Speak to self
Speak to Ghost
The sky clears as the Wave of Catastrophe is now over. Joseph's unconscious body next to the crashed ship while Xeno calls for help.
"Help! My guardian needs medical care!" He said. Joseph this is stupid! You're bleeding out bad, and still you won't allow me to heal you!
"Wait what? What do you mean, dont heal you unless told to? We know that I'm fine taking orders from you, but… this is absurd!" Xeno said to Joseph while they made their way down in the depths of Hellmouth in the Moon.
Joseph scratches the back of his head, "yeah… I know but I am starting to feel that if we use our powers too much in different worlds, there might be other powers interested in us and even only you, Xeno. The ability of being immortal and healing after every amputation, stab, cut, even dismemberment is a sight to behold and they'll do anything to get to you." Joseph reasoned. "I do this for you, Lillie, my daughter, my superiors, and my friends. Don't worry, until we get a feeling for those worlds, then I'll tell you to heal me whenever you wan't." Joseph said as he pats Xeno's head.
"Help! Somebody!" Xeno continues to call. Xeno goes to Joseph, "Hang on Joseph… I'm pretty sure backup is on the way…"
"There he is!" said a distant voice.
Xeno looked at the direction where the voice was and saw Naofumi and his party. Xeno immediately flew towards the group. "Thank the Traveler! Joseph is bleeding badly a-and I-I didn't know what to do!" Xeno said
Naofumi didn't say anything as he headed towards Joseph. He kneels down and grabs a potion and has Joseph drink it.
All of the burn, scratch, and cut wounds were healed from Joseph's body. Joseph awakens from his unconscious state and sits upright. He breathes heavily, he looks around and sees Xeno, Naofumi and his party.
Xeno went to Joseph, "Are you okay? You were out for so long!" Xeno worryingly said.
Joseph gets up but struggles to stay up, he goes on one knee, he chuckles "More or less… my muscles hurt like hell though… not ready for kaioken times three yet…"
"Where's Glass?" Naofumi asked.
"She got away." Joseph said
"Were you able to defeat her?" asked Raphtalia
Joseph scratches his head, "yeah but barely. She kinda kicked my ass for the most of it. Was able to land one lucky hit, hard enough for her to retreat." Joseph said
"She was that strong?" Asked Naofumi.
Joseph nods, "yeah. She's fast, faster than that fat bird you had." Joseph said
A little blonde girl with wings pouted at me, "you know, it's rude to talk about someone who's already here!" She said
Joseph was confused, "no, your just a girl with wiiiiiinnnngss-oh… oohhh… oh~ shit…" Joseph figures out that the fat bird was the little girl. Joseph chuckles awkwardly "sorry?"
"Hmph! You're so rude!" Said the little girl.
"In my defense, I never saw you transform into a girl." Joseph said
Naofumi softly laughed, "well, can you stand? I was called back to the castle, the king wants to speak with me." He said.
Joseph saw the displeasure within Naofumi's face but he doesn't blame him. "A king huh? Never had a liking to families with royal blood…" Joseph said.
"Well that makes two of us…" Naofumi said.
Joseph sighs, "whelp, we can't keep them waiting… here help me up. I used up all my energy fighting Glass." Joseph said.
Naofumi and Raphtalia help Joseph up as they take him to their wagon. Filo transforms into her bird form and starts to pull the wagon as Naofumi steers the wagon.
Raphtalia and Joseph sat in the back. Joseph sitting down with his limbs limp. Raphtalia inspects Joseph's armor.
"I've never seen armor like that before…" she said "your armor looks so… light, no plating, you have these small, long and thin boxes attached to your belt that carries metal cylinders, and you have that thing that's attached to your chest." She said as she pointed to Joseph's M1911.
"Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask, Joseph, are you from another world as well?" Naofumi asked.
"Yeah actually, I came here by accident. Was looking for a book and stumbled upon a book that literally stopped my time in my world. I have no idea how to stop that or even just leaving this world I have no clue of…" Joseph said.
"I see…" Naofumi said.
Raphtalia went to Naofumi, "Master Naofumi, Joseph was carrying something when we were on that ship, he said it was a machine gun? What's that?" She asked.
Naofumi tries to think of a simple way to explain a gun. "Well… a gun is… just think of it as a bow. It sends out projectiles called 'bullets' bullets can cause greater harm than a normal bow and arrow, and all you need to do is pull the trigger and the gun will shoot out a bullet." Naofumi said.
