{…} = Changing POV
(…) = Short amount of time has passed
(…) (…) = Large amount of time has passed
Chapter 1: The Letter
"Go away Kid! I'm not selling anythin' to you! Just die with your mother!"
"Please! She's going to die!"
"Get out of here!"
The shop keep pushed Luka out of the shop and slammed the door, He won't sell him the medicine his mother needs because of their outsiders.
but... why? How is that fair! Shes... She's going to die.
Luka returned to his mother's bedside, she looked terrible, Pale, sickly. Barely alive, and yet none of the villagers cared, and now she was going to die, and there's nothing he can do...
"Luka..." His mother spoke, her voice barely a whisper
"Mom! They wouldn't sell me the medicine, but must there be something else we can do? Right?"
"Luka... I know you'll be a fine hero when you're older... I don't have much time left now... But don't hold it against the villagers Luka, you must not resent them..."
"Bu, but they could save you mom! and... and they won't! Why should I for-"
"-Luka, please, become a Hero... Save this world, it doesn't have much time left... You must save the world from chaos, they need you..." she said in a low, grave tone.
"What? Chaos? What are you talking about mother? Please, tell me!"
"Saﾛﾛ thﾛﾛ wﾛﾛﾛd, Luﾛﾛ.."
"Mom! Please! What are you saying! Mom! -"
"Hah!"
…
A dream... just a dream. He had often dreamed of his mother's death, but this time it was different, she stopped making sense at the end... but it was so vivid. What could this mean?
Luka decided overthinking it wouldn't bring him anywhere, and just chalked it up as a weird dream.
He let out a sigh of relief and looked to his side. There he saw Alice, sleeping peacefully. She was just as beautiful as when he first laid eyes on her, that seemed like so long ago now, so much had happened between the two, they had adventured throughout the whole world. When he had finally made it to the Monster Lord's Castle, Alice attempted to sacrifice herself for coexistence, believing her death by the hand of a hero is what was needed to bring it. Thankfully, Luka pulled her out of this delusion, much like she did for him, when he wanted to be a martyr for coexistence.
It had been a good few years now since they were married, and although Alice had clearly grown, Luka had not, well not by much anyway. He estimated he had at most grown about a finger in height, and he still looked almost the same as when he started his adventure, he was often teased about this by Alma and the others, saying that he will always remain a 'little boy', much to his annoyance.
Once he decided it was time to get up, he expertly pulled himself out from Alice's tail, an action that he was a master at by now. He took his signature cape, and although it was clearly in dire need of replacement (which Alice had noticed and even bought him a very nice new cape, with a golden outline and made of the finest of kitsune fur) Luka could not bring himself to use it, Luka's mother had made his cape for him, and he valued it too much to replace. So, he kept it as a spare, after thanking Alice of course for the thought. She didn't care too much, but Luka still felt bad about it.
He went over to the cupboard and looked inside at his signature weapon, Angel Halo, the sword used by Heinrich to fight Ilias's army and used by himself to take Ilias down. It too, had been with him almost his whole journey, and it was the only reason he could fight without the fear of accidentally killing his opponent. It was hanging on one of the hooks, he took the weapon and his sheathe, put them both on his belt and walked outside, slowly and carefully closing the door so as to not wake Alice, the last time he had done that he couldn't even walk straight afterwards.
Outside of the door he was greeted by one of the passing succubus servants, who were always very formal with the Monster Lords husband, which he had never really gotten used to.
"My lord, I have a message for you, Tamamo wants to discuss something with you, you shall find her in the training grounds."
"Really? Well, Thank you for the message"
"My lord"
She bowed and left, what did Tamamo want to discuss? Well, he might as well go see what's it's all about.
(...)
After arriving in the training grounds, he was greeted by the sight of his children, Nero and Neris, being trained on how to use breath of the earth by Tamamo. They were making good progress, he was sure that in time, they would be among the strongest monsters ever. He couldn't be prouder, they also showed good hearts, they were kind and caring. Although they were quite different from each other, Nero was quiet and reserved, he was also very smart, even though they were only six years old and at this point, Nero already knew some basic sciences and was well versed on the history of the world. Neris however, was always very active and lively, she loved using her body and was extroverted, but wasn't a fan of studying, she also, got along well with Alma Elma, and she seemed to pick up some of her traits, often teasing him with innuendo's or saying if he got bored of Alice, she could always spice things up, Alice often intervened and explained that Luka would not be allowed to have another woman is his life, sparking a small rivalry between the two.
