Benefits & Berserkers Chapter 2: The Stranger in Red II, a Berserk + One Piece Crossover fanfic

Chapter 02: The Stranger in Red II: Fated Encounter

I groaned as the rain poured, only having been lucky that I'd bought a cloak earlier, even if it provided subpar protection from the deluge. "Hey, Ao Lie, why don't umbrellas exist here?"

The horse, named after my favorite horse character, snorted in response as he kept trotting at his set pace. Still, I hoped that the rain wouldn't continue into the night. If it did, I wouldn't be able to set up a campfire and warm up from the creeping cold.

While my VIT was the highest of my stats due to obviously never wanting to catch a sickness in this crapsack of a medieval era, it didn't mean that I was immune from the sensation of feeling cold when I didn't want to.

I was too tough to get sick anymore, but I couldn't control my own senses like that.

(Of course, I'd considered Rokushiki at some point in the past, but only for a brief instant. I was already trying to maximize the best uses from three Devil Fruits. No need to add a soon-to-be redundant set of powers. Training to master just Tempest Kick and Moon Step were enough.)

...wait. If I did this at high power, could I theoretically blow the clouds away? Well, it's not like there was anybody around to witness or stop me. Tapping into my Soul-Soul power, I pointed my index and middle finger straight up as if loading an imaginary gun.

"Way of Destruction #01, Thrus-"

"Howdy, good sir!"

I barely restrained from firing as the voice spoke from behind me, looking back to see a carriage approaching me with an old man driving it. "Need a ride? You could tether your horse to ours and keep out of the rain for a bit."

"I appreciate it, but I'd rather not bother you." I replied, admonishing myself for not noticing their approach.

"It's no trouble at all." The old man chuckled. "There's enough room for another drenched man in here."

"Another drenched man?" I raised a brow, something about this ringing as familiar to me. "You got another passenger in there?"

"Two of them, if you can count the spirit my lass has befriended." Just as he said that, a blonde girl popped up from behind him with Puck on her head.

...oh, it was the carriage family from Chapter 2.

Oh, shit, it was the carriage family from Chapter 2! I finally knew exactly when I was!

"I'll gladly accept your offer, thanks."

Guts warily stared at the redheaded man that entered into the carriage after handing over the reins of his horse to the old man, having sat down right opposite him and shamelessly staring. "What?"

"Do you know about the spirits haunting you?" The redhead spoke up. "Not that elf over there, but actual wraiths that are watching this carriage?"

Huh... So he'd noticed them.

"If you know that much, why did you enter here?" Guts scoffed. "You got a death wish or something?"

"As if. Those guys can't touch me." The redhead smirked. "They know not to approach me. I don't know how you deal with them, but I can at least protect this young lady and our driver until I have to get off in exchange for the ride. Afterwards, it's all back on you."

"...you use magic." Guts narrowed his eye, his words causing the old man to look back in surprise. Now he knew why his Brand felt like it was humming. It wasn't bleeding him out like he was related to any of those demon freaks, but it did buzz with a stronger reaction than he'd gotten from the tiny shit next to them but not as strong as the skeleton knight two years ago.

"As far as I know, I guess they could count as magic." The redhead straight up admitted with a shrug before turning his face sideward. "So, old man, gonna kick out this heretic?"

"Oh, don't be hasty." The old man replied. "After taking in a man who told me that he was haunted by evil spirits, another man shows up with the ability to help protect us from them. If this isn't God's intervention, then what can you call this?"

"Anything else." The redhead's grin had vanished now. "It's just my personal opinion, but I don't think that the God you pray to has been watching over the world for a long while now."

Finally, somebody other than Guts with a lick of sense regarding 'God'. Always leaving your fate up to some guy you never even had a conversation with was such bullshit.

Letting himself rest a little, Guts finally fell asleep... and was startled awake by a hand on his shoulder. "Wha?!"

"O-Oh, um?" The blonde girl backed off, making Guts feel startled at the sight of sunlight peeking through the sky. "We've reached the city..."

"...where's the other guy?" Guts grunted as he stepped out of the wagon, feeling a lot more refreshed than he would like to admit.

"He left after breakfast." The elf murmured through some bread he was munching on. "But seriously, you slept through so much. Those evil spirits seriously showed up!"

"What?!" Guts turned to stare at the elf, who nodded enthusiaclly along with the girl. "How did...?"

