Date A Re:Live
S3 Chapter 56: Nia Storybook, Part 6
By : Tohka_Yatogami
...
Summary
Even a similar story can take it's own path. Shido and Mana are amnesiac siblings living with their friend Kotori, however the past catches up to Shido when he nearly runs into a space quake, and his world changes as one girl asks... "Are you here to kill me?" (Stronger Ratatoskr, weaker DEM, games & movie are canon to story) [Shido/Tohka/Harem]
Man, this arc is a bit of a challenge for me, it's one thing to make a fanfic, but it's another to make a fanfic and then use a story and treat it like a fanfic by mixing it into your own story for- *blinks and chuckles embarrassingly* ^^; Oops, got a bit complex there. What I'm basically trying to say is that it's hard to imagine a story that's in another story... never mind, it'll sound weird no matter how I try to say it ^^;
Well, I'll still accept that challenge. After all, I still have the crossover between this story and my first DxD story to do, and that's not too different from what I'm doing in this arc, this is just the first step in preparing myself. Well, now with that clear, it's time to get more of Nia and Souji's story while focusing on some of the others until they all reunite.
Err... well, until most of them reunite, there's about three that I can't really have show up until all the others reunite, anyone who's seen Volume 14 knows what I'm talking about. The hardest part about this arc is that it's tricky to add anything different on a large scale until I get everyone together, if it was the usual stuff it would be easy, but the fairy tale theme's making it a bit more rigid than usual aside from scenes for anyone not in Volume 14.
Also, to anyone who's a fan of the Date Another Origin series, I should let you know that I'm planning remaking Yoshino Friendship and Kurumi Fearful in the future, though that's not gonna be until I finish up here. Making both of these stories helped give me the confidence that eventually lead to me having the courage to start this one, so I want to have them redone with my current skills to properly honor them and their sibling stories.
OK, let's ignore my long rambling and just get this chapter rolling. In fact... I'll also do a barrel roll! *crouches down and rolls sideways, dragging the chapter's intro screen into view* Enjoy the chapter!
-Nia & Souji's Story, Chapter 2-
"Thanks for letting me meet you, it was fun. Well... goodbye then." Nia said as she prepared to leave.
"...Wait." Souji suddenly said.
Nia stopped and turned, looking at Souji.
"What's your name kid?" Souji asked.
"Oh, I'm Nia Honjou. Why do you ask?" Nia wondered.
"Tell me, would you like to be my protege?" Souji asked.
Nia's eyes widened, unable to properly process what she heard.
"W-what did you just say?" Nia asked.
"I just asked if you'd like to be my prodigy. You know, I'd become your mentor?" Souji answered.
"B-but... no way, there's gotta be someone better than me, right?" Nia replied.
Souji stood up and patted Nia's head.
"I actually disagree with you there, I was stuck and worried how I'd be able to get Silver Bullet started, and then you came in and gave me the answer I needed. You have a strength for writing that I think I can help blossom beyond my own one day. This story needs you, so let's the message we want from it together and share it with the world." Souji stated.
Nia's eyes sparkled before smiling.
"So? Is that a yes or a no?" Souji smirked.
"Thank you so much, I accept! I won't let you down!" Nia nodded.
"Alright then, let's see some of those sketches. Only fair co-creators both put their ideas into the work." Souji smiled.
"OK." Nia nodded.
Souji looked at Nia's sketch pad again and noticed some character sketches.
"Tell me a bit about these characters, they look like some potential major villains and the hero." Souji asked.
"This vampiric like creature's named Nosferatu, rather than blood, he siphons magical power from the environment to slightly warp reality based on his thoughts but not at an omnipotent level. Especially since he needs his prey to feel fear, but if he's afraid it'll backfire. This slime like being's named Nesuferitu, it's an undead creature made from a powerful soul who couldn't restore his body, he's very hard to kill because he's basically a slime zombie and needs all his slime destroyed." Nia explained.
Souji looked closely, and soon noticed the next page's two sketches, one looking a bit familiar.
"Then there's the Ancestral Deity, Necuratu. It's kinda the ultimate villain and catalyst of events out of these three. She's caused an atypical massacre on many worlds and would target Earth next. I'd say if you want this in the story, don't defeat her until the end. And then there's... oh no, you didn't see Fatima did you!?" Nia said, suddenly blushing.
Souji suddenly giggled, realizing her suspicions were confirmed. The hero was indeed based off of Nia herself.
"Nothing wrong with that, one of my old works had a side kick that was basically me with brown hair and no glasses. I don't think people will mind us using this. After all, they might just expect that it's me with long hair." Souji chuckled.
"R-really, you think these are really OK?" Nia asked.
"I do, now... let's start getting you some practice and making Silver Bullet a big hit in Shonen!" Souji exclaimed with vigor.
In a cold alley way, all gray and dark in color, with a strong winter snow blowing as a familiar red-haired girl was seen with lifeless looking eyes that slowly closed as the flickering flames from her match died out.