Alice explained that in monster culture, the connection between fathers and daughters mattered little, and in a world where men were hunted, a daughter being attracted to her father was not so out of the question. Especially when her father was the savior of the world, half angel and a descendant of hero's (And according to most monsters Luka has met, ' A tasty morsel') Luka, however, never really took it seriously and assumed Neris was just being told to say these things by Alma Elma.
As Luka walked into the grounds, Tamamo spotted him and decided to hand over the lesson to her right-hand kitsune, Yao. She then walked over to him, with a worried look on her face.
"You called for me, Tamamo?"
"Yes, there's been a troubling development... We received this letter a few hours ago, it is addressed to you... This normally wouldn't have been an issue until I seen this"
She pointed to a seal on the letter, with red wax, it had the symbol that alice also had in her hair, the symbol of the Monster Lord. It looked like a vertical red eye.
"But... why would Alice send me a letter? We live together?"
"Yes well, Alice wasn't the only Monster Lord. And just in case you think it could be forged, the Monster Lords seal contains a magic signature that can only be replicated by someone of the fateburn line, this seal has that signature... This really is a letter from a Monster Lord, which one, I'm not sure yet all the other ones should be long dead..."
"A mysterious letter, huh."
Luka took the letter and sat down on a nearby bench, Tamamo joined him at leaned over to see the contents. He opened the letter and began to read.
Dear Hero Luka
It's me! I'm back, I hope you didn't miss me too much! I know we didn't have the best send-off but I'm sure I can make up for it~. Meet me at the Navel of the World for a tea party! Oh! and come alone, if I sense any uninvited guests, Including those spirits, well. You won't like it.
Signed - Black Alice
"...This is..."
"It's real. She's back, but I don't know how, You and Alice killed her in heaven no?"
"I thought so... but now that I think about it, I was too distracted by Ilias emerging from her 'corpse' to notice, maybe she teleported away? But even that sounds far-fetched"
"It seems Black Alice has a knack for barely surviving fights, but if that is the case why did she only appear now? It's been seven years... And why did she alert us to her presence? And why does she want to see you? This doesn't make any sense..."
"I don't know either... what should we do?"
"I'll have to talk to Alice, for now, we should alert all the leaders of the world of her return."
"Right, what should I do?"
"I guess you should do some training, if this does turn out to be true, and not some elaborate ploy, then we might be in for a fight."
With that Tamamo left, with the letter in her hand. I've never seen her so worried, what could this mean? Why is this all happening? Black Alice should have died, or at very least be sealed.
Oh well, I might as well take up Tamamo's advice. Maybe Granberia is around, she is always up to spar. Or I could see what Nero and Neris have learnt.
{...}
This makes no sense... she should be dead...
After talking to Luka, she decided to make a decision on what to do next with the Monster Lord's help. Said Monster Lord was currently eating her three-course breakfast.
"Monster Lord" Tamamo said while watching Alice at work, her 'breakfast' was more than enough to feed three people, and yet here she was, making it seem light a light snack. Her hair was also a little messy, hinting that she had only just woken up.
"Tamamo" she said in-between bites.
"There is something that requires your immediate attention, it has to do with Luka" At the words Alice stopped eating and looked at the kitsune, she knew mentioning Luka would get her attention.
"What is it?"
After taking the letter from her hand, she looks at the seal and touches it. Her eyes went wide in surprise.
"This... This is a real signature!"
"Yes, the letter appears to be genuine, please, read it"
She takes the letter out of the envelope, and reads through it, her eyes go wide again when she reads the last line.
"This, Black Alice wrote it... Why does she want to see Luka? What are we going do about this? She should be dead!"
"I was hoping we could discuss that, follow me to the war room"
Alice does as told, although refusing to leave her food unfinished, she manages to consume the entire meal in less than twelve seconds, a true feat for gourmets all around.
