So this is my first time writing a fan fiction. I've been reading a lot over the past couple of months and thought I'd finally write one of my many ideas and post it here. I'll also post it on Achive of our own sometime in the future. Anyways there is one thing to keep in mind. When going through the one who reincarnates as Redeus'(Cross') backstory there are going to be characters who's design or name is shared with other fictional characters. An example of this is Alex, Cross' best friend. To avoid spoilers for this chapter I will leave a better explanation of this at the end. Just keep in mind that you recognize a character by their design and name but 7 times out of 10 they won't be the same as you might know them. I hope you have as much fun reading this as I did writing it.

Ch0. Birth of the Bloodied Familiar

Pain.

That's all I could feel as I felt myself drift away.

I can't say I truly have any regrets. I lived a life far longer than anything should, but I had my friends with me the whole way. I outlived most of them by a few decades but there was one who refused to let me die alone. Sorry... looks like I lied. I do regret one thing.

Since I was the only one left it was Alex who had to die alone.

I don't remember anything before I met Alexander the Prideful, but I'll never forget the day I first woke up.

We first met after I woke up in the middle of a grove and got attacked by a pack of six Primal Wolves. I was about 7 years old at the time and those things were the size of pickup trucks. Imagine my surprise when my saving grace was a 9 year old boy with nothing but a rock smaller than a dagger.

He always gave me his undying loyalty even though I was both younger and far weaker than him. He'd never tell me why, but in the end I got to pay him back.

At this point we had been adventuring together to see everything our world had to offer. We were slowly making our way through a forest for a search and rescue of a villager's child. At this point I was well into my 200s but we barely kept up with our ages at this point. My looks stopped changing when I turned 25, and while I could still grow my muscles through training it took 5 straight years of it for even a little growth.

Alex never really stopped aging it just slowed down. He reached 30 years of age and now he ages so slowly it's like 50 years would pass and he aged 3 at most.

We weren't exactly dressed for forest travel but we never changes our outfits unless it was to clean them. I was wearing my usual black and white jester attire while Alex was wearing his mockery of a king. It was a simple white shirt, black pants, and a cloak painted red with the blood of countless beasts. Upon his head he dawned a poorly made makeshift golden crown. I made it for him for his 20th birthday and he only takes it off to sleep.

As we were walking through the forest we started hearing the sounds of some kind of fire. When we went to go look we found a small camp fire with what looked like some kind of mix between a boar and a rabbit roasting over the fire, about 5 feet away was a small girl who matched the description of the girl we were looking for, and sitting next to her unconscious body was a man who seemed to be in his late 40s or early 50s. He was wearing a long black robe, a grey shirt with matching pants, and a hat that's brim barely covered his eyes. He had a pair of large pitch blade wings coming from his back and a katana was laying on the ground to his right.

Even though we couldn't see his eyes we knew the man was staring at us. It felt as though a huge pressure was trying to crush us into the ground.

We slowly approached trying to seem as non threatening as possible as to not set the man off. We got within 10 feet of the campfire when the man raised his left hand and uttered a single word.

"Stop"

As he said that he barely raise his head. It was tilted but it let us see one the man's eyes. God that eye.

We couldn't move and even glancing at that pupil that seemed to glow a deep purple under the brim of his hat was enough to feel as though your body was splitting into thousands of pieces.

Now that we were closer we could also see the state of the girl sleeping next to the fire. To put it simply, she shouldn't have been alive. Her entire body was covered head to toe in bandages, and yet we could see from her chest rising and falling that she was sleeping as though nothing was wrong. Her left arm was completely severed just below the shoulder. And that's the only wound we could see without the bandages covering them.

But we knew there we more. She should have died from blood loss, all things considered. The bandages were completely soaked and yet the man didn't change them. All he did was sit there and stare at us. Alex was the one who finally broke the silence.

"Are you the one who helped her?"

It was a fairly simple question and yet it somehow never crossed my mind. The man simply looked over at the child and glanced at the back of his hand. A small purple magic circle appeared in his palm and a larger light blue magic circle appeared behind his hand. It looked to be a clock counted down with barely anytime left. He brought his left hand down and the pressure around us let up some. It was still there, but nowhere near as suffocating.

The man motioned for us to sit and slowly stood and bowed. "I am. I assume you are with the rest of the humans coming to to save this child?"

I took my place by the fire and let Alex handle the conversation. When it comes to strangers we meet along our travels Alex is usually the one to do the talking. I'll pop in if asked to or if we need to convince or bargain about something. "We are. The names Alex the man over there is Cross. We are great full you helped her, but isn't it past the time to change those bandages? At this point they're starting to look more like ink than blood."

