A/N: there will be little lore talk,and prithee holdeth thy judgement regarding what thee readeth because this shall not beest 100% canon and i'm acknown of yond.

A/N 2: i know paper trail doesnt work like it did in this chapter, but who says a big bad almighty multiversal company cant be good to its employee from time to time?

CHAPTER 2

"What's a paper trail?" Sellen asked from beside me, her eyes glued to my Company phone as I surveyed the long ass rickety old sky bridge. Whoa, that's quite a mouthful.

"Aaron?"

I shook my head and focused on her. "Sorry, come again, love?"

She frowned at me but repeated her question, "What does the paper trail do, dearest?" she said while showing me my build. I smiled at her use of the word 'dearest'. I didn't think she even realized she called me that, but hell, the binding worked fast, huh?

"Oh, it was a last-minute addition. My handler insisted I get it so I would be marked as a Tarnished, and guaranteed always to have the guidance of grace? I don't really understand, but it sounds useful, so I took it. It's not like I can do anything else with 2 points," I shrugged.

She took her favorite pose, which clued me in that she was thinking about something. After a few moments, her eyes widened, as if something clicked in her mind, like a piece of a puzzle.

"Tarnished, huh? So... if I understand correctly, you're from another world, correct?" Her face looked excited.

"Yeah?" I replied with a shrug, not sure where she was going with this.

"And you're working for some outer— I mean, multi-dimensional entity?" She clarified.

"Well, I wouldn't call the Company that, but yeah, basically," I nodded.

"And it really guaranteed the blessing of grace?"

"Yeees?"

"This... this is big, Aaron!" Sellen grabbed my shoulder, eyes wide, a happy smile on her face.

"Ok, explain," I said as I took her arms in mine, because I really didn't understand what the fuss was about.

"It's... complicated. We can talk about the long version later, but the short version is, with this... paper trail, we are essentially immortal. We cannot die of old age, and we come back in the event we die," Sellen exclaimed, as if expecting me to have a bigger reaction.

Well, I mean, this was a soulsborne world? Purnell look-alike confirmed it for me, and that it has a respawn mechanic, but as much as I was glad to hear it, I wouldn't be trying to die just to test that.

But I didn't understand why Sellen was so excited. Wasn't she supposed to be immortal too? hell weren't everyone here supposed to?

"Well, yeah. I guess that's good then?" I asked Sellen uncertainly.

She furrowed her brows, annoyed. "You don't understand, Aaron. Not everyone is blessed by the Erdtree and holds its grace inside them, but if your Patron's word is true, that we will be guaranteed to hold the Erdtree's grace inside us, we will be functionally immortal, having the blessing of immortality without holding the teachings of the Golden Order."

"Whoa, whoa, what? You're telling me not everyone can respawn? And that I need this grace to be able to?" I didn't understand all what she said, but that bit I got. Shit, if that was true, would I not be respawning if I didn't get the paper trail?

"No, Aaron," she said with a shake of her head. "Well, there's always other way to ensure immortality. I used to be one, when my fate was tied to the stars, but with it severed since you bind me to yourself, I'm not immortal anymore. Until now, that is."

She closed her eyes and said, "Yeah, I can feel it, the guidance of grace," there was a smirk on her face as she gazed at what I presume she saw mentally.

But I was still hella confused.
"Wait, Sellen, I still don't understand. What is this... grace? And why do some people have it and some don't?" I asked while shaking her shoulders to bring her back to the real world.

"As I said, dearest. It's a long story. You sure you want to hear about it?" She opened her eyes to answer me.

I nodded.

"Hm. Where do I start? Queen Marika, the Eternal, ruled the Lands Between, this land, under the banner of the Golden Order. As a vassal of the Elden Ring,"

She said the thing! I thought. No! Focus.

"There was a rumor saying that Marika and the demigods weren't always immortal, and I know this to be true due to the existence of Destined Death, which is one of the Runes contained within the Elden Ring. My theory is that she somehow made Destined Death be, for lack of a better word, purposeless to her and her ilk," she scoffed, "what a greedy woman. Anyway, it made them immortal. They don't age because the concept of death itself doesn't exist for them." She paused for a moment to take a breath.

