10

The strands of the Cardinal weapons soul twists and turns as it melds into the kids soul. It's very essence in magic and other energies practically meld into his soul to give him more than what the other heroes dare get. The spiritual weapon of a world destroyed has taken a double edged liking to the kid. Enough that if he were to die permanently it would go down with him to stay with him. So when I hear the two argue with the weapon I stand up slowly, my voice gruff as I walk over to the arguing idiots.

"Stop arguing and listen to the thing already you paranoid bastards."

My words cause Carnage and Bahamut to stop their antics, the chicks materializing within this weird little soul realm after some time. Their bodies noticeably different from ours, they radiate LIFE, while the three of us are cold like the dead even now. Even after being given another chance, we are nothing more than the dead brought back as spirits. The weapon for once lets us hear its voice, as its bodies rotated sporadically with no set motion around each other.

"Thank you Kuruma. Bahamut, Carnage I know you both notice the near tears and scars among my heroes soul now that you've grown more accustomed to it. I can not say anything for the old ones because those are long old. The new marks, however, are due to the system monitoring him, his own mounting bottled issues, and growing without regulations which Dragon Hour Glasses are to provide. He levels with no protections, the excess power is thus slowly killing him.

I suspect that's on purpose by both that system and himself. One sees him as a disposable loose cannon in the making, the other paranoid of his own mind and lacking traits as a sociopath. However, I believe he can get better and shine brighter than he does currently. He just needs to actually know someone is always cheering him on to do his best. The deal with the Hunter is an example of him taking a step out of his usual isolated routine to do something else. Simply because he knew he wanted to do it and didn't have to fear anyone's reproach."

The inorganic voice spoke softly the entire time, yet before the others could say anything else. I asked it an important question, my eyes locked onto its rotating bodies.

"Why do you trust the kid so much? Why have you literally tied your very life permanently to his?"

"Because out of my candidates he was the outlier due to a recommendation… yet upon seeing his soul and everything he was that never shows. I knew that he was the hero. The hero I'd give everything up for even more fitting candidates. When he didn't have to worry about this all and was just focusing on doing what he can. He was like a quiet, but blazing inferno that was unmatched by other heroes.

He knew he wasn't a good person, he knew he couldn't save everyone, he was and still is an anti-hero. But now he's like a dying ember remembering what he must do and with what he'll have to do. Yet he still maintains his ways even if he's distracted by his thoughts. If he can be stopped from self-destructing then he will shrug everything off and be himself once more. His true self. Yet I haven't had the heart to place restrictions on his growth for fear he'll snap."

Hearing that last bit I couldn't help the smirk finding its way onto my muzzle.

"Then why not let us be the restrictions? You said his excess growth is killing him slowly, and personally I hate his watcher. So then I'll suggest this, why not have that excessive growth help us get stronger or actual living bodies like the chicks? Knowing the kid he'd accept it and may even slow down if he thinks it's hurting us."

The countless bodies of weapon forms stilled before in the sky of this space a giant red box of text appeared.

[Notice: Due to damage to the soul of the Marksman Cardinal Hero by unrestricted leveling, restrictions shall now be enforced. All world levels shall be reverted to Level 1, all previously gained levels will be distributed into a 1:100 level and stat ratio for all familiars and weapon forms. Total levels converted Elysium 964, Cardina 230, Aesir 60.

(AN: Divided 1254 by 6 as the Wendigo's count as one singular entity technically due to being from a class and skill.)

Kuruma: 0 > 209

Bahamut: 0 > 209

Carnage: 0 > 209

Gwain: 230 > 439

Nilia: 230 > 439

Wendigo Pack: 0 > 209

Familiars Gwain and Nilia have become racial Monarchs… no soul damage… Wendigo Pack has become Natural Guardians… no soul damage…. All familiars are now at Guardian status. Unlocking World Guardian Series, information unavailable at this time.]

With that message window everything became chaotic as changes happened rapidly. Yet everyone was laughing with relief as the kid's soul visibly began to heal at an abnormal pace. Every scar he had became more present but whole while any new damage was removed. Us souls of those dead also felt more ALIVE again.

\\// Lockhart POV //\\

Seeing my levels just disappear I blinked before feeling my whole body itch. A burning feeling accompanying it made me crash onto my side as we left the prison. The kid landed on me as I practically burned up on the inside. Yet in my vision I saw something from the Hero System. My status pulled itself up shortly afterwards with descriptions for anything new that just happened.

