A/N: Okay, so I'm now posting to four different websites. Questionable Questing, , Space Battles, and now Archive of Our Own. Of the four, QQ and AO3 will have any of my NSFW stuff.

Also, in regard to the length of last chapter, 20K words, I did think of ending it at 10K first, but put it up to a vote on QQ and two of three people responded with doing it one chunk. However, in the words of YouTuber Lythero: This was the shark and I have jumped it.

I'm going to stick to ending things at 10K if I can help it, with shorter chapters being like 5K.

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.

-Cid-

I begin my day like I always do, with my beautiful childhood friend pouting at me. Wait… no, the pouting's new. I roll over and attempt to go back to sleep, Alpha probably will get over whatever it is with time.

Alpha has different plans and rolls me back over again so that I face her.

"Cid." Stated Alpha, "I know you're awake."

Some part of me is scared at seeing her this angry this early in the morning so I attempt to diffuse the situation slightly by booping her on the nose. It doesn't work. She does, however, scrunch up her face cutely.

"Now is not the time for affection. I have a few things I want to ask. You may boop me later." Said Alpha so manner of factly it's a bit hard for me to take her seriously but I do my best to match her energy.

"I suppose this has to do with the events of the duel, yes?" I ask.

Alpha nods, "Yes… you hadn't briefed me about any of your plans… I know it isn't required for you to do so, but, given that you brought Delta with you I would imagine you could have asked us for help. Especially when everything seemed to contradict your previous orders."

Ah yeah, I suppose taking the mist dragon to fight Leon would go against the whole 'consider Leon and his faction to be our friends' thing. I mean, friends fight all the time and if I told Leon I just wanted to see a mech fight a dragon he'd probably would have gone for it. But I do probably need to give them an official Shadow Garden reason.

I get up from the bed they gave me in Alexandria. "It would be best to tell many people at once. Could we gather people in a meeting room? The Shades and named numbers should do for now."

Alpha nods again. "Very well, make sure to wash your face and meet us there."

"Eh?" I whine, "What about breakfast."

Alpha giggles, "You slept through it."

"You should have woken me up." I pout.

"I tried, however you immediately started using me as a teddy bear when I walked up to you. Making us both miss breakfast." Said Alpha.

I grumble a bit to myself while Alpha giggles at me again before leaving. I can't believe I would do such a cliché thing. These girls are truly overwhelming my senses, and what's worse: I can't bring myself to combat it at all. Sasuga everyone, you've begun to make me truly fall for you.

I quickly wash my face and follow the rail of mana that Alpha left behind to find the meeting room. The thing about magic signatures is that it isn't just color that differentiates everyone. For instance, there's something of a scent and flavor to it. Alpha's for instance, smells of lavender and reminds me of a nice home cooked meal. Meanwhile, someone like Leon smells a bit like old books and strangely reminds me of mountain dew if not an energy drink. I suppose he was a gamer in his past life.

Since I followed Alpha's trail, I also go through her route of getting people, so I go through the training area. I see the many unnamed numbers hard at work, not to mention all those in maid costumes that I passed by earlier. I always kind of ignored it but the girls really have grown over the years. I know we had at least 200 members by the time of us rescuing Alexia, but I can't imagine how many we have now. They stop and stare at me as I pass by, likely a bit wary of the one guy that's here. I know that the girls mainly rescue people the possessed to get more members, and since it mainly targets women who become extremely traumatized from the experience, they probably don't like that I'm here.

If they are okay with me here, it's probably because they're used to seeing the giant stature the girls built for me… I admit that I probably could have caught on to their feelings a bit sooner considering that thing. I mean I don't usually come to Alexandria because I forget where it is sometimes, but still this isn't the first time I've been here. Hell, Eta had me strike a pose for the design of it.

In any case I walk to the meeting room, another throne room but with windows only on one side and a solitary throne for me. I offered to make the ones for the shades again, but Alpha said that there sadly wasn't room. Instead, they got special cushions to sit on in front of me, like some daimyos in front of a shogun. Today from the shades I'm joined by Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Eta. From the named numbers I recognize Lambda, Victoria, and Nu.

Lambda salutes me as I pass by. Lambda is a tan skinned elven woman with white hair, one red eye with the other closed and scarred, she's older than all of us but follows our orders to the best of her ability. She's the most militaristic of all of us, being something like a general, having the coat resting on her shoulders and commander's hat on her head. I dismiss her and she goes back to kneeling.

