A non-Tanya focused POV, and of a Character from a whole other IP than YS or EitS. Meet the world's best assassin having his Isekai 2.0 Electric Boogaloo. All to end meeting the TMF puffy ball of comedy.
Once more he was here, a Space secluded from the Mortal Realms from where she and her superiors work from to manage that World, but this was different, his superbly honed skills and senses told him so. And it indeed had one majo difference, the Host.
"Hello, Mr. Lugh Tuatha dè, once more-"
"I refuse."
Likely yet one more so called "god" asking for his expertise, that's his thoughts, and he was having no more of it, the damnation that was why the Hero Epona had to be killed by him had been enough of accepting such contracts, even if his Life after that was peaceful.
"Hm? Ah, no, no, not here to ask you on a Job, just that, before you go to your next Life, could i ask for a Favor?"
Favor? That's silly, if he's to reincarnate, why would he accept such task if reincarnation would result in memory wipe? Unless his memories would stay if he accepted.
"Can we talk? Just hear what I have to say, and if you don't want, then you may go."
He was being Polite, his face was hidden by some odd unnatural Shadow, but his damned shit eating Smile was giving the Spirit of Lugh a wish to punch that Face. Sighing, he took a seat on the typical Café set of Table and Chairs. His Host was having just a plain Glass of Water.
"Alright, thing with your next life is... that place has many who are there with previous Life memories already, and the number is just increasing. So you would end there with no memory Wipe anyways."
He gives Lugh a stack of Papers, there, names like Cid Kagenoh, Elya Müler and some weirdo called Schwartz Powder, face photos present, all clearly look off, no data, but some scraps of clues telling they aren't native to that world, but all come from different worlds altogether.
"So? You need some Reincarnator Dead?"
"No. On the contrary, I wish you keep one safe."
A protection request? Not the most Unusual kind of request, his First Life had a small number of such Tasks, usually a VIP of the Organization was somewhere about to end struck by some Terrorist strike or a Government's Psy Op, and he was tasked with disarming such incident while making Sure the VIP was safe. And his last Life had plenty of keeping Epona and other people safe. Still, his curiosity caught him.
"Why? What exactly that person would need protecting from?"
"Just like your First and Second Lifes, that person is under some pain in the ass asshole out of their capacity to control or keep away. You know how bad such can be, no?"
"Sure."
His first life brought plenty of skills, including ones related to avoid revealing things by bodily reactions, but one second Life where his focus was in living for his own sake and happiness may have dulled such skills, or his talk partner was using Godly powers, anyways, the Host had a minute change of that Smile.
"Then my favor i ask of you is simply that, help that person, to cut the bastard's chains onto their Soul."
"Heavy task to ask as a Favor, you know?"
"Yup, so if you accept, i will help you, good stuff if you know, 0 chance of getting reborn in a fucked situation, a bountiful boon, and best of all, some unique thing for you."
"So i can accept your request for it, or?"
"I said it's a Favor i am asking, if you refuse, you just get the Normal path, no tricks or anything of the kind."
Thinking, whatever the time flow of this place was, Lugh put his brains to full drive and spent some long time thinking. If that person truly is being haunted by such oppresive powers, this left a bad taste on his mouth, to not help said person from freeing themselves of such, Epona was enough of such bad jokes.
"Fine. Who exactly am i protecting?"
"Someone who looks very much like someone you know very well. But she's a whole different person. Make sure to not creep her, ok?"
With that, Lugh faded from that place, reborn once more, as Lugh Viekorne, in a Family of Barons much like his time as a Tuatha Dé, a Family tied closely to the Midgar Royal Family, and their hidden Blades to purge any enemy of the Kingdom, as well one of the few groups not under Diabolos at the time he was birthed, that coincided with Claire Kagenoh's Birth.
X–X–X–X
Once he was gone for good, a new Figure stopped hiding her presence, the one and Only Goddess that got him reborn as Lugh way back then, tasking him with Killing the Hero. With sensuality, she joins the other figure at that table, replacing his Empty Glass with one filled with Lemonade, sweetened to his taste to boot.
