Can a monster act like a hero?

by davido747

"May you find happiness in the next life." That was easier said than done, even more so for a horrible villain like him. Or so Yuuki Shirou thought before meeting a certain pink-haired alien and being introduced to a bizarre world filled with aliens, servants, and absurd situations. But maybe this time, he will achieve that beautiful dream he threw aside a long time ago.

4. Chapter 3: There is someone who cares

Here we go again, people! Here's the next chapter of this story, which might not be the most renowned among my stories, but I appreciate all the support as well. This is not a huge update like the last one, at least going by my distorted standards, but this chapter is quite all-rounded in my opinion. We have more character introductions, the first steps into character development, action, and comedy. You'll be the one to judge if all of that was mixed appropriately.

As for things I want to clarify from the reviews, I only got one. I try to respect the rule of the Fate and Tsukihime worlds being separate. Once I fully disclose King of Fakers Alter's past, you will notice that it was a timeline that was going to follow the Tsukihime path but he singlehandedly forced it to go down the Fate route. The Servantverse, though, is a separate can of worms in which literally everything can happen, allowing liberty to pick characters.

Not much more to say, let's get onto the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own any right over Type-Moon, the Fate Franchise, or To Love Ru.

---

"This goes here... This goes back to the D-dial... this too... Aaand, I think that's all! Phew!" A certain pink-haired whistled as she cleaned the sweat from her forehead. Her emerald eyes observed her handiwork, and she couldn't help but feel proud of herself for once.

Back in Deviluke, her room remained a mess most of the time because even her family's servants gave up on cleaning it up due to the risk of some random gadget backfiring at them. The list of personnel who resigned after being turned into animals or getting hospitalized, to name a few, was quite lengthy.

But that ends here with her new room. She didn't just run away from home to avoid an arranged marriage, but also to be able to experience life outside of her family's fancy castle, and that also included doing the chores that her servants usually...

Well, most of the chores in this house were done by Shirou and Mikan out of pure enjoyment. They were the best definition of "workaholic" she could find. She'd have to find a way to get them to include her in the distribution of tasks but for the moment this much she could do.

"Lala-sama, if you are done, I would recommend you to go to bed immediately. You've been getting fewer hours of sleep than recommended this entire week."

"Really?" She looked at the landscape at the other side of her window, and the total darkness that greeted her back confirmed Peke's words. It must be past midnight, and now that she realized it, the fatigue was starting to hit her.

It couldn't be helped though. Not even she remembered what every of her gadgets did, so sorting them out took more than she'd like.

"Peke, you can enter hibernation mode until tomorrow."

"Okay. But go straight to bed, don't get distracted on the bed." After saying those last words in a serious tone, the shapeshifting robot returned to its original form and ceased its activities in a corner of the room.

Of course, that left Lala in her birthday suit, but given that they were in the middle of summer, she preferred to sleep that way. However, she never told Peke where she was actually going to sleep.

"Hehehe~ Shirou must be fast asleep. This is my chance."

With all the stealth she was capable of, Lala opened her room's door after connecting it to Shirou's wardrobe, which wasn't full by any means and didn't have that much variety if she was to say.

She succeeded in approaching his bed without him noticing. To her surprise, she managed to not make a single sound. Her fingers gently pinched the sheet, and she slowly pulled up. Once there was enough of an opening, she used her superhuman speed to jump in.

Another impish giggle escaped her lips as she wrapped her arms around him in search of his warmth. Direct contact was the best way to get to know each other better. "Skinship" as she heard in some TV programs. He was always putting some distance between the two, but now he was completely defenseless...

"Huh?" A confused voice was the next thing to leave her mouth. Shirou was... cold. Too cold. That low temperature was impossible for a human, or pretty much any living being.

"Shirou? Are you-" If that hadn't been enough of a shock, her eyes widened the moment she pushed away the blanket to get a better look at him...

Or rather, the pillow formation that had been mimicking his form under the blanket. That caused her to make a pause while blinking owlishly. If anything, that was the oldest trick in the book a child would resort to going out without their parents noticing.

But she could even begin to imagine Shirou of all people doing that, and why would he escape in the first place?

"He must be in the bathroom or the kitchen." Uttering those words as if to convince herself, she jumped out of bed and made her way to those locations.

However, to her increasing surprise and concern, the auburn-haired boy was nowhere to be seen. And that didn't just apply to the bathroom and kitchen. Lala searched through every single room in the house but to no avail.

There was only one room for her to check, but honestly, she didn't know if it would feel better to find him there or not.

She gently opened the door leading to Mikan's room, and with mixed feelings, she made sure that the only person there was the soundly asleep Mikan. While that dismissed the possibility of the Yuuki siblings having a... closer relationship than it seemed, the fact remained that Shirou disappeared without saying anything.

"Don't tell me..." That made the other possibility she had been avoiding arise in her mind.

Lala wasn't oblivious enough to think that no other suitor had come to challenge Shirou ever since they sent packing that Pikari guy. The bags under his eyes and his worse mood than usual were more than telling. But to think that would get him to stay up this late...

"I guess I'll have to ask Zastin..."

"Mnu?" She was about to walk out of the room when her body froze like a deer in the spotlight upon hearing a dreamy voice behind her. "Lala... what are you doing up at these hours... And how many times do we have to tell you!? Don't walk around naked!?"

Just as she started to admonish her the sluggishness in her voice went out the window. So much for Lala's attempt at not worrying her too.

Things were going to get complicated if Shirou didn't return soon.

---

Meanwhile...

"Keep firing! He'll eventually- ugh!"

The night in the outskirts of the city was being illuminated by several flashes, and the sound of futuristic guns destroyed the calm of the forest. However, followed by screams of pain and agony, those sounds were quickly snuffled.

A group of people clad in outfits matching their sci-fi weaponry continued to fire at the red and black blur steadily approaching them.

Their formation became a mess by the second. The enemy was dodging and deflecting their lasers with astonishing ease with those black and white swords, and their numbers were being reduced by more swords summoned out of nowhere and fired at them at the same speed as their projectiles.

It was madness. They had been hired to take down the figure that had been in everyone's mouth throughout the galaxies as of late, but none of the nameless mercenaries ever imagined they would be facing this kind of monster.

None of the suitors that had been missing were particularly fearsome when it came to combat, so they assumed their standard procedure would be more than enough.

Oh well, how wrong they had been.

"Don't get close- AAARGH!"

The last thing they all saw was either a primitive-looking sword aimed right at their heads or the terrifying view of those emotionless, golden orbs staring through their souls.

The pristine green grass was quickly bathed in red as the slaughter continued. It didn't even seem like they were facing a living being, but rather, death itself. Some of them had been hired during the waged to unify this section of the universe, but even they were unprepared for this.

In a few minutes, the night's silence returned, only filled with the calm breeze that stirred the grass, the leaves, and the red cloak of the knight standing amidst the dead land.

However, despite the calm around him, the red knight didn't sheath his twin blades, nor did he let the tension leave his body. The sound of clapping proved right his caution, and his golden eyes turned to look in its direction.

Ten meters from him, the red knight spotted another alien. He was androgynous, towering over two meters and wearing a skin-tight black suit that covered everything but his green-skinned face. The suit was complemented by metal gauntlets and boots, and some kind of armor made out of alien-looking bones.

The alien's red eyes were fixed on the auburn-haired boy as he finished clapping, and a smile formed on his jaws before opening them to speak.

"Well, well. I see the rumors about the so-called servants weren't exaggerated in the least. I've hunted the most ferocious species in the universe, but you are, without doubt, the ultimate prey I shall add to my collection."

The only reaction that speech got from the red knight was an unimpressed look, and that remained unchanged as the alien brought out what looked like a futuristic, two-barrel shotgun.

"Know that Khyber the Hunter will be the one to bring you down!"

The thunderous roar of the shotgun after his opening words easily overshadowed the sounds of all the laser guns fired that night. The red knight side-stepped the myriad of projectiles with ease though, and immediately kicked the ground to cross the distance in a beat.

The second shot came shortly after, when the distance had been halved, but the red knight swung his twin swords a blurring speeds to cut the pellets.

The distance was finally crossed, with Kanshou sailing through the air to slash the alien's neck. Khyber didn't stay idly, letting go of the shotgun and blocking the pristine blade with a retractable dagger that emerged from his right gauntlet.

The night was once again lit by the sparks of the clash. However, the sparks were accompanied by metal shards.

"...!" The alien's red eyes widened upon witnessing one of his reliable weapons fall apart just like that. Moreover, his strong arm, which was twice the size of the knight's, hurt as if the impact tore his muscles and fractured his bones.

The alien immediately kicked the ground to disengage, but in that short lapse of time in which he processed what happened, those pristine swords already attacked viciously, leaving some nasty cuts over all his body.

The red knight continued his assault relentlessly, but then Khyver emitted a whistle-like sound from some holes at both sides of his big chin. The auburn-haired boy sunk his boots into the ground to halt when he saw the figure of some kind of oversized feline jumping from behind the alien towards him.

Its massive claws pinned the red knight to the ground by his arms, and its head shot like a piston to sink its saber-like canines into his neck. However, that was never to happen as a pair of steel-tipped boots kicked its belly with a mana burst, sending the thing flying away with a cat-like yelp like a rag doll.

Not even a second later, the red knight was already up, and swinging his married swords to deflect some lasers from a gun Khyver pulled out. That slight distraction bought the "hunter" enough time and allowed its pet to charge at the red knight again.

This time though, without the surprise factor, the claws seeking to tear him apart were cleaved by Kanshou and Bakuya. The alien saber-tooth lost its balance due to not being able to use its front pawns to support its weight, and the red knight didn't hesitate to thrust the Yang blade into its head.

However, just seconds before that came to pass, another whistle-like sound filled the battlefield, and the thing suddenly morphed. Its feline appearance turned into some kind of crab with a rhinoceros' head, and all its body covered by literal rock. And it also grew to the sense of a van.

A deafening sound was produced when Bakuya's blade was repelled, and the red knight was forced to jump back to avoid a hit from one of those rock limbs.

"Hahaha! You scared me there for a moment, but not even you can defeat the ultimate weapon created by the Galvans!"

With those words as a hint, the red knight's eyes landed on the red collar around the thing's neck. That must be what the "hunter" was talking about, and there was some merit to his words. No matter what kind of life form originated on a planet, it was impossible to naturally change their body structure on their own will so drastically. Weaponizing the answer reached by the evolutionary process to the distinct environments throughout the universe sounded quite effective in actuality.

But the red knight couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. The "hunter" didn't seem to notice the massive cracks on his pet's head. It will take just one or two hits more to destroy its head. And "Ultimate Weapon", really? Had it not been a complete waste of energy, a part of him wanted to show this guy what a true ultimate weapon looked like.

"Trace, on!"

A dozen of noble phantasms were projected behind him to finish the work quickly. The prick was so confident in his pet's natural armor that the thought of ordering it to dodge never crossed his mind. But before the first sword was fired mercilessly, a warcry tore through the night surprising both parties.

"The time of judgment has come!"

A familiar figure came out of nowhere, as always, and entered the battle with a spectacular drop kick that landed right on the thing's head. The strength behind the attack was more than enough to finally shatter the rock covering it, leaving the cranium exposed and almost shattered as well.

After that, the figure used the recoil of the impact to jump back and do some flips before landing beside the red knight with a satisfied smile.

"Hehe! Was it that hard to just smash that thing, Shirou? Don't tell me you are letting your body decay. It will be meaningless if I defeat you like this."

The red knight just gave her a blank stare. "Really? What part of the fight made you think I didn't have everything under control, X?"

"What the- Who the hell are you!? Another servant!?" The "hunter" snapped from the shock of his pet getting defeated just like that, but its confidence wasn't that shaken. "No matter how many of you there are, the nametrix is still invincible."

He whistled again, and the knocked-out pet shapeshifted, this time to some weird mixture of a centipede and a T-Rex. And to their surprise, the transformation healed it and even jolted it back to consciousness with a roar that sounded more like a scratch.

"Hmph! So the villain thinks he can use the bullshit regeneration card on me, huh!? It's useless!" The blonde Assassin summoned her Holy Sword, and her body became a blur.

The next moment, the shape-shifting thing had been completely torn into pieces alongside its collar. Her sword made such a quick work that the sounds of slaughter came after the shredded corpses hit the floor, and the blood splashed violently all over the place.

The "hunter's" jaw might as well have hit the floor, but he didn't have time to process it as a steel-tipped but hit his face like a speeding truck. That definitely broke his nose and as well as sending some teeth flying, but Shirou made sure to keep him alive and conscious.

"Huh?" X raised an eyebrow at that. "Why didn't you kill him like all the other guys? We don't need them alive to turn them to the space police and get the bounty."

"For once, I doubt these guys are even registered by that police thing on the other side of the universe. And for another..." The red knight left his words hanging as he approached Khyver and grabbed him by his collar. "OK, mister "hunter", you better start speaking. Who was the cowardly rat that hired you rather than coming to face me? I'm pretty sure this isn't something that Gid guy allows-"

Despite his threatening words and the wave of trauma-inducing killing intention that hit him, the mercenary's answer was preceded by a dry laugh.

"What kind of mercenary... do you think... will rat out their contractor? Even if you don't kill me... no one will ever hire me afterward... Besides, you are already done for. Someone else hired the Golden Darkness. I just wanted to try my luck before she came for you."

Whatever reaction the guy was expecting after revealing that ominous name, the two servants raising an eyebrow and exchanging clueless looks definitely wasn't within those expectations.

"Oh!" The blonde girl suddenly widened her eyes as if she just realized something crucial. "So, my fame actually made it over to this part of the universe! Hehe~ It was inevitable. But how can you butcher a simple nickname!? You got the "Golden" part right with my hair and sword, but my signature color is blue, not black!"

It was the "hunter's" turn to look dumbfounded when X started to yell at him for no apparent reason.

"Hey, hold your horses." Fortunately for him, Shirou intervened with an exasperated face. "What in the world makes you think someone in this sector of the universe would know you when they aren't even completely aware of what is a servant?"

X's eyebrows knitted further as her hostility expanded and shifted towards the red knight. "The only one here with an ego through the roof is you! Unlike you, I'm a renowned heroine! Why would you think these guys aware of your identity aren't also aware of mine!?"

"As if being famous and having all these pricks going after my head was my intention. Now they are even hiring professional hitmen to do it! How much do you think it will take for this mess to affect other people!"

"As if these weaklings that can't even be categorized as episodic third-rate villains could do a thing against any of us! If there is someone who will defeat you, it's me! Do you hear me!"

"And why won't you realize that's even more pointless! Do you really have nothing else to do!?"

"What kind of question is that!? I can't move on to the next arc if I don't defeat you! I've still got to defeat primordial Goddess and my fated rival before rolling the credits, y'know!?"

"That doesn't make any sense!"

The two continued their nonsensical argument in front of Khyver, his presence having been apparently forgotten. However, he couldn't get away as the red knight was still holding him, so after some minutes of banter, he decided to open his mouth.

