Chapter 3: The Peeps of this Fantasy World
"ENEMY CONTACT!"
That was not what Momo wanted to hear from Kirishima less than an hour after starting their mission. Fortunately for her and her team, the JSDF prepared them for such a scenario.
Hence, their assault rifles.
As soon as Kirishima sounded the alarm, everyone had grabbed their weapons and half of them had gotten out of their vehicles, their guns aimed towards whatever had crash-landed in front of them. Momo still couldn't see what had landed in front of them through all the dust.
Kirishima claiming it to be an enemy might have been hasty, but she wasn't taking any chances. For all she knew, the same people who invaded Musutafu had just launched ammo from a catapult at them, or some sort of monster just landed right in front of them.
Whatever it was, she would act with protocol.
Mentally switching over to Latin, Momo announced…
"Whoever is in that dust cloud, stop moving, immediately! In accordance with Japan's rules of engagement, we will not attack unless in self-defense! Surrender, and we swear that we will treat you humanely, as per international law! Please, do not force our hand!"
No movement.
"Maybe it was just a rock?" Kirishima suggested.
"Crashing down on us at such high speeds at that angle? Not likely," Awase replied.
"Shh! The dust is clearing up!" Momo hissed.
Both soldiers shut up and steadied their weapons. The dust cloud began to break up, and right in front of them was…
"A girl?"
"Hey," Fuyumi said, grabbing Moe's attention. "How did it go?"
"If you're referring to the meeting with your father, then the usual. He'll be off to train with Shoto," the green-haired knight told the princess. "He still doesn't suspect a thing."
"Good. The less he suspects, the easier it is to stage our little… takeover."
On that much, Moe could agree with her red-and-white mistress.
"Everyone, stand aside!" Kodai shouted as she approached the fallen girl.
Upon further inspection, she noted certain physical characteristics of this… girl. Physically speaking, she was around Kodai's age. She was a few inches taller than Kodai, with long blonde hair, and skin tone that would be associated with Europeans.
However, there were a few things that were off about her.
One, was that, despite the seriously high speed she crashed down onto the ground, she was practically fine. Unconscious, and with a few scrapes and bruises, but that was it.
The second, and more obvious issue was her wings.
Aside from the sword and the full-body armor she was wearing, which made her seem like a medieval knight, on her back were two large, white, bird-like wings on her back.
It almost made her seem like…
"An angel."
Turning around, Momo asked, "Sergeant Bakugou, what was that?"
"That thing, it's an angel," the spiky-blond said, handing her a book.
Taking a look at the page it was on, Momo read, "An angel is a celestial agent sent forth into the planes to further its god's agenda for weal or woe. Its sublime beauty and presence can drive awestruck onlookers to their knees. Yet angels are destroyers too, and their appearance portends doom as often as it signals hope. Angels are formed from the astral essence of –"
"Lieutenant, you can't take this seriously!" Rin interjected. "That's coming out of an instruction manual from a tabletop game! There's no way in hell that it's accurate to reality!"
"Yeah, well, do you have a better idea of what the hell that thing is?" Bakugou asked.
"Uh, I mean, it's probably some sort of highly-evolved avian, or perhaps some sort of primate that evolved wings, something that naturally developed in this world!"
"Uh, I'm not a zoologist, but I'm pretty sure that if a mammal were to grow wings it, oh, I dunno, would probably look like those of a bat's, not that of a fucking dove."
"It's a better theory than saying that it's a human concept come to life!"
"Both of you stop arguing, NOW!" Momo barked, causing both Rin and Bakugou to shut up. "Look, we're in uncharted waters, this is a whole new world, so we don't know for certain what exactly this woman is! And we're not going to find out by you two bickering!"
"What do you propose, Lieutenant?" Monoma asked.
"Well… she's wearing clothes, so it's obvious that she's sapient. She also happens to be the first person from the Special Region to not be actively hostile towards us, even if she is unconscious," Momo analyzed the situation. "Sargeant Kodai, your medical analysis?"
"She's stable," Kodai answered. "Should regain consciousness soon."
"Alright, I want the majority of you to put your guns away," the raven-haired commander ordered. "We don't want to give a bad first impression. We'll probably need to start with some basic questions, like name, origin, and her situation. But that comes later; right now, we should set up a temporary camp here, and –"
"Ugh…"
"...or she could wake right now, sure, why not?"