"My, my, when you came asking if you could Hijack one raincarnation, i thought you wanted to woo a Hero into Depravity. Who knew you liked to scam some poor sod?"
Taking a sip of his gifted lemonade while giving her a shot of Gin to drink. The shadow keeping his face hidden disappears, revaling a wild short vibrant red hair and a face that would make anyone skip a beat.
"As if, job, it's for a damned be Job. But anyways, i said i would give you a hand for such act, buuuuut how about we both get to fuck the Alaia and Gaia sisters in this weekend's Mass Party?"
At that, Venus holds a far more honest evil smile, somehow.
"Oh! Wonderful idea, those two Bitches need to learn to STOP poaching things from others, what you might suggest? Give them a Dragster car for a Tank Race? Drink Roulette with a spiked drink that would turn them into stuffed toys? Or..."
"- Or we rip them Naked in Poker, would be nice having them as Slaves, right?"
The two share some incredibly evil laughter, somehow, the Goddess that should least understand Human Emotions, is showing a bit too much of it.
X–X–X–X
This new Life of mine had a start awfully like the time i accepted that Goddess's Offer, my name here was again, Lugh, but my Family was called Viekorne, a Barony with territory in a land more known for being in the Boonies of the Kingdom of Midgar than anything they produce, transport between domains or the Capital was hard due to Distance and thus odds of the transports being attacked, yet the domain itself remained peaceful, maybe it's how my new Family manages things, or maybe because they aren't merely a Baron Family.
My suspicions were realized once i was Seven years old, the Viekornes were actually a Family that was Midgar's Royalty hidden blade, a little looking around and reading the books helped a lot, learning the Language and Alphabet of a new world was no problems for me after all. Of things to note, Magic also exists here, but in a far cruder and unrefined way, shooting Magic is impossible without an absurdly impractical amount of control, but the more Mana you flow inside yourself without Losing control boosts one's Physical capacities well beyond what i suspect even my previous world would enable with some S rank enhancement skill.
Losing control of Mana was risky however, my tests indicated that such incidents will at best cause some painful damage to one's body by the backlash and explosive release, but i did notice that in rare cases, and almost always on women, Loss of Mana control gradually brings the symptoms of something called Possession, curiosity piqued, i started my very own studies alongside what my Family taught me.
...
"Again... Who's striking these Bandits?"
Three years later, i accepted to do a Favor to that person or Deity or whatever, so once more i needed to train myself, from three years of both improving myself phisically and Mentally, i started doing night patrols around the territory, while attacks on populated areas in the domain are rare, Carriages aren't so lucky, so both to get myself back to shape in combat matters and improve the situation, Bandit hunting was a decent choice, not that even the more infamous names on wanted posters brought much challenge.
Yet for a Year straight, the area that Borders the Freydill and Kagenoh domains was struck by whatever group decided to do justice their way, but no one has ever come to claim the Bounties, added to it that only Food or Valuables were taken, rightfully so since that's kind the norm for whatever a bandit has stolen is owned by whoever dealt with said Bandits, Medieval Justice at its finest. However some Cargo also included empty Cages, meaning possessed victims were also taken if the Merchant wasn't engaging in Human Trafficking.
"I will need to have Father know this..."
All i did was make so he received an anonymous letter about some mysterious group ransacking Bandits. But odds are he would not give much attention to it, something or someone was proving to be a thorn on his side as the Trusted head of the Royal Family's Assassin arm. Security and countermeasures were getting more and more present around us all lately. While a bit of a hasle since my training had to be readjusted to avoid the more restrictive surroundings, I understood very well why he took such measures, attempts on his Head were frequent this year, last he wants is someone dear to him used as blackmail material.
If heavy Physical training has to be reduced, then i will dedicate to other areas, my studies on Magic and Possession did progress a lot there three years, but what potential remains hidden under what i learnt are yet to be discovered. One that makes me hopeful that i can grow in power with is that with enough finese in control, one can deliberately cause their Mana to run out of control and also disengage such status at will.
