Arc 1 Start (1)

The more I read the book [Torre del Paradiso: The Complete User Manual For Dummies], the more I was starting to suspect there was a petty dick with reality-warping powers who selected me as their personal punching bag. I refused to believe a part of me was just a... a... juvenile masochist? It was not a Shadow Self, that's for sure, unless it was influenced by something else... and I returned back to the beginning of the problem.

"Verdict?" Minato asked me. We were seated in a circle in front of the first set of stars. This was unknown territory for everyone, so all of us were very excited. Minus myself after I started reading, now I was cautiously interested.

"Dark Souls difficulty." I declared. Rito, Issei and Minato winced in sympathy.

"Can you explain it to us who don't get the reference?" Rin asked. "I assume Dark Souls is a game?"

"Yes, and one so difficult it has become a meme on the internet." I answered, showing them the book opened at a random page. Nothing written there was explicitly offensive, but it obviously assumed the reader was some kind of slow-witted child. "The door at the top of the stairs is the entrance to a dungeon with multiple floors that run on game logic."

"Wonderful news!" Laharl punched his palm, looking eager at the promise of violence. "I'll show you peons how those things are done. This will be a walk in the park!"

Time for the cold shower. "Everyone starts at Level 1. No exceptions."

"WHAAAT?!" The Overlord roared, flames dancing within his mouth and eyes.

"Skills get downgraded to Level 1 too, with the most powerful ones sealed until a minimum required Level is reached." I continued, condensing in a few words what took several pages to describe. There were also pictures, and they looked like they were drawn by an eight years old kid. "And we can't bring weapons, armors and other types of equipment with us, we need to use what we find inside. The party is maxed at six people at the beginning, it increases by one every ten floors we complete but only until Floor 20. However, those left behind are able to monitor what happens to the others."

I scrolled to another page. "There are Bosses every 10 floors, with a Mini Boss around the halfway point. Every five floors - so after each Boss - there will be a chance to gain a chest with loot, which gives Tokens with various effects: unlock a skill regardless of the required level or max the level of one you already have, heal the user, revive a fallen party member, obtain a specific item from one of our past lives, World Keys like the one we found and money in any currency we desire. There are other types, but the book does not elaborate further."

"Type of enemies? Do chests respawn?" Issei asked. It sounded like this wasn't the first time he discussed the details of a difficult video game with friends, probably some of the Perverted Trio's adventures that didn't involve porn.

"For the enemies, the book said their forms are related to the main Boss on the floors above. Which means each set of 10 floors has a specific theme." I rubbed my chin in contemplation. Would the Tower use enemies faced by the Gang in the past, or characters from video games I played? What about the terrain? Will there be a marsh where the water was super poisoned? "At Level 1 each of us should be as strong as an average adult human, so the starting enemies shouldn't be too difficult. We can rerun boss raids and obtain new loot each time, yes, but after the first time there will be more mobs assisting the boss: luckily this happens only once per boss."

"Saving mechanisms? Please tell me they are a thing." Rito begged, asking an excellent question.

"There are save points after each boss. We can teleport between them, and this place counts as the first one." I tapped a finger on the floor. It was smooth and cool, and no matter how hard I looked I couldn't find a single trace of dirt. If I wanted I could literally eat on the ground. "But after we climb to the next floor we can't go back without losing all experience points we gained. Thankfully we keep the items we find, but each of us can carry only a certain amount: anything exceeding that is automatically sent back here."

Everyone but Laharl, who was still silently fuming, looked around the hall in confusion.

"I don't see anything that can act as a container for items." Killua raised an eyebrow, and then grimaced. "Let me guess, they just drop on the floor?"

"Yes." I sighed in irritation. It wasn't a real problem, I was sure we could take a few boxes from the other areas to sort things, but it was petty. Like deliberately serving lukewarm coffee in the only shop that makes it in the entire city.

Was this the price I had to pay for my OP powers? If so... it was a fair one. Damn, I really had no room to complain, not when one possible alternative was to have my powers fueled by the soul of a forsaken child.

Note to self: if I ever go to the world of Fate/Stay Night I need to blow up Kotomine's church and take a selfie of it. I'll show him a real 'Yorokobe Shounen' until he drowns in his Black Keys and dies!

