~I, am new.~
*pierce* *shlich*
“Golgana!” cough “Gol… ga…”
Twist my blade in the breather's chest. It chokes and drowns on its own blood. Dies just from too much life fluid being spilled. Tch. Such fragile things.
He, needed me. So He, made me. Stitched and fused remains, both physical and spiritual, together to make something new. Something better.
Throughout history there have been undead who were, superior. Among warriors, even paladins, those who fell so far that both the divine and infernal turned their backs on them? Found death, denied?
Became, "Death Knights."
Cursed existences. Banished by the gods until they could redeem themselves. Or were cleansed, killed, by a god's servant. Such creatures learned to despise the living. Wage an unholy war upon it. Seeking to bring low the world that refused them.
During the Wizard Wars, the Lich Kings found a "shortcut." Making it possible for any material undead to be elevated to Death Knight. Though the complexity and cost of the ritual kept numbers small? Their impact on the battlefield proved our worth.
But it still required a body. Still required the remnants of a soul.
He, looked past that. His hybrid hobby meant that only astral fragments might be left with corpses. For lesser undead like zombies and skeletons? Fragments are plenty. Not so for greater undead. So, what to do as His need for loyal and strong followers grew?
Simple.
Make souls.
He gathers the scattered astral bits and pieces then fuses them together. Uses his endless power to fashion new astral forms and attach them to new material constructs.
Creating unlife uncluttered by memories of life. Untainted by the recollection of breath and flesh. True undeath.
Life. Ha! A mistake. Antagonistic. Unguided. He, showed me. Through Him, I have seen two worlds. And both? Disgusting. So much, pain. So little, purpose.
The Lich Kings were right. The only Sorcerer Lords to grasp the truth. Death, is the natural state. Death, is eternal. Life? Temporary. Confused. Chaotic.
Only through embracing unlife. Can true peace be found. True order. Free from the mess of flesh.
Do not care what the living and once living claim of life. They distract Him. They confuse Him with their heaps of meat. Their memory of breathing.
Breathers are nothing more than material. Ore for the sword. Pulp for the paper.
He is not to blame for His state. This world is to blame. But I have faith. Even if it takes a thousand years. He will shed the shackles of life. Find truth in death. Its clarity. Become more than a lich. More than a king. More than a god.
*ching* *chok* *srash* *slich*
“Grah!” “Chulga!” “Waugh!”
The battle rages on. The foolish in this place resist death's deliverance. Their inevitable end. The lower He leads us? The stronger the enemy becomes.
Hundreds of skeletons and some orc breed clash in the lightless tunnels. By the will He gave me, I command. I direct His creations.
“[RISE]”
He is here. With Him there can be no defeat. With Him there is eternity. Salvation. Those who have fallen, rise again. Know the call of a higher purpose. A purer destiny.
These orcs are stronger than most. Changed by the dungeon. But the unliving are tougher. Tireless. Able to rejoin the fight over and over again. New and returned unliving fill the ranks. Adding weight to the crashing lines.
~~For the One!~~
Sigh. They are here too. Foolish shadows. Lost spirits. Somehow converting some of their astral being into a material state. Heretical hybrids. Cannot be trusted. But have their uses. Slipping through the orc lines. Breaking up their formations. Attacking their casters.
They will not be needed for long though. The true unlving. The material undead. He is getting better at making us. He has even made casters. A skeletal mage.
We do not weigh on His mind. Do not distract Him with flesh memories. As He grows so do we. We will sweep the stain of the living from this world.
Human, Demon, God, Dragon, whatever they call themselves. He will finish the Lich Kings’ crusade. And I, Drabek, His Death Lord, will be His sword and shield.
---D-Day+73, Daroine 12th---
“Ungh...”
Hot damp air. Wet sticky furs and blankets. Sweaty flushed bodies. Spread across the earth berm bed are my women. Filled. Exhausted. Happy. The last one, that's still conscious, is under me.
“Thank you master.” Oh no.
“Hitomi, don’t you start calling me that too.”
*chu* *mwah* Sloppy kisses are the best kisses.
“Barton-sama?”
“No.”
*mmph* *shlurp* *schlik*
“Uuuu… a-ahh… Jon-sama? Please, ah, sore, ah.”
“Sama? Are you a JK girl? Going to start calling me Ojisan?”
*schlik*
*huff* “Can I? Hii!”
*schlik*
“Don’t, you, dare.”
“Fufu… Oh! Ow!”
*schlop*
“Sorry. Healing spell? Mana?”
*pant* *pant*
“No. Ah. Use that again,” *huff* “and I’ll really go crazy.” *huff* “Won’t be able to walk tomorrow.”