This focus on research and studying yielded results a lot faster, a lot of things are possible with enough Control and amounts of Mana, but that by activelly causing my body to enter a state of possession and then curing it would steadily raise how much Magic power i can use and produce was a major bonus, the demerits are that this strains the Body and your own Magical reserves a lot, so at most one should only do it three times a week at most, more and the muscular damage may result in likely long term health issues, that such method also makes you need far more Caloric intake than even some pro athletes of sports that demand carb heavy diets, so proper moderation is necessary.
...
Once i hit 15 years, it's mandatory to undergo Education at Midgar's Dark Knight Academy, all kids from Noble houses of this Kingdom have to, part of this is that of all Nations of this world, Midgar has origins from what i could just call a mix of Viking, Spartan and of Thrill seeking bloodlines, so in a sense, this mandatory period is for the Kingdom forces to find potential gems within the Nobility for scouting, not a bad deal given that Connections between Families is also possible, so it's considered a fair trade between the Nobles and the Kingdom's Government.
Studies were boring, not even close to what I know, but i play the part, one particular Student brings attention, Claire Kagenoh, her little Brother is a Reincarnator, and if what rumors came from their Domain is anything, that guy reeks, pity that she seems a bit too blind by sisterly affection to see some of the issues. But her dorm mate lighted alarm sirens on my mind as soon i saw her, Shirley Finana, from a lower noble house, yet she had skills and an attentiveness not fitting what her background tells, whipe she did the bare minimum to keep with studies and grades, i was more curious about what needs so much attention that most of her off time is spent outside in the Capital streets, her routine had her oftenly return way past the Dorms Curfew time.
If Shirley's routine was a mess, mine could be said to be worse. Different from the Tuatha Dé, my current family head has decided against me inheriting the position as Chief Assassin master, his opinion had been the ongoing hidden fighting within the Kingdom would get way too ugly, more than he himself was willing his heir to deal with. Sadly for him, my own personal investigations made me aware that odds are, whoever I am going to protect as a Favor, is likely way too deep into said fighting. Hence why i am doing periodic Nocturnal patrols around the Capital, my Information network still needs working, most common venues were struck by a Group called Shadow Garden, who runs the Mitsugoshi company, so Cosmetics and other areas that could be used for my purposes were already taken.
Still, these Patrols netted me a lot in just a month already, knowledge such as an Evil Cult existing and having far too much reach within this Nation, that there's another Organization running things like Shadow Garden, that those Three sides are at a hidden war with each other... And most specifically, the Leader of Shadow Garden is most likely Cid Kagenoh, infiltrating their Capital HQ in Mitsugoshi's building was far too risky, but by skillfully keeping my presence low, it was easy gathering some basic data that gave the answer.
"Can't be him, too much of a weirdo and if anything, his antics cause just as much damage, but he is lucky that Diabolos Cult is even worse on that aspect."
This left me with only a few choices, odds are whoever is leading their opposing group may be who i am looking for. So for once, i decided to start this search by going to an obvious suspect, Shirley, the Cult relies more on higher ranking Nobles or talented stars, not on someone keeping such background character levels of presence. The good point of this is that my sleep schedule will get better for a while.
...
Three Months into this path and Bingo, tracking her was as hard as when I was tested by my last life's Father before he decided I was ready to take over the Role as the Assassin of Tuatha Dé, clear signs of how skilled she's, talent? No, most likely it's who's running their Training, the difference between Shadow Garden, the Cult and this Mystery organization is clear, nothing against Shadow and his Companions, but there's clearly Advanced and Modern understanding in this third Organization's way of running things and training their members.
"So Mitsugoshi's main Business Rival is also this Third Group's Base here, huh? Wise."
Sioux Commerce competed against Mitsugoshi in almost everything, but once I started studying and scouting, clearly someone has Modern Economics Understanding, Logistics are also kept at their best practical in performance, diversity of Businesses for each field was also present, the way they also assign employees speaks wonders of how much of a well oiled machine Sioux and partner businesses are. No doubts, a rather unique reincarnator is present. Plans made, I need to know what this unknown group aims for or at least what is their purpose to Antagonize both Cult and Shadow Garden. That's when i saw, her, no way, how could she be here?
"Tana?"
