CHAPTER 16:

THE RISING OF THE KATANA HERO

Raphtalia looked at herself in the mirror. For all that she was all but forced into the outfit by insistent attendants, who claimed to be servants of the prior Katana Heroes, she had to admit, she looked good in it. A miko's outfit, a shrine maiden…she remembered her times going to Shinto shrines with the Itamis. And unlike too many portrayals in anime, manga and video games, this outfit wasn't sexualised, showing more skin than she felt comfortable with.

Still, it was a bad situation at the moment. She was separated from her allies and her friends. That bastard Kazuki was searching for her and the weapon she had inadvertently taken from his grasp. And her levels were still far lower than they used to be. She thanked whatever good deity that existed that she had aged normally on Earth, and that she wasn't reduced to a child.

The escape went off without a hitch. Using her illusion magic, she fooled a guard into entering, whereupon she took his keys, knocked him out (he wasn't the sadist who had murdered Winky and then defiled her corpse), and then, they fled. Unfortunately for her, Winky's killer was elsewhere when they escaped, and she wasn't going to search him out at the expense of her freedom, or that of Glass, L'Arc and Therese.

They fled, ending up in the capital of Raybul. There, they eventually came across the ceremony to choose the next Vassal Katana Hero, a ceremony that Kazuki was trying to rig in his favour. The moment she saw him, she detested him. He reminded her too much of some of the bullies she had known at Mahoutokoro, that same smug, entitled nature.

And then, things got complicated, to say the least.

She looked down at the Vassal Katana. To think, the Vassal Weapon chose her, of all people. Someone who wasn't even native to this world.

Of course, the moment Kazuki realised he had been thwarted, and spotted the Vassal Katana in her hands, he had ordered her be captured. They'd fled, but Raphtalia broke off from Glass, L'Arc and Therese. Hopefully, they could get back to Sickle, and once things had died down, she could maybe send a Patronus to Harry or Hermione.

As it happened, though, while near a hilltop shrine or temple, she had been spotted. But not by Kazuki or his allies. Rather, by the priests and priestesses tending to the shrine. Thankfully, they seemed friendly enough, and had tended to her, even giving her new clothes, rather insistently, really. They had been retainers to the Katana Heroes for a long time, though they had been rejected by Kazuki.

Raphtalia frowned as she contemplated the Vassal Katana. While it was great to have a new weapon, this was a Vassal Weapon, bound to this world, not her homeworld. Did that mean she could not return to her homeworld? Not be with Keel, Sadeena, Hedy, and Harry?

Ehh, don't worry about it, yeah? Vassal Weapon wielders can hop across worlds with impunity, so don't worry your pretty little head about it too much, yeah?

Raphtalia blinked. The voice sounded somewhat like her own, and yet both more confident and yet more casual. She looked down at the Vassal Katana, the gem on the hilt glowing gently.

Okay, so, before you panic, you're not going insane, nor are you holding an evil artifact with someone's soul bound to it, yeah? The voice continued. Harry told you about how the Spirit of the Shield spoke to him, using Iggy's appearance as an avatar, yeah? Well, same happening here. I'm using a past wielder to talk to you. I have to admit, I'm shocked to find her namesake descendant here, yeah?

To Raphtalia's surprise, what looked almost like a mirror image of herself appeared, dressed in a similar miko outfit. Yet she had a rather cocksure expression, but a friendly one. "…You're the Vassal Katana's spirit?"

"Yep. Got it in one."

"…But…you look like me."

"No, you just look a lot like your ancestor. For a time, she travelled around with Iggy, you know, Ignotus Peverell, yeah?" the Vassal Katana spirit said. "Your father probably named you for me: Raphtalia I, Heavenly Empress of Q'Ten Lo. Well, I was just a princess at the time I travelled with Iggy, and it was during the last parts of his travels on our homeworld and this one. I was in my rebellious phase, acting like the spirit in the Vassal Hammer, hence my way of speaking, yeah? That I ended up having the Vassal Katana bound to me…well, it was under similar circumstances, some other power-mad bastard had managed to keep me bound to him, despite my opinion on the matter, yeah?" She winced. "Sorry, pronouns are a bit confusing when it comes to having basically someone else's personality and memories. I'm basically the Vassal Katana, but using your ancestor's memories and face, after she returned me to this world. You clear on that, yeah?"

"…I guess. But…why choose me?"