"Err... Are you gonna interrogate me further or are you gonna keep the couple's quarrel going-"

One last thunderous impact was heard throughout the night, and the alien's voice was heard no more as another gush of blood splattered around.

When the two servants realized what happened, they found their bloody fists resting on Khyver's smashed skull. The moment the word "couple" had been associated with them, both threw a haymaker with all their might toward the poor soul that made that mistake.

"Shit! I didn't get to beat the information out of him!"

"NOOOOOOOOOO! I got blood in my dress! I just washed it today, damn it!"

Their priorities seemed to be on opposite ends of the spectrum as both shook the blood from their hands. Now that Shirou was paying attention to her getup...

"And why in the world didn't you switch to your servant attire if you didn't want that to happen?" A mischievous grin crept to his lips as he said that. "Don't tell me you took a liking to it and now you want to change your true name to "Mysterious Maid X"." She was, indeed, wearing the same maid outfit as Alice.

That got her flustered and stuttering a quick retort. "O-of course not, you nitwit! I'm still not used to having to do that at all! Why do you think I made my school uniform my servant attire in the first place!?"

Shirou let out a tired sigh. He had reached his social interaction limit way earlier during their discussion, and the last thing he wanted was to start another.

"Just leave me alone while I clean this mess. Since technically 50% of the screw-up was my fault, I'll let it slide this time."

He had already projected a certain flaming katana when X jolted back at him. "Wait, wait, wait! Don't burn the corpses! Even if the space cops here aren't from the same organization, these guys must have a bounty on their heads!"

"OK, I heard you! You don't have to destroy my eardrums! I'll call Zastin and see what he can do about that."

He doubted the currency in which they would get paid would be of any use to them, but he refrained from commenting on that. He just wanted to hit the bed already.

Just him and his luck. If he was being honest, he went out on a patrol because the list of "mysterious stalkers" had been increasing as of late and none of them seemed to be willing to make a move in the foreseeable future.

However, who knows what would have happened if he didn't come out and these clowns managed to track his house?

After literally dumping all the corpses on Zastin's spaceship, X returned to Luvia's mansion without making a fuss and he rushed home. But to his usual misfortune, there was one last obstacle between him and those really needed hours of sleep.

"What are you doing up at this hour, Shirou!? Was it really necessary to deal with one of your rivals way past midnight!? And why didn't you leave a letter or something at least!?"

Mikan was already lecturing him the moment he opened the door, and Lala by her side was giving him an apologetic look.

"Mikan, that kind of thing is better dealt with at night. I already told you it's dangerous to reveal the secret of the supernatural just like that. But fine, I'll leave a letter next time."

He spoke in a machine-like tone as he passed by, completely missing the way Mikan's expression softened with concern. The fact that they assumed it was one of Lala's suitors helped conceal the morbid truth.

---

"Yawn~" And as expected, Yuuki Shirou found himself yawning as he and Lala made their way towards Sainan Academy.

It was only the routine engraved into his body that allowed him to walk straight to his destination. That and Lala's lousy personality. 99% of the small talk between them was coming from her, but she didn't mind it.

It's been already two weeks since she barged into his life, yet she still looked at every scenery with the same curiosity as the first time. And of course, her smile was as radiant as always.

It really was a pity... that her smile was tied to this farce that would inevitably fall under its own weight.

At least, he couldn't feel the presence of the stalkers. However, he only meant the ones that settled for observing him from the shadows.

"Good morning, Lala-san, Yuuki-kun." A certain blue-haired girl of their age was patiently waiting for them at the next crossroad.

"Yahoo, Haruna!" Lala greeted her enthusiastically and hastened her pace. And of course, that also meant taking Shirou's hand and dragging him along.

The sight almost brought a smile to his face, but he repressed it.

Whoever saw the two girls acting like best friends would never be able to guess that one of them tried to kill the other less than a week ago. And he doubted they even remembered that the blue-haired was a mankind-ending ticking bomb as they casually chatted.

But at least, Sairenji Haruna was no longer acting like the textbook definition of "Yandere". A part of him still suspected that her attitude after waking up might have been a façade to get by in the helpless situation she found herself in, but after keeping an eye on her ever since, he didn't notice any of the red flags.

It truly seemed that all the mental corruption due to the possession of the demonic Goddess disappeared...

For the moment.

"So, Yuuki-kun, are you free tomorrow Saturday?" The voice of the girl in question brought him back to reality.

The difference between her current slight blush and shyness, compared to the predatory and almost lustful looks before, was stark, to say the least. And Lala joined her with a pleading look in her emerald eyes.

The chances of him having something to do on a weekend besides the usual chores were bordering zero, but he still rested his chin on his right hand as he forced his still dreamy brain to remember if there was something.

And the answer was both reassuring and annoying at the same time.

"Actually, I do have something to do, so I'm afraid I'll have to decline."

""Huh!?"" Their voices of surprise and disappointment didn't take long.

"My dad is a mangaka, and you could say he's... married to his job. That's why he made the mistake of serializing too many manga at the same time for his team to handle, and the red line is tomorrow night. Last time it was Mikan who threw him a bone, so it's my turn now."

"I see... Next time I guess..." The emotions in Haruna's expression drained considerably, but she accepted it.

Lala shared her sadness to some extent, but his words brought up another can of worms. "It's a pity, Haruna. but now that I think about it, this is a good opportunity to finally meet your father, Shirou. Do you mind if I go with you?"

That was something he wasn't looking forward to. Mikan convinced him, read as strong-armed him with a mixture of her recent dominating attitude and puppy eyes, to introduce Lala as she is and not some façade.

"If you don't mind working for them as a personal maid for free, I guess you can come."

That was meant to deter her from coming, but for some inexplicable reason, they caused the exact opposite reaction in the alien princess who never knew house labor.

"More reason to come! I can't just sit and see you and Mikan do all the house chores when I'm technically freeloading. Let me help you this time!"

Faced with such determination, he had no choice but to give in. "Be my guest then."

The rest of the walk to the school transcurred without any remarkable event, and things there weren't that different... if you didn't count a certain blonde Assassin that was transferred to his classroom.

Her body wasn't as... "developed" as Lala's, but Shirou guessed she was cute enough in the director's eyes to admit her without much of a thought. The only thing that crossed his mind when he tried to rationalize why in the world Luvia arranged it so that X ended up in his classroom and not hers, was her characteristic rich girl laugh.

In X's words though, "she had to adapt to his environment and customs to find out his weakness".

And to put the icing on the cake, from the moment he entered the classroom, the eyes of Kotegawa Yui were completely rooted in his figure.

It didn't take a genius to guess the reason. The weirdo that tended to be alone more often than not suddenly became surrounded by beauties. Two of them were mysterious transferred beauties, and without the proper context, it seemed like he started to tolerate the class delegate's presence at the drop of a hat.

The founder and president of the public morals club had all the reasons to be vigilant around him, even if his situation was the farthest of a classic romantic comedy.

The only thing he could do was to ignore it as best as he could as the teacher entered to room. It was the old man with a foot in the grave, but his slow words this time didn't induce sleep in the students as if he were spreading some kind of sleep gas. On the contrary...

"My students... I have an announcement to do... We have yet another new student transferring to this classroom."

His words were followed by a silence that could only be replicated in a funerary. After Lala and X's sudden appearance, a third one was just too much to process for everyone, including Shirou.

"Please, enter now... Everyone, this is Ren Elsie Jewelria-kun... Be gentle with him..."

With those words as a signal, a boy entered the classroom with a confident attitude. With a peculiar hair that was albino on the top and raven in the back and sideburns, red eyes, and a slender body.

A slight frown made its way to Shirou's face. This Ren guy felt like an alien despite his completely human-like appearance, but his presence was so faint he wasn't able to detect it until Ren entered the room. Either he was harmless, or he had some way to conceal his presence. And judging by the way those red eyes darted toward Lala before uttering a single word made obvious his intentions. However, Shirou had to give it to the albino. Putting an effort to craft an identity on the planet would make it more annoying if he had to dispose of him.

The distance between the new classmate and Lala was crossed in a beat, and Shirou had already some black keys projected below his desk, but the lack of hostile intentions was the only thing preventing the mess that would be turning this place into a battlefield.

"At last, I found you, Lala. My bride." The first words to come out of the albino's lips were straight out of the pickup book, shocking everyone in the vicinity, and he just kept going. "Your radiance made it impossible for you to hide from me amongst the common folk. You were already pretty when we had fun together in our childhood, but now your beauty is so dazzling I can't tear my eyes off you. Come on, let us enjoy the bliss of finally being reunited."

Unfortunately for him, his perception of reality must be completely distorted if the confusion in Lala's expression was anything to go by.

"Umm... Who are you exactly?"

Her answer might as well have hurt him in a physical way judging by the way he bent over. However, he somehow managed to quickly gather the shards of his destroyed confidence and come back with an "eloquent" answer.

"It's been a long time, so I guess this was to be expected. But no matter. Because I am a man." Ren said those last words while making a casanova pose and showing a confident smile. Then he proceeded to point at the teacher with his finger. "Don't you think, Yuuki Shirou!?"

The old man could only point at himself with unfathomable confusion after all the nonsense suddenly ended with him in the spotlight.

"Err... If you are talking about the Yuuki-kun in this classroom... You got the wrong person... He's the boy right at Lala's side."

The red eyes drifted from the teacher towards the auburn-haired boy he was signaling, and things started to make more sense in his head. "Sorry for the confusion." With that quick apology, Ren's undivided attention focused on the golden eyes sending him a blank stare. "Now, allow me to tell you about the intimate relationship Lala and I shared! Take a look at this."

To Shirou's surprise, he brought out a necklace that contained a picture of a young Lala and him. However, the sum of the necklace being almost comically big, and the picture showing Ren dressing as a girl and Lala laughing as if she had just heard the best comedy monologue of the century, made it impossible for Shirou to even take his words seriously.

But even if this was a case of his memories being quite distorted, the fact was that this Ren guy did have some kind of relationship with Lala previously.

"Oh! I remember now! You are Ren the crybaby!" Lala, who was looking at the photo from behind Shirou's shoulder, shouted almost breaking Shirou's eardrums.

"See? Lala here always wanted to dress me like a girl because she always thought I was too feminine, and used me as a test subject for her new inventions. She was indeed a mischievous angel." While he still had his confident smile and was talking with a proud tone, Ren looked as if he were about to cry from the trauma. "But one day I asked her: 'If I become more manly one day, will you marry me?' And she said "yes" without even a second of doubt!"

Lala could feel all the eyes in the room pointed at her, especially Shirou and Peke's filled with disbelief.

"Lala-sama, did you really promise that to this boy?"

The pink-haired princess scratched her cheek as she delved into her memories. She remembered spending time with Ren for a short period while he was visiting her planet with his family, but she didn't exactly remember their conversations.

"Maybe? I'm not sure... I might have been focused on something else."

A drop of sweat started to slide through the back of Shirou's neck. He could see a Lala completely absorbed in one of her gadgets and saying "yes" without having even processed what Ren said.

"Regardless if she remembers or not, a promise is a promise! However, I'm not asking you to answer right now, Lala. You can take your time while I show you how manly I am. Eventually, you will realize which of us is better suited to be your husband."

Despite those words being meant for Lala, his red eyes were looking at Shirou as if he were expecting an answer from him. However, the golden-eyed boy just spared him a "do as you wish" before looking at the teacher.

That left Ren befuddled, to say the least. Of all the reactions he expected, complete indifference wasn't one of them. And that, in his mind, could only mean that Shirou didn't even acknowledge him as a fellow man, which caused his blood to boil.

"Hey, did you even hear-"

"Hey, Shirou! You can't let anyone defeat you before we have our rematch! Not even this twerp!"

His voice, however, was overshadowed by that of the blonde girl sitting behind him. The fact that that girl, admittedly beautiful even if not on Lala's level, didn't see his manliness either was a painful blow to his pride. And in X's case, the fact that Shirou ignored her as well was just as irritating.

"Enough already!" But Kotegawa's thundering voice echoed throughout the room to put an end to the mess, and no one dared to look in any direction aside from the teacher. "Please, start the lesson, professor."

"Oh, yes... Where were we..."

---

Lessons passed away, and Ren's frustration continued to grow by the second.

He tried to surpass Yuuki Shirou in every aspect of his school life. Answering correctly the teacher's questions faster than Shirou in the math class, changing to his sports uniform more quickly, getting better marks during PE, and finishing his lunch earlier at the school's cafeteria.

He would never admit that that last one had been a close call and he almost got the food stuck in his esophagus while the golden-eyed teenager engulfed his bento effortlessly. But aside from that, Shirou never even paid attention to him and continued his routine like always and even "bonded" with Lala right in his face.

What else did he have to do for Shirou to even consider him a rival? From what did that confidence esteem in the first place? He was just a human boy with a slender build like his that didn't stand out in anything else aside from being, admittedly, somewhat good-looking, and that was kinda ruined by that stern face he was always making. It had to be Lala, or the other two girls, the blonde one and the blue-haired one, who had to initiate the conversation.

It all came to a single question. What did Lala see in him to declare him as her fianceé?

That's what Ren was trying to figure out as he followed Yuuki Shirou through the school's halls. They somehow managed to end up on their own, so this was the best opportunity. Though he had no idea where they were going exactly.

"...!" Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine, prompting the albino to stop. He didn't know what, but something triggered an instinctive reaction of running away in him... but there wasn't anyone in the hallway aside from them.

It was then that his red eyes met those golden eyes after several hours. The look Ren was receiving was one of annoyance, so maybe he was finally getting through?

"Dude, do you really have to follow me even to the toilet?"

That was... a way less aggressive question than he expected, and his confident smile returned in full force.

"If that's the case, then I'll get there faster!"

Ren kicked up a notch and walked past the golden-eyed teenager like an exhalation, and Shirou wasn't even able to react-

"You are aware that having to rush to the toilet only means you can't hold your pee, aren't you?"

Those sudden words almost caused Ren to trip forward. He almost snapped his neck turning around to look at the golden-eyed boy, and for an instant, he saw a mischievous smile disturbingly similar to the one Lala used to sport during their childhood.

"Wh-what did you just say!? So you are finally taking this seriously!?"

"What is there for me to take seriously?" And now he was again pretending that the matter didn't concern him with an innocent look.

"Tsk. Do you really care so little about Lala!? Why do you ignore the most likely strongest rival you've got so far!?"

An awkward silence followed as Ren waited for an answer, and after some seconds that felt like ours, what he got was a snort.

"Heh. As if I chose to be thrown into this mess. Do I have to repeat myself? Do as you wish."

Ren's eyes slowly widened as his brain processed those words uttered in the most nonchalant tone he had ever heard. And then, his mind was assailed with pure anger.

"Stop fooling around! There's no way Lala would-"

His rageful words got stuck in his throat the moment Shirou raised his arm at a blurring speed, and once again that instinctive fear flooded his system. A loud sound was heard as if someone had fired a gun right there, and it was followed by the cracks of the nearby windows.