Moments after, a pair of twins, both with orange hair and purple eyes, walked by with one wearing 18th century boy clothing and the other wearing the same but for a girl. Upon seeing the red-haired girl, the twin in boy's clothing screams in a panic.
"Oh no, Kotori! Wake up! Come on! Don't you dare die on us, please don't!" Kaguya panicked.
"Not good, if she's to fall asleep here then we most likely will lose her. We need to think of a way to wake up." Yuzuru noted.
Kaguya sweated before screaming as Kotori's eyes nearly closed, and soon slapped Kotori's face, surprising her sister who gave a horrified look as Kaguya kept slapping Kotori's face in worry.
"I see... I see a field of beautiful flowers and a nice stream. I should follow it." Kotori mumbled.
"No, don't you dare! You're going into Heaven! Wake up!" Kaguya panicked.
Yuzuru sweated more, and soon sighed as she aided her sister in the slapping, having no other idea of what to do.
"Please wake up Kotori." Yuzuru requested.
"Come back to us! Please, wake up! Kotori! Kotori! Kotori! Kotori! Kotori! Kotori! Kotori!" Kaguya begged while tearing up.
After another few minutes of slapping, Kotori screamed loudly.
Taking a moment to regain her bearings, Kotori breathed heavily as she used one of her matches to ignite a few logs the two had to give the trio some warmth.
"Oh wow, that was a close one. You two saved my life. Thank you, can't believe I was unlucky and got cast as The Little Match Girl here... before anything past that, how bad does my face look from all the slapping?" Kotori asked.
"Uh..." Kaguya trailed off.
"Well..." Yuzuru sweated.
Kotori's left cheek was all swollen, she had a black right eye, a slight nosebleed and some of her face was a bit purple. How much of that was from the cold and the slapping? Neither twin had an answer.
"Should we lie?" Kaguya whispered.
"I don't know." Yuzuru whispered back, giving a sweat drop.
Kotori blinked in confusion, soon noticing their outfits.
"Let me guess, you two are Hansel and Gretel?" Kotori asked.
"I think we are? Uh... the candy house is part of their story, right?" Kaguya asked.
"Yeah, that's you... wait, did you see the witch?" Kotori asked worriedly.
Yuzuru nodded.
"We did, the two of us found the candy house and ate some of it cause were a bit hungry. Then some old woman showed up and offered us to come inside." Kaguya started.
"However, she seemed rather dubious, so we declined her apparent generosity. After that... she got enraged and chased after us furiously. We didn't have access to our powers, but luckily we could still run fast enough to get away." Yuzuru finished.
"Just like I thought, I can't use any of my powers. All I can do is light a match to make illusions." Kotori replied, an illusionary Chupa Chups in her mouth.
Kotori sighed and looked at the sky a bit.
"What I can make out so far is that Nia sent us all in here with her Demon King, so she's likely why our powers are shot right now. What I can't understand for the love of me is why she did? She mentioned she caused this whole thing, almost like she was testing us, but the reaction she gave us for saving the civilians? It was..."
The Yamai twins looked at each other.
"That was odd, it seemed like we did exactly what she was testing us for." Kaguya noted.
"And yet when she saw it, her expression seemed... pained." Yuzuru added.
Kotori thought.
"Wait, she mentioned a name and asked why people like us didn't exist back then. It was like our result was something that brought up a traumatic memory. Could it be this relates to the DEM?" Kotori wondered.
"Damn it! Not them again, how many Spirits have had their lives ruined by the crap they pull?" Kaguya groaned angrily.
"I don't know, but Nia seems to have been heartbroken by what they did, enough that she couldn't seem to register our act of helping everyone as something genuine. It sounds like they took someone dear to her and no one was there to help. Let's find the others, maybe if we do we'll find Nia." Kotori replied.
The Yamai twins nodded before Kotori and the both of them grabbed a piece of the burning wood, walking out of the alley area before somehow finding themselves by a hill. Kotori blinks at the sight.
"A hill... wait a second, a fictional story with a hill. It's not a fairy tale, but that's gotta be-"
"AAAAAAAH!"
"I'm coming Maria!"
Everyone turns to see Maria as she was tumbling down a hill with Marina rushing after, both wearing 18th century clothing like the Yamai twins, but with a different color scheme. Unfortunately for Marina, she wasn't fast enough to reach her sister as Maria threatened to land on her crown.
"Oh no, Maria and Marina are Jack and Jill!" Kotori exclaimed.
"And Maria's about to break her crown." Yuzuru added.
"Quick, catch her!" Kaguya shouted.
The three ran towards Maria, hoping to catch her... only for the four to have their heads collide. A dazed Maria landed on top of the three who were as equally dazed from the sudden collision, making Marina sweat drop at the sight.
"Oh dear..." Marina sighed.
Soon everyone regained their bearings and got back on their feet.
"Your head alright?" Marina asked her younger sister.
