Once upon a time there was a place in the woods hidden in the mists of time. Timeless and grand it was the kind of place filled with the thrill of adventure with monsters to fight and hidden secrets locked away beyond the fog. It was a place free of the sensibilities of society.
Once upon a time a young boy had come to this world exploring its secrets with childlike wonder until he had met the ruler of this land. They had fought in a battle like no other, two titans clashing through the darkness until he had been crowned ruler of the forest.
"Are you surprised by the extent of the corruption the seeps into the land." The voice echoed from his friend the only other being in the world who remembered how it had once been.
"Time changes all things for that is the nature of the world. Man walks betwixt light and darkness ever enveloped in the shadows seeking his way. Without guidance it is easy for them to fall for the whispers of corruption."
For a great witch had come to this place. No better to assume all of them knew and seven evil witches had come down upon his sacred treehouse and defiled it beyond all repair. Tearing down his untouched paradise and building a company town in its place.
Fields of mystery lost to the corruption of agriculture as Gamma's cocoa crop grew in fields tended to by Mitsugoshi slave labour dragged from their homes and kept in the middle of the abyss woods. With no way to escape or return to civilisation these poor souls could only leave via two methods, to become extras or die.
Now those few slaves allowed to leave for any purpose would cling to him and beg to be allowed not to go back. It was truly the darkest of timelines where Gamma had decided to use his knowledge for evil.
They didn't even have the decency to pay him rent either.
"It cannot be allowed to continue like this."
The mist answered voice echoing across the distance. "Even at this juncture you feel you can put a stop to it. The whispers of the dark can be so tempting for fleeting mortals and standing may pit you against everything you hold dear."
He knew for the seven of them were his close friends. They might plead and look at him with expectant eyes and talk of how much their roleplays meant to each other. "Even so there is a time when one must stand, or they will mire themselves in their corruption. If they are left alone they will fall further so as the only one who can, I will lead them back from the abyss."
The whisper on the wind carried its way back to him. "It will be an endless task for the problems of humanity do not stay solved and the evil lurking in men's hearts is easy to incite to greed. It whispers its way in on the tongues of those who were once friends until the country falls without losing a single battle."
"Is that all then how easy it will be." They were his friends and he didn't have any plans to get rid of them anytime soon. As long as they were willing to keep on playing along, he would be there leading the way as an eminence in shadow.
Gamma worried always when they were gone.
They all went out and risked their lives during combat and she was still here waiting to hear the news. Even though she knew it was too early to expect them back just yet she still found herself looking out the window because in many ways there was nothing else she could do.
Between one glance and the next Shadow was there standing at the window as well looking out over the road back to civilisation. She hadn't even known he was back in Alexandria and he'd made his way straight to her office.
She stumbled from her seat falling to one knee and almost tripped in the process. "My lord you've returned." The others hadn't, but that didn't mean anything as she crushed the thought.
Shadow spoke. "Gamma Shadow Garden has dedicated itself to fighting the Cult wherever they stand. It has been for the longest time our goal to tear down their machinations and to free those they would victimise from their clutches."
She knew that more than anyone because she was the only member of Shadow Garden unable to fight at all.
"But if Shadow Garden were to only fight them with swords, then all that would prove is that we were stronger. More viscous and bloodthirsty than the cult and the resulting bloodshed that would fall under my reign would be nothing more than changing the names of the oppressor."
She almost wanted to protest at his words because he would never do such a thing, but he silenced her with a glance as his eyes fell upon her and she felt the warmth of his gaze. The kindness and wisdom that could only come from their leader when he was thinking for their benefit.
Shadow nodded to himself lost in a thought she couldn't understand. "It is the nature of the Cult that they will wring every last drop of life from those they use, only to cast them aside like they were nothing. But Shadow Garden must be different. We must be a place that wins over their hearts and minds to raise them up until they too can stand upon the stage of their own lives."
And like that she understood his meaning. He had known that she felt uncomfortable about being unable to take to the field herself and had come back early to tell her how important her own role was. To encourage her that her own mission was just as important to their goals as Alpha's was and that he valued her.
She bowed her head further in thanks. "I have heard your words my Lord and have understood them. I won't let the salvation you brought us be turned against them."
He nodded. "You have always been an intelligent girl, so of course you would. For while they may have said that it is easier to be feared than loved, but that is merely the coward's refrain. A declaration of the hated as an excuse for their own flaws."
