Author's Note: Okay so not a lot to say today. Read, Review, Favourite and Enjoy!
Chapter 117: The Demon of the Spear
So Kaede was already off with her father being trained somewhere in how to use her sacred Gear, Tanya already returned to her second home-world, probably having something to do with the guy that dropped her there in the first place, that was all well. Of the eight Heroes, Kuro, Katarina, Jade, Sakura, Myne and Goll were the only ones left by the time that supper rolled around.
"Anyone got any idea what they're supposed to be doing for the rest of the time we're going to be here?" Katarina asked before she slurped her udon noodles.
"If we follow patterns, go back to our home worlds where we're going to clean up our unfinished business over there after we do literal soul searching." Kuro stated as she slurped her own meal up.
"How are we going to do that?" The Girls watched as Naofumi carried an exhausted and unconscious Kaede up the stairs.
"This is literally Maple's house." Kuro stated bluntly. "I've seen everything that they've been doing here." The other girls tilted their heads in acknowledgement.
"So what do we all have to be out of the house by tomorrow or something?" Jade asked looking at Kuro with blatant suspicion.
"I've got a pretty awkward chat with my family, considering I was falling apart at the seams the last time they saw me." Kuro explained as she ate her own food before a thought occurred. "I am going to get to live from all of this right?"
"Events will be tweaked up to and in the aftermath of the mess with your extended family." Raccoon explained bluntly waving off Kuro's concern.
"Well I still don't know about my world." Katarina stated raising her hand in the air. "What's wrong with your world?" Kuro asked looking at Katarina suspiciously. "I saw lots of it from your clothes when we first met."
"Ah right. You see before I died and was reincarnated I was playing this game..."
"Not another word." Naofumi stated as he came down the stairs, his tone strict and even, as if he was stopping Katarina from speaking about something infuriating. "If you speak another word I am going to have to beat you to death and neither of us have time for that." Naofumi loomed, staring down at Katarina with cold eyes with a vicious light in them. "You are a reincarnated, much like Tanya but even more like Takt, Kyo or the rest of infinite supply of losers you have been dealing with. Your head was filled with a vast amount of knowledge about future events which you were then meant to act out in order to create a scenario that the god who reincarnated you wished to see fulfilled. Perhaps when you hit your head your programming crashed and you rationalised the information that appeared in your head, or perhaps the game was a plan B in case you did exactly what you did and remembered your past life. Why we don't know, and frankly I doubt it matters because you aren't going to fulfil it."
"But the other party is a literal god, you said that one was going to brainwa-"
"You aren't going to fulfil it, because I'm not gonna let you! Got it!?" Naofumi snapped now looming over Katarina specifically who could only slowly nod her head in response. "Good. Now let's have a look at what's really going on inside of your head." Naofumi poked Katarina in her forehead and she felt herself falling backwards. Past the life of Katarina Claes, past the life of the otome games, and deeper still into the past. "So That's it." Naofumi's voice became a distant memory as Katarina arrived in a distant land.
Put simply, this place was a mess. Picnic benches were in every direction, discarded snack platters, old Sake jars and other garbage was scattered around the area as Katarina walked by, it was as if someone had thrown the biggest party ever and didn't invite her. Continuing to wander about Katarina eventually found the person at the centre of the chaos, a woman with a shapely figure barely concealed underneath a loose fitting kimono who was laying out flat on her stomach and eating chips while she read a magazine. Scattered around her were trashy romance books, fashion magazines and shojo manga. If Katarina didn't know better she would say that this woman has the same tastes as she does. In fact examining the books Katarina realised that a disturbing number of them were familiar to her, every last one of them had been read by Katarina before.
"Yo." The woman who was reading idly waved to Katarina.
"Uh. Hello." Katarina politely courtsied to the woman reading through her books.
"I've gotten more polite with my reincarnations." The woman explained as she drank from a bottle of Sake that never went dry.
"Your reincarnations?" Katarina asked looking confused. "But I don't remember..." Katarina gestured around herself and to the busty woman she was talking to.
"I'm not surprised, it's been a while since my time." The woman stated as she gave a shrug. Katarina's head hurt.
