Prologue

The world is in danger from a tyrannical demon king, that much is already known. Many great heroes have come and gone in their attempt to save their world from the iron grasp of monsters and evil, to no avail. The gods grow desperate and send souls from other worlds to this one in hopes of slowing down the demon king.

They have sent many folks from all kinds of worlds with cheats and god items to try and over power the demon king's forces.

But the heroes the world needs have yet to show themselves.

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Prologue I

The Hopeless Chuunibyou

2 Weeks Ago

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I WISH TO BE THE GREATEST MAGE IN THIS NEW WORLD

The young girl exclaimed, leaping out of her seat with sudden enthusiasm.

Aqua was taken back by the sudden 180 in the girl's emotional state. The dreary and sullen school girl from moments ago was gone now, and in front of her was the excitable chuunibyou that she expected. What was all that about beforehand then?

The news of her death wasn't what made her so depressed, she was like that when she arrived. The cause of death was from a traffic accident so it couldn't have been because of sui- another thing. Either way, the deceased don't usually know where they are until they are told about their death. Aqua squinted, observing the girl closely.

She was wearing a generic uniform for middle school, just ever so slightly too big for her. Aside from that, there was nothing out of the ordinary about it. For all the files had recorded about her cosplay and model collecting, there was no hint of flair or uniqueness to her. It was the mention of all that chuunibyou lifestyle that made Aqua consider telling someone as young as her about the other world but...

But at first glance, she was just normal. Mental stability aside. A normal, young girl who met an untimely end. But surely the records couldn't have been wrong.

Time to prod.

Aqua adjusted herself in her throne-like seat, clearing her throat before speaking, "So uhm, Megumin, right?"

Megumin nodded, suddenly becoming aware of herself and settling back into her seat. "Yes! I am Megumin."

Aqua leaned over the armrest acting as casually as possible, opening up the records and skimming through them again. "You want to be a powerful mage?"

"Yes! That is doable, right? You said any power at all!"

Aqua nodded, "Yes I did say that, but before that-" she stared intensively at Megumin, "I've noticed you were very into cosplay and anime"

"Ah," was all Megumin said. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, which was not unnoticed by the goddess.

An embarrassing topic then? Aqua closed the large book beside her and returned her attention to the school girl. "Why do you seem unsettled by that? It was something you enjoyed, right?"

Megumin dropped her gaze, staring at the floor and fidgeting under the goddess' stare with a frown. Every so often she would peak up and see if Aqua was still staring.

Now, even Aqua could admit that she was normally a lazy god. But if there was one thing she took seriously, it was her luxury and life of bliss as a goddess. The more devout and more followers a goddess had, the stronger her powers were. In a world with a declining birth rate, sending people who could actually help was the top of her priority list. And if personal experience had taught her anything, it was that sending unstable people over with god tier powers was never a good idea.

There was a fine line she needed to thread between willing to do what it took to defeat the demon king and willing to swallow their pride and calm down. Now more than ever with giant mech golems and the destroyer running around. She needed to send someone reliable, someone who could actually fight against the tyranny of the demon king. Or at the very least, inspire adventurers to reach new heights and do it themselves.

But— Aqua looked Megumin up and down—this awkward little wallflower was not going to be the hero to do either of those things. Megumin was looking for a power trip. A true Chuunibyou at heart, searching for a way beyond the magicless reality that earth provided. If she had to argue though, those who were unable to find magic in the life around them were the truly uncreative ones.

Regardless, history had proven that indulging in power trips was only bad news. Both for her and the other world. They only made for more obstacles for the heroes to overcome.

Aqua sighed, knowing what she was going to do next was going to break the school girl's heart. She folded her hands on her lap and gave as sincere of an apologetic smile as she could give. "Well, there seems to have been a misunderstanding. I was thinking about something else that happened." Aqua nodded, as if giving a small bow, "sorry for the inconvenience."

Megumin launched out of her seat again. flailing her arms about in a panic, "wait a second! If there is something wrong with the request I made then please tell me! I assure you I will take whatever you give me so just let me have… this…" Her voice faded out as Aqua's expression did not waver even a little bit.

Silence.

The two stared at each other for a brief moment, before the light once again faded from Megumin's eyes. She slumped down in her seat with a very defeated look. A look that Aqua was all too familiar with in her time dealing with the after life. A look that hurt even her to see anyone wear.

Megumin spoke up in an unenthusiastically weak voice, "Even the gods see it fit to mock me for my hobbies." She sighed before continuing, "Truly, mine has been a life of much shame. I can't even begin to guess what it is like to live the life of a human."

