A/N: Hello again! So, I don't think I'm going to be able to manage daily updates like the guy that's writing "Obsessions in Shadows" on Archive, but I should be able to do this pretty often. I also do have an idea for something more original and a self-insert Genshin Impact fanfic, but I'm still focusing on this fic for now.
Disclaimer: I do not own Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games Is Tough for Mobs, nor do I own The Eminence in Shadow. The only Beta reader here is the elf.
Quick Notes:
I'll answer some comments I got at the end of the chapter. Thanks again for those.
Also, instead of the line breaks I'm going to use a centered thing like I said earlier. It just makes the copy and paste process easier.
-Leon-
"L_"
The image of a blonde woman with red eyes flashes before my eyes. For a moment I believed it to be the villainess from Alto Liebe, but something is off about her. She appears more… sad. Or… depressed. A stark contrast from the villainess' haughtier appearance. She appears to be reaching out for me, she begins to flicker, as though she's somehow glitching.
"_o_"
The blonde woman is replaced by the image of another woman, although she's more platinum blonde. She looks… motherly almost, but in a studious way if that makes sense. Like some kind of sexy librarian. Somehow… I feel like I know her. Like if I reached out, I could touch her. But as I start to think about it, she starts flickering too.
"_n"
I remember a childhood friend, from my last life. She… she was blonde too, now that I think about it. She wore her hair in a side ponytail that was super cute. I remember her… but I can't help but wonder if she ever remembered me. If… if she had wanted to say goodbye that day. If she just didn't know how to contact me. If… she at least visited my grave.
"Leon!"
I open my eyes and see another blonde. Two technically, but one of them is taking up all of my vision. Olivia. Why are you so sad? And what's that light? Are you trying to heal me? Geez, can't a guy take a nap around here?
I get up, and Olivia starts hugging me. As I do my best to comfort her—despite being the one who was knocked out—I survey our surroundings. I wave off the other three and look to our ship. It's been crashed into some nearby trees, but if we got it out, we'd probably be able to still fly it. Can't imagine how badly things would've gone if I had been on the ship that dad had given me.
"Leon…" said Claire in a worried tone that sounds weird coming from her, "are you okay? You landed pretty far from the ship. The island seems pretty clear of people if you need to rest for a bit."
I take a look around. I see that on the other side of the island are the ruins straight out of the game. A ruined skyscraper straight out of my past life, mostly reclaimed by the nearby vegetation with one huge tree sticking out of it. There's nothing else on the island to suggest there was life, aside from a few bugs. As far as I can tell, we're the first people here. Well, first in what has to have been a while.
"Leon? You good dude?" asked Cid. "You were out for a bit. I hear that's pretty bad for your brain."
"Huh? What do you mean?" said Claire.
"I mean, people get knocked out because of brain damage, right?"
"No, jeez don't you listen to our tutors? People get knocked out when the mana that protects us detect a fatal blow and leaves us in a defensive state that most people can't break through."
"That… that doesn't sound right."
"Cid, think about it for a few seconds. If knocking people out was so bad for people, why would we be trained on how to do it in case we need to bring someone in alive?"
"Because most of the dark knights of Midgar are crazy violent people and don't care about how much they hurt others?"
"Besides that!"
"If the person you're bringing in is a Noble you get more money from bringing them in alive?"
Claire begins to pinch her brother's cheeks as Alice tries to get her to stop, reminding me of whenever Jenna or Finely would pick on Colin. Heh, once we get Luxion I'll make sure to go home and give them all a big hug.
I lightly shove Olivia off my lap and get up, making sure to give Olivia a hand as she does the same.
"Claire." I said.
Claire stops messing with Cid for a second and looks at me.
"Yeah Leon?"
"We're here."
Everyone smiles. I begin to walk I the direction of the building and everyone follows. It's quiet, too quiet really. I make sure to prepare the strat I had for whenever I needed to speed run my way to the cash shop. I quickly load some magically imbued ammo into my rifle. I turn to the others, who all are in a single file line behind me for some reason.
"Do you remember what I said about this dungeon?" I ask everyone.
Once again, they raise their hands. I know I pointed it out before, but this just makes me feel like I'm chaperoning a field trip instead of leading an adventure.
"You guys don't have to raise your hands you know." I deadpan.
"But it's polite." Said Olivia.
