Inverse Reality (One-shot)
Japan, Tokyo City, Chiba Prefecture.
"We found the lair of the Demon Diablos."
A beautiful elf woman with golden hair and blue eyes gave this information to the group of women in her office, who were listening attentively.
[Alpha, Leader of Shadow Garden]
"I… have to go… with you…"
Another beautiful elf with brown hair, purple sleepy eyes responded to her leader.
[Eta, Eighth Member of Shadow Garden]
"… This time it won't be necessary, we'll go with another group to hunt him. So you can rest, Eta."
Eta became happy and decided to return to her hideout to continue sleeping or perhaps do more experiments.
"Another group, Alpha-sama?" The silver-haired elf with blue eyes looked at her leader in confusion.
"Beta, go inform Yukime. She will help us with this."
[Beta, Third Member of Shadow Garden]
"Understood, Alpha-sama." She bowed and instantly vanished.
"Delta." A girl with black hair, purple eyes, and canine-like ears and tail appeared.
"Yes, nano desu!"
[Delta, Fifth Member of Shadow Garden]
"I'll leave it to you to bring Akane-san."
"On my way, nano desu!"
Crash!
Delta jumped out through the window, smashing it in the process.
"This girl…" Alpha put her hand to her forehead. "Zeta, can you go for Elisabeth-san?"
"Yes." A feline girl with golden hair and purple eyes silently vanished from the room.
[Zeta, Seventh Member of Shadow Garden]
"Gamma…" Alpha called to a dark-blue-haired elf with eyes matching her hair. She's so clumsy… Alpha thought to herself. "Have you already found out what happened a year ago?"
"I didn't find any useful information, Alpha-sama." Gamma shook her head.
[Gamma, Fourth Member of Shadow Garden]
"You found something, Epsilon." The light-blue-haired elf with purple eyes approached Gamma's side.
[Epsilon, Sixth Member of Shadow Garden]
"That whole place was destroyed without leaving any information about what happened… so I'm sorry, Alpha-sama."
"So there's nothing about what happened that day…" Alpha rose from her seat. "It's fine. Right now we already know where he is, all that's left is for him to answer with the truth…"
Epsilon and Gamma followed their leader.
Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture.
In the ruined Nagoya Castle, there was a small pond that had been cleaned for someone's benefit.
"Haaah~…" A boy with short black hair and eyes of the same color was enjoying the pond that he had filled with clean water. "Bathing is life~." He let his body sink a little deeper into the pond, relaxing.
"Don't you want to enjoy the pond too, Violet?" the boy asked the little girl with black hair and violet eyes.
[Violet, Orphan Child/??]
"… Alright." She replied timidly as she approached the pond, removed her clothes before entering, and sat close to the boy.
"…" The girl looked at him with uncertainty.
"Do you want to ask something?" he noticed quickly.
"Is it okay to relax when we were discovered?" Violet asked, raising her hands and letting the water spill around.
"Don't worry. It was my intention for us to be discovered. They probably just want to uncover the truth of what happened a year ago." He finished by patting Violet's head so she would feel safe. "So don't worry, nothing will happen to you. I will protect you."
A smile appeared on Violet's face.
"Thank you, Minoru."
[Minoru Kagenou, Former Leader of Shadow Garden]
One year ago.
The members of Shadow Garden, along with important friends, were resting in the safest place in Japan, after the world began to change drastically.
[Arcadia]
"Has anyone seen Minoru-kun?" A beautiful student with black hair and red eyes asked the elves of Shadow Garden.
[Akane Nishino, Knight of Arcadia]
"Boss isn't here!" Delta answered Akane's question.
"Do you happen to know where he is?"
They all shook their heads — they didn't know where their leader was.
Boom!
A powerful explosion was heard underground.
"What!"
The ground began to erode until all of [Arcadia] was surrounded by a shining black light.
Minutes earlier.
Minoru had discovered a hidden passage and decided to enter out of curiosity, wanting to see what was concealed in the underground halls.
"It looks like some kind of top-secret facility where a mysterious company is conducting inhuman experiments."
He commented as he looked at the white corridors that branched into several paths. He decided to walk straight ahead without considering the others.
"It's been two years since the world changed. But thanks to that, I'm happy because I finally have what I always wished for—Magic!"
From his right hand, dark energy began to emerge, known as magic. Minoru kept walking until he reached a large iron door that blocked his way.
"… There are surely people on the other side. I can't just break the door, that would alert them…" He placed his hands on the iron door, testing if pushing it softly would work. "It's locked, so I can't open it like this."
He tapped the ground lightly with his shoes.
"Maybe this could be the solution. If I make a hole in the wall, they'll notice."
With a small stomp of his shoe, a hole was created. He jumped inside and continued using his magic to tunnel through the earth.
Raising his hands above his head, he touched the soil, channeling his magic to find a way into the underground facility. He quickly discovered a storage room several meters ahead.
He continued tunneling until he reached the spot, carefully breaking through upward so as not to alert anyone.
Jumping up into the storage room, he used his magic to seal the hole behind him.
"It's time to find out what they're hiding here."
Using his magic to conceal himself, he left the storage room and saw several people in lab coats carrying clipboards. He glanced quickly at their papers to at least get an idea of what they were doing.
He came across information of great interest.
"So, an experiment using a special girl…"
He kept searching for more details about her location, then decided to use his magic to more easily trace where she was being held.
Passing through another hallway where several adults walked back and forth, he arrived at a door where they all seemed to enter. Minoru slipped inside too, since his search confirmed the girl was in that place.
Climbing along the ceiling with his magic, he managed to walk across the walls. Looking forward, he saw the girl from the documents he had read.
"So that's the girl labeled as 'Aurora, Demon Diablos' in the files."
