#commander hope

Things to know:

-The pandemic variant seems to be completely different than if it was triggered individually

Pandemic variant (As seen in the dlc)

-Causes a demonic transformation

-Very significant power boost

-Everyone becomes a hive mind mindlessly serving YHVH

-It’s contagious and you can catch it even if you don’t have the DG because it’s implied that Nanashi can catch it

-Their souls can’t be messed with by anyone who isn’t YHVH. Dagda tried but he couldn’t affect them with his powers.

-Someone has to agree to start it for everyone

-If the one who agreed to trigger it dies or as Hugo calls himself “the voice of God” dies everyone infected dies

-Everyone’s souls are linked together

Normal variant (As seen in IV, the Demonic Gene, and Prayers manga)

-Causes a demonic transformation

-Triggers within an individual if they feel very extreme negative emotions which is usually triggered by literature

-Very significant power boost

-Not contagious

-No forced obedience or linkage if anything it is the complete opposite wherein they become extremely rebellious and radical

-In the mangas only it seems that those with the DG become stronger from consuming/absorbing demons (This is shown in both Demonic Gene and Prayers)

Very significant power boost

For comparison a Walter (probably level 1-5) who was regularly using a demon as weak as Centaur was able to defeat Yaso Magushi effortlessly. Issachar who has never fought any demon was able to fight four prentice Samurai at once but he did ultimately lose.

Minotaur is a level 14 demon and he got oneshot. So considering how much stronger Issachar got that isn’t too ridiculous.

However Yaso Magatsuhu is level 46 and was defeated in an instant. That implies a much more significant boost similar to the one Hope and Hugo got. They got boosted from being practical fodder to being able to fight Anarchy Nanashi and at least hurt him. Hugo was implied to formerly be a Samurai so he would have some strength at least.

Not confirmed (but probably true AKA headcanon)

It seems like the power boost is either some sort of multiplier since depending on the base the person seems to become more powerful the stronger they are.

For example

Note: This is not the multiplier this is just an example to illustrate my point.

Assume Issachar is a 1, Walter is a 5, and Hope and Hugo are 10s. If the multiplier was 5 then it would be like this.

Issachar: 5

Level 1-5 Walter: 25

Hope: 50

Hugo: 50

Or it could be completely different depending on the person. Who knows.

-Likely the reason they can use magic

-Can easily learn skills from demons

When Flynn heard of demons he expected our evil big menacing creatures. From all the legends and fairy tales he had been told being brought up he imagined meeting one would be something out of a nightmare...

Recently he had become a samurai after passing the gauntlet rite and was told the demons of the fairy stories were real. He was a young man with long black hair in a ponytail with triangle bangs. He had striking green eyes and wore the traditional prentice samurai garb. White robes lined with gold and a blue coat lined with white. He wore a white scarf like a bandanna around his neck. A blade hung from his belt. On his left arm was a metal gauntlet which supposedly had a demon inside it?!

“Don’t worry, the demons you have had were raised from birth for the purpose of working with samurai to defeat other demons.”, Commander Hope assured, he was an elderly samurai with a white coat rather than the blue one like the prentices.

“Even still...the idea of partnering with a demon is very off putting.”, Jonathan said, another prentice like Flynn with curly brown hair and brown eyes with a yellow scarf.

“You can say that again...it would be one step up from dealing with Casualry.”, Navarre said, looking very uncomfortable at the idea. He was another prentice with a brown pompadour and brown eyes with a green scarf.

The comment earned him a snicker from Walter.

“To be fair, people have tamed animals. If demons are similar it should be possible.”, Isabeau replied, a female prentice samurai with short brown hair and brown eyes with a red scarf.

“I don’t know the specifics of how they raise the demons before partnering them with samurai, but I assure you they won’t attack you.”, Hope said.

“So, in reality did these demons choose us not God?”, Walter asked, a prentice with spiky black hair and purple eyes with a blue scarf. His robes hung loosely letting his bare chest be on display.

Navarre scoffed at Walter’s comment.

Flynn looked down at his gauntlet at the question remembering his dear friend Issachar. He was rejected by this very gauntlet which he now owned. Because of that he would never get to live his dream of being a samurai.

“Walter, there’s no way the church would allow demons to pick the samurai.”, Jonathan replied.

“You're right on the part they don’t Jonathan. The demons aren’t even conscious while the gauntlet is deactivated so they can’t influence who gets picked. It’s prudent before you descend into Naraku to get acquainted with your demons.”, Hope said.

“Get to know demons?! How unsightly...”, Navarre replied.

“I’m not saying you have to be buddies. At the bare minimum know their strengths and weaknesses so you can form proper strategies. Also, you’ll need these chips for tough fights with them. Your demons get stronger temporarily. Be careful though they can drain their stamina quite a bit so don’t abuse them.”, Hope told them, giving them the mysterious chips with odd symbols on them.

Oddly for Flynn he got the pink one which made Walter chuckle.

