2 First(?) catch

Honestly, life in Orario really wasn't all it was cracked up to be as a newly descended god. The residents were pretty used to the presence of gods so while there was a general feeling of respect and reverence if you talked to mortals, they didn't really pay you much attention unless you had a powerful familia behind you. Which I supposed was actually kind of a positive for an introvert like myself. 

There was also the fact that while the guild provided for you at the start, it wasn't like they gave you a lot of money. It wasn't the minimum needed to survive, but you had to be kind of careful with your budget. I suppose this was a bigger problem for gods that didn't happen to have the memories of a mortal who had grown up in a lower middle-class family. I had never lived a luxurious lifestyle so I was able to set aside some savings while living reasonably comfortably so I suppose that wasn't actually a big issue either.

It was also hard to get a new familia started. While Orario saw a lot of traffic and a consistent addition of new adventurers, there was a just as consistent death toll in the dungeon so there were pretty much always some established familia that were recruiting. And new adventurers would pretty much only pick a new familia if they either got plenty of incentives, whatever form they might take, or they favoured you as a god or goddess. 

So as a newly descended obscure god I was pretty much screwed when it came to recruiting my first member. I can definitely see how Hestia had such a hard time getting a familia going. After a couple of weeks of at least attempting to find one in the city itself, I had pretty much accepted that my time was better spent "fishing".

So you might think, well that doesn't sound so bad. And don't get me wrong, if that was all then I really shouldn't be complaining. But there was another issue. A big issue. An issue by the name of Evilus. 

Seriously, they were just as shitty of a group as you would expect from a group with the name evil in their name. Theft, vandalism, assault, murder, kidnapping, human(?) trafficking, their list of crimes seemed pretty unending and there was open fighting in the streets. Which was pretty insane considering that apparently it was even worse years ago before the guild and a couple of familias managed to deal a big blow to the organisation and take out several of their familias and send their gods back to heaven. 

Though the details about the incident weren't made public so I wasn't really sure about much of it. I had been making the rounds and talking to the different gods established in Orario to get some information. Thankfully even Evilus wasn't interested in attacking random gods in the city unless you were an obstacle to their plans so I could move around pretty much unhindered. The general scum who was taking advantage of the situation also wouldn't just attack gods either.

This was something I didn't remember from the show, but the gods here in the lower realm still carried a bit of their godly presence unless they actively suppressed it. This presence could also be ramped up so unless you had a couple of levels, were especially heretic or a combination of both, you wouldn't go against a god unless your own god ordered you to. And it was only weird humans that had no reverence for gods in this world. I suppose having such clear signs of divinity around ensured the general populace kept a certain amount of respect for higher beings.

So anyway, the mood in the city wasn't all that great and it put a damper on things. I spent a lot of my time "fishing" at home or coming up with ways to earn money. I had tried looking around for a job in the city, but due to the city still recovering from Evilus' heyday, which was also impeded by their continued presence, it was actually pretty hard to find one. So after trying for a couple of weeks, I pretty much gave up and figured my time better spent utilising my cheats, a.k.a as fishing and abusing my multiversal knowledge. 

That's right, as any self-respecting transmigrator I had decided to commit to the time honoured tradition of plagiarisation…I mean, spreading earth's culture. Considering that my ability to draw was roughly at the level of a particularly untalented chimp, drawing manga was currently a work in progress. 

So I spent my time writing down what I remember of the famous stories of my time on earth. Honestly, even with the memories it was more hard work than you might expect. I didn't have some superhuman memory, oh the irony, or even a particularly good one so unless it was a story I was particularly familiar with it was hard to even gather a rough list of subsequent events. I had to make up a bunch of stuff myself. Honestly, it was more akin to writing fanfiction than anything else. Not to mention I had to be selective and pick works with universes I was unlikely to catch anyone from because that might get quite awkward otherwise. 

Well, it was down to luck in the end so I suppose I will figure something out if it happens. What did you expect me to do, NOT plagiarise? Don't be silly. 

But even with all that, I estimated that the books should gather at least a moderate amount of success. Despite the mediaeval-ish setting, even common people were fully literate in the common language so there were readers to be found. 

By the way, I had no idea if the language here could be found on earth, but I didn't recognize it. But then again, I doubted I would even recognise more than two dozen languages from earth if I heard or saw them. It might be latin for all I know. It was just called common, which was very unhelpful in that regard.

