To Azhure Raven: Oh wow, it's really nice hearing it. Also, 'Kuroverse' XD Alright, I will admit, that's the best summary for my stories XD.
To InariAsashi: Oh no, that's all the OCs I created, and the characters I have changed in the other stories of mine. However, I do accept it, though not openly. No hidden sites if you're wondering.
With that out, let's enter chapter 3!
Location: Rectus Hill. Second Gate
Time: 09:00. Date: September 20th, 20XX.
"Everything is in order, mister Horner?"
"The base is completed, sir. You don't have to be worried about defending the portal, we have enough supplies to deal with nearly everything."
After the second fight, Gamindustri from three dimensions have been paying attentions to even a slightest unusual abnormality in all activities. The CPUs in Hyperdimension have organizing meetings through either calls or directly in the Basilicom constantly to make sure nothing dangerous could happen. Research Land has also started unsealing more clones at once so they would help protecting the areas around the Gate from Gamindustri's side. Although, even with the forces, Kuro never ordered once for them to pass through the Gate, since he's still keeping his promise with the Noble of Italica… until the attacks from the remnants of his forces and bandits kept going through the portal and trying to attack the city. That's why Kuro decided to not be in defensive mode anymore, and ordered all forces to go through the portal and clean out the hill, and built a base surrounding the portal to protect it… just like how the Japanese did at Alnus Hill.
While he didn't have the desire to just dominate a region without a good reason, Kuro knew that he has to do something to prevent Gamindustri from getting attacked rather than defending it over and over again. And to do so, he must show that his forces weren't just some scared people hiding behind the shields. That would also minimize the number of people 'planning to die' by targeting him and his people.
The force he's currently using is Terran Units from Starcraft, led by Matt Horner. Considering that they are a match against Zerg's endless army and Protoss' advanced army, they're more than enough to deal with Roman-era army with no problems.
"Well, it's not like Kerrigan is planning to bombard this place." Kuro jokes. He then asks: "Is there any restricted units?"
"So far, none. All of Hero Units are available for you to summon."
"Hm… I can't still find out what clones get locked down…"
"May I suggest this?" Kuro stops speaking. "How about you call the ones from Mahora's Earth? You know, the class you have taught before? Maybe this world's recorded somewhere there."
"Good idea, but I have already thought about it and called them. The girls didn't find any clues or any similar stories. We're on our own this time."
"I see. Good luck out there, sir."
Kuro closes the communication device and looks towards the exit of the base, where Marine units are stationed inside Bunkers, with Ghost and Spectre patrolling around in their camouflage. And at that moment, two groups of unique individuals are already waiting for him next to a LUV to start their scouting around the world.
Kuro walks to them group and orders: "Alright, everything's set. One of you head directly east and avoid being seen by Japanese soldiers, we will contact them later on but not now. One head to the North and find the abnormality we detected a while ago. Along the way, try to communicate with any villages but do not reveal that you're from the Gate yet. We already have the location of Italica, so you don't need to head there. Good luck."
Everyone salutes and gets on the LUV then travels to their destination. One of the patrolling Ghosts reappears and asks Kuro who's just standing there: "Um, sir, shouldn't you…"
"I will follow them later. I have some business with an 'uninvited guest'."
"…I see. The last location of her is at Northwest. You won't miss her." The Ghost then disappears out of sight.
"…Northwest, huh?" Kuro says to himself, then turns to the direction and starts running. "Gods and Goddesses, huh? Let's see how powerful they are."
…
"Wait, is that…" Giselle narrows her eyes to watch what's heading straight to her direction. The figure is running with a speed rival to her flying one, and dust is kicking behind it. Then, she sees its outfit… "Oh sh!t!" She startles a bit and immediately tries to fly away as she aims to escape to Bellnahgo…
"You did a poor job stalking my base." Someone suddenly appears in her path, causing her to stop and find out that somehow the person chasing her has already reached and stopped her run while floating in the air with no wings. "For an Apostle, I was expecting you to just walk in and demand something." Giselle raises her scythe up and tries to slash him, only for him to back away slightly to avoid getting hit. "Hey now, don't just start a fight immediately like that."
Not letting her guard down, Giselle aims her weapon to Kuro. After she has seen what this person and the other one can do, she has to be cautious. "What I do is none of your business, Immortal of the Otherworld."