"Now, for your reward, Mirio Togata!" Toshinori Yagi, one of the strongest men on the entire continent bellowed out, as he pulled out the great sword from behind his back.
"Yes, sir!" the younger blond man exclaimed, excited as can be.
Next to the two of them were the members of their respective parties: For Mirio, it was the elven archer, Tamaki Amajiki, and the witch, Nejire Hadou, while for Toshinori, it was Mirai Sasaki, a cleric who was also Mirio's mentor, and Sorahiko Torino, a rogue, and Toshiniori's old mentor.
Out in the middle of the empty plains, with the only other witness being the rising sun beside them, a special ritual was happening. One that was hundreds of years old, and one where it last happened several decades prior, with Toshinori and his own mentor, Nana Shimura.
"Someone told me this once: There's a difference between being lucky and deserving. One's an accident, the other a reward. Never get the two confused! Take that to heart, young man! This gift… you earned it with your own valiant efforts! Now… take this!"
Nodding, Mirio held out his hand… and took the great sword from Toshinori.
With that, Mirio Togata was now the newest wielder of One For All.
The first thing that Melissa saw when she regained consciousness was that she was surrounded by people. Well, surrounded might have been a bad word choice. They were clearly giving her space, and none of them were holding any weapons towards her, so that was nice.
None of them were wearing any clothes she recognized. In fact, oddly enough, all of them were wearing the same exact set of clothes. They were green, with small blotches of tan, brown and black all over them. Plus, they had vests and pouches on top of all that, too!
What weirded her out more was the fact that their wagons were also green. And that they seemed to lack any beasts pulling them. Upon a closer inspection, she saw that they had glass on them, so it was more accurate to say that they were carriages.
But still, where were the beasts?
Looking towards the people who have found her, she could tell that they were all human. However, she could tell just by their outfits that they were certainly not Imperials. Perhaps mercenaries? They seemed to be wary of her, but they didn't have any swords drawn out on her. Not even a crossbow. Just some black, long sticks… oh.
Flintlocks.
They were carrying flintlocks.
Hell, even their beast-less carriages had giant flintlocks mounted on top of them.
Alright, that made Melissa's analysis of these individuals go up much higher. Whoever they work for is either a genius or very wealthy. She didn't recognize what sort of flintlocks they were carrying, but it was clear from their posture that they knew how to use them.
Was some new model created? And if so, by who?
Questions for later. Right now, she had a few options. She could simply try to escape, but she would prefer to not spill blood. Maybe they just wanted to talk to help her? There was no way that they would simply be that benevolent. Maybe they –
"Salve ibi."
Getting out of her thoughts, Melissa saw that one of the strangers approached her. She was tall, clearly well-built, with raven-black hair in a ponytail, and seemed friendly enough. She was most likely the leader, since she was the one who said, "Hello there."
But her accent was atrocious. It was obvious that Common was not her first language.
Melissa figured that if she wanted to appear friendlier, speaking their native language was probably a good way to earn their trust, right? Using her telepathy, Melissa picked around the woman's brain, and then cross-referenced her thoughts with Melissa's language catalog.
Japanese? That's a new one.
It didn't matter. Opening her mouth, Melissa decided to go with a standard "Hello."
"Konnichiwa!"
Then the screaming began.
On the other side of the continent, the land was dark. Whether it was due to the fact that the sun was being blocked out, or it had always been like this, no one could say for sure.
Within that dark countryside, near the ends of the earth, a dark castle could be seen. Within it, a meeting was being held, with eight individuals in attendance, all sitting around a circular table.
"Thank you all for coming," the host, one sporting curly green hair and red horns, said.
"I'm going to cut to the chase," he continued. "As of now, we have successfully reclaimed every part of Daemonium that we lost in the last seven years. Congratulations all around."
The other members of his council cheered and celebrated for their victory, but were quickly silenced when they saw their leader raise his hand, a request for them to quiet down.
"Now… to my more personal matters," the host announced. "We all saw it earlier today, didn't we? The falling star in the middle of the day? I'm sure you all know its significance…"
All of his subordinates knew what that meant.
"I have peered into the oracle fire, and I know both that she has indeed arrived in this material plane of ours, and that her current location is on the other side of the continent. She seems to have made contact with an unknown group, however. Their weapons and technology are unfamiliar to us. The time to act is now," he said, standing up. "Kurogiri."