She noted it down thinking back on her time expanding Mitsugoshi, and the competition with various other companies. "Should I take a more proactive approach to ending those whose actions don't fit your ideals then my lord."
Shadow nodded.
She relaxed and made to rise, except the floor betrayed her and she found herself slamming into the ground instead. A slight flash of pain and the familiar warm trickle of her own blood. She pushed herself up again, even as her lord was there an outstretched hand out to help her back up as she took it. "The other members of the raid team, will they be back soon."
Shadow looked off into the window. "They are fine merely taking the train so it will be some time before they reach us. In the meantime I have work that needs to be done for I will need a disguise for the upcoming Bushin Festival. Worn and weathered armour and an antique looking sword both with a dragon motif if it can be arranged."
Nu had said that Cid's first pet would be revealed shortly. Then they had departed into the fog, the woods surrounded by mist so thick it had a physical presence, the light filtering away as the shadows grew long around her. A realm apart from the normal world which seemed as though no human should enter.
But Nu was calm, everyone else was calm. They were the people Cid trusted and so she was safe with them. With each step she became more confident as no monsters stepped out of the mist and everyone else seemed to treat it more like a day trip.
The cheer of returning home enveloping the crowd and at last from the chatter going on around her she understood. There were no monsters in this forest for they had all been driven away long ago. For there was something far more terrible than them lurking in these woods.
The shadows parted way as they stepped forth, like entering the eye of the storm as light filtered down and for the first time she saw the ancient city of Alexandria long lost to the ages in all its glory. A city that must have once been even greater than the Royal Capitol.
Perhaps they were not afraid of her companions as she considered the monster resting atop the buildings in the distance. Because suddenly the group of people she was with seemed so very small and tiny as she froze. Terror filling her heart as she felt it meet her eyes.
The dragon watched them back. A titanic beast of blue and silver coiled around a building even as its massive wings stretched up and it pushed off. The serpentine creature rising into the sky as it towered over everything around it in a show of absolute power. Then it waved.
Around her the girls of Shadow Garden waved back. "That is the guardian deity of Shadow Garden, the Mist Dragon." Nu words brought her back from the terror even as her mind whirred.
Cid's pet was the dragon that bequeathed kingship on the Midgardian kings of old. She halted the thought in its tracks. No Cid had been chosen by the dragon of Midgar itself as the true king. Though he ruled from the shadows for now it was only a matter of time before the truth came to light. "Shadow Garden works for the true king of Midgar."
Nu paused. "Our Lord is the true ruler of the world though he holds no official title. For he has seen the truth of this world and shared it with those of us who were chosen."
Still, she voiced her thoughts because it was. "It is the Dragon that chooses the King of Midgar though, isn't it?"
She felt the flow of magic around her, the eerie presence of the real world something new again after so many thousands of years. The flame in her hands even easier to control than it had ever been before as she had more magic since her resurrection.
Gaunt was seated across from her, even without his mask his face as impassive as always. "Do you think you are ready to take up a position amidst the Rounds. It will take time to get you up to date on what has happened since your passing but I think I'm well suited to briefing you if you need it."
"I have spent the last two thousand years with nothing to do but to keep up with the reports." Enough knowledge to know how they had shaped the course of history over the decades. "I have chosen my name as Surtr for my position amidst the Rounds."
With this newfound power she was strong enough that even alone she might have been able to match Diabolos. There was none amongst the current number who would dare question her ascension. "Even if only Jorumgandr and Vafthrudnir are old enough to remember me still the younger members will not resist."
Gaunt tilted his head in acknowledgement at the fact. "I see well then can we rely on your support to put down this little rebellion in Midgar?"
She smiled softly. "It has always been the greatest thorn in the Cult's side for eons, never quite within our grasp for the fear that he would return from the mists. But now that he has stepped out and chosen a champion once more putting down this Shadow should be one of the highest priorities. You will have my aid."
Gaunt scrunched his face slightly in confusion but held his tongue. "Fenrir was just as certain that he knew something more of this Shadow figure, I must admit Midgar had been firmly under our control when I was last a Round."
"It often does." She paused to think of how to explain for all she had was the reports and while they certainly told a tale it would not be enough unless one had met the monster. "Their kings have rejected us more times than any other over the centuries and it seems the current one is much less pliable than we had thought."