"Yeah, I'm OK. Jack fell down but didn't break his crown... I seriously think something made my foot give out on purpose. That was not a position I could have normally fallen over from... this story world's scary." Maria answered, gulping a bit.
Kotori shivered.
"I nearly died from the cold cause of my story." Kotori replied.
"A witch tried eating us." Yuzuru replied as Kaguya nodded.
Marina just stood there, looking calm.
Everyone blinked at her, and Kotori walked up close to her.
"Wow Marina, you're taking all this pretty well-" Kotori replied.
"GET ME OUT OF HERE! GET ME OUT, I NEED TO GET OUT! I CAN'T TAKE THIS MADNESS ANYMORE! GET ME OUT, GET ME OUT, GET ME OUT!" Marina screamed loudly, her whole hair going frizzy and wild from the sudden burst of stress.
Marina screamed more and started rolling across the ground, making everyone's eyes get shadowed in shock.
"...She snapped." Maria said worriedly.
"Well, I give her kudos for holding out this long." Kotori said with a sweat drop.
Marina pants before she gets up, rubbing her hands through her hair to fix most of the frizz.
"OK, I got the worst out of my system for now... changing focus. While we were on the way here, we heard a lot of people mentioning something about a king and a Mermaid. While that on it's on wouldn't be much, guess what the Mermaid was claimed to have kept saying?" Marina stated.
"It was Darling, who do we know who uses that world like the plague?" Maria replied.
"That's Miku! Then that would mean she's become the Little Mermaid, which is ironic actually." Yuzuru noted.
"Well yeah, she gives up her voice, Miku's the last person who would do that. Almost makes you wonder if Nia chose which characters we'd be specifically because we wouldn't follow the story?" Kaguya wondered.
Everyone gives a blank face, and Marina screams again.
"I can't handle this world, let's go find Miku and then the others and then kick Nia's ass so we can get the hell out of this place!" Marina complained, her hair frizzing again.
"Agreed." The others said with white eyes, all afraid of Marina's freak out.
Natsumi was seen with messy hair similar to what she had back when she hadn't remembered her child form wasn't her true form, and wearing rags and lacking any shoes whatsoever as she was cleaning the floor with a broom.
It wasn't too hard for Natsumi to piece everything together, she had become Cinderella.
"HEY CINDERELLA, GOTTA CLEAN THE REST OF THIS MESS!" The first step sister mocked.
"MUST SUCK, YOU CAN'T CLEAN FAST ENOUGH TO COME JOIN US!" The second sister laughed.
"Now, now girls. It isn't Cinderella's fault that she makes a new mess each time she cleans the last one." The step mother said before snickering to herself.
As they all leave to go to the king's part, Natsumi heard the sound of something breaking.
She sighed, wondering where the Fairy God Mother was.
"What's taking her? I don't like where this is going, and I can't really tell what Nia's doing. My mimicry doesn't help when this fairy tale can be the same and different at times and I don't even know which version of the story this is." Natsumi wondered.
"Hey, is that you Natsumi?"
Natsumi's eyes widened and she looked at the window, surprised to see none other than Mayuri as she floated on a magic carpet while wearing some Arabian clothing. Based on the outfit and the bags of treasure she had...
"I don't get it, why did Nia make you Ali Baba?" Natsumi asked.
"Uh... I think it's because the open sesame door is kinda like the pod Mildred made me in?" Mayuri asked unsure.
"Hmm... eh, works for me." Natsumi shrugged.
"And I see you're Cinderella, I think I know why you haven't seen the Fairy God Mother yet." Mayuri replied.
Mayuri opened her bags of treasure, and after digging through them long enough, she found a pair of glass slippers to Natsumi's surprise.
"They were in the treasure trove of the 40 Thieves?" Natsumi said in shock.
"Yeah, Nia's like a war tactician. Her plans are scary." Mayuri said with a shaky expression.
"...I'll just put them on now." Natsumi said with a sweat drop.
Natsumi took the slippers and soon put her feet inside them, soon causing a white dress to form around her body with a white rose with a slight cyan tint near the dress' uppermost area, resting across her breasts. Her hair was now in a neat bun, and silky smooth again with a tiara resting on top.
"Come on, your flying carriage awaits." Mayuri said offering a hand.
"Hopefully we can find the others soon." Natsumi replied, taking her hand.
Once on the carpet, Mayuri motioned it to start flying in a certain direction, but as they did... a certain screech caught their ears, making both of them freeze up.
"...Natsumi, what story has something that sounds like that?" Mayuri asked while sweating.
"...None." Natsumi replied afraid.
Soon enough the screech went off again, and the sight of a vampiric creature appeared before them.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" Mayuri screamed.
"I recognize that from Mana's collection of Silver Bullet manga, that's the demonic vampire Nosferatu! Nia's put her own series into this world and I think it wants us dead!" Natsumi replied in a panic.
"How screwed are we considering we can't use our powers!?" Mayuri asked as she paled.
"Silver Bullet's a Shonen, a fairy tale would be squashed as easily as someone's teeth sinking into a cream puff." Natsumi answered honestly.