“Okay, so let’s meet these demons!”, Walter said eagerly.

After that they split up to meet their demons because of some tradition. Flynn sat down in the barracks on his bed. He felt nervous at the idea of meeting a real demon.

“Issachar wouldn’t be scared. I just have to do it.”, Flynn thought, activating his gauntlet.

Some strange lady in the gauntlet introduced herself as Burroughs who was something called an AI. Was that a type of spirit? She informed him on how to summon his demon from the gauntlet. He touched the strange glass on the gauntlet to summon the demon. His heart beated rapidly against his chest as light shot out of his gauntlet which shifted into the form of a creature.

His eyes widened when he saw the form of the creature, but not for the reason he expected. The demon was a rather big blue bipedal lizard about the size of a toddler. It had claws, a thick tail and long strange ears along with a golden v on its forehead. It had big red eyes which were oddly more cute than intimidating. Actually yeah it was rather cute it’s build reminded him of a stuffed animal. His mouth hung open in shock.

“That’s...the demon?! I expected something a lot scarier.”, Flynn thought, sweat dropping.

“Hello, there human I’m uhh...I don’t remember.”, the demon introduced.

“I’m Flynn…I-I guess you're my new partner?”, Flynn replied.

“What’s that?”, the demon questioned cluelessly, making Flynn sweat drop.

“Commander Hope said you guys are raised to be partners to samurai. But you don’t know what a partner is?”, Flynn questioned.

“I don’t know much of anything. Now that I think about it I don’t remember anything at all.”, the demon admitted.

“I detect data corruption in my systems, it must be responsible for its memory loss. It is from an ancient Digimon species known as a Veemon. It is a rookie level, free type, tiny dragon Digimon. It’s attacks include Vee Punch, Vee Headbutt, Hooping Kick, and Boom Boom Punch.”, Burroughs explained.

“Digimon? You mean demon?”, Flynn questioned.

“If that’s what they're being called, yes.”, Burroughs replied.

“So, I’m a Veemon?”, the demon questioned, pointing at himself.

“Hmm...I guess I could just call you Veemon, but that’s like you calling me human. What do you want to be called?”, Flynn asked thoughtfully.

“I dunno. As I said I don’t know much. You look like a smart guy I’ll go with whatever you come up with.”, Veemon replied as Flynn cupped his chin.

“Alright…”, Flynn pondered a name for his demon companion for some strange reason one instantly came to mind.

It was odd since the name he was thinking of was one he had never heard before, but he felt it was right for some reason.

“How about Masakado?”, Flynn asked.

“Ooh! That name sounds cool I’ll go with that!”, the Veemon said.

“Okay, Masakado I’m a samurai which means I fight bad demons who would hurt humans. I’m going to need your help to defeat them.”, Flynn said.

“Alright. I feel like I can fight...I think. If they’re guys causing trouble I’ll give em a good walloping!”, Masakado replied.

“Hoy, Burroughs what is Masakado weak to? And what is he strong against?”, Flynn asked.

“Nothing it seems…for both strengths and weaknesses. His species attacks are primarily physical.”, Burroughs explained.

“I guess that means at least the other demons can’t exploit his weakness. Alright, let’s go err...You’ll have to go back in the gauntlet outside, normal people shouldn’t see you.”, Flynn replied.

“Awww…”, Masakado whined, making Flynn feel bad before desummoning the demon.

He quickly made his way to Naraku assuring the master samurai he was ready. A chill like none other ran down his spine when entering the lair of the demons. After entering he quickly let Masakado back out. The demon jumped up happily at being able to walk around freely making Flynn sweat drop.

“He’s like a kid. I guess he is a child demon, that's probably why he’s so small.”, Flynn thought.

He descended the stairs with Masakado who skipped merrily.

“Be careful you could fall and get hurt.”, Flynn said, making the demon pout a bit before it tripped and almost fell down the flight of stairs being quickly caught by Flynn who grabbed his arm.

“Hehe. Seems you were right Flynn.”, Masakado replied, chuckling nervously, rubbing the back of his head bashfully.

“Just be careful.”, Flynn replied politely, continuing down.

Masakado nodded sheepishly as they walked.

“I’m sorry, Master, but I completely forgot. Master Hope mentioned an important detail of this training exercise...I’ll register this as a quest to ‘defeat a demon’. Would you like me to provide an explanation of quests?”, Burroughs said.

“That won’t be necessary I’m familiar with the idea.”, Flynn replied.

He was going on a real quest! Like the heroes in fairy stories! The inner little kid part of him actually felt excited. He was really going to do it! He was a samurai! It was now starting to sink into him when he was chosen it hardly felt real.

“Okay, we’ll skip over that. Until next time, Master Flynn.”, Burroughs replied.