"You think behind his spinelessness there is an actual mind going on." Gaunt seemed honestly surprised at it. "I had always thought he was too foolish to commit, a man of half measures sidelined as we took more and more from his kingdom out from under him."
She inclined her head because that was a good description of the puppet that held the throne, but never of the dragon behind it. She rose, the feeling of a familiar magic blowing in from the distance. "Fenrir has returned."
There could only be one place in the whole world that he could have gone. Because Lili's tomb was located somewhere in what was now Midgar. While she did not know the exact location the time for its loss was well known.
When Dollanar had taken Midgar by storm and extended his dominion the Cult had been thrown into disarray for his strength had been enough to even tear open the Black Rose and disrupt their plan to kill Ragnarok in his realm. They had lost Lili's tomb when the great city of Alexandria was built and even when they had managed to make peace with the people within.
Dollanar had slaughtered his own followers rather than let them join in their mission.
Shadow had named himself after the dragon the obscured the Sun in open acknowledgment of where his loyalties lay. "Have you won your battle this time."
Fenrir grinned. "I am always victorious when I hunt, but alas they're main base moved and all I got to pick off were the stragglers who had been left behind as a rear guard."
"You did not meet Dollanar there?"
Fenrir blinked but his smile only grew. "They knew I was coming so he's gone off somewhere else."
She bit her lip considering the circumstances. "Dollanar grows bold once again do you think he is preparing for the Black Rose, or does he have other plans in mind." The two of them only responded with silence but then it was natural. It was not a decision to face him that could be taken lightly even if Fenrir had fought him before.
If they had known how to counter Dollanar he would not have remained the greatest threat to the Cult in Midgar for so long. A titan who had clashed with and slain several Rounds in his time.
"Dollanar comes and we must be prepared for him." She rose thinking back on who she knew would still be strong enough for the battle ahead. "He killed Mordred's predecessor so see if we can have Ragnarok enter the field, or perhaps Jorumgandr will rekindle his old rivalry. It is time for us to put an end to the greatest stain on the existence of the Cult once and for all."
Alpha had invited him here to see the fruits of his labour. Which given he hadn't done anything except mooch around since getting here meant that she had something she wanted an excuse to show off. Six flags stood around the centre of the room, the mist around them slowly flowing inwards even as a number of other members hooked up various things to it.
Whatever it was wasn't it fine as long as Alpha was proud of it. It's not like he cared about reading whatever piece of paperwork it had been contained in. "You always do exceed my expectations to have put everything together so quickly."
Alpha bowed her head. The flags in front of them shifting as a series of runes he couldn't read flowed into the air in front of him. Yet even as he couldn't read it was familiar having just experienced it recently.
It was a portable hole in space like the gate back in Lindwurm. He hadn't ever said anything about that and passed it off as shadow knowledge before, had he? Still the audience clapped as it slowly formed into corporeality and so all he could do was play along with it. Two days it had taken them after seeing it to set one up on their own. What functions did it have, could he have his very own epic hero dispensing machine to fight as often as he wanted?
Alpha spoke. "With the magic currently flowing around Alexandria we should be able to keep it open in one form or another constantly although the higher end functions like manifesting heroes would be limited to just an hour or two a day."
He contemplated it in silence for a while considering what had been inside the sanctum when he'd last entered. "May I take a moment first to check it out myself first?" There were many treasures inside it he was sure, although no money. But there was also an entire concentration camp of memories and Alpha didn't need to see that.
She paused midstep hesitating for a moment. Before stepping forward as she spoke. "I know I'm weak so I can't do all the things you can do, but even so I want to stand beside and support you."
He poked her in the forehead, a light flick. "You already do, it is because I can rely on you to take care of everything else that I can charge ahead without worrying."
Yes, because if someone actually made him do paperwork and logistics for his fantasies he'd be bored out of his mind before they even began. The logistics for his overwhelming demand for extras was long beyond him and his scenes wouldn't have half the verisimilitude if Shadow had an organisation of only two people backing him up.
He paused looking back into the light. "But one of the things in there is the remnants of the workshop of a madman, if you see it there will be no one you can save and it will only be a burden to you." Even empty concentration camps had been haunting for people in his original world, and Nelson had a fully staffed one sitting deep within the memories contained within.
She stretched out a hand resting it on his shoulder. "Even if I'm too dumb to understand it I want to know why you fight."