The Katana Spirit looked at her flatly. "Do you think I was going to let that bastard claim me again without a fight? After what he did to me, did with me? I get some pretty dud wielders at times, but I've got to make the most of what I have, yeah?"

"…And what did he do with you?"

After a moment, the Katana Spirit gave her a solemn look. "You really want to know?"

Eventually, Raphtalia nodded. She wondered if she would regret this. She had no way of telling whether this apparition was telling the truth. But if this was the Vassal Katana speaking to her, then she needed to know.

The Vassal Katana sighed. "Okay, but just a small selection of the worst things he did with me, yeah? And just be warned, it's pretty nasty stuff, yeah?"

And then, Raphtalia saw. Flashes of memory, of being used to kill people. And not just cleanly, either. He eviscerated them, slashed them in painful places to ensure their deaths were slow and painful.

And why did he do so? Because Kazuki was a fraud. Lauded as a genius for bringing over ideas from his past life on Earth, he continued with it by seeking out others, torturing them to get their ideas and then killing them, before claiming the ideas as his own. He only reluctantly allied with Kyo because Kyo was too skilled and powerful for him to take on. That, and the pair of them were part of the Vanguards of the Waves.

Raphtalia was reminded of what Hermione and Harry had told her of Gilderoy Lockhart, who had plagiarised the monster-hunting anecdotes of other wizards, and passed them off as his own stories. But the fraudulent fop, while vicious and callous when cornered, nonetheless only erased the memories of his victims, though he was happy to leave Harry, Ron and Ginny to die if need be. Kazuki was even worse.

Oh, he was undoubtedly prodigious, giving the world new inventions, as well as being a fairly good mage and swordfighter. He was smart enough too to change this world, for better or for worse. But he wasn't satisfied. Even Kyo, for all his evil, wasn't fraudulent in the way Kazuki was. Kazuki, while not a genocidal maniac, was just concerned with amassing wealth, fame, power, and lovers, and didn't care how much he cheated others out of their own accomplishments to do so. Kyo at least only cheated people out of their lives, not of their accomplishments.

And Kazuki revelled in every minute of it. He'd used the nickname of Okada Izou, as a reference to the infamous 'Manslayer' of the Bakumatsu. In truth, he was a selfish egotist who saw the people he murdered as little more than obstacles in the way of his greatness, and the achievements he had stolen as rightfully his by right of conquest.

He was entitled, self-centred, bloodthirsty, and utterly without morals. What's more, he still viewed the world somewhat in video game terms, seeing everyone around him as NPCs he could exploit or kill as he wished. He was like a murderous version of Thomas Edison, taking other people's works, 'improving' them, and passing them off as his own. No, even Edison, for all his faults, worked hard at what he did anyway.

"…Sorry about that, yeah?" the Katana Spirit said once Raphtalia had seen the memories. "But…you did ask for me to show those memories. I am a Vassal Weapon. We sometimes get bound to less than ideal wielders, yeah? He seemed ideal at first, but, well, that power went to his head, or maybe he was rotten from the get-go. In any case, he's coming for us. He wants to take me away from you…and kill you painfully for stealing what he thinks is rightfully his. I can sense that bastard coming this way, yeah? And even if you do escape, he won't stop hunting us."

"…So I have to fight him?"

"We have to fight him, yeah?" the Katana Spirit said. "Don't worry, your level might be a touch low, but I've been looking through your memories. You've certainly got more skill than he does, and I can mitigate the energy cost for my techniques. He's no slouch, he's pretty strong. But you're better, yeah?"

"…Very well," Raphtalia said, standing. "Let's get this over and done with…"

True to the Vassal Katana's word, Kazuki had had the shrine surrounded, and he was calling for the soldiers with him to begin searching it. Raphtalia emerged, Katana in hand. "No need to search for me now," she said. "I am done with running."

"Look at the thief," Kazuki sneered. "You think you're a Vassal Hero just because you stole my Katana?"

Raphtalia scoffed. "Better than an ex-gamer who treats this world like a computer game."

"How could…what? You're a demi-human, and from that other world this one is fusing with," Kazuki said. "That's what Kyo told me before he dumped your ass in prison. You should have stayed in there, you thieving bitch."

"Thief, thief, thief…that's all you can say about me?" Raphtalia said coldly. "You're engaged in psychological projection. Then again, that's about all I could expect from an otaku gamer manchild who murdered people and stole their actual accomplishments when they couldn't do anything of worth with their old lives in Japan."

