Author's Note: Another reminder that I'll be publishing a Versus Fic Archive of our Own starting in November, so check it out if Anyone is interested. I'm thinking Sundays will be the best choice. Read, Review, Favourite and Enjoy!
Lelia stared ahead gobsmacked at her radio as it played the contents of the news. The Fievel's main branch was destroyed!? Pierre was dead? And the Great houses gave back a warship that Pierre attempted to commandeer from some Holfort Nobody!? This was a disaster! Noelle was doing everything she could to run away from Loic! Pierre was supposed to be the thing that helped them get back together again and then some nobody rolls in and ruins everything! Lelia calmed herself down. This was still salvageable. For now she needed to get into contact with Loic again, and she needed to find Noelle, for some reason she hasn't been back home in the past couple of days.
It clicked together for Lelia, another Reincarnated had arrived in Alzer, this one from Holfort. Much like her he was likely operating off of game knowledge, specifically targeting her sister and her status as the next priestess. It made sense, Dad was a foreigner from Rochelle too, but he had become the Guardian without any problem, so now this bastard meant to repeat his success and take the Sacred Tree Sapling for himself after Alzer has been destroyed by the Raults! Oh hell no! Lelia stormed out of her apartment and pushed her way past the scrawny neighbour punk as she stormed off to look for back up. Lelia walked to the payphone at the corner of the block. She didn't use the phone itself, but rather the magical earring with the built in two way communication spell that was underneath the phone in question.
"Loic! Loic it's Lelia!"
"What's the situation?" The voice on the far end of the earring questioned in a no nonsense tone of voice.
"Noelle's gone missing! And I bet I know who's responsible!" Lelia was already grinding her teeth at some loser Reincarnated getting their jollies at effectively dooming Alzer.
"And who would that be?" Loic sounded more annoyed than anything else, which was odd for him as far as Lelia knew.
"Have you been listening to the news lately? Something about a huge ass warship that went on a tear through the Fievel's territory?"
While Lelia relayed 'the news' to her benefactor her neighbour paid her the same kind of attention that you pay to a fly buzzing around your head before he moved on with his morning. Jean entered his living room with his makeshift vanity equipped with black shoe polish and candles while his associates waited for him inside of the room.
"For Noelle." Jean started pulling items out of his shopping bag and handed them out to his associates, in this case a dog bone. "Gladius." A rod of Bird seed. "Dagon." And a tub of Ice cream.
"What's the plan for today boss?" Gladius spoke with a metallic voice, like someone speaking inside of a metal cone, it was hard to say what any of them look like in the dark of the room.
"I've bought the basic materials for a divination spell, hopefully with this we can find the bastard before he goes on the offensive." Jean pulled out several items from the bag, an ant's nest that he then put underneath his milk crate chair, several wooden blocks that he arranged over a map of Alzer, and a potted bonsai plant in the middle. Muttering a spell under his breath Jean waved a crystal on a string around his crude model of Alzer and soon it started to glow. The string was pulled out of Jean's hand and down towards the milk crate, and inwards into the Ant's nest.
"So he's hiding inside the Empusa nest." Gladius spoke and Noelle could be heard growling in agreement. "That's going to be hard on us who don't have a lot of mana."
"Hard on him too." Jean replied as he held his chin in his hand. "Why is he down there?"
"Well he probably doesn't have much of a choice, I mean look at us." Gladius gestured around them at his fellow associates, at his fellow demonic entities. "If any of the four of us were walking around on the streets we would get lots of attention." Of course, Gladius wasn't including Jean in that count, no as a 'normal human' he would easily pass scrutiny when he goes out in public, that was the very reason why he was the one that did the talking in their band of misfits.
"Regardless we have to assume that he's going to try something down there. In any case we're going to have to start hunting demons again." Jean pulled out a cup of noodles from his bag, his dinner, dirt cheap but it would put food in his belly. "You'd be able to eat better if you didn't waste money on us." Gladius stated in simple terms.
"You three were the ones who did the leg work to earn this food in the first place. Besides money isn't going to be at the top of our priority list for long, ever since the hospital the Rault Family will be high alert, checking for sketchy new renters will be part of the common sense, especially in the neighbourhoods where muggings have been taking place." Jean eyed his three companions like he caught their hands in the cookie jar.
"What about the girl? Your telling us that you just went through all of this just to check in on her?" Gladius spoke the complaints of the group of three.
"I had a crush, once, I'm allowed to check in how she's doing before the shit hits the fan." Jean used some magic to cook his supper as he talked. "Lord knows if things go wrong it's going to take everything we have just to stay alive."
