Chapter 4

The Emergence Of A Large Shadow

Currently, there are three new underlings in the garden order they are Alpha, the blonde elf I rescued first. Beta is a blue-haired elf who has shown to be very shy and reserved often hiding behind Alpha whenever I'm around. And at last, we have Gamma the oldest looking of the three is a new addition to the garden but still seems to be recovering from the possession she was facing. As of now, they are all staying at the mansion as maids but I don't think we can handle having any more maids so I will have to find someplace to house these additions to my play.

"Report in Alpha."

"Yes, Lord Shadow, we have been observing the bandits' movements and they seem to be heading for an abandoned house on the very outskirts of the property near the Beast-kin forest we have evidence to believe a possessed is going to be captured."

"Very well, we will move to intercept and protect the Beast-kin about to be captured."

"Yes my lord as you will it."

"Please don't call me that, you may address me as Shadow."

"I could not dream of such an honor my lo- Shadow, thank you for this privilege."

It's not a privilege I don't understand why she takes her role so seriously, so far we haven't faced anyone who even poses a threat to the garden so I don't get why she's acting like that. I made sure Gamma stays home because she is not ready for any combat in her condition. I can tell she will be a powerhouse with all of the magic she can accumulate. All that's left for her is to train in combat and she should be able to become an excellent fighter. However, Beta on the other hand has already proven herself to be a capable archer. With the slime suit, she can manipulate the arrows in the air to hit her target. However, she shows an aversion to killing. Unlike Alpha who was so full of rage when we first went out to help Beta, she ripped apart all of the bandits in a murderous rage. So on this trip, I tell Alpha to stand down so I can help Beta cross that threshold. We arrive at the caravan and I understand why they sent so many men to capture this possessed because as I'm looking around I see multiple dead bodies with their necks ripped open.
"Beta, keep your eyes peeled. We need to be vigilant in this area, the Beast-kin are not going to be very accepting of humans after the bandits passed through, they are most likely ready to kill on sight."

"Y.y..yes, Lord Shadow." I know she is never going to be comfortable just calling me Shadow or even Cid so I'm not going to push her. Up ahead we see a beast girl mauling a bandit with about 3 other bandits around her. She seems to be holding onto her sanity even though her possession is surprisingly far advanced, she must have an iron will.

"Beta take out the bandits"

"Yes, my lord." She pulled the string on her bow and an arrow of magic and slime appeared I could tell she was hesitant about the release. I walk up next to her and guide my hand on her hip and on her hand that is holding the front of the bow.

"These men are gathering around a young beast girl and if she didn't have possession they wouldn't hesitate to kidnap her. They will take her into a lab, poke and prod her for her blood, and torture her for experiments. I know you may feel that they don't need to die but I guarantee you that you are the guardian in this situation like a hero in stories. Man cannot change no matter the amount of turmoil they are put through, the moment they push past a line there is no going back they will be lost forever. You are a good person and have a kind heart Beta so I know this is going to be hard for you but believe in me, believe in our cause."

"Yes Lord Shadow" and with a determined expression she lets go of one arrow sending it flying into the bandit and one after another she nocks an arrow and sends it flying and the bandits are too preoccupied to realize they've lost. The only one left was the one the beast girl was currently killing. Beta turned away instantly and Alpha started to comfort her as I went forward to intercept the cursed beast girl. Immediately she started growling at me and I know from experience with the beast-kin they have a pack mentality. It's been a while since I've shown someone true power.

I immediately raise a dome of earth to trap the beast and me inside, she tries to escape but I speed in front of her and slam her back into the ground. She tries to get up and I can tell I'm making her possession worse by pushing her limits, so I raise a wall of fire around her so hot that trying to touch it makes someone feel as if they are bathing in dragon fire. She realizes she can't escape so she lays down with her hand over her head I realize she is almost done. I let the fire dissipate and start talking.

"You are quite a powerful young woman, but you can feel the loss of muscle movement, pain shooting through your body, and making your lungs collapse. I can heal you, and make you whole again so you can hunt for those who have shunned you, and made you feel this pain." I see her ears perk up when I say the word 'hunt', so I seal the deal by releasing all of my magic as pressure, showing her almighty strength, and she cracks and rolls onto her back, wagging her tail in a weak position to offer herself up to me. I pet her stomach to show her I accept and cure her with my magic. She seems elated for a second and then passes out from exhaustion she must have been fighting for at least 13 hours before we found her. I pick her up and lower the dome of the earth to unveil Alpha and Beta carrying some boxes which I can only assume is data. We all go back to the house and I lay Delta down in the same room with Gamma and have Alpha keep an eye on them. Beta seems to have left the room and I can only assume she's in the library, she seems to really like that area of the mansion. I think I have an idea.