Anyway, there I was, working hard on starting my career as an author when it finally happened. You see, one of the reasons I settled on being an author so quickly was that it would allow me to do something productive while "fishing". Staring at a wall for hours on end got pretty boring after a while after all. 

But now I felt it, a nibble from my first "fish"! I don't know if this was how it was always going to be, but my long awaited "fish" didn't just bite it suddenly. The feedback I got from my "line" indicated that it was just showing interest so far. Which actually made me pretty worried since that meant I hadn't even got close to catching anything all these weeks. So come on "fish", bite that hook!

I have no idea how long I spent tensed in anticipation of that bite. It could have been minutes or it could have hours, but then it finally happened. Fish hooked!

And then I was somewhere else. When I first appeared I instinctively knew I was both intangible and invisible, just a spectator to current events, a feeling of "Not yet" pervading my body. And what a grisly event I ended up spectating.

Skies red like blood. A ground made of the tormented bodies of millions of damned souls. Said ground covered in monstrosities as far as my eyes could see. A grotesque hand towering into the sky, a powerful presence present on each digit. And in front of it, just below my floating figure, a sea of blood from the slaughter of an army of men and the few monsters they managed to drag down with them.

And finally, the presence that had called out to me, a broken sword in hand. A dusky beauty with short black hair and an armoured body littered with wounds. A figure covered in blood and carrying a pair of brown eyes filled with nothing but despair. At her chest, visible through the torn armour, was a mark that would have told me what I was watching even if I had not known this iconic scene.

And back-to-back with the woman who summoned me, was a young man with short, spiky black hair. Like the woman at his back, his body was covered in wounds and blood alike and he wielded a knife in one hand and a giant horn in the other. From the looks of it, the horn must have been torn from one of the monsters surrounding them. 

But contrary to the woman at his back, while his sole remaining eye reflected the despair he felt, it also showed a strong sense of defiance. And just like that I understood that this man would never have summoned me here. He would never pray or ask a higher power to interfere. Not like I didn't already know that though.

And thus I watched as the monsters toyed with the pair, because rather than overwhelming them all at once, they attacked in small groups and aimed to injure rather than kill. Some died, some retreated wounded. This kept up until the air suddenly changed and the monsters backed away from the pair. 

And thus, one of the powerful figures descended upon them from his perch. And as the hawkish humanoid rose to his full height and gazed upon his prey, my senses finally told me that it was time. 

And just as the man took a step forward, a transparent bubble surrounded the pair of humans. The humans tensed, expecting this to be another hellish trial for the two. But to their surprise, after the former human stared at the bubble in shock for several heartbeats, his features showed a hint of annoyance before he rushed forward faster than the two could track and landed a titanic punch at the sphere's surface. 

Despite the surface of the sphere barely rippling, the effect around it showed the power behind the entity's punch. The blood pooling below the man's feet rose in a tidal wave and spread out in all directions. The ground of tormented bodies below his feet compacted and released a new wave of blood into the air. The monsters surrounding them were pushed back by the pressure.

But despite it all, the sphere held. All of them were frozen in shock, staring at the scene of a self-proclaimed god being denied his due, it was finally broken by the sound of a female voice weakly calling out to her lost comrade.

"G-Griffith…"

And thus Griffith's, now taking on the name of Femto, features distorted in fury before unleashing all his might onto the sphere blocking his way. But even as he wielded his newfound powers, gravity attempting to crush the sphere into nothing, spatial tears attempting to rip it apart, the sphere merely rippled in response. 

And just as the remaining figures of the so-called "God Hand" finally came out of their shock of being surprised by an event their ability to perceive causality hadn't even hinted at, a figure suddenly appeared within the sphere. 

The figure was clearly male,with short grey hair and goatee. With a pair of amber eyes and clad in an open green coat with golden details, a white shirt and a pair of brown pants. 

Despite the turmoil around him, the man focused solely on the pair of humans before him.

"Greetings, mortals."

At the sound of the man's voice, the former human finally stopped his assault on the sphere. Staring in obvious shock at the new presence in the sphere, he was soon joined by his fellow members of God Hand.