Luxion noticed things that were familiar about the technology that Blackmore had shipped over from Alzer. Several aspects were similar to his own Standard Template Constructs, only modified so that it would function in this mana laced atmosphere through the inclusion of magic circles, and made using the dungeon materials that all the monsters seemed fond of dropping, though examining the quality of work it was clear that it was a step below Luxion's own manufacturing capabilities. In conclusion, while someone had the opportunity to study the designs they didn't have access to the technology to manufacture and maintain the work.
"Then does that mean you can make something better?" Mylene was listening to the report Luxion had drafted concerning the Alzeran technology that Leon had sent back.
"Yes. Though I am concerned about the source." The orb floated back and forth in an approximation of pacing, Luxion choosing the weirdest times to demonstrate the human like tendencies he picked up. "In simple terms, this is the working of someone who had the time and opportunity to study intact Pre-shattering technology and has a deep understanding of magic." Mylene paused as she thought about the implications for an uncomfortable length of time.
"...Leon's aunt, the one that is supposed to be living in Alzer."
"If we are lucky that is the case."
"And if we're not?"
"Alzer has something far worse than a mere 'Sacred Tree' protecting them."
Mylene let out a sigh at the implications.
"And Blackmore is picking a fight with them." Whether he can win is another matter. Mylene opted to focus on changing the topic. "Is there anything else I should know about?"
"I've identified the reasons why my drones were breaking down when they entered the Hell gate on my ship: It's apparently the elemental Plane of Fire, a sub section of Purgatorio, to put it another way it is every positive and negative memory that the human race has ever had about 'fire.'" Which includes 'Nuclear Explosions' and with them EMPs. "It would be nice to expand upon the number of planes that I can harvest materials from, but there are limits to what I can currently accomplish with my limited material base." Which leads into the next topic.
"Speaking of how is exploring the surface coming along?" Mylene was part of the nation of adventurers after all, even if it wasn't something she personally enjoyed or grew up doing she did understand the benefits.
"I have yet to find land, though there are a number of creatures providing suitable catalysts for armour, I've also taken the liberty of documenting the ruins that are beneath the water as well." Luxion produced several holographic images of several ancient ruins that were underwater. The old buildings were built in a nostalgic Brutalist style of architecture, much of the stone and metal had been worn away and coral and other growths were using them as a support structure. Historically important, valuable to Luxion but little of material worth. Luxion can't even use them as landmarks to navigate with, the Shattering took a bunch of alternate earths and squished them together after all.
"Alright, for the time being we need to pick someone to send to Alzer to keep an eye on Leon." Mylene let out a sigh as she rubbed her temples. "It would be nice if we had someone he was actually interested in listening too."
"If that is the case, then the current headmaster is the only teacher from the school that Leon consistently listened to." That was part of the reason he was put into that position after all.
"Is there no one else?" And for that same reason Mylene was reluctant to compromise her uncle in law's authority by depriving him of his position less than a year into his new career.
"He seems to have a good relationship with the women of the Roseblade Family." Like that the two continued to discuss their options.
Olivia flinched as she saw her 'patients' that she would be treating, the dishonoured vampires who had the skin removed from their backs alongside their wings.
"So I just need to heal their backs and help them regrow their wings?" Olivia questioned as she looked ahead.
"They're starving vampires, keep a barrier around you at all times especially around your neck. If Mom's taught you how to summon any demons then summon yours for protection." Olivia pulled out a set of ivory Tonfa and they soon turned into a skeleton dressed in rags. Thus the two of them got to work. "I brought you all some food." Leon explained as he waved his arm and produced a large cluster of Red Orbs. "Lie down on your backs on that table one by one." The first of the vampires lied down on the altar that had been prepared as Leon went to work. The tip of Leon's finger produced a black nail of Shadow as he dove into the Vampire's flesh, the shadowy mass wiggling around the area just above the heart as it carved out a symbol in three dimensions, soon the symbol was carved. The effects was immediate from the point of view of the Vampire, in his vision all light took on a silvery hue, as if it was all the light of the moon, the eternal hunger that gnawed at his being was reduced, not gone just... lessened. "Go join the line for Olivia or get something to eat."
Leon and Olivia spent the rest of the day tending to the Vampires, getting them to the point that they could go out in public. There were a few who lost control of themselves and attacked but that was the limit of it. Over time the Hideously disfigured vampires changed into supernaturally beautiful looking humanoids with grey skin and bright eyes of reds, yellows, oranges and rarely pinks. Leon had them follow him as the group moved on to the second set of targets, the Werewolves. After getting Olivia to pacify them Leon had them all line up, lie down on a nearby table and engrave the rune on their bodies, their fore arms to be more precise. From the Werewolves perspective the world looked brighter, the omniscient silver and red always at the edge of their vision was gone at last, alongside the deep feeling of bloodlust they constantly have.