Flynn opened the double doors bracing himself for his first demon fight. Shadows shifted around ominously in Naraku as Flynn grabbed the hilt of his sword prepared for battle. Masakado raised his fists sniffing around. Out from the shadows pounced a demon moving at rapid speed however Masakado detected it quickly jumping and punching it in the face before it could reach them. Flynn swung his sword at the figure Masakado struck. The demon was beheaded with its body clattering to the ground. It was a red and blue quadrupedal demon with big ears and blue eyes. It’s remains faded away quickly, greatly confusing Flynn.

“Do demons decompose that quickly?”, Flynn questioned.

“I dunno.”, Masakado replied.

Flynn looked around warily, his guard greatly raised by the sneak attack. His body had moved more on pure instinct than anything when the demon.

“That was so impressive I would swear it wasn’t your first battle together. Your hot stuff Master Flynn, Lord Masakado. I also have some good news for you. You’ve earned some app points. Do you want an explanation of how app points work?”, Burroughs commented, Flynn sweat dropped as Masakado puffed up his chest at the ‘lord’ part.

“Why is she calling him Lord Masakado?”, Flynn questioned, looking at Burroughs sideways.

He had a feeling Masakado didn’t need his ego to be fed.

“I could get used to being called Lord Masakado. Now that sounds awesome.”, Masakado said.

“Sure.”, Flynn replied as Burroughs went on to explain.

Flynn got the mapper app working so they knew where they were going.

“Congratulations on completing the quest.”, Burroughs congratulated.

“But it’s too early to celebrate now. I have the details of your next quest. This will be your final training exercise. You must learn the basics of exploring labyrinths. A solid grasp of your surroundings is necessary for a samurai. I have hidden a certain item of value somewhere in Naraku. Your task is to find and retrieve it. Moreover, for this exercise, you will be completing against each other. As soon as one of you acquires the item of value, the exercise will end. That is all.”, Hope said from the live feed on his gauntlet.

“This thing really is some amazing magic.”, Flynn thought, as Masakado looked wide eyed in awe at the mysterious gauntlet.

“Is that guy in the gauntlet too?”, Masakado asked.

“Uh...no. I don’t know how he did that though. Anyway we got to find this thing he’s talking about.”, Flynn replied.

“Alright boss!”, Masakado replied, with a goofy smile as he saluted Flynn.

They started walking around Naraku and more and more demons popped out. Facing them is a yellow bug demon with black z patterns where it’s eyes should be. Flynn raised his sword and Masakado raised his fists in case it tried to attack them.

“Take this samurai scum! Electric thread!”, the demon hissed as it shot electrified webbing at them.

They jumped in opposite directions out of the way of the webbing. Flynn swiped at the demon causing it to jump away. Seeing the opportunity Masakado jumped at the distracted demon.

“V headbutt!”, Masakado called out as his head slammed into the body of the demon making it collide with the wall.

They continued their search for the item. After seeing a small gap in the wall Masakado easily slipped in due to his smaller size followed by Flynn. The instant they slipped in a pink bird demon attacked from above. Masakado punched the bird demon in the stomach as Flynn tried to fit himself through. Flynn swiped at the demon with his blade after Masakado bought him time to get in, easily defeating the demon who cried out in pain. Flynn felt a bit guilty hearing its screams but...he shouldn’t feel guilty right? Demons are pure evil beings that corrupt people. But...Masakado wasn’t like that...his thoughts were diverted to the strange relic he picked up. It looked interesting, perhaps he could sell it for macca later?

“I guess this isn’t the item. The commander hasn’t said anything.”, Flynn thought.

He heard talking and complaining from beyond the wall. He raised his sword bracing himself for another demon attack. Instead he caught glimpses of the sleeve of the same uniform he wore.

“A samurai?”, Flynn questioned.

“Oh, it’s you...one of those Casualries. Is the item in there?”, he heard Navarre asked him as he struggled to get through the gap.

He could barely make out Flynn’s boots and the lower half of Masakado. He was frightened at first thinking he was about to be attacked before recognizing that the demon must be Flynn’s.

“No it’s not.”, Flynn replied.

“Ah, thank heavens! Then, I can get myself of this dirty floor and claim it for myself!”, Navarre replied, making Masakado raise his fist.

“Hey that’s what Flynn’s looking for!”, Masakado said angrily.

“It’s a Masakado competition which means others are competing to get it first.”, Flynn explained.

“Masakado?! I was informed all the demons name’s end in mon. Don’t tell me you named yours like a you would a dog? Don’t you think you’re getting a bit too chummy with it? Oh well...I would expect nothing less from Casualry.”, Navarre questioned, in a condescending tone from behind the wall after getting himself back behind it.

Flynn’s cheeks flushed red at Navarre’s words. Chummy? He just didn’t have a name so he gave him one. That’s not just for pets! He had a name given to him by his parents, but he wasn’t a dog!

“What’s a dog?”, Masakado questioned.

“That’s not important, we need to get the item before the others!”, Flynn replied, trying to mask his flusteredness.