"They came from the ground, all of those corpses with evil glowing eyes." The girl murmured, before her eyes glimmered from what she remembered. "But then Joyboy got on top of the carriage and created a huge burst of light that shattered them all and put all their souls to rest!"

"I never knew that magic users could possess such purificative uses for their magic." The old man greeted as he stepped forward from the bushes. "Truly, God watches over us in mysterious ways."

Rolling his sole eye, Guts gathered his stuff and walked away without a single word, ignoring the elf's shouts as it followed after him. While doing so, Guts thought back to the redhead and wondered if they would cross paths again.

Then Guts scoffed at himself for such a thought. "I can't be going soft just because I got a good night's sleep for the first time in a while."

Quiet moans and grunts filled the air as our bodies pushed against each other, flesh slapping lewdly against flesh.

"Ohhh... aaah... Lord Joyboy..." Propped up on her elbows and knees, the prostitute moaned into the pillow sheets as my cock claimed her insides, pushing into her up to the hilt with every wet stroke. She was utterly naked by now, my hands tight on her hips as half of my attention was diverted once more after I came.

+6,000EXP!

You have Leveled Up!

Level Up: 29 → 31

+120SP!

I had a basic rundown of how this worked now. Apparently, various sexual acts could also gain me EXP, the amounts varying from how specific it was. Nalia may not have known what a boobjob was, but she was quite eager to perform. Thanks to this willing prostitute, I'd managed to discover a whole new avenue to attaining EXP beyond just killing enemies, albeit it's high gains equaled the fact that onwards along the story, it would become nigh-impossible to utilize this avenue as much as I could. Also, now that I thought about it, I'd built quite a lot of SP(stat points) without using them much other than idly assigning them to whatever attribute I'd needed at the time, hadn't I? Since I wasn't a gladiator anymore, I could probably choose to start allocating them properly instead of constantly prioritizing just my physical stats.

Feeling a warm mouth snapped back my attention as the girl had moved by her own volition to clean my cock with her mouth, bobbing her head up and down over my crotch.

Well, I could strategize later. Considering that there was the Slug Count to deal with later, I should always strive to enjoy what I can. With that said, I shoved my cock upwards while holding Nalia's head down, depositing fresh cum down her throat while her eyes rolled back.

+600EXP!

Once I made sure she was okay, I gave her a gold coin as payment and a few extra silver coins for the excellent service. Sure even the payment we'd agreed on was a lot less than what I'd given her, but I don't plan on letting good deeds (that work out for me) be unrewarded.

Untying Ao Lie from the post I'd left him on, I went on a small tour of the city. The citizens seemed lively and mostly fine, but the sudden quiet whenever a knight was sighted was like a palpable omen. It made sense, considering that their superior executed his citizens on a whim, disguising them as the purging of heretics.

STATUS

Name: Joyboy

Level: 31

EXP: 1,656/3,199

HP: 31,000/31,000

AP: 3,100/3,100

STR: 320(B)

VIT: 370(B)

AGI: 315(B) → 415(A)

INT: 220(C) → 320(B)

WIS: 340(B)

CHA: 207(C) → 247(C)

LUK: 208(C) → 408(A)

SP: 0

And done. Wait, my CHA was now the lowest... but it's still pretty high and its not like I'm trying to attract more attention than I have to, so it should be fine.

Hopefully...

That was the whole point of making my LUK almost as high as my AGI, the two stats most necessary for successfully running away-

"Oh, it's you!"

I reared back a bright flash appeared before my eyes, blinking rapidly as I regarded Puck's tiny form. "Puck? Did you follow me here?"

"What, no." Puck scoffed. "I followed Guts- Wait, that reminds me! He needs your help! Come on, follow me!"

And off he went. Having nothing better to do at the moment, I had Ao Lie gallop after him until we came across an entire platoon of knights getting beat by Guts.

...did he really need help?

Quickly sucking up Ao Lie into my Inventory, I leapt forward and pulled a Dynamic Entry kick on a knight that was about to attack Guts from behind, sending him flying into a wall hard enough to crack it.

In my defense, at least he'd still be in one piece, considering the massive greatsword slash I swiftly ducked under. "Easy, it's me!"

Even as he relented, Guts still looked like he was considering swinging at me again, especially when Puck began fluttering around his head. "What are you two doing here?"