"I suppose that just leaves the Third group that I need to take care of. But that can wait." Leon turned to the gathered crowd of Werewolves and Vampires. "When I contracted with your castle I said I would swallow your sins I meant it. I won't pretend I know what you all have done but know this: the people you have wronged, that you have sinned, have been dead for over a thousand years. A fresh start is long overdue, not even Inferno would hold your souls as long as this castle has. I know that most of you did not choose to become monsters, many of you were taken from your homes, others given the choice between death or servitude." Leon produced a board from the void of space. "I will be opening a business in Alzer soon, and I plan on employing some of you there. Depending on your skills I'll send some of you to my family instead, the rest will stay in the castle and will be acting as a mobile task force as needed."
The myriad of Monsters looked between each other, after so long under Bernhard most of them didn't know how to react to genuine human kindness.
"Let's start with the easy part then. Which one of you all have genuine people skills?" You could hear the crickets going through the room, good thing that mundane construction methods meant that his stores are still weeks away from opening. "Right then. Which ones of you were part of Agartha?" At this point a large number of Werewolves raised their hands to the air. "Alright you follow me!"
Nick glared ahead at the group of half naked wolf People that Leon shoved through the Juke Box, a letter in hand saying 'your welcome for the engineers.'
"So how many of you know how to build giant robots?" The dogs tilted their heads in confusion unfamiliar with the term. "Of course. Let's try and rephrase that, which one of you know how to make statues move?" At once a flurry of hairy hands went up into the air.
With the issue of settling the engineering team Leon moved on with his day. He'll need the Hebi no Yomei back from Noelle to complete his rehabilitation plan, and a few other things too, chief among them to complete class for the day. As Leon was thinking about that he spotted a familiar blonde with pink tips hiding behind a corner.
"Yo." Noelle nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned around to face Leon.
"Why are you trying to scare me to death!?" Noelle let out her complaints as she placed her hand on her heart.
"You're pretty jumpy aren't you?" As Leon asked that question Noelle waved him over and then pointed at the courtyard.
"See that guy over there? The one with the red hair?" Leon looked through the courtyard and did indeed see a young man with red hair. "That's my stalker, Loic Leta Barielle."
Also known as Golden Route Loic, Loic Leta Barielle has the fewest mental problems of all of the main dateable cast of the second game, he has no daddy issues unlike Serge, no brother Issues unlike Hughs, isn't a doormat like Emile and is not old enough to be Noelle's father unlike Narcisse.
That said extreme caution must be taken with him: Noelle must be firm with him at all times, stand her grounds in regards to her likes and dislikes, otherwise Loic's route takes a turn for the darkest path, disregarding her as a person and treating her as a personal belonging, complete with a potent magic item, a collar made with material from the Sacred Tree that is capable of not only enslaving anyone who puts it on but also attaching a magical spell to them that makes it possible to recall them to the owner's exact location at any given point in time.
Needless to say, Noelle's future in this scenario is quite bleak, and for that matter so is Alzer's as it now has an insane Guardian running the place.
Excerpt from Diary 2
Leon's plan was relatively simple: he has some contacts in Alzer that work as mercenaries, who later in the day he would hire to bodyguard Noelle, he would however be taking back the Hebi no Yomei for a bit, for the purpose of strengthening the weapons of course, but in the mean time Leon would be with Noelle for her every class today so when Loic did something Leon would be there. Except that Loic seemingly did nothing all day long, no talking, no approaching, the worst that he did was stare, but that especially freaked Noelle out.
"He's like a different person." Noelle Double checked over her lunch break with Leon. "He's not even like that! There's something... inhuman behind his eyes. I heard that his parents sent him away to some retreat that all the Great Nobles send their brats off when they get too much to handle over the summer break." Leon at least bumped up Loic's parents as better at their job than Pierre's were for him, they recognised their son had turned into a idiot and sent him off to get corrected.
"We're going straight to the mercenaries after school is out, not so much as dropping by your house to pick up your tooth brush. If Loic thinks me leaving you alone is enough to spare him their wrath he will be severely mistaken."
"What about the other guys from Holfort too. You were supposed to have come to Alzer with a whole gang of them?" Noelle was looking increasingly concerned, her anxiety increasing by the moment.