Victoria clings on to my coat as she's done since we first rescued her from the cult-filled church she used to be a part of. Victoria is a fair skinned violet-haired elf with blue eyes. She's probably younger than me, and she's the type of person who'd cry if you stare at her for too long, probably why she has her hair cover one of her eyes. I do think that it's funny in contrast to her outfit, I know she's doing it in spite of the headgear she used to have as a member of that church, given the horns on her current set. I pat her on the head, and she kneels with a smile on her face.

I take another look at Nu who nods at me as I pass. She's been the main contact between Mitsugoshi and Alice and me. Also, I think she's one of the very few human members of Shadow Garden besides myself. I nod at her, so she kneels next.

I pat my shades' heads before I sit on my throne. As a bit of a wakeup, I do the healing firework spell again. Everyone seems to enjoy the sensation, especially Eta who goes from slumped on the floor to hugging her knees again.

"Lord Shadow," said Alpha, "Yesterday at the final stage at the duel for the throne you had interrupted with the help of the mist dragon. I do not mean to question you, but would you be able to divulge the reasoning for picking a fight with those you instructed us to consider a friend and ally?"

Good ol' Alpha, always able to get straight to the point. I'd smile at her right now but the only way Shadow smiles in front of others is manic or threatening.

"I understand your confusion." I state before thinking about how I don't have a good one off the top of my head. Let's have them lead again, "Let me ask you something, why did you believe I may have done what I had?"

"Is it because you realized he did not deserve your friendship?" offered Victoria.

I shook my head and she began to pout.

"Wasn't it just because bossman wanted to have fun?" asked Delta.

Okay that's completely correct but Delta c'mon. I shake my head. Delta just tilts her head confusedly. I'd explain it to her but it would suck to break character in the middle of things, I'll apologize later.

"Did you wish to choose the person behind the throne?" asked Beta.

I shook my head again, "That was the reason I had given Leon and Julius when fighting them, so I cannot blame you for thinking that. But no in reality I had at least two reasons to confront the two."

"Two reasons…" murmured Alpha.

Since they already got three wrong I decide to stop the guessing game, I can probably think of something while I talk, "First. It is correct that Leon and his faction should be considered allies, should you ever find the reason to face them in combat make sure not to resort to any lethal means."

I stare extra hard at Delta when I say that. She doesn't get it though, so she just stares back while wagging her tail.

"Pardon Lord Shadow, but what do you mean by face them in combat? Do you mean in a tournament?" asked Nu.

"It's not out of the question. Although any such interactions would happen underneath a disguise of course. No, what I mean to say is that our work can and will have us take all sorts of roles. Many of which… would pit us against the kingdom." I explain.

"In that case, wouldn't it be better to align us with the future king?" asked Alpha.

I laugh inside. Sasuga Alpha, you helped me reach a good point. I turn to Alpha and ask, "Lady Shade, you are familiar with the house of Mamoria, yes?"

She nods. "The house in charge of reconnaissance and all other acts of espionage."

"Yes. Then let me ask something else, do you wish for Shadow Garden to become the next House Mamoria?" I ask. Everyone shakes their heads, a bit unsure of what I mean. So, I clarify, "Yes, becoming a house in the kingdom, or some kind of special strike force would give us a lot of leeway to work in the light. But that is not our role. No, Shadow Garden lurks in the shadows and hunts the shadows. Those concealed by the dark often look evil, but even if the entire world were to think us monsters we shall continue to fight like we always have."

"Sir, Yes. Sir!" shouted Lambda, followed shortly after by Nu and Victoria.

"So we are friends with Sir Leon's faction, but we cannot be seen as their allies…" Beta ponders her lord and lover's words, before lighting up, "Of course! Our actions constantly put us at odds with the cult, so any actions we take will be reflected as Sir Leon's! We can't let the cult know of our alignment with anyone, just like with all of our other avenues."

I nodded, "Correct. Just as you all created avenues to explore the lighter side of the world, so have I. Beta has infiltrated the world of literature and publishing as Natsume, Eta architecture as… Eta Lloyd Wright…"

Eta holds her hands up in victory, "V. V."

I continue, "Epsilon the world of music and many galas as Shiron, Gamma the world of business as Luna, and now finally me, who has started to shake hands with the likes of royalty with my friendship with Leon, as his faction includes the likes of the heirs to Midgar, Oriana, and Holfort."

"Amazing… to think you'd do that with your Cid persona… sasuga Shadow-sama!" exclaimed Nu.

"…Establish connections with the crown… reason…one. But what about… reason two…?" asked Eta.