"But then the Shattering happened. No one knows why, or even how the Elden Ring was destroyed, but what we do know is that Marika's never been seen after that. And the Golden Order, the manifestation of Order for the Elden Ring, is ruined. It's hell on earth since then, seems like the shattering did something to the Erdtree and the world just got worse for it."

"So... how does all this have to do with some people having—"

"I'm getting into that, dearest. Please be patient with me," Sellen cut me off. "I told you it's a long story," she gave me a bit of a stern look.

"My bad, please continue giving your wisdom to me, teacher,"
Her answer was squinted eyes.

"Where was I? Oh, the Erdtree got.. shall we say.. corrupted? It so called order was thrown out of balance. I'll tell you all about it later, but one of the consequences of it was the people that held grace within them, and thus that follow the teachings of the Golden Order, found themselves immortal, unable to be killed permanently. But it's not all good, some who died too many times lost their mind, be that by the pain of countless deaths or maybe even something completely unrelated."

Sellen let out a little laugh, "Ironic, isn't it? Marika intended for her and only her children to be immortal, to firmly place her as the one true God, the proof of her Godhood. Now, people left and right cannot die even if they wanted to. But it's a form of a curse too because you never know when the Erdtree will snatch that gift from you, and one last death will be your true death. No more chances," She shook her head.

"But that is beside the point. On a related note, is that the Tarnished and their descendants— which we will get into later— had been coming back in droves to the Lands Between, blessed by the Erdtree, guided by grace, to reclaim the shards of the Elden Ring. Because of that, they always return from the dead over and over again in their quest to become the Elden Lord.." she looked me in the eyes and graced me with her smile. "Or that's how the story goes. I heard it once from one of these wretched old ladies near the Academy," she giggled, followed by a shake of her head, as if she couldn't believe what she was saying.

"That's why I said a guarantee of the grace is a good thing, I heard even a Tarnished need to always focus on their one true goal to keep their guidance of grace, lest it got taken from them, and their gift of immortality with it." She finished her story with that.

And...
I understood maybe half of that. Fuck, it didn't matter. What mattered was I still got a respawn mechanic because Purnell insisted I get Paper Trail. I sighed in relief at last.

"Right. That is a lot. Thank you, love," I held my arms toward her, needing a distraction.

And she looked at it bemusedly, crossing her arms. "What are you doing?"

I looked at her, faking a puzzled look. "Hm? Oh, this?" I wiggled my arms. "It's your reward for telling me a long story. Come get it." I smiled teasingly.

I got a flat stare, which almost made me burst out laughing, but I held it in through sheer force of will.

"Come on, I know you want it,"
I said, keeping my *cough* sincere smile on.

"I will not be treated like a pet, Aaron Reid." She gave me a stern stare, but I could see her hands twitching. Man, binding magic was great eh.

"Please?"

"...Fine," she walked toward my arms, and I hugged her.
We held each other in silence, swinging from side to side slowly..

"Isn't it nice? You missed out on so many hugs," I said, still in teasing mode.

"Whatever," her voice muffled again, face pressed against my chest, the perk of being tall. Thank you, Body Tune-Up.

"Many deserved hugs for the hugless grand- oof-" I clutched my abdomen which she just punched while I giggled at her offended expression.

"You're not going to let that go, are you?" Sellen said with snark.

"Nope!" I smiled cheerily.

She stared at me. "No matter, this grandma is still beautiful even in her old age." Then huffed while she looked away.
Look at that, she even owned her joke. I'd be dead six feet under before I could even try to make this kind of joke to a woman from my old world. It was refreshing.

I shook my head and started walking toward the rickety old bridge. "You certainly are, love. Let's continue. I still haven't seen a way out of this cliff,"

She groaned as an answer then caught up to me, and we walked side by side. Surprisingly, the bridge held as we walked through it, even through the harsh wind knocking it left and right and making my heart jump to my throat. At least Sellen got a laugh at my horrified expression, worth it.