"Hey, anything that screams threat to my people is my concern." Kuro then draws out Share Blade and Gehaburn and holds it, though the points of the blades are down, indicating that he's not planning to fight, yet. "Now, I don't really want to fight, so you better return to whoever your God or Goddess is now, or I will have to force you to do so."
If a normal person sees this, they would tell that the two are equally daring to fight. However, Giselle feels the intense aura emitting from her opponent, and for a second, something that awfully resembles her Goddess' power… that makes her stumble back a bit…
'I have underestimated them. Retreat for now, but remember to keep check on them occasionally.'
'Are you sure My Lady? I could try to…'
"Is your Deity talking to you?" Surprised by the question, Giselle focuses back to her opponent. "Your eyes unconsciously look up a bit, and I'm too familiar with telepathy, so…" Kuro shrugs his shoulders to end his sentence.
"…You're lucky today. We'll settle this in the future."
"That depends if you want to talk or not." He earns a glare from the Apostle before he watches her flying away quickly, under her Master's order if he's right. Retracting the blades, he then turns to the East. "Well, let's see what's in Alnus Hill."
Location: Near Alnus Hill
Time: 09:30. Date: September 20th, 20XX.
"You chased off the Apostle, I see." T.O, as usual, is already waiting for Kuro's appearance.
Sitting down on the grass floor, the CPU asks: "So, did they find out that there's the second Gate?"
"Unlikely. While you decided to not 'blind' them, there are no flights or ground troopers heading West… until now." T.O points towards one of the perimeters, and Kuro sees convoys of LAVs heading out and spreading through multiple directions. "If the calculation is right… The scout group that you sent to the East will likely meet them today."
"…Well, so much for hiding then." Kuro dismisses any problems that could happen if the two groups meet. "You know what, why don't we…"
"There's a shield blocking us doing so." T.O interjects. "Also… there's something very strange with these Japanese…"
"How so?"
"It's… complicated. While they don't possess any dangers towards Gamindustri, somehow they can change the world's perspective…"
"Well that sounds like a novel thing to me." Kuro laughs, completely ignoring the danger.
Though T.O is not on the same side in the matter. "Don't joke about it. If you keep doing so, it will bite you back."
"Hey, if I take this seriously, I would have stormed into the Capital and killed all the Higher-ups and taken over this Empire already." Kuro retorts.
"…True." This is just another day in the office. "So… what's next?"
"How are…"
"Except that."
"Then I have nothing. See you soon."
"Have a good day."
Location: Near Koan Forest
Time: 15:00. Date: September 20th, 20XX.
"You know, Kuro is not… very focused when he asked us to do the scouting."
"NOW you start questioning it? And cut him some slacks. He has too many worlds to deal with at once. Besides, aren't you excited when he asked you to be the driver?"
"Well… that's true, for one part. Hey, you girls are okay on the back?"
"If you stop bumping on rocks."
One of the scout teams from Gamindustri is now on their missions given by Kuro… scratch that, it's because 'one of them' wanted to help Kuro dealing with the problems he's having, and her friends are just happened to be 'free'. Though, if to make a comparison, this is nothing to what he has helped them.
The girl sitting in the front passenger seat then notices the area turn dark around them. Poking her head out of the window, she looks at the sky to see black smoke filling the sky. "Strange… hey Tabitha, you said that it's not going to rain for now, right?"
"…I did." The water mage answers. She looks up from her book and towards the sky… and sees the clouds seemingly to be emitted from one direction. "That looks like smoke than clouds. Kirche, see upfront and…"
"Uh… is that Chaos causing havoc?" Everyone immediately looks through the front window upon hearing Guiche's question, and sees a massive dragon breathing fire onto a forest, burning it down in process.
"I… don't think so. Kuro didn't say anything about letting other Deities passing the Gate, except T.O." The Void mage, Louise, denies the possibility. "And this one looks more of red than Chaos, he has black scales."
"Okay then…" Guiche then parks the LUV out of the main way, and everyone gets out and takes a breather. "Let us wait for the fire to go off before heading there. I don't like being burnt alive." He leans on the LUV's door and starts whistling a song to pass the time. Louise then pulls out two pairs of binoculars and gives Kirche one. The Fire mage takes it and the two start observing the dragon's behavior, while Tabitha just sits on the ground, reading her book while occasionally turning her eyes towards the dragon…
'Kuro.'
'Yes, dear?'
