Chapter 6: The Core of the problem
After Naofumi walked across the grayed out maze, he found a staircase leading up. And at the top, the royal guards were eating ice cream..
"Oh, hey. We're, like, taking a rain check on that killing-you thing. Like, don't tell Undyne about this, OK?"
"No problem." Naofumi said as he walked past them and up more stairs until he finally saw the entrance to the MTT Resort. And Sans standing next to the entrance.
"hey. i heard you're going to the core. how bout grabbing some dinner with me first?"
"Actually, I just ate breakfast a little bit ago. Maybe another time."
"well, have fun in there."
Naofumi entered the MTT Resort. Sitting right in the middle of the lobby was a fountain with a Mettaton statue spitting water on the floor. Naofumi tilted his head, confused by the strange decoration. His attention then moved to the receptionist, whose head was a hand, giving him a general appearance that Naofumi just didn't want to look at. Then there was the dragon, some sort of manticore and a slime(?) that were waiting on the elevator. Naofumi walked over to them and the manticore looked at him.
"This elevator goes straight to the capital. But it stopped working. The hotel's doing its best to accommodate everybody stuck here."
That's odd. I wasn't planning on using it since it'd mean having to walk through New Home while the one in the Core should take me almost directly to the castle, but it was my alternate route if something went wrong in the Core. Is someone trying to make sure I follow a specific path?
Naofumi walked past the elevator, what appeared to be a burger shop, and the receptionist to a door with a big neon sign saying "CORE".
After passing through the doors, Naofumi saw a bridge and on the other side some shadowy figures disappeared into the Core.
*Ring*
"Huh? Who are they? N-nobody else is s-supposed to be here… Oh well! We can't worry about that now!"
*Click*
Naofumi shook his head at Alphys's carefree attitude and continued into the core.
*Ring*
"Ready? This is it! Take the elevator up to the top of the CORE!"
*Click*
Naofumi pressed the button to call the elevator. But nothing happened.
*Ring*
"What? The elevator should be working... W-well then! Go to the right and keep heading up!"
*Click*
Naofumi passed through the doorway to the right of the elevator and found himself looking at a pit with various fires burning, but nothing else.
*Ring*
"Alright, now just keep heading up! ... That pit... Isn't on my map. Forget it! Let's try the left side!"
*Click*
Naofumi was going to check his map to confirm, but then remembered that Toriel told him that the Core was made in a way so that the layout could be easily changed. She'd even advised him to take the detour through New Home rather than try to navigate it. But with that elevator not working either it seemed he only had one option in proceeding.
If you don't know the way through a maze, stick to the right wall.
Naofumi backtracked and took the left path this time. It had a long empty room with another door on the other side.
*Ring*
"Okay, you should be able to make it through here... W-watch out!"
Some sort of floating monster dressed a bit like a magician appeared to attack Naofumi. Apparently it's name was Madjick.
"Trust me here, you don't w-" Madjick started chanting over Naofumi's words before launching magic at him from all angles. Naofumi evaded most of them and deflected one back towards it. Madjick's eyes widened before retreating into its hat (which then vanished) leaving 60g behind.
Oh, money without petting dogs.
Naofumi picked up the coins.
"Th-that was close... Wh... why are there so many monsters here? I mean... It's no problem, r-r-right? W-w-we've just got to keep heading forward! . . ."
*Click*
Naofumi proceeded and turned a corner after leaving the room. There he found a bridge blocked by another "impenetrable force field."
*Ring*
"Looks like you can't proceed until you hit the…" Alphys trailed off as Naofumi walked across the bridge. "I keep forgetting you can do that."
*Click*
The next room gave Naofumi the options of going straight or turning left.
*Ring*
"A crossroads... Uhh... Uhhh... Tr… Try heading to the right!"
*Click*
Naofumi looked at the intersection. What sort of angle is Alphys's camera at to think I have a right turn as an option. . . . Hmm… the cameras…
Naofumi took a few more steps.
*Ring*
"W-wait! No, I think you should h-head up!"
"Alphys."
"Yes?"
"You still have cameras watching me here, right?"
"Y-y-yes. Why d-do you ask?"
"Couldn't you look at the cameras and piece together the path through from those?"
"T-that's a good idea. U-unfortunately, I c-c-can't. I have cameras i-in all of the modules, b-but they don't show enough to indicate w-which ones they are connected to. I-I've been trying to guess where things are based on the last layout map I received. B-but it isn't going very well. I'm s-sorry I'm not being very helpful."
