“Dammit! How is this possible?” Marty asked out of unwillingness as he knelt on the ground; blood flowed from his mouth. He was dressed in his usual black but was wearing a partially destroyed set of armor. On his left arm was a round shield the had a dim glow to it along with a notable crack. In his right hand was Gram that had been cut in two. After suffering that attack, Marty was lucky to be alive. The shield was one of the strongest that existed within this world. Gram was also one of the most powerful swords in this world. He used both to block that attack yet still ended up with a gash across his chest. He looked down for a moment and couldn’t help but remember Freyja, who had a similar wound that claimed her life. When he thought of her, he couldn’t help but think about Morgan, Caelia, Shiro, Shalgana, Lucibelle, and Cali who he had failed to protect.
With eyes that had given up, he looked toward the person who had sent the attack. This person’s skin was abnormally white along with white hair to the point where he could be considered to be an albino. He wore pitch black heavy armor and had a black and purple heavy sword in his hand. His body gave off a strange black and purple aura that Marty couldn’t identify. It almost seemed as though it was a combination of Ki, destruction, and two other strengths that he didn’t care to identify. However, none of that mattered now.
He knew he couldn’t win. That one attack broke his fighting spirit completely.
When he came to this reality, he immediately killed Freed who was summoned here with him. The kingdom who summoned them had captured and locked him up before he was released. He slaughtered many deserving to increase the level of the System that he had attended in this reality. Even though the result doubled his strength, it was far from enough. Now, all he could do was run away.
However, he couldn’t run away alone. He was about to locate a mark before he heard a voice that terrified him. “Onii-sama, are you alright?”
Marty’s face contorted in terror. “Yutsuki, run!” He shouted in desperation as he tried to use Dimension Door. However, he was too late. The white-haired man immediately shot over to Yutsuki, who was not his match by far. With a thrust that seemed to have only a moment’s pause, Yutsuki was pierced through with the sword. Her face went pale as blood spilled from her lips as she looked at Marty with loving eyes. With her last breath, she managed to get out one last whisper: “Onii-sama… Live…” And she forever closed her eyes.
“No!!!” Marty shouted as despair and fears grip enveloped him. He regretted letting Yutsuki come to this fight. He lamented how he treated her. They were summoned and, not long after coming to this world, he had almost died when he was captured. Suffering from his severe depression, surviving a near-death experience, and experiencing Yutsuki’s tender affection made him lose control and do something he could never take back. However, Yutsuki never blamed him. Whenever he needed to vent with her body, she would accept him entirely and kept him from the depths of insanity by becoming his first woman and giving him selfless love. However, she had died.
Marty howled to the sky with grief and indignation. The irony crossed his mind for a moment; he had been summoned as a hero once again, yet he couldn’t protect the ones he loves. He could only be a Fake Hero.
Anger was added to his shouts as they turned into roars. His bloodshot eyes became that of a Black Dragon. From his wounds, a black aura that wrought destruction began to emanate from him.
The white-haired man looked at Marty with a slight smile as if he was looking at Marty’s despair as something amusing.
[I have to go back! I have to change everything!] Marty thought as he grasped hold of the one thing that could help him keep his sanity. Even though he had a way to travel back and forth the relative time, changing his past was not something he could do. However, he did not give up; he could not give up. In haste, he selected a random world, chose a point as far back as he could with his strength, and immediately used Dimension Door.
The white-haired man changed countenance when Marty disappeared. He looked around a couple of times, but when he realized that Marty was gone he snarled in anger. “Damn you!” He shouted as he suddenly attacked the place where Marty previously was. Compared to the attack that initially wounded Marty, this one was even more powerful; powerful enough to blast Marty into oblivion. “Dammit! Why did you have to take that goddess! She was the one I wanted most!” he shouted as he attacked a couple more times. After a little bit, he finally settled down. “Well, no matter. Taking these 11 goddesses to be my concubines is still enough of a harvest.” He said with a chuckle as he walked over to Yutsuki’s corpse. He looked at her gentle smile and sneered. “You idiot. I don’t know why used your remaining strength try and stop me from killing this girl, but now this body belongs completely to me.” He picked up the golden bow in Yutsuki’s hand.