'Would a dragon attack a random forest?'
'…No. They're too smart to do something that's pointless.'
'Then we might have a problem. It's happening.'
'…Then that forest isn't random. Wait for it to stop attacking and fly away, then investigate the remnants. Be careful, okay?'
'Same idea.'
…
"That… damn it." Louise grits her teeth in anger. "If we're faster…"
"There's nothing we can do. Dragons are fearsome creatures, even the Goddesses have troubles dealing with them." Kirche speaks, trying to calm her friend down.
After the dragon left after an hour, the group continues heading forward the forest… and finds out that, there was a village of sort inside, and it's burnt down by the dragon. The group immediately spreads out and searches for any survivors, with Louise and Kirche being one pair, and Tabitha and Guiche being another. What they have found so far are corpses of the unfortunate victims, and the collapsed houses of sort. During the time they also find some sorts of runes of the language in this place (at least, if Kuro's information gathering is precise).
"We could at least try to drive it away…"
"And mark ourselves as its new targets?" That shuts Louise up. "Look, even if you're more powerful than Brimir now, dragons are not something to be underestimated."
"Yes, I know… but it's so frustrated to see this."
"Hey, that's why we're helping Kuro avoiding these things, right?" Kirche grins and shoves her shorter friend's face right into her bosom. "Come on, cool down that hot head of yours!"
"Knock it off! We're already in our thirties already!" Swinging her arms around, Louise tries to push herself out of the 'soft prison'.
"Hey, as long as we're still young, we can still have a lot of fun with each other!"
"That's not what I…"
Sounds of footsteps stop the two's 'flirting section' as Kirche immediately releases Louise and the two draw out their wands and point towards where the sounds are. Smokes start fading… and wands meet guns.
Both sides don't say a word at first as they're too surprised at the others' appearances. Kirche and Louise glare at each other, not knowing what to say next…
And then their leader, they assume, starts speaking Falmart's language to them, albeit in a complete disorder that not even their Translation Spell works. Louise's left eye twitches a bit, and decides to just speak in Japanese: "Hey, just speak normally. Don't stretch yourself to push a language you haven't mastered yet."
The soldiers have gotten surprised again, because they didn't think that the other side could speak fluent Japanese. Then, the leader scratches his helmet and says in his native language: "Sorry about that, I thought you couldn't speak it… but how can you know Japanese?"
"We have friends." That's all Louise says to answer the question. "You came here because of the Dragon, right?"
"We are. The name's Youji Itami, by the way." The leader then gives Louise a handshake.
She returns it with her greeting: "Hello mister Itami. I am Louise Valliere, and this is Kirche Zerbst." She gestures to her redhead friend, who waves back with a smile.
"Hello miss Valliere and miss Zerbst…" Itami feels like he has seen them somewhere before… but, when he remembers where his group is, he decides to ask: "Did you find anything here?"
Kirche shakes her head and answers: "Only dead people so far."
Itami sighs. "That's not good… we should find under the mess to find if anyone got stuck."
"That's what we're doing." Louise agrees.
…
"Nothing." Guiche walks to the well inside the remnants of the village where Tabitha and Itami are resting. During the search he and the Water mage have also greeted the Japanese soldiers. "The Dragon did a good work in making sure nothing could pass it."
Kuribayashi also comes by and reports to Itami: "We have estimated about 32 buildings around here. But, given by how large this forest is, it must be more."
"That depends, miss Kuribayashi. Tabitha has checked on the corpses, and found out that this place is not a human settlement, but an Elf one. That might explain the low number of buildings, even the corpses as well." Guiche gives out a different theory, which earns a nod from the Water mage.
"Even if they're Elves, Dragons attacking a society is something needed to be reported." Itami concludes. "Though, during the defense of the Gate, the 12.7 mm AP rounds into the smaller dragon's abdomen did the work…"
"This is an Elder Dragon." Tabitha interjects. "They're the mighty force of nature. No original bullets could penetrate its scales."
"You're sure having a lot of knowledge about this place, huh?" Seeing that his water bottle is empty, Itami searches for a bucket and throws it into the well. "Thankfully you're the natives here."
"Actually, we…"
*BONK!*
Tabitha's word is interrupted as Itami's bucket seems to hit something. The soldier leans to look inside while saying to himself: "The well's empty?"
Guiche and Tabitha leans in as well, and Itami points his flashlight into the bottom of the well…
"We have survivor!"