“Alright, boss! The way that guy talked was making me mad! Let’s beat that chump!”, Masakado replied.

Masakado quickly slipped through followed by Flynn. Navarre seemed to have moved on ahead. Flynn looked around carefully for any other secret spaces where the item could be kept. After noticing the stairs down they descended. They continued looking around seeing a fight in progress between Walter and his demon: It was a strange ball shaped creature with bat wings and tiny legs. It had horns and tiny legs. It was like a chibi version of your traditional demon.

They were fighting an armadillo demon. Walter growled in frustration as he had a hard time piercing its hard shell. Also the demon due to being pinned by him and his demon had a hard time trying to attack them back leaving them at a stalemate. Flynn sweat dropped at Walter’s stubbornness to defeat the armadillo demon. He didn’t look like he was in danger and like he was going to be here for awhile. They slipped past Walter and his demon into the door.

What they didn’t expect was to see Navarre and his demon laying in the ground in defeat rather ungracefully. They were still semiconscious. His demon was a living candle with red eyes and hands made of wax. Standing above them was a massive red bug demon with no eyes instead strange black markings. It had wings, four arms and massive pincers preparing to gobble down the two. Without think Flynn ran forward followed by Masakado. He brought out his sword and struck the massive demon only for his sword to shatter on impact.

“Vee punch!”, Masakado called out, winding up his arms.

Masakado set a barrage of rapid punches at the demon only for it not to leave a scratch.

“Grr! Vee heatbutt!”, Masakado called out as he tried head butting the demon only for it to also have no effect at making him see stars.

“Masakado!”, Flynn called out as Masakado swayed.

The demon batted Masakado away like a fly, making him collide with the wall. The demon flew at the weapon less Flynn pinning him against the wall with its pincers. It grabbed Flynn with its arms who struggled against its iron grip trying to move, but it wouldn’t budge. Extreme pain registered in Flynn’s receptors as the demon squeezed him, making him scream. The demon laughed it enjoyment as he screamed.

“Scream more for me boy. It’s been awhile since I’ve heard good screams.”, the bug demon said as it squeezed Flynn tighter, clearly toying with him.

Masakado could barely stand growling in anger at what he saw.

Masakado launched himself at the demon again with a around him.

“V headbutt!!!”, Masakado roared colliding with the demon’s back, actually hurting it by hitting a part of it not covered in its red armor and making it drop Flynn.

The demon growled, turning its attention to Masakado. Flynn was surprisingly still standing, his eyes were shadowed. Strangely he winded up his fist like Masakado as if mimicking him.

“Vee punch!”, Flynn said, before striking the distracted demon in the same unarmored spot Masakado had hit him before making it stagger.

“Oh! It seems Lord Masakado’s attacks have already been whispered to you, congratulations master. Would you like me to explain demon whispering?”, Burroughs said.

“Maybe later…”, Flynn replied, actually surprised himself that he performed the attack.

He didn’t know why, but the attack just suddenly came naturally to him like it was second nature. Masakado struck the demon again, diverting its attention. Flynn brought out his chip. This definitely seemed like the kind of scenario where he’d need it. He looked over his gauntlet seeing a hole which it could fit into almost on instinct he plugged it in.

“Initializing...Armor digivolution activate!”, Burroughs said as the words appeared on his gauntlet’s screen, before the pink symbol on the chip flashed on his gauntlet.

Masakado was surrounded by a bright light blinding the big demon.

“Masakado armor digivolve to!!!!!!!”, Masakado shouted.

A tornado of ethereal feathers surrounded him forming white clothing and making him grow in size. Over the clothing formed various silver buckles. Wings formed where his ears were and a X shaped buckle covered his eyes. Angelic wings spread forth from his back which flapped making a gust of wind and feathers that blew the demon back.

“Gargolyemon!”, Masakado finished with a roar, gripping his fist.

Flynn’s eyes widened in awe as he looked at Masakado. That appearance…! It was like how the angels from the legends were supposed to look like. He heard Navarre gasp in surprise at the sight finally getting his bearings back.

“Power guillotine!”, the big demon said as it flew at Masakado.

“Freezing Wing!”, Masakado called out as massive white angel statues formed out of nowhere which it launched at the big demon.

The statues all bombarded the demons making it be sent back. Masakado shot forward delivering a finishing punch to the gut killing the demon and making it disappear.

“A-angel?! How do you have an angel?”, Navarre questioned as Flynn looked at his gauntlet.

“I don’t know. I used the chip and he changed.”, Flynn replied as Masakado flew over holding a ring.

“Look master Flynn! Lord Masakado has found something interesting.”, Burroughs said.

“I found it above over there in some box. It was easy to get up there with these wings.”, Masakado explained.

“All prentices, this is Hope speaking. Your training session has come to an end.”, they heard from both their gauntlets.

“Oh no that means…!”, Navarre said.

“It would seem someone has beaten me to the finish line.”, Jonathan said, appearing on the gauntlets with a strange orange guiney pig like creature with wings on its head sitting on his head.