Aqua seethed internally but did her best to keep a straight face, she was quoting existential literature now! This was getting bad. "What do you mean by that?" She quickly asked, trying to move the conversation along. The sooner she got Megumin into reincarnation or heaven the better. But there was something that kept tugging at Aqua to keep prodding.

Megumin sighed. "I am not aware of how accurately you know of our lives. But I assume you are at least aware of the fact that I struggled to make friends. They saw me as the class weirdo. The anti-social, quiet freak who slept in class but still got high grades. I spent my time studying so I could stay on top of my grades at the cost of friends and social activities. Any free time I did have I spent at bookstores and otaku shops. Once people found this out about me, the divide of my social status only grew. As if- as if they had any right to judge me."

She scowled. Her blank face became angry. "What if I spent my time enjoying fake realities? What was wrong with that! My p-parents worked day and night just to make ends meet for my sister and I so it was my job to put food on the table. Despite that i- i found a hobby that I could enjoy. Something I didn't have to spend too much energy on but could still be happy with. I worked hard for my grades, I worked hard to earn enough spare change to enjoy myself. What right- why? Why!"

Megumin's anger was beginning to fade into frustration and grief. She wiped at her teary eyes. "I couldn't afford to make trouble for my parents in our situation, so I found a hobby that no one would be bothered by! So why!"

Megumin curled into a ball, wrapping her arms around her legs and crying into her knees.

Aqua watched in awe as more details of Megumin's life came into the picture. If there was one thing that she learned doing this job. It was that human emotions were always going to be more complex than she, as a goddess who spent her time in the after life, could ever fully understand.

People had their reasons for acting the way they did, their own way of coping with the things they dealt with. That she could understand.

She stood up, out of her seat and walked to the vulnerable Megumin. For the first time since she started guiding people through the afterlife, she felt the need to comfort the lost soul she was dealing with. Aqua wrapped her arms around Megumin and gently caressed her head, "there, there. Let it out"

Maybe Megumin wouldn't be the great hero that would save the world from the demon king. But what was wrong with indulging her a little? She was a good kid at heart, that much was certain. If she took her job as an adventurer seriously enough she may even end up supporting the hero who does defeat the demon king in the future. Every great party needed a powerful wizard after all.

At the very least, Aqua could watch over her for a short while.

Megumin calmed down eventually in her arms. And she wasted no time getting back to the point.

"Say, Megumin? You really want to become a powerful magic wielder in another world?"

The girl in question simply nodded.

"Then wait one second. I'll be right back."

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Prologue II

The Lucky Archer

2 Months Ago

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SCREW THIS! DAMN IT ALL!

He thought to himself as he set the dummy in place on his bed.

Next, he put on a mask he looted off one of the undead from a battle a while ago. What he thought might've fetched for a nice price was nothing more than a useless designer piece. It only covered around his forehead and eyes anyway. At least it looked kind of cool with a half white and half black pattern. Whatever it would serve it's job for the night.

The draft was stupid.

He was tired of risking his life for the kingdom. If he was going to die, it would be on his terms. And if he had his way, by sunrise in less than an hour, it wouldn't be by his fellow soldiers. It would be after a long life of living a simple farming life in Axel. As far away from the frontline as possible. Today he would taste freedom or die trying.

Peaking out of his tent, he looked to his left and watched as a patrol rounded the corner at the end of the tents. Right on time. He made his way out, whispering a wordless apology to the many other fellow archers he was abandoning for his selfish reasons. He would have to hurry before the next patrol came.

He had taken many precautions in preparations for this night. Including doing what was forbidden of conscripted soldiers, learning skills beyond what they were assigned for.

Aside from his ridiculous luck, his stats were abysmally low, so low that they couldn't even put him in any basic infantry unit right away. All they could do was give him the adventurer class and a bow and train him up to learn basic archery skills. What felt like an insult to injury at first turned out to be a blessing in disguise. With the adventurer class, he was able to learn a large variety of novice skills from other, more advanced classes at a cheaper rate than a specialization. Mages were in droves around him, but he settled for the basics as he didn't have the mana for any high tier spells.

And for his grand escape, thieves weren't commonplace in the army itself but they were often hired during certain raids. Raids that he took part in, allowing him to learn skills like lurk and sense foe.

The variety of skills, as well as the mask would mean he would be considered as just another intruder until they found his bedroll empty or he was caught.

Unfortunately, the sense foe skill wouldn't quite work to his advantage. His instincts were honed to trust the people around him after months of battling after all. But lurk would serve its purpose quite nicely. There was only one downside.

The patrols that rounded the camps carried special artifacts that detected magic. The artifacts were especially sensitive to stealth magic. They wouldn't want an assassin to get lucky and have a field day with their sleeping soldiers after all. So he would have to wait until he was by the walls to use lurk properly.