...Sometimes I was a bit afraid of what went through my head.

"Where and when we can change the party?" Tsuna asked next. "You mentioned we can die?"

"We can change the party at the save points. For dying, it's temporary: if one of us dies they turn into an incorporeal ghost-like state, and return to normal once the rest of the party reaches a save point. You can't gain experience points while a ghost, though. If we all get wiped out, we return to the last save point without the experience points we gained... and suffer from a -20% EXP Debuff until we kill the Boss we failed to reach or defeat."

In short, it was a system designed to punish us with long hours of grinding if we didn't take the dungeon seriously enough.

Minato slapped a hand over his face. "What kind of items are available?"

"On the first floors? Wooden sticks, leather jackets and bandages." The book explained, in great detail, how those were utterly mundane stuff as their names and descriptions suggested. Unlike the items with joke names but powerful effects you can find in a Disgaea game.

The whole [Torre del Paradiso] was the opposite of the cheat skills I had outside. This was me getting tossed to the bottom of the barrel and told I had to work my ass off for every scrap of power I wanted to gain.

So why was I seriously thinking about braving the dungeon? Part of it was competitiveness, I wasn't one to shy away from a real challenge even if the only real benefits were bragging rights, but another was a phrase I found at the end of the book.

"Within the tower is the answer behind your bonds. Lives still sleeping, awaiting the unlocking of the wheel." I read out loud the relevant line. "The descriptions of my powers may be insulting, but they never lied. At most they omitted small details we eventually learned through experimentation. So those two lines? They mean something."

"A cryptic statement is still cryptic." Killua scoffed. However I could see from the look in his eyes that he was reflecting on what I just said. I considered the white-haired boy the most intelligent one among us, maybe second only to Minato, but unlike the Ashikabi Killua sharpened both his intelligence and wits through a life of constant battles. Obviously the same applied to Sasuke, but the shinobi was more focused on the ninja arts.

The Nen-User hummed a bit, arms crossed and fingers tapping away, before looking at Riku. "If 'lives still sleeping' refers to other people in our same situation - and I'm just saying it's a possible assumption - how does it tie in with your thoughts regarding, what did you call them, heart bonds?"

"The bonds between our Hearts, yes." The Keyblade Master nodded. "Like I said before, from the moment we met for the first time there already was a connection between our Hearts. The type usually shared between close-bound friends. I have a few theories that might explain it, but..."

"What, it's something we should realize by ourselves and a straight answer would just cheapen the experience?" Ranma asked with clear distaste. Making me, Rito, Laharl, Issei, Minato and Rin groan.

I hated that trope. Always skirting around the issue until the dramatic reveal, always in the name of 'character development'... It would work if it wasn't abused to hell and back by literally everyone! Why not just tell us to beat a dead horse? Surely it wasn't that much different!

...Alright, but seriously: my main beef with that kind of trope was that a lot of authors just dragged it on for too long, much more than necessary. So if Riku was planning to do the same, then we would have words.

Riku stared at Ranma with a deadpan expression before scoffing in derision. "Nah. I have no problems sharing them. Just remember we still don't have any definite proof, so don't start treating them like they are the truth after all."

"Thank you Riku. Really, thank you so much." I smiled at him and even bowed in gratitude. Now that was a real Bro!

"Who do you think I am? Anyway, my main theory is this: all of us already became friends in the past, but forgot about it." He gestured with his hand. "A lack of associated memories may make bonds dim, but it cannot remove them altogether. This is a fact I saw proved right many times in my travels: the mind may forget, but the Heart remembers."

Oh, that was an interesting theory. It would explain why everyone got along with each other, circumstances and occasional quirk aside. "But then, how did we lose those memories?"

"Rather than lost they may instead be sealed. Either because we wished for it or because it was a requisite step for a course of action we took." Tsuna mused. "In this hypothetical scenario I do not believe it was made with malicious intent. But in my experience, sealing memories is done when there is a secret that must remain so until the right time or when someone learns something that may put them in danger and anonymity is the better option."

That last part... "Are you referring to when Vongola Nono sealed your Dying Will Flames?" I read many speculations about that episode, but the original series never explored the details.