The others nod. Okay, I guess I'm the rude jerk of the group. I mean, I knew that, but I didn't have any kind of proof before. A wise man would take this a chance to change, if I were wise, I would not have died the way I did. In any case, I call on Claire this time.
"You told us to focus on electricity type skills because that's what the monsters should be weak to…" Claire trails off while grabbing her arm and looking to the side.
I can already tell why. I've been able to placate (read: distract) everyone so far with having fun adventuring, but there's only so much I can get away with.
"You're curious on how I knew all of this right? Well, I'll be glad to answer that… ASSOONASIGETTHATTREASURE!" I book it because I'm way too anxious to mess up now.
"Leon!?"
"Leon-san!"
"Mister Leon, don't start without us!"
"You can't just take us all here and then ditch the party last second, that's not cool!"
I smile and stick my tongue out at them as they begin chasing after me, "I'm clearing the way, just try to keep up!" I think about it for a second. "And stop yelling, you'll draw their attention!"
Everyone looks exasperated, like my mother whenever Nicks and I would get into trouble. Or when Jenna and I would get into trouble. Or when Finely and I would get into trouble. Or when Colin and I… hey wait a second.
I shake my head and do my best to get my head in the game, though I'll never forgive myself for the pun. I do my best to run in a way that makes little to no sound, like during all the times I had hunted rabbits for food. As I round a corner I hear a small hum, which for the rest of the party sounds like nothing but the sounds of the dungeon having air go through it, but for me I know it's the start, the actual start of our dungeon dive. I ready my rifle and as soon as I get to the next corner I jump, level my rifle and shoot at the floating robot. I manage to land a shot directly on the body, and with its back to me it likely hasn't alerted the others. Good, my first time accessing the cash shop was spoiled by the fact it doubles as an exp farm… if you survive. The way I had died just trying to reach the actual cash shop was pure B.S., those devs made everything so expensive but made you work for it too..! Ugh, whatever. Everyone catches up to me and I give a quick thumbs up with a grin. Everyone smiles back, but Claire also gives me a punch to the arm.
"I guess you were right then." Said Cid as he tried to get close to the now fallen robot. Claire stops him, but lets Alice get closer.
"Incredible" remarks Alice while looking over the fallen robot, "It's very similar to some of the mechs I have seen but with almost none of the magic assisting it."
"No magic?" asked Cid, as though he just found out Santa wasn't real. Claire does her best to pat Cid back to happiness, although she appears confused as to why he'd be so distraught.
"None." Answered Alice.
"Unfortunately," I say while walking past Alice, "that's probably too heavy for us to carry right now. So, we'll have to leave it behind. C'mon, hopefully we don't run into any buddies it might have."
Alice brushes her green skirt free of the dirt and follows behind Cid as we all file out the room. It's strange to think about, but I've essentially brought a new party down to the island I always bee-lined to for the routes. I guess… I guess I really did reincarnate. It's nostalgic in a way. We're going down the same path I had taken while playing Alto Liebe, while accompanied by the protagonist. Heck, sometimes Olivia would have an elf servant purchased for her by the boy/boy's whose route you were on. Although Alice is way cooler than Kyle ever was. From what I remember Kyle just gave a few extra attacks in the dungeons and otherwise was a just a new "navigator." More of a mascot if you ask me. I'm not going to try anything with Alice given how she looks at Cid, but it would be cool to have my own female elf servant, especially one as competent as… Why is she staring at the vending machine.
"Leon-san, would you happen to know this device is? Its design confuses me. There's food inside but I see no way to get it." Said Alice with her usual stern expression.
Don't laugh.
"Oh," said Olivia as she approached, pointing towards the slot at the bottom, "what if we stuck our hand in here."
Alice nods and tries that, only to see her hand is blocked.
Don't… laugh.
"Geez. Girls, we're. in. a. DUNGEON, just break it!" said Claire while raising her sword.
Don't… don't…
"Uh," stammered Cid, "wouldn't the food be expired? I mean, it looks like it's been here for a while."
The girls all sheepishly rub their heads, Olivia even doing that cute thing where she bonks her head with one hand and sticks out her tongue. I chuckled a little but then calm down and speak, "How do you figure that Cid?"