He turned to face her, "Turn around." She complied following the order even now.
In front of them was a kingdom hidden with the mists, the promise of adventure and the audience waiting in silence as they held their breaths. It was the thrill of the challenge and the fun of the game as he stood ever higher. Like this you can see everything you need to know why I fight. Know that I have shown it to you since the beginning."
"The darkness that hangs in there is not a reason to fight, merely a corruption to be expunged." He walked off into the light to see what parts of it he could hide with Violets help.
Beta had slipped into step behind him in the halls and he slowed his stride to match her pace. "You have done as I asked?"
"Of course, we have everything in motion to begin at the Bushin Festival, I have the first draft for who will be allowed to go as befits your plans."
Who was allowed to go to the Bushin Festival? He reached out a hand and took the pen and sheet with ease even as he walked. The paper in front of him filled with comments on how hard they worked and the progress they'd made.
Then he ignored it because Beta was looking at things wrong in the first place. The pen flicking down and ticking every box as he approved them all. It was the Bushin Festival, and they were all knight otaku so of course he was going to approve them. It was a once in a year treat for them all wasn't it too cruel to say that someone hadn't worked hard enough on the plantation and deny them.
Gamma's company was doing well enough as it was, the least they could do was let their employees go to a festival.
Beta hesitated for a moment a question on the tip of her tongue, so he motioned for her to speak. "I'd only expected to put about ten spies in, do you think I'm not putting enough focus on it?"
"You plan for ten to succeed, and that is why you must have more to attend. It is the image of choice and the promise of power both that you give by showing more of your hand. By having the chance to reject some members they will feel more confident in the ones they feel they have vetted. By showing you have more connections they will see you as more important an ally to rely upon."
Beta nodded taking in the wisdom and was writing it down. "Have we been too hesitant then and should be pushing faster."
What words to impart to immortalise such strategy. "It is not that you should have been more hesitant but that we are taking advantage of what they have seen. You have set the stage that we always have more in reserve waiting to take advantage. So now when they see force they will always question how much left is waiting in the wings, until the fear of it has them retreat even if they might have won."
Her eyes lit up as she nodded, "Then we've done well enough that you think we can go all in."
He reached out and patted her on the head, feeling her leaning into the touch. "I've carried out my own work as well in stacking the deck, so it is time to reap the rewards. With the death of a Round the cult will be questioning how far to push, they will tread lightly and in their caution it is the time to advance."
She nodded and smiled. "As long as you're there we'll do our best to support you. Should I hand over the full operation to you?"
"I have my own disguise in motion so I will be operating apart but should anything go wrong I will be there to help them." And if any of them decided they didn't want to come back that was their right and he'd see them on their way. "You can still rely on me."
Because even if they'd grown up enough to leave the nest it wasn't like he was going to abandon them. Although at this point maybe they should pay him in wages as well as just prop costumes.
He stalked the halls through the night, bowed heads and hesitant glances just as though he were a true leader. They really had trained all his extras to be in character all the time and so it was the perfect place for Shadow to indulge in his own fantasies. He would definitely come back a couple more times, if only to hold on to this feeling.
Most of the doors were closed, but just one was open a tiny bit as light spilled free of it the voice of one of his close friends talking to herself.
Gamma was inside considering making a mistake. He didn't blame her for it for it was so easy to be pressured by your sibling but still he was going to help. "You don't have to wear it no matter what Alpha thinks."
Gamma stepped back and wobbled on her feet before crashing down in front of him, the green and pink garment landing on her head. He winced but waited calmly enough it wasn't the first time she'd fallen, and she was more than strong enough to get back up. Once she'd regained her footing, she turned to him and spoke. "I'm sorry my lord I don't understand how I'm supposed to market this piece. Even if Alpha gives it to me with your seal of approval is my understanding of fashion wrong?"
"It's a kids garment so just put it in a separate section somewhere prominent and the little kids will push their parents over because they think the kitty looks cute or something."
Gamma paused. "It's for kids and not adults." She looked at it again inspecting the garment with a critical eye. "So why do Alpha and Epsilon want half a dozen of them to wear themselves?"
"They're all big kids." From wanting to look older than they were to continuing to play along with his games, everything they did meant they'd never left childhood behind. "Think of it as a counter culture thing, a single brand can only go so far because there will always be people who don't conform and want to stand out. There will be some adults who want to look like kids and that's fine too as long as both are buying our stuff."