Nosferatu stretches his wings and flies forward, causing Mayuri to gasp as she turned the magic carpet, dodging the monster before it turns after them.
"You won't escape me!" Nosferatu roared.
Nosferatu opened his mouth and started siphoning magic from the fairy tale world's environment, gobbling its power and making it wither into a wasteland similar to those found in the Silver Bullet story.
"Prepare to die!" Nosferatu shouted.
"Oh man, what are we gonna do!?" Mayuri wondered.
"Just keep flying, maybe if we get far enough we'll be in the right environment for us to use against him. Also try to not be afraid, Nosferatu gets more powerful if you show fear, I doubt we'll have the courage to weaken him, but we can't at least limit him a bit." Natsumi replied.
"Alright, guess that's as good a plan as any." Mayuri nodded.
Mayuri focused as the demonic vampire sped up towards them, the Lightning Spirit shifted her body to make the carpet move sharply and quickly from his rushing, using the monster's wings limiting its turning against it. Nosferatu growled before using some nearby trees to slingshot himself via a jump.
"Duck!" Natsumi exclaimed.
"Oh shit!" Mayuri gasped.
The two did, and narrowly missed Nosferatu before he got in front of them.
Nosferatu cackled as the stared at the realization they were trapped.
"You're finished, just like my master wished, you can't escape the fate of death this world has made your reality! Now, time to die-" Nosferatu cackled loudly.
"SILVER BULLET!"
Suddenly a silver colored energy blast fired at Nosferatu, causing the demonic vampire to screech in agony and pain as most of its body was destroyed.
Natsumi and Mayuri both stared in shock, trying to find the source of the shot, but failed as a silhouette shadowed by the sunlight looked at them from behind and smiled before vanishing from view.
"No, this isn't possible! Why are you here now Fatima!?" Nosferatu demanded as he tried finding the unseen savior.
"Fatima? That's the hero of Silver Bullet, why would Nia have her show up?" Natsumi wondered.
"Regardless of why, let's use this chance to escape!" Mayuri stated.
Mayuri motions the carpet again, and the two fly off, but Nosferatu's eyes turn at them before using what was left of his body to claw forward, soon siphoning magic to heal and fly after them.
"I really wish we had our power right now, I wish Ali Baba had something other than saying open sesame!" Mayuri growls.
Suddenly an area of stone parted open to the duo's surprise.
"Mayuri, I think I've got an idea." Natsumi smiled.
"I think I know what it is, hold on tight!" Mayuri smirked.
Mayuri flew the carpet ahead faster, and Nosferatu rushed at them as they flew through the parted rocks.
Nosferatu flew behind them and got ever closer.
"I have you now!" Nosferatu cackled with a large smirk.
"Close sesame!" Mayuri declared.
Suddenly the rocks began to closer around them, catching Nosferatu's attention as Mayuri takes a bag of her treasure and chucks it at him, decking Nosferatu in the face.
Once the demonic vampire regained his bearings, he saw Natsumi and Mayuri narrowly making it out of the pathway of the parted rocks before they began fully closing. The same luck hadn't shared itself with Nosferatu, as now the rocks were about to close on him!
"No... this isn't possible-" Nosferatu screamed in fear.
Soon the two heard the rocks smash back together, killing the vampiric creature as it was trapped within them. Mayuri's magic carpet floated overhead in the valley like area they had escaped to.
"Phew... that was scary, I can't believe we killed a vampire like that. He didn't survive that, did he?" Mayuri asked.
"Considering he was afraid, nope. Not to mention I'm pretty sure Nosferatu had a perma-death by Volume 11." Natsumi answered.
The two sighed in relief, when...
"Natsumi, Mayuri? Is that you!?"
The two looked down to see Kurumi and Rinne below them, making Mayuri smile as she lowered the magic carpet.
"Rinne! Kurumi! Thank goodness, both of you are alright." Mayuri smiled.
"Sleeping Beauty and Tamamo, those characters suit you both perfectly." Natsumi replied.
"Same with you, Cinderella and... wait, which Arabian Nights character are you Mayuri?" Kurumi asked.
"Ali Baba." Mayuri answered.
"Thank you, your guys got fitting characters too." Kurumi finished.
Rinne noticed how tired they both seemed.
"Hey, are you two alright? You look like you ran a marathon." Rinne asked in concern.
"We kinda did, well we flew one, the Nosferatu monster from Silver Bullet chased us and we just barely escaped it." Natsumi answered.
"Aw man, the vampire thing? Mana always mentions how hard to kill it was. You had to face that thing?" Rinne gasped.
"Yeah, the strangest thing? Nosferatu claimed to have seen Fatima during the chase. We didn't see her though. I doubt she's one of the others since they wouldn't have hidden themselves otherwise... I wonder what's going on?" Mayuri thought aloud.
Rinne and Kurumi looked at each other for a moment, wondering that themselves.