Naofumi started walking as he talked. "It's fine. I wasn't really sure what sort of angle you had with those cameras and thought it might be possible. That or if you had a system that actually kept track of the position of each module in real time."
"That's a great idea. If I assign each one an identifier and install a tracking component…" Alphys rambled on into things that Naofumi didn't understand while he walked through a series of lasers. "Then once I have the parts it would only take a few days to get them all installed." Naofumi arrived at a 4-way intersection. "What? This doesn't look like my map at all... I'm sorry... I... I... I have to go."
*Click*
Naofumi walked on, continuing with the "stick to the right wall" method and after turning a few corners he passed through another "force field" which to him was a pretty good indication that he was heading in the right direction. After that it was just a walk across a bridge while ignoring the weird eyeball monster and he found himself looking at an elevator and a gaudy doorway.
Elevator first. Naofumi checked and, as expected, the elevator led down to the Core's entrance. So the only way forward was through the overly decorated door. Naofumi wasn't exactly surprised when he saw Mettaton waiting for him.
"OH YES. THERE YOU ARE, DARLING. IT'S TIME TO HAVE OUR LITTLE SHOWDOWN."
"Shield Prison!" Naofumi walked past Mettaton while he was contained.
"DID YOU REALLY THINK I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THAT? THIS TIME I HAVE PREPARED A WAY TO KEEP EVEN YOU FROM ESCAPING. A LOCKED DOOR!"
Naofumi continued up to the door and, like Mettaton said, it wouldn't open.
"NOW." The shield prison wore off. "IT'S TIME TO FINALLY STOP THE "MALFUNCTIONING" ROBOT. ...NOT! MALFUNCTION? REPROGRAMMING? GET REAL. THIS WAS ALL JUST A BIG SHOW. AN ACT. ALPHYS HAS BEEN PLAYING YOU FOR A FOOL THE WHOLE TIME. AS SHE WATCHED YOU ON SCREEN, SHE GREW ATTACHED TO YOUR ADVENTURE. SHE DESPERATELY WANTED TO BE A PART OF IT. SO SHE DECIDED TO INSERT HERSELF INTO YOUR STORY. SHE REACTIVATED PUZZLES. SHE DISABLED ELEVATORS. SHE ENLISTED ME TO TORMENT YOU. ALL SO SHE COULD SAVE YOU FROM DANGERS THAT DIDN'T EXIST. ALL SO YOU WOULD THINK SHE'S THE GREAT PERSON… THAT SHE'S NOT. AND NOW, IT'S TIME FOR HER FINEST HOUR. AT THIS VERY MOMENT, ALPHYS IS WAITING OUTSIDE THE ROOM. DURING OUR "BATTLE," SHE WILL INTERRUPT. SHE WILL PRETEND TO "DEACTIVATE" ME, "SAVING" YOU ONE FINAL TIME. FINALLY. SHE'LL BE THE HEROINE OF YOUR ADVENTURE. YOU'LL REGARD HER SO HIGHLY SHE'LL EVEN BE ABLE TO CONVINCE YOU TO NOT LEAVE. ... OR NOT. YOU SEE, I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS PREDICTABLE CHARADE. I HAVE NO DESIRE TO HARM HUMANS. FAR FROM IT, ACTUALLY. MY ONLY DESIRE IS TO ENTERTAIN. AFTER ALL, THE AUDIENCE DESERVES A GOOD SHOW, DON'T THEY? AND WHAT'S A GOOD SHOW… WITHOUT A PLOT TWIST?"
"Well… that actually explains a lot. I sorta expected it, but not for you to reveal it all in one big monologue."
"IT'S WHAT I DO BEST!"
"H-hey! Wh-wh-what's going on!?" Alphys could be heard from behind the door Naofumi entered from. "Th-th-the door just locked itself!"
"SORRY, FOLKS! THE OLD PROGRAM'S BEEN CANCELLED! BUT WE'VE GOT A FINALE THAT WILL DRIVE YOU WILD!" The floor lit up and streaks of light started shooting down the walls. From a third person perspective it might've seemed like the floor was rising at high speed. "REAL DRAMA! REAL ACTION! REAL BLOODSHED! ON OUR NEW SHOW… "ATTACK OF THE KILLER ROBOT!"