Joseph chuckles, "well that's one way of saying it. Here, Raphtalia come here and grab my pistol on my chest." he uses his nose to point to his M1911.
Raphtalia grabs Joseph's pistol and holds it by the grip. "It's quite heavy…" she said
"Yeah… the bigger the gun, the more heavy it is, depending on what material it uses. Okay, Raphtalia lend out your hand." Joseph said.
"O-okay…" Raphtalia said she lends out her hand to Joseph as Xeno materializes next to him and goes to Raphtalia. Raphtalia quickly pulled back her hand.
Joseph chuckled, "Don't worry, my friend Xeno, he won't hurt. Besides, he's too little to hurt a child." Joseph jokingly said.
Xeno turns to Joseph, "really?" he said in irritation.
Raphtalia laughed and lends out her hand.
Xeno went to Raphtalia and scanned her hands. Then a pair of ear mufflers appeared on her hand.
"When a gun is shot, it's going to be loud and knowing you are part animal, your ears are more sensitive than regular humans." Joseph explained.
"Thanks," Raphtalia said, she puts on ear mufflers and she wonders on how to shoot it, so then she points the gun towards Joseph.
"Woah woah woah! Stop!" Joseph said as he tried to lift his limp arms.
Raphtalia tilts her head, confused on why Joseph was yelling at her. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked.
"Yes!" Joseph said, he chuckles, knowing that Raphtalia has no knowledge of what a gun is capable of. "Sorry for yelling at you. Just, don't point a gun at anyone you care for." Joseph said. He then explains the dangers of a gun. "A gun, like any weapon, is capable of killing your opponent. It's lethal in any kind of range, a well placed bullet to the chest or head can kill your opponent. But it is depending on the caliber which is the size of a bullet in short terms. A small bullet will do damage but less the chance of killing your opponent but a large one will do a ton of damage and can possibly dismember your opponent. So please, be careful with it." Joseph said.
Raphtalia aims out of the wagon and she tries to shoot the gun, but she couldn't pull the trigger back.
"Oh… whoops the safety's on. On the left part of the gun there is a switch, it'll say on and off. Turn the switch to the off then aim out of the wagon and then pull the trigger. Hey Naofumi, tell the bird to cover her ears as well." Joseph said.
Naofumi nods, "Filo, cover your ears, it's going to be loud." Naofumi said.
"Kay!" Filo said as she used her wings to cover her ears.
Raphtalia aims out of the wagon and slowly pulls the trigger, a loud bang fills the area as Raphtalia recoils back after firing the pistol. "Woah!" she crashed into the boxes.
Joseph started laughing, "quite shocking isn't it? If you had trouble controlling that, I'm sorry to say but you won't be able to try any more my guns, stick with swords for a bit, once my limbs aren't limp anymore, I'll show some techniques that may prove useful."
Raphtalia took off the ear mufflers and passed the pistol and ear mufflers back to Joseph, "that be grateful of you!" she said.
…
Half an hour passed by as they arrived at the castle. Joseph regained all of his energy. The group walked into the castle, but the two guards readied their weapons.
"You aren't a Cardinal hero! The king does not want to speak to you!" the guards said. They point their swords towards Joseph.
Joseph ignored them and kept walking. "Hey!" The guard said he charged Joseph and swung his sword.
Joseph dodged his attack and quickly dislocated his shoulder. A high pitched scream came from the guard as he went to his knees and held his arm. The other guard was shaking.
"W-what the hell are you?" he said.
"A human." Joseph said. He continues his way in the castle.
More guards appeared as they ordered Joseph to stop. Eventually Joseph complied and leaned on a statue to wait for his turn. "Never liked people of royalty… some can be outright bastards."
"Joseph, you know if you enter there, all of the knights will come after you." Xeno said.
"Eh, don't care. I need to speak to the king to tell him our situation. We are stuck here with no way out and we really need to find a way out." Joseph said.
"But what if we can't? What do we do then?" Xeno asked as he came closer to Joseph.
Joseph doesnt want to think of that, "I don't know… but, we have unfinished business with the Moon and Remnant. We have a clone of me saying that the darkness is our 'salvation' I had to see by old fireteam as nightmares, I beat the shit out of the past foes that we defeated, we couldn't save Pyrrha, Yang lost her arm, Blake ran away, Weiss has been taken away and Ruby is on a journey to Mystral with Jaune, Ren and Nora." Joseph said.
"Yeah… I'm just… unsure of what happens now." Xeno said
"Yeah you're correct on that." Joseph said. He stretches his arms, "well for starters, we can venture with Naofumi until we find anything that can bring us back to our world." Joseph explains.
