"Ren? Who was that?"
'Oh, fuck…' "Huh? What do you mean?" Turning to her, he tilts his head in confusion at her question.
"Don't act like you didn't see them! They were right next to you!" Scratching the back of his head in confusion, he looks at her like she grew a second head.
"Zelda? Have you been getting enough sleep? A healthy mind is a healthy body after all." He says confidently.
"I'm pretty sure that's not how that saying goes."
"Well my point still stands. If you're not getting enough sleep, that can be very detrimental to both your mind and body. So get some sleep. Hell, I'll even let you sleep in."
She doesn't continue pushing the subject, opting to just lay back down in her bed. 'I know he's lying to me, I clearly saw him speaking with her. But why won't he tell me? Does he not trust me?'
Chapter 6
Floor 1 Forest
POV Returned
'Observe.'
Name: Zelda
Level: 83
Title: ???
Race: Elf
HP: 13300/13300
MP: 8525/8525
STR: 75
AGI: 63
END: 48
INT: 120
WIS: 117
'Her physical stats have grown a lot in the span of 8 days, but that doesn't really mean much in a fight.' Closing the screen, I grab her attention. "So where exactly are we going?"
"To a neighboring village, it's been a while since we last heard from them." She explains as we continue to walk down the makeshift dirt path.
"I'm guessing last week was your attempt at making it there?" She seems to look away in embarrassment as I bring up her past failure.
"Y-Yeah…"
I suddenly feel one of my many shadows patrolling the forest around me die. Only for it to come back at a small cost of MP. "Did you hear that?" Ahh…Damn it.
"Hm? I didn't hear anything…are you sure you'll be fine?"
"I said I was alright! Honestly…" I laugh at her reaction, only for me to stop as I feel more of my shadows start to die. "Ren?"
Picking her up off the ground, I dodge out of the way as a giant beast lands where we just were. With the head of a lion, the guiltylawe roars at us before attacking again. Dodging its attack once more, I activate my recently maxed stealth skill.
Now out of its sight, I inform Zelda of my plan. "I need you to stay out of sight until I give you the signal. Can you do that for me?" She doesn't answer me, taking a better look at her, I find her shaking in fear. Grabbing her by the shoulders, I try to calm her down. "Zelda, you need to listen to me…Everything's going to be alright. Just remember our training, ok?" My voice seems to finally reach her as she nods her head. "Okay, good. I'm counting on you."
Deactivating my stealth, I jump back into its line of sight. "Hey! Come and get me!" My goading angers it, causing it to charge right at me. "Ruler's Authority! Bloodlust!" The increased effects of gravity cause the beast to crash down into the ground.
Bloodlust Successful!
And with all of its stats lowered, it can't defend against an attack like this. A light arrow traveling at the speed of a bullet whizzes past me, embedding itself into the guiltylawe's head, killing it instantly. 'Scary to believe that she had an ability like this the whole time. I guess it really deserves the name of Divine Blessing.' No Exp for me though…
Waving my companion over, she jumps down from the tree she was on. "Did you see it?! I did pretty good, don't you think?"
"Yeah, you did great. I'm proud of you." My praise causes her to blush from embarrassment. "Anyway, we should get going. It should take us a day to arrive if we walk, but we can make it in a couple hours if we run." Her blush disappears, she almost looks aghast at the thought of us running the whole way there.
Getting ready to run, I look back at the corpse. "Arise."
"Huh? Did you say something?" The newly resurrected guiltylawe was already in my shadow by the time she turned to look my way.
"No, it was nothing."
Neighboring Village
'...Disgusting.' Decomposing bodies are littered all over the now uninhabited village. 'Who could've done this?'
"I feel like I'm about to start regurgitating my breakfast." I hear from my side. 'Please don't.'
"Just try not to look at them too closely, and stay on guard." Despite my words, I take a good look at each corpse. 'These injuries…bite marks? But, Elsa said there weren't any signs of forced entry.' And there wasn't, the gate may have been open, but it was in good condition. "Hm…"
"What is it?" I hear Zelda ask from behind me.
