A new day started at the Duchy of Brunhild, and Mochizuki Touya, the Great Duke of that small nation, was walking through downtown, lost in his thoughts. And as he passed by, his citizens graciously greeted him.
"Good afternoon, my Lord!"
"Touya Sama, my Lord."
"Great Duke, here!" said a farmer as he threw a couple of recently harvested apples. Touya caught the apple in the air and smiled at the man, who waved at him.
He was about to eat them, when a cheerful voice called at him. "Touya-san!"
"Oh, Yumina, girls!" greeted Touya as the four girls walked toward him. Four of his nine wives.
Yumina Belfast, Princess of the Kingdom of Belfast and master of archery, and later she learned how to operate a pistol from Touya. Followed by Elsie Silhueska, an expert fighter and brawler whose weapon of choice were two enchanted gauntlets that allowed her to give devastating punches. After her was Hilde Lestia, princess of the Knight Kingdom of Lestia and one of the best swordfighters in the world, trained under the watching eye of the Goddess of the Sword herself, Moroha. And finally, Yae Kokonoe, a samurai warrior from the distant lands of Eashen.
"What are you doing here all by yourself, Touya-san?" asked Yumina happily.
Touya smiled at his wives and shrugged with a conflicted expression.
"You know, the usual. I am just enjoying peace and quiet while it lasts."
The girls gave him a sympathetic smile, as they all knew at this point that Touya was a magnet for trouble. Wherever he went, Touya would either get involved in an incident or create one himself. It was an endless cycle.
"Come on, Touya. You don't have to be that pessimistic, right?" said Elsie, trying to alleviate the tension, as the others nodded in agreement.
"Elsie is right, Touya! You need to cheer up and think positively," said Yumina.
The other girls just nodded in agreement, and Touya couldn't help but smile at the attempt to make him feel better. It was evident that none of them believed Touya could be without trouble for long, but they could only hope for the best.
"You know what?" said Touya, smiling. "You're all right! Worrying for no reason won't help; I just need to stay positive!"
But then his smartphone rang, making the smile fade from his face. With a sigh, the young man answered the phone. "Sup'?"
The four girls just exchanged uncomfortable laughter. "Ehehe..."
On the other side of the phone, a cheerful voice greeted him. "Touyaaaaaa, is me! Your destined lover, your sex slave, your...
"What do you want, Doc?" asked Touya, interrupting the irritating rambling from his head scientist, Doctor Regina Babylon.
"You're not fun!" complained the doctor at the other end.
Touya rolled his eyes, imagining the perverted doctor pouting.
"Oh, whatever!" continued Doctor Babylon. "Our sensors have detected a new dimensional breach in our world."
Touya's expression suddenly changed to a serious one. "What? Where?!"
"Right here at Brunhild. Specifically, the border with the Refreese Empire."
Touya hung up the call and turned to his wives.
"You guys all heard that?"
The four of them nodded.
Touya nodded, and began to explain his plan. "It could be dangerous, so I will go investigate first and..."
Yumina interrupted Touya by lifting a hand, shoving her wedding ring to his face.
"Touya, you know we are together, forever!"
The others agreed.
"Fine!" sighed Touya as he prepared one of his signature spells. "Gate!"
***
Midgar Academy of Dark Knights A sacred place where families that came from a long line of warriors send their children to continue their legacy.
For the Kagenou family, all their hopes and dreams were placed on their eldest daughter, Claire. Their son, Cid, was pretty much a disappointment. Average grades, average sword skills, and average looks. Cid's future was not very bright. In the best case scenario, Cid would get a position as a gate guardian.
Cid Kagenou was practically a synonym for mediocrity, a sad reality that his parents had learned to accept. The only one who refused to give up on Cid was his sister Claire, who took every single chance she got to beat some sense into him, and ended up sitting on his chest with her hands tightly wrapped around his neck.
"I am going to ask you once. You know when my next tournament will be?"
Cid did what he could to nod, despite Claire strangling him.
"Good! There are some things you would rather not forget." Said Claire, as she pulled a ticket out of her pocket and placed it on Cid's face. "I reserved a seat for you, and you better be there cheering me up. You may learn a thing or two."
With that, Claire finally walked out of the room.
Cid sighed as he shrugged and turned to one corner of the room. "Alpha, it's been a while!"