Cid merely points to a pair of skeletons. Everyone walks up to them, but I find it a bit hard to do so. I… I don't know why but something feels weird about what I see. We just stand there and stare for a few seconds. It looks like there was one man and one woman, given that the one was wearing a turtleneck with a skirt and the other a vest/button down with pants. I lift the name tag off of the man and see a few letters of a name "JOS_ MOU_." It's weird to say, but… looking at these skeletons I feel a sense of familiarity. I look back at the female skeleton and put the head that fell onto the floor back on it. As I do, an image of the woman with platinum blonde hair that I saw when I was knocked out briefly flashes in place of the skeleton. She smiles, mouths some words and numbers, points to the male skeleton's pocket and just like that she's gone again.
"Did… did anyone else see that?" I asked everyone.
Everyone looks at each other before looking at me like I'm crazy, something I'm not even sure of right now. However, before I can think of defending myself, Olivia comes to my rescue.
"Maybe the lady was thanking you? I mean she and her husband weren't buried so you putting her head back is probably the most respect she's gotten since she died." Said Olivia.
I nod, and then do as the woman said and check the man's pocket. Yup, keycard. Unfortunately, as soon as I grab it, I hear the hum of patrolling robots. Welp, time to get to work.
-P2W-
Some time later with probably enough exp to go from lvl 20 to 60 from defeating countless robots, the party had finally made it. Tired, bloody, but thanks to Olivia and the necklace's power, not bruised. Everyone stares at Leon as he pulls out a key card with a smile on his face. They all smile back, thinking that this must be the final room and that's the reason Leon is smiling. Which isn't wrong. But Leon can't help but think about how he knows that this has to be where Luxion is, as it's just as he remembered. Leon swipes the key card, and the doors open revealing the remnants of an old airship dock. Everyone marvels at the sight, but Leon can't help but think that everything isn't as good as it was in the game. After all, everything is in some state of disrepair. He decides to keep everyone moving.
Although they do follow him, Cid and Alpha can't help but feel something's amiss. Alpha has long since realized that Leon appears to know more than he's letting on. The feeling is pretty similar to the feeling she gets from Cid at times. Yet at the same time there's something different in the air about them. Cid seems to take things as is, as though he knows everything that is going to happen and therefore, he shouldn't worry. Meanwhile, Leon seems to do nothing but worry. Alpha figures she should ask Cid about this later, perhaps even in front of the other shades so that Cid can't do that thing he usually does and leave without a proper answer. She usually appreciates his belief in the shades but after 6 years it can be a bit frustrating.
Cid figures this is Leon's protagonist aura at work. As far as tropes go, the hero knowing specifically—either by feeling or by some kind of nudge from fate—what weapon to choose to mark a major upheaval in their story is pretty common. Cid can appreciate the hangar itself. The setting of an old civilization overcome by nature due to time but very clearly still had been something powerful is pretty cool. He has no idea how to work it in with the setting currently, but hey, that's why he has the shades so they can fill in the gaps he doesn't want to.
Eventually, they get to the end of the hangar. There, they see something that makes Leon's grin turn feral. Luxion. The ship he had been searching for. Leon can't help but woop in joy and hugs Olivia and Claire, even spinning them a bit.
"Mister Leon!?"
"Leon! I don't mind hugging every now and then but ask for permission first!"
"Sorry," said Leon while putting them down, "but this is what I've been looking forward this entire time. This is the lost item!"
"Cool!" said Claire with a slightly flushed face, "but how do you know that it's this one and not one of the others? I mean, it is a bit more impressive but still. How did you even learn about this place?"
Leon clicks his tongue, agitating Claire.
"Hey!" she rages.
Leon sighs. "Okay, you guys have followed me this far and deserve to know I… I had a really bad fever about 6 years ago. I'm pretty sure that I was about to die, but there was basically nothing I could do but tough it out because my father's legal wife was at the house at the time. Honestly, I think she thought it'd be a good thing if I did, since she didn't allow my father help me out at all. My mom had to go and help him a lot since dealing with that hold hag isn't really something my father can do on his own."
Olivia puts her hands to her face in horror. "Mister Leon…"
Leon continues, "While I was fading in and out of consciousness I… I think I met the Saintess."
"The Saintess?" asked Cid, intrigued.
