured with a laugh. There was just something so earnest about her attempt to help, the bad thoughts couldn't stick around, at least not at the forefront of Kris's mind. "I was joking anyway."

"Good."

"So…" Kris said, before looking over to the canvas. "Whatcha paintin'?"

"Just nature," She answered. "It's my passion." Lily's smile was wide as she spoke.

"Nice!" Kris said with a more natural smile, before tilting his head in confusion at the easel. "Wait, how did you carry that out here?"

"My bag," Lily answered as she pointed at an appropriately sized hand bag that sat on one of the rocks in the clearing, apple-red like her outfit, which seemed to be some kind of overall-shorts, with a cherry-like beret, doll-like white stockings and red shoes, and vines (?) along certain parts of her body, the color contrast pairing well with her pink hair done up in two loose braids tied with vines and her purple eyes.

"I'm guessing that's a magic bag?"

"Yep, can fit all sorts of things in it, got it from my maa," Lily answered.

"Oh that's nice." Kris said, as that meant magic items were probably a thing, since that was clearly a bag of holding- it wasn't too far off considering the literal fairy floating in front of him. "So, do you want me to sit around and wait for you to finish up, or…?"

"No, no I was about done for the day," Lily answered as she flew over to the canvas, picked it up, and went over to the open bag.

And Kris watched as she put the entire painting in it, corner first, the red bag expanding as it basically swallowed the piece.

She did the same to the easel, a few seconds later.

"And done," Lily said as she picked up the bag, her brush on her back like a greatsword.

"Wow… how did you even pick that up? You must be really strong." Kris said, awed at the obvious weird shit.

"For a Leanan Sidhe I kinda am," Lily answered.

"Leanan Sidhe?" Kris repeated. That sounded vaguely familiar, for some reason an electric guitar coming to mind.

"That is the name of my race," She answered. "Like you're a human. You've never seen one of us in your world?"

"Uhhh, no, I lived in a very…" Kris stalled for a word that could work. "Secular community. Very closed minded."

"Ugh, sounds like an Order City," Lily said. "Anyway, we should get going before it gets too dark, the forest can be kinda dangerous once the sun starts to set."

"Yes please do, I'm very much so unarmed and don't know how to fistfight wild animals."

"Well I guess most can be considered wild animals," Lily simply said. "And don't worry, I've walked this path a hundred times so I won't get us lost."

They were lost.

"...Sorry. I thought we turned right at the correct stone," Lily said sheepishly, clearly feeling very bad about having gotten them lost.

"It's fine, I don't have a sense of direction either." Kris said sympathetically. "This would have happened no matter what… I think."

"But still, I don't want you to get hurt, Krissy, you seem like a nice girl," Lily said.

"Aw thanks! You're really nice too, you're the one going out of your way to help a stranger." Kris said, genuinely touched by her kindness in the first place.

"That is just how I was raised, my paa always told me to be kind to as many people as possible, for that is the best way to get people to like you, especially when you're someone like me," Lily said.

"Someone like you?" Kris asked, sympathizing heavily with the sentiment. Being 6'4 and having a resting bitch face meant she too did a lot to make people like her.

"Yeah, most people don't like our kind," Lily answered with a heavy tone.

"Why not? You're obviously very nice and very helpful…" Kris said, before tailing off. "Also, is that racism or specism?"

"I think racism, because paa said if they weren't the same species, he and maa wouldn't be able to have me and my sisters," Lily answered.

That caused Kris to stop dead in her tracks. "...What?"

"What?" Lily said back.

"For clarification, what kind of people live in the village that you live in?"

"Humans, a few elves, and other Mamono like myself," She answered.

"Mamono?" Kris repeated, the rush at the idea of meeting real elves being replaced with confusion at the unfamiliar word.

"It's the proper word for Monster Girls," Lily said.

"Monster… Girls?" Kris repeated, a sinking feeling growing.

"Yep."

"Like… cute monster girls?"

