1Heyo! I'm back with another… Fairly basic fic. Anyway, I've been hooked on this game released in 2018 called Dead Cells.
For those of you who have been living under a rock, It's a roguevania action platformer from Motion Twin that will require you to master frantic 2D combat with a variety of weapons and skills against minions and bosses. Pretty good game if ya ask me but it's hella expensive.
So as I was done with a run, I rewatched some Highschool DXD episodes a few minutes later and right at that moment, my head clicked with ideas. So i thought, "Ah fuck it, why not?"
I'll put this up as a one-shot but I will add chapters when enough people request it. And if you want to play the game yourself, SPOILER WARNING! Now is the time to tap/click away. As I will mention some bits of the lore in Dead Cells.
Shout-out to nexTime#5956 for beta work! The cover is still being made by a friend so please bare with me. Please leave a review for me to answer and refer to in future chapters. Or you could suggest something to help make this fic a little bit better.
Enough rambling, Enjoy the story!
Our story begins in the Clock Room, a place where the Time Keeper monitors… Well, time related stuff. Quietly overlooking the whole island as seconds go by. Her train of incomprehensible thoughts came to a stop when the Beheaded kicked the door of her room open and prepared for their unending duel.
When the Time Keeper got down from her resting place. She took her swords which were stabbed firmly to the ground and rested the longer one onto her shoulder.
They did not exchange words as he and she already both knew their fight had already happened and will conclude the same way, indefinitely. They only both stared down one another as the clock ticked with each passing second. The clock outside the room spun around, the grinding gears signaled the start of their duel.
Wasting no time, the Fallen One rushed forwards, unsheathing his sword from its scabbard behind his back. Reaching his target, they clashed swords and looked into each other's eyes with the intent to kill.
They broke apart after the Beheaded kicked her hard on the stomach, he then chucked an oil grenade followed by an ember filled grenade at her feet.
She fortunately dodged out of the way by grappling to the wall with her shortsword, seeing an opportunity to whittle down her health, the Prisoner took out his bow and started raining her with arrows.
The Time Keeper then put up her other available sword to her chest and spun it around, blocking all the incoming arrows except one that pierced her arm. She let go of her weapon, falling to the floor with a loud thud.
She quickly jumped up and parried a swing from the Prisoner's sword. But she failed to notice two arrows pierce her, one straight for her left kidney while the other hit just a few inches below it. Staggering back from the injuries, she is then suddenly met with a barrage of sword swings.
On the verge of death, the Time Keeper stood up with the help of her long sword and teleported a distance from the Fallen One, clutching her grave wounds.
"Enough! This ends now." The Time Keeper said as she coughed out blood. Having messed with the loop long enough, wanting only to halt the disease, she created a portal behind the Beheaded and kicked him in before he could react. What she intended to do was send him back and begin the cycle anew. But fate seemed to have other plans for the Fallen One.
The sound of whistling birds accompanied by the light of the morning sun instigated the Beheaded to open his singular eye and look around, his curiosity immediately peaked at the sight around him.
Instead of piled, headless bodies inside a rotting prison cell, he was surrounded by trees and plant life… Which did not survive on the island for long. With the exception of the Dilapidated Arboretum.
But what got the Prisoner's attention more than the greenery, was his own form. All of the bodies he possessed belonged to the decaying and infected residents of the island.
The ones he ordered to be executed with just the slightest hint of infection. But not this one. His homunculus form did not float a little above where the head was… He was stuck to it. Like it was his own. The Fallen One then got up and wandered around to find a flowing water stream. When he found one, he looked at himself in the water.
The Prisoner's appearance was very fascinating indeed. His size and build was that of an athletic and well toned young man standing at 5 foot and 8 inches, His choice of attire belonged to a version of him named Bobby. And despite the knowledge of permadeath, he checked his person to be shocked that he had equipment. A blade forged from mysterious, but beautiful green crystals, a bow with unlimited arrows, and two grenades filled with ember and flammable liquid.
Five minutes pass on as the Fallen One perched on a tree and stumbled upon a town. His first course of action was to head to a library to gain more information on this strange world.
As he dropped down and began to head there, the bypassers gave him a strange look, but quickly dismissed it as they thought it was only a costume. When the Beheaded entered the library, the people inside made the same reactions as the bypassers. Minutes turned into hours as he continued reading every book he could get his hands on, up until the library's closure.
Retreating back into the forest, the Prisoner pondered about all the information he read in all of those books. Apparently, he's now in a place called Japan. Specifically, in a town named Kuoh. Now normally, the Beheaded would make a hilarious joke or sarcastic remark, but seeing that it is just not the time for one, he held it off for now.