"If I may?" offered Alpha. I nod so she continues, "I believe you said once 'it's darkest underneath the light source' correct? Could that mean you are using this connection to control where that is?"

"Sasuga Shade-sama," I say to various effects across the room. Alpha blushes, Beta and Delta smile at her, Eta pouts, and the others appear to be rather startled. Maybe it's because of the smirk and deep voice? It probably sounded different than I meant for it to. Also, don't remember saying that before. "As I had told the mist dragon, I believe that Leon has the potential to be rather powerful, and in turn that can make us stronger. So, if I need to play the villain every now and then to confuse the cult and help our friends grow, then I shall play the necessary role."

Everyone nods at my words with a smile. I feel like that brings up everything they wanted, but I did make the promise earlier to help Shadow Garden grow.

"Eta." I state getting my lovely little psycho scientist's attention, "Did you happen to hear about the mech that Lady Redgrave had used to face Delta?"

"No… can't… speak dog…." Said Eta while glaring at Delta.

"Eh!? But Delta told you all about it! Delta used her big girl words!" insisted Delta.

"Delta, down." I state. Delta immediately assumes her submissive pose by lying on her back and meekly presenting her belly like she's expecting me to rub it… maybe later. For now, I speak again, "When I get the opportunity, I'll try to get you a blueprint of it. I've noticed that our main source of weaponry is the slime suit I presented everyone when we first founded Shadow Garden, along with whatever other normal swords we find during raids."

Lambda raises her hand in the most formal way I've seen someone do so, like completely straight above her head with one hand and the other folded behind her back. I can respect the dedication to her military inspired character, so I motion to allow her to speak.

"Sir, do you mean to say that our slime suit has failings?" asked Lambda.

I nod, causing everyone (except Delta who's still lying down) to gasp.

"During my fight with Leon he had deployed a rather intriguing ability. Namely, his lost item's magic erasing/eating skill. Because of that when I made contact with my slime suit, which is an upgraded version of the ones you all wear, had begun to melt. I can't imagine how quickly it would disappear for all of you, which is especially bad since most of you don't seem to wear clothes underneath." I said. Victoria and Beta both rub the back of their heads in response. Not to mention any other therianthrope members we have, since Zeta and Delta all but seem allergic to even wearing underwear.

"So, we should seek non magical means when magic fails… I must say this is surprising to hear from you, given your own love of magic." Pointed out Alpha.

Ah, yeah… It broke my heart to see that there's several methods of just disrupting or sealing magic in this world, but I was able to glue it back together with gold when I saw there was mecha armor.

I laugh, "Heh. Thank Leon, it would have been a problem to face this is a more dire situation. Speaking of, how goes that story he had commissioned you to ghost write Beta?"

Beta nods, "It was a bit strange, but I managed to get it done rather quickly. It appears to be rather popular with both the noble and commoner women. Not bad for my first step into writing more original stories."

I'd pat the silver haired elf with a mole on her cheek on the head if I weren't Lord Shadow right now. Instead, I smile and she beams back to me. Also, technically she was using all of the notes Leon had prepared for the story so I'm unsure how original it could be, but then again he provided an outline and notes, so I'd say it's a good first step.

I rise from my throne, "Lambda, Nu. Before Lady Shade and I return to Holfort's capital I would like to spend an hour briefing you and the other recruits on how to fight with more than just conventional weaponry. I believe it's time that you all start to really think about the potential of the slime suit before we move onto armors. Everyone else, you're dismissed."

Victoria bows and carries Eta out. Delta walks up to me and I give her some ear scratches before she goes as well, followed by Beta whom I hug before leaving with the others.

Can't believe that I've never seen anyone else make a sword with their foot besides me. The only one who comes close is Epsilon who gave herself a new body using slime… hm, whenever I get intimate with her should I or should I not bring up that I can tell that it's 99% slime? It's not like I particularly care about body type, just that it belongs to her.

Not sure how much I can cover in an hour, but I did promise the others a party at Mitsugoshi.

-Leon-

I woke up this morning in a good mood. Especially since I woke up the living pillow that is Livia, some part of me wanted to continue from last night, but another simply enjoyed the moment of peace for what it was. Damn though I swear she was tempting me the way that she had somehow took off her pajama pants while we were asleep.

However, for as much I could probably use the mood booster, I figured that I should get up and get ready for the rest of the day. Especially since Angelica had gotten up earlier than me and Livia because a royal messenger had come to Partner as soon as they could to ask about what the fuck had happened yesterday.