An elf with long blonde hair and blue eyes, dressed in a black bodysuit, came to light and bowed before Cid.
"Indeed, Shadow-Sama."
"So, you said in your letter that you have some news about the Cult."
Alpha walked to Cid's desk and unfolded a map with several red exes all over. "Apparently, we couldn't fully stop the Cult from performing some experiments with the Black Rose. They never thought that you may be able to actually destroy it, but you had a backup plan already."
Cid nodded in silence, with a neutral expression, as he rolled his eyes internally. Seriously, how long does she plan to follow that storyline?
A few years ago, Cid found Alpha. She suffered from a magic overload that caused her body to rot from the inside to the point where she turned into a shapeless blob. A condition known as 'Demonic possession' Those with the condition were used to making sacrifices for the church. Cid decided to use the meat blob to experiment on how to channel his magic, doing things he would never dare to do with his own body. But he ended up restoring the blob into a beautiful elf. The elf was in shock, astonished at how she turned back to normal.
But it was true; she was saved, and right before her was the one who saved her. Her new master. He gave her a new name, Alpha, and a new reason to live. Vengeance.
Her master has told her everything. The 'demonic possession' was nothing but a magic overload, and the body was not able to support it. The reason behind the possession was the revenge of Demon Diabolos, who cursed the descendants of those who sealed him a long time ago.
Demonic possession was a symbol of status, as it only affected the heroes' blood running through their veins. But a mysterious group twisted the story and spread the rumor that the magic overload was a sign of demonic possession, and this is why the possessed ones were now hunted down and sacrificed to the church.
An enemy who had extended its claws behind the scenes, controlling religion, the government, and even the merchant association. A long time ago, Oliver, the legendary hero, sealed Diabolos, but he never expected Diabolos to have a cult that worshiped him. A group wanted to benefit from the demon's power, and continued to seek its resurrection. The Cult of Diabolos.
But in order to destroy a shadow organization this large, you need another shadow organization that rivals it in power, wealth and influence.
With the help of Alpha, they started to rescue the 'possessed', and after healing them, they recruited them into their organization, where Cid evaluated them and trained them in combat. They were given a new purpose and a new name.
They were Shadow Garden.
Of course, this was nothing but a nonsensical story that Cid just came up with back when he rescued Alpha. The story about the legendary hero, Oliver, and the demon Diabolos was a very popular legend people tell children. Cid knew this was all roleplaying, and the girls were just playing along. They stopped playing with him right before he entered Midgar Academy, but they returned to play with him and keep him company from time to time.
They entered his room and continued with the game, unraveling new evil plans from the Cult and stretching the narrative he created to impossible levels. Then he joined him to hunt bandits for their treasure, who suddenly turned into members of the Cult.
It was all fun and games, and Cid really appreciated that Alpha and the girls joined him to play just to keep him happy.
"Then, Shadow-Sama," continued Alpha, "one of the prototypes of the 'Artificial Black Roses' was able to create a gate to another world, but unlike the original Black Rose, the Cult could not use it to summon monsters. Instead, they have been moving some of their forces to the other world, and I think they are trying to expand their influence."
"Huh..." said Cid indifferently.
"The Cult has established some teleportation spots. Since they have been sending possessed ones to these locations, the Numbers were able to locate them and have managed to intercept them before is too late. However, I think that the best course of action will be to send a member or two of the Seven Shadows to investigate the world they are sending the possessed ones into. But I would like your opinion of where to start."
Cid raised an eyebrow and just put a finger over the map without really looking at it.
"Here."
There was no mark in the spot Cid pointed, but according to their recent investigations, they had the suspicion this was a teleportation spot too, but they haven't confirmed that yet. But apparently Shadow-Sama had already done the hard work for them.
"I see. Thank you, Shadow-Sama, I will give your instructions to the rest of the Seven Shadows."
With that, Alpha vanished in the shadows, and Cid, or Shadow, relaxed on his bed. "I really appreciate their effort, but sometimes their storylines are too complicated for my taste."
But Cid didn't really care. It was fun, so why not go along with the story?
***
Mitsugoshi Group, a vanguard store that has flooded the world with new and exciting products such as coffee, chocolate, fine pastries, and even luxury, innovative pieces of clothing such as suits and thongs. They have even introduced innovative concepts such as paper currency and fast food restaurants. Brilliant concepts that no one has even dreamed about. Everyone knew that the company CEO, Luna, was a genius way ahead of her time.