Gamma pouted at his words. "Are we still just little kids to you?"
How to put it. "Though you have grown taller and wiser you are still the same as you were when I asked you to join me in my fight against the Cult of Diabolos for the first time. For neither time nor power was able to change the idealism that rests in your heart. That if I met you for the first time again today, I would hope you would still want to join Shadow Garden."
Well maybe that was a tad too sappy because Gamma had gone red and averted her eyes. But he meant it. "I would still accept it if you offered."
He nodded because of course he knew that. After all they still played into these games after all these years.
He had been right in more ways than one. They really all were knight otaku just waiting to go to the Bushin Festival and watch because it seemed as though every extra Alpha had ever hired was out in force to get more swordsmanship lessons.
Each of them had the hallmarks of his own style and he wondered if that's how they captured them. With a bunch of swordsmanship manuals left in a trail off into the woods and promises of being a real knight before they were never seen again.
It was only a glimpse though as his opponent rocketed forward lightning coursing around her, everything ground down to a single point for an overwhelming charge. His own sword moved a fraction of the distance to divert it away a soft tap sending her spinning off, because it was a sword style for crushing those weaker than you rather than for peer opponents.
Lightning poured out in the aftermath as the exuberant display of magic came crashing down towards him and he sighed. It was only a show trick as he pulled a sliver of magic to make his slime suit more conductive and let it harmlessly pass through it into the ground. But her measure and timing were good, and she understood how to push her momentum so how to make it better.
"If you're making a lightshow the flash is all you need." His own sword flashed as he took the reflection of her glow and poured it into her eyes. The moment she blinked he slammed into the opening with his fist and sent her careening backwards.
That was the problem with using magic to overextend like that.
His opponent changed the next sword rocketing forward past his blade as it extended. But also past himself as he stepped forward and around tugging it on even as his step pulled him into a cut of his own. She slammed the butt of her blade back to block it and he pushed forward unbalancing her in place as she gave ground.
He let her take her distance, because this was as much a learning experience as a fight. "A spear makes good use of slime's ability to expand and contract I'll give you that, but you need to work more on your measure." The next few swings only confirmed it, because as cool as it might be wearing an eyepatch cost you too much in terms of effectiveness.
If you wanted to roleplay like that in a real fight the correct answer was to bind both eyes and just use magic to sense instead.
After a handful of clashes he had his answer, his blade morphing into a spear to match hers. A single killing point fixed forward as he stepped around. His own blade rocketing past her head in an instant even as he worked his magic.
The spear point at the end shifting as it became a scythe mid retraction until the blade came to rest as it placed lightly against her neck. "The spear was always a potent weapon when advancing, but the moment you can morph it mid-swing it pays to drag it back as any other member of the polearms. They share much the same root and allow you to turn the backswing into a certain kill."
Well Chi seemed happy enough with that as a response as she stepped back.
And next was going to be…
He motioned for the crowd to back off as far as possible as Delta crouched on the other end of the arena. "Boss Delta came to play."
"You have Delta haven't you, have you managed to learn any new tricks since we last fought?" Well at least this might be enough to count as a proper warm up.
"A really good one." The suit covering her began to flow in place coalescing around her right arm. "Alpha said I wasn't allowed to play like this with anyone else so I can only practice on my own. But Boss is strong enough to fight it aren't you?" Almost the entirety of her suit was gone as it extended out into a blade more than fifteen meters long that looked almost comical in her hands.
But Delta was incapable of lies so if she said she could swing it then he'd just have to test how far. "Go ahead let's see how much strength you've gained."
The wind howled as it rocketed in at an angle, overwhelming momentum that couldn't be stopped or turned aside. But that just meant if he dodged it couldn't follow as he stepped free of its path, the huge blade biting into the earth harmlessly and only a few rocks landing around him.
Brute force swung in again, the flat of the edge used more like a club than a sword, but at this distance it didn't matter because he was closer to the blade than Delta was. Magic poured out through his own glove as he twisted the sword around itself shattering its structure into so many droplets. "Now what Delta?"
Magic poured into the remains of the giant slab as she turned the remainder into a blade, crashing forward in a single solid mass. With one step he rose onto it his own lighter body so much faster as he forced magic into his foot and brought it crashing down. A simple wave spreading through the shape and tearing it apart until Delta only had the tiny fraction she still used to cover herself.