(...)
After much discussion about what to do, Alice and Tamamo called some of the nearby heavenly knights to the war room, Alice, Tamamo, Granberia, Alma Elma and Luka (Erubuite was at a spring in grangold, trying to purify it for her race along with undine) all were surrounding the map of the world, which had been upgraded to an electronic interface, thanks to reverse-engineering Promestiens technology.
Tamamo informed the other knights of what was happening and watched them go from disbelief to worry as they each read the letter.
"Now, obviously we don't intend to send Luka alone to the navel of the world without at least some backup, we have to deal with the fact Black Alice is back, ignoring this letter is out of the question, she could destroy towns and cities until we comply."
The rest of the attendees looked at her, hoping that she had some sort of plan. But Tamamo knew there was little they could do, even if all of them went, Black Alice would likely destroy them, after 7 years of having Ilias's and Alipheese's power, she would be at God tier strength at least, if not more.
"The plan is, well, we have to send Luka there no matter what, and unfortunately, according to the letter, neither us nor the spirits can accompany him. We will await nearby, in case she does try anything, we can hopefully intervene in time" As she said that she felt guilty, Luka was a great warrior, likely one of the strongest of this era, but without the spirits, he would consistently lose to the heavenly knights, the boost they gave him was huge. That and using his angel power would slowly kill him if he used it too much (Which was almost the case 7 years ago), she didn't have much hope that Luka could fend off Black Alice alone.
"That being said" She continued "We can give him this" she held out a small Makina, which had been invented by the kitsune and the scientific community's combined efforts. "This device can send data of the wearer straight to this computer" She pointed at the computer in the war room." With this, we can see what is happening even when not there, this should help us know when to intervene." Then again, what could they do even if they intervened? All of them together were strong enough to take down a dark-power fused Ilias, but that was with Miceala and the spirits, both of which weren't available. Gathering all the spirits would take too long and they would risk making Black Alice angry, and then forming contracts on the spot with Luka wouldn't be possible in a fight.
This was the best she could come up with, but if Black Alice wanted, she could kill them all and the rest of the world and they would be powerless to stop her. The thought terrified her.
"What data can it send? And how does this help us?" Granberia asked
"It sends heart rate, location, a transcript of the local dialogue and can be used to send messages and voice calls. It should prove useful incase anything does end up happening to him"
Luka himself was looking at the letter, rereading it, he seemed unusually quiet. Perhaps he was considering what Black Alice wanted.
"Even with that, Sending Luka-boy into the enemy's palm isn't the best plan I've ever heard"
"I don't like it, not at all but, there isn't much else we can do" Alice said that while looking at her husband, a look of worry on her face. It's only natural, Luka is being sent into the hands of one of the most dangerous-No, by now probably the most dangerous being alive, and we can't do anything to help him.
After some more discussion and finalizing of the plan, everyone save Luka,Alice and Tamamo had left the room. Either to train or to survey the area surrounding the Navel of the World and bring people away from danger.
"Luka" Alice said, she looked at the still boyish looking man, Tamamo could clearly see she was distraught over the danger Luka would be in soon.
"Yes? Ahh!" He shouted in surprise as Alice grabbed his tail and brought him into a hug.
"Make sure you come back,Ok? Don't let her hurt you" She squeaked out, much timider than she usually acts, she always acts different when surrounded by family, and Tamamo was always happy that Alice considered her part of it. She did effectively raise her by herself after all.
"Yeah, of course! What? You think Black Alice would be enough to take me down? After all we've been through? We already beat her once; we'll just do it again!" Luka returned the hug as he confidently stated that, although she knew it was just a brave face he put on to soothe his wife.
Alice chuckled slightly and held him tighter, Tamamo felt a little bit out of place, and decided to leave the couple alone, she had more to do after all.
{...} {...}
Luka was sitting on the back of Galda, he had the Makina (which looked more like a fancy metal watch than anything else) and, after tamamo taught him how to use it, sent a message.