In the Library I find her crying, I ask her what's wrong and she tells me her story. She sort of reminds me of my sister from my previous life so I start going on, rambling about one of the stories I used to tell her whenever she was crying. Beta's eyes start lighting up at every twist and turn of the story and I can tell that this is going to become a norm, I don't feel too bad about it because I think it will be a fun challenge to try and recall all of the stories I have read. She seemed to calm down and thanked me before heading off to bed.

The next morning I head down to check on the girls and hear a loud crash near the mansion so I head down to the maid's quarters and find Alpha putting Delta in a headlock and Gamma and Beta in a corner. After almost passing out Delta finally gives in and lets Alpha win. I then enter the room and Delta jumps at me and gives me a big hug and starts straddling her body around my head. Of course, the moment it looked like we were in a weird position Claire walked in to find Delta over me, thankfully before she came in I put a plastic mold over her body so she didn't realize she was a beast-kin. The others put on their masks as well so they don't get discovered I take Delta off of my head and hand her to Alpha telling her that this maid needs better manners and she needs to be taught how to act.

Of course, Claire didn't let me off the hook and decided that I needed to spend the day with her to "right this wrong" as she said to me it's just her not trying to be outdone by a maid she's never seen. She gets serious and starts talking.

"Cid, you know I will be leaving in about 3 years to go to the academy. I don't want you to feel like you will have no time with me once I'm gone. So I will be with you every day until you are strong like me and while we're at it we can become super close and share fond memories."

"yay," I say super enthusiastically.

"Yay is right, my time is valuable so you better do everything I say" I can tell something is wrong with her wording so I go along with it.

"Hey, sis do you wanna do some stretches?"

"No, why would I want to stretch I could just start training."

"For me?"

"Fine let's get this over with"

As we are stretching I find what seems to have gotten her attitude so sour. She has possession although it's nowhere near close to what the others had it's still enough that she can start feeling the effects. As we are stretching I add my magic to her core to make it involuntarily stretch it's a little uncomfortable but stretching is a good way to disguise the discomfort, so after curing her possession a little bit we finish stretching.

"Cid, I have to admit after stretching I feel so much better, I don't know how you knew about this secret trick but it's amazing."

"You're welcome."

"I didn't say thank you."

"You're welcome anyways"

"Whatever, get ready it's time to spar"

After we both spar for about 2 hours I head back to the mansion pretending to be sore so Claire will leave me alone. After talking with Alpha we both agree that it's a good idea that we find somewhere else to live. So we went back to that abandoned house we found near the edge of the territory, after arriving we noticed it was still very rundown and breathing its last stud so we decided to tear it down, which Delta seemed to enjoy doing.

I teach them about the joys of construction and give them tips on how to make a stable home that can acquire and endure any weather that may be around this region. With our added strength and speed we can finish most of the house within the next couple of hours all that is left is the amenities which they don't even know about and I don't think they should yet maybe they would like a stove though so they don't have to start a fire every time they want to cook something. But that requires electricity or gas which I don't think we know about yet, god the restrictions of this world.

I tell them that I will come to visit them after dark every night so we can go and do our missions to "stop the activities of the cult" I honestly don't know how I keep ending up fighting the cult but it keeps happening so I'll play the role. So I head home and let the girls decorate their rooms themselves.

After Shadow leaves I feel a sense of loneliness in my heart, I know I have stuff to do for us to be prepared for facing the cult but I just feel like I should be next to him. I want to be next to him, I want to be as strong as him, as smart as him, as nice as him, a partne… don't get ahead of yourself Alpha you have a place right now. He will be back tonight and we will go stop the cult's movements. Ever since he first rescued me I've been tirelessly reading over the data collected about the cult sometimes not sleeping for days just to research. But he seems to know about all of it already, I mean what else could I expect from such a master of arts and power such as himself. Right now, I have to deal with Delta, Beta, and Gamma. Gamma and Beta are easy because they are usually always doing their own thing but Delta has already proven to be a problem, she keeps trying to fight me for the '#1 position' she thinks I have. She has already beaten up Gamma and Beta to make an 'example' of them, claiming they are weaker than her. Ugh, this is going to be a long time until this stops, isn't it, DELTA GET OFF GAMMA!