Naofumi took up a defensive stance, waiting for Mettaton to make a move.
"YES, I WAS THE ONE THAT RE-ARRANGED THE CORE! I WAS THE ONE THAT HIRED EVERYONE TO KILL YOU! THAT, HOWEVER, WAS A SHORT-SIGHTED PLAN. YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE A HUNDRED TIMES BETTER? KILLING YOU MYSELF!"
Naofumi pulled out his phone, then thought about it. "The anti-Mettaton thing Alphys installed. It doesn't actually do anything, does it?"
"NOPE. IT IS A WORTHLESS PEASHOOTER, DARLING."
Naofumi hit the button to fire just to confirm, the yellow thing bounced off Mettaton.
"LISTEN, DARLING. I'VE SEEN YOU FIGHT. YOU CAN'T ATTACK. IF YOU CONTINUE FORWARD, ASGORE WILL TAKE YOUR SOUL. AND WITH YOUR SOUL, ASGORE WILL DESTROY HUMANITY." Mettaton sent some magic cubes flying towards Naofumi. But they couldn't hurt him. "BUT IF I GET YOUR SOUL, I CAN STOP ASGORE'S PLAN! I CAN SAVE HUMANITY FROM DESTRUCTION! THEN, USING YOUR SOUL, I'LL CROSS THROUGH THE BARRIER… AND BECOME THE STAR I'VE ALWAYS DREAMED OF BEING! HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS… NO! MILLIONS OF HUMANS WILL WATCH ME! GLITZ! GLAMOUR! I'LL FINALLY HAVE IT ALL! SO WHAT IF A FEW PEOPLE HAVE TO DIE? THAT'S SHOW BUSINESS, BABY!"
*Ring*
"Hold that thought." Naofumi held up a finger to Mettaton as he picked up the call.
"U..uh... I can't see what's going on in there, but... D-d-don't give up, okay!? Th... there's o-one l-l-last way to beat Mettaton... It's... um... it's... This is a work-in-progress, so don't judge it too hard... But, you know how Mettaton always faces f-f-forward? That's because there's a switch on his backside. S-s-so if y-y-you c-c-can turn him around... um... And, umm... press th-th-th-the switch... He'll be... um... He'll be... Vulnerable. Well, g-g-gotta go!"
*Click*
A switch on his back… wow, that's just… wow.
Naofumi walked towards Mettaton.
"COMING STRAIGHT TO YOUR DEMISE. A BRAVE CHOICE DARLING, I RESPECT THAT."
"Air Strike Shield. Change Shield." Naofumi created a shield above and behind Mettaton before changing it into one with a mirrored surface that allowed him to see the switch on Mettaton's back.
"WHAT? WHERE?" Mettaton started turning to try to figure out what Naofumi was up to. "A MIRROR? RIGHT, I HAVE TO LOOK PERFECT FOR OUR GRAND FINALE!" Mettaton looked up at the mirror, leaving his switch open to Naofumi. I'd been planning to use a float shield to flip it, but this works too. Naofumi flipped the switch. "DID YOU. JUST FLIP. MY SWITCH?" Mettaton turned to face Naofumi. Put his hands on his… well not head, but upper body? It's hard to describe with a robot that's basically a box with arms on a wheel. He started shaking violently, there was a big flash of light before everything went dark.
Two spotlights came on along with a bunch of smoke. Seriously? Is Alphys ever going to give me advice that actually works?
"Ohhhh my. If you flipped my switch, that can only mean one thing. You're desperate for the premiere of my new body. How rude... Lucky for you, I've been aching to show this off for a long time. So... as thanks, I'll give you a handsome reward. I'll make your last living moments... ABSOLUTELY beautiful!"
The smoke cleared away enough to see a rather feminine looking humanoid robot, apparently Mettaton's new body.
"So the switch caused a body change. Or maybe advancing to the 2nd stage of the fight?"
"Yes, that's the general idea. Lights! Camera! Action!"
Mettaton began sending a series of unusual attacks at Naofumi. Including but not limited to: an absurd number of legs, bombs, and boxes. Naturally Naofumi avoided most of them, and blocked the rest. While he might not be hurt if he was hit by them, he still found them annoying.
"Seriously, how long are you going to be attacking me for?"
"Oooh, I'm just warming up!"