"Well, think you can give us a ride? We think we found out something about Origami's whereabouts. We're heading over to a castle in the South right now." Rinne asked.
"Of course, the carpet can handle a lot of heavy treasure and I threw out a bag as a weapon against that vampire. You two should be easy for it to handle in comparison." Mayuri nodded.
Rinne and Kurumi both got on, and soon enough the magic carpet took flight towards the South.
Meanwhile as they left, Nia appeared by the parted rocks and stared angrily.
"They actually defeated you? How weak you were, I guess I need to call the bigger guns to deal with this." Nia said with a glare.
Nia drew three more pictures, and tossed them out.
The first one became a slime monster of sorts, giving off a foul stench like the rotten decay of deceased flesh. The second was some kind of large machine with a dinosaur like appearance, and finally a large mass of shadow with some strange alien objects floating as if helping give the shadow a form.
"Let's see how the rest of you deal with these." Nia stated.
While she was standing there, on top of the rocks, a familiar black jacket/coat hybrid and pair of silver guns was seen being worn and held by the same person who had saved Natsumi and Mayuri from Nosferatu.
She crossed her arms with her guns in them, and soon jumped off somewhere.
Meanwhile with the Yamai twins, Kotori and the Arusu sisters, the group had managed to find themselves in the valley area that Rinne's group had just left, now a little lost on where to find the castle.
"Aw man, this is getting a bit ridiculous. If only we had a compass." Maria sighed.
"I know, and I'm running out of hair to avoid having frizz from my freak outs." Marina groaned worriedly.
Kaguya gasps.
"I got it!" Kaguya exclaimed.
"What is it?" Yuzuru asked.
"Kotori, if you can make illusions, try making one of a map and compass! That'll show us where to go." Kaguya answered.
Everyone's eyes widened at that.
"A man, why didn't we think of that sooner. Let's see... I have two left, huddle around me so the wind doesn't blow them out." Kotori stated.
Everyone did so, and she burned the first match while thinking of a map, and then the second to think of a compass. Everyone turned to look, with Marina getting a closer look at what they were seeing.
"It looks like we're by this mountain formation, and the castle is to the North, so..." Marina stated.
Everyone saw Kotori turn until she found north, facing an area full of trees.
"There we go." Kotori smiled as her matches extinguished.
"Alright, let's get to the castle." Marina replied.
The group began heading towards the trees marking the North, but only moments after they did... a suddenly nose similar to a distorted cry of someone drowning was heard, freaking out Marina who jumped into her younger sister's arms.
"What was that!?" Marina asked.
"You are... way jumpier than usual, which is never!" Maria gasped out, struggling to hold her sister.
"I'm not sure what made that thing, but... I don't like the sound of it." Kaguya shivered.
Yuzuru soon sniffed something gross, and covered her nose.
"What's that smell? It's so vile!" Yuzuru asked, her eyes watering.
"Uh... what the hell is that?" Maria asked, pointing at something.
Soon a slime like monster dripped out of the trees before forming its body, its beady black eyes actually making it creepier by being so unfitting on the gooey body it possessed.
Kotori gasped as she recognized it, while Maria dropped Marina in shock.
"That's one of the villains on Silver Bullet, the Undead Lord: Nesuferitu! It's pretty much a zombie in slime form!" Kotori answered.
"Oh shit, Nia brought her manga's villains into this world? Horrible time for us to lose our powers!" Marina shouted as she stood back up.
"Only one thing to do... RUN AWAY!" Kaguya screamed.
The whole group began running as Nesuferitu lurched out them, the slimy creature being incredibly fast due to its undead nature.
"Where are you all going? I just want to gobble you up is all!" Nesuferitu said hoarsely.
"Wondrous, it's a cannibal." Yuzuru remarked sarcastically.
Nesuferitu lunged ahead, stopping in front of the group who all slid down in response, the slime monster prepared to grab them as Kotori dove and knocked them all to the ground.
"Hey Kotori, you know this villain, right? How do you kill it!?" Marina asked worriedly.
"Well it's a zombie slime, so gotta completely destroy the slime body so it can't recover. We don't have any weapons for it. Worse, even if I had any matches, Nesuferitu's body can't be burned because his slime's too runny." Kotori answered.
Kotori's eyes widened, recalling the nearby river.
"Of course, Nesuferitu's body is runny! I got a plan, but I need all of you to scatter and run, please trust me!" Kotori asked.
"Go ahead, no better ideas are coming from us!" Kaguya remarked.
Nesuferitu soon went after them again, and everyone rolled away before splitting up, Nesuferitu shook before splitting into five of himself, each a fifth his size, and went after each Spirit with slightly slower but still very quick speed.
"You can't run or hide, I will catch you and eat you up!" The first Nesuferitu piece hoarsely cackled.
"Says you fatty!" Kaguya mocked.
"I am not fat, I'm obese." The second Nesuferitu piece hoarsely replied.
"...Did he really just say that?" Yuzuru asked.