"Right. I know it sounds farfetched but, I saw her, and the founding family heads… and I think I saw someone else too. I think he was some kind of luggage carrier. While traveling around with everyone, he kept a notebook. He wrote down basically everything that the 6 said, as a sort of note for later adventures. Normally I would have forgotten everything about that dream, but I kept having the dream over and over. Eventually I decided to write down everything, and once I did I stopped having that dream. I… I think it was a sign." Said Leon.
Everyone has some skepticism with Leon's admission, but the results speak for themselves.
"Hm… okay, I'll believe you. For now. But why would the Saintess show you that vision?" said Claire.
"I think… I think I was a descendant of the luggage carrier. He probably wasn't as close to her as any of the founding family heads, but given what we know about the Saintess, they were likely on good terms with one another. Maybe she felt bad after seeing what was happening to his descendants."
"Makes sense to me." Said Cid. "Now let's nab this treasure."
Everyone nods and moves onto the ship. Marveling at how different it looks compared to everything else they've seen. Seemingly centuries apart even from the hangar building.
"Wow~" said Olivia, "It's huge in here. Can something this big even fly?"
"Although I haven't seen them myself, I have heard of battleships being longer than a thousand meters," answered Alpha.
Eventually they reach a door to which Leon stops, takes a deep breath and then declares "Here we go!"
The door opens to a where a large armor is kept. Easily the size of a building and unfortunately for the party of teenage adventurers, it's just as mobile as the other robots.
[INTRUDER DETECTED.]
Leon immediately fires off a shot from his rifle, followed by a lightning bolt from Alpha, and a sword wave from Claire. But none of them leave a scratch. The titanic robot begins to scan them. Leon holds up the key card he found earlier, hoping that it might work.
[ THE KEY CARD YOU HAVE BELONGS TO BASE PERSONNEL. YOUR BODY FEATURES DO NOT MATCH THAT PERSON'S NOR OTHER PERSONNEL. ADDITIONALLY, THE SURVIVAL OF THE OWNER AND OTHER BASE PERSONNEL HAVE BEEN DEEMED HOPELESS, THUS-]
The titanic robot rises to its full height, turning in full to the party.
[ YOU ARE AN INTRUDER. EXTERMINATE.]
"All right! Guys we're doing this the hard way!" shouts Leon.
The robot swipes at the party, forcing Claire to dodge to the side. Alpha carries Cid under her arm as she dashes out of the way, and Leon carries Olivia behind some crates. As he hides he takes out a grenade with his free hand, bites the pin loose (something that never would have worked in his old world) and throws it directly at the robots head.
"A direct hit!" shouted Cid.
"Heh, that's bound to hurt you bucket of…" said Leon.
[ MAGIC-BASED ATTACKS HAVE REACHED A CRITICAL LEVEL. NOW ACTIVATING MAGIC CANCELLING BARRIER.]
Magic what. Thinks Leon and Cid in unison. The latter more horrified than the former.
"Dammit!" shouts Claire, swinging her sword more, but every magic fueled swipe merely being absorbed by the barrier.
"That's a cowardly move!" shouted Leon.
[THANK YOU. BEING CALLED A COWARDLY FIGHTER IS A COMPLIMENT. THAT IS WHAT I WAS TAUGHT. IS THAT WRONG?]
"It's completely wrong!" Shouted Leon, "Why do you have counter measures against magic!?"
As Leon remembered, the robot didn't have those defenses in the game. This leaves him grasping at straws looking for weaknesses.
[I SHALL GIVE A SIMPLE ANSWER. WHILE I CANNOT SAY THAT I UNDERSTAND MAGIC, IS IT NOT NATURAL TO ANALYSE AND PREPARE COUNTERMEASURES AGAINST IT?]
Suddenly the robot makes a realization.
[WEREN'T THERE 5 OF YOU-!?]
Suddenly, Alpha appears behind the robot's head doing her best to stab it with a sword.
"You sure are talkative." She remarks.
The robot spins its head 180 degrees and Alpha kicks it in its glass face, causing it to shatter slightly.
[APOLOGIES. IT HAS BEEN A WHILE SINCE I LAST CONVERSED. HENCE, I MAY BE EXCITED. YOUR FEAT OF STEALTH IS IMPRESSIVE. BUT NOT ENOUGH.]
"Alice!" Shouted Leon while preparing another grenade, "get clear!"
Alpha jumps off the robot, landing next to Leon who throws the grenade. He shoves her in the direction of Cid's hiding place while covering his ears.
