Chapter 2: The Hero's First Fight

"Ready Lakyus?"

"Whenever you are Suzuki-san."

Opting to strike while the iron is hot, the pair charged at the soldiers before they could figure out what was going on. Picking up her sword midway, Lakyus took the lead, parrying and dodging any attacks that came her way like a graceful dancer whilst Satoru covered her back, knocking out those that had lost their footing. His movements were of course sloppy throughout the entire course, showcasing attacks that one could almost consider as flailing even if they did often find their intended targets. Even though his punches left plenty of openings for the enemy to abuse, his unique skill more than made up for those shortcomings, blocking all forms of retaliation that came his way whether it be swings from swords or the rogue arrows here and there. He couldn't even feel the slightest form of shock from these impacts as everything seemingly bounced off him harmlessly.

What's even more surprising was the fact that Satoru felt as though his body was functioning a hundred times better than he normally would. Despite the fact that his extremely crude hand to hand combat costing him a ridiculous amount of stamina, Satoru didn't even feel the slightest bit of sweat forming on his brow when normally a couple of push ups would have been more than enough to get him panting in the real world. Another example would be him being able to easily match Lakyus's sprint mid combat, when again, such a feat should have not been possible for him before.

It was almost as though...

"The armor is boosting every single one of your stats."

'Stop reading my mind?'

"Hahaha, not possible Satoru since I'm a part of you. Telling me not to read your thoughts would be like telling me not to use my own brain."

'Really? Still, how exactly is this armor making me stronger? I thought it was just defensive gear like another other armor in Yggdrasil?'

"If it was just a piece of equipment, we wouldn't have to go out of our way and call it a unique skill now, do we?"

'Hmmm...that kinda reminds me...' Satoru thought whilst still casually fighting in reality, dashing in front of Lakyus to block several steel blades thus allowing her to retaliate right after. 'When I got a look at my stats before, I was listed as a level 1 immortal human apparently. Does that mean my stats is extremely low in this world compared to the average citizen?'

"Basically yes. Without any forms of buffs or skills, your base stats would equal that of a typical person from a farming village, perhaps even weaker."

'Wait...if that was the case, am I not seriously screwed in this world because I also remembered that I seemed to be capped at level 1 for some reason...'

"Not really no, the reason why you are capped at Level 1 is because that is the limit of your natural abilities as an earthling. But since you possess the cheater class as well as a few extremely powerful and unique skills, your potential is practically limitless. Basically, every time you activate compliance of law, your stats skyrocket allowing you to perform feats that are leaps and bounds ahead of anything you could normally do whilst providing you with absolute defense. And that's not even the best part because..."

"Stop where you are you two!" A loud commanding voice boomed out nearby causing both Lakyus and Satoru to stop dead in their tracks. Spinning around, the paladin once again found himself faced with an issue that he had stupidly neglected to prevent. "Make a move and she is dead!"

Even with a majority of his men lying unconscious on the floor, Belius apparently hadn't given up on the situation as evident by the fact that he once again held a hostage at knife point.

"Crap..." Satoru muttered under his breath, shocked but ultimately accepted that the disgusting commander was a man who would resort to using such underhanded tactics as many times as he needed to. He threw a quick glance at Lakyus and grit his teeth in frustration at the look of resignation reflected on her face. "...I'm so stupid for falling for the same mistake."

"You know the drill! Drop your weapons and surrender!" By now, the remaining 5 knights had gathered by Belius's side. It was clear that their presence once again offered him confidence as his voice regained it's previous haughty tone. "That means you beautiful and the knight in shining armor too!"

"Wait! Let Enri-san go! I'll take her place!" Lakyus yelled whilst once again dropping her sword and holding her hands up in defeat. "I'll go with you so please let her go!"

"Then come over here and I shall consider it." Belius grinned before motioning for both his soldiers to capture her.

As Lakyus walked past Satoru, he could hear the faintest whisper.

"I have a small request Suzuki-san. Once Enri-san is safe, could you please beat the rest of the soldiers? Otherwise they might attack the villagers again."

"But then you'll..." To say that Satoru was shocked by her selflessness was an understatement for he had never met someone who would willingly put their life on the chopping block just to save someone else.

"I'll be fine, just please make sure they are safe. I'm sorry for asking you to do this." With a genuine smile, Lakyus continued to make her way towards Belius ignorant of the helpless expression that dawned on the Paladin's face which was hidden by his helmet.

'Crap, is there nothing I can do again?'

"Oh my oh my Satoru-kun, I step away for a little and you've gotten yourself in yet another mess already?"

Although it wasn't the first time he had experienced it, Satoru still felt just as surprised now as he did the first time, his vision filled with a world seemingly frozen in time while a robotic voice filled his ears. Only this time, he felt thankful for the extra time it bought him.

'Yes I did, laugh all you want but I need your help with this.'