…
After pulling last surviving Elf up from the well, the Japanese soldiers have done their work in stabilizing the girl's living conditions with the help of Tabitha. Then, the Japanese asked if her group could take the elf, but Tabitha said that they have their own work to do, and they didn't really bring any necessary medical treatments. So, the elf girl was now with the Japanese, and they departed first while the mages' group stayed behind for a moment before leaving…
With an additional survivor they found after the Japanese left.
Location: Rectus Hill. Second Gate
Time: 19:00. Date: September 20th, 20XX.
"So he is the second survivor?" After the mage group returned, they immediately ordered the Medics to take the injured Elf to the nearby clinical station to stabilize his conditions. Tabitha then talked to Kuro what happened. "The first one's taken with the Japanese soldiers?"
The girl nods and continues: "He was found in a 'locked' area, only when the Japanese left could we access into it."
"Hm… must be 'his' work." Kuro shrugs. "Nothing too problematic…"
"He's a Halkeginian." That immediately shuts Kuro up, and Tabitha pulls out a scroll and gives it to him. "Try to see if you're familiar with the locations in the book."
Immediately receiving it, Kuro starts scanning through it and finds any extra ordinary words from it. "Brimir… Void… exterminations… this was back at Sasha's era… no, it's a bit later… No, nowhere familiar to me. Guess we have to ask her ourselves." Pocketing the scroll, he then gives Tabitha a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you dear, you have helped me a lot today."
"Don't sweat it." The girl's face heats up a bit as she smiles happily. "Anything for you, my love."
"Aw, so lovely~" The two immediately turn to the side to see the smirk on the mages' faces, as Kirche continues: "Tabitha is a bit lonely these days, so…"
"Please don't speak it out loud." Tabitha's face gets redder by her friend's suggestion.
"Maybe later. Want to join?" That joke earns him a Void Blast and an Ice Blast to the face. "Jokes aside, thank you very much for your work. The Ghost team has also returned before you so you don't need to worry. Let's go back to Gamindustri and have dinner, the Compa companies are making a lot today."
"That's… a terrible joke."
"Hey, how else could I address all three of them?"
For those who's out of the loop, there are three Compa in this universe: One from current Hyperdimension, one from the destroyed Hyperdimension after Conquest ending (the one appeared in chapter 1), and one from Ultradimension.
"By the way, did the Japanese soldiers think that you're from the native?"
"Thankfully, yes." The Water mage replies. "But, it wouldn't hurt if they found out, right?"
"Yeah, it wouldn't."
Location: Halkeginia. Albion's forest
Time: 09:00. Date: September 21st, 20XX.
"Come in!" Tiffania calls from inside of her house after hearing a knock on the door. She turns to see who it is… "Oh hey, Kuro! What brings you here?"
"I heard that Sasha is here, right?" The CPU waves his right hand to greet her before asking the question.
"I'm here." The Elf from the past appears from one of the room. "It's been a while, mister Kuro. What do you need from me?"
"I have something that you two might be able to read." Pulling out the scroll, Kuro walks into the living room and gives it to Sasha.
Everyone then sits around the table, as the elves start reading through it. After a few minutes, Sasha shakes her head and gives it back to Kuro. "I'm afraid I can't help you here. None of the names here were in my past. Not even the locations are recorded in Bidashal's records in the Holy Land."
"Hm… so he's from a different Halkeginia then. Thank you for the help." Kuro takes the scroll back and stands up…
"Hey, how about staying here for a bit longer?" Sasha offers.
"Thank you, but right now I need to be in the front line." Kuro politely declines before teleporting back to Falmart.
"…Why didn't he just do that?"
"For our privacy obviously, Tiffania."
Location: Rectus Hill. Second Gate
Time: 10:00. Date: September 21st, 20XX.
"Scorched Earth tactics?" Kuro's expression turns grim when he listens to Horner's report from space. "Even when I have expected it… how bad is it?"
"Exactly how you think it could go, sir. Also… you might want to change the type of the current base."
"What do you mean by that?"
"…You remember when my original and his Raiders tried to save the Colonists?"
"…Refugees, huh?" Kuro thinks about the situation. "…Maybe. But try NOT to actively take them in. Only the ones who couldn't defend themselves, for now."