"These people were killed by an animal, but they weren't eaten. Why is that?" My thought process seems to get through to her as she soon starts thinking it through as well.
"You're right…" Please don't stare at me with that much amazement, especially when we're surrounded by a massacre.
We continue walking around, looking for anything that might clue us in into what really happened here. It took us roughly two hours to search all of the houses, which resulted in finding out nothing.
"We still have a couple hours until sundown, do you think you can manage?"
"Ugh…Sooo Hungryyy…" She complains, not that I can blame her, we last ate roughly 9 hours ago.
"Alright, I'll go ahead and start making so-" I lose my train of thought as I spot something strange on the ground. A pool of blood, and a trail leading somewhere else. Crouching down, I touch the blood, it quickly stains my fingers. 'Any blood from a week ago would have dried out by now.' Summoning a handkerchief from my inventory, I dry my fingers off.
"Yeah, no. You better wash your hands if you're going to make dinner!"
"Looks like dinner is going to have to wait, I believe we have found our clue." I say pointing at the blood trail.
"...No food?" Sighing at her antics, especially when it comes to food, I toss her a Chocolate Chip Protein Bar. "Huh? What's this?" She asks, examining the protein bar in a wrapper, something that has probably never been seen before.
"Food." She doesn't hesitate as she bites down on the wrapped up protein bar. "Wait! You need to open it first, then you can eat it." Showing her how to open it, she looks shocked that there was something inside the wrapper.
"How needlessly complicated." Now she's complaining just to complain. Turning back to the blood, I start to follow the trail, making sure to ignore the moans of ecstasy behind me.
'This has to be a joke, right? The amount of blood being spilled is impossible, no normal elf could produce this amount of blood.' The blood trail starts to lead us out of the village through the other gate, and into the forest. My shadows start to patrol around me, making sure to stay out of sight quietly.
I stop for a moment as I feel a tap on my shoulder. "What is it?" I ask, looking over my shoulder at Zelda wearing a sheepish expression. Sighing at her gluttonous behavior, I toss 2 more protein bars at her.
Going back to following the trail, I start to think it over. 'This is obviously a trap…but no beast would set up something like this. Could it be that infiltrator? Why would they make this?' No matter how much I think about it, I can't come to a definitive answer.
After 10 minutes of walking, Zelda finally speaks up. "Hold on, I hear something." And she wasn't wrong, my shadows could smell them as well. "There's a lot…in there." She says, pointing at a very ominous cave.
"Well…Guess I have no choice." Extending my palm towards the entrance, I let loose an inferno. "Goa, Goa, Goa, Goa."
Defeated Wolgarm x 29
145 Exp
"Can you hear any more of them?"
"Uhh, I can't really hear anything over the sound of fire." Oh, right.
"Fura." Letting loose another spell, I turn back to her. "Better?"
Defeated Wolgarm x 2
10 Exp
She just looks back at me blandly, before confirming with a sigh. "There's a few left…and a big one." Another Guiltylawe? I could always use stronger shadows.
Looking back at the entrance, I wait for them to come out…unless they want to die from breathing in too much smoke. Not even a few seconds later does a small amount of regular Wolgarm come running out. 'Where's the big…there he is.' Right behind them is what I will now dub as "Bigger Wolgarm", because…He's literally just a regular Wolgarm at a larger size.
"*koff!* Honestly! Who suddenly just throws fireballs at a cave…*koff!*" Atop the Bigger Wolgarm is a…child? Or perhaps a very short lady, who is wearing an outfit very similar to one I've seen before.
"I do." I say, grabbing their attention. "Now, I don't like hurting children…but I will if I have to."
"Fufufu…And how do you suppose you're going to do that? I still have the upper hand." Her attempt at sounding like Elsa is horrible, but it confirmed something for me. 'I knew it…this brat knew Elsa.'
