2 Chapter 1: Back home once again
Midnight of 31st December 2013, near Lake Yamanaka, Japan:
A bright light originating from the nearby forest suddenly flashed for short period of time, which might attracted some onlookers across the lake if they'd noticed it before it starting to dim down, showing a silhouette of a young man crouching on the dirt due to getting disoriented.
"Damn, my head feel dizzy as hell…but hey at least I'm alive…did we manage to do it, Vee?...Wait...that's not it! We need to go back Vee! My cute Elaina's chastity is in danger!" I asked while trying to get my bearings before shouting my concerns on Elaina's wellbeing. Damn bitch sensei, so that was her master plan huh?
[Well we did successfully teleported to a place somewhere but since I don't have any data on how your home world looked like I'm not completely sure, master. And calm down already, you don't have to worry about Elaina-sama's wellbeing, Master Gwendlyn was just messing with you.]
"Ahahaha, sorry for the stupid question Vee, still felt a bit dizzy after all. Aight, lemme check the surroundings for some familiar landmarks." I said while looking around before spotting a familiar big ass mountain across the lake.
"Yep, that's Mount Fuji alright, looks like we're in Japan spot-on. Now, the next step is finding out what is the year right now, can't discard the probability of time fluctuation between worlds after all. After that, finding some information to decide if I'm in the correct world and not some sort of parallel ones and then finally going back to my hometown to visit my parent's grave, or maybe they're still alive who knows." after concluding that I'm indeed in Japan, I started to form my next plan.
[Master, please don't forget to check the level of ambient mana in this world. We need them if we ever want to attempt the teleportation ritual to return back to Valvria. Plus we also need to find a suitable place to conduct the ritual.] Vee reminded me.
"Thanks for the reminder Vee, I nearly forgot about it. Okay, lemme check for a moment." I closed my eyes as I'm trying to calm down my mind, trying to detect if there is any mana signature in this world. Detecting ambient mana will take some time for humans compared to mana-attuned races such as elves and spirits, but with enough training we can shorten the duration taken. A few seconds later, I manage to detect the ambient mana signature, showing that there's indeed mana on Earth, which is good news for us. But not without bad news rearing its head.
"There's ambient mana here, yes, but the concentration is halved compared to Valvria's. So we'll need twice amount of time for us to conduct the teleportation ritual, that's unless we find a new method to increase the aetherite crystal charging twice as fast compared to the normal way. Plus the ambient mana is somehow corrupted by some sort of familiar energy…hmm where did I felt this kind of energy before…crap, it's the fucking demonic energy. Vee, change of plans, from here on we'll stop using ambient mana in our spells before we make a mana purifier device based on the ancient civilization barrier techs. And don't forget to record the demonic energy signature in your terminal, make it as a top priority to inform me if there's any sudden increase in concentration. Damn, thank the gods for making sensei implanting the dragon king's mana core inside me years ago, at least I can use that as a temporary mana source. How about your condition Vee, think that your internal mana tank can lasts at least until we make the device?"
[Affirmative, demonic energy signature recorded. Please don't worry about me master, my mana can lasts longer if I kept on being in standby mode. I may need for direct mana transfer from you if I tried using automata mode in long period of time though. So unless there's an emergency, please refrain from ordering me to change into automata mode master.]
Hearing Vee's verdict does lighten my mood a bit, but not enough to distract me from the fact about the demonic energy existing here since god knows when. I didn't notice it when I was living in this world since I ain't know shit about magic or mana detection techniques at that time. There are tons of possibilities, perhaps they exists since time immemorial, perhaps they had just emerged recently or maybe they worked differently here and I'm just overreacting. Damn, I've got distracted again, this world probably isn't even my original one since I haven't even got the basic info yet. Focus Takeru, baby steps, let us tackle the problems one by one shall we? Okay the first step, confirming the timeline. The second step, find any kind of information about me and my parents. I'll face on the demonic energy nonsense once all that settled.