It was some time later when Mettaton finally did something other than attack.
"OOH, LOOK AT THESE RATINGS! THIS IS THE MOST VIEWERS I'VE EVER HAD! WE'VE REACHED THE VIEWER CALL-IN MILESTONE! ONE LUCKY VIEWER WILL HAVE THE CHANCE TO TALK TO ME... ... BEFORE I LEAVE THE UNDERGROUND FOREVER! LET'S SEE WHO CALLS IN FIRST!
*Ring*
HI, YOU'RE ON TV! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ON THIS, OUR LAST SHOW?
"... oh... hi... mettaton…" Blooky? "I really liked watching your show... my life is pretty boring, but... seeing you on the screen... brought excitement to my life... vicariously I can't tell, but... I guess this is the last episode...? I'll miss you... mettaton... ... oh... I didn't mean to talk so long... oh..."
"NO, WAIT! WAIT, BL... H... THEY ALREADY HUNG UP. ... I'LL TAKE ANOTHER CALLER!" Maybe it was Mettaton's new body, but Naofumi was able to hear the emotion in his voice a lot better now and there was definitely some connection to Napstablook.
"Mettaton, your show made us so happy!"
"Mettaton, I don't know what I'll watch without you."
"Mettaton, there's a Mettaton-shaped hole in my Mettaton-shaped heart."
"AH... I... I SEE... ... EVERYONE... THANK YOU SO MUCH. ... DARLING. PERHAPS... IT MIGHT BE BETTER IF I STAY HERE A WHILE. HUMANS ALREADY HAVE STARS AND IDOLS, BUT MONSTERS... THEY ONLY HAVE ME. IF I LEFT... THE UNDERGROUND WOULD LOSE ITS SPARK. I'D LEAVE AN ACHING VOID THAT COULD NEVER BE FILLED. SO... I THINK I'LL HAVE TO DELAY MY BIG DEBUT. BESIDES. YOU'VE PROVEN TO BE VERY STRONG. PERHAPS... EVEN STRONG ENOUGH TO GET PAST ASGORE. I'M SURE YOU'LL BE ABLE TO PROTECT HUMANITY. HA, HA... IT'S ALL FOR THE BEST, ANYWAY. THE TRUTH IS, THIS FORM'S ENERGY CONSUMPTION IS... INEFFICIENT. IN A FEW MOMENTS, I'LL RUN OUT OF BATTERY POWER, AND... WELL. I'LL BE ALRIGHT. KNOCK 'EM DEAD, DARLING. AND EVERYONE... THANK YOU. YOU'VE BEEN A GREAT AUDIENCE!"
Mettaton powered down and the doors opened, allowing Alphys to run in.
"I... I managed to open the lock! Are you two… Oh my god. Mettaton! Mettaton, are you… … thank GOD, it's just the batteries. Mettaton, if you were gone, I would have… … I m-mean, h-hey, it's n-no problem, you know? He's just a robot,if you messed it up, I c-could always… J-just build another. … Why don't you go ahead? I... I just need a moment."
"Right." Naofumi continued on through the doors.
It was less than a minute later when Alphys came running. "S... Sorry about that! L-let's k-keep going!"
"Alphys."
"Y-yes?"
"Mettaton told me you were faking all that stuff with him and the traps so you could look like you were helping."
"W-w-what? H-he did? W-well y-you s-see…" Alphys was sweating bullets and stammering without actually saying anything until she finally fell to her knees then attempted a dogeza. "Yes. It's all true. I'm sorry." Tears started to run down Alphys's snout. "I wanted to be friends so I set things up so I could be the one to help you. I thought if I helped you enough you wouldn't want to leave. But then you said you weren't leaving anyways and it was too late to change things back. B-but I swear I really don't know what happened to the Core's layout and Mettaton was never supposed to actually try to kill you." Alphys looked up at him, tears and snot running down her face. "I-I know I don't deserve it. But I'm begging you anyway, please forgive me."
. . . *Sigh*
"Never, and I mean never, do anything like that ever again."
"O-of course." Alphys nodded vigorously.
"And you should probably get yourself cleaned up before anyone sees you like that." Naofumi said as he started walking again. There was an elevator at the end of the hallway, which Naofumi used to ride up to New Home. Naofumi paused for a second, surprised by how gray everything was, then he tried to take the elevator that would leave him by the hall before the throne room, but it didn't respond, so he had to walk.