"Yes, Master?" the shadow demon seated next to him spoke.
"Send your shadow demons all throughout the continent. Every major city, every capital, every port, I want one of my spies there. I'll leave you and Shihai in command."
"It shall be done, sir," the dark elf, Shihai, said, as Kurogiri nodded his head.
"Excellent. Now… Hitoshi."
"Boss?"
"Send your messengers to my territories that are governed by Himiko, Touya, Ryo, Shuichi and Setsuna. Alert them to the news, and tell them to remain vigilant for her."
"Consider it done," the purple-haired human saluted his employer.
"Good. And now… my dear sister… Eri."
The horned girl looked up. "Nii-chan?"
"The men she has made contact with are a strange group, and given the location, I have predicted that they may have originated from the Collibus Hills. I want you to go there, investigate it quietly, and please, come back to me safely."
"Anything for you, Nii-chan!" the horned teenager said.
"Thank you, now for the rest of you, this is a royal decree: Inform your subordinates and order them to begin their search. Tell them in detail, how she looks, how she acts, I don't want them to miss her. I want them to find Melissa Shield, and to bring her here."
As all the Demon Lords bowed at the command, he said, "Meeting adjourned."
Retreating back to this throne room, a smile appeared on his freckled face.
The Demon King, Izuku Midoriya, liked it when plans came to fruition.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!"
"HOLY SHIT!"
"JESUS CHRIST!"
Of all the things to happen, Momo was not expecting that.
When the winged lady began getting up, she had gestured to everyone else to lower their weapons, so as to not frighten her. She also signed to them to give her room to breathe, and that she would be the one to make first contact. So far, so good.
She slowly approached her, so as to not frighten her, then said a standard "hello there" in Latin.
Then, everything did a complete one-eighty.
The first thing that came out of the lady's mouth was "hello" in PERFECT JAPANESE. Hence why everyone was now panicking, because absolutely no one saw that coming.
It was up to Momo to salvage this.
"How the fuck do you speak Japanese?!" Kaibara yells out. Great.
"I know all spoken languages?" the blonde woman replied, as if it was the most obvious answer.
"I KNEW IT!" Bakugou yelled out, his smile looking ferocious. "I WAS FUCKING RIGHT!"
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Tsuburaba asked.
"She's an angel! They can speak every language!"
"For the love of God, she's not an angel!" Rin groaned.
"Yes, I am," the blonde woman said.
Immediately, the shouting and screaming stopped. Everyone looked towards the winged woman, and Momo decided to seize the situation. "You said that you're an angel?"
"Yes, that's right," she said. "We know each and every language. Even those we've never seen before, such as yours. Speaking of which, who exactly are you?"
"Who am I?" Momo repeated, and then realized, "Oh, right! Where are my manners? I'm Lieutenant Momo Yaoyorozu, of the Japanese Self-Defense Force."
"A soldier, huh?" Melissa asked. "I've never heard of this "Japan" place, though."
Kirishima seems more than happy to answer the angel's questions. "Oh, we're from the other side of the gate – OW! Sargeant, what was that for?!"
"Never heard of the phrase "loose lips sink ships," Corporal?" Kendo hissed.
"You're from the gate?" the angel repeated. "Well, that explains a lot."
"Hm?" Momo hummed. "Wait, what do you mean by that?"
"The Collibus Hills Gate," the blonde said. "It's an ancient structure that magically appears in other realms, probably some old wizard's experiment gone wrong. I'm assuming that it showed up in your homeland? Incredibly large, white marble, has several blue crystals adorning it?"
"That actually describes it to an uncanny degree," Momo said. "How did you know that?"
"That artifact has been around for a millennia," she replied. "And besides, it's the only notable thing about the Collibus Hills. The rest of the area around it is unremarkable. Normal trees, normal beasts, no monsters, or anything. The only reason no one has ever settled in that land is due to the fact that the gate is there. No one wants to gamble what comes out the other side, except for the Imperials, and absolutely no one wants to be near them."
"The Imperials?" Aoyama asked. "Are they armor-wearing humans, perchance?"