"YOU LYING BITCH!" Kazuki screamed, and charged at her with his own katana. His speed and technique were decent enough, but even at low levels, she was better. She slashed at him, and something white and glowing sprayed from his body, like luminescent snow. "What the…? What the hell did you do to me, you thieving bitch?"

"Sasameyuki, or rather, Powder Snow," Raphtalia said. "You're a decent mage, I have heard. So I've taken your MP, if you want the gamer terminology. But it's not just running I am done with. I am done with you damned gamers not treating these worlds as reality, just as playgrounds to slake your thirsts for hedonism and destruction! You could have given so much to this world, and yet, all you do is take and take and take!"

"That's rich, coming from the thieving bitch!"

Raphtalia shook her head. "You're like a broken record…I didn't think I would ever be able to get through to you. I just wanted you to know what I think of you."

There were a chorus of roars behind her, and she turned to find a pair of giant white tigers with Ofuda on their foreheads. "Bwahahaha! You're in for it now, you thieving slut! Those are Byakko I have reverse-engineered from one of the Guardian Beasts."

As the tigers lunged, Raphtalia lunged in her turn, unleashing a technique that turned them into bloody chunks of meat. She issued a mental apology to them. It was like having to kill Ost, in its own way, even if these tigers were more like mindless beasts than Ost had been. But she glared over her shoulder at Kazuki. "In Japanese, your name sounds much like 'Kasu', meaning that you are dregs…scum…trash." She whirled, flicking the Katana free of the blood coating it. "And I am here to clean you up."

"TRASH?!" Kazuki screamed rabidly, all but foaming at the mouth. "I'LL SHOW YOU TRASH, YOU THIEVING TRASH PANDA DEMI-HUMAN CUNT!"

He charged at her recklessly. Even with the skill he had, she could see him telegraphing his moves with contemptuous ease. She breathed in, breathed out…and then, moved.

She knew that to the onlookers, it would have been almost instantaneous. For her, though, she moved almost slowly and casually, flowing around his clumsy attack like a river, before slashing his body in retaliation, the Vassal Katana passing through his body like the proverbial hot knife through butter. He froze in shock, stumbling to a halt.

"Shuntou Kasumi Ichimonji," she said. "Or rather: Spontaneous Blade- Mist Strike. You shouldn't move, not unless you want to learn what those Byakko felt in their final moments. Though it won't be as quick for you." She glared over her shoulder at him again, seeing a pair of women tending to him with healing magic. "You have only a slender chance at survival: don't move until your little harem completely healed you. And even then, you won't be fully recovered for a few days at least. Should you survive long enough to talk to Kyo, tell him that we are coming to take revenge for Ost Hourai, and the other people he slaughtered. Then again, on second thoughts, you're trash, and you can't resist moving. So just try moving. But remember what Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star said…Omae wa mou shindeiru. Goodbye, Kazuki. It hasn't been a pleasure."

"Wait! WAIT! GET BACK HERE, YOU TRASH PANDA THIEVING CUNT!"

"I'm a tanuki demi-human, and go to Hell, Trash," she retorted over her shoulder, even as she left. The other soldiers and Kazuki's haremettes didn't make a move to stop her. Either they were confident of her being stopped by whoever was below, or they were too scared of her, or maybe they were just concerned for Kazuki.

She hoped they were scared of her. It was one of the few times she wanted people to be afraid of her. Because she was 110% done with this shit.

Still, her exhaustion was telling, and walking down the steps from the shrine didn't help matters. Even with the Vassal Katana claiming it would mitigate the energy consumption for her attacks, she was flagging by the time she reached the bottom. She almost didn't notice more Byakko coming for her.

But even as she readied the Vassal Katana to try and take them on, she heard a most wonderful sound. A voice crying out three words. Three words that meant she was saved.

"AIR STRIKE SHIELD!"

A green shield of energy snapped into place in front of her, and the Byakko bounced off it. And then, she heard another voice scream out, "BLOOD FLOWER STRIKE!" The monstrous white tigers burst into chunks of bloody meat.

And there they were. Harry, Hermione, Hedy, Rishia, Naofumi, Glass, L'Arc, Therese, and what had to be Kizuna. And…there was that Tanuki-looking thing perched on Harry's shoulder. Huh, that was new.