And as everyone stared in shock at him, the newly arrived god began to feel quite awkward as everyone kept staring at him in shock, not responding to his greeting. Unable to bear it any longer, he looked at the woman and continued.

"I felt your despair reverberate across the world and responded as fast as I could to your call for help. My apologies for being late." Well, that was stretching the truth quite a bit but he couldn't help himself. The moment felt too dramatic not to respond in kind. He was honestly quite impressed with how calm he was considering the grisly scene around him.

"Who are you? No, what are you?!" But rather than the woman before him, the one to ask him was one of the God Hand, the member known as Void. His looks could best be described as if a skull had decided to wear a brain as an afro.

Figuring that the questions were valid enough despite not coming from his summoner he decided to answer with something close enough to the truth.

"I'm a divine being that seeks out those who are looking for a way out of certain despair. You may call me Ren." And as he turned around to once more address the one who called for him, a new actor decided to enter the stage.

From the opposite side of the sphere from where the God Hand stood, a tear in space appeared, giving a glimpse of the void between realms. From it a skeletal knight appeared. 

"NOW THEN, THIS IS AN UNEXPECTED SCENE. I HAD INTENDED TO USE THE ECLIPSE TO STRIKE A BLOW TO YOU INHUMANS, BUT TO THINK NOT ONLY WERE SOME SACRIFICES STILL ALIVE BUT SOMEONE ELSE HAD ALREADY INTERFERED." 

"AND JUDGING BY THE CURRENT SCENE, IT SEEMS LIKE THE FLOW OF CAUSALITY HAS BEEN SEVERED. AND WITH IT, YOUR MANIPULATIONS. A PITY IT DIDN'T MANAGE TO PREVENT THE BIRTH OF ANOTHER OF YOUR LOT."

"Indeed, I wished I could have interfered before this tragedy took place, but just like every being in existence, I have my own constraints. Regardless, my power is not infinite, so I need to get moving. Casca." With that, the god focused once more on the young woman, who was clearly in some sort of shock from the whiplash of events. The man responded by gripping his weapons tighter and protectively taking a stance slightly to the front and right of the woman.

"As it was your call for help that summoned me here, my offer goes to you first and foremost. My power allows me to take you from this plane, out of the reach of these demons." Seeing the light of hope beginning to shine through the cover of shock and despair in her eyes, I was quick to continue.

"But of course it comes with a cost." With those words, her body tensed once more, having relaxed at the hope of an escape. In contrast, the man beside her had remained tense throughout his speech.

"You will have to discard everything from your old life except the clothes on your back. Whatever possessions and relationships you have will have to be left behind, never to be seen again." Seeing the shocked look on both their faces I resigned myself to whatever argument would arise once it wore off. Instead I was interrupted by those around us.

"Preposterous, you claim to be able to put them outside or reach. Fool, whatever powers you might have, those bearing the brand of sacrifice will never be able to escape their destined end. They can run to the ends of the earth, but in the end they will never be able escape. Their fate was sealed with Femto's ascension." 

"Believe whatever you want, but the world is a bigger place than you can possibly comprehend. Now, enough from the peanut gallery." And with a thought and flex of my power, the sound coming from the outside disappeared. Turning back AGAIN to Casca and seeing that she had come out of her shock enough to continue the conversation, I spoke again.

"Regardless of what these demons would have you believe, if you take my offer I can guarantee you would be out of their reach forever." After a moment of silence she finally spoke.

"Can you really do it? Can you save us from this nightmare?" 

And that was the crux of it, wasn't it. Us, not me. How do I break it to her that I have no idea if my powers allow me to drag two people back with me. Theoretically it should be the same, perhaps only with an increase in power consumption. But I don't know enough about my ability as it is. Everything I know about it seems to indicate it was meant for one person, not to mention this was the first time I would use it. I had no idea if even the intended use of it had any leeway at all.

But honestly, I didn't care about the risk to myself at this point. I know that I would probably never forgive myself if I left either of them behind to die. And I seriously doubt Casca would leave Guts behind to die alone. Guts I knew with certainty would rather go out fighting, but I didn't have as good a grip on Casca's personality. 

"Maybe." Seeing her staring at me in incomprehension when I suddenly backtracked after asserting her that I could do it earlier, I explained myself.

"My ability to take you away from this space was only ever supposed to be used for me and one more person." Seeing the dawning horror on her face and the grim determination on Guts I hurried along before either of them could speak up and add to the drama. Seriously, this had dragged on long enough at this point.

"But!" At my slightly raised voice and surging presence, the two shut their mouths with a clack. 

"Theoretically there should be no issue with taking another person along with me. But I cannot guarantee the result like I could if I only took one person." I decided to keep my trap shut about not being sure about my own safety either, that was my concern and I had no interest in some stupid self-sacrifice for my own sake. Not to mention I seriously doubted any major harm would come to me.

"Casca, you-" Whatever Guts was going to say was brutally interrupted.

"If what's about to come out of your mouth is another one of your damn acts of self-sacrifice I will finish what they started!" Casca shouted at him as she dragged him down by his collar, gesturing at the monsters around them. Well, at least it seems she had regained some of her spirit.

"But-" 

"No buts!" And with that came the tears.

"Do you understand!? You're all I have left! So what if I make it out alive! If the choice is to live alone I would rather die together!" And then she smashed their lips together, doing her best to convey her desire to live to him. 

Being a close observer to such an emotional event was quite embarrassing so I decided to take a look at the outside while they finished their little make-out session.

And woah, tone it down with the glare of death Griffith. I never quite figured if his rape of Casca was out of a desire for her or something about his jealousy towards Guts, or whatever THAT was, but obviously having front row seat to an emotional make-out session between the two was not something he wished for. It felt almost as awkward to look at him staring at them. Next.

Slan, the weirdo woman, was looking at the pair in undisguised desire. Nope. Next.

Ah yes, a stand-off between the skull knight and the remaining three God Hands. Well, they seemed to be talking. Or is it arguing? I have no idea what with the silencing effect on the sphere. Well, that got boring after a few seconds. Next?

Ah, yes. My comrades in awkwardness, a.k.a the scores of monsters all around us. Or maybe they were just content to watch this show. I was saved from further attempts to distract myself with a call of my attention from Casca. 

"S-so, how do we do this?"

"I assume you're willing to take the risk then?"

"Yes, we are." Casca answered as she threw a glare at Guts as if daring him to protest. Guts wisely decided to keep quiet. I swear he was almost pouting. Which was all kinds of weird considering the deeply traumatic event they just went through but I suppose the whiplash from all the twists and turns of these events have made them suppress it and focus on the present issue. Well, I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Alright, then to the logistics of the matter. To allow me to take you with me, I need to forge a connection with you. I can do this by using my essence to grant you something called a falna. The specifics of what that is, what it does and what you gain from it is something that we can go through later. As far as I know, there are no drawbacks for you since it's basically a tool to help you realise your potential. With me so far?" After a pair of nods I continue.

"Then all I need from you is access to your backs and the will to accept it. A falna is not something that can be forced on a mortal." After that, things proceeded quite smoothly, except for a small hiccup once they realised that by essence I meant blood, but after some assurance they calmed down. 

After some back and forth regarding who should go first, Casca ended up being the lucky winner. Guts ultimately couldn't decide if he should go first to test if it was safe or make Casca go first to ensure she got away. This was probably at the front of his mind because the God Hand has decided enough was enough and was now all doing their best to break the sphere, the skull knight having either been driven out at some point or decided that I had things in hand here and fucked off somewhere.

Well, it was good that we were about to leave because for all that I had been treating God Hand lightly, they were clearly no joke. Their effort to destroy the sphere was beginning to pay off. No longer were there mere ripples across the sphere, now it was distorting and bending every which way, to the obvious worry of Casca and the not so obvious worry of Guts. Well, regardless of their ability to wear down the sphere eventually, it was too little too late.

"So, are you two ready?" At their confirmation I turned to a certain demonic being who was attacking the sphere with what was most definitely desperation at this point. 

"And with that we bid you all adieu. Hope you choke on whatever mess is left of your plans after this." Because while Guts and Casca might not know, from what I remember the two of them and their future child would be pretty instrumental in that ritual arc that came later. Well, not my problem. Let's hope Casca's pregnancy will give them some joy at least. 

And with those final words, the Berserk universe lost three of the people who would otherwise have gone on to play major roles in shaping the world in the years to come. Was it for the better, or was it for the worse? But that is most certainly a tale for another day.