The Substitution of the Shield Hero

'Okay, I guess I can't expect these guys to know how to deal with resurrecting enemies...'

I wasn't sure the exact method that was being used, but I could see Ren's female martial artist party member punching enemies in the distance only for them to reform a bit later.

That was interesting.

But more than that...

I tilted my head and looked at the guy Ren pointed out. "So you're the one responsible for the waves still going on, huh?"

The man... who honestly looked like a wannabe Sephiroth cosplayer.

He looked back at me and let out a haughty grin. "Of course! A genius such as I has already deciphered the mechanisms of interdimensional travel. Sustaining a spatial crack like this is nothing!"

"Oh?" I looked at him, genuinely interested. "...Is that so?"

Behind me, I heard Ren's mage companion... Welt? I think his name was Welt.

I heard Welt let out a soft sigh and murmur, "You should never boast about things like that in front of someone like Lord Naofumi..."

Welt had a good point.

The Sephiroth cosplayer was giving off Light Yagami vibes. The whole, 'I'm definitely a genius and can absolutely outwit all of you' vibes.

Which meant he was absolutely exploitable.

I feigned interest and said, "I doubt it. The wave phenomenon is an impossible mystery. Not only that, I've never even heard of you."

"WHAT?!" The Sephiroth cosplayer swept his arm out before placing his hand over his heart. "You've never heard of me?! A true genius like Kyo Ethnina?! No, more than that... You think the wave phenomenon is unsolvable?!" He threw his head back and laughed. "Such low intelligence! Such lacking wit!"

While he was yapping, I quietly pulled open <Parallel System>.

It had been a while since I made a new magic...

But considering that I had just made a world tree, I was reminded of Faes. And Fae magic.

So I wondered if a particular spell would work...

Of course, I'd need to swap out one of my current ones, but that should be fine...

Kyo looked over and chuckled. "Well, allow me to educate you! For you see, the waves are simply a result of adjacent worlds overlapping in timespace! Although the odds are a million to one, in the infinite cosmos, those odds are practically guaranteed! Therefore..."

I tuned out his yapping and unloaded [Lighting III].

It was a bit redundant since [Radiant Emission] was better.

Now, if I added in some proper conditionals, inputted what I recently learned about souls, the fact that true names were a thing...

===

> [Lightning III] has been unequipped from your loadout.

> [Radiant Emission I] has been unequipped from your loadout.

> [Death Note] has been equipped.

===

Spells (6/6):

...

(New!) Death Note: Through manipulation of Status Magic System principles that anchor to the soul itself, as well as the operating True Name of an individual, induce death by accumulating a karmic debt upon the target's soul and stealing their lifespan. Success depends upon level difference, willpower, and understanding of existence. 1000 capacity.

===

Huh.

Honestly, for an instant death spell, I was thinking it'd be more capacity than just a 1000.

But I guess it's roughly on tier with Radiant Emission then, which was raw photonic manipulation, so...

Interesting.

Maybe soul energy was related to light? Or karma was?

Something to research later.

For now though...

"...And for that reason!" Kyo pointed at Ren. "False Sword Hero! I will be taking that sword!"

Ren blinked. "...What?"

I tilted my head. "...Huh. You know what? I just had a thought. Ren, could I borrow your sword?"

Ren gave me a blank stare. "...Why does everyone want my swo-" He suddenly blushed and coughed. "Never mind. NOT finishing that sentence."

Itsuki chuckled.

Welt let out a knowing smile and adjusted his glasses. "Now, now, Sir Ren. Nothing to be ashamed of for men wanting your-"

"Shut it, Welt."

Kyo looked at me and scowled. "You dare interrupt and intervene with a genius like me?!"

I idly typed a few things on my <Parallel System> console. After that...

> [Death Note] has activated.

> Five minutes until the target [Kyo Ethnina] perishes from a heart failure.

> Prior to his death, the target will compile all his known information into his status magic system, which will be parsed as a data crystal and transferred into your inventory. Success rate: 75%.

...I stared at him like a dead man walking... which he was. Though...

Huh.

'I guess <Parallel System> is more of a cheat than I thought it was?'

I'd been focusing on the bare minimum for survival mode because I was paranoid about some crazy overpowered entity jumping out of the woodwork...

But considering that nothing had even after I terraformed the moon and made a literal World Tree on it from first principles...

'I should play with it a bit more.'

If you had it, use it, right?

"Are you ignoring me?!" Kyo glared at me.

I gave him a blase expression and said, "You're just a researcher. Why should I care what you think?"

"A RESEARCHER?!" Kyo swung his arms out and took on the typical megalomaniac pose. You know, the arms out, head tilted up to look down at the world sorta pose. "I am Kyo Ethnina, the man who overpowered the Vassal Book and became the True Book Hero! I am no mere researcher!"

I blinked. "Book Hero?"

'If he's the book hero... then he should be able to copy books- Wait.'

I laughed at him and said, "The True Book Hero? Hmph. If you're truly the Book Hero, then you would surely be able to control any book you come across."

"OF COURSE!" Kyo crossed his arms and said, "What? Did you think there exists something beyond this genius's capabilities?!"

Behind me, I heard Ren groan and mutter, "I need a drink. I'm not even an adult yet, but I NEED a drink..."

...Okay, maybe I should give Ren more credit. It seemed like he was being the only rational guy in the heroes, so he was probably dealing with a lot.

But later.

For now...

"Oh yeah?" I unhooked my copy of the Legemeton from my waist and tossed it over. "If you can control any book, then control that."

"Hmph!" Kyo picked up my leatherbound copy of the Legemeton and placed it against his own book. "You think that a mere leather grimoire- W-What? What is this...?"