"I'm Katarina Claes." The person in question introduced herself. Silence echoed. "And you are?" The woman made a pondering look as if thinking about something.
"Right. I never was very well read, well aside from trashy books like this that is." The woman sat up, and readjusted her kimono when one of her breasts fell out to put the thing back in. "I'm called Ame No Uzume No Mikoto, the Goddess of Love in Japan." Suddenly Katarina's love of trashy romance stories made a whole lot more sense.
"I still don't know much about you though." Katarina stated as she scratched her head in confusion.
"I've got time to kill, pull up a seat somewhere." Katarina climbed on top of the picnic bench opposite of the goddess of love. "Firstly, for some context. Amaterasu, our local sun goddess, very popular lady. Sasanoo her brother and our ocean god? Not so much, in all honesty he was kind of a jerk, not like little Keith at all."
"How bad could he have been?" Katarina asked looking concerned.
"He burned down Amaterasu's rice fields and threw a flayed bull at her in the middle of her weaving." That is pretty bad. "Of course Susanoo was banished immediately but by then the damage had been done. Amaterasu was so utterly distraught that she locked herself away in a cave, which is kind of bad considering that she was, yah know, the sun!" The woman in question gestured around her to the bright sunny day around them. "So we all got together and did our best to cheer her up with a big massive party, course that wasn't working by itself so I had to resort to extreme measures." At once the goddess kicked over a nearby wash basin and jumped on top of it before she proceeded to dance.
"What are you doing?" Katarina asked looking confused.
"I'm demonstrating my part in the story. I hung my mirror outside of Amaterasu's cave and then I danced just like this." Ame No Uzume stomped on the water basin loud enough that her steps were like the beating of a drum, as she twirled around her kimono started to come undone to the increasing confusion of Katarina.
"Wait you put on a strip tease?" Katarina asked looking confused.
"It wasn't much." The goddess of love sat down on her wash basin as she smiled seductively at Katarina. "I gave everyone something to cheer about for real, Amaterasu eventually got curious enough to come and take a look herself and I made sure that the first thing Amaterasu saw when she came out of hiding was her own face in the mirror." Ame No Uzume let out a light laugh as if fondly remembering something. "Course when she saw me she had a entirely different reason to come out and celebrate with everyone."
"It doesn't sound like much." Katarina stated as she came over and sat with who was, for all intents and purposes, the world's first stripper.
"I didn't say it was." The older woman picked Katarina up and sat her on her own lap. "Depression is not complicated, it's not a state that people want to be in, and so long as you're willing and able to show them the way out, people are willing to follow you." Ame No Uzume gestured to the air around her, familiar faces appeared as if an illusion, Mary, Sophia, Keith, Geordo, Alan and Nicole. "You don't have to be afraid of your friends Katarina, not if you don't choose to be someone they have to be afraid of. You brought light into their lives like I brought it back into Amaterasu's life."
"But the game..."
"It's just a game." The woman reached over and pulled out one of the books that were sitting off to the side in a stack before using it to bonk Katarina on the head. "It can no more hurt you than any of these books." Which was ironic to say considering that book stung a little bit. "Stop obsessing over the past and live your life, you have plenty to live for after all." Ame No Uzume completely slipped out of her kimono as she stood up and put Katarina down. "I've been wearing that drab thing for centuries, I feel like a change in my wardrobe!"
"I'll help you pick one out!" Racks of clothing soon appeared, clothing that Katarina has worn or will wear. Katarina's eyes were drawn to two different outfits, the first a the uniform of a high school girl, but it wasn't her uniform anymore, the second was a white and blue dress with numerous individual jewels, however it wasn't her dress, she never wore it. Instead Katarina's eyes went to the large red kimono, decorated with a feathery motif. "This one!" Katarina shouted as she took the Kimono and quickly helped the older woman put it on.
"Katarina!" When Katarina woke up from the after party Kuro was standing over her. "You were out for a while." Kuro helped to pull Katarina up to her feet. "What happened?"