“You evil bastard! Let me go!” a female voice suddenly rang out.
“Not a chance, my concubine. You lost. Soon this world will belong to me, Solomon.”
After Marty Dimension Doored, he found himself in a strange place. It was black with no air or oxygen, yet he didn’t need to breathe. He saw blue lights around him that seemed to be the souls of others. However, he couldn’t contemplate this for too long as his head felt like it was tearing apart and he passed out. The black space around him began to tear, and a world beneath showed itself as Marty started to fall towards it from an incredible height. The shield on his arm began to crack more and more as the gem embedded inside of it began to flash.
“Goddess, please save him!” A female voice rang out.
“There is no point; we lost.” Another female, the goddess, replied.
“As long as he’s alive, there is hope!”
“… Fine. It will be the last thing I do.”
“Goddess, what do you mean?”
“The shield is my medium, and something perverse is eating away at it. Once it completely takes over, I will die. To save him from this fall and to drive out the perverse trend in his body, I need more energy than I currently have.”
“Then take mine.”
“Still insufficient.”
“What if you add hers?”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“Who said I want to help him?” A third lazy female voice rang out.
“You’ve been hanging out in his body for so long and yet you ask why? If he dies, you lose your home and will dissipate.”
“... Fine.” The third voice said with a sigh.
“Good, then let’s begin.” The goddess said. “We only have a short time before he reaches the ground.”
A flash came from the shield and enveloped Marty’s body. His wounds began to heal at an incredible rate, and the perverse trends that had entered his body were soon cleansed.
*Bang!!!*
With an incredibly loud noise, Marty struck the ground creating a massive crater. However, the strange glowing light seemed to have prevented any damage.
“We did it.” The first voice said with a sigh.
“You stupid girl. Why didn’t you tell me your soul strength was insufficient? I don’t care about this goddess, but you should’ve told me!” The third female voice said with a hint of anger.
“It’s okay. This is for the best. Please watch over him”
“Leaving him to that woman? Might as well kill him now.” The goddess said with a chuckle.
“You!” The third woman exclaimed with anger.
“Rubbish with the theatrics.” The goddess said. “The two of us will disappear completely with no hope of preserving ourselves. His soul was heavily damaged, so he might not even remember his past.”
“If that happens, just let him live a normal life.” The first woman said.
“… Fine.” The third woman said as she clicked her tongue.
The first woman took one more look at Marty before she began to fade away. “Live well, my b-.” She said, unable to finish before she disappeared into nihility. A couple of seconds later, the shield lost all of its gloss, crumbled up, and disappeared.
“Why did I get stuck with babysitting duty.” The third woman asked with a sigh, unable to hide a trace of worry. However, she soon sensed something. Nearby, she saw a young girl around six or seven who was peeking over the edge of the crater. Even though she was young, she already had the makings of a beautiful woman. She had beautiful long black hair with the cherry blossom pinned into it.
“Little girl, help him.” The woman asked before she went silent, never again to communicate with him before he died.
Marty suddenly woke. He had just experienced a bizarre dream. No, it was not a dream per se; it was more of a memory. Marty clenched his teeth as he finally began to understand a little bit about the prophecy of the Oracle of Regnum. Not only Freyja, but everyone he loved was going to die. He could not let that happen. No matter what, he had to become stronger. He would protect everyone. He had yet to find out how they had died, but he would find out prevent it. He would become strong enough to kill that white-haired man. Only then could he rest.
Resolution showed in his eyes as he suddenly noticed that another soul was in front of him. Unlike the man, which he had concluded was a future version of himself, the soul in front of him was a woman. She was a lovely woman dressed in a black kimono embroidered with a white and red flame pattern. She had long black hair, but the bangs on her left side were white. Her eyes had a strange dark light to them, and her smile seemed almost serpent-like. She looked at him with a complicated expression.
“Who are you?” Marty asked.
“My name is not important, but you can call me Yami.”
“Your name is Darkness? What do you want?”