But Delta had good instincts and she just pulled up the remainder to her hands, claws filling with power as she launched herself forward thin trails of slime hardening as they lashed out at him. He slid on the floor of slime letting his magic propel himself even as a swift kick sent a spike rising from the floor.
She tore through with brute force her own claws tearing it in half. But with her slimesuit gone she was unarmoured and with her blade out of position all he had to do was kick the ground, magic pulsing into a rain of needles from the floor that faded as soon as they hit her. "That's my win there Delta, do you know where you went wrong."
"Nope." Pure honesty and the truth she wouldn't even think about the answer.
He thought about it for her confident she'd listen. "Your magic control isn't that good and yet your technique left most of the slime on the very edge of your reach, so it was trivial for me to take it."
She nodded. "Boss is strong so he could take it away."
Well technical explanations are too much for her, so he patted her on the head. "I'm proud of you for trying new things, but the claws at the end were much better than the big sword. Small amounts of slime are what you're best at so let's practice with that a bit more."
She smiled. "If that's what boss thinks then fine."
They had explained and now waited for an answer.
As Mordred the transcendent swordsman, herald of Ragnarok gazed back through the mirror. "Dollanar who slew my predecessor is coming is he now? Sometimes you do truly show your age Gaunt."
He eyed the reflection in the mirror calmly. "Perhaps rather than forgetting I merely have no interest in your past as hard as it might be for you to contemplate."
But Fenrir laughed at him. "Nah he thinks you're still too young and naïve for this kind of business. A man with more age and wisdom would already have grasped Mordred's deep and tragic past."
"You remain a beacon of understanding my old friend." Mordred winced as flicked his fingers and fire spilled free of his hands stretching out around him. "Once long ago I too was as young as you were and, in my youth, I made a tragic mistake. For you see in those days when I aspired to enter the ranks of the Rounds I thought to myself, what if the other Rounds were upset that I killed Morgan, what if I wanted to take on her old alliances and found no one would trust me."
Mordred grinned. "I constructed a fiendish plot where I placed all the blame for Morgan's death on a well-known enemy of the cult, and then promised everyone that I was taking over as her chosen successor after I killed her."
Gaunt bowed his head. "I take it that you were exposed and Olivier just hasn't heard that and is believing faked reports then."
"Worse they believed me." Mordred grimaced. "No one liked Morgan anyway, so I didn't have any alliances to pick up. I didn't even get the credibility of being the one to cut down my predecessor and had to spend months working my way back up to being respected again."
Fenrir shrugged. "It's all in the past and I now hate you for your very own unique and personal reasons and not just for being her lapdog. And I can't be bothered to go through anyone's reports to find out who it's meant to be."
Mordred paused. "I swear I pulled the name from one of your reports. Dollanar who you had fought on countless occasions, the greatest enemy of the Cult in Midgar… this isn't ringing any bells for you is it."
Fenrir shrugged. "It's not like I write my reports I have a position for that."
Gaunt winced behind his mask because when he was a Round last, he had gone to great effort to subvert that position to find out what was going on in Fenrir's organisation. "Every time the current holder dies he makes them fight over it proclaiming it as the gateway between his faction and the Rounds. Then he never speaks to them again because it would be too much effort."
Mordred had a grim smile of his own. "So rather than chasing Shadow our new Round wishes to chase shadows how quaint of her. Well, no one wants to wake Jorumgandr up for something like that, but I can at least show the flag to put her heart at ease."
"You'll attend anyway?"
"Of course." Mordred was now surrounded by a roiling inferno as power coursed around him. "I wish to hear more of this Nyarlathotep that Nelson managed to summon. I am always interested in binding more demons."
He stood atop the roof staring out over the dead ruins of a city long past, drinking in the atmosphere as an existence that stood at the pinnacle of the world. The moon hanging above him in the sky as it shone light over the darkness, and he could imagine himself as ruler of all that he surveyed.
For all the worlds a stage just waiting for him to take the spotlight, the king of his own little world in his mind. But even this moment would not last forever for he would one day ascend to the point where he could truly call himself an eminence in shadow.
"Epsilon do you bring news for me."
She bounced up onto the roof beside him, and a ninety nine percent slime content bounced alongside her as she emphasised her fake chest in front of him. "My lord does the moonlight call to you on this night?"
