Chapter 2:
The hard life of Eris Takanashi's Misfortune
No Hesitation, we have to live
"Wahahahaha, we came, we saw, we conquered. It's been a long time since we regained control. And it had to be when we ended up back here. Still up to your old blasphemous ways, I see Lucius." The voice possessing Eris says as he observes his surroundings. He then used a mysterious magic to cut the ropes restraining him and put out the flames. As the villagers who managed to be conscious ran away, Mephisto started another chant. The next thing that happened was that the sentient fire sword had transformed back into a fire golem. He then took out a flask of water and spilled out all its contents. He then said another chant, and the water came to life. He then fused the water and fire golem, causing a huge explosion that created a huge amount of mist. Mephisto then retreated into the fog of the mist for a sneak attack. As Eris was deciding what he should be doing next, Mephisto soon came up from behind and tried to lop off Eris's head. However, the attack was blocked by a mysterious force before it could reach Eris's neck. Mephisto recoiled from the blocked hit and flew back. Eris then started singing, and then all the mist disappeared. After that, Eris snapped his finger, and a bunch of chimeras spawned into existence. Eris then commanded the chimeras to attack Mephisto. Mephisto then used his magic to create small bombs, which activated and caused a chain reaction, blowing up the chimeras. He then took the chance to magically vanish, but left a message for the newly awakened Eris.
"O progenitor, your end shall be near. The empress will not stand by and wait for you to reawaken fully. " The voice, after fully confirming that Mephisto was gone, then gave back control of Eris's body to Eris. Eris then reawakens on the ground of the village a few hours later. She had a vague memory of everything that happened from the time she got transported here to when she woke up again. She wondered if this was all a bad dream she was having at the expo and tried to smash her head on the ground to wake herself up. She felt the pain of her head smashing into the ground, which convinced her this was reality. She then started freaking out and had a panic attack once she took in the situation at hand. She was nothing but a normal 19-year-old Japanese girl who got isekaied into this strange world and nearly got burned at the stake. She then wonders what exactly it was that saved her from her death. She tried to channel the power that she vaguely remembered she displayed, but to no avail. She then felt her stomach rumbling and realized she had not eaten for the entire day, and that all this thinking and action was not helping. She got up and looked around the village to see if there was anyone who could help her, but it seemed that everyone had already evacuated or was dead on the floor. She then went into their houses and tried to rob the villagers of their food. All Eris could find was raw vegetables and what was presumably the meat of a magical animal. Eris, who, of course, was a normal homebody, did not even know how to cook for herself, and so she just devoured the food raw. She realized it was a bad idea once she started to vomit from the taste of the food. She then tried to find any source of water she could to wash the taste out of her mouth, but alas, there wasn't any. As she was recovering from having vomited out the food, she could hear some noises coming from outside the house. Fearing the villagers who tried to lynch her were coming back, she hid in an open barrel and pulled the lid over herself to hide. She could vaguely hear what the people outside were saying. It was unclear and hard to understand, but she got a few words out of the conversation.
"Girl of prophecy, the empress, heir of succession, and something about elves." As the people outside started to walk into the house Eris was at. She tried her hardest to stop her breathing and aura so she would not be noticed. She prayed that they wouldn't find her. After a while, she started to fall asleep from the stress of the situation.
Do or be Done According to Fate.
Elsewhere in the land of Troy, or rather, right in the center of the giant continent of Troy, was the castle of the Empress. The empress was known as the ultimate ruler, said to have lived for as long as Troy existed. She was the queen who united all the various races of Troy under one rule, something that happened over 1400 years ago. Many question how was it someone could live so long. Even the members of the elf race could only live for 900 years. How could there exist anyone who lived for over 1400 years, or perhaps even longer, if they believed she was around since before the unification? The strangest part of it all was, of course, that the empress looked entirely human. She did not look like any of the other races of mystique that lived in Troy. Many rumors started floating around, calling into question who she is, but in reality, none of them were said out loud, as the Empress bans any sort of prying into her life. She has currently called for an urgent meeting of her 5 heavenly kings. The discussion topic? Of course, about our lovely main character who just got transported onto their land, Eris, of course. Present at a gazebo located outside the castle in the garden were 3 of the Heavenly Kings.
Yellow Kirin of the central plains, the Empress's right-hand man, Thanatos.
Black Turtle snake of the North, the strongest defender, Arjuna.
White Tiger of the West, the destroyer Nikolas.
As the 3 had already gathered, out of a portal door came the 4th member of their group. The very same guy who fought off Eris until they retreated.
Azure dragon of the east, the demon Mephisto.