"I think most of us are cute, of course there are still a lot of actual-" Lily was cut off as the sound of a branch cracking was heard.

Kris immediately turned towards the sound, stick in hand, interposing herself between the sound and Lily unconsciously.

It was a dog.

A wolf.

A big wolf, with dark brown fur.

And two heads, both of which were snarling at them, seeming hungry.

"Oh shit my tits, thats a fucking Orthrus." Kris cursed.

"Monsters, oh boy," Lily said as she brought out her brush.

"Please tell me you have some kind of fairy magic Lily." Kris said as he cautiously slid into a rusty taekwondo stance mixed with an even rustier batting stance.

And it immediately let out a howl at the two as it charged right at Kris, and jumped at him with both jaws open. And sadly due to his rusty stance, the jaws of one of them bit into his arm, causing him to scream out in pain, while the stick was jammed into the mouth of the other, preventing it from biting down.

"AGH! BAD DOG!" Kris screamed as he tried to push it off him, his left arm now bleeding, small chunks of it having been removed. He was pretty sure if it weren't for the adrenaline surging through his body he'd be writhing on the ground in pain.

He wanted to run.

His instincts were screaming at him to run, try to outlast the wolf in a chase, find help, something.

He was an accountant not a fucking monster hunter.

"Ah, Krissy, don't worry I will help you," Lily said as she took out her brush and quickly painted a symbol in the air that attached itself to Kris and he felt a bit invigorated.

And with it, a surge of focus.

This was a wolf. A monstrous wolf at that.

Humans were persistence predators, so they fought with durability, not speed.

Wolves could not only keep up, but go faster.

Running wouldn't help.

No, he had to stand and fight.

As much as his common sense said this made no sense, he had to stand and fight.

Lily's words reminded him that at the moment, he wasn't just fighting for his life, but hers. Both foreign concepts to be sure, but…

He was always very violently minded.

"BAD DOG!" Kris shouted as he wound up for a home-run slug, smacking it across one of its faces with a resounding crack, causing the thing to growl angrily in response. A glance down at the stick told Kris he probably only had one more good swing like that from it.

Despite the circumstances, Kris couldn't help but grin.

It was bleeding.

They had a chance.

The two-headed canine tried to bite him again.

The key word being tried, as the jaw that was around his right wrist, wasn't piercing his skin for some reason. Even through the adrenaline haze, he could feel the pressure, and yet he felt no pain, the grin on his face only widening in response as when it tried to pull him down to the ground, he pushed back, sending it reeling with a knee to the throat.

"Go for the throat again!" Lily shouted. "Break da bitch in!"

"Breaking!" Kris declared as he stepped forward and swung up into its chin, the stick shattering into splinters as he did.

Seeing an opportunity, Kris went to try and grab its heads in a double headlock to try and incapacitate it, but a combination of not knowing what he was doing and the thing being surprisingly fast meant he didn't get a good grip.

In response, it snapped at him once more, drawing a bit of blood but much less than the initial bite.

"Hey dumbass doggy over here!" Lily shouted as she flew behind the dog.

The dog turned one of its heads attention towards her, which Kris used to pick up a hand filling rock, and then bashed it into it's occupied skull, hitting it right in one of its eyes.

Kris knew he'd normally be upset by this, but it was simply the best way of fighting.

Speaking of, it was wide open, as he hooked a foot under its front leg as it was reeling in pain and wrapping his arms around its necks and squeezing.

It was definitely working, since now it couldn't get a good angle to bite him.

"Haha!" Kris laughed victoriously at the fact this was actually working. "Lily, if you have anything you can do from back there-"

"I've got nothing, the only other spells I've got are for making others not go splat, fall asleep, and seducing men," Lily answered.

"Maybe try the slee- what was that last one?"

"Beat it the shit up!" Lily said.

"Yeah!" Kris agreed, mind lost in the moment as he squeezed further, feeling a satisfying crunch under his right arm.