[ANOTHER MAGIC GRENADE? I AM CURRENTLY RESISTANT TOWARDS-]
The grenade blows up, causing a big enough explosion to cover the entire robot. Cid comes to a realization.
"Of course," muttered Cid, loud enough that only Alpha could hear, "when magic doesn't work you must use non-magical means."
As the robot doesn't speak anymore Leon takes the chance to gloat. "HAHAHA! That's some amazing power isn't it?! It's just a grenade! I didn't want to damage the ship so I didn't use it at first, but I guess even you-"
As Leon laughed a mechanical hand suddenly had emerged from the smoke and seized him.
"Mister Leon!" screamed Olivia. She runs towards him as Leon's held to the robot's head and squeezed like a stress ball.
"Ugh!" grunted Leon in pain, doing his best to get out.
[I WAS SURPRISED. SINCE YOU PEOPLE ARE USED TO MAGIC, I DID NOT THINK YOU WOULD USE SUCH WEAPONS. YOUR WAY OF FIGHTING IS DIFFERENT FROM THOSE IN THE PAST. A RIFLE… BULLETS INFUSED WITH MAGIC. INTERESTING.]
The robot holds Leon directly to its face, the glass Alpha had shattered with her kick on its face sliding down to reveal a red orb that begins to charge and crackle with electricity. The others make an attempt to get closer only for a group of the smaller robots they had beaten earlier to emerge and hold them back. Alpha and Claire manage to hold off most of them, with Cid able to use Leon's dropped rifle on whatever's left, allowing Olivia to rush to Leon. As she knows that she can't hurt the titanic robot like the others, she does her best to extend her healing to Leon.
[BEFORE I ERASE YOU, I HAVE AN INQUIRY. WHICH YEAR IS IT NOW?]
"What?" asked Leon. The robot holding him squeezes hard, causing him immense pain. "GAH! If you mean the Holfort calendar-GYAAA!"
The robot squeezes even harder, with its eye glowing a solid crimson.
"Mister Leon! Hang in there!"
[…THAT ANSWER IS PLENTY. IT APPEARS THAT WE HAVE BEEN DEFEATED.]
"What are you even talking about!?"
The robot shakes its head. [THE NEW HUMANS. YOU PEOPLE'S ANCESTORS. THEY HAVE A VERY POWERFUL ABILITY CALLED MAGIC, WHICH WAS USED TO CONQUER THE OLD CIVILIZATIONS. AS THEIR DESCENDANTS OF THOSE NEW HUMANS YOU ARE MY ENEMY.]
"Damn you…" grunted Leon, "you're just dragging out this old feud!"
New Humans… thought Leon as he struggled to no avail, and they lost such a "cheat item" battleship? How would I know anything about that? Why am I just learning this now?
[OUR MISSION IS NOT OVER YET.] The robot holds Leon meters away from its head, the heat of the charging laser beginning to burn at his face. [TO EXTERMINATE THE NEW HUMANS IS OUR FIRST PRIORITY. MY ORDERS WERE TO STANDBY AT THIS BASE, AND EXTERMINATE ALL NEW HUMANS THAT COME. THERE HAVE BEEN MANY NEW HUMANS THAT COME TO THIS BASE, BUT AFTTER MEETING YOU CHILDREN, I AM SURE OF ONE THING.]
Cid, Alpha, and Claire manage to get through the army and attempt to strike at the robot's shoulder to shake Leon free. The robot then throws Leon harshly on the ground, enough for him to bounce a couple of times before landing at Olivia's feet. As she assists him back onto his feet, Leon recalls that he still held the necklace on his person. He fumbles for it as the robot gets closer.
[THE NEW HUMANS HAVE BECOME WEAKER. I WILL NOW PROCEED TO ATTACK AND ANNIHLATE THE NEW HUMANS.]
Leon manages to get the necklace out and equips it on to a confused Olivia.
[GOODBYE.]
The robot fires its laser. Everyone puts up a magical barrier, despite knowing how futile it likely would be. However, suddenly each barrier glows golden and absorbs the laser. Everyone finds their wounds healed as a result, but Olivia collapses from exhaustion as soon as their barriers are put down. Leon manages to catch her, before giving her to Cid.
"You and Alice get her out of here and into the next room. Claire and I'll finish things up here." Leon commands. Cid and Alpha nod and do so.
