Arc 4: Awakening - Chapter 2

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Cross-over from various games, books, anime, manga, and movies.

The familiar characters you see here belong to their respected authors and owners.

"Speech"

Time*

Arc 4: Awakening - Chapter 2

An hour later*

Daisuke let out a yawn.

It only took an hour for everything to become less tense. The main reason for that was Aqua's presence, and she didn't realize that the way she acted so silly and cheerful affected everyone.

Of course, Daisuke and Esdeath had already left the Adventurer's Guild, which was the last thing they needed to do to relax finally.

Daisuke and Esdeath walked around and checked the local shops for anything interesting. It was interesting in Esdeath's eyes, but it wasn't for Daisuke as he got all the important materials for his future use of Omnifabrication.

"Why did you buy a book there, Master?" Esdeath asked curiously as they left a stall selling random items. "Couldn't you just make one yourself instead of wasting money on it?"

"I could, but what else would we use our money for?" Daisuke turns a few pages before closing the book, disappointed by what he just read. "It was a mistake to buy this book, because it's useless. A book with many stories about adventurers is what I'm getting. Not worth reading."

"What's wrong with the stories?" Esdeath is curious now.

Daisuke hands the book to Esdeath, who reads the first page and closes it a minute later. With a scornful look on her face, she freezes the book, then drops it, causing it to shatter upon contact with the hard dirt ground.

"Well, you have more patience than me to read the book for a whole minute." Daisuke praises Esdeath, causing her to scowl.

"That isn't something worth praising for." Esdeath looks back to glare at the stall that sold the book.

"You can have your revenge later in the evening when there aren't many people out in public." Daisuke didn't have to read Esdeath's mind to guess what she wanted to do right now.

"So what are we going to do now?" Esdeath walks a little closer to Daisuke and gives him a small smile.

"I'm thinking about getting us a place to stay or building a house outside of Axel." Daisuke replied. "But I might lean towards a house outside of Axel since there is a high chance to be outside more often than inside of Axel."

"Why bother with a place to stay if we're not staying long?" Esdeaths furrows her eyebrows to show how confused she is. "It's not like we're staying in this world forever."

"Mostly because we'll stay here long enough until I feel like leaving or some reason forces us to go." Daisuke looked around. "Besides, you get an excuse to cause countless deaths to monsters in this world. And other types of monsters as soon as the situation allows it."

"Hm." Esdeath hums. "I'd rather face your Servants than face any monster in this world. I'm willing to bet nothing in this world could beat any of your Servants."

"And you will. But not now or today. Maybe not in a week or a month." Daisuke ignores the cold look Esdeath gives him. "After all, we have to give my Servants time to show up. It would be strange if they showed up today or tomorrow after we talked about them in the Adventurer's Guild."

"Well, there's not much of a challenge in this city." Esdeath scowls. "I am tempted to face one of the strongest adventurers in the city."

"Go for it. Just be careful not to kill them. Let them spread rumors about their defeats and maybe they will get their friends to gang up on you or something." Daisuke snorts, finding the irony in his words.

"Might be a little difficult." Esdeath sighs. "I may not have faced any of these adventurers before. But I feel no danger from them. In fact, I don't smell much blood on their hands, unlike the common monsters outside this city."

"Don't underestimate them too much. After all, they have their own power system that could threaten you at some point." Daisuke warns Esdeath, knowing full well that a certain Archwizard might be able to kill Esdeath even in her current state, or at least seriously injure her, that she won't be able to defend herself until she adapts and evolves.

"Don't worry, I won't." Esdeath rolls her eyes. "Not when I have no idea what they are capable of. So where are we going, besides a place to stay? Are we just going to keep wandering the streets?"

"Anything interesting that might catch our eye." Daisuke replied and then something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. "Speaking of which..."

Esdeath raises an eyebrow as she follows Daisuke into a random shop that seems to sell potions.

"Welcome. Would you like anything? A Potion of Healing? We got some in stock. Get them while you still can." The Potion Shopkeepr smiles at Daisuke and Esdeath, with their eyes focusing on Esdeath for a few seconds longer before returning to Daisuke.

"Do you have a book about potions, herbs, and other collective information?" Daisuke ignored all the potions on display for sale.

"That we do." The Potion Shopkeeper reached under the counter and took out two books. "Here we go. One is on potion making and the other is on herbalism."

Daisuke didn't even bother to bargain and left with the two books, not caring that Esdeath had started beating up the Potion Shopkeeper on his way out.

30 minutes later*

"Done?" Daisuke noticed the absence of the expected bloodstain on Esdeath. "You didn't kill the potion seller?"

He didn't think that Esdeath would hold back and not kill the guy right away.