"Then we continue to look for the documents of that missing fireteam, correct?" asked Xeno.
"Yeah," Joseph said.
The duo continues to wait until they hear yelling in the throne room.
"Oh dearie-o what's going on now?" Joseph said.
They see Naofumi exiting the large door as Joseph walks up to him. "You certainly caused a commotion." Joseph said.
Naofumi was certainly annoyed, he sighs "yeah, whatever. C'mon let's go." He said.
Joseph doesn't follow, "actually, I want to stay here, ask the king some questions about the situation I'm in. I want to get out of here as soon as possible. You see… I have unfinished business in my home world, my team is waiting for me so can't stay here forever." Joseph said. Joseph makes an apologetic bow, "sorry Naofumi, but just keep going with your journey, I'll catch up with you don't worry." Joseph said.
Naofumi nods, "alright." He said, "just don't count your luck, the king of Melromarc is a scumbag" he said.
Joseph chuckles and nods, "thanks for the heads up."
They both make their separate ways as Joseph enters the throne room.
Large numbers of Guards start to ready their weapons. "So, can we just get this over with?" Joseph said as he walks closer to the throne, "all I want to do is ask you a few questions and I'll be on my way." Joseph stops a few meters away from the steps, the guards blades inches away from Joseph.
"You! You're the one who insulted my dear Malty!" the King yells.
"Malty? Oh, Myne?" Joseph laughed, "well, she did throw the first punch, I just shut her up." Joseph said. He sighs, "Look, all I want is to ask you some questions, then I will be out of here." Joseph said.
The king argrily growls at Joseph, he might be worse than the Devil of the Shield he told himself. He calmed his breath, "Fine. what is it that you wish to ask me?" he asked.
"Well-" Joseph hears the door open behind him, he turns around to see "Malty and a little girl with purple hair enter the room. "Well well, it's the princess." Joseph chuckles.
"You…" Malty said in disgust. "Why is he here?" she asked the King.
Before the king could answer, Joseph interrupted him, "don't worry princess, I'm just here to get some answers and I'll be on my merry way." he said.
"Then be on with it," the King said. The two girls went to the King as the stand beside him.
"Well, I'll be quick guessing that you three are gonna have some family time." Joseph gave a soft chuckle, "I should visit their graves whenever I get the chance…" Joseph looks to the King, "Ahem, well, your majesty, I actually came from a different world, how I came here was because of a book. I felt a large energy reading when I was in a Library. My dumbass touched the book and time itself stopped, a portal formed and la de da, I entered a new world when the Wave of catastrophe was in play. Helped the heroes, got my ass whooped by bladed fans and now I'm here talking about my couple of shit stain of hours." Joseph explained. "Now, I have no way of getting back, cause even if I do go back, which I don't, my world might still be in a time stop." Joseph said.
"That is a dire problem… as much as I don't want to help you, in all honesty I do not know about this Phenomenon that you speak of." said the King.
Joseph sighs, "well that's a bummer…" Joseph said in disappointment.
"What is your name young man?" asked the King.
"My name is Joseph Anderson." Joseph said.
"Well Joseph, I am King Aultcray Melromarc. So what do you plan on doing now since you have no knowledge to go back to your world?" asked Aultcray.
"I plan on rendezvousing with Naofumi and assist him on his journey and study his shield. How his rage shield works is most interesting to me." Joseph said.
Joseph sees the censure look on Aultcray, "So you are going to work with the Devil of the Shield then." Aultcray said.
Joseph was quite curious on why Naofumi has such hatred by everyone. "Why do you call Naofumi such names?" Joseph asked, "I don't see any devilish characteristics within him." Joseph said.
"That Demon! He raped my daughter Malty! He deserves the title Devil!" Aultcray said.
Joseph went into his investigative mode, "Is that so?" Joseph said in curiosity. He turns to Malty, "Is this true?" he asked.
She started to hug herself as she cried in pain, "Yes! It was true! It was terrifying! He beated me and robbed me from everything!" she cries.
Joseph tries not to cringe with such poor acting that Malty displayed. He remains calm and looks at the little girl, "What's your name miss?" Joseph asked.
"Melty, and I wasn't there when the incident happened, I was with mother at the world conference." Melty said.
Joseph nods, "hmm interesting indeed… if Naofumi raped you, why aren't you pregnant?" Joseph asked.
"What?" Malty said.