[IMPOSSIBLE… RECALCULATING… YES. PERHAPS NOT ALL NEW HUMANS HAVE BECOME WEAKER. NO. THE TOOLS MUST HAVE ENABLED YOU VERMIN TO ACHIVE GREATER RESULTS. OBJECTIVE HAS NOT CHANGED. PREPARE FOR ANNIHILATION, NEW HUMAN SCUM. PERHAPS YOU SHOULD THANK ME, ALL YOUR PROBLEMS WILL DISAPPEAR.]
Leon takes out his sword, his rifle long out of ammo, and levels it at the robot. "What the heck? How on Earth can you just casually mention a plan for genocide like that!? There are villains who'll die, sure, but so will my family, so will so many innocent people, I can't let that pass. I set you free and that means I own you, either submit or get ready for a beat down!"
[WHAT A FARCE THIS IS, POINTING A SWORD AT ME.]
Claire and Leon nod at each other before dashing forward. The robot begins to charge a laser with its eye again, swinging down its arms at Claire and Leon's locations.
[EXTERMINATE]
They both narrowly dodge but stumble as the swings make the ship shake with each strike.
[EXTERMINATE]
Claire tries to climb up the robot's arms only to be shaken off.
[EXTERMINATE]
Leon jumps up to Claire, who grabs him and quickly throws him up. The robot looks at Leon, almost ready to fire its laser.
[EXTERMINATE]
As soon as Claire hits the ground, she grabs a nearby fallen robot and throws it with the use of magic.
[EXTERMIN-]
*CLANG!*
As soon as the robot begins to fire the smaller one Claire had thrown hits it in the head causing it to miss Leon entirely. Leon manages to catch the robot's chest and climb up to where Alpha was before. He level's his sword dead into the red orb.
"Go to hell you piece of junk!" said Leon as the sword fires from it's hilt, shattering the red orb and electrocuting the inside of the robot.
[!?]
Leon falls, Claire catching him. Soon after the robot falls as well.
"Do you think we got him?" asked Claire.
The robot struggles to get back up.
[*BZZT* …THIS… *BZZT* …ISN'T… *BZZT* …OVER… *BZZT*]
"Damn it. Claire put me down."
As Claire does just that, another group of robots appears and helps the bigger one get back up using chains to lift it like a puppet on strings. Other robots begin to crowd Claire and Leon. As Leon is without a weapon Claire rips off a nearby fallen robot's arm and gives it to him.
"I hope the others are okay." Said Claire.
[*BZZT* …YOU… *BZZT* …SHOULD… *BZZT* …WORRY… *BZZT* …ABOUT… *BZZT* …YOURSELVES…]
One of the robots immediately charges towards the pair, but before they can attempt to strike at it, it begins to glow. Leon tackles Claire out of the way as the robot explodes. Before they can get up several other robots begin to glow as well.
"Shit." Said both teens.
[*BZZT* …THIS… *BZZT* …WAS… *BZZT* …ENTERTAINING… *BZZT* …THANK… *BZZT* YOU… *BZZT* …SCUM]
Both teens attempt to flee only to find their path blocked by more robots. Leon hugs Claire close to himself in an attempt to shield her.
Damn it, thinks Leon, Is it really going to end like this?
"Duck"
Leon and Claire follow the voices instructions. As soon as they crouch down, a brief *woosh* of air occurs. Looking up, they see the same ghost man that Leon and Olivia attested to having seen, Shadow. As they look around him, they see every robot that had surrounded them sliced in half.
[YOU… WHO… ARE… YOU…]
"I am Shadow. And we-"
[WE..?]
*SLASH*
[WHAT]
*SMASH*
[WHO]
*FWOOM*
Suddenly the voice coming from the robot instead comes from a PA system. [ENOUGH]
The robot electrocutes itself, and suddenly at least 30 cloaked figures emerge—their faces obscured by masks instead of smoke—all surrounding Shadow. A teal haired figure gets close to Leon and Claire and begins to heal them.
"Who are you guys?" asked Claire.
Although he can't see his face, Leon can sense the smirk that appears on Shadow's face. He raises his hand and states "We are Shadow Garden."
The members of Shadow Garden all speak in unison, "We lurk in the shadows, we hunt the shadows."