Tsuna nodded. "Correct. It was done as a favor to my father, who didn't want to get me involved with a possible war of succession. Even with a flimsy claim and better candidates, me having powerful Sky Flames would have made me a target. Wars of succession among the Mafia are, to put it bluntly, nasty."

No shit.

"You know how that turned out Lee, and the others can easily look up the details. Anyway, what I wanted to say is that we may have sealed our memories because there is something we wished to conceal for the time being. What and why... well, there are too many possible explanations."

"Bah! An Overlord has no need for subterfuge!" Laharl snorted, but there was a calculating look in his eyes. "Although, it would not be the first time a Demon's heart hides something they cannot handle... No, the circumstances are completely different. I order you to forget what I just said."

I had a suspicion about what Laharl was talking about, but nonetheless I graciously pretended I heard nothing.

"Sealed memories, uh? It would explain why I have no memories of the Pure Land." Sasuke was rubbing his chin, deep in thought. "Did those summoned with the Impure World Reincarnation retain their memories of the afterlife...?"

"We should probably stop throwing wild assumptions around. Riku is right, we don't have definite proof yet." Rito sighed. Like me, he probably felt there was little to no point in the current discussion. "The answer is within the Tower, that's what is written in the book. And judging from the rules the worst that can happen is the dungeon's exploration turning into a time sink. There may be better ways to spend our-well, Lee's time but I think we all agree finding the truth about our current situation is important. So my question is: when do we do it?"

"You're right Rito, we cannot ignore this. And for when..." I paused, my mind suddenly connecting two dots.

This could work. Yes, this could really work. Moreover it would prove two different theories correct at once!

"Before we brave the Tower there is something I want to do first. Follow me."

====

Tsuna closed the book. "I read the whole list of rules from beginning to end. What now Lee?"

We left the Tower of Paradise and returned to the main hub with all the doors. Once there I led everyone in front of the Multi-Door World, then waited for Tsuna to finish. "Now I ask you a question: if we enter the dungeon and one of our party members has the ability to create weapons that are better than what we can find on the first floors, would the dungeon rules prevent them from doing so?"

Tsuna's eyes glowed with Sky Flames, a sign he was running his Hyper Intuition at full throttle. "I believe the dungeon would allow it, even if its ability to detect and judge factors is on the level of a simple computer. Naturally said ability would also start at Level 1 and require experience points to level up, limiting the advantage said weapons can bestow."

I smiled: that was the closest thing to a certain answer I could get without trying it out for real. "Excellent."

"Good work thinking of a loophole Lee, but you forgot none of us has the ability to create weapons." Issei pointed out. "Unless you found a way to bring Emiya Shirou here?"

"No. That would be seriously cool, but no." I laughed. "What I think, is that there may be a certain group of people with the ability to enter this inner world, and who can also create weapons."

I scratched my chin. "Well, technically they are weapons with a human form. Or human-like, and there are a few with a beast-like form... You get the gist. I know they can connect to their wielders on a spiritual level, and I saw two of them pull their wielders inside their own inner world so-"

Ranma raised a hand to stop me. "Maybe you should give us the details first?"

"Ack! Sorry, I got carried away." I chuckled in embarrassment, then showed them the game case I retrieved from the recreation area.

"Xenoblade Chronicles 2." Rito read the title aloud. "On the Switch, good choice, and the details on that whale-like creature are amazing."

"The tree in the background gives off Yggdrasil vibes." Minato added, only to notice Rin flinching. "Uh, sorry?"

"Don't worry about it. I know of the World Tree, it's just that for me the name 'Yggdrasil' is associated with both good and bad memories." The black haired boy shakes his head. "I'm fine, go on."

"The guy in blue with the red sword is obviously the main character and the girl next to him is the main heroine." Issei pointed out. "And from the '2' in the title I say it's either a sequel or a prequel."

"Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a sequel to the first game in the series, yes. Both stories are set in separated universes and happen simultaneously, but apart from one very specific thing we don't have to worry about the events of the first game." Shulk did not need my help, though I wouldn't mind meeting him. I tried to remember everything I read about the backstory and began explaining. "It is set in the world of Alrest, which in truth is the future Earth of an alternate world. I think it was some kind of dystopian future. Anyway, everything began to change when humanity found a mysterious relic in Africa they dubbed the [Conduit]."