The man pondered this and glanced back at the magic circle on his hand and looked back at Alex. "What will you do if I told you that it'd be better if I didn't?" The man said flatly as he twitched his hand and the katana lying near started floating next to him at head level.

Alex placed his hand on the pummel of his sword and fidgeted with his bangs. "I'd probably call you a fool for letting a child bleed to death and then try to replace her bandages myself."

I brought my hands to my belt and grabbed both my daggers preparing for combat.

The man breathed a deep sigh and just waved at us.

I couldn't see it.

All I saw was the man wave his hand, the katana was now on the left side of his head, and my friends own head slowly falling off his neck.

I couldn't move. I couldn't think. I couldn't believe it.

Alexander.

"Aaaaaaaaaaauugh!"

I lashed out. I didn't care. I didn't care about the dying girl. I didn't care about the other villagers looking for her. All I wanted was to kill that man.

That damned man.

So I let go. I let all my mana burst. There was no shape to it, no limit. It was pure unrefined mana about to blow away and destroy the entire forest, no the entire country we were in. All I needed was five more seconds.

I felt the power about to tear through my skin as my rage broke the limits set on my mana. All I needed was four more seconds.

Blood ran down my nose and spat out my mouth as the mana destroyed my internal organs. All I needed was 3 more seconds.

All the man did was sigh as he waved his hand and uttered one command.

All I needed was 1 more second.

"Sleep."

And then my vision went black.

I woke up in a pitch black void. I wasn't standing. It felt like I was just floating. As if I should be falling but something was holding me in place.

"Heya."

An all to familiar voice said just barely behind behind me. I tried turning but couldn't even move a muscle. Footsteps echoed around me as the man walked ahead just in front of me.

I couldn't see his face, but I knew who he was. The pink hair that stopped right below his shoulder blade, the red cloak flowing around him, and that crown I made all those years ago.

Alex turned to look back at me. A thin line left a scar from the front to the back of his neck.

I tried to speak. To say I was sorry. That if only I were faster or stronger I could have done something. If I were the one who did the talking maybe he could have lived.

But nothing happened. No words came out of my mouth. My mouth didn't even budge.

"Well if you're gonna be this sad about me dying, then you'll be happy to hear I have an idea."

I could do nothing but stare at him as I waited to hear his "idea" with a glimmer of hope that I could save the only thing close to a family that I had ever known.

"Make me your familiar."

It was absurd. To make an already living creature your familiar required a close bond, multiple types of materials, mana that due to my little nuclear suicide attempt earlier I no longer had, and also a beast not a human. A human becoming a familiar shouldn't even be possible.

Not to mention the fact he was dead and this was a dream at best.

Seemingly sensing my confusion he chuckling and looked me straight in the eye.

"Oh come on you should know me by now. I don't tell you plans I deem impossible."

He was right. I knew that he wouldn't tell me a plan if he thought it wouldn't work even by his standards.

And either way it wasn't like he was some humanoid spirit. He may have the epithets King of Beasts and Blood god but at the end of the day he's still human.

"Come on you gotta trust me on this. It's crazy I know, but if we do this right it might just work. What do you say?"

I felt a wave of relief as I slowly came down and found myself in control of my body once again.

"Alright Alex what do I do?"

"Glad to see you came around! All I need is half your soul and a new name."

"..."

"What did I say something weird?"

"ARE YOU INSANE!"

"Woah woah calm down! Like I said I know it's crazy but trust me when I say it'll work!"

"How does then even work? It's not like my soul is an apple! I can't just chop it up and give you slice."

"Aah if only I could have some of Aunt D's apple pie. He he."

"Whos- no not the time. Okey you know what sure I'll do it, but how do we do this? I never really got into soul manipulation magic."

"Oh that's the easy part!"

Alex came up to me and as if it were the most natural thing in the world reached into my stomach and pulled out a small white ball. He split it in half and put one half back into my chest and one in his.

"See easy as pie."

"..."

"So what's my name got any ideas?"

"..."

"Yo Cross we're only half way done. We gotta finish this before you wake up or I'll be gone for good."

"Sorry just... was that my soul?"

"Yep."

"How did yo-"

"Questions for later! Hurry up with the name you'll be waking up soon! Oh but make sure it's a cool one. I don't wanna go by some bring name."

"What was it the people in Cyber City called you when you used you sword and lightning magic to throw that huge disco party?"

"Huh? Thinking that far back huh? Let's see... uhhhhh.. Oh! Technoblade wasn't it?"