Turns out, Julius had been unconscious the entire time. He's fine, in part thanks to Marie I suspect, but I'm the only one who can answer what's happened. So after a quick breakfast and some good morning kisses between the three of us, we ended up before Julius' room.

I raise my hand and knock.

*knock* *knock*

The door then slowly opens before the three of us, showing the familiar face of a half-elf servant.

Kyle lets us in, and we see Julius in a bed probably not suited for medical procedures but definitely shows his status as the prince as he's attended to by a doctor and nurse. Marie is also sitting in a chair off to the side. It looks like she's been crying. Though given the way she's glaring at me now, I can't tell if that's because she's worried about Julius or worried about herself.

"Why are you here, just to rub it in how much better you got it?" accused Marie.

"No, because a royal messenger wanted to know about everything that happened." I say. Marie scoffs and looks away. I tell the doctor and nurse to leave us for a bit. They nod and do so, likely wary of me and my position.

When it's just the five of us, six counting the unconscious man, and seven if you count Luxion, I give Luxion the signal and he immediately starts covering the room in a box with the help of some other drones.

"What's this!?" screamed Marie.

However, I want to get straight to the point, "Sit back down Hanabi."

The woman in question pales like she's seen a ghost. She shakes a bit and sits back down. Kyle rushes to her side.

I sigh, "It really is you, huh."

Hanabi begins to ramble like all the other times she'd get scared, "W-who are you…? Some… but fixer, anti-piracy software? I paid for the game I should-"

I chop the top of her head.

"Ow!" she yelped. "What the hell Onii… nii…"

The gremlin blinks, recognizing how I'd usually scold her, before she begins to cry.

"Onii-chan…?" she asked teary eyed.

"In my last life, yeah." I answer. Hanabi then tries to rush towards me in a hug, but I force her to sit down again. "I'm not Hiro anymore. I'm not your Onii-chan. My name is Leon Fou Barfort, just like how yours is Marie Fou Lafan."

"Onii-chan… no… please… please, you have to help me! Hiro-nii please!" cried Marie.

"You don't want me to be Hiro." I said. Marie tried to insist that she needed Hiro so I cut her off with a very harsh glare and harsher tone, "Hiro died hating Hanabi."

Marie stood there in shock. "I… I'm sorry… I… but I didn't know…"

I sigh. As most of this anger is something I want to hold out on, I vent, "Hiro worked a very respectable government job before the rumors of him being gay were spread. Since his bosses were old fogeys that though homosexuals were all perverts, he was fired, and he had to move out of his house because his parents thought the same. He was also dumped by his at-the-time girlfriend because she thought he might have been using her as a cover. So, he ended up broke, alone, and in desperate need for a job he ended up being settled with a black company surrounded by people that constantly used him and stole his achievements. Especially this one kid whose parents ran the company. So, when his sister shows up at his apartment a couple of years later, demanding that he 100 percent completes a game of course Hiro would be so desperate that he'd waste tons of money and pull a bunch of all nighters to get it done as soon as possible. With all the stress accumulated from his dead end job, the loneliness, the anger, and the lack of sleep, Hiro ended up dying of a heart attack. Yes, he had at the last minute tried to set things straight, but he never got to see anything rise from that. He died, hating his sister that ruined his life."

Marie says nothing as I rant. I find myself getting a hug from both of my girls behind me.

I take a deep breath, "Now… now I'm in a second life. I grew up appreciating a family that actually loved me-"

Marie flinched.

"But constantly worried about the future. And now? Now I find that the little sister from my last life hadn't learned a damn thing and is trying to ruin my life again." I seethe.

Marie stood up, "I wasn't trying to ruin anything! I was trying to enjoy my life for once! You have no idea what happened to me after you sent mom that message!"

I raise a brow, "Oh, gee. I wonder why."

Marie seems to choke on her whatever words were going to come out of her mouth. She sits back down.

I sigh again, "…Hiro died hating Hanabi… but you aren't Hanabi. You aren't playing a game. You are alive in a real world with real people and real consequences for your actions. Like that cheat item around your neck."

I stare at the broach that Marie's wearing. In Alto Liebe there were a few items you could purchase from some rather seedy looking characters to be able to breeze through everything. However, that was in-game, essentially cheat codes that wouldn't count towards the 100% completion rate, just allow you to get every CG. However, it could also get you a bad ending if you used it too much.

Marie handed over the broach, "Take it… not like it really helped."

"What is that?" asked Angelica.

"It's… a lost item. It helps you grow closer to members of the opposite sex. I used it to have the boys perform the condemnation event to get the exp since… wait do these two even know what I'm talking about?" said Marie.