"This looks like a cemetery," I muttered as I looked around. There were what looked like burials on each side of the floor, spaced by a few meters from each one, clump of dirt atop them, and broken weapons scattered throughout the place, and don't forget the cliff on each side of the place, wonderful.

"Queen Marika..." Sellen stated as she gazed at the statue ahead of us.

"Oh, that's her?" I asked curiously.

Before Sellen could answer, there was a whoosh of air, and then a tremor on the floor as an ugly-looking misshapen thing landed ahead of us, jumping from beyond the statue.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!"

Then it screeched—

"AaAAAAaAaaAAHhH!"

Fuck this.
Mangekyō Sharingan.

Clarity came into my eyes as the thing continued to grace us with its unholy sound. I was thankful for the slow in perception because I could finally focus on what I was seeing.

As I said, it was an ugly thing, lumps of misshapen flesh as its torso, hidden by a wide yellow cloth covered with an unknown motif. There were limbs sprouting randomly from its center mass, some acting as legs without any fingers on them, some acting as arms, clutching at least 3 swords—I wasn't sure if it got more behind it—and a wooden tower shield on its left side. A singular normal human head, still screaming in tantrum to the heavens.

Fuck, this thing was ugly, and pitiful—I heard a ping from my Company phone—and apparently, a capture target, probably an Extra.
Who would even want this mangled flesh creature? Yup definitely an Extra.
Didn't matter right now though.

"Sellen, get back, let me hold its attention," I said to Sellen, who nodded, expression serious. She took a couple of steps back and to the side, clutching her staff in one hand.

This was as good a time as any to test my intangibility, I remember reading two different theory about Obito's intangibility, one said it was always on, and that he'd need conscious effort to turn it off. The other stated it worked the other way around. And by proding it inside my mind, it seemed the first theory was correct, I applaud all you weeaboos out there that wasted their time figuring out the mechanic of a fictional character's eye power..

Maybe they didn't really waste their time, he actually existed after all.

The flesh monster finally lunged at me, and I could see its right arm's muscle bulging as it flew forward, spittle flying from its mouth, screeching loudly, two swords flashing by from my side. I stood my ground, trusting my power.

The time it took for the swords to reach me felt so long, I could feel my heartbeat going crazy in my chest.

I watched moment after agonizing moment as the blade descent on me slowly, feeling so many seconds pass in slow motion, which in reality probably only took a moment.

The swords finally passed through my body, and the deformed monster stopped for a second, looking confusedly at its sword arms, then came back fast for a second strike, this time with the shield on its left, its feet skittering on the ground as it attacked with a shield bash, the shield glowed, so I decided I won't be taking any chances.

I crouched before it could reach me, instinctively knowing how to knead my chakra, converting it into fire. I conjured small chakra flames on each finger of my hand, using Obito's memory as a guide, then slammed both palms on the stone floor, creating a cylindrical barrier of flames that reached the sky, enveloping my position in a wall of bright red fire.

Uchiha Flame Formation!

Just as the thing's shield reached my position—

"AAAHHH!" it was a different scream than the one before this, this was the scream of pain.

The red-hot flames consumed its shield in a fraction of a second, then continued to lick at its hand before it finally managed to pull the arm away.

Three sounds of harmonious bell chimes came from behind me, followed by three glowing blue gemstone shards shaped vaguely like an arrowhead, coated in energy through my vision.

All of them hit the monster's dead right on its head, the gemstones blasted to pieces on contact right after the other, followed by more screech of pain from the monster.

I deactivated my technique.

The many-limbed monster threw its head back, thrashing its whole body as the flame continued burning one of its hands.

Still in its dazed state, I followed my instinct again, letting Obito's experience wash over me.

My palm still on the ground, but now instead of flame, I kneaded my chakra once more, effortlessly turning and fusing water and earth. Dozens of roots pierced the ground, quickly circling the monster's many limbs. It thrashed harder, but Mokuton's wood was famed for holding even tailed beasts.