Minoru placed his fingers on his chin, thinking.
"I don't see anything demonic about her. But she does have an incredible hidden power…"
He approached the glass-walled room where she was confined, as if she were some zoo animal.
"Can you hear me?" he leaned closer to whisper.
"Yes, I even saw you come into the room."
Minoru's eyes widened slightly at her words.
"Heh. So you've got some impressive abilities." Raw power was one thing, but extra abilities always caught his interest. "Tell me, girl, do you want to leave this place?"
The girl looked back down at the floor.
"No, I've been here for two years. I have no one, nowhere to go back to."
"So, you have no family." A child depending on someone else… "Then, would you like to be my family?"
Minoru's right hand pierced the glass to reach the other side.
The girl was confused by this but kept staring at his hand.
"I have no one… but I don't deserve to be helped either… still, this boy is strange." she thought. "You should know I'm a monster. So why would you help me?"
Minoru just smiled at that answer. "Does it matter?" He looked at her intently. "I suppose that answer won't calm you. But honestly, I don't care if you're a monster. I just do what I enjoy, what interests me. And you, you interest me a lot. I don't mind being your family from now on, even if humanity despises you and tries to kill you in the future."
The girl's eyes wavered. "But… that would even affect your family. They would hunt you down like witches in revenge for saving me."
"Then no one must ever know about this place, nor that you were their experiment."
"Eh?" Minoru's response surprised her.
"Don't worry. Just unleash your latent power. From now on, we're family, and I'll protect you from any danger."
"Yes!"
[Aurora, Demon Diablos]
She obeyed Minoru's words, unleashing her power like a bomb that engulfed all of [Arcadia], destroying it and killing many, with only a few survivors.
Seeing the state of the place, Minoru decided to leave, abandoning the friends he had gained after the world's downfall.
"Let's go, Violet."
The girl once called Aurora followed Minoru, taking the new name he gave her, along with his family name.
"Thank you." A tender smile appeared on Violet's face.
[Violet Kagenou, Family of Minoru Kagenou]
"You don't need to thank me. Now we're family, and you are my priority."
Minoru and Violet vanished.
Present time.
Minoru sighed. "They took their time."
Several women arrived at Nagoya Castle, where Minoru and Violet were eating at that very moment.
Shadow Garden (except Eta), Akane Nishino, Yukime, Elisabeth, and Mary (faithfully following her mistress Elisabeth).
All of them stood at the ruined entrance of the castle, staring at Minoru.
"It's truly a surprise that you survived the explosion I caused."
Minoru replied, concealing half the truth.
"I suppose you've come for revenge, haven't you?"
After all, important people to them had also died that day.
"How should we call you? Former Leader of Shadow Garden… or Demon Diablos?"
The mature, beautiful woman with white hair, blue eyes, and fox-like features spoke.
[Yukime, Monarch of Osaka]
"I'm surprised you decided to come with them, Yukime. You were the only one near this area. So, you chose to work as a group."
Minoru brought a piece of roasted fish to his mouth, unconcerned about the situation. Violet watched silently, hiding her inner worry.
"So, what will it be? Talking or fighting?"
Minoru finished his meal together with Violet, then they stood up side by side, facing the group of women.
Note:
They only discovered the part about the "Demon Diablos," but nothing beyond that. The reason they call Minoru by that name is because Violet's and Minoru's magic share the same color. Unless Violet decides to use her magic, they could easily realize the truth.
But Minoru won't allow Violet to use her magic, so he will fight alone if they start the battle.
Important Data:
Alpha – (Aiko Tanaka – Evolved Human – Age: 18) [Family Dead]
Beta – (Yumi Nakamura – Evolved Human – Age: 18) [Family Dead]
Gamma – (Emi Sato – Evolved Human – Age: 18) [Family Dead]
Delta – (Sara Ishikawa – Evolved Human – Age: 18) [Family Dead]
Epsilon – (Sakura Yamamoto – Evolved Human – Age: 18) [Family Dead]
Zeta – (Lilim Yoshida – Evolved Human – Age: 18) [Family Dead]
Eta – (Hina Suzuki – Evolved Human – Age: 18) [Family Dead]
Yukime (Yukime Kimura – Evolved Human – Age: 24) [Family Dead]
Elisabeth – (Elisabeth Fukushima – Evolved Human – Age: 19) [Family Dead]
Mary – (Mary Kobayashi – Evolved Human – Age: 19) [Family Dead]
Akane Nishino – (Evolved Human – Age: 19) [Family Dead]
Minoru Kagenou – (Evolved Human – Age: 19) [Family Dead]
Aurora (Violet Kagenou – Evolved Human/Experiment – Age: 13) [Family Dead]
Important Note:
This is a one-shot; I'm not going to turn it into a story. I had thought about it, to be honest, but for personal reasons I will stop writing.
I brought this out because I had it planned alongside "Changing the Past [Prototype]," so before I quit writing, I wanted to release this idea for you to read.
If anyone is interested in this idea, feel free to take it. Surely there are better writers than me who can turn this into something greater than what I presented.
And by the way, I didn't bring Claire Kagenou into the story out of sheer laziness, to be honest.
If I recall correctly, Minoru Kagenou's family is abroad, so you could include that and make Claire Kagenou eventually arrive in Japan. Since the world is destroyed and surely filled with monstrous sea creatures, she would have to travel by a fast boat, fighting off sea monsters to reach Japan, failing at first but continuing her attempts until she finally reaches her brother. (Or you could make them cousins, like the saying goes: "a cousin is close enough" — I don't know who said it, but I heard it somewhere, lol.)
Well, I've left my idea for how to introduce Claire. Now I'm really done.
Sayonara~.