"Puck called me over to help you." I answered as the knights surrounded us while we put our backs to each other, all of them trying and failing to conceal their terror. "What did you do to earn this mess?"

"Pissed off their count for being a sadistic fuck." Guts answered as the knights parted to reveal a particularly large knight with a war hammer, hefting his bloody sword at the ready.

"C-Captain?!"

"It's Captain Zondark!"

"That's quite a sword you've got there, kid." The knight rumbled from behind his faceplate. "Let's see how it fares... against this war hammer of mine!"

Guts dodged back enough to let the war hammer strike the ground right before him, uncaring of the stone road breaking from the impact. "Keep the riff-raff away."

"Fine." I sighed before moving to the side and elbowing a knight away while Zondark swung ineffectually at Guts again.

+900EXP!

You have Leveled Up!

Level Up: 31 → 32

+60SP!

+900EXP!

At this point, all of the knights were doing extremely well to keep their distance from me while bodies littered the area, some unfortunately dead from Guts and the others luckily unconscious from me.

"EEAAARGH!"

Just as well, a loud crash caused me to see Zondark just as he was defeated, Guts stepping on the man's head while bleeding immensely from shards of his own weapon in his face.

"Couldn't agree more." Guts spoke finally to Zondark before kicking his jaw with enough force to launch him away while probably biting his own tongue, dodging by the huge spray of blood leaving the knight's mouth.

A series of metallic clattering heralded the approach of several more knights, causing me to regard them with some caution. "Hey, Guts, right? Block your face."

Without waiting to check if he listened to me, I gathered up a huge burst of gas and fired it just as I altered it's composition. "Boiling Eruption!"

Steam exploded down the area as the knights screamed from the superheated cloud of moisture that slammed into them, swiftly engulfing them all and making them regret their superconductive armor.

"Wh-What in the hell?!

"I-Is this steam?!"

+900EXP!

You have Leveled Up!

Level Up: 32 → 33

+60SP!

Huh. A few of them were already fainting from that.

"You two!" A voice called out, causing Guts and I to regard a small hooded man inside an open sewer grate. "Over here, quickly!"

"Who, us?" Puck coughed.

Our gazes met as Guts and I surveyed the many knights still looking for us within the steam that was starting clear, only to thicken when the small man threw a pair of smoke bombs that thickened it once more. "What are you doing?! Hurry up!"

We made our decision at the same time, ducking into the sewer just as Zondark's threats began filling the air. Getting out later as the sun had finally set, we greeted by a completely empty street. While some people clearly peeked through their windows and doors, not a single one hesitated in slamming them shut whenever one of us directed our gaze at them.

"How unfriendly." Puck complained.

"It's because everyone's suspicious." The small man answered. "You never know when you might be accused of heresy, or by whom. In this city, people fear each other immensely, especially during the night."

Continuing onwards, they soon reached an underground study. Stepping inside, I shuddered a little at the strange... specimens preserved in varying states allover the place.

"Wh-What is this place? Is he a butcher? Or maybe-" Puck froze in his questioning as he accidentally backed into a jar containing... what was probably the preserved body of a deceased elf, the living one nearly fainting from the sight.

"Quite a big collection." Deadpanning at Puck's antics, Guts cast another look around while I checked out a few of the books. "I suppose if somebody were to accuse you of being a heretic, you'd have a hard time explaining all this."

"Heh... Heh... Nothing of that sort." The small man rasped. "Just a has-been physician, that's all I am."

"Is that why some of these recipes look like they might be for poisons instead of medicine?" I snapped a book close and picked another, surreptiously sneaking one of the finished poison vials into my Inventory.

"That relates to why I helped you two earlier." The man chuckled. "You know, I saw you, the black swordsman I mean, at the execution grounds today. Do you have a grudge against the count? Is it... revenge?"

Guts chose not to answer, instead kicking the small man's cane away and making them fall down.

"Guts!" Puck chastised.

"I know that he clearly wants to use us for something, but was that really necessary?" I added as I approached and offered him a hand.

"Yes." Guts replied bluntly as the small man took my hand and got up unsteadily, his disfigured figure revealed as his hood fell back. "What he's implying is nowhere near enough as compensation for him 'helping' us back there."

"Hehe... You're right... I absolutely couldn't let either of you get captured back there." The small answered as he smiled feverishly, looking especially monstrous with how his blatant hatred warped his horrendously scarred head. "I want you guys to kill him. Whatever it takes, I want that... that demon gone!"