He paused to observe the moon. "It is still a soft light where the shadows are long, a perfect night to see through to the truth of the world." For in the darkness he could imagine any number of plots just waiting to unfold for his own favoured games.
Epsilon settled down onto the roof beside him and gazed at the moon as well. "Is that what gave you the inspiration for the Moonlight Sonata then."
He hadn't composed the Moonlight Sonata in the first place, and just liked the ambience it gave him. But that would be the least mysterious thing he could say in this lifetime, and he would never admit to it. "The Moonlight Sonata represents it well, the eeriest approach of the night as one seeks through the gloom, punctuated by a brief moment of understanding as the light of the moon shines down, followed finally by the chase itself as we hunt through the night."
Well, it was enough because she sighed and leaned in. "Nights like this make me think a lot as well my lord."
"Are you interested in composing your own piece?" Because she had the talent for it in his estimation.
"I couldn't, my pieces would just be inadequate if I placed them out next to yours." She had a forlorn smile on her face at that and it wouldn't do at all.
He had taught her music as much for inspiration for her to make her own one day. "I would still like to hear it one day, a piece of music that you would compose for me. Whatever it sounds like and whatever style you choose I would one day hope you could trust me enough to invite me to hear it."
The decrepit city loomed around him untouched for centuries. The one place in this secret treasure trove left untouched by them in this place. Left alone in memory of a lost civilisation, but also because it was turning out to be pretty boring.
There were many buildings preserved in their prime but in a way that just made them empty. Rather than a ruin filled with magical traps or lost secrets around every corner his exploration felt more like a scene left without actors.
It certainly explained why the seven of them had seen it right next door and then ignored it for their whole stay, so all that was left was to have a secret meeting out here in the darkness. He found a large and impressive enough building and sat down in front of it. "Zeta you wished for a private conversation didn't you."
She pulled herself out from behind the building where she'd been trailing him. And she'd even brought lunch alongside her so it wasn't going to be a wasted trip, a meal in the shadow of a city ended ages ago was nice enough.
Zeta spoke first. "My lord about the sanctum I had a conversation with Olivier while we were there."
He nodded along without any idea of who that was. "I know."
Zeta paused in her eating as she thought over her next words. "If I was turning a blind eye to how you obtained your power you could tell me. I've already decided that I would follow you no matter what path you chose to take."
The only path he'd taken was to have trained really hard and studied. "The path I have taken is one where I give you freedom to choose whether you keep following me."
She paused. "Even if you pulled the method to bring us back from failing the first possessed, or by having to put them down I would be able to accept it."
He had just played around with Alpha's rotting from until he found a way to fix her. Then he understood because regardless of who she had spoken to it was in the Sanctum. There were no lessons she should take from Nelson because that place wasn't worth imitating. "It is the way that those who have fallen to become demons view strength in that way. For it to be something taken forcefully for that is how the power of demons works. Do you think I have become weaker as the seven of you become stronger?"
She fell to one knee apologising before his words were even finished and he waited for her to finish. "That was never what I meant, just that however you came by your power I wanted to make sure that I would still support you. That I know how much we must pay to fight against the cult of diabolos and so I will understand if you ever feel safe enough to show me."
He looked up at the sky, remembering his previous world. "There is no price, nor is there a need for one. For that is the way of humanity that we build upon one another's strengths, that I might look further because I stand upon the shoulders of giants. Knowledge and strength go hand in hand and a helping hand now returns as help when you need it most. Humanity you will find is quite infectious from the Mist Dragon who remembers the past before humanity. Consider it a gift given by those who came before us, just as I gave you the path without cost to me they left me their words long after they'd passed on, to whoever might choose to read them."
He had cribbed notes from the philosophers of an entire world, learned swordsmanship from a culture that had passed it down for thousands of years. Taught business from the classrooms of the centre of learning of a nation. "We learn as much from the weak as we do from the strong to carve a path forward."
Zeta shuffled in her seat. Looking up at the building they were sitting in the shadows of. "I understand better now my lord thank you."
He arrived early to get his face sculpted for his disguise, to find Eta already waiting for him as she slowly put together everything he needed. As well as a cup of tea waiting for him by the side looking freshly poured. Eta turned at his approach and motioned to it. "It's for you."