"Honestly? I found myself." Katarina stated simply, in the mean time Naofumi was standing off to the side, using his phone to make various arrangements. "What did you see?" Katarina asked looking over to Naofumi.
"You and your friends are being used." Naofumi stated bluntly. "Maria possesses a lot of high aptitude for magic, so do your male friends." Naofumi put the phone away. "Your job was to make sure she gets together with one or more of them, then their descendants would go on to eventually produce a individual of high enough stats to produce a suitable body for that being to be incarnated into." Naofumi explained as he started to walk away. "Had events proceeded as they originally would've you, a person who had low magical aptitude would have gotten together with the prince souring the intended Eugenics program that jerk was planning. So they remade your personality to drive the prince away." Which has now backfired, immensely.
"That was it?" Katarina asked looking gobsmacked. "That was the reason I was reincarnated?"
"It doesn't have to be something complicated." Naofumi stated as he indicated for Katarina to follow him. "If you feel like pushing them over a barrel you can just continue being your lovable dorky self and completely Kibosh their plans."
"What happens if that god comes after me though!?" Katarina asked looking concerned.
"By the time I'm done with you you'll be strong enough to eat them." Naofumi explained in simple terms. "Follow me, I'm going to go introduce you to your mentor in the dark arts."
"Are we really sure I should be learning dark magic?" Katarina asked looking concerned.
"You're literally the only person in the world that it doesn't have a negative effect on." Naofumi explained as he opened up what suspiciously looked like a weapons locker.
"Well that is a fair point." Katarina stated as her attention was drawn to what Naofumi pulled out. It was a mike stand, complete with a microphone. As Katarina was debating what it was for Naofumi rolled his eyes and gave it a shake, the base collapsing into a Spear point and the microphone a counter weight. "Your weapon is working properly now right?" Katarina's weapon turned into a spear, which then split apart forming a short spear and a long spear respectively, the jewels glowing with newly restored intelligence.
"Yes we're functioning/YOU PAIN IN THE ARSE! COME OVER HERE SO THAT I/apologies about her she has some issues to work/YOU WANT ISSUES? I'LL GIVE YOU ISSUES!" Naofumi smacked himself in the head. "What's the deal with you?" Katarina asked looking at her spears.
"Filolia, the woman who was devoured by the Phoenix of old and then ripped back out becoming the new phoenix in the process. Her problem is is that she didn't come out in one piece, hence why there are two phoenixes." Naofumi stated as he let out a sigh.
"Filolia? As in the monster Filolial's Filolia?" Katarina asked as she paled.
"From what I can tell/WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THAT TWO TIMING/from your Filolial weapons they seem to be monsters based on me." Naofumi looked at Katarina suspiciously before he held out his hand to her, reluctantly Katarina allowed him to grab her spear.
"You two can come out after you get your marbles straightened out." In the meantime Katarina felt her weapon's consciousness shift around.
"Sorry about them master." The familiar form and presence of the upgraded Gae Dearg AKA Gungnir reasserted itself within the weapon as it shifted forms.
"It's alright, I know what it's like to work with strong personalities." Katarina stated as she petted the spear in question.
"Ahem." Naofumi held out the microphone stand turned spear expectantly.
"I already have lots of Spears." Katarina explained as she accepted the held out weapon. "What Makes this one so special?"
'Weapon Copy Activated: Ribbit Libido BZ55 Main Bonus: Baal Summon Contract'
"Baal?" Katarina asked looking down at the weapon concerned.
"We're going to meet her in a moment. Don't make any sort of modifications to that." Naofumi explained as the two of them kept walking. As they reached the room that Naofumi was leading her to she could hear the faint sound of opera coming from the other side. "She'll be in a bad mood if we interrupt her private time." Naofumi stated as he started messing around with his H.U.D.
"Baal?" Katarina asked sounding concerned.
"Yup."
"What can you tell me about her? Is she a great demon sorceress of something?"
"No she's a great demon." Katarina paled at the news. "Don't worry about it. She feeds off of attention and angels, you'd put her up a dress size." Why did Katarina feel insulted all of a sudden? The Music finished and Naofumi opened the door and led Katarina inside. "Baal, a word please." Katarina was greeted by the sight of a toad dressed up in regalia like a little french Duchess, currently fiddling around with a jukebox when she turned to face Naofumi.