He spread out his arms, gesturing to himself. "That fiend cut me up, piece by piece... and then ate those pieces!"

I squirmed at the imagery, knowing them to be believable.

"Hehehe... you don't believe my story, do you?" The small man muttered.

"Oh, I believe you." I spoke up, getting their attention. "There's a surprising abundance of sadistic fucks in the world. And I haven't heard anything good about the Count since I arrived, so it somewhat fits. But that doesn't fit with all of the executions he's been doing. If he did this to you, how did escape getting your head chopped off?"

"He most likely saw the Count as something else." Guts answered grimly. "Something that probably bit and chewed those pieces right off of him."

"...you know what he is." The small man wheezed excitedly, turning around to move towards a wall and grip a hanging jawbone for some creature. "There's something I want to show you."

Pushing open a secret door, he led the way inside and further downwards with a lit lamp. Down into the basement, they quickly came up to what was the most important item in the entire region.

"This is..." Guts immediately snarled at the sight. "...a Behelit?!"

Indeed, the ovoid talisman with mismatched facial features sat right there before them on it's tiny pillow. Having never watched the anime, I'd almost expected it to be a dull grey, but it had a weirdly metallic shine considering it's fleshy texture.

"What the hell's a Behelit?" I spoke up, pretending not to know. "Is this- Woah, what the hell?!"

Guts grabbed the small man and held him up by his throat, his teeth bared in a snarl. "Do you have any idea what this thing is?! Where the hell did you even get it?!"

"Guts, let him go!" Puck fluttered around helplessly. "Joyboy, do something!"

Well, Puck wasn't wrong. This was Guts at his worst, before character development set in after reuniting with Casca. "Way of Binding #09, Disintegrating Circle."

An orange-hued tendril with spiraling yellow patterns shot out of my pointed fingers to ensnare and immobilize Guts, causing him to drop the small man as the spiritual bindings wrapped around his arms and waist tightly while remaining connected to my hand.

"Guts, how the hell do you plan to get answers from a man you're strangling?" I chided as the small man got up. "Sorry about this... Oh, shit, I never asked your name. I'm Joyboy, by the way."

"I am... Vargas, and you have... my gratitude." Vargas gasped as he shakily got up and faced Guts, only giving the kidō itself a quick curious glance. "As for your question, it's not mine in any way. I stole it from the Count himself at the castle."

"...tell me all that you know." Guts huffed with a growl before sending a glare at me. "And get this shit off me, already."

"You try anything like that again, and I'll just knock you out." Even as I said that, I dispelled the kidō instantly.

"As I said, my name is Vargas... and I used to be a physician, good enough to be frequently called by the Count himself in the past." Vargas began with a heavy sigh. "Back then, the Count wasn't so bloodthirsty against his enemies, and certainly not against his own subjects... But then 7 years ago, he'd obtained this!"

Vargas gestured wildly at the dormant Behelit. "He began kill people without reason, with utter depravity... All of his genuinely religious crusades against pagans swiftly became excuses to relish in his abnormal bloodlust and sadism! I... I couldn't stay anywhere near him anymore, so I..."

Puck flew in worry around Vargas as tears began dripping from his sole eye. "When I tried to flee the city with my family, he took... that monster captured us and personally mutilated me into this form you see before you. And then, right before my hanging crippled self, he... my wife... my sons... HE ATE THEM! HE RIPPED THEM APART AND LAUGHED AS HE DEVOURED THEM ALIVE!"

Vargas choked as he devolved into a sobbing mess, with me awkwardly standing aside as I gently patted his back. "At the time... I... I was... so terrified that... my anger at the Count... my sorrow for my family... They were all drowned beneath utter fear. I used a drug I'd concealed to feign my death. And when the opportunity arose, I slipped out of the castle, taking this thing with me when I encountered it. Thinking back on it, it's almost miraculous how I'd survived that... but then again, miracles are supposed to be things that are welcome..."

That was true. If anything, it was probably thanks to the Idea of Evil that Vargas hadn't died along with his family. Instead, he'd 'lived' with the guilt of surviving when his family hadn't, the pain of trying to live through life once more with both his body and soul disfigured down to the core, the unadulterated hatred towards the Count and the shame of being unable to fulfill his vengeance with his own hands.