Upon noticing the bright shining moon accompanied by the millions of scattered stars above it a few moments later, the Beheaded then decided to rest his head for now and plan later in the morning. He looked around and found a tree to lean on. He mused,
'This is a nice change, going through the island over and over again kind of got boring.' as he breathed in the cold night air before closing his eye. What he didn't take into consideration was the shadowy figure of a woman that stood atop the trees, watching the Fallen One intently before sprouting wings from her back, flying off into the night.
When morning struck, the Beheaded first practiced the Japanese language, using the dirt and a twig to write words on the ground. He quickly masters the language in a few hours because of his innate ability to quickly learn and understand the plethora of spells, bows, swords, and other equipment he obtains with every run throughout the ever-changing and sprawling island he and his wife once ruled over.
Though weapons and learning a language are very unrelated, he did have a large library before the infection even struck his prosperous kingdom. And after a few minutes of rest, the Fallen One decided to walk around town for a while.
And so, he wandered around town, taking in all the sights to see and sounds to hear for like… Five hours. As he was enjoying himself, evident by the sweets and foodstuffs he had bought via messing with an ATM for fifteen minutes every so often.
Munching on the last pack of Greevie' Treats he had bought, the Fallen One stumbled upon a school. Fortunately enough, it was a weekend. A few minutes passed by as he ran around in circles beside the huge gate, becoming conflicted if he should just waltz right in or go with a more subtle approach.
As the Beheaded rambled on inside his own train of thought, he sensed two humans coming his way. He swiftly jumped into the bushes and slightly popped his head out.
'Hmm, two females… One redhead and a black haired girl. My god! Look at those knockers!' The Prisoner's eye widened at the sight but swiftly shook off the perverse thought and watched as they left his line of sight. Looking both ways, he tiptoed out of the bushes.
But as he was leaving the premises, The Beheaded is seen by a short girl with some resemblance to a cat. Being accompanied by a blonde boy. They look at him with suspicion as he walks away, whistling a tune. His strut turns into a sprint moments later. And as he expected, they soon gave chase.
A bystander listening to Benny Hill's Theme could not hold his laughter at the sight he was seeing, a cosplayer being chased by two students. He soon calmed down and went with his day as usual.
'Fuck! I should have just stayed in the bushes! Woah!' The Prisoner jumped up and glanced down to see the broken remains of a bench the girl threw. He was certainly astonished that she threw an object almost twice her own size. The Fallen One then saw a red circle manifest on her ear.
"...President. Come quick… Someone suspicious." She said through the circle in a gloomy tone. Almost like she was devoid of emotion. 'Now I see why she resembles a cat.' He thought with a smile whilst dodging another bench.
The Beheaded then continued his sprint through an alleyway. He kept running until he bumped into a dead end. With seemingly no way out, a lightbulb appeared on top of his head, he then used his parkouring skills to reach the rooftops. The blonde followed behind using his wings whilst the girl remained on the ground to warn her so-called 'President'.
The white haired girl soon reached the person she talked to using the circle along with the black haired girl the Fallen One saw a few minutes ago. They conversed for a good while but not before noticing The Beheaded being chased by the blonde.
"Get back here!" The blonde shouted, swinging his sword at the Beheaded, which the latter evaded. He then gave the middle finger and a taunt in response. Annoying the blonde a bit. The girls then look at each other and back at the Fallen One, they nod and start joining in on the chase. Running into their last member, a brown haired boy who was on his way to school via bicycle.
"Rias-san! Why are you all in a hurry?" He asked.
"Come on Issei, I'll explain later!" She shouted as they ran past him. Issei looked up and saw blondie chasing a peculiar person wearing… worn down armor? 'Kinda weird but okay.' He then turns his mode of transport the opposite direction and does the same as the rest.
The Beheaded observes his surroundings and finds an abandoned building in the corner of his eye. Sensing an opportunity, he heads for the structure. But before the Prisoner could do so, his not-so-flammable and very real cranium hit a random pole, sending him cartoonishly tumbling down another alleyway.
The Fallen One crawled out of the dumpster that fortunately cushioned his fall and staggered out of the alleyway like a drunken pirate, still dazed from the impact and fall. The Beheaded then bumped into his pursuers on the way out. His vision turned blurry by the second, their words becoming incoherent… He then passed out a few moments later.
So yeah, there you go. Nex hasn't read this yet but I'll update it when he does.
And don't forget to review, and all that shit. Okay I'll be going now, Bye-bye!