"Nope, he paid for his little life in exchange for this." Esdeath hands Daisuke another book, but it is quite worn and looks like it has been examined many times over the years. The front cover, supposed to have a title of some kind to give the reader a hint of what the book might be about, is wiped gone.

"Well, this is interesting." Daisuke looks at the old book, then taps his sunglasses to activate the function to identify what the old book is about and what it could do besides hold the knowledge of what is written in it.

Words appear on the cover of the old book but are only visible through Daisuke's sunglasses.

Soon, he can see the lost written words that form the title of the book: Paper Talisman Theory.

Daisuke blinks a few times, confused by what he just read. He hadn't expected to see something like this, but it's not really unexpected. After all, a talisman was used in the canon of KonoSuba.

Esdeath held Daisuke's left arm and led him away from bumping into anyone while walking and reading simultaneously, something he wasn't supposed to do, but he was too interested in the book to realize that.

Two hours later*

Daisuke rubs his eyes. When he finally finishes reading, he notices that his surroundings are different than before. No longer on the streets, but outside of Axel once more.

"Done reading, Master?" Esdeath's voice bleeds with sheer boredom, which even Daisuke can tell at once.

"Yes. It's not from this world." Daisuke explains to Esdeath that the book is actually a cheat item given to someone who has been sent to this world. Including the fact that it can't be used by anyone other than the person it was given to. Said person is long dead, and this book is slowly being forgotten as it passes from hand to hand for generations.

"So it's useless?" Esdeath's eyes narrow, showing her annoyance at having wasted her time.

"For others, maybe. Not so much for me." Daisuke begins to use the Omnifabrication on the ancient book.

Then the ancient book crumbles in his hands, revealing a small boy wearing a long cloak that ends at the end of his torso and a bow tie. His face has an outline that merges with lines emanating from his eyes. He also wears a transparent top hat with a checkered pattern at the bottom. He appears behind Daisuke.

"Honestly, I can't believe I missed something so important." Daisuke has a slight grin on his face.

He wonders if there are more hidden objects that can be used for materials not shown on the paper for future routes. Maybe he should have made a list of essential materials along with the list of future routes.

"And that does what, exactly?" Esdeath focuses on the small boy behind Daisuke with interest, no longer as annoyed as before.

"I'll show you." Daisuke goes to a nearby tree, moves Heaven's Door near it, and touches the tree with his right index finger. A part of the tree turns into a book, and pages unfold from it in the shape of the body part it opens from.

Then, the Stand changes into a pen, allowing Daisuke to use it to write a few words into the pages before disappearing, which causes the tree to return to normal.

Not a second later, the tree begins to wither away at a rapid rate until it is reduced to ashes.

"What just happened?" Esdeath is stunned by what she has just seen.

"The basic ability of Heaven's Door is to turn every living being into a book, with pages unfolding from the body in the shape of the body part from which it opens. For example, if it opens from the face, the shape of the page is that of the person's entire face. The contents of the books contain detailed and absolutely true information about their subjects, including physical characteristics, memories and thoughts from their earliest to their latest, personality, and any details about their Stand, if they have one. Great for gathering information." Daisuke explains to Esdeath, along with what he's written, that in order for the tree to die, time moves in another timestream where it experiences time much faster than anything else.

"Sounds boring." Esdeath is no longer interested in Heaven's Door.

Daisuke became speechless.

"What? I heard you perfectly. It's just that you can make someone or something considered alive with a part of their body, like a book. You can read their history and write in it to do something to them afterward. No need to explain so much." Esdeath sighed in boredom.

Daisuke is slightly disappointed by the lack of excitement he was hoping to get from Esdeath.

"I'm not trying to be a mood killer, but Master. You've done nothing but wait it out, find materials, and create many things. Amazing things. However, that's about it. You have hardly done anything exciting. It feels like you're a walking corpse who can do anything at a whim." Esdeath gives a pitiful look. "I see more life in people who are about to die. I'm sorry to say it, but I feel like you're more empty than a real corpse.

Daisuke frowned and then looked at the ashes of the once healthy tree.

"Master, even when you bring out your Servants. Either you fuck them, or you let Setanta out as if you're treating him like a son, to watch him grow up to become someone better than his older self." There is more pity in Esdeath's eyes than before.

"Really...?" Daisuke's voice sounds broken—more empty than ever.

"Master, perhaps you need to discover your true calling. I'm grateful that you took me away from a boring life, but even I can tell who I was before. Even though I was weak, you see more in me than I ever imagined. I know that you can do so much more than just do things on impulse. Esdeath hugs Daisuke comfortingly, and he returns the hug.

What Daisuke did not notice was the sadistic grin on Esdeath's face. Her eyes were filled with madness.