Vargas was a soul amongst many, awash in the cruel river of fate that swept through this world.

"Since then, all I could do was tirelessly research every aspect of religion and the occult for the sake of identifying this object... but I could never uncover even a single clue!" Vargas gestured at the Behelit again. "This... This thing... What in the world is it?"

"A key." Guts immediately answered, surprising the others from where he'd be reclining against a shelf. "That thing is a key that opens a doorway to another world that overlaps this one... A separate dimension that's controlled by the darkest humans in history."

Guts's glare grew further. "It's a key to summon the Godhand."

"Godhand..." I murmured, deciding to drop some lore for the others. "I think I read about that somewhere... Something about demons pretending to be angels."

"There's nothing angelic about those shits!" Guts snarled. "And that description certainly fits one of them!"

Ah, he was talking about Femto. Best to stay quiet now.

"Hmm... It's really well made, though." Puck muttered as he stared at the Behelit later, all of them taking having sat down while Vargas rummaged around for something in his drawers. He tried and failed to make his own face resemble it, then warily smacked it repeatedly before reclining on it. "I don't believe it. It wont budge an inch. But if you look closely, it's kinda got a neat-lookin' face. It's... art. Yeah, art..."

Puck paused when he looked back to see the Behelit staring back at him with one eye, screaming as he flew back into the sole of Guts's boot.

"Is that thing actually alive?" Joyboy warily asked from his own seat.

"Unbelievably." Guts grunted as he twitched his boot to send Puck off. "It's currently inactive, though. Speaking of which, how much do you know of it?"

Joyboy closed his eyes, no doubt remembering something he'd read ages ago. "...I don't how they're created, but I do know how I think they're supposed to work. The user needs to be in despair."

Despair?

"Despair?" Puck parroted Guts's thoughts.

"Like serious despair." Joyboy clarified. "The kind of despair that really makes you want to kill yourself. That's how the Godhand gets you, I think. Normally, any sane man would never consider working with literal demons, but there's no such thing as sanity for those who get that broken. Then the Godhand demons take some sort of... sacrifice from you, I think."

Joyboy gestured helplessly with his hands. "After that, they also take your broken self apart and then put you back together in the worst way possible, all of your good parts gone and all of your bad parts highlighted."

Guts utterly hated how much sense Joyboy's explanation made. He knew how badly Griffith had taken the loss of his dream, how low the Band of the Hawk had fallen... and exactly what he'd chosen to 'sacrifice'.

And what he'd immediately done with his attained power to Cas-

Growling at the phantom stinging in his neck, Guts restrained from kicking over the table and bothered for a distraction. "Speaking of which, how did the Count get a hold of this thing, anyway?"

"...by chance." Vargas answered from his spot. "He happened to buy it from a caravan of merchants that stopped by the castle one day. Even the merchants had known nothing about it. All they said was that they'd found it themselves in a town bazaar somewhere to the East."

Joyboy frowned. "What the hell even makes these? The Godhand themselves?"

"Most likely." Guts assessed as he thought through Vargas's words. "'By chance', huh..."

If there was something, or someone, out there seeking out potential Apostle candidates...

"Oh, yeah. That thing that you've always got hanging around your neck... That monster... When he saw that, he just flew away. What the hell is it?"

"Behelit. I got it from an old fortuneteller long ago. 'Those who possess this, in exchange for their flesh and blood, will be destined to rule the world.'."

Guts didn't resist the urge to kick at the table this time, uncaring for Puck's squawk as that old memory resurfaced out of nowhere. Still, that somewhat coincided with what he remembered and what Joyboy just told him.

"I found it!" Vargas declared as he laid out a map upon the table, Guts welcoming the distraction as he and Joyboy moved closer to read it. "This is the layout of the castle. There's a secret passage used for escape from the castle that only a handful of people know about besides the Count himself. If all goes well, you should be able to reach the inner compound undetected."

Guts knew his own luck well enough to guess exactly how well he'd be 'undetected'.

"I wish I could go with you. But with this body, I'd only be a hindrance..." Vargas griped.

Wasn't that already obvious?

"Yeah..." Even Joyboy knew that as well. "Let's talk about payment, first."

Payment? Not a bad idea. Now that Guts thought about, he hadn't done any mercenary work in a while, so his money was running low. "He's right. You can't tell us to go risk our lives without giving something for it. How much gold can you hand over?"