He had a feeling he would be horrified about this later, but for now it was kill or be killed.

Even as it continued fighting against his grip, trying to bite him and even drawing a little blood, Kris was keeping a firm grip.

"Come on, you've got it!" Lily said with encouragement.

"YEAH!" Kris screamed as with a burst of strength, he picked up the dog by its necks, and in move mimicked from wrestling, chokeslammed it into the ground, cracking its spine and necks in the process, a haunting death howl echoing out of it as he did.

And so Kris was left standing victorious over the body of the orthrus.

And he couldn't help himself.

He roared in victory.

"Wow you go girl!" Lily said. "You beat that bitch in."

"Yeah! I've never done anything like that in my life!" Kris said, trying to shake some of the blood off his arms. "Holy shit we did it though!"

Though as soon as he said that another howl was heard, and the two turned to the right, and saw another one run out from the bushes.

"I think that's the husband…" Lily said with slight horror.

"Shit." Was all Kris managed to say before it charged at him in rage.

And bit his thigh, the teeth sinking deep into, the other head tried bit his other leg but a quick steep back after it had let go meant it missed.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck," Kris said as blood began to flow.

"Ah Krissy!" Lily said as she flew behind the wolf, and started taunting it.

"FUCKING DIE!" Kris shouted as he slammed a hammer blow into the joint between its necks.

"Rargh!" It growled as its jaws snapped at his legs again, drawing more blood than the other achieved at all.

"AAAA!" Kris screamed back at it in rage.

"Krissy, somebody help!"

"DIE FOUL CREATURE!" A powerful female voice shouted and from the heavens, an angelic being descended blade first into the demon dog, the massive golden blade shimmering with light as the blue armored figure shone, golden wings and hair flowing behind her like the tail of a comet, the moment engraving itself into Kris's mind.

And the blade sunk into the monster's hide drawing a large amount of blood from it, but it still stood. The rage at Kris from having killed its mate keeping it going beyond the norm.

"Resilient monster," The angelic woman said.

Even as Kris felt some of the bluster from having beaten the first one bleed away with the damage this one was dealing, he felt a renewed sense of hope and assurance at the arrival of the literal angel to aid them. "I'll try to hold it still for you!" He said before bashing one of its skulls in with an axe kick, before wrapping an arm around each neck in the same maneuver he used on the other and lifting its front legs off the ground by its necks.

"Good job, now die monster!" She shouted as she thrusted her blade forward.

Kris felt the body fall limp in his arms, this one not letting loose a death howl so much as a gurgle, before he dropped the corpse and tried to catch his breath.

"You're injured," the Angel said as she took a step over to Kris, and placed a hand on his shoulder, it shone with golden light and he felt his body be invigorated as all the wounds on his person were sealed shut.

And he felt his cold go away, his throat finally not hurting.

"Thank you." Kris said. "I… are you an angel?"

"Yes, I am an Angel of the Chief God, one who has obtained the rank of Valkyrie," She answered.

Kris decided not to question that for the moment. "Thank you, thank you. I… I don't know what else to say but thank you." He was lost for words at the moment.

"I was simply doing my duty, now come with me," The angel said as she sheathed her blade and put her shield on her back.

"Yes ma'am." Kris said, not even considering doing anything else, before looking over to Lily. "Uh, can Lily come as well? She was trying to help me earlier."

"Oh no, if you're going where I think you're going I am just going to get my ass thrown in a jail cell," Lily said.

"Wait, what? But you didn't do anything wrong." Kris said in confusion.

"Her kind is not permitted in Salvarision," The angel said. "She, while tame, would still slowly corrupt it. Now Summoned Hero, I will fly you to Salvarision so things can be explained."

"Uh," Kris said, completely caught off guard. "Okay? Good luck getting home Lily?"

"I will, just going to fly up," Lily answered as she flew up and aways.