Short, Gold Blonde hair instead of Silver white and Blue eyes, different, yes, even the way she acts, more soldierly, but the core is there. Only when she looks at me with a weird look do I realize i had called that name out Loud.
"Sorry, I was looking for my friend and mistook you for her, my bad."
Lame excuse, but at this age and given her appearance... It would pass, right?
"I see... No harm no problem."
She returns to walking, yet my honed senses say all, at that moment, several Employees of this Shopping center had carefully repositioned to be able to intervene at any second, and this young woman was at the center of such focus, that she's also ready to take action herself just further streghtened my impression she's my once twin Sister, the fight to deal with the Hero after she'd gone fully berserk costed her life. Maybe?
With that meeting, my aim changed, who's this woman and what're the ties between her and this mysterious Organization. That small blunder made things harder, but nothing I had never truly dealt with as an Assassin, the months spent researching them yielded nice results. They call themselves Argent Garden, obviously the Leader is that Petite Woman, Argent seems to be her Codename, wonderful straight naming of their faction it seems. Origins unknown, but their start was around the area around the Kagenoh, Viekorne and Frelldyll domains that are all next to one another. But nothing comes about Argent nor her trusted Adjutant, from behavior alone it is clear both are Reincarnators.
Since that Elya woman wasn't with Shadow Garden nor the Cult, i hoped she would be here, yet it seems-
"- Hey there!"
Talk about the She-Wolf...
"Yes?"
Spells ready alongside my magically made Titanium-Tungsten Alloy Short Blade, i turn to face her, keeping my ready weapons off view.
"You know, first time someone managed to dig so much before i noticed, would you mind if we talked? Name's Elya by the way."
Well, guess she IS with Argent Garden, and is their Head of Intelligence of all things, damnit. No way out, several hidden agents of theirs ready to stop me, oh well, better go along.
"Sure, I'm Lugh, Lugh Viekorne."
Sitting on a Café just outside Sioux Shopping, the VIP booth was reserved entirelly for this.
"Alright boy, who're you and who you working for?"
"Just the Heir to the Viekorne Family and i work for myself."
"Odd, thought the old man decided against having you take his position."
She's reach and skill, that much is clear.
"Yes, but if no other Heir comes, they demand he gives me the position. But for now, I'm pretty free to do my things."
"And one just Involves our Boss? You what? Have a crush on her?"
Thank heavens this was one of the expected ways she wants to throw me off balance, still, damn that does hit hard even when you are ready.
"Not quite, there's one friend when i was young, it was for a brief time so i doubt there would be enough of a trail for even my Father to know, Tana, and she just so looks like your 'Boss' if one discounts Hair color, she just went and gone missing one day, seeing you Boss one day got me hopeful she's alive."
"You... Suspect Argent IS Tana?"
"No, not anymore at least."
Elya looks at me, who keeps the best Poker Face ever, then just leave things at that, the current topic that is.
"Alright, you're just curious, fine, but it's not my style to leave someone this Skilled go away knowing as much you do, but i also go by my Boss's way. So how about you work for US? Or at least MY department?"
This world surely has little in ways for me to build my very own Network with reach since there's Two monstrous networks deeply rooted already, not a bad deal, if the terms are good.
"Go on."
"Full contract, Salary, days off, Paid Vacations even, most i would want of you is you keeping eyes inside the Academy and your Family's Domain when you're there."
"Thought you had eyes inside both already."
"We do, but not one that has Combat Skills on your level at least."
So she knew i could launch an attack... Maybe i should probe her own details.
"Sure you jest, what with you pulling those Spells before our talk."
"Sadly while me and most agents under me can eavesdrop or keep our talks safe, Combat is a whole different Story."
Rather Frank, refusing the offer will be risky, but i could find ways to evade pursuit and get a new life under new identity with some work, but why bother?
"Alright, i can do at least what you asked of me about the Academy and my Family, but can i at least meet your Boss before i start for real?"
"Sure."
"Let me guess, if i was to try killing her, my attempt should Involve more Explosives than i could feasibly keep with me?"
"Yup, now let's go, she should still have some open time in her Schedule for today."