The next thing his brain processed was that a short leg had connected against Shirou's forearm, and the owner of that limb was none other than the scary blonde girl.

But that didn't make any sense. That kick might as well have been a crashing bus judging by the shockwave he felt. How can that little body pack so much strength!?

"Hehe, I see your instincts aren't getting dull. Why don't you finish this guy already?"

X ignored his presence despite that merciless jab at him while Shirou gave her an exasperated look.

"This has nothing to do with a contest of strength. And why can't you keep your nose out of other people's business?"

"Because I'm the protagonist, of course! People usually call it plot convenience, but there's no story if the protagonist doesn't get involved somehow, you know? You more than anyone should know about it as a fellow co-protagonist."

The way Shirou pinched the bridge of his nose was almost relatable. "Just stop... I don't want to draw any parallels in my life with a literary genre. And when in the world did I become a co-protagonist? Wasn't I the villain without a doubt?"

"You are an aberration for all fair Sabers, but as a villain, you are quite lacking in motivations and grand scheme."

That managed to get Shirou's eyebrow twitching. He didn't take pride in his position as the final Beast humanity has to defeat to achieve their happy ending, but comparing him with the weirdos of this universe as a villain didn't sit well.

"You don't want to see me acting as a villain."

"On the contrary." The mysterious heroine suddenly took a stance as if to challenge him. "If you were to act as a proper villain, I would kick your ass for- ouch!"

Her taunt went unfinished when a fist suddenly bonked her head. Even Shirou looked with surprise at the student who somehow sneaked behind them and seamlessly bypassed X's guard.

"Picking fights in the school goes against the public morals, X-san! And what kind of name is that for the matter!?"

The blonde Assassin returned the glare at the brunette. "Why does everyone make that question!? Do I really have to go around showing my credentials!? And this doesn't concern you, Kotegawa Yui! A couple of duels a month should be acceptable! At least it was back at Chaldea High!"

"I haven't heard about that school or that absurd rule. But tell me, how are you going to pay for the damaged windows?"

"What!?" X's expression twisted in utter horror. "Don't tell me this school doesn't have insurance!?"

"The insurance covers damage caused by natural disasters and terrorist attacks, and I doubt your acts of vandalism qualify for any of the two. If I remember correctly, you were at Luviagelita-san's care, right? I'll pass the bill later."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Her desperate cry almost finished the job.

"I didn't know you were promoted from president of the Public Morals Club to president of the Student Council, Kotegawa?" Shirou threw that remark jokingly, but the girl in question just shifted her stern glare to him.

"Don't act as if this doesn't concern you, Yuuki-kun. Why is it that trouble follows everywhere you go? First Lala-san, then X-san, and now Ren-kun here. You should take responsibility."

"Hey, I'm the victim here, you know?" And just like always, her hostility just went over his head. "But you'll have to excuse me, I really have to go to the bathroom."

With that said, the auburn-haired disappeared from the scene, and to Kotegawa's frustration, the blonde Assassin had already done the same while she was focused on Shirou. Once she too walked away with an annoyed grunt, the only one left at the scene was Ren, who could only blink owlishly at the prospect of everyone forgetting about him.

"Damn it, Yuuki Shirou. I won't let you get away with that half-assed answer!"

Unfortunately, Ren wasn't able to uphold his words as the golden-eyed boy literally disappeared from the classroom the moment the bell signaling today's lessons rang.

Shirou immediately set course to the infirmary, intending to solve a way more urging problem. And fortunately, the woman in question he wanted to see wasn't away slacking like she often did.

"Ara? To what do I owe this visit, Shirou-kun?" Doctor Mikado greeted him with her trademark, anti-male smile and alluring voice from her desk. "Don't tell me you finally have some kind of illness exclusive to servants I can exclusively study."

"You wish."

His curt answer barely dwindled her mood. "Are you perhaps looking for Lady Luvia then?"

"That's not it either." Shirou made sure to close the door behind him, already giving her a clue that this was a serious matter.

"What is it then? Does it have to do with those bags under your eyes you've been trying to hide."

"As the only alien from this sector of the universe with their head screwed right I know, you are the only one who might have some useful information. Tell me, does the name "Golden Darkness" ring a bell?"

After that guy with the pet yesterday put so much emphasis on that title being equal to the literal bogeyman coming for you, of all the kinds of reaction he could have expected, the one Mikado had took him completely by surprise. Rather than fear or surprise, her eyes drifted to the window for a moment, and some sorrow of all things showed on her expression.

"Where did you hear that name?"

"My... "rivals" are starting to put a price on my head. I already dealt with a mercenary yesterday, and he mentioned someone hired that so-called "Golden Darkness"."

She closed her eyes for a moment before returning to her usual self. "Well, to answer your question, yes, it is quite difficult to not have heard of her. Her effectiveness is 100% and she doesn't just take assassination jobs. The best way to put it would be that you just point her towards a target with a proportional sum of money, and she will make sure to destroy them regardless of how powerful they are or how much security there's around them. Some rumors said she had destroyed entire private armies and citadels. One even says she cleaved a planet in two, but I think that's already an exhageration."

That... sounded awfully familiar... So much that it triggered one of the many unpleasant memories he had repressed.

---

"Why did you kill him!? You monster!"

"Daddy! Please wake up, Daddy!?"

"Please, calm down, ma'am! Don't you realize that thing was about to kill you!"

"But that still was *****!"

"He must have been possessed by an evil spirit!"

"No, I tell you! This is the work of a Baobhan Sith!"

"But there must have been another way... ****, my dear, why did you..."

Neither the desperate and sorrowful voices of the family he just butchered nor the panicked voices of the people who witnessed the atrocity barely registered in his mind. His golden eyes were drifting between on the rotting corpse in front of him, and the bloodied, cursed sword his hands that put an end to his misery.

Some of the panicked voices were right to some extent. That thing had already been dead when it attacked what once had been his family, but it somehow moved around driven by the sole directive of devouring any leaving being nearby.

There had been no way to reason with it. The honest man he had known since he started living near this village after being saved from that hell was nowhere to be found. He tried to pin it to the ground with some arrows and even projected swords, but that thing thrashed around with unbelievable strength despite being a literal walking corpse.

And to make it worse, all the wounds he inflicted regenerated almost instantly. That thing didn't seem to heal itself with some kind of magecraft, but rather its wounds were being reverted to their original state. It was only Reedemer's special property to feed on the target's lifeforce that managed to finally get the job done.

However, even though killing that thing saved the rest of the people in the village, the only thing he could feel was the urge to vomit. He wasn't just unable to prevent that tragedy from happening again, but he himself caused it with his own hands. The feeling of his hands being covered with the blood of a fellow human made him feel sick to the bone, and the tears of that man's wife and daughter caused his heart to almost fall apart.

But it had to be done. Someone had to take that burden, and if there was someone who deserved it, it was him.

"Mo... mmy?"

The cracking voice of the mourning little girl immediately snapped him back to reality, and his sixth sense started to ring alarms in his head as another anomaly appeared out of nowhere.

No... It didn't appear out of nowhere. In retrospect, he should have expected it.

The mother that had been accusing him was now convulsing as her flesh started to rot visibly, and the phenomena seemed to be spreading from a focal point. Her right arm, which had already been bitten before he made it to the scene.

Hysteria and panic started to spread once again as those now dead eyes looked for prey with an overwhelming feeling of hunger and hostility. And of course, the person closest to that thing was her daughter.

"RAAAAARRRGH!"

The thing hurled toward her daughter without a trace of hesitation, aiming to sink its teeth in her throat without caring about the sheer horror and shock on the girl's face.

However, just as fast as that thing attacked the girl mercilessly, the cursed sword severed its neck cleanly without hesitation. The resulting gush of blood covered the girl's entire body, and her eyes now were forced to look into the emotionless eyes of her mother's executioner.

The piercing scream that ensued was something that would follow him for the rest of his life...

Or so he thought, but sadly, it quickly became just one more in the growing pile.

---

Shirou blinked a couple of times as he forced that memory back into the dark corner from which popped up. At this point, it barely provoked any kind of emotion in him.

"I see." His carefree reply didn't even surprise her by this point, but he continued to speak much to her surprise. "But judging by your reaction earlier, am I right to assume you know her closerly than just the rumors and legends."

A sigh escaped her lips. "I've had a lot of patients during my career, you know? But it was an old friend who had the closer relationship, and he was the one who told me her story. It's a really sad one if you ask me. But I'm not the one to tell that story. You'll have to ask my friend if you ever run into her. That or..."

She left her words hanging, but as expected, Shirou realized what she meant. "You want me to try to talk with this "Golden Darkness"? The deadliest killing machine in this sector of the universe?"

"Just try to go easy on her. This might sound cliché, and she isn't definitely the only case ever, but she truly had no choice aside from that way of life. She has been truly alone in the universe for quite some time."

Those golden eyes looked straight into hers as if to judge if he should give her words any merit. But in the end, whatever softness was left in him won out.

"I'll give it a try, but don't expect miracles."

"That's more than enough."

With that last exchange, the auburn-haired boy left the infirmary, not wanting to monopolize it for more time when he had no need of its services.

"Yuuki Shirou!" Unfortunately, his luck caught up to him judging by that annoying voice.

It was a testament to his patience that he managed to keep his neutral expression while he turned around to look at the albino alien confronting him at the other end of the hallway.

"What is it this time, Ren-san? Do you want to catch up with the lessons using my notes?"

"Don't give me that crap! We'll settle this right now! No more lies or word games!"

Ren's resolve was met with a tired sigh, but for the first time, a frown formed on the golden-eyed teenager's face.

"Follow me then. We should do this in a more discrete place."

Given his dead serious tone, Ren decided to follow him without complaining, and some minutes later, they were already on the terrains behind the school. To be precise, they were in a clearing in front of the old school building.

To Shirou's knowledge, it hasn't been that long since it was abandoned, but it looked quite decrepit if you asked him. In fact, rather than being in the process of being reclaimed by nature on crumbling due to the lack of maintenance, it looked more like a building that had withstood a fire.

But there was no time to dwell on that. Shirou's golden eyes stared through the humanoid alien waiting for him to state his point, and to give him some credit, he was enduring the pressure quite well.

"Well? How do you want to "settle this" exactly?" After some minutes of waiting, he decided to throw Ren a bone.

"Do you really not care about Lala?"

"What kind of question is that? Do you think I can become close with a girl who just popped into my house out of nowhere two weeks ago?" His playful tone just intensified Ren's hostility.

"Then why are you keeping up this farce?"

"I've already told you, I was forced into it. I beat up her bodyguards thinking they were kidnappers, and one thing led to the other."

Ren squinted his eyes at that. "Really? You saved her? I don't see a frivolous man like you doing that. Someone who can't appreciate her and is always treating her rudely is definitely the wrong person to be her husband."

The reaction to those provocative words surprised Ren, and he wasn't sure in what sense. Yuuki Shirou just shrugged and lifted his hands as if to say "Guilty as charged".

"Would you look at that, we agree on something. If there's someone fit to make her happy, that definitely isn't me."

"Are you for real... In that case, why don't you talk with her to put an end to this and walk separate ways?"

"For one, she was the one who insisted. And for another, her bodyguard threatened me with her father coming to destroy the planet if the engagement was suddenly broken. I thought about just losing against my rivals on purpose, but I tell you, they turned out to be more of pieces of shit than me."

"In that case... You won't mind if I take Lala away?"

Before Ren could even process it, Shirou was already invading his personal space and holding his hands with a pleading look. "Yes, please! You're the only one who didn't come with the intention of defiling her or treating her like a mere object."

"That we can't have, Shirou-dono!" Just a moment after the auburn-haired boy said that, a certain iron-clad bodyguard jumped out of a nearby bush while pointing an accusing finger at him. "There has to be a fair and square battle to decide who will keep Lady Lala's hand, and you can't lose on purpose, Shirou-dono."

Shirou's expression turned blank as he uttered a "See?", and Ren could only sweatdrop at that.

"You are Zastin, right? Can't you see already that we both agree that a man like me is the most suited for Lala?"

The bodyguard shook his head. "That's not for me to decide. And if you ask sir Gid, he will just prefer the strongest candidate."

That sounded wrong on so many levels to Ren, and Shirou shot a raised eyebrow at him. "Really? Hiring hitmen to kill me counts as besting me in a strength contest?"

"WHAT!? When did that happen- Wait, those goons yesterday were hitmen coming after you!?"

"As weak as they were, yes. If that's allowed, though, then you shouldn't have any problem with me blowing up their spaceships before they even land, right?"

Those words sent chills down their spines, and Zastin immediately tried to dissuade him. "Wait, don't resort to such drastic measures! I'll send a report to Lord Gid and see what he thinks. But let's not deviate from the matter at hand."

The ashen-haired alien coughed on his hand to regain his bearings and addressed Ren with a serious tone. "Lord Ren, as I said, despite Shirou-dono's reluctance to take his current role seriously, if you want to claim Lala's hand, you will have to challenge and defeat him properly. It doesn't have to be a fight to death, despite all the other aspirants thinking so."

"I see..." The albino swallowed his hesitation before taking a couple of steps back and raising his fists to take a somewhat sloppy stance. "In that case, let's do it, Yuuki Shirou! Let's settle this like men-"

His words got stuck in his throat, and he almost choked. His legs suddenly felt as if they were made out of giggly tofu, and became unable to support his weight, causing him to fall on his butt.

The instinctive fear that he felt a couple of times prior now came back, but a hundredfold. He could barely repress his urge to scream in sheer panic and put his very being into running away towards his spaceship to get the hell out of this planet.

And a grim part of his mind told him that he wasn't doing just that because he might as well be dead already.

However, just as fast as that horrifying aura appeared, it disappeared as if nothing happened. It felt like he emerged from a pool of mud to take air after an entire minute.

Judging by the way Zastin's legs were trembling and his face became incredibly rigid, it had to be Shirou the one who emitted that... aura? He couldn't find words to describe it. It felt as if he had just witnessed all the brutality in this world.

"Ren-kun, do me a favor and don't listen to this fool or Lala's shitty father." The golden-eyed spoke with a calm voice that contrasted immensely with the prior display. "If want to win Lala's heart, the last thing you need is being powerful. I'm not an expert, but just being a decent person will already put you above me."

"In normal circumstances, I'd agree with you, Shirou-dono." Zastin forced himself out of his stupor to retort. "But don't forget that Lady Lala's husband will become the ruler of Deviluke, and by extension, the ruler of this side of the universe. Someone as strong as you would be more suited, even if it might not be what Lala wants or deserves."

"I see your kind dropped their common sense and ethics during their technological race." And Shirou's comeback was as brutal as always. "I don't care about what your ruler thinks. No nation lasts forever, more so if they don't evolve from a monarchy instated by force. The last thing a nation that has finally reached peace is someone that is fundamentally incapable of creating something new."