Kotori jumped to the trees, and the Arusu siblings began running through them as their Nesuferitu pieces charge them and Kotori's tries to locate her.
Kotori checks for the best tree, and smirks before jumping to it, soon whistling to attract the Yamai twins.
"I think she wants us over there, let's go!" Kaguya stated.
"Understood." Yuzuru replied.
The Yamai twins and their Nesuferitu pieces run that way, and the Arusu sisters soon run under a certain tree only for them to be pulled up, confusing their Nesuferitu pieces.
"Where did they go?" Both Nesuferitu pieces hoarsely wondered.
The Yamai twins ran through, soon coming in from the other side as they got pulled up the same, with Kotori looking at them and the Arusu sisters with smile. She put a finger to her mouth before getting up.
Kotori soon jumped to a different tree and whistled.
"Hey, over here nasty slime balls!" Kotori yelled.
All five pieces see her, and soon form back into a single Nesuferitu.
"Ah, exposing yourself? Alright then, I'll just eat you first, bottom's up!" Nesuferitu stated hoarsely.
"Then come get me!" Kotori replied, slapping her butt and sticking her tongue out.
Nesuferitu sinks a bit as Kotori jumps up and down to get his attention, and soon Nesuferitu lurches up as Kotori jumps, only to jump backwards and fall out of his jumping range. As the zombie slime flew... he saw he was aiming at the river.
"Oh no, water!? Not the water! HELP ME!" Nesuferitu hoarsely screamed.
Nesuferitu landed in the water, screaming in pain as the five Spirits walked over to see him dissolve into nothing.
"That was kinda convenient, wasn't it?" Maria asked.
"Well normally Fatima didn't get to fight the guy near water, much less water big enough to kill him instantly. In the manga's story, what ended up killing him was petrification and shattering his body afterwards. Guess we're lucky that this world of shared fairy tales had just what we needed." Kotori explained.
"Well, we better get to the castle before another Silver Bullet villain decides to show up." Marina answered.
With that being said, the group nodded and resumed heading North.
Shiori's group was seated around a small camp fire as they had some fish Sarugami caught from the river.
"You think Inugami's found it yet? I'd like to be more than an inch tall again." Rio sighed, her voice squeaking a bit.
"There, there. He'll find it soon enough." Mana assured.
Soon barking is heard, and Inugami walked over with a decorated mallet in his mouth.
"Alright, you found it! Thanks Inugami." Tohka smiled.
"My nose knows." Inugami chuckled.
Rio smiled and jumped onto the ground, Mana took the mallet and bopped Rio with it, making her and her sowing needle become as big as the others.
"Yay, I'm normal sized again!" Rio cheered.
"Alright, now with that I think we can get back to finding the others. Where do we look though?" Shiori wondered.
"I think I know!" Kijigami replied.
Everyone saw the pheasant fly from high up as she landed on Tohka's shoulder.
"You find something Kijigami?" Tohka asked.
"I did Momotarou, the king's castle at the west is having a party and a lot of people are heading to see something. They may expect you to head over there." Kijigami explained.
"Then that's where we'll head, come on every-" Shiori replied.
Suddenly the sound of something crashing gets everyone's attention, and soon a large shadow overtakes the area as a giant machine drove into view, one that looked a bit like a dinosaur in appearance. Everyone gasped while Mana's eyes widened.
"I recognize that, it's the Dead Raze-NIL8! It was a machine made in Silver Bullet specifically to combat Fatima after she defeated Nesuferitu for good! Worse, considering whose world this is in..." Mana stated with worry.
"This one might be made to fight against the characters we've been cast as?" Yoshino asked.
Mana nodded.
"Aw man, well we've gotta try! That thing's gonna kill us otherwise!" Rio answered.
"Right, Fatima beat it and we can too!" Mana smirked.
Mana jumped up and prepared the Kusanagi before swinging it down.
"EAT LIGHTNING!" Mana shouted.
A storm of lightning bolts rain down on the Dead Raze, but they do nothing as it discharges the electricity through the ground. Mana looks in shock, and soon swung the Kusanagi a few times to create strong winds.
The nearby grass was sliced, but aside from clanks to confirm the wind strikes his, the Dead Raze still hadn't taken any damage!
"No way, how!?" Mana gasped.
"Try this!" Shiori exclaimed.
A blast of lunar energy fires at the Dead Raze's optical, but it still did nothing to Shiori's surprise.
Tohka rushed forward and slashed her katana at the machine's body, while Rio jumped and thrust her giant sowing needle like a spear, both didn't breach the metal armor of the Dead Raze in the slightest.
"Dang it, how do we fight this thing?" Tohka asked as she sweated.
"Look out!" Shiori screamed.
Everyone saw the Dead Raze's entire weaponry open as a storm of beams, missiles, gunfire and etc. all rained down at the group. Everyone ran away, trying to dodge the chaos, but Yoshino tripped during the process.
"Yoshino!" Shiori called out.
"Shiori, help me!" Yoshino cried.