As Naofumi walked the path to Asgore's castle, he couldn't figure out why everything was gray. It didn't seem like it was just the natural color of the stone, so it must have been intentional. Eventually Naofumi reached the entrance to Asgore's castle. It looked like a pallet swap of Toriel's house in the Ruins.
I guess they chose to build their new home with the same design as their old one.
Inside the only color came from several vases that held golden flowers. "Hello?!" Naofumi called out. But no one came. Knowing that you could hear a call like that from anywhere on the main level of the house, Naofumi went to the stairs. For some reason they had a chain across them and a sign that said where the keys to the locks were. What's the point of blocking the way with the chain then? It isn't even high enough to keep an average adult from stepping over it. Naofumi stepped over the chain and headed down the stairs.
At first it seemed like even the lower level hallway was the same as the other house, but instead of turning it shifted over a bit and continued in the same direction while providing a view of New Home. All of those buildings were gray too. Eventually the hall came to an end with the elevator, which seemed to be working despite nothing happening when Naofumi had tried the other end. I thought Alphys was keeping them from letting me skip anything, so why'd this one act like that too?
Across from the elevator was a doorway to a room that actually had color. While it was another hallway, it at least looked like it was part of a royal castle instead of an unusually clean alley in a black and white movie. As Naofumi walked down this hall, Sans appeared in front of him.
"What?" Naofumi took a step back in surprise and started to take a defensive stance before collecting himself. "Is that what it's like for other people when I use a portal skill?"
"Who's to say?" Naofumi could hear there was something different about Sans's voice, like he was being serious for the first time. "Heh… So you finally made it. The end of your journey is at hand. In a few moments, you will meet the king. Together… You will determine the future of this world. That's then. Now. You will be judged. Y-"
"Just how many jobs do you have?" Naofumi couldn't keep himself from asking.
". . ." Sans stared at Naofumi.
"Sorry, carry on."
"Ahem. You will be judged for your every action. You will be judged for every EXP you've earned. What's EXP? It's an acronym. It stands for "execution points." What? Not Experience Points? "A way of quantifying the pain you have inflicted on others. When you kill someone, your EXP increases. When you have enough EXP, your LOVE increases. LOVE, too, is an acronym. It stands for "Level of Violence." A way of measuring someone's capacity to hurt. The more you kill, the easier it becomes to distance yourself. The more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt. The more easily you can bring yourself to hurt others."
"If that were enough for me to be able to hurt people I'd've had a much easier time of it back before I ended up down here."
Sans closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them and smiling.
"yeah. you may not have gotten any LOVE, but it seems like your heart's as hard as your shield. you sure aren't some naive little kid. but even with the struggles and hardships you faced, you still managed to do the right thing. you never even tried to hurt anyone, though some were scared just by looking at you. you never gained LOVE, but you gained love. does that make sense? maybe not."
"Because of how you used LOVE in place of LV for the level indicator before? I get it."
"cool…. now. you are about to face the greatest challenge of your entire journey. your actions here. . . will determine the fate of the entire world." That seems like a stretch. "if you refuse to fight. . . asgore will take your soul and destroy humanity."
*scoff* "He can try."
"but if you kill asgore and go home. . ."
"Not possible, it's not my world, remember?"
"oh, right. … well… either way monsters will remain trapped underground… wow, you really have a way with throwing off my lines."
"So you've had this whole speech prepared for a while?"
"sorta. i never expected someone like you though, so i'm stuck adlibbing all but the barebones."
"And here I thought you might actually go five minutes without making a pun."
"what can i say, i'm all bone. funny-bone. anyways, i believe you can do the right thing."
Sans turned and disappeared. Naofumi slowly waved his hand through where Sans had been standing to make sure it wasn't some invisibility magic.
Once that was done, Naofumi continued down the hall and exited to more gray construction. So only that one room had color? It wasn't long after that when Naofumi reached the throne room. Standing outside the entrance he could also see the path to where Toriel said the human bodies (minus Chara's) were interred. Well, no putting this off any longer. Naofumi entered the throne room.
The throne room was full of plants. Half the floor was covered in grass, while the area surrounding the throne had golden flowers, despite the throne itself being on tiles. Naofumi also noticed there was a second throne in the corner that had a sheet covering it, but the main thing that had his attention was the guy kneeling down with his back to the entrance.