He was sweating hard so he must have been fighting just before this.

“Aww...I was so close, too.”, Walter said, making Flynn sweat drop remembering when he passed him.

“Return to Aquila Plaza at once.”, Hope said.

Flynn looked at Masakado who smiled.

“That means we won!”, Masakado said, before he was enveloped in light again reverting back to a Veemon.

To be continued...

“I can’t just leave father to tend the crops alone I’ve gotta-“, Flynn said before he was caught off guard when Issachar hoisted him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

The woman looked amazed at Issachar’s strength.

“You're going back to sleep, you can work later.”, Issachar said.

“B-but!”, Flynn stuttered in a flustered tone.

Issachar gave him a stern and annoyed look as his fellow tried to push himself in his current condition. Flynn has always been like that. Overworking himself even to the point where he sometimes got sick because he too often thought of others before himself. Flynn squirmed indignantly in his grip. Issachar didn’t budge not wanting him to work after he’d nearly been taken over by a self professed god. He knows if he was gone for good. For all he knew he would spring on Flynn again when he was weak and take him for good. He brought Flynn over to his humble abode and knocked in the door.

After a few moments the door creaked open to reveal a woman with long blonde hair and green eyes. Blonde hair was a rather unusual and rare trait in Mikado especially green eyes which was the source of Flynn’s own green eyes. He remembered many rumors floating around when he was young about his exotic mother, especially with her fiery personality. It was because of that personality however that gossip wasn’t acted upon by anyone because they were all too scared to do anything to Flynn or herself because they didn’t want to face her fury. She wore a brown dress with a white headdress. She frowned at Issachar and grabbed Flynn out of his arms.

“What do you think you’re doing, handling my little boy so roughly?!”, Flynn’s mom questioned in an angry tone only making Flynn more flustered, especially at her still calling him ‘her little boy’.

“M-mom I’m 18 now I’m not a little boy.”, Flynn said in a embarrassed tone.

“You will always be my little boy, Flynn. You can leave now Issachar. Flynn’s not becoming a samurai and he never will he’s staying here! Your little childish dream is over.”, Flynn’s mom said.

Issachar couldn’t help, but sweat drop at the comment. She certainly did hide how pleased she was that Flynn wasn’t going anywhere. She had never approved of their dream of samurai always dissuading Flynn from such notions telling him to stay in Kiccigiorgi. The women had never liked him, considering him a bad influence on Flynn filling his head with ‘silly’ notions above his station and getting him into ‘mischief’ that would make the other villagers gossip about them. She was probably a big contributor to why Flynn was so submissive and obedient she raised him to be that way. Though, he’s whittled away at it a bit over the years. She was the prime example of an overbearing, overprotective, and controlling mother at its finest. She held Flynn close to herself thinly hiding her disdain of Issachar.

“You shouldn’t associate with this miscreant any longer.”, Flynn’s mom said, he was about to say something before his mother slammed the door in Issachar’s face.

Issachar’s eyes twitched in annoyance at the women’s behavior. He sighed far too used to his best friend’s mother’s antics.

“Just my luck. Why did she have to be the one to answer the door?”, Issachar questioned.

Issachar turned to leave as his thoughts drifted to what he would do about his transformation. He was now undead and he had attacked and probably killed a few patrolling samurai. He hoped he wouldn’t be found after all, Kiccigiorgi was a rather small farming village out of the way. There was no way in hell he could ever return to the capital now.

“It’s pointless to run. This has all been pointless. It has always been pointless fifth son, you will soon vanish like you once desired.”, a dreary voice said, Issachar frantically looked around for the source of the dreary voice.

That voice made him shutter from deep within his soul. It felt disturbingly familiar to him it was his voice yet it wasn’t at the same time. Fifth son...it felt wrong to be called that for some weird reason he felt that Flynn should be called fifth son. Whatever fifth son meant. He tried to clear his mind of these thoughts and go about his day though he avoided going home for a while not wanting to deal with his parents. He ended up just wandering around aimlessly getting ‘lazy’ and ‘useless’ comments from the other villagers.

Flynn was still flustered as his mom cooked breakfast in a very happy mood. Honestly, he expected this reaction from her but dang...she was smug. He shuffled awkwardly in his chair. His father sat down around the time his mom had finished setting everything up. His father was a rather tanned and burley man due to his many many years working tirelessly in the fields. He had short black hair with sideburns and a light beard and light blue eyes, another rare oddity in Mikado. He wore simple brown peasant clothes like himself without the poncho. People in the village often joked about how such a masculine man somehow had such a girly looking son. It was mostly light teasing about his looks which was the most he got. After all, between his firecracker of a mom and his very muscular dad not many in the village had the guts to do more than lightly tease him. He personally didn’t think he looked that feminine, but others seemed to think so especially when his hair was down which is the reason he preferred to wear it up most of the time and because of how hot it could get. He could always cut his hair, but for some unknown reason he never felt like making it shorter than a certain length.