Shiori rushed over as a laser fell towards Yoshino, and she shielded her with her body just as the attack hit them.
"SHIORI!" Mana, Tohka and Rio all screamed.
Dead Raze gives a loud mechanical sound in response, almost as it to echo the grim situation across the land and making sure everyone could hear it.
Just as the others began to worry Shiori and Yoshino were killed by the blast... they hear coughing, and everyone sees Shiori's hair was now orange as she had just barely managed to move Yoshino out of the way in time.
"Spirit Ascension, but how? None of us have our powers here." Mana asked surprised.
Tohka looked at Shiori, noticing she was only healing, but no flames or Camael... she gasped as she put 2 and 2 together.
"Of course, that's it!" Tohka exclaimed.
"Huh?" Mana wondered.
"We can't use our powers, but there's one thing Nia can't influence... our bodies!" Tohka smirked.
Tohka put her katana into the ground, soon backing up a bit as the Dead Raze prepared another round of attacks. Soon Tohka rushed ahead, gaining speed.
"Here I go!" Tohka declared.
Tohka soon jumped high into the air, surprising her animal companions and friends as she did.
As she neared Dead Raze, the Energy Spirit reeled her fist back.
"You might be made to handle Momotarou's powers, but you aren't designed to my power!" Tohka exclaimed loudly.
Tohka screamed as she threw her fist forward, smashing it into Dead Raze's chest area, and this time the giant dinosaur like machine actually felt the attack as a huge dent formed where Tohka had struck it.
In moments, pieces of its armor began to fall off, and it began to explode in a few spots as the damage spread through a chain reaction. Shiori and the others all looked in shock, with Momotarou's animal companions not even noticing it since the character didn't have that strength.
"Alright I was right! I can still hit hard without my powers!" Tohka cheered in midair.
"Oh, of course! No matter what powers Nia negates on us, anything applying to our bodies themselves can't be negated! Your Spirit Ascension can still use he others' physical strengths!" Mana realized.
"Tohka's amazing!" Rio cheered.
Dead Raze gave a mechanical cry before fully exploding, making everyone covered their eyes from the result, Tohka herself still in the air as it happened.
After the smoke cleared, Rio noticed Tohka was just floating in place.
"Uh... hey big sis, why is Tohka floating there?" Rio asked.
"...Oh no." Mana paled as she realized what was about to happen.
Tohka blinked and looked down, and soon she began falling towards the ground.
"Don't worry Tohka, I've gotcha!" Shiori screamed, rushing to catch her.
Shiori managed to get under Tohka, but instead of catching her... she ended up being Tohka's cushion as she landed on her. Shiori twitches a bit as Tohka looked at Shiori.
"Sorry!" Tohka chuckled embarrassingly.
"Ouch." Yoshino winced.
Shiori slowly managed to get on her feet.
"That was close, I can't believe you noticed that Tohka. I don't know how, but you always seem to be full of surprises." Shiori said rubbing her head.
Tohka giggles.
"But wait, why didn't Nia give that machine a defense against our usual powers?" Rio asked.
"If I had to guess, it's possible she couldn't, or... no, that isn't it. I bet she didn't even realize some of our abilities could slip through. She couldn't have known every detail about her new powers after Inverting. Especially since she was angry, and people make worse judgments or miss something obvious when angry. That's how that whole 'anger makes you dumb' phrase was born." Mana guessed.
"Then we have an advantage now, if we can find the others we'll have that for when we face Nia. We're not completely bound by the rules of this world now!" Tohka replied, pumping her fists up.
"Then let's head West and hopefully find them." Shiori nodded.
The group began heading West, hoping to eventually reach the castle and find the others.
Nia stared in anger a Beelzebub listed Nesuferitu and Dead Raze as having been destroyed, the latter of the two being especially irritating to her.
"Impossible... this isn't possible! How are they doing this!? This is my world, how are they going against fate like this! I won't accept it... I refuse to accept it! No matter what, they will... they will learn the truth." Nia growled, shaking a bit with teary eyes.
The sight of a hospitalized Souji staring at Nia, but Nia looking horrified by something she heard, flashed through her mind.
"I swear they'll understand how Humanity truly is!" Nia screamed, taking her pen and writing in Raziel.
Her message? It was... {Gather every villain so they can have Necuratu destroy them all}, Nia closed Beelzebub, giving a dark look...
...Her story was far from its last scene.
-Nia & Souji's Story, Chapter 3-
Souji panted as she put out more sketch ideas for some of Fatima's techniques and new character designs for her allies.
"Hey Nia, did your get your designs done?" Souji asked tiredly.
"Y-yeah, I got them! Just give me a second to organize the-Wah!" Nia exclaimed.
Souji suddenly saw a whole cabinet burst open, revealing a storm of papers as they flew out and floated to the ground.
"Oh man, we're running out of space here!" Nia shouted.
"This office is getting way too cramped! Hold on, I'm coming!" Souji said, instantly rushing over.
The two began cleaning up, and soon they were both against a wall panting from exhaustion.