"Dum deed um…" The large monster (probably Asgore) was humming to himself. Naofumi took a step forwards, onto the grass. "Oh? Is someone there? Just a moment! I have almost finished watering these flowers. ...Here we are!" He stood up and turned around. He seemed to be the same type of monster as Toriel, but with large horns and blond facial hair. Definitely Asgore. "Howdy! How can I…" Asgore's eyes widened and he took a step back as he realized who Naofumi was. "Oh." He looked away for a moment before returning with a sad smile. "... I so badly want to say, "would you like a cup of tea?" But… You know how it is."
"Well that's definitely a better idea than attacking me."
*Sigh* "I wish things could be that way." Asgore walked to a window. "Nice day today, huh? Birds are singing, flowers are blooming… Perfect weather for a game of catch. …"
"Riiight." Why is he talking about the weather and catch now of all times?
"You know what we must do. When you are ready, come into the next room." Asgore started walking to the door behind the throne.
"We don't have to fight." Naofumi followed Asgore.
"I'm afraid we do. We need your soul so we can finally break the barrier."
"From what Toriel said, you could have broken the barrier a long time ago if you really wanted to. Just take one of the souls and go outside to collect the rest, right?"
Asgore froze. "You've… spoken with Tori?"
"Yeah. She's still not happy with you. And she's really not happy about all the kids you've killed." The pain Asgore felt hearing that fact was evident on his face.
"I had to keep hope alive. We've survived this long because we had hope. Hope of escaping, hope that 7 human souls would allow us to break the barrier and live on the surface again. It's true that I could have absorbed one of the souls to be able to cross the barrier to collect the rest. But I could never bring myself to do it, because as soon as I did a new war would be inevitable.
Everyone knows that more humans will eventually fall and that we can take their souls. That was enough to keep hope alive. But now you are here. The seventh to fall since…" Asgore sighed loudly, unable to finish the sentence. "If there were a way to let them leave the Underground without anyone finding out they were here, I would have let them. But even if they did manage to go unnoticed, it's impossible for anyone to escape without having at least a human soul and a monster soul. So, for my people, I killed the humans that fell. If I were to stop now, everyone would lose hope of ever getting out. And to take away that hope is something I can never do. That's why you have to die and I have to fulfill the promise I made to my people all those years ago. Surely you must know by now that there's no way to escape the underground unless you were to first take my soul as well."
"I've heard, not that I'm actually trying to get out."
"Good, then… what?" Asgore wasn't expecting Naofumi's answer.
"I said I'm not trying to get out. I've had to explain this at least 4 times now, including to both Alphys and Undyne, but I'm not even from this world to begin with so there's nothing on the surface for me to try to get back to. The only reason I left the Ruins in the first place was to get you to stop trying to kill any humans that fell."
"... I see. But I am afraid that your efforts are in vain. I have made my resolve, so too should you. Please, come this way."
"You really are a stubborn old goat. Air Strike Shield." Naofumi created a shield to block Asgore's path.
*Clang*
Asgore walked into the shield. After regaining his composure that was lost in the impact, he knocked on the shield before turning to look at Naofumi again. "That is a rather advanced application of barrier magic. I was going to kill you where I could simply move your soul to a container so it would be preserved then all seven could be absorbed at once when we were ready. But there isn't any reason I can't absorb it immediately after your death. So it would seem that all you have accomplished is changing the room for our fight." Asgore brought out a large red trident. Between the goat-like appearance and the trident he bore a striking resemblance to some depictions of the devil that Naofumi had seen in his world, but far more regal.
"There isn't much point, you won't be able to kill me."
"If you are strong enough to kill me then that is how it was meant to be." Asgore conjured dozens of fireballs and sent them at Naofumi.
The wave the fireballs weaved back and forth meant there was little room to dodge, so Naofumi made a decision. "It isn't that I'm strong enough to kill you, I'm strong enough that I don't have to." Naofumi walked forwards, fireballs bursting as they made contact but doing no damage.
Asgore was surprised, but while he hadn't had a true fight in some time, his personally training Undyne meant his battle instinct had remained sharp. As Naofumi approached him he responded by swinging his trident, but Naofumi caught it. "If that's your best, then you have no chance of even scratching me, let alone killing me."