Summoning and then donning my special black-coloured black ops armor normally used during espionage (read as stalking) missions from my storage ring which was an artifact developed by Gwen-sensei, I activated the invisibility magic that was based on light refraction theory embedded in the armor and start to fly towards the town nearby the lake, landing on some sort abandoned alleyway before changing back to my previous apparels, a normal T-shirt and jeans that can be found anywhere on Earth that were tailored earlier in Valvria. From there, I walked towards the first 24 hours convenience store I've encountered while looking around the town's surrounding, finding out from my initial observation that not a lot has changed in terms of technology advancement that indicates 300 years had passed since the last time I was on Earth. This proved that time flowed differently between worlds and it took me a short while before I find out how much is the time flow difference when I entered the convenience store and proceed to grab the nearest newspaper and checking the date it was printed.
"…huh, 31st December 2013, this means a time flow difference of roughly 1:100 since I was transported to Valvria in the beginning of year 2011 after all. Perhaps I can see my parents once again?...No, don't keep your hopes up Takeru, we still don't know if Nagazora City exists or not. Okay, let's go to the police station shall we?"
Moving towards the next location, the police station since they tend to have better records on Japanese citizens, I hypnotized the police officer on duty via magic, asking him to check on me and my parent's info in their database, thus giving me the bad news.
"Shin Takeru, 17 years old, went missing on 3rd January 2011, last seen by eyewitnesses in Nagazora City's Homu Arcade Station at 9.30 PM. Parents named Shin Takeshi and Shin Marika respectively lodged a police report when their son failed to return home after 24 hours according to SOP. There's no new sightings on him reported till this day. His last of kin, named Shin Takeshi and Shin Marika declared dead on 30th November 2013 due to a car accident at kilometer 25 Takebayashi Highway of Nagazora City at 7.35 AM, presumably while heading towards their workplace in ME Corp. Head coroner of Nagazora City's General Hospital reported that they died on the spot due to multiple internal injuries caused by blunt trauma. Is there anything else that you need to ask sir?"
"Nah, that's all I need to know. Thanks for the info, be sure to add a new report about my return, officer."
"No problem, I'm glad being able to provide you some help. I'll update your report later, Shin-san."
Well, that sucks. The good news, I've confirmed that this is indeed my original world so we can cross that objective out. The bad news, I'm now alone in this world, missing my chances to meet my parents with just a month's difference. This felt kinda stings though.
[Don't worry master, you still have me to accompany you on our journey. Plus, we've already expected this kind of outcome since you had lived for a far longer period of time compared to a normal human being. How about we check your old house and your parent's grave to pay respect master?] Vee tried to console me.
"Yeah, you're right. I've expected this years ago, what am I doing getting sad for. Alright, let's head to Nagazora shall we? If we leave now, we can reach the city by sunrise." Getting myself hyped up, I donned back my black ops armor, activating the invisible mode and then flied back, heading towards Nagazora City.
7.00 AM, Nagazora City:
I arrived to Nagazora right on time, landing on the apartment's rooftop where my old house located, climbed down the stairs and then knocked onto my neighbor's door since I don't have my house keys and I don't want to break down my house's door and face all the hassle. Plus she's my late mother's friend after all, let's us hope that she still recognize me. The knock was answered by a lady's shouting, indicating that she indeed heard me.
"Please wait a minute, I'll open up the doors!...Well, I don't remember if there'll be any visitors coming this early in the morning, so who…?! T-Takeru-kun?! Is that really you?! Where have you gone all these years?! Did you know how bad your parents missed you?! And did you know that they'd just died recently?!" my neighbor, Aunt Shiori opened the door and then proceeds to bombard me with multiple questions one she sees me.
"Long time no see Aunt Shiori, calm down for a little bit will ya? Yes, I did knew about my parent's death, I was informed about it by the police officers when I was reporting about my return. And about what had happened to me, it's a long story."
"…Well, I have plenty of time so you can tell me all about it. Come inside, I'll make you some breakfast and hot tea." invited Aunt Shiori. Felt kinda weird calling people who is technically younger than me as an aunt, but eh I digress.
Entering her house, I explained her all of my circumstances while eating the breakfast prepared by her, the abridged version of course. Told her that I was kidnapped by a crime syndicate which then sold me to a diamond cartel in Africa where they forced me to become a slave working in the mines. I lost my memories from the heavy work load and constant torture until about a year ago I miraculously recovered back my memories and then managed to run away, then spent some time working on odd jobs before finally managed to save enough money to buy a plane ticket back to Japan recently, which explained my rugged look. This is also the same fabricated story stored in the police's database that I've told the hypnotized police officer to record earlier. Damn I felt bad lying to her, but I can't tell her the real story can I? She'll definitely think that I'm crazy or smoked some weed or some shit like that.
"...I see, you went through a lot didn't you, Takeru-kun? After all the terrible experience that you've faced you didn't even manage to see your parent alive." said Aunt Shiori while passing me the hot tea and wiping out her tears, getting sad of my situation.
"Nah it's okay Aunt Shiori, I've already moved on. Don't worry about me, I'm fine." I assured her.
"Please don't feel shy to ask me for any help okay, I'll do whatever I can. About your parent's house, I do have the duplicate keys for safekeeping, I'll get it from the drawers. You have to go to the government's office by yourself for your parent's inheritance money though." Aunt Shiori explained to me on some things that may help me to survive for a while before getting myself a job.
"Oh thank you Aunt Shiori, I was just planning on going inside my house using your house's veranda ahahahaha."
"Oh don't be stupid, looks like you've not changed that much Takeru-kun." She berated me.
After getting the keys and thus ending our conversation, I went out from her house and then proceeds to open my house's door using the keys obtained and then entered inside for the first time in 300 years.
"Hmmm~ Home sweet home."
Taking a deep breath, I looked around the living room with nostalgic memories filling my mind. Not much had changed inside the house with most appliances and furniture are still at the same positions as I remembered. I then begin walking slowly towards my room and open the door, showing a room filled with various anime and games merchandises, plus the waifu posters adorning the room wall.
"I'm truly used to be a bona-fide otaku huh? Well, I still am, just stopped being one for some time since there's ain't any otaku materials in Valvria after all. There are tons of beautiful girls there though, so it ain't so bad living there."
[So this is the otaku culture where my automata mode took inspiration from, master?]
"Ah yep, I made your design based on the robo maid character of a popular manga I've read before. Don't tell me that you felt dissatisfied are you?"
[No, I liked your design and the automata mode worked like a charm so I have no complaints. On the other note master, did you notice the high level of demonic energy since we've entered this city?]
"Yeah, I did notice it. We might need to do some recon around the city tonight to see if there's any demons lurking around, can't have them to wreak havoc in my hometown after all. But let's go to the cemeteries first after lunch, I need to pay some respect to my parent's grave."
[Affirmative, master.]
3.00 PM, Nagazora City's Public Cemetary:
A young man was seen in the cemetery area, paying respects towards the graves in front of him, having a solemn face while seemed lost in thoughts. He then proceeds to clean the tombstones from grime and dirt before standing back up after the process was done. He then stayed standing still for a while until he begin to speak.
"…Hey mom, dad…didn't expect to see me again didn't you? Well me neither. Sorry for coming back way too late, I got stuck in foreign place and it took me awhile to find a method to return…Hey, did you know? Your son had a hell of an adventure, you guys wouldn't believe me if tell you the whole story…What, just spill it all out already you say? Okay okay, sheesh I tell ya what happened, but only the short summary...Alright, here goes nothing…" and I start talking about all of my adventures to my parents.
"…and then I even managed to get a daughter, she's hella cute I tell ya! The cutest daughter in the world, I've no doubt about it. It'll be great if I can bring your cute granddaughter here to visit you guys someday, well we'll see what the future holds…"I continued on babbling non-stop.
"…and that was it, that's how I'm currently standing in front of you guys today. Once again, I'm sorry for being such an ass of a son and thank you for raising me all those years. I don't know if I can ever repay you…I think that's enough for today, I've talked for way too long, the sky's getting dark already. I'll see you again soon…mom, dad."
I turned around, and began walking away from the gravesite as I headed home and prepare for some patrolling around the city tonight.
2.00 AM, Outskirts of Nagazora City:
In the forest located outside of Nagazora City, a black armored figure can be seen battling a few Honkai beasts which make loud screeching noises accompanied with some sword flashes and shockwaves in between.
"Damn, didn't think I hit the jackpot tonight though. To think that demons do exists in this world." I said as I evade the demons attacks and then counterattacked by slashing my sword towards its limbs, severing them completely.
[Master, we should end this fight as fast as possible. The authorities might be coming here in just a moment.] Vee warned me.
"Right, sorry about that. I'm still trying to adjust my mind according to the reality we're currently in. Alright you fucking demons, have some of these!"
I concentrated my mana towards my hands, producing a high impact shockwave attack that proceeds to blast the demons into smithereens. Huh, looks like they're as strong as common demon mobs, so my worry might be unwarranted. No, if they're here there's a possibility of the demon queen lurking around, or god forbid multiple demon queens . Can't be too complacent, Takeru.
"Phew~ that's jobs well done. Let's go Vee, time to get the hell outta dodge."
[Affirmative, master.]
I activate back my invisibility magic and then fly leaving the scene, heading back to my apartment. Along the way, my mind was filled by all kinds of questions. Do the authorities even know that these demons exist? If so, since when and who'd be tasked to eliminate them? And why do the normal people don't even have any sort knowledge about them? Did the authorities hid the news or did they have just appeared recently? Damn, so many questions, so little info. Might need to do a more thorough investigations. Can't let the innocents die left and right after all.
"By the way Vee, have you detected the location of where's the highest concentration of demonic energy at?" I asked Vee.
[I'm sorry master, my initial scanning showed that there's multiple locations around the city having a large concentration of demonic energy. Until I have collected enough data, finding the main source might take a while so we might need to check the places one by one. I'm sorry for my incompetence, master.] reported Vee while apologizing for the lack of results.
"Nah, don't be. We can take our time, for now I'll just do frequent patrols. Who knows we might get lucky and meet the culprit later on? Now I just wanna go back home and sleep, we had a long day after all."
[Agreed, rest is important for body and mind health after all.]
At an undisclosed location about 5km away from Takeru's former location:
A female figure was seen reporting about something to her superiors through her communication device which shows a blond haired man via hologram, possibly her superiors.
"Overseer Otto, based on the footage taken by the drones, there's an unknown person that manages to eliminate the Honkai beasts which our team had detected earlier. Should we apprehend the unknown individual, sir?" the woman asked her superior while showing a video feed of a black full armored figure fighting against the Honkai beasts.
"Hmmm, interesting. Nevermind valkyrie, leave him be. Go back to your main mission, but report to me if there are any new sightings of him." he denied her idea.
"Affirmative, Overseer Otto." the Valkyrie replied, thus ending the conversation.
In a dimly lit room located at Schicksal's HQ, a blonde haired man known as Overseer Otto was seen sitting on his chair while in deep thoughts. He then mused on aloud.
"A new player joined the chessboard huh. I wonder if this will affect my plans?...Well, no matter, in the end all things will happen according to my calculations." he ended his musings and then smiled.
This event marked the beginning of Takeru's fight against Overseer Otto, changing his life completely, whether he knew about it or not.
Omake:
"UUUUOOOOOOHHHH SSEEEEEEEGGGGS!!!!!" a man's voice named Shin Takeshi can be heard, shouting loudly due to seeing tons of beautiful angels in front of him in the afterlife.
"Stop it, you idiot of a husband! Can't you see that you're troubling them!" said by his wife named Shin Marika who then proceeds to bonk his head repeatedly, trying to get rid of her husband's horniness.
"UUUOOOOOHHHH I WILL BECOME SSSEEEEGGGGSSS!!!" Takeshi kept on shouting nonsense while handling through the pain of getting bonked repeatedly by his pure sheer willpower. It seems like his horniness are incurable.
"…Sigh~ I wonder why did I agree to marry you during all those years back….Takeru, don't follow your father's footstep please." Marika looked towards the horizon while praying for her son worriedly.