"Sir…"
"I know it's heartless. But, remember, currently we're the Empire's enemy. If we take the wrong ones into our base, they could blame us for 'kidnapping their people' and use more forces to attack us. And EVEN if the ones we take in are the ones being pushed by the Empire, they could just lie very easily."
"…I understand. But…"
"We will openly do so in the future. For now, keep watch and, if possible, record all the Empire's crimes."
"Affirmative."
Kuro closes the communication device, then slams his hands on the table. "Scorched Earth, those bastards…"
"Something happened, father?" Kuro turns his head back to see a worried Weiss holding a small stack of papers in her hands. "By the way, the survived elf just woke up. You might want to ask him something."
"It's just… *sigh* it's nothing too strange. Thanks for telling me it." Kuro walks to the exit and pats the girl's head before heading to where the elf is.
"Don't overwork yourself, father."
…
"How's he doing?" Walking into the clinical station, he asks a nearby Medic.
"Stable. He lost a bit of his memories for a while, but a little shock from Ghost would do the trick."
"Thank you." Kuro nods, and heads to the bed where the elf is being checked on by the other Medics. "Can you all leave us for a moment?" They all nod and pull out their equipment and get out of the station. Kuro then pulls a chair to him and sits on it, faces the elf who's sitting on the bed, and asks: "So, how do you feel now?"
"…Terrible." The elf starts speaking. "The forest is destroyed, my home is gone… I have no idea where my daughter is safe or not…"
"…Where was the last time you saw her?" Kuro asks, though he has an idea where she could be now.
"I hid her under the well… Did you find her?" The elf asks, hoping that these strangers found her.
"We did. However, she's not with us." Kuro reveals. "The ones from Alnus Hill have taken her with them, since our… 'scouting' group didn't have any right medical treatments."
The elf blinks once. "Wait, we're not at Alnus Hill?"
"Hm? Ah, right, I forgot. We're in Rectus Hill."
"Rectus Hill?" He's confused. "There's no portals there…"
"Until now. We found you a little too late, if not we would just send you to them."
"Then please…"
"We can't, not at the moment." Kuro interrupts. "Right now, they didn't know that we're from the second portal, and didn't know that you survived the Dragon's attack. Please wait for us to find a way to 'properly' communicate with them."
"Why didn't you just do so?"
"Simple: The Empire. Both sides are its enemies, but I cannot let the Empire know that I'm helping the ones in Alnus Hill. If it happens, the Empire will send more people here to die." Kuro's palms curl into knuckles. "They even used Scorched Earth to 'stop our advances', the bastards." Kuro's anger slowly subdues when he sees the elf's surprised face. "Sorry about it. Anyway, I have to ask you to stay here for a while before we could try to find a way to return you to your daughter."
"…At least I can say my thanks to you. My last family member is safe thanks to you all." The elf bows down respectfully.
"It's our job. Now…" Pulling out the scroll, Kuro gives it back to the elf. "I believe it belongs to you."
"Ah!" The elf exclaims in surprise. "It is…"
"I didn't expect you to be from Halkeginia." That statement shocks the elf. "Don't be mistaken. Yes, we have another portal in our world that connects to one, your Halkeginia is different from ours."
"How could you know about it?" The elf asks curiously.
"Your Sasha is dead. Ours is still alive." Kuro points out a detail in his scroll. "Also, our Sasha didn't recognize the locations in your scroll."
"…Can I meet her?"
"I can arrange." Kuro stands up and gestures him to follow him. "Though, I think we should find you some food. You're hungry, right?"
Location: Hidden dimension
Time: ERROR Date: ERROR
Creator… that's a very risky move.
I know. But, he has suffered enough. He's me and he's you, we all know the others' feelings. However… I didn't expect it to happen, really.
Thankfully she's not badly hurt. Otherwise…
I'm aware. Luckily I found it a second sooner, or else…
Where is she now?
You two can guess it. However, if it's possible, tell Kuro to arrive at this exact moment.
…I can do it. But, why there?
Because I have another surprise for him.
Chapter 3 end!
If you see the speech in this form, it's me talking to the characters in the stories (though I will be addressed as The Creator)
References:
Matt Horner, Terran Units (Ghost, Spectre, etc.) are clones from Starcraft.
Tabitha's group, Tiffania and Sasha are from the real Halkeginia (in this universe).
For people coming from my original story, you can guess what will happen in the next chapter. Newcomers... I won't spoil. See you in the future!