After stating his point, Shirou walked up beside Ren and patted him on the shoulder. "So there you have it, Ren-san. Just do whatever you consider appropriate to court Lala, and meanwhile, I'll continue to deal with the other pieces of shit that might try to hurt her."

Ren's red eyes never left his figure as Shirou walked away, his brain struggling to process all the meaning behind those words.

It was unbelievable. How could someone who thought so low of themselves and was able to exude such a terrifying presence, now be giving off an aura that would make anyone put their trust in him? Those words and those feelings stirred up something deep within him, and there was only one conclusion he could arrive at.

"Ah... I see. I lost. Not just as a rival for Lala's hand... but as a man."

---

Going back to the golden-eyed servant, he didn't even make it out of the clearing when his quiet steps stopped, and his neck slowly looked to the side. At that moment, those golden orbs met with blue ones in a really awkward silence that was only made worse as the cheeks of the girl hiding behind the bush started to heat up.

"Sairenji-san... I thought you quit harassing me...but I guess I'll have to reevaluate that-"

"No no no! This is not what you think!" Haruna closed the distance between the two in a beat while trying to justify her actions hysterically. "I just saw you and Ren-kun leaving the school with really serious faces, and the last time you had a private encounter with an alien... well..."

She left trailed her words, and that was more than enough. In fact, as one of the only two people who witnessed that, she had a pretty good point.

"I'd like to think I don't give the impression of a maniac who goes around killing for fun, but you have a point."

"Th-that's not what I meant either! I know Ren-kun isn't like that... thing, but I was afraid things would end in violence. And I have to admit, I had a general picture of your and Lala's situation, but now I finally understand it. Was it... too intrusive of my part?"

Shirou let out a quiet grunt at her shy question. "As someone aware of the supernatural, there's no problem in you knowing, and this isn't a private matter by any means. However, this matter only concerns me, so you shouldn't feel any kind of obligation to help me."

"I see..." Her eyes drifted throughout the entire place in a weak attempt to hide the obvious concern in them. "So... um, do you have something else to do, or... well, we can walk home together?"

The auburn-haired boy raised an eyebrow at that. "Don't you have training with the Tennis Club?"

That question only made the atmosphere even more awkward, and that was already saying. "You see, now that I'm not under Kama's influence... I feel really awkward around my "friends". Most of them have a really distorted image of me as if I were some kind of shameless diva that had everyone dancing on my hand."

It took some effort from Shirou to not blurt out a "that's exactly how things were". She, more than anyone, seemed to realize how messed up that was, to the point of falling into a bottomless obsession the moment she met someone who couldn't be influenced by her.

"Do as you wish. Let's go pick up our things and Lala."

The two teenagers walked back to the school, but to their surprise, Lala was nowhere to be found. Apparently, she headed home on her own after not finding Shirou, so now it was just the two of them walking in an awkward silence.

Whoever saw them, thanks to the atmosphere, they would probably think they were on a funeral procession rather than some friends casually walking, or even a couple. Without Lala to act as a nexus between them, Haruna seemed to be too shy around him to start a conversation, and Shirou didn't know the normal Haruna that well.

There was only one topic of conversation that came to mind, and it wasn't... tactful, to say the least. But it wouldn't hurt to at least ask... right?

"Err... So, how is it going with Kama? Has she... made another attempt?"

As expected, that sunk her mood visibly. However, after some seconds, she started to talk without looking directly at him.

"No... She spoke to me once, but just to say she would settle for waiting and observing for now... And as I said, I can't use her powers at will anymore..."

That was within his expectations as well, but it still made him sigh. "What a mess... I think I don't need to tell you this, but you are the very example of a ticking bomb. I don't know what's that Goddess up to, but she just has to wait patiently for you to either be tempted to use her authority or for your ego to be weakened during an emotional crisis. And neither I nor Astraea know a way to safely separate you from her."

"Yeah... This is a burden I will have to bear for the rest of my life, huh?"

A dead silence followed her resigned words, but the golden-eyed boy thought it would feel really wrong to leave the conversation like that.

"If I was the me before reincarnating, I wouldn't have given it too much thought and just nipped the problem in the bud." To his surprise, those horrible words didn't cause that much of a reaction from her, but he kept going before she could answer. "However, if an incorrigible villain like me was given a second chance, I guess I'm not one to judge you, Sairenji-san. It might seem impossible, but you'll have to make sure to not lose to her."

Her mouth took the shape of an 'o', but it quickly turned into a small smile. "If Yuuki-kun puts his faith in me, then I definitely won't lose to her."

Unfortunately, that smile was short-lived. "But... Do you really see yourself as a villain, Yuuki-kun?"

"It's not that I see myself as a villain. I am a villain. One worse than the Goddess cursing you. But let's just say that there's a small chance this time it won't have to be that way and leave it that."

"But... you are someone kind, Yuuki-kun... You may be socially awkward, and you don't hesitate to kill when someone deserves it, but..."

"The world isn't black or white, Sairenji. A cliché villain doesn't exist outside of fiction. Well, maybe the place X comes from is plagued with them, but that place is just weird. My point is that... even though I didn't want to destroy the world or something along those lines, my choices led to me becoming a villain in the truest sense of the word."

There was no further answer from the blue-haired girl. But it wasn't because Shirou's words didn't allow it, but rather...

"We're here..." The two stopped in front of a familiar apartment block's door, and Haruna turned around to say goodbye. "See you on-"

Her words became stuck in her throat for some reason, and her eyes showed a mixture of surprise and... regret as they looked past him. With a bit of curiosity, Shirou spun around to find out what was causing that reaction but judging by the lack of hostility or supernatural presence, at least it wasn't related to him.

His golden eyes widened for a split second as they landed on a girl some years older than them. To make it short, the best way to describe her would be an aged-up Haruna with shoulder-length hair and semi-formal clothes. And amusingly, her expression somewhat mirrored Haruna's, just that... well...

… It had fear mixed in as well, and for once, it wasn't caused by his presence.

"Onee-san... What are you doing here?" Haruna managed to utter those words as if she forced out the knot in her throat, but it barely alleviated her feelings.

"My lessons end around this time on Fridays, Haruna. I guess you never noticed since you always stayed at the tennis club..."

To say Haruna's sister was feeling awkward wouldn't make it justice in any way. Shirou could say that, even if she had yet to look at him, it was only his presence that forced her to have a semblance of a conversation with Sairenji. And the little sister's forced smile only became even more strained.

"Yeah... I guess this is the first time we got here at the same time..."

It didn't take a genius to read the room there. The relationship between these two sisters seemed to have degenerated to a really pitiful degree ever since Haruna was corrupted by Kama, to the point of the older one being fearful of just being near the younger one. And if he had to place his bet, their parents were no longer in this world to mediate between them, or they were just as scared.

And now he had been thrown in the middle of it. Just his luck.

The blue eyes of the older sister finally landed on him in a desperate to change the subject, but if her frown was anything to go by, his presence didn't alleviate the tension in the atmosphere in the least.

"And who might be this boy?"

"Er... H-he's Yuuki Shirou, one of my classmates." Now Haruna was actually acting like the best depiction of a schoolgirl in love, and that caused her sister to shoot a narrowed stare at her.

"Really? I thought you would have problems finding a boyfriend with your abilities..."

"Wh-wh-wh-what are you saying, Akiho-nee-sama!?"

The auburn-haired boy let out a really long and tired sigh. If it were up to him, he would just let these two sort out their problems on their own, but now he couldn't just let that horrible misunderstanding slide.

"No, I'm no one's boyfriend, and no, I'm not charmed by her." His blunt words put a spot to their conversation abruptly, and the now-identified Akiho looked at him in disbelief.

"Wait... you're aware of Haruna's... powers, but you aren't affected by them?"

"I'm not the most normal person around either. As for Haruna's condition, I and some acquaintances managed to... let's say suppress it for the time being. You should have noticed by now her change in demeanor these recent days."

His words were shocking to her, but it was obvious she wasn't buying it completely. And how could she? Her predicament had been only worsening for almost a decade, and now a stranger popped out of nowhere to tell her that it had been solved already without any hard evidence.

"And how can you be so sure you aren't under her influence right now? How can I be sure this isn't just another of her attempts to pretend nothing has happened after what she did to our parents!?"

"Who knows?" Once again, his carefree answer left her perplexed. "I just wanted to clarify that I don't have that kind of relationship with your sister. Whether you decide to believe the rest or not is up to you. But as someone who lost his family in that same tragedy, I find it sad that you two can't cherish what little you have now."

With his piece said, the boy quietly left the scene. While the older sister could only blink owlishly, the younger one was having trouble with the incredibly high temperature of her cheeks.

---

Next morning...

"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you, Shirou? Today's situation seems worse than usual, and well..."

Mikan's voice came from behind while Shirou put on his shoes in the entrance hall. While she was using a casual tone, there was a hint of worry in her voice.

After all, this wasn't just going to be the usual. And that didn't just mean that Lala would come with him, and that he would introduce her to his father. Revealing the truth also included his identity.

Crossing the bridge of revealing all that mind-blowing information wasn't that easy. And chances of screwing up and making their parents think they were crazy and delusional were astronomical. And for that reason...

"No, leave it to me, Mikan. It wouldn't be fair for you to have to help the old man two red lines in a row. And I have more experience with divulging secrets."

That was pretty much a lie. As someone who fooled the entire world into thinking the hero and the monster were separate entities, revealing secrets wasn't exactly his forte, and his only prior experience was telling her about it.

"Are you ready then, Shirou?" Lala by his side seemed to be bubbling with excitement even more than usual. He couldn't help but wonder if the sight of a hellish and stinky workplace would shatter those illusions or not.

"Let's get going then. The sooner we deal with it, the better."

And with that said, the two teenagers ventured into the time in a similar way they did a week ago. If you asked Shirou, their plan for today was in a way worse than that time, and that was taking into account the mess in which it culminated.

The studio of Shirou's father was located in the middle of the city, so they were actually heading in the same direction. The chances of meeting with a familiar face were slim though, as the people that could be categorized as such were few, but fate seemed to have its own plans when his golden eyes spotted a certain black-haired maid walking in the same direction as them.

Her awareness seemed to be on point, as she turned around to look at them just a moment after their eyes landed on her, and waved at them friendly.

"What a pleasant coincidence, Shirou-san, Lala-sama. You won't happen to be going on a grocery shopping trip as well, will you?" She greeted them cordially as usual once they caught up to her.

"Unfortunately, no."

"We have to pay Shirous father a visit and lend him a hand with his work." Lala interjected immediately after Shirou's curt answer to elaborate.

"I see. It's a pity then. I'm sure Shirou-san here would have really useful advice in the field of kitchen ingredients."

The golden-eyed boy cocked up an eyebrow at that. "Do you really need quality-price advice? Last I checked, you guys are literally swimming in cash."

That managed to get a chuckle out of her. "There's a difference between not having to worry about a tight budget and just wasting money, you know? But before you go, I think this is a good chance to let you know about Luvia-sama's current findings. You see, by mapping and studying the leylines below the city, she should be able to get an approximate of the starting point of the incident Haruna-san spoke of soon enough."

While Lala only felt curiosity towards that, Shirou froze for a second before taking on a serious semblance.

"Even if we find the lab, the chance of finding any trace of their investigation that hadn't been reduced to ashes is abysmal."

"Who knows? That remote possibility already makes it worth the effort. And by the way..."

The black-haired beauty suddenly stepped into his personal space without any kind of shame and whispered into his ear.

"Yesterday we spotted a couple of spaceships arriving in this city. If I have to place my bets, chances are one of those is that "Golden Darkness" you discussed with Mikado-sensei."

The frown on Shirou's face only deepened. "Do you literally have ears throughout all the city?"

"What kind of maid would I be if I wasn't capable of at least that~"

With that said, she stepped back, and ignored Lala's questioning stare while saying goodbye. "I'll see you at school then, Lala-sama, Shirou-san."

"What did she tell you, Shirou?" Lala inquired after some seconds of awkward silence, not knowing how to feel about the newfound complicity between those two, but Shirou quickly dismissed her.

"Just an errand I have to take care of later. Let's get going."

The two teenagers resumed their pace toward the study, and they arrived without any other occurrence after a quarter of an hour. However, before inserting the key in the door, Shirou turned to look at Lala with a really serious face.

"Are you ready?"

The pink-haired princess tilted her head. "Shirou, I know I haven't done that much housework in my life, but this can't be that bad."

"It's not the chores I'm worried about. You are about to enter a small place in which four men are working themselves to exhaustion in a desperate attempt to make it before the red line. The smell in the air can be... shocking even for me."

"Oh... Well, I don't think it will be worse than some of the friends Nana and Momo brought home."

The puzzled look Shirou gave her almost got a giggle out of her. "What kind of "friend" would reek so hard?"

"Sorry, what I mean by "friends" is actually a collection of rare species of animals and plants from all kinds of planets."

The boy could only shudder internally. If Lala's gadgets could very well lead him insane, he didn't want to imagine having to add that to the equation.

He decided to put that aside as he opened the door. "Hey, old man, I'm-"

"SENSEI, I FINISHED THE THE NEXT PAGE'S BACKGROUNDS!"

"GOOD! LEAVE IT NEXT TO ME! HOW'S THE INKING GOING!?"

"I'M MOSTLY DONE! I CAN TAKE THE NEXT PAGE!"

The frantic voices coming from the other side of the door completely overshadowed his. In fact, Shirou could feel his hair waving with the air pressure caused by their intensity.

With no other choice, the auburn-haired boy filled his lungs with air and reinforced his throat in preparation.

"I SAID I'M HERE, OLD MAN!"

His thunderous voice pierced through all the ruckus and forced the work overdrive into a pause as the man in question snapped his neck in Shirou's direction. The next moment, he had already crossed the distance between his desk and the door and was about to drag him in.

"Shirou! Glad you made it here so soon! We need one of your super energetic breakfasts ASAP! Just coffee and energy drinks aren't cutting it anymore! At the pace we're going, we'll finish in another eight hours, but the red line is in six! And I'll need your supervision and corrections for the fighting scenes-"

His rambling suddenly died in his throat as his golden eyes finally noticed the presence of his other guest. They then started to shift quickly between the equally colored eyes of his son and the emerald ones of the foreign beauty that accompanied Shirou, before pulling the latter closer.

"Impossible... Shirou, since when did you get a girlfriend, this foreign beauty no less, and why didn't you tell me!?"

Shirou repressed his urge to sigh. "Don't get ahead of yourself, old man. She's just an exchange student who is staying at our place and wanted to lend a hand."

"Oh come on, Shirou! Don't be shy. Even if that's true, what are you waiting for? This is a one-in-a-lifetime chance! Look at me. Your mother was also the most popular and unreachable girl on the campus, but I gathered my courage and here we are."

"This isn't what you think... at least not entirely. I'll explain later. You don't have time for this kind of father-son talk right now, do you?"

His father gave him a long stare, but he conceded in the end. And Lala chimed in the moment she noticed that.