But Mitsugoshi was nothing but a façade. All of those products were merely inferior versions of the concepts envisioned by their master and his wisdom of shadows, and his real purpose was to get funds and work as the public face of Shadow Garden.
Every single member of Shadow Garden was possessed by someone who had been rescued and healed by the power of Shadow and started serving him from that moment on. And the first ones to be rescued were the leaders of Shadow Garden, the Seven Shadows. Alpha, Beta, Gama, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, and Eta. Alpha was in charge, as their master was too busy fighting for the greater good. Things worthy of him.
Six of the Seven Shadows were reunited as they waited for their leader, when the doors opened, revealing Alpha.
"We have our instructions," said Alpha, pointing a finger to a spot in the map displayed on the table. "This is the teleportation spot we will investigate. The rest of them must be eliminated."
An elf with silver hair and blue eyes gasped in surprise. "A...Alpha-Sama... How did you know for sure that this was a teleportation spot? Zeta has just confirmed the information right before you arrived."
"I just came after seeing him." Explained Alpha.
The other members of the Seven Shadows nodded in understanding. As expected from Shadow-Sama, He was a step ahead already.
Alpha nodded. "We must be up to his expectations. Beta, Epsilon, and Delta, get ready. We don't know what the other world has prepared for us."
The elf with the silver hair, another elf with long, beautiful blue hair, and a beastkin woman nodded, ready for action.
They needed to prove they were worthy of him.
***
Touya and his wives came through the gate he created. The location in question was relatively close, but based on their experience, they knew that dimensional breaches were not game- and time sensitive.
They ran to the frontier, only to find a chariot being attacked by four bandits. All women dressed in black, three elves, and a beastkin.
Touya exchanged a look with his wives, and prepared his weapon, a gun-sword called 'Brunhild'. But he was stopped by his wives.
"No Touya-san. Let us handle this!" said Yumina.
"Yes, we must prove we are worthy to be at your side!" said Hilde.
"We are ready, Touya-dono, we are!" added Yae.
Elsie only prepared her gauntlets. She was ready for battle.
Touya didn't say more and put his weapon aside as his wives ran to action. It was urgent, as the merchant was the only one left from the chariot. But he decided to watch over the fight from the air by using his spells, 'fly' and 'invisible'. He was sure his wives would dominate the situation in no time, but he could never be too cautious.
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"Stop right theeeeeereeee!" shouted Elsie, jumping to shorten the distance between her and the closest one, using her very own null spell, boost.
But the beastkin woman stopped her attack with a single hand, and smiled at her, showing her fangs.
"Oh, more prey!"
Elsie jumped backwards as the beastkin returned the punch. "Huh?"
She had to roll away to avoid the claws of the beastkin as she was moving impossibly fast, searching for an opening. Elsie knew she was in trouble.
"How is she this strong?"
Yae ran to the beastkin woman with her katana, but she was stopped by the elf with the blue hair and her black blade.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't interfere."
Yae jumped backwards to gain distance from her opponent, and then charged again. Her skills had been polished by Moroha, goddess of the sword, and she would not be defeated. But all of her attacks were deflected in an elegant and precise manner. There was no opening she could take advantage of. She was in trouble.
Yumina was ready to help her friends, as she took her gun and emptied her charger against them, only for her bullets to be cut in half by a beautiful elf with silver hair and blue eyes.
"Seriously, stop. We do not want to harm the innocent, we are Shadow Garden, and we only slay our enemies."
Hilde then aimed her sword toward the elf. "I don't care. You are in Brunhild's territory, and we will not tolerate you killing people for nothing!"
The elf with the blonde hair stopped Hilde's sword with her own black blade.
"You better listen to Beta. This is not of your concern."
But Touya's wives did not hesitate. They needed to save that poor merchant from the women in black no matter what.
Touya couldn't believe this, he and his wives were at the top of their world. Who were they?
However, Yumina hesitated. She had the 'Mystic eyes', the capability to see through a person's true self. And she could feel that the women in black meant no ill, their murderous intentions focused only on the merchant.
"I don't understand..."
When Yumina hesitated, the silver-haired elf took her chance and moved at great speed to kick her gun from her hands. Yumina gasped as the woman in black aimed her sword toward her.
"Just be a good girl and stay aside if you know what is good for you."