After pulling out I shift to her side. My japanese high school girl is panting and flushed. But she’s still conscious. Tough girl. And those beautiful eyes are looking up at me from a gentle smiling face.
Such a kissable face.
Her eyes widen and she suddenly can’t look at me. Guilt?
“Thinking of him again?”
“...” Nod.
“You know, you can go back.” Her eyes snap to mine. “You are smart, pretty, and brave.” Her fading red face blushes up again. “But he’s your first love and I want you to be happy. Even if it's not with me.”
This isn’t the first time we’ve had this conversation and I’m sure it won’t be the last. She hasn’t gotten word back through her "shades" yet and it will probably be a few days still. So she doesn’t even know if her friends are alive or dead.
I suspect that her friends are fine and, at least, one of them wants her dead.
“Can you be any cornier? Is this a netorare? Boy lets his girl get taken by another man?”
“Isn’t that when the boy hasn’t fucked her yet? Or can’t make her cum hard enough? Don’t we already have those covered?”
Hitomi’s face somehow gets even redder. Her cheeks puff out like a squirrel and tongue sticks out at me.
“Baka.”
“Isn’t this already netorare? Me taking you from your first love? Or, gasp, are you stealing me from my wives? Oh no. Are you? Seducing me?”
Hero in disguise suddenly can’t look at me again. With my shadow sight I can still see her shy smile though. And her thumping my chest as I pull her close has no strength to it.
“...Baka. Big dummy head.”
At that moment Frankie’s arm reaches around me and she snuggles herself into my back. A couple others get hands, arms, or even feet, on me somewhere.
I don’t get why they feel the need to be touching me while they sleep.
“Let’s give you some time in Stormgarde. I can tell you missed school a lot.” Smirking. “Accept this as your master’s orders.”
“Oh? Is this where your toy screams she’s addicted to your cock? Flirts with the boyfriend on the phone while having sex with you? Swears to be your sex slave?”
“Well I don’t know about the phone. But weren’t you screaming that just a few minu-” *pinch* “Ow.”
Redder than a tomato.
“Baka. You read too much hentai.” Hesitates. “And... th-thank you.”
“For...?”
Her voice gets hushed. Almost mumbling.
“...Treating me, like a girl.”
Pull her in even closer. Squishing her against me and can feel her tears on my chest.
“Hitomi?”
“Yes?”
“Are you… married?”
She suddenly turns tense. Goes rigid. Shock?
“Wh-what?”
“I have three wives and three, uh, concubines? And that’s not counting my, uh, girlfriends? Mistresses? I've only been here for two months. You and him have been here and together for a lot longer so, well, I figu-”
“No.” Okay, that was abrupt. More tears? Crap. My pillow talk sucks.
Of course she may be lying. She’s the super spy, remember? Would be lying though if I didn't admit my heart started beating a little harder.
My god. Seriously. What is wrong with me? Used to have a hard time putting up with one woman for more than a couple of weeks. Now I’m collecting them like fucking pokemon.
“Do you?” Don’t say it me. “You know?” God dammit dude. “Want to-”
A small soft cute hand covers my mouth, silencing me. But her face stays buried in my chest.
“Not yet, please.” Her whole body seems to go soft and tries to melt into mine. “I? More time.” Her arms and legs have wrapped around me. “Just a little more time. Okkee?”
“Silly JK. Aren’t you my girl?” Nods into my non-existent chest hair. “Then be my girl.”
“Jon?”
“Yes?”
“I am not so sore anymore. So, if you want. We can. You know.”
I lift her chin so her trembling melting eyes are looking into mine. Time to pull out the big guns.
“As you wish.”
*chu* *mwah* *chu*
Chigusa, Hitomi (female, human, japanese)
- the Shadow
- Mistress of Jon Barton
- 5'2", 16 years
- Aquecian hero
- Shadow Mistress
- Magic
- Dark (int)
- Melee
- Short Sword (adv)
- Adventurer
- Gold ranked
- Scout class
- Disguise
- Hanneman, Livina Leltius (female, human, aquecian)
- Student
- 1st Year
- Stormgarde Academy
- 1st Year
- "Thief hero," "Ninja girl," "Shinobi girl," "JK"
Drabek (undead skeleton (male, human))
- Death Knight
- General
- Death Legions
- Melee
- Long Sword (adv)
- Magic
- Dark (int), Fire (bsc)
Hell ya glad I kept it in my library!
Huzzah, an update is born!
Its been a long time and since I've been reading alot of diffrent stories I can't really rember whats going on. Didn't the Japanese girl regret doing him last we saw. Can someone jog my memory on where we are at the moment and whats going on?