"So you are Shirou's father? You two don't look much alike... Oh, right, you told me you were adopted, didn't you? Anyway, nice to meet you, my name is Lala Satalin Deviluke, Shirou's friend and housemate."

Her cheerful introduction and friendly smile seemed to illuminate the gloomy workshop.

"Likewise, Lala-chan! I'm Yuuki Saibai, Shirou and Mikan's father as you already know. You can make yourself at home here. In fact, I wouldn't mind if you even called me "father-in-law"."

Shirou couldn't help but bring his hand to his face in shame. Was it really that bad that he never brought a girl to their home up until now for him to be so aggressive about it? And to his misfortune, that basically gave Lala the green light she sought with this visit without even mentioning it.

"Really!? It's a little embarrassing, but I'll try!"

"Wow! I was joking but she went with it like nothing! Shirou, what are you waiting-"

"Let's get down to it, Lala! We can't take more of their time." Not wanting things to spiral further, Shirou took Lala's hand and dragged her to the small kitchen behind the studio, even if that only got some looks of complicity from his father and his assistants.

The moment they got there, Lala saw the auburn-haired boy immediately entering what she called "chef mode" as he put on an apron and checked the fridge.

"Let me help you, Shirou. What do I do?"

"If you want to help then follow my instructions to the letter and I want you fully concentrated. We're just gonna prepare a caloric bomb for them, but I don't want to see a burned kitchen. Start by picking an apron and washing your hands."

"Okay! But I thought you hated that kind of food."

"They're gonna need it if they don't want to collapse halfway through. Father can keep the pace as absurd as it might sound, but the same cannot be said of his assistants."

"I see. You said things were bad but I didn't think it would be that bad..."

Lala had to admit she enjoyed cooking with Shirou, even if that only entailed simple things for her. But Shirou always said that every detail was crucial when it came to the kitchen and the battlefield.

The mood in the workshop definitely improved when Lala served the breakfast like a maid. She even asked Peke to morph into a mukama outfit to amplify the effect. But it didn't last long.

As the hours passed the two teenagers cleaned the place and disposed of all the pilling up energy drinks and instant noodle cups. Even after all their efforts and Shirou stepping in to draw some pages from time to time, it was evident that they wouldn't make it.

As Shirou said, while his father worked like a possessed man, the assistants were falling behind and frustrated cries started to fill the place, which only led to more mistakes.

A sigh escaped Shirou's lips as he observed the scene. The fastest conclusion to reach here was "you reap what you sow", and this wasn't even the first time they wouldn't make it in time. But he wouldn't deny he empathized with them to some degree.

The concern at the top of his head quickly changed as he failed to spot Lala in the room. Without a word, he searched the other rooms and quickly found her in a small room filled to the brim with books, manga, and light novels, most likely used as reference material. The pink-haired princess seemed to be completely absorbed in reading through one of them.

"I see you are finally able to read Japanese without trouble."

His voice smashed the atmosphere, but she didn't mind it as she left the manga on one of the shelves.

"Yeah, Mikan's collection of manga is to blame. I couldn't wait to read the stories written on this planet, and I must say, so far they are beautiful just as everything else on this planet."

It took Shirou a monumental effort to not roll his eyes. She was an alien, so ruining the good image she had of this planet wasn't exactly necessary. Instead, he realized that most of the manga they had at house were copies his father sent them of his works or Mikan's "Shojo" ones.

"Do you like father's? Those are quite crude and profound."

"Hey, just because Kyoko-chan's show became my favorite doesn't mean I can't enjoy that kind of story, too."

The boy just shrugged at her pout. "Just asking. Most of the reviews are often complaining about the old man killing too many characters. While we are it, though, what form of entertainment would you say is your favorite, aside from making gadgets."

She brought a finger to her chin, but it really didn't take her that much time to think her answer.

"It definitely has to be the video games. Creating one myself has been always kind of an unfulfilled dream. Maybe I should start considering it. You said vacations are around the corner, right?"

"That's a legit way to pass time if nothing comes up. But for now, don't let me ruin your lecture. You can stay here while I help father, as futile as it is."

He was about to walk out of the room, but a tender hand caught his before he even took the first step.

"Wait, Shirou. I can't just sit and watch them agonize like that either. Let me try something."

Shirou gave her a raised eyebrow, and her answer was bringing out that all-purpose tool of hers.

"I don't like where this is going." Although that thought crossed his mind, he let her do her thing.

Some minutes later, the confusion in everyone's faces was more than justified. Saiba's assistants now had their limbs attached to some kind of mechanical arms sprouting from their chairs.

"Um... Lala-san, what is this?"

"How is this going to help us exactly?"

"Don't worry. Relax and let me turn it on... now!"

The moment she activated the devices, the assistants started to work like possessed. And by that, he meant that their arms cut through the air at blurring speeds, almost at the level of a servant. It was absurd no matter how you looked at it, and more so for the common folk, but the reactions of the victims were something more like...

"Woah! We're doing it!"

"Incredible!"

"We can keep up with Sensei's pace!"

They were in pure bliss. His father's drawing speed was amazing even for Shirou's standards, but it wasn't that fast. Regardless of it, with that considerable boost, they didn't just finish before the red line. They did it with hours to spare, even before lunch.

"Unbelievable. I'm not sure about what you did, Lala-chan, but it was of great help. If I'm being honest, I was already prepared to call my editor and start making excuses."

Saibai spoke to them alone in the kitchen while his assistants finished scanning the pages. Shirou was just as surprised as him but for a different reason.

"That just happened, and that's your reaction?"

"With all the IA breakthroughs and whatnot nowadays, that kind of thing is within the realm of possibility."

The golden-eyed teenager opened his mouth to retort but closed it before sighing. "If you're that open-minded, then I guess you won't take Lala's true identity. This is a good moment as any other."

"What do you mean by that?"

What followed next was an information dump that lasted several minutes, and his father's jaw started to drop centimeters with each passing second. It wasn't just Lala's identity, he also had to add the same shafted version of his origin as well.

After everything was said, it took Saibai several minutes to even start putting together all the crazy information, all under Lala's expectant stare and Shirou's poker face.

"Wow... Just... wow... That's a lot to take in in one sit... To think magic and all that stuff was always real... and I never expected aliens to really be so human-like and cute..." His eyes then met Shirou's directly. "So you two are actually going out as I supposed. You don't have to be that shy in front of my assistants, Shirou."

The golden-eyed teenager shot a blank stare at his father. "Really? That's your highlight of all that mind-shattering explanation?"

"Why of course? It is a father's responsibility to seek the welfare of his children, and that includes your sexual life. I was honestly thinking you struck for the other team. But it's a relief to know that the problem went out the window by a stroke of luck. That bit about being the "ruler of the universe" sounds ominous, but in the end, it will be just like our politicians-"

"Hey, slow your roll, old man. Weren't you listening during the part of me being forced into this without my consent? We're just trying to know each other and then we'll decide."

"What are you saying, son? I'm a man of action, fantasy, and sci-fi, but I've read my fair share of romantic comedies for inspiration to know that you are meant for each other. The quiet introvert who has trouble externalizing his feelings, and the energetic extrovert who wears her heart on her sleeve and can see through him. That's one of the oldest tropes."

A scream of sheer agony and desperation threatened to climb up Shirou's throat, but he managed to swallow it down. Why has everyone the apparent necessity to compare his life with literature clichés!?

"C'mon, Lala-chan, don't you agree?"

"Well, I mean..." She started to fidget with her fingers. "While having your approval is amazing, I too believe this was too sudden for Shirou. I can wait as long as he needs while I also get to know him better."

"There you have it." Saibai's expression softened for a moment before speaking again. "Leaving aside my dream of having nephews, you should at least give it a try, son. I don't want you to end up alone."

Shirou looked aside. If his father of all people was speaking seriously for once, he couldn't just refuse outright even if he knew he was asking for the impossible.

"Well, what can I say? It's not like I can quit from this arrangement just like that..." His expression then turned dead serious as each pair of golden eyes met again. "But leaving aside my love life... are you gonna accept that the world you've been living in was just a nice forefront just like that? Don't give me the "as a mangaka, this is my dream come true!". You will now have to live with the constant fear of all the supernatural bullshit happening as of late. Not to mention all these years I've been lying to you, Mother, and Mikan."

Faced with the piercing stare of his son, the father sighed. "To be honest with you, son, we were kinda signing up for that the moment we decided to adopt a child that somehow survived a massive fire that popped out of nowhere and never got a proper explanation. And it wasn't just that. I remember the months previous to the incident, when news of people disappearing out of thin air was on all the paper news. Those were weird and terrifying times to live in this city. And you never acted as a regular kid, to say the least. We could chalk some things to the trauma, but you were too emotionally mature."

"Yeah, I admit this city for some reason seems to be a focal point for eccentricities. But don't you feel disturbed about your son being a guy who died a long time ago and has his memories mostly intact? I wasn't exactly a good apple."

"Surprising would be the word I'd use. But regardless of your reincarnation or magic, you are still my son, Shirou. Nothing is going to change that, no matter what you did in your past life. What matters is that you grew up this time to be a responsible and kindhearted young man with a bright future ahead. Besides, we are all a bunch of freaks one way or another in this family."

Shirou swallowed slowly. Those words were definitely heartwarming, but there was no doubt Saibai would change his mind if he told him all the atrocities he did in his past life, all the blood on his hands, and his unavoidable fate.

But he couldn't do that. At the end of the day, he wasn't enough coldblooded to destroy the only genuine bonds he formed in this life with his own hands. And just like that, he raised his hands in defeat.

"Well, you win. Will you help me break it down to Mother?"

"Of course! As long as the red line doesn't choke me again."

Lala couldn't help but smile as well seeing the father and son's smiles. They were contagious, even if one of them was obviously the brighter one. The conflict here, in a way, was deeper than hers with her father, but seeing that Shirou's worries ended up being unnecessary made her day.

"All's well that ends well! What do we do now that we finished so fast, Shirou?"

Before any of the two men could answer her, the growling of her stomach already did it. Shirou took a peek at his cell's screen and confirmed his suspicion.

"It's past lunchtime already, but we didn't even notice it. I guess that should be our priority,"

"Don't let this old man hold you back then. You can leave the wrapping up to me and my boys."

With the next course of action set, the three of them finally came out of the kitchen... and stumbled upon a nightmarish view.

"Huh!? What happened here!?" Lala ended up shouting in surprise. The three assistants were now collapsed all over the place, and their painful expressions really gave the feeling that they just died the most painful and excruciating death.

"Of course, this would happen..." Shirou let out another sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. "The machines didn't boost their capabilities, but rather forced their bodies to perform at that level with complete disregard for their body. All their muscles must be puree by now."

"What!? We gotta call an ambulance then!"

And so, they had to spend another fifteen minutes waiting for the ambulance and then make a really good excuse when the police asked about how in the world they destroyed all their muscles drawing a manga.

---

While they were already on the way to the Yuuki residence, it was obvious just looking at Lala's face that she was really hungry.

"Shirou... I know I always say your food is the best... but can't we make a stop even if it's just for an appetizer?"

His golden eyes searched his surroundings in search of something that could fit that description. He didn't bring that much money because the initial plan was to have lunch at his father's studio after all, and his Mind's Eye had yet to grow used to factor in Lala's chaos.

Fortunately, he spotted a taiyaki stall near them. It wasn't the healthiest of foods, but Lala's metabolism would burn it quickly and they were relatively cheap. After making some fast calculations, he had enough to buy a couple for Lala and one for him.

The pink-haired princess didn't waste a second, taking the first bit instants after they were placed on her hands, while the auburn-haired boy took his time to savor it... or that's what he would have liked to do if it wasn't because he noticed a rather intense stare in his direction.

"Awesome. This was the perfect time and place for another of those nitwits to make an appearance." He whispered under his breath while searching for the guy who wasn't even making an effort to hide their presence. However, his golden eyes widened for a second with genuine surprise as they met blood-red ones.

A girl a year younger than him whose long, golden hair made her stand out like a sore thumb in the crowd. And if that wasn't enough, her Gothic dress obviously oriented to high-speed combat and screaming "cosplay" to the common folk definitely made it impossible to miss her.

However, aside from him, no one in the street seemed to notice her. Despite her colorful looks, her presence was hardly noticeable, and felt like something that didn't belong there. Not just in a supernatural sense, but as if that girl didn't fit in this society.

It was painfully familiar in more than one sense. As a fellow outcast, it was like looking at a mirror, but with that hair and eye colors, it also brought a possibility to mind.

"Don't tell me... Goldie got stuck in the body of a little girl again?"

That thought almost caused him to chuckle out of nowhere, but upon realizing what that mysterious girl was looking at specifically, the possibility was immediately ruled out.

The King of Heroes would never stare so intensely at a taiyaki like a hungry kitty. Which begged the question, who in the world was this little girl? Unless she had that kind of sexual preference, he doubted she came here for Lala. Less if her body reflected her age.

Wait... It can't be... Golden hair and dark clothes...

He felt a massive urge to facepalm, but Lala's voice pulled him out of his tunnel vision.

"What's the matter, Shirou? What are you looking at?"

This was going to be a mess...

---

Yuuki Shirou. That name had been instilled in Konjiki no Yami's mind from the moment Prince Lacospo of planet Gaama hired her to kill him.

The news of people never returning from Earth had hard-proof evidence. Only a few made it out after Princess Lala's escorts requested for someone to pick them up. None of them wanted to talk about what happened, but the expressions they made could be summarized as "someone who saw hell".

That would solidify the description of his target Lacospo provided her... but something wasn't adding up.

The only available pictures of her target showed a human boy. Yeah, his intense gaze could frighten those princes who never left the comfort of their palace and were unaware of the concept of violence, but that was the only thing that a human, an underdeveloped species, could have going for him.

The notion of a simple human boy leaving such a lasting trauma or outright sundering so many people of different spaces either more evolved or technologically superior didn't seem to fit in her mind. But as a hitman, she learned to not take things for granted, so she dedicated the entire day yesterday since she arrived to carefully observe him.

Her precautions seemed to have paid off. She was sure her target never noticed her presence, and it would continue that way as long as she avoided looking at him directly and suppressed her emotions.

And the results were... completely uneventful. Nothing remarkable happened that could give her an idea of how Yuuki Shirou destroyed all the competence for Princess Lala's hand, even with the prince of planet Memorze constantly trying to pick a fight, or even that blonde girl that attacked him out of nowhere.

The thing ended with the use of some sort of intimidation technique and some blatant reverse psychology that somehow worked on the albino prince. Not a single drop of blood was shed, and the prince's body was left intact. Aside from that, she was subjected to watching the normal life of a teenager on a peaceful planet.

Rather than surprising, Konjiki no Yami was starting to feel frustrated. Did he actually notice her and was blatantly making fun of her? No, someone whose level of stoicism was on par with hers could never enjoy that kind of thing for so long.