"Sort of," said Olivia, "We don't know all of the terms but we know about how you both knew about this world and its events through some sort of media."

Marie scoffs, but then softens a bit. "…Nice to see you have people you can trust."

I smile a bit. But then I glare again, "Why don't you?"

"What?" replied Marie.

"I'm guessing that whatever happened to you after I died should have taught you something about consequences for acting the way that you do. So why is it that you are the exact person I remember before dying?" I asked.

"I'm not!" said Marie deeply offended.

"The little sister I knew was a manipulative person that thought all boys were stupid and would follow her whims and that the world always owed her something. You have LITERALLY been doing the EXACT SAME things here." I point out.

"…Is that really how you saw me?" whimpered Marie.

"You blackmailed me." I responded. "But stop focusing on your life as Hanabi. You're Marie now. I don't care what Hiro felt, I know what I'm worried about now. And for better or worse you made that guy over there fall in love with you."

Marie scoffs, "Julius doesn't love me-"

"You wouldn't know unconditional love if it hit you in the head. You never accepted it either because you never gave it." I say while cutting her off. "You saw people that could be used. That's it. Hiro saw a little sister that he hoped would get better one day. I see a scared little girl who's desperate. Julius saw that too. You got scared when he did, and needed to exert control over him with this broach despite the fact that he would have done whatever you asked as long as it was you asking."

"You don't know that." Said Marie. "Hell you said it yourself that none of the idiots knew a damn thing about me! I was just using them!"

"Marie…" said Olivia.

Marie looks over to Olivia to say something but sees that Olivia had healed Julius.

And he heard what Marie just said.

Marie tries to run but Angelica grabs her as Julius gets to her.

Julius kneels in front of Marie so that he can look into her eyes. "Marie…"

"What? Need me to say it again? I don't love you. Any of you. I just needed you and your money." Said Marie.

Angie, Livia, and I take a seat while Kyle covers the door.

"I'm glad." Said Julius.

"What?" said Marie incredulously.

"I'm glad you're being honest with me." Said Julius.

"I literally just said I was using you!"

"Everyone woman I've ever met save for my sister have used me. If it's you, I don't mind."

"Everything I did was a lie! It was just manipulating you! I did things that made you happy to help myself!"

"And you made me so much happier than anyone ever has!"

"I hate you! You're dumb and naïve!"

"I'll learn! For you! I love you!"

"No you don't! You love the idea of me that I placed in my brain! One sided feelings like that aren't love!"

"Was that version of you the one that laughed at me when I got a lower score on the governance class!? Was that the version of you that stayed behind when that dragon attacked to heal me long enough so that I could fight!?"

Marie flusters, unable to say anything.

Julius continues his one-sided attack, "You might not love us yet, but we love you Marie. I'll do whatever I can to make sure you can return those feelings…" Julius notices all of us, "though I'll have to start from a lower place than I was."

I nod, "Yeah, we probably should talk about it. What's the last thing you remember?"

Julius thinks about for a second before wincing. "Do I have to say it?"

"Heh. No." I laugh fondly at the memory of Julius being used as a weapon. "So, I guess we should come up with who won and everything going forwards, right?"

Julius and Marie nodded.

"Right, well listen closely because I'm going to say the story we should stick to." I said. I agreed on this story with the girls and Luxion before we left this morning. Something told me that if I had said something to the effect of my wager with Shadow it wouldn't turn out well.

-P2W/Leon-

"…and to the new crown prince of Holfort, Cheers!"

"""""Cheers!"""""

Mitsugoshi is once again filled with the sound of sheers and other jubilant feelings as the entirety of Leon's faction and many of the members of Shadow Garden celebrate.

Dan, Daniel, and Raymond enjoy a dance with their partners to one of the performances of Omega and Kai. Epsilon's subordinates who are playing piano and violin. Rose joins in easily enough with a vocal performance. Gamma enjoys a nice conversation with Cid, feeding him like a doting wife. Cid doesn't seem to care either way but enjoys himself nonetheless. Alexia also joins in, but she's shoving food into his mouth like she wishes to hurt him. Which she might, considering how she just learned about his fiancés.

Olivia, Angelica, Claire, Clarice, Iris, and Deirdre all are seated at one table. Talking about something they said was for girls' ears only. Leon took the cue to go elsewhere for the time being and walked to a nearby terrace.

Luxion is currently busy with things, leaving Leon alone as he stares into the city.

However, he shortly hears someone walk in behind him.