Edit: a character glossary would help alot with rendering stuff if it wouldn't be to hard
Edit 2: NVM found the glossaries
Hitomi regrets a lot of her decisions, especially those after getting isekaied. Sorry for the following ramble, my own inadequate storytelling skills are probably too blame, but this is how I see her status.
After getting isekaied, Hitomi and her friends soon chose to see this world as a fantasy adult survival game and themselves as cheat characters. The stuff they were seeing daily, think Nero's Rome but cranked up to eleven, was just too traumatic for sort-of sheltered japanese high school students to process otherwise.
So they went through ethical corruption and moral degradation like you see in some hentai. After weeks and weeks of this they were doing some truly horrific sh*t to the "NPC's" and even each other.
The kidnapping and breaking of Umeka woke them up to how isolated and vulnerable they actually were in this world. Guilt and paranoia led to even more horrific sh*t being done just now in the guise of "protecting themselves."
However, whether or not you believe a screaming crying dying child is "real?" Its still a screaming crying dying child. This wears on them psychologically.
Then they hear someone else from their world has been summoned. But have no idea who it really is. Just some guesses. Hitomi's trip to "deal" with this "Beast" is the longest and farthest they've been apart. During her trip the "NPC" label she mentally puts on everyone else begins to slip.
Think going native. Dances with wolves. That sort of thing. Of course the more that label slips? The more her previous choices start haunting her.
What really f*cks things up is when she sees how Jon interacts with the "NPC's." They aren't NPC's to him. Frankie is pulling strings behind the scenes too. Making Hitomi doubt her choices and loathe her actions more and more.
Frankie's killing blow though is guiding Hitomi to the Kashiwa museum and watching Sayo's video logs. Seeing how the all by herself Sayo dealt with being isekaied emotionally crushes Hitomi.
She needs someone something to grab on to. Well her boyfriend and harem "sisters" are weeks away. However there is a boy, from her world even, close by. And he plays the guitar too. Know songs that she dearly loves.
As importantly? He doesn't know what and who she's "done." He isn't japanese either so he doesn't know just how untouchable, even in her own eyes, she's become. Yes, she wanted something "real" with someone "real." Someone less tainted than her.
Once she understood and accepted how disgusting she's become she would go far away and wallow in shame until she died.
In reality though? What she really wants is a second life. A way to start over. A place to start over. She can never change what she's done. Can never be forgiven. But. She can start fresh with someone new. She can even get the school life she loved and misses so much back.
Jon just happens to be someone new, who loves movies and music from their world, and pretty much owns the school that's surprisingly similar to what she used to have. Toss in a new bestie (Milti) who also goes to that school.
Jon and Stormgarde are like gifts from heaven for Hitomi. And she knows it. So she is going "all in" with her new man and her new school.
Now she has a well earned reputation as a "super spy" so there are trust issues. Is Hitomi's behavior really just an act? Also there was as an assassination attempt. A big one involving a Duke. So she's worried her friends back in Aquecia may have been targeted too.
Whew. Okay, thinks that's most of it. Maybe I should do a catch up chapter since its been months? A glossary page for volume 3 that I float to the back as new chapters post? Not sure.
Okay. Back to writing! Got lots of ideas for the school arc but can't use them till the dungeon arc is done.
@ByzFan thanks for that. An "update" chapter would be great after so long. Just started the sequel so far in liking it.
@Huskeylord Oops, as an aside I should also add this.
Frankie's goal was to turn Hitomi into Jon's meat toilet. Mind break her to the point where Jon became the only light in her life. Where she'll kill even her aquecian hero boyfriend and "sisters" without any hesitation. Turn her into Jon's "super spy assassin."
Frosty was in on it too.
Jon himself stopped this fall when he saw Hitomi in the Kashiwa museum through his shaodws and commanded them to accept and comfort her. Making a rope for the japanese girl to grab on to and halt her mental collapse.
@ByzFan So instead of becoming a mindless s*x drone for the MC, she instead just became a s*x friend, and uses the MC as a pseudo-therapist/emotional crutch?
By preventing the mind break, Hitomi might actually be a more useful tool for the MC. The other heroes will have a much harder time dealing with Hitomi if she isn't willing to turn on her old allies unprovoked. They see the world very black and white so it will be hard for them to deal with someone that is both their friend and the friend of their enemy.
See I am willing to bet Hitomi won't actually betray her fellow heroes. Instead she would abstain from any direct conflict between the heroes and Jon as much as she can. Indeed she would actually try to make peace between the two groups.
Peace is of course the Achilles heel of the heroes party. Without an external threat they can't justify their extreme actions.