As I lay asleep in my newly designed bed I can't help but think of him, he was there for me when I couldn't get passed my reserves and he was there when I needed help. I couldn't kill for him though I couldn't do what he asked when he wanted me to. Shadow I have disappointed you I am not worthy of your praise or your gaze. That story he told me after was so amazing and when he told me I was like the hero of that story, a hero who takes revenge on the one who harmed them, and then they are reunited with the one they love… does that mean that Shadow loves me?

ACHOO* is someone talking about me? After making my way home Claire starts questioning where I was for so long. After giving a very good excuse about the bathroom she left me alone. Everything has been moving so fast recently I haven't been able to train my body in a while. I rush out of the house and to my private training spot that no one knows about. I start with my normal stretches, and after that, I move on to my warm-up which involves lifting some small boulders to get my muscles ready for what's about to happen to it. I pick up a couple more boulders, stack them on my back, and tie them on with slime. After doing that I increase the mass around the boulders so that they become around 38 times heavier. I start training with my magic while I'm carrying these boulders I put the magic to my feet and rush forward trying to use my shadow step technique, however, while I am moving one of the boulders shifts a little and I crash into a nearby tree at high speeds. I need to be better. I increase the mass of the boulders to 50 times and try again. Obviously, I fail and fall on my ass but I just get back up and try again. I keep falling on my ass for the next half hour. I was so lost in training I didn't see or feel Alpha's presence.

"Alpha?"

"Yes, Shadow?"

"How long have you been standing there?"

"Ever since you crashed into the tree"

"Did you need something?"

"No, I was just out gathering food for the girls and I saw you and got curious." I get why she was curious but I still feel slightly embarrassed that she watched me fail. "Are you having trouble training?" I was taken aback by this question.

"No, it's just I haven't tried this training before and I wanted to test my balance."

"Can I try?"

"Sure" As I say this I let the slime off and the boulders fall on the ground each one digging itself into the dirt with how heavy they are from the increased mass. After Alpha sees them digging into the ground her mouth drops.

"Have you been using magic to pick them up?"

"No?" I mean obviously, otherwise it wouldn't be training, why is she so surprised?

"Each of those boulders must weigh at least 300 pounds"

"I increased the mass with my magic so each one weighs approximately 15000 pounds" ( An African elephant weighs around that much)

"But you were carrying 10 of them" She looks at me like I'm crazy, I mean sure it's heavy but that's not even the total amount I can carry. If I told her how much I could carry she might pass out.

"I know usually I only do 38 times mass but today I wanted to test my limits for balance."

"Shadow, that's 150,000 pounds " (approximitely of a blue whale).

"I know I should be able to keep my balance while shadow-stepping"

"What the hell, how are you able to even stand?"

"Well, it's simple, if you train your muscles and then rip them apart, instead of using protein to fix them. Using magic fibers you can increase the density and strength of them exponentially compared to human fibers."

"Heh, simple.. Shadow this is why we follow you." as she says this it's almost as if her eyes shine.

"Would you still like to try?"

"Hahaha, no I don't think I could lift even 1 of those boulders"

"Really?"

I guess my view on this world is a struggle now that I've become this strong. I mean I still can be weak it just needs to be drained of all of my magic and then taken all of my limbs off or disabled in some way. I guess that means I'm strong but I still feel as though I need more power… why? Why do I need so much power? I am already stronger than most people in this world. I then realize what drives me… I said the word most… stronger than most.

What is wrong with me? Did I just for a second think that I could be less than someone else. NO I am the eminence, I will be the Eminence. I am going to be the strongest person in this world by a long shot I should be able to destroy the world on a whim if I want. YES.. I NEED MORE POWER. As I scream those words I explode my magic around me surrounding myself with oxygen and shoot off into the sky leaving Alpha starstruck. I make my way through the atmosphere and the ozone and I make my way into space. I feel my body get colder and colder as I get farther from the earth so I use my magic to maintain my body. Luckily I grabbed a bunch of oxygen before I left and as long as I use my breathing technique with magic this should last about a week.