“Looks like you didn’t get to become a samurai. Don’t get too down kiddo not many get chosen. After all, considering how peaceful Mikado is, we don’t have too much use for warriors. What we do need is plenty of farmers.”, Flynn’s father said, patting his son on the back and giving him a hearty chuckle.

“Oh you are so right honey.”, his mother said as she sat down with a smile on her face.

“I guess you’re right…”, Flynn said, quietly looking down as he ate.

For some reason this all felt strange to him. Coming back home like this he felt like this wasn’t supposed to happen, but he didn’t know why. His gaze briefly drifted over to his right arm which felt strangely light like...something was supposed to be there. He remembered that’s where they had placed the gauntlet during the rite. The weight then felt familiar to him somehow. He could practically imagine a strange feminine voice a little too excited to register new quests for him. He rubbed his head with his finger trying to determine why he felt this way.

“I’m just being silly.”, Flynn thought, mentally chuckling to himself.

He had an overactive imagination, honestly to imagine a woman in gauntlet. It was just crazy like something from a fairy tale. He looked around, seeing his parents bright smiles. This was undeniably right, this was where he was supposed to be. Nothing was wrong. Though, he thinks Issachar would have been a great samurai. Issachar is right he’s not even sure he would have been that good. Briefly a strange image of Kiccigiorgi burning and screams echoing flickered in his mind.

“What was I thinking? This is right, nothing is wrong. Everything happening right now is right. This is how it always should have been.”, Flynn thought almost dreamily.

He rested his chin on his hands. A strange smile flickered in Flynn’s face; his green eyes seemed cloudy again.

“Flynn…”, Flynn briefly snapped out of it when he heard a faintly similar feminine voice.

Issachar sweated nervously when a group of samurai walked into the village. His heart would be pounding if he still had a heartbeat. He even started to notice he actually didn’t need to breathe anymore. Two of the samurai were young men. One had unruly spiky black hair and strangely light purple eyes. His white robes under his blue uniform hung loosely revealing his toned muscles. He also wore a blue scarf around his neck and had piercings on his ears only further adding to his strangeness. The other man had fluffy curly black hair and golden brown eyes. He wore his robes much more properly than his fellow and a yellow scarf hung from his neck in a fashion similar to how gentlemen would wear their neck cloth. One of the samurai was a woman with short brown hair and brown eyes. She had on red mascara and wore her uniform properly like her curly haired fellow. She wore a red scarf like one would wear a bow tied in the front. The final one was an older man with short white hair and a goatee. His uniform was white unlike the others who were prentice samurai. Like the others he wore a gauntlet on his right arm and wore a scarf. His was blue, worn in the typical fashion you would see scarf’s worn.

“Hoy, there young man I am commander Hope we are searching for a criminal who had killed some of our kin. We heard it was a Casualry man with a brown ponytail and brown eyes. Though, unfortunately many people meet that description. So you have any leads on who it could be?”, the old samurai asked.

“No idea sir.”, Issachar replied, trying not to sound nervous as the samurai looked him over.

He matched the description perfectly and he hoped they wouldn’t notice. He sweated a bit as the one with curly hair seemed to pick up on his nervousness and they locked eyes.

“Well would you mind aiding us in our search? I am Jonathan, a prentice samurai.”, the curly haired samurai said in a way that made Issachar suspect he was onto him.

Issachar gulped trying not to increase suspicion.

“Of course not.”, Issachar answered.

“I hope we find him fast. Searching around is so boring I rather fight. Name’s Walter. I'm the son of a fisherman and now as of yesterday a samurai.”, the unruly samurai introduced.

“My name is Isabeau.”, the woman samurai introduced, simply seeming to be the most reserved one of the bunch.

Flynn ignored Issachar’s words and returned to working on the fields after breakfast. Besides, it wasn’t right to doze off while everyone was working hard. He was surprised he didn’t feel as exhausted as usual while working long hours. He was glad for it since he got a lot of work done.

“Oh ho, you must not be as down about not becoming a samurai as I thought.”, his father joked.

“Yeah...I’m not, though I still feel bad for Issachar though. Honestly I thought I’d be more broken up about it, but I’m fine. ”, Flynn replied.

“Flynn…Flynn...”, there that feminine voice was again nagging at him.

He shook off the strange voice completely ignoring it though, some part of himself warned him he shouldn’t.

“Don’t ignore her. She needs you. Tokyo needs you. Everyone needs you. Wake up!”, he thought, before clearing the strange thoughts out of his mind.

“Shut up! I don’t know any Tokyo or who that girl even is.”, he thought, as the fog reappeared in his eyes as he was struck with another headache.

He stumbled a bit and his father caught him.

“Hoy you need to rest a bit, son. I know you got a lot done but you don’t look so hot.”, his father said.