"Cowards who capitulated to Pierre and handed over my ship at the first sign of a tree root." Leon emphasised his point by indicating the nearby table, it appeared that the six of them weren't doing so hot if their pitifully small meals were any indication, Noelle wanted to help them but she had flashbacks of a stray dog she fed once and who refused to leave her side until the day that he died. "Besides, if they meet who I plan on introducing you to I fear their combined debt accumulating power will sink Alzer into the ocean under its weight." Noelle didn't like the implications of a mercenary that was so bad at his job that they can't seem to get out of debt.
Marie stared down at the files that her boys had given her, each a unanimous rejection from their intended place of work for reasons of 'character.' From one side there were the people who were actually in charge of Alzer, the Great Noble Families, their association with Leon, for whom they intended to make life as difficult as possible and that included blatant harassment aimed at his 'friends.' On the other hand the full details of Leon's conflict had been made public, or at least the version that Leon chose to share, and while the whole thing started from Pierre taking Leon's ship the fact of the matter remained that the six of them were the ones to hand said ship over to him, in other words they had been the ones to betray Leon, Saviour of the People of Alzer if not the people of the Fievel territory. There was no longer a single work place that was willing to employ any of them in all of Alzer, except maybe bar one, but they didn't exactly think he would be 'willing.'
"We have no other choice, we need to beg Leon to accept us!" Marie stated in no uncertain terms.
"Marie, we aren't that-"
"Julius. We are that desperate!" Marie stated as she looked down at her financials. "We have no support, we don't have jobs and our expenses are crazy!" Marie combed through her hair with both hands as she stared down at their finances with despair. "We have two options, we can all go to Blackmore and beg him to accept us, or we can go out separate ways and hope that we can earn enough to escape the debt black hole that we are trapped in right now." If the faces the five of them had made were any indication they went with the first option.
They saw Noelle and Leon finish their lunch and discussion and got up to leave, and so the six of them moved to intercept them, kowtowing before them and blocking the path in the process.
"""Please accept us again!"""
"Great you people again." Leon let out an annoyed sigh as he took advantage of his freakishly long legs to step over them, however he had underestimated his opponents. At once the six of them latched onto Leon's legs intent on not letting go until he accepted them.
"""Please! We're begging you!"""
"Why do you people show determination at only the worst possible times?" Noelle didn't know who was more stubborn, the six of them for holding on or Leon for walking forward like that anyway. "Get. Off. Of. MEEE!" His entire body glowing with magical power, Leon kicked the people who had latched onto him off, however by the time he had gotten to work on the second group the first had latched back onto his leg again. Needless to say, it was a long day for everyone involved in the whole process.
The womb capsule hissed as it's contents were released and the subject being held inside was awoken. As a start: Cleare was able to optimise the life support mechanisms of the Fusion suit that Luxion had created, as well as Erica's implants. She also included a monitoring unit, and in the worst case scenario she installed a Grey Box that would record Erica's memories, personality and thought processes digitally, with additional life support systems she could forcibly keep her body alive. That would be the extent of the good news though.
"What's the-" Erica coughed out more of the synthetic embryonic fluids that Cleare had prepared. "What's the situation?"
"Well... your father's still crippled." Expected, personally it was unfortunate realistically it would keep him from screwing anything else up.
"Luxy has most of his facilities fixed and built." Well that would be good for the next time that they get invaded.
"Blackmore is in Alzer and is picking fights with their government." Well at least they don't have to... wait.
"What was that last one again?" Now Erica looked concerned.
"Yeah Blackmore is in Alzer, seems to be on his 'route' near as I can tell." Which means the lunatic is about to have a third stupidly powerful girl added to his harem.
"There are a few points of divergence though." Cleare brought up even more bad news for Erica to deal with. "Firstly, Serge is in Holfort, and there is a pretty strong contrast between our expectations and reality." Cleare produced two holographic images, one of Serge lifted from her game files, and the other of a muscled and dignified looking young man with the same face bar a pair of glasses. "Clearly someone has had a rather significant influence on Serge." Erica concluded holding her hand. "Both he and his sister appear to be part of the Umbran Clan in this timeline, their mother is one of Leon's aunts Celine, and she has already been briefed on the game by Leon." Fat load of good that'll do considering how wildly different the events of reality match against the game. "Another difference. The Rault's had another child, a son named Leo. Luxy knows more."
"That Families naming sense is really shining through." Erica gave a dry comment aimed at Leon's aunt while Cleare switched with Luxion.
"We have an idea of the Lespinasse house's downfall now. Apparently this 'Leo' fell into a coma ten years ago, as a formality all the other houses came to visit the Rault's during this time to pay their respects and wish them well, with the apparent exception of the Lespinasses who merely sent one of their daughters who was the boy's fiance at the time, Noelle." Luxion explained and Erica's face twisted in confusion.