'Nearly there, a minute or so away'
The Makina beeped as it sent the message. It only took a few seconds for a response
'Understood, Be ready for anything'
Luka was happy to see the device working, the technology was incredible, and Promestein was to thank for it, she, along with the other seekers of truth, brought huge advancements to science and technology advanced incredibly fast thanks to humanity, monsters and angels working together. He was always happy whenever he thought about how far they had come over the past few years, Thanks to him, Alice and all the other world leaders, Coexistence had successfully spread almost everywhere, save a few minor and secluded locations.
After arriving a little outside the navel of the world, he dismounted Galda and sent her away. He walked down the same path he did seven years ago, he looked at the now deactivated thermis traps and wondered why they were there in the first place, why keep humans away from the gate of heaven? He should ask Tamamo about it later.
Eventually he arrived, but he saw nobody. He reminisced about the battles fought here, with the gargoyle girl, Rapunzel, the gate of heaven and the Doppel version of himself. Speaking of what happened to her? If she was a clone of him, if word got out that there was a sealed version of Luka who could change gender, he feared what would be done to her, the world was still a dangerous place, and he had seen firsthand many times what a hungry monster is like.
"Fufufu, I was wondering what was taking so long"
! That was her! She really is here!
Luka turned to where he heard her child-like voice, and saw her, but she was different. She had two large wings, one demonic and monstrous, and one angelic and feathery. She also had two different hair colours, which split at the middle, and a large tail which opened and closed threateningly
"Black Alice! How are you alive? And why did you call me here? Tell me!" Luka nearly pulled out his sword, before he remembered what Tamamo said, ' Try not to provoke her, if we're lucky, she might just want to talk... maybe'
"Fufu, relax won't you, you'll get the answers you seek soon enough, but for now, come here, won't you?"
She motioned towards a small table she had clearly just placed there, out of thin air. On the table was a tea set, and a chair was on either side.
"Fine..."
Luka sat down in the admittedly comfortable chair, and watched Black Alice do the same.
"Oh? I see you didn't bring those little spirits, that's good, I would've had to punish you if you did~"
"What do you want Black Alice?" He said in a neutral tone, trying his best not to show his fear or hatred towards her.
"Quick to the point hmm? Your no fun... but anyway, I want to try something new, and I thought you would be the perfect doll for my fun"
Doll? "Really...? And what would this new thing be?"
"Let's call it a... Test! Yes, a test of your strength, but this won't be any normal trial, this one, I'm afraid, is not straightforward at all! Don't worry, you'll understand soon enough, or not! It doesn't matter much to me; you always were a little slow" She chuckled at the end
Luka frowned at that last part, but did not object to it, he hadn't been educated after all, so maybe she was right. Anyways, it wasn't relevant.
"And? do I get a choice here?" Black Alice laughed at that, clearly exaggerated her movements and the volume, this too annoyed Luka, but he endured it, for now at least.
"Hehehe.. ahh that was a good one! I didn't know you were funny! Anyway, I can sense some people approaching, I mean, I could sense the whole time regardless, so I might as well speed this up" With that Black Alice flicked her wrist and smiled.
"Huh? Woah!" Suddenly Luka saw nothing but darkness, and started falling into the void he was now surrounded by, he couldn't see anything, but thankfully he could still breathe, and he still had everything with him, including the watch, Makina. The watch displayed a message which was hard to read as he was falling, he barely made out 'Were coming in' and 'Back away'
Luka then saw a hole open up beneath him, and he fell right through. Hitting his head on the wooden floor beneath him, He blacked out.
A few notes
In the story, I not-so subtly stole some ideas off of other authors, who are both much better writers than I am. I stole some of the ideas of what Luka and Alice's life is like after the ending off of 'Pea Brain Writer' and 'SirKaerdron' Also, this story will contain no lemons - Although there will be many innuendoes and close calls. Sorry for the lack of mannerisms in certain characters like Tamamo and Black Alice, to be honest I just can't do them correctly, anyway I hope you enjoy the story!
Also, isn't it strange how Doppel luka is so forgotten about? It's a clone of the main character who can become identical to him, surely, she could've done some sneaky stuff in the story? Or maybe I'm spoiling something? Who knows...