Feeling safe from the knowledge of the Wood element capability, I forgot one thing...
I was not Hashirama, or even Obito. Also not to forget the fact this was the first time I used this power..

The beast rose from the ground, slowly but surely, and I could only watch it in shock, unbelieving that it could move, or even escape from the roots' grasp.

The monster forced itself to stand through its sheer strength alone, and the roots started to loosen, the beast screaming all the while.

"Shit," I cursed, uncertainty gripping my mind, and unsure whether to abandon my attack and distance myself to try a new one or pull more roots from the ground before it could escape.

Before I could make a decision, another chime came from behind me, followed by a blast of wind.
Two spiraling gemstones raced toward the beast, hitting one of its leg and forcing it into the ground again as the limb in question literally burst and flew away. I didn't waste my chance; more roots breached the ground to circle around the beast. This time, it could do nothing as I hardened the roots' hold around its limbs.

"AAAAAAaaAAAaaAaaAAHH!" it screamed louder in my direction as I walked closer, signaling Sellen to stop by holding my hand toward my back.

There was a huff behind me as I neared the ugly monster, its limbs held tight by so many woods that it took an effort or two just for it to twitch its body.
I placed my hand firmly on its head, beginning the process of binding it for three seconds. After that was done...

Kamui.

The monster thrashed harder while it was being pulled into the Kamui dimension on a spiraling wind that marked its use. And then it was gone, with nothing to show for its existence except the remnants of its shield, only ashes at this point, and the cracked stone beneath where it originally landed. God, that thing was heavy.

Now I only needed to wait 72 hours for the binding to complete so I could finally sell that thing.

"Good fucking riddance," I sighed, palming my face with a hand and deactivating my MS.

"You handled that fight well, Aaron," Sellen said softly from my shoulder, one hand circling toward my front, the other clutching one of my hands tightly, forcing it to stop shaking as she lightly caressed it.

Huh, I hadn't even realized it was shaking at all.

"That was my first real supernatural fight, or hell, any serious fight at all," I admitted.

"Mm-hm.. I know," she hummed at my shoulder.

I forced myself to calm down, pushing out a big exhale of breath.

"Still, I shouldn't be that bad," I said to her, just wanting to talk.

"Everyone's first real fight is hard. You're doing great compared to so many people I used to know," she assured me with a giggle.

I shook my head. "No, you don't understand. Normal attacks literally couldn't touch me, and I had a full arsenal of attacks, some of them so potent I was sure one of them could finish the monster in one go."

"No one reveals their trump card from the get-go dummy, especially when we're staring each other in the face, and against an enemy whose capabilities we know nothing about," Sellen said wisely. "What if it was fast? There's no guarantee your attack will hit, and if it misses, you run the risk of your opponent knowing your signature moves."

Sellen walked in front of me and pulled one of my ears.

"Ow," I protested.

"Don't be too hard on yourself, Aaron," she scolded me with a frown. "I know you think you're this big bad super powerful ninja," she mocked, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, I never said anything about being powerful," I replied lamely.

Another roll of her eyes. "Yes, but your expression when you talked about it? That smug little smile you tried to hide when you talked about your ability?"

I could only sheepishly smile as she regarded me with her sharp stare.

She huffed and smiled fondly. "As I said, this is your fight," she said, cupping my cheek lightly. "You will be better, I promise." Then she clapped my cheek that she was holding a moment ago.

"What was that for?!" I exclaimed as I cupped my cheek, pouting at her.

She giggled. "Let's get going, my dearest," she said, turning around, her hips exaggeratedly swaying left and right as she headed toward an archway leading away from this place. Oh, now she was asking for it.

I caught up to her and—

Slap.

Sellen yelped and protected her bum from my hand. "Aaron!" she shrieked, her expression affronted, but there was a hint of red on her cheeks.

"Ha! That's payback for you!" I pointed at her with my finger, showing my teeth.

"Why you!"

A/N: hmm, deja vu?