“What do I want? This time, I want to watch you destroy your enemies and Fate.” She said before she shot into Marty’s forehead faster than he could react.
Marty grimaced because of the sudden headache. [Not again.] Marty thought before he passed out. The space below him cracked, and the ground below showed itself.
Half-awake, half-asleep, Miyuki saw the sky crack as her dream and reality merged. With a single tear running down her face, she gently whispered: “I’m waiting for you, Anata.” Then, she ceased to be Miyuki and became Hanahime as her dream resumed.
Hanahime watched as a form fell from the sky and impacted the ground with a bang. She wasn’t sure, but it almost looked like it was a person. Her curiosity soon overpowered her fear, and she headed to where the crater was. With a little trepidation, she peeked over the edge.
“Little girl, help him.” She suddenly heard a female voice say.
Confused, she looked around but did not see anyone. She looked back at the man before she tentatively decided to approach him. When she got to him, she was shocked. There was a lot of blood on his clothes. She was somewhat sheltered, so she was slightly perturbed by what she saw. However, she also knew that if he was bleeding, and she had to stop it, or he could die. She cautiously spread his clothes only to see a scar. She gave a breath of relief as she wouldn’t have to deal with blood.
She grabbed his arm and tried to pull him, but his healthy body weight, much less the broken armor he wore, was too much for her. She gently set down his arm before she looked at him. “You stay here. I’ll go get Oto-sama.” She said with an adorable voice. She crawled up the crater and ran toward her house, which wasn’t that far away. Then, she noticed her father, who was already heading to her.
“Hanahime, are you alright?” He asked, concerned. He had seen the strange lights in the sky and even caught a glimpse of something as it fell. He knew that Hanahime was in that direction, so he quickly headed over.
“Yes, Oto-sama, I’m all right.” She said, quite happy. “Oto-sama, you have to help. A strange man fell from the sky and a woman I couldn’t find asked me to help him.”
“That was a person? Did you see him?”
Hanahime nodded cutely. “Yes, but he’s asleep. There was blood, but he doesn’t seem to be bleeding anymore.”
Hanahime’s father gave a breath of relief as he looked at his treasured daughter. His wife had died in childbirth, and he moved to the countryside. He decided to separate from everyone and live with his daughter. He was genuinely thankful that nothing happened to her, but he knew that she was also a sweet and caring person and wouldn’t leave someone who needed help. “Okay, show me.”
The two of them made their way to where Marty was. When Hanahime’s father saw the crater, he couldn’t help but be shocked. After all, this person truly fell from the sky. The fact that he had created this crater and was still alive was shocking.
He checked Marty out and found that he seemed to be alright. “Is he Roman? His facial features are similar, but I don’t recognize the armor all.” He mumbled as he looked towards the colored sky. “Did he come from the Well of Souls? Is that legend real?”
“Oto-sama, how is he?” Hanahime asked.
“He seems to be alright, but he is in a coma. He may not wake up for a while.”
“Can we bring him home?” Yutsuki asked with a very concerned expression.
Her father looked at her for a few seconds before he gave in. “Okay.”
Hanahime smiled, and her father carried Marty back to their home. They settled Marty in and eventually, night came, and Hanahime went to sleep.
The cool breeze gently woke Hanahime from her sleep. She was no longer in her father’s house. She and Marty were kidnapped and separated from him, only recently having reunited. Her life was vastly different now. She heard footsteps approach her, and she saw a familiar face out of the corner of her eye. Very quickly, she pretended to be asleep.
Shiba, the name she had given Marty when he couldn’t remember who he was, sat down next to and leaned over her as he watched her peaceful face with a gentle smile. Love could be seen in his eyes as he slowly leaned down to kiss her forehead. However, Hanahime suddenly reached out, encircled his neck with her arms, and kissed him. Because of the excitement, Miyuki slowly came out of her sleep. However, she thought she was still dreaming as she was still kissing him. It was only when their tongues intertwined she realized she was no longer dreaming. However, she wasn’t flustered in the slightest. His touch, his smell, his everything; she knew it like the back of her hand. [You finally came, Anata.]