"...You know, we were actually lost for a bit, so I'm surprised she didn't just do that earlier." Kris noted, having thought she couldn't couldn't go very high.

"Her kind can be… not very bright." The angel said, as she held out her arms. "Now, let me carry you Summoned Hero."

As she did, it finally clicked for Kris that she was his height, maybe a little taller from the armored boots.

It also brought Kris's attention to her ill-designed boob plate that didn't even cover her midsection.

"...Okay."

And like that they flew away, high up into the sky, which allowed Kris to actually get a look at the area.

It was a forested area, a small farming village in plain view a short distance away, making Kris want to face palm at the sight. He could see small silhouettes moving from house to house below, but his already bad eyesight and the distance meant he couldn't make out much more than that.

As they flew, he saw fields and plains, a small river going along.

But really, he was mostly enjoying the sensation of flying, even if it was while he was being held in a princess carry.

By a literal angel.

That had repeatedly said he was apparently a Summoned Hero.

Kris.

A Summoned Hero.

…

A certain giddy, childish excitement spread through him at the idea, and the fact he was finally, finally going to get to do something cool with his life.

And going off how he'd been able to fight off that Orthrus, he already had an inkling of what he could do now.

But mostly.

He was enjoying the flight.

A great lake approached rapidly in the distance, a great castle-city on the other side of it.

"Wow…" Kris couldn't help but say at the sight, the sunset shrouding the city in golden hues.

"Yes, Castle City Salvarision is a sight to behold, the fourth largest city in all of Lescatie," The Angel said.

Kris did a quick mental estimate based on the size of the city and determined this was likely medevial if this was the fourth largest.

The castle was a big hint there, too.

"Wow." Kris repeated, awed. "...Wait, if I was summoned, why was I out in that forest and not in there?"

The angel blushed a little at that. "The priests fumbled the summoning spell a little, so you did not appear on the designated spot."

"Ah."

That did not say good things about his prospects of making it through this, did it…

The rest of the flight was spent in awkward silence as they flew towards the city, and after a few minutes they landed in the courtyard in front of what looked to be a church of some kind, though with its size, it was more likely to be a cathedral.

And they were met with looked to be clergymen with one of them having a miter, implying a bishop or some equivalent rank.

"Ah, Lady Hilda, you have returned," The elderly(probably a bishop) man said. "And you have found the Summon Hero?"

"Yes," She answered as she set Kris down, whereupon he quickly tried to make himself look as presentable as possible. "I found him engaged in battle with Death Dogs, demonstrating the prowess of the Blessing of the Berserker."

The man immediately looked Kris up and down, no doubt taking in the bare arms, the dragon on his shirt, the long brown hair pulled in a ponytail, the fact he was covered in blood (both his own and the dogs'), and his stature that put him on the same level as the now-named Hilda, meaning like her he towered over most of the clergy present. Combined with his resting bitch face and intense stare that he just could not shake, he no doubt looked like a Berserker in that moment to the bishop.

Kris felt like one, too, after how he'd full-on oonga-boonga'd a two-headed wolf to death and then fended off the other to let Hilda kill it.

"Yes, he certainly has the physique for it," The elderly man said. "I apologize for your rough entrance to our world young man. I am Pontiff Sulyvhan."

"It's fine, sir." Kris said. "I am known simply as Kris."

"Well met young Kris, now I would like to explain your circumstance, but you seem to have had a very rough day, and it is getting late," Pontiff Sulyvhan said.

"Yeah, it was already approaching sunset on my end when I was summoned, rest would be appreciated." And while he didn't say it out loud, that meant he'd been awake for at least 24 hours, probably more. "Though, is there way to get the blood out of my clothes?"

"Ah, let me young man, this is the least I can do for you for messing up the ritual, accidentally added apples instead of oranges," The Pontiff said as he waved his hand and instantly all the blood, dirt and grime vanished. And his clothes seamlessly put themselves together.

"Oh, thank you sir." Kris said before losing consciousness.