"I appreciate you waiting until after the song finished before you came inside." Baal stated before she indicated the machine. "Would you like to join me for a listen?"
"Maybe after we're done talking, I'd hate to ruin the mood." Naofumi explained before he indicated Katarina. "I need you make the pact of the Umbran with this child." Naofumi explained resting his hand on Katarina's head.
"Her soul in exchange for power?" The toad duchess asked looking down at Katarina with suspicion. "Or do you mean like ours, because I assure you I have yet to finish sorting through your collection of opera's yet." Katarina felt an odd sense of kinship with the toad woman, like maybe what she'd find from Mary or Sophia. That gave her an idea.
"Do you like Romance Novels?" Katarina asked hopefully.
"Romance Novels?" A few short moments later and Katarina's book club gained a new member. "Oh! And you say that 'The Dark Thief' has additional instalments after this?" Baal asked as Katarina nodded her head. Well Naofumi hopes that she's happy, thanks to Katarina his 'demonic shopping list' has now expanded to trashy romance novels. "This much is worth forming a covenant." Baal explained as she hopped from Katarina's head where she was reading the romance novel Katarina had whipped out from her spear's storage compartment.
"So I understand what I get out of it..." Probably not but Naofumi lacked the time to correct her. "But why are you getting me to form this contract?" The microphone glowed as Baal finished the contract.
"Because after you're finished forming your pact Baal is going to take you down to Inferno to form some more." Naofumi explained bluntly. However Baal seemed to pale at the thought.
"Master, do pardon me for questioning your wisdom, but are you sure that course of action is wise?" The little duchess lady asked looking at Naofumi, very deeply concerned.
"What's wrong with inferno?" Katarina asked looking equally concerned.
"It is actual, literal hell." Naofumi stated not mincing his words in the slightest. "The Miasma down there is so incredibly thick that if you aren't killed you'll be corrupted into a demon after a long enough period of time. Everything from the tiniest insect to the biggest of the monsters will want to take a bite out of you. You will have to fight for every moment of your life and pick your allies wisely." In other words Katarina will be in danger at every single moment. "Luckily you're quite resistant to the effects of dark magic, and you still have a way out besides the point. After all you still have the option of returning to your world to get purified by my agent that I'm going to plant there." Well, when he puts it that way it's only slightly less dangerous than she imagined. "You'll still be in danger, just not as much, certainly enough to give that thing some more power. If you're lucky and smart you might not get eaten by one of the demons you're trying to approach." Katarina let out a audible gulp. "Any questions?" Katarina raised a shaky hand. "Good. Off you go." Naofumi poked Katarina in her forehead and a new addition was added to Katarina's H.U.D.
'Umbra Witch Trainee system uploaded. Once every 24 hours you will be transported to the Realm of Inferno, and after another 24 hours you will be returned to your home-world. You may use the Umbra Witch Trainee system to keep track of your relationships with your contracted demons with new features unlocked as you build and raise your relationships with them.'
Was this a dating sim? Katarina already had trauma concerning those, even worse she wasn't dealing with cute boys but horrible demonic monsters this time around.
'Normally when you've exceeded a certain point in the loyalty meters you would be given a weapon made from pieces of the demon's body to channel their power, however because of your unusual circumstances as a Hero you will instead unlock a weapon corresponding to the contracted demon.' Then came Baal's meter in her vision. '30% You can summon Baal in a form suitable for combat. 60% You're able to unlock the demon masquerade form from Baal obtaining a fraction of her powers in the process and half demon form for a short period of time. 100% You can summon Baal in her true form through the 'Deadly Sin' ritual for a short period of time.' Katarina nodded her head.
"Anything Else I should know?" Katarina asked scratching her head.
"Nothing you won't learn by yourself." And then Katarina was pulled into the void by Baal.
Baal was known as the Princess of the Poison Marsh, a region of hell known for its incredibly toxic plant life that leads to a equally toxic waters, only the hardiest of creatures may survive here. Katarina had her Sacred Gear out and was watching as numbers slowly changed. Meaning that just being here was already putting her in danger.