And much to her growing vexation, things didn't change today. Aside from some shenanigans with Lala's gadgets, Yuuki Shirou just aided his father in drawing some kind of picture book, and then looked for food.

"..." At that moment, her concentration slipped for a moment as her eyes set on that foreign food in her target's hands. Her stomach growled like a beast, reminding her that she neglected her basic necessities ever since she started to stalk her prey.

She never noticed that those golden eyes were set on her. The smell of the food clouded her mind, with whatever caution remained in her barely preventing her from rushing toward her new target.

The smell became more intense with each second, until...

"Hello!" The high-pitched voice of Princess Lala brought her back to reality like a splash of cold water. It wasn't only her who closed the distance without her noticing. Yuuki Shirou was also there, giving her a raised eyebrow.

"What is a cute little girl like you doing here all alone on your own?"

"Huh?" The only thing that slipped through her lips was a surprised voice. Who in the world would treat her like some kind of little, defenseless animal? And did she just call her "cute"?

And to add to her embarrassment, as if this wasn't enough, her stomach grumbled again with enough strength for them to hear. Her cheeks started to get flustered despite her herculean effort to keep her stoic expression, and their reactions weren't helping.

"Oh? You hungry? Shirou, can we buy her a Taiyaki, too?"

"I don't have enough money, but..." The golden-eyed boy then proceeded to offer her his still-intact food. "You can take mine. I wasn't that hungry anyway."

Konjiki no Yami eyed the offered food with an analytical eye. She saw him buy it moments ago, so unless the man at the food stall was working for Yuuki Shirou, there was no way this was poisoned. Her urges didn't take long to overwhelm her sense of caution, and she quickly snatched it to take the first bite.

For all the people around, she really looked like a cute kitty munching its food, albeit still stoic. It took half of the Taiyaki to satiate her enough to care about her surroundings again.

"Earth's food is weird... but it tastes good..."

"Right!? And it can't even be compared to Shirou's food!"

The princess tried to strike up a conversation again. Whether she was completely oblivious of her slip there giving her away as a fellow foreigner or she was already aware, Kanjiki no Yami ignored it in favor of focusing on her target now that her mind wasn't clouded with unnecessary thoughts.

"You are Yuuki Shirou, right?"

While the pink-haired princess was surprised by her words, there was barely any reaction from the boy. Was he already aware of her identity? She was pretty famous, as bothering as that was, but that fame shouldn't have reached this isolated planet.

She doubted Lacospo compromised her mission. She threatened him beforehand to at least wait for her to engage the target before approaching Lala. The only thing that came to mind would be one of her rivals in the space underworld.

No matter. She already lost part of the surprise factor due to her slip. This was already going to be decided by Yuuki Shirou's reaction time.

"Yes, that would be me." He answered, with some caution in his voice.

How perceptive. He managed to sense that something was amiss here, at the least. It was now or never then. She would end this with a swift strike.

The air froze between the two, with the princess shifting her glance from one another with confusion written all over her face. And the next moment-

"Kya!?" A scared yelp came out of Lala's mouth just a beat after a loud, metallic bang filled the place. Sparks filled her vision for a moment before revealing a sight that caused a knot in her stomach.

The cute girl's right hand was now turned into a sharp blade that had been stopped inches away from Shirou's neck by the black sword he projected in the nick of time.

Those red eyes widened in surprise for a moment. Of all the things, him being able to pull out a weapon out of thin air to counter her shape-shifting ability wasn't something she expected. But now that she looked at his eyes again, she was able to confirm something that had been nagging at her ever since she started watching him.

He might have been acting as a regular student, but she always got the feeling that he didn't fit in this peaceful place. And now that the gig was up, she could see clear as day that they shared the same eyes. The eyes of a cold-blooded killing machine.

"Hmph, and here I thought I could've talked out things for once. But I must say. For an Assassin, your sense of discretion is surprisingly non-existent."

The golden-haired girl ignored the obvious taunt. He did have a point though. People were starting to look at them with several degrees of disbelief and panic. But she needn't be cautious when she would be out of this planet once she was done.

"You are finally showing your true colors, Yuuki Shirou. Nothing personal, but I was hired to destroy you after you killed so many princes."

He didn't bother to reply. Instead, his eyes darted toward the still-dazzled princess. "Lala, run home! I'll deal with her!"

"But-" She immediately tried to protest the moment she was brought out of her stupor, but Shirou ignored her and jumped back several meters.

Before he even landed, Konjiki no Yami was already on him, swinging her shape-shifted hand to bisect him. However, a matching white sword appeared on his right hand to deflect it. His combat attire and red cloak were summoned as well, and he kicked the floor with all his strength to jump over the building to his left.

With blurring speeds, the black and red figures disappeared in the distance as they jumped through the roofs like an exhalation, leaving everyone who watched the scene dumbfounded, including Lala.

She honestly didn't know what to do. This wasn't one of her suitors, nor did that girl seem to be a servant like X who came here for absurd motives. That girl seemed to be an actual hitman paid to kill Shirou, even if that description didn't match her image at all.

And that things she said... that Shirou killed all her other suitors... She couldn't just believe what a stranger said, but judging by the way she never got notice of what happened to them...

"I have to ask Zastin for help!" With that course of action set, she brought out her D-dial and called her bodyguard's contact.

The option of video-call was activated, showing Zastin's face the moment he took the call.

"What's the matter, Lady La-"

"There's no time, Zastin! A really cute, little girl with long, golden hair, red eyes, and wearing a mostly black dress attacked Shirou! She said she was paid, so I think she's some kind of assassin!"

"WHAT!? Shirou-dono said he already dealt with one of those, but that description... don't tell me... Someone had the great idea of hiring Golden Darkness!?"

"Who's that?" Lala ignored Zastin's panic attack and asked out of curiosity.

"An elite Assassin! No, that doesn't come close. To put it simply, she's the one you hire to kill the boogeyman. Whatever you do, don't even think of getting close, Lady Lala! I honestly don't know if Shirou-dono can defeat her. At any rate. Tell me where they are and I'll go help him!"

"I don't know! They ran away too fast. Most likely Shirou is bringing the fight to a secluded place. I'll go after them!"

"Lady Lala! What did I just say-"

Zastin's voice was interrupted, but Lala had to make a double take as she wasn't the one who hung up the call. In fact, the image on the screen literally started to glitch out as if the signal had been jammed.

However, before she started worrying about a malfunction, the image was reestablished... just that it showed a completely different person.

"Yahoo, Lala-tan! Do you remember me?"

A visible grimace tainted Lala's face as she looked at the pompous, humanoid frog... thing on the other side of the call.

"Geh! Lacospo!? What are you- no, don't tell me... Were you the one who hired that Yami cutie!?"

The expression of the now-identified Lacospo could only be described as a mixture of surprise and befuddlement, but it shifted back to the cocky one shortly after.

"Oh? So you already know about her? Well, that just saves me the trouble of breaking it down for you. Lala-tan, I came here to pick you up after Golden Darkness disposes of Yuuki Shirou so we can marry as soon as possible! You'll have a special place in my harem!"

The repulsion in Lala's face only grew with each word, and the lascivious face that thing was making wasn't helping in the least. Then, she proceeded to stick out her tongue.

"Bleh! I refuse! I'll never marry someone like you! Shirou is a wonderful person, and I prefer him over you in every possible way! I'm sure he'll manage to talk things with Yami."

"Really? You must have been brainwashed if you prefer that murderer. But don't worry. I'll come to save you in no time, Lala-tan!"

Her eyebrow twitched upon hearing that again, but she couldn't retort as the call was cut after those words.

"Peke! Deploy the anti-gravity wings!"

"On it!"

She didn't waste time and flew in the same direction those two ran. Although she couldn't help the oppressing feeling in her chest.

---

"I wonder... how is Yuuki-kun doing right now..."

A certain blue-haired girl happened to be daydreaming as she strolled her with her little Boston Terrier called Maron.

She literally didn't have a backup plan in case Shirou rejected her proposal, so she ended up spending her entire morning with her dog in the park. It was also a way to stay away from her sister. Things were somewhat better after Shirou intervened, but it was still awkward.

"Woof! Woof!" Her train of thought was interrupted when her dog suddenly started to bark. It wasn't an especially aggressive pet so that in itself was already weird.

But the sight that was awaiting her when she raised her head was definitely astonishing.

"Huh!? Yuuki-kun!?"

Regular people would ask why was someone shooting fireworks at noon, but although Haruna no longer had complete access to Kama's power, her eyes were still sharp enough to distinguish the red and black dancing in the air.

Yin and Yang swords sailed masterfully to fend off the relentless onslaught that came from all angles. The enemy wasn't just attacking with her morphed limbs. Her long hair was moving as if it had an impossible locomotive system, and its tips had also shape-shifted into bladed weaponry and even dragon heads.

In a sense, it was quite close to the myth of Medusa and the snakes growing out of her hair.

But leaving aside how mesmerizing the fight was, even if the red knight was clearly just stalling, a thought inevitably crossed Haruna's mind.

"How in the world did he get involved in another mess just a week later?"

And judging by the killing intent that girl was giving off, this was just as serious. Her rational mind told her that Shirou wouldn't have trouble with it though. X was way more dangerous compared to what that girl was showing, let alone Kama. But her heart inevitably worried about the boy.

Not about his chances, but the fact that the odds were things would end in bloodshed again, which would confirm his words about being a villain.

"Fufu. Do you want to help him?" Haruna's blood ran cold the instant the Goddess in her body decided to break her silence. "This is the perfect chance. I'm in the mood to lend you some of my power."

"W-what are you saying!? Do you really believe I'll fall for it again so easily!?"

"You're scared now? I thought I heard a little, brave girl promising that she wouldn't be defeated by my corruption. But I guess all that was just smoke and mirrors."

The way the Goddess managed to utter those words in a mocking, yet utterly alluring tone was terrifying. And she could see in the corner of her eye Kama's image replacing her reflection on a window, giving her trademark sweet smile that had only pure wickedness behind.

"That would be a last resort in any case. Besides, Yuuki-kun doesn't need help with that."

"Oh yeah. He will easily kill that little girl and add another corpse to the still-growing pile, until he finally realizes nothing has changed even in this second life and hits rock bottom."

The blue-haired found herself biting her lower lip to the point of drawing blood. Just like that, she had been thrown into a crossroad in which every option was bad.

"And what do you want me to do with your power? Be the one to kill her instead?"

"Ha? My flames of love aren't meant for that emotionless kid. But you still have my arrows of love. They are meant to end conflict, even if that doesn't tend to end well for us. If you intervene like a knight in shining armor and end the fight peacefully, you will definitely impress him."

That was easier said than done... but it was at least better than the alternative, she guessed.

"Okay... You've got a deal."

"Fufu. I knew you couldn't resist, my dear Haruna."

The familiar sense of power assailed her once again, but it was definitely more toned down and more manageable. Her reflection now showed that her clothes had been replaced by Kama's, and she couldn't help but get flustered seeing herself in such a revealing getup. Her now red eyes shone with divinity, and her hair, although remained shoulder-length, was now snow white.

With a single mental command, Kama's original sugarcane bow was summoned into her hands, completing the set.

"Wait for me, Yuuki-kun!"

---

"Stop running and fight, Yuuki Shirou." The red knight could discern the frustration starting to taint Konjiki no Yami's otherwise flat tone.

He was admittedly dragging this more than he should, but the only thing he could think to end this without having to beat her up was smacking the one who hired her instead. If there's no one to pay her, she should leave.

But finding the guy was proving to be more difficult than he expected. Seeing that he was pretending to be cornered, if they were just like the other, they should have already given out their position just to start bragging.

Meanwhile, he took his time trying to discern the nature of her powers. Even if they often took the shape of swords, they were still organic to some extent so he got quite a big migraine the moment his reality marble tried to reproduce them.

But that in itself introduced another question. Lifeforms might be able to shape-shift to even absurd extents depending on their anatomy, but swords were a human invention. They might imitate the shape of it, but he could easily tell this girl's blades had a cohesive structure as if they had been properly forged. And there wasn't any kind of magecraft involved here, so it had to be some kind of technological bullshit.

The multitasking was put aside for a moment when his Mind's Eye read a sequence that would require him to focus all his senses in the fight.

His steel-tipped boots kicked the floor to propel him into the sky just in time to avoid being crushed by the golden-haired girl's foot now turned into a spiky wreaking ball.

The red knight then flipped in the air to face her directly. She didn't waste a second before attacking him with her bladed hair now that he was unable to dodge, but at the same time, her eyes widened upon seeing Kanshou and Bakuya flying towards her in return.

Her sword arms were immediately swung to bat them, but the unexpected strength behind them almost caused her to lose her balance, and she was able to hear a cracking sound.

Those precious seconds she put her mind into regaining her balance were more than enough for Shirou to maneuver through her attack with just some scratches. Just as he deduced, she was controlling the hair rather than having given it life as some kind of familiar, so her coordination faltered the moment she got distracted.

"Hnn!" He brought down the newly traced pair of married blades, and the golden-haired blocked them in the nick of time. Once again the strength surpassed her expectations, sending her sliding a couple of meters.

"Hmm... Seeing that you are a fellow killer, I'll have to check the validity of Lacospo's claims about you being a womanizer as well..."

"Wha-" Shirou didn't manage to finish the word as he almost tripped upon processing her muttered words, losing all his momentum in the fight.

"Where the hell did that come from!? The most intimate interaction I've had with a woman who isn't my mother or sister is holding hands!"

"Pervert."

He gave up on trying to understand how could she consider that enough merit to call him a pervert. Instead, he focused on the incoming attack, taking the form of a metallic whip aimed at his neck.

But before he could deflect it, a couple of flower-themed arrows did that for him. The rain of pink arrows didn't stop there and started to assail the golden-haired girl. Rather than drawing a straight line towards the target or a descending curve, they drew anti-natural arcs to attack from unexpected angles in a similar way Konjiki no Yami used her hair.

Unfortunately, said quiet girl started deflecting all the arrows with her blades with just some effort. If there was something she excelled at, was defending against that kind of attack.

"Yuuki-kun, leave this to me! I just need to land an arrow and this will be over!" The one shooting the arrows landed beside the red knight with a determined look that was betrayed by her visible embarrassment.

And without even waiting for an answer, she started sliding through the rooftop with her golden heels as if she were skating on ice while continuing to fire arrows at Konjiki no Yami. She didn't look at him directly due to her embarrassment, and so, she missed the blank stare he was sending at her.

Yeah, those arrows ended conflicts... by making the target fall head over hills with the first person in sight. That was definitely the last thing he needed.

"Damn it, not even 24 hours after talking about resisting against Kama's influence and she got tricked again... I better knock Golden Darkness out..."

He readied his stance to rush at the first opening, but he wasn't even finished when he was interrupted again, this time by his cellphone's ringtone.

"What the..."

The timing couldn't have been more horrible, but a part of his mind compelled him to at least see who it was. And the name that appeared on the screen surprised him just as it caused him to grimace.