"You see, if what you say is true, Naofumi would've surely impregnated you to make your life more miserable. Having the demon's child inside your womb now that's how you make a family miserable." Joseph said. "To my eyes and ears, you framed Naofumi to make his life more miserable. Honestly, I don't see Naofumi as a Devil, though, you should watch out for me." Joseph said.
"Watch out for you?" Malty said with a smirk.
"Oh yeah, you really should. I am capable of taking down this kingdom and I can handle those three shit heroes myself as well." Joseph said.
Malty laughed, "we all know that you're bluffing!" she said.
Joseph shrugs his shoulders, "Maybe I am, we won't know until we find out right?" Joseph said. He smirks towards Aultcray and Malty. Joseph chuckles and starts walking away, "Welp, I'm going, didn't get the answers I needed but they were at least answers." Joseph said.
"Were not done yet!" said Aultcray.
Joseph kept on walking, "but I'm done with you." he said as he exits the throne room.
Joseph exits the castle walls and walks to the edge to enjoy the view of the town that's below him, he takes a deep breath, "Nothing better than enjoying the horizon." Joseph said.
Xeno materializes next to him, "it is a magnificent view…" he said.
Joseph then looks to the road ahead of them, "alright! Goal one: meet up with Naofumi! Goal two: find any clues on how we could leave this place! Goal three: GTFO and prepare for Operation Salvation!" Joseph said.
"Sounds like a solid plan. Let's get going shall we?" Xeno cans the ground as Joseph's sparrow, the Undeterred with the sunrise warrior shader.
Before Joseph could even get on his sparrow, someone called out his name. "Hold it right there Joseph!"
Joseph turns to see Melty in a chariot with a calvary of knights accompanying her. "Oh, Princess Melty, what are you doing here?" Joseph asked.
Melty peeking through the chariot's window, "You said you were going to meet up with the Shield Hero, Correct?" she asked
Joseph nods, "yeah," he said.
Melty gave out a smile, "allow me to take you to him," she said.
Joseph looks to his sparrow, he sighs and then pets the sparrow, "Another time friend," he said to the sparrow as it dissipates. He walks to the chariot, "alright, I'll come in." Joseph said. He grabs his pulse rifle off his back and enters the chariot, having the gun lean on the seats. The chariot starts moving as they catch up where Naofumi is.
During the ride, Melty stares at Joseph's pulse rifle, "I never seen a rifle like that before" she said.
Joseph grabs his Pulse Rifle that he got from Ikora when assisting her with the Undying Mind. "so this world does have guns…" Joseph chuckles, "This is my pulse rifle, Adhortative." Joseph said.
"What is a pulse rifle?" asked Melty
"Oh, well… think of a rifle where you pull the trigger, instead of one bullet, three shoot out." Joseph explains
"Really? That is indeed interesting." Melty said.
Joseph chuckles, "y'know, comparing you and you're sister, you'd make a better queen." Joseph compliments.
Melty softly chuckles, "well I am heir to the crown." she said.
Joseph was mildly surprised, "Really? Heh, that's some responsibility." Joseph said.
"Yeah, I guess my mother didn't want me to become my sister so mother took me under her wing, taking me to her diplomatic meetings and showing me how she works." Melty explained.
"Looking at you, you're pretty damn young. You should take it easy more, lots of responsibility will stress you out. When you get the chance, you should take a day off." Joseph said.
"I am Perfectly fine, you shouldn't worry about me." Melty said.
"Alright then, if you say so you're majesty." Joseph said.
They both laughed and they continued with their conversation about Melromarc.
Then, all of a sudden Xeno materializes next to Joseph, "We have movement! Large amounts of monsters heading to us on our left!"
Joseph quickly grabbed his Adhortative, and yelled to the driver, "Stop the Cavalry now!" they all stopped and they looked at the chariot,
"What's going on Joseph?" asked Melty,
"Monsters, coming our way. Stay here Melty," Joseph said. He exits the chariot as he sees the monsters coming their way. "All of you stay here! I'll take care of them myself." Joseph said.
They did so without any resistance, Joseph took a quick glimpse back at the knights and he thought he saw a couple of them grinning but was unsure. Joseph was now suspicious on the knights but did not take it too seriously.
Joseph walks to the monsters with his rifle up, he starts shooting them, he dodges every attack that they try to inflict onto him. As Joseph dodges a lizard mutant's attack and countering with a slit to the throat, a giant that wielded a battle axe started to charge towards Joseph. He swung his axe as Joseph dodged it and ran to its legs and cutting a leg off using his spectral blades. The Giant falls and before Joseph deals the final blow, a barrage of energy balls hit Joseph, launching him up in the air as he crashes down to the ground. Joseph goes back up and sees a group of monsters pouncing towards him, Joseph leaps back and materializes his One Small Step Shotgun.