He reluctantly nodded not thinking he could focus on working well with this roaring headache. He stumbled over to his small room falling onto his straw bed. He groaned, tossing and turning his headache would not let up.

“Flynn...I’m so close...I c-can’t…”, the feminine voice said as Flynn’s eyes squeezed shut.

Somewhere else in a strange fleshy chamber a woman who looked just like Isabeau laid on the ground in a pool of her own blood. Her hair was disheveled, her body was littered with cuts and bruises and her samurai garb was torn. Her sword laid to her side cut clean in half. She desperately reached out to the door. Her heart beat desperately against her chest as she heard cold footsteps and shadow cast over her.

“Pathetic. Even in the end she calls out his name. To think her last words would be about someone else. Go ahead kid kill her so we can get that sword.”, a voice with a strange accent said.

The voice belonged to a strange redheaded dark green being with green eyes. It’s face faintly resembled a human skull and it had long points on its shoulders. It wore a massive golden belt and two separated black cloths trailed behind it. It had strange gold orbs embedded into its body parts along with strange carvings. In between its eyes was a yellow stylized question mark. It’s hair was a mohawk and it had a beard.

Underneath herself Isabeau had a sheathed katana which she covered with her body. Her other hand which wasn’t reaching out held it in a vice grip. The shadow of someone over Isabeau raised up a blade to end her.

“No! No!!!!!!!”, Flynn shouted as the world around him started to distort.

He could hear the distressed cries of his parents in the background.

Tears fell down Isabeau’s face. She imagined a blonde haired woman with a green visor, a black haired teen girl with goggles, a black haired girl in all black, a brown haired man in all white, a white haired teen with a yellow jacket, Walter, Jonathan, and another prentice samurai with a brown pompadour and finally Flynn in samurai garb wearing a white scarf like a bandanna around his neck smiling kindly.

“Flynn...you have to live...You have to get out of here...You're the hope of humanity...I wish I could have stayed at your side for l-longer…”, Isabeau mumbled weakly as her strength faded from her.

The imagined Flynn’s smile dropped and he unsheathed his blade and pointed it at her. The look in his eyes was a coldness that made Isabeau tremble.

“N-no Flynn!”, was Isabeau’s last words as a sworn pierced through her back and into her heart.

Flynn screamed in rage. He felt that chill from before again. A distressed wail roared out from deep within his soul. Issachar looked extremely spooked as the village around them flickered between normal and in flames. The people around him besides the samurai shifted between humans to demons or from normal to dead. The samurai’s eyes minus the commander’s widened who strangely didn’t seem to even notice the change.

Gentle, loving arms wrapped around Flynn and he heard the voice of his mother trying to console him.

“Let me go! Let me go!”, Flynn yelled, squirming out of the embrace, completely blinded with rage.

“Shh...Everything is fine Flynn it was all just a horrible nightmare.”, his mom cooed.

“It wasn’t a nightmare! It was real! Isabeau! Isabeau she’s…”, Flynn said, shaking and sobbing uncontrollably.

Flynn flinched feeling lightheaded as his mother started to sing oddly it sounded a lot like flute. Fog entered his eyes again as he stopped struggling and his head dipped. The world around them returned to normal, no longer warping violently.

“Everything is alright my little boy...Everything will be fine...I’ll make everything better just leave it to me.”, his mother said as Flynn eyelids felt increasingly heavier.

“That’s right sleep sweet dreams my kalki. Soon your suffering at YHVH’s hands will end and we shall make a perfect world much better than any dream…”, the voice in Flynn’s head from earlier said.

The voice was revealed to be coming from a dark skinned man in a green suit and fedora. He had blue hair and gray eyes. On his forehead was a red dot and his dress shirt underneath his suit was orange. He held a flute in his hands. The voice, the self professed god, Krishina. He was in a similar fleshy room as the one Isabeau had died in. Flynn was in there as well in the attire she imagined him in and was unconscious like he was currently in Kiccigiorgi. He was strapped to a large cross and his head dipped to the ground. The dark skinned man cupped Flynn's chin content to gaze upon his unconscious form. There was a strange almost mad affection in his eyes for the unconscious man.

“Hoy! How could you not have seen that commander?!”, Walter questioned, sounding as spooked as Issachar when the very world around them seemed to shift.

“How odd everyone else is acting like nothing happened either. Just what is going on here…?”, Jonathan pondered, cupping his chin.

Isabeau looked rather shaken as well looking around nervously.

“This may sound weird but...did you also feel an odd sense of deja vu when everything was on fire?”, Isabeau questioned, sounding unsure of herself.

“Strangely...I kinda do…”, Issachar said as he looked around.

Something felt not right here...For some strange reason the burning Kiccigiori felt more right than the one they currently were in…

“These people...they're supposed to be dead…”, Issachar thought.

Before trying to clear the bizarre thought from his mind.

“Perhaps something...wicked is truly lurking here and casting illusions on you three.”, Hope said, sounding deep in thought.