With that, I ended putting myself on one side of this hidden war. Talking a bit with Argent, indeed she is a Reincarnator, level of Knowledge was above what people of this world would know if you discount Shadow and his core members, that she's way too like Tana in how she talked and the topics she had a focus about. So she is who i am to protect, Damnit be you bastard, should've told me back then.
...
With my time as one of the very few Male members of Argent Garden, which was better than Shadow Garden with the sole Man being the Leader, I had to change my view of Argent, a lot of her resembled Tana, but a lot also didn't. Of noteworthy that diverged was that she resembled more a Military person than the somewhat mixed fusion of a Bureaucrat, Logistician and Mission Commander that Tana evoked. However she sometimes also had those Same Bureaucrat and Logistician airs, mostly on Business and HR related sides of the Organization.
Missions for them were usually as Elya told back then, just keep watch on what happens at the Academy and in the few times i made trips back home, there as well, what surprised me was how present was Argent Garden's presence within many important areas, including the Cult Itself or places they have key personnel infiltrated. Such routine however rarely lasts in the kind of Business i grew to live with three times by now, and indeed it didn't. The Cult made an attack, recon by me, the only of the Agents that could still fight even inside this Academy covering Field that makes magic useless, for most that is.
Enough Control, Computation Orbs or a Relic of appropriate kind all can make this moot, all have drawbacks of course, Mana Control only allows Magics too small or too Big to enter the range of what this field cam absorb, Computation Orbs would only be able of using Enhancement or Enchantment type spells, ill suited for active combat, and Relics that can deny this field are few, and those that can allow one to fight inside this area are specialized tools. My Magic is still hindered, producing things with my second World's System would be far more costly, lucky me I'm the ever overprepared person.
Short Blades, Swords, Explosives, Traps, somehow i even got to build all parts needed to assemble a 122mm Anti-Tank gun, for this case, better stay with the small stuff, so that Excludes the Prototype Gungnir Mk IX that's based off the very same i had used on Setanta, improved of course. Mana makes anyone though enough to the point that even Supersonic ammo does little against their Reflexes, and anything weaker than a 7,62 Rifle bullet would just flatten or break on impact against the Hardened and thougher body enhance by Mana.
That means one thing can be used easily, Chemical Warfare, you can harden those Lungs all you want, but Mustard Gas and Gaseous Cyanide cares little for physical hardness when they can just overwhelm your bodies ability to handle Toxic hazards inside your blood. The only areas i used it were where i knew only Cultists were in, for the others, 2mm Darts fired from a Pressured air gun did the task to snipe and Poison them all, the mix had artificially made pufferfish poisons, Poison Dart frogs essence and many other Deadly toxins that can exist in Animals.
Things however never last forever.
"Found you!"
"!"
Evading with all i could i barely avoided the strike, the air pressure alone left a cut on my cheek. Of all assholes to spot me it had to be the second biggest asshole of this mess, a First Child and the only one of this attacker group, Rex, along him were four second children, this would be though.
"Hoooh? Even with no Magic you can do that much? You will be fun, i can feel it."
Great, Cultists all seem to be Sociopaths or Psychopaths with the most amoral kinks.
"Sir, remember what the Boss said-"
By a hairs breadth does Rex Sword not cut the speaker's neck.
"Yeah, Yeah, I will do this quickly, i know it."
As he turns to face me, the Shotgun slug i fired at his head is already cut, and i am turning my face out, because i got what i needed of that shot.
BAAAAAANG
"AAAA!"
"MY EYES!"
"UGH MY EARS!"
One great thing of Shotguns is how broad their ammo availability can be, what i just fired were a Flashbang and a Concusion Slug, the main troublemaker would barely be hindered, but just a few meters of advantage is enough.
"Hahahah! Knew you would be interesting!"
Already on the Chase, his senses were hit, but skills and battlesense are what earned this wacko the infamy among his peers of the First Children group, my plan just relies on abusing those same advantages. As the chase went, the first dead were of course those following him, traps, FRAG-12 Slugs coated in Neurotoxins, Gas bombs and some old but proven hangman traps and razorwires. But curses be how superhuman those Mana rich people can be. Sheer reflexes alone got him through most of those traps.