Then there were the walls.

The walls were rudimentary wooden ones, as they were in a makeshift raid camp, but they did their job. They protected the soldiers inside while they were preparing. They were even manned by mages throughout the night to fire the occasional spell to keep the monsters at bay. He would have to cross the archery range to escape the range of the artifacts. Which meant exposing himself out in the open. But if he could just make it past and use lurk, he would be home free to climb the walls and run.

The sun was already beginning to rise. He didn't have much time left. On his right, on the other side of the line of tents, he heard the footsteps of the next patrol. He was going to be cutting it close if he didn't hurry.

The clanking of their many metal boots overpowered the sound of his single pair of leather ones running along the dirt trails. But they would still see him crossing the archery range at this rate, and he had nowhere to hide to wait them out.

It was time to get desperate and risky. He took off into a sprint, knowing full well they would probably hear.

The clanking of metal boots on the other side slowed down, before speeding up to match his pace, "I think I heard something." The knight in the lead said.

Trusting his mask to obscure his identity, he slid forward, gaining enough momentum to beat the patrol to the end of the tents. Holding his hand out, he whispered, "create water."

A stream of water shot out from his hands, turning the dirt all the way up to the corner into mud. He grinned. Even if he wasn't the best physically, his fellow archers always complimented him for his creativity. The patrol rounded the corner and spotted him.

"There! Intruder!" The patrol announced at the top of their lungs, alerting the other guards nearby. They ran at the masked archer, who calmly held out his hands again and said, "create ice." The soldiers were frozen in place as their muddied boots became solid.

There wasn't time to gloat however, as other patrols were now on their way.

So much for a quiet escape using lurk, he sighed.

Taking off into a full sprint, he made a mad dash for the wall, where the least amount of mages were. He pulled out his bow, it was really time to get creative now.

"Stop! Stop the intruder!" He heard from behind him, alerting the mages to his presence.

The archer reached into his bag, pulling out some standard issue smoke bombs given to archers for emergencies, and froze them along with the tip of an arrow to blunt it. He drew his bow and fired before the mages could properly ready a spell. The arrow found its mark and smacked one of the mages right on the forehead. A large puff of smoke erupted along the length of the wall, obscuring the vision of the mages who were close enough to hit him.

The shot shouldn't have been lethal. Even if it was still strong enough to penetrate flesh, it wasn't something a healer couldn't deal with. He fired a second arrow with a rope tied to the back and it landed at the edge of the top. Not that it was a tall wall, but it would make the short climb a lot easier.

He threw his bow up first, hearing the coughing of wizards who were caught unaware by his attack, before mantling up the wall and continuing on his way.

With a simple jump, he was free. He landed harshly onto the ground below but he didn't care. He couldn't stop here.

He let out a mad laugh as he ran, quickly casting lurk as he disappeared into the woods. Traces of spells singed the trees around him and the voices of panicked soldiers faded away behind him. He only let himself slow down after crossing a shallow river.

Panting, he pulled out his adventurer card. Oddly named considering even nobles and soldiers had them. But that's besides the point. He would have to start over, he can't use this name anymore. He would have to forget his family.

He rubbed a gentle hand across his surname. A smart person would have waited for an opportunity amidst a battle. Now his family would have to bear the grief of knowing they had a deserter child. It would be harsh for them, considering they weren't particularly well standing or wealthy nobles. But his decision was made, it was too late to turn back now.

How stupid would he look if he was caught sneaking in- or even turning himself in.

The archer dropped the card into the river, watching for a few moments as it was carried downstream.

It was time to live an uneventful, peaceful life in Axel. A town where absolutely nothing ever happened.

Ever.

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Prologue III

The Needs of a Noble

1 Month Ago

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THANK YOU VERY MUCH FATHER!

The noble girl cheered happily, "I promise you! I will not disappoint our family name!"

The merry old man laughed, "Please, my darling Lalatina. I don't expect you to come back with the head of the demon king. I only said yes because I wish for you to enjoy yourself. You're always so cooped up in this mansion. You worry too much about our name this and our name that. I only want you to be happy- make some friends among the common folk of our town. Before you know it, it's going to be you running this place without so much as breathing room for your family."

The blonde nodded, surprised by her father's reasoning. "I- I see. Then I will heed your request father! I will do my best to honor our family and make friends along the way!"

He laughed again, "Close enough I suppose. Go my little crusader, perhaps you will learn with your friends."

AN/ Thank you for reading my story! Please leave a review and tell me what you think. I will probably edit in a longer version of Darkness' prologue later but for now this will do. Just short prologues to give some backstory to my takes on their characters for my AU.