"…You're okay, Raphtalia?" Harry asked. "We just found the others, they told us you…" He blinked, looking her up and down. "Okay…who's your tailor?"

Hermione swatted him over the back of the head. "Focus!"

"I'm fine now. I've dealt with Kazuki. If he isn't dead yet…sooner or later, someone with his ego and arrogance will try to defy my instructions," Raphtalia said grimly. "Do any of you have any potions? Not for health, but SP."

Harry tossed her one, and she guzzled it down, much of her fatigue lessening. "Sorry, using the techniques of this Vassal Weapon takes it out of me, given how low my level is," she said, panting. "Sorry for making you worry."

"There's nothing to forgive, Raphtalia," Harry said, quickly giving her a hug.

However, after all she went through, she grasped his head, and kissed him. Only the urgent need to escape stopped her from doing it for longer. "We'll do more when we have the time. But for now…can someone make Portkeys to Sickle?"

"Yeah, it'll probably be less conspicuous than calling up Ethnobalt like a taxi," Naofumi said. "Let's go…"

Raphtalia was glad. Because despite all that went wrong pursuing Kyo…something had gone right. She was back with her friends and allies. And Kyo was down an ally, or at least an ally turned rival.

Still…it had been a rough ride. And something told her things were only going to get worse before they got better…

CHAPTER 16 ANNOTATIONS:

So, here you have it. As much as I prefer the novels' take on certain events, I prefer the anime's take on how she ends up confronting Kazuki.

Firstly, Raphtalia meeting the Vassal Katana Spirit. I did the same thing with Harry and the Shield in Not Your Kind of People, so I decided to do something similar here. Raphtalia's eponymous ancestor is actually based on the Vassal Hammer Spirit first glimpsed at the end of the Q'Ten Lo arc of the novels. I thought Raphtalia the First was very like the Vassal Hammer Spirit, strong but casual, and I even put a variation of her verbal tic, except instead of 'ehh', I put in 'yeah?'. I also had her basically as Erica Mendez playing Nasuverse Mordred instead of Erica Lindbeck.

I can also use Raphtalia the First as a means to help wave away some of the inconsistencies I've inadvertently written in, at least for Glass' world. Between her and Ignotus, they influenced events on this world that have deviated from canon.

Also, Raphtalia's attitude towards Kazuki is different, but keep in mind, she's not the high-handed ridiculously moral person she is in canon. This is someone who has lived a longer life, has perspective, who knows why the summoned heroes and the Vanguards of the Waves act the way they do. She is so sick of gamers fucking over this world and her own, and it doesn't hurt that the Vassal Katana showed her what Kazuki did to his victims (all my invention, but given his attitude in canon, is it at all surprising that he'd basically be a murderous version of Gilderoy Lockhart and Thomas Edison's lovechild?).

And, of course, she dubs him 'Trash'. Which seems to be a sore point with him. And she gets to quote Fist of the North Star at him. Then again, being called a 'trash panda' is probably a sore point with her. As mentioned in Not Your Kind of People, she was called that at Mahoutokoro.

Anyway, the next couple of chapters will be a breather, before we get onto the Attack of the Self-Righteous Dumb Bitch, aka Yomogi. Honestly, I am not fond of that character…

Review-answering time! ZLC genesmith: Kratos went the wrong way about…well, just about everything when it came to parenthood in the Norse games. He learned the wrong lessons until towards the end of Ragnarok. That's all there is to it. Is it any wonder Atreus went behind his back in Ragnarok when there's such a failure to communicate, or act in a prudent and pragmatic manner?

L: I did exaggerate or make up his crimes to make the Legilimency-induced lobotomy fitting, but yes, he deserved it in this story. As for Riffy inheriting Harry's magical talents, I didn't consider that. Food for thought for any sequels. Shinji is the Ofuda Hero. I haven't thought of names for the others, nor do I intend to.

And yes, Kratos was very much a villain protagonist during the original God of War trilogy and its prequel and side-stories, with only his opponents being much worse. And do not misunderstand me, I do think his character saw a lot of improvement, and he's become an anti-hero rather than a villain protagonist. But I get sick and tired of people gushing over Kratos and claiming that he is Video Game Dad of the Century when in reality, he's anything but. I can name many fathers in video games alone that have him beat in terms of actually being a good father.

No numbered annotations this time.