"Gotcha!"
CLANG
"Guh."
The attack was blocked, but he has more raw power than me, this bad Mana Output of mine seems to have followed me, my Control is flawless, but that means little if my Body is naturally unable to use as much as others will do. The result of this attack exchange was me sent flying and hitting the Window side of the corridor. Not wanting to lose the chance nor let me pull another trick, he quickly jumps at me, trying to get his sword to stab my throat, a handblock is all i can pull in that moment, but the boosted difference will be my death, or rather would.
"Any Last words?"
How arrogant, heh, will take the chance anyways.
"I would be careful of Snipers."
"As if a Bullet would-"
Pffsh
A sharp pain i know very well, bullet wound, left shoulder, his Right shoulder was hit before mine, he is ambidextrous, yet his Right arm is the one he has better handling with. His face is shocked, me? I take the chance to get his stab lodge in the floor and i get myself out of under him, that's when it comes.
A Full Auto Burst of Subsonic shots strike from above, my opponent can't even understand what or how that even happened.
"When i said Sniper, i was warning of Ceiling Snipers."
The final blow was a second burst bullseye on his head. His death confirmed, I look above, where a flickering Optical camouflage has finally given in to the Mana disturbance. Argent is there, with her Anton Schmidt SMG, a lot of Argent Garden's Firearms seem to be a bit WW2 era in design, not that Modern ones that use Polymer would be even feasible, but the All Steel Operator Pistol i Requested was a lot of me guiding their R&D to make possible.
"L-11, if you needed help, just ask."
"My bad, though my Stockpile of Traps and Explosives would do the Job, i learned my lesson about such Superhuman abnormalities."
"Good, Shadow seems present as well, work with Elya to make sure nothing tracks to us."
"Ma'am yes Ma'am."
With that, she, Sierra and Alfa went elsewhere. Once i regrouped with Elya's field team, we all readily made the necessary cleanup, including removing anything that may get found by Iris troops once this mess gets done.
"L-11, when you told me you had weapon stashes, i thought they were Blades, Projectiles and small guns, not an US worth of Biochemical WMDs and enough Explosives to reenact the Great War."
A-3, the one tasked by our Division's Boss to handle the cover cleanup task, clearly she wasn't warned about just HOW MUCH crap i stockpiled for mine and other Argent Garden Agents use in the School Grounds, thankfully, orders are to priorize anything on the Explosives and Hazardous Substances spectrum, else we would really need some insane disastrous mess to cover the removal of all the stuff. A-3 is also another Reincarnator of all things no less.
"If i knew the school would be targeted, i would have suggested immediate removal of all this crap beforehand, this is for any Agent to use if necessary."
"Great... You sure those Thermite Charges can do the job for everything else?"
"They will, lucky us i haven't stashed Titanium-Tungsten Alloy weaponry."
Suddenly a commotion, once we take a glance look, several Buildings have caught fire.
"... Did anyone fuck around with those things?"
"No, no stashes of materials were in those Buildings, The Cult must be wiping their traces."
"Great, then we abuse that to our benefit, speed up, we need our fires to happen quickly."
...
The aftermath of the mess was from Argent's reports, a Ploy from the Vice-Headmaster to smear Shadow Garden's Name, that succeeded, but his own ploy to reenter their highest ranks failed because he died, that Girl whose mother he had killed ended somehow leaving one Poisoned Book i was planning to use for a future assassination that Elya was considering giving the go ahead in that office, the dumbass set it on fire, filling the whole room with that Poison in gaseous form, thankfully, Argent and her team intervened in time to avoid having Sherry Barnett die from that very situation, it did require blasting the office a hole that made it unusable for good, but the fire would do the deed anyways.
Taking this chance, she's recruited by our Boss, who put the blame for Lutheran's death onto the Cult, in an obtuse way, it made sense since Lutheran himself was his own killer and he IS a Diabolos Cult member, but let us leave this kind of insane Logic stuff to idiots who serve more as background Mob characters giving some generic asshat of a MC information.