"Very well then, I shall never deny you assistance whenever the situation gets dire but I do have to admit that I'm slightly disappointed you didn't manage on your own despite your currently overpowered status."

'Yea...well sorry...'

"Don't apologize to me, I just want you to be able to learn to adapt and survive in this world. You can't rely on me forever, eventually you will need to fight and win battles by yourself so I was just hoping to prepare you as soon as possible."

'Thank you for your concern and I do agree with you. I can't keep using the fact that I'm from a different world as an excuse all the time.'

"Correct, you live in a completely different reality, a place with it's own people and rules. You might experience a lot of things here that you would never even imagine in your worst nightmares but you need to stay strong and focused. I know it is your desire to be a hero but even a hero cannot fight all his battles alone. I'm hoping you can find someone who will fight by your side and deal with all the good and bad times together with you in the future."

'You sound like a doting mother.'

"Haha, do I now? I know its a little early to ask, but does any potential partners come to mind?"

He couldn't deny the fact that Lakyus flashed past his mind at the question but immediately brushed it off hoping that the other him didn't realize.

"Hoohooo, Lakyus huh? Well she is certainly beautiful, strong and kind as well from what we've seen. I'm rooting for you."

'What?!' He mentally spluttered, obviously embarrassed by the thought. 'I barely know her yet and its way too early to ask without even knowing if she already has a partner.'

"Then man up and ask her after this."

'How about we make sure everyone gets out of this safe first before talking about anything else?'

"Good point."

'So...any bright ideas for this particular situation? Because I certainly could use one right about now.'

"Don't worry I got one, in fact I was about to talk about this in our previous conversation until that commander guy rudely interrupted."

'Oh right!' An imaginary light bulb flashed across his mind as he recalled their last chat. 'You were about to explain something else about this armor right?'

"Lovely to see that we both have good memory. Now as I was saying earlier, the unique skill - Compliance with Law summons forth a magical attire that not only protects you from basically all possible harm, but it also greatly increases your stats to an incredible level."

'Yup, we've already established that.'

"On top of that though, you also get resistances against most known de-buffs and effects such as poison, confusion, fear etc etc. I guess you could say that whilst you have this skill active, you basically become an impregnable fortress against most foes. In other words, you don't have to worry about taking any damage in combat but I would still highly suggest you start practicing some form of combat training moving forwards. After all, you never know if there's anyone else out there that might possess another unique skill that counters yours in some way. Better safe than sorry as they say."

'Agreed.' Satoru thought whilst nodding albeit mentally due to his own frozen body. 'But sheesh, this armor really is really quite overpowered...like you said, it practically blocks everything whilst giving me an incredible buff at the same time.'

"I know right? And that's just that armor's passive abilities."

'Passives? So this armor also has active abilities too?'

"As expected of the hard-core gamer, you catch on quick. Have you perhaps wondered why you can see so clearly despite the armor being completely enclosed?"

'Aren't I looking through the helmet's eye-slits?'

"Nope, your unique skill basically creates an area of absolute protection around you, meaning it is impossible for anything to get in. There are simply no weak spots for any foreign objects to invade through. It is 100% enclosed with no space for even a needle to pierce."

'How do the heck am I breathing then?!'

"Relax the space within the armor is enclosed yes, but it provides all the essentials that you would need to survive, of course fresh air is magically circulated too."

'Dammm, this is high tech!'

"If you consider magic to be tech then sure. Anyways, the image you are seeing is a magical projection captured and sent into the enclosed space for your viewing."

'This is all really cool and all but...we kinda have a higher priority right now!' Satoru couldn't hide the anxiety he felt every time he saw the blonde warrior's back. 'Can we save the lecture for when we are finished with the important stuff?'

"Like saving your crush?"

'S-s-she is not my crush, lets just get on with it.'

"Fine fine." He wasn't sure if he had imagined it but he could almost hear a hint of pout in the robotic voice just now. "I believe we were discussing about the armor's active abilities right?"

'Indeed.'

"Just to clarify right now, your armor currently is still in it's dormant state meaning only half of your unique skill is active. Basically, it is doing nothing but offering it's passive bonuses, but if we just do this..."

-Initializing Compliance with Law defensive protocol-

Satoru's eyes went wide open as his field of view dramatically changed as his vision filled with something that resembled the UI from Yggdrasil. There were a few notable differences such as the lack of the public chat in the lower left corner but he could see every other detail like the mini-map, hp, name and level. But there were also a few new features he had never seen before like a yellow SP bar under his hp as well as a rows of empty squares at the bottom of his field of view. There was only a single square that was filled with an icon but the rest were empty.

"What do you think? Feeling nostalgic yet?"

'This...what is this?'

"This is your unique skill in it's activated state, which offers you a variety of useful tools on top of the passive capabilities you have already been given. It grants you access to the armor's active abilities as well as providing you with helpful information such as the mini-map to assist your spatial awareness in combat, making it much easier to keep track of enemies."