"If only we knew a good deal for a better place than this office." Nia breathed.
"I agree... if only we had some physical google that answered exactly what we wanted to hear." Souji panted.
"(I can help you with that.)"
The two both shot up surprised, and soon noticed a mosaic standing before them, outlined like a young girl was there yet invisible.
The two screamed, scaring Phantom a bit.
"(W-wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! It's OK, I'm not here to hurt you!)" Phantom said waving her unseen hands out defensively.
"Who are you!?" Nia asked afraid.
"(Uh... well, my name is... actually I can't share it. You can just call me Phantom.)" Phantom answered.
Phantom soon dug around and revealed the Raziel Crystal.
"What is this?" Souji asked surprised.
"(It's called a Sephira Crystal, this one in particular is the Raziel Crystal.)" Phantom answered.
"Raziel... wait a second, that silver color. Do you mean like the Tree of Life, the Sephirot? The Angel Raziel that represents Wisdom?" Souji gasped.
"(...Wow, you're like scary on the ball with this.)" Phantom replied in shock.
After a bit, Phantom explained about the origins of the Spirits and the Spacequakes, and why she was offering the Sephira Crystal to Souji.
"...Isaac Westcott of DEM? Are you serious, this is all his doing!?" Souji gasped.
"(Yes, I'm serious, and it was him... his realizer aiding Humanity is just his game to crush their hope when he gains this power. That's why I can't let him... so I need people like you who can bond with them and protect them. Souji, you and Nia are both candidates Raziel accepts, but only if you want. If you accept this then you may one day have to face the risk of the DEM attacking you. Knowing that, will you still take it?)" Phantom asked.
Souji looks at it, and then at Nia, she pauses for a moment before nodding.
Knowing that Nia would be willing to accept the burden, Souji breathes and makes a serious face before she grabs it. At that moment, Raziel absorbs into her body and she gasps, her pupils going white and her Astral Dress forming.
"Whoa!" Nia said in awe.
Raziel formed in Souji's hands.
[It is a pleasure to work with you from here on, I am your Angel: Raziel. I'll aid you however I can.]
"You can talk?" Souji asked.
"Huh? I don't hear anything." Nia replied in confusion.
[Sorry, you're the only one who can hear me aside from the First Spirit, but yes.]
Phantom smiled, and soon put a hand on both girls' shoulders.
"(Keep Raziel and this power safe, I'll come by on occasion to check up on you. Bye for now.)" Phantom stated.
Phantom jumped back and teleported away.
Souji looked at Raziel again, the tome opened op and revealed some knowledge inside to Souji's surprise... this was the power entrusted to her.
A power... that she swore to use wisely, and to protect... but would also spell her soon to be demise.
Nia's really starting to lose it, I don't think she even knows what she's doing now, she seems so confused. Though maybe that's it... Souji was the closest thing to family she had, it's probably because of that she's acting so violently right now... Shido, don't give up, do whatever you can to save her! The main challenge is taking out Necuratu, the central antagonist of Silver Bullet, and all the other stories' villains.
Good news is now only Origami and Miku's whereabouts are unknown, but it's heavily implied the two of them are gathered in the same place. However, the bigger mystery is why is Fatima in the story world? Why is the hero of Nia's own manga present? She doesn't seem to be anyone in the group, because if they were, they would have let Natsumi and Mayuri know it was them.
Now why did I choose to make Mayuri Ali Baba? I was because of the plot point in the story about the magical door that required the right words to open and close. Mayuri was artificially made in a pod, representing how someone had to open the door for her freedom. A bit more loose compared to the others, but the thieves' treasure was good for getting Natsumi her glass slippers without a Fairy God Mother.
The three groups are about to reunite, and they've shown even without their powers, they can still fight back. Especially since Tohka's helped her group realize they aren't fully powerless depending on if their powers have a side effect on their bodies. Nia might be clever, but she didn't think they'd still have some abilities not scripted to her story. The question now is will they be enough against what's next?
Well, we'll find out next time. Until then everyone, stay awesome ^^
-Spirit Bond Levels & Passive Abilities-
Tohka - 100%, MAX (Form a mana barrier automatically)
Origami - 99% (Teleport Dodging)
Yoshino - 99% (Dampen enemy territories)
Kotori - 99% (Healing from fatal wounds minus losing his head, doesn't work on wounds caused by blunt force)
Kurumi - 99% (Hide in his shadow, and only his)
Rinne - (Summon a weakened copy of Uriel)
Natsumi - 99% (Transform into Shiori)
Kaguya - 96% (Flight)
Yuzuru - 96% (Weight Manipulation)
Miku - 90% (Pain Reliever)
Maria - (Restore dying/withered/dead vegetation and plant life)
Marina - (Remove toxins or other harmful substances, either from a living creature or an object)
Rio - (Create a soothing aura of Reiryoku to reduce a sealed Spirit's anger)
Mana - (Allow Mana to use Spirit Ascension at its weakest level without Angels)