"So Albergue responded by crushing the Lespinasse's house?" Noelle's face just twisted in confusion. "That seems like a bit of an over reaction to me." "We should probably take the time to ask ourselves why Albergue reacted that way, or more accurately figure out why the Lespinasses chose not to visit at that time." Yes the Lespinasses were technically the social superiors to the Raults, but Leo was the fiance to their daughter, and had things gone as intended, the future guardian of Alzer and it's Sacred Tree. From the opposite point of view, it makes no sense that the Lespinasses would just ignore them either.
"Hmm. See if you can figure out what the Lespinasses were doing at that time. Maybe see if you can sneak into the Umbran base they have over there." Though Erica made that request Luxion had both fulfilled it and failed it.
"Unfortunately the last time I tried to sneak into the mansion with Blackmore my drone was swiftly dismantled." Well there goes that plan. "I suspect I know by what as well, thanks to Blackmore we were able to acquire a large amount of Alzeran technology, if I am not mistaken we might be dealing with another AI." Luxion mixed in his suspicions with his report. "The technology Blackmore got from Alzer resembles my own STC's but adapted with magic circles to protect it from and utilise the magical energy in the air." Erica thought about it for a moment.
"Isn't this Aunt of Leon's a possible candidate?" A different thought occurred to Erica however.
"I considered her as a strong candidate. But no, the workmanship present in the technology is a step below what I've been able to gather from working with the brother." Luxion began pacing again. Rodin egotistically calls himself the 'Lord of Creation and Destruction' but if his apprentice was any indication it might not be a exaggeration.
"Oh making friends I see?" Erica was legitimately happy for Luxion, he had found someone who he liked enough to praise the quality of his engineering.
"For another thing, your diary reported another 'cheat item' in Alzer. The Warship Idea." There isn't as much information on Idea as there is on Luxion. Unlike our favourite Colony ship Luxion the Warship Idea only appears in the second game. "Through Idea, someone could gain access to old world technology that could then be reverse engineered and combined with modern magical engravings." The good point about engraving magical formula is that it's flexible, there's some that has to be printed on special materials but that's it, 80% of the time most of the useful engravings can be done with common materials that can be found inside of a machine. "In the worst case Scenario, Idea could figure it out for himself."
"...when I first met you, you had nothing to do for the past eight hundred years but ponder genocide, Cleare was conducting experiments combining human DNA with extra-dimensional DNA. This might be rude of me to say but neither of you are exactly the pinnacle of mental health." Luxion nodded his drone body in agreement.
"Which means that Idea might be in a similar state." Another headache had appeared. Lovely. "Cleare." Luxion's drone eye turned blue once more.
"Contact Blackmore with the newest information, convince him to raid the dungeon as soon as possible." If it's Cleare who not only played the games but has a detailed layout of the inside of Alzer's dungeons then finding Idea and beginning the process of calming him down should be simplified. "I suggested raiding the dungeons with Leon earlier. His response was-" Cleare clicked as a audio file played. "'I have better things to do than raid my aunt's pantry for you people.'"
As Erica processed what was obviously a recording of Leon she was hit with the implications.
"The dungeon, is his aunt's pantry?" That has a lot of implications, bad ones. In the game there were two Alzeran dungeons, one below that were filled with demon ants called Empusa and one above filled with angelic bee things called Ayfids. At first Erica just attributed it to normal dungeon stuff, but now with the revelation that there's a group of Umbran living in Alzer that leads to the distinct possibility that they're the ones controlling the demons in question. Which also means that all of the items inside of Alzer's dungeon are the Umbran Families stuff, including Idea. "It would be nice to be able to ask the woman herself, but whenever one of my drones get near her or one of the Rault Family members they're destroyed." Erica thought about it some more.
"If they're this hostile to your drones this early on then they could be hostile to Idea's drones as well." Rather than a defensive measure against Luxion/Cleare specifically, it could be that this is in response to someone else's spy drones instead.
"In other words the two of them are enemies?" That changed the dynamic a bit didn't it? They might not know much about Celine specifically but they have an awareness of her clan, at minimum they should assume that they don't want war with Holfort, for that matter the problems in Alzer could all have been taken care of in advance, first and foremost the only reason they think something bad is going to happen is because of a eight hundred years old video game made by someone who didn't even care enough to get the important parts right last time. "Keep me informed of what's going on. In the mean time I want to spend some time with my family and Fiance." For one thing, if there wasn't a problem then they can just keep making preparations for the future.
Review Section:
RonaldM40196867: Cute... sure let's call them that. Aliens. Aliens would probably do it.
RedRat8: Probably.
guest: Welcome to Mobseka, Self-insert fanfiction of a non-existent game where everything that could've gone wrong did.