As I'm sitting in space I think and reminisce about what's happened with my life so far. I've saved a couple of girls from certain death, saved my sister and a princess, I'm stronger now than I have ever been before. Something is missing though, it's an empty hole inside of me that is usually only filled when I'm in my eminence mode. Is it the thrill? The thrill of being someone worthwhile? I can't only be an eminence in shadow though that defeats the purpose of actually trying to be a mob character which I have worked so hard to master. I go for a stroll throughout the nearby solar system I fly by some planets and just by looking at them I can tell that they are similar to gaseous planets on Earth, definitely not habitable. I keep searching and find a small meteor about the size of a house floating through so I land on it and try to push against it. I am aiming for the royal capital of Midgar. I have a plan.

After landing back on the planet, pretty clumsily I might add I immediately tell my father of the impending doom of a meteor strike. He asked me for proof and I showed him a chunk of the meteor that I grabbed and he promptly stood up and told the family were going to the king.

"Why in the world would we go see the king dear?" my mother asked

"IT'S AN EMERGENCY"

"Yeah, the sky is falling," I say

"The sky is falling?" my sister quizically looks at me I show both of them the meteorite I had in my hand and tell them that it's a pre-piece from the larger one.

"Oh cool, so why do we all have to go?" my sister asks

"BECAUSE, BECAUSE, because.." my father is at a loss for words.

"Because Claire your father is a big baby who doesn't want to go alone." my mother smacks my father's head after saying.

"Oh, I see yeah, sure okay I can go"

"I'm coming too I have to warn them," I say, nailing what I was practicing last night. I didn't care because I was so focused on how I was going to eminence the hell out of this performance. So I planned to make the meteor fall on Midgar giving us 4 days until impact so we could make it to the capital. My father would tell the king and since my father is better respected now the king will believe him and after showing him the piece he probably will call for a nationwide emergency. After they all make their beds and pray. I will appear in my attire and say, "The cult has started using cosmic forces for their evil intentions" as I blow up the meteor with ease and everyone who was cowering who isn't strong enough to see will be happy that it's gone. BUT the people who I want to see and hear me are the strong ones and they will be like "Who was that man clad in black" or "The cult is using cosmic forces?" oh it will be awesome.

"Hey Cid, we're leaving stop daydreaming" my sister pulls me from my fantasy it seems that we will be taking two carriages one for my father and mother and one for the kids.

"Bathroom"

"Ugh fine hurry up though I don't know if we even need you there." As she finishes saying that I walk to the bathroom and after getting out of her sight rush to see the girls. After arriving unannounced the girls are surprised except for Delta who seems to have some instincts on her.

" I will be leaving for the royal capital soon so I will not have time to talk to all of you or hang out and for that I am sorry. Rest assured though I have prepared something for all of you before I leave. For Alpha a new sword that has an interesting power to it, I want you to figure it out and show me once I am back. For Beta I have some stories that I wrote last night for you to read. For you Gamma I have a puzzle of sorts that I am curious if you can figure out. And for Delta when I get back we can go hunting."

"Thank you, Lord Shadow," they almost all say in unison.

"REALLY BOSS WE CAN GO HUNTING?" Delta chimes in

"Yes we can go hunting for bandits together"

"REALLY REALLY REALLY?"

"Yes"

"BOSS BETTER BE BACK SOON OR DELTA WILL EXPLODE"

"I will be back in four to five days once I am back I will give you all something of your choosing if you like." After saying that I see all of their eyes light up differently so I leave them to their thinking.

After getting back to the house I barely make it to the carriage where my sister seemed to be pissed off at me.

"I SAID TO HURRY UP"

"I only took like 10 minutes"

"TOO LONG" She seemed to enjoy the fact that we were going to be in separate carriages from my parents even thinking about it gives me shivers. This is going to be a long ride.

Luckily Claire just wanted to lay on me for a long time before she finally decided that she had enough and went to sleep still on me. It's already been a day of riding and we should have 1 more left before reaching the capital. If you enhance your vision as well as I can you can see the meteor coming and it still should have 2 more days before visible to most people. As she lays sleeping on me I head into my practice of increasing my magic core. After traveling some more we near the gates of the city and As we near the city gates I feel our carriage come to a stop.

"Identify yourselves and hand over the permit of entry" My father steps out and hands him our crest.