"Ruler's Authority." Approaching the now collapsed child and her small army, I grab her by the scruff of her cape. "Ruler's Authority." This time, my Kukri Knives appear in the air, before they kill the last of the smaller wolgarm. "Zelda, you can kill the bigger one."
"Huh? Oh, right!" Summoning her bow, she kills off the Bigger Wolgarm with ease.
Buying handcuffs from the shop, I place them on the girl's wrists. Tossing her on the ground, I sit across from her as I start my interrogation. "Are you the one responsible for what happened at the village?" Silence, she doesn't answer me as she looks at me petrified.
"Not going to answer? I may be a novice when it comes to torture, but I've recently gotten better at using healing magic, so I have room for failure." Still nothing? Hmm…
"I guess you really want to end up like Elsa. Doesn't matter to me either way." This seems to elicit a reaction from her, as she starts to thrash around in anger.
"I knew it! You bastard! I'll fucking kill you! You son of a bitch!" She yells. 'She has quite the mouth on her.'
"Ugh…" Looking towards Zelda, who was staring at us perplexed, I let out a sigh of annoyance, before focusing on the girl again. "Answer the question. Were you responsible for the attack on the village?"
She stops yelling finally, but a smug look appears on her face. "I know something you don't~!" Fucking hell…
"Bloodlust." Oh? Now she's all quiet again. "You were saying? Are you going to answer? Of course, I could always go physical."
I had just put the fear of God into this child, because she was already stuttering out an answer. "I-I d-didn't do it alo-alone…I w-was w-with an ar-archbi-bishop."
'Archbishop?...Those fuckers again?' Grabbing her by the collar, I ask her more questions. "Where are they? What did they look like?"
"Hehehe…It's too late now." She doesn't say anything else as she passes out. 'Too late? What does she me-.' I feel my MP start to drain as one of my shadows starts to regenerate. All of the shadows near me are fine, the only one away is…Oh.
"Arise." Secret be damned, we need to get there quickly. Zelda is panicking at all the shadows now nearby. "Zelda we need to go."
"Kyaah! But what about..?" She says pointing at the shadows. Grabbing the brat, I call upon the Guiltylawe.
"Let's go! The village is being attacked!" I finally get to her, as I jump up atop the shadow, holding my hand out to her. With the both of us finally on the guiltylawe, we take off towards the village.
15 Minutes Later
"Ren! What is this? I thought we killed this thing already!" I hear Zelda yell in my ear.
"We did! It's just…I'll explain this some other time! We're here!" The Guiltylawe completely clears the wall, jumping off the guiltylawe, I head towards Elsa.
Reaching where she is, we find her in a defensive battle protecting Zelda's Mother. "Go help out Elsa." I command my shadows. "Ruler's Authority." The Battlefield is too mixed up for me to be able to use it on my enemies, so instead I use it on my knives, clearing any Witch Cultist in my way.
Defeated Witch Cultist x 7
280 Exp
"Mother!" Zelda yells, her mother's condition not being the greatest. 'She's losing blood.' Placing my hand over the wound on her stomach, I start to heal it.
My MP slowly drains, but her condition also gets better. A decent amount of color returns to her as I finish healing her wound. "She should be fine, but stay here and make sure she doesn't open her wound again." Zelda doesn't answer, but I get the feeling she heard me.
Walking up to Elsa, I let out a sigh of frustration at the thought of having to speak with her. "Where's the Sin Archbishop?" Thankfully, she doesn't say anything, opting to point at a child instead. 'Is she being serious?'
'Observe.'
Name: Lye Batenkaitos
Level: 140
Title: Sin Archbishop of Gluttony
Race: Human
STR: ?
AGI: ?
END: ?
INT: ?
WIS: ?
Information is limited due to Level differences being too high.
'Guess she wasn't lying.' Most of the fighting has ended, in my victory of course. My knives are still in the air, awaiting my command. Shooting them towards the Archbishop, he doesn't move an inch until they are right in front of him.
He suddenly disappears from my sight, only to reappear beside me, both his blades aiming for me. They are parried away by Elsa, who now goes on the attack.