Nikolas took a jab at Mephisto over what he perceived as the latter's cowardice for escaping, while Thanatos praised the man for retreating. In the middle of it was Arjuna, who was just playing with the flowers. Mephisto then asked, " Is Yatagarasu not here for this? The empress specifically asked for the attendance of all 5 kings." Nikolas then replied that it was expected that they would not show up for any of the empress's orders and wonders why she even keeps him around as one of the kings. Thanatos then said, " It's because they are who they are that the empress keeps them around. She already knew they would not come and told Thanatos to start the meeting once Mephisto had arrived." And with that, the meeting was held to decide what to do with the arrival of the prophesied girl. Nikolas, as expected of one of his character, voted for immediate execution. He said they should just send the entire might of the royal army down on Eris before she awakens to the progenitor's power. Thanatos vetoed the idea as they could not afford to send the army's might down on one target, as they had other insurgent forces to worry about. Mainly, the Beast-man and the elves who were consolidating their forces. Mephisto then agreed with Nikolas and even argued that it was better to send their full forces out to hunt the girl now, before she meets up with the rebels and they use her as a rallying force. Arjuna just interjects and says Why not go down to where Eris is and just nuke the entire place with his power which the other 3 rightfully say no to. After all, Arjuna's power is too dangerous and can't be controlled. After much bickering, the 4 decided to send the entire eastern army with Mephisto as commander to hunt for Eris. The issue of the rebels will be handled by Nikolas, and Arjuna will be on standby to nuke any of the 2 locations if things get too bad.
"hooooo, we're doing it like that huh." A sudden, mysterious voice popped up behind Thanatos. The remaining 3 quickly drew out their weapons, thinking it was an intruder, but all 3 of them were stopped by Thanatos. He knew, after all, who was the master of the voice. It was the Empress herself who had come to grace them with her divine presence. Thanatos and the other 3 heavenly kings immediately bowed before her. It was rare for the empress to even leave her room. The empress was someone not anyone could just meet with after all. Even the 4 heavenly kings rarely got the chance to meet her in their long time of servitude. Yet here she was right in the flesh, and her presence was stunning. She lets off a huge amount of aura that would have killed anyone who was not strong enough to withstand it. Yet she was still just wandering around the gazebo like her guard was down. Make no mistake, despite her actions, she had no openings that could be taken advantage of, and she would be able to kill anyone who opposed her easily. The empress then asked if the plan was the best they could do, and when Mephisto tried to speak, he immediately regretted it. The empress's expression turned ice cold, and she let out an aura that said she wanted to kill Mephisto for his answer. Thanatos had to calm her down and tell her this was the best they could do for now, and to trust in the 4 of them. The empress begrudgingly accepted the answer and just walked away, wishing the boys well. Nikolas and Mephisto let out a huge sigh of relief at having dodged a bullet, while Arjuna let out a sigh of disappointment that he couldn't fight the Empress. Thanatos reprimanded them for their foolishness, but also called the meeting to an end to get ready for the fight coming ahead.
Acting like the protagonist, starting to walk.
Eris woke up after a while in the barrel, rejuvenated. For some reason, she no longer felt hungry or tired. She got out of the barrel and was about to leave the village when she heard someone talking to her. She looked around the town but could not see any figures in the distance. She then thought it was just her paranoia and tried to leave again when she heard the same voice. She started to freak out, thinking it was a ghost or supernatural being. Well, it turned out to be the voice of the middle-aged man who possessed Eris a while back. He had been complaining for a while about how long Eris had been asleep and that she didn't need to sleep for so long just to heal from her wounds. Eris then started talking back to the voice out loud in her head, demanding to know who he was and what was happening. The voice just let out a mad laughter and said all will be explained in due time, but if she needed a name to call him by, he said he could be called Oruta. Eris made a snide remark about what a weird name it was, but Oruta responded by saying When in a fantasy world, you gotta have a fantasy name. Eris then snapped back to reality with that sentence; she really was transported to another world. A fantasy world, one called Troy, if the villain who tried to kill her was correct with the name of the place they were in. Oruta said while the name Troy isn't wrong, it's also not the full name of the place they're in. Eris then sighed at the predicament she was in, but vowed to choose to start a new life in this new world. It was not like she had any attachment to her home world of Japan. She will start a new life here, make new friends, and lead a fruitful life. She then started to walk out of the abandoned village and headed west. After all, a journey is best made going west. She had 3 goals in mind for this journey:
1. Figure out her mysterious power that she accidentally cast in the encounter with Mephisto earlier
2. Figure out who Oruta truly is and how to get him out of her head
3. Find and settle down in a nice town
After all, she can't really lead a fulfilling life with a creepy, unknown old man's voice breathing down her neck, and she didn't want to accidentally trigger her newfound powers on random strangers. As she started heading west, a mysterious figure could be seen following her.
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