Asgore twisted the trident to break free of Naofumi's grip, but he was shaken by what he was seeing of the young man. To Asgore, Naofumi looked like a youth who got caught up with a group of bandits, at best he'd've been a soldier that turned rogue. But he was demonstrating not only incredible strength and resilience, but highly honed technique that one would normally only expect from a seasoned veteran. "Just how many have you killed in reaching this level of skill and power?" Asgore asked while unleashing another attack.
"I haven't killed anyone. After all, I'm the shield hero." Naofumi avoided the attack. "My job is to defend my allies. But if you really want things to be even…" Naofumi used his shield and knocked one of the last fireballs back at Asgore. He knocked it away with his trident.
The fight continued on this way for some time. Naofumi had no reason to purposefully take attacks after showing his high defense, so he primarily evaded, with the occasional reflection. While Asgore continued to press his attack, and while he managed to land several blows, none seemed to phase Naofumi at all.
Neither one of them knew how much time had passed when their fight, if you could really still call it that, was interrupted.
"E-excuse me. King A-asgore."
""Alphys?"" Both combatants were caught off guard by the royal scientist's sudden appearance. They looked at her, then at each other, then back at her. She had cleaned herself up from when Naofumi had previously seen her, but she still looked like a nervous wreck.
"I b-believe we might be a-able to break the barrier without k-k-killing Naofumi."
Did Alphys actually find a way to help?
Naofumi was hopeful, but Asgore thought about what Alphys had said for a moment. "You told me that the experiments all ended in failure."
"Th-they did. We will still need to use seven human souls to break the barrier. B-but as the human mages that built it were able to do so without sacrificing their lives, i-it stands to reason that if he were to assist willingly we should be able to break it w-without killing him." Alphys paused for a moment to let the information sink in. "I'm also concerned about the possible d-differences in his soul compared to the ones we have, due to his coming from another world. F-for all we know it may not be possible to absorb a soul from his world."
Naofumi considered what Alphys was saying and decided to volunteer some info that might support it. "Things do seem to work differently here. In the world I'm originally from, the idea of souls lingering after death is considered fiction." Of course Naofumi didn't mention that souls did linger in at least one world he'd previously been in.
"Alphys." Asgore put away his trident and looked down at the royal scientist. "Many monsters are still upset with you after the last time you provided false hope. Can you promise me that this won't be a repeat of those events?"
Naofumi saw a look of shame on Alphys's face that was almost as bad as when he confronted her about lying to him. "W-w-well, this is a different situation. I at least n-need time to s-study Naofumi's soul and confirm its p-properties. I-if we l-let people k-know that h-his soul can't be absorbed, but he's still w-willing t-t-to t-try and h-help break the b-barrier, th-then that sh-should be enough t-to ap-p-pease most of the monsters."
"Very well." Asgore turned toward Naofumi. "I won't apologize for doing what I felt I had to, but if you are really willing and capable to help us break the barrier then I thank you. I will inform the citizens that you are assisting in breaking the barrier. You'll be safe."
"And what if another human falls before we're done?"
Asgore frowned as he thought. "If it is possible to break the barrier without more death, then they will be safe."
Epilogue(?)
And so Naofumi's peaceful life in the Underground finally began. He often had to visit Alphys's lab so she could collect data on him, his magic, and the shield's abilities. All in the name of finding a way to destroy the barrier. Also so they could watch anime together. He also made a point to teach Undyne and Papyrus how to properly cook spaghetti.
Alphys was hard at work trying to find a way to harness Naofumi's strength for breaking the barrier.
Undyne moved to Sans and Papyrus's couch, at least until she's able to rebuild her house.
Papyrus was allowed into the Royal Guard, but as they only kept watch for humans it didn't actually change much for him.
Toriel was convinced to open the door to the Ruins, but wouldn't leave unless Naofumi, Sans, or Papyrus stayed behind to keep an eye out for fallen humans.
Asgore often sent flowers to the Ruins as part of an attempt to win Toriel back. She burned the flowers.
Mettaton made several unsuccessful attempts to get Naofumi to willingly appear on one of his shows.
End of Part 1
AN: Naofumi has reached the end of the game. There will be more, probably. Going to be working on an Overlord x Shield Hero fic for a while but I do have ideas for how this will develop when I return to it.
For those wondering why Omega Flowey didn't show up, he doesn't know where the souls are until Asgore brings them out, and that didn't happen because they started fighting a couple rooms early.