Each time their blades clash, sparks go flying everywhere. It's so fast paced that I can't even tell what happened until a few seconds later.
I continue to watch the fight unfold, never moving my eyes away from the battle. It's like watching two giants fight, I can't help but feel like an ant. 'This is what I need to work towards…I can't stay weak.'
Letting out a breath, I quickly dodge out of an attack from the Sin Archbishop. Dodging again, I try to hit him with Ruler's Authority, but he dodges out of the way of the increased effects of gravity. All of my shadows, except Elsa, rush towards him, as I regain my composure.
'What the hell happened?' Turning in the direction Elsa was, I find her regenerating from being completely destroyed. Looking back at Gluttony, I start to get ready for him to rush me once more.
"Enhancement." Reinforcing my body, I get ready to continue my fight. "Nyx, I'm going to trust you have my back." I feel my spirit appear beside me.
"Sprint." Rushing at the Archbishop at a high speed, knives trailing behind me, I land a roundhouse kick on his chest. My knives hitting nothing but air, as the cultist recovers quickly and quickly rushes back at me. "Shadows!" At my order, they block Lye from attacking me and stall for time.
My eye's flicker in Elsa's direction. 'Still not done?! My MP is at half and it hasn't had the chance to regenerate since I got here…HP is still full thankfully. But my shadows don't stand a chance against such a high level enemy.' I needed more shadows, but I had already reached full capacity. 'Wait…That's just preserved shadows, I can still make more!'
"Arise."
Elves and Cultists alike rose again, their differences were put aside under my control. "Shadows, kill my enemy." Arrows, Spells, and weapons were used against the sole Archbishop. There was no threat he could pose against my undying army.
He effortlessly dodged the attacks, but any attempt at attacking us would result in injury. "Hm…There is nothing we can do against such numbers, we will be back soon for a delicious meal! Tsu~." I finally hear them speak, our eyes meet and he smirks at me. Licking his hand, I suddenly feel the world crashing around me. "We knew you would be a tasty meal, Ren Fujimura."
???
It's dark…and silent, too silent.
Where am I?
How did I get here?
…Who am I?
"Fufufu…"
"Who is that?"
"…"
"Fufufu…"
"I'm sure I've heard this voice before."
"Be quiet."
"Fufufu…"
"Oh! I remember! It's Elsa!"
"I never said you could speak."
"Fufufu…"
"But…Who am I? How do I know Elsa?"
"I said Shut up!"
Your name is …, you're .. years old, and you are my …
"…2B? Is that you?"
"Oh, great. She's here."
"Now! It is unfortunate, but I do believe it is time for you to go!"
"That's Lide! I finally remembered who I am!"
"This bastard? Tch!"
"How long will you continue blaming others for your own faults?"
"Shadow Monarch?"
"So it was you…"
Images start to appear all over the previously dark room. All of Ren Fujimura's memories made in the new world.
And three Ren Fujimura's at the center of it all.
"Hm…Strange." Ashborn mutters, as he donns Ren's image.
"Woah! You're me!" Says one of the actual Rens, the only difference being his green eyes.
"Tch. Why are we here?" Says the other Ren, his red eyes glaring at the not Ren.
"To think your soul would turn into fragments. Is it because of that child?"
"Fragments?"
"That fucking brat."
"Well…it matters not." Ashborn clears his throat as he finally addresses the two. "Ren Fujimura, it has been a while."
"Hey! How have you been?" Green Ren says, a happy smile on his face.
"..." Red Ren continues to just glare at the Shadow Monarch.
"I'm sure you know where we are, but allow me to explain it anyway. This is my domain, Eternal sleep…or Death.
In a sense you have died, your body has become an empty husk."
This revelation comes as a shock to none of the Rens, they had long since figured that was what had occurred.
"You know my story, and you know what I shall propose to you. Knowing your answer, I shall ask anyway.
Would you rather stay here, and live out a fantasy, enjoying dreams you created?