"They started poking it to see what happen, didn't they?" Ranma groaned, shoulders and heads slumping down. "You don't experiment with mysterious ancient artifacts! You close the door again, break the key and leave it the fuck alone!"

"I agree with Ranma here: never trust something whose creators are long dead." Killua added. "Yes, it may be useful. It may also be a bomb. In both cases it remains a black box."

"What's the big deal?" Laharl shrugged. "Just read its status screen."

"Not everyone has access to video-game perks." Riku rolled his eyes. "I also had experience with relics that were more trouble than they are worth, though it happened only a few times."

Well, they were not wrong. "The humans of that world started studying it, yes. It turned out the Conduit was an incredibly powerful energy source, and they also discovered it possessed the ability to connect different dimensions. A unified world government then created an orbital station, connected to Earth by three space elevators, to store the Conduit and continue the research. They also created the Trinity Processor, three powerful artificial intelligences, to maintain it. Using the Conduit as a power source the Processor was able to expand on its own and create its own defense mechanisms: the Artifices, powerful mechanical creatures that channel energy from the Conduit."

"A defense mechanism is necessary only when there is also an attacker." Minato pointed out.

"True: the danger in this case were several organizations who wanted the Conduit for themselves. At one point the orbital station came under attack by a group called the 'Saviorite rebels', no idea who they were and what they wanted. The station's director wanted to activate Aion, the most powerful of all Artifices with the ability to destroy the whole world."

"Yes. Make a world-ending weapon and use it for self-defense. What could possibly go wrong?" Sasuke said with the greatest amount of sarcasm I heard him using so far. Next to him Rin facepalmed.

I completely agreed with Sasuke: mechas are cool, but not when they're literally a walking Apocalypse! "You'll be happy to hear Aion was not used. But that's because one of the scientists working on the Conduit, Klaus, decided to run his own experiment. Klaus was, well, he was a pessimist who lost faith in mankind: like I said, dystopian future. So he decided to use the Conduit to open a gateway and lead humanity to a new world, where they could ascend or something."

"How much did it go wrong?"

I frowned. "Dimensional portals appeared all around the planet and swallowed almost every single living being left, sending them to another universe. Maybe multiple ones, the fate of those people is left unclear. Half of Klaus' body, along the worst parts of his psyche, was also sent to another world and would eventually become the main antagonist of the first Xenoblade Chronicles game, Zanza. Klaus and Zanza remained connected on a conceptual level, and when the latter was killed the former died too. This is the very specific thing I mentioned, but it will not happen until the end of the game's events."

"An existence split into two halves... separating Light and Darkness?" Riku mused. "Not the first time I see it happens. The one who was left, Klaus, what did he do next?"

"Klaus, filled with guilt over his actions, took over himself to fix the world. He created the Cloud Sea, an ocean of clouds made of Ether, and covered the world with it. Ether, in that universe, is the building block of all life: a type of energy similar to Chakra, Nen and Chi I guess. Though I guess it may be similar to Magic too?" Considering how my powers worked it was possible any difference would be smoothed over until they were virtually imperceptible. Arts were more like techniques than spells, even healing ones like those used by Nia.

"He covered the world with a sea of clouds?" Issei scratched his chin, clearly remembering something. "How does it work? Floating islands like in Heaven?"

He has been to Heaven? Not... surprising considering DxD was pretty lax on the whole biblical stuff, and Issei did save the world multiple times. That was bound to earn him a lot of privileges, devil or not. "Something similar, I'll cover it in a little bit. I know you can dive into the Cloud Sea and eventually reach water, though that may be because the game's events all happened above an ocean. So, remember when I said almost every single living being was displaced by dimensional portals? A human city survived, the one located near the space elevators. With the world left in ruins the survivors developed a technology called Core Crystals, planning to replace their brain cells in an attempt at immortality."

"Immortality is a curse." Tsuna sighed. "Trust me, I know the effects of living more than a normal lifespan."

"Maybe for you humans. Demons, obviously, are superior." Laharl boasted. "Some Overlords are even older than stars! Well, they're all senile old men anyway so who cares."

That made more than a few of us snicker. "In this case I have to agree with Tsuna: the procedure gave them immortality and a strong regeneration factor, but also corrupted and transformed the survivors into monsters."