"Alice," acknowledges Leon as he turns. "I don't think I've ever seen you without Cid."

Alpha chuckles before smiling and gesturing inside with a nod, "He sent me out here to check on you actually. Was worried that some rival faction might do something if you were alone."

"Fair point. Well, I was just taking a short breather. Trying to ground myself from everything that happened, y'know?" stated Leon as he leaned against a window, maintaining a respectable distance between himself and Alpha.

"I understand. To think you'd make that offer to him after challenging him for the throne…" said Alpha thinking with a finger wrapped around her chin.

"Heh, yeah," Leon admits, "I don't think anyone would expect me to acknowledge that Julius has the legal right to challenge me in return once."

Alpha nods, "Nor would they expect you to offer to help train him for the next three years. Could I ask what drove that decision? I can't imagine it was one made lightly."

Leon gazes into the night sky before answering, "Alice. If you had the choice would you choose to live a life of constant peril with he people you love, or a peaceful life?"

"I feel like it's obvious that most people would choose the latter." Answered Alpha.

"Right, but most people don't get to choose. I… I wanted to make sure people would." Said Leon.

Alpha turned her head to Leon who is looking rather wistful, "Do you refer to the circumstances that led to your adventure being necessary in the first place?"

Leon nods, "Right. It's… easy to forget sometimes how lucky I really was. How… how many people tried the same thing and fell victim to our fucked up society. How… if I failed, my younger brother probably would've been next."

Alpha leans back against the wall, closing her eyes and thinking back to all the times she's saved the members of Shadow Garden. How many of them were children. How many of them would have nightmares that persist to this day. How… the slime suits they wear are likely the product of those who have failed before them. As Eta had discovered, slimes don't seem to originate from any naturally occurring phenomenon, so the theory that slimes are people that succumbed to the Cult of Diabolos' machinations looms over her constantly.

"I understand what you mean." Remarked Alpha.

"Right," acknowledged Leon, "Cid found you and your… sister wives in a slave caravan that got overrun. I guess that means we both ended up where we are thanks to luck."

"Sister wives… I like it." Remarked Alpha with a slight smile, "But I believe you are correct. To be honest, I feel like Cid's really saved me in more ways than one… and I'll never be able to repay him for that. None of us will… don't suppose the future king of Holfort has any advice for that?"

Leon shrugs as he looks to the window and sees his friends and lovers. He smiles and waves when making eye contact with Olivia and Angelica. "Find his love language, then use it like you're exploiting a monster's weakness, I guess. Like any guy he'll be flustered beyond repair but love it even if he can never find the words to say that."

Alpha leans in on her side, giggling at the sight of Cid doing his best squirrel impression as Gamma and Alexia fight over feeding him. "Love language? Like the romance languages?"

Leon leans back and looks over the town, "Nah, it's like… how does he receive and give affection. Words, Actions, Touch, Gifts, and Quality time are the main types. Uh for a quick example: Livia likes giving gifts, like with cookies, and Angie likes spending time with us. I like doing things for them. That make sense?"

"I see…" ponders Alpha, "I'll keep that in mind… actually, do you mind if I ask something else? It's about some phrase I heard Cid use once."

"Shoot." Said Leon.

"Do you happen to know what an 'eminence in shadow' is? I think I heard Cid talking about being really passionate about it." Said Alpha.

Leon thinks for a few seconds, furrowing his brow and crossing his arms. He then shakes his head as he speaks, "Sorry… I don't really know what that is. The first thing to come to mind is some kind of literary trope but for as much as Cid likes reading I can't see him being passionate about something like that."

"It's fine," said Alpha, "I don't know what that is either. I just wanted to learn more since it seems to matter a lot to Cid."

Leon smiles, "You should tell him that. He'd probably really appreciate it."

"I suppose I should. Thank you, Leon. If you don't mind, I'm going to make sure that Luna and Alexia don't rip off Cid's arms." Said Alpha as she goes back inside. Doing her best to interrupt Gamma and Alexia as they fight over Cid by pulling at each arm in one direction. Cid seems to not notice as he chews on a bread roll.

Leon follows shortly after, his thoughts feeling a bit lighter. For today thought Leon, I'll focus on enjoying my time with my friends, maybe even get a little drunk with the guys. Tomorrow… I'll think about talking to the adults again about all the political stuff.

Leon then goes back inside happy as can be.

Although he does feel a slight shiver go up his spine as he sees the girls at the table watching him approach.

He could swear he saw Clarice and Deirdre licking their lips. Claire and Iris appeared to be blushing, but that may have just been due to the wine they all had been drinking.

"*Hic* Leon~ *Hic*" said Olivia, "where have you been mister? *Hic*"

Leon immediately gave Olivia a big hug, finding her little hiccups and 'angy' face rather adorable.

"What have you girls been up to?" asked Leon, his voice full of exasperated affection.

"*Hic* Leon~" cried Olivia, "*Hic* Listen. *Hic* Listen, okay?"

Leon did his best to not chuckle and listen intently, even as Angelica wordlessly crawled into his lap and fell asleep after snuggling into the crook of his neck.

"Angie and *Hic* will only allow *Hic* up to *hic* fiv-*Hic* Seven… *Hic* seven okay?" said Olivia.

"Seven?" asked Leon amused.

Olivia nodded enthusiastically, before she got dizzy, "Hawawa"

Leon chuckled, not at all understanding what Olivia was referring to. "Okay, I think it's time to go to bed."

"Noo~" whined Olivia as Leon began to lift her in one arm and Angelica and in the other, "*Hic* Leon~ *Hic*"

"See you ladies later, there's a break starting tomorrow, so hopefully we can meet up a couple of times." Leon says with a wink. The girls all wave with smiles and heavy blushes.

Most of them had to sleep on futons in Mitsugoshi due to being too drunk to go home, but Leon managed to take Olivia and Angelica back to partner safely. Cid ended up going to sleep in Gamma's bedroom alongside said woman and Alpha.

A/N: Okay, I think that's a good stopping point.

So quick thing, Ao3 version is up now. I seem to have a decent foreign reader base. That being one Polish reader and one who speaks Spanish. I swear you never expect your fic to reach people who speak other languages first.

Also, from what I can tell the crew should be on their summer break. See, the schools in both Mobuseka and EiS appear to follow the Japanese school calendar. I mainly assume that it seems to be spring when both school years start rather than autumn, which it shifts to in EiS after the Lawless city arc. It being summer means some more fanservice ish chapters, mainly a beach episode with the Shades, probably going to invite the main trio from mobuseka too, if mainly to give Claire some love given the second part of the event.

I do know this has put EiS on the back burner, but the timeline of events don't seem to matter all that much compared to Mobuseka that had the duel have to happen at the end of the term. So I'll be using the game events to balance stuff out. Speaking of, how about the Alpha traumatizing simulator event? Jesus Christ, some of those options were painful to make.

So, I might do one or two lemons next chapter.

Now let's answer the comments, some I already answered so I'll ignore whatever I answered from those here:

:

Dhestrya: Thanks!

Fangs of death: Thanks, I'm starting to get used to writing those and I'm glad it shows.

Guest: You commented twice because of the glitch that I was seeing so I'll answer once.

Glad to see you like the scene with the married couple and their dog (jk, that's what the people on the reddit said about them during the collab with Sangri-La frontier) Yeah, Alpha's down bad as always, but it's cute to see her try to find out more about Cid and copy him whenever.

You'll get some of that next time. It's more of a group thing, one on one time will come later, but yeah that's essentially what the summer event was for.

For the fic, he did look into it a little, but I don't think seduction as something he'd ever want to do in canon.

Haseo55: Oh absolutely. I just thought it'd be fun. It's been a bit since he showed up and even more since I really had a meaningful bit of crossover between the series, so I felt like this fit. The changes should show up around the time of the school festival.

EDG1999: Thank you! It's up now, same name and under UnholyExcaliber. I did think about changing things from canon but I got fatigued by the time I got to the actual duel and couldn't think of too many ways to change it. It's honestly good as is. I'm not done with Jilk, but remember he was essentially being brainwashed.

Lol yeah the students will have a lot of thinking to do over the break.

The final showdown will probably have to wait a bit though, sorry. Mobuseka's main conflicts aren't really solved by combat, surprisingly. There's a ton of fighting, but it serves as a climax rather than a resolution most of the time from what I can tell.

From SB:

Kaleidoscope89: Answered most things earlier, but I can see the trickster thing. However, Cid does often do things because he'd think it'd be cool, such as Mundane Mann, John Smith, etc. "Minoru of the hero's time" is another such role, and he's like the trickster you were describing I suppose. As for the out of character responses from the five, that was on purpose. Remember Marie had them acting a certain way with the broach, essentially brainwashing them to recreate the condemnation event.

I'll get more into the aftermath with Leon's talk with Angie's dad. He doesn't exactly need to following the fic's lore, but I figured it's a decent enough reason to explain things so.

I get it though, it wasn't my best writing, I just had fun doing it. Also yeah the infinite stratos angie was fun for me too, plus I needed some answer to the slime armor.

AO3:

Anisomeone: thanks for the welcome and thanks for following me across all the sites dude. Glad you guys liked the ships, they're like half the fic, lol. Glad you liked most of the chapter, I'd imagine the duel with shadow was the main point of contention for most people.

Marcin (Guest): I translated stuff with google so hopefully I understand you well enough. First, thanks for reading! Never imagined I'd get comments in what appears to be Polish.

Glad you seem to be enjoying the story. Hopefully you will enjoy this chapter as well. Thanks for giving a bunch of comments, it means a lot.

SergioSilver506: I tip my hat to you, one fan of Deirdre to another. She'll probably get a scene coming up, alongside Claire maybe. I'm not the first to do a crossover fic, that'd be Kaleidoscope, though I am the first to have the fic have both protagonists still.

Hopefully you liked some of the lore of old humanity that was in later chapters. I assume you mean the twist of Leon meeting Olivia? Yeah I liked doing that too.

I guess not many are fans of Cid. Also, I think that saying Cid is a complete sociopath isn't entirely accurate. He does care for the shades, even in canon. It's more like he's a kid that hasn't ever grown up. He's still playing his eminence in shadow game and will do so forever if he can help it.

(Guest): Let me cook I guess? Lol.

Shadowy guy (Guest): I feel like that would have killed Leon. I can see him using those things in a serious fight, but Shadow rarely if ever gets serious, so. He was mainly testing/playing with Leon. Gotta admit I hadn't seen Luster Candy before though, had to look that one up.

From QQ:

Someone ani: Hello again, I did mention the anniversary event but can't say I included it yet. The summer events, however, I will. And yeah I wanted Alpha to realize things first, there's two better fics about Cid realizing things first and I didn't want to copy them.

I didn't realize Cid did that in canon, but it make sense.

Yeah, he's hardly mentioned past his first meeting and the anniversary event.

KAZUY4: Thanks!

Felius: Exactly, they're stupid not evil… maybe Jilk.

28th00: You messed me up on my rereading by putting that in my head. Lol.

I wouldn't say she completely gave it away, just planted some seeds. But yeah, Luxion may know more than Leon in this regard. Fun fact: I didn't know about the eminence in shadow trope until this series came out. I knew it existed, but never really thought about it, which Leon mirrors in the fic.

Yeah, she was on the path she set so long as she kept her mouth shut. Can't say she'd enjoy it there though, given what she's like.

Jilk was brainwashed, but no from what I can tell the arena can only hear so much. I think the two armors have like a private channel or something given how things played out in canon. Though in canon they were in the air… meh. As for the Diabolos Pills, I'll say it next chapter with the Duke Redgrave talk.

Yeah, Cid couldn't kill another half dragon guy either, he had to yeet him to the cold vacuum of space.

Yup, Leon is the "protagonist" and Cid is the "eminence in shadow" that'll show up when he's needed or to otherwise cause trouble… Protoman comes to mind when I say this.

Bladist: In earlier versions of this, I had planned for Lea to take over Leon and legit try to kill the five. But I realized that's a bit too OOC from Leon.

Delta is a good girl… the latest apocrypha event has hurt.

BusterMemelin: Hopefully you like this chapter, as this is were Marie starts getting better. I don't mind the nitpicks, I actually reread my story a bit to make sure I wouldn't go towards bashing. I don't like it myself. I absolutely hated seeing it towards other characters, Like Rias during that one weird phase of High School DxD fics.

Bladist (again): I had no idea about that fact on Yomu Mishima-sensei. Is that true? That's hilarious, like damn, that's the Scappy doo conspiracy levels of petty.

As for Leila… If I get that far, I might not let her go as far as she did, as I don't think I could stomach writing some of that.

I'll bring Marie's debts up again. I'm not done with em.

PieMan1994: thanks for checking that made me feel better.

Lmao yeah, that was a one sided beat down until Shadow came in with the steel chair.

But yeah, I didn't want Leon and Cid to do everything in this Fic, they don't really do that in canon either, just solve the fights and set the stages a bit. So I wanted a scene that had the other guys work together.

Bladist (3rd): NO! NOT THE FUJOSHIS!

BlackThief12: thinking on it, that goldie guy probably would name his enuma elish or whatever. Though I'd only ever write him getting hit in the shnuts.

Havefeith: Uh… well I'm not stopping the comment answering, lol, and it's only getting longer.