"*Heart*Alice *Heart*... When the hell did we exchange numbers and why is her number saved with that name..."

Trying to not think much about it, he picked up the call with a tired sigh.

"What is it? You aren't calling at the most opportune of moments?"

"Oh my, how rude. On the contrary, you should be thanking me for calling you at this precise moment, Shirou-san. After all, I just happened to stumble upon a spaceship from which I detect life signs."

He couldn't help but frown. She was definitely aware of that since this morning and kept it to herself. But there was no time to think about the maid's tendency to tease him as of late.

"Where?"

"In the bushes behind the Shinto shrine. I'll leave you to take care of that. I have something else to check. Bye~"

And just like that she hung up. But that bit was more than enough, and he wasn't planning on involving someone else in his mess. At least not someone who didn't put her nose directly.

"Sairenji! I'll trust you to stall her for a bit then!"

"Huh!" The now white-haired beauty turned her head to look at him in disbelief, but she was already late. The red knight was already several roofs away, running at blurring speeds. "Wait-"

"What a way to leave you in the cold. But you have more pressing concerns." Kama's voice made her remember she was in the middle of a fight, but it was already too late.

Konjiki no Yami threw herself at the white-haired girl the moment she saw that opening, and swiftly cut all the arrows in her way without losing her pace. The distance was closed way faster than Haruna liked, forcing her to block the first slash with her bow.

It was quickly made clear that Kama was no warrior, and the weapon was blown out of her hands in just a couple of exchanges. In a desperate attempt, she drew the small daggers strapped to her right leg, but the only thing she achieved was stalling a couple more attacks before they suffered the same fate as her bow.

A cold blade stopped inches from her neck, preventing her from making any other movement. She wasn't manifesting Kama's authority as the "Formless One", so she couldn't easily float around physical attacks.

But that could easily change. She just had to accept more of Kama's divinity in her body and-

"Don't move. You aren't my target." Just when her eyes were starting to shine with power, the little girl's quiet voice gave her a pause. "You must have been tricked or charmed by Yuuki Shirou, just like Princess Lala. If you don't interfere, I won't kill you."

"Huh?" A certain part of that sentence got her so flustered she lost her grip on reality for a moment. "W-w-wh-what are you-"

Amidst her incomprehensible stammering, she realized that Konjiki no Yami was no longer in sight, most likely having run after Shirou.

Literally... everything went wrong here... Maybe she bought him some precious seconds?

---

"Damn it! I don't have time for your bullshit right now, X!"

"How can you say that when you came right at me in your servant attire and armed, Shirou! Let's settle this once and for all!"

This definitely wasn't his day. Why did he have to run into the most mentally deranged person in the city now of all times...

As it was to be expected, she drew her own totally wrong and paranoid conclusions, and was attacking him for no reason at all. But worst of all, the shrine in question was already in sight. It was so close, yet so far...

"Yet another girl fell to your depravity, Yuuki Shirou?" A third voice interrupted the fight between the two servants, and both turned to look at the golden-haired girl with surprise.

In Shirou's case, he was surprised by Haruna's inability to buy even a minute. As for X's case...

"Huh!? Who's this Ex-chan wannabe and what kind of nonsense is she spouting!" The Assassin servant retorted while pointing at her back with her finger, unwittingly recreating a certain image Shirou remembered from the internet.

"She's the so-called "Golden Darkness" someone hired to kill me."

"Oh, I see. So she's the one taking advantage of my fame in this sector of the universe."

"Not in the least. Not everything revolv-" Shirou's words were interrupted when an idea crossed his mind. One that caused his lips to draw a wicked grin.

"Yeah, she's your doppelganger, X! You must defeat her before even thinking of challenging me! In fact, if you defeat her, I'll prepare your lunch for a month."

The first part of his sentence didn't have that much effect on the Assassin, but that last part... oh boy.

Drool started to slide through her chin as copious amounts of magical energy started to leak out of her dragon core. Blue arcs of electricity filled the place, her blue eyes shone with unrestrained power, as well as her Holy Sword, and X's expression quickly became the most serious he had ever seen.

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH! YOU GOT A DEAL!"

With a bestial roar, Mysterious Heroine X rushed towards Konjiki no Yami so fast even her honed eyes barely saw a blur. She crossed her morphed arms in front of her in the nick of time, but the impact felt as if a speeding spaceship rammed her.

"Kuh!" A yelp of pain made its way through her lips. She wasn't just blown away like a rag doll. She felt how her blades shattered, revealing her bare hands with nasty bruises.

The little girl couldn't believe it. Her blades never knew the concept of "dent" after countless missions, but the swords on this planet somehow completely surpassed them in all aspects.

However, there was no time to dwell on it. That crazy swordsman was crossing the distance in less than a blink again. Her immediate reaction was to command her hair to attack from all directions in an attempt to at least slow her down a little.

The effect was actually the contrary. The first blades went through an afterimage that quickly multiplied as X effortlessly treated through her attacks at impossible speeds.

Her hands then moved completely out of instinct and desperation to block the attacks she could barely sense coming. The experience she accumulated in her short life as a hitman only granted her some seconds of survival that felt like ages with every single cell in her body screaming hell. The only thing that saved her was that, as fast and powerful as those attacks were, they were actually quite crude.

"DIE! DIE! DIE! Die so I can taste that exquisite food!"

Forget charmed or even brainwashed. The woman in front of her looked more like a rabid beast that lost any kind of reasoning capabilities. But those words caused an idea to form in her head.

It was nonsensical and definitely desperate, but her brain wasn't in any way of shape to think about that and her body moved on its own again. Her right hand shifted back to normal and quickly pulled out the half-eaten taiyaki she kept for later.

The effect was instant. Those blue eyes were immediately drawn to the piece of food like a moth to a flame. That just confirmed his hypothesis.

"There!"

"NOOOO! Don't throw it away!"

She unceremoniously threw the taiyaki away with all her might, and X forgot about her entirely in favor of pursuing it as if she had been starving for weeks.

Now that she was in no imminent danger, her body relaxed for a second, but she immediately forced herself to move. Just in that instant her consciousness almost faded out due to all the pain she had been inflicted without even realizing it. Despite all her shouts and murderous aura, that X woman used the blunt side of her sword, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt like hell.

Regardless. She still had a mission to accomplish, and she doubted Yuuki Shirou would have more tricks up his sleeves.

The sound of the red knight's boots landing in front of the shrine was deafening. There was no living soul around him besides the target.

The spaceship wasn't even that well hidden, it was just luck that no one visited this place unless it was New Year for an offer. And so, he confidently raised his voice with a tone filled with hostility.

"Hey, you! The one inside the spaceship! I know you're the one who hired that Golden Darkness chick to kill me!"

Shirou left a brief pause, but there was no cocky retort or even an answer at all. They must be just stalling until their employee finishes the job then. It was sensible of them if anything.

"I'll give you one chance! If you cancel the contract, pack your things, and get the hell out of the planet, I will turn a blind eye!"

Another pause, and another sepulchral silence. He really couldn't afford to waste time given how terrible his luck had been today.

"I wouldn't turn down my offer if I were you. She isn't here to protect you..." Just as he spoke, his magic circuits flared to life and the next moment more than 20 noble phantasms were aiming at the spaceship. "I'll give you ten seconds to answer if you don't want to get scrapped alongside your ship!"

He started to count out loud while unleashing his presence as the Sin of Comparison without holding back in the least. Even if the Prentender container prevented him from reaching maturity as a Beast, it still would induce fear any almost every sentient being.

"Three..." Still, they refused to show themselves, so at the three mark, he fired the first sword at the spaceship.

The sound of an explosion followed shortly as chunks of steel flew away over the trees behind that shrine. He didn't even wait to see if they showed themselves before readying the rest of the blades.

"Tw-"

"WAIT! YOU UNCIVILICED BRUTE!"

Finally, some kind of humanoid frog that barely made it to Shirou's knees and clad in fancy clothes came running out of the woods. Just that stroll seemed to have already left him fatigued, and that, coupled with the trembling of his legs formed a laughable yet repulsive image.

"Aah... Aah... Don't you know who I am!? Of course, not! As expected of an unmannerly commoner from a backwater planet! I'm Lacospo, prince of planet Gaama! I demand appropriate respect!"

"Yeah..." Shirou found it hard to even take this thing seriously. He rested his fist on his waist and shot a smug smile at him. "You're also the moron that put a price on my head and planned to hide while others did the dirty work. Of course, such a brave and fearless warrior deserves the utmost respect."

The guy's irritation grew past the threshold of fear and was not openly glaring at him.

"I'm above of such barbaric matters! Lala-tan deserves something more than a brute like you! I will surely treat her better once she joins my harem! I don't know what kind of trick you used to avoid Golden Darkness, but your luck surely will run out soon!"

"Oh? Confident, aren't we? I was giving you an opportunity to save your ass, but do you really think I can't kill you right now?"

"Y-you wouldn't do that! Do you have any idea of the consequen- GYAAAA!"

His attempt at threatening the red knight was interrupted when a sword slammed the ground in front of Lacospo, causing him to fall on his butt.

"Wrong answer. Think again."

"Tch! Hey, Golden Darkness! Come here already! You are turning out to be a complete disappointment! I'll reduce your payment to a tenth!"

Shirou wanted to facepalm. This guy was really beyond saving, just like all the other nitwits. Was really Their useless pride worth more than their life?

"Haah..." A sigh escaped his lips as he brought down his arm. Another one to the pile it is.

"Waitwaitwait-"

His life must have flashed in front of his eyes when the noble phantasms approached at supersonic speeds. There was nothing he could do with that body who apparently never knew of the concept of physical training.

However, a miracle did happen much to Shirou's misfortune. Golden filled his vision as a certain little girl landed in front of the frog and swung her shape-shifted arms as fast as she could to deflect the incommoding projectiles.

"Kuh!" Unlike Haruna's arrows, though, the strength behind them ended up shattering her blades repelling her. Which in turn caused her to fall over Lacospo in a mess of limbs.

Konjiki no Yami forced her body up once again in preparation for the next attack, but the only thing awaiting her was a blank stare. She quickly traced where those golden eyes were looking at, and much to her disgust, she found a certain alien frog shoving his face in her modest chest. Her cheeks started to quickly redden until she literally burst.

"Bwagh!" Without an ounce of respect for her contractor, she shaped a portion of her hair into a massive fist that pummeled him away in the same way someone threw a bag of trash into the container.

"I hate perverts..."

"Your definition of "pervert" seems to be quite wide." A snarky remark came from the red knight who seemed to have yet to take things seriously.

"Even if you aren't depraved to that degree, you still manipulated those two girls to do your bidding."

"One is a stalker that intervened of her own accord, and the other has more than one screw loose. Do you think I'm in the same category as that frog with a harem of all things?"

"That doesn't matter." The golden girl took a moment to finish controlling the raged breath, and shape-shifted her hands into blades again. But judging by the small grimace she made, it seemed she was reaching her limit. "He's my contractor, and you are my target. As simple as that."

"How professional of your part..." Having said that, Shirou's attitude finally changed back to the one he had when they first clashed blades. "Let me ask you a question before we go at it. How did a little girl like you end up with the worst kind of job possible?"

A frown made its way to the girl's face, matching the red knight's. "Do you think I had a choice?"

"I suspected it." His golden eyes drifted to the shards of her shattered swords lying around her. "It took me a while to figure out your power, but now I get it. Nanomachines, huh? They force your body to take the form of the blueprints in your head. No one in their right mind would fill their body with those willingly. You were literally made for the job. But that begs the question. You clearly aren't under someone's leash, so why do you keep doing it?"

"And what would you know? You've lived all your life on this peaceful planet and had a normal life."

Her retort with obvious hinges of annoyance was met with... a chuckle?

"Oh c'mon. Don't play dumb. You should have noticed by now. If it comes to heartless killing machines, I'm your senpai, Golden Darkness."

"No, you act the part, but there's no way-"

"There's no way I became like this in this kind of environment? Maybe." A self-loathing smile crept to his lips as he stared at his hands as if they were so stained it was hard to distinguish them. "Unfortunately, that's not how servants work. I'm just a shadow of what I once was in life. I killed so many people and so brutally that everyone started thinking it was the work of horrible monsters like the Black Dog or the 666 Beast. I became the very embodiment of the human brutality I wanted to end."

Then, those golden orbs met her red ones with such intensity she almost took a step back by reflex.

"So, do tell me. Do you really want to end like this?"

Konjiki no Yami gritted her teeth. "You just said it. Weapons like us can't change. Now stop stalling and let's settle this!"

After raising her tone for the first time, she threw herself at the red knight putting all her being into her swings. Once again, those Yin Yang swords were summoned in his hands to fend off her attacks. His expression became completely stoical, which denoted he was completely focused on the fight, but he was, still, just defending from her attacks without taking the initiative.

Yet, she was unable to see a way to break through that impenetrable defense. It was absurd the way the red knight reacted to her attacks before she even executed them, even with the creativity her shape-shifting ability allowed her. The fatigue was starting to catch up to her regardless of her willpower, and the nanomachines were starting to overheat.

It was the first time she was being pushed to her utmost limit, while her opponent had yet to break a sweat. If she had to guess, due to the similarities in their powers, their repertoire of tricks was also similar enough for him to predict her movements with just a few exchanges.

"You're wrong though." He suddenly broke the silence in their deadly dance. "We aren't the same. You still have all your life ahead to change and be better."

"Stop treating me like a child, Yuuki Shirou! I also killed too many people to try to change!"

"And washing blood with more blood is the way?"

"That's how this cruel world works! You can't just leave this kind of life!"

"Yeah, that's why you cannot defeat me."

Those calm words were followed by the first attack he threw in the exchange, and it came crashing down like a speeding truck. Her guard was broken with her arms being forced upward, leaving her the only option of disengaging and covering her retreat with-

"Huh!?"

Something prevented her from jumping back. And the moment she realized what it was, she couldn't help but let out a surprised voice. The blades coming out of her hair, which the red knight deflected, were now stabbed into the ground, effectively pinning her down. And before she could do something about it-

"GAH!" A steel-tipped boot hit her stomach, forcing the air out of her lungs and sending her rolling through the ground.

Once her momentum stopped, she tried to force her body up again. However, this time the trembling in her legs prevented it. Even using her hair as crutches, that hit was pretty much the straw that broke the camel's back, almost literally.

Yet, despite her being in such a vulnerable state, the red knight didn't move to finish the job. He stayed there, staring at her those golden eyes that now showed... pity.

"Why you..."

"If you had ever tried it and failed, then that would be okay. But saying it's impossible and just giving up is pitiful."

"And why would that matter... Just because a stranger doesn't want me to end up like him..."

"No. This isn't a way to atone for my sins or any crap along those lines." The red knight's expression softened slightly, just enough for her to notice. "The only reason I'm doing this is because there's someone out there who still appreciates you, and by chance of fate, they told your story to one of my acquaintances. She decided to leave me in the dark and just asked me to go soft on you though."