"For now, put these on." Katarina observed the cute maid's uniform that Baal threw at her. "You'll be able to pass as my maid."
"Riiight!?" Katarina grabbed the uniform to do just that when she looked up and her eyes went wide. Baal was Beautiful, she didn't even recognise her from the toad she met earlier, her features were very much the beautiful maiden that her mannerisms mimicked with ghostly white skin, bright red hair and a white ball gown. She was also a giant by human standards but Katarina was almost nine, so most things were giant sized in comparison to her.
"What are you waiting for flies to fly in!? Do it now!"
"Hiiee!" Katarina quickly got changed. Baal proceeded to start walking through the mansion with Katarina following closely behind, giving her the tour and some idea of what she would be doing here. "While here you will act as my personal maid. You will assist me in getting dressed in the morning, bathe me, do my laundry and the like. My personal collection of books of demonic lore will be available for you to peruse as you look for other demons to contract. In exchange I expect you to supply me with novels to wit I enjoy, so as long as you meet these requirements you will have my protection."
Baal's tongue snapped out and snatched up a demonic locust that had sneaked up on Katarina, which she swallowed whole. The Spear had a function for cleaning clothes, so that wasn't a problem.
No the bugs were the problem, there were a awful lot of them for a place that was supposed to be roughly as toxic as Maple's ironically named flower garden, without the nice smelling flowers that made her nose go numb after a few seconds. Still Baal had given Katarina the chance to get acquainted with her estate making her draw up a bath for her of water that Katarina was pretty sure could strip paint from the fumes alone before helping her get into her night gown and reading her a bed time story of trashy romance novel. The timer was shorter than 24 hours, maybe it was saying that it was giving her a grace period, or maybe it was just waiting until Midnight. Either way not long after the timer finished off at the moment that the timer hit zero.
Katarina was sitting in Sophia's living room, with the Four Heroes Book in her hands.
"Katarina?" Katarina looked up at the concerned faces of Mary, Sophia and Keith who were looking at her with concern. "Are you okay?"
"Right I do blank out don't I? Let's start reading then." So Katarina read. The Shield Hero was born from one of the world that they came to save blood in her veins, and as such was capable of great power. The Sword Hero was cut from the cloth of history itself through a sacred relic, as such she held the power to wield history itself as a weapon. The Bow Hero was a peerless general, selected by a servant of the gods to wage war in their name and given boundless power to carry out their duties. The Spear Hero was perhaps the most unusual of the four, for she was born from darkness itself, magics that would taint the purest of hearts pitch black would wash off of her like water off of a duck's back, and so she could bring hope to the darkest pits of despair wandering through hell itself unharmed, if she was careful.
"What a weird story." Keith stated scratching his head.
"It was so long that we ended up spending the whole time talking about it too and it's not even finished." Keith stated letting out a sigh. "Come on, we better get home. It's my turn with Setsuna." Keith said that, Katarina suddenly froze up in thought.
"Setsuna?" Katarina asked suddenly very concerned.
"Yeah Mom's wolf Hound remember?" Keith explained and Katarina suddenly got a new notification.
'In order to help the Hero with their training, certain changes have been made to convenience the Hero and provide them with assistance. Such as The Hero's hair.' Katarina's hand immediately went up to the back of her head, she felt a familiar hairpin, the one that she turns her Spear into when she doesn't want it attracting attention.
"Right! Right! Silly me!?" Katarina bonked herself on the head as she goofily stuck her tongue out. Naofumi, why did the helper you send have to be a dog?
Review Section:
hermitfan: They don't call her 'the evil' for nothing.
RonaldM40196867: Tanya doesn't understand other people, she doesn't comprehend their thought processes, she doesn't understand the context of their conversations, and as such it's impossible for her to hold a relationship with another person.
codywhite162: Hope I didn't disappoint.
Nightshadegirl: If you thought he wouldn't then you don't know him very well.
DarkDragon2267: *Shrugs*
Dakota Bruder: Yeah, Pretty much.