"Yep, those would be soldiers of the Todoroki Empire. Entirely human, conquer with no remorse, the majority of them wielding spears and rectangular shields, all that," she said. "Every now and then, the Emperor sends his most disloyal troops to investigate the gate. If they come back with nothing to report, good. If they don't come back at all, even better."
"Itsuka, are you writing this down?" Monoma whispered to his girlfriend.
"Every single word," she whispered back.
"Wait, all-human?" Momo asked. "We saw several monsters attacking our city alongside their soldiers. Giants with horns, a couple of them even wielding weapons."
No one noticed Kirishima slightly flinching.
"They were probably either hired mercenaries or bullied into subservience," the blonde angel explained. "The Todoroki Empire values strength above all else, so they're bound to have a couple of soldiers capable of going toe to toe with even the strongest of other races."
"Huh… I see."
"Do you have any other questions?"
"I do have one more lingering question," Momo spoke. "Who are you?"
"Hm? Oh, I see. I forgot to tell you my name," the angel smiled. "I am Melissa Shield. As you can tell, I'm an angel, well, I guess technically I'm now a fallen angel."
"A fallen angel?" Uraraka asked. "What's that?"
"A fallen angel is an angel that retains their power, but loses the connection to their deities from which they were made," Bakugou answered, reading from his book. "Whether intentional or accidental, this is a permanent stain that marks the angel as an outcast."
Rin groaned once more. "Dude. It's a book. For a game. It's not accurate to –"
"Actually, he's correct."
Rin looked at Melissa with a dumbfounded expression. "Huh?"
"I was judged for what the gods perceived as a crime, found guilty, and cast down to the earth to spend the rest of my existence in exile, where I met… you fine folk," Melissa answered.
Rin simply looked gobsmacked, while Bakugou had a smug expression.
"Wait…" Uraraka spoke up. "What crime did you commit?"
Melissa simply sighed, "I fell in love."
"Awww!" Komori cooed, before asking, "Wait, that's it?"
"That's it," Melissa nodded. "Apparently, the gods don't like it when their agents go against their agendas and commands decreed by them. I rebelled against such agendas by falling in love."
"With what? A human, or something?" Bakugou asked.
All he received for an answer was silence.
"Alright…" Momo said, glossing over Melissa's silence. "What are you going to do now?"
"Well, now I'm going to cross the continent to be with my beloved. He's on the other side of the Occidensian continent, in case you didn't happen to know which continent you're on –"
"No, we don't."
"- the journey will be a hard one, especially as I have been stripped of most of my divine powers. I'll have to deal with monsters, hostile demi-humans, Imperials, evil magic users, pirates, dragons, sea monsters, other angels sent to assassinate me, vampires, bandits –"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Sato said, stopping her. "We have to deal with all that?!"
"What do you mean?"
"Our superiors ordered us to explore the land around us. We have no idea about anything out here, so we're supposed to investigate, and come back with our findings in one month," Momo explained. "In fact, today is our first day on the job."
"I see," Melissa analyzed. "Well, it seems quite clear that you're all foreigners. You're most likely going to need a guide to survive out here. Quite a few dangers."
"And it would be best for you to not travel alone," Momo said.
"Is this going where I think it's going?" Kodai whispered to Komori.
"Probably?" the brown-haired botanist whispered back.
"Lieutenant Yaoyorozu!" Melissa announced. "I have a proposition!"
"A proposition?" Momo repeated.
"Yes!" Melissa exclaimed, standing up, unsheathing her sword, and pointing it to the sky. "Allow me to accompany you and your team on your noble quest! I shall provide you with both protection and information about this world! In exchange, I ask you to go in the direction where my beloved is! I shall be your guide for as long until the two of us are reunited!"
"Oh! Well, that's certainly an offer…"
"Lieutenant, permission to privately speak with you?" Bakugou requested.
"Uh, permission granted?" Momo replied, as Bakugou pulled her away from the main group.
"Take the deal," he whispered.
"What? Why?"
"Reason one, she'll act as our living map. She knows the layout of the land, and knows where her boyfriend or whatever lives, so she'll be guiding us in a straight line. This also means that we'll be able to turn back and know where to go, and what dangers will be there."
"And the second reason?" Momo whispered.
"She's a literal angel, one step lower from actual gods," Bakugou deadpanned. "Even if most of her powers are gone, the locals out here would have to be suicidally stupid to go up against her. Plus, I'm pretty sure anyone who doesn't fight us will immediately try to help us, since they'll think we're holy enough to be an angel's entourage."