Or, Live once more, grow stronger and get your Revenge?"
To Be Continued…
It's fairly obvious as to what Ren will decide, but every decision made comes with a price and its consequences.
Also, not sure if this is obvious or not but, I suck at writing fights. I'll be busy reading up on fights from other writers to try to learn something from them. No, I will not be copying them.
At this point in time, I have no real ending for this story. I have an idea, but that might be a hundred chapters from now, or more.
"Who is Ren?" That sounds awfully familiar.
Zelda's Mother…I need to give her a name, as she will be a recurring side character. Any suggestions? Since in the BotW game, Zelda's Mother doesn't have a name, and we know her name also isn't Zelda.
His Soul has been fragmented? Hmm…I wonder why that is…
I've only read a bit of Arc 6 so I know a little about Lye's own strengths. But I'm sure Elsa is his match, no? I mean both of them are pretty fast so I can't really say if they're equal, but I think Lye has more destructive power, but Elsa is immortal.
Also the reason why Elsa was completely destroyed was because of Palm of the Fist King.
I wonder, if Lye has Ren's memories, does that mean he has the system? And the Shadow Monarch Job?
Answer? No, it was stated before that even if he uses Gluttony on someone, he can't use their Authorities, Divine Blessing or Spirit Arts. So why would he gain access to something made by an even greater being than Od Laguna, the one who gives people Divine Blessings?
If you're confused about anything…then that's good, that means my story isn't simple or one dimensional.
I think that's everything…so Toodles!
Status
Name: Ren Fujimura
Level: 60 [690/1045]
Job: Shadow Monarch - Lvl 1/10
Title: N/A
HP: 3050/3050
MP: 14100/14100
STR: 63
AGI: 60
END: 60
INT: 120
WIS: 60
AP: 185
Skills
Lide's Blessing of Longevity - Lvl Max
Lide's Blessing of Literacy - Lvl Max
Stealth - Lvl Max - You are undetectable - Costs 50 MP per minute
Sprint - Lvl 3/10 - Costs 5 MP pet second
Bloodlust - Lvl 4/10
Ruler's Authority - Lvl 4/10 - Does not Cost MP
Shamak(Spirit) - Lvl 7/10
Magic Shield(Spirit) - Lvl 7/10
Observe - Lvl 3/10 - Shows Target's Status
Shamak - lvl 2/10 - Costs 25 - ? MP, depending on range
Enhance(Yang) - lvl 3/10 - Increases Strength and Durability of an object. ie. A sword, or your own body. - Costs 100 MP
Fura - Lvl 2/10 - Costs 20 MP
Huma - lvl 1/10 - Costs 5 MP per shard - Deals 50 Damage
Goa - lvl 5/10 - Costs 25 MP - Deals 150 Damage
Dona - lvl 1/10 - Cost 50 - ? MP Depending on the construct
Healing Magic - lvl 8/10 - Cost 10 MP per Second - Heals 100 HP per second
Mana Control - Lvl 7/10 - Increases Magic Damage by 17% and Magic Resistance by 35%
Mana Attack - Lvl 1/10 - Costs 10 MP
Authority of Sloth - ??? - ???
Inventory
Gospel x 1
Random Loot Box x 17
Status Recovery x 16
Kukri Knives x 2
Holy Dragon Coins/HDC x 14
Gold Coins x 99
Silver Coins x 97
Copper Coins x 38
Echidna's Book of Magic x 1
Insignia x 1
Shovel x 1
Water Flask x 1
Chocolate Chip Protein Bar x 9
Relationship
Zelda - 45/100 - She cares deeply for you
Emilia - 25/100 - She feels indebted to you
Zelda's Mother - ?/100 - ???
Felt - 35/100 - She is concerned for your wellbeing
Reinhard - 25/100 - He is concerned for your wellbeing
Bazett - 40/100 - She is worried sick for you.
Shadow Elsa - 99/100 - She would die for you, but is confused by your attitude towards her
??? - 100/100 - ???