"Yeah that was it.. Technoblade will be your new name."

That all to smug grin stretched across his face as my vision started to blur.

"See you when you wake up 'master'. Oh god that's horrible please don't make me have to call you that."

"Trust me it's worse hearing it."

And with that white filled my vision as my consciousness faded.

I was roused from my thoughts as a familiar voice waded through calling to me.

"Hey you old fart don't go leaving just yet."

He aged better than I did. He kept his pink hair tied back and had traded out his cloak for an actual royal coat from one of the many monarchs we killed. I couldn't see his eyes under that wolf skull but I've spent a tens of thousands of years with this man by my side. I could understand the exact emotions he was feeling by taking a quick glance at the shape of his mouth and position of his ears.

"Oh I won't be leaving that long. I'll be back after I visit the others. You got the spell up and running?"

"What kind of familiar would I be if I didn't make sure my master's reincarnation spell was activated when he's actively dying?"

He truly was the best friend I could ask for.

"Do you have the fruits ready?"

"Of course."

He produced two apples out from under his cloak.

During our travels we came across a traveling salesman claiming to be selling fruits possessed by devils. I could tell at a glance they weren't possessed, but they definitely had some crazy power coming from them. Techno didn't want any so I bought 2 for myself. Not knowing what they were at the time I ate one that looked like blue pineapple and one that looked like a blue melon that was squeezed in the middle.

They tasted terrible, but after the first one went down I knew I needed the power the second one would give me.

It felt like I was burning alive.

I lost consciousness immediately after swallowing the first bite of the second fruit. It wasn't until Techno told me later that it felt like being burned alive because I was actual being burned alive. It wasn't until I turned to ash that blue flame pulled me together and remade my body.

The things I ate were devil fruits and one person eating two devil fruits will cause that person a painful death. The only reason I survived was be because the Phoenix fruit which I ate first apparently had a neat little trick where the first time the user would die their body burns up instead and they rise from the ashes. It is unfortunately a one time use which I unknowingly spent eating the quake quake fruit.

I knew when I ate them that these fruits held incredible power, and once I ate the Phoenix fruit I could tell it gave the same amount it had. But it was different after I ate the quake quake fruit. Both of the fruit's powers were weakened. The Phoenix fruit's healing factor was greatly reduced where used to I could have regrown an arm in a day it would now take several week's time. The quake quake fruit also lost power but since I felt its weakened strength without feeling it's true power I can only guess that it's half as powerful.

"Oi! You're doing it again!"

Ah seems I got lost in thought again.

"*cough cough* Sorry about that."

I could feel my life slipping. Any second now my soul would be caught by my spell and my body would die. The fruits Techno collected would turn into the Phoenix fruit and quake quake fruit. My body would turn to dust and the be reformed. My soul would re-enter my body and I would eat the Phoenix fruit and quake quake fruit like usual and we would be about our day.

I felt myself hover up and looked down in time to see my body shrivel away. The fruits in Techno's hands grew and morphed into the devil fruits I ate so long ago. And then my body reformed. I went over to enter and that's when I felt it. Something was pulling me.

I fought hard but it reeled me away from my body. Techno dropped the devil fruits as he clutched his chest and fell to the ground. He raced over and started shaking my body calling my name. And my mind went blank.

Oh boy that's way longer than I thought. Anyways if you made it this far then CONGRATULATIONS! Also I believe I owe you all an explanation for some things. Yes Alex is a reference to Technoblade though that much should be obvious given his "familiar" name. But this is what I was referring to at the beginning. There will be characters whose name, design, or both may be a character that exists somewhere else. For instance Alex aka Technoblade is similar to his Minecraft personas we've seen in the potato wars, hypixel, and dream smp days. He is still an anarchist but isn't against hearing out a monarch or two. A king disagreeing with him doesn't have to worry about him painting the walls with bloods so long as he has a good argument and isn't just a straight tyrant. And as for the devil fruits.. so far I only plan on having 2 devil fruit users in this story but I may introduce some more later. It's not very likely. And as for the powers of said fruits they won't be the exact same as they are in One Piece. Taking Cross as our example he can eat 2 by abusing the one use per user revive of the Phoenix fruit to eat a second devil fruit. This does require him to always eat the Phoenix fruit first. Also eating 2 devil fruits does give you the power of both, but to not destroy your body with the raw power they kind of mellow each over out. It weakens both fruits, but you get 2 so it's all good. Anyways that's all I've got for the first chapter. The next one starts in the world of Mushoku tensei with a Lilia pov so I hope y'all are ready!