[Soul damage repaired, revitalizing body, enhancing body, class Marksman Hero has become Guardian Marksman Hero, subclass Wendigo has become Guardian Wendigo, hidden profession Omni-Gunsmith has become True Gunsmith, Earth Origin skills discovered Undying Juggernaut, Natural Druid]

『Name: Kaiser Lockheart

Age: 24, Race: Human

Titles: Guardian Marksman Hero, Guardian Hitman Hero, Guardian Wendigo Elder, Insane, Vassal Smith, True Gunsmith

Level: 1, EXP: 0/100

Str: 80,000, Agi: 120,000

Int: 60,000, Wis: 90,000

Def: 300,000, Aim: 999,999

Skills: Transmutation, Demi-God Mana Regeneration, Extreme Regeneration, Familiar Summoning, Marksman Hero, Dead Eye, Night Vision, Material Knowledge, Enchantment, Legendary Assassin, Cartographer, Father of Kings, Daredevil, Wendigo Summon, Mobile Weapons Platform, Vassal Smith, Undying Juggernaut, Natural Druid』

[Undying Juggernaut: Your abnormal pain tolerance and strength come from the blood of many strong and delirious individuals in your family lineage. Upon being able to withstand your own growing power due to your body being revitalized this trait has surfaced. When in combat until something you can feel that was fatal to you, you will not die, you just regenerate using the various energies in the air.

Natural Druid: Since the moment you were conceived the very planet and all its wildlife have been subconsciously more peaceful and tolerant towards you. Due to individuals with strong ties to nature being in your lineage this trait has surfaced due to your body being revitalized. Wildlife, tames, and even bestial deities feel more tolerant and safe around you. When in combat if your blood should be spilled either the planet you walk or its wildlife shall react to defend your life.

Guardian Marksman Hero: You have become an unofficial Paragon and Guardian for multiple worlds. This has elevated you into the status as a Guardian Beast, for the higher you climb the less human you become. Create a Paragon Avatar to protect a world, Paragon Avatar are Immortal and will respawn after a year if killed or sooner if 10% of all life on a world dies.

True Gunsmith: Guns crafted by you have sentience and traits depending on how they are made. All your guns can grow and become more than their initial self with the right user. Vassal Firearms created by you can become TRUE Cardinal Weapons to defend a world from Dimensional Threats.

Guardian Wendigo Elder: You have become an unofficial Guardian Beast, create a Wendigo Guardian Beast to become your avatar in each world you stay in.]

Fucking shit who knew if I stopped dying slowly from excessive levels I would get some screwy stuff? Just I feel like I know where my levels went, as while leaving the prison we were in, a garbled red screen appeared in my vision. Then my soul which my weapon and familiar's are tied to starts burning and my body healing itself. Meaning if all my levels from three words got taken away for something, it probably all went into healing my soul or my familiars. However, two of the new abilities got my attention. Paragon and Guardian Beast creation. I instinctively knew how to use them, and both required blood and sacrifices.

"Hey Kizuna can you get off me? And do you feel like helping me create two fail-safes just in case your fellow heroes are shut stains?"

The teen quickly got off me while scrambling away from me, even though we were still connected by harnesses and a cord. Though she looked thoughtful on my last bit as she looked around to see where we were.

"Depends on what exactly these fail-safes are and what they entail."

So I gave her a brief summary of what I wanted to do given I just received some new benefits. She scrunched up her brows in thought while looking at the sky. Before looking back at me once more, a smile on her face as she seemed giddy.

"While it sounds dark and dangerous, I am curious about what will happen. It sounds exactly like how we create our own type of familiars in this world and that has my interest! So let's do it? What do we need though for the two and will they be strong off the start?"

"We need practically a lot of monster corpses for the Guardian Wendigo, one human corpse and a few strong monster corpses for a Paragon. Then well my blood and due to this being your world, either yours or another Heroes blood. Then the acknowledgement of at least your weapon and mine to grant the creations the status needed. I can handle making the Paragon weapon. After all, I do want to make the most ridiculous musket ever just to test out my profession."

"Why a musket?"

"Because why would I give any fool strong enough a reason to steal it? If they know what a gun is and see it they'll be disappointed just seeing it and less inclined to take it or use it. Modern people want the flashy guns not an ancient piece of "trash" as they'd likely think."

"Ah… ah fair enough and sorta makes sense… could you make me one and a flintlock though? I would like to have something with a bit more power to it."

Waving my hand I felt transmutation kick in as my mind raced in rapidly assembling a musket and flintlock lock pair befitting a Hunter. Two rather ornate firearms falling into Kizuna's arms as she saw them simply exist. As soon as she touched them I saw her weapon light up and absorb them right from her grasp. The fishing rod of a weapon soon turning into the two absorbed weapons promoting a new screen to appear before us both.

[Hunting and Marksman weapon combination detected. Unlocking Huntsman series for both Cardinal Hunting and Cardinal Marksman Heroes. Important notice: The Hunting Cardinal can now lethally attack non-monsters and animals as long as the condition of self defense is met.]

Huh… I just gave the kid the best reason to get hit by assholes. Neat.