The prentices didn’t look fully satisfied with that explanation, but went with it.

“That seems to be the only logical explanation for what we just witnessed…”, Jonathan said.

“Hoy, if it’s the doing of that murderer guy to confuse us. Then we must be in the right place.”, Walter said, making fear and anxiety creep up into Issachar’s heart.

“Let’s continue our search of the area.”, Hope said.

However the more they searched and asked around town the stranger they felt especially when they seemingly knew their way around and when came upon Flynn’s house.

“He’s not in there.”, the prentice samurai said unison, freaking out Issachar and Hope.

“Why are you so sure about that?”, Hope questioned.

“Because no one in that family has brown hair or eyes.”, Walter said.

“How do you know that?”, Issachar questioned, completely shocked.

He’s never seen these people before in his life yet they seemed to know of Flynn’s family. Him and Flynn have been friends since they were small; there's no way they could possibly know.

“Good question...but for some odd reason I feel like Walter’s statement is correct.”, Isabeau replied.

“I do as well…but I suppose we should check.”, Jonathan added, sounding just as confused.

Jonathan felt extremely odd as he walked up to the door and prepared to knock on it. His heart was beating like a jackhammer and he had no idea why. He felt this strange sense of trepidation, nervousness, and...excitement? He couldn’t pin down the source of the strange feelings and he knocked on the door.

He felt like he could barely breathe when the door creaked open revealing Flynn’s mom. He was speechless, he didn’t know why his words got all caught up in his throat when he saw the woman. The feeling when he looked at her was like seeing a relative after many years apart.

“H-hoy my name is...Jonathan.”, Jonathan said, not sure why he hesitated.

For some strange reason Issachar imagined Walter would tease his fellow in this moment. Maybe it’s because he seemed like the type but...strangely...he didn’t. Walter and Isabeau’s reactions were similar to Jonathan’s.

“Hoy, what do you men want?”, she questioned.

To those who didn’t know her tone seemed respectful, but there was a veiled annoyance at seeing the samurai, especially Issachar. The prentices shifted uncomfortably as if noticing this. Hope took charge stepping up to speak.

“We are searching for a murderer, a Casualry man with brown hair and brown eyes.”, Hope explained.

“There’s no one like that in this household. Why don’t you check that man with you?”, Flynn’s mom said, pointing at Issachar.

Issachar felt a cold knife sink through his heart as she pointed at him. He should have expected this so why does it hurt so much?

“Hoy, this man has been helping us search. Don’t you go accusing him.”, Walter defended, shocking Issachar.

Flynn’s mom scoffed at Walter.

“He is nothing but a no good troublemaker I have plenty or reason to suspect him!”, Flynn’s mom said.

“No. It’s not him. Thank you for your time Mrs. Alexander.”, Isabeau said, making Issachar’s mind pop.

Flynn’s mom’s eyes widened in surprise, but strangely she didn’t question how they knew their surname. Hope didn’t seem to react either; this was beyond strange!

“Hoy, commander, don't you think it’s weird Isabeau knew her surname? I feel like I knew it too.”, Walter said.

Hope was quiet as if thinking of the correct response.

“It’s...written on the sign there.”, Hope said, gesturing to a sign on the house which clearly wasn’t there before.

“That wasn’t there before. We’re all illiterate in this village. How and why would there be a sign listing the family in residence there?”, Issachar said.

“He’s right. This isn’t right. What’s going on here?”, Jonathan questioned.

“I don’t know what you mean?”, Hope replied.

“Did Issachar not spell it out for you? That sign makes no sense!”, Walter said as he pointed to the sign.

Hope and Flynn’s mom didn’t even seem to acknowledge this obvious contradiction.

“The sign has always been there.”, she said.

“Then, why did you look so shocked when I called you Mrs. Alexander?”, Isabeau questioned.

Flynn’s mother didn’t respond to that.

“Hoy, what’s up with you guys?!”, Walter questioned, getting angry.

“Would you annoyances please quiet down? My son is trying to sleep.”, she said.

Anxiety and worry started to fill Issachar's heart. Part of him screamed he had to do something.

“Where’s Flynn?”, Issachar asked.

“Did you not hear me? Sleeping.”, Flynn’s mom insisted.

“Sleeping...Flynn’s sleeping...Flynn is...He is...This is…”, Issachar mumbled as his eyes widened.

He was taken by surprise when commander Hope drew his sword on him. Especially when the prentices came to his aid.

“What’s going on commander? Have you been possessed by a demon?”, Isabeau asked.

“It’s him. The murderer, he must be executed.” Hope said, freaking out the prentices especially at how he suddenly jumped to the accusation.

“That hasn’t been decided yet. We haven’t even properly investigated him.”, Jonathan said.

“It’s him. It’s always him. He will ruin this peaceful village, leaving it in flames, leaving Flynn broken and serving as motivation to Flynn into becoming the man he is.”, Hope said, sounding emotionless.