I smiled.

The Legemeton... also known as the Lesser Key of Solomon.

Now, what I carried around was just a prop. It was just a printed copy with the words etched on it with ink. It wasn't a real magical copy of the book.

I was careful about that. Especially since this was a world where magic existed.

But considering how words definitely had power and how both legendary weapons and vassal weapons were able to take raw material to convert them into working weapons...

Well.

The Legemeton was also known as the Lesser Key of Solomon and said to be used by the famous king to bind and evoke demons.

Since there had been a copy of it while I was at Marhawa Academy when I was there, and since that had been a diehard religious school, I had memorized the thing and transcribed excerpts and copies of the various magical circles all over the place to make the more annoying kids panic.

...Which in hindsight was probably why everyone panicked even more when the zombies started showing up.

Meh.

Anyway.

For me, the book was just informational.

But if that Kyo guy really was the 'Book' hero. And if that book he had was a real vassal weapon. Then...

> WARNING! An extradimensional being has peered through to this world through the Lesser Key of Solomon!

The moment that crimson message flashed in front of me... and from what I could see, in front of everyone else too...

"A mere human attempts to bind me, Goetia, while I seek to correct human history? Hmph."

A cold and mechanical voice echoed.

And then Kyo vanished, leaving my copy of the Legemeton and his Vassal Book behind.

At the same time-

> NOTICE: UNKNOWN SYSTEM A.R. has sealed the extradimensional breach.

-A veeery interesting system message popped up.

Namely, the fact that it said 'extradimensional' instead of 'interdimensional' breach.

But either way, I ignored it for now. Instead, I calmly walked up and picked up the Vassal Book as well as my Legemeton.

> You have acquired [Otherworldly Vassal Weapon: Book].

> Would you like to equip the acquired weapon?

"Obviously not."

Equipping these things were like putting on something with a curse of binding. I was NOT about to be limited in my equipment again after the Legendary Shield incident.

...Although I was curious on what would happen if I did since the book seemed to be a compiler of information.

But no, cons outweighed the gains. So...

> [Otherworldly Vassal Weapon: Book] has been used as strengthening material!

> Status Up! Great Success!

> (Up!) Naofumi Iwatani(?) {Class: A-Ray/SABER ✫ = Ascension 0} - Lv. 20/20

> Capacity: 12,000 -> 32,000

> Excess material has been returned to your inventory as Gold Embers.

...I used it to test out a few leveling features instead.

"Hm..." I checked my [Status Screen] but nothing had changed. It seemed like the only thing that did was my capacity... which was useful if I wanted to experiment with my loadout in the future.

Not now though.

I was pretty sure I was the strongest thing in this world at the moment by virtue of being able to leverage orbital physics and mechanics...

But anyway.

I looked up at the sky, expecting the crimson to fade. But it didn't. Then I slowly turned to Ren.

"Ren. Buddy."

Ren winced and said, "Y-Yeah?"

"I thought you said that guy was responsible for this mess?"

"...I said he was probably responsible."

I stared at Ren.

He was shameless enough to stare back with a straight face.

Then I sighed. "Alright. If that's the case, then what's causing the-"

Before I could finish talking, the ground started to shake. And at the same time, in the direction of Siltvelt, a giant blue mushroom cloud erupted.

...Which definitely meant my dear son Bahamut had decided to megaflare a situation instead of resorting to less non-country leveling abilities instead.

I sighed and massaged my face. "...Was this what Dad felt that time I told him I fixed his redtape situation with the feds by having the agents trying to pressure him all be brought in as terrorists? ...I feel like this is karma for stuff like that."

===

Meanwhile, dimensions away.

Dante wiped the sweat off his brow and eyed the so-called Royal Guard's Sword that he picked up in the storeroom of the ancient castle he raided. Giving it a nod of approval, he said, "This thing's pretty neat. Goes great with my fighting style... a bit fragile, but nothing a bit of demonic power reinforcement can't fix." He looked over at Vergil and said, "Find anything cool, Vergil?"

Vergil ran a hand through his slicked back hair and said, "Hmph. I do not look for 'cool' things, Dante. I seek armaments of pure power."

"Right." Dante looked amused and shifted his gaze to the three glowing greatswords hanging from Vergil's back. One emitting flames, another emitting ice, and the last crackling with lightning.

And not just electricity. DEFINITELY lightning. Somehow.

"...So you're telling me you grabbed those things because they're 'armaments of pure power' and not because they have cool glowing patterns?"

"...Of course."

"...Sure, bud." Dante chuckled and sheathed the Royal Guard's Sword at his side. "Anyway... I think we cleared this place out. That Princess Zelda said she didn't sense Leon's kid anywhere in Hyrule even with her Goddess's power, so we should probably get going."

Vergil swung Yamato to open a pocket space before chucking in the greatswords. "Very well."

Dante caught sight of a small armory of glowing blue weapons inside that pocket space. The 'Ancient' series of weapons that Princess Zelda had mentioned they might find laying around somewhere.

But since Vergil seemed pretty annoyed... mostly from being upset at the lack of proper opponents.

Dante decided to just ignore it. Instead, he stretched and said, "Alright. Next stop... somewhere?"

"Anywhere but this pathetically weak excuse of a world."

"Harsh... but accurate." Dante chuckled and then waved his arm out, like he was presenting a show. "After you, dear brother."

Vergil's eyebrow twitched. But then he swung Yamato and said, "Your flippant attitude never ceases to annoy me, 'brother.'"

"Good." Dante laughed and said, "Life would be boring if it didn't." After that, he placed a hand on his hat and hopped into the starry void.

Vergil rolled his eyes and then jumped in after Dante.