"That sounds morally compromising."
"Well, what's more morally compromising?" the spiky-blond asked. "Saying a few white lies to some hostiles? Or leaving this poor girl all alone out in the wilderness?"
Momo internally debated it in her head. They had enough room for one more person, sure, but would that technically be allowed? These were uncharted waters, and a single mistake could kill her troops. She weighed the two options in her head… and came to a decision.
Returning back to her team, she said, "We accept your proposal."
Out in the middle of nowhere, between the most vile swamps and the most toxic wastelands of the continent, several individuals were meeting up for an important ceremony.
The main instigator of this meeting was waiting for the others to arrive. The air was filthy, and the only thing protecting him from the smell was his white mask and full-body hood.
Hearing a nearby branch break, he turned to see two of his associates had finally arrived. One of them was a tall man with gray hair, the other was short and bald, with a mustache.
"Nine. Garaki."
"Hari Kurono," Nine wheezed out. Kurono could see that Nine was still sick after all this time. "I see you've been waiting for us. Has anyone else arrived aside from the three of us?"
"We have also arrived," a new voice called out, causing the three of them to turn. Kurono can see Flect Turn, a member of the aquatic demi-humans known as the tritons, along with Chitose Kizuki, an oni, Maguma Iwata, a powerful fire mage, and, oddly enough, Chizome Akaguro.
He didn't think that the Great Spirit of Murder would show up, honestly.
"We're all here?" Kurono asked. "Good, let's begin."
The seven of them walked through the toxic hellscape they called a countryside for quite a few minutes, ignoring the shrieks and calls of the local monsters, until finally, they arrived.
In front of them was a mound of dirt, with a corpse peeking out from under it. If you removed both the dirt and the corpse from on top of them, someone would also find a dried-out well underneath all of that. But Kurono didn't dare move anything.
The ritual was about to begin.
"Garaki," Kurono calls out the necromancer. "The wand?"
"Right here," the bald man answers, pulling out the ancient relic.
"Good. Kizuki, the soul?"
"Right here, inside this phylactery," she said, showing him a green vial, with a skull adorning its top. "I have to tell you, it was a hassle getting his soul out of the Nine Hells. But it's done."
"Good… Iwata, ignite the candles around us."
FWOOM!
"Done," the flame-haired man grunted.
"And his heart is already in his body…" Nine spoke. "So… let's begin."
"Right," Kurono said, as he grabbed the phylactery, and placed it around the corpse's neck. They all stepped back, and then Kurono addressed them. "We have no idea if this is going to work. No one has ever tried to resurrect someone as a lich before, so, if we fail… it's over."
They all nodded in agreement. "Garaki, do it."
"Understood," the necromancer nodded. "Kai Chisaki… RESURRECT!"
In an instant, the wand chimed, and an orange, bubble-like aura washed over the entire swamplands. For a few seconds nothing happened, and then… the corpse started moving.
"My turn…" Kurono muttered, before yelling to the heavens in an ancient and cursed tongue, "KOVATALA… ZAVANASA… VAKASALA! LET KAI CHISAKI RISE ONCE MORE!"
The corpse's heart began to beat, while glowing a bright green, the same color as the vial. Soon, the entire body became wrapped up in the same bright green. But it wasn't enough. Evil spirits from all around appeared, floating around this cursed ritual, and encircling the corpse.
KRAK-BOOM!
Green lightning erupted from the corpse, causing Kurono and the rest of them to back away from the body. After the green lighting, there were green flames, ooze, and the souls of the damned erupting out of the well, all of them coming from the corpse, as well.
And then… they heard it. Laughter.
"Ehehehe…"
The body rose once more, as the insects that were feasting off the flesh flew away in terror, and with green fire coming out of its eye sockets, but still… it laughed.
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Kai Chisaki now walked the earth, not as a man… but as a lich.
Author's Notes: Still no comments, huh? Eh, I'm sure it'll turn around soon enough, especially now that the stage has been set, and our story can truly begin!
I also drew a reference picture for Melissa Shield, and I'll be posting it across all my platforms, so check that out, too!
But that's all for today! I've got a Discord, the link is /3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules!
And until next time, ciao!
- Ernalore