Shadow lowers his arm, and all the figures begin to charge once again at the towering robot. Several of them knock down the robots that had been holding up the larger one, while others begin to push it around. The robot flails about, attempting to land a hit on the Shadow Garden members. It manages to get a few, but they all get back up again. They attempt to use spells to hit the robot only for it to activate its magic eating shield once more. Several Shadow Garden members back off, attempting to throw nearby robots instead. Seemingly growing agitated at the attacks, the robot then makes a grab for some of the Shadow Garden members, managing to catch one only for it to slip through like a bar of soap that was gripped to hard, and landing perfectly fine.
Watching the commotion, Leon can't help but feel a mixture of gratitude and anger. Not wanting Shadow Garden to end up taking the lost item from him, but not dumb enough to pick a fight with them, Leon dashes towards the robot. Claire follows close behind. Leon takes out a grenade he had and pulls the pin. With a shout of "Grenade!" He throws it at the robot's head. Shadow Garden briefly clears the area, but rather than take it to the face again, the robot catches the grenade in its arm. It does cause damage to the digits, which the members of Shadow Garden capitalize on. A member with purple eyes slams down from above and cuts them off. Two members with pale hair, one silver and one more golden pick up the digits and begin to fire them at the robot, causing visible dents but not piercing anything. As the fingers bounce off, other members of Shadow Garden pick them up and give them to a brunette tinged violet haired member who appears to have tendrils appear from the ground. Said member then uses the tendrils to swing the fingers in a quick circle at the shoulder of the arm they came off of.
[ANNOYING PESTS]
The robot then fires missiles from its chest, lasers from its palms, and begins to spin to shake off the Shadow Garden members attacking it. Leon and Claire run through the commotion, with Claire shouting "Tetrakarn" as a missile approaches her, reflecting it back to the robot. Seeing that, several Shadow Garden members follow suit. However, they direct the missiles to hit the shoulders, knocking off the arms. A figure with dark blue hair and the one with dark purple eyes each grab an arm and begin to swing it at the robot's main body. The purple eyed one knocks it into the wall while the dark blunette misses and causes the ship to shake so hard that Leon and Claire become airborne. They land on the robot's head and Leon takes out his entire belt of grenades, including the magical ones. Claire bashes open the robot's head and Leon takes out the pin of one his grenades and stuffs the entire belt down the robot's now open innards. As the two run away, the members of Shadow Garden raise a barrier to contain the resulting explosion.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*
As Leon and Claire attempt to catch their breath, they see Shadow ahead, with his back turned to him.
"Hey," starts Leon, "Thanks *pant* for the help. But *pant* I *pant* got the last hit."
Shadow chuckles, "Indeed. Now go and claim your prize. Until we meet again."
Shadow then takes a single step forward and disappears. The members of Shadow Garden followed suit. As they go down the hall, the speakers come on.
[SCUM. WHERE ARE YOU HEADED? ARE YOU GOING TO ATTEMPT TO USE ME? IT'S IMPOSSIBLE. I WILL SELF-DESTRUCT IF I AM STOLEN BY NEW HUMANS.]
Leon, far too tired and beaten despite the multiple healings he has received simply mutters, "Be quiet I'm just here to take my cash shop item. Just shut up and obey."
Leon arrives to the command room, where Cid and Alpha are waiting with Olivia's still unconscious body. They greet him but he walks past and begins to access the computer. He realizes that there is an option to use the computer in Japanese and selects it immediately.
The PA system begins to speak in Japanese [HM? YOU CAN READ THAT? YOU NEW HUMAN SCUM SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO SPEAK JAPANESE.]
Leon mutters in Japanese, "Stuupid. My soul is that of a Japanese person through and through. Rice and Miso soup are justice… or maybe you don't get it."
Of course, Alpha and Cid hear this despite them helping Claire from their place across the room, but only Cid understands what Leon is saying. He can't help but feel surprised.
[SOUL… BY THAT DO YOU MEAN THE CONCEPT OF REINCARNATION?]
Leon brings up the prompt that requires him to scan his hand and uses it immediately.
[SCANNING…SCANNING… PLEASE DO NOT MOVE… CONFIRMED. CONFIRMED. THERE ARE TRACES OF THE JAPANESE IN YOUR GENETIC INFORMATION. YOU ARE A NEW HUMAN… YET YOU HAVE INHERITED THE GENETIC INFORAMTION OF THE OLD HUMANS. PECULIAR… IT SHOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE."