"Ah Baron Kagenou the king has wanted to speak with you for a while it's a matter of importance as well as your son have you brought them?"

"Yes, I have but this is another thing, an emergency of utmost importance is happening and we need to get to the king as fast as possible."

"Yes sir, we will have some people clear the way for you." After saying that the guards gave some orders and the gates opened and we cleared a street to head straight to the castle. I wonder what they wanted me for? As we make our way through the streets I see a bunch of stalls of people selling food and some stores of clothes and swords and it all just seems spread out. Has no one here ever thought of a mall? If I went into business I could make a huge amount of money selling my previous world's inventions. I could but that would also mean that I can't be living a normal life and I would have to stress over getting people to work in the stores and taxes and ugh that's too much for me.

As we make our way into the castle we are greeted by the king's servants and what looks to be 1 of the princesses. I'm going to assume it's the eldest Iris from the red hair color and the huge magic core she already has. She seems nice but I have already met women of exceptional beauty so hers are lost on me.

"Woah you seem strong" My sister also seems to have noticed her strength.

"I would say I'm pretty strong"

"Spar?"

"Spar" They seem to have both wanted to fight immediately after meeting each other. So they run off I'm assuming to the training ground so they can fight. I assume my sister is going to lose though because although she has an extended amount of magic core and energy because of that overload she had Iris is almost double her core. My father and I are taken into the castle room where the king is sitting while whom I assume is Alexia is next to him and they are just casually talking about dinner. Me and my father both kneel in front of him.

"King Midgar we are here to report something most dire."

"Ah Baron Kagenou it's about time you came, I've been waiting to talk to you about 'that' situation for a while. Well, we can deal with that later what is the information you bring me?"

"The country is in danger"

"What?"

"There is a meteor coming to destroy the country"

"... AHAhhah Baron Kagenou, you know I can't just take your word for it, do you have any proof of this meteor?"

"Show him son" After he says that I stand up and bring the king the meteorite fraction I have. He seems to stare at it and ponder.

"We have to get people to the bunk…" my father starts talking but the king just raises his hand.
"This is nothing. We have the strongest dark-knights in the kingdom a small meteor has no effect on us, But I thank you Baron for bringing this to our attention I will send out a strong knight that can handle this."

"You're welcome King"

"Now about this arrangement, if you became a duke then we won't have the problem anymore."

"It is true that the problem will be subsided but are you sure you want to make me a duke?"

"You already own enough land to become a duke, and after helping the princess of the Oriana kingdom, our relations with Oriana have become significantly better so I was going to do it eventually."

"Yes king," my father says barely containing his excitement.

"We will hold the ceremony tomorrow be sure to get dressed well."

"Yes my king"

As we leave the major hall I ask my father what ceremony and what was going on and he told me he will tell me in a year when everything gets sorted out. After we all get fitted we attend the ascension ceremony and my father was appointed the rank of duke and was told all this nonsense yada yada yada he has more responsibility or something. I can see some of the other higher ups are visibly furious that my father is at a position above them using my hearing I can tell they want to kill him but they don't know that I exist so they are kinda screwed in that regard.

Later that night I am walking around the castle and find the training ground the princess was talking about. I start fake training and the next thing I know I have an observer so I give a little more effort and try and make my swings really weak and uncoordinated. THE PERFECT MOB after watching for a little bit she comes out of her hiding.

" Your form is terrible"

"You must be the princess my name is c."

" I know who you are and I don't care here were going to spar"

Oh this little kid is already annoying espesially for a princess she is a little rude. She starts swinging at me and then I see it.

"Your not using the normal style are you?"

"How could you tell?" she is a bit taken back by my observation

"My sister has been trying to train me in swordplay ever since I could hold one so I know the normal style and I really dont like it."

"Me too… something about it just doesn't seem fluent to me".

Interesting, she seems to understand the flaws of the technique they are teaching her.

"So what do you use to spar with then what syle is it?"

"It's sort of the blandest strikes and normal swings because I haven't figured out what kind of technique is best."

"I'm no expert but it seems like you shouldn't use a technique."

"What?"

"I think you should explore around with your body and joints and make your own personal to you."

"Thanks, I guess."

After she says that I leave and head back to my room and while I pass through the hallway with an open view I look up and know that tomorrow morning people will know the name of SHADOW.