I raised a finger. "Klaus took the Core Crystals technology and used it to create the Titans, literal titanic creatures. They absorbed energy from the Cloud Sea, growing in size over time and slowly producing more life, while at the same time serving as their home. Titans vary greatly in size, and the biggest ones are literal walking landmasses: picture a giant so big people like me and you can build cities over and even inside it."

"That sounds spectacular. I have never imagined anything like that could exist." The Sky Flames User admitted, now sounding very curious. A feeling that was apparently shared by everyone else if I was reading their expressions right.

"Klaus also created Blades, which are the weapons with a human-like form I mentioned at the start, to supervise the development of the new humans he planned to create. He set up a cycle: once a Blade grows old enough and accumulates enough data it becomes a Titan. The Titan would then create new Core Crystals from his body, which will become new Blades and eventually new Titans."

"And thus the cycle becomes self-sufficient." Tsuna mused. "A good idea, in theory. But I assume something went wrong?"

"Sadly yes. There are more important details about how Blades work but I'll talk about them later. Klaus was hoping that the new humans would not repeat the errors of the past... buuut, it turned out he made them too similar to the previous ones. Personally I think he was setting his expectations too high, but I admit he wasn't exactly in a happy place mentally speaking. Because of that Klaus turned apathetic and just stopped interfering with the new world, now called Alrest."

Wow, how long have I talked? My throat was starting to ache a little. "I'll summarize the rest. Of the three artificial intelligences that made up the Trinity Processor, one of them ended up in another world and the remaining two were used by Klaus to process the data gathered by all Blades in existence. Thus making them Blades too, but much more powerful than the others. Centuries passed and the world's origins fell into obscurity and myth. The tree on the game case? That's the space elevator being covered with vegetation. A man Amalthus became the first to climb what everyone dubbed the World Tree, but finding it empty took the two cores of the Trinity Processor back with him. Those Blades eventually become known as the Aegis."

I paused and gathered my thoughts. "Amalthus is a real piece of work, but like Klaus his mindset was shaped by horrible personal experiences. He awakened and bonded with one of the Aegis, Malos, who grew to share Amalthus' hatred for the world. Malos started awakening the dormant Artifices and used them to start a war, becoming independent from Amalthus, his Driver, thanks to Aegis' privileges. Forcing Amalthus to find a Driver for the second Aegis. The conflict between the two Blades became known as the Aegis War, and saw the death of many people and even a few Titans. Malos was defeated but he survived, and for the following five hundred years plotted to complete the job he started. That's when the game's events begin."

"I guess just punching the shit out of this Malos guy will not be a solution to all problems involved." Rito pointed out, then grinned. "Gotta say, now I'm really interested in visiting Alrest: if only to see the Titans for myself."

"Scenario porn is a thing... can't believe I just said that." Rin looked embarrassed. "Lee, think you can use Shadow Clones to give us some autonomy? To get more than just second-hand experience."

"Sure thing. In fact, I'll probably need your assistance because there is a lot of stuff to do and much ground to cover." I nodded. They deserved it anyway, but additional help so I don't need to do everything by myself and run myself ragged cannot hurt. "One last thing: Alrest is a big place and there are no streets between Titans so I'll need the ability to fly. Issei, how good are you at it?"

"Eeeh, I never quite got the hang of it." The Reincarnated Devil made a 'so-so' gesture with his hand. "I always relied more on Scale Mail's rocket boosters. I can achieve immense speeds, especially with Welsh Sonic Boost Knight, but it's the equivalent of turning into a jet. Precision is... not a thing, yeah. But I can hover without problems with my dragon wings."

Considering Issei's combat style it made sense. "That will be useful to move between Titans. For everything else I'll count on your skills Laharl."

"I'll have you know I am also very fast." He boasted, arms crossed over his chest. "You'll soon find out there is no need to rely on this pervert's hero-like gizmos."

"I was very popular among children! They loved the way my armor worked like a tokusatsu hero's costume!" Issei protested.

Yeah but in real life the show's song would get censored, hard. Which says something about Devil society in regard to children.

Nonetheless, I had a different kind of adventure to face right now. A chance to be myself, to be Lee, and not just one of the people I admired.