Leon switches back to speaking in the modern language, "That's nice and all, but you're mine now right?"
[…YES, FROM TODAY ONWARDS THIS SPACESHIP IS YOURS. WILL YOU GIVE IT A NAME?]
Leon turns to the others with a big smile on his face, all of them returning it.
"Luxion." Leon answered, before switching back to Japanese, "we can discuss the reincarnation stuff a bit later."
[UNDERSTOOD.]
Leon then laughs, and slowly slides into a sitting position. As he falls asleep, he sees the others approach him. For as grateful as he was for the help, he hopes that Shadow Garden would go home. Safely of course, they did help him after all.
-Cid-
Man, that was so cool! I can't believe Alpha got everyone to secretly follow us like that! Appearing in the hero's moment of need as they face an enemy way above their level but is completely necessary to defeat by having the eminence in shadow appear when everything seems hopeless..! Ah, it's just too good! Next time the girls ask for something I'll get it for them, no questions asked.
But… there's something else to consider. Leon's probably another person who reincarnated. How else would he had known Japanese? I mean, I guess it makes sense for the setting. A world that encourages polygamy like this one (well so far, it's more polygyny) usually does have a guy reincarnate. Hm.. well given how badly he was losing that fight even with help I guess this isn't one of those things where he wins all his fights no questions asked? Not that I particularly don't like those. Well, even if that's the case I just gotta make sure he doesn't get in the way. He's kinda been cool so far, so I'll only kill him as a last result.
A/N: This is one of our protagonists.
"Cid?" asked Alpha.
I'm brought out of my thoughts by her kind and inquisitive voice. We're in the middle of watching Leon and Olivia receive awards from the King for their great achievement. It took a bit of convincing, but I managed to talk Claire into letting have all of the public credit since we really just piggy backed off of his adventure. Leon did try to say that wasn't necessary and he was more than happy just to enjoy all the stuff he found thanks to Luxion's help. But I thought it'd mess with my mob persona if Claire or I had gotten our status elevated from all the money and islands we ended up getting. It was probably for the best in the end, I mean Leon's even so happy he started crying.
"Yes?" I ask.
"I was curious, why are you so interested in elevating Leon to this degree?"
Ah. I guess I never really came up with an official Shadow Garden reason. Uh…
"Keep this a secret from Eta," I say as I realize what our little psycho scientist would do if she finds out about what I'm going to say, "But, let's just say I'm not the only scholar of shadows."
Alpha gasps, thankfully in time with everyone else. I can't help but wonder… Oh, Olivia's blushing and the King's laughing and nodding. What's everyone saying, something about an academy?
A/N: Hey, hope you enjoyed the chapter. Now for the comments.
From QQ:
Someoneani- thanks for the recommendation. I do plan on taking stuff from the non-canon things just to supplement the story, in case that was worrying you. For instance, Gamma is actually super strong. Like not as much as Delta, but it is mentioned in the game by the cutscene in which she gets her sword stuck in a marble pillar (which she then swings around with little effort) and Alpha's stories (where she mentions it herself as they clean together).
Alternativefuturefan27- I saw you on QQ first, so I'll answer here. So, I can't promise being hulksmashed into oblivion, I do promise to try and make it funny whenever Leon and Luxion have to fight Cid. Which is spoilers I guess, but I can't make a crossover and then not have them fight each other. Also, yeah I like Luxion and Leon's dynamic too. No way I was going to not keep that.
Zackman2k12: Thanks! Honestly I'm surprised there's only one other crossover with these two. Well three, I think there's some isekai quartet thing on archive, but I don't like how it's formatted so I don't know if the two have interacted in there.
:
Aniisomeone- Thank you! Hope you like reading it.
Haseo55- That sounds interesting. I hope you can write it yourself; it sounds like you have a super clear version of it in mind already. Plus, I'd love to see more fics of these series.
As for Sherry, she's so far free real estate in EiS. So yeah, I'll try to use her a bit more. I don't want to spoil it too much, but I think I'll cut out her father and replace it with someone similar from Mobuseka.
Editing Note (5/22): I had to go back and manually hit enter for all the spacing. Hope you guys appreciate it. No idea why I couldn't copy and paste it form word after I fixed it there.