"I don't need gold myself, but I'd like a poison that has a delayed effect and can't be detected by the drinker." Guts wasn't the only one who turned to stare at Joyboy. "There's a child abusing drunkard who I have every intention of using that on later in the future. So, can you make that, or is it already in stock?"

Guts... wasn't sure how to feel. On one hand, poisoning a man's drink never sat right with him. On the other hand, those who hit kids were...

Guts just shook his head. It wasn't his business anyway. "Well, not my problem."

"I... have something like that in stock, indeed." Vargas answered. "And truly, should you succeed, I suppose I really wouldn't have any further need of my money."

All of the others stared at Vargas in shock, none of them unaware of the implications in that sentence. "Oi-"

Something chose that moment to crash through the entrance of Vargas's study, revealing the familiar face of... of...

The knight that Guts stomped on earlier, with the bleeding ugly face.

"Oh, it's that Zondark guy." Joyboy agreed, reminding Guts of his name. "You look... ah?"

Zondark moved to leap at Guts with the axe in his arms raised high, but Joyboy reacted faster.

"Way of Destruction #01, Thrust!"

Guts only noted a splint-second of something invisible crushing into Zondark's armor before he was violently shot out the same way he'd come in. "I had him."

"In this small space? With that huge sword?" Joyboy thought otherwise. "You'd have a much better chance out there in the open than in here."

Giving a grunt of vocal disagreement even though Joyboy was right, Guts rushed out just as Zondark was getting back on his own feet and swiftly chopped off the arm that tried to swing the axe at him as he approached.

Zondark growled in pain as the stump bled before suddenly pulsating as disgusting flesh grew outwards in a distorted caricature of a limb, now even longer than Zondark's own height as it picked up the fallen axe.

"Now I get it." Guts scoffed. "You're not even human anymore."

"I'll chop you into mincemeat!" Zondark roared as the axe came flying towards Guts, the unnatural dexterity of his limb making Guts begrudgingly glad that Joyboy had forced the fight to take place where there was more space for the swordsman to work with.

It was freakishly abnormal, how Zondark was now swinging that thing of his like a whip while holding on to a battle-axe at the end. But sadly for Zondark, Guts was still better than him as he managed to block every single blow.

Using his cloak as a diversion, Guts swiftly got behind Zondark and gouged out a chunk of his side along with his left arm, then he swung up to carve off a good chunk of his brains as well.

Stepping back as Zondark fell to a knee, Guts took a moment to regain his breath while the fucker died... Guts stilled and raised up his sword again when Zondark refused to fall, the armored brute getting back up shakily.

"Ew!" Puck exclaimed at the sight. "Bits of his head's flown off and he's still...!"

"Well done... Black Swordsman...!" Bits of flesh began growing off the places he'd cut, especially around Zondark's own head as a new one began to bulge out from it.

A familiar slug-like face, specifically.

"Not bad... for a mortal, at least." The Slug commended.

"It's... th-the Count?!" Vargas choked from his spot, attracting the monster's attention.

"It's been a long time... Vargas." The Slug chuckled before turning back to Guts. "Just you wait. After I take care of him, I'd be delighted to continue off where we left off 7 years ago."

Slug Zondark stalked forward, eager to begin fighting again, his voice coming out as a demented mixture of both their own as the transformation pushed further. "Truly impressive... You've honed your strength and skill to the utmost. Surely, no one could defeat you... No human, at least-"

"Way of Destruction #4, Pale Lightning."

Guts startled as a fucking thunderbolt flashed over Slug Zondark's upper half, immediately incinerating it and letting the lower half fall off while smoke wafted off Joyboy's raised fingers as the attack continued on into the sky. "What the fuck?!"

"That didn't feel like the real thing." Joyboy lowered his fingers. "If we're gonna fight that guy, we should save our energy for him."

Well, that was true enough, but still...

"Let's get one thing straight." Guts put back Dragonslayer and approached Joyboy, pressing a heavy finger against the younger man's chest. "I'm the one who's gonna finish off that monster. Help out all you like, but you'll be my support, understood?"

"Huh? Since when do you command me?" Joyboy tilted his head in clear annoyance before crossing his arms. "But fine, whatever. This isn't personal for me as it clearly is for you."

Of course, it was personal. That fucking Slug...

Pippin...

"W-Was that truly an offshoot of the Count?" Vargas stammered. "Not the Count himself?"