He racks his shotgun, "Alright fuckers, round two." He started to charge towards the monsters and slid to dodge a monster's attack and blasted it with his shotgun, he reloads while dodging another attack and counters with an arc punch then using his other arm to discharge an arc bolt, chaining the enemies nearby. After finishing all of the monsters, he turned to the giant who was crawling to his axe. Joseph walked to the Giant and started to walk on top of him. He aimed his shotgun towards the Giant's head and shot two rounds, ensuring its death.
Joseph steps off the Giant and dissipates his One Small Step and walks back to the chariot. "All clear guys!" he said to the knights as he entered the chariot. He takes a seat as the chariot starts to move again.
"The fight that you displayed was very splendid Joseph," Melty compliments.
"Thanks," Joseph said.
"The way you fight is very direct and though to many warriors that is a foolish way to fight, you seem to find ways for it to work out." Melty said, "what is your world like Joseph?" she asked.
"Well, my world is in a damned state, there's only one city left, protected by large walls surrounding the city and there are warriors called Guardians who protect humanity from the brink of extinction. In fact, I'm a Guardian myself." Joseph said.
"Really? That certainly is fascinating. So what is a Guardian and how does one become a Guardian?" Melty asked
Joseph chuckles, he admires her level of curiosity.
"Oh, sorry, am I asking too much?" Melty asked, her face now red.
Joseph laughed, "yeah, a tad bit too much but that's fine." Joseph said "Guardians have a power called 'light.' Light has three elements, Arc, Solar, and Void. With those three elements, we can form weapons, to swords, shields, even a gun. We can also use light to empower ourselves, increasing our strength, speed and durability." Joseph explains.
"That's amazing! For such firepower in a Guardian, you must be fighting something powerful." Melty said.
"You could say that. But sometimes Guardians can even die. But that's kind of our job description." Joseph said.
"I see. Well, while you try to find a way out of this world, could you help our world with the waves?" Melty asked.
Joseph didn't really have much of a choice so he accepted the request, "yeah sure…" he said. "Oh, I should've asked you this before but, why do you want to go to Naofumi?" he asked.
"I want Sir Shield Hero to give my father a second chance, maybe they can work something out. We are in need of the Heroes and Sir Shield Hero has a big role in this as well." Melty said.
"Judging how Naofumi called His Majesty, a scumbag, I doubt that there will be any reconciliation anytime sooner, honestly you might just be beating a dead horse." Joseph said. "But I ain't gonna hold you back, do whatcha gotta do." Joseph said.
...
As Joseph continues to wait, Xeno asks Joseph a question. "Joseph, do you think that the knights have been acting weird?"
"You noticed as well?" Joseph asked.
"Yeah, when we faced those monsters, the knights looked like they weren't routing for us but for the monsters…" Xeno said.
"Y'know I was thinking the same thing, they gave little to no resistance when I ordered them to stay back and I may have seen a couple of them grinning…" Joseph said.
"You think Melty is responsible?" Xeno asked.
Joseph thinks long and hard, judging her, she wouldn't be the type of girl to do this kind of stuff, "Maybe, lets just be on our guard if anything happens when we get to Naofumi. And if the knights attack? We kill the knights and interrogate the princess, get some information on what's going on."
Xeno pauses for a long minute, "you don't plan on… hurting or killing her… right?" Xeno asked.
Joseph closes his eyes, a memory he wishes that he forgets. "No… the last thing I want to do is hurt or even kill another child" Joseph utters two words that stuck with him with the whole trip to Naofumi.
"Never again…"
Not a lot of fighting but a decent amount of bonding between characters. Though, next chapter, it will be pretty gorey so prepare yourself I guess.
I never really understood the rules of the heroes' weapons, all I just wanted to do was to make fun of Motoyasu for a bit. Also did I really forget about giving back Motoyasu's spear? Crap… gotta fix that.
Although for Fitoria, I haven't thought of that yet… but the ideas given to me are really good! I'll see what I can do when I get the chance.
Also writing this story will also make me believe that you guys have read The Guardian in Remnant, a prequel to this story. Though it is incomplete due to waiting for Beyond Light to release. Later on the chapters, Joseph will reminisce of the previous story. Read the story or not, kinda up to you, don't wanna force ya.
Anywho, enjoy your morning, day, or night wherever you live.