The tea was bitter and tasted of almonds rather strongly at that as he watched Eta work. "It's a bit strong for once."
She turned staring blankly back at him for a moment before showing a V and picking up a clipboard. "What symptoms are you having?"
He tilted his head back and forth. "The blend of cyanide in it gives it a strong nutty flavour that makes one think of the earth but otherwise I'm fine." He drank a bit more even as he pulled the rest of the pot. Better than to leave it lying around for someone else.
She wrote it down and continued staring at him. "No delayed effects either?"
Well, he was always running magic through his body as an extra source of energy for his movement. So even if it did interfere with ATP production it wouldn't change his ability to keep going. "Well, it's only going to affect cellular respiration and I use magic enough of the time to replace it… where did you get this much anyway."
She shrugged listlessly. "Experiments with the internal combustion engine, toner for the first version of the rolapoid, it has all sorts of uses so I keep it in stock."
His eyes flittered around the room to some of her other projects. Machinery and magic interwoven quickly enough to put her hundreds of years ahead of her peers.
She even had a half finished periodic table complete with holes in it for the missing elements. He paused looking at it again. Some of these weren't things you should make in an enclosed room.
Some of them he shouldn't be letting her make at all.
"I will be taking over your lab at some point in the future is that understood."
She blinked and smiled, "I've done well, and you think I can be given more shadow wisdom."
Yes, lots of new shadow wisdom. All the bits he probably should have gone through first from the very beginning. Things like ventilation and how to not breathe in odourless gases while mixing your poisons.
He grinned. "You might have learned everything I have taught you, but the depths of my wisdom is still deeper and there's always more to learn."
She half collapsed into him and he held her up lightly. She wasn't really that tired was she. "I have always been waiting for you to come visit."
Ah even after leaving the nest and making their own lives, they hadn't changed that much in the end. He patted her lightly on the head, "I'll be sure to visit more often going forward. But first I still need to make my new face."
He stepped off the street his disguise complete.
A noble knight who had disappeared off into the wilderness a long time ago. Now today he returned in old worn armour, with a sword that looked ancient even as it stood unmarked by the passage of time. He looked like many other dark knights that had come to this place, unremarkable amongst the more famous knights that had built their reputation within the bounds of humanity.
But secretly Mundane Mann was not any ordinary knight. For he had been chosen by the dragon and unbeknownst to one and all watching he was the true king of Midgar. An unsung titan stepping up at each moment as the symbol of nobility in spirit even as the other knights looked down on him for his lack of heraldry.
At the very end having won the tournament the dragon itself would appear and crown him. A single scene before he vanished. The rumours would spread and all would know that while a fake king sat on the throne the true king was hidden somewhere in the shadows waiting for his moment.
It would be the perfect climax to a wonderful tournament.
He was using the dragon at the bottom of his garden rather than the real one, but who would notice that?
Yes, in this next arc, the return of the king, Cid remains the only person unaware that he is roleplaying as himself. Starring
Mundane Mann the chosen of Midgar's dragon played by Cid the actual chosen of Midgars dragon.
Midgar's Dragon played by the actual Dragon.
I put a lot more fluff in this chapter then I originally intended to. So now the quote from last chapter does make sense for this one, even as the actual return of the king one goes for the next arc. I regret none of it because once I'd written three fluff scenes for the seven shadows it would have been terrible to not do all seven.
I regret nothing. I got most of what I wanted in this chapter in on schedule so go me. Hopefully I haven't left any holes in it at least.
Eta: I am absolutely tempted to let her become way more active after Cid cleans up her lab. Because her main symptom of extreme lethargy is exactly what you'd expect from working with combustion engines without understanding how bad some of the colourless odourless gases incomplete combustion causes for your health. And photography has a similar effect with cyanide poisoning… there is a reason you're not supposed to let brilliance step ahead of safety in chemistry. Even before you get to magic death rocks that kill you before you even figure out what they are.
Anisomeone: Top three
Nu – the only member better than Shadow in her field of expertise. For she knows how to actually succeed at being a mob.
Zeta – Gap Moe between the confidence and determination messed up by tiny failures at the end is fun for me to read and write.
Delta – very cute in EIS with the best scenes in places such as the John Smith arc. On the flipside making her adorable enough is harder for me to write.
After that though I enjoy writing all of them to some extent, honourable mentions all the way down. Although those with more visual gags are harder to do service to in text.