'In The Shadows Of Giants I Walk'. That was the title displayed in my Character Sheet. As much as I appreciated and valued this opportunity and the Gang, I wanted to accomplish something I could call my own, something I could be proud of.

Decision made, and zero preparations necessary, I approached the Multi-World Door and used the console to select the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 World.

"Xenoblade Chronicles 2", "World of Alrest", has been selected. Please insert World Key and turn it clockwise.

I followed the instructions and inserted the key into the keyhole, then turned it clockwise until I heard a sharp 'click'.

Light began to glow from within the biggest keyhole in the center of the door.

You have successfully selected and unlocked "Xenoblade Chronicles 2", "World of Alrest".

Please enter date and time of arrival.

Warning: due to it being a pivotal event in the selected world's history, you cannot choose a date more than six months before the day when Rex finds Pyra, nor you can choose a date after it.

I selected a date three months before that day. Plenty of time to approach and become friends with Rex and Azurda without looking suspicious. Maybe I could ask for Salvaging lessons? I liked swimming and going around treasure hunting sounded cool.

Thank you for choosing "Xenoblade Chronicles 2", "World of Alrest"!

Unlocked Bonus Content: Ebullient Core Crystal! Meet with the Nopon Hurryscurry at the Argentum Trade Guild to receive it.

Unlocked Bonus Content: Divine Core Crystal! Meet with the Nopon Sorinosori at the Argentum Trade Guild to receive it.

Uh, neat. At the moment I couldn't quite remember which Blades those Core Crystals were associated with, probably DLC content, but having two Rare Blades right off the bat was great.

I was not planning to hoard all the Blades for myself, only those I liked the most. Thankfully I read the complete list once, it should be somewhere in the library, so I could plan in advance.

Please use the Keyblade to open the Multi-Door World.

With the Naruto Door I needed to use it first, while here I was asked to use the Keyblade at the end. Weird, but it probably was because the Multi-Door World could be used multiple times.

"Alrest, here I come!" I summoned Braveheart and pointed it at the main keyhole. "Open, Gate!"

====

Alrest

I opened my eyes to an endless blue sky, immense banks of pure white clouds rising all around me like mountains. On the horizon I could see the World Tree, so big it was messing with my sense of scale. My breath was stolen away by the primordial beauty of an uncontaminated world, the wind whipping at my body from below as I—

Wait.

The wind was blowing from below?!

I looked down, only to be met with even more clouds. Banks so thick and big they covered everything from one end of the horizon to the other. The base of the World Tree disappeared inside it, so there was no doubt I was looking at the Cloud Sea.

I was also falling towards it. Falling very fast, and if I was not mistaken from a height commonly associated with airplanes!

"MOTHERFUCKER!!!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, limbs flailing wildly as my lizard brain took control. "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! YOU DROPPED ME FROM THE SKY! THE FUCKING SKY!"

I never hated my powers as much as I did in that moment. There would be retribution, of that I swore!

"I can survive dropping from orbit, and so can you." Laharl pointed out with an unimpressed tone. I could picture him cleaning one ear with his pinkie.

"I don't want to survive hitting the ground as terminal velocity! I don't want to hit in the first place!" I tried to take a deep breath, a task made extra difficult from the air moving too fast, and channeled Laharl.

Immediately I felt a massive amount of power filling my body, the feeling similar to Ranma's Chi but magnified a thousand-no, a hundred thousand times! I was still scared, but most of the fear was suppressed by the objective knowledge that there was nothing in the whole galaxy that could harm me!

With a flash of light a scarf identical to the one worn by Laharl materialized around my neck. The two ends spread behind me in the shape of wings, creating a drag and slowing down my fall until I stopped in midair. Instinctively I knew the g-force would have torn apart a normal human body, but right now I had the body of an Overlord-class Demon: AKA, a worthy rival for the Z-Fighters.

"Are you feeling better Lee?" Minato asked with a kind tone. "You gave us a scare."

"I'm fine now, thank you Minato." I breathed out in relief and smiled. Laharl's powers were a great confidence boost. "I was just spooked, that's all."

That was a low blow, but the important thing is that I was finally in Alrest and ready to begin my next adventure! Next step, find my way to the Argentum Trade Guild!

I looked around, seeing nothing but the blue sky, white clouds and the World Tree.

Maybe I could use the last one as a landmark...?