"Yeah, it was feeding of that Zondark guy like a parasite." Guts confirmed. "The most that bastard kept of himself was just his sheer desire to kill me."

"So do we head there together or just go separately?" Joyboy asked.

"You need me to hold your hand? Just follow the screams of that monster getting hacked to pieces." Guts scoffed before holding out his hand. "Also, I'll be taking that Behelit. You can keep your gold as long as I get that as my payment. You won't be needing it, anyways."

Taking the offered talisman, Guts immediately made on his way, leaving the others behind.

I watched Guts walked away before turning back to Vargas. "If I could offer you the choice of dying a painless and peaceful death, would you accept it?"

"Huh?!" Puck's bioluminescence actually sparked from sheer shock. "How can you ask such a thing?! There's no way he'd take such an option! Right, Vargas?"

Puck's confidence died gradually as Vargas gave no verbal answer, the cripple directing his gaze downwards. "Vargas...?"

"Forgive me, little one... but this young man's offer is rather tempting..." Vargas sighed. "All of this time, the sole reason for my continued attempt at life has been the downfall of the Count. Now that I have assurance of it's occurrence..."

"But... People need to keep living." Puck protested rather weakly. "Y'see, I don't... really know much about human lives, but... living for the future is more important... than trying to avenge the past... I guess."

"...you're right, little one." But even as Vargas smiled, there was no denying how his shoulders slumped. "But... But I wish to be reunited with my family."

Stepping forward, I first used my Gas-Gas powers to have Vargas inhale some potent anesthesia... then for the first time ever, I used Big Mom's Soul Pocus in this world.

In the most gentle manner possible. "Family or Life?"

Vargas smiled solemnly as he let his walking stick fall. "Family."

Almost immediately, his soul began to leave and condense into the palm of my extended hand in the form of white spectral-looking but tangible miasma. It only took twenty seconds, but Puck still gasped as Vargas visibly aged several years in those seconds before falling down, already dead before his head impacted the ground.

600EXP!

You have attained Soul Essence x1! Do you wish to create a Homie?

I shuddered at that idea and simply let it absorb into me. While I almost considered letting the raw essence of his soul go, I managed to remember in time that this world, as far as I knew, had no Heaven.

Knowingly sending somebody I personally knew and liked to the Vortex of Souls was just too cruel. Absorbing Vargas into me wasn't a good thing, but it would be a fate miles better compared to Canon. "I don't care if you hate me, Puck... but this is the greatest mercy I could give him."

"...how could I hate you?" Puck muttered sadly. "Especially when Vargas is smiling so peacefully? Even as he just died like that... he was so happy."

The clouds above chose that moment to clear away, letting the moonlight shine upon Vargas's peaceful visage.

Vargas yawned a little as he awoke and sat up, looking around at his surroundings. He seemed to be lying in a golden field, a soft gust of wind with flying petals blowing through the grasses and trees as his legs-

Vargas startled as he regarded his legs.

His undamaged legs.

"H-How...?" Tears started to leak from his eyes-?! "My eyes as well...?"

A quick check over confirmed his rising elation. All of his blemishes, his scars, all undone.

"Papa!"

Vargas gasped and swiftly turned around, fresh tears bursting forth at the sight in the distance, their figures as silhouettes in the brilliant shine of the rising sun.

"We've been waiting for you!"

All this time, his memories of them had been stained by what the Count had reduced them to in their deaths. But to think he could see them, all of them as restored as he was.

"Would you get over here already? I've already waited seven long years to hold and kiss you. Don't make me wait even a second later."

His wife didn't need to say a single word further. For the first time in seven years(and possibly more), Vargas wept for joy as he bounded over unnaturally unstable ground with two functional legs and reunited with his family.

All under the shine of the sun and the beat that gently filled his ears and the Heaven. Curiously enough, it sounded like drums.

Doom dut dah dah.

Somewhere, impossibly high, unbound and unconstrained by any rule of reality or logic...

Nika laughs.

STATUS

Name: Joyboy

Level: 33

EXP: 702/3,399

HP: 33,000/33,000

AP: 3,300/3,300

STR: 320(B)

VIT: 370(B)

AGI: 415(A)

INT: 320(B)

WIS: 340(B)

CHA: 247(C)

LUK: 408(A)

SP: 120

KingVessel: Well, lets see how this gets taken.