'For a second there, I thought I was back in Yggdrasil.'

"Hahaha I bet you did. You see those empty square boxes at the bottom of your vision? Those are active ability slots that you will eventually fill with as your armor progresses in level."

'This armor can level up?!'

"That's right, the more you engage in combat with it, the more experience it absorbs thereby allowing you more access to different abilities! Furthermore, the passive bonuses and resistances you receive also increase as you level it up. This is precisely what enables your potential to become endless. You yourself maybe capped at level 1 but your unique skills grow over time to make up for it. At the moment though, you only have just the one skill. Why don't you try focusing on the icon?"

'Hmmm...' Doing as he was told, Satoru directed his undivided attention on his one and only skill before a small information window popped up.

-Warp (Level 1): Allows the user to teleport a short distance towards the intended location. If there is something else in direct contact with the user, they can choose to teleport them too. Can be used up to 3 times in quick succession before going on cool-down-

"Reckon you can put this ability to good use?"

'Probably, it's still a little risky but this time I know what to prioritize.'

"Even though you have 5 enemies, don't forget there's only 1 hostage."

'Alrighty, I got this.'

"Then let's see it in...3...2...1...now!"

Time once again unfroze with the whole world returning to it's normal colors, only this time, the paladin wasn't so unprepared.

"Oh my goodness! A dragon!" Satoru yelled at the top of his lungs whilst pointing at the skies behind the 5 soldiers.

Surprisingly, everyone in the area fell for it as they quickly shot their gaze in the indicated direction.

Using the split second that his textbook distraction had created, Satoru gathered his concentration before using his newly acquired skill.

-Warp ability activated-

Teleporting right in front of Belius, the paladin took advantage of his armored fingers to grab the knife's blade and separated it from the hostage's neck. Once he had secured Enri, Satoru quickly teleported them both next to the shocked Lakyus.

"Lakyus, protect her for a second."

Finally, he used the third and final charge of his ability to return to the assailants before delivering 5 powerful punches that knocked them all out.

The bystanders could only watch with their mouths agape at the spectacle that had occurred before them, trying to comprehend what exactly had just transpired over the past couple of seconds.

By now the sun was in the final hours of descent, filling the skies with a beautiful orange hue. It's warming rays lifted the mood of all the villagers present as they gradually arose to check the conditions of each other like a giant family of one. Thankfully, no one had received any form of serious injury with only a few sustaining some minor scratches. With the concern for each other's well being out of the way, the mass found themselves naturally turning their gaze towards their savior who stood just a little ways off. At first there was only silence, with neither side really sure of how to interact with the other.

But the aura of peace that radiated from the paladin coupled with his actions that they had just witnessed was more than enough to earn their trust. With grateful smiles plastered on their faces, the area soon erupted into a round of applause, even a few cheers made it through as they thanked the one who had come to their aid.

There was one among the crowd who was particularly fascinated by the mysterious paladin.

"That...was amazing Suzuki-san." Lakyus muttered in awe as she watched the platinum armor glow before disappearing into a million specs of bright light, allowing the beautiful warrior to finally set her eyes on the man beneath who had saved her life not once but twice today. She found herself naturally walking towards him, eager to get to know the hero behind the mask.

Author's Notes - Thank you FATEMURDER, Sledovatel, The beginn of Red Dawn, DuckBoi, Zennishi, UndeadLord22, Guest-Questioner, Sonic and Guest for your reviews. I'd also like to thank everyone else who took the time to read my story, I really appreciate it.

Below, I'd just like to reply to a few questions I saw from reviewers.

To Guest - Thank you very much for stopping by to read my fic, don't worry I don't plan on abandoning this fic anytime soon. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

To Guest-Questioner - Well Satoru's powers certainly do resemble his friend's as a champion but are fundamentally different as you will find out later on. And yes, there will be many more abilities to come in the future but I cannot say at this point exactly how many. Regardless, thank you very for your review and hope to see you in the next.

To Zennishi - I can certainly see that you have put in a lot of thought towards this version of Satoru and I do thank you for taking the time to leave a review. As for the MC, it is hard for me to say at this point where he will end up as a character. I don't have the intention of making him a generic Isekai Hero character but ultimately it is up to you as the reader to decide whether or not you like what I write. Although I will point out that this fanfic won't be all sunshine and roses moving forward as Overlord is, as many of us know, a story with many dark aspects to it. At this particular point, all I can say is I do plan to incorporate those themes into later chapters/arcs.

To FATEMURDER - He looks like a regular human but I do plan on including a light description of his features perhaps in the next chapter. As for his skills, I do plan on branching off to more original skillsets, so potentially he will have access to his old skills at some point, but I cannot say for certain that it will be the case. Thank you for the review though!

Take care everyone and hope to see you all in the next.