If Shirou was reading the girl's shocked expression correctly, she must have a good guess about who he was referring to. And that person ought to be quite important to finally be able to pierce through the walls around her heart.

"Tearju... No... That can't be... I was... always alone..."

Seeing that her will to fight was slowly disappearing, Shirou could tell that the fight was over. Regardless if this led to something, or if this girl would just return to her life as an Assassin the moment she left his sight, at the very least, he wouldn't be the one to ruin her story.

Unfortunately, and to be expected he might say, things couldn't end so easily when he was involved.

"What's the meaning of this, Golden Darkness!? Why is that barbarian still alive!?" The alien frog cut in with rage filling his tone. "What kind of scam is this!? Some legendary hitman you turned out to be, letting yourself be caught in the delusions of some cheap, motivational speech!"

The golden-haired girl finally stood up and shot a glare at her contractor that froze him in the spot.

"To begin with, you are the one who provided me false information. Yuuki Shirou isn't a womanizer who assaults any girl that crosses paths with him."

"W-well, that might have been my own deductions, but we checked that he is, without doubt, a frivolous murderer! Those words cannot be anything but lies coming from him!"

"Heh." Shirou snorted at him with amusement. "All those guys came here with the intention of killing me and doing dubious things to Lala. They should have been ready to die as well. And that goes for you, too."

With those threatening words, the red knight started to walk towards Lacospo slowly. With each step, his image from the frog's perspective started to morph into that of a horrible monster. Death itself approaching him inexorably.

"Wait, Shirou!" Luck definitely wasn't on the red knight's side though. This time though, the one who prolonged Lacospo's life was none other than a certain pink-haired princess.

The frog and the Assassin saw for the first time how those golden eyes widened for the first time as he turned around to look at her, and the conflicted expression she sported was already telling.

"Lala, what are you-"

"Is that true, Shirou... That you killed most of my suitors?"

There was a really awkward silence after her straightforward question. After some seconds that felt like hours, the red knight finally reacted... with his expression taking a complete turn. Now it was carefree, and his smile seemed almost wicked.

"Yes, all that came after that rocket guy. Only a few saved their assess because Zastin intervened."

The princess's lips thinned as she digested that blunt confirmation. "I know they all were like Lacospo over there... But did you at least try to reason with them like you did with Ren-kun?"

If he was surprised that she also witnessed that, the red knight didn't show it. "Of course. I don't like meaningless deaths. But it seems the only universal language they understood was violence, so I sundered them with no remorse."

At that moment, it was Lala's turn to have a 180... "I see. In that case, it's ok." … and show her usual sweet smile to him.

The other three people in the vicinity all had problems not having their jaws hit the ground. Even Shirou's façade crumbled unwittingly.

"What do you mean "it's okay"!? What part of "I killed all of them in cold blood" didn't you understand!?"

"Yeah! What are you even thinking, Lala-tan!? Why would you stay with this murderer when you can join my harem!?"

For a moment, the red knight and the pompous frog agreed on something... at least partially, while the golden-haired girl observed the scene in silence.

"I understand it. My father unified this part of the universe by force. He was the first to enter the battlefield, just to impress Mom. And leaving aside his questionable decisions looking for an heir... I still consider him a good father. And even if you pretend not to care, I can see you want to change, Shirou. So I don't care about how you were before. The you I care for is the one who helped me without even knowing who I was."

Faced with those honest and heartwarming words, Shirou slowly brought his hand to pinch his nose's bridge.

"I should've known better than thinking an alien, sheltered princess would have common sense."

Those resigned words caused her to chuckle, but the next moment, her expression turned strict as her emerald eyes landed on Lacospo.

"On the other hand, you are the worst, Lacospo! You didn't just shamelessly hire Yami-chan there to kill Shirou, but you tried to force her to keep fighting when she's clearly defeated!"

"Yami?" The golden-haired girl tilted her head in confusion while the red knight let out another sigh.

But aside from them, the alien frog now seemed truly livid, apparently forgetting that he had been trembling and fearing for his life less than a minute ago.

"Tsk! Damn you... Why is everyone making a fool of me since I arrived on this planet!? I'm done with your collective stupidity! Come out, Gama-tan!"

Of everything they could have expected, a literal giant frog jumping out of the forest and landing beside him was none of them. Any kind of tension disappeared from their bodies... except for one of them.

"Wait, isn't that an erogama!?" Peke suddenly started shouting hysterically. "Lady Lala, things can get complicated! That thing's my natural enemy!"

"Eh? Really? How can that be? You are a modern invention, Peke."

"Has that thing some kind of ability that dampens electronic devices?"

"No, that's not what I mean, Shirou-dono. Actually-"

"Out of the way, Yuuki Shirou!" Lacospo's voice interrupted Peke's explanation. After climbing up to his "pet's" back with a lot of effort, it spat a sizable ball of some kind of mucus toward the red knight.

Shirou immediately reacted by swinging Kanshou to bisect the attack, but his golden eyes widened with surprise as the substance was deformed in a way that absorbed the impact without getting sliced. The next moment, his entire body was completely covered by it but...

Seconds passed, but aside from a feeling of repulsion, he felt nothing. It wasn't an acid as he expected, but just regular mucus.

"Is this some kind of joke? Your big plan was killing us with disgust?"

"No, look closely, Shirou! Your clothes are starting to melt!"

"Watch out you too, Lady Lala!"

"Huh?"

Lala was right. His servant attire which could resist the attacks of some phantasmal beasts, was now being melted by that substance. So it was no wonder why Peke urged her to keep dodging Lacospo's onslaught. But that begged the question, why was it selectively affecting only his clothes?

"Hyajajaja! That's why Gama-tan is my favorite pet!" Lacospo answered his question as if he just read his mind. "I only use it on cute girls, but I made an exception for you, Yuuki Shirou- eh?"

His grandiose speech was interrupted upon seeing all the mucus being blown away from the red knight's body with a mana burst, and his clothes being instantly repaired.

"N-no matter! If you pretend to be such a good Samaritan, then what will you do if I do this!" The frog prince then commanded his pet to aim straight at...

"...!" A couple of red eyes widened in surprise upon finding herself at the other end of one of those anti-clothes blasts. Now that all the adrenaline had left her system, her body wasn't answering that well to her commands. She would-

"Yami!" However, to her immense surprise, another person took the attack instead.

"Oh! Nice shot, Gama-tan!"

"Why?" She couldn't find more words to utter. The image of the sheltered princess now covering her private parts as she could while her clothes melted away was already shocking, but the fact that the red knight too tried to reach her left her speechless.

"Sorry, Peke. Can you take it on?"

The robot made a grunting sound before answering resolutely. "Of course, Lady Lala! This is nothing!"

Her clothes then regenerated just like Shirou's, instantly souring Lacospo's triumphant mood.

"Damn you! In that case, take-"

"No, it's time to wrap up this farçe."

The frog prince's heart stopped the moment his brain realized Shirou was now in front of him. His bulgy eyes landed on his right hand, which let go of Bakuya and was now being thrust like a spear.

He was dead. The attack wasn't even aimed at him, but the moment his eyes caught a flash of that arm's real appearance, his consciousness faded away as though his body was destroyed.

The sound of flesh being torn apart filled the place and the unrecognizable corpse of the giant frog flew away along its unconscious master, filling the place with blood and chunks of organs.

The red knight took a moment to swing his hand in quick movement to shake off that blood, and stared at it for a moment. He used it again on reflex, but this time, he didn't feel as repulsed for some reason.

"Whatever..." He walked towards the two girls, and while Lala wasn't even fazed after all the crazy stuff that happened since she arrived, the golden-haired girl was a little bit shocked. "I didn't kill that Lacospo guy, but I doubt he'll have the guts to even think about trying another stunt again."

His golden eyes then met red ones, pulling her back to reality. "I doubt he's going to pay you, so you shouldn't have a reason to keep trying to kill me, Golden Darkness. It's better to solve this without spilling more blood, don't you think?"

She took her time looking at them quietly until she finally stood up and opened her mouth. "No. I always make sure to see my commissions through, no matter what it takes. So I think I'll stay on this planet for a while to observe you until I find a way to defeat you."

Shirou's expression started to turn blank as he read between the lines, and her slight blush just confirmed it.

"Great... Another weirdo joined the party..."

"Really? You want to stay here, Yami-chan? As a fellow escapee who wanted to see new things, I support your decision! This planet might seem primitive, but it has a lot of beautiful things to offer. We can even show you around if you want."

"No, thanks, but I'll manage on my own... But I have to ask. Why did you two save me? We were still enemies..."

Rather than answering herself, Lala turned to look at Shirou with a bit of excitement. "C'mon, Shirou. Say your catchphrase."

The boy looked aside. It was embarrassing to have someone acknowledge that. "It's never wrong to help someone in need. Even if that eventually led to hell..."

"Ignoring those depressing words at the end, this was all Lacospo's fault, so it would have felt wrong to let him do that to you. Especially a cute girl like you, Yami-chan."

The golden-haired girl's cheeks lit on fire upon hearing that. "You really think I'm cute..."

"Of course! And don't let anyone make you think otherwise!"

"Leaving aside the lessons in self-esteem, why are you calling her "Yami-chan"? Are you even aware that Golden Darkness is most likely just an alias?"

"Huh?" Her expression led him to believe her surprise was genuine and she wasn't pulling his leg.

"I'm OK with it. You can call me like that if you want. I shed my name a long time ago."

Shirou couldn't help but narrow his eyes at that. Those parallels were truly terrifying. Unfortunately, there was no time to dwell on that.

"Shirou! Where's that blonde rip-off so I can defeat her and eat your food!?" A certain mysterious heroine arrived at the place like a storm but was halted by Shirou flickering her in the forehead. "Ouch!"

"You're late. Things are already settled. Where the hell had you been anyway?"

"The Taiyaki that girl threw away caused me to remember how hungry I was, so I went for a quick meal before continuing. Hunger is the enemy! And I ran into Haruna on the way."

As if on cue, said white-haired girl walked through the entrance with a mortified face. "No way! We got late!?" And the moment she said that, Kama's divinity faded away, shifting her clothes back to her casual ones and her hair and eyes returned to their original color.

Shirou couldn't resist more and caressed his forehead. Yami's judging stare wasn't helping.

"Well, now that we're all here and looking at the hour, why don't we all have lunch together!?"

He wanted to scream internally, but Haruna and X agreed to Lala's proposal immediately, even though X just said she already had lunch. Hell, she even managed to drag Yami along since she was dying from hunger as well.

Maybe she should just accept that his current life is surrounded by fellow weirdos.

"Um? I've got the feeling I'm forgetting something..."

"It most likely isn't something important, Lady Lala."

Thus, Zastin kept roaming the city without a clue about Lala and Shirou's whereabouts, nor that the issue had already been solved.

---

"Hmm... What a troublesome bunch has ended up gathering in this city." A figure observed everything from the top of a building. Her long, black hair danced with the wind, and her presence, despite being imposing, went unnoticed.

"That's how servants are for you. You could say they gravitate towards one another, and the results tend to be unruly at best. The antithesis of order if you will." A calm voice filled with dignity answered her from within her mind. Despite what she was saying, there was a tender hint in her words.

"Well, at least Yuuki-kun managed to handle things again." Those brown eyes shifted from the red knight towards a certain blue-haired girl. "But it is concerning that even after what happened last week, the other Goddess is still active."

"You already know my stance. We shouldn't keep postponing that matter, especially now that she isn't under that woman's influence. This city will soon start to suffer if we don't fix its wound."

"Yeah... It's just... I don't know how to approach them. The most reasonable one seems Yuuki-kun, but the moment I approach him, we always start bickering..."

The only answer she got from the Goddess within her, was a soft giggle that for some reason annoyed her. But she would have to suppress those conflicted feelings just this time.

---

"Wow, that's a way more violent reaction than I expected..." A certain blonde Goddess of Justice mused as she stared at a map lying in front of her.

It was the central piece of an intricate magic circle, drawn at the lowest floor of her mansion, which was connected to one of the leylines of the city. And so, it was easy to deduce what represented the almost web-like pattern that had been burned into the map.

Her brown eyes were fixed at a certain point within the largest leyline. The map literally burst into flames at that concrete point. Which could only mean...

"Even after ten years, there's something still siphoning the energy of all the city into one point... Alice, is that point where I think it is?"

"Yes, Lady Luvia. That's, without doubt, the old school building." The maid answered in a professional tone, far from the one she had when talking with a certain auburn-haired boy.

"And what was your impression of it?"

"If I were to put it in words... the land is hurting. Not because of what happened ten years ago there... at least not entirely. There's something... wicked, almost alien, there. I even felt some goosebumps."

"I can say there's no trace of the space Shinkage-ryu in the city, so it must be a remnant of the ritual." The white-haired beauty chimed in with a worried tone. "Should we go there immediately?"

"No. If whatever there is in that building caused that reaction in Alice, we'll certainly need every bit of help we can gather. Namely, Shero and X. We'll proceed on Monday."

---

And that's everything for now! Not only Yami was introduced, but also Ren. It's quite obvious which of the two is more relevant, and honestly, I'm still thinking about what role should he have from now on. I mean, it would be cruel to just have him floating around for just an occasional gag like it happened in the original story.

As for Yami, she was first introduced to the absolute chaos of the city until things got serious. She and this Shirou are basically mirrors, which I think I made pretty obvious during the chapter. Rather than how regular King of Fakers helps people by giving them advice and inspiring them, with alter this will be a "we both try to improve and help each other". We also got Haruna's sister's introduction and their complicated relationship, mysterious maid X, Shirou's first confessions of being a monster, and a lot of seeds that lead to the first villain of the story.

This I can tell you guys won't be able to guess that easily. It's an arc I cooked up recently after thinking that one of the original arcs would be quite boring with this story's cast steamrolling through it, and honestly, I'm dying to write it. It's a feeling that I haven't experienced since chapters like the "Date a Density's" chapter in which the Unlimited Blade Works was revealed, or the finale of "Madness Empire of Blades". In essence, aside from a villain that raises the stake in a different way than just being powerful, because that would require something like the ORT, I also wanted to bring a character that could take the role regular King of Fakers takes for other characters for Alter, but he himself cannot do it because they would just start throwing fists. So it will actually be a special arc crossover, just like "Date a Density's" Shimosa arc. If you paid attention to my recent ANs, you might be able to guess it.

However, let's not forget the character that was "introduced" in the first "post-credits" scene, so to speak. I think it's pretty obvious who it is, there's a blatant clue in this chapter, but who might be the fourth and final Goddess to be introduced? That's just doubling in the irony of the natural enemy of Gods being surrounded by Goddesses.

As always, I would like to hear your thoughts on this chapter, and I hope I entertained you. Now, talking about the next update, it will be the finale of "Absolute demonic front of blades", and knowing myself, that might take I while since it will likely turn out to be a really long chapter, so in case I don't make it in time, I'll just say it here.

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! Hasta la vista!