AN: Sorry for the delay, I fucked up my back Saturday and have been unable to sit in my desk chair till Tuesday. Thank you all for the birthday wishes!!
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—Several Days Later, West Port Adventurer’s Guild—
“Just one lap left, you will not pass me!”, Serafall stated, fighting to maintain her short lead.
“Oh yeah, well take this!”, Eri proclaimed, launching a Green Shell at her.
“Guys, someone launched a Blue Shell!”, Lily shouted, narrowly avoiding the projectile.
“Who would do that to me!? I am winning!”, Serafall cried, as she quickly aimed for a Boost Pad, “No no no!!!”
“Sucks to suck, does it not?”, Leviathan snickered, “Neither of you are getting first this time!”
“NO!!!”, Eri and Serafall shouted, as the shell caught up with Serafall and took them out.
Watching the four of them play Donkey Kart 8, Aisha and Norn pleaded with Lilia to let them play as well. Seeing how much fun Eri and Lily were having, they wanted to try it for themselves. Looking over at Paul, who was busy writing letters to his former comrade, she asked him what his thoughts were. Shrugging his shoulders, Paul said he did not mind so long as no cost was involved.
“The money I made in Cole’s country will need to last us for a while. Till we get settled in the Beast Territory, I cannot take any more work.”, Paul stated, with an apologetic expression, “I am sorry…”
“It is okay, I know you broke your back to earn what you could these past few days.”, Lilia said, placing her hand on his shoulder trying to reassure him, “Cole, does this thing cost money to play?”
“It is called a video game, and no it does not cost anything.”, I advised, “Eri, can Aisha and Norn play with you as well?”
“Yeah!”, Eri agreed, “Miss Levi and Sera, can you scoot over a bit so they can sit with us?”
“Miss Levi?”, Leviathan shouted, “My name is Leviathan, not Levi!”
“But I...I cannot say that word right.”, Eri said, recoiling from Leviathan’s shouting.
“Ugh!”, Leviathan gulped, realizing what happened to the last Devil that made Eri cry, “If you truly cannot pronounce my name, I permit you to call me Levi!”
Grinning ear to ear, Serafall took full advantage of this situation and jumped right into calling her Levi-chan.
“You can call us Levi-chan and Sera-chan!”, Serafall told Eri, as she gave her a big hug, “Do not take what Levi-chan says personally, she is just a big meanie sometimes.”
“I sure am…”, Leviathan scowled, glaring daggers at Serafall, ‘Just you wait bitch, I will kick your ass later!’
Scooting over like Eri requested, Aisha and Norn took their seats between my daughters. Pulling out two extra controllers for the girls, I asked Eri to teach them how to play. Happily agreeing to do so, she immediately began showing them what all the buttons did. While she was explaining the controls to them, I leaned over and whispered in Leviathan’s ear.
“Thank you for allowing her to call you Levi, I know it is hard for a proud Devil like you to permit.”, I said, thanking her for being flexible, “Have you thought of a name for yourself for when they take your title? If not, I would recommend taking something a bit easier for children to pronounce.”
“I…I have not put much thought into it.”, Leviathan remarked, turning bright red because of how close I was, “I will let you know once I choose one!”
Thanking her, I gave the four children juice boxes before moving to get a drink from the bar. Halfway over there, my phone began to vibrate so I stepped out to take the call. Seeing Hal Jordan’s number show up on the caller ID, I answered the call.
“Hey Hal, I was wondering when you guys were going to call me.”, I chuckled, leaning up against the wall, “You got good news I assume?”
“You could say that, we managed to break Brainiac’s encryption several days ago and just finished processing everything. You got a moment to talk?”, he inquired.
“Sure do, should I bring Ciri over as well?”, I asked, peering into the Guild Hall to find her.
“Honestly, I do not think she wants to hear what I have to say.”, Hal stated, signaling that their findings were not good.
Putting a barrier around me that would block anyone from hearing our discussion, I told him to go ahead with his report. Taking a moment to collect himself, Hal opened up with a devastating revelation.
“According to the backups, which are three months old as of today, the Wild Hunt have destroyed roughly a thousand universes.”, Hal said, “Based on this information, the Guardians believe they may be closer to fifteen hundred universes now.”
“Shit, that number only reflects the number of universes that the Brainiac/Eredin combo has attacked.”, I groaned, before I realized something, “Wait a moment, I thought Ciri had only visited maybe two hundred universes max. Why has the Wild Hunt almost octupled that number?!”
“They are not only tracking our Ciri now, the Wild Hunt is chasing several different variants of Ciri currently wandering the Omniverse.”, Hal stated, “Brainiac has singled out ten of those variants that show great promise for producing powerful magical offspring. Our Ciri happens to be fourth on that list, the three ahead of her…let us say they are not the most friendly women you have ever met. I do not know enough about her to say what went wrong with them, but all three of them are ruthless killers when provoked.”
“I see, fortunately, ours is just a goofball.”, I chuckled, grateful she was a kind variant who got along well with my family, “Did you uncover where their base of operations is?”
“That information was not included in the backups, Brainiac is probably keeping that information on his ship.”, Hal admitted.
“So we are still dead in the water then…”, I sighed.
“Not exactly, we do have information on the last world listed in the backups. If you go there, you may be able to find some clues on where they are.”, Hal told me, “I will send over the data to you, hopefully, you recognize the world as none of us know it.”
“Thanks, Hal, I will keep in touch.”, I thanked him, ending the call and removing the barrier, ‘Almost two thousand universes gone…Brainiac/Eredin is a bigger pain in the ass than the Rouge Gods. For the moment, I should keep Ciri in the dark about this. Knowing her, she will blame herself for this mess when in reality it is all Eredin’s fault.’
Walking back toward the Guild Hall entrance, I stopped just before entering the building as I sensed a powerful presence coming into port. The individual in question had a substantially larger mana pool than most people in this world, and I could feel centuries of grueling training etched into his body. Knowing that it had to be Orsted, I walked back inside and began monitoring his movements.
—3rd Person POV—
“You sure the person we are looking for is in West Port?”, Nanahoshi asked Orsted, “Since that incident in the Asurian capital, there have been no reports of further attacks or incidents. If he is here, can we at least try speaking with him first? If the reports are true, he could potentially kill you in an instant.”
“I will try…”, Orsted commented.
“Not try, you need to speak with him first! If you two get into a fight here, thousands of innocent people will die as a result.”, Nanahoshi corrected him, “You already have a low public opinion, do not make it any worse than it already is.”
“I will try.”, Orsted repeated, “Everything will be determined after looking him in the eyes. If he is as violent as some people say he is, there is no chance for peaceful talks.”
Letting out a sigh, Nanahoshi hoped that if they fought they would take it outside the city walls. Moving toward the gangplank as the ship docked, the two of them were the first to disembark as no one dared to argue with them. Unable to pinpoint his target’s exact location, Orsted was about to start searching every inch of the city when Nanahoshi stopped him.
“You cannot pinpoint his location right?”, she assumed, based on how he was acting, “If that is the case, we should go to the Adventurer’s Guild first. With all the Adventurers crammed into this city, there is no way one of them has not seen him.”
“Alright, do you know where that is?”, Orsted questioned.
“...I have only been in this world a couple weeks, remember?”, Nanahoshi sighed.
“Oh right, we will need to ask for directions then.”, Orsted said, before calling out to a dockworker close by, “Where is the Adventurers Guild?”
“Haha, first time in West Port huh?”, the dockworker chuckled, as he turned to look at them, “If you make your way out of the port, head toward the…”
Freezing the moment his eyes met Orsted’s, the man immediately lowered his head to break eye contact. Having seen this happen multiple times in her brief time in this world, Nanahoshi stepped in to help.
“Please point us in the right direction and we will be on our way.”, she stated, trying to give the man an easy out.
“It is in the center of town, west of the market.”, the dockworker told her, pointing behind him in the general direction they needed to go.
“Thank you, I am sorry about my friend.”, Nanahoshi said, apologetically.
With the information in hand, the two of them quickly left the area so everyone would calm down.
AN: Sorry for the delay, I fucked up my back Saturday and have been unable to sit in my desk chair till Tuesday. Thank you all for the birthday wishes!!
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—Several Days Later, West Port Adventurer’s Guild—
“Just one lap left, you will not pass me!”, Serafall stated, fighting to maintain her short lead.
“Oh yeah, well take this!”, Eri proclaimed, launching a Green Shell at her.
“Guys, someone launched a Blue Shell!”, Lily shouted, narrowly avoiding the projectile.
“Who would do that to me!? I am winning!”, Serafall cried, as she quickly aimed for a Boost Pad, “No no no!!!”
“Sucks to suck, does it not?”, Leviathan snickered, “Neither of you are getting first this time!”
“NO!!!”, Eri and Serafall shouted, as the shell caught up with Serafall and took them out.
Watching the four of them play Donkey Kart 8, Aisha and Norn pleaded with Lilia to let them play as well. Seeing how much fun Eri and Lily were having, they wanted to try it for themselves. Looking over at Paul, who was busy writing letters to his former comrade, she asked him what his thoughts were. Shrugging his shoulders, Paul said he did not mind so long as no cost was involved.
“The money I made in Cole’s country will need to last us for a while. Till we get settled in the Beast Territory, I cannot take any more work.”, Paul stated, with an apologetic expression, “I am sorry…”
“It is okay, I know you broke your back to earn what you could these past few days.”, Lilia said, placing her hand on his shoulder trying to reassure him, “Cole, does this thing cost money to play?”
“It is called a video game, and no it does not cost anything.”, I advised, “Eri, can Aisha and Norn play with you as well?”
“Yeah!”, Eri agreed, “Miss Levi and Sera, can you scoot over a bit so they can sit with us?”
“Miss Levi?”, Leviathan shouted, “My name is Leviathan, not Levi!”
“But I...I cannot say that word right.”, Eri said, recoiling from Leviathan’s shouting.
“Ugh!”, Leviathan gulped, realizing what happened to the last Devil that made Eri cry, “If you truly cannot pronounce my name, I permit you to call me Levi!”
Grinning ear to ear, Serafall took full advantage of this situation and jumped right into calling her Levi-chan.
“You can call us Levi-chan and Sera-chan!”, Serafall told Eri, as she gave her a big hug, “Do not take what Levi-chan says personally, she is just a big meanie sometimes.”
“I sure am…”, Leviathan scowled, glaring daggers at Serafall, ‘Just you wait bitch, I will kick your ass later!’
Scooting over like Eri requested, Aisha and Norn took their seats between my daughters. Pulling out two extra controllers for the girls, I asked Eri to teach them how to play. Happily agreeing to do so, she immediately began showing them what all the buttons did. While she was explaining the controls to them, I leaned over and whispered in Leviathan’s ear.
“Thank you for allowing her to call you Levi, I know it is hard for a proud Devil like you to permit.”, I said, thanking her for being flexible, “Have you thought of a name for yourself for when they take your title? If not, I would recommend taking something a bit easier for children to pronounce.”
“I…I have not put much thought into it.”, Leviathan remarked, turning bright red because of how close I was, “I will let you know once I choose one!”
Thanking her, I gave the four children juice boxes before moving to get a drink from the bar. Halfway over there, my phone began to vibrate so I stepped out to take the call. Seeing Hal Jordan’s number show up on the caller ID, I answered the call.
“Hey Hal, I was wondering when you guys were going to call me.”, I chuckled, leaning up against the wall, “You got good news I assume?”
“You could say that, we managed to break Brainiac’s encryption several days ago and just finished processing everything. You got a moment to talk?”, he inquired.
“Sure do, should I bring Ciri over as well?”, I asked, peering into the Guild Hall to find her.
“Honestly, I do not think she wants to hear what I have to say.”, Hal stated, signaling that their findings were not good.
Putting a barrier around me that would block anyone from hearing our discussion, I told him to go ahead with his report. Taking a moment to collect himself, Hal opened up with a devastating revelation.
“According to the backups, which are three months old as of today, the Wild Hunt have destroyed roughly a thousand universes.”, Hal said, “Based on this information, the Guardians believe they may be closer to fifteen hundred universes now.”
“Shit, that number only reflects the number of universes that the Brainiac/Eredin combo has attacked.”, I groaned, before I realized something, “Wait a moment, I thought Ciri had only visited maybe two hundred universes max. Why has the Wild Hunt almost octupled that number?!”
“They are not only tracking our Ciri now, the Wild Hunt is chasing several different variants of Ciri currently wandering the Omniverse.”, Hal stated, “Brainiac has singled out ten of those variants that show great promise for producing powerful magical offspring. Our Ciri happens to be fourth on that list, the three ahead of her…let us say they are not the most friendly women you have ever met. I do not know enough about her to say what went wrong with them, but all three of them are ruthless killers when provoked.”
“I see, fortunately, ours is just a goofball.”, I chuckled, grateful she was a kind variant who got along well with my family, “Did you uncover where their base of operations is?”
“That information was not included in the backups, Brainiac is probably keeping that information on his ship.”, Hal admitted.
“So we are still dead in the water then…”, I sighed.
“Not exactly, we do have information on the last world listed in the backups. If you go there, you may be able to find some clues on where they are.”, Hal told me, “I will send over the data to you, hopefully, you recognize the world as none of us know it.”
“Thanks, Hal, I will keep in touch.”, I thanked him, ending the call and removing the barrier, ‘Almost two thousand universes gone…Brainiac/Eredin is a bigger pain in the ass than the Rouge Gods. For the moment, I should keep Ciri in the dark about this. Knowing her, she will blame herself for this mess when in reality it is all Eredin’s fault.’
Walking back toward the Guild Hall entrance, I stopped just before entering the building as I sensed a powerful presence coming into port. The individual in question had a substantially larger mana pool than most people in this world, and I could feel centuries of grueling training etched into his body. Knowing that it had to be Orsted, I walked back inside and began monitoring his movements.
—3rd Person POV—
“You sure the person we are looking for is in West Port?”, Nanahoshi asked Orsted, “Since that incident in the Asurian capital, there have been no reports of further attacks or incidents. If he is here, can we at least try speaking with him first? If the reports are true, he could potentially kill you in an instant.”
“I will try…”, Orsted commented.
“Not try, you need to speak with him first! If you two get into a fight here, thousands of innocent people will die as a result.”, Nanahoshi corrected him, “You already have a low public opinion, do not make it any worse than it already is.”
“I will try.”, Orsted repeated, “Everything will be determined after looking him in the eyes. If he is as violent as some people say he is, there is no chance for peaceful talks.”
Letting out a sigh, Nanahoshi hoped that if they fought they would take it outside the city walls. Moving toward the gangplank as the ship docked, the two of them were the first to disembark as no one dared to argue with them. Unable to pinpoint his target’s exact location, Orsted was about to start searching every inch of the city when Nanahoshi stopped him.
“You cannot pinpoint his location right?”, she assumed, based on how he was acting, “If that is the case, we should go to the Adventurer’s Guild first. With all the Adventurers crammed into this city, there is no way one of them has not seen him.”
“Alright, do you know where that is?”, Orsted questioned.
“...I have only been in this world a couple weeks, remember?”, Nanahoshi sighed.
“Oh right, we will need to ask for directions then.”, Orsted said, before calling out to a dockworker close by, “Where is the Adventurers Guild?”
“Haha, first time in West Port huh?”, the dockworker chuckled, as he turned to look at them, “If you make your way out of the port, head toward the…”
Freezing the moment his eyes met Orsted’s, the man immediately lowered his head to break eye contact. Having seen this happen multiple times in her brief time in this world, Nanahoshi stepped in to help.
“Please point us in the right direction and we will be on our way.”, she stated, trying to give the man an easy out.
“It is in the center of town, west of the market.”, the dockworker told her, pointing behind him in the general direction they needed to go.
“Thank you, I am sorry about my friend.”, Nanahoshi said, apologetically.
With the information in hand, the two of them quickly left the area so everyone would calm down.