That was enough for Touya. He knew he had to intervene. He made himself visible and landed behind the silver-haired elf.
"Touya?"
The four women gasped at his sudden presence, but they could feel he was powerful, so they needed to be careful. However, the blonde elf remained strong. She needed to prove she was worthy of leading the Seven Shadows.
"Stay away from this. Shadow Garden does not have anything to do with you."
Touya didn't respond. His sole focus was to protect his wives as he didn't want the women in black to hurt them. Touya pulled out his smartphone and concentrated his magic on it as he opened the map app.
"Enchant, multiple! Pin the women in black with red pins!"
Four red pins appeared on the map app. "Apply 'Paralyze' to the red pins!"
The women in black gasped as Touya's magic surrounded them and froze them in place.
"Touya..." said Yumina.
"We underestimated them, we did!" apologized Yae.
Yumina lowered her head apologetically. "I am sorry, Touya. I hesitated for a second, and she took her chance to overwhelm me."
Elsie placed her hand on Yumina's shoulder. "It's okay, they were far stronger than anyone else we have come across in a while."
Then Hilde turned to the merchant. "What about you, are you okay?"
The merchant smiled, relieved. "Thank you so much, you saved me. Can you please tell me where I am? All I knew was that I was going to Lindworm, and all of sudden I was in an unknown forest, and they attacked me..."
But he suddenly froze when he felt an overwhelming presence. Everyone felt it, as they turned to where the presence was coming from.
It was a man dressed in a black coat with a hood that covered his entire face, except for two red eyes that glowed menacingly. His entire aura screamed one thing: danger!
The merchant went pale and started to look for an escape route. The members of Shadow Garden were one thing, but he was bad news. If he were here, all their plans would go to the drain, for sure.
The man in black stared at the merchant with his red eyes, then at Touya and finally at his wives. Then he extended his hand.
A dark purple aura came from his hand, and he surrounded the four women in black and freed them from Touya's magic without effort. They gathered around their master, and the blonde elf bowed before him apologetically.
"Shadow-Sama, I am terribly sorry. We underestimated them, and you had to get involved. I am sorry to bother you."
"Boss!" greeted the besatkin woman, waving her tail. She was about to hug her, but she was stopped by a gesture from the man in black.
"Later, Delta."
He then turned to stare at Touya. Touya shivered at the sight of this man, but shook his head, trying to sound confident.
"Who are you?!" shouted Touya.
"I am Shadow. He who lurks in the shadows and hunts the shadows."
Then, the merchant's head rolled over the floor, which caused Touya to get alert as a large black blade materialized on Shadow's hand, still dripping blood. When did he move? Did he have a sword the entire time?
No one knew how to react to this, but they all realized that this man was too dangerous.
Touya shivered, this man was no normal opponent. He wasn't like any god or mage he had fought before, no, he was different. So Touya decided to have his divinity flow through his eyes. Shadow moved his sword again, but this time Touya was able to see it thanks to his divinity. He realized that the sword wasn't normal, it moved so unnaturally and seemed to turn from liquid to solid at Shadow's will. And Touya knew that even with his divinity, he would not be able to stop the attack on time. Then the sword destroyed the merchant's chariot, revealing two blobs of rotten flesh inside two cages.
"What on earth?"
Shadow released his magic one more time. The dark purple aura surrounded the blobs, turning them back into two very disoriented elves, as the women in black ran to help the,
"What happened to us?" asked the elf.
"The sickness, the demonic possessionâhow did we turn back to normal?"
"You were saved by the master." said the elf with blue hair.
"Just like we were a long time ago," added the silver-haired elf.
"And who are you?"
"We are Shadow Garden. Those who lurk in the shadows and hunt the shadows." said the blonde woman.
After saving the two elves, Shadow turned his attention to Touya and his wives. Touya aimed at the man with Brunhild, his gun-sword, as Shadow was walking toward him.
"Not another step! Just who are you?"
The man in black tilted his head. "Mochizuki Touya-san?"
Without stopping his gun-sword at Shadow, Touya glared at him. "Do I know you?"
The out-black coat suddenly turned into what looked like a regular Knight Academy uniform. Pretty normal for their world, but what got Touya's attention was the man's face. A face he thought he would never see again after he died and reincarnated. An old classmate of his.
"Kagenou Minoru-kun?"