Outsider Chronicles: Born as a Blade

Most people who get reborn into other world have a choice, join the hero, become a villain or attempt to live a normal life. I didn't have that luxury. Oh no, instead here I am, reborn bound to a broken girl as something other than Human. I just hope some moron doesn't decide to dissect me...

One of the games my brother and I got for Christmas was Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and, although I haven't played it yet cus ASO, the concept of the Blades fascinates me. I'll probably end up playing it once by Brother gets done with it, but for now, I'll play around with some concepts. Our protagonist as a Blade will probably be the limit of Xenoblade for now, but that just means I'll be pulling out all the stops when it comes to Outsider bullshit. Enjoy!

Chapter 1

You know, I never really held any beliefs about life after death. It was always one of those things that I thought wasn't really worth thinking about. We couldn't know what it was actually like until after it happened. However, I never would have expected it to come so soon or even for me to end up where I was. One moment I was stepping out to cross the road and the next I found myself floating in darkness. I'm not sure how, but I knew I'd died and was now waiting for something. What that something was, I have no idea, all I knew was that, on occasion, I'd have flashes of consciousness. I KNEW that I was somehow leaving the darkness, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how or why and they never felt long compared with how long I was floating in the darkness.

Then, something changed. What that something was, I don't know, but I felt my body suddenly shift and begin moving quickly. I have no idea how I knew that considering the darkness was all consuming and I had little in the way of sensations to go on (frankly, I have no idea how I hadn't gone insane, but whatever). Suddenly, my body came to a stop and the darkness pulled away, revealing a breathtaking sight of the Earth from outer space.

"Where am I?" I muttered, "Is this a dream?"

"Of a sort."

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the unexpected voice as a glowing, green light appeared beside me.

"Wha...who are you?"

"I am...Alvis," said the light, "Well, that name will do for now."

"Alvis?" I asked, eyeing the light with trepidation, "You mean the AI thing from Xenoblade?"

"Indeed, I am he," said Alvis, "And you are far more than you believe yourself to be. Tell me, do you know what you have become in Death, young Outsider?"

I blinked.

"Err, a spirit?" I asked.

"No, actually, your Soul was taken from your Homeworld and used to fashion something new," said Alvis, "To be honest, not even I can figure out how it happened. I have run countless simulations, but I cannot determine how what happened to you is possible. My best postulation is that you were somehow caught up in the interdimensional shockwave that destroyed my original homeworld and created the one that replaced it. Or it could have been the death of Zanza and subsequent creation of a third world that did it. What I do know is that, during the production of a certain Core Crystal, your Soul was drawn in and became permanently bound to said Crystal."

I blinked a couple of times as I mentally translated that from JRPG exposition dump to english. Then I blinked again and gaped at the AI turned God Weapon.

"Wait, did you just say I'm a Blade?!" I spluttered.

I didn't wait for Alvis to respond and looked down at my body. What I saw wasn't the scrawny, pale body I was used to, instead I was met by a well muscled form, covered in a pale blue kimono with a dark blue chestplate underneath with a hole in the center where a teal coloured, star shaped gem was pulsing faintly. My kimono was held closed by a long piece of pale green cloth that extended back like a tail, tipped in ice and, unless I was very much mistaken, was under my control. As I looked down, a few strands of pale teal hair fell into view and I glanced back to see that my hair now reached my lower back. There was a scarf shaped piece of ice around my neck and my hands and feet were also covered in ice, creating the illusion that I had draconic claws. Slipped through my belt was a sheathed katana with a light blue hilt, a blue sheath and a star shaped guard.

"O...K," I said as I tried to keep from hyperventilating, "So all those times I felt like I was conscious…?"

"Were when you were active, yes," said Alvis, "However, during those times, your memories of your other life were suppressed, otherwise you would probably have gone mad."

"Well, thats comforting," I muttered, "So, why am I here?"

The light shifted slightly and I'm pretty sure he'd just turned away from me.

"Look."

I followed his gaze, just in time to see what looked like a massive cloud drift across the sun.

"What is that?" I asked.

"A threat, one that looms over all versions of Earth, not just the one below us," said Alvis, "I believe you'd know it as an Entity."

I frowned.

"You mean like the things from Worm?"

"Exactly," said Alvis, "I do not think I need to tell you why we need to do something about them, do I?"

"Interdimensional destruction on a planetary scale?" I asked.

"Exactly."

"Fair enough, but why pick me?" I asked, "Out of all the Blades, why me? I mean, I'm obviously not just a run of the mill common type, but I don't think I'm as powerful as an Aegis."

"You are not," said Alvis, "In truth, as a Blade, you are completely average. However, you have the advantage of knowing how to deal with both the Entities and the Endbringers."

"Alright, I get the Entities, but the Endbringers as well?" I asked, "I thought the Smirug was the only one with the power to draw things from other Worlds?"

"I am not willing to risk it," said Alvis.

"Fair enough. So, exactly how are we doing this? Am I being punted into that world as a Core Crystal or are you bonding me to someones Shard?"

"The latter," said Alvis, "See, theres one going now."

I turned back to the Entity and, sure enough, there was a glowing shard hurtling towards the Earth, specifically North America.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm about to end up helping my new Master out of a locker?" I grumbled.

Alvis ignored me.

"So, before I go, have I got any limitations on what I can do or tell them?"

"No, I shall leave that up to you," said Alvis, "Good luck."

He flashed brightly enough to blind me and by the time I could see again, I was right in the path of the Shard. It hit me in the gut, knocking the wind out of me despite the fact I'm pretty sure I'm still Astral, and carried me down towards the planet. I had just enough time to swear violently and call Alvis some very unflattening names, before I hit the atmosphere and everything went black.

WHAM!

"Owwww...fuck that god damn AI right in the coolant unit," I groaned as I peeled myself off the hard floor I'd just slammed into.

How nothing was broken, I have no idea. Then again, Blades are a tad more sturdy than Humans...how the fuck do I know that? Actually, now I thought about it, I seemed to know a lot of stuff I shouldnt, ranging from how to use the blade strapped to my hip, to how to bend the water in the air to my will, bringing the frozen heavens themselves under my control...huh, I think those must be my Blade instincts talking…

I shook my head to clear those thoughts for later examination and got to my feet. Fortunately, there wasn't anyone around to see a tall, teal haired man with icy limbs appear out of thin air. In fact, it looked like I'd arrived in the middle of the night if the position of the moon was anything to go by. It also looked like I was right on the money about who was the lucky sod to gain a sentent, trash talking sword as their weapon. Fortunately, I had not appeared in the Locker, otherwise I'd probably have been back in the Darkness before I even had chance to draw breath. I turned in the direction I could feel the bond linking me with my Master was leading me and scowled. Looking at the locker from the outside, it was blatantly obvious that people HAD to have been deliberately ignoring it. I could see a disgusting, reddish brown sludge leaking from the bottom of the locker and the grills near the top and the smell...I'm pretty sure my senses are stronger than a Humans, but SOMEONE should have investigated the source of the smell as it was clearly a potential danger to all students, not just the owner of the locker. Good god, this school was shit!

I gave a rather inhuman growl as I stalked over to the locker and dug my sharp tipped fingers into the metal. With an almighty heave and a snarl of exertion, I tore the door off its hinges, releasing a flood of used, decaying biowaste, bugs, vomit and one catatonic girl, covered in filth and twitching slightly, her eyes wide and glazed. I quickly crouched beside her, ignoring the mess, and pressed a finger to her throat. Her pulse was all over the place and, while I wasn't a medical practitioner by any means, I'm pretty sure that was a bad thing. I growled again and gathered Taylor into my arms. Instead of getting to my feet however, I tensed my legs as the temperature around me plummeted. Then, I pushed off, shooting straight up through the ceiling as a pair of icy wings flash froze on my back, along with most of the corridore getting coated with ice that I somehow knew would take at least a week to melt, even if they turned up the heat, added salt or attacked it with a flamethrower. I couldn't really bring myself to care however. Mainly because I was to busy flip flopping between amazement that I could apparently fly and worry for the girl in my arms.

"Right, screw subtly," I muttered, "Daiguren."

Ice cold air swirled around me, momentarily hiding my form, before it was blasted away by a flap of my newly massive wings and revealing a massive, icy blue serpentine dragon. Considering how big my Dragon form was, it didn't take me long to reach the hospital and when I did I let out an echoing roar that sounded like a glacea cracking apart combined with the sound of the worlds biggest avalanche smashing into the ground. I probably gave at least a few people in the hospital a heart attack, but at that moment, I couldn't bring myself to care. Plus, it did the job and brought people running, even if that did include security armed with what looked like Tinkertech rifles. Before they could open fire or start shouting at me, I allowed my Dragon from to shatter, resulting in a shower of tiny, diamond-like ice crystals and me floating in mid air like an icy angel.

I touched down lightly, my wings dissolving into more diamond dust as I did, and started walking towards the Hospital.

"FREEZE!" shouted the leader of the security guards.

I paused. Did he actually just say that? I ruthlessly squashed the urge to do as he asked or make a snarky comment. I did NOT need them opening fire while I had the still out of it Taylor in my arms after all. The man seemed to take my incredulity for obedience and, to be fair, I was actually staying put. Like I said, as much as I wanted to turn him into an icicle for saying something so stupid to a cryokinetic, Taylor took precedence over that.

"Identify yourself!" shouted the same man.

"My name is Hyorinmaru," I said smoothly without thinking, "I've got someone here who needs immediate medical attention."

I tilted my arms so the crowd could see Taylor. Seeing the poor girl got the doctors moving, ignoring the protests of the security guard as they wheeled out a gurney.

"What happened to her?" asked the lead doctor as I layed Taylor on the trolley.

"Locked in a school locker with a rather large amount of biowasist for at least a few hours," I said shortly.

"Good lord," breathed the doctor, "I think we'll have to bring Panacea in for this one…"

Then he gave me an odd look. Frankly, I'm surprised it took him that long, but I guess odd looking people are part and parcel of working in a city crawling with Capes.

"And who are you?" he asked, "A Cape? How did you even find her to help her?"

I snorted.

"Not exactly," I said, "As for how I found her, suffice to say, I have a vested interest in keeping her alive. Without her, I lose my link to this world and I really don't want to go back into that Darkness any time soon."

Plus, something told me that, when I went dorment again this time, I'd remember what happened. Considering that, I really didn't want to get punted back into that darkness after just a few hours. Plus, I didn't want to deal with Alvis disappointed tone and look I somehow knew he'd have, despite not having a face to look disappointed with. Stupid AI's…

Right, that'll do. I had a bit more planned, but this is actually as good a place as any to end it. I probably won't do any more for this one, it was just a silly idea I had while watching my brother play Xenoblade 2. Its also what triggered me to make a bunch of Bleach stories, so you can thank it for that.

Yes Hyorinmaru is based on the Zanpakuto spirit and has all the same abilities, albeit altered slightly to work as a Blade. His personality won't be the same though. Originally he was going to be Archer, but I couldn't figure out how to work his powers within the bonds of being a Blade, so